Chapter 9: To Be a Hero

“O-oh, this?” The boy holds up his notebook and blushes. “W-w-w-well I want to be a hero. So I kind of got into the habit of analyzing heroes' quirks.”

“Really? Then what about the quirk of the hero who just took down that villain.” I point my thumb at where the bandaged hero is waving away people asking for pictures and autographs. The boy brightens up.

“Oh! That’s Kido, a member of the Flaming Sidekickers, who are affiliates with Endeavor’s agency. When an object passes through his bandages, his quirk allows him to redirect it. The caveat is that the object needs to be in motion, so he can’t use it on anything stationary.”

I nod along as he explains. “So to beat him you’d have to dodge his bandages, or force him into a trap.” I gesture at his notebook, my ears following my head’s inquisitive tilt. “Mind if I see?”

He babbles incoherently for a few moments before offering it to me with a bow. I can’t help but chuckle at his antics as I take it in hand.

Looking through it, I can see that this one is almost filled out with descriptions and portraits of a variety of heroes. Each entry is followed by the boy’s own thoughts on the hero’s quirk, as well as what their weakness might be.

Not all of them have the same amount of information of course. One hero called Eraser Head is missing a portrait. Instead it lists his quirk and states that you can identify him by his signature goggles. The only other things written about the guy is that to avoid his quirk you need to stay out of his sight, as well as a theory that he can’t affect mutant-type quirks.

Honestly it’s pretty well done. I hand it to Himiko who takes it with slightly puffed cheeks. I get that she wants to get back to our day out, but this kid is interesting!

“You’ve gotten a lot of info on pro heroes, haven’t you. And from what I read, you also have good analytical skills. What kind of hero do you want to be? I’m guessing you have some kind of intelligence or analysis quirk, so combat support?” He suddenly looks incredibly uncertain, worse than when we first came up to him.

“U-u-um, w-w-well you s-s-see. I don’t...” His voice gets quieter and quieter, so I can’t even hear the second half of his statement. At my quirked eyebrow he repeats himself louder. “I don’t have a quirk.” He hunches his shoulders, prepared for the vitriol that always gets thrown at him whenever someone who knows his dream also learns of his situation. 

I, of course, have no idea why he suddenly hunches down on himself. “Ok, so what kind of training do you do? I’ve been thinking of going to the gym myself and it would be nice to have someone familiar there.”

He looks at me in shock and my ears twitch in confusion. For a moment the only sound is Himiko flipping through the notebook. I clap my hands in front of his face and he finally reacts, jerking his head back in surprise.

“So? You have a gym recommendation?”

“Wait, wait! Didn’t you hear what I said? I don’t have a quirk but still want to be a hero!” He looks at me, flabbergasted. But there’s a gleam in his eye, one that’s been absent ever since he found out he was quirkless. Unknowingly, I speak the words he’s been desperate to hear.

“So? Being a hero is about helping people, not being powerful. So long as your heart is in the right place, you don’t need a quirk to be a hero.

Suddenly the boy bursts out crying, tears streaming down his face in an unbroken stream. As he begins to softly sob, I look at Himiko in a panic, unsure of what I should do or why he suddenly started crying. Rolling her eyes, she motions for me to wrap my arm around him.

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Though I have my doubts, I do so awkwardly, trying to keep actual contact to a minimum. The boy leans into me, letting a near decade of struggle loose onto my chest.

Eventually the tears stop flowing and he pulls himself off of me. I let go of him as he does so, glad to put that bit of awkwardness behind us. He gives me a smile full of joy, and his eyes shine with renewed conviction. Then he looks at my shirt and his face flushes in scarlet.

“Ah! I-I’m s-so s-sorry! I got your shirt covered in my tears!” He waves his arms around in a panic, unsure of what to do. It’s such a funny sight that I can’t help but start laughing. Somehow his blush deepens.

Smirking at the two of us, Himiko rolls her eyes. “Ok, ok. That’s enough of that. Let’s find someplace to sit so we can talk comfortably.”

The three of us end up on a bench nearby, watching as the police arrive and detain the villain. While we do, I smack the now introduced Midoriya across the head. “Just because you have conviction doesn’t mean you can substitute it for training! How are you supposed to be a hero if you have no training, and aren’t in amazing shape!?” He lowers his head in embarrassment while I continue. “You have a lower starting point than basically everyone else in the world, so you’ll need to work harder than anyone to achieve your dreams!”

He looks at me with shining eyes, and I’d swear that his pupils have been replaced with fire. “I’ll do it. I’ll sign up for martial arts lessons, a gym membership, and I’ll get strong enough to become a hero! YO-” On his other side, Himiko smacks his head.

“You can’t just ignore your brain though.” She waves his notebook in front of him. “If you analyzed villains as well as heroes, you’d have a much bigger pool of quirks to study. And if they aren’t arrested, then you might even be able to give the heroes advice on how to take them down!”

He looks thunderstruck at her words, and I can’t help but sigh. Really, has it never crossed his mind to analyze a villain’s quirk before? Shrugging it off, I take the notebook from Himiko.

“On a related note, think I could buy a copy of all your notes? This volume and all the others? I’ll pay you ten thousand yen per volume.”

He looks at me with a blank look on his face. After a moment he shouts in surprise. “Huh!? No, no! I couldn’t possibly accept money from you for those. Actually I don’t think you’d even want my old notebooks. I started them when I was really young, so the drawings are kind of amateurish, the notes are all over the place, and I put my own thoughts into them way too much…” He trails off as I simply stare him down.

“You done?” He nods quietly. “In that case, we can meet up next week at Letter Hose’s store. You know it? The guy who owns it has a quirk that lets him exactly copy anything written into something else. So you bring the filled notebooks, I’ll bring the empty ones. You have a phone?” Another nod. I use his pen and write down my number on the back cover of the notebook.

“Call me if you can’t find it. And text me how many notebooks I should bring. Oh, and when you figure out what gym you’ll be going to, text me that too. We can meet up and train together.”

Ignoring his silence, I stand up and dust off my clothes. I hold my hand out and Himiko takes it to help herself stand up. And so we leave to continue our day. We chuckle when we hear Midoriya yell out behind us.

“I GOT A GIRL’S NUMBER!!”

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