First Mission

Hello there.

The name's Sakma, Sakma Dik.

I am a quirkless person.

Being quirkless in the current society is bad enough itself, but to make things worse, I live in a hero family. My mother's a hero, my father's a hero, and my siblings were aspiring heroes. I was the odd one out.

As my parents were fairly famous in our city, everyone in my previous school knew about them. I wasn't really bullied or anything, probably because of my parents' reputation.

But those eyes.

Oh those eyes, filled with disappointment from my family; those eyes filled with pity from my so called 'friends', and worse of all, those eyes of mocking and superiority from everyone else. All of my life, those were the only ones that I received.

I hated those eyes. So what did I do you ask?

I tore them off their sockets.

Every night for a month, I snuck out of the house and went to a different person's house for my new and wonderful hobby. Eye collecting.

Those eyes that I hated before, now I loved.

Oh those eyes, full of fear as I arrive in front of them; those eyes, full of horror as I gouged their eye out; and the best of all, those eyes of pain and anguish as they clutch their empty eye socket~!

Ahhh~! How beautiful those expressions were~!

Those eyes that once looked at me with disdain and scorn was replaced by a 'look' of despair and fear~!

How wonderful!

How satisfying!

How picturesque!

But as much as I want to continue my magnificent avocation, people are bound to investigate what happened to the pieces of art that I left behind.

That was why I ran out of the city and, after days of running, arrived in Aguinaldo City where I met my two bestfriends. The only people who didn't have the same look as the others.

Fa Got, a mutant whose quirk made her face the same as a cockroach's, and Rayd Makok, a quirkless person, the same as me.

When I told them about my circumstances, they didn't look at me in fear as what I had expected them to. Instead, they looked at me in understanding and affinity.

Oh those eyes, I love.

But unlike the other times, I didn't have the urge to scoop them out. No I didn't.

Instead, I wanted those eyes to stay where they are; for those eyes to keep looking at me the same way.

And indeed, after a few months of staying together and cultivating our arts to various people, our friendship grew and grew until it came to the point where I cannot live without them anymore. It is alright though, we just have to stick to each other till the day we die.

But unfortunately, it looks like the day we die was sooner than what we expected.

In front of me, there lay Fa Got's corpse with the bottom half of a wine bottle stuck on her nape. Right on top of her corpse was a kid with white hair and red eyes, holding the top half of said wine bottle with a solemn look on his face.

How did it come to this?

We were just spending time as usual: pulling eyes and twisting arms, when we found a small girl, about 4 years of age, sitting on a bench in the park with a dazed expression on her face.

With the girl's cute and innocent face, it was no wonder Fa Got wanted to ruin it. She has always been a little jealous when it comes to people with good looks after all.

So we lured her with us to a cluster of buildings a few minutes away from the park. After finding a dead end in an alleyway, we prepare ourselves for another session of fun!

But just when we were about to get our pocket knives, a knife came flying out of nowhere and hit Rayd's chest, making him fall down and clutch it while screaming painfully.

"AARRRGHHH!!!"

Due to my and Fa Got's shock, we did not notice a small figure coming out of one of the countless alleyways as they—

*SMASH*

Smashed a wine bottle on the back of Fa Got's throat, knocking her out instantly.

Shocked yet again, I let the kid pick up Fa Got's pocket knife as he threw it in Rayd's direction.

But before it hit him, I extend my hand, letting it hit my palm.

"Kughh!"

Due to the pain, I drop down the ground while clutching my left palm, which is now bleeding plentily with a knife stuck to it.

Enraged and saddened at the current events, I raise my head to look at the kid in front me. But as I see his face, I was a little startled to see that, though still serious and solemn, his gaze on me seemed to have gained a little bit of respect now.

While I was wondering why he was looking at me like that, he said,

"I thought you were going to run away."

Those words, though simple, were like thunder to my ears.

Run away? Why would I run away when my friend's about to die?!

Noticing my anger, the kid replied,

"You looked like the type to give up and run away when you haven't even tried to do anything yet. But I guess I was mistaken. I apologize."

Again, those words were like thunder to my ears. But this time, it had a different meaning.

'You looked like the type to give up and run away when you haven't even tried to do anything yet.'

Those words repeated itself endlessly in my mind, making me think back to the times when I was still in a different city.

Now that I look back upon it, did I really try to improve myself when people were looking at me with scorn? Did I do anything except for keeping my hatred to myself?

All those times, I waited for someone to treat me like normal, someone to treat me kindly, but did I really deserve that when I didn't even try to improve?

Was... was that why my parents were disappointed in me in the first place...?

Releasing a self-deprecating laugh, I once again look at the kid in front of me.

"Kid, what's your name?" I said while breathing heavily.

"Zach."

"I see... thank you, Zach... for letting me saudade here without killing me..." I looked at my now dead, twisted, and messed up friends. But friends nonetheless.

"Please... kill me now... my friends must be waiting for me in hell."

***

Meanwhile, in a different district of the city, Head Priest Juan can be seen, his eyes wide open, with tears coming out of it.

"Sir! Please stay out of the scene or you may get caught in the fire!" Said a nearby fireman.

In front of Juan, a two-story house with various shrubs and flowers on its walls can be seen. The problem was that the house in front of him, the house of his friend, is currently set ablaze.

One firetruck and ambulance can be seen, and various onlookers have gathered while pointing their phones at the scene.

"Sir! Please stay back or you may get caught in the fire! Sir?! Are you listening?!"

Hearing the voice, Juan came out of his stupor as a fierce expression appeared on his face.

"We got a situation 2 here boys!"

Preparing himself, Juan was just about to run inside the house when—

*THUD*

Three people wearing heavy firefighter clothes came onto him, restricting him in a way that he won't be able to move at all, even if he uses his quirk.

"Situation 2 cleared sir!" The three men reported while Head Priest Juan struggled to get out of their grasp.

"Let me go! My friend and his family's in there!"

The squad leader who shouted earlier gazed solemnly at Head Priest Juan's panicking figure and said in a solemn voice,

"Please leave this to the professionals, sir. You going in there will not help the situation the slightest, it will only make it worse. And the fire has already been going on for 30 minutes, the people inside are most likely dead already."

Though his words were brutally blunt, it seemed to have returned a semblance of calmness to Head Priest Juan as he bowed his head and painfully muttered,

"P-Please... at least bring back some of their ashes..."

As the Squad Leader nodded his head, the three men finally let go of Head Priest Juan as a nurse asked him some questions about what his relations were with the house's owner.

***

Four hours later, Head Priest Juan can be seen coming out of the Aguinaldo City's police station, carrying a small wooden box. Inside the box are: two jars filled with ashes, a small bracelet, and a heart-shaped locket with a picture of a a man and a woman, hugging a small child, smiling.

Now having calmed down considerably, Head Priest Juan thought about his conversation with the police officer from earlier,

"The Garcia House had three residents, the father, the mother, and their daughter. Contrary to what you said that there are only two."

The policeman said while showing the inside of a heart-shaped locket, all the while discreetly observing his reaction.

Juan, upon seeing a small child that he didn't know, widened his eyes involuntarily, which did not escape the police officer's watchful eye.

"From the expression on your face, it looks like you didn't know about the kid." The police officer said while lighting a cigarette.

"Yes, I did not."

"Well, the thing here is, the child's still alive." The police officer paused, letting his words sink in before continuing, "Here, look at this CCTV footage."

After he said that, he showed his phone to Juan, who looked at it with rapt attention.

"Aaahhn~! Please stop~! Hyaahnn~ Oh yes~~! I'm cu—"

"...."

*ehem* The police officer coughed.

"How is it? Did my joke help you calm down somewhat?" He said with a straight face, acting like it was really just a joke. He was averting his eyes though.

"...Please just hurry up." Said Head Priest Juan. Inside his head though: 'Really? Watching porn in a police station? And why did that woman have a penis...? Was that a quirk or something?'

Coughing once again, the police officer showed his phone.

This time, the phone was showing a two-story house, which, after a minute in the video, burst into flames. As the house was covered in various plants, the whole house was quickly set ablaze.

About 5 seconds more, a small child, whose clothes were slightly burnt, came running out of the burning house. She was crying while repeatedly looking back, until the video ended when she was out of sight.

The police officer puffed out smoke as he said,

"As you can see, the cause of the fire was most likely the result of the quirk awakening of the child."

"Yes, I can definitely see that." Head Priest Juan said without a change in his expression.

"Well, the thing here is, since the child doesn't have any relatives left, and you said that you work at an orphanage, we want you to take care of her. We would also like for you to stay here until we find her."

"Wh-"

"Don't worry about your expenses, we'll pay for it."

Hearing that, Juan nodded his head.

"And just so I can be clear, you don't blame the kid for what happened right?" The police officer said, glaring at him.

"You don't need to worry, I fully understand that it isn't the child's fault and do not blame her for it. I swear to my God." Head Priest Juan said seriously while making a cross sign with his hand.

Juan knows that it wasn't the child's fault as she had no control over the day of her awakening.

How is he so understanding you ask?

Something similar happened to him after all.