Supernova

Chapter Five - Heroes of a Different Breed

Despite the fact that I went down to the common space early, to avoid this exact situation, Kirishima was already waiting for me. The stars were still twinkling through the windows, and there was little light coming into the space aside from the outdoor lights beaming in from the windows. Kirishima was stretching when I found him, but he noticed me right after I entered. That was promising.

"Good morning," he told me.

"Have you been waiting long?" I asked.

"Not at all," he said. I couldn't tell if he was lying or not. "I just got here."

"Well," I said, linking my arm through his as I walked by him. "Let's get going."

I was more or less aware of how much the two of us differed in experience, so I wanted to see how much we differed in stamina. I knew for sure it would be significant. Having no experience of muscle pain, sore feet, or spasms, I simply run until I tasted stomach acid or I got bored of it, whichever came first. However, we'd barely made it to the outskirts of the city before he'd asked, in a way that was full of reluctance, if we could take a minute. It was slightly disappointing, but stamina is less aggressive outside of a crucial situation, so I hid my disappointment by using the pause to gather information. I stood beside Kirishima, who was bent at the waist, hands on his thighs, breathing so deeply that it bordered on heaving. I put a hand on his back.

"I'm curious," I asked him. "Do you have an ultimate move you're working on?"

"Yeah," he said, trying to catch his breath. "It's uh, a full body version of my hardening."

"Your hardening isn't full body?" I removed my hand. How had I overlooked that?

"Not normally, no." He returned to standing. "But with Unbreakable, it can be."

"Unbreakable?" I said, startled, taking a step back. "How do you know about that?"

"It's just what I call my ultimate move," he said, his eyes averting from mine again. "I know it's kind of silly, but it's just what I wanted to be when I used it."

"That's your ultimate move's name?" I found a laugh as I filled with relief. My hands became pressed to my chest. "That's my hero name!"

"No way!" I could see his eyes now. They were excited and honest. "Really?"

"It's the one I used at my last school. Well, the French translation." The relief continued to flood in. "Incassable. Like Cass, get it?"

His eyes told me that he did, in fact, get it. He then told me he was ready to keep going, so we did. I was so thrilled as I took off, I felt like I was flying. There were some small setbacks, but I was right. I had been right all along. I knew we were cut from the same cloth. I knew I hadn't just been cocky. I knew he should have won. I couldn't wait to take that information and shove it into the faces and right down the throats of both Momo and my dad. I broke out of my daydream celebration when I noticed how loud my footsteps seemed to be hitting the rocky path they were on. More than that, I wasn't hearing two sets anymore.

Fuck. I'd lost Kirishima.

How far back had I lost him? I hadn't even noticed. Actually, I didn't even know how long it had taken me to get here from where we'd stopped. I couldn't see him when I looked down the way I came, and I didn't think I could hear him either. Something told me that I should feel bad, but all I really felt was annoyed at how poorly he was doing keeping up with me. I was considering whether I should watch for him to catch up or try to find him when I heard something from further up the path.

"Hey! There you are!" Kirishima told me as he suddenly appeared, holding a rigid arm with a couple wet leaves stuck to it out in front of him. "I thought you went up this way. Come on. I know a shortcut."