I look around, my eyes taking in the view of the city. Far different than my home back in California. And so many people! Sure, there were plenty of people in California as well, but you didn’t really see them walking around in crowds like this unless you were at the mall or something!

That’s not even taking into account how colorful it is. All the flashing lights really make it easy to get distracted. Which is why I stumble when I feel my mom tug on my hand.

“Come along Catia, we still have to get some souvenirs for your friends at school, right?” She smiles down at me, her sparkling green eyes meeting my matching pair.

I smile the kind of smile only a six year old can. “Yeah! We’ll get all kinds of stuff! Plushies and candy and that ‘manga’ stuff. Ooh, maybe we’ll get to see All Might!”

Seeing my exuberance, my mother can’t help but laugh. “Who knows? I hear he’s more active than Skyline at least, so there's a chance.” She winks at me.

I shudder thinking of the egotistical hero. It’s not just because of his personality, but also personal. During a random villain rampage, he carried my mom away from a collapsing building, which was nice. But he took advantage of the situation to grab her butt at the same time. When she brought it up with him afterwards he laughed it off and said that it was a small price to pay for being saved by someone so famous.

When I heard that story from my mom, I decided that I didn’t like him and would punch him in the jewels if I ever saw him. When I told my mom this, she asked me where I heard about a man’s jewels, and I told her that my teacher said that they’re every man’s weak spot.

After that my mom and my teacher had a talk, but I wasn’t invited!

Anyways, I focus my attention back to more important things. Souvenirs! 

Looking around, I don’t see any stores that look like they would have something my friends would like…

Oh! That one seems interesting. Down the street I notice a store with a life size cut out of All Might! And in the window I can also see some dolls of him with his signature smile!

I start tugging my mom along to the store, my triangular ears twitching in excitement. My mom smiled at my renewed excitement, my long tail reaching up and wrapping around her wrist on its own.

Once there, I let go of her hand and rush through the store, looking for the absolute best things to bring back.

Hm, he’ll want an All Might plushie. Oh, and she mentioned that she looks up to that Midnight hero since their quirks have similar problems… 

As I walk through the store, I make a list of who might want what. For some reason, my friends are really interested in Japanese heroes. No idea why. They can only name, like, four heroes from America. 

As I’m musing on why that is, the ground begins to shake. I looked around in confusion, my tail flickering side-to-side.

Suddenly, the shaking intensified. 

Scared, I shouted for my mom. “Mom! Mom, where are you!?”

I hear her at the other end of the store. “Catia? I’m over here! Come to me, quickly!” I rush over and hug her leg, my eyes shut tight. She holds out her hand, ready to use her quirk at a moment’s notice. She can emit a six foot tall, three foot wide barrier from her hands, and I’ve never seen anything break it!

She totally could have been a hero if she wanted to, but she said that she wasn’t interested in fighting villains for a living. And that she doesn’t trust the government for whatever reason. I didn’t really understand what she meant by that, but she just patted my head and told me not to worry about it.

Looking around as the building shakes, mom slowly makes her way towards the exit. Through the glass, she can see people running from something, but for her, whatever it is is out of sight.

Luckily she manages to make it to the door without any kind of problem. Once there, she takes a peek around the corner to see what everyone is running from. There, she sees someone as tall as the street lights covered in dark gray fur facing away from her.

Breathing a short sigh of relief, she picks me up in her arms and quickly rushes away from the person. Feeling my mother’s embrace, I open my eyes and see the person we are running away from.

My eyes widen at just how large they are. If their quirk turned them large when they activated it instead of permanently altering their size, then why are they shirtless but not pantsless? My musing is interrupted when I catch sight of someone in front of the villain, and my jaw drops.

I excitedly start squirming around in my mother’s arms, unknowingly making it harder for her to carry me away. “Mom! Mom! Look, it’s All Might! He’s fighting that villain!”

Shocked, my mom unintentionally slows down and peeks behind us. There, she sees something concerning. “Texas…” Panicking, my mother ejects me from her arms, sending me flying into the alley we were just passing. Looking at her in confusion, I see tears in her eyes as green flashes from her hand. Then I hear the words that will haunt me for years. “SMASH!”

And then she’s gone.

I see a flash of something, and then an immense amount of wind starts blowing down the street. A bit of it flows down the alley and pushes me back. I land heavily and I think I pass out.

𝌡𝌡𝌡

I’m not sure how much time passes before I wake up, but when I do I immediately leave the alley to find my mom, ignoring the aches I feel.

Once on the street, I look around and see a crowd in the direction the wind blew towards. So that’s where I go.

There, I see flashing lights from the police cars and an ambulance.

I make my way through the crowd, managing to squeeze between them to get to the front. Once I get there though, I wish I hadn’t.

I see paramedics placing a cover over my mom. But it isn’t my mom. She’s… wrong. Her body-her body isn’t supposed to look like that.

I rush to her side before the paramedics-before they can take her away. Tears sting my eyes, preventing me from seeing anything.

Good.

I don’t want to see my mom like this; I want to see her how she usually is. With a smile, or a laugh. Even with a scowl when I’ve made her mad.

Just not… like this.

As I sob, I hear the people around me talking. Most of what they say is just noise, static that I can’t understand. But one thing I manage to hear. One thing I understand.

A news crew off to the side is filming a pretty young lady speaking into her microphone.

“All Might beat the villain. Luckily he was able to minimize casualties. Unfortunately, however, the single casualty accounted for was a fatality.”

All Might killed my mother.