Age: 15
Flying under your own power is the best thing there is.
Anybody who thinks it isn't, hasn't experienced it. Which, to be fair, most people haven't.
The countryside spread out under me, fields, forests, rivers, lakes, even the occasional building. Cars bustled along roads and highways like tiny little ants, pedestrians only barely visible even to my keen eyes.
I folded my wings and went into a dive, letting my mass drag me downwards, and felt the wind against my scale-covered skin. It was cold, so high up, but I produced more than enough heat to keep myself warm.
I let myself fall until the treetops came uncomfortably close before spreading my wings, letting the air drag slow me down as I pulled into a more level flight path before beating them several times in short succession, rapidly ascending back towards the sky. I punched through the cloud layer, droplets running across my scales, before stabilizing into level flight once more.
The sight up there, it... you can't really properly appreciate it from a plane. It's magnificent, sure, but it's nothing compared to viewing it with unrestricted field of view, of actually being there instead of just observing it through a narrow window.
An endless expanse of white, cotton-like clouds spread out below me, disappearing beyond the curve of the horizon. Columns reached towards the heavens like mountains. The setting sun cast it's orange glow upon the cloud layer, casting it in a dizzying range of orange shade and shadows.
I basked in the warmth of its rays, my winds spread wide as I traced lazy spiral in the sky, enjoying the view. No matter what happened, I could take comfort in the freedom the heavens offered, that promise of safety. As long as I had the open sky over my head, I could feel like I was the master of my fate. I could go anywhere I wanted, at any time.
At least in theory.
In truth, even if nothing physical tethered me to the ground, I was still beholden to the expectations and laws of society.
Eventually the sunset began to fade, forcing me to leave the heavens behind and return to ground level once more. I tilted my wings, beginning a long, slow descent.
The Utapau Open Air Flight Facility was one of several of its kind in Japan, a dedicated location for those with Flight-capable Quirks to use their abilities in full.
For most Quirks, following the law was simple. Don't use them in public, but on your own private property it's fine.
But when you add three dimensions to it, things became a little bit stickier. What counts as private airspace? Suddenly you have people coming into contact with aircraft and collision risks skyrocketing.
When they were eventually instituted, the laws had taken inspiration from the regulations imposed upon UAVs in the dawn of the 21st century. Flight without permission was strictly forbidden over cities, densely-populated areas, crowds, events, airports, and even outside of them you were limited to 150 meters above ground level and daylight.
However, some people, like me, wanted to experience more than that limit of 150 meters. And to cater to that audience, places like this were created. Areas closed to normal air traffic, where those with Flight-capable Quirks could have a moment of reprieve. Where they could fly freely, and experience true freedom.
Even if it was only for a fleeting moment at a time.
That was a part of why I wanted to be a Hero. Ryuko had eventually managed to hammer it into my head that that wasn't necessarily something I should feel guilty about, but I still felt sympathy for those in the same situation who didn't have the inclination for Pro-Hero career. Experiencing the freedom of flight and then having it be taken away is possibly even more cruel than never knowing it.
I came in low towards the main facility, folding my wings as I landed on the designated area near the parking lot.
"I was wondering if we were going to have to call you down before the night fell."
The speaker was an bald man in his fifties, wearing the blue uniform of the Utapau Facility. Niikura Masao had been my flight instructor when I was first allowed to spread my wings.
"Yeah, well, you know me. I like it up there." I said as I pulled off the tracking anklet and handed it to him.
"Yeah, I know. Can't blame you there." He smiled. "God knows if I were you I'd do the same. Anyway, I'll take this inside and sign you out." He said, holding up the anklet. "You can get home."
"Thank you so much for this." I bowed my head. Utapau Facility took safety very seriously, requiring a constant record and tracking of everyone in the air. The anklets could deliver a vibration when the fliers needed to return to the ground, whether due to an emergency or simply weather conditions.
However, there was the slight problem that I couldn't fit through the front door to sign myself in and receive an anklet from the front desk. Masao had agreed to give me a helping hand, and for that I was eternally grateful.
"It's nothing." He waved it off. "You're our most frequent customer anyways, it really isn't a bother."
I nodded, and then I was off.
Running at speeds higher than humans are normally capable of technically counts as Quirk usage on public roads and was therefore illegal, so I had to walk home in case a cop happened to pass by. The odds were low and it would be a minor violation, but I didn't feel like risking getting into trouble. Even so, I made good time.
It was nearly dark by the time I reached home, the lights of Musutafu in the distance illuminating the night sky. I trotted over to the door to my room, the garage-style door having been added in a renovation not long after it became clear that my situation would be a long-term one. It swung open, and I stepped inside.
My room had been combined with the neighbouring storage closet in order to make room for me to be comfortable, about wide enough that if I stretched the tip of my tail to one wall I could just barely reach the opposite one. The ceiling had also been expanded into the attic- I could fit inside a normal room, but it was a tight fit and I had to be careful not to poke holes in the ceiling with my horns, so having the extra space added that little bit of extra comfort that made it easier to relax. Meanwhile the wooden floor had been covered entirely by a soft mat that gave way beneath my feet, making it much more comfortable to walk on than cold, hard surfaces that my claws could scrape against.
Sometimes it still made me feel a touch embarrassed about just how much money had been sunk into the renovation. Mom and Dad were well off, but they couldn't really be considered rich either, and this kind of money didn't come by easily. I could've made do with less, but they wouldn't take a no for an answer, and I suspected Ryuko had helped with the funding of it all.
There were Public Housing options for people whose Quirks made it impossible to live in normal apartments, but that would have required that I move out and live on my own in the government-maintained facilities. And after what had happened, that wasn't an option on the table as far as my family was concerned. Dad especially had been incensed at the inflexibility of government programs.
I crawled onto my chair, a custom-made one given to me as a birthday present by Ryuko. It was kind of like sitting in a human chair backwards, with the backrest on your chest, except it was designed specifically to be used that way. It allowed me to lie down comfortably while leaving both of my forelimbs free to use.
Which was mostly just to use my computer. Claws weren't really meant for fine manipulation, but with a touchscreen and text to speech I could manage well enough provided the machine was of sufficient size.
After some time spent wasting time on the internet, I heard the sound of approaching footsteps outside my door. Dad had a heavy gait, not just because of how big he was, but it was like he purposefully put the maximum amount of force and weight behind every step. Mom had a slower, deliberate style of walking. The sound I heard was neither of those two, which meant that it was almost certainly Ryuko. Her walking style was much harder to pin down, seemingly changing with no rhyme or reason.
"Come in." I called out just as the steps stopped before my door, and Ryuko stepped inside, smiling sheepishly.
After she had moved out she'd been less and less frequent of a visitor, but for the last two years she'd taken more time off her busy work schedule and made it her goal to spend at least a little bit of time with me every day, even if it was just briefly coming over in the evening. Ryuko had also been… I want to say more realistic when it came to her schedule, only arranging something if she was absolutely certain she could make it. She'd even gone so far as to hire a secretary to help deal with time management and paperwork.
"Did you have fun flying?"
"Yeah. I'm never going to get tired of watching the sunset."
"Good to hear." Ryuko looked around the room, wincing at the various posters of herself plastered around the walls. Her eyes finally settled on the computer. "Looks like the screen is getting scratched up again. I'll get a new one ordered."
"It's fine, it's still in working condition." Sure, the surface was a bit beaten up, but that was a natural consequence of using a touchscreen with claws. It still had life left in it before it became too scraped to be usable.
"I insist." Ryuko pressed, and I sighed.
"How was work?" I asked, changing the topic of discussion.
"Oh, it's actually been very quiet lately. I think All-Might has been staying in Musutafu more than usual, and crime rates simply plummet in his vicinity."
"Mmm. That's good."
"Well, anyways I've got to go. Still have some paperwork to finish before calling it a night." Ryuko said, rising to her feet. She threw a quick hug around my neck before walking out of the door. "Goodnight!"
"Night."
Probably one of the worst things about my condition was the muffled sensation of touch. I preferred tactile shows of affection over verbal, and having a layer of armoured scales between you and the other person does wonders to dull that, to say nothing of the anatomical difficulties of a dragon trying to hug anyone.
After Ryuko left I returned to my computer, idly scrolling through pages, killing time reading news articles and fanfiction. The internet had been my primary source of social contact outside of family for the last two years, since I hadn't been able to attend a public school.
Soon enough the clock ticked to 19:00, and a small icon popped up at the edge of the screen showing that I had an incoming video call. I tapped on it, and it expanded to cover the whole screen.
"Right on time, Ryuuzaki." A friendly, warm voice came over the speakers as the image feed turned on.
Kyou Kawaguchi had been my therapist for the last two years. She was a young woman in her late twenties, black hair tied to a neat bun behind her back.
"Like always." I replied, shifting my resting position so that she could better see me in the small camera mounted atop the screen. "What's in the schedule for today?"
There had been other therapists with more experience and better recommendations, but none of them had lasted very long. This was only my fourth session with Kawaguchi, but I had already decided I'd be sticking with her for the time being.
The reason we'd originally chosen her was that five years ago, there had been an incident where a group of villains going by the name of Villain Factory had kidnapped and experimented upon several individuals, bioengineering them and injecting them with Quirk-boosting drugs. The end result had left them permanently mutated, and they had been forced to deal with the aftermath. It had made international headlines, in part because the ones to finally dispose of the villains hadn't been licensed Pro-Heroes, but instead illegal vigilantes. Kawaguchi had made a name for herself helping the victims adjust to their new lives, giving her unique experience in dealing with situations such as mine.
But even more than that, I'd felt like I simply clicked with her. She knew exactly when to press a topic and when to leave it be, how to coax me into dealing with things I was reluctant to without making me feel like I was being pressured or forced into anything. She knew when I needed help convincing myself to do something, and when I genuinely didn't want to do it.
"I thought we'd begin with the expression reading." She replied, not missing a beat. Expression reading was a little game she'd devised, where instead of asking me how I felt that day, she would try to read my body language and tell me how I looked.
One of the things that was easy for me to forget was just how difficult reading a dragon's body language could be, for a human. After all, humans had a highly expressive facial features with intricate system of facial muscles that allowed for a wide range of emotions. I had a reptilian snout and a pair of lipless jaws filled to the brim with razor-sharp teeth. Even though I still had the instinct to smile, for an example, I physically couldn't do it. I didn't have the necessary features to do so.
A large part of adjusting to being a dragon therefore came from learning to better express myself through body language. And in order to do that I needed to know how I came across to other people.
"I'd say that you're tired, but content. Underneath it all, you're a bit apprehensive, more than what is usual for our sessions." She listed off. "How close was I?"
"I'd say about on the money." I replied. "Though I'd say that I'm also a little bit excited."
"The entrance exams?"
"What else?" I stretched my forelimbs, the chair creaking as I shifted my weight. "On one hand, I'm terrified. On the other, at least once it's over I can finally stop worrying about it."
"You should have nothing to worry about." Kawaguchi smiled again. "You have a very powerful Quirk, and you've been training relentlessly. And nobody can fault your grades."
After the incident, it had been pure hell trying to claw my grades back to where they had been. Otherwise I might've felt guilty about using my pre-existing knowledge to boost my grades to get an advantage, but with the limitations imposed on me by my new existence it merely brought me to a level playing field.
It felt reassuring, in a way, to know for a certain that my grades were my own achievement. They weren't perfect, but they were very good, and they were mine.
"I know. Ryuko says I'm a shoe-in, but it's just…" I paused for a moment. "UA is the best chance I have. Sure, there's other schools like Shinketsu, but they don't have the same kind of resources at their disposal."
I'd been forced to drop out of middle school and complete the grade in homeschooling. Even if the educational system was supposed to accommodate for all types, infrastructure was rarely so quick to catch up to the theory. And arranging even the barest minimum steps necessary for somebody of my size to attend to a school took quite a bit of effort and resources, let alone enough for a productive learning environment. And you couldn't get homeschooling for becoming a Pro-Hero.
"Speaking of your sister, how have the two of you been? In our last session, we talked about what happened to you two years ago and her role in those events."
"It's… we've been doing better. I thought about what you said and I… don't really blame her for what happened, if I really think about it. She couldn't possibly have known what would happen."
"Have you told her that? From what you've told me, I think she might blame herself for what happened."
I glanced down. I knew that. Of course I knew that.
"No. I haven't."
"I think you should talk to her. It would be good for the both of you; you don't want to leave something like that to fester."
"I know. It's just… we put off talking about it after the incident. We didn't have the time or the energy, there was just so much to do, living arrangements, visits to the hospitals and all the specialists and now… now it feels like it'd be weird to bring it up now, you know?"
"I do get that. If you really feel like you can't, then nobody can force you to."
"I just. I don't want to have an argument. We're doing fine now, and I don't want to ruin that."
"Isn't that same reason Ryuko didn't tell you about getting Fujiwara fired?"
"Heh, I guess it's a kind of a family flaw." I replied. "Ignoring our personal problems until something prods us into dealing with them."
"The best time to do deal with it was two years ago. The second best time is today. I think it would do good for you, to clear the air before you head into the entrance exams so that you can focus fully on your future."
"I…" I balked.
"You don't have to do it right now, of course. I know how much you don't like sudden interruptions to routine."
"I… I can do it tomorrow? We're going sparring again."
"Is that a question or a statement?" Kawaguchi asked with a wry smile.
"Right. I'll... I will do it tomorrow."
Kawaguchi nodded, and moved on. "Anything else? You mentioned nightmares, last time."
"Um, yeah, that's actually been going better, recently. I mean, I still have nightmares, but not about the incident." I shrugged. "It's back to being eaten by sharks for me."
"Anything you want to talk about regarding them?"
I shrugged again. "It's just regular nightmares. They go as far back as I can remember."
"Alright. If you change your mind, or it starts to become a bigger issue, remember that you can talk to me about anything, no matter how insignificant it may seem."
"Yeah, I know. Thank you."
"It is my pleasure." She smiled. "If there is nothing else, I believe we're done for today. I'll see you next week."
As the screen winked into blackness, I sighed.
Instinct wanted to put off talking to Ryuko, but the rational mind told me Kawaguchi was right. I needed to address this.
Just… have a talk with my sister.
Easy, right?
-----
"You're being too predictable. If you want to win you have to vary your attacks more."
I breathed in heavily as I pulled myself on my feet, dust settling down around me. The midday sun glared overhead, parching the training grounds with its rays, but if there's one upside to being a dragon it's that you can't overheat, it's physically impossible. I could comfortably sit inside a forge if I felt like it.
"I thought you said to stick to my strengths?"
"That's not what I meant and you know it." Ryuko replied. Though she had had her face smashed into the dirt considerably smaller amount of times than I, her dragon form was covered in a layer of dust all the same, dulling the dark pink colouration of her scales.
"I said that in order to win you needed to identify your advantages over the opponent and leverage them. That doesn't mean using the same trick over and over again. Now, are you ready to go again?"
I nodded, and Ryuko lunged forward. I responded by moving to slam my shoulder into her but she twisted aside at the last moment, stepping to the side. She bit into my left forelimb, hard enough to get a grip but not so hard as to penetrate my scales, and tugged.
My footing lost, I staggered forward as Ryuko pulled back and spun around, her tail smashing into the side of my skull with such force that it slammed into the ground, creating a cloud of dust. I growled and swiped a claw at her, but like a striking cobra she simply whipped back away out of my reach.
"You're still trying to simply use your mass to push me around. It's not a bad idea necessarily, but if your opponent is expecting it they can catch you when you overextend."
I grunted as I waited for my breathing to steady down. We'd been doing this for over an hour now, and I'd still yet to win more than a single bout. Of course, Ryuko was a Pro-Hero, the current Number Ten nationwide, but she also held back a lot to keep it interesting. Sometimes she'd even invent handicaps for herself, like not being allowed to use a certain limb, so that she could train fighting debilitated.
"Again."
This time I sprung backwards, avoiding her snapping jaws as I turned around and beat my wings, taking to the air. Ryuko followed right on my heels but I spun back again and dived on her just as she had taken off.
It was a maneuver she'd taught me, but the problem was that she also knew how to counter it. Just before I made contact she flared her wings, arresting her forward momentum to dodge my charge at the last second.
Her claws locked into my flanks as I passed by turning the controlled dive into a chaotic tumble as we both wrestled to be on the top for the landing. Ryuko had the better starting position and raw skill, however, and I crashed onto the ground, carving a furrow into the dirt.
Again Ryuko sprung back, beating her wings to leap back and avoid retaliation. Even holding back, she was simply too fast for me. She would outmaneuver me in an aerial battle, and a head-on attack would be feinted and counterattacked.
I needed to fight her on my terms. But what were those? She held the advantage in all regards except sheer mass, and after I'd won a match by knocking her into the ground in a head-on collision she'd punished every subsequent attempt at repeating that same tactic. She wanted me to find new angles of attack.
I looked over my sister with an appraising eye. Ryuko's longer neck and forelimbs gave her a huge advantage in reach. So my best bet would be to force a close-quarters slugging match.
Easier said than done.
"Again."
This time I went on the offensive, swiping a claw at Ryuko. She avoided it, her jaws darting in to grab it and pull me off-balance but I was waiting for it, launching a headbutt at her. She flared her wings between us as a distraction, trying to avoid the attack, but I went low instead and hooked my forward horn under her armpit. I braced my forelimbs on the ground and heaved upwards, flipping Ryuko on her side. Before she could right herself I jumped on her back and managed to pin her in place.
Ryuko shook her head, amused, before lightly tapping on my forelimb on her back. I knew she could have broken out of the hold if she really wanted to, but that wasn't the point of this exercise.
"See?" She said as I stepped off of her, and she swept to her feet. "I knew you could do it. That was a good trick, with the horn."
I shrugged.
"Now, we'll see if you can repeat it."
-----
Despite my best efforts, the score would be left at two to I-didn't-even-keep-count. Eventually I was simply too tired to go on, and Ryuko decided we'd call it a day.
"You've been improving steadily." Ryuko said as she sprayed the dirt off of me with a pressure washer, having transformed into her human form. "You still need to work on your coordination, though. You have six limbs, a tail and your head, and you need to use them in concert. Not just one at a time, but all eight, acting in harmony."
"I know." I sighed, shaking myself to let the water reach into every crevice and nook. "Moving around is one thing, but in a fight it's entirely another. It's like... it works when I don't think about it, but as soon as I do it starts to fall apart."
"That's just how it is sometimes. Only practice will make it better."
"That's what you say about everything."
"Am I wrong?" Ryuko noted with a wry smile as she shut off the water spray.
I considered just how much time I spent training, and had to concede the point. I shook myself, water dripping off of my scales. With the heat emanating from within and the not-inconsiderable wind, I was dry again in short order.
"One last thing, you're being too skittish about using your wings for combat." Ryuko said as she walked over, having put away the sprayer in a small equipment locker by the side of the training field. "They're not so fragile that they're going to snap and break instantly; they have claws for a reason." She rapped her knuckles on the elongated phalanges for emphasis. "You can use them to grab, bludgeon or misdirect the enemy."
"Right." I flexed my wings, the membrane stretching between the thin "fingers". "Anything else?"
"No, that's it for criticisms. You are doing well when it comes to strength and speed training, better than I was at your age. I guess all those evenings spent frolicking and training in the forest have paid off." She smiled. "Now, let's go for ice cream!"
The boundaries of the training field were marked by wire fences to keep anyone from wandering in and getting hurt, but as we made our way out I noticed a cluster of children hanging out nearby, chattering amongst themselves. From what I could make out, they'd been watching our spar from a distance. Ryuko noticed my ears twitching in their direction, and glanced at them.
"That's just the local kids, they sometimes come out to watch." She noted. "Sometimes they even gather the courage to ask for autographs, but I think you've intimidated them."
I glanced at her. "Do you… ever get worried that somebody is going to spy on your training? I mean like a villain or something?"
"The thought did pop into my head, but ultimately what can be done? Indoors facilities of that size don't come cheap. It boggles the mind how UA can afford so many."
"Hm." I grunted noncommittally.
After that we fell into a silence. Ryuko took the lead, making her way through the park as I followed couple steps behind her. There had been a quiet, unspoken agreement between us to never use the path I'd taken two years ago, instead taking a route counterclockwise around the city. It was even longer, but it wasn't like we were in a hurry.
We gathered no small amount of stares as we walked by: Ryuko was famous nationwide, and even in a Post-Quirk society a dragon is not a usual sight for most people. It wasn't unheard of, but the vast majority of Mutation-type Quirks did not create such divergent body types, still tending towards the basic humanoid frame.
After the incident, two years ago, there had been a brief bit of legal uncertainty over the status of my Quirk. I was technically always using my Quirk, so did that make simply stepping into public areas illegal? The law made an exception to Mutant-type Quirks due to their permanent nature, but mine was classified as Transformation.
In a way I had been fortunate for the Villain Factory incident to have happened as it did and when it did, because these same questions had been asked already. The gears of the legislature grind slowly, but with the earlier incident having highlighted the problem they were already moving by the time I became stuck in my dragon form. The law was amended to clarify the legal status of Quirks that technically belonged to one category but for whatever reason exhibited traits of another.
That was one hurdle I didn't have to concern myself with; I could go where I wanted. Where I could fit, at any rate.
We rounded out another corner, coming to a wide open field. Several families were spending their saturday outside, and children were scampering around the area. A parking lot was located on the other end of the field alongside a small shack for park keepers equipment, with an ice cream stand located in between them.
"I'll wait here." I told Ryuko as I laid down near the treeline, curling my tail around myself.
"Are you sure you don't want to come?"
"And melt everyone's ice creams? I'd rather not." The heat wasn't that bad unless I got angry, but I'd rather not risk it.
"Alright. Vanilla sandwich?"
"Yes, the usual please."
After Ryuko left I closed my eyes, content to bask in the sunlight and listen in on the sounds of the park. The wind whistling in the trees, children laughing, leaves rustling...
"Look Mom, a dragon!" The excited voice called out right next to me.
"Hiroko, it's rude to point." She said. "He's having a nap."
"It's alright." I said, cracking an eye open. A young girl of maybe five years was pointing at me, bouncing up and down while who I assumed to be her mother held her hand. She startled at my voice, looking up at me, but the kid, Hiroko, slipped out of her grip and ran over to my side, chattering excitedly.
"Are you really a dragon? Is that your Quirk? My Mom says I can't use my Quirk outside the house."
"Well, I can't turn it off. I'm just a dragon."
"That's so cool!" She leaned in closer, putting a hand on my lower-left fang, her tiny fingers unable to wrap around the large tooth. "They're so big!"
At that point her mother intervened, lifting Hiroko under her arms and off of me.
"Hiroko! You can't just do that to anyone you meet!" She admonished the girl, before turning to me. "I'm terribly sorry about this."
"It's okay." It was maybe a little rude, but I didn't mind.
"Come on Hiroko, we have to go." She lifted the kid over her shoulder, turning away.
"Bye Mr. Dragon!" She called out over her mother's shoulder, waving a hand.
Well. That was cute.
Just as they were walking away Ryuko returned, a cone in one hand and two large ice cream sandwiches in the other.
"I saw you met your first fan?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Don't think I don't recall the aquarium. I long for the day to come when your merchandise hits the shelves. Then I can pay you back for the last seven years." She snorted.
"Can we just eat the ice cream?" It was starting to melt, from the combination of the midday sun overhead and simply being near me.
Ryuko smiled, and then tossed one of the ice cream sandwiches up towards my head.
"Open wide."
There was a loud chomp as my jaws snapped shut, the ice cream beginning to melt near instantly in my mouth. The semi-liquid mass dripped down my throat, filling it with the taste of sweetness.
Ryuko took a bite out of her cone, before tossing out the second sandwich that disappeared down my maw just the same as the first.
As we ate, yesterday's conversation with Dr. Kawaguchi returned to me. Now was the perfect opportunity.
But what if it broke down in an argument? We were having a good time. I didn't want to tarnish that.
But I also thought of what Kawaguchi had said. That you can't leave things to fester.
Still I hesitated.
Just do it, you coward.
"Ryuko?"
"Hm?" She inclined her head, wiping off a bit of ice cream.
"You, uh… you know I don't blame you for any of this? Right?"
Ryuko stopped like she'd been suddenly struck.
"Because I know I might've given the impression I did, at the hospital. But, um, you weren't at fault. You couldn't have known what would happen."
"'Zaki, no, I-" Ryuko started, but I went on, now that I'd started speaking.
"And even if you were, I forgive you. So, um, I'm sorry for getting angry. At the hospital. And giving the impression it was your fault."
Suddenly there were a pair of warm hands wrapped around my neck, even if Ryuko couldn't quite reach all the way.
"I forgive you. And I'm sorry too."
We were silent for a moment, before she continued.
"I'm sorry for going behind your back, and not hearing you out. I just… sometimes it's easy to forget how mature you can be. So I'm sorry. I promise not to... go around you like that in the future."
Ryuko relaxed her hold around my neck, barking out a sad laugh.
"And I'm sorry that you had to be the one to bring this up. Really, as the older sibling, it should have been my responsibility. But I… I guess I was doing the same mistake all over, wasn't I? Avoiding the problem in the hopes that it'll go away."
"I forgive you for that, too." I said, pressing my head against her side. "I probably wouldn't have done it unless my therapist hadn't prodded me into it."
"Even so, I know it doesn't come easy for you." Ryuko said.
"I mean, it's… it's not like my life has been ruined." I began. "I can still do things, I can still… accomplish my dreams. I can still become a Hero. My life is not defined by my ability to fit through a regular door, or take a shower, or go to a movie theater. I can live with it."
"But you shouldn't have to." Ryuko looked melancholic.
"Life isn't always fair."
Ryuko sighed. "You know, I'll make you a deal. If I'm not allowed to feel responsible for what happened to you, you're not allowed to complain when I get you something to help you deal with it."
"You really don't need to spend so much money on me."
"Remember when we talked about my motivations to become a Hero? What's the point of having all of this money if I can't use it to spoil my only sister?"
I sighed. "You know, you're not being a very good dragon. Spending your hoard so easily."
"Well I haven't seen you kidnap any maidens either." Ryuko laughed. "So I don't think you have room to talk."
-----
We eventually continued our way home, walking a meandering path along the parks and the streets, just talking and joking with one another. There was no elephant in the room, no awkwardness, just two siblings spending time together.
"And I kid you not, Gang Orca just walks up to him, looks down, and smiles at the guy. He never showed up to another PR event again."
I snorted. "Yeah, he's kind of like that, if you piss him off. Otherwise he's actually pretty nice."
"Once you get past the exterior, eh?"
"Shut up."
It was actually a real shame that I'd had to stop attending Gang Orca's lessons, I had gotten to like them a lot. However, the simple reality was that there were no entrances large enough to admit me to the swimming pool area, and it would have been wholly unreasonable to expect them to work around it just for my sake.
The streets were bustling with people as we finally arrived at our destination, but closer to home we were a more known sight, and so the staring wasn't so bad.
The front door was the other entrance to the house which had been modified to accommodate me. I could fit into most rooms, as long as the furniture wasn't too clustered and I minded my head, but the big problem was regular-sized doors. Far too narrow.
As soon the door closed behind us, Mom called out from the kitchen.
"Ryuuzaki! You've got mail!"
Everything stopped. I didn't dare to breathe.
"Is it from-"
"Yes. Yes it is."
Ryuko was off like a rocket, and I followed in her wake as fast as I could, mindful of my tail and wings, trying to avoid knocking anything over.
There was an envelope on the kitchen table, marked with the white and black logo of UA High School.
"Can I?" Ryuko asked, a knife in her hand.
"Sure." I didn't trust my claws with such fine manipulation, especially not at the moment. She cut the envelope open, and retrieved a small letter within, placing it on the table for me to read.
It was handwritten, neat and orderly text containing a lot of unimportant words that I skimmed over, until my eyes reached the part that I was looking for, the very last sentence.
Therefore, we cordially invite you to attend the UA Academy's Recommended Students Entrance Exam at the 19th of February 2173.
Signed, Principal Nedzu.