Ultra Responsibility (My Hero Academia X Spider-Man Reader)

Issue 108 - Mina Ashido: Origin Part 1

What does it mean to be a hero?

People ask that like there's one answer.

Like it's written on a poster somewhere, right next to a smiling pro with perfect teeth and a cape that never gets dirty.

Save people.

Stand tall.

Never give up.

Smile when everyone else is scared.

It sounds simple until you try to do it.

Because the world is full of heroes.

Big ones. Loud ones. Bright ones. The kind who can level streets, split storms, fly above crowds, and make people feel safe just by showing up.

So what are you supposed to do when you're not that?

What if you're just someone trying to stand out in a classroom full of future legends? Someone too loud sometimes. Too nervous other times. Someone who laughs because it's easier than admitting they're scared.

Someone who wants to be more than background color in someone else's story.

I met a hero once.

A real one.

Not the kind with a ranking or a billboard or a fan club. Just a man who was there when he needed to be. He saved my life, and afterward, he said something that stayed with me. I didn't understand it all back then.

I think I do now.

Or maybe I just wish he was here to explain it again.

I could use that wisdom right about now.

I keep thinking about time.

How greedy that sounds.

I had time. I had so much of it. Time to train. Time to laugh. Time to argue. Time to say the things I kept waiting to say later.

But later is such a fragile word.

I wish I had more.

Just a little.

Enough to save one more person.

Enough to be a hero for one more minute.

Was that really too much to ask?

Maybe being a hero isn't about how long you get to wear the title.

Maybe it's about what you do when the choice is right there, sharp and waiting, and no one else can make it for you.

Maybe it's about standing anyway.

Even when your hands shake.

Even when your heart is screaming.

Even when no one will know what it cost.

Live as a hero.

Die as a hero.

****

Mina Ashido came out of elementary school with two ribbons in her hair, a backpack bouncing against her shoulders, and three friends talking so fast around her that she could barely keep up.

"My mum said we can have cake before games," one girl said.

"That's illegal," another said.

"It's my birthday party. I make the laws."

Mina laughed, walking backward for a few steps as they headed down the pavement together.

The weekend was all anyone had talked about that day. Her birthday party. Games. Snacks. Music. Balloons. Someone had mentioned a magician, though Mina was pretty sure that was just a rumor started by someone who really wanted a magician.