Far Too Young to Die: Whether Near or Far
A/N: Hello everyone! All Might is my favorite BNHA character and I thought he deserved a little love. I hope you all like Elizabeth. She is my baby.
The sun was shining. The weather was warm. Nothing could go wrong. At least that was what I had thought.
Musustafu's Happy Days Kindergarten allowed the caretakers to take their children to the local park at least once a month, allowing children to explore and gain social skills outside of the daycare. All fifteen children were dressed in their uniforms and ready to play. My co-worker and friend, Takahashi Hana, nodded to me and I clapped my hands together loudly to get the children's attention.
"Alright children!" I exclaimed. "Before we play, does everyone remember the rules?"
Several tiny, chubby hands flashed into the air, eagerness on their faces. I smiled and picked the littlest child who was standing on their tiptoes to get my attention.
"Stay where you can see us!" He shouted.
I nodded and pointed to the next child.
"Play nice!" She said.
Nodding again I gestured to another girl.
"Don't talk to strangers?" She questioned.
"Right!" I replied and pointed to another boy.
"Stay away from the road." He said gravely.
I nodded and smiled widely.
"Good job remembering the rules everyone! You may go play now!"
The children squealed in delight and rushed toward the sandbox, swings and play equipment. Thankfully it was a weekday and the only other people present were a few younger children and their mothers. The small play area was part of a larger park, which we had to keep a close eye on the children to make sure they did not wander off.
I pushed my glasses back up my nose and joined the children by the swings, keeping the ones by the play equipment in my line of vision while Hana stood by the sandbox. It was supposed to be an uneventful playday. The weather was nice, the children were behaving, no quirk mishaps. Everything was going as planned. It was my third outing as the head of this class and each time I took care to keep a watchful eye on each student.
Many parents had not trusted me to teach their children with traditional Japanese upbringings, considering I was from America and had only lived in Japan for a few years while I finished up my education to be a pre-education teacher. Of course, I couldn't blame them. I was considered tall for a woman here, coming in about 170 centimeters. My hair was naturally a shocking strawberry blonde color and my eyes vivid green. I did not look the part of a traditional Japanese pre-school teacher. Many were even skeptical of my glasses, claiming I could not keep a close enough watch on the children if I had poor eyesight. I let those comments slide, though many of my other co-workers wore glasses as well.
So, I hid beneath plain blouses, knee-length skirts, and the mandatory Happy Days apron. Dressing plainly and adopting Japanese manners garnered a bit more trust and I was eventually trusted to take over a classroom of children, and eventually take them out on an outing. Especially when the teachers found out about my quirk. The child of an important family scraped their knee while rushing to their mother when she came to pick him up. He was inconsolable and would not stop crying, no matter what the mother tried. Timidly, because this was one of the parents who had given me trouble before, I asked if I could see him. She looked at me skeptically then handed him to me. I asked if he wanted to see a magic trick and when he nodded, I placed my hand on his knee. When I removed my hand, the scrape was gone. He was astounded.
By law, teachers only have to reveal their quirks if they are a danger to students or faculty. The government obviously has that information documented and it must be on the resumé, but because my quirk is a healing quirk, I never had to reveal it to the parents. After it was revealed though, many parents became much more accepting of me. And I was not about to let their good opinion of me slip. Not today.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw one of the children chase their ball toward the direction of the street and before I could call out to them, they had toddled into the road and picked up the ball. My mind seemed to process everything in slow motion. A car sped around the curve and was headed straight toward the him. His name was Touma. A cute little boy with a water quirk. My heart pounded in my chest as I watched. The children screamed to their friend to get out of the road. He didn't hear them. He was rooted to the spot, unable to move out of fear.
"Hana-san!" I shouted to my co-worker.
I hoped to catch her attention before running to bring the child back to safety.
"Children!" I yelled. "Stay where you are!"
I sprinted towards the street as fast as I could. The driver was not paying attention to the road and did not see the child. As the car sped closer, I reached my student and wrapped myself around him, trying to scramble out of the street. But I didn't make it. Something hit me hard and sent me and Touma flying toward the sidewalk. But it didn't hurt as bad as I thought it would. I landed on my side, my body curled around Touma. Sobs erupted from him, but I was too dazed to do anything. My glasses had flown off with the impact and there was a huge shadow looming over me. I stared up at it, thinking it was the car but when I squinted, it wasn't a car at all. It was man.
Then it hit me. He must have run from across the street and tackled Touma and I out of the path of the car, blocking both of us with his body. Speechless, I could only stare up at him. I couldn't make out a single feature. My ears were ringing. Then the man was gone and Touma was pulled from my arms. My co-worker, Hana, was calling my name softly but I couldn't make my body move, much less respond. A low groan escaped me as I felt myself lifted from the ground.
"Will she be okay?" I heard Hana ask.
"I'm not sure… I think she hit her head." An unfamiliar, low voice replied.
My head? Now that I thought about it, it throbbed. Badly.
"I can't believe that driver!" Hana exclaimed. "He just took off!"
"Touma-kun…" I groaned.
I felt a chubby hand on my cheek.
"I'm right here, Liza-sensei… I'm sorry I didn't follow the rules."
I looked toward the blur that was Touma and Hana.
"I forgive you," I croaked. "But this is why we follow the rules. I might not be there next time to save you."
Touma's blurry face gave a tiny nod and he patted my cheek again.
"Are you gonna be okay, Liza-sensei?" He asked softly.
I tried my best to nod, but it hurt.
"I will be in a minute." I told him.
Hana gestured to someone and I felt myself being carried over to the nearest bench. I could see my students surrounding it. Hana must have told them to stay there while she went to get Touma. Hana instructed me to be laid down on the bench and held something out to me. Gingerly, I held my hand out for the object. It was my glasses. I put them back on my face and felt of the frames. Other than a few scratches on the round lenses they seemed fine. The gold frames felt like they usually did when they sat on my face. I looked toward Hana and the kids and grinned the biggest grin I could.
"Its okay kids, because I am here!" I said in my cheesiest All Might impression.
Hana rolled her eyes as the children cheered, even little Touma.
"Yep, and worse for wear too." She chided, but only half-heartedly.
A cough at the foot of the bench caught my attention and I propped myself up on my elbows to see who it was. Standing near my feet was an extremely tall, gaunt man with hair like a lion's mane. I blushed slightly and managed to sit up properly.
"Did, uh… D-did you help us?" I asked timidly.
The man nodded with a noticeable flush across his stark cheekbones. Oddly, I found it rather charming.
"I must be going," he said. "But I wanted to make sure you were alright."
I nodded and smiled at him.
"I appear to only be dazed. My head doesn't hurt much."
"That's good to hear. You may want to get that checked out though."
"Oh, well my quirk is healing… I think I will be okay."
Comprehension lit up his astonishingly blue eyes and he smiled. He nodded to me, then Hana without another word before turning to leave. I scrambled off the bench, wobbling slightly. Hana helped prop me up.
"C-can I get your name?" I asked before he walked too far away.
He stopped and turned back toward me.
"My name?" Came his slightly astonished reply.
"Please?" I asked again.
"O-of course," He bowed, his bangs flopping unceremoniously. "My name is Yagi Toshinori"
Yagi Toshinori. That was a nice sounding name. I gave him a wide smile.
"Thank you, Yagi-san. I'm Elizabeth Pennington."
"You are most welcome, Pennington-san," Yagi Toshinori bowed again.
Hana coughed and my head whipped toward her. I had forgotten she had helped me up, and that she and the children were watching this probably very embarrassing scene.
"We should probably get the children back, Liza-san."
I nodded vigorously, turning back to wave to Yagi Toshinori before helping Hana round up the children to take back to Happy Days. I watched him walk away for a few seconds, wondering how such a frail looking man could have the speed and the strength to help me and a child out of the way of an oncoming car.
"He seems to be pretty strong," Hana said, echoing my thoughts. "I thought I saw muscles under that baggy suit of his."
I scoffed at her, gesturing to the children, but she pretended not to hear me.
"He was pretty handsome too."
This time a choking noise came from my throat and several children asked if I needed my back patted. Hana just grinned. At least the walk back to the daycare was uneventful. I didn't even lose my job.
"Are you sure?" All Might asked incredulously.
Recovery girl nodded, ignoring the younger hero's tone.
"This girl has promise. I have it from a confidant at the hospital near here. She volunteers there nearly every day."
All Might wrung his thin hands as he paced around Recovery Girl's office. Had she really found someone that could help restore his body? Could help him live longer? He thought back to the young woman he saved earlier. Elizabeth was her name. She had mimicked him to her students. He wanted to stay alive for people like her. She had been so reckless trying to save that child, and he had acted without thinking. But she had saved him. People like her deserved to have a Symbol of Peace protecting them. He wanted to be there just a little bit longer if he could. For her.
"Recovery Girl?" He asked.
"Yes?" She replied.
"Please, my time is not up."
"Of course it's not."
A/N: Here are my sources. I feel like should post things that I used in order to understand Japanese culture and BNHA better.
resource-room/japanese-preschools-kindergartens/
wiki/List_of_Characters
wiki/Toshinori_Yagi
wiki/U.A._High_School
I also use lyrics of songs in the titles sometimes, or song titles themselves. Usually these are what inspire my stories so I felt it appropriate to include them. My BNHA series is named after Panic! At the Disco's Too Weird To Live, Too Rare To Die album. This story features many song titles and lyrics from that album. I'm not claiming anything as my own.
I have also posted this on AO3 under the same pen-name, in case anyone finds it there and is concerned.
Please let me know what you think!