Chapter 27

"I'll admit, I'm still not used to that," Jiro commented as Kazuki relaxed, letting the arm that held onto the bow of his violin drop. "I'd have guessed you'd play something with more… relation to what you like hearing."

"Hey, there's rock songs with violins involved," he pointed out. Unnecessarily, he was sure. No way Jiro wasn't aware of that. Sure enough…

"I know that. But still, you gotta admit that people don't precisely think of rock and violin together," she pointed out, to which he nodded, conceding the point. "And you are better than you said, especially for someone that should be rusty as-" She was interrupted by a cough from her father there. "-heck," she finished with a roll of her eyes.

"I guess it's… It's different from before," Kazuki replied, looking at the instrument in his hands, the one he'd been using the two times he dropped by at Jiro's shop. "I'm more relaxed now. It's less… Well, there's less pressure."

There was no one forcing him to practice but himself and his desire to improve. There was no need to try and impress his mother anymore. There were no scathing remarks about doing better or disdainful looks when he did well. There was nothing but him and the music he created, even if it wasn't the best.

Maybe one day, he'd be able to be proud of himself for that same music.

Maybe one day, that same music would help him as much as others' did.

"Thank you for letting me practice here," he said then, looking at Jiro. "I'll buy one whenever I get enough money. I promise."

"Hey, you helped my little girl," her father answered for her, making her cheeks turn red. "Letting you do this is the least I can do. I should be giving it to you for free, actually."

"I wouldn't accept it," Kazuki replied easily. "These aren't cheap, I would know."

His mother had complained a whole lot about that, after all, even when it had been her idea for him to learn. Same when she left and his father had sold the violin. He'd made a point to mention that at least that had been worth something.

Cheery times.

To push those thoughts aside, he straightened his back once more and prepared the bow.

"Oh, are you playing that one again or a new one?" Hagakure asked, reminding them that she was there this time. She sounded enthusiastic enough, and he was pretty sure that she was having fun too. However, Kazuki was starting to get worried, if he was honest. Ever since the USJ, she'd get flashes of panic, pain, and cold.

He was pretty sure she was remembering what had happened to her, so vividly that he could feel it through her, which was concerning. Everyone else seemed to be getting better, but she wasn't. Sometimes it didn't even seem to be related to that, considering the bitterness and helplessness felt different at times.

'Maybe I can do something about that,' he considered, starting to play the violin. If his sense was any indication, Hagakure seemed to draw as much comfort from music as he did. 'It's the least I can do for now.'

[}-o-{]

"That's a lot more people than I thought," Kazuki commented, feeling slightly nervous about things now that they were in front of his face.

A few days back, Kamakiri had suggested something that Kazuki had already been considering for some time but never really actually tried to do. That thing was acting as a training partner for more people with his grimm. After all, it was a win-win for everyone. People could get some actual experience against an opponent that they didn't have to worry about damaging and he got to try combat against different opponents.

Really, the only thing to stop him before had only been his… He didn't want to call it shyness, but it worked well enough. In the end, his friends had taken that choice away from him when Kamakiri suggested that. After he agreed, his group of friends had decided that 1-A couldn't miss on the training, so they'd gone looking for people that might be interested too.

The result, as it turned out, was half of each class or so standing in front of Kazuki.

One thing that didn't help his current unease was the fact that several of his classmates were feeling… Unsure, afraid, suspicious. 'They might know,' he thought to himself, looking at Sato, Uraraka and a few others. They'd probably seen his almost rampage at USJ like Mineta and were now feeling less than safe with him.

'But why didn't I feel that before?' he thought with a frown. 'For that matter, why are they here if they feel like that?'

"Everything ok, Creepy?" Mineta asked from his side, to which he nodded slowly. "You are looking a lot less sure than you were before, man. We can call this off, you know? Have normal spars and shit. No need to push yourself."

"Thanks, but I'm fine," he replied, rubbing his face. Then, with a deep breath in, he set out to start producing grimm. He decided to start with beowolves, since they were a good enough "standard" option. "You guys ready?" he asked Mineta and Yaoyorozu, who would be staying by his side just in case. "Because we can-"

"We are ready, Endo, and so is everyone else," the rich girl reassured him softly, an amused smile on her face. "We don't know if you are ready though."

"I am, I just," he started, before sighing. "We are getting started, five at a time!" he called, having decided to push a little more. That was why both Mineta and Yaoyorozu were by his side. On top of that, with so many other students around, they'd be able to get him under control relatively easily. It was unlikely that he'd spiral out of control quick enough to be a real problem.

Even if he did, he could see Aizawa sitting on a bench off to the side, so…

It was fine.

The spars that followed were a bit of a blurr for Kazuki. Keeping track of every grimm was a struggle by itself, but he wanted to do more than that. He wanted to get better, be able to sense better through them, be able to do other things while having a higher number. His concentration slipped a lot, but he could tell and that was what was important, because he could snap himself back into focus.

There were a few close calls when things had started spiraling. He'd get frustrated and the negativity would get to him. He'd get distracted trying to reel in a grimm only for two others to slip from his metaphorical grasp. He'd get worried whenever a grimm got a hit that was a little too solid for comfort. In those instances, he dispelled them and started again after re-focusing.

Kazuki would take no chances, and he was grateful that nobody seemed to mind overly much when he did that. That might be because they could use those pauses to take a break, or switch with the people that didn't get to have a grimm to spar with. Most of the rest seemed to either spar between themselves or going to hit the machines in the meantime. It was…

It was nice, really. Kazuki knew it probably wasn't a very good "school experience" to get an idea of, but since he'd never had a normal school life before being sent to juvie… Well, he was taking what he could get, as it were. 'Wonder how different this is to how school would have been if things went a little better for me,' he thought to himself, cracking his neck as he decided to spice things up. He switched a few beowolves to nevermore and another into a boarbatusk.

Things were going relatively well, after all. His control could use work, but that was precisely why he was doing what he was doing. There hadn't been any real risk of a disaster happening and that was giving him hope that maybe he could actually get a good handle on his Quirk. So, with the situation relatively safe, he decided it was as good a time as any to push more. He wouldn't be able to do that if he was only with a small group of training partners, after all.

"Switch?" Jiro and Hagakure asked his two minders at some point and Mineta and Yaoyorozu did just that. After all, Kazuki would have felt bad if he took away from their training time… too much. 'They are still great though,' he thought to himself.

With that in mind, he decided that he could try and give them an even better training experience to make up for things. It was the least he could do. He was sure Mineta would appreciate it, even if he'd also curse him a lot.

[}-o-{]

'God, I hate people,' Kazuki read from yet another message courtesy of Distressed. A regular occurrence, really, since it seemed that wherever the guy went, he'd be met with some sort of discrimination. Kazuki would have thought he was exaggerating or something but… Well, he knew how people could be first hand. Then again, he could feel when people were feeling particularly discriminatory and Distressed likely didn't so…

'I mean, people do suck, not even gonna try to lie there,' he agreed with a shrug, even if that couldn't really be appreciated by the other person. As he waited for the inevitable rant, Kazuki looked into his aquarium, watching the little inhabitants swim around and generally go around their days. It was a really peaceful sight, and he loved sitting there just watching them do their thing just as much as he did sitting in between the plants in the balcony.

'... Are you even reading this?' Distressed asked after several paragraphs of not so polite… opinions.

'Sure am, buddy,' he replied with a half-smile. 'You've got to stop letting people's opinions affect you. It sucks, I know, believe me that I do. We can't do anything about that, just stand tall, head raised and keep going.'

'Inspirational as fuck, Knight, but it still fucking sucks and that's not changing,' Distressed argued.

'I'm not going to tell you you are wrong, Distressed. Things won't change if you just complain about them. I'm not sure things can even change at all but… We can change how we go about things on our end, as opposed to trying to change how others do,' he told his… friend, he supposed. He wasn't too sure how to call their relationship.

'Sometimes I wonder about that. I'm sure they'd change their tune if I showed them how beastly I can be…'

'That's not the answer, Distressed,' Kazuki told the other person firmly, hoping that the words would convey how serious he was. 'All that'd do is ruin your life and probably very little else.'

'And you'd know, wouldn't you?' He could almost feel the snarl there. He could certainly feel the emotions behind them, at the very least.

'I would,' Kazuki replied, a sad smile on his face. 'You'd snap, do something that you'll regret and ultimately, they'll write you off like one more madman of a villain. They'll never bother to learn why you did what you did. Believe me, I know.'

There was a long pause there, but Kazuki was fine with that. As it was, he was feeling a little uneasy about telling Distressed that. He was also feeling… sad. Fortunately, he had music and a tank full of life to distract him from that stuff.

'It still sucks though,' Distressed replied, and from what Kazuki could pick up, his anger had diminished even if the sadness and frustration remained. There was also some shame there, hidden underneath the rest. 'It's not fair.'

'Life rarely is,' he told the other person. 'Doesn't mean we can't try to make it suck less though.'

'I guess…'

[}-o-{]

"What's this idea you had, Creepy?" Hagakure asked as they walked off to one side of the training facilities. "And how embarrassing is it gonna be?" she asked then, making him pause. "Must be, if you asked to step aside."

"I actually don't have an idea," he answered truthfully, and he felt her confusion appear. "I just thought it'd be better if we talked, just the two of us, about something."

"Is this a confession? Because I'm not mentally prepared for this if it is, Endo," she said, faking nervousness and all. To that, he just rolled his eyes.

"I can feel it, you know?" he told her with a sad smile on his face. "The way your emotions spike from time to time," he added, and she tensed up. "Are you ok?"

"I'm…" she started immediately before trailing off. "... not," she admitted then and he was grateful that she didn't deny it. He didn't know if he'd have pressed her for it. After all, he wasn't sure it was his business to get involved, even if she was a friend. People didn't like others meddling in such things, he was fairly sure. "I just… I can't get the USJ out of my head… I thought I was dying," she told him, rubbing her left arm with her right hand.

"You want to talk about it?" he asked her softly, trying not to sound like he was pressing or anything of the sort. "It's fine if you don't."

"I don't, not really," she answered, helplessness bleeding into her emotions. "I just… I don't know what to do," she added, deflating.

"Well, if you don't want to talk to me, maybe you can talk to Hound Dog?" he asked her.

"The student counselor?"

"Yeah," Kazuki nodded. "I know it's kind of… awkward, I guess, but it does help to talk about things. It's helped me, at least. And it's somewhat easier to talk to someone that's more… disconnected from things. I know it'd be a little uncomfortable to talk about some of the things I've told him with you guys, and I'm a lot closer to you than I am with him."

"I guess…" she replied, unsure.

"Just, think about it, ok?" he told her, running his fingers through his hair. "And I'm sorry if this is… You know? Maybe it's none of my business," he said, deciding to voice his doubts.

"It's fine!" Hagakure reassured him quickly. "I just… wasn't expecting that. And it's also not something that I'm… happy with, obviously, so…"

"Yeah, I get it. I just wanted to try and help you out, is all," he commented awkwardly before deciding that he'd done enough. Maybe he'd bring it up with a teacher or something later. "Now, what do you want to tell the others?"

"... Just that I told you your idea wasn't gonna work?" Hagakure suggested, her voice low as if she were thinking about something else. "I don't want to lie to them, but…"

"I understand. This is private. Sorry again for kind of… forcing the issue," he apologized, feeling more and more like he should have just kept his nose out of things.

"Endo?" Hagakure called him as he grimaced, trying to decide what to do and failing not to feel awkward. "Would you mind… um…"

"Yeah?" he encouraged softly as he saw her nervously shuffle on her feet.

"Would you mind accompanying me? To Hound Dog, I mean."

"Not at all," he answered, a small smile on his face. "If that'll make you feel better or something, sure."

"Thanks," Hagakure replied hesitantly, poking at the ground under her with her foot. "I really appreciate this, Endo, and I'm sorry if I made you feel bad with my emotions."

"Hey, that's not what this is about, ok?" he reassured her, waving off her worries. "I mean, it sucks, but I don't go around asking every person I know feels bad about it. I've learned to just… leave them be. But you are a friend, and I don't want you feeling bad. I wanted to help, that's all. Nothing to feel bad… Er, worse about, ok?"

"Ok," she replied, her voice barely above a whisper. He felt her negativity recede, however, so he took that as a win. "Ok," she repeated, this time much more decisively. "It helped you? Talking to him?" she asked then, more curious than anything else.

'Didn't I answer that question already?' Kazuki wondered. He was fairly sure he'd commented on that already. Although, maybe Hagakure just wanted it to be repeated, to solidify her decision or something.

"It did. Even if sometimes he doesn't say much, it's nice to have someone just… listen," he told her with a smile. "And when he does say something, it's usually helpful, or at least… comforting, I guess. It's nice to know that there are people that care. I'm new to that."

"We care too, Endo," Hagakure pointed out, standing next to him and pushing against him with her shoulder. "I hope you know that, or we'll have to punch it into your head."

"Wow, where's this sudden bout of violence coming from?" he asked, joining her joking tone. "Here I am, trying to help, and suddenly you want to punch me. That's not nice, Bubbly. Not nice at all."

"Thank you again," Hagakure told him and he could almost hear a smile on her voice. That was nice. Not only was his friend feeling better, but he had helped her feel better. Maybe it was self-centered, or something like that, but it was always great to know that he could have that effect on people besides the more… usual and negative ones. "For talking to me about this, I guess I needed someone to talk some sense into my head and… Well, thanks for caring too."

"Hey, you've got my back and I've got yours," he replied with a grin. "It's the least I can do, really. Especially after you got me those photos… I don't think you realize how much those meant to me."

"They were a group effort," she mumbled, a little embarrassed, which was an improvement from the previous mood, so Kazuki would take that.

"And I guess I'll have to see what I can do for the others, but the point stands."

"I'm not gonna win this, am I?"

"I knew there was a brain somewhere in your invisible head."

"Rude, Creepy, very rude."

"Why, thank you."

[}-o-{]

"How was it?" Kazuki asked when the invisible girl came out of Hound Dog's office.

"It was… nice, as you said," she answered simply, but he could get a lot from just that. For one, he didn't feel any strong emotions from her, even though there'd been a few spikes while he was outside. For another, her voice sounded more… calm, certainly not that strained casualness she'd forced before. Moreover, even her posture seemed to have relaxed.

"I'm glad to hear," he said, giving her a smile. That is, before she hugged him tightly out of nowhere. Now, Kazuki would be the first to say that he didn't have much social experience and that went double for more physical parts of it. 'When was the last time someone hugged me?' he thought as he stood there stiffly, before awkwardly moving his arms to return the gesture. Somehow, he was sure he was doing it wrong.

"Thanks," she told him, her voice muffled by his uniform. "For making me come here and for accompanying me."

"It was no problem," he told her. If anything, he'd been nervous this was too personal for him to really stick around, especially since he felt like was intruding, considering his Quirk. Hagakure had been clear that she wanted him to stay though, so he did.

"So, um," she started, pulling away from him and fidgeting a little. "You go next?"

"I kind of have to, yeah," Kazuki answered, running his fingers through his hair. "You can go if you want to. This takes a while."

"No, I think I'll wait, like you waited for me," Hagakure said firmly. "And maybe…" she trailed off, her shoulders visibly dropping a little. "Doesn't matter, I'll wait."

"If you are sure," he told her with an appreciative smile. "I'll try not to take too long."

"Take as long as you need to," Hagakure replied before motioning with her hands… or arms, really. "Now, shoo shoo."

With a chuckle, Kazuki did just that, stepping into Hound Dog's office himself.

"That was a very nice thing you did," was the first thing the counselor told him, making him smile a little wider. "Sometimes, being a hero is more than punching a bad guy or rescuing someone from a building on fire. Sometimes, it requires doing very little and yet few do even that."

"Well, that's a great thing to hear first thing in here," Kazuki said, taking a seat on the armchair in front of the desk. "I… I just don't get why people are reluctant to do stuff like this. Everyone has problems they could use help with, I'd know. And yet…"

"Having problems and admitting as much is hard for most people, Endo. Admitting to having them and actually looking for help is even harder. People are complicated like that," Inui explained in that calm, collected voice that made it hard for Kazuki to even feel annoyed, despite what he was saying.

"People are stupid," he mumbled, leaning back on his seat. "I… I don't feel like talking about anything too deep today, you know," he added then, turning a little to look at the office's door. Hagakure's session had been draining enough on him, and he hadn't even been involved really. He didn't feel like adding on top of that.

"That's fine. We never really needed to do anything in these sessions anyway," Inui reminded him, for what felt like the hundredth time. "Is there anything you want to talk about?"

"You know that I've started training with more people. People that I don't really call friends in any sense of the word. Classmates at most," Kazuki said, drawing a hum from the counselor. "It got me thinking. Maybe I should try and improve my image, make it so that people will have a better… impression of me. Does that make sense?"

"It does, but improve your image how, Endo?" Inui asked him, leaning forward. Whether it was a tactic of some sort or if the man was genuinely interested, Kazuki wouldn't know. "Do you want to change who you are, just to be accepted?"

"No… Not really. I don't think I can, even if I'd like to," Kazuki answered, shrugging. "I was thinking more of… You know, showing them my good side, as it were. Not sure how good that is, but it might soften the punch when they get to see… the rest of my shitty self."

"First of all, there's nothing wrong with you, Endo. You had a hard life and suffered through a series of unfortunate things. That doesn't make you a terrible person in any way," Inui told him, also for what felt like the hundredth time. Kazuki couldn't even find it in himself to roll his eyes at the words anymore. "Second of all, how were you planning on doing that?"

"That's the fun part. I have no idea," he replied, chuckling weakly. "I just… I was just thinking about it… Maybe I could get a manager from the business courses?" he asked jokingly. His smile slowly disappeared when he heard the counselor hum and say nothing for a long moment.

"Well, that's not a terrible idea," Inui told him, surprisingly. "Granted, you'd have to find a student that you can trust to do a good job. And what you are saying sounds an awful lot like PR work, and I can tell you that it's much more difficult and exhausting than most would have you believe."

"Well, I was mostly just doing random thinking and joking but…" Kazuki mumbled, giving what he'd said some more thought. "You think it might be a good idea?"

"If you do it right? Sure."

"Any advice?"

[} Chapter End {]

Hey guys! How's it going?

Well, mostly interactions in this chapter, but that's fine by me, honestly. The violin thing is still a little… I still can't decide if I like how I'm dealing with that or not. I know it's probably not that big a deal, but it bothers me for some reason, so I'd appreciate some feedback on it, even if it's to say it's not annoying to read through.

Mass training sessions are becoming a thing too now, so I'm sure that'll be helpful for our boy's development. On that note, there's some talk about improving his image, which is neat. Wonder how that'll go.

Also, Kazuki is spreading around the acceptance of therapy, which… God knows everyone in this series needs, man. These kids really need a few thousand sessions each, or so I feel. And that's saying something considering I feel like everyone could do with a little therapy.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter.

As always, if you can't wait until next week for next chapter, or if you just feel like supporting my writing, there's up to three new chapters in my Pa tre on:

P a treon . com (slash) AdrianKing

Discord Link: discord .gg/UTDransjJZ

Random Question: How would you go about improving Kazuki's public image? I have a bunch of ideas, but I can always use more fuel for my muse. Give me that sweet imagination fuel, guys! Give me theories, ideas, Validation and mo- I mean, um, yeah, er… I'll just leave now… yeah…

See you.