Chapter 11: Ren Kimura

Ren was lying in a hammock on her front deck. In the shade the temperature was comfortable. It was a surprisingly warm day for early Spring. The sun was overhead now in a cloud less sky. She heard the waves crashing against the beach nearby. The front deck had an amazing view of the ocean, but it no longer stirred Ren's heart by its natural beauty. She had a book open resting on her chest but she had not started the next chapter where she had left off the day before. She had been out in the hammock for about 3 hours she estimated. She sighed and closed her eyes. The breeze picked up and she felt the hammock slowly start to sway side to side. She had been having trouble sleeping at night ever since the run in she had with a petty criminal trying to rob a bank in town. She had been doing her daily shopping at the market when she heard about the incident. He had taken a hostage by force with a gun. A sniper had gotten a clean shot of the robber but ended up shooting him in the leg because he didn't want to risk hitting the hostage. The police had the bank surrounded and she thought they would be able to easily handle it until it was revealed the robber had a quirk that could make his apprehension difficult. A quirk that could make him incredibly strong and also impervious to pain. That combination could get people hurt.

She decided to lend her aid. After being briefed by police, she snuck in through the back of the building with an officer who had a shielding quirk. He would grab the hostage and protect them and Ren would take down the criminal. He had a gun so she would need to be extra careful. This plan succeeded. Ren grappled with the robber, he activated his quirk and she grabbed his arm with her bare hands. They both crashed to the floor and continued to struggle over control of the gun. She was surprised it took almost 10 seconds for him to pass out from Pain. His body finally went limp. No one had been injured in the robbery attempt except the robber. The head officer on duty that day had given her his card. The day after the incident when she called the officer he informed her the robber seemed to have slipped into a coma. She had worried about that happening due to the duration he had held on to her. The officer also notified her about another discovery they made. The gun shot wound he had received from the sniper had healed. The medics actually noticed this as soon as they had started caring for him after he had passed out. There was no explanation but Ren had some suspicions. It may have been her own healing quirk. She must have somehow transferred it to the robber. She had called the officer again the day before to check on the status of the robber. It had been a week since the incident and he was still in a coma. Ren was wracked with guilt. She thought perhaps she should not have gotten involved. But then she thought other innocent lives could have been lost. She had made the right decision. But she could not shake the feeling of lose. He was someone's son, brother, father, friend, lover. She had hurt those people by hurting him. She closed her eyes and hoped maybe she could fall asleep. The air was salty, cool, and relaxing.

She suddenly had the strange feeling of being watched. She opened her eyes and saw a large broad grinning face hovering above her. "Hey Ren!" it said brightly.

She screamed and quickly sat up, causing the hammock to twist and turn to the right spilling her out onto the wooden deck floor. After a lot of "I'm so sorry's" and laughter from both parties, Ren and Toshinori Yagi, better known as the hero All Might, headed into Ren's house for tea.

Toshinori sat at Ren's small kitchen table looking a bit out of place. He was as much the imposing figure as he ever was. Towering at a little over 7 feet tall and weighing a quarter ton he always looked out of place when doing everyday mundane tasks. He was dressed in casual clothes, khakis and a white cotton shirt, which made him seem even more surreal. The tea cup looked so tiny in his hand. "You could have just called me back. I didn't want you to make a trip all the way out here to see me just because I sent you an email," Ren said sitting by Toshinori at the table with her tea.

"Don't worry about it. I haven't seen you in a while anyway. It's been pretty busy, well, you know how it is. So any change on the condition of the robber?"

"No. He's still in a coma," Ren looked down into her tea. Toshinori placed his hand on her gloved one and she looked up into his broad face, his blue eyes glistening. "Don't feel bad about his condition. When people decide to give into a life of crime they take all those consequences that decision entails."

She nodded. 'I'm trying to take that into consideration. It's tough. I guess the fact I haven't been in that position, that of a hero, in so long it just feels strange to have to go through these conundrums. You always have to deal with them when you're a hero so you learn to compartmentalize. I've just forgotten how I guess."
"Well I've been thinking about your email." Toshinori said thoughtfully. Ren had sent him an email about the incident with the bank robbery. She wanted his opinion about the possibility of her restoration quirk being transferred to the robber. Toshinori was still quite active in the hero world. He was well traveled as well so had gained much knowledge from this experience. He had close ties with the science community too through his friendship with David Shield. "I think you should see a quirk specialist, you had mentioned you already see one due to the nature of your quirk and it's downsides, but perhaps it may be time to switch specialists. You know there is one at UA Academy. His name is Kando Watabe, you may know him better as Squidman. "

"You think he would be willing to see me?" Ren asked.

"He would. He does have a small clinic once a week, although he mainly teaches and does studies through UA now. I was thinking, Ren, maybe you should think of applying to teach at UA."

"I could never do that again. I taught there so briefly and left them so suddenly when….." she started to take deep, gasping breaths. She couldn't breath. Toshinori stood up immediately wanting to help but not sure what to do. Ren waved him away. "Please… just please go…..I don't want you….. to see me…. like this…." Her breathing was so erratic and she couldn't catch her breath.

"Ren…." Toshinori sat at the table again watching her. She pushed herself away from the table and lowered her head, resting her arms over her knees. She finally got her breathing under control after a couple of minutes. She raised her head briefly and then laid her folded arms on the table and buried her head there. "Ren, you told me you were no longer having panic attacks." She was angry now. She should have just kept the robber incident to herself. Now Toshinori would know how much she was still struggling. He would know her heart was still so broken. Life without Goro had taken its toll on her. Hiding away in the small beach town of Kushimoto had not made things any better.

"Ren, you have to move on from this. You got your teaching degree so you're more than qualified. You know Nezu understands why you left when you did. You're just wasting your life away here."

"I don't think the students I tutor feel that way," Ren said incredulously.

"You can do so much more though. And I think you'd be handling Goro's death better if you got more involved with the world around you. I know about grief and pain. I've lost people I was very close to. You have to deal with it head on or you'll never leave it behind."

"I just…." Ren couldn't stop herself from crying. Toshinori moved next to her, kneeling on the floor beside her patting her back. "I can't….." she couldn't get the words out between the sobs.

"I miss him too, Ren. He was one of my closest friends. But he would want you to continue your life. Goro was all about spreading joy and hope. You have to take that torch and continue that mission he had. I think UA would be a perfect place for you to do just that. Those students need someone like you, someone who is talented, someone who is kind, and someone who could kick any villain's ass!"

Ren could not help but start laughing a bit through her tears. Toshinori's enthusiasm was hard to shake off. The rest of the visit put Ren's heart at ease. It was good to see her old friend. They talked about old times and Goro. It somehow had a healing effect on her. The numbness that had been creeping in the last several weeks had been replaced with laughter and hope. Maybe Toshinori was right. Maybe starting back at UA would be a good next step for her. There would be some painful memories there since she and Goro had lived in that same city for a couple of months. She could do it though. It was time. Toshinori told her he would put in a recommendation and she would apply.

Before Toshinori left he squeezed Ren in a big bear hug. "I'll drop by UA soon after the semester starts to check on you. I feel like I haven't been a good friend, I go too long between our visits."

"Don't feel bad, you keep in touch better than I do."

"That's true! You have to do better Ren!" He stood in front of her, his hands on his hips. He sure looked the part of Number 1 hero. His grin was infectious. Ren felt he really had to have some sort of environmental quirk that affected people's moods. She was sad to see him go, but she knew he was a very busy man. It meant a lot to her for him to stop by. He was a good friend. "I think you'll get a lot of answers from Watabe about your quirk, too. There are plenty of talented faculty there now. Plenty of opportunities to hone your quirk through collaboration and to lend that support to them as well!"

Ren shook her head, "Goodness, Toshi! Your positivity is killing me! It has to be exhausting!"

Toshinori laughed wholeheartedly. "I'm the symbol of peace, what do you expect?"