Akira was discharged from the hospital the next morning. The doctor gave him some ointment to apply to his bruises.

He was dropped at the orphanage in a car and no sooner had he stepped in, a figure leapt towards him trapping him in a hug.

It was none other than Saya, she hugged him for a few long seconds and started“Akira-Kun, you are back! Are you alright? Did the villain hurt you? Does it hurt? I am so sorry... I.”

“Calm down, Saya-chan...I am not going anywhere so you can ask me slowly” Akira replied, a smile appearing on his face, “ I nearly didn’t get what you just said now.”

He started rubbing his back to hide the wince he almost let out when Saya crushed him in a hug. His bruise had flared up and it stung a lot.

‘Maybe I went overboard with the bruises…and Saya is stronger than she looks.’ he thought.

“Ah..sorry Akira-Kun, I was just so happy nothing happened to you. I was so worried and when I saw you...I couldn’t help myself.” Saya said looking down to hide her embarrassment.

“It's alright, I get that you were worried about me but there is nothing to fear,” Akira said.

“Are..are you hurt?” Saya asked with concern in her eyes as they trailed towards Akira’s arms which had bruises.

Akira saw her eyes looking at his arms, “Oh you mean these?” he gestured to his arms. “These are just a few bruises..”

Saya didn’t reply as she took his arm in her small hands and gently rubbed around the bruises, “Does it hurt?”

“No...ooowww” Akira screamed in agony as Saya had pressed a little too hard on his bruise. Even tears started forming near his eyes.

‘Curse this 4-year-old body…’

“I am sorry, I am so sorry Akira-Kun...I didn’t mean to hurt you more” Saya said, panic setting in her voice as she stepped back.

“It’s fine Saya, you don’t need to cry for this,” Akira said. “Let's go see Aya-nee, where is she anyway?”

‘Akira-Kun called me Saya..’ Saya felt a warmth spreading inside her hearing him call her like that.

“Saya...hello”

Saya was broken out of her stupor by Akira who was waving his hand in front of her face. “Huh?”

*sigh* “Whatever let's go find Aya-nee, I got a box of chocolates, high-grade ones too from a doctor.”

They soon found Ayame in a makeshift classroom teaching kids. The kids seemed to be around Akira’s age and had just started learning how to read. Akira had already “surpassed” them and was middle school standard by Ayame.

The standard of teaching was not very good in the orphanage so only those with ‘brighter’ minds could grasp knowledge which made the majority have a handicap in the future. It was unlike schools where students were all nearly equal and only when they reached middle school or even high school that the cracks in their foundation started becoming apparent.

So being an orphan meant that one had to forge their own path which went either way. Nothing was holding you back and allowed freedom of choice but it also meant that there was nothing to hold onto which made it harder for those without ‘talent’ to progress.

*knock* *knock*

Both Akira and Saya knocked on the door. Ayame’s eyes widened in surprise when her eyes landed on Akira.

“Class is over, kids...we will continue tomorrow,” she said.

The kids in the class were more than happy to leave and left merrily. Amongst them were a few unhappy ones, one was a boy older than the other kids, he had a shark-like face with gills on his neck. Being older meant he was naturally taller than the others.

“Tch...I don’t get why Ayame-san likes that boy so much.” the boy clicked his tongue watching Ayame hug Akira.

“Aniki is right, that loser kid also hangs out with that quirkless girl..” Another boy said.

“I was happy when the villain took him but he came back.”

“Let’s leave for now but we must do something about him. Who does he think he is acting so smart?!”

These two boys were older than the other kids but since they were not very bright, they were still learning stuff the others were learning even at their age (7-8). They left the class glaring at Akira.

…..

Akira had to face something similar to Ayame as she showed concern for him the same way as Saya.

She asked him about how he was rescued and her eyes nearly popped out when she heard how he escaped.

“I am glad you are alright Akira, I was so worried you know... I hope you can forgive me. I was too weak to help you and I couldn’t protect you when it was my job to do so..” Ayame said, as she bent her head in apology, even her ears dropped to show her sadness and guilt.

“I can’t forgive you…” Akira began, Ayame’s ears drooped further. “..Because there is nothing to forgive.”

“Huh?”

“Don’t worry Aya-nee, it was not your fault. In fact, it was nobody’s fault. We were just unlucky enough to encounter that villain but I am fine now and even my quirk awakened so...what I am trying to say Aya-nee is that you don’t have to feel guilty.”

Ayame’s eyes swelled up with tears as she hugged Akira. “Waaah...you are so good to me Aki-chan. You are such a good kid.”

It was a comical sight as a four-year-old kid was consoling a girl much older than him.

…

It was around 9 at night when all the kids had just finished their dinner and were lazing around in the hall. The matrons had turned on the tv and were looking at the news as usual but were watching it with more attention this time as the headlines shown on the news channel was :

‘Villain outbreak at Mustafu’s new Amusement park.’

Indeed it was the same incident that had taken place yesterday.

The host was a sharp young woman with blonde hair, she was dressed in a tight blouse and had a stern look only amplified by the pair of glasses she was wearing. “Good evening everyone, my name is Takano Fumiki and I am your host tonight as we discuss yesterday’s Villain attack.”

Gesturing towards a man on her right, she continued, “ We have tonight with us, Mr Wakita Shunichi who is representing the Mutant Protection Association.”

The man addressed was a giant of a man with boar-like features. He was nearly seven feet in height and almost didn’t fit the screen. Overall, he packed an intimidating presence.

(A/N: Basically an orc)

Shunichi just grunted in reply.

“Alright...next we have on my left, Mr Taji Terada who is from the Hero Public Safety Commission.”

“Good evening” the man addressed this time bowed. He had a sort of a rugged salaryman look and was dressed in a clean suit.

“Well then let's get started,” Fumiko said. “ As you all know, the villain attack took place yesterday in the afternoon. A group of orphans had been visiting the newly opened Musutafu Amusement park and it was supposed to be a day of fun but it all went wrong when a villain who had been on pursuit by two pro heroes came inside the park.”

“The villain after being cornered chose to take one of the kids hostage and escaped using the boy as leverage. The pro heroes didn’t want to risk angering the villain so they complied….now the story takes on a different route.”

Fumiko took a deep breath and continued, “The villain, known as Umaru took the boy to the abandoned Takoba park nearby. Now we don’t have the exact details but what happened next is something shocking. According to our sources, the villain attacked the boy but at the right moment he awakened his quirk and now the villain is in a near-death state.”

“It is clearly the boy’s fault, he has a dangerous quirk and must be put under observation. I bet he did everything on purpose…” Shinichi said with his deep and gruff voice.

“Please wait for your turn Mr Shinichi,” Fumiki said in a stern voice.

“No...I can’t. It's all this society says about us mutants. You think we are freaks who don’t have human rights, don’t you?!! The villain was a bad guy I admit but the boy must be punished too, he is probably a villain waiting to happen. WHO knows what sort of villainous quirk he has!!” Shinichi cut in again, anger seeping into his voice.

*cough* Terada cut in now and said, “I think you are just trying to blame that boy to get more credit for yourself, Mr Shinichi. You have been known to turn any topic into something against mutants.”

“How d-dare you ?!! It is because of people like you that mutants like us are being oppressed. ..” Shinichi said, his face having turned a bright shade of red.

“Okay...now you are just spouting nonsense,” Terada said.

The argument continued for the next few minutes. Shinichi demanded that the boy be put under observation and since he was an orphan be taken under government custody while Terada refuted it by arguing that the boy was not a danger and in fact had been lucky in surviving the encounter.

“Please calm down you two. We are getting the doctor, Mr. Hirose Haru who talked to the boy on the phone.”Fumiki said.

The phone rang a few times before it was picked up.

“Good evening, Dr Haruse, this Fumiko Takano speaking from Mustafu tv live. We were discussing the villain attack that took place yesterday and we would like to know more about the boy.” Fumiki said.

“Ah..hello there Takano-san, now I won’t be able to give you any details about the boy nor can I tell you what his quirk exactly does…” Hirose said.

“Oh..that's alright Doctor, we totally understand that you want to protect the boy’s rights so we only want to know a little about his character and whether he attacked pre meditatively or was it all involuntary..”

“Ah..that, well I suppose I can at least tell you this much...umm..as far the boy’s character is concerned, he is a very sweet boy and is maybe a bit shy. I don’t think he attacked knowingly like Shinici-san believes.” Hirose said.

“Honestly I think the kid was very lucky that he came out with less injuries. If luck was a quirk then that kid definitely had it that day..hahaha” Hirose started laughing.

Fumiki just ignored his joke and asked, “So if the boy didn’t attack himself then how did the villain come to his current state?”

“Well that's the villains fault entirely as he kept attacking the kid whose quirk reacted to it instinctively to protect its user.”Hirose said in a cold tone as he didn’t like hearing the innocent kid being suspected.

“What are you saying?!!Isn’t it the boy’s fault for provoking the villain?Tell us about his quirk then?” Shinichi said as he interrupted the doctor.

“I already said I can’t disclose any information about the boy’s quirk.” Haruse replied.

“You are just hiding the fact that the boy’s quirk is villainous, ain’t you?” Shinichi said.

“Now you are just grasping at straws trying to pressurize the doctor. Thank you for your input Dr. Haruse, you don’t have to feel pressurized by this man. You don’t need to tell us about the boy’s quirk.” Terada said cutting in.

Terada was clearly the better speaker amongst the two as he calmly refuted all of Shinichi’s claims. Shinichi knew this too so he shifted tactics and started preaching about how mutants were discriminated against and this case was one instance.

In the end, it started getting heated and Fumiki tried to calm them down but she couldn’t do anything so the show abruptly ended.

….

A man turned off the tv as he let out a sigh. The man was really tall, with rather defined muscles and physique. He has short blonde hair,swept backwards with two distinct tufts that stuck out.

His bright blue eyes swirled with complicated emotions as he plopped down on a large sofa.

This man was Toshinori Yagi or better known by his hero name, the current undisputed no. 1 hero of Japan or maybe even the world, All Might.

He was feeling a little guilty for not saving the boy. Of course, he hadn’t been in town and didn’t even know about the situation when it took place but he still felt sad seeing a child go through such an ordeal.

He didn’t like the media as they only made things worse and often did more harm than good but he was glad the boy’s identity was not made public.

‘I can only hope his peers don’t treat him differently after this…’

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