IZUKU POV
Two months have passed since I moved in with Pops and quite a bit has changed. Ms. Midnight comes over twice a month to help me deal with my past. She's actually even tags along when I'm being introduced to a new teacher since all of them can be over the top. It's weird having a therapist that actually gives a shit and will push you to better yourself. She said that finding the root of my issues will take time to uncover but she wasn't going to stop till she found it. Honestly her answer was as comforting as it was terrifying. "I guess I'm stuck with her for a while."
Principal Nezu's education plan is complex and all his questions are open ended. I'm not sure if he just enjoys watching people suffer or if he just writes what comes in his head first. I'd be lying if I said it wasn't helpful, he's been helpful in showing me to look at the bigger picture in situations. "It would be nice if his questions didn't have so many hidden possibilities. I mean how am I supposed to assume that a room with no windows and no way out is actually the safe room of a warehouse with a gas leak."
Recently I even started a part time job so to speak. I don't actually go anywhere but I've been asked to help out with a teachers radio show. It's been fun learning more about mixing and mastering from someone who gets paid to do it. He actually got me to start playing guitar again. "That was a rough session having to explain to Ms. Midnight why I started having an episode when he forced the guitar in my hands." It feels good to play again, I missed it a lot. It's funny whenever I play I can sometimes hear Kyoka telling me to relax or to do my warmup exercises. Once I could have sworn I saw her sitting next to me smiling as I played a song. "Damn... I miss you Kyoka. I hope you're doing well."
The biggest change of all has to be with me physically. Pops training has started to put some muscle on me and I'm starting to enjoy the training more, even though he can be a tyrant sometimes. After the first session when he tricked me into confessing that I brought alcohol into his house he decided to run me until he felt like I threw up any alcohol left in my system. Then he proceeded to take my bottle, pour himself and Mama Joke a glass, put the bottle in his liquor cabinet, and give me a lecture on why drinking at a young age is bad while drinking my whiskey. "That's just adding insult to injury." But he sometimes will pour me a glass for 'special' occasions. His thought process is that if he's with me it's alright since he makes sure I won't drink too much. So far it's only happened once since I started living here but I'm trying to stay hopeful.
I've really enjoyed my time here altogether and it was about to get better because today Pops was going to start hand to hand combat training. I finished changing into my training gear and made my way into the training room. Inside Pops and Mama Joke were waiting for me. A small smile spread across their face as I walked in. "Is everything alright?"
"Yeah Emi's just excited for today and I'm ready to see how far you've come in this short time." He crossed his arms as he faced me. "But before we start we have some things to go over."
"You got it Pops." I gave him a slight smile as I stood in front of him.
He let out a small sigh. "Alright true or false all quirks have a tell."
I raised an eyebrow at him. "That's false because not all quirks work similarly. Principal Nezu's quirk has to do with his intelligence and it has no signs when he uses it."
"Good, so let's say you're fighting against an opponent who's quirk you don't know. What would you do?"
I took a moment to think about an answer before I saw a smirk on his face. "I'd play it safe and wait for him to give me an opening. If it's me he's fighting I'm assuming he knows I'm quirkless. With that knowledge he's sure to try and take advantage of it. So I'd stay defensive till I figured out what I was going against. Once I know what exactly they can do I counter attack."
Mama Joke looked surprised that I had thought of that so quickly but Pops just scoffed. "What if your bigger counter attack doesn't work?"
I matched his gaze and answered immediately. "It will work. He won't be expecting to be sent to a memory he wished he could forget." A small smirk formed on my face. "It's simple but effective since I'm the only person that knows when the memory will end. The moment it ends I'll be ready to finish them."
Pops narrowed his gaze. "Do you think you can do that?"
"I wouldn't be here if I didn't think I could." He gave him a sly smile.
"Good, now let's get to the main reason I asked the question." He turned around and took a few steps back. "Does your quirk have a tell?"
"Yeah. My eyes turn black whenever I activate it." I looked at him a little confused.
"Don't you think that may be an issue for a quirkless hero?" He turned around to face me. "I don't necessarily like the idea of you being known as the quirkless hero but it would give you one hell of an ace in the hole. As of now you're in an interesting situation."
I put my hand to my chin as I started to think. "He has a point. It would be hard to explain that. Also if word got out that the quirkless hero actually had a quirk that would cause issues as well." I looked back up at him. "I could use something to cover my eyes. Though the use wouldn't be for the same reason as why you use yours. And I doubt anyone would question it from a stylistic standpoint."
"That may be true but this is something you need to seriously think about." He turned to Mama Joke. "Now let's start with your training for the day." He got into a fighting stance. "Come at me with everything you've got."
A smile spread across my face. "Let's do it."
Two hours later I found myself on the floor, for what felt like the hundredth time, drenched in my own sweat. As I tried to catch my breath I stared at Pops who was standing over me. "That sucked."
He turned around and started to walk away. "Then get better. I taught you the basics so now you need to refine them." He took a seat in a chair. "Now it's your turn Emi, have fun."
I sat up and saw Mama Joke walk over with an unnerving grin on her face. "Is she gonna kick my ass as well?"
"Nope, not today." She squatted down in front of me. "Today we're gonna talk about fixing your hair."
I looked at her with a blank expression. "... I'm sorry what?"
"You heard me." She stood up. "Now go shower you smell."
After showering I found myself sitting in front of my dresser mirror. I wasn't sure what was about to happen but the smile on Mama Jokes face was unsettling. "So what exactly are we doing?"
"We're going to do something with this rat nest that you call hair." She started to run her hand through my hair.
"I didn't think it was that bad?" I tilted my head down.
She quickly grabbed my hair and pulled my head back up. "It's not, I just wanted to mess with you."
I let out a sigh. "So why are we doing this?"
"Well as far as my understanding your quirk is visual based." She continued to mess with my hair. "I personally like the longer hair you have going for you right now but it can get in the way during a fight. You might want to consider either cutting it or putting it up."
I watched her mess with my hair in the mirror as if she was debating different looks. "Well what about Pops? His hair is in his face and it doesn't stop him."
"True but when he activates his quirk his hair rises out of his face. Also Shota's is a benefit in the field because it helps hide where exactly he's looking." She started to pull my hair back.
"I don't want to cut it. I'm not a fan of short hair." I winced as she pulled on my hair.
"Hey it's your hair, do what you want." Put a hair tie in her mouth as she started to comb my hair. "Izuku when was the last time you actually combed your hair?"
I let out a nervous laugh. "Maybe a week or so?"
I felt her grip on my hair get tighter. "I better not hear you say that shit again, am I understood?"
"Y.. yes Mama Joke." I tried to stay still so she wouldn't try and pull out my hair.
After forty-five minutes of combing my hair and trying different styles we finally found one that we both liked that wasn't hard for me to do myself. "Alright Izuku you're looking pretty spiffy now." She rested her hands on my shoulders. "So you like it?"
I looked in the mirror and looked at my hair at a few different angles. It was weird seeing it up in a bun, but I liked the change. "Yeah, I like it. I guess it's officially a fresh start since I changed my hair." I let out a small laugh.
"I guess so." She leaned on the dresser as she looked at my hair. "Alright so you know how to do your and you have everything you need for, so my work is done."
"I guess so." I looked at my dresser and smiled at my new look. I liked it a lot but something felt like it was missing. Looking around my room I found what I was looking for. On my desk was the rubber band the Kyoka had given me. "Hey Mama Joke could I maybe get something with these colors to tie my hair back with?"
She looked at the band in my hand with a confused expression. "Why would you want that?"
"Would you accept sentimental reasons?" I gave her a nervous smile as I felt my cheeks get a little warm.
She smiled and laughed a little before pulling me into a hug. "Of course kido."
JIROUS POV
The last two months have been a whirlwind of emotions. It was clear looking back now that the five stages of grief were a necessary evil that we all should go through when we lose someone.
Denial only lasted through the first weekend, but most of that was spent saying it's not really and telling myself the reason he wasn't responding to texts and calls was because he broke his phone.
Anger didn't start till after the night we went out to dinner. After I found out that my suspicion about that girl I couldn't hold it back. I was upset at her for being so close to him but not doing anything to help him. She could have made a difference if she had just spoken up and told people to knock it off or even just been a friend to him. That thought made me even more upset with her because she could have been trying to steal Izuku away from me. Speaking of Izuku I was enraged with him for not only leaving me but also for not trusting me. "What the hell I was there for you ever since we first met. How could you not trust me?" I was mad with him because he not only hurt me but he hurt my parents and the other people close to him. But most of all I was pissed at myself. I was pissed because how could I think those things about a girl I didn't even know, how could I be so stupid to wear his jacket around knowing that someone could recognize it, and how could I think of Izuku like that? Even though I knew it wasn't their fault and I shouldn't be mad at them I couldn't help it, and that only made me pissed off even more.
Bargaining was an interesting one to say the least, it honestly didn't come fast enough. One day while I was rage cleaning the beach, the thought that he would come back if I cleaned the beach or even a good portion of it crossed my mind. That was a long weekend and an even longer lecture when I came home and had to explain that I had spent the entire Saturday afternoon, evening night, and even Sunday morning cleaning in the hope that he would magically reappear. Mom shut that down real fast. She'd give me a few tips on ways I could use my quirk but only only if I took a break from cleaning. I agreed but only if the tips she gave me would be useful for the future. It may have not been the deal I wanted but it appeased me.
Depression is a bitch. After mom told me that she was gonna give me a few tips I was excited. It caused me to actually forget about Izuku for a while and I was happy again; however, that only lasted a few days. One day I was feeling inspired to write a song and everything was perfect. I had my favorite hoodie and comfy pants on, I had a favorite cup of tea, and I had a melody in my head. While flipping through my lyric journal I decided to read some of my older ones to see how much I had improved. It was all fun and games until I came across the song I wanted to sing for Izuku. I never got to sing it for him and it hurt. The plan was to do it on our date but that quickly changed when he broke down in the store. I felt my lips start to quiver as I read through the chorus. "You say that ignorance is bliss when it comes to the scars on your wrists. So you'll put on a fake smile and tough it out for awhile cause the less they know the better it is." Those lyrics felt like a knife being driven though my heart. They reminded me that there was so much more to him that I never got to find out. Maybe it would have been better if I didn't know about his lying. But it was too late for that. I could feel the tears start to run down my cheeks again as I crawled back into bed and cried myself to sleep. The next three weeks I left my room as little as possible. Everything seemed so pointless without him around.
Acceptance opened the door to my future. I don't know how but mom had somehow managed to drag me out of the house and to the park. We sat on the bench and she told me that Izuku wouldn't want me to be sad. He'd want me to be happy and live my life the way I always did. I didn't want to believe her. How could she know him better than me? She had met him once for a couple hours, how could she know what wants? I didn't answer but she could tell what I was thinking. "It's scary how she can read my mind." She asked if I'd want him to be sad if the situation had been reversed. "Of course not, why would I want him to be depressed ov.... dammit mom." She pulled me into a hug and let me cry as I finally realized why I couldn't get over him. I loved him... no I still love him even though he's gone. We sat there watching the sunset in the spot that I had met him.
Two months of grieving was done and I was ready to put everything I had into my training. Mom and I were at the beach cleaning, it had only been two months so only a small portion was actually cleaned but it made me happy to see the progress we made. We decided to take a small break and it finally happened.
"Hey Kyoka I think it's time I teach you a thing or two about our quirk." She stood up and stretched.
"Yeah." I jumped up and brushed the sand off me. "So what do you have for me?"
"Let's start with the basics." She raised her jacks and pointed to them. "We have significantly better hearing than the average person. It's helpful in most situations but it also has its fair share of negatives."
"No kidding it's a pain always knowing when people are hiding things from you." I crossed my arms and let out a sigh. "It sucks not being able to call everyone out on it because then they just ignore you and act like you don't exist."
Mom lowered her jacks and walked over to me. "That is true but I was talking about physical drawbacks. For instance.." She picked up a small piece of metal and threw it against an old fridge. The two objects rang as they hit each other. "That right there left a small ring in your ears didn't it."
I nodded as I looked at her surprised. "Yeah but isn't that normal?"
"For us yes but for others no. We hear everything louder than everyone else and we're more sensitive to it. But we also can increase the range and area of hearing by focusing on them." He looked over and pointed to two people standing at the dock. "This whole time we could hear their murmurs but couldn't make out what they were saying but now that we focused our attention on them it's clear as day as if they were next to us."
I was surprised I hadn't realized this before. I always thought I was smart but apparently not since I missed something so obvious. "So how can I not blow out my ears every day? I'm sure I'll be dealing with more annoying sounds than feedback."
"There's no way to fully cancel it out since it's something we can't control, but we can help reduce the effect if we know it's coming." She picked up another piece of scrap. "Try focusing on anything that's not this or the fridge but Jew your eyes on the fridge."
I kept my eyes locked on the fridge but tried to focus on how annoying the sand stuck inside my shirt is. "I can't wait for a shower." I watched as the metal collided with the fridge but it wasn't nearly as loud. "Woah, that's cool."
"I know right, but remember it only works if you're expecting something or know it's coming and even then if it's loud enough it can still cause us to lose focus and blast our ear."
"Got it." I looked at the pile of garbage that we still had to go through. "So what else do you have for me?"
She smiled as walked over to a large piece of scrap metal. "As I'm sure you already know our jacks can be used to transmit our heartbeat causing vibrations."
"Obviously." I looked at her slightly annoyed.
"Well then that means that the faster the heart rate the stronger the vibration we can emit right?" She raised one of her jacks in the air.
"Yeah I guess that would make sense." I shrugged as I wiped the annoyed look off my face.
"Well as nice as that would be that's not how it actually works." She stuck her jack into the sheet of metal and took a deep breath. A moment later a crack had formed in the sheer splitting it in half. "Now you tell me, what does my heart rate sound like to you?"
I closed my eyes and focused on mom. When I opened my eyes she had a smirk on her face. "It's slower than normal." Confusion was etched into my face. "But how?"
She smiled as she handed me a piece of the metal she just broke. "It's honestly pretty simple, our heart rate doesn't change the power of vibration we put out. All it does is change the frequency of it. We're just channeling the sound waves of our heart so the faster the heart the higher the frequency the slower the heart the lower the frequency."
We made our way to the dumpster dad had managed to rent and we threw the scrap into it. "So then how did you crack the metal? If our heart rate doesn't change the power shouldn't you have killed dad by now?"
She let out a laugh. "Well that's also obvious. We use our jacks to determine how much power we output. Quirks our just extensions of our body's just like arms and legs. We determine how much strength we put into them. Most of the time it's done subconsciously so we don't hurt others or ourselves, but that doesn't mean we can't put more into it if we want to."
I looked at my jacks as I thought about what mom had said. It made sense but it felt weird to think that I could have potentially killed someone when I sent vibrations through their body. "So how do I control how much power I put out?"
"That will take some time to fine tune it but think of it like you're turning up the volume on an amp. Sadly it's not as easy as that but it will help you get an idea of what level you're outputting at." She put her jack into another piece of metal and cracked it again. "But for now let's focus on cleaning and when we get home I'll teach you some breathing exercise that will slow down or increase your heartbeat."
"Alright but why would I need that if my heart rate doesn't change the power of it?" I started to grab some more trash.
"Just because it's not increasing power doesn't mean it can't be helpful." She glared at me from the corner of her eye. "Besides, a person's breathing can tell a lot. Being able to control that can help refocus you in stressful situations. You even could use it while comforting someone after an incident. They could panic and their heart rate increases causing them to panic more. You would be able to tell them to match your breathing and bring their heart rate back to normal." She gave me a smile and continued to walk down the beach. "It's way more helpful than you're giving credit for."
"Yeah I guess you're right it doesn't sound pretty cool." I started down the beach behind her.
She looked back and gave me a smirk. "Also it never hurts to have some good vibrations in your personal life." She winked at me before laughing.
I stopped in my tracks and looked at her confused as I felt my face get hot. "Please for the love of God tell me that it's just teen hormones that's making me think she said that." I shook my head and continued behind her. "Whatever you say mom."
She let out another laugh as she threw her scrap in the dumpster. "It's not just me who thinks that."
"Mom what the hell I don't need to know what you and dad do!" I dropped the metal and covered my jacks with my hands hoping it would erase the words I had just heard.
Mom started to laugh harder. "I have no clue how you got to that? I thought it would be funny to make a Beach Boys pun while we cleaned the beach."
I let go of my jacks and sighed. "Oh... well this is awkward." I threw my scrap in the dumpster and started to head back onto the beach. "God damn teenage hormones make everything sound sexual."
"That being said, you're not completely wrong about another use." She walked next to me and put a hand on my head. "Just be careful and don't worry we soundproofed the house when we built it so no need to worry."
"MOM!" I covered my face as I fell to the ground wishing I hadn't just had the most awkward conversation of my life.