章 6: Changes
- Habaki POV -
My training at the Yoshida dojo hadn't stopped. The elderly couple hadn't lost their passion for teaching and they were as fierce as they were 8 years ago when i first met them. It was these two i had to thank for my sword skills.
But today was special. I was 12 and the quirk course was starting up again, so I immediately signed up. I had been waiting for this day for a long time. I had of course trained my quirk with my sword at home, but training alone couldn't compete against training with someone who has had decades of experience.
We weren't many in the dojo, Yoshida-sensei said it was because there wasn't a use for them anymore for most people since quirks began. It was only those who had quirks related to swords who actually trained with them. It was true, if my body would have been able to tolerate my quirk, I probably would never have thought to use a sword. But that just meant he was able to focus one us as individuals and not as students.
I had never met my grandparents, I didn't really think over them since my parents had never mentioned them, but I began to see them as pseudo grandparents. I was with them 4 out of 7 days a week now. 2 days for my regular sword training, and now 2 more for my quirk and sword training.
When we first started our quirk training Yoshida-sensei made it very clear that we should never use our quirk outside the dojo unless it was a do-or-die situation. We were only 4 in the class, so we had all started by telling each other our quirks. After that we had partnered up and sparred. At first we didn't use our quirks, to become comfortable sparring against another person, who wasn't the same age as you.
The regular course was age related, but in the quirk course there wasn't enough where it made sense to split the course up, so our class consisted of me who has the youngest at 12. I was the only from my age group that had signed up. The other 3 were two 13-year-olds and a 14 year old, who was training for the U.A tests.
Even though there was only 1 and 2 years apart from me and the others, there was still a huge size difference. They were all taller and bigger than me which gave me a handicap when we sparred. I didn't complain over it, it just gave me experience for when the one you are fighting is bigger than you.
After we stopped sparring we had used our quirks with the swords on the training dummies that the dojo provided. When it was my turn I took a deep breath. I could feel my heart beat increasing, my blood began to flow faster, my muscles felt sharper.
As I breathed out i swung my sword in a diagonal motion and a torrent of wind, which took the shape of my blade, came out and hit the training dummy. The wind had dented the dummy quite a big around the chest area where it had hit. But the biggest thing with the attacks, was that it had completely pushed the dummy of the ground and sent in flying into the wall.
My quirk had quite the power, but it only came when i completely concentrated. I hadn't been able to train fighting someone while focusing on my breath, since my mother and father didn't know how to use a sword, and we hadn't fought using our quirks in the regular course.
I hadn't even been able to sneakily try to use my quirk and try to focus on breathing while sparring, because Yoshida-sensei's quirk was able to see the smallest moments in the body including breathing. I had tried once, lets just say it was a mistake I won't make again.
And that was how I began training my quirk, getting bullied in sparring by the older kids and being taught by Yoshida-sensei on quirk practicalities. Getting beat again and again wasn't discouraging, no it was a motivation for a goal. Not being the best at something was refreshing. I had always, with my 17 years of experience, been better and smarter than other kids in anything, so constantly being met with defeat just gave me a reason to get better.
If I was to be better than someone I would rather work for it than just have it be gifted to me. It was a much better feeling besting someone in sparring than answering 100% on a test. I had trained hard to defeat the person I was sparring, while I could just remember what I had learned in my previous life.
I hadn't stopped with my gymnastics either. Because i didn't have a spring mat, I had to use my own leg strength on the grass in our garden to be able to perform different skills. Using only my legs had made them quite strong for a 12 year old. My calves and thighs had also began gaining a good amount of muscle. But it hadn't just strengthened my muscles, it had also made me more agile and flexible. I had also begun to run, especially short sprints since they help with building as much power as you can over the shortest time.
Sprints also increased the number of blood vessels and capillaries which helped with the transport of oxygen to my muscles. It helped having a dad who was a physiotherapist for both heroes and civilians. Sprinting also help with gaining more mitochondria's and increase the concentration of different enzymes in the mitochondria's which therefore become more efficient at converting glycogen and oxygen into energy.
My meditation with my mom had also continued and focusing on my breathing had become something I could do in a seconds notice most of the time. There was still situations where I had a hard time focusing on my breathing such as when I was at quirk training and sparring with the others. I had omitted from boosting my physical stats with my quirk when I was training. It would just hurt me in the long run. I would rather have a higher base level of strength without using my quirk, than a low base level but a higher top level when I used my quirk.
School was getting better and better for me socially. I had an easier time talking to people at school, since we kept getting closer and closer to my real age. I still wouldn't call anyone my friend, but I did have a few acquaintances.
It wasn't my intent but I had become quite popular especially in my class. I didn't have an outgoing personality, I didn't really talk to people unless they spoke to me first, but I did help people if they asked for it. I knew a lot more than them, and it would only be fair if I taught them things they didn't understand properly.
I wouldn't stay after school or go home to them and teach them, I would only do it in the breaks we had at school, but it satisfied them enough. One day one of my classmates said I reminded them of their big brother. And from then on I was known as the resident big brother.
I had hit my head on the desk when he had first said it. Of my acquaintances the one who was the closest to being called a friend was Kirishima Ejirou. It had been a couple of months after we began school, that the usual quiet Kirishima came up to him.
He had just asked if I worked out. I had been a bit confused but having to live up the the big brother moniker I had nodded at him. He got an excited gleam in his eyes one I hadn't seen before. He had asked what I did, so I gave him a quick overview of all my training without going into much detail. And somehow that simple conversation made us friends in his book.
Getting to know Kirishima it was obvious that he had certain self doubts both about his quirk and if he could become a hero. It was one of the reasons i decided to hang out with him when we were in school, he really needed a boost of self confidence. I had seen his quirk in action one time, and i had to say it was impressive. I wasn't sure if I could even move him with my wind strike if he activated his quirk and stood his ground. His quirk was a really good counter against mine.
I could attack him with boosted physical attacks but those didn't match up with the amount of hardening he could produce, and my own wind quirk had a natural weakness to his hardening which resembled stones and rocks.
We had sparred one time altogether. Even though he had the natural advantage I had still won even without using my bokken. It was his lack of confidence that cost him the match. He had hesitated after he had blocked one of my attacks which gave me the opportunity to end the match after having kicked the behind of his knee, a part that hadn't been hardened to give him more mobility.
The match had put him down quite a bit, but trying to cheer him up I told him how good his quirk was if he set his mind and heart to it. Kirishima seemed to be the type to think that your heart was a factor when going at things. It looked like I was right, he was definitely more cheerful and his eyes was beginning to spark of determination. He just needed that one little push to really overcome his self doubt, I just had to find it.
The match also gave me some things to think about. Of what I understood, Kirishima hadn't trained his quirk all that much, but more his body. That meant I had been on the backfoot at one point against someone who didn't have a full understanding over his quirk, but also someone who had self-confidence problems. If he had overcome them then and there who could wonder what would have happened.
I know I didn't use the full potential of my quirk, but I had trained my body since I was 4 in many different areas. Having to try quite hard on finding an opening I could take advantage of had been harder than expected.
Maybe I had neglected my hand to hand combat a bit too much. What would I do if I didn't have my sword against an someone who was a better fighter than Kirishima. It was decided, I would find time to go to martial arts.
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And so ends chapter 6. I don't have much to say except that I hope you are enjoying the story so far. It won't be too long before we get to U.A.
Do you think there should be ship in the story between our MC and someone else. If there is going to be a ship, it wont start before they are like 16-17, I think anything other would be a bit weird.
Have a good day, evening, night or whenever you are seeing this.
- Nokia turns off -
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