Can We Be Heroes?

Chapter 10. Embrace the Night.

As Shinso walked away, his mind zoomed back to his own past rooted from the heavy silence that had often followed him through the halls of his previous school. The fear in people’s eyes were always so evident when they realized he could control them with just a few words. That coupled with the constant humiliation and insults had been enough to isolate him.

He remembered that feeling all too well, the way people had whispered and avoided him, as though he were a threat just by existing. That was why he had kept his distance, choosing solitude over constant suspicion. It was worth it— to be invisible and not be feared rather than living a life of constant reprimand and prejudice from the society.

And then there was Monoma. Shinso had observed him enough to see that the blonde refused to shrink back in the face of his classmates’ fear. Instead, the real blonde fought against it, sometimes recklessly, with that brash confidence of his.

Shinso hadn’t missed the way Monoma had always spoken up for Izuku, standing his ground even when it would have been easier to stay quiet and walk away. In a strange way, Monoma's defiance intrigued Shinso; he wondered if it was strength, or maybe just a shield to hide whatever pain he carried beneath the surface of his built up confidence.

Shinso shook his head, trying to brush off the thought. "You're getting too involved Hitoshi." he muttered to himself, hands shoved deeper into his pockets as he continued walking. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t shake the lingering feeling that he, Izuku and Monoma shared more than just a history of discrimination. They shared that outsider status, the same troubles of being misunderstood, each in their own way.

By the time he reached his neighborhood, Shinso knew one thing for sure: he wanted to understand both Monoma and Izuku better. They weren’t like the rest of Aldera’s students, and, for the first time in a long time, Shinso felt a pull toward friendship that he couldn’t quite resist.

Maybe, just maybe, there was a chance they could watch each other’s backs in a place that was otherwise hostile. He resolved to stay close to the two boys. He had a feeling they could all use someone to rely on.

———•———

Upon reaching his neighborhood Hitoshi didn’t feel like going home. The thought of stepping through the door of his house, where his parents would be waiting, filled him with dread.

That kind of toxic atmosphere filled with nothing but tension and constant arguments was suffocating, and he wanted no part of it at the moment.

Home was never a place of peace for him. Instead it was a battleground, one where he always felt like the odd one out. Especially when his father was involved.

The purple haired exhaled heavily, glancing at the darkening sky as he walked down the opposite street away from his apartment complex.

He had other plans for the night. For out in the dark and faced with so much uncertainty Shinso because something else.

He wasn’t Hitoshi Shinso when dawning the colors of the pitch black sky. There was another side to him—one that allowed him to escape the frustrations and anger that constantly bothered him.

Shadow.

His vigilante persona. The person that allowed him to take control of his life, to do something that felt right, even when the world around him was completely wrong.

Shinso’s eyes flicked to the black bag slung over his shoulder. His costume was in there, tucked between his textbooks and notebooks—not the safest hiding place, but the best he could manage when he lived in a home with no privacy. No one in his family knew what he did at night, and he intended to keep it that way.