Darkest Before Dawn - 10 (Patreon)

Chapter 10

“Agh,” Mineta cried out after Kazuki kicked him in the chest and sent him flying back until he fell on his butt. The negative sensor didn’t have much time to celebrate that small victory though, because he was trying and failing to catch a glimpse of Hagakure’s gloves or boots. But the time he saw one of them, he was hit with a fist to the face.

“Fuck… That’s annoying,” he grumbled after his head snapped to the side and back. Turning to face the girl as best he could, he charged forward. Pushing aside the uncomfortable possibilities and likely outcomes, he wrapped his arms around her. Fortunately, it seemed that he’d managed to avoid any awkward spots and instead grabbed her by her midriff.

“Wait, Creepy!” she cried out as he hurled her up and threw her to the side. “Ouch,” she mumbled from where she felt. Mineta had already gotten up though and was rushing him.

“Grape-” the short teen called out, jumping and pulling back his arm. To that, Kazuki simply stepped aside. “Punch,” the boy growled out as his attack failed miserably. Instead, he was met with another kick that took his legs out from under him. “Wait what are you-?” he mumbled, twitching.

It was too late, Kazuki had already grabbed him by his feet and started rotating.

“Grape Hammer!” Kazuki called out with a grin on his face as he threw the short teenager towards roughly where Hagakure stood. The shriek that followed told him that his aim had been good enough. “Man, you guys suck in hand to hand combat,” he commented, standing and running his fingers through his hair before throwing his head back and taking a deep breath in.

Sure, Mineta and Hagakure weren’t that good, but it wasn’t like he could beat them without breaking a sweat or anything like that. Besides, they’d already had a handful of spars already too. That was how they had figured out that Kazuki could take them one on one easily and how they’d ended up in a two against one.

“You are also not really working together, which I think is the problem,” he pointed out. “Not really taking full advantage of the number difference there.”

“Don’t act like you are suddenly an expert on combat, Creepy,” Mineta grumbled, and Kazuki could feel his frustration and annoyance but it wasn’t too bad. He was coming to learn that despite how expressive he was, Mineta was actually quite the calm person on the inside, which was the important part for him, really.

“Oh, great. Did you have to get him stuck on me again?” Hagakure asked, standing up and revealing that Mineta’s head was actually stuck to her shin… sideways at that, which made it pretty humorous. Especially the way the boy had to twist his body to not… Well, break his neck or something. The funniest thing was that Mineta couldn’t just disconnect from the spheres now, after the time they’d spent training, without literally hurting himself. “It takes forever for him to get off.”

“I mean, you gotta be careful with that kind of stuff in real combat too. It’s all for training’s sake, I swear,” Kazuki said, with a very bad lying expression. The grin didn’t help much either, he guessed.

“You suck, Creepy,” the invisible girl said, and he could imagine her pouting and all. Fortunately, she only seemed to be mildly uncomfortable and annoyed, but little else. “Maybe we should have stayed away for a bit more.”

He knew she just meant it as a joke, he really did. Kazuki still couldn’t help the pang of pain in his chest that had nothing to do with the hits he’d landed on his friends nor the ones he’d received himself. It was stupid, but it still stung, especially because there were some people that he’d almost called friends that had actually stayed away.

“Too soon?” the girl asked, and Kazuki guessed he must have shown something on his face.

“What do you think?” Mineta asked dryly before he sighed. “Anyway. I think this is enough sparring for today. I’ll just… do some normal exercises… after I get unstuck, that is.”

“Same,” Hagakure agreed.

“I’ll get started on that myself,” Kazuki said, moving towards the machines as he tried to get himself under control once more. Fortunately, all that training ignoring other’s emotions helped him push away his own too… sometimes, at least.

He heard the other two talking somewhere behind him, but he ignored them. Instead, he paused and groaned, before moving towards where he’d set his things and pulled his phone out. He needed to keep his minders updated every so often, after all, just so they wouldn’t come looking for him.

With that message sent, that’s when he moved to the machines. He didn’t particularly enjoy working out, that was for sure, but it was a necessary evil. He was sure his Grimm would fall short at some point and he’d prefer not to be completely helpless then. Besides, with the limit on how many he could make and control, he could use the extra hands he could offer himself.

So, he’d try and improve himself as much as his Grimm. Heroes weren’t only their Quirks, after all. Sure, having a good Quirk helped, but it was also how one used it too. It wasn’t like the Top 10 were the only ones with good Quirks in the country. No, he’d need to be the best he could be, himself and his Grimm. He had a few years to grow into that, however, and he’d use every single moment of it he could.

“I thought you said you weren’t that much of a work out guy,” Mineta mumbled and, with his focus pulled away, Kazuki could feel his envy as he looked at him exercising. “Way to make me feel insecure, man.”

“I hit the machines quite a bit when I was in… Well,” he trailed off, grimacing before just sighing. “When I was in juvie. There wasn’t all that much to do, so I did a bit of everything,” he forced out in as casual a tone as he could manage.

“Well, that explains why you kicked our asses then. We’ll get you soon though, so you better be ready,” the short guy said, narrowing his eyes and pointing at them with his fingers before pointing at Kazuki. “We’ve got you on our sights.”

“Well said, Tiny. Be prepared, Creepy, we are coming for you,” Hagakure said, giggling as she moved to one of the treadmills.

“In your dreams, you two,” Kazuki replied, a soft smile on his face.

He was so glad they’d come to join him. He was so glad that they weren’t afraid or uncomfortable with him now that they knew…

So glad to not be alone.

[}-o-{]

“Someone kill me, please,” Mineta whined as he dragged his feet.

“You know, maybe you shouldn’t have pushed so hard,” Kazuki commented, a grin on his face even if he was sharing the pain from both of his friends and his own. It was a neat thing, to know that he had a higher pain resistance than them. Sad too, considering what that meant, but oh well. He was feeling pretty damn positive all things considered, so he’d ride that high for as long as he could.

“Look on the bright side, Tiny. We’re gonna get some drinks and you’ll feel better after resting for a bit,” Hagakure reassured the short teenager.

“Thanks, Bu-”

“And on the dark side, you’ll feel even worse tomorrow,” Kazuki pointed out, making Mineta deflate and glare at him. Maybe he pushed a bit too much, but the annoyance he was getting wasn’t all that high still. Thus, he just grinned at his vertically challenged friend. “What?” he asked, feigning confusion and drawing a giggle from Hagakure.

“You suck, Creepy,” Mineta grumbled.

“A drink and some relaxation should help though, that’s true. ” Kazuki commented idly. “On that note, I think I might get…” he trailed off then, stopping where he stood and turning his head a little.

“Creepy?” Hagakure asked, obviously confused by his behavior.

“You can go on, I need to… check on something,” he mumbled, turning to the side and crossing the street instead of continuing forward. There was something there, on the edge of his range… Someone was very afraid, borderline panicking and…

Pain.

Kazuki pulled out his phone from his pocket and started jogging. As best he could, he called Aizawa, almost tripping as he took his eyes off the path. Panic and pain, desperation. Someone was in trouble, he knew. He needed to do something, he needed to help.

‘This is what I decided to do, right? Help those that wouldn’t be seen,’ Kazuki thought to himself. He’d thought he would feel more heroic if the opportunity came. Instead, he just felt like he couldn’t get there fast enough.

“Endo? You know you can update us with-” Aizawa started, before Kazuki interrupted him telling him his rough location. “Endo, what’s happening?”

“I need a hero, here, soon,” he said, only then realizing that he’d gone well past jogging and was now full on running. “Someone is afraid, in pain.”

“Where are you again?” Aizawa said, his tone shifting the smallest bit. Kazuki told him immediately, now more precisely since he was practically next to where whatever he had picked up was. “Endo, don’t do anything rash.”

“I know, I’ll just knock and see if someone needs help… Or if I can buy time, that’s all,” he said, stopping to catch his breath for a moment before ringing the bell.

“... Don’t get in trouble,” Aizawa told him.

“Why would I? See you,” he said then, hanging up and pressing the button for the bell once more. “Come on, come on,” he muttered under his breath. The pain was still there, but it was a lingering one instead of newly caused. The fear was very much present still, however. ‘Come on, let me help,’ he thought, almost as desperate as the person inside, ringing the bell once more.

Then, a new emotion appeared, separating itself from the other ones.

Anger.

“What?” he heard a rough voice on the other side.

“... Good afternoon, I’m doing a survey for school, could I have a moment of your time,” Kazuki replied, coming up with the first excuse he could think of. ‘Thank God that was a decent one, otherwise I’d be in trouble… Or whoever is there would be,’ he mused, because the person that had replied to him couldn’t be the one that he was sensing. And that meant bad things, he was sure…

He really hoped he wasn’t wrong, because that would be awkward.

“Go bother someone else,” the person inside told him, making him grimace as the line went silent. Taking a deep breath in, he rang the bell once more. “Kid, go the fuck away. I’m not in the mood.”

“Please, sir. I only need a minute or two, that’s all,” Kazuki said, forcing himself to be as polite and “normal” sounding as he could manage. “I’m from U.A. I only need you to answer me a few questions regarding heroes,” he added, hoping the fact that he was from a hero school would buy him some credibility and, more importantly, time.

“I told you, to, go, AWAY!” the man inside shouted at him through the door phone. Kazuki brought his hand up and then balled it into a fist before he pressed the button again. Would he get in trouble if he kept going? He was probably on thin ice with his lax rules. If he messed up…

Hell, what if nothing was going on and there was a perfectly good explanation for what was going on there.

“Creepy?” Mineta asked, making Kazuki look to the side. The poor guy looked out of breath and barely standing, but there he was, with Hagakure at his side. “What’s going on?”

“I’m just…” he trailed off, looking back to the house, sensing the fear and pain coming from there. When there was another spike of pain, he pressed the button once more. “Trying to be a hero,” he finished then, his resolution solidifying.

Maybe he was wrong. Maybe he would get in trouble.

How many times had someone looked at him when he was a child and thought that maybe he didn’t actually need help? How many times had he wished someone noticed? How many times had he wished someone would even actually look?

He couldn’t just stand there and do nothing.

“I’m gonna call the police if you keep this up, you little shit!” the man shouted through the comms. “Last warning, before I-” Whatever else the man said, Kazuki didn’t hear, because his focus was pulled away from the house and his senses. To his side, he saw someone fall down to the street.

“I was told someone needed a hero over here,” the… man?... that had arrived said. He looked more akin to Kazuki’s beowolves though. Or maybe it was better to say that he looked like a werewolf, really. “Endo, I got Aizawa’s call because I was close. What’s going on?” the apparent hero asked.

“I’m feeling a lot of fear from someone inside, and pain,” Kazuki explained instantly, pointing at the house. “The pain isn’t lingering either. It was like… like someone was being hit, and not lightly,” he added, doing his best to word it in a way that made the hero believe him. Believe that he wasn’t mistaken or something of the sort.

“I see…” the hero said, turning around and ringing the bell himself.

“... That’s it, you fucker. I’m calling the police-” the man inside replied after a long moment of silence.

“This is Hunting Dog Hero: Hound Dog,” the hero announced before turning to look at Kazuki and waving him away. The teenager, for his part, hesitated for a second before nodding stiffly and doing as he was told “I’d really appreciate it if you could let me in.”

“The fuck?” the man inside asked, sounding quite shocked. That was the last he heard before he was too far away to really understand what the hero replied to that. Oh how he wished he could know what followed, but there was no chance of that, he knew. He’d already pushed his luck quite a bit, there was no need to do it further, even if he really wanted to.

For the moment, he relished in the fact that the man’s anger had vanished and had been replaced by fear and nerves. That meant that, maybe, Kazuki hadn’t been wrong in his assumption. A second later, he realized what that would mean, however, and that really killed whatever good mood he’d managed to regain.

“Creepy?” he heard and he turned to look at Hagakure. “What’s going on?” she said, repeating Mineta’s words from before. “You took off out of nowhere, then you started ringing a random bell and now a hero appears?”

“I just…” Kazuki started, before trailing off. Did he want to throw that information around? Was that a good idea? Because it didn’t sound like it to him. Even if he wasn’t wrong. That would mean that there was a victim inside that really didn’t need to have that kind of thing spread around about them. “I just picked up something with my Quirk and decided to see if someone needed help, that’s all,” he explained simply, drawing a suspicious look from Mineta, and he guessed that Hagakure wasn’t much different.

“Is that-?” Hagakure started, before stopping when they saw the door to the house open and then the gate, letting Hound Dog inside. Kazuki watched intently as the whole thing happened and both man and hero disappeared inside the building. How he wished he could know what was going on there, but he’d have to hope that Hound Dog would be able to do something if something really was happening.

“Uh, should we, you know, leave?” Mineta asked, looking unsure. Kazuki didn’t really know more than he did, in all honesty. “Or should we wait here?” he added, turning to look towards the white-haired teenager. Judging by the shift of Hagakure’s clothes, she did much the same.

“I… don’t know?” he answered with a shrug, nervously looking towards the house. He didn’t know if he wanted to be there if he’d been wrong. He didn’t know if he wanted to be there if he’d been right either, really. Then again, what if he went away and Hound Dog needed him or wanted him for something afterwards? “Maybe you should go. I imagine I should stay here though.”

“No way,” Hagakure denied instantly, crossing her arms in an “X” in front of her. “If you stay we stay, Creepy, that’s how it goes.”

“You gotta understand that you are kind of stuck with us now, Creepy,” Mineta said with a smirk on his face. “Besides, who’s gonna stop me from putting my foot in my mouth?”

“Nobody?” Kazuki answered to that last question, an amused expression on his face. “Because at most I take corrective action after the fact.”

“Well, that’s better than nothing,” the short teenager said with a shrug.

“... Thanks, guys,” Kazuki told them with a soft smile. Those words weren’t just for them staying with him at that moment. Those were for them staying with him, period. All of a sudden, the rest of the class learning about who he was and what he’d done didn’t sound so scary anymore. Sure, maybe they’d react as he feared, but at least he wouldn’t be alone.

Mineta would be there. Hagakure would be there.

Midoriya and Yaoyorozu too, but, well, he wasn’t so close to them.

And who knew, maybe there’d be more that wouldn’t react all that badly. Sure, there’d be more Ashidos and Kirishimas but… Well, if there could be four people giving him a chance, then there’d could be more, right?

He sure hoped so, at least.

Kazuki was then pulled from his thoughts by a message to his phone. Checking it, he blinked at the contact displayed. ‘Aizawa?’ he read, looking towards the house and back to the device in his hands.

“Get away from there, just in case,” he received and he didn’t hesitate.

“Well, guys, time to go get those drinks, it seems,” he said, somewhat nervously. That message didn’t bode well for him, but… He’d have to deal with that later, he supposed. At least he only got the usual response when he messaged back where he’d be for the moment.

[}-o-{]

Throughout the outing, on his way home and once there, Kazuki could barely pull his mind away from what had happened. He had received no news, no message, no information whatsoever since then. His minders were going through things like nothing was out of the ordinary and it was… Not precisely annoying, but it wasn’t helping his restlessness.

With no luck trying to distract himself with his studies and even the game Mineta had introduced him to, Kazuki had decided to do something else that would be productive. He focused on the only thing that would always be there, whether he wanted it or not, his negativity sense.

He felt, through his Quirk, the people around him. He felt the sadness, the anxiety, the pain, the nerves, the anger, the annoyance. All of them were weak, for the most part. After so many years carrying his Quirk’s burden, Kazuki was used to tuning out the less potent emotions around. Spikes and great quantities still could affect him though, and they grew more… noticeable, the closer they were too.

‘Come on,’ he urged himself. He’d grown good at ignoring them, but now, he’d have to grow good at actually sensing them. As far as he was concerned, that would be the most useful part of his Quirk for his future job as a hero. Sure, Grimm would be great against villains and to help in certain situations, but… There’d be other heroes in those situations.

However, how many heroes would be able to find the hidden cases like he could with his sense? How many people fell through the cracks because their suffering was hidden from the sight of the public, away from the spotlight heroes lived in? It wasn’t the heroes’ fault, Kazuki supposed, but that didn’t make the whole thing less tragic. So, he’d be the hero for those people, he’d decided.

The hero of the desperate and unnoticed, that was what he wanted to be.

For that, however, he’d need to hone his Quirk’s sense. He couldn’t be doubting things like he had that day. For that, he needed to be more accurate. He needed to be able to better place where what he was sensing came from. He needed to be better at reading the emotions and sensations he could pick up.

‘Maybe I should find some reading material regarding that last point,’ Kazuki mused, sitting down with his legs crossed. He was still trying to get a read on what he was picking up. Multitasking would also be something to work on, after all. No matter how used he was at pushing the sensations away while he did stuff to give himself reprieve, he needed to change that. He’d have to change a lot of the habits he’d built through his life regarding his Quirk, but it’d all be worth it, hopefully.

‘Focus more,’ he told himself, frowning as he decided to hone in on one of the random feelings he was getting from all around. ‘Find it,’ he thought then, following it all the way across the street. Slowly, he found roughly where the person was, but he wanted more. Where were they, exactly? What position were they in? Could he find that out? He didn’t know, but he’d certainly try to find out.

With deep breaths, Kazuki worked, trying to make his reading more precise. He needed to- A familiar weary feeling got closer and closer and his focus slipped from his fingers. ‘Are you coming here? Tell me you are coming here,’ he thought to himself, opening his eyes and fixing them on the door to his apartment.

He almost cheered when he felt the presence reach the spot in front of his new home and knock on the door.

“Yes?” he asked instantly, as he opened up and looked at Aizawa. Maybe he could have been more discreet or something, but curiosity got the better of him. Even while he tried to train, he’d found himself constantly thinking about what happened. He needed to know, and at the same time he dreaded the answers he could possibly get.

Aizawa didn’t say anything for a long moment as he looked at Kazuki.

Then, the man sighed.

“Let’s go inside, alright?” the hero said, making him nod seriously as he got out of the way and held the door open. Closing it behind the man as he walked in, Kazuki walked next to him nervously.

“Do you want tea, coffee, something?” he offered, not really wanting to bother but imagining it was better to at least do that much.

“Coffee would be nice,” Aizawa answered, rubbing his eyelids as he took a seat on the table.

“Sure,” Kazuki mumbled, moving to the kitchen.

“You haven’t added anything here,” he heard the man comment from behind him. Turning slightly, he saw the hero looking around the apartment.

“Hasn’t been that long since I moved here,” he replied with a shrug. “Besides, I wouldn’t know what to even add.”

“I see,” the hero said, not really sounding like he “saw”, but also not really confused or anything. Then, Kazuki heard him sigh and he tensed up. The man wasn’t annoyed, or anything that would make him think he messed up, but still… Aizawa wasn’t a very expressive person to begin with, so what if- “You did a good job, Endo.”

“... I… did?” he replied, not really processing the words that came from his teacher.

“You did,” Aizawa confirmed confidently as the boy turned around to regard the man. “You helped someone today, Endo.”

And just like that, all the nerves and dread he’d been feeling vanished, replaced with relief and pride.

“You were a hero,” the actual hero in the room told him.

Kazuki grinned at that, as what was said finally dawned on him. His smile widened and a laugh escaped his lips, half disbelieving and half joyous. ‘I was a hero,’ he replayed in his mind.

He could be a hero.

[} Chapter End {]

Hey guys! How’s it going?

Don’t ask me where all that came from, because I don’t know. I was just casually writing the chapter when suddenly shit started happening. At least I don’t think it was bad, which is more than I can say about a lot of my writing. But you guys seem to like the stuff I get nervous about so what does that mean for stuff I’m more confident about…?

Nervous Adrian noises.

Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter.

Discord Link: discord.gg/UTDransjJZ

Random Question: I’ve avoided naming Kazuki’s Quirk in the story and probably will for a while (if I ever do name it), as you may have noticed. So, what do you think it’s called?

See you.