MHA: Dark Matter

Free time. I had it. The main and saddest thing about this statement was "had." I knew I would have less time after enrolling in U.A. Unlike Melissa, I couldn't take my exams early to get permission to attend classes freely. U.A. didn't offer that option. On the other hand, they devoted quite a lot of time to practical work and independent projects.

To say this pleased Mei would be an understatement. I had to practically drag her away from her work every time just to get her to go to the cafeteria. But I understood her. I enjoyed tinkering with things myself.

It was an activity I had started out of desperation and a desire to get closer to heroes. I hadn't liked it as a child. All those formulas and laws of physics, kinematic diagrams of machines, and types of connections between links were too distant and complex for my understanding. I only did it because of my desire to prove that I meant something, and out of inner self satisfaction. "I'm studying things that my peers don't even think about!" That thought often crossed my mind.

Then came the laboratory, the experiments, the man with the cold eyes, and my escape. Then surviving on the streets and stealing, an uncertain future and nightmares.

Then, when I no longer had to worry so much about getting food and shelter, I didn't know what to do. Doubts about the future and nightmares, training and fights with villains. They exhausted me and changed me. Music helped, but even it got tiresome sometimes.

So I decided to do what I had done before. To preserve something of little Ken Kayoshi other than his name, his fears, and his disappointments. What I had spent hundreds of hours on in the past and had found difficult began to bring me peace. When I was tinkering with my creations, I wasn't worried about thoughts of the future or the past, worries or doubts. There was only me and the materials from which I could make something new.

For Melissa, science was her whole life. She was constantly surrounded by colleagues and her father's business partners, in whom she saw the ideal to strive for. And science could pave the way to that ideal. For Hatsume, science was a passion. Like the genius artists and writers of the past, she was driven by inspiration and the desire to create something new.

For me, science was an opportunity to briefly forget about the dangerous villain Ticci Micc or the good friend Ken Hoshino. To forget about my hypocrisy and my revenge. The process of working itself and the pleasant feeling after completing it allowed me to do that.

U.A. allowed me to pursue this hobby of mine. But I didn't stop being the villain Ticci Micc, who, although less active, still needed to become stronger. Nor did I stop being Ken Hoshino, the good friend and, more recently, "big brother."

The Yoshioka family had taken a serious toll on my already fragile self esteem. I was mentally broken and morally defeated. But Ayame decided to finish me off with her sadistic pleasure for accusing her "innocent" niece. And also to find out who this newly acquired "big brother" even was.

Only after that did she graciously allow the unworthy me to visit them.

Ayame Yoshioka and her niece lived in a private house, just like Midoriya. The first time I visited them, I had no idea what I was going to do. My studies of sociology for general development had not covered what ten year old girls were interested in.

The situation itself was incredibly strange, as was the girl's demand.

When I arrived, Ayame opened the door and asked me to wait with Hana while she prepared dinner. Apparently, I had arrived too early. Finding Hana in the kitchen, I decided to follow her demand to "stay close." So I simply sat down next to her on a chair.

Her gray eyes and my red ones met. My eyes held universal calm and anticipation of something extraordinary. Hers… I had no idea. Her seemingly expressionless gray eyes seemed more alive than before.

Our staring contest was interrupted by a quiet curse from the stove. Nodding to herself, Hana moved her chair closer to mine and looked toward Ayame. I looked there too.

I can honestly say that I am not the best cook. But for my training, I need to eat properly. My body, even if I didn't train, would need more food because creating Dark Matter consumes a lot of energy. So I had to learn to cook. Years of living alone had honed my culinary skills.

That doesn't mean I don't eat out sometimes. And it pained me to watch Ayame try to cook something.

"Ayame san, what are you making?"

"Vegetable stew with meat."

A focused voice answered. I looked at the stove. Then at Hana. My gaze asked a question.

"How haven't you starved to death?"

Interpreting my question correctly, she nodded toward the slightly open kitchen cabinet door where the trash can usually sat. Looking closer, I noticed a pizza box leaning against the can.

I see.

I turned my attention back to the older representative of the fairer sex in this house. Refusing food when visiting someone is rude, but getting food poisoning was not in my plans. That was a slight exaggeration, of course. I looked at the stove again. Still, my health was more important.

Sigh.

An hour later.

With slight gloating and superiority, I looked at Ayame, who was trying to maintain a composed face. And I knew. I knew she was embarrassed that a guest had had to cook dinner. She had even tried to refuse my "help," but the smell of burnt steak on the frying pan had dampened her enthusiasm.

This peculiar "revenge" for my unfairly murdered self esteem during our first meeting lifted my spirits.

"Thank you, big brother. It's very tasty."

Hana's happy verdict finally finished off Ayame's self esteem, judging by her face. My smile widened.

During my subsequent visits to their house, I also had to do the cooking. I tried to hint that this wasn't quite right, but Hana's pleading eyes reminded me that my resistance to female requests was critically low. It also made me fear the future when this young blackmailer gained more experience.

Ayame, for her part, had accepted her culinary defeat, but, like a top tier lawyer from the Yaoyorozu conglomerate, she decided to show off her strength. Rhetoric. And here I quickly lost ground. Her biting comments and veiled jabs easily crushed my attempts at resistance on this battlefield.

Hana, during these moments, with a more noticeable gleam of amusement in her eyes, usually pressed against me and watched our verbal sparring.

This was unusual and fun. Even the annual hype before the sports festival seemed to pass me by. But the event kept getting closer, as did my revenge on Haijima.

********A/N*******

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