(Kai POV)
Bullying: is repeated, intentional aggressive behavior where someone uses a real or perceived power imbalance to harm or distress another person, causing physical, emotional, or social harm, and it includes actions like name-calling, spreading rumors, physical attacks, social exclusion, and cyberbullying.
Where am I going with that brief definition?
Well, I currently just decked a kid in the nose and accidentally broke it.
Yeah, we're all at the playground, Tei is cheering, Tsuyu is being comforted by Milia, Han just brough a teacher and Soma looked at the whole scene confused, mostly because he just woke up.
In the playground we're all surrounded by other kids as they also exchanged different reactions to what just happened.
I look at my fist and the blood in it before looking at the kid in front of me, I don't regret doing what I did, but I also don't feel proud about it.
(A weeks ago.)
It was the first day of Elementary School, I was walking with my "Gang", as Tei calls us, we were unlucky enough to not be on the same groups but we'd still have some time, Soma and Han got in the same class, Milia and Tei and finally Tsu and I.
It wasn't ideal but the break was the perfect time to spend some time together as a group.
"By the way Tsu, why're you T-Rex posing?" Tei asked.
I swear the kid has 0 filter when asking questions.
*BAM*
Milia bonked him in the head.
"Have some class when asking such private questions Baka!" Milia apparently memorized a refined dictionary and now acts like a high-class lady, not the worst thing to happen.
"It's fine Milia-chan. Because of my frog quirk my body is more different than normal human bodies. The relaxed state of my arms isn't straight up but folded near my chest, or at least that's what my mommy said." Tsuyu answered patiently.
"Eh…like when doggies are showing you their bellies and their front paws are completely loose." Tei smiled.
*BAM*
Another perfect bonk.
"Milia-san, please don't break Tei's head, he'll get even dumber than he already is." Han lifted up his glasses and sighed.
He became a brainiac, I can tell that he'll be smarter than me in a few years…oh well, back to the grind.
"Soma, wanna switch places?" Tei begged out chunky friend.
"Nah, Han's the quietest here besides Tsuyu and I want to catch some z's during class." Soma answered before yawning.
Good news, he can remain awake for more than a few hours, hurray! The bad news is that he's mostly active at nighttime, not so yay…
"Well everyone, I know it's kind of a bummer that we're not all together again but let's make the most of it aight?" I say with my usual smile as I reach for my and Tsuyu's classroom.
"Sure thing boss." Tei saluted me before rushing to his class.
"I'll keep an eye on the idiot." Milia.
"We'll see you at lunchtime." Han.
"Save me a spot on the line of the cafeteria." Soma.
I looked at Tsuyu and smile.
"Shall we?" I asked her.
"Kero~" She nodded.
We arrived at out class everything pretty chill and we sat next to each other at the back of the room, we waited for the teacher and he eventually arrived.
It was a tall white-haired man a bit old-looking but not like a prune, if I had to guess he was in his 50's. He wears a simple grey suit and pants with brown shoes, I don't know why there's someone so professional-looking in an Elementary School but this is an anime world, screw logic.
"Good morning class, my name's Takeshi Yamamoto and I'll be your homeroom teacher throughout this year. I'm also your history teacher but before we all start let me make these rules clear during this schoolyear." The teacher starts writing in the chalkboard, yes, we're using chalkboards.
Pay attention while in class. Do not eat in class. Do not disrespect ANYONE during class. Complete your works in the allotted time. Raise your hand to ask a question. No quirk usage allowed in class.
"Any questions? *No one answers* Alright, now, I'll be calling you by alphabetical order of your first name, you'll come here and present yourselves to the rest of the class. You'll say your name, likes and dislikes and what you want to be when you grow up. You're not obligated to talk about your quirk so you're free to do so." Yamamoto sat on his chair and took out a list.
(A/N: There's over 20 students here so, I'll skip all of them since they're barely relevant to the story and will just appear every now and then in these 3-4-5 chapters for this section of Kai's childhood to be over with, hopefully.)
Eventually it was my turn to present myself.
"My name's Daimon Kai, I like to play, read and practice swordsmanship. I don't like guava juice, bad people and forced stories that rush an ending. My dream is to become a hero, nice to meet all of you!" I flash a smile to all of them and return to my seat.
"What's your quirk?" A classmate asked.
Since everyone thus far revealed their quirk it was only natural for me to do the same, if I had one that is.
"I don't have one!" I replied with all the confidence I had.
Perhaps it was because I haven't been kicked in the balls before but life's always find a way to deliver a punch to your nuts.
"Puff~ Haha!" A kid laughed at me.
His name is Daisuke Lukas, his quirk allows him to control his bones, he can grow these bones so that they pierce his skin and then use then as weapons, the interesting thing is that he doesn't feel any pain from his own bones because he has a quasi-healing factor helping him with that, but it only applies to bone-related injuries.
(A/N: He's basically Kimimaro from Naruto.)
Naturally he's the hotshot of the classroom, did a little number with his quirk and pierced the ceiling, which the teacher reprimanded him for that.
I looked at him with a confused look.
"Why're you laughing?" I asked.
"Do you really think you can be a hero?" Lukas said, snickering.
"Well, yeah. Why couldn't I?" I replied, honestly confused.
That seemed to annoy him more than anything else for some reason.
"Hah! Heroes have quirks, *he said, puffing out his chest* Everyone knows that. You don't even have one."
A few kids sitting around him snort at his remark because it isn't cliché if the main bully doesn't have any goons.
"I mean, *he continued, glancing at the teacher before lowering his voice* what're you gonna do? Punch villains? Read them a book?"
More laughter.
I tilted my head. "Heroes help people. You don't need a quirk for that."
That did it to him.
His smile twitched — not angry yet, just irritated, like I'd broken an unspoken rule.
"You think you're better than us or something? *he snapped* Like, 'oh look at me, I don't need a quirk'?"
"I didn't say that." I replied quickly.
"But you meant it." Lukas said, deciding that was good enough.
He raised his hand, the bones in his palm shifting and stretching until a thin white rod pushed through his skin. A couple of kids gasped. Someone whispered his name like it was a spell.
"See this? *he said, grinning now* This is what heroes look like."
The teacher was watching the whole scene, not intervening for some reason.
"People like you don't get picked. Don't get costumes. Don't get fans."
He pulled his hand back just as the teacher faced us again, the bone retracting like nothing had happened.
I just looked at him and sighed.
'I know he's a kid but that's such a childish way of seeing heroes…oh wait, he's 6.' I thought before speaking.
"Having powers doesn't make you a hero, you're born with one you have to EARN the other." I say with a firm expression as the kids around us go "OOOOOOHHHHH~"
The snickering and snorts continued as Lukas starts getting angry.
I swear I don't get what's funny on all this situation but for some reason they kept giggling.
"Why you little-" Lukas was about to say something but the teacher finally stopped this.
"ORDER!" The teacher commanded with his voice.
It wasn't a scream, it wasn't a menace, it was just a simple order, like those in the military.
"I strictly recalled to not disrespect your fellow students, Lukas you have minus 10 minutes on today's recess." The teacher spoke.
Lukas looked at me as if I just stole his favorite toy but he sat quietly.
"Thank you Kai for that presentation, I'm sure your dream can come true." The teacher commented before checking the list.
I don't know if he meant what he said or didn't but it was a nice touch from his side.
"Thank you for your support!" I give him a thumbs up and smile.
"Charming, now sit back please." The teacher ordered me and so I did.
The rest of the hour were just the usual 1st day shenanigans, a little tour around the whole school, some mayor emphasis on the rules and it ended with us having our classes, during which Lukas would attempt to get a rise out of me by shooting spitballs at me.
Of course he's so obvious I can dodge them easily so I didn't even bothered looking at him. Fortunately he seemed uninterested to bother me at recess so I decided to look for my friends and eat lunch together.
We were all near a tree in the playground sitting in a mantle that Soma brings for comfort reasons. Everyone brought lunches because here in Japan if your parents don't make your lunchboxes they don't love you, and that's a fact.
"So, how was orientation for you guys?" I asked.
"Tei somehow avoided any penalties, as amazing as that may sound." Milia answered first.
"Hey…I asked a vary valid question!" Tei.
"He asked if our teacher drinks from a toilet just because she has dog ears." Milia.
"Tei, what's wrong with you dude? I know you don't do it out of malice but come on." Han.
"I don't know, I just…felt this urge to ask that." Tei answered a bit ashamed.
"Bro let his intrusive thoughts win." Soma.
"Idiocy impulses more likely." Milia.
"Han, Soma, what about you two?" Tsuyu asked to try and get that ball rolling.
"Nothing interesting, over half the class wants to be heroes but who doesn't?" Soma answered nonchalantly.
"I don't want to become a hero." Han.
"Right, but that's only because you want to play videogames all day." Tei.
Yes, Han wants to be a pro-gamer.
"To each their own." Han.
"What about both you and Tsu-chan?" Milia.
"Nothing special, I thought I found a coin but it was just a rock." I answered nonchalantly, Luka's incident didn't bothered me as much as you'd think.
"What about Lukas-kun?" Tsuyu asked.
"Lukas?" Tei.
"Its nobody important." I try to brush it off…
"He's a big meanie that picks on Kai every time the teacher isn't looking." Tsuyu won't let it go.
"If he can't even bother me then why should I feel bothered? Just ignore him and he'll knock it off sooner or later." I brushed aside her worry.
"I don't know dude, I've read various comics and manga about these exact sort of situations. The bully only stops when the MC puts him in his place." Han was concerned.
"By that logic, if Lukas doesn't stops by the time I've beaten him I'll have to off him, like in oh so many Manhuas. Trust me, ignoring him is the best outcome and if he tries something drastic I'll just dodge, you know I'm nimble." I say those arrogant words.
I forget that when people are being stupid, their actions make even less sense than their arguments.
And so, days passed as I kept avoiding Lukas, no matter what he did I always found a way to evade the issue and in some circumstances make him the target of his own prank.
Other times he directly tried to start a fight with me, but I was always the bigger man…kid and let it slide. I didn't get I didn't get hit by the way I usually just blocked or dodged until a teacher arrived.
But today he really crossed a line.
We were setting near the slide, not directly in front of it near as in a few meters away from it, talking about games and toys that we had.
It was a chill vibe with the gang just being bros and sis but no…Lukas had to ruin it.
"Daimon, fight me!" Lukas yelled from the other side of the playground as he walked towards me.
"This is the 6th time this week…so annoying, wake me up when he's down for the count." Soma commented.
"I'll go get the teacher…"Han got up and ran to look for a teacher.
"Just deck him already in the schnoz Kai." Tei.
"Quiet you, Kai's not such a barbarian to use said violent means." Milia shut Tei up.
"Alright, I'll play with him a little, you three stand back…" I say with a bored tone as I walk towards Lukas.
"Surprised you didn't run away." He greeted me with a cocky smile.
"Lukas we've talked about this, if you keep this up you'll hurt someone." I try to deescalate the situation.
"Yeah, you." Lukas wasn't interested in deescalating.
"Lukas come on, drop this." I plead again before I have to play tag for 5 to 10 minutes.
"Nah, you see, this time I plan to go all out." Lukas.
His fists clench as sharp bone claws come out of his knuckles, Wolverine would be jealous.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa…calm down here. Students aren't allowed to use their quirks here Lukas." I say agitated.
Truth to be told, for all his renegade actions, Lukas NEVER used his quirk against me, most of the time he attacked me with rulers or erasers, which is why it was so easy to evade him.
But his quirk? I'm not afraid at all, I'm afraid of all the other kids who are too stupid to run away instead of watching this "cool" fight!
I didn't get to say another word before he lunged at me, his claws extending as he attacked, I sidestepped to the left and his claws pierce the sand ground, I decided to knock him down with a neck chop.
*CHACK*
The moment my hand landed on his neck I saw a thick layer of bones reinforcing it. I jumped back to gain some distance and he pointed at me with finger-guns.
*PEW* *PEW*
Bone bullets flew from his fingers directly towards me, the bullets are strong but not sharp enough which is a relief because I can catch them.
Heightening my reflexes I lock-in on the "bullets" and change my breathing.
'Stone Breathing: Third Form: Stone Skin.' I thought as I prepared to catch the bullets.
Although this technique isn't supposed to be used this way, Stone Breathing gives me more defense due to it tensing each muscle in my body.
*CLAP* *CLAP* *CLAP* *CLAP* *CLAP* *CLAP* *CLAP* *CLAP* *CLAP*
I caught every "Bullet" as Lukas looked at me with irritation.
"Why don't you fall?" He was clearly agitated and decided to go back to close combat.
From the palm of his right hand came out a bone whip and he lunged at me, I was planning to tank the hit and tie him up with his own whip before knocking him out, but life's as unpredictable as a butterfly's wings.
"Lukas stop it!"
I looked at my side to watch Tsuyu running at us, trying to stop the fight.
I was like "what the hell are you doing here???!?!!?!" and so was Lukas, so much in fact that he tripped and his whip attack change targets.
I saw it all, the whip's direction was going directly towards Tsuyu, I didn't hesitate to go and help her, but there was a problem:
I'm stepping on sand.
Concrete is the best for sudden sprints of speed, and I'm familiar with dirt from the backyard of my house.
But sand's completely different, I accidentally used too much force on my feet while switching to Thunder Breathing. The excessive force just pushed the sand away without letting me move.
I forced my feet to move back again but with better force this time as I managed to move…
*WHAP*
I managed to push Tsuyu out of the way, but I was a tad too late.
"Are you okay--" I cot my question off as I looked at Tsu.
Her cheek had a fairly big cut, courtesy from Lukas' attack. Tsuyu didn't even managed to understand what had happened until she touched her cheek, she felt the blood on herself and the pain was felt afterwards.
"Hh—hk… ngh…Mmh… h-hic…" Tsuyu started to cry.
I don't like seeing kids crying...it reminds me of when I cried when my parents died…
Milia quickly came with Tei and comforted Tsu.
"OK THAT DOES IT!!! I'LL BURN LUKAS ALIVE!!!" Tei shouts as he prepares to rush at Lukas.
I stopped him.
"Oi, Kai! What's the big--" Tei didn't even finished speaking, I guess my expression was enough to calm him down.
"His business are with me, I'll handle it." I speak in a dull voice as I look at Lukas, who was dusting his clothes off the sand.
I don't like when others get hurt, and much less when it was because of MY business. Sure, she jumped in between out on her own accord, but this was MY business to begin with, had I solved it faster she wouldn't have done something so dumb.
'Calm down Kai, if he apologize we won't be as drastic with him…' I told myself, trying to calm down from this.
"Tch! She got in the middle of it, not my fault." He acted as if the freaking whip wasn't his fault.
*SNAP*
'Calm down! Calm down! Calm down! Calm down! Calm down! Calm down!' I kept telling myself but I just couldn't ignore this anymore.
To hell with me being the "adult" here, I'm 6, and kids like me are allowed to be emotionally violent every once in a while.
"I won't miss this time." Lukas taunted me as he prepared his whip.
I stepped on the sand, I felt it as good as I could with my feet as I looked at him, my fist was clenched and my breathing changed.
'Not a permanent injury. Not a permanent injury.' I told myself as I raised my fist.
*SWOOSH*
One second I was standing 20 meters from Lukas, the other second I'm suddenly about to punch Lukas' annoying face.
'Thunder Breathing: First Form: Thunderclap and Flash, threefold.'
I delivered three punches to Lukas' face, two jabs to his chin to ensure a knockout and a straight punch to his face, breaking his nose in the process.
Lukas didn't even had a moment to think what had happened as his eyes rolled backwards and he fainted, blood started slipping out of his nose when he fell.
Not gonna lie, it felt good, really good.
But…it left me with this vast feeling of emptiness for some reason, I looked at my bloodied hand and at Tsuyu who was still crying with Milia comforting her.
"What happened here?!" Yamamoto-sensei arrived with Han.
I feel a bit nauseous.
-------------------------------------------------------
Before I hear a fuckton of comments about Kai being a pussy I have to explain a few things about myself.
I like violence, especially when it is about punishing bad guys.
However, I'm also quite sensitive and can't do shit like that even when I really want to.
This paradox in my mind comes from the way I was raised (caring, loving, supporting biblical Christian family) to how I am as a person (vengeful, petty, fair is fair and eye 4 an eye).
So, allow me to tell you a small tale about what happened to me once in shcool:
I had these kids who used to bully me, mostly because I was always spoling their bullshit telling a teacher like the little tattletale bitch I used to be. They in return would do shit like throw my backpack in the trash, spike my water with soil and hide my notebooks and textbooks.
One day I got tired of their shit and fought back...I'm quite chunky and they were thinner than pasta sticks so...I almost offed them.
The realization hit me like a fucking punch, I almost became a fucking killer over three little bitches? Man, that was tough for me.
We all got suspended and spent the rest of that year alone since no one wanted to interact with the "almost killer guy" (It happened when I was 16).
My point is that perhaps it is enjoyable seeing people who deserve to get punch, get punched, but it's a whole different deal when said punch sends them to the afterlife, specially if it was your punch who did it.
Just keep that in mind readers, please.