Chapter 3 Why am I on Fire? by Yojimbra

ThuwwBwhammThonk!

This felt a lot like highschool.

A red rubber ball slammed into my face with enough force to put my face onto the ground and my ass up in the air. I glanced across the court towards All Might as he winced at the result of his throw. That was apparently him going easy on me. But, I should have known better, he was still probably frustrated over everything. Being told by both myself and Nezu that we would have to wait.

I knew that Tenko was born this year, but I didn't know exactly when, never paid much attention to stuff like villain's birthdays. Hell, the only reason why I knew his age was because I was surprised he was actually kind of young. Still, we had five years to intervene. All Might just wanted to work on a faster time scale.

Which was fair.

I'm not exactly patient either.

"Ahh!" All Might gasped, running over to me, his shoes squeaking against the gym floor that had been leant to us for a brief period of assessment. The principal―who was grooming Nezu to be his successor―had been more than amiable and even made sure to keep it a secret that the number one and number two pro heroes were playing dodgeball. "Sorry Enji, I thought you could handle that."

I accepted his hand as I stood, the room was ever so slightly still spinning as my head reeled from what felt like a rubber train hitting me in the face. I placed my hand on his chest and smiled, mostly to steady myself. "Don't worry about it, I don't think you gave me a concussion."

All Might grabbed my hand and lifted my arm up, his dark blue eyes burning into my soul as he inspected me closer. The frustration was written all over his face. "You weren't kidding when you said you didn't have any instincts."

He wasn't really wrong, really the only instinct I actually had was flailing my hand in front of my face when I heard an insect. "I've never even been in a fight before."

I looked at my hand, how many times had I dreamed of having magical abilities? How many times did I cast fireball as a Wizard in D&D? Countless. With a deep breath I reached into Enji's deepest memories, finding that first moment. For him, it had come naturally, from the moment his quirk awakened the flames were under his control.

I did not have that luxury. I focused on my hand, picturing a flame on it. My hand ignited into a bonfire that nearly singed All Might's eyebrows off. "I said it before, I'm not a fighter, I'm not a hero. I'm just some guy, in a rough spot, that wants to do the right thing. But, that doesn't mean I don't want to learn my quirk. So please, All Might. Have some patience with me."

All Might gave a fierce smile and placed his hand on my shoulder before moving his other hand to put out another fire in my hair. Why was I constantly on fire? "Ha! Well said Enji, well said. Though to be honest, I have no real advice on how to learn how to use a quirk, it just came naturally to me."

Right, he sucked ass at that, didn't he?

"That's fine, I normally like to figure stuff out like this on my own." Mostly due to stubbornness. "But even then, I still have a lot to learn and not much time to learn it."

"Hmm," All Might crossed his arms and tapped on his chin, "I understand your goal well enough, but I have to be honest, I'm confused about what role you want to play. You say you're not a hero, but, you also want to do the right thing."

"That's nothing new, most people struggle to find their own place in life." I stretched, looking at him in the eye. Even though I was so much taller as Enji than I had been All Might still made me feel small. "Weren't you the same?"

"Nope, I've always known exactly what I wanted to be." All Might struck a pose and beamed with energy. "A pillar of peace and justice."

"But, before that."

He blinked in surprise, his pose deflating.

"I don't mean this in a bad way, All Might. But, you know this struggle as much as anyone. And you'll know it again, once you pass it on." I scratched the back of my head. What the hell was I doing lecturing All Might? "I mean, when you were in middle school, did you not struggle because your dreams were far larger than your own capabilities? Didn't you ever feel lost because of that? And you only found your path because of Nana?"

"You," All Might let out a sigh that nearly sounded like a growl. "You're far wiser than Endeavour ever was."

Not really, I just study storytelling and know how character arcs are supposed to work. At least in theory.

"Right then. Enji, I've made up my mind, if it's fighting you need to learn there's only one man we can turn to." All Might shook a bit nervously. "You know him right? The one who taught me how to fight?"

I was never good at dealing with angry old people.

"Gran Torino, right? Sorahiko?" I asked, already knowing the answer.

"That's right! I can give you his contact information and his address, he's currently living out in the countryside so you might even be able to-"

I walked forward and placed a hand on All might's shoulder. "All Might, one of my goals is to make sure that you know how to actually teach a bit. So, you're coming with me."

All Might paled, and looked completely unlike the great hero he was at this time, I saw the first hints of his struggling character I was familiar with. "But why do I have to go? There's no need for it so-"

"Nope, while I'm learning how to fight, you'll be learning how to teach."

"But he'll be even more annoyed by that!"

All Might, the number one pro hero and a man that could punch with the force of a nuke was whining. Part of me took a great deal of pride in that. It was amazing what you could do when you understood a character's background, motivations, and fears.

"You're going to have to talk to him eventually, don't you want to talk to him about Nana's kid?"

All Might let out a long huff and his shoulders deflated. "I'm going to have to get used to you being right, aren't I?"

"You and me both."

"Alright then, we'll head for his cabin tonight!"

"Tonight?"

"Better late than never, if I called him to tell him we were coming, he'd be annoyed that we weren't already there."

For one of the fastest men alive, that made a lot of sense. Also, better late than never? Wait, was he referring to how he was too afraid to even call Gran Torino? I'll let it slide, but just why? "Wait, wouldn't he be more annoyed if we did show up unannounced?"

Once again All Might deflated. "Good point."

"Right, well, you call him, I need to make a phone call." Though, given the current situation, she might not even answer, or even be bothered that I wasn't coming home tonight. So many memories of Endeavour staying late hours and never contacting Rei for anything. She really was just an object to him.

"Call? Who?"

"Rei, my wife. Touya and Fuyumi as well," I scratched my neck; training to become a hero might delay the whole being a good father plan I had going. But, I'd make up for it.

"You sure do care for them, even if they aren't really your kids. That's admirable."

I shrugged. "Not really, I'm just-"

All Might's hand fell on my shoulder again and he gave me a rough shake. "Enji, learn to take a compliment."

XXXX

Riiiiing ~

Riiiiing ~

Riiiiing ~

"Hello?" Rei's soft spoken voice was less than a whisper over the phone, especially after I spent so much time talking with All might recently. It was actually nice, I generally preferred the quiet. "Enji?"

Her voice had a bit of shake to it. Maybe a few extra days away from each other would help her calm down?

"Hey Rei," I said in my own hushed tone. I caught a glimpse of myself in the locker room mirror. The U.A. gym suit that I had been lent was snug, but fit well. "How are things with your mother?"

"Huh?" I could hear Rei shifted. "She's well."

A pause.

It's not like I could expect much more, that would be my response as well.

"And the kids?"

Another pause. I could feel her discomfort through the phone. Maybe I was trying too much? My lack of relationship experience was probably hurting me here, but it was easy to tell that Rei didn't want this phone call.

"My dad is playing badminton with Touya, and Fuyumi is just about to take a nap."

"I see, well, I guess I'll have to talk to them later." Thought it might have been a good idea to at least let them know what I was doing, better to hear it from me than their mother. Or maybe not. At least that's what I would have preferred. "But, I'm just calling to let you know that I'll be out of town for a while."

"Oh, I see." Rei's voice was soft.

"Yeah, it's just going to be a training trip with All Might," was that too much? Rei didn't seem like the gossip type, especially not about me. "So, the house will be pretty empty for a while, but, when I get back, why don't we all go out to eat?"

"Sure?" She sounded confused.

"Great, I'd hate to leave it to you but can you help me pick a restaurant that the kids might like as well? We can invite your parents as well."

I heard her gasp through the phone. "Are you suggesting a family dinner?"

"Nothing that formal really, just, well, yeah, together, as a family, one where you don't have to cook."

"I… Sure, I'll talk to my parents about it."

"Great." I scratched the back of my head and frowned at the lack of a timetable I had for current events. Few things annoyed me more than not being able to give a set date. "I don't know when we'll be back, but I'll try to let you know ahead of time. Oh, and Rei."

"Hmm?"

"Tonight, when you're reading Fuyumi her story, why not have Touya read it with you? I'd do it but I won't be home." Memories of reading the stories to my little sisters stuck out the most from when I was Touya's age.

"Oh, umm sure." Rei paused again. "Umm Enji?"

"Yeah?"

"What. I. Um. No, never mind."

"Alright." She probably wanted to know what happened to me. There was a time and place for that. And over the phone wasn't it. I needed to tell her sooner rather than later. "Take care, Rei."

"Thank you. Enji."

The phone went silent and I stared at it for a few moments. The kids, I wouldn't need to tell, they probably wouldn't understand anyways. Well Touya might. My first night of being a father and a husband and I was already going fishing for the weekend. Still, I didn't have much of a choice. I was a hero, not even by choice.

Kind of shows how boring adults were. Now that I was a hero, I was dreading the idea of it.

What was that about character arcs earlier?

Fuck.

I stood and walked back out towards the gym.

Time to get my ass kicked by All Might at dodgeball, before we set out for Gran Torino's cabin.

When we exited the gym I saw a student looking at me; abnormally tall, plain looking, lanky, with sharp glasses and green hair marked with yellow. It was Sir Nighteye, but younger. He was wearing a school uniform as well. Miri? Mirai? Which one was it?

I was about to wave to him, but he darted away. What were the chances that he was such a massive All Might fanboy that he was too shy to come say hello?

XXXX

I learned several important lessons on my way to Gran Torino's cabin. The first of which was that All might couldn't drive. The quick to follow second lesson was that in Japan, they drive on the left side of the road. The third, was once again All Might-related as he wasn't exactly the best at directions. It was already dark, and we had gotten lost twice.

"Alright, I'm positive this is it!" All Might pointed towards the small dirt road that was going up into the mountains.

I would say that if he was wrong this time he'd be carrying the car back down the mountain, but he already did that. It was terrifying. "If you're sure."

We took my somewhat nice car up the road and gave a light twitch when I heard the gravel hit the undercarriage. A brief flicker of light alerted me that I was on fire again, and once again All Might put it out. "Thanks."

"My pleasure, sorry for getting lost." All Might relaxed in the back seat of the car. Largely because we discovered quickly that between the two of us, it was cramped in the front and that I wouldn't be able to see out of my left window with him scrunched in there. Apparently, he didn't have the ability to freely switch between forms. "Say, Enji, why don't you tell me a bit more about yourself?"

"Like, what?" I kept my eyes on the winding gravel covered road that was partially reclaimed by nature. It was one of those roads that looked like it had been carved by a car, with a ridge of grass in the center and two ruts filled in by gravel. It made me feel like I was trying to drive on two very narrow roads.

"Well, you're vastly different from Endeavour, so why don't we start with your occupation?"

Oh joy. Sharing. Well, it wasn't like I had my old life to be private about anyways. Besides. I really wanted All Might to trust me. "Well, I actually had several jobs. I suppose two were actually important. I actually worked in IT, err, with computers, like what they do at I-Island just more boring and completely different." Come to think of it, all that information is probably going to be completely useless in this world, it was very likely that the languages I was used to operating on were completely outdated. That, and there was a good chance that this world was filled with anime bullshit computer science. "But before that I was a teacher."

"Oooh?" All Might sat forward a bit, smiling. "A teacher? What subject?"

"Math; it was only for a year, but I was a bit too young to handle a job like that." I laughed as I remembered that hellish year. Generally speaking, I tended to not stay with a job that gave me a black eye. So why the hell was I going to be a hero again? The good news was that math was math. It was really really hard to change how math worked. So at least I had that. "But, what I really wanted to be was an author."

"Oh, were you ever successful?"

The remainder of the trip was spent telling All Might about myself, and when it came to an end, at a lone cabin in the middle of the woods near a lake, I swear I could hear All Might shit himself as I saw a very annoyed, and much taller Gran Torino standing there glaring at us.

"Get out of that car!" He stomped his foot and glared at us. "You two would have been here quicker if you had ran here! So now we're going to run around the lake! Get going!"

Fuck.