NOVEL NEXT Chapter 207 – Truth
“Go see him”
I looked up from the book I was reading : the pages glowed faintly blue because I was perusing my Chakra Encyclopedia.
He couldn’t see it, obviously.
No one ever did.
“I beg your pardon ?”
Dad kept drinking his black coffee.
Shit tasted like hell, I had no idea how he could even wet his lips with it.
“Aizawa”, he said. “Don’t act like a moron and go see him”
I frowned.
“I told you why I didn’t want to”
I’d told him about Aizawa and the way he blackmailed me to save all of the other kids.
By the way his gaze had darkened I knew that if Aizawa hadn’t had his eyes ripped off, he would’ve went and done so himself.
“Truly you feel a man who has lost his eyesight has paid enough, don’t you ?”
I held back a sigh.
“Of course I do, but-”
“Don’t tell me you’d feel awkward going there, or that it would merely be a demonstration of pity”
“It would be a demonstration of pity”
“Everyone who will go see him will be doing it mostly out of pity”
I shut up.
“Listen, Shoto. Sometimes we do thing we don’t want but that we have to. Showing support to your teacher who has lost his Quirk is one of them, regardless of whatever happened between the two of you”
I hadn’t been fair to Dad recently.
I’d believed he was more like me than I’d liked to, yet he’d always been the best version of myself.
He was a good man, the kind of man I strived to become, the kind of man I knew I’d become with enough hard work.
Nowadays I was content with my life, satisfied with the person I was growing be, eager to do more and get better.
“If you insist, then”
He watched me intently, as if he expected me to argue more.
“You’re surprisingly docile”
“I indeed am because I know you want to know he’s okay and you don’t feel legitimate to check up on him”
Aizawa had been one or two grades under Dad when he’d been at Yuei.
They may have been close twenty years ago, close enough for Dad to push me so much to do things I didn’t want to.
“Do you think I should get flowers or something ?”
He grunted.
“I am sure Aizawa would greatly dislike it”
*
The room was full of flowers.
I’d never seen as many in such a small space.
It smelled too sweet, so much the very air seemed rancid.
There were flowers on windowsill, flowers on desks, flowers everywhere around the bed, put in such a way it looked as if Aizawa was in his grave and we were paying our last respects.
“Smells like rotten fruits, don’t you think ?”
Aizawa’s head snapped to mine.
He was previously trying to push back a pot put too close to his bed without making it fall : a green leaf was grazing his cheek.
“Sho… Todoroki ?”
The leaf grazed his cheek again.
“Himself”, I said smoothly
I looked around disdainfully even though he couldn’t see me.
“Would you like me to burn them ?”
Aizawa didn’t laugh or quirked a lip, yet the shadow of a smile was on his face.
“Are there really that many ?”
“So much you’d think you’re dying”
This time a true smile blossomed on his face.
It highlighted the hollowness of his cheeks and the whitish shade of his skin.
“Push it a bit more to the left”
“Sorry ?”, he asked
His hollow eyeballs were covered by a thick white band ; I couldn’t see his eyebrows yet I knew they were raised.
“The pot. Push it a bit more to the left. If you push it to the right, it’ll fall”
He pushed it to the left.
Then his hands went back on his tights, resting lightly, palms turned up to the roof.
A thin blanket was covering his legs.
None of us said a thing.
Aizawa was tense, knowing I was watching him without actually knowing I was watching him.
“I wanted to tell you I was sorry”
He perked up.
“What for ?”
“We...”
I closed my mouth, mulled over the words for a bit.
How did you told a man he’d still have his eyes if you didn’t plan your brother’s murder ?
“We got your location. Me and my father, I mean. We were barely late. If we’d been here only minute earlier...”
I was surprised by my own statement.
I’d never been the kind of guy who’d blamed himself for things happening to others and that he had no hand in.
Yet since I’d accepted in some way the ‘hero’ tag – even if I didn’t truly feel like one – I believed that, had I been stronger, I could’ve saved everyone that night.
Calm down Shoto, no need to go full hero complex.
“I heard about that”, said Aizawa. “And I don’t blame you nor your Dad. You’re barely sixteen. We shouldn’t ask of you what pros can’t handle”
Even if his voice sounded confident, his face – or what I could see of it – looked grim, his lips quirked down sourly.
We were only humans.
I knew he, too, in some twisted way, wondered what would’ve happened if we’d been a tiny bit faster.
If I were in his shoes, I would’ve blamed everyone, sixteen years old kid included.
“If that’s any solace to you, I think I nearly killed All for One”
His face softened a bit.
“That is great comfort. Thank you”
I nodded.
Then I looked around again.
I didn’t know what else to say or when was the polite time to leave.
Usually people died before I got the opportunity to settle things with them.
“Nezu… The headmaster told me something about you a long time ago”
Aizawa was looking down at his clenched fists between which flowed white blanket.
“He said you were powerful, that I – as your teacher – would have to guide you on the right path. I told him you were too proud, too egoist, too vicious to ever become a Hero”
Well thanks old geezer-
“I was wrong”
It instantly shut me up.
“Thank you for trying your best. I’ll be eternally grateful to you”
I felt bittersweet.
When will people stop thanking me for not being enough ?
“I-”
My mouth closed.
My eyes shot up directly to the right.
The door opened.
I couldn’t keep in check my surprise.
“Katsuki ?”
A mop of messy, ashy blond hair, entered.
Dark eyebags, blood injected yes, chapped lips, pale skin.
He looked as if he hadn’t slept in days, as if he’d been living in a nightmare from which he was unable to wake. He smelt like sweat and tears, yet his knuckles were bloodied and raw from hitting something too hard.
He was hunched, muscles both weirdly coiled and strangely taunt, his clothes drenched in way too much sweat for someone with a Quirk like his to not have noticed.
He looked lost and hurt, frightening and frightened.
I took a step forward.
“Kat-”
His glazed eyes glided over me.
I shut up.
“Bakugo ?”
From the corner of my eye I saw Aizawa turning roughly in Katsuki’s direction.
I wanted to ask ‘How did you get in Tokyo ?’ but something else went through my mouth :
“Are you okay ?”
Why was he sweating so much ?
Aizawa’s face broke into a faint smile.
“Thank you for coming”
If he’d seen the face of Katsuki, he wouldn’t have said that.
Katsuki stopped in front of Aizawa’s bed.
His eyes roamed over our teacher, not even acknowledging the way his eyes were bandaged.
“I-”
His voice was hoarse.
Katsuki cleared his throat several times, hand on his jawline, clenching and unclenching as if he were trying to make his mouth work again.
Then, finally, he said :
“I came to see you, sensei”
His voice sounded either broken from screaming or crying.
Aizawa leaned forward and, worry evident in his voice :
“Are you okay Bakugo ?”
Katsuki blinked slowly.
His eyes hadn’t left Aizawa’s face.
There was something dark in his gaze, something painful and worrisome.
Bells rang in my head, paranoia on full blast.
Is he going to blow us all with him ?
“Katsuki”, I said “How did you manage-”
“Where’s Ochaco ?”
I felt Aizawa frown even though I did not see him actually frown.
“What do you-”
My head snapped to the right.
“-mean by ‘where is she’ ?”
The door opened once more.
It was Monoma.
*
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