Playground Problem

3rd POV

*BEEP BEEP BEEP* *BEEP BEEP BEEP* *BE- *CLICK*

*YAWN*

The young girl residing in the purple bed pulled her arm away from the clock on her nightstand, back to the darkness under her blanket. She lay there for an additional 5 minutes before stretching her limbs with a groan as satisfying pops made their way around her body. With a sigh, she sat up from her bed, combing through her long, black hair with her fingers.

Once it looked at least presentable, she stood beside her bed and raised one of her legs a complete 180° up and held it there for 5 minutes. She'd been doing it since she learned how to walk, so it was a habit now. Her father made her implement it into her training so that her fighting style would be more flexible. After a lot of tears and leg joints popping from their sockets, she could implement her flexibility into her fighting.

After 5 minutes, she switched legs, holding it straight up with no trouble at all. She wrapped up her morning room activities with a few basic exercises. Crutches, sit-ups, squats, and a few more flexibility drills. Once finished, she made her bed and put on some clothes that her aunt got her, which consisted of a pair of baggy black cargo pants that cuffed at the bottom and a more fitting pink shirt.

She tied the whole outfit together with a pair of snow white sports shoes and walked out of her room toward the kitchen.

Juri POV

The scent of breakfast food hit me as I made my way to the kitchen. Aunt Nemuri had made me breakfast since the day I came and I thoroughly enjoyed her cooking, as well as the conversations we would have during breakfast. Our first "breakfast chat" was a different story though. "You should loosen up sweetheart. No need to be so square here." I recounted her words as well as the smile that followed.

After reliving the fond memory, I continued on my merry way to the kitchen. "Good morning aunt.. " I cut myself off as I rounded the corner and saw the man from before, Mr. Shota, in the kitchen wearing an apron. "Mornin' kid. Grab a plate, breakfast is done." He didn't spare me a glance as he continued flipping pancakes. I wordlessly followed his instructions and picked up a plate from the top cabinet. I had no clue what to say, and I didn't want to come off as disrespectful by saying the wrong thing. "So.. is Aunt Nemuri still sleeping? She's usually up by this hour." I asked with a small smile and a laugh that came out a bit more forced than I hoped.

My plan was simple. Instead of asking where my aunt was, I'd instead ask if she was still in bed. This would lead him to tell me that she either is in bed, or isn't and is possibly running an errand. Therefore avoiding sounding disrespectful by asking why he was there instead of my aunt. Overthinking? possibly. Pretty genius? possibly.

"Who knows?" He replied dismissively. Those 2 words brought my entire plan down. It seemed as if he had no interest or intentions to respond anymore. I don't know if I made it obvious or not, but I was nervous. A man I had met only one time prior was currently cooking breakfast in my kitchen while my aunt was nowhere to be seen. Adding on to that, he stared into my soul that first time I met him.

"Here." He gruffly spoke as he dumped eggs, bacon, and pancakes on my plate before grabbing one of his own. I sat at the kitchen table and started to slowly, cautiously, consume the breakfast. I had no complaints about it since it should be virtually impossible to make these 3 foods taste bad or screw them up at all.

"Thank you Mr. Shota." I briefly looked up from my plate at him, fidgeting with the eggs on my plate. "Don't mention it kid." He replied, not bothering to stop eating but also looking up at me. 'Well, if this is how it's gonna be in a matter of weeks, I better get accustomed.' I continued to eat away at the breakfast he prepared, placing my dishes in the sink once done.

Before I could head off to the park, the voice of Mr. Shota stopped me. "Take this." He reached into his pocket and pulled out what looked to be a flashdrive. "Put it in your pocket and don't take it out." I examined the drive in confusion, wondering for what reason he gave it to me. As if reading my mind, he spoke again. "There's a GPS inside." He stated offhandedly. I slowly placed the GPS/flashdrive in my pocket, followed by an unsure "Thank you", and headed out the door.

There were things that could easily tempt children my age as I walk down the street: Food stands, a toy store, arcades, etc. I'd never indulged in them before though so avoiding them wasn't a big challenge.

After a few minutes of walking, I arrived at what looked to be an average playground. Swing sets here, slides there. I'd seen them while going on walks back home, yet I'd never gone to one for the sole purpose of enjoying myself.

As I was about to sit on a swing, I heard the voices of multiple people that sounded around my age. "Good beats evil yet again!" "Yay!" I heard the voices shout as I walked around the playground set to see a boy with messy purple hair on the ground, covered in bruises. Above him was a boy with blonde hair and blue eyes standing triumphantly. Behind them stood two more boys whose only notable features were their bat wings and fish gills.

"Monoma! Monoma! Monoma!" They cheered as the boy standing placed his foot on the bruised boys chest. I couldn't help but frown at the scene here. If this were horseplay, then it seems to have gone too far a while ago. While taking a brief look around the playground for adults, I could hear the "villain" speak. "Y-you win again Monoma.. You think I can play the hero this time?" I could see the purple haired boy forcing a small smile.

To that the blonde only scowled and pressed his foot down harder. "No. Your quirk is perfect for a villain, while mine is perfect for a hero. Get used to being the bad guy, Shinso." I could hear the boy on the ground grunt in pain as tears threatened to leak from his eyes, as well as more cheering from the boys spectating.

With no adults nearby, I made a move to stop this. I walked over to the group, albeit a bit nervously, and spoke up. "Hey.." I spoke up to get their attention. Once eyes were on me, I continued. "It looks like that boy doesn't wanna play anymore." I spoke with as much confidence as I could, but that was hard considering that I wasn't used to these kinds of things.

The two boys who were previously cheering, now frowned. "What do you know?" "Mind your business!" They both shouted simultaneously, while the "Hero" stopped there, as if wracking his brain. A few moments later, he burst into laughter. "Playing the role of a cowardly villain well Shinso! You've thrown this damsel under your control as leverage!" 'Control? Must be something quirk related I arrived here after them all.' I quickly theorize.

"I'm not under any control.. I just think you should leave him alone." I tried to reason with the boy, but he only heard what he wished to. "So you're free from his control, yet you defend him? Ah! a partner! I'll have to take you down as well villain!" The boy shouted as he stepped off of the purple haired boy below him, cracking his knuckles. "I don't even know him.." I tried once more to reason with him, only to be shot down. "You've fooled me once, it'll not happen again."

An annoyed expression crossed my face. 'Words are meaningless to those who don't listen. Sometimes you just have to speak the language they wish to.' I sighed, sitting on the ground and removing my shoes. After all, I didn't want to hurt him (did) badly, just incapacitate him.

After stretching a bit, I got into my usual stance. "Sorry about this..." I mumbled towards the boy parallel of me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~