My Hero Academia: Aspirations

Chapter 81

Aspirations
Chapter 81

The streets of New York City were less inundated with Heroes when compared to the streets of Tokyo. It wasn't that there weren't a few but by populous you had expected to run into far more than you had. And calling seeing another hero in the distance as running into them was generous. It was actually kind of odd after a bit...

You were so used to Japan's saturation of heroes, of how they were actively patrolling everywhere, that the absence of them was actually frightening. You actively felt your heart pounding in your chest as you looked around. The idea of being attacked and there not being a hero nearby to help made you feel vulnerable. And the fact that you were supposed to be a hero was not lost on you; in fact it made you feel more anxious if nothing else.

Yes you'd told Hawks what you'd wanted. You wanted to get stronger so that you could do more to help in order to avoid the past repeating itself. You wanted to help the heroes in the upcoming endeavor without getting on the wrong side of the law if you could avoid it. But you were a healer. You weren't a fighter. As Hawks had pointed out not that long ago...you had tricks, sure, but against someone who knew what they were doing, you'd fail.

You could feel a cold, sickening feeling settle into your stomach as you tried to steel over your nerves. You didn't want to fail. You didn't want someone to get hurt or die because you weren't enough.

Not again. Never again.

Thankfully your second day of patrol didn't put you into such a tight spot. Not directly at least. You hadn't run into any fights or anything dangerous. At the same time you hadn't figured out anything useful either. You hadn't heard anything about Trigger or Humarise, much less Ideotrigger. Then again you had no idea where to look. The underbelly of New York City was foreign to you. You had no idea what clues you should be looking for to pick up on the spots where criminals or extremists would want to be. Not really.

"Your task was never to be to destroy. You were meant to help rebuild."

You frowned as that thought, the one from the voice that usually fed your dark impulses, drifted across. Oddly it helped soothe some of your nerves. Like a protective presence in a time of such uncertainty. The devil you knew right?

Either way by sundown, you had nothing to show for another day of walking around. Except for an achy body, touch of dehydration, and feet that were screaming at you. You hadn't been of any help to anyone. On top of that, you hurt. The fact that you knew you needed to let everything ache so your body could get stronger wasn't lost on you. In fact, knowing that you shouldn't just heal yourself just made you feel worse.

Which was probably why you were too mentally preoccupied to do more than murmur a simple greeting once you'd gotten back to the others. A majority of the heroes, Hawks' sidekicks, were already back. Most of them had already took off the heavier or more cumbersome pieces. As you started to undo the metal coverings on your boots, you noticed a couple of them even seemed to panic about how casual they were. On guy even hurried back to the dorms to throw on a button up. If you'd had the energy to roll your eyes, you definitely would have.

If you ever got the time and energy, you were going to need to explain what you did for a living before this to the agency. If they were worried that seeing a bare male chest was going to offend you, they were stressing far too much. You just didn't have the energy to explain that to them.

As it was, you barely had enough left in you to undress from the heavy outer pieces of your hero costume. Showering wasn't even a concern at that point. You crashed on top of the bed in your sports bra and shorts. You hadn't even realized you'd closed your eyes until Hawks sat down on the bed beside you with a grin. You made a shushing sound at him and pushed at his leg with no strength or coordination at all when words started to fall from his face. And you were back asleep before you heard him laugh.