Who is reading this?
-----------
Kyso layed in bed, it was currently 1:57 am, and he was doomscrolling on his phone like any degenerate teenager his age.
Though a Ding woke his thoughts.
..
Toru was in her shorts and an oversized shirt, laying in her bed while clutching the bunny kyso won for her between her arms and holding her phone in hand. Her eyes were drifting, barely skimming through tiktoks of cute animals, where she then stumbled on a video of a couple on a carnival. That made her pull up Kyso's number in impulse and decide to text one singular sentance to see if he's awake.
"Heyy, you awake?" she sent, preparing to press the 'Delete for everyone' button if he didn't reply in ten seconds.
..
Kyso looked at the message, blinking off his drowsy look as he quickly wrote a text back.
"Yeah, can't sleep." 1:58 AM
Toru smiled to herself at the reply, quickly writting a response.
"SAME! today was so fun that my legs hurt XD." 1:58 AM
Kyso smiled, texting back a reply.
---
The banter was light, a safety net they both clung to. For Thirty-Two minutes, they traded jokes about the carnival and the "obnoxious" size of the prize. But as the clock ticked toward 2:30 AM, the digital mask began to slip. The silence of the night started to press in, making the jokes feel thin.
"Hey, kyso." 2:29 AM
"Yeah?" 2:29 AM
"Do you think we'll actually get into U.A?"
"I don't know, but i'm trying to be optimistic." 2:30 AM
"But is being optimistic enough?" 3:30
Kyso sat up in his bed, the springs creaking. He could feel the shift in her tone, the way her writting dropped the exclamation marks and uppercase.
"Toru." 2:30
"Yeah, too deep.. but I just feel like my quirk is too 'lame', you know? I'm weak, i'm always ignored and sometimes it feel like people don't even know i exist, even when i'm screaming, it's like a gust of wind."
Kyso stared at the words on his screen, he looked at his hands, His 'visible' curse. Then he thought about her 'invisible' one, it was like two sides of the same coin. People were afraid to look at him, but people couldn't even look at her even if they tried.
He began to type, his movements slow with purpose.
"Toru, I can't guarantee that you'll get into U.A. this world is clearly built for people with flashy quirks and loud voices. but I can tell you that having a 'lame' quirk doesn't define you. i see you, i hear you, and you're my best friend." 2:31 AM
Toru paused, feeling something drip down her cheeks. To hear such words, directed at her, not the persona she puts on, but the girl behind the invisibility. The hot tears fell onto the soft fur of her bunny, soaking it wetter and wetter.
"You only say that because you're nice, kyso. But every other day, i'm just someone the people trip over or bump into. It's like i'm a ghost." 2:31 AM
Kyso paused, his teeth clenching, he felt oddly mad that she had to feel like that.
"You aren't a ghost, ghost are people that are already gone. You're right here." 2:32 AM
"Most people look at the world and see the obvious. fire is red. the sky is blue, They are lazy. But because of my quirk, I have to see how things fall apart, I have to see the energy that holds it together." 2:33 AM
"When I look at you, Toru, I don't see 'nothing.' I see the way the air bends around you. I see the light refracting like a prism. You aren't 'weak' because you're invisible. You're a masterpiece that most people are too distracted to notice." 2:33 AM
...
Toru read the message over and over quietly, her hot tears staining her bunny and the oversized shirt hanging off her arm. She had spent her whole life trying to be seen, to be enough. But kyso was telling her she was already enough simply by existing in the light.
"Why are you so good at this, you're supposed to be the quiet one." 2:35 AM
"Maybe I'm good at it because I know what it's like to want to disappear. But every time I wanted to fade away, you showed up and dragged me back. You're the one who made me feel like being 'visible' wasn't a death sentence. So don't you dare call yourself lame. You're the brightest person I know, and if UA doesn't see that, then they don't deserve a hero like you." 2:35 AM
Toru wiped her face with her sleeve, her heart feeling so full it was almost playful. The 'void' of not being visible was still there, but it was slowly getting chipper away.
"Kyso?" 2:35 AM
"Yeah?" 2:35 AM
"Don't you dare fail tomorrow. If i'm a 'masterpiece' then I need you to make sure no one scuffs the frames." 2:36 AM
"I wouldn't dream of it." 2:36 AM
-----------------
Gosh I hate writting angst and emotional situations, but i'll wrap this chapter with this.
Anyway, next chapter i think I'm gonna build more on kyso's dad (the mom will get some screen time in another chapter) to really show the dad's personality, perspective and the dept of their relationship. Spidey out.