Darkest Before Dawn - 11 (Patreon)

Chapter 11

Kazuki could barely sleep that night.

For once, that wasn’t a bad thing, however. Instead of being kept up by his empathy feeding him emotions that kept his brain from drifting off, he was kept up by the giddy realization that he’d acted like a hero. He was still riding that high even the day after. He’d fallen asleep late and he’d woken up awfully early, but that was fine.

Being so… proud and happy was a new experience for Kazuki and he could safely say that he wouldn’t mind if it stuck around. It wasn’t going to happen, he knew, the foreign negative emotions that never left him well enough alone were already bringing his mood down little by little. However, he could very much enjoy the feeling while it lasted. He wasn’t even affected by the kid that was very much intimidated and frightened by his looks as he walked by.

He wasn’t sure anything could ruin his day anymore, all things considered. That might have been tempting Murphy, but Kazuki didn’t even care all that much. If something bad happened, well, at least he’d enjoyed a good moment. Better than it happening when he was his usual “cheerful” self, he supposed.

With all that happiness though, came a fairly big amount of motivation.

Hence why, as soon as he arrived at the classroom, he sat down and pulled out a few books and a notebook. He was the first one there again, Kazuki noticed, which was a little surprising. There hadn’t been any press outside to slow things down, after all. Then again, he’d arrived awfully early considering his messed up sleep schedule of the day.

After noticing that detail, however, he focused back on the task at hand. It wasn’t homework or studying that he was working on though, or at least not directly. He guessed it could count as studying heroics, indirectly if nothing else. He did use the book for that class for it, after all.

What he was doing was research and theory work for future Grimm, however.

There was the crowd control project he had thought of a while back, which he had several ideas for. One of those had been of a bird, basing it off the Nevermore but focusing on the cries/singing of the animal group. However, reading through it, he didn’t think it’d work quite as well as he imagined. His creatures still needed to breathe – even if that was a little weird, considering they were just constructs –, and having a continuous cry while flying wouldn’t quite work out for that creation. It could still work if he had to stop before doing its thing but he’d put a pin on that.

Another thing he had in mind was using one of his other Grimm as a foundation instead. Like how he’d used the Beowolf to work off towards the Boarbatusk. Sure, they weren’t much alike, but it was certainly closer than what the Imp or the Nevermore were and it was better to have a base and modify it from there than to try to work off something from the very beginning.

The question now was which of them to use. If he were honest though, Kazuki was partial to using the Imp. The Beowolf had already been used to work out the Boarbatusk, after all, so he felt like it would only be fair to allow another of his creations to have its moment to shine… It was a stupid reason, he knew. It wasn’t logical or practical at all, but it was how he felt.

With that in mind, Kazuki imagined how to modify the Imp into what he needed. For one, he’d probably need bigger lungs. It wasn’t supposed to be a fighter or anything like that, so maybe he could cut some corners and give it weaker limbs or something like that? Granted, he didn’t really need to do that, so long as he had enough negativity at hand he could make whatever without having to worry about saving energy or anything like that.

However, he didn’t like the idea that maybe one day he might be short on resources to make it. It could happen one day. Maintaining his Grimm out and about cost him energy. Forming them again and again when they were destroyed cost him energy and time. If he needed to make a particularly big Grimm for one reason or another, it cost him extra energy too.

He couldn’t go around thinking he’d always have excess resources, not when he’d never quite pushed his power to the limits. Call him paranoid, but he didn’t want to find himself out of juice when battling villains or when there were lives on the line. He already carried enough guilt with him to add more on top of that.

He was only making the new Grimm for one purpose only, crowd control. Everything else was pretty much unnecessary. Even then, Kazuki didn’t want to completely leave it bereft of limbs, for example. So, he just planned to make them weaker. Barely able to walk, barely able to use its hands, but still better than nothing. One never knew, maybe he’d need that at some point. Dismissing the Grimm and making another was a bit of a hassle that might be better to do without at certain times.

‘I think this is simple enough,’ he mused with a frown, looking over his notes. He’d had to read up on biology a bunch to make sure he had the right information and “blueprints” as it were. He’d probably try and see if he could make that work during training that afternoon, unless his friends felt especially lazy and wanted to skip it for the day.

He wouldn’t blame them, considering how miserable they’d felt the previous day. They were bound to feel even more sore that day. Then again, it wasn’t like he could spend a lot of time trying to figure out how to make the new Grimm anyway. It wouldn’t take him too much, so they could take the day to rest while he did that and then they could go out and do something else…

Kazuki smiled softly at his notebook, happy to know that he had friends. Actually friends that knew who he was and what he’d done and still wanted to hang around. He almost couldn’t believe it, quite honestly.

‘... Anyway,’ he mused, closing his eyes and shaking his head slightly. He could ponder on those thoughts when he got bored during class or something. For the moment, he had stuff to work through.

With the crowd control Grimm somewhat decided, he could move on to a different project he’d come up with the previous day. After all, things would have been much easier if he could have had something to check on the situation inside the house better than just the vague feelings of his sense, right? Granted, he wasn’t sure how… legal it was for him to peek into someone else’s property, but he’d risk it if he was put in a situation like that.

… Maybe it’d be good to check with Aizawa or some other teacher though, just in case.

It didn’t mean he couldn’t work on the Grimm though.

That is, before the sound of someone clearing their throat made him jump where he sat. Looking up with wide eyes, he was met with the slightly uneasy expression on Yaoyorozu's face. The girl looked down and to the side, rubbing her arm with the opposite hand.

“Ah, sorry if I scared you, I just… Well, I got here and there was nobody else so…” she mumbled, seeming unsure of where she even wanted to go with her words. Kazuki focused on his senses, but all he got was nervousness, really. That and maybe a hint of loneliness. “Do you, um, need any help with that?”

Kazuki blinked at that, looking down at his stuff and then back at the girl.

“Uh… You know a lot about biology?” he asked, unsure. He didn’t want to outright tell her no, after all. Yaoyorozu had decided to give him a chance, probably against her better judgment. So… He wanted to be nice, at least a little bit.

“Biology?” Yaoyorozu asked, this time being her turn to blink at him. “I thought you were working on heroics,” she added, pointing at the book for that class before taking a good look at the others on his desk. “What’s one to do with the other?”

“Uh, I think my creature creation works better if I have somewhat of an idea of what I’m doing. I don’t need details, but the more I know the easier it is. And since I’m trying to work out other Grimm to add to the ones I have, I work through it with biology stuff,” Kazuki explained. “And I got the heroics book too, in case it gives me ideas for stuff I might be able to cover with a Grimm.”

“I see… So it’s different from my Quirk,” she said, biting her thumbnail thoughtfully. “I need to know exactly what I make, but then again, I think yours is less actual creation and just making vague constructs, somewhat abstract ones like Dark Shadow, right? That’s what I’m guessing, at least. Interesting.”

Distracted from his work, Kazuki leaned back.

“I’ll admit I’m more knowledgeable in other topics, mainly ones more related to what I can do with my Quirk. Unfortunately, that sort of excludes living beings. I can make some organic matters, like wood and others, but actual, living things are out of the scope of my Quirk,” she explained to him, sort of reminding him of how she’d spoken after the Battle Trials.

“That’s fine, thanks for offering anyway,” he replied with a half-smile as he looked towards his books. Then, as if just realizing, he checked the time on his phone. Fortunately, he had enough time to try and research some more for other Grimm projects. He probably wouldn’t get very far, but that was fine. He just needed to make some progress and then continue back home. He seemed to have at least one somewhat figured out so he could try during training, which was good enough for the day.

“I mean, maybe I can help. It might not be my focus, but I pride myself in my intelligence,” Yaoyorozu said, and Kazuki was slightly surprised by how… Not eager, but determined she sounded. “As class representatives, we should have a good relationship with each other, shouldn’t we? I think helping each other could be a good first step.”

“I don’t think that’s how it works,” he replied with a wry smile. “But I appreciate all the help I can get,” he added when he felt a spike of nervousness and sadness from her. “Also… You don’t mind, that I’m the vice-president?” he asked, now being his turn to be apprehensive.

“I’m… not sure how I feel about that,” she told him honestly, hesitating for a moment. “However, the teachers haven’t said anything and I’ve got to admit that you did a good job regarding the incident with the press… Even if you could have done so without the crude language.”

“Did I ever tell you what my Quirk does?” he asked then, drawing another blink from the girl. He honestly didn’t remember if he had told Yaoyorozu. He had better stuff to keep track of than that, he felt. “Besides the creature creation? I can sense negative emotions around me. They fill me as if I was feeling them myself. It’s what I use to fuel my Grimm creation,” he explained for what felt like the hundredth time. Maybe he could make a card explaining that or something. It was an amusing thought, if nothing else.

“I… see, I… Yes, you had mentioned it. I seem to have forgotten that, however. I apologize,” Yaoyorozu replied slowly, and he felt her uncertainty grow. Then it changed into something else that Kazuki hated. Pity. Of all things, he was sure he hated pity more than he hated being feared or any of that. “That… explains some things,” she added.

“Yeah. It does,” he commented, sitting straight once more and looking down at his notes. He was pretty sure that conversation was done and she’d move on to other things. The sooner Kazuki could distract himself from her emotions, the better.

‘Ok, so, the idea is something that can help me take a look around places. Feeling through Grimm is weird, but maybe I can make something specifically so that it’s not weird…’ he mused. Maybe an owl or something like that? It didn’t quite feel right, but it’d make sense for something that was supposed to be a separate pair of eyes for him. Maybe he could come up with something that felt better. Gut feelings usually worked when it came to his power.

“So, um,” Yaoyorozu said, breaking him from his newly recovered focus. “Do you want some help or not? You never… Answered,” she asked, already having placed a chair next to his desk. Where she sat, she fidgeted with her hands on her lap, not quite meeting Kazuki’s gaze.

“I mean…” he started, before trailing off. She was already sitting there, so it’d be kinda rude to ask her to go away, right? Sure, he’d have to put up with her emotions, and all that but… She was giving him a chance. She deserved one in turn, right? “Sure.”

He smiled lightly as the girl beamed at him for a moment. Her bad emotions all but vanished from his sense, which was nice. They weren’t completely gone, but they were almost nothing. Very easily ignored, that was for sure, which was all Kazuki cared about most times.

Then she cleared her throat and schooled her features.

“So, what were you working on?” she asked, looking at the books on his desk as if they were going to give her a clue. Kazuki nodded then, trying to grasp at the train of thought he’d had before.

“So, what I wanted is some kind of scout…” he started.

[}-o-{]

Things hadn’t gotten better.

That’s what Kazuki learned once classes actually started. Yaoyorozu and him had almost messed up by getting too caught up in their little conversation regarding his possible Grimm building. She hadn’t known a whole lot regarding biology, but she was certainly creative with her ideas. He guessed it made sense, considering her Quirk.

Fortunately for them, Hagakure had arrived just in time to save their skins and remind them that, indeed, there were classes to be had. Wouldn’t have made a very good impression if the class president and vice-president were too caught up on other stuff right as classes were supposed to start. As it was, Kazuki barely had enough time to put everything back in his bag.

The real problem came with classes and having his focus broken. That meant he had a front row seat to feel Ashido’s apprehension and Kirishima’s discomfort. The fact that the latter was sitting right next to him certainly wasn’t helping matters either. It was a nightmare, quite honestly. ‘I knew this was gonna happen. I need to focus on something else,’ he told himself, glaring at his notebook, at the blackboard, at the teacher. Everything else was much more important than sensing how those two were feel-

‘Fucking hell,’ he thought to himself, closing his eyes and grimacing.

Why was it so hard, all of a sudden? Kazuki had years upon years of experience ignoring other people’s feelings. He had more than enough practice on how to keep himself distracted from his senses. He shouldn’t be having so much difficulty ignoring two people. Hell, they weren’t even close to some of the things he’d sensed in the past and he’d ignored those too.

So, why?

He sighed quietly before resigning himself. Even if he couldn’t keep those two out of his mind, Kazuki couldn’t let this already start ruining his studies. Classes had barely started, but that didn’t mean he could just slack off. He needed to do well in class.

So, he stopped trying to push Ashido and Kirishima out of his mind. Instead, he let them be, he let the emotions wash over him. So what if he felt shitty? That was nothing new to him. He could do his thing in class while dealing with that, he could. ‘Don’t ignore it, just go on,’ he told himself.

‘And the day had started so fucking well,’ he thought to himself wryly. Funnily enough, that was what improved his mood a little. After all, it reminded him of how happy he’d been at the start of the day, how motivated he was, how enthusiastic he was. More importantly, it reminded him of why that was.

He could be a hero.

He had been a hero.

Maybe not everything was going well for Kazuki, but overall… Things were going much better than he’d ever hoped they would, before and after Nezu’s offer. So what if he’d come across a few setbacks and some things had crumbled down in his hands? Not everything was lost and there were good things to think about too.

So what if Ashido seemed to be afraid of him now? Mineta had stuck to him like one of his Quirk’s spheres. So what if Kirishima seemed to want to be anywhere but next to him? Hagakure seemed to be perfectly fine with him.

Besides all that, he was at U.A. to be a hero first. Having friends would be good and all, but that wasn’t why he was there. He was there to study, to learn, to practice and get better. He was there to be a hero, to be the one to help people like he’d always wanted someone to help him.

With his determination returned, Kazuki powered through and did his best to focus on his classes. Sure, it was a struggle and it sucked, but he could manage it. He had to manage it. Failure wasn’t an option. He would succeed, because he wanted to and because he could succeed.

Nothing else mattered.

[}-o-{]

Lunch break was upon them and Kazuki had told Tiny and Bubbly to go ahead while he gathered a few books and a notebook. He wanted to get some more work done while he was motivated. He was pretty sure the energy that was now flooding him after the events of the previous day would leave him soon enough. Better to make the most of it while he still had it, after all.

Besides, it wasn’t like he couldn’t work on stuff and also chat with his friends, right? At least he could try. Besides, who knew, maybe the others would have some insight or say just the right thing to inspire him. All could happen in the world if he could find friends as nice as the ones he did.

“Creepy!” someone called and his good mood was dashed instantly. Stopping where he was in the middle of the corridor, he took a deep breath in and let his shoulders drop. Then, turning around, he faced Kirishima and all his discomfort. If Kazuki made him so uncomfortable he should just have kept avoiding him, for fuck’s sake.

“Can I help you, Kirishima?” he asked, already wanting to be done with the conversation, even if it hadn’t actually started. At his words, the redhead winced and he felt a pang of hurt. Kazuki couldn’t bring himself to care too much. He’d hurt more than that because of the whole mess.

“I just…” Kirishima started before stopping and visibly struggling to find the words to say whatever it was he wanted to. Frustration was added to the teenager’s emotions on his sense, but eventually he sighed. “I know it probably doesn’t mean much, but I wanted to explain… what I can, at least.”

“I’m all ears,” Kazuki said flatly.

“I… don’t know the whole story,” Kirishima mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck. “I just know that something about your… case caught her attention, Mina’s, and not in a good way. She’s not…!” he added quickly before pausing. “She’s not afraid of you or anything, I don’t think. Pinky… Mina’s not like that,” he corrected, replacing the nickname with a somewhat saddened expression. “I don’t blame you for what happened, Endo, and I don’t think Mina does either. But… I have to stick with Mina. We’ve been friends since forever so… I just wanted to… Well, let you know that.”

Kazuki, for his part, stared at the boy for a long moment.

Then he snorted weakly.

“Doesn’t change much for me, does it?” he asked despondently. “I still lost two friends because of what I did, regardless,” he added. “Don’t worry about it, man. This is no surprise for me. I kinda expected things to go about this “well”, I’d say. At least there’s still Mineta and Hagakure. All in all, I surpassed my own wildest hopes,” he said with a weary smile. “I don’t hold this against you, Kirishima. I don’t even hold it against Ashido… See you in class.”

With that, Kazuki turned and continued walking towards the lunch hall. He could feel Kirishima staying where he’d been standing, feeling increasingly worse. It sucked, and he didn’t understand but… That was life. He just needed to keep going, focus on the good, ignore the bad and do as best he could.

So, doing his best to push all that interaction and everything that was related to it aside, Kazuki continued walking towards the lunch hall. Once there, he’d distract himself with something, be it his Grimm projects, or his friends. Hell, he’d even take being distracted with a bunch of stranger’s shitty emotions at that point. He was that desperate to get away from the bitter thoughts in his head.

Once he reached his destination though and picked up his meal, he blinked as he found Mineta and Hagakure sitting on a table. Now, that was perfectly fine, of course. However, the strange part was the other person that was sitting with them. Walking slowly, he finally took a seat next to his more vertically challenged friend.

“Sorry for the delay, guys,” he said, sensing the third person at the table feeling increasingly nervous as they picked at their food. “I got held up for a bit,” he added, finally relaxing a little now that he could at least sit down. “It seems I missed something.”

“Yeah, Yaoyorozu asked to sit with us today,” Mineta said, looking like this was the happiest day of his life. “Can you believe it?”

“Somehow, you seem too happy, man, it’s kinda creepy,” Kazuki mumbled, bringing some food to his mouth as he considered the shorter boy. “And that’s saying something coming from me.”

“Should have seen him before then, he was worse,” Hagakure pointed out, giggling. “We also already decided a nickname for Yaoyorozu,” the girl announced and Kazuki wasn’t feeling too confident about that considering the embarrassment he felt coming from Yaoyorozu. “She’s Hotty.”

He blinked.

Then he turned to Mineta and fixed him with an unimpressed expression.

“Hey, it wasn’t me. It was Bubbly!” the boy protested, pointing towards the invisible girl. To that, Kazuki sent a baffled expression towards the apparent actual culprit.

“What? It fits!” she defended herself, before starting to giggle.

“... I mean, you are not wrong, but still…” he muttered before sighing before turning to the class president, who looked and felt pretty out of place and uncomfortable. She also seemed to be very embarrassed and getting worse, if the increasingly red cheeks were any indication. “We can come up with some other nickname for you, if you want. I’m guessing you know theirs and mine is Creepy, in case they didn’t tell you.”

“They did,” Yaoyorozu replied, her voice barely above a whisper. “And I don’t mind the nickname,” she added then, although Kazuki wasn’t too sure how true that was, considering her emotions. Still, if she wasn’t going to argue against it…

“Just, don’t feel like you have to put up with it if you don’t like it. We had to discuss Bubbly’s nickname for a bit, for example,” he said, pointing towards the aforementioned invisible girl. “Doesn’t Beauty at least sound more… respectful?”

“Eh, it works too,” Hagakure agreed, giggling. “Might help discourage Tiny here from being dumb too, I guess.”

“Hey!” Mineta protested.

“Either way, welcome to our group, I guess,” Kazuki said, turning his attention back to Yaoyorozu. “Can’t promise we won’t be a bunch of weirdos.”

“Hey, speak for yourself, mister!” Hagakure told him, pointing a finger at him… Or so he guessed.

Judging by Yaoyorozu’s small smile though, it seemed that she wouldn’t have a problem with them.

[} Chapter End {]

Hey guys! How’s it going?

So, I’m sure people have realized by now that there’s something going on with the Ashido-Kirishima thing… Although, I don’t think people care all that much, if I’m going by comments.

Our boy keeps working on his stuff and there’s a new member in their group of misfits too! On that note, people have both said that they are okay with the nickname thing and that they hate it so… I’m kinda sticking with it, since it’d be weird to stop, but if I see enough people against it… Well, I might slowly push it out of the story. I’d appreciate some opinions on that.

With that said, I hope you enjoyed the chapter.

Discord Link: discord.gg/UTDransjJZ

Random Question: Do you think someone else will join this little group of weirdos? If yes, who?

See you.