Chapter Text
“Aimei! Over here!” I saw my friends wave to me from our usual lunch table.
“Yeah!” I replied, and wove my way through the crowd. I stumbled over someone’s leg, but I blobbed some shadows together around my foot to catch myself before I fell. I sighed in relief and continued my way to my friends.
I found our table under the shade of one of the few trees in the outside commons lunchroom. I sat down next to Sabaki and Hina.
“I can’t believe they made a decent lunch today!” I exclaimed. At my old school in America, the food was practically ready they recycled from the garbage cans. Anything was a step up from that.
Hina nodded her head of shoulder length dark black hair quietly, her mouth full, while Sabaki just grunted his agreement. He was too busy stuffing his face. Sabaki’s mouth cleared for a moment, then he turned to me.
“Which high school are you applying to again?” He asked hopefully. He shook his brown hair out of his dark eyes.
“UA.” I said determinedly. Shoto would never settle for less than the best. I thought. He’ll be there.
“Really?” Hina questioned. “I thought when you said that in Year Two you were joking.”
“Well, so did everyone else in homeroom.” I grumbled. I stuffed some miso in my mouth and chomped angrily. Sabaki laughed.
“I totally forgot about that!” He exclaimed. “You started out as a ‘hero nerd’, and now look at you! You’re like the strongest person in the school!”
“And like all the guys are basically in love with you.” Mari said sarcastically, sashaying past us, swishing her skirt underneath her before she sat down on the other side of Hina. She flipped her long, wavy blonde hair back behind her, out of the way.
“That’s funny because it’s not true.” Kiaria said while grinning, appearing after Mari. Her long caramel colored hair was tied up in a ponytail today, and it showed off her silver eyes.
My mouth was on the floor.
“That’s unfair! They just don’t get me, okay? ” I mumbled. I was pretty sure my face was as pink as the cherry blossoms hanging on a branch over my head.
Kiaria and Mari shared a look and sighed, as if saying ‘Isn’t she cute when she’s oblivious?’
“You guys are horrible, you know that?” I grumbled, rolling my eyes and shoving food in my mouth. “Guys like me. Just not the ones here. The second we get in high school, I bet I’ll have so many admirers I’ll have to fight them all.”
“I feel like that’s exactly the problem, you wanna fight them.” A voice said behind me. I didn’t bother turning to see who, the voice was familiar to us all.
“Shut up, Yasuke. I’ll punch you.” I said spitefully, sending a glare his way as he sat next to Kia, in-between her and Mari.
“I’ll take my chances,” Yasuke said shrugging, taking a bite of the food from his bento box.
“I’d beat you up,” I retorted, chewing angrily. Yasuke easily riled me up.
“And then you’d get in trouble and I’d just have few bruises,” He said with a shit-eating grin. “Seems worth it.”
I huffed and continued to eat my food in silence as the group continued chatting. I quickly devoured my meal, practically inhaling it as an idea slowly flickered to life in my brain.
“I’m done.” I announced. Mari glanced at my empty tray, practically licked clean.
“You eat fast,” Was all she said, taking a bite of her own half-eaten meal.
“I’m gonna go out, I’ll be back.” I said to the table, clambering out of my seat with my tray in my hands. “Just getting some air-time.” I muttered to Kia, and she nodded in response.
Kia was my cousin, and probably knows me better than I know myself. We had been living together for a long time, as both of our parents weren’t in our lives anymore. Mine died, but hers walked out. We had lived in America with our grandparents for years, but a few years ago we moved to Japan for schooling.
“Thanks.” I said to her. I started walking away when Sabaki stood up too.
“Just dropping off my tray too.” He said. I saw him glance at Hina out of the corner of my eye, furtive and full of some sort of emotion I couldn’t quite grasp.
“You finished?” I asked, quirking an eyebrow at his tray which still had a significant amount of food left on it. “You hardly ate anything.”
“I had cooking class before this. We made pie. I’m way full,” Sabaki said groaning and rubbing his tummy with one hand. I laughed at that.
“Jealous, I wanted to get into that class before we graduated.” I mused, shaking my head sadly. Too bad I wouldn’t be able to take any classes like that in UA.
“Too slow.” He told me, sticking out his tongue at me while I placed my tray on a stack with all the other used ones.
“Yeah, yeah, whatever.” I said as he turned to place his tray on it too, after scraping his excess food in the garbage can.
“Okay, I’ll be back before the first bell rings. I’ll meet you guys at the gym entrance.” I said, brushing my hands together.
“Don’t be late! We’ll go in without you!” He stage-whispered, bumping my shoulder.
“Aw, shut up! I’m never late!” I stuck my tongue out at Sabaki.
“That’s a lie if I ever heard one,” Sabaki said skeptically, but didn’t stop me from leaving.
I blew a raspberry at him, then walked out of the courtyard. I did a short wave to Mari, Kia, Yasuke and Hina, then gathered together some shadows from the pavilion, formed dark, inky wings connecting to my shoulder blades and back, and shot up in the air.
I flew up higher and higher, urging my wings further and further. I closed my eyes, relishing the feeling of the air streaming past me, and the sun warming-.
Nope. Not warm anymore. I opened my eyes cautiously, and paused in the air.
“A cloud. That’s weird.” I murmured to myself. “I don’t feel like I’ve flown that high yet.”
I slowly lowered myself below the cloud. I was right. I hadn’t flown that high. I was barely above tree level. The cloud was just unusually low.
“Huh.” I muttered. I looked around wherever else the clouds were low, and saw some fog up ahead, in the shopping district. It was about a seven minute flight away. I looked back uncertainly at the school, hesitant.
“I’ll be quick…” I muttered, knowing it was a lie.
I started flying my way there to investigate. I was way too curious to stop now. It wasn’t the right season for fog to be this thick, especially on a sunny day like today.
My shadows were getting a little thin from the sun, so I dipped down further under the fog to hide from it’s rays.
I scanned the horizon of the buildings, looking for anything out of the order, and saw a certain street that was slightly more congested than the others. So naturally, I flew down to investigate.
I sucked in a breath. In the middle of the street’s shopping square there was a man with a gun, who was holding a small girl hostage, while seemingly threatening the crowd.
I did a loop around the scene, while slowly going lower. I stayed behind the gun-man, so he couldn’t see me, but decided to land softly on the roof of a building behind him.
“Give me all your wallets! Or the kid gets it!” The man yelled, his voice echoing around the small square. The gun was held at the girls head. She had short red hair, and was crying, yelling for her mother.
I saw a woman, closer than the others in the crowd to the man. She had long red hair, identical in shade to the girl. That must be her mother. I thought.
The woman walked forward to the man, holding her purse out to him, her hands shaking.
“Please, take it. It has around a hundred dollars in cash in it, and my credit card.” She said tearfully to him. “Just...give me my daughter back...”
My eyebrows furrowed deeply into my face and my mouth set into a thin, grim line. I wasn’t the type of person to let this sort of thing slide, especially not since I was right there to stop it. I steeled my nerves, and formulated a plan.
••••••••••••••••
I dissolved my shadow wings, and dived down at the man. I collected speed, wind whipping at my eyes, making them water. I didn’t even try to slow down.
I got closer and closer to the man, getting faster and faster. Some people in the crowd saw me coming. They whispered and pointed.
The man turned around, noticing their gestures, but it was too late. He had a tough look on his face, but it quickly changed to fear when he saw me.
I reformed my wings, and unfurled them widely to slow my ascent, and reached out my arms to scoop him up into the air with me.
He was so surprised he dropped the gun, and let go of the girl. Sadly, he didn’t let go of the mother’s purse. The moment the impact was made, the fog disappeared too. The fog must be his Quirk, he was using it as a cloak so no heroes would see him from far away. Stupid plan. People would call the authorities anyways. Clearly he wasn’t a very good villain.
My arms were heavy with his weight, and my shadows strained more than they had ever done before. I gathered more shadows from the tall buildings around me to make it easier. I was struggling to bring him up with me, but I was doing it.
I was carrying another person with me. I was carrying another person with me.
What was I going to do with him?! I didn’t even know where the closest police station was!!
The man looked up at me, his black shoulder length hair tangled in the wind.
“Who are you?!” He screamed.
“Uhh...” I replied. “It’s a secret.”
I looked down at the crowd that had gathered, and I slowed my ascent to a stop.
I hovered in midair, my shoulders tiring with the extra weight. How much does this guy weigh?! I thought tiredly.
“Hey! I’m fit for my age!” He shouted at me.
I half-smiled and laughed sheepishly at him, I hadn’t realized I accidentally voiced my thoughts out loud.
I spotted the woman whose daughter was held hostage, and she was holding her daughter tightly against her body.
I lowered myself enough to talk, but not enough that the man would think to escape.
“Um, excuse me! Where’s the nearest police station?” I shouted to her. She seemed a little shell-shocked, holding her daughter tightly to her chest.
She thought for a moment, then motioned with her hands.
“Just follow me!” She shouted back. At least, that’s what I thought she said. It was hard to hear from up there.
She started making her way through the large crowd, and I followed dutifully with my criminal deadweight.
I followed the two bright heads of red hair through every alleyway, every crosswalk, every street, until we got to the police station. Every time my arms, hands, or shoulder muscles faltered, I pushed through the pain in my muscles, determined to make it.
It probably took about just under ten minutes to get there, and when we arrived, my body finally gave out. I was close enough to the ground for my fall, I only got a little scratched up.
When we hit the ground, the man immediately started wiggling around, straining under me trying to escape. I tightened my grip a moment before he got away.
“You’re not going anywhere.” I growled. I dissolved my wing shadows, my shoulder muscles finally relaxing. I finagled the purse out of his white-knuckled grip, smacking his hands after I freed it.
He came up with some very creative words to call me for that as I stumbled my way up to a standing position.
I yanked him up with me, making him trip a little. He growled at me, spitting more colorful phrases.
I rolled my eyes at him, and walked him inside the police station, pulling both his arms behind his back, using the rope I had created with shadows as a restraint. I tightened it enough to hurt a little. It didn’t need to be that tight, but I wanted to make him hurt for what he did.
I walked over to the young woman and little girl.
“Right here.” The red-haired mother said, out of breath. The little girl seemed equally tired out, and I could relate.
“Thank you.” I sighed, grateful. I handed the purse to her, and walked tiredly over to the front doors of the station.
I opened the door and walked up to the front desk. A man with a balding, blonde head of hair at the desk glanced up at me, looked back at his computer, then looked back up and stared at me in surprise. His name tag read: Officer Takashi.
“This man was holding a young child hostage with a gun, and threatened to shoot her if the crowd that had unwittingly gathered didn’t hand over their wallets and purses.” I said to the officer, “If you could take him off my hands, that’d be great...” I finished tiredly, smiling weakly.
Officer Takashi scrambled to stand up and he hurried around his desk with a pair of handcuffs. He quickly handcuffed the criminal, and I released my shadows with a sigh.
“How did you…?” He asked, seemingly at a loss for words. I shrugged in response.
“I dunno. I just grabbed him.” I explained, which in hindsight is a pretty bad explanation. The officer sighed, and pinched the bridge of his nose.
“We’ll need a witness report for this. Would you mind doing it?” He asked me like it was a chore. I shrugged again.
“Sure.”
Officer Takashi sighed and passed off the handcuffed criminal to another officer with orders to detain him before gesturing me to follow him. He led me through the station until we reached a small room with three chairs and a table, completely bare. It looked like an interrogation room, if I was being completely honest.
“I’m just going to get another officer, you stay right here, okay?” Takashi told me sternly, and I nodded quickly. He was reacting a little too seriously for my liking.
I sat there for probably a minute or two before Takashi returned with another officer. Her name tag stated she was Officer Jin.
“We’re just going to ask you a few questions about the crime. Is that okay?” She asked. “It might become released as a public document, is that also okay?”
“Yeah, that’s fine.” I agreed. I didn’t see why it’d be an issue, and I didn’t feel particularly inclined to say no to a police officer while in a police station.
“What’s your name, kid?”
“Nakajima Aimei.” I replied.
“Alright, Miss Nakajima...”
Officer Jin proceeded to question me about where I was when the crime happened, who was being threatened, how it happened, and how I resolved it. I answered each question, and the last answer seemed to stun the officers.
“So at your age, which is...”
“Fourteen.” I supplied.
“At fourteen years old, with no hero specific training, you managed to apprehend an armed criminal without harming their hostage.”
“Uh, yeah.”
“Interesting. Was it hard to carry him?”
“Yeah, but...honestly? It wasn’t as hard as I thought. My shadows are stronger than I guessed.” I shrugged, stretching my sore arms.
“I think that about wraps everything up.” Officer Jin announced, shutting off the voice recorder.
Officer Takashi agreed, and they both thanked me for my time and stood up almost in unison. I followed suit. They escorted me out into the front room of the building, and Takashi clapped me on the shoulder, startling me a little.
“Are you planning on becoming a hero, kid?” He asked me, his stern tone leaving his voice momentarily.
I nodded my head.
“Good. When you go pro, I’m gonna tell everyone I knew you’d make it before anybody even knew you.” He said, smiling briefly. I thanked him.
“Don’t you have school?” Officer Jin asked, as if remembering what time of day it was.
I swore under my breath and groaned.
“Yeah, yeah I do,” I sighed, clenching my eyes tightly. I was so screwed. I made a guess that it had been almost an hour since lunch had ended.
“We can escort you back to your school, make sure your absence doesn’t get counted against you,” Jin suggested, looking at Takashi for confirmation. He nodded.
“That would be great, actually.” I said to them, smiling a little awkwardly.
Twenty minutes later, I walked through the front doors of my school with two police officers. I looked like a delinquent.
I ignored the looks from students and teachers alike as I walked quickly towards the office with Takashi and Jin, who seemed to me like they were walking as slow as possible. I waited by the door of the office with a taught smile on my lips. They finally caught up to me, and excused themselves to speak with the principal to discuss my lateness.
I sat down on a bench next to the door for a few minutes,contemplating how it was possible for one person to be so unfortunate, when the door finally reopened. My officers nodded and smiled at me, and I sighed gratefully. I thanked them, and they thanked me in return for my help.
“If you ever need to turn in any other guys like that, you know where to go,” Takashi told me with a kind look in his eyes, before he and Jin left back out the front doors. I nodded my head before he was out of sight.