Savior (My Hero Academia: Todoroki x OC)

Chapter 64: Kaede

Kaede Satori stared at the dark screen of her long dead cell phone. She'd texted her sister a couple of times to ask how she was doing, but Kana never replied. She had been in the hospital though and Kaede's phone had died before she'd been released. At least, she assumed Kana had finally been released. She had very little information and Kaede wished she could have a clearer picture of what was going on. Was Kana okay? Was she back at UA? Was she safe? Can I really do this?

She knew her relationship with Kana had improved over the past couple of months. They even messaged each other on occasion now. But maybe this was asking too much. Thoughts of her sister filled Kaede with doubt. Kana had been through so much worse while living in this house. Maybe I should just suck it up and deal with it...No. Kana would tell me to stand up for myself. It was time to go through with her plan, no more second-guessing. Determined, Kaede began to grab a few necessities from her room and stuffed them into a backpack. She knew whatever she brought would have to fit in this single bag.

She gave one last wistful glance at her phone before tossing it into the bag, despite its dead battery. Someone at UA would have a charger she could borrow. She just really wished she could let Kana know what was going on. Hopefully she wouldn't be too upset when Kaede showed up out of nowhere. With one last glance around the room, making sure she hadn't forgotten anything of importance, Kaede made her way to the window. Swinging her backpack over her shoulders, she opened the window and made quick work of removing the screen. Kaede hopped up onto the sill, thankful that her room was on the first floor, before jumping to the ground and closing the window behind her.

She began to stealthily make her way across the property, making sure to avoid the security cameras, but secretly glad for her father's pride in his security system. Because he had such faith in the perimeter defense of the estate, the cameras didn't cover everything and there were very few chances of setting off an alarm before she reached the fence. And once she did, Kaede knew the code to disable the alarm long enough for her to escape out of one of the many hidden doorways. Her father would eventually know where she left from, since there would be a record of the system being turned off from this location, but she didn't care. She would hopefully be safe within the walls of UA by the time he discovered she was gone.

Without her phone, she had no way to navigate except her own eyes. After leaving the grounds of the Satori estate, she walked parallel to the road that would eventually lead her into the city. Walking for nearly an hour, she paused on the edge of town in front of the train station, taking her time to study a map. She knew the general direction of UA, could see it standing tall on top of a hill in the distance, but wanted to find the fastest and safest route there. With the city pretty much deserted, there was no public transportation available. With zero chance of finding a running train or bus, Kaede pulled the hood of her sweatshirt over her head, focused her eyes on the sidewalk in front of her, and prepared herself to make the long trek on foot.

It took her an additional three hours. Three hours of nervously clinging to the shadows of buildings and jumping at every little sound, but she could finally see the gates in front of her as the sun began its descent. An intimidating man in a trench coat and mask manned the front gate, but she held her head high as she approached, clearing her throat once to gain his attention.

"Excuse me, I've come to take shelter here."

"You look awfully young to be on your own," the man said, scanning her up and down. "Where are your parents?" he asked.

"They didn't want to evacuate. But my sister's a student here and I would feel safer with her."

"Who's your sister?" the man asked, giving her another once over.