Screams echoed and rattled throughout the house, almost as if they were able to shake any ornaments placed in the entire apartment. The begs and pleas of the two females fell deaf on the man's ears, a certain child's voice more shrill, and more tear thickened than the other.
"Please daddy! M-mommy said that y-you said that you wouldn't-"
"I DON'T CARE!"
His voice was louder than anything else she'd ever heard, the little girl could have sworn that her ears bled from the reverberations. On the other hand, the wife sat on the floor, unfazed by the torturous behaviour of her husband, even if his action of violence were inflicted on her.
She was seemingly dissociative, and she had been for the past five years of her daughter's life. Unfortunately she would never change, much like the rest of her family.
Nothing would ever change, yet to little Hanako, in her eyes, everything changed once her mind opened up to a place called daydreams.
There, everything was fine.
********
Walking the halls of UA was like nothing else, her school shoes that had a slight heel to them clacking along the linoleum floor. Her light-brown hair that had a slight braided wave to it fell to her shoulders, her own vanta-black eyes scanning the signs on the walls.
Her new uniform that was one from the most prided hero courses of UA, though how she chose to dress it may not have lived up to that standard. Her tie, where was it? In her bag, just in case. In Hanako's opinion, there was no point to something that constricted her breathing. The first button of her shirt was undone, once again, linking back to the previous reason. Her skirt, there was actually nothing wrong with that. And if Hanako said so herself, nothing else was wrong with her uniform.
Apparently a certain boy with glasses begged to differ.
"Excuse me? Your uniform does not live up to that standards of UA! It is an act of disrespect to wear it like that! What is your name?"
"Yamikumo Hanako." The girl replied unbothered, her black eyes looking deep into the soul of the boy's.
"Yamikumo, please put on your tie, if you even have it that is."
"No."
"Pardon?"
"I said, no."
The boy gasped as the girl walked past him, looking at the blackboard for a seating plan. Unfortunately for Hanako, she would be sat right at the front, which, for someone like her, isn't great. Hanako may give off a harsh impression, but in reality, she can't stop fidgeting or talking. Her first impression is simply something that was embedded into her thanks to her parents. But, that was simply a first impression that was built based solely off of defence, she was a different person if one got to know her well enough.
But that 'got to know', would prove for some, to be harder than it was for others.
Hanako sat down, letting out a sigh as she did so. She wanted to be here, but her body language showed otherwise. What? She thought a coffee would wake her up, yet the effects proved that it did the opposite. It was most definitely a note to self, don't drink coffee unless you want to be narcoleptic.
Finally someone noticed the yellow thing, and the room went silent. The man inside drinking from a juice box began to talk tiredly.
"If you're just here to make friends then you can pack up your stuff now." The man said, still laying down in his sleeping bag. "Welcome to UA's hero course" Everyone stared, not in awe, yet in confusion. "It took 8 seconds before you all shut up, that's not gonna work. Time is precious, rational students would understand that. Hello I'm Aizawa Shouta, your teacher."
Hanako had never seen such a..... unprepared (?) teacher. He seemed like he used to be the sort of student that showed up to class one minute before the bell looking as though they literally just rolled out of bed. Oh how Hanako wished she could have that privilege, though unluckily for her, certain arrangements did not allow that.
"Right let's get to it, put these on and head outside." Aizawa instructed, holding up a navy blue, white, and red training outfit.
Despite the obvious instruction no one moved, why would they? Most everyone was around new people, and that (in most cases) led to anxiety doing anything that may put a person in the spotlight.
Though Hanako wasn't like that, because to put it frankly, she didn't care. The girl went to go and get a uniform, and unbeknownst to her, she was the only one. Hanako walked off without giving a care in the world, because her cares, were in her daydreaming. And it was only when she noticed that she had just walked past the girl's changing rooms, did she forcefully pull herself from her other world.
********
The students were lined up outside of the UA in a training field that had all sorts of athletics equipment. Aizawa's stern gaze that had most frozen in the pressure to do well, had Hanako loose, she was looking around as if nothing was to worry about. That girl had already peaked the interest of two. That being Aizawa and a certain student who seemed to not only wear his uniform like her, but his first impressions were the same.
"A quirk assessment test?" A few students announced in a questioning tone, they almost seemed confused. Hanako treated most of her classes like podcasts, listening in attentively, yet her eyes were always on one object. At least that's how it looked.
"But Orientation, we're gonna miss it!" A brown haired girl exclaimed, Hanako had not learnt her name, and would not do so until the girl told her; because that's how Hanako works. If she wants to know someone's name, she'll find it out. Otherwise, she couldn't care less.
"If you really wanna make the big leagues you can't waste time on pointless ceremonies. Here at UA we're not tethered to traditions, that means I get to run my class however I see fit." Aizawa shut down. "You've been taking standardized tests most of your lives, but you never got to use your quirks in physical exams before. The country still trying to pretend we're all created equal not letting those with the most power excel, it's not rational. One day the ministry of education will learn. Bakugo, you managed to get the most points on the entrance exam . What was your farthest distance throw when you were in junior high?" Aizawa continued. Hanako had started to look at him now, thinking that the man had begun to get rather irritated with her lack of attention.
"Sixty-seven meters I think." The ash blond answered, so his name was Bakugo huh, not that Hanako particularly cared; at least it was one to add to her collection of zero.
"Right, try doing this with your quirk." Aizawa instructed, throwing Bakugo a baseball. "Anything goes just stay in the circle"
Bakugo caught the ball and walked into said circle, and began to stretch his right arm.
"Go on, you're wasting our time." Aizawa said in an imperative tone, Bakugo shot him daggers as he began to throw the ball, screaming "DIE!" as he did so.
Overdramatic, loud, flashy.... Hanako loved it. It was almost as if she could see the colour of his emotions. Though unfortunately, she would never see colour at all, quirks were the best and worst things.
'705.2 meters'
People were gawking at the explosions user's score, Hanako wasn't included, her mouth pulled into an impressed expression. She probably couldn't do that, she knew that, but she had another area of expertise.
"I wanna go, that looks like fun!" A cotton candy looking girl said, her horns protruding from her pink curly hair.
"This is what I'm talking about, using our quirks as much we want!" Another boy with peculiar looking elbows said.
"So this looks fun huh? You have three years here to become a hero you thinks it's all gonna be games and playtime, idiots. Today you will compete in eight physical tests to gauge your potential, whoever comes in last has none and will be expelled immediately." Okay, now she was shocked. She just got here! What would her parents say if she was expelled? "Now lets the games begin, and show it's no mistake you're here." Aizawa finished, a devilish smile painted on his face. Hanako may have sent one right back, after all, if she was to leave, she was going to do so with a bang.
********
Hanako had never played a sport for a team before, unless PE lessons counted. So she wasn't an athlete, yet being a young child with a quirk that she was rather interested in, allowed Hanako to adventure her quirk and discover things about it, not even her father may know; he was the parent that possessed a similar quirk.
So when it came time for the 50 meter dash, Hanako had already chosen the certain ability to use. She was against a two-tone haired boy, he had proven to be rather aloof. Though when the two were actually racing, his aloof personality was outshined by the calmness at which he used his powerful quirk.
Hanako could be considered the same in a way, except, she did try to socialise, but apparently some people had different ideas for her reputation. Hanako's enhanced strength allowed her to place a solid second, yet the little webs that she formed at the tips of her fingers proved that she wasn't done, and what people had seen, was a fraction compared to what Hanako could actually do.
The next test, it was grip strength, and Hanako had already noticed that most of these tests required strength, good thing she had a lot of it, huh? Her score was solid for a person who appeared to be doing the test quirkless, she wasn't, that's just how it looked.
Wow! 540 kilograms, you're such a beast!" The dude with weird elbows gawked.
"Yeah like a muscly octopus." Another boy said, who seemed to have grapes on his head. Hanako simply rolled her eyes as she moved onto doing sit-ups. Another black eyed girl was her partner, the girl introducing herself as Yaoyorozu.
She seemed nice, Hanako could admit that, and the black haired girl seemed to appreciate Hanako snarky comments about the quirk apprehension test as the two continued to do sit-ups. And just as the pattern had set itself, 5 more tests took place. Personally, Hanako thought she did well, though was slightly disheartened that there were no elements that would allow the girl to fully show off her quirk, most people probably thought she was quirkless at this point. Oh well.
"All right time to give you your results. I've ranked you all from best to worst, you should probably have a good idea of you standing already, I'll just pull up the whole list. It's not worth going over each individual score." Aizawa announced, pulling out a hologram of everyone's score.
Hanako smiled at her satisfactory fifth place, she didn't need first, she needed to be strong to beat him, wherever he was anyways...
"And I was lying, no one's going home." Aizawa revealed "That was just a rational deception to make sure you gave it your all in the tests."
Hanako audibly barked out a laugh, everyone else looking at her in confusion. What? It was funny how the man had softened to the class within minutes. Not only that, but Hanako hadn't even paid attention to that certain detail, it had gone in one ear and out the other.
"Why are you laughing?" The brown haired girl asked, cluelessness lacing her tone.
"Why not? It's funny how quickly he softened to us." Red glowing eyes pierced through the group, the teacher seeming angry at the girl's words. What? Hanako wasn't wrong.
"Yamikumo, stop, otherwise I will certainly give you another step to your expulsion." The man sighed, Hanako sighing with him. Most would be frozen at his words, but Hanako, no. She wasn't fazed by much anymore.
After all, if someone had led the life she had, they may not act as Hanako does.
********
One problem with UA that Hanako simply had to take into concern, was the job policy. It stated that students of the hero course are not allowed to get a job. Why? Well, according to the rules it is because the schedules may be too tight, and not allow for proper training.
Now how does this concern Hanako? It does for a lot of reasons.
By the age of eleven, it was only then that the only people that lived in Hanako's apartment were herself and her mother; her father in jail. Yet, her mother, the woman whom she once loved, the woman whom once loved her, had become an empty shell of a being who simply functioned like an emotionless machine.
The woman went to work at the small pharmacy down the road, and came back home. That's how it had been since Hanako was eleven, it also happened that at the age of eleven, that it was the last time Hanako really remembers having a conversation with her mother.
"Get a job when you can, if you live here, you pay."
She's a kid! She physically couldn't get a high enough paying job that lived up the crazy amounts her mother demanded. Though at the age of twelve was the first time Hanako saw the repo man at her doorstep.
What was her mom even doing at work?
Certainly not what she was supposed to be doing.
So Hanako began to work even harder, doing odd jobs for the neighbours and scraping together just enough money to pay for the month's rent.
Of course, Hanako's mom -despite being an empty shell of a person- was cunning, and smart at that. The woman noticed how Hanako was able to pay for the rent, and by age thirteen, Hanako now had any food in the house, taken away from her.
And so that cycle continued, until now Hanako was fifteen and living in her apartment in which she paid the rent, electricity bills, water bills, for food, and anything else needed to live a life. And what does her mother do? Takes all the food Hanako buys for herself, and hides it.
Hanako is someone who always thinks positive, but what if that positive is actually covering the fact that she sometimes doesn't eat for days on end because her mother doesn't allow it?
But back to the point. The point is, Hanako has to work at a grocery store, not that she wants to, but because she has to. And with UA's rules, she really should've quit. Should've. Hanako isn't a quitter, even if the girl didn't eat nor sleep for two days straight.
And at some point, the 'best' that is blinding will shine so bright that it is no longer visible, and darkness is all that's left.