Chương 108: Change
After the explosion occurred, a piece of forest turned into a clearing.
In the center of it was a girl, now charred into a piece of coal.
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THE END . . . ?
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"HEY! You can't pull this kind of shit after two sentences after the beginning of a chapter!"
Surprisingly, the explosion didn't manage to kill her, all it did was deep fry her skin to coal, and even that slowly started to regenerate piece after piece, after she started using her magic.
After she fully recovered, Akane started to stretch her body a bit. Something felt different, very different.
"Most of my scars are gone, huh? Only the really deep ones are left. Magic really heals well, not creating any scar tissues, but normal, healthy skin tissue. That's convenient."
Feeling over her body, she felt how much less rough, how much less injuries were on them.
Akane smiled, this really should signal a new chapter in her life.
Putting on her jogging suit she had in her inventory, Akane walked further into the forest, testing what her body was capable off, if she didn't put grievous harm on it to strengthen the output of her actions.
To say the least, the results were pretty underwhelming for her.
She didn't manage to uproot a tree and neither did she manage to pulverize a boulder. She sighed, she just realized how much brute force she used before and only brute force.
That was almost the same she was, all shallow and no essence, no content behind it all.
Sighing, Akane made a resolve for herself.
"I really need to live in the moment for a bit more."
She did a great disservice to all of her friends. She was sure that they all also wanted to get to know her more.
The first thing she needed to do after this was getting closer to her classmates and opening up a bit more to her parents, they deserved it.
Shaking her head, Akane decided to pay attention to the things at hand.
Her lack of actual techniques to use in hand-to-hand combat. The only things she did was dodge, interrupt and lash out with her physical capabilities, but fighting was so much more than that.
Right now, she is just an amateur driver, driving inside the best race car imaginable, that's the only reason why she could keep up with the strong quirk users, but if she would only rely on brute force in the future she will get overtaken.
Right now, she didn't need to strengthen her body unnecessarily high anymore, she already noticed the limits of it, how she could only break through her limits, by breaking herself beyond any reasonable amount.
Each time she broke through her body broke a bit more than the last time, each time she broke her limits she felt how pain permeates through her body for a couple of weeks, each time she reached her limits she felt how suffocating it was to move just even one step beyond them.
She wondered when the pain would be too much for even her to break through.
But luckily she realized soon enough that her skills were lacking, with this she had a new, more soothing way to keep improving herself, a way that wouldn't needlessly worry others anymore.
Thinking that, Akane realized it. What she really wanted to do, her new goal.
"I just want to see people smile and be happy, what better occupation is there for that than being a hero?"
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Akane kneeled in exhaustion after her intense morning training session. Her entire body felt stiff and awkward to move.
"Damn, I knew it was bad, but that it was this worse is unexpected."
Her entire body was fine, even in peak condition to speak of, but the reason her body felt so restricted was simple.
For the first time in her life did she use muscles she never used before, she found this result a bit funny.
She was an idol that had to perform various kinds of moves for her dances, she was a girl that saw her fair share of fights, especially with Chara, she was someone that tirelessly moved her body from day to night, yet once she seriously started developing a fighting style for herself her body starts hurting all over.
"I have to go home."
But she felt how her body almost didn't want to listen to her commands, frustrated she clenched her fists and punched the ground, creating a spiderweb like pattern under her fist.
After venting her frustration for a bit, Akane started easing her muscles up a bit. She almost immediately fell over because of that.
Noticing how futile her actions were, she gave up on forcing her body and just decided to take a nap there.
It was just four thirty in the morning, there was still enough time to reach home.
She didn't have to clean it every single day.
Smiling, she was content with her new decision, with all the time she freed from her exaggerated routine she now had enough time to truly discover who she wanted to be.
Tired from her training and with the weight of self-imposed responsibility lifted off her shoulder, Akanes mind slowly drifted off into the dream world, for the first time since a long time she decided to let her guard down.
Meanwhile the landscape around Akane was completely devastated.
Several trees were uprooted, most even split into halves of fourths.
There were deep trenches running all over the ground, suggesting that she managed to get something heavy dragged over the ground.
Even a lot of boulders had cracks in them, some of them were even split into tiny pieces.
She tried her best not to overwork herself, but some habits really are hard to forget. She really did try her best.
"Once again she puts herself through the wringer, really. What a try hard."
"You mean this wasn't the first time this happened?!"
"Yep, just look at the memories of her average day."
"It's all training!"
"Always has been."
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At another place someone was waiting impatiently for her little precious daughter to return home. The worried mother was sitting on the living room table with bloodshot eyes, sipping on her third cup of coffee.
She was slowly tapping with one finger on the table with a frequent rhythm, as if she were counting the seconds with her fingers.
For a moment she nodded away, but the moment she did she immediately flinched upwards, shaking her head to get the drowsiness out.
Fumio did many things in her life already, as a lawyer with her abilities, she was pretty respected. Many people and companies wanted to contract her, but she always denied it, no offer or condition satisfied her, none were considered good enough to even give a second thought.
All because of two simple reasons.
The first being that she didn't want to defend people who are guilty. Money was considered very much in this society and as that you can hire a top-class lawyer with enough money to get you out of your case, or at least lower the punishment considerably.
She didn't like that, she hated it when people could get away so easily without their due punishment, but there isn't much she could do about that.
Hiring a good lawyer isn't illegal after all, so she had had to accept that. The only thing she could do was to not offer her services to such people.
The second reason was a bit more personal.
She loves her sleep. She enjoys it over everything else, her healthy amount of sleep. No matter how difficult the case she was currently in, no matter the situation she found herself in. She would always free time to get at least a little four-hour sleep in the night.
She never in her life could have imagined pulling an all-nighter. Not once in her life did the thought of pulling an all-nighter even go through her head, not once.
But now she was sitting here, sipping on her fourth cup of coffee, impatiently waiting for a certain girl that tries way too hard on everything to return home.
"Hey, sweetheart. How about you try to calm down for at least a little bit and get a little nap? I am sure that she will return home soon enough. I'll wake you up once she returns, but please just close your eyes for a little bit!"
The only thing Rumi got returned was a cold and angry stare. She flinched for a split second, but she was slowly getting a bit fed up with being the least respected member in this household here.
She understood that Fumio really loved Akane to death, she really understood that, after all she also loved her daughter, but at this point she always get overstepped if it was about situations like this.
This really didn't sit particular well with her pride.
"Huh? Who do you think you are that you are able to glare so fiercely at me like that?"
Surprised with her wife's reaction, Fumio blinked a couple of times.
"Surprised? I guess you would be, thinking back to the time since I've been married to you, not even just dated you. It's seems that everyone here forgot what the name 'Mirko' instilled everyone upon hearing it."
Ticked off she approached her wife and dragged her up by the collars.
"I understand that you are worried about our perfect girl, but don't you think that you overstrain yourself about this situation a little too much? Yes, I admit that we found ourselves a couple too many times in the hospital because she injured herself again, but at the end of the day she recovered faster than expected, always. So how about you lay a bit off and trust in her once more. In her words, 'I obviously know what I am doing!', why not trust in what she is saying."
Having said her part, Rumi was about to release her wife from the grip, but before she could do so, she found herself getting dragged up by her collar.
Fumio was still glaring back at her, but this time a little smile formed on her face.
"First, I am your wife. I glare at you how much I want, for how I long I want and in exchange you can glare at me until you are satisfied. Second, if I am honest, I really forgot a bit, but can you blame me? How can I associate the savage bunny hero Mirko who pummels her enemies to near death, to my cute rabbit wife Rumi, showering me with affection every day, how could I remember?"
At this point Rumi was just blushing profusely. This didn't go as expected, not at all. It exactly went like the other times she decided to go against her like that, she even expected to get pushed down like always.
For a split second she wanted to go against it, but at the she decided to submit. It would help Fumio relax, so there was no point in resisting.
Until she heard a sigh coming from her. She opened her eyes, just noticing the mellow expression Fumio had on her face, she kind of seemed sad.
"Third, do you really think that Akane knows what she is doing?"
Surprised about the unexpected outcome Rumi was a bit confused about the question Fumio just asked.
"Yes, it seems like Akane always knows what to do, but can you really say that she realizes what she does to herself?"
"What, what do you mean?"
"I mean how the girl is clearly exploiting her body in every sense of the word. Yes, it is her body, but don't you think that what she does is way too much to even consider anywhere near appropriate? Didn't you already all the horrible scars on her body, increasing and increasing each single day? The amounts she is getting admitted into hospital for treatment without apparent reason increasing in frequency. She acts as if she is doing well every day, but isn't it clear that she is overstraining herself? That she is working herself to death? How can I continue sleeping peacefully at night when I know what she is doing to herself every single day. How can I see myself as a mother if I don't interfere already?"
Fumio almost cried out. Seeing her like this, Rumi felt bad. She was worrying day and night about her daughter, always turning a blind eye towards her daughter, always trusting in her, knowing what she does to herself and she never noticed that.
She never noticed how many sleepless nights her partner had, that she seemed to need her consolation in the bedroom very often, how she always seemed to phase out during important times, saying that it was about time for her to return home.
Rumi felt pathetic, she felt like she failed as a wife and also a bit about being her mother, but more importantly...
...more important than all her current worries...
"Sweetheart, you are chocking me! I can't get air! Please, please release your grip a bit!"
...Fumio was slowly tightening her grip around her collar, the strength slowly increasing alongside her worries, at one-point Rumi wasn't getting any air anymore.
Noticing her struggle, Fumio immediately released her grip.
"I - I am so sorry, I forgot that I was holding you and without noticing..."
*CLANG*
Suddenly hearing the drop of a vase, the two parents slowly turned towards the source of the noise.
What they saw was an Akane, trying to slowly sneak up the stairs.
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Inside Akanes soul:
"On a scale from one to ten, how screwed is the girl now?"
"You want to hear my honest opinion?"
Scarlet nodded, she always preferred the cold-hard truth, even before a sweet white lie. After all, how could one accurately assess the situation if they were fed lies, this isn't any better for the person that told the lie, because know they had to live with it, covering it up every time it reoccurs again.
Scarlet had always preferred the truth, even if it broke her heart after a certain foolish individual told her how he truly felt about her.
But at the end she accepted it, things like that can't be forced, no matter what.
"The truth and nothing else."
"One least screwed, ten most screwed?"
"Yes."
"Maybe a three."
Scarlet was baffled, that was a number she didn't expected.
"You sure that you assessed the situation right?"
"Nines all until the 23 decimal range."
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HopelessHikikomori
HopelessHikikomori Hehe.
'The End', unfunniest joke I've ever seen.
(The Nadayo!)
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