Sorry this chapter's a little short, but I hope you like it anyways. Let me know what you think!
Kotomi had been on hold for about fifteen minutes. She'd propped her feet up on the bag stuffed with clothes and uncomfortably slumped in the sidewalk bench. Gazing at the clouds overhead, she did her best to block out thoughts of her parents and Kari. The song playing from the phone's speaker was an odd choice for hold music and had a strange beat. Without realizing it, though, in her exhausted state, Kotomi's knee had started to bounce in tune. She wasn't entirely sure of what to expect from the conversation she was currently waiting for, and there was a waging war vigorously blazing in her chest.
"This is Fat Gum! What's up?"
"Oh!" She straightened in her seat suddenly, feeling pain radiating through her back from her poor posture. "H-hey, Fat Gum, this is Kotomi."
"Hey, Kotomi, sorry our talk got cut short earlier! I covered everything I'd had in mind I think. Did you have any concerns?"
"Well... honestly, I've spent a really long time refusing to use my quirk that it just feels wrong thinking of capitalizing on it? I guess I just wanted to know if you think that an intensive hero course would be for someone like me. I don't even know if I really want to be a hero. I just need money to sustain myself, my one employee, and my website going at this point. I know working for an agency would probably get me the most money in the end, even if it's not immediate." Fat Gum offered a short silence. She could almost hear the gears turning in his head.
"It's completely up to you. You could establish yourself in this world with a lot of hard work, even if you don't want to be a top hero or anything crazy," he explained, "but if you've already decided that it's not for you, then it's not for you. You have to ask yourself if you want to put the time and effort into it, and if so, what's your reason? Do you have one?"
"I think so."
"Then think on it. Consider if it's even worth the time and where it'll take you in the future. This is your life after all," he added. She could hear a broad, considerate smile in his words.
"Sure... thanks, Fat Gum. I'll get back to you when I decide on something."
"Sounds good. Later!" Click. Kotomi leaned back in her seat. She'd actually thought of three reasons in response to his question, outside of making money: 1) working directly with heroes, whether local or pro, would be an amazing way to network and would likely give her a step above other news sites, and 2) she was feeling out the idea partially to spite her parents and show she could be great at anything she wanted to do, regardless of their support, and 3) the only friends she had now were heroes: it would be nice to be part of their world, not necessarily the hero world itself. Were those good enough reasons to be a hero though? Weren't her "reasons" a little shallow? They certainly weren't the conventional answers. When she'd interviewed heroes in the past, she routinely asked "why did you become a hero?"
"So I can help people."
"So I can protect those closest to me."
"To support my family."
"Because it's always been my dream."
"Because I want to inspire others."
Her response would be much different and nowhere near as noble or thought out. It wasn't that she believed people didn't deserve to be safe and happy. Everyone deserved security. It was more that motivated, sacrificing others could do the hero job better than her. They had that innate drive to be spectacular and a matching sense of self-confidence to boot. "I grew up being told that I needed to be a hero but never understood why... it always came back to my quirk. I don't have any faith in myself because I feel like my it makes me into who I am as a person instead of the other way around," she silently observed. Maybe it wasn't that she couldn't do it but rather that she'd convinced herself as much. Kari's words popped back into mind.
"You decide something is a certain way and that's it. That's how you've always been." She hadn't been able to escape those words since they entered the air, but Kotomi felt maybe, though hurtful and cold, that they were true.
She stood, threw both bags over her shoulder, and headed towards Mina's house. Kotomi hadn't heard from her best friend and so assumed that she was still at work. Long day, apparently. She maneuvered to read the last message Eijiro had sent her and began texting back. "Hey, sorry for not getting back to you earlier. Thanks for the encouragement... you're right that things are hard right now, so I appreciate your attitude. It was good seeing you again." Send.
A few minutes went by before her phone shook in her hand. Huh, he must be bored.
New text message from Eijiro. "It would be very unmanly of me to not help you see the silver lining when things are hard. Have you been thinking about any of what Fat Gum said? It was good to see you, too, by the way." Kotomi's face softened. Never mind her attraction toward him, Eijiro was generally just a good person.
"Yeah, I'm trying to consider all the options. I have to speak with Hana and run some things by her before anything is finalized." Bzzt, bzzt.
New text from Eijiro. "Who's Hana?"
"Oh, she works for me. She's my only employee." There was a lull in responses, and she figured he got busy. Once she got to Mina's, she unlocked the door and set her things in a mostly empty corner of the house. She grabbed her nearly forgotten laptop from her work bag and navigated to her email, reading the messages she had neglected to check. A few were junk, some were regarding newly published articles on sites that she frequented, and two were from Hana: both of which regarded her final drafts on Uravity, Froppy, and Earphone Jack. The latter two subjects made up a single article and served as a the topic for the month's spotlight heroes - a special the site ran to highlight efforts of lesser known heroes. The article on Uravity was detailed with most of Hana's voice, and she secondarily used some of Kotomi's rescue story to fluff up the essay. Both of the articles read very well. She promptly replied to Hana and thanked her for her hard work, letting her know that the articles would be posted in the queue for the following day. For bigger projects, Kotomi liked reading the drafts before sending them out. On the day-to-day schedule, though, Hana wrote many articles regarding events around town, charity efforts, and other potentially interesting happenings.
Kotomi felt bad that she hadn't been very in tune with Hana over the last few days. She was young in age, eighteen to be exact, attending university, and working two part-time jobs. Kotomi had told her that she could post as many articles to the site as she'd like, thus could make her own hours. This didn't stop Hana from churning out as much content as possible as she hoped to improve her resume as much as possible. Kotomi's news site was small but made a substantial amount of money - enough to pay Hana a living salary and have a little left over for Kotomi to more or less sustain herself if she were living frugally. She thankfully didn't have many expenses, especially since the office space wasn't part of the equation any longer. Kotomi decided that, even though it may be financially difficult, now that she didn't have a lease for the office, she needed to find a place to live. Mina had offered her home indefinitely, but she didn't want to take advantage of her kindness or overstay her generous welcome.
The blonde searched for current home rentals on her laptop, scrolling through it slowly and taking notes here and there of properties to remember. Bzzt, bzzt.
New text message from Eijiro. "Oh, I didn't know you had anyone working for you. I hope it works out for ya! Will you tell me if you decide on anything?"
"Thanks! And yeah, I'm starting to consider looking into the intensive hero course." After she sent the reply, Kotomi paused, thinking of adding another message, but before she had time to begin, her phone rang.
"Hello?"
"Hey! You're actually, really considering it?" Eijiro bellowed enthusiastically. Kotomi, wide-eyed, held the phone away from her ear, waiting for the noise level to even out. "Man, what changed your mind?"
"Well... there are a few different factors, but I think doing it would be good for my career to be around so many heroes. It might be nice to help people, too. I know being rescued is a good feeling. I'm not good at helping other people and I don't know how to... or if I even can. Maybe I can learn, I don't know." Eijiro laughed warmly and sighed. "Outside of the journalism stuff, you remind me of someone I know."
"Is that a bad thing?"
"I don't think so. After last night, I'm pretty convinced you can do whatever you want to if you commit to it!"
"That's sweet of you, Eijiro, but I think you're too nice for your own good."
"You don't remember refusing to get on my back because you were scared of getting in the way? And then, what, thirty minutes later, you were refusing to get off because you knew you could help?"
"I- hey! You don't have to take it there! Geez..."
"I'm not wrong though, am I? That's not luck!" He insisted, his tone matter of fact. "You're good at thinking on your feet, and I potentially could've had my ass handed to me if you hadn't been there last night."
"No... you would've figured it out. You know that. I probably wouldn't have helped if I weren't with you." Red grew silent, and Kotomi felt a sense of shame washing over her like a high tide. "Being there in all of the craziness with you kinda pushed me into action I guess. When you pulled the rock off my arm... I wanted to repay you. I just got lucky that I was able to so soon."
"Consider me repaid! I'm just glad I could help push you to do something good."
"I appreciate that! So... are you still at work?"
"Oh, yeah, I actually gotta run in a sec, thanks for reminding me. Crime stops for no man!"
"Sorry to keep you! Have a great night. Kick some criminal ass, Eijiro."
"Ha, I will just for you." Kotomi's heart fluttered. She wasn't sure if he was flirting, but she thought his tone could have possibly hinted as much. "Talk to you later."
"Bye!" Click. She flung her phone onto the cushion next to her and kicked her legs, holding her arms to her chest. What a dreamboat.
"Uh..." Kotomi shot up in her seat, spinning to look behind her. There stood Mina, dirty and tattered from the work day. Her fingers blocked her lips from view only a bit as she tried to hold in a laugh.
"Dude!" The blonde yelled, hurling a decorative couch pillow at her. "You just stood there and listened? No hello?" The giggles erupted from the intruder, pouring over like a volcano. "Oh... Tomi!" She gasped between fits, "You so... have the hots... for Kirishima!" The embarrassed party turned away. Her face had grown so red and warm that she worried Mina would eventually see steam rising from her. She patiently waited for the noisy rapture to die down, refusing to match her gaze. She didn't even want to know how soon Mina had arrived after her. Sometimes ignorance is bliss.
"Whew... oh, I'm sorry. I held that in for a while," she said, short of breath. "I wasn't laughing because it's bad! It's just so different seeing you this way."
"I know!" Kotomi yelled in annoyance at herself," It's really unlike me. I feel like a teenager again when I look at him, and I haven't been able to think straight since I met him the first time. It's only been a few days, but it's already driving me insane." Mina placed a hand on her heart, eyes sparkly and bright. "That's so cute though! You have a crush! Kotomi... maybe this is a good thing. You look happier lately than I've seen you in a while."
"No, I am twenty-four years old, I'm a professional with a career! I don't have time to swoon over muscular men with pretty eyes and good personalities!"
"Oof, sounds like there's some trauma to unpack there," Mina prodded, set on her with a sarcastic glare. "You know you can have a crush and people will still take you seriously, right? It's normal! And I personally think you guys would be cute together! Kirishima is a great guy!" Mina walked over to sit next to Kotomi and realized that her tired eyes had begun to well up. They weren't ones of joy or laughter, and she breathed in sharply upon realization. "Whoa, hey... what's wrong? Are you okay?" Kotomi looked up at her suddenly, tears flowing freely. Her hands were balled into fists atop her lap.
"I don't know. I feel like everything is falling apart and I can only sit back and watch it happen. My family thinks I'm a joke, money's rough, my sister who I've always adored has completely decided that she wants nothing to do with me, and I'm, like, having an identity crisis because I've started to think about taking on hero work after all this time of swearing it off, and I don't know if that's because I envy you guys or if it's because I'm trying to figure out a way to win Kari back without pissing her off more, or... or something else. I dunno, maybe I've always wanted to be a hero but pretended not to... " She clamped her eyes shut before wiping the dampness away. Mina cautiously patted her shoulder.
"It's okay to feel overwhelmed... you've got a lot on your plate. Tomi, I'm so sorry. Is there anything I can do to help?"
"No... really, you've done more than enough for me. I'll be okay. Thank you, Mina," she replied, sighing shakily and doing her best to dry her face again. She took a deep breath and laid her head back on the cushion. "Are you surprised?"
"Hm? About what?"
"The hero work."
"Oh! Heh, I mean, a little. You've always denounced the ways of the hero life for yourself. Personally, I think you would grow to enjoy it," Mina quipped. She hopped onto her feet, and after retrieving it from the fridge, popped open a bottle of wine. She poured a hearty glass for the both of them and handed one off to Kotomi.
"I can help you start on some preliminary training if ya want," she said, sipping the bitter drink. "It's a lot of work, but after a while, it really tones your butt! I think it's worth it for that alone if nothing else!" Kotomi stared at her for a moment before the both simultaneously cackled at once.
"You're pretty convincing when you want to be, Mina."
"Mhm, that's one reason of many why everyone loves me!"