"Hey Shunkan-kun." Toru poked Isshun's shoulder.
"…I will have vengeance," Isshun muttered, massaging his calves after the stretching session. "What?"
"Do you train with your friend every day?"
"Unfortunately, yes." Isshun raised an eyebrow. "Why? Are you finally going to lock in?"
"Uh…" Toru looked away awkwardly. "Maybe…?"
"Good for you."
Isshun started jogging, and Toru quickly matched his pace.
"So… Shunkan-kun," Toru said after a moment, "would you say you're pretty experienced with exercising?"
After all, her Quirk didn't boost her stamina or strength in any way. If Isshun had been training for this long, then he had to know what he was doing, right?
She had to keep up somehow.
"...I'd say so."
Isshun had a bad feeling about this.
"Then…!" Toru clasped her hands together in a pleading gesture. "Please teach me your ways, Shishou!"
Isshun shot her a look. "…Hah?"
"You heard me! Shishou!" Toru said, eyes sparkling with excitement.
"What are you even yapping about?" Isshun sighed. "I never agreed to anything. I'm a busy man. Didn't I say earlier that I train with a friend every day?"
"Don't you have the power of math?" Toru shot back. "You said it was all-powerful!"
"When I said—"
"Are you a liar, Shishou?" Toru smirked, clearly thinking she had him cornered.
'Why is this girl calling me Shishou when I haven't even agreed to anything?'
Isshun couldn't help but feel a bit incredulous.
'Also… is she trying to ragebait me?'
"Ragebait at that level doesn't work on me," Isshun said flatly after a brief pause.
"Darn." Toru pouted. "…Is there really no way, Shishou?"
"And don't call me that."
"Why not, Shishou?" Toru tilted her head, putting on an exaggeratedly innocent expression.
Isshun glanced at Toru, pausing for a moment, before sighing.
"...I can't do it for free."
"Really?!" Toru's face lit up, then she hesitated. "What do you need, Shishou?"
…He hadn't thought this through.
"Hm."
"How about fifty percent of all your future earnings?"
"…Even I know that's a horrible deal, Shishou," Toru said immediately.
"Smarter than I thought." Isshun nodded.
"…What's that supposed to mean?" Toru pouted, clenching her fists and waving them in front of him.
"I said what I said." Isshun shrugged, then continued before she could fire back. "Fine. Then get me ice cream once a week."
"Ice cream?" Toru blinked. "Shishou, you like sweet things?" This was the first she'd heard of that.
Isshun nodded once.
Toru thought it over for a few seconds, then grinned. "Okay! So when do we start, Shishou?"
"Tomorrow morning."
"...Eh?"
--<>--
"...I regret everything."
Toru was on her knees, breathing heavily, sweat dripping down from her invisible neck.
"Well, unfortunately, it's too late to regret it now," Isshun said, sitting down on a nearby swing with ice cream in hand.
He raised his hand, then lowered a finger.
"I asked your parents, and they… enthusiastically agreed. Actually, they were practically begging me to make you exercise."
He lowered another finger, taking a bite of his blueberry ice cream.
"I know your address, so I can just wait for you outside."
Another finger lowered.
"When I said I might be able to help with your invisibility, you were one of the most enthusiastic people I'd ever seen."
Another finger lowered.
"Now your parents are the ones paying for my ice cream, and I am many things, but I am not a scammer."
Isshun paused on his pinky in thought, then nodded and lowered it without another reason.
Toru noticed immediately.
"Hey! Why'd you lower that last finger without saying anything?"
She pointed at him indignantly.
"Also, don't you think it's a little weird that I'm the only one working out?!"
For the past week and a half, Isshun had come to her house and dragged Toru out to exercise.
School started at 8:30 a.m., and Isshun showed up around six every morning to work her out for about an hour, then gave her time to wash up and eat before they walked to school together.
Toru lived pretty close by, and she didn't really have anyone to walk to school with, so she'd originally been fine with the arrangement.
It was just a little embarrassing how enthusiastic her parents were about her exercising. It wasn't like she was fat or anything, thank you very much!
She was just… a bit lazier at home than most.
And Isshun's proposal to try and help her become visible was far too tempting to refuse.
Toru didn't know how he planned to do it, but with his so‑called omnipotent Math Quirk, and the fact that he was the only person she knew who could see her, there was hope.
She wasn't as desperate as she used to be, but it still wasn't something she could simply ignore.
After all, it was something important to her.
--<>--
Hagakure Toru had always been an overthinker.
After Isshun's conversation about becoming heroes, Toru had gone home that day with a question stuck in her head.
Why did she want to become a hero?
Isshun had said that sometimes, you didn't need a reason.
But Toru could feel it.
She had a reason that she couldn't just put into words.
His words stuck with her, but instinctively, she knew they didn't apply to her.
On her way home the day of the conversation, she heard laughter and overlapping conversations.
She glanced toward the sound and saw a group of high schoolers crowding around a particularly beautiful girl, all of them clearly focused on her.
Toru looked away.
Then something else caught her eye.
An advertisement.
Uwabami filled the screen, promoting a new skin cream.
Toru stared at it, dazed, then looked down at her phone.
Because it used Face ID, the screen stayed pitch black—despite her looking straight at it.
The black screen reflected nothing back.
She opened her images and scrolled through an entire album of Isshun's drawings of her. In every one, she looked happy, energetic, expressive, and was always aware of the artist's attention.
Yet Toru couldn't feel happy like the girl in the drawings.
...Why?
Is she not me?
What makes her and me so different?
The thought followed her all the way home.
When she arrived, her mom greeted her from the kitchen, wearing skin‑tight gloves as she cooked so she wouldn't accidentally burn herself because of her own invisibility.
"Welcome back."
"I'm back."
Toru lingered a moment longer than usual, staring at her mom. After a few minutes, her mom finally noticed she hadn't gone upstairs yet.
"Hungry, Toru‑chan? And no snacks before dinner—I've said this already," she added with a teasing tone.
Toru shook her head.
"No. Just thinking about something."
"Need advice?" Her mom asked.
"…No. Just something I was talking about with a friend."
"What kind of friend?"
"Someone who's kind of annoying," Toru said, then added quietly, "…but a kind person."
"Well, that reassures your mom." She smiled. "Don't forget to wash up before dinner. Tonight's shōgayaki!"
"...Okay!"
After that, Toru went to her room and shut the door.
She stepped in front of the mirror.
There was nothing there.
She tried to smile the way Isshun had drawn her.
But…she just couldn't see it.
She couldn't see anything.
...Is this what he meant?
Her thoughts drifted back to their conversation earlier that day.
'Why do you want to become a hero?'
'...Because it's cool?'
'Is that really the reason?'
She hadn't been able to answer then.
Toru stared into the mirror reflecting an empty uniform.
A single wish surfaced.
Something so small yet impossible to ignore.
I…want to be seen.
--<>--
A/N: Hmm. I'm pretty proud of this chapter!
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A/N: also i spent a decent amount on a custom link for my lovely flowers in my discord server if anyone wants to join!
discord.gg/cypresss
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3500PS - Not Complete
7000PS - Not Unlocked