Deep Breathing (Yumi, Internship)

Clearly this woman’s quirk wasn’t ‘Mercy’.

Juggling two school-paths, a hobby, and a job, along with just generally experiencing some of the hardest school work known to man currently, both physically intensive and mentally taxing, AND having to juggle the mess that was the current weird connections of your best friend and your boy friend, Yumi.. didn’t have much wiggle room. She would always accommodate for her UA education first and foremost, but wanting to teach when she graduated required extra courses that she took outside of normal school hours, and if she wanted to keep paying rent on her own place she’d have to keep up the blog she ran and her modelling work and…

Ugh… maybe she’d give in and let Red just buy the place for them…

A-anyway. Point being she had VERY MINIMAL wiggle room, so when she found out the 6 am time frame she already got up at was gonna be shifted to about 4 am, having to get to the beach by 5 and also, ya know, eat and get ready, Yumi… ah fuck she nearly had a hyperbolic heart attack.

Of course some management with Red meant she shifted her schedule around enough to get a full nights sleep, only interrupted when he got comfortable in bed hours after she had to settle down, but she still felt like crap this morning. She didn’t know if she’d need to pull out her quirk on this internship, but given she was told to wear a swimsuit, she opted for normal clothes for now.

Rocking up onto the beach, one of the shoulders of her UA tracksuit was sliding off, the faded white shirt underneath showing hints of the swimsuit she was wearing underneath from her home made cosplay collection, and a dufflebag slung over her shoulder carrying her actual hero costume. Her hair not pulled back in her usual ponytail and instead a bit of a loose mess, having not managed to brush it effectively when she was throwing her head back in a yawn every ten seconds that morning.

“Reeeeeady sensei…” She saluted weakly as she rocked up to the beach, holding a finger up. Suddenly a bursh of sparks flowed over Yumi, purposely a charge she knew she didn’t naturally resist, sparking her as her teeth briefly clattered from the self induced zap and standing up a lot straighter, quickly trying to fix her now even frizzier hair. “WOOO! That’s one way to wake up huh!?~” She chimed, running on adrenaline now thanks to that. “S-so… what has us meeting down the beech Umeboshi?” She chimed, trying to address the woman by her hero name.

Rolling back her shoulders as she loosened up, the initial burst Yumi got from zapping herself wouldn’t last long but it’d certainly help her warm into the day of activity far more quickly. She met the gaze of the older woman, her brow lifting as she watched her eyes seemingly shift colour before a voice radiated in her head. She briefly whirled about, not sure where it came from before looking back to the heroine, speaking out loud still herself out of force of habit. “OH! This is part of your quirk too? I didn’t find that when I searched online but er… I guess most of those Wikis keeping track of you guys aren’t easy to keep up to date yet.” She gave out a light little chuckle, especially as her mentor for the day mimicked some singing poses or something before directing Yumi’s attention down the beach. A light jog didn’t sound daunting at all. She went on morning jogs ever since first year of UA. For a long time her quirk had kept her having a mildly toned physique but the muscle was more for show than practical use. Putting in regular cardio helped make sure she was actually as fit as she looked.

“Yeah I can manage that.” She chimed, smile bright but not as bright as a moment ago. She wasn’t about to go back to full exhaustion but the reality of her situation was setting back in as the adrenaline burst slowly wore off. “It’s not a race is it? I have to warn you without my quirk my speeds not all that impressive…~” She rubbed at the back of her neck a little nervously, wondering if her mentor for the day knew she couldn’t use her quirk to it’s full utility without changing into her hero costume, buuuuut if it came up it’d be easy enough to explain, and it’s not like there weren’t public changing rooms she could use. “Here where do I put this?” She hoisted her dufflebag off her shoulder, placing it wherever her mentor for the day deamed was safe, sliding back up beside her and bending down into some leg stretches to either side, groaning a little as that reeeeally helped her feel the tiredness in her limbs. “yeeeah… there we go...!” She chimed out, hopping back up to her feet and doing a few small jumps to try and get the blood more literally pumping. “Ready when you are!~”

Yumi blushed and pouted briefly as the hero had some fun at her expense when she showed some deep confusion at the source of her voice, making sure not to be too rude in her own pouting. She was here to learn afterall so it was only fair that she take a few light jokes and teases. It wasn’t like she could never dish out as good as she gets given the right opportunity afterall. Still, she quickly adjusted to the voice in her head, quietly thinking to the fact UA recently got a mute heroine in training. She wondered if she should maybe let them know about this Pro Hero sharing their issue. They might be able to learn some communication tips for when they become a pro…

Back to the matter at hand, she dragged herself from her thoughts, nodding at the prompt to get them moving on a run. She’d drop her bag for now and stretch out her legs a bit, keeping some momentum would definitely help her keep the adrenaline up anyway. “Sure thing.” She started off with a light jog, though since she’d been jogging with Feng for some time, holding a conversation, while not the easiest thing, was certainly possible for her mid jog.

“Well… if you wanna get into my dreams first and foremost I er… I’ve been working towards becoming a teacher at UA, once I graduate. I’ve been thinking er… I’m gonna be the first generation of officially trained heroes so… I wanna use what I learn and give back to anyone who’s gonna come after me right? Seems only natural afterall… I’ve got some other things I wanna do too like erm… I work as a part time Model and, well, I wouldn’t wanna give that up too soon but… I know some sacrifices might have to be made if I focus on my hero career… how about you hm? What had you start the whole hero work thing? A-assuming you don’t mind this being a bit of ‘give and take’ on the sharing.”

Yumi kept her breathing pretty regular. It was a little hard to do so when she was talking but her cardio was a regular part of her routine ever since the first year of UA, and she’d even started getting used to talking a bit now that Feng had started to join her on her runs. She looked over to her mentor for the day as she asked her question, curious in part to see if mentally communicating while jogging offered any sense of struggle. For a moment she thought it might as she was hearing nothing from the older woman, but soon enough it was revealed she just needed a moment to think, leading Yumi to have a mild little chuckle as she realized what had brought on the pause.

“Oh that’s cool.” She’d throw in as she realized the pro heroine was sort of going for a family business angle, or perhaps more accurately was just following the example of a family member in this case. “I know a kid in the first year… er, second year now. Their mom was a hero in Europe so they’re trying to be a big pro themselves. It’s good seeing how that can work as a bit of a motivator but er… also a demoralizer. Like having someone to follow behind can offer some guidance but… ya always can find yourself trying to live up to their example. Sometimes that ain’t so easy…”

She didn’t mean to ramble but the jogging was letting her ideas and words flow a little more freely, and as much as she’d seen Yasashi motivated by his mom’s heroism, she tended to get the feeling that him basing his desires on following in her footsteps wasn’t entirely a healthy set of motivation, as it could potentially leave him unsure of where he needed to step next and how without disappointing her. Ah well, bit of a heavy topic and not one she should personally butt her nose into. In all honesty the talk of other heroes living triple lives definitely helped. She always worried she was going to be juggling too much but… once her studies were over she could make her own hours as a hero, so it likely wouldn’t be too bad after that point.

When asked if she planned to continue her studies she shook her head. “Normally I’d er… need to take part in a teaching course? But I’m doing it as part time evening classes alongside my main UA classes, so I can start being an official assistant once I graduate. Assuming they accept my application.” She thought for a moment before asking. “You have any aspirations outside of hero work? I-I mean it’s more than enough on it’s own, im just curious since I do is all…”

“Hehehh. Yeah definitely. I mean, its always good to see how dedicated my fellow students can be, whatever their motivations!~” And it really was. You had people like her who’d came to UA to work on her quirk control and then turned into wanting to be a teacher. You had people like Yasashi who were following someone else’s lead and then you had someone like Red who kinda just wanted to be a badass and work with the hero gadgets and stuff, but whatever the case it was still inspiring, whatever their motivations, to see her fellow students working so hard towards the end of their third year… god that was super close now huh…

She shook the mild nerves building from that thought from her head, taking a quicker breath for just a second to suppress any mild panic that arose from that as she continued to jog alongside her mentor for the day. The support from whom was nice to hear itself. “Heh… thanks. I think they want me to do my year of sidekick work before I can teach but.. we’ll see how that goes.~”

Her brow raised with some surprise as she said she had a degree in psychology. She was tempted to ask if that was in any way related to how she could communicate telepathically but she wouldn’t be so rude as to voice or ask about that partial assumption, just trying to focus on the jog they were sharing, actually starting to wonder where abouts they were meant to be ending here. “Well you have a career as a therapist or something to fall back on then if this doesn’t work, ehehehe…” She let out a mild chuckle, smiling warmly over to the woman beside her before focusing her eyes back ahead. “Plus it probably comes in handy on rescue jobs or dealing with hostage situations, knowing how to calm people down… hey did we… pass the place we were meant to be jogging to or-“ Nope. She just got told to pick up the pace. With a light groan, her self zap adrenaline boost definitely worn off by now, she pushed herself a little harder to keep her jog going. Normally this distance wouldn’t be a worry but god with so little sleep in her this was killing her…!

Still, this was her internship and how her mentor wanted to spend the time, so she shouldn’t complain…

When they got to their destination Yumi’s adrenaline burst from earlier was all but giving in on her. Without her quirk she wasn’t exactly too impressive a specimen. She was fit, she kept in shape by all means, but she was no Olympian or anything without her quirk supporting her actions. Her hands dropped to her knees, keeping her standing, trying to just take a few deep breaths as the lack of sleep and the dragging of the sand against her feet with every step finally caught up with her, eyes tracing up to the woman acting as her mentor who said they’d just be… packing up some gear… she randomly left at the other end of the beach.

Yumi was very tempted to curse, but bit her tongue. She instead just gave a slow nod to the request, stretched out her back and loosened up again before starting to help with the packing up. Without her costume she didn’t exactly have super strength or anything, so she may have ended up carrying the lesser load, but given they’d be walking rather than jogging at least, she’d still try and carry at least a fair share of the load.

“Mmm..?” She’d chime back a little tiredly as she realized her mentor was trying to talk to her on the walk back, smiling a little weakly as she tried to remain upbeat despite the morning torture. “Oooh yeah I mean… it’s more like 2 years but we’ve all been through hell and back a few times… weirdly it’s not the quirks that make things weird. Everyone’s so different and unique. Normally you’d have jocks and stuff in a highschool but… its like every person is their own unique ‘clique’ sometimes, so diverse and off that it’s hard to find a group to settle into, and even when you do…” She shrugged casually, a little defeated by the morning so far and not having the energy to start divulging the issues she’d had within her own group of friends. “But hey. They’re gonna be my co-heroes when I graduate. Gotta learn to get along with them sooner rather than later ya know? Bet it’s a bit easier being a pro… most of you guys just lone wolf it till the really big stuff comes along and ya gotta team up right? Least that’s how a lot of the pros make it sound, even if they try not to say it so bluntly…”

Yumi’s eyes and gaze lifted a bit as her mentor for the day started to talk about what they had in mind for them. Apparently they’d be working on controlling her quirk outside of her costume? That… Yumi admittedly had some doubts about if that was even possible. Sure, its basically what she’d initially joined UA to learn how to do, but she’d only been able to suppress her instinctive uses of her quirk outside of her costume. Without it… she still couldn’t reliably use her quirk. Red made some gadgets that let her use it in microscopic bursts but… that was all. “I… see…” She let out, uncertainty clearly in her voice. Still she listened as best she could, trying to offer some respect to the woman’s idea. So she exhausted her purposely to make the rest of the day more difficult… she wondered if that should make her feel better or worse… she was picturing worse. Finally, the reason they were on the beach was to witness the ocean waves, which would be explained a little more when the woman explained her quirk.

“You do…?” She’d ask, curious as to what might relate their quirks, shifting the weight of the equipment she was carrying so she didn’t topple over or anything. She listened to her talk about aura, mildly surprised, having always had an idea that it was something that only existed in folktales or, say, anime that she watched with Red on the weekends. She didn’t initially see the connection on her own, but the idea being that they’d hopefully be able to focus their… aura, to help harness their electricity… an interesting avenue to go down to say the least. While maybe a little sceptical, she was at least prepared to give it a chance.

“Yeah… yeah that… could work.” She let out, still a bit unsure but showing she was clearly open to the idea. Easing down the equipment or handing it directly over as needed, for now Yumi took the relief of having a chance to ease the tension in her legs, leaning back on her elbows in the sand and closing her eyes for a moment as she just let herself catch her breath. When all was said and done and she was left looking at the set up that would be used to help her train… she gave out a nervous little scoff.

“I… think you underestimate how little control I have without some support…” She muttered out just loud enough to hear. She appreciated the idea that her mentor would demonstrate first but she chook her head. “Take a couple… dozen, steps back, and I’ll go first. I wanna be clear I’m open to this, and I wanna try but… you should see what you’re up against…”

With a slow breath Yumi waited for her teacher to back up far beyond the metal poles, looking to the one in the distance that was meant to be her target. She lifted an arm and braced it with the other, a typical form she took when doing long range shots with her quirk. However, as she activated her quirk… it turned wild in all directions. Tendrels of electrical energy sparking off her body in every direction, the metal rods around her thankfully grounding it where they could, but some tendrels sparking off into the distance around her (up to a potential C rank range). All the same, Yumi tried to focus a single shot, a thicker tendrel sparking off of the main burst, Yumi’s aim entirely off however and the rod in the distance not even getting hit, more curving the shot so it hit the sand rather than a pier off in the distance, Yumi left panting as she lowered her arm, the sand around her shimmering as she’d basically turned chunks of it to glass, seeming even more exhausted than before.

“T-that’s… what your up against… without my suit… ehehe..” Thankfully, her clothes seemed fine, Yumi working with a lot of electro-retardant materials when making her own clothes. She looked a little disappointed that, even when just trying normally, without trying to suppress the ‘burst’ nature of her quirk, she couldn’t manage to hit the target in the distance, and her uncontrollable output escaping some of the metal poles meant to contain it.