"Powerful quirk... huh? Such a convenient excuse that is... You're so pathetic, you know, Akari Hayashi."
Akari, who heard this voice, didn't seem surprised. He didn't even flinch, as if this voice was nothing new.
And it was true.
But a hint of hate did flash in his eyes.
Ignoring all this, he kept walking.
BOOM!
Suddenly, an explosion sound reached his ears. Looking in that direction, he saw smoke rising into the sky from just across a building.
"Hmm... what's going on there?" He could hear the sounds of panic and more explosions from the other side.
Then Akari saw the rookie hero, Mt. Lady, running toward the scene — well, it was hard to ignore her.
"I shouldn't go there. The heroes will probably handle it... even if not, All Might is nearby..." Akari stared at the rising smoke with a blank gaze.
It wasn't like it was his first time seeing something like this. Such things happened here and there, sometimes several times a week.
Though this seemed a bit more serious, as he could hear shouts that the villain had taken a middle schooler hostage.
Before he knew it, he was standing on the terrace of a building, at a safe distance from where the incident was happening.
"It's a waste of time... I should go home... I have to study, after all." Muttering all this, he looked at the raging fire, the heroes at a deadlock, and a blond boy being held hostage by a slime-like monster.
"That guy's quirk is strong."
"Huh?" Suddenly, Akari's eyes widened as he saw a short, green-haired boy running toward the scene.
Before it all could make sense to him, All Might appeared, saving the green-haired boy.
"Is that kid trying to die?" The question ran through his mind, followed by many others — what could have motivated such a reckless move? Were they really that close? Did he just lose his mind?
But all those thoughts were blown away when All Might punched the air — the pressure of the wind alone changed the weather.
Looking up, a raindrop fell on Akari's face.
"It's raining..."
"I should go..." he said as he looked down. The reporters were already crowding around All Might.
The heroes had already taken the two victims away to avoid making them an internet sensation — that would only do them more harm than good.
Still, even though he said he'd go straight home, he walked down and moved closer to where All Might was answering the reporters' questions.
"So you're quirkless..."
Akari didn't know how, but even in all that noise, he heard it clearly.
With wide, panicked eyes, he looked at the green-haired boy apologizing. After that, he didn't even know what was happening.
Before he knew it, he was lying flat on his bed.
"Hahaha, so funny, so funny... is your pride still okay, Akari Hayashi?"
Akari opened his eyes. In front of him, he saw himself — only, this version seemed to be made of shadow.
He looked around, but all he saw was an endless plane of darkness.
"Yo, what happened? Can't even say anything now, huh? HAHA!" The black Akari laughed crazily, his voice echoing so harshly that Akari's ears began to bleed.
Akari immediately covered his ears with both hands and glared at the black Akari with anger and hatred.
"SHUT UP! SO WHAT IF THAT GUY RAN!? HE WAS JUST A RECKLESS FOOL!!" Akari screamed.
"You can fool everyone, you can lie to everyone, Akari Hayashi... but you can't lie to yourself, can you?" The black Akari smiled evilly and grabbed both his shoulders tightly, hard enough for blood to start dripping.
He leaned close to Akari's bleeding ear and whispered, "You can't even defeat that quirkless boy... can you stop being so worthless, Akari Hayashi?"
Akari's body started to tremble upon hearing this.
"Shut up! I'm sick of all this crap!"
"Huh? HAHA, you are? HAAH—don't tell me now you're having suicidal thoughts... that would be so pathet—"
"SHUT UP! I HATE YOU! CAN'T YOU JUST GET LOST!? I HATE— I HATE YOU! I HATE EVERYONE! I HATE MOM! I HATE HER! WHY CAN'T SHE UNDERSTAND? WHY!? I HATE THOSE FUCKING TALENTED KIDS! I HATE THEM!"
This time, the black Akari didn't laugh or mock him. He simply let Akari's rage pour out—let him release all the hate that had piled up inside.
"See? You and I are no different in any way, Akari Hayashi. We are one. You hate me... you hate everyone, just like me."
"But you can't be like this. You have to be a hero. That's why I'll take on this hate of yours, and you'll carry me inside you. Let me make your life meaningful—no, let me make my existence meaningful."
"Don't let the past, present, or future block you... let go of the pain of following your mother's words and break free again."
"But I can't... Mom... she's had it so tough... sob sob... I don't want to hurt her again... she—"
"Then die pathetic and worthless."
Hearing this, Akari lowered his head before kneeling down and smashing it against the dark floor while screaming,"WHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!"
---
"Akari, I made your favorite dish! How is it?" A beautiful woman in her thirties, with features similar to Akari's, asked.
"Oh! It's good, Mom," Akari said as he picked up some rice with his chopsticks.
"That's good! Oh, it was your first day of third year—did you make some friends? Or maybe a girlfriend, hmm?" Mrs. Hayashi—full name Aya Hayashi—asked teasingly.
Her quirk was Gentle Glow; it could calm anyone down, making her a perfect fit for a Psychiatrist and Trauma Therapist.
"NO! Wha—what are you asking!?" Akari said with a blush.
"Sorry, I was just teasing you, haha," Aya said with a soft smile before picking up her chopsticks again.
The quiet dinner went on for some time, and before they knew it, they were washing the plates together.
"Mom, I'm going to apply for U.A.," Akari said while washing, his tone neutral—more like informing than asking.
Aya was stunned, but then she smiled and said, "Oh! You want to complete your studies at U.A.? You're ambitious, Akari. Hmm, not bad."
Aya thought Akari was talking about the General Course at U.A.
"No, I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about the Hero Course," Akari said.
CRACK!
The plate in Aya's hand fell to the ground, shattering into pieces.
"Huh? I must have misheard—"
"No, you heard right."
"Akari, dear, we talked about this before," Aya said in a shocked tone.
"I'll only take the Hero Course exam at U.A. If I can't get in, that means I can't be a hero. Mom, please." Saying that, he put down his cleaned plate and walked toward his room.
He didn't look at his mother even once—because he couldn't.
Aya blankly watched Akari walk away. She didn't stop him or say anything.
"U.A... there's no way he'll pass, so it's fine... right?"
---
Akari entered his room and looked around after turning on the light. Then he walked to the window and opened it.
The moon was high in the sky, shining bright. He looked down—Akari lived on the third floor, in apartment 301.
He stepped out of the window, barely balancing on the pipe below. He closed the window lightly behind him before slowly sliding along the pipe.
He'd done this a lot when he was a kid.
"Brings back memories," Akari said softly before sprinting out onto the road.
It didn't take long before he started panting.
"Huff~ My body's gotten even weaker than when I was young."
Akari hadn't done any exercise for eight years straight. He was barely passing his P.E. exams as it was—though, honestly, it was surprising he could even pass them at all.
Even after not moving much for years, his body still held some strength.
"Must be because of all that training when I was young," he said.
He started running again, and before long, he reached the small forest near the city.
It wasn't that big, but it was a good training spot since no one came there.
He had found it when he was quite young.
"Where is it?" Akari moved deeper inside.
"Oh! Here it is."
He looked at the huge rocks jutting from the ground and the nearby waterfall.
Soon his gaze landed on one particular stone with a few cracks on it. When he touched it lightly, he seemed to have faintly seen dried blood marks on its surface. Though now there was none.
"Okay... now that I have the perfect training location, and I know how to train... I can start and become a hero—a close-combat pro hero," Akari said with a determined face.
It was rare of for someone with a healing quirk to become a pro hero. In fact, the only one known in Japan was Recovery Girl, who was a support hero and didn't engage in front-line combat.
Even Akari's father had been a healer—a support hero.
But Akari didn't want to be support. He never even considered it.
It was so usual that when Akari spoke about becoming a hero, Aya only thought he meant being a support type.
If she knew the truth, she wouldn't even think twice before denying it completely—because it was a crazy idea.
"SO PATHETIC... your goal is so low... you have to surpass All Might at least, Akari Hayashi."
---
A/N: If you liked it comment.
Also if you think this is too much of drama then sorry but it is important for story because of just how much crazy stuff the MC is going to do in story. I bet you can expect lot of blood.