I got myself up and ready...now was the hard part. I debated whether I wanted to try and sneak out on my own and train, or if I should just try to talk to Dad and see if he would take me to Hizashi like he'd planned. Neither option sounded particularly appealing. In the end I decided I would get more out of my day if I got my dad and uncle to work with me.
Quietly I tiptoed down the steps to see if my dad was still in the kitchen. I peeked my head over the wall and saw a mess of black hair behind a chair. I sighed.
"Umm....dad?" I croaked weakly, sounding much softer than I intended. My throat felt dry.
My dad turned his head to the sound of my voice, and looked at me with another expressionless face.
"You're back," he observed sipping his coffee.
"Well, I'm feeling a bit better now, so I don't know, " I started, "Maybe we could train if you still wanted to?"
"I already called Hizashi and told him you were sick y/n," he said grumpily, "its a little late now."
I gave a weak smile to hide my anxiousness, "Better late than never right?"
With a heave my dad stood up, our cat that I hadn't noticed was sitting on his lap jumped down dismissively.
"Alright, you text Uncle Zashi, its not like he has a life or anything, I'm sure he can meet us at the park."
My smile grew, "Sounds good dad." I started to walk away to get my things.
"Oh and y/n," my dad's voice made me turn my head. He sounded apprehensive, and I looked at him expectantly.
"Yes?"
"I- never mind, just meet me outside in fifteen minutes," he finished looking away.
I nodded and turned my back. What had I expected? An apology? I knew I was never going to get one from him, and II had no reason to apologize, right? He could be so stubborn sometimes. I rolled my eyes and went to get my bag full of training supplies.
"Okayyyyyyy!" Zashi yelled. We were at a pretty isolated park, with fields of grass and a few trees. Not ideal for my quirk, but I guess that was the point.
"Today we're going to do a lot of quirk control!" Hizashi continued grinning wildly at me. He could be scary sometimes.
"Wait, so am I trying to fight you guys, or am I just practicing with my quirk?" I asked him.
"Both!"
"Alright," I agreed. I hadn't used my quirk for defending myself in quite a while, I was no doubt going to be a bit rusty. I had been lucky, my quirk was well rounded and I had devised many ways to use it. The problem would be fighting my dad. I considered myself to be quite strong and athletic, but needing to fight hand to hand against my dad while he cancelled out my quirk would prove a bit tricky. He had more experience than me, and he was stronger. I needed to figure out an advantage.
"Y/n, why don't you warm up a bit," my dad called.
"Yup, I'll go over there I let you old guys try and prepare to lose," I smirked.
"Oh its on like Donkey Kong!" Uncle Zashi yelled grabbing my dads collar.
I laughed and walked a few meters away. I was wearing a modified tool belt, that had some materials I might need as I used my quirk. A spool of metal wire, a little pouch of coins, and half a dozen shurikens that I favored as a weapon along with my prized knife. I also put a scarf over my head, one quite similar to a scarf that my dad used. Inside it contained special metal alloys, meaning that I was able to easily move and manipulate it.
I unzipped my coin pouch and took out a coin. Feeling the energy in my hand I focused on the magnetic repel that allowed me to push the coin into the air. I started to make the coin zip through the air, slicing through like a current. Periodically I added more coins, trying to focus on making them all have equal speed while pushing them in different directions.
I didn't know who I had gotten my quirk from, since I never got to know either of my birth parents. I'd taught myself how to use it, and I smiled remembering the stories Dad told me of when I first manifested my quirk.
*Flashback (Aizawa's POV)*
There was a loud crash from the kitchen.
"Y/n!" I bolted over to see what had happened.
"Dad?" The little girl before me asked shyly. I stared. She was surrounded by pots and pans, all strewn out before her on the ground.
"What happened? Are you hurt?" I went over to her. She was so small, only a toddler.
"I wanted a cup," she pointed up to the open cabinet, where practically everything had fallen out of.
"N/n, how on earth did you reach this stuff?" I sighed crouching down to look into her big watery eyes.
She shrugged and pointed up into the cabinet, where there was still a metal cup. I watched in amazement as the cup started descending from its high spot on the shelf, right into my daughter's hands.
"Bye bye daddy," she laughed with her cup and ran off, leaving me pondering what I had just witnessed.
*Flashback ends (Y/n POV)*
Apparently it took my dad a while to realize that I could control and manipulate metal. At first he thought I could move everything with my mind, but after a few months he made the connection that objects primarily made of metals were the only things being moved. My quirk was magnesis.
"Hey, problem child," my dad called to me in a monotone voice, "Lets get going."
The coins fell into my hand. I smiled, wrapped my scarf tightly around my neck, and stood up to face my dad. I started a breathing pattern. One long breath in, two short breaths out.
"Alright listeners, up first we have the long anticipated match between young y/n and none other than her father, Eraserhead!" Hizashi yelled to a fake audience.
"First person to submit or be incapacitated is the loser! Ready.....Start!"
My dad wasted no time, immediately his eyes turned a bright scarlet and his hair started standing on end. He looked like a cat ready to pounce on a mouse.
I knew this would a be a fight without quirks, I would have to find a way to corner him on my own.
"Don't just stand there y/n," my dad glared at me. Suddenly he lept forward throwing a side kick. I quickly jumped out of the way, my eyes never leaving him. We went on like this for a few more moments, him throwing some offensive moves while I nimbly dodged them.
I noted my dad pant slightly.
"Tired old man?" I asked cockily. I found my advantage. My dad was strong a fast, but no matter how in shape he was he couldn't compete with the stamina of youth. I just had to outlast him.
"I'm just getting started," He lunged out before swiftly unwrapping his scarf from his neck. I ducked and swerved, dancing around him. If I got ensnared in his trap, it was over.
"Two can play at this game," I muttered undoing my own scarf from around my neck. It wasn't as effective without my quirk controlling it, but the sheer strength of it still proved very useful.
Another few minuted passed. Both my dad and me never stayed still long enough for either one to get an advantage. I could sense his movement getting slightly sloppy as he tired. I made a decision.
Almost instinctively my fingers grasped the little circular blades in my belt. I whipped two of them out at a time. My dad dodged both of them easily, but not before I let another one go a few moments after. The shuriken embedded perfectly in his forearm.
"Tsk," he winced. I felt bad about injuring him, but I had to win. I needed to show him I was enough.
"Sorry dad," I said apologetically as I continued in on him. Now that his arm was injured, his capture weapon wouldn't be as effective.
I jumped forward and landed in a crouch before doing a clean sweep that brought his legs from under him. I grabbed my knife from its holster on my forearm and held it to my dads neck, my knee digging into his ribs.
"That was dirty," he growled at me, but I could see a hint of pride behind his eyes.
"Surrender?" I asked, placing a bit more weight on the knife.
"I guess I have no choice."
"Annnnndddd we have a winner!" Zashi yelled from where he was watching a few paces away.
I got up off my dad. He followed rubbing his neck where my knife left a shallow cut.
"You could have gone a bit easier with the knife," he complained glancing at me.
"I didn't know what else to do!" I explained, "You're surprisingly fast for an old man."
"For the last time, I'm not old!" He yelled to me before coming up behind me and ruffling my hair.
"Oh gross," he exclaimed pulling his hand back, "You're all sweaty."
I rolled my eyes, "Well what did you expect?"
"Okay my problem child, get some water and Hizashi will practice quirk control with you."
I nodded happily. Things seemed to be back to normal between us. For now.
I lay panting in the grass, Uncle Zashi lying next to me. We had finished training my quirk about an hour ago, and the rest of the time we did some normal conditioning and strength training.
"Oh god, my arms are gonna fall off," I sighed breathing out heavily.
"Yeah, not gonna lie n/n, you're quite strong, but your arms need some work," Hizashi teased me.
"I know I know!" I cried sitting up.
"Anyways, I'm super hungry, how about you guys?" Hizashi announced looked at me expectantly.
I nodded eagerly. It had felt like ages since I last ate. As if on cue my stomach gurgled.
Hizashi laughed, "Well I guess that settles it! Where do you wanna go?"
"Anywhere is fine with me."
"Lets ask your dad. Where is he anyway?" Hizashi looked around, "Shotaaaa?"
I spotted him under a tree, with a cat. My dad was the most standoffish man I knew, but somehow every cat found his soft spot.
I walked over to him, "Who's that?"
"I don't know, I was just sitting here and this cute little guy came padding over." My dad was smiling and petting the cat by the ears. It was an orange tabby with two different colored eyes.
"Aww, I wonder if the owner was here somewhere," I said crouching down to also pet the cat. He purred with content at the attention.
"I'm not sure," dad replied. There was no collar on it, so we had no way of knowing if the cat was a stray or not.
"Well we can't just leave it here," I faced my dad expectantly, my eyes growing big behind my round glasses.
"Of course not," he agreed, scooping up the cat. "We can take him home and come back to see if there are any missing pet posters around here in a few days."
I smiled. Maybe if no one was looking for him we could keep it! We already had a small cat who was quite old. She was a complete sweetheart, and I thought she would be happy with a friend.
We pulled into the parking lot of a small cafe.
"You guys go in and get something, I'll stay here with this little guy" my dad motioned to us still distracted by the cat purring in his lap.
"Do you want anything?" I asked him.
"Yeah just get me whatever," he replied.
I laughed at the obvious disinterest in his voice.
"Be back soon!" I called following Uncle Zashi out of the car.
We walked into the cafe and sat at a little table by a window. I looked around at the small restaurant. It wasn't too crowded because it was a week day, and kind of an odd time for lunch with it being late in the afternoon. I happily admired the plants creeping up the walls in the corner, studying the leaves and tendrils that snaked out.
"You did well today n/n," Uncle Zashi spoke to me.
"Hmm?" I hummed still a bit distracted, "Oh! I mean, I did okay I guess."
"You need to stop being so hard on yourself," he began, "I was really impressed with how both your quirk and combat skills are coming along!"
"Well, at least you think so," I sighed putting my chin in my hands.
"What do you mean? I know for a fact your dad is proud of you too, and if Aunty Nem was here she would say the same thing."
"He could've fooled me," I mumbled.
"Oh you know him n/n, he's just not the type to hand out compliments!" Hizashi tried to reassure me.
"I know I know, I just- I just want him to be proud of me," I whispered the last part. Somewhere inside of me I was ashamed to need approval from someone else, even if it was my own father. But I couldn't help it. He was the closet thing to family I had. I didn't want him to ever think less of me.
"I promise you he is," Uncle Zashi smiled at me before announcing rather loudly, "and if he's not I'll punch him for you! No one ever makes my princess sad!"
I smiled gratefully at him, "Uncle Zashi, what would I do without you?"
"I ask myself the same question kid. Now go get us some menus!"
Agreeing I stood up and headed over the the counter where some menus and utensils were. Coming up to them I looked inside a display counter where baked goods were waiting expectantly for customers to buy them. My mouth started to water, I had always had a sweet tooth.
As I was eyeing a fluffy looking taiyaki I heard a slightly familiar voice.
"Zeppelin?"
I turned. Standing behind me with a goofy smirk was Shinso.
"When did you get here?" I asked him surprised.
"Just a second ago, I almost didn't recognize you. I didn't know you were part owl," he remarked.
It took me a second to understand what he was talking about. Then my hands suddenly went up self-consciously to my big round glasses. I must have had my contacts in the other day when I'd met him.
"Don't you have anything better to do than making fun of girls you just met?" I huffed.
"No not really," he said seriously. Then seeing my face he grinned again.
"Figures," I rolled my eyes. Why couldn't I have met some handsome sweet boy like in my books? Of course the one guy I meet as I go into high school is some arrogant boy who looks like he hasn't slept in five days.
"Y/nnnnn!!!" I looked over at Uncle Zashi waving his arms at me.
"I gotta go," I turned to Shinso before picking up some menus.
"Is that your dad?" He asked me.
"My uncle."
"Oh. Nice." Shinso started to turn away. "Nice seeing you again little owl."
I narrowed my eyes, "I'm barely shorter than you!"
"Still shorter!" He called before leaving.
I gave an exasperated sigh before heading back to Hizashi. I handed him a menu before taking my seat across from him.
"Who was that?" Uncle Zashi asked me looking over my shoulder at what I presumed was Shinso.
"Oh just some guy I met the other day," I said casually.
"Ohhhhh my little n/n met a boy!" He yelled.
"Oh quiet down Uncle Hizashi!" I frantically said, "It's definately not like that. He's so not my type."
"Your dad would be glad to hear that," Uncle Zashi nodded. Then he looked at me and smirked.
"Stop it! Let's just get some food." I complained.
We finished ordering. I got some sashimi and a few desserts to take home with me. We packed up my dad's lunch and began to head out. On our way out of the cafe I felt a tap on my shoulder.
"Oh, you again," I said turning to stare at some deep-set tired eyes.
"Well don't act so excited" Shinso grumbled in a mock pout.
"Did you want something?"
"Well, I was thinking," for the first time Shinso seemed to stumble over his words, "Since entrance exams coming up, do you maybe... wanna do some training together?"
I stared at him. This is what he wanted to ask me? He could have just texted me later.
"I mean, I'm not that good," I said, "But I'm not really doing anything else, so I guess we could."
Shinso smiled brightly, "Sounds great! I'll text you later and we can decide on a time."
I agreed. It might be nice to have someone my age to train with, even if it was a tiresome boy.
I started walking out to Hizashi, who was expectantly waiting for me.
"Bye little owl!" I heard called out from behind me.
"See ya dumbass," I threw a quick dismissive wave at him then quietly chuckled. This mornings events had seemed ages away. Maybe my anxiety would let up a little for the time being. That's what I always hoped. It rarely ever did.