Everyone Ring a Ding[Isamu]

While most students were relaxing or goofing off, ringing in the end of another hard week of studying and training, one student was still hard at work. Isamu always seemed like he was working hard, at least when anybody could see him. He had a tendency to keep to himself, finding secluded, out-of-the-way places to study or nap, and had a noted aversion to most large social gatherings.

The reason he was still working hard today, however, had nothing to do with any of that. Today was ratcatching day, his penance for breaking the rules of U.A., his parole, and just plain common sense. Sneaking off campus to meet with a known villain should, by all rights, have ended much more poorly for him than it did, even if it was one he already knew. His teacher had reasoned that it was suited to his skills and would perform a service for the school. And Isamu was beginning to suspect that she was aware of how completely unglamorous and grueling the work would be. Which made sense, upon further reflection. It was punishment, after all.

Several of the cats gathered around Fu suddenly perked up, ears and noses twitching before they took off, rounding a corner where they were met with fierce hissing and a shout of “Get! Scram!” One of the cats made a noise of its own before they returned, running right back for the safety of Fu.

“Damn people keep feeding the damn strays,” grumbled the always grumpy Isamu as he rounded the corner, dragging a rather large sack behind him. He had a small pack on his back, and he had changed out of his school uniform into an old t-shirt and shorts. He looked a bit unkempt as well, black fur matted here and there with a light smattering of dirt and dust. He stepped out from behind the wall and stopped, eyes narrowing a little bit as he took in the scene.

Great, not just one person feeding strays, but two people feeding strays. Why, exactly, did they have a rat problem again?

And of course it would be the younger Himura student, the one who had first vomited on herself and then abandoned class to switch tracks. To move down to general studies, even. It was hard for him to imagine how she even got into the hero track to begin with, a feat that he had to fight tooth and nail for (literally, during their practical examination), as well as convincing the school board to take him despite his troubled history and poor previous academic performance. It hadn’t hurt that he had nailed the entrance exam, of course, but even so… He had very little patience or inclination for those who would squander their opportunities so easily.

On the other hand, it was clear to see that there was something troubling his former classmate. Bad enough that she had fled from class over it. But not bad enough, yet, that she had fled the school. Still… even though he didn’t socialize, he did keep his ears open to gossip and talk—most people didn’t realize he was around, or that their whispering wasn’t quite quiet enough to keep him from picking up on things, and he had heard plenty of speculation about Fu and the empty seat in the hero course. And what was he training to be a hero for, if not to help those in distress?

Besides, avoiding any conversation with her or that gaggle of cats would have meant going all the way around the building in the opposite direction, and he was already tired of dragging that bag as it was.

He gave Fu a small nod, remaining by the corner and keeping an eye on the remaining cats. “Afternoon, Himura-san,” he offered, non-commitally.

Isamu loved his parents, and had spent most of his childhood idolzing them and even his older brother to an extent. He had always dreamed of following in their footsteps, becoming a big and strong hero just like they were. He just needed his growth to catch up to the other kids first. Unfortunately he kept falling further and further behind, his growth seemingly stunted permanently. And then, he had received the news from the doctor.

He did not have a panther quirk, which would be different but similar to his parents’ lion and tiger quirks. Nor was he a mountain lion, cougar, jaguar, or anything else of the sort. No, he would just be… a cat. His parents hadn’t treated him any differently—well, maybe a little, but not really—but it had changed how he saw himself compared to them. Especially after his younger sister had been born, and she turned out to inherit their mother’s Tiger quirk, soon towering over him despite being several years his junior (tall enough to be teased by the other kids in her class for being too tall, a problem he only wished he had.) He wasn’t his older brother, who possessed a Liger quirk, a combination of all of his parents’ might, and he wasn’t his younger sister, who didn’t have heroic aspirations but could at least connect with their mother as a daughter. He was the odd one out, and so…

He had given up. It hadn’t happened all at once, but slowly, over time, in bits and pieces. Until that one day when everything had crystalized, and he had been forced to take his own fate—and that of an innocent’s—into his hands. After that he had a new drive, a new purpose. If he had anything to thank Akuma for, it was that, and only that. Still, it meant he had a lot to clean up in his squandered life.

Including the school’s rats.

He shrugged a little, “Been better.” He caught the glace at the bag and nodded towards it. “It’s a bag of rats. Don’t worry, they’re all dead, but your strays shouldn’t be eating them.” You really shouldn’t be feeding strays anyway, thought Isamu, but he left that thought unvoiced. After a pause to consider what he should say, he settled on, “How is General Studies?”

Isamu watched the cats leave and relaxed his guard just a little, dragging the bag to rest against the wall and taking a few steps closer to Fu. He shrugged a little in response to her comment about the rumors. “I might have picked up on a thing or two.” A blessing and a curse to having better hearing than most of the people around you. “I’m not terribly interested in what other people have to say about you, though.” Mostly because nobody else is going to be able to tell him what’s going on in her head.

“I don’t know about the dead weight. Satou-san’s mouth still runs faster than his quirk.” He said that with a deadpan, so it was hard to tell if he was joking or not. “Still, everyone’s trying their best.” Except you. Why is that?

There were questions he wanted to ask, but that weren’t, strictly speaking, polite. It was times like these that he wished he had more of a rapport with his classmates. It would make asking these kinds of questions so much easier. He had gathered that his former classmate had issues with her quirks, and apparently serious ones, but he had his fair share of quirk inferiority complexes. Then again, at least his quirk gave him some advantages, if he knew how to apply it correctly. Still, the fact that someone with an apparently unusable quirk got into U.A. was impressive in its own right. How much of that was family connections, he wondered.

“Why are you here?” he asked finally. “What made you enroll at U.A.?” Probably a more tactful way to ask that, but… he disliked beating around the bush too much.

Isamu wasn’t afraid of other cats or skittish. But he really ddn’t want the strays getting into his bag of dead rats. Even if he didn’t approve of feeding them, at least the treats and food provided by Fu wouldn’t be carrying any diseases or pathogens. In fact, he had to be careful himself when handling them, lest he pick up some sort of pathogen. Thankfully, he could handle needles for as long as it took to get his regular innoculations. A regular cat could be more more resistant to the idea.

Once the cats were gone and his cargo was safe, he stepped closer and helped Fu pack up some of her treats. After a few moments of cleaning up in silence and digesting Fu’s words, he said quietly, “I can’t relate to having a quirk that causes you physical harm, but I can relate to what it’s like to feel disappointed in your quirk. And even wanting to follow in your parents’ footsteps.” He took a step back and studied Fu again, tail swishing slowly back and forth as he considered his next words.

“If you want some advice? Forget your quirk. If it won’t work for you, then work without it. While my quirk does have some advantages, I know it’s not the most powerful or flashy one out there, so I work and study hard to compensate for that. I’ve also found a niche I’m aiming towards. The way I see it, you’ll need to do the same.”

He turned back to his back of rats, checking that it was still secure. “If you want a second piece of advice, find your motivation and hold on tight to it. Don’t just do something because someone else did, do it because it means something to you. Find that one thing that burns brightly inside of you and chase it to the ends of the earth. Because if you don’t, you just end up with a lot of wasted time and lot of messes to clean up. Including some rats.”

Isamu’s parents had been big and strong heroes, as befitting their animal quirks. They had big, exciting battles that Isamu had loved reading about when he was , dreaming of the day when he could join them in the field. His family even had a dojo that he had hoped to join someday, to learn everything his father had to teach about fighting. He had dreamed for the longest time about following exactly in their footsteps until he had received the news he never would.

If he couldn’t do it their way, then… he’d just have to find his own way forward. Of course, easy had never entered into the picture—there weren’t a lot of heroes with a quirk similar to his running around, so he was still improvising his way through his hero career.

“I never said it would be easy, mind. But it is worthwhile, if you have the drive for it. And you’re welcome.”

He looked up from checking the bag at Fu’s question and nodded. “Yes, they are. My older brother, as well. The only person in my family who doesn’t seem to have an interest in it is my younger sister. And I don’t think it would suit her.” And of course, he had heard what had happened to the elder Himura heroes, but decided to let Fu bring up that topic if that’s where she was going. She likely had had enough sympathies already, and he didn’t want to presume what she was about to ask or discuss whatever was wighting on her mind.

By the same token, Isamu wasn’t really looking for sympathy for his own situation. His ear flicked ever so slightly when Fu made her comment and his eyes glanced sidelong at her for just a moment, but Isamu let it pass, since she hadn’t set it out loud and directed it at him.

When the girl explained a little bit about her thought process, including that she felt an obligation to be a hero, he stopped fiddling with the bag and turned to face her, nodding a bit. He stood up straighter, looking his fellow student right in the eye. “It is an obligation. But not to yourself, or to your family. It’s an obligation to your fellow man. It’s an obligation to listen for every lost voice crying out in the darkness of misfortune or another’s misdeeds, to reach out to them, and to say, ‘I am here. I will bring you back into the light.’”

His ears flicked backwards for just a moment and he broke eye contact, clearing his throat. He turned back to his bag, making sure it was secure before hefting the opening onto his shoulder again and turning back to the other student. “I can’t tell you what’s right for you. But I don’t think hero work is the place for half-hearted attempts. Heroes are those on the frontline of that obligation, risking life and limb for the sake of others. But there are other ways to serve, and there is no shame in admitting that this particular path isn’t for you.”

He glanced around a bit, scanning the area to make sure they were truly alone back here, and that there was nobody in the building to overhear. “Look, I understand what you’re going through. It took me a long time to realize that I could walk this path, and before that… Let’s just say I was pretty lost. Just take your time and make sure you make the choice that’s right for you, whatever it is.”

He made no motion to leave just yet, waiting to see if Futaba had anything else she wanted to say or talk about.