In exchange for smoothing over the whole "using my Quirk on a person in public" incident, I ended up playing accomplice to a brand-new form of kidnapping: boxing up a slimy old man. And so, I solemnly faced my task.
Water bottle in one hand, dustpan in the other, I scooped up the gooey villain with expert precision. Pack him up, pack him up, pack him all the way up. Mission accomplished.
Now that I think about it, helping a Hero is exactly what an upstanding citizen should do. Not doing it would be weird. With my noble soul—basically the gold standard of law-abiding citizens—I got it done without a single complaint.
...God, this is such a pain. I want to go home.
"Still, young lady, for someone your age, you've trained your Quirk quite well. Are you hoping to become a Hero?"
The muscleman suddenly started talking to me.
I panicked. Please stop. I can't get into muscle guys. I'm more of a lean-and-toned type, if we're being honest.
I couldn't exactly say that and risk ticking him off, so I played along for the sake of convenience.
"I guess so."
"I see! With promising young people like you around, I can rest easy while searching for a successor—nngh! ...No, never mind! Nothing at all! HAHAHA!"
"I guess so."
"...But listen, you mustn't get overconfident. You handled things well this time, but there's no guarantee the next encounter will go as smoothly."
"I guess so."
"...And using your Quirk on people is—"
"I guess so."
"Hey! Do people ever tell you that you don't listen?"
"I guess so."
"Of course they do! This old man is feeling the generation gap hard right now!"
Even though I was playing along, the muscleman seemed annoyed for some reason and kept muttering something. I wasn't listening, so I didn't catch it, but I'm sure he was asking me to introduce him to a cute guy or something.
This is why I can't deal with these types.
After that, I spent the next while stuffing the gooey villain into water bottles alongside the self-proclaimed Hero—some muscleman called All Might.
By the time we finished, the sun had set. I'd missed the rerun of Abarenbou Shogun.
Well, considering what time it was when I met the muscleman, I didn't have much hope of catching it anyway.
"Well then, I need to take this to the police, so I'll be taking my leave."
"Oh. Sure."
"..."
"?"
I thought he was about to stuff the slime-filled bottles into his pocket and leap away, but instead, the muscleman just stared at my face. What's his deal?
I know I'm gorgeous—I inherited my mother's blessed genes—but I'm not gracious enough to tolerate being stared at by some muscleman I just met. So I glared back.
"Could you not make such a scary face? You're going to make this old man cry."
"Then what's your problem? I'm a bashful middle school girl, you know. Stare at me like that and I'll call the cops."
"You say terrifying things so casually! No, it's not a big deal, but... are you sure you don't want an autograph?"
An autograph?
"Sorry, I don't have any loan agreements on me."
"What are you planning to make me sign?! Please don't tell me you want me as a guarantor!"
"What else would you sign for?"
"You really do say scary things like it's nothing! I'm worried about your future! Fine! I won't say another word! Farewell!"
With that parting shot, the muscleman bent his knees deep, as if building momentum. Just as he crouched into position, I noticed his wallet starting to slip out of his back pocket.
Thinking I'd do him a favor, I grabbed his shoulder—and in that instant, my vision filled with nothing but blue sky.
I couldn't comprehend what had just happened.
But my body responded to the crisis on instinct. My mother's attraction Quirk activated, locking my hand firmly to the muscleman's clothes.
When I saw the town sprawling far below me from high in the sky, I understood everything. From the depths of my gut, I screamed:
"MUSCLEMAN!!"
"—!? What are you doing up here?!"
"Because you took off without warning!! Land this thing, now!!"
"I can't just do that out of nowhere—oh, shit!! Not now of all times!!"
Suddenly, smoke started pouring from the muscleman.
I don't know much about muscleman biology, but I could tell this wasn't normal. This guy's bad news. If I could let go and survive, I'd do it in a heartbeat.
Unfortunately, my fleeting wish didn't come true. The smoking muscleman and I crash-landed on the roof of some random building.
I tried to make a run for it immediately after landing, but the muscleman steam blocked my view of the exit. Escape: aborted.
I had no choice but to wait for the muscleman steam to settle.
"—Hm?"
Once the steam cleared, I looked around for the exit and spotted a scrawny old man in my field of vision. The muscleman was nowhere to be seen.
"—This is bad. To think you'd see me like this."
The scrawny guy muttered something cryptic. I ignored him and kept looking for the exit.
Oh, this door's locked.
"If I could just ask you to—"
"Is it over there? Nope, that one's locked too."
"—my Quirk, you see... You know how sometimes at the pool—"
"How about here? Oh, this one's open."
"—You really don't listen to people!"
For some reason, the scrawny guy got super mad.
"Aren't you even a little curious? I know it's weird to say this myself, but a guy with thick muscles just turned into skin and bones. Don't you think that's strange?"
"I guess so."
"That's your go-to line when you're not listening! How uninterested are you?!"
I mean, what does he expect? I am uninterested.
Whether a muscleman class-changes into a scrawny guy or a scrawny guy class-changes into a muscleman, it has zero impact on my life. I don't care. It's his Quirk, right? Okay, okay. Got it.
"Well then, see ya."
"Alright, fine! I understand! I really understand now! I need to explain this to you properly! You need to understand before you agree to keep quiet!"
"Ugh."
And so, I spent the next while listening to the scrawny man's life story. Apparently, he's the number one Hero, All Might—identity and Quirk unknown to the public—and he's supposedly a big deal. He's all over TV, ads, and merchandise. A rich celebrity. I've never heard of him, though.
After years of fighting, his body's reached its limit from injuries. Now he's searching for a successor to take his place.
After hearing the whole story, I thought:
This is the kind of thing I should not have heard.
"This is the kind of thing I should not have heard, right?"
When I accidentally said my thoughts out loud, the scrawny man gave a bitter smile. "You didn't show a shred of interest, and yet you can still say that. You'll forget it all anyway."
Well, yeah. I'll probably forget by tomorrow. Guaranteed amnesia before I even think about telling anyone.
"—Oh, actually, I just remembered something."
"Hm? What is it?"
"Scrawny guy—er, All... Man?"
"All Might. You already forgot in just a few minutes. I can't believe you."
"All Might, over ten years ago, during that huge disaster... didn't you rescue people from collapsed buildings and stuff? The one where you saved like a thousand people."
"Over ten years ago... Ah, yes, I remember. It was all over the internet."
Oh, so it was him. I thought he looked familiar. No wonder my trauma switches were tingling.
"I saw that."
"HAHAHA, that's a little embarrassing. Back then, I—"
"When I saw that, I thought from the bottom of my heart that I never wanted to become a Hero."
"...Oh."
He looks surprised.
I mean, I guess most people would feel admiration or something, so it makes sense. I just don't feel that way. That's all.
"—When I saw you charging into those collapsing buildings, I was terrified. I thought you weren't human. You were like a monster. And watching a monster pretend to be human was unbearably frightening. Unsettling. Even your smile was creepy."
"...I see."
"And I couldn't understand why people praised you for it. You were casually risking your life, and yet everyone acted like it was the right thing to do. Everyone praised you. No one got angry and said, 'That's dangerous.' I kept wondering why. It wasn't about having power or not having it. It wasn't about that at all—"
The scrawny guy's expression turned serious.
Wait, I'm not pouring my heart out here. I just wanted to ask him about it, okay? Stop looking at me like that.
"—Um, well, it doesn't really matter anymore, though."
"Huh?! It doesn't matter?! Just when it felt like you were getting to the heart of it?!"
"I mean, honestly... more importantly, I want to ask—Heroes, uh—"
"—Heroes... what?"
"How much do they make a year?"
"That was definitely not the vibe we were going for."
After that, I got yelled at big time.
I don't get it.