Chapter 27: I Once Was Lost
Three Years Ago
Saitama, Kita Ward
"And it's a pop fly over midfield! Sato's booking it towards first, but Matsumura is sprinting for the catch! He dives, glove outstretched – and he's got it! That's three outs! And with a final score of 12 to 10, the West Kita Dragons win the game!"
His voice already hoarse from yelling, Kaminari Denki threw his arms into the air in triumph and charged out onto the baseball diamond, joining his ten-odd other teammates in wrapping Matsumura in a group hug as the midfielder struggled back to his feet amid the icy slush. By now, nearly all their neat black school uniforms were streaked with mud and water, but they hardly cared; it was a Friday afternoon, and if the forecasts of a snowstorm held up over the weekend, they'd likely be out of school at least half of next week as well.
Whoops and shouts of jubilation were still ringing out through the frigid December air as Kaminari broke away from the huddle and turned to face their opponents, a group of boys from one of their neighboring middle schools. He had known many of them since childhood; it was a close-knit neighborhood, and impromptu matches like this one were a regular occurrence. Their arena was an old athletic field at one corner of Kita's main park, the faded lines of the diamond marked by muddy footsteps. After a light flurry of snow the previous night, more had already begun to fall by the end of the game, and the sky overhead was a dim and murky grey.
"We almost pulled off the comeback," Sato Kishi declared with a sigh, letting the worn wooden bat shared by both teams slip down to the ground before he took a step towards Kaminari and extended a hand. "You guys should go ahead and join West Kita's baseball team at this rate."
"What, so I can spend all my summer afternoons stuck outside at practice instead of eating ice cream and playing video games? No thanks." Denki shook his head decisively, chuckling as he grabbed Sato's hand and wrapped the tall, black-haired boy in a one-armed hug. "Besides, isn't it a bit too late for that anyway? You're talking like we're not about to graduate in a few months!"
"Oh god, you're right…" Kishi's eyes widened as they both pulled back out of the embrace. "For a second there, I was sure we had another year left. But we're really about to be high schoolers, huh?"
"You bet your asses we are!" An enthusiastic voice cut in, as an arm wrapped around Kaminari's shoulders from behind. "And this one here's gonna be at U.A.! Freaking U.A., man!"
Matsumura Ryoshi, the hero of the ninth inning, gave the two of them a sharp-toothed smile, and released his grip on Denki. Still dripping with mud and snow all down the front of his uniform, Ryoshi had a slight greenish tint to his skin thanks to his quirk, along with silver-white hair, bright yellow irises, and a set of gills running down either side of his neck.
"Stop talking like I already got accepted!" Denki protested, still grinning. "You're gonna jinx it, dude! Not like I have too much of a shot in the first place…" Growing more sheepish now, he rubbed the back of his head and shrugged. "I mean, that place's acceptance rate is tiny! With grades as shitty as mine, going there is more of a pipe dream than a real goal."
Still chattering loudly amongst themselves, the two rival teams had merged together and begun to move towards the park's exit by now. Kaminari, Matsumura, and Sato trailed a few paces behind the main group, opting for a more leisurely pace.
"You've got it all wrong, dude," Kishi was saying, shaking his head defiantly as the trio retrieved their schoolbags from the bench where they'd left them. "We're talking about hero school here- it's your quirk that's gonna matter most, not your grades. And with one as powerful as yours? There's no way they wouldn't take you."
As they neared the paved path leading to the park's entrance, Denki's eyes drifted down to the snow-covered grass, and the grin on his face faded a bit.
"I don't know about that, man. It's powerful, sure, but I've still got no control. All I can do is zap everyone around me, and fry my own head in the process. I mean, any forget team-ups with other heroes- I'd just be a walking case of friendly fire. I don't wanna end up hurting anyone on accident, y'know?"
"Who needs team-ups when you can take down all the bad guys on your own?" Matsumura gave Kaminari a friendly elbow to the side, still smiling earnestly. "I don't know any villains who could take a million volts and stay standing, do you?"
"And what about your quirk?!" Denki protested, jumping at the chance to shift the subject away from his own ability. "You can breathe underwater, swim like an Olympic athlete – hell, you can even see in the dark! You'd be amazing for rescue ops, so why didn't you apply to U.A. with me? You're at the top of our class, Ryo. There's no way you wouldn't get in."
Ryoshi gave a nonchalant shrug, and blinked his double-lidded amphibian eyes.
"I've told you before- that place is way too intense for me, man. I feel pretty good about my application to Ketsubutsu, though. I did a campus visit the other week, and their whole vibe just feels a lot more relaxed."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say." Suddenly a spark lit in Kaminari's head, and he glanced back at Matsumura with wide, eager eyes. "Wait, so did you get to meet any current students? How were the girls? Were they cute?"
Five minutes later, everyone was saying their farewells at the entrance gate. While most had come on foot, Denki and a few others had ridden their bikes to the park straight from school- Kaminari had his propped up at his side, one hand on the seat to keep it steady while he wrapped up a conversation with a few other members of the victorious West Kita team.
"So we're still on for Sunday, right?" Okuda asked, straightening his glasses. "4:00 PM, at my place?"
"Of course!" Denki replied eagerly. "I wouldn't miss it, man! I'll bring my copy of Smash Bros and some extra controllers, and we can stay up all night while the snowstorm hits."
"It's gonna be so sweet," Yoshida declared, a sentiment roundly echoed by all the other boys present.
"Well, I'll see you guys then, I guess." Matsumura glanced down at his watch, then started towards the tall iron gate. "I need to get back soon to help with dinner."
"Yeah, I've gotta head out too," Kaminari added, hopping onto his bike. "I'm pretty sure I was supposed to walk the dog half an hour ago. I'll catch you boys on the flip-side."
He took the time to shoot the group a few parting fingerguns before finally pedaling out and onto the sidewalk, waving to Ryoshi and Kishi as he passed each of them in turn. Thanks to a fortuitous series of green crossing signs, Denki made fast progress on the way home, riding along the neighborhood's busy main avenue for a while before cutting through a series of alleys and side streets, a shortcut he'd discovered earlier in the year. Fat white flakes of snow continued to fall overhead as he hopped off the seat to maneuver around an old woman taking down her laundry on one particularly narrow segment of his route; despite the delay, Kaminari still couldn't wipe the smile off his face whenever he glanced up at the sky. Man, the next few days gonna be so sweet. Just gotta take care of a few chores when I get back, then it's endless video games and anime as long as the snow lasts.
As luck would have it, both of Kaminari's parents were currently out of town; his father, a quirkless businessman, was at a conference in Shanghai, while his mother, an electrical engineer, was with relatives in Kyushu for a cousin's funeral. They were both due back before the projected snowstorm on Sunday night, but for the next day and a half, Kaminari had the house to himself, as long as his older sister didn't decide to pay an unexpected visit from university. Which show should I catch up on first? That new mecha anime everyone's talking about looks pretty solid, but then again, Okuda said that the latest season of Magical Girl Isekai Detectives is a real banger. And didn't the first episode of Heavy Metal Shinsengumi just drop yesterday?
"Way too many frickin' choices," Denki muttered under his breath, preparing to hop back onto his seat and resume pedaling as he reached the end of the alley and turned out onto a slightly wider street, devoid of any cars for the time being thanks to the weather. The well-lit windows and colorful holiday decorations of a convenience store beckoned from an adjacent corner, though, and Kaminari paused, tempted to drop in to grab some onigiri and a manga volume or two. Those thoughts vanished just as quickly as they'd arrived, though, when the glass doors parted and two girls from Denki's class emerged, sporting West Kita's plaid grey skirts and blue-red sailor scarves.
"Well hello there, ladies." Leaning his bike up against the nearest wall, Kaminari popped a comb out of his jacket pocket and ran it swiftly through his bright yellow bangs as he took a step out towards the duo. "Excited for all this snow we're about to get? Since everyone's about to be stuck indoors together, I hear the stores are stocking up on mistletoe." He punctuated the statement with a playful wink, still grinning confidently as the girls both giggled in reply.
"Excited to be stuck with anyone but you," the taller of the two replied in a teasing voice, sticking out her tongue as she brushed a few stray locks of dark brown hair out of her eyes. "Sorry, Kaminari, but you're gonna be stuck buying all that mistletoe by yourself."
"You're killing me, Yamada!" Denki cried in mock anguish, clutching at his chest. "The Ice Queen strikes again, with a critical hit!"
"Eh, you'll recover, just like you always do. Your HP pool is way too high." A bemused grin on her face, Yamada popped a stick of gum into her mouth and gave Kaminari a cursory wave goodbye before taking her friend by the hand to head off in the other direction.
"Text me!" Denki called after her, his hands cupped around his mouth. "We should hang out!"
"In your dreams, loverboy!"
A wistful sigh on his lips, Kaminari turned and mounted his bike again, his thoughts full to the brim with images of Yamada. She's such a perfect tsundere, he mused, smiling from ear to ear as he continued down the street, past pubs and cafes and apartments. Busy daydreaming about their future first date, Denki was hardly paying attention to directions or navigation anymore, something he only realized in hindsight several minutes later, when he glanced up and realized that he had no almost idea where he was.
Yikes. Must've taken a wrong turn back there somewhere, he concluded, turning the bike around. A stark contrast to the area he'd been riding through before, this narrow side street looked to be almost entirely shuttered and empty- it was noticeably more run-down as well, with several abandoned storefronts lying in disrepair. There was no one else in sight, and to make matters worse, the snow was falling thicker than ever, slowly obscuring everything around him. I thought it wasn't supposed to start coming down this heavy for another two days. Did the forecasters screw up?
His hair already coated with white flakes, Kaminari moved under the awning of a building to his left and began to pedal slowly and steadily back the way he'd come, glancing around to try and regain his bearings all the while. Come on, come on, just gimme a landmark and I should be fine. Denki's phone was readily available in his pocket, but he resolved to press on without it for the time being, determined for pride's sake to find the way back home without the aid of a maps app. He began to pick up speed a bit as he neared the next corner, only to screech to a sudden halt when someone stepped out directly into his path; Denki only stopped short of hitting them by a few scant centimeters, but hopped off to check on the man regardless when he stumbled back and nearly fell in surprise.
"I'm so sorry, du- uh, sir! That was totally my fault! Are you okay?"
"Completely fine, don't worry about it," the man answered, a warm smile on his face. Tall and lean, he looked to be in his mid-thirties, with brown hair tied up in a ponytail and stubble across his cheeks and jaw. His hands were shoved into the pockets of a heavy tan trench coat; he pulled one out to tighten the grey scarf around his neck as he stepped forward to join Kaminari in seeking shelter under the awning. "It's hard for anyone to see where they're going in all this damn snow."
"Tell me about it." Denki nodded in agreement. "I was just out playing baseball with some of my friends- we're lucky that it didn't start coming down like this until after we finished the game."
The man chuckled, shaking his head as he gazed off into the distance with wistful eyes.
"Baseball, huh? I'm out of practice now, but man, I could pitch a mean one back in the day. Almost went pro, until I screwed up my rotator cuff." He reached over and rubbed at his right shoulder, and a frown crossed his features.
"Whoa, seriously?!" Kaminari's eyes widened in excitement. "I'm real sorry about your injury, sir, but that's insane! You must've been crazy good! I'm actually trying to work on my pitching game- do you think you could teach me some tricks?"
"Call me Jun," the man replied, grinning again. "And you've got yourself a deal- I think I can teach you some pretty awesome stuff."
Kaminari hesitated slightly before responding. …First name basis already, huh?
"Haha, yeah. I'm Denki. Nice to meet ya, Jun."
"Nice to meet you too, Denki."
"So, I, uh…" Kaminari pulled his phone from the pocket, and glanced down at the time. Damn, that late already? "I should probably get going soon, the sun's about to set."
Jun glanced down at his watch, and nodded understandingly.
"Yeah, I guess you're right."
"Well, like I said, it was nice to-"
"You know, you really are a good-looking kid."
Denki's eyes narrowed in confusion for half a heartbeat, then shot wide open all at once. No, no, no. I must've misheard him, right?
"…W-What?" He finally stammered out, edging back towards his bike as the man's smile widened.
Kaminari felt his muscles tensing in fear, his heart pounding in his chest, but before he could take another step away or say another word, a hand latched onto his shoulder from behind, and a soaking wet white rag was being shoved into his face. A sweet, noxious, chemical odor surged into his nose, and in an instant he felt all the energy drain from his muscles. His legs buckled, and his arms fell limp at his side as the ground rushed toward him; only the hand gripping his shoulder kept him from hitting it. Black filling the edges of his vision, Denki tried to summon his quirk, to flood the alley with electricity, but his efforts only produced a few weak sparks from the tips of his fingers.
"Like taking candy from a goddamn baby," a strange voice growled somewhere above him- it was the last thing Kaminari heard before darkness overtook him completely.
Consciousness returned to Denki slowly, like a diver gradually surfacing from hundreds of meters beneath the waves rather than a sleeper suddenly jolting awake from his nightmare. Blurs of sound and occasional flashes of light and color were all he was aware of at first, so twisted and muffled and distorted that he was unsure whether they were real or simply fragments of some strange dream. Even forming a coherent thought was now a complex and laborious process; his mind was scrambled and disoriented, and his head ached like he'd been struck with a hammer. There was a gaping hole in Denki's memories- the last thing he could recall with any clarity was riding home amid the snow.
Where… am… no, when… How long has it…?
The throbbing pain grew even sharper the longer and harder Kaminari tried to think about what had happened to him, so after a few moments he gave up and tried to focus on his other senses. He couldn't move or even feel any of his limbs, but he was aware of a general sensation of constant movement, along with a steady, humming vibration.
Maybe… car?
Moments later, though, the movement drew to a sudden halt amid a dull screech of rubber. The rumbling vibrations ceased as well, and several dull thunks sounded nearby. Muffled voices became audible, growing nearer and nearer, and as he tried to muster up the strength to speak, Kaminari realized that there was a strip of duct tape across his mouth.
That's… weird.
There was a loud click to his right, and the trunk's door swung open, flooding the compartment with light and sound. There seemed to be two figures looking down at him, their silhouettes murky and hazy, like shadows in the shape of men. One of them said something, but Denki found that he couldn't even comprehend the words; he could only grunt weakly in protest as one of them grabbed his feet and the other took hold of his shoulders. Some of the feeling had slowly begun to return to his limbs, but he still didn't have the strength to move them. A gust of cold winter air sent a shiver racing through his body as they lifted him out of the trunk, and the dark black sky overhead told him that night had already fallen.
Let go, he tried to say, shaking his head weakly. I'm late… need to get back home… have to walk the dog…
"Is he waking up already?" The one holding his legs asked in a strange, hissing voice. He was coming slightly more into focus now; the man's features were decidedly reptilian, with greenish-brown scaled skin and a lizard-like head. Slit-pupiled yellow eyes gazed down at Kaminari suspiciously, and a forked pink tongue darted out from between a set of fanged teeth. "I thought you said he'd be out for at least another hour."
"Don't worry about it," the second man replied. Though Denki couldn't see his face from this angle, his voice was damningly familiar. "He's still tripping balls, he probably doesn't even know what's going on. But for the record, you were the one in charge of dosing the rag."
I think I… know him? What was his name…?
"Yeah, yeah. Go ahead and call this in, I've got him."
The reptilian man eased Kaminari's legs down to the ground and slung one of Denki's limp arms over his broad shoulders, keeping hold of the boy's wrist and side to prop him up. His eyes darting around in confusion, Denki felt his stomach turn with unease when he looked down at the man's hands; his long, scaled fingers were tipped with razor-sharp black talons.
"Wanna… go home…" He mumbled through the tape, his words slurred beyond recognition. It was growing harder and harder to remain conscious now, and his vision was beginning to fade again, but judging from their surroundings, it seemed that they'd come from the car into a narrow alley, with the wall of a warehouse on one side and a chain link fence on the other. A metal door waited for them a few yards ahead, leading into the building- it was still locked tight, covered in old, faded graffiti.
"You just take it easy," the lizard hissed, then glanced over at his partner, who had pulled out a cell phone and begun to dial a number. "We're gonna take real good care of-"
"FREEZE!" A new voice bellowed, forceful and insistent. "Drop the boy and get on your knees! Erimaki Ryuji, Yoshioka Jun, we have a warrant for your arrest! You're both wanted for kidnapping and human trafficking!"
Jun… I know that name… Jun, he was…
After minutes of steadily rising back towards the light, Kaminari finally broke the surface all at once- his eyes widened in horror as he realized where he was, and the memories of his abduction flooded back into his mind. Not a moment later, his body surged to life, kicking and thrashing despite his severely weakened state; in response, the lizard shifted his grip and pulled Kaminari against his chest, wrapping three knifelike claws around Denki's neck as he whipped around to face the intruders. Two figures stood at the entrance to the alley, illuminated by the soft red glow of the car's tail lights: a hero and his sidekick, from the look of it. The older and taller of the two, the hero sported a neatly trimmed blond goatee and a black domino mask over his eyes, and his dark green cloak and hood rippled in the biting wind. He held a bow in his hands, an arrow already nocked and drawn and aimed.
At his side stood a much younger girl, perhaps college-aged, with auburn-red hair tied up in a ponytail; she had an almost identical style of dress, domino mask and green cloak and all, though instead of a bow, she wielded a kusarigama, two short sickles held together by a length of chain.
"You heard him!" She cried, then whipped one of the sickles around in a wide circular arc above her head, with much more speed and force than any ordinary person would have been able to muster. "Let go of the hostage, Erimaki, or we'll make you let go! Yoshioka, put your hands behind your head!"
To their left, Jun swore viciously, tossed his cellphone aside, and tore off his trench coat, reaching for a pistol concealed in a holster at his hip; the hero let loose an arrow to stop him, but it snapped in two when it struck the jagged circular shield of solid stone that had burst out of Jun's wrist. Both of the man's arms had now turned to craggy, shifting rock, tearing his sleeves apart from the inside, and he chuckled darkly as he leveled his pistol at the archer hero with his free hand.
"Doesn't look your arrows pack enough punch, huh?"
"And it doesn't look like your quirk extends beyond your arms," the hero countered, readjusting his aim towards the man's head. "Shall we have it be a test of our reflexes, then? Because I can tell you now, mine will win every time."
"Everybody just calm the fuck down," the lizard cut in, "or else my hand might just slip. And if my hand slips, the kid's neck gets carved up like a goddamn steak. No one here wants that, now do we?"
The man punctuated his statement with a loud hiss, and a brightly colored neck frill burst out of the collar of his jacket for effect, stretching out almost a meter in length on either side of his head. The tips of his claws were already digging into Kaminari's neck the more he squirmed and twisted, so Denki forced himself to stay as still as he could manage, even as his heart pounded and his body trembled in panic.
"Please, help me!" He yelled into the strip of tape, but again it came out as nothing more than a series of indistinct grunts. Tears had begun to well in Denki's eyes; he tried to blink them away as the sidekick took a step towards them, and the lizard tightened his grip once more in reply. I'm gonna die here, a voice in his head shouted, as the first few drops of blood began to trickle past the collar of his school uniform, and matching drops of sweat streaked down his face. I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die.
"Stay calm, kid," the archer declared, still locked in a standoff with Jun. "We're gonna get you out of there. Everything's gonna be okay."
But somehow, with blood already dripping down his neck, the hero's words didn't feel as reassuring to Denki as they might have otherwise, or as credible. Not a moment later, though, feeling finally returned to the tips of Kaminari's fingers, and a spark of electricity crackled between them. My quirk, he realized, trying his best to think tactically in spite of the overwhelming urge to panic. I don't have a license yet, or even any training, so I'd definitely get in trouble for using it. But if I could help take down these scumbags, then… His thoughts trailed off as he glanced back towards his would-be rescuers, though, and his heart sunk in despair. The hero and sidekick were currently standing in a wide, shallow puddle of melted snow that spanned the length of the alley entrance, full of mud and dirt from the cracked, worn asphalt of the parking lot.
"Get back!" He tried to shout, straining his vocal chords to the limit. "Get out of the water!"
Once more, though, his words were unintelligible even to his own ears, and the sidekick indicated as much with her reply.
"Don't worry, okay?" She tightened her grip on the handles of her sickles, preparing to strike. "Just hold tight, and this'll all be over soon. We won't let them hurt you."
"Big words, missy," Erimaki hissed, "But I don't see any way you could stop me from tearing out this kid's throat if I wanted to."
"Alright, fuck this," Jun suddenly declared off to the left, beads of sweat racing down his brow. "Forget the kid. We gotta finish these punks, now."
"Roger that," The lizard growled in reply.
The next few moments passed in a blurred frenzy of motion. Jun fired his pistol, the hero loosed another arrow, Erimaki began to dig his claws into Denki's neck, and the sidekick lashed out with her kusarigama, all in the same instant.
Before he could even think to act one way or another, Kaminari's body made the decision for him, fueled by pure, raw instinct. Tall, lashing tongues of electricity burst out from him in every direction, far larger and more powerful than anything he had ever produced before. The light was blinding, accompanied by a sudden wave of heat; Denki screwed his eyes shut against the glare as screams of pain echoed all around him.
When the dust had settled and the screaming had stopped several long seconds later, Kaminari was the only one of the five left standing. As was usually the case after using his quirk, his world was a blur, his mind only firing at half-strength. Though he had never been inebriated in his life, he had always imagined the two feelings as being rather similar. Proper balance and coordination were now foreign concepts; he stumbled down to his knees as his vision gradually came back into focus, the alley spinning and swaying around him. Usually, it took him several minutes to fully recover from the detrimental effects of his electricity, but the horror of his current circumstances seemed to accelerate the process by a considerable degree.
As he returned to his senses, the first thing Denki noticed was the smell.
It was a horrid, noxious odor, carbon and copper and burnt hair and leather rolled all into one, flooding into his nostrils before he could reach a hand up to shield them; it took all the willpower he had left to suppress the urge to retch. A few painful moments later, the dark, hazy shapes around him finally resolved into a clear image again, and at once he understood with morbid certainty the source of the smell.
Erimaki, the lizard, had taken the worst of it. His charred, blackened corpse was scarcely even recognizable, an image straight out of the victims at Pompeii. A sickle and chain were still wrapped around the ashen remains of his left leg, one end of the sidekick's kusarigama. By the look of it, the electric blast had traveled straight up the length of the chain and into the young woman's waiting hands. She and the hero had both collapsed in the puddle at the alley, their still bodies dotted with coal-black scorch marks. Jun, for his part, was in a similar state, but the electricity didn't seem to have made much of a difference in the end- his head had been skewered by an arrow, buried up to the feathers in his eye as the barbed steel tip poked out through a wound on the far side of his skull.
"No, no, no, no, please," Denki murmured, his breath escaping in ragged pants as he staggered to his feet, tore off the strip of tape over his mouth, and lurched over toward the two heroes, a few shaky steps at a time. He tried the sidekick first, reaching down to her neck with trembling hands to check for a pulse.
"Please, god, please." He whispered, his eyes already welling with tears. "Let them be okay. Let them be okay."
A few seconds later, though, it was growing increasingly clear that his prayers had fallen on deaf ears. The steady beat of flowing blood was absent from her neck and wrists and temples, and her chest was still and motionless. Even her eyes had already glazed over, her face frozen in a permanent expression of shock and pain as she stared up into the black night sky. A quick inspection of the hero's body proved just as hopeless; he'd been struck by Jun's bullet, but only in a grazing blow to the shoulder. The jagged, smoking black burn mark which snaked up his neck and across half his face made it perfectly clear what had killed him.
"No, no, no, no, NO!" Kaminari's voice rose up to a terrified scream, then fell back to a whimper as he sunk down to his knees, clutching tufts of his golden hair in his hands. By now, the tears were streaming openly down his cheeks. "I didn't mean to… I-I d-didn't mean to…"
I'm gonna go to jail, he realized, as sobs continued to wrack his body. I killed two innocent people. I deserve to go to jail. I deserve to be locked away. I…
"I'm s-sorry." His voice was at the verge of breaking completely as he forced himself to look back down at their faces, to burn them into his memory. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."
Kaminari rose shakily to his feet, and lifted one hand up to the three shallow, weakly bleeding puncture wounds on his neck- amid everything else, he'd hardly even noticed them until now, but it seemed that his electricity had stopped Erimaki before his claws did any serious damage. Letting out a ragged sigh, Denki glanced out at the quiet, empty parking lot that lied beyond the kidnappers' car.
When the police come, he resolved, wiping the snot from his nose, I'll turn myself in. I'll turn myself in, and I'll-
He was still mid-thought when the door behind him – the one at the end of the alleyway, leading into the warehouse – slammed open, and two men in dark coats burst out, pistols in hand.
"What the fuck?!" One cried, stopping short the moment he saw the bodies. "Ryuji and Jun…"
"Did you fuckin' kill them?" The second leveled his gun in Kaminari's direction. "You little shit, what did you do?!"
Denki's map flapped open in shock, his reaction slightly delayed by the lingering effects of his quirk. It only took a matter of moments, though, before he scrambled to his feet and bolted towards the parking lot. Gunshots sounded off behind him, echoing through the night, but he paid them no heed as he sprinted forward, as fast as his shaky legs could carry him. As he neared the lot's far end, it became clear that he was in an industrial area of some sort, with no houses or cars or pedestrians to speak of; beyond the short access road to the complex, there was nothing but more warehouses and storage buildings in sight. On the horizon, he could make out the glow of city lights, but they were still far in the distance. Though the sharp cracks of the men's pistols had stopped for the moment, the rapid splash of approaching footsteps against the melting slush told Kaminari that the men hadn't given up their pursuit, and were steadily gaining on him.
Glancing down at his hands, Denki tried to reactivate his electricity as he ran, but his efforts only produced a few meager sparks; just as he'd suspected, he would need at least half an hour to produce anything more than a handful of volts after such a massive discharge.
"SOMEONE!" He shouted into the night, straining his voice to its limit. "HELP ME!"
As he neared the end of the access road, Kaminari's eyes darted to either side, searching for anyone or anything that might aid his escape. They settled on a grouping of distant headlights off to his right: a few hundred meters away, a busy highway was visible, packed with cars. It was on the other side of an empty field covered in freshly fallen snow and a tall chain link fence, but it was the only option Denki could see, aside from a series dark and empty buildings. Unwilling and unable to waste even a moment on deliberation, he pivoted to the right and vaulted over the access road's low guardrail, tumbling down an embankment and into the snowy field. Denki shot back to his feet in record time, though, and resumed his sprint toward the highway, even as the two men's shouts echoed behind him, unintelligible over the thundering sound of his own heartbeat.
Kaminari was nearly halfway to the fence and the highway when his foot suddenly caught on something beneath the snow- an upturned stone, perhaps, or an old tire. What it was hardly mattered, because, the result was the same regardless: he fell face-first to the ground, a sharp burst of pain lancing through his ankle.
"Got you now," One of his pursuers declared, panting. When Denki struggled back to his knees, they were standing just a few meters away, their guns raised. The one who had just spoken had shaggy black hair and stubble, while the other was muscular and bald.
"P-Please," Denki stammered, shivering against the cold as clumps of snow fell from his jacket. "Just l-let me go, man, I promise I won't-"
"Shut up!" The bald one interjected. "Put those hands behind your head, or I'll put a bullet right between your eyes! Now I want you to tell us what the hell happened back there in the alley, and don't lie! Was that your quirk?!"
"Why don't you leave the kid alone?" A new voice cut in.
All three of them turned in unison to face the newcomer: The man was standing a few dozen yards away, puffing at a cigarette as he watched them all with a bemused expression. Even in the dim moonlight, Kaminari could tell that his style of dress was extravagant, to say the least: He wore a matching purple jacket and pants, along with gold-rimmed glasses and a light pink scarf wrapped around his neck.
"And who the fuck are you?" The bald pursuer shifted his aim over to the new arrival, though the shaggy-headed one kept Denki in his pistol's sights.
"Oh, no one important," the fashionable man replied with a chuckle, running one hand through his silver-grey hair. "Just the guy who gets to decide whether you two worthless shits live or die. So if you intend to keep on breathing – which I assume you do – I suggest you both turn around and walk back the way you came. Understand?"
"Oh, I understand perfect," the bald one declared. "I understand that I'm about to pump your ass so full of lead, you'll be settin' off metal detectors half a goddamn block away."
The newcomer sighed, then flicked his cigarette to the snowy ground with an dispassionate shrug.
"I had a feeling you'd say something like that."
Then he snapped his fingers, and in the blink of an eye, the bald man disappeared into the ground amid a flash of dark purple light.
"W-What did you do?!" The shaggy-haired man whipped his gun around to face the intruder, his voice tinged with fear. "Where did he go?!"
The newcomer said nothing in reply- he simply raised one finger and pointed up at the sky. Moments later, a loud, steady scream became audible as the bald man plummeted from the starry depths back toward the ground, then slammed into the access road with a sickening splat.
"Fucking bastard!"
The other pursuer opened fire, but a swirling purple and black portal had already opened directly in front of the intruder; the bullets vanished inside it, then whizzed out of a second portal, placed behind the gunman, and slammed into his back.
Kaminari watched, dumbfounded, as the black-haired man dropped his pistol and fell to his knees, coughing crimson blood onto the fresh white snow, and as someone new emerged from the second portal: a thin, lanky man in a black sweater, a grey winter coat, and bright red sneakers. His head was adorned with two grey hands, one over his face and at the back, placed like some sort of macabre ornaments- the sight sent a shudder racing down Denki's spine, but he couldn't look away. Compelled by someone unknown instinct, he continued to stare, transfixed, as the thin man strode calmly towards the wounded gunman, with all the cold certainty and lethal intent of a wolf closing in on an injured deer. The black-haired man tried to dive for his weapon, but the wolf kicked it away with a dry, rasping chuckle, then reached down and latched both his hands onto the man's face.
The scream of agony that followed was bloodcurdling, but it trailed off after a few short moments; by then, the man's head had already been reduced to a pile of dust.
"You alright, kid?" Suddenly, the fashionable man was at his side, lighting another cigarette as he gazed down at him. "You look like you went through the ringer. The hell did those guys do to you?"
"Nothing good, one can assume," another, deeper voice replied.
A third new figure had appeared off to Kaminari's left, seemingly out of nowhere. Aside from two glowing yellow eyes, his head and arms were made of the same swirling purple-black material as the portals, and his style of dress was impeccable- his neat grey blazer, white dress shirt, and black tie stood in stark contrast to the outfits of his two companions. The lanky wolf had made his way over toward Denki as well, though he remained silent for the time being.
"T-They drugged me," Kaminari finally managed, after taking a few moments to collect his chaotic mess of thoughts. "Took me off the street in Saitama, and brought me here. I don't know what the hell they were gonna to do me after that, but two heroes showed up, and… and then…"
"We saw the rest," The fashionable one declared, his tone betraying a slightly sympathetic note as he continued to puff at his cigarette. "Quite, uh… regrettable, that those two heroes got caught up in it, but you did what you had to do to survive, as far as I'm concerned. And with a quirk like that, who can blame you?" He reached a hand down towards Denki, and his grin widened. "You can call me Giran, by the way. What should we call you?"
Kaminari, he nearly blurted, but the word caught in his mouth when he thought back to his encounter with Jun- to how trusting he'd been, and where it had led him.
"Matsumura. I-It's Matsumura."
Denki grabbed hold of Giran's hand and tried to rise to his feet, only to fall back to the ground with a yelp of pain the moment he put weight on his right ankle. Oh god, that's definitely a sprain.
"Well, Matsumura," Giran replied, squatting down so that he and Denki were at eye level, "the way I see it, right now you have two choices. Now, with that ankle, you ain't gonna be running anywhere, so option one is this: You wait right here in this field until the cops finally show up, and turn yourself in. You get some hefty charges thrown at ya for manslaughter and obstruction of a hero's duties, and even if the judges and the juries take pity on you on account of your situation, you'll be in juvie for a few years, on probation for a while after that. So the hero career you're probably aiming for, with that snazzy quirk? Done, gone, flushed down the toilet. You'll be tainted goods for the rest of your life, a hero killer. And that's nothin' against you personally – I'm sure you're a great kid – it's just the way the system works. Once the Public Safety Commission and the media find out, they won't ever forget it."
"And…" Denki swallowed nervously and glanced back toward the other warehouses and the access road, half-expecting the flashing blue and red lights of a police car to come into view at any moment. "What's the second option?"
"Well, as you may have guessed after the way we handled those two… friends of yours, we three aren't exactly on the best of terms with the law, or the heroes, for that matter." Giran gave a sheepish grin, and shot a glance over at the hand-masked man, as if he were waiting for permission to continue. When he received a silent, ambivalent shrug in reply, he turned his gaze back to Kaminari. "So it goes without saying that we don't intend to wait around until the cavalry arrives. But if you say the word, Matsumura, you can come with us. We'll patch you up, give you a place to stay the night, and get you back to where you need to be in the morning. Most important of all, though, we'll get rid of all the pesky evidence back in that alley linking you to tonight's unfortunate incident: DNA on the bodies, personal effects in the car, that sort of thing. This one here can vanish it into thin air, and just like that, it'll be gone. A clean slate." He jerked a thumb back in the direction of the sharply dressed portal wielder, and Denki's eyes widened.
"Y-You would do that for me? But…" He trailed off and shook his head, unwilling to believe that these strangers would act so generously without an ulterior motive. "What's the catch? What do you get in return?"
"What do we get?" Giran chuckled, then rose back to his feet. "Well, that's simple- we get a new friend. I'm in the business of making friends, as a matter of fact, so you can trust me when I say that these two are the real deal."
Kaminari's eyes shifted between the three men standing above him, then back to the distant parking lot and alleyway. Images of a potential future flashed through his mind: Sleeping in cold, empty police holding cell as he awaited trial. Crude graffiti covering the walls of his family's home, their postbox overflowing with hate mail from the dead hero's fans. Rejection from U.A., and from any other hero school, for that matter, and harassment on the streets as he made his way to a dead-end job. Another bead of cold sweat dripped from his brow, as an overwhelming sense of dread began to flood his mind. The path ahead that had seemed so clear and certain just a few minutes ago was now dark and murky, clouded with doubts and fears.
If I can make it all go away, then… Why should I have to turn myself in? Why should I have to go to jail? Give up on my dreams? Let down my friends and family? All over an accident? Over something I couldn't control, something that wasn't my fault?! Would that really be justice, when I was the victim?
He shook his head quietly, and gazed back up at his trio of unlikely rescuers.
That's right. It wasn't my fault. It wasn't my fault.
So maybe it's fate that they were here. Maybe it's fate that they saved me.
And who am I to go against fate?
A serene sense of acceptance settled over Denki's body, pushing back the dread; a heavy weight lifted from his chest when he realized that he already knew his answer.
"Okay. I'm in." Kaminari reached out once more towards Giran, his brows furrowed in grim resolve. "If you promise to get rid of it all, then… I'll come with you, yeah."
"Consider it done." Giran leaned down and took his hand, nodding solemnly. "Like it never even happened."
Denki took care not to put any weight on his right leg as he rose shakily off the ground and slung one arm around the older man's shoulders for support; within moments, another swirling purple portal had appeared in front of them, and they strode through together, into a dimly lit bar.
A few minutes later, Kaminari was sitting on one of the barstools with a gauze wrap around his sprained ankle and a bandage over the puncture wounds on his neck, sipping at a cup of hot green tea. His mud and sweat-stained school jacket was draped across the next stool to his right, slowly dripping melted snow onto the floor. Giran's muffled voice was partially audible as he made a phone call in the back office, and at the far end of the bar, the thin, white-haired man was sulking over a cup of sake, shooting occasional glances in his new guest's direction. He still hadn't spoken a word to Kaminari since their arrival, and Denki, for his part, was still too apprehensive to make the first move for himself. The awkward silence between them was beginning to grow unnerving, though, and Kaminari did his best to steel his nerves after taking another sip of tea.
"So, uh…" He swallowed nervously, his eyes fixed on the counter in front of him. "H-How long have you guys known each other?"
Thankfully, he was spared the pain of waiting for a reply when a portal opened a few meters behind him, and the warp quirk's wielder strode through.
"As promised," he declared, "any evidence of your involvement has been thoroughly disposed of. I doubt that the police will ever find the bodies of the heroes, or the two men who abducted you, for that matter. I also managed to retrieve some of your effects."
He set Kaminari's schoolbag and cellphone down on the counter, then stepped back behind the bar and plucked a bottle off of one of the upper shelves, continuing to speak as he poured two glasses of whisky on the rocks.
"I believe that it's past time for some belated introductions. You may call me Kurogiri. You're already acquainted with Giran, of course."
On cue, the silver-haired smooth talker emerged from the back office with a smile on his face and another cigarette in his mouth; he plucked one of the glasses of whisky out of Kurogiri's hands and took a seat to Denki's left.
"That we are. A toast, to Matsumura!" Giran reached over to clink his glass against Kaminari's mug of tea, grinning as he took a sip. "May our friendship be long and prosperous."
"Oh yeah, I bet you're real proud of yourself, Giran. You picked up another stray."
Denki nearly leapt out of his seat in surprise- the white-haired man was suddenly right behind him, practically learning over his shoulder. He had removed the hand he wore as a mask, revealing a pale, gaunt white face, unmistakably young yet still marked with blemishes, small scars and patches of dry skin, especially around his eyes, mouth, and neck. Two suspicious red eyes leered down at Kaminari, and an uncomfortable silence reigned until Kurogiri cut in.
"...And this is Shigaraki Tomura. Please forgive his lack of decorum; he is slow to trust outsiders."
"It's alright," Denki replied, as evenly and calmly as he could manage. "I get it. It must be tough, living outside the law like this."
"For someone like you, maybe," Tomura scoffed, prompting a disapproving scowl from Kurogiri. "What? It's true. At the end of the day, he just got lucky that we were there scouting out the area. He couldn't have handled those two thugs without us, and he wouldn't last a day out on the streets by himself."
"I don't know about that," Giran countered. "I mean, we all saw what he can do. That's the kinda quirk that'll land you at the top of the hero charts, kid. You are planning on being a hero, right?"
"Yeah, I am," Denki replied, perking up a bit as he finished off his cup of tea. "It's what I've always wanted. For a while tonight, after it happened… I thought that was all over. I thought that I was gonna have to…" he trailed off, his expression growing grim again. Giran seemed to notice; he gave a swift nod and gesture to Kurogiri, and a few seconds later, a third glass of whisky was sitting on the counter in front of Denki.
"Drink up, kid. You've been through a lot, this'll help calm those nerves."
"But…" He frowned, confused. "I'm only… I don't think I'm supposed to…"
"Yeah, and who's gonna stop you?" Giran asked, then laughed aloud. "It's like I said before- we don't necessarily abide by any laws or rules or statutes here. So do whatever the hell you wanna do for a change, why don't ya? Grow some hair on your chest."
With a hesitant nod, Kaminari took the glass in hand and rolled around the amber liquid and cubes of ice inside. The smell was acrid and unpleasant, like wood soaked in rubbing alcohol, but he slung back a sip nonetheless; it felt like a trail of cold fire surging down his throat, and despite his best efforts to the contrary, he found himself hunched over and coughing into his sleeve moments later. Kurogiri attempted to hand him a cloth napkin, but Denki waved it away, and gave the bartender a weak smile as he evened out his breathing again.
"I'm good, I promise. I think it was just a bit of a shock to my system, that's all."
The burning sensation had moved down to his stomach now, and with no food to speak of since well before his abduction, the effects of the liquor were rather sudden in their onset. After a second, less dramatic sip some moments later, Kaminari felt blood flushing across his cheeks, and he let out a quiet giggle as a slight lightheadedness came over him. Huh. So it does feel pretty similar to having my brain fried after all.
"Alright, I guess it's not so bad. A bit harsh, but definitely drinkable."
"Atta boy." Giran clapped him on the back, already beaming like a proud father. "Don't worry, you'll get used to the taste."
"Try and make sure he doesn't get too used to it," Shigaraki interjected, disapproval plain on his face. "I'd rather not get vomit on these floors."
"You're right, come to think of it." Denki sighed and pushed the glass back towards Kurogiri. "Probably best to leave it at that for tonight. I'd be a pretty terrible guest if I made a mess all over the place right after you guys saved my life." He gave them another smile, trying his best to hide a sudden swell of whisky-induced emotion. "And you guys did, for the record. Save my life. You're right, Shigaraki- I couldn't have taken down those two thugs at the end. My quirk is good for one big blast, but after that, it's gotta recharge for a while before I can go all out again. That, plus it usually zaps half the IQ out of my brain for a minute or two. Honestly, sometimes it seems like it has more cons than pros."
He paused and rubbed furiously at his watery eyes with one sleeve, praying that they somehow wouldn't notice.
"So… yeah. If you three hadn't shown up, I would be dead right now, laying in that field with a hole in my head. Or worse, I'd be back in that warehouse, where they'd be doing… god knows what, and I… I would never get to…"
All attempts to contain his emotions subsequently failed in short order, and the tears he'd been holding back for the past few minutes began to spill out all at once, streaming down his cheeks. Denki slumped down against the bar in an attempt to hide his face, and covered his head with his arms.
"T-Thank you," he managed to choke out between sobs, his voice muffled against the wood. "I k-know you didn't have to help. S-So thank you for my life."
"Of course, kid." Giran reached down to pat him on the shoulder again, more gently this time. "Of course. Let it out, okay?"
After another minute or so, the tears had mostly subsided; when Kurogiri reached over the counter to offer him the napkin again, Kaminari gladly took it this time, wiping at his swollen eyes and runny nose. Off to his left, Giran was alternating between whisky and cigarettes, but he glanced away from his glass to give Denki an approving nod as he recovered from the surge of emotions. To his right, meanwhile, Shigaraki had taken a seat again, and was staring at his sake with an expression that was much more contemplative than the annoyed grimace Kaminari had been expecting- it looked as if he were trying to summon up an old memory. He broke from the reverie some moments later, though, and his mouth set back in a frown as he looked in Denki's direction.
"Finally got it out of your system, huh? About time."
"Yeah, I… I think I'm good now. Sorry about that."
"No need for apologies!" Giran cut in. "We all have our own shit we've gotta deal with, and you, my friend, just went through more shit in one night than most people do in their whole goddamn lives. But you're here, you're alive, and things are only gonna get better from now on. Like that quirk of yours, eh? Get into a good hero program in high school, and you can practice with it, make it stronger. This time next year, I bet you'll be able to zap through a dozen kidnapping assholes and still keep on going."
"I hope you're right. I already applied to a few schools, actually." Denki reached over to his schoolbag, opened the main pouch, and pulled out a handful of loose school flyers that he'd collected over his various visits. U.A.'s landed at the top of the pile, the school's initials spelled out in bright yellow letters on a blue background, and at the drop of a pin, the entire mood in the room seemed to change. All three men stared down at the hero school's brochure with varying degrees of shock and awe, until at last Tomura finally spoke up.
"U.A.? You applied to U.A.?"
"…Yeah?" Kaminari returned his gaze with a quizzical expression. "What about it? You guys alums or something?"
"Not quite." Giran chuckled, and shook his head bemusedly. "I guess you could just say we're all real big fans of that place. If you don't mind me asking, what do you think about your chances of making it in? Do you have a good shot?"
Kaminari shrugged, and nearly reverted to the same type of modest, evasive answer that he was used to giving his friends at school. But then he felt a sudden burst of confidence, spurred partly by the whisky and partly by the watchful eyes of his new acquaintances.
"Well, the entrance exam is next month, and I heard from my sister's friend who went to U.A. that the practical section is almost always fighting training robots. If that's still true this year, then…" He stretched out his right hand and let a few bright yellow sparks jump between his fingers. "Let's just say I feel pretty good about my odds."
"That is quite encouraging to hear," Kurogiri declared. "Perhaps we could discuss the matter further over a meal? It occurs to me now that you likely haven't eaten in some time. Would donburi be amenable to you?"
"Yeah, of course!" Denki's stomach growled loudly at the thought. "You guys have a kitchen in here too?"
"Naturally," the warp user replied. "Eating at restaurants is rarely a luxury men engaged in a lifestyle such as ours can afford. Will it be the usual for you, Shigaraki?"
"Yeah, yeah, anything's fine." For his part, Tomura was still staring at the U.A. flyer- he was holding it with four fingers, his pinky raised in the air. When he noticed that Denki was watching him some moments later, he stood and handed back the brochure, something that almost resembled a genuine smile on his lips.
"I look forward to hearing how that exam goes."
"What my friend means to say," Giran interrupted with a grin, "is that we're all hoping things work out for you, kid. From now on, we're always gonna be in your corner, okay?"
"Even after you return home," Kurogiri added, "you'll always be a welcome guest here. With my quirk, you can to join us any time you wish; don't feel as if you're imposing. We keep our promises, Matsumura, and we take good care of our friends."
Matsumura. He flinched at the sound of the name, and a sudden surge of guilt for his earlier lie swelled up within him. I was just trying to be cautious, but after everything they've done for me…
"Kaminari." He finally responded, after a moment's consideration. He glanced back up at his three new companions, and smiled. "My name is Kaminari Denki."
Two Years Later
Saitama, Kita Ward
"Hey, sweetie! Is chicken curry okay for dinner?"
"Yeah, mom, sounds great!"
Setting the two heavy bags of groceries he'd just retrieved down on the kitchen table with a grunt, Kaminari leaned over to kiss his mother on the head as she set the timer on their rice cooker, then crouched down to give a few belly rubs to their family dog, Tonto.
"Dad not home from work yet?" He asked, glancing around the empty living room.
"Not quite, but he should be any minute."
"Alright, just let me know when the food's ready. I'll be upstairs."
Kaminari collapsed onto his bed practically the moment he stepped into his room, and let out a heavy sigh. After a grueling week of midterms at U.A., he was currently spending the weekend back at his family home in Saitama. He'd arrived on the train into town just a few hours prior, before spending most of the evening running errands for his busy mother.
Peace at last, he mused with a grin, pulling his phone out of his pocket to check his notifications. There were a myriad of new messages in the Class 2-A groupchat, and even more in his chat with Kirishima and Bakugo, but he dismissed all of them with a swipe of his thumb, zeroing in on a new text from Tokage Setsuna. Denki had been trying his best to lay the charm on Reptilia ever since the two of them partnered together in an inter-class quirk exercise the month prior, with relatively promising results: She hadn't completed rejected his proposal to go out for lunch together next weekend, though nailing down a definite time and location was proving difficult.
'Yeah, that Thai place looks pretty good,' her text read, 'and 1:00 seems like it works for me. But just so we're clear, this isn't a date, Kaminari.'
"Score," Denki muttered under his breath, grinning from ear to ear as he began to think of a proper reply.
Before he could start typing, though, an alarm on the phone began to ring, titled 'Call Friends'. Kaminari bolted upright in his bed and swore under his breath, cursing himself for forgetting- it was time for his biweekly check-in with Shigaraki, Giran, and the others in the League of Villains. Their in-person meetings had grown far less frequent over the past few months than they'd been during Denki's first year at U.A., apparently due to internal disputes within the League and trouble with a rival criminal group. When they last spoke, Giran had been vague on the details, advising Kaminari to 'try and steer clear of the whole thing, if you can help it'. Shigaraki, meanwhile, had been even more reticent in their last call, growing increasingly paranoid and accusatory the longer they spoke. He'd questioned Denki thoroughly regarding his loyalty to the League, and even threatened to out his allegiances to the public if he showed any sign of wavering.
Here's hoping he's in a better mood this time around, Denki thought as he pulled up the number that connected to Tomura's latest burner phone, stepped onto the balcony outside his room, and pressed call, closing the glass door behind him. The sun was dipping beneath the horizon in the distance, setting the sky alight with hues of orange and purple and red; as usual, Kaminari peered down at the yard below to make sure that no one happened to be in earshot before glancing back to his phone. Usually, either Kurogiri or Shigaraki picked up rather quickly, but this time, it was ringing for much longer than usual. Ten seconds passed, then twenty- as the call timer neared thirty, Kaminari was shifting his thumb to hang up when the ringtone suddenly ceased, and an eerie quiet descended over the line. Someone had answered the call, but whoever it was, they weren't speaking.
"Shigaraki?" Denki asked hesitantly. "Kurogiri? You there? If you're talking, I can't hear you. You might've hit the mute button on accident."
More silence. A shiver raced up Kaminari's spine, and once again, he was preparing to end the call and try the number again when an unfamiliar male voice finally spoke.
"I'm afraid that neither of them can make it to the phone at the moment. Shall I take a message?"
"What do you mean?" Denki let out a nervous chuckle, glancing down at his screen again to check whether he'd dialed the correct number. "Sorry, who is this? Are you a new member or something?"
"Not quite," the voice answered with a hint of amusement. "This phone was left behind when your dear friend Tomura fled this hideout in a panic some hours ago. You are speaking to its new owner."
What the hell, what the hell?! Is this for real?! His eyes widening in panic, Denki stammered out a shaky reply.
"O-Oh, I see. Well, I, uh… I should probably… go. H-Have a nice night!"
"I would strongly advise you against hanging up this phone," the voice countered coldly. "We've already traced your location, Kaminari Denki. Hang up, and U.A. student Chargebolt's secret relationship with the League of Villains will be making the evening news within the hour."
"What the fuck?!" Denki whispered, holding the phone away from his mouth as an expression of pure horror spread across his face. No, no, no this can't be happening. Am I fucking dreaming?! He reached down and pinched his arm to no avail, and nearly laughed aloud at the absurdity of the idea; his mind was a whirlwind of confusion and fear, and his mouth refused to function properly.
"I… I won't…"
"Still on the line, I see?" The voice chuckled. "Good. I was hoping I wouldn't have to resort to that measure. Destroying the career of a young hero hopeful such as yourself is hardly something I would've taken pleasure in."
"Please," Denki blurted- after a few moments to process what was happening, he'd finally found his voice again. "Please don't tell anyone. I-I'll do anything you want, man, I'll-"
"Begging won't be necessary," the voice interjected, taking on an almost reassuring tone. "Any relationship based solely on blackmail is doomed from the start. I would like to meet with you in person, Denki, and discuss this matter directly. I'm sure you had your reasons for siding with the League, but once you hear my side of things, what we stand for… I believe there's still a chance that you and I can become allies rather than adversaries."
"I… I would like that, yeah," Kaminari's heart was still pounding in his chest, and drops of sweat were pouring down his brow, but he did his best to calm himself as he replied. "Just let me know when and where you want to meet. I'd also definitely prefer to talk this out."
"I'm very glad to hear that. I'll be in touch tomorrow morning, so keep your phone handy."
"Of course, yeah." Denki nodded, his heartrate slowing again. "Don't worry, I'll be here."
"Good. And Denki, one last thing- seeing as I already know your name, it only seems fair that you should know mine, yes?"
"Y-Yeah, sure. If you say so."
"You can call me Izuku. I look forward to meeting you."
Then the line went dead with a click, and Kaminari was left standing in shocked silence as his mother called him back down for dinner.
Happy Halloween, everyone, and happy belated second anniversary to Entropy! What better way to celebrate this holiday than by resurrecting a story that's been dead for five months?
In all seriousness, I'm so sorry that it's been this long. But between the pandemic, personal issues, and a variety of other factors, this has been a tough past few months for me, and keeping up with my writing has been incredibly difficult. Being stuck at home thanks to this virus has actually hurt my productivity rather than helping it, since I usually do 80-90% of my work out at cafes and libraries. But I'm hoping that I can start to get back into the groove of things after cranking out this chapter, and the holidays should help as well.
As for the chapter itself, I've been itching to tell Kaminari's backstory for a while, and I felt like it was best to take it out all in one go rather than breaking it into little pieces. I hope you enjoyed his tragic tale, but if you're waiting to get back to Seraph and Kendo, don't worry- next time, we'll be picking back up with our main plot. And if you're enjoying the story, don't forget to leave a review! They make a huge difference!