hi
Enjoy~
(y/n)'s POV-
"Here, make sure you take a jacket. It might be cold inside," my mother said, handing me my jacket as we stood in the parking lot of Karanuro labs.
"Thanks," I said, draping it over my arm. Kacchan scanned the outside of the building. It was pretty big, the entire thing made of a thick white concrete. The windows were even on either side and one each floor, the first and second. The front had a small, flat awning of the same bleach white stone, propped up with 2 similar pillars. The front had 2 thriving plants on either side of the awning, out in the sun instead of shaded. The dirt was wet from being recently watered and the pots were a bright white as well. On either side of the awning and entrance side walk they had small green plants dispersed evenly among water and white rocks. Everything was still outside except for the gentle, natural wind. It rustled the thin plant leaves and shook the small sign telling us to wait outside until the next tour time. We had about 2 minutes, but the place looked very professional and timely. I had no idea why anyone would tour a failed science lab, but I suppose they had some machinery to display. Maybe like a weird museum.
"We should just go in," Kacchan scoffed. I didn't know why I was so nervous, it wasn't like my dad was just going to be there. It wasn't like he could be missing and still hang around here. Why would he? I placed a hand on my head, feeling sick. It was probably a stress headache or something like that. I was beginning to believe that the part of my brain that was configured oddly always acted up when I thought too hard about my dad. Trying to recover memories that were trapped in there wasn't all too easy. I let out a breath, holding onto Kacchan's arm as we walked in. There was a small lobby at the front that was gray and drab, a woman shuffling papers around in a glass box to the right.
"Excuse me, is there a restroom around here?" my mother asked. The women nodded, pointing through a set of glass doors. My mother disappeared, heading to the bathroom. We headed towards the main hall, stopping to wait for someone to show us around.
"You alright?" Kacchan asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine," I replied, seeing a few other people in the tour time slot. They were just waiting around for the same reason we were.
"Oh my--" We glanced up at a guy approaching. He was wearing tour guide things, walking straight past the 3 other people at the side. "Well look at you!"
He was a stout guy, white hair and crinkles around his eyes. They were a warm kind of blue and he stopped, leaning back on his heels. He placed his hands into his pockets and I glanced behind us, wondering if he was looking at someone else. Of course, he was looking at Kacchan and I. More specifically me.
"Me?"
"You're Hatanaka right? (y/n)?"
"Uhm..."
"I saw you were on one of my groups for today," he said. "Yoru's daughter."
"...yeah, that's me," I said. Kacchan's face furrowed, grasping my hand.
"You look just like you did. I'm your dad's old boss," he explained. "I recognized your first name, though you have your mom's last name listed on the reservation. I figured it might be you and here you are!"
"What do you mean I look just like I did?"
"Oh, well your dad brought you into the lab all the time. He always did paperwork whenever you were here though, don't worry about anything dangerous," he laughed. The other tour guests were watching the interactions. For such a supposed, smart scientist this guy didn't seem to get that I was very uncomfortable. "Your mom, Cascade, was working whenever he brought you in."
"(y/n)?" I glanced over to my mother returning.
"Ahh Mizuko! I think we've met once or twice. I was just about to say, I'm Dai."
"The boss," my mother said, knowingly.
"Right! Haven't seen you in a long time," he stated. "So sorry to hear about Yoru by the way. I know it was so long ago."
"I got your letter, it's alright," my mother stated. Letter?
"Right! Well all follow along with me. This was and is still my building. Founded and built in--" I tuned him out for a moment, my mind racing. So this guy was my father's boss. It didn't seem like he knew all that much, but my dad hadn't been all that important here. Had he? I felt Kacchan squeeze my hand, bringing me back into the present. "So firstly we have some conference rooms. There isn't all too much to say about that kind of thing. Most of the files were kept around here or upstairs. Storage in the basement was converted into a small lab for some more dangerous equipment. We can take a look around there later. We'll head to one of our quirk labs."
I looked to my left at a conference room. The window blinds were open, showing the small strip of parking outside. There was a round table, smoothed over and lacquered. The chairs were all pushed in, no one using them as of recent. Most of the edges of the room were lined with metal filing cabinets. I craned my neck to look at it, studying the head chair.
"If you'll wait here for a moment, the other group ahead of us is still in the main floor labs, just a moment," Dai said. Kacchan nudged me towards the conference room and I neared the open door, looking inside. There was nothing special about it. "This is where you and your dad would stay most of the time when you were younger."
I glanced to Dai who had wandered over. I glanced back over, not getting any memories of being in any kind of room like this. All I could picture were the one at Wash's agency, the one I had sat in the first day for orientation.
"You can sit down if you'd like," he stated. He walked over to talk to the other 3.
"You remember this room?" Kacchan asked.
"No," I stated, wandering in. I sat myself down at a chair, not getting any sort of nostalgia. There was a certain feeling I got, I called it nostalgia since it was more of a memory feeling rather than a picture. I wasn't even getting that around here, but then again we had to whole lab. I got up, shrugging.
"It's only a conference room dear, plus you can ask Dai more questions later. You'll get some more information that I can't give you," she stated. She didn't know anything about my father's work anyways. This was all relatively new to her. I just leaned against the edge of the table, glancing out the window again. I paused before helping myself up onto the table, sitting with my legs dangling off.
"I think they changed that building," I said, pointing out the window and across the way to the neighboring business.
"Really?" Kacchan asked, pulling back the blinds.
"Feels like it. I have a feeling when I was small I was allowed to sit on the table," I said. "My dad sat somewhere."
"What does he look like?"
"I don't know," I replied. "Wonder if they've got pictures around here." I hopped down from the table as Dai announced we were set to continue. I took up Kacchan's hand.
"How come you've got no pictures?" Kacchan asked, turning to my mother.
"I got rid of them all. I remember what he looks like, but my description is only so much. The police report needed a picture and I didn't have one. They used his driver's license but it got lost in the system after they stopped looking for him," my mother explained. "He's taller, got a sharp face, grey hair and eyes like (y/n)'s, very stoic and business like."
"I guess I could kind of picture it."
"My memory doesn't server well anyways, most of it wasn't too positive and those overpower the nice ones. His image isn't a good one," she stated. I walked slightly ahead, basically pulling Kacchan along. Dai led us to a lab. There were a lot of black topped lab tables, wood and glass cabinets, and a large amount of metal equipment around the tile floor. I didn't have any memories of this room either, walking around.
"These are some of the quirk analysis machines. There are better versions now, so these are out of commission." I looked up at a large glass tube that would fit a person. It looked much like the big x-ray machines at the airport. There were a couple of element analysis tables, one for blood samples. It seemed as though this was the biology and anatomy lab. It made sense why I wouldn't remember this place. If my father brought me around science stuff, it would've been his domain which was particle science. I had a strong feeling that stuff was in the basement. Made sense, that kind of stuff required specific rooms.
Something about this room didn't sit right with me.
"This is probably the place with the animal quirk issue scandal things," Kacchan murmured to me. I cringed, feeling sick again. He had a good point.
"This lab freaks me out," I stated. None of this equipment was being used, if there was equipment to be used it was definitely in another lab. This place was clean and looked after, but still technically abandoned. Everything was relatively how it was, just looked after to sit here until...whenever.
"This is the lab where they long ago discovered quirk development and its relation to the bone evolution in the body, specifically the feet."
I remembered Izuku mentioning something about that later on in our friendship, how the quirkless didn't have the right bone structure.
"Right here, are some of those records," Dai stated, holding up an older piece of paper. They had detailed drawings and some bigger words I probably didn't understand. The other group members took interest in that history. I just wanted to move on.
"What an interesting place," my mother said. I glanced between her and Kacchan, seeing that they were relatively unphased by this place. That whole animal thing was so public, why wouldn't more people be bothered by it. Kacchan had expressed even his own discomfort when I showed him the article. I sniffled slightly, glancing around again. I just didn't like it, but then again I wasn't really someone who liked how uncomfortable and clinical doctors offices could be.
We moved onto a couple more things before heading down to the basement. We piled onto the elevator and I found something familiar about it. I glanced to my hand in Kacchan's, recognizing that feeling specifically in here. The smell was familiar too, something slightly stale. There was a room to the left, more comfortable. I could see a vending machine with soda, a couple of old wicker chairs in the room.
Finally, I could distinctly remember inputting a dollar for a can of soda, always perfectly cold. I would sit in the old room, not really cared about too much because it was in the odd basement, carpet down not to be soft but only to thinly cover the concrete floors. I'd put in money for the soda, but the machine was broken so it would give multiple cans at a time. I'd pull them out one by one, practicing counting how many orange or grape sodas I would get this time. My finger prints would be in the condensation and the tips of my fingers would be slightly red. I felt a smile come over my face all of a sudden, distinctly remembering the feeling.
It was actually really nice.
"(y/n)?" Kacchan asked. I glanced his way seeing that he was waiting beside my mother.
"Huh?"
"You alright Raindrop?" my mother asked.
"...yeah, I'm good," I said. I would stop before I left, money burning a hole in my pocket. We entered a large room, dark and muted. A majority of the equipment was spread out. In the other room, I could remember there being a white noise maker, like a lot of rooms in the place. This room did not have one. It was dead silent.
"So here is where the molecular science took place. Particle distillation, separation, etc. We had a small team of 3 scientists working here," Dai explained. My dad. "Here, this is the strongest magnifying glass we have, it's part of that microscope as well."
He explained a few more pieces of equipment and I settled my focus in on a particle accelerator. There was a filing cabinet open next to it and I picked up a file, looking it over. There were a couple experiments written down. They were all relatively boring and some unsuccessful. There was some work done on plant cells and light particles using this machine. They had managed to focus the light particles so exactly on the plant cells, the plants had grown more efficiently. The only difference was the amount of chlorophyll and chloroplasts from the excess light. It wasn't too much heat, but concentrated light instead. Because of all that, the plants grew large and healthy, but such a dark green because of the overpowering amounts of chlorophyll which gives plants its green color. I took out a packet of observations, spotting my father's name.
My father's name. In his handwriting. There were notes and observations over weeks, all in dark ink. His handwriting was small and some of his letters were the same size as the lowercase letters but they were written uppercase. There were a few things written on a yellow legal pad, which seemed fitting of what I knew about his personality. There were a few leaf samples from the plant laminated and put away as observational evidence. I picked it up, the darkest green leaf I had ever seem sandwiched in between plastic. There were a couple of microscope slides, probably capturing the chloroplast surplus.
"Here."
I glanced round at Dai who had come up behind me. I jumped slightly, seeing he was holding out a folded square of paper.
"This was in one of the filing boxes down here when we cleaned up around...2 years ago?" I took it, unfolding it. My mother approached with Kacchan at her side. It was a crayon drawing with my name on it, probably when I had been with my father.
"Thanks," I said. "Hey, would you happen to have more stuff of my dad's? Like a company photo or something?"
"Yeah, if you want you can stay down here in the break room while I escort the other tour guests out. "I can try and find something physical upstairs, we probably have more online records. Those I can send to you when I get a chance."
"Thanks," I repeated. He headed over to speak with the other guests a little while longer.
"That yours?" Kacchan asked. I nodded, holding out so our small party could all look at it. It was me and my father. He was in grey crayon, a simple and poorly sketched body, his face just a sad looking smiley. It wasn't even a smiley, more dull looking. I supposed I had caught his essence. I was in mostly blue crayon, but both of us were filled in green.
"I'm green. Must've thought I was an alien," I commented. I glanced back at the file for the plant experiment, shutting it and putting it back in the cabinet. I paused, peeking back at the date. I had to have been 4 when that was going on. I had to have made the drawing at a similar time, guessing by the age it could've been completed.
"That or you've been hanging around Deku too much," Kacchan scoffed. That was entirely possible. I folded it back up, shoving it in my pocket. I glanced around again, getting that feeling again. I had definitely been down here, despite Dai had said I was usually somewhere more safe for children. I wandered around again, looking at some things. There were a couple diplomas on the wall, different awards. None of them listed my father's name. They did list someone in a couple and I recognized her name. She was one of the 2 other coworkers my father worked with. She was working at the lab a ways across town. I couldn't find the other one. Amaya.
"Alright, if we head upstairs--" Dai shooed everyone from the room and I loitered aside, my group of three heading to the break room. I headed to the vending machine, standing in front of it.
"Thirsty?" my mother asked, producing money so I wouldn't have to use mine. "You can get 3."
"Multiple ones are going to come out of the machine. It's broken," I stated.
"You remember that?" I nodded, placing money in for one. I pressed the button, watching a can crash down, stopping another one behind it. I pulled them out one by one, counting under my breath.
"4."
"It really is broken," Kacchan stated. I set them on a small plate, looking around the place. There were a couple oddities around the walls, on shelves. Stuff that really belonged in a strange woman's living room. Yet they were decorative in here. He went to open a can and I stopped him.
"They fell from the machine," I said. "Tap the top and they won't explode."
"Yeah?"
"My dad taught me that," I said. My mother glanced up at me. "I remember specifically coming in here and getting grape or orange soda. I'd take them out, it was random every time because the machine was messed up, but they never fixed it only refilled it. I'd count them and he would tap or flick the tops for me so it didn't fizz over when I popped the top."
"I remember you mentioned something about fruit soda being your favorite, you used to ask for it with dinner," my mother stated. I hummed, flicking the top of the can before popping it open with no mess.
"Alright!" I glanced up at Dai returning. "So we don't have his physical records, I can get those to you over email if you leave your address with me. This is all we've got in person from him."
He held up a box, opening up the top for me as he set it down. There wasn't really all that much suspense then. I watched as he pulled out a couple of diplomas. He handed them out, one to each of us. It had his name and the college he attended, which wasn't all that intriguing to me. He hadn't met my mother then. There were a couple of office type things, nothing all too special. What was interesting was a photo he must've kept in the lab or wherever was his space in there. He wasn't in it, but it was me and my mother.
This guy had physically, verbally, and emotionally abuse my mother and me?
I took up the nicely framed picture, sliding the actual photo out. The back had a date, when I was 3. It was my birthday so there was a table and cake in frame. I placed it back in the frame.
"You can have all these things, they're not any official records," Dai stated.
"Thank you," I stated, setting it in my lap. "So, who was working here with him?"
"That was...a woman named Amaya, she works in a different lab now," Dai said. "The other man was named Shunsuke, he died last year."
"Oh..."
"Old age my dear, nothing to worry about," he reassured.
"What else do you remember about him?"
"Must not remember much, been so long huh?" he asked and I just nodded to make things easier. "He was a hard worker, stayed late frequently except when he was taking care of you. He was intelligent, followed all the rules, was just a good guy."
"When was the last time you saw him?"
"The year he disappeared was the year we were experiencing a lot of issues," Dai said. "A lot of people left, so I presumed when he left he had just quit or move onto another job. A few days later the whole missing report was filed."
"Did he leave a lot?"
"No."
"He didn't."
"No, he came into work consistently," Dai said. I glanced at my mother, who had stated he disappeared for months at a time. I guess when he was gone it was kind of relieving. My father probably went off to some hotel, going into work when he had to. It wasn't like my mother was going to seek out the guy who was so horrible to her. Taking care of me was probably a lot too.
"So the last day?"
"It was May," he said. My mother hadn't called the missing report, he had actually disappeared from everything then. "He came into work, just like normal. I do remember it was a Wednesday. He always brought you in on Wednesdays, he'd do that for a while and then not bring you in at all. But when he was bringing you in, it was always a Wednesday. However, the Wednesday he said you were in daycare. I remember specifically."
"She's never been in daycare," my mother stated.
"Sorry ma'am, that's just what I remember."
"Anything else?"
"Nothing I can really remember."
"I'll give you my email. Anything else," I said, writing it out. I glanced at my mother and Kacchan who seemed hesitant of my choices, but supportive nonetheless.
"Of course, I've got another tour soon, so I'll leave you with these and get into some records soon," he said. "Good to see you again."
"Nice...remeeting you," I stated, watching him head out. I glanced at the picture for a moment, placing it in the box and shutting it up.
"Oh by the way," he said, stopping at the doorway. "If you plan on visiting his coworker Amaya like you visited here, please be cautious?"
"What? Why?"
"She's had some unfortunate health issues with her kids in the past and I'm sure she remembers you and your father in the labs. Just be considerate," Dai said nodding at me.
"What--" He left before I could question him further. What kind of issues? What did that have to do with me?
"What the hell?" Kacchan blurted. I picked up the box, furrowing my brow.
"I'm visiting her next," I stated plainly.
"Dear, she's probably lost a child. Seeing other more successful families is hard."
"Successful is a real stretch mom," I replied.
"I suppose."
"Either way, I'm talking to her. I'll be nice," I said.
"You really have to be a little more...present," my mother suggested.
"Present?"
"You've been spacey today dear. I understand why you would be, but if you're talking to someone like Dai described, you'll need to be more grounded."
"I'll make sure to go with," Kacchan said, taking my arm. Suddenly, I was more grounded like my mother said. We stepped into the elevator and I let out a sigh.
"It'll be fine."
"Alright," my mother said, hesitantly agreeing. We headed back upstairs and my mother went home, giving me a kiss on the forehead before heading back to the Bakugo's. Kacchan walked with me to the train as we headed back to school on a curfew.
"When do you--"
"Tomorrow."
"Are you sure you're good? Because if you're acting all...I don't know then I shouldn't let you get all obsessed with this."
"I'm fine," I stated. "I'm finally getting a grip on things. She knew him, she's got to know more about him."
"More than your own mom?" Kacchan asked.
"Who knows?"
"I don't like the sound of any of this."
"It's fine Kacchan," I stated, pinching the bridge of my temple.
"I don't like that he kept that picture in his office. Or kept any photos for that matter," Kacchan scoffed. "He's a psycho."
"Maybe, but we'll never know if we don't try and figure this shit out," I stated.
"I guess."
"It's all going to be alright," I shrugged.
"You're weirdly calm, so much I think you're freaking out," he said.
"I'm not."
"I find that hard to believe."
"I'm not. I promise."
~Caly