Every wink, every breath I drew, every waking second I was living through, I had only one thought. Well that's an exaggeration, but still, one loud thought kept trampling over all others, ringing through the confines of my head. "Do I have a quirk?" Almost all day, every day. Questions kept stemming from that one thought. "Why now? How? Is this the real life? Or is this just fantasy?" I could only think that I'd been caught in a landslide, just an escape from reality. Okay, maybe I got a little too carried away listening to Queen as I thought up some of those quesitons. My head kept running a mile a minute just to comprehend the possibility.
Speaking of running, the five weeks of inactivity were hell. Moss had grown on my limbs from lack of usage for the first two weeks from what it felt like. Confined in bed, rotting all day. At least they let me watch and analyze heroes on tv and on my cell. I was surviving, but hardly living. Come the third, they let me start physical therapy like light exercise. Considering that the average time to heal a few broken ribs was six weeks at least, I got off with a less sinister outcome. I was advised to take it easy on the day of my release. Knowing what could happen if these injuries got worse, I followed their advice. For all I knew, maybe I could test out my abilities myself.
Home felt like a prison for a week. Locked up in the suffocating walls filled with memorabilia of the one person who I used to look up to. His smiles infecting the corners of my mind, filling me with doubt and the empty memories of his answer to my question. All Might, the optimistic realist. A hero I could never despise. I sigh and head to the dining area, the creaking of doorhinges cutting silence like a blade. "Hey mom... Dinner ready?" She looks back at me from the kitchen. "Yeah, now grab a plate and fix me up some rice too, please." I nod and do as she ordered when I wretching hard from the counter. Slush mixed with acid hit the sink as she gripped the edge of the counter. "Mom? Mom, are you alright?" I asked as I rushed over. "You're burning up... Do you still have acetaminophen and ibuprofen?" She shakes her head no and I lead her to her bed, preparing a towel dipped in cold water to lay on her head."Don't move, I'll go get some medicine real quick, okay?" With a kiss of her forehead, I lay the cloth on her head, leaving her a meal by her bedside table, along with water.
"Be back soon." The high stress was getting to me, my pent up energy wanting to burst and be expended for the sake of saving my mother the trouble of a fever. I had to hurry. I imagined the image of the pharmacy, my thoughts racing as my feet struck the concrete pavements of the city. Within my field of view I saw it. I wanted to run as fast as I could only to find myself bumping against the wall of the building's side near a dark alley. Paper flying through the air that ripplied like a tide. The smell of trash assaulting my nose from the deeper innards of the alley.
The whiplash caught me off guard and my eyes started to feel a bit dried out. Nothing a little breather and blinking couldn't help. Without much more thought, I made my way through the establishment doors out front and look for the non-prescription medicine usually used for fevers; Knowing that my mother has had psychogenic fever attacks when she was faced with something that stressed her out due to her anxiety. And my stunt saving the Toga girl did nothing to quell her worry for my well-being. I find what I was looking for (acetaminophen and ibuprofen.) I knew that they did mostly nothing to cure psychogenic fevers, but it was like placebo for my mother giving her a sense of comfort. And it also helped in cases where either of us actually did get a fever not related to stress.
As I hand over the money, I could faintly hear screaming outside the pharmacy. I quickly grab the paper bag and I rush outisde, realizing that two thugs were beating on a business person deeper inside the alley where I teleported to earlier. My eyes dart around my surroundings to make sure there wasn't anything to give away my identity. Without much more to think about, as the coast was clear, I put down the medicine near a wall and a trash bin, leaning it on the corner of both. Knowing that the last time I tried to be a hero, I wound up in the hospital, I prepared ahead and utilized the tools scattered around me. From sticks to bin lids. I envision myself closing the distance between me and the main attacker before they could land a seemingly devastating blow to the homeless man's side.
What I failed to consider however, was the whiplash I had suffered from the sudden movement of my body. It felt as if I'd been charging and pulled into a whirlpool that sent me forward, the force knocking me into the guy. I fortunately had the reaction time to put the bin lid between my arm and the thug, which sent them reeling into the wall. Dealing with the apparent after effects of my quirk swiftly, I use a bundle of sticks, some thrown to aim at the accomplice's eyes to disorient them before delivering a kick to their core, sending flying into a pile of trash by the side of the white wall that was brandished with stains of mold, blessed by the smell of scum and waste.
As I went to finally knock out the main thug, I bashed the lid into his jaw with enough force to make his eyes roll back as something slipped from his pocket. A wallet. A wallet that had his face and his family's on it, enjoying a simple put-together meal. And another photo that had his wife in the hospital, their children lying next to the mother in the hospital bed. The world froze over. Before I could regain my bearings, a blunt pain hit my ribs from the side. The blood rushing inside of me was the only thing that kept me from passing out.
A metal pipe was making a second swing towards my face before I suddenly woosh near the chest of the accomplice, pushing them off-balance. "Grahh!" A teenaged voice, similar to mine replied with a grunt, befofe they stumbled and fell to the ground again. I remove their mask and their face confirms my initial suspicion after having seen the pictures. I take the metal pipe out of their arms as they looked at me with fear.
"This isn't how she'd want to be treated." I say bluntly to the newly revealed accomplice. "Think, how would your mother react if she knew the money used to pay for her treatment was just stolen?" A new emotion emerged from the teen's eyes. Anger. Rage. "Well at least she'd be alive to say it! She'd be with us! Sh-she'd... ge-t better..." His voice breaking, taking larger and larger breaths that he hitched. I couldn't help but feel pain for him, to share in his misery, for his eyes kept screaming for someone to help him.
"This isn't much, but it's something to help out. It's the savings I'd get after... my internship." I take out my wallet and hand over my money that was actually an allowance for school, around 47,000 Yen, don't care about the specifics. His eyes lit up before me, and that feeling struck a chord within my very being. "Tha..nk you, mister.." I smile in reply and say. "It's no problem, if you still can't pay for it fully, help your father secure a loan from the bank to help. You need to work hard. For your mother, right?" He nods shakily, and I add. "No more stealing. For all you know, the old man was also having a hard time. In times like this, we need solidarity." He sniffled in return, but continued to nod. I turn back and help the business person up and dust them off, before I do the same for the thug, or father.
I lead the businessman outside the alley and walk him to the station for public transpo. "Hey, kid. Thanks for that. I was having a real shit day." I reply. "It's no problem, sir. I didn't get your name." He smiled lazily, dirty blond hair shining under the streetlamp. "Bubaigawara, Jin Bubaigawara. Got fired by my boss after a long time customer of his jumped into my motorbike." My eyes were suddenly drawn to the ground. "I'm sorry to hear that, Bubaigawara." He laughed "Hey kid, it's alright. None of it's your fault. If anything, you've made this shitty day less shit." I look up again and smile at him before reaching out a hand. "Midoriya, Izuku Midoriya, sir." He smiles at me and shakes my hand. "Fits your hair." He says jokingly. The bus arrives and he gets on before waving a final goodbye. I sit down on the bench of the bus station, exhausted. I lean back and relax until a thought hit my head. The medicine.
I rush back into the alley to see the medicine still there, perfectly in tact. Thank god. Then I remembered the time. Fuck. I quickly take the medicine and try to imagine the all so familiar house I grew up in. I tried to capture that same feeling of moving through space, finding success after the Nth trial and a major headache. Rushing to the door, I burst through and find my mother, safely resting on the couch, covered by a simple blanket.
One touch upon her shoulder, she wakes up. She never was a heavy sleeper. "Hey, mom.. I got the meds. Took a bit longer than expected. Sorry..." She rustles up and pulls me in for a hug, as she sets the paper bag down at the living room table. "It's alright, sweetie.. Why do you smell like trash?" Well, I had to try and get out of this pickle. "I tripped on trash on the way home.. I didn't notice the, like, elevation of the ground 'cause I was focused on my phone.. I'll be safer next time. I promise." She chuckles. "Hahaha, that's alright.. Just go take a shower, you stink."
Will do... will do. Especially after one of the longest, get simultaneously shortest days of my life. I get up and set up my clothes to prep for the shower. As I sit down in the tub, I couldn't help but feel that same tingly expression coursing through my veins, before eventually succumbing. Maybe I wasn't as quirkless as I thought.
Sweat dripped and mixed with water, as the hot water cascaded down my body, to then fill up the tub. Dear god, this was relaxing. Once I was done soaking and cleaning my body, I move up and suddenly, I'm already out of the tub, a mess of water splashed behind from a vacuum, and some sent flying off of my body.
Cool. Almost dry, even. I put on my clothes and rest for the day as my eyes began to flutter shut under the cold embrace of the comfortable bed, my body probably already looking forward to moving more tomorrow.
Good night, world.
Ch. end!
Author Notes:
I'm sorry guyss rlly busy with life and tbh, just got boreddd, I'll try to update more thoo, it's seriously fun to make storiess. The chapter's a bit on thw short side though, sadly. I hope to make it up to you guys!