章 235: Chapter 232 - Eye-Opener
It had happened. It had truly happened.
"Kid, I know this was terrifying but I need you to recount precisely what happened"
Police sirens lit the street blue and red.
The would-be murderess had been screaming on the floor, crawling in a pool of blood, holding an elbow stump gushing red.
Katsuki was still holding tight his grocery bag.
He needed milk and had decided that maybe, after getting some, he could grab some fast food and spend the day watching TV until they decided to call him for work.
"Kid-"
"Is she going to be okay ?"
The police officer's gaze softened. He sighed then scratched the back of his head.
"… half of her arm was missing"
She'd tried to stab him ; Katsuki had merely tried to push the hand-holding knife away.
He'd obliterated it.
"If she didn't bleed too much then maybe, yes"
Despite his evident compassion the police officer couldn't help but be blunt.
Katsuki felt a pang in his heart : how he missed being a kid. People used to sugar-coat everything.
Another police officer came to the one talking to Katsuki and whispered in his ear.
The police officer turned to Katsuki.
"It seemed she had a fake tooth full of cyanide... she bit on it on her way to the hospital"
*
Katsuki looked at the grandiose apartment with wonder.
It was bigger than his home in Mustafu, and his parents were both high-end fashion designers.
"Are you sure it's alright ?"
Nezu shook his hand dismissively.
"Of course it is. I own the building and a few others in the area. I can afford to spare one for someone who needs it"
Katsuki wondered for a second how wealthy Nezu was if he could lend – or rather freely endorse – a sixteen-year-old living in a penthouse in the most expensive neighborhood of Tokyo.
"Thank you", Katsuki said. "For everything, I mean"
His parents had been worried enough when he told them he had to stay in Tokyo after the attack : Nezu had stepped in and wove in this special fake internship under a few top pro Heroes.
Even then Katsuki's mom had nearly said no, and it had taken both her son and husband combined to convince her.
Thankfully, they also had to leave the country for business matters (even though she'd made Katsuki swear that he would call them every day).
Truth was, Katsuki had been relieved she'd agreed.
He'd been worried that – even though he'd only need to go home during the weekends – she'd pick up easily that something was wrong with him and start asking questions.
What would he even have said ?
'It's nothing, there's just the fact that my maybe girlfriend was a spy for All for One and was killed in what is possibly the most excruciating way and I didn't have a chance to say goodbye to her. Oh and also, my closest friend broke in Tartarus and got sentenced to lifetime prison while I just stood there and did nothing. Did I mention that I killed a few guys by pushing them a tiny bit too hard? But yeah, anyway, what's for dinner ?'
"There's nothing you need to take care of", Nezu said. "The fridge and pantries will be filled weekly : you can leave a note on the counter if there is anything you fancy. Someone will come to clean every day at ten, so you don't need to worry about that"
Nezu smiled kindly, hands crossed behind his back, and Katsuki could only nod, unable to say anything else.
His gaze lingered on the expensive carpet that looked as if gold had been embroidered on it.
Nezu, feeling how uncomfortable he was, tried to lighten up the mood.
"Let's try the couch : you'll see that it's very comfortable"
He sat and patted next to him.
Katsuki followed suit, though his back was ramrod straight.
"It is comfortable", mumbled Katsuki
It felt as if he was sitting on a cloud, but he couldn't bring himself to care much.
"If you push on this button right here the wall opens and the TV-"
"How's Aizawa, by the way ?", Katsuki asked.
Nezu's joyous expression dimmed.
"He's doing better. The surgery to grow back his eyes was a success"
Katsuki nodded.
There was no point asking if he'd gotten his Quirk back : his eyes had been the only part of his body where the allele responsible for his Erasure Quirk had been activated.
He would never be the same man anymore.
"I'm glad to hear that. Is he planning on working at Yuei again or…?"
Or if, like All Might, Aizawa would ditch them and fuck off.
"I'm trying to convince him, but I think he's feeling rather shy about teaching Heroics when he's not a Hero anymore"
Katsuki wouldn't go back. He'd feel too ashamed.
Nezu checked his watch.
"Look at the time ! If we keep chatting like that, I'll be late for my next appointment"
Nezu jumped on his tiny feet and Katsuki awkwardly followed him to the door.
"It was a pleasure seeing you again, Katsuki, despite the… unsavory circumstances. If there is anything you need just call me and I'll do my very best to help you"
Nezu smiled and spun on his feet.
"Wait !"
Nezu turned around.
"Yes ?"
Katsuki, gawkily, rubbed his throat while looking away, wondering why the hell he'd just shouted.
"The woman who tried to..." he shut up, and swallowed heavily, before finally managing to look Nezu in the eye. "Do you know why she did it ?"
Nezu's head quirked to the side.
"… you know why, don't you ?"
Katsuki held Nezu's gaze.
"They were probing you", he explained. "They wanted to know to what extent you were able to use your new abilities"
Katsuki's degree of synchronicity with the One for All was unheard of for someone who'd gotten it so recently.
Despite having trouble regulating his strength, he'd gotten more than eighty percent of All Might's strength at his peak and it was only growing daily.
"Now they know that I can't do anything and they'll send more"
Katsuki could see it as clear as day : they would be bolder in their approach, more vicious in their style.
Maybe they'd try to poison him.
"Now they know that you're lethal" Nezu's gaze was sharp. "You're strong enough that they'll think twice before trying anything else"
"But they will try again", Katsuki insisted.
"Get a better grasp of your Quirk and there's nothing you'll have to fear"
Katsuki stood in front of the door even after it'd clicked shut behind Nezu, a faint blue glow lighting the handle to show that it was locked.
He could only think about one thing : Shoto had been right.
*
Atami
His father could've chosen any place, yet he'd chosen this one.
This small city -barely bigger than a village - had been where Kenzei had died and where Shoto had purposefully murdered someone for the first time.
As soon as Katsuki had slipped the paper in his pocket Katsuki had briskly deciphered the word before, pretending to yawn, he'd shoved it in his mouth and ate it.
The security was too tight, and it was only because he was nimble that he'd both read it and destroyed the evidence in one smooth movement.
Keeping it on himself was too much of a risk as was dropping it on the floor.
Had they been able to read people's intentions thanks to their fecal matters, Shoto was sure they'd stir his shit day and night.
As it was, they were going with the usual disorienting procedure.
They kept changing his meal and shower time to confuse him, sometimes giving him breakfast when it should've been dinner time.
The short walk from his room to the bathroom was done naked : they wanted to humiliate him and gnaw at his mind by this simple act.
He'd been deemed too 'dangerous' to even get a book or anything that would stimulate his mind a fair bit : no one talked to him more than strictly necessary and his cell was soundproof meaning that, had he not been able to feel people around him, the constant isolation would've made him snap.
The worst part was that he hadn't been able to get a dose since two days before he'd been imprisoned.
The lack of drugs was making him jumpy and way more irritable than he usually was ; the sane part of his mind saw this as a positive thing as he was getting a detox for something he hadn't been aware he'd been dependent on.
The least sane part of his mind – which was roughly the majority – was starting to craft plans to murder Jin Woo before running back to his stash at home.
Yet the fact that he had a ticking bomb wrapped around his head meant that-
The door to Shoto's cell opened up abruptly.
Shoto – who had been sprawled out on the ground, cheek against the ground, making drawings on the floor with the tip of his finger – sat up quickly.
The door shut up loudly.
Hair messy, breathing heavily, leaning against the door to keep it shut and sliding down until his ass reached the floor was a crazy looking Katsuki.
*
A/N : Sunday chapter.
Check the story's P@treon if you want to read ahead of schedule/support us on our last run : Nar_cisseENG
And see you in the next update everyone !
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