Voting for class rep was the last thing that was expected from us after class. Despite what should have been a quick event, it seemed to drag on forever. It didn't help that many students didn't even seem motivated to run for class rep by the time we got to it. I would've thought Sakura, Kaito, or even Yamamoto would've jumped towards the opportunity; however, that didn't happen. Out of the handful volunteers, only one stood out the most due to her quick thinking skills. Because of that, Michi became U.A's first class rep.
Her win should've been a happy one, but everyone seemed distracted. Even as I walked out of the school, I realized Sakura was so distracted that she had forgotten to walk home with me. I waited outside the doors of U.A. for a few minutes until I got a phone call.
Seeing her number flash across the screen, I knew what was going on.
"Hey Sakura," I answered.
"Oh my gosh! Tami-tan, I'm such a bad friend! I'm so sorry! I was just so tired from school, and thought you were right next to me the entire time. I'm at the middle school with your brother, so we can either wait here, or we can meet you at U.A., or we can meet you at your house. Again, I'm so so sorry!" Sakura apologized.
I forced out a small laugh. "It's okay, honestly! I should be fine walking back by myself. I can catch up with you guys later. Just make sure Ollie's doing his homework when you get there so that you can help me with the math assignment."
"You got it!" Sakura responded. "Again, I'm so sorry! It won't happen again."
Even though I knew she wouldn't see me, I still shook my head. That was typical Sakura. It may seem like she was a bad friend, but after what we'd been through, especially today, I didn't blame her. Sure, she wasn't in the library, but she still had to stay in the safe room, wondering what was going on. From what I could understand, no one knew what kind of villains were here. No one, except Kaito, Michi, Yamamoto, and me.
Sakura hung up on me not long after we exchanged our goodbyes. I sighed as I tucked my phone into the pocket of my blazer and readjusted the backpack on my shoulders before I started my walk home. Home wasn't far, but it wasn't an easy walk either. While I knew Sakura offered to wait or walk back, I didn't want them to go through that kind of trouble. Ollie would've been exhausted by the time we got home if they met me back here. On the other hand, he would've gotten so bored with Sakura.
Then again, maybe he wouldn't. Before Sakura and I got into U.A., I remembered how jealous he'd get. Every time Sakura would come and visit, the first thing he'd ask was when she was going to leave. If I was going to go somewhere with her, he'd complain that he wanted to go. When he didn't get his way, he'd be very bitter when I got home as he felt left out. That all seemed to have changed when Sakura finally showed him her Quirk and told him how she wanted to be a hero like his big sister. There was still tension between the two every once in a while, but it wasn't like it used to be.
Knowing those two, I figured they could probably get along a bit better than before. That didn't mean I could trust them two to wait on me. Besides, I could still make it home safely.
"Tami? Tami-tan! It is you!" a familiar voice yelled from behind. "Wait up!"
I stopped. I was just about ready to step out of U.A. grounds, before someone called my name. Not knowing who it was, I turned around, seeing one of my classmates running as fast as he could towards me. There was a small stack of books in his arms. It shocked me, especially since I noted how many of them were about heroes. Being that we were working on our history project together, I didn't think there were many books about Justice-Core.
Somehow, Kaito managed to find at least three of them.
He stopped running when he got to me and let out a deep breath. "Man, am I glad I ran into you. You won't believe it, but it's almost impossible to find information on our hero. No need to worry though. I got us covered. We have five books that have something about him that we can get our research project done."
My eyes widened. "Five?" That was more than I had expected.
"Mhmm," Kaito said. "Just got out of the library looking for them. It was a bit hard, but nothing I couldn't handle."
I nodded my head as my hands tightened around the straps of my backpack. Nothing he couldn't handle. Information on Justice-Core was slim to none. It was sheer luck that Yamamoto was able to find a book about forgotten heroes. While I could've asked some of the teachers about him, I was afraid they'd act like Mr. Elastic and would pity me.
If only we didn't have to do the assignment about him.
Despite who the assignment was about, there was one thing I knew for certain. I couldn't ask Mr. Elastic about him. The last time I tried asking questions about the man, he didn't seem to know or wouldn't answer. Something about that didn't seem right, and if I had to guess, he didn't want me to know what really happened to him, or something like that.
Then why would he bring up the murderer? If he could tell me that he was assassinated, then why not the name of the person who killed him? I had a gut feeling it was that woman from the library, but if that was true, then why not warn me?
"Hey, Tami-tan, everything alright?"
"Oh, uh, yeah. Everything's fine." I quickly said as I snapped my head over at the orange-haired boy next to me. For a moment, I was so deep in thought I had forgotten that he was still walking beside me. Seeing that he was, it made me realize we were heading in the same direction. "Hey, you know you don't have to walk me home or anything. I'm fine on my own."
Kaito chuckled. "I know, but I wasn't walking you home. You live a block away from me."
My face flushed when he said that. Feeling my face get warm, I quickly looked down, hoping my short hair could hide my face.
"Sorry," I whispered. "I-I didn't know."
"Don't worry. I usually have to pick up my little sister from school, or my older sister would give me a ride, depending on her work schedule. I'd offer, but I usually see you with Sakura-chan afterwards, and, to be honest, I don't want to deal with her," Kaito explained.
I nodded my head. "Yeah, I don't blame you. I didn't know that you had two sisters."
"Yep," Kaito answered before pausing for a moment. I looked around, realizing we were passing Oliver's school. We were only halfway until we made it home. To be honest, I wasn't sure what else I could talk about with him.
There was always the project? I thought. Just as long as we didn't talk about what happened earlier, I'd be fine.
I looked down at the sidewalk, noticing some sidewalk chalk that some kids must've drawn with earlier. A smile slipped onto my face as I remembered the days where I didn't have to worry much about what I had gone through earlier. A hero was simply just a job that seemed impossible, like becoming an actress or athlete of some sort.
Yet, here I was on my way to become a hero, robbing someone of their dream.
"Anyways," Kaito explained. "I'm sorry about earlier."
Sorry? I didn't lift my head, but I glanced at him sidewise. He wasn't even looking at me as his head turned away from me, looking at the street beside us.
Seeing that I didn't answer, he just kept talking. "I wish I could've done something better earlier in the library. I mean, Michi thought about teleporting you to safety. You even thought about saving Raiden without thinking twice about it. Me? I just used my Quirk when someone said something about it and got pretty reckless with it. Not to mention, I got caught. I don't want that to happen again. I just want to be a better hero."
Of course the one thing I didn't want to talk about was the one thing Kaito had to bring up. At the same time, he didn't comment on what I did to bring everyone down. That was what I was afraid of.
Kaito was discouraged by what happened. He was always the one to make people happy, and yet, here he was, feeling bad about what he did. I wasn't expecting that from him.
"Well, I mean, you did do a good job in, uh, holding them back. We just, I think the problem is that we're not heroes. Not yet. I, uh, Mr. Elastic even said we just needed more training," I told Kaito.
Kaito looked back at me and smiled. "You always know what to say, don't you? Thanks. I needed to hear that. If something happened to you, or anyone, I'd be a pretty pathetic hero, don't you think?"
My hands tightened on the straps of my bag. Pathetic? How could someone like Kaito think about that of himself? He was far from pathetic. If anything, Kaito was pretty brave. He was able to keep the villains at a safe distance a majority of the time. Not only that, but he kept a level head. The entire time, I was freaking out, but he didn't falter once.
"You kept me calm," I told Kaito as my head dropped even more. "I mean, Michi did too, but you...you made sure I was calm. Tha-that's hero material, isn't it?"
"I guess you're right," Kaito agreed, before his voice perked up a bit. "Bet you'll make a great hero too someday."
My eyes shot open. I snapped my head over towards him, seeing Kaito flash a bright smile in my direction. His smile was so huge that he had to close his eyes because of it. While I was a tad anxious due to the guilt I felt, I felt myself relax a bit. It took me a bit to realize why. While Daigo's Quirk could easily make others relax while using his Quirk, Kaito just had this natural gift to put anyone at ease without even trying. Not all the time—like when he chose what kind of hero we would do our project with—but most of the time.
It was because of that Kaito would make a great hero one day.
Instead of answering him, I looked up, wondering how much longer we had to go until we made it to my home. I frowned as I realized we were only a block away. After we made it to the stop sign, we would just need to take a left turn, go down three houses, and then we'd be there. While that was a good thing, I was kind of enjoying this walk with Kaito.
"So, I understand you can't do the project tonight because of your brother. Would you like to do it over our lunch period sometime this week," Kaito suggested. "Because, I don't know what your plans were for this weekend, but I was thinking about going to the festival this weekend."
The Musutafu Hero Festival, that was what Kaito was talking about when he said festival. It was probably one of the biggest events to happen in all of Japan, shortly following the Hero Billboard Chart. It was a three day festival, where every school would let students out at noon, so they could participate in the fun. Everyday of the festival, there would be different heroes, both active, retired, and deceased ones, being honored in all sorts of ways. Food stands would be scattered all across the streets, along with games where anyone could win a prize.
While it was a big event, I had completely forgotten about it. It wasn't that I didn't go every year because I did. Sakura had always dragged me to go with her as it was the only time we could dress up. According to the history books, there used to be a time where the people of Japan would wear kimonos to almost every major event—weddings, festivals, graduations—but now, it was just this one festival that people would wear kimonos. It was because of that I never minded going with Sakura. After all, she had a lot of fun and made the entire thing more about us having fun rather than the heroes themselves.
Hearing Kaito talk about it made me realize that we'd have to make sure our project got done soon.
"We can work on it during lunches and," I started to say before I caught onto what I was about to say. I took a deep breath before I continued, "And you can come over at my house, so we can start on it. The Musutafu Hero Festival isn't something to miss."
I turned to look at Kaito, who looked shocked. His eyes widened a bit before he shook his head. "No. I mean, yes, I think that's a great idea, but I was talking about the festival over in Fukuoka City. It's an American festival that comes over to Japan every five years."
My mouth dropped open for a moment. An American festival? It seemed almost too good to be true.
It had been eight years since I moved from a small town in Rhode Island to here. While that was a long time ago, I still missed it. The food, the people, everything about America, I yearned for it. I had family I hadn't seen in years; cousins I haven't even met all because we had to move to Japan. We had to move to Japan just so I could have a better life and a better chance in becoming a hero.
Back in America, none of that stuff mattered. No one cared what kind of Quirk you had, or even if you had a Quirk. Here, being a hero was all people talked about. Back in America, I was certain the conversations would be more genuine. They had to be as they didn't worry about things like becoming a hero or having a Quirk. From what I could remember, people accepted each other for who they were because the chances of not having a Quirk was much larger than it was here.
It was then I realized how homesick I was. True, I had lived here in Japan for most of my life, but there was something not right about being here. If I had the choice to go back for good, I wasn't sure that I would, not when I had friends and family living here. On the other hand, if I had the chance to go visit, I would leave in a heartbeat.
Hearing that there was an American festival going on around here was probably the closest to home I could get. Maybe not in terms of the people, but at least I could get a taste of home, even if it was just in the literal sense.
"How'd you find out about it?" I asked.
Kaito looked down at his books. "To be honest, I found it in one of these books. It's about American Heroes, and it had a loose page in it. Seeing it, I kind of looked at it, realizing that there was an American festival that happened here. I did more research on it on one of the computers and found that it was going on this weekend." When he said that I noticed his face growing red for some odd reason. "It's actually what took me so long to get out of there, but it worked out because I got to see you!"
I nodded my head in agreement, before looking around. We were still standing at the corner of the street and had been for a while. I just didn't realize it until now.
"I'm sure you'll have a lot of fun there," I told him. "If there's a funnel cake there, make sure you get one. They're really good."
"Why don't you just come with me?" Kaito invited.
"Really?" I asked, before realizing I had made plans with Sakura to go to the hero festival with Sakura. "It can't be Saturday though. I already have plans."
"What about Sunday?" Kaito asked. "I was planning on going then anyways."
"Perfect," I told him.
His smile widened. "Then it's a date!"
After he said that, there was silence. A date? I took a deep breath as we turned down the street I lived on, feeling a bit awkward. Did Kaito realize what he had just said? A date? Did he really want to date me, or was that just an expression? He had to have meant it as an expression. There was no other explanation for it.
The thought seemed to have settled in with Kaito as he quickly started shaking his head. "Not like a date-date! I don't want to make you uncomfortable or anything." He said before pausing a bit. "Unless, you want to be?"
Once again, I froze in my tracks. He meant it. Even as I looked up at him, he seemed to be very genuine with it. It was just strange hearing it come out of his mouth. I didn't think anyone would feel that way about me. I mean, compared to everyone in our class, I was ranked last and wasn't the best with my Quirk. If he was going to date anyone, I thought it would've been someone like Sakura who had a pretty impressive Quirk and could use it to her ability.
Though, the more I thought about it, those two would tear each other's heads off before they would even go on a date.
But, I wasn't Sakura. I was the one being asked out here. Part of me wondered why, but at the same time, I didn't want to know. I mean, Kaito was nice. He always knew how to make me smile. That was a good thing. Maybe going out with him wouldn't be such a bad idea after all?
"Sure," I said. "I-I'd like that."
Kaito's eyes widened in shock. "Really? You're not just saying that to be nice, are you?"
"No," I honestly told him. "I like you a lot."
Upon hearing that, Kaito smiled, clearly happy that we were on the same page for once.
~*~*~*~
By the time we walked in my home, Sakura rushed out of the dining room and started to apologize the moment she heard the door close. She continued to do so until she saw Kaito standing right beside me. The moment her eyes laid eyes on him, I could see the confusion washing over her.
True, Kaito, Sakura, and I always walked to school together. Well, more like Sakura, Ollie and I would walk to school together and every once in a while, Kaito would somehow catch up. Whether we were at the gates of U.A., or he found us walking outside my house, Kaito would always join us the minute he could.
Maybe that was why I was so comfortable around him. Still, it took Sakura by surprise. She didn't have to say a word as she looked at Kaito, then to me. I was about ready to tell her when I noticed Kaito had already made his way to the t.v., where a picture of my mom and me sat on the stand.
It surprised me that the picture was the first thing he went towards, but it didn't surprise me to say the least. The front door to my home led to the family room, where there was a t.v. shoved to the wall and a couch on the opposite. That was it. Pictures hung on the walls while a few sat by the t.v., but it wasn't much.
Still, it was home.
"Is this you?" Kaito asked as he showed me the picture.
I nodded my head. "That was back when I still lived in America."
Sakura walked over towards him to say something to him. She had her finger ready to jab into his chest to start asking some questions when her head turned to the same picture. Upon seeing it, she froze.
"Tami-tan, did your mom just put this one out? I don't ever remember seeing it," Sakura mentioned.
Her comment confused me. I was about ready to argue with them before I noticed which picture was in the frame. True, it was of Mom and me when we lived in America, but it was totally different than the one I remembered. In the photo, I was hugging my mom with a big smile plastered onto my face.
Now, there were pictures of my mom carrying me when I was younger, but they were all when I was a baby. In this picture, I looked to be about seven years old. It was odd. I don't ever remember giving my mom a hug in a photo because I was never the touchy-type.
Things got weirder than that as I noticed red flashing across the television screen. Kaito, Sakura, and I turned to look to see what was going on. Before the newscaster could open up her mouth, the headline caught my attention.
Quirk gone missing.
"This just in," the woman announced as a picture of a man flashed onto the television screen. "Nobu Eto, the head of Pro Tech Industries, has finally been found. Everything seems to be normal; however, he has no recollection on having a Quirk, nor does he remember how to use it."
I took a few steps as I started to recognize the man that had lost his Quirk. While he had no memory about his Quirk, and while I didn't know him personally, I think I knew exactly what happened.
That man on the television, he was the same man who the pink-haired villain kissed that day at the mall. If I was right, then if she would've kissed anyone at 1-A, our Quirks would've been gone for good.
Author's Note:
And that concludes the third arc of I'm No Hero. Wow, a lot has happened to the first class of U.A. Going through pop-exams, facing villains, and it's only their first month!
Anyways, now that Tami and Kaito are going out, I want to know, what is your favorite ship from MHA?
That's all I've got for now. I hope to see you all when I return with the fourth arc! Like the previous arcs, there will be a short break so that I can write and edit all those chapters. Then, once that's done, updates will resume as normal.
Until then, I hope you all are doing well.
Character Spotlight: Kaito Oba
Quirk: Light
Likes: Chocolate filled dorayaki
Song: [Karoke] Fujita Maiko--Hotaru