LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 81 – The Sacrifice
I raised my hand, my eyes glued to the bottle.
The water oscillated before rising into the air, drop by drop: bubbles of different sizes floated in the air, reflecting the sun's rays like mirrors. The air was warm, there was no wind. I licked my upper lip, wiping away a drop of sweat that had rolled down it. Slowly I moved two fingers.
The bubbles swayed, slowly spinning around each other. Their surface was stable, and I rotated them until I was sure that none would burst like the previous ones.
Satisfied, I took a step toward the sea. The bubbles retreated, the distance between us remaining the same. Another step. Again they retreated. The foam slid over my feet, the sand sank under my toes. The waves turned into barrels beneath my bubbles, crashing against the beach.
I ventured further into the sea until I was knee-deep in water. I breathed in, engraving in my mind the way I felt the water - my water - so I could do it again.
I lowered my fingers. My bubbles crashed into the ocean, diluted in the sea. The feeling of familiarity disappeared, but I didn't lose hope.
I concentrated and extended my hand to the sea. The surface of the water shook, and for a second I thought it was the tremors of the sea - but I felt the familiarity of the water again, and with my heart beating fast, I commanded the water to rise.
There was resistance, almost as if it refused, but I insisted and forced it to rise before me. The water shook and then, slowly, a fine trickle emerged, rising vertically. As it rose, more and more water followed, as if a miniature tsunami was rising in front of me.
My arm muscles shook, the water resisting my call. Gritting my teeth, I raised my left hand. More and more water rose from the sea to join the web I'd created: in a handful of seconds, a wall of water had risen between me and the sun, floating in the air and vibrating with energy. I moved my left hand to split the wall, holding my right hand steady, and- My head turned sharply toward the makeshift school.
Aizawa.
My wall of water fell with a splash as I plunged into the sea.
I forced myself to sit cross-legged on the sand, my lungs burning. My chakra circulated throughout my body, slowing my heartbeat and forcing me to calm down. I wasn't capable of prolonged apnea, but I had learned long ago how to slow my heartbeat enough for my chakra to keep me alive for a while without oxygen.
I felt Aizawa approaching the sea before stopping short of it: his legs came toward me, blurred by the curtain of water that separated us.
He stood staring at the sea for a whole minute, waiting for me to come out, no doubt hoping to corner me.
I could see the scowl on his face as he turned and walked away.
*
- I can't keep bringing you food like this, Aizawa is beginning to suspect something.
I devoured my plate ravenously.
Keichiro and Kana prepared a hearty breakfast for me every morning at 5:30 and even took care of delivering behind the mess hall, where Aizawa never wentto fetch me.
At noon, I was content to nibble on my morning's leftovers, and in the evening, Katsuki would bring me my meal in the woods next to the refectory. At night I slept in the trees, and although my back was a little sore, it wasn't too bad.
It was a tedious but necessary organization: I'd rather die than humiliate myself cleaning something as degrading as a toilet, especially if it was for a bunch of poor and dirty teenagers.
On the bright side, I'd made phenomenal progress in my water skills, thanks to sixteen hours of daily training.
- Also, the kid's looking for you.
I looked up from my plate.
- Who ?
Katsuki rolled his eyes.
- He asked why we hadn't seen you and where you'd been.
My fork froze in front of my half-open mouth as I looked at the blonde with fear.
- You didn't tell him where I was training, did you?
- Nah, his mom did it for me.
- Great.
I dove back into my plate, finishing the juicy meat in a few bites, followed by the crunchy vegetables.
I set my plate down on the tree trunk, satisfied, before pulling up my mask.
Katsuki was half turned, looking up at the starry sky and the glittering sea below.
- I'm done (He turned to faceme for the first time since I started eating) How's your training going?
His face lit up.
- I managed to make an explosion out of my foot today.
I whistled in admiration. The Katsuki of the cannon had never done anything like that.
- I'm still a long way from being able to make explosions from anywhere on my body, but I'm getting there. (I nodded). How about you?
- I'm thinking of changing my hero name to Poseidon
He raised his eyebrows.
- Really ?
- No, but it's coming along nicely.
A comfortable silence fell.
The wind picked up, rustling leaves and swirling sand. The last rays of sunlight illuminated the horizon for a short while.
- ... I feel funny
Katsuki grabbed a twig and started to break it into small pieces.
- I never paid much attention to these damned extras and now I find myself spying on them all and I can't help it.
He twirled two pieces of the twig still connected by a bit of wood fiber.
- I can't sleep at night, and when I eat with them, I can't help but wonder who's going to screw us. (The branch broke in two: he threw it away.) If I had a damned idea how to avoid Aizawa's cameras like you do, I wouldn't set foot in the dormitory again.
I watched him for a few seconds before looking away.
- Wouldn't it be easier to consider them all traitors?
He sniffed loudly: I heard the smile in his voice.
- Yeah, you're right, becoming a paranoid bastard is such a better idea,
I shrugged.
- You wouldn't have to worry about anyone if you didn't trust anyone…
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Katsuki watching me.
- Is this how you live your life? Seeing everyone as your enemy?
I remained silent, but my lack of an answer spoke for itself.
- Why ?
- Why what?
- Why do you wear a mask, why is there no information about you when someone searches for you on the Internet, why do you have a license to carry bladed weapons - there are so many things about you that make me ask 'why'?
A small smile crept on my lips.
- Aizawa barely mentioned the bladed weapon thing: I'm surprised you remembered.
- Don't change the subject.
I sighed.
- You ask a lot of questions
He frowned.
- You've been bugging me with your 'everyone else is unbearable' and 'you and I are the same' stories, only to ignore the first slightly personal question I ask you. I'm not asking you to tell me your darkest secrets, moron, I just want us to have something in common. Trust goes both ways, you can't ask me for something and give me nothing in return.
I hesitated, not knowing what to say.
I saw him watching me out of the corner of his eye, patiently waiting for me to respond, or at least react to what he'd just said.
I think he was reaching out to me in some way.
I didn't know if it was a good idea to accept it.
To tell the truth, I still don't know if I made the right decision to take it.
He stood up, put his hands in his pockets and walked away.
I knew that if I let him go like that, he'd never come back. My voice rose in the air: he stopped.
- ... I don't consider everyone an enemy - that would be overestimating my degree of interest in others. No, let's say I'm just... indifferent to them.
I was indifferent to their interests, their suffering, their possible death in the near future.
- Why ?
I thought of my family torn apart by Touya's death, of my father crying alone in his study when his son had just died, of his worried face when I woke up in the hospital after losing an eye, of his expression the day he had to bury his mentor because of me.
- ... because it's easier
The leaves rushed again under the caress of the wind, the cold sand whipping my skin. The night enveloped us in its silent world, making the forest dark and inhospitable.
Katsuki seemed to weigh my words for a moment and nodded more to himself than to me.
- Find a way to get back to the dormitory, I'm tired of dealing with these losers.
And he walked away.
*
I ran a hand over my face, wiping away the mixture of sweat and water that had accumulated there. The smell of my own sweat disgusted me.
- What have you been doing?
Kenta, a beach bucket in one hand and a towel in the other, looked at me with his big, innocent black eyes. A red cap was screwed on his head, his skin still glistening from the sunscreen his mother had just applied.
- You said you didn't want to do it, so I did it for you !
My eyes narrowed.
- You had no reason to do it, so why ?
He puffed out his cheeks and clenched his little fists.
- I was just trying to be nice,
I laughed, almost offended.
- Do you think I'm stupid? Tell me why you did it.
- I said I had no reason.
He kicked the sand in annoyance.
- Don't make me repeat myself
- I said I don't have one!
I clicked my tongue against my palate and looked away.
That's why Aizawa didn't go witch hunting today.
I watched the boy out of the corner of my eye: his face was flushed and tears threatened to roll down his cheeks.
- If you cry, I'll take you right back to your parents, I said, He wiped his face with the back of his arm.
- I never cry, he grumbled.
- As if
Still, thanks to him, I no longer had to act like the class outcast: I could eat off the table, help myself as much as I wanted, and - most importantly - take long, clean showers. Maybe he deserved a little consideration.
- Well, what do you want ?
His face lit up.
- I want to stay with you !
I should have guessed.
- If I allow you to stay, you won't make a sound and you won't disturb me during my training: understood ?
He nodded vigorously.
- And you'll continue to clean the bathrooms for the rest of our stay here without telling your parents.
He froze and decided - to my surprise - to take a few seconds to think.
And I thought he was as dumb as rocks.
- Okay, then you have to promise to be nice to me and answer me when I talk to you.
- ... I'll be tolerable and when I tell you to shut up, you shut up.
He thought for a few more seconds before offering me his chubby little hand. His striped T-shirt was pulled up over his childish tummy, revealing his belly button.
- Pinkie promise
I squeezed his hand with two fingers and looked at him suspiciously.
- ... don't spit, it's disgusting.
He swallowed his mollard before smiling at me and walking away to the sand.
I followed him at a safe distance in case he decided to play a joke on me and spit all his mucus on me.
- Are you planning to stay there?
He looked confused.
- Where else would I be?
I was hoping he'd be standing in the distance, in the shadow of the cement school, looking at me through binoculars.
- You'll get sunstroke
It was morning, the temperature was low, and the sun wasn't beating down very hard - but if I understood correctly, he planned to spend his entire day with me.
If he fainted on my watch, his mother would stop making my personal breakfast in the morning, and I'd lose my personal concierge.
I looked around and stifled a sigh. The area was deserted.
There was a clang of bells and ice burst out from under my foot, forming a half dome around the kid.
Kenta yelped in surprise before he marveled at the frozen structure.
- Wow Sho-sho, you're the best!
A vein pulsed in my forehead.
- Don't call me that
He ignored me, too busy placing his blue towel in the shade of the half igloo.
- And it's fresh!
Satisfied, he lay back on his stomach and reached for his comic book. He held it upside down.
- It's upside down
- I don't like reading, I just look at the pictures.
He turned only two pages before falling asleep with his forehead on the floor.
I unhooked my mask before throwing it on his towel, too tired to use a genjutsu in addition to continuing my training on the water.
Besides, it wasn't as if the boy had never seen me without one.
*
Kenta wiped his eyes with his fist, still half asleep.
His bucket - which he carried like a handbag - clapped against his thigh in rhythm to his footsteps.
- Watch where you walk
Immediately, the boy stumbled into a tiny mound of sand and almost landed headfirst in his bucket.
I grabbed him by the collar of his T-shirt and lifted him with one hand, his black sandals hovering a few millimeters off the ground.
- I told you to be careful, I said, irritated at his clumsiness.
- And here's the one who honors us with his presence.
I looked up at Aizawa, who was facing me with a steaming plate in his hands. His dark eyes rested for a moment on Kenta - whom I was still holding like an unruly kitten - before returning to me.
- In one hour at the entrance to the dormitories: don't be late.
- Aizawa-sensei (He paused: I offered him my crescent-eyed smile) The sanitary facilities are beyond reproach, aren't they? You should thank me.
He stared at me for a long, long time, before walking away.
- It took you five days, that doesn't warrant applause.
The grumpy dwarf in all his glory.
- Finally someone fucking normal
Katsuki, two plates in his hands, approached me with an expression I interpreted as relief.
- Are both for me?
He snorted.
- What else ? The other one is for me.
- How did you know that I'd be here at noon?
His eyes fell on Kenta whose arms were dangling like a hanged man.
- I didn't know, I wanted to bring you your food and use the opportunity to get out of here.
Behind him, near the cafeteria, students were gathered in a circle, chatting animatedly. Some were holding laminated sorters, and shiny decks of cards were making the rounds.
- What's going on ?
Katsuki shrugged.
- A card game, Yu gi-oh or something like that. Yoarashi's freaking out.
Kenta folded his arms over his chest.
- Pff, Yu gi-oh is so lame.
I put the child back on the ground before I pushed him forward a little.
- Go to your mother
He was gone in a flash:
- Okay Sho-sho!
Katsuki snorted as I wondered if I could get away with making it look like the kid accidentally drowned.
No way, Aizawa is already giving me the creeps.
This guy had a bullshit radar like I'd never seen before: I could feel his gaze hovering over my neck without even having to turn around.
- Let's eat, and if we hurry, we can even eat enough of the dishes so that everyone doesn't get enough.
Katsuki led us to the table, amusedly saying over his shoulder:
- This is borderline vilain’s behavior
I shrugged.
- I'd love to see them fight over the food.
Unfortunately, no one fought.
*
Author's note :
Merry parties/holidays for everyone, whatever it is that you are celebrating.
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