#conci writes very self indulgent stuff

[conciteque]

Kiribaku Month - Day 22: Sick

Worcount: 1919 words

@kiribakumonth2019

Not gonna lie, this is the one I’ve had the most fun with so far! I think of it as mostly self indulgent garbage, but it was fun to write and I’ve finally managed to include that piece of dialog I had to cut from Fanboy because it wasn’t going in the right direction.

I tried to convey the confusion best as I could but it’s not like I had a lot of time to think about something so… yeah.

So enjoy a sick Kirishima full of errors and songs. Note that the binary code means something, but you can do without.

I hope you’ll like it!

Day 22: Sick

Eijirou was overheating again. For months, he’d thought that it was because of Kacchan.

Kacchan smiling to him.

Kacchan sparring with him

Kacchan holding his hand (there was a song about that), Kacchan almost kissing him Kacchan letting Eijirou call him Kacchan Kacchan KacchanKacchan 01001011 01000001 01000011 01000011 01001000 01000001 01001110 01001011 01000001 01000011 01000011 01001000 01000001 01001110

It wasn’t it.

His body was failing him. Something was broken and it was taking down the rest of his body with it. It was what Mei had said, when Eijirou was still conscious; when the bug hadn’t taken over most of his functions. He was too old. Weak. FAILING. FLAILING FAILURE 01010111 01000101 01000001 01001011 00100000 01000110 01000001 01001001 01001100 01010101 01010010 01000101 00100000 01000110 01000001 01001001 01001100 00100000 01010111 01000101 01000001 01001011 00100000

He wanted to be shut down so bad, but he could hear the others say it would be bad, that maybe they wouldn’t be able to restart him, so instead he was burning burning burning (just gonna stand there and watch me burn)

There was something cool on his head. Something cold everywhere. They’d been trying to cool him down. He was burning.

“Ei, you have to stay strong.” Someone said. Was it Mina?

Wrong, he wasn’t strong. He couldn’t stay something he wasn’t in the first place. He could smell something burning, smoking, he was burning, the machines were everywhere, his friends were dying and he couldn’t move, he couldn’t move, he couldn’t save them it was his job to save them they were going to die 01011001 01001111 01010101 01010010 00100000 01000110 01000001 01010101 01001100 01010100 00100000 01000011 01001111 01010111 01000001 01010010 01000100

“It's not your fault, you're gonna be okay.” Mina said again. Could she hear him?

He tried to speak, but it all came out wrong, like Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam

What was he trying to say?

‘If it was your fault, it was my fault too   » she said. She was pink and fluffy.

Mina and he used to be on the same squad. They were the sole two survivors, because everything was burning and Eijirou tried to be a good android. He tried to do his job, for once.

Eijirou had always had a tendency to get paralyzed in the face of danger. He didn’t know why he was like this, when taking damage for his teammates was what he was built for. There was something wrong with him, a flaw in his code (there was a song about that), something that was wired wrong 01000110 01000001 01001001 01001100 01010101 01010010 01000101 but Crimson Riot said Eijirou could change that. He’d tried to change that. He’d tried to save Mina. They were all dead. 01011001 01001111 01010101 00100000 01010011 01001000 01001111 01010101 01001100 01000100 00100000 01000010 01000101 00100000 01000100 01000101 01000001 01000100 00100000 01010100 01001111 01001111

«Let me see him” another voice came, gravelly, familiar. Kacchan. KACCHAN KACCHAN 01001011 01000001 01000011 01000011 01001000 01000001 01001110 01001011 01000001 01000011 01000011 01001000 01000001 01001110 01010111 01001000 01000001 01010100 01001001 01010011 01001100 01001111 01010110 01000101

»Can y… hear…?” Could he?

“¿Can he… me?’

“Ei, I’m gonna find them, ok? I’ll find your fucking parts, and those androids who can repair you. So you gotta fight this shit until I’m back. I won’t be long. Remember your promise.”

It did something to Eijirou, that word. Promise. He’d made a promise to Kacchan, not too long ago. The memory was still here, uncorrupted.

They had some free time, and Eijirou had convinced Kacchan to climb on top of a building with him, to survey the area. The view was beautiful. Kacchan was breathtaking. Eijirou was overheating. Maybe he’d already been failing, back then…

FAILING FAILING ERROR ERROR ERROR

“I really don’t get your manly shit,” Kacchan said.

Eijirou shrugged.

“It’s how my old mentor used to define things. It started making sense after a while.”

“What was he like?”

“Manly,” Eijirou smiled.

“Still doesn’t make fucking sense,” Kacchan grumbled.

“Well, he was really strong, and brave. He only had one life, like me, but he never hesitated to put it on the line to help others. Said it was better to die doing the right thing than to live and see the consequences of your inaction.”

01010101 01001110 01001100 01001001 01001011 01000101 00100000 01011001 01001111 01010101 00100000 01000011 01001111 01010111 01000001 01010010 01000100

“Must have been a good guy.”

“He was! I learned a lot from him. Even now, I’m trying to be more like him.”

Kacchan stayed silent for a moment.

“You’d really do that shit, huh?” he said suddenly, turning toward Eijirou.

“What shit?” he asked, confused.

“Giving up your life to save someone.”

Eijirou hesitated. He liked to tell himself that he would, but he remembered all too well why he was still here when most of his comrades were gone. BURNING BURNING MACHINES EVERYWHERE

Eijirou shook his head. He was different now. He refused to let that happen again.

“Yeah, I would,” he said. It tasted like a lie, but he swore he’d make it true, if he had to.

“Don’t.”

“What?”

“Don’t. Do that shit. If you’re in danger you gotta save your ass first,” Kacchan said. His blindfold was off, and his red eyes were piercing, more serious than Eijirou had ever seen him. Burning, almost.

BURNBURNBURNBURN01000010010101010101001001001110010000100101010101010010010011100100001001010101010100100100111001000010010101010101001001001110

“That’s horrible. And unmanly! I can’t just let my friends die, I’d never forgive myself!” Eijirou protested.

“But if you die it’s fucking over! You’re not like me!” Kacchan yelled, grabbing Eijirou’s arms with such a strong grip it could have crushed his metallic bones. “I have enough self-sacrificing dumbasses in my life with fucking Deku, and I don’t give a shit about him! He can die for real, for all I care, but not you!”

“Why?”

“Because you’re the only one whose death I’d give a fuck about, you idiot! It’s shitty enough to know I can’t always be here to protect you, I can’t do this if I know you’re going to throw your life away the first chance you get!”

“Can’t do what?”

Kacchan made a frustrated noise and released one of Eijirou’s arms to grip his own head as he yelled:

“That’s not the fucking point! Just… Just promise me if you’re in danger, you’ll try to survive first.”

“I can’t do that, Kacchan. Not if it means leaving my friends behind!”

“Do it! If you die, I’ll… I’ll just fucking kill the survivors!”

“You won’t do that!”

“I fucking will! Try me! I’ll kill them all, even the ones who have nothing to do with it. I’ll fucking destroy everything on this shitty planet, you hear me?! So don’t. Fucking. Die.”

“I can’t…”

“Just think of your survival as the only thing that can stop me from destroying the whole fucking world.”

Eijirou sighed.

“Look… I promise you that if something happens, I’ll do my best to survive. Ok?”

Kacchan seemed to calm down a little. He groaned, but eventually nodded.

“And I promise that if anything happens to you, I’ll turn the planet to ashes before machines can,” he said

“Kacchan, that’s not…”

“Too late, I fucking promised,” he grinned. “So you’ll have to outlive me now.”

“I don’t want to outlive you,” Eijirou pouted. “I’m already older than you.”

“Well, too fucking bad.”

That was the promise. Eijirou had promised. He couldn’t die now.

Kacchan would be sad. Maybe. Kacchan didn’t know Eijirou was a miswired, poorly programmed failure. 01000110 01010101 01000011 01001011 01001001 01001110 01000111 00100000 01000110 01000001 01001001 01001100 01010101 01010010 01000101

Eijirou should tell him someday.

Eijirou should never tell him.

“Ei, my man, Blasty will be back soon.”

Blasty. B20. Kacchan. YuUEi android. Battle unit. Tall blonde. Spiky hair. All black outfit. Blindfold.

“He’ll be back, and you’ll be as good as new, you’ll see. So you gotta stay with us!”

Shit, who was talking? It sounded blonde, but not Kacchan blonde. Electric blonde. Yellow. It sounded like begging him to organize a Secret Santa.

We’re not doing another Secret Santa, Denki. It’s May.

His name was Denki.

No, his name was Eijirou

01000101 01001001 01001010 01001001 01010010 01001111 01010101

01000101 01001001 01001010 01001001 01010010 01001111 01010101

01000101 01001001 01001010 01001001 01010010 01001111 01010101

“Wow, he’s burning” 01000010 01010101 01010010 01001110 01001001 01001110 01000111 00100000 01000010 01010101 01010010 01001110 01001001 01001110 01000111

Who was speaking? It didn’t sound like something he knew.

His name was 01000101 01001001 01001010 01001001 01010010 01001111 01010101

“I’m impressed he hasn’t melted yet.” 01000101 01001001 01001010 01001001 01010010 01001111 01010101 didn’t know that voice either. Or did he? It sounded like ears. “He’s a tough one.”

“Stop blabbering and fucking do something!” gravel said. It sounded like a Blasty. His name was Tall Blonde.

“We can’t change the failing part like this. We’ll have to shut him down.”

.

.

.

“…and I swear to the fucking Humans on the moon that if there’s anything wrong with him when he’s back…”

“Relax, Blasty. He’ll be fine. Maybe some minor damages here and there, but he’s as good as new. Now, let us run some tests.”

Eijirou felt sluggish. He was always slow to start. It wasn’t like he was meant to be turned off in the first place, although it had to happen sometimes.

When he opened his eyes, he was met with the nonplussed expression of an unfamiliar android. She unplugged the cables that were dangling from her ears. He’d seen her a few times.

“You’re Kyouka,” Eijirou said.

“Good, so your memory is working,” she nodded.

The android behind her, with the black ponytail, had a relieved smile. She was Momo, Eijirou remembered. The two came by from time to time. They could repair androids like no other.

Before Eijirou could say anything else, he was assaulted by a mass of pink. A heavy one.

“Eijirouuuuu, I was so worried!” Mina said as she hugged him with all her strength. As a soldier, she had plenty of it. Good thing Eijirou was built sturdy.

“I’m okay, Mina. I’m sorry I worried you.”

Eijirou heard words of relief from other Resistance members. He felt Denki’s hand on his shoulder. Deku shyly told him he was glad to have him back. Eijirou had no idea they’d been this worried.

“How long was I out?” he asked.

“A few days,” Mina said. “You were burning, it was so scary!”

“Yeah, I really thought you were a goner,” Denki nodded.

“Shut up, Sparky. He’s stronger than that,” Kacchan grumbled.

Eijirou turned to him. Kacchan’s expression was as hard to read as ever with his eyes covered. Eijirou wanted to think he was worried too. He only had fuzzy memories from before, but it felt right.

“You’re the one who brought Kyouka and Momo here,” he said. “You found the spare parts I needed.”

Kacchan nodded.

“Thank you,” Eijirou smiled.

“Tch. You held up your end of your promise. I just made sure I wouldn’t have to hold up mine.”

Kacchan turned away and left, quickly followed by an apologetic Deku. Eijirou understood. Kacchan had never done well in crowds, and right now, it seemed like everyone had something to say to Eijirou.

They’d catch up later. For now, he needed to make sure everything was going well in the camp. After all, his work was never over.

There was a song about that…