Himiko stood at her doorframe for a few seconds before going back in and shutting the door behind her.
Her mother had already made herself at home, sitting by the edge of her bed while her father stood beside her, his eyes scanning the room.
"At least your room is clean this time. What motivated you to clean?"
Himiko stuttered, trying to figure out what to say only to fail.
He walked up to a free plastic chair and sat down. "Never mind, progress is progress."
An uncomfortable silence engulfed the room after he spoke, the nerve-racking silence stretching endlessly.
'It must be that time of the year again…'
After being abandoned by her family, Himiko's parents began visiting her once in a while.
At first, she thought because they felt a little bad for discarding her, her little naive self actually believed they had a soft spot in their hearts for her.
But she was wrong.
It took a few years to discover that they were mandated. In order to not have trouble abandoning their child, they had to provide a certain amount of allowance and visit her at the very least…
That was the only reason they ever came, and because of this, every year, Himiko had the misfortune of hosting their visit.
"What have you been up to these days, Himiko?" he asked, his expression showing how useless the information actually was to him.
Himiko sighed. "So, so…"
She had no interest in their small talk; it was not like they cared after all. To them, this was just a formality.
They asked her a bunch of questions to seem as though they were actually checking on her, and Himiko gave them one-word replies just to make the conversation as short as possible.
Then finally, her father stood up, his eyes narrowed as he stared down at her. "And your… defect? How are you handling it?"
'Defect?'
Himiko gritted her teeth as a sharp stinging pain filled her heart.
"Don't tell me you're still holding on to the idea that it is normal?!" Her mom stiffened.
"…"
"Himiko!" she screamed, but her father raised his hand to stop her.
He sighed, disappointment evident in his eyes. "I see you still haven't grown past that rotten mindset of yours."
Himiko's hand tightened on the hem of her shirt. 'I'm tired of this…'
"Make sure you stay away from trouble. Don't do anything that will bring shame to our family."
'Just leave…'
"Try to control yourself…"
'I don't want your advice!'
Himiko's heart was in turmoil, and yet, she didn't say anything. She had done so in the past—they never listened…
To her relief, they finally left her room and shut the door behind them with a bang.
Himiko let out a tired breath, her gaze still on the floor. Then she pushed her hair backward and tiredly walked up to the door to lock it when she heard their voices from the other side.
Her mom's voice trembled slightly. "What should we do? It's been so many years now?"
She heard her father adjusting his coat. "She's never going to get better. She doesn't even know she is defective."
"Isn't there anything we can do?"
"We have done our best. Now it's time we left her to herself. She will never find a place in this world. She will realize soon that she is wrong, and then she will come back begging for our help."
What followed next was the sound of their footsteps as they left.
Himiko leaned on her door and sighed, her eyes weary as she stared into space.
If it was a few weeks ago, then she would have been curled up in her bed, moping for hours.
One would think she would have developed a thick skin for their words, but it was not that easy.
Whenever they came, there was still a little part of her hoping that just maybe, they had changed their minds.
They were her parents, the people she had known since she was little, so it was only natural.
But this time, strangely, Himiko felt relief.
Every time they would 'advise' her, the one thing that always got to her were those words.
'She will never find a place in this world.'
Back then, she had no friends or relationships worth mentioning, and her life was a mess.
Her life was still a mess…
But now, she had a place where she truly belonged.
Kyle…
A small smile appeared on her face as she walked up to her bed and snuggled underneath the sheets.
'I need to prove them wrong…'
It was about time Himiko got her life back in order.
•••
The day of the sports festival had finally come.
Before the day had fully awakened, before even the first light of day, multiple heroes had gathered in one of UA's conference rooms.
Principal Nezu was seated at the head of the table, and All Might was right next to him, his signature smile on his face.
Most of the heroes were teachers at the school, excluding a few notable ones.
There was Rabbit Hero, Mirko, whose assistance was requested in case there were any anomalies in their plans.
Kamui Woods and Mt. Lady, who had been involved in the investigation, were here as well.
Hawks, the brains behind the plan, was sitting at the head of the table right next to Principal Nezu. There was a map hanging on a stand next to him, one detailing every single aspect of UA.
He was using a long red feather to point at various spots of the academy as he reiterated their plan for today.
Plans on how to finally capture the Midnight Vigilante.
Although he had not been active in the past few days, the threat of who he could be was still very much present, and failure to act would only lead to more problems in the future.
And yet, there was little information about him, so setting a trap was far too difficult.
So instead of creating a trap for him, their plan was engineered with All For One in mind.
Quirks…
They had purposely gone out of their way to advertise the festival far and wide; there was no way he would not have found out about it.
To him, the children could as well be chicks before a hawk—
Weak, practically defenseless and vulnerable to his strength.
If he came to the festival, then chances were, he would be unable to resist the allure of good quirks.
And if their guess was right… if he truly was related to All For One or had a similar quirk to him, then there was no way he would sit still.
At least that was their hope.
There was a high chance that he wouldn't even attend the festival; either way, there was only one way to find out.
After he finished the explanation, Hawks stuck the feather back into his wing.
"Any questions?"
..
..
Next chapter: Disaster Wears Black