The warm air calls me from my bed. As the weather starts to turn, The clock ticks down towards highschool applications. I look at my dresser; only 61 days left until the UA application. I crawl out of bed, 1 hour until school. I walk into the bathroom to get ready, touching my poster of All Might on the way. Just like every other day, the memories of that day washes over me with the shower water.
Why is Hannah so mean, we were only four years old. The smell of flowers is in the air, but this isn't a sweet day. Hannah stands tall over the small Simo, while her monster brother Luke holds him down. Simo usually got picked on because his parents were immigrants or he didn't like heroes like the other kids, he liked space and dinosaurs, but today Simo was a special target because it had come out that he was quirkless.
"Serves you right, not getting a quirk." Hannah scolded Simo, "anyone who isn't going to use their quirk, doesn't deserve to have one."
"You can use a quirk without being a hero." Simo breathes out. Hannah looks at Simo, her eyes glowing red while she activates her quirk.
"What was that?" She asked me menacingly. Simo flinched away from her.
"S-stop Hannah." My voice is so quiet it could be a whisper, "J-just because he's helpless d-doesn't mean you should pick on him." I take a careful step forward. Luke looks at me first, his hand swelling up as he activates his quirk. Hannah slowly turns her head towards me. My gut twists as I await the fear that is sure to tear inside of me. Hannah's red eyes make contact with mine.
The world turns upside down, color drains from my view, and I'm suddenly surrounded by towering threatening shadows.
"Osore? Ha! What are you going to do about it?" Hannah says with a wicked grin splashed on her face. She's inviting me to do something so she can relish my pain as well as Simo's. No, I can't.
I take one last gasp for breath, getting nothing, and run away. Hannah and Luke burst into laughter.
All men are not created equal. This was the reality I learned about society at the young age of four. And that was my first and continuous setback.
"Bye Dad, I'm off to school." I yell into the house as I walk out of my apartment. "Allright, have a good day." I hear the muffled call float from his study. I run down the stairs two steps at a time. Today is the day we learn about highschools. Obviously I want to go to UA, but I bet there are a bunch of other really cool schools out there. At the bottom of the stairs I wave to the little old lady hunched over her cane trying to hold up a bag almost her same size.
"Don't worry Ms. Worcestershire, I am here." I yell as I run up to her jumping into a hero stance with my fists on my hips, chin up, and a big smile on my face.
"My little All Might." Ms. Worcestershire coos as she pulls my face down to hers, "Let me look at you." She says the same thing every day. "So handsome, you're going to have to fight to keep the girls off of you." I laugh at her joke. I'm not handsome; I have a mop for hair and I'm pretty short, but at least I don't have freckles. Like most people in the world, I'm pretty plain looking.
"Let me grab that bag for you." I request. I take the bag in my right hand and place my left arm out for Ms. Worcestershire to grab onto. We make the usual small talk about school as I lead her across the street and another half a mile to her work. As I was walking away, Ms. Worcestershire called out to me.
"Osore, I know today is the day you talk about high school. Your dad told me your nervous about it, so I'll tell you what. You have a heart of gold and if anyone deserves to be a hero it's you. I know you can do it." I stood in shock for a second before wrapping her in a hug.
"Thank you. I'll do my best."
Mr. Turner was wrapping up the last class of the day. We submitted our highschool hopes at the beginning of the day and now that Mr. Turner had gone over them he would give us a presentation about high school and our futures. I sit in quiet excitement waiting to hear about the school I want so badly to go to. My right foot tap-tap-tapping away.
"Alright class, it's time we talk about your futures. Now there are a lot of really great opportunities and schools out there, but it seems like most of you want to go the hero route." Our class let out a collective cheer as Mr. Turner said "hero". "However, this is a very rigorous course that is hard to get into at any school so try to think of other things you would be interested in like …" the class let out a groan as Mr. Turner started listing other occupations. I mostly tuned it out.
"All right class, you're excused." Mr. Turner said after the class had already started packing up their bags. "Oh, and will Soturi and Osore stay behind for a few minutes?" Everyone's eyes turned to Simo and me but they were more interested in getting to their weekend than what was happening to us.
I walked up to Mr. Turner and Simo who had beaten me there. Simo seemed antsy; he probably had another training session he didn't want to miss.
"Thank you guys for staying late. You both said you wanted to attend UA for the hero course, is that right?" I nodded.
"Yes." Simo said in his usual monotone voice
"I'll start with Osore." Mr. Turner turned to me, "you understand that hero work and the hero school are both very dangerous and scary, are you sure you want to do this?" I look down at my feet and tap my fingers together, searching for the right words.
"I know I'm not the most strong or brave person." I start, "I wish I could be as brave as Soturi, and I think I will be, but I just have to work on it." I shift from looking at Mr. Turner's shoes to looking at mine, embarrassed by my words.
"Osore, look at me." I look up to see Mr. Turner was frowning at me, "Osore, I know being a hero is glamorous, but it's much harder than it looks and facing off with villains can be really scary. Just think about it, okay?" My face turns red and I look back down at my feet. "O-okay."
Noone believes in me. Sure Ms. Worcestershire said she did, but she's practically family; she has to say stuff like that. If no one else thinks I can do it, maybe I can't, maybe I shouldn't even try. No, I shouldn't think like that. I'm always extra negative on my walk back from school.
Who's that kid up there? He looks about my age but most kids are already back home this late after school. I can smell the soft hint of smoke slowly growing stronger. There doesn't seem to be any fire around, where is that smell coming from? Then I see the burnt notebook in the boy's hands. He's small, like me, and he seems pretty upset, like me. What's he upset about? As he gets closer, I open my mouth to say something, but he is completely absorbed in his own thoughts, I don't think he's even seen me yet. Besides, it would be too awkward and he's still on the complete other side of the bridge.
I hear a rustling coming from underneath me. I look at the sewer cover only a few feet away from me. What was tha-
"BOOM!" The world explodes around me, the sewer grate flying by my face.
"FWOOSH!" A green sludge follows the sewer cap onto the street. I press myself against the wall to avoid it splashing on me. Strangely enough, none gets on me. I feel my quirk start to deactivate as I open my eyes.
My quirk immediately snaps back into overdrive as I see the squirming mass of sludge in front of me. My heart starts to beat faster and faster. My lungs burned as I realized I had been holding my breath. I rasped out shaggy breath after shaggy breath.
The sludge slowly gathers together, forming a hulking mass. It's so close! I can hear my head pounding. I cover my ears and drop to the ground, my back pressing against the bridge.
I barely hear the monster mumbling over the pounding in my head. I need to get out of here, but I can't get myself to move. My brain screams at my body to move, but I'm frozen in place. I spot a flash of skin within the sludge. So the thing has a bo- THE KID! I furiously scan the surrounding area looking for any sign of the kid, but there isn't any.
I turn back to the sludge. The kid is in there. I take my hands off my ears and lower them to the ground. My head is yelling, "Stay on the ground." I push myself to my feet. My head is screaming, "Run away!" I take a ginger step forward. My head is screeching, "NO!"
The screeching in my head suddenly reverberates around the tunnel turning into something else. The sludge monster seems to stare right at me as a dark, more human figure hurtles out of the sewers. The figure lands in between me and the sludge monster and He matches the pose that I did early that day.
"It's all right now, young man. I am here!" All Might declares. The Sludge monster stops for only a moment before lunging at All Might, recklessly trying to take out the hero. All Might dodges with ease and fires back with a massive punch, "TEXAS … SMASH!"
The fist doesn't even connect with the monster, but still the Monster is blown completely away. It is only seconds until the rebound of air slams into my chest and throws me to the ground.
I wake up to see All Might standing over me. "Woah! He's gone!" All Might exclaims, standing up in shock.
"Sorry." I say, taking a few deep breaths. "That's my quirk" I explain, "It activates when I'm scared."
"No need to apologize, young man." All Might beams. "I'm just glad to see you're o.k." He stands there, just like an action figure while I slowly reappear.
"Well." All might starts, "If there is nothing else, you should head on home and take it easy for the rest of the day." I can tell he's expecting me to say something, but I'm star-struck, I don't know what to say.
"A-actualy," what should I say. "There is one thing." I continue.
"Of course." All Might seems relieved, "I happen to have a pen on me, if you have some paper I would love to give you an autograph."
"N-no thank you." I stammer. I didn't want an All Might autograph, no one would believe it anyway. "I actually have a question to ask." All Might's seems to falter, but his smile doesn't waver.
"Ask away." He encourages.
"I'm not a very brave person." I expound, "I'm scared of practically everything and can't even stand up for myself at school." It all comes rushing out, "but I want to help people, and I've always wanted to be a Hero." I can't believe I'm saying this, "Do you think I can be a Hero?"
All Might stares at me for just a second, before letting out a massive laugh. Is he laughing at me, I don't think a hero would do that.
"HAHA, ha, ha, there are many ways to help that young man," All Might calms himself down enough to say, "For example, policing is a fine profession." He finishes. I knew it, I can't be a hero.
"And it is true that being a hero can be scary," I snap to attention, I didn't know he would continue, "but looking at you now, I don't see a coward." What?
"I mean, I saw you when I came out of the sewer, so you weren't scared then were you? You just wanted to save the young man over there." My-my quirk wasn't on? I don't remember focusing then, I did just want to save that kid.
"Listen to me now." All Might stared me dead in the eyes. "There will always be things that scare you, that doesn't make you a coward. Bravery is being scared and standing tall anyway. Bravery is like a muscle; it can be worked on and grown, so just make sure you practice being brave every day."