Chapter Text
Coffee was the only thing that could make this miserable day better, Izuku decided that afternoon. A full day of class-going and bully-evading could really wear someone out.
The bell on Yuna’s Cafe’s door shimmered between his ears like an angel’s singing as he entered the establishment. A young woman with a pair of twitchy mouse ears stood behind the counter, smiling at him.
“Hello, there!” she greeted cheerfully. “What can I get started for you today?”
Izuku smiled at the heavy scent of coffee that wafted out from behind the counter. “Just a medium coffee, please!”
She–Muri, her name tag read–nodded as she rang up his order. “That’ll be ¥100. Cream and sugar are available at the pick-up counter to my left.”
“Thank you,” Izuku said after paying for his coffee.
Muri smiled. “Of course! That should be ready in about 2 minutes.”
Midoriya nodded hastily and shuffled to an empty booth across the room. He pulled out his phone from the front zipper on his backpack to look over the daily news articles, inserting an earbud to listen to a news anchor’s spiel on anti-villain measures in Western Tokyo and Saitama.
It was half-way through the anchor’s thoughts on invisible electric fences set in place as defensive measures (highly lethal and sort of immoral, Midoriya thought) that he felt it. A soft push at the back of his skull that sent him tumbling upwards and back towards his former place in line. Izuku whipped his head around wildly, only to see that everyone else in the cafe (a teen maybe three years older than himself; an elderly couple sharing an afternoon coffee and a tea plate of sugary pastries; Muri behind the counter; another employee washing dishes in the back) has been transported back to their regular positions as well.
Izuku fought the squirming urge that shot like lightning beneath his skin to grab his notebook and jot down as much–albeit not much–information as he could on his current situation.
“Hello, there!” Muri greeted cheerfully. “What can I get started for you today?”
What the fuck, Midoriya thought dumbly.
“Um… I’ll just take a black coffee, please,” he muttered.
Muri smiled and he paid her, same as before.
“That should be ready in about 2 minutes,” said Muri. Izuku nodded and took a seat. Again.
He shuffled through his backpack until he found a blank notebook. He had planned to use it after Kacchan ruined Hero Analysis for the Future No. 13, but this strange event seemed a bit more important at the moment.
—
XXX X. 20XX
I was ordering a coffee and then sat down to watch Tokyo Hero News. I was thinking about the legalities and moralities related towards using an electric fence as a defensive measure against the villains near Western Tokyo when I felt a tug–no, a pull?–at the back of my neck–head?–it was a bit hard to tell where exactly the sensation was affecting, but I stumbled out of my seat
Did my backpack return to my back, too? And my phone and earbuds to their pocket? I don’t remember putting them away before the sensation–in fact, I know for sure that I was still holding my phone when it happened, but then it was back in my backpack before I was sent back to the counter…
I stumbled out of my seat and was “pushed?” back to my place in line. The other people in the cafe–Yuna’s Cafe–were also transported back to their original positions, but now that I think about it, they didn’t seem to notice the change/transportation? as I did. Interesting. I know it didn’t only affect me, since everyone else moved, but is it possible that I was the only one conscious of the movement?
Additionally, did this “warp in time?” also occur elsewhere? Or were its effects confined to the cafe? If so, does this happen often? On a schedule? Was it a drawback or result of someone’s quirk? Was it my Was it a villain’s quirk? I haven’t seen anything on the news about a villain (or a hero, for that matter) with a time warp quirk, but if only some people are affected, the lack of information would make sense here. Although, if I was affected, and never have been before (to my knowledge; there is almost no way to tell if this quirk has been used near me when I’m alone or sleeping), is the quirk proximity-based? It could be possible that this cafe is within the bounds of someone’s quirk, but the outside world isn’t. That could lead to potential time-zoning problems, like clocks being a few minutes behind in some areas as opposed to others. It
—
The clinking of a ceramic mug and saucer being placed before him broke Izuku out of the muddled confines of his mind, and he immediately flushed at the notion of him sitting there for who-knows how long, scribbling furiously at his notebook.
Muri sent him a smile as she left his table, returning behind the counter to take the order of a man with shaggy black hair and scarves on scarves.
Izuku stood and walked to the pick-up counter to retrieve a few creams, sugars, napkins, and a stir-stick. He hummed in satisfaction while drinking his coffee, and left a nice tip in the jar on the front counter.
Midoriya traversed home with his head low and mumbles tumbling out of his mouth like a waterfall. At home, the night was swept away by a warm meal of udon and a journal quarter-full of theories and inquiries. Izuku fell asleep in the wee hours of the morning excited for the days to come, hoping he might be lucky enough to encounter and maybe even find the owner of such a unique and interesting quirk.