It's now been four months. I haven't been experimenting too much with my quirk since I wanted to spend time with Akari just having fun. But now we don't have much time together since she would be gone on some days for an extended amount of time. Youta also has been busy with that surprise for Akari so I have minimal contact with him now. I'm currently sitting on top of a thrown out refrigerator at the beach. I was watching Izuku move back and forth picking up trash and organizing what trash goes where.
"So what made you decide to watch him today," asked Izuku's coach.
"I had nothing else to do so decided to watch. Also, I want to see his progress and it looks like he's not going to make it in time," I say.
"Hahaha. Yes, it does look like he won't get it done by then. But we'll see."
"I'm sure he can do it. Though I do have my doubts," I say.
"…What makes you believe in him so much? From a normal outsider's perspective anyone would have told him to quit already," he said.
"Well… It's not that complicated. I just want to believe. Whether it's grasping false hope or getting a miracle to happen. I want to remember more of this world through him. Or at least make better memories."
"Remember more of this world. That's a weird way to put it."
I laugh, "I assume that Izuku hasn't told you that I was adopted."
"A-adopted!? That's some heavy stuff to be throwing around so casually."
"Yeah, I know. I really do have him to thank for being here. Or actually, maybe it was me. It's hard to remember it all," I scratched my head in frustration.
"Hmmm. If you don't mind telling me about it. How did you and your brother meet if you can remember?"
"That's actually the first thing I could remember. I was walking somewhere then before I knew it, I woke up next to him in his bed."
"WHAT!" The man yelled out with a perplexed face.
"Is everything alright over there," Izuku shouted to us.
"Yeah Izuku, don't mind us," I shouted back. "Don't worry, it's not like that," I whispered to Izuku's coach, "We were like, five I think. And adding more context I fell unconscious during my walk then was in a hospital and fell asleep again then woke up next to him."
"A hospital… I can guess that's why you wanted to remember more about yourself. You were still pretty young at that point you won't remember much."
"You hit pretty much on point. I didn't even remember what my name was, where I was from, who my parents were, or even where I was going before I was in the hospital." In terms of the real Akumi and me as an outsider, I don't really remember much of anything about either of us. I'm glad that I retained my thinking skills as an adult. If I had reverted to my child's mind then things would have played out so differently.
"That is somewhat concerning. Have you regained anything at all since then," he asked.
"Just the first name actually. Akumi," I paused for a little bit reminiscing the moment I first said that name out loud. "Though I'm not even sure if it's my real name or not, but one thing's for sure. I feel a strong feeling towards that name."
"Just the first name doesn't leave much to go off of… I'm sure you will get them back. Miracle or not."
"Thanks. But I gave up on trying to get them back. It's been years since then and nothing but the name comes to mind," I feel a bit somber and sit back and look towards the ocean.
"That's no way to look at it. No matter what it looks like, give it a smile and know that everything will be alright. Sulking about it won't do you any good," I could tell that he was trying to cheer me up. "Even if it doesn't come back, knowing what you have now is basically all your life."
"Yeah. You're right. Even if I remember my past, what would I get out of it? More sadness probably. Maybe it's better if I don't remember," I say sarcastically.
"No no. I didn't mean it was better to not remember," he panics, "I meant what you have now is also something important that you shouldn't overlook because of something you don't have."
I laughed as he tried to explain himself, "I know what you meant. Just teasing you a little." I get off the refrigerator, "I think it's time for me to leave. We've been talking for a while and I need to get back to my training."
"Ok. Well, hope your training goes well," he waved me goodbye and I did the same as I left without telling Izuku. Walking down the road making my way to the forest area I took out my phone to call Akari to see if she was free today.
The phone rings but she didn't pick up. "Maybe Youta would be free to train," I tried calling Youta.
Youta picked up, "Hello."
"Hey, Youta. Are you free today?" I speak on the phone.
"I should be in about thirty minutes. I'm planning right now. Did you need something?"
"Oh no. I'm just asking if you had time to train with me on my quirk. If not then it's fine. I can manage by myself."
"Hey don't do anything by yourself! I'll be there in twenty minutes!"
"Don't worry I won't do anything crazy. Just make sure your plan is all planned out."
"That's not the problem," Youta sighs. "Just stay safe."
"You too. Bye." I say.
"Bye," he says, then I hang up and put away my phone. I quickly got into the forest area after the conversation. Youta was nowhere in sight. I assume because it hasn't been twenty minutes yet.
"Well since he's not here I guess I can try out a few things." I wonder how I was able to breathe while not being able to breathe. I bet it was my quirk. But how would it work? "It couldn't be as simple as me holding my breath then absorbing air, was it." I held my breath and absorbed the air. Nothing happens then before I suffocate myself I breathed out. "I knew it wouldn't be that easy."
I sat down on the ground next to a tree and focused. "Maybe if I tried doing both absorbing and releasing." I redid what I did before but this time I released the air after absorbing and repeated the process but it didn't work. I breathe out, "Is there something I'm missing? Think. What happened during the sludge villain attack that I can replicate… Hmmm… It's Liquid!" I was suffocated not because I held my breath but because I was being drowned. There was a small water flow that I found when exploring that was deep enough to put my entire head in. I got up and walked over to that area.
After I arrived at the water I was a bit nervous, "Alright… Here goes nothing." I say before getting onto my knees at the edge of the pool of water. Then closing my eyes I dip my head inside the water while holding my breath. I used my quirk the same way as before but this time with the water also absorbing it in and it works. I was breathing underwater. I took a physical breath and felt water entering me and immediately stopped because that wasn't a good idea.
I then felt someone's hands on my shoulder pulling me out of the water, "What do you think you're doing!" I coughed out the water that went in my windpipe and it hurt a bit but it dissipated quickly and I released anything else I absorbed just to be safe. I then opened my eyes to see Youta wipe the water off his face because the water shot out throughout my body.
"Sorry about that," I say.
I see Youta blush and turn away, "Before continuing. Dry yourself. I-it's distracting."
I look at myself and notice my clothes were see through down to my underwear. I got embarrassed and I crossed my arms and legs to cover myself. "I'm just going to say this to get the cliches out of the way. You didn't see anything right?"
"Yes. I didn't see anything. Just dry yourself already," Youta stutters but I know he probably saw a glimpse of something.
I got up and absorbed the water from my clothes then shot them back out from my palm into the flow of water. "Alright done. Did you want me to dry you off too?"
"Yeah that would be appreciated," I then touched his clothes and did the same thing I did with my clothes. He turns back to me and says, "Now tell me why you were trying to drown yourself."
"What!? Drown myself. Was that what I looked like to you," Youta nods, "Sorry. I was seeing if I could breathe underwater. And yeah I can breathe underwater. But I don't think it's a good idea to do it for long."
"I thought I told you not to do anything crazy," Youta sounded concerned.
"It wasn't that crazy. I would have been fine. I would have taken my head out of the water before I actually drowned," I reassured him.
"Why don't you stick to more simple things like… Shooting wind out at a faster rate or practice your flying."
"Actually I was going to do that next. And since we're already here let's test it out."
"Already back at it," Youta sighs, "So how is Izuku doing?"
"He's doing well. His progress of cleaning the beach needs work but all in all, doing a good job," I give Youta a thumbs up. "So back to training. I want to test something with light and shadows."
"Light and shadows? I know my light but how are you going to get a shadow?"
"From right underneath us," I pointed at our shadow which was also connected to the tree's shadows.
"How is that even going to work," Youta asked.
"I don't know. It just does. I don't question these things even though I should. But no one even has the answers so why ask, right."
"Just, don't overdo it. Ok," Youta stops entirely for a moment. Then let out a breath and a small visible red light appeared.
"You know you didn't have to do that. I would have just used the sunlight."
"Huh. I thought that too but just in case. You never know," Youta smiled.
"Ok then. Let's start." I don't know how I'm going to do the shadow part but I kneeled to touch the shadow and closed my eyes to focus on absorbing the dark things from the shadows.
"So do you feel any different?"
"Not yet…" A few more seconds went by then I gave up and opened my eyes, "Um… Why is it pitch black here?" I look down to where my hands should be and see nothing. "Youta are you still there?" Is this the same subconscious place I went to when I saw the real Akari? I felt a tap on my shoulder and panicked, swinging my fist and I punched something then I could suddenly see things again.
I see Youta on the ground with a hand on his face, "What was that for," he says.
"Oh. I'm so sorry. Are you ok," I went to help him up.
He rubbed his eyes, "And why can't I see anything? Akumi?" I connect the two dots and see that he was experiencing the same thing I went through. I stopped and gave him a second for him to come to his senses. After blinking a few times he finally came to, "What just happened?"
"I don't know," I replied.
"And you were planning to do that by yourself," Youta gets up and pats the dirt off his pants. "You see, this is why I should be here before you do any experimenting. What if you were attacked again when you're defenseless."
"What bad guy is going to come to a place like this," I say and we both hear two men talking coming towards us quickly. Youta and I quickly hid behind a tree and prepared ourselves in case of a fight.
"Damn! Just who was that girl! Then there was that vigilante!"
"Urgh! Just shut it will you and keep moving they might be following us! We're lucky that there was just this empty forest here."
The two men quickly left. I looked at Youta and he's giving me the look that exudes, see what I mean, energy. "That was just a coincidence. I mean what are the chances for it to happen again," I whispered to him.
We then heard another man's voice and went back to hiding, "Those evil doers went this way. You should head back for today. Don't want you to get hurt."
Then a familiar female voice sounded annoyed then said, "Alright then. After you catch them, meet at the usual."
The two then leave and I hear one person follow the two other men and the other person going back the same way they came from. We waited for a second to see if anyone else would be coming through. After hearing that no one else was coming we got out of our hiding spot.
"It was a-"
"Just stop," Youta interrupted me. "I think we should head back for today before they come back. Or worse they find us here."
"But I wasn't done testing my quirk yet. I haven't even got through half of what I wanted to try out today," I cried.
"Don't make me drag you out of here. Or worse I'll tell your mom," Youta said.
I know how scary Mrs. Midoriya can be and if she finds out I've been doing these things in secret I'm going to get in deep trouble. So with a heavy heart and a bit of fear I reluctantly agreed to go back for today.