Chapter 11: I'm... Here!
-Villain POV-
...
Short-haired girl was desperate, she gasped for air as her blood ran cold, she felt useless, to have a classmate, a friend die in front of her is too much to bear, but all she could do was wonderfully scream. The attractive one could only close her eyes, her pleads were in vain, she can't watch a friend being killed as well.
I can't help but hysterically laugh as the knife drew closer, inch by inch, towards the brat's neck. The sound of metal hitting metal echoed as the knife bashed against the restrainer collar.
A gorget? I'm caught by surprise.
"Creative, but not enough." One last push is enough as I force the knife deeper into the neck guard, a sound of locks being abruptly forced open caught my attention. Suspicion and awareness gave in. The lock gave in and the collar flew off.
...
I heard... a brief sizzling noise, I can feel the descending conductive plasma coming towards us... This brat is a living lightning rod.
I can see the leaves of a nerby tree rustling, being pushed by the rapid change of electrical field, I can ever hear the hiss of the purplish corona emergening from the leaves and other objects nearby. Hell, I can even notice the faint clicks of plasma streamers as they clawed upwards, meeting the descending plasma coming right at us. It's here. The explosive crack is beautiful, you see, the descending plasma connects with the rising ones, the short-circuit of the cloud and earth is complete. I can feel it in my skin tens of thousands of amperes surged upwards my body as the brilliant flash of the lightning strike erupts. So far, I'm okay, the electrical immunity helds on, it's the next part that worries me.
The supersonic pressure wave that ensued -shockwave for dummies- felt like hundreds of dynamites exploding right at my face. My eardrums immediately ruptured, I feel my lungs collapse and my humerus, ulna and radius break apart. I can feel the delayed booms and rumbling from the thunder, even if my eardrums are busted they're easily noticeable. I guess this is it, this is what I gain for trusting a dry skin guy with hands for days: Extensive internal damage.
...
-Jirou POV-
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Once again, Yaoyorozu quick thinking gets our asses saved, she got us under the insulator sheet mere moments before a lightning strike broke the dome's ceiling down and struck them both. I can still hear the thunder rumbling in the atmosphere, I have to see it, I need to see if he's okay.
As I lift the sheet, I can see a crater formed by the impact, the villain was launched backwards about 8 meters. Kaminari is... levitating?! His about a meter into the air, he's not counscious, he twitches like he's having a stroke. Lightning shoots out of his body and breaks anything it touches, he's squirming, I don't think he even knows where he is at.
I see the collar right next to me, his collar he refused to talk about, maybe if...
"Yaoyorozu! Give me the sheet!" I have to be quick about it as I grab the sheet and cover myself with it, the collar is in my hand.
I sprint towards him, the lightning tendrils hit the sheet, even it isn't enough, the tendril shoots right through and burns a chunk out of my jacket, but I can't stop!
I'm right in front of him, collar in hand, he's low just enough so I can reach his neck!
"Kaminari! It's me!" The continuous lightning suddenly stops for a moment, he definitely heard me! It's my chance!
*CLICK!*
The electricity emmanating from his stopped instantaneously as the collar wraps around his neck automatically, he falls into the ground hard. He's in bad shape, his arms and now his legs are even more burned now, almost charred, a feint awful smell of burned hair too. It's almost ludicrous to believe this guy saved our necks.
"Is he okay?" Yaoyorozu approaches, she's also bad. Her creations helped us fend off the villains and call for Kaminari's aid.
"He'll live." I'm struggling to even form a full sentence, I'm feeling like a piece of trash. What did I do? I didn't do anyhting noteworthy, I just survived long enough while they did the hard work.
"Help me get him-"
"My, my..." You gotta be fucking kidding me.
He is ridiculous, he's still standing after the last attack?! The mask may be broken but the villain is approaching us, his right arm is limp, clearly broken, his left one is holding his knife while helding his shoulder.
Yaoyorozu can't continue fighting, Kaminari is out of the equation, only I stand between them and him. I pick the nearest piece of rebar.
The villain laughs histerically. "Yeah... I will definitely enjoy gutting you three!" He sprints towards us! I have to protect them!
...
*BANG BANG*
Gunshots?! Two gunshots hit the villain square in the kneecaps. I don't even know what's going on anymore, he collapses in the ground, his screaming is annoying. One nice metal bar to the face shuts him down.
...
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-Narrator POV-
"Found them!" Hound Dog exclaims as he warns other heroes, Snipe, the one who shot the villain, and Ectoplasm rush to their aid. Kaminari had just woken up, laying his head on Yaoyorozu's lap while Jirou watched the heroes arrival in relief.
"Those three defeated all those villains alone. Impressive." Nezu spoke while seated in Vlad King shoulder, coming right behind Hound Dog. "Quick, emergency units!" Vlad King rushed medical aid to the trio.
"At last, pro heroes, this means the villains were defeated." Yaoyorozu blissfuly spoke. "Of course they come at the last minute when the action is done." Jirou spoke with heavy irony.
'Hehehe...' A weak but cheerful laugh came from Kaminari's lips. Both Jirou and Yaoyorozu are happy to see him awake.
"Hey you, you're finally awake."
"I'm glad that you are alright, Kaminari-san. We were worried of your condition." Yaoyorozu expressed her worries.
"Don't worry about me... Give me a moment and I'll be brand new."
He wasn't lying, even now his condition was slowly but noticeably better, the burns are recovering, the charred skin getting lighter, even open wounds closing at a impressive rate.
"So now you have a healing factor?" Jirou was annoyed.
"It's... Complicated." Kaminari responds.
"Of course it is." Jirou giggled as the Pro Heroes helped them.
...
The incident known as the U.S.J villain raid was deemed a failure, with only some students receiving minor wounds and no severe casualities. All Might walked alongside the students, Kaminari was already walking, though required the assistance of Yaoyorozu and Jirou.
"Young Kaminari, I've heard of your heroic incentive from young Kirishima and young Todoroki, you should be proud of yourself, your actions prevented a most unwanted outcome. Your quick judgement helped save your classmates." All Might spoke with joy.
"By the time I've arrived they had already defeated the villains, All Might." Kaminari said as the girls chuckled.
"Is that so? This speaks loads about the resilience of you two! Young Jirou, young Yaoyorozu!" All Might once again speaks with joy and happiness. The both of them giggled as they accepted Kaminari's version of events.
...
At the hospital, Kaminari's wounds healed after Recovery Girl's... Kiss treatment. "You will be okay now, honey." She went on to dismiss him. The burn marks were almost gone, only minor disconfort remained. He thanked her for the treatment, after giving his statement to the Police, he was cleared to go home.
...
"So how you're doing?" Jirou sudden appereance startled Kaminari.
"Oh, it's you, Jirou. Are you okay?" Kaminari asked.
"My wounds were minor, nothing to worry about. Wondering when were you going to tell me about the healing factor."
"Oh... that?... Well, it sorta of happens involuntarily. I couldn't explain to you even if I wanted to." Kaminari spoke the truth, his healing factor is still a mistery.
"Never mind this. You're okay and that's all that matters." She walks with Kaminari out of school grounds.
...
"At least I know now why you didn't want to talk about the collar." Jirou's attempt at small talk backfired.
"What do you mean? What happened?" Kaminari stopped dead on his tracks, he looks shocked.
"Uhm... Your collar... It came off during the fight..." Jirou stopped talking as she looked at Kaminari.
His shock turned into horror, he leaned against the wall and anxiously touched his collar's lock.
"This can't be... It just can't...!" He was in the brink of having a panic attack.
"Hey, calm down, its not-" Jirou became worried.
"That's why you were hurt?! That's why Yaoyomomo was hurt... It wasn't supposed to happen, the lock can't be broken, how di-" He gripped his collar very hard, he crouched and leaned against the wall.
Jirou sees this and panicks, she doesn't know what to do. Kaminari behaving like this comes as a shock. It makes sense why he avoids talking about the collar, but why all this fuzz over it? No time to think, he's about to go insane.
"Hey!" She shouts as she places both her hands in his face, looking right in his eyes.
"You didn't hurt me, or Yaomomo! We are still here because of you!" She tightens her palms against his face harder.
"Because of me... You... Her... Ana is..." Kaminari was on the brink of losing his sanity.
Ana? Who the hell is- Nevermind!
"It's okay... Raio! You didn't hurt us, I'm okay, look!" She nods at him hoping to snap him back.
"I'm here... because of you. You saved me, you're the reason I'm well, Raio."
Kaminari's breathing is still rapid, he fix his eyes at Jirou, he looks for injuries only to see none. He covered her hands with his, his palms much bigger than hers, covered them almost completely.
They looked at each other, each exhale of air getting more intense. Jirou feels the warmth of his hands as they hug hers firmly. He's not here yet, he's still panicking... Damn, I have to do this.
She leans in closer as she lets go of his grip, her hands envelop Kaminari's head as she hugs him tight. Kaminari freezes in respose.
"It's okay Kaminari... Take your time, I'm here." Jirou soothens her voice.
...
A few moments pass, Jirou closed her eyes while repeating the same phrase three times. Kaminari responds to it by in turn enveloping his arms under hers and hugging her as well, much to Jirou's own panic.
...
His body is warm, his heartbeat is strong, very strong, his skin is rough to the touch, she can feel the scars in his back and neck, so many of them... From the heartbeats, she can tell he's slowly calming down. The smell of burnt hair is gone, instead, a nice smell of perfume is emmanating from his, a strong, wooden like, fragrance.
"Uhm... Jirou... I'm fine now, you can stop hugging me... Not that it's bad, it's just if you want, of course..." Kaminari's mouth was mere centimenters away from her neck, his breath after each sentence spoken sent chills down her spine. From her neck, a red glow covered her entire face as her body temperature raised to hellfire levels.
"Y-yeah... YEAH! Of course!" Jirou shouted as she jumped backwards, away from Kaminari who slowly got up.
"Well... That was awkward..." Kaminari said with embarrassment.
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that, I shouldn't have touched you, I shou-" Jirou muttered as she waived her arms around.
"No, not that... I refer to this episode of mine, it had been a while that this didn't occured." Kaminari felt like clearing things up since he did enjoyed the hug. "You shouldn't have had to see this."
"As I said..." Jirou regained her composure. "It's alright, Kaminari, this is nothing to be shamed about."
...
"Are you good to keep on going or should I call emergency services?" Jirou's back at her default demeanor.
"I'm good to go. Thanks again for all... You did..." Kaminari made it awkward again.
"Don't mention it." Jirou slightly blushes. They keep on walking while trying to pretend nothing happened.
...
Suddenly, cutting the silence, a giggle coming from Jirou caught Kaminari's attention, her giggle soon became a full on laughter.
"What's so funny?" Kaminari just had to ask.
"I just remembered, right after you short circuited, despite all the serious situation... Your face was just too funny!" She started to laugh once again.
Kaminari was soon drowned with a terrible feeling. He knows exactly what face she's talking about: Dumbinari. Happens everytime his brain shortcircuited, he basically became a giggling idiot with a stupid face.
"Oh... That..." Kaminari had no way to run.
"And the thumbs up... The giggling 'Yay' as the villain threatened you with a knife was just-" She couldn't hold it back, her laughter could be heard around the street.
"I'm glad my almost demise was going to be hilarious." Kaminari joined the laughter.
...
...
They arrive at Kaminari's apartment.
"Well, better get home, I'm sure my parents are as worried as are yours right now." Jirou says in a almost sad tone for they are parting ways.
"My guess is mine don't even know about this incident." Kaminari says nonchalantly.
"What do you mean?" Jirou doesn't get it.
"Oh, I live alone, my parents are back home."
"What?! You live by yourself?!" Jirou is shocked at this.
"Yeah, since I've arrived. Anyways, see you at school?"
"Y-yeah, see you there. Good night, Kaminari, and thank you for saving our lives today."
"It was my pleasure." He giggles as he gets home.
...
All he wants is to lay in bed and sleep for months. He can't even look at Ana, he's ashamed that the collar was opened. He watches as a storm is starting to form in the distance, at least the soothing sounds of thunder will help him.
"Sorry, Ana, tomorrow I'll tell you everything."
*Ringtone*
His phone rings, he looks at it wondering who would be. All Might? The police? Jirou? Yaoyorozu?
...
He is appalled to see that neither of these names are on the screen.
"Father... Is calling me?..."
Kaminari waits a second, the answers the call.
"Father?"
"Open the door."
Kaminari was startled, what he means by 'open the door'? Kaminari puts on a shirt and goes to the door, as he goes to the door and grabs the door handle, light flickers, he feels the presence. Father is right outside the door.
Opening the door, the mountainous figure of Kaminari's father covered the door frame. He's so tall that he has to lower his head to enter the apartment.
"Father, Sir, what are you-" Kaminari can't even finish his sentence as his body is enveloped by his father's arms, avidly hugging his son.
"I came to here the moment I heard about the attack. Are you okay? Are you wounded?!" He asked desperately as he inspected Kaminari's body.
"I am okay, Sir, really." Kaminari couldn't even believe his own eyes yet, it felt like a dream. "Sir? Why are you here? You could have called."
He stood quiet for a second, his expression was of weariness.
"Indeed, but this is a matter to be discussed in person, so I flew here."
Father can fly, despite his quirk being of electrical variety, he can manipulate electromagnetic fields to levitate and transmutate his own body into pure lightning and to travel at supersonic speeds in the right weather conditions.
"You oughta sit down."
...