two
CHAPTER 2: NEVER MY WAY
"Take a seat." She gestures to the dining table.
You pull out the wooden chair and sat down, its attached cushion sinks from your weight. Recovery Girl sets a bowl of rice, rolled scrambled eggs, miso soup, fried fish, and a glass of water in front of you. It all smelled really good.
"I hope you slept well."
She sets her side of the table with the same servings of food, and sits down. She offers you chopsticks, which you take and thank her with a nod. Like expected, she is dressed in her hero costume early in the morning, likely going straight to work after breakfast.
Before eating, she looked at you weirdly. "Did you sleep in those clothes..?"
You nod.
She sighs. "You have pajamas in the closet, be sure to use them tonight."
You would've asked her what pajamas looked like, but your throat...
After putting the chopsticks in your hands and holding them how you've always seen other people hold them, you grabbed a piece of egg.
"Today, we're going back to the hospital."
You turn your head in confusion as you chewed on some food.
"We're going to check for your quirk."
That last word made you put down your chopsticks. You despised that word.
Quirks. The very thing that would've kept you off the streets, the very thing that would make you different from the dead. All those illegal organizations that you could've worked for, which would help you at least earn enough to eat, and yet you were denied by them. You didn't have one.
You didn't have a quirk.
"I... don't..." You whisper.
"You don't appear to have one, but I assume you've never checked with a professional."
You were silent.
It was just impossible.
A lot of the kids on the streets got jobs at the age of 4, and it's because they developed their quirks. But you were absolutely at least 5. In conclusion, you had no hope whatsoever, and you could only expect a confirmation that you were nothing.
Recovery Girl sees your gloomy expression. She is aware of your age and all, but she'd rather check with a professional.
━━━━━━
"Here are the results." He hands you a couple monochrome sheets and points at a white figure. "Strangely, there's definitely an extra joint in your pinky toe."
Recovery Girl understood what he meant, but you tilt your head.
"What I mean is that you are supposed to have a quirk, yet I'm not sure why but it hasn't manifested," he clarifies.
Your eyes were wide, being both terrified and shocked. This wasn't how you wanted to hear it.
You expected a clear confirmation, a cruel truth that you never had a quirk, and was never meant to be born with one either. But instead, your heart is shattered. Shattered from hearing that you were supposed to have one, making you frantically wonder what went wrong. What did you do different from those other children..? What stopped your quirk from manifesting..?
Why... Why..? Why do things never go my way?!
Recovery Girl notices your change in emotion. She stands from her seat, hoping to bring you home before you could have a mental breakdown.
"Thank you doctor. [f/n], let's go."
━━━━━━
You sit in your bathroom's tub, with the water level low and your hair put up, off your shoulders. Thanks to Recovery Girl, you've escaped the chances of a breakdown, but depressing thoughts lingered.
Just when I thought everything was starting to brighten...
. . .
. . ?
A rubber duck that suddenly floated by distracted you for a moment, the nurse hat it donned was cute to you. You don't remember putting it into the bubbly bath, but it fit the theme of the house.
Instead of going back to those thoughts, you wondered about the next week. Next week you were going to school, you were entering 1st grade. You believed you could make some nice friends there, your classmates should be around your age after all.
KNOCK KNOCK
"You shouldn't stay in the tub for so long," Recovery Girl says.
You pick up the cute duckie and place it on the sink, where it would safely dry off.
━━━━━━
"Please introduce yourself."
You nervously gripped the end of your khaki shorts and stared at your feet. White socks and black Mary Janes, they were better to look at than the stares of your classmates.
And with a hand to your somewhat recovered throat, you spoke softly.
"My name is Shuzenji [f/n]... please take care of me."
You give a smile, but you couldn't look up.
"All right, take the seat over there. Hazaki-san please raise your hand."
You walk over to the empty seat, it was next to a boy with shiny white hair and bright blue eyes. His eyes reminded you of clear skies, the best kind of sky.
Before you sat down, he smiled and waved at you.
"Hello. I'm Hazaki Tsukasa. Nice to meet you, Shuzenji-chan."
Wow... He's really friendly!
You smile back.
"Nice to meet you too, Hazaki-kun."
━━━━━━
"Recess! Recess! Recess!" The children screamed, as they ran out the door.
And you, being the shy new girl like you're supposed to be, was the last one out. You walk out into the green field, watching the others play tag and use the playground from afar. It was rough to be thrown into elementary without any friends—
"Shuzenji-chan!"
You turn to see Hazaki with that same kind smile on his face, but this time he had a ball in his hands.
"What are you doing alone?" He asked.
You feel your cheeks heat up in embarrassment, your fingers played with each other. It would be humiliating to tell him that you knew no one to consider a friend...
"Ah... Well, I—"
! ! !
He grabs your hand and was hurriedly leading you far from the playground. It took you a lot to not trip on your unreliable Mary Janes. But that didn't matter to you, you were focused on his hand with yours.
So... warm... like a teacup...
You don't notice that you've reached a small group of kids, 2 boys and 2 girls, sitting on the grass. When they see Hazaki they all stand.
"Tsukasa! Where were you?"
"Yeah, what took you so long?"
They complained of his tardiness, you assumed that they were good friends.
He lets go of your hand to scratch the back of his head.
"Sorry guys! It took me a while to find the ball."
You felt uncomfortable without his hand in yours, that warm feeling was no longer there.
"Hey Tsukasa... Who's this chick?!" One of the girls asked, she seemed a bit annoyed.
"I thought we agreed not to bring other people..."
"She's new here, so I thought we should be friends with her."
You don't recognize any of them from your class, so you went forward.
"Hello... My name is Shuzenji [f/n]."
CHAPTER 2 END