Disclaimer: I do not own One Punch Man. I only own my OC and my story plots.
Hemp
Chapter 2:
Coloured Lights
Scanning the area for an adult, I finally found a caretaker who had just entered the playroom and I ran towards her. I reached out to tug at her knee-length skirt to get her attention, when she turned around and saw me, she quickly slapped my hands away and moved back from me with wide eyes. I blinked in confusion, but decided to ask the weird behaviour later. "I need to use the bathroom."
"J- Just stay away." She managed to get out, making shooing motions with her hands before turning away from me.
I tilted my head to the side. '...What's up with her?'
I asked another adult to let me out, but still they acted like they did not hear me and just left, all looking as if they've just seen a ghost. In the end, I let myself out of the room and went to the bathroom.
Adults are weird.
"Go away!"
"I don't like you!"
"Stay away from me!"
"Leave me alone!" A little boy ran off with tears brimming in his eyes, leaving me all by myself in the orphanage playground. I frowned at their disappearing backs.
Everyone started to avoid me out of the blue, be it the caretakers, other children my age or the prospective parents, everyone just kept their distance. If I went outside to play, all of them retreated inside. If I went inside, they went outside, unless it's raining, but then, they'd all still give me a wide berth.
I hadn't had the slightest clue as to why they avoided me like the plague. 'Maybe they'll talk to me again if I give them some time.' I shrugged, picking up a ball and proceeded to entertain myself. Bounce, catch, bounce, catch, repeat.
I found myself back at my lonesome seat next to the window, watching the colourful world outside. Appreciating my solitude.
In the background, chorus of laughter resounded through the air as the children played tag and whatnot with each other. Nursery songs were sang as the caretakers played on the old piano, adding on to the joyous atmosphere. Prospective parents looked over some of the children, a smile splayed on their faces. However, none of them ever so much as spare a glance in my direction.
I stopped trying to play with my reluctant peers and I kept my distance from the caretakers. I have thought that, if I don't engage myself with them, they won't give me that fearful look. ...I wasn't wrong, but I wasn't quite right either. They did not give me that look only because I didn't turn around to see it.
My lips pursed together, nearly burning a hole through the window glass. I could see all of their expressions and what they're doing upon the smooth and reflective surface, it's a two way lookout.
I moved to the right as a ball bounced harmlessly onto the window and back, almost immediately, the room fell into an uncomfortable silence. The girl who had accidentally threw ball in my direction looked like she was ready to cry. I spared them a bored glance before turning back to the window, smirking triumphantly. I saw them nearly let out a sigh of relief.
That autumn I turned six.
I squinted my eyes at a small bobbing light floating in the air. 'Is that a firefly?'
It hovered around a girl with pigtails, never moving away, following her wherever she went. It's not just one. There's a few more around her, and all of those are of the exact same colour, indigo.
The brunette chanced a nervous glance at me, met my gaze, squeaked and ran off.
...Perhaps I shouldn't have stared so hard at her.
The entire city was infested with coloured fireflies this winter. Everywhere I look and went to, they are always around. The only odd thing about them is that when I took a closer look, I realised that they don't have a body, they are just that, small floating lights that changes colours from time to time.
'Maybe it's a new species of friendly fireflies.' I concluded, seeing as how no one reacted too badly at them. Hence, I brushed them off as a normal occurrence and ignored them.
'Can't be right.' I frowned at the window, not wanting a repeat of scaring another person behind me with my stare. 'What are those things?'
Early this afternoon, I finally gave in to my curiosity and asked one of the older boys what kind of firefly species that's floating around him. After getting over the initial scare of being singled out by me, he gave me an odd look saying that there's no fireflies around him.
Then it was my turn to give him an odd look. But instead of asking any further, I just nodded and dropped the subject, seeing that he was looking at his playmates and kept fidgeting on the spot.
I tested a few more times, asking a few more of the older kids, they at least react slightly better towards me than the adults. I realised that the reason why no one made a big deal out of those little lights was because no one could see them.
I started paying closer attention to those lights, and after nearly two months of taking down mental notes, I finally found one plausible connection.
The lights are actually the reflection people's emotions.
I came up with that speculation when I noticed a few reoccurring scenes. Whenever one of my peers was throwing a tantrum, the "fireflies" around him or her always turn red. There was also that time when their building blocks collapsed because someone else knocked it over, the lights around them turn blue, and then, they start to wail hysterically.
When I was people-watching, I noticed that pink lights were usually seen around couples and families. I'm guessing it represents love or harmony, while orange and yellow are usually accompanied with smiles and laughter.
There were two more colours that are commonly spotted together around the same time, they are indigo and black. The civilians all had indigo lights when they are running from the mysterious beings, screaming in fear. While the monsters... have black.
This lead me to another realisation, the lights on everyone turns indigo whenever I'm near them.
...
A slight stinging sensation erupted within my chest. 'I wonder what made them feel that way...'
I sighed through my nose, left arm propped up on the window sill, head resting on my palm. The sky seems to be throwing a gloomy fest, flooding the streets with gallons upon gallons of rain water for the past few days. The sun didn't show itself much either, plunging the world in a near constant greyish atmosphere. Since it's pouring, we couldn't go out to play, hence, we're all stuck indoors, bored out of our minds.
I turned around to stare at the indigo lights of a boy playing building bricks on the floor a little further away. '...If the colour was orange or yellow, he shouldn't feel inclined to stay away... right?'
I blinked, feeling my body temperature rising slightly, and to my surprise, all of the lights around him changed to the colour I had desired.
He looked up at me and even gave a shy smile and a wave. Stunned, I slowly waved back on reflex.
That rainy day, I played building bricks with him. It was a kind of fun I hadn't had the chance to experience in the last three years.
Present time. City Z.
"Thank you for shopping with us. Have a nice day." I gave a polite smile as I saw the last customers off, who left with a content expression on their faces.
I sighed a little. 'My face hurts... Even though my smile isn't all that big.' If I smile too wide, it looks fake, not to mention super creepy, and also, I'll have sore facial muscles till the next day. Rubbing my cheeks, I headed to the front of the small boutique shop and flipped over the "Open" sign to "Closed".
Once I'm done sweeping the floor, I grabbed my stuff from the backroom, waved goodbye to my coworker who was counting the money at the cash register. "I'm going off now."
She waved back distractedly, not looking up from her work. "Sure, sure. Safe trip."
I exited the shop and was immediately greeted with silence, a cool breeze brushing by. Night had fallen just a few minutes ago, but the streets was almost bare of any signs of life. It was common, after all, no one wants to encounter a Monster after sunset when it's dark.
I briskly walked along the pavement towards my bicycle, eager to get back to my apartment. I unlocked the chain, chucking the lock in the basket and kicked up the kickstand. Cycling through the streets, I glanced up at the distant crescent moon glowing in the night sky, smiling happily to myself. 'Tomorrow's my day off.'
I've landed a job as a sales assistant at this boutique a couple months ago. Even though my social skills are questionable at times and people usually tend to avoid coming within five feet of me, however, when it comes to a job, I made myself approachable. It wasn't that hard considering I can control how people feel towards me. If they are in a good mood, they'll tend to be friendly and more willing to listen.
I have a slightly better understanding of my abilities now. I can see small hovering lights that symbolises what people are feeling, but my "default mode" per say, was to repel everyone, automatically making anyone around me to involuntary feel that they should stay away, protecting myself.
When I started working, I saw more and more different kinds of colours surrounding different people everyday. There were even shades of it. I've come to learn that emotions are a complicated thing. They can affect the people around them, plus more than one emotion can be felt at the same time, making a spectrum of coloured lights to hover around people.
So far, there is one person who has a special coloured light that I have not seen on any other person before. The colour is silver, and the one possessing that colour... is that man.
I did a spit take. My eyes glued to the television screen as the News broadcasted yet another attack of mysterious beings in City Z yesterday in the dead of the night. My eye twitched at the screen as it showed the boutique store I worked at and the surrounding shops in pieces.
'...Urgh. There goes another workplace. That's the second time in a row this year.' I brought a hand to my face, dragging it down in exasperation. 'This year is not going too well.' I let out a sigh. "Well, here comes another extended vacation... until I found another job."
OMAKE:
I hummed to myself, a smile on my lips, both hands full of groceries and other necessities. 'Maybe I'll eat Ramen tonight. It's been awhile since I had it.'
I blinked, stopping in my tracks. Across the street was a... gigantic bear? No, it's tail is wayyy too long and bushy. It was pawing at the ground with sharp claws, as if trying to find something. '...A mysterious being? Urgh, and my house is almost within reach as well.'
Keeping my comments to myself, I started to backtrack as quietly and quickly as humanly possible, that is, until I kicked a stray rock lying on the pavement. 'Damnit.'
It's round ears perked up at the small noise and the creature's head turned around. I held back a cringe. 'It's a rabid squirrel from hell, no doubt about it.'
Glowing vermillion beady eyes and a mouthful of razor sharp fangs dripping with saliva graced my sight, and it's smiling like it had just found a tasty snack. Just wonderful.
It took one step towards me, then another, and it was dashing straight towards me at full speed. I scowled, body temperature rising as I willed the lights around it to turn indigo. The squirrel monster skidded to a halt just before it could collide into me, ears flat against it's skull and eyes wide with fear. The lights around it turned darker and a pathetic squeak left it's mouth before it scrambled back and fled the area.
I sighed. Even if I have this ability to scare away the monsters doesn't mean I won't feel afraid too. There's also the threat of awakening their fight or flight instincts... If they choose to fight, then I'm pretty much screwed. I continued down the street towards my apartment.
Little did I know that had I just taken the initiative to look behind, I would have seen my only neighbour with his own groceries in hand, smack dab in the middle of the street, having just witnessed an odd scene.
Author's note:
Wow. I mean, like WOW. I was not expecting this many readers in less than a month. 12 Favourites and 20 Follows! Thank you very much for giving this story a shot and I'm glad you guys liked it! X3
Here's a little insight of my character's powers. I hope it isn't very confusing. ^^" Thank you for reading and I hope you've enjoyed it! Cheers! X3
~kirakira_bluemoon
