Chapter 109
.::Ready or Not::.
Shouto was not ready.
He thought he was ready to face Dabi. He thought he was ready to talk to this world's version of his brother and hear his side of the story. He thought he was ready to answer the next phone call from the mysterious "D" on his phone. And actually, maybe he was ready for a phone call.
But he definitely was not ready to meet him face to face.
"SHOUTO YOU DAMN BRAT, GET THE FUCK BACK HERE!"
Dabi's voice echoed through the stairwell as Shouto threw himself down the stairs three steps at a time. He could hear the older male's footsteps pounding down the steps, but did not dare turn back to look. His right hand glided over the handrail on the wall as he raced downstairs, frost blossoming beneath his fingers and rapidly spreading along the rail to the wall and steps. Anything to slow down this reunion, which he was not ready for.
Meanwhile, Dabi was very ready.
He had spent weeks worried sick about the stupid brat—a full fucking month. Had fluctuated between anger, and concern, and frustration, and fear, and absolute fury more times than he could count. Right now, he was back to incandescent rage.
He had searched every place he could think of. He contacted other people for help. Kuroe, Hawks, that random floaty girl he'd met... He'd risked being left in other people's debt, something he loathed with a burning passion. He'd even been prepared to take the giant leap and talk to Aiko. What did he care if she might raze the underworld looking for the brat? At least she might get results.
So yes, he did not expect to see Shouto right now, but he was fucking ready.
As ice began to bloom and grow to block the stairwell he reacted immediately, blue flames flickering around his fist as he punched through the newly formed wall. Steam practically exploded as the fire made contact, the ice shattering like glass under his fist. He never broke stride as he ran right through the cloud of steam—or he wouldn't have, if he hadn't freaking slipped on the now-wet steps from the abruptly melted ice.
He flung out his hand to the railing on the outside of the stairs to catch himself, managing to keep himself from falling down completely. As he did, he made a split-second decision and grabbed the railing with his other hand, and flipped himself over the edge. He swung in a perfect arc over the top, a perfect half-circle that had him swinging beneath the stairs he had stood on, and released his grip to land on the flight directly beneath his starting point.
A risky move, but one that landed him right in front of his idiot brother.
Shouto skidded to a stop when Dabi suddenly blocked his path, the (not-)villain stumbling a bit as he landed on the steps but quickly steadying his footing. "Stop running away you stupid brat!" he snarled, blue eyes shining with rage. Blue eyes typically got described as icy and cold, but in this instance they blazed, his anger just as hot as the azure flames he produced.
For half a second Dabi's face disappeared, replaced by Endeavor's own ferocious scowl and burning glower. This close and with more light than there had been in that forest in the dark of night, Shouto could see the resemblance to their father more than ever. Dabi's eyes were identical, the color an exact match for Endeavor and Shouto's own left eye.
Any potential doubt that might linger about his identity vanished. He was definitely Endeavor's son, definitely Touya.
Either way, Shouto was still not ready for this.
He turned to run back up the stairs but was stopped by the sight of ice coating the steps. Running up those would guarantee slipping and falling, so instead, he spun to face the side of the stairs and flung his right hand towards it.
His plan: use the ice to make a slide for himself, or something to that effect.
His mistake: Forgetting Dabi knew him in this world.
Dabi had lived with Shouto for a year now. He'd been dealing with the brat's bullshit for a year, had gotten used to all his tricks and clever little schemes. The moment Shouto turned to the side of the stairs, he knew what he was thinking, and the very second the first ice crystal formed a stream of blue fire shot out to block its path. Shouto jumped back in surprise, clearly not expecting that, and nearly slipped on a patch of ice in the process.
"You're not getting away that easy!" Dabi snapped. "You've got a lot of explaining to do!"
Shouto stared at him in a panic, fight or flight kicking in. Flight was out, so fight it was. He immediately raised his right hand, ready to freeze him—
Only for a feather to suddenly stab through his sleeve, the momentum flinging his arm to the wall and pinning it there.
Shouto turned to gawk at it, eyes wide. Shit. He forgot about Hawks.
"Kid, do us a favor and stop trying to run," the Pro called from above. "I don't know what's going on, but we just want to talk peacefully." Shouto ignored him, yanking the feather out from his sleeve—or at least, he tried to. It had embedded into the wall more deeply than he realized, refusing to budge when he tried to pull on it.
As he struggled Dabi lunged, quickly grabbing his free wrist and twisting it so his palm faced the ceiling. The sudden movement caught Shouto by surprise, and he then gasped as Dabi drove a knee into his gut. He immediately doubled over, leaning against his brother as he wheezed and tried to catch his breath. He couldn't bend like that for long before Dabi slammed his wrist against the wall though, forcing him to stand upright.
"Okay, that looked a bit harsh," Hawks commented as he glided down the stairwell over the ice.
"Yeah, yeah, just give me a hand," Dabi called, and the hero obliged by flinging three more feathers so that a total of two pinned each of Shouto's wrists to the wall. Like that he was stuck, back to the wall and each foot left on different steps. For a moment there was silence as Hawks joined Dabi, partially due to Shouto still being too winded to speak.
"...You know, the stairwell probably isn't the best place for this," Hawks remarked, eying Shouto's uneven footing on the narrow steps.
"Yeah, it's not," Dabi huffed in agreement. And then because his brother was apparently a jerk in both worlds, he delivered a heavy punch to Shouto's gut. That had him jerking with another wheeze, eyes actually tearing up a bit.
Hawks winced sympathetically. "Seriously, dude? Why'd you do that?"
"Partially to make sure he can't act up, and also because he deserves it for freezing me in a fucking glacier," Dabi replied breezily. "Now help me move him." Even as he spoke he yanked Shouto's pinned wrists with enough force for his sleeves to rip around the feathers, freeing him from the wall. Not that it did Shouto any good with his current state; he practically collapsed against Dabi, still breathless from the two hits.
"I could've just pulled them out," Hawks muttered, but pulled out a pair of high-tech handcuffs as he stepped forward. Shouto's eyes widened in recognition, recognizing them as stun cuffs that would react to people's Quirks activating. He struggled weakly, but ultimately was still too weak to resist as Hawks snapped them around his wrists. "Sorry kid, can't have you freezing or burning us. And these are also the only handcuffs I happen to have on me right now, so, yeah."
Great. Shouto was now restrained and couldn't use his Quirk. Or he could, but he'd get a shock even stronger than Kaminari's. While Shouto had a decent pain tolerance, it wasn't that good.
Either way, he was in the worst case scenario now. Captured by his brother and Hawks, entire cities away from his friends with no way to tell them he was in trouble. He scowled as Dabi grabbed an arm and began leading him down the stairs, Hawks's steady hand on his shoulders helping to prevent him from falling. "Might want to slow down, I think he's still winded from that punch," the pro commented. "Don't want him losing his footing."
"Yeah, well, I don't think he'd like me—"
"—test was so bad! I didn't even know what half those questions meant!"
Wait, what?
"Oh, come on, they were a little tricky, but we've covered all that this year! What got me were the formulas."
Those... weren't Dabi or Hawks. They sounded like teenagers, their voices backed by a distant din of chatter too faint to pick out clearly, but still present. When he lifted his head a bit he could see Dabi's mouth moving as he responded to Hawks, but couldn't hear him, some teenage girl's voice sounding instead.
"I know, right? I crammed so hard this weekend, but when I actually looked at the test, I could barely remember anything!"
"Ah, good old test anxiety, our old friend."
"Yeah, well, it's not just the questions!" the first voice argued. "I'm jinxed, too! Halfway through the last test, my pencil—"
"—to-chan," Dabi said, the teenagers' voices suddenly gone. Shouto blinked at the sudden quiet in the background, feeling slightly dazed at the shift. What just happened?
He shook off the thought as Dabi led him down the hall to an empty room that was probably an office at one point, shoving him inside. Shouto grunted as he stumbled forward and fell to his knees, hands splaying out to catch himself. The motion just reminded him of the soreness in his stomach and lingering difficulty with breathing.
"R-rude," he grumbled, voice still a bit breathy from the whole gut punch thing.
"Don't care," Dabi spat. "Still not as rude as trapping me in a fucking glacier." This made the second time he'd referenced that, he seemed to be holding a grudge over it. Which was probably fair. Between that and then ghosting him, Dabi had plenty of reason to be angry at Shouto.
"Sorry," he wheezed out. Judging by the glare, his apology didn't really appease Dabi. He just stood over Shouto and crossed his arms, glaring down at him.
"Alright, brat," he said. "Spill. What the actual fuck is going on, and why the hell have you been ghosting me?"
Shouto just kept his mouth shut, this time out of stubbornness rather than a lack of breath. He wasn't going to risk saying something that could get his friends in trouble. The last few times he'd tried to explain anything hadn't ended well after all. And he didn't think Dabi would accept "I'll explain after everything's done" the way Hawks had.
Of course, Hawks hadn't really accepted that response, either. "I asked earlier, but he refused," the hero piped up, leaning against the wall by the door with folded arms. "Said he'd explain after 'everything is over,' so he's caught up in something. Just don't know what."
"I figured," Dabi snorted. "I at least want an explanation about why you fucking froze me!" He was definitely holding a grudge over the glacier. "Seriously kid, do you have any idea how much it fucking hurts to have scar tissue like this directly in contact with ice?"
Okay, when he phrased it like that, Shouto could understand why he was still angry about it. He frowned, still not wanting to give away anything about his friends, but he recognized he probably owed him some sort of explanation for that part at least. "I panicked," he explained with a shrug. "I thought I was kidnapped. I'm sorry."
As he expected, Dabi did not look impressed by the explanation. "You thought you were kidnapped," he said flatly. "Why the hell would you think that?"
Now, at this point, Shouto knew "because I'm from another world where you're a villain and didn't know you're my brother" would lead to either doubt or more questions, just like every other time he'd explained the truth. And either way, it probably wouldnʼt end with Dabi believing him. In fact it would probably just piss him off even more.
So this time, Shouto decided to do what he probably should have done in the first place: lie.
"I had a nightmare," he declared bluntly. The look he got in return was even less impressed.
"A nightmare," Dabi repeated, voice dripping with general disdain, and Shouto nodded.
"You were a villain, set a forest on fire and kidnapped my friend." Might as well borrow from reality for the details of the nightmare.
"And that was enough to make you attack me when you woke up, and run away?"
"It was a very realistic nightmare," Shouto replied with a shrug. "You pulled him into a portal and mocked me by saying my name. I think you wanted to kill me too, but wanted to wait for a better moment for maximum impact. Maybe in front of Endeavor? Anyways, you looked really cruel when you smiled at me. And you smiled at me when you woke up, so that reminded me of the dream. So, I panicked."
The look Dabi gave him could now be best described as a cross between total exasperation and utter disgust. "...fucking brat, that's the stupidest bullshit..." He grumbled under his breath too quietly for Shouto to pick up on, but he heard enough to confirm his brother wasnʼt pleased with his answer.
"Okay, so assuming that's actually true and not some random excuse," Hawks interjected casually, "then why didn't you go back afterwards? And then start ignoring Dabiʼs calls?"
Shouto paused, trying to think of a good lie to explain that part. Saying he simply forgot about Dabi was definitely not an option. He could say the phoneʼs battery died and he never found a way to charge it, but then he remembered he answered the call from Hawks that one time. Maybe if he said that he had it on mute, and just happened to miss the calls every time? But then they would ask why he didn't simply call him back, which he should have been able to do by just unlocking the phone.
He could tell them the truth about how he didnʼt remember his phoneʼs password, and thus couldnʼt access his contact list. That might be believable. But what if it was something very simple and obvious, like his own birthday? (Which, come to think of it, he probably should have tried at some point, but oh well.) Maybe if he said he changed it while half-asleep after running away, and then forgot what the new password was—
Except, wait, what if he had Dabiʼs number memorized? Endeavor made all of them memorize the numbers for his cell phone, his agency, and even his personal assistant, just in case of an emergency. So since Shouto and Dabi lived alone on the streets, wouldnʼt it make sense to memorize each otherʼs phone numbers too? So that might not work either—
"Shouto, youʼve been totally silent for the last three minutes," Dabi suddenly announced. Shouto blinked and noticed the man scowling at his phone, probably checking the time. "I was almost curious what sort of excuse you would come up with, but after taking this long? Fuck it. I know it wonʼt be the truth, and Iʼm sick of waiting."
"Personally, I donʼt mind waiting a little longer," Hawks commented nonchalantly. "If heʼs putting this much thought into it, it must be pretty entertaining."
"Hawks, I think you are vastly overestimating Shoutoʼs imagination," Dabi quipped dryly. "Brat literally chose 'Yukiʼ as a fake name. Not even something like 'Yukiteruʼ or 'Hiroyukiʼ or even 'Yukito,ʼ just Yuki. And when I asked for a surname, you know what he came up with?"
"What?"
"Yukimira. He wanted to be Yukimura Yuki."
Dabiʼs voice dripped with exasperation and something close to derision, making Shouto frown. "Whatʼs wrong with that?" he asked defensively. Yukimura Yuki seemed like a perfectly good name to him.
Dabi just scoffed and waved an arm at him. "See?"
"Okay, yeah, he definitely isnʼt the best at names," Hawks allowed with a nod, and Shouto frowned at him. Rude.
Dabi scoffed as he slipped his phone into his pocket, directing a scowl at Shouto. "Anyways, enough stalling," he said. "Talk, now."
His voice carried a hard note matched only by the intensity in his eyes. Seemed Shouto had worn out Dabiʼs patience while trying to come up with that lie, and he wouldnʼt be given any more time now. When he realized he couldn't come up with a believable one on the spot, he shrugged and settled on, "It's complicated."
Dabi actually howled with anger at that, throwing up his arms in frustration with a roar. "ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME—OW!" He cut himself off with a sharp hiss of pain as a crumpled soda can bounced off the back of his head, making him whirl around with a scowl. Hawks was instantly more alert and pushed off the wall, eyes wide as he turned to the door.
"Wait, what—"
That was when a small, silver orb sailed into the room, and upon hitting the floor it exploded into thick white smoke. Shouto was briefly stunned, but then heard and felt someone rush over to him. In an instant he was yanked to his feet and dragged towards the door, and he glanced at the hand gripping his arm to see familiar pink skin. Ashido?
They barely got two steps before there was a beat of air and a gust of wind blew away the smoke. It came courtesy of Hawks's wings, already folding behind him again due to the cramped space of the room, but that one beat had been enough to expose the two teens in the middle of the room.
Ashido looked wild-eyed and frantic under the sudden scrutiny, her fingers digging into Shouto's arm with a vice-like grip. Shouto had expected her to be wearing the wig but surprisingly she wasn't, her natural pink hair and horns on full display. She grit her teeth in apprehension, her head lowering almost like a bullʼs as she regarded the two adults warily.
Predictably, Dabi looked pissed. "Okay, what the hell?" he demanded. "Who the hell are you—"
"You're... Ashido Mina, right?" Hawks asked, and she winced at her name, squeezing Shouto's arm a little tighter. "You're one of the kids that ran away from Oracle's watch."
"Stay back," she warned, voice tight with tension and wariness. "We're leaving now, so don't try to stop us."
"Kid, do you really think you can stop us?" Dabi asked dryly. "Birdbrain over here is pretty much the number one hero at this point, or would be if the Commission still bothered with the rankings system. And I don't know what the hell your Quirk is, but you realize Shouto can't use his Quirk with those handcuffs, right?" Ashido's head turned just enough to glance at the stun cuffs on his wrists, before quickly swiveling back to the adults.
"I don't think I can win," she admitted, "but I don't care. I'm not letting you hurt or shout at Todoroki anymore, you—you big meanie-pants!"
The lackluster insult had Dabi snorting. "Really? Meanie-pants? What are you, a grade schooler?"
"How do you two even know each other?" Hawks asked, eyes narrowing with a calculating glint. Shouto stilled, mind blanking as he tried to come up with a believable explanation.
Unlike Shouto though, Ashido Mina was an exceptional liar. She had once faced down a terrifying villain and spouted off false directions to some hero agency with a perfectly straight face, managing to keep her cool until after he had lumbered off. Compared to that looming giant, Dabi and Hawks felt like nothing.
So she dug her heels into the floor and held her head high, glaring at them defiantly as she declared, "We're dating."
There was a brief silence after that, all three males staring at her wide-eyed. Even Shouto stared at her, stunned at the declaration. "...What?" Dabi finally asked.
"I said, we're dating!" she repeated, eyes hard and vicious as her hand slid down to grip his wrist. "Todoroki and I are dating!"
Dabi just continued to gape at her in shock, while Hawks tilted his head. "Huh," he said faintly. "Didn't see that one coming." Neither did Shouto.
"...Okay, that is definitely a lie," Dabi said, recovering from his shock and shaking his head. "No way Shouto would know the first thing about dating. I love him and all that, but the kid's duller than a sack of rocks when it comes to regular social interactions, let alone dating." Ashido's fingers tightened on Shouto's wrist as she scowled at him.
"Why do you find that so hard to believe?" she questioned hotly. "What kind of older brother says that kind of thing? Don't you have any faith in him at all?"
Dabi scoffed, crossing his arms with a smirk. "I am ninety percent sure Shouto wouldn't know romance if it hit him over the head with a brick, so no. But screw it, I'll humor you. This actually is amusing." He chuckled, smirk cocky and patronizing as he asked, "So, how'd you two start dating?"
"We met through my best friend!" Ashido declared confidently without missing a beat, and he arched his eyebrows.
"Your best friend."
"Yeah! Todoroki saved her brother from a mugger, so she invited him to see a movie with us as thanks! It was love at first sight, right, Todocchi?" She turned back with a sweet smile, and Shouto blinked at the unexpected nickname but nodded, fully aware he was out of his element and should just play along.
"Sure... Ashi...chi?" He might not be the best at playing along.
"That's better than your last one, but we can work on it later," Ashido reassured him with a kind smile, before turning back to the adults while wrapping his arm in a hug with a grin. "I asked him out right then and there, and he actually said yes! And the rest is history!"
Dabi didn't look remotely moved by her tale. "Love at first sight, huh. So you just fell for his looks?" Ashido's grin immediately fell, replaced by a glare.
"Of course not! There's way more to him than just a pretty face!"
"Oh yeah? What do you even know about him, Pinkie?"
"His name is Todoroki Shouto, but he likes to go by Yuki," Ashido replied instantly, voice snappy and still defiant. "His birthday is January 11, and he likes cold soba which is good because he shouldn't be allowed to use kitchens unsupervised. HIs favorite color is blue, and he prefers to use ice over fire because of some baggage with your dad, but you obviously know that last part. He likes traditional-style architecture and furniture, and would go for that sort of decor if he got an apartment instead of modern furniture."
Shouto blinked as she rattled off the points rapid-fire, surprised she remembered all that. He certainly didn't know Ashido's birthday or favorite food, or her taste in furniture. Even Dabi seemed surprised at the stream of accurate information, his cocky smirk fading to a contemplative frown. "...Huh. That's a lot of details."
"Of course it is," Ashido huffed. "We're dating. What kind of girl wouldn't know that sort of stuff about the guy she likes?"
Did... Did Ashido actually have a crush on him? Was that why she remembered all those details?
Hmm. Him and Ashido. She wouldn't be his first choice, but... actually, he'd never really thought about dating before. He'd barely even thought about friends before, let alone girlfriends or boyfriends. Anyways, Ashido was nice and enthusiastic, and obviously had risen in his meager list of friends since this mess began, but... was she his type? She seemed to be kind of flighty and oblivious at times, and hardly the best at grades. Hardly the sort of partner that Endeavor would consider a good fit for him (not that he would actually voice that opinion these days, since he was trying to win Shouto's favor).
...Would spite towards his father be a good reason to date someone?
He'd think about it later. Hawks was looking at him now, his gaze more curious than analyzing. "Okay, she obviously knows a lot about you," he said. "What do you know about her?"
Shouto quickly racked his brain for whatever he knew about Ashido. Luckily, thanks to the recent Cultural Festival he had some more knowledge on his classmateʼs interests than before. "Her name is Ashido Mina. Her favorite color is pink and she likes dancing, and is really good at it." Ashido preened at the praise, beaming as she held her head even higher. "I... guess she'd decorate her room with pink stuff?" Her dorm was full of pink furniture, now that he thought about it. "Also, she likes aliens." She did try to choose the codename "Alien Queen" originally. "I don't remember her birthday though."
"It's okay, Todocchi," she crooned reassuringly as she patted his hand. "I know boys aren't as big on remembering dates and anniversaries like girls are, so I don't mind." Was that true? Shouto was learning a lot about dating right now.
"You're sounding more like a stalker than a girlfriend," Dabi remarked dryly, and she immediately spun back to him with a galre.
"Yeah well, at least I'm not a crummy older brother who puts him in handcuffs like you! What kind of jerk does that?"
"He also kneed and punched me in the gut," Shouto felt inclined to add, and she turned to gape at him for a moment before her head snapped back to Dabi with a vicious snarl.
"You hit him? That's totally child abuse! And you!" She used the arm not looped around Shouto's to jab a finger in Hawks's direction, the hero blinking placidly as she snapped, "You're a Pro Hero! How could you stand by and let him do that?"
Hawks held up his hands in mock-surrender. "In my defense, he hit Shouto's gut with his knee to stop him from trying to use his Quirk so we could have a chance to restrain him. He kinda froze Dabi in a glacier the last time they saw each other, so we didnʼt want a repeat of that. I did tell him off after the punch, though. That one was unprovoked, and I wouldʼve stopped him if I knew he was going to do that."
Ashido paused to consider it, and then nodded. "Okay, that's still sucky, but I kinda get it. But you're still a giant jerk and awful big brother!" She jabbed her finger at Dabi, who returned it with an apathetic glower. "Seriously, what kind of older brother punches his poor little brother, and then keeps insulting his girlfriend right in front of—"
That was when the window behind them suddenly broke, a pink object flying right at Hawks. The hero quickly dodged, well-honed reflexes allowing him to avoid the projectile so it hit the wall behind him instead, but he couldn't avoid the sudden explosion of pink goo.
Everyone reflexively moved back from it, Dabi jumping back with a curse and Ashido shoving Shouto towards the back of the room. Hawks was too close to get away though, and he yelped in surprise as it splattered onto his side and right wing. His eyes were wide as he twisted his head to look at the mess, some of his feathers twitching under the goo but not moving.
"What the—it's sticky?" he sputtered, and his face twisted with horror as he turned to them. "Shit, Dabi—"
"INCOMING!" a familiar voice yelled, and Ashido practically body-slammed Shouto further towards the back of the room as a silver object flew through the window. It sailed past them to hit the floor near Dabi and Hawks's feet, releasing a thick cloud of smoke. And even as the room filled up, Shouto could hear the whiz of yet another object flying past them, followed by the same noise as when the first goo bomb exploded.
Dabi and Hawks both shouted in dismay, but Shouto didn't get a chance to see what had happened through the smoke. Ashido was already pushing him to the now broken window, and he heard the crack of glass shattering as more of it was knocked inwards. At this point he could see Uraraka outside, holding a large rock which she promptly threw to the ground.
"It's clear enough, go!" she called, and disappeared from sight. Then Ashido was shoving him through the window head-first, almost throwing him out. Shouto had exactly one millisecond of "oh crap, I'm going to fall" before he felt a slap on his head and suddenly hovered in place. He had two milliseconds to look at Uraraka and register that she was standing on a thin ledge outside the windows before Ashido pushed him again.
Shouto was sent gently careening towards the ground as Ashido jumped out the window behind him, Uraraka slapping her as she passed. The two girls locked hands and let Uraraka's weight drag them down to the ground, while the force of Ashido's shove allowed Shouto to also descend. He reoriented himself so he was feet-first, which was good because Uraraka released her Quirk before any of them reached the ground, making them all drop.
As soon as their feet landed Ashido grabbed his arm again and they were running, fleeing from the building. "Move before they get out of those sticky bombs!" she barked, and Shouto nodded briskly as he picked up his pace. He twisted his head to look back at the building, catching a brief glance of Dabi watching them from the window with pink stuck in his hair.
Then they turned the corner, and he was gone from sight.
And so, a grand escape occurs! The first half of this chapter is actually the original draft to Chapter 100. Dabi would've shown up at Aiko's apartment building in Chapter 99, and THAT chase would have ended with Izuku and Uraraka yelling for them to stop because they were damaging the building and *might* piss off Aiko. I am so happy I could use what I wrote for it, I love the way it opens~
Remember the art contest? The prize included giving me one sentence I'd have to incorporate into Ignite somehow. One of the winners, MooseMuse, requested this sentence: "We're dating." I INSTANTLY thought of this scene with Ashido and Todoroki, and I love how it turned out. It's a GREAT way to buy time for Uraraka to get in place for the escape route.
All that said, I expect some people will be upset that the reunion ended like this, and the Todoroki relationship seems on track to return to the status quo. I'll assure you now, it's not. Just because Shouto escaped doesn't mean the reunion's COMPLETELY over. Next chapter is a direct continuation of this one (and also an explanation of how the escape came to fruition).
Question for next time: What excuses would you use for the "didn't ever call him" thing?