A Single Strand of DNA- Kaminari Denki's Revival

Chapter 8: A monster, a freak, an abomination... or just me?

Chapter 8: A monster, a freak, an abomination... or just me?

Setsuna Tokage, at first glance, was the kind of girl that got along with everyone. Confident, smart, and attractive, she'd make conversation with everyone from a preschooler to a serial villain. Others made fun of her supposedly "Monstrous" quirk, and she leaned into that- taking pride in it and pranking others with it. It seemed like she didn't care about the other's scorn, commonly mocking herself when insulted. At her school, she was never in any real friend groups. Well, not in any friend groups. She'd hover around the outskirts of many like a moth outside a brightly lit hearth, always there to participate in self-deprecating humor, a source of entertainment, but never as a genuine member of a "group". She didn't even want a best friend, she just wanted a friend.

For her entire life, Setsuna was always told she could never be a hero with the quirk she had. "It would scare the victims," they'd say, "monsters can't be heroes". For her entire life, Setsuna tried to ignore these scathing comments, locking her true, soft, kind, and gentle self inside a prison disguised as a paradise. She wasn't actually confident- she forced herself to be. She wasn't actually rude- she forced herself to be. She had to be memorable, a character, a large personality so she wouldn't be forgotten, wouldn't actually become the monster everyone said she was.

So, when the walls cracked, when that religious girl's words hit too deep when half of her class verbally assaulted her, Setsuna thought it was over. This was it, right? How foolish of her to expect that UA would be any different. She was a monster, right? A demon, because of something she was born with? A hereditary curse that she pretended was a blessing? She'd be alone again. She'd cracked. She'd actually gotten visibly upset. Now it was over- no more fake personalities to hide behind, no more vicious smiles, no more lies. Just her, just the monstrous demon who cried herself to sleep, friendless, lonely, and forgotten.

But then...

But then, a true hero helped her. Not because it was his job, not because of some obligation, not because of some intrinsic or extrinsic requirement- no, Denki Kaminari saved her because he liked her, because he cared. He didn't awkwardly shuffle away when she showed her emotions, he didn't pretend it never happened, he didn't abandon her. When Setsuna Tokage, starving, trapped, desperate, and sorrowful, showed her true nature, Kaminari reached out a hand and opened the door. With just a single touch on the shoulder, he'd broken down her walls and proved that someone could truly care about Setsuna the person. She thought it wasn't possible, at first. Some kind of sick joke, or maybe he couldn't tell she was crying? Maybe he was just that blind? No, he was probably just playing her for laughter. That's what everyone else did, right? That's what she did. If she did it to herself, and other people did it to her, it was okay. Right?

Setsuna had attempted to shore up the walls then, quickly hide her emaciated form behind the bars where no one could see, but Kaminari just pushed through. By then, she knew that he somehow, insanely, blessedly, cared. He walked away from the other members of the class, with her. He chose her over eighteen other people. He made himself a target to those who shunned her for the freak she was, to help her.

Setsuna was expecting many things from her first day at UA, but a true friend was not one of them.

He protected her when she was weak, guarded her from poisonous verbal barbs- hell, he even told her to use her quirk. Just like that! Like it was no big deal. Kaminari didn't care that she was a freak, he still wanted to be her friend. For the first time in her life, she had a one-on-one conversation with someone her age who actually wanted to talk with her. For the first time in her life, she allowed the walls to fall, and for the first time in her life, there was someone there to help her out.