• 私のヒーロー

➳ baggage

Toxic, toxic, toxic.
Akihiko hated that damned word.
He should have expected it, but he hated that he couldn't live his life normally anymore. Yes, he loved the League with all of his beaten and battered heart, but nothing could quell his longing for his old way of living. That's what the masses called him now, toxic. The evil, villainous frog boy who spoke so softly and yet could kill you with a single touch. He had to tell himself this was what his parents would have wanted. Of course they wanted this. Everyone wanted revenge, right? Right? Akihiko couldn't bear it. He couldn't admit that this was wrong, this would never be wrong. It felt so right usually, why was he so torn now?

He waved the thoughts away, blinking away the sleep from his eyes. He rested his head on the bar counter. But it was no use, he always felt tired anyway. The raven-haired boy tapped his fingers on the wooden countertop lazily. Kurogiri said nothing. Nobody else was there.
He missed Toga.

At least Kurogiri had given him a phone on his birthday last year. Akihiko couldn't thank him enough. It was lying on the countertop next to his head, the tips of his messy hair spilling over the screen. He picked it up and decided to scroll through the countless pictures he had. Honestly, they were all he used his phone for.
It didn't help his mood at all. There were pictures of his girlfriend, and they'd broken up week ago.

He sighed. Her name drifting lightly across his lips and tasting as bitter as the dark coffee Toga brought home for him occasionally. Hibiki Nagano. The ninja girl who stole his heart and played catch with it. Akihiko felt like she still had it. Tucked away in the pocket of her black leather schoolbag. It would sit there in the dark, raw and beating and yearning for her touch. But Aki couldn't blame her, who could ever love a villain? She said if he had quit the shady business they could still be together. That she still loved him. But how could he leave his family?

Kurogiri decided not to interject. He knew from experience that Tanaka could only respond badly to such meddling. Said frog boy swiped through his pictures faster. Most of his photos were actually of pretty skylines and sunsets, of golden flower fields that reminded him of home and places far away from here. Sometimes his photographs contained people too. The bustling city of Tokyo at night, choked by neon lights and crowds of hasty city folk. There was another picture of Hibiki. It was her with her back turned to the camera as she stood on the pier. The water an azure blue, the sky was clear, cold and lonely. Her hair was a striking black just like his. She had it in a bob cut. And while Hibiki's hair was clean, shiny and well kept Akihiko's looked like a bird's nest in the morning.

He could still message her. But just looking at her pictures made his stomach churn. Just seeing her made his chest ache. How would talking to her feel like? It used to feel warm and inviting. Maybe it was selfish, but he took comfort in being the only person in the world she didn't hate. Now what would she say?
Now what does she think of him?

All the questions littered across his mind were painful to ponder over, it hurt his brain. Akihiko just sat there staring at his phone for a good while. Thinking, overthinking, wondering how things would play out if he did this or that.

It didn't feel great. In fact he was having a not-very-great day in general.
The bar door slowly creaked open.

" Ta~ na~ ka~ ♩"

Toga was back.
Finally he could take his mind off his things. Maybe he could tell her about Hibiki? But Toga would just stab her or something.
Nevermind.

Akihiko used up everything in him to smile weakly. He could spend time with his best friend.