Ashido Mina: Origin

The first incident was in Qingqin City, China, with news of the birth of a miraculous child who radiated light. Shortly thereafter, similar phenomena popped up all over the world. The trigger for these newfound powers was never determined, but as time progressed, what was once extraordinary became ordinary. Dreams became reality. Of the planet's population, around 80% have developed unique abilities, or 'Quirks'. We have entered a new age, a society of superhuman. In this world whirling in chaos, a certain profession that used to exist only in daydreams has stepped into the limelight. That of the Hero.

It was a nice, clear April day. Start of the school year! The last middle school year for me, and about time to start thinking about what high schools I wanted to go to.

In the schoolyard, two big thugs were standing over an innocent kid. They were yelling at him - asking him to transform leaves into money for them, I think. In short, they were being mean.

"Hey! What kinda way is that to be?" I asked em. "Why go wasting your time pushing' people around? If you got so much energy, you should spend it on a dance, not a demand!"

They all looked slack-jawed at me for a moment.

"Let's all get along, OK?" I said, and started demonstrating. A breakdance, a spin-kick under. They started getting into it like me. Before long, all of us - bullies, the kid they'd picked on, me, were break-dancing like kids from one of those old American movies. All enmity forgotten.

After a little while, they left. All amicable. Happily ever after!

Mariko and Tanuki ran up to me, waving hello.

"Ah, here she is! Mina, you wanna go to that shop today?" Mariko, she's my besest friend, longer blonder hair, big broad smile.

"What were you doing just now?" Tanuki, my other best of friends, she's got shorter black hair, she's a smiler too but not as broad.

"Yeah, I'll go!" I announce, and bounce along by their sides.

I hear, as I walk away, what they're saying about me - a group of bystanders, hanging out and laughing and chattering about what they just saw.

"That Ashido girl is gonna take the entrance exam for UA. She's ridiculously athletic! Also, she's very sociable. Her quirk is extremely strong and her appearance easily catches your eye. The way heroes are now has changed from how they were in the past. It's all about entertainment and approval ratings and whatnot. Ashido's like the heroes of today. That's why she's a perfect fit for the job."

That's what they say about me. That's what everyone's said about me, ever since I was four years old, and manifested my quirk called "Acid". It's a super duper useful one, versatile and sharp and easy-to-use! "That's a quirk, Mina dear," said my parents and my teachers and my classmates, "that'll take you places. It'll be easy to be a pro with a power like that, and looks like yours!"

Oh, my looks, you're wondering? Flashy and stuff? I'll say so! I've got pink skin and black eyes with golden irises, all brightly colored and pretty, with the curliest pink hair and these yellow horns that stick straight out of my head and bend like bendy straws! I may not stick out as much as the people in our world who look like animals and stuff, but compared to most of my classmates I'm shining like a diamond!

But it's not like I just go coasting on my flashy quirk and the looks and all! I don't wanna be that kinda pro, no sir-ee. I wanna be the kinda pro who makes people feel safe, a hero who protects people and beats up villains and makes everybody get along! Whenever I see bullies hanging around and hassling people, I've just gotta step in and tell 'em to go put a sock in it, whenever I can.

Of course, I can't just go beating up whoever I want with my acid quirk yet. I don't have my license, after all! But still…

Then something happened. Something scary. Only a few days later. There I was, walking through the city streets on my way home, and there were Mariko and Tanuki, just standing and staring. Besides them, there was another kid from my school there too. He's not in my class, but I know him. He's kinda loud and brassy, so it's hard to miss him, even though looks-wise he's really ordinary. He's got this long and lank black hair, he's just average height and build, but with these big red eyes that just look lovable and sweet, like you wanna pat his head. His left one has a cut over the lid, like it's been there a long time. His name's Eijiro Kirishima, and his quirk's called hardening. Nothing special, he just makes his skin harder and sharper. But still, he's nice. And he's standing there like his legs are frozen and he can't move.

So are Mariko and Tanuki - but I can't blame them! Standing over them is this gigantic dude, in a big cloak, with bare feet. He's obviously a villain, some kind of criminal. We can't see his face, because he's taller than most of the villains. He's towering over my two BFFs and making loud demands of them.

"WHERE ARE THE HERO OFFICES OF SPRINGER?!" He keeps repeating. Hanging around his neck is some kinda radio, which keeps blathering out the garbled words of some kinda announcer. Big Guy bends over now, his tone is threatening. He's putting his hand on the wall over their heads.

"SO YOU WON'T TELL ME?" The wall starts to crack and break. He's gonna kill them. He's gonna kill my girlfriends! There's - there's no hero here now. Nobody to come and save them. My best-est buds in all the world are gonna get crushed, and nobody is gonna do anything! Kirishima looks frozen in fear. My girls are holding onto each other and crying. The bystanders are scared and nobody's moving…

And before I can even think it through, my body moves before I can even start to process what I'm doin. And I'm standing in between this towering giant and my girls.

I can't fight this guy. I'm not allowed to. Not without a license. Not that I could beat him if I did. But I can save them. I can save my girls.

"Turn round that bend over there and take a left at the main road! Then it's 2 KM to the office building!" I shout in Big Guy's face.

There's a long pause, the longest of my life. "Thank you," he says, and turns away to leave. "Everything I do is for the Lord."

My legs give out from under me as soon as he's turned the corner and before I know it I've started to cry.

"That was so scary!" I find myself gasping, as my girls band around me and give me a hug, and they're crying to, and asking out "Oh my god, Mina, thank you thank you thank you!" and holding me tight. We don't want to ever let go. "If you hadn't come, we would've been dead for sure!" I start shaking again to even think about it.

"I just made up those directions, so c'mon, we gotta run!" I announce, as we just sit there and bystanders and cops rush to our side to look after us. We were petted and praised and looked after, on all sides, from all people, who wanted us to feel safe again. It was so sweet and I wanted to feel happy and relieved.

I noticed, as we were being taken away to the station to make a report, Kirishima standing there, out of the corner of my eye. He looked like something inside of him had just died. But I didn't have the chance to go to him, because we had to run for it before the bad guy came back.

Looking back then, I wonder if I did the right thing. All I know is that saving people in danger is what a real hero should do, don't you think? In the end, what matters was that my girls were safe.

Some day, I will be one. A real one, you know. A hero. Maybe then - everyone will dance together and be happy, and bad guys like Big Guy won't scare people anymore.