The Origin of something new (mha ff)

Chapter 23

The days flew by. Kaede spent them watching her classmates and getting inspired. But she had no ideas. "So? What are you doing?" Ectoplasm stood in front of her and tapped lightly against her foot. "I can't practise." "and why not?" "I have no ideas. I dont know what I can do with my Quirk." Ectoplasm frowned. "And all this time it didn't occur to you to just ask Aizawa?" She just looked at him and cursed herself for her stupidity. "Well."
Aizawa sat down next to her on the edge of the cliff and looked down at the other students. "To understand what could be possible, you must first become aware of what is already possible, so tell me."She looked down at her hands. "I can apply pressure, I can... amplify my power, I can merge with my surroundings, I can perceive where individuals are..." She interrupted what she was saying. "But I can only do all that if I have concentrated long enough beforehand. I don't stand a chance in a confusing battle. And if I then try to use my own feelings, everything goes wrong." "But it only goes wrong when you allow anger, doesn't it? Or when you're confused." "It's not just the anger, it's everything. There are days when even the sadness is too much. there are days when even being happy doesn't feel right. I can't just protect myself from one. I can't protect myself from sadness without protecting myself from happiness." "Then don't. You haven't listed everything you can, not by a long shot. When you lost your control, you could do much more. What did you do?" "I don't..." "The part you don't control is still a part of you. You can't pretend it doesn't exist. What have you already made possible with that part?" "I have implanted and stolen emotions from others." Her voice trembled as she talked about it. "I made them crazy, into dolls with no emotions." "You stole emotions from them. But what if you could control it? Let your imagination run wild. What could you achieve if you believed in yourself?"Furious, Kaede paced the corridors of the UA, with no real destination. "Of course I'm pretending that part doesn't exist! After all, something bad happens every time, every single time!" "If I could control it, I wouldn't have any problems! I can't develop special technology from something that destroys people! If I were a villain, I wouldn't have to be considerate." She looked out the window at the schoolyard. "My imagination? In my imagination, everything is beautiful and perfect. What am I supposed to make up? I stole emotions and if I could control my Quirk, I wouldn't have stolen them." She knew it wasn't true. She would have stolen the emotions anyway, just not to the extent that she did. These people she had killed because she had taken everything from them. But what if she had only taken their anger? What if she had only taken away their willingness to fight? "Maybe I can't, but I guess I'll never know unless I practice."

While the others already had ideas that they were working out, Kaede tried many different things, but they all failed. "I'm not giving up," she told herself. "I'll just put it off until later." Instead, she worked with the chain Momo had made for her. At first it was difficult to control and throw it around, but Kaede practised by rappelling down the mountain, destroying clones over and over again.She tried to put her thoughts about her Quirk aside for the moment, it was too complicated to brood over, so she concentrated entirely on her training until finally the day of the hero licence exam arrived.

...

Various students were walking around everywhere, looking around in amazement. Kaede was standing a little further behind Aizawa when she saw Shoto and the others talking to a student from the Shiketsu school. "This, this is Inasa Yoarashi. He passed the UA exam with the highest marks and still refused." With that, Aizawa sparked a louda discussion until they were interrupted by a young woman. "Well, if it isn't Aizawa! Is this your class? And Kaede is here too! How funny, how funny." "Well, that's the smiling Hero Joke!" gave Izuku his knowledge. "You know each other?" "Oh yeah. Aizawa's agency and mine used to be right next door to each other. We fought together and fell in love!" "We didn't." "Hahahahaha, you're so funny Eraser!" Kaede eyed Joke up and down. She looked happy, happier than last time. Kaede walked over to her and touched her arm. Though Joke pulled her arm right back, Kaede had already felt it. The jokes were just a facade. Still. "Oh, little Kaede. As creepy as ever, isn't it?" Kaede just watched Joke, who was clearly uncomfortable with this and just skipped over the situation. "But look, this is my class, I'm the class teacher." From behind her, a couple of students came running up, eagerly shaking hands with the others. They all fawned over each other and stirred up sympathy between the two rival schools. "Go away!" Kaede didn't say it aloud, but she agreed with Katsuki. "How do you know Joke?" Izuku suddenly stood beside her. "I met her once on the street when I was lost. She then walked me home." "Oh wow, how cool." Izuku bought her lie. Katsuki, who had been listening, did not. His gaze was on her the whole time.

...

When the exam started, everyone had the desire to pass. Everyone took the path that would take them the furthest. Kaede had already thought about it beforehand. She was determined to pass, but she wanted the same for her friends, so she stayed with the group for now. When they were separated by a huge earthquake, they were surrounded. "Thank you, at least now I don't have to worry about the others walking into my line of fire." She ran straight at the attackers, four of them. One of them threw balls at her that changed their course. It was always a close call when she dodged them, but she succeeded. The others of the opposing group tried to throw themselves in her path, causing her to stumble. Because her objectives were fixed on her belly, she threw herself on the ground. The opponents around her only looked down at her. "So who gets her point?" "Never give your opponent time to attack again, you fools!" Kaede spun once completely, kicking all the students' legs in the process. They fell backwards and Kaede used the time to put pressure on the first one. She threw the other over her shoulder onto his comrade and kicked the last between the legs so that he fell to the ground. As she turned, she felt a hand on her leg. Where it touched her, a layer of stone formed, binding her to the ground. Out of reflex, she kicked the boy in the face with her other leg. Blood ran from his nose. "oh, I'm sorry!" She had no time to pity him because the others were already standing and coming towards her. One of them was suddenly holding a metal chain in his hand, so she pulled out one of her knives and held it out to him. The other, however, walked sideways towards her, a ball in his hand. Because she could not move away, she had to wait for her opponents to attack. Every time someone came too close, she warned with her blade, but when they all attacked at the same time, she had no chance. All three tried to hit the targets with the ball, so she turned. She knocked one ball away with her blade, but the other two hit. Frightened, she spun even more, but slipped on the unconscious man's arm. A sickening crack startled everyone. "Shit, help her up!" Thankfully she allowed herself to be helped up while her now injured foot was still bound. But they all knew that there could be no consideration for others here. One of the three tried to hit her last target. She did not allow it. Fierce pressure pushed him to the ground, but Kaede also got some of her own strength. She got a severe headache. One of the three rolled away. "Just roll away, the pressure is only in one place!" She increased the pressure even as her nose bled, knocking the two remaining students unconscious. "I'm tied up anyway, don't attack yet." The boy followed her every move, still in a fighting stance. "Would you be so kind as to tell me how to get rid of this stoneware here? I want to run to the finish line in a minute." "I saw you at the UA Sports Festival. That broken foot won't stop you. I will beat you, for my comrades." "Then come and try." He suddenly held a baseball bat in his hand and slowly approached her. He had become smarter since the beginning of the fight. A quick close combat would do him no good against Kaede. "I hope this doesn't hurt too much." He hit her in the head with full force. Her eyes went black, but she fought against it. He caught her as her body went limp. The boy wanted to take out her last target, but she felt his skin touch hers somewhere. It was her last chance to win, even if everything in her resisted it. Carefully, she wormed her way through his emotions. Then she pulled on something. She sensed that he was worried about the victory of his friends. Kaede knew the danger of tampering with people's psyches and yet she had to fight now. She intensified the feeling and he paused in confusion, then he wimpered in pain and felt to the side.