I don't own One Punch Man, nor do I own My Hero Academia. Each Franchise is owned by their respective owners. Enjoy!
Soba Noodle House...
Sigh. Back here in all of places. Toshinori had promised both Yui and Genos that he would train them all. One thing Toshinori noticed though, is that Genos seemed determined, more than before. It's like...he has found a new purpose in his life, to become stronger, to show his oppressor that he's not weak, pathetic, whatever it is they called him these days.
If that's how it is, Toshinori would support him. Whatever it takes. Yui too, he would support, but she seemed reluctant at first. Well, sure, the training regime was intense, but the girl didn't want to do it before. But when Genos accepted it, she suddenly accepted it too. Could it be..?
Nah, it couldn't be. It would be weird for Genos to date an upperclassmen. Actually, not weird at all, but...
Why the hell am I thinking about things like these? Toshinori cursed in his mind, whilst finishing cleaning some of the tables and sweeping the floor.
Suddenly, the door opened, revealing an old man with a long nose, and a circular, weird hair. He looked like some kind of doctor? Well, whatever.
However, when he saw the teen behind the doctor, he widened his eyes, "Genos-san?"
Genos locked his eyes on Toshinori, before smiling widely, "Toshinori-kun!! We came here to see you!"
The doctor-look-like person smiled too when he took notice of Toshinori, "Ah, it's you.."
"Uh, who are you, exactly?" Toshinori asked. Genos was the first to step in, before saying with a wide smile, "He's my guardian! Dr. Kuseno! I know I haven't introduced him yet, but uhm...yeah, I think it's time since you're my sensei now."
Toshinori groaned, "Genos-san, I am not--" Genos cut him off when he spoke to Kuseno, "Kuseno-san! If you want to have a few words?"
Dr. Kuseno took a step, approaching Toshinori, "So, you're my little boy's 'sensei'?"
Toshinori sighed in annoyance, "Sir, I'm not his sensei. I'm his friend." Dr. Kuseno laughed, "Don't worry! I'm just messing around. Genos-san tend to act like this when he's excited about something, like the time he called me father the first time I..." he stopped, before looking away, "Pardon me, my tongue slipped.."
Toshinori shook his head, "What were you going to say?" "I believe this is a sensitive topic. I cannot tell you for the time being." Dr. Kuseno insisted. Toshinori sighed, "He's my friend. If there's something I haven't known yet, maybe-"
"Yagi-san, you could ask the boy yourself. Forgive me if I seem rude, but I just am not in the mood to talk about it." Dr. Kuseno refused, before sitting on the table Toshinori just cleaned. He looked at Toshinori, before giving him a slightly sad smile, "Just take care of him while you tutor the boy, okay?"
Toshinori looked at him for a moment, before Dr. Kuseno continued, "He always beat himself up over things that aren't his fault, you know? His quirkless condition, all the bullying he endured in the school, he always blamed it all on himself."
Toshinori nodded, before looking back at Genos, who smiled at him widely.
Genos-san...what are you hiding?
"Ah, I believe I made it too depressing." Dr. Kuseno added before laughing nervously, causing Toshinori to look at him again, "Genos! Come here."
"Yes, sir!" Genos replied immediately, before approaching the old doctor, sitting in the opposite side. "Yagi-san, I think all that work has made you a bit exhausted. Sit here, as my thank you for you, I'll treat you for dinner."
Panicking, Toshinori frantically yelled, "O- oh no, sir! It's.. it's unnecessary! I'm full anyway! I don't want to be a burden-"
"Nonsense! You helped my kid in his toughest time, brought his spirit up. You were always there for him, this is the time for me to repay you for your kindness." Dr. Kuseno insisted, "Sit here!" He placed his hand on the seat in his right side.
Toshinori sighed. What he did was nothing special. But since the doctor insisted...
Toshinori sat besides Dr. Kuseno, who laughed lightly, "Now that's my boy!"
Genos added, "Yeah! You deserve it, sensei!" Toshinori snorts at being called 'sensei' again.
A few minutes after they ordered the food, another few minutes they spent by eating the food. By the time they're done, as if the universe hated Toshinori, the door opened, revealing Masashi, Mezo, and their father entering the building.
Out of all the times they choose to be here... Toshinori twitched his eyes.
"Oiiii! It's them both! Quirkless idiots!" Masashi yelled as Mezo laughed. The father, however, seemed to not to take a part in this constant bullying.
Dr. Kuseno said to Genos, "Ignore them, Genos-san." however, Genos made himself a sad face.
Toshinori noticed this, "Genos-san, it's not worth your time to beat yourself up over what they said."
Mezo, this time, yelled again, "What a loser you are, Akira brat! What? Crying that you're too weak?!"
Masashi added, "Your parents would be so disappointed in you, you freakish, quirkless runt! Hell, if they were ever in a near-death situation, you wouldn't be able to help them all, useless freak! They would die because of your weak, parasitic ass!"
Genos widened his eyes at the words they just said. Parents.. couldn't save parents...because...too weak...
That's it. Genos's eyes were visibly teary, "I'm sorry, I need to go for a bit." He rushed out of his seat. Toshinori stood up, calling out to him, "Hey wait! Genos-san!"
Masashi and Mezo began laughing uncontrollably, while their father just sat there in silence.
"Those boys...their father isn't even budging at how they behave." Dr. Kuseno interjected, anger shown in his face.
Toshinori rushed into the direction of the toilet. Ignoring the taunts made by Masashi and Mezo, he immediately barged into the male toilet.
What he saw next was the worst thing. He widened his eyes in panic.
Genos was staring at the sink mirror with reddened eyes, "Pathetic, weak..." he muttered, before grabbing a shard of glass near the mirror, "Fuck the training.. I'm no good...goodbye Toshinori-kun, Kuseno-san..." he sobbed, as he brought the shard of glass closer to his pulse, "Maybe they're right...the world would be a better place without me..maybe I'm just a quirkless, useless garbage...what am I kidding...no one will miss me..."
As the shard of glass got closer, he said in a saddened voice, "That's what I am...a garbage...and a garbage..must be disposed...eliminated..."
Before he can cut the pulse near his palm with the shard of glass, Toshinori rushed off towards him, appearing before him in an instant, before snatching the shard away from his hands, "What the hell are you doing?!"
"Toshinori-kun?!" Genos frantically said. Toshinori wasn't pleased. Not at all, "WHAT. THE. HELL. ARE YOU DOING?!" He yelled, before throwing the shard of glass away, "Answer me, Genos-san..." he ordered.
Genos lightly sobbed, but it was clear that he's holding himself back, "N- nothing, Toshinori-kun! I-"
He was cut off when Toshinori immediately hugged him, tears coming out of his eyes, "You scared the shit out of me, you know that?! Trying to kill yourself here when there's so much, SO MUCH waiting for you in your future?! What were you thinking, man?!"
"Toshinori-kun, there's nothing wrong! I was just playing around with the..." He stopped himself mid-sentence. Toshinori sighed, as he removed himself from hugging Genos, "You're terrible at lying." He smiled in the midst of his tears, "What's wrong, Genos-san?"
Genos didn't answer the first time. Toshinori lowered his eyebrows, before speaking again, "Genos-san...what the idiots said about you, it's not true. But whatever it is, I know some of the things they said triggered you because it has something to do with your past." He asked the second time, "What's wrong?"
Genos sobbed, "D...do you really want to know..?" Toshinori only nodded. Genos began, "Before I met you...before I went to Aldera..." He sobbed in the middle of his sentence, "I was living with my parents, b- but..." He sobbed again, unable to form words as efficient, "But...a villain..a cyborg...invaded our house...killed my parents...and...took some of our..valuables...I wasn't strong enough to stop him, the villain..he was...stronger than me..I couldn't protect my parents.."
He locked his eyes on Toshinori's, "I mean... things would be different if I had a quirk, right?" He cried even more, tears drowning his cheeks, "If I was strong enough..but I wasn't..I'm a genetic failure...I'm.."
Toshinori slapped Genos to cut him off, frowning at him, "Stop that."
Genos replied, "W...what...?" Toshinori spoke, "Stop it with the 'genetic failure', 'quirkless', 'not strong enough' bullshit. You were just a damn kid, a defenceless kid. No one expects you to do the protecting, that's their job, not yours."
"But... Masashi and Mezo was right, I was a weak useless...I mean..If I can't save my parent's.. I'm..not a hero..right?" Genos sobbed. Toshinori shook his head, before wrapping one of his arms around Genos, "They're just spouting nonsense. They don't know what they're talking about. They're just picking on you to deal with their own insecurities, most bullies do that. Just don't react to their words at all. You're not useless, worthless, whatever stupid insult those assholes pulled out of their ass."
He gripped the younger boy's shoulder tighter, "You're special, Genos-san. I can say that you have a heart of a hero, you have what it takes to be one. Remember, you have a training regime to do starting tomorrow. It would suck if you die before you have a chance to taste greatness!" Toshinori joked lightly to lift up the blond boy's mood.
Genos sobbed into Toshinori's shoulder, as the older teen patted his back to comfort him. He let this happen for an hour, letting the boy to let out all his frustrations. He can do this all day.
Meanwhile...
Almost an hour later, silence ruled the room of the restaurant. Toshinori and Genos hasn't come back from the toilet, but Kuseno reassured himself that they're just still talking there.
However, as he stared at the man who is the father of the boys who bullied Genos, he frowned, before saying, "Do you teach your boys some manners?"
Silence. The man didn't respond, as the two boys kept eating their meals. Kuseno chuckled darkly, staring at his empty plate, "It's horrible, you know? The way quirkless people are being treated nowadays, over something that they had no control over. I know the world is unfair sometimes, but this is just a bit too much."
The man ignored him again, not even affected by the current situation overall. Kuseno growled, before speaking again, "Is that all you can do? Ignoring me? You don't want to take responsibility over what your boys caused to Genos?"
The man let out a small smirk, "He deserved it." He finished with a light chuckle.
Kuseno had enough of it, "Deserved it?! What makes you think that?! He hasn't done anything wrong, he's just a kid, A DAMN KID!"
The man stared at him, before replying, "I believe that quirkless people such as that boy over there will weigh down our society." He stated, much to Kuseno's anger, he continued, "Back in the ancient days, the civilization of Sparta flourished. Some of the methods they did was extreme, but necessary. They took infants that were strong to be trained to be a great soldier, while the weak were sent away to fend for themselves. Such treatment should be done the same to the quirkless people in this society, so humanity will thrive."
Kuseno's mouth twitched, disgusted at the man's twisted ideology, "You sick, twisted fool! Weak or not, quirkless people are still humans!"
"Humans that will be liabilities. This is the future, old man. Quirks are the future, and the quirkless should be left behind. They should be put out of their misery." The man finished, before looking away.
This man. THIS MAN. Kuseno should tell both Toshinori and Genos to stay away from him and his boys at all cost. He's crazy, twisted, and sick.
However, he chose to stay silent, as he didn't want to cause more trouble. He stared at his empty plates, not know what to do but to wait until Toshinori and Genos to return.
Suddenly, before Kuseno realised, Toshinori appeared in front of Masashi and Mezo in an instant.
"Y- Yagi-san!" Kuseno called out, but was ignored.
Toshinori brought his face closer to the two boys, "Listen here, you egoistical, insecure little fucks.." he said with a venom on his voice, "If I ever see you near Genos-san again, I will personally beat the both of you up, and I'm not even joking."
He can threaten both of these little shits all he wants. The manager won't care. His job is to clean the restaurant, not to be a polite dick-sucker to assholes.
Their father was about to interfere, using his strength quirk to hit Toshinori in the face.
But his hand was stopped short by Toshinori's face itself. Toshinori pushed his hand away with his face, before saying, "I wasn't talking to you." pushing the older man's hands away with his hand this time.
"H- how?! You.. you're quirkless! How...how did you..." Masashi was in disbelief. Mezo added, "He's the number 6 pro-hero, Vigorous! How?! How did you withstand his punch?!"
Toshinori, however, didn't answer. He only said, "Stay away from Genos-san. That was just a little demonstration of my strength. If you don't listen, I will personally make you both the guinea pig." he walked away, approaching Kuseno, who was as shocked.
Firstly, the man was a pro-hero, the sick, twisted man was a pro-hero. Secondly, Toshinori...stood his ground against one of the pro-hero's hit? He was quirkless, right? How?
Toshinori on the other hand, wasn't surprised at all that the man was a pro-hero. He had a share of other pro-heroes that were a complete piece of shit and didn't act true according to their title. Heroes, they said.
"Hey!" Vigorous, the 'hero' called out. Toshinori stopped, venomous voice coming out of his lips, "What?" he slowly tilted his head.
"You...you think you're so strong, huh? I remember you, boy, the one that spouted some nonsensical shit about 'the heart of a hero' yesterday." Vigorous yelled. Toshinori sighed, "I really don't have time for this." he said, before looking at the terrified Genos in front of the toilet
"I'll show you, quirkless runt! Meet me in front of my agency building tomorrow after you brats are done with school! I will personally humiliate you!" Vigorous threatened, before smirking, "And if you lose, I will make the principal expel you from Aldera!"
Toshinori slowly tilted his head to look at the pathetic, all-talk pro-hero. He smirked, "Challenge accepted, old man."
Vigorous laughed, before taking both of his son's home, "Come on, boys! Tomorrow will be the day where that quirkless brat regret coming across us!"
"Hell yeah!"
"I'm looking forward for his humiliation!" Both of the boys shouted, as they stormed off the restaurant with their father.
Kuseno immediately approached Toshinori, anger showing on his face, "Yagi! What were you thinking?! He's a pro-hero! He could.."
"Don't worry, he's just a fly in my eyes. He can't do jack shit." He replied with confidence. Kuseno growled, "You're a good person, but your overconfidence can get you killed, Yagi-san!"
"It's my only chance to make them stay away from Genos-san once and for all." Toshinori replied, "I can't let them continue this."
Genos approached them, before hugging Toshinori, begging him, "Toshinori-kuun! Don't face him off, please! He'll hurt you! Please!"
Toshinori replied, "I'm strong enough to handle him. Actually, his punch felt like a tickle earlier. Shows us that quirks aren't everything, right?" he finished, before storming off to get his paycheck from the manager. His work shift is over, and it's time to go home.
He looked back at where Genos-san is, before saying, "Don't worry, Genos-san. They won't touch you, ever again." as he finished, he rushed off to find the manager.
Kuseno sighed, "He can't just listen for once.." "I'm worried about him...the first time we met, he nearly died just to...to protect me.." Genos sadly said, "It's all my--"
"Don't say it." Kuseno cut him off. Genos sighed, looking down at the floor, "It's true, though.."
Kuseno shook his head, "Please, your tendencies to berate yourself is not healthy. Refrain yourself from doing it."
Genos only nodded, but he was still worried about Toshinori. The teen would go through multiple layers of hell just to save him. He felt like a burden, all these years, he would always protect the younger boy from the bullies.
He didn't know whether to feel lucky, or to feel guilty. He shrugged the thought off, waiting with Kuseno for Toshinori to be finished collecting his paycheck.
THAT'S IT FOR TODAY'S CHAPTER! Stay tuned for the next!