MHA: Harbinger of Fear - Male Reader x Midnight

Part 9

Deep breath, count to three.

Y/N's surroundings consisted of inky darkness accompanied by the gentle rustle of tree leaves with a slight mist of dew dripping from their green tops.

Exhale slowly, count to three.

A lush forest surrounded him. Rural Japan. It was far from civilization and any disturbances. The perfect place to meditate.

Combat is craft. What matters most is not raw power, but the skill by which you hone it.

Y/N couldn't push the boundaries of his quirk without winding himself in a fight. Its energy was essentially his stamina, use too much and you drain the battery, then you're vulnerable when it needs a recharge.

It was a common misconception that Y/N's power rivaled All Might's. The fact of the matter was his technique alone is what rivaled All Might.

He couldn't stockpile his power like Toshinori, meaning what he had or could possess was limited by his own body.

He couldn't simply train to increase his power. He had to do it the old-fashioned way, by improving his technique to raise his lethality.

But that was a handicap in itself. The gap between a simple spar and an intent to kill was a staggering difference. He couldn't use those techniques unless he fully intended to kill his opponent.

"Dad?"

Y/N's eyes snapped open as his concentration was shattered. He looked to his side to see his daughter and she looked to him with curiosity behind her glasses.

"Yes?" Y/N responded kindly, his demeanor shifting. The mindset of an assassin was forgotten as he noticed her hesitance.

"Mom lent me one of these," Samantha held out a hardback history book dedicated to art, the main class Nemuri teaches in UA. "She said you could help me understand some of it."

"Did she?" Y/N asked and she nodded in return.

Through the years of knowing his wife, he had practically enamored himself with her interests. He may not understood any of it at the time, but the interest sparking in Nemuri's eyes combined with her bright smile, made it hard to say no to her company.

"Sure." Y/N smiled and patted the grass beside him.

Nemuri wanted to tag along but changed her mind. Something they both appreciated was the calming atmospheric moments such as these.

She spoke to him, asking questions about the modern era of painting and how they evolved into something much more diverse and akin to humanity.

Subjects were traded back and forth, opinions were given, and musings were voiced. She would ask of different techniques of a brush passing the canvas or the chisel chipping away at a stone from the very earth.

"Why did they do this all the time?" Samantha asked. Her eyes narrowed at the ancient paintings and statues left behind from long ago.

"Well," Y/N hummed, his fingers pushed the page over and gestured to the works of art that were considered legendary. "Some artists have adopted the mindset of their art already being in the canvas or within the stone itself. They just needed to carve away the excess material or brush color into a blank world. Art is one of the many things that pass on our culture from one generation to the next. Without it? We wouldn't really know about our past that someone saw through their eyes."

Y/N gestured to different artists from various points around the world at different times for modern reference.

"And some people thought it was a dying breed, what you see here is what many people did because they liked it or wanted to preserve something greater. They may have been called strange at the time, but what they did redefined a simple hobby or a passion into something bigger. They weren't ashamed of what they did, so they didn't hide it."