"So my wife came up to me today, and began lecturing me about how eating a ton of rice was bad for me, that it would go straight to my thighs and how I need to be eating less," Fudoki said, sitting in his patrol car with his patrol partner Akira. "So I told her that when she works a thirteen-hour shift and has to run after criminals and villains, then she can tell me what I can and can't eat!"
"Damn, so just a normal argument then?" Akira asked, cracking a smile. "Maybe you should listen to her, maybe then you can catch me when we run!"
The two had been on patrol for a few hours and weren't off until seven AM. While most cops would dread a shift that long, these two loved it. They had been friends since they had applied to the police academy, so the long nights would give them the time to joke around and talk about their families.
Fudoki let out a small chuckle, playfully punching Akira's arm.
"Fuck you dude." He chuckled some more. "I can still keep up with you!"
"In your dreams pal. In your-" Akira was cut off by the loud crackling coming from their radio, indicating that dispatch was about to call through.
"To any officers in the area, a neighbor heard a kid crying on Pomegranate street and they suspect that the child is being abused. They say the guy living there hasn't come out in three days, so they assume he's been doing this for those three days. If you're close, could you check it out?" She said, her voice followed with some loud static, causing the two to cringe slightly.
Fudoki immediately picked his radio up off its hook and put it to his mouth, he knew that they were less than a block or two away and if someone was being abused, he wouldn't want them to suffer more because they didn't respond.
"Dispatch this is Unit forty-one, we're around a minute from the destination. What's the house number?"
"4693 on Pomegranate drive."
"Ten-four," Fudoki said, putting the Walkie-Talkie back on its hook. "Looks like this night is going to be brutal."
"Agreed," Akira said, pushing a button on the center console, which caused the red lights that were sitting on the roof of the car to flash. The familiar red lights flashed, illuminating the vehicle and everything in a forty-foot radius with red.
The two sped down the street, not stopping until they had to turn onto Pomegranate street.
"Hey, turn the lights off," Fudoki said, his green pupils darting side to side, trying to find the house number. "We don't want to let this guy know we're here if he is abusing his child. God knows what he'd do if he thinks the kid called."
Akira nodded as he switched off the lights, enshrouding the vehicle in darkness. The two began to look for the house number, squinting slightly, as their eyes weren't used to the sudden darkness. After a couple of minutes of searching though, Akira tapped Fudoki's shoulder, his eyes not leaving the street.
"Stop the car! I found it!"
Fudoki nodded, pulling into the driveway. He shut the car off, unlocked the doors, and climbed out, Akira following closely behind. They walked up to the front door (which was open), but chose not to enter, as they wanted to see if someone would answer. Fudoki knocked on the door with a balled-up fist.
"Sir? This is the Musutafu Police Department! Come to the door!" Fudoki called out, trying to make sure that whoever was inside could hear him. "We want to talk!"
Akira pressed his ear against the glass door, see if he could hear someone walking towards the door or any sign of someone present inside. However, to his horror, he didn't hear signs of them coming to the door.
The only thing he heard was a child wailing, that was muffled by the glass door.
"Dad... Please.... I'm so sorry that I caused you to do this..." The voice wailed, causing Akira's eyes to go wide. Was it possible that the man knew they were coming and was beating the kid as punishment for calling them?!
"Hey, Fudoki," Akira whispered, causing Fudoki to tilt his head towards the shorter male.
"Yes?"
"I think he's beating the kid right now, I heard the kid saying that he was sorry!"
Fudoki's eyes went wide. He pounded on the door again, the glass looked as if it was going to break if Fudoki hit it one more time.
"Sir, this is your last chance to open the door or we will enter your home!"
To neither of their surprises, no one came to the door. Fudoki sighed and gripped the handle. He pulled it open, almost taking the door off its hinges. Akira dashed in but immediately stopped. The air smelled... Foul. Almost as if someone had taken a bunch of eggs and left them out for a week, causing them to spoil.
Fudoki scrunched his nose at the scent, while Akira gagged at the scent. Out of the two of them, Akria has the weaker stomach, not being able to handle such scents. Akira looked towards Fudoki with pleading eyes, almost like he was asking for Fudoki to take the smell away. However, due to previous incidents, Fudoki reached into his back pocket and picked out a box of Vicks vapor rub. He opened the box and handed Akira the tube. Akira snatched it out of Fudoki's hand, applied a tiny amount to his fingertip, and put it under his nose. He took a deep breath, unconsciously smiling at the scent of lavender.
"Thanks." He said, handing Fudoki the tube, to which he applied the rub to his nose too.
"No problem. You take the bathroom and bedroom and I'll cover the kitchen, the living room, and dining room, ok?"
"Sounds good to me," Akira said as he began to walk down the hallway, checking the bedroom. "This is the police department, if there is anyone inside, make yourself known!"
The muffled crying he had once heard from the door had seemed to have gotten louder, coming from the bathroom door. He sighed, opening the bathroom door. His eyes widened at the sight. There, sitting in a puddle of water was a fourteen-year-old boy, his knees tucked against his chest. His ruby eyes looked towards the bathtub, Akira's eyes almost as if they took a mind of its own glanced towards the tub, even though they knew what was sitting there. There lay what Akira presumed to be the boy's father, his body already in the early stages of decomposition. Although he had the Vicks on, the scent seemed to barge through into Akira's nostrils.
However, he couldn't pay attention to the body, for now, he needed to tackle the current issue.
"Hey kid," Akira asked, trying to look through the Katsuki's blonde hair and into his ruby eyes. "Are you ok? Are you hurt?"
Katsuki shook his head.
"Of course I'm not f-fucking okay!" Katsuki said as he choked back a sob. "I'm looking at my dad's corpse! How is that okay?! It's my fault he killed himself! If I had been a better child, none of this would have ever happened!"
Akira cringed at how the ash-blonde degraded himself. He had never been in his situation before, but from what he could see, it didn't feel good. If Akira could, he would wrap the boy up in a giant hug, almost like he was one of his own kids. However, this small train of thought was cut off by the boy sobbing, his small frame trembling. Akira knew that he had to do something in order to calm this kid down, as he could start hurting himself because of what he thought he caused. He crouched down to the boy's level.
"I apologize for your loss," Akira said, putting a hand on his Katsuki's shoulder, gripping his T-shirt slightly. "But I can assure you that this isn't your fault. What your father did was his decision, not yours."
Katsuki looked up to Akira, tears welling his eyes. He desperately wanted to believe that Akira was telling the truth but for some reason, he just couldn't believe him. Katsuki knew that it was because of him that his father was dead. If he didn't cause his parents to fight, then his father would be alive. Hell, he should have been the one that-
"Hey!" Akira said, snapping Katsuki out of his trance. "Let's get you out of here. We can take you to the car and we can call your mom to come to get you."
Akira stood up from where he was crouching and stuck his hand out to help Katsuki stand up. Katsuki eyed Akira's gloved hand nervously, before hesitantly grabbing it, pulling him back to his feet. He felt the water drip from his pants and onto the ground. He put an arm up to his eyes in order to block his sight from seeing the body of his father. They walked out of the house and into the dark night.
Akira glanced over to Fudoki as he was walking Katsuki out, causing Fudoki to glance back.
"Don't worry. I already called for an ambulance." He mouthed.
Akira smiled.
"Thanks. Be sure to call his mom too."
Fudoki nodded as Akira shut the door behind him and set Katsuki in the back of his cruiser. As soon as Katsuki was seated in the seat, he curled his legs back to his chest, reclaiming the form of a ball. The air was eerily silent, other than the sounds of Katsuki's sobs. Akira sighed slightly, feeling pity for the ash blonde. No child deserved this, to see their own mother or father in that type of state, to see them completely drained of life and death due to their own doing. He knew that any child that did witness such an act would need a lot of therapy. To deal with the nightmares and the grief would often be too much for a child to handle. He made a note to himself to recommend a therapist to his mother as soon as she came. For now, as the two waited for the ambulance to come, Akira decided to make a little small talk, as it would pass the time along with taking Katsuki's mind off of seeing his father.
"So, what is your name?" Akira asked softly, not wanting to startle him. He hoped that the boy would want to talk to him.
"K-Katsuki..." Katsuki murmured, not even bothering to lift his head from his knees, causing his answer to be muffled. "I'm Katsuki Bakugou..."
"That is a cool name!" Akira smiled. "I'm Akira Takahashi! But you can just call me Akira! How old are you?"
"F-Fourteen..." He said, sniffling softly.
"That's nice! What do you plan to do now that you've graduated middle school?"
Katsuki sniffled, his ruby orbs looked into Akira's bright, amber eyes. His eyes were rimmed with tears, a small hint of red began to form due to the number of tears he had produced. The whole scene ripped a hole in Akira's heart, the father side in him wanted to scoop Katsuki up and tell him that it was going to be ok, that he was going to be safe. These thoughts were once again cut off by Katsuki's soft voice.
"I was planning to go to UA..."
"UA? That's a pretty hard school to get in!" Akira said, cocking an eyebrow. "You must have a lot of confidence in yourself to apply!"
"Yeah..." Katsuki mumbled, nodding his head.
Akira opened his mouth to ask another question but was cut off by the wailing sirens of an ambulance rushing to where they were at. Two paramedics jumped out of the back and gently pulled out a stretcher, a large, black body bag sat neatly on it. Thankfully, Fudoki went up to the two and directed them to where Masaru's body was so that Akira could stay with Katsuki and make sure he was ok. However, a few seconds after the paramedics arrived, a light brown sedan pulled up to the curb calmly. A lady, who Akira assumed to be Katsuki's mom, stepped out of the car and made a beeline for Akira.
"Hello ma'am," Akira said. "Are you the boy's mother?"
"That's correct. What did my son do to get the cops called here?" She asked, glaring at her son.
"I didn't do anything, mom..." Katsuki mumbled, not even bothering to look at her.
"He's right. He did nothing wrong. His father had committed suicide and Katsuki had found his body."
"He's dead?"
"That is correct, but I wouldn't be worrying about that. I'd worry about your child, as this incident probably traumatized him. I'd recommend getting him some grief counseling or therapy."
She rolled her eyes.
"Katsuki won't be needing that. He's going to be going to UA high school! Getting him therapy would only slow his progress down. Come on Katsuki, we have to get home."
Akira opened his mouth to argue with Mitsuki, but she had already begun to walk away, leaving her son in the cruiser. Katsuki stood up, his head hanging in shame. He turned around to follow his mother, only to feel Akira's hand gripping his shoulder.
"Hey... Katsuki." Akira said, turning the ash blonde so that he could face him. "Here's my card. If you ever need someone to talk to, I'm open anytime every day."
Katsuki gently grabbed the card out of his hand, his ruby eyes glancing over the information. It wasn't much, just Akira's full name and phone number along with the location of his station.
"Thank you..." Katsuki said, giving the officer a small smile.
Akira returned the smile with a smile of his own, finally releasing his shoulder.
"It's no problem Katsuki. Have a good night."
And with that, Katsuki went back to his mother, who began to drive back to the house.
✭✭✭✭
The drive had been silent, Katsuki had tried to stop himself from crying, but he couldn't help but cry. After all, it was his fault, no matter what anyone told him.
"You're not going to that funeral," Mitsuki said coldly, not even taking her eyes off the road. "It will only take your focus off of being a hero."
Katsuki looked up to his mother, his eyes filling with a burning rage. Who was she to tell him that he couldn't go to his father's funeral?! It wasn't like it was a friend's family member, this was his father! The one person that actually cared about who he was, not because of his explosive quirk, but for his personality, (when he wasn't being an asshole). Whenever Katsuki felt nervous or scared, Masaru would always be there to help him and tell him that there was nothing to be afraid of!
But because of him, he doesn't have those precious memories anymore.
Because of him, he had lost his father.
It was because of him, he would never be able to say goodbye.
Besides, it wasn't like he deserved to say goodbye to the person he caused to commit suicide.167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUCh5q4S14r
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