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Sound of Heroes by BANIX
 Anime » My Hero Academia/僕のヒーローアカデミア Rated: M, English, Hurt/Comfort & Romance, [Yui K., OC], Words: 78k+, Favs: 1k+, Follows: 1k+, Published: Nov 19, 2019 Updated: Jun 9354Chapter 13- Get Creative
"That's all you can do?"
Shinso blocked another kick that would have left a nasty bruise on his left cheek. He tried to grab that outstretched leg, only for him to receive another kick straight to his stomach that left him winded.
"Still too slow."
Shinso gritted his teeth and got back to sparring with his best friend (not that he will ever admit out loud, he has an image to uphold). That USJ incident had made him so painfully aware of his shortcomings that he knew he had to rectify it immediately. If he was stronger, faster, deadlier, then Hibiki wouldn't have to go through a near death situation.
Thus, the sparring session. A sparring session without quirks. All they are doing now is simply duking it out with pure hand-to-hand combat and even then, Hibiki is more than capable of wiping the floor with him. Still, Shinso knows that he needs it. He needs to get stronger. In cases where his quirk simply won't be enough, he will have to rely on nothing but his body and his wits to bail him out of difficult situations.
He will be a hero.
Even for someone like him who is born with a 'villainous quirk', he is determined to show the world that quirks don't determine the hero. He had promised himself this. He had promised Best Jeanist this. He had promised his parents, Hoshi, Hibiki, and Yui this.
He will be a hero.
The path of a hero is one of constant struggle. You have to surpass your limits every single day if you want to climb to the top. There's nobody else that he knows of that is as disciplined and skilled as Hibiki, so he asked for his help. He told his friend to be as ruthless as he needed to in this spar.
As expected, it's not fun at all.
Aizawa sensei had told them about the upcoming Sports Festival that will be happening in about two weeks time. It's an opportunity that comes only once a year, so everyone is planning to give all they got to catch the attention of the Pro Heroes who are out there scouting for promising talents. He is no exception.
An uppercut from Hibiki to his lower jaw ended the spar. Shinso groaned in pain as he slowly picked himself off the ground and massaged his lower jaw, trying to ease the throbbing pain. Hibiki offered him a hand, which he took.
"I've been thinking of something." Shinso said as the both of them sat down at a corner, cold sports drink in hand as they cool themselves down at the corner of the school gym they are at. There are a few other students here, mainly the upperclassmen because they don't recognise any of them. "I realise I suck at ranged combat."
"Took you long enough to figure that out."
"Seeing Sero handling himself at the USJ got me thinking." Shinso ignored the jab Hibiki took as he continued. "What if I have something similar as well? Like a whip or something? It would probably solve most of my problems."
"You mean all you need is a capture scarf like what Aizawa sensei has. I told you, you two are so alike that it's not even funny."
"Capture scarf, huh?" Shinso pondered. "That might be a start. Do you think Aizawa sensei would teach me if I ask?"
"Dude, he's our teacher. It's his job to teach us." Onpa deadpanned. "Besides, both of you face the same problem with your quirks. Both your quirks don't offer any direct combat abilities and you two essentially fight quirkless if your quirks are somehow not applicable out there on the field. You have your electric shockers, but having another option should always be a good thing. Just ask him."
"I think I will."
"See? I told you that you are an Aizawa Jr."
"Shut up."
Yui entered the gym at this moment and spotted them immediately.
"Yui, over here!" Hibiki waved her over enthusiastically to catch Yui's attention. Before long, they are at it again. This time, it's a free-for-all between the three of them.
"Kind of weird that we three are the only first years in the Hero Course to be training in the school facility. You would have thought that there would be more." Hibiki kept up the conversation despite the fast-paced spar they have between the three of them. How is he not out of breath?!
"Maybe they are training outside school." Yui spoke up as she aimed a palm strike at Hibiki's face only for him to block it before backing off.
"What she said." Shinso replied as he and Yui unanimously decided to simply take on Hibiki two-on-one. Guy's too skilled in close combat for them to take him down alone.
"Hey! Stop ganging up on me! It's not fair!" Hibiki half-whined as he fended off their attacks with ease. "Yui, how about we pummel Shinso instead?"
"Sparring against you is more productive."
"Y-Yui!"
Hibiki twisted his body to avoid a punch from Shinso before landing an elbow strike into Shinso's gut once more, taking the air out of him.
"Too open, Aizawa Jr! You tend to overcommit too much!"
Yui took this chance to get the drop on Hibiki, only for him to dodge it without even looking. He grabbed hold of her outstretched arm and with a twist and a turn, Yui suddenly found herself restrained in some sort of lock.
"Not bad. Better luck next time, Yui."
"What gave it away?"
"Your footsteps were too loud. Try to soften it next time." Hibiki said as he released her from his hold. "Then again, most sound cannot escape my hearing and I cannot turn my superhearing off, can't really blame you for that."
"Cheater."
Hibiki simply shrugged at that accusation.
"Another round." Shinso tried to ignore the pain wrecking his body as he stood back up. It's common knowledge that the last stage of U.A. Sports Festival had always been held in a tournament style. His quirk is also known to his entire class and goofy as they are, they are not idiots when it comes to combat. At the last stage of the Sports Festival, his quirk might as well be useless to half of the Hero Course students from his year. He needs more practice in fighting quirkless, and quickly too.
"Remember, you asked for it." Hibiki merely raised an eyebrow at him before cracking his knuckles. "Ready for some tough love, Aizawa Jr?"
"Shut up, loverboy."
Hibiki was about to throw the first punch before he suddenly turned around and aimed a Sonic Bullet at the wall behind him.
"Who's there?!"
"My apologies!" Was the foreign voice that sounded out as the dust that was kicked up by that earlier attack began to settle. "I cannot help but be curious when I spotted you here, you see. Hado was right, to manage to sense my presence, you are really good for a first year!"
Shinso narrowed his eyes before rubbing it with the back of his hand to see that he wasn't hallucinating. Nope, his eyes are working just fine. The wall now has a face and said face is now speaking to them.
"You know Nejire-nee?" Hibiki asked, although his outstretched palm is still pointing at that weird looking face.
"Of course!" The face laughed out loud. "Who doesn't know her? She talks about you all the time even before I know who you are!"
A hand stretched out from the wall in a gesture of goodwill, which Hibiki accepted and shook after taking a few seconds to ponder over it.
"Name's Togata Mirio. Nice to finally meet you in person, Onpa Hibiki!"
"You are one of the Big Three." Yui said in realisation. "The one with the Permeability quirk."
"The one and only!" The face said with gusto. "Forgive me for I cannot come out of the wall without showing my junk. Normal clothes just come right off me and I am basically naked right now. Fine tuning my quirk is tricky enough as it is. Were you guys practicing hand-to-hand combat?"
"Yeah." Shinso replied before an idea struck him. He had nothing to lose anyway. "You mind helping out?"
"Sure!" The face agreed enthusiastically. "Just give me a moment to wear my clothes again and I'll be right back!"
"I remember him now." Hibiki said when Togata's face disappeared behind the wall. "The guy that went pantless in the previous Sports Festival because of his quirk, that's him."
"The Pantless Hero?" Shinso asked. "The topic of discussion that made quite a commotion on the internet forums last year because his clothes kept coming off?"
"U.A. received quite a number of complaints for that after the Sports Festival, or at least that was what Nejire-nee told me." Hibiki replied as Yui tried to block out the mental images that had traumatised her when she watched the televised U.A. Sports Festival last year. There's no way anyone will be forgetting that sight anytime soon.
"And I am here!" The upperclassman suddenly appeared before them in a jiffy, energetic and ready to go. "Let's see how you guys fare in a real fight! Quirk or no quirk?"
Hibiki and Yui turned to Shinso.
"No quirk." Shinso replied on their behalf. "This training session is to simulate a situation where our quirks cannot be used for some reason or another. Please don't go easy on us, senpai."
"Then I won't! Look out, my dear kouhais!"
Togata's words were barely out of his mouth when he sped forward like a speeding train, punching Shinso in the gut.
"Too slow! React faster! Predict your foes' next move! Villains won't wait for you to get ready in a real fight!"
Togata jumped up to dodge a low sweep from Yui while managing to block a punch to the face by Hibiki.
"Predict faster than the surroundings! Have some foresight! Use all the experience you accumulated thus far to think of the next probable move! THINK faster!"
Hibiki was on him in an instant, launching a flurry of blows that left Togata no time to think, forcing him to only react.
"Not bad." Togata complimented as he fended off the combined assault of the three of them, only looking slightly strained. "But I've faced worse odds before! POOOOWEEEERRRR!"
The only thing Shinso registered was the sensation of pain to his gut once more. The next thing he knew, his back was already on the floor and his body was aching all over while wheezing for breath.
What is that?!
"How's that? Did your eyes catch the speed of my punch? That was all physical, mind you. No quirk involved."
"For real?" Shinso asked in disbelief as he picked himself off the floor once more. "How's that even possible?!"
"Practice, practice, practice!" Togata's loud voice rang out as he repeatedly tapped his finger on his own forehead in a rapid manner. "It's all about practice, my dear kouhai! You obviously lack the experience and practice the other two had! You have a lot to catch up on as compared to the rest. They at least managed to prevent themselves from getting punched in the stomach!"
"Doesn't make it any less painful." Yui hissed in pain as she tried to shake off the pain in her arms, a result of using them to block Togata's punch earlier. "Nejire-san was right, you really are strong."
"And if your quirk is active, the only time we can possibly strike you is in that short window when you are tangible." Hibiki spoke up from where he is now sitting on the floor. So even he had been knocked back by Togata? Just how strong is this upperclassman?
"Bingo! But knowing that and being able to do that are two different things altogether!" Togata said in an upbeat manner. "In any case, there's still about two weeks until the Sport Festival comes around. There's still time to prepare, my dear kouhais! Especially you, Mr Purple Hair! Your hand-to-hand combat is passable, but it is just that! Passable! You need to be exceptional at it unless you are telling me your quirk gives you other kinds of combat options!"
"No, they don't." Shinso admitted. "Direct combat will never be my forte given the type of quirk that I'm born with."
"I take it you are the one with the Brainwashing quirk that Hado talks about, am I right?" Upon Shinso's nod, Togata continued. "Well, then get creative! I won't go into details, but my quirk has many drawbacks too! Being permeable means that when my quirk is active, I cannot see, hear, or even breathe! Even then I managed to climb up this far with such a quirk when everyone told me to give up on being a hero! Everyone thought that my quirk is like a cheat, but it is not! It is what you do with it to make it your own personal cheatcode! Experiment more! Get more experience! Use that to predict what your opponents would do and use it to your advantage! Get it?"
Shinso nodded once more as he digested what he was told. Experience? Prediction? Turn his own quirk into his own personal cheatcode?
It may just be what he needs. Now all he needs is to think of what he can do to get to that level.
Togata hung around for a little longer to impart to them some tips on hand-to-hand combat before excusing himself, saying that he has something else to do but not before wishing them the best of luck. Even when he claimed that he was initially curious about Hibiki, this meeting with Togata Mirio felt more like the upperclassman was trying to coach Shinso himself.
"Seems like Togata-senpai took a liking to you for some reason." Hibiki commented as the three of them decided to call it a day and start to pack up.
"I have a feeling your cousin is involved somehow." Shinso replied as he stretched his arms to relieve the ache from his muscles. He is sure he will be feeling it tomorrow. "But Togata-senpai is right. I need to get more creative with my quirk, but how?"
"If you think about it, the only criteria for you to activate your quirk is to get your target to reply to you and they must have the intention of replying to you as well. What if you can activate your quirk without talking to them? Or give them the illusion that you are not talking to them, when in fact you are? The chances of them replying to you will be higher that way."
"And how?" Shinso asked perplexedly at his friend. "The moment people see my mouth move they simply clam up and not respond. There's no way my quirk can get them like that."
"Ventriloquism."
"Huh?"
The two boys turned to face the only female in the group, who still don the same expressionless face that they all know her for.
"Ventriloquism. The art of speaking without moving your lips. I remember seeing a ventriloquist performing his art on a TV show a few weeks ago. As long as people reply to your voice, no matter how it was produced, your quirk still works, right?"
"Talking without… moving my lips?" Shinso stated, still a little baffled.
"It's a dying art, but I've heard of it before." Hibiki noted as he stroked his chin with his fingers. "Because the lips don't move, the resulting voice is often different from your usual one. If you are good enough, it's like you can have more than one type of voice. It's like the voice just appears from somewhere else but in actuality they are still produced from your throat. It's like how your Artificial Vocal Cords work, just on a more limited scale. But people who use these techniques nowadays are often entertainers. Nobody really wants to learn these gimmicks anymore ever since quirks appeared because quirks can easily do what they can and even better. Just look at Dad's Voice Change."
"I'm pretty sure there are many videos online that can teach you how to learn ventriloquism." Yui said with a small smile. "Although I'm not sure if you can learn it before the Sports Festival. It seems like a very hard skill to learn and master."
"I'm doing it." Shinso said without hesitation. "If there's a way that I can get people to talk without realising that I am the one they are talking to, then I'm going to at least try. My quirk already puts me at a great disadvantage in direct combat, especially against mutant types. I will need everything I can get my hands on."
"Murgh, duy, urgh, ahh-"
A woman stood outside her son's room. Strange sounds have been coming out of there for a while now and she doesn't know what is going on behind the closed doors.
"Honey? What do you think Hitoshi is doing in there?" The woman turned around and whispered to her husband, who merely coughed awkwardly into his fist.
"Uh, our son is a growing boy, love. It's just a phase we go through at this age."
"-oh, arh, tee, ah-"
More grunts could be heard through the closed door where the two adults are trying to eavesdrop on what their secretive son is trying to do in his room. A slight blush bloomed on the woman's face at her husband's words.
"I-I see…" The matriarch of the Shinso family tried her best not to think too much about it. "D-Do you think… we… need to give him… the talk?"
The man of the house nearly choked on air at the mention of the dreaded topic of every parent in the world.
"D-Don't we all learn about it through the internet?! Aren't the teachers supposed to teach about it in elementary or middle school?!"
"Quiet!" His wife shushed him and they both covered their mouths because they were being too loud. After realising that their son had not heard their voices since the grunts are still being heard from his room, they continued their conversation.
"Honey. I'm serious."
Her husband groaned in defeat. Once his wife gets serious, nothing could change her mind.
"Fine. I'll see what I can do about it."
Shinso Hitoshi was about to turn in for the night. His throat is unusually sore tonight because of all the ventriloquism practices he had been doing. He is sure that he is doing it wrong because if he had done it right, there shouldn't be any soreness at all. That was what the online videos and websites made by esteemed ventriloquists said, if they are to be trusted.
Still, he needs to learn this skill. Support items are not allowed in the Sports Festival unless you are from the Support Department so he has no Artificial Vocal Cords to fall back on. He needs to learn how to manually change his voice, or learn the skill of appearing not to be speaking if he were to fight without any form of aid. That's the only way he can get the drop on people that know about his quirk without relying on his Artificial Vocal Cords.
Nevermind, he will try practicing again tomorrow night. He has made some progress on learning ventriloquism and while it is slow, it is progress. There is still about two weeks until the Sports Festival, he should be able to learn the gist of it by then.
There was a knock on his bedroom door before his father poked his head in with a sheepish expression on his face.
"Son? Can we talk?"
"Yeah, sure." He replied as he sat upright on his bed. What does his father want to talk about so late into the night?
His father put a fresh box of tissue paper on the desk which got Hitoshi raising an eyebrow. He never really had a need to use those so he never put one in his room. If he needs them, he will just take a few pieces of tissues from the tissue box placed in the living room.
"I know this is kind of awkward, but…" Hitoshi's puzzlement rocketed to an all time high at the weird statement, but he still chose to let his father finish his sentence.
"I think it's time we talk about sex."
...What?
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