Chapter Text
Once upon a time a child was born. But, there was something... off, about them. For they appeared to have a timer on their wrist that was steadily counting down to something. This phenomenon started an uproar amongst society, the majority believing that this 'timer' was counting down the time until you met your soulmate. This, was not the case.
You see, that child grew older, and lived, and then they died, as is natural with the cycle of life. But, close family members observed something quite... odd, happening with the counter. As that child got older, the counter's time grew smaller and smaller. Until, the day arrived. The mother ,obliviously walking across the street just behind the child, just so happens to catch a glimpse of the timer at 00:00 just before the child is hit by an oncoming truck.
Across the globe similar experiences occurred as timers grew to 00:00. Eventually, the government declared the timers were not in fact Soulmate timers but a much, much harsher truth. They counted down the time one had till they left this earth.
Naturally, this discovery brought absolute chaos upon the world. Most either denied the concept entirely, or believed it and tried to remove the timers. This led to the start of a revolution between the two groups. You either opposed this concept, or approved of it. Eventually, two years after the war began, due to the many lives lost and many timers turned 00:00, the revolutionaries had no choice but to they drop their arms and declare the war over.
Hitoshi felt his head drooping as he read through this year’s textbook, realising that the topic this year was the history of the 'Counters'. Ever since he could remember it was always counters this and counters that. All Hitoshi wanted was coffee, music and to pretend that stupid thing didn't exist.
The fated 'counter' that chains so many people from living their lives, instead cooping themselves away from society and any possible 'danger'. Hitoshi didn't understand any of it, even if they didn't have timers they would still die, so what's the difference? He wasn't sure, but everyone else made it such a big deal that he just wanted to sleep through this year’s classes. Since, every time the topic is discussed in class someone ends up crying, Hitoshi does not want to deal with crying this year, he got enough of that last year.
People feel caged by their counters fearing the unknown now, much more than ever. Fearing the day when their counter drops into hours or months, when they realise it's all gonna be over. Hitoshi just doesn't get it, if they know they're gonna die soon then they'll be able to use the time they have remaining to satisfy all they want done and be able to die with no regrets. Right?
Maybe it's because Hitoshi doesn't fear death that he sees the counters in a different perspective to the average person. If anything Hitoshi finds life rather dull, it's just a drink, rinse, repeat every. single. day. Maybe that's why doesn't mind the thought of dying as much as he should.
Hitoshi yawns wide, stretching his arms behind his back as he rises from the rickety chair he had made his home for the past few hours, contemplating the new school year and curriculum. Absentmindedly pushing his hair up from where it’s hanging in his face, he takes the bobble from his wrist and tying it back in a low ponytail, makes his way down the stairs. Glimpsing at the clock reading 00:00, he smirks at the irony of it, his house clock reading 0. Hopefully it isn't a sign his timer is next, he still has so much he wants to achieve before then after all. Such as petting more cats and drinking some coffee, Hitoshi has a very busy schedule. Hitoshi's cat, Yuu, curls herself around his legs purring contently when he reaches down, scratching behind her ear and rubbing her head, Hitoshi's lips curl up in a smile, one goal achieve. Now all he needs is coffee and he'll be good to go.
He lifts Yuu up into his arms allowing her to nuzzle his face as he works his way round the kitchen to the coffee machine, entering a sachet and waiting for the machine to work its magic. The house is completely quiet apart from the hum of machine, he practically lives by himself due to all the shifts his mum takes for work, he's not even sure if it is in fact work or just a way for her to get out of the house without him knowing, then again her working this much could be for the same reason he contemplates, grabbing his coffee mug with his free hand and settling on the couch.
Now if he can just finish his coffee he would be perfectly fine with his timer acting up, he's fully content now after all, a cat in his lap and a mug of coffee in his hand what else can a guy ask for?
Hitoshi sips his coffee in peace scrolling through his tumblr sharing cat gifs and ironic messages, until coming across a post that leaves a sour taste in his mouth. It’s on counters. He can't help but grimace at it when he sees the first line "My timer scares me!" And the number of reposts and likes the post receives deepens it. Hitoshi barely fights the urge to repost it, since anyone who follows him and knows his opinion on counters, would understand the complete and utter sarcasm in the repost. Instead forcefully scrolling past to admire one of the many cat blogs he follows. The internet is covered with similar messages all differently worded but the exact same meaning, most people relate to them, so these posts all become widely popular, which only encourages the writers to make more. Now slightly more annoyed then before Hitoshi sighs heavily and forcing himself from his spot on the couch, carrying himself and Yuu back to his room and settling down into the covers of his bed curled up into a cocoon of duvet, only his head peeking out at the edges. Hitoshi lays awake in that position for a couple hours, shifting between wiggling in his cocoon and tossing and turning restlessly. Dozing off, only once light begins to filter through the curtains.
Hitoshi wakes early just like he sleeps late, which normally isn't unusual, if anything it's routine by now. But, the conditions of him waking up are different than usual. A sharp, stabbing pain from his wrist is what wakes him, he glances at it in irritation only to notice something different about his counter. The numbers had changed. And they were suddenly much smaller than they used to be 87,659:43, Hitoshi furrows his brows and reaches for his phone to check how much time that is, he was sure it wasn't a lot. A small "huh," escapes him when he gets his answer.
"2 months, huh?" Hitoshi echos, raising an eyebrow in surprise, shrugging "I can live with that,"
Hitoshi curls out of his ball and wanders to the bathroom continuing his morning routine as if nothing were amiss. He's just settling down at the table with a cup of coffee and toast when he sees his sister walk through the door and he can't help but raise a brow at her.
She returns the gesture back and crosses her arms over her chest impatiently "What?" She asks finally, realising Hitoshi himself wasn't going to say something.
He keeps the eyebrow raised "you don't live here," he states unimpressed, taking a bite of toast and washing it down with a gulp of coffee.
She rolls her eyes walking over to him and taking a piece of his toast ignoring his look of annoyance.
Munching on it she says "I know that Mr Genius, can't a sister stop by and see her family?"
Hitoshi shakes his head slyly, smirk pulling at the corner of his mouth "Not when it's you they can't"
She smacks him across the head for that one, stealing his other piece of toast, then freezing in place. Hitoshi glances at her in confusion before realising his wrist is completely exposed right now. He looks up at her awaiting her reaction.
"Hey, ‘Toshi,"
"Yeah?"
"Your timers gone down,"
"Yeah,"
There’s a pause for a moment before she finally asks
"How long?"
Hitoshi hesitates for split second before replying "Two months,"
Her eyes widen "That's... that's not very long,"
Hitoshi nods and clears his throat "Yeah," he answers yet again, unsure what else could possibly be said in such a situation. He looks up at his sister unsurprised to see the tell tale signs of tears forming at her eyes already, launching herself over the couch at him. She's sobbing uncontrollably now and yet Hitoshi himself doesn't feel affected by his own imminent death, strange isn't it? He's going to die yet he's comforting her, and he's actually pretty content with two months, you can do a lot in that amount of time after all. Plenty of time to go to cat cafes and drink coffee, he almost chuckles at the thought, before realising it would probably be in poor taste since his crying sister is clinging to him. But really who only wants cats and coffee before they die? Him, apparently.
Hitoshi finally manages to coax his sister off of him, after almost an hour and makes her a cup of tea to help her calm down, she drinks it quietly apologising profusely about how she won't be able to stay. Hitoshi waves her off with a mandatory smile telling her not to worry about it. She nods reluctantly and they sit like that for a while, until finally she breaks the silence saying she has to go, glomping Hitoshi in a hug again before leaving with the promise to visit.
Hitoshi groans in exhaustion, that's the most physical contact he's had to deal with in years and even though it was his sister, didn't make it any less uncomfortable.
Later as Hitoshi scrolls through YouTube he hears the slam of a door closing indicating the return of his mother. A knock sounds at his door.
"Come in," he calls out, taking out his earphones. It's unsurprisingly his mother.
"Hello Hitoshi,"
"Hello mother,"
She looks at him carefully before shifting her feet and clearing her throat.
"Your sister, she um explained the situation to me,"
Hitoshi nods, which she takes as an indication to continue.
"And well, I have decided that we should move,"
That brings a reaction out of him "oh?" He says
She nods "I've been offered a new job in Shizuoka and I think this would be a good opportunity for you to be able to meet new people,"
Hitoshi narrows his eyes at her, never in his life has she ever been this considerate towards his well being. Then again, maybe this new job benefits her greatly and she's using him as an excuse to accept it? He's not sure, but it's not like he has any reason to decline, and it means he won’t have to deal with crying this year, so that’s a plus.
Hitoshi shrugs "Sure," before turning back to his laptop.
His mother, realising the conversation is over, nods at him.
"We'll leave for Shiozaki in two days," she tells him as she leaves.
"Shiozaki prefecture, huh?" He says idly aloud, wondering what school his mother will force him to attend. She'll probably claim it's to 'get him out of the house' into the fresh air. But in reality she probably just wants it free to bring over her fuck buddies. Hitoshi snorts, plugging his earphones back in and tuning into the video playing on his laptop.
Two days pass in a flash and suddenly they're packing boxes into a moving van, about to leave. This is moving way too fast he thinks, hefting a large box of kitchen utensils into the van with a small grunt of effort, I bet mother has had all this planned and set up for weeks and used me dying soon as her excuse to act, sounds like something she'd do alright.
Once the last of the boxes are loaded and the van is driving away, Hitoshi and his mother start their journey too.
The drive is mostly silent apart from radio in the background and the few brief comments his mother decides to make and then suddenly, they've arrived.
The house itself is quite plain and doesn't seem to have been recently occupied either, Hitoshi finds himself quite pleased with it, even if it is in need of a clean. He leaves his mother to go sort out his room and unpack boxes, which really he considers is kind of a waste of time since he won't be here long enough to do anything with them.
Yuu saunters into his room after him, attempting to use his leg as a scratching post and rolling over into her back innocently when he pushes her away with a yelp, Hitoshi simply sighs used to her antics by now. He hangs his cat calendar up and barely stops himself from sighing again. During all the hustle and bustle of moving he hadn't even realised school was right around the corner. He didn't even know where he was attending yet either. He sends his mother a quick text asking, slumping onto his new mattress groaning. He receives a reply quicker than expected.
Mother:"U.A of course!"
Hitoshi frowns typing.
Me:"Isn't that one of those prestigious schools?"
Mother:"Yes! You did so well in your exams in your last school they offered you a scholarship! Isn't that exciting?"
Hitoshi's frown deepens
Me:"I guess, but won't this mean I have to work harder?"
Mother:"You already work hard it'll pretty much be the same thing for you!"
Me:"Well, ok"
"U.A typical that I get accepted into my dream school when I'm about to die isn't it?" Hitoshi asks aloud chuckling dryly.
Those two days go by faster than the last two, and suddenly he finds himself in front of a classroom reading 1A. He's not nervous so to say, more like hoping people won't ask to see his counter, it's frustrating when people pity him, he got enough of that back in his old school after his dad left. He takes a deep breath and knocks on the door.
A tired voice calls out "Enter," Hitoshi does so without so much as a flinch as the whole class turn to look at him in unison. He makes his way to the teacher situated at his desk who nods at him in acknowledgment.
"My name is Aizawa Shoto and I'll be your home room teacher this year, go and introduce yourself then," he says not looking very concerned at all who he is but more like he's forced to do this procedure. Probably is.
Hitoshi turns to the class of wide eyed students before him and nods slightly "Hello, my name is Shinsou Hitoshi and I just moved here recently. It's a pleasure to meet you all,"
Aizawa nods at him again "Sit in the back beside Todoroki," before continuing in a slightly louder voice "Todoroki, raise your hand,"
A boy his age with a flat expression, equally bored eyes and his hair half white and half red, along with a nasty looking scar across the right side of his face calmly raises his hand. Hitoshi makes his way towards him and nods at him once he's seated. Hitoshi practically feels the whole class buzzing with excitement around him and apparently so does Aizawa. The man sighs "Alright, for just this period since it would probably be a waste of time trying to get you lot settled, you can interrogate Shinsou,"
Shinsou frowns slightly before muttering aloud "Interrogate?"
The boy beside him 'Todoroki' as Aizawa had called, lips tug up at the corners slightly at his comment before returning to his neutral face.
The whole class turns towards him like a pack of wolfs and Shinsou can't help the sense of dread he feels building up in his stomach at the prospect of dealing with all these people at once. He lets out a small sigh something he seems to be doing a lot and prepares himself as much as he can for a fuckton of questions.