Running on Empty

Ups and downs

"So anyway, I said, don't be ridiculous Eraser. There's no way frogs have teeth, that's insane! Right? Because who the hell knows that? And then he stops! In the middle of the villain fight! Just to pull up an article on his phone and tell me I'm wrong!"

Hitoshi wheezed and clutched his stomach, trying in vain to contain his giggling. Hizashi was silently crying with laughter, and Nemuri was banging a fist on the table as she howled. Shouta, for his part, was looking stubbornly away from the group, arms crossed and pouting. But the slight upturn of his lips and the way his mouth kept twitching betrayed his amusement.

Hitoshi took a large gulp of water to try and ease the aching in his jaw from all the laughing he'd been doing this evening. And Emi took that as her cue to finish the story with a shit-eating grin on her face, "And then, whilst he was distracted, Poison Dart leapt across the street and bit him... right on the ass!"

Hitoshi clamped a hand over his mouth in a frantic bid to keep the water in as Shouta buried his head in his hands.

"You didn't see him coming?!"

"He was a frog with a quirk Nemuri, a frog! A tiny little thing!"

The water that Hitoshi was so desperately trying to swallow spurted out of his nose and all over his (thankfully empty) bowl, and he died a little inside. Thankfully, it only served to make everyone laugh harder — even Shouta let out a snort — and Hitoshi could do nothing but laugh with them and pretend that wasn't incredibly embarrassing.

It took them a long time to recover, and the quiet was still being broken every few seconds by a chuckle or a huff of air when Hizashi realised something.

"Didn't a frog girl get into the next 1A class?" Shouta's eyes widened in alarm. "I wonder if they're related."

Shouta was staring intently at the table, wide eyes boring into it as though he would find the answer engraved into the wooden surface. He looked absolutely horrified.

Emi distracted him from his thoughts by bursting into laughter again, and they all looked over at her curiously, although Hitoshi noticed a distinct wariness in the others' eyes.

"It wasn't that funny Em." Nemuri joked, but there was a falseness to it, like she was forcefully trying to keep the conversation on its lighthearted track.

Emi shrugged nonchalantly, "I just think it'd be hilarious if UA accidentally let in some villain family."

Hitoshi found himself, once again, confused. He seemed to be spending his evening bouncing between hilarity and utter bafflement.

Shouta sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose in apparent frustration, "We're not having this conversation again Emi."

"You're starting high school in a month or so, aren't you Hitoshi?" She asked, ignoring Shouta's warning look. "Do you know where you're going?"

He shrank in his seat, glancing at Hizashi for reassurance. The voice hero took his hand and squeezed it under the table, "Leave the kiddo out of this Em."

"UA then." She said, a twisted smile crossing her features. "Of course."

"Emi, that's enough." Nemuri joined in.

"I bet you didn't even consider anywhere else for him!"

Hitoshi frowned, his grip tightening on the hand in his, "It was my decision actually."

She raised an eyebrow at that, "Yeah? And why did you pick UA?"

"It's a good school." He stated confidently and she scoffed.

"Sure, but there are better hero schools not far away. It doesn't take much research to find them, people just don't bother looking most of the time, it's all about the name. UA is so prestigious." She spat, "so elitist."

"Maybe," Hitoshi shrugged nervously, he couldn't deny that the school had its faults. The entrance exam alone was a clear display of bias. "But that's why I needed the place." She raised an eyebrow sceptically. "I wanted to get into UA to prove everyone wrong. They all said I'd only ever be good for villainy, so what better way to disprove that than to get into the most well-known, the most prestigious hero school in the country. So to some extent, sure I aimed for it because of the name, but can you blame me?" She said nothing to that, just stared at him guiltily. "I can't imagine you'd understand, what with your quirk being what it is. You said people likened you to that pre-quirk villain the Joker sometimes? But that was the occasional person with an interest in history, I got that constantly, and worse. So don't you dare judge me for it!"

His speech therapist had specifically told him not to speak in long paragraphs or push his voice, and he had to drink some more water after that, but the potential sore throat was worth it. She was struck speechless, the others around the table watching the exchange with great interest.

In the end she just bowed and apologised profusely, Hizashi awkwardly suggesting they play a game in an attempt to diffuse the tension, and the evening continued much like it was before. However Hitoshi couldn't stop thinking about her attitude to the school. He knew some people were against it, mostly villains and concerned parents, but he'd never met a hero, let alone one so friendly and fun, that disliked the place so much. He resolved to ask his guardians more about it later, maybe they'd have some answers. In the meantime... the monopoly board was coming out.