Chapter 2: Taking Him In
Pulling my eyes down, I continued to ask myself the question of why I decided to take this boy in. I was in absolutely no condition to raise someone other than myself and this child would be an absolute pain.
Mabey it had something to do with what Tsuragamae had said.
After all, it is rather a common occurrence in all parts of the world where someone with a villainous quirk would be ostracized from even their own family and then, with only their anger to keep them company, turn to actual villainy later in life.
Tsuragamae had been kind enough to also tell me that certain benefits came with taking this boy in. One such benefit was parental leave. This means, that I have more time to nap, and I get paid for it!
The only downside though, is the boy himself. He will prove to be difficult for even me to answer since his quirk is a concept rather than a definitive attack. Meaning, I can only stop his quirk once he starts using it, especially since I can't be constantly erasing his quirk. My eyes would die out if that were the case. And if the experience of his quirk is anything like what I'd experienced in the alley, I'd rather just give up.
Finishing with all the legal documents to make me the legal guardian of the boy, the moment of truth finally came. Luckily for us, a quirk specialist was working at the hospital and was in.
"This…"
The specialist starts to sweat nervously. Tsuragamae and I, who were sitting behind Kou, gave a sharp stare, asking him to continue.
"His parents were Okuma Hoshi and Okuma Gina? Their respective quirks 'Sweet Dreams' and 'Breeze'?"
Tsuragamae nods his head.
"Sweet Dreams made it so that when Mrs. Okuma touched someone's head while they were sleeping, get good dreams. Breeze on the other hand, allowed Mr. Okuma to have a light breeze come out of his palms. Both quirks are what can be considered weak quirks that even if Mr. and Mrs. Okuma used them at their potential full power, they still wouldn't amount to much." The quirk specialist explains.
"Now, his quirk," The specialist point at Kou, "Is a mesh between the two quirks. However, unlike his mother, Okuma Kou can instead inflict nightmares. And rather than what his father could do, Kou can shoot these 'nightmares' out from his palms. To put it into terms, Okuma Kou has a quirk we can call 'Nightmare'. With this quirk, he can shoot out 'conceptual beams' that directly interfere and activate the amygdala of whatever his 'beams' do hit. This in turn causes an immense amount of fear to well inside of whoever is hit by the 'beam' and even cause them to start seeing occipital hallucinations. This quirk is more than ten times as powerful as anything his parents could possibly do and if trained, I fear what might happen."
Both Tsuragamae and I sat back in our chairs with our eyes wide open.
"If you want…" The specialist tensely rubs his hands, "I could keep this quirk off his record… It'd be rather nasty if a villain hacked into our files and found this kid… He's far safer with heroes."
The way he said the last line sounded like it had a deeper meaning, but my brooding was stopped with Tsuragamae's next words.
"As much as it goes against my morals as a policeman," Tsuragamae bows his head, "If you could."
Messing around with the computer, the specialist turns back to us and says, "It'll look like he never had a quirk examination here in the first place."
Nodding our heads, we all stand up, I grab Kou, and start to walk out the room.
Before I completely leave though, I turn back and ask, "Did it say how is quirk is activated?"
Shaking his head, the specialist only gives a clue, "Since his father's quirk came out of his palms, perhaps he is the same."
Once again riding off in the car with Tsuragamae, I turn around in my seat and look at the kid who'd been silent through the entire process. As I stare at him, I could see him shudder.
"Is there a problem?"
Tilting his head upwards, his eyes connect with mine and then his head shoots right back down. Shaking his head, I let out a sigh and pressure him.
"I can clearly tell that something is wrong. I can't help you if you don't tell me anything."
"My quirk… is dangerous?" Kou mumbles.
"In a sense…" I see Kou tense up and shudder even more, "But I'm here to show that your quirk can be used to save lives. And that it's not a curse, but instead a blessing."
His head rocks upwards slowly until he's once again staring me straight in the eyes, this time not tearing them away.
"You know of All Might, don't you?" Kou nods his head. "Well, his quirk is considered dangerous. After all, he can level a building with a single punch. Yet, he has full control of his quirk (sometimes) and uses it to save others. You two are, in a sense, the same. The only thing that you lack is the ability to properly control your quirk. Once you do, you can be just as great a hero as All Might. So, let's go beyond."
Showing him my best smile, he instantly screams.
"You're face just got even more scary!" He starts to cry.
Tsuragamae instead laughs loudly at my misfortune.
"You certainly have a way with words Aizawa, but not a way with smiles it appears." He snickers.
Everything eventually calms down, with Kou falling asleep, once again shuddering and whimpering. Tsuragamae proceeds to drop me off at my apartment.
"If anything happens, you know how to contact with me."
With that, he rolls up the window and drives off.
Carrying the sleeping child into my home, I find an end to the completely restless day. And then, true hell began. I didn't know two shticks about parenting a child. Add onto the fact that I also didn't have the necessary food, clothes, entertainment, or anything of that sort, I was left in a seemingly infinite conundrum. After all, besides doing the necessities, I also had to train this kids quirk which was a whole different problem. Between wasting my hard-earned cash on this brat, doing my job as an underground hero, and wanting to take a nap, my stress levels spiked and the amount of sleep I got decreased immeasurably.
It took a while to sort myself out and I started to handle things one by one. It was a good thing that the kid kept to himself much of the time.
With everything sorted out, I started to train the kid. And as soon as I started, it dawned on me that I didn't know the backlash of this kid's quirk. After all, every quirk has a downside to it that affects the user in some way.
When I asked Kou to start using his quirk, he stuck out his hand and seemed to use it (I couldn't see it), and then started to scream. Using my quirk, Kou stopped screaming, instead curling up into a ball and weeping to himself.
"It's scary."
That was the only thing that he told me when he used his quirk.
For the next month, I would have Kou use his quirk for short intervals and I came to a rather undesirable conclusion.
Kou's backlash was in fact his own quirk.
Kou would in turn receive a small portion of his own power reflected back onto him every time he used his quirk. This would cause him to experience immense fear in which he'd then activate his quirk unconsciously to try and make them go away. But that would then cause more nightmares, creating an endless loop that only ended when I used my quirk.
This kid's life was a constant nightmare because of his quirk.
In this month, I also found how Kou would activate his quirk and, sure enough, like his father, when he completely outstretched his hand, he would fire off a 'beam' from his hand. I found a way to contain it, but I had yet to find a way to make him control it. This conundrum continued for another month until another annoyance showed up at my door.
My friend Yamada Hizashi aka. Present Mic, invited himself in.
Learning that I had started to care for a child, he was constantly judging and laughing at me the entire time. His cheery persona instantly silenced when I told him what Kou's quirk was though.
Choosing to also explain the problem I was experiencing, Hizashi gave me his personal advice.
"I couldn't stand my own voice when I was younger! It was always so loud, and it'd hurt my ears, causing them to bleed a couple of times! But to rid myself of that weakness, I flood my world with loud sounds until I could eventually stand my own quirk! As much as I hate to say this, if he wants to control his quirk, he needs to no longer feel fear!"
As much as I hated what Hizashi told me, I knew what he said was true. It could be considered a form of cruel punishment or even torture to Kou, but Kou chose to comply.
"I don't want to be afraid of something that's a part of me. And if I can show that I can use it, maybe mama would love me again."
Stricken by guilt, time started to fly by faster than I could ever anticipate.
I continued to raise Kou, homeschooling him since I didn't want the chance of his quirk inflicting other children and training his quirk. Kou stopped crying to his own nightmares when he was around seven and he was rarely afraid of anything by the time he was ten.
When he was twelve, Kou learned that he could keep the 'beam' trapped on the palm of his hand and increase the power behind it. Though in turn, it would increase the backlash he received.
The entire time that Kou trained his quirk, I also didn't forget to train his body. After all, much like myself, what is he to do if his quirk doesn't work or if he can't use it? So, using my years of hand-to-hand experience that I've been accumulating over the years, I taught him. Even teaching him how to use the capture weapon I hung around my neck all the time and a few other weapons that might come in handy.
During the time that I spent with him, we received more surprised visits.
Sometimes it was Yamada Hizashi who'd instantly brighten up Kou's day.
Sometimes it was Kayama Nemuri aka. Midnight who would constantly harass Kou and try to teach him about things he really shouldn't know at his age.
Sometimes it was Tsuragamae who'd simply check up on the both of us.
And surprisingly, I also had Shuzenji Chiyo aka. Recovery Girl show up. She would check up on the health of Kou and would also berate me on the way that I was raising him, saying that Kou didn't get enough exposure to people around his age. Even when I brought up the problem of his quirk, Chiyo didn't hesitate to beat me over the head with her cane and saying that I was acting stupid.
Right alongside that, Nemuri didn't hesitate to advertise to me a job at UA.
"It's sooo fulfilling," She told me, "My kids are all such cuties, and the classes are a lot of fun. Teaching is giving me a whole new perspective. Being at school is just great, y'know? It really feels like the place where I belong."
To retort her, I of course brought up my horrible time in school as well as the fact that I had Kou to take care of.
"But isn't that even more reason to join?" She gave one of her sexualized poses, "You want Kou to be a hero right, so he'll most likely apply for UA. If you happen to be a teacher at UA when he applies, we can say he's a recommended student."
Her reasoning was sound, and it would certainly be beneficial for Kou, so I gave into the pressure and was immediately accepted as a new UA teacher.
Kou, who I couldn't just leave alone at home, I brought along with me to UA, acceptance granted by Nezu aka. Mr. Principal.
Sitting in the teacher's lounge for much of the day, Kou would get advanced classes gifted to him by the other teachers during their break time. Even Nezu stepped in to teach Kou.
Kou was also gifted permission to use the training rooms (if I were present) and he went beyond the limits I thought he would hit. I had also told Kou of his parents' death, but rather than being affected by it like I thought he would be, he shrugged it off.
"I already knew about it…" He gave me a sad smile, "The internet can sometimes be a dark and dangerous place."
I wonder when he experienced the hit of his parents' death and if I'd been there with him at the time. His original goal had been to control his quirk well enough so that his parents would accept him again, but now that he knew they were gone, I asked him what he wanted to do next.
"I've learned so much from you Shota and the people around you… and one message has permeated through all of you. Protect those who cannot protect themselves. A rather overused line if I do say so myself. But to me, it serves to change the world. After all, I, someone who has a completely villainous quirk, is going to prove that we shouldn't judge people based on the nature of their quirk."
I understood what it is that Kou wished to do and as his caretaker for the last eleven years, I'll use my entire person to support him wholeheartedly. I watched as Kou grew from an isolated, self-reliant child to a slightly antisocial hormonal teenager who wasn't any better.
Smirking to myself as I reminisce over my past with Kou, I'm poked in the cheek.
Giving a dead stare to Nemuri, she points to the multiple screens and said, "Do your job."
Looking back at the screens, my eyes caught on a kid with broccoli for hair.
'Now I really wish I could take a nap.' I tiredly think to myself.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Kogatsu
Kogatsu "If you wanna stop this, then stand up. Because I’ve got one thing to say to you. Never forget who you want to become!" - Shoto Todoroki
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone