Chapter 7: New City, New School, New Ride.

Musutafu, Japan, July 4th, 11:13 P.M.

Crash!

"Gaak!" Michael coughed up spit as he crashed through the store. His chest ached.

'Shit. Pretty sure I cracked a rib,' he thought. It's kind of sad how he knew the feeling of what a cracked rib was off the top of his head, but that's just how this Hero business went. Begrudgingly getting up from the hard and cool floor, he held his side, and glared at the aggressor who put him in this state.

Akira Marikawa. The Villain known as Density. He wasn't the most dangerous Villain, but had caught Michael unaware. He had the Quirk known as Mass Manipulation. As long as he touched something, he could change the weight of that thing up to ten times heavier, or lighter. Including himself and other people. One of the drawbacks is that it only lasted ten seconds.

'Why do I always get the tricky villains?' Michael asked himself, amused despite the abuse.

"Gas Mask, Heroes will be here in around ten minutes, so finish up quickly!"

"It's already over," he replied, not phased.

Michael shook off the pain, and grasped his guns tightly. He aimed at Akira, and pulled the trigger. But his bullets didn't hit, as the Villain disappeared in a blink of overwhelming speed.

The teen in the Gas Mask only smirked as Akira appeared in front of him. But Akira didn't do anything, paralyzed as his muscles twitched nd spasmed.

'Poisonous gas for the win!' He inwardly cheered.

"What's... what's happening to me?!" Akira demanded as Michael walked around him, admiring the scene.

"Oh, you know, you've just inhaled a little something I concocted myself for annoying pieces of shit like yourself." It took ten minutes to activate. Giving him a good kick in the gut making him scream, Michael quickly shot him in his hands, and feet. He also shot Akira in the ankle and elbow for good measure.

With that, he skated off.

*****

"You better not be too injured, you have your first day of school tomorrow," Manami reminded him.

"What're you, my mom?" Michael snorted.

"I may as well be at this point," Manami retorted. He smiled as he took off his Gas Mask.

"Just a few cracked ribs, lots of bruises, and scratches."

"Nothing Determination Mode can't heal," Manami acknowledged.

"Do we really need to call it Determination Mode?" Michael wondered aloud.

"What should we call it then?" she inquired, genuinely curious.

"I don't know, Resolve? Tenacity maybe?"

In the time since Manami had unlocked another emotion she could buff with, they learned a few things about it. Determination gave Michael a buff to his stamina, durability, and regeneration.

A fractured rib that might take three to six weeks to heal? Restored within ten minutes.

Manami's buffs could last for thirty minutes, unfortunately, they have been unable to overlap them as of yet. But they felt it was only a matter of time and practice.

*****

Harmony Junior High

Classroom 2-2

July 5th, Monday, 8:36 P.M. 2158.

It was Michael's first day at a new school. His teacher had just told him to wait outside for a bit as he explained to the class what was happening.

"You can come on in," his teacher told him. Michael walked into the classroom, and his gaze was instantly drawn to a familiar face.

'Kyoka Jiro?' he thought.

*****

Kyoka watched as her teacher walked to the podium. He clapped his hands, getting most of everyone's attention.

"Good morning class, today, as I mentioned last week, are having a new student joining us. You can come on in." With their teacher's prompting, a boy walked into the room. The girls who were expecting a handsome foreign boy became disappointed, and all the boys let out sighs of relief.

He wasn't handsome, neither was he ugly. Mediocre would be the best answer to describe his face. The boy was tall and spindly, towering above everyone, even the teacher. He had short, messy black hair, and lively brown eyes. He wore the standard uniform of their school, except the jacket and pants seemed a few sizes too large. He was, in short, perfectly average aside from his height and baggy fashion sense.

"Why don't you introduce yourself?" Their teacher asked kindly.

"Oh. Uhm, I'm Michael Hope. I would like to get along with you all, if possible," he introduced himself simply. He had even given a perfectly adequate response.

'If possible?' She raised an eyebrow at his interesting choice of words. She didn't know what he meant by that, but she figured they would learn soon enough, rumors spreaded faster than wildfire after all.

Her attentiveness soon wore off, and she went back to slouching, with her cheek resting on her knuckles. Her other hand fiddled with an Ear Jack, bored.

Kyoka flinched when she heard the sound of the chair at the empty desk next to her's being pulled. 'Of course,' she thought. Michael was sitting next to her.

She watched unenthusiastically as he took out earbuds and plugged them into his phone. She wasn't using her Quirk, but her hearing was still several times better than normal people. So she could hear what music he was playing.

'Not bad.' At least her new desk mate had good taste in music.

*****

Michael, although a bit surprised at seeing Kyoka Jiro, shrugged it off. After being told to sit next to her, he became a bit annoyed. Because he wouldn't be able to listen to the police radio with her next to him.

Though listening to music wasn't bad, he'd rather be up to date with the local incidents. Even while in school.

Having to constantly dance around people's Quirk was quite frustrating. Though it's not like he wasn't used to it at this point.

*****

The day went as usual for Kyoka. She sat alone at lunch, listening to music. Michael was quite popular, but she knew his newness would soon become stale. As that was just how some people were. Especially considering all of his responses, which were lackluster at best.

*****

"So, how was school?" Manami asked him excitedly.

"It was boring, and exhausting. Constant questions from nosy people, it's just how it goes when you know nobody," he answered.

"That's disappointing..." She pouted.

"I'm estimating my Quirklessness to be revealed within two to three days tops. After that, well, I'll probably need to put some bullies in their place."

"You really have going to school down to a science, huh?" She pointed out playfully.

Michael just smiled, "Hey, what can I say? I like knowing what to expect."

*****

In his new workshop, Michael fully focused on bringing his inventions to life. But, as he tinkered on his Gas Mask, a thought appeared in his mind.

'I need a vehicle,' he realized. While he was quite quick with All-In-One, he rarely got above fifty miles an hour unless buffed. But with a vehicle, he could get to crimes quicker and while saving his stamina.

'A motorcycle,' he instantly decided. And, the reason being, is that was the only vehicle he knew how to drive. He instantly went to Manami and began to discuss getting such a thing. With her technological know-how, it'd be easy to steal such a thing.

It may be illegal, but, hey, he was already a vigilante. What was one more crime added to the list?

Plus, he really needed more speed. Because in this city, not only would he be fighting Villains, but Heroes as well due to his vigilantism. And Musutafu was a city crawling with Heroes.

*****

Wednesday.

Michael looked at the three boys crowding around him, his back up against a wall. He smiled as though this was one big joke. Yesterday, when talking to one of his classmates, he revealed his Quirk. No one talked to him after that, and like sharks drawn to blood, today, these three found him and dragged him to behind the school. Seriously, how predictable did teens have to be?

"So you're Quirkless?" The Ringleader asked.

"Yeah? What of it?" Michael replied with a raised eyebrow as he crossed his arms and leaned back against the wall.

"You don't know your place, do you?" The leader asked, narrowing his eyes in some attempt to appear intimidating.

"Oh? And where's my place, dude?" Michael questioned with a smirk.

"..." He blinked, as if not expecting a response.

"Listen, I could stay here and entertain your thoughts all day, but I have things to do." Michael patted his shoulder and began walking away.

"You-!" Michael let out sigh as he realized he would need to teach them a lesson first. Pain was always a good teacher and motivator to learn.

Michael stepped to the side, grabbed the leader's outstretched arm, and threw him over his shoulder. The Ringleader didn't even seem to know what happened as he lied there dazed. Not letting go of this chance, Michael, still holding his arm, placed a foot on his shoulder and pulled. With a pop, his arm went limp.

"AAAHHH!" he screamed in pain, tears gathering in his eyes as he cradled his arm. Michael turned and looked at his two lackeys. He walked up to one leisurely, he was frozen, and so he kneed him in the stomach, making him peel over. The other one finally snapped out of his daze, and began to run away, but was caught by the scruff of his uniform.

"Urg-" he gagged as the front of his clothes pressed on his throat. Pulling him down onto his back using his uniform, now that he was on the ground, Michael stomped on his stomach.

With that done, he decided to address the issue. "You guys leave me alone, and I won't beat you. Okay? Oh, and don't go telling anyone, but I think you already know not to do that, right? You don't want to let anyone know a Quirkless loser owned your ass. Understood?" They nodded and then scurried off to the nurse's office to get healed.

"Hey, you can finally stop watching now," Michael suddenly said. She flinched before coming out from behind a corner. It was Kyoka Jiro.

'I think I can put together why she's been ostracized,' Michael thought. She must've helped other people without Quirks from getting bullied and due to that had no friends. And because of those actions, she must've angered both sides. The "Quirkers" because she defended the Quirkless. The Quirkless because she helped them when they probaby felt didn't need or want it.

"I thought I would need to help, but, uh... it seems like you got it," she explained herself.

"Mm." Michael nodded, not saying anything.

"Will you tell anyone?"

"No. Plus, I don't really have anyone to tell your secret to," she said with a, "what can you do?" expression on her face.

"Secret? Ha, you can't really call it that. I just don't want to be involved with what comes from it getting out."

"... You're... different than I imagined. Was the past few days an act?"

"Oh? You've been watching me?" Michael leaned forward with a sly smile.

"It's kind of hard not to notice some things with these." She answered unenthusiastically, her ear jacks shrugging in place of her shoulders.

"So why have been acting so... normal I guess?" Kyoka didn't know if that was the right way to call it.

"Acting, "normal," as you put it, is the fastest way to get people to go away. I don't want people bothering me. Just wanna get through the year, you know?" he told her truthfully.

"I can relate," she uttered.

"Well, be seeing you desk mate."

"Yeah."

"Right!" But, suddenly, he stopped just as he was about to walk past her.

"What?" She looked at him curiously.

"Thanks. You might not have been able to help me, since I didn't need it, but you were going to, and wanted to. You'll make a good Hero," he said with an encouraging smile.

Kyoka was taken aback, obviously not having expected a thanks. She didn't even do anything after all.

*****

Michael stared at the motorcycle in his workshop. It was a greenish bright yellow with some black.

He couldn't wait to take it on a test drive. though he would need to wait a few weeks to dial down the heat of stealing it right from Yamawa's nose. It was the latest model and costed a pretty penny. Thankfully he had a partner who could get it to him for free.

First, he'd have to do some modifications, of course.