Diverting the plot

6 - All for worry

You've just finished your second year of middle school when you drop the darts course. Your instructor absolutely adores you, he almost cried when you told him you would drop it. You had to drop it because you can now train at home and have the aim of a Finnish sniper.

Your coach's name is Shuta, and he's the nicest old man you've ever encountered. His quirk gives him impeccable aim, he even used to be a hero when he was young. He had to drop that career due to a really nasty incident in both of his legs, he was devastated.

He ended up being homeless for some time, until he finally found a way to gain some cash by teaching others how to aim like him. Every time you went to train with him, he spoke with a nostalgic tone about the good old days.

You feel pity for him, honestly.

That man doesn't have much to live for: He has no wife or kids, most of his parents are dead, and he lives alone in a tiny apartment waiting for death to come take him.

That's why, despite having dropped the course, you call him every week. To make sure he's alright and to tell him about your progress. He's always overjoyed when you call him, and that makes you feel even more pity.

It's a bond you never put much attention on until you had to say goodbye to him. It's in that moment that you realize just how much that man had impacted your life. Up until now, the bonds you created were only with the well known anime characters and your parents.

You never really cared about anything else.

That realization is... worrying.

It makes you feel like a horrible person.

And you can't bear the thought of being someone like that. You want to be a hero, you want to change society's views on quirks and you want to help others. But you can't do that if you don't start caring more about others.

You shake those thoughts out of your head. They're bringing you down, you can't have that.

.

It's not unusual at all for Yuga to come knocking at your door.

He does that quite often, both you and your parents are very used to that. You don't think much about it when you open the door for him, he probably just wants help with his homework or he's bored.

You expect to see his usual blonde hair, his light ingingo eyes and his long lashes. Most importantly, that smile that is both smug and genuine as he poses, flaunts and then creates sparkles all around him.

He's right there, but he's not smiling like usual.

I mean, he is smiling, but it looks... Forced.

He looks nervous, hiding something very important as he just acts like nothing happened.

However, you're not naive.

Like usual, he just needed help with his homework. You try to ignore that gut feeling that something is clearly wrong here: he's been staring at you the whole time. You care about Yuga and you want to know what's worrying him, but you don't have the courage to do so right now. If he's hiding it, it's likely he doesn't want you to know.

It's only halfway through his homework that you finally find out what it's all about. It seems as though he just wasn't able to keep bluffing for that much, like something was nagging him so deeply he had to speak up or he would drown in his own emotions.

"And then you just divide by two and you're done." You say solemnly as you scribble down the right answer to the math problem. Finally, the first page is done. Now you just need to help him with the second page, it shouldn't take too long-