Hero Too (A Kamijirou Story)

Trust Me

(Kaminari's POV)

"Oh, you won't have to meet me after work tomorrow." Kyouka says suddenly.

She picked me up after work today, and we were on our way to her place so I could drop her off.

"Huh? How come?"

"I'm going on a...an excursion with Gang Orca and a few other heroes. I don't know when we'll be back."

"Oh...well be safe then. I'll see you whenever you come back."

I had a feeling this was some sort of confidential mission she's not allowed to tell me about. Whatever it is, I hope it's not too serious.

"I'll be careful. Don't worry about me too much."

She sounded kind of on edge. I wish I knew what she was up against.

"I know you can take care of yourself just fine." I say, "I trust you."

She smiles gently, squeezing my hand, "You're my light, Denki. You make me so happy."

I chuckle, "You make me feel loved. It's the least I can do."

Kyouka gave me an extra long hug before we parted ways today. It was nice, don't get me wrong, but I couldn't help but worry. I could sense that she was worried, too. I felt uneasy, but I just had to trust her.

Whatever mission she's going on, I know she'll come back home in one piece. She's strong. And smart. She'll be okay.

I kept telling myself this as I only grew more worried into the next day. I texted her in the morning, telling her to be safe, but she didn't respond. I didn't expect her to; she must be busy.

Let's just say it was hard for me to focus at work that day.

(Jirou's POV)

We boarded the boat and departed super early in the morning. It would take a few hours for us to arrive at the coordinates since we had to travel at a certain speed to avoid any suspicion.

Gang Orca and the underwater team would travel separately, not too far ahead of us. They had to stay close to be able to hear my signals. I could send strong sound waves for them to hear or feel underwater. We had to be on the lookout above the water while they worked underneath.

It was extremely foggy, so I had to help listen as well. When we arrived at the location, we just had to wait.

It would take the underwater team about ten minutes to disable it. Everything seemed to be going according to plan until about seven minutes in.

A change in the sounds of the waves.

"There's another ship approaching. Maybe a thousand meters away." I inform the crew.

"Which direction?"

"South. Coming up from behind us."

"Stay on guard, but don't advance. It could just be civilians."

We had a clear visual of the ship now. Looked like a fishing boat like ours.

I close my eyes to focus on the sounds as they get closer.

Voices. I can hear voices, just barely.

"...damn heroes...get...out..."

"I don't think they're civilians." I say.

Right as I said that, something launches off of the other ship.

There was a loud thud on the roof of our ship, and then a few more. They've come on board.

Before our heroes could come in contact with them, an explosive force rocked the boat.

A fight broke out on the deck, and I needed to help, but I needed to let the underwater team know first.

The underwater team should be done soon, but I still needed to warn them. Who knew what was going on down there? They could be after them, too.

I was sitting on a ladder on the side of the boat. I plugged my earphone jacks into my boots and plunged my feet into the water. I was only able to blast a few waves into the water when one of the villains spotted me.

I tried to get up the ladder, but they tackled me into the water.

They kept hitting me, pushing me deeper and deeper into the ocean. I could barely see, but I kept kicking and tried to preserve my breath.

When all the bubbles slowed down, I could finally see my target clearly. I was able to stab them with my earphone jacks, but I was struggling. They could breathe underwater, and I couldn't. I landed some good hits and made a straight shot for the surface.

My head peeked above the water, and I gasped for air, but I was quickly dragged back down.

"Earphone Jack!" I could hear someone above the water.

The villain grabbed me by the neck and kept pushing me down. My kicks were almost useless, and they had gotten used to my stabs.

I'm gonna drown.

Come on, Jirou. Think.

This guy's breathing underwater. How? He has gills on both sides of his neck.

I was able to extend one of my earphone jacks, and I wrapped it around his neck, pulling him away just enough for me to punch him right in the gills.

He lets me go, and I scramble for the surface again.

I see a cloud of bubbles as someone else jumps into the water.

A hero. They're trying to help me.

I lost a lot of breath in that fight, and I was still deep in the water. I used all of my strength to swim back up, but I didn't make it all the way.

I started losing strength. My vision started going black, and I couldn't think straight.

I had stopped moving. I lost control of my body.

The last thing I saw was someone swimming towards me as I slowly sank down into the water.

(Third-person POV)

"Earphone Jack! Jirou!"

Jirou laid there on the deck of the ship, motionless.

The other heroes had taken care of the villains, and the device was successfully disabled. The underwater team was unharmed as they were able to defend themselves thanks to Jirou's signal.

The hero that rescued her starts performing CPR.

Chest compressions were enough to get some of the water she inhaled out of her system.

The underwater team boards the boat to regroup. Gang Orca sees Jirou on the floor.

"What happened?" He asks.

"She got into a fight under the water."

"How long was she under?" He walks over, "You need to do harder compressions to pump her heart!"

After a few minutes, she gasps for air, still coughing up water.

"Jirou!"

She opens her eyes, which were stung red from the salt water.

She was breathing, but she stayed on the floor. Lack of oxygen for that long can mess with your head.

A few heroes stayed by her side until they made it back to shore. From there, she was admitted into the nearest hospital.

She was okay, but she had a few minor injuries to be treated, and the doctors wanted to make sure she didn't have any water in her lungs.

Gang Orca praised Jirou for her actions that day.

"I should've been there to help you." He said, "But you defended yourself and defended your team. The world needs more heroes like you, Jirou."

Jirou was still in shock from coming close to drowning.

She stayed in the hospital for a day, but when she went home, she had a lot to think about.