Chương 236: Chapter 233 - Loyalty
How awful was it that you had to monitor the one akin to your best – and only – friend, without being able to talk to them ?
"You're finally here"
Katsuki's eyes met those of a tired Jin Woo's.
"I'm right on time", Katsuki said
He was even a few minutes early.
Jin Woo patted Katsuki on the shoulder.
"I know, I'm just really tired. The last hour is always the most excruciating"
Jin Woo and Katsuki were the two only people responsible for monitoring Shoto.
As Tartarus was under 'reconstruction' (what kind of construction, Katsuki hadn't been privy to the information) all of its inmates had been moved into this disaffected underground war prison.
Katsuki had seen a few of them – though he never read the names on the door cells because he didn't want to get stuck and they'd looked straight out of nightmares : young people who looked like desecrated corpses, cheeks so hollow it was as if they'd chewed on it, skin so thin it looked like tight sheets barely holding knotty bones together.
Once Tartarus was repaired, they'd send Shoto there.
The General had said that their monitoring position wasn't a permanent one and that at some point, there would be no need for them anymore.
For now, though, Katsuki still had to watch over Shoto for six hours whereas Jin Woo had to do the other eighteen. He never started a shift twice at the same time: it was both confusing and, frankly, tiring too, as he could do nothing except until they called him.
He went to his private monitoring room – barely another cell next to Shoto's – which was empty except for a couch right in the middle and an inmate's bed they couldn't use in case they fell asleep. Because they both hadn't planned on using this prison in the first place and it was supposed to be temporary they didn't bother putting up better appliances.
Katsuki sighed as he sat, his eyes going to the huge screen showcasing Shoto sitting on the bare floor of an empty room, head against the wall, eyes closed.
They'd deemed it far too dangerous to even give him a mattress.
Katsuki didn't like it one bit.
They'd gotten Katsuki and Jin Woo – under the latter's demand – an old TV with equally old movies to watch so they wouldn't die of boredom.
Katsuki put one in, his eyes going back to Shoto from time to time.
He didn't take his job seriously and, to be honest, he wasn't sure he would put up any fight if Shoto tried to escape.
He spent the next six hours monitoring his friend bitterly, unable to focus on either the movie or his job.
His thoughts kept swirling, a maelström that made him restless.
At some point he rose and started pacing around the room, stretching to fight off the numbness of his stiff muscles.
Shoto had been exercising for the last hour.
He was standing on both hands, perpendicular to the ground, and was slowly lowering himself until he was parallel to the ground, his face red and his muscles straining obviously from the effort.
Without touching the floor he pushed on his hands until he was once more as straight as an exclamation mark.
Katsuki watched him as he kept on performing various exercises to stave off boredom.
He wondered if his isolation – because, despite their claims, they were isolating him – was to make him go mad.
He wondered if they were trying to weaken his mind or if they hoped he'd snap and the bomb on his head would blow his brains out.
Katsuki merely nodded when Jin Woo relieved him of his duty.
He went back home, ate, tried to sleep, and waited until it was the middle of the night to walk a bit in the city and get some fresh air, something that wasn't this dusty cell in this crumbling prison.
He'd spend hours scrolling on various social media because it was the only thing that kept his mind off the shitty state of his life.
The class' group chat had been buzzing for days since they'd all learned about Shoto's imprisonment. They kept asking if anybody – aka Katsuki – knew if it was true, or if anyone had seen him recently.
Katsuki read the news, too, because a good Hero had to be well-informed.
'The number of protesters keeps increa-'
'The new laws concerning the cremation of Heroes' bodies has been approved : starting from-'
'The protest will start at 3 pm in Shibuya-"
Being a good Hero didn't mean monitoring your friend until his prison transfer.
Katsuki turned his phone off and tried to sleep.
He woke up, groggy, not fully rested.
They'd sent him a text : they needed him in two hours, which was one hour and a half earlier than usual. They'd need him for eight hours, today.
He showered, tried to eat, got a cab back to the prison, and blasted music in his ears for a full hour, trying to drown the thoughts he couldn't tell anybody.
He went into his small monitoring room, watched Shoto, tried not to think about how wrong the whole situation was, and went back home once his shift was finished.
Rinse and repeat.
Monday, while casually strolling in a store to get some milk, he'd gotten a 'chance encounter' with the daughter of a maritime tycoon. She'd smiled and laughed and put her hand on his arm, casually stroking his biceps. She'd been in her mid-twenties.
That same day when he'd gone back home he'd realized that both apartments next to his were now rented. The guy on the right was an ex-Olympic champion who'd tried to entice him to 'get some drinks because I'm new here and I know no one'.
The guy on the left was a famous Chinese billionaire, Wang Scicong or something like that, and had, without any greeting whatsoever, asked Katsuki to join his Heroes agency in China for close to sixty million a year.
He'd gotten an email from a few well-known parliament members who invited him to a party, 'no dress code'.
In the matter of a week, Katsuki's whole life had been flipped: people he'd never heard of started trying to befriend him and get in his good graces.
He'd gotten fruit baskets from the Olympic guy and Wang had tried to entice him with a diamond Rolex. An old man in the street had fallen right in front of Katsuki and, when he'd helped him up, he'd offered Katsuki a brand new car merely because he was 'grateful'.
He was far from foolish : he knew that, in one way or another, the fact that he was now All Might's successor had leaked out.
But at the same time he was confused : why was it enough grounds for them to cozy up to him ?
Heroes were supposed to be independent individuals : there was no point getting them on your side, right ?
The government – or rather the military -, too, was doing it in its way.
The fact that Katsuki was privy to information about Tartarus or where Shoto Todoroki – as well as plenty of high-end criminals – was held was proof enough of his importance.
Katsuki went from barely getting out of home to not getting out at all, too angry at all of these cock suckers that he feared he'd kill one by accident.
He felt like he would go crazy.
Weirdly enough, the only time he was at peace was when he was in this small cell watching dutifully over his friend.
Each time he went in, Shoto's head turned slightly to the right – where Katsuki was – as though he knew he was here and he was greeting him.
This small sign of recognition was enough to ease him : even though they could not talk, there still existed an unspoken companionship between them.
That day – when Katsuki had felt so down he'd considered not even going to work – he'd disregarded the couch and had sat against the wall he shared with Shoto.
He'd put his head against the wall like Shoto was doing : that's when Shoto, sitting at the other end of the room, walked up to this specific wall and mirrored Katsuki's position.
Katsuki had watched him on the screen as he sat, harshly brushing the back of his sleeve against his eyes, the corner of his mouth helplessly falling.
Ochaco had died and he couldn't even tell his parents. His friend had been unfairly imprisoned and he'd been too caught up in his own emotions to talk about how he felt about all the people who died at Atago-Jinja.
Maybe if he'd listened, Shoto would've told him what he'd planned about Tartarus, and he could've convinced him not to do it.
The days went by, so similar to each other Katsuki acted on autopilot, moving forward in a trance-like state.
Rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat.
Until they summoned him for a meeting.
"What ?"
Katsuki didn't see the prison warden often.
He was a nice guy, albeit always stressed by needing to monitor that many high-profile prisoners at the same time at the same place.
Luck that those from Tartarus were basically retards.
It was those who were supposed to get transferred to the island but couldn't because of its partial destruction that was worrying them.
He'd seemed in a good mood today.
Katsuki had greeted him, and got briefed on what had happened after he'd left yesterday – a new prisoner tried to rip a new stomach to a ward while showering – before they had gotten to the real reason for this impromptu meeting.
The ward had leaned forward, happy, and said, although he'd looked a bit crazed :
He'd aged for ways years here in days by surveilling everyone.
"Tartarus is back in shape", he'd repeated, grinning. "All of the prisoners will be leaving first thing first at the end of the week"
The new hit Katsuki like a hammer.
Suddenly the reality of where he was, what he was doing, and what would happen to his friend hit him square in the face.
"Oh fuck"
The man, too caught up in his joy, had not heard Katsuki.
He sighed in delight.
"This position is so stressful some of my hair has turned gray. Look here, it wasn't like that a few days ago"
Katsuki acted as if he was listening yet he'd barely managed to get out a few proper words.
"Anyway, I know your shift is starting soon. Send me Jin Woo so I can give him the good news too"
Katsuki had walked like an inmate to his prison.
His eyes had slid to Shoto's nameplate shining brightly on his door.
He'd stopped, unable to move an inch more.
Someone had to warn him.
And before he knew what he was doing, Katsuki opened the door and slipped right inside Shoto's cell.
*
A/N :
We passed the 500,000 words count !
Got to say I expected to finish this chapter 200,000 words ago but it is what it is.
I think we'll finish this story around 560,000 words if not 600,000 (if I really go overboard with Part 3, which wouldn't suprise me).
Only two and a half weeks left and I'm a FREE WOMAN !
I swear I'm gonna cry tears of happiness.
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