.
.
.
"I'm sorry, madam, sir, but your daughter is… quirkless,"
One word to describe Uzu Toshi as a child was slow. For one, it took a tedious year for her to start crawling and an even longer time before she could stand on her own two feet. Toshi was also born rather quiet, hardly crying, to the point of being called voluntary mute by her family doctor; the little toddler didn't speak until she was three.
"There is nothing I can do for you, I'm sorry,"
The girl, however, was not dumb. In fact, she was quite mature for her age. Toshi knew what quirks were–those cool superpowers the heroes had to save the day on the t.v.–and she knew some people didn't have quirks. That she didn't have a quirk. But she was fine about that.
While there was a little part of her was crestfallen about the fact that she didn't also have a really badass ability like breathing fire akin to a dragon or super speed just like the Flash, Toshi didn't really mind about not having a quirk. It just meant that she was… a little different. It wouldn't change anything in her mundane life either. Overall, Toshi got over it quickly.
"I'm sorry,"
...But why. Why, why did her parents seem so upset? Her mother was on the verge of tears, her father frowning while biting his lip and even her elder brother––from being a loud and cheeky boy only three years older than her––looked freakishly solemn. She didn't like that look on their faces. It made her feel worried and it just didn't seem right.
"I'm sorry,"
Toshi hated that word; that phrase. Something just irked her about it and the little girl despised having to utter those two words, whether it'd be to her parents or elder brother or even worse, her classmates in kindergarten because of some stupid reason to which the child-carers forced her to apologize despite clearly being in the right. It gave her bad memories.
For some reason though, hearing that despicable, horrid, unpleasant and vile phrase from her mother lips in a mere whisper made Toshi's heart swell in an unknown but intense emotion. It was alike to the feeling the child felt when the main character's loved one had passed away from a film she'd recently watched, where her eyes had streamed waterfalls as she hugged her stuffed toy tightly.
"...I-I'm sorry, mamma. Papa... nii-san..."
What was she saying sorry for? Toshi didn't know yet she said it anyway, all childish pride and dignity having disappeared within that moment. That evening, the sobs of a little girl echoed throughout the clinic halls.
[VIRTUAL UNDERSTANDING]
.
.
Description: "She may not be the main character in this world, but she is a player nevertheless––and she's ready to kick some villain butt, one way or another," Or, Uzu Toshi trying to beat the crappy game called life. [Gamer!OC x BnHA]
.
.
Chapter 1
The next day, Toshi's all dolled up, ready for school. She had on a plain but cute baby pink dress with frills and her black hair plaited in two short braids, those big red orbs of her's having not the slightest trace of irritation––the kindergartener was fully prepared to go back to her ordinary life. Only when she arrived, the young girl immediately noticed odd atmosphere and those judging stares. Really, it was hard not to.
"Hahaha!"
"My papa said…"
"Quirkless!"
Ah. They knew.
Toshi stared at the kids who had once joined her playing pretend and make-believe. They make fun of her, show off their flashy quirks and laugh while she sat at her round table all alone. Even her best friend, Junko, left to join the majority of the kids like it's only natural, like all the time they spent together since they were infants meant absolutely nothing.
Of course… of course. Toshi thought numbly. She wanted to cry all over again right there on the spot but her eyes were desert dry. Like a pot of boiling water, the sorrow gradually turned into a burning fire of anger and churning hate. Well, fine then! If they didn't like her then she wouldn't like them. The quirkless child preferred being alone, anyway.
"Toshi-chan? What are you doing here, all by yourself?" Her teacher had said one day, noticing her distance with all the students, "You should join the others,"
"Don't wanna," She muttered vividly as she scratched her blunt pencil onto paper, make a single dark line, "Who would want to play with those idiots, anyway?"
Kana-sensei frowned, "Toshi! That's not a nice word,"
"Quirkless isn't a nice word either..." Toshi shot back, right eye twitching in plain annoyance as she picked up a fat, light blue crayon from the pencil box and use it to colour the sky of her drawing. It was a picture of a city filled with several grey skyscrapers as a person that had a smiley face was drawn in bright red. He flew over the city, cape flying in the air as plain stick figures and one in a pink dress watched by.
Her teacher didn't say anything to her after that but instead, Toshi noticed that the other children weren't being as exclusive as they were being before. Sure, she wasn't invited into their games but the girl received fewer fingers pointing her way and dirty looks made when she entered the room.
The good thing about being isolated was the quiet that came with it. But it's far from quiet when the girl's thoughts are diverse and her imagination takes her somewhere far, far away from the little corner of the sandpit that Toshi liked to play in; she started reading more, drawing pictures of her favourite heroes and playing with her All Might plushies. Then a month later, she added playing video games to the list when her parents get her a Gameboy Advanced.
Her family made up the rest of her social circle. While both her father and mother worked full-time, (the former a teacher and later an office lady for a hero company,) they ate both breakfast and dinner family of four each day. On top of that, Kisami, her brother was more than she could ever ask for, playing video games together and pretending to be heroes when they were at home.
"Please, someone save me!" Toshi cried in an exaggerated, high pitched voice, waving her hands in the air.
"Don't worry! I'm here to save the day!" Kisami declared confidently, 'flying' into the scene with his flashy red cape and blue paper mask. He ran up to the 'monsters' (pillows) and made a fist, knocking them all over the place with his 'powerful' punch, "Take that! And that! Hiyahhh!"
"Are you okay?" The primary schooler asked her once all the villains were passed out, "You are not hurt, Tosh––I mean, dear civilian, are you?"
Toshi giggled at her brother's mistake but tried her best to play her role, "Of course not, thanks to you. You've defeated all the baddies, saved the town and restored peace in the land, forever and ever!"
Kisami flashed a silly, childish grin as he patted her hair affectionally, "You know, Toshi, my dream is to become a hero. One better than Endeavour and even All Might! My quirk might be something like weak like making little gusts of air but I'll train myself. Then, I'll be able to defeat all the bad guys and become the number one superhero in the whole entire world!"
"Ummm... then I'll be your number one supporter! And I'll, erhh..." Toshi stumbled on her words, "Help you with your homework and bring you your lunch, 'cause you always forget!"
There was a pause of silence before they both burst out laughing, falling to the ground with a dramatic thud. It turned into a tickling fest and even more chaos until their mother arrived home, hands on hips and a stare that made the room go deadly silent in seconds. Those were the good old days.
When Toshi was nine, her most rememberable memories were of her brother. And for all the wrong reasons, too. Maybe he stuck to his word too much or maybe it was her fault for not noticing how much he pushed himself to live his dream. But that a cold night, all she could recall were the flashing red lights...
"––Kisami-nii...? What's wrong? ...AHHHHHHH! Mama! Papa! Nii-san, he's...!"
"––Excuse me?! My son is dying and you're telling me to 'please calm down'?! You ****––"
"––we have a patient in critical condition here. There was an accident and the boy lost control over his own quirk––"
"––It wasn't your fault, Hana. He wasn't putting so much stress on his own body and didn't say anything about it. None of us noticed until it was too late. We should be thankful that his recovery has an almost hundred per cent recovery rate... but his eyes... and leg..."
...and the back of a large white van with that plus (+) symbol painted in bright red carrying off with her brother in it and going far, far, far away. Just like movies.
"Ma," She mumbled into her mother's shirt, clutching tightly on the fabric, "What's w-wrong with Kisami-nii?"
The two adults shared a look across the room before her mother crouched down to the young girl's height, plastering on her best smile. "Sweetie, your brother… he's a little sick, that's all. They are taking him to the doctors so that he can better. Don't worry, he'll be back before you know it,"
"That's right," Her father added without missing a beat, "We'll visit him every day so he doesn't get lonely, okay?"
Toshi nodded once, "O-Okay,"
"No matter what you do, you will never be able to become a hero. Kisami, I suggest you give up,"
Being told that you would fail no matter what you did by one of the (most potentially) best doctors in the entire goddamn world really has an impact on someone. Especially her brother, not only did his physical health plummet from a broken leg, Kisami dreams were completely destroyed.
And he never got better.
Sure, his physical health returned for the most part within a twelve-month period. All flesh wounds had faded to the point you'd hardly noticed them and even the cut on his eye was nothing but a scar, going diagonally across his eyelids through the vision had blurred to an extent. Kisami's leg had also majorly improved from the time he had gotten out of surgery, though he had to limp during long distances. Physically, the teenager was as good as it was gonna get but his mental health had deteriorated.
And as the days passed by, Toshi kept noticing those little details; his complexion had become a ghostly pale shade and his eyes seemed to have lost that glint in his eyes. Instead, he had these dulled and almost translucent pupils. Like he was hollow inside.
"Hey, Nii-san," Toshi would say every weekday at five o'clock in the evening, returning after a long day at school. Sometimes she'd be with her father, sometimes her mother and nine times out of ten she'd be the first home, the first to greet her brother who had locked himself in his room for two months straight. She'd settled down on his bed by the window and open her mouth, to saying something that would fill up the suffocating silence, "Today, I had Maths. We were learning long division but I already knew how to do it. When my teacher found out, he was very impressed. But it isn't much of a feat, is it? Haha..."
She looked down, sighing in defeat. Damn it, Toshi wasn't any good at comforting others, never had or will be. But she had to try. Maybe, just maybe today would be the day that something spark would in her brother. At this point, the girl was bloody desperate.
Toshi took a deep breath and then proceeded to talk. About anything from what happened during her day and how she felt when she was told by her teacher to 'pay attention in class'... to the new video game she was interested in and how she had finally managed to defeat the dungeon boss after trying for at twenty times in a row. The topics changed from one to another without much thought, saying aloud whatever came to mind.
Kisami made a noise––like a click of a tongue––and she halted every word in her process of thought that would otherwise be blurted out of her mouth, staring at up him with wide, expecting eyes. He whispered in a quiet and small, hushed voice yet she heard him as clear as day, "...There's no point,"
She ran out of the room and slammed the door behind her.
Toshi wanted to scream aloud as she ripped apart her boring freaking five-hundred paged textbooks into tiny, unrealistic pieces of snow, break a table or nine and eat as much ice-cream as she possibly could until she got sick of the frozen milk treat. But the gods know that the ten-year-old girl couldn't do that, even in her irrational state. Instead, she leapt onto her bed and began thrashing around like a fish on water, throwing her sheets and cushions of in a fit of absolute fury.
Why was everything in life so difficult?! How come her brother was being such a douchebag?! How come she had to deal with all of this mess while the other kids got to laugh in the playground and show off with their quirks?!
Her brother at least had a quirk.
He had a goal which he always strived for.
Even if he got injured during that freak accident, he had recovered. With some time, Kisami could slowly get used to the changes in his leg and overcome the accident. Get something better from it. And that was a whole lot more than what could be said for Toshi.
She winced, biting her lip. Did the girl really just think that? How... inconsiderate. How horrible... Her brother was obviously depressed and had a lot going on. Heck, Kisami might not be able to live the same way he did ever again. He was told to give up his dream, his one and only aspiration. Of course, it would hit him hard.
Toshi hated her awkward, disciple, hypocritical and quirkless self. With a long sigh, she began rearranging her room into how it always looked like. Sorta messy but sorta organised, clothes piled onto a little hill in the corner and her bed made nicely with her collection of plush toys and pillows. The girl fell asleep immediately after her head hit the pillow.
There's lush grass.
She can hear a low whistle.
The slight chime of a bell.
And a ticking clock.
She feels the cool breeze.
Takes in the dark sky.
The full moon and scattered stars.
Then it's all BloODy rEd
It's BloODy rEd
BloODy rEd
BloODy rEd
BloODy rEd...
And she stares at the hand covered in thick rEd BloOD, belonging to the one she loves––
.
.
.
Where am I?
Toshi realises she wasn't alone. A man stands next to her; his mouth is open, talking to her but the girl just can't seem to under the words. She strains her ears and leans closer to comprehend the words but all sounds gibberish to her ears. Then he starts crackling this sHriLLy and MaNIaCALY lAUgh and Toshi doesn't even know what's going on anymore.
"...I'll give you a gift,"
Finally, it all turns white, a painfully blinding white as Toshi starts screaming amongst the chaos that's running through her head, hugging herself tightly as the girl curled into a ball. What's going on?! This wasn't normal, where was she anyway?! She wanted to go home.
And suddenly, she felt so small...
So meaningless…
.
.
.
"I'll come and find you,"
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
[Welcome, Uzu no Toshi]
A/N: First re-written chapter of Virtual Reality is finally published! Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Let me know what you think in the reviews and until next time!
**Disclaimer: I don't own any pictures used in this fanfiction nor My Hero Academia, all credits go to their original owners.