Chapter 24| Wings
—A Week Later: Your POV
"HOLY SHIT!!" I walk in the door to find a um...rather funny looking Katsu. My jaw dropped.
"See? Even Akari-Chan thinks it's funny!" Sero laughed and motioned me to come over, and so I did.
Katsu watched stared at me rather calmly as I walked over. His eyes narrowed a small amount when he saw my bandage over my left eye. We stared at each other for a few seconds straight. No words, just a stare. Crimson red meeting (E/C).
His ash blonde hair was being held down by what it looks like a lot of hair gel.
"Pffffttt..." I clamped a hand on my mouth as I tried to contain my laughter, holy shit I haven't seen a Hedgehog like this ever.
"WHAT'S SO FUNNY SHITTY GIRL?!"
And with a 'boom' of his ego, his ash blonde returned to his usual spiky hair, sadly. I would have had so much fucking fun teasing him!
"Awwww...his hair back to normal, bro." Eij sighed sadly, and I nodded along with Sero.
"Catch you dudes later, Ima see what Urakaka is up to." I waved them off before they even had a chance to ask me about my bandaged eye.
I saw Urakaka over by Jirou, Mina and Tsuyu breathing fire with her aura. Looks like a week at the battle hero's agency can really change somebody. I wondered if anybody had a battle with a villain.
"Looks like you're making some damn improvement, Urakaka!" I said, sitting on top of a desk with my legs crossed. I learned this from Kayama, not only style points, it's pretty comfortable. Annnnd she's really fucking rubbing off of me.
"Call me Ochaco! We're best friends remember? But yeah! He taught me a lot of combative skills! Maybe one day I'll be on the same level as you!" She grinned.
"You'll get there in no time, if you master your quirk along with hand-to-hand, you'll beat the shit out of anybody easily!" I chuckled.
Maybe going down the Hero path isn't too bad.
"Uh...Akari-Chan? What happened to your eye?" Mina asked me.
"I was a bit-" I started before Katsu interrupted.
"She's fucking reckless." He grumbled, coming over and flicking my forehead.
Of course, being me, I stuck out my fucking foot in front of Katsu. Making him face plant onto the ground like a pancake. The results? Yelling, colorful language and a angry Hedgehog. Before the two of us could kill each other in any way, Kaminari spoke up.
"Oh right! The four of you was involved with Hero Killer, right? You guys were all over the news!" He looked right at me, then Izu, Shou and Iida.
"I was worried when I saw the news mentioning that UA students were involved and two of them were injured. Is your eye okay, Akari-Chan?" Momo asked me with a concerned face.
I gave her a peace sign. "It'll only take a few more days. But in the meanwhile, I'm fucking half blind. My eye coordination is a tad off, so don't throw anything sharp in my direction, alright?" The last sentence was for Bakugou and Kaminari. Since they like to test my reflexes, they always throw something like a rock or a plastic knife they find.
"I'm happy that you all are okay! I heard that you all were rescued by Endeavor! That's the number two hero for you!" Somebody yelled, and Shou replied with a 'yep...rescued.'
I thought Iida would break down or get angry when Kaminari said Stain was kind of fucking cool. But instead, he said he would be a hero that would correct 'errors' like that.
"Tch, Discount Pikachu." I heard Katsu grumbled. Guess he got Kaminari a nickname too.
"Tch, Stupid Hedgehog." I mocked and snickered. And that's how we went at it...again.
—
"It's a Rescue Training Race!" Toshinori announced to our class.
Oh fuck. Anything with the word 'rescue' I fucking suck at, especially without having the ability to be airborne. But...during the three days in the hospital, I learned a few damn things from jumping out of my room window.
"This is Playing Ground Y (Gamma)! The tightly packed construction site actually seems more like a complex labyrinth. Anyways! Get in groups of of five, which should be three groups of five and one group of six.
This competition is to see who comes first to my aid! I will release a distress signal and you'll will need to find your way to me! Starting outside of the limits, of course!" Toshinori continued explaining the rules and process. I think some of our quirks give us a slight advantage, but I'm ready to kick Katsu's ass.
"And keep the distraction at a minimum!" He pointed to Katsu. I laughed.
"Shut up." He said, I could tell his face was red. It was either blushing or embarrassment, but back then, I didn't think much of it.
The first group to go against each other was Sero, Mina, Iida, Ojiro and Izu. In this situation, Sero has quite a fucking advantage with his tape dispenser. Oh hey, that should be his nickname! Tape dispenser!
"Go Mina! Go Izu!" I cheered before it started.
"Are you dating Midoriya-Kun?" I snapped my head back, I couldn't see anybody except a pair of floating hands. Which only meant one thing, it was Hagakure.
"Oh, Hagakure. Nah, he's too good for me, plus...Ochaco likes him." I shook my head with a smile. Yup, a smile.
"AKARI-CHAN!!" I looked over and Ochaco was red as a damn tomato.
"Hehe..I'm rooting for you then, Urakaka-Chan!" Hagakure shouted.
"Wha?! Thanks...but Akari-Chan! Get back here you!" Ochaco started chasing me, but I luckily hid behind Katsu. Man, he's already taller than me, it was like it was just yesterday that I was fucking taller.
"The hell do you want?" Katsu asked with a raised brow.
"Food." I grinned. Weird enough, I felt like I laughed or smiled more around him. It's probably cause I knew him since I was a child. After all, he's one of my best friends.
"GO!!!" And the race started.
Everybody talked a bit about how Izu might be in a slight disadvantage, but I only smiled when he activated his quirk. Emerald, green electricity surrounded him as he jumped from building to building with a familiar pose.
I grinned. Looks like he finally understood what I said to him back at the hospital.
—Flashback
"Hey, Ri-Chan?"
I hummed in response as I turned around to look at him.
"Um...Where did you learn your moves?" Izu asked me shyly.
"Pretty much all of it is self-taught. Why?"
"I-It's because...I...want to be strong. And I thought you were the perfect person to ask because y-you have a lot of experience in combat. B-but I'm not saying that-" He started to panic and stutter all over the place when he took out his notebook.
"Pfft...it's fine. Like I said, I may be physically stronger, but mentally...let's just say that mentally I'm not that strong." I laughed before continued.
"Starting from scratch is hard. So let me tell you this: Learning isn't stealing; take what you see and give it a twist when you master it." I said.
"What does that mean?" He asked, puzzled.
"You'll find out soon. But, if 100% of that quirk is hard, try a little bit of it then make your way up."
—Flashback End
"Those are my moves..." I heard Katsu grumbled with anger.
"Chill. Don't burst a blood vessel." I joked as my gaze followed Izu, he was doing great until...he slipped. The entire thing ended in a flash, next up?
Katsu, me, Kaminari , Eij, Tsuyu and Aoyama.
We each started on top of a building, about ten feet away from each other. I took the chance to analyze my best bet and route.
It took me a while to find a route that worked for me, there was some jumps and falls but, that is where parkour comes in. I'm not fucking best at it, but I know how to without landing on my ass.
"Race you there, dumbass." I heard Katsu say.
"I have a fucking name. Call me at least the name you used to call me when we were young, idiot." I shot back, crouching a bit with one leg in front of the other, getting ready for some jumps.
"Fine. Only if you get there first."
I snorted. "Easy. This would be easy as jumping out of a Hospital window."
"You jumped out of a Hospital window??" Kaminari and Eij questioned me at the same time, staring like I was fucking crazy.
"Uh...yeah. More than a dozen times, you guys haven't?" I slightly tilted my head and tucked a strand of (H/C) back. Then I understood, you weren't suppose to jump out a hospital window. No wonder the nurses were panicking like fucking headless chickens when I did.
"Life lesson #1: Jumping out a hospital is not normal, but should totally do it again." I thought.
"If I get there first, you owe me ramen?" I grinned, anything with food motives me.
"Sure. You ain't going to beat me to All Might." He smirked. His killer smirk.
"GO!!"
And the race to the finish line starts. I payed no attention to the others and focused on the damn prize. I climbed on top of a tall building with the help of my quirk. My quirk, Fire Manipulation, is good on the battlefield, but when it comes to recuse missions, I'm at a fucking disadvantage.
But, luckily, I'm pretty fast for my age. Abnormally actually. So eat shit, Katsu!
Speaking of Katsu, he sprinting across of the building next to me. I took a glance back. Everybody else was far behind the two of us, so no need to worry.
"Thought you were eating me dust, Ri!" He taunted, while using his quirk to boost him into the air to another building. "Wait, now you fucking are! You can't catch up! So ha!"
I smirked, "Izu isn't the only one who improved, Katsu." I skidded to a quick stop and jumped as high as I could, I didn't use my quirk cause I couldn't afford to mess it up.
"Manipulate: Wings!" I shouted, right on cue, I produced a pair of wings made from my own black flames.
"Eat my dust, fucking Katsu!" I laughed out loud as I flapped my wings made out of my own fire.
"HAH?!" I heard Katsu yell out in surprise.
"Woah! Go Akari-Chan!!" I heard Urakaka and a few other of my friends cheered me on. Mostly the girls, but there were a few guys.
The only thing that held me back was the fact that the wings aren't going to last forever. Also, the fact being that I haven't flew in almost two years.
As I flew over the mess of machines that looked like a labyrinth maze than a construction maze, I remember why I loved flying so fucking much. The feeling of my (H/C) hair being pushed back by the wind, being able to define gravity and just...the feeling of being fucking invincible was everything.
Even if the wings were temporary, it felt great being able to be airborne.
I saw the spot where I was suppose to land, so flapped the wing slower. I made my way down back onto solid ground as the fire fuel wings slowly disappeared. Man, I was fucking rusty.
After I landed, I tried spotting for the others and Katsu.
"Was I flying that fast?" I uttered, crossing my arms over my chest.
I swore Katsu wasn't that far behind me. Where the hell did he go?
"OI, WATCH OUT!" I heard a low voice yell out, I knew that voice from anywhere, it was Katsu's.
"Ha! I beat you-" I was about to turn around when I was pinned with hands with both sides of my head.
"Ow...what the fuck?" I winced at the sudden force. I looked up and saw a pair of crimson orbs staring back into my (E/C) one. I was immediately flustered as hell.
Oh fucking god.
——