Moving things into the small house from the truck wasn't too bad as my two little angels zoom around me with small boxes in hand. We set everything in their corresponding rooms making everything feel so much more organized as we fill the house with the rest of our smaller belongings.
The moving van was emptied in due time with the help of the movers and my parents. The van leaves not long before noon giving us a break, so mother and I set the table with a light lunch for everyone.
"I always said you didn't have enough stuff, but boy did this move prove me wrong." Dad chuckles as he looks at the boxes.
"Hey, I remember when I was a one bag type of girl, but being a mom meant having to own more than I would alone." I look at my pale blonde-haired children as they eat their food. I love them so much. "Anyways, thank you both for your help. You're the best parents ever." Their eyes shine and they smile.
"Papa and Memaw are heroes." Small voices say in unison and we all agree.
"Ma, can you watch our angels? I need Souma's help with the last thing from the truck." Mom nods and we finish eating before I follow dad outside to his truck. He reaches the passenger door and sighs. "It's almost been four years, have you told him yet? Or do I have to go find him myself?"
I stiffen at his words, looking away from him as he turns to face me with the same expression of frustration, he was always making it at the thought of what I was doing to my children and their father.
"I plan to try again soon, just haven't met him on any missions." I tell him and he huffs.
"You know where he lives, just wait for him to show up. Don't understand the fight you two had, but life is too short to stay mad at someone you love." He pops the door open and I stare at the black machine almost as tall as my kids.
Hand pressed to my mouth to suppress the quivering but blinking away the tears was impossible as if the dam inside had opened.
He waits with me in silence as I cry into my hands and he just rubs circles in the center of my back to comfort me.
"Pa," I whisper, and he hums in response. "I hate myself."
"Why?" His voice filled with concern as I wipe at my eyes, trying to bring my breathing back to normal.
"I know I overreacted back then, but every time I built the courage to face him something got in my way, but even without those all I see is the hurt in his eyes despite the mad expression he had on." I sit on the seat beside the machine and rest my head in my hands. "I just. . . I need more time."
"They're not going to stay kids forever." He tells me and I nod. "How long can they believe that their father is away at work?" I look at him and sniffle as I rub away the left behind tears.
"I'll tell him soon." He raises a brow and I sigh. "I swear that I will go out there and hunt him down on my next day off."
"Good, now let's get this inside before they come hunt us down." I nod and we take it inside, it wasn't too heavy, but it had a box of things for it, so we found them a home in the living room.
"What's that?!" They ask as they walk around it and run my fingers over the faded peeling grenade sticker.
"It's a karaoke machine," I explain, and they look at it in wonder. "It's for singing," I tell them and their eyes sparkle.
"Let's plug it in and see if it works. It's been put away for a few years after all." Mom urges, so we hook it up and it lights right up.
What was the start of this all? How had I wound here?
I think it was because of a few yen.
Heh, if I could go back, I still wouldn't change a thing.
11 ½ years ago
The bell signals the coming rush of students from other schools coming in and I had just punched in to help with the after-school rush. They came in groups mostly only a few came in alone.
Former schoolmates come in and they share those whispers upon seeing me before grabbing snacks and coming up to pay.
Most people who come in are respectable, some are loud, yet it was the rude ones that irked me, but boy was it the would-be thieves that I loved.
"What is this?" The older man asks, and I smile.
"Your total, sir." I respond, and he looks at the candy bar and back up at the price. "What kind of store
you runnin' charging 18.67 for a candy?" I look at it then up at him.
"Sir, that's a terrible way to run a business, the candy bar is 1.50 like the sale sticker stated, it's the bottle of alcohol in your back pocket, that plus the tax." I bat my lashes and the guy goes to open his mouth when the bottle is yanked out of his pocket and tossed to me.
"Either pay for the alcohol or get out of the store old man." I look over at the customer behind him, he was the grumpy faced kid who always came in with his two louder hooligan friends.
Either too mad or too embarrassed by being caught by children he leaves the store with a slew of curses.
"Thank you for your visit, please come again," I say what my parents scolded into me. "Preferably with money." I tap the counter and look at the next group as they all sit their snacks and drinks on the counter. "Thanks for that," I tell Grumpy as I separate the items based on the boy. "All together?" I ask.
"He was just going to argue and hold up the line and I didn't feel like waiting." I understand that. "Also, separate." I take the first items and scan them through before the other kid pays up and as I move to scan the others guy, who was fidgeting, and I knew why.
"I didn't get my allowance this week, think you can cover me, Bakugou?" I perk my brow and wait as he looks to his friend all mad.
"The hell you wait till now to say something?!" I try not to laugh as I rest my fist against my hip.
"Fairly certain he doesn't want to pay for all the snacks stuffed in your pockets either." I look at him drain of color and Grumpy ignites. He chews his friend a new one as he takes the snacks the boy put on the counter off and shoves him away.
"You think he just hears your scream or actually understands what you're trying to tell him?" I ask, and he huffs.
"I don't fucking know, probably goes through one ear and out the other one!" I scan his things and shoot a look over his shoulder.
"Put it all back or I'll have you slapped with shoplifting, blacklisted from the store and sadly your dreams of becoming any kind of hero will go bye bye." I never take my eyes off him and he swallows hard and pulls the last two from his coat. "Neatly, please." I add as he tosses them in the boxes.
"Shit." I look at Grumpy who had been called Bakugou and down at the money in his hands. "I'm short." He says and points to the beverage. "Just that." I accept his money and he turns to leave.
"Catch," I call out and he looks back in time to catch the snack. "On me, keep your friend out of trouble." He smirks and gives me a nod before dragging his friends out of the store. I watch him go before another customer comes in and I snap back into work mode.
After that day he came more often after school, on errands for his parents, but rarely after 7 and if I saw him, he seemed twice as grumpy.
When we finally started talking, we spoke about a lot of things: friends, family, goals, and random things when we wanted to avoid a subject.
But it felt like the days went by so fast, so when it came time to apply to high schools, I had to decide on one closer to home, but I faced the grueling entrance exams undaunted and came out triumphant.
Not bad for one such as myself, but that meant, we had to hire someone to replace me.
When my last day came and he walks into the store, he was in a heavenly mood.
"Hey, you," I call out to him as he eyes the shelves and I walk over to him as he gives a nod of acknowledgment. "You get in?" I ask, and he raises a brow at me. "To Yuuei, you mentioned you were taking the entrance exam." He seems to think back then nods.
"I got in, but that's no big surprise." He debates a while longer at the selections we provided at the store. "Did you get in," I look over slightly shocked, "Uh, to the high school you wanted?" I try to suppress the grin trying to form.
"Yeah, I got in." I look up at the food then back at him and grin. "Pick whatever you want, my treat tonight." I say and he looks at me again.
"What for?" He raises a brow, and I shrug.
"Take it as a congratulation for getting into one of the top hero schools. . . and a goodbye gift." We grab some things and head up to the cashier to pay.
"Why a goodbye gift?" He asks and I smile as I hand him back his stuff.
"Well, I was originally going to apply to schools around here, but my mom got into an accident and dad could use the help at the main shop and the house, so I decided to apply closer to home." He gives an understanding nod.
"Can I ask what brought you here?" He inquires.
"Nothing I'm proud of, but I got into it with another student and they got hurt." I open my snack and purse my lips at the thought. "In my defense, he was a huge bully to those who had lesser quirks or none at all." I huff and look at him. "He told a friend of mine to off himself, so I hunted him down at lunch. I mean everyone knew he ate with his friends on the rooftop and so I found him easily before I beat him up."
"Why did you have to leave?" He had this look in his eyes that stayed locked on the food before him.
"I," I lower my eyes to my hands. "I wanted to scare him, so I dragged him to the ledge and told him what he told my friend, I mean I grabbed him after he jumped but, the fact that I instigated it got me kicked out." I sadly became what I was trying to fight.
"Remind me never to piss you off." He jests and I give a playful glare, something I had done a lot in this past year anytime we spoke.
"With a mind like yours, you won't forget." I compliment him as a flash draws my eyes to the teen on the other side of the window and I slam my palm against the glass. "Delete it or I'll break your phone."
He is startled and takes off running. "Some people." I grumble as I jump to my feet, intent on the pursuit.
"No point, they're all like that now." He sighs, almost exhausted at the attention he got because of the incident a while back. "Can't let fucking extras ruin my day." He grumbles and I felt laughter bubble out.
"I'm sorry, don't mean to laugh or anything, but extras?" I turn to face him, in all this time I have never heard him say that. "Like side characters?"
He returns to that scowl he might have been born with, "Tsk. Obviously."
I shake my head at his answer like I knew he was an 'All-about-me' type of person but he used it like armor, I understood that.
"Can I audition for a better role?" I ask him and rest my chin in my palm. "Being an 'Extra' in your life doesn't sound fun. Like watching fireworks in a video." He then let out an actual, genuine chuckle, as if no one dared to ask for such an outrageous thing.
"I'll bite," He says and copies me as he rests his chin into his hand. "You only get one question."
"I only have one answer." I lock eyes with him, almost as though I am challenging him, and I brace.
"Why didn't you ask about it like everyone else?"
The question threw me, and I press my lips together, "Non-sugarcoated truth," I admit. "I assumed you didn't want to talk about it. If you had, you would have brought it up when you came for tea or milk… or those nights where you walked here because you just couldn't sleep."
I had never seen such a dead stare or felt a wall shoot up faster than I had in that very moment, it is as though I had stepped on a landmine with my own words. I lower my eyes in his silence and look out the window.
"I'm grateful though," I add as I recall the events of that day, "I was terrified when the news showed the video of the attack. I was concerned for the person at first asking myself why the heroes weren't doing anything despite this person fighting for their life." I close my eyes, recalling the footage.
"There was this moment where I saw your eyes and I knew in my gut it was you." I look over at him and smile as I ramble. "In the short time I knew you, I knew you would fight it, but I was so happy when that crazy kid ran out to you. It was like the world found motion again and when All Might appeared, I could breathe." I felt my hand clench over my chest and realized I had involuntarily moved.
"You're strange." He says as he rises to his feet and walks into the candy aisle.
"I know." I whisper to myself before standing and walking over to the trash can off to the side to dispose of my trash. Heading to the front where he finishes paying at the cash register, I wave goodbye to Mrs. Saito.
"You have a safe trip home now." She tells us both and I head out the door so I can grab the last bag from upstairs.
"Hey," He calls, I look back at my favorite customer for the last time. "Catch."
I do just that as he throws something to me, "Ima be honest, I don't remember your name, but I do remember that you like that gum."
I look down at it and smile, "I don't remember telling you my name." I smirk as I slide the gum into my sweater pocket. "But I'll tell you next time."
He smirks at my response and starts to walk away. "Hey, Main Character!" This time he looks back at me. "Do this world a favor and become a great hero." I take a few steps away from him. "See you around, Stranger."
I head up the stairs and fetch my bag before locking up and making my way for the last train out of the city and back home.
The train would get there late so I put in my headphones and hit play on my music. The sound fills my ears and I look out at the passing city before I stuff my hands into my pockets. I furrow my brow, I pull out the packet of gum and I roll it in my fingers for a moment when I notice words.
I twist it and read over the black words before my face flushes and I find myself feeling victorious.
"Mama!" My eyes shoot open at the voices and I sit up to look at the two small kids yawning before climbing into bed with me.
"Good morning my loves. Sorry mama overslept, who wants to watch the news? I'm certain your favorite hero made the news again."
They both seem to brighten up before jumping off the bed and racing into the living room. I follow soon after and turn on the tv as I make my way to preparing their food.
My eyes look toward the television as images cross and the kids cheer as the heroes flash across the screen, reporters surround one imparticular as he makes his way through the crowd. My eyes drift to the small collage of written messages I had framed ages ago the very center read:
You Pass.
