Chapter 6: A Calm Flame
The morning sun cast a warm glow across the backyard as he lowered himself down, sweat dripping from his forehead.
Mina sat cross-legged on his back, her bright pink skin glistening slightly under the light.
She grinned mischievously, arms folded as if this was the most casual thing in the world.
"Come on, keep going!" she encouraged, her voice teasing but supportive. "Don't tell me you're already tired!"
He gritted his teeth, muscles straining as he pushed himself back up, the added weight making his arms tremble. Mina leaned forward slightly, her chin resting on her palm. "You call that a push-up? My grandma could do better!" she teased, her golden eyes sparkling.
"Your grandma doesn't weigh as much as you do," he shot back between heavy breaths, his determination unwavering.
Mina burst out laughing, the sound vibrant and infectious. "Oh, so now you're calling me heavy? Careful, or I might 'accidentally' add some acid to this workout!" she quipped, pretending to flex her fingers. Despite the playful banter, he kept going, determined to finish the set.
With every rep, he could feel his arms burning, but her cheerful voice kept him focused, pushing him to give it his all.
"498 499…. 500!" and with that he plopped to the ground in exhaustion.
"Man if I didn't know of your quirk,I would've one hundred percent believed it to be a strength enhancing one." Said Mina after getting off his back and offering a water bottle.
I took it from her hands and started drinking.
" Well that's what exercise does to people." I replied sarcastically to her.
"Maybe you should try it out sometimes."
"And become a muscle head like you nu-uh!!" She rolled her eyes and shook her head.
While chuckling at her antics, I didn't give it much thought. No matter how much I've tried she wouldn't budge on this, it's not like it's that big of a problem tho. shes already getting her exercise in by going to her dance classes anyway.
It's been three years since my little heroic incident, and me and Mina have turned 11 years old this year and will soon start Junior high/middle school.
These past three years have been quite eventful for both me and her.
After that day she announced that she was also going to be a hero just like me and joined me in training our quirks.
She has made a lot of improvements, from being able to make only tiny amounts of acid to now making a small puddle in a couple of seconds.
In addition to to improving her acid generating abilities she's also managed to learn how to make projectiles with it.
Now we're trying to improve her control over the solubility of her acid so that she doesn't hurt or worse kill her opponents.
I on the other hand have also improved a lot but mostly on the time I can keep my full body transformation on.
I have went from being able to keep the form active for at most 10 minutes to now being able to keep it on far almost 2 hours.
My control over my flames has also improved, now I can make more complex shapes with my fire like squares and stars.
"HARUE!!, MINA!!, come inside, lunch is ready!!!." We heard my mom shout from inside the house.
...….
The warm scent of miso soup and freshly grilled fish wafted through the air as Harue sat at the small wooden dining table with his parents and Mina, who was already making herself at home.
The room was cozy, the background noise of the TV mixing with the faint clinking of chopsticks against bowls.
My mom set a plate of steaming rice down in front of Mina, who beamed with excitement.
"Thank you so much for having me, Mrs.Dai ! This smells amazing!" Mina chirped, her pink skin glowing warmly in the soft light of the kitchen.
My dad, chuckled from across the table. "You're always welcome here, Ashido. But you better not out-eat Harue again," he teased, his voice carrying a playful tone that made Mina laugh shyly.
"I can't make any promises, Mr. Dai," Mina replied, already digging in. Harue sighed, watching her enthusiasm as he picked up his chopsticks. "You act like you've never eaten before," he muttered, though a small smirk tugged at his lips.
Mina looked at him. "What can I say? Your mom's cooking is to-die-for!!".
"Why thank you dear~."My mom replied with a big smile on her face while coming from the kitchen with my and her plates.
We started eating in comfortable silence with the only noise being the clicking of dinnerwere and chopsticks.
" So Mina, you want to be hero as well?" The silence was broken by my old man.
"Yes sir ",she replied after finishing her drink with determined look on her face.
"I'm training hard with Harue-Kun so that I can hopefully join U.A high with him."
"Quite the drive huh?" My dad smiled at us with a proud look in his eyes . "Well I hope you guys succeed".
As the meal continued, the conversation flowed easily, a mixture of lighthearted teasing and genuine warmth. At the end when the meal was finished mom cleaned up the table with the help of Mina who also volunteered to help wash them.
After a while her Mina mom came and picked her up.
As I waved goodbye to her i heard my mom say.
"Oh how fast they grow, next thing you know he's already gonna forget about his momma~." Reina teased her son.
"Don't make it weird Mina's my friend" I said to her in mock anger.
"Sure she is~". She replied in a teasing tone.
'Woman and their gossip' I thought to myself as I went back to my room.
Besides tho while I'm not against pursuing Mina, that has to wait as we're still kids and I like my woman a bit more well endowed if you know what I mean.
End.