The weather had thankfully just begun to clear up right before the move back to school. Still dismal, the rain had lightened enough to allow the average umbrellas to be used. The tension relaxed in the Hoshino household, but she had continued to remain on edge. They tried to watch a movie, but he had been distracted by his blinking phone. They went grocery shopping together but the conversation had been stiff. Feeling awkward only made him feel more awkward, and then of course, as always, came that persistent guilt of her quirk effects. Kairi disappeared from the room he was in and instead chose to play games or talk with her friends, or any number of activities she typically did solo. Mr. Hoshino did speak once to repeat what Shoto had said – QuirKey did seem to raise a lot of ethical questions, but there didn't seem to be anything that trespassed the territory of the law. Naoko Hoshino asked her if she would like to know what those ethical disputes were but she refused any conversation, and returned to her room in the rainy weather. He drove her back to school. He gave her a hug, a kiss, and reminded her that no matter what he loved her. Kairi smiled softly at that before going back, and that was how things were left.
"He's just so tied up with work," she exhausted while Tsu and Momo stood around her desk. "His job has always been important but he's never been so... ignorant of my needs."
"It could have been the weather," Momo said. "Nobody is really happy about typhoon season except maybe photographers."
"Maybe he's just stressed because work has tripled since All Might's retirement," Tsu offered. Kairi nodded solemnly, tracing a finger in circles on the top of her desk.
"He said something like that," Kairi replied. "I thought the house would be easier this summer since my anxiety levels have been so much lower. I've been so much happier thanks to you guys and what with me being out of the house more, I haven't filled it with all my negative aura or whatever. But I guess that wasn't the case."
"That's just parents sometimes," Momo said. "Based on what you've said, this doesn't seem to be an issue often and I'm sure you'll get over it."
"Gooood morning ladies!" greeted the infamous purple haired perv as he slid into the room, proudly standing next to Kairi's desk. "I trust you had a good summer."
"It was fine," Momo said with squinting suspicion. Tsu crossed her arm and Kairi lined up her foot just in case she was in need of it.
"I enjoyed seeing the many posts you uploaded of the fun times you had this summer. I recall you all went to the beach?"
"Get to ever-so-witty quip about our anatomy, Mineta," Kairi growled, anger lying dormant but slowly opening one eye.
"I was just wondering; I'm sure there were far more pictures. Why deny the world all the fun you have had? There was a depressing shortage of beach photos. The concert looked like it was fun, but I think the rest of the class would enjoy seeing all the fun you had when you went swimming, maybe some of you made sandcastles or ran across the beach in your bathing suits." Kairi slowly raised her perfectly positioned foot.
"Before you continue any further with that comment, I would like you to turn your eyes to where my foot is positioned in accordance to you, Mineta." Worried eyes fell and then shook at the sight of her waiting foot pointed right at the center of his crotch. "How much fun do you think you would have with said pictures without, what I guess is your favorite body part?" Mineta quavered and yelp, darting behind the newly arrived Shoto who stood beside her desk.
"Um, hello?" he greeted.
"Todoroki, this girl is terrifying!" he whispered loudly. Kairi smirked and taunted with her waving foot. "How did you survive beach house this summer?"
"Because I didn't ask her to strip or try to touch her in anyway that she would have been uncomfortable with?" Shoto replied with a question that seemed to ask how that was hard to understand.
"How could you resist not to, have you seen the legs on that?!" He gasped, and looked straight at her face, seeing her narrowed eyes. "Todoroki, what did she look like in a swimsuit?!"
"Like a girl," he said, shrugging off the smaller boy.
"Yes, a girl and not a that," Kairi hissed. "Just a reminder that Shoto is much more of a friend to me than he is to you and will not shield my foot from slamming into your dick."
"Eep!' Mineta immediately scurried over to his desk and then whistled with comical innocence.
"It begins..." Momo groaned, taking a moment to notice the glowering eyes from the girls around her. "What?"
"How did he even see those pictures?" Tsu asked.
"Okay, yes, he and I follow each other on Instagram! I'm the vice class rep though, I have to keep tabs on him!" Kairi's hands clasped her own face.
"Why don't you just have your dad come in and give a lesson on sexual harassment?" Shoto suggested. "I mean, of course, you would hope some of that would be common sense but considering what I know of your dad, he would do it for free in a heartbeat if he knew he was harassing you and the other girls."
"I know he would, but then I become the girl that needs her daddy to protect her when I'm supposed to be a hero and half of this school already hates me to begin with, and then he decides to pull me out because he doesn't think I'm safe here..." she moaned, shaking her head. "No. He seems terrified by me enough when I threaten him, and Mr. Aizawa at the very least seems to be catching onto his ridiculousness."
"Did your dad look into that lab?"
"Yes, said he all looks legal and the only thing that could be brought into question was grey ethics and morals, but if everything follows the law, there's nothing that can be done."
"Was that the QuirKey thing you mentioned?" Momo asked.
"Yep, I remember you saying something about that," Tsu agreed. "It did seem pretty fishy."
"So we just have to wait to see what comes out of it," Shoto said. "It's not what I would prefer, but if that's how it is. Did you patch things up?"
"I mean, we're okay now but I don't know. Things feel a little hurt and he's still working too much." Mr. Aizawa entered the room and the remaining standing students scurried back into their desks. The last to leave her desk, Kairi's eyes followed Shoto to his seat while Aizawa began the morning announcements. Her stomach did a strange sort of flip when he took to his spot.
"I expect you all had adequate time to discuss your adventures over the summer," he began in his firm tone that expected them to listen up and refused to repeat himself if any of them missed. "And that you were also proactive in strengthening your abilities and getting your work done." From the far side of the room, Momo's hand shot up in her corner. "Yes, Yaoyarozu?" She stood from her seat in order to be better seen.
"Mr. Aizawa, have you heard about this new QuirKey Laboratories that popped up over the summer?"
"I have." Kairi's eyes popped to the front of the room.
"What is your stance on the ethics of it?"
"Wouldn't this be best reserved for your ethics class?"
"It would, but I'm curious about your thoughts." Aizawa groaned and took a minute after his sigh.
"Sit," he commanded, and she took her seat. "QuirKey Laboratories is like every other great advancement in science. In the beginning, people protested and said they were messing with something unnatural. Do a quick search online and you will find many things that are commonplace today that once used to be controversial, especially in the world of science. On the one hand, allowing people to choose their quirk could grant too much power and could cause more havoc and create villains. However, it also gives the quirkless an opportunity to have quirks, or for people to remove dangerous quirks. Or quirks that are detrimental to their health or others. By giving quirks to the quirkless, they could be helping with some of the mental health issues some of the quirkless face."
"Are they stupid?!" Bakugo scoffed, leaning back in his chair. "Some idiot could overpower himself with powerful quirks and do some major damage to people and the world! I'm not supporting that!"
"But maybe this could really help out those who feel useless because they don't have a quirk," replied Izuku thoughtfully.
"Yeah, maybe we could have some more heroic talent and the world could be a safer place!" Uraraka chimed in proudly.
"Then again, it could completely backfire," Iida added in. "As you said, the quirks could be used for the wrong reasons. And with people selecting their quirks instead of being born with them, the world could have too much of one kind of quirk and not enough of another."
"Yeah, and that could greatly upset the balance of jobs and professions and crash the economy," Momo said.
"But imagine the possibilities it could bring in!" said the seemingly empty uniform that belonged to Hagakure.
"A person with several, powerful quirks who is untrained could be disastrous," Shoto said from the back. Kairi's eyes darted out around with each answer, conflict churning her gut. Every response was a good point, and her subtle desire to check out QuirKey was shifting in being lowered and raised.
"These, and more are all valid questions," Aizawa said. "That's the issue; both sides are raising some very good points. This is not the first time something like this has happened in hero history, or even human history. I also think it's too new to really debate something like this. More research, developments, surveys need to be done. And of course, as tests are performed and field research is performed, the scientists will collect the data. As limits are discovered and further discoveries made, that's when the public and hero community will weigh in to discuss the potential benefits and disadvantages. From that point, if the science continues and is implemented, the hope is rules and restrictions will be placed to limit who can get quirks, the caveats, and the reasons for them. That's how all science and medical research is done. I cannot form an opinion on this at this moment, but I suspect this will be a rousing debate in your ethics class. I expect it will be at least a couple of years before it's even brought to the public." Aizawa turned his back to the class, and indication he was done with the class.
"Does that mean I could get x-ray vision?" Mineta said not too quietly in class. An audible groan could be heard from the females in class while Kairi tried to ignore him. Her attention went back to Shoto. Her heart thumped, painfully, and her face warmed.
"I think it could be a good thing," Momo answered as Kairi lowered her tray onto the table in the cafeteria. "It could do a lot of good."
"It could also do a lot of bad," Shoto answered, holding a pair of chopsticks over a mound of rice on his tray. "With so much freedom to choose a quirk, and being able to have more than one, no person should have that much power. What if a villain sought that out?"
"In time, I am sure the science will work out the kinks, decide that a person can only have so many quirks, and they will have to pass some sort of test to prove they are responsible for having certain quirks," Iida answered before sipping some of his broth in his soup.
"That could help things," Uraraka said from beside Izuku. "However, didn't we learn about this same debate when quirks first started to appear? Scientists presented these same questions, asking what if evil people were born with quirks and used them for evil purposes? That's how quirk blocking was born as they tried to block off quirks and then developed a system to use them for good."
"But there's a difference between being born as something and that being a part of you versus seeking something out and having your DNA manipulated in order to be turned into some sort of weapon," Tsu said from the end. Kairi quietly bit into her fish fillet, letting the valid discussion roll around in her mind. "It's disgusting to tell someone they can't be a certain way just because they were born that way, but I'm not sure the same can be said about adding quirks just to make you more powerful."
"What about people who are quirkless?" Izuku asked. "You don't think they should be given a chance to be like everyone else?"
"Quirkless still have a place in this world," Shoto answered.
"Do they though?" Uraraka said, and Izuku looked at her with a dropped mouth. "No, I mean of course they deserve to have a place and be in it. I'm not saying they shouldn't be treated with respect and equally to anyone with a quirk. I'm saying the world tends to discriminate more against those without a quirk, and doesn't seem to be changing. For their benefit and health, maybe they should be allowed to seek out a quirk."
"Maybe instead the world should learn to be less prejudiced," Tsu responded, biting into a piece of bread. She quickly swallowed as Aoyama returned to table and took a seat next to Kairi. "You all caught what Mineta said. Would you trust him with an extra quirk of his own choosing?"
"I'm not sure the technology could ever be so advanced they could literally give you a quirk for anything," Momo said. "I'm saying it wouldn't have drawbacks, especially in the first few years. But they would evaluate the subject and decide if they are a candidate worthy of such a procedure. It wouldn't be them just picking anyone and allowing them to choose any quirk."
"How is it any more immoral that someone like Stain who was born with a quirk who could immobilize people by licking their blood?" Iida snapped. "It turned him into a killer."
"Because people could choose to become Stain," Aoyama answered, surprisingly others at the table. Kairi drank her milk as quietly as she could.
"At least they will have made that choice rather being born with something they didn't want," Uraraka said. "And if they are doing evil, the heroes can catch them later and either imprison them or remove that quirk."
"There are people who could become great heroes who don't have a quirk," Izuku said. Kairi continued to sink further into herself as the conversation grew about QuirKey Laboratories. The idea of any random person choosing any quirk without any knowledge of who that person was or what they would do with it was terrifying. The points Shoto suggested made complete sense – people shouldn't have that much power, the ability to choose something that could be a dangerous weapon. But also, if anyone was unhappy with their quirk or without, and what they made them, wasn't it important to their health to give them to ability to change that? She scooped rice into her mouth, remaining silent as she considered her own thoughts, feeling conflicted on the issue. Truth was, her spirit leaned against it in fear of what it could be. However, her heart had longed for something that could change her quirk for the longest time. She knew she wouldn't abuse it, and for people like her, shouldn't it be an option? The chance to get rid of her quirk, change it, be someone else who could actually jump in the action and take down villains. Her chest relaxed with warm at the possibility of being able to do such a thing. She wouldn't have to worry about how she was influencing others, didn't have to watch her temper, stay her emotions, search for anything to calm her down. She would be just herself. Maybe she could replicate her father's quirk and finally truly know what people thought of her.
"It's not the same as cosmetic surgery," Aoyama said. "Cosmetic surgery changes you and only affects you." He waved his spoon dramatically while he spoke. "This would affect others."
"It isn't something that any person should be allowed to do," Kairi finally burst, rendering the rest of the table quiet. "Momo is right, based on previous scientific advancements, they probably would have you do several assessments to decide if you were a good candidate. But maybe there are people out there who hate what their quirk has made them and want to be something else. Someone else. Shouldn't they be allowed to change who they are in order to pull themselves out of some deep mental state?" There were some at the table who understand better than some of the others she was speaking from deep within her own life. Momo and Izuku looked at her with compassion. Shoto looked pensive, but his eyes were tilted with kindness. "Not every quirk is welcome, and not every quirk is good. Some are lucky. What about that man a few years ago who could look into rooms without having to move, and used it to look into the rooms of young girls? He was in his forties and he was using his quirk for something disgusting. He was so private, they didn't catch him for years. People already have quirks that are horrible and using them in horrible ways, how is this any different? At least with this system, they will have records to track it and can monitor them."
"Kairi, you're not..." Shoto began slowly.
"I am, but I can't because you need to be eighteen and my father never would let me so it's a moot point," she snarled quickly. "But imagine how much easier my life would be if I could have a more useful quirk." She shoveled the last of her food into her mouth and rose with her tray, fingers growing white as she gripped the sides. "I'll see you in class." Angered steps stomped onto the ground and refused to turn back. Shoto jumped up from his seat but Aoyama reached over, urging him to let her be. Kairi's shoulders shuddered as she returned her tray and stiffly followed her path back to the classroom.
*screams into the void*
INEEDADAYOFFOFWORK! I'm so tired... retail and the Christmas season... and errands almost every day...#needsadaytosleep12hours