Chapter Text
1.
In this world, Kaminari knew three things for certain.
Number one; Kaminari knew that everyone had some sort of past.
He knew this, better than most.
Everyone had a past. No exceptions.
But whether that past is happy or sad, to be cherished or to be best forgotten- well.
That was something one wouldn’t know unless they dug deep, deep, deep.
Kaminari knew this better than most.
He could see the tenseness in Todoroki’s shoulders, the way his steps were near silent.
He could hear the forced brightness in Hagakure’s voice, the deep lace fear of being forgotten.
The nervous twitch in Midoriya’s fingers.
Kirishima’s self-confidence
Asui’s sisterly nature.
Bakugou’s carefully hidden confusion.
People’s personalities were shaped by their experiences, he knew. There was always something within them.
Number two; in this society, everything revolved back to quirks.
The quirkless were shunned, the ones with ‘villainous’ quirks, were declared monsters. ‘Weak’ quirks were considered useless.
Any quirk with too big of a drawback was declared ‘weak’.
Those with ‘strong’ quirks were pushed to the path of heroism and praise.
But if Kaminari had to choose, he rather a ‘weak’ quirk than strong.
Weak meant people overlooked you.
Weak meant not painting a target.
Weak meant maybe, just maybe , he wouldn’t have ever been swept up in this mess.
And number three, the one Kaminari thought of the most.
This one, unlike the last two, was very simple. A single sentence, really.
It was very self-explanatory.
The third fact?
“I’m a coward,” whispered Kaminari Denki.
Only the darkness of the room and the low hum of the air conditioner replied to him.
“I’m a coward,” he repeated.
Kaminari Denki was a coward.
And that was a fact.
2.
It started with a phone call.
It was two days after the Shie Hassaikai raid and to no one’s surprise, tensions were still high in the air.
Kaminari, with his classmates, was anxiously waiting in the common area for their other classmates’ return.
He hadn’t sat down for two minutes until his phone rung.
Pulling out his phone, he frowned.
He didn’t recognize the number.
“Kaminari?”
He blinked, glancing up to meet Sero’s face.
“Are you going to take that?”
“Oh, right,” He said, laughing. “Sorry, it’s just that I don’t recognize the number.”
“Then you should put it on speaker,” Ashido pipped in, leaning over Kaminari’s shoulder. “So if it’s a scammer, we can laugh at them together!”
Denki shrugged, not seeing why not.
He really didn’t think twice before swiping the ‘accept call’ button, or when laying his phone down on the table and putting it on speaker.
Even Bakugou leaned over to catch a glance at what they were doing.
“Hello?” Kaminari spoke.
The group instantly quieted down. Ashido even pulled out her phone, no doubt for potential blackmail material.
When a long pause followed, Kaminari furrowed his brow. “Hello?” he repeated.
(Thinking back, he really should have noticed something was wrong.)
“Ugh,” Sero groaned “Is this another automated phone call or something?”
“Boring~,” Ashido sang. “So much for--”
“Kaminari.”
Kaminari was not very proud to say he jumped .
Funny, how a single word could shut the entire room up.
(The tone of voice was uncomfortably sharp and full of authority. Almost as if--)
He could feel the questioning gazes directed to his person.
“Kaminari,” the voice came again, with less force.
Fumbling with his phone, he stuttered “uh, yeah. That’s me. ...can I ask who this is?”
A muffled sigh comes from the other end.
“Denki,” the voice said, suddenly so much more tired than before. Kaminari had to blink because indeed, this was the same person talking.
He narrowed his eyes. Who…?
“Who are you and how do you know my name?” he voiced.
As soon as the words left his mouth, the entire room’s atmosphere tensed.
“Kaminari,” Yaoyorozu spoke up, “who--?”
“...’Ki-chan, it’s me.”
(‘Ki-chan--)
Kaminari’s eyes widened. No one called him that.
(It’s gonna be okay, ‘Ki-chan, trust me--)
Not anymore.
(I wanna be a hero--!)
The last person to call him that was--
(Lil’ Denki-chan’s so cute--!)
--Himiko?
“Nee-san?” he breathed.
How is she--
Wasn’t the entire villain thing--
I thought she was lost in her own mind--
After--
Stop.
There were too many people here.
Kaminari swallowed.
He needed to get away.
“I-I have to take this, s-sorry guys,” he stuttered out.
Ignoring the confused protest behind him, Kaminari was already out of the common area and dashing up the stairs.
He’ll have to deal with them later.
‘Ki-chan, ‘ki-chan.
The words haunted him.
3.
Only when Kaminari was in the safety of his own room, with the doors locked and curtains pulled tightly closed, did he finally press the phone back to his ear.
“Himiko?” he whispered. “Himi. Is that you?”
A breathless gasp. “‘Ki-chan,” the voice-- no, Himiko said, relief evident. “Yeah. Yeah, it’s me.”
“Himi--I thought--”
I thought you were gone , he wanted to say. When I saw you on television, three years since I last saw you, you were none of the kind-hearted, gentle sister you were to me. Himi, I instantly knew you had lost yourself.
How are you here?!
Why--?
“ Golden,” she said, unknowingly cutting him off. “I’ll explain later, but there’s a reason that I called.”
Golden , not Denki or ‘Ki-chan .
Kaminari straightened. “What is it?”
“Are you in a secure location?”
Blinking his thoughts away, Kaminari was very suddenly hit with the gravity of the situation.
He, a UA student who had been attacked by the infamous League of Villains many times over, was currently talking to one of them, smack dab in UA’s student dorms.
Fuck.
The authorities can’t know about this. They couldn’t .
He took a deep breath in, silently thanking the fact UA’s dorms had no cameras.
“Yeah, I am. Why?”
A deep breath. “It’s Aceso, ‘Ki-chan. Two days ago, They took him.”
“I-- what ?”
Because whatever Denki had been expecting this sure the hell wasn’t it .
(Everyone had a past, whether it be good or bad, to be cherished or best forgotten.
And one Kaminari Denki’s just so happens to be intertwined with a psychopath serial killer and a technically legal government assassin.
But of course, no one knew that .
He had made sure of it.)
4.
When Kaminari had left without so much as a hint of what the hell that scene was, the rest of Class 1A present were brimming with questions.
“What was that ?” Ashido asked, the recording on her phone long forgotten.
From the look on everyone’s faces, it seemed as if she had summed up everyone’s emotions.
“I didn’t know Kaminari had an older sister,” Yaoyorozu muttered, deep in thought.
“Neither did I,” Sero pipped in. “Did anyone?”
To no one’s surprise, almost everyone’s responses were negative.
“He never mentioned anything about her,” Yaoyorozu said, stretching. “And that expression on his face; I don’t think he was expecting her to call.”
“But if she was his sister, wouldn’t he recognize her phone number?” Ashido.
“Ashido, you’re right, but what if something had happened to her?”
At her words, the room immediately fell silent.
“If you fuckers want to be all nosy, then just go check on Dunce Face.” Three guesses on who said that and if they weren’t ‘the angry blond pomeranian,’ they didn’t count.
“Awww, Bakubro, you do care!” Sero exclaimed.
“Then we have to go check on him!” Ashido declared. “Whatever it is, he can’t be left to go through this himself. ”
Because at this point, Class 1A was family, and that included one Kaminari Denki as well.
A couple of minutes later, the majority of the class was crowded around Kaminari’s door. Sero had knocked, and the group of teenagers were soundlessly waiting for an answer.
“Kami-bro?” Sero asked. “Hey Kami-bro, you in there?”
A crash sounded, and a thud--
“Uh, Kaminari--”
The door suddenly flung open, and the entire group reeled back in surprise.
In the doorway was Kaminari, eyes red and room behind him a mess , blinking almost comically. “Uh, guys? What are you guys doing here?”
“Kami!” Ashido exclaimed, making no effort to skirt around the point. “We were worried! You disappeared so fast and we’re worried about you!”
Kaminari blinked, as if surprised, and smiled. “Yeah, sorry for earlier, guys. It’s family stuff… I don’t like talking about it much.”
To see their resident ball of sunshine smiling sadly was definitely a punch to the gut.
Eventually, they left, but not without drilling it into Kaminari’s stubborn head that they were there for him.
Give him some space , Sero had said. Kaminari’ll come to us when he’s ready .
But that’s the thing.
Kaminari never came to them. Not the next day, or the day after that.
Because early the next day, Kaminari was gone.