Contemplating

Rumi and Fumio were looking in horror at the scene that played out in front of them.

Before both of them could do anything, Akane already slammed her head against the edge of the bed with full force.

For a moment, both of them didn't know how to react, because this simply was way too out of expectation on how Akane could possibly react.

They were still sitting in shock, barely reacting. All of this, this entire scene, it was just something that didn't feel like their reality.

Just as the first drop of blood touched the ground did the parents finally get out of their initial dazzled state.

Rumi was already rushing to her daughter to see if things weren't as worse as expected, but before she could even touch the girl she already sat up again, clutching her forehead with her hand.

Akane was dazzled after what she did. She just felt an intense amount of energy course brutally, without any sense of restraint, through her body and now she felt a bit numb, especially with the sight in front of her.

[Menu upgrading...]

Apparently her menu was getting a revamp....

[Changelog:]

Unification of the 'Stats' and 'Equipment' option.

Option unlocked: 'Soul Field', call out your own soul.

Option unlocked: 'Calling of Souls', summon an astral projection of choice.

Option unlocked: 'Skill and Spell log', records of all your special skills and magic.

Spell unlocked: Green magic, the trait of kindness. Heal your opponents with your projectiles.

Newly added: Magic Circuits (5), attach them?

She was surprised, she was very surprised to say the least, after all getting a system upgrade after banging your head against a hard object just seemed non-sensical, especially after what she went through before yesterday.

It felt a bit unearned, but she decided to put that question off and solve it at a later time.

What she found interesting was one option that appeared in the changelog, something she tried to put her head around since a while, but just didn't manage to comprehend.

Magic. She finally unlocked her first spell and best of all, it was green magic. The magic that helped closing wounds and was the thing her body needed most currently.

Healing, a lot of it. Her body might have accelerated regeneration thanks to the nature of her and her soul, but it's more than obvious that this is a far cry from enough.

The number of scars on her body was a prove for that after all.

She sighed, openly.

Green magic, connected to kindness, being able to heal every wound regardless of its nature, as long as you can believe in the kindness of your heart that every human being is salvageable, even if they are utter scum.

For Akane this was something difficult to do, not because she doesn't want to be kind to everyone, not because she hated being in the presence of too many humans, not because she didn't believe in salvation or kindness.

It was because she noticed how shallow she was. Despite everything Akane never truly managed to open up to others, despite everything she never truly relied on someone else, despite everything she was always the one to solve the problems of others.

And why did she do that? Because of her pride. She wanted to show everyone that she can do better than all of them, she wanted to prove her point that everyone that looked down on her was wrong, she wanted to believe that she was better than all of them, because other than them, she was putting so much effort into everything, so much effort that it brought her to the brink of destruction.

But was that right? Was she better than them, did she show them all, that they were wrong.

No. She didn't, all that effort she put into things, for what was it? For whom was it?

She shook her head, she needed alone time right now and she won't get that in this hospital room, surrounded by the worried gazes of her two mothers.

"A - Akane, where do you think you are going?"

She looked back at her mother, almost sad seeing that pained expression on her face. Akane smiled softly at her, trying to convey that she doesn't have to worry too much.

"Mommy, don't scowl like that, it will ruin your beautiful face when you grow older. You look a lot prettier with a smile on your face!"

Fumio was a bit taken back after Akane said that. Her daughter always told her to worry a lot less, simply because she felt how she felt, but never did she tell her in a roundabout way like that to stop worrying.

Suddenly she had a realization. Akane might have had echolocation to see, but she never called someone's appearance beautiful, no she never even commented on the looks of people.

Whenever she called people cute she meant how she finds her action cute, whenever she seemed to make a comment based on looks, she in truth meant their personalities and the way the act, that's the reason why she feels so repulsed to other people.

But not this time. This time she obviously meant her looks, making her realize a little detail.

"Akane, what did you just say?"

Surprised that her mother noticed such a small hint, Akane opened her eyes in surprise, revealing the two beautiful marbles, that almost seemed like two perfectly carved crystals, everchanging in color.

Especially now when they started reflecting light back did it really show how beautiful and mesmerizing her eyes truly were.

Akane couldn't help herself, but a few tears started forming in her eyes. She was so lucky that she got such a loving and caring mother, Akane decided that she had to apologize properly to her tomorrow.

"Mommy. I love you, I really do, but I just need a bit time to think about myself!"

Confused about what her daughter meant, Fumio wanted to ask her what she meant, but once again the girl just had to keep surprising her today.

In a bad way.

Akane opened the windows...

...and just straight up jumped out of it.

Of course, Rumi immediately ran towards it to grab her, but the moment she reached the window Akane was nowhere to be seen, greatly confusing her.

She frantically started looking around for her body, until she decided to look up for some reason.

She flinched a bit as she saw Akane cling to the wall right above the window, smiling at her, to add more confusion to this mockery, Akane even gave her a big smooch on the forehead.

"Keep mommy as calm as possible, alright mother?"

And with that she launched herself from the wall of the hospital, leaving the two adults completely baffled.

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"Hey, Akane. Was that really such a great choice of action? Won't you worry your parents a bit too much, disappearing in the nights sky?"

Deep in thoughts, Akane almost lost balance after she heard Chara.

"Sorry Chara, but I meant it with I need time alone. Hope you and Scarlet won't get too angry with this."

"What? Partner, wait...!"

Akane didn't wait and so she sealed the two of them into a deeper part of her soul. Yes, it was incredibly rude and unreasonable of her, but right now she just wanted to be alone, by herself.

No one to talk to her, no one trying to cheer her up, no one butting in, trying to help.

Help is nice and good, but sometimes there just were the things that you have to solve by yourself, there were the problems that only you could solve, sometimes one just wants to brood and think, nobody to interfere.

After a while of jumping and running over rooftops she finally got out of the city, finding herself in the forest around the city, well she was glad that she always had a mark on her mother, else she surely would have a problem finding back to the city in one day.

She chuckled before she started walking around again, of course with her sight activated to savor the scenery.

It was a full moon, and the light illuminated the forest in a mysterious and eerie way, but that wouldn't face her, why would it? Just because she could see now, doesn't mean that she lost her high-rank echolocation.

She could still feel the air movement around her and she knew how her immediate vicinity looked like, the worst thing she could meet was a bear, or a pack of wolves so she wasn't too worried about her spending the night in the forest.

After she reassured herself that nothing was dangerous enough to harm her in this forest, did she stop for a moment again, thinking about herself, her life choices and what her goal in life should really be.

"I - I want to show everyone that everyone can reach their dream, as long as they just try hard enough and persevere through hardship!"

But is that really what she wanted? Was all of what she did just for this?

"I just want to show everyone how wrong they are! I just want to pay back everyone that mocked me, that humiliated me, thinking that I was just a damn cripple, using my connections to reach this high!"

And after that? What will she do after she showed everyone? She could reach that goal faster if she tried yet harder, why didn't she do that? What will she do after she exacted her revenge? What would she do afterwards after she reached the top.

"I didn't do all of this just for them! I trained hard for myself, I tried my above and beyond for myself and nobody else! Why shouldn't I have done that, if didn't I would have stayed weak, would be still sick, would get bullied! In this world, in this society strength is so much, as a strong and popular hero you gain so much! I didn't even really dream of becoming a hero, I just wanted strength! Enough strength so I wouldn't get looked down upon anymore, enough strength to fend for myself, enough strength to be respected!"

Then what would be the point of all of this?

"The - the point?"

All of the things she just mentioned, all of the things she didn't receive when she was still an orphan, just a random child on the street, all of the things she yearned for as she still suffered. All of that was long reached, long earned and long overshoot.

Why does she keep trying so hard as if the devil chased her. Why does she still run ahead with all of her might and power, as if she were a dying flame, trying to defy the cold, the wind and nature itself? Why did she keep burning so strong when all of her goals were long surpassed.

"Just because I surpassed my goals doesn't mean I can let up! Just because I am ahead doesn't mean the other stop moving! If I don't continue to run they will close the gap, they will catch up to me and ultimately surpass me. There is that saying, a prodigy at ten, a genius at fifteen, a common man past twenty. Without effort, talent is nothing if I don't keep going ahead, I'll be nothing."

Akane started to breath heavily, she was screaming all of her words with all of the strength she could muster, all of this thinking was mentally draining for her.

"It's all I have. Effort, effort and then yet even more effort. Without it, I am nothing. Without it, I would be just another girl, living in her peaceful world, doing ordinary things, having ordinary interests, ordinary goals, and an ordinary life. Without the things I did, I wouldn't be anywhere near my current strength, ability, everything. This effort is all that defines me."

Akane clenched her fists. This wasn't really a conclusion she wanted to come to, it was lackluster, boring, and full of holes, there just seemed to be missing so much, it was frustrating, but nothing came to her mind afterwards.

Silence, just the occasional call of an owl. She sighed, well continuing like always it...

"Isn't what I said too arrogant?"

!!!

"Yes, it definitely is. It just reeks of arrogance and hypocrisy all the way through. Not an ounce of reasoning to it. Who am I to ordain things as ordinary? Who am I to think that my effort is any better than that of the others, just because my quantity of is so much greater."

Suddenly Akane felt a rush of energy coursing through her body, as if it tried unblocking barriers inside their paths.

"Wasn't I the arrogant one for all of these years? Did I every truly put others in my eye? Did I ever truly show interest in their interests, their goals, their hopes and dreams, anything at all about them? All I did was work and work and occasionally with them, but did I ever show interest in their lives, who they are, what defines them? No, I didn't. All I did was carry them when they showed problems, helped them when they needed it, supported them if it was necessary. Never did I truly show interest in the person they are, the reason why they are doing the things they do, all I did was treat them as if they were my pets!"

The energy inside of her grew stronger and stronger, trying to break through the blocked off meridians in her body to freely course through her body.

"And the same counts for the opposite! Did I ever let my guard down around the others, did I ever truly trust others with my problems, did I ever confide with others with my insecurities? No, all I ever did was mentioning my conditions shorty, acting as if they were a laughing matter. I never truly cared for others, I just hid behind my perfect facade to avoid interacting with them, all I did was shutting off myself from others, all I did was hiding myself in the fear that they would hurt me, hurt my feelings."

The energy flowed through her body so strongly that the energy was slowly starting to get released through her pores, ripping her upper skin layers to shreds, because they weren't made to withstand raw, powerful magic energy.

"I am done with hiding! I am done with keeping my feelings deep down inside myself, I am done with suppressing myself to be the absolute perfect girl!"

The magic in the air reacted strangely to her emotions, resulting in a big explosion in the middle of the forest.

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Meanwhile, in a certain boys home:

Izuku was currently in his room, lifting a ten-kilogram dumbbell in one hand and writing into his notebook in the other.

This time it wasn't really in his hero notebook, but in a diary he was doing for himself. Why he had a diary? Akane said that he should make one, to keep himself sane from all the training and eating she said.

Remembering these days, Izuku felt a shiver run down his spine, he really didn't want to remember that.

Suddenly he heard a ring go through his phone.

He saw that the class chat had an incredible number of messages.

Class 1-A, Hero Department,

AcidQueen: Yo, bitches! What's up!

KingExplosionMurder: WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME BITCH!

Ingenium: Calm down Bakugou! You shouldn't start picking a fight in a group chat.

YaoYao: Well, as much as I condemn his behavior, it's still incredibly rude to greet your fellow classmates like this, Mina.

AcidQueen: Yeah, yeah, sorry, sorry. Anyways, you all have plans to visit Seigi? Heard she already woke up today.

Froppy: Wait a minute, didn't she get hospitalized just today?

BlackBird: Indeed, I am very sure that these incidents just happened like 6 hours ago.

AcidQueen: LOL, apparently this wasn't the first time she was in a situation as bad as this.

RedBolder: Wait a minute, you mean this wasn't the first time she vomited blood all over herself, creating a puddle big enough to lie in it?

AcidQueen: No! No, this was a first, for all I know off! But I heard that this isn't the first time she got such heavy injuries and that she recovered from them in a day!

IG: Really?

LittleMight: Yes, I also heard about it. Remember the mall incident a couple of years ago? The girl that saved the day was her, she got a nasty burn mark across her chest because of that.

AcidQueen:...

StunGun:...

Uravity:...

PurpleGrapes: Why do you know that she has a burn scar across her chest?

Cellophane: Yeah, that's pretty SUS TBH.

LittleMight: Calm down guys, you all know that she trained me, well she forced me to swim about 13 kilometers with weights all over my body after she invited me to the beach.

YaoYao: Oh, yeah. I was there, I can confirm his story. It was pretty nasty as she changed into her swimsuit, after she cross-dressed as a boy. As beautiful as she might be, the scars on her body remind me off what she all did to be in the position she is today.

The chat was silent for a moment.

AcidQueen: Anyways! You all also had plans to visit her tomorrow, right?

EarphoneJack: Well, it's her after all, right guys?

Everyone: Of course!