Chapter 45: New Hobbies

New Hobbies(Part 1)

Netsu and Izuku were currently in the art room. For reasons, Netsu wasn't entirely sure of.

"So dad, why are we here?" Netsu asked his father curiously.

"Well, I thought of something that could serve as a hobby, and as a way to help you control your quirk." Izuku walked over to a window, and picked up a painting that was set up against it, and then turned it around so Netsu could see what it was.

It was a painting of a bird. Except it looked odd, not bad, in fact, it looked quite beautiful, but it was different from any painting Netsu had seemed before, and he was kind of entranced by it.

"This was made, using Fumage," Izuku explained, setting the painting on a stand nearby. "It's an art technique using smoke from fire to create impressions on a paper. It's essentially painting with fire."

"Woah." Netsu looked down at his hands, knowing under his gloves was fire. Capable of creating such art. "Can I do that too!?"

"Of course," Izuku told him. "That's what I brought you here for."

Izuku had several canvases nearby, as well as several stands. And he had a fire extinguisher on standby.

He was well aware of what was likely to happen. And he intended to be prepared.

"Now it's not going to be perfect," Izuku told him. "It will probably take a lot of attempts before you can even make a painting. But the more you practice, and the better you control your quirk, the better the painting will be."

Netsu nodded enthusiastically, and quickly ran up to the canvas, ready to start painting.

Izuku was aware that Fumage often employed more than just fire and smoke. But it's not like Netsu was gonna be creating a masterpiece anytime soon. So for now he would just work with his flames.

How bad could this end up?

A few attempts later.

About as bad as Izuku thought it would go.

The green-haired father was currently putting out the remains of Netsu's latest attempt with a fire extinguisher.

"Sorry, dad." Netsu apologized, looking disappointed at his string of failures. "I'm not very good at this."

"Not many people are good at things on their first try. And no one is perfect at anything on their first, second, or even third try." Izuku told his son. "Do you want to be good at this?"

"Yeah!" Netsu nodded, a look of determination blazing in his eyes.

"Then you just have to keep trying," Izuku told him, setting down the fire extinguisher. "Now, let's try another one."

New Hobbies(Part 2)

"Archery?" Fuku asked.

It was another calm day for Fukunoko, and she and Kei were having a tea party.

"Yeah! Dad set up a bunch of targets outside, with bows and arrows too!" Kei exclaimed. "The arrows aren't pointy though. They have suction cups instead! So it's completely safe!"

"O-Oh...Ok?" Fuku didn't know where this was going, but she didn't like it.

"Dad had almost everyone try it. But I missed out. The stuff is still there. And I wanna try it...but I don't want to go alone." Kei lied. "Can you go with me?"

In truth. Kei hadn't tried out archery with everyone else, because she wanted to do it with Fuku, and further, encourage her to come out of her room. And maybe try out something new.

"W-what!?" Fuku gasped. "Why me!?"

"Because everyone else already tried it! And they don't want to go with me!" Kei felt bad that she had to lie so much, but she didn't have a choice if she wanted Fuku to go with her. "Please Fuku! Please!"

Kei pulled out her trump card. Puppy snake eyes!

"Gah!" Fuku was taken aback, as many faces looking beggingly at her, all with teary eyes. "Nooooo! That's not fair! How can snakes be so cute!"

Kei increased the pressure, wobbling her lower lip, and having her snakes move closer to Fuku while adding a teary sniffle for good measure.

"Ahhhh! Fine, I'll do it!" Fuku relented. "Just stop looking at me like that!"

Kei's expression immediately brightened, and she went back to her bouncing, super happy self. "Yes!"

"But I have to wear my hoodie!" Fuku amended.

"Deal! Kei smirked at her. "Trust me, this is gonna be a hit."

Sometime later, in the backyard.

Fuku and Kei were standing in the Omni-purpose court, where Izuku had indeed set up a bunch of targets, with some small bows and suction cup arrows.

The walking chemical weapon girl was dressed in her bear-themed hoodie. Watching Kei take her bow and arrows. "Why did you want to come with me? You'd be better going off alone than being with dumb Fuku."

"Aww don't say that! I love spending time with you!" Kei reassured her. "I'm glad we tar-get to do this together!"

"...You're going to make archery puns the entire time aren't you?" Fuku honestly didn't mind Kei's puns and had honestly come to like them. But Kei had a habit of getting repetitive with her puns. If she had a drop of courage for every time she heard Kei make a rock or snake pun, then she would be Kiba.

"Bullseye!" Kei giggled, giving Fuku a thumbs up. "Now pick up a bow!"

"What!?" Fuku recoiled back in shock. "Why do I have to do it!"

"Well, I can't just let you sit there and do nothing by yourself," Kei explained. "Let's turn this archery into archer-we. It's ok! No one else is watching."

Fuku looked around nervously, confirming that in fact, no one was watching her.

Hesitantly, she walked next to Kei and picked up her own bow and arrows. "Oh, I'm going to be awful at this."

"You don't know until you try." Kei chimed. "Alright! Let's start!"

Kei quickly pulled back her bowstring, with Fuku tentatively following in suit.

Ok, Fuku. Don't embarrass yourself. Focus. Fuku was nervous, her hands were shaking. Kei believed in her and she needed to try her best to succeed.

She focused all her attention on the target. And everything else became an unfocused blur. She drowned out the world around her until all there was...was the target.

Her hands stopped shaking, her breath calmed

They unleashed the arrows.

And Kei's flew two feet before landing on the ground, not even reaching the target.

Fuku's arrow on the other hand...actually hit the target!

It wasn't in the center...at all. In fact, it was more around the middle of the target, but it still hit.

"You hit it!" Kei honestly didn't care so much for her own failure, as she was very willing to overlook that to celebrate her friend's success.

No one could see it behind her hoodie, but Fuku was absolutely shocked. "I-I hit it! I didn't get in the center! But I hit it!"

"Yeah, you did even better than me!" Kei raised her hand towards Fuku. "Hi, Five!"

Fuku slowly raised her hand into Kei's. "H-Hi five."

"How did it feel!? Did you like it!" Kei asked her quickly.

"I um...it was...fine...a bit calming actually," Fuku admitted. There was something about focusing on a single thing so intensely and letting everything else go, that she found relaxing.

"Now let's do it again!" Before Fuku could say anything, Kei pulled out another arrow and loaded it into her bow. "Let's do this!"

"W-wait!" Fuku hastily pulled out another arrow and started lining up the shot.

After a few moments, they released the arrows once more.

Kei's arrow flew past the target, missing it completely.

Fuku's arrow hit the target, but this time it hit the edge. A bit farther from where she wanted it to be.

The lavender-haired girl frowned under her hoodie. "I got worse."

"But you still hit it!" Kei pointed out. "I still haven't done that yet! You're doing way better than me! That's great!"

Fuku didn't respond, and instead, she just took out another arrow. This time, with more determination.

A few attempts later.

Kei and Fuku kept trying over and over again.

The snake-haired girl had failed horribly every time. As it turns out, trying to do something that required a lot of accuracies while wearing something that made her sight significantly worse, was a difficult task.

So she had given up and decided to cheer on Fuku. Who was doing significantly better than her. But not as good as she'd like. She had missed a few shots, but most of them had hit, and a few of them had even got close to the middle.

But none of her shots were ever as close as her first one. And that frustrated the heck out of her. It wasn't just that she was(in her mind) failing, she was used to that. She was expecting that. But failing at something she had already succeeded at?

She wouldn't stand for that.

"Why can't I do as well as before?" Fuku pouted, stomping her foot and closing her eyes in frustration.

And then when she opened her eyes...it came to her.

Her hoodie was hindering her! Of course, if she had something in front of her eyes she wouldn't do as well!

Ignoring the fact that her hoodie was on when she did that first shot, Fuku would never even consider taking off her hood while outside, under normal circumstances.

But these weren't normal circumstances. She NEEDED to at least do as well as the first shot. And she wasn't even thinking about the fact that she was outside.

She unzipped the part of the hoodie that covered her face and pulled down her hood. Exposing her head to the open air.

Kei gasped at this, but Fuku wasn't listening. The world faded away until it was just her, her bow, and the target.

She took out an arrow and loaded her bow.

Focus Fuku. Focus. She told herself.

She took a few seconds to line up the shoot and-

Hit!

She had managed to get a bit closer to the center than even her first shot.

"YES!" Fuku jumped in the air in celebration, feeling a rush of satisfaction and accomplishment fill her.

"Great job Fuku! Whooo!" Kei cheered, jumping up and down and waving her hands around excitedly. "Now try to hit the middle! Try and hit the middle!"

"Right!" Kei has never heard Fuku sound so fearless in her life. That girl had really gotten into this and was determined to hit the center.

She loaded another arrow. Focused and fired it.

Failure. She hit the edge again.

Repeat.

Failure. She missed the target entirely.

She was too excited. She calmed herself. And repeated.

Failure. She was closer but still not where she wanted to be.

Repeat.

Failure.

Repeat.

Failure.

Repeat.

Failure.

Repat.

Hit!

Fuku had hit the edge of the center circle. It wasn't dead center, but it was still the center!

"I did it!" Fuku said with a bit of disbelief before a look of sheer joy made its way onto her face. "I did it!"

Kei ran over, and glomped Fuku, enveloping her in a hug before the two started jumping up and down in celebration. "You did it you did it!"

The two celebrated their victory for about a minute.

Until they heard a very familiar voice.

"Yes, yes, very good job indeed."

Kei and Fuku froze, and looked behind them, and found that Kiba had arrived at some point and was smiling at them.

"So that's what you look like," Kiba commented, looking over Fuku's appearance. "Your-"

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Fuku immediately let go of Kei and started running away, while frantically putting their hoodie back over her face. "DON't HURT ME!"

Kei sighed and Kiba just stood there in stunned silence for a moment before saying. "I just wanted to say she looked nice."

Meanwhile, a good distance away, a Seer laid in wait. Little did Kei or Fuku know, it had been there the entire time. Watching them, and broadcasting it all, straight to Izuku.

Meanwhile, with Izuku.

"Huh...archery...what do you know," Izuku said, turning away from the image that the Seer had been broadcasting. "Well, I'll need to learn more about that then."

If Fuku found an interest she couldn't do in her room, then Izuku would need to do everything he could to encourage her.

Because the key wasn't FORCING Fuku out of her room, that would most likely end horribly, but it was making Fuku want to come out of her room. Which wasn't as hard as it sounded, because Fuku did want to go outside and socialize with people, it's just that her crippling fear of absolutely everything would often make her think she didn't want to. So he just needed to motivate her.

"I think Kei has earned a pudding cup tonight." Izuku smiled to himself.

New Hobbies(Part 3).

Kioku was currently in the art room. Doing something Izuku had suggested to her...painting.

She has so many memories stored in her head. Some were bad...most of them were bad actually. But there were some hidden gems in the rough.

She had foggy memories of Eri being tossed into the air by her father, giggling happily.

When Kiba first awakened her quirk and started running around at super speeds.

And despite how much she despised All Might, she had to admit(internally) that the memory of seeing a hero rise from the flames with people on his back, smiling reassuringly. Was inspiring.

Izuku had told her if she was forced to carry on with all those memories, then she might as well focus on the brighter ones. Which is something she had taken to heart.

And so here she was, currently trying to finger paint a picture of a child being tossed in the air by their father. With the child of course being her and the father being Izuku.

The painting was, of course, pretty terrible but what else could you expect from a six-year-old, she had to use a stool just to reach the canvas.

As she was painting, she heard the door open behind her.

She turned around and saw Otoko enter the room with a small bonsai tree in his arms.

"Oh hello, Otoko." Kioku greeted kindly.

Otoko nodded at her and moved on.

He grabbed a nearby table, and moved it over, before placing the plant down on it and moving to one of the canvases, grabbing some paints and paintbrushes, and sitting down on a chair to start painting.

Kioku looked over to him, interested in what he was doing.

After a few moments of watching him paint she saw that he was painting the tree in front of him...which seemed pretty obvious now that she thought about it.

It was pretty clear early on that Otoko's painting was also going to be terrible. But again, despite his appearance, he was in fact a child. And he did only just start painting.

With her curiosity sated, Kioku went back to her painting.

And no sound rang out inside that room, except for the noise of paints hitting paper.