Dormient Potential - 9.

 

9.

Two weeks later on Saturday evening, Mariko left the dorm wearing a dark blue, comfortable hoodie, keeping her warm in cold autumn weather. She headed towards the local grocery store, where she usually bought food, keeping the products she wanted to buy in her mind. The street in front of the UA was completely empty and the only sound she could hear was the wind blowing in her ears and the buzzing coming from the streetlights. She put on her earphones and played soothing music from her self-made playlist. Okaido sighed and crossed the street, the music vibe matching her surroundings, making her feel as if she was in a music video.

For a split second, she smelled a faint scent that she couldn’t place, but it was extremely attractive. Then the balm was gone, leaving her confused.

She entered the empty shop and greeted the older woman who was standing behind the counter. Mariko turned to the aisle with canned food, walking to the other side of the store, where fresh fruit and vegetables were. She loved doing shopping in small, local stores. Sure, the prices were a bit higher than in the supermarkets, but the quality of the goods was so much higher.

Mariko heard a doorbell announcing the coming of another customer. The young woman browsed through some darker bananas that were put on a discount and chose a few of them, then she moved to the counter with smaller fruit such as strawberries, raspberries and mountain blueberries. She wondered for a second and then scooped some berries in order to weigh them. She grabbed a few paper bags for the fruit and pasted a sticker with the correct price to every single one.

She carefully placed the bags in her basket and passed the counters with vegetables to get to the fridge from which she wanted to get one multipack of fromage frais. She reached for her favorite flavour and then heard a scream coming from the counter.

“Open the checkout and start handing over the cash, now!” a male voice shouted.

Mariko quickly took off her earphones and threw them into her pocket, quietly heading towards the counter. She placed the basket on the floor and sneaked into the aisle with canned food, grabbing a small can of corn along the way, concealing it in her hand.

“Quickly! Give us all the money!” she heard another voice and felt her adrenaline rush.

The older woman, the shop owner, caught a glimpse of her and stopped packing the cash for a split second, looking over the counter at Mariko. Okaido saw movement at the end of the aisle and soon after that a gun was pointed at her.

“Don't you fucking dare move!” a tall, muscular man with white spiky hair exclaimed.

The young woman froze, observing the situation with intense, focused gaze. Her heart was pounding, pumping the adrenaline but she remained concentrated.

“Check if no one is coming,” he told the other guy and Mariko heard hasty footsteps.

She clenched her fingers around the corn can.

“They are just off the boat,” she thought to herself and couldn't help but feel surprised that he hadn't ordered her to raise her hands in the air.

The muscular man pointed the gun back at the cashier and in that second Mariko sent the can flying at his head. The can hit him square in his left temple, making him lose his balance. His finger slipped and he pressed the trigger. There was a loud bang and the old woman fell on the floor. Mariko dashed quickly and threw a precise punch straight at the man's larynx. She grabbed another can and threw it at the other man running at her, creating a distraction. He protected himself from the projectile, deflecting it in the air with a short bat. She bent towards the ground, catching balance with her right hand and released a powerful kick aiming for the other man's knee. He fell on the ground and tried to hit her on the side, but she was faster. Mariko grabbed the bat and twisted his arm behind his back, making the aggressor release the blunt weapon. With the rage filling her body, she punched him on the neck with the bat, aiming at Kyong Boo spot, making the raider lose his conciousness. She quickly dashed towards the pistol laying on the floor and unloaded it, leaving the empty pistol close to her, while throwing the magazine to the other side of the shop.

Okaido jumped over the counter, seeing the woman on the floor. She immediately took off her hoodie and t-shirt to rip it apart. The older woman looked at her, frightened.

“Fucking bastards feeling so brave to raid a shop so close to the school!” she screamed in her mind, anger within her rising every second.

She pressed the makeshift dressing to the woman's wound, seeping with blood coming from the right side of her chest. With the other hand she found her phone and called the ambulance. When she heard the buzzing sound announcing the busy line, she asked the laying woman what is the color of her phone to check if she didn't suffer brain damage. After another buzz she asked the woman another question and then reasurred her that everything is going to be fine.

After a few seconds that felt like an eternity, she heard a voice of an employee answering the phone call. She quickly and clearly provided information about the event, adding her personal details, state of the victim of the assault as well as the area, in which they currently were. The rescue worker advised her to keep pressing the wound and wait for the ambulance and the police. They hang up and Mariko put her hoodie under the woman's head, trying to make her comfortable.

“You are so stupid! You always carry the first aid kit with you, but not today, when it's needed most!” she thought to herself, blaming herself for the victim state. “If you weren't trying to be a hero, she wouldn't get shot.”

She gritted her teeth, feeling her emotiones starting to get out of hand.

“No, no, no!” she yelled at herself. “Control yourself, you know what is going to happen if you don't!”

Mariko forced herself to focus on pressing the wound, but soon after that her mind started to replay the whole event in her mind and her gaze started to wander around the woman's body and a forming pool of blood.

“You won't save her, you are useless. A true hero wouldn't let the first man shoot the gun.”

“Stop, stop, press the wound!”

“Absolutely useless.”

“Ambulance is on it's way, it's a matter of seconds at this point, she will survive!”

Mariko looked the woman in the eyes, feeling the very familiar-yet-extremely-scary feeling of her Quirk being activated.

“No, no, please don't close your eyes!” she shouted at the casualty, whose eyesight started to fade. “Please, stay with me, I beg you! They are on the way, it's gonna be alright!”

Tears fell from Mariko's eyes as the older woman closed her eyelids. She kept pressing the dressing, hearing the siren of the ambulance and police heading her way. With every second the alarm was getting louder, but the victim's life was fading.

“Please,” she whispered, a stream of tears visible on her cheeks.

The door busted open and the services came inside.

“Here!” Mariko yelled, raising her left hand for the rescue workers to see her.

Two men dressed in reflective uniforms instantly came over, laying the medkit on the floor.

“You can let go now,” a bald man advised, immediately taking over the situation.

Mariko stormed out of the building straight into a police officer, who grabbed her by her forearm. He took off his jacket and put it over Mariko's naked arms. She didn't realise until now that she was only in her bra.

“What's your name?” the police officer asked, while his colleagues were examinating the aggressors laying on the floor, immobilized.

“Okaido Mariko, we need to move from here, officer, please.”

“OK.”

She led the man a dozen meters away from the store, looking over at the shop entrance with anxiety in her eyes.

“Are you hurt?” he asked. “My God, I suddenly feel... drained.” he murmurred.

“I am so sorry, that's my Quirk,” she wiped the tears from her eyes, being careful not to smear the old woman's blood on her face. “I cannot control it yet. And I am not hurt.”

“You are from the UA, right? Who is your homeroom teacher?”

“Mr. Aizawa,” she replied, sobbing. She crouched and hid her face between her arms.

The policeman walked away, talking on the phone with Shota.

“Useless, absolutely worthless,” she could hear her own voice ringing in her head, driving her crazy.

“Stop it,” she whispered to herself, pressing her hands to her scalp.

“You can be more powerful than that, you know...”

“Don't talk to me,” she murmurred, grabbing her hair with palms covered in blood. “I hate you, you are the reason why they are not around anymore.”

The rescuers moved the victim with the stretcher to the ambulance, closing the car's door.

“They were weak. You can be stronger, if you cut this bullshit.”

Mariko started rocking back and forth on her heels, focusing on her breathing.

“If you had released me sooner, I would have blown those two off the face of the earth.”

“Shut up,” she clenched her fists.

When she heard two people heading towards the police officer, she raised her head, catching sight of Mr. Aizawa.

“Eraser!” she shouted, attracting his attention. “Use your Quirk on me, please! I beg you!”

“Oh my God, what happened?!” she heard an unknown, high pitched male voice and another figure appeared. She saw a gleam of red eyes and her demon-side-thoughts immediately vanished.

“I couldn't hold any longer,” she informed Shota with tears in her eyes. He approached her. “If you weren't here, I don't... I don't know what would happen,” she grabbed her hair again, feeling searing tears forming in her tired eyes.

“Look at me,” he said emphatically.

She rose her head, looking at the teacher kneeling next to her.

“I am here, no need to think what could happen if I wasn't,” he said and handed her an oversized hoodie. “Put this on.”

Mariko slipped the police officer's jacket off and pulled the hoodie over her head, shivering in the cold.

“Can you walk?” he asked softly.

“Yes.”

He offered her a helping hand and she stood up, feeling a bit dizzy. Her body started to shake because of the adrenaline drop.

“Stay here, I will be right back,” he informed, looking at her, inspecting her bloody hands over his shoulder.

Aizawa joined his friend, with whom he entered the crime scene. The other man was wearing a black jacket and matching pants with knee-high boots. He didn't look extraordinary in his outfit, but the thing that was striking was his blonde thuft-shaped hairstyle. Mariko glanced in the men's direction and noticed that the other teacher was also wearing maroon elbow pads, a belt and fingerless gloves with a maroon trim.

“Glad to see you, Eraser, Present Mic,” the detective greeted and began to answer inarticulate questions of the two men. ”She called the ambulance and provided first aid. It also appears that she was acting in self-defence, so nothing that would cause her any trouble. But you know the drill - we have to confirm that. I was on duty and I thought that a report that was close to the UA could be connected to recent events, but those guys seem to be pretty common cutthroats. Though they might be Quirkless, they had a gun and a bat.”

“So what will you do - check the surveillance footage?”

“Yes, we need to see what exactly happened. Please keep an eye on her till we figure out what that was exactly.”

“Do me a favor, and send me the recording, I would like to take a look, too.”

“Sure. Is she from your first class, Eraser Head?” the detective asked, tilting his head slightly to the side.

“Not really. It's a longer story, Tsukauchi.”

“Alright, tell me about it some time then, OK?”

“Whatever.”

“Keep us informed, officer, ey?” Present Mic nodded his head and turned around.

Mariko squinted at the feeling of an upcoming headache that would wash the sleep off her eyes for the rest of the night.

After a few minutes, the two teachers approached her and escorted her towards the dorms. When they reached the 1A class dorm, Mariko opened the gate and just as she was about to step on the pavement leading to the dorm's entry, she felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked up into Aizawa's eyes.

“Get some clothes and come back with us,” he informed.

“Back with you?” she repeated, looking at the two men with puffy eyelids.

“Yo, girl, did you think that we will leave you be all by yourself in this state?” Present Mic asked. “Nah, of course we won't.”

“But I don't want to be a pain in the ass,” she said honestly.

“It's for your own safety,” Aizawa replied and the other teacher looked at Mariko, worried.

The young woman turned around and quickly walked to the dorm, heading straight towards the kitchen sink to wash the blood off her hands. After a few minutes, she started climbing the stairs, sniffling on the way.

“Did you feel that weird aura when we got to the store, Shota?” Present Mic asked.

“No.”

“There was... something... before you canceled her Quirk. You seriously didn't notice?”

“Didn't feel a thing.”

“Huh,” Hizashi huffed, pouting.

Mariko returned to the two pro heroes with a stuffed backpack, looking at her hands all the time.

In no time, they reached the teachers' dorm and entered the building, standing on a nice carpet in the common room similar to the one from the students' dorm.

“My God, what happened?” a tall, extremely attractive woman approached them.

She was dressed in her hero costume that looked more like a dominatrix outfit, rather than anything suitable for combat. Her hair was spiky, falling down her back, with a dark-purple shade to it. Her eyes were sky blue, framed by rather long eyelashes.

“Sweetie, are you allright?” the woman asked, cupping Mariko's chin.

“Kayama, give her some space,” Aizawa murmurred, grabbing her wrists to shove her away.

“I'm OK, thank you,” Okaido replied politely.

“You don't look that OK, though,” the woman informed. “Come with me, let's find you a free room.”

“Lead her to the one next to Eri,” Shota advised. “Where is the principal?”

“He's most likely in his room,” Present Mic. “I will go with you.”

All four of them started climbing the stairs and split up soon after that. Midnight led Mariko to the corridor on the first floor, while the two men climbed the stairs further, heading towards the second floor. The distances between each doors were bigger so that could mean that teachers didn't have shared bathrooms, but their own ones, connected to their rooms.

“So, Eri's here?”

“Yes, she got here two days ago,” the woman informed. “We haven't met yet. I'm Kayama Nemuri, but you can call me Midnight.”

“Okaido Mariko.”

“Oh, and what is your hero name?” Midnight asked. “No hero name in hero course?” she tried to joke, but Mariko couldn't laugh. She was having a terrible time.

“Sorry, sweetie, I get that you don't want to talk after what happened. I just like talking, so don't mind me.”

“It's totally fine, I'm just... not in the mood. For literally anything. Do you have any painkillers, madam?”

“Yes, I do. What's wrong?”

“I feel like I will have a horrible headache.”

“I will bring you some, then.”

“Thank you.”

Midnight reached the door on the right wall at the end of a narrow corridor and opened it. It had exactly the same basic furniture as the ones from the students' dorms.

“So empty in here,” the older woman said.

“It's totally fine. I don't own much stuff anyway,” Mariko replied.

“Alright, sweetie. The bathroom is right there,” she looked at the left side of the room. “Take your time, but keep in mind that we will want to talk to you about the event.”

“I kind of figured it out,” Mariko murmured, turning on the lights in the bathroom. There were a few towels dangling on the rack mounted on the bathroom's door.

“Pretty, young and clever, what more could you want?” Midnight asked, licking her lips and propping her hips with her hands, while the girl put her backpack on the bathroom door.

“No wonder she is an 'R-Rated Hero'” Mariko thought to herself, reminiscing the posters with the woman she had seen so many times.

The student stepped inside the shower and twisted the faucet with warm water. She rested her palms on the glass wall, focusing her thoughts on the hot water running down her naked body.

“You cannot let the control slip away, you have to smother the bad emotions instantly or otherwise this happens,” she explained to herself and a new stream of tears blended with the water.

After over a dozen minutes, Mariko stood in her new room, dressed in comfortable clothes, holding the hoodie she had received in front of the shop. There was a knock on her door and she opened it to see Midnight. She put the hoodie away, folding it carefully.

“Your painkillers, darling,” she handed her a pack of aspirin and a full glass of cold water. “Swallow whole,” she ordered and Mariko chuckled, accepting her gifts.

“Can I speak to Principal Nezu?” Okaido asked, after emptying the glass.

Midnight shoved the door open, looking at the other side of the corridor.

“Principal and Shota are heading this way,” she informed, stepping back to make room for the two men.

Mr.Aizawa entered Mariko's temporary room, with principal Nezu sitting on his shoulder.

“Good evening,” the principal greeted, slipping down to the floor.

“Good evening, sir.”

“Let's sit down and have a chat,” he jumped on the bed and looked at Mariko amicably.

The student sat cross-legged on the floor, her hands resting on her knees. Aizawa nodded at Midnight and the teacher left them alone, closing the door behind her. Shota leaned on the wall close to the entrance, glancing intently at one of his charges.

“So, I've already heard more or less what happened, but I still would like to discuss certain matters. I know that your emotions are pretty fresh, but I hope you understand how important that is,” Nezu spoke with his calming, friendly voice.

“I actually wanted to talk to you myself, principal,” Mariko admitted. “I was thinking about the whole situation of me being here in the school and most of the things... they don't make much sense.”

“For example?” Nezu asked, steepling his small, furry paws.

“Why am I here?” she looked intently into the creature's eyes.

Nezu exchanged a quick glance with Shota, who crossed his arms over his chest.

“I heard about you, sir, before I decided to reach out to the school. I know that you are extremelly intelligent and some events looked to me as if planned by you beforehand, though it puzzles me why. I don't believe that I am such an important element of this whole story,” Mariko informed. “I remember that you said that the job offer was added by accident, but I don't believe that. Why would it be? Surely, no one just created it without your supervision.”

Aizawa closed his eyes and nodded a few times, as if appreciating the thought process of his pupil.

“Because of All Might's request, we were looking for someone who could strengthen Midoriya's body, as the boy kept crushing his bones. We were in contact with other hero schools to establish a possible transfer, but they didn't mention you at first. We found out later that someone with a Quirk we were looking for was expelled. And only with a sheer stroke of luck were we able to contact you through this job offer. Should that fail, we would most likely try to visit your family. But I had a strong feeling that you might seek help and a next chance for yourself,” Nezu explained. “I want to have a discussion with you. Please share all your thoughts with me,” he encouraged.

Mariko opened her mouth and closed it immediately, frowning. After a while she spoke up:

“But I still don't understand why the best school would accept someone like me. I didn't understand that part ever since you gave me a chance. I am glad and I appreciate it so much, but I am nowhere near comprehending this. The first thing that seemed weird to me is the fact that after my duel with Mr. Aizawa, which I lost and I shouldn't be accepted, I didn't even get any kind of school timetable. I was sure that you were planning to test me more after that, so I refreshed my knowledge, studying stuff from all my school years to be ready.”

“That would explain the grade. The test wasn't easy,” Aizawa murmurred, a hint of a smirk on his face.

“But the duel? Why would you accept me?” she asked, looking straight into her teacher's dark eyes.

“You made me use my Quirk,” he simply replied.

“That's still... I'm not satisfied with that answer,” she murmurred, looking down at her crossed ankles. “And then the fact that I wasn't attending any class, I was just given... free time.”

“But you spent every single second of it properly,” Nezu said.

“Yes, but... I have to do that, I need to be stronger, I need to improve myself and...” she stopped, lips slightly parted, a focused expression on her face. “Wait, did you just tell me that this was also a test? Checking if I really have the determination needed to be a hero?”

“Yes,” Nezu smiled. “And now you are also showing how smart you are.”

“I am not,” she looked at the carpet she was sitting on. “I could have figured it out much sooner.”

Aizawa looked at the young woman, a neutral expression on his face.

“But I have another question. Why was I moved here?” she asked, looking at the tall, black-haired man. “You said it's for my safety, but it's for others' sake, isn't it?”

Nezu looked at Shota, who put his hands into his pockets.

“In both cases, I am the one who can help. So having you in the teachers' dorm is much safer than in any other dorms. We came to that conclusion with the principal,” he replied and Nezu confirmed with a nod.

“But what if... what if I end up hurting all of you?” she clenched her fists, voice cracking at the end of the sentence. “I always end up hurting people,” she added, her tone close to a whisper.

She shut her eyes, feeling the burning sensation.

“Don't cry,” she ordered herself and clenched her fists tighter.

“Mariko, you saved the owner of the shop,” Nezu declared quietly, looking concerned at the yound woman.

“I stopped her heartbeat,” she said and brought her palms to her cheeks, hiding her face away from the two men. “A hero doesn't kill people.”

Shota slowly approached her and layed a reassuring hand on her shaking shoulder, placing one knee on the floor right next to her.

“You didn't kill anyone,” he said quietly, strengthening his grasp.

“I did,” she sobbed, her tears now falling freely from her eyes. “I killed my parents.”

Aizawa looked at Nezu, both of them shocked. They didn't say a word, listening to the quiet sobbing of the student next to them. Mariko's body started to tremble and the headache reinforced, splitting her skull from the inside. They had to know the story to know how to help her, but neither Aizawa nor Nezu knew what to say. They were not expecting to hear anything like that.

“On that day,” she started herself, after a few minutes of silence filled with her weeping. “We were on a family trip to visit my aunt and uncle and we passed the local zoo that had a special event with birds of prey that I wanted to see, but my parents were in a rush,” she sniffed, wiping tears off her eyes. “We were a bit late and they didn't want to stop. So we continued our journey, with fucked up me throwing a tantrum and when we were close to the bridge that's about half of a kilometer away from the zoo, we drove into a traffic jam. The police was right in front of us, we were one of the first cars in the line,” Mariko continued, bringing her knees to her chest. She rested her right forearm on her knees, not looking at any of the men in the room. “We weren't sure what was going on and we had to stop and wait until the police let us go through. My mother called my aunt and informed her about the whole situation. And I was saying shit that we could have stopped at the zoo and there wouldn't be any problems,” her voice cracked as another stream of tears fell down her cheeks. “A-and... soon after that, the police started yelling at people to run away as some psychotic villain was destroying everything around him. So, w-we...” she trailed off, feeling a strong pressure inside her throat. She tried to swallow her spit, but it burned her. “I... managed to undo my seat belts and we tried to open the car doors but people were running in our direction and we couldn't. There was one opening and... and I managed to get out, but I didn't realize...” she grabbed her hair, pulling it painfuly in a histerical trance. “My Quirk was active the whole time. I slowed them down... and before they crawled out of the car, a fragment of a wall from a nearby building fell on our car... crushing them... inside.”

She breathed sharply, gritted her teeth and clenched her fists at the painful memory of her father's hand sticking out of the heap of steel, all covered in blood.

“Don't hold it inside,” Aizawa whispered softly, pulling her towards his chest. He sat on the floor and hugged her around her shoulders, resting his chin on her scalp. “Let it out.”

Nezu wiped the small tears from corners of his eyes and quietly jumped down from the bed, giving Shota a meaningful look. He left the room and advised the rest of the teachers what the situation was, requesting them not to ask about the event anymore and let Mariko rest.

“It wasn't your fault. You didn't kill anyone,” Shota said, reassuringly stroking her hair. “It was an accident.”

She shivered in another wave of wailing, so he tightened the hug. He was silent for a few minutes, continuing the stroking.

“I lost my best friend in a very similar way,” he whispered and she focused on his voice, a smaller stream of tears escaping her sore eyelids. “We were in the same class. Me, Hizashi and Oboro. Two of us, that is Oboro and me, weren't exactly promising students. We didn't get any offers from any hero agencies, but Midnight, who is one year older, she managed to recommend us to one of the agencies and we started our hero studies together.”

He gently twirled a strand of her long hair around his finger, gathering his thoughts.

“One day, I went for a patrol with Oboro. We ran into a group of nursery kids, so we helped them cross the street, but a villain attacked,” he continued, blankly staring at the wall in front of him. “We started fighting, protecting the children, but Oboro ended up saving all the kids by sacrificing his own life.”

Mariko hugged him timidly, listening to his quiet voice, encouraging him to share his sensitive memory.

“The villain shattered the building's wall next to him and he was crushed by the rubble,” Aizawa finished, closing his eyes.

The young woman returned the embrace and her own tears stopped flowing.

“Up to this day, I still blame myself for his death. But do you know what I found out? That there is no point in dwelling on the past. All you need to do is use that dreadful experience to prevent it from happening in the future,” she looked up at him, gazing into his glassy eyes. “The ones we lost wouldn't want to see us blaming ourselves about what happened.”

She pressed her forehead to his chest, shutting down her exhausted eyes.

“Thank you,” she whispered, not releasing him from her grip.

She didn't remember when she fell asleep, but the second the morning sun slipped across her face, waking her up, she was laying in her bed.

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