บท 52: CHAPTER 52 MY QUIRK
We were separated into four groups based on seat rows. Toru was in my group so we stuck together. Split by men and women we went to separate restrooms to change into workout clothes but I decided to stick in my street clothes. I recognized a few others from the My Hero Academia mange in the group, but luckily there was no Midoriya. The green haired protagonist would struggle enough passing this, and I didn't want to mess with the canon too much. Not yet anyway.
Kids all around me I did decide to put on my training weights. The legs were 250 pounds each, and the wrists were 175 pounds each. I had grown accustomed to them during my time learning the gates. Where these people were peak strength for high schoolers, I estimated I was peak strength for pro-hero. I needed to push myself and keep training.
The highly dense weights were sewed into a brown strap about 12 inches long. They buckled on to ensure there was no shifting. My pant legs and shirt sleeves covered them up nicely. I was tempted to pull out my Jitte but most everyone else was using fists. So I decided to hold off my true skills. I knew my quirk, but not as well as I should. My original self was driven to become stronger, but I felt I could figure out the skill more easily with practice.
I began to cycle chakra through my fists and body. Preparing for the fight. My pink heart necklace hanging from Toru's neck allowed me to know just where to look.
"I see why you wanted me to wear this necklace now," she mumbled.
"It looks great on you," I said. Getting more used to talking to an invisible girl. "Want to work together?" I asked.
She hesitated. "Isn't this supposed to be an individual test?"
"Did they say that?" I asked. I couldn't remember them saying that anywhere. "Heroes work together all the time. Tell you what, I'll be your sidekick." I flashed her chest my best smile.
"If you start trying to look me in the eyes, fine," she said.
"Ugh, just today," I said. She didn't reply, but I guessed that was a yes. Looking ahead there was a large city before us. The crowd from the auditorium was assigned to four different sides of the faux-city that was about two square miles. My group waited impatiently as people stretched or psyched themselves up.
I walked closer to Toru, doing my best to not touch her invisible and naked body. "I'm really fast. We could get ahead of the crowd if you jump on my back."
"Sounds like you don't need me," she said.
"Oh I do. I fight better with a beautiful woman close by," I said. Giving her my best grin. "And I need to make sure my necklace is safe. I'd hate to have to be the one that haunts you."
She giggled nervously again. "Okay," she whispered.
"Perfect. When we start, jump on my back and hold on for dear life. We will be moving quickly," I said.
Keeping Toru close, I wondered when it was going to start when Present Mic announced, "And the 10 minute timer starts…now!"
"Fuck," I said. Grabbing Toru I thought I got her hand. Twirling her around I threw her on my back and ran in.
While I was running into the fake city people were groaning or questioning if it was true. Present Mic yelled, "What? There's no countdown in real life. Get going!"
I was already a quarter mile in before anyone else entered the city. We had passed by a few machines that were to be the 'villains'. I left them for the slow people.
"You good?" I asked my necklace as I set her down.
"Uh yeah," she said, getting her footing.
"Good. Go time," I said. A five foot tall machine with gatling guns screeched to a halt beside us. I jumped up slicing my hand like a blade into the metal snake neck. The thing burst apart easily. I jumped over it and was attacking another.
"Joints are weak!" I yelled to Toru. She did something and the arm of one of the villains exploded off. I guessed she kicked it. And we went about it. It was about five minutes in before other people even came close. We had a good section of the street littered with machines by the time we moved on.
I ran with Toru down an alley only to be stopped by a group of three machines. One punch broke off the heads of two machines and Toru yelled as she incapacitated the other. I was having a lot of fun. I guessed that someone had a quirk to make these breakable robots easily. Heading down another alley we came out to see the giant robots worth zero points. It was as big as one of the buildings as it moved in the street.
I looked up to see Midoriya already in the air. His arm covered in the light streaks as he used One for All. He punched the flat face of the robot. A resounding boom went out as the robot's face was caved in. I couldn't help but be a little impressed. I wanted to be that strong.
"He's falling!" Toru yelled beside me.
I noticed Ururaka on the ground in front of us. I ran toward her. "Stop his fall!" I ordered. She nodded, her eyes wide in shock as I lined her up and threw her at the falling protagonist.
She slapped his face as she passed. She did the hand signal to make him float but began to fall herself soon after. Midoriya stopped falling a few feet from the ground but dropped when she stopped the hand motion that allowed her to use her skill. I jumped over, grabbing her out of the air before she hit the concrete street.
"Thanks," she said. I could have grabbed Midoriya, but this was an important bonding experience for the 2 of them.
"Your ten minutes are up!" A voice announced over speakers.
I noticed Midoriya's dismayed look. I frowned but walked over. Bending down I said, "They grade you on how many monsters beaten and people saved, you'll do fine." He looked up at me tears in his eyes. I gave him a wink and walked away as the old healer woman walked over. I found my necklace holder close by.
"What did you whisper to him?" She asked.
"I asked him if he saw this floating necklace, or was I the only one seeing things," I said. I felt someone hit my arm. Laughing I corrected, "No, I said he did a good job. He looks pretty beat up. Thought he could use a compliment."
I started walking back to the entrance we were assigned. Toru followed. We were quiet for a time but she eventually broke the silence. "Thanks."
"Anytime," I said.
"You don't know what I'm thankful for," she replied.
"You are thankful that I went 60 seconds without making a ghost joke," I said.
She giggled. "Yes, I am thankful for that too," she admitted. We kept walking. "Thanks for talking to me."
"Don't need to thank me for that," I said. "Thanks for the water. And the great view." I looked at my necklace again.
"You're hopeless," she whispered.
"That I am," I said. "So want to be my new best friend?" I asked.
"Best friend?" She asked.
"Yep, we will be put in Class 1-A at UA. I could use a friend," I said.
"You're very confident," she said. "You really think we will be in the top class?"
"I do," I admitted. I knew she could have gotten into it without my help. But I liked Toru, she deserved more screen time in the manga. "I will need that necklace back though."
She hesitated again but slowly lifted it up. I leaned forward making her put it on me. "What is that?"
"My symbol," I said without shame.
"A heart?" She asked.
"Yep. I'm a lover," I said, sending her a wink.
We made it to the exit and were soon escorted off the school premises. I said bye to Toru and decided to work my way home. My dad and I lived outside of town. I had to take the subway to get near the edge of town then a bus to get further out. Then it was a few mile walk to our place. It took about 1.5 hours to get in and out of town. One of my goals would be living on the campus when I was accepted. I didn't worry too much about making it in 1-A. I'd killed a good 20 villain robots.
During my time traveling back to my home I played with my quirk. It was different. Almost an innate skill that I had awoken when I was three years old. I picked up a hot glass of water and instinctively sucked in the hot energy to make it cold, almost instantly. I didn't do too much with it until my mom was killed when I was five. After that I dreamed of becoming a hero and practiced it daily.
The problem is the me before didn't quite understand the power. It was better than I knew. How I understood quirks they took energy. Not chakra like my ninja skills, but energy from foods. Like how you moved your muscles, brain, ran your body without thought. A lot of people assumed the quirks just happened, but that was impossible. There had to be an exchange of power. It would be too OP if you could use a quirk indefinitely.
Along with costing energy there was also a drawback, or weakness to the power. For instance Uraraka who saved Midoriya. She could make anything float if she touched them. But if she tried to make herself float she would become sick. Or there was Shoto Todoroki. One side of his body could use ice, and the other side could use fire. His weakness was if he used his ice too much he could get frostbite, or used fire too much he could get burned.
I was the opposite of him. My quirk was Give and Take. If I gave something energy, it heated up. But this energy had to come from somewhere which was me. So when I gave something energy to heat it up, my body cooled down. My blowback was if I did it too much I could boil my brain or freeze it. The human body could only be a few degrees from 98 before damage happened.
When I got home I practiced with the quirk. Using a simple thermometer I was able to freeze a gallon of water instantly but it dropped my temperature by 0.5 degrees. I then sent energy into the gallon. It took 2 seconds to start boiling and my temperature raised by a whole degree.
The old me had made the act of freezing or boiling gradual. Too afraid to push it. The me now played around with it easily. It took me a week to get it right. And I loved the ability. By isolating my body parts I could pull in energy from my right arm and expel heat from my elbow. Mostly negating the temperature difference in my body.
When I coupled it with my water chakra it made my attacks more deadly. I was too afraid to freeze my Jitte, I only had one and I didn't want to break it with a hit. But when I boiled the sea water encompassing the Jitte it made my attacks a lot more damaging.
To weaponize the pulling of energy I made water bullets then froze them. After playing with it more I changed the shape from cylinders to cones then froze them, making the ice bullets more deadly. I was able to push the ice through thick trees if I focused on just one.
I kept plenty busy that week with it. My dad was a workaholic. Or at least he became one after my mom was killed. Working in a small office building at the edge of town he was the first one in and the last one to leave. I tried to get him to open up, but the guy had been hurt hard by my mom's death.
I couldn't blame him though. She had been pregnant at the time. He moved us to the small house outside of town to be close to my grandparents. They practically raised me. My grandpa got sick last year and died, and my grandma soon followed. It was a sad truth to admit that the world I was in wasn't perfect. But I kept my focus on the prize and kept going.
I got the acceptance letter for UA at the end of the week. It was a video recording of the mouse principal congratulating me for getting in. I got the high score of 90 points. 70 points for villain kills then another 20 points for the rescue I helped make happen with Midoriya and Uraraka. My quest finished and I had a nice and new Give and Take Quirk in my Status Screen.
My dad actually had a smile on his face when I showed him my acceptance letter. He said he was proud of me. Then went back to eating. I chewed my lip, and for once forced the issue.
"Dad," I said. He looked up at me, blinking as if he didn't realize I was there. "What would you do if they caught the guy that killed mom?"
His eyes widened a little. Looking down to his plate he thought for a moment. "I'm glad you're going to be a hero, son," he admitted. "Cus I would kill that bastard in a heartbeat." I nodded. That was answer enough for me. My next course of action was decided.
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