You Belong To Me

Everything was almost untouched. Clean, organized, simply missing a few things, like what Shouta had taken to put in the bunker. But he could do without his ukulele, he had two others anyway.

Making sure to lock the door behind him, he started to look around, wanting to cry his heart out. There were even new windows that had been put in, and the walls were painted a slightly different shade. Probably because there were holes in the walls or something. That, or he remembered it differently.

Once he reached the kitchen, he noticed a small piece of paper on the table out of the corner of his eye. It was slightly crumpled with a bit of warping from water. He grabbed it, slowly reading it over. He noticed that the warps were random splatters, as if the writer had cried on it repeatedly.

    Hizashi,
If you’re reading this, I don’t even know what to say. The fact that you made it home safe all by yourself makes me happier than I’ve ever been in my whole life. I wish that I could have helped you. I promise I tried, we all did. We never stopped looking. I knew in my heart that you were still alive, out there somewhere. You had to be.

I’ve been watching over your home and making sure it stays the same as how you’d loved it. I couldn't find some things that meant a lot to you, but I hope this is alright. I’m so proud of you, Zashi. No matter what you had to do to get to this point.

I love you, my little songbird.

Hizashi couldn’t hold back his tears anymore, bawling as he held the note, hugging it close to him as he sank to the floor, reading it over and over again.

Once he managed to compose himself, he placed the note back and kept looking around his kitchen. The stove read 10:27. Nemuri would be at UA right? What day was it?

He went to where he remembered his calendar being, noticing how each day was neatly crossed off in a lilac sharpie. They all had little events written down, just a small summary of each day. So he could know what had happened while he was gone.

He read a few of them, unable to stop smiling when he saw all that Nemuri had done for him, when there wasn’t even a chance that he’d come back.  Hizashi froze once he realized the year on the calendar.

No… That’s not… right…

If it’s… I’ve been… gone for almost two years…

I got taken in early autumn… then the whole year after… and now June of this year…

He had to walk away from that and sit back down, resting on his sofa that was incredibly fluffy compared to the dirt. That he’d used. For two years.

Nemuri kept this up for this long… Kept everything perfect, wrote down summaries of every day for me…

How could I have ever thought she stopped caring?

I need to find her. It’s a wednesday, she’ll be at UA right now. If I can get in there, I’ll be surrounded by heroes, I’ll be safe. I have to let her know that I’m okay.

His bedroom smelt faintly of Nemuri’s perfume, much like the rest of his home. He went to his nightstand, looking through the drawer. He’d kept his phone, wallet, and money in there when he was still here. He was beyond relieved to see that his spare ID was all the way in the back of the drawer, under one of his journals.

Hizashi grabbed and pocketed it, leaving everything he had on him behind, taking only the ID and the weapons he had on him and debated whether he should walk or drive. He decided on walking, since it wasn’t too far, and he was already a horrible driver as it was. Much more so after years of not even thinking about cars.

It took around 40 minutes to reach UA while he walked at his usual pace which included frequent breaks. By the time he got there, it was roughly around noon or so. The student lunch period and the time that the teachers spent in the lounge. Nemuri had to be there. Someone had to be there.

Gripping his ID with sweaty palms, he went forward to the recently upgraded security gate while he prayed that Nezu hadn’t erased him from the system. It would make sense to. Nemuri probably convinced him not to erase me from the database for a situation like this one.    

Ding!

Hizashi’s eyes widened a bit, not expecting it to work even if he thought through why it probably would be. He slowly walked through the gates, hearing them close behind him.

I made it in…

He immediately began running in a dead sprint to the lounge, ignoring the startled looks he received from a few students that weren’t at lunch for some reason. He remembered the route, and thankfully UA didn’t change much at all, just a few new posters, new tiles, and brand new wall paint.

Hizashi scanned his ID to gain access to the lounge, bursting through the door and landing on his hands and knees, collapsing into a panting mess. The hero staff were instantly alert to the stranger that somehow made it not only into their school, but the lounge as well. They braced themselves for combat instinctively, until they realized who it was, and the state he was in which could be considered the most unthreatening thing in the world.

He looked up, trying to find Nemuri. It only  took a second for them to lock eyes, Nemuri freezing before dropping everything she had in her hands and ran up to him, getting down on the floor and embracing him as she yelled his name.

“Nemuri…” he choked out, lip quivering as she held his hands in her own. She finally seemed to notice all the scars on his hands, neck and face, She couldn’t help the horrified expression on her own. Hizashi knew what she was looking at, now failing to meet her eyes.

She slowly hugged him again, now being as gentle with him as she physically could, and Hizashi could hear her start to cry when his body trembled in her arms. He didn’t want to, but he couldn’t help it. He knew Nemuri’s touch was safe, but it wasn’t intentional.

“Please,” Hizashi whispered, setting his head on Nemuri’s shoulder as he hugged her back. “He’s still coming… I know he is. I can’t go back, I can’t go back there… Please, Nem… I….can’t…”

He broke down in her arms, squeezing her as hard as he could, which wasn’t very strong at all. He kept pleading with her, clearly too terrified of what might happen to him to stop himself from rambling on and on, finally unable to hold all his fear together anymore. He had someone here to keep him safe, therefore he could completely fall apart. He had to. He couldn’t keep it together any longer. And Nemuri was here.

Nemuri looked up to the quiet, surrounding heroes who looked equally as mortified to see one of their own in such a horrible state. All Might, Thirteen, Vlad King, Ectoplasm… None of them knew what to do.

“Who did this?” Nemuri whispered, unable to keep her eyes off of his hands as she held them. “Who the fuck did this to you… I swear if it’s who I think it is…”

Hizashi didn’t have time to respond due to the lounge door clicking open behind them, causing him to whip around and back into Nemuri more, and she wrapped her arms around him more to protect him.  She felt him freeze in pure terror as he and Shouta locked eyes, paralyzing all three of them.