Holding Out For A Hero

Prologue

Eighty percent of the world's population have some kind of uncanny superpower. Those abilities are called Quirks.

Since people started manifesting them, there's been one profession that's dominated our minds. With the explosion of crime and disasters brought about by Quirks, humanity needed people to protect the innocent. We gave the name of those brave enough to take action: Heroes.

They're the ones who put their lives on the line. Who defend us from evil.

Without them, diabolical villains would destroy our cities, our lives, maybe even the planet.

It is because of this, I have enrolled at Japan's top-ranking high school, U.A High, with a close friend of mine since middle school, Toshinori Yagi.

Throughout middle school, Toshinori shown no signs of having a Quirk like myself. While I was able to make weapons grow from my limbs, he had nothing.

It wasn't until we enrolled at U.A High that Toshinori finally got his Quirk. He was never able to explain where his Quirk had come from, all he was able to say was his Quirk enhanced his abilities such as; strength, speed, durability, and so on.

Though it confused me as to why he suddenly got a Quirk, I chose to put it to the back of my mind and excuse it as a late manifestation.

From the moment we knew we were in the same class, let alone attending the same school as each other, we came up with a plan. After graduating from U.A High, we were going to work together as heroes and form our own agency together, We were going to become strong heroes, ones that will make the villains cower in fear at the mention of our names.

We studied hard while at U.A, and when we weren't in class, Toshinori and I would be training alongside each other, helping each other develop our abilities further, sparring with one another and giving each other tips on how to improve our fighting styles.

Everything was perfectly normal, at least until we turned 18, with graduation just around the corner.

One day, Toshinori was absent from school. There was no reason as to why he wasn't in school that day, and if there was, the teachers didn't tell us.

Throughout the school day, I was unable to focus on my lessons, my mind constantly worried about my dear friend and his whereabouts.

My classmates and teachers noticed my change in attitude, but I dismissed them and told them I was fine.

That night, I received a text message from Toshinori telling me he would be back at school in a few days. I asked him why he was absent, but he only told me that some important family matters had come up that required his attention.

Almost a week later, Toshinori returned back to school to resume his studies. Everyone asked him if everything was okay, and he just dismissed them with a smile and said, "Everything's fine."

Even though he said everything was fine, I couldn't help but feel like there was something more than what he was letting off, so I decided to talk to him during our training session after school to get more answers from him.

It was after school, all of the other students and teachers had left home for the day while Toshinori and I changed into our gym uniform and headed outside to the training court.

While doing some warm-up stretches, I decided now was the best time to ask him what was going on. "Hey, Toshinori?" I asked while squatting down to the ground and stretching my leg out to the side, my hands pressed against the ground to support me.