MHA: Time Manipulator

"Yes, yes, I absolutely agree with him," said the man with fluffy, disheveled hair slicked back, raising the last piece of pancake to his mouth with his massive feather. "Your request, gorgeous, is pure suicide. Just like, by the way, having such wallpapers on your phone." 

One of the feathers swiftly flew out from behind Kimika and Giran, snatching the phone off the table and bringing it to the man. 

'Damn it! He's been eavesdropping on us this whole time!' Giran cursed inwardly.

"As far as I know, she doesn't like being portrayed in such a way, especially if the one looking at that photo is weaker than her. And here's some advice from a man: forget about her, she's out of your league. Also... I'd never have thought anyone would dare to draw such art, risking their life." 

He fell silent, then turned the phone toward himself, examining the artwork with attentiveness and genuine interest in his eyes. "Although... you know what, I like it. I wouldn't mind getting the contact of this person. And also the one who makes these pancakes."

Standing behind Giran, Kimika swallowed hard, not taking her eyes off the figure of the winged hero, sometimes forgetting how to blink or even breathe. 

She knew this hero. 

A hero who, despite his carelessness and audacity, was ranked in the top 10 best heroes in Japan. A hero who was only two places below All Might in the rankings.

And seeing him now, right in front of her, especially in her current state — powerless, without her quirk… It was a verdict. 

A verdict with only one ending. 

Cold sweat beaded on her temples. Her breathing grew heavier, as if all the oxygen in the room had disappeared. 

But that was far from everything.

In Kimika's mind, various theories she had read long ago with Izuku flashed by, according to which this hero didn't take the rankings seriously at all, and if he wanted, he could rise even higher. 

This hero... 

"Hawks," she said simultaneously with Giran, and the next moment Kimika felt a slight push as he, trying to step back, bumped into her.

"How unexpected to see such a guest in my apartment. You could have at least given me a heads up. I would have gotten ready and made more of my pancakes." 

Hawks casually stood up from the chair, stretching lazily after sitting for a long time on the uncomfortable seat.

"Who would have known? I didn't expect to end up here myself. As always, after another long and exhausting workday, I was flying home, planning to relax on the couch, watch the new episode of my favorite show, with a can of cold beer and some chicken wings. But, at the very end of my route, I noticed an interesting person running right in the middle of the night, avoiding all the hero patrols."

With a smile, he glanced at Kimika, putting Giran's phone into his pocket and putting on his glasses, while feathers were being released from his wings.

"And although, judging by our brief acquaintance, you are quite interesting people, to be honest, it's already time for me to wrap things up. Because, given the choice: whether to continue this conversation, spending my already limited off-work time, or return home and stick to the plan, enjoying my rest..."

Pausing, his feathers began to slowly spin, their sharp tips facing Kimika and Giran. 

"I think the choice is obvious. Although, if we had met during working hours, I wouldn't have refused the conversation... But that's a different story."

Kimika saw the feathers fly towards her and Giran at incredible speed in that very moment. 

"Get down!" Giran's shout rang out, and instinctively covering her face with her hands, she felt him abruptly push her away. 

With a loud thud, she hit the ground, and in less than a second, three feathers whizzed by, only five inches from her eyes, cutting several strands of her hair.

Without the intention of stopping, they continued flying, crashing and easily passing through the wall. 

"GIRAN!" Kimika managed to scream as the figure that had saved her flew down the corridor, with several feathers flying right behind, two of which were carrying a blanket. 

Soon, a blow occurred that made the whole apartment shudder, and several paintings from the walls and objects from the shelves fell to the floor.

"The first one is ready," a cold voice sounded near the door, as Hawks entered the doorway with a relaxed stride, hands in his pockets, and staring directly at Kimika. "Only you are left, beauty." 

He paused, as if giving her time to process his words, but in reality, as he took out his phone from his pocket, he began ordering a delivery of chicken legs.

"Don't take this personally, after all, it's my job. You know, if time were on my side, I would gladly give you a head start... But I want to finish everything as quickly as possible and get back home before the delivery arrives. You know how these couriers are — you'll be writing to them later, looking for them..." he added with a heavy sigh, without even lifting his gaze. 

From his wings, a few feathers shot out, which, without hesitation, flew straight at Kimika.

Hawks was already turning, feeling the faint taste of beer and snacks in his mouth, when suddenly the space was shattered by a sharp, ringing sound — a strike, as if dozens of knives had hit metal at once. 

Kimika, just a moment ago preparing for the inevitable, sharply opened her eyes with a quick breath. 

A barrier.

Right in front of her, a black, night-like hemispherical barrier appeared, surrounding her from all sides. 

And only in the places where the feathers had recently struck, now helplessly lying on the ground, were faint ripples barely visible, quickly fading away. 

"What the..." Kimika barely managed to mutter when the air was once again torn apart by the sharp sound of a strike — another attempt by Hawks to break through the barrier.

"Barrier, so that's your quirk," came the muffled voice of the hero from behind the barrier, followed by another strike. "I've heard a bit about you, Tokima, right? If I've mispronounced your name, I apologize. So, getting back to the point. I heard about you and your friend on the news, during the commercial breaks between the shows. To be honest, I never really listened to them, because I didn't think I'd ever run into any of you. After all, you were operating pretty far from Kyushu or Tokyo. But as you can see, we've met after all, and while we have the time, maybe you'll tell me how you managed to escape from All Might and a bunch of heroes? I don't believe All Might wouldn't have broken your barrier if he'd wanted to." 

The barrier trembled again from the strike of feathers, but this time, unlike the previous ones, the sound came from below. 

'Damn, the barrier is spherical after all... Looks like I'll be without chicken legs today.'

Shuddering with each strike against the barrier, Kimika heard Hawks continue to say something or asking questions, but with every second, his voice grew quieter and quieter until it completely disappeared. 

All that remained was the faint sound of feathers hitting the barrier, growing more frequent as they struck various points, as if searching for a weak spot.

"This is not my quirk... Where did this barrier come from?" she whispered softly to herself. 

She watched the ripples that continuously appeared and disappeared across the entire barrier, unable to stop herself from wondering, "How much longer can it withstand these blows?" 

"Exactly as long as he has the patience to not unleash all the feathers at once" a calm response echoed in Kimika's mind. 

"Kurami?"

Not receiving an answer to her fear, Kimika saw the barrier begin to flicker and brighten, as if weakening from the endless strikes of Hawks' feathers. 

The darkness slowly lightened until the barrier became completely transparent. 

But to her relief, it turned out to be just a visual effect, as the barrier didn't disappear. Moreover, it seemed to be one-sided, because the hero did not react to it in any way.

Kimika was able to discern Hawks' calm, yet somewhat focused face, as well as the dozens of feathers swirling around. From time to time, some of them would spin with their sharp tips and strike the barrier at incredible speed. But every time, it all ended the same — they would bounce off and return to the other swirling feathers.

"Oh, just look at that face! Not a trace of fear or confusion, as if everything that happened was just a postponement of his victory, ha-ha!" suddenly, the five-year-old version of Kimika appeared, still in that same little costume with All Might.

"It seems he doesn't consider you a worthy opponent at all. He probably thinks you're a weak, insecure girl. And despite that, he even stooped to distracting you with questions, trying to strike from below. Ha-ha, you should've seen his face when he found out the barrier is everywhere!" 

"Kurami..." Kimika quietly said, clenching her fists.

"Although, now that I think about it, there's some truth to that. Because right now, you don't have a quirk, and physically you're weak, and all that... Ha, look, it seems he's losing patience, starting to launch even more feathers!" 

"Kurami..." Kimika whispered again, her barely audible voice swallowed by Kurami's laughter and the sounds of the feathers striking the barrier.

Tightening her fists even more, she felt the pain and despair growing inside her. 

"At this rate, my barrier will hold for another minute, and then..." 

"KURAMI!" Kimika suddenly shouted, slamming her hands onto the floor. 

"Huh? What?" Kurami quickly turned around and saw tears dripping from Kimika's eyes, soaking her hands, from which blood was barely noticeable, trickling down.

"Why?" Kimika asked with pain in her voice, desperately wiping the tears from her face with her sleeve. "Why does it always end the same? No matter how much I study, no matter how much I train, no matter how many new techniques I come up with... why, in the end, does someone always have to save and protect me?! Why?!"

She paused, glancing at Hawks, who stood in the same spot where she once stood with Giran, and her tears erupted in a new wave.

"Why... why always... because of me... just problems?" she whispered, her voice trembling with pain. "I brought a hero here, and as a result, Giran had to save me, sacrificing his chance to escape, and then you saved me with this barrier... And all the time, I just stood there, frozen, and watched all of it..."

Kurami silently looked at her, listening, with a barely noticeable smile on her face. 'It seems the time when I'll regain control over her body will come much sooner.'

"And everyone always talks about my weakness... But why? Why!? I've been training since childhood, alone, with my mom, with my dad, with Toga... always giving it my all... I do everything Toga tells me, and yet... in the end, I still turn out to be the weakest and I get saved!"1

Kimika paused as her heart began to beat faster and faster, and the despair and pain were replaced by anger. "And now what? I'm left without my quirk, and any moment now, the top-3 hero will catch me! What the hell is he even doing here!? He should, as always, be in Tokyo! Why... Why does everything always go wrong?" 

Kimika started crying loudly, finally letting out everything that had been swirling in her mind. She covered her face with her hands, unsuccessfully trying to wipe away her tears.

Kurami, moving closer to Kimika, tried to touch her, but as she expected, she saw her hand simply pass through her. 

With a sigh, she lay down beside her, propping her head up with her hand, and began to watch Hawks, who was growing more and more persistent in breaking through her barrier. 'Less than a minute left? No... I'll give everything I've got, this moment cannot be lost.'

"You know, I spoke thoughtlessly. You're not weak, it's just... you need an activator. It used to be Toga. And now, since she's not around, you're just not used to acting without a push. Also, I lied to you a little — your quirk is still with you," she said calmly, while a confused Kimika turned to her, whispering: "What?"

"What? Actually, your quirk just turned off. You haven't forgotten that you don't have horns, right? Using it without them is like killing your own body. So your body just blocked the ability to activate it. That's all. It's like that automatic quirk shutdown from childhood, when you trained with the balls and couldn't activate both eyes at the same time."

"Then I can just... remove this block, like I did back then," Kimika quietly replied.

"Right on target," Kurami replied, standing tall and looking her in the eye. "And here's my moment! I can help. Take and use my powers — I'll do all the hard work for you. And you'll get your quirk, bigger horns, and as a bonus, even stronger eyes. Thanks to that, you'll be able to defeat this chicken with one strike, which will save Giran, and he might even reconsider and help you after all."

Kimika, having wiped away her tears, almost agreed. But suddenly, an old image appeared before her eyes: herself, small, desperately training with the balls. Alone. Without anyone's help. And despite every failure, despite the tears, she never gave up, forcing herself to move forward in order to become stronger.

And how could she even think about accepting someone else's power after those words that were just spoken? 

"No!" she answered without a trace of doubt. 

Kurami's face twisted into an angry grimace for a moment, but immediately returned to its usual expression.

"Well... it's your choice, though quite unexpected. And... that's exactly why I like it," Kurami said, smiling a predatory grin, showing her dark fangs. "And because of that... I'll make an exception and give you a piece of advice — free of charge. The safe. The one you brought with you, has a false bottom. There, Toga hid a trigger. Use every last drop of it. Your body will be flooded with a quirk enhancer, and as a result, your body will be forced to return your ability to activate your quirk, so that you can do something with the bubbling energy inside you. This is the only quick way to regain your quirk. And while any other person would just die from this, but..."

She leaned in closer, and her eyes sparkled with a dark flame. "But you — you're not an ordinary person. You have me. And don't consider this as help. If you die, I die too. So I'll simply be forced to give up my powers to keep your body alive."

With these words, Kurami vanished, and her voice echoed in Kimika's head, fading with each word.

"But remember, I can't support your body forever. You'll only have a minute… maybe two. After that, I'll forcibly eject the trigger from your body. And I won't care whether the fight is over by then or not — I won't wait. And one more thing… This will hurt quite a lot."

Left alone, filled with determination, Kimika noticed how, whether due to Kurami's departure or the time given to Hawks, he began relentlessly attacking the weakened barrier, purposefully directing all his feathers at three different points. And right before her eyes, cracks began to appear at those points, causing Hawks to intensify his attacks.

But she no longer cared. Resolutely, she said, "Toga, just wait for me, and I will save you," as she took off her backpack.

At the same time, on the other side of the city, at U.A. Hero Academy, a light-haired girl was sitting in one of the classrooms. After sneezing, as if someone had remembered her, she shifted her gaze to the full moon that illuminated the night sky.

"Kimi, do you remember, under this very moon, we completed our first joint mission?" she smiled, gently swaying on her chair. "I wonder how you're doing without me... I hope you won't decide to become a knight on a white horse and try to save me, right?"

But right in the moment of Toga's fantasies about how Kimika would look as a knight, Aizawa, who was standing behind the podium, slammed a book onto the table.

"Don't get distracted from the task, the faster we finish, the sooner we'll finally go our separate ways..."

"Yes, yes! Aizawa-sensei!" Toga responded cheerfully, beginning to answer the questions on the survey sheet. 

But just a few seconds later, she got distracted again and, with a smile, turned her gaze to the window. 

"Why is this happening to me..." muttered Aizawa, bringing his fingers to his temple. "This is the hundredth time..."

Having no strength left, he curled up in his sleeping bag, lay down on the ground, and, not falling asleep, simply closed his eyes, trying to recover at least a little bit of energy before the upcoming opening of the academy, where twenty new students would be waiting for him.

And suddenly, some unknown feeling overwhelmed him, running like chills down his spine. He felt that these students would be special, just like the one who was almost humming as she sat behind him in the auditorium, looking out the window. 

"I'll expel them all as soon as I see them..." he muttered quietly.

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I feel mixed emotions about this chapter. On one hand, it's incredibly important because it's where the battle with Hawks begins and there's a gradual change in Kimika's character. Plus, the ending with a brief fragment of Toga's life. On the other hand, I spent nearly 5 days on it...

And… how many times did I rewrite this chapter from scratch... Every time, something didn't feel right: Kimika hardly had any lines throughout the chapter, the events were unfolding too slowly and boringly, and my desire to convey the characters' personalities as accurately as in the original... nearly drove me insane! Now I can happily go and drink some tea! Tea for everyone!

Want to see the continuation even faster than the next day? Or perhaps you want even more chapters? Head over to my Patreon — it's all there! But don't worry, sooner or later, it will be here too! patreon.com/Zoi4erom

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