~~~
Akira couldn't process the information as Bakugou had to practically drag her out of UA. At least she knew where her mother was - she knows she's not dead somewhere, at least in this reality.
"I have to go see her," Kira says desperately.
"What? No," Bakugou answers. "I'm not wasting any more time on your own personal matters."
"But I haven't seen her in years and now I know where she is."
Bakugou shakes Kira by the shoulders. "Get it together, you idiot. That isn't your mother. This is not your world."
"But, I don't know where she is in our reality and this might be my very last chance to see her face again."
Bakugou groans irritably but releases his hold on her.
"You don't understand," she says quietly. "You still have both of your parents."
For a moment, Kira had forgotten about her father's reappearance, if it was indeed him that day. As a child, she never spent much time with her father anyways, courtesy of her mother wanting to distance her from each other as much as possible.
"We don't have time," Bakugou argues. "Besides, how the hell are you gonna get into a high-security prison in the middle of nowhere?"
"I'm sure they'll let me in to see her."
Bakugou scoffs. "Yeah, somehow, I don't think so. You need to make an appointment for that kind of thing."
"Maybe Aizawa can sort something out."
"No," Bakugou says blankly.
"Look, I need answers!" She yells, getting frustrated at her classmate's lack of compliance. "I need to know if this Light Bringer is anything like my one. Perhaps her reasoning for disappearing is similar. It might even help me finally find her."
"It could take months!" Bakugou responds. "I don't know about you, but I wanna get back to my own reality."
Something behind Bakugou catches her eye and Kira squints in the darkness towards the dorms.
"Oh my God," she mutters to herself, before grabbing Bakugou's shirt to get his attention. "Look." She points to the roof of the dorms, noticing a figure.
Before Bakugou can reply, she takes off, boosting herself using her Quirk.
"What the hell are you doing, shitty hair!?" Bakugou yells up at Kirishima.
The black-haired boy doesn't respond as he stares down at Kira and Bakugou, the wind playing with his hair.
"Forget about this," he says finally, his voice wavering.
"What?" Kira yells up at him. "Just come down!"
"He won't do it," Bakugou says to Kira. "He doesn't have it in him."
Kira frowns at Bakugou as he stares up at Kirishima. "You're forgetting that this is not the Kirishima we know. This one is... lost." She aims her concentration back up to the roof. "Why don't you come down and we can talk about this!?"
"There's nothing to talk about! I've gone over it in my head over and over again. I never should have joined the hero course."
"The damn idiot," Bakugou mutters.
"I don't think I can leave this reality knowing how things really are," Kira says, her voice only a whisper. "This world already feels dark and cruel. It's difficult to believe that so much is different just because Midoriya is still alive."
"That damn nerd has nothing to do with this."
"You seem so certain."
"I am," he says, covering his hand over his eyes to glance back up at Kirishima, as if shielding himself from the blinding rays of sunlight, despite the darkness of the night. "It wasn't Deku that changed Kirishima."
Kira reminisces about when Kirishima told her all about his past and what he was truly like during middle school. He referred to himself as a coward and a weakling, all because he was too scared to face off against a villain. Everybody is scared from time to time, whether it be a villain or something else entirely. It seemed like so long ago when he told her. That was the day they really started to get close.
"Kirishima's always been self-conscious about his Quirk," Kira decides to tell Bakugou. She really shouldn't, seeing as it's none of her business. "He was worried about what other people would think, especially you, if they found out. He already feels bad enough about not having a 'flashy' Quirk, as he called it. I shouldn't even be telling you this, because knowing you, you'd just make him feel even worse."
She feels his eyes on her as she tells him the truth about Kirishima.
"I'd hate to think that the Bakugou of this world knows about this and has driven a second person to suicide."
She too turns her head a fraction to view him properly - she wants to see if he'll portray any kind of emotion to the news.
"You're a bad person, Bakugou."
The blonde before her has always been adamant about concealing his emotions, especially to those around him. Even now, when someone he knows and is potentially close with, is on the brink of death, he still refuses to reveal the slightest ounce of sympathy for another human being.
"I didn't come to UA to get close to anyone," Bakugou mumbles his reply. "I came here to be number one. I don't intend on focusing on anyone other than myself."
Kira doesn't seem to have an answer for him - she said what she thought needed to be said, to see if it would sink into her classmates head at all. But it seems that her words went right over his head.
He really doesn't care.
"If you're gonna jump, go ahead and do it already!" Bakugou yells up at Kirishima. "I've got places to be!"
Kira scoffs quietly - she really convinced herself that Bakugou was a somewhat decent person, capable of displaying emotion for his classmates. Of course, she was mistaken. Bakugou only cares about Bakugou.
"If anyone's considering offing themselves, then they're just weak," Bakugou adds, shoving his hands in his pockets and leaving the chilling scene, heading down the pathway beside the school.
Kira watches him slowly sink into the shadows, when she hears a sharp intake of breath and her hair stands on end. Above her, Kirishima actually jumped. She watches his body soar down the side of the building and she activates her Quirk in her feet, incinerating her shoes to fly up towards her classmate. Even if this isn't her world, she can't let him die. The pain would be too much.
Kirishima doesn't make a sound as Kira smacks into him, but the force of his body and gravity working against her sends her skyrocketing back to earth. Somewhere deep inside her, she expected Bakugou to be there to catch them, but when the cold earth collided with her back, she was gravely mistaken. Kirishima rolled off from her, but he didn't make a sound - he just stared at her as the world spun. Thankfully, she didn't fall from that high up - she met him about halfway. Still, a two-storey drop is life-threatening. Did she really risk her life for this other world Kirishima? Subconsciously, she's aware of her hidden second Quirk, she's fully capable of healing from fall damage... maybe.
"Don't ever do that again," she grumbles finally, pulling herself up and out of a small crater she created.
"You don't even know me," Kirishima argues. "Why did you stop me?"
"I know you a lot better than you think."
Kirishima scoffs as Kira brushes off her hoodie from mud and dirt. She stands up as his dark eyes glare at her - it was unnatural for him to be so negative towards her, considering their relationship back in her own reality. Slowly, she approaches Kirishima, hesitantly raising a hand to brush back a strand of black hair. He flinches at the touch but doesn't move away. It was still there - the scar above his eye.
Kira finds herself smiling. "I do know you," she breathes. "I know how much you hate yourself and I'm sorry I wasn't here to help you through it. I don't know why I'm not here, but I'm gonna find out."
Kirishima frowns at her, a little weirded out. "Who are you?" He wonders.
She hesitates, getting lost in the darkness of his eyes, blacker than the night surrounding them. "I'm sorry about Bakugou." She tears her eyes away from his, finally letting his hair flow back down over his scar. "I see he's still an asshole here too."
This only causes his frown to deepen. "You're not making any sense."
"Hm," she hums. "Inside your dorm, is a very passed out Bakugou. I'm from a different reality, alongside the Bakugou you just saw."
Kirishima barks a laugh. "Hilarious."
Kira smiles slightly. "I knew you wouldn't believe me, but the Kirishima I know wouldn't succumb to such petty insults from a bully. He buys red hair dye and jokes and is incredibly supportive."
"Red... hair dye?" He blinks. "Like-"
"Crimson Riot," they say simultaneously.
"I'm never gonna know what you've been through in this life," she sighs sadly. "But you can't give up. The world is gonna need Red Riot."
Kira watches the tears well up in his eyes and he throws his head into his hands, his whole body racking with sobs. Seeing the duplicate of her partner in such sheer pain like this causes her heart to break. Her Kirishima has been there for her constantly and not once has she asked how he really feels about everything in return. Is he still feeling self-conscious about himself and his Quirk? Has he got anyone to talk to? She wonders if he feels guilty about wanting to bring up his own problems because of what Kira went through when she was held by the League of Villains.
Even though she's practically a stranger to this Kirishima, she can't help herself but wrap her arms around him. He feels so much smaller than she's used to. At first, he tenses at the contact, but when Kira hums in his ear that everything will be okay, he eventually clutches onto the back of her hoodie, his sobs heaving into her chest.
They stand there for what seems like hours and Kira cries with him. She cries for Midoriya, Tsu, Iida. The others who may have never made it. She cries for her own humiliating fondness for Bakugou. He's a hurtful person, but he's ridiculously strong in both physical attributes and mental awareness.
She hates him but she admires him.
Finally, Kirishima releases her, wiping the snot and tears away. "Sorry," he mumbles.
"You don't ever have to apologise for being human," she replies.
Kirishima gazes up at her, his dark eyes red and puffy, his bottom lip trembling. Kira's positive she looks just as bad as he does.
"You'll be an amazing pro hero one day, I can just feel it." A flicker of a smile graces his lips at her words. Suddenly, she groans in annoyance. "I hate to leave you here like this, but I gotta catch up to Bakugou. We have to get back together. Though I wish I could leave his ass stranded here."
Kira takes a few steps away, a nagging feeling eating away at her, as if she's abandoning a newborn kitten in a box on the side of the road.
"I take it we're close in your universe," Kirishima says behind her and she falters midstep. "You and me."
She grins to herself at the thought of reuniting with her Kirishima, before tilting her head a fraction at the black-haired boy. "You could say that."
~
Kira races down the pathway, wiping her cheeks from any stray tears - she just knows that Bakugou will be an ass and tease her for it. She just hopes she made a difference somehow and that the Kirishima of this reality will regain his sense of belonging in the world.
Where could he have gotten to? Kira wonders, the fog of the night clouding her vision.
"Bakugou!" She calls out, her voice echoing along the buildings. "Bakugou?"
A figure steps out from the alley to the left of her and Kira leaps out of her skin. "Stop shouting."
"Bakugou?" She frowns. "What are you doing?"
"Waiting for you, duh," he replies plainly. "So, did he do it?"
"Huh?"
"Did he jump?"
Kira glares at the blonde. "No thanks to you." She pauses a moment. "He's still alive."
"Based on the mud on your clothes, you caught him?" Bakugou's nose wrinkles in disgust.
"Well, someone had to."
"Don't think you made a difference," he adds, observing the building beside him. "He'll probably just try again tomorrow."
Kira grits her teeth furiously, her hands clenched tightly by her sides. It's taking every inch of willpower not to punch him straight across the jaw. Instead, she storms past him, marching with feverish passion down the hill that leads up to UA.
"Hey, where the hell are you going now?" Bakugou inquires, jogging to catch up with her.
"Well, I don't know about you, but I need sleep and I don't think the dorms are an option." Bakugou keeps quiet, waiting for Kira to explain. "If my mother's in prison, then my house should be abandoned. Hopefully."
"And if it isn't?" Bakugou wonders.
She stops abruptly. "The underpass sure looks cosy," she half-jokes.
Bakugou scoffs, not sure if she's being serious or not. She continues her descent down the hillside, Bakugou right behind her until she eventually turns the last corner to her house. She was worried that Light Bringer owned a different house in this reality, but everything seems the same.
Kira breathes out heavily, climbing the steps to her front door. She gives it a light nudge and it opens up with a slow creak, echoing around the house. As she steps inside, flecks of dust rise off the floorboards and float in the space around her eyes. All the furniture has been covered in white sheets. She wonders why no one's bought the house yet - perhaps they don't want to sell it as it once belonged to an alleged criminal. Kira was still curious about the reasoning behind Light Bringer's imprisonment.
"What a dump," Bakugou says from behind her as he closes the front door with a loud thump.
She closes her eyes and ignores the raging fury in her mind whenever Bakugou makes himself known. Just the sound of him has started to make herself feel sick.
Kira analyses the kitchen - everything is the same as before. She trails her fingers along the counter, a thick blanket of dust sticking to her skin.
"Uh, hey, light girl," Bakugou calls from the other room and Kira has to bite her cheek from screaming insults at him.
Instead, she storms towards the sound of his voice in the living room. "My name is Kira," she spits.
She finds Bakugou staring up at one of the walls in the living room and Kira slows down immediately, taking it all in.
"What is this?" She whispers.
"She's your mother," Bakugou replies, still staring at the wall. "You tell me."
Kira creeps forward hesitantly, her footsteps causing the floorboards to groan. In front, plastered from top to bottom, covering every inch of the wallpaper she always hated, is newspaper clippings. Photos of random people she's never seen before, with crosses etched across their faces. Kira places her fingers under one of the photos, the paper old and crinkly in between her fingers. They look vaguely familiar but she can't place where. Kira tugs the paper from the wall, revealing another similar one underneath.
"Looks to me like Light Bringer was hunting something or someone," Bakugou informs her, stepping closer and pointing to the newspapers on his side of the wall.
Kira's eyes roam the wall until she settles on a certain clipping, a red circle enveloping it, catching her attention.
"Upsetting Deaths at Local Convenience Store," she reads, frowning at the blurred photographs on the paper. "Robbery Gone Wrong. Several Killed Including Ten Year Old Akira Kiriya, Daughter of Rank Twelve Pro Hero Light Bringer."
~~~