Two days had passed since the death of the villain called Dissolver and his gang. After sending proof of the job in the form of photos, I received my payment from the businessman's middleman. I spent those days resting.
Searching for Yakushi had worn me down. He worked in the same district, but he picked completely different targets every time. And despite all his caution, he got caught in the dumbest way possible. He got drunk at a bar, fell asleep at a table, accidentally dissolved part of the table, and crashed to the floor. When I was asking around for leads on Dissolver, I heard about this incident from a cursing bartender. I decided to check it out. Yakushi was a regular there. In short, it was stupid.
Anyway. I decided to listen to music and wait for my acquaintance to arrive.
I sat on a bench near the park and scrolled through a Hatsune Miku album on my new smartphone, looking for a song I had not heard before. My eyes stopped on one title: "Inochi ni Kirawarete iru." Translated, it means "Hated by Life." Heh.
My gaze drifted over the buildings and people around me.
The song started playing. The lyrics spoke of not caring about one's own death but feeling sad when others die. They talked about breathing indifference, about hating everything, about how "let's be friends" was the most hypocritical phrase. The news on a nearby TV reported a brutal murder in the city of Hoshu.
The song continued. It described an empty wallet, loneliness, childhood fading away. The singer said that if she became immortal, she did not know if she could truly live. Then the news anchor's voice cut through the music: "I regret to inform you that Aika Kayoshi passed away three months ago."
My mother. I had searched for her once.
A smirk stretched across my lips. Something inside responded with an unfamiliar feeling. The song said that life hates us each time. That the singer wanted to say goodbye to it all. But at the end, she said she still wanted to live, desperately clinging to life, because you are alive.
A loud noise made me look up.
A group of four students stood out from the crowd. Two of them were smirking at a fallen boy with green hair who was clearly panicking. The last of the four, a blond with a face like a villain, was saying something to him. When he finished, he walked away with his two lackeys.
I sighed, stood up, and walked over to the boy who was brushing off his pants.
"Izuku, I understand this is between you and Bakugo, but this behavior is really annoying. If you always let him bully you, nothing good will come of it."
Midoriya's eyes went wide. It was actually kind of funny.
"Hi, Ken San! I did not expect you to be here already. As for Kacchan, he is just in a bad mood today."
I looked at him skeptically and decided to change the subject. He could deal with his own problems. I was not his babysitter.
"Fine. By the way, I have told you many times that you can drop the honorifics. We have known each other for a long time. And you said you found a good place to train. Are we going there today?"
Midoriya's eyes lit up with excitement. He nodded quickly.
"Yes, Ken! It is a great place to train. A beach on the outskirts of the city. It used to be very popular. But I went there yesterday to check it out, and I saw that it is completely covered in trash. But cleaning it up can be part of the training. As the American hero 'Master in a Tank Top' said, 'Any intense work can be turned into a workout.' Oh, sorry, I need to go home and get some spare clothes. And did you see the morning news about…"
I listened to Midoriya ramble as we walked toward his house. I started to remember how we had first met.
It was about a year and a half ago near the site of a fight between a hero and a villain. I think the hero was Death Arms, and the villain had the head of a bull. I was amused by the resemblance to the Minotaur from Greek myths. But the fight quickly became boring. I decided to look at the crowd that had gathered. Some people were even eating hamburgers." Panem et circenses" Bread and circuses. Centuries pass, but people never change.
Then I noticed a boy quickly writing something in a notebook. Out of curiosity, I walked up to him and asked what he was doing. He began listing Death Arms's characteristics, the strengths and weaknesses of his Quirk, and the same for his opponent. I was a little overwhelmed by his intensity. But I kept talking to him, and later, as he panicked, we exchanged contact information on social media.
Over time, we talked often. We discussed his analyses of heroes and villains. At first, I was surprised by his constant energy and his complete lack of self confidence.
Then I learned that he had no Quirk.
For a moment, I felt lost. I wondered if I could have become like him. Then I realized that we were different. He had kept his naivety and his belief in his dream of becoming a hero. I could not have done that. Even back then, I did not believe I could become a hero. I was studying support course materials, telling myself that was what I wanted.
Shame over my own weak will made me want to sink through the floor. But my decision to support Midoriya came immediately. I knew he did not need pity or sympathy. He needed someone to believe in him and his dreams. I was not sure I wanted him to become a hero, and I was not even sure he could succeed. But I decided to support him, because no one had ever supported me.
"We are here, Ken."
I shook off my thoughts and looked ahead. We were standing at the top of a stone staircase. Below us was a beach covered in mountains of trash, broken machines, and old furniture.
But my eyes were not on the garbage. They were on the sea.
Slowly rocking waves shimmered with the sun's reflections, evoking something warm and bright. A light breeze cooled the air after the warm day.
I looked again at the trash filled beach and thought that by cleaning it up, I might become a little like the hero I had once wanted to be.