ᴛʜɪꜱ ɪꜱ ʀᴇᴡʀɪᴛᴇ ᴏꜰ ɪɴᴅɪᴠɪᴅᴜᴀʟɪᴛʏ ᴀɴᴅ/ᴏʀ ᴀ ʟᴏɢ ᴏꜰ ᴍɪɴᴏʀ ɪɴᴄᴏɴᴠᴇɴɪᴇɴᴄᴇꜱ! ꜰᴏʀɢɪᴠᴇ ᴍᴇ ꜰᴏʀ ᴀɴʏ ᴄᴏɴꜰᴜꜱɪᴏɴ ɪ ᴍɪɢʜᴛ'ᴠᴇ ᴄᴀᴜꜱᴇᴅ.
If there's one thing I've realized from all the years I've been alive, it's that people with strong Quirks are privileged. I don't mean to get preachy, but I'm just saying that people often abuse their power and probably can't live without them. They take their incredible powers for granted. They think that just because they were gifted with superhuman abilities that they can go around wreaking havoc and do as they please. Don't they know that some people want to live a normal life?
My face was on the ground. I smelled fire and smoke in the air. It rushed up my nose and down my throat, tightening my lungs. Every breath I took made me gag. My eyes burned yet tears didn't help one bit; it made things worse, actually. As I blindly lied in the open, cries of civilians screaming for help and their footsteps rattled my body. There was a high-pitched ringing in my ears, muffling the voices zooming past me.
"Call the heroes!"
"Run!"
"It's a villain!"
A villain attack? Oh, yeah... That's right. I remember now. I was on my way home from school after buying comics for Hiro...
»»—- —-««
"Hey, Coconut Head! Come 'ere."
I turned around to see that I was face-to-face with Bakugo, an egotistic classmate of mine who liked teasing kids with weak Quirks, or anyone weak in general. Behind him were his two friends who equally took part in his antics. They looked pretty suspicious since they were hiding in the dark alley. Add on the snarky grin on their faces, and they looked like they just committed arson or some other crimes teenagers do.
"Coconut Head...?" I muttered to myself while his friends chuckled. That was a new name. Usually he'll call menerd. He tried to bully me but gave up after a month, since I kept ignoring him. In the end, it felt likeIwas the one bullying him because of how offended he'd get. That said, he never passed an opportunity to be a jerk to me.
"I know you were listenin' to our conversation," he accused, his face in my near mine.
I leaned away to put some distance between us. "...You mean when you were in the classroom after school with the Quirkless kid?"
"Obviously. What else would I be talkin' about?" he said, getting even closer to me. I could smell his breath on me and surprisingly, it smelled like fresh mint and not like dingy eggs.
As all bullies do, Bakugo has a favorite victim that he likes to tease: Midoriya. He's a nice guy who's berated by Bakugo and outcasted by his classmates all the time. Last year, he lent me his history notes because I forgot to study before the test. His notes were very thorough and specific; he even created a table of contents and labeled the page numbers. I still failed the exam, but it was the thought that counted, right?
The reason why he's spat on all the time is because he's Quirkless. In a world full of superpowers, he's a part of the unfortunate 20% that didn't manifest one. Even so, I heard that he wants to be a hero. I guess that annoys Bakugo for some reason, so that's why he's always picking on him.
I peered up at Bakugo's fiery pupils, seeing no point in lying. "Yep. I was. And uh, you wanted to be a hero? Threatening the Quirkless kid isn't very heroi-"
An ignition from his left hand exploded, interrupting my sentence. Smoke spiked up my nose, and I sneezed out a line of snot. It flew and latched on his chest. It was stringy and wet, the type of booger that'll be impossible to pick out.
"What would you know about being a hero?" he sneered. "You don't even use your Quirk."
"Well, that's because we're not allowed to use our Quirks at scho-"
"Shut up!" he barked, letting out another blast from his hand. The booger on his uniform wiggled like it was doing a little dance. I leaned away not wanting the slimy substance rubbing on me.
His friend with the John Lennon haircut let out a snort. "Oi, Bakugo, you should go easy on her. It looks like she's about to piss herself."
Bakugo let out a snicker, his ego probably on Cloud 9. "Heh. Damn loser. Scared of a little fire?" he taunted. Bakugo barred his teeth at me exposing, his sharp canines. "Say, since we're outta school, why don't you show us your Quirk?"
His friends immediately approved. A mischievous grin crossed their faces as they stared at me, expectedly. After a quiet second, I simply told them that using Quirks in public is prohibited. Shuffling my feet closer to the street, I added that I needed to go home and feed my cat.
Either Bakugo didn't care about my starving cat or saw through my lie, because he yanked me into the alleyway and slammed me against the wall. If he was some handsome stud who didn't want to blast my face off, maybe my heart would've fluttered like some shojo character, but this was definitely not the case.
"Where do you think you're going?" Bakugo questioned in a low voice. "I said,Why don't you show us your Quirk?Unless..."
His friend that used way too much hair gel joined on the fun. "Hah~? Don't tell me she don't have one!"
The kid with the John Lennon hair snickered. "Seriously? We have two cripples at our school?"
The two of them erupted into laughter while the grin on Bakugo's face grew more menacing. I was beginning to sense that I was getting deeper into trouble.
About that Quirk thing... I know I have one. My parents brought me to the doctor to make sure I had that extra joint in my pinky toe, but it's been years and I haven't activated it. So in essence, I've basically been Quirkless up to this point. It seems sad if an outsider were to look into it, but it's totally fine. I've survived this long, so who says I can't live out the rest of my life without it?
It'd probably be a good idea to defend myself, but I decided to opt out. I realized that there's no point trying to reason with Bakugo, since he never listens. Also, I wouldn't want to get in a fight with him. Things would get messy quickly with his explosive Quirk. Besides, Quirks are basically weapons inside your body; it's no wonder villains run rampant. I tend to be a walking magnet that attracts trouble wherever I go, so I definitely knew how dangerous they could be.
I attempted to walk away from the situation again. I told him that I needed to go home and drop off Hiro's comics. Hearing that, Bakugo peered down at the shopping bag in my hands.
"Oh? You mean these?" He swiped it and proceeded to set them on fire with his Quirk while his friends cheered.
He's messing around more than usual. Usually, he'd just insult me and walk off, but he's going as far as burning thenewcomicsIbought. Before, I saw this as a minor inconvenience, but now, I'm actually getting annoyed. I know I said I could live my life without it, but at times like this, I wish my stupid Quirk would come out.
I tried take it back when Bakugo flung the charred comics to the ground like it were trash. Well, I suppose they were trash now since attempting to read it would be pointless.
"Let's scram," he announced to his minions. He gave me a rough shove to stop me from picking them up. To add some extra salt to the wound, his John Lennon friend spit on the charred comics. They all cackled at me. Bakugo grinned at me darkly. "Your damn face is next if you tell anyone about this."
Gosh, dealing with Bakugo is like talking to an annoying 5-year-old who thinks he's it. He really thinks he can do anything since he has a strong Quirk, huh? Doesn't he know that there are ways of using it without disturbing the peace? People like thatreally...
I didn't say anything and instead let them go, as usual.
Setting my sights on Hiro's comics, my eyes passed over my shoe. There was something on the tips of my soles. It was a muddy-green color, and it looked wet. Is that my snot? It didn't look that unhealthy before...
That's when Bakugo's friends suddenly stopped laughing. Flickering my eyes back, I realized that the mysterious stain on my shoe wasn't snot. Behind Bakugo was a muddy figure looming over him. It wiggled slightly, almost resembling the piece of booger I got on Bakugo's shirt. But unlike the booger, it had a stench. It smelled like dirty sewage and socks, and maybe a bit like rotten fried rice that was left in the sun.
"An invisible cloak with a great Quirk!" he exclaimed, his voice bubbling. He opened his mouth to engulf him. He attacked.
A fistful of fire exploded from Bakugo's hands, directing it towards the sludge monster. I shielded myself in an attempt to block myself from his explosion and the villain's attack. I expected to feel the impact of either one but didn't. Instead, I felt a hand push me out of the alley and into the street. The next thing I knew, I'm on the floor while fire and terrified people surround me which brought me to my current situation.
Why do I always end up in trouble when I'm running errands?
My ears stopped ringing now. I could hear a familiar voice a few feet away from me along with the wicked laughter of the sludge monster.
"A child was taken hostage?!" A voice exclaimed. "You coward!"
It can't be me, I know how being a hostage is like. Then if it isn't me, it must be...
I looked behind to see a muscular hero with meaty hands trying to punch the sludge monster. It didn't matter how powerful his punches were, because it went through the villain's body like water. Literally. I staggered up to my feet. Wiping my stinging eyes, my eyes settled onto a certain spiky-haired boy struggling to escape.
It's Bakugo.
The rest of the heroes came sprinting over. The hero trying to attack the villain was slammed away with a slimy arm. The villain proceeded to go on a rampage, attacking anyone who tried to get close to him. Meanwhile, Bakugo was trying his best to resist getting swallowed into his body. The stretchy substance was latched on him even as he jerked and pulled.
How long has he been like that? I'm shocked that he hasn't been eaten yet. I've grown accustomed to villain attacks and had my fair share of being hostage. If I were in his situation, I probably would've given up, though. I don't really like Bakugo, but...it's strange how terrible I felt seeing him so vulnerable. He must be scared, but I know his inflatable ego will never allow him to admit that...or admit that he pushed me into the street.
I was so busy staring at the scene ahead that I didn't realize a tree branch wrapping around my body. In a flash, it dragged me away just as Bakugo erupted the entire place with explosions.
I was thrown into a nearby building with people who were watching the events unfold above. The hero who saved me, Kamui Woods, didn't have time to acknowledge me since he was running back to the scene to rescue more civilians. There were a lot of heroes here: some were rescuing people, others were trying to put out the fires, and there were a handful trying to free Bakugo from the villain's clutches. It was no use though, they couldn't do anything. Their attacks just splashed through the villain's body. The situation was getting worse by the second. Some high school girls started crying. A guy behind me was recording the entire thing with his phone. Everyone was in a panic, and there was nothing I could do about it.
I was used to this. I was used to encountering villains and getting caught in attacks. I was used to being a hostage and watching chaos ensure. I was used to being helpless. But even so...
At times like this, I wish my stupid Quirk would come out.
"Idiot! Stop!"
The people around me gasped in a mixture of shock and horror. My eyes immediately snapped onto a kid around my age going full throttle towards the villain. He had unruly green hair with freckles. He wore dark red high-tops along with the standard gakuran uniform from my school. His face screamed "I'm probably going to get absolutely demolished by this sludge monster, what am I doing?" yet he kept running.
"Die in a fiery explosion!" the villain cried, preparing to attack. I'm not sure whether it was in a panic or he planned it out, but the kid flung his backpack at him, momentarily blinding the monster. That loosened his hold on Bakugo and the boy tried to free him.
"Kacchan!" he screamed.
Wait a minute... Kacchan? Did he just say Kacchan? It was a bit hard to see up here due to all the smoke that blocking the view, but I squinted hard at the figure that was desperately clawing at the sewage.
"...Why.." I breathed in awe. "Why is Midoriya here?" I placed my hands on the building's wall, leaning down in anticipation. I wanted to get a better view of what was happening, but it was getting harder to see with all the smoke buildup.
Something that I don't get is why Midoriya's helping him. It's not unnatural to try to help someone in need but he was trying to save Bakugo, the guy who tormented him for being Quirkless. Not to mention, he's up against a sludge monster while being completely powerless. If I were him, I wouldn't know what to think. Despite all the things Bakugo put him through, he's still willing to run out and save him.
Despite not having a Quirk, he moved.
"One thing that defines a hero is their ability to respond to cries of help without hesitation."
It happened so fast. I watched the number one hero zip in and defeat the villain with a single fist thrust. The villain was instantly pulverized. A spiral of air shot up near me, and thewhooshechoed in my eardrums. I had to squeeze the railing to stop myself from being blown away and hold my skirt down to avoid flashing an unassuming stranger. After a second or two of complete silence, rain began to fall.
"Gosh..." I muttered as civilians erupted in cheers.
I was tired of going through and witnessing all the excitement, but I was also shocked from the turn of events. Bakugo was held hostage, Midoriya ran out to save him, and All Might came. Despite being involved in more bizarre encounters, this wasn't the same thing as being threatened to get pushed off a building or running over a burglar with a bike.
This one made me feel...different. My heart was racing, not with fear or dread. It felt fresh, new, and exhilarating, and this feeling pulsated from my toes all the way up to my fingers.
I held my hand to my forehead in a mixture of weariness and disbelief. "Who knew the Quirkless kid had it in him?" I said to myself, cracking a small smile.
Although I didn't know it at that time, something was beginning to spark within me. I felt it only for a moment when I witnessed the brave acts of a Quirkless kid that I hardly knew, but it was there. As the year continued to pass, it only grew stronger.
And one day, it erupted.