Fast As The Wind Chapter 2
Hey guys, Netherking back with the second chapter of Fast As The Wind. Only one chapter in and we already got a favorite, which is more than I planned, and it's great that someone liked this story enough based on the first chapter to favorite it! So thank you! Let's continue, shall we?
Midoriya, Uraraka, and Tsu made their way over to Iida. "Iida, are you ok?" Tsu asked, seeing his rather quick defeat obviously put a damper on his mood. "It's just a friendly race, it doesn't mean anything." she added. "I'm sorry, Tsu, but it does." Iida replied. He then turned to the trio. "While this was purely meant to be for fun, I cannot help but feel like he will always be a step ahead of me with his powerful quirk. I can never hope to match him." He then began to walk away, keeping his posture the same as always. "But why do you want to match him? He doesn't have the same quirk as you" Midoriya replied, and the class rep stopped. "Because his quirk is the same as mine, but with none of the downsides. He doesn't have to maintain a pair of engines, or worry about overloading his quirk. It's clear he's mastered it, with how he can stop at a dime and not fall over or crash into something. I can never hope to reach that power. I won't ever live up to the Ingenium name being his shadow." he then walked off after giving his reasoning. The trio looked at each other, unable to figure out how to convince Iida that he was wrong.
Bakugo was walking home, grumbling to himself. He was playing the race over and over in his head, not even hearing what Kirishima was saying next to him. His mind only could draw one conclusion from what he saw. 'He can dodge anything I throw at him. He could easily beat me in a fight.' "DAMMIT! THAT FLASH BASTARD" he yelled, startling Kirishima. "What the hell man? You didn't race him. Are you mad that Iida lost that badly?" "SCREW FOUR-EYES!" he yelled again, not caring who heard him. "Alright, geez, calm down bro." the redhead replied. He looked at the ground. 'The only reason Bakugo gets mad like this is when he sees someone he views as someone who either is or could be stronger than him. I guess he doesn't like how fast that Michael guy is.' Kirishima thought to himself.
Michael ran up to his classmates to receive his congratulations. "Guys! Guys! I won! I Won!" he shouted, looking genuinely happy that he's getting attention. "Nice job Allen!" Mina told him. "Please, call me Michael. We use our first names more in America." he responded politely. "Oh, ok!" the acid girl replied. "You seriously move fast man. You reached the finish in an instant." Ojiro replied. "Well, let's check the replay!" Momo replied, bringing over her camera. She held the camera so they all could see the screen and played the footage at the slowest speed possible. They saw Michael running to the finish line, looking almost normal, minus the cloud of dust and the lightning behind him. As he stopped, he gave a thumbs up at the camera, and the video ended. "Wow, that all happened in half a second." Sato pointed out, noting the time at the corner of the screen. "That's really impressive, Michael! You've gotta be the fastest person alive with that quirk!" Hagakure replied, her uniform shifting to show her body language. She quickly leaned up against him. "I hope we work together for the practical exam. We'd be unbeatable!" He blushed at the affection. "I don't know about that…I'm sure there would be a challenge for me. Otherwise it wouldn't be much of an exam. Also, you're still leaning against me, Hagakure…" he pointed out, and she stepped back, her uniform showing she was embarrassed. "Sorry," she apologized. Back behind the crowd, Mineta was shaking and gripping his fists. "Dammit, he's like a chick magnet now," he grumbled. "Now I'll never get my chance. There's too much competition…" he grumbled and stormed off.
The next day, Michael was the talk of the school. He was constantly approached in the hallway, and cherished every person that he talked to. 'I finally have some new friends!' He thought to himself, and remembered what life was like in America. Flashes of memories came flooding back, and he stopped in his tracks. 'Michael can't be a pro. All the pros will be afraid of him and he won't get any offers for interns or anything.' 'He's too energetic, people won't take him seriously.' 'If running is all he can do, he can't be a pro.' The voices rang in his head like a gong in his ear as he remembered his old classmates talking about him behind his back as they looked at him with disgust, anger, and arrogance. Michael stared at the floor, his usual expression gone, replaced with one of fear. 'Will they still want me? Is my quirk enough?' He thought.
A light tap on the shoulder interrupted his thought process. He turned and saw Jiro. "You ok, Michael? I've been calling you for the past 3 minutes. Class is about to start." she asked him, and noticed his expression had changed. "Is something wrong?" she asked. Michael rapidly shook his head and his usual grin returned. "Nope! Nothing's wrong! Just lost in my head!" He replied, then grabbed her arm. "Now let's get to class! I promise I won't use my quirk while I'm holding you." he told her as he ran at a normal human speed, and they just barely made it to class on time. The whole time, Jiro yelled at him to stop, with a slight panicked blush on her face. 'He really doesn't realize what he's doing sometimes, does he?' She asked, annoyed that he's not paying attention to her pleas. Once they arrived, Jiro pulled her arm free. "Geez, you don't know when to slow down, do you?" she asked, walking to her desk. Michael stopped, realizing what she said. He walked to his desk, but when he passed her seat, he bowed in apology. "I'm sorry, Jiro" then he went to his seat. She looked back at him, noticing his change in behavior, as did the rest of the class that was there. They figured they would ask at lunch.
Aizawa then walked into the room. "Alright class, don't forget that your final exams for the year are coming up. Now for some of you who don't know, this exam has two parts. There's the written exam, which tests you on your basic schoolwork, and a practical exam, which tests your abilities in the field. Be sure to study and train hard. Your future depends on it. That's all." Ojiro raised his hand. "Yes, Ojiro?" he asked the tail boy. "Sensei, what will we have to do for the practical exam?" he asked. "At the time we're not divulging any information about the practical. You will know what you will have to do soon enough. Don't forget that anyone who fails either the practical or written exam will NOT be going to the summer camp. Any more questions?" When he saw that no more hands were raised, he nodded. "That's all for homeroom. Midnight will be here for hero history soon." he announced, then slinked out of the room.
Sero immediately turned to Michael. "You ok, dude? You seemed completely different from yesterday." he asked. Michael smiled at him. "Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" he asked, being his usual chipper self. "Well, the way you apologized to Jiro earlier, it seems like you weren't feeling like you normally do. Did you make Jiro mad or something?" he whispered. Michael shrunk in his seat. "I didn't mean to" "What did you do?" the tape boy asked. "I pulled her to class too fast. I didn't use my quirk, but she still didn't like it." "Oh don't sweat it man. There are worse things you could've done" Sero replied, shrugging it off. Michael still felt bad, but Midnight came in and class began before he could say anything else. Jiro looked at her desk in regret. 'I didn't know he would take that so hard. I have to apologize at lunch' she thought.
At lunch, Jiro found Michael at his table from the day before, still with a throng of people around him, even more than yesterday. Except unlike yesterday, he seemed...more zoned out. She walked up to him and pulled him aside. "Jiro?" he asked, surprised, and also looking worried. She just sighed. "Look, don't take what I said this morning as I was mad at you. I was just annoyed over it, so don't beat yourself up over it, ok?" she asked, giving a slight smile. Michael was relieved to hear that, and his usual demeanor returned. "Thanks Jiro! I was worried I had done something wrong." he replied. "Don't mention it. Just next time, if there IS a next time, make sure to pay attention to the person you're dragging, alright?" she asked. He once again saluted. "Aye aye!" Then he returned to his seat and actually began talking to the people that were at the table. Jiro smiled, glad she was able to make him feel better. As she turned, she saw Iida looking right at Michael. He wasn't happy. Now Jiro knew Iida doesn't really care about getting attention like the kind Michael is getting, but then she remembered the race yesterday. 'He must be more torn up about it than he lets on' she thought. She walked over to him. "You doing ok Iida? You're not letting the race from yesterday get to you, are you?" she asked. He turned to the punk rock girl. "Unfortunately, it's not about the results getting to me. It's about looking at the facts. His quirk overshadows mine. Which means that once we become pros, if people need a fast hero, they're going to call him, and not me. I'm afraid I will never be able to live up to my family's legacy." Jiro looked at him, her eyes wide. "Damn, that race hurt you even harder than I thought." She was at a loss for words. "You can imagine why I'm not particularly fond of him now." he responded. Jiro thought about it. "Well, wouldn't you prove that he's not better if you did better than him in the exams?" she asked. Iida's face lit up. "Of course! I can't believe I never saw it! The answer is right in front of me! The exam!" he stood up, a big smile on his face. "Thank you, Jiro! I must go make sure I have studied and trained my hardest!" He ran off, and Jiro just chuckled, glad she was able to make her friends feel better about themselves.
Hope you enjoyed it! Be sure to review to let me know how I did and any suggestions you may have for the story, or even just some writing tips! Thank you!
Netherking out.