— — START — —
While a certain broccoli-haired teen was hauling rusted debris across a faraway shoreline—lungs burning, hands blistered—Sorashi was learning that cities had their own kind of training.
He and Tenya walked side by side through the evening crowd, the sun already dipping low enough to stain the buildings gold. It had been an ordinary afternoon. Grocery bags. Errands. The kind of normal that almost felt earned.
Sorashi slowed suddenly.
Tenya took two more steps before noticing. "What is it?"
The light-haired teen stared ahead, brow furrowed.
"…Huh."
There was a shape there.
Not a person—not exactly—but the absence of one. A distortion in the air, like heat haze without the heat. A skirt hem flickered into visibility where it brushed against the wind, the fabric tugged just enough to outline hips that weren't there. A blouse shifted, buttons floating in empty space for a fraction of a second before settling again.
Shoes clicked softly against the pavement.
Sorashi blinked. Then leaned slightly to the side.
"Oh," he said, realization dawning. "You're invisible."
The figure stopped dead.
There was a sharp inhale—definitely female—and then a yelp.
"S—sorry!" Sorashi said quickly, holding up his hands. "Didn't mean to stare. Just… depth perception issue."
The invisible girl shuffled back a step. Her outfit betrayed her movement—fabric stretching, bag strap pulling against nothing, the faint breeze of air caused by the sway of invisible hair.
She muttered something under her breath—embarrassed, flustered—and then hurried away, footsteps growing faster until she disappeared into the crowd entirely.
Tenya stood rigid.
"…Was that a civilian?" he asked.
Sorashi nodded. "Pretty sure."
They resumed walking.
After a moment, Tenya adjusted his glasses. "That was… unexpected."
Sorashi snorted softly. "Welcome to the city, I guess." and then added, "Now, come on! I wanna see how spicy this ramen can get."
...
They were halfway home when Tenya spoke quietly.
"How are things," he began, then paused, choosing his words carefully, "with your mother?"
Sorashi didn't answer right away.
"…Better," he said finally. "She still worries. Still watches me like I'm made of glass." A small smile. "But she doesn't say it as much anymore. I think she's starting to trust in me now."
"That's progress," Tenya said sincerely.
"Yeah," Sorashi agreed. "Feels like it."
The streetlights flickered on one by one as dusk settled into night. Shadows grew longer. Fewer people passed them now.
The light-haired teen raised his grocery bags, laughing, "By the way, I still can't get over the fact that you use orange juice as gas for your quirk."
The dark-blue-haired teen smiled. "Tensei-nii uses grapefruit juice for his."
As if a light bulb turned on in Sorashi's head, "I have got the perfect gift for both of you!"
Tenya sighed, "Please don't give us a basket of oranges and grapefruit..."
"Even better! I'll give you guys some—"
Then—
"AHHHH!!!"
A scream.
Sharp. Panicked. Too close.
Both of them froze.
It came again—ragged, desperate—from a narrow alley to their left.
Sorashi turned immediately. "That sounded like—"
"I know," Tenya said, already moving.
As they were closing in on the alley, they heard the woman's voice shout,
"Let go of me!" she cried, as she managed to break free.
"Get back here, you bitch! I'm not ending this night with just a kiss!"
"Call the police," Sorashi said sharply.
Tenya hesitated. "Sorashi—using our quirks is—"
They reached the mouth of the alley just in time to see a woman stumble backward, her clothes disheveled, breath coming in sobbing gasps. A man loomed over her, belt undone, eyes wild with frustration.
Both teens' stomachs dropped.
"I know," Sorashi said, his body already moving on its own as he dropped his grocery bags. "Call. Now."
Tenya fumbled for his phone, his eyes glued to his friend as he dialed.
Sorashi grabbed the nearest thing he could, a heavy trash bag, slick with leaked garbage juice, and hurled it with everything he had.
It burst against the man's chest.
"—What the hell?!" the man shouted as foul liquid splashed over him.
He staggered back, wiping at his face, furious.
The woman immediately took the chance to get up and start running towards her savior.
The man looked ahead and saw a light-haired teen.
The teen stood at the mouth of the alley, arm outstretched—not threatening. Just there.
The man lunged—
—and never saw the cloud.
It formed above him in a second, dense and heavy, slamming his head downward. His skull struck the pavement with a sickening crack.
He went limp.
'It worked!'
Silence.
The woman stared, stunned.
Sorashi was at her side instantly. "Are you hurt?" he asked, voice steady despite his racing heart.
She shook her head frantically. "I—I don't think so…"
Before he could react, she threw her arms around him, gripping his jacket tightly as she sobbed.
"Thank you," she whispered. "Thank you—"
Police sirens wailed in the distance.
Tenya finished the call, pale but composed. "They're on their way."
When officers arrived, they separated them, questions coming quick and clipped.
"What happened here?"
They reported the sequence of the events, saying how they were on their way home, carrying their grocery bags.
Sorashi answered calmly. "But then we heard a scream. I threw a garbage bag towards him when he was about to put his hand on that woman."
The officer frowned, glancing at the unconscious man. "How did he get knocked out?"
"The man slipped—there was trash all over the ground. He hit his head." The teen shrugged.
A pause.
Then a nod. "Alright. You did the right thing calling it in."
The woman approached them after that, thanking both of the teens, but mainly Sorashi.
"Thank you- thank you so much," she said in between sobs. "I really didn't expect him to do that- he told me he was a nice guy."
Sorashi smiled awkwardly and spoke, "No worries, madam. We were just doing what's right."
Iida kept quiet, holding back his words.
They were dismissed shortly after, and once they were out of earshot...
"You can't just do that, Sora-kun!" he hissed. "That was illegal! Vigilantism—Sorashi, you could've been arrested!"
Sorashi only smiled.
His hands were still trembling. His heart was still racing.
But underneath it all—
He felt right.
"I know," he said softly. "But that's what it's like, isn't it? Being a Hero."
The light-haired teen only said those words casually, yet they sank deeply within Tenya.
The dark-blue-haired teen paused, closed his mouth, and stared at him.
Sorashi looked ahead, eyes bright.
"…Oh, I think I'm gonna get used to this feeling," he said, still feeling the high from what happened.
— — END — —
A/N: Finally developed his long-range attack. ( '̀-'́)ง