Lightning Serenade

Chapter 86: Empathy

Hitoshi had been having a pretty weird day. Having to rescue his former foster care caseworker and having Neito and two villains come to assist when he was just starting to convince said caseworker that he wasn't, in fact, a villain was just the start of it, apparently.

After Razor had called Dabi to request Kurogiri's assistance so that Wakakuro didn't run through the streets, ruining any credibility that Hitoshi and Neito might still have after Denki escaped Tartarus. Wakakuro, reasonably, freaked out, yelling that he knew it all along. But then he said something about how Hitoshi could end up with the League of Villains and that he thought that he was better than that. Hitoshi wasn't sure if it was some lackluster, underhanded way to try to not get completely on Hitoshi's bad side, or if he actually meant it. Toga did a fantastic job of getting him to shut the hell up, either way, but that didn't solve the issue about what they were going to do with Wakakuro. They couldn't keep him indefinitely; the villains would go stir crazy. And allowing any harm to come to the man would just be proving him right about Hitoshi all along.

Finally, Kurogiri was able to warp Hitoshi and Neito to the closest spot he could without exact coordinates so that they could finally make their way up the mountain to Denki. After that near-heart attack experience thinking that Denki had died just before they had gotten to him, with some quick coordinates texted to Kurogiri, they were able to get a warp gate conveniently opened up right on the mountaintop, just for them.

Oh, was it so nice to have the League of Villains on their side. All heroes should consider it if Hitoshi had anything to say about it. It sure made his life a hell of a lot easier, at least thus far, all things considered.

But the strangest thing yet was when he heard Wakakuro's voice, but it wasn't directed at him, or even at any of the League members. It didn't sound frightened or pleading like it had been. It sounded hopeful, and it was a name that he had just learned recently, first heard from Denki's lips on the mountaintop not an hour before.

When Hitoshi looked over and saw the villain embracing the social worker, and the social worker embracing the villain right back, Hitoshi rubbed at his eyes to make sure he was seeing what he thought he was seeing.

With one last kiss to Denki's temple, careful not to agitate the yellowish healing bruises around Denki's eye from his mistreatment at Tartarus, Denki's eyelashes fluttering against Hitoshi's cheek in pure adoration and bliss. Hitoshi regretfully pulled away and stormed over.

"And what the fuck is this?" Hitoshi seethed.

"Mindjack—" Isozan started, startled at the hostility that was suddenly there when it hadn't even made an appearance on the mountaintop before Denki cleared everything up.

Even in those first moments, before they knew that Denki and Isozan were on friendly terms, the man had been nothing but cordial with him, only using the barest amount of force to ensure Isozan's compliance and yielding easily when he saw that Isozan was cooperating without resisting.

Isozan was interrupted by Wakakuro grabbing the collar of his shirt and yanking him in, only to whisper harshly in his ear, "don't answer him."

Isozan pulled back to regard Wakakuro questionably before turning his gaze to Hitoshi, ignoring the crowd of villains, heroes, and past heroes (though he did do a double take. It's hard to ignore Hawks) that was gathering.

"So, you'll run into the arms of an actual villain with a touch-based quirk, but you won't talk to me?" Hitoshi spat at Wakakuro who flinched at both the tone and the question and refused to even look in Hitoshi's direction.

"What's going on?" Isozan asked, looking from Wakakuro to Hitoshi and back again.

"How do you know each other?" Hitoshi asked instead, seeming to quickly reel in his wrath to just below simmering to talk to Isozan, saving his anger purely for Wakakuro.