Replies to my Reviews
barrytrey0430: He does, doesn't he?
NorthSouthGorem: Noted.
VA23: Thanks.
Adragonoid75: That's cool. Thanks for your support so far.
TheGreatBubbaJ: ...no comment.
Blank12: I will go into that as soon as I reach Nana's chapter in the companion fic.
fencer29: I'm gonna laugh as I make you toss that theory out the window. Also, thanks about Fumikage. I've fixed it.
Chapter 14: Meetings II: The Visit
After leaving the school, Katsuki Bakugo only saw Ayako Momogami for about a minute, tops, before she was sprinting away from him giggling in that dorky way of hers.
He eyed the folded piece of notebook paper he now held in his hand which had been delivered to him by the cheerful, underage postgirl that only knew how to say, "Delivery! Delivery!" over and over again. Big, blocky letters, shakily written yet neatly colored in, stared up at him with a premonition of foreboding tagging along.
"You're invited!" It said.
'What could go wrong?' Katsuki wondered as he flipped the card open, only to immediately blanch and sneer upon reading the details. 'Everything. Everything can go wrong.'
He and his parents were invited to have dinner at the Momogami home. Underneath the suspicious looking invitation was an address and a phone number, the writing much more legible than the child's. He recognized it as her older sister's handwriting, having stared at the phone number that was still tacked onto his bulletin board several times over the past few days. Yet the only thing he could bring himself to care about, the only thing he wanted to question at this very moment, was why his parents had been invited as well.
Katsuki quickly tucked the letter in his backpack and carried on as if if nothing were out of the ordinary, though beneath the surface he was struggling to come to terms with the whole idea of the invitation.
He didn't particularly want to go over for dinner at Ayako's, partly because this was an out of the blue invite, but mostly because he had to bring his parents along. Maybe with just his Dad around, things wouldn't wind up being so bad. Boring? Certainly. But at least, he never held civil wars with him like he did with his hag for a mother.
Cringing, Katsuki's hands buried themselves deeper into his pockets and the boy slouched even lower than usual as he walked along, brooding.
Too rude to decline, yet unwilling to go because of the embarrassment his family was, Katsuki was in a bind. Maybe, he could just use the phone number he had been given and say that his parents were unavailable and that his schedule was too busy?
It was a good idea until a quiet, calm voice that sounded a lot like De- Izuku shot it down with one question. 'What about Ayako?'
'What about her?' He shot back even as his treacherous mind recalled the look on the little girl's face when she handed him the letter. Already knowing the contents of the letter, her consistently happy round face held a look of absolute surety and confidence that he would accept the invite.
Having dinner with her Hero would probably be like a dream come true for her. He knew that when he was her age he had allowed himself to imagine such ridiculously hopeful things like that; having dinner with All Might would have been the equivalent of winning the jackpot in his child-mind.
'Would it be the same way for Red Shoe, too?' With a small smile on his face, Katsuki withheld the urge to chuckle out loud. 'It's a funny feeling to find something endearing in just a single child.'
Katsuki dropped his smile and sighed in mild frustration while running a hand through his hair. It seemed like he was going to have to figure out how to bring something like this up with his parents― they didn't even know he had saved the little girl ―and do it in a way that they didn't make a big deal about it. Unfortunately, that was easier said than done.
Sighing once more, Katsuki mentally readied himself for the inevitable and picked up the pace. He had a dinner to go to.
Gacha King: I know that you guys wanna head home but Nezu told me of the school closing for a while. If any of you isn't too busy, would you like to sleepover?
Gacha King: I mean, if you want? I mean, I don't I can sleep well tonight but if you're too busy-
Infinity: I'll come!
Fast Track: I as well!
Ground Zero: Not interested. I'm busy with something else.
'I'm honestly not sure which one would be fucking worse. This or that shitty sleepover.' Crimson eyes stared at the faded beige door with a tamed, sullen expression as the back of Katsuki's head mildly throbbing from his mother's warning to behave himself.
The moment he had left his bag unattended on a chair in the kitchen, and apparently unzipped, Mitsuki Bakugo had pounced on the strange yet cute looking letter she had seen poking out. From there, it had only delved into chaos, head swatting, and awkwardly aggressive gorilla dances while his Dad phoned the number on the paper and assured the Momogami household that they would be more than happy to attend.
"Hmm? Those explosions you're hearing? Don't worry about those, my wife and son are just bonding as usual."
And now all of the Bakugo family were waiting on the front stoop of the small two story home that belonged to the Momogami family.
There came the muffled sound of a mini stampede from the other side of the door, and then a pink haired little girl poked her nose outside. Ayako gave him a wide, beaming grin, and Katsuki could practically hear the silent chanting and cheering going on in her head just from seeing the light in her eyes brighten.
"Well are you just going to stand there or are you going to let them in?" A voice demanded from further inside the house. The little girl jumped slightly, whatever enchantment she had placed herself under dispelling, and she moved aside to welcome everyone inside.
"Welcome to our humble abode! Come in, come in!" She chirped excitedly. Ever since her sister had begun making dinner, Ayako had been nothing but a ball of pure ball of joy and jitters. She had imagined, played pretend even, having Pro Hero after Pro Hero step into her home and sharing a meal together time and time again, but nothing quite beat the actuality of the moment her favorite Hero set foot inside her house. She felt happy enough to explode like his Quirk!
The second both of Katsuki's feet were firmly planted in the entryway, the child latched onto the sleeve of his coat and began to tug him forwards, all boundaries of politeness totally forgotten on her part.
"Come on! Come on! I wanna show you my secret base! And you gotta see Kingsdog too!"
Behind him, Katsuki heard his mother stifle a squeal, which he ignored in favor of raising a questioning brow at the child.
At this point, he didn't quite trust himself to allow any decent words to come out of his mouth as his previous experience in saying all the wrong things in his life was still busy rubbing his face in the muck with an imaginary Round Face (for some reason) stomping it's head in for good measure, so for the moment he decided his best option was to say nothing until he was certain it wouldn't rebound on him. 'Although, I'm sure I could say anything and she would spin it into a positive note. She's too much like Izuku in that manner.'
From down the hall, a young woman came around a wall and waved. He recognized her as the older sister, Ayane. She brushed some of her short pink hair back before tossing her thumb over her shoulder.
"Her 'secret base' is just the empty lot behind our house." Ayane Momogami said with a shrug. "You can go look if you want since dinner's not ready yet, but you also don't have to indulge her. It's not much anyways."
Ayako whipped around and shot her sister a stink-eyed glare. What was she trying to do? Thwart her plans? The little girl quickly turned to Katsuki again with wide, pleading eyes.
'Well it's either the base or listening to my parents gossip about me while I'm there.' Katsuki mentally grumbled. Even in hindsight, the answer was an obvious one.
With a shrug, he gestured for the child to lead the way. Ayako jumped around as she led him down the hall, ducking past Ayane and into what appeared to be a joint living room and dining room, with the kitchen just beyond that.
As they moved along, Katsuki casually observed his surroundings.
The room as a whole was small, but not overly so that it felt stifling or cramped; with one medium sized couch and a regular sitting chair surrounding and overlooking an old tv, the scene was complimented by the little wooden dining table with its slightly larger chairs. A few pictures of Ayako and Ayane hung on the walls, and there was a fake tree by a corner near the kitchen. But as they traveled, crimson eyes fell on a modest looking stand that resembled an incomplete bookshelf. It rested in the space between the living room and dining room, next to a set of sliding glass doors, acting almost like a divider.
Katsuki's breath caught in his throat. He didn't see these kinds of stands all that often, having been the kind of person that was not regularly invited to another's house, nor did his family have one set up in their own home. It was as he stared at the two picture frames resting on two small, well tailored pillows that he remembered Ayane happened to be Ayako's legal guardian.
Katsuki caught the faint scent of clover coming from the Butsudan, the shrine for the dead, as he passed it on his way outside. A chill ran down his spine, and it didn't come from the evening air.
Following behind at a leisurely pace and then settling themselves into seats at the dining table instead, Mitsuki and Masaru watched as their usually bullheaded son willfully allowed the small child to drag him around until they disappeared from sight by ducking around a loose plank in the fence. To say that they were shocked was the understatement of the century.
"Is he always so obliging?" Ayane couldn't help but chuckle as she asked, already guessing the answer based on their thunderstruck expressions. She slid into her seat opposing the couple. Since dinner was safely cooking away in a pot, the young woman felt no qualms about having a nice chat with the Bakugo parents in the meantime.
"No." Mitsuki was the first to snap out of it, rolling her eyes with a snort. "The little punk generally makes it a point to lead the way himself. He can be so mulish at times... So to say the least, this is kind of… baffling."
She shrugged a little helplessly and turned to her husband. "He never even told us about saving your little girl. Sure, we wondered what was going on when he showed up later than usual, but he was adamant in not telling us a thing. And lately, he's seemed to have a lot on his mind."
Ayane absorbed the information bit by bit, only pausing in her analysis to correct one little detail. "Ayako isn't my daughter, she's my sister."
She chuckled at their gobsmacked expressions. "I've been taking care of her since she was four though, so it almost does seem like I've taken on that role."
Before Mitsuki could apologize for the mistake, Ayane jutted her chin over their heads, towards the Butsudan, which the couple finally took notice of.
"I was a year out of high school and already moved out, so I wasn't there when it happened." Her voice went low and her eyes softened. "But Ayako was. Our parents were bioscientists, true nerds that liked to study ecosystems and the likes. They had been invited to a wildlife convention at Kobe, and because Ayako couldn't be left at home alone, they took her with them."
Mitsuki and Masaru shifted in their seats, entwining their hands in each other's laps. Something nagged at them in the back of their minds, something that said they should know what was coming next, about what had happened two years ago, but they couldn't remember for the life of themselves. So they sat together silently and waited with a rising sense of dread for the rest of the story to be revealed.
"Do you remember hearing about the earthquake that hit Kobe?" Ayane asked. The couple nodded, holding onto each other a little tighter. The young woman bowed her head. "From what I was told, they were all found beneath the rubble of their hotel building, both of my parents forming a shield over Ayako. My dad―"
Ayane choked, snapping her jaw shut with an audible click. It hurt her just to remember, and even though she had been doing fine until now, it was overwhelming to talk about it.
When she'd been awoken from sleep by her roommate with every news channel blasting information and speculations about the sudden severity of Nature, her world had been tilted on its axis. When the rescue teams had finally managed to unearth her family from beneath the rocks, her father had been declared dead on the spot; a broken neck had been what done him in. Her mother, though still alive but unconscious, died before they could reach the hospital; too much internal bleeding in her brain, they had declared.
But Ayako had miraculously survived. Though she had cracked the back of her skull on a rock and caused slow bleeding between the bone plating and the sack that protected the brain, she had survived. The bleeding had caused a bit of memory loss, and altered her emotional development to a certain degree, but ultimately she was saved by the fact that the bleeding had not actually been in her brain.
Ayane quickly rubbed at her eyes, and stood from her seat, offering a crooked smile to the worried looking couple. "Ha, sorry for suddenly making things all gloomy. I'm just gonna go check on dinner and then I'll get you guys something to drink."
Without waiting for them to respond, the young woman quickly disappeared into the kitchen. She rubbed her eyes a couple more times, the blurriness becoming more like a fine film over her eyes and if anything more irritating than not.
As she checked on the sukiyaki and prepared some tea, Ayane glanced out the little window that sat above the sink, looking towards the far fence. Idly, she wondered what those two kids might possibly be up to.
Katsuki observed the dump that was supposedly something akin to a secret base.
The lot itself was fairly large, and filled with what almost resembled poorly plotted patches of weeds and dead ground. Trash was piled haphazardously at the far end; broken appliances, shredded sofas, beds with the springs poking out of them. The list of items only went on the longer he stared at the mountain of garbage.
There was a barren, scraggly looking tree in the middle and an even sadder looking shed. He supposed the only cool thing about it was that it almost resembled a fort, with large rocks stacked up indicating an entrance, and a couple turrets surrounding it. There was even one of those little orange flags, the kind that indicated conduits or cable lines were beneath them, carefully stuck on the roof. The building itself was probably only about as tall as himself.
As he observed the conditions of the lot, Ayako scampered away, looking around as if she had lost something. When she didn't find whatever she was looking for outside, she ducked inside the shed.
Katsuki tucked his hands into his coat pocket and waited for what felt like was an eternity. He wasn't good at waiting. Never had been and it seemed highly unlikely that he ever would be.
Just as he was about to ditch his patience and invade the little shed, Ayako popped out with something wriggling in her arms. The child grinned at him and held up a puppy, Lion King style. "Aniki, say hello to Kingsdog! Kingsdog, that's Aniki!"
The puppy gave a loud bark as it struggled against the child's awkward grip until it managed to kick its way to the ground. It ran towards him, Katsuki to reflexively take a step backwards.
The puppy clambered up his shoe―it was small enough that it could sit down comfortably on his foot―and practically howled at him.
There was a mix of thoughts, well, more like images, that flooded through his mind as he glared down at the animal. Food was one of them, the memory of smells― like greasy Applewood bacon for instance ―bombarded his senses and for a moment he almost thought that someone was actually cooking some. Another was an image of himself, lying in the middle of the road curled on his side, soaking and dazed as he looked over his shoulder.
"You're that damn mutt that started this whole mess." Katsuki muttered under his breath, slightly reeling from the perspective of the image. His frown deepened as he realized that the scene was viewed from the dog's eyes, and that the memory was being shared directly into his head.
"Kingsdog's got a mind Quirk." Ayako jabbered on happily while making an attempt to grab the puppy. "He only got it recently so everything he sends is just pictures, but when he gets bigger, he might actually be able to use words 'n stuff. Nee-chan says that that's called Telele― Tellapa―Teleleapa―"
"Telepathy." Katsuki supplied, putting an end to her struggle even though it was amusing to watch the faces she made as she attempted to say the big word.
Ayako beamed brightly and continued. "Yeah! So because he's got that I decided that he could be the lookout for my base and warn me about Quakehead and his army. Kingsdog does a good job too. Not a single bad guy has breached our defenses!"
She squatted and scratched the puppy behind his ear, to which the animal began panting and thumping it's hindleg.
"Who the hell is Quakehead?" Katsuki asked. Ayako had sounded a bit too serious for what was supposedly an imaginary villain.
The little girl looked up, brushing a few strands of hair out of her eyes, and stared at him with an utterly serious expression. Katsuki shifted in place, suddenly not sure if he actually wanted the answer to this question. The weirdo she normally acted like was more tolerable than this disconcerting seriousness to say the least.
"Quakehead is the bad man that's holding Ma and Pa's souls captive." The words rolled off her tongue slowly, almost as if this was the first time she were saying them out loud. "A-And I'm the Hero that's gonna set 'em free so they can rest in peace!"
It was like a bucket of ice water had been dumped over his head; his body froze in place and his heart leapt into his throat, choking him. He had not been expecting such a deep answer, let alone one that would make him feel things.
It hurt him. It hurt him because it was so pure and genuine and there wasn't a damn thing about it that was selfish.
It also made him him think of the two pictures in the Butsudan, about how this little girl used an imaginary Villain to cope with their deaths, and God did it make him pity her. For once, he felt an urge to comfort, though he didn't understand how to― and more than anything he was confused as to just how to deal with these emotions.
Ayako looked down again, twiddling with her fingers. "Hey Aniki, I've been meaning to ask you, but… um… Would you be my Second-in-Command a-against Quakehead?"
Her pudgy cheeks reddened considerably and she snuck shy glances at him from between the curtain of her pink bangs. She really, really, really wanted Katsuki to join her team. He was strong, and fearless, and undeniably cool. With him, the future Number One Hero, on her side, Quakehead wouldn't stand a chance! But she was also nervous because this was the first time she had ever admitted who Quakehead was. Not even Karazu and Yuu knew. What if he said no? What if he told her she was just being a dumb little kid and to quit making things up? There were just as many bad scenarios as there were good, and even she knew that not everything could go her way.
"What do I have to do as Second-in-Command?"
Head shooting up, amber eyes widened ever so slightly. Katsuki looked off to the side, carefully keeping his eyes trained on a patch of dirt.
A part of him screamed at him that this was incredibly stupid, that this kid needed to grow up and face reality with its real villains, that he shouldn't agree to be second to anything or anyone. But another part of him (violently) shut those thoughts down with the simple understanding that this was just another part of becoming the Number One. And as the Number One, he had to fight the villains to protect the civilians, no matter how real or imaginary they may be.
Besides, All Might probably did it all the time and nobody's taken his title since he showed up.
"You get to command our army and help defeat Quakehead!" Ayako declared enthusiastically. She quickly looked around before grabbing the sleeve of his coat and tugged on it. "But whenever you're outside, you have to be super duper careful because Quakehead's spies are everywhere always watching. That's why I usually have an umbrella, but I forgot to grab it before leaving. Hurry, to the base!"
The child began to drag him towards the dilapidated shed before abruptly stopping (he nearly tripped over her).
"Oh yeah," Ayako said, as if a light bulb had just gone off in her head. "What's your Hero Alias?"
Katsuki blinked. He'd thought about a Hero Alias before, but it was also something that he didn't exactly think about either. There were a few options he toyed around with, but he couldn't decide which he liked best, and he also knew that if he ever revealed them, then he'd meet a ton of resistance. Still, Ayako had asked, and he needed to give her something.
The young man grinned sharply, though he still couldn't help but feel apprehensive. "I'm King Explosion Murder."
Ayako thought about it for a second before nodding her head in satisfaction. "That is a strong name. Even Quakehead will shake when he hears it! But it's pretty long. Do you mind if I just call you King?"
He was beginning to think that he shouldn't be shocked by the things that came out of her mouth anymore, but it didn't stop the feeling from flooding him anyways. Even if she had shortened the Alias down, she hadn't dismissed it by saying that it was too scary or villainous to be a Hero Alias. His grin became a little more smug, and he said, "Whatever floats your boat, Red Shoe."
Ayako smiled back at him. And then they were both running towards the little shed in attempt to beat Quakehead's prying eyes.
"I let you go outside for a little bit and this is how you come back?" Ayane shook her head with a click of her tongue. "What on earth were you two even doing? Scavenging in a dumpster?"
The two in question studied the ground with the intent to look uninterested and definitely not guilty. They were covered in dirt from head to toe and there were stray pieces of the weeds from the empty lot tangled in Ayako's hair (if one were to actually look hard enough they would find exactly the same thing in Katsuki's as well).
The little girl rubbed her cheek as if she were just wiping away a little dirt smudge, as if that would make a difference and appease her sister.
It, in fact, did no such thing.
"Well, explain yourself."
Ayako snuck a glance at Katsuki, whom honestly didn't give a fuck and was also ignoring the silent accusations coming from his parents. He peeked at her from the corner of his eye and in a split second, they seemed to connect all over again. Their time at the secret base hadn't been long, but Ayako knew that her Hero had had fun fighting against her villain, and had even seemed to relax from whatever worry he'd been carrying with him all night. She wouldn't ever regret getting dirty for that.
"Did you hear? Apparently there was an attack on the USJ while a class was being held. No one seems to have been seriously hurt― except some teachers and one student, I think ―but…"
"Those poor First Years…"
Those were the words that Ayako had heard on accident. While she was on her way back from the bathroom in school, she'd passed the staff lounge and overheard a couple teachers talking― gossiping as her sister would say. At first, it hadn't meant anything to her, but then she began to think it through. U.S.J., the Unforeseen Simulations Joint, not Universal Studios Japan, she thought ―was a place where heroes in training learned how to rescue people from nature's tantrums (as Nee-chan had once explained). But according to the teachers, this place had been attacked by bad guys and someone had gotten hurt. And suddenly, it had meant a lot to her.
Those were also the words that wouldn't stop ringing in her ears, even long after she had heard them. It bothered Ayako much the same as hearing thunder rumbling in the dead of night. Whenever thunder broke the world with its cacophonic booming, the little girl believed something terrible would come with it. Those words were thunder, and they leaked her fears into her imagination like the rain that would follow after.
She wanted to believe with all her heart that Aniki was alright― that it wasn't his class that had been at the U.S.J. today, that he wasn't the one who had been hurt. But bad scene after bad scene wriggled in her mind like a can of worms.
What if Aniki had broken all the bones in his body or suffered through sharp objects stabbing through his stomach and chest? What if the building had collapsed? What if Aniki had gotten trapped under the rocks or had hit his head?
What if Quakehead had been the one to attack, knowing it was better to do so while the general was separated from the leader? What if he had tried to take away Aniki too? To trap him away like he did her parents?
Ayako shook her head and then looked up to meet her sister's stern gaze, the woman's eyes constantly reminding her of burnt honey. And all she said was, "Quakehead."
Ayane squinted at the little girl suspiciously before turning to the boy hoping he'd at least give a better explanation for their state, even if it was half-assed.
Katsuki paid her no heed as he just shrugged and repeated the little girl. "Quakehead."
For a split second, a teeth baring smile cracked across his face, as if he had just found something extremely amusing, but it disappeared just as quickly and Ayane couldn't be sure if she had seen it or not.
Ayako giggled and pushed her way inside to go wash up. The spiky haired boy followed close behind, only briefly pausing to glance once more at the small shrine.
With a small dip of his head, he made a promise to his future. 'I will become a better Hero. For this kid, and for myself.'
But before he could so much as take another step further, Mitsuki jumped him, pinching his cheeks tightly and screeching like a bat from hell in his face. "Who are you and what have you done with my son?!"
Whatever air of tranquility Katsuki had been under died as he snapped back in retaliation. "What the fuck?! Get off me, you damn hag!"
"Don't you talk to me that way, ya little punk or I'll kick your ass from one end of Japan and back again!"
"That's as far as you can go? Hah! I'll blast you cloud high before you can even fucking try. Hell, I might as well train my aiming skills as I shoot you to the moon!"
As mother and son continued to bicker, the latter having gotten out of the woman's grasp and beginning to perform an extremely awkward dance of defense, Ayane was faced with a rising confliction. On one hand, she had been beginning to think that perhaps the boy wasn't so bad after all; he seemed to be able to maintain some semblance of calm around Ayako, and he willingly went along with the odd things that she did, and his parents weren't horrible people either. But on the other hand…
She cringed as Mitsuki landed a powerful blow on the back of the boy's head and then quickly trapped him in a headlock.
'These people are insane!'
Masaru sidled closer and gave her a sympathetic smile. "It's a weird way of showing it, but they really do love each other. They never actually mean each other harm."
Ayane could beg to differ on that just by watching the two interact. Yet, upon looking closer, she could see that there was a lot of self control on both parties parts. Even if it looked like they were going overboard, they were still mindful enough to not do any lasting damage to the other. Especially as Katsuki had trained to hit things a lot harder.
It was strange, certainly, but…
'If he can control himself like this around his mother, then he must really love her.' Ayane concluded. 'Perhaps he really is a good guy.'
There was still something about the young man that made her uncomfortable― though that might have just been his foul mouth at this point ―Ayane couldn't help but silently grant the boy a passing grade.
Now she could only wait for time to tell if he was actually worth it.
Once he got free and clean, Katsuki remembered to text Izuku. On the miniscule chance that 'Quakehead' was a real but misnamed villain, he would do his absolute best to hunt down the bastard.
"Send me intel on any still active or captured Villain who can use Quirks that can cause earthquakes directly or indirectly."
Laughter, loud and raucous, erupted from the three adults that had chosen to remain seated at the table instead of moving for the more comfortable seats in the living room. They sounded more like old friends catching up after some time apart, casually sipping their coffee while trading wild stories that each of their families had endured.
This particular round was one Katsuki did his hardest to ignore, not particularly thrilled with the fact that his mother felt the need to embarrass him by sharing something cringeworthy from his childhood with a stranger. Altogether, it proved to be easier said than done; his mother had a particularly annoying and ugly laugh. It reminded him too much of a hyena.
'Can't that hag find something to talk about that doesn't involve me?' Katsuki wondered sullenly as he watched Ayako go through a reenactment of one of her dramatic battles against her imaginary villain.
The little girl dropped to the ground and began rolling, throwing her hand out to release invisible orbs at the enemy. Earlier, when he had asked, she had somewhat explained the concept of a machine that ejected balls with different purposes, saying it was modeled after some retro hero called 'Honey Lemon'. Since the little girl had no idea what kind of Quirk she would get, or what she would even like to have (there were too many cool quirks after all), then the made up gadget was her default for the time being.
Ayako jumped up and raced around the couch. He craned his head around and watched as she held up her hand again, bracing it with the other as she yelled. "Freeze, villain!"
There came the high pitched 'pew, pew, pews' as she fired her weapon before charging out of the room with indignant cries, seemingly having already forgotten that this was just a 'replay' of a 'previous episode' as she had referred to it. And apparently she had forgotten about him too.
'She's such a ditz.' Katsuki scoffed to himself, folding his arms over his chest, and leaned back to rest on the couch to wait until either his parents decided to leave or Ayako came back. The second option struck him as having a better chance of winning.
"What a lively kid!" Mitsuki chortled. "She must have an equally energetic Quirk to match that hyper personality of hers. Heaven knows that Katsuki's personality ended up matching his Quirk."
Said boy pretended not to notice the pointed stare drilling holes through the back of his head, though he did grit his teeth at the dryness of her remark.
"Ah, no― it's all 100% energy of a six year old. Ayako doesn't have a Quirk…" Ayane hesitated, almost as if she were going add a 'yet' at the end of that sentence, but something held her back. Katsuki cocked his head to the side, interested yet apprehensive as to where this conversation might lead.
"Well there's still time, I'm sure, unless you've already taken her to a Quirk doctor?" Masaru said, more in thought than anything else, though when he realized his mistake, he quickly jumped to correct it. "Sorry, I don't mean to pry."
No doubt Ayane was waving it off and she gave a mildly embarrassed huff. "I've been waiting for her results, but I can give a fairly good educated guess for myself on what the results would be. So…"
The woman sighed. "I just want to let her enjoy imagining the possibilities― to be a kid that still sees it as an attainable dream to be like the super heroes she admires so much before the reality of it sets in."
There was shifting, and then his mother was trying to lift the heavy atmosphere with a little bit of good natured hope. "Genetics are a weird thing so I wouldn't just automatically assume, yeah? My friend Inko has a son who was Katsuki's friend from childhood -always a late bloomer to everything it seems- but he got his Quirk just before entering high school, even after being deemed Quirkless. You never know, your little sister might be the same."
Katsuki clenched his teeth, a slight twitch developing in his eye. There was still a sharp sting where it concerned that little detail. He wanted to whip around in his seat and start cussing both of them out of reflex- Izuku Midoriya and his mother- but he held his tongue, slowly but finally edging into a disgruntled point of acknowledgment in the usefulness of the act.
"To be honest," Ayane spoke up again, much more quietly, after allowing for a moment of thoughtful silence, "After we get her arm checked out,- this is gonna sound awful of me, and hypocritical ―but I'm really hoping she'll turn out to be Quirkless."
...
...
...
What.
"As much as I would like to support Ayako's dream of becoming a hero, I also find myself wanting to keep her away from such a career. Being a hero's not all that it's cracked up to be. It's a dangerous way of living no matter which field you go into― Quirk or no. And I just can't guarantee or even trust that she'll be able to handle anything when the time comes for her to start making major decisions. All she sees is the flash. I see both the flash and the crash."
Katsuki couldn't believe he was hearing such utter bullshit. Being a Hero isn't all that it's cracked up to be? Yeah, that much was obvious to anyone that even bothered to pay so much as half a cent of attention to the aftermath of any kind of battle, and it was an understandable concern, but seriously?
As a general rule, most people knew what they were getting into the moment they decided they were going to try and go Pro. They accepted the fact that there would be danger and chose to endure so that everyone else could be safe. What exactly did she expect the job of a hero to consist of― sunshine lollipops and fucking daisies? Give him a goddamn break.
And was this woman really chucking her sister's dreams under the bus by going so far as to say she couldn't even trust Ayako in the future? What in the actual fuck? He may not of had much room to be judging, as he ended up being far worse in regards to Izuku, but he couldn't stop himself from violently rejecting Ayane's argument in this moment simply because of how wrong it was. Especially after all that drivel she had said about wanting to let Ayako enjoy imagining a future as a hero.
A flicker of movement caught his eye, breaking his intense inner dissection of the many flaws in Ayane's argument. He looked up at the doorway that led to the main hall just as Ayako ducked back around it.
She had only been there for a second, so it was difficult to tell, but he could have sworn he saw something akin to tears on her little face.
Katsuki ground his teeth and stood up, unfolding his arms to forcefully shove his hands into his pockets. He didn't bother to turn around as he addressed the group behind him, sharpening his words specifically for the young woman, while walking towards the hallway.
"Shut the fuck up! You're thinking too deeply about an unknown future. Don't say shit based on how things are now and expect them to never change, especially without giving her a chance to prove her own potential and capability." Katsuki chided as he caught their attention. "Besides, Izuku suffered 11 long years before he got his Quirk and if he were here to hear you wish that on your own sister, even that shitty nerd would punch you in the mouth regardless of how nice he is."
As soon as the words left his mouth, his entire childhood, even up through middle school, with Izuku flashed through his mind and the heavy cloud struck him hard in the chest again.
Katsuki didn't let the guilt show, though, merely proceeding to block out his own accusing thoughts and the apologies his parents were serving to Ayane as he rounded the corner.
Ayako jumped the second he entered the hall, her amber eyes widening as she craned her neck back to stare up at him.
Instead of seeing pain or dejection from hearing her sister's words, he found that there was a weight of resigned understanding blanketed over the child.
She knew being Quirkless was a permanent possibility, and a part of her showed her fears like darkness between splintering cracks, but the most important thing he saw was the echo of the light that never went out in Izuku's eyes.
That tiny core of heat that no matter what, kept on burning through everything that tried to smother it.
And that, to him, was admirably brave. Even when he still referred to Izuku as Deku, he had still been the only non extra of Aldera. The only one who challenged him.
Katsuki studied her for a little longer before slipping a hand out of his pocket and, very hesitantly, reached out to pat her curly little head.
She dipped her head in compliance, so very used to the action itself, but peeked up again as soon as he stopped, revealing tear marks.
"It's not fair. Loads of people used to do dangerous stuff before Quirks came around. So why?" Ayako hiccupped, her voice pitching higher as she hurried to wipe away a few escaping tears. "So why can't I be a Hero too?"
Katsuki inhaled sharply, the air catching in his throat. Part of him knew that the reason why was because, as a given, the twenty percent of the population that was born without a Quirk was weaker than the rest who were born with Quirks, a minority.
And as a minority, they were not given nearly the same amount of equal opportunity to thrive along with the rest of society. Certainly, there were jobs that were still technically considered hero jobs that Quirkless people could apply for, but there wasn't entirely much merit to it when everything was overshadowed by the Pro Heroes anyways. That was just the way the World turned.
Or at least, that was how he used to view it. To his surprise, Katsuki found the other part of himself silently demanding the answers to that very question along with Ayako. Why couldn't she be a hero? Just because she didn't have a Quirk didn't mean it ruled out her potential. Potential, if given the time to be worked with and molded properly, could give way to skill. Skill could wind up being what wound up being the most important deciding factor in any given situation.
In the end, it all gave way to credible capability, the trust of many, and the right to claim, "I did it. To all who said I couldn't, I. Did."
And if he were to be completely honest with himself every time, he looked into her eyes he saw a kind of potential that only Izuku could match, though he wasn't sure he could properly explain it even if he wanted to.
"How often do you work out?" Katsuki finally asked. "I mean exercise at least. You know that I do and my Quirk definitely doesn't give me my muscles."
"I… never?" Ayako had a poor confused look on her face. "I mean, Nee-chan says I like running about a lot..."
"Alright, I'll count that. You're too young for the real deal anyways." Katsuki acquiesced. "You been hittin' the books?"
"Yes...?"
"Do you know how to throw a punch?"
"No."
"You've got be able to meet all those requirements. Nothing good comes from dreaming and complaining about what shitty luck you got." Katsuki huffed. "If you can do all that, then be better. Be faster. Be stronger. Be smarter. Because if you can do all that, you can."
"Eh?" Ayako was startled.
"You can be a hero." Katsuki clarified, turning his head to clear his throat. "And you already are... sort of. Even if you're Quirkless, you've already saved Kingsdog. Not everyone can do that, y'know. As for the ones that say otherwise, then they can just fuck off."
It wasn't his most eloquent delivery considering he was not one for comforting others, but she could get the message, right? 'This is fine, right? I can't make the same mistakes as I did with Izuku.'
The two looked at each other, a deep crimson that somehow appeared lighter and calmer than it ever had, and an amber that was splashed with hazel patterns, teary but bright and hopeful. Ayako gave a wide, toothy smile while using the back of her hand again to wipe her face.
Katsuki rolled his eyes, his nose wrinkling. Blindly, he reached for his bag, pulling it into his lap to look for a disposable napkin. (He never kept them on himself, considering it too much of a hassle as well as unnecessary since he hardly ever needed them anyways.)
"Gross, use a napkin." He said as he handed her the said toiletry. The child giggled while taking it and blew her nose. By the time she was done, Katsuki had made another surprising decision.
"What's your Alias?"
"Eh?"
"If I'm gonna be the Number One Hero, I'm gonna need the Number One Sidekick's Alias, Red Shoe."
Humming to herself, the little girl tilted from side to side. She felt loads better after talking with Aniki.
"Nothing good comes from dreaming and complaining about what shitty luck you got. If you can do all that, then be better. Be faster. Be stronger. Be smarter. Because if you can do all that, you can. You can be a hero."
"I can." she mumbled to herself with a giddy little smile. "I can. Why? Because I'm gonna be Valkyrie!"
"'Valkyrie'..." Katsuki mulled the Alias over. "Not bad. Not bad at all, Red Shoe."
"Valkyrie and King (Explosion Murder), Crime Fighters Supreme! Watch out, Quakehead! We're coming at you stronger than ever!"
KingVessel: Next up, Aldera! Please review!