Chapter 1 - New Beginnings
The first night in her new apartment back in her hometown was not an easy night. It had taken Tsukiko a while to fall asleep and even then her sleep had been infested with nightmares. Setting up in her bed she glanced over at her alarm clock. It was 4:30 in the morning. Looking out at her studio apartment she saw all the boxes still packed and stacked in her living room.
"Suppose I should unpack." She groaned as she stepped out of her bed and down the stairs into the living room. Slowly she started with a box labeled Kitchen. Putting away the contents of the box in her new drawers and cupboards. Finishing one box and moving onto the next. It wasn't until she heard her phone buzzing next to the bed over the silence of her apartment that she had realized she only had a few boxes left and the sun had already come up.
"Hello, this is Tsukiko Masanori." She answered her phone.
"Good afternoon Ms. Masanori, this is Principal Nezu." Spoke the other side of the phone.
"Good afternoon Principal Nezu, I apologize I did not realize what time it is. I will be there shortly to finish the paperwork for the start of the new year." Her slender hand instinctively reached up to tangle into the mass of her raven black hair.
"That would be just fine, Ms. Masanori. We shall await your arrival." Principal Nezu responded before disconnecting the call.
With a reluctant sigh, she grabbed her hero suit from her bed and headed to the bathroom to shower. Her clothes being one of the last things she had left to unpack. Upon entering she reached into her shower, twisting the knob far enough to make the water steaming hot. Deciding that a quick shower would have to suffice, she pulled the baggy t-shirt she wore over her head, before dropping her sweatpants from her wide hips. Sliding her arm into the shower to check the temperature of the water she determined it would have to be good enough, even if it hadn't fully heated up. Stepping into the shower, she let the lukewarm water wash down her head and body. Soaking her hair thoroughly before lathering the length and roots with shampoo and rinsing it, washing it clean of any grime.
Tsukiko took only a moment to quickly scrub her person before rinsing down and shutting off the shower. She stepped out into the brisk air of the bathroom, realizing only now that she had left the door wide open, reaching immediately for her bathrobe that hung just inside the bathroom door. Pulling the sleeves of the robe over her still wet skin caused the fabric to cling to her. The fabric of the robe pulling hopelessly at the mass of her lower back-length black hair. Still, she willed the fabric to wrap tightly around her curves to shut out the chill of the bathroom air on her cooling skin. Gripping the base of the length of her hair with her right hand, she gently pulled the entire section of her hair up and out from her robe, the fabric quickly replacing the hair that clung to her back and soft shoulders.
Grabbing a bottle from the counter, she stood in front of the mirror. Squeezing the contents of the bottle into one of her hands, she rubbed her hands together before lathering the leave-in conditioner through her hair. She reached for a large comb in the first drawer, running it thoroughly through her hair, root to end. When she was satisfied that her hair was relatively tangle-free and the conditioner had been evenly spread, she reached for a towel by the shower, bending over to wrap the towel tightly around her head.
Pulling a second towel off of the wall near the shower, she lifted her foot up onto the counter, using the towel to dry her long, thick leg. Repeating the process with the other leg before she removed her robe, hanging it back on the hook. She quickly rubbed the towel over her long, slender arms up her soft shoulders to her dainty neck. Traveling down with the towel, over her ample breasts to her thin waist and past her broad hips. Taking an end of the towel in each hand she ran the towel side to side down the curvature of her back into her full rear.
Gripping the spandex-like material of the black leotard, she pulled it up over her legs and hips. The top of the fabric attached to a medium-thick metal circlet that clipped perfectly around her slender neck, holding the sleeveless top in place. The metal circlet equipped with a Sonic Amplification device for her to use with her quirk. It was certainly not as flashy as the speaker around Present Mic's neck, but it was still effective when she used it. Over the leotard, she always wore a pair of baggy, gunmetal grey cargo pants. Over her arms were white gloves that came almost all the way up her arms. Around her wrists were similar Sonic Amplification devices to the one around her neck.
She roughly pulled the towel from her damp, tangled mass of hair that fell to the side. Placing the towel back on its usual bar she returned to the mirror, grabbing her large comb and again running it back through her tangled locks. She pulled the volume of her black hair back into a high ponytail, styling her snow-white bangs, that framed her high cheekbones perfectly, to the right side. This left her ears completely exposed but she didn't mind. Her ears came out just slightly to a soft point, giving her an almost feline-like appearance.
Stepping out of the bathroom Tsukiko walked briefly across the carpeted floor of her bedroom to take a seat on the edge of the bed. Slipping each of her feet into her heavy steel combat boots, she leaned down momentarily to buckle them tightly to her legs. The boots had been specially made for her to use with her quirk to increase her mobility by having wave expelling cannons installed in the soles. To complete the look fully, she placed her black butterfly-like mask over her eyes.
Her Quirk, Wave Manipulation. She is the Light and Sound wave Manipulation Hero; Dark Overture.
Living 10 minutes from the UA campus was the prime location for a new UA school counselor, however, with the traffic of the mid-afternoon, that typical 10 minutes would easily take her an extra 30 minutes.
Electing to take the scenic route over the building tops. She stumbled across a curious sight on top of a nearby building.
"Is that All Might?" She wondered, diverting from her course to move closer to the scene. In front of her was definitely All Might on top of a building with who looked to be a middle schooler.
The young man had a round, freckled face and a short mess of fluffy green hair that looked to be especially wind-blown today. Tsukiko recognized the school uniform that he wore to belong to one of the local middle schools. The boy was rather short, expectantly so in the shadow of the Number 1 Pro hero and Symbol of Peace. All Might easily towering over the young man. Deciding to check in with the long-time Pro Hero and her former mentor, she skidded to a stop and landed on the building they occupied.
"Hey there, Mighty Man!" Tsukiko called out to the Pro Hero as she landed on the roof near him and the young man.
"Oh! Dark Overture, what a surprise!" All Might was only momentarily fazed by hearing her nickname for him that he had not heard at all in the last 5 years.
"Oh, wow!" She heard the young man gush, "You're the former number 5 Pro Hero, Dark Overture." Tsukiko dawned an uncomfortable grin as she stood there scratching the back of her head, while the young man began mumbling and writing in the notebook she just noticed he had in hand.
"Alright, young man, I think it's time we get you home." Tsukiko finally interrupted his rambling, trying to usher him to the door that would lead him off of the roof.
"Wait, I have to ask All Might just one question." Understanding the young man was a fan of Pro Hero's, Tsukiko decided a single question couldn't hurt.
The young man stood there looking down at the rooftop thinking carefully about how he wanted to begin his one question. "Sometimes I do feel like a failure, like there's no hope for me…" He began, Tsukiko noticing as the young man visibly tensed up, fists clenched at his sides as he continued.
"But even so. I'm not gonna give up. Ever." He continued. She could see the boy visibly shake before almost yelling, "Is it possible to become a hero, even if I don't have a quirk? I'm a normal kid without any powers. Could I ever hope to be someone like you?!"
There was a momentary silence, All Might's smile unable to mask the pain she saw behind it when Tsukiko looked at him.
"Without a quirk?" All Might looked at the boy over his shoulder before suddenly tensing, doubling over, and beginning to emit a sort of steam.
"Okay Kid, Time to go." Tsukiko grabbed the young man by the arm trying to remove him from the rooftop before he could witness what was inevitably about to happen to All Might.
As the young man struggled against Tsukiko's hold, the steam began to dissipate revealing the true form of All Might to be a frail man with straw-like hair and sunken eyes. The mere sight of which caused the young man to yell and jump back, jerking his arm free of Tsukiko's hold.
"Ah! You! You're not him. You're a fake! An imposter!" The young man accused the man in front of him.
All Might sighed, " I assure you that I am All M…" He suddenly coughed blood spurting from his mouth. Tsukiko quickly pulled a small cloth from one of the pockets in her pants. Handing it to him to wipe his mouth, with a reassuring hand on his shoulder and a gentle smile.
"Impossible!" The young man exclaimed leading into another strange rant about how it would even be possible for the man in front of him to be All Might.
"All Might, I need to be going. Can you handle things here?" Tsukiko asked him, making sure that he was physically sound before she went about her business.
"Yeah, I'm okay now. Thanks, Tsuki." All Might let out another sigh. Obviously not thrilled with his current situation.
"I'm sorry my friend, we'll have to catch up soon." Tsukiko smiled softly to her old friend before stepping off of the edge of the building, using her boots to boost her to the next building, back on course to her original destination.
On her way back home from UA, after finally arriving to fill out the required paperwork for the new year, Tsukiko decided to take a long way home. Strolling through the home town that she had not seen in quite a few years. She honestly couldn't remember the last time she was here for more than a day since graduating high school and moving on to become a sidekick to a Pro Hero.
Her walk seemed peaceful and quite normal, with the occasional passerby recognizing her and stopping her to chat briefly or take a picture. It wasn't too often she was recognized luckily. She's never really enjoyed the limelight and did not want the media's attention. That was not why she had become a hero. She became a Hero to save people, she became a Psychiatrist for the same reason.
Distant rumbling caught Tsukiko's attention as she was getting a little further into the city than her apartment was. Moving to leap up the fire escapes of a couple of buildings in a nearby alleyway she ran over the rooftops until she reached the cause of the disturbance.
In the middle of the commotion, she saw from the rooftop, a massive green sludge that seemed to be firing off explosions as the gelatinous host attempted to consume a middle school student. She had recognized the uniform to be the same as the young man she met on the roof earlier with All Might.
At the far end of the narrow lane, Tsukiko could see a very large hero trying to fit between two tall buildings. Just below the building she stood on, she could see a wood quirk hero pulling civilians to safety, while another with a water quirk focused on putting out the fires. Stray explosions riddled the area, effectively making it a live minefield. A muscular hero and a bird-like hero stood in the middle of the lane a few yards from the uproar. Having to dodge the explosions they couldn't get close enough to the boy to pull him from the sludge. She saw the impending explosion heading straight for the heroes even if they did not themselves. Jumping to action, Tsukiko leaped into the middle of the lane, between the heroes and the sludge just in time to catch the explosions.
"Lightwave manipulation: Mirrored Refraction!" She called out, hands planted firmly to the concrete. The explosion crashing into a bubble-like shield of refracted light waves. "I can keep any further explosions and the villain contained for now, but we need to figure something out quick." Using this ability of her quirk required her to maintain constant physical contact with the bubble shield. Leaving her completely immobile and unable to stop the young man she recognized as the boy from the roof earlier that day as he ran past her through the shield. The shield not having been meant to keep anything out, but keep the sludge and the explosions in.
"Kacchan!" Tsukiko heard the young man yell as he reached the villain and began trying to pull the sludge away from the other boy. Taken utterly by surprise, Tsukiko dropped her shield, just in time for All Might to leap past her in a gust of wind, blocking an explosive hit meant for the young man.
Tsukiko joined many of her fellow Pro Hero's and even more civilians as they watched All Might in awe as he pulled the second boy free and scattered the sludge villain across the immediate vicinity in a whirlwind created from the sheer force of his attack. "Way to go, Mighty Man…" She inwardly smiled to herself. Leaping back over the buildings she could disappear before the media arrived and not have to deal with the Circus. She hoped for All Might's sake he would do the same and let the other Pro's handle the rest.
