My Hero Academia - Outcasts

Prologue - Kamino

"Are you positive he's behind this?"

As the sun hit noon in the sky over Japan, it was just beginning to rise in France. The streets were silent, the birds were whistling proudly, and the street lamps dimmed as the light hit their sensors. The entire country had this unsettling sense of tranquility, one the heroine wasn't too comfortable with. The feeling of something looming over her shoulder was constant and agonizing. But when she turned around, nothing was there. Just the sound of a door chime as customers entered and exited the café she sat in. Her frustration with the silence was so overwhelming, that as soon as her phone went off, she answered it.

It wasn't often that she took calls from an unknown number, but something about that silence forced her to make an exception.

"They wouldn't be asking old folks like me to fight if he wasn't," an older voice replied on the other line. He sounded bitter about the situation, as if he didn't want to speak about it for long. The woman let out a sigh, finishing her tea in one sip before setting it down, focusing her efforts on the pastry beside it.

"Well why do I have to do anything about it?" she asked, crossing her arms over her chest, "It's not my fault they didn't listen when I warned them." she seemed rather irritated by the thought, shoving a fork into the crepe and twisting it around rather harshly. The caller began to share in her frustration.

"I'm sorry, who am I talking to again?" he asked with a heavy sigh, "How did you become a hero with that attitude?" his question made the woman ponder for a moment before taking a bite of the crepe off her utensil.

"I don't know, you tell me." was her answer, and apparently it was the wrong one, as an angry shout forced the heroine to hold the phone away from her face, dropping the fork on the tile floor.

"You should know better than to talk to me like that!" he yelled. It would've caused a scene, but given that Japanese sounded like utter nonsense to the French staff in the bakery, the two fought free of judgement.

"Well you should know better than to call me at 5 am!" the woman shouted back with no remorse, "As you can hear, I'm hard at work!" she lied, which caused the other to roll his eyes.

"If by 'hard at work' you mean sitting in a café with horrible taste in music, sure." he scoffed, and the other gave in, leaning back on her seat and reaching for the fork on the floor. The caller stopped himself from yelling, taking a more solemn tone.

"A student was kidnapped, Kawayu. One from UA. Please take this seriously." he demanded, calling the woman to attention. "You might not think so, but you have valuable information that could lead to his safety and the safety of other heroes." The moment faded, and the reality of the situation finally dawned on her as he spoke again;

"I know you're upset. You have every right to be. But right now, Japan needs you." he stated, his voice calm. Kawayu looked at her empty tea cup, her expression dismissive.

"Japan needs a hero that can actually fight for them, not one forced to sit on the sidelines." she replied, wiping the fork with her napkin, "Torino.... It's not that I don't want to help.. I'd just be useless." Kawayu admitted, glancing at the ceiling.

"The commission took my license. I'm "retired". If I even think about using my quirk, they'll have me in handcuffs before All For One takes a step on the field.." her voice trailed off, as if hopeless. Torino shook his head, shuffling around his apartment.

"I know how you feel." he said, "But right now, you're the only one with the guts to come clean about this situation. We can't leave the other heroes in the dark anymore." he said grimly. "If we don't warn them, they'll get hurt, or worse.." There was a shared silence, almost as if there was an unspoken agreement between them.