NOVEL WEB Issue #3: To… Criminal?
I hum while running through the streets, normally I would do my morning run through the woods, but my recent debut showcased me the flaws of jumping through buildings, some of them could give up on me or they could be too high up for me to notice what's going on. I should get accustomed to the streets of the city first if I'm going to protect them one day.
Trying to be friendly I wave to an elderly couple passing by but they keep walking like nothing. As I keep running, I can see people murmur between themselves while pointing at me.
Ah, of course.
Big hoodie, dirty clothes, worn out shoes, unkempt skin and hair… I should move 'cleaning myself' before training or people would think I'm up to no good... or at least believe I'm a homeless kid running through their neighborhood. Which I am, but still.
Man this sucks.
As I'm heading to a bridge I hear a splash of water and people starting to gather at the edge of the bridge. They're shouting.
"A kid fell off!" "Oh man, somebody help him!" "I don't know how to swim!" "Oh man, this is bad..."
Moving without thinking I jump towards the water, just as I was about to hit the water I kick the water 10 times in a blink of an eye and move in to save the kid.
"Give me yoUR HAND!" I scream coming in close. As I approach I kick the water again and grab the kid's arm. I pull the child close to my chest and use 'Moonwalk' one more time as fast as I can generating enough force to appear in the air next to the bridge, startling the adults perched at the edge.
I sigh in relief as I let the kid go who's coughing, trying to breathe again. I unzip my hoodie and put it in the child's shoulders
"Are you ok?" I whisper to him. The small person I saved, looks directly at me with his big pink eyes, tears still fresh on his cheeks.
Before he can respond, people shove me aside.
"Give the kid some space!" "Let the kid breath" "Here! My quirk will heat you up" "Have my coat, this one looks like it's dirty"
I'm very annoyed now. Well… it doesn't matter, the little guy is safe and that's enough for me.
As I'm about to go back to running I hear a faint 'T-Thank you!'.
Smiling I give a thumbs up without looking back.
I keep running through the streets now without my hoodie, not that I'm going to need it, I'm a little man growing every day, soon enough I was going to need a new one.
As I pass another street a teen with an 'All Might' hoodie zooms past me in a squat position. I don't really feel like outrunning him so I keep my pace while trying to memorize the streets, their numbers and names.
A grey blur passes through the shopping district blowing a small gust of wind, startling shoppers and civilians.
"A Villain?" "In the morning?" "Did someone get a photo of him?"
'I'm sorry but I need to borrow this' I think, trying not to cringe. I really wanted to use money and make a legitimate shop sale for once, but as soon as I arrived at the shopping district I realized that I forgot I left the money buried on the ground in the forest 'Old habits die hard… please learn to forgive me!'
I hid in one of my old alleyways while holding the loot.
Weird. I feel kind of nostalgic for some reason.
Checking the things I managed to borrow before putting them in a backpack I stop as I look at the mask I got. Hm… I was actually aiming for the Oni Mask. It looked really badass.
A smiley face is the one I got instead. It's a bit different though. It kinda looks like that character from 'Assassination Classrom'. And the eye holes are too small. How am I supposed to see with this on?
'Maybe I should return it and get the Oni mask' I think, preparing myself to go out again.
"Did you see anything!?" "Negative, lost sight of him!" "Keep searching!" "Maybe in the alleyways?"
'This one will have to do!' I think warily. Great... now people are going to think I'm another All Might fanboy. Sighing, I hide the mask in my backpack.
'Sorry citizens, but today I won't be able to pay you' I say mentally starting to speed through the alleyway and kicking the ground 11 times from time to time trying to maintain the strain on my legs to a minimum.
'It's starting to become easier' I note, that means I should be approaching 12 kicks really soon.
Hm… What should my new name be then?
'Mm...'
After years of being inside of this body, it feels so alien to see myself in any reflection. I used to flinch every time I looked at myself in the lake.
Whenever I have to wash my face in the river I often find myself looking at 'my' own face for a really long time. Messy white hair, yellow eyes, pale skin, no baby fat… guess i lost it all after all that training.
I sigh, no time like the present then.
"Hey guys welcome to my chan-" I slap myself in the face with both hands and hide it "No, no, no, no…. Why did I say that?"
Ugh
This is what happens when your only source entertainment comes from youtube videos and anime.
'Thank god nobody is watching this' I look around trying to see if there's any hikers nearby.
None. Good
How do I even attempt to make personality? I used to be a loner back in high school… I think. I believe I had friends, but I barely communicated with them. I can't just act like I know any of the people I'm saving. Do people here have any customs regarding how one should interact with them? Or is that just a japanese thing? I mean I am in Japan… or a version of it. So I should respect their customs or whatever?
"Man, this is so confusing" I said softly ruffling my hair. Should I start by creating a conversation tree in case of possible scenarios happening? Would that be weird?
'That just sound like video game talk though' I bitterly think 'I can barely remember how I used to interact with people back home and even then I didn't communicate that much to begin with'
…
'Ok if I'm going to embarrass myself at least I'm going to do it right'
I grab a small stick and start to scribble boxes of possible phrases and conversations I could say during an encounter against a villain. After a while I notice I can barely write.
Wait.
I do know how to write
I start again and it just ends up looking like a child scribbles on the ground… um…
'Wait, wait, wait. I know how to write. I remember writing essays upon essays back in high school, I should at least have the muscle memory' I try again and I manage to write my name, very slowly.
G u R ē
'How is this possible? How can someone be able to lose the ability to write? Shouldn't I be proficient at it?' I think desperately writing my name over and over and over but barely improving.
'This is fucking bullshit'
Did something happen when my brain/soul got mixed with the kid and became Gurē? I mean, technically it is not even my own brain, just my thoughts and memories. I mean I used to draw and copy the anime art style a lot back in high school, does that mean I can't even attempt that?
'Oh I hate this so much' I think looking at the badly drawn picture of Goku. It looks…
'It looks like a 4 year old did it'
…
I better repeat in my head the conversation tree so I know what I should say as many times as I can. I don't have time to learn how to write right now.
'Ok, so if someone is boasting about their quirk i should go...'
That day I learned a valuable lesson…
This world is fucking stupid.
Crunch
I find myself perched on top of a concrete building overlooking the city while having a special treat, an apple. My mask is raised, giving me enough space to eat and look at the people below. So far it's been a few months since I started going out as a Hero. Normally I would go at night. But after I started to run through the streets of this city trying to get accustomed with the layout and their many districts, I learned a really important thing.
A tragedy could strike at any given time.
'This is one juicy apple, better save the seeds for later' I think, giving another bite.
It's a beautiful day in… this city I don't even know the name of. Not that it really matters. As long as the people below are safe is all that matters to me.
"... can you spare some change, ma'am" "Ew get away from me"
Hm?
I move my juicy treat away from my face and look down below. Once you live enough time in the woods, you learn a thing or two to survive. One of those things being able to listen from a distance, normally that would be impossible in the real world.
Thing is.
I live in an anime world.
A homeless man asking for change in the streets and people are trying to avoid him. Should I intervene? Are there homeless shelters in this city?
As I keep watching, a memory passes through my eyes.
… sir, do you have something to eat? please…
Get away from my store brat! You're scaring the customers away!
My eyebrows meet together as I keep watching. My hand forms into a fist.
Nobody wants you here! Unless you have money, don't come back!
Please… somebody help me… mommy… daddy…
I jump from my spot and land in the alleyway very close to the homeless person. It seems he lives alone a few steps away, I can see a few flattened cardboard boxes in the ground with pieces of trash, clothes and a thick blanket. I spot the roofless fellow coming back to his 'home'.
He gets startled as he sees me. I guess i would look intimidating considering I'm just a kid of 9 or 10 in a costume in an alleyway looking at him directly.
"Uh… h-hey man... I'm not looking for trouble" the man moves his hands in front of his face. He believes I'm a Hero… or a Villain.
"Have you eaten yet?" I said.
"A kid?" He looks startled by my question but now looks annoyed thinking I am a kid playing hero "Get out of here kid, this is not a place for you"
I quickly step to the side, cutting him off. Now that I'm in front of him I notice he's an old man, he looks malnourished and dirty. I try not to grimace at the smell.
"Have you been eating old man?" the elder jumps at my question, now fully aware of how fast I just moved right there. "Just answer the question"
"I… I haven't eaten yet, no."
Hm. I'm scaring him. No wonder, I'd be scared to if a little guy appeared next to my home and moved faster than me.
"Wait right here."
I jump off, startling the old man who in his perspective I disappeared. I move through the street in search of a food stand. Finding one, I yoink something while leaving the money behind, hoping nobody takes it away, besides the owner of course.
I zip back to the same alleyway, where the homeless man hasn't moved a single muscle. He jumps after hearing my voice again.
"Here, sorry for the wait," holding a cardboard packaging containing 12 dough balls with octopus pieces inside of them with mayonnaise and teriyaki sauce. The elder is trying to comprehend what I just did for a moment, gets a realization and concludes I have a quirk. Then look at the food I arrived with.
"... I was craving for a burger though… and is that mayonnaise?"
"Just eat the damn thing!" Now I'm starting to regret using my money on this old man. How can you be homeless and also a picky eater?
As the old man reluctantly eats his food while complaining about kids these days not being respectful enough with their elders and I sit next to his cardboard bed just listening to his scolding I smile. This is the first in a long time that I had some kind of conversation with anybody, even if it's a crusty old man complaining while eating.
At first I didn't know why I did what I did that day. But somehow I felt like I should be doing this instead of patrolling the city. That day I spent a really long time with that old man, it reminded me of the grandfather I wish I had.
Ah… Ah…
Breathing harshly I rise from the lake close to my camp. Since I started to patrol I've been feeling pretty complacent with where I am right now. So far I've only been fighting petty criminals and a few other quirk users, it's not that I'm trying to be selective with the people I encounter, but that's the type I find whenever I patrol the city.
But I can't shake the feeling of what is to come. I don't really know much about the world but I know a few faces and threats. Big robots, people with quirks able to level up cities, a killer of heroes who has a paralyzing quirk and even the symbol of peace. They're strong. Stronger than me.
I walk back to my camp and grab a towel and start to rub it across my body.
I've been trying to use 'Moonwalk' under water on this lake. Water slows my movement so it makes it difficult using any of the speed type techniques down there. So far the experiment has been proven a slow success, but a success nonetheless. It leaves me more tired than I anticipated though.
I approach my now growing garden, take a tomato and start biting into it. It's bland but I'm already used to bland tastes, it beats eating rotten food from the trash. I need to get myself some spices one of these days.
After finishing it and saving a few of the seeds I approach my stump.
I am strong, stronger than any kid my age even. If I don't pull my punches against a normal person I could kill them for sure. But against hardening quirks users, gigantification quirks or even elemental quirks I'm hopeless.
I keep breathing.
Remember to breathe, slow and easy
Learning to breathe? That's so stupid. How much is my mom paying this guy?
What's with all these sudden influx of memories appearing all of the sudden? They're starting to piss me off.
That was my first and only therapist. After my grades started falling in high school my family started to schedule sessions with a therapist. I had a really low opinion of them at the time so I didn't have the intention of listening to anything the guy had to say. We only had 4 sessions, they were really expensive and once I learned the price for them I decided to stop going.
I wonder…
'Would it work? Hm… think. What are the benefits of those breathing exercises?'
Alleviation of stress, something about sending signals to the brain or something.
Wait.
Is it possible to improve the breathing somehow? I mean, there are a few breathing techniques in anime, but I never tried them. At the time, they seemed too unreal, they always involved some kind of mythic hidden power. Would they even work?
Now I want to try them.
I look at my hands.
Then again, being able to do what I can do right now feels unreal too. Being able to puncture skin, being able to soar the skies, being able to bounce off bullets…
Breathe in… Breathe out…
Dropping my hands and adapting a straight posture I start to meditate… sorta. Breathing might be a simple concept in my world, but I never tried to improve it here. I remember hearing that in the anime 'Demon Slayer' they used breathing techniques for their sword techniques, improving their strength by increasing oxygen in the blood. There's also Hamon or Sendo, a breathing technique that lets the body produce some sort of energy that is comparable to the rays of the sun… but only affects undead beings.
It's hard to notice or even comprehend how they really use their breathing in anime, after all the studios wouldn't put the money to investigate and implement a realistic approach. Not that anime would be realistic for that matter.
So how do I improve my lung capacity?
Even if it doesn't work, I could benefit by being able to stay underwater for more time than 30 seconds at most and run through the air at higher speed. Should I invest in gourds to train my lungs? What if it doesn't work? I would have a few gourds lying around the camp.
Breathe in… Breathe out…
Hm
This is kind of relaxing now that I think about it. It feels… nice.
From what I know, to improve the lungs capacity in 'Demon Slayer' they had to maintain a specific way of breathing at all times, even while training or sleeping. And a good way to measure if your breathing improved was blowing into a gourd and exploding it. I'll have to search for gourds while I'm in the shopping district. I could replace it with rubber balls if I don't find any though.
But first.
Breathe in… Breathe out…
Guess there's no better time than the present. I maintain the same way of breathing while moving towards the logs I carry while running, as I start to lift it my breathing changes and I abruptly stop.
This could prove difficult after all.
Breathe in… Breathe out… Breathe in… Breathe out…
Forget the logs, I'm going to start from the beginning. I'm going to have this down in no time.
A few days later I'm jumping through the skies while looking below, I pass a big building, people are still working at this hour it seems. I wave at them as I jump by.
I've been trying to keep my breathing controlled while using Moonwalk during my patrols, but even that seems to prove a difficult feat.
Ever since I started to control my breathing it felt like all the training I've been doing all these years was done incorrectly. Whenever I run my breathing spikes and goes on a completely different rhythm than the one I'm trying to maintain. Then there's a different one while jumping through the skies. I haven't noticed it before, but my breathing stops as soon as I start to fall whenever I'm using 'Moonwalk' and comes back when I jump again or land on a solid surface.
A small trace of my old fear of heights.
Instead of maintaining the same breathing rhythm while jumping, I decided to adjust my jumping to my breathing. A small fix to my predicament but as I'm able to improve my lungs I can foresee a future in which I could be able to maintain a fixed breathing while going at greater speeds. That would be really cool.
Breathe in… Breathe out…
Jump… Jump…
Look at that. It does help by keeping me calm.
I spot another fight between a Hero and a Villain down below. This time a rock type quirk against a hero in black with a grey scarf. Their confrontation ends as soon as it starts with the villain on the floor, wrapped in the hero's scarf.
'Must be that professor dude. Does he only patrol at night? How is he able to teach classes in the morning then?' I wonder while still jumping at the rhythm of my breathing.
Breathe in… Breathe out…
Jump… Jump…
'Hope I don't have to confront him anytime soon, that scarf looks really tough' I think taking a different route as far away from the scarf dude. One must know their own limits 'And my limits are over there, ten miles away'
Breathe in… Breathe out…
Jump… Jump…
'Maybe I should visit Salt. I'll bring him Takoyaki again with extra mayonnaise. That would piss him off, heh'
BANG BANG
'Shit' my breathing hitches, but I get it under control and start to jump faster towards where I heard the gunshots.
I land in a house close to the place. I breathe in.
A woman.
"... re you thinking?"
Blood trickling down from her wounds.
"... as trying to aim to her shoulde..."
No longer moving.
My breathing stops.
A/N: Yeah, i did that. I wanted to keep writing but the emotional breakdown will be done in the next chapter.
Quick Pop Quiz: Is getting memories flash in front of your eyes part of the anime logic?
Answer: Of course it is!
There's so many ideas I wanna write in this fic right now, so many possible encounters, interactions and such. But I can't. The fic is still in the early stages and I'm still developing the main character and the world around him. I'm so excited for the future.
I've gotten a lot of ideas from the responses I've gotten from this site and friends, and I can't wait to implement them. I might have to slow down the update rate so I can catch up to the anime/manga though, I know the general idea of certain characters and such but i'm relatively new to the series, didn't know i was missing on this lol
I decided to integrate the breathing scene at the last minute, the original plan was for another skip, a year later since his debut as a "Hero" (Vigilante), but it was too clean, really abrupt, there was no build up to it so after talking it with a friend i decided to scrap it or maybe save it for later.
While writing the breathing scene i wondered what I would do in Gure's shoes. Which was to adapt everything to the breathing technique until it became part of your routine, like writing without looking. And while writing the scene, i though, what if i keep going? It was a very interesting chapter for sure but what if i add Gure's first test?
Stay alert for next chapter 
:)