With the start of the new week at U.A. High, the students of Class 1-A were all eagerly conversing with one another about their experiences at their internships. Some of them had been full of action and intensity, where the interns actually fought villains first-hand, while others were much less satisfied with what they'd gone through in their internships. However, all of the students knew that any of their internship experiences were nothing compared to the five who'd actually been there to fight against the Hero Killer, and many of them began to fawn over those classmates.
"I'm glad you guys all made it back alive," said Kirishima.
"Yes, it was quite a scare for me," Yaoyorozu added with furrowed eyebrows.
"You were lucky that Hawks was there to save you guys," said Sato.
The four classmates looked over to Shigeo, wondering what his reaction would be at the false praise being given to Hawks and the lack of praise being given to the esper, but found that Mob had no problems with this, and gave a small smile to his classmates. "That's right, Hawks saved us. He's a really great hero."
"Hey, did you guys here the news?" Ojiro said, "Everyone's saying that he was somehow connected to the League of Villains. Can you imagine how scary it would've been if he'd been there during the U.S.J.?"
"Yea, but did you see him in that video?" Kaminari retorted, "It's all over the internet. Stain's a pretty bad guy, but he's super tenacious. He's almost kinda cool, don't you think?"
"Kaminari!" Midoriya called out his electricity-wielding classmate on so recklessly complimenting the man who'd critically injured Ingenium, a sentiment that Shigeo also shared despite having helped to change Stain. Upon seeing his mistake, Kaminari immediately clamped his mouth shut with his hand. However, Iida did not scowl at his classmate's words.
"No, you're fine." The youung teenager looked at his damaged arm. "It is true that he's quite a tenacious individual, and I understand why people may think he'd be cool. But instead of helping the world, he chose to kill people, and killing should never be condoned." Iida's face scrunched, and he rubbed his hand over his bandaged arm. "He still killed people..."
The spectacled student looked back at his classmates, puffing up his body with renewed energy while performing one of his signature chops through the air. "So in order to spare others from the same pain I went through, I will strive to be the perfect hero! Now it's time for class to begin!"
As the class president tried to bring about order and get everybody ready for their next lesson, Shigeo and Izuku remembered the vow Iida had made in the hospital, his determination to start over and work hard to become worthy of the title hero. It pleased both of them to know how serious he was in that goal, and they couldn't wait to see in what ways he would lead their class and continue to improve.
As the school day had come to an end, many of the students of Class 1-A were ready to change into their gym uniforms and meet up for the Body Improvement Club. But one of the members, Todoroki, had something to discuss with the leader of this club, and had waited until the end of the day to bring it up with him. Hopefully Mob would accept his offer, for his mother had been rather excited about the prospect of meeting the person who'd changed Endeavor. As the students were filing out of the classroom, the dual quirk-wielding teenager walked up to Mob, who was talking to Izuku.
"So you go ahead and start without me, ok? There's something I need to take care of," Mob said. Izuku nodded and left the classroom, while Shoto approached the esper and tapped him on the shoulder.
"Hey Kageyama, there's something I wanted to talk to you about."
"Actually, there's something I wanted to talk to you about too." Todoroki's eyebrows lifted up in confusion.
"Come with me."
Izuku briskly went to the changing room in order to get into his gym uniform, where he met the other members of the Body Improvement Club getting ready to start their training.
"So what's on the agenda for today's training?" said Tetsutetsu, "Are we gonna be doing some more running and upper body work, or are we gonna focus on a different muscle group?"
"Well..." Shigeo was the one who created the schedule for the Body Improvement Club, and his friend never really went over the schedule with Izuku. "I'm not sure. We'll wait until Kageyama gets here, then you can ask him." The young teenagers readied themselves as quickly as possible and went to the meeting point outside the school gym where many other members of the Body Improvement Club had already arrived. However, among the people waiting was a new face eager to join the club.
"Iida? What're you doing here?"
The spectacled teenager smiled at the verdant-eyed fanboy. The week before, Iida had been too wrapped up in his hatred and desire for vengeance to think about anything else, which was why he paid no attention to the creation of the Body Improvement Club. But after having overcome his desire for revenge and after everything his friends had done for him, Iida took a greater look at what this club's ultimate goal was and what it had to offer. "I had heard of this club's formation and its goal to physical improvement, and I thought that joining this club would provide a number of benefits."
Iida took a look at all of his classmates who'd joined this club. "It improves cooperation and support among our classmates, which will be vital for future endeavors. Furthermore," The blue-haired student's eyes focused on Kendo and Tetsutetsu, the two students from Class 1-B, and began to chop his hands through the air like he usually did. "I see that even students from our other class have joined this club in spite of the club being comprised of mostly students from Class 1-A. This club can strengthen the relationship between our two classes and bring us together toward the common goal of self-improvement, and I am determined to be a part of that!"
The other students chuckled to themselves, Iida's serious demeanor and eccentric mannerisms still as amusing as always, while Midoriya only beamed with pleasure and pride. Even though Kageyama was the one who started this club, Midoriya was still very happy to see how so many of his classmates were being brought together. Becoming physically stronger was vital in his quest to become the number one hero, and knowing that he'd be doing it alongside his classmates, the same way he worked himself to the bone with Kageyama, made the journey all-the-more memorable.
"Well it's really great to have you in the club," the green-haired student said.
"Midoriya, are you the leader of the Body Improvement Club?" Iida asked.
"Me? No, I'm just the vice president of the club. Kageyama's the one who started the club, but he's running a little late, so let's wait a little longer." The members of the Body Improvement Club stood in an awkward silence for a few seconds, but Midoriya broke the silence when he thought of something really cool he'd seen before.
"Wait, you guys have GOT to see this!" The young teenager began to pull out his phone and went through the images he'd received from Mob several days ago. "During his internship with Hawks, Kageyama took some SERIOUSLY cool photos of him, Hawks and Tokoyami in the sky." The members of the Body Improvement Club all crowded around Midoriya and looked at the pictures; all of them were fascinated when they saw Hawks and Kageyama in the sky sitting on something shaped like a couch.
"Wait, what are they sitting on?" said Kirishima.
"It's a couch shaped by clouds using Kageyama's quirk; it was an idea Hawks had to create an entertaining photo."
"And how come you weren't up there with them?" said Tsu.
"Well, this was on the first day of internships, where Hawks decided to take Kageyama into the sky for some high-speed flight, and my body was unable to handle traveling at such speeds."
"What a bummer," Uraraka remarked, "Those pictures sure are cool."
"Hold on, there's still more!" Midoriya eagerly swiped through the pictures and got to the selfie all three of them took after the high-speed flight. What followed was the days afterward when they'd taken Tokoyami along in the air. When they saw what came next, several of the teenagers began to laugh.
"So you guys are relaxing on the couch and watching tv in the sky?" Kendo said, "That's hilarious!" As Midoriya swiped through the pictures, they came next to Tokoyami waving his hands through the clouds in a swimming motion.
Tetsutetsu let out a dramatic gasp. "You're swimming through the air! How're you doing it?"
"Kageyama kept me afloat using his telekinesis while Hawks told me to perform a swimming motion."
"Man, it looks like Hawks was a pretty gun guy to be around, ribbit."
Izuku firmly nodded his head while his verdant eyes were glowing with their trademark brightness that appeared whenever he geeked out about heroes. "Yea! I'm so jealous that you got such unbelievably cool selfies with the number three hero, Tokoyami! It must've been so awesome!"
The avian student couldn't help pick up on Midoriya's infectious smile, and the corners of his lips curled upward. "It was indeed a remarkable experience."
Midoriya was about to close the Photos app on his phone, but as he did, he received a text message from Kageyama letting him know that he'd be unable to attend and gave him a run-down of everything that he'd planned for today. "Ok guys, Kageyama's not gonna be able to make it today. He said he has something important that came up at the last minute, so I guess I'll take over today's practice. Based on the schedule Kageyama sent me just now, we'll do the same long-distance run we did before and do exercises that focus on upper body strengthening."
"Sounds like a plan!" Kirishima said.
"Wait, has anyone seen Todoroki?" Yaoyorozu said, "He hasn't shown up yet, and practice should've started more than five minutes ago."
"Something probably came up for him at the last minute too," Midoriya said, "We'll just have to start without him. Alright everybody, let's get going!" The passionate fanboy began the run while repeating the mantra for their club.
"Body Improvement!"
"Fight on! Fight on! Fight on!" Iida was puzzled by the manner they were all shouting, but quickly came to see this was likely a mantra for the club meant to invigorate the members, and he too began to repeat the mantra, his inner energy beginning to rise with excitement. As the club members were running, Midoriya ran at the front with another smile split across his face. He wondered what Kageyama was up to to miss this practice...
While the rest of their classmates were on their way home or were getting ready for the Body Improvement Club training, Todoroki and Kageyama had packed their things were were walking through the hallways. When Shigeo had asked Shoto to come with him, the red and white-haired student hesitantly did as his friend asked, curious about his determined expression and what was causing this determined expression. The two friends made their way through the hallways until they made it to the nurse's office.
"Recovery Girl?" The bowl-haired student entered the room and greeted the school nurse. Upon seeing the two students, she got out of her desk and approached the two of them.
"So you've brought him," she said.
"Yep," Mob replied, "I think I'm ready to try it."
"Try what?" Shoto didn't understand what any of this meant, why he'd bother bringing him to the nurse's office at a time like this. "What's going on here?"
Mob looked back at his friend, for he knew what was about to come next was going to be surprising for him to hear. "Todoroki, this is gonna sound weird to you, but... I can heal your scar." Along with the combat exercises he'd focused on during the weekend, the esper had also spent that time honing his healing, enhancing the signals being sent to his bruises and broken skin while learning more about the skin cells of the human body, how scars were formed. Apparently, when the skin was damaged, collagen, a protein the body makes, repairs the skin, but it was put down in a very disorganized, haphazard way, resulting in the skin appearing discolored. Now that he understood the layers of the skin and how they repaired themselves, Mob felt he'd honed his healing power enough to allow him to mend the burned skin on his friend's face.
The ice and fire-wielding student felt himself shuffle a step back, floored by what his friend just said. Kageyama was offering to heal him? How could he even do that? "...What?"
"I know that sounds crazy to you, but I've been able to train my quirk, manipulate the energy within me to work in different ways, and I've learned how to use my quirk to heal the bodies of others. If you let me, I'll be able to replace the burned skin cells with new skin cells."
"Your friend seems quite shocked by your statement, Kageyama," Recovery Girl said, "Give him a moment to process this." Mob did as the nurse asked and waited for Todoroki's response. The teenager was having a hard time believing this to be true: he'd thought that his scar would be a permanent disfigurement, a constant reminder of the pain his mother had been put through which led her to pour that boiling water over his face. But now he was being given the chance to have that reminder removed. It just seemed too good to be true.
"Let's get started." The esper walked up to his friend and raised his hand up to Shoto's face. At first, the teenager slightly recoiled his head, but he calmed himself down and let Shigeo place his hand over the left side of his face, so that his entire hand was covering the scarred skin tissue.
"Here we go."
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Mob closed his eyes and took in a deep breath. He could do this: he'd been training his psychic powers for this, and he wouldn't let his friend down after giving him hope of having the scar removed. The esper's body glowed a rainbow color, and his right palm was now brimming with psychic energy. As he was channeling the psychic energy into Shoto, he focused his mind on the layers of skin, imagined each layer repairing itself with new skin cells to replace the improperly healed skin cells. He just kept repeating the image in his mind, commanding Shoto's body to fix the skin cells the way he was asking. The two remained in this position for more than fifteen seconds, until he finally dropped his hand. When he opened his eyes to see what kind of job he did, his jaw dropped open.
"What?" Shoto looked at his friend's reaction, and felt his heart begin to race. Did it work? The teenager desperately looked around the room to find a mirror to look at, and found a small one on Recovery Girl's desk. When he looked at the reflection in the mirror, he felt his heart freeze. The scar had completely vanished: the disgusting red skin that had covered most of the left side of his face was replaced by his regular skin. It was actually gone...
Without realizing it, Shoto began to softly chuckle to himself, and in an extremely rare display of emotion, his eyes beginning to fill with water. Watching his reaction, Shigeo couldn't help but feel his eyes water up as well, for his heart was swelling up with a sense of joy and pride in knowing he'd helped his friend this way, to know that he'd healed the traumatic damage that had been dealt to him. But as Shoto was looking at his healed skin in the reflection, his entire body froze up, and his eyes widened when he realized exactly what he needed to do right now.
"Mom... I have to go see her right now! She has to see this!" The red and white-haired student bolted for the door, but before he did, he looked back at his friend. "Kageyama, I'd like for you to come with me!"
"Come with you?"
"That's what I wanted to talk to you about! My mom said she wanted to meet you in-person and for me to bring you over the next time I visited her. I was planning on bringing you on the weekend, but if it's alright with you, I'd like to go right now."
The esper had also not expected such a request to come from Shoto. His mother wanted to meet him? Whatever the reason, Mob was sure it must've been extremely important, and it felt rude to reject her offer. "Of course I'll go."
"Great! Now come on! We can't waste any time!" The teenager sprinted out the door as fast as he could while his friend rushed in from behind him. As they were running, Shigeo took out his phone and texted Izuku to let him know that he'd take over for today, though he didn't give the specific reason. The two of them were running so fast that no one had the chance to see Shoto's healed skin: all they could see was the wide smile across his face, wider than ever before. Because the teenager felt himself brimming with joy, imagining just how unbelievably happy his mother would be when she was that the scar she'd left had been healed.
Shoto and Shigeo made their way through the streets and onto the train system, where they got on the train to the mental hospital. As they were on the train, they struggled to catch their breath, since both of them had been going at full speed to get here, but now that they could talk, Shigeo decided to ask some questions about Shoto's mother.
"So are we going to your house?" Mob said. The esper didn't realize this subject was touchy, but was quickly made to understand this when he saw Shoto's head lowered in response.
"No. We're going to a mental hospital." Todoroki sighed: since they were going to meet her, it was only fair that he know the whole story. "You remember how I said before that my mother poured boiling water over my face? Well, you should know that it wasn't done on purpose. She was just put under so much pressure and stress from my father that her mind just couldn't take it, and she snapped when she saw my left side."
Mob felt his heart stir up with empathy and sadness, and even though he'd already theorized this himself, hearing it out loud was still very disheartening. "After that, my father put her in a mental hospital, where she's stayed there for ten years. I didn't go visit her because I was too afraid that seeing me again would only trigger her pain. But I reunited with her after the sports festival, and we reconnected. She still feels responsible for what she did to me, which is why she has to see this as soon as possible, so she won't have to feel the guilt of hurting me anymore."
"Right!" The esper couldn't agree more: getting her to see this was absolutely critical! Hopefully, it wouldn't take much longer! After about a ten minute ride of silence and impatient foot tapping from Shoto, the train finally stopped at their station, and the two friends resumed their sprint. After about a five-minute sprint, the two of them finally arrived at the mental hospital. The two of them rushed in and got into the elevator, where Shoto was impatiently tapping the third floor button. When they made it to the third floor, they blitzed past the receptionist desk. Finally, the two friends made it to Rei's room, and Shoto basically slammed the door open.
"Mom! I've got something to show you!" The two teenagers entered the room, where they found Rei sitting on a chair near her windowsill, engrossed in a book. The ice-wielding mother felt her entire body jolt at her son's jubilant voice.
"Shoto, another surprise visit so soon?" she said, closing her book to greet her son, "And I've never heard you so excited before! Whatever you have to show me, I'll be sure to-" Rei's voice instantly petered out when she turned her head and got a good look at her son's face. Her entire body froze up, and her heart stopped. Was... was she really seeing this? She was looking at her son's real face, the face she had once known and loved but had inflicted unspeakable damage to that day. The mother slowly got out of her chair and took small steps toward her son, almost hesitantly, for she feared that what she was seeing was a dream, and if she moved too quickly, the dream would stop, and she'd wake up to see her son with the same scar on his face. As Rei approached her son, her lips were trembling, and her eyes were welling up with tears.
"Your scar..." Rei cradled her son's face with both her hands, and with her right hand, stroked over the place where the scar had once been, lifting his tufts of hair to get the full view of his face. "It's... gone."
Before she knew it, the tears began to stream down her face, the insurmountable pleasure of seeing her son's healed face too much to contain. She never thought the day would come where she'd be able to see her son's undamaged face again. Rei believed that his scar would always be there as a permanent reminder of the horrendous action she had committed that day against her youngest child. But now, the damage that had been inflicted on Shoto had disappeared, and she was able to see the face she had not seen in more than ten years.
"How? How did this happen?"
"It was because of him." Shoto pointed to Mob, who was silently watching this scene unfold. Rei had been so focused on her son that she hadn't even noticed the person standing beside him.
"Are you Shigeo Kageyama?" she said, assuming this based on his school uniform and similar age.
"That's right. Somehow, he was able to use the energy of his quirk to heal my scar." Rei's mouth gaped open, and her body jerked back. "I know it's hard to believe, but that's really what happened."
"It's very nice to meet you, ma'am." The esper politely extended his hand out to Rei to introduce himself. Instead of meeting Shigeo's handshake, however, she took it several steps further and tackled Mob with a fierce hug. The psychic felt himself be winded by Rei's unexpected embrace. Shoto was surprised by how emotional her mother was being, but then again, a part of him knew this was just all the sadness and pain of injuring him that had been stored up for so long.
"Thank you! Thank you so much!" she said through flowing tears and heart-wrenching sobs, "You have no idea how many times I've woken up in the night, reliving the same nightmare of scarring my little boy! You don't know how much I've hated myself for hurting Shoto like that!"
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The esper let out a light gasp. Even without using his powers, he could tell that her pain and self-loathing ran very deep. It was just like the hatred he held for himself ever since he hurt Ritsu when they were kids, but for Rei, it was even worse because the injury had been permanent. And to think that she'd been carrying that pain for so long. Mob reciprocated Rei's affection and tenderly embraced her. "It's not your fault. You must've been feeling so many negative emotions, living in a house where your husband ignored and mistreated you for so long, spending every day in misery, that your mind just couldn't take it anymore, and all those negative emotions just exploded out of you. I know that feeling."
Though Rei was grateful for the teenager's praise, the last part of his sentence disturbed her greatly, and Shoto also felt his stomach begin to slightly twist. "...You do?" The white-haired mother remembered the conversation she continued to have with her two children a few days ago...
"Yes," Rei said, mimicking her daughter's glowing expression. While they were on the topic, Fuyumi decided to mention some other thoughts on the esper that she'd had ever since she saw his performance in the sports festival.
"I definitely knew that Shigeo was a really nice guy, since he showed respect to all the people he fought, except for that Bakugo. Still, there're some other things about him that I wasn't expecting from him..." The young woman rested her chin in her fingers, remembering how the final match of the Sports Festival went down, "Like your match against him in the finals of the Sports Festival. I mean, he just let himself be thrown out of the ring by you even though he had the advantage."
"I think I know the reason he did that..." Shoto decided to shed light on Shigeo's surrender based on everything he saw from him during their fight. "During the fight, I tried to tell Kageyama to give our fight everything he had, to stop thinking and just act. And he did just that, started using his full power and going more on the offensive."
Todoroki felt his body slightly shudder. "I was the only one close enough to hear it, but he started laughing, like he was in some sort of ecstasy. To tell you the truth, it was pretty rattling to hear that kind of laugh. It wasn't something that suited him. I think... he was afraid of losing control of himself, of letting the thrill of our fight take over. It looked like that laughter snapped him out of it, and he let me throw him out of the ring so he wouldn't risk himself losing control. As he ran out of the arena, I remember seeing some tears in his eyes..."
The two women drew their hands to their throats. "I'd never think someone like Shigeo would have a problem like that," Fuyumi said.
"Maybe if I hadn't said those things to him, he wouldn't have had to force himself to give up, I don't know..." The teenager continued, remembering more disheartening information about his friend.
"And I'm also pretty sure he's gone through some terrible things in his life."
"What do you mean?" said Rei.
"During the fight with Stain, Kageyama said that he'd experienced the darkness of the world. He didn't really elaborate on what that meant, but it's safe to say that it wasn't good. But what's even worse than that is... he said he'd seen his family burned alive." Rei and Fuyumi jumped out of their seats, their expressions stitched with horror. Shoto somberly nodded. "And he said that he felt such unbridled anger that he was ready to burn the world to ashes. Maybe that was the darkness he was talking about, but I'm not sure...
"When we were at the hospital, I asked him about this and if his family was alive. Kageyama said they were perfectly fine, but he didn't really elaborate on what he'd said before. Later on, Midoriya, one of my other friends, told me not to pry any more because it was difficult for Kageyama to talk about. I'm not sure whether or not his family really was killed or what really happened with him, but either way, it looks like that experience still haunts Kageyama."
"How unbelievably horrible," muttered Fuyumi, "To have had to see something like that, and if his family really is..." The young woman didn't even want to finish her sentence, for it was too horrible to repeat it. Rei was similarly saddened at the prospect of someone as bright and hopeful as Shigeo having to have experienced such trauma. It was just heartbreaking...
For Rei, that had been bad enough, but for her to know that this child had gone through an experience similar to hers, one as torturous and painful as her abusive life with Enji had been, it made her blood run cold. Rei released Mob from her embrace and took a slight step back so she could get a better look at the teenager. Shigeo could see the way her face became somber at his statement, and did his best to ease her mind. "But never mind that. All that matters right now is that Todoroki's scar is gone and that I was able to help with it."
The white-haired mother smiled brightly while wiping away the tears from her face to get a grip on herself. Once she was able to stop the tears from coming out, she immediately did everything she could to tidy everything around the room. "Please, take a seat, make yourselves comfortable."
The two teenagers did as she asked and took their seats on the bed. "Shigeo, would you like anything to drink? I have some water and sodas in the fridge if you'd like."
"A water would be fine, thank you," replied Mob.
"Same for me."
Rei scrambled to get the drinks out of the mini fridge and gave them to the two teenagers, who silently took small sips as to be respectful. The esper awkwardly tapped his water bottle, for he still had no idea the reason why he was here at all. As they sat there, Rei stared at them with an expression of happiness and gratitude that Shoto had never seen from her in his entire life.
"Shoto has told me so much about you, Shigeo," Rei started, "I've heard of the way you've brought your entire class closer together, how you've inspired them all to improve themselves. Not only that, but Shoto told me of the way you were there to help him during the Sports Festival when he was confused and uncertain, and because of you, he was able to come to terms with using his left side. That was why I wanted the chance to meet you, to get to know you better, and to thank you for what you've done for Shoto and Enji too."
The esper felt a mild blush creep up on his cheeks while his eyes went to the different corners of the room, until he heard the last name mentioned, Enji. Though he didn't recognize the name, he assumed he was referring to the number two hero. "Oh, you mean Endeavor? So you know about..."
"I overheard the conversation you had with my father at the hospital," replied Todoroki, "I'm sorry for eavesdropping like that, but I saw him come up to you and just felt like I needed to know what he wanted to talk with you about." The teenager awkwardly tapped his foot, but while they were talking about Endeavor, Shoto decided to question Mob regarding something else that had been in the back of his mind for some time. "I heard him say that you talked to him during the Sports Festival. If you wouldn't mind, I'm curious to know what you said to him."
The esper vividly remembered Endeavor when they first met, and despite the man being surrounded by flames, his eyes were cold and hard, fixated solely on the goal of becoming the number one hero. "It was just before our match, Todoroki. He came to me and told me to fight with everything I had and to get you to use both sides. He thought that you weren't using your flames because you were just childishly rebelling, but I told him that wasn't true, that he didn't want to follow the path you laid out for him. I explained to him that he wasn't viewing you as a person, that he took away the normal childhood you deserved and focused only on training you as a weapon, and that you deserved much better."
The dual quirk-wielding teenager felt a slight sense of embarrassment and flattery at the way Kageyama had looked out for and defended him even back then, while Rei's smile only widened and her appreciation for Shigeo only grew. "Well, thanks to you, Enji's been inspired to face his past, to become a better person."
"Really? That's great," Shigeo said, very pleased to hear that Endeavor had taken his advice to heart. Rei looked over to the window, where the esper noticed some beautiful blue flowers left in a vase.
"Those flowers, they're my favorite. I only mentioned it to him once, the first time we met more than twenty years ago. This weekend, he came to the hospital and gave me those flowers, though I didn't actually get to see him." Shigeo looked at the flowers sitting in the vase and was able to see them not as just a thoughtful gift, but as something much greater.
"So he didn't just marry you for your quirk," he said, "He actually loves you." The two Todoroki's shot their eyebrows up, unable to see the picture Mob was painting. "If the only thing that really mattered to him was your quirk, then he would've just ignored it, but the fact that he remembers something as small as this, something you mentioned to him only once more than 20 years ago, means that was something special to him. And for something you like to be special to him, that would have to mean that you're special to him. He might've forgotten about those feelings, pushed them down to focus on his dream of becoming the number one hero while doing terrible things to you that you didn't deserve, but those feelings never disappeared. Those flowers prove it. At least, that's the way I think of it."
Rei and Shoto were both very floored by Shigeo's statement. For the wife of Endeavor, she once again felt her eyes begin to water, and she placed her hand over her heart. "I never thought about it that way." Rei's mind went back to the beginning of her relationship with Enji, when they were just starting to get acquainted with one another, one of the only times she remembered really enjoying her time with him. "When I was younger, I didn't really know where my life would be headed, who I wanted to be with, so when I heard that the number two hero wanted me as his bride, I wasn't really sure what to think. When I first met him, we took a nice walk through the park, and I actually enjoyed myself. Even though I knew that the main reason that he wanted to marry me was for my power, I tried to make the best of it and accept the situation for what it was, and after our first meeting, I hoped that maybe there was another reason he'd chosen me, that maybe I could start a real family with him. But then..." Her eyes dampened at the memory of Endeavor's worsening behavior.
"He started focusing only on training our children, putting all his energy and effort into becoming stronger and trying to surpass All Might. I was just an afterthought for him, and I could never spend any real quality time with him, understand him better or get him to open up. I thought that the only thing about me that really mattered to him WAS just my quirk, but if what you're saying is true, then..." The mother tightened the grip on her heart, and her smile returned. Knowing that Enji possessed at least some sense of love and compassion for her all this time proved to her that she wasn't meaningless for him, that even with the goal of surpassing All Might in his mind, that love hadn't faded away.
"That means a lot to me, Shigeo. Thank you." The three of them sat in silence for a few more seconds before Rei tried to focus on more regular conversation. "So tell me more about yourself, about your personal life. Shoto also told me about the new club you started."
"Oh yea, the Body Improvement Club," the esper said, "Even though we haven't had too many practices, I still think that it's a great way to bring our class together and work toward the goal of improving ourselves."
"I see." Rei decided to air on a more humorous side with the next question she had in mind. "You know, I'm sure that someone like you has bound to get the attention of some girls, or maybe the opposite. Do you have anyone special like that, maybe a childhood crush?"
Mob's ears turned a deep shade of red, and the teenager felt the butterflies in his stomach flutter madly, the image of Tsubomi being the first thing to come to mind. His love for her had never faded, even with the time spent apart from her, and those feelings were rapidly rising in his heart. Rei giggled at the esper's reaction. "I'll take that as a yes. Don't worry, I was only teasing you. You don't have to say anything if you don't want to."
"No, it's ok." Shigeo tried his best to stop the butterflies in his stomach and look at Rei with a straight face, though a light shade of red still tinted his cheeks. "I'll tell you about her. I mean, you told me the way you felt about your husband, so it's only fair that I tell you about my own feelings about someone I care about. Besides, I think you're someone I can talk to about this."
Both Rei and Shoto were not expecting the bowl-haired psychic to be so forward about this, toward something so sensitive, looking at each other with startled faces. "When I was a kid, there was a girl who I really liked spending time with, and her name was Tsubomi. I don't know why, but we got along really well, and I just had fun playing with her. I showed her my psychic powers, and she was really impressed those powers at first."
Mob sighed and lowered his head. "But eventually, she got bored of me. I didn't have anything else besides my psychic powers that made me appealing, and she kind of just lost interest in me. That's when I first realized that there were things having psychic powers couldn't get me."
"So is that what you meant when you said that being the strongest never helped with what mattered most to you?" Mob's eyes went to the window while his cheeks began to burn brightly.
29%
"...Basically," he replied with a voice not much louder than a whisper.
"How sad..." Rei felt her heartstrings being plucked at the tale of Shigeo's lost love, the girl who'd lost interest in him because he had nothing to offer her. Shigeo's feelings for Tsubomi looked like they ran very deep within his heart, and he appeared to carry a profound sense of regret for being unable to get her to like him. "Well, I think she made a really big mistake to just ignore you like that," Rei said, "She'd be the luckiest girl in the world to have someone as sweet, gentle, and honest as you be her boyfriend."
The heat in the psychic's cheeks began to rapidly rise, and a sheepish smile began to split across his face. Mob imagined him and Tsubomi walking home together, holding hands as the sun set, and it made his heart flutter. But as those thoughts of the girl he loved came back, so did the memories of everyone else back home, and his smile quickly faded. "I haven't gotten the chance to see her for a long time," Mob said, deciding to tell at least some of the truth, "The same goes for a lot of my friends back home."
Mob couldn't believe how quickly his positive mood was beginning to sour at the thought of his friends and family in his reality. It had been almost a year since he'd been transported into this reality, and he still hadn't found a way to make it back home. He'd thought about trying to create a new hole into his reality by using his psychic powers, but the few times he bothered, the attempts bore no fruit. Mob just didn't have the energy or the skill to replicate that technique, which meant that he was still stuck in this world. Spending time with All Might and Midoriya, making new friends at U.A. High had pushed his friends and family out of his mind, but he still missed them dearly. He wondered how they were living their lives, if they were all ok without him...
"WA-TAH!" The Psychic Star of the 21st century, Reigen Arataka, was hard at work with one of his "exorcisms", using his "psychic energy" to enhance the blows to his client's back and properly eliminate the spirit that the client was haunted by. Combined with the use of his bath salts and the heavenly aroma, the client felt as though new life had been breathed into him. He was now positive that whatever evil spirit had been plaguing him for the past week was now properly exorcised.
"I, Reigen Arataka, have exorcised the evil spirit from your body and freed you from it's control!" The client, who'd entered the office with slouched shoulders and a droopy face, was now standing straight as a board with a bright new face.
"Thank you so much!"
"Feel free to come back any time if you feel that a spirit's been possessing you. My receptionist can give you my card." Sitting at the corner of the office behind a small desk, Tome Kurata, the former leader of the Telepathy Club, took out one of the business cards she had and gave it to the client, who exited the room with a skip in his step.
"There's another client coming in twenty minutes, by the way," said Tome.
"I noticed you using some new moves." Standing at a table and preparing tea for the next client was Katsuya Serizawa, a former member of the Ultimate 5. After Claw was disbanded, the esper chose to make up for his past crimes by working at the Spirits and Such Consultations Office, and during the year that he'd spent there, he'd matured quite greatly. The once shy, inexperienced and unconfident shut-in had done his part to regain his place in society, attending school and making several friends his age while greatly improving his social skills.
"Yea, I was trying something new I found online, and it worked pretty well."
"Brother. I forget how gullible some of his clients are..." This was the thought of Dimple, who was watching Reigen perform his massage beside the esper. After Mob had vanished, Reigen was expecting Dimple to simply leave and wander through the world, which was why he was surprised when Dimple still came around the office. Though there were periods of absence, the evil spirit always popped in once in a while. Reigen assumed that he was simply waiting for the time when Mob returned so he could again try to use him for his own ambitions, but since Dimple wasn't doing anything devious, the con artist decided to be nice and leave him be.
As Reigen plopped himself in his chair, he sighed and looked over at the bulletin board on his wall. On that board were the pictures of some the clients he'd helped since he'd started his business, and in those pictures, the con artist could be seen smiling with his disciple. It had almost been one year since Mob had vanished, but all the time did not heal the wound Mob's absence had caused. Though Reigen had done his best to try and continue with his life, he could never shake the grief and guilt from his heart, and even now, the unbelievably large question of where Mob was and whether or not he was even still alive had been on his mind every single day. He hated it, and he hated himself for letting Mob be forced into that position in the first place. It was his responsibility as his master to protect him, and he'd failed miserably.
The sadness and depression in his heart was beginning to creep up on him again, and it took all his effort to not let it control him. Just where was he...
In Salt Middle School, the students were just finishing their classes, all ready to head home for the day. While the students in the other reality had started their new term about a month and a half ago, the two realities had a chronological difference of about four months, so for Salt Middle School, the students were about halfway through their second term. As the students walked through the halls, many of them walked pass the room of the Body Improvement Club. Though Mob had failed to realize it, his presence in this club had inspired many first-years to join, and so like the alternate reality, the club consisted of more than a dozen members, led by the only second-year member of the club from the year before, Jun Sagawa.
Several rooms away from the Body Improvement Club meeting area, the Salt Middle School Student Council was just about to finish its meeting. Among the members of the Student Council was none other than Ritsu Kageyama, who had become the vice president.
"I believe that's everything," the new president said, "We've already gone over our plans for the admission of new clubs and the festival. Kageyama, is there anything you'd like to add?"
The esper barely lifted his eyes up to acknowledge the question and only slightly shook his head. "No."
"Well, then I'll see you all tomorrow." The other council members got out of their seats and prepared to pack their things. The sullen vice president didn't lift his head up and kept his eyes on the floor as he headed for the exit. The other members of the club noticed their vice president sulking, and one of them wondered what was the cause.
"Hey, what's up with Kageyama," one of them said, "He's not a cheery guy, but I haven't seen him this bummed out."
One of the other members who'd been part of the Student Council last year leaned his head over to his peer to fill him in. "It's his older brother. About a year ago, it looked like he disappeared. Nobody really knows what or how it happened, but apparently he vanished."
"That's terrible..."
"Yea. He's never been the same since."
Walking down the halls of the middle school, Ritsu's hands were stuffed into his pockets while his eyes gazed at the floor. Losing his older brother had been a tremendously heavy pain and burden on his heart, almost even more than it was for Reigen. The first week after his brother's absence, Ritsu didn't even have the strength to get out of bed or go to school. The overwhelming sadness was just to much for him. Ritsu's entire body shuddered, and he momentarily closed his eyes as he remembered his parents' reaction to this news.
After having gone missing, the younger brother went to the inn that they were staying at, part of the plot by Sho to get Mob to fight Claw and keep his parents out of the way. Reigen had decided to come along as well out of a courtesy and because he felt it was also part of his responsibility to inform them. They were both having fun, enjoying the inn and talking with some other guests when they saw their younger son with an older man, though they didn't even know who he was since they'd never really bothered to ask about Mob's life at the Spirits and Such Consultation Office. Both were confused by what they were doing here, and by the saddened look on Ritsu's face. The young esper tried to talk, get the words out of his mouth, but even trying to do that was enough to bring more tears into his eyes, and so Reigen tried to spare him from having to explain it and took the burden of telling the parents what had happened. Even now, Ritsu could remember every feature on their faces, first the shock and confusion of what exactly Reigen meant by an evil esper organization and the fight that Mob partook in to stop him, then the look of horror when the con artist explained that Mob was gone, and they knew not where he was, and finally, the tears that fell down their faces as they came to understand that their oldest son was gone, no longer with them.
Nothing had ever been the same for the family since Mob went missing. It was as if part of them had all been taken from them, as if a cloud of gloom had formed over all of them and poured down upon them rain of sadness and depression, and try as they might, they could not get rid of that cloud. Ritsu grabbed his chest and placed his hand over his aching heart. It still hurt so much...
Ritsu used his other hand to grab his phone and look at the time. His eyes slightly gaped open when he realized that the student council meeting had gone on for longer than he'd thought. He needed to hurry, or else he was going to be late!
"GGRRAAHH!"
A few miles away from Spice City, in an isolated section with limited trees and a quarry nearby, another young esper was diligently training. Teruki Hanazawa, Mob's rival and one of his closest friends, had started this training ever since his friend had disappeared, doing his best to hone his psychic abilities and become stronger than ever before.
"Telekinetic Whips!" The teenager proceeded to unleash more than twenty whips from his hand, grabbing multiple trees from the surrounding area and lifting them high up into the air. Then, he used the Ethereal Body Technique learned from Muraki to create twenty clones for each tree.
"Pyrokinesis!" Each of the clones generated a concentrated blast of fire from their palms, incinerating all of the trees. As a follow-up, each of the clones then targeted the original, but Hanazawa retaliated by extending both of his hands out and unleashing large explosions while spinning around to ensure that all of the clones were neutralized.
"Hey, I'm here."
Hanazawa looked down from the sky to see Ritsu coming in from the forest clearing, having changed from his school uniform into some more loose-fitting clothes. In order to become stronger, Hanazawa realized that he needed a good sparring partner to go up against to test himself, and Ritsu was one of the only people he knew who was strong enough to be that partner. Ritsu decided to accept his request out of respect for his older brother and because he also felt he owed Hanazawa for helping to rescue him when he was captured by Claw. As such, Ritsu had been strengthening his psychic powers for the past year, though not to the extent that Teruki had trained, and he'd managed to learn some of the psychic techniques Teruki had picked up as well.
"Glad you're here, though you're a bit later than usual."
"Sorry, the Student Council meeting took longer than I thought."
"Well, it's fine either way." Teruki cracked his knuckles while twisting his neck, anxious to get the fight started. "You feeling ready to spar right now, or do you wanna warm up first with some basic exercises?"
"No, we can go right now..." The younger esper's aura flickered to life and he floated up into the air to meet Teruki, and he did his best to suck up his pain and give Hanazawa the training he was looking for. As the two had trained together, they gradually became acquainted with the others abilities, more familiar with their limits, while simultaneously increasing the intensity of their training, and recently, it had progressed to the point that they now had regular matches against one another. Whenever they fought, they made sure to do it in this secluded area of the city, for their fights caused some rather serious damage, and they didn't want anyone to get hurt or to notice them brawl.
Ritsu started the fight with a basic blast of psychic energy, which Hanazawa dodged while simultaneously flying away. Ritsu went after him, firing more blasts of energy as they entered the quarry. Ritsu took advantage of the terrain and used his telekinesis to lift a few nearby boulders and fling them toward Hanazawa, but the esper created a barrier to defend himself from the attack.
Teruki countered and lunged toward his opponent at remarkable speeds, giving Ritsu barely enough time to erect a barrier, but the blonde-haired teenager managed to break through and send his foe crashing into the ground. Ritsu quickly recovered and attempted to overwhelm Hanazawa by creating some ethereal clones of his own, and the clones began to surround the enemy. Despite being surrounded, Hanazawa smirked: he knew just how to counter this. The young teenager tucked his chest in, and with a loud shout, unleashed an omnidirectional energy blast which destroyed all of the clones.
Ritsu frowned and attempted to attack while Teruki was vulnerable and flew up to fire an explosion from his hand, another technique Hanazawa had taught him. However, the esper sent him flying back with a telekinetic push, causing the explosion to simply fire off aimlessly into the air. He then formed two whips from his hands to grab a boulder from the right and left of Ritsu, planning to smash both of them together with the younger esper in the middle. Ritsu retaliated and used his augmented strength to smash both of the boulders with his fists, shattering them into hundreds of pieces. From there, the two espers charged at one another and began a hand-to-hand duel against each other, the force of their collisions creating several bursts of air pressure while further destroying the surrounding landscape.
After exchanging fists with each other for a little bit, Ritsu decided to mix things up again and unleashed a powerful vortex of flames from his body to force Teruki back. As expected, Hanazawa flew away to escape the heat of the fire, and then Ritsu used that moment to land a strong right jab to his opponent's cheek, sending him crashing through stone. The blonde-haired student took a moment to recover from the unexpected punch, and felt something trickle down his chin. He touched it, and was slightly surprised when he saw it was blood.
"Huh. That was a good one," Hanazawa said, "You've really improved." The yellow aura burst out with frightening force, fracturing the ground around him, before he used his augmented speed to burst toward Ritsu and land a straight-forward punch. Ritsu met his fist with his own, creating another powerful impact which continued to destroy the terrain around them. But as they were up-close, Hanazawa used the opening to land a point-blank explosion with his other hand, this attack managing to deal quite a bit of damage and sending Ritsu flying back again.
Teruki decided to put an end to this fight with a final large-scale move: raising both of his hands and releasing his full power, the esper lifted a huge boulder far larger than any of the other rocks lifted thus far, causing Ritsu to feel a nervous sweat bead trickle down his cheek. He'd never seen Teruki lift anything that large before: it was like the size of a building. Teruki chuckled to himself, and with all his might, he threw the boulder at his opponent. Ritsu gasped and tried his best to stop the boulder with his telekinesis, but the speed it had been thrown and its sheer size was proving to be difficult to overcome. The seconds passed by, and every second, the boulder got closer and closer, threatening to overwhelm Ritsu.
"Damn it!"
"You're open." As it happened, the boulder had been a distraction, the chance for Ritsu to lower his guard and focus everything on keeping the rock at bay. From beside him, Hanazawa smirked before forming multiple clones and unleashing a combined blast of yellow energy which enveloped the young teenager and flew him through more rocks. Ritsu struggled to get up: it had been a good strategy, the perfect chance for Teruki to land the final blow, but he'd failed to see it coming.
Hanazawa approached his opponent with a calm step in his pace, and once he stood in front of Ritsu, lended his hand. "Good match. Let's call it here." Ritsu's face remained neutral, though he still took Teruki's hand to help himself up. Though the fight had been relatively short, it was still very intense, and both espers were breathing hard and chose to sit down on some nearby rocks.
"That was our most intense fight yet," Teruki said, "We've both gotten a lot stronger. A year ago, I would've never been able to lift something that big, not even close." The black-haired teenager didn't really respond to this and simply nodded his head. Teruki saw his melancholic demeanor, and it didn't take a genius to figure out the cause. Truth be told, Teruki couldn't get the thought of him out of his mind either, and he'd chosen to partake in this particularly intense training today to put his focus on something else, but the memories and the pain were quickly resurfacing.
"I still can't believe it's been a year since Kageyama disappeared," Hanazawa muttered. The young esper gazed at his empty hand, as guilt was racking him. "He was forced to fight the boss of Claw because he was the only one who could. If I'd just been stronger, then he wouldn't have had to fight alone, and maybe none of this would've ever happened. All this training that I've been doing, I've done it to become stronger so that I could stand a chance against someone as strong as that man was, but..."
Teruki's body began to tremble, and he clenched his fist in frustration. "But even after all this training, it's still not enough. With the level I'm at now, I still wouldn't have stood a chance in that fight, and Kageyama would've still been forced to handle it all by himself, forced to make that sacrifice and absorb that huge amount of energy."
The mere mention of Shigeo's name was enough to crack the floodgate on Ritsu's emotions, but talking about the incident itself and the uncertainty of his brother's fate broke the dam, causing the tears to spill out of his eyes while he began to sob.
"Shige's really gone. He's..."
"Come on, Ritsu, don't say that. We might not know where he is, but I guarantee you that he isn't dead." Ritsu's eyes widened, and he lifted his head up to gaze at Hanazawa. "Your brother's strong, stronger than either of us. Until he gets back, we just have to keep on pushing forward, getting stronger and becoming better, so when he comes back, you'll get to show him how much better you've become, and I'll get the chance to have a rematch with him."
Ritsu appreciated what Teruki was trying to do for him, and in the face of his grief and sadness, the young esper was still able to give the smallest smile. But even so, how long would it take? How long would it be until he'd be able to reunite with his brother again? How many more years would he have to live with this ache in his heart? He just... missed Shigeo so much.
My Hero Academia/Mob Psycho 100 Ultra Analysis
- Hanazawa could defeat current Mob in his base state due to Mob's lack of training of his psychic powers and the year of training Hanazawa underwent, though he's still far weaker than Mob in 100% and the current Toichiro.
- Ritsu is only slightly weaker than Hanazawa and could also defeat his brother in his current base state, and in his 100% state, is stronger than Hanazawa.
- Hanazawa has surpassed Serizawa and Shimizaki in power.