Arising from the Ashes

Chapter 11

The sun was slowly moving closer to the horizon, painting the eveningsky a beautiful orange tint. The tint of fire, the tint of warmth. And combined with the soft sound of the waves made Ichika feel serene, something she desperately needed right now. Especially after three long days at Endeavor Agency.
She sighed as she leaned over the railing her hands dangling aimlessly over the iron frame as she looked at the sunset. Her mind drifting off to last week.
That man had been much more enthusiastic than usual, which of course he showed differently than ordinary people. An enthusiastic Endeavor meant lots of yelling en more commanding and walking and working at and even faster pace than the man usually kept. Usually Ichika didn't have that much of a problem keeping up with the man. Having learned how to use her fire to accelerate from Endeavor during her workstudy. But this week the man had been unstoppable!
And the reason why? Because his youngest son, Shoto, had been accepted to U.A. which had more than pleased the proud father. Which Endeavor himself would obviously deny should one ever ask.
'Those look painful.'
Upon suddenly hearing the raspy voice coming from next to her, Ichika quickly straightened her back to look to her left.
'Sorry, didn't mean to startle you. I just noticed the bandages around your hand and on your cheek. You got those during work?'
She frowned as her eyes trailed down to her hand for a moment, a bit of red showing through the white bandage. And the cut on her cheek still stung. But luckily none of her injuries had been bad enough to see a medic. Just a bandage wrapped around her wrist and hand and a band-aid here and there and she was good to go.
Then she returned her gaze towards the stranger standing next to her. Wild black hair, bad burn scars underneath his eyes and from his lower lip down to his neck and disappearing beneath the white loose fitting shirt he was wearing. Hadn't she seen him before? She wasn't sure, but he did seem familiar.
'What made you guess it was work-related?' Ichika didn't want to answer his question who knew who this man was. But she didn't want to seem rude not replying. Especially since she was often recognised as Endeavor's sidekick and she did not want to give that man a bad name. Even if it was his fault for forcing her to run the promotional campaign now.
'Just an observation. Last time we bumped into one another you didn't look this beat-up and I might have seen you in action with those villains earlier today.'
So they had indeed met before! Once again she found herself observing the man, taking notice of all the small details to see if she could remember where she had seen him before. Several silver cartilage piercings in both his ears and three nostril piercings on the right side of his nose. And hoop piercings - which looked a lot like surgical staples according to Ichika - placed where his healthy skin connected with his burned skin, giving the impression of keeping the skin together. At least she hoped it was for show! If not, this man must have been in unbearable pain, right?
He was about her height and seemed to be around his early twenties. And then there were his eyes. Vivid turquoise eyes that looked back at her lazily as he quirked a brow at her intense inspection. She had definitely seen those before!
'I know I'm hot and all, but staring is just rude.'
'Ah! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to, I swear. I didn't... I was just trying...'
Her cheeks flared up in embarrassment upon being called out on staring at the man. And her stammering didn't help either. God, she was making a fool of herself!
'Don't recognise me, huh?' The corner of his lip pulled upwards as he smirked at her. He turned so he now had his back turned to the beach, leaning against the fence with a slouched back. 'I don't blame you. I'm just one of the faces in the crowd for a pretty girl like you. Or are you still chasing after your brother to actually register whats happening around you?'
Suddenly it clicked. Why the man next to her seemed familiar. It had been around the time Izuku had his entrance exam, when he had bumped into the man when he was in a hurry to get Kamui Woods autograph. Their interaction had been short and she was more worried about following Izuku to the bookstore than actually pay him any heed. Sure, she had apologised to him for Izuku, but that's it. She had even cut their short conversation even shorter, befor she chased after Izuku. But now that he had given her a hint about where they had known one another from, she remembered.
'I feel terrible,' she said while rubbing the back of her head. 'For both, leaving you like that and for not remembering you.'
The man just shrugged nonchalantly.
'No hard feelings. So, what's on your mind, Phoenix? For a hero who had put yet another villain behind bars, you don't seem overly pleased. You never do.'
'It's not that, it's just... Wait a minute, what do you mean by "never"? Are you stalking me?'
'Nah, I don't chase after girls,' he said, giving her a playful grin. 'I prefer them chasing after me. Which is why I should ask you the same question. You're the one to always stop by at my doorsteps.'
'I am?'
He nodded in reply, making Ichika feel embarrassed even more. She sure was quick to jump to conclusions, while he had probably seen her from where his house was and she was accusing him of stalking. She guessed it did make sense for him to actually come up to her and wonder what was up with her depressed appearance. Which was why she came out here in the first place. To just calm down and find new energy to continue her hero work. To remind her she only had one year left at U.A. and hopefully she could immediately start her training to become a teacher assistant. She had kept her part of the deal afterall.
She noticed his eyes on her, waiting for her to reply. So she eventually sighed in defeat, turned around and mimicked him by leaning against the fence as well. Though instead of slouching forward, she leaned backwards.
'It's just, this whole heroing thing? It's draining me out,' Ichika confessed. She felt guilty for burdening this stranger with this, but at the same time it felt good to actually say it out loud. 'It's not what I wanted to do. I never did.'
'That's hard to believe. You're a rising star, Endeavor's prodigy. Isn't that everyone's dream nowadays?'
His voice was monotonous as he spoke, though when she looked him in the eye, there was no sign of sarcasm. He really seemed interested in what her response would be. So she gave it to him. It wasn't like it was a secret or anything. Even Endeavor knew of her ambitions.
'Not mine,' she told him as she looked at the buildings across the street. 'I actually wanted to become a teacher.'
She laughed wryly once the words left her mouth. It had already been three years since she had pushed that thought to the side. Only because she was tricked into enrolling to the hero course. And it still stung knowing it had been for nothing. There had been no need for her to enter U.A. because Izuku had turned out to be a late bloomer. An extreme late bloomer, but a late bloomer nonetheless. And his quirk had manifested just in time, talk about coincidence.
The sound of muffled laughter snapped her out of her depressing thoughts and she found herself looking over to her side once again. The man was trying to hold back his laughter. But whatever he thought was hilarious, was stronger than his strength to hold back. Soon she found herself looking puzzled at him as he doubled over in laughter. It wasn't that funny that she wanted to be a teacher, right? Or was it something else he thought was funny?
'You? You wanted to become a teacher,' he asked once his laughter had died down to just chuckles. 'Don't get me wrong, I find it refreshing to meet someone who doesn't want to become a hero. But your telling me that Endeavor is training someone who actually has no ambitions to even want to follow in his footsteps?'
'Well, actually he has that spot reserved for... someone else.' She had almost let it slip that the man was training his child to become the number one. But she didn't know if it was a smart thing to do or not. 'But yeah, I guess you could say that he is. It's kinda sad, isn't it?'
She frowned again. She really did feel sad for Endeavor. The man was doing all he could to make her enthusiastic about hero work, but all it did was do the opposite. It was way too much responsibility and she never liked the publicity that came with it. And the pressure of needing to achieve and to get the people to like you. She preferred to stay at the sideline and help young minds bloom.
Though the plusside was that she was now allowed to use her quirk outside if needed.
'I think it's hilarious.' He really did seem sincere. 'So that means you won't be called Phoenix for much longer?'
She shook her head. No, she would remain doing hero work for now. But only for as long as needed.
'So, what do I call you then? Don't want to make you feel uncomfortable by calling you by a name you don't want to use your after career as a hero.'
She thought about it for a moment. Wondering whether she should give him her real name or not. But up until now he seemed harmless enough. A bit rough on the outside perhaps, but that was due to those scars. He had been nice to her when Izuku had bumped into him and now as well. And he wasn't laughing at her, he was laughing at the thought of Endeavor training someone with no ambitions in hero work. At least, it seemed like it. And she guessed she could understand the irony in that. But still, was it wise?
She glanced at him from the corner of her eyes, to see those turquoise eyes of his looking back at her. Those piercing turquoise eyes that seemed to glow with the angle he was looking at her. Sure, his appearance screamed danger. But his behaviour told her different, so she decided could give him the benefit of the doubt. Besides what harm could be done by telling him her name, right?
'You can call me Ichika.' She purposely left out her last name, just in case. 'And you?'
'Ichika, hm? She nodded in return. 'Well, I guess you can call me Dabi for now.'
'Dabi? That's quite, unusual.'
He gave her a sideglance, but said nothing about it. Instead he just shrugged and pushed himself off the fence to stretched his back.
'Well, miss Ichika,' he said as stood up straight again. 'Nice to meet you. Should you ever feel the need to talk, you know where to find me.'
He waved his hands around casually, before turning around and walk off. Probably towards his house. And as Ichika pulled out her phone to check the time, she decided it was time to head back home as well. Tomorrow spring break would start and she had promised Nejire to hang out at the mall. So with one last glance at Dabi, she turned to take her leave as well. Though as she walked off, she failed to notice a pair of glowing turquoise eyes follow her, a smirk on Dabi's face as he did so.