"It looks like everyone is here, so let's get on the buses. Class 1A on the left one, 1B on the right bus. Hurry up," Nightmare ushered.
It was Sunday, a few weeks since school had started, and the first-year hero course students were being taken on a school trip to the Tokyo Museum of Heroism. The museum was several hours away from Musutafu. All their teachers had said that it would be a good trip to inspire them in their early training towards being a hero. For some though, it was just a trip to a boring museum, and they just wanted go get it over with.
Umiko stepped onto the bus and took the free space next to a girl with black hair that, if she recalled correctly, was called Yamada. Her head was lowered, and she was nervously fiddling with her hair. She reminded Umiko of a timid mouse, in fact, she couldn't recall her ever talking in class.
As the bus started to move, she mindlessly looked around her. Her eyes landed on Tsukamoto staring at her, before quickly looking away. However, sitting on the other side of her, Nakazawa had noticed the boy's constant stares.
"Fujiwara," she leaned over to whisper in her ear. "Why does Tsukamoto keep looking at you, does he have a crush on you or something?"
"No," she replied flatly.
"That's so boring," she groaned. "Why hasn't there been any gossip to talk about since we started school. I was expecting more romance."
"Nakazawa, how many times do we have to tell you that school isn't for romance and gossip," Miyagi, the now class representative, scolded from a few seats down.
"What? You don't think heroes have hidden relationships sometimes?"
"Yes, but they don't let their personal lives affect their hero work."
"Whatever, when I go pro I'll make sure every guy in Japan is head-over-heels in love with me."
"If you say so."
Umiko slid her headphones over her head and tuned out the surrounding conversations. She waited patiently over the next few hours for them to arrive at their destination.
A few hours later, the slow hum of the moving bus came to a stop.
"Alright everyone, start filing out of the bus, then we can get inside the museum. Us teachers will be waiting out here for a while since a tour guide will show you around. There's no need for us to be in there since we've been there too many times by now."
All the students started following these instructions and before long they were starting their tour.
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Umiko couldn't tell how much time had passed since the start of the tour. Then again, she wasn't paying attention to the time. All these halls filled with generations of heroes fascinated her, especially those with water-based quirks like hers. These people had once been students like herself. However, she'd quickly walked away from a section about someone called the Hero Killer, known for his blood-filled murders. It reminded her of too many bad memories.
Moving onwards, she found a small display of some hero called Aqua Girl. It was very short, probably easily looked over by visitors. Many lesser-known heroes are known to be ignored. It said that Aqua Girl had been a young hero who worked on shores and boats on the sea.
"Who are you reading about?" a friendly voice said, walking up to her.
"Aqua Girl. She had a water quirk like mine, but she died really young protecting a citizen from a big villain."
"Oh," Tsukamoto replied, looking at her carefully.
"It's a shame really, there's always stories of young heroes getting too big for their boots and trying to beat a villain obviously much stronger than them. She should have just saved herself."
"I don't think that's true," he said suddenly.
"What do you mean?"
"She died saving a civilian. She died doing what heroes do, how could she have called herself a hero if she had left the person and run away to save her skin?"
"I-" she tried to speak, once again at a loss for words.
She was cut off by the tour guide.
"Students, follow me, we need to finish up her to make it to the final room."
A few students instantly starting walking whilst the others slowly followed afterwards.
The final room was a large square-shaped room of all the top heroes since the dawn of heroism. There weren't too many of them, just the most famous of them that had protected Japan with their incredible power. To be displayed in this room, you had to be the best of the best.
She passed the different displays, reading about familiar heroes that she'd heard of. Names like Endeavour, Hawks and Ground Zero were not hard to miss. They'd been praised years after they had passed for all their great deeds and sacrifices.
Moving onto the next display, she noticed a picture of a smiling teenager with messy green hair. Weird. She'd heard of this hero, and he had definitely lived past being a teenager, so why would he choose this picture as the one to be shown to hundreds of thousands of people years later? Most heroes who got into this room got onto these displays before they died, so they could choose their images. Why not choose a heroic photograph of himself to show off to the world?
As she continued to read the board, she heard a crash coming from somewhere. Whipping around her head, she watched in shock as all the doors around the room slid to a close by themselves and the lights turned off.
Above them, areas of the glass, peaked ceiling smashed into pieces as what looked like a group of hooded people wearing black masks floated to the ground. One of them pushed their hands in front of them and suddenly their fingers meshed into many ropes that flew around the room and tied themselves around all the students and the tour guide, before dragging them to the centre of the room.
"Hey, what the hell! Let us go," shouted a boy from 1A.
"Be quiet, before I cut you in half with my ropes, and don't even try using your quirks, we've already blocked them temporarily," said the one holding the ropes.
"Quiet, Number Three, now isn't the time for petty threats," the tallest one said, maybe the leader of their group.
"Sorry," the man mumbled.
"Now, let's see. The hero-course of UA High, top-tier students who made it into such a prestigious school, couldn't even save yourselves from some ropes. How pathetic."
Nearby, Yamada was already crying, trembling as she closed her eyes in fear. Umiko watched her with pity as she felt her own anxiety swelling. This wasn't normal. She hadn't had a reason to feel this uneasy since she was eleven. This was some sort of joke, right?
"And this one is already crying at the sight of us," he mocked.
"I was expecting more of a fight from them, sir."
"Yes, a pity really. Nonetheless, I'll be needing your quirks now."
"Get away from us you freaks!"
"There are cameras here, so the teachers will be here soon," the tour guide said shakily. "Leave or you'll have to face them."
"I wouldn't worry about them, Number Seven dealt with them fantastically."
"What's wrong with you? What do you mean you need our quirks?"
"Too many questions, not enough time for answers. Now, Six, I think it's time these children went to sleep."
"On it."
One of the men walked to where Koizumi, her classmate, was glaring at him. Umiko watched as he looked her right in the eyes. The girl fell to the ground without another word. There was an audible shriek coming from the other side of the students.
"Koizumi! What did you do to her?" a panicked girl from 1A asked.
"Relax, she's not dead."
"You better let us go or-"
"Or what? You'll scream at us?" the man laughed.
The man who had made Koizumi pass out was already walking up to the next student. Again, he looked them straight into the eyes before they were out cold. Next, he walked up to Tsukamoto and it finally clicked in Umiko's head.
To her surprise, she found herself struggling against the ropes and shouting before the man could reach him.
"Tsukamoto, close your eyes! Don't let him look into them!" she screamed, stunned at her own voice. He instantly shut his eyes tight and turned his face away from the villain.
"So we have a smart one. Bring her here, Three."
The ropes jerked her forward, digging into her skin painfully. She glued her eyes shut quickly, refusing to let him use his quirk on her.
"Open your eyes, or your friend dies," he said simply.
Her mind raced as she realized he was talking about Tsukamoto. She could feel her heart pounding in her chest as she listened to the malice in his voice. He wasn't joking. But she was so scared. For the first time in years, she was completely and utterly terrified.
She was reminded of that night, the eyes she had seen, and the toll her mother paid for her stupidity. There was no way she could let it happen again, despite her fear. Umiko had been selfish once, she wouldn't do it again. These were real villains.
Slowly, she opened her eyes and the last thing she heard was her shaky breath as she collapsed.
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Character Spotlight
Name: Rika Yamada
Quirk: Voice
Favourite Thing: Not Talking to People
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