Chapter 3

Five years had passed since that visit to the quirk doctor's office. I'd been to see Dr Aoi a few times since then to check up on the development of my quirk.

I loved my quirk, it was truly incredible. I had named it forget me not after my mother's favourite flower. It grew endlessly in our garden and in the summer time the ground became a blanket of blue petals.

My quirk allowed me to recreate anything I'd seen, it was far more complex and amazing than I'd first thought. Doctor Aoi said that my quirk drew on my stamina to create constructions made out of a unique energy. My constructions preserved the essence of the thing they mirrored. That was why the sunset retained its natural beauty.

As I grew my stamina increased naturally. I also devoted a portion of my free time to exercising, nothing that would stunt my growth, just running and occasionally some press ups and sit ups.

The amount of stamina consumed was proportional to the complexity and size of the construction. I could manifest a small sunset all day long without breaking a sweat.

I loved to sit in the tree in our garden and experiment with my quirk. I kept it active almost always. I found ways to practice with my quirk even when I was at school. I would create and dissipate objects in my bag, practising until the thing was embedded in my muscle memory.

That was one of the constraints of my quirk. Manifesting a complex object required me to close my eyes and focus. I trained to overcome this limit by practicing over and over. Initially it had taken me 5 seconds to manifest a bouquet of flowers in my bag, but now I could create them in the blink of an eye.

I had subconsciously used my quirk on several occasions. A few years ago I had tripped up in the playground. Before my head could hit the ground, several dozen cushions manifested and cushioned my landing.

"Jake! It's time for school!" Mum called up to me from the foot of the stairs.

"Coming." I answered. I looked at myself in the mirror. Wearing school uniform felt strange to me, I was glad that it was at least navy blue rather than black, my preference for brighter colours hadn't changed.

Mum drove me to school singing along to an American radio station. My parents had decided to move to Japan in order to be closer to the famous symbol of peace. His presence in Japan had villains and criminals constantly checking their backs and walking on eggshells. Japan's crime rates were several times lower than America's.

We'd visited America a few times. I liked it there, I spoke American at a semi-fluent level and I enjoyed ordering pancakes with maple syrup. Things felt different in America though, there was a tension in the air. Villains and criminals in Japan used their powerful quirks to frighten and exploit regular people. But in America more crimes were commited with guns than quirks. I preferred the peacefulness of Japan.

"Your teacher says you've been a little distracted recently honey. Is everything going okay at school?" Mum asked, looking from the road to me with a gentle but firm smile.

I thought back to my teachers frequent glances. The school must've called my parents. My practice with my quirk had affected my attention in class, my teacher probably thought that I was being bullied or falling behind.

"I'm sorry mummy. I was practising my quirk in my bag, I'll pay more attention to my teacher." I said honestly, I never lied to my parents.

Mum sighed, I could hear the relief in her voice, "That's good honey, remember school is important, your father and I are proud of whatever grade you get just as long as you're doing your best."

"Yes mummy." I said.

My mother hummed in response and ruffled my hair. She went back to singing along to the radio as she drove. I was happy that she wasn't annoyed. I didn't like making my parents upset.

I looked at my hands. I opened my palms and faced them upwards. A baby chick appeared on my left palm. It cheeped loudly and pecked my hand, walking about in unsteady little circles. I concentrated a little and imagined a beetle appearing on my other hand.

The beetle popped into existence and lifted it's head to look up at me. It buzzed it's wings and took off into the air, flying around my head and landing in my hair.

Manifesting living creatures was challenging. They drained much more of my stamina than inanimate objects. They weren't truly alive, they were made out of energy rather than flesh and blood. But they were still far more complicated than inanimate objects.

"Have a good day sweetheart!" Mum said to me.

I opened the car door and stepped out onto the pavement, "I will! See you later mummy!"

She smiled and waved goodbye. She looked smart and professional in her suit, her job was busy and she was always on the phone but she always made time for me.

"Hey Jake!" A boy waved at me from across the street, he was walking along holding hands with his mum. He hugged her and said goodbye before looking both ways and crossing the street to meet me.

"Good morning Riku." I greeted him back with the same warm and friendly tone.

I was becoming slightly more sociable as I aged. It had surprised me at first, but it wasn't a bad thing and I'd gradually come to embrace it. When I'd asked my parents if Riku could come over for a playdate they'd practically squealed with delight. Riku went home that evening stuffed with pizza and ice cream that my parents had excitedly bought way too much of. They'd never met any of my friends before and hadn't known how much to buy. I'd never really had friends for them to meet before.

I still didn't socialise too much. I didn't like large groups or loud noises. Riku was my best friend. I chatted and laughed with my other classmates and was invited to lots of birthday parties, but he was my favourite friend to spend time with.

His quirk was a mutant type. He had large horns on his head like a deer, the same kind as his mum who'd walked him to school. Some of the other kids had called him names, saying that he should go back to the forest and play with the other animals. They'd stopped doing that after I gave them several lectures and manifested a few tarantulas on their heads.

I didn't like violence, not unless it was truly necessary, but I didn't mind scaring a few naughty children in order to make them more receptive to my teachings about mutual respect and inclusivity.

I sometimes wondered whether Riku's quirk influenced his character. He was kind-hearted and shy. He was also a vegetarian just like his parents. Initially he'd been very reserved around me. But as the school year went on we'd gotten closer and he became the confident and compassionate friend I loved.

"We've got PE today!" Riku exclaimed excitedly.

We were in the same class at school. We sat on the same table and we always chose each other as partners for activities.

The first lesson of the day was maths. My last favourite. I forced myself to fill in the questions on my page and put my hand up when the teacher asked for volunteers. I saw her pleased look at my enthusiasm. I didn't want to dissapoint mum, I'd told her that I would pay more attention in class and I always kept my word.

The questions weren't hard, I simply didn't want to do them. I had an incredible memory, the doctors said that it was the result of my quirk. All I had to do was focus and I could recall anything I'd ever seen. This made school work a breeze. I was so grateful for my quirk, I didn't have to spend hours studying like some of my classmates.

"Very good Jake! You got everything right!" My teacher praised me as she collected in our worksheets. Some of my classmates gave me jealous looks. Riku just looked like at me in awe as if I was some kind of rare and extofic creature.

Lunch was a nice break from boring schoolwork. I sat with Riku on the grass and we compared what our parents had packed us for lunch. His was a typical Japanese lunchbox, there was rice and several side dishes. Mine was more typical American; a ham sandwich, a banana and a packet of crisps. Mum had made my lunch for me, her lunches were always straightforward and usually involved something between slices of bread.

Dad made my lunch on Thursdays and Fridays, he started work later on those days and had time to make my lunch. He liked to cook and would gleefully whip up a curry or chilli for me to heat up at school.

Riku and I sat eating our lunches. We chatted occasionally, but we were both content listening to the breeze and enjoying our food.

Later on it was time for PE. We all got changed into our sports clothes and assembled on the football pitch for a match.

"Boys against girls!" Several of my classmates chanted in unison.

My teacher valiantly tried to explain that this was a terrible idea since the girls in my class were all taller and faster than the boys. The teams would've been much more balanced with an even split of the genders.

Unfortunately the pride of my male classmates was easily provoked. They furiously fought back against our teacher's attempts to change the teams.

An hour later the boys time trudged back to the changing rooms with their heads hanging low. I had done my best to help out and scored a couple of goals. I had inherited some of my father's strengthening quirk and was quite strong got my age, but it wasn't enough to stop us getting our butts kicked.

At only 9-10 years old, skill and experience weren't yet influential in our sports competitions. Being the biggest and the strongest basically guaranteed a win.

Neither Riku or I cared that we'd lost, we got changed back into our regular clothes while laughing at the multiple balls to the face our keeper had taken. He was one of my friends also and he laughed alongside us about the appalling result.

"Bye Riku!" I called out to Riku from mum's car. The rest of the day had gone quickly and before I knew it was time to be picked up.

"Bye Jake!" He shouted, waving back at me.

Mum watched this interaction and beamed with pride. She had become good friends with Riku's mom as well. He was my first best friend and I was his first best friend too. Both of our parents were overjoyed to see their normally introverted sons spending time with another person their own age.

"Good day at school honey?" Mum asked.

"It was really good, we lost a football match." I replied happily, buckling myself in to my seat.

She raised an eyebrow and looked at me with bemusement, "And you're happy about that?"

I thought back to our goalkeeper's face as the ball hit him. The first time I ran over and asked if he was okay, but by the third time I just couldn't help but laugh.

Thinking back to it made me start laughing all over again, "Yes mummy! It was really fun, Rimuru got hit in the face 4 times."

Pshhh!

Mum snorted with laughter. She then covered her mouth and attempted to take on a responsible attitude, "You shouldn't laugh at that Jake!"

I looked at her straight in the eyes, "Four times mummy!"

We both burst into laughter. The engine hummed as mum pulled away and we started the drive home. Occasionally one of us would start giggling for no reason at all and the other would inevitably end up joining in.

School wasn't all bad. If only there wasn't so much maths.