Chapter Text
Hitoshi stood at the entrance to a trash-filled beach, waiting.
He’d gotten there early, of course. He wanted to make sure that he wasn’t the last one as well as knowing all the exits in case they were needed.
Habits, and all that.
“Hitoshi-kuuuun!” A voice called out from the distance.
He turned around.
A person with bright-pink dreadlocks wearing overalls was rushing towards him.
“Hi. You must be Mei-san, then?”
“Yup! Nice to see you in person, Hitoshi-kun.”
“Mei-chan, wait up! You know I don’t like running!” A person with short, galaxy-like hair panted as ey came into view, slowing down as they neared.
Mei turned their head. “Ah, sorry Suzu-chan!”
Suzume shook eir head, bringing eir arms up in a stretch. “It’s fine. I just don’t have as much endurance as you.” Ey smiled. “But then again, I’m not the one always lugging scrap metal back home to work with.”
“Hey! Those scraps are the parts that lead to the creation of my wonderful babies!”
“I know. You know I’m amazed by all your creations, especially the latest ones.”
“Sorry I’m late!”
A skinny guy with curly green hair ran up to them, his gakuran slightly ripped and smelling of smoke.
“Izu-kun! You made it!”
“Yeah. Had to outrun Kacchan again.”
‘Whoever this “Kacchan” is, they do not deserve such a cute nickname’
Suzume tapped him upside the head before squishing his cheeks.
“Izuku-kun. Look at me.”
He nodded as best he could.
“You need to stop calling him that. I know it hurts but you need to separate yourself from that. What you two were before and what you are now is completely different, okay? You can still cherish the friendship you had while mourning what it became and leaving it be. It will save you a lot more pain in the long run.”
“Okay. I know. I’m trying. It’s just so hard. I’m still trying to find the moment where it all went wrong.”
“It’ll be okay, Izuku-kun. It will be hard, yes, but you have people who want to help.” Ey looked into his eyes. “Remember that all of us are here to talk and offer advice to each other. You’re allowed to rely on other people.”
Tears gathered in his eyes, slowly leaking out. “Thank you. I’ll make sure to remember that.” He wiped at his eyes, stepped back and clapped his hands together, breaking the moment. “Now, let’s head on to the beach! Not many people come here anymore, so it’ll be unlikely that someone will find us or listen in.”
The group made their way down the stairs, to the only accessible piece of sand that actually led to somewhere.
“Where-” Hitoshi started.
“This way.”
Izuku and Mei began to lead the other two through the maze of trash and forgotten things, weaving through the mountains like it was their home. (Little did Hitoshi know, it was very much like a second home to them, for various reasons.) Hitoshi had to keep his eyes on the two as they darted through, knowing that if he lost them he would not be able to find his way back out, and Suzume would probably be in the same situation.
Izuku and Mei turned a corner, out of sight. Hitoshi and Suzume had no choice but to follow. What awaited them when they turned the corner surprised them both. A clearing of sand, surrounded on all sides by walls of tires, greeted them. Rickety and partially rusted garden chairs were placed in a circle around an open, torn oil barrel. An old wooden bookshelf stood at the far end of the clearing, holding smaller bits and bobs separated from the piles of trash around them, based on an unknown sorting system. The sand was clear of any debris.
“Here we are!” Mei spread her arms out wide, Izuku voicing a small “Ta-da…” next to them.
Suzume whistled appreciatively. “Impressive. You guys really spruced this place up.”
“Yup! Izu-kun did the placement and we both cleared it in what, a week? Two weeks?”
“Three weeks.”
“Three weeks, yeah! Thanks Izu-kun!”
“No problem. There’s room for everyone, so you can sit down if you like!”
Everyone moved to a different chair then. Izuku moves to a white, rusting slatted chair seemingly staying together by sheer willpower and spite. Suzume sat in a damaged but ornate wooden throne-like chair. Ey rested eir left arm on the armrest and slumped slightly. Mei chose a sturdy metal chair that seemed to have wires and metal plating attached in different places, mostly on the legs. Despite how much she was bouncing through the trash earlier, they sat gently, bringing one of her legs up to rest on the seat. Hitoshi decided on a less ornate and more rickety wooden chair, metal sheets and bars drilled on for extra support.
“So, now that we’re all here, Hitoshi-kun, could you let me know where you found my phone?”
“I found it in an alley while I was walking around.”
Izuku nodded. “I must have dropped it on my way home then. Thanks for finding it!”
“No problem.”
“So, we should all probably share a bit about ourselves, right? Just to get Hitoshi up to speed?”
“Actually,” Mei added, “Everyone on the chat has been talking with him. The only ones who don’t really know each other are you two.”
Izuku blinked. “Ah. Okay then. So, Hitoshi-kun, can you tell me a bit about yourself?”
“Um, sure. I’m fourteen, I moved to a new foster recently, I like cats, coffee, energy drinks, and mythology.”
“Oooh! Which mythologies do you like the most?”
“I’ve been getting into ancient Greek and Egyptian mythology lately. Greek because there’s so much, and Egyptian because, well, cats.”
“Understandable. I’ve gone on so many internet deep-dives with mythology, I just love the variety! It’s so interesting how so many concepts evolve and change over time, and how there are similar ideas in completely different civilisations around the world!”
“It really is. What else are you interested in?”
“I really love analysing Quirks and Hero fights. Speaking of Quirks, what’s yours? It’s okay if you don’t want to share, I mean I didn’t even know what Mei-san’s was until about two weeks after I met them, and, well… it’s not like I have a Quirk to analyse for myself, so, if it’s okay with you, could I hear about yours?”
‘He’s Quirkless? He’s probably gone through similar things to me. It’s not right. How could such a nice person be treated so badly for something he can’t control?’
“It’s response-based brainwashing.”
‘He won’t be like the others, right?’
“That’s so cool! There’s so many uses for that! You could stop people from committing crimes with just a question! You would barely need to fight anyone! I wonder, though, what are the limits? How long does it last? Is it true brainwashing or hypnosis? If you trained it enough, would you be able to use it as a substitute for hypnotherapy? You would be really good with interrogations too! There’s so much potential for so many fields! I wonder-”
“Izuku-kun, maybe go one at a time?” Suzume cut in. “Also, you could always write some questions down that he could answer for you, if he wants.”
Izuku’s cheeks reddened. “Aaah! I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to go so fast, your Quirk is just so interesting and I got a bit carried away.”
“Don’t worry about it. It’s nice to have someone react to my Quirk like this for once.”
“O-oh. okay then. Also, thanks for the idea, Suzume-san. Would you be alright with me texting you some questions that I have?”
“Sure, why not.”
Izuku wiggled in his seat, smiling wide.
Mei’s eyes widened. “Oh yeah! I almost forgot!” They bounded over to Hitoshi, taking a silver phone out of their pocket. “This is for you! You need your own to keep connecting with everyone, so I modified one for you. I’ve already put everyone’s contacts in and added you to the groupchat, so unless you want to change your name on there, you won’t need to do anything else to change it!”
“Thanks Mei-san. I’ll take a look at it when I get home.”
“No problem. These phones have been a fun little project for me, and now I have ideas for even more babies so it’s a win-win!”
A phone pinged.
Izuku pulled his out of his pocket and sighed. “Sorry, guys, it’s my mum. She’s wondering where I am.”
“No problem Izu-kun.”
“We should all probably start heading back anyway. It’s starting to get dark and hitoshi-kun and I don’t know our way through the trash-piles.”
“Oh yeah… Let’s go then!”
And off Mei went.
“Oi, Mei-chan, wait up!” Suzume followed quickly.
Hitoshi and Izuku glanced at each other.
“I’ll show you the way out.”
“Thanks.”
Hitoshi smiled to himself.
Who knew that finding a lost phone would come to this?