Insomnia [Shota Aizawa x Reader] (Rewritten Version)

Chapter 14

The three of you started heading towards your house. You knew where it was in relation to the beach, and it wouldn't take too long. There was a lot to talk about on the way, anyway.

Shota watched Ethan warily, ready to use his quirk if he took any deep breaths or anything.

"We were working with a doctor," Ethan started. "Or scientist, more like. Him and Sensei had been working with us—Katsumi, Miki, Aiko, and me—to make this ultimate Nomu that's immune to quirks and has powerful offensive quirks."

"How are they made?" Shota already didn't like where this was going. The Nomu from USJ was already extremely difficult to deal with. And with it immune to quirks? It would be a real monster.

"We don't know the specifics. I think the doctor has this machine that takes the DNA from someone and extracts the quirk part and implants it into another being." Ethan shrugged. "I'm no scientist. We were just looking for suitable people with suitable quirks."

"Why were you doing this?"

"You must've heard a bit from Katsumi. He wants to take out the Symbol of Peace."

"He said that 'it's nothing but a bribe' or something. And that people will step on others for their own benefit to get to the top." For as long as he'd been a hero, Shota never quite put too much thought about the reasoning and motivation behind villains' actions. "What happened to you guys?"

"The other three were in a different situation than me." Ethan looked down as they walked, furrowing his brow as if trying to remember. "To put it short, they were orphans on the street. Since they were stealing food and money, people called the police on them even though they were children and a hero got involved. He came to help them and he gained some attention in the media. He then treated them like dirt when not in public, since they were under his care for a bit, and threatened them to play along. They were able to escape, thankfully, and returned to stealing. I guess their hatred for heroes grew and this 'Symbol of Peace' that everyone talked about was now a lie to them.

"I met Aiko and them a while later, and to be honest, I agree with them. There's heroes in this world that just want to get to the top without a care about anyone else." He looked at Shota with a blank stare. "And then there's heroes who truly want to help. But who can say they really mean it?"

Shota remained silent, thinking about this logic. True, there were people who looked at the Symbol as the final milestone, or goal that they were to achieve. It was a boost to their dreams. But sometimes it could get in their heads, and the dream becomes... nothing but a bribe for fame and money.

"I wanted to be a hero once, y'know." Ethan's words snapped him from his thoughts. "It's funny, I rely so much on my quirk to hide and steal and escape. But when it really comes down to it, its convenience isn't as varied as I thought it would be." He let out a dry laugh. "Swimming." He looked to Shota with a small grin. "You know what happens when I dive underwater?"

When Shota didn't answer, you replied shortly for him, "He's invisible." Shota looked to you, then raised an eyebrow in surprise to himself.

"Yep." Ethan still had a grin on his face. A sad one. Shota could see it in his eyes how disappointed and broken he was. "I can't control the activation part of my quirk. If I hold my breath I automatically go invisible. I tried controlling my quirk to make it work differently, but...." He shrugged, signifying it didn't work. "I tried to save someone from drowning. It didn't go so well for me, the victim, nor the pro-hero. Apparently it's very difficult for a person to save someone when there's an invisible figure in the way."

"He wasn't accepted into any of the hero schools he applied for," you added. "That incident had some popularity and had some factor to it."

"How was that... your fault?" Shota said. He was angry, but his voice was even and calm. That wasn't rational at all. "They shouldn't be blaming anyone—"