Lightning Serenade

Chapter 103: Finale I

Hawks and Dabi had been keeping a close eye on Shigaraki ever since that weird period of time several months prior where they felt like he was emotionally disconnecting. Luckily, they hadn't seen anything even close to that happening again.

Shigaraki had pulled Denki aside to talk, and then it was like he emerged from that room like Denki had hit the restart button on the video game of Shigaraki's mindset or something.

Hawks and Dabi had tried to talk to Shigaraki about it a few times, both separately and together, but Shigaraki brushed them off every time, saying that Denki was handling it, whatever it was that had been bothering him so intensely. Dabi worried a lot; he had seen Shigaraki keep a cool head throughout the whole Overhaul situation, even after Chisaki had murdered their friend right in front of them, so it had to have been something big to shake Shigaraki that thoroughly. But Dabi had a lot of faith in Denki's capabilities, even more so when Shigaraki showed such blind trust toward him as well that a single conversation with the electric hero was able to cast away all of the doubt that was hanging over his head like a death sentence.

Still, they felt like they were close to losing him before, so they showered him with extra love, affection, and attention. They noticed the switch immediately when it happened.

They had been at the base, playing video games as usual. Denki had even joined them for the game as Hawks, Neito, and Hitoshi lounged around playing cards instead, joking around that they actually had a chance now that Denki was occupied with something else.

They had been surrounded by the opposite team and they were outnumbered, but that was rarely an issue with how cohesively they worked as a team and how skilled they were at the familiar game, but in the middle of the shoot-out, Shigaraki just stopped, staring straight ahead.

Neito's phone rang. He glanced at the phone, ready to ignore it, but then quickly picked it up when he saw the caller ID.

"Phantom Thief," he announced into the phone, positioning it between his ear and shoulder as he continued to rearrange the cards in his hand and watch the faces of his companions before glancing over at the trio on the couch and the screen where they were being obliterated by the opposing team.

"Understood. I'm ready to move." He hung up and threw his cards down. "Gotta go. Kurogiri, can you warp me to these coordinates, please? Toga, it's go time! You coming?"

"Wouldn't miss it!" she yelped from down the hallway, rushing to get a dose of Full Throttle and good luck wishes from Isozan before running to catch up with Neito.

Neito took a second to quickly brush hands and make meaningful eye contact with Hitoshi before running over and running his fingers over the back of Denki's neck. Neito heard a door slam as he stepped through the warp gate and knew Toga would be following right behind.

"That's my cue, too," Hitoshi said, looking down as his phone chimed. "Care to warp me, as well, Kurogiri? I'm going somewhere else, though."

"Hey, I'm heading out!" Isozan called as he rushed through the room, tugging his shoes on as he went. "Meeting up with Haze and Razor! Be back later!" And out the door he went.

"What the fuck was that, Shigs?" Denki crowed dramatically. "You have a bet going on where if you lose you get kisses or something? Spoiler alert, they'll kiss you either way!" Denki said, amping up the dramatics as he waved his controller around as he turned on the couch to face Shigaraki who sat in between himself and Dabi.

Dabi just looked a little concerned. "You good, Tomura?"

"Yes," he said, shaking his head as if to clear it and blinking his eyes a few times. "I'm fine, Dabi."