ZUGAIDA HAYABUSA
I'm a fool. I know nothing. I suppose I'll share my story. My name is Zugaida Hayabusa, my quirk is Motorbike. It's quite literally an entire motorbike that bends on my arm. It's been a real hindrance growing up. You see, when I was born, I almost killed my mother. The bike was far too big for the womb and she had to be hospitalised for 3 months before I was born. All she could feel was pain and suffering.
Exiting the womb must have been the most painful process of my birthing, I wouldn't know the details of that part however, since mom never told me. In fact, all she told me was that I was the worst thing to ever happen to her. My father was a bit more lenient, but he divorced my mother a while before I was born and I rarely saw him. I never even knew his quirk. My years as a lower class toddler with an arm bigger than him, a downright abusive mother, and social ineptness might've seemed bad (And yeah it was.) but there was this one thing that kept me going.
That man. Dynamight. The strongest hero of all. A true legend, they say that while the Late Bunny Hero, Mirko, kept the villain who killed him busy, he slowly became more and more mad even from beyond the grave, then rose back to life. I remember discovering him when I was 5. My mom had fallen asleep watching the TV, must've been off watching some soap opera or something, I walked over to the TV, my arm wheel rolling and accidentally rolling on the remote, causing the channel to switch to the news. The news broadcast showcased some....things I don't remember that much about, it was some villain attack or fire or something. All I remember is the camera shaking, and focusing on Dynamight, flying with his explosions and screaming. His arms were so big, in the shape of a large grenade. My toddler brain thought "This man is just like me!" Of course, now I know that it's part of his costume, but that didn't change much.
Now then, let's talk about the worst and dumbest moment of my life so far. The day of the UA Hero Course Practical Exam. Here's a flashback to that event.
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I walked up to the door. Hayabusa: Mom, I'm going out to the exam.
H. Mom: ....
It was quiet.
Hayabusa: Mom?
H. Mom: Honey...I don't know if you're able to do this..
She said from the couch she was laying on.
Hayabusa: But...it's my dream.
H. Mom: I know it is...but...I am worried....
She furrowed her eyebrows, suddenly developing an interest in our dirty and stained carpet. She then smirked and looked back at me with a dirty toothy grin.
H. Mom: Could you...try to get beer for me after this...will ya?
Hayabusa: ...yes..I will.
I sighed and exited my house. It was just barely a house, only having all the essentials one house must have, but it is so small and crooked.
I used my wheel to drive over to the UA Building. It's amazing how the human mind and body can adapt to situations, I have learnt to balance myself when driving with one hand. If I was normal and drove a bike with these skills, I'm sure I'd manage to be one of the best bikers around. Unfortunately, I'm not.A lot of people (and by a lot I just mean the occasional schoolmate) have asked what it feels to have this arm, like how I control the bike and it's steering. If I were to describe it, it feels like there's a button or trigger on a certain area on your arm. It's like when you have the feeling to burp, and there's this sort of pull back in your throat.
I live quite close to the UA School building, so it was not that hard to drive there. As I was rolling about, I saw a red haired girl with ladybug wings fly around, so cool, I wonder what it'd be like to fly.
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I stood outside Center C. Oh man, so many people....I felt 100 eyes staring at me for my arm....I'm scared, very scared. I zoned out during the orientation, all I knew was that one of Dynamight's friends was the teacher.
So cool.
So cool.
So cool.
So cool.
What wasn't cool was the amount of people here. I felt like there were a thousand people competing for a place in the UA school. I won't be able to do this. I am too scared...I gripped my motorbike arm tightly. Am I able to do this? Maybe if I try hard enough..I don't know...suddenly someone knocked into me.
Zogaikotsu: 'Scuse me! Outta the way! Heyyyy! Jisakaru Chan! We're in the same center! Ain't that crazy!?
He shouted as he dramatically pushed me aside, I felt so terrified at mild contact....god I'm so pathetic..I feel so pained, I feel broken. Maybe I should just quit. I should just go home and get mom beer instead...maybe that will make her happy, maybe I can feel at peace for even a second..
Dynamight's Friend: -ONE- Go go go!
Oh wait what? Oh- OH GOD! THE THING IS STARTING! Everyone rushed into the door, I drove myself inside.
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I did it. Apparently, you need to kill a bunch of robots. Not sure what the numbers are for....Either way, I killed 39 of them, so I think I'm in the clear..wow.....I assume there are a million robots....I'll probably get lost in the crowd...
I leaned on the side of a fake building. I had been wearing a tanktop and jeans the entire time. I like tanktops, a lot of cool people wear tank tops. Action movie men wear tanktops..I think Dynamight wears tanktops too....he did work for a clothing hero once so I guess he did. I don't know....Tanktops make me feel powerful. For some reason I heard a lot of stomping from a kilometer away or something.....Must be some cool person's quirk...
Hey....I noticed everyone started running in the same direction....is it break time? No....wait they all looked scared. I stopped leaning against the wall and walked toward the crowd, trying to get the idea of what's going on....I looked around, to my back then upward....
A gigantic robot with two red evil eyes looking down on us. I'm petrified, I felt frozen as if time had stopped only for me while everything else went as normal....God, think Zugaida! What would Dynamight do.....Dynamight....I put my hand into my pocket and took out a red headband. I like headbands. Rambo the Action movie hero wore a headband, but the main reason I like them is because I an feel like Dynamight with his spiky hair. You see, my hair is a bit long, but goes in front of my right eye very often. Mom has always said that my right eye looks stupid. I swiftly put the headband on, and my vision felt clearer, as if more color filled my world. I then took a deep breath....and thought of what Dynamight would do.
His brash personality....his rage....his rivalry with the number 1 hero.....his scream....his creative use of his quirk....I felt his life overtake my mind...
.....
....
...
..
.
ET'S KILL THIS STUPID THING!
My confidence boosted, I feel like I want to beat the shit out of this thing! Maybe I'll get tons o' points if I hammer it to the ground!
Hayabusa: Alrighty then, DO YOUR WORST!
My angry and screechy voice echoed across the city, the giant robot raising it's arm to mosquito swat me. But I refused to let this WEAKLING phase me. I raised my powerful arm and waited as it flung it's gigantic hand down. I'm stronger, I'm faster I'm BETTER THAN THIS THING! I AM ZUGAIDA HAYABUSA, AND I WILL BE THE STRONGEST HERO! As the 100 pound metal flung down toward me, I hardened my bones to handle this, I got into a reasonable and THROWABLE position! I AM GOING TO THROW THIS ROBOT!
It fell down and made contact with my wheel. It hurt like hell, like a bee hive on my arm, BUT IT DOESN'T MATTER NOW! I'M GOING TO BE A HERO AND I'LL SHOW THESE CUNTS WHO'S BOSS! I managed to hold it. I feel so cool- I AM SO COOL! I let out a bloodcurdling scream of pain holding it up...despite it's weight holding me down, I held out like Atlas and pushed it back. I felt amazing and had an adrenaline rush as I saw it fumble back a bit from my raw power. I smiled like a complete psycho and punched my wheel to the ground and rode it to approach the robot. Then I felt myself blackout, not really sure what happened after that.
I regained my consciousness. I took off my headband and looked at it. What did I just do? That was honestly really tiring. I don't know if I wanted to do that again...I looked to my side, and noticed a girl looking at me.
She looks at me.
And I look at her.
...
Help I don't want to talk to a girl. My mind went all over the place when I thought of something to say to this girl. Is it "Sorry." or "Hey..." OR "Can you go out with me?" WAIT- NO THAT'S NOT HOW PEOPLE WORK! BGUESGVIAEGVIAVHEAIVHGIAGKEVWHIGVHAWVGHI,EHVGIIERRORRRRRRRRRR-
Hayabusa: Righ-
Jisakaru: Hm?
SHE SAID HM, THAT MEANS SHE'S LISTENING AHHGHBKEISHBGILBHRLIIHSBILBSLIHRBLEIBILSHBI5SBTGS I NEED TO SAVE MYSELF RIGHT NOW!
Hayabusa: Rival.
YES YES! EXCELLENT SAVE! Now head for extraction Zugaida!
I AM A GENIUS!
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I'm an idiot. Why would I do that? Why DID I do that? UGH! I'm so- so stupid! I want to die right now. I bashed my head against my room's shallow wall to the point where my mom shouted.
H. Mom: HEY! KID YOU BETTER SHUT THE FUCK UP OR I'LL MANGLE YOUR FUCKING ARM!
I felt petrified as I was when the robot showed up, but even more so...Damn it.....I just hope UA didn't accept me so I won't see her again....Wait no! I killed the highest target! I'm GOING TO GO TO UA! ARGHHHHHHH! I just want to sleep...Maybe it won't be so bad?
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I did it....I'm in UA. I received the message from this cool holographic letter with, and I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw it, Dynamight's best friend being the one to congratulate me on my achievement! I was hyped for a few minutes before returning to the realisation that I am probably going to be the worst in my class. The worst part was, I needed to explain this to my mother. You see, UA is cool but like- It's a boarding school, as in you need to stay in the dorms, and I'm not to sure how my mom would like that. So I went downstairs to the living room and stood in front of her. I took a deep breath before speaking up.
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Hayabusa: Mom, I made it into UA.
She laid down lazily in her chair, her breath reeked of alcohol and there were beers on the ground.
She scratched the back of her head as she looked at me with her cold and tired squinty grey eyes.
H. Mom: ....How?
Of course she responds to good news for me like that, she always has when she's drunk. See, my mom is fine when she's sober. She's a bit cranky and lazy, but fine. When drunk? Not so much.
Hayabusa: I passed the practical exam.
H. Mom: Wow....and you got the drinks. Con-grat-u-lations.
She clapped slowly and said so in the most belittling tone possible.
H. Mom: But-
Oh god here it comes. She slowly rose up and stood up straight, well, as straight as a drunk middle aged woman who hates their kid can be.
H. Mom: How are you going to help me out when you're off?
Damn it. I knew she'd say that. I looked down at the floor, clenching my fist. I knew what helping out meant.
Hayabusa: I mean- there's still the weekends.
I felt terrible letting those words out of my mouth. To exit out of one of the most prestigious schools, in the most dangerous yet rewarding course, and risk yourself getting caught by police.....for a pack of beer. You see, I'm a minor, and I legally cannot purchase alcohol, so I have to do massively illegal things to get it, like asking this homeless guy I know to buy it. And yet my mom, without a single thought, believed that would be the best solution.
H. Mom: Whatever you say, make sure you get it before midnight.
Hayabusa: Ok mom...
I went back upstairs and buried myself onto my bed.
Maybe I could just leave her behind....but....I can't. Even after everything that's happened, she's still my mother. I can't just leave her for UA. I feel connected to her in a way. Thoughts filled my brain as I drifted away to sleep. Get it, drift away, because I have a bike on my arm, and bikes are used for driving, and driving includes racing, and racing includes cars, and cars drift, like in the movie, Kyoto Drift, where the cars are drifting in the film in order to race, and there is a bike there.
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JISHAKU JISAKARU, 1 WEEK LATER
Well, my first school week is over. Lots of things happened. Nothing particularly interesting. English was harder than expected. We had to learn about this thing called "Candaces" or something like that which is basically which parts of your speech are high and low.
English teacher was a cat. I uh...I don't even know how or why the english teacher is a cat. But it was a turtleshell cat, and it talked. I honestly won't even question it, because the principal is some weird dog, rat, cow thing (He seems fairly nice though.) I met a few of my favourite heroes there, Earphone Jack was the Student Guidance Councillor, and I know for sure I'm going to be there a hefty amount of times.
Our homeroom teacher, Ahseru, is such a mystery. He almost never interacts with the students outside of school time, he's always got a serious look on his face, and he's American! I'm not racist, it's just surprising to see a foreign teacher. He seems exceptionally strong too, what with that disabling move that had me ragdolled for half the day, and his future fight ability which I now fail to realise the utility of.
It is now the weekend. During the weekends, students are allowed to fool around and go out, as long as they have permission. Now I for one used such a luxury to loiter around my favourite grocery store in a hoodie. Everyone else as far as I'm concerned used it to visit their parents and talk about how their school life has been, but my parents are out on a business trip, have been for... Weird, I don't seem to remember, I'm sure it's only been a few weeks. I visited my house, which was filled with absolutely nobody, so I just set things in place and cleaned it up a bit, then wandered off to my favourite local grocery store. I bought a soda from there which consistently tastes good.
Ahh...the not so summer breeze and the soda pop from my drink. I could make a poem about this, but I'm more of a Physics person than English. I put on my hood and pretended to look like a cool hero drinking a can of Easy Breezy's. As I drank my can, I noticed from the corner of my eye....Oh, motormike manchild. My supposed rival. He was driving on the road and I guess he didn't notice me. He was balancing surprisingly well on one gigantic wheel. I'm impressed. As soon as I let the can down a bit, I noticed he had something on his normal arm. Huh, a pack of beer.
A minor, holding a pack of beer. So illegal, so illegal. Maybe he's been about this rival business because he was drunk, it only makes sense. So illegal though. I feel like doing something even more illegal, and stalk him to see where he goes. Now now, I don't have any bad intentions or anything, but a UA student? Getting drunk? Not a good outlook. And I think it'd be a good idea to burn a lanky bridge before it gets wackier. As he drove away, I decided to turn on sneaky mode and stalk him. Sneaky sneak, haha, I'm so smart.
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ZUGAIDA HAYABUSA
As I rolled up to my dead grass filled porch, I took a deep breath, as lonely as I was, I felt a sense of relief being away from my mother. But one entire week without me must've been hell for her. Do I.....Do I really want to talk to her with this beer....I stared at the front door for a few minutes and thought hard about this. Do I REALLY want to go through it all again, even if for a moment. I put my feet onto the ground and walked to the front window and looked inside. Mom was sleeping there, watching TV, with a nearly finished rice bowl on the table. The living room was in even more of a mess than it used to, with broken glass everywhere. I thought long and hard about this. I proceeded to open the already unlocked door with my forehead as I had the beer pack in my normal arm.
I carefully made sure my motorarm shrank a bit in order to not break anything. I looked at the table next to the door, the table had a lot of keys and empty photo frames on it. I put the beer pack on a free area with no keys and photo frames. Then I looked over near the couch.
It was worse than I thought. The carpet was a complete mess and the show she was watching was just utter complete static. I carefully picked up all the things on the floor and threw them into the trash can in the kitchen. I hate her so much but I couldn't stand to have her hurt herself.
I took the rubbish bag out of the bin and turned off the television, before walking outside to put the bag in the garbage can. I looked at my house before walking away. It's getting dark, but I still have time before I need to get to UA. I suppose I'll visit my favorite spot.
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I rolled into the forest, up head is my favourite spot to hang around, my happy place, no other person has seen this place before, and hopefully nobody else will, an abandoned asylum. I go there to chill out and commit my hobby, spraypainting.
I drove up, and there it was, the wall to this abandoned asylum. Originally, it was built to keep people suffering from the Lyric Disease a long time ago, which made people go crazy. The establishment shut down when the only cure for it was, well...death. Quite grim, but at least the place still is a good place for my mark.
On the ground was my boombox and my bag of spray cans. I bought all these without my mom knowing. I actually worked really hard to get things for myself, usually doing oddjobs for other people. On the wall were my specially crafted one handed art pieces. There was a flower with a colorful curved zigzag pattern around it, a wheel with a red-blue gradient on it's tire with a spotted background, and my personal favorite, this one took me 4 weeks, I even had to skip one day of school to complete this (Mom got mad at threw a plate at me. True story).
It was a art piece of my favorite musician from America, Grey Mann. It was an eerily realistic portrait of him falling off a crashing plane, a mimic of his best album cover.
Ah...so proud, so proud, so proud.
So proud.
I like this.
So proud.
I like this.
I like this very much.
...
UGH I HATE IT! It looks bad in hindsight. It's so wobbly. GUHHHHHHHHH.... His ears look awful! His eyes are not the right color, and his jacket looks too flowy, like a really thin piece of fabric. How the hell can I improve it.
PERSON!: Did you use a reference?
Hayabusa: No I didn't.
...
..
.
I just stared blankly at the person beside me. WHO IS THIS PERSON AND WHY ARE THEY HERE?! Oh my god I'm so terrified, a stranger has gotten into my happy place, I feel so unsafe now. Oh my god, is this the police? Am I being arrested for spraypainting a wall. Oh god I'm totally getting arrested. Someone please help me. The girl just looked at me in confusion, noticing how scared I seemed.
PERSON!: Uh...Maybe calm down a bit, I'm your classmate. Anyways, you were talking about the problems with the Gray Mann paint, just thought I'd- y'know- help. I'm more of a MF DOOM person myself.
Suddenly, my fear went away when she mentioned MF DOOM. That is soo...old. So old, 2000's old.
Hayabusa: You....know DOOM?
Cool PERSON!: Probably one of his biggest fans. Tsk Listened to Rapp Snitches 108 times in one week.
She said as she pointed at herself with her thumb.
Cool PERSON!: Now then, clearly YOU are going to need an actual reference, why not use your phone.
Hayabusa: I uh...don't have one.
Cool PERSON: Sheesh, I knew it was bad but THAT bad?
My heart skipped a beat, I felt all sound drown out for a second.
Hayabusa: ...
I wanted to say "What's bad?" But I couldn't let the words out of my mouth.
Not privy to my thoughts, she nonchalantly shifted her attention to the pile of cans beside me.
Invader of Privacy PERSON!: Mind handing me the light blue can?
I snapped out of my fearful and anxious state.
Hayabusa: Oh uh....yes.
I don't know what I'm doing, handing a can to some girl I have never met before, and letting her do something in my private spot. Okay that sounds wrong when I put it like that.
Invader of Privacy PERSON!: Now then....pulling up the ref...
She took out her smartphone and searched up the album cover. I wish I printed out a copy so I could use reference. But what's done is done, I just hope she knows what she's doing.
Referencing PERSON!: Ah, see here's what's the problem here. The coloring makes the jacket seem transparent, maybe use a darker color. And there's a zipper on his jacket that's missing here. Not only that-
She went on about things I only understood marginally. Ok she knows what she's doing.
That's great.
That's great.
That's great.
That's great.
That's great.
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JISHAKU JISAKARU
Haha, I don't know what I'm doing.
For the past 20 minutes, I've been telling this guy on how to improve his art, despite me personally, not having any professional art skills, though I do take the occasional art class. I do not know if he even recognizes me, but to be honest he seems pretty chill compared to "DURR HURR I AM YOUR RIVAL!" I noticed he even looks different, his hair was upward originally, but right now a good chunk of his hair was over his right eye. He just seemed like a nerdy little emo kid who likes rappers. And unfortunately I knew about his home situation from stalking. I feel bad for thinking he was going to do something illegal. Well- he did and he is, but not morally illegal.
So far, it's looking great. I have no idea why I've been holding this spray can since I am not doing anything with it. But I appreciate his hard work to improve his art. Thing is, his art isn't even bad, the other ones on the wall which I can infer are his are great, it's just this one looks somewhat off. I have taken a few art classes so I could draw a basic man and woman in a not stiff pose, of course, spraypainting art seems very different in comparison to drawing.
Jisakaru: You go here often?
I noticed he was sweating, I believe he was concentrating on the answers heavily.
Hayabusa: Uh...yeah....Is...DOOM your favourite artist?
Jisakaru: One of, but I'm more of a Timbaland fan. Especially love when he works with Nelly Furtado, also the jacket's gotta be darker...
Hayabusa: Oh, really? I really like uh....."Give it to Me".
Jisakaru: Nice, you got good taste.
We had a fair amount of discussion regarding our music tastes. I felt maybe perhaps I could try doing it myself. I mean, I have a can in my hand anyways. After a while he finished touching it up, he looked like he was sweating hard.
Hayabusa: M-Man, it looks great now!
He suddenly said out loud. He was kind of soft spoken prior so this took me by shock. I almost thought he was going to go back to angry mode again. I took a look at it, yeah, it's great. It looks exactly like the album cover.
Well, my job-
Jisakaru: -here is done. Goodbye rival, see you at Heights.
I noticed his uncovered eye widened. Okay, I think he realised who I was.
Hayabusa: ...Oh....
I think he knew that I knew that he knew who I was.
Hayabusa: Uhm- So I- uh- guh- I just want to say sorry y'know, about that whole business- because I was just trying to gain confidence in myself and I only gain confidence in myself when I wear a headband and pretend to be my idol, great hero Dynamig- *mumble mumble*
Oh my god, he talked really fast.
Jisakaru: Ah yeesh, calm down alright, I get it, socially awkward stuff. At least we can put that behind us now. Now let's actually introduce ourselves. I'm Jishaku Jisakaru, future hero not by choice.
Hayabusa: Zugaida H-Hayabusa, Motorist and future hero by choice.
He awkwardly shook my wrist. I snickered at his goofy actions. To be honest, although my brain told me to go back to campus right then and there, my heart told me I had something here that I wanted to do.
Jisakaru: Hey, mind if I do something?
Hayabusa: Huh?
Jisakaru: Wanna leave my own mark here, don't worry it'll be small and far away.
Hayabusa: Oh..
He thought for a while, before looking back at me.
Hayabusa: You can just put it far away..
He said, as I slid to the far side on the wall, relatively untouched by my wheel handed friend.
Hayabusa: What ARE you doing?
Jisakaru: Just a little message for this generation.
I planned out what my words would be styled like in my head before painting it. I carefully followed the imaginary lines and made a great outline.
Jisakaru: Dark blue can?
Hayabusa: To your left.
Jisakaru: Oh, that's just great.
I pulled the dark blue can on the floor using magnetism and coloured in the outlines. It was a graffiti art of the words "Why so Sirius" I like Sirius. For you lamemen, Sirius is the brightest star out there.
Hayabusa: What's a....Sirius?
Jisakaru: Just some science stuff.
Hayabusa: Huh....you said....something about not being a hero by choice.
Jisakaru: Mhm. Yeah.
Hayabusa: Why?
Jisakaru: Parents forced me, you know how they are.
He rolled his eyes to the side. God I was stupid, so I changed the subject.
Jisakaru: You know what I always wanted to be...
I leaned on the clean parts of the wall as I dreamt about the future I could've had, looking upward into the sunset and noticing the few stars up above.
Jisakaru: An Astronomer.
Jisakaru: I like to look at the sky and wonder why things are that way, what we are in comparison to everything else in the universe, if there's more than us.
Hayabusa looked at me with a glint in his eyes, he seems to get it.
Hayabusa: ...I don't really...get it.
Oh. Nevermind.
Hayabusa: But I think I understand what you mean.
Oh, nevermind again.
Hayabusa: To feel so passionate about what you want to be, what you want your place in this chaos to be, it must feel great when you eventually realise what you were born for...did I get it?
Yeah, he understands it.
I smiled lightly before leaning off the wall.
Jisakaru: Come on, it's getting darker and darker, let's get back to Heights Alliance before a teacher beats me up again.
He laughed lightly before we both exited the forest. All in all. He's a cool dude to be around. I'm glad there won't be anymore conflicts for my school life.
CHAPTER END