◆Diamond Flower◆Dabi◆Boku no Hero Academia◆

◆00◆ And she came to me

In the middle of a busy city, one of the big TVs were broadcasting one of Uwabami's adverts for a lipstick that worked just like any other lipsticks but slapping a popular brand name and a beautiful looking hero on it instantly changed the price and the worth. It was idiotic; it's probably made in the same factory as non-branded lipsticks...

"Wow! It's Uwabami!" A random middle schooler then gushed on about how beautiful she was and how he wished he could buy a body pillow with her on it. 

"Man, if my girlfriend even look like her by just a teeny-tiny bit, I'd be in heaven every day!" One of his friends laughed. 

"Yeah. Ah, I want to have a girlfriend...!" Another one cried. 

"Don't worry! Just join a popular Hero Agency, beat some bad guys, and then watch the numbers in our bank account go up!" Another one suggested. "Let's try and get into U.A! Even if we don't into a Hero Course, they will still make sure you succeed in life! It's still a win-win either way!" 

"Yeah! Man, just look at Uwabami. She's beautiful and a Pro Hero at the same time. She has it all, huh?"

As the kids left, they walked past a man with horrible looking purple patches on his face and arms. On the borders between his patchwork and skin were surgical staples that were crudely done, he was fairly tall for a man in his early 20's, and his eyes were a beautiful turquoise color. "She is so fake it hurts." Dabi had no interest in women like Uwabami, who became a hero for the sake of looking good in front of the cameras. 

In a world where becoming a hero was a possible profession where one could earn money and fame through it, people seemed to have forgotten what the true meaning of hero even meant as time went on.  

"Ah, shit. I better leave before I cremate all these losers..." He could see no heroes in this superhero society. All he saw were people pretending to be heroes and waving the name of heroes around. Heroes? Where? He could see none of them here. People no longer become heroes for the sake of the people, it's no different to just another job... 

Dabi lived within the red light district of Shinju where one wouldn't like live. When it's day, beggars searched through the trash cans, drunks were sleeping on benches, druggies were either sniffling and shivering in hopes of looking for the next fix or high and in another world, escorts were out and about having a cigarette break and maybe working at the same time, and people talking trash to one another. The area was horrible too; trash were littered everywhere, potholes and cracks were visible on the concrete floor, buildings here were more or less abandoned with rude graffiti, and the people in the area all looked rough and unfriendly. He had never seen a friendly face in this part of the city and he probably never will. Well, hopefully he won't be here for too long. 

For the time being, he's staying within a small apartment that was untidy and probably had someone dying in there before he lived here. Well, someone dying here didn't really matter as long as he couldn't see the actual dead body. He doesn't even pay the rent, he showed the stingy landlord what he was capable of just once and the man never came to bother him about the gas, electricity, or the water bill. In fact, the landlord even buys Dabi food just to appease him. Does this make him a freeloader? But if someone willingly gave him free stuff, why not take it? 

Dabi decided to lie down on the battered and old sofa, not caring about the comfort of it; he's the only using it anyway. He could have turned the light on but he much preferred the sunlight that shone between the closed curtains or the little blue flame on a wax candle. Right now, he couldn't be bothered with light. 

"Huh?" He could hear the rain. He's a little glad he was away from it when it rained. Tap, tap, tap...taptaptaptaptaptap...it was turning into a heavy downpour. He closed his eyes to the sound of the rain, sleep slowly taking him away from this ugly world.