???'s POV
I watched the final fight of the Sports Festival with a slight smile. The Tanaka girl had caught my attention. Not only did she have immense control over her quirk, but something caught my eye. As she was fighting Bakugo, the feathers that were destroyed by his quirk grew back, and it wasn't your standard regeneration either. In the places that the feathers were missing, almost instantly after being destroyed, they seemed to burn themselves back into existence. I turned to my right hand man and asked, "What is her quirk...?"
The old man browsed his files and pulled one out. "Her quirk is called Phoenix. She essentially has all the attributes of the mythical bird," he read.
"All the attributes?" I asked, thinking about one specific attribute that phoenixes are said to have.
He nodded again. I smirked and we sat in silence for a moment as I came up with a plan, the only sound being the buzzing of my life support. "Well well well, I think I have a solution to my current predicament, Doctor."
Tanaka's POV
Kai was experimenting and strengthening his quirk on me again. I was probably 12 at the time, but he still refused to hold back. My parents happily agreed for me to be his training dummy, anything for extra cash and praise from the mob boss, I guess. He was frustrated today, his attacks were more violent. After our sparring match, which was more just him beating me up and me trying to dodge, I was pretty beat up. "I swear, you're so useless to me!" he exclaimed, lowering his hand to my head.
I flinched as he lowered his hand to my head, but I couldn't move. Every atom split from my body, and all that was left was a pile of blood on the floor. Normally, he would repair me right away, but he was so angry that he intended to leave me for dead... However, I then felt something I had never felt before. 'I-I don't wanna die!' I thought quietly as the feeling started as a small warmth exuding from my heart, or at least, what my soul perceived as my heart as I no longer had a physical body. Then, the warmth grew, eventually engulfing my body in an inferno. Suddenly, I could feel again, my body was back. I opened my eyes and looked up to see Kai staring at me in shock and fear. "H-how...?" he asked.
I tried to speak, but no words came to mind.
Kai reported the incident as he wanted to keep experimenting on what I could do, but the boss was so furious that Kai had intended to kill me that he refused.
And that was the last time I was ever forced to train with Kai.
...
I shot awake. I looked around and saw Recovery Girl holding a bucket of water and was staring at me in fear. It took me an extra few seconds to realize that I was wet. "W-what happened?" I asked.
"You burst into flames!" Recovery Girl exclaimed.
I looked around and noticed how my clothes and the bed beneath me were singed. "Sorry..." I muttered.
"You need to be more careful!" Recovery Girl scolded, "But, since you're awake, you should get going. The awards ceremony is starting soon."
I nodded and got out of my seat, surprisingly in no pain. 'Must be Recovery Girl's quirk,' I thought to myself as I walked through the hall. I met up with Midnight and the others only to see Bakugo chained up to the first place spot on the podium. His ruby eyes locked onto me and he struggled more, obviously upset. "What's going on...?" I asked.
"He isn't satisfied with how your fight ended and doesn't accept his win," Todoroki explained, "By the way... are you ok? You looked like you were traumatized for a moment before he knocked you out."
My face paled, 'Fuck.' I thought to myself before looking down. "Just... I just realized I couldn't stop his attack..." I lied.
Todoroki seemed to take my answer and went to stand in the third place spot, but Bakugo was still struggling, not accepting that I had given it my best. I looked at him again and saw an accusation in his eyes. He knew I just lied to Todoroki, and he knew it was related to what had happened the other day, it was written all over his face. I sighed and stood in the second place spot as we were raised into the arena to receive our awards. All Might came down and started handing us our medals. When he got to me, he smiled and said, "Good job, young Tanaka. Your hard work really paid off today, but there is definitely room to improve."
I nodded as he gave me a slight hug. He moved on to Bakugo, who kept screaming about how he didn't want to win the way he did. Once the ceremony was done, we were able to leave and we had the next to days off as the other grades were participating in their own sports festivals. I walked out of the arena, but then felt a hand on my shoulder, I looked back and saw the one person I didn't want to see, especially after that incident. "What do you want, Shinso?" I asked, venom in my voice.
Shinso's hand recoiled slightly, but it didn't leave my shoulder. "I just... I wanted to apologize again... What I did this past weekend was wrong, and I hope that you can forgive me... I also wanted to say congrats on making it as far into the festival as you did," he said quietly, "And... I wanted to ask if you were ok... you took a pretty hard hit."
I scoffed, but I didn't respond. He watched me for a second before he realized why I wasn't talking. "Right... sorry..." he said quietly, walking away.
I turned away and kept walking before I heard a familiar flapping. I looked up and saw Keigo flying above me. "FUKA!!!" he exclaimed, "YOU DID SO GOOD!!!"
I smiled and flew up next to him. "Thanks, Kei."
He smiled and said, "We need to go out and celebrate!"
I rolled my eyes as he flew away, following him closely. We were flying quietly for a bit before he asked, "What happened during your fight with Bakugo...?"
I looked down and said, "I had a flashback..."
"What kind of flashback? Why?" he asked.
I took a shaky breath, "Just something Bakugo did reminded me of something that has happened to me."
He sighed, "If you ever need to talk about these things with someone, I'm always here. I hope you know that."
I nodded and we flew down into a KFC and had a victory dinner, not quite ready to share these things yet.
.
.
.
We were back in school and I walked into the classroom. It was empty except for one person. Bakugo. He was glaring daggers at me. I took a deep breath and decided to walk up to him to try and fix things. "Good job in that last fight, you kicked my ass," I said, my golden eyes holding his furious crimson gaze.
He scoffed and yelled, "That wasn't a true victory! You weren't fighting at your full strength because you had a stupid flashback! If your ass wasn't so traumatized then I'd be able to show just how much stronger than you I am!"
I flinched a bit at his words, but then I heard a voice from behind me. "What's he talking about, Tanaka?"
I turned around and saw Todoroki, Midoriya, and Kirishima all standing in the classroom. I gulped and glanced between the three of them. "I-it's nothing," I tried to dismiss.
"He said you were having a trauma flashback, that isn't nothing," Midoriya stated.
Tears welled in my eyes as I struggled to speak. "That doesn't mean it's any of you extras' goddamn business!" Bakugo shouted.
They all looked at me with apologetic looks and moved to their seats. I walked to my seat and sat down, keeping my head low. I wasn't even listening when class started until I was handed a white board. I looked around and saw everyone writing on them. "Alright, who'd like to share their hero name first?" Midnight asked.
'We're picking hero names...?' I thought to myself as Aoyama walked up and showed off his ridiculous name. 'What should my hero name be...? Well, what type of hero do I want to be? I want to save people and help them. Why do I want that? Because I know what it's like to need to be saved...' then it hit me. I'd gone from a miserable life in a crime organization to being in the most caring home and a future hero. If that isn't a revival of my life then I don't know what is. It's like my life embodied the whole meaning of my quirk, and that's what kind of hero I wanted to be. I wanted to give people a second chance at life, a rebirth. Whether that meant saving them from a disaster, getting them out of an abusive life, or rehabilitating a villain. I quickly wrote down my name and raised my hand, walking to the front of the class.
"The Revival Hero: Phoenix," I stated.
"It's perfect! It's flashy and represents you!" Midnight gushed.
I quickly walked back to my seat and when everyone was done showing off their names, Aizawa pulled up a board that showed everyone's internship offers. I was at the top with Todoroki and Bakugo behind me. Aizawa handed me my list of offers, and three names caught my eye.
Hawks, Endeavor, and one more.
Obviously Keigo was going to offer an internship, but I figured I needed a different tutor to expand my knowledge and give me a new perspective.
Knowing everything that happened with Todoroki, I refused to work with Endeavor.
And finally... my favorite hero of all. I stared at her name with disbelief. 'There's no way...' I thought to myself. I quickly wrote her name down on my slip and handed it to Aizawa. He glanced at it and smirked, "Good choice. She will definitely teach you some things that will be valuable to know as a growing hero."
I smiled, a slight pep in my step as I walked to the cafeteria for lunch.
I was going to intern with Miruko.