Izuku POV:
Asahi made a annoyed face once again. "Izuku. Answer me. Izuku. Answer me. Izuku. Answer me." He kept repeating, and has been for the past 10 minutes.
I sighed, giving up.
I stopped walking and put Asahi down onto the road.
"Yes?" I answered nonchalantly.
Asahi put his hands on his waist and with a straight face, stated:
"Why and where are we going?"
I exhaled quickly, then grabbed his hand and led him down the road again.
"We are going back to our house. And why, well, because I said so." I said, not wanting to make the boy worry.
Asahi stopped walking.
"Excuse me, but I'm not going home if it's just "because you said so". I want an explanation. Oh, and also an explanation of what happened yesterday. I woke up in this monsters arms, then got put to sleep again next to you in a weird room. Izuku!" He said sternly, but still in a monotone voice, unsurprisingly. It's actually astonishing how he manages to be sassy and stern with a straight face and a monotone voice.
I sighed and turned around to face him.
"Look, Ash, let's get home for now, and then in a comfortable environment I'll explain everything to you. I promise." I said. Well, not everything, but I'm sure you'll understand when you grow up.
Asahi shook his head. "I don't believe you." He simply said and turned around.
I was surprised for a second. "Uhm, why?"
Asahi crossed his arms. "Because, you'll definitely put up the "protective older brother" act, and not tell me some of the details or even the important parts." He turned around and stared me in the eye.
"I demand truthful and detailed answers NOW." The tone of his voice and the deadly (still monotone!) expression on his face, reminding me of an angry Aizawa sent shivers down my spine and I sighed.
"Fine. I'll tell you everything, but at home. C'mon! We're in the middle of an alleyway, someone could here us any second." I said, lowering my voice at the end. Asahi nodded as uncrossed his arms.
"Understood. Let's go."
He stated, and walked on ahead of me. I sighed and slumped down.
Asahi... you're one of a kind, kid.
But those words were taken out of my mouth the next moment by a very familiar scruffy voice.
"Asahi, you're one of a kind, kid. Making your brother submit like that."
Asahi stopped and glanced at where the voice was coming from, as did I. My eyes widened at the sight of Stain, sitting cross legged on the roof top above us.
Asahi put his hands on his waist.
"Monster dude? Hello. Who are you and how do you know my name and our relationship?" He calmly said, taking two steps back to be next to me.
He learned... hehe. I thought but then got serious.
"Stain, get off there and explain this."
Stain laughed. "Right back at ya, Misty." He said, then jumped down and stood in front of us. "I totally support your decision - I didn't want to drag you back anyway."
"Not that you can, though." I answered back. Asahi stood between us, quietly observing the situation.
"Oi, don't take words out of my mouth." Stain chuckled. Then his eyes became serious. "Misty, you can't just leave like that."
Izuku smirked. "Oh, sorry, but I did."
Stain rolled his eyes. "Shut up. I mean, you could've at least told me that you left face to face! I could've then punched you hard for dumping all that shit of being the "leader" onto my shoulders, idiot." Stain said, and I couldn't tell if he was mad, sad, worried or just joking.
I glanced at my hands. They were... shaking?
Then, Asahi interrupted us.
"Ok, I pretty much grasped the situation. So, I suppose you, Stain, are his friend or ally that is sad because Izu left without a word and only a note, and is now expressing that here through anger and sass." He nodded while Stain was about to object, but once again got interrupted by my younger brother. "Well, Stain, because you are his ally or friend or in any case, close person, you might know that my brother is very stubborn, and so he will not change his decision no matter what."
Stain sighed but nodded. Then he lifted his head again. "But, as I said, I'm not here to change his decision, I am here to punch him."
My draw fell open. What? He said that in such a straight face, did I mishear that?
On the other hand, Asahi remained with a calm and straight face like always. "I'm sorry Izu, but Stain, feel free." He said and stepped back.
I gasped and turned to Ash. "Wha...?" I did not expect that. "What do-" then i got punched in the stomach by guess who? Stain.
I bent in half and grunted.
"What the hell?!"
Stain laughed with a smirk. "There kid, now we're even." Then he turned to Asahi while I was still grunting from the pain.
"Hey brat, I like you." He grinned and smacked my brother on the head, then giving him a head lock.
Asahi remained having a straight face and calmly said. "Thank you."
Then Stain calmed down and released my brother. He stood up and then seriously looked at me. I finally could be able to stand up.
"Hey kid, don't you dare die on us all. They," he paused, "are watching you. Remember, you made a promise. So don't your dare die, you bastard."
He smirked as he jumped back onto the roof. He turned to me.
"Feel free to drop by anytime."
Then, Stain jumped off and vanished.
I sighed and rubbed the spot where I got punched.
"That idiot." I mumbled.
Asahi rubbed his head. "Ok, Izuku, now I demand answers even more."
I sighed with a small smile. "Yeah yeah. Let's go."
And we continued our way to our house.
The soul-piercing state that my brother was giving me as he sat opposite me, cross legged on my bed, made me chuckle nervously and glance away.
"Answers. Now." He simply said, and I sighed heavily.
"Ok."
I'm sorry Asahi.
You know how there are different types of people? Well, Asahi was a type that is a very good listener. For the next 30 minutes or so that passed like it was just 5, I talked non-stop, telling Asahi all he details, my feelings, expressions of other people and each and every thing that occurred. And Asahi just sat there, staring at the bed sheets, and listened quietly. Never interrupted, never changed expression, just sat and listened.
When I finished, I took a deep breath to calm my tears that were threatening to spill. Geez, telling the events that happened to someone is so relieving, but painful at the same time. It's like you're re-living the time.
There was silence, until Asahi spoke up.
"Thanks for telling me the truth, Izuku. I'm sorry for making you go through that again." He said the last part quietly, and shuffled over to hug me.
Then I broke. It's like the pent up emotions that I pushed down deep inside me from all these years, the pain and thoughts and beliefs that haunted me and that I tried to forget, exploding, and turning into a pain-filled cry and tears. Like a bottle with a fizzy drink that has been shaken in all different ways and that's been trying to hold the lid on finally gave up and released the fountain of the drink.
I hugged Asahi closer.
"It... it- it feels like I'm a curse! A curse that- that... that kills everyone who tries to be nice to me! Mom, Shadow, Sky, Fox! I-... I-I...." my eyes widened as Asahi tightened his grip on my back. I stared at the bed sheets, as I felt my t-shirt getting wet with salty tears. Not my tears - Asahis.
"A-Asahi?" I croaked out.
"Yes?" He replied in a shaky voice, "Izu, don't think that you're... that you're the only one who thinks that. I... my best friend - Mia, also got killed because of me. She... she stood up for me. Protected me. And then.. then.." he mumbled something. I didn't hear it, but I didn't need to, to be able to understand.
I hugged Asahi tighter once again, and we cried in silence, each crying out their problems into the others shoulder.
I'm sorry Asahi... I didn't realise you were going through the same thing.
I scrunched up my eyes.
From now on, we'll face everything together, Asahi.
"From now on, we'll face everything together, Izuku."
A few days past, and life started to flow normally again. Well, as normal as life or a vigilante-in-hiding can be.
"Hey Izu! Pass me an apple please." I heard Asahi say. I smiled and stood up from my desk. I walked over to the kitchen table, grabbed an apple from the bowl and through it over to Asahi, who was on his bed, and caught it with one hand without looking away from his book he was reading.
"Thanks." He mumbled, taking a bite.
I nodded and went back to my desk.
Asahi has taken a liking to the library books on languages. He's been studying English for the past 5 days, and let me say, the guy has talent. He started talking simple sentences yesterday, and already knew loads of words. Like, it took me a month to learn how to say "My name is Izuku, I am a vigilante. Nice to meet you," in English!
Asahi also took a liking to apples. That is, to green ones. And the ones that are very sour. Red and sweet ones were a big no-no, and could cause a major argument, so I ended up having to buy two different types of apples for us, red and very sweet for me, and very sour green ones - for Ash.
I shook my head lightly with a smile. Sometimes he can be such a child, while sometimes he's more responsible than me, haha.
Me, of course, continued on with my regular patrols. Went out, beat some asses, then came back. Asahi hasn't given up on asking to join me on my patrols yet either, but after I mention how he got himself deadly injured before, he usually calms down.
Fortunately, I haven't met Aizawa, Stain or the truth or lie detective at all. It kinda seemed suspicious, but I guess Aizawa and Tsukauchi have their work to do, and Stain probably just changed his patrolling area. Oh, I remember now, he moved to Hosu City.
"It's been crawling with thugs lately," he said.
Well, anyway, my visits to the beach and to Meis house as Izumi started up again, and it took me about 3 hours and a whole lot of energy to explain to Mei why I haven't been visiting her in a while and answering her calls and messages. Either way, it turned out fine.
Though, Mei mentioned one thing that got me thinking.
~Flashback~
"Hey, Izu-chan~!!" Mei smiled and waved at me as she came into the room. I looked up from the book I was reading and tilted my head.
"Hm?" I smiled, once again surprised by how female my voice sounded. Except, soon I would need to make another voice changer because once I reach puberty, my voice will drop low. Or at least I hope so.
"Look!" Mei chuckled, flinging a piece of paper in my face.
I took the paper from her and looked at it.
"UA? Oh, that high school that is apparently very good and everyone wants to get into?" I raised an eyebrow.
She nodded. "Yup! And I'm going to try for the tech-support class!" She laughed and sat down next to me, eyes sparkling. "So? Which high school are you going to??" She asked.
I chuckled nervously. "I..uh... haven't picked yet."
Meis eyes sparked. "Then... let's try out for UA together! Which course do you think you wanna be in? The hero one? Support? General studies?" She smiled.
I lowered my head. "I...I'll think about it."
"Ok! Tell me when you decide on a High School, Izu-chan!"
I nodded with a smile. "Mhm!"
~Flashback Over~
And so now and for the past few days I've been thinking about what I should do. On one hand, seeing as I'm a vigilante that's being hunted down by police and heroes all over Japan, I don't want to be any closer to heroes and other people than I already am, not to mention going to a hero high school. But on the other hand, I'll get an easy way of getting information, and might actually learn things that would be useful.
"Hey! Izuku!" Asahi interrupted my thoughts by shaking my shoulder. I looked over to him.
"Hm?"
"You've been staring at that pencil in your hand for the past 10 minutes. Is that pencil really so fascinating, or is something wrong?" He asked, grabbing my pencil and looking at it himself. I chuckled.
"Nah just thinking 'bout something."
Asahi put down the pencil and tilted his head. "About what?"
I sighed. "Well, Mei asked what High school I was going to enrol into, and seeing as she doesn't know that I'm a secret vigilante that's understandable, but it still got me thinking. Should I enrol into the hero course in UA? On one hand, it's dangerous and way too risky, but on the other hand it'll be a good place to get information and maybe even learn things about heroes. And..." I paused.
Asahi looked at me with a raised eyebrow. "And?"
I looked up at him, eyes sparkling.
"And... Aizawa is a teacher."
Asahi facepalmed. "Oh my god." He sighed, as did I.
There was a moment of silence, but then Ash spoke up.
"Well, I personally think that you should enrol. Not as Izuku obviously, but as Izumi or something." He said seriously. "I think it will definitely be risky and it's a something only an idiot would do," he paused as I was confused whether to feel offended or what, then continued, "but yes, it will be a very easy way of getting information straight from heroes, and a great opportunity to get trusted by police and heroes so that you can use that to your advantage some day. Learning things is also a good point but... I think you're going to be smarter than anyone there, Izu. You've literally read every single book in the library, except for the culture and art books."
I chuckled awkwardly. "Right..."
Then I thought for a bit. "Well, that does seem like a good argument, but which class do I enrol into?" I asked, eyes sparkling and pleading Asahi to suggest the one I was thinking about.
Asahi glanced at me, and sighed. "I don't think I can take away your dream of having Aizawa guy as your teacher, so just pick his class."
I smiled widely and jumped up from my chair, then leaped over and hugged Asahi.
"Yes! Thanks! Ok, I better enrol then!" I chuckled and sat back down, humming a happy melody.
Asahi sighed and shook his head.
"Just make sure to keep yourself hidden, idiot! Don't get too carried away!"
I nodded with a smile.
"Roger that, haha."
And that's how on my calendar for next year, in the box labeled the 26th of February, the words "UA Entrance Exam" in big, red writing appeared.
This was either a huge mistake, or a huge mistake!