Chapter 5
Racer
The last school day of the week. Friday. As such, everyone was excited to spend their weekend. Izuku was one of those people as well. He felt excited about going to that race tomorrow and to see Ritsuko since he knew she would be there. Although, he was also worried. If it was a traditional race like he was thinking, one with vehicles, it was most likely set up illegally since it was far from the city. That meant no one could know that he had gone there.
When lunch came around he decided to sit by himself. Izuku went outside after getting his food. There was a tree that had no one around it, so he decided to rest there. He ate his food as he thought about tomorrow. The boy had ideas of what he would bring just in case for self defense. If was actually setup like he was thinking, there would most likely be tons of villians to see the race. Using his quirk would be bad for him since he can still easily over do it and use more than he should. That would break his bones with ease. Although, he didn't really have a good weapon to protect himself aside from One For All. All he had were some hand to hand combat skills, but that wouldn't do much against them. He knew the villians would play dirty and use weapons along with their quirks.
Izuku looked up at the leaves above him. The light breeze caused them to sway a little bit. Then he heard the bell go off, so he quickly finished and got up. He went to a trashcan close by and threw everything away. It took only a few minutes to get to class. When he got there he sat down at his desk.
Luckily, he was able to pay attention to class for the most part. It was just another day of going over hero material from the textbook. Their homework was very simple as well, so he could do it in about ten minutes. Everything he had was already packed by the time the bell went off to dismiss the students.
He walked all the way to his house as soon as school was over. His mother greeted him, and he told her how his day went like he did almost everytime he got home. Then he went to his room to change his attire. Since he was going back out he put on blue jeans, a white shirt, his black hoodie, and his usual red boots. When he got to the front door his mother questioned him.
"Where are you going, Izuku?"
"Oh, there's a little party my classmates are throwing. One of them gave me some money to get some things and drop it off at their house," he lied. His mother believed him without question.
"Alright, Izu, stay safe," Inko told him.
"I will, mom!" he said with a smile as he closed the door. Izuku walked down the sidewalk. He followed it until he got further into the city. The place he was going would give him what he needed. A good weapon he could use to defend himself. It was a place he definitely did not want to be recognized in. As a precaution, he pulled up the hood of his hoodie to cover his signature wild green hair. It would also help hide his freckles a little.
When he got to the store, he looked around. It was a store that was in a more empty area of the large city. He knew no one that knew him would be in the area since it was a pretty shady one, but he was just being careful. The store had weapons like knifes and guns, but he wanted something simple. He halted in front a large case of switchblades. They were easy to conceal, so they would be ideal for him. All he had to do was pick one that he liked.
They were all unique. All of them looked different and were various colors. He looked at them, but mostly focused on the ones in his price range. In another glass case, he saw one that caught his green eyes. It wasn't a switchblade, but it was cool. It was a butterfly knife. The blade was silver and curved slightly, and the hilt was black with purple highlights. Fairly simple, but he thought it was cool. Plus, the knife was barely in his price range as well. The blade was a bit shorter than five inches, so that meant he could legally conceal the knife in his pockets or his boots. The man behind the counter seemed to notice him staring at it, so he walked over to him.
"If you have enough for it just get it," he said. Izuku looked up to him and thought for a second. If he were to commit, what would the others think? If they found out, and he was determined not to let them.
"Yeah," he said, pulling out his wallet. He placed the money needed as the man got the butterfly knife out of the glass counter. He gently placed the knife on top of the glass and took the money. After he counted it and it was the correct amount, he slid the knife over to him.
"Thank you for your business," he told him. Izuku nodded, took the knife, and went outside of the store. His green eyes looked at the butterfly knife in his hand. It felt strange to him that he actually had one in his hand. He'd never held one like this; it was only kitchen or butter knives for the most part. Although, he had it now, so he better be able to use it well when the time comes.
He began to make his way home, but it seemed too early to go back from doing what he said he was. To make it more believable, he walked around a bit instead. Izuku stayed in the more empty part of the city though. Eventually, he stopped at the back of an abandoned building. After looking around for a few moments, he took out the butterfly knife he bought no more than twenty minutes ago. He was aware that people could do really cool tricks with them, but he had to start from the basics first before he attempted any of that. Until he felt comfortable at the very least.
Slowly, he got the blade out and then closed it with both his hands. He repeated this a few times before managing to do it with one hand. When he got a bit more comfortable with it in his hand, he began to do it at a quicker pace. The fourth time he did it, he accidentally cut his finger. Thankfully, it wasn't bad at all. Ignoring the small amount of pain in his finger, he continued.
Izuku practiced until the sun began to go down, accidentally cutting his fingers a few times. He hadn't even realized how late it was; he had completely lost track of time. Shoving the butterfly knife into his right boot, he quickly made his way home. Luckily the only cuts on his fingers were small. It didn't take that long since he wasn't too far away, but it was plenty of time for him to think about what he was doing.
'I'm committing. I've bought a knife for self defense in the worst case scenario, so I can't change my mind anymore. Plus, I need to figure out why Ritsuko would be going to that race,' he thought to himself. When he got home, his mother greeted him.
"Sorry I was out kind of late. We ended up going to another store to get a few other things. It was just some decorations," he lied again. Like she did this morning, Inko believed him.
"That's alright. Dinner will be done in a few minutes, so you got back at the perfect time."
"Oh, also, that party tomorrow is going to be pretty late, so I might stay the night with them. That, or I will be back sometime past, like, one in the morning or something," he explained. It was a half truth since he was going to be back well past one in the morning. He would probably be back around 3:00 am since he knew it would take nearly an hour. Plus, it was a two hour walk from his house to the spot in the forest.
"I would prefer that you would stay at their house so you don't have to walk around at night," she told him. "When are you going to leave tomorrow?"
"At around eight," he informed. Izuku wanted to leave earlier than he originally planned, which was at nine. Leaving at eight meant that he could get a snack on the way so he had something to eat while he was there.
"Alright, you better stay safe while you're out, Izuku!"
"You know I will, mom," he assured her with a smile. Just then, the timer on the food in the kitchen went off. He sat down at the dinner table as his mom went and got the food ready. After a minute or two she placed a bowl in front of him. It was simple soup, but he knew it would be amazing since his mother was the one that made it. Once it was cool, he took a spoonful. Just like he thought, it tasted wonderful.
The first spoonful made him realize just how hungry he was. He was so focused on practicing with the knife and thinking about tomorrow that he forgot about everything else. His new found hunger made him finish the soup pretty quickly.
"Wow, that was fast," Inko said as he got up. He had a sheepish smile as he went to the sink and wash his dishes. After that, he went to his room. Since he was late, he decided he would go to bed a bit earlier than usual. He wanted to have extra energy for tomorrow anyways since he was going to be up well past midnight. It would be a bit of a challenge though since he didn't stay up that late very often to begin with.
~~~
It was the middle of the night.
Izuku was woken up by the sound of his phone. With his eyes still closed, he felt around on top of the nightstand until his hand landed on his phone. When he stood it up and pressed the button to turn it on, he slowly opened his eyes. Once his sight was adjusted to the bright light, he looked at the notification he received. It was Uraraka texting him. At 3:30 in the morning. It did annoy him slightly, but only for a moment. He let out a tired sigh as he unlocked his phone and read the message.
Uraraka: Hey deku are you up
Izuku: I am now
Uraraka: Sorry but i just cant go to sleep. Youre the first person that i thought of to text and see if they were up
Izuku: Oh what do you want to talk about
Uraraka: Do you maybe want to hang out tomorrow? I can text iida later
Izuku: Cant i have something important to do tomorrow.
Uraraka: Oh ok maybe sunday
Izuku: Maybe but we will see
Uraraka: What are you doing though
Izuku: texting you instead of sleeping...
Uraraka: No well yeah but i meant tomorrow or i guess later today since it is saturday already
Izuku: I was going to go somewhere
Uraraka: You like ritsuko too much youve been hanging out with her everyday since you met her last week
Izuku: Its not with her! Its something by myself
Uraraka: Adding the exclamation point i see. Youre probably buying something for her
Izuku didn't respond to her text right away like he did with the others. It made her feel even more suspicious. Knowing that he was hanging out with Ritsuko more than with her made her jealous. She already came to accept the crush she had on him toward the end of last year. When the thought of him liking someone in that way that wasn't her made her feel extremely jealous. She was ready to fight for him too if she had to.
Suddenly, her phone buzzed. She quickly looked at the screen.
Izuku: Im not buying anything for her
Uraraka: Why wait five minutes to respond then
Izuku: Cuz im tired. Im going to go back to sleep ill text you later
~~~
Izuku woke up rather slowly. He still felt really tired. When he looked at the clock he instantly shot up to a sitting position. It was nearly two in the afternoon.
'I've never woken up this late before,' he thought to himself. He looked on his nightstand again and saw a note.
You must have been really tired Izu since you were asleep for so long. There is some food in the kitchen for you. I'll be back at around 3:00 since I had to get some things from the store.
~ Mom
He quickly got up and got some clothes for him to wear outside. Then he went and took a short shower. Izuku's attire was a pair of black jeans and a black short sleeve shirt. When he was done he went to the kitchen and got the food his mother mentioned in the note. It didn't take long for him to finish it either.
Izuku cleaned the dishes he used and went to couch. With the remote, he flicked through the channels to find something. However, when he didn't find anything interesting, he decided to go back to his room. He got on his bed after making sure his phone was charging. It needed to be at a hundred percent by the time he left so he wouldn't need to worry about it dying.
Like the note said, he heard his mother return at around three. He went out to help her put everything away. Afterwards, he waited in his room until he had to leave.
Just a few minutes before eight, he made sure that he had everything he needed. His phone was fully charged, he had his wallet along with some money, and he had that butterfly knife in his right boot of he needed to defend himself. Everything was in check.
Before exiting his room, he slipped his black hoodie on over his head. Then he went to the front door after telling his mother that he was going. He reminded her of his lie that he might be staying the night else where since he was going to be out so late. She bid him farewell as he closed the door. He made his way to a nearby store and got a few simple snacks and a water bottle. After that, he began making his way to the spot in the forest. He had gone over the quickest path again. Just to be safe, he had a picture on his phone and marked where to go so he wouldn't get lost.
Izuku got to his destination at about eleven just like he had estimated. There were tons of people in the area. He could tell from the way that they looked, talked, acted, and showed off their quirks that nearly all of them were most likely villains. Knowing that made him feel uneasy, but he still resumed his exploration of the place.
There were a few places for food and drinks. He also saw a bunch of lights to allow people to see where they were going. Izuku walked a bit more before looking at the time. It was 11:55. Then someone suddenly placed a hand on his shoulder to stop him.
"Watch it, kid, you're walking right into the track," the tall guy said. Sure enough, he looked forward and saw a large dirt road. On the path were a bunch of motorcycle and the drivers. He counted twenty racers in the track. Then he did a double take at the drivers. Izuku stared at one in particular until he finally registered who it was. They were wearing blue jeans, black leather boots, a white shirt, a black jacket, and a black leather jacket over it. Their face was hidden behind a white fox mask, and they had the hood of their black jacket up to cover their hair. Still, he knew exactly who it was from the bike and from the shape of her body.
It was Ritsuko, and she was one the racers.
Word Count: 2784
I know that it's probably a bit weird that our adorable cinnamon roll bought a knife, but I have a few different uses planned for it in future chapters.
~ Posted October 23, 2018