Chapter Three: A Quirk Revealed

Shouta's Quirk presented itself when he was just three years old. Under the influence of his father's Quirk, he had been levitating in the air one moment, and then he was decidedly not. Supposedly he cried for an hour, but Shouta tended to leave that part of the story out.

He had the gift of erasing other individual's Quirks. Drawbacks included gravity-defying hair and red eyes— in more ways than one. He trained his body so he wouldn't have to use it to win a fight, and used his Quirk to get into a school for wannabe heroes.

He was fifteen when Koharu came along, a bouncing baby sister. She had a boring, pudgy face and constantly crapped her pants, but Shouta liked her company anyway. She didn't talk much back then, you see.

Years passed, Shouta growing closer to becoming a Pro Hero and Koharu growing closer to being able to hold an entire conversation without mentioning her favourite colour. She wasn't quite there yet, but Shouta was proud of her progress nonetheless.

Koharu wore rainbow tights and a bright pink cape to his graduation from U.A., where she told him that she would get a Quirk that was "much cooler" than his and make Eraserhead her sidekick. The cape was worn to school for the next month with pride. Koharu hadn't had much of an interest in heroes before, but once Eraserhead hit the scene, it was all Koharu could talk about. She would be a hero like her brother.

When Koharu was five-years-old and still hadn't manifested a Quirk, the family was worried. Shouta had been so young when he first displayed his Quirk, and Koharu was already two years late. Quirkless, their mother had said. Like it was a dirty word. Like it was something to be ashamed of. Koharu stopped talking about becoming a hero.

Shouta had been eating lunch with a handful of other Heroes from his agency when he got the call from Koharu's teacher that she had activated her Quirk for the first time. He thought of his mother then, and how much she would have liked to have been the one to get a phone call like that. She would have been so happy to hear it, even the part where Koharu inadvertently caused a student brawl in the cafeteria.

Like all good commotions do, the incident began while the class was eating lunch. Koharu hadn't made many friends within her new class, and she often ate alone. Shouta always packed an extra snack for her to bribe the other children with, but it always came home with her for Shouta to eat himself. That day, he had packed Koharu two pudding cups for her snack.

He had not realized that pudding cups were such a hot commodity. He was to blame, really, for the ruckus that occured when Koharu decided to ask the class at large if anyone would like her extra snack. Almost everyone wanted her extra snack, and a tussle broke out faster than Koharu could choose a winner.

Words, fists, feet, and Quirks were all fair play for the little monsters in Koharu's class, and the tussle quickly developed into a brawl between four boys. Supposedly, the classroom was in complete chaos. Children and teachers screaming, desks breaking, boys cursing— and then everything came to a sudden stop with one anguished cry.

Aiming to throw a Hardened punch, the boy had instead impacted against a Hardened chest. His hand was broken. The fight was over. The pudding cup was not worth it.

Koharu could switch people's Quirks. Like Shouta, Koharu's Quirk was vision-based, and supposedly turned her eyes a bright orange when in use. Using it her first time, it had been activated for nearly thirty seconds before her eyes returned to their normal black hue. Her eyes were noticeably redder, they said. Shouta was only a little disappointed that her hair didn't float as well, the little copycat.

Things at home that day had been tense. Shouta had wanted to congratulate Koharu on finally discovering her Quirk, but one look at the girl had told him that he was better off not saying a word. They walked to their apartment together in silence, and Koharu took herself promptly to her room.

Shouta entered behind the grumpy child at a slower pace, and started boiling water so that he could make himself and Koharu some instant ramen. Shouta was a lot of things, but a talented chef he was not, and so he and his ward mostly lived off of frozen food and take-out. It was something he would have to reevaluate eventually, but for now, Koharu was happy as long as he cracked an egg into her instant ramen.

He was rifling through the cupboards for a spicy chicken flavor— Koharu's favourite— when he heard the first loud thump. Shouta's spine straightened. It was coming from Koharu's room, and that crash was only the first of many. Shouta squinted hard at the wall, hoping he could develop X-Ray vision to tell just what the fuck Koharu thought she was doing in there.

Shouta and Koharu had only been living together for four months. Things were still new— Shouta still didn't know how hard he could push. Still, for her own sake, he really hoped that she wasn't breaking anything in there. Koharu was a hoarder. Some of that was his shit, and he wanted it back.

Thoughts of noodles abandoned for the moment, the twenty-year old Hero dragged himself through the apartment to the source of the ruckus. It was even louder standing next to Koharu's room. Shouta slumped against the doorframe as he rapped his knuckles against the wooden door. "Yo, Koharu?"

Through the apparent mayhem on the other side of the door, Koharu called back a sharp, "Yes?"

"Can you, uh— not? Break my house?"

Something soft thudded against the door. Shouta estimated that it was either a pillow or Neko-zawa, the giant stuffed cat she had demanded that he buy for her when she was four. Shouta heaved a great sigh before grabbing the handle and opening the door.

Koharu promptly tossed Neko-zawa in his face. Either humouring her or just too lazy to move, Shouta let it hit him. The fat cat slumped to his feet and rolled onto the floor. "Right, then," he said. "You need a time-out."

From her place standing on her bed, an island in the sea of her messy bedroom, Koharu began to sputter. "Wha— no, I don't…" Shouta watched as the energy seemed to seep out of her all at once. Koharu flopped onto her mattress, her small weight bouncing against it. "I don't need a time-out."

Warily, Shouta sat down next to her on the bed. It was time to switch tactics against the enemy that was parenting a child. "Did you want to talk about it, then?"

Koharu's arms reached around her bed for comforts that were no longer there, as all her pillows and animals were now strewn across the floor. She shoved her face into a bundled up sweater for lack of a better alternative. "I wanna be a hero," she whined.

"Okay," Shouta said slowly, wondering what the catch was. "You should… do that, then?"

The girl groaned loudly into her makeshift pillow. "My Quirk is too dumb!"

Gnawing on his lip, Shouta took a moment to consider his response. "Your Quirk probably isn't dumb," he finally said. When she turned her head to glare at him, he shrugged and added an unapologetic, "I haven't seen it yet."

Koharu sat up, her messy hair flying everywhere. "And you never will, 'cause my Quirk is dumb and useless!" The girl's face was bright red as she spoke from a mix of frustration and a lack of breath from having her face buried in cloth. "I can't be a Hero with a Quirk like—like that."

Shouta licked his dry lips as he crossed his arms. He knew that he had to tread carefully, and so his words came slowly. Carefully. "You probably saved your classmate from having a broken rib this afternoon," he finally said.

Koharu's expression was incredulous. "Juzo broke his arm!"

"He shouldn't have been using his Quirk to fight against his classmates like that," Shouta firmly stated. "If hitting his Quirk is strong enough to break an arm, being hit by it is damn well strong enough to break ribs. Juzo should be thanking you for stopping him."

Shouta was on a roll. He could totally do this 'comfort' thing. He quickly stood up to encourage himself. "I don't want to hear you whining about your Quirk," he said, his tone just on the edge of being harsh. Whoops. "If you want to be a Hero, you work hard."

"But—" Koharu started to say, but Shouta shook his head.

"A Quirk doesn't make a Hero. You should already know that," he said. He made sure that Koharu was looking at him when he began to smirk. "What's dumb is relying on your Quirk when you already know that your opponent can negate them.. After all, weren't you planning on beating me?"

Kids were so easy. Shouta was a great parent. Koharu lit up like the sky, all gung-ho and ready to take him on that second. "Of course I am! I'm gonna kick your ass!" Her fists were already raised. For a short moment, Shouta was overwhelmed with how much he loved her. He wouldn't correct her language— which she undoubtedly picked up from him— just this once.

"Then we had better get started on your training, brat."

chapter end

I had been planning to publish this chapter tomorrow, but today I am celebrating two things: one, that my roommate has finally moved out and I can now write without pants on, and two, that this story now has 11 followers! Wow! I'm seriously humbled that so many people have decided they want to keep reading this story. Hopefully I won't disappoint you guys.

To M, who reviewed both introduction chapters: your reviews made me so happy. Thank you for inspiring me to continue writing.