Kiths

Chapter 9 - Selfhood

I decided to watch the entrance exams to inevitably see my sister, but holy crap.

The zero-pointers got annihilated, and Izumi basically just kicked its head back into it.

I chuckled, "Heh, Idiot, now you have no points." She obviously hasn't prepared to handle da- All Might's power yet.

I got up and left, I didn't need to see any more of that, maybe next year you'll get a chance.

I stepped out of UA's campus and twisted my gray cap back to cover a bit more of my white hair. I adjusted my red and gray jacket to be a little tighter, and I pulled up my blue trousers.

I started to make my journey home, taking the train and bus to get back to my area of the city.

I arrived at a small brick apartment tower, this was my home. It's very cozy and very small, the landlord is a nice woman with granddaughters that visit sometimes.

"Oh! Hello Rufiji!"

"Hello, Miss Tanaka!" I waved back at the landlord who stood in the back garden.

Rufiji Keisuke, that's one of the identities that I use to get around Japan. I planned to ditch it after I moved out, but it seems this could become my permanent base.

I like the landscape, there aren't many people, it's pretty far away from major city points, and the landlord's 2 granddaughters are young girls with healing quirks. This is the exact thing I need for my periodic vigilantism.

"Rufiji! Rufiji!" speak of the devil, there's one of them. "Hey Akie, how was school?" This girl was called Akahana, an eccentric 11-year-old with light red hair that went all the way down to her waist. Her quirk is called Painkiller, once she holds you and snaps, a jolt goes over your body and you become stoic for the next hour. A perfect quirk for a hospital. "It was fine! I learned a bit more from the nurse today... Oh! Sachie really wanted to see you!"

As she said that, a younger girl about 7 years old with Strawberry blonde hair came through, "is Rufifji here?"

I waved at her, "Hello there Sachie," she ran to hug my leg. "You know, you shouldn't do that to strangers who just rent a room at your grandmother's house," I said as I head patted her. She just pouted and I gave a quick glance at Miss Tanaka, who smiled and said, "It's never happened before that a lodger gets along with my grandchildren so well, I don't mind at all," she spoke in a soft voice.

Sachie's quirk is called Blood Pull, it pulls platelets from the blood toward her, basically moving them like a funnel to reach open wound areas, which feels very... very uncomfortable. It's difficult for her to use because she needs to picture the entire vascular system, but she knows the most major veins in the torso so far. "I heard you wanted to see me?" I asked her, "Yeah! I wanted you to help me with my biology homework!" she said. "Shouldn't your sister help you with that?" "She focuses on medicine, so it's not much help" she responded. "Alright, take me to it."

Sometime later, I went up to my room on the top floor, the rent here isn't bad either. I- *bonk*

...oww. I forgot I had a growth spurt since I left my ex-family, and although it is quite useful for my fake identity, I forget it when I climb the stairs.

*Collapses onto bed* Now, I'm only a couple of salaries away from having a good budget for my suit-

*VMMM* *VMMM*

It's my alarm, it's morning already... I can't remember sleeping.

I got up from my air mattress and briefly made a sandwich for breakfast. Sleep started to feel more like a blur rather than a multistage process to me, so I don't really feel... sleepy anymore.

Sudden memories of childhood came back to me as I bit down on my sandwich, making me flinch a little bit.

I feel bad for those girls, they don't even know they are talking to a monster

They'll find out sooner or later, but we should be done by then

I shouldn't have given them too much happiness, otherwise, I toy with their hearts when I get to my goal

HEAD! WHEN IS MY TURN, IT'S BORING HERE

We go to the gym at 5:30, just wait

COME ON, JUST LET ME A LITTLE BIT

NO! Last time you didn't stop until my hands were a different color!

I head downstairs and step out to see the sun still not being out yet. The job I chose is nice because they don't care about your id or your quirk, or if you come extremely early. It doubles as a second visit to the gym as well, especially for muscle training. All they want... is results.

I stepped into the facility and went up to the locker rooms, there I got my uniform and went back downstairs.

"Hey, Keisuke! Up as early as always I see," my boss told me as I got to the ground floor.

"Hi boss, so what will it be today?"

"Your moving tower C and B to stockpile 6 for delivery," she pointed to a massive stack of boxes in the corner.

"Got it, I'll be done by 5" "Are you sure? It's 3 times as much as yesterday..." "Then I have to work harder."

With that, I went to work when a colleague arrived.

"Hi boss, sorry I had to drop my daughter off at kindergarten."

"That's fine Matsuda, as a parent, you get excused for arriving slightly later."

"Is that insane Keisuke working already?" "Yup."

...

"You know how many rumors are going around about him?"

"There are rumors about him?"

"Well since he basically has superhuman strength carrying 2 boxes of washing machines over there, and that we only have his name, and that he doesn't talk to people often."

"Plenty of people assume who he is." the coworker explained.

"Well, what are they?"

"Some say he has a strength quirk comparable to all might, and that he just didn't want to be a hero. Others say that he is an insane workaholic that just comes here until the day he dies. Some people assume he's a quirkless kid who got excluded from his family, so he does physical labor to be recognized again."

"Wow... I personally think that... he isn't quirkless. All that physical labor has to be supported by a strength quirk that we just can't see."

"It's a good assumption, boss, but there are 2 things I'm sure of."

"Let me hear it"

"First, he wants to get stronger. Not only does he purposely not use all the support equipment, some of my friends at the local gym told me that he's a monster in all categories."

"Not only that, but he also sometimes walks around with a blindfold, as if he was trying to not use his eyes, and the worst part is that it's working. He moves around just fine."

"Secondly, white is not his original hair color. I've heard him complain before about how fast his hair dye was disappearing."

The boss was surprised.

"I'm already shocked by his training schedule... but what's that hair thing about?"

"I'm not really sure, when I asked him why he doesn't show his real hair color, he said it was because of personal reasons. "

"I think its real color was green."

"Well whatever it is, I don't need to pry on a hard worker. He doesn't have a criminal record, so I'm just thankful for him being here."

"Alright boss, now what do I have to do today?"

"Same as yesterday, I'll see you at the break then."