After saying goodbye to All Might, I tried to head straight home—but then I received a shopping mission directive from my mother.
Defying her was not an option. I made a U-turn and headed for the shopping district.
"Milk, flour, butter, potatoes, firm tofu, salted jellyfish... Wait, what is Mom even planning to make? The first half sounds like stew, but the second half is ominous."
I arrived near the shopping district while reciting my mother's mysterious shopping list. But the district was way more lively than usual.
Wondering what was going on, I climbed onto a bald guy's head to get a better view—channeling my rubbernecker instincts—and spotted vivid explosions in the distance.
Oh? Is it a festival?
"Hey, old man, what's going on? A festival?"
"Does this look like a festival to you?"
"Kind of, yeah."
"A villain's on a rampage, apparently. Also, miss, don't grab my head so hard. It'll come off."
It'd be cruel to pull out the few hairs the old man has left, so I climbed down.
But now what? I was planning to shop here.
"—...!!"
Suddenly, I heard a voice that sounded oddly familiar.
I turned around to look, but I didn't see anyone I knew.
Wait—no, I did. The scrawny guy was there.
"All... Mr. All, what are you doing here?"
"!? Y-You're the girl from earlier... Wait, you already forgot my name. I'm worried about your future."
"Yo. Anyway, what are you doing here? Holding your stomach—bathroom? Number one or number two? It's number two, isn't it?"
"No, it's not the bathroom. It's an old injury."
"Huh."
"Could you at least try to be interested? You asked, so show some normal human curiosity, okay?"
He looked like he wanted to talk, so I played along. This is what I get.
Adults are so messy. I'm never turning into one of these.
"I get the feeling you're thinking something incredibly rude right now."
"You're imagining things."
"I find that shockingly hard to believe."
Even as he bantered, Mr. All grimaced in pain, clutching his stomach. Feeling a little bad for him, I quietly offered him a bandage. He looked like he didn't need it, but gave me the classic line: "I'll take the thought." Yeah, he's not grateful at all.
"By the way, did you call for me?"
"? I didn't call you."
"That's weird. I thought someone called me. Anyway, what are you doing here, Mr. All? Did you turn in the guy we kidnapped to the police?"
"Ugh... W-Well, you see..."
Mr. All's expression instantly darkened, and I got a bad feeling. Sensing I'd get dragged into something annoying if I stuck around, I tried to head to a different supermarket—but then I heard a voice I really didn't want to hear.
"What a powerful Quirk! The explosions are too intense—we can't get close!!"
"And he's just a middle schooler, yet so tough! He's still conscious!"
Explosions. Toughness. Middle schooler.
Oh. Could it be?
I squeezed through the crowd to get a look, and sure enough, I saw an exploding middle schooler and a slimy old man clinging to him.
Well, that confirms it. This guy's a creep.
"You shouldn't go after middle schoolers, dude. Oh wait, I haven't asked Kacchan how he feels, so maybe I can't say for sure. There's a slim chance they're into each other."
"!? You know him?!"
"He's my childhood friend, so yeah, I know him. But I just found out he's into guys."
"For his honor, let me clarify—he's being attacked!!"
So he's not into guys. They're not making out in public. I see.
"Well, in that case, guess I have no choice."
"! W-Where are you going, young lady?! That way is—"
I could go to another supermarket, but the shopping district gives me points. Can't help it.
"Just hold on a little longer! Backup Heroes are on the way—"
"Dude, you're being way too harsh on a middle schooler. Child abuse in progress—requesting backup from headquarters. Suspect is a gorilla. Gorilla. Over."
"—Huh?!"
I dissed the muscle gorilla as I walked past him and headed straight for my childhood friend.
"Who is that girl?! It's dangerous!!"
"Does she know him?! That's reckless!!"
"Is she his girlfriend?!"
"Yo, whoever said that last part—I remember your face. Hero or not, I'm coming for you."
Me being Kacchan's girlfriend? No way.
His face isn't bad, but his personality's garbage. I'm not dating someone who'd definitely commit domestic violence.
Someone else can pick him up, please.
Oh crap, the slime villain and I made eye contact.
"!! You—from earlier!!!"
"Oh wow, you remembered me? Thanks for that. I wasn't done with you either. Revenge for the eggs!!"
I threw my cute and charming bag at him while running. It hit him square in the face, and while he flinched, I closed the distance and activated my attraction Quirk to pull Kacchan out.
Schlorp—half-crying Kacchan's face emerged, so I decided to rub in all my pent-up frustration.
"You look so desperate for help, it's hilarious. Want me to save you? Obviously not for free, though~?"
"—! Like hell I need that!! I can handle myself, dammit!! I'll kill you!!"
"Yeah, that's the spirit. I'll back you up, so blast him."
I shot a blinding flame at the slime villain's face and activated my attraction Quirk at full power, yanking Kacchan's body out of the sludge.
The slime's adhesive power was no joke. I tried my best, but I could only pull out his upper half.
But my job's just support, so that's good enough.
"Blast him, Kacchan."
"Shut up, you damn bitch!! I was gonna do it anyway!!! Take this!!!"
Our Kacchan's a kid who delivers when it counts.
His full-power explosion was intense. The slime villain took it head-on and released Kacchan from his grip.
Ha, take that. Revenge for my eggs.
Just as I was grinning smugly, the slime villain—who'd recovered quickly—came straight at me.
Going after a young maiden's body? Is this guy bi?
I tried to use my fire-breathing Quirk to create distance, but he must've learned his lesson because he blocked with what looked like his hand. A face is one thing, but a hand? If you're ready for it, you can take it. Plus, water and fire have garbage compatibility anyway.
Just as I was bracing myself to get covered in slime, a muscleman blazed past me at incredible speed. Looks like the scrawny guy class-changed.
"Pathetic... How pathetic!! To hesitate in saving someone and leave the job to a girl who doesn't even want to be a Hero!!"
True that.
"A pro always risks their life!!!"
The mighty punch he threw while coughing up blood created a gust of wind. It was like a natural disaster. I'd love to ask what he was thinking about collateral damage.
Oh, and the slime villain got scattered into pieces, by the way.
"—Hey!! You could've at least held down my skirt!!"
Looks like my childhood friend was more focused on my skirt than All Might's tornado. What a perv.
"It's fine. They're modesty shorts anyway. Look all you want."
"Like hell I would, idiot!!!"
Listening to my childhood friend's yapping, I sighed at the trashed shopping district.
Can I even shop here now?
So the slime villain got safely captured, hooray, time to go home—except I got caught by the gorilla Heroes.
Mega lecture time. Seriously unbelievable.
The lecture was so unreasonable that I snapped. If you had saved him faster, I wouldn't have had to butt in, okay? What do you expect from a middle schooler? Are you stupid? Is your brain all muscle too? "Do your best"? LOL, couldn't you say something better than that? Oh, and another thing—I've been noticing this for a while, but it reeks when you're nearby. It smells so bad my nose is gonna fall off. Is it body odor? Is that what this is?
—After communicating like a proper human being, he started crying. Okay, maybe I went a little too far. My bad. Saying his brain was all muscle was too much. Obviously that's not true. His brain just doesn't have any wrinkles. I'm not taking back the body odor thing, though. That's a fact.
Oh, and Kacchan got praised, by the way.
Totally doesn't make sense. Kacchan didn't seem to get it either.
Right?
I dragged my exhausted body from the lecture party, bought everything I was asked to get from the shopping district (which had reopened), and headed home.
Gotta hurry or Mom's gonna hit me with something brutal. Full sprint mode.
But alas.
I spotted a shadow blocking my path.
What now? I frowned and looked—it was the muscleman.
Thinking it might be a coincidence, I tried to walk past, but he called out: "No, I have business with you!"
"I'm still in middle school, so if you confess to me, I can only call the cops."
"Yeah, why are you acting like I'm confessing? I'm not."
"So, um, I'm sorry."
"Got it! You just want to end this conversation!!"
Right as he snapped back, the muscleman coughed up blood and, with a cloud of muscleman steam, class-changed back into the scrawny guy.
I was mildly impressed by his life-risking retort.
"So what do you actually want?"
"Cough, cough... Ah, sorry. I just wanted to ask you something. Or rather, you're not worried about me at all, are you?"
"Are You Okay."
"Yeah, let's drop this. Anyway, what I wanted to ask is—Miss Midoriya, why did you go to save him?"
Why, he asks. I didn't expect to hear that from a Hero.
"Well, he's someone I know, so obviously I'd save him."
"You said it yourself—that Heroes look like terrifying monsters to you."
"Yep."
"What you did earlier was the very essence of being a Hero. Or rather, the core of it."
The core?
"Don't look so confused. You asked why. Why I could charge into that dangerous, collapsing building. It's because I felt the same way you did back there. My world is just a little bigger than yours. The people I want to save—there are just a few more of them than the ones you want to save. That's the only difference between you and me."
"Uh-huh."
"You said my smile was creepy. I get it. If I had an enemy who smiled all the time, even I'd find it unsettling. But this smile is also for my own sake."
The scrawny guy's unusually serious gaze gave me a bad feeling.
"To reassure people. To project confidence and pressure my enemies. To uphold the Symbol of Peace. Everyone says different things, and honestly, I won't deny those elements exist. But the biggest reason is to deceive myself—to escape the weight of being a Hero and the fear welling up inside."
The scrawny guy clenched his fist tightly.
Don't show me that. Don't. I get it already.
"You should understand. You went to save that boy with a smile on your face."
Uh... what?
That was because I could mess with Kacchan for a legit reason, so I was just thrilled. It had nothing to do with fear or whatever.
He placed a hand on my shoulder.
Sexual harassment in progress—requesting headquarters response, over.
"Out of everyone there—someone uninterested in others, someone who doesn't like Heroes, someone who hates trouble—you went to save him without hesitation!! That's why I was moved!! Top Heroes leave behind stories from their student days... and many of them end the same way!! 'My body moved before I could think'!! That's what happened to you, wasn't it?! You can become stronger and more admirable than anyone—a true Hero!! So—"
The scrawny guy reached out his hand.
An obvious recruitment.
I thought carefully and calmly.
"—become my successor as a Hero—"
"I decline."
And I turned him down properly.
The scrawny guy blinked in confusion.
Just to be safe, I said it again.
"I decline."
I'm a bashful middle school girl who prefers dumplings over flowers.
I'm a straightforward girl who doesn't do ambiguity.
When I say no, I mean no.