My Hero Academia: Next Gen

Chapter 2: Past and Present

Dagobah Municipal Beach Park was always silent at night, and it was Eri's favourite place to go when she needed a second to breathe. She'd heard from Deku that it had been where he trained with All Might before he got into UA, and for some time after that too. She felt like it was embued with some kind of perseverance power of some kind. Like just being there made her want to work harder and become better. Maybe that was because such an amazing hero before her had had his beginning there, or maybe it was just because that's how she felt.

She wanted to become better. To become the best version of herself she could be. Standing on the beach, the sand between her toes and the waves crashing on the shore in front of her, Eri felt at peace. She closed her eyes and the world melted away, leaving just her, the sand, the wind, the salt, the water. All in a beautiful balance.

It was times like this that she wished she had some kind of elemental control-type quirk. A flashy quirk that was beautiful and didn't hurt people.

Images of her parents flashed through Eri's mind, but she pushed them away, just like every other time. She suppressed them in the back of her mind to deal with another day. That wasn't your fault, she told herself. You were still young. You didn't have control. You didn't have control...

Breathing in deeply, Eri opened her eyes to look up at the stars. Aizawa had helped her understand over the years the reality of her past, and that some things just couldn't be helped, her quirk and its consequences included. Her parents leaving her wasn't something she could have changed, and she knew that now. But that didn't make it hurt any less.

From down the beach, Eri heard unfamiliar noises. Faint grunts and groans. Frowning she looked down at her phone. It was almost midnight; who else was out on the beach? Squinting, she managed to make out a figure far away from her, and she assumed that was whoever was making those noises. She couldn't see who it was or what they were doing, but just the presence of another person immediately put her on edge.

He had been out of her life for so many years, but there was a small part of Eri that always thought that Chisaki was back for her. That he somehow survived all these years and had found her. That he was out for revenge against her for betraying him. She clenched her fists. He spent her entire childhood torturing her, tormenting her, and if he ever found her again... She was terrified to know what would happen to her.

Looking down the beach again, Eri straightened herself up. It's not him, she thought. It can't be. It isn't. The longer she looked down the beach, the more confident she became. Chisaki would be bee-lining to her, his powers ablaze. Whoever was down there wasn't moving from their spot. She let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding and turned to leave the beach. 

An uneasy feeling settled in her stomach. There wasn't usually anyone on the beach at this time of night. If there was anyone, it was just her... She glanced back and looked at the person one last time before finally leaving. Whoever it was, she hoped they wouldn't come back during one of her calm sessions.

Eri ended up seeing the figure on the beach every time she went out for the next month. Each time she thought she could get some time to herself to just think, they were there, grunting, groaning, yelling. Part of her wanted to storm up to them and see who they thought they were, making such a ruckus in the middle of the night, but then she remembered that to do that she would actually have to go over there and talk to them, and that was one of the top entries on her To NOT Do List. The first few times, she was incredibly annoyed. She couldn't believe that after all this time, someone just had to come out and ruin her quiet time. The times after that, she figured that they weren't leaving any time soon and she would just have to deal with it. And each time after that, it was just normal. It got to the point where if there was ever a day when the beach figure wasn't there, it suddenly felt too quiet. Like something was missing. 

Eri found herself thinking about the figure often, wondering who it was, what they were doing, if she knew them. She wondered if she had ever seen them before, even just in passing. She would laugh to herself when she had those thoughts. The chances of that happening were minuscule if any. But she couldn't help it. 

Soon, Eri found herself only a week out from the entrance exam, and she was training harder than ever. Aizawa saw her in their backyard working on her aerials when he called her inside. 

Sweating and breathing heavily, she wiped her face off and followed him in. "What's up?" she asked before she saw him.

Deku was standing in the kitchen, his arms crossed and a huge smile across his face. "There's my favourite not-sister little sister!"

She smiled back. "What are you doing here?"

"Aizawa said that you were training for the entrance exams and thought that maybe you would want some help!"

"That... That would be amazing!" She squealed and wrapped him up in a tight hug. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

He laughed pat her head lovingly. "Of course, Eri. Any time. Are you busy right now?"

She shook her head and gestured outside. "No, I was actually training out in the backyard."

"Why don't I take you out to the beach where I used to train with All Might? We can work on your moves and maybe develop some new ones!" Deku turned to Aizawa. "Is that alright with you?"

Aizawa shrugged. "I don't care. It's up to Eri. She's old enough to decide this for herself."

The entire room filled with Eri's increasingly excited energy. "Yes! I say yes. Training with Deku? How could I turn that down!"

"Then go grab your things and meet me outside in two minutes!"

"Okay!"

______

Leave a comment or a vote! :D