-9-
Saturday, I get a reply from Kaito. My first in months.
Fuck heroes. Fuck your stupid quirk. Go be one if you want, it's not like you ever did shit for us anyways.
I cry when I read it, written on a half sheet of paper messily thrown into an envelope and scrawled with my address. I save the message; I fold it carefully into quarters and press it in my pocket. Kagura finds me there, head nestled in my folded arms on the steps of the front porch, the pawnshop sign flickering across the street.
She stops and stares.
"The fucks wrong with you?"
I sniffle and glance up.
She scowls, one hand pressing against the hip of her skintight jeans, the other running through her short, spiky pink hair.
"Awe, hell no. Look you little hell-spawn, I ain't got time for this shit. I've got a date in twenty and I worked hard for this. Now tell me what the hell's wrong. Who do I need to go beat up, yeah! That's what I'll do, I've got maybe five minutes, I'll beat them up, and then BAM conscious clear."
I sniff and stare at her, blinking.
She huffs, tapping her foot.
"I ain't got all day brat."
I manage a watery grimace.
"I-I-I don't want to be a villain."
"Okay, then don't be," she says as if talking to an idiot. Maybe she is.
My lip quivers again.
"But Niko and Akari said people like us can't be heroes! They said I can't 'cause of my quirk and my record and- and- and that all we'll ever be are thugs!"
Kagura stops tapping her foot and stares at me incredulously. One eyebrow raised, one hand still on her skintight jeans.
"Niko and Akari. That's the elephant and water girl, right?"
"Yeah," I nod. I've never heard anyone call them that before.
"Well, no wonder they said that," Kagura rolls her eyes and throwing her arms out in exasperation. "Elephant girl came here dying to be a hero, she applied for the hero course over at UA, and she couldn't make it in the exams. Doubt she had the grades, to be honest."
My mouth drops. Kagura pats my hair and shakes her head.
"You can be whatever," Kagura tells me huffing. "But they were right on one count, people like us, we aren't heroes. Got no fucking interest in it. Don't know why a hell-spawn like you would want to be one, but whatever. People are gonna say shit like this a lot, if you ain't got the backbone for it, find something else to do."
Something else?
If you see someone about to get hurt, and you have the power to stop it, but you do nothing. What do you think it makes you?
I wipe my eyes and my snot on my sleeve. She crinkles her nose in disgust.
"Well if that's all-"
"I don't know how to master my quirk!" I say loudly, quickly, interrupting, but too scared not to say anything. She takes a deep, steadying breath, staring up at the sky as if in prayer. She checks her watch.
"Look, kid, I can't help with that!"
"But I have to master it to be a hero!" I tell her, feeling tears well up again. Hopelessness swells in my chest, curling around shame and disgust and fear. It feels like black tentacles wrapping around my throat, around my heart.
Kagura sighs loudly, closing her eyes and pinching her nose.
"Fine! Look, I'll help you when I get back."
The feeling in my chest falls away, replaced by something bright and burning and warm. I smile, the first true one I've felt in forever. Kagura stares at it, blinking, and turns red. She spins away with a grunt before shaking her head and walking off. I can hear her as she leaves, muttering to herself. It doesn't dampen my excitement or my joy.
"Stupid hell-spawn, you're gonna make me late!"