Darkest Before Dawn - 122

Chapter 122

‘Man, I’m gonna miss like half the event,’ Kazuki thought, checking his phone again as if that would fix his issue with the signal and internet access. Alas, no such thing happened. He was still unable to do much more than using regular messages and calls. No internet access for his sorry ass, which meant he couldn’t access his game.

‘Man, I really can’t have nice things,’ he lamented exaggeratedly. ‘Sight’s not bad though.’

While waiting for his classmates to arrive, he’d moved outside the building and taken a seat on a wooden bench. There, he had a good view out towards the forest and it was a nice sight. Nature was something he quite liked and it wasn’t only in relation to aquatics or what he could put in his fishtank or plants he could keep in his balcony. ‘Maybe I can find time to walk in the forest for a bit,’ he thought with a slight smile. Being just him and nature, away from civilization and people…

It sounded like a blessing.

Maybe he’d even ask for permission to fly off and see if he couldn’t find a point where no one was in his range. Now that was something he’d pay for. At that moment though, he was just making up random ideas, really. With all the security issues, he didn’t know if he’d be allowed to go into the forest without supervision. And considering there were two classes worth of students in there, he rather doubted their teachers would be able to spare someone just to go on a walk with him.

“Don’t you get bored?” Kota asked from beside him and he turned to look at the kid. He was persistent in his brooding, Kazuki would give him that. He had hardly stopped scowling for even a minute. “You’ve been staring at the stupid trees for half an hour.”

“I like it,” he replied with a shrug. “It’s… calming. I like just… watching nature do its own thing. It’s distracting and… satisfying in a way,” he said, trying to put his thoughts into words and not having an easy time. All the same though, he found that answering the question was interesting. He’d never stopped to really think about it. “Like, I can understand that you might look and just see boring trees-”

“Correct,” Kota spat out and Kazuki chuckled before continuing, unbothered. People that felt bad were often annoying or frustrating, but he could never be upset when it came to children. His motivation for being a hero was to help children not be like him, after all.

“-but I see the leaves being moved by the wind,” he kept explaining, wondering if he was making any sense. It could just as well be a him thing. “I see insects flying around between the trunks and branches. I see others crawling on the ground, between the weeds and on the moss. I see-”

“Birds?” Kota finished before he could and Kazuki blinked.

“Where?” he asked, instead of agreeing, because he hadn’t seen birds in a bit and then followed the kids’ eyes into the forest to find a bird on the ground. “Huh, good eye.”

The only answer he got to that was a grunt.

They stayed in silence after that and Kazuki was fine with that. For one, it allowed him to continue watching the woods. For another, he didn’t think pushing for Kota to talk would help the angry kid a whole lot. Being too pushy could have the effect of making angry people worse, he knew.

Besides, Kota’s emotions seemed to have calmed a little and he caught the kid watching the forest too out of the corner of his eyes. So, he decided it was enough to sit there with the boy and keep him company. He was feeling better and that was all he could ask for. Sometimes there was no easy way to make bad emotions go away, after all.

He would know about that too.

“You got here really fast,” Kota pointed out at some point and Kazuki hummed and nodded. “How?”

“I flew,” he answered simply.

“Is that your Quirk?” the boy asked and he almost wanted to cheer at the way there were almost no bad emotions to be picked up then. Maybe he’d helped the kid feel better? That possibility made him really happy.

“My Quirk is… complicated,” he answered, taking a deep breath in and leaning back. “But I used one part of it to fly. It lets me make creatures, kind of like how Pixie-Bob does and I made a flying one to ride here.”

“Really?” Maybe it was Kazuki’s wishful thinking, but he thought there was a hint of awe in the kid’s expression.

“Yep,” he answered… before deciding that the permission they’d gotten to use their Quirks still applied even though he’d finished the exercise. So, with a story ready to stick with if he got in trouble, Kazuki extended the shadow under his right foot and created a Nevermore Fledgling. The creature cawed and flapped its wings to get itself on the bench, between Kazuki and Kota. “Like that, but bigger.”

“Huh…” the boy mumbled, staring at the creature of negativity. “What else can you make?” he asked and Kazuki was all too happy to answer, creating Baby Series representations of all his Grimm to show Kota more clearly what they were and what they could do. Obviously, he didn’t use the Apathy’s cry, but other than that, he had some fun making the creatures and having them roam around. “That’s kind of cool.”

“Why, thank y-”

“For a hero,” the boy huffed and Kazuki burst into laughter.

“I’ll take that,” he replied in between chuckles. “And I’m not a hero yet.”

“Same thing,” the kid told him with a slight pout.

Although, even with some of the negativity coming back, Kota was still feeling better than before. Kazuki took that as a victory of sorts, as they waited for his classmates to arrive.

[}-o-{]

“You could have helped, asshole,” Minoru grumbled, reaching out for more food.

“But this is a training trip, man. I wouldn’t want to get in the way of your improvement!” Kazuki replied exaggeratedly. The annoyance spike from all his friends was, ironically, quite amusing. “Maybe I didn’t tell you, guys, but I’ve unlocked my slacker mode. I’m going to be on battery saving mode until the end of this trip. Sorry not sorry,” he explained with a shrug as he let his expression fall into a placid smile.

“What am I supposed to say to that?” Minoru grumbled, turning away from Kazuki. “Asshole.”

“It’s nice that you’re taking care of yourself,” Momo said and Kazuki was almost fooled. There was, unfortunately, a followup statement. “You don’t have to put much effort into making some nevermores to carry us though, do you?”

“Effort is effort. If I can not do it, I won’t,” he replied with a grin.

“Maybe Minoru is right in his way of expression,” the girl commented flatly and he chuckled. “That aside, what’d you do while waiting?”

“Played the violin, babysat for a-”

“I’m not a baby!” came Kota’s cry from a few tables to the side.

“-bit and I watched the forest,” he continued undeterred. Kid wasn’t even that annoyed or angry anyway, surprisingly. “If we get to take it easy at least a bit, I think I’ll like it here,” he added with a slight smile. “Also because of the food, damn.”

“I know, right?” Eijiro asked with a pleased laugh. “This is just as good as Lunch Rush’s!” he exclaimed.

Now, that might be a bit of an exaggeration born of how hungry he was. Everyone had understandably been starving when they arrived, seeing as they had missed lunch and gone straight to dinner. There was also the fact that food tasted better when you were utterly spent, which they all were too. Tired and in pain from all the fighting, everyone had been more than ready to enjoy the feast, evidently.

“So, was it that hard to get through?” he asked curiously, looking around. Everyone seemed to have been smacked around plenty and they were all bone tired. However, considering the amount of time they were out, he had a hard time deciding if the challenge had been hard or just long.

“More annoying than hard,” Kyoka huffed, reaching with her hands to get her second helping. “It was like fighting you, but even the ground was an enemy. Sometimes, it’d shift under us, or we’d step on holes that weren’t there or trip on little mounds-”

“This one time, Iida crashed straight into an earth wall,” Mina added with a giggle. “But yeah… annoying.”

“Thank God I skipped that,” he said with a smile that he maintained even when everyone glared at him. “Well, I’m glad you guys had fun-” He was interrupted by a piece of food smacking him right in the face. “That was not nice.”

“What wasn’t?” Toru asked innocently, as if she weren’t holding her spoon in a very suspicious way. Kazuki considered that maybe he’d pushed his luck a little too much. The most telling part was that Momo wasn’t even chastising the invisible girl.

“Anyway, other than, you know, the training thing, I think it won’t be too bad here,” Kazuki commented while using a paper napkin to clean his face. “Might even be able to have fun,” he said. Was he tempting fate? Probably, but he couldn’t honestly care when life seemed to screw him over even if he didn’t.

“Here’s hoping,” Minoru agreed. “Can you pass me that?”

“This?”

“No, the other on- On the left-”

“You know, you could just say the name,” Kazuki said, rolling his eyes after he found what his friend actually cared about. Then his attention shifted to the side, where the Cats – it was less awkward to call them that, he thought – were acting as waitresses and bringing more food. He hadn’t seen Ragdoll or Tiger yet though. Maybe they were the ones cooking?

What had caught his attention was Mandalay though.

“Ah, Kota, can you move that box to the kitchen?” he heard the woman say and he turned to see the boy going to pick up said box. It didn’t look too heavy, but the boy was back to feeling a lil’ down. So, with that in mind, Kazuki let his shadow extend and created an Imp.

“Need help?!” he called, making Kota turn to glare half-heartedly at him. “Just tell him what to do, yeah?” he told the boy.

“I didn’t ask for your help!” the kid shouted back, turning away from him. The emotions weren’t nearly as bad as his voice would make it seem though, which made him smile. Besides, Kota did give the Imp the box before stomping away with the Grimm following right after.

“You’re really not helping your case against the Monster Daddy meme, you know?” Minoru asked wryly, making the girls around burst into giggles. “I think the chicks dig that though. Maybe I should try.”

“Maybe you should keep the commentary to yourself though,” Kazuki replied just as wryly as his friend had, looking at the annoyed and angry glares from the surrounding girls. “And I don’t know. I just… I don’t like seeing children upset, that’s all.”

Left unsaid was the fact that he didn’t like it because they reminded him of himself. Sure, some children had it worse than others, but any negativity he picked up from them made his heart twist into knots. He just wanted to help them be happy, reach out to them like he’d wanted someone to reach out for him. That’s what he’d set out to do when he’d been given the option to be a hero, after all.

“Children deserve help the most,” he said simply with a shrug and turning his attention towards his food, suddenly not in the mood to look at others or talk with them.

Although, if he had looked up, he’d have seen that plenty of eyes were on him.

[}-o-{]

“So, purely for academic curiosity, could you make a Nevermore, fly it all the way up there,” Minoru started asking and Kazuki already knew where he was going. The guy had done a remarkable job keeping his perversion in check, all things considered. Amusingly, many of the other boys around seemed to be curious all of a sudden. “And peek over the wall?” his friend finished and he just gave him a flat stare as he pointed towards the structure that divided the bath area for men and women.

In the silence that followed, they could hear the voices of the girls on the other side, but they didn’t seem to have heard Minoru. Good for him too, because he was sure someone would have stabbed him right in the eyes otherwise. As for Kazuki, he just sighed and splashed some water on his face.

“Academically,” he emphasized dryly. “Yes, I could.”

“Man, some people have all the luck,” Minoru grumbled and Kazuki rolled his eyes.

“If it’s all the same to you, I’d rather not get into the details of the perverted ways my Quirk could be used,” he continued, putting a little steel in his voice. It was a topic he didn’t like much. “I have a bad enough reputation. Besides, I’ve heard enough on the topic to last me a lifetime already.”

“Wait… Wait, you can’t just say that and not elaborate,” Minoru demanded and Kazuki felt himself die a little inside with the memories that came. “What do you mean?”

“I mean that you’re far from the most degenerate person I’ve come across,” he said, getting a skeptical huff from someone else. Iida, by the looks of it. “Seriously. Go online to posts that include my Grimm. I don’t wanna kink shame or anything, but goddamn some people need help.”

“Wait-”

“And this isn’t new either,” he continued, going on a little bit of a rant. Minoru was the one that had asked though. And the others hadn’t helped any. So, if he had to live with the knowledge, the others would have to as well. “Not all the mail I got in juvie was hate mail, you know? Apparently some people find my Grimm… appealing.”

“But you had like, three Grimm back then right? What were they? Beowolf, Nevermore and… Imps? I guess I can see it happening with the Imps,” Minoru mumbled, considering the knowledge that had been dumped on him. However, a moment later, he paused and paled. “It was the Imps, right?”

“I think I’m done with this conversation,” Kazuki decided, starting to make his way out of the bath area.

“Please tell me it was just the Imps, man!” Minoru cried out behind him.

“No, it wasn’t just the Imps,” he called over his shoulder and he got a round of groans and other disgusted sounds. Yeah, they thought it was bad? He’d had to deal with that through the first year he was in juvie until people forgot about it, or at least until most of them did. It hadn’t been fun, at all. One would have thought he’d been mentally scarred enough after the Black Rampage, but no, they’d have been wrong.

So, in the spirit of getting his mind off of things, he got himself a drink and after getting dressed, he went to sit outside to look at the forest at night. Maybe he could make a Grimm or two to have eyes in the woods- ‘Actually, if I’m not allowed to go out by myself, I could just full focus on a Grimm like I did in I-Island,’ Kazuki thought, suddenly feeling inspired.

So, once he found himself in the same bench as before, he sent out a Beowolf and focused on it while it ran through the forest. It was a great experience, but it also reminded him that he had a project in mind for a Grimm with better senses to use as surveillance of sorts. However, focusing on a Grimm like he’d learned to do kind of solved the clarity issues he’d had up until then.

‘Maybe I can do something else with that project… What other utility things could I cover with a Grimm like that?’ he wondered. Ultimately though, he focused on just running around with his Beowolf.

It was its own kind of experience, to be so… free. Being able to dash around without getting tired and seeing different parts of the forest. Occasionally, he’d stop the creature to better take in the surroundings. However, since it was night, there wasn’t that much to see, admittedly.

“Pretty sure you have to have your eyes open to watch the forest,” a voice said and Kazuki blinked his eyes open, turning to regard the new arrival. Kota had apparently come out too, it seemed. “What are you doing out so late?”

“Could ask you the same thing,” he shot back with a half-smile. Apparently, he didn’t have permission to be out, because the boy glanced towards the door he’d just come out of and closed it, nerves welling up in him. “I won’t tell if you don’t,” he added and some of that slight fear vanished.

“Thanks,” the boy mumbled and Kazuki took that as a victory all on its own.

“Don’t mention it,” he waved off. “I was using one of my Grimm to run around the forest. There’s not much to see from here since it’s night and I don’t think I’d be allowed to just roam around myself,” he explained with a shrug and Kota tilted his head.

“You can do that?”

“Sure can.”

“Your Quirk’s really good,” the boy commented and Kazuki chuckled, trying not to sound too bitter about it.

“It can be just as bad, let me tell you,” he replied before shrugging. “You wanna sit with me? I could use the company until it’s time to go to sleep,” he offered and the boy paused, looking off towards the mountain to one side of the lodging. Then he looked at Kazuki and seemed to think things over.

“... Sure.”

[}-o-{]

“I’ll be one of the people helping you push the limits of your Quirk,” Aizawa told him and Kazuki nodded. With a quick glance to the side, he could see Vlad King and the Cats getting started with the training exercises for his teammates. Apparently, while school had focused on building their technique and control, the camp would focus on making their Quirk usage stronger. Stronger explosions, more fire, extended range, that kind of thing. “In my case, you’ll be working on the number of creatures you can control at a time. There’ll be other people working with you on different things too, however, if you have other ideas as to how to push your Quirk further.”

“Plus Ultra?” he commented at the end of the speech, but Aizawa didn’t seem to appreciate that. So, instead, he decided to give an actual reply. “I do have some other ideas. I hadn’t been working on them on account of how many things I have to work on at the moment, but…”

“That’s what this trip is about. You can continue working on the finer details once we’re back to regular classes,” Aizawa finished for him and Kazuki nodded. “And kid,” his teacher went to add, catching his attention once more. “Take it easy. We know you’ve been working harder than anyone here.”

“I don’t know about that,” he mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck. Kazuki was, for sure, one of the people that trained the most, unless one of his other classmates trained outside the facilities at UA. He was far from the only one though. His group of friends and such were always there, so-

“We’re always watching when you’re at school, kid,” Aizawa told him and he thought he detected a hint of wryness there. “No need to be humble. There’s some very dedicated people in your year, but you stand out anyway. If you’re trying to be humble, that’s fine, but if you don’t know it, then yes, you’re the one that trains the most. Especially when it comes to pushing limits.”

“Thanks,” Kazuki mumbled, feeling a little proud about that. It was also sad though, because what he worked the most in was something he’d keep doing in a time when he could have been taking a break and doing fun things. It felt like he was being punished because the rest of his classmates weren’t on the same level as he was.

And he wasn’t angry at his classmates, at all, but he was a little bitter about the situation.

“As I said, you can take it easy,” Aizawa told him and this time the words came out more intently, which caught Kazuki’s attention. “There’s no need to wear yourself out, and your sessions will be shorter,” his teacher explained, making him blink. “Consider it a reward for working so hard through the year,” the man added.

“Thank you,” Kazuki replied, breathing the words out like a relieved sigh.

“You’re welcome, but you might want to thank everyone else too. Everyone agreed with that assessment, and Inui was the one to bring up the issue,” his teacher explained and Kazuki nodded before pausing. “What?”

“Do you mind if I send the messages right now? I don’t want to forget,” he asked hesitantly before dashing towards his backpack, where he’d left his phone, when Aizawa waved him away. “Thanks!” he called once more, going through his contacts and sending a bunch of messages to everyone.

Suddenly, a trip he’d all but dreaded didn’t sound so bad.

“Now, I’m sure everything else can wait until your break?” Aizawa asked and he nodded. “Go for it then?”

And that’s what he did, going through the motions of making as many normal Grimm as he could. He already had ideas about trying to see what the limit was with the Alpha Packs. That was for later though. As it was, he had to focus on what he was doing.

Admittedly though, Kazuki wondered if he was approaching a limit in his ability to control numerous Grimm. He’d finally managed to control 10 of them at a time not that long before then, but he hardly felt like he was making progress anymore. Maybe his focus could only stretch so much, he imagined.

Or maybe it was more of a soft limit that would slow down the progress of his training a lot. That was almost worse of a possibility. Because if he couldn’t progress further, then at least that’d be that. But if he could keep growing more, it'd require a lot more work and… Well, he wasn’t a fan of adding more to his already overflowing schedule, especially with things that were demanding.

‘Not the time,’ Kazuki told himself when he was already at nine Grimm. ‘Focus,’ he added, taking a deep breath in and then letting it out slowly as he made the tenth creature. At that point, he sent them to fight each other lightly, just to test his control in a less stationary situation. He had them fight around him, close enough that a slip could see him in range.

Then he started trying to make the eleventh, but every attempt failed on account of his grip on the others falling apart. He kept pushing though, being extra careful so that Aizawa wouldn’t have to use his Quirk on him too much. He knew that was annoying, what with the dry eye and such.

Predictably though, he didn’t get a lot of progress done.

“Good job,” his teacher said after announcing that they were done and they’d pick up after a break. “You can do whatever you want for an hour. Then we’ll discuss other ways you can work on your Quirk and then lunch,” the man added, throwing a bottle at Kazuki.

“That works,” he mumbled, taking a gulp from the water and then sighing.

Yeah, maybe the trip wouldn’t suck as much as he’d feared. Still wasn’t on the same level as, say, an actual school trip, but something was better than nothing. Looking at silver linings was what he did, Kazuki supposed, so he could practice that a little more.

[} Chapter End {]

Hey guys! How’s it going?

Is it just me or did Kota kind of take over a good part of the chapter?

Oh God, do we have another Kunou in our hands? This fic isn’t supposed to be that fluffy! Where’s all the angst gonna go if I can’t dump it here?!

In seriousness, I guess I just can’t help myself when it comes to children in stories. I’m a sucker for wholesome stuff and children are prime material to get some of that fluffy goodness in my fics. Admittedly, Kota isn’t very adorable at the moment, but… I think we all know how that’s gonna go, right?

It’d be a shame if something bad happened…

But I’m sure it’ll be fine.

Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter.

Discord Link: discord.gg/UTDransjJZ

Random Question: Do you collect anything? I used to collect wine capsule tops (I just looked up what they are called) when I was little, since the adults always opened at least one bottle when they got together or for barbeque and such. That was about it, really, and I think we threw them away a while back or something. Haven’t actually thought about it for years.

See you.