I sighed to myself in satisfaction.
I'm walking back home after visiting a friend that is going to help me spread awareness for quirkless people and those who are said to have 'villainess quirks'. At first, I only thought about quirkless people, but then while watching a video from when Izuku was just a toddler and my husband was still around, in the middle of the night before my new nightly routine of crying myself to sleep, a memory struck me again.
You see, Hisashi was bullied often in school. Because of his quirk surprisingly. You'd think with such a powerful quirk, one being elemental and all, he would gain praise.
Well, children are ruthless and since Hisashi's quirk resembled that of a dragon with the whole breathing out fire, he was deemed a villain. It started off small with other kids always telling him to be the villain whenever they were playing heroes, but then once middle school came around, it got more personal.
There was this one bully, the boss I suppose who started it all. His mother was killed in a villain attack and the villain just so happened to have a fire-based quirk. When he found out about Hisashi's quirk I guess something sparked in him. One would say it was his way of coping, another would say he was just a bully who deserved no sympathy for his actions.
He started off small but then it gradually got worse, stealing his stationary, framing him for things in class, spreading rumors, etc. It went on and on, going as far as to get physical. That is, until their last year of high school when I transferred into their class. I, of course, managed to gather enough evidence to get the boy expelled after befriending Hisashi.
This led to us becoming best friends and after a few years we started dating. The rest is history.
Anyways, so quirk discrimination was a huge thing on what I wanted to spread awareness on.
While I was happily thinking about other ideas other than my current one which was writing a book on my experience with a husband whose quirk was deemed villainess, and a son who was quirkless, I spotted a tall figure with light bluish hair.
He didn't stand out much from the other people around the park that I was passing by, but his hair reminded me a lot of Izuku. It was all tangled up and messy. Although the color was completely different, it still made me look on with sadness.
Scanning the stranger more, I noticed he wore a black hoodie, hood up covering the back of his hair and skin very dry and scarred. It was hard to see his eyes with the hood's shadow covering them, but I believe it is a vibrant red. A beautiful color.
That was when I noticed he was scratching his neck pretty hard, looking like he was about to draw blood if he continued.
I frowned and wondered if it would be a good idea to approach him...
Looking back, I noticed him now staring right back at me, a fierce look on his face as if trying to scare me off.
I shrugged to myself before heading in his direction. He already spotted me staring so I might as well. I knew approaching a stranger was a bad idea and yet I still continued walking. I feel like my sense of safety for myself has lessened with Izuku now gone...
Now in front of the man, whose eyes are narrowed in suspicion at me now that I see them more clearly (and it is red!) I speak up first "H-hello, uhm I noticed that you've been scratching at your neck a lot and if you'd like, I have this really helpful cream that should be able to stop the itches," I said, confidence increasing the more I talked "my son used to scratch his arms a lot when he was younger, although that was years ago I still carry it around just in case," I said with a shy smile while looking up at the young adult.
He looked slightly surprised but composed himself as he responded sharply "Tch, I don't need your cream, I'm just fine lady" he said about to walk away
"Wait!" I said reaching out for his wrest, successfully holding it "you really do look like you need it, look, I'll help you use it if you don't know how to? How about I buy you lunch so that we can be better acquainted, which should also convince you to try it?" I don't know why I'm so persistent... I feel like this is my son's influence. Always aiming to help everyone in need.
'Oh god, am I developing a hero complex!?'
We stared at each other for a few seconds, his eyes cold and aggravated while mine were pleading and kind.
"Fine" he scoffed while roughly snatching his arm away "and don't touch me" he glared at me but I just smiled and led him to a nearby café.
"I know this one cat café that I would take my son to a lot. He liked the fact that they had cats there that you could pay to play with for a certain amount of time. It's really stress-relieving" I babbled on until we got inside the café, sometimes faltering whenever mentioning certain memories with my son.
He was quiet by my side until we sat at the table.
I chatted with the waiter for a bit, offering my order before turning to the young man opposite me. "Well? I'll be paying so help yourself" I said still wearing a smile
He looked conflicted for a moment before asking for just a coffee.
"No, you're all skin and bones! You have to pick more, a sandwich or quiche?" I responded to him with a motherly glare. Without realizing it, I started acting like how I do with Izuku.
He just scoffed "I don't need your charity"
I folded my arms and said "it's not charity, I'm just being a decent human being and offering to buy you lunch!" turning to the waiter who was standing awkwardly beside me I ordered for him.
"He'll have an avocado and ham sandwich, a quiche, chocolate chip cookies, and a cup of coffee. Thank you" I said giving the waiter a smile before turning to back to the stranger who looked surprised but annoyed at the same time.
"So, introductions first, My name is Midoriya Inko! it's a pleasure to meet you" I waited for his turn for a few seconds but he never replied.
I just shrugged it off and looked into my purse for the cream.
Taking it out, I told him to hold out his hand. Although reluctant, he did it.
He was silent as I showed him how to apply the cream on his skin, making sure to be gentle and instruct him on how much he should use and how many times a day he should apply it.
Once done, I handed the cream back to him. His hood was down now, getting me a better look on his face. If you ignored the extremely dry skin, he actually looks young. About 20 or older. I pondered for a while, staring at his face. Once I made my decision, I noticed he was looking back at me with a displeased expression.
"Sorry," I said sheepishly, before ruffling in my bag for an item. 'I swear it was somewhere around here'
"Is it normal for you to just stare at a stranger's face? You did it when we first met and you just did it again" he said sighing in annoyance, although it didn't have as much heat in it from when we first met. He sounded tired.
"No, sorry it's just been a hard few weeks so I'm acting unlike my usual self," I said sheepishly. I cheered after finally finding the item I was looking for.
'Chapstick!'
Holding it out to him I gave him a 'go ahead' look
He gave me a bland and tired stare "are you mocking me?"
I was taken aback "What? No, of course not! It's not used if that's what you're wondering. I always keep spares in my bag.''
"Hm" he took the Chapstick after staring at it as if it personally offended him. "Fine"
After that the waiter arrived, and we ate in silence. He managed to finish his food before me which proved my point of him being hungry. 'A mothers instinct is never wrong'
"Uhm, why do you do that with your hand? Holding your pinky up and all?" I asked curiously.
He froze for a bit before replying "My quirk allows me to turn anything I touch with all five fingers to dust" he said, looking at me as if expecting something.
I hummed, before casually replying with what my quirk is. An idea then hit me. "Oh! can't you use gloves to stop your quirk from activating? Or does it not work like that?" I picked up a lot of stuff from my son whenever he would go on his rants and started to ramble a bit without realizing it.
"You'd probably make a great hero with that kind of quirk, being capable of turning anything into dust would help so much whenever you had to break into a hideout or cell. You'd probably do amazing in underground work, maybe you could have become an underground hero? Yeah, that would suit you, being able to break into hideouts or safes, although you'd have to sharpen a lot of other important skills in order not to be caught. I know with the right motivation you'd do great"
He looked especially surprised now. Eyes wide, mouth slightly open. I blushed in embarrassment and chuckled to myself a bit before finishing off my food.
"O-of course that was just my opinion, I mean you probably already decided on a different career path so..." He still had that wide-eyed look on his face, which made me hesitate before saying
"I feel like this has been great, here, my number in case you need any more help with your skin" I handed him a napkin with my number on it which I wrote down in the middle of our conversation.
"Shigaraki" The young man suddenly let out. I was confused, cocking my head a bit "what?"
"Shigaraki Tomura is my name," he said, even looking surprised at himself. I nodded, smiling much brighter now.
"Don't be shy to call alright! And take care of yourself, bye Shigaraki!" I said before going up to the counter to pay and exit the store.
He sat there still shocked until the waiter came around asking him if he needs something which he responded by standing up and stumbling out the door.
While returning to his hideout, he couldn't help but think about the green-haired woman who approached him randomly.
When some old hag came up to me to ask if I needed some special cream for my skin, I was of course annoyed. If it weren't for how tired I was after taking care of some errands that Kurogiri asked of me, I would have turned her into dust right then and there (Lies, Kurogiri said not to attract any unwanted attention).
I was about to leave after telling her no, but then she grabbed my wrist which made me freeze. Oh, how I wanted to kill her right there! But then she started talking and talking. Looking at me with those damn eyes that remind me so much of my mother. If it weren't for how exhausted I was, I would of said no. But I said yes.
I berated myself for saying yes seconds after and wondered if I should just turn back now, but then she kept on talking about her son, looking sad at some moments while talking.
I continued walking with her, only because I was tired. Just because I was tired.
When we arrived, I only wanted to have a coffee when she asked me what I'd like. I don't need her damn money, I'm just here for a short time before leaving and going home to continue playing one of the new games Kurogiri bought me.
But then she went and ordered for me, which yeah a quiche sounds nice but I could have bought it myself. Annoying old woman.
I won't lie when I thought that it was pretty relaxing when she put the cream on my arm. I could feel some of the effects kicking in as she went on talking.
That is until she handed me chapstick. Is she mocking me? I know my skin isn't the best, after all, it's one of the side effects of my quirk. I'm told that buy many villains and vigilantes I meet in my line of work is enough as it is. Even kids know how bad it is. And kids literally have no filter, so you know it's true when it comes from them.
Though the woman seems to be sincere about giving me the chapstick so I'll accept it this once. Just this once.
Of course that wasn't the end of it. No, she asked about my hands, and why I use only four of my fingers when grabbing something. I sighed internally, preparing myself for what may come. I know how the story goes, either she'll look on with disgust, wariness, or fear. It's always those three emotions that really make me itch to kill.
When I told her my quirk, I knew what to expect when I looked back into those round green eyes.
What I didn't expect was for her to have stars in her eyes as she started to mumble about how 'useful' my quirk was, and how I would make a, and I quote, 'great hero' if I used my quirk right...
I was so stunned I just sat there and stared. I continued to stare until she said she was about to leave. When I suddenly gave her my name, it wasn't really intentional, I just did. It's as if my body felt as if she earned it or something. But when she finally left, all I could do was sit there until the waiter came around again and asked me if I plan to order anything else.
I had mixed feelings while returning back to the bar. I know I shouldn't be so happy hearing her words but it felt kind of... nice. Nice to have words like that directed towards me and not someone who was gifted with a more 'heroic quirk'. I know if I was much younger, I would have cried at those words. Would have hung onto those words until the day I died. But my dream of becoming a hero died a long time ago. Yet I couldn't help but return home with a slight smile.
She wasn't so bad.
If I run into her again, I'll make sure to buy her lunch. Just so she knows that I don't need her damn money.
Yeah... no other reasons.
If she reminds me of my mother, then that's for me to know and everyone else to mind their own fucking business.