October 14th. It was the first few hours of that day when Sairokaku was defeated and arrested. Shinsou and Mr Aizawa were on their way back to the Yaoyorozu manor, quietly celebrating one final victory.
Mr Aizawa had a key, as did almost all of the residents, and unlocked the large doors. They both stepped inside, fumbling around in the dark, refusing to turn the lights on as they may wake someone up. It would be pretty awkward to explain the situation to anyone, especially... Her.
Mr Aizawa and Shinsou made their way to the kitchen to have a cup of tea and settle down. However, after sneaking around inside the mansion and getting to the kitchen, the kitchen light suddenly switched on. Misaki stood there in the doorway with her arms crossed.
They both stood there, frozen from fear after locking eyes with Shinsou's mother, her own were scowling and full of fury. No man can survive a mother's wrath. Quietly, but very sharply, she asked, "Where were you two tonight?"
"Oh hey mom. How long have you been standing there?" He asked, desperately trying to avoid the question as his heart started beating faster.
"You didn't think you'd get away with it, did you?" She asked, her foot beginning to tap a little as she stood upright, staring at them both intensely. It was like there was a fierce aura surrounding her.
"I don't know what you're talking about. Is it really so suspicious that a boy and his teacher snook out late at night without anyone knowing?" Mr Aizawa tried to reason, but to no avail.
"Shota, tell me where I work again." She began her interrogation.
"At Kanemoto Hospital, right?" Mr Aizawa answered.
She nodded, and then asked, "And where was that villain base that was raided tonight? Was it on the way there by any chance? In that general area?"
It was then that they both pieced it together. Misaki had driven either to or from work at the time the raid was going on, or finishing. Likely finishing. And even if she didn't see them, which she probably didn't, it was obvious when they arrived home that they had been a part of it.
"Allow me to explain-" Mr Aizawa started before Misaki cut him off.
"I've been worried about you two, you first of all for still doing hero work despite the fact that it's about to be banned, but second of all when I realised Hitoshi wasn't home either! How could you drag him along? He doesn't even have a license!"
"I made him do it. " Shinsou said, trying to get Mr Aizawa off the hook.
Mr Aizawa facepalmed as Misaki stared at the boy with a confused look on her face. "You... Made Shota bring you? You're sixteen, surely you have enough brain power to come up with a better lie than that right?"
"Misaki, it's fine. We got him. We did it, everyone is safe, there's no trouble." Mr Aizawa said, trying to get her into a calmer state of mind. It turns out that wasn't his strong suit.
"It's fine? You brought my child out to what I'm assuming was a dangerous situation and because no one got hurt that it's fine? I don't know all the details and I honestly don't want to. You ever bring my child into something like this again without my consent and you'll have something much more dangerous than a villain to worry about." Misaki said, absolutely fuming.
Shinsou tried to calm her down next, "Mom, this is what I've wanted to do for years, I finally got to do it. You let me go to U.A. so I could become a hero. Sure it didn't work out that way, but you still knew it's what I wanted to do, and you let me go right? I've accomplished my goal, shouldn't you be happy?"
She narrowed her eyes at him for a moment before sighing. "It's not that I don't want you to accomplish your dreams Hitoshi. But times are changing, and we have to too. And come on, is it really too much to ask to at least know what's going on? The worst part about all this is that it was done behind my back. If you're ever even considering doing something like this again, you will come to me first and you better pray I'm in a good mood. Do I make myself clear?"
Like two young children scolded by their mother, they hung their heads in shame and in unison said, "Yes ma'am."
A smile finally coming across her face, Misaki moved towards the kettle, "Good, now let's have some tea and forget this happened. And I'm sure you weren't planning on it, but don't be telling anyone else about this. We don't need to fill those kid's hearts with anarchist tendencies alright?"
Thankfully for them, everyone else had gotten to sleep at a reasonable time. There was no Insomniac group that night, so no one's cover got blown.
When morning came and everyone was getting up, I went downstairs to get some breakfast as per my usual routine, and I saw Shinsou in the dining hall, sitting on one of the seats not far from the end, so I approached him.
"So, how did it go last night? Did you get them?" I asked Shinsou, who looked up at me with a rather disinterested look on his face, which made me think they'd gotten the wrong building or something.
"It was just the mushroom there, mist dude wasn't around so he's still at large. We got Sairokaku though, so still a win I guess." Shinsou said.
Kirakiri wasn't there? When he said that, it filled my heart with panic and dread. If Kirakiri wasn't there, would he assume the one behind capturing Sairokaku was me? Would he come after me next?
No sooner had he finished uttering those words though, did Misaki come up behind him and slap him around the back of the head. Not just any slap, a real backhander with enough force to nearly give him whiplash.
"What did we talk about last night Hitoshi?" She asked him.
"Oh, right... Yo Alex?" Shinsou asked, looking at me.
"Yeah?" I replied.
"Forget I told you that."
I blinked a couple of times before nodding. Man, Shinsou's quirk really was something wasn't it? Misaki then slapped Shinsou again. "Ow, what was that one for?!"
He seemed pretty irritated, but Misaki informed him, "We also made it a rule not to use your brainwashing on friends. So that's two for you. Do you think that's fair, or would you like to take it up with my manager?"
Confused, he asked, "Who's your manager?"
She raised her hand again before Shinsou quickly said, "Hey, hey, it's cool."
Pleased with his answer, Misaki walked away. I stared blankly at them, confused and almost dazed. "What was that about?"
Shinsou waved at me dismissively, "It's nothing, don't worry about it. Bug me about it and I'll brainwash you to do something embarrassing."
I was confused, but I decided not to question it any further as I never really knew when he was going to activate it, and I didn't want to learn from experience, so I left him alone and went to go find Tsu.
I found her opening the fridge to get something out. She bent down to reach whatever it was she was looking for, and I used every ounce of willpower not to turn into Mineta and stare while I could.
"Hey Tsu!" I called out, assuming that was a better choice than going up next to her or just waiting around like a weirdo.
She managed to grab what she was looking for as she stood up and closed the door of the fridge. She smiled at me and waved, "Hey Alex-Chan! Did you sleep well?"
I smiled at her, she was back to using the honorific, which made me really happy. "Better than I have been, that's for sure. I just wanted to come to you so I could ask if... Well... If you don't have anything better to do today, if you'd like to go out to the park for a date? Just a walk, ya know, nothing too fancy or anything."
For some reason I felt both really nervous and awkward asking her out like that. This was going to be our fifth official date, though I felt so inadequate asking her. I even got a little clammy and had to force some saliva out just so I could swallow.
"Wanna go out after breakfast then? The weather is nice, and I'd really like to go out somewhere with you." She said frankly.
That was something I loved about her so much. She just had this way of saying things as they were, in a matter of fact way without appearing shy or embarrassed. It was a raw form of confidence I so wish I had, and I admired her a lot for it.
"Great! I'll go eat then and get ready!" I said before hurrying off to prepare my bowl of cereal so I could eat it and go out with Tsu, I was eager to just be alone with her.
When I sat down around the middle of the table and started eating, I heard a dispute arising at the far right end of the table. I glanced over, hearing Bakugou's voice, and saw he was having a go at Midoriya, probably for little to no reason.
"Keep your eyes to yourself Deku! Or do you think you're tough enough to beat me in a fight huh? Is that it? Well? Do you?!" He was shouting loud enough to fill half the damn mansion with his angry ramblings.
After hearing Tsu, I was feeling elated, I was in a really good mood, but then Bakugou brought it right back down. I was... Annoyed. I was upset that he'd fight at a time like this, especially with one of the most wholesome members of our old school.
I pushed my chair back and stood up, walking over towards Bakugou whilst looking directly at him. Most guidebooks tell you never to stare into an animal's eyes, as they'll view it as a challenge.
Bakugou caught my gaze and shouted at me, "You want some too, huh?!"
"Why are you shouting at Midoriya?" I asked calmly. Wait, no, it wasn't calmly. It was more like coldly, an icy tone was definitely behind the question.
"Deku was looking at me funny, like he wanted to fight or something, I dunno!" He said, almost defeated by his own explanation as he didn't really have a good reason for shouting at him, it was just the way he was.
"The question was rhetorical. I'll rephrase it for you though. Why are you trying to pick a fight with one of our few allies at a time like this? Come on man, you know the situation we're in don't you? The country is banning hero work and making us all obsolete, the government is against us and we still have villains out there that want to kill us, and you're still screaming at one of our few friends?
Midoriya has been with you since childhood and this is how you treat him? Honestly, I thought you were better than that. If anything, you should be angry at me! I'm the reason we're in this mess, if I did things right the first time, even the second or even the third time, we wouldn't be here! So if you wanna shout at anyone shout at me damn it! But leave our friends out of it because it's not their fault! It's mine!"
Although I'd been telling myself and others that I was starting to come to terms with everything, it turns out I was the most unstable among them all. Even with therapy and talking it out with my friends, there was still something I'd been holding back from them and myself.
I still blamed myself for everything that happened. I'm a strong believer in the butterfly effect. Every action you take results in the future being changed significantly depending on your choices. My choices led to the Sinister Six being formed, my dad's death, the death of many heroes, and the law being changed.
Although there was no way I could foretell that would happen, I still blamed myself for not doing my job properly. What kind of hero was I if I couldn't capture the bad guys and save the day, right? Pretty ironic thinking, wasn't it? I never even wanted to be a fighter. I went to U.A. with the dream of being a search and rescue hero. Look at me now.
Bakugou's expression softened, and looked pitiful even for just a brief second. Midoriya looked pained by my internal suffering as well and admitted, "It's ok Alex! Really, I'm used to it. I kinda just zone out now."
Bakugou grit his teeth and clenched his fists, he was ready blast off against Midoriya, but restrained himself for my sake. Again, he may not be a very verbally supportive person, and when he does support people he has a weird way of saying things, but he clearly meant well with how he restrained himself.
Tsu was watching from the distance as she ate, but didn't intervene. She was thinking to herself about my outburst, and how I handled the situation. Little did I know that she was making mental notes for our walk later.
A few of the other students who were there that overheard the commotion came over to me to support me, which was very kind of them, but it really just went in one ear and out the other. When I got into a negative mindset, it was so hard to break out of it. Almost impossible even, unless I was with Tsu.
Afterwards, I got the few things I needed together, my shoes, my key, my wallet, and a jacket as it was getting cold outside this time of year. Granted, still a bit warmer than what I was used to back home, but it was far cooler than Summer. Autumn was already more than half way through, and Winter would be coming in six week's time.
I thought about that, since Tsu slows down during the cold weather, I was wondering how many nights we'd get to spend huddled up together in front of a warm fire, and that feeling warmed my heart a little just thinking about it. Despite the fact I hate cold weather myself, I was actually looking forward to it.
Snapping my mind back to the present, Tsu was ready to go, so we left the mansion after telling a few others we were heading out, and went to go to the park. Tsu and I talked about everyday things on the way there, and pointed out every part of the park we passed that was having work done on it after the catastrophic fight with Amaraito.
The trees really were beautiful at this time of year, with how the leaves turned different shades of yellow, orange, brown and red. And how they fell to the ground beneath them, covering the pathways en masse. A beautiful scene with a beautiful girl by my side, it couldn't get much better than this.
But then she started to ask me serious questions. "Alex-Chan... Do you really still blame yourself for everything that's happened?"
It's funny really. I'd ask her out, and it would end up with her asking me questions that made me think about stuff. She would always end up helping me out. Even if it wasn't a date per se, she always managed to make me think about what I needed to.
I tensed up a little and scratched the back of my head as I got ready to answer. "Well, to be honest, yeah. There's so many variables, I mean, what if I just got ahold of my second quirk? What if I just captured the villains properly that I met? What if I was stronger? I do blame myself, and there's not much to be said to prove me innocent. I've done some really dumb things, but it became unforgivable when I joined the League of Villains.
Well, not joined, formed an alliance is more accurate. But whatever, the fact that I associated with them at all and trusted them is when I failed the most as a hero. And as a decent human being even. I can't forgive myself for that, and I can't imagine anyone else does really. Why would they? I've endangered all of their lives and ruined hero society, all because of me making one stupid mistake after another."
After carefully listening to what I had to say, Tsu replied with the three words I didn't know I needed to hear, but the ones I truly did need. Tsu stopped me from walking forward, holding my hands tightly and looking up into my eyes. Calmly, but firmly she said, "I forgive you."
It's been ten years since she said those words to me, but even now I still vividly remember exactly how I felt in that moment. Sure, some of my other details can be vague at times, but I remember everything I felt.
My eyes shimmered as they watered up, and a few tears fell down my face. I wasn't big into crying, I wasn't some shounen protagonist. When I cried, it was because an emotional floodgate had been breached.
But this breach wasn't one of negativity, I wasn't being flooded with thoughts of fear, doubt, self loathing, suicide, self harm, or harming others. The thoughts flooding into my mind were telling me that I was loved... That everything was alright now.
My heart had that fluttering feeling inside that you get when you see or hear something or someone you love. And my head felt like it had had a cancerous growth removed from it, a massive weight inside my brain was just gone suddenly.
The overworked forehead muscles that caused an ever present frown were finally put the rest, and a great sense of relief overcame me. All from those three words. Up until that point in my life, nothing had ever brought me so much joy and relief.
I looked at her and smiled one of my most genuine, heartfelt smiles. I didn't say anything in reply to her though, what was there to say? Thank you? The expression on my face told her everything she needed to know, and with that, we continued our walk.
[A/N: Honestly didn't expect to get this out tonight! Again I'm sorry for taking such a long break, what is that, three weeks? Kind of ashamed but I just couldn't bring myself to do anything at all for some reason, and I mean nothing. I did pretty much nothing for a while. Didn't have the physical or mental energy for it. But here I am now with what I hope is a chapter that's more descriptive than normal! I want to write like this going forward, cleaner with more expressions and details, scenery and stuff. Hope you enjoyed, see you next week! ]