Mute

Chapter 14

The trio stood in the centre of the vast cityscape replicated by Ground Beta. With Nezu's permission, they had all darted out to the field. Hizashi was more out of breath than the others. Shouta could see his frustration in it. He wasn't sure if it was from the new lack of physical strength, or the throat injury. Probably both.

Shouta put a hand on Hizashi's shoulder with a reassuring look. He smiled back at him, adjusting his glasses and pulling his own scarf off and handing it back to Nemuri. Shouta couldn't help but stare at the massive burn scar.

This is my fault. He's like this because I left him alone. If this doesn't work…

"I know what you're thinking but… Having hope isn't always a bad thing, Shou."

Both men knew that Shouta couldn't understand what Hizashi was saying very well, but it didn't really matter to either of them. He got the gist of it, despite his sub-par lip reading skills.

"Are you sure you can take it? If it doesn't work out?" Shouta whispered, pulling out three pairs of loaner soundproof headphones from his scarf that he'd grabbed from a supply room near the entrance of Ground Beta.

Hizashi nodded, taking one pair and putting them on.

"I'd rather know than lose a chance at my old normal." Hizashi backed up, allowing Shouta and Nemuri to get distance from him, just in case it did work. Headphones could only do so much, after all.

Shouta noticed Nemuri grossing her fingers behind her back as Hizashi took a deep breath in. He hesitated, closing his eyes before an ear-shattering whistle filled the air. The windows of the buildings cracked. This sound was comparable to his previous Yell.

Melodies filled the air shortly after, tears pricking Hizashi's eyes as he whistled one of his favourite songs. Shouta and Nemuri pressed the headphones harder against their heads. The sound was beautiful as well as excruciatingly loud and painful.

It was perfect.

By the time he had finished his tune, the buildings in close vicinity were crumbling and falling apart. Hizashi ran to Shouta, throwing himself into his arms and crying.

"It worked..! I can't believe it worked!!"
Hizashi backed up after a minute, his heart pounding so hard he was sure they could all hear it. A smile pushed through Shouta's usual apathetic expression as he looked around at all the scattered glass. The UA robots were already begrudgingly cleaning up the ground and complaining.

"Yeah," Nemuri trailed off, barreling into Hizashi with a hug. "We should probably get outta here before these bots kill us."

Hizashi nodded, taking his scarf back from Nemuri and wrapping it around his neck. He pumped his fists back in the air with a huge grin that didn't seem to leave his face the whole way to the main campus. By the time they returned to the main campus, it was nearly the end of the day for all the classes. It wasn't worth staying in the building for another 10 or so minutes, so Shouta called Nezu to let him know that they were heading out. It helped their case that Hizashi had been nagging and spamming Shouta's phone with messages about how desperately and urgently he needed to take a shower at this very moment.

Nemuri left in her own car, while Shouta drove Hizashi home in his. Shouta pretended to ignore his friend's whistling to the sounds of the radio. They synced up perfectly, just like his voice had. The two men both relaxed a bit, the unspoken anxiety leaving both of them.

They parked by the outside of Hizashi's apartment so he could get out. He hesitated, then turned back to Shouta with a pleading expression.

"Don't go…"