I'm No Hero (My Hero Academia Fanfic)

Chapter 18

People filled the streets as they were all excited about what they could do next. Every year, the Musutafu Hero Festival was filled with all sorts of activities. There were games where people would try to win the biggest stuffed animal they could. Storytellers filled the street, telling tales of the heroes being honored to younger kids who dreamed of following their footsteps. My personal favorite was the smell of food that wafted in the air, even if the food itself wasn't the best.

I followed Sakura, looking around at the red paper lanterns hanging anywhere a string could be hung. It was one of the things I could look forward to when they would be lit. Sure, I had seen it last night with my family, but I couldn't wait to see it lit up later tonight with Sakura.

Sakura dragged me from booth to booth. We played different games that were at the different stands, failing miserably at every single one. I would watch as Sakura would eat takoyaki and other Japanese dishes, urging me to try some. It was more of a joke than anything else as she knew I couldn't stand most of the food here.

Besides, the last time I tried takoyaki, I threw up. It was glorified, deep fried octopus; something Sakura managed to forget to mention when I first tried one years ago.

Not all foods were horrible at the festival. Every year, I would treat myself to a candy apple, as it was pretty similar to the caramel apples I'd get from home. Instead of the apple being dipped in caramel and chocolate, it was coated in a hard candy. Since it was simple and sweet, I could actually enjoy it.

After I was handed a candy apple from a vender, I turned around to find Sakura, but bumped into something else, er, someone else. I wasn't expecting it at all as the treat flew from my hand and landed somewhere else.

I nearly fell alongside it, but someone grabbed my shoulder and pulled me closer to them. Every inch of my body froze as I had no idea who had grabbed me, or who was right behind me. All I could think was how familiar it felt, and not in a good way. Part of me wanted to run as I started to hear something I haven't heard in a long time. It was the reason I hated touch. I wasn't sure when the whole thing started or how, but if someone made any sort of physical contact for a long period of time, I could hear swings creaking in the background like they would in a scary movie.

For a while, I thought I had gotten past hearing those sounds, but apparently, I didn't.

Luckily, the sound didn't last long as the person let me go. I took a deep breath to calm down before turning around to see a man wearing a dark green mask over his face. It was odd, seeing someone in a mask, but it wasn't uncommon for people to do that at this festival. For all I knew, he could've been a hero I just haven't heard of. He was tall like most heroes were, but his dark green hair seemed a bit unruly.

"Watch your step next time, Miss," he warned me as he placed his hands on his hips. "Might not be so lucky next time."

"Y-yeah," I said before I quickly bowed my head. "Sorry about that. I-I'll be more careful next time."

"Mhmm," the man hummed before I noticed his feet turning around. "Crazy things can happen when people least expect them, so keep your guard up."

I snapped my head up to look at the man, having a strange feeling that he meant something by that. The man was already gone. As I looked around, there seemed to be no sign of him at all.

"Tami-tan! There you are," I heard Sakura say. "Weren't you in line for your candy apple?"

"Oh," I said, before turning around to see Sakura standing behind me with another paper tray of takoyaki in her hands. "I, uh, got distracted."

Sakura frowned when she heard that, and it didn't take me a while to realize why. My friend looked around, trying to figure out what was bothering me. Her eyes landed on the candy apple that was laying not too far away from us. Someone must've noticed it as we did as the passerby picked it up and tossed it in the nearest trash bin.