Jet Stream (Kirishima x OC)

Chapter 42: One For All

7 hours.

Fire. Blood. Screams. Explosions.

7 hours.

Pain. Hatred. Fear. Death.

7 hours.

I woke up gasping, my quirk whirling the wind all around me before I put a stop to it. I glanced at the clock on my bedside and groaned. I only got an hour of sleep this time before my nightmares woke me up. I should have figured seeing the destroyed city today during the exam and rescuing victims would have triggered me.

And as always, Miyoshi's words haunted me.

A lot of what that maniac said always haunts me, but tonight it was the '7 hours' part of his story. For so long when I was child, I thought he was lying. There was no way my dad could leave two people in a collapsed building for 7 hours. But after Kamino Ward and how many victims the rescue teams were still finding people even days later, and then today how truly difficult it was to find the bystanders, I'm more inclined to believe he was telling the truth.

My young brain didn't want to ever admit a flaw in my father. He was my hero, he was many people's hero, but he was in my eyes the strongest and greatest man in the world. So to think of him in the way that Miyoshi did was so surreal that my young mind rejected the claims as false. Over the years since the kidnapping there was doubt, some occasional cases reported from one hero or another about finding victims hours later... or sometimes not finding them until it was too late. It does happen, it's true, hero's aren't flawless and I know this. But blaming the heroes like Miyoshi does is wrong. Seeking vengeance on them is even worse.

But everyone always wants someone to blame. Miyoshi blames my dad for the death of his wife and child, but he never blamed the villain my dad was taking down. Reporters and the public keep blaming UA for endangering the students, but never blame the villains for attacking us or taking two of us. Even I'm guilty of placing blame on the wrong people, just like I did for months with Todoroki about Inasa. It's always easier to blame the face you can see and point at.

Sighing in frustration when I realize I'm not going to make it back to sleep any time soon, I change into workout clothes and do the same thing I've done most nights since Kamino, and I got ready to train. Since my body is still aching quite a bit from the exam earlier, and since it was such a nice night out, I decided to practice my flying. I can't fly outside of the school boundaries, but I've found I can easily sneak out of my balcony and fly around for a few hours and not set off any sensors anywhere. I almost got caught by one of those little patrol robots the first time I did it, but I found they can't see me if I stay up high and wear dark clothes.

That's probably a flaw I should point out to the teachers, and I'll get around to that eventually, but for now it aids me.

I was flying up over Training Ground Beta when a sudden explosion almost made me fall to the ground. As it was, I did abruptly land on the nearest building, my mind instantly going back to the nightmare that just woke me up. And once again, same as during the licensing exam, I immediately assumed it was the League attacking.

I flew to get a closer look, ready to just identify the villains before rushing to Aizawa to get help, when I spotted who was causing the explosions. Of course it was Bakugo, and of course he's attacking Midoriya in the middle of the damn night. I knew he was looking ready to snap at the first person who pissed him off, and in his eyes that's always the innocent little green haired boy.

I debated on intervening, but then I heard what they were yelling at each other. This was more than just Bakugo being mad today about something, no, this was so much more than that. This is a battle that's been brewing in them both for the longest time, and it's finally hit the surface. When we first did the Battle Trials in our first week of term, I knew these two had much more history that needed to be handled. It was even more evident during the final exams last term. I remember thinking to myself that they either needed to have a full on fight to sort their differences out, or otherwise find a way to communicate better.