"Now, let's move on to... the awards ceremony!" Midnight announced and Kurmara had to suppress the gasp at what she saw. "What..?" "He's been going wild since the second he woke up.." Kirishima voiced. "No holding back Mr. First place!" This seems wrong.. Kurmara thought as she looked at the teen boy as he moved against the restraints.
"In light of the festival, you'll have tomorrow and the next day off. Scouting reports and such from pros will be waiting for you here after the break. So look forward to that as you enjoy your time off." Aizawa told them once they were in the classroom. After school was let out, Kurmara was in a rush to head home as she couldn't wait to hear what her brother and Aunt had to say about how she did at the festival. Gods, this anticipation.. I can't wait any longer! She thought as she slung her bag over her shoulder. "See ya Midoriya, bye Uraraka!" She called to her friends as she quickly walked out of the classroom, down the hallway, and towards the front of the school, excited. Just as she was getting closer to the gates, she heard a voice behind her. "Hey," she turned around and saw Bakugou walking towards her, an angry look on his face. He always looks angry though, but... She felt intimidated by the way he looked angry at her so she turned away from him and took a step forward.
"Oi, don't walk away from me." Kurmara stopped again, too scared to move again as she knew he had a temper on him and after what happened at the sports festival ended, she knew he was possibly in an even worse mood. It's alright, just see what he wants. The quicker, the better. She thought before taking a deep breath and turning towards him again only to stumble back when he was closer to her. "Uh.. what can I.. what do you.." She couldn't find her words, she was too intimidated by the way he was glaring her down. He was taller than her by roughly three inches so it didn't help. She noticed Kirishima and a few others nearby as well. "Hey, don't be mean," one of the girls from her class, Jiro, said to him but he just turned his head towards her and she backed up a bit. Bakugou turned back towards Kurmara who had walked backwards a little. "Where do you think you're going?" He had a coldness in his voice that caused that same chill to go through her body again.
"I'm just.. going home so.." She voiced as she backed up a bit more which made him take another step towards her. He suddenly grabbed her face in one of his hands so she could stand still. Remembering his and Uraraka's fight, she grabbed his hand and tried to remove it but he was stronger than her. "Why the hell are you here?" Bakugou asked which made her confused. "W.. what do you mean?" She asked and he rolled his eyes. "You don't belong here at UA." "I.. I actually do." She managed to say, trying again to remove his hand but he just held her face firmly, squeezing it a little which made her wince. "Look at you, you don't look like anyone who could become a hero. Your hair down in your face tells everyone that you have no chance here and have no confidence to look anyone, not even a villain in the face." He said with the same cold tone and she tensed at his words. "Uh, I don't think you should say that-"
"Why not? Just look at her, she's worse than that damn nerd and anyone else here. If she was even a little bit smart, she would have chosen the right decision and just leave. Hell, that'd be one less person to deal with." Kurmara felt the tears begin to well up in her eyes and attempted to move away again but he only held her face tighter, making her feel the pain in her cheeks as well as the piercing and she choked back a gasp. "You have something you want to say?" She could barely see through her bangs but she could tell he was shooting daggers into her. "Bakugou, come on man, let her go." She heard Kirishima's voice. "Yeah, you're going too far now. You can't act like that towards a woman." Kaminari voiced only for Bakugou to whip his head towards the two. "I'm not done talking yet." He growled and she tried her hardest to get angry so she could use her Quirk to remove his hand, but he was too intimidating for her to try.
"And that little stunt you pulled during the sports festival, you're just a nobody who thinks she can try and one-up others who are aiming for the top. But guess what, you'll always be at the bottom no matter what you do." "Shut.. up." Kurmara managed to say as she tried to stop herself from shaking. "You can't do anything, can you? Those two Quirks of yours aren't enough for you to make it out here." He's wrong.. She thought but she couldn't say that as her voice was stuck in her throat. "Well? Do you have anything else to say or does this just prove my point? Are you going to try and say something or are you too much of a loser?!" He shouted those last words at her and it made her angry but it didn't stop the tears from rolling down her face. Her bangs were still in her eyes and her hair had fallen more into her face so no one could see the tears. He was getting more and more impatient by the second, she could tell.
Just as Kurmara was about to open her mouth to say something, Bakugou suddenly and abruptly moved her bangs from over her eyes and she could see his face clearly. She couldn't stop what happened next and she didn't know why it happened. It could've just been the anger that was inside her masked by the sadness, but she lifted her hand and slapped him across the face which caused his hand to let go of hers. She looked up at him, tears still sliding down her face as he lifted a hand to the place she had hit. Kurmara looked at her classmates, her eyes landing on Kirishima before she ran past everyone, upset but moreover embarrassed as she ignored the voices calling behind her as she ran away from the campus.
~ ~ ~
Kurmara finally stopped running once she was in her neighbourhood. She fell to her knees, breathing heavily as she held her chest as she tried to control her emotions but there were too many tears. Calm down... do the breathing Eun taught you.. calm down! She thought as she tried to calm her heavy breathing but her sadness was overthrowing the anger she had felt. It was overwhelming. She lowered her head to the ground, breathing hard as the tears continued to fall and let out a wail. A new Quirk had shown and produced a wave throughout the entire area as well as the neighbourhood. That wave was filled with hurt and heartache. Back at the house, Eun and his aunt were talking while he prepared dinner for the three of them when they suddenly felt immense sadness. "Oh- what the..?" Da-eun sniffed. "What the hell?" Eun wipes the tears that were suddenly falling down his face and realization when through his body as he looked towards the front door.
"Oh shit, no!" He quickly ran to the front of the house and slid some shoes on. "Eun, what's wrong?" His aunt called behind him but he rushed outside the house to find his sister with his aunt shouting for him. She went back inside to turn the stove off before walking outside the house to try and follow him. Kurmara took a deep breath, ceasing her wails as she sat on the ground with her chest rising and falling. The tears weren't flowing anymore, but they were still there. Her throat hurt. She wanted to lay in bed and hide away from the world but she knew that she couldn't. She was finally at the high school that would help her fullfil her dreams of becoming a hero, but it was all squandered by the rudeness of Bakugou. She sat up and wiped her tears, still shaking slightly but forced herself to stand up as she grabbed her book bag and began to continue her walk home, taking a slightly longer walk around the neighbourhood than usual as she remembered his hand on her face as well as his cold words.
"-or are you too much of a loser?!" Loser. That last word had a tight grip on her as if it had no intention of letting go and that made her let out a shaky sigh. He was right, just like everyone else had been. She was a loser because everyone seemed to hate her just by her Quirk, her appearance, and overall just how she was driven to become a hero alongside everyone else. Kurmara clenched her fists, the sadness soon turning into anger but it soon diminished just as quickly as it had appeared. "I shouldn't have done that though.." she muttered to herself, thinking back at UA and what she did to show off, from the Obstacle course race to the Cavalry battle to the one-on-one that ended up with her slapping Bakugou after classes. But everyone liked what you did! Remember how loud the crowd was? And he was a jerk anyways, don't regret it. An annoying voice said in the back of her mind and she groaned.
"Shut up. I didn't want to do that but still did it anyway which caused me to probably get another bully. I wanted to avoid that for high school.." She turned the corner onto her street and up to her house, noticing that the door was slightly open which caused her to raise a brow and push it open. "Eun? Auntie?" She called out for her brother and aunt as she closed the door behind her before taking her shoes off and walking completely inside. Kurmara walked into the kitchen and took note of the hot food on the stove that was for dinner once she got home. She knocked on the bathroom door but neither of them was there so she checked his room and the guest room, yet there was no sign of either of them. "Where the hell did they go?" She asked aloud before going to her room to change into her nightclothes. She looked at herself in the mirror, lifting her bangs from her face and holding her hair back, staring for a long time before giving a sigh and walking into the kitchen.
She began searching the drawers before heading into the bathroom. She searches underneath the sink until she found was she was looking for. Kurmara grabbed the scissors and stood up, looking at herself in the mirror for another time, taking in her current appearance before taking a deep breath and grabbing a part of her hair. Snip. A chunk of hair fell into the sink. Snip, snip. She continued to cut until her hair was above her shoulders, just a few inches under her ears. She touched the mirror, leaning closer as she looked more before putting a hand to her head, feeling the newly cut hair as she gave a satisfied sigh and cleaned up the hair as best she could before stripping out of her clothes and getting into the shower to rinse off any that had gotten on her when she had begun cutting it. Once she finished, she dried herself off, shook her clothes out before putting them back on. She grabbed a brush and the blow-dryer.
Once her hair was brushed and dried, it fluffed up like her mother's hair which made her smile. Her bangs were still long in her eyes but she had no intention of cutting them so she grabbed a hair lip and pushed them away from her eyes. She saw her freckles clearly now and turned her head to the left side before to the right, admiring her new look. "No going back now," she voiced. "I will prove him wrong... I will prove all of them wrong." Kurmara turned the bathroom light off and walked into the kitchen to make herself some food before covering the rest for her brother and aunt for when they came back from wherever they were. She wrote a note for Eun and folded it up before leaving it on the counter. She then walked into the living room after she finished eating and turned the TV on as background noise before eventually falling asleep as exhaustion from the day washed over her.
* * *
Two hours later, Eun walked up to the house, out of breath after searching all over the neighbourhood for Kurmara. He took a deep breath before he saw his Aunt walk up to him. "Did you find her?" She asked and he shook his head. "No, I looked all over and called for her but couldn't. What about you?" "Same here, I couldn't find her. Then again, I was only able to search for a little while at a time." She responded and he nodded before letting out a sigh. The two of them walked into the house and Eun immediately took notice that the TV was on and the dim light in the kitchen was on. "Kurmara?" He called out gently, peering into the living room, and saw a small figure on the couch but just as he was about to walk into the living room, his aunt motion towards the counter. "There's a note with your name on it." Da-eun voiced as she handed the folded paper to him, keeping it closed.
"I'm not going to look at it as it's for you." She said as she headed into the guest room. He flipped the note open and read it. 'Eun, I know you're going to be mad at me later because I know you know what happened earlier. I'm sorry, I really tried to control it but it was just too much for me to handle because I was upset.' It read and he let out a sigh as he continued reading. 'The sports festival was good and I managed to do my best that I managed, but it didn't end well after classes let out. I ended up slapping someone, but I plan on apologizing once we go back to school in three days. They're giving us tomorrow and the day after off.' He walked into the living room and sat on the other side of the couch, giving a quick glance at his sister before reading the last bit of the letter. 'I plan on training to control my emotions even better. I will try harder and I will be better so that I can prove that I do have what it takes to be a hero.'
'I will make you and everyone proud of me once I'm a pro. I hope you and auntie get home safe. I love you.' Eun let out a little chuckle before looking at Kurmara, standing up. The first thing he noticed was her hair and he gave a small frown before crouching down, you hung the soft short hair. He tilted his head the way hers was laying so he could get a better look at the hairstyle, smiling a little. "I wish we could've talked about how you did at the sports festival," he whispered. "I also guarantee that whatever caused the day to end how it did won't be the only one, but I know you can get through it." He stood up and walked towards her room, opening the door before heading back into the living room and turning the TV off. He gently picked up his sister and walked into her room, carefully laying her in the bed before covering her up. Just as he turned to leave, he felt a tug on his shirt and he looked back at her again.
"You made it home," she voiced sleepily and he sat on the edge of her bed. "I did. Da-eun did as well. We went out to look for you because I felt the sadness you produced." He said to her and she let out a little sigh. "I'm sorry..." "No, it's alright. I realized that we focused too much on your anger than any of your other emotions. Not to mention, you had a very busy and rough day, so it was only natural you felt the way you did." He voiced and she was silent for a moment, making him think she fell back asleep until she spoke again. "You're not upset, are you?" Kurmara queried and Eun thought for a moment before looking back at her. "If anything, I was worried about you when I felt the sadness." "But I admit, I was a little upset while I was looking for you because you didn't listen to what I said," he put a hand on top of her head. "Although I'm glad that you're doing alright, considering what they probably have you do over at that school."
She gave a sleepy giggle and he smiled. "I'm not giving up just because of some things." "Oh, I know you won't. You are a Hayashi after all. That means we don't give up so easily if somethings happen to us." She gave his hand a little squeeze. "I promise not to worry you or Auntie Da-eun so much." She whispered and he returned the squeeze as he kissed the top of her head. "I'd rather you worried us because that tells us something about how you're doing." She gave him a half-smile before closing her eyes, falling asleep. Eun gently stood up and put his hand on her head a final time before walking out of her room, closing the door behind him. "Is she alright?" He heard his Aunt ask behind him and he nodded. "Yeah, she's just exhausted from today with the weeks of training she did beforehand as well. I think it finally caught up with her." He responded and she nodded. "After the performance, she put on during the sports festival, I wouldn't be surprised. At least she's alright now."
"She also told me that they're giving all the students tomorrow and the day after days off to rest up." He told her, remembering the note and she nodded. "That's good. I'm sure she needs the rest." The two of them stood there for a moment before Eun let out a sigh. "So Eun, what the hell was that? You know, back when you were cooking and we both were suddenly crying and you ran outside saying 'oh shit, no?'" Da-eun questioned in a hushed voice once he walked into the living room. He hesitated for a moment before letting out a sigh and rubbing the back of his head. "That uh.. that was one of her Quirks." He told her and she looked at him for a moment. "What do you mean that was one of her Quirks? You're telling me that she was the one who caused that sudden sadness?" She queried and he nodded. "Yeah.." "Bullshit. She only has two Quirks; one from Jintao and one from Maeko. So what the hell do you mean-"
"I know, I know. But she has two more now." There was silence after he said that and Da-eun stared at him. "What the hell are you talking about, Eun? What do you mean she has two more?" She was confused and he was hesitant to tell her about his sister's sudden and new Quirks but he let out another sigh before motioning for her to follow him. They walked into the backyard and sat down. "Alright, now explain to me what the hell is up with my niece. How does she suddenly have two new Quirks that aren't from her parents?" "Okay just don't panic or anything once I tell you." Eun sighed and she waited patiently for him to begin talking. "She has two new Quirks, one of them showed up when I was trying to help her use the water and wind she inherited from Mom and Dad." He began and Da-eun nodded. "Alright, but what is it? Like what kind of-" "It's like a strength kind. I accidentally pissed her off and she.. snapped? She was able to get out of the strongest grip I could do, almost breaking my arm in the process." He explained as he remembered the day it happened.
"That is a little.. unusual. But what makes you think it's a Quirk and not just her being crazy string after training with her?" "Because it only happens when she's extremely angry. I've been trying to help her keep her emotions in check, even when I wasn't helping her train." "Alright. What about the other one? The one that happened earlier?" She asked and Eun shook his head. "I can only guess that one is tied to when she's extremely upset." "And how the hell do you know this?" "I.. I talked to someone when her strength happened." He responded and Da-eun looked at him incredulously. "Wait, what do you mean? Who did you talk to? Who else knows about this?" She threw questions at him left and right but he couldn't answer them unless he called that person. "I can't answer those except for the last one." He then pulled out his phone and dialed a number, putting it on speaker as they listened to it ring. "Hello?" "Hey, it's me."
"Ah, Hayashi. Good to hear from you again. It's been what, almost a year since we last spoke?" The voice chuckled which made Da-eun even more confused. "Who is that?" She asked. "Is that who I think it is?" The voice asked and Eun nodded to himself. "If you mean my Aunt, then yes it is." "Wait a second... Is that-" "Zhou? You bet your broken leg it is." He laughed which made her roll her eyes. "Good to know you haven't changed." "And it's good to hear you again. How is it being a hero?" "Everything you can think it'd be like. Enough with the small talk, what the hell do you know about my niece?" She asked in a cold tone and he was silent for a moment. "So I take it your nephew told you?" "What, told me she had two other Quirks? Yeah, he did, but that doesn't make any sense to me. How the hell does she have two other Quirks when no one else in our family does?" She asked him and Eun let out a small sigh.
"I can simplify it for you; Quirks are passed down from generations, obviously. Also, that young teenage girl over there is very special. Her emotions are also linked to those Quirks so I'm making sure Eun has his eye on those. But, since you're calling, I can only assume another has appeared?" "...yes." "And which one this time?" "It was like a huge wave of sadness." Eun told Zhou who gave out a sigh before being completely silent. "Then that means she has another one to keep her emotions in check for. Miss Da-eun, how much longer are you on leave for?" "Another six weeks, why?" "Because I want you to help the boy with little Kurmara's emotional training." He told her which made her sigh. "Okay, but how the hell am I supposed to help with that?" "Just ask the one holding the phone, he might have some ideas on how to." "But if you know about this, why don't you just give us some ideas?"
"Because the two of you are her family and need to figure that out yourselves. I'll still help with some things, of course. You only need to call." The two Hayashi's looked at each other before Eun nodded. "Alright. Thank you, Zhou." "It's never a problem. After all, I was right about her, so it's only natural that you need my advice on what to do. I hope to speak with you both soon." Before the phone hung up, Zhou spoke for a final time. "Remember, Hayashi boy, those aren't the only two you're going to see. So be prepared for whatever comes." And with that, he hung up and Eun put his phone back in his pocket. "What did he mean by that?" Da-eun asked her nephew who just looked at her and she shook her head. "No. There's no way." "Unfortunately, there is." He voiced and she stood up, suddenly angry. "Are you kidding me?! Not only does she have two new Quirks, but there's going to be more!?" She grabbed the chair she was saf in and threw it into the air, her Quirk making it fly up higher.
"What the hell! This is just... Argh!" She was frustrated and confused. Eun just sat in the chair, looking down at his hands as fear slowly and silently spread throughout his body. The chair Da-eun threw into the air fell back down, almost hitting her but Eun used his Quirk and it hit the tree that was in the backyard. They were just silent now, not saying another word as they processed everything. She took a deep breath before leaning against the house, rubbing her temples as she looked at the older brother of her niece and only son of her brother and sister-in-law. Da-eun walked over to him and put a hand on his shoulder but he didn't look up. "He.. he's told you this before, hasn't he?" She asked and he managed to give a small nod. "And how are you feeling about this?" She struggled to get down and sit on the grass next to him but gave up. Eun took a deep, shaky breath before looking up at his aunt with visible fear and worry in his eyes.
"I'm.. scared. I don't know what to do... My baby sister is suddenly very..." He stopped and stood up, shaking his head before speaking again. "I just don't know how to help her.. when Zhou first told me, I didn't want to believe it but after what happened today and him confirming it..." "Hey, it's alright." Da-eun gave him a reassuring hug. "What am I going to tell them? How am I going to tell them that their only daughter has more than two Quirks?" "You don't have to tell them right away. Maybe we can once we've helped Kurmara with using them and easing her emotions along." They pulled away and she looked at him before sighing, giving a light smile as she used her Quirk to move his hair from his eyes and he gave a small chuckle. "I do that to Kurmara all the time.." "Well, where do you think you got it from?" They both laughed before sighing again. "I'm worried about her. She hadn't used her water and wind for years so I had to help her with that but on top of those two, I have to help her keep her emotions stable for the new two..."
"You won't be doing it alone. I may be half-crippled, but while I'm here I'll help you both." "Thank you." Eun smiled softly and she put her arm around his shoulders. "Of course. What kind of aunt would I be if I didn't help you guys out? Now let's go back inside, it's getting later by the minute."