Allo again all!
first off, Woo! we passed a hundred followers! how awesome is that?! thank you all for your support! We're going places!
today is our first ever non-midoriya centric chapter! there will be a few of these sprinkled in here or there, usually with major events to see how they either led up to said major events, or the results of said events afterwards. I probably wont do too many of them, as i want the main focus to stay on Izuku and his journey, but at the same time i want us to get a perspective of those around him outside of his field of view, ya know?
anyways, on with the show!
Chapter 4.
Itsuka Kendo was not having what any sane person would consider as a "normal" day. She had woken up in an unfamiliar bed, in an unfamiliar room, in an unfamiliar apartment, it was surreal to an extent, until reality came crashing back down. Her eyes would close as she shifted into a more comfortable position, an attempt to gain more sleep before having to face the world at- her eyes snapped back open to glare at the digital clock in the corner, six two in the morning. It was too early for her to exist, let alone be wakeful enough to start the day. Yet as the seconds ticked on by, as she ran out of cold spots to shift her legs to, she realized that sleep would continue to elude her this time around, damn it.
Her blanket was flung open, revealing to the world of her room the pajamas she had worn to bed, a simple white tank top with spaghetti straps and bright blue fuzzy pants. A hesitant step was taken out of the comfort of her bed, followed by another, up until she was at the closed door to her room. The eerie silence that reigned throughout the apartment greeted her upon entering the hallway; She turned to her left, ignoring the open bathroom door directly in front of her, and the closed door to her right that led to her father's room in favour of reaching the kitchen first. Several unopened boxes were still on the newly bought table, yet one or two labeled as 'food stuffs' had already been emptied and tossed to the side the previous night, an unspoken promise to put them away later still unfulfilled. She reached for the overhead cabinet three deep into a set of five, its contents revealing the mostly untouched baking ingredients her mother had bought for later usage, only for later to never come. Her eyes would squint, going from shelf to shelf in search of an item she swore had been there when she had gone to bed.
There, stuffed into the very corner of the bottom shelf was a small sticky note. She carefully peeled it off the side of the shelf, a quick glance at its contents revealed it to be an apology note from her father along with shopping list. A slight scowl wormed its way onto her face at the sight of her coffee blend on the list, only for a drawn-out sigh to dispel whatever annoyance had bloomed from the note. He was probably up all night, doing what he could to make their new home feel a lot more like home for the two of them.
The trudge back to her room was made in silence, her door quietly closing behind her as to not disturb the only other occupant of the house. She was quick to strip off her pajamas, with a flick of her wrist the clothing was tossed into an open hamper just below the window to her room. Changing was a lot slower affair, if only to try and find her favorite blue top to explore her new surroundings. In the end she had to settle for a cream-colored top with short sleeves that barely reached halfway down to her elbows, it was a nice top all things considered, but it wasn't her favorite. With a navy-blue skirt to match with her top, Itsuka quietly crept out of her room towards the front door. Her shoes she was able to put on without difficulty or noise, and while the door did prove to be a tiny bit squeaky, it was an otherwise silent affair to escape their apartment undetected.
She knew from their arrival the previous day that there was a café just down the road from their apartment, a shopping center a few blocks down too. The area they were in was convenient, even if a tad bit more expensive due to several popular heros patrolling the neighborhood on a daily basis. It made sense in a way, with U.A. being a ten-minute train ride and a short walk away, she wouldn't be surprised if the other cities surrounding U.A. were just as protected, with the neighborhoods around the school likely being the safest.
She didn't expect the café to be open, but she was hopeful if only for the chance of a premium black roast cup of coffee. The fact that it might be brewed by a professional as opposed to her own amateur hands made the fantasy all the more sweeter in her mind. Thus, it was to her own private delight that the shop looked to be open as she rounded the corner, if the small amount of business she could see within was anything to go by. The café itself was easy enough to find, the building being a unique dark grey in colour with splotches of emerald mixed in at seemingly random intervals. There was a strange pattern on the walls as she entered, hexagonal patches that ran in a near perfect grid with the occasional vertical line of ovals, from what she could see it was a pattern of six lines of hexagons before ending in a line of ovals, repeat.
Ignoring the pattern on the wall, Itsuka walked up to the counter, waiting behind an elderly man who seemed to be ordering a donut of the jelly variety. As he left, she would step up to the counter, it took a moment for the cashier to realize she was there, and another moment for her eyes to light up in delightful recognition.
"Welcome to the Serpents eye! How may I take your order today, Itsuka Kendo?"
The orange haired girl looked down from the overhead menu to stare into the eyes of the woman, her eyes wide in faint surprise.
"Eh? How do you know my name?"
"Why, I know almost everyone's names of course! My husband has a quirk that lets him see a day into the future, he lets me know of any. . . Interesting individuals before he leaves for work~"
Ignoring the potential breach in privacy and the obvious breaking of quirk usage laws, Itsuka leaned in ever so slightly at the mention of the word interesting. Her eyebrow was slightly raised, while her face was overall unimpressed. Anyone could be interesting in one way or another, a mutant based quirk was interesting dependant on what mutated, the type of clothing one wore could be considered interesting, even just a pretty face passing by on the street could be considered an interesting thing.
"And what's so interesting about me today as opposed to any other day? Or is it just being a new customer that's interesting?"
"don't know!~ he wouldn't say, butttttt on a completely unrelated topic, have you ever heard of Takoba municipal beach? It's a lovely place, especially during the sunrise! Why, if you go now, you could probably make it in time to see it!"
"Maybe some other time, I hav-" itsuka was interrupted as the woman pointed a singular skinny index finger right at her nose, she looked past the finger, to stare into the crimson red eyes of the barista.
"Large premium dark roast coffee with no cream, one sugar, and a half shot of espresso just so you can start the day with a chipper smile. A once in awhile treat due to budget constraints, especially now of all times given that you and your father just moved from the Chiba prefecture. Am I wrong?"
The gaping hole that had replaced itsukas mouth was enough evidence to the barista that she was right on the money. It was with a scarily sweet smile that the barista held a hand out towards Itsuka, a large Styrofoam cup slowly slid to sit next to the outstretched hand. A quick glance to the moving cup was enough to see two small serpentine heads gently pushing against the object nearly four times their size, and probably even more than that in terms of weight.
"Normally it's four hundred and seventy yen with all those add-ons, but if you leave quicker in order to get to that beach, I can drop it to a hundred twenty-five, sound good?"
Never before had Itsuka fished out the cash from her pocket faster than after that single sentence, the money was slammed down into the woman's outstretched hand, and for the briefest of moments Itsuka's eyes widened as she realized it was with the most amount of strength she could muster. Yet the snake woman's hand barely dipped lower at the sudden force of the deposited yen, maybe she subconsciously held it back? Regardless of the answer, the hero hopeful dashed out of the café the moment after the receipt had printed.
With a single sip of her coffee accompanied a blissful sigh at its mere taste as it ran down her throat, it was heavenly, and made just to her liking to boot. If this was what the weird woman gave to those her husband told her were 'interesting' people, well, she certainly wouldn't complain about perfection, even if its means of creation were a tad bit illegal.
Well, that certainly wasn't a line of thought she desired to explore further.
Banishing the thoughts on how she was essentially bribed in exchange for coffee and a trip to a beach, the orangette managed to pull out her phone with relative ease, the coffee thankfully in her other hand. A quick Google search of the beach brought up several depressive images and a news article revolving around. . . a garbage dump? Eh?
She paused in her steps to stare at her phone, opening the news article brought forth an unnecessary wall of text, she skimmed the majority of it. Picking out the key details of how the tides naturally collected garbage from the ocean and deposited it on the once pristine shore, of how people illegally dumped their trash within the sand once they realized local police and heros would do little to nothing in order to stop them. Transforming the beach from a Hotspot of tourism and romantic outings into a waste, not even beach front properties were bought due to the sheer strength of the smell emanating from its shores. All in all, it sounded pretty disgusting.
She took a glance back at the café, back towards the darker tinted windows through which she knew the weird red eyed woman somehow watched her from afar. She knew she had to go to the beach, even if it was a waste of time, if only to fulfill her end of the bribery. A scowl wormed its way onto her face as she turned around and continued her journey, one of which not even the expertly made coffee couldn't dispel.
This little jaunt was probably going to suck.
/./././
The walk only took twenty-ish minutes with the way she dragged her feet, by no means a short walk, yet shorter than she had expected it to take. True to the word of the online community, she could see the piles of trash long before she made it to the incline that led to the once beautifully sandy shores. She stopped just before she reached the stairs, taking a moment to inhale what relatively fresh air she could before she took the first step down.
A girlish scream in the near distance caught her attention, she looked up, but with the light of the rising sun shining directly in front of her it was difficult to see anything. She knew it came from in front of her, from the beach; With the possibility of someone in danger, the young Kendo didn't hesitate to surge forwards and rush down the stairs! All of two steps before she nearly lost her footing, having attempted to avoid stabbing a broken shard of beer bottle glass through her shoe. Her hand sought out the green railing, its paint flaking from the feeling of a person's touch after all these years. She looked back up towards the beach, her eyes squinting against the still harsh light of the sunrise in an attempt to spot anything of note.
It took her a moment longer than she would ever admit in spotting the incredibly large form of All Might, the blonde staring down at a collapsed scrawny boy who looked on the verge of tears. What were they doing here? Did All Might save someone who got stuck in the trash? Did he rough up a citizen that was doing some illegal dumping? She gained little clarity on the situation as the symbol of peace waved around a small stack of papers in the boy's face. Nor did she gain any clarity as he smacked down a fridge, squashing it into a pancake with enough force to blow back the pile of trash behind it.
It was clear that her aid was unrequired by either party, especially so given that one of said parties was the number one hero. She made to turn around, to retreat back up the few steps she took in order to leave, the market should be open by now, right?
A cloud of smoke caught her attention before she could fully turn, originating from All Might and the random guy, was it his quirk? She didn't know why, perhaps out of curiosity, out of worry, or even just flat-out boredom, but something caused her eyes to linger on the scene. They widened a moment later as the smoke cleared, an involuntarily gasp escaping past her lips.
"A-All Might?"
A skeleton of a man stood with his hand outstretched towards the downed guy, he wore the same-coloured outfit of All Might- only, it hung off his boney limbs as opposed to hugging against the muscles of the living legend. His hair wasn't the same, yet it was at the same time. Far shaggier than All Might, yet the two iconic strands of hair still on display as low hanging bangs close to his sunken eyes.
Said sunken eyes were wide in surprise.
It was a moment where if she had blinked it would have been missed, where the skeletal man inflated back into the powerful form of All Might. A single step was all he appeared to take, a single step before he was on the step directly in front of her. She tried to take a step back, only for gravity to work against her as her foot caught on the step just above. He caught her outstretched arm before she could fall, his ever-present smile still worn.
"My apologies for startling you young Miss! I just needed to make sure you wouldn't run away before we had a chance to talk!"
His jovial tone was good, great even, as an indicator that she wouldn't be in trouble. Though she supposed it was a bit silly to be scared of him in the first place, he was All Might after all, to her immediate knowledge she hadn't broken any laws.
Save for the earlier bribery she took, but he didn't know that, so, clean record!
The two began to descend down the stairs the moment her feet were on the ground again. He led her down the beach, back to the scrawny guy who, in the pro's absence, managed to stand up again. His meekly wave to her was greeted in kind with one of her own, albeit a tad bit of awkwardness mixed in.
"Now, what I'm about to reveal to you Cannot, under any circumstances, be told to anyone else. Understand?"
A feverish nod of her head had the pro nodding along.
"Good. . . My time as the symbol of peace, as a Pro Hero, is coming to an end. Seven years ago I was gravely injured, to the point of near death. With my body slowly deteriorating as I continue to save people, it's only a matter of time before I can no longer be the symbol of peace. Young Midoriya here is to be my chosen successor, once whipped into shape, he is to become the inheritor of my title! Understand?"
Another, less fervent nod followed the pro hero's words, as her eyes drifted towards the guy standing off in the corner of her eyes. Scrawny was the first word that popped into her mind as a descriptor for him, lanky was another that followed as her eyes lingered on his arms, but both of those could be fixed with training, just as All Might said. Though that begged the question, just what had impressed the pro hero so?
Was it his quirk?
Was he family of some kind?
Did a villain he fought accidentally kill his mother and thus he took him under his wing to teach him the art of forgiveness rather than vengeance?
Bah, she was probably just overthinking things. That sort of stuff only happened in one of Setsuna's corny cartoons.
A wet cough caught her attention, her eyes immediately focused on the now deflated All Might, staring at her with his arms crossed and an amused smile on his face. Heat immediately rushed to her cheeks before she bowed, an apology for not paying attention slipping past her lips.
"I'm sorry All Might sir! I wasn't paying attention!"
"That's quite alright young miss! I know it's a lot to take in all at once, and please call me Toshi when in public, or Mr. Yagi"
"Yes Mr. Yagi! . . . I'm Itsuka Kendo, by the way"
"Excellent Young Kendo! Now, to reiterate my question, would you like to join us for our physical training? I'm positive I can adjust the workout routine to fit in another student!"
Training with All Might? Was he being serious? Who wouldn't want to train with the number one hero as their coach? Her goal of attending U.A would be almost guaranteed! "Yes Sensei! I'd be honored to be taught by you!"
"No hesitation, just what I like! Now! Let's get to cleaning this beach, shall we?!"
It was with All Mights enthusiasm did the viridianette smile at her, introducing himself as one Izuku Midoriya before the two were whisked away into the beginnings of All Mights hellish training plan. She would have to explain to her father later why she was so late, as well as double back to that café to thank the snake woman. Shopping would be done later in the day, when her arms were sore to the point of snapping off at the faintest of touch.
At one point during the mid-afternoon sun, she realized what his quirk was. As the two were lifting a washing machine between them, his hand had slipped, causing the appliance to collapse on the sand. A quick glance at his hand had her eyes widen at the sight of a gash, some several inches deep, bleeding profusely. Before she could raise it to the attention of All Might, the wound stitched itself back together within moments. The little leftover blood had somehow disappeared too, almost as if it absorbed back into his skin. Healing quirks were rare, self-healing quirks were slightly less rare, but still highly sought after in both the hero and medical industries. A hero who could never be put down, who could bounce back from any injury, and had been personally trained by All Might.
Yeah,
She could see that becoming the next number one, or at the very least somewhere in the top five.
/././././
Something is wrong.
"oh? My old friend, what seems to be the matter?"
A presence. . . One I have not felt in an age.
"a presence? Has my brother finally awoken from the depths of that blonde buffoon?"
No, this one is different. . . Ah, I see.
"Your conclusion, old friend"
One of my siblings are here, in the mortal realm.
"Ah yes, you've mentioned your kin once or twice before. Do you know which one has come to join us?"
No, their presence remains. . . Weak, Like I was when I first arrived
"A pity, but I suppose we can spare a pawn or two to go searching for them. If you truly desire."
Thank you, Old Friend.
A hint of what's to come, a hint of what to expect for the near and far future! how exciting, no?
next chapter! next Wednesday or Thursday,
so either July 19th or 20th
stay tuned!