Darkest Before Dawn - 16 (Patreon)

Chapter 16

“Huh, so you actually have stuff in the pouches?” Hagakure asked, sitting in front of him as he leaned back on his chair at his desk. “I thought they were just to look cool and maybe in case you needed to bring something for some special job.”

“I mean, there’s a couple of empty pouches for that, but yeah, most of them are filled with first aid supplies,” Kazuki answered, his eyes still fixed on the book he held in his hands. “I could probably see about getting something for communication and stuff like that too, I guess. I’d like to actually have a talk with the Support Course people, but well, I can’t just go to them and make assumptions. I’m guessing we are gonna have a chance to work with them at some point.”

“I’d imagine so, yeah,” Mineta agreed from his side. “I have some ideas myself that I’d like to discuss. For the moment, I’m trying to present some of the simpler ones to them.”

“Neat. You're still not saying what you changed?” Kazuki asked, turning away from the text he was reading through. “I’m kinda curious if you’ll appear with something as… uh, original as the last time.”

“Gee, real subtle, Creepy. Real subtle indeed,” Mineta replied sarcastically. “And no, I’m not telling. I’m fairly sure it shouldn’t be nearly as… embarrassing as last time,” he added, crossing his arms and blushing a little out of shame. Kazuki could feel that, together with frustration and anger. Taking his cue from that, he decided to change subjects.

“Speaking of costumes, any progress in yours, Bubbly? Because honestly, I think it’d be a favor to the boys in the class, or at least it’d give them the ability to focus properly,” he commented, making the invisible girl shift in her seat.

“There’s been some progress, it seems,” the girl answered, feeling quite uncomfortable. It was then that Kazuki realized that maybe, just maybe, that was a slightly awkward topic to talk with the girl, especially so casually. “I should have something other than gloves and boots, at least.”

“That’s good to hear, honestly… For me, if not for Tiny, I guess,” Kazuki commented, getting a groan from the short guy.

“Oh, shut up already,” Mineta grumbled. “It sounds worse than it is when you say it like that.”

“It really doesn’t,” Kazuki replied with a wry smile. “You just don’t seem to realize unless it’s pointed out like that,” he added. How his friend seemed so blissfully unaware of the effect his words and actions had without someone speaking to him about it was beyond him, honestly. “At least we know you aren’t an actual creep… Just an idiot.”

Hagakure giggled at that, and they finally seemed to snap Yaoyorozu’s attention from the book she’d been reading. One of Kazuki’s, as it turned out. She’d asked him to lend her one of his first aid books and she’d been reading it since. He guessed it interested her, considering she could probably make her own supplies with her Quirk.

“Ha ha, that’s funny,” Mineta said wryly. That’s when Kazuki felt his phone vibrate in his pocket, which made him blink and pull it out. Sure enough, he got a message from Sadness. On that note, he was considering changing how he referred to the mystery person, but he didn’t have any better ideas for the moment.

‘What’s good about this shitty day?’ he read on his screen, smiling wryly as he considered what to do.

‘Good morning is more about… Wishing for the morning to be good for others, not an actual statement that it’s good,’ he wrote and sent before pausing for a moment. ‘Or at least that’s how I think it works.’

‘Well, your wishes weren’t very effective,’ the person replied relatively quickly.

‘Maybe it will be next time then,’ he shot back, feeling a little silly. Being so… optimistic wasn’t quite his thing, but he wanted to try and shine some happiness towards whoever that person was. He certainly hoped he’d had a distraction from how bleak or downright terrible his days were back when he was younger.

‘Take your optimism somewhere else, Mystery Man. It’s not appreciated here,’ the person wrote, making him blink.

‘Assuming my gender, are you?’ he asked with a wry smile. Looking up from the screen, he saw that Yaoyorozu had been quickly absorbed back in the book he’d lent her and that Hagakure and Mineta seemed to be talking about… the phone game the little guy was getting them addicted to, it seemed.

He had time to be distracted, it seemed.

‘Well, I know nothing about who you are, so I’m assuming you are a creepy old man,’ the person told him shamelessly, or so he assumed. It was an amusing thing to read, he thought, even if it was probably meant to be insulting.

‘Well, I know nothing about who you are, so I’ll assume you are a damsel in distress,’ he replied, throwing the person’s words back at them.

‘Hmph,’ the person wrote and Kazuki found himself even more amused. ‘I’ll have you know I’m not a damsel and I’m not in distress either!’ After that, he did make a mental note that the person seemed to be a male. Or maybe they were trying to make him think that? It didn’t really matter, he supposed. Still, a moment later, he changed the name of the contact from “Sadness” to “Distressed”.

‘Well, Distressed, it was lovely to talk to you, but I have things to do. Feel free to text me if you want though. I’ll answer whenever I’m free,’ he told the man/boy on the other side after a moment. Time for classes to start was getting closer and he didn’t want to be glued to his phone when the time came. Unless it was necessary, at least.

‘We’ll see, Knight, we’ll see,’ Distressed replied, making him grin. Knight was probably the last thing someone would call him if they saw him, he was sure. It felt somewhat nice to be called that though.

As if on cue, Jiro appeared at the door and he went to stand up.

“Good luck, man,” Mineta told him, already knowing what he planned. The vertically challenged boy gave him a grin and an encouraging thumbs up. “It’ll go just fine. Don’t worry.”

“Good luck, Creepy,” both Hagakure and Yaoyorozu told him too, the former much more cheerful where the latter was more primly.

“Thank you, guys,” he said, starting to walk towards the door, which made Jiro pause where she stood.

“Is something the matter?” the girl asked him when he reached her.

“Yeah, I… I have something to tell you,” he told her, doing his best to push back his nervousness. Even if things went South, he’d still have friends. Things would be fine.

Once they were both outside, he made sure that nobody was close by before talking. There were probably some people with hearing Quirks that could pick up on what was said anyway, but surely they had better things to focus on than eavesdropping on them, right? There was literally no reason for anyone to notice them, so long as they weren’t too obvious about things.

“So,” Kazuki started, pausing for a moment as he did. Suddenly, he realized that this would be the first time he actually told someone who he really was and what he’d done. Midoriya and Yaoyorozu had found out on their own. Mineta, Hagakure, Kirishima and Ashido had read the news article he’d looked up for them.

“Yes?” Jiro asked, raising an eyebrow at him curiously.

“Better to get it over with, I think,” he mumbled, sighing. Giving the girl an uneasy look he started speaking. “You may remember, from several years ago, the Black Rampage incident.”

“I… do…” the girl answered, clearly confused. “Wasn’t that a Quirk gone rogue, some kind of gigantic monster… appeared…”

“Yeah…” Kazuki admitted with a whisper, a forced smile on his face. “I thought… Well, the others know – so does the staff here, by the way – so I thought… Well, it wouldn’t be fair for you to not know if you were gonna be hanging out with us.”

There was silence after he said that, which promptly had Kazuki shifting on his feet. He was trying his best to read the emotions he got from Kiro. There was some confusion there, but that was always a weak emotion in his sense. Probably because it wasn’t that bad most of the time. There was also some amount of apprehension, fear and nerves there, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as he’d expected.

“... I see…” Jiro said not so long after that.

“I guess you… Need some time to process that,” he told her then, keeping his voice soft. He didn’t want to push or put pressure on her. He really, really would like not to lose another friend if it was possible. “Thanks for… not freaking out, by the way.”

“You are not that creepy,” she said as he started to turn and he let out a surprised chuckle. She still sounded, looked and felt out of it, but it was very reassuring to know that at least she could still joke. “I’ll… Yeah, I need some time to think that over,” she added then, making him nod. It sucked, but it was better than the outright negative reaction he’d gotten from Ashido and Kirishima, at least.

“Sure thing.”

[}-o-{]

“Creepy, why are you so excited?” Mineta asked once everyone was sitting on the bus. “It’s honestly kind of… Well, creepy. Are you alright?”

“I’m just… looking forward to this, I guess,” he answered, doing a good impression of Hagakure by very childishly bouncing on his seat and grinning widely. “I just… Rescue is the best part of heroics, man. Why wouldn’t I be excited? This is what I want to do, save people.”

“Isn’t it for the chi-Ouch, ok ok. No need to get violent so fast,” Mineta grumbled after Kazuki punched him on the arm. “Man, why am I friends with you?”

To that, he just rolled his eyes.

“It’s kind of adorable to see Creepy so excited, not gonna lie,” Hagakure pointed out, making Kazuki deflate a bit. “I imagined you to be a full on “lets fight the villains” hero, you know?”

“I want to help people. That’s the kind of hero I want to be. Be it by taking down villains, rescuing them from disasters and… Well, anything else,” he explained, a little more subdued now. Maybe his bout of positiveness was also helped by the fact that they had left the school and there was a relatively low amount of negativity around him. At least in their immediate surroundings. He still picked up a fair amount further away from his range, but those were easier to ignore.

“I guess that makes sense,” Yaoyorozu agreed with a slow nod. “People tend to focus on other parts of heroics. The more… attention grabbing ones, I suppose.”

“Yeah, but if any of you ever sees me doing photoshoots and interviews, please check that I’m not being mind controlled or something, yeah?” he commented to his friends, receiving a giggle from Hagakure.

“I mean, if you become famous, can we do some of those together? I’m sure I’d get some fangirls that way,” Mineta suggested, making Kazuki look at him with a flat expression.

“I mean, at least you look half decent, with the new costume,” Kazuki pointed out, looking down. Instead of the bowl/diapers from before, Mineta was wearing simple, but much more respectable, white baggy pants. They still had a few purple details like the previous iteration of the outfit, but now the supposed bowl-theme was more subtle and less stupid-looking. At least in Kazuki’s uneducated opinion.

“Thanks, man,” Mineta said, and judging by the lack of overly negative emotions, he thought he actually meant that. Even if there was some embarrassment lingering, probably from the previous version of his outfit.

“You know that if you did that, the fangirls might ship you two together, right?” the invisible girl pointed out, making both boys turn green while the two girls burst into giggles.

“That’s… That’s disgusting, Bubbly, and you should feel bad for saying such a thing,” Kazuki commented, grimacing. “God, I think I might hurl again.”

“Maybe we should call you Pukey or something,” Hagakure said then, making him groan.

“Let’s change subjects yea-” he started then, determined to steer the conversation to literally anything else. That is, until a sharp and strong spike of fear and nerves shook him. Turning to the side instantly, he saw Midoriya and… the girl with a frog Quirk, he’d forgotten her name.

“That s-s-so,” the green-haired boy replied, stammering with his emotions literally being all over the place. “B-But mine isn’t, like, uh-”

“Wait, Asui,” Kirishima joined in then. “All Might never gets hurt. That’s where the similarities end.”

“Midoriya did use his Quirk without getting hurt during the Battle Trials though,” Asui pointed out then, bringing up her index finger and all. If anything, Midoriya seemed to become even more of a wreck, which didn’t precisely make sense to Kazuki.

“I-I’m not. It’s not-” Midoriya started stammering once more, before Kirishima took away the conversation once more with something about how his Quirk wasn’t flashy. Kazuki wasn’t really paying attention to that though. Instead, he stared at the green-haired boy he’d faced during the Battle Trials. He’d missed a piece of that conversation, but there was something that he could pick up very clearly there…

“Creepy?” Mineta asked then, calling for his attention.

“Sorry, Midoriya being his usual self and overwhelming me with his nerves,” he commented, running his fingers through his hair.

“What do you guys think about that?” Hagakure asked, making him blink as he followed her finger towards the conversation he’d just started ignoring.

“About what?” Kazuki and Mineta asked at the same time, the latter adding a “Jinx.” quickly.

“They are talking about popularity and how it's a big part of heroics,” the invisible girl told them, sounding and feeling slightly exasperated.

“I… couldn’t care less about that if I tried,” Kazuki commented with a shrug before smiling bitterly. “Which is a good thing, considering my circumstances.”

“Oh, right, shit, I… I’m sorry, Creepy,” Hagakure said quickly, to which he just waved her off. It was no big deal, really. She wasn’t wrong that popularity seemed to be a big deal in the business. He was just one of the weird ones that didn’t really care. Besides, he was basically at the very bottom of that top by default just considering who he was. No way people wouldn’t find out before or right when he became an actual hero.

“Don’t worry about it. As for you, guys, I’m sure you can be popular even if your power isn’t that flashy. Like you, Hagakure. You’ve got the right personality to get people to like you,” he told her, glad to feel the shame and guilt the girl was feeling vanish.

“You think so?” Hagakure asked, sounding bashful before turning towards Yaoyorozu. “Well, Beauty shouldn’t have a problem with a Quirk as useful as hers is. Besides, she seems to have got a nice personality too and… Well, she also has the right looks, if I might be so bold,” she pointed out, sounding almost amused as the other girl blushed and started feeling rather embarrassed, from what Kazuki could pick up.

“Nothing about me, eh? I see how it is,” Mineta grumbled and there was a spike of actual frustration and depression there. Kazuki would have none of that, at all.

“I mean, if you curve your attitude, you could probably make a good impression on kids and such. You got that slightly cartoonish look going with your costume, if you don’t change it that much beside what you’ve done taking out the diapers-”

“Bowl,” the boy corrected with a grumble.

“That’s what I said,” Kazuki pointed out with a slight grin. “It’s not like you are ugly or creepy,” he commented. “You’ll be fine, just gotta watch what you do and say, so you don’t burn your reputation right off the bat.”

“I guess,” the boy mumbled, crossing his arms. “Thanks, by the way.”

“Just telling it how I see it,” Kazuki replied with a shrug. “If it helps, getting a nice rep with kids will mean you might get a good rep with their mothers.”

“Now you are speaking my language, Creepy,” Mineta replied then, looking much more cheerful. Kazuki could only shake his head and chuckle at that. He’d meant it more as joke than a serious thing, but if it cheered the guy up…

“I’m sure you can get a nice bit of popularity too, Creepy,” Hagakure tried but he just smiled sadly at her. He knew there’d be an attempt, and he appreciated it but… Yeah. Nobody was gonna root for the villain-turned-hero that had an actual body count. “Hey, don’t look like that, I’m serious!”

“If you try hard enough, I’m sure people will realize that you are actually a good person, Endo,” Yaoyorozu joined the invisible girl then, seemingly recovering from her earlier embarrassment. He also noted that she still seemed to have some trouble using their nicknames sometimes. “You just have to show them that they have the wrong idea of who you actually are.”

“It’s easier said than done, but I appreciate that anyway, guys,” he said, his smile still as empty as it had been before. Before the mood could go down, something that he could already feel happening, he decided to shift the topic once more. “So, you guys don’t seem so excited about the rescue training we are going to do.”

[}-o-{]

[Izuku Midoriya]

“Midoriya,” a voice called him when they were all getting off the bus. He almost jumped, still a little wary after the close call from before, when Asui had commented on his Quirk. That had come out of nowhere and Izuku had certainly not been ready for that so suddenly.

“Ah, Endo, d-do you need something?” he asked, turning to regard the white-haired teen as he stared at him with those rather… disturbing black and red eyes. Even still, Izuku did his best to calm himself down, very aware of the fact that Endo could literally feel his emotions… Or the bad ones, at least, which didn’t really help.

“I just wanted to tell you something,” his fellow student commented, looking around to make sure that their other classmates were busy looking at the facilities they’d just arrived at. “You need to get better at lying.”

For the second time that day, Izuku felt like he almost had a heart attack.

“I-I don’t know w-what you are-” he started stammering before being interrupted.

“I’m sure you don’t,” Endo said, looking about as done with things as their homeroom teacher did most of the time. ‘Am I having that effect on him?’ Izuku thought guiltily. Which only made things worse, judging by the groan the other boy let out before massaging his eyelids. “Anyway, just… Just get better. Not sure what you were lying about – Or trying to anyway – and I don’t really care, but you might want to work on that.”

“I-I… Hm, I’ll… work on that?” he mumbled, unsure of what to do. He could keep denying it, but was there any point? Endo himself seemed to be honest about not caring about his secret, what he’d been lying about. On top of that, lying to his classmate was probably next to useless, at least for Izuku himself. And he was sure he hadn’t given himself away, despite Asui’s comment… Or so he hoped, at least. Everyone had some secrets, right? Surely him having one wasn’t that much of an issue, at least as far as others were concerned…

Right?

“See that you do,” Endo commented, sighing again and giving him a weary smile. “Anyway, I think we should go,” he added then, pointing towards where their classmates were moving away. Suddenly, Izuku was very aware of Aizawa staring at them intently, he was sure they were a moment away from getting scolded. “If Aizawa says anything, just say I pulled you for some vice-president nonsense. Might as well use my position to my advantage, huh? I didn’t even want it anyway.”

“I don’t think you should do that, Endo,” Izuku mumbled.

“Yeah, I know, but it doesn’t have to be a lie, right? As vice-president, I am responsible for you guys, aren’t I? Going out of my way to give advice is part of the job… I think. Might not be,” the other boy explained before shrugging with a careless smile.

“I guess that works,” Izuku replied with a half-smile of his own. “Thanks for the, um, advice, by the way.”

“Don’t mention it.”

[}-o-{]

[Kazuki Endo]

“That being said,” Thirteen, the hero they were apparently going to be learning from for the most part during that visit, continued her speech. “Please don’t forget that each of you possesses a Quirk that can go awry. One wrong step is all it takes to kill others accidentally.”

Kazuki stiffened at that, a forced smile fixing itself to his face. ‘You don’t have to teach me that,’ he thought to himself bitterly. ‘I learned that well enough on my own.’ He took a deep breath in, overwhelmed by his own emotions that time, instead of those of others.

He twitched when he felt a hand on his arm, turning to see Hagakure’s glove on him. That was as much as could be seen, really, besides the boots. She hadn’t told them how much the new development in her costume covered, but apparently there were invisible additions to it, which was nice to know.

Kazuki just gave her a stiff but no less thankful nod.

‘Hundred thirteen,’ he thought with a grim expression. ‘Twenty seven and eighty six…’

He would never forget, that much he’d sworn.

“This lesson, in turn,” Thirteen was still speaking though, he reminded himself. He’d barely heard something about how their teachers had shown them different aspects of using their Quirks. “Will teach you how to wield your Quirks for the sake of lives. Your Quirks do not exist to hurt others,” the teacher continued and Kazuki smiled bitterly. ‘Not so sure about that myself, Thirteen.’ “Please leave this exercise having fully understood that your Quirks exist to help people!”

‘I can only hope,’ he thought to himself, nevertheless moved by that short speech. If there was one thing Kazuki wanted, it was to be able to do good things with a Quirk that had done so terrible things in the past. Maybe he’d never fully make up for what he’d caused, maybe he couldn’t do that, but maybe he could do something to lessen his burden.

“That is all!” Thirteen announced, giving a dramatic bow that made him smile, if only slightly. “Thanks for the attention and the patience.”

“Alright, first things first,” Aizawa said then before trailing off and turning to the side. Kazuki couldn’t see where he was looking, but what he could do was feel something entering his sense, like people apparead out of nowhere. They were also most certainly not subtle, at least in regards to his Quirk.

There was anger, there was envy, there was depression, there was hate. They combined in a familiar blend of emotions. One that Kazuki had encountered before and had learned to read into something different. Something that he almost counted as a different emotion altogether.

Malice.

“Something’s wrong,” he said, stiffening.

“Creepy?” Hagakure mumbled questioningly.

“Something’s very wrong,” he corrected as more and more people entered his sense. “People are coming and they are certainly not nice.”

“Endo?” Mineta asked, and Kazuki could feel the fear starting to creep into his short friend.

“Be ready. I don’t know what’s going on,” he told them, and he saw Yaoyorozu stiffen just like he had to their side.

“Huddle together and don’t move!” Aizawa ordered, shouting. The worry Kazuki could feel confirmed that things were certainly serious, if the outburst on the usually taciturn man didn’t. “Thirteen protect the students!”

“What is this?” Kirishima asked, looking further away as they moved a little, now able to see a crowd coming out of what seemed to be some kind of dark, misty portal that reminded Kazuki of his shadows before they created Grimm. “Is this a training exercise like at the Entrance Exam?” the redhead asked then.

“Don’t move!” Aizawa told them, placing his yellow goggles over his eyes. “Those are villains!”

Kazuki had known, or suspected, at least. And yet, hearing that made his blood freeze all the same. Why were they there? Why were villains there of all places?

“You can’t tell me-,” a new voice called, coming out like a growl from the group of villains. “-that All Might, the Symbol of Peace, isn’t here,” the man said and Kazuki felt his eyes widen even more. ‘All Might? They are here for All Might? Are they crazy?’ What kind of madman went after the Number One Hero of their own volition?

If anything, that made things worse, because All Might was indeed not there, which meant that they were dealing with a clearly insane man that thought he could take on the Number One Hero… ‘And that’s just great, isn’t it?’ Kazuki thought, looking at the small army of villains that they were facing now.

“I wonder,” the villain continued then. “Will he show up, if we kill the kids?”

[} Chapter End {]

Hey guys! How’s it going?

And we finally get to the next part. I’m sure you guys hated me for dragging things out, but I really wanted to do that. These first few arcs are so close together that they rubbed me the wrong way. Why was it necessary to throw so much shit so quickly? Give me some time to relax and get to know the characters, damnit!

So, I made that happen by flexing my author powers a bit. I hope it wasn’t too annoying.

I also hope you enjoyed the chapter.

Discord Link: discord.gg/UTDransjJZ

Random Question: What’s the last thing you ate? Not sure if my breakfast of just a mug of tea counts, so I’ll have to count the hotdogs I had for dinner last night, I think.

See you.