Chapter 28

"All ready?" Mineta asked, holding one of his beads in his hand and throwing it up and down. Around them, the shorter boy had already prepared his field, covering it on his Quirk's balls. Kazuki, for his part, let his shadow darken and wisps of grimm to be flaring out of it, never quite forming.

"I'm ready," Kazuki answered with a nod and a determined looked. They'd be fighting with Quirks this time, but he'd limit himself to no grimm. It might seem like quite the drawback to take, but that was kind of the point. He couldn't always have grimm fighting for him. Sooner or later, he'd have to face someone on his own and he needed at least some aces up his sleeve for such instances.

Which was why they were about to test things. Both of them, actually, since Mineta hadn't quite tried what he was about to do in a spar yet. Maybe it was a little foolish of them to both experiment with things at the same time but… There shouldn't be any danger of accidents. At most, they'd be embarrassed and annoyed, they were sure.

"Let's go then," his vertically challenged friend decided, jumping and starting his new attempt at a move. It was simple enough in concept but, Kazuki knew, a nightmare to pull off in execution. What Mineta was trying was to basically bounce off his own beads to gain speed. The problem was that the beads were small and round, so it was quite difficult to get himself to go in the direction he wanted.

Mineta had been practicing on that for a while though and Kazuki watched his friend start circling him faster and faster to the point that he started having trouble following. At that point was when he tensed up. Mineta would get started any moment and he needed to be ready, his negativity flowed into his shadow, waiting for the moment the chance came.

And there it was, Mineta throwing one of his beads at him had Kazuki raising an arm. Not to catch it, but to block it. Not with his arm, but with his grimm. Immediately, from his shadow rose a half-formed beast, not unlike his failed attempts at creating new beasts. This time though, it was on purpose.

The shadowy shape was a shell of what it was based off of. Barely any muscle and some plates, the side of a boarbatusk without a body to cling to, no limbs nor head. Just the side, but it was all Kazuki needed. A shield formed between him and the incoming attack.

The bead hit the hastily raised barrier and then fell to the ground as Kazuki let the thing turn to black dust. 'It worked,' he thought, quickly blocking yet another throw made by his friend. It was a new idea he'd developed, but it had worked and it had done so very well. Surprisingly well, really, but he was certainly not complaining.

The Grimm Guard, as he would call it, would be very useful. It allowed him to have a "meat shield" without needing to fully form a grimm, which meant that it didn't add a strain to his control of other grimm. It also made it so that he could fight without having to worry too much for his own health. He had something to take the hits now, so long as he could put the shield up quickly enough.

He's still sent a request to the Support Course for some armor for his forearms and legs, but that would only block so much. He could have gone for more cover with a costume like Iida's but that'd be very restricting and weigh him down a lot, so he'd decided to go with something lighter that allowed more maneuverability.

Besides, armor protected only so much and his Grimm Guard would be more useful against attacks such as those from Kaminari, Todoroki and Bakugo. Things that would likely bypass normal armor would hit his half-formed creatures and do the damage there instead of onto Kazuki himself. If he could work on it, he might even be able to take all the power away from things like Bakugo's explosions, but he imagined it'd require good timing on letting the things disintegrate before he could be hit by his own shield.

'Training, training and more training,' he thought as the spar/practice exercise with Mineta went on for a little bit longer. They had to take a break shortly, however, since his friend was getting dizzy with his own technique. Kazuki wasn't surprised. Moving so fast, bouncing and going in circles had to be… not nice, that was for sure.

'Still,' he thought, distractedly forming a beowolf claw and making it swipe at the empty air. 'Maybe I can attack like this too, yeah,' he mused with a grin. He'd need to practice, since he still needed to control them "manually", but it was better than having them form completely and have consciousness that he'd have to keep in line.

Taking a deep breath in, he moved to the side and picked up two bottles of water.

"That went well," he commented, passing one to a Mineta that was laying flat on the ground. "Better than I expected. I thought for sure you'd stumble and we'd have to take you to Recovery Girl."

"Ha-fucking-ha," the short boy grumbled, groaning as he forced himself into a sitting position. "God, that was a nightmare. I need to practice more. My brain was working overtime just to keep up."

"Well, maybe you'll be happy to know that it looked pretty cool," Kazuki pointed out with a grin. One that widened when his friend perked up, pain and exhaustion pushed to the side for a moment. "If you can pull that off in the field? That's certainly gonna earn you some points."

"You think so?" Mineta asked, hope clear in his voice.

"Yeah, definitely."

[}-o-{]

"Endo."

Conversation around the table Kazuki and his group of friends had been sitting at halted at the new voice. Almost as one, they all turned to see Todoroki standing there. Besides him, he felt Hagakure's unease grow, a touch of fear, a pang of guilt – probably from that last part – and the ghosts of pain that wasn't there. Kazuki almost wanted to tell the guy to get lost just for that.

"Can we talk?" Todoroki said, apparently uncaring of the stares he was receiving from everyone else. Kazuki knew better though. After all, there was a reason he hadn't just told the guy no immediately. He could feel the guilt, the hatred – the self-hatred –, the insecurities. Had Todoroki ever felt like that before? There'd been hints of something at times and quite a few spikes after the USJ but this…

'He's getting worse,' Kazuki realized, looking around the table for a moment before coming to a decision. 'I'm gonna be a hero,' he told himself, more a reminder than a decision, forcing himself to ignore Hagakure's feelings. He'd talk to her about those later, if she wanted to. If not, he'd just point her in Hound Dog's direction again.

"Sure," he replied, focusing back on Todoroki. The boy seemed to be making a serious effort to look only at Kazuki and nowhere else. It made some sense, he supposed, but it was also… "In private?" he asked, almost unnecessarily.

Todoroki couldn't nod fast enough.

So, Kazuki found himself standing outside the classroom with Todoroki. He'd admit that he was a little uncomfortable, especially because he didn't know the guy at all, but also because… Well, social settings weren't his forte. As it was, he just tried to calm himself running his fingers through his hair. He didn't want to try and force the other boy to speak but-

"How do you do it?" Todoroki asked eventually, snapping Kazuki from his thoughts. Blinking, he regarded his fellow student, not understanding.

"Do what?"

"I saw, what you did at the USJ," Todoroki said, as if that explained anything. It didn't, but Kazuki stiffened again. He knew it was likely that many had seen something, both because it had been very visible but also because of some little spikes of feelings his classmates would get at times. "How do you do it? How do you keep going when you… When you are a danger?"

It stung, a lot, to hear that being said out loud. It wasn't the first time Kazuki was told something along those lines though. If anything, that was one of the more polite ways he'd ever heard that being worded as. It was different to hear it come from a classmate though, somehow. However, he tried to push through the pain like he usually did.

Doing so, he noticed something. Todoroki wasn't feeling angry or disgusted or anything like that. Instead, he was feeling… desperate? 'What's going on here?' Kazuki wondered with a frown.

Ultimately, he decided to take the question and answer it as truthfully as he could.

"Because I have to keep going. What are my alternatives?" he asked with a bitter smile.

"You could never use your Quirk again. That'd do it, wouldn't it?" Todoroki asked, his desperation growing. It was almost like he hoped Kazuki would agree with him there. He couldn't do that, however.

"It doesn't work like that. My Quirk doesn't like being contained. God knows I tried doing that in the past," he explained with a helpless shrug. "In the end, I could only live with who I am and what my Quirk is. I can only keep going and… And hope I'll do some good. That's what I want the most. To prove that I'm more than a monster, a villain."

As he spoke, he saw a shift in Todoroki's expression. His desperation was there, but it was… lessened, somewhat. Kazuki wasn't sure what Todoroki needed help with, because there was obviously something, but he could only hope that he was helping. There wasn't much he could do other than answer questions honestly, as it was.

"Prove…" Todoroki mumbled then, his eyes unfocusing as his mind worked. "Prove that you can be more, different."

"From what everyone else thinks," Kazuki finished with a firm nod. "Prove that I can be more than I think."

"I see," Todoroki replied, his voice low. "And… And what should I do?" he asked then, and one more little puzzle piece fell into place for Kazuki. 'So, he's feeling bad about the USJ and Hagakure? That makes sense but there must be more to it,' he mused. Ultimately, it didn't really matter.

"It depends," he told the other boy. "What do you want to do?"

The question seemed to catch the other boy off guard. Judging by the emotions Kazuki sensed and the expressions Todoroki made, he almost thought that was the first time he'd been asked that or something. There was a long pause then as his classmate thought over that question.

"... I just… I want to stop feeling like this," Todoroki said, as if that was an answer of any kind. Fortunately for the guy, Kazuki knew exactly what he meant, since he could tell how he was feeling like. Also because he had experienced that too.

"I can tell you how I stopped feeling like that," he replied, and the other boy's heterochromic eyes stared intently at him, very visibly hanging onto his every word. "What I did was… help someone else," he started simply, remembering that day, when he'd called Aizawa and Hound Dog had gone to save whoever was in trouble that day. When he'd been called a hero. "I helped someone and was a hero. Maybe it won't make up for what I've done, but it'll help remind me that I'm not a monster. That I can be better."

"... I see," Todoroki mumbled then.

"In the meantime," Kazuki continued. "I visit Hound Dog, the student counselor, regularly. It helps, talking to someone and receiving some encouragement or advice. Or, generally having someone to hear me out. Maybe you can give it a try," he suggested, receiving a nod from Todoroki.

Kazuki wasn't sure how much he'd helped, but at least it seemed like his classmate was feeling a little better. It was a win, he supposed, if not much of one. Sometimes though, a little nudge was all that was necessary, or so he hoped.

God knew he wished someone had told his past self some of what he had told Todoroki right then and there.

"... I see," Todoroki repeated. "Thank you."

"No problem," Kazuki reassured the other boy "If you need anything, don't hesitate to ask."

To that, Todoroki paused before simply nodding and moving back into the classroom.

'Well, that happened.'

[}-o-{]

"Why won't you shut up you damn extra?!" Bakugo cursed Iida for what felt like the thousandth time. If Kazuki was being honest, he almost understood. The speedster was, really, a pain in the ass to deal with. Not that the explosive boy was any better in that regard.

Which really explained a lot about why they seemed to always clash.

"That's not the language a student of an institution such as U.A. should be-"

Kazuki turned to trade a look with Yaoyorozu, who looked helplessly back. Both of them had tried to defuse situations such as this and they'd failed miserably at it every single time. Truly, why couldn't someone else have been chosen as vice-president.

"Your turn," she said before he could get a word in and he deflated. She wasn't wrong, but he really didn't feel like dealing with that shit at the moment. He never did, really, but the point stood.

"Ok, I think it's time for drastic measures," Kazuki decided, eye twitching as he stood up. Beside him, his friends looked at him curiously after that declaration. He ignored them, however, walking up to the arguing duo, if what they were doing could be called arguing.

"What do you want, B-Movie? I have enough shit to deal with from Four-Eyes here, so if you could kindly fuck o-"

"Shut up," he growled, letting the negativity of both boys flow through him and into his voice. He'd have grinned at the way they flinched, but he was too annoyed for that, only partially because of their emotions. "You are both a fucking disgrace."

"Such language-"

"I said shut up, Iida," he told the boy, glaring at him and feeling the twinge of fear he inspired. For once, he wasn't too bothered by that. "If you were actually so invested on that "being proper" shit you spout so much of, maybe you'd see that you are always making a scene about this stuff and that isn't a good look on an institution such as U.A.," he added, throwing Iida's words back at him. "It looks worse when you do that than if you just carried yourself properly and let Bakugo make a fool of himself."

"Ex-fucking-cuse me, B-Movie?!"

"And you," Kazuki continued, turning towards the aforementioned blonde. "It's really rather sad if you have to continuously point out how beneath you everyone else is. I think you might be compensating for something."

"You wanna say that to my face?" Bakugo growled, mini-explosions going off on his palms.

"That's literally what I just did," Kazuki replied with a raised eyebrow. "You are a big scary hero-to-be. We get it. We all are. Maybe you are stronger than most of us, maybe you are stronger than me, maybe you are the strongest in this room… I don't care. You don't need to be a fucking nuisance all the time. Shut up and prove that you are better, and maybe people will stop rolling their eyes at you when you speak your nonsense."

"Really pushing your luck there, B-Movie."

"And what will you do if I push it some more?" Kazuki asked, keeping his calm even in the face of the wave of anger that was Bakugo. "Blow me up? I'm sure that will go really well with the school."

"Hiding behind the school, h-"

"And what do you think will happen when you do that shit out in public? Hm? Do you think people would call you a hero then?" Kazuki pressed on, determined to keep his ground, else Bakugo would walk all over him again, and forever. You couldn't give guys like him any ground or they'd take everything. He had learned that in juvie. Maybe it was time to stop being afraid of screwing things up. "Do you think people would call you a hero right now?"

"I'm stronger than all you, little sh-"

"And I'm really fucking strong too, don't you think?" he asked, once more letting the negativity flow and making Bakugo pull back a bit. "Do you think that stopped anyone from calling me a villain? Do you think that stops anyone now?"

After that, the boy remained silent, glaring bloody murder at Kazuki. To the point that he worried he might have actually pushed too much and Bakugo might attack regardless of the consequences. In the end, after some very long, very tense seconds…

The blonde just clicked his tongue and sat down, leaning back, crossing his arms and scowling. Kazuki would almost say he was pouting, but he valued his life just enough not to point that out loud. With one troublemaker calmed down, he turned his attention to Iida, who had been standing there while he argued with Kazuki.

"Well?" he asked, because they were basically standing in front of Bakugo's seat. Iida had no business being there.

"I'm sorry for making a scene," the boy said, adjusting his glasses and moving away.

'Holy shit, I did it.'

"Holy shit, you did it," Mineta breathed out when he returned to sit with his group, unknowingly echoing his thoughts.

"There was a little too much cursing for my tastes, but at least you got them to actually stop for the moment," Yaoyorozu said, giving him a smile, if a little forced. "I just hope it'll stay this way for some time."

"I wouldn't bet on it, but I might keep doing it if I can get away with that," Kazuki commented, deflating on his seat. "It was a little therapeutic, honestly."

"And you didn't want to be vice-president, Creepy," Hagakure pointed out and he could hear the grin on her face.

He just rolled his eyes at her.

[}-o-{]

With a weary sigh, Kazuki leaned back, resting his head against the door to his balcony, once more surrounded by his plants. He was still trying to do something with the nodes in his negativity pool and he was… sort of getting better at pulling on the strand of emotion from there. The problem was that it was so… distracting and exhausting. He barely could keep himself doing that, no matter what emotion he tried.

Using that for anything looked like it'd be a lot of work, but he'd still try. He just needed to keep going. Soon, he'd be more used to pulling on those strands and then he could try to split his attention on creating a grimm too… Probably. That was the theory he was working with for the moment.

'Anyway,' he thought, pulling himself to a standing position and stretching a little. Sitting between the plants was nice and all, but it did cause all sorts of pain when he was there for a while. 'Time for a break and maybe get some homework done.'

With that decided, he walked in, pausing for a moment to look at the aquarium, following the denizens of the tank as they went about their lives. Then, he looked at the wall with pictures once more. All those things were… Kazuki didn't even think he had a strong enough word to describe what they meant for him. They were important, that was for sure.

However, as he looked at the wall with things from his friends, he found himself looking at the All Might autograph he'd gotten. With that, he recalled why he'd asked for it and considered what to do. It'd been an impulse more than anything but… Maybe…

Kazuki shook his head, that was all behind him. Besides, he hadn't heard a single word in forever. He was probably the only one that even remembered. Hell, he had forgotten for a while too, so…

Yeah, it was better to focus on his life. 'Let the past be the past,' he told himself, before moving to prepare himself a cup of tea. With that done, he started going over assignments he needed to finish and material he could read afterwards. He had a future to prepare for, contrary to how things were back then.

He had a life, he had friends, he had teachers, he had a future.

So why did his eyes keep going back to the autograph? Why did he get stuck in the past for this?

He knew why, he really did, but he just didn't want to acknowledge it. The one bright spot in his past, or maybe it was more accurate to say it was the least shitty one. There were few good things to remember for him, and now that he had much better things, he should be thinking about those… And yet…

He hit his forehead on the table with a groan.

'Fuck it,' he thought, pulling out his phone and looking for one specific contact. Before he could take it back, he pressed the call button and waited.

"Yes?" Aizawa answered, sounding as tired as he usually did.

"Hello. Sorry to bother you this late but…" Kazuki greeted, suddenly hesitant as his resolution faltered. Then he sighed and decided to get it over with. They'd say no anyway and that would be it. "I'm an idiot and I have a stupid ass request."

"... I guess things were going well so far," he heard his teacher breath out, as if through a sigh. "What is it?"

"I… I want to find someone and I don't know how," Kazuki admitted, moving to take the All Might autograph in his hand and looking at it. "We… Got separated, I guess, and now that I'm in a better place than back then… I guess I wanted to see how he is doing."

"A childhood friend?" Aizawa asked, sounding unimpressed.

"More like a juvie friend," he corrected weakly, knowing that that would be it.

"... And why do you want to get into contact with this person?" was the surprising question that followed then. Kazuki was already feeling pretty shocked that the conversation hadn't been left at that if he were honest.

"Because he was one of the few… Nice people I got to meet. We watched out for each other there," he answered as truthfully as he could. "I never knew what happened to him after he got out. I guess I wanted to… know, that's all."

There was a long moment of silence as Kazuki waited. Really, he was just happy that he'd been able to explain himself and he'd been listened to. If he was told no… Well, he could probably try and look some other way. Not very effectively, of course, but beggars couldn't be choosers.

"Please, please, tell me that you aren't going to do anything stupid," Aizawa said then and Kazuki felt his eyes widen in shock. "I like you, kid, but if you mess up…"

"I won't!" he replied instantly. "I just want to meet with him, talk and that's all. I promise. I'm… I really want to be a hero," he said, his words slowly losing force as he got through them, from ecstatic to hesitant. "I know it's… I know he might not be a good person. He wasn't the best back then either but… But I feel like I owe him that much, at least."

"I'm 99% sure that this is a mistake," Aizawa told him, sighing. "Please, prove me wrong."

"I will, I promise," Kazuki replied, sighing in relief before laughing incredulously. "God, I thought you'd tell me to shut up and keep my head down."

"Friends are important, especially those who watch your back," Aizawa replied, sounding like he was remembering something. "So, tell me who this person is and I'll see what I can do."

"Thank you, seriously," Kazuki couldn't help but say first. "So, his name is…"

[} Chapter End {]

Hey guys! How's it going?

I like this chapter overall, which is kind of surprising. Maybe I could have done a better job with the Bakugo-Iida scene, but I'm happy regardless. The training scene was neat, the class vice-president moment I think was at least decent, if not good, and the last scene I like where it's going… Even if some people might not.

Still, all in all, I'm happy with this, which is kinda rare, so I'll savor that until someone complains about something in the comments/reviews and my budding confidence dies a swift, merciless death.

Anyway, I hope you liked 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: Do you use glasses? I do.

See you.