Chapter 3: Demons
Later in the Evening
Later that evening, the whole family sat at the table eating dinner. The meal of the night was hot beef teriyaki somen with Miso and Tonkatsu. The meal was prepared by his family while they encouraged him to just relax in the meantime, clearly an attempt by the whole family to try and cheer Amaku up, as these were all his personal favorite foods.
At one head of the table was Amaku’s uncle, Hanzo. He was a man at the age of fifty-five with a relatively skinny build and darker skin compared to the rest of the family. His neat, black hair was thinning, but he wasn’t quite bald yet. He had a neatly trimmed beard which went from black to white as the hairs went down his chin. He had soft, squinting blue eyes, a relatively large nose, and surprisingly smooth skin for one of his age. He ate his meal at a regular pace, not really lingering or showing any preference to any particular part of the meal.
On Amaku’s left side sat Harumi and his cousin, Hanako. She was about the same age as him, younger by only about a few months. She had an average build, sitting at about the same height as Harumi. Her facial features included silky, straight black hair that flowed down to her shoulders, round blue eyes, and subtle lips. Both she and Harumi were taking their time with the Miso, enjoying it thoroughly.
When the two finished their soup, Harumi gestured to Hanako for some water. Obliging her mother, Hanako reached her hand towards the pitcher of water at the center of the table to fill both of their glasses. However, instead of grabbing the pitcher, she waved her hands through the air and the liquid inside moved in tandem with her waving hands. She then manipulated the water to elegantly float into both of their glasses. After taking her glass in hand, Harumi nodded to her daughter as thanks, who nodded back in kind before they both took a sip from their glasses.
To Amaku’s right sat his two younger cousins, Yushiro and Yukiro. They were twin brothers of eleven years. Both were about 5 feet tall, with Yukiro being the taller one between the two but not by much. They both had messy black hair and large eyes, Yukiro inheriting the blue eyes of Hanzo while Yushiro the brown eyes of Harumi. They were each going straight for the tonkatsu.
The evening was rather quiet, almost to a dreary degree with the only noise that could be heard besides the family eating was the crickets chirping in the night. The Brokuma’s themselves ate in relative peace and quiet, which was a first given how under normal circumstances, the boys would normally be bickering and nearly screaming at one another while everyone else would be trying to enjoy their meal. That, and Amaku himself would normally be on at least his third helping or so, feasting like there was no tomorrow, and yet he’d barely even touched his first. He sat at the other head of the table, aimlessly fiddling with his somen, taking a bite or two every so often.
“So…how’s the somen, Amaku?” asked Hanako. Amaku looked up at her with a blank, deadpan expression.
“It’s…very good.” Amaku replied with little to no enthusiasm. “You did well with this, cousin…Thank you.”
Though in truth, his taste buds registered none of the flavor and the noodles turned to ash in his mouth. Hanako looked towards Harumi with a look of worry, one which Harumi returned with a similar expression. Harumi then looked to her husband, who also shared this concern. The twins also looked at one another with concern. Meanwhile, Amaku placed another noodle in his mouth, chewing it slowly to try and get whatever flavor he could out of it. His misery was plain for the rest of the family to see, and it was unsettling enough for them to be forced into almost complete silence.
“So…Hanako,” Hanzo said, attempting to make conversation. Though his next words couldn’t have been chosen more poorly.
“Any word yet from UA?”
The moment he heard this, Amaku’s grip suddenly tightened around his chopsticks so hard that the pressure split them in half. The sound of the wood splintering stunned everyone as they all turned towards Amaku who, despite having done such an act, still had a blank, expressionless look on his face. Though his right fist was tightly clenched and shaking slightly.
Eventually, Amaku, after taking a slow, deep breath, set the remains of his chopsticks down and arose from his seat.
“Thank you all for the meal,” he said in a half dead tone as he bowed to his family. “Please, excuse me.”
“Where are you going?” Harumi asked worriedly. “You’ve barely even touched your food.”
“I’m sorry, Auntie. I truly do appreciate your efforts, all of you, I’m…just not hungry,” Amaku said in a half dead tone as he pushed in his chair. “I’m going to my room…I am…tired…I am really tired…” he muttered.
He sluggishly walked past his cousins and made his way down the hall towards his room. When he finally arrived, he opened the door and took a moment to look around before entering. The room itself was a tad small for one of his stature, but it was just enough space for him to move around without feeling too cramped. At the far wall was a window and a queen sized bed that took up a decent chunk of the room while not most of it. By the far end of the bed was a dresser with various statues of anime and movie characters. Against the wall to the right of the bed was a nightstand with a lamp and a couple of shelves filled with books and other various items. Against the wall adjacent to the door he had his own personal computer set up as well as a closet with his shoes and other clothes. There was also a fan on the ceiling that his head would always nearly bump into.
As Amaku entered the room and closed the door behind him, he went straight for his bed and threw himself upon it, his head sinking face first into his pillow. After a few seconds, he slowly rolled over onto his back for a breath and stared up at the ceiling. As the fan twirled, he could feel a cool breeze coming down onto him from above, which was somewhat soothing and pleasant, but not too much so. For quite some time, he was lost in his misery, exhausted and yet in a weird way, was still anxious and unable to properly rest his mind. As such, he sat up and hung his legs over the side of his bed as laying down was clearly not bringing him any form of relief. He looked down at his hands, which were still somewhat bruised from his encounter. He then turned his gaze towards his night stand and grabbed a letter from UA that had been sitting there for some time. As he read over it, one line kept repeating back to him in his mind:
We regret to inform you that you are hereby prohibited from participating in this year's entrance exam. After taking careful consideration and repeatedly analyzing the specifics of your quirk: Fury, we have deemed that the potential instabilities and risks towards the other examinees that may arise from such a power are ones that we are unable to accept.
Out of sheer hopelessness, he let the paper fall to the floor. He then looked back to the nightstand at one of the two framed photographs, one which featured a younger version of himself, his mother, and his father in their home. The photo itself was slightly deteriorated and ripped at the edges due to time. He took it in his hands, observing it in silence.
It had been some time since Amaku had last spoken to his parents. He hadn’t spoken to them in over a month since he’d begun his prep for the UA entrance exam, training with his aunt and Hanako. While she was learning to better use her liquid manipulation in more versatile ways, Amaku was trying to refine his technique and learn to better harness his strength to end fights quickly before his anger could take hold of him. Hanako was a natural: fast, precise, refined, and quick to adapt in a fight. She’d gotten multiple recommendations from teachers and was nominated to take UA’s recommendations exam, which took place about a week prior to the regular entrance exam. It wasn’t until she came back home that she’d learned of Amaku’s prohibition from taking the regular entrance exam.
“Even after everything, I still have a long way to…” Amaku once again attempted to abandon this thought as he recalled another memory from the encounter. A brief image of the fight with a red hue over it flashed in his mind, forcing him to physically convulse and tighten his grip around the picture frame. He would’ve nearly broken it if it had not been for the knock at the door.
Amaku quickly looked towards the door and shortly after, he heard another knock. He set the photo face down on the nightstand and took a brief second to collect himself.
“It’s open,” he said as casually as possible. The door opened to reveal his uncle Hanzo, who peaked his head in through it.
“Hey, big guy,” he said casually. “I’m not interrupting anything, am I?”
“No, of course not, Uncle,” Amaku said formally. “I was just resting a bit, is all. It’s been a… long day, as you could imagine.”
“I don’t doubt it,” Hanzo said. He then stuck his hand through the door, which had a small cup of tea in it.
“…mind if I come in?” Hanzo asked.
“Please, by all means,” Amaku replied, gesturing for him to enter.
Hanzo came in and closed the door behind him. He approached the bed and handed the tea to Amaku, who accepted it and nodded as a sign of thanks. Amaku took a small sip from the cup, slightly pleased to find that it was his favorite mango decaf.
“Hanako brewed it just the way you like,” said Hanzo.
“I’ll be sure to thank her, Uncle,” Amaku said with a small smile on his face, setting the cup down on the nightstand next to the face down photo, something that Hanzo took notice of.
“So then, how can I help you?” Amaku asked his uncle.
“I just wanted to see how you’re holding up,” Hanzo inquired.
“Your concern is appreciated, Uncle, truly. But I assure you, I’m fine.”
“Yeah?” Hanzo said, his eyes darting slightly to the right and then back towards Amaku.
Amaku followed Hanzo’s gaze towards his nightstand and realized that he was gesturing towards the picture frame, which was not only face down, but slightly, though noticeably deformed from Amaku’s convulsion. A moment of silence passed as Amaku came to this realization. He then felt a hand on his shoulder and looked back to his uncle.
“Come on now, kiddo…the truth. Tell me what happened out there.”
Amaku, after crossing his arms and taking a minute to gather his thoughts, then proceeded to recall the incident at the park.
“Well…I was making my way home with the groceries,” he began. “And then, as I was walking, I heard an explosion come from behind me. Those two villains had just robbed Tadashi’s Tool Chest and were making their way down the street with a large sum of stolen money. Mirror Match was on the scene almost immediately and he gave chase. And then I…I decided to follow them.”
Hanzo looked at him with a confused and slightly surprised expression.
“...You followed them?” he asked.
“My thoughts exactly,” said Amaku, contemplatively. “It was none of my business, it had nothing to do with me, and if I’d just gone about my day, I would probably still have a future right now. So yes, why in the Hell made me follow them to that park?” his tone was starting to become more aggressive. “I didn’t even hesitate, I just…my first instinct was to just…FOLLOW them! WHY THE HELL DID-”
“Amaku!” Hanzo interjected, putting a hand on his shoulder. “Calm down. Look…whatever reason you had, why doesn't matter now, ok? It happened. So, what happened next?”
Amaku took a second to calm himself before resuming.
“Right…Well, I followed them down to the park just off of 34th street. I hid behind a nearby bench and I witnessed the villains defeat Mirror Match. They then declared out loud their intent to execute him.”
Amaku looked down at his hands, his knuckles still slightly bruised and bloodied.
“It was at this point that once again, some sort of…gut instinct forced me to get involved. I intervened, defending Mirror Match. The villains defeated him by synchronizing their attacks, so I figured that I would have a better chance if I separated them. I threw one into an open field and the other into a tree, disorienting the latter. The other one attacked me out of anger for his wounded comrade. This one was the muscle of the duo and I was already made aware of their willingness to kill, so I hit him with a ferocious counter assault to insure he didn’t get back up. Soon after, the other one had recovered from his injuries and was also ready to fight. He was skinny, fast and agile. So I decided to catch him off guard while he was boasting and I crushed his ribs in between my knee and the tree I had thrown him into. With the two of them neutralized, I saw to Mirror Match and called emergency services.”
The two of them sat in silence for a bit after Amaku finished his retelling.
“Huh,” Hanzo said contemplatively. “Yeah…yeah that’s quite the pickle right there, I gotta say…buuuuut, maybe you’re kinda overplaying it just a bit?”
Amaku looked in shock towards his uncle’s reaction. How could he possibly be so calm?
“Overplaying?” Amaku asked in a dumbfounded tone. “Overplaying?! Uncle, don’t you get it? It’s over! Before any of this happened, there was at least a chance that we could make an appeal to the UA admissions committee, and if not, we had other schools to choose from. But now?! That chance…gone, POOF! Not just UA, but any hero school, period! With my current standing, the likelihood of a witness, my injuries, my-…everything points to my direct involvement in the incident. Do you really think that any school would give consideration to a denied UA applicant with a criminal record?”
“Criminal?” Hanzo asked in surprise. “Is that how you see it? Are we just gonna gloss over the fact that you freaking saved a man’s life-“
“IT DOESN’T MATTER, DAMMIT!!” Amaku retorted viciously, his eyes glowing red. Hanzo was stunned into silence by this outburst.
“None of that matters to these people! All that matters is that they claimed me to be an unstable risk, and they were right! I didn’t simply neutralize those villains, I HOSPITALIZED them! I BROKE the ribs of the skinny robber and I beat the other one senseless! Anywhere I apply now, they’ll look at my actions and they won’t see someone with the makings of a potential hero, but a sadistic brute who’s only talent is mindless destruction!…And what’s worse…they’ll be right.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Hanzo asked. Amaku's eyes returned to their natural brown color as he looked down at his hands.
“During that fight…when I retaliated against those two villains…when I let loose out of the belief that it was all or nothing, it felt…good. Letting my anger and rage out on them, delivering punishment onto those I deemed guilty…it made me feel…at peace. Every strike brought me some twisted, callous form of satisfaction. A hero is supposed to know better…a hero is supposed to BE better…everything I’ve done…everything I’ve gone through was to prove that I am more than a monster, and yet-…even though I knew it was wrong, it felt…right…I…I’m no hero…and I never will be…I failed…”
Amaku then finally broke down, his face falling into his hands as he hopelessly wept into them. Hanzo allowed him to let some of the grief out before he once again tried to get his attention.
“…Amaku…look at me, man,” he said, taking Amaku’s sobbing face in his hands and turning it towards him.
“You can’t keep living like this. Believe me, I know what you’re going through. I may not have had as heavy of a burden or as high expectations set on me when I was your age, but I know what it's like to battle with your demons. Sometimes, you feel like you’re the only one in the world who knows what it’s like to suffer that hardship, to be discontent with how you see yourself. But you gotta realize eventually that we all have baggage.”
Hanzo let go of Amaku, looking down at the floor as he spoke.
“Others may have it better, some may have it worse. Which I know is hard to consider, but we all struggle. That’s something I realized when I met your aunt. I never saw it coming, but let me tell you, when you see a pro hero regularly visit the same bar as you, trying to drown their sorrows at the bottom of a bottle, it makes you...really step back and think about things. That one night when we first met, the low point she had hit, how desperate she was to find some form of solace that she spoke with some drunken moron like me, even coming back with me to my apartment for…well, let’s just say, one could only imagine the baggage she carried.”
Amaku was hanging off of every word as his uncle spoke. Much like his aunt from Hanzo’s story, he was in desperate need of solace.
“Honestly, I thought that maybe it would be just a once off and she was outta my life for good by morning. But, given the fact that you have cousins, it's pretty clear that that wasn’t the case. After that night, we kept meeting up, getting to know each other, helping each other look past the shit we were dealing with and…oh, God, I’m rambling now, aren’t I?” Hanzo chuckled slightly and cleared his throat.
“Look, the bottom line is, while some have greater struggles than others, we all have demons inside. But what defines us is whether we chose to run from them, or to acknowledge them and do something about it. And the way I see it, what you did, you showed UA that you know damn well that you’ve got problems, but you put the life of another before your own selfish desire to be accepted by them.”
Hanzo then put one of his arms around Amaku, bringing him in for a hug.
“The ability to acknowledge every part of yourself, good and bad, for the sake of others, that’s what I would call a damn fine hero. And if UA can’t see that, then I don’t know where they get off calling themselves the most prestigious hero school in the country.”
The two of them remained as they were for a while until eventually, Hanzo decided that it was probably best for him to give Amaku the time he needed.
“I’ll leave you alone,” he said softly, releasing Amaku and making his way over to the door. Amaku was left sitting on his bed, looking down at the floor nearly motionless. Hanzo opened the door to leave but stopped short, turning around to say one last thing.
“Hey, kiddo,” he said. Amaku slowly looked up to him, dried tears staining his face.
“Remember the line from that movie we all like… ‘the night is darkest just before the dawn.’ Well…this is your darkest hour…but the dawn will come. You hear me?”
Amaku stared at his uncle for a bit, then nodded slightly to acknowledge him. A small smile appeared on Hanzo’s face.
“Good…now get some rest, big guy…you need it.”
He then shut the door behind him as he left, leaving Amaku alone once again to properly process everything he said. Amaku meanwhile simply laid back in his bed, staring up at the ceiling fan.
2 days later: Fukuoka
In Fukuoka, at the headquarters of the Hero Public Safety Commission, an American woman in her mid twenties walked down a long hallway with a folder in her hand. She had long, straight blonde hair that hung over on one side, she wore a small amount of eyeliner, and knife style earrings.. She was wearing a black business dress with two buttons and she had a white dress shirt underneath it and black high heels whose clicking echoed through the halls with each equal, on beat step she took.
The woman made her way down the hall, carrying herself in a formal almost machine like manner, until she finally arrived at a set of fancy wooden double doors with golden knobs. As she entered, she found another woman sitting at a desk, working at her computer. The woman was around middle age, with turquoise eyes and slicked back ashen blonde hair. She was wearing black suit jacket and dress along with a purple shirt and a white necklace.
The blonde woman with the folder made her way over to the desk and stopped right in front of it.
“Madame President,” she said in a formal, almost deadpan voice.
The woman behind the computer stopped what she was doing and turned to face her, a stoic and steely expression on her face.
“Agent Tex,” she said in a cold and serious tone. “I could use some good news right about now. I’ve had about enough misfortune for one week.”
Agent Tex took the vanilla folder from under her arm and placed it on the President’s desk. The President looked down at the folder, observing it for a second.
“And what is this supposed to be?” She asked, keeping her steely gaze.
“I have made my final selection for the program, Madame,” Tex said in a cold, serious tone. The president’s left eyebrow shifted slightly in response to this.
“I see…well then, let’s have a look at what you’ve got.”
The President then proceeded to open the file and read its contents. As she did, Tex watched on with her unmoving turquoise eyes, her hands behind her back. Meanwhile, the president continued to read on, thoroughly analyzing the file’s contents. Then, as she flipped to the next page, for the first time since Tex entered the office, the President’s expression shifted ever so slightly from its usual cold steely gaze, something that Tex took notice of. To most, it would not have looked like much, but to Tex, it looked as though the President had seen a ghost. The President’s expression remained like this as she looked back up at Tex.
“This info is absolutely accurate, Agent?” The president said, presenting the second page of the file to Tex.
“Beyond the shadow of a doubt, Madame,” she responded, unfazed by the info in front of her. “And if you continue reading, you’ll come to realize exactly why he is an ideal candidate for the program.”
The president continued to read on, and as she did. Her expression slowly returned to its steely nature. After a short time, she set the file down on her desk and sat back in her chair, quietly contemplating the choice to be made. Tex observed on and could see the wheels turning in her head with every slight movement of her head and shift of her expression. Eventually, after what felt like an eternity of silence but in reality was a mere two minutes, the president looked back up towards Tex.
“Get Yokumiru on it. Send him out to meet the candidate and secure his cooperation. Should he accept, I will handle the preparations for his initiation personally.”
“At once, Madame President,” Tex replied, bowing to the President. She then turned away from the desk and made her way towards the double doors. Upon placing a hand on one of the knobs, she was halted before she could exit the office.
“Agent,” the President said, stopping her at the door. Tex looked over her shoulder to face her. “What exactly do you see in this one?” she asked.
“What do you see, Madame?” Tex asked in kind. The President crossed her arms in a mix of insistence and annoyance in response to this.
“...Dismissed,” she said sternly.
Tex once again gave a respectful bow before taking her leave. Once the doors shut behind her, all was quiet in the president’s office. After a while passed, she opened up the file once again and removed a photo from it. She looked at it, silently contemplating for quite some time until she finally reached across her desk to her phone. After dialing a specific number, she waited about ten seconds before someone answered.
“Jyunichi, get me Keigo…tell him it’s important,” the president said, setting down a photo…with Amaku’s face on it.
