Chapter 1 : Newcomer's Arrival : Part 1…
Memories have strange and unknown origins sometimes. One minute you'll remember something completely pointless and irrelevant to whatever it was you were doing beforehand, then you'll get distinct descriptions from your brain about something you saw or heard as a young child the next, this happens to me more often than not, whether I liked it or not. No matter how I thought about it, it always came back to me with the same results, A girl, the color green, and resemblance to a part of Japan, although I can't remember exactly where.
I've been told that I was in Japan for about a year with my father, but that was when I was about 4 or 5, so I can't pick up a trace of what exactly happened during my stay there, but I'm sure it must've been a wonderful place for someone like me at the time.
For the about two years now, I've been curious to what these messages and images in my brain meant, and now I believe I might get my chance. "Come again Mom? I just want to make sure I heard you correctly." I hesitated towards my mother, Amber Dillard.
She sighs, then begins to repeat what she said. "What I said is that a school in Japan is interested in your quirk. You have wanted to go there for a while now ever since I told you, haven't you?"
"Yeah, I just wasn't expecting it to be this soon. I just thought it wouldn't be for a good couple of years until I became a hero myself. I barely had the opportunity to practice my power outside of school, and to be completely honest, I had a different reason for going there in the first place."
"Oh? And what would that be?" She asked. I didn't want to tell her cause she'd tell me who that girl was instantly. I know it sounds like a stupid reason for avoiding a question, but I feel like it would be better if I found out by surprise.
"Well...I want to check out the outstanding landmarks, I hear they're one of the best in the world." I fibbed.
For the next few weeks, My family did what they could to make whatever funds possible in order for me to attend at this school, apparently it's simply called "U.A Academy," for all I know, it could be a school specialized for the quirks able to fight crime, or it could just be another institution that experiments on individual quirks as well as regular school activities like Homecoming and such. Either way, I was going to go back to Japan.
After the past month, My mom made enough money for me, her, and my brother, Jayden, to make it to the other side of the world, we then said our goodbyes to our friends, coworkers and bosses. Once that past, we were finally ready to make our new lives a reality and started to pack our belongings, we arrived at the airport and started looking for our flight. While we were walking, I got curious and asked Mom "What part of Japan are we going to anyway?"
"Musutafu. Ironically, it was the same place we lived in before we came back to America. Who knows, maybe we'll find our old place along the way." She pondered. It's a nice thought but I wouldn't count on it personally, it's been so long that it could have possibly been demolished by a demolition crew or something.
Anyways, after a hour or so, the plane arrived and we got on as soon as we could. I'll say, this was my second time taking flight, first time coming to Alabama from Florida, and it feels just as refreshing as the first. The seat cushions, the rear window looking out to the sky, the peanuts provided by the flight attendants, I sometimes wish it could never end. Once we finally got settled in our seats, the usual instructions for plane safety were said over the intercom and as ordered, we followed it. After that, I got my package of peanuts and a cup of water offered by the attendants, then I turned on my tablet to watch some anime I downloaded in preparation, it was going to be about 16 hours until we arrived in Japan so I had some time on my hands.
Once the 4 hour mark hit, my arms and legs started to feel numb, and I started to yawn.
"You getting tired Kamren? You look a bit stiff." asked my ever so curious step-brother, Jayden.
"Me? Yeah...a little bit, I just might head off to sleep."
"Alright, I'll let you know if something comes up."
I nod my head and started to doze off into the world of dreams, ready for my mind's games. First comes a serene field of grass and flowers, the touch feels identical to it's real counterpart, the air breezing across my skin is fresh,the pollen from the flowers is heavenly in all its glory, and yet…why does it all feel so familiar?
A voice calls to me, a girl's voice specifically. She says "Remember...Kamren," in a echoey tone, looping itself repeatedly.
"Who are you? Remember what?" I ask the anonymous voice, but all I get is the same response, that message. Suddenly, someone is revealed in the distance, it's blurred sure, but it's a person for certain.
"Hey, wait up!" I tell the figure as I run towards it, but it fades away as I get close enough.
"Damn...Almost had it that time." I spoke aloud. This has never happened before in any of my previous dreams, at least the ones I remember having, anyway. Either this meant I was closer to finding her, or my mind wanted to mess with me for some unexplained reason, but as far as I'm concerned, I'm convinced in believing the latter.
It all goes quiet after that, no return of the figure or the voice, just me and my lonesome inside my dreams. Then, I hear a male voice calling out to me, I'd figure it must be my brother trying to wake me up, didn't think so much time would pass during your dreams, guess that's why I barely remember them on the first place. I use the old pinch yourself technique and I wake up to a happy, orange haired brother telling me to get up, I look out to the window next to me and it appears that we've made it to the other airport, what a relief.
The three of us headed out the plane and into the place to pick up our luggage, after that, we paid for a rental car and rode through the city to explore our new home. As we looked around, I noticed some footage on a humongous tv screen on a building showing a muscular man in some superhero outfit, his hair was blonde, his eyes pupil-less and facial expressions incredibly bizarre. There was only one man in the world who could fit that expression.
"All Might!? What's he doing here!?" I shouted
"Oh? I thought you knew that All Might protects this city, you are a fanboy aren't you?" Mom answered.
"Yeah! I mean, who wouldn't be? He has amazing powers and risks his life everyday just for the safety of his people. Anyone that can do that gets my respect full time." I respond to her question.
I've been following his adventures on the other side of the planet for God knows how long, after seeing him smile on his path to victory and fame, I became a instant fan. Through the years, I've been following every article that had his face, covers of his fights and interviews with the symbol himself, however...he has retired due to his recent fight, a fight that took all of his power to win.
Ever since the world lost its hero, many have been given the chance to be the next greatest hero, but I on the other hand have different goals, I only hope to be a great inspiration to others as he has been for me, even if I'm not widely known by other heroes. That is my dream.
"I'm sure you'll be able to meet a bunch of upcoming heroes once you get to school."
"I can only hope to imagine, Mom." I say, smiling up at the beautiful, blue sky.
A couple of minutes later, we arrived at our new house, at least the one I'll be living in at the moment. From what the school has told my mom, I'll be living in dorms with my classmates, so I'll be moving whatever stuff I can carry to U.S.A, for the time being, I'm stuck to sleeping on the floor till tomorrow.
In my room, I take my time watching the recently ended sports festival, I didn't have time to watch them live so I downloaded the stream on my laptop to watch offline just in case internet goes out. So far I'm in the quarter finals, and it's a matchup against classmates of "Class 1A", if I remember correctly. Ochaco Uraraka, a girl who can levitate anyone or thing with the palms of her fingertips, versus Katsuki Bakugo, a boy whose explosive on both his quirk and temper.
At the beginning of the fight, Ochaco ran towards Bakugo at above-average speeds, but she was blown away each time she attempted to use her quirk on him to send him out of bounds. Everytime she lunged, he exploded, she got back up, rinse and repeat, I on the other hand felt like turning it off. Her pretty face getting burnt marks from the explosions, as well as the rest of her body. She almost had him with the shirt decoy, but that went to no avail, and even so she didn't hesitate to dash again each time she got up.
The crowd boos relentlessly, I wanting to join them. Then one of the judges, Eraserhead, calls out the crowd for their "selfishness and inability to attention to detail," I'll say that while he isn't wrong in some regard, Bakugo should have gone a bit easier on her, it makes him look a hit villainous in contrast. While no one, Ochaco did say something to her opponent that caught me off-guard.
"I think it's about time." she hinted.
I was scratching my head at this, I was completely confused with what she meant, that was until this happened.
"Thank you Bakugo...for keeping your eyes focused on me."
Ochaco closed off as her fingertips connected to each hand. Suddenly from above the arena, rocks of a variety of sizes fall on the both of them. That's when it hit me, everytime a explosion hit the ground, she hid in the ashes and used her quirk on the flying arena debris, making them float above the arena, since the ashes covered his line of sight, he couldn't see them float, he would have blew them up otherwise.
"Nice! Way to go Ochaco!" I cheered.
I know by now it already passed, but I was glad nonetheless, the falling arena shards should be enough to keep Bakugou distracted long enough for Ochaco to land her hands on him. It was all over...that was what I foolishly thought.
As she took her chance to strike, Bakugo lifted his right hand, opened it wide, and a huge explosion covered the air, destroying all the debris in sight. I… I couldn't believe what I was seeing, it didn't matter if she could pull it off, it was entirely useless.
"N… No way… did that just happen?" I stuttered.
Ochaco fell back, her face ill-struck with emotionless expressions, like everyone else, she must've been unimaginably broken inside. She was the only one in those shoes with that feeling inside her, and I can understand why. Meeting defeat is never easy, but it's something we all come to at some point, this being no exception.
Even after all of that, she refuses to stand down. She gets back up on her feet, wanting to continue the fight.
"Ochaco...please stand down." I pleaded. It was hopeless since it already happened about a month ago, I know, but it means nothing to me now, I just want this to end.
As Ochaco begins to run again, she trips on herself and falls like a corpse hitting the floor. The arena goes silent, except for the low-audible cries of the fallen heroine in training, it makes me want to shed tears as well. I don't know about anyone else, but I saw something in her face that told me she was troubled for another reason, I can't tell what, but it was there somehow.
After the fight, she was transported to a nurse and the fights continued as expected. Disgustingly, Bakugo came in first place, with Shoto Todoroki, son of Endeavor, coming in second place, and Fumikage Tokoyami, who's quirk brings out a shadowy monster who resembles him facewise, coming in third place. Oddly enough they all came from Class 1A, even some of the runners up came from that class, I'm quite fascinated.
The Festival stream was over, and although it was enjoyable to watch for the most part, I can't get the image of Ochaco's crying face out of my head. I tried watching cute cat videos, staring at my blank, default-colored wall, and other means I could attempt, but no matter what I choose, nothing comes close to even wiping the surface of her face away. I feel horrible on how Bakugo treated Ochaco, if only I could hug her right now.
It's been hours since I watched the Ochaco vs Bakugo fight, and I still can't sleep with the image in my head, with her in my head, probably best if I don't think about too much, it'll only make it worse, if I worry more, I won't be able to think for tomorrow on my first day.
"Let's see, what else happened at the festival?" I thought to myself. Besides "that fight," there was another one that was particularly interesting, Shoto Todoroki vs Izuku Midoriya being that fight.
To state the previous, Shoto Todoroki is the son of Endeavor, a pro hero second only to the one and only All Might. Todoroki can not only produce heat and flames like his father, but he also can use ice to freeze his opponents, he tends to use his ice mainly while he rarely uses his flames. The right side of his body contains his ice part of the quirk while the left side has his warm part of the quirk
Izuku Midoriya is quite possibly my personal favorite due to the strangeness of his quirk and his seemingly strong spirit. His quirk allows him to produce a strong amount of power from his body, but at the cost of breaking his bones, his spirit and confidence is also fascinating, especially when he was talking to Todoroki in the fight.
During the fight, Izuku was saying something about Todoroki's quirk, mainly his flamed half.
"It's your quirk...Not his!" screamed Midoriya during his fight with Todoroki.
Something about that seems a tiny bit off, obviously Izuku is talking about the fire inherited by Endeavor, but it seems as if Todoroki didn't want to use his father's fire for a reason more than what most people think. Could it be possible that Endeavor and his son have some drama between them? I can't say for sure, but it's something to think about.
Another thing that caught me off-guard was Endeavor's sudden appearance near the end of the match, he was spouting quote on quote "encouragement" for Todoroki when he finally unleashed the fire within him, something about "The reason why I created you." or something along those lines.
Lastly, something about Izuku using all his fingers to use his quirk and even using them more than once, bleeding profusely, is intriguing and heroic, he'd be willing to sacrifice his left hand just to gain victory, It could seem idiotic in other eyes, and I could see why, you can't use that type of power and not expect to need healing afterwards. On the other hand however, if in a real situation where he'd be against a strong villain, he'd be truly heroic in the eyes of others, sacrificing his own body just to protect citizens.
Thinking more about the fight, I took notice that the image from the Ochaco vs Bakugo fight seemed to fade away. I smiled in relief and said to myself
"Looks like I'll be sleeping a bit better tonight."
