Emote: Bakugo x OC Reader

Chapter 78

After being discharged from the hospital, I spent most of the following day sleeping, not only because of the lingering exhaustion I felt but because I simply didn't want to deal with the reality of being awake.

'I hate hearing that he literally brings out the worst in you.' The words continued to haunt me and I desperately tried to push them away as I finally decided to roll out of bed. Time seemed to be inconsequential to me by this point so I wasn't even sure what day or time it was but gauging by the pinkish orange hue that filtered through my window I guessed that the sun was preparing to set. My bare feet padded against the cool floor as I made my way to the kitchen, following the mouth watering scent of yakitori. As I peered around the corner, my mom's face lit up when she saw me. 

"Oh, honey! You're up! Just in time, dinner is almost ready." She moved closer, pulling me into an embrace as she smoothed my long unruly hair out. "I'm glad you're home." She said, kissing the top of my head before she got back to work.

I saw that the table was set for three and I cringed. My father had started working again the night Stain had been apprehended, jumping in to assist during the city crisis and refusing to quit even after the crisis had subsided. He hadn't been willing to finish his physical therapy and because of this, he walked with the slightest limp. To most it was unnoticeable but I had become accustomed to being hyper aware of my father over the years and I could easily recognize his gait compared to others.

As my mother finished up cooking and began transferring the food to the table, I heard him approaching and felt my shoulders immediately tense. As he passed me, he spoke without making eye contact. "So you finally decided to get out of bed, huh? What a surprise."

"Rest is an important part of recovery, dear!" My mom chirped but I watched her smile falter as my father made his way to our liquor cabinet and filled a short glass with a dark liquid. 

It hadn't gone unnoticed by either of us that my father had been consuming more alcohol since he was attacked by Stain. We'd had that liquor cabinet for as long as I can remember and usually it was only opened when guests came over but as of late it was being used on a daily basis. My father didn't respond as he brought the glass over and took a seat at the table. An uncomfortable silence hung in the air as we began to eat and I glanced into the room next door to find that the TV was on but had been muted. As I listened to the sounds of my own chewing I desperately wished that I had the ability to blast the volume up with the sheer force of willpower.

Something on the screen caught my eye and I squinted as I tried to get a better look. It was a close up of a man who kind of looked like All Might's doppelganger, if only he were 100 pounds lighter and suffered from some sort of incurable disease. Blood caked his face in the shot that covered the screen. I dropped my chopsticks as a different scene took its place, showing what seemed to be half of a city destroyed as though it had occurred with just one blast. Noticing this, my father glanced over his shoulder to see what I was looking at.

"Ah, I suppose that's actually news to someone who slept right through it." He said.

I saw the words All Might flash across the screen but I didn't catch the rest. "Wait, what? What happened? Where was that?"

Sighing in irritation, my father responded, "Camino Ward in Kanagawa Prefecture. Turns out it was All Might's last battle. He turned into some decrepit little weakling, and all for what? To save some UA brat that will probably end up becoming a villain anyways?"

It felt as though my blood turned to ice at his words. Suddenly it was difficult to breath. I looked to my mom but she was staring at her plate, absently pushing some grains of rice around her bowl. I stood up abruptly, my chair making an obnoxious scraping noise as I did.

"Excuse me," I said, as I quickly made my way back to my room.

As I began typing 'All Might' into Google, common search results immediately began to pop up. 'All Might final battle,' 'All Might retiring,' 'All Might Camino Ward.' I quickly skimmed through the first article I came across which revealed that the person I'd seen on the TV had, in fact, been All Might. He had transformed into this smaller, frailer version of himself during a battle again a villain called All for One. The article went on to say that this battle had occurred as a result of a rescue mission to recover the UA student that had been abducted by the League of Villains a few days ago. My heart was pounding by the time I read the final line of the news article.

'UA student Katsuki Bakugo was successfully rescued thanks to the efforts of All Might and has safely returned home.'

I sunk to the ground and landed with a thud. Kiko, who had been observing me from her perch on the bed, meowed as she jumped down and rubbed against my arm. Before I could talk myself out of it, I was calling him. I could barely hear the ringing over the pounding of my heart but after a while it went to voicemail. Unsure what I would even say, I quickly hung up before I realized my hands were shaking.

With trembling fingers, I formulated a text.

Y/n: Hey, I just heard that you're back home. I'm so glad you're okay. Please call me when you get a chance.

I waited, thinking that my nerves would never settle down but after an hour turned into several hours and hours turned into days the butterflies in my stomach had long since moved on. My mom informed me that as a result of what happened at the summer camp UA was building dorms and I would start living on campus soon. I busied myself with packing my things up, but I couldn't shake the overwhelmingly empty feeling that stuck with me every waking moment. I felt like an island, completely isolated from all the people who meant the most to me. Katsuki wasn't responding and hadn't even opened my text. Shinso still wasn't talking to me. Mina was often busy spending time with her family and even when she did reach out I often felt too depressed to respond.

We had my things shipped to the dorms and before I knew it I was off to start a new adventure.