Learn to Live (Vigilante)

19 or 20?

"What do you mean?" His angry voice rang over the phone. "He hasn't been 30 feet from you for weeks. How  did you miss the signs."

I brought my hand up to my forehead. An immense headache throbbing. My other hand was holding my phone. I must have looked pathic. Sitting here, crouched over my kitchen table.

I looked over at the spot, the kid normally sat. Had missed the signs? Were there any? There must have been. Did I overlook something? He was happy yesterday at least at the end of the day.

I know he wants to help, but he's just a child. He shouldn't feel responsible. He didn't need to run away.

My head pounded as I tried to come up with a response to Nezu. "I don't know."

"You don't know. You, don't know." His voice though wasn't loud rung through my ears. It rattled my brain making every little thing I did wrong flash in my memories.

I thought he had nowhere else to go. I thought he would stay. I thought-

"I don't know what I was thinking."

"I don't either. I get that he is highly trained, but so are you. You should have seen the signs. You could have stopped him."

I couldn't say I know back because I do know. I am accountable for him. He ran away because of my actions. He ran because I failed. "What do we do now?"

We were both frustrated. At Ren, and ourselves.

"Nothing. We can't do anything until the attack has happened. It's our best option to stop the fight and find him there." Nezu sighed over the phone. I'd imagine he looked about the same as me right now, "The blame is not completely on you. I would have been alerted if his tracker stayed in the same position for too long, or if he had cut it off. I hadn't foreseen him erasing the data on it. I know it's still on him, it's just useless to us now."

"How did he do it?"

The morning of his disappearance the tracker that pinpointed where he should be was jumping around all of Japan. He would appear one place only to jump to the next.

"I have no idea. There are no materials he would have access to have been able to accomplish it. It doesn't matter right now. I sent you more information that I was able to gain on the upcoming attack. Go over it and be in Hosu by tomorrow, Moring."

"Nezu-"

I felt like I had to apologize.

"It's not just on us. It's on the kid too. Some people just don't know how to accept help."

The phone clicked and the rat was once again miles away.

"Dad?"

I looked up to see my son.

"Yeah kiddo?"

"Was it my fault?"

The surprise I felt shocked me. "No, why would you ever think that."

"I should have done more. I just feel it. I can do more."

"You did nothing wrong. If anything, it, it is all on me. Don't worry about it, we'll get him back."

"I want to come."

I sighed.

"You can't and that's final. There will be a lot of Heroes there. There is no way we don't catch him again."

"That's, that's not what I'm worried about."

The same thought had circled in my own head endlessly. "I know. As I said, we are going to get him back."