Goldberg

Chapter 22

≡Izuku POV≡

Shoto ended up winning the sports festival. He exploited Dark Shadow’s weakness with his flames and easily won from there. Even through the TV, I could still see the disappointment in his eyes.

Kacchan was a big help with cleaning. You’d never expect him to be so good at cleaning, but when he was done, you couldn’t even tell there was ever blood there. He stayed around for the rest of the night, despite being up past his bedtime.

I got a few texts from everyone asking if everything was alright. I lied to them, saying that it was a false alarm. I felt horrible lying so bluntly to them. They were my friends, yet I still didn’t want to share such important things about my life.

I only felt a little better when Kacchan reassured me that I could take my time and that they wouldn’t be mad and would understand why I wouldn’t feel comfortable talking about it.

By 10pm, Kacchan had cleaned the entire apartment after complaining nonstop about how it looked like no one had lived here for years, cooked in the kitchen for the first time in over 10 years, and asked billions of questions about my job.

I had a rendezvous tomorrow night, so I was working on the new gadget while Kacchan made small talk with me. 

By 12, he was already starting to nod off. I can’t blame him, today was pretty eventful.

At 1am, I pulled my blanket over him as he slept in my bed and left with my saved up wad of cash from my cafe job.

I don’t know if I’ll have to put a payment down up front if I need to get something new, so I will just have to go without any ‘fun money’ for a while.

As soon as I walked into the medi clinic, Joe greeted me from behind the counter.

“Hey there Izuku. Here to put in more cash?” He leaned on the counter as I walked up.

“Hi Joe. Uhm, actually…” I pressed my lips into a hard line as I tried to figure out how to word what I was about to say.

“That’s… not a good look,” seeing that this was serious, he straightened up again and waited for me to continue.

“Well, my mom had an episode today when I was at school. I rushed home as fast as I could, but by the time I got there it was over and she was passed out with blood all over the floor. Please Joe, is there anything else I should be doing or giving her?” I looked at him with pleading eyes. I hate having to beg like this, but I’m desperate.

“Well, you sure are lucky Izuku. I actually just got a new shipment that I was going to mention to you next time you come. This stuff is supposed to be basically a stronger version of what you’re giving her now. You’ll have to change the injection time to as soon as she wakes up every morning.”

I felt a wave of relief flood over me as I watched him pull out a bottle and some new syringes. I gave him my saved up cash, hoping to lighten my load, even the slightest bit, thanked him, and walked home.
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“Good morning sleepy head,” I said from my work desk as Kacchan groaned and sat up.

“How the hell are you up? It’s 8am on a Saturday, and I know for a fact you didn’t sleep until well after midnight,” he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and stretched.

“How the hell do you sleep so much? I went to sleep around 3 and woke up almost 2 hours ago. Here,” I tossed him a banana and protein bar that he caught and immediately started eating.

“You really should start getting more sleep. That’s only 3 hours.”

“Yeah well, it looks like I won’t be getting much for a long time,” I turned around in my chair, pausing my work. “Last night I got something new for my mom. I’m going to have to start putting in more hours at the cafe and still finish my jobs on the side.”