Wrong Answers
The sun hung high over the hospital. Doctors and Nurses continued their rounds in practiced rhythm. It was lunch time. Nurses entered rooms bearing bentos from a serving cart, made small talk, then continued on their way. One of those rooms, held a highschool student. The boy was still having some trouble breathing despite the best quirk ministrations the world had to offer. Next to him lay a pile of papers. He avoided looking at the papers.
“Good afternoon Cain-kun!” The nurse with the mole cheerfully offered as she placed a bento with white rice, chicken and green bell peppers on the table next to Christopher’s bed.
Christopher didn’t look at it. “Thanks.”
“Alone today?”
“For now.” Christopher sighed. Inigo, Orochi and Yui had left half an hour ago. They had whispered conspiratorially about a pizza party. Christopher had to resist the urge to tell them that he wasn’t in a celebratory mood.
The nurse placed a pair of chopsticks on top of Christopher’s bento. “Do you need anything else?”
“No. Thanks.” Christopher remembered to look her in the eyes this time.
“My pleasure!” The nurse crooned. She left him with his thoughts and a bento.
Christopher cracked open the bento as soon as she left. He began to eat. He tried to forget the stack of papers that lay next to him. The paper that held Rosethorn’s damned tactical analysis.
He abhorred the analysis he’d written for Rosethorn. It was shit. It was haphazard. It had taught Christopher a lesson that Rosethorn might not have even intended to teach. That lesson was harsh. Every hero that had participated in the battle against the Five were either Shiketsu graduates with a low reputation, or currently employed by Shiketsu. In other words, they were all the sort who’d have incentive to keep vigilantism from two of Shiketsu’s most promising students quiet.
Christopher bit his lip. He’d thought he’d saved the day when he choked out Nox, but if Rosethorn had even subconsciously considered who’d keep their mouth shut… then he’d done more harm than good. Saurus from Osaka. Impakt in Kyoto. There were a number of heroes within traveling distance that could’ve been used.
One could argue Impakt’s powers would be particularly vulnerable to Nox since she leeched heat and he absorbed it. But… he couldn’t come up with a reasonable explanation as to why she hadn’t called on Saurus. Hell, a group as high profile as the Five could’ve gotten Endeavor on a scram jet. But they wouldn’t have kept quiet.
Christopher couldn’t fathom any explanation other than that Kaylee and his potential presence tied Rosethorn’s hands.
Christopher continued eating. The more he thought about the fight, the more he couldn’t see himself as the hero he’d felt like during it. When he was fighting, everything had felt so right. He’d choked Nox out. He’d gotten Honnoken out of the line of fire. He’d had Desolator against a wall. Then… then Kaylee got tossed through that hole. Then everything went to Hell.
Christopher glanced at the clock. It was still an hour before the Doctor would be done with Kaylee, but he was getting stir-crazy. He wanted to be away from his room, fromthat paper. Maybe a trip to the Hospital’s library was in order? He stood. He walked to the door. He stopped in front of the door. He paused. He felt like he was forgetting something.
Christopher looked behind him. The room was… not empty. There were dozens of gifts from Inigo, Yui, Orochi, Hailey, Faith, Minerva, Maxine, Edith, Hifumi, Bobby, Imai, Noah, Hoge even one from Sally. Unsurprisingly, Sally’s gift was a Bible. Christopher already owned a Bible, but a spare couldn’t hurt. The exchange had been pleasant until Sally had attempted to comfort Chris by quoting 2 Corinthians wrong.
Christopher corrected Sally’s quote without thinking. He hadn’t been able to stop himself. He’d have to thank Noah later, for saving his life.
The Bible laid on his nightstand next to his cactus plant and e-reader. The e-reader had some interesting books on it. There was even a book on quirk esoterica he’d never read before. He’d have to thank Faith. The cactus was just… a strange gift, but at least it added some green to a white washed room.
Christopher scanned the room again, the gifts weren’t what he was forgetting. He inventoried the room’s contents. TV. Loaned game console (thanks Inigo). Emergency notebooks (thanks Hoge). Wheelchair (fuck you Ryu--).
Christopher face palmed. Wheelchair. He was supposed to use the wheelchair until the doctors cleared him. He walked over to the chair with a sigh. His legs worked just fine. If it hadn’t been for Ryusei worrying over his fall, he wouldn’t have to wheel around everywhere like an invalid.
There was a knock at the door. Probably a doctor come for a checkup.
“Shit.” Christopher hissed. He rushed across the room, desperate to avoid a scolding, and jumped into the wheelchair. That was stupid. The wheelchair slid backwards and started to tilt.
Christopher grabbed at the wheels in an attempt to arrest his fall. It didn’t work.
The chair teetered past the point of no return.
“Nononononononononono.” Christopher begged. He fell backwards. The chair, occupant and all, hit the floor with a crash. Christopher’s hospital gown fell over his head as he slid a full half meter away from his chair. He came to a rest. His backside, his head, his chest, everything started to hurt again. “… ow.”
The door flew open.
“Chris!” A familiar voice shouted. Christopher gathered his hospital gown off his face and leaned up. Hifumi stood in the doorway. He saw Christopher’s half-dressed state and bit back a laugh. He averted his eyes. “You-- you okay?”
Christopher sighed. He let his head fall back to the floor. He couldn’t decide if a classmate being the one to find him was better or worse than a doctor. “Wonderful. How are you?”
Christopher started to get up. Hifumi cautiously approached, keeping his eyes averted, fearful of seeing more than he should.
Christopher saw his caution.
“What’re you--” the thought dawned on Christopher before he finished his question.
“I’m wearing shorts!” Christopher snapped.
“Not a chance I’m willing to take.” Hifumi said still trying his damndest not to laugh. He failed miserably as he reached out his hand to help Christopher the rest of the way up.
“It’s not funny.” Christopher mumbled as he finally stood up.
“It’s pretty funny.” Hifumi countered. He helped Christopher over to his bed, then went back to pick the wheel chair up. Christopher glanced towards the door, last thing he needed was for Hifumi’s girlfriend or her pack to… there was no-one there.
“Uh, where’s Hailey?”
“I dunno, home I guess?” Hifumi righted the wheelchair.
“Huh. Who’re you here with?”
“No-one. Inigo got held up with something, so he asked if anyone in class could come keep you company and I was free.”
Christopher’s eyebrow raised. Did Inigo think he was a fucking puppy? Then… revelation hit. That meant Hifumi was the only one in the room. Hifumi, someone Christopher consciously avoided. Someone Christopher had said no more than 3 words to at a time.
“… oh.” This was not ideal.
“… yeah.”
Silence reigned in that little room as two not-quite strangers stared at each other longer than was comfortable for either one of them.
“So.” Hifumi broke the silence.
“So.” Christopher repeated as if he hoped that word was a mantra to keep awkwardness at bay. It was a shitty mantra that did nothing.
Silence. Hifumi seemed to struggle with his words. Christopher didn’t have any to struggle with. Eventually, after minutes of awkwardness, Hifumi seemed to decide on a topic.
“I need some help learning ches-- okay look, I had like 30 different topics I was going to throw at you but they’re… not really why I’m here.” Hifumi admitted.
“That’s okay we don’t need to hang--”
“What I really want to know is…” Hifumi interrupted. “Why do you avoid me?”
Christopher averted his eyes. “Do I?”
“Yeah, you do.” Hifumi insisted.
Christopher did, but he wasn’t about to tell Hifumi the real reason he avoided him. The reason was the man had a great and easy to use quirk that Christopher wanted to keep using. That whenever he dropped Hifumi’s quirk, he forgot him and he didn’t like forgetting friends. He was blasé about forgetting acquaintances though… that was easy.
Christopher sighed like he was collecting his thoughts. Revealing what happened when he dropped a quirk to Yui had been… a leap of faith. A terrifying plunge born out of necessity and fear of losing a friend. Recently, he’d told Hoge because… well, that one wasn’t so much a choice as an admission. He wasn’t about to tell anyone else just for the asking.
Yet, Hifumi needed an answer. One that was believable. Christopher couldn’t just say ‘I don’t like you’ to someone with Hifumi’s personality. He might take that as a challenge. Christopher’s eyes widened a fraction of a hair. There was another reason he avoided Hifumi! HE DIDN’T HAVE TO LIE!
“I just don’t see any deep friendship happening between us, so I don’t try. It’s nothing personal.”
“I’m not asking why I’m not your best friend. I’m asking why this is the first time I’ve gotten three words out of you.”
“I don’t want to hurt your feelings, okay?”
Hifumi’s brow furrowed. “What? Why would you--”
“Look.” Christopher continued. Contrite. This was true, even if it wasn’t the primary reason he avoided Hifumi. “I’m a blunt asshole with no filter. You’re a dreamer. You put us in a room together, eventually I’m going to say something that can’t be unsaid.”
“Do I look like a wimp or something?” Hifumi asked, insulted. “You think words will hurt me? I’m trying to be the number 1 hero in--”
“And there it fucking is.” Christopher grossed.
“What?”
“Your dream. Your dumbass, ill-conceived dream!” Christopher got heated. “Do you have any idea how fucking hard that i--" He stopped himself. His face was red. He hadn't realized how much the topic pissed him off. Christopher leaned back and took a few deep breaths. "I'm sorry, that was….” Christopher sighed. He didn’t like people just going around saying they were going to be number 1 like it was easy. Rosethorn was stuck at 10. His mom had barely gotten to 10 before she’d died. Most of his favorite heroes weren’t even ranked in the top 100! Someone saying they were going to be number 1 like it was the simplest thing in the world REALLY got under Christopher’s skin. But that didn’t excuse losing his temper.
“Like I said,” Christopher shrugged apologetically, not looking up. “I’m an asshole.”
“No.” Hifumi shrugged. “Go on.”
“...huh?”
“Say what you were going to say.”
“Are you serious?”
“Absolutely. I mean, what’re you going to tell me? ‘50% of Hero agencies fail in their first 5 years?’ ‘Just being a hero is an incredible achievement and shooting for the top from the beginning is setting yourself up for failure?’ It’s nothing I haven’t heard before. You think I don’t know the hill I have to climb to get to the top? You think I haven’t looked at who’s in the top 10? Forget Saurus, forget Endeavor, look at our teacher! Rosethorn took on Desolator! Desolator! The man’s a living legend AND SHE HAD HIM BY THE THROAT!”
Christopher felt a bolt of fear. He wondered just what details of the fight had gotten out. Officially, he and Kaylee were victims of an attack, not participants in a battle. But that was a lie close enough to the truth that people could start to poke holes in it if they knew too much.
“That’s how amazing the number 10 in Japan is.” Hifumi continued, oblivious to Chris’s anxiety.
“It’s hard to even imagine what the number 1 is capable of.” Hifumi admitted. “But that’s why I want to get there. I want to be the person that no-one can fathom. I want to be the one hero that every villain fears and every citizen hopes will show up if they’re in trouble. When I get on a scene, I want people to stop worrying. I don’t want to just be a hero. I don’t want to JUST save people. I want to show people what they can be.”
Hifumi took a deep, steadying breath as he concluded his dream. He looked Christopher in the eye. He challenged him to lay bear all of his doubts. To try and shake his confidence. To try and destroy a dream that had kept him going ever since he’d first conceived it!
“To be that person, I can’t let something small like honest doubts rile me up. If you doubt my dream, that’s fine, sometimes I doubt it too. I’ll just have to prove us both wrong.”
Christopher fought the urge to smile. There was something… infectious about Hifumi’s conviction. Still, Hifumi wasn’t seeing the whole picture. There were key issues outside of a hero's control that Hifumi was either ignoring or ignorant of. Things no-one liked to talk about, but were undeniably true.
“You know that part of the reason Endeavor’s number 1 is he’s based in Tokyo right?”
“… eh?” That wasn’t the angle of attack Hifumi had expected.
“It’s a well-documented issue with the rankings. Saurus is actually slightly beating Endeavor in half of the objective categories, like cases solved, but Endeavor absolutely crushes him in public trust. That’s because he’s been in Tokyo his entire career. A large portion of the population in this country’s grown up with Endeavor saving people they know. The public trust bias towards Tokyo-based heroes is so severe that there hasn’t been a number 1 hero based outside of Tokyo since Japan started tracking rankings.”
“Well that’s a stupid thing to bring up.” Hifumi furrowed his brow at Christopher, like he was looking at a toddler asking an inane question. “I’ll just be the first.”
Christopher burst out laughing. It wasn’t that he had expected Hifumi to say ‘I’ll just move.’ It wasn’t that Hifumi was extraordinarily blasé about breaking a wall no-one in history had been able to break. It was that Christopher could almost believe he would. If he were less cynical, he’d believe Hifumi instantly and without reservation.
“Laugh all you want.” Hifumi challenged, undeterred. He crossed his arms over his chest. “I’ll prove you wrong.”
Christopher managed to stop laughing eventually, but he didn't stop smiling. He looked Hifumi in the eye. There was something almost familiar about Hifumi's brash confidence, something almost nostalgic.
“I look forward to it.”
Hifumi sat on Christopher’s wheelchair while Christopher sat on the bed. Hifumi was using his legs to roll back and forth in the chair while Christopher sat cross-legged. They were still talking. They had been for about an hour.
“...but really Sun Man was in a league of his own.”
“I have to tell Bobby you said that, he’d love it!”
“It’s the truth.” Christopher shrugged. “So, what was the last fake topic you had?”
“Oh, how to squash Kaylee and the girls’ beef.”
“Non-starter.”
“Huh? Why? You don’t want them getting along? The girls aren’t--”
Christopher held up the e-reader Faith gave him. Hifumi’s eyes widened in recognition. “I know they’re not THAT bad, but Kaylee… if I’m being honest, enjoys the animosity.”
“Really?”
Christopher shrugged. “Maybe I’m wrong. I’m not a total expert on Kayleeology, but I’m probably the closest thing there is.”
“Okay, out of curiousity, and shut me down if I’m overstepping...” Hifumi began.
Christopher sighed. He’d heard that preamble before. “Go ahead.”
“I’ve been meaning to ask… if you two get along so well, why aren’t you dating? ”
“I like my pelvis.” Christopher answered deadpan.
Hifumi burst out laughing. He’d expected a ‘just friends’ speech not THAT. “That’s… honest?”
Christopher stopped smiling and shook his head. “No, honest is,” Christopher averted his eyes. “If she asked I’d give it a shot.”
Hifumi stopped laughing.
“But… she’d have to ask. I won’t.”
“Eh? Why won’t you? I don’t see her saying ‘no.’”
“It’s not about rejection. If she asked, it’d show I'm wrong and that she wants something that I don’t think she does. If I asked, she might say yes, but I’m worried she’d think ‘boyfriend’ means ‘punching bag’ or ‘training dummy.’”
“I can see it.”
“I can feel it.”
“Heh. Actually, Inigo thought you and Yui...”
“No.” Christopher answered. “Just friends. I mean, I like her.” Hifumi couldn’t tell what type of ‘like’ Christopher meant from his tone. “She’s an amazing person and objectively the most attractive girl in class.”
“I’d say Hay’s at least--”
Christopher ignored Hifumi’s attempt to insert his boyfriend bias over an objective assessment, “but our age difference makes me hesitatant.”
“She’s only a year older than us.”
“I’m 14.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah... wait--”
Christopher’s eyes narrowed. Why the Hell were they talking about this?
“Why are you asking about my love life?”
Hifumi looked away.
Christopher sighed. He guessed at the culprit.
“Did Inigo put you up to this?”
“Hailey actually." Okay, not Inigo... unexpected. "She asked me to ‘test the waters’ if it came up. I didn’t actually think it would… sorry.”
“I don't mind, but why would she--” Christopher leaned away sharply. His eyes wide. “Oh God.”
Hifumi nearly jumped out of his seat. He looked around. What had Christopher just seen?! “What?!”
Christopher breathed manually. He fought down his shock at what he feared was the beginning of an inappropriate proposition. “Look, no judgment and I’m flattered but I’m not into--”
“No! Fuck no! Why would you even-- AGH!” Hifumi vehemently interrupted Christopher.
Christopher shut up, but was still leaning away from Hifumi. He wasn’t quite convinced by that denial.
Hifumi, vexed, decided transparency was the best path forward. “Look, you can’t tell a soul I told you," Christopher nodded. He was still worried. "Faith, has a little crush on you.”
“Oh!” Christopher relaxed. “Is that all? Guess, that explains the e-reader.”
"Yeah, never even suggest that again dude."
"Listen, Inigo's one of my best friends... some of the shit he brings up. It gets to you."
“So…”
“So, what?”
“What do you think?”
“About the e-reader?”
“No, about Faith.”
Christopher shrugged. “She’s attractive, but that’s all I’ve got unless I get to know her.”
“Okay and if you got to know her?”
“That would depend on who she is.” Christopher answered callously.
Hifumi nodded. He accepted that answer. It was enough to report back to Hailey at least.
Christopher glanced at the clock. Kaylee’s room was definitely free now. Christopher grabbed his dog-eared copy of Journey to the West from under his pillow.
“Well, this has been a lot of fun,” he meant it. “But I want to go read to Kaylee.”
“Oh! Okay. I’ll walk you out.” Hifumi got out of Chris’s wheelchair and brought it next to his bed. He helped Chris into the chair and opened the door for him. Hifumi’s brow furrowed as Christopher began to wheel his way down the hall towards the elevator. There was something bothering him. Something he needed to ask. A worry that everyone visiting Kaylee while she was in a coma was for their own good, not her's.
“Chris?”
“Hrm?”
“Do you think Kaylee can hear us?”
“No.”
Hifumi blinked. That was NOT the answer he’d expected.
The elevator doors opened. Christopher entered, so did Hifumi. Christopher pressed the button for Kaylee's floor. Hifumi's finger hovered over the button to the lobby. He had to ask.
“Then why’re you reading to her?” Inigo said Christopher would read to her for hours.
Christopher looked up at Hifumi. “I’ve been wrong before.”
The doors closed.