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The heroes have been trying. Eraserhead and Present Mic have been trying so hard but…but….
Kurogiri is certain that he is not the friend they lost all those years ago.
Despite how much he might wish he was.
Its been…nice with them. They’ve been nice, but once they realize that Kurogiri is not who they (and even he, admittedly,) wish he was, this entire act will be over and he will go back to being a villain the two heroes are meant to stop.
“I am not him,” Kurogiri will remind the two, but they shake their heads doubtfully.
They take him to all their old hang out places. They tell him stories of the boy they once knew. They do everything they can to make Kurogiri remember someone he never was.
“Oboro used to like sunny days.” Present Mic—or Hizashi, as Kurogiri has been asked to call him—will say.
“And cats.” Eraserhead, or Shouta, will add in.
Present Mic will laugh. “And those.”
“I am not your friend.” Kurogiri has been very insistent on this point, but neither of them seem to believe him. “He’s gone and you need to let him go.”
The sky gets cloudier and the heroes look at him with sympathy.
“Oboro is here.” Present Mic explains. “He’s here in the way you hold the door for others. He’s here in the way you stop to feed a stray cat. He’s here in the way you immediately walk up to a crying child across the pavilion to ask if he needs help. Oboro is here.”
“A little different, but still here.” Eraserhead chimes in.
Kurogiri shakes his head, but he knows arguing about this for the millionth time is useless. They are desperately holding onto the idea that he is their long lost friend and at this point Kurogiri feels no more obligations to remind them otherwise. He tried and they didn’t listen. That’s on them.
He just doesn’t want to feel sad about this anymore.
Kurogiri stares blankly at the storm grey sky. “Its going to start raining soon. We should get inside.”
“Did you know Oboro could control clouds?” Present Mic asks out of the blue.
“You’ve told me several times.” If Kurogiri is going to start becoming a therapist for these two he would like to get paid, thank you very much.
Present Mic looks up to the rapidly darkening sky and Eraserhead soon follows, as if he could visually follow the blonde’s train of thought. Kurogiri looks up curiously too, only to find the same heavy clouds that seem to be following the trio around.
“When the accident happened, Oboro hadn’t fully developed his quirk yet.” Present Mic elaborates and dismissively waves a hand in the air. “They said it would get stronger as he grew. One day, he would even be powerful enough to, well…” He points to the sky.
Storm clouds.
“I’m not controlling the weather. I only make warpgates.” Kurogiri hastily reminds him. Again. “Plus, it won’t make sense for this to be me. I haven’t practiced with cloud and I don’t even know if I can use it.”
“But his cloud quirk is the base of your warpgate quirk, isn’t it?” Eraserhead shoots him a hard glare.
Kurogiri nods.
Eraserhead hums and looks up to the sky thoughtfully. “Then won’t it follow that you still have the cloud quirk? Won’t it follow that you can use it?”
“But I don’t know how to make clouds, let alone summon a rainfall. I’m not the cause of those storm clouds, Eraserhead.”
The hero ignores him again and crosses his arms. “Before the accident, Oboro was learning to make his clouds stronger, get a wider range, but he couldn’t do it. Not consciously at least. But when he got emotional over something, that’s when strange things began to happen with his quirk.”
Kurogiri humors him. “Like what?” It’s a sarcastic tone if anything.
Eraserhead again seems to be obvious to Kurogiri’s distain. “When he was happy, there would be a puffy spring time cloud. When he was tired, there would be flat sunset clouds. And when he was angry, lightning and thunder.”
Kurogiri finally realizes what they are trying to get at. He looks at the heavy clouds above and scoffs at the inference, if only to hide the genuine disturbance he feels about this new information. “So because we coincidentally happen to be going out during storms all the time, you think I’m somehow your resurrected friend?”
“Logically it seems to follow.”
“Half the time I doubt you actually know what logic is.” Kurogiri enjoys their banter, but its time these two heroes faced the truth, no matter how much it will hurt all three of them. “Shirakumo Oboro is dead and you need to let him rest. Don’t you want your friend to finally have peace?”
Present Mic flashes the softest of smiles. “We do. That’s why we’re doing this, bud.”
The way he says it makes Kurogiri’s heart ache, because he knows who those words and that smile is really for, and its not for him. “You two need more help than I thought if you’re so desperately clinging to this.”
The sound of thunder crackles loudly in the clouds above them.
“I’m sorry this upset you,” Eraserhead is genuine about this. “I’m sorry that you have to go through all this confusion and pain. I’m sorry about everything.”
Again, these apologies are not meant for Kurogiri, and that makes it hurt twice as much. “Your apologies won’t change anything. It won’t bring him back.” No matter how much Kurogiri wished it could, because then maybe he wouldn’t feel so guilty about existing. It was never his choice to be made, never his choice to take the place that should have rightfully belonged to a hero. He never wanted this.
He never wanted to hurt them.
“You’re crying…” Present Mic sounds surprised by this development, as is Kurogiri. Kurogiri reaches up to his face and feels the wet tracks covering his cheeks.
He didn’t know he could still cry.
“You’re more Oboro than you think you are,” Eraserhead breathes in the smell of oncoming rain.
“Because we always go out when its stormy? That’s the logic you want to follow?” Kurogiri bites back. Another spark of lightning and a loud boom ensue.
“Do you want to know what happened when Oboro got sad?” Eraserhead just keeps pushing.
“No.” Kurogiri doesn’t want to know, because that makes his connection with Oboro much, much more real.
Eraserhead points to the sky without missing a beat. “Downpour.”
Kurogiri huffs. Ever since he can remember, rainy days have always been a bit melancholy for him specifically. But its just a coincidence. It doesn’t mean anything.
Right?
“I’ve noticed it. Shouta has noticed it. Haven’t you ever noticed it?” Present Mic brashly points out. “When you get sad, it rains.”
“Lots of people get sad when it rains.”
“It rains because you’re sad, Oboro.”
Drip.
A single raindrops falls onto Kurogiri’s head, as if to taunt him with the truth he can no longer run from.
He doesn’t know what this means for him. He doesn’t know what he’s supposed to do now. He wishes he could take back the last 15 years. Do something different. Anything different. Maybe not die at Tasomiya. That would be preferable. Get to be a hero like he wanted.
He looks to the rain clouds above.
Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip.
“Its a downpour,” Oboro comments and Hizashi and Shouta pretend not to hear the way he speaks through sobs. “We should get inside.”
The heroes nod and guide him inside. A couch is pulled in front of the window and Oboro is brought to the cushion where he curls in on himself. Shouta grabs a blanket and Hizashi makes some hot chocolate and the two sandwich him between them. After standing in the rain for so long, Oboro appreciates the warmth.
The three of them sit in silence watching the storm brew outside. Oboro feels like he stares out for hours, but Hizashi and Shouta stay by his side the entire time. In case he needs a friend, they said.
It takes a while for Oboro to process everything, to put into context this new information and figure out what he’s supposed to do with it. Its going to take a very, very long while to get over everything that happened over the last 15 years. He’s not entirely sure if he can, but…
He glances to the heroes—to his friends lounging at his sides.
He thinks he can manage. He’ll have to.
The rain lightens every so slightly, and through the drizzle, Oboro can see the rays of the sun peaking out from behind the clouds.