Parting (2)

The young boy, no older than 7, was 'kidnapped'. Appropriate for his situation, he seemed to be afraid of his surroundings, curling up in a small space under the table.

The teacher's table might have provided him better cover. Surely, he wasn't smart enough to deduce that.

'A dumb guy. He was probably promised 'chocolates' or something and he fell for it.'

Masato gave out a clear remark to match the boy's situation.

"Hmm~"

Crouching down like a delinquent, Masato tried to look at the eyes of the boy.

"His eyes....."

"He's got the eyes of dragonfly."

There were more than 20,000 red-colored, eye lenses inside his round eyes. Which gave him a 360-degree eyesight. Of course, slowing things down for better distinction was added.

'It's similar to those eye-exchanging guys from the Uchi-Nope, wrong world.'

"He looks cool."

For some reason, his body tensed up as he slowly raised his head. Showing the mouth that had two pincer-like claws. His palms had extremely thin claws, instead of fingers. While a black pair of wings were present on his back.

"...."

He stared to the right, towards an empty space.

"He has 360 vision."

Kaito just had to add that fact since Masato seemed a bit confused. Making him look like a buffon.

"Whoa, what next? Do I have to be his best friend so that it can evolve into Mangekyou? Am I the sacrifice?"

Still, he wasn't affected by Kaito's taunts and kept thinking about a pun.

"What are you talking about?"

"Nothing~ Where are his parents?"

The boy stiffened up at the mention of his parents. Probably out of fear, which was strange in 7-year olds. It was an age where most kids usually lived without a care.

Emphasis on 'most' since there were always a few like him.

"..."

Himiko didn't say anything and kept staring at the boy, finding too many similarities with her past self in him.

"..... Himiko said she found him in an empty alley."

"What were you doing there in the first place?"

"Searching for a ghoster, who apparently was too busy to explain his well-being."

Himiko, who still looked like Masato, didn't explicitly say the reason but it was enough for anyone to understand.

'She's still angry? I already gave her my blood.... Quite literally at that. What more does she want? Heart, kidney, liver?'

Shaking his thoughts, Masato stood back up.

"So his parents...."

They abandoned him. There was no need to say it loudly for them to understand it.

"Kid 2, look after the kid. We will be back in a minute."

Like some kind of a main character, Masato ordered. She didn't disagree with that behavior either.

Himiko became strangely quiet. Her eyes were a bit dark while her fists were clenched. Because of Masato's face that she wore, it was hard to tell anything else about her emotional state.

Masato took Kaito with him before closing the door of the class. 

"Any possibility of him being a lost kid?"

In a hushed tone, he questioned the origins of the boy.

"There aren't any search orders for the boy."

"He looks pretty good. Perhap-"

"He was worse."

Kaito interrupted the words, clarifying the situation.

They weren't exactly idle after picking up the boy. They cleaned him up, dressed him warmly and fed him well.

Trying to break the barriers of the kid wasn't easy. Almost impossible.

"...."

"...."

Nobody asked why the boy was abandoned. One could tell just by the looks.

The lack of eyelids, pincer-like teeth emerging from the corners of his lips, the unnaturally pale color.

He even had some scales underneath his skin.

Quirk Discrimination.

It was simple to outcast the ones who were different. But for parents to throw out their child? Wasn't that pure evil?

Even in a world of heroes, some basic problems couldn't be changed. It was human nature to want to be better than others. And many people used looks to prove their supremacy.

"What should we do?"

Kaito didn't want to let go of the kid now. The kid needed a hero, something that Kaito found similar with his past self.

".... Find out his story. We could be wrong. And we need to get him some papers."

"I will do both."

"Then I will take him to the orphanage."

Matron Tsuzuru was kind, even with her pissed-off look and the quirk 'Blow-Up'. She would agree to host the child until he was fully grown but Masato didn't want that.

"We need to send him back."

He gave out the ultimatum.

"..... There were scars on his body. From sharp objects. Bruises too. His body is malnourished."

Raising his voice slightly didn't change anything but Kaito still had to try something. Masato noticed something strange about him. And things just clicked in his mind.

The boy who always smiled until it was something related to his parents or Masato, finally shouted. It was a sign. That his empty heart was beating again... Even if it was for a passing moment.

***

I felt sad. Not for the kid, nor for Himiko. But for Kaito.

'He probably knows that this normal. That's why he called me.'

No matter how unfortunate it was, the kid inside the class wasn't the first one to be discriminated against and he wouldn't be the last either. The world wasn't fair. No man is born equal. Some even die while they are in their mother's womb.

This was life. Unfair and harsh. Cruel and pitiful.

"Why did you come to the school anyway?"

The only thing I could do was change the topic. Like a coward. Not that I cared.

".... We thought you would be nearby the school area so we brought him here. To meet up with you."

There was an awful lot of pressure and expectations, hidden in those words.

"Hmm~"

Humming to myself, I leaned against the wall.

"You don't actually want an answer from me to save the kid, do you? You can easily do so yourself. You want an answer to save others who are like him... Don't you?"

Kaito nodded sincerely. His palms were clenched tightly, an answer was already visible in his resolute eyes.

'Is this bastard trying to sacrifice me?'

He aimed to be a hero, to fill his empty heart by following his hero parents. But now, something about the kid has touched his heart.

His heart is wavering between the two choices: To become a pro hero or... To save others like the kid inside the class.

Perhaps things would have been different if he was an adult but he was a kid. A young kid, who already bore the weight of a huge company on his shoulders.

To save many more like that kid, he would have to give up his dreams. If he gave up people who were like the kid for his dreams, would he be worthy of his dreams that reminded him of his heroic parents? And if he gave up his dreams for those people, could he ever face his parents ever again in the afterlife?

That was the delimma that burdened him. So he needed a push. Someone who can outright rip away his dreams. His dead parent's last memory.

'I wonder what about that kid moved his heart? The lack of parents? The lack of a hero? Sympathy for a fellow 'empty' boy?'

It didn't matter. What mattered was Kaito's needs. Whether it was a hero or a villain, I would be anything if it was for him. After all, the titles never meant anything for me.

"Kaito, you always wanted to be a hero, right?"

His smile seemed painful but I didn't feel a single bit of pain.

"... Give up on your dream of being a hero! You aren't suited for it!"

He was a better man than me. When he saw that kid, he wished to deny his past decade worth of resolve, all to save that boy and more like him. When I saw that kid, all I wondered was how cool his eyes were.

"Your quirk is too weak to ever be a hero. You can never protect anybody with it, except for yourself."

Wrong, even with all 3 gates of 'Hachimon Tonkou', I stood no chance of defeating his [Target]. It was that overpowered.

"Stop playing around and use that mind and money of yours to help the society! There might be many more like that kid who need you right now! So help them! Rather than playing some hero game!!"

Although he wanted me to push him, I'm the one who's saying these things to him. To make him choose between his dream and his sympathy for those like the kid before.

That was detestable of me, even if it was not my choice. 

"..."

Though Kaito wanted me to do it, he seemed to have lost his grit in the last moment.

"Don't worry about it. It must be a huge decision so I will give you a week. I can take him back to matron Tsuzuru for that week."

Tsuzuru would probably even be ready to take care of him until he grows but Kaito needs that kid. Right now, for the first time in almost a decade, his heart is being filled by something.

Even if I become a villain, even if I make that kid go through a much harsher life, even if Kaito ends up hating me, I will fill his heart.

'Heroes.... What exactly defines them?'

Was it the warrior who killed a thousands of enemies? The messiah who saved others from war? A person doing a simple act of kindness because of a whim? 

In the end, they were all heroes.

Kaito hopes to fill his heart with such a fickle thing. It's not entirely impossible but terrifyingly harsh. Rather than such a thing, I would let him feel despair, the loss of a friend. All so that the small flicker of emotion that he felt didn't vanish. Even if it was pity.

To save the people like those kids. To be a hero without ever being called one. To be one of the many extras that work hard to save others but are never recognized.

"Thanks. I will take my leave now."

He left without looking back, probably feeling the same amount of guilt to make me say those things.

In his heart, I was the only person who could stop him from being a hero. Because he loved me like a brother. Like his family. 

And it made me the only other person who could stand against his parent's will. My words became a strong shield to use against his parents in his nightmares.

'Bastard... Trying to sacrifice me...'

Yet there was only pity for the boy called Kaito in my heart. Because he would soon lose his last family too.

"Ha~"

"Why are you sighing?"

Himiko came out of the room and asked me that question.

"Nothing~"

That fickle tone had become second nature now. It was so messed up that it became a source of relief. Otherwise, my heart would feel pain too. And that would truly be the worst thing for suicidal maniac.

'Can't this world let me die in peace?'