Dedicated Chapter Song: Facade - Disturbed
Broken down, hurt again, it never ends. Frightened and trembling. Did she fall again? An accident? Her eyes encircled in black again.
(About Hiromi)
"Oh, you're home already?" One of my nanny, Uremi's clones smiles at me as I walk in the kitchen to grab a snack. There were three clones surrounding me; one doing dishes, one sweeping, and one making a grocery list. Each of Uremi's clones served a single purpose. Once their purpose was over, they disappeared and Uremi could create another one for another purpose.
"Yeah..." I mutter, slouching my back over one of the chairs at the dining table.
"Do you have a lot of homework?"
"Do you need some help with it?"
"Why don't you take off your uniform so I can wash it?"
"Guys- I'm fine." I say with an exhausted sigh as I grabbed a package of instant noodles from the cupboard. "I can handle myself."
"Oh, there's that attitude again."
"Always insisting on being alone."
"It's been this way for almost three years. We shouldn't expect much from her."
"She's just going through a phase."
"Why did you dye your hair all black again, dear? Don't you like your natural half-hair?"
I shake my head and grab a ramunē soda from the fridge. "I do...sorta. I just don't want anyone figuring out my quirk based on my looks."
"How can you ever see with your hair covering your eye like that?"
"It's not that bad. You know what happens when people look at it. I don't want people to be scared of me..." I sigh, tugging my hair back finally. At home is the only time I'm actually free to be myself. I know that as long as Uremi keeps her distance, I can't actually hurt her, even if I manage to damage one of her clones.
"Your martial arts trainer rescheduled again. You'll be having your lessons at seven tonight."
I spit out my soda, dripping it all over myself. "You couldn't have texted me that sooner?!" I sputter, staring at the clones with wide eyes. "Great! What time is it now?!"
"It's currently five fourteen."
"Dammit. Someone clean that up." I point to the mess I'd made on the floor. "I need to go do some homework before Master Yang gets here." Without another word I grab my backpack and drag myself to my room.
"That brat. She didn't make her ramen."
Sliding my door open, I toss my backpack onto my bed and lock myself inside my room. My house was rather large, and mostly traditional Japanese styled, but I was really the only one who actually lived here. Uremi slept in the guest house a few meters away from the main house, but her clones were always busy working. So, really, I wasn't fully "alone", but since my mother left, it always felt that way.
My phone begins to ring and upon looking at it, I shiver at the contact name. My father. He was trying to contact me from the jail again. He got one call a day to try and convince me to come see him, but since the incident I pretty much ignored the fact that he existed.
With just one push of a button I sent his call immediately to voicemail. Perhaps someday I could face him and apologize for the years he's spent wrongly victimized in jail. But...I was always so scared.
My phone buzzes, and I look to see yet another voicemail added to the pile. When I go to tap the delete icon, a strange pop-up appears. "Huh?" Upon tapping on that, I see that it's an invite to a group chat from 1-A. I was able to briefly read the past few messages without fully joining the group.
👩🎓Class 1-A Group Chat👩🎓
[Sero - 5:19]
'Did you guys add Hiromi to the group chat yet? 🤔'
[Mina - 5:20]
'I sent her an invite but there's no guarantee she'll join. 😕'
[Deku - 5:21]
'Still, it was smart of Tokoyami to suggest a group chat for us all to try to get to know her better without scaring her. 🤗👍'
[Fumikage - 5:23]
'It was nothing. Let's just hope she joins.'
[Bakugou - 5:24]
'Remind me again why I give a damn about trying to get to know this brat??? 😑😡😠'
[Mineta - 5:24]
'Because she's super hot🔥😍!!! Maybe this chat will reveal if she's got a crush on any of us 😱😱😱!!!'
*🌸Hiromi has been added to the chatroom 🌸*
[Asui - 5:25]
'Be nice Bakugou!! And Mineta stahp being a perv!!!'
[Uraraka - 5:25]
'Look, guys, she's here! 😯'
[Hiromi - 5:26]
'Why...do any of you think this was a good idea? 🤔'
[Jiro - 5:27]
'This chat also serves as a means of communicating about our homework too, Hiromi. 📖📕
[Hiromi - 5:29]
'Should I really care 😑? I can do it all on my own.'
[Sato - 5:31]
'Mr. Aizawa gave us a huge packet! 😯 We should work on it together.'
[Shoji - 5:32]
'Sato is right. 🙄'
[Todoroki - 5:23]
'How can we call ourselves a class if we don't try to work together as a team?'
[Hiromi - 5:34]
'Sorry but...teamwork isn't really my thing.'
[Bakugou - 5:35]
'YOU'RE REALLY STARTING TO PISS ME OFF!!!💀💀💀😠😠😠😡😡😡😡'
[Kirishima - 5:35]
'Calm down Bakugou!!! 😯😯'
[Uraraka - 5:36]
'Yeah! We don't need you to frighten her out of the chatroom! 🙄'
[Iida - 5:37]
'Please, everyone. As class rep, I'd advise everyone use this chatroom accordingly and be on their best behavior. Any negativity and this'll have to be looked at by the teachers. I'm sure none of would want that. 👩🏫'
[Hiromi - 5:42]
'I have to go. Unlike probably ANY of you, I have a long and stressful night ahead of me. Good day. 🙄'
*Hiromi has disconnected from the chartroom :(*
I deleted the messages immediately, though I couldn't help but wonder who might've leaked my contact info. It couldn't have been Emiko since she wasn't in the chatroom, and since she hates me to begin with. The only person left who came to mind was All-Might. This must've been his plan.
I threw my phone to some random corner of my room to be ignored as I tore open my backpack and poured out my work onto my bed. "Ugh...why am I stuck doing this crap?" I moan in anguish. "If only there was a Quizlet for this stupid Hero Course."
Even though I whined and complained the entire time, I got my homework done by six forty-five. That left me fifteen minutes to get ready before my training session. Fifteen minutes of which I wasted by checking my phone. That stupid app reappeared again, and this time I was in the chatroom without accepting an invite.
[Sero - 6:42]
'What did you guys get for #47? I just wrote down "duck" but I don't think that's quite right.' 🤔
[Bakugou - 6:43]
'You idiot! The answer is clearly "strike back"!!! 👊'
[Deku - 6:44]
'Kacchan, I don't think that's quite right. The question was "What do you do when attacked by someone with a power you're not prepared to fight?".'
[Bakugou - 6:45]
'ARE YOU SAYING I'M WRONG?!?! 😠😠'
[Todoroki - 6:45]
'Calm down and think about the question logically or else we're going to be here all night. 😔'
[Hiromi - 6:46]
'You guys are all absolute morons if you can't even answer a question as simple as that.'
[Asui - 6:46]
'HIROMI???'
[Deku - 6:46]
'When did you get back?? I never saw a notification 😱'
[Todoroki - 6:47]
'Didn't you say you were too busy to chat?🤔'
[Bakugou - 6:46]
'WHO ARE YOU CALLING A MORON, PUNK?!😠👊'
[Hiromi - 6:47]
'I have martial arts class in a few minutes. Since you idiots are still stuck on one of the last questions, I suppose I could lend a hand. It's simple.
"Do your best to avoid direct interaction and step back from the fight. If you're unprepared to fight someone with a quirk you know nothing about then wait until a professional with a corresponding quirk arrives to help. Take no further action than what you're allowed to."'
[Iida - 6:49]
'Woah...this reply...Aizawa will surely be pleased with it👩🎓!'
[Uraraka - 6:50]
'That sounds WAY better than what I wrote!😱'
[Deku - 6:51]
'I knew it was something along those lines...😯'
[Hiromi - 6:52]
'I really do have to go now. Maybe if I have some time I can help more.🙄'
[Jiro - 6:52]
'Good luck with your class!😊😉'
[Kaminari - 6:53]
'Yeah! Go kick some ass Hiro!🤣'
I set down my phone again and quickly changed into some clothes that would be suitable for practicing fighting. Just a black sports bra and grey sweatpants was my outfit for the evening.
My family was rich- or at least, used to be- which resulted in us owning a large Japanese-styled mansion, complete with ten bedrooms, six bathrooms, a guesthouse, an onsen, a dojo, a sauna, and a steam room, just to name a few luxuries. The house used to be an old bed and breakfast many years back, but was retired after a while.
Somedays I wished we could restart the business that once ran here. Maybe then I wouldn't be so useless or alone.
"Mr. Yang is already waiting for you in the dojo," says one of Uremi's clones as I make my way through the halls. "He sure is punctual." I mutter under my breath.
I stop just before the door to the dojo and stare up at the family name carved into the wood. Akuma. How ironic. Dark, devilish, and yet my first name was 'beauty'. Put it all together and I was the very definition of beautiful darkness. Just like my mother, who never took my father's name.
I slide the door to the dojo open and step inside. It's cleaner than I last remembered it to be. There were fewer dummies, mostly because in my youth I'd destroyed them all- or my cousins did. That was... however, during a time before all the trauma. Scorch marks, water stains, and scratches lined the Akuma Dojo walls from years of great fighters practicing.
"It's been a long time, Hiromi." Master Yang was a thin man but was very strong for someone of his age. His quirk was teleportation, which made it even more challenging to fight him whenever he used it. However, we came to a recent mutual agreement that neither one of us were to use our quirks during training.
"Heard you got into UA. Your father must be proud of you."
I glance down and tug my jet black hair over my face. "I wouldn't know," I reply quietly. "Haven't spoken to him in almost a decade." Had it really been that long? My childhood...was never normal. Would it have ever been? Could it have ever been?
"I see." Master Yang narrows his eyes and ties up his thick gray hair into a bun. "Well, there's no use in discussing it. You're in Class A, aren't you? Must be tough getting by without using your quirk. How are you managing?"
I stretched out my arms and my neck. "As far as academics go, I'm excelling. But the physical portions I'm severely lacking in. I'm kinda just hoping Mr. Aizawa just expels me already but he hasn't yet."
Mr. Yang freezes. "That's...unlike an Akuma. In fact, that's entirely unlike any of your family members. You come from a long line of fighters with powerful quirks, Hiromi. You'd settle for expulsion?"
I clench my fists. Why does everyone have to get on my case?! "From now on, we act as if I was born quirkless." I insist. "Treat me as you would treat a normal human being. Not a superhero. I don't want you holding back on what you can do without your quirk. That's all I beg of you. If you can just help me with that, then maybe I have a chance at excelling in even the physical portions of Class A's training!"
And so began my legacy. Through the bruises and the blood that was spilled that day I tried to put my past behind me, but ultimately I freaked out after about half an hour and hid in a corner, screaming hysterically from a traumatic flashback. It wasn't caused by anything in particular, but I guessed being in the dojo had something to do with it, since that's the primary place my mother forced me to use my powers.
"Take it easy, Hiro," Mr. Yang reassures me after I'd began to calm down. He offers out a cup of tea that I didn't even notice had been made until I stopped screaming. "We'll keep working on your training, okay? I think... your mental training it's what's more important than physical training. You need to overcome your own fears."
"My...fears..." I mutter, looking down at my reflection in my cup of tea. My hair just slightly shifts out of the way so I can see my right eye. I hated it, and everything it stood for. My fear? My worst nightmare? Hah...
My biggest fear has always been...
myself.