The Goldfish Problem (Part 1)
A young adult is seen sleeping in his bed. His eyes then slowly open as a 60s pop song from America begins to play from his alarm clock. He sighs as he sits up and looks around.
He then flips his covers from his body, showing the restraint on his ankle. He pulls and tugs at the cord a few times before unlocking the restraint. He rubs his ankle a bit before carefully stepping off his bed. Around him was a circle of sand that was without imprint. Just as the man wanted it.
He walks over it and towards his door. He traces his finger down a line of blue duct tape that was on the door and the doorframe. There were no rips, tears, and it was perfectly in place, just like he had it the night before. So he gripped it and tore it off the door. He balled it up and threw it into the nearby trashcan that was in his little one-room apartment.
"Morning, Gus, my little one-finned wonder," the boy greets his pet goldfish.
He holds up a container of fish food and sprinkles it into the large container. He was on his phone at the same time, leaving a message to his mother who was away at the moment.
"Hey, Ma. It's me, your son. Y/n. With a (whatever letter you use). Just checkin' in," Y/n starts his voicemail. "I got your postcard. I'm putting it up on Gus' tank now. Yeah, it's really nice. He's fuming, though. Keeps asking why I don't take him anywhere nice."
Y/n laughs to himself at the little joke. However, he soon stops and sighs as he realizes it wasn't very good.
"Sorry, that was bad. But maybe one day, though, right? It'd be nice for both of us to get out there, huh?" Y/n asks as he walks away. "Anyway, Ma, everything's good here. Not too bad. I still wake up every morning still feeling like I got hit by a bus."
Y/n begun changing out of his sleepwear and into his school uniform. He expertly kept his phone in his ear. He soon finishes and grabs a backpack before walking out the door. He soon makes his outside and continues leaving a message to his mother.
"And, uh, if you..." Y/n stops and puts his phone on his chest as he sees a man selling brushes and brooms in front of him. "Hello, sir. Still selling the old brushes and brooms, huh? Right in front of my entrance. It's... Got not problem with it."
He walks around the man and his cart. He waves his a goodbye and goes back to his voicemail.
"Anyway, sorry I missed you, Ma," Y/n continues. "I'll try again tomorrow, 'kay? Laters, gators."
Y/n ends the call and sends his voicemail to his other overseas. He begins walking through the sidewalk which was filled with people walking to and fro to wherever they came from or wherever they're going.
"Oh, shit. Wait!" Y/n calls out to a bus and runs after it. "Crap, crap, crap."
He eventually gets on it and finds a place squeezed between some people. He, however, accidently falls asleep on some man's back. The man notices this and glances back at Y/n. He moves his shoulders to get Y/n off of him and the university student jolts awake.
He then sees a magazine a nearby woman was reading and leans over to look at it. The woman looks at Y/n with a glare and he backs off.
"Morning," Y/n nervously takes a sip of his coffee.
Later, Y/n walks over to the university he attends. He looked up at it, seeing the banners and signs around it. His university also held an interesting Egyptian culture exhibit, almost like a museum. He liked it.
Walking in, Y/n spots a underclassmen sticking a wrapper into a pyramid. He sighs as he walks to her.
"Hmm. Will you look at that," Y/n says as he looks from the first-year and to the pyramid. "Looks like someone mistook the Great Pyramid of Giza for a trashcan."
"Not like there's anything in there," the first-year girl defended.
"Yeah. Maybe not," the third-year boy nods before pointing over to another part of the exhibit. "But in there is something wicked. Check it out."
He leads the first-year towards a case that held an Egyptian sarcophagus. He sneakily takes out the wrapper as he walks forward.
"They'd take this big metal hook, right? They'd stick it up the old snoze and," Y/n imitates the sound of suction, "all the organs except the heart will come out."
"How come?" the first-year asked.
"Because they believed you needed your heart to be judged in the Underworld," Y/n explains. "And only the worthiest would be allowed to pass through the Field of Reeds."
"And did it suck for you?" the girl asks. "Getting rejected from the Field of Reeds?"
"Well, that doesn't make sense 'cause I'm not dead, am I?" Y/n smiles. "Am I?"
"Mr. L/n!"
The twenty-two-year-old turns to see the headmistress of his school.
"You're not a tour guide!" the headmistress says. "You're a student! Now get back to class."
"I was just explaining to a first-year how Egyptian burials work and the whatnot," Y/n defends himself.
"What first-year?" the headmistress.
Y/n turns to where the first-year girl was, only to see some faint smoke in her place. He realizes she must've used her Quirk to escape.
"Ah, dammit..." Y/n says under his breath.
"Now get to class before you're late!" the headmistress orders.
"Hai, sensei," Y/n says as he begins to walk to class.
Y/n soon makes it to his class and his teacher had done rollcall. He was sitting at his seat, a journal open in front of him filled with writings and drawings and other things. He was writing something down now before a classmate got his attention.
"Good morning, L/n. Heard what happened," a girl's voice speaks. "You almost got in trouble again, didn't you, (mispronounced name)? How many times have you been told to stay away from the exhibit?
Y/n sighs as he places his pencil down on his journal. He turns to his classmate, a girl called Kazuya, with a tired look.
"It's Y/n, actually," Y/n states. "With a (whatever letter you use for your name)."
Meet Kazuya. She's never told anyone what her last name was, and no one ever uses it. Not even the teachers and faculty for some reason. Kazya hasn't been not a bully to Y/n, but she's still a pain in the butt for him.
"No, you're damn useless unless you're actually doing what you come here to do," Kazuya smirks as she leans back in her chair, looking around the classroom as she chews some bubblegum. "That's to be here in this Hellhole called school and learn useless knowledge."
"Yeah," Y/n says as he goes back to his journal. "Read you loud and clear."
●●●
It was lunch time at Y/n's school, and the third-year is seen sitting by himself. He munches down on his food he bought at the cafeteria and was doing a history assignment about Egypt at the same time. He planned to head to the roof to have some time to himself until his next class begins after he was finished with his lunch.
However, he notices a second-year girl walking up to him, and Y/n couldn't help but think she was really pretty.
"Hey," the second-year greets.
"Hello," Y/n greets back.
"How's the work going?" the pretty girl asks.
"Yeah, um, okay, I guess," Y/n holds up his paper. "Don't have any idea how any of this relates to Egypt, though. I think my teacher confused the Egyptians with American Indians, or something."
The girl laughs at this. Y/n smiles in confusion but laughs with her anyway.
"Hey, I gotta head back to my friends," the girl states, "but just checking, we still on for seven o'clock tomorrow?"
"Seven o'clock... tomorrow?" Y/n questions.
"Best steak in town?" the second-year says.
"Oh, yeah," Y/n nods, still a bit confused. "Right. Yeah."
"Yeah?" the girl chuckles. "Okay."
She begins to walk back to her table, but Y/n stops her.
"Sorry, but..." Y/n says.
"What?"
"Are you asking me out?"
The girl looks at Y/n in confusion before giggling.
"You're funny," she smiles. "I'll see you then."
Y/n laughs a bit as well as the girl walks back to her table. However, he was still confused about what had happened. He doesn't remember meeting that second-year before that moment. Then Kazuya walks up to him.
"(Mispronounced name), you absolutely Casanova," she jokes. "I didn't know you had the balls to ask out a girl."
"Neither did I," Y/n mutters.
"What a minute, did she say steak?" Kazuya recalls. "What in the world's a damn vegan gonna eat in a steak house?"
"I don't know, Kazuya," Y/n responds. "Salad? Bread?"
"Yeah, I can see why she went for it," Kazuya looks her classmate up and down. "A real catch you are."
She walks away to her table and Y/n watches her in shock. The audacity Kazuya had all the time was something else.
Y/n rolled his eyes and went back to eating his food. He still had to figure out what was going on with that girl he talked to and what date she was talking about.
●●●
School was over for the day and Y/n was with his fellow students as he walks out. He passed the head of security on his way and turned to him.
"Good day, Captain," he waved.
"Good day, (mispronounced name)," the security guard didn't look up from his phone.
Y/n nodded as he walked towards the front door. However, he stops when he realizes the guard mispronounced his name.
"It's Y/n," he says. "With a (whatever letter you use for your name)."
"Uh-huh," the man nods.
Y/n sighs as he leaves the school building. The guard returned his full attention to his phone that showed the news.
"Heroes and the police department are still searching for the mysterious Vigilange in white that have appeared in the last two years," the anchorman says. "Citizens have begun calling him the 'Moon Knight', due to his appearances only being sighted at night. With a kill count almost as high as the Hero Killed: Stain, we all have to wonder what side is this Vigilante truly on."
Y/n is later seen at a fountain where a man painted in gold sat perfectly still on a bench. Y/n sat next to him with a vegan wrap in his hands. Y/n tries to come to the fountain every day after school to talk to the man. He hasn't told the third-year to stop, so he's kept on returning. He liked having someone to talk to. Made Y/n feel like he had a friend.
Right now, Y/n was talking about his sleeping disorder and how he dealt with it.
"Honestly, it's like my body wants to get up and wander about, you know? Like it had to get the 10,000 steps in," Y/n takes a bite of his veggie wrap. "You know? And I don't know about it until I wake up wherever. That's why I try to stay awake at night. What do you think?"
The man painted in gold didn't respond.
"Nah, you're right. I mean, I guess there are stranger things people do, but..." Y/n pauses. "No? Well, I think it's a bit... I'm sorry."
Y/n reaches into his backpack and pulls out another wrap. He sets it down next to the man.
"Extra pralines for the man himself," the young adult smiles. "So, the girl I was telling you about, the one from school. We're going on a date tomorrow. Can you believe it?"
"Excuse me."
Y/n turns to see a couple. The girl held a phone in her hands.
"Can you take a picture of us?"
"Yeah!" Y/n says as he stands and takes the phone. "Sure, sure."
The couple sits next to the golden man and Y/n aims the phone at then.
"I didn't even ask her. I don't know how it happened," Y/n continued talking as if there weren't two other people there. "One. Two. Three."
He takes the picture and hands the phone back to the woman.
"There you are," he hands the phone back. "Have a nice day."
"Thanks," the woman said. "You, too."
She and her boyfriend begin to walk away, but Y/n stops them.
"Don't forget the tip."
"Oh, yes."
They put some money into the small box the man had in front of him. They then walk away as Y/n sits back down next to the golden man.
"Anyway, if I am gonna have a girlfriend, at some point, obviously can't have ankle restraints on my bed, can I?" Y/n smirks. "That's the definition of a red flag. You know what I mean, yeah? Yeah, you know what I mean. Plus, she probably doesn't know I'm Quirkless. Gotta figure something out."
Y/n takes another bite of his veggie wrap. It crunched in his mouth as he chewed.
"Alright, I better head home. Got homework to do," the student says as he packs up his things. "Nice catching up. I'll see you on the flip-side."
He stands and puts some Yen in the golden man's box. He then bids him goodbye and walks away.
Y/n soon makes it back to his small apartment and does his homework. After that, he changed into some sleepwear and ate a snack and then fed Gus his dinner. Y/n then took a container of sand and covers up the footprint he made that morning with more sand.
When he was finished with the sand, he grabs a roll of blue duct tape and walks to his door. He rips off a line of tape and places it on the door and the doorframe. Then Y/n locks every lock on his door, all four to be exact, and then heads to his bed.
Once on, he puts the ankle restraint on his leg like the night before. He then grabs his phone, puts in some earbuds, grabs his rubix cube, and mixes it up as he turned on a podcast.
"Hello!" the female voice greeted the listener. "And welcome to Staying Awake."
Y/n started mindlessly playing with the rubix cube as the podcast went on.
"Let's start with a puzzle. Solving puzzles is a great way to keep your mind awake," the voice states. "Bored with puzzles? Try a book."
At his desk, Y/n sets down a stack of books and sits on his desk chair. He puts on his reading glasses and opens a book.
"Reading can keep your mind alert and focused."
Back on his bed, Y/n tosses the rubix cube into the air and catches it.
"Imagine being in the story you're reading," the podcast continues. "Is there an exciting chapter you'd like to be part of?"
Y/n flips through one of his books, one about Egyptian gods, and mindlessly reads the pages. He lands on a page talking about the Ennead, a group of nine Egyptian super gods.
"Just remember, you'll need about five hours to keep your natural self."
Y/n keeps on flipping through the pages of books. The recording starts over.
"Hello! And welcome to Staying Awake."
Y/n tosses his rubix cube into the air again.
"Let's start with a puzzle."
Y/n takes out a new book to read.
"Solving puzzles is a great way to keep your mind awake."
Y/n begins highlighting words and sentences in the books.
"Bord of puzzles? Try a book."
Y/n continues to mindlessly play with his unfinished rubix cube.
"Hello!"
"Reading..."
"Is there a chapter you'd like to be a part of?"
The night went on, and Y/n used his best efforts to stay awake. He read books, did puzzles, played with his rubix cube, played games, and watched videos on his phone. It went on and on and on, like every other night. On and on and on and--
Y/n suddenly found himself lying on concrete. He groans as he pushes himself up and feels around his jaw, feeling the pain and blood coming from it. He moves it around and grunts in pain as he stands to his feet.
"Oh, that was weird," he tells himself. "What happened? What... what was that?"
He looks around, finding himself in an alleyway surrounded by tall buildings. Next to him was large building that looked like a warehouse. It was also daytime now.
"Go back to sleep, worm."
"Hello?" Y/n calls out in confusion.
"You're not supposed to be here."
"Yep. I completely agree," Y/n looks around. "Where are you?"
"Surrender the body to Marc."
"Sorry, what? 'The body'?" Y/n questions. "What...? 'Surrender the body'? What body?"
"Oh, the idiot's in control."
Y/n was confused and terrified at the same time. He felt around his pockets, just in case his sleep walking had gotten him some drugs he didn't want. However, he pulled out something else entirely from his pocket. It looked like some kind of USB drive.
Y/n looked at the USB in confusion before he felt like something was standing behind him. He spun around to face the stranger, only to see no one there. Instead, he was face-to-face with a wall and he looked up to see a broken window on one of the higher floors. Did he fall from that?
Two men poked their heads out from the window. They looked down at Y/n and he waved at them.
"Uh, hi?" he greeted them.
They awkwardly waved back. Then one pulled out a gun and then other grew a spike from his arm. They aim their weapons at Y/n who widens his eyes in shock.
"No," he puts his hands up. "No, no!"
"Don't just stand there! Run!"
The man with the gun opens fire and the man with the spikes shoots them from his arm. Y/n immediately begins to run away for his life as who he assumed to be Villains chased after him. The third-year shoves USB drive back into his jacket pocket as he runs away in terror.
However, as he turned a corner, a large man was there to meet him. The Villain socks Y/n in the face, knocking him out with his super strength Quirk.
●●●
In a dark hallway, Y/n's body is seen with a bag over his head. He was being dragged by two Villains down a hall towards a room at the end of it. They enter into the room as Y/n groaned and shoved him onto a metal chair. They then tie his wrists to the armrests as Y/n begins to stir awake.
"Boss, we got him," one says to an unknown man inside the room.
"What do you want us to do?" the second asks.
"Leave us be," a more intimidating voice responds. "And take the bag off his head as you leave, please."
The two men nod and turn to leave the room. As they do, one of them tears the bag off of Y/n's head and he gasps in shock. He looks around as the Villains leave, seeing that he was in a room full of machinery and wires. He was terrified and confused. Where was he? What did he do when he passed out?
"Do not be alarmed," the intimidating voice calls out. "I just want to talk."
"T-talk? Yeah, real nice, pal, but, um, you're missing something," Y/n says. "Liks, I don't know... MY HANDS BEING TIED TO THIS CHAIR! WHY AM I BEING KIDNAPPED?!"
"You are not being kidnapped, child. Just simply being held here until further notice," the voice states. "From what I hear, you killed two of my men."
"I did?" Y/n asks in shock.
"Yes. And I know you."
"You do?"
"Indeed," the voice says in confirmation. "Mercenary."
Y/n's eyes widened in shock at this.
"Mercenary? No, no. I'm not a mercenary," Y/n shakes his head. "I'm a university student. A third-year, actually. My name is Y/n L/n. Wait, nope. That was a bad idea telling you my name."
The man in the shadows hums in thought as he uses his Thermal Sensing Quirk to examine Y/n.
"Look, I just want to go back home in Mustufa City," Y/n continues as his eyes slowly adjust to the dark. "I don't know who you are or why I'm here, but..."
Y/n stopped when his eyes finally adjusted to the dimly lit room. On the other side of it was a man in a chair hooked up to wire and such, smiling at Y/n from the shadows. But what was most unsettling about the man was that the upper-half of his face was nothing but skin with no eyes and no visible nose.
"Oh, God..."
"No God here," the man said. "Only me."
"Oh. Well, that's lovely," Y/n says nervously. "L-look, can I be let go, please? I don't know at all what's going on, and I promise I'll say nothing. Please? I have a goldfish at home whose only got one fin, man."
"Why, of course," the man says.
And with a wave of his hand, the restraints on Y/n's wrists burn away. He chuckles in relief as he stands and rubs then.
"As long as you return to my the drive you stole, Y/n L/n the third-year."
Y/n looks at the man in front of him. He then begins to nod as he walks up to him.
"Yeah, yeah. Sure," he says as he takes out the USB drive from his jacket.
"You will give him nothing."
"Here."
Y/n ignores the voice as he offers the drive to the man. The man reaches for it, only to stop when Y/n's fingers wrap around the drive. The young adult looks at it in confusion, and then back at the man.
"I strongly encourage you to return that," the boss Villain tells Y/n.
"I... I-I'm not... I'm..." Y/n tries to will his fingers to drop the USB drive, but they didn't listen. "I'm trying. Come on, now."
He slaps his balled up hand.
"It's like my fingers froze," the boy slowly begins to pry open his hand. "But here's some of that... I don't know, maybe it's that guy who punched me. He could've given me brain damage, or something."
He finally takes the drive from one hand and holds it out with the other.
"There. Take it," Y/n smiles nervously. "So strange. Sorry, but--"
The man reaches out for the drive again. However, Y/n quickly brings arm behind him to keep it from the Villain's reach.
"I will not ask again," the Villain said, becoming impatient.
"I didn't do that on purpose," Y/n declares. "I don't know what's happening."
Y/n goes to turn himself so his arm around face the man in the chair. However, it was a struggle since his body acted like it was against him. He managed to do it, though.
"Here. Take it, take it, take it," Y/n begins to walk to the door. "Oh, God! Now I'm trying to stop my legs!"
"I've had enough," the Villain states.
The man holds out his hand and an invisible force seems to grab onto Y/n. It pulls him to the man.
"Oh, that's convenient," Y/n nervously quips. "Hey, look. I'm seriously trying to give it to you. I promise!"
The man doesn't respond as he reaches for the USB drive and snatches it from Y/n. Suddenly, however, Y/n's eyes begin to roll into the back of his head as he feels weak. He blacks out, only to come to somewhere else in the warehouse surrounded by five dead bodies and holding a bloodied USB drive.
"No... The idiot's back."
"Ah..." Y/n looks around at the dead bodies. "Oh. Sorry..."
"There he is!" a Villain calls out from in front of Y/n. "Get him!"
"Yeah, I'm just gonna go," Y/n says as he turns around.
However, that way was blocked by a small group of Villains as well. He didn't know what to do, but it seems as if his body did, because it spun around to face a window.
"Oh, not again."
Y/n suddenly runs forward and crashes through the window. However, instead of landing on the ground below, he lands on a roof a little lower that the window.
"Oh," Y/n stands. "Convenient. Again."
The voice of the Villains remind Y/n where he was and he runs to the ledge of the roof. He finds a ladder and begins to climb down it onto the street below.
"Don't you dare drop that drive!"
"Ah! I wasn't!" Y/n exclaims. "I wasn't!"
He then spots a mochi van nearby and, deciding it was the only way for him to escape, he runs to it and gets inside it. Finding that the keys were already in the ignition and that the Villains were running at him, Y/n turns on the engine and drives off to escape them. He drives down the street as he tried to avoid hitting other cars and random pedestrians.
"What am I doing? What am I doing?" Y/n asks himself. "I've only recently got my license. I don't know how to drive!"
In the rearview mirror, Y/n spotted cars chasing after him, both police and probably Villains. He begun to panic.
"There's so many!" he said before slapping himself. "No, this has to be a dream. This has to be a dream."
Y/n turns a corner as he spots Heroes arriving on the scene.
"Pull over now!" a police officer ordered through a megaphone. "Or we will use force!"
"Oh, they're gonna arrest me, and the Villains are gonna kill me!" Y/n began hitting tbe dashboard of the van. "Come on, you damn ice cream van! Move it!"
He takes another turn before he gets hit by one of his pursuers. Boxes of mochi get knocked around as Y/n nearly loses control of the stolen van. He then honks his horn at cars he was passing by.
"Come on!" he shouts. "Move your ass!"
A random Hero with springs for feet jumps onto the back of the van and opens the back doors. He gets inside, but gets tossed around due to Y/n's hectic driving. However, the Hero manages to reach Y/n, only to get a mochi to the face which pushes him back. However, the Hero puts Y/n into a headlock and another car drives up beside the van. The Villains in it aim their weapons, and Y/n suddenly blacks out.
When he comes to, the car was gone and the van's windows were shattered. Y/n then notices the gun he was holding and drops it in shock. Then the sound of some cars crashing takes Y/n's attention, making him look back to see a Villain car and two police cruisers crashing. In the van was the bloodied bodies of a Hero and a criminal, both dead. They fall out of the open back doors.
"Wake up, Marc! If he loses the drive, I'll kill you both."
"I don't understand what's happening!" Y/n exclaims.
"Truck, stupid!"
"What?" Y/n questions.
"TRUCK!"
Y/n looks forward to see a truck that he was about to crash into. He narrowly avoids it, but some of his chasers "unfortunately" crash into it. However, a police cruiser drives up on one side of the van and a car full of Villains drives up to the other side. They both begin bumping into the mochi van, making Y/n nervous as he didn't know what to do.
The police aim a gun at Y/n and he tried to get out the danger zone. However, one of the criminals on the other side aimed a fireball right at him. Y/n begins to scream in panic before he blacks out again before coming to with a new gun. Oh, and he realizes he was driving backwards.
Fun.
"I'm driving backwards," Y/n says in awe.
Two more cars crash, and the last two police cruisers slam into the mochi van's front bumper. Y/n throws his gun at one of the cars.
"Did he just throw the gun?"
"I don't know what I'm doing!" Y/n exclaims.
"Then leave us be, parasite!"
The police cars bump into the van again and Y/n steers it back to face the front. However, the engine suddenly stalls as the van slows to a stop.
"Oh, come on," Y/n says as he turns the key. "Come on!"
However, nothing worked as the police got out of their cars and took out their guns. They began to approach Y/n as some Heroes joined them. Then Y/n blacked out.
When he awoke again, he found himself back on his bed in his room. He looks around, feeling himself and finds that he was in his sleepwear. Then he grabs his ankle restraint and pulls at it, finding that it was still doing its job.
"Oh, God..."
Y/n begins to laugh as he holds his hand in his face. Then he lies back down on his bed before getting back up. He rips off the tape on his door and throws it into the trashcan already fill of balled up duct tape. He later then puts on a movie, a documentary about All Might, and looks over at Gus.
"How we doin' Gus?" he asks his fish. "You sleep all right?"
The fish doesn't respond and Y/n takes a bite of his cereal.
"I wonder what fish dream about," Y/n think aloud to himself.
However, Y/n suddenly realizes something as he slowly turns back to his goldfish. He stands up from his chair and sets his bowl of cereal down as he walks up to the goldfish's tank. Looking closely, Y/n saw that his pet goldfish was swimming perfectly. With two fins instead of one.
"What the f--"
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