Dedicated Chapter Song: Dead - My Chemical Romance
Have you heard the news that you're dead?
No one ever had much nice to say
I think they never liked you anyway
Oh take me from the hospital bed
Wouldn't it be grand ain't it exactly what you planned
And wouldn't it be great if we were dead
(????)
Oh, well.
Guess I died, huh?
Heh...I had a good run, though. The last two months were...different. Not bad...not all that great...but better than I've had it in a very long time.
I regret a lot of things, though. So...so many things. Maybe I should have given Bakugo another chance...or maybe I should have let him down softer. He had feelings too. And Shõto...god...is he okay?
Heh...even if he isn't...I can still apologize...right? That's all I've ever been good for...apologizing...
But there's still something I never got to tell him...I guess none of that even matters anymore. I can feel my heart shutting down already, my veins growing cold with ice.
...What...was I even worried about? Everything is going to be fine...
But...I'm so scared. I'm not ready to die yet. I had so much to live for! I know that no one would miss me...but even still...I'm so frightened. Everything feels so cold...
"Hey," a distorted voice calls. It's all muffled in my ears. I'm supposed to be dead, right? So...who am I hearing? "Hey, you! Hey- wait, she's responding!"
"...nnn...gh...nnn..." I moan.
"Hiro!" Shoto leans over me, placing his right hand on my head, chilling it. "You're okay. You're not hurt..."
"Hey, girl," that distorted voice becomes a bit clearer. Through watery eyes I see a boy, a little older than Todoroki, peering down at me. "Should I call an ambulance?" He looks at Todoroki, who seems upset at the question.
"You mean you haven't already?!"
"I don't...really like authorities all that much," mutters the older boy.
I finally manage to sit up and rub my eyes to where I can see the boy's face clearly. He was an average and handsome boy in his early twenties, at least. His eyes were a shimmering gold and his black hair somewhat messy, with with electric blue tips in a dip-dyed fashion. He wore some kind of beanie cap from some American band, a torn up t-shirt, leather jacket, and leather skinny pants. Not to mention he had a snakebite and an eyebrow piercing. He looked like the walking definition of "2005 emo kid who spent their daily life on Myspace rawring at everyone".
Had Shoto not been right beside me, I might have drooled a bit, if I'm being entirely honest.
"Do I..." I squint my eyes and manage to utter a few words. "...know you...?"
"Know me?" He seemed startled. "...no." he rubbed the back of his neck. "Nobody knows me. You don't...you don't know me. I'm a nobody."
"I feel like...I've seen you before."
"You probably have. It's a small world," he shrugged nonchalantly. "Perhaps at the laundromat or the convenience store. Y'know...something menial like that."
It's only then that I realize I'm laying against concrete in a back alleyway. "H- WHA- WHAT HAPPENED?!"
"Hey," Todoroki reassuringly places a hand on my chest, lightly pressing me back down. "Don't move too fast. You're still pale."
"P-Pal- I'M ALWAYS PALE!"
The boy snickered and then turned to look around, as if to make sure no one was watching us. "Um, so..." he shyly turned back to us. "Like...you don't need an ambulance right...? I don't...have to be present to like...sign some shit, right?"
"N...No..." I mutter, staring at him as he began to fidget. "How...who...are you, anyways? Where did you come from- and...how am I on the ground, unscathed?"
The boy takes a deep breath before he even considers answering. "Jeez...guess I'm gonna miss my show tonight. It's the season finale too..." he mutters before slamming his back against the grimy brick wall behind him. "My name is Kaito- please don't ask for a last name. I've been disowned since the moment I was born, and never adopted a last name I quite fit with." He taps his boots against the ground.
"I have a uniquely strange quirk. Let's just say, for your sake, as of today I can teleport around from place to place as long as I've got a clear location in my head. I saw the two of you falling right above the Mishigaki Tavern right over there only because I have a keen sense of...everything around me."
Todoroki suddenly grabs at my arm, as though he's ready to sling me over his shoulder and run with me at any given second. But Kaito seems far too shy to attempt to attack us; unless that was his goal.
"I'm...kind of a wanted criminal," he laughs nervously. "I- uh...I didn't do it, by the way! If...if you're thinking about...calling the authorities...shit... SHIT!" He curses, his voice breaking like he was about to cry. "I...should have kept quiet."
Instead of running away...or even calling the police, I pushed Todoroki's hand off of me and stood up. "Kai...to?" I call out to him. "You teleported us to this alleyway, right?" His eyes glance over to meet my own. "You saved him...?" I whisper, jerking my head towards Todoroki.
"I was...more trying to save you," Kaito admits with a sudden tone shift. "You were the one passed out and unresponsive. Candycane over there acted like he could handle himself."
"Did he just fucking call me... candy cane?"
"Anyways, you're welcome." He mutters. "I'm not really the charity kind of person but...I really wouldn't have like to have witnessed a stranger's death tonight."
I bounce on my toes. "Is there some way I can repay you? I have money, if you want it-"
"Tch," Kaito sneers in offense. "I'm no scumbag, okay?! I just helped you because I felt like it. I don't need shit from anyone."
I flinch, though I really shouldn't have. I know that kind of tone in his voice all too well. I used to act like that all the time.
"I- I'm sorry. I didn't mean to offend you-"
"No, of course you didn't..." Kaito sighs heavily, then kicks off the brick wall. "Whatever. I better use this quirk before someone takes it away from me-" and that's the last Todoroki and I hear of this strange boy before he disappears before our eyes.
"Wait-" I gasp, reaching my hand out to where he just was. "Wh-"
"Come on," Todoroki grabs for my wrist. "It's really late. We should get you back home."
"But..." I keep looking over my shoulder as we walk back to the main street, like I was hoping to see Kaito reappear; and for just a sliver of a second, I swore that I saw him again, staring, just...staring at me.
Nothing else strange happens on the way back to our neighborhood, thankfully.
"I'm taking you home first." Todoroki speaks up when I attempt to walk down the road towards his house. He just lightly tugs at my hand to lead me to my own. "I'll just call an uber to take me home."
"You sure...?" I quietly ask. He only nods and pulls me closer. "It's really dark down your street..."
"...which is why my mom loved this house," I sighed heavily. "If you don't know the way up instinctively during the night, you're sure to get lost on the way there. Uremi installed lights closer to the gate once mother left." I explain, pointing at a few twinkling lights up ahead. "See?" Todoroki says nothing.
I'm sure I'll never hear the end of it from my father when he's standing there at the front door, menacingly glaring at Todoroki. "And just WHERE have you two been?" He thunders loudly.
I slip my hand out of Todoroki's and nervously approach my dad. "I needed to take a rest before we headed back." I say with a bright and innocent smile. "If I hadn't, I might have gotten us both hurt..."
Father sighs. "Well...at least you were careful. Call me next time. Do you understand, Hiro?"
"Yes, father." I bow my head down and toe the dirt. "I'm sorry."
"Well, come inside, you two. It's dangerous outside during this time."
"Oh, I was just going to call a cab-" Todoroki says.
"Well at least come in and wait. It's dangerous out there." Insists Father, walking away to return to reading his book.
With a roll of my eyes, I motion Todoroki inside, then lock the door. "Do you wanna...I dunno...watch some anime or something until your cab gets here?" I suggest. Todoroki looks like he's attempting to smile at my suggestion. "Yeah, I guess. I've got nothing else to do."
Soon enough we were both in my room- with the door open about three feet, obviously- watching some kind of anime Todoroki had never seen before. It was about a class of students who were forced to kill each other in order to survive. "The games are way better." I mumble, munching on some pocky. "Oh, him! That one there is my favorite. He's psycho." I say, pointing to a boy with sickly pale skin and light gray-green eyes with thick eyelashes. His hair is shoulder-length and naturally wavy, of an unnaturally pale pinkish off-white color that fades to white the closer to his scalp. "He's a bean."
But Todoroki points to the strange bear behind him. "Hey, when did you star in an anime?" He jokingly asks. "Oh, him?" I grin, grabbing my matching plushie. "That's Monokuma. He's the headmaster."
"The...headmaster...is a teddybear?" Todoroki blinks.
"Trust me, that's the least insane of this whole franchise." I snicker. "Oh, this is the kid I said sounds like Midoriya!" I point to Ryota, the Ultimate Animator within the show as he talks to the main antagonist Junko Enoshima about his passion for creating anime.
"Anime is an important part of our culture!" Ryota whines. Todoroki looks over at me and agrees silently that he sounds exactly like Midoriya does when he's arguing over who's the best hero.
"Watch this!" I grin at him as the screen turns back to Junko, and I mimic her exact words and movements. "'Aww, look at him tremble! He's gonna burst a blood vessel because I dissed his waifu!'"
"That was... terrifying. How...How many times have you seen this?" Todoroki asks me. I glance over at my shelf full of merch. "....uuuuh...hehehe....not enough? Oh- oh, look, look! Look how precious Komaeda is!"
"Hiro...I think your definition of precious and mine are...extremely different."
I wanted to ask him what he found precious in life, but then the doorbell rang. "Oh..." I look out my bedroom door as my father calls for us. "Your Uber's here." I frown.
"Fucking assholes..." he mumbles. "... they're too early." Todoroki sighs and stands up. "I'll um...see you tomorrow. Okay?"
"Yeah..." I say, rubbing my eyes. "I'll see you..." when I move my hands from my eyes, he's gone. I can hear the echoing of his footsteps down the hall. The room grows colder and darker suddenly. Like summer turning to winter in the blink of an eye.
I watch out my bedroom window as Todoroki climbs into a black car. My eyes are locked on that car until the second I can no longer see the headlights in the distance. Then I turn around and fall dramatically onto my bed, screaming into my pillowcases for no particular reason at all.
Everything felt hot and cold inside me at the same time. Like my heart was burning, yet my veins were shooting ice through them. I felt sickened, yet I've never been happier. I turn on my back to stare up at my ceiling for a good few minutes before I swear I hear a knocking on my window.
But when I turn my head, nothing's there. So I shrug it off and shut my eyes. Then the knocking comes again; louder this time. Startled, I jump to my feet and go to the window. "H...Hello?"
No reply.
"HelloooOoo?"
Still nothing.
So I shut the window and turn around. There's a strange ringing in my ear as I turn off my light and get ready for bed. It doesn't stop at all throughout the night, resulting in my loss of sleep.
(Kaito. Yes, I'm aware of who this REALLY is but I love him and needed to use this pic as a face claim. Fight me)
Quick Question:
Hiya, sooo...would you guys like it if I made this similar to the AOT books where Hiro sings on occasion because I wanna do that but I wanna know if you guys would like that? K. Thanks. Bye.
[No behind the scenes for this chapter]