"Idiot, wake up," Hitoshi grunted, nudging my blanket clad body with his foot. Grumbling tiredly, I sat up and rubbed my eye. Looking up at the purple-haired boy I noticed the satisfied half smile on his face, showing an amused expression.
"What are you looking at?" I asked, swinging my legs over the side of my bed.
"Nice hair, glowstone," he snickered, earning a glare from me.
"Fuck off, like you can talk with your gravity-defying hair." He let out a quiet laugh before pulling me to my feet, only then did I realize he was already dressed in his uniform.
"You going early?" I inquired. He hummed while avoiding my gaze, his hand making its way to the back of his neck.
"Yeah, I've got a few things I need to do before school so I'll be taking the earlier train. It doesn't really change anything for you though, just catch the train we usually catch and walk the rest of the way to school on your own." He didn't seem to care or that's how it came across anyway, it left me feeling somewhat disappointed but I didn't let it show.
"It's fine, don't hold yourself back if you're busy," I assured him. He smiled lightly, placing his hand on top of head to ruffle my hair.
"I'll see you at lunch, glowstone," he said before leaving the room, heading off to school early. I was already up so I decided to get ready, fixing my hair and changing into my uniform. I was struggling with my tie when a knock sounded from my bedroom door. It opened a moment later to reveal Hitoshi's father.
"Good morning, Hajime-san," I greeted. He returned the morning welcome before continuing into the room, noticing that I was struggling with my tie. He was a very tall man, having the same gravity-defying purple hair and dark circles as his son. They basically looked the same except Hajime was older, sporting a small about of facial hair due to laziness. Hajime approached me and grabbed the tie, beginning to fix it.
"Everything alright with you and Hitoshi?" he asked, his purple orbs focused on the red uniform tie. I nodded, trying to stay still so he could fix it properly.
"Uh yes, he said that he needed to go to school early this morning," I informed him. He hummed as he finished with the tie, also assisting with the straightening of your uniform shirt.
"You sure? He seems a bit weird as of lately," he thinks aloud, his large hand comfortingly patting my shoulder.
"But I'm sure it's nothing, the kid has a lot going on in his head, with not getting into the hero course and all," he continued. I turned my face downwards, feeling bad that I was in Hitoshi's spot. Hajime sighed and pet my head gently, trying not to mess my hair up.
"Don't take any of it personally, kid. You got in through recommendations and that's amazing, it's just a shame that Hitoshi's quirk wasn't suited for the practical part of the exam. We're proud of both you, Mihoko might not show it much but she cares for you too." All I could do was nod and try to believe everything he was telling me but it was hard to convince myself. I knew that Mihoko, Hitoshi's mother, wasn't very fond of me. When they first considered this house to be my temporary home, there was an interview which the family all took part in and it gave me a good idea of how they all felt about me. Both Hitoshi and Hajime seemed happy to have me in their home while Mihoko was on the fence about the whole thing.
Even when I met her for the first time, I could instantly tell that she didn't like me. But it was already decided that I would stay with them for a while, they said it was a maximum of 3 that I would be staying there. So far it had been around two, so I only had the rest of this year before I'd be moved somewhere else. It frightened me, knowing that this was only temporary and that I would once again be cut off from the people I cared about.
"Anyway," Hajime kept talking, "Keep an eye on him for me, he may not act like it because he cares about you a lot but this is really getting to him. Look after him for me." I nodded, forcing a small smile.
"Yes, of course." He chuckled, patting my shoulder again before he began walking towards the door.
"Come down and have some breakfast, Mihoko is just finishing up." Then he left, leaving me alone in my room once again. Before I could head down stairs, I took several deep breaths, stopping only when I felt calm enough to continue. I hated to admit it but this was painful, why was my family only temporary?
Why can't I have a real family?
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After breakfast I packed my bag and left the house, doing exactly as Hitoshi had told me to. Catch the train we usually catch together and then walk the rest of the way to school by myself. It didn't bother me too much, not at all. I was somewhat used to the solitude so it was nothing new. It was just like any other day, nothing different except the fact that the purple-haired boy wasn't by my side. Heaving a deep breath, I continued to walk, halting when I heard something out of the ordinary.
It was quiet, making it very easy to miss. The silent atmosphere of the street was the only reason I was able to hear it, otherwise I would've walked by without even noticing. It sounded like scratching, but it was still at a very low volume so it was hard to locate its source. I gave up on walking to school and decided to find it, hoping that there was nothing trapped anywhere.
After my search, I managed to locate the source of the sound. Someone had buried a metal cylinder in the ground, leaving the top open. This allowed the creature to fall and become trapped inside, unable to dig it's way out due to the metal or climb out because of the cylinder's depth. Kneeling on the ground, I reached in and scooped up the animal. When I pulled it out I was about to determine what it was, a white rabbit. But it's fur was dreaded with thick mud, some of it dried on its head, preventing it from seeing out of its left eye.
I immediately knew I had to do something, even if it wasn't much. Holding the rabbit to my chest, I provided it a small amount of heat while I thought about what I should do. I would need water if I wanted to help it but I didn't have much on me, only what I had left in my water bottle. Wanting to find another water source, I glanced around, a small smile forming when I remembered that there was a river nearby. To provide the rabbit more comfort, I pulled my blazer off and wrapped it around it as I carried it towards the river. If I was able to get the dirt off it would be okay.
Approaching the river, I knelt beside it, the rabbit obviously afraid of the loud sound which was the rushing water. To comfort it, I began petting it gently in hopes it would put its trust in me. The green aura that usually surrounded my body covered the rabbit too, giving it a sense of protection and safety. It seemed calm after a while, allowing me to stop using my quirk and begin washing the muck out of its fur. The water was cool but the rabbit didn't seem to mind, remaining in the shallow parts as I crouched with my feet in the water, shoes and socks sitting on the bank. The mud easily washed out, coming off its face and allowing it to see properly.
Even though I couldn't communicate with the furry creature, I could tell it was happy by the way it began playing in the water. It splashed around, acting more like a dog than a rabbit. I couldn't help but laugh as it splashed me, the water hitting my bare shins. But my amusement in the happy creature was short-lived, the feeling of eyes on me causing me to stop. I glanced around, trying to locate whoever was watching me and it wasn't too hard to spot them. There was a bridge nearby and peaking out from behind one of the pillars beneath was a boy I recognized from my class. He was the silent type so I hadn't caught his name over the last two days.
Seeing that I had discovered him, he cowered behind the pillar, looking almost surprised when I didn't do anything. He probably expected me to lash out, probably yell at him for whatever it was he was doing. But honestly, I didn't care, he was doing no harm. He poked his head back out and caught my eye again, watching as I lifted my hand and gestured for him to come over.
He was hesitant but walked over even so, his eyes downcast to the ground. His large feet shuffled through the grass loudly, hands hands connected as he twiddled his thumbs. The boy stopped when he was at the bank, standing near the place I had left my shoes. He didn't look like a typical human nor a hybrid between a human and another animal like many others were. If he were a cross of anything it would definitely be human and rock because of his oddly shapen head and the general size of him. He was a big boy.
"You're in my class, aren't you?" I called out, watching as he immediately nodded. He seemed to panic, I assumed that he was afraid of me or that he was just generally shy.
"My name's (Y/n) (L/n), what's yours?" He began making various signs with his hands, what I could only assume was sign language. I wasn't familiar with it at all, making me feel a little disappointed that I couldn't communicate with him.
"Sorry, I don't understand sign language but I can learn some if you wanna talk again sometime," I tell him, looking down at the rabbit who was still splashing around in the water. I let out a quiet chuckle before gesturing it to come over. The boy watched also, his cheeks seeming to heat up as he watched me. I lent down and picked up the soaking wet rabbit, not caring that it was wetting my uniform shirt. The rock boy seemed to notice and pointed it out, looking scared as if he was about to get scolded. I looked down and shrugged it off, keeping the rabbit in place to hide how the water had allowed my shirt to show the odd texture of the scar tissue on my stomach.
Next he pointed to the rabbit, watching as I dried it as best as I could with my uniform jacket.
"I heard scratching and found him trapped while I was on my way to school. His fur was dreaded with mud and he even had some covering his eyes, limiting his sight. I brought him down to the river and he seemed to enjoy it," I told him, putting on my dirty uniform jacket, not caring about its condition. While I did this, I put the rabbit on the ground, watching as it hopped along the ground to the boys feet. He crouched and whispered something to the rabbit, listening afterward. I was surprised he could talk since he hadn't when we met but I didn't mind, I understood that he wasn't being rude, he was just shy.
"Wanna walk with me to take him to the animal shelter?" I asked. He gave a small crooked smile, his cheeks dusted pink as he nodded. Putting my bag on my back, I picked the rabbit up and began carrying him, the boy walking besides me.
"So what's your quirk? I saw you whispering to the rabbit, you some kind of animal whisperer?" He nodded. Next he pointed to the rabbit, then made a love heart with his hands only then to point to me.
"He likes me?" I inquire. He nods happily, watching as the rabbit adjusted itself in my arms, nuzzling into my chest.
"Anyway, do you have the time?" I asked him. He pulled his phone from his pocket and showed it to me. If we left now we would have time to take the rabbit to the animal shelter and get to school on time so we wouldn't have Shota on our asses.
"Okay, let's head out now." The rock-looking boy nodded and walked by my side up the river bank now that I had my socks and shoes back on. I actually found him to be nice company, it was a lot different than when I hung out with others. Usually, I was the one who didn't talk much but now since he said nothing, I was the one talking. He would respond with what he could, trying to give gestures to answer rather than signing sign language. But I told him I would learn some and I let him know that I enjoyed his company. His face was very red when I told him that and when we brought the rabbit into the shelter, he seemed almost sad.
"You alright?" I asked him. He nodded, petting the rabbit one last time before he was taken away by a woman who worked there.
"I'm sure he'll be fine," I assured him. He sent me a small smile which was honestly adorable, sure he was quite a big guy but that didn't mean he couldn't be cute. The two of us left the shelter and continued on our way to school. I looked like a mess with mud on the top half of my uniform but I didn't care. I knew that I could go and see she Chiyo and she'd let me borrow a spare uniform for the day. She'd definitely help, after scolding me for being reckless of course.
As we walked, I noticed that the boy, who I still didn't know the name of, was looking at me. Raising my head, I caught his eye. This caused him to freeze up and return his eyes to the ground, continuing to walk.
"Something wrong?" I asked, averting my eyes because I knew he didn't like the direct attention. He didn't nod nor shake his head, he remained still, the only thing moving being his lips.
"Koda," he whispered. Barely being able to hear because of the low volume of his voice, I raised an eyebrow.
"Huh? Did you say something?"
"Koda," he repeated, this time a little louder.
"Koda? What are you talking about?" I watched as he pointed a finger to his chest, indicating that he was the one referred to as Koda.
"Oh, your last name?" He nods in response, smiling gently.
"Well, it's nice to meet you, Koda," I said, keeping my face tilted upwards to stare up at the sky. It was reassuring hearing him speak to me after not seeming to speak at all, it made me wonder if he did this to anyone else. He was shy and that fact probably made it hard for him to make friends, I felt like I could relate to him even if we had different circumstances.
"Hey, Koda?" I called. He turned his face towards me, giving me his attention.
"Do you wanna be friends?"
His response wasn't verbal and that was fine.
The nod and shy smile completely made up for it.
Sad that you had to walk to school by yourself but I hope my precious Koda's presence made up for it. I thought about making the animal you save a kitten, then I remembered he had a pet rabbit so I connected it there. Koda is a very under-rated boy, he needs more love. Thanks for reading!