Unchained

Chapter 9 - Wholesome Dadzu Hours

Tomura followed the direction in which he was being pointed to, tapping at his earpiece along the way "The hospital might just take the mask off anyways for medical procedure, is it alright if I take it off now?" He asked in a monotone voice "It's not like I'll be recognized amongst the panic."

"Of course, of course.. I will take care of the details." As he was entering the vehicle, from the back, the voice continued "After all that you've been through... that's the least that I can do" Principal Nezu looked at him, head hanging slightly. "I'm... sorry Tomura-kun. I wish I could tell you this was something I couldn't have expected, but..." He stopped, smiling sadly "Thank you... for bringing, both of you back, alive"

Tomura seemed a little shocked for a second to see Nezu, but recovered pretty quickly to joke; as a bit of a coping mechanism "Plus one more, eh...?"

The shock seemed to snap Tomura out of a haze he'd been in since Albis was taken care of, that caused an emotional barrier to break down. So within a few seconds, the villain started to tear up; unclear whether it was out of relief, stress, sadness, or happiness.

The principal was somewhat flustered at the villain breaking down in front of him, unsure how to react. Perhaps, he wasn't much different, from any of the other traumatized kids he's had to work with, throughout his years...

Nezu carefully approached the boy, afraid of startling him any further. Standing beside where the other sat, he started patting his back.

"It'll be alright... You did what had to, to keep them alive" he eyed the two kids in front of them, sleeping, somewhat peacefully "I... shouldn't have placed that burden onto you. Blame me if you want to. But you? Nothing that you've done today, was something to be ashamed of. Understood?"

Tomura nodded a little, holding his own face in his hands, and his voice a bit higher pitched than usual and distorted by the quiet crying "It's just... I didn't get to Alice as soon as I wanted to, and... And it was so hard to keep that act with all those helpless people in there... So many things happened that I wasn't expecting..." He ended up venting a little, but who wouldn't after that?

Alice let out a small groan as she began to wake up, slowly opening her eyes, the sound of crying could be heard from the side of her. Turning her head she saw Tomura and smiled slightly, reaching her unbroken arm towards him, just enough to tap his arm gently "To...mura" her voice still strained from earlier events.

Tomura slowly turned his head to look at Alice, giving a weak smile as he took off his mask; realizing it was still on. "Hey Alice..." His voice squeaked.

Nezu smiled a bit, looking at the girl, clinging to the villain.

"Tomura. You did all you could... My quirk, and entire job in these operations, is to find all there is to know about the situation. I didn't know what would happen here, any more than you did... not as much as I needed to, at least"

He looked down "Things... never work out as perfectly as we want to. Sometimes that can lead to horrible consequences. But you did well. Very well. I couldn't be any more proud. Please... don't beat yourself over things you can't control."

"So, tell me a bit more about young Kou over here... what do you think we should do with him now, hmm?" He tried to change the subject "His parents... won't be able to take him, I'm afraid... I had some quick searches done, there" he added.

Tomura perked up a little and glanced at the boy "Uh... I'm not sure, honestly. I just saw my chance to try and help him... and I guess I just felt sympathetic for him. I didn't have anything planned... Maybe clean up the guest's room..?" Tomura started to mumble quietly, usually he wouldn't do this while thinking; but it helped him distract himself.