Chapter Text
Saikuru Asura stepped off the train and took a small moment to take in a breath of fresh air. As routine for her, she goes to a vending machine to get a bottle of cheap water and starts the long walk home. She blends in with the many nameless people in her small town. She knows the many nameless people who had their own lives, families, and problems and were walking, flying, and running between aging buildings with her. In small moments like these, she pretends that she was part of that eighty percent. The ones that could do amazing things like flying, super strength, and many others she could rattle off. The ones that became famous as Endeavor, All Might, etc did. The ones that became respected like heroes and villains. The ones that were remembered. Remembered unlike herself.
For you see, dear reader, Asura was quirkless. In a recent worldwide survey, it was recorded that eighty percent of people had quirks and the numbers seem to show no signs of plateauing. The term quirk was given to the little dominant gene that, which just happens to be related to the number of joints in the smallest toes, gives you an almost supernatural ability. Asura’s side of the Saikuru family mainly had elemental based quirks except herself. Her parents could control most liquids. Her uncles move rocks. Her younger sister, Iwa, moves rocks as if rocks were a type of liquid. Her cousin, Aiko, was another exception too as she could copy physical actions that she sees for half an hour. And all Asura can do is bend her smallest toe, which, to her, was not very impressive.
Asura continues her journey home from school, her messenger bag, which was heavy with homework and sketchbooks, was a constant reminder that she could and was just like the majority. She goes to school. She has a family and basic human needs and rights. In fact, she was better off than most, she was going into a fashion-focused college of her choice in Hosu city, a two hour trip from her town but well worth it. Her dream job could be grasped by her fingertips once she is finished with high school. Asura never needs to worry about food on the table or other stuff along those lines. But she still wasn’t part of the eighty percent with quirks.
All Asura needed to worry about was a small handful of things. Iwa, school, bullies, and quirklessness work-place discrimination. Her bullying problem, thankfully, was nearing an end as well as the school problem. Unfortunately, due to the rise of quirks quirklessness work-place discrimination was a topic not frequently discussed but there for all to see. Employers avoid hiring people without quirks as there would be someone with a quirk better suited for the job. Due to this many criminals are usually quirkless people who turned to crime because they could not get a job. Though there is movements and organizations trying to pass laws to end quirklessness work-place discrimination.
Then there was Iwa. Iwa, in Asura’s opinion, is a good kid but has no sense of preservation. She always comes home with bruises, cuts, or notes from teachers claiming it was from protecting others from bullies. The students in the middle school vouch for her while teachers and the bullies, a minority, say otherwise. Then out of school, their family keeps telling her to continue protecting others like a pro hero. Asura knows the family just wants a pro hero in the “prestigious family businesses” like the major pre-quirk era jobs.
Asura decided she was going to take a break in a small local park, just observing the scenery. Passing groups of young children playing “heroes and villains”. Young couples taking a romantic detor home. Then, Asura passes a small convolution of wildflowers she once planted when she was seven. Then, she arrives at her favorite tree, one that she always sat in since she was five. The branches over the years curved to make the perfect seat. After a quick climb up, she opens her bag. Math, science, history, and grammar books threaten to spill out.
A small shuffle through, Asura grabs and opens a sketchbook. Opening it showed all of the blank spaces filled costume designs for classmates and children saying that they would become a hero. Sometimes she wants to sell a few pages for some money or gain some more cash in her pocket from commissions but was always a little too nervous. Maybe if she would do that she could buy some more cloth, needles, threads, buttons, or anything else would need to make a costume for the approaching Halloween for her younger sister and herself. Maybe she can make money through costume commissions. Though Asura can just ask Iwa to ask for money and her parents just hand Iwa a (forty dollars) and then they would leave to go to the hospital.
Flipping a few pages more in the book received a whole section of costume designs for Iwa when she probably joins U.A. Iwa always asks Asura if (when) she made it into the prestigious school, Asura would have to make her first official pro-outfit. Iwa would easily make it in so Asura had already started planning. Luckily, Asura had the rest of this year to plan a couple of ideas. There were so many things that she needed to consider. Iwa was strong but unaware of her surroundings, reckless, and constantly left herself open.
Even if Iwa does not make it in the academy, she would still have to make the outfit to protect her. It would be a loss for the world but Iwa wasn’t going to let that stop her from doing what she wants. Asura knows that would be the fall of her reckless little sister and Asura would be there to catch her. Just like her parents, two doctors, who will stitch her up as Asura stitches tattered clothing after a fight defending a student from a bully. Asura swore she would continue to do the same for her when she inevitably ends up doing bigger actions that came with greater consequences.
When the sun started to see the other side of the world, Asura picked up where she left off of her walk home. Crossing slow streets, walking emptying sidewalks, and closing stores she passed until a twenty-four-hour convenience store. The sound of blasting air conditioning muddled the news reporter talking on the television. She disregarded the extra noise picking up some hot buns and some other simple snacks. When she was lining up to pay, she looked at the news seeing the reports on an attack in U.A. 's “U.S.J.”. The scene was terrible. The dome that covered the building has a giant hole. Apparently a student and two teachers were harmed. Also, All Might was there.
The cashier a noise snapping Asura out of her thoughts, she pays and quickly goes home.