Author's Note: This story is a side story for my fic "The Genesis of One for All," written as a prize for my One for All October contest. Space_Cryptid requested that I write something for Yoichi based off the Taylor Swift song "My Tears Ricochet," specifically the line "I can go anywhere I want, just not home." Littlemusic-muse requested a hurt/comfort moment on Yoichi's feelings about All for One and Second and/or Third being there for him. Those prompts went so well together that I combined them, and since this is a prize for two people there will be two chapters. This fic should be treated as if it takes place after Chapter Seven of "The Genesis of One for All." For new readers, Kaiji = the Second One for All user, Sanzou = the Third One for All user, and Hisashi = All for One.
Chapter One:
Two days after Yoichi had escaped the vault, Kaiji knocked on his door and asked, "Do you want to go anywhere?"
Yoichi stared at his hero with hollowed-out eyes. Kaiji wore grey sweatpants and a sweatshirt instead of the camouflage clothing and gauntlets from the day he'd saved Yoichi from the vault and extended his hand. His spikey hair was mussed and he still had bandages on his face from the fight to escape the mansion. But there was a small hopeful smile on his lips.
"It's not safe to leave," Yoichi said dully, looking at his hands. His head hurt. He'd been unable to sleep again last night. He'd expected freedom to make him happy, but instead he struggled to feel anything through his mental fog.
"We could put on disguises." Kaiji shifted from foot to foot. "It would be hard to get out of the city. All for One has people watching every road. But it wouldn't be too risky to go to a coffee shop or a bar. In the worst case scenario, if All for One's people spot us, I'll fight our way out before All for One has time to show up." He flexed a muscle. "But if you're not ready—"
"I'm ready," Yoichi snapped. He'd always hated it when his older brother treated him like he was frail. Despite the automatic reply, he did not know if he could actually handle the outdoors. His small bedroom felt safe. Outside felt vast and dangerous, and if Hisashi caught him again—Yoichi shuddered.
Kaiji noticed. "The bar will still be there tomorrow."
Yoichi's cheeks flushed with humiliation. He leapt to his feet. "No! I want to go out."
"Are you sure?" Kaiji's eyes searched his face.
Yoichi offered a bit of honesty to the man he owed so much. "No, but I want to try. I don't want to let him keep making me a prisoner even after I've escaped. Big brother never let me go to bars. He'd be spitting mad if he knew."
Kaiji grinned. "That's the spirit! Come on."
The vigilantes owned a couple wigs. Yoichi tucked up his hair under a black-haired wig and put on a pair of sunglasses and a face mask as if he had a cold. Kaiji donned a long, red-haired wig.
Poking his head into the kitchen, Kaiji called, "We're stepping out to Taylor's. I'll send you check-in texts every fifteen minutes."
A sizzling came from the stove. The scent of meatballs drifted from the kitchen. Sanzou asked, "Will you be back in time for dinner?"
Kaiji said, "Yes, we're just talking a quick breath of fresh air."
Sanzou made an mm-hmm sound. "Be careful."
From the living room, Hikage Shinomori cried, "Can I come, too?" With a pattering of bare feet, the preteen boy ran out and smiled eagerly.
Kaiji glanced at Yoichi, questioning. Yoichi shook his head slightly. If he was going to have a breakdown, he didn't want it to happen in front of a child.
Crouching down, Kaiji patted Hikage's head. "Sorry, kid. It's too dangerous at the moment. I'll take you out another day, I promise."
Hikage pouted. "Even the stick guy gets to go! Why not me? I bet I could fight bad guys better than him."
Sanzou stepped out of the kitchen wearing a checkered apron. "I need your help making dinner. If you chop carrots for me, I'll let you have a cookie."
"What kind of cookie?" Without waiting for an answer, Hikage already ran over. Sanzou winked at them before ducking back into the kitchen.
It was only a short drive to Taylor's Bar, a squat brick building with a flashing sign outside. Kaiji texted Sanzou before they entered. In the early evening, the room didn't have many people—just two men in suits sitting at the bar. The television played a baseball game. The room was dim and held an odor of smoke.
As soon as Yoichi stepped inside, he knew he'd made a mistake. The noisiness from the TV and the conversation was too loud. His throat dried out. He could not shake the absolute terror that the salaryman reaching for his phone might be about to call Hisashi, even though the man hadn't even looked in Yoichi's direction. Sweat soaked his armpits and made his hair damp under his wig. He whispered, "There are too many people here."
"Then let's take a walk around the block," Kaiji said.
Yoichi jumped. He hadn't realized that he'd spoken out loud. In the vault, he'd fallen into the habit of talking to himself. His cheeks flushed. There were only three strangers total including the bartender. If that was a crowd, then Yoichi was as foolish as his brother always claimed. "I'm fine," Yoichi insisted.
Kaiji coughed. "The smoke in here is too much for me. I've got sensitive lungs. Let's go."
The excuse was so clumsy it couldn't help but be endearing. Yoichi smiled very slightly. "All right."
The outdoors wasn't much better. Everything was too vast and bright. Yoichi wrapped his arms around his shoulders and forced himself to keep walking. He refused to be a coward.
They walked down the sidewalk, passing businesses with flashing signs. The light kept making Yoichi jump. He fixed his eyes straight ahead and tried to focus on the warm body of his companion next to him. His legs shook. Nausea churned in his stomach. It was slow going. Yoichi's body, withered from his hunger strike, could barely even support his own weight.
Clearing his throat, Kaiji offered his arm. He looked away, cheeks flushed.
Yoichi was past the point of pride. He gripped the offered arm. It helped anchor him in this vast, huge world.
The sun was just starting to set, casting purple rays across the clouds. In the vault, Yoichi had believed he'd never see a sunset again. It pierced through his emotional numbness. Yoichi swallowed. "It's beautiful. Thank you for taking me outside."
"Hey, no problem," Kaiji said, a little awkward.
Yoichi's joy and anxiety coalesced into anger. "How could my brother keep me locked up in a metal box? What could I have ever possibly done to deserve never seeing a sunset again? I love him!"
Immediately, Yoichi looked over at Kaiji, afraid of what he'd admitted. All for One and the vigilantes were sworn enemies. Yoichi had done himself no favors with that tell-tale present tense. But Kaiji only made a sympathetic murmur in the back of his throat. "There's something fucked up in All for One's head. I knew the instant I saw the vault."
Yoichi's nails dug into his palm. "I wasn't an easy kid to raise. I had a lot of health problems. I got into fights at school. When I was a teenager, I kept insisting that people with mutations like my white hair had it just as bad as metahumans. Mostly I just wanted to be included, because my brother wouldn't let me help with any of his metahuman activism. Back then I was so annoying that even I want to smack my younger self. Maybe I pushed my brother so far he got fed up with me. But even on my worst day, I didn't deserve what he did to me!"
Kaiji said, "I bet All for One didn't want you to realize he used activism to search for abilities to steal."
Yoichi winced. "That's probably true."
"It's not my place to say this, but it's pretty common to still love your family even when they treat you like shit. That doesn't mean you gotta let them be part of your life." Looking down, Kaiji fumbled a little with his words. "Screw All for One."
"Screw him! I'm not going to just slink off without a fight!" Yoichi's anger poured out, hot and vicious. "I'm going to stand up to him. I want to stop him."
Kaiji patted his arm. "You're in the right place. We'll make All for One regret what he did to you. The next time we go out on a mission, you can come along if you'd like."
Yoichi suspected that his brother would regret most of all losing him. It made him vindictive. "Good. I want to destroy something." His brother, himself, he'd destroy anything he could get his hands on. The rage itched under his skin. His love and hate were all tangled together, but he knew he had to stop All for One.
Back at the vigilante base, Kaiji spread out a map. "These are all of All for One's known warehouses." He pointed at the buildings marked with a skull and crossbones. "We could both replenish our supplies and steal from him."
As Yoichi's eyes scanned the map, he couldn't help stopping at the mansion where he'd once lived with his brother, marked by a black crown. Of course he already knew that would be a far too dangerous target to hit, especially after they'd just rescued him. He didn't want to see his brother's evil face, anyway. But Yoichi's gaze still kept going back to that same spot. Tears stung the corners of his eyes, partly from anger and partly from an emotion he didn't want to put into words.
Now that he was free, he could go anywhere he wanted except home.