I wake up in a hospital bed, and I panic once I realize where I am. I CAN’T AFFORD ANY HOSPITAL BILLS. I am literally eating garbage because I have nothing. I go to get up, groaning in pain in the process, and the girl from earlier holds her arm out, preventing me from getting up. She says, “Now, where do you think you are going?” I say worried and anxious, “I can’t afford a hospital stay, I have to go!” She looks puzzled and asks, “But it isn’t a lot of money.” I laugh in a curt manner and say, while looking away, “Everything is too much money for me…” She says, “Give me one moment.” She pulls out her phone and goes out in the hall to make a call. It must be nice to have your own cell phone. Then again, what use would I have for a phone? I don’t have any family or friends to call. Nor do I have the money to pay for a phone plan.
She comes back inside the room wearing a smile and says, “My parents said they would take care of it. So just relax and recover.” Ayaka says while looking a little anxious, like she is nervous, “Sekai, would you want to maybe become my side-kick?” I am taken aback by her question and I ask aloud, confused, “Me, a side-kick? But I am quirkless. I would only be a dead weight for you.” Ayaka was completely unfazed by my words, “You would be an asset to me. Before I met you, feeling creeped out by my classmates or random strangers disabled my quirk. However, when you were getting beaten for my sake, I realized that I could activate my quirk by kissing you. There are plenty of creeps who are heroes and villains alike, and I wouldn’t be able to use my quirk reliably without you.”
I start sobbing at her words, and I ask, “Do you really want this quirkless garbage to be your sidekick?” She lets go of my hand and hugs me, “You are not garbage, and I am completely positive. If I am going to be the hero you want me to be, I NEED YOU.” I squeeze her tightly as I continue to cry. I am needed?Someone wants garbage like me? I feel so overwhelmed with emotion right now, like all of the tears I didn’t cry for my situation are coming out now. As if Ayaka were a bulldozer and broke the damn holding the water for my tears. What is the name of my hero?” I chuckle through my tears, “Sekai. You say that I am your hero, but you are the one who saved me.” She sits down on my hospital bed and grabs my hand and squeezes it gently, smiling warmly, “Sekai, my name is Ayako Kubo. Thank you again for saving me earlier. I am in your debt.” I smirk back (or at least try to with this puffy and abused face) and say, “If there is any debt, I am in yours. In more ways than one.”
Recovery Girl enters my hospital room and says apologetically, “Oh, I am sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt. I can come back in a few minutes if you need me to.” Ayaka breaks away from the hug immediately and says, “No, please stay and help her.” Recovery girl asks, “So, what exactly happened to make her become so broken?” Ayaka grits her teeth and looks away, and says, “She was just trying to save me. It is all my fault she is this way.” I reach out with a shaky hand and gently squeeze her hand and tell her, “It is my fault I am in this state. I chose to fight those villains, knowing I don’t have a quirk.” Recovery Girl snickers and says, “You remind me of someone else, who is a great hero.” I scoff, “I am no hero. The only person I wanted to save was Ayaka. A true hero wants to save everyone, but I hate everyone except Ayaka. I can never be a real hero.”
Recovery Girl makes a worried expression as she approaches me and extends her lips to kiss me. She heals most of my injuries, until all that is left are a few bruises, cuts, and scrapes. Nothing serious or anything. I feel a lot better, and I bow slightly to Recovery Girl in thanks without saying anything. She is a ‘hero’ after all. I hate them so much. Obviously, not as much as I hate villains, but I still hate them all the same. They only care about the action, the fame, the glory, and the money being a hero brings. Once they save civilians from harm, they just dump them anywhere, not caring about where they are dumping them. My life has been hell because those heroes just dumped me at the orphanage. They don’t care that it is corrupt at all. The administrator would flaunt his extra cash in front of us, too. With his flashy cars and clothes. It pissed me off so much.
Ayaka and Recovery Girl look at me with worried expressions at my words. I hate this feeling. Are they pitying me? I hate being treated like a weakling. After looking at Recovery Girl make that face, I clicked my teeth in frustration, “Tsk.” while looking away. Ayaka sighs and nonverbally apologizes on my behalf from what I can see in my peripheral vision. Recovery Girl says, “I couldn’t heal everything, so you only have cuts and scrapes. I will get a nurse soon to treat your remaining injuries.” She then leaves, and Ayaka asks, “Is there a reason why you had an attitude with Recovery Girl? She did just heal you, you know.”
I sigh, rubbing the back of my neck and closing my eyes. I feel so bitter at the world. I grit my teeth and say, “As I told Recovery Girl, I hate everyone except you. I meant every word.” Ayaka gently squeezes my hand. She says, “Once you get your smaller injuries treated, my mother said she would make us dinner. She is making Udon. Would you like to join us?” My mother used to make Udon, as I remember strongly. I can’t help but cry hearing her words. That means I will finally be able to eat a warm meal that isn’t breadcrusts, garbage or literal shit. Ayaka panics and says, “Oh no, did I say something wrong?” I shake my head, “N-no, I would love to join you.” As I say that, a nurse is walking in with medical supplies to patch me up.
We are sitting in the hospital lobby waiting for Ayaka’s father to pick us up. I am all patched up now, and she asks, “You said earlier that I saved you in more ways than one. Can you elaborate?” My eyes start to water as if I can’t hide my emotions from her, and I shake my head, “It is embarrassing. I need to build up my courage.” As I say that, tears fall down my face, and Ayaka hugs me, “That is ok. I will be here when you finally find the courage to tell me, Sekai.” I responded, “Thank you, Ayaka.” While holding me, she says, “I never said so, but I am sorry for just kissing you out of the blue without asking you first. For all I know, I stole your first kiss.” I pat her back and say, “You did steal my first kiss, but there is no other person I would have rather had steal it. I meant it when I said you were my hero, Ayaka.”
While still crying, I say with my voice breaking, “Kissing you was the first nice thing to happen to me since my mother died 11 years ago.” Ayaka squeezes me tightly, and we stay like this for a while until her phone rings. *No need to fear! All Might is here! No need to fear! All Might is here! No need t-* She breaks away from the hug and answers her phone, “Hey, Daddy, are you here?” … … … … Ayaka says, “Alright, we are heading out now. See you soon, daddy.” … … “I love you, too, daddy.” She holds my hand and escorts me out of the hospital to her dad’s car. She opens the door for me and a man with black hair greets me with a bright smile, “I was told by my daughter that you saved her from villains. You have my sincere gratitude.”
I nod, feeling uncomfortable for the gratitude since it is unfamiliar to me without saying a word. I buckle my seatbelt, and Ayaka buckles in right next to me. After buckling in, she holds my hand again. Her father glances back and smiles while putting the car into drive. I look down at the hand Ayaka is holding, and I feel for the first time like I am not alone anymore. I shed a few tears more tears, and Ayaka panics again, “Do you want me to let go? I am sorry I held your hand without asking.” I panicked too, and immediately held her hand in place with my opposite hand. I stutter, “P-p-please d-don’t let go… This is nice.” She sighs in relief, and she reaches over and puts her hand on top of my other hand, so our hands are all together. I have never been this close to anyone before. Feeling the warmth of her hands reminds me of the warmth of my mother’s hands.
Being with Ayaka feels like a dream. I find myself leaning into her for the rest of the drive to her house. When we arrive, we go inside, and I am in awe when I take my very old shoes off. It feels so cozy here. I feel my toes touch the tatami mats, and I look down and realize that my socks are riddled with holes. I get embarrassed, but there isn’t anything I can do to change the fact that my socks have holes. Ayaka sees me glance down at my socks and runs off and comes back with a fresh, clean pair of socks and says, “Here, take these.” I bow while accepting them, “T-t-thank you.” Her dad saw the whole interaction, and that made me more embarrassed, so I turned to look away as I put the socks on.
I hear a woman’s voice who I assume is Ayaka’s mom, “Is that you, honey?! Bring your friend in here to introduce us!” Ayaka holds my hand and pulls me into her kitchen, where her mother is, and she is beautiful with bright purple hair. A lot lighter than Ayaka’s hair is. She smiles warmly and stops stirring the noodles temporarily and she reaches out and shakes my hand and holds it with her other hand with care and says, “Thank you for saving my daughter, Sekai.” I nod awkwardly, and she giggles and then jumps and says, “Shit! I was cooking!” She goes back to the stove and stirs the udon noodles with her chopsticks a bit, and pours the noodles in a strainer and dumps the water out. She fills the pot up with prepackaged udon stock, and while that comes to a boil, she prepares the udon toppings.
Ayaka pulls me to the dinner table, pulls a chair out for me, and motions for me to sit down. I feel nervous, almost like I am out of place here. It feels foreign how peaceful this place is, and it is almost uncomfortable because of that. It is a difficult feeling to describe. Mrs. Kubo finishes cooking the udon, and she places cooked noodles in everyone’s bowls with her chopsticks, and then she pours the stock on top. She puts the toppings in the middle of the table. We all put our hands together and say, “Thank you for the food.” I take my chopsticks and take a bite of udon, and I start crying.
IT IS SO DELICIOUS.
They looked at me weirdly, and Ayaka asked, “Are you ok?” I nod and say, “Sorry, this is the first hot meal I have had in 11 years. I got a little emotional.” Mrs. Kubo put her chopsticks down to the side of her bowl immediately, in shock at my words, and asked, “What have you been eating?” I get pale in the face, scared. Can I tell them? They might be able to help me. I cry more as I say, looking away in shame, “Breadcrusts…. And I would dumpster dive for food.” I mumble the last bit. Mrs. Kubo asks, “Where have you been staying?” On top of being pale, I start shivering, scared of the horrors I have experienced there, as I stammer, “T-t-the orphanage. T-t-the other kids kept the food away from me and bullied me because I am quirkless.”
Mr. Kubo joins in the conversation, “I thought those orphanages were government-funded.” I grit my teeth as the tears continue to fall down my face, “T-that bastard administrator has been embezzling most of those funds and barely gives the children enough to survive.” Mr. Kubo looks furious, and he says, “I’ll make some calls after dinner. That man belongs in prison.” He picks up his chopsticks to continue to eat his udon slightly aggressively, and I pick up mine and start eating mine again. Is he angry on my behalf, or is he mad at me? Mrs. Kubo asks, “Do you not want any toppings? I have shrimp, nori, soft-boiled eggs, fried tofu, green onions, and shichimi togarashi. Feel free to help yourself.”
I ask her, “Is it really ok for someone like me to just take whatever I want?” Ayaka and Mrs. Kubo aggressively say, “YES.” Ayaka asks, “Do you like shrimp?” I nod, and she puts a few shrimp in my bowl. She asks, “Do you like green onions?” I nod, and she puts some in my bowl. She keeps asking me until my bowl is filled with familiar smells that remind me of my mother. Green onions, shrimp, eggs, tofu, and nori. My mom didn’t put shichimi togarashi in my udon as a kid since it is spicy, and I didn’t like it back then. I take a bite with the fully loaded udon, and I cry again, never wanting this moment to end. I keep eating and with every bite, I feel with every fiber in my being that I want to stay in this same exact spot. I want to keep tasting this taste of a time long in the past. The taste of a mother’s love.
As I am eating, Ayako asks, “Did you use a quirk just now? It almost looked as if you disappeared for a fraction of a second.” I looked down at myself, confused, “If I did, I had no knowledge of it. My quirk has never manifested before, so I just assumed I was quirkless.” Ayako then shrugs and says, “Maybe I was just seeing things.” I shrug, too. Mrs. Kubo puts her chopsticks down and asks me, “Sekai, would you like to live with us?” I dropped my chopsticks in shock. Ayaka joins in and says, “Please, Sekai. I would love to have my sidekick live with me. I would always be ready to use my quirk if you were always here.” I smack my face with both hands.
Ayaka asks while looking concerned, “Why did you hit yourself?” I responded while relishing the tingling pain sensation of the slaps on my cheeks, “I was just making sure that this wasn’t a dream.” Ayaka asks, “If this were a dream, how would you respond to her question?” I nod, “I w-would love that.” Ayaka smiles and says, “Well, good thing this is reality. Where is that orphanage? We can go get your belongings after dinner.” I don’t ever want to go back now after realizing what I have been missing. I shake my head vigorously, “This old middle school uniform I am wearing is the only clothes I own. Well, I have a spare uniform just like this one, but I can live without it. They are just hand-me-downs anyway… I … don’t want to go back.” Ayaka looks to her mom and nonverbally has a brief conversation with her, and Mrs. Kubo says, “Then it looks like after we eat, we are going shopping.”
Today was the first day in 11 years that I had a full stomach. I actually ate too much, to be honest, because I have never had that much food in front of me before, so my stomach is aching. I feel so thankful to the Kubo family. I am not much of a hugger, but I hugged Mrs. Kubo when I finished eating.