My Hero Academia: Next Gen

Chapter 28: A Goal Worth the Risk

It took a good twenty minutes of begging before Eri got Aizawa to agree to a weekend get together, but eventually, he caved. 

"As long as I am in the area that you're all in," he said, his voice serious, "I suppose we can make that happen."

Eri squealed loudly, thankful that it was the end of the day and most of the other students had already gone home. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" she cheered, hugging him tightly.

He chuckled. "Yeah, yeah. Now go, I'm sure Asuka is waiting for you."

She let out a sharp sigh, gripping the sides of her dad's shirt and leaning her forehead on his chest. "I hate this," she mumbled. "I don't like the feeling of being watched constantly. Even if it's people that I know we can trust. It feels just like..."

His hand came onto her head, lightly brushing her hair with his fingertips. "I know, Eri," he said softly. "But I can't let anything happen to you. Not again. At least not until you've developed your quirk to a point where it can be used to defend yourself."

Pulling away, she shook her head. "And when will that be? It's been nearly two months since the beginning of school and I've made absolutely no progress on my quirk. All I've done is maybe make my healing faster and more efficient, but that's not going to save me if someone attacks. Or in the sports festival in two weeks! How can I compete with my classmates who all have incredible quirks? I can't just go out and-and heal people."

Aizawa sighed thoughtfully. "I've been trying to figure that out for years now, but since your quirk works on people and not objects, then there's really no way to test out my theory unless you have a willing candidate."

"I'm not doing that," Eri said immediately. "I will not be using my quirk on anyone for training purposes."

He turned and sat down at his desk, turning his chair to face her. "Listen. You talk about wanting to improve, but how can you possibly expect to do that when you won't use your quirk?"

"I--"

"Not to mention that this isn't something avoidable. It isn't something that you can just put off until later and hopefully by then, it's resolved itself."

"No, but--"

"Eri." His voice was stern and took her aback. His face softened and he ran a hand through his hair. "Eri, you have an incredible gift. You know this. Your quirk can be used to heal people or destroy them, and I understand that the idea of that is scary to you. I would be more concerned if you weren't scared. But running away from using your quirk is not the answer. Because you're right. You won't be able to do this forever. Your healing is a wonderful way to use your quirk. But in a much more pressing matter, you will need a way to attack your enemies."

She was quiet for a moment, staring down at the ground. "But, Dad," she whispered, "what if I hurt someone we care about? What if I hurt them like I hurt Papa? Or scare them away like Mama? What if I can't fix it like with Grandpa?"

At the mention of her biological family, Aizawa felt a pang of pain in his chest. This girl in front of him... This poor girl in front of him had unintentionally destroyed her family before she even knew who her family was. She had killed her father, her mother ran away, and her grandfather ended up in a long-term care facility for as long as they could remember. And Eri, try as she might, couldn't rewind him to health. 

Aizawa remembered the last time they had visited her grandfather, when she last tried to revive him. She must have been about eleven or twelve at the time. She had stood by his bedside and held his hand, looking at his face and squeezing her eyes shut as tight as she could. He knew that she didn't really recognize him, and that the only significance this man held to her was the idea that he was supposed to be important to her. "This is my grandfather, shouldn't I care more?" she had always asked him when they had left the home.