Chapter 10 Aftermath and Prelude to Trials
My journey back to home fortunately goes unimpeded, by the time I arrive at home it already 6.30PM. I see the light is already on, perhaps Izumi is already at home cooking for dinner. Or perhaps something else is…
"I'm back" I said while greeting no one but I could smell something from the kitchen
"Welcome back nii-san, please wait while I cooking for dinner" she replies my greet from the kitchen
"Hmm…." I answer back and walk to the bathroom. I desperately need a shower; the confrontation earlier afternoon bathes me in sweat and some remains of slime. Showering usually gives me some reprieve from the busy daily activity, but right now it does not.
My mind wanders to the event this afternoon, and its consequence. There are some reporters filming what happened to Bakugo and the three useless heroes that stand over there, surely that they will also capture my action against the slime villain. Normally I would not be bothered by media, but Izumi…
Last time I done this and the media find out, she immediately lashes out to me and stab my foot with a knife, granted, I kill four people so the event is quite big of a deal, but the problem is that she basically lost most of her friends, her social life dies out in one event. And ashamed of her brother, social life is the only place she could run from that feeling of shame
And I took it from her
It two months for some of her friends started to accept her again, and another three months to regain their trust.
Some might argue that this incident of saving Bakugo is less severe than that, but they forget that I berated three popular heroes in front of a camera, such action might come as arrogance. Imagine how you feel, that you have been doing this profession for years and a little kid berates you in public on not doing enough
Not only I angered them, I also angered their fanbase. And some of Izumi's friend are part of those fanbase that I piss off. I fear that the same outcome would happen again, I fear not the pain when he stabs me, I fear the hate she harbours on me.
I exit the bathroom with a sigh, wondering what her reaction would be when she see the news.
"Nii-san, dinner ready" she said while putting the dinner… a ramen, like the one that I made for her six months ago, the same ramen that Cayde-6 introduce to me, the same ramen that I ate after his funeral…
"Thank you, Izumi, also go to the bathroom and wash yourself please" I said while sitting down
"You're stink of spices" I add as I eat the ramen
The rest of the night is a s usuall, I decided not to hunker down in my room and opted to read the rest of the Book of Sorrow I keep in Aria. Izumi is quite surprised that I stay at the living room and not lock myself in. In truth I wated to see what Izumi's reaction to the news, the Book of Sorrow is just a modus
"So breaking news for this evening…" I hear the television reporter said to the camera
'Ah shit, here we go again…' I think to myself
"A villain managed to took hostage of a junior high school student this evening, a student by the name of Katsuki Bakugo is captured by a slime villain by the alias of The Green Monster. This villain's quirk is his slime body, negating every physical attack "
"The three pro heroes DeathArms, Kamui Woods and Mt Lady are halpless against the prowess of the villain since none of their attacks could not effect the boy and the fear the safety of the boy that now trapped inside of the villain" the reporter continues showing the three stooges standing there like a moron
"Hmph! How useless" I said, scoffing those three and shocking Izumi
"I never think that you would pay attention to any news outlet Nii-san" Izumi replies, looking at me with curious eyes
"Normally I would not" I give a short reply
"So… this is not normal?" she ask to me
"…" I do not reply, and izumi drop the subject.
"But surprisingly ladies and gentlemen a saviour arrives from the person we never or could even expect. we have another high school student trying and successfully saves the young Bakugo" the reporter said
The scene changes with my confrontation with the slime bastard, how I easily dodge of its tentacles, how I threw the Duskfield grenade and saving Bakugo while its body started to freeze, and me pulling out Last Word and firing a chamber to the frozen body of "The Green Monster"
"Here we see a young student quickly run in and trying to save the hostage ladies and gentlemen and he skilfully dodge the tentacles from the villain and he finally able to rescue the hostage, though his method is quite crude and violent" the reporter said
"Oh what's this? Ladies and gentlemen, we see the three heroes approaching the young boy…"
The camera shows those three heroes approaches me and records the ensuing argument, the arrival of All Might and the apprehend of the slime villain. There's a small section of me and DeathArms talking.
After that Izumi turn off the television and then looks at me with a curious look
"Nii-san is that how you feel?" she asks me
"…" I said nothing for a while
"Are you really willing to kill the slime villain for Bakugo?" she continues
"If I say yes…" I said looking at her "What will you do with that?" I add sharpening my gaze to her
"… I" Izumi's voice stuck in her throat, to afraid to speak. Realizing that she's too afraid of me I quickly softens my expression
"Speak Izumi, it's okay. I need to know what's your opinion to me" I said
"I think that it makes you no better than the villain Izu-nii" sha said
"You took a life in exchange for one, the number of killers will stay the same. I don't think you have any justification to kill. No matter how wrong the person is, you have to follow the law nii-san" Izumi said, voicing her reasoning
"…" I ponder for a while, her ideas of rule of law…
"If you have to choose whether to inform a family… about their closest death… or kill a villain to safe the closest one…"
"What will you choose Izumi?" I ask her
"Then I choose to save both of them" she said, shocking me
"And if you couldn't?"
"I aim to be a hero nii-san, in the case of this I WILL find the way to save both of them. Being a hero means you need to find a way to save as many as live as possible, being a hero means your surrounding does not dictate how you act." Izumi said with a firm conviction in her voice, looking at me in defiant
"…" I said nothing for a while before
"You know Izumi… before this event, I met the slime villain before. It attacks me but All Might comes in and intervene" I said
"I ask him two questions, is hero made? Or are they born? And…. Could a quirkless be a hero?" i said before stopping, thinking my next word
"And… what does he says?" Izumi asks me
"For the first one he says that heroes are sometimes made and sometimes they are fated to be heroes, I thought that that is foolish. No heroes are born, all of them are made." I said answering her and add "No diamond created just like that, they all comes from coal, they need pressure, they need to be forged. Only by then, they come as a bright light in the midst of darkness of soil"
"The second one, he said that no quirkless could be a hero and…" I sigh
"That hurts me you know? A part of me wishing for that I could be a hero, that perhaps someone, the No 1 hero would inspire me, would give me hope. But he said no, denies my dream or at least let it be dreams, he said that no quirkless can be hero and urges me to go apply for another job"
"…." Izumi is speechless, she knows how much I value my dreams, and how much I used to look up to All Might as the No 1 hero.
"And did you… do something to him?" she enquires
"If you mean I kill him, then no, I'm not that merciful. Heh" I chuckle darkly, and continues
"I said to him who are you saying that quirkless cannot be a hero? Who are you dictates someone's future? That he does not understand the chaos of life, that he's blind like everyone else, not realizing in the sea of chaos that is life. All things are possible"
"Heh, how hypocrite he is Izumi, All Might once a quirkless too you you know?" I said shocking her
Izumi suddenly jump from the couch "What?! How do you know this" she yells in surprise
"I do not know, Aria is the one that told me after my encounter with All Might" which is quite true, Aria simply hacks the database of the entire nation, and then sort unnecessary information and then finally arrive at a file of one Toshinori Yagi.
The file consists of his education, family, quirk and job, and why don't you look at that the file gives the job section as "Hero" and alias "All Might" and his side job as a teacher in U.A
"And… if you, nii-san, asked like that what will you answer?" Izumi asks me the same question that All Might asked before.
And I will answer the same was as before
"You want to hear my opinion or what you wanted to hear?" I ask her back
"Your opinion" Izumi says, just like All Might
"For me heroes and villain are just like a war, A war of ideas. And ideas are not easily extinguish, or as one famous man says 'Ideas are bulletproof' For everyone can join the war, I do not care their motives, fame, glory, gold, or god. I would not deny a soul to fight in the war" I answer her before adding
"In summary I would not say no for another soul to be thrown into the meat grinder"
"That's… a grim answer" Izumi said with an uncertainty in her voice
"This is the same answer I give to All Might, and remember you are the one that choose to hear my opinion" I cross my arms looking back at her with displeasure
For a while none of us are talking, Izumi, shocked at how cruel her brother can be, how much he disregards other people's well being. For me I think I made a mistake by telling Izumi about my harsh view of heroes and villains.
O suppose it is fair for me to tell her why, why I mad such decision
"But… remember Izumi, I was forged in an era where humanity is on its last legs, a different era where peace is hard to achieve and conflicts are daily life. My view of the world is different because of that" I said to her.
After that I start to climb the stairs, going back to my room. However mid-flight, I stop for a while and said to her
"Thank you, for not hating me"
The next morning life goes as usual, but when I arrive at school many students, junior and other students that I never know or bother to know look at me as if im a celebrity, I pay them no mind. When I arrive at class every one is bust chatting and joking with each other, excited for future education and many hoped to enter U.A
But when I enter my classroom everything goes silent, no more chatting, no jokes, just total silence. They all watch me as I walk to my seat, just like six months ago when I just kill those four thugs. At first I tolerate the pressure, but then they started to building, and building, and buiding up
"What you have no better things to do?!" I snapped at the others, making some of them winced form my harsh voice and forcing them to act as usual
And thus, the class begins as usual, in the mid of the third session right before lunch break Fukushima sensei shows some papers
"Right these papers are your chance to pursue your dream for applying next high school, you could napply at Shinohara High, or Highschool No1 in Tokyo, or Yamata Medical High is Kyoto… Oh who am I kidding you all will try to apply on to U.A anyway" Fukushima sensei said
"But remember U.A have 70 percent of failure and they are very strict with their students so please be realistic" sensei said while sharing some of the paper
After a while most of the students filing their own paper and after fifteen minutes, we give Fukushima sensei our result
"Well, most of you are applying to Karakura Medical High but… Ah yes Katsuki san you are applying to U.A right?" she asks
"Yeah, the best highschool should be reserved for me, you all extras are nothing more than my stepping stone anyway" he said with arrogance and unsurprisingly the entire class booed him some even throws some pencils, pens, erasers, etc.
"Ah Midoriya-san you also apply for U.A, right?" Fukushima sensei said looking at me
"Yes" I reply with a short answer, not only that I wish to see what other's quirk, but Izumi also seems to be excited with the prospect of being in the same class. I was and still is confused with what is it to be excited but al long as he's happy, it is okay
"DEKU?" YOU DARE APPLY TO U.A?" he yell at me and start to walk to me slowly, with a small explosion forming from his hands
"YOU THINK YOU ARE GOOD ENOUGH HUH?! YOU ARE JUST A STEPPING STONE!" he continues to rant at me
"If you have any problem with me applying to Bakugo, please informs my sister. I apply to U.A because she forced me to" I deflect the blame, but this is simply just a half-truth
"GRRRR" he growls like a dog.
Despite portraying himself as the strongest student, Bakugo himself knows that it was Izumi that actually the strongest her precision and the speed of telekinetic powers and her ability to use telepathic to read your mind and obscure the five senses of her opponent gives her an extra edge in one-on-one fight.
The fact that she able to hurt me is quite a testament of her skill, although, if it was a real battle, I would be able to defeat her quite easily
"This is not over yet Deku" he growls at me, which I pay him no mind, besides the U.A entrance test will be done on next two weeks we all have plenty of time to prepare. And for me… plenty of time to train with Aria