A Blind Hero [My Hero Academia]

14- Damage Control

"Yep, see you then,"

Kei stood in place as Todoroki, the only other person at the school to show him unnecessary kindness other than Midoriya, Uraraka and Iida, walked quickly out of the alley and turned the corner. He was alone again.

Kei took a moment to breathe, reflecting over the events of the past half hour, and choosing his next actions. He had to get home, obviously, but he didn't know when the next train was, as he'd undoubtedly missed his. On top of that, the stinging in his face and ache in the back of his head wasn't calming, he'd have to check out the damage inflicted by Bakugo when he got home. He sighed, pushing himself off the wall and extending his field of hearing as far as he could- it had improved enough that he could sense roughly five metres around himself with decent accuracy, but past that was vague shapes and sounds. It was going to be pretty rough in the train station and train itself, but he didn't have another route home.

A minute later and he was walking out of the UA gate, moving quickly to avoid a teacher spotting him and wondering why he hadn't left yet. He remembered the maps, and followed the path to the train station. Rising levels of noise told him that he was going in the right direction, so he pulled out his tablet while he was walking, using the Braille on its surface to open the train timetables. From his watch he knew it was five o'clock, the train he was supposed to catch was at half past four, and according to the timetable, the next train was at a few minutes past five. Just in time. He sped up, jogging towards the building at the end of the road, not noticing the few people on the other side of the road watch a school kid running to a train station, well after all the local schools closed.

He burst through the doors, grabbing his return ticket from his pocket, and running over to a ticket office. He didn't have time to overthink his actions, he was desperate to catch the train and not be stuck here for another hour. "Excuse me, where's platform three?" He asked hurriedly.

The man behind the desk jumped at the sudden interruption to his snack break, but replied anyway, startled. "Uh- its right over there," he gestured. "Didn't you see the signs?" He'd barely finished before Kei was darting towards the space he'd signalled to, and watched in confusion and the teen made unsteady progress through the small crowd, almost as if he didn't see the people around him until they were right in front of him.

Kei was preoccupied with dodging businessmen with briefcases and figures with backpacks and headphones. The crowd seemed to thicken as he reached the long outdoor platform, just as a rumbling noise began to vibrate through the track in front of him. He stepped back, not realising how close he was to the edge, and heard the train chooo as it approached the station, brakes huffing as it slowed.

Five minutes later, and Kei was sitting on a sticky seat, sandwiched between an elderly woman and a man talking animatedly into an earpiece about articles and publishers. It was unpleasant- he hoped that the earlier train wasn't so busy, maybe this one was just rush hour traffic. But by the end of the thirty minute journey, he'd turned his noise-cancelling headphones most of the way up to drown out the incessant noise, which wasn't helping the headache that had been mounting since he'd begun his trek home.

The train station close to his house was just as busy as the first, but he knew where the exits were and dashed outside, turning his headphones all the way down again, finding his range of hearing increased yet again. He took a moment to get his bearings then set off, eager to get home.

The door opened with a soft click and then a much louder squeeaak. Kei winced, pausing before realising his mum wasn't yet home. He remembered that her shift finished at six- he had about twenty minutes until she'd be asking questions about the bruise on his face and demanding to know who'd done it.