Chapter 7 - Decision

...

<Japan Shizuoka Kuraudo Institute 10:47>

"...And that shows the importance of the Quirk over the years.... any questions?" Asked the teacher as she turned with a slight smile to observe her students.

Unfortunately, not many people were paying attention to her explanation, some were talking to their classmates, others were sleeping and only a handful of people seemed really interested in her explanation.

Sighing to herself and pondering if she chose the right job, she looked around the classroom and picked a student at random.

Looking at her target with a tired look the teacher shouted, drawing the attention of the whole class. "Miss Oxton! What were the first Quirks to appear?"

The class turned their heads to look at a tall brown haired, brown eyed girl sleeping peacefully at her desk just seconds ago, said girl raised her head to look tiredly at her teacher.

Having been asleep not too long ago Lena's brain was slow to process the question as the daze in her head slowly cleared.

"You don't know? That's what you get for not-"

Lena yawned audibly as she ran her fingers across her eyes before half rising to her feet.

"The first Quirks to appear were mutants, for example, a person with horns or wings, people who were invisible or even glowed like the sun itself. But compared to today where 90% of the world's population is born with a Quirk. In those days Quirks were dismissed as mere genetic mutations or new diseases, though it didn't take long for them to realize what they really were... and after that war broke out... and the rest is history."

Most of the class was impressed that she could answer that question when she was sleeping through the entire class, the teacher in particular just gave her a dead stare before she asked her to sit back down.

Lena nodded before settling her head back against the desk. "I'm hungry..."

It had been several years since she regained her freedom, and yet every time she saw the sun again she always had the same liberating feeling of being able to do whatever she wanted. Even if that's not exactly true.

Although not everything is good, it seems that almost disappearing in time itself and being locked up for 3 years in a capsule unleashed a small trauma in her head. Every time she is locked in some small place like an elevator or even her own room she starts having small panic attacks, and although they are rare and distant from each other, they still happen enough that she felt uncomfortable in small places.

Grunting slightly at the memories she quickly focused on something else, like... exercise.

She had mostly focused on her lower body, this due to the fact that they were much easier to move than her arms since they were somewhat restricted by the Slipstream straps. Thanks to this she could proudly say that she had legs that she herself would crown as beautiful.

Lena blushed slightly in her seat as she quickly shook her head.

Ahem, back on topic, with Winston's approval and with Uncle David's help, she had gotten a martial arts trainer who was dedicated to teaching an ancient martial art, Taekwondo.

Unfortunately she was not very talented in the art of Taekwondo, but she was able to master some techniques, learn a lot of that style of fighting and how to handle herself in a fight.

Now, why had she gotten a martial arts trainer?

The answer was... because Lena was bored.

High school with her level of intelligence and knowledge is basically child's play, and while training her body was something she loved with passion it was not advisable to exercise for so many hours at a time, eventually the body gets tired and the muscles have to rest.

And personally, she wasn't interested in becoming a scientist like her father, her uncle or her cousin.

Secretly, she just didn't want to be cooped up in a room, the memories of her time in the capsule simply wouldn't allow her to stay calm in rooms like that.

She was at a dead end, well, more like a boring point in her life, and she hates boredom.

"I've already run out of ideas of things to do..." Lena mumbled absentmindedly as she drifted back to sleep.

***

<Japan Shizuoka 2:34>

Lena was walking out of school when....

"Excuse me!" A boy exclaimed as he bowed to a girl who seemed genuinely surprised by the boy's shout. "Please be my girlfriend!"

In front of Lena a confession of love was unfolding between two people. Lena merely dodged them by walking down another path, but the scene was still in her mind.

'It looks like a scene from a manga...' Lena thought absentmindedly as she crept away.

Lena didn't understand why people confessed, she understood what love was and what it meant, but for Lena love at such a young age... it just wouldn't work, or so she thought.

She doesn't see the appeal of being in a relationship or getting married, for Lena the 3 phases of a relationship are: Boyfriends, Marriage and Children.

Although she doesn't dislike the idea of having children, she is not particularly looking forward to being in a relationship....

Without realizing it due to the depth of her thoughts she had arrived home, getting distracted she slammed her forehead against the front door of the house.

"Ouch" Lena said as she rubbed her forehead before opening the door and stepping inside. "I'm home!"

"How was school today dear?" Winston's voice was heard from the kitchen, Lena could smell a delicious smell, possibly pizza. "Anything interesting?"

Lena went to put her things down on the couch before heading to the kitchen, indeed Winston was preparing a pizza..... well, more like the automatic oven was preparing it for him.

Lena quickly gave Winston a hug before opening the fridge and grabbing an apple juice.

"Boring as usual... Can't I just skip a course and graduate quickly?" Lena asked as she put the game back in place and sat down at the table, waiting for the food.

"Nop, we talked about that, you can't, you skipped all of elementary school because of the incident but this time you have to be present the whole school year, when you get a job and on your record they see that you skipped elementary and grade in high school, they'll think you used some kind of leverage, and then who would want to hire you?" Winston reasoned with Lena as he pulled the pizza out of the oven and began to slice it. "Besides you could use to talk to more people."

"Uncle David would probably want to hire me and I just don't like the people in my living room, or well most of them" Lena half countered, Winston was placing the pizza in the center of the table. "Plus there's a job you don't need schooling for."

"You're possibly right about David but I don't want to owe him any more, even if he says I don't owe him anything." Winston shook his head as he turned to look Lena in the eye. "And what job-, oh. No, no no no no no and no."

"But-"

"No Lena, you know that being a Hero is a very dangerous and very risky job, 67% of heroes don't make it to 40 years old, almost half of rookie or trainee heroes die half way through, sure, the pay, fame and reputation are incredible but in exchange for that you put your life at risk over the lives of other strangers. And that's not to mention that in your case you carry the Slipstream which is not designed for hero work. If it were in the USA I would possibly have let you be a Hero but in Japan... that's just asking for death..." Winston reasoned with a frown as he sat down and began to eat a slice of pizza, not taking his eyes off Lena.

Lena wanted to talk but knew she had no argument against what Winston was saying, especially about Japan, there may only be 6% crime in the country and that may be mainly due to the omnipotent figure of All Might, but there's the catch.

That 6% represents Villains who have succeeded in their crimes, the actual statistic of Villains in Japan is absurdly high but since the Villains are caught quickly the crime percentage just doesn't go up.

"I know, believe me when I say I know" Lena sighed as she looked at her Father. "But...as ridiculous as it sounds i want to help people, not for fame or money, but because I don't want them to go through the same desperate fear that I went through while I almost...disappeared."

"For that you can be a psychologist or a doctor" Winston growled as he frowned. "It's safer and you're still helping people with their fear even saving them from themselves."

"I- I know but..." Lena clenched her palms into fists before standing up knocking over the chair she was sitting in. "But I want to be that person who brings hope in despair!"

'Like you... when you saved me on that night when I was a baby or when you saved me from dying because of my stupid self'. Lena thought, but couldn't bring herself to say those words as she clenched her teeth tightly.

"Sit down" The voice could barely be heard as a mere whisper, but to Lena it was as if he had unleashed a storm so she quickly sat down as she lowered her head not daring to look her father in the eyes.

After a few minutes in which it seemed like Lena's heart was going to explode, Winston spoke.

"Okay."

"No!- I- What?" Lena's counter response got stuck in her throat as she correctly processed her Father's words. "You... accept?"

"Yeah, I already knew you were interested in Heroes for a while now" Winston said with a smirk. "I was just teasing you a bit to find out the reason for your decision, I still remember when you despised the Hero profession. Although if you're going to become one we should make some modifications to the Slipstream."

Lena's brain was blank and she could barely stammer out a, "H-How?"

"Your search history on your phone gives away a lot about you" Winston replied with a laugh, before looking a little more serious at Lena. "Although I think we should talk a little about your searches."

Lena's face flushed a little before she coughed into her palm and exclaimed loudly.

"I, Lena Oxton, will give 100% of myself to become a Heroine capable of saving as many people as possible!"

...

__________________________________________

If you like the story you can support me on my Patreon! You can read up to 5 chapters in advance!

https://www.patreon.com/rTem

...

...