Oops [Nick]

It had not been a good week for Nick.

First, there had been the rescue operation class. While he had succeeded in the task and thought he had made an impressive go of it, he had still overexerted himself by using his Quirk for too long. Such sloppiness was disgraceful on his part. He was supposed to be a lot better than that.

Then, if that were not embarrassingly terrible enough, his imbecile classmates had failed to vote him into the position of class president, something he was clearly cut out for more than any of them. Instead they had voted Rin of all people. Rin. That fragile, meek little girl who had come out of the rescue class covered in blood, for God’s sake. How could they choose someone so weak and quiet to represent their entire class? Did they want the other classes to look down on them? It did not help his feelings one bit that he himself had voted for her, which he had only done because had assumed no one else would. The same applied to his other vote, for that pervert. At least he had not been voted in.

Needless to say, Nick was in a dark, grumpy mood as he sat alone at a table. He always looked somewhat angry regardless of his actual feelings, but currently he glared at his sandwich as though it were his mortal adversary. They were all a bunch of fools, ingrates, half-wits –

From the corner of his eye he spotted someone trip in his direction. Like lightning he sprang from his seat and reached out to catch the stumbling girl with one large hand and her tray with the other. The last thing he needed right now was to wear someone’s lunch.

“Watch where you’re going,” he huffed.

Nick did not know this girl. She had to have been in one of the other classes, but he was unsure which. She seemed much like Rin: frail and meek. He inwardly groaned at this. Did Yuuei think it was funny to recruit such people? Maybe Yuuei truly was not what he, his mother and the Gifted Underground had expected it to be after all – so what did he do? He had no idea anymore, and definitely was not in a state of mind to give it much thought at all.

Regardless, he placed her tray on the table he had been sat at. “Just sit there.”

Did he want her sat with him? No way in hell. At the same time, though, he was growing tired of the other students being such utter fools and could not stand to see her fall again, as he believed she would inevitably do if she went off looking for another seat.

He took his own seat again without even glancing at her to see if she did as he said. Once again he went back to brooding and glaring at his sandwich, which he had still only taken a singular bite out of.

Nick finally found it in him to take another bite. He caught the girl glancing at him. What was she thinking? Why did he care? Normally he was sure he would not, but his recent embarrassments had made him extra sensitive to the judgements of his peers, it seemed.

No, he could not just let her think whatever she was thinking and get away with it. He had to know.

“Which class are you in?” he asked.

Sadly, this meant engaging her in conversation. He wanted to socialise about as much as he wanted to have an arm chopped off, but this was the only way to know what was on her mind.

“Ah,” Nick replied.

He had been expecting General Studies, but no, she was on the hero course like him. Another tiny girl with apparent aspirations to fight villains and be looked up to by innocents. He could not help wondering about her further at this, if she really believed she had what it took.

“I’m in 1-A, myself,” he continued. His tone was emotionless, monotone, but he was doing a good job of disguising the sore feelings he had about the week’s events, he felt. “It’s been a bit of a slow start.” An unfortunate start. “How have things been for you?”

And so Nick guided her out of the cafeteria and indeed out of school grounds altogether. Thankfully the grounds were empty, the students either being in their dorms or the recreation areas, so there was no one to spot them leaving and wonder what they were doing. He brought her not far, to a narrow alleyway between two buildings still within sight of the school. Here he stopped, glanced around to make sure all was quiet and then turned to face her.

“This will do,” he said. “We must be careful not to make too much noise, though, lest anyone see us using our Quirks.”

He spread his arms out; again not something he needed to do to activate his Quirk, but he always did it when first demonstrating it to others so they knew it was about to happen. “Now, brace yourself. Here comes my transformation.”

The disc-shaped growth on his back expanded and from its centre thick, sludgy black flesh spewed forth. It consumed his body in its entirety and hardened into his frightening, spike-covered armour with is horned demonic face and crimson glare.

“This is my Quirk; Bio Engage.” His voice was brimming with emotion now, a jarring transition from how it had been before. There was so much excitement now, so much pride. “It’s who I really am.” He raised a hand and pointed at her. “There’s plenty of soil for you here. Show me what you can do!”

She was finally talking in more than single sentences, hallelujah. Nick stroked his armoured chin as he listened to her words and pondered them in his mind. “Interesting. Yes, it does seem quite suited to that role.” She was smart to be thinking ahead like that, he would give her. She seemed to know her Quirk and its capabilities well. That was something even someone as arrogant as Nick would admit was commendable.

He sprang forward, moving with even greater agility than he had demonstrated in the cafeteria. He used the long, blade-like spikes on his forearms to slice off the heads off her flowers. He stopped himself mere millimetres away from her, staring down at her with his burning red eyes.

“I think I’m more suited to an offensive role, myself,” he said.

This done, he allowed his armour to melt back to its sludgy state and recede into the growth on his back, which shrank back to its original size. Immediately he was hit with a wave of nausea as though he had just stumbled off a rollercoaster. The world spun and he caught the wall to steady himself. Even using it for less than a minute left him in a bad state. He forced himself to straighten up and not show any weakness in front of this girl.

“Well, that’s that. Don’t worry; I was never intending to fight you. A small demonstration was all I needed. We can return now.”