English = italics
Japanese = normal
°🔥°
"—then I told her that if she didn't start smiling, the frown would become glued to her face and everyone would be scared of her instead," Togata finished telling his rather strange story to the three of us. Honestly, I think I zoned out of his story about ten minutes ago.
"Did she start smiling?" Nejire asked, she was completely invested in the story Togata was saying while Amajiki sat silently next to the blonde and I sat with a book happily held between my hands.
It was a pretty good book.
"Yes!" Togata nodded enthusiastically, "it was a beautiful sight to see."
"Y-your smile i-is contagious," Amajiki managed to stutter out, his head bowed down.
"I must agree," I looked up from my book to chime in, "Togata, you have a smile that just lights up any room that you enter. It's rather impressive. Being around you makes me want to smile all the time too."
Nejire and Amajiki both nodded along while Togata gave me a dumbfounded look before a large smile spread across his face again.
It's kind of embarrassing to say but it's honestly true. Maybe his quirk is actually just contagious smiles.
"Really? I'm glad you think so!" Togata beamed, "I want to be a hero who's smile can chase anyone's fears away even if it's just for a moment."
Yeah. That seems like him. I love that.
"Like All Might?" Nejire asked, the blonde boy nodded.
"I'm sure you'll become a great beacon of hope in the future," I said before turning my gaze back to the book in my hands, reaching out to grabbing coffee as I flipped the page.
"Mikhail, is that you?" a voice piped up from behind me, I found myself choking on my drink as I spun around to see my stepdad.
My mood suddenly becoming rather foul.
"Uh—what're you doing here?" I asked.
"I'm getting coffee," Loùis stated.
"No. I mean in Japan," I grumbled, "obviously you're here for coffee if you're here."
"Business trip," was all I got in return, "are these your friends?"
"I guess... Why do you care?" I raised a brow.
During the years I've known Loùis, I've always been extremely stand-offish to the guy. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate that the man loves my mother with every fibre of his being, but I don't like the fact that he was my stepdad. To me, I already had a Dad, I didn't need a second one and he spent a good majority of my childhood years in America trying to be my Dad. Sure, my actual Dad had little to no interaction with me and with raising me once we left but no matter what, he's still my Dad. Loùis is not. And I really don't appreciate him attempting to push my Dad out of my life. Thankfully, he stopped trying so hard when I turned thirteen, but he still kept trying from time to time which is just pushing too many boundaries of mine.
As if sensing the tension between the two of us, or more like just around me, Togata stood up and offered a hand to Loùis.
"I'm Mirio Togata," he introduced himself, his English wasn't perfect, but it was understandable, "over there is Tamaki Amajiki and other there is Ne—"
Over, not other, Togata... good try though.
"Nejire Hado, sir," Nejire cut the smiling blonde off, "your son is an amazing guy."
"He's not my Dad," I turned to my three friends, "my Dad is Roan Lionel. Fenniksu. The Phoenix of Japan."
"My name is Loùis Fini," Loùis introduced himself, "thank you for looking after my stepson. Please continue to look out for him."
"We will, don't worry," Togata grinned. Loùis gave a small nod before turning and leaving the café, seemingly forgetting that he was in there to get a coffee in the first place.
"He seemed nice," Nejire said as I finished off my coffee.
I just shrugged, muttering out a 'I guess'.
"Do you hate your stepdad?" Togata asked me as Amajiki just silently watched me in utter curiosity.
"I don't hate the guy. I just don't like him," I shrugged, "from day one he's always tried to replace my Father. When I was younger, he used to block out any calls that I got from my Dad. He's a good guy, I guess, I just don't like him because I don't need two people pretending to be my Father."
Dad is also basically pretending to be my Dad at this point in my life to be fair. Honestly, I just have a Mum and a Stepdad, and half-sister now. Plus a guy who tried to be a Dad for me and is still doing so. I don't know, there's just no connection.
"Pr-pretending?" Amajiki repeated, confused.
"Uh—let's not get into it," I looked away before standing up, "I'm going to get a refill. Anyone want anything?"
"Oh! Oh! I'd like another jasmine tea, please," Nejire said excitedly as she passed her empty cup over to me.
"I-I'd like a strawberry cake please," Amajiki whispered.
"I'll just have two chocolate chip cookies," Togata looked at me with a smile, "please and thank you."
Two? Alrighty.
I nodded and walked to the counter. Getting all the orders and then getting myself a coffee jelly while I was at it. Once I had everything, I balanced all the food and drinks skilfully, continuing my walk back to the table.
"Whoa—master balancer!" Nejire exclaimed as the three waiting for me rescued me from my impressive (in my opinion) balancing act by taking all the things out of my hand and placing them safely on the table.
"Years of experience," I replied as I sat down, "I did part time in a café."
°🔥°
A few weeks later_
"Today we'll be—" Thirteen started before Midnight burst into the room.
"Choosing hero names!" Midnight announced, "be careful because if you don't choose wisely then you'll have hell to play in the future!"
She whipped out a bunch of whiteboards and pens.
"Take one and pass them back," she told us. The boards were all passed through the class and then the pens.
"Alright, off you go, little heroes," Midnight smiled, "let your creativity flow!"
I stared at my board for a while, thinking about what my name could be. Golden Phoenix? Nah. Phoenix? Fenniksu? Nah, my Dad has that name and he's not retiring any time soon.
I turned around and looked to Amajiki.
"Hey—you have an idea what to call yourself?" I asked.
"Y-yeah," he nodded, "S-suneater."
"Suneater, huh?" I asked, he nodded, "what about me? You got an idea? I got none."
He stared at me for a moment before nodding hestitantly.
"Saisei," he managed out, "i-it means r-rebirth."
"Rebirth?" I hummed, "Saisei..."
He look at me nervously as I repeated 'Saisei' a few more times.
"I like it," I nodded, "thanks, Amajiki."
I wrote the name down on the board and leaned back in my seat.
"Alright, who wants to come up and present first?" Midnight asked, I heard Amajiki let out a nervous squeak in response, I put my hand up, "alright, Lionel, come on up here."
I nodded, grabbed my board, and walked up to the front.
"I'm Saisei," I announced, "no special reason but my friend picked it out."
"Rebirth, hm?" Midnight asked, I nodded, "Links to your quirk, the golden phoenix. A phoenix is reborn after death. Maybe you too."
"Nah," I shook my head, "not part of quirk but I do like that idea."
She smiled and I took to my seat again.
Can you imagine being able to be reborn? That kind of power would be way too crazy even for this kind of world.
"Alright, how about—" Midnight went to say before Nejire shot up.
"Me! Me next," she said excitedly as she skipped to the front, "I'm Nejire-Chan!"
"Oh, how cute! I love it!" Midnight exclaimed before Nejire headed back to her seat again, "alright, Amajiki, how about you?"
Amajiki looked nervous but also at the same time he look like he wanted to shake his head and disappear but stood up nevertheless. Go on, Amajiki, I know you're strong.
"Just imagine that we're all potatoes," I told him, "potatoes are harmless."
"R-right," he nodded before walking past me and heading up to the front of the classroom. He turned his board around and went to talk before freezing.
"I.." he turned and pressed his head up against the wall, "I can't do it, even if I imagine you all to be potatoes, I can still see your arms and legs... I can't do it."
Wow, he said that without even stuttering once, even if it was faster than a race car.
"You need to get some confidence, young Amajiki," Midnight chuckled before picking his board back up, "Amajiki is 'Suneater'. Great name, though I doubt we'll get an explanation about that. Go ahead and sit down."
"T-thank you," Amajiki nodded before hurrying back to his seat behind me.
"Better than not trying at all," I smiled at him, "next time you'll do it for sure!"
"Y-you think s-so?" he asked.
"I know so," I grinned, shooting him a thumbs up.
After that, we listened to our classmates and then went to lunch.
"Did you also do your hero names today?" Nejire asked as we sat down at a table with Mirio.
"Yeah. I am... wait for it—" Mirio paused dramatically, "—Lemillion!"
"Cool," she grinned, "I'm Nejire-chan and Mikha is Saisei, Tamaki is Suneater."
"Those names are going to be remembered through history!" Mirio exclaimed, "Lemillion, Nejire-chan, Saisei, and Suneater... the best heroes in Japan and when they're together, they'll be an unstoppable team!"
"That sounds like it'll be awesome!" Nejire beamed, I nodded, and Tamaki stuttered out a slight response.
After that day, our first year passed by like the breeze. The four of us became close friends and we proved to be inseparable, spending most if not all our free time together. During our second year, we all easily got our provisional licenses and began our work studies. I didn't go to my Dad's agency, instead, I went to Pyro-Shock's agency for my work studies. Everything seemed fine.
Well... Until the day when everything turned shit side up.