A/N: Hi, if you're reading this I'm going to assume you give a shit about me, in which case, I love you. As you might have noticed, I've been absent for the last two months. There are a few reasons for that.
First off, I started a new course in web design, so that has been taking my attention away from writing. Second off, obviously the current state of the world has impacted me quite negatively. I am currently stuck in Europe with my parents and I'm not allowed back to my husband for the time being. Sucks major ass, but not much I can do about it. My family and I are healthy, and I hope yours are as well.
The third and most important reason, I haven't been doing okay. My therapist and I decided just the talks aren't working in bettering my mental health, and as of March 6th, I've been taking antidepressants to help regulate my mood and serotonin levels. The caveat was that I had no desire nor the inspiration to write at all, and it was eating me up inside. I felt guilty, I felt like I'd let you all down.
The good news is, I am getting better. I truly feel more comfortable in my skin and with myself. I'm not there yet, but the road to recovery is long and arduous. By some miracle, I found inspiration to write again this week, and I pumped out the last 8 pages in two days. Thank you so much for sticking with me.
Without further ado, please enjoy this long-ass bitch that's almost just as long as chapter 14, have fun lmao
All Waters Return Here
Urayuli was nervous when she was on her way to school the next morning. The other passengers on the train were giving her curious looks, eyeing her uniform and her face before they turned away in shame after she raised her eyebrows at them as if daring them to talk to her. The media had covered the events from Wednesday on the evening news on Thursday and all of her classmates' faces had appeared on her TV screen. Including hers, to her horror. Her father, filled with distress, had called her in a panic to ask if she was alright and why the hell she was on the news. Max tried to conceal his laughing with his Captain's hat and he had done a piss-poor job at it, especially when Kvichak had asked if he needed to send her a care package–after which he just guffawed loudly, unable to conceal his laughter.
The whole country has seen my face. The whole country has seen my face. The whole country has seen my face. A thought that kept echoing in her brain, all with different inflections, indicating how stressful it was for her. It's only been a week and already I'm on the news. AND THE WHOLE COUNTRY KNOWS WHAT MY FACE LOOKS LIKE.
Urayuli sighed a breath of relief when she finally arrived at her stop, anxious to leave the almost suffocating stares of the other passengers. The rest of the way to school went thankfully without incident and her nerves subsided completely when she stepped over the threshold of the school grounds.
Most of her classmates were already in their seats waiting for homeroom to start when Urayuli strolled in.
"Good morning, Yaraqpik-chan!" Hagakure greeted her excitedly. Urayuli smiled in return as she made her way to her seat.
"Good morning, Hagakure-chan," she passed Bakugo on her way to her desk and thought back to their interaction in the grocery store. With a grin, she whispered, "Good morning, twin."
"I swear to–" Bakugo snarled as he slammed a hand on his desk as his other hand started popping off mini-explosions, Urayuli hurriedly shuffled over to her seat with a barely contained chuckle before he could maim her. She didn't know why it was so funny to her to suddenly tease him like that. Some of her classmates looked at their interaction curiously, Midoriya especially seemed surprised if his bug-eyed look was anything to go off on.
She plopped down on her seat, her swivel chair bumping into Yaoyorozu's desk. "Whoops, sorry!" Urayuli exclaimed. Yaoyorozu just smiled and pushed Urayuli's chair back into place.
"Hey, hey, did you guys watch the news last night?" Hagakure chimed excitedly. Ojiro and Shoji, who were sitting to her right, nodded. "Did you see how everyone in the class was on-screen for a second? I didn't stand out at all..." she finished with a sigh.
"That's true," Shoji said.
"It's hard to stand out looking like that, huh?" Ojiro pointed out with a wry smile.
"Man, Hagakure-chan, please don't remind me of that," Urayuli complained as she rested her chin on her desk. Tokoyami turned to her with a frown.
"You don't like being in the spotlight?" he asked.
"It's not so much the spotlight as it was my dad calling me immediately after," Urayuli groaned as she barely moved her head to look at her classmate. "He watches Japanese channels back home so he can have something to talk to me about when we skype, but he was so worried that he called me and started going on about care packages and stuff like that," she explained.
"Then it's a shame you stand out so much, huh?" Sero asked. Urayuli eyes him for a second as she straightened herself.
"How so?" She asked with a raised brow.
"Well, your costume is kind of unique and you're..." Midoriya added as he turned around to face her but trailed off, maybe suddenly realizing his wording.
"I'm what? Foreign?" Urayuli deadpanned and pointed her thumb in Tokoyami's direction. "Tokoyami-san is a bird and Shoji-san has six arms." Realizing his mistake, Midoriya started sputtering an apology as his cheeks turned red. He turned back around in his seat and Urayuli good-naturedly patted him on the shoulder, her way of telling him she wasn't upset.
"But man, all the channels made a big deal out of it," Kaminari said as he crossed his hands behind his head and leaned back in his chair.
"I was surprised," Kirishima added.
"Can you blame them?" Jiro said. "The hero course that keeps pumping out Pro Heroes was attacked."
Sero leaned on his crossed arms on his desk. "Who knows what would've happened if the teachers hadn't come when they did," he wondered.
"It's no use thinking like that," Urayuli chided him, her spine tingling from the thought regardless.
"But man, All Might was great," Sato said, his fists at the ready. "He pushed back those crazy villains," he smiled as he pantomimed throwing his fists at an enemy.
"Yes," Tokoyami agreed as he crossed his arms. "His strength is worth wondering at." Urayuli agreed with him, seeing All Might in action up close was a sight to see.
The clock moved its minute hand forward and Iida raced to the front of the classroom to stand at the teacher's podium. "Everyone! Morning homeroom is about to start! Stop talking and take your seats!" he demanded loudly as he motioned his arms to the side.
"We're already in our seats," Kaminari pointed out.
"You're the only one who's not," Sero added lamely. Urayuli snickered as Iida stomped back to his desk and sank in his chair, pouting and annoyed at himself.
"Shoot!" he grumbled, Uraraka behind him just smiled sweetly and told him not to worry too much about it.
"Tsuyu-chan, who's–" Ashido started as she leaned back in her seat, her chair almost falling over if it weren't for Asui holding the chair in its position. "–gonna teach homeroom today?"
"Well, Aizawa-sensei is supposed to be in the hospital recovering from his injuries..." Asui trailed off as the door to the classroom opened. In stepped Aizawa-sensei, completely wrapped up in bandages and both arms in casts.
"Good morning," he simply said, his words muffled by the wrappings. Urayuli pinched the soft flesh between her thumb and pointer finger to not start laughing at how ridiculous he looked. He was badly hurt, Urayuli, don't laugh at the poor man.
"Aizawa-sensei, you're back too soon!" The entire class exclaimed, Urayuli joining in. Despite how funny he looked, she was worried about him.
"You're too much of a Pro!" Kaminari shivered, taken aback by how committed his teacher was.
Iida raised his hand. "So you're all right, Aizawa-sensei?" he asked as Aizawa-sensei limped to the podium.
"Can you really call that 'all right'?" Uraraka wondered, her face set in a frown.
"My well-being doesn't matter," he said when he finally stood in front of the class. "More importantly, the fight is not yet over."
"Fight?" Bakugo muttered and Urayuli slapped her hand to her forehead. That's the only thing you heard?
"Don't tell me..." Midoriya gasped. Urayuli wondered where all of this was going. Aizawa-sensei was silent before his eyes briefly became visible through the slits in his bandages.
"The U.A. sports festival is drawing near," he said. The what now?
"That's a super normal school event!" The class yelled out again, this time without Urayuli.
"What are you all yelling about?" Urayuli asked, confused at her classmates' excitement. Nearly all of them looked at her as if she had grown a second head and Urayuli felt embarrassed she had no clue what they were talking about.
"The sports festival!" They said again as if it was explanation enough. Urayuli stared blankly at them. Kirishima held his fist close to his chest as he started to explain it to her, eyes closed in passion.
"That's a super normal school event that–" but was interrupted by Kaminari shoving his head to the side, cutting his excitement short.
"Wait a minute!" Dammit, Kaminari.
"Is it okay to have a sports festival so soon after the villains snuck inside?" Jiro asked.
"What if they attack us again or something...?" Ojiro asked. Urayuli thought their questions were reasonable, but she still had no idea what was going on.
"Apparently, they think of it as U.A. showing that our crisis management system is solid as a rock by holding the event," Aizawa-sensei explained. "Security will also be strengthened to five times that of previous years," his eyes became slightly visible again. "Above all, our sports festival is a huge chance. It's not an event to be canceled because of a few villains."
"Wouldn't that be enough reason to cancel something like that?" Urayuli wondered quietly. Midoriya turned around in his chair.
"Yaraqpik-san, have you really never seen the U.A. sports festival?" he asked.
"Seen it? I've never even heard of it!" she whispered back at him.
"Our sports festival is one of Japan's biggest events," Aizawa-sensei explained, Urayuli silently thanking him. "In the past, the Olympics were called a festival of sports, and the whole country was crazy about them. As you know, with reductions in scale and population, they're now a shell of their former glory. And now, for Japan, what has taken the place of those Olympics is the U.A. sports festival!"
So the sports festival is essentially the Olympics, but with Quirks? Urayuli wracked her brain, not knowing why she hadn't heard of it before. Over the years she had kept tabs on the Hero Rankings online, and she had known about U.A. High School long before she got to Japan, so why was she drawing a blank? Maybe it was an exclusive to Japan thing?
"Of course, all the top heroes around the country will be watching," Yaoyorozu piped up behind her as she tightened her fist. "For scouting purposes!"
"Scouting?" Urayuli's voice had gotten higher in pitch in her confusion.
"After we graduate, it's typical to join a Pro Agency as a sidekick," Kaminari explained.
"So, they're going to be scouting us after watching us at the sports festival?" Urayuli asked as she looked at Yaoyorozu. The black-haired girl nodded.
"A lot of people miss their chance to become independent after that and become eternal sidekicks, though," Jiro commented. "Kaminari, I feel like you'd become one of them. Since you're dumb." The comment made Kaminari twitch as he glared at her.
"Of course, joining a famous Hero Agency will get you more experience and popularity," Aizawa-sensei droned on. "Time is limited. If you expect to go Pro, then the path to your future will open up at this event. One chance a year–a total of just three chances. No aspiring heroes can afford to miss this event. If you understand that, then don't slack off on your preparations!"
Urayuli clenched her fists. I don't know exactly what is going on but... I feel fired up.
"Yes, sir!"
After their Modern Literature class with Cementoss, it was finally lunchtime. Urayuli wasn't sure what to do with the nervous butterflies that were swirling around in her stomach. Her gaze immediately went to Kirishima, who walked over to the back of the classroom where Sato and Tokoyami were chatting. She packed up her stuff and followed him.
"Even though all that stuff happened, I'm getting really excited!" he shouted, doing a double fist-pump with vigor. Urayuli laughed at his elation.
"If we put on a good show and stand out, we'll have taken the first step to becoming a Pro!" Sero agreed, who had walked over as well.
"It was worth coming to U.A.!" Sato said, slamming his fist into his open hand with a smack.
Tokoyami, who was sitting on the cubbies with an arm draped over his knee, said, "We will only receive a few chances. We cannot afford to miss this."
"Can someone please explain–in detail–what the sports festival entails?" Urayuli asked.
"Weren't you paying attention during homeroom?" Sato asked her. Urayuli sighed.
"I was, but the only thing he compared it to is the Olympic Games, but we're not competing with other schools, are we?"
"No, we compete against each other," Sero said. "Didn't you have sports festivals at your school in Alaska?"
"Not... really?" Urayuli mulled it over. "The only thing that comes to mind is the Native Youth Olympics that the kids got to do, but I wasn't allowed to compete. We also had field days where sports teams compete against other schools. We only had a basketball team and I wasn't allowed to join that either." All four boys looked at her curiously.
"Why not?" Sato asked.
"Because the school decided it would be an unfair advantage to have someone with a Quirk compete," Urayuli explained with a grimace. It wasn't as if she wanted to play sports in Middle School that badly, it was that it served the purpose of further alienating her from her peers that bothered her.
Her classmates had gotten quiet and Urayuli wondered if she had said something wrong. She watched as their faces contorted in shock. "What?"
"That's why they didn't let you join?" Kirishima cringed, indignation lacing his voice.
"How can they do something like that?" Sero asked with wide eyes. Urayuli shrugged.
"Not a lot of people in my town had Quirks, you know. Aside from me, there were like three other people, and two of them were adults," Urayuli explained. "The only other kid with a Quirk was younger than me and he could manipulate his hair. He also wasn't allowed to play basketball or join the Native Youth Olympics."
Urayuli remembered how much Norman had cried to his friends at lunch the day of tryouts. The coach had told him Quirks had no place in the basketball court. Urayuli had thought bitterly, it's just Middle School basketball, you bitter sack of shit. She had wanted to comfort the boy but decided against it in the end, thinking he might not have want for her sympathies. After all, who would want to be saddled with the other freak in school?
"That's messed up," Sero complained. "I mean, it kind of makes sense if the majority is Quirkless, but it's still messed up."
"Man, it's only basketball, what's the big deal?" Sato countered, crossing his arms and closing his eyes in consternation. Both Kirishima and Sero had sullen faces and even Tokoyami looked a bit miffed if his stiff posture was an indication of it. Urayuli could feel a brick landing in her stomach. I totally ruined the mood, didn't I? Everyone was so excited about the sports festival and all I did was complain about shit that's not even relevant anymore.
"Sorry for bumming you guys out," Urayuli apologized. "Let's forget what I just said, okay? What are you guys gonna do in terms of training?" The change in subject perked the boys up a bit, Urayuli noticed with relief.
"Well, I'm gonna–" Kirishima started, but a growl from behind him stopped him. An intimidating aura filled the classroom and it made Urayuli's hands twitch. The five of them turned to the source behind Sato and Kirishima.
"Let's do our best at the sports festival," Uraraka growled, a fiery and frankly scary look on her face.
"Uraraka-san, your face..!" Midoriya exclaimed, recoiling in fear.
"What's the matter?" Ashido asked. "You don't look carefree at all, even though that's what your name means."
Uraraka widened her stance and powerfully punched the air, holding her other arm close to her body. "Everyone, I'm gonna do my best!" she all but roared at Iida, Midoriya, Ashido, and Asui, her eyes holding a vicious glint. Oh damn, she's competitive as hell. The four of them gave her enthusiastic "yeah"'s, emboldened by her energy. Then she turned to Urayuli and the boys with the same frightening facial expression.
"I'm gonna do my best!" she yelled again. Urayuli, who didn't want her friend to feel out of place, gave her a loud "yeah!" as well. As for the boys, they only reciprocated half-heartedly.
"What's wrong? Your personality's all over the place," Kirishima pointed out. Urayuli stabbed in him the ribs with her elbow and he flinched from the contact.
"Don't say that, Uraraka-san is just really into it," Urayuli whispered harshly to him. Kirishima grimaced at her.
"Everyone, I'm gonna do my best!"
"Can I guess what you're eating today, Yaraqpik?"
"Oh, can I play too?"
Urayuli groaned as she stood in line in the cafeteria with Kirishima, Hagakure, and Koda. The silent boy just so happened to be standing behind the other three, but Urayuli counted him as part of the group nonetheless. She always noticed he was mostly by himself and for that reason, she wanted him to feel included.
"Is this going to be a thing now?" Urayuli asked. "Are my food preferences that interesting?"
"Do you eat a lot of strange food, Yaraqpik-chan?" Hagakure asked.
"Yaraqpik always has something different for lunch, and it's always cold for some reason," Kirishima explained to the invisible girl.
"Oh! Do you make it yourself, Yaraqpik-chan?"
"Nah, my grandpa makes my lunches for me," Urayuli said as she shook her lunchbox in one hand.
"That's so cute!" Hagakure flailed a little as she squealed. "I just imagined a cute old man with a frilly apron!"
Urayuli snorted, but it quickly turned into a loud bark of laughter. "Hate to break it to you, but my grandfather is 6'8'' and pure muscle, so that image is factually wrong."
"How tall is that?" Kirishima asked.
"Uh–" Urayuli grabbed her phone from her breast-pocket and did a quick search –"A little over two meters?" Her classmates staggered in shock at her words as she stashed her phone away. "What?"
"Your grandfather is two meters tall?" Kirishima balked. "How are you so short then?"
"Kirishima, I swear to God–" Urayuli reached for the lapel of his jacket but he narrowly managed to move out of the way and hide behind Koda's tall stature. The silent boy nervously looked between a laughing Kirishima behind him and a smirking Urayuli in front of him, waving his hands in front of his body in a pleading fashion.
"Koda." Urayuli grabbed one of his flailing hands, making the boy jump. "I'm going to make you an offer you can't refuse." Koda waited in anticipation with a frightened look on his face. "I'll buy you lunch if you let me rearrange Kirishima's face. Extradite him to me and you can have whatever you want."
Koda made a sound that reminded Urayuli of a snort and his lips quirked up for only a brief moment. Still, he didn't move, except to reveal he also had a lunchbox and thus has no need for anyone to buy him lunch. Hagakure and Kirishima laughed at the face Urayuli was making, deadpan and the corners of her mouth pointed down. She pointed two fingers to her eyes before pointing them behind Koda at Kirishima.
"You ain't seen the last of me. I've got my eyes on you."
Kirishima and Hagakure got their lunches while Koda and Urayuli moved out of the line to wait for them. A thought occurred to Urayuli. Why was he waiting in line for lunch if he had already brought a lunch from home? Urayuli eyed the silent boy as he nervously looked around, sweat collecting on the side of his head, before settling his gaze on the lunchbox cradled in his hands. It was a simple blue with white bunny stickers all over it. Cute.
"I like your lunchbox, Koda," Urayuli said as she held up her own Hello Kitty one. "Do you like cats as well?"
Koda nodded fervently with a shy smile on his face and Urayuli felt herself grin at the taller boy. He flattened his hands and tapped his right hand to his left wrist, bringing it upward. Urayuli looked at him quizzically as he repeated the motion a couple of times before dropping his hands, discouraged at not being able to say what he wanted in words.
"Wait, Koda," Urayuli fished her phone out of her breast-pocket again and held it toward him. "Write down your phone number so you can text me. I don't know Japanese Sign Language, but I still want us to communicate." Taken aback, Koda looked at her in shock before gently taking her phone from her and putting in his info. Then he grabbed his phone from his pocket and handed it to her so she could do the same. After that, they switched phones again and Koda hurriedly started typing away at his phone. Not a moment later Urayuli's phone buzzed.
[Koda] 12:14 :
Thank you for saying you like my lunchbox. I love cats too.
Before Urayuli could reply, Kirishima and Hagakure walked their way with trays of food in their hands. They motioned for Urayuli to come with them and she took a few steps in their direction before motioning her head at Koda, silently telling him to come with them. Startled, Koda scrambled after them.
"Going back to my question," Kirishima started as the four of them sat down at a table. "What did you bring today? I'm going to guess... Cold spaghetti."
"I already had spaghetti this week, so probably not. Try again," Urayuli said with a snort. Hagakure moved her body to rest her elbows on the table.
"Oh, can I guess?" Hagakure asked and Urayuli nodded. "Is it... Mapu Tofu?"
"I don't know. What do you think, Koda?" Urayuli asked the shy boy next to her. Koda typed away at the phone still in his hand before handing it to her.
Tamagoyaki?
"Hmmm, not sure. Let's take a look, shall we?" Urayuli grabbed the lid of her lunchbox, taking a dramatic pause. Kirishima noticed what she was doing and started drumming on the table with his hands, Hagakure joining in with a giggle. Urayuli then opened the lid with a flourish. The table got quiet before Kirishima, Hagakure, and even Koda started laughing, the latter doing so quietly.
"Your grandfather, two meters tall and pure muscle, made you rice, and vegetables cut into hearts," Kirishima howled as he held his stomach. "Not only that, but he cut your sausages into octopuses!"
"That is so cute!" Hagakure giggled.
"I need to meet your grandpa, Yaraqpik," Kirishima said as he tried to stifle his laughter. "I want to shake his hand so bad."
Urayuli laughed at the absurdity of the situation. It was incredibly funny to her that her staunch grandfather would go out of his way to put so much thought into her food and to make it look cute too. It made her feel so lucky to have him in her life. Not that dad never did anything like this, but this is next level.
Something that bothered Urayuli about Japan was the formality with which everyone spoke. Asui had essentially forced everyone to call her Tsuyu-chan, and honestly, Urayuli wanted a nickname too. She was done being 'Yaraqpik'. Even if it was because they didn't want to be rude to her, it got on her nerves.
"Hey, guys?" She started quietly and the table grew silent as they looked at her. She was staring at her hands on the table. "Can you... maybe not call me Yaraqpik anymore?" The three of them stared at her curiously. "I know it's a thing to call people by their last name, but I just want my friends to call me by my first name, you know? Or a nickname or something."
Hagakure, Kirishima, and Koda were quiet for a moment as they stared at Urayuli. Her gaze was trained on her hands, hesitant to look at her classmates in fear of rejection. Kirishima, who had been the first friend she made in Japan, simply gave her a toothy grin and started eating.
"Wanna try some of my beef stew, Urayuli?" Her heart stopped momentarily. He said it with such ease too, as if he had been calling her by her first name forever. Even the way he pronounced it was correct, the 'L' rolling off his tongue without any difficulty. She understood why he was so casual about it, not wanting to embarrass her by making a big deal out of it. She shot him a grateful smile before nodding. Hagakure soon followed suit.
"Oh, Yuli-chan! Can I borrow your Modern Literature notes?" Hagakure's pronunciation was only slightly off, it sounded as if she was saying "Yuri" instead, but the butterflies in her stomach persisted despite it. Or maybe even because of it.
"Yaraqpik-chan!" Ashido parked herself at the head of the table without warning so she sat next to Urayuli.
"Urayuli," she corrected and laughed at Ashido's flabbergasted facial expression. "I'd like you to call me by my first name if that's alright."
"Oh, alright!" Ashido sent her an easy smile, not at all opposed to the idea. "So I was thinking, who did you end up asking to wait up with you after school on Wednesday?"
"Right! I've been wondering the same thing!" Hagakure said.
"Oh, Bakugo waited with me," Urayuli explained as she stole some beef from Kirishima's stew with her chopsticks.
"Bakugo? Really?" Ashido looked at her in awe.
"He doesn't seem like the type to do that, though," Hagakure said before putting some rice in her mouth. "He's more the type to just keep walking when you wave at him."
"Well, I did tell him what I told you guys I would," she paused as her four classmates watched her in anticipation. "If he didn't, he would have had terrible manners." Kirishima barked out in laughter, while Ashido muttered, "You actually did that, huh?" with a smirk. Hagakure giggled and Koda gave her a nervous smile.
"But why Bakugo? You seem pretty close to Kirishima, why not have him wait?" Ashido asked as she slapped away Kirishima's wandering renge spoon aimed at her omurice.
"Bakugo was the first one to come out of the school," Urayuli shrugged.
"And besides, my mom had dinner waiting," Kirishima pointed out with a pout.
"Hmmm... Still, for Bakugo to just do as you ask..." Hagakure was quiet for a moment. "I think he might like you!" Like me? Pfft, yeah right.
Urayuli snorted so loud it almost hurt the back part of her nasal cavity. "As if, the guy doesn't like anybody."
"I don't know, Hagakure-chan might be onto something," Ashido said with a sly smirk on her face, good-naturedly leering at Urayuli. Alright, time to nip this in the bud. This is getting ridiculous.
"Can we talk about something else, preferably something in the realm of reality?" Urayuli complained as she plopped a sausage in her mouth. Ashido sighed audibly as a joke.
"Fine, but only since you asked so nicely, Yara–I mean, Yuli-chan," Ashido said with a smile.
"Thanks, Ashido-san."
"Hey, if I get to call you Yuli-chan, you have to call me Mina-chan!" She said as she leaned over the table to get close to Urayuli's face.
"Yeah!" Hagakure agreed. "Call me Toru-chan, okay?" Urayuli held up her hands, conceding to their demands.
"Okay, I will," Urayuli grinned. "Gimme some of your omurice, Mina-chan, or else."
Ashido's smile got wider and pointed to Urayuli's lunchbox. "Only if you give me some of your cute heart-shaped veggies. Did you make this?"
"She didn't, but I'll tell you who did," Kirishima snickered.
"Oh, lord, not this again."
Thanks to the attentiveness and the laughs of her classmates and the warm feelings circling in her chest, she was unaware of her surroundings, not noticing she had a silent audience of one behind her, eavesdropping on her conversation.
After lunch, classes resumed and Urayuli felt more comfortable reading everything in Japanese. Her eyes hurt from squinting at her textbooks though, the way Kanji was printed on paper was tough for her to read sometimes. During class she would let her eyes roam the room for a moment, letting her gaze rest on some of her classmates. More often than not, her gaze would be pulled back in front of her toward the back of Bakugo's head. A plan formed in her mind.
She ripped off a page of her notebook and started doodling something. Again, she sucked at drawing, but she tried her best. The drawing she made was of her and Bakugo, her in a striped sweater and a skirt and him wearing striped pants and a black shirt. She wrote "Outfits for next time?" on the bottom of the paper and softly giggled at how silly she was being. Folding it in half, she tapped Midoriya on his shoulder and motioned for him to pass it to Bakugo. Midoriya looked at the paper, at the back of Bakugo's head, then looked at her again, his confused facial expression asking her if she was being serious. Urayuli gave him an encouraging nod and pointed to Bakugo. Yes, him. Give him the note.
Midoriya gave her an unsure nod back before turning back around. He waited a few seconds while Midnight-sensei wasn't looking to give Bakugo a few taps on his shoulder. The blond turned his head around with almost alarming speed, glaring at the culprit.
"What." He hissed at Midoriya, who said nothing as he handed the note. Bakugo snatched it from Midoriya's hand, laid it flat on his desk, and opened it. Urayuli couldn't see his face but the way his shoulders stiffened told her enough. He turned around to look her straight in the face, his mouth set in an angry snarl and his eyes thunderous. He held up the paper, crumpled it in a ball, and set it ablaze with a few tiny sparks from his Quirk.
"Is there a problem, Bakugo?" Midnight-sensei asked out loud. Everyone's head whipped to Bakugo, who was still turned around in his seat as he was glaring at Urayuli. Kirishima watched curiously as Bakugo turned back around and Urayuli held a hand to her mouth to stop herself from giggling. The crumbled scrap of paper fell to the ground, forgotten.
"No." His knuckles cracked as he clenched his fists.
"Are you sure?" Midnight-sensei asked, raising a well-plucked eyebrow. Bakugo slammed his fists on his desk.
"Yes, I'm damn sure! Get on with the lesson!" he barked impatiently. Urayuli bit on the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing but a snort still made its way out, making Bakugo grind his teeth in irritation.
When classes finally ended at 3:20 PM, Urayuli could hear several voices outside the classroom. They were mostly whispering among themselves but from what Urayuli could hear, it was a rather large group of people. Other students? What could they want? She grabbed her stuff and moved to leave with Uraraka, Iida, and Midoriya when the door opened.
Urayuli was met with a couple dozen curious eyes on her and her classmates, clamoring at the sides of the door to get a good look. Some of them even had their phones out, taking pictures of Class 1-A. Urayuli felt her hackles rise slightly.
"Wh-What's going on?" Uraraka exclaimed.
"What business do you have with Class A?" Iida asked.
"You're kind of blocking the exit," Urayuli pointed out, uncomfortable by being boxed in by the many students. "Do you need something?"
"They're scouting out the enemy, furball," Bakugo grunted as he moved towards the gaggle of students at the door. "They probably wanna check us out before the sports festival." He stood toe to toe with the people in the front and stared them down, one for one looking them in the eye. "At least now you know what a future Pro looks like. Now move it, extras."
"Stop calling people 'extras' just because you don't know them!" Iida chided as he frantically moved his arm up and down. Midoriya and Uraraka trembled as Bakugo provoked the crowd, fearing retaliation.
"You probably shouldn't egg people on, Bakugo," Urayuli reasoned as she moved to stand behind him to his right. Her words only served to have him turn his head to glare at her.
"I came to see what the famous Class A was like," a deep voice sounded as it moved closer. "But you seem pretty arrogant." To Urayuli's surprise, indigo hair moved between the other students to stand in front of the crowd, tired eyes assessing her blond classmate. Shinso? "Are all the students in the Hero Course like this?"
Iida, Midoriya, and Uraraka immediately and quite fervently starting shaking their heads no, embarrassed by Bakugo's behavior. Bakugo, however, gave a gravelly snarl as he eyed the indigo-haired individual.
"Seeing something like this makes me disillusioned," Shinso said as he scratched the back of his neck before straightening his back. "There are quite a few people who enrolled in General Studies or other courses because they didn't make it into the Hero Course. Did you know that?" Bakugo didn't answer as he stared the taller boy down. "The school has left those of us a chance." Shinso removed his hand from his neck. "Depending on the results of the sports festival, they'll consider our transfer into the Hero Course. And it seems they may also transfer people out."
The school can just do that? Urayuli felt a shiver run down her spine. I can understand transferring people in, but kicking them out simply because of a snapshot of our abilities... Isn't that a little extreme?
"Scouting out the enemy?" Shinso asked as he eyed every 1-A student briefly. "I, at least, came to say that even if you're in the Hero Course, if you get too carried away, I'll sweep your feet out from under you. I came with a declaration of war," he finished before resting his gaze on Urayuli, who stared right back at him. The smallest of smiles graced his lips as he sent a wink her way. W-what?
Neither the smile nor the wink went unnoticed by her classmates, least of all Bakugo, who was face to face with Shinso and had noticed immediately when his eyes strayed to Urayuli. He turned around to look at Urayuli's face with a curled upper lip and furrowed brow as she stared at Shinso in confusion. Kirishima had noticed the interaction as well and moved to stand next to Urayuli.
"You know this guy?" Kirishima asked quietly. Urayuli nodded.
"I do. How are you doing, Shinso?" she asked the indigo-haired boy, trying her best to sound casual as if the wink hadn't done anything to perplex her.
"I've been meaning to thank you for sharing your food with me the other day," he said with the tiniest of grins spread over his lips.
"Oh!" Urayuli softly exclaimed as she remembered the aftermath of the hallway kerfuffle. "That was no problem at all. I'm glad you liked it." Kirishima's eyes darted back and forth between Urayuli and Shinso, trying to figure out when the two of them could have possibly had the time to talk at all.
"Still, I really appreciated it, Urayuli."
He remembers my name? Even though they had interacted only a handful of times, he took the effort of remembering her first name? And I didn't even have to ask him to do it either. Urayuli couldn't explain it, but it made her stomach flutter a little. She could also feel her face heat up slightly but she had no idea why.
A few surprised gasps could be heard from inside the classroom at Shinso's usage of Urayuli's name. Even Bakugo snapped his head to the girl in confusion, his eyes getting almost comically wide in bewilderment as he grunted "Urayuli?" with a puzzled lilt as if it was the first time he'd ever heard it. The way it rolled off his tongue made her feel weird until she realized that he probably didn't even know it was her name.
"Yeah, that's my name. Or did you think my name was 'furball' all this time?" Urayuli quipped, putting her hands on her hips. Both her classmates and the intruders outside the classroom got quiet as they could feel an odd tension arise between the dark-haired girl and the blond when suddenly a strong voice interrupted and had everybody turn to the sound.
"Hey, hey!" A boy with messy gray hair and what Urayuli could only guess were large tan-colored eyelashes yelled out. "I'm from Class B next door! I heard you fought against villains, so I came to hear 'bout it! Don't get so full of yourself!" The way he spoke was incredibly loud and intense, Urayuli winced at the volume. "If you bark too much, it'll be embarrassing for you durin' the real fight!" He was speaking to Bakugo but said boy paid him no mind and made his way through the crowd to leave. "You ignorin' me, bastard?!"
"Wait a minute, Bakugo!" Kirishima yelled out. "What're you gonna do about all this?" Bakugo stopped in his tracks to listen to the redhead. "It's your fault that everyone's hating on us!"
Bakugo barely turned his head to speak. "It doesn't matter."
"Huh?!" Urayuli and Kirishima both uttered.
"It doesn't matter as long as you rise to the top," Bakugo said with an almost dangerous undertone as he glared at the crowd in front of him before finally leaving.
The gray-haired boy from before yelled some expletives at Bakugo as he left. Urayuli wondered if Bakugo truly believed what he said but found she had no reason to think otherwise. In a lot of ways, Bakugo wears his heart on his sleeve. I haven't been able to catch him in a lie.
Next to her, Kirishima softly sniffled as he tightened his fist. "That's so simple and manly!" Kaminari looked at him if he was crazy.
"You said it." Sato agreed.
"The top, huh? There is truth in that." Tokoyami nodded in agreement.
"Hang on, don't be tricked!" Kaminari pleaded. "He just made more pointless enemies!"
"I agree with Kaminari," Urayuli heard herself say. "I mean, look at All Might. He's at the top and nobody with a working brain-stem actually hates him." Kaminari waved his hands in Urayuli's direction, saying "See?!" at the top of his lungs. Urayuli rolled her eyes at his antics and moved to leave before she was stopped by Shinso.
"What's up?" She asked.
"Want to walk to the station together?" Shinso asked, a somewhat lazy smile on his face.
"Sure," she said before turning to her classmates. "I'll see you guys later!"
"Wait, Urayuli," Kirishima's use of her name caused Jiro and Yaoyorozu to softly gasp. "You're leaving with him?" Urayuli looked at him in confusion.
"Yes?" Is there something weird about Shinso and I walking to the station or something? "Why?"
"Well, if you're sure..." Kirishima trailed off. She gave him a reassuring smile and a nod.
"I'll text you when I get home," she assured before leaving the classroom with Shinso in tow.
Urayuli and Shinso made their way to the station in mostly comfortable silence. Every so often they would talk about something benign like classes. Urayuli was interested in how different the coursework would be but was soon disappointed when she learned it was essentially the Hero Course, only without the Hero Training aspect. After explaining it to her, the two were quiet until Shinso spoke up.
"Your classmate is really up his own ass, isn't he?" Shinso asked. Urayuli thought about it for a moment, regarding Shinso with a neutral facial expression. Sounds like an accurate description of Bakugo, but there is more to it than that.
"I suppose," she said with a noncommittal shrug. "He is pretty strong, though, so I guess he has reason to be." Urayuli thought Bakugo was very skilled with his Quirk but that his cockiness was a hindrance at times. That was especially evident whenever his self-proclaimed position as 'the best' was put into question.
"Does he?" He sounded skeptical as he looked at her from his periphery. "Or is his Quirk just better suited for Hero Work?"
"It's at least very effective in battle."
"Is that true?" Shinso hummed. "You guys were targeted by villains two days ago, right?" Urayuli turned her head slightly to be able to look at his profile, not quite understanding where he was going with this line of questioning. He knows this, why is he asking this?
"Yeah, why?"
"Well, if his Quirk's effective in battle, then why did you guys need the teachers to save you?"
Hold the fuck up, what did you just say? In her shock or anger – it very well could've been both – Urayuli stopped dead in her tracks while Shinso kept walking, unaware she had stopped. Her back straightened on its own as she regarded the back of his head.
"Excuse me?" she voiced quietly, trying to mentally convince herself she must have heard him incorrectly. I must have, right? There is no way he just said that.
"Being blessed with a useful Quirk, and not being able to save your own hide," he said almost sardonically and it made Urayuli's hands shake. "How can you expect to save someone else?"
"Shut the fuck up." The words were out of her mouth before she could stop them. She hadn't meant to say it in English but he must've understood because he stopped to turn to her with his face contorted in confusion. Her chest was hot and her arms were sore from trying to stop her hands from trembling.
"Huh?" Their eyes met and his eyebrows shot up into his hairline at her heated glare.
"You don't know what the fuck you're talking about." Her words came out in a venomous snarl, her face twisted in a scowl. "Not only did almost none of our class get seriously injured, but we also held our own against the villains despite being rookies," she hissed at him, she would not allow anyone to utter complete nonsense about her classmates. "And besides, do you have any idea how terrifying it was? To watch your teacher and idol fight an actual monster from horror stories?" Her eyes got a faraway look to them as she remembered the incident, the ice-cold fear she had felt when the villains came for them with the intent to kill. Her breathing got heavier. "To have to carry your other teacher–unconscious and broken–to safety?" She wrung her hands that had suddenly gotten cold. "Honestly, I'm glad you're in the General Course and didn't have to live through that, because I wish I could forget it."
When she was finished, she tried to get her breathing back under control. Urayuli clenched her fists a couple of times to get the blood from her constricting chest to go back into her hands. When was the last time I was this angry? Truthfully, she was more offended than angry. Just taken aback by the fucking audacity to say something so untrue as if it was a fact. It also wasn't just about her classmates or Bakugo in particular – it was that he also implied she was supposedly unable to save herself, let alone anyone else. I like you well enough, Shinso, but you don't know anything about me.
Shinso stared at her with wide eyes and open mouth, stunned from her tongue-lashing. He at least had the sensibility to look down in shame when she refused to look away from him as if she was staring right through him. Before long, Shinso chuckled softly.
"I really sounded like an asshole just now, huh?"
"Yes, you did and it's not funny," Urayuli said curtly as she crossed her arms.
"I'm sorry I offended you and your classmates. That was not my intention," Shinso added sheepishly.
"Then what was your intention?" Urayuli asked, voice just as curt as the anger still swirled warmly in her chest. She absentmindedly scratched the base of her throat at the notch between her clavicles as it began to itch like mad. Shinso rubbed the back of his neck and looked away from her.
"I guess I needed confirmation on my theory that Class 1-A was all talk and bravado. Looks like I was wrong," Shinso tried to casually smile at her, testing the waters to see if she was still angry with him.
"You're damn right, you were."
The silence that followed was uncomfortable for Urayuli, but she was resolute in her conviction that his apology was as half-assed as his attempt to gather intel on her classmates. She looked away from him, needing a moment to think. She recalled the first time they met, how cold his eyes had become when she had told him she was in the Hero Course. All this time, was he just nice to me so he could catch me by surprise and rip the rug from under me? Did he have an ulterior motive? Urayuli squeezed her elbow pits as a way to ground herself.
"I really am sorry, though." His words made her turn her head toward him again. He was looking down at his shoes with a taut face. "You've been nothing but nice to me and I acted like a total jerk." He feels bad. He actually feels bad. Should I give him the benefit of the doubt? Urayuli from the past – Urayuli back in Alaska – would've thought twice about giving him a second chance. But am I still like that? The people around her were nothing like the people in Alaska. If they aren't, then I shouldn't be either. She smiled softly to herself, having made up her mind. Shinso didn't look at her until she reached out and gave the sleeve of his jacket a soft pull with her thumb and pointer finger.
"Apology accepted." While opting to not hold a grudge against the boy, Urayuli still felt a bit sore from his implication but decided to try and leave that behind her. He doesn't even know what my Quirk is, so he can't possibly know all the facts. She gave him a small smile, which he returned in kind. After a beat of silence, Urayuli started walking again, motioning for him to follow her with her chin.
"So how did you manage during the attack?" He tried to ask casually. Urayuli sent him a sidelong glance, not at all impressed by his lack of subtlety.
"I get the feeling you're trying to worm information on my Quirk out of me." Urayuli wasn't bothered by the question but he was still on thin ice.
"Well, there is that.." He was quiet for a moment. "And I was worried about you."
Urayuli hummed, trying not to make it obvious to him that his words made her feel a little fuzzy inside. The only people ever worried about me are my dad, Cole, and grandpa. But other people worrying about me feels... weirdly comforting. "I appreciate the concern. But you're not getting what you want."
"Oh?" He bent down to get a good look at her face and cocked an eyebrow at the smirk on her lips. "Why is that?"
"Because it's much more effective to show you how my Quirk works but that would result in me with my tits out in public."
Shinso stopped short and stumbled forward in shock, his face becoming a light tint of pink. "W-what?" Urayuli had to stop herself from giggling at his reaction, trying to remain aloof.
"That's the only hint you'll get." She grinned impishly. "I use my Quirk and I lose my clothes."
"Weird drawback, but I see your point." He coughed briefly to get the saliva out his throat.
"Don't worry, you get to see my Quirk at the sports festival," Urayuli promised as she winked at him, relishing the sight of his face getting redder. I might not get to see this very often, so I might as well enjoy the view.
"Same goes for you," he stated as his grin returned and Urayuli had to stop herself from raising her eyebrow at him. Oh ho, is that a challenge?
"Looking forward to it."
Urayuli felt a twinge of disappointment when she realized she had arrived at her last stop and didn't see Bakugo anymore after school had ended. As weird as it was, seeing him on the train every day had become somewhat of a routine but she chalked it up to just having missed him because of her conversation with Shinso. No matter, I'll see him another day.
She also realized she should probably find a way to use her Quirk at the sports festival without having her naked body on national television since they were supposed to only wear their P.E. uniform and not their Hero Costume. Something about keeping everything fair. Maybe I can commission a special P.E. uniform for the occasion?
"I'm home!" Urayuli announced when she entered her house, kicking off her shoes in the genkan before moving to the living room. When she opened the door, Max was sitting in his chair in the living room, his nose buried in his phone. "You old people and your phones."
"I wish I had a better response for that but the only thing I can say is.." Max continued scrolling on his phone, not even bothering to look at his granddaughter. "You're only fifteen and you don't know anything, so shut your mouth."
Urayuli snorted loudly, unbothered by his snark, and dropped her bag at the side of the couch as she sat down. She let out a deep sigh as she sunk deeper into the soft surface. Barely turning her head, she looked over at Max. "Have you heard yet?"
"Heard what?"
"The U.A. Sports Festival is coming up."
Max didn't react to her for a brief moment until he suddenly dropped his phone on the floor with a loud clatter. He hissed a soft "Goddammit," as he leaned his arm over the armrest to fetch it off the floor. "Come again?" He looked at her in shock. "Already? So soon after a villain attack?"
Urayuli nodded. "Aizawa-sensei said it's to show U.A. won't be intimidated by a bunch of assholes."
"Of course he fucking did," Max muttered as he got up from his chair with a groan. Urayuli took notice of what he said. He talks as if he knows him really well. "Were those his exact words?"
"They might as well have been," Urayuli said, her voice not betraying her curiosity or suspicion.
"Alright. Get your gear, we start training today."
Roughly ten minutes later, Urayuli stood outside in front of her grandfather as they stretched their muscles. Together they did laps around the house, did some crossovers and side to sides before they ended back in the yard once they were sufficiently warmed up.
"The first thing we're gonna do is combat training," Max said as he took off his Captain's hat and dropped it on the engawa, before thinking better of it and opening the sliding doors to leave it just behind the glass, afraid the breeze might take it. "In the worst-case scenario, if you are unable to subdue anyone with your Quirk or if your Quirk is not suitable for the environment, you should be able to defend yourself with the tools God gave you." He finished his explanation by holding his fists up to his chest. "Now I know that we've done this a couple of times when you were a lot younger, it never hurts to go back to basics when it comes to fighting."
"Okay, so where do we begin?" Urayuli asked. She remembered the handful of times Max had come to visit her and Kvichak in her youth. For one whole week out of the year, Max would come by and spend time with her and her father. Well, it was actually just me, he would ignore dad for the most part. One time, when Urayuli was seven, she had let slip that her classmates would often taunt her but she never told him why out of respect for her father's wishes to not let him know about her Quirk. Regardless, Max had taught her a few golden rules of self-defense that she used whenever the opportunity presented itself.
"The first rule of fighting," Max began as he held up his pointer finger, looking Urayuli dead in the eye as he got closer to her. "You don't win a fight by hitting your opponent harder, you win a fight by not getting hit. But if you have to hit them, you need to hit them fast and effectively."
"I'm well aware, grandpa, I've been in a few fights," Urayuli said with a lazy smile.
"Don't get overconfident," Max warned as he pushed against her shoulder, causing her to stumble back a bit. Urayuli mentally kicked herself. I almost sounded like Bakugo just now. "You've been in fights before but not against anyone with a Quirk. Not one-on-one."
"Hold up, I've fought against Uraraka during Battle Training," Urayuli pointed out. Hell, I threw her across the room. "On Monday, remember?"
Max snorted. "You mean that story with the bomb? Her goal wasn't to beat you in a fight, was it?" Urayuli made a face of discontent. I guess that's technically true. "It's very important that you understand you have to get serious now. They might be your friends but they are also your adversaries. Don't let your guard down."
"Okay, I understand." Urayuli nodded with a tight face.
"Very well. Show me your stance," Max said and Urayuli shifted her body until she had her fists balled up, guarding her head. She kept her elbows almost level, trying her best to show Max she knew at least something about fighting.
"Good, I see you learned something from fighting your friends in the school-yard back in Alaska," Max complimented. Urayuli scowled at him.
"The kids I fought at school weren't my friends," she all but snarled, offended at the mere thought of being friends with people like Philip and Amy.
"Guess what?" he asked, his voice taking on a softer quality, but slightly mocking as his lips stretched into a small derisive smile. "Your classmates at U.A. aren't your friends either." Without warning, Max swept her front standing foot with his leg, sending her falling backward with a thud onto the grass.
"Hey!" Urayuli yelled in indignation as she rubbed her backside. Right on my tailbone too. Asshole. "That's not fair, I wasn't ready!"
"Didn't I just tell you to keep your guard up?" Max grinned at her but it quickly dissipated when he saw how dejected Urayuli looked. Her elbows were leaning on her bent knees, her eyes downcast and focused on her bare feet, toes curling around blades of grass. Her eyebrows were drawn together and her mouth was set in a gloomy frown. They're not my friends...? Max sighed, letting air escape from his nose.
"After this is all over, you can go back to being friends," he said as his face softened ever so slightly. "For now, we have to think about this strategically." Urayuli looked down at her hands and then back at his face.
"Grandpa?" Urayuli asked tentatively. Max nodded at her, urging her to continue. "Thanks." She smiled at him and he smiled back at her, his shoulders sagging only slightly. Max leaned over to offer to help her up and in one sudden motion, Urayuli sprung forward– grabbing his outreached hand and pulled it towards her, putting him off balance. Max yelped in surprise at his granddaughter's strength. While pulling him in, she used her legs to push off against his chest, flipping his body through the air. He landed on his back with a loud THUD.
Max laid still for a brief moment to collect himself as Urayuli did a kip-up and moved to stand over him with her hands on her hips, smirking at him.
"Guess you gotta learn to keep your guard up," she said before she started laughing at Max's dumbfounded face. His slack-jawed facial expression soon melted into a hearty laugh, sharing his granddaughter's mirth.
"Nice work, kituuqta," he said proudly as he moved to stand up. "I can't believe how strong you've gotten since coming here." Urayuli's laughter died down a little, thinking about what he said. I have gotten stronger. She eyed her hands for a moment. Come to think of it, I'm much stronger than I thought I used to be. When did that happen?
"Now," Max's voice shook her from her thoughts and Urayuli mirrored him when he got into a fighting position. "Show me what else you've got."
After a few good rounds of scrapping, Max finally decided they were done for the day when he noticed Urayuli was starting to get red in the face and short of breath due to exertion. He left for the kitchen for a short moment and came back with two bottles of water. They sat down on the engawa for a quick rest.
"What new animal forms are you going to teach me next?" Urayuli asked. "For the sports festival, I mean," she clarified when Max turned to her.
"I'll teach you one I think will be useful – Calypso will come over to teach you another one tomorrow," Max explained before taking a big gulp of water.
"Do you know which form she'll teach me?" Urayuli asked and Max shook his head.
"You'll have to wait and see," he answered cryptically.
After another ten minutes of rest, Max stood up and took off his shoes. Urayuli followed suit and set her shoes down on the engawa before joining Max on the grass again.
"Today I'll be teaching you how to shift into a wolf," Max said as he bent down to touch his toes. "Specifically the Northwestern Wolf, also known as the Alaskan timber wolf."
Urayuli felt a rush of excitement course through her. Finally, she was going to learn the Wolf form. "I'm ready," she said with a grin.
Max nodded and positioned himself in a crouch. The familiar golden glow of light enveloped him and when the light disappeared, Urayuli had the same feeling in her stomach when Max had first turned into a bear. It's just Max, it's just Max. In front of her stood a very large black-furred wolf, his head at shoulder height for her, staring into her eyes with his cognac gaze. The fur around his snout and eyes was gray and just like with Max's bear form, scars littered his torso and back. Urayuli took a steadying breath and made to move toward him. Max noticed her trepidation and laid down on the ground.
She carefully crouched down and reached out, knowing he wouldn't hurt her but staying on the side of caution anyway. Running her hand through his fur, she was surprised at how wiry and rough it felt. I've never actually touched a wolf before. Max turned his head toward her and curled his lip briefly to show his teeth. Urayuli gently grabbed his lower jaw with one hand and his upper jaw with the other to look at his fangs up close, lifting his lips in some spots. Gnarly white teeth glistened in the light of the setting sun.
"You got some impressive chompers there, grandpa," Urayuli joked and Max let out a soft huff of laughter. She let go of his face and stood up. "Can you give me a howl?" Max's ears twitched back as he stood up and settled his eyes on her. He looked away briefly before craning his head back. A long, mostly one-toned howl echoed through the neighborhood and Urayuli felt a smile creep on her face when she heard several dogs join in to form a chorus. Urayuli softly clapped her hands. "Beautiful performance."
Without warning, Max shifted back into himself, forcing Urayuli to squint at the sudden appearance of the light. "Now it's your turn, kituuqta," Max said as he cracked his back by rotating his torso. "Think you're up for it?"
"Let's do it," Urayuli nodded. Despite the mishaps of the past week – her losing her powers, no matter how brief – she was confident in her abilities. Somewhat. Most of her transformations had gone relatively well so far. You can't get any more Alaskan than Alaskan timber wolf. She crouched down and visualized the form she was about to take. In her mind, she repeated the name of the creature she had to shift into. Before long she was enveloped in the familiar bright light.
Max's frowning face was the first thing she saw when she opened her eyes and looked at him. "Let's try that again, Urayuli." She tilted her head in confusion. "You turned into a dog instead." Urayuli bent her head to look at her paws. They don't look any different, but... She trotted over to the engawa and stared at her reflection in the sliding doors. Huh. That's weird. A husky was staring back at her instead of the wolf she had hoped.
"Okay, let me try that again," Urayuli said after she had turned back. Taking a deep breath, she stretched out her limbs and cracked her knuckles before crouching down again. Alaskan timber wolf, here we go. The golden light enveloped her and she looked at Max expectantly, before she felt her ears droop at the sight of his furrowed eyebrows.
"I understand if you need a break, you know," Max tried to say before squinting at the sudden light of Urayuli's transformation.
"No, it's fine, I got it," Urayuli assured him, frustration slightly lining her voice. She glared at her hands before doing another series of stretches. Turn into a wolf, goddammit. "Just give me a sec."
Once again, she crouched down, her eyebrows knit together, and her lips in a tight line. Her stomach churned in protest, the constant back-and-forth between forms sending a wave of nausea through her.
After an hour of trying, Urayuli hadn't progressed at all. Max tried to convince her to take a break after the first time she vomited in one of the bushes in their yard, but she declined stubbornly. Urayuli grimaced at the sight of her mostly digested lunch in the dirt. He sighed deeply and sat down on the engawa with his arms crossed in displeasure, opting to watch his granddaughter's foolish endeavors instead of convincing her to stop. She'll run out of juice soon enough, he thought to himself.
Urayuli vomited for the third time, dry-heaving and only droplets of bile exiting her throat when finally Max put a stop to it. "All right, you're done. Pushing yourself too hard will get you nowhere. Besides, you're gonna lose the enamel on your teeth if you keep that up," he scolded as he grabbed onto her shoulder to with one hand to steady her and keeping her hair out of her face with the other. Urayuli trembled heavily as she got the last involuntary muscle spasms out of her system.
"Why the fuck isn't it working?" Urayuli sobbed as tears involuntarily streamed down her face from the force of her violently clenching stomach. She spat out some ill-tasting saliva, wiping her lips with the back of her hand – keeping it there as she burped inside of her mouth. She grimaced as the scent of her stomach acids burned in her nose. Max gently grabbed her by the back of her neck, leading her away from the bush and steering her to the engawa and set her down.
"Steady now," Max hushed as he brushed the tears from her wide cheeks with his calloused hands. He handed her a bottle of water and told her to gargle first and drink after. "Slowly, you don't want to have a go at it again."
A few minutes pass and Urayuli's stomach had calmed down a bit, be it from the water or Max gently caressing her hair. In any case, she was grateful for the distraction. She was no longer shaking and her insides were no longer fighting to come out of her esophagus.
"Why won't it work?" she asked quietly as she stared at her bare feet. "I thought I had gotten better at Shifting since coming here."
"You have," Max simply said and Urayuli moved her head to look at him. "I don't think it's a matter of you being bad at Shifting at all." He continued patting her hair until she jerked her head away from his touch. He removed his hand, not offended in the slightest, understanding her discomfort at repetitive sensations. "Tell me, Urayuli. How many wolves have you seen?"
The question caught her off-guard and she looked at him funny. She thought for a moment. "I don't know, a lot?"
"How many dogs have you seen?"
"A lot, The Bay is full of them. Where are you going with this?"
"I know what your problem is." Max stood up to throw a glance at the horizon, the sun slowly sinking until only a few rays were left, the sky a myriad of deep pink and orange. "It's an issue that happens with Shifters and Mimics alike, and it's something I like to call Shifters Aversion."
Great, more Shapeshifter vernacular I have to familiarize myself with. "The fuck is that?" Urayuli grumbled as she roughly rubbed her eyes.
"The idea is simple–" Max held up his index finger as he kept talking. "The more you've shifted in different forms, the easier your body can handle those forms." He started pacing back and forth in front of her as he kept his gaze on her. "As you know, there are forms you've known for a long time–that you're very comfortable being. If I asked you right now to turn into a fox, you would be a fox." Urayuli nodded at his words. Or an otter, she added silently. "It would be like speaking English to me. But turning into a spider–a form you're not used to despite the added instincts–is a lot more difficult."
Urayuli mulled it over. The explanation made sense somewhat, her spider-form had given her issues because of the nature of the form. Insects don't work the same as mammals instinctively, the extra limbs giving her phantom pains after and sensation of her skeleton melting into an exoskeleton still bothered her. But that wouldn't explain her difficulty with turning into something as simple as a wolf.
"What does this have to do with learning to be a wolf?" she asked. "The only other time I've had trouble with Shifting into something new was when I tried the porcupine-form–something as simple as a wolf shouldn't be this hard."
"You're not looking at this the right way," Max corrected her as he stopped in front of her, shaking his head. "Shifter's Aversion isn't having difficulty learning new forms–it's being too used to forms you already know." Urayuli tilted her head in confusion, not understanding what he was getting at. "As you've demonstrated time and time again today, you know how to turn into a husky. And I know you can turn into a fox. So now, when you think 'it's time to grow four legs and a tail', your body has trouble not defaulting to the forms you already know."
It does explain why it's been so difficult. Urayuli hummed in acknowledgment, accepting her grandfather's explanation as truth. She wondered if Max himself ever had experienced this Shifter's Aversion, or if Calypso ever had a similar experience as a Mimic. Surely she must have, with all the cat shifts she's able to do. Urayuli promised herself she would ask Calypso about it tomorrow.
Max was quiet for a moment as he watched his granddaughter, who was deep in thought about one thing or another as she stared at her feet, her mouth pursed and moving from side to side. He crouched in front of her so he was at eye level. "Do you remember how easy it was to turn into the first form you ever turned into?"
Urayuli flicked her gaze to his eyes before she looked back at her feet again. "Kind of? My memory of that day is kind of hazy." She wrung her hands nervously. "I don't exactly remember how I did it, it just happened."
"Tell me, kituuqta. What happened that day?"
Kvichak hooked the boat trailer onto the ball hitch of his dark-green 1979 Ford F150, wiping the rust on his hands from the safety chains off his pant-leg. As he went back inside the house, he swatted away the mosquitoes that had swarmed around him. When he got inside, he heard a pair of footsteps bounding down the stairs.
"Daddy!" The little four-year-old exclaimed as she carried a baby-blue backpack with images of seagulls on it with her. "Are we going?"
"Not yet, sweetie. We're gonna make sandwiches first," Kvichak said as he swooped the little girl up with one arm, her playful squeals reverberating through the house, and walked to the kitchen. He sat her down on the kitchen counter as he started preparing the food for their trip.
"What would you like on your sandwich, Yuli?"
"I want peanut-butter jelly, please," Urayuli said, clutching her backpack tighter to her body and softly kicking her legs back and forth.
As Kvichak prepared the sandwiches – keeping the crust on them, Urayuli liked the crunchiness for some reason – he was lost in thought. Ever since Maria's passing, he had been on edge about the very real possibility that Urayuli might have inherited her mother's Quirk. He had marveled at Maria's power, but he would be a fish out of water trying to help Urayuli if she did, in fact, possess the same ability. 'I shouldn't be worried', Kvichak thought as he glanced at his daughter. 'Her fifth birthday is in two weeks and she hasn't shown any signs of having it. Let's just hope she can continue living a normal life'. He briefly gave her a once over and frowned.
"Urayuli, why aren't you wearing any socks?"
"I don't like socks," Urayuli complained with a pout. "They hug my toes too hard."
"You should wear socks today, Yuli, it might get cold at sea," Kvichak sighed as he put the sandwiches in clear plastic bags. "Open your backpack, we'll put the PB&J's in there." Urayuli hugged the bag closer to her body and stared at him. "Urayuli, give me the backpack."
Reluctantly, she handed him the blue bag, and Kvichak had to stifle a laugh when he saw what was inside. "Did you pack pilot bread and a can of smoked oysters?" Kvichak snickered as he shook his head in disbelief. He held out the can in front of his face. "Did you sneak into the pantry again?"
"They taste good," Urayuli explained, shrugging her shoulders in a way that looked as if it should've been obvious as to why she packed them. "Can I bring Fin?"
"I don't think that's a good idea, Yuli, you might lose him," Kvichak reasoned, not wanting to deal with the inevitable fallout if his daughter were to lose her stuffed bottlenose dolphin.
"But maybe he'll be happy if he finds dolphin friends?" Urayuli asked.
"Maybe, but there aren't any dolphins like Fin around here."
"Why not?"
"It's too cold, dolphins like Fin like warm water," Kvichak explained in a softer voice as he bent forward to be at eye level with her. "There are belugas in Alaska, but I don't think they could be friends."
"Why not?"
"Because they don't speak the same language, they don't understand each other."
"Oh..." Urayuli clasped her hands together nervously. "That's sad. Now Fin won't have any friends."
"He has you, right?" His words made her look up at him. "He can understand you." Urayuli gave him a wide grin, happy that her dolphin plushie doesn't feel lonely. "Now go put on some socks."
"Okay," Urayuli said before she hopped off the counter. "I'm packing Fin for sure now, so he doesn't feel lonely without me!" Kvichak sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose between his fingers.
"Yup," he ground out, kicking himself for giving her that idea. "Pack him up."
Finally, after another fifteen minutes of packing up the truck and finding a pair of suitable socks that wouldn't bother Urayuli as much, they were on their way to the shore. Kvichak drove below the speed limit because Urayuli sat next to him in the cab. She made some high-pitched noises as they drove, sometimes trying to sing the melodies playing over the radio. Kvichak glanced at his daughter for a moment. 'She looks so much like her', he thought with a bereft smile.
When they arrived at the shore and backed up the truck to get the boat trailer into the water, Urayuli all but jumped out of the car with a tiny roar, leaving Kvichak to pick up their bags by himself. Not like he could expect them to carry everything evenly, she was only four. He got out and started emptying the truck-bed, handing Urayuli her life jacket for her to put on herself. He carefully grabbed his fishing rod and the cooler, setting them and everything else they packed down in the skiff. Noticing Urayuli had been suspiciously quiet for the last five minutes, he turned around and found her staring at the murky waters as she fidgeted with the clasps of her life jacket.
While they haven't gone fishing a lot because of her age, Urayuli showed little to no fear of the water. When Kvichak had suggested they go halibut fishing and told her how big the fish were going to be, Urayuli got a glint in her eyes and she jumped up and down excitedly. She wanted to see the 'big fishies' so bad, but perhaps the sight of the water and the idea of going out to what was essentially open ocean frightened her. He walked over to her and crouched down.
"Let me help you with that, Yuli," Kvichak said as he reached for the tiny four-year-old in her still open life jacket, thinking she might want some help. She turned away from him with a pout, shielding her chest away from her father.
"No!" she yelped. "I can do it!"
Kvichak laughed as he held up his hands in mock defeat. "Alright, but can you show me? So I know you're doing it right?"
Urayuli's indignant huff was exaggerated, her shoulder-length hair bobbing with the movement. I should put her hair in a ponytail, Kvichak thought. "I know how to do it! Look!" She grabbed onto the top clasps on either side of the jacket. "This one goes in this one and then it has to –" she put the two clasps together and tried to close them "–click-click!" Sure enough, the plastic buckles made the sound she spoke of, and she continued to do the same thing to the others, clipping them closed. "See!"
"Yes, I see it. Good job, sweetie." Kvichak smiled at her, checking the bindings on her life jacket anyway, just to make sure she couldn't slip out of it.
"Daddy, don't pull on me!" Urayuli whined as Kvichak tightened one of the clasps a little. After he was done, he cupped Urayuli's face in his hands and gave her a grin.
"I just want to be sure you're safe," he said as he pinched her wide cheeks, Urayuli swatted his hands away from her face with a pout. "You never know how fast the current is in The Bay, and you can't swim yet."
"What does 'current' mean?" Urayuli asked as she rubbed her cheeks.
"Where the water is going, and how fast," Kvichak explained as he held out his hand for her to hold. "Come on, I'll help you onto the boat."
Urayuli nodded and said, "Kay" as she put her much tiny hand in his. After Kvichak had lifted her onto the boat, he sat her down on one of the seats and grabbed a brush out of his bag. Urayuli whined, not wanting her father to mess with her hair, but relenting once Kvichak promised he would only put two nice braids along her face so her hair wouldn't whip around her eyes.
When he was finished with Urayuli's hair and making sure they were fully prepared, Kvichak started the motor of the skiff, slowly easing the speed up while keeping a hand on Urayuli so she wouldn't bounce over the side. He navigated the boat downstream, where the Elpetquik river mouthed into Kvichak Bay. 'You'd think my parents had no imagination if they named their son after a body of water, he thought wryly before glancing at Urayuli's laughing face as some water droplets splashed on her. 'Well, I suppose Maria and I are also guilty of odd naming conventions'. Kvichak stopped the boat just a little bit more out at sea. The sky was overcast in something the locals called 'Bristol Bay Gray', a blanket of clouds that everyone who grew up in the Bay was familiar with. It gave the world a somewhat drab look, but to the people in the Bay, it felt like home.
"Watch closely, Yuli," Kvichak said when he took his fishing rod. "Halibut like to live on the bottom of the ocean, so we'll need to make sure the bait can reach them." He attached a small 2-pound lead sinker to his line. He opened the cooler and fetched a piece of salmon belly out of it and put it on the hook. Urayuli watched him work with fascination. "Halibut love fresh salmon."
"I like salmon too," Urayuli said proudly with her hands on her hips. Kvichak squinted his eyes at her.
"How can I be sure you're not a halibut, huh?" He playfully accused as he started tickling Urayuli's side. She squealed and jumped away from his touch with a laugh. "How about you sit down for a bit? This might take a while."
"I want to do it!" Urayuli exclaimed, reaching over to grab the fishing rod. Kvichak gently took her hands away from the rod and put them at her sides.
"You're too little, Yuli, halibuts are really big and heavy," Kvichak told her. "It's better if you just sit down and let me do it."
"But I want to catch the big fish!" Urayuli stomped with her tiny leg. Kvichak had to calm her down before she lost her cool.
"How about this," he started as he put his hand on her shoulder. "Let daddy catch the first one, and then I'll help you next. Is that okay with you?" With a huff and a pout, Urayuli nodded reluctantly and moved to sit on the seat at the back of the boat. Relieved, Kvichak turned back to his fishing line slowly put his rod up to feel for resistance.
Unbeknownst to him, Urayuli wasn't staying put as she was supposed to. Her four-year-old mind could not cope with the boredom of sitting and watching others have fun. She looked around, eventually looking over the side of the boat. She curiously watched, hoping to see the big fishies her father had been talking about. She narrowed her eyes, trying to see through the dark waters. The cloudy and gray overcast made it harder to distinguish shapes, but... There was something there. Urayuli reached out with her hand.
Kvichak was shaken from his concentration when he heard a splash behind him. He whipped around and found the boat was empty. "Yuli?" No answer. Cold terror took hold of his heart. 'There's no way she fell in the water'.
He frantically surveyed around the skiff and to his horror, Urayuli's life jacket was bobbing in the waves. Kvichak hastily snatched it out of the water, hoping Urayuli latched onto it by some miracle but his daughter was nowhere to be found.
"Yuli, no!" Kvichak yelled desperately as he splashed the water around with his hands, not finding any signs of life. "Please, God, no..." 'I can't go through this again. I won't survive this', his mind screamed at him. His throat was tightening with silent sobs. His mind was into overdrive and each passing second meant Urayuli was slowly losing air. Kvichak slammed both his fists on the railing of the boat, a frustrated cry of anguish escaping him. The only sound after was the empty call of the seagulls and the water lapping at the sides of the skiff.
Until he heard it. It was soft and he almost didn't register it. A soft chirp. Kvichak looked and the sight of a small otter pup greeted him. The pup swam around for a moment, dipping its head under the water before coming back up with a squeal as it caught sight of him. It swam towards the boat and cooed as it tried in vain to scratch the slippery sides of the boat with its tiny paws. Kvichak was speechless and the tiny voice inside his head urged him to cup his hands together for the baby to climb into. The small pup squeaked as it clumsily paddled into his wading hands, and when it found a hold, it curled into a ball in his palm. The shivering pup looked up at him as he scooped it out of the water. His mouth went dry, and taking a closer look at the small otter was all he could do to ignore the deafening pounding in his ears. He looked into the eyes of the small creature who'd looked up at him and saw his daughter's cognac eyes staring back. "Yuli?" His voice trembled and his hands started shaking when the pup chirped and cuddled closer into his palm.
The world went cold, and as the otter shivered so did Kvichak's bones. He opened the zipper of his Craftsman hoodie so he could hold the tiny body against his heart. The boat engine hummed loudly in the background and curled his body around his hands, shielding Urayuli from everything around them. Kvichak choked out the only words he could muster without bursting into tears, "Don't ever jump out again."