Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

“Kacchan!” Midoriya squealed, pushing past a crowd of young children. His best friend stood in the middle, absolutely swamped by the rest of the kindergartens.

“Kacchan! Kacchan! I heard you got your quirk today!” He continued, finally reaching the center of the crowd where his childhood friend, Bakugo, was.

Bakugo turned to face his friend, a wide grin plastered on his cheeks.

“Hell yeah I did! Look at this!” Bakugo exclaimed, shoving his palms right at Midoriya. He watched in awe as Bakugo’s hands lit up in a fiery fury, his ears filling with the sound of popping fireworks and nose with the slightest scent of caramel. Bakugo made a few more small pops before eventually putting his hands back in his pockets, a smug smile now adorning his face.

“Cool right?” he started, “My mom’s calling it Explosion. I can explode stuff with my hands and-”

“Oh my goodness that’s amazing!” Midoriya interrupted, his eyes bright in excitement, “How does it work? Is it touch activated? Does it run off your stamina? What if your hands are underwater? Can you still activate it? What if your-”

“Sheesh nerd, take a breath,” Bakugo huffed, rolling his eyes lazily. Midoriya flushed, his eyes nervously trailing to look at his feet. He knew of his rambling habit and how others felt uncomfortable about it, but sometimes he simply couldn’t help it. His brain ran faster than he could comprehend, it’s bound to overheat sometimes, and his mouth simply acted as a cooling system. Of course, trying to explain this was fruitless, so Midoriya ended up submitting to the silence and waited for Bakugo to continue.

“Apparently I sweat nitroglycerin or some shit, and that stuff’s explosive. One spark from my hands and BOOM!” Bakugo shouted, waving his arms in the air to emphasize his point. Midoriya stood in amazement as the other kids around them gasped and cheered.

“Wow,” Midoriya finally whispered out, “you're going to be such an amazing hero Kacchan.”

“Damn right I will!” Bakugo exclaimed, “And once you get your quirk, we’re gonna be the best hero duo the world’s ever seen! With me as a pro, and you as my sidekick, nothing can stop us! Not even All Might!”

Midoriya nodded eagerly, brushing off the sidekick comment. Sure he wanted to work with Bakugo, but he needed to be his own hero first. A hero that was strong enough to help even if there was no one else around. A hero that could save everybody, no matter what. A hero that always smiled.

“Yeah! I can’t wait!” He responded.

A hero like All Might.

“Sorry kid, but it’s not gonna happen,” the quirk doctor stated bluntly, his bushy mustache flopping up with each word.

Izuku’s hands fell to his knees. His eyes widened, full of shock and disbelief. He wanted to frown, or even open his mouth, but he was just stuck staring at the man who had just crushed his dreams.

If only he knew just how many times that would happen.

“No! There must be some mistake?” his mother, Inko, exclaimed, “The other kindergartens have all started showing signs but-”

“Pardon my asking, ma’am, but you’re fourth generation, yes?” The doctor interrupted, “As far as quirks, I mean.”

Inko looked up hesitantly at Dr. Tsubasa, Izuku’s quirk doctor, with a shy look in her eyes.

“Yes, of course,” she started, “I can pull small objects towards me.” She demonstrated, pulling one of her son’s many All Might figurines towards her hand. “And my husband can breathe fire.”
Dr. Tsubasa looked at her, but Izuku couldn’t pick out an emotion on his face. His stare was simply blank and empty. It unnerved the small boy.

“By the age of 4, a child should manifest either one of his parents’ quirks or a composite of the two,” he stated, gesturing towards an x-ray of what Izuku presumed to be his foot. “However, early quirk research discovered one important finding.”

The doctor moved his hand out of the way, then proceeded to point at a bone in the pinky toe of the x-ray.

“It has to do with the absence of an extra joint in the pinky toe. Humans have no need for parts they don’t use, you see,” he continued, bringing his arms back down to his lap, “and those without the joint represent the next stage of evolution.”

Dr. Tsubasa then glanced at Izuku, before turning his chair completely towards Inko.

“Izuku here has two joints. It’s becoming quite rare nowadays, but-”

Izuku couldn’t brace himself for the words to come. Even if he knew they were coming, it would still hit as hard as it did.

“It’s safe to say your son won’t ever develop a quirk.”

The car ride home was silent.

The way inside was silent.

Even the lonely dinner as the two waited for Hisashi to come home was silent.

Izuku had been in his room, when he heard the first noise since coming home from the doctor. It was the loud sound of the front door slamming shut late into the night. He shouldn’t have been up, but the poor boy couldn’t get a wink of sleep, the words still weighing heavy on his heart. He listened, as the familiar jingle of Hisashi’s keys stopped, meaning they had reached the hook where they always went. He listened, as his dad addressed Inko, who was still in the kitchen. He listened, as the soft murmuring of his mother’s voice started, the first time he’d heard it since coming home. He listened, as Hisashi finally understood the situation.

That was when he had wished he could stop listening.

Hisashi’s voice picked up, until it was full blown yelling. He could hear his mother crying back. Her soggy voice was a direct contrast to Hisashi’s loud, violent screaming. He tried to shut their voices out as best he could, but it was really no use. Izuku wrapped himself up in his bedsheets, muffling out his tears until they were an inaudible sob.

“Don’t you understand? How do you expect me to work like this?!” Hisashi’s angry yell echoed from the kitchen.

“He’s our son!” came Inko’s desperate cry.

“That quirkless freak is no son of mine. If the word gets out, I’ll lose my job, my reputation, everything!”

“How could you say such a thing?!”

“How can you be so blind? Am I the only one looking at the bigger picture here? We can have another child!”

Hisashi’s thundering footsteps then stomped from the kitchen to where the bedroom was. A door creaked open violently, then slammed shut. Izuku could still hear his mother’s sobs coming from the kitchen, now drowning out his own. He moved to lay on his side and pulled his tear stained blanket up to cover his head. Clutching his favorite All Might plushie, he cried heavily into his pillow.

“I’m sorry Mama,” came a small, helpless cry from underneath the blanket, “I’m sorry Papa.”

Izuku didn’t remove the blanket from over his head until he eventually fell asleep, but if he did, maybe he would have noticed the dark and towering figure that seemed to watch him from the corner of his bedroom.

Or maybe not, the room was pitch black after all, except for a small All Might night light plugged into an outlet right by his bedside. The figure was easy to miss, as it blended right in with the rest of the shadows in the room. It wouldn’t be surprising if Izuku didn’t spot it in his emotional state.

What would be surprising, is if he didn’t notice how a second blanket, which just so happened to be his favorite All Might fleece, had been draped over him as he slept. Or maybe he did notice, and just assumed it to have been his mother.

The figure in the corner would have to disagree though.

Izuku woke up the next morning to the sounds of birds chirping through his window. He had been especially warm last night, but just attributed it to his mother covering him with his other blanket. He squinted, realizing his curtains had been drawn open. He was positive he had closed then the night before. Must of been his mother when she came in to cover him.

He drearily shuffled out of bed, looking at the clock. It was fairly early, around 7:30. He really didn’t get much sleep last night. But despite the grogginess, Izuku managed to dress himself in a comfortable shirt and a pair of green shorts before dragging himself out of his bedroom.

The first thing he noticed was the lack of noise in the house, as well as the abundance of silence. It was eerie, especially for a Saturday morning. His mom would usually make scrambled eggs, an American breakfast staple he had grown to love, and the smell would lure him out of his bed and right to the table. But there were no scrambled eggs on the table. In fact, there was no one in the kitchen, which was odd as his mom always enjoyed a fresh cup of tea these mornings.

The second thing he noticed was Hisashi’s keys missing from their hook. Izuku walked to the front door to investigate, only to find that his father’s shoes were also gone too. His father rarely came home, as he worked a well paying job overseas, but when he did, it was always on a weekend. Hisashi loved playing with Izuku, especially at the neighboring park. And on Sunday nights, Izuku would always wish that his dad could stay longer. But alas, on Monday mornings, he would be gone again, never to return until who knew when. However, his father leaving in the middle of the weekend was simply unheard of, much less on a Saturday morning. He hadn’t even stayed a full day.

Izuku shook his head, his dad was probably just getting some groceries. Maybe they had run out of eggs.

The third thing he noticed was a note taped to the refrigerator door. It was written in his mother’s handwriting, the slight curves to her t’s and i’s giving it away. Izuku pulled it off the refrigerator and brought it close to his face.

‘Dear Izuku,
Just wanted to tell you that I went out to buy some eggs. I doubt you’ll be up to read this, but I wrote it just in case. I’m not sure where your father is, but if he comes home before I do, please be good. Call me on the house phone if you need anything. You should remember my number.

Love, Mommy’

Izuku opened the fridge.

There were still 9 eggs left in the crate.

He sighed and closed the refrigerator door, moving over to the couch and reached for the remote. If he had his mother’s quirk, he wouldn’t have to reach.

Flipping through the channels, he hoped he could catch some of the early morning cartoons he usually missed. Maybe he could find a new episode of Mighty Adventures, a popular All Might themed cartoon show. He’d even be content with a rerun at this point. Anything to boost his dreary spirit.

A noise came from the kitchen though, stopping his surfing in its tracks. He turned towards the sound, not really knowing what to expect. But, he certainly wasn’t expecting this.

A tall, shadowy figure stood right between the kitchen and the living room. Izuku couldn’t make out any facial features as a dark hood was draped over its head. The inside of the hood was pitch black, and despite his squinting, he could not see inside. The hood was attached to a long flowing robe that hung heavily over its thin form, the sleeves and ends obviously too long. A rope dangled from its neck, with a small stone looking object tied to it. The grey oval shaped item looked to be painted with swirls and specs.

Izuku was torn on whether to feel amazed or terrified at the thought of a stranger in his home. He knew his emotions were thoroughly out of whack from yesterday, but even through his stupor and astonishment, he still managed to do what was considerably the dumbest thing he could have done in the moment.

“Are you my quirk mister?” Izuku stammered out, though not stuttering, just simply confused by the situation in front of him.

“I am much worse, dear child,” the figure said, a hint of sadness underlying in his voice.

This is the unorthodox way that Japan’s Death met his successor. Where he has come to regret his retirement, wishing he would have stayed active for at least another decade or two.

This is the first conversation Izuku ever had with Gami, who would go on to be one of Izuku’s closest friends, and eventually a part of his new family.

And this is the story of how a quirkless boy became the greatest hero that Japan had ever seen, while also becoming the first hero Death in the history of existence.

Chapter Text

Izuku wasn’t sure exactly how the situation in front of him had come to pass. His young, 4 year old head was doing its best to process the words coming out of the figure. He was so immersed by the complexity of this whole thing, that Izuku completely missed the fact that the figure had sat next to him on the couch.

“So let me get this straight,” Izuku started, “you… are Death?”

“I was Death.”

“So you’re like… not Death anymore?”

“Yes.”

“How does that even work?!” Izuku sighed in desperation, “That doesn’t even make sense!”

“I believe there are more pressing matters to deal with,” he stated calmly, not at all annoyed by Izuku’s endless questioning.

Izuku looked up curiously. That was true. The figure hadn’t really explained his purpose or objective to the boy yet. It made him wonder why a being like himself would reveal his existence to a mere 4 year old child. A quirkless one at that.

“As I said before, I was the embodiment of Death at one point,” he continued, “It was my job to collect and sort the souls of all who roamed in my territory-”

“Wait, territory?” Izuku interrupted, “there’s more than one of you?”

“Yes,” the figure put quite bluntly, “there are billions of souls on this plane. I would get quite overwhelmed if I was alone.”

“Ah, that is fair,” Izuku murmured softly.

The man continued, “The role of Death is oddly similar to an ordinary job. We are allowed to retire and pass our job to others. Though, not without serving a minimum of a century’s work.”

“A century?!” Izuku cried.

“Yes, that is the minimum, but many Deaths work for much longer. I personally do not remember how long I worked. I stopped counting 5 centuries in.”

“Wow,” Izuku stammered, “that’s… a long time.”

“Yes, but that is besides the point,” he paused for a moment, looking at the boy. Izuku couldn’t pick up on any facial expressions obviously, but by the way his shoulders slouched, he could tell these next few words were weighing on the mysterious man.

“Once a Death wishes to be at peace, we are relieved from our duties. Someone else must take our place though. Our successors are not of our choosing,” he stopped for a moment, before continuing with his thought, “No one knows who chooses them really, but the previous Death must meet with their successor to properly teach them how to execute the role.”

It was at that moment, that Izuku’s 4 year old brain finally put the pieces together. With wide eyes, he finally broke eye contact with the figure, staring at his hands while picking at them nervously.

“I…,” the boy started, his mouth failing him, “I’m your successor, aren’t I?”

“If I had known I was going to place such a burden on a child, I would have stuck it out another decade or so.”

The man had given Izuku some time to finally process all that had happened within the last half hour. For the young boy, no amount of time could ever be enough though. The figure had insisted they get started as soon as possible, as Izuku was effectively the new Death as soon as he had laid eyes on him.

Izuku learned exactly what his new job was. He had to sort the souls of beings who had recently passed, and assign them a realm of the afterlife to wander. He could only sort one at a time, but once he held the soul, all the information of that being’s lifespan would come to him. He and the man practiced a few times to get the hang of it. Izuku couldn’t describe the feelings that washed through him as he held a soul. But he could describe the souls themselves.

The souls looked like small puffs of light. They were all the same color: a light, washed out yellow that faded into a white, almost like a lightbulb. When he held a soul, he could feel the rush of information to his head. It made him a bit woozy the first few times, but Izuku had quickly grown to love the feeling. He had always had a passion for analyzing, though normally it was quirks, and not human lives, but it was a passion nonetheless.

Sorting them though, was a whole different experience

When the figure first displayed how to summon the entries to the afterlife, Izuku was worried, and rightfully so. How big were these entry ways? Were they two way transportation? Could something come out of them? The figure though had patiently sat through his mumblings, and finally responded with a simple “just try it.”

And so Izuku did his best to copy the mysterious man’s example, slowly swiping his arm in front of himself in a horizontal manner, while delicately concentrating on creating whatever the heck these entries were supposed to look like. He was considerably started when three monochromatic flames appeared right before his eyes, simply floating in midair.

“There are three main layers to the afterlife,” the figure began suddenly, startling the poor child even more.

“There is Paradise,” he stated, gesturing towards the first flame on the left: a white one that seemed to shine happily, “for those who have done good in their lifespan, or properly made up for their evils.”

The figure then shifted towards a dreary, black flame all the way on the right, completely skipping the one in the middle.

“There is the Underworld,” he continued, “for those who have committed considerable evils in their lifespan and could not make up for them.”

Finally, the figure turned to face the final flame, a light grey one that seemed to sway as if there was a light breeze coming from somewhere.

“Then there is Purgatory,” he finished, “for those who had unfinished business in this plane or have committed minor evils and could not make up for them. Some souls simply wander Purgatory because they are confused and can not accept their situation. Unlike the other two areas, souls in Purgatory have a second chance to be moved to Paradise or the Underworld, though that decision isn’t up to you.”

He stopped talking, giving the child time to register this new information. It was a lot for the young boy to take in, but he did his best to understand the gravity of the situation. Somehow, through the muddy thoughts of All Might and Kacchan and his parents and quirks, Izuku’s head realized just how important of a job he had. Something he really couldn’t afford to joke around with, unlike the earlier topics.

“You must decide where each soul will go, that is your job.”

“What?!” the boy exclaimed, “b-but that's a huge responsibility! What if I get it wrong or I don’t do good enough? What will happen to-”

“You were chosen for this,” he explained, “they must have faith in you. Besides, if those who run each realm do not agree, they will simply send the soul back to you. Though, that is usually unlikely. I can only remember a few instances for myself each century.”

Izuku let out an audible sigh of relief at the figure’s encouragement.

“Though, I must mention that each soul must be sorted and sent off within 24 hours of you receiving it,” he added suddenly, “this is one of the few major rules. The higher ups do not take lightly when this rule is broken.”

Izuku’s relief quickly turned to sheer horror.

“But there are hundreds of souls here?!” he exclaimed, swinging his arms around himself to emphasize his point, “w-we’ve got to get started like right now!”

And so Izuku began sorting his first ever batch of souls, with the figure’s guidance of course. It was a lot of pressure to handle. He was really surprised the child didn’t break down at the sight of this responsibility. But Izuku managed to hold it all in, and honed in on the task at hand. New souls trickled in as Izuku sorted the ones that the figure brought with him, but never enough that he felt overwhelmed. He and the figure just kept working.

They worked through the latest episode of Mighty Adventures, missing it completely. It had been a new episode too.

They worked past lunch, with the boy grabbing a small granola bar from the cupboard. His mother still wasn’t home yet. Neither was his father.

It was around 2 in the afternoon when the child heard the front door start to creak open. He instinctively panicked, afraid that whoever was about to walk in would discover his secret. The figure managed to calm him down, and reassured Izuku that only he could see the souls, flames, and the man himself. The boy still insisted that they move to his room once he greeted whoever was at the door, preferring to keep his mumbles about the souls and their lives away from prying ears.

It had been Inko who walked through the door. She gasped at seeing her son on the couch, staring right at her. Fumbling her hands around, she stuttered out a slight greeting before rushing to the kitchen, clearly not expecting the confrontation, if there even was one. Izuku sighed heavily, before getting up to move to the solitude of his bedroom, the figure trailing behind.

There were no grocery bags in her hands.

Izuku and the figure continued to sort out souls, until the mysterious man told the child they could finally stop. They had sent away a good majority of the souls, and as long as Izuku kept tabs on which ones needed to be sorted soon, he could stop for the day. The young boy used the free time to plan out a new schedule for himself, concerning the souls and their time limits. He figured that he’d need to sort at least three times a day, and decided to correspond them to each meal. He would have to get up early for the morning ones, as the amount of souls he would accumulate while sleeping would be enormous. Izuku believed he could get away with eating lunch alone in the corner of the lunchroom for the afternoon sessions. And lastly, he could sort more after dinner, where he would have the most time alone. It would definitely be different, but he would still give it his all, as someone had chosen him for this role purposely.

At least, that’s what Izuku liked to think. It was definitely a shock being quirkless, and after hearing his parents last night, the child was feeling quite dejected. Useless even, as his own father didn’t accept him. He was desperate to attach his newly fading hope to something, so realizing that he was effectively Death’s successor, his brain immediately turned to the fact that someone must have considered him worthy. Worthy of knowing the secrets of life after death, at least. But that was enough for Izuku. He was happy that someone still saw potential in him, even when he himself was doubting it.

The mysterious man struck up conversation with the small boy, once the silence set in for the first time that Saturday. He explained that all Death were gifted with powers to help them with their roles, though at this point, it was mostly for aesthetics. At the mention of “powers,” Izuku’s head perked up. The figure let out a slight chuckle at that, or at least Izuku thought it was a chuckle. He promised to explain more in the morning, as today had definitely been long and eventful on its own. Disappointed, the small child nodded slowly and went back to figuring out his new schedule for school, writing it down in his quirk analysis notebook, with a few footnotes here and there. The silence was eating away at the young boy, as he tapped his pencil on the wooden desk where he often wrote his quirk analysis.

“So, do you have a name?” Izuku started, seemingly out of nowhere, “I mean, I can’t keep calling you mister all the time.”

“Well, I won’t be around much longer,” the figure responded.

“W-what? What do you mean?!” Izuku cried in disbelief. The mysterious man couldn’t leave him yet. They had gotten along so well.

“I did retire for a reason,” he stated harshly, “once I finish teaching you the basics, I’m off to finally rest.”

“O-oh,” Izuku whispered. He did have a point, even if it did break the child’s tiny heart.

He started up again, “as for my name, I’m afraid I don’t remember it. I’ve lost most of my memories to time itself. It happens when you work for centuries on end.”

Izuku looked up pitifully. How sad it must be to not even know your own name.

“Well...I could,” the boy hushed, “I could give you one.”

The figure turned to the child with a curious stance. “Well, I suppose that is alright. Just make it appropriate.”

Izuku grinned widely, bouncing in his chair. His mind picked itself for a good name that the man might enjoy. Something classy? Or maybe something more unique? Izuku wasn’t too sure what his preferences might be.

“What… what about Gami?” Izuku murmured. The man shifted his head, but made no noise that confirmed or denied the name. Izuku became nervous and focused more on his hands. “Like Shinigami, but shorter, since you were a Death at one point. It fits you, but leaves just enough mystery to grow into its own name, completely separate from its original meaning.”

The figure stared blankly for a few more seconds. “Gami… I like it.”

Izuku was pleased with himself, and Gami couldn’t help but relax at the sight of the cheerful, 4 year old boy happily swaying in his chair. Ah, the sight of childhood innocence. What a wonderfully ignorant feeling. Gami felt slightly uplifted at the fact that Izuku was in his own little world right now. Hopefully he would stay that way for the night.

Then maybe Izuku wouldn’t have to hear the fact that two voices were currently screaming at each other in the kitchen.

Gami really didn’t like that man.

Chapter Text

Izuku woke up the next morning with a groan, squinting as he sat up from his bed. The curtains had been widely drawn and the early sunrise was seeping through his windows. This must have been Gami’s way of waking him up, and while Izuku appreciated it, he sure wasn’t used to waking up this early. The boy turned to the All Might clock that rested on his nightstand. It displayed a bright “5:34 a.m.” in a red glow. Izuku sighed and turned off the clock so the programmed alarm wouldn’t ring, then headed towards his desk. Adjusting to this new schedule might be harder than he initially thought.

Quietly, Izuku pulled out the chair, before plopping himself down and scooting it back in place. Gami watched proudly as the small child waved out his hand, summoning the monochromatic flames effortlessly. He then reached a thin hand for one of the many souls surrounding the boy before picking it up and handing it to him.

“Here,” Gami stated softly, “I will bring you the ones closest to expiring. That way you can work more efficiently.”

Izuku managed to lift his tired face into a smile that simply lit up Gami’s dull heart. He couldn’t explain it, but seeing the young boy so happy filled him with such a warm and comforting feeling. It was like Izuku’s positivity radiated off of him, as if it was contagious. He wanted so badly to get attached, but he reminded himself that he was only here to help Izuku learn his new role. After all, he retired so that he could finally move on. There was just no way he could let himself get attached.

“Ah, thank you Gami,” Izuku whispered tiredly, grabbing the orb of light that his friend had handed him. Could he even consider Gami a friend? Izuku wanted to, but he wasn’t sure the man had felt the same. Hearing him say that his stay was only temporary brought heaviness to the boy’s heart. He enjoyed Gami’s company so much, even though they had met less than a day ago. But who was he to deny the rest of a man who had worked nonstop for over 5 centuries? Trying to keep Gami around for his own happiness just seemed too cruel.

The two of them didn’t say any of this out loud, of course. They just continued to work in silence, Gami passing souls to Izuku as he sorted them. They flowed together rather well, like a well oiled machine. The silence wasn’t necessarily awkward, both of them could tell the other was itching to speak, but silence was appropriate for the moment. For Gami, it was early and Izuku was still tired. He didn’t want to wear the boy down more than he already was. For Izuku, it was early and his parents were still asleep. Sure he wanted to talk with Gami, but the fear of one of his parents stumbling in on him sitting at his desk, seemingly talking to no one, early in the morning was enough to keep him silent.

It was around 6:15ish when the silence was disturbed, not by one of them, but by the sound of a door closing. Izuku froze in his tracks, completely still, and slowly turned his head towards the door. He could hear footsteps in the hallway coming towards his room. He turned to Gami, unsure of what to do as the footsteps came closer. Gami shrugged indifferently, but Izuku could tell by his posture that the man was panicked as well. Trying to get back to bed wasn’t an option, as he would make way too much noise and give himself away, nor was hiding under his desk, as whoever walked in would clearly see that the room was empty and start searching for Izuku, which would only lead to more problems. So Izuku braced himself as the footsteps got even closer, rehearsing a half baked explanation of exactly what he was doing out of bed.

But the footsteps didn’t stop at his door like he was expecting. Instead, they walked right past it and continued down the hallway. Izuku let out an inaudible breath he didn’t know he was holding, and slowly got out of the desk chair. Ever so quietly, he creeped towards his door, and pressed his ear against the hardwood. Gami followed him silently and stood at the wall next to the door. There, the two listened.

They listened, as the footsteps finally stopped, reaching what Izuku assumed to be the front door.

They listened, as he could make out the sound of shoes being slipped on and sliding against the doormat.

They listened, as the familiar jingle of keys being taken off their designated hook rang out in the hallway, just soft enough that anyone asleep would completely miss it.

They listened, as the front door opened, and then closed.

Izuku managed to get back to working after the tension of “almost getting caught but not really.” He and Gami had no further interruptions for the rest of the morning. It was only around two hours later, about 8ish, that Gami insisted that the boy could stop, clarifying that the oldest soul currently still had 8 hours left before it reached the time limit. Izuku sighed in content, leaning back in his chair to relax. It was still early, and he doubted that his mother was up yet. Looking around, he figured it wouldn’t be too bad if he left his room. So that’s what the boy did, carefully opening his bedroom door so as to not make a sound, Gami close behind.

He slinked into the kitchen, grabbing the box of Mighty Smacks cereal quietly from the countertop. It was his favorite cereal, though quite sugary. He poured himself a bowl as best he could, spilling a bit here and there. Putting the box back and cleaning up his mess, Izuku took his dry cereal to the living room, where he softly dropped himself on the couch. Gami followed him into the room but trailed behind, looking around the room itself.

There were few pictures on the walls, but most of them were of Izuku and his mother. They looked happy together, with the young boy smiling brightly in each one. Inko smiled as well, but nothing could ever compare to the ball of sunshine that was his successor. It was like Gami could see the physical waves of happiness rolling off the child in each photograph.

There was one picture with Hisashi, it was of his wedding day. He and Inko stood in the center of a large, white archway, decorated with beautiful red roses. Inko herself looked happier than all the other photos combined, holding her bouquet of roses with a gorgeous smile. Hisashi looked happy as well, though the man seemed to remain stoic most of the time. In this picture, it almost seemed as if Hisashi had been fighting back a smile.

But there were no pictures of Izuku and Hisashi together, which Gami found odd. Sure, he didn’t like the man, but it didn’t make much sense for a father to not have any photos with his son. He had only been around Izuku for a day, but judging off of that, he could see that his successor didn’t have a good relationship with the man, at least not anymore. Gami has thought that this was a new development, but judging by the absence of father and son photographs, he was afraid it stemmed farther than that. Of course, he wouldn’t dare ask. The boy was probably still overwhelmed with all the responsibility he’d had to tackle in the last day. Gami didn’t want to burden him more with bad memories.

“Hey Gami, are you going to sit?” Izuku piped up, patting his small hand on the empty spot of the couch. The man didn’t realize he had been staring at the wall for so long, but he nodded his head and moved over to the couch. The child smirked as he turned on the TV, immediately beelining for a specific channel.

Izuku inwardly cheered as he saw that the channel was playing the new Mighty Adventures episode he had missed the other day. Putting down the remote, he happily smacked away at his cereal, content in the moment.

Gami didn’t understand the appeal of the show. He for one thought the main character, Mighty Man, was foolish and reckless, overall a bad example for young children to be looking up to. But seeing the smile on his successor’s face, Gami pushed those thoughts away.

If Izuku liked it, then Gami would give it a chance.

Inko definitely was startled seeing her son up so early, watching Mighty Adventures while eating cereal. She really hadn’t expected him to be up, so she fumbled out a “good morning” before rushing to the kitchen. She kept telling herself that her son must have some crazy new schedule, but in reality, she knew exactly what it was. It was the same thing eating at her as well.

The part two nights had been stressful for the mom. She felt torn in two directions. She could understand where her husband was coming from, but at the same time, Izuku was her son. She couldn’t just leave him. He was 4, for goodness sake. She shook her head sadly, pouring herself a warm cup of tea. She just needed more time to think, that was all. Seeing Izuku up so early didn’t really help with her guilt either. In the rush of the moment, Inko made a poor decision, the first of many to come.

“Izuku,” she started, suddenly pouring her cup of tea into a thermos, “I’m going out to buy some groceries.”

Her son turned to her, pausing his cartoon, looking as if he wanted to say something. His eyes were big, watery, and sad. Inko jerked her head away from him quickly, not wanting to see his expression, or feel the guilt after. Unbeknownst to her, at her actions, Izuku grew even more depressed, feeling more unwanted than ever.

“O-ok mama,” he whimpered. Goodness, his voice sounded so pathetic. Inko cringed, desperate to leave the situation.

“You know the rules. No leaving the house for any reason. If you need me, call,” she repeated monotonously, quickly adding on, “if your father comes home, be good.”
The child just nodded his head, not trusting his voice to respond without crying.

Inko left in a rush, not even bothering to grab a jacket…

…Or her purse.

Gami could feel the sadness coming off his successor, and honestly, he couldn’t blame him. What his mother had just done was harsh and ignorant, and frankly, he was starting to believe all the adults in this household were complete idiots.

Gami had never been good with kids, but seeing the boy look so dejected left a sour taste in his mouth, so he did his best.

“I did promise you that I would explain about those powers,” he piped up, remembering Izuku’s bright face when he first mentioned them yesterday. “Though, I will alert you that they are not easy to control.”

Izuku’s head shot up, wide eyed and curious.

“But I suppose that will not stop you.”

The child shook his head, eager to know where Gami was going. The episode of Mighty Adventures was still paused.

The man put his hands forth, gesturing for the boy to meet them. Izuku hesitantly raised his arms to touch Gami’s. He was expecting that man to be ice cold, and he was. Gami’s skeletal hands that peeked out from under his sleeves were so freezing, he almost flinched away from the touch. But the figure didn’t seem to notice, now grasping Izuku’s small wrists in each hand.

“The first ability I will educate you on is named Death’s Touch,” he pressed on, “and we are starting with it first because it is the most dangerous.”

The child grew doe-eyed at the name of this power. Death’s Touch, did that mean he could kill what he touched? Izuku shivered at the fact, or it could have been Gami’s ice cold hands, he wasn’t too sure at this point.

“Death’s Touch works similarly to a decay quirk,” he tried to put it in the best way for his successor to understand, “it begins to decay anything you touch, regardless of the amount of fingers. That is why I grabbed your hands. It is known to escalate with one’s emotional state.”

Well that’s fair, Izuku thought. He probably would have grabbed the couch in terror if Gami wasn’t holding onto him.

“Your subconscious controls this ability, however, with the proper training, you can learn to control certain aspects of this power. We cannot practice now unfortunately, as you would likely destroy many things in this house. However, we can tomorrow, as you will be outside for recess.”

The boy nodded at that. The woods during recess was probably the best place to practice. He just had to make sure Kacchan or the others didn’t go with him.

“For now, just be weary of what you touch. You may accidentally activate it.”

Izuku gulped nervously. How hard could that be?

A few spoons and a cabinet handle were missing by the time Inko came home.

Izuku had been sorting his nightly batch of souls when his father came home.

He had tried to drown out the yelling, but nothing could do much against his father’s harsh and violent voice. Gami was trying his best to distract him, but there was only so much the poor man could do. The boy just took a deep breath, and intensified his gaze on the soul in his hands. He hummed quietly to himself, just a last ditch attempt to fill his mind with anything but yelling. Izuku was sure it would pass, as it did for the nights before, he just needed to wait.

Then, a slap echoed from the kitchen. His mother’s voice stopped.

Izuku froze in his tracks for the second time that day. All he could hear was his father’s yelling, not his own humming, not Gami’s desperate cries to grab his attention, not even his mother.

The child didn’t realize he had gotten up from his chair.

He didn’t realize he had left the safety of his bedroom.

He didn’t realize that he was now standing in the kitchen, shielding his mother’s fallen body with his own.

“Papa please stop!” Izuku cried, not knowing what else to do. He raised his hands out at his sides, trying to take the target off his mother.

“You quirkless misfit!” Hisashi yelled, “Get out of my way!”

He cried harder, “Please Papa, please!”

“I SAID GET OUT OF MY WAY!”

Izuku didn’t really remember much after that. Just that he was hot. So hot. His chest felt the worst though. It was hot and itchy, and the boy just wanted to scratch it. Although he did remember his mother’s screams, hopefully she didn’t get hurt. If only he was stronger. If only he had a quirk. Then maybe he could have protected his mama better. Her scream will forever haunt him.

He also remembered Hisashi saying something to him, but not exactly what. What he did remember was the laughing. His father’s laughter, bouncing around in his head, taunting him, like hyena cackling, but with a slight cough to it. Almost like his father’s throat was filled with smoke. His eyes were screwed shut, so all he could hear was the laughing. What was so funny, especially when Izuku was hurting? He wished he could have asked. Maybe next weekend, maybe next visit.

The next visit never comes.

Izuku woke up for school the next day with bandages wrapped around his chest and shoulder. It still burns. Gami is at his bedside, asking if he is alright. Izuku really isn’t sure.
On his way out, the boy sneaks a glance at his mother in her bedroom.

She doesn’t have any bandages.

School itself had really been awful.

Word had somehow gotten around that Midoriya was quirkless. He hadn’t even said anything yet. The children were just about as accepting as his father. They surrounded him like they did when Kacchan got his quirk, but it clearly wasn’t the same.

He wished that they would at least stop hitting the spot where his bandages are.

But surprisingly, it wasn’t one of the punches that hurt the most, it was what Kacchan, his bestest friend in the whole wide world, said to him.

“What a disappointment,” he started, “I can’t have a worthless Deku as my sidekick.”

“B-but Kacchan!” Midoriya cried, “I can still be a hero! We can still save people together!”

“You really don’t get it,” Bakugo continued, “how the hell can a quirkless, useless Deku like you ever be a hero?”

Midoriya had never wanted to cry harder than in that moment. He felt so lost, so alone. The only thing reminding him that he still existed was Gami’s hand ruffling his hair. The only thing he was looking forward to at this point was Gami’s company.

Recess can’t come fast enough.

“So Death‘s Touch works like a decay quirk. It affects both living and non living things.”

Midoriya did his best to pay attention.

“Right now, this power is extremely volatile. You could end up accidentally decaying something you didn’t mean to. But with the right practice, you can learn to control it better.”

Gami pointed one of his thin fingers towards a leaf lying on the ground.

“Pick up that leaf over there, and then decay it.”

Midoriya went to grab the leaf, but just as he touched it, it shriveled up completely and wilted away. Gami looked a bit confused, but the child couldn’t really tell.

“Try that other leaf,” he said gesturing towards another fallen leaf.

The boy went to pick up the other leaf, but the exact same thing happened. Gami didn’t really know what to do.

“Maybe try that rock over there.”

Midoriya hesitantly grabbed the rock, but nothing happened. He picked it up and tossed it from hand to hand. The rock stayed complete.

“Alright, now try to-”

But before Gami could finish, the rock started to crack. His successor dropped the rock in something of shock and horror. The rock landed with a soft thud on the dusty ground, but continued to crack. Chunks of the stone started to flake off, before eventually the whole rock was lost to the breeze.

Gami sighed. This might be harder than he thought.

After recess, Gami and Midoriya had gotten a good handle on what he could and couldn’t do with Death’s Touch, mostly due to Gami’s experience with the power and Midoriya’s analysis skills. Both were tired, but feeling proud of the progress made today. It was discovered that the power was harder for the boy to control on plants, but easier on non living objects. Granted, the duo still didn’t know where humans or animals fit on that scale. There was still a lot of work to be done, but the man and his successor were feeling quite good about themselves in the moment.

That is, until Bakugo and the others showed up.

“So Deku, where were you at recess today?” one of Bakugo’s underlings sneered.

“I-I was just hanging near the forest,” Midoriya whimpered.

“So you think you’re too cool to hang out with us anymore?” Another jumped in.

“N-no! That’s not it a-at all!” The child cried desperately.

Bakugo looked at Midoriya with a side glare. His fingers twitched at the sight of his now useless friend. How could he do this to him? How could Deku ruin his dream like this?

Suddenly, Bakugo’s hands pushed at Midoriya’s chest, and the smaller boy fell to the ground. Bakugo took a few steps forward, and towered over his ex best friend. He held out a hand, as if he was offering to hoist him back up, only to explode the air in his palm moments later, making Midoriya flinch further into the dirt.

“Just remember your place Deku,” he scowled, “don’t forget exactly how useless you are.”

Bakugo turned and walked off, the rest of his lackeys following him. Midoriya sat up the best he could with the pain in his chest, and brought his arms up to his face and cried. He felt Gami’s arms wrap around him, the soft robe rubbing against his skin.

Gami’s heart broke as the boy cried harder.

Chapter Text

Midoriya was out of breath, his small 8 year old legs burning as he ran down the empty alleyway. He could hear the voices of Bakugo and the others behind him, way too close for comfort. He desperately pushed himself to move faster, turning onto a street in front of his elementary school. He looked around, urgently searching for a new place to hide. Suddenly, Midoriya felt a tug on his sleeve and turned around in panic, only to see that it was just Gami trying to get his attention.

“Izu, you should be able to lose them in the forest near the school yard,” Gami suggested, his voice oddly calm. The man tended to be much more reserved, but Midoriya learned how to pick up on his small hints of emotions. Gami wasn’t apathetic, just unusually composed, but that was to be expected of a man who worked for centuries nonstop. He’d probably seen it all.

Shaking out of his thoughts, Midoriya rushed towards the forest, the others hot on his tail. The boy had been lucky enough to shake them once today, he really didn't want to get caught and test his luck again. Weaving through the trees at the forest entrance, he ducked behind a particularly thin one. Even Bakugo, as smart as he was, wouldn't think to look for him there. At least, Midoriya hoped he wouldn’t.

“Come on Deku, if you really want to be a hero, you’d face us head on,” one of the bullies scoffed, but Midoriya knew better. Facing them head on would only result in himself getting hurt. He was heavily outnumbered, with Bakugo’s group having a count of 4, not including Bakugo himself. As cowardly as they thought it was, Midoriya knew it was his best option. A tactical retreat, as he liked to think of it.

“How did he even escape?” another whispered.

“The wooden fence behind him just broke,” the third murmured back, “It must have been old or something.”

“I don't know man, it looked pretty new to me.”

Midoriya flinched at the last comment. He already felt bad about decaying the fence to escape, there was no need to remind him. He was just desperate, and you know what they say about a caged animal.

“Will you extras just shut up for a second?!” Bakugo shouted. The kids around him quickly closed their mouths.

He looked around with an angry scowl on his face, “Deku has to be here somewhere, so stop talking and start searching.”

The other bullies scattered around the edge of the woods, scanning for any sign of the small, green child. Midoriya could pick out the identity of each one by their footsteps, a trick he’d had to learn, unfortunately, especially Bakugo’s loud and harsh tread. He recoiled and held his breath as Bakugo’s steps came nervously close to the tree he was hiding behind. He could hear the tree leaves rustling in the tense silence that surrounded him. Midoriya could hear excessive rustling in one tree in particular, much more than what the wind could produce. If the situation was different, he would have loved to investigate. He was still curious though, maybe it was an animal?

“Ugh,” Bakugo groaned, “he must have left while you idiots were talking. Let’s just go.”

Midoriya let out a shaky sigh of relief at the sound of footsteps exiting the woods. His clammy hands finally stopped shaking as he clutched his chest. How close had he come to being caught? How close had he come to having a heart attack for goodness sake? He spiraled down into his own mind further and further, his breaths turning to pained gasps. He could feel Gami’s cold hands on his shoulder, shaking him lightly, but he couldn’t hear the man’s voice. All he could hear was the relentless taunting he endured each day at school. Over and over and over and over and…

Suddenly, a small mass leaped from the tree that had caught the boy’s attention earlier, now breaking Midoriya out of his trance. He could now hear Gami’s voice, but was more focused on the meager creature strutting towards him.

“Is that a cat?” Midoriya blurted out.

“I believe it is,” Gami responded nonchalantly.

The boy looked at it with interest. It was a small, black cat, with what Midoriya assumed to be white paws. However, they were no longer white, more like a faded shade of brown from the forest dirt. It’s wide, yellow eyes stared up at the child, now having arrived at his feet. He never had a cat before, much less been this close to one. Actually, Midoriya had never been this close to any animal since he gained Death’s Touch.

The cat rubbed up against the boy’s thin legs, making him flinch further into the tree he was hiding behind. He reminded himself why he could never own a pet, as much as he wanted one.

“The cat seems to have taken a liking to you,” the man stated, “why don’t you bring him home?”

“You know I can’t do that,” he answered somberly, “I wouldn’t even be able to touch him.” He looked down at his hands in anguish.

“But you have progressed so well with Death’s Touch in the past 4 years.”

“Yeah, but I don’t have any control over it with animals. I’ve never dared to try. For what I know, the second I touch this cat, he would start to disintegrate. He’s better off here.”

Midoriya turned away from the cat sorrowfully, ignoring the creature’s meowing. He slowly made his way out of the forest, but the cat wouldn’t relent, simply sticking to the boy’s trail. He continued walking down the street towards his house pitifully, doing his best to avoid listening to the cat’s cries. Gami stared at his successor with guilt.

He wished he had waited a decade or so longer.

Izuku arrived at home a bit later than usual, but wasn’t too concerned. He opened the front door to find no one inside, like normal. His mother was off working her late nursing shifts, the job she picked up once Hisashi left.

Hisashi never came back after that night, he actually stopped contacting the family in general. He and Inko were still legally married, but he simply stopped coming home or sending money, forcing Inko to get a job. She took up her old nursing practices and found work at a local hospital, but she always took the later shifts. Izuku hoped that she didn’t have a reason behind it, but inside he knew it was to avoid seeing him. Their relationship had gotten pretty rocky since Hisashi left. He’d like to believe that she didn’t blame him, but he knew better. He hated how his brain was always right.

Izuku threw his tattered bag onto the couch and searched the refrigerator for leftovers. The young boy really didn’t feel like cooking for himself tonight after the whole mess with Bakugo. Luckily, he found some old katsudon he made from a few nights before, so he took that out and started up the microwave to reheat it. Gami plopped himself down on the couch right next to Izuku’s bag and patiently waited for his successor to turn on the TV.

It wasn’t long before Izuku returned with a plate of hot katsudon, setting it down on the small coffee table before grabbing the remote. He turned on the TV, immediately switching it to the channel with all the kids’ cartoons. Unfortunately for him, he had just missed Mighty Adventures, but the current show playing, Shirusagi, was still one of his favorites.

Inspired heavily off of the pro hero Mirko, the show’s protagonist was a white rabbit named Shirusagi, who was young and brash, very similar to Mirko’s own personality. Shirusagi was a bit of a troublemaker though, and he often got his friends in all sorts of messes. They’d always have to work together to get out of those situations, and Shirusagi never escaped his consequences.
Izuku liked that. He wished the real world was like Shirusagi’s. Full of friends and proper consequences.

He was pretty engrossed in the current episode, even though it was a rerun, when Gami’s voice snapped him to attention.

“You know Izu, I think you’ve gotten quite far in controlling Death’s Touch.”

“If this is about earlier,” Izuku sighed drearily, pausing the show, “look, I’m sorry.”

“I simply do not understand. I know you cannot control it yet on plant life, but you have come so far with Death’s Touch in other aspects. Why are you still afraid?”

The boy stared at his hands, “I’m just afraid that I’ll mess up, and hurt someone really bad.”

“What do you mean? You have learned to control it on humans. You can even start and stop the decay at will on them, as well as non living objects. That takes an impressive amount of skill, and yet you have done it.”

Izuku shuddered at that thought. Learning to control his deadly power on other people was one of the first things on his bucket list, but also the most difficult. He really didn’t mean to practice on Bakugo’s lackeys, but they were always touching him, so he figured he’d touch back. Though he never hurt any of them, the amount of guilt he compiled from each time he tried really made the child fear his own power.

“Well, I'm still afraid that I could lose control. One mistake and people would fear me forever. I can’t take that chance. That’s the whole reason I wear these.”

Izuku gestured to his hands as he shook them. His hands were covered under black polyester gloves. He’d started buying them at a local convenience store when Gami first started teaching him to control Death’s Touch. Of course these weren’t the original pair. He had gone through a good amount of gloves during the 4 years, well over a few hundred. As cheap as the gloves were, the cost piled up over time, so the boy had resorted to doing odd jobs for others in nearby neighborhoods. Most of the people here knew about his quirklessness and wouldn’t accept him to do their requests, but the nearby neighborhoods didn’t, so he often went there for cash.

“I know you say I should be proud of my abilities, and I am, but I’m still scared. People already hate me cause I’m quirkless, I just don’t want them to hate me more for having a dangerous power I can’t really control.”

Gami rested a thin, boney hand on his successor’s gloved one. “I think I understand now. But I will tell you, no matter what, I will support you. You are my friend Izu, and nothing you do will change that.”

Izuku smiled at Gami’s words. It was reassuring to hear them from the normally quiet man. He didn’t have to respond, but Gami knew exactly what the boy was trying to say. The two of them had grown to understand each other, even without verbal communication.

Gami patted the couch a few times, and Izuku chuckled before unpausing the episode of Shirusagi.

Izuku and Gami had lost track of time, something they almost never did. It was too dangerous to do, kind of like forgetting to send a soul away before it’s limit. You just didn’t forget those kinds of things. And so Izuku and Gami always remembered to file away into the former’s room before Inko got home. But today was a different day. Maybe it was because it was so emotionally draining. Or maybe it was because Izuku was so exhausted from actually managing to escape Bakugo, a feat he never managed to do before. Who knows? It really didn’t matter. What mattered was that Inko came home, and Izuku was still on the couch.

Izuku knew that his mother didn’t enjoy having to go back into work, but her taking the later shifts made it more bearable. Izuku liked to pretend that his mother didn’t take the later shifts solely to get away from him, but one thing he definitely knew was that she took the later shifts so she could drink.

The boy knew his mother gained a drinking problem once Hisashi left. It started out with spiked tea every once in a while and just escalated from there. His mother would often come home drunk, carrying a bottle of half empty liquor she would buy after hours. It was a surprise the first few times, but after a couple days of picking out glass shards from his skin, he eventually learned to shuttle away into his room before she came home.

Unfortunately, he and Gami had lost track of time.

Izuku fumbled for the remote, and in a panic, shut off the TV. He ducked behind the couch, hoping his mother hadn’t noticed him there. It didn’t matter that the empty plate of katsudon was still on the coffee table. He doubted she would notice that in her drunken state, and he could always clean it up later.

But as Inko’s sickenly sweet voice came from the front door, Izuku knew he would have to face the consequences of his actions, just like Shirusagi.

“Izuku,” she slurred, “is that you my baby?”

The child looked to Gami in horror as the man motioned for him to respond. But the boy’s mouth failed him as he sputtered out silence.

“Oh Izuku,” Inko’s voice wavered, losing its sweetness, “I know you’re there. There’s no use hiding from me.”

He could hear his mother take a swig from the bottle she inevitably had in her hand. She let out a relieved gasp at the taste of the bitter drink down her throat. The boy didn’t dare attempt to peak out from behind the couch, but visibly paled at the sound of footsteps coming closer. He wasn't sure what to do. Should he make a run for his room? Should he just try and wait it out? Izuku was stuck in his own head again, slowly drowning himself in his panic. He couldn’t hear Gami urging him to just get up and run, nor his mother creeping closer.

“What are you doing on the floor there, Izuku dear?” his mother garbled, leaning over the couch to look at him. She swung her arm holding the bottle over the side as well, spilling a bit onto the cushions. Izuku’s nose filled with the pungent scent of alcohol in the air, as well as on his mother’s breath. He looked up in fear from the floor, his wide eyes meeting the half lidded ones belonging to his mother. She stared right back at him, an unnerving smile blooming on her rosy face.

“Have I ever told you how much you look like your father?” Inko continued, as if not at all concerned by her child’s reaction towards her. She reached her free hand over the couch to grab at her son, but he flinched further into the floor, away from her hand. She scowled at that, but pulled her hand back to steady her swaying self with the couch.

“It made me so sad when he left,” she proceeded. “How could you make your own mother so sad?”

Izuku knew he was to blame for his father’s departure, or at least his quirklessness was. But hearing it from his mother just reminded him how much of a failure he really was. He really wanted to make her proud, honest, but he just didn’t know how.

“Why oh why,” Inko cried, “why have you done this to me Izuku?!”

Suddenly, Inko lunged over the couch towards her son. The child yelped and scrambled to his feet. He could hear his mother’s jumbled words behind him, but the sound of his heartbeat in his ears was too overwhelming. An abrupt crash came from the living room, his mother must have fallen into the coffee table, which a following shriek confirmed. Izuku shuddered, that would only make her more angry. He turned the corner and dashed towards his room. The door was so close, he could almost reach it.

Then, white hot pain shot through his legs, and the boy wailed in anguish. He didn’t even notice the loud smash that came after, or the now invasive smell of liquor that flooded the hallway. Luckily, he was just at his door and managed to hobble inside and shut it. His hands quickly flew to the doorknob and locked it as his mother’s drunken footsteps scurried towards his door. Izuku stumbled back onto his injured legs in fear as Inko bashed her fists on the wood.

“Why did you drive Hisashi away from me?!” she sobbed, “Why did you have to be quirkless?! Don’t you realize what you have done to me?!”

The boy sobbed along with his mother at her words, though his cries were fairly drowned out. He could feel Gami’s sleeved hand ruffling through his unruly hair, which made him smile a bit. He sniffled and rubbed his puffy eyes, taking the time to try and get his breathing under control. Izuku eventually managed to tune his mother’s grieving out of his head until it inevitably stopped and she shuffled off, probably still woozy from the alcohol. The child sighed in relief. It was finally over.

“Izu, I think we should fix up your legs,” he spoke softly. Izuku thought maybe it was because of the whole fiasco with his mother just now, but Gami must have seen everything in his time as Death. He wouldn’t be shocked at witnessing this, right?

Taking note of the man’s strange behavior, the boy turned to examine his legs. They were in rough shape, but not the worst he’d seen. He started carefully picking out the glass bottle shards and tossing them in the trash. The smaller pieces were a bit tricky, but with his tiny fingers, Izuku managed to get them out. Fortunately, most of the bottle missed his form and hit the wall instead, and any that did hit him only landed in his calves, so he wasn’t picking out glass for too long. He was about to stumble towards the desk drawer that contained his supply of bandages, when Gami handed him the very item he was looking for. The child looked surprised for a moment, but thankfully accepted the help.

Gami couldn’t often interact with solid objects. He was, in all technicality, a spirit after all. But he did have his instances where he could touch something physical. After numerous months of practice attempts and many funny failures, the man did learn how to sit on the couch, and even lean back into it. He still had extreme difficulty interacting with anything else other than the couch, but there were moments where he seemed to be able to flawlessly. Izuku wasn’t sure if it was out of desperation or something akin to extreme emotion, but it happened few and far between.

As for why he had bandages in his room…

Well, he couldn’t make it to the bathroom all the time.

The next day was thankfully a Saturday, and on these days, his mother left the house early. Izuku didn’t have to worry about accidentally running into her on his way to the kitchen, which was a blessing in itself. Though today, the boy seemed to be a bit… slower than usual, somewhat less hyper. He didn’t pour his Mighty Smacks as happily, nor make as much of a mess. He sort of shuffled towards the couch instead of his usual skipping, and didn't plop himself down. It was more like a gentle fall.

But when Gami watched his successor skip past the channel playing Mighty Adventures, he knew something was wrong.

“Izu, you seem more down than normal. Are yesterday’s events bothering you?”

Izuku looked down with a curious emotion on his face, one that Gami couldn’t really identify.

“No no, it’s not that. I just had a really weird dream last night and it’s really bugging me.”

The cloaked man looked at the boy in interest.

“A dream? Do you think talking about it might help?”

“Well,” he started, “I saw a man I didn’t know in it. He looked a bit old, with fraying brown hair that looked faded. For some reason, I can vividly remember him wearing a bright yellow shirt.” Izuku stopped timidly, but Gami motioned for him to continue.

“He, um, started to cross the street, but there was a car coming and h-he didn’t see it. He just kept walking. When he f-finally noticed it, it was too late,” the boy managed to whimper out, “there w-was so much blood a-and it was awful.” Izuku sniffled and rubbed at his nose, clearly not having enjoyed retelling his dream.

The man stayed silent for a moment, unsure of what to say.

“Izu, I think you received another one of those powers I told you about.”

“That was a power?!” Izuku cried out, “I don’t want to have to see that again!”

“I understand that you are in shock, but that is one of the most useful abilities you will ever have. It may help you save even more people.”

The child calmed down a little at those words, “It can?”

“Yes, that is an ability called Premonition. It allows the current Death to view people who could die earlier than they are supposed to.”

Gami paused, allowing his successor to process those words before continuing.

“Normally, we are not to interfere with the process of Death, however, we can receive foresight of people who are going to die before their supposed date. Those viewed in premonitions can have their fates tampered with. Of course, us Death are not obligated to interfere, however we are given that option.”

Izuku looked up at that, “I can save that man then?!”

“Yes, but I will warn you, it is difficult to predict when a premonition will come to pass. They usually have a time frame of anywhere between an hour after you’ve first viewed it to about 3 days later.”

The boy’s face morphed again into one of horror, “So he could be dead already?!”

“Possibly.”

Izuku paled.

Gami flinched a bit, but it wasn’t noticeable. He didn’t mean to scare the young child again.

“Do you remember what the sky looked like in the premonition? If it wasn’t dark, then he could still be alive.”

Izuku perked up again, “Yeah, it was sunset! He’s still ok then!”

Gami smiled, though it wasn’t visible from the depths of his hood.

“You enjoy analyzing things, so try to observe as much as you can during each premonition, that way you can have the best chance at helping the person in it. Normally, they appear as foresights during the day, not typically as dreams, though that must be because this was your first one,” the man stopped to ponder that thought, before picking up where he left off, “Although, you have to be careful when you intervene. Too early, and the person could still die. Too late, and that’s self explanatory. You have to interfere at the moment closest to death.”

The boy grew a bit worried at that, but shook it off, “Well then, I guess we are going out to buy some groceries later!”

Izuku then switched the channel to the kids’ cartoons, where Mighty Adventures was playing.

Gami smiled wider at his successor.

He was going to make such a wonderful hero.

Izuku trudged towards his house, his arms full of groceries bags. Gami did offer to help, but with the man’s sporadic control over his form, neither of them really trusted that he would be able to make it back without dropping at least one bag and squishing its contents. The sun was setting majestically, and as much as the child enjoyed watching it, he knew he had to head back soon. Being out after dark wasn’t too good of an idea in this neighborhood.

The boy was secretly hoping to see the man from his premonition, but took into account that his foresights could take up to 3 days later to come true. He knew it was unlikely for it to occur so early, but Izuku could only hope. After seeing the man’s gruesome death in his own mind, he wished to spare him of that avoidable fate.

He and Gami liked to walk and talk while they were out. Of course, they chatted sparingly when others were around or as others passed them. But at times like this, where the streets were eerily empty, they talked plentifully. After all, the man had been around for over 5 centuries, he sure had a lot to talk about.

They turned a corner together, Gami rambling on about some odd quirks he’d seen throughout their newfound generations. The man knew his successor enjoyed that kind of conversation, and also knew he had somehow picked up the child’s rambling habit. The two of them were so engrossed in the discussion, they almost crossed during a green traffic light. But Gami managed to alert Izuku once they got to the curb, and the 8 year old stopped accordingly. They continued to chat though.

The light turned yellow.

As they talked, the boy noticed something odd in the corner of his eye. As he turned his head, the sight of a bright yellow shirt flooded his vision. Realization bloomed in his head as he saw the older, brown haired man from his premonition crossing the street across from Izuku, right as a car was plowing down towards him.

“STOP MISTER!” The words escaped his mouth before he had even realized it. Gami turned to look at what his successor was yelling about, not really expecting to see the man Izuku had described earlier.

The man jolted and stopped at the child’s scream, just as the raging car zoomed past him.

Just then, the traffic light turned red.

Izuku used the opportunity to run across the now empty road after looking both ways. He rushed towards the shaken man and tried to aid him the best he could.

“Mister, are you alright?” Izuku asked softly, genuine concern evident in his voice.

The man managed to get his breathing under control enough to respond.

“Yes, thanks to you,” he started, “my quirk’s side effect can make me go blind at random. I thought I could get away with crossing the street without my sight, since my house is right there.” The older man pointed across the street, and Izuku followed his finger to see a beautiful blue house, small and quaint.

“Well, let me walk you across the rest of the way then,” the child added, “just to make sure you arrive safely.”

He then linked arms with the man, despite the numerous amounts of bags he was carrying anyway. With slow steps, they made their way across the street, Izuku making sure to match the man’s shaky pace, before reaching the curb safely. The boy still kept their arms linked, and led the man up the steps of his house, right to the door.

“Thank you,” the older man stated once he reached his home, “you really saved my life young man.”

Izuku blushed and looked away, forgetting that the man was still effectively blind. “It was no problem mister, I’m just glad you’re ok.”

“Are you thinking of becoming a hero?” He continued.

The child bounced up at that, “Yes sir! It’s always been my dream!”

The man chuckled, “Well, I’ve got full faith that you’ll turn out to be someone great. And if you’re planning on going into heroics, then I’ll just have to keep an ear out for you.”

Izuku grinned widely at that, beaming with pride. “Thank you so much mister!”

“Ishihara Tadao,” he interrupted, “but you can call me Ishihara.”

“Ah, well it’s nice to meet you Ishihara-san,” the boy blinked, “I’m Midoriya Izuku!”

Ishihara smiled at the boy’s antics. “Well Midoriya-san, why don’t you come over tomorrow for some tea? I really want to show you my gratitude for saving my life today.”

Izuku flushed again at the man’s kindness. He’d never been invited over before, not even by another child.

“Sure, does 2 work for you?”

“Indeed it does, I look forward to seeing you, Midoriya-san.”

Ishihara walked inside his home at that, and so Izuku made his way home too. It was getting dark, so he had to hurry.

But, the boy did have a little bounce in his step. He finally felt confident in himself and his capabilities. And having Ishihara-san’s support made him feel unstoppable. Like he had a real shot at his dream.

Gami trailed behind, having witnessed the entire escapade.

He wondered why anyone had ever doubted this child.

Chapter Text

Most people didn’t bother to pay any attention to a glum looking 11 year old as he trudged down a busy street. Of course, Gami was not “most people.” He desperately tried to shake his successor out of whatever funk he was in. It would not end well if he arrived at school like this.

Midoriya was in a bad mood that morning. Normally, he did his best to start each day as cheerfully as possible, so he wasn't as crushed once he got home from school. He would wake up early each morning, and watch whatever episode of Mighty Adventures was playing while he sorted out his souls. Gami would sit next to him, and the two of them would laugh together at Mighty Man’s antics. Then, as they walked to Aldera Junior High, the man would ramble on about quirks or Mighty Man. Whatever it was, it always put Midoriya in the highest of moods. And that’s how it was everyday.

But of course, not everyday went without a hitch.

Midoriya knew he couldn’t save every person he saw in a premonition, as much as he wanted to. It was just impossible, like how every hero couldn’t save every person in need. A grim reality that was hard to accept. Midoriya understood it, but that didn’t mean he accepted it just yet. Maybe he could cope with it in due time, but right now, he was a stubborn 11 year old child who just wanted to help everyone he could.

Still, understanding that harsh truth didn’t prepare him for the majority of times where he couldn’t save whoever he saw.

That morning, the child ended up pausing on a different channel on his way to Mighty Adventures. He was hoping to catch the weather for the rest of the week, just to check and see if he needed to do his laundry for more shorts. What he ended up catching on the news was far worse than he expected, though not the first time it happened.

It was a picture of a woman, blonde and in her 30s; the exact same one from the boy’s premonition 2 days earlier. The reporter was explaining how she had been fatally shot in what had looked to be a mugging gone terribly wrong. Midoriya had only been able to catch the fact that the police were still on the hunt for her killer before his mood completely plummeted. Sure, he knew he couldn’t save everyone. That didn’t erase the fact that it put him into a cold sweat each time he failed.

“Izu, please…” Gami pleaded with the child, frantic for some kind of reaction.

Midoriya snapped out of his head at that, looking down at the sidewalk while continuing to walk. They were almost at the school, and the streets were starting to thin out of people.

“Sorry,” he mumbled out, voice dry and hoarse from the silence.

He could hear the figure’s sigh of relief at the response. Midoriya waited for him to say more, waited for the expected lecture about how he couldn’t save everyone. He waited for Gami to go on about how he could still help people, and that no hero was expected to save everyone. He waited for what he heard every time this happened, and as much as he knew Gami meant it, it never helped as much as he wanted it to. Midoriya closed his eyes and waited. He knew it was coming and he knew it was true.

But no words came. Midoriya stopped out of shock. Gami’s sleeve came to rest on the boy’s shoulder, and he could feel the sharpness of the bones digging into his skin. Still, no words were spoken.

The child reached to touch the man’s hand with his own. It was cold, even through the sleeve, but he didn’t mind. They just stood there. To any person that would be watching, it would seem pretty weird that a small middle schooler had stopped abruptly in the middle of an empty sidewalk and was clutching his shoulder. It would probably seem even weirder that the same child had just suddenly started smiling at what would seem to be nothing. But Midoriya didn’t mind.

No words ever broke the silence.

Midoriya ran down the school’s empty hallways, cursing to himself. How long had he been standing on that sidewalk for? Surely it couldn’t have been that long, right? Somehow it was, as now he was racing to beat the clock, as well as the late bell. The last thing he needed to hear now was his teacher scolding him on his tardiness. It happened every now and again, where the boy didn’t make it into the classroom on time, but never enough to deserve the lengthy criticism his homeroom teacher liked to give. He especially didn’t want to have to stand there and take it in front of the rest of his class. Their obvious snickering always made it worse.

Skidding down another hallway, he saw his classroom’s entry door. Lurching for the handle, he violently turned it and yanked the door open.

The sudden noise spooked most of his classmates as they turned to see who was at the door, only the smirk once they realized it was him. His teacher’s head turned too, face morphing into a scowl at the sight of his green, unruly hair.

“Midoriya, I hope you realize that you’re late,” the teacher began.

The boy just stopped to catch his breath, before pointing up at the bell. It wasn’t a second later that the bell rang, signaling that class had started and all students that came in after would actually be late.

The teacher sighed and let his shoulders slump, before motioning for the student to sit. Midoriya grinned and walked over to his desk, ignoring the snickers and giggles coming from his classmates. He outwitted his teacher for once, and that left him in a decent enough mood to not be bothered by his peers.

That was, until one of Bakugo’s crew stuck his foot right into Midoriya’s path.

He flailed before inevitably falling face first onto the cold tile. All the kids in the classroom, regardless if they witnessed the scene or not, immediately began to laugh. Midoriya pushed himself off the floor before meeting the harsh glare coming from his teacher. His proud facade started to falter a bit.

“Midoriya, get to your seat now and stop distracting the class,” he berated, “before I find a reason to give you detention.”

The child faltered even more. He never had been to detention before. That kind of thing stayed on your school record, and if he wanted to have a shot at U.A., he couldn’t afford to start now. They would already be looking for a way to deny him entry due to his quirkless status, he couldn't give them a reason due to his school record. Of course, he was hoping to change his quirk records before the entry exam in 3 years, but in case he wasn’t able to, he had to have all his bases covered.

“Yes sir,” Midoriya murmured quietly before making his way to his desk. He could feel each and every glare on him as he finally sat down. As the teacher continued with the lesson, he could feel the stares slowly move off of his form. One in particular hung around longer than the others. He could practically feel the heat coming off of it and burning into his back. He ignored it, like usual.

Bakugo was always like this after all.

The rest of the classes before lunch went pretty smoothly. Not too much had happened since the incident in Midoriya’s homeroom, and for that, he was grateful. When the lunch bell rang, he waited behind as the rest of his class filed out. He knew it was probably a better idea to merge with the crowd, but the boy wasn’t too fond of being crowded.

After years of avoiding others and lacking physical contact, he wasn’t too keen on changing that on a dime. As for how it got that way, it was a combination of things: the lack of affection at home, the bullying at school, the fear of his own power growing out of control. Midoriya figured it would be just easier to avoid contact in general, rather than trying to fix the problem 7 years too late.

Still, he should have realized by now that trying to leave the room alone would only cause more problems.

“God Deku,” Midoriya flinched at the voice, “you’re so pathetic. Can’t you even walk straight?”

The boy would never comment on how he was tripped. He was playing for the long run after all. Better to let them talk than try and correct them if he really wanted to outlast this nightmare. So Midoriya just ignored whoever was talking and attempted to leave the room. Of course, he would never be lucky enough to get out that easily.

“Hey, who said you could leave?” another voice called out and grabbed his shoulder. The boy recoiled at the touch, turning around to face whoever else was in the room. It was only those two students who had spoken earlier, luckily not Bakugo, though at this point, Midoriya wasn’t sure what was worse. He just stood there in silence and waited for the others to continue as they surely would.

“Not going to say anything Deku,” the first one sneered, “you really are useless.”

The same kid started walking towards him, a malicious glint in his eyes. Midoriya looked towards the supply closet in the back of the classroom. The teacher had gone in there just as class ended, and the child was sure he was just waiting out the confrontation. They teachers always made it painfully obvious that they didn’t care about how he was treated by the other students. The man could probably hear everything that was happening.

Suddenly, the kid threw a lousy punch at Midoriya's face. He jumped back and ducked under the swing, before skittishly scampering out of the classroom. He hurried towards the courtyard, listening to the cries behind him, not too far down that same hallway. Midoriya hid behind a set of open doors near the courtyard entrance, just as the two students raced past him. He stayed there for a good few minutes to catch his breath, before making his way outside. This was a natural occurrence and the boy was always prepared for those. It wasn’t the first time he used this same set of double doors to hide behind either.

He finally reached the courtyard of Aldera Junior High, and to his relief, it was empty like always. None of the other students really enjoyed eating away from the refreshing, air conditioned sanctuary of the cafeteria, especially on hot days like today. This made the courtyard the perfect place to get away from it all, at least, for a half hour. He could talk to Gami here and sort souls in peace, it was like a win win!

Midoriya casually walked towards the tree in the center of the yard. It was arguably the most beautiful part of the school. The way it thrivingly grew in a place so toxic really helped him believe that he would be able to thrive too, cheering him on like a silent fan. It’s branches were tall and thick, like powerful arms holding the world up, and its leaves stayed a calming shade of evergreen despite the awful heat. It even had a knot right in the center, which Gami had told him held a family of cardinals a few generations back. How the man knew that, Midoriya had no idea.

Now, the knot held the child’s personal belongings, such as his occasional jacket for the colder days and his packed lunch. He stopped using his assigned locker after multiple defacings and vandalism incidents, as well as the numerous times it had been broken into. Most of the time, nothing too important had been stolen, except for the one time he had foolishly stored his winter coat in it. That coat had taken him a while to save up for, and losing it had left him awfully depressed. After that experience, Midoriya started using the tree knot to hold his items, knowing it would be far safer than his actual locker. The knot was deep enough that if any students had actually looked inside, they would be unable to see his stuff. The only way to confirm that something was in there was to reach inside, and most of the kids at his school weren’t brave enough to do that.

He reached inside and pulled out his lunch bag, the same one he had been using for years. He sat down against the trusty tree and began to eat, doing his job as well. Gami and the boy ended up rambling on about something unrelated to the prior event, which Midoriya was thankful for. The man seemed to know just when he needed a distraction.

The rest of the day had gone pretty well. Midoriya managed to weave into the crowd when coming back from lunch so he wasn’t cornered again. And nothing too eventful had happened in the rest of his classes.

It wasn’t until the end of the day that things got messy.

The dismissal bell rang and again, the child let the rest of the class leave before eventually leaving himself. He was on his way to the courtyard when one of the windows caught his eye. He turned towards it and realized it showed the courtyard as well as a perfect view of the tree that stood in the center. Near the tree, also stood Bakugo and a group of maybe 5 others. Luckily, they weren’t snooping in the knot, but they seemed to be just standing around. Like they were waiting. Then it clicked.

They were waiting for him.

He turned to run in the opposite direction, as he was sure they would leave after long enough. But as he did, the boy was positive he saw a head lurch in his direction. Praying they didn’t spot him, Midoriya ran up the first flight of stairs.

A stampede of footsteps behind him confirmed his worst fear.

He raced down one of the hallways, listening as Bakugo’s loud voice commanded the others to split up and corner him. He skidded down another hallway, the stairs to the third floor in sight. His signature red sneakers squeaked loudly against the polished tile, alerting everyone of his location. He almost reached the door to the second flight of stairs when one of the bullies jumped out in front of him from another hall.

Midoriya dove under his outspread arms and rammed the door where the stairwell hid behind. He scrambled on all fours up the stairs, desperately trying to regain his balance.

“He went up the stairs!” The kid who tried to catch him bellowed.

Midoriya frantically tried to think of a new place to hide. He immediately ruled out anywhere on the third floor, as some kids would likely be waiting for him there. He considered the fourth floor, but decided against it for that same reason. But what else was there?

The child gasped. The roof.

The janitors were supposed to lock it once school ended, but they rarely ever did their job. Midoriya would just have to bank on the fact that it would be open.

Otherwise, he’d be trapped in a dead end with 6 feral kids hellbent on kicking his ass.

He picked up his pace and dashed further up the stairs. He could hear the shocked cries of the kids on the third and fourth floors as he passed them completely. Good, he’d made the right choice. Now he had extra time to figure out what exactly he was going to do once he got to the roof. After all, it’s not like he could really go anywhere else after that.

Midoriya collided with the rooftop door and gave it a desperate push. To his outstanding relief, it swung open effortlessly and he almost fell right onto the ground. He could hear the voices coming up faster now. He stumbled but recovered fast enough to look around. There wasn’t anywhere to hide. He was trapped.

The voices had reached the roof where he was. So had the footsteps.

He turned around in a panic and watched as 5 kids that liked to hang around Bakugo emerged from the stairwell. They snickered at his panicked form and started to approach him. Midoriya began to back away as they did, but eventually ran into the railing that lined the rooftop. He looked back in shock, and two of the approaching kids quickly ran to his sides to seize his arms. The boy thrashed wildly at the touch, his mind spiraling in absolute agony. He hated this. The touches released something feral in his head. He hated being touched, especially out of his control. They needed to stop. Midoriya couldn’t think, his mind was spinning. Let me go. Let me go. Let me go. Let me go. Let me…

A sudden sock to the face snapped him out of it.

He could feel the warm blood trickle down his face. He didn’t think his nose was broken, but the thick trail of red was really starting to make him doubt it. The kid that had punched him laughed and then gave him another sock to the gut. Midoriya gasped at that, choking on his own spit. The force of the blow knocked his head back and sent a few specks of blood flying off his face. His head lurched forward again and hung limply on his neck. The last two kids stayed by the rooftop door, watching everything play out. Then, a last set of loud and harsh footsteps made their way up the stairs.

Midoriya lifted his head up to meet Bakugo’s stare, his eyes fluttering and desperately trying to stay open. He yanked frantically on the two kids holding his arms, not sure if it was because of the touch or just to escape the current situation, but they didn’t budge. Bakugo walked closer, shoving the kid that punched Midoriya out of the way. The other two kids followed close behind.

“Deku,” he growled.

The boy grimaced at the name, but kept eye contact with Bakugo. “Kacchan please, I haven’t even done anything today.”

The angry blond scowled some more. “You think you’re all that, don’t you?”

“What are you even talking about?!”

The grip around his arms tightened painfully, and Midoriya yelped.

“Watch it Deku,” one of the boys holding his arms said.

Bakugo stepped even closer, until he was right at the child’s face. But even then, the timid boy never broke eye contact, and that really pissed Bakugo off. What was he trying for? It’s not like Deku could accomplish anything significant being quirkless, so why was he trying so hard? The blond grinded his teeth, desperate to get some sort of reaction out of the child in front of him. He slapped his hand onto Midoriya’s right shoulder and lit it up in a fiery rage. He could see the sparks leaking out from underneath his hand, now staining Midoriya’s uniform.

That did it. The boy’s eyes tore away from Bakugo’s own in unrestrained terror. The blond had noticed that Midoriya seemed to have some sort of weak spot at his right shoulder, though he could never figure out what it was. But he was finally getting the reaction he wanted. He wanted Deku to know exactly where his place was.

Midoriya howled at the spark on his shoulder. It reminded him so much of his father. Too much. He was barely keeping it together, the memories from that night spilling into the current moment. He could feel the tears threatening to breach his eyes, but did his best to hold them in. He couldn’t cry now. He couldn’t give them the satisfaction of knowing that they won.

Then, Bakugo’s hand lifted off after what seemed like forever. He could feel himself calm down at that, not realizing he had been thrashing crazily before, and that the two other students behind the blond had to step in to keep him restrained. He opened his eyes to look at his former friend, but found no sympathy on his face, only hate.

Midoriya could feel a hand in his hair, but recognized its cold feeling as Gami’s. He tended to forget the man was there in situations similar to this. He tried to focus his mind on the way he softly ruffled his green locks, just as if the man was trying to tell him it would be ok. That it would be over soon.

Bakugo kneed him in the gut violently.

At that, the boy lunged over weakly, and the 4 kids holding his arms suddenly let go. He fell right to the floor face first as he had done earlier. Only this time, he didn’t have the strength to hoist himself up. He stayed limp on the rooftop, barely able to lift his head to see Bakugo and the other 5 students make their way to the door. The kids stopped, clearly waiting for the blond to lead them, but he also stopped at the doorway. He turned around to look at the prone Midoriya.

“Remember your place Deku,” he stated, something he never failed to remind the boy, “a quirkless loser like yourself can’t ever be a hero.”

And with those parting words, all of them left the rooftop.

Midoriya pushed himself to his knees and slowly made his way to the railing where he had been cornered just before. The railing wasn’t too high, only reaching to about his waist, but the bars holding it up were spread pretty widely apart. The boy slipped his legs through the spaces so they dangled off the edge. He would have climbed over the railing to sit on the thin ledge that separated safety and falling to his doom, but there wasn’t enough room. Gami did the same, his robe flowing in the high wind. They sat there in silence for a bit, before the child broke it with a sob.

The sobs grew louder and heavier until Midoriya could hardly breathe. He was crying so profusely that the sounds just stopped coming out. He brought his gloved hands to his mouth and simply kept them there, trying to drown out sobs that couldn’t be heard.

“I don’t understand” were the first words to be spoken through the sobs, though they were muddy and almost inaudible. “Why do they hate me so much?!”

He could feel Gami’s hand move from his head to his back, rubbing circles into it. The man didn’t say anything though, opting to let the child continue ranting.

“I can’t do this anymore. Why can’t I be free? Why can’t this just be over?”

The boy let his head rest against the railing, staring down four floors to the ground. It would be so easy, fast, painless. But it would never work. His role as Death made sure of that.

He had tried in the past, his thoughts going back to that moment. Gami had been trying to tell him something, but he was so desperate for release, he didn’t listen. He ran into the bathroom and opened the medicine cabinet, downing as many things as he could find. After a few minutes, he was convinced he simply hadn’t taken enough things, but then, Gami introduced him to another ability he had as Death. Midoriya viewed it as more of a curse.

He remembered Gami telling him when he first got his powers that each Death was required to work for a minimum of a century. Now he knew how they enforced it.

To put it simply, he had immortality. He couldn’t die, no matter how much he craved it. He could still get hurt and burned and scarred, but he couldn’t die. Gami had told him it was so Death could work without any distractions, but Midoriya figured it was just a way to keep each Death stuck in this invisible contract. So they really couldn’t get out of their duties. It was cruel, and he hated it.

Of course, after finding that out, he desperately didn’t want to believe it. So he tried a few more times in a few different ways, but none of them ever worked. He remained stuck in this hellish nightmare.

The boy snapped back into reality at the cold touch of the man’s hand on his own. He didn’t break eye contact with the ground though.

“I never thought I wanted much in life but,” he started, not really knowing where his head was going with this.

Gami turned to look at him, his hand still unmoving.

“My whole life, I guess the few things I’ve wanted I can’t have,” Midoriya moved to look down at his gloved hand, “I guess I can add this to the list.”

But at those words, the child could feel soft sleeves wrap around him. It took him a second to figure out who was hugging him, despite Gami being the only other person on the roof. He hadn’t been hugged in such a long time, it felt alien. He slowly wrapped his own arms around the man, unsure if he was doing it right. The two of them stayed like that for a bit, just silently reassuring themselves that they still had each other, if no one else.

“Izu, you and I both know you are going to become the greatest hero, and nothing will ever stop you,” Gami finally said, breaking the quietness, “not them, not the world, and surely not this.”

Midoriya stayed quiet at that, but the man could hear the tiniest of sniffles coming from where the boy’s head was perched in his robe. He smiled, though it went unnoticed, and hugged tighter.

His successor was going to take the world by storm one day.

Midoriya stumbled down the school’s fire escape in a hurry. He didn’t think he could take the stairwell back down. He had taken too long on the roof, and if the janitors caught him still in school after hours, it wasn’t going to end well. So he opted for sliding down the rusty fire escape. After all, it was much safer than just jumping off the roof and waiting for his bones to heal in the morning.

See, concerning his immortality, Midoriya has learned an important aspect about it much earlier in the past. The immortality didn’t give him any regeneration factor, but healed any injuries that could prove detrimental to his job after an overnight’s rest. Handy, but not too practical in the midst of a fight. So yes, while he could jump four stories off the roof of his Junior High and be alright, he’d also be a pile of broken bones and mush until the morning.

As for why he was in a rush, well Gami had the decency to remind him that he was supposed to be at Ishihara’s for tea in 10 minutes. Ever since saving the man from his unsightly demise, he would be invited over for tea and snacks around 1 or 2 times a week. He enjoyed Ishihara’s company as the two of them loved to chat about just anything, kind of like him and Gami. Plus there were times where Ishihara would pull out his old chessboard, and while the older man would usually win, Midoriya loved it nonetheless.

The boy learned a lot about Ishihara during their tea chats. The man apparently had a super neat tracking quirk he got to name Under The Radar. It allowed him to place undetectable, irremovable trackers on upto 3 items at once, even people. It didn’t have a size or a range limit, and the trackers couldn’t be removed unless Ishihara himself released them. All in all, Midoriya thought his quirk was absolutely amazing! The only downside to it was the man would go randomly blind at times, which led to the incident that caused the two to meet.

But now wasn’t the time for the child to be gushing about the man’s quirk.

He sprinted down the busy sidewalk, ignoring angry protests of commuters he bumped into along the way. Turning a corner, he now had the quaint, blue house in sight. The boy didn’t have a watch or a phone, so he had no idea whether he was late or not. Hopefully he wasn’t though. Midoriya really didn’t want Ishihara to start asking questions. He ran up the stairs and rang the doorbell. After a few seconds, the door clicked and opened up.

“Oh Midoriya! You made it right in time!” The man’s voice echoed from behind the wood.

The child let out a sigh of relief. He’d made it in time. He looked up to meet Ishihara’s eyes.

“Oh my goodness, what happened to your face?!”

Midoriya reaches a gloved hand to touch at his face in confusion. He pulled it back only to find a decent amount of red staining it. Right, his nose. He’d assumed it had stopped bleeding by now.

Guess it hadn’t.

The older man ushered him inside and shut the door behind his smaller form. The boy was pretty dazed during it all, but remembered Ishihara seating him on one of the dining room chairs and cleaning up his face. The man then got up to throw away the bloody tissue before getting a new one.

“It was the kids at school, wasn’t it?” He spoke softly. It seemed like a lot of people were doing that today.

Midoriya didn’t say anything back, but the way he looked away from Ishihara’s concerned stare gave the man all the answers he needed.

“Midoriya, I know you don’t like talking about it, but can you at least tell me why they’re hurting you?”

The child’s brows furrowed at that. Sure he had known Ishihara for a good 3 years, but even then, how would he react to knowing the boy’s biggest secret? Well, I guess it wasn’t his biggest per say, but definitely the most detrimental. Would those 3 years of friendship go completely down the drain? Midoriya didn’t want to risk that, ever.

He looked back up at the man’s eyes, and immediately regretted it. Staring into those eyes full of concern made his heart swell with guilt. The lump in his throat grew larger, and the boy was afraid he would start crying again. But it was either that or talk, and Midoriya refused to do the latter.

So the tears fell down his face silently, and Ishihara moved quickly to wipe them away before they mixed with the blood from his nose. But even that wasn’t enough for his conscience apparently.

“I-I’m quirkless,” he sputtered out. What was he doing? He tried to stop, but his mouth didn’t listen. “B-but I still want to be a h-hero and save p-people.”

Ishihara listened silently as he continued.

“The other k-kids at school know and they d-don’t like it.” That’s when his mouth gave out on him and he went back to crying. There it was. It was out. He waited for Ishihara to reject him like everyone else did. He would never get to enjoy tea and snacks or talk or play chess with him again. It was over.

“Oh Midoriya.” And for a second time that day, he felt arms wrap around him. “I’m so sorry you have to go through that.”

He looked over to the man in shock, “You’re not mad?”

Then it was Ishihara’s turn to look shocked, “Why would I be mad?”

“It’s just cause,” he murmured, “most people are when they find out.”

“Well then, I guess I’m not most people,” the older man reassured, “besides, you’ve already saved my life. You’re a whole step ahead of those other kids.”

The child’s face changed to one of confusion, “You really don’t care that I’m quirkless?”

Ishihara smiled, “I meant what I said when we first met. Quirk or not, you are going to be a great hero one day Midoriya.”

And that finally broke the dam as the boy bawled his eyes out. But with Ishihara at one side and Gami at the other, they were more tears of happiness than anything else.

Midoriya fiddled on the couch while Ishihara handed him a plate of chocolate chip cookies covered in plastic wrap. The man was nice enough to package away some of the spare treats he prepared.

The two had enjoyed tea and those same chocolate chip cookies earlier after the man cleaned up the child’s face, and Ishihara even whipped out his old chessboard. Of course, the older man still won the game, but the boy didn’t really mind. Ishihara really did a good job of lifting his mood from the depressing mess it began as. But as all things, it came to an end when a small alarm by the living room TV rang.

“Oh well, 6 already,” Ishihara sighed and looked at the small boy worryingly, “You can stay a bit longer if you’d like.”

Midoriya shook his head vigorously, “No no, I’ll be alright.”

He pushed himself off the couch, still feeling pain where he was punched earlier. Bakugo’s follow up attack didn’t exactly help either. He hadn’t found the time to check the area yet, but guessed a decently sized bruise now dressed it. He landed roughly on his feet, stumbling slightly, but catching himself on the armrest of the couch. Ishihara looked at him in concern, but the child flashed one of his signature bright smiles in reassurance. The man passed him the wrapped plate of cookies that Midoriya put on the couch so he could get up.

“Don’t worry about bringing the plate back,” the older man said, “I’ve got plenty.”

The boy took the treats from Ishihara and held them close to his chest, afraid he’d drop them the second he left the house. Today had been a rollercoaster of events as well as emotions. He still hadn’t gotten his hands to stop sweating or his knees to stop shaking. But he wasn’t hyperventilating anymore, and his heartbeat wasn’t drowning out the rest of the world, so the child still considered it a win.

During Midoriya’s internal reflection, he had made his way to the front door, which Ishihara held open for him.

“Thank you for everything Ishihara-san,” he whispered out, just loud enough for the man to hear, “It really means a lot to have your support.”

The older man smiled at that, “Just make sure to remember your biggest fan when you go pro.”

Midoriya giggled. Gami may end up giving the man a run for his money, but Ishihara didn’t need to know about that.

The boy trotted down the front steps and started down the sidewalk, clutching his plate of cookies tightly. Gami followed behind, quiet as ever.

“See you Thursday?” Ishihara called out from the doorway hopefully, “After school?”

The child turned to look back, before displaying another heartwarming smile, “Sure thing! See you then!”

Midoriya continued towards his house as he heard the wooden door click shut. Gami moved up to walk next to him, but didn’t say anything. He looked at the man in confusion, but the silence remained. He shrugged it off and went back to gazing at the plate of cookies. Ishihara really knew how to bake, and the boy was grateful that the man shared it with him. He could count maybe 10, no 12 cookies under the plastic wrap. Oh he couldn’t wait to eat another one once he arrived back home…

“Izu…”

The child looked back at Gami expectantly, but continued to walk. When the man seemed to hesitate, he motioned for him to keep going.

“Do you remember what I said about being around to teach you the basics of your job?”

Midoriya nodded, still not being able to put the pieces together.

“And that I would finally be off to rest once you could handle yourself?”

Once the man finished, it finally clicked for the boy. No no no, not after all they’d been through together. Not after today. His heart couldn’t take it. Sure, the child had Ishihara, but that was only a couple times a week. If Gami left, he’d really be alone. His hands were shaking profusely now and his grip on the plate slipped, but Midoriya didn’t even care. He waited for the loud crash of the ceramic against the concrete sidewalk in hope the noise would shake him out of his head.

But no sound came.

He craned his neck to look down, expecting to see the plate shattered and the cookies spread out on the ground, but instead turned to see Gami knelt down.

The plate lay in his hand, completely intact.

He rose back up and outstretched his arm to hand the plate back.

“Izu please,” the man whispered, “just listen.”

Midoriya took the plate back teary eyed. They threatened to fall again for the third time that day. But he nodded nonetheless and waited for him to continue. He would hear his friend out. Gami deserved that at the very least.

“What I said was true, even if it was all those years ago,” he kept listening, despite the growing lump in his throat, “And after these 7 years together, I know you are more than capable of handling yourself and this position.”

It was growing harder and harder to listen. The boy stopped walking, having to put all his focus on not bursting into tears.

“By those words I said so long ago, I should be ready to move on and finally enjoy peace after all these centuries, but…”

The man paused, and Midoriya could hear him take an audible breath. He still dared not to look at him in fear of breaking down.

“I have grown to enjoy your company Izu, and now, though I am technically dead, I have never felt more alive.”

Gami seemed to stumble over his words, and the child finally gained the courage to look his friend in the eyes. Or at least, where he presumed his eyes would be. It was impossible to see any of the man’s face under that dark hood of his.

“I believe what I am attempting to convey is that I care for you, and I am not ready to move on just yet.”

Midoriya’s eyes widened, and a few tears slipped from his grasp.

“You are more than just my successor. You are my friend, and I wish to be around as you grow. I wish to watch you spill your cereal each morning and hopefully change your breakfast tastes to be more than just Mighty Smacks. I wish to watch hero cartoons together when we get back in time to catch them. I wish to have more conversations that seep into the late night about quirks or heroes or whatever had plagued the day. I wish to support you as you continue fighting for your dream.”

The man fiddled with his long sleeves, picking at them from the inside with his boney fingers. He hadn’t imagined this conversation to be as hard as it currently was. He broke eye contact with the boy standing in front of him, not like anyone could tell.

“I want to be there when you become the greatest hero Japan has ever seen.”

Gami lifted his head up at the first few sniffles, but was completely unprepared when his successor embraced him in a crushing hug, the plate of cookies on the sidewalk. He hadn’t heard them break, so the child must have placed them down.

“You really mean that?” Midoriya whimpered out, eyes puffy, cheeks red, face utterly soaked in salty tears. “I don’t want you to stay if that makes you unhappy. You’re my friend Gami. I just want you to be happy.”

The man did make out what the boy was trying to say, though it was nearly inaudible due to his guttural sobs and hoarse voice.

“I meant every word,” Gami couldn’t recognize the voice that just spoke. It was so full of emotion. Was he crying? He truly had no idea. “I want to stay.”

It was quiet, except for Midoriya’s sobs. They merely stood in the center of the empty sidewalk embracing, a plate of plastic wrapped cookies at their feet. If any person was watching, it would seem pretty weird that a small middle schooler had stopped abruptly in the middle of an empty sidewalk with a plate of cookies on the ground near his feet. It would probably seem even weirder that the same child was currently hugging himself while crying loudly. But Midoriya didn’t mind.

He didn’t mind at all.

Chapter Text

“GET BACK!”

Midoriya rushed over to the crowd of curious bystanders, watching in awe as a giant, rampaging villain tore apart a shopping district. The 14 year old looked back quickly to check on his friend, who was weaving between people despite being able to pass through them. The boy tried his best to push through the crowd as politely as he could, finally reaching the front. Pro hero Backdraft was doing his best to manage the mass of civilians with his water hose quirk, keeping them distanced from the fight. Midoriya stretched behind him to grab at his worn backpack, not taking his eyes off the fight as he pulled out a notebook and pencil without even looking. His eyes flashed at the hero fighting, Kamui Woods, before flipping to a specific page and jotting feverishly.

“Wow! It’s the popular young star Kamui Woods!” the teen exclaimed, “I can’t believe I managed to catch him in action!”

“Haha, a running commentary huh?” a bystander with 3 pointed star-looking shapes extruding from his head chuckled, “Are you a fanboy?”

Midoriya shifted in embarrassment, becoming a bit uncomfortable as he realized how close he was to the rest of the crowd. But at Gami’s sudden touch to his shoulder, he relaxed more and went back to writing.

“Err um no,” he tried to explain, “I just really enjoy taking notes on quirks.” He then started murmuring quietly about the hero’s quirk, Arbor. The quirk was a transformation class, but very flexible and beneficial in most situations. Midoriya speculated how the hero could apply his branches’ binding capabilities in situations other than capture. Then, as Kamui Woods bent down, he realized the hero was about to perform his signature move.

“Take him down, tree man!” the bystander from before yelled.

“Here it comes, it's his ‘Preemptive Binding…” Midoriya cried.

“Lacquered Chain Prison!’” Kamui finished, shooting off his branches as he extended his arms towards the massive villain. The villain roared in shock and flinched back at the enormous amount of branches plowing towards him.

“CANYON CANNON!” A giant woman, larger than even the villain, suddenly appeared out of nowhere and kicked the villain right in the jaw. Midoriya gasped, startled by the new hero’s sudden appearance, before snapping right back into action, flipping to a new page and writing out notes of the new quirk. Cameras behind the two flashed as they tried to snap a picture of the new female hero. Gami shuttered in annoyance and moved to stand at the boy’s side rather than behind him.

“Today’s my debut!” the lady shouted as she shrunk back to normal size, but not before shaking her rear, “Pleased to meet you all! You can call me Mt. Lady!”

The now proclaimed Mt. Lady moved to stand next to the restrained villain and waved towards the largest crowd of cameras. She flashed a wide smile as a single cameraman from the group came up to her to get some close up shots of the new hero and the villain. Kamui Woods remained on the perch he was just fighting on, crouched and dejected at his spotlight being stolen.

“Wow, gigantification huh?” Midoriya muttered under his breath as he scribbled into his notebook, “It’s a common and quite powerful quirk, but could the threat of public property destruction limit its use? Maybe if…”

“Well it would depend on whether or not she can manipulate her size at will,” Gami added after staying quiet for most of the fight.

“Ah yes yes,” the teen whispered even quieter than before. He didn’t want to seem like a crazy person at responding to seemingly nothing.

“Taking notes huh?!” the man with the protruding shapes asked, not noticing the boy’s last response, “I guess you wanna be a hero yourself. Good luck!!”

Midoriya perked up at that complement, his eyes lighting up. Gami shifted to put his arm in front of his successor. His eyes opposingly narrowed compared to his friend’s, even though no one could see it under his hood, much less actually see him in general. No one normally praised the boy, so the ghost was quite weary when it happened, especially since the other children at Aldera would pretend to compliment him only to see the dejected look on his face once they took it back. But his successor seemed to take the praise well, so the man backed off a bit.

“Thank you!” he responded happily, “I’ll try my best!”

“I hate to interrupt Izu,” Gami interjected, “but we are going to be late if you stay any longer.”

“Oh you’re right!” he exclaimed, forgetting that no one else could hear the man standing near him. The bystander gave him a strange look, but Midoriya didn’t notice. He scrambled back through the crowd, ignoring the shudders that rushed through him each time he bumped someone’s arm.

He really didn’t enjoy crowds, but the rush of watching a fight was too much to resist sometimes. Besides, once he heard on the news that Kamui Woods was fighting, he was all too eager to remember his fear of contact. He had been very interested in the young hero’s quirk, especially his signature move, and while he did look up as much information as possible, nothing could compete with seeing it in action. And while he certainly wasn’t expecting to see the debut of a promising new hero, Midoriya was extremely glad he had decided to bear the mass of bystanders in the end.

Running down another busy street, he pondered the new hero to keep his mind off the fact that the sidewalks were much too crowded for his liking. Her giantification quirk was certainly a marvel to see in person, not something video feed could really do justice.

But he hadn’t noticed any support gear on her costume. The teen guessed that the costume itself had to be made of an extremely elastic material for her to shrink back to normal without any problems, but that was pretty much all he noticed. And yes, he considered that the new Mt. Lady was going for a more destructive style, and that kind of fighting didn’t really permit much support gear, especially with a gigantification quirk. But for him, that didn’t negate the benefits that support gear brought. He could think of many different items that could work with her changing size, such as an elastic rope or whip that stretched and shrunk with her. That kind of weapon would be easy to make and allow the hero to make more precise attacks without worrying about damaging public property. Plus if there was ever a situation where she couldn’t fit between buildings, the whip would allow her to still contribute to the fight.

Of course, there was always the notion that her costume was made of purely skin tight elastic simply to boost her ratings with the male population. That was the trap many female pro heroes fell into, whether they knew it or not. Most costume designers were male after all, and you couldn’t deny that they may have slipped some personal ideas into their work. Sure, some female pros did use this fact to their advantage, like Uwabami, the snake hero who was also a television celebrity. Her charming looks as well as her celebrity status often made working with police and rescuing civilians easier. But Midoriya hoped that heroes were more modest than that, after all, for him it was more about saving people than popularity.

The seductive pose that Mt. Lady flashed for the cameras pretty much dashed any ideas of modesty for the new hero. For goodness sake, even the nice bystander who complimented him had been drooling at the sight.

Midoriya pushed forward. He could see his middle school now. If he kept at this pace, he was sure he wouldn’t be late. Keeping his current pace wouldn’t be so hard though, the boy’s nightly endurance runs made sure of that. Plus, constantly running from Bakugo and his group helped out even more. As long as he left school early, they never managed to catch up to him. Of course, his endless stamina didn’t really help when the bullies cornered him during the school day, but it was still helpful overall.

But right now, as long as he didn’t bump into any of the solo pedestrians, he would make it on time. He wasn’t going to be late.

That put a small smile on his face.

“You guys are all third years now,” Midoriya’s homeroom teacher called out.

The boy had arrived at school 5 minutes early, much to the displeasure of the other students. The teacher hadn’t been in the classroom, so Midoriya was able to slink in without hearing any berating, despite the fact that he wasn’t late. The day had gone pretty smoothly, with the teen managing to avoid Bakugo and the others at spots where they normally cornered him, like on his way to the courtyard. He was in a cheerful mood and was hoping to end the day with it. This last class of the day wasn’t too bad either, the teacher was trying to go over plans for the future.

“It’s time to start thinking seriously about your futures,” the teacher continued, grabbing a stack of papers lying on his desk. Midoriya knew exactly where he wanted to go with his future, but he also knew that his classmates, even the school itself, didn’t support him. He didn’t want to attract any unnecessary attention to himself though, so the boy sank into his chair in an attempt to make himself smaller.

He was still writing in the notebook from earlier. Him and Gami had been talking about the fight at lunch, and the man brought up some great points concerning the new hero, as well as the teen explaining his ideas for potential support gear. Gami hadn’t been able to finish his thoughts before the bell rang, so the man was talking to the boy now, despite the fact that the teacher was also talking. Midoriya wasn’t too concerned with whatever the teacher was rambling on about now, taking the time to scribble each idea the spirit was giving him. This was one of the times he was thankful that no one else could hear Gami, even though it was pretty awkward when the teen responded to him out loud and someone else heard.

“I would hand out these future career forms but…” he shook the stack of paper he had picked up in the air. He then slammed both his hands onto the face of his desk, along with the papers, startling Midoriya out of his personal conversation. Thankfully, the boy didn’t make any significant noise or catch anyone’s attention, but now was focused on what exactly the teacher was doing.

“I assume you all want to be heroes!” the teacher exclaimed and swung his hand back towards the chalkboard, scattering the career forms everywhere. His class cheered out and all started showing off their quirks. Midoriya liked looking at his peers’ quirks, he thought each one was unique and could be used for hero work in their own way. Gami too, stopped talking and looked around at the variety of quirks being shown. He wasn’t as impressed as his successor however, having seen quirks similar to these over his centuries of work.

At first, he was surprised that Bakugo didn’t join in on the fun and glanced over to see the blond looking smug with his feet on his desk. He was going to do something brash, Midoriya just knew it.

“Yes yes, you all have wonderful quirks,” the man sighed, trying to get his class to calm down, “but you know that it’s against the rules to use them at school.”

The teen glanced over to look at Gami, who was now standing beside his desk rather than behind him as he usually stood. The man seemed to be staring right at Bakugo however, almost taking a defensive stance. The boy turned to follow Gami’s stare. The blond was now grinning widely compared to his small smirk before. Oh now he knew Kacchan was going to do something.

“Sensei!” the angry blond yelled, “Don’t lump me in with these losers!”

The class shut up at that.

“As if I had anything like their awful quirks,” he sneered and leaned back into his chair.

The class erupted into chaos again.

Midoriya and the spirit watched as the students booed and shouted, desperate to prove themselves and heal their damaged pride. They reminded the small teen of a pack of hyenas trying to jump a lion.

Bakugo then bursted into laughter, “Shut up extras!”

“Ah yes Bakugo, you of course,” the teacher announced over the loud wailing of his students, “must be aiming for U.A. high school.”

The room grew even louder, comments flying overhead like runaway kites. Midoriya shrunk further into his seat. He was sure the teacher knew he was also aiming for U.A. and hoped that the man didn’t use that information to embarrass him, as easy as it would be. Gami stepped closer to his successor’s desk, fearing something bad to come and ready to offer support.

“I aced the mock exam!” the blond continued, jumping up out of his chair and landing on top of his desk, “I’m the only one here with the stuff for U.A.!”

The boy would never comment that he also aced the mock exam. The class wouldn't care about that, only the fact that a quirkless kid was trying to get into the best hero school in the country. Besides, he had gotten all the praise he needed from Gami and Ishihara concerning the mock exam.

“I’ll even surpass All Might and become the best hero out there!” Midoriya scoffed at that, though it was unlike him. Leave it to Kacchan to challenge the number 1 pro hero in all of Japan.
“Not to mention I’ll be one of the richest people in the world!!”

At that, Midoriya and Gami rolled their eyes, though one was completely invisible. Both went unnoticed however, Bakugo’s yelling and the chaos of the rest of the class thoroughly took the attention off of them. And that’s just how the teen preferred it. He really didn’t want all of his peers’ eyes on him, especially when it would end up being more than just eyes.

“Aren’t you also going for U.A. Midoriya?”

The teacher’s words swept over the room like a plague.

Bakugo stopped shouting immediately, standing atop his desk completely still, as if someone had broken him. The smile on his face fell almost instantly.

The class had gone completely silent, all turning to look at him in shock. Their stares burned into him like hot coal.

Gami pushed his hand onto his successor’s desk, eyes leering at the rest of the people in the room. He wished he was alive in that one moment, just so he could trample across the room and smack the smirk right of the teacher’s face, and throw every single desk that got in his way. No one messed with his successor, his friend. No one.

Midoriya wanted to curl up and die in that moment. He could see his teacher’s smug grin, just as if he wanted this to happen. His hands started shaking underneath his desk, but he faced the class head on. He would not give in to them today.

The class exploded with laughter, all directed at him. It startled the young teen, but he didn’t show it. He just shifted his eyes to look at his desk instead of the disapproving glares of his classmates.

Bakugo jumped from his desk suddenly, hands starting to spark.

“Come on Deku!” he screamed, his anger fueling his quirk, causing a decent sized explosion to burst from his palms. The blast knocked over Midoriya’s desk and sent the boy flying into the back wall. He let out a gasp at hitting the wall roughly and slumped down. Bakugo followed the boy and scowled, while the teacher and students did absolutely nothing but watch.

“Forget those extras’ quirks,” he berated, “you’re quirkless and you think you can rub shoulders with me?!”

Midoriya flinched at how close Bakugo got to his limp form, “W-wait no, Kacchan…”

“You really think a school like U.A. would let a quirkless wannabe like you even try?!”

The boy looked down at that. He already knew U.A. wouldn’t even consider him as a hero student once they saw his records read “quirkless.” Midoriya had gone through a lot of trouble to get his official records changed just to avoid that. If anyone looked into his official records, his quirk was Reaper, and it allowed him to decay things at a touch and summon a scythe. That’s it, he kept it as minimal as possible to avoid suspicion. Besides, his other abilities, like Premonition and the soul stuff wasn’t something that could be easily picked out in a fight.

Midoriya didn’t answer, and Bakugo was starting to get angry. The students continued to stare and some of the blond’s group got out of their seats and moved to stand behind him. Gami stood protectively in front of the fallen boy, trying to shield him from whatever the angry teen might do, even though no one could see him. Midoriya smiled softly at his friend’s actions, hoping no one saw, but he wasn’t lucky enough for that.

“What are you smiling at Deku?!” Bakugo growled, a chorus of “yeah”s and “Deku”s followed suit, “What can you even do?!”

The boy looked down at the floor and he swore he heard the spirit growl back at the children surrounding them. But as much as he appreciated the gesture, his mood was spoiled. He could only sit there as they laughed and laughed and laughed, struggling to hold his tears in. Midoriya had always been a natural crier, but he wouldn’t give them the satisfaction they wanted.

Not now.

Not ever.

The incident promptly ended after a few moments, the bell ringing and the teacher letting the class out. Midoriya lifted himself off the ground and hobbled over to his desk, ignoring any wandering stares in his direction. His phone buzzed in his back pocket and he excitedly reached to pull it out, happy it didn’t break on his rough impact with the wall.

Midoriya could finally say that he owned a phone after about 9 months of saving up for one. That was also with taking up extra jobs that neighboring communities would offer him, more than he usually did to survive. He didn’t mind the extra work, and Gami suggested that investing in a phone wouldn’t be a bad idea. The teen put off the idea of buying one for a while, as they were reasonably expensive and he didn’t really need to get in contact with anyone on a daily basis. But now that he was going into high school, he figured he might need one, especially if he got into U.A.

“Oh wow,” he whispered, half to avoid the attention of his peers, half so Gami would realize he was talking to him, “the incident this morning is blowing up all over the news.”

“Indeed. I assume Mt. Lady’s new appearance is really taking the spotlight.”

“Yeah, let me just grab my notebook and we can go!” Midoriya smiled and reached for the thin book with a big “No. 13” written on the cover in thick marker. It was the same book he had been writing in earlier this morning at the fight. It held plentiful notes on various quirks that the boy found interesting. He enjoyed scouring the news or the internet for heroes with marvelous quirks, occasionally picking out some underground heroes to research. They had some of the most amazing powers he’d ever heard of, and he was often bummed that no one praised them as much as they deserved. And true to the title, he had 12 more notebooks at home.

Suddenly, the notebook was snatched from his hand. Midoriya wasn’t expecting the intervention and shrieked, his hand flinching back into his chest.

“We’re not done here Deku,” Bakugo snarled as the classroom emptied out, waving the notebook in the air by his thumb and pointer finger.

“What’s that Katsuki?” one of his lackeys asked with a smirk on his face.

Another turned his head to read what was on the cover, “‘For The Future’? Seriously? What future?”

“C-come on,” Midoriya cried, lunging slightly at Bakugo’s outstretched hand, “Give it back!!”

The blond, being decently taller than the green haired teen, easily kept the book out of his reach. Then, Bakugo brought the notebook between both his hands and in a flash, lit it up. Midoriya let out a loud wail at the sight of his work being exploded, not even being able to see it through the smoke and fire. The light was so blinding he had to look away for a moment to regain his focus, and glancing back, saw Gami flinching away from the light as well.

The man, despite being a spirit, severely disliked bright lights. The boy didn’t really know if it was a personal thing or a ghost thing, but noticed it nonetheless.

Now, despite that fact, Gami still adorned what the teen thought was a scowl. For the first time in a while, Midoriya could clearly see the thin, boney hands that normally hid in the man’s long sleeves, reaching out in a threatening manner at Bakugo. And while Gami was certainly channeling the anger he felt as well, the boy felt more despair than anything else.

“W-why…?” he whimpered in anguish, his cries going unheard.

The angry blond spared him a slight glance, before letting out a short breath, then tossing the burnt book out of the open window. The boy let out an even louder cry, scrambling to the window in an attempt to catch it before it landed. Sadly, his efforts were fruitless as he watched his work land into a man made fish pond. Gami watched as his successor visibly crumbled, still trying to hold in his waterworks. The man swiped at Bakugo’s head, though it just went right through the blond.

“I’ll be the first and only hero from this crappy middle school,” he continued, as if nothing had happened, “so in other words…”

Bakugo made his way over to Midoriya, the pair snickering in the background. He placed his hand onto the teen’s right shoulder, right where the scar from his father laid. He let out a shaky breath at the contact, especially at by who and where it was. He watched as the blond’s hand started to smoke, and fought off the urge to rip the hand off him. He hated when Bakugo did this. I hate it. I hate it. I hate it. I hate it.

“Don’t even try for U.A., understand?”

Midoriya’s lip quivered, his mind racing. He looked up to see Gami behind the blond, directing him to control his breathing. He followed the man, taking an unstable breath in and letting out a wobbly sigh.

Then, Bakugo’s hand was gone, and him and the other two kids were on their way out of the classroom. The green haired boy continued to stand still, not trusting his legs in the moment. He looked down at the ground, and Gami knelt down to keep eye contact, still instructing the boy’s breathing. All that could be heard was soft, staggered breathing, not a single quip back from Midoriya.

“Typical. Come on, say something…” one of the kids remarked.

“He can’t say anything,” the other replied, “he’s so lame, even as a third year. He still can’t face reality.”

Midoriya’s hand tightened on one of his worn backpack straps, fighting between lunging at the children and dropping to the floor in agony. He could see his reality. He could. He insisted to himself that he was gifted with something special, and the boy would use it to save lives. He could. He would. So why did he feel like crying right now?

“You wanna be a hero so bad?” God did Bakugo ever know when to just shut up? “I got an idea for you.”

Midoriya thought he must have recoiled or something, because he could hear a scoff come from the blond as he continued. Though, it could have just been Bakugo amused at the thought of his coming remark.

“Just hope for a quirk in your next life,” he declared, “and go take a swan dive off the roof!”

Thankfully, the three of them left the classroom fairly quickly after that, and didn’t hear the teen fall to his knees.

They didn’t hear his choked sobs as he lost all progress in regaining his normal breathing.

They didn’t hear a loud screech against the floor as Gami lunged at them in unrestrained rage, passing through them and colliding with a desk instead.

They also didn’t hear a centuries old ghost curse out the universe for his temperamental solidity.

Though, nobody heard Midoriya under his breath, desperately wishing he wasn’t as ungodly immortal as he was.

The boy didn’t stay alone in the classroom for long, as much as he wanted to. He composed himself well enough to make his way to the fish pond where his notebook was, though the janitors wouldn’t ask even if his face was blotchy. He arrived at the pond, only to find a fish nibbling at the corner of his prized possession.

“That’s not food, stupid fish,” he cursed, “That’s my notebook.”

He lifted the soggy book out of the water and carefully flipped through the pages. The ink was ruined, he couldn’t even make out the words. All of today’s notes, Kamui Woods’ signature move, the new Mt. Lady’s gigantification quirk, and the rest of the writings he had in there, gone forever. He wanted to cry even more.

“I can still read it,” Gami piped up, “That is definitely not the most illegible writing I have seen in my years of work.”

“W-wait, really?” Midoriya sniffled.

“Yes, and if we get home soon, I can translate it for you.”

“Thank you! Thank you so much!”

He lunged over to hug the man tightly. They stayed silent for a bit, as they usually did during one of these moments.

“You will prove them all wrong one day Izu,” the man carefully strung his words together, “Don’t let them get in your head.”

“I know,” the boy added quickly, “but it doesn't make the words hurt any less.”

He wearily shook out his wet notebook, before placing it gently into his backpack. Midoriya started his way towards home, wishing he could visit Ishihara today instead of the planned tomorrow. Gami didn’t hesitate to follow him, walking at his side instead of behind. He could feel his successor holding onto the end of his long sleeve, not that he minded. It was something the boy usually did in states of high distress.

“I'm just going to keep my chin up,” Midoriya spoke after a while, in a determined voice that didn’t match his body language, “and keep moving forward, no matter what they say!”

The spirit walking beside him smiled warmly at that, though no one could see.

They approached what looked to be the tunnel underneath a small bridge. It was dark and eerie, and gave both the boy and his mentor a dangerous vibe.

“Be careful Izu, something is not right here.”

“I picked up on it too, but I will.”

Midoriya took a slow step inside, hands ready to defend himself. After a few moments of silence, he took another, landing on a manhole cover leading to the city sewers. He paused again, looking all around him for an attack.

He didn’t notice the sewer cover start to leak.

Suddenly, a massive amount of sludge bursted from the holes in the cover, completely enveloping the boy’s small form.

“Perfect,” the sludge panted, “A medium sized body...to hide in...”

The teen cried out in shock, but the sludge quickly silenced him by stuffing itself down his throat.

A villain?!

Midoriya used his one free hand to grab at the sludge in his mouth, but it was no use. The fluid was just slipping through his fingers. Gami tried clawing at the villain as well, but his spiritual form proved detrimental. Tugging at his successor didn’t help either, the boy was completely stuck.

“Thanks kid,” the villain monologued, “You’re a real hero. I never thought he’d show up in this.”

What do I do? Midoriya thought. I can’t breathe and I’m only getting weaker. He knew that he wouldn’t die, but that still left an unwanted houseguest puppeting his body. He stared right into the eyes of the villain as more fluid shoved itself into his mouth. Wait…, his eyes! The boy looked back at the faded yellow eyes hidden in the sludge. The sludge may not be solid, but his eyes must be! He just had to bank on that.

As bad as he felt for doing this, Midoriya shot his free hand towards one of the eyes of the villain. He shoved his fingers right into them and the villain flinched, but held strong.

“You’re not getting away that easily,” he cackled.

Luckily for Midoriya, that wasn’t his plan.

After a few seconds or so, the villain felt his eye start to burn up. Surely the boy hadn’t poked him too hard, right? But after another couple moments, it became more than just irritation.

“AHHH MY EYE!!” he roared in pain, releasing Midoriya to cradle his wound.

The teen jumped back at his newfound freedom, not wasting his chance. Gami rushed over to his successor in concern. He just nodded in reply, not really being able to speak due to the just previous suffocation.

The villain screamed again, “I CAN’T SEE!! WHAT DID YOU DO?!?!”

Midoriya stopped Death’s Touch at that point. He didn’t need to decay the entire eye to handicap the villain in front of him. Though looking back at the sludge, he realized he may have gone a bit overboard in his panic.

Half of the eye was missing, leaving the remaining fluid to slowly ooze into the sludge on that side of his face. The villain was desperately trying to fill the new gap with his slime to stop the leaking, all while continuing to scream in pain. The boy would have felt bad, if it weren’t for the fact that the same villain was just trying to stuff himself down his throat.

The boy flexed his hand, summoning a large scythe, the blade almost resembling a bird’s beak as a hole near the top could be mistaken for the bird’s eye. Gami had told him a while back that he could summon a weapon to fight with, if need be. It was mostly to keep the aesthetic, as Death didn’t go out and reap souls anymore, but still real and useful for slicing. Midoriya hadn’t had too many chances to whip it out and practice, but he found it came naturally to him.

He gripped the weapon confidently with both hands, and swung it at the villain’s midsection. The blade cut cleanly through the sludge and flung a good portion of the goo onto the tunnel wall, halving the villain’s size. The villain didn’t seem to be in any more pain because of it, so Midoriya figured the best way to incapacitate him would be aiming for the solid parts, which he could now see were his eyes and mouth.

In a desperate attempt to retaliate, the villain lurched out a tentacle of slime at the teen. He flexed his hand again, and the scythe disappeared so he could roll roughly out of the way. He quickly summoned the weapon again and slashed at the appendage that had attacked him, slicing it clean off. It splattered onto the ground like wet paint. Midoriya made his next move.

Of course, he didn’t want to kill the villain, so in his next swing, he turned his scythe so the flat part of the blade was plowing towards the mouth hidden in the sludge. The sheer force that came off each swing seemed unreasonable for a boy of his stature, even if the boy was fit, but he wasn’t complaining. The flat blade crashed into the villain’s mouth just as he intended it to, and the sludge let out one last shriek of pain before spatting into the wall right next to the other half of his body. The goo oozed down and piled up on the ground, making Midoriya tense, but it didn’t reform. The villain was out cold.

Midoriya had won. He had single handedly stopped a villain.

As much as he wanted to, he couldn’t celebrate now. Who knew when the villain was going to wake up, so the boy threw his backpack to the ground and opened it up, searching for something to contain the sludge in. A water bottle or something. But alas, he had nothing. Freaking out a bit and still on his high of adrenaline, the teen wondered what to do.

“Hey Izu, I think you can use this,” Gami yelled as he pointed towards two empty plastic liter bottles lying on top of an overflowing trash bin.

“Yeah, I think that might work,” his successor cried as he ran over to the basket. Ignoring the awful stench that came from the pile, Midoriya grabbed the bottles that lay on top. Sprinting back over to the prone villain, he started scooping up the goo and shoving it into one of the bottles, much like how the villain tried to force his way into his own body. Midoriya didn’t mean to, but the irony of the moment made him smirk. He pushed past the uncomfortable feeling of the wet sludge at his fingertips and kept shoveling it into the container. The boy was about halfway there when a sudden noise came from the other end of the tunnel. He readied himself for another villain, maybe the sludge man’s accomplice, and leaned his hand in preparation to summon his scythe.

“I AM HERE!!”

All Might had been trailing the sludge villain since an incident this morning, the man still in his casual clothes and carrying a bag of groceries. His chase had led the hero to the underpass, but he unfortunately had to stop for “medical reasons” and hadn’t gotten the chance to confront the villain. Jumping down, now completely buff, the man was ready to pummel some sludge.

He certainly hadn’t expected to see a small middle school teenager on his knees staring right back at him, scooping the villain’s sludge into a large bottle with his off hand.

“UHH HELLO CITIZEN?!” the man was unsure of what to say.

Midoriya made no move at the sight of the number 1 hero, not even the slightest reaction. Gami looked over to the boy, figuring he must be in shock. Then, as he expected, his successor exploded.

“Oh my goodness!” the teen exclaimed, not bothering to get off his knees or stop collecting slime, “All Might!!”

“AH YES, THAT IS ME,” the hero replied awkwardly, turning the conversation elsewhere and finally speaking at a normal volume, “Did you take out this villain by yourself?”

At that, Midoriya shuffled, looking bashful, “Ah well he attacked me on my way from school. I just did what I had to do.”

All Might didn’t respond right away, instead taking a moment to observe the situation in front of him. There was still sludge on the wall and ground, as well as in the boy’s hands. The bottle the teen was holding was nearly filled with sludge, and the hero winced slightly at the sight of the student trying to force one of the villain’s eyes into the mouth of the bottle.

“Here, let me assist you civilian!” the man cried as he lowered himself and picked up the second empty bottle.

“Ah, t-thank you All Might!”

The two spent a few minutes cleaning up the gooey mess, with Gami watching comically in the background. Midoriya finished much faster than the hero, since he had started well before All Might arrived, so he cap the bottle tightly and left it near the man before making his way towards his backpack lying on the ground. He opened up the worn zipper and scoured through it.

The teen searched for something for his idol to sign, but all he really had of worth was his ruined notebook. Sighing in discontent, he pulled out that item and closed the bag, slinging it over his shoulder. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the spirit, who had been watching in the background, finally approach him. Midoriya smiled as he felt Gami give him a sincere pat on the back, a silent “good job” hung in the air.

The boy snapped back to attention at the sight of All Might rising, now with both filled bottles in his hand.

“Oh u-uh All Might,” he stuttered out, hoping to catch the hero before he left, “I was hoping you could sign this for me?”

The pro turned to face the young man who had so valiantly taken down this troublesome villain, a large smile adorning his face, “Of course!”

He put the bottles in his cargo pant pockets before reaching into his back pocket, pulling out a black pen, and signing his name on one of the blank pages of the damaged notebook.

“You know, young man,” the hero started, “you did an excellent job in taking down such a potentially dangerous villain.”

“Ah r-really?” Midoriya stammered in shock and awe. His idol was praising him, it was like a dream come true.

“INDEED!” All Might shouted, before returning to a more reasonable volume, “you will most definitely make a great hero one day!”

The teen almost cried at those words. All of the negative comments from across the years dissolved at his idol’s praise. He could see Gami shift uncomfortably, weary of the praise, but his successor dismissed him with a slight wave of his hand.

The hero handed the signed notebook back to the teen, before moving to escape the underpass. He really needed to leave, he could feel his body start to give out on him. He wouldn’t be able to hold his form for much longer.

“Now I must bring this felon to the authorities, so I must be heading off.”

No, All Might couldn't leave just yet. Sure, Midoriya had gotten his praise, but he needed to know. He needed to know the answer to the question that had plagued his life for 14 years.

“Hold on!!” the boy cried, “I need to ask you something!”

“I really must go young man!” the hero insisted, bending down to prepare for launching off. He needed to leave. Now.

“Please! At school, I get picked on…”

The pro hero froze at that.

Midoriya knew that “picked on” was definitely an understatement. But he took the silence as a cue to keep going.

“I want to be a hero. I think saving people is the most amazing thing someone can do…” the teen shuffled nervously, opting to look at his feet rather than at his idol. He didn’t notice the man starting to smoke.

Crap! I need to wrap this up quickly! the seasoned hero thought.

“B-but I don’t exactly have a quirk-”

All Might swung his head back at the young boy at that last comment, “Now listen young man, I get hurt all the time during my hero work.” He made a scuffling noise, which brought Midoriya’s attention up off the floor. The man lifted up his shirt, revealing a large wound that resembled a spider web. The boy shuddered at the sight of the gruesome injury.

Gami didn’t like where this was headed and put his hand onto his successor’s shoulder where it comfortably sat. He squeezed it lightly, trying to tell his friend that they should leave.

The teen didn’t notice.

“Five years ago… an enemy did this to me,” the smoking hero said relatively quickly, “My respiratory system was nearly destroyed and my stomach had to be removed. I can only do hero work for about 3 hours a day now.”

“W-wait, wasn’t that with the fight with Toxic Chainsaw?”

The hero chuckled uncomfortably, “Well, you know your stuff, but no. It was another villain. I asked that this was never made public. I’m sure you can understand why.”

All Might paused for a moment, before feeling for the bottles in his pockets. The smoking was getting even worse now. He couldn’t stay for much longer.

“Look kid,” he stated bluntly, losing the respectable “young man”, “I’m the number 1 hero and I still got hurt. Without a quirk, you don’t stand a chance.”

Both Gami and Midoriya tensed at that, for different reasons. The spirit tugged again on the boy’s shoulder, but he didn’t move. The teen just stood there, wide eyed with shock.

“B-but I-” The boy stammered, trying to explain since the hero cut him off earlier. He wanted to tell the man about his abilities despite his lack of a quirk. Maybe he should have started with that...

“If you want to help people,” the hero interrupted again, oblivious to the situation in front of him, “becoming a police officer isn’t a bad option. Sure, they’re often mocked but it is admirable work. But a hero? It's just not possible without a quirk.”

All Might turned away from the student in front of him, crouching down for a second time.

“It’s not wrong to dream,” he continued, “however, you need to be realistic.”

And with that last comment, the hero launched himself off the ground, his buff, smoking form becoming nothing more than a shrinking sight in the sky.

Midoriya just stood and watched as his idol flew off into the day, completely silent as the shock of the situation finally set in. It was so quiet, Gami almost didn’t notice the fat tears that streamed down the boy’s face, the drops splashing against the paved ground. As heavily as they came down, there was still no sound.

That was, until the teen’s knees buckled and he lost all strength in his legs.

Gami reacted quickly, scooping up his successor underneath his arms. The teen just hung limply in the spirit’s arms, barely registering the feeling of his soft sleeves in his hands as he clutched them for dear life. His tears still ran down his cheeks, and the ghost could feel them soak into his sleeves, but he just continued to cradle the distraught child. The silence was finally broken by sobs and pained breaths as the boy brought his hands up from the sleeves around him to cover his face.

The two of them simply stayed right in that spot, Midoriya’s burnt notebook lying face up on the ground, teasing them with the sight of All Might’s signature. The boy didn’t dare look down at it. The thought alone pulled at his heart.

He wished he had taken a different way home.

He wished he had left when Gami had tried to pull him away.

He wished he had continued to live in ignorant bliss of his idol.

Never meet your heroes…

Because they’re sure to disappoint you.

Chapter Text

As All Might flew high across the sky, his thoughts were still heavily grounded on the green haired boy beneath the underpass. Had he been a bit too hard on the teen? The hero suspected that might have been the case, though he couldn’t recall any changes to the boy’s mood.

But the issue of accidentally revealing his casual form was too much of a pressing matter for him to idle. He supposed that a single broken dream was a fair price to pay to keep his secret under wraps.

Still, as the wind tangled with his hair, the pro could feel a small drop of blood escape his mouth even through his clenched smile.

Damn! All Might cursed, I need to land now!

The man rolled roughly onto an open roof of what he assumed to be a standard office building. The fencing surrounding the ledge wasn’t too high or covering, but the building itself was tall enough that he was sure no one could see him. The smoke started plowing off his body not seconds later, all mixed with his sigh of relief. All Might hoped that no one mistook the heavy exhaust for a fire and alerted the police. He really didn’t want any more close calls today.

As the last of the smoke rolled, the hero could feel his muscles relax. That’s usually how he could tell he had reverted back to his debuff form, besides the obvious smoke of course. It surprisingly felt nice to release his hero form. He often compared it to holding in his gut at the pool. Sure it looked good, but it was uncomfortable to hold for long periods of time.

All Might slumped down against the railing, shoulders slouching as the man let himself go in the moment. His hand brushed against his side wound on its way to his forehead, and stopped there instead. He clutched his shirt, feeling the fabric gather in his fist, all while pressing his knuckles against the scar. The ugly wound haunted him everyday, even when the hero didn’t directly touch it. Every time he felt the smoke seep off of him or strained to hold his buff form, he had to resist the urge to curse out his greatest enemy for doing him dirty.

He eventually let go of his shirt and brought his hand up to his forehead as he intended. His mind kept wandering to the young student from under the bridge. The boy said he took out the villain on his own, despite his claim of not having a quirk, but the hero was just having a hard time believing it. The villain was definitely sneaky and certainly a slippery foe to apprehend, he even gave the pro himself a run for his money considering his unstable hold of his hero form. So the man just couldn’t fathom how a quirkless teen of such a small stature managed to subdue the sludge villain. It simply puzzled him. Maybe he’d take a look at the unconscious villain in the bottles for a better clue.

He reached down for the bottles in his cargo pockets, only to find himself patting down empty fabric. Confusion flashed onto All Might’s face for a split second before utter panic took over. He stood up quickly, patting himself down, but only feeling the black pen in his back pocket he had signed the boy’s notebook with. His head lurched on his neck, searching the roof around him for any sign of the bottles or the villain, but he found nothing. The bottles must have fallen out when he was worrying about holding his form while soaring over the public eye. Had he really been so preoccupied with keeping his secret that he had lost the villain in the process? How had he, All Might for goodness sake, made such a rookie mistake?

The frail man hurried over to the roof door and made his way down the staircase as fast as he could. And even if he did find the bottles, what if the villain had managed to escape? Who knew what damage the villain could cause after escaping his grasp or how many innocent civilians would be put into danger because of him. He could feel his throat run dry at the thought, his eyes being completely overshadowed by his guilt.

And yet, all his mind could do was leech back to the boy who had supposedly captured the villain alone. Regardless of if he had actually done it or not, he told the boy he couldn’t become a hero.

And All Might was not about to let a quirkless teenager show him up when it came to doing his job.

Bakugo and the two other students that had stayed behind with him to “talk” with Deku now walked casually down an empty alleyway. The blond could smell the others smoking behind him and clenched his fist angrily. Those extras were going to cost him his perfect record for U.A. Didn’t those dumbasses ever learn?

“Hey Katsuki,” one of the kids called from behind him, “haven’t you known Deku since you were kids?”

“Yeah,” the other chimed in, still with the cigarette in his mouth, “don’t you think you might have got a bit far today?”

Bakugo scoffed, kicking a soda bottle violently with his foot. He could hear the cap pop off as it hit the wall. “It’s his own fault for messing with me.”

He crushed his own soda can with a small explosion before chucking it into the trash, “Seeing him so full of stupid dreams like when we were kids just pisses me off.”

He could hear his lackeys gasp in shock from behind him, but could still tell that they both had cigarettes in their mouths.

“I thought I told you to stop smoking!!” the angry teen yelled, startling the two. He turned around to face them in his full rage, “If you get caught it’ll be on my record too!!”

He could see the frightened faces of those extras like he enjoyed, but they didn’t seem to be exactly frightened of him. Or even paying attention to him. And that pissed off the blond. They both just seemed to be in shock, with their shaky fingers pointed at Bakugo. The one kid with a long finger quirk had his finger elongated and misshapen unconsciously, like he had no control over his power. Bakugo scowled. These losers were angry at him for claiming that he’d be the only kid from Aldera to get into U.A., and yet they’d dare challenge him with such awful control over their quirks. These extras really made his own quirk bubble with fury.

“H-hey!!” The long finger kid cried. Were those losers still gawking at him? They both took a step back in fear. And that was enough for Bakugo to realize that they weren’t gasping at him. No. They were afraid of something behind him.

The teen whipped his head around to look, but he wasn’t fast enough. All he managed to catch was a wide, unhinged mouth lunging to swallow him whole.

“A body…with a good quirk,” was all the boy heard before succumbing to his pure, unfiltered adrenaline.

The next time Bakugo could remember thinking clearly, all he could see was fire. The buildings around him were destroyed, and fire and rubble covered the alleyway. The teen could feel his quirk going haywire, lighting up his sludge covered hands. To think he was just harping on the rest of those idiots for their nonexistent quirk control. He could hear someone screaming furiously amidst the raging flames and chaos.

It took him a minute to figure out that the screaming was his own.

He could barely breathe with the sludge wrapped around his face, the villain’s giant set of teeth covering his own. The villain was trying to force his way down Bakugo’s throat, and the kid was way too prideful to let that happen, even with a fight.

“GAAAHHH,” he cried, fighting desperately against the muck. The blond could feel the buckets of sweat pour down his face, figuring out that the overload of perspiration must be causing his quirk to go nuts. As if I’d let this mudman take my body for himself!!

Despite the chaos, the villain was revelling at the sheer power this kid had. What strength! I’ve hit the jackpot! With this quirk and this much power, I can finally have my revenge on HIM!!

Bakugo felt the nasty set of large teeth curl into a hideous smile. What was this lunatic even thinking about? His eyes darted around the scene, but his vision was too hazy for him to see much. Blackness dotted his sight near the corners and he wasn’t sure if it was from his panicked adrenaline or the strain he was undoubtedly putting on his worn body. He tried to focus on his surroundings, but the fire just engulfed everything. Buildings, signs, banners, everything was just in flames. Was that because of his quirk? Did his explosive power really cause the massive destruction he was seeing? He tried to turn off his quirk, but his endless sweat and anger just fueled the fire, literally. He felt awfully helpless in the moment as he struggled against the sludge, but the villain’s cackling dampered out his fight.

He jutted out his head as he felt more goo wrap around his face, his angry scowl still stuck upon his cheeks. His eyes bounced around again, trying to take in a new angle of his surroundings. He saw something fuzzy lying on the broken pavement, but wasn’t sure if it was actually something or just another blurry spot. But as his vision cleared, he gagged, though it could have been due to the stuff down his throat. He would have thrown up if it weren’t for the invasive sludge flooding his mouth.

The blurry spot was a man, lying unconscious on the fiery pavement. His head was propped up by a broken piece of rubble, his mouth wide open and eyes clenched in pain. The blond couldn’t tell if the civilian was breathing, but he certainly wasn’t moving. Oh god, had his quirk done this? He couldn’t live with himself if that man died because of him.

Where were the heroes?

Said heroes were scrambling to handle the situation.

Mt. Lady stood by the alley entrance, leaning over a crowd of civilians being blocked off by police. She reached out a single foot over the bystanders, holding onto some buildings for support, but the street was simply too narrow. There was no way that she would be able to fit between the buildings. She could hear the shudders of camera flashes from underneath her over the roaring flames and screams, and it was starting to annoy her.

“A single lane street! My only weakness!” she cried out, “Someone else needs to handle this!”

Kamui Woods weaved through the debris and dodged pillars of fire that erupted from the broken concrete. He was considerably slowed down by the two squirming middle schoolers his branches had picked up, but that was his job. He dropped them off by the entrance where the police picked them up and stopped to take a breather.

He could see the fight with the sludge villain and the kid he had trapped even from behind the crowd. But the heat had taken its toll on his quirk, as his branches were much thinner and more fragile than usual. If he even got near the center of the fight, he was sure he would be too useless to help. The civilian’s dangerous explosion quirk was really causing problems.

“Explosive fires are my weakness!” Kamui yelled over the chaos, “Someone else has to take this one!”

The hero let out another sigh. The kid would just have to wait a bit longer until someone with a better quirk came to help.

Backdraft could hear Kamui’s cry, but the hero was currently fighting the raging fire that consumed the alleyway. The firefighters hadn’t arrived yet, so right now he was the only one keeping the flames from spreading uncontrollably. He knew how crucial his water hose quirk was to the situation, so he really couldn’t just abandon his post.

The heat from the fire was severely drying the hero out though. He was regretting his costume design in the moment, the many layers of thick fabric was not only making him hot, but weighing him down as well. Backdraft resisted the urge to jump away from the flames and rip off his helmet. He was starting to taste the thick smoke through his mouth guard and felt the sweat run down every inch of his skin. He wasn’t sure how much longer he could last before he would have to leave for a safer spot, much less be of help to the sludge villain fight or the hostage situation.

“I’ve got my hands full! Where are these firefighters?!” he bellowed, “How’s it looking over there!”

Death Arms grimaced, his sidekicks right beside him scouring for civilians. He had tried attacking the sludge villain, but his massive fist simply sank into the goo. He needed one of his sidekicks to help yank his arm out, but retreated after that failed attempt. He tried regrouping with the heroes present, but only Kamui Woods was really available, and even then, Death Arms wasn’t sure his quirk would be of much help.

“He’s too slippery to get a hold of! And the hostage with the explosion quirk is resisting!” the hero called back to Backdraft, “It’s like a minefield out here! We can’t do anything against him!”

Suddenly, every hero was brought out of their thoughts by an anguished yell. Everyone, including the bystanders, turned to look at the blond teen being held hostage by the sludge. But only Death Arms, Kamui Woods, and a few sidekicks could see the winced expression on the boy’s face as he tried to fight back. One of his arms, which was covered in the goo, was attempting to move closer to his face. But the sludge was pulling it in another direction. None of the heroes noticed the strain on that specific limb, until the blond’s strength gave out and the slime came crashing towards the heroes.

“LOOK OUT!!” a sidekick yelled and the heroes all jumped back to safety. Death Arms raised his hands to his face to block the debris that flew into the air at the strike. When the smoke cleared and the appendage moved, the group paled at the sight.

A large crater now decorated the ground where the villain attacked. It had to be at least a foot deep and was charred black from the scorching of the civilian’s explosion quirk. He noticed a few of his sidekicks shudder at the realization of what would be their condition if they had been hit, and honestly the pro didn’t blame them. The villain was plenty strong on his own, but with the teen’s quirk practically at his disposal, it made the situation a lot more difficult.

“It’s no good! There’s no one here who can stop him!” Death Arms yelled, watching the sludge reform after the attack, “We have to wait for someone with the right quirk to show up!”

He gestured behind him for Kamui and his sidekicks to retreat.

“Until then, keep the damage to a minimum,” Backdraft replied, witnessing his glove melt due to the heat, “Someone’ll come eventually!”

“We just need that kid to hold on a bit longer!!” one of the sidekicks cried.

Death Arms clenched his fist. If only I had the strength to blow that villain away!

All Might rushed over to the crowd only to find his worst fears confirmed. The sludge villain he once had in his pockets was now causing chaos in that alleyway, and holding a kid hostage. The seasoned pro wheezed and wiped the sweat of his brow, his hair still tumbling around from his run. He must have lost the bottles in his rush to get away from the underpass and dropped them as he was soaring. But how had the caps come off? He was sure he had forced them on tight before he left. Had they simply popped off from the impact with the ground, or was it something else?

Regardless, the hero searched his body for any drop of stamina he could use to transform, but found nothing. Had he seriously been this poor with his time management and already used up his 3 hours?

His scar throbbed in agony and the man nearly doubled over. His hand shot from his forehead to clutch at it through his shirt.

He looked out from behind the crowd. It was ironic, the number 1 hero in all of the country forced to watch helplessly as a villain he had just held in 2 soda bottles was holding a child hostage. It made him sick to think that the teen in the midst of this mess would likely not come out alive if a hero didn’t come soon.

And still, his mind kept coming back to the green haired boy whose dreams he had crushed. How much of a hypocrite would that boy think he was if he could see the hero now?

Pathetic. He really was pathetic.

Midoriya trudged down with his ruined notebook in his hands, his eyes just as empty as the street was, which was odd. The streets were normally packed at this time, but it wasn’t like he was complaining. Gami was saying something, but the boy really couldn’t make out what it was over his mind’s own turmoil.

“It’s time to start seriously thinking about your futures!”

Midoriya was sure of his future up until today. And now, he was really starting to doubt if he could ever do anything worthwhile in his life, despite being immortal. What would he even do, if he wasn’t going to be a hero? He really hadn’t thought in that direction. Was he really that blinded by his dreams? What would his future even amount to? Would it even be worth anything to try?

“He still can’t face reality.”

The teen was well aware of the twisted reality he lived in. Where the powerful were praised and the weak dejected. Quirkless individuals were placed at the very bottom of the hierarchy, worse than even villains themselves. Gami would always coach him through these situations, telling him that he could make a difference. That he could be a hero. He had the abilities, the skill, and the intelligence to be a far better hero than most students trying to be one. But society would never let him get that far. He was hoping that going to high school would leave him with a fresh start, but he wasn’t expecting much. Was it him that couldn’t face reality, or society itself? He really didn’t know at this point.

“You need to be realistic.”

He was being realistic, right? He had abilities. Sure they weren’t quirk related, but that shouldn’t matter! He could do things that humans before quirks couldn’t. That had to amount to something. It was realistic that a kid with powers could be a hero. He was just like any other kid that dreamed of being a hero. So why did those words sting so much? Was it because they were from All Might himself? Was it because not even the number 1 hero believed in him? The man had shut down so fast once the “quirkless” part was spoken. How realistic could he be if no one would give him a chance?

“IZUKU!!”

“GAHH!!” the boy yelled, startling out of his head and dropping the notebook onto the pavement. He looked back at the spirit, who was now silent. He leaned down to pick up the book, but something else fell instead. Then something else. Then another thing. It took him a moment to figure out they were his own tears. He sniffled and rubbed at his nose, trying his hardest not to cry any more than he already had.

“Izuku…”

He felt so bad at the tears running down his cheeks. It had taken Gami so long to coax the boy out of the underpass, and even longer for the tears to stop. It was like all of the spirit’s efforts from over the years were unraveling. He really didn’t mean to disappoint his mentor, his friend, but that’s all that he ever felt he was doing. Midoriya didn’t even realize he’d stopped walking or that Gami was now kneeling in front of him. The boy was now mumbling under his breath.

“Even the best of the best said it,” he sobbed incoherently, “This is my reality.”

“No.”

Midoriya blinked in confusion. No?

“This is not your reality,” Gami continued in the silence, “This is their reality. Bakugo’s reality. Aldera’s reality. Even All Might’s reality. This is how they view the system, and they are trying to force it onto you.”

The teen couldn’t deny that he found truth in the ghost’s words, but his mind held onto this bad habit of spiraling deeper and deeper into his own darkness. It had been like this for years. Gami’s support just barely lifted him out of the pit of despair he fell into each day. But he couldn’t go on like this forever.

“They do not like what you represent.”

What? What could a useless, quirkless kid like him ever represent. Failure? Worthlessness? Surely nothing good.

“You represent change, Izuku. You are a quirkless child attempting to be a pro hero. Your existence alone is threatening everything they stand for.”

Wow, he hadn’t realized he’d been messing things up so much.

“You are change, and they are afraid of that. They want you to simply stay quiet and live how they believe you should. They want to discourage you from breaking the mold, simply because that is what they are used to. That is their reality. But it is most certainly not yours.”

They were afraid of him? That didn’t seem right. After all, he was quirkless. What could he even do?

“You are your own person, Izuku, regardless of if you have a quirk or not. You cannot stop them from trying to force their beliefs onto you, but you do not have to listen. You are capable of doing anything you set your focus on, despite what they try to tell you. And if you want to be a hero, then you can! You are not bound by anyone’s rules, because you are not underneath anyone. That is your reality!”

His own person? What did that even mean? He’d been hearing the same things all his life, from his mother, his classmates, his hero, and now Gami was telling him that they didn’t matter. He was so confused and so used to just being yanked around by everyone. He was supposed to be below the villains, that’s just where he belonged…

ENOUGH!!!

It felt like his head just exploded, like he’d been hit right to the temple with Kacchan’s quirk. He grabbed at his ears and wailed, dropping to the ground right next to his book. He could feel his mind trying to spiral down again like he was used to, but the teen wouldn’t let it this time. He was done listening to them, done needing their validation. Gami was right, he didn’t need to be bound by anyone to feel accepted.

He was done letting them break him.

“D-did I…say something wrong?” Oh yeah, he still hadn’t said a word in response. The spirit was probably a bit freaked out that he’d been crying again for the third time today.

“O-oh no, you’ve p-probably said the most r-right I’ve ever heard.”

He watched the man tilt his head in confusion. Maybe he should elaborate.

“I’ve been relying on others’ opinions my whole life. I’ve been worrying about making my mother like me again, about proving to my classmates that they’re wrong, even needing the validation of All Might simply to give me the motivation to keep going. But…I need to stop worrying about them. I need to live for myself.”

Gami nodded.

“I believe you are correct. I am sorry…for making you believe that you needed to prove them wrong to be happy.”

“NO!” Midoriya cried, before realizing his outburst and continuing, “You don’t need to be sorry. You’ve supported me for so long and even helped me understand where I’m going wrong. If anything, I thank you for sticking with me all these years.”

The spirit didn’t respond, but ruffled the boy’s hair, his way of acknowledging that he was listening. He watched his successor pick himself up off the ground, both literally and figuratively, as well as his notebook. The teen brushed off his uniform and swung his bag off his shoulder, before opening it up to put the book away. Now with his hands free, he confidently held his backpack straps with a small smile.

“How about we go get some ice cream Izuku? We always pass by that one stand on our way back home.”

Midoriya wiped his eyes before sniffling again. That was the 5th time Gami had called him by his actual name. The boy wasn’t really used to it.

“Yeah, that sounds nice.”

Midoriya and Gami arrived at the ice cream stand, but to their dismay, it was closed. Actually, closed was an understatement. The shop was practically boarded up and abandoned, like the owner just fled. That didn’t make too much sense, the shop was open and running yesterday, and he didn’t remember seeing any signs that said they’d be closed today. It was a pretty weird mystery, but not one Midoriya spent too much time contemplating. He had already cheered up on the way to the stand, and didn’t really need the sweet treat anymore.

They had just begun walking away from it before the teen almost collapsed to the ground.

This wasn’t an unfamiliar situation, and it actually had nothing to do with the previous breakdown the boy had a few minutes ago.

Gami immediately flung into action, slamming his hands down onto the boy’s shoulders and squeezing them tightly. Midoriya winced in discomfort, but acknowledged it as his anchor. His way to remind himself that the coming premonition was just that, completely separate from reality.

His head spiraled similarly to how it usually did when he lost control of his thoughts, but it wasn’t exactly the same. Everytime he had a premonition, he could hear a sort of buzzing in the back of his mind, nothing too crazy though. The teen watched as his view of the boarded up ice cream store morphed into something else entirely.

The first thing he noticed was a mass of light blond hair. It wasn’t anything that stood out, but he filed it away for further analysis. He was having a hard time clearly seeing the person in this premonition, almost like they were covered in something as they died. He was sure it wasn’t water, as he had visions before of people drowning and he could see them just fine.

The second thing he picked out was the suffocating feeling of being…well… suffocated. It was so hard to breathe, like he had something stuck in his throat. Did this person choke to death? Midoriya wasn’t sure, but it didn’t feel like this person was choking on food or an object. It was a weird feeling, seemingly choking on air, but then the boy realized exactly what it was.

This person was choking on sludge.

It was the exact same feeling he felt when the sludge was forced down his throat. Oh my god, did this person go through the same thing? He wouldn’t wish this even on Bakugo for goodness sake!

The third thing he saw were the eyes of the individual. He was surprised that they were so clear compared to the rest of the person. They were wide open in fear and Midoriya could see the bright red pupils shrink in contrast to the rest of the eyes. Those eyes seemed so familiar. Those bright, bright red eyes…

Oh my god.

Those were Kacchan’s eyes!

The sludge villain was trying to take over Kacchan’s body.

And he succeeded…

Midoriya was yanked out of his head at that realization, grounding his vulnerable consciousness to Gami’s squeezing of his shoulders. The ice cream stand was now in front of him again, and the spirit was going through his normal process of calming the teen down after the foresight, but his mind was going a mile a minute.

“Oh my god, Kacchan died…” he stuttered out in disbelief, “and it was by the same villain I just fought.”

The ghost froze.

“The villain escaped. All Might let the villain escape...”

The boy felt his phone go off in his back pocket, but was too stunned to even react. Gami shook him violently.

“Izuku, Izuku, that’s a news update!” the spirit exclaimed.

Midoriya ignored the fact that Gami had referred to him by his real name again and whipped out his phone. The local news was blowing up over a villain attack a few shopping districts down. An alleyway was on fire and looked like a war zone. But when the boy saw that familiar green sludge, he felt his heart stop. This wasn’t possible. His foresights couldn’t come true this soon.

And yet, he took off running towards the district.

He hoped so badly that he would be wrong.

He skipped to a stop at the first sight of a crowd. If an attack gained news traction, he was sure there would be a group of bystanders to follow. He pushed his way through, ignoring angry protests of the people he shoved a bit too hard.

“Why are the heroes just standing there?” he heard a voice call out.

“I heard the villain grabbed a middle schooler,” someone else responded.

Midoriya’s quaking hands clasped over his mouth. No, no, no. It couldn’t be true. It had to be someone else! He had his vision only a few minutes ago. This wasn’t supposed to happen!

“Hey, isn’t that the villain All Might was chasing earlier?” another voice piped up.

Then the crowd devolved into talk about All Might. Sure, the boy had left the pro with the villain restrained, but obviously the villain was free now, so where was All Might?

“I can only do hero work for about 3 hours a day now.”

Oh no. Had All Might exhausted his time limit? Was that why he wasn’t here yet?

He finally reached the front of the crowd, and only a line of sparse policemen separated the civilians from the fight in front of him. There was fire practically everywhere and rubble covered the pavement so thickly he couldn’t even see the sidewalk anymore. He could pick out pro heroes Death Arms and Kamui Woods standing next to the police. Why weren’t they trying to fight the swirling slime that morphed and grew in the center of the alleyway?

The slime had grown much larger and thicker than what had originally attacked the teen beneath the underpass. He could tell someone was struggling underneath all that goo, but couldn’t see if it was Kacchan or not. His mind flashed back to the feeling of when he was being suffocated by the slime. The feeling of being alone and helpless as this villain tried to take over his body practically invaded Midoriya as violently as the sludge had.

He could see explosions come from the sludge.

He tried to convince himself that some other middle schooler could also have an explosion quirk.

He could see blond hair peek out from the sludge.

He tried to convince himself that some other middle schooler could also have an explosion quirk and blond hair.

He could see wide, red eyes turn to stare fearfully at the crowd from the sludge.

Red eyes.

Red eyes.

Red eyes.

Red eyes.

Midoriya couldn’t convince himself anymore.

He raced out towards the villain, completely ignoring the cries of the police and the heroes from the sidelines. He didn’t even notice All Might watch him in shock from the same crowd he was just in, nor Gami’s cry for him to wait as he passed through the crowd, literally.

Death Arms and Kamui Woods gasped in complete horror, but didn’t say anything right away.

A million things ran through Midoriya’s head.

How could his premonition come true so soon? He would have to press Gami about it later.

Where was All Might? This villain was supposed to be his responsibility, so where was the pro hero?

Why weren’t the other heroes doing anything? They were just standing there, doing absolutely nothing. They were just watching Kacchan die…

But the teen didn’t focus on any of the spiraling thoughts going through his mind. He wouldn’t freeze up now, especially while he was running towards the villain that had tried to steal his body earlier.

“GET BACK HERE YOU FOOL!!” he could hear Death Arms howl, but paid no attention to the hero, “STOP!!”

Midoriya expertly dodged the debris all over the ground, but kept a steady pace towards the chaos. His eyes darted to each pile of rubble, looking for something to defend himself for when he got to the villain. He really didn’t want to use his scythe, but if it came down to it, he would do anything to spare Kacchan of the fate he’d been forced to watch.

The sludge turned in his direction, eyes bulging out when he realized who was running at him.

“YOU!!” the slime screamed, “I'LL KILL YOU!”

Bakugo followed the villain’s gaze only to see a blurry figure with a mop of green hair running towards him. Is that… Deku?

But Midoriya ignored it all, his pressing thoughts, the screams of the useless heroes from behind him, even the threats from the villain in front of him. He passed a relatively large pile of debris and noticed something long and shiny sticking out. He stopped for the quickest moment to pull out the object, only to feel it break in two. Looking down at his hand for a slight second, he realized he had a piece of a sign pole, the broken edge sharp like a spear.

This would just have to work.

Flinging his backpack onto the ground, the boy grasped the makeshift spear in his right hand. He kept running at the villain. There were only a few more feet separating the two.

“YOU'RE DEAD FOR WHAT YOU DID TO ME!!” the villain roared.

Bakugo could only watch. A helpless victim in it all.

Midoriya stepped down firmly on his left foot and raised his hand holding the pole right over his head. He only had one shot, this had to be perfect. He didn’t focus on any of the distractions. Not the raging of the villain or the cries of the heroes or the roars of the flames. He cleared his mind of everything except for one thing. A single thought that echoed over and over and over in his head.

I WILL save people!

The pole flew out of his hand with speed that could rival Ingenium. It sailed into the air as everyone watched with stunned breaths. Even the villain himself watched, watched right as it sank into the eye that the boy had decayed earlier.

The scream that left those enormous set of teeth stained the ears of everyone who watched.

The green haired teen didn’t stop though. The attack had given him his only opportunity to save Bakugo. He sidestepped and met the blond’s terrified eyes with his own. The sludge had recoiled just enough to reveal the teen’s hand, and Midoriya didn’t think twice before grabbing it with both of his.

With all of his strength, he tugged as hard as he could. He was afraid that his strength alone wouldn’t be enough to free his bully from the goo. He was afraid that he would end up needing Gami’s help and that the man wouldn’t be able to reach them in time.

But his fears were quelled as Bakugo came flying out of the slime.

The two boys tumbled down onto the rough pavement, but Midoriya didn’t waste a second. He got up on his feet and yanked Bakugo up with him. He shoved the blond back as a large hand of slime plowed towards him. But he wasn’t going to let himself get caught again. The boy jumped back as the limb crashed down, debris flying everywhere. He picked up one of the smaller pieces of concrete that had been sent airborne and chucked it right at the villain’s mouth. It nailed him right in the teeth.

“STOP GETTING IN MY WAY!!” the villain cried and unhinged his jaw, ready to swallow the teen whole.

The heroes standing on the sidelines suddenly dashed towards the two boys.

“Does he have a death wish or something?!” Death Arms bellowed.

Midoriya almost laughed at that, but managed to dodge the first chomp the villain made at him.

Bakugo could only watch in shock from the ground, still trying to catch his breath.

In the crowd’s panic, All Might still watched from the back in his debuff form. He was pathetic. He really was pathetic. The boy whose dream he crushed, who had been on his mind all day, was now risking his life to save the hostage. And he, the number 1 hero, could only watch. The sight alone filled him with the urge to step in, but it wasn’t until the feeling of uselessness set in that he really got the power to fight.

The green haired teen was worried. He couldn’t dodge forever, but the only way to switch to the offensive would be to reveal his scythe. And he really didn’t want to do that. Not only could he get into big trouble with the law for using his “quirk” illegally, but the boy could only imagine how Kacchan would react.

Suddenly, a large hand grabbed his arm and pulled Midoriya away from the fight. He could only see the two signature tufts of blond hair, but that’s all the teen needed to recognize who it was.

“The lesson I left you with,” All Might spoke loudly over the chaos, “I should practice what I preach!”

The hero lifted his right fist back behind him as the crowd went wild at his sight.

“A PRO SHOULD ALWAYS BE READY TO RISK HIS LIFE!!”

Blood spewed from his smile, though no one could tell amidst all the other things happening at the same time.

“DETROIT SMASH!!!”

The pure force coming off the punch sent a shockwave in every direction. The other heroes just barely managed to stay anchored to the ground. The bystanders simply stood in shock, just as if time itself had stopped.

A single drop of rain nailed Midoriya in the head, and he lifted his head up to the clouds. Then another, and another, and another, and another. Everyone, even the heroes, looked around in confusion as rain started to pour down from the heavens.

“No way…” the boy mumbled, “He changed the air pressure with that punch?”

As the rain came down harder, it quenched out the fire that Backdraft had been battling vigorously. Cheers came from the civilians and reporters watching.

All Might had beaten the villain and changed the weather with a single punch. The fight was finally over.

And Kacchan was alive.

All Might had left the scene just as quickly as he arrived, leaving the rest of the heroes to pick up the villain’s scattered body.

MIdoriya and Bakugo sat by the entrance to the alleyway, a team of paramedics scrambling to check them for injuries. Thankfully, none had anything more than some minor scratches, but the medics made a thorough search just in case.

The news reporters had been roped off away from the middle schoolers, so they couldn’t get any statements from the two boys. But they kept their cameras rolling on the kids.

“What were you thinking?!” Death Arms lectured, but Midoriya didn’t bother to pay much attention. The heroes had berated him nonstop since All Might left, and the teen could partially understand why. He had run right into a villain fight, of course the pros thought it was foolish. They obviously didn’t know that he was immortal, but that was a given. They thought he was just a normal civilian child who had almost gotten himself killed.

He didn’t have to turn around to realize that Gami was now standing behind him. The spirit had a sort of air around him that gave his presence away to the boy. It made the teen feel much calmer, knowing his friend was right behind him. He had lost focus of the man’s whereabouts in all the chaos.

But even still, he had managed to save the blond, subduing the villain long enough to pull him out of the sludge. But none of the heroes even commented on that, much less praised him. He wasn’t asking to be praised, but all the heroes seemed to remember him doing was run idiotically into the fight and nothing else.

Bakugo, on the other hand, got plenty of praise. They admired him for his powerful quirk and simply fueled his ego. Not a single hero commented on how his so-called “powerful quirk” had restricted them from actually helping him or stopping the villain. Or that his quirk had caused the majority of the damage to the district in the first place. Midoriya paled when he realized that Gami had been right all along. Society was definitely a hierarchy. Bakugo was at the top.

And he was at the bottom.

At one point, Midoriya phased back into reality long enough to realize Bakugo was yelling at him.

“You stupid, quirkless Deku!”

No, no, no, not that infectious word.

“What?! You’re quirkless?!” the heroes practically yelled. Luckily, the boy didn’t think the reporters had caught the comments. They had started lecturing him again, turning away from praising the blond.

“How could you even think about running in like that when you can’t do anything?!” one of the heroes yelled. Midoriya wasn’t sure which one it was, but he wasn’t about to let them berate him for being quirkless. He had already heard enough before the toxic word entered the fray. He wasn’t going to just sit and take it like he would have in the past.

The teen stood up, startling the heroes and the cameras on him. The heroes tried to get him to sit back down so they could continue yelling at him, but the boy wouldn’t let them. He fought the urge to call the heroes out on their bullshit right then and there, not caring if the cameras caught his words. But Midoriya had enough for today, and honestly, the boy was pretty much done with the world at the moment. So he turned to exit the alleyway in silence, ignoring the words from behind him.

Then, Death Arms grabbed him by his right shoulder.

Gami could feel the air temperature drop by at least 10 degrees.

“Don’t you dare touch me,” the green haired teen growled and ripped off the hero’s hand. He was so close to going off on the man, but considering that the reporters might have caught his first comment already, he reluctantly bit his tongue. He left the scene without saying any more than that, despite the other heroes still trying to make him stay.

Bakugo could only watch in shock.

Did Deku just growl at a hero of all people?

What the actual fuck was going on?

Midoriya escaped the wave of reporters that tried to corner him after he left without much difficulty. He shuffled home on an empty suburban street, his mood a complete hurricane. He wasn’t sure what to think honestly.

Gami’s voice broke the silence, “I am really proud of you, Izu. What you did today, while it did terrify me, was very brave.”

He looked up at the spirit, unsure of how to react, “You…think so?”

“You saved the life of your bully, and did it quite well if I must say.”

Most wouldn’t understand why the boy had chosen to save his childhood bully, but to Midoriya, it made perfect sense.

“I just did what any real hero would do.” He put a bit more emphasis on the “real” part of his statement. Gami seemed to understand exactly what he was trying to say.

Both were pretty angry at the heroes on the scene. They simply stood on the sidelines and watched as Bakugo struggled for his life, each and every one of them. They apparently felt as if they didn’t have the right quirks for the job, so instead of trying to improvise, trying to do something, they just stood there. Ready to sacrifice the life of a child because their plan “A”s didn't work. And there was no argument that could ever convince the green haired boy that Bakugo would have survived without his intervention. No argument could ever persuade him that a hero would have arrived if he had simply waited.

After all, he had watched the blond suffocate to death just minutes before in his own head.

Speaking of that, Midoriya did ask the spirit what was up with his premonition today, but not even he could explain it. Gami had insisted that he never had a vision come to pass until at least an hour after viewing it, so the premonition even surprised him. The best the ghost could do was suggest that maybe the foresight was supposed to happen earlier, but got pushed back due to his emotional breakdown. The explanation was shaky at best, but it was also the best either of them had. The teen hoped that for someone else’s sake, this premonition incident never happened again.

“Hey Deku!!” Bakugo yelled, running down the street and startling the boy out of his thoughts. He really didn’t want to deal with the blond right now.

He turned to face his bully. It looked like he was shaking with rage, his fists clenched at his sides.

“I never asked you to save me!” he called out with a scowl on his face, “I could’ve beaten him myself.”

The angry teen’s eye twitched. Midoriya made no effort to reply, letting the blond continue as he indubitably would.

“How dare a quirkless failure like you pity me. Trying to win me over?! Don’t you dare mock me!!”

After that, Bakugo spun around and stormed off while grumbling under his breath. Neither Gami nor Midoriya made a move to stop him. Whispers in the back of the teen’s mind kept insisting that he was right. That he should focus on a more realistic future. But the boy was done listening to that part of his conscience. Today was a turning point for him. He didn’t need Bakugo to accept him or his dream. He never did.

It felt good to finally realize that.

But just when he thought the day was done giving him surprises, it threw one last curveball at him.

“I AM HERE!!”

Midoriya flinched at the voice and the spirit whipped around protectively, but the boy dismissed him. Gami relaxed but stayed on guard as the pro hero flew out from one of the empty alleyways.

“All Might? Why are you here?” he wondered, “Wouldn’t you have been surrounded by reporters? They were everywhere.”

The hero struck a comical pose, “SHAKING THEM OFF IS NOTHING TO ME!! AFTER ALL, I’M ALL MI-”

The man couldn’t keep up his form and slumped over, losing his muscles instantly. Blood spewed from his mouth. The teen looked around in confusion, unsure of what to make of the man’s other form.

“W-what just happened?”

All Might nearly slapped himself. That's right, he’d forgotten that this child didn’t know about his true form.

“Remember how I said that I could only work 3 hours a day?”

“Yeah, but-”

“Well this is how I look the other 21 hours.”

The boy just blinked. I guess this explained how the man wasn’t caught in public more often.

“Look kid,” he tried to get back on track, “I’ve come to thank you and revise what I said earlier. I also have a proposal.”

Midoriya just blinked again. His tired brain was struggling to take this all in.

“Without watching you in action, I would have been just another helpless bystander in that mess, so thank you.”

The teen took a second to process what the hero just told him. “helpless bystander…” Did that mean All Might was in the crowd? That the hero watched too as Bakugo was dying?

“Of all the people at that scene, it was only you, timid and quirkless you, who acted! You spurred me to action!!”

There it was again. That awful, toxic word that society had stained him with. Why did it keep coming back?

“Most of the top heroes show greatness even as children. Many claim that their bodies moved before they could think!”

The boy could hear how hyped the man was getting and it just made him more and more uncomfortable. Gami was definitely feeling the same thing, but neither of them moved. They really hadn’t learned their lesson from beneath the underpass.

“That’s what happened to you back there, yes?!”

Not really. What spurred the child to action wasn’t some unknown force that simply pushed him along. No. Not at all.

What made him act was knowing that Bakugo would die if he didn’t intervene. That Bakugo would die a painful, agonizing death by the villain who would have stayed successfully detained if it wasn’t for All Might. That Bakugo would die at the hands of such a monster, while no one did anything to try and save him.

Bakugo would have died.

All Might mistook the boy’s silence as confirmation, “Well, I’m here to tell you, that with my power…

YOU CAN BE A HERO!!”

Midoriya didn’t make a single sound or move a single muscle. What? What did this man think he was saying? Could he even hear the words coming out of his own mouth?

“I know,” the teen finally replied.

The seasoned hero did a double take, “What?”

“I already realized that I can be a hero,” Midoriya continued, “and I don’t need anyone else’s approval.”

Gami was about to jump the man for a second time, but decided to let his successor finish first. He was glad his friend finally decided to grow a backbone, plus it was pretty entertaining to watch.

“But without my power, without a quirk-”

“Are you serious?!” he cried, “I really thought you were here to apologize, but you’ve only made it worse!”

“K-kid, listen-”

“Are you even listening to yourself?!” Midoriya almost slumped down at that point, but used all his willpower to remain standing, “Did you come here to tell me I can only be a hero with your power?”

“There just isn’t any other way you-”

“Didn’t anybody actually see me fight the villain?! I subdued the villain long enough to rescue Kacchan, and kept him and myself from getting hit by any of his attacks…” the boy could feel the steam pouring out of his ears, “That was more than any of those other heroes did. And I didn’t need a quirk during any of it!”

With every word, the boy lost his will to fight. He knew he didn’t need the validation of anyone to be a hero, but it hurt him to have to deal with his former idol like this.

“I just can’t believe this,” Midoriya couldn’t bear to look the man in the eyes anymore, “if you really were in that crowd, then you should have seen first hand what I can do. I bet you don’t even believe that I took out the sludge villain on my own in the underpass…”

All Might didn’t answer, but he didn’t have to for his thoughts to clearly come through.

“Look, I’m just going to go home,” he said dejectedly, “I won’t tell anyone about the nature of your quirk, since you’ve made it obvious that it can be passed down or something…”

The green haired child turned around, but lifted his head up high. He was ready to leave and end this awful day. So was Gami.

“Look kid, I think you should reconsider,” All Might was scarily like Kacchan, they both just didn't know when to quit, “You’re not going to be able to get anywhere when your records say quirkless. You’ll just be spinning in circles until you’ve lost all the energy to keep going. I can see your potential, and that’s why I’m offering you my quirk. Hell, just the fact that it’s my quirk should have you excited.”

Midoriya’s head whipped back towards the frail man so fast, he was afraid it’d just snap off his neck, “How dare you?! You can’t see any of my potential if you’re so stuck on the fact that I don’t have a quirk. You can keep your crappy quirk for all I care, even if it guarantees me a spot at U.A.’s hero course!!”

The teen was so angry, he didn’t even have to fight back any tears. How could the number 1 hero, the man who inspired so many people in, and even out of the country, have such flawed logic? He was ready to leave and then the man just pulled him back with something even more stupid! It baffled him, but he was too furious in the moment to contemplate it.

“I’d rather rely on my own skill and fail,” he ranted, “than need a pity hand-out to succeed. Because even if I fail, I’ll just get back up and try again. No one will be able to keep me down, not U.A., not the Hero Association, not even society itself! And that’s exactly how I’ll become a hero!!”

He turned his head back forward, and unfortunately missed the number 1 hero gape like a fish out of water. Gami didn’t though, and revelled in the sight.

“I could go on and on about how utterly wrong you are or how utterly wrong you’re going to be,” he clutched one of his backpack straps tightly in one hand, shaking with rage so badly, he knew All Might could see it, “but I don’t have to...”

He took a confident step forward, away from the pro and towards his house. He still didn’t face the man, not wanting to lose his morale at realizing he was practically back-talking the number 1 hero in the country.

He still heard no word from All Might, not that he wanted to. The man had disappointed him enough and each comment that escaped his mouth only fueled the boy’s fury.

Not even Gami broke the silence, eager to see where his successor was going with this.

The silence simply infected the air, so thick that he could cut it cleanly with his scythe.

And then, Midoriya walked away.

He turned down a deal that, in another universe, would bring him to U.A. with a completely different mindset. Somewhere else, he had accepted his idol’s offer and received a quirk that could only be described in legends. But this wasn’t that universe, and Midoriya wouldn’t take the infamous One For All.

He would simply walk away, but not without finishing his comment. A statement that would plague the pro hero’s mind for far longer than the boy did earlier in the day. A declaration that would become the backbone for everything the teen stood for and the change he represented.

“Just watch me.”

Chapter Text

The first few nights after the sludge villain incident were difficult for Midoriya. The school had given the students a couple days off, considering that two of their students were so directly involved in the attack. Of course, the boy knew they were more worried about Bakugo, but it didn’t bother him as much as it would have in the past. He definitely could admit, it was hard getting adjusted to the fact that those outside opinions didn’t matter anymore. Before, the teen would have been upset, and rightfully so, that the school wasn’t concerned about his well being. Or I guess, more concerned about Bakugo than him. But now, he wasn’t as focused on what Aldera was saying or what they did. If they didn’t care about him, that was alright.

That was ok.

Tonight was a late night for the duo, and as tiring as they were, Midoriya favored them over the nights he got his sorting done early. These first nights after the attack were emotionally draining on the boy, but he enjoyed the conversation Gami eased him into. It helped him forget the amount of trauma he went through on that day. He could never remember how the conversations would start, or what they would be about. All he could really recall was just the sensation of talking, the feeling of a smile blooming on his face or a short giggle that he would have to muffle so his mother didn’t wake up. He would always go to sleep feeling at peace with himself. Maybe not exactly happy, but content in the moment.

He never knew what Gami did while he was asleep. If the spirit slept along with him or just floated off into the night and returned before he got up. Whatever it was, it was comforting to see the spirit messing with his blinds or looking at one of his notebooks when Midoriya woke up.

He really couldn’t have asked for a better companion to be stuck with. He was so grateful that the ghost put up with his emotional crises and teenage angst.

But he really didn’t have the time to be contemplating his lucky relationship with the spirit, not while running to school in hopes of making it on time. This was the only downside of those fabled late nights; the dreaded risk of oversleeping.

“How much longer until the bell?!” Midoriya panted.

“About 9 minutes,” Gami replied calmly, casually floating next to his successor as he ran. It was an odd sight to witness if anyone actually could: a spector flying next to a sprinting child. “You can make it if you cut through the alleyway ahead.”

The teen shuddered. He wasn’t too fond of alleyways as of late. Ever since he watched Bakugo so close to death in one, he was particularly keen on avoiding them. But he also couldn’t afford to be late on the first day back to school from the mini break, so he sucked up his complaints and skidded to a turn.

The alleyway was dark, despite it being early morning. He could pick out some discarded boxes and overflowing dumpsters that leaned against the building walls, but nothing out of the ordinary. That reassured the middle schooler as he flew down the path, holding onto his backpack straps to ensure that it didn’t fall off.

He knew this alleyway though. Midoriya used it all the time as a shortcut to school when he was late. And he wasn’t about to let a single bad experience stop him.

As he approached the end of his shortcut, he could make out a thick wooden fence. Considering he had decayed the old one when he was about 8, it didn’t surprise him to see it the first time he did. At first, getting over the fence was a bit time consuming and made the boy nearly stop using the path, but like all things, he eventually figured out a way around the problem.

Stepping firmly on his right foot, he used his momentum as a springboard to launch himself onto one of the dumpsters. He used to stumble the first few times he attempted the jump, but now, it was just instinct. He ran across the top of the trash bin and made another leap of faith off of it. The bin was always just close enough that he could make it over the fence.

As long as he didn’t hesitate, that is.

He’d learned that lesson the hard way for the first month, but after enough scratches and bruises, he could now make the jump with ease.

Besides, it felt relieving to just take that leap. It made his heart skip a beat when he felt himself soar over the fence like he had a jumping quirk or a strength enhancement one. The breeze that rushed through his evergreen hair gave him the sensation of flying. It always made him proud to know he could make the jump, even without a quirk.

Landing steadily on both feet, Midoriya continued his mad dash for the school. But because of that shortcut, he was confident he would make it on time. He hushed out a short cheer of relief and shook his fist in delight.

Gami chuckled at his successor’s antics. Despite being a teenager, he knew that the boy acted more like a bubbly child than anything else. Many would disagree, claiming that the teen was way too reserved and quiet to be referred to as bubbly, but the spirit knew he was one of the few that really got to see the boy’s true nature. When he was witnessing one of his favorite heroes in action or analyzing an interesting quirk, Midoriya was comparable to an excited puppy in the spirit’s opinion.

It made him wonder why the world was so bent on crushing him and his dreams.

“We’re here!” the teen whispered gleefully, “Time?”

Gami snapped to attention at the question. He hadn’t noticed that they had arrived at the school during his internal reflection. “6 minutes until the bell.”

“Oh that’s good,” he sighed out with a smile on his face, “but the hallways are oddly full for so close to the bell.”

The ghost looked around, but his observations only confirmed Midoriya's statement. The hallways were pretty packed with students, all whispering and sneaking glances at the boy. The man realized fairly quickly what they were likely talking about. Looking back over to his successor, he knew the boy realized it as well.

The green haired teen squirmed uncomfortably. He never liked being the center of attention. And he definitely knew he was with the amount of stares on him. Sure, he wasn’t surprised considering that the local news was just one of the many platforms that did capture his image during and after the attack, but that didn’t make him feel any less awkward.

He knew that returning to school after the incident wouldn’t be too pleasant. He was worried what his peers might do once they realized he was the sole individual who acted to save Bakugo. Gami did his best to comfort the teen during his time off from school, reminding him that their opinions didn’t define him anymore, but no amount of schooling could prepare him for that uncomfortable feeling that crept up his spine.

Midoriya slinked himself into his homeroom class, clutching his backpack straps carefully. Despite the mass amount of students that wandered the halls so close to the bell, he could tell that all of his classmates were in the room, almost waiting on his arrival. The boy paused in the doorway, looking around at the other kids in the room. They were all acting similarly to the ones in the hallways, peering at him with hushed murmurs. But he noticed one major difference separating his classmates from the other kids he’d seen in the halls.

His class was snickering.

His brows furrowed at that realization and Gami tensed, alerting him that the man had spotted the same thing. What was so funny?

The teen took slow steps into the room, towards his desk, but his eyes were anywhere but. He turned his head to meet the stares of the kids he walked past, but the minute he looked in their direction, they lurched away and giggled harder. He knew that there would be an adverse reaction to his presence, but Midoriya was definitely not expecting laughter.

He looked in the general area of the teacher’s desk, but was surprised to see no one there. It wasn’t odd for the teacher to come in close to or even after the bell rang, but he was certain that the teacher would want to be in the room early on the first day back. The boy just sighed and moved his gaze elsewhere. He really shouldn’t be shocked at the teacher’s behavior anymore.

His eyes settled onto a large, spiky head of blond hair, but his stare wasn’t met by another. After looking around, Midoriya realized that Bakugo was the only student not looking at him. Actually, it seemed that the angry teen was purposely trying to avoid making eye contact. That didn’t surprise him, after all, he was sure that Bakugo hadn’t gotten over the whole sludge villain incident yet or the fact that he had technically saved his life. But he could definitely tell that the blond was listening to everything going on in the classroom by the way his head was tilted.

Midoriya’s slow steps came to a halt once he approached his desk. Strangely, so did the snickers and whispers. Both he and the spirit gazed around again, and this time, all eyes seemed to be on him. His classmates were watching him intently, waiting for him to react to something. His gloved hands let go of his backpack straps and moved towards his desk. He figured that someone in his class had done something to his seat in an attempt to embarrass him. Maybe someone had loosened a screw or put some gum on the chair, nothing too out of the ordinary. But as his eyes finally laid on his desk to search for whatever was making the class laugh, he felt his hands go cold.

On the top of his wooden desk, a vibrant red spider lily lay almost daintily across.

Midoriya took a step back in horror, his throat running dry. His hands stayed raised in front of his chest, unsure of whether to go back to his straps or to his sides. But he couldn’t tear his eyes away from the flower, as much as he willed himself to. He could hear the laughter pick up from all corners of the classroom.

He and Gami did their best to prepare the boy for all sorts of situations regarding his return to Aldera, but both were surely not expecting this.

“Just hope for a quirk in your next life and go take a swan dive off the roof!”

Midoriya’s classmates always made it painfully obvious how much they relied on the blond for guidance, especially when it came to confronting the green haired boy.

Once Bakugo started calling the teen “Deku,” so did the rest of his peers.

Once Bakugo started verbally bullying the teen, so did the rest of his peers.

Once Bakugo started physically attacking the teen, so did the rest of his peers.

But not even Bakugo had gone as far as to tell him to kill himself.

His classmates always waited for Bakugo to take the first step, before rushing to follow him. So now that he had, the rest of the students figured they had free reign as well.

Midoriya wasn’t sure how long he had been standing there, but Gami finally snapped the boy out of his head. He refused to meet the glances of his classmates and give them any more satisfaction than they were undoubtedly receiving.

“You saved a life, Izu,” the man ushered him to move, to react, to do something, “You are a hero, despite what they believe.”

The boy could only nod subtly, eyes still stuck on the flower and glazed over. He made no move to sit down at the desk.

Gami turned to observe the class in secret. They were still snickering and eying his successor. The spirit shook in rage, just wondering who was the little brat who decided to leave a spider lily on his friend’s desk. He looked over to the two kids who joined Bakugo that fateful day after school. The kid with the long finger quirk was grinning widely and whispering to a few other kids around him. The ghost was sure it was him who left the unwelcome present. He strided over in that direction, focusing his fury in hopes that he could flip the kid’s desk once he arrived, but a sudden creak of the classroom door drew all the attention away from the stunned teen.

“Midoriya, what are you doing out of your seat?” the homeroom teacher inquired, immediately focusing on the only standing student, “Just because you involved yourself in a villain attack doesn’t give you any excuse to disrupt the class.”

The class turned back to him and quiet giggles could be heard, but Midoriya still struggled to react. His head was spiraling further and further into darkness, and his hands were still shaking. But it wasn’t until he felt the ghost put his boney hand on the small of his back was he able to will himself to move to his desk. He flung his bag off his shoulder and sat down in his chair, still not having moved the flower. The class and even the teacher watched and waited for the boy to do something.

His hand hovered over the long stem and his fingers rattled in uncertainty. Ever so slowly, his gloved hand wrapped around the flower and gently lifted it off his desk. He didn’t even spare the plant a glance as he almost carefully placed it into his tattered backpack. He then pulled out his school books and positioned them neatly where the lily once laid. He rested his hands softly on the edge of his desk and waited with a blank, empty stare, for the class to start. He was sure his peers, nor the teacher, expected such a lack of a reaction, but the man finally began the class.

Gami had hoped that this would be a one time thing, but as the days passed, the two kept finding more and more lilies waiting for him on his desk. That first day, it had only been one, but now, Midoriya could expect to find two or three flowers each day when he got to school. But unlike that first day, the teen barely made a face at the sight. He simply would walk over to his seat, put the flowers away in his bag, and sit down. But that didn’t deter the students from leaving them.

Today was the first day the flowers came with a note though.

He got a better look at the letter on his desk as he got closer. It was folded over, contents completely hidden unless opened. The note was also tied to the small bouquet of spider lilies with a silky red ribbon. It looked so elegant; Midoriya figured it could have been mistaken for a love letter if not for the choice of flowers. But he knew it was most certainly not a confession of passion. He was convinced that he would never be lucky enough to receive one.

He could feel the eyes on his form as he opened up the paper, but he made no confirmation of that acknowledgement. Inside was writing, scrawled in messy, black marker. The lettering was thick and large enough for the sloppy handwriting not to be a problem, concerning legibility.

‘Finish what that villain started.’

Midoriya took a shaky swallow before pocketing the note, then putting the flowers away as he normally did. He did his best not to react and urged Gami to do the same, despite no one being able to see the spirit. Said spector reluctantly followed his successor’s instructions, although eager to tear apart the classroom. The man never viewed himself as a violent individual, he just insisted that this middle school brought out the worst in him.

As for the contents of the note, the boy knew that it wasn’t a rogue call to villainy. The flowers alone confirmed that. Besides, even if it was, he was too far deep into achieving his dreams of heroism. One singular note wasn’t going to be the final push after he’d survived 10 years of pain and hate.

It was a call for his end.

But as nice as it might have been to answer that call, the teen knew it wasn’t even possible. So he continued on with his day as normal, tuning in and out of lessons. He was eager to leave the school and enjoy some time alone. And by alone, he meant with Gami, watching whatever hero cartoons were airing. Unfortunately, he figured there may be some complications with getting home as early as he wanted to.

And by complications, he, of course, meant a group of Bakugo’s lackeys.

The kids had gotten the chance to ambush him by his usual way home, since the teacher had held Midoriya back for some miniscule issue. But the boy was quick on his feet and attempted to run in the opposite direction to lose them. The group didn’t give up chase though, and hastily followed after him. He figured that among the group must be the writer of the letter, and they might not have been happy over his calm facade. The note was probably an attempt to stir some sort of reaction out of him.

Making a split second decision, he ducked behind an alleyway dumpster and held his breath. He could hear a stampede of footsteps rush past his hiding spot, but luckily, they didn’t stop. He didn’t reveal himself right away though, just in case the group came back in his direction, but after a few minutes, he eventually left the alleyway. Wandering the afternoon streets, Midoriya realized he didn’t recognize the area he was now at.

“Hey Gami, do you know where we are?” he asked the spirit.

“I do not.”

“Hmmm…” the teen hummed out, taking his phone out of his back pocket. He typed in his address into the search bar. Almost instantly, a set of directions popped up on the screen, so he hit the “GO” button and started walking. He had meandered a bit far from his house and was about a 20 minute walk away, but he wouldn’t complain if it meant avoiding his pursuers until tomorrow.

As he followed his phone, and Gami followed him, they passed a beach covered in what looked to be trash. If it weren’t for the sight of the ocean, they would have had a hard time figuring out that it was indeed a beach. But the ghost seemed to recognize it and stopped abruptly. When the boy didn’t feel his mentor’s signature air behind him, he also stopped and turned to see what made the spirit pause.

“What is it, Gami?” he questioned with a curious expression, “Do you know this place?”

But the man made no response. Instead, he floated over to the entrance and stopped near a large stone right before the slope. Midoriya continued after him and walked over to the stone as well. He watched as the specter ran his hand over the top of the rock, but after closer inspection, he realized that it wasn’t a rock that Gami was pondering, but actually an extremely weathered chunk of concrete. He moved to stand next to the spirit and finally got a look at the front of the slab.

It was heavily graffitied, but he could still make out the plated sign pressed into the concrete.

‘Dagobah Municipal Beach Park’

Huh. Midoriya hadn’t heard of this beach before.

“What… happened to this place?” Gami whispered so hoarsely, the boy almost didn't hear it.

“What do you mean? Do you know this place?” he repeated again.

“I…” he paused, unsure of how to continue, “I used to come here.”

The teen’s head swung towards the man in shock, “What? I don’t understand.”

By the ghost’s reaction, Midoriya figured he didn’t really get it either.

“I think I used to come here before I was a Death.”

That comment really made the boy’s head spin. Gami had a lot of difficulty recalling his life before becoming a Death, so much so that the teen was afraid he’d forget details of his own life as well. For the man to feel such a pull to such a desecrate spot had to mean something, so he pressed the specter to continue.

“Can you remember anything more?”

The spirit didn’t respond immediately, still staring blankly at the battered sign. He then motioned to grab at the small grey stone that hung limply around his neck.

Midoriya had tried to help the man figure out why he had such an item tied around his neck. It was really the only defining feature concerning the specter. Gami could never remember why he had it on himself, but couldn’t shake the fact that it was important.

“This… this came from here,” he gestured to the stone and then the trashed beach.

And now he was sure that his brain was doing somersaults in his skull. Never had the ghost remembered so much in so little time. So he tugged on one of the man’s long sleeves urgently.

“Well then, what are we waiting for?!” he cried out, “Come on!”

The green haired boy pulled Gami down the beach’s sloped entrance onto the warm sand. They carefully stepped over lone pieces of discarded trash as they made their way to the water. The specter seemed to still be in shock though, struggling to grasp this newfound information.

“I do not remember this place looking this way. I do not think it was this… dirty.”

Curiously, Midoriya pulled out his phone. He opened a new tab and typed in the name he had read on the sign. Within moments, he was met with a numerous amount of articles all referencing that specific name. Scrolling through some of them, he got a pretty good idea about the beach’s late history.

“Well, it looks like this section of the beach has been like this for years,” he informed, Gami suddenly finding interest in his successor’s words, “Turns out a lot of the currents around here lead to this shore. People use that knowledge to dump their trash here illegally, but it’s hard for law enforcement to track down those who do.”

“Oh…”

The teen could hear the dejection in his mentor’s voice. This place had obviously meant something to the man, and it saddened both of them to know it had gotten in such disrepair after who knows how long. He looked around at all the trash. There was such an array of items to be found, from household garbage to large kitchen appliances. The piles of stuff stretched high above the beach, blocking out any view from the above sidewalk. A sudden idea popped into the boy’s head.

“This place isn’t a bad area to practice DT,” he observed, shortening the name of his signature ability, “I could really get some training done here.”

The spirit perked up.

“The piles of trash are tall enough for me to practice with my scythe too. I wouldn’t have to worry about anyone seeing me.”

Midoriya pulled up the beach’s official address, and after a few taps, he saved it into his phone.

“I think we’ll be coming back here for a good while.”

And unexpectedly, Gami hugged the teen from behind at his last statement. Unsure of what to do, he smiled and burrowed his face into one of the sleeves wrapped around his upper chest, hoping it would be enough of a gesture for the man to understand his action was acknowledged.

Midoriya knew there were only about 10 months until the U.A. entrance exam, so finding a place to train was very much a necessity. Discovering Dagobah Municipal Beach Park was like a little gift from Lady Luck herself. Sure, the boy was ecstatic at identifying a secure, isolated place to practice his abilities, but at realizing the true meaning of the obscure coastline, he could feel his excitement stem from a different source.

It made him feel bubbly with pride at seeing the normally stoic man so genuinely…

Happy.

Midoriya made frequent trips to Dagobah Beach after school and on the weekends. At first, he was unsure of how to balance training his decay rate and his scythe skills, but Gami revealed that he could do both at the same time. Upon finding out that he could share DT with his weapon, the teen felt he just tackled two birds with one stone. Although, there were a few specifics that made for interesting moments and funny fails.

First off, it was made painfully obvious that he couldn’t decay his own scythe. It was probably the only thing DT couldn’t destroy, which was pretty advantageous. But during incidents where Midoriya got extra frustrated with his weapon, he couldn’t break the stupid thing. Chucking it at the ocean was the best he could do, but it wasn’t nearly as satisfying as it sounded.

Second, he could share his decaying ability with the scythe, but the weapon could only decay what it cut. Trying to practice this turned out to be a pain in the boy’s behind. He was initially excited to swing at the refrigerators and large cuts of metal, but after having his scythe bounce off the first fridge he struck, he realized the amount of force needed for him to cut the metal was going to leave him sore each morning after.

But other than that, the teen quite enjoyed practicing with his new signature weapon.

He got some good pointers from Gami too, but the man liked to spend his time sitting right by the shore. The way he longingly stared at the sea made Midoriya’s heart pang. He would clean up this beach before the entrance exam, he would make sure of it.

For Gami.

But right now, the boy wasn’t working at the municipal beach park. The two were coming from that exact place actually, and headed towards home. The green haired teen was sweaty and sandy, which was not a comfortable combination, and looking forward to a cold shower.

He walked inside, and as expected, there was no one inside. He shuffled over into his bedroom groggily, his muscles aching in distress. But right as he entered, he momentarily forgot all about his stiff limbs.

It had been about a week and a half since the sludge villain incident, but the teen still had his face plastered all over his walls.

“I still can’t believe he said that to me,” he stated to no one in particular. Maybe it was to himself? The spirit wasn’t sure to be honest.

“It was a shock to us both,” he responded in hopes to ease his successor, “but you can succeed without his approval.”

“Yeah I know, but that doesn’t negate the fact that the number 1 hero is some quirkist bigot. I hear those things all the time, but never would I have expected to hear it from All Might of all people.”

The teen scowled at the sight of the hero’s signature smile. That smile now churned his insides. He really couldn’t stand looking at all of this crap anymore.

He approached the wall where All Might smiled back at him. And despite being ungodly dirty from his workout, he ripped the poster off the wall. Well, it was more of a forceful pull as to not damage the merchandise. Sure, Midoriya was angry at the man, but he had enough common sense to realize that the amount of merch in his room would add up to a nice sum of cash. He continued taking down the posters on his wall, and once he finished with that, he moved to stripping his closet of any All Might themed clothing he could find, which was the majority of everything in there sadly. But pretty much all of the clothes were in good condition, as the boy had been careful to not dirty them when he did wear them in the past.

Then he moved on to cleaning his bookshelves of any other miscellaneous merchandise, including figures, headbands, charms, and pens. All in all, he was able to fill the corner of his room thoroughly with stuff, and while he was disgusted that he had owned so much of the man’s merch, the amount of money it was inevitably worth did make owning it somewhat worth it.

Now, his room was almost completely blank, his two bookshelves empty except for the plentiful notebooks he had. He had written 13 analysis notebooks, but those were only on heroes. The teen had tons of other books pertaining to interesting quirks, quirk theory, and his own abilities. The vast amount of notebooks he did have filled a good portion of one of the bookcases, but that still left one bookshelf completely empty, and another one only half full.

His walls were now completely bare, having once been covered in All Might paraphernalia. Midoriya could tell where his posters had been, the walls now two-toned due to the difference in light exposure. He figured he could just get other hero merchandise to cover the blankness, but he really wasn’t feeling all too hyped about heroes as of late. Maybe he’d look into some Eraserhead merch, but the man was so secretive, he doubted he’d be able to find enough to cover all the spots where his All Might posters had gone. He filed that Eraserhead idea away for later. Maybe he might not find any mainstream stuff concerning the underground hero, but there was bound to be handmade merchandise created by individuals. Sure, it might end up being expensive, but that just went to show the mass amount of time and effort that went into each product.

His desk was looking pretty clean for once. Storage had always been a problem for Midoriya when he collected All Might items, but now that he was getting rid of them, the desk looked strangely organized. Maybe he could invest some of the cash he would get from selling his All Might stuff into some storage options. He would need it considering the size of his room, especially if he found an obsessive passion again.

Though, the boy knew he would have to go shopping for clothes. The percentage of his clothing that was All Might themed was well over half, and now that it was finally out of his closet, he would need some new wear. All he really had now were a few pairs of shorts and some shirts that had English statements in them. He enjoyed wearing those shirts out, since most people wouldn’t understand what they read. And for the people who did, they got a good laugh. Of course, they were nothing offensive or perverse, just stupidly obvious statements. Because who didn’t get a kick out of a t-shirt saying “t-shirt” on it in English?

But now that he was done with his mini tantrum, Midoriya was off to take a shower. He especially needed to wash the grime and the All Might off him for good.

A fresh, new start was just the thing he was looking for anyway.

Midoriya walked down one of the suburban streets on his way to Ishihara’s home. It had been a few days after he cleaned out his room, but the teen still hadn’t found anything to redecorate with.

As for the All Might merchandise, he had been able to sell a good chunk of it online successfully. At first, the boy didn’t look forward to meeting up with the individuals interested in purchasing something from him. Those meetings were very short and just consisted of giving the item and taking the money. But now, Midoriya had gotten more comfortable with confronting the strangers, even going as far as to make some small talk. Gami was proud that his successor was finally stepping out of his shell, even if it wasn’t by much.

The merch was more valuable than he had expected. When he began selling the stuff to the highest bidder, the teen really wasn’t anticipating anything to go over the initial price he posted it at, nor for mass amounts of people to fight for it. But it turned out that his stuff was worth much more than he thought, not that he was complaining. The teen put away most of his extra cash, but he did use some of it to get a new backpack.

He’d had his yellow backpack for almost 8 years and it was definitely obvious. The bag was worn and torn from years of use as well as abuse by the rest of his classmates. Midoriya has grown out of the obnoxious yellow, but really didn’t have the money to be spending so frivolously. At least, not until now.

His new backpack was black, made of leather instead of polyester. At first, he wasn’t too sure about the leather, but considering that his polyester one was barely hanging on by a thread, he decided that a change from the norm was necessary. Gami had suggested investing in a leather one, and he couldn't deny, his bag felt more sturdy and secure. He’d grown to like the feel and look of his new bag.

Holding said backpack’s thick straps, Midoriya walked up Ishihara’s front steps and rang the doorbell. Like clockwork, the older, brown haired man opened up the front door and let the boy inside.

“Ah Midoriya,” the man called, “It’s so good to see you. How are you holding up?”

This was the first visit since the sludge villain incident. The teen wanted to take some time away from the older man to pull himself together after the attack. Ishihara was rightfully worried about the boy, but respected his wishes. He still kept their meeting dates, but made sure that Midoriya knew he wasn’t obligated to come.

“I’m doing ok.”

“Well that’s good to hear.”

Ishihara motioned for him to sit on the couch, so he did. The teen shook off his bag and relaxed into the sofa as the man left for the kitchen. It wasn’t long before he came back with a tray of cookies and two cups of tea. The man placed the food and drinks down onto his coffee table before sitting next to Midoriya on the couch.

“So I only saw bits and pieces of the fight on the news,” he cut right to the chase, “but I could definitely pick out your trademark green hair anywhere.”

Said green haired child shuffled on the couch, not really knowing how to respond, “Yeah… that was me.”

There was a bit more awkward silence after that. Gami stood by another chair across from the two. He tried sitting in it, but fell right through, to which the boy stifled a giggle. He immediately felt more comfortable and made a mental note to thank the ghost later, whether the move was international or not.

“Do you… want to talk about it?”

“... Yeah, I kinda do.”

And so, over the course of a few cookies and the occasional breaks for tea, Midoriya spilled the events of that day in its entirety to Ishihara. Starting with the confrontation with Bakugo in the classroom, to the fight beneath the underpass, to the conversation with All Might, and finally ending with the fabled fight from the news. He obviously left out a few of the details of how he took down the sludge villain alone that first time as well as his premonition minutes before saving Bakugo. And he didn’t even mention that final confrontation with All Might, much less talked about the man’s quirk, keeping his promise to the number 1 hero.

There were tears and much needed hugs between the two throughout the entire chat, but Ishihara never spoke a word. The older man just let the boy talk, but never pushed for more. The last thing he wanted to do was make him uncomfortable.

“I know I don’t need All Might’s approval, but hearing that from him hurt so much…” the teen sniffled, rubbing at his puffy eyes.

“I can only imagine,” Ishihara replied, “The nerve of that man.”

He took a small sip from his cup, before turning his gaze directly at Midoriya.

“And what about the kids at school?” he questioned, “Are they giving you any trouble? More than usual I mean.”

The boy broke eye contact and fiddled with his gloved fingers on his lap. He opened his mouth as if to respond, but didn’t actually say anything.

The older man frowned. That wasn’t a good sign.

“Well,” the teen started, “sorta.”

He looked over to Gami for reassurance, but the spirit just stared at him. The man made no move for Midoriya to continue, but didn’t tell the boy to stop either.

Ishihara continued, “More physical or…”

“No, no. It’s actually a little less physical. Since the incident, it’s more… words than anything.”

The man hummed, taking in his words. Less physical violence was definitely good, but based off of the teen’s reaction, it wasn’t that good of change overall.

Maybe the other children felt threatened by Midoriya’s new display of skill, but he didn’t think that was the case. From what he took from the teen’s descriptions, his classmates never felt threatened by him because of his quirkless status, it was actually quite the opposite. Ishihara didn’t think that this one exhibit of ability would change the years of bullying he suspected the boy went through.

It could be that the kids thought that he was just playing hero, since they obviously didn’t think he could be an actual one. Maybe that’s why they were having such a volatile reaction to his escapade with the villain, despite possibly seeing his skill on the news. They were trying to dash any hopes of him succeeding as a hero without a quirk, and upping their ante due to his recent success. Maybe they didn’t exactly view it as success, but it was enough of an increase in Midoriya’s confidence that they were eager to stop it.

“Well, less violence is good…” he finally responded.

“Yeah, I guess.”

“As for the words… maybe use them as motivation?”

The boy looked confused, “Motivation?”

Ishihara stood up from the couch and placed his cup onto the coffee table, “Well I’m not saying you have to prove them wrong, but maybe try not to associate their words with negativity.”
“So like… use their words as a motivator?”

“Exactly, but don’t feel compelled to prove them wrong.”

Midoriya messed with his hands. He wasn’t totally sure if he got the older man point on the dot, but he thought he understood enough to give the solution a try.

“I’ll try.”

The two strayed away from that topic, but continued to munch on the snacks that his friend provided. After some more talk and a couple extra refills of tea, it was time for the boy to leave. Each time these meetings ended, he was reluctant to go home, but this ending in particular was rough.

But like all times, Ishihara handed him some extra cookies and opened the door for Midoriya to leave. And he did, gripping a backpack strap in one hand and a container of sweets in the other. Like usual, Gami followed him out, trailing behind a bit.

This time though, the teen’s mind was elsewhere, compared to where it usually roamed. He was frozen on the older man’s words. He wasn’t comfortable letting him know about the spider lilies, but he figured the man’s advice would work either way. He was still puzzled about how exactly to apply it to his situation, but he’d figure it out.

This was not going to be his breaking point.

The next day, Midoriya was not late for school. Actually, he was 15 minutes early. Normally, he wouldn’t give up his precious sleeping time for anything, but he was hoping to catch the person flowering his desk. He knew it wasn’t just one person in particular, but he wasn’t sure if his classmates took turns dropping off lilies or one student took charge in buying and placing the flowers. Either way, he had given up some of his free time this morning to try and catch the individual in the act.

He hurried into the classroom, but to his dismay, the flowers were already there. Only about half of his class was currently present, not including the teacher of course, so it could only be one of them, but without seeing the person doing it, he could only make assumptions.

His classmates still seemed to enjoy watching him react to the spider lilies. The teen figured they would get tired of it after the first few weeks, but it was never ending entertainment to them. And it wasn’t like the teacher made any move to stop them, so until they were reprimanded, he wasn’t sure when they would stop. He had tried his best to remain stoic after that initial day with that first flower, looking to Gami for example, but even that didn’t deter them.

But today, he didn’t attempt to go stone faced at the flowers as he usually did.

“As for the words… maybe use them as motivation?”

The boy walked in with a little skip in his step, not pausing at all at seeing the state of his desk. He didn’t even spare a glance at any of the kids in the room. He just acted as he did before in the hall.

“Motivation?”

He could feel everyone turn to look at him, clearly not expecting the change in behavior. Even he himself was a bit shocked at his newfound confidence, but he wouldn’t let his doubts weigh him down.

“Well I’m not saying you have to prove them wrong, but maybe try not to associate their words with negativity.”

The flowers didn’t actually mean anything bad. His class was just trying to get him to associate the lilies with their desires for him to be gone, but it didn’t have to be that way. He didn’t need to prove them wrong, but that didn’t mean he had to give in to their ideas either, which included their outlook on the flowers.

“So like… use their words as a motivator?”

Ishihara was exactly right. He just needed to view the flowers in a different light. Not as a symbol for him to end his life, but maybe as a symbol to start his life. To start living without relying on outside opinions to feel confident in himself or giving his class the satisfaction of their words getting to him.

“Exactly, but don’t feel compelled to prove them wrong.”

Maybe the spider lilies represented the death of the old, submissive him, to which a new, confident him rose from the ashes. He agreed with that outlook, and even wanted to cultivate that. To him, the flowers symbolized freedom from his past burdens and the start of something new.

“I’ll try.”

Midoriya got to his desk, his peers still unsure of what to do at his new mojo. He picked up the three lilies carefully with one gloved hand, making sure not to decay them and his glove by accident out of stress. Opening up his new leather bag, he put away the flowers as he did every day, before sitting himself down in his seat.

The class eventually recovered from their shock at the ringing of the school bell, but just enough to get their work done. The way Gami observed a good majority of them shift nervously around proved to him that their minds were still stuck on his successor.

But looking back at the green haired boy, the spirit could tell he didn’t have a care in the world.

Midoriya went through the whole day without any problems, surprisingly. The flowers weighed in the back of his mind as well as his bag, but he kept Ishihara’s advice in the foreground. The boy didn’t even have to avoid any of his peers cornering him today. They were all too stunned from before.

The two were walking down the busy street, weaving in and out of civilians. School had ended without any issues, so the teen’s mood was pretty high. They were close to home, but as they got to the door, Midoriya continued past. Gami stopped in bewilderment, but hurried to catch up to his successor.

“Uhh Izu, we passed the house…”

He turned to face his ghostly companion, “Yeah I know.”

The boy gestured for Gami to join him at his side so he didn’t have to shout. The specter did, although still confused.

“I need to pick some stuff up at the convenience store before we go home, if you don’t mind.”

The man nodded in confirmation, “No, that is alright. What are you getting?”

Midoriya giggled, “It’s a secret!”

Gami huffed, “Will I understand once I see it?”

“Maybe, but I don’t think you will.”

“Is that a challenge?”

“If you want it to be,” he laughed quietly.

Their secretive conversation carried them all the way to the local convenience store, which was only a few blocks down from his house. Midoriya opened the door, hearing the familiar jingle from the bell attached to it. He held open the door for his invisible friend, but Gami simply shook his head, so he let it go. He had to smother a chuckle at watching the spirit opt to pass through the door instead.

The teen walked to the back of the store, ignoring the shop owner’s piercing glare. The only reason that the owner hadn’t banned the boy from the store yet was because he was a good source of revenue. This convenience store was the only one relatively close to his house, so he came here often. But his frequent business didn’t negate the fact that he was societal scum in the shop owner’s eyes. So he treaded lightly each visit, including this one.

He approached the refrigerated section and opened the glass door. Reaching inside, he grabbed three glass bottles of soda pop, then closed said door. Gami looked at him strangely, but Midoriya just eyed him with a smirk. He brought his haul to the counter, where the owner also looked at him weirdly, but nonetheless rang up his three drinks.

“That’ll be 450 yen,” the man grumbled.

The boy pulled out a few coins from his backpack’s side pocket, since he never felt safe keeping things in his uniform pockets. He was attacked and cornered way too many times for him to feel comfortable keeping anything of value on himself. Besides, this money came from his All Might merch, he didn’t want to lose it to one of his classmates.

He slid the money onto the counter and flinched as the man greedily snatched it from him. The shop owner shoved the bottles into the teen’s arms and he stumbled to make sure he didn’t drop them.

“Could I get a bag please?” he asked.

The owner narrowed his eyes, so Midoriya motioned towards his full arms. The man still made no effort to move.

“Please sir?”

He huffed angrily, but left the comfort of his counter to get a plastic bag from the utilities closet. The closet was way into the back of the store, leaving the counter far out of sight. Midoriya looked around and noticed a camera covering the area right above the register.

“Gami,” he whispered under his breath, “can you see if you can grab his alleyway key?”

The ghost looked at him almost in a shocked manner.

“I just need to access the dumpster. I’m not going to do anything stupid.”

The alleyway right next to the store was always locked by a chain gate. The teen really didn’t understand why the owner locked it, since all it held was the store’s dumpster. But the gate and fence ran high, with barbed wire at the top, so as easy as it normally would be, there was no way he could scale this fence without getting seriously injured.

The specter hesitated, unsure of where his successor was going with this. But on hearing the closet door creak shut, he hovered over the counter and grabbed at the key hanging on a drawer knob by the register. He was surprised at the fact he could actually touch it, but didn’t waste anymore time and hid the item in one of his sleeves. Returning to the teen’s side, he held onto the key as the store owner came back with a crumpled plastic bag in his hands.

“Here,” he heaved snappily, thrusting the bag into the boy’s arms, where the bottles also were. Midoriya took a moment to spread his stuff on the counter and shook open the bag. He then placed the three glass bottles carefully in before picking the plastic up by its handles.

“Thank you sir,” he cheered, “Have a nice day!”

He swore he heard the man mumble a “whatever” under his breath, but didn’t pay it much mind. He pulled open the entrance door, the bell at the top of the frame ringing again, and walked out, Gami in tow. Together, they walked to the alleyway entrance and towards the gate. Midoriya looked around, making sure no bystanders could see him from his spot, before gesturing for the key.

“The cameras didn’t catch you, right?” he wondered. He knew that the ghost couldn’t be caught on film from the times he attempted to take pictures with him. But he was afraid that the cameras might have captured the key moving on its own.

“No, I hid the key before I moved it,” he replied, practically reading the boy’s mind. The spirit pulled the key out from his sleeve and pressed it into his successor’s hand.

“I’m surprised you managed to stay solid enough to hold that for so long,” the teen pondered, “You feeling any different? Anything stand out?”

“Just an overwhelming sense of curiosity for the current situation.”

Midoriya hummed, but noted that for later. He gripped the key and pushed it into the gate’s lock. With a small twist, the lock clicked and the gate swung open. He rushed in towards the dumpster, hoping the store owner didn’t realize his key was missing just yet.

He was prepared to lift open the dumpster lid, only to find it already up. The teen propped himself up on his toes and peered inside. Careful not to get anything on his uniform, he scoured through the bin and pulled out each and every glass mason jar he could find. He set them off to the side on the ground and noticed his mentor’s puzzled look.

“The owner has a tendency to bring in snacks in mason jars while he works. I figured he’d throw them out here when he finished with them.”

“But… why do you need them?”

“Well, I can explain that better when we get home.”

“Alright then, I will keep watch.”

Midoriya stuffed as many jars as he could into the plastic bag with his soda bottles. He wasn’t too keen on putting any in his new backpack since they’d just come out of the trash. After forcing in his 11th jar, he figured he had enough.

“Alright, I’m done,” he quietly said, picking up the plastic bag again by its handles. He could hear the glass rattle around, clanking against each other.

The boy walked through the open gate, Gami waiting for him on the other side. He closed the gate and locked it shut with a small groan, but instead of taking the key with him, he left it in the lock.

“I’m sure when the store owner realizes his key is gone, he’ll check the cameras. But since he won’t see anyone take it, he’ll come out to check the alleyway next,” he explained, “He’ll just think he left it out here in the lock by accident. No harm, no foul.”

He exited the alleyway, but not before checking the store entrance to see if anyone was coming. When he confirmed no one was, he left with his true haul. Reaching into his plastic bag, he pushed past the jars on top and pulled out one of his soda bottles. Putting one of his fingers on the top, he slowly decayed away the metal bottle cap. Once it was completely gone, he brought the bottle up to his mouth and took a sip.

“You are getting really good at that.”

His successor moved the soda away from his face, “What? You mean the whole bottle cap thing?”

“Indeed, that was very precise.”

“Well I guess my work at Dagobah is really paying off,” he shrugged.

Gami made a small noise, and Midoriya swore it was a chuckle. He hadn’t really noticed how good he was getting with DT. Looking down at the bottle, he realized how exact the decay was. There was no remnant of the metal cap at all, but the actual mouth of the bottle wasn’t damaged. He smiled with pride before taking another swig of soda pop.

It wasn’t long before the duo arrived back home. The boy unlocked the front door and made his way directly into the kitchen. He dropped off his leather bag on the couch, but brought his plastic bag to the sink. He placed the now empty soda bottle on the counter next to him, and the two full ones in the fridge, before dumping all the mason jars into the sink.

He turned on the water and started rinsing the jars out, hoping to rid them of any grime they may have collected during their time in the dumpster. Generously pouring some soap onto the mass of jars, he let them soak in the water. The teen grabbed a towel hanging off of the oven handle and brought it over to the sink. Popping open the drain, he watched the water whirlpool its way down, eventually leaving the sink empty except for the wet jars. He took each jar and dried it thoroughly before setting it off to the side. After all 11 were completely cleaned, he placed them on the counter next to his empty bottle.

Turning on the water again, Midoriya rinsed out the soda bottle quickly, much less concerned about the cleanliness of that particular one. Once he dried the exterior, he moved the bottle back under the faucet and filled it halfway up. He put it back on the counter next to the mason jars, before doing the same with said jars.

“What… are you doing?” Gami questioned while watching the boy fill all 11 jars.

“You’ll see…” the boy said in a sing-song tone, then grabbed an armful of jars and brought them to his room. He put them down on his desk before going back for the others, and then his leather bag.

After all the containers were placed on his desk, he moved to his desk drawer and pried it open.

“So that is where you have been keeping those…”

“The flowers? Oh yeah, these are the more recent ones. But any from before this week have already wilted.”

He pulled the flowers out carefully by their stems. Sure his gloves were on, but he was just being cautious. If he managed to decay through his gloves even slightly, the flowers would disintegrate instantly.

The teen then placed two or three each in a jar, making sure their cut stems reached the water, before moving the bouquets onto his empty bookshelf. Of course it was the completely empty one, and not the partial one that had his notebooks. He would never take the risk of one of the jars tipping over and ruining his work. He even gave one of today’s flowers from his backpack its own container, as the soda bottle’s neck was too small to house more than that.

Obviously, most of the jars didn’t get filled, so Midoriya took those to the bathroom to dump them, before bringing them back and placing them on the shelves anyway. His room was still a little bare, but the bright red spider lilies did bring a pop of color.

Finally realizing his successor’s master plan, the specter inquired, “Are you sure about this Izu?”

“What? The flowers?” God his friend was a bit dense today, “Yeah, I’m sure.”

He turned back to stare at his work. The flowers almost seemed to sway from a nonexistent breeze, like they were waving to him. He couldn’t take his eyes off of the elegant shade of red that they were.

“I think they look nice.”

Chapter Text

The U.A. entrance exam approached faster than Midoriya expected, but he didn’t feel underprepared. He managed to balance training at Dagobah and his education well enough in his opinion. Gami did not agree though. His successor was falling asleep way too many times in class for him to call this a win.

His mother didn’t seem to notice his frequent late nights out of the house. There were times where the teen was so afraid she’d catch him sneaking in after a long day of training, but she was often too drunk to notice. Of course, he wasn’t lucky all the time, but he was getting fast enough to make it to his room before she did any serious harm.

Unfortunately, the combination of training at Dagobah late into the day, sorting souls into the night, and getting up early to sort as well, it made it difficult to get more than 5 hours of sleep. He didn’t want to admit he was having a hard time focusing his thoughts or that he was falling asleep in class. But it was obvious to Gami that the boy was struggling with it all, so the ghost did his best to lift his spirits wherever he could.

Midoriya’s birthday had passed during the 10 months before the exam. He really didn’t find any joy celebrating his birthday though, since his father was obviously not around and his mother didn’t care. So the man had taken it upon himself to make this year’s birthday special.

For his successor’s previous birthdays, the man had usually gotten him notebooks or pencils. Sometimes when stores got overstocked with products, they would leave the extras outside in their alleyways, either to get rid of it or to try and store it sneakily. He would leave the teen sleeping at night to search the alleyways behind these stores, in hopes that he could find something suitable as a gift. It was pretty much all he could do, since he didn’t have any money. It wasn’t like he could really hold the cash anyway.

And when the spirit did eventually find something he thought the boy would like, he would have to get him to go to the alleyway himself. He couldn’t actually grab whatever he wanted to give. As much as he tried, his hands just passed right through the item. And though Midoriya constantly reminded him that his efforts were greatly appreciated, Gami never felt like he was doing enough. He cared so much for the teen, and it wasn’t just because he was his successor. The specter could go on his own rant about how special he thought the boy was, from his endless perseverance, to his selfless personality, to his undeniable skills. Gami would daresay he viewed him as something akin to a son.

So that was why he decided to make sure he did something different for his birthday this year.

Midoriya had woken up the morning of his birthday as he did every other day. It was a Sunday, so the house was empty. He hadn’t differed from his normal schedule, and worked until the sun broke dawn. He noticed that his mentor had been strangely quiet, but didn’t comment on it. But as he finally left his room and entered the kitchen, the spirit finally spoke up.

“Happy birthday Izu.”

“Oh, um thank you Gami,” he really wasn’t expecting that to be the first word out of the specter’s mouth.

“Um, I have something for you,” he told the teen, a slight waver in his voice, “It’s in the living room…”

“No alleyways this time?” he joked sarcastically.

“Not this time,” he snarked back, which Midoriya noted was unlike him.

But he was curious about what the ghost had in store for him, so he left his cereal on the counter and made his way to the couch. As he entered the living room, Gami flew out from behind him and moved to stand behind the coffee table instead. The boy giggled at his unusual antics, but continued into the room.

He couldn’t pick out anything out of the ordinary. There wasn’t anything like balloons or cake, not that he expected that. But he didn’t see any notebooks or pencils like he usually got from the spirit. He looked up in confusion, but the ghost just gestured for him to come inside further.

That didn’t help Midoriya’s puzzlement, but he just decided to trust the man. He still didn’t see anything, but as he finally walked past the couch, something did lay on the coffee table.

“Gami,” he started, picking up one of the items, “what is this?”

“Unfold it. You will see.”

And so he did. The item felt soft and fabric like in his hands. As he shook it open, he saw the sleeves fall out and realized what it was. A black tracksuit jacket unraveled right in front of him.

“Woah, this is really neat!” he gasped out.

“Well, there is more.”

The boy set down the jacket onto the couch and reached for the other folded object on the table. It was also black, but seemed larger than the jacket. He opened it up and the specter saw his eyes light up.

“Are these matching sweatpants?!” he cried in surprise.

“Indeed they are,” he said with pride.

He flipped them around to look at the pants from all angles. The set all together was pretty cohesive. The jacket had a white stripe running down each sleeve, which connected to the stripe that ran down each leg of the sweatpants. Everything else was a solid, shiny black that felt smooth in his fingers. As he was laying the pants next to the jacket, he noticed that said jacket had a turtleneck. That made him really happy, as the burn scar from his father stretched up to the base of his neck, and often made him self conscious.

“I noticed that old green tracksuit in your closet. That was what you were planning to wear to the entrance exam, correct?” he didn’t wait for a response, “I figured you would rather wear something newer and closer to your current size. I also did not think you would want to wear something so attention grabbing.”

Midoriya looked up to flash a wide, bright smile at the man, “You know me so well!”

“Actually, there is one last thing.”

“Oh?”

“Check in the right pocket of the jacket.”

The boy moved back to the couch to examine the tracksuit top again. He reached into the right pocket hesitantly, unsure of what to expect. Immediately, his hand met something smooth and fabric like. It was similar to the feel of the tracksuit, but he noted that whatever this was, it felt thicker and stiffer. Unable to resist his curiosity any longer, he pulled out the item.

Now, in his hand, were a pair of black, leather gloves. But it wasn’t like the polyester ones he usually wore.

These gloves were fingerless.

“I know you have not ever been really comfortable with fingerless gloves, but I believe they would be useful to you for the exam.”

“I’m not really sure-”

“You do not have to wear them the entire time. Just when the practical exam will start. It will be easier for you to use DT without having to rip your other gloves.”

The teen shuffled the new gloves between his own gloved hand, internally debating Gami’s preposition. He didn’t see the man also shuffle nervously.

“You do have a point,” he slowly took off his signature polyester gloves to slip on his new ones. He was careful not to accidentally disintegrate them as he put them on. He flexed his fingers and turned his hands to inspect them. His silence put the spirit on edge. Maybe the gloves were a bad idea. He really didn’t mean to push his successor out of his comfort zone, especially on his birthday of all days.

Then, he realized he was being hugged, which completely destroyed any sense of regret he had. He embraced back tightly, knowing Midoriya didn’t give hugs often.

“Thanks Gami,” he sniffled, “I really don’t deserve this.”

“No, do not say that,” the man replied softly, “You deserve so much more. I wish I could give you more.”

And at that, the boy bursted into tears, loudly sobbing into the spirit’s robe. His bare fingers gripped the man’s clothing tightly. The ghost panicked, afraid he did something wrong. Even now, after knowing the teen for around 11 years, he still didn’t think he was good with kids. Said teen noticed the specter’s uncertainty and tried to clear up the mess.

“I’m sorry,” he said, but it was pretty muffled by his face in the robe, “I’m just so happy.”

He pulled his face out and removed his hands to wipe at his eyes. He glanced up, cheeks red, but smiled the largest smile he could muster. He shook his hands next to his face, showing off his grin and new gloves.

Gami seemed to get the message that Midoriya wasn’t upset at him. He smiled, though no one could tell, and ruffled the boy’s hair.

“This was really great,” he sighed, “Thank you.”

“It was the least I could do.”

The two of them simply stood there, content with everything in the moment. That was, until the logical side of the teen’s brain finally kicked in.

“Wait, how did you even get this here?”

“I brought it here,” the man stated nonchalantly.

“Well obviously. But how did you touch it?!” Gami was being uncharacteristically sarcastic today.

“I am not too sure,” he shrugged, “but it all worked out, did it not?”

He huffed, “I guess so…”

He walked back over to the couch to grab his tracksuit, when he did a double take.

“Wait where did you even get this?”

“Not in an alleyway, I can assure you.”

“You didn’t steal this, did you?” he joked.

But when the specter didn’t respond, Midoriya grew worried.

“Gami…” he said sternly.

“That is a secret.”

“GAMI!” the teen whined loudly, a bit unsure of whether his friend was joking back.

The two then erupted into laughter and sat together on the couch. The boy would later give away his old and battered green tracksuit to a clothing drive in a nearby neighborhood. He would then have to find the space to hang his new one up, as the older one was folded and tucked away in the corner of a shelf. Then he would panic a bit on whether he should wear the set a few times to break it in or leave it pristine for the big day.

But that would all happen later.

Right now, all Midoriya was worried about was enjoying the high of his birthday. Maybe he would indulge himself today. He had the money to order himself some katsudon if he didn’t feel like cooking on his special day. Maybe he wouldn’t train today, and instead analyze some quirks mentioned on the news. He could just go out and try to catch a fight if he really wanted to see a quirk in action.

It didn’t really matter to him what he did today.

Just as long as he did it with Gami.

Finally, the big day came.

Midoriya was up way before the sun had risen. He was trying to get in some last minute training at Dagobah, though it was nothing as strenuous as what he had been doing in the months before.

The beach had been completely engulfed in trash when he and Gami saw it the first day, but now, only a few bits remained hidden in the sand. The spirit was left shocked at the sight of the beach restored to how it looked before. The boy would bet that the ghost was about to cry based off the small wavers in his voice, and that would certainly be an oddity.

Currently, the two were walking the beach, with the teen kicking around the sand in hopes to find any underlying trash. Any he did find, he would decay with his hand. It would be pointless to use his scythe when the pieces were only the size of his foot and smaller.

There actually wasn’t much to clean up, so the duo eventually made their way to sitting by the shore, just far enough so that the ocean would only touch their feet. This was the first time Midoriya had gotten the chance to sit by the coastline, but he could tell why the specter liked it so much. He felt calm and serene, and the numerous problems plaguing him each day withered away at the sight of the sparkling sea. If the exam wasn’t this day, he wouldn’t mind spending his entire day here.

“Ah well,” the teen started, standing up from the sand, “We’d better get going.”

“Indeed. Are we stopping at the house?”

He looked down at himself. Sure, he did have his backpack with his school uniform and his new tracksuit in case he ended up running late. But he still had three hours, and if he didn’t have to, there was no way he was going to slip his uniform over his sweaty and sandy self.

“Yup, I definitely need to shower.”

And so the two left the comfort of the beautiful and now clean beach park towards their home. The 20 minute walk didn’t take long, and the sidewalks were still fairly empty since it was so early. He ran home the entire way, eager to get that last bit of training in. Skidding to a stop at his door, he fumbled with his keys before entering.

There wasn’t anyone inside, but it wasn’t like he was expecting anyone. He walked quietly in, completely opposite of how he was moving before. He placed his bag on the couch, careful not to throw it in fear of wrinkling his uniform. Gami didn’t fear wrinkles though, and threw himself down onto the sofa.

“Hey, careful with my bag,” Midoriya chuckled.

“I will.”

He made his way towards the bathroom, eager to wash off all the sand and grime.

“I’ll be in the shower. Knock if you need anything,” the boy teased.

He turned around and walked into the bathroom, not getting to see the spirit narrow his eyes at him. Not that he would be able to see it, even if he was looking.

Gami listened as the shower turned on. He could hear the water trickling down the tiled wall and then down the drain. It was peaceful to observe, and the ghost didn’t mind that his successor forgot to turn on the TV for him. The teen already had so much responsibility, he didn’t want to add to that.

Sometimes, the specter wished he could do more. But his transparent form limited him on practically everything. He could only interact with Midoriya himself and the couch, to which the boy reassured him was an impressive feat, but he never felt like it was. He could never help with money, nor could he help in fights. He couldn’t even carry his bag for goodness sake. It was demotivating, to watch the teen struggle and not be able to do anything.

But today was one of the most important days of his successor’s life. He wasn’t going to sit around and brood. The ghost wasn’t sure how, but he would do his best to aid him any way he could today. At the very least, he wouldn’t let the boy pick up on his sour mood. That would surely spoil his own, and Gami did not want that to happen right before the exam.

Suddenly, a voice called through the bathroom door, startling the spirit out of his thoughts.

“Hey Gami,” The voice was pretty muffled, but that was to be expected since it was coming through the door, “Can you touch my bag?”

Said ghost’s brows furrowed in confusion, but he swung a free hand at the backpack. Like he expected, his hand passed right through.

“Uh no I cannot.”

He heard the voice groan, “Ugh I figured.”

Then, the bathroom door creaked open, and out came Midoriya, with only a towel wrapped around his waist. His signature green hair was dripping wet. But what was more noticeable was the large scar that spread from the base of his neck down to the middle of his chest, covering the top of his right shoulder as well. Medium sized cuts ran down his arms, but the spirit knew they were from the bottle shards that occasionally got embedded in his skin. He knew the teen tried to hide his scars, so he averted his eyes quickly in hopes he wasn’t making him uncomfortable.

The boy was uncomfortable at showing so much of his injuries, but tried not to show it.

“I forgot my uniform in my bag.”

“So you went into the bathroom with no clothes?”

He pouted, “I had my boxers!”

The specter huffed jokingly, “Whatever you say.”

He grumbled and snatched his backpack, then rushed off to his bedroom. Gami smirked, feeling like he had thoroughly gotten his revenge for the comment earlier. The man looked up at the clock. Midoriya’s shower hadn’t lasted as long as he thought it did. As long as the teen didn’t take too long getting ready, they would be able to arrive at U.A. with ample time to spare.

As if he had read the ghost’s mind, the boy emerged from his room fully dressed in his school’s uniform. He had his backpack strung over his shoulders and was currently putting on his usual polyester gloves.

“I’ve got my tracksuit and my other gloves,” he cheered, “Let's get going!”

“Alright then,” he replied and lifted himself off the couch.

The duo left the house eagerly, with Midoriya quickly locking the front door. He then shoved his house keys into his backpack and started towards the subway, Gami close behind. He gripped his bag’s straps confidently, a small smile adorned his face.

Today was his big day.

And nothing was going to stop him.

One 40 minute subway ride later, the two had arrived at the front entrance of U.A. high school. The school was large and grand. The sunlight that bounced off its numerous windows could be mistaken for the building simply shining on its own. Bare trees lined the walkway, and Midoriya was excited to see how they would frame it once they grew leaves again.

He was a bit nervous, but that was to be expected. He knew as long as he took steps forward, no matter how slow or timid they were, he would make it through that door. Besides, the boy knew he wasn’t alone. With Gami simply walking beside him, he knew he could take on anything this exam threw at him.

“Get out of my way or you’re dead.”

The teen instinctively flinched away from that voice. He didn’t even need to look to confirm who it was.

Bakugo walked past him, seemingly annoyed. He wore a moderate coat and a beige scarf over his uniform. Midoriya stared, a bit jealous towards the blond. The set of winter accessories looked warm and cozy, and much more protective than simply the school uniform like the shy teen was wearing.

He didn’t respond to Bakugo though. This was the first time he’d spoken to him since the sludge villain incident. Actually, the angry teen hadn’t tormented him since the villain attack either. Not that he or Gami hadn’t noticed. Both were very observant and picked up on the strange behavior, but just took it as a blessing in disguise.

The kids around them noticed the blond as well, and started whispering. Bakugo was infamous for that whole mess with the sludge villain. His face was known throughout practically the whole country. But the boy wasn’t jealous over that. He was glad he wasn’t the center of attention. That would make him simply more nervous.

“Well Izu,” the ghost began, “Do not let him bother you. Let’s get inside.”

“Mhm,” he hummed, careful not to seem as if he was talking to himself.

But Gami still picked up on his successor’s shaky confidence, so he kept his pep talk going, “Keep these past 10 months fresh in your mind. You are an entirely new person and this is your first step to becoming a hero!”

He nodded sharply, looking up at his mentor.

“This is your time to shine and move forward!!”

“Yeah!” he whispered strongly, trying his best to keep his voice under his breath. The ghost was right. This was his first step as well as an important one, and he knew he had the skills to have a chance. Staring at the specter, he flashed a small, unassuming smile to show the man he was feeling good.

And then proceeded to trip over his own feet in distraction.

He could hear Gami yell his name in concern, but he was about to fall on his face. What a great way to start the day.

But he never met the ground. Instead, he floated a few inches above it. He could definitely admit, he was surprised, but he didn’t squirm around or anything. He turned his head to see a pretty looking brunette wearing a burgundy coat.

“Are you okay?” she asked gently.

“Uh y-yeah,” he stammered back.

The girl smiled before helping him back upright. Once he was, Midoriya felt himself stop floating and land softly onto the walkway again. He was still in a state of semi-shock and didn’t realize he had been touched on the arm, right under his scar.

“It’s my quirk,” she continued, “Sorry for stopping you, but it's a bad omen to trip and fall.”

“Ah well t-thank you,” the teen replied shakily.

“This sure is nerve wracking,” she chuckled, breathing out a puff of frozen air.

“Y-yeah, for sure.”

The brunette then started to walk away, but as she did, she looked back and waved.

“Good luck to the both of us!”

Midoriya went to reply back, but by the time he willed up the confidence, she was gone. He wasn’t really sure what just happened. All he really figured out was that he just had a nice conversation with another kid his age. That was definitely a first.

“Izu, we should get going,” his mentor finally said, snapping him out of his head.

“Ah yeah, right right,” he stuttered out. A lot of the other kids around him were now eying him and sneaking glances. They were probably sizing him up, and deeming him not a threat. The boy’s fingers shook as he scampered up the steps and into the school, his confidence faltering a bit.

He hated being the center of attention.

The teen walked into the large lecture hall, albeit a bit later than he wanted to. He shuffled to find his seat, which was unfortunately next to Bakugo. He sat nervously and waited for the briefing to start.

Gami must have noticed his shuffling, because the man placed his hand on his left shoulder, avoiding the one with the scar. He brought his hand up to grip the spirit’s extended sleeve, making it look like he was grabbing his uniform instead.

“WELCOME TO TODAY’S LIVE PERFORMANCE!!” the shout nearly made Midoriya yelp in surprise, “EVERYBODY SAY HEY!!”

There was no way he was going to yell back, even if it was Present Mic. He was eager to draw as little attention to his form as possible. He noticed that everyone else in the hall felt the same way, even if it wasn’t for the same reasons.

The pro faltered a bit under the heavy silence, but immediately followed that up with more excitement.

“Well that’s cool, my examinee listeners!!” the hero continued, “I’m here to present the guidelines of your practical!! Are you ready?!”

Again, he was met with pure silence, so he answered his own call with a loud “YEAH”.

“Izu,” the ghost’s low monotone voice startled the boy a bit, “who is this loud, obnoxious man?”

“That’s the voice hero, Present Mic,” he explained softly, “He’s got an offensively powerful voice activated quirk, plus his own radio show and everything.”

“Shut up nerd,” Bakugo groaned. The teen wasn’t expecting him to talk, but he did follow his directions.

“This is how the test will go, listeners! You’ll be experiencing 10 minute long ‘mock cityscape maneuvers’!!” Present Mic resumed, “Bring along whatever you want! After this presentation, you’ll each head to your assigned testing location!!”

At that, there were murmurs in the crowd. Midoriya and Gami both listened in.

“That’s so kids from the same middle school can’t help each other out.”

“And why consecutive I.D. numbers are assigned to different locations.”

Midoriya checked out his exam card. After glancing at Bakugo’s next to him, he confirmed the whispers. His I.D. number was only one lower than the blond, but they weren’t assigned the same exam location. That made him release a sigh of relief. He definitely wouldn’t be comfortable while knowing the angry teen could come out from any corner and attack him.

After letting the students in the hall talk for a bit, the hero got back on track, “Each site is filled with three kinds of faux villains. Points are awarded for defeating each according to their own respective difficulty levels!”

So they would be fighting faux villains? That made the boy feel much better about his chances. The villains would likely be dummies or robots, and neither felt any pain. He would be able to use DT without too much guilt then.

“Use your quirks to disable these faux villains and earn points! That’s your goal, listeners!!”

“You are looking very confident, Izu.”

The teen let out a happy huff, quietly confirming the man’s statement.

“Of course, attacking other examinees is prohibited!! That’s not very hero-like!!”

Suddenly, a student stood up from his seat. Both he and the ghost moved to look at him. The kid was tall, with very broad shoulders and a broad stance to match. He had neatly combed blueish black hair and what looked to be a pair of square framed glasses, but he couldn’t really tell as he was facing away.

“May I ask a question?!” the student exclaimed loudly, raising his hand stiffly into the air.

He continued without any confirmation from the hero, “There appear to be no fewer than four varieties of faux villains on this handout! Such a blatant error is highly unbecoming for U.A. We are all here today in hopes of being molded into model heroes!!”

Midoriya had noticed the same thing, but he assumed that Present Mic would explain it later. I guess he would have to explain it now then.

“And you, with the curly hair!!”

The bold teen was now pointing at him. He jolted from the sudden call, and began to wither under the stares of everyone else in the hall.

“You’ve been muttering this whole time! It’s distracting. If this is some sort of game to you, then leave immediately!!”

At that, the timid teen sank down into his chair. There were many giggles and glares, all of which were directed at him. Gami growled aggressively, fed up with rude children at this point.

“Alright, alright,” the pro finally broke the tension, “Examinee 7111, nice catch. But the fourth faux villain gets you zero points! He’s more of an obstacle than anything!”

Present Mic waved his hands around, trying to emphasize his point, “There’s only one at each site! A ‘gimmick’ that will rampage around in close quarters!”

“Thank you sir! I apologize for the interruption!” the blunt kid bowed, then sat back down.

“Well, that’s all from me!! I’ll leave you listeners with our school motto!!”

Midoriya gripped his exam card with hesitation. His confidence was sorely shaken from all that had happened, and the exam hadn’t even started yet.

“PLUS ULTRA!! BREAK A LEG EVERYONE!!”

“Woah!” Midoriya gasped out at the sight of the faux city. It was so amazing how U.A. had a bunch of these on campus!

The teen looked around in awe. Even his fellow examinees amazed him.

“Everyone here looks so confident,” he whispered to the spirit standing next to him, “They’ve even got equipment to match their quirks…”

“That may be true,” the man replied, “But do not forget about yourself. You are just as impressive.”

“I don’t know…” he tugged on his new tracksuit. He couldn’t lie, he felt good in his black jacket and pants. He had switched out his usual polyester gloves for his new fingerless, leather ones. He was a bit nervous wearing them, but he knew they would be better for the exam than the ones he felt comfortable wearing. At first, he thought he looked too monochrome when he tried on the tracksuit, so he made sure to wear his signature red sneakers to fully complete the outfit.

Looking around, he spotted the nice girl who had helped him before the briefing. She had her eyes closed and was moving her hands rhythmically.

“Oh look Gami,” he mumbled, “It’s her! She looks kinda nervous though.”

“Indeed.”

“Maybe I should see if I can boost her spirits. Since she helped me out earlier.”

“That sounds like a good idea, as well as a friendly gesture.”

Midoriya took some slow steps towards the brunette, but was completely halted in his tracks by a firm grab to his right shoulder.

“What are you doing?! Hoping to interfere?!” The duo recognized it as the same student who had called out the boy before.

Gami noticed his successor’s breath turn raspy. The child was still tightly holding the shoulder with the scar. He could see the boy’s hands shaking.

Murmurs grew from the crowd as they once did in the lecture hall. Each one made the reserved teen doubt himself more.

“That kid was acting like an idiot at the front gate.”

“He flinches at the slightest touch.”

“I guess that’s one less rival to worry about.”

Midoriya went to swat away the hand, but then he realized he didn’t have his usual gloves on. As much as this kid made him uncomfortable, he wouldn’t put him at risk if he couldn’t control his power. So he mustered up all the leftover courage he had.

“Get your hand off me,” he spoke bitterly. Wait, bitterness? This wasn’t him. Where was this coming from? “Before we have a problem…”

“What?!” the kid scoffed, but removed his hand, “That isn’t like a hero at all!”

But the teen didn’t care. He was done being pushed around today. He felt an unnatural rage pooling in his gut, and he was a bit afraid of it. He wasn’t a very angry person, and he really didn’t want to become one. So he took a deep breathe in and focused his thoughts anywhere else, as long as they weren’t on the kids around him.

“That was unlike you, Izu.”

“Boy do I know…”

Suddenly, Present Mic’s voice echoed over the plaza.

“AND BEGIN!!”

To the boy, it felt like a switch flipped. He could hear the groans of the gates being opened, but didn’t even hesitate. He ran through the crowd of examinees and was the first to enter the faux city.

“The test has started!!” the hero yelled to the rest of the crowd, “That kid’s got the right idea!!”

All the other examinees then took off, pushing past each other to try and get a head start. But none could catch up to the boy they were just mocking. Gami, who stayed behind with the other kids, rushed to catch up with his successor.

Midoriya was definitely not as confident as he was when he first walked into U.A.’s front gate, but he would make do. Sprinting down a fake street, he could hear a sudden crack to the building next to him. Then, a huge robot bursted through the wall of one of the faux buildings. He could read a bold, white “1” on one of its appendages.

It’s a one-pointer! They’re quick, but fragile! he remembered from the handout back at the briefing.

But he didn’t flinch as most would expect him to. Instead, he flexed his hand and summoned his weapon. The robot charged him.

“Target locked!! Prepare for termination!!”

He gripped his scythe with both hands. Lifting it up over his head, he poured his whole body as well as DT into the swing. The blade cut cleanly into the robot, but that wasn’t what did the most damage to the villain. As he sliced, DT instantaneously spread throughout the entire bot and it crumbled into pieces, metal chunks shattering everywhere.

“That’s one point for me!” he exclaimed proudly, making his weapon disappear.

“Great job Izu!”

The teen turned around in surprise. He hadn’t noticed that Gami wasn’t with him. But he didn’t have any time to spare. Rushing out of the wrecked area, he went on search for more villains.

“Down here! There are two!” the ghost called out.

He responded immediately, racing down towards his mentor’s voice. He turned down a seemingly empty alleyway, only to watch the specter point up. He looked up in confusion, only to jump back as a one pointer and a two-pointer fell from above him. He didn’t have time to summon his weapon, nor the room to swing it, but he still didn’t hesitate. Almost acting on instinct, he swiped one of his hands out to graze the one-pointer, but as it did, the robot cracked and fell to the ground in pieces. The two-pointer’s large scorpion tail lunged at his form, but he leaped out of the way, then countering with a strike using his other hand. The robot decayed just as the others had.

“Four points!” he cried to no one in particular, “Gami, can you keep searching for robots?”

“I shall do my best.”

“Great! Then let’s go!”

The two continued their team strategy, with the spirit acting as an intelligence gatherer and Midoriya swooping in to get a quick kill. They worked extremely well, as Gami’s spiritual form allowed him to pass through rubble and buildings to find bots or map out paths. And while he would never admit it to his successor, his fears from earlier were quelled. The man was worried that he wouldn’t be able to do much for the boy during his exam, but those thoughts diminished slowly after each robot he discovered.

The teen largely favored his scythe when dismantling the faux villains, still unsure of his new gloves. But if a situation arose, similar to the alleyway before, he acted completely on instinct, unafraid to use his deadly touch. He was quick on his feet too, not pausing for a moment after he scored a point. Unfortunately, he had a few points stolen from him, but even then, he’d racked up a decent 26 points.

“Six minutes, two seconds remaining!!” he could hear from a speaker somewhere.

He now found himself in the center of the mock city, surrounded by robot carcasses. There were other examinees around him as well, but no active villains to fight.

“I cannot find any more enemies.”

He could hear the other kids calling out their points, and as each score was said and higher than his own, his confidence faltered.

This wasn’t good.

Unsure of what to do, he looked around at the kids in the area. If the situation were different, he’d love to examine their quirks.

Then, he felt the entire ground shake violently. He, as well as the other examinees, searched around for what could be causing it.

That’s when all hell broke loose.

Midoriya immediately recognized it as the zero-pointer Present Mic mentioned back in the briefing. It tore through the tops of buildings with ease as it plowed its own route down the street. Debris fell everywhere as all the students rushed to escape its wrath. He could make out the kid that had embarrassed him earlier as one of the first to get away, with surprising speed. The teen figured he must have some sort of speed quirk.

“Izu, let us get going,” Gami called out over the chaos, “This looks dangerous.”

“I guess that’s true. Hopefully we can find some more points before the exam ends.”

So he did his best not to get trampled by the crowd as he evacuated. Weaving around fallen, as well as falling debris was challenging, but similar to the sludge villain fight in the alleyway, so he didn’t have as much trouble as he expected. He turned one last time, just to view the destruction of the massive obstacle. His eyes widened in shock, and not from said destruction.

The nice brunette, who had made sure he didn’t fall on his way into the lecture hall, who he had his first pleasant student conversation with, who had wished him luck on the exam…

Was lying helpless on the broken pavement.

He turned around completely now, ignoring his mentor’s comments on how he should keep moving. The zero-pointer was plowing towards her, with no intention of stopping.

He froze, internally debating what he should do. He hadn’t had a premonition about her, so surely she wasn’t going to die, right? The U.A. staff would surely stop the robot before it reached her, right? But what if they didn’t? Was this her time to go? That thought sickened him.

“It's a bad omen to trip and fall.”

That killed any conflict he had.

He rushed towards her prone form. She struggled to look up at him. He noticed her left foot was caught under a pile of rubble from the villain’s rampage.

“Don’t move,” Midoriya reassured her, “I’ll get you out.”

She didn’t answer, but he could see it in her face. He wouldn’t fail the first person his age that had been nice to him.

He slammed both hands onto the pile of debris and instantly, all of the rubble decayed away, turning to mere dust. He didn’t have the time to look at her reaction, but if he did, he would see complete shock and awe plastered on it. He took a glance at her recently trapped ankle and winced.

“Can you walk?” He knew she couldn’t, but figured he’d ask anyway.

“N-no.”

“Alright then, I'm going to carry you.”

The teen moved quickly to her side and slid his arms under her limp body. With a huff, he mustered up more of his strength to lift her up. She wasn’t particularly heavy, but he has also never carried a person before. He cradled her in his arms and took steady, but fast steps away from the zero-pointer.

“You can set her down here,” Gami pointed towards a building away from the giant robot, “This building is still structurally sound.”

Midoriya didn’t respond, but rushed over to the building that the spirit picked out. He set her down against the wall of the building. She immediately cradled her injured foot, but looked up at him.

“T-thank you,” the brunette whimpered.

He nodded, but lurched his attention back to the zero-pointer at a loud crash. He watched it ram into another building, bringing it down without a sweat.

“This is bad,” he said aloud, “Someone is going to get seriously hurt if that thing isn’t stopped.”

“Two minutes remaining!!”

He flinched at that. Two minutes? That’s it? That wouldn’t be enough time to find any more robots. That wasn’t enough time to get the points he needed to pass the exam.

But it was enough time to stop the rampaging robot.

He rushed away from the girl who he had just helped, ignoring the specter’s cries for him not to. He couldn’t just disintegrate the bot from one of its feet. With the way it hunched over, if he did, the bot would come crashing to the ground faster than he could decay it. That would only put more people in danger.

He would have to start from the top.

Reaching the zero-pointer massive, moving foot, he made a split second decision that would nearly give Gami a heart attack, despite not having a physical heart.

The boy hastily summoned his scythe and poured a small amount of DT into it. Then he slammed as high as he could into the robot’s foot. Of course, the bot didn’t even flinch, but that wasn’t his plan.

He tugged on his weapon, and once he was sure it wouldn’t come out, he stopped the flow of DT, effectively ending the decay. Using only his upper body strength he had gained from swinging the thing around at Dagobah, he began pulling himself up the handle of his weapon.

“What is he doing?!” the girl cried from her spot by the building.

The ghost standing next to her couldn’t agree more.

Once Midoriya reached the end of his scythe’s handle, he removed one of his hands. He made a mental note to thank his mentor later for the fingerless gloves as he raised a hand above his head and grabbed as high as he could. Again, only using a small amount of DT, he decayed the space where his hand was, just enough to make an indentation that he could grip. He removed his other hand, the one still holding onto the handle, and did the same thing. In the moment, he relied solely on his upper body strength, as he didn't have a place for his feet to rest yet.

He continued the rhythm, effectively scaling the zero-pointer like a rock climber. His feet eventually found placement in the holes he had first decayed for his hands. Working fast and furiously, he climbed up the leg and back of the robot, with the injured brunette and his mentor watching on in astonishment. He reached the right shoulder of the bot and hoisted himself onto it, stabling his form on all fours. But even now, just disintegrating the zero-pointer’s head wouldn’t be enough to make it fall backwards as he needed it to.

I need to get in front of it!

And so, with who knows how much time left to spare, he scampered down the robot’s right arm, remaining on all fours so as to not fall off. The bot still didn’t notice him, maybe considering him too small of a threat to really care about. But that worked in Midoriya’s favor, as he had no trouble reaching the end of the metal arm.

Looking up at the robot’s rectangular face, he formulated a plan. The teen flexed his hand again, gripping the familiar feeling of his weapon’s handle in both hands. He then made another decision that would make the ghost keel over, even though he again, technically couldn’t.

He leaped off the arm of the zero-pointer, but turned his body so he was facing it head on in the air. Lifting his scythe as above his head as he possibly could, he channeled every single ounce of DT he had and more, and shared it with his weapon.

I need to hit this thing with everything I’ve got!! Then, the backlash of my swing should make it fall backwards!!

With every bit of strength and DT he had, he slashed the blade directly at the robot’s head. The swing ripped through the air with force Midoriya had never used before.

But it wasn’t close enough to hit the villain’s head.

NO!!

He began to fall, thinking he had failed. That all his efforts were for nothing.

But a loud explosion made him look up.

His swing, while it only cut air, had so much DT pouring through it that it disintegrated every single molecule it had passed through. The absence of anything in that strike created an unstable vacuum. And as the molecules around it rushed to fill the void, the sheer instability generated an enormous shockwave that struck the zero-pointer head on!

The teen watched as the gigantic robot’s face was decimated by the blow. It fell completely backwards from the swing and crashed into the area it had destroyed before, injuring no more examinees. He knew there was no way it would be able to get up after that.

Everyone in the mock city turned to watch the zero-pointer collapse and gasped in pure shock. Some had gotten to watch the show in action, but many were left wondering who took down that massive of an obstacle.

Unfortunately, there was one part of his master plan that went unaccounted for.

That being his descent.

He hadn’t thought about how he would get down once he jumped off the robot, but as he was currently falling, the boy couldn’t think of any way he could save himself. Sure, he wouldn’t die of course, but his modified quirk records didn’t mention his immortality at all. Once he eventually recovered from being a pile of mush, he would have to explain himself. And that would obviously cause a lot of problems.

As he came closer and closer to the ground, he truly realized there was nothing he could do. If he even tried to do a similar strike at the ground, the shockwave would likely injure many examinees. He would just have to splatter and come up with a story later.

Suddenly, he was slapped in the face. His end wasn’t as painful as he expected, but he wasn’t complaining.

But then he noticed he was floating above the ground, just inches from falling face flat. He instantly knew what was going on. It was the girl’s quirk again!

He looked up at her and watched as she floated on a chunk of a robot. She looked to be struggling and in pain. Midoriya felt the guilt pool in his stomach. He didn’t mean for her to get hurt more, especially trying to save him.

“Re...lease,” she stammered out quietly, but just loud enough for him to hear.

He then dropped to the ground roughly, and the robot that the brunette was on fell right beside him. He got to his feet as quickly as he could and rushed over to her.

“W-watch out!” she cried, waving one hand in front of her face.

He stopped in his tracks at her warning and stepped back as she proceeded to barf right at the spot he previously was at. When she finished, he stumbled over to the side of the robot piece she was still laying on.

“Are you alright?” he asked, “Here, let me help you down.”

She gratefully took his outstretched hand and pulled herself up so that she was sitting. The teen then motioned for her to jump down, opening his arms to gesture that he would catch her. The girl hesitated, but slid herself off the rubble. And as he had gestured, he did catch her, making sure her injured foot didn’t hit the ground.

“I’m going to set you down. Is that ok?”

She nodded, so Midoriya set her down against the robot piece she had been floating on, just like he had done originally with the building.

“AND IT'S OVER!!”

The boy finally let out the breath he had been holding since the beginning of the exam, and let his shoulders slump. He was sure he hadn’t passed the exam, but he had taken down the zero-pointer single handedly! That was enough for him to feel semi-prideful.

The examinees had now congregated around him and the girl, whispers and murmurs traveling through the crowd. But Midoriya didn’t care at that moment. He just wanted to make sure the brunette was ok before he left.

The crowd then cleared as a small, old lady made her way through, using a giant syringe as a cane. He turned to look at the woman, immediately recognizing who it was.

“Recovery Girl!” the teen called out.

“Oh?” the heroine responded.

“Ah, um she has an injury to her left foot,” he stated, motioning to the sitting girl.

“Well alright then.”

The older woman moved to give the girl a kiss on her head. Almost instantaneously, her injured foot was completely healed, as if she never had the injury to begin with.

“Are you hurt anywhere dearie?” she now asked him.

“Ah, no no.”

“Nonsense, here, take these gummies.”

She then shoved a handful of gummy bears into his hand. He stumbled to catch them, but a good majority of them decayed at his fingertips. She looked up at him in confusion.

“Ah, sorry,” he apologized, “That happens when I’m stressed.”

“Oh that’s alright. Do you want any more?”

“No, this is fine,” he shoved the remaining gummies into his mouth.

She laughed at his antics, “Alright then dearie! Have a nice day!”

Midoriya moved to walk out with the rest of the examinees, but not before turning back to smile at the brunette. She smiled back at him, but before she could call out for him to stop…

He was gone.

Midoriya was confident he didn’t pass. He knew that he’d scored well enough on the written portion of the exam, but with only 26 points, there was no way he passed the practical portion.

In the week after the exam, Gami did his best to lift the boy’s mood. Sure, he did drill into him the day after the exam, making sure his successor would be more self preserving in the future. But he was proud of him, and of his success with his abilities. The shockwave from his scythe was proof enough that his training had paid off.

But that week, there wasn’t much the man could do to make him feel better about his performance. He was sorely convinced that he’d blown the only shot he had at U.A.

His mother obviously hadn’t noticed her son’s change in behavior. And neither had his classmates. Ishihara would have probably noticed, but he hadn’t gone to see the man since the entrance exam. He didn’t want to disappoint the only other person that had believed in him.

It was around midday, and Midoriya was writing in one of his notebooks with the news playing in the background. The specter had gotten up at some point and hadn’t joined him back on the couch. The man had probably left for the day, and he couldn’t blame him. Who would want to hang out with such a failure like him?

“Izu!”

He turned to face the call in confusion. He thought that Gami had left.

“The letter! It’s outside!!”

At that, he stumbled off of the couch and raced out the front door. Just as the spirit said, the letter from U.A. was inside his mailbox. He grabbed the envelope and rushed back inside, with the ghost right behind him. They both plopped themselves onto the sofa.

But staring at the letter in his hands, the teen suddenly lost all excitement to open it. He was lucky to have his normal, polyester gloves on, or the envelope would have probably disintegrated out of stress.

The man sitting next to him noticed his successor’s hesitance and tried to ease him into opening the letter.

“Izu, we both know how great you are. And if U.A. cannot see that, then we will find another way for you to become a hero.”

The boy sighed, “I guess you’re right…”

He carefully ripped open the top and slid the contents out onto the coffee table. Out came a piece of paper and a metallic disc. As the disc hit the table though, it seemed to turn on. Both Midoriya and Gami flinched away from the bright screen that seemed to emerge from the device.

“THIS IS A PROJECTION!!”

And that was the last voice he wanted to hear today.

He could hear the ghost next to him groan. He almost did the same.

“Young Midoriya! I am here to discuss your exam results!”

“I wonder why All Might is speaking on behalf of U.A.”

Midoriya was wondering the exact same thing.

“You did pass the written exam with flying colors!!”

He pretty much knew that already, but it was nice to have the confirmation.

“But with only 26 points on the practical, it naturally results in failure.”

He looked down, not wanting to hear any more. His lip quivered and he could feel the tears threatening to fall. He knew he failed already.

“But that’s not the end of the story!”

What?

“Please, watch the screen!!”

He looked up from his lap at the screen to see the brunette from the exam, looking worried.

“Excuse me, but…” he heard her say to Present Mic, “um that curly haired boy… with freckles…? If it wasn’t for the scythe he had, he’d look pretty plain.”

He watched the pro hero nod.

“Can you give him some of the points I earned?”

“What…?” Midoriya gasped in shock.

“He used up the last minutes of the exam to save me, but he could have gotten so many more points instead. Can you at least give him however many points he passed up trying to save me?!”

Both he and Gami turned to look at each other.

“That boy… he saved my life!!”

The screen paused, and the duo could hear All Might’s voice return.

“You see,” he started, “In this exam, we weren’t just watching for villain based points!!”

The video then kept going and Present Mic moved to respond to the girl, “I’m afraid we can’t give him your points. But there shouldn’t be a need for it, my little listener!!”

Then the video stopped again, for what the teen assumed to be the last time as All Might’s face reappeared on the screen.

“A hero course that rejects those who do the right thing… IS NO HERO COURSE AT ALL!!”

Now the two were intrigued. Where was the hero going with this?

“Rescue points were also a factor! Another way for U.A. to evaluate you!!”

Rescue points? Like points for saving people?

“60 POINTS FOR IZUKU MIDORIYA!!” he announced, making the boy fall back into the couch, “And while we're at it… 45 POINTS FOR OCHAKO URARAKA!!”

That was enough for the boy to let the waterworks fall, but for an entirely different reason that why he was going to before.

“Though I’m not sure how…” All Might huffed under his breath, though both individuals caught it.

He then thrusted his hand towards the screen.

“YOU’RE IN!!”

The projection stopped after that, but Midoriya’s tears didn’t. Gami wasn’t too sure what to do, so he rubbed his hand onto his successor’s back, hoping to calm him down.

“I did it…” he whimpered out, “I passed!”

“I am so proud of you. I knew you could do it!”

He jumped to embrace his mentor tightly. The ghost wasn’t expecting it, but happily hugged back. He could feel the waves of happiness rolling off the boy, even as he was crying. They remained like that for a while, until the spirit suggested an idea.

“You have not visited Ishihara since the exam. Why don’t you go tell him the good news?”

“Oh, that would be great!” he exclaimed, “He would be so proud!!”

The teen stood up and grabbed the paper that had come with the projection device. He didn’t even get his backpack, or his coat, and flew out the front door, just stopping to grab his keys.

He shut the door roughly before running down the sidewalk in the direction of that beautiful, blue house.

And just like that, Midoriya’s mood was ruined.

Dashed.

Devastated.

He was watching the news right before he had gotten his letter. There should have been no way he could miss a story as big as this.

Ishihara’s quaint, blue house was partially crushed by a huge chunk of a building. The entire street was blocked off by police and surrounded by civilians. Looking up, the boy realized that an office building the next street over was missing the exact piece that was currently crushing his friend’s home.

He frantically shoved his way through the crowd and approached the nearest officer.

“Sir, w-what happened?”

The officer turned to look at him, immediately recognizing who he was, “Oh is you, from the sludge villain incident 10 months back. Look kid, I’m going to have to ask you to leave. You can’t really be trusted to be this close to the scene.”

“Please sir! I know the man who lives here!” he nearly broke down into tears again, “Please I need to know!”

The man sighed in exasperation, “I can’t say much, but there was a pretty nasty villain attack here. His quirk hit that building over there during an altercation with some heroes and it fell on the house.”

“Was there anyone in the house at the time?!”

The officer's shoulders slumped in annoyance, “Yeah, there was a man. He sustained pretty severe injuries and was in critical condition when he was rushed to the hospital.”

Midoriya’s hand shot up to his mouth, afraid he was going to throw up. He backed out of the crowd and stumbled on the sidewalk towards him home, nearly dropping the letter from U.A. in the process.

“Izu, I am sure he will be alright…”

But the teen didn’t listen. He just wanted to get home. That, or see Ishihara alright. He hadn’t spoken to him since before the exam. He actively refused to visit him in the week after he finished the exam, solely because he was afraid of disappointing him.

There was no way he could live with himself if something happened to him.

The two arrived back home, and Midoriya went right to the TV to turn on the news channel. He sat in front of the TV for the rest of the night until his mother came home, forcing him to evacuate. He didn’t even eat any dinner, as much as Gami pushed him to do so.

He spent every single second trying to piece together what had happened to the man he had grown to care for so much.

The officer wasn’t wrong. There was a villain attack in that area, but it didn’t start out that close to the blue house. The heroes had pushed the villain by accident into the suburban area, away from the city where it started it. The villain had some sort of finger missile quirk, which allowed him to shoot his fingers off his hands like rockets, and then regrow them instantly. Whatever they hit, they did serious damage to.

Apparently, one of the villain’s fingers strayed away from its target and hit that office building instead, causing a good sized chunk of it to fall down. And it fell right on Ishihara’s house.

The man was in the house at the time, and like the officer said, was severely injured. The ambulance didn’t arrive until almost 10 minutes later, after the villain was restrained. That’s why his friend was in such critical condition. He had remained trapped and injured in his own home for nearly 10 minutes. That thought made Midoriya sick. But what made him sicker was the fact that there weren’t any updates on his condition. He had no idea how the man was doing.

His mother eventually came home, so he moved into his room and turned off the TV.

Now, he sat at his desk. He was sketching in one of his notebooks before, but he couldn’t will himself to do that anymore. He had sat completely still in the chair for a good while, unsure of what to really do, but eventually settled on doing his job. That needed to get done anyway.

He wasn’t sure how long he had been working with the little puffs of light. Based on his mentor’s begs for him to sleep, he was sure it had at least been two hours. But the boy didn’t want to sleep. He simply felt too sick to shut his eyes. His head had been phasing in and out after each soul he sent away, not really paying too much attention to their names or their lives.

“Izu please. I understand you are hurting, but you need to sleep. It is nearly one in the morning.”

“I..I can’t sleep. I don’t want to sleep knowing everything that’s happened today.”

“But you have to. At least try.”

“I’ll… I’ll go to sleep in a little bit,” he compromised, “Just not now.”

Gami sighed, but took the little leeway he had been given. He moved next to his successor and ruffled his hair.

“Fine, but do not make it too long.”

Midoriya nodded shakily and reached for another little orb. As it can to him, he could feel the warmth coming off of it. It felt sort of comforting, and he appreciated that in the moment.

But as he touched it and the information came flooding to his head, he choked and fell to the floor on his knees.

“No, no…” he stammered, dropping the soul to clutch his mouth.

“Izu what is it? What is wrong?”

“NO!!” he wailed and hunched over.

Gami immediately got the message.

But he wasn’t sure how to help the distraught boy on the floor. Distraught wasn’t even the right word for him at the moment. He was torn.

Broken.

Destroyed.

The specter was worried that the teen’s mother might wake up because of the noise, but he couldn’t lock the door, so he simply hoped that she was too drunk to even open her eyes.

“I didn’t get to… I never got to… I… I…” he jumbled up his sentences to the point where the man was having a hard time figuring out what he was saying. He attempted to get closer to his successor when he let out another blood curling wail.

“I’M SORRY!!”

The noise in the room slowly diminished into pained gasps and sobs. Midoriya still didn’t move from his spot on the floor. The small soul he had let go of was now floating right in front of his drooped head. The puff didn’t move from its spot either. The room stayed silent other than the cries, but neither person made a move to change that. Not for a long time, anyway.

“I can’t…” he finally stuttered out.

“Izuku…”

“I can’t do it!”

The ghost took that as his cue to move in with the embrace. He knew exactly what Midoriya was experiencing right now. There had been a time where he himself had come face to face with his own loved ones while doing his job. It was painful, to say the very least. But he did realize that no matter where they were when they passed, or who they were with, he always got the last goodbye.

“I know, I know it hurts right now…” he started, hoping to calm the boy enough to at least hold the orb again, “But you have the chance… to show him before he has to go.”

The teen’s lip shook uncontrollably and ugly, fat tears streamed down his cheeks, but he still managed to look up at Gami.

“C-can he hear m-me?”

The spirit’s gaze moved away, not that the boy could tell, “I… do not know… but you can still tell him.”

The boy wasn’t sure if he liked that answer, but he managed to get his shaking under control long enough to cup the soul again. He felt the warmth spread throughout his body again, like he was under the morning sun. The ball of light seemed to shine brighter in his hands, but he couldn’t tell if that just was from the glint of his tears.

“Well, I’ve got full faith that you’ll turn out to be someone great. And if you’re planning on going into heroics, then I’ll just have to keep an ear out for you.”

“I…,” he moved the light close to his chest.

“I meant what I said when we first met. Quirk or not, you are going to be a great hero one day Midoriya.”

“I-I…,” his tears fell from his face and onto his cupped hands, going right through the orb.

“Well I’m not saying you have to prove them wrong, but maybe try not to associate their words with negativity.”

“…”

Gami watched as the boy struggled with what he wanted to say. He knew from personal experience, this was really difficult. But as much as he wanted to comfort him, he knew this wasn’t the right time to do so. This was Midoriya’s moment, and he wasn’t going to intrude.

Said teen continued to sob, but it was much quieter than before. He felt like an absolute hurricane, as well as an awful person. He wished he could go back in time just to visit him again before today. The guilt that was eating at him wasn’t pulling any punches. He wanted to make it up to the man. He wanted to make up for the fact that he hadn’t come to visit like he should have. But he didn’t know what words to use. What words could ever make up for what he had done, or more accurately, what he didn’t do?

He turned his head away and looked towards his desk at random. Even from the floor, he could see the letter from U.A. as well as the holographic disc that had announced to him the good news. What a rollercoaster of a day it had been. And what he wouldn’t give to make it less disastrous.

He looked back at the soul in his hands. He almost thought it was staring back at him, from the way it glittered.

“Just make sure to remember your biggest fan when you go pro.”

“Ishihara-san…” he began again.

The light glowed in response, but Midoriya swore it was just his head messing with him.

“I did it. I’m going to U.A.”

Chapter Text

It didn’t take long for spring to arrive, as well as the start of U.A., but it sure felt like a while to Midoriya. It had only been a couple months after the entrance exam, but so much had gone down. There was never a dull moment, but every moment felt dull. It was hard for the boy to explain, but Gami seemed to understand it just fine.

Ishihara’s death had hit him hard. He sometimes found himself walking to the blue house in hopes he could be let inside, only to meet the police tape that surrounded the property. He heard the family had already had the funeral, and as much as he knew he wouldn’t get an invitation, it still left him awfully depressed. All he really had were the few plates the man had given to him for taking cookies home. Those ceramic plates stayed on the bottom shelf of the bookcase with his flowers. He would never risk them falling and breaking.

But currently, the teen wasn't in the comfort of his room with his flowers and his plates. No. Right now, he was in the principal’s office at Aldera. His day at school had been as it usually was, except for the teacher telling him that the principal wanted to see him and Bakugo after class. He wasn’t sure what the man wanted with him at first, but now, he had made it obvious.

“How wonderful that two of our students have made it into U.A.!” the plump man stated. The comment would have been nice, if it weren't for the subtle messages he knew the man was pushing.

Midoriya opted to stand still towards the back of the office. His gloved hands picked at his uniform pants. He desperately wanted to leave this situation, and he knew Gami felt the same.

Said man stood next to his successor, up against the wall. There wasn’t much space in the office, so the ghost could feel that a portion of his form was more like in the wall. He also wasn’t comfortable in the situation and was ready to head out.

“Especially you, Midoriya!” he continued, despite the growing tension in the small office, “That’s a miracle we never expected!”

The principal’s words made him want to puke. He wasn’t the quirkless miracle they thought he was. He was strong. He was capable. And he now had the confidence to know that he was all that, even without his powers.

Bakugo was also in the office, but stood closer to the principal. His hands were stuffed in his pockets and his shoulders slumped back. Though the blond hadn’t pulled anything too brash since the sludge villain incident, he still wasn’t eager to be this close in proximity to him.

Eventually, the principal finally stopped talking, and the boy took the opportunity to leave the room. He rushed out of the school, not wanting to be caught with Bakugo after hours. He passed by the courtyard, and the beautiful tree in the center seemed to wave him goodbye. Of course, he knew it was only the wind, but it was nice to pretend sometimes.

He entered his alleyway shortcut like he did every day. It was a long path to take and it always seemed to be dark no matter the time of day. The alleyway still gave the teen chills, but he was constantly on alert. That was a skill he had gratefully picked up after the sludge villain incident, and it hadn’t disappointed him yet.

So Midoriya knew that Bakugo had followed him into the alleyway. The teen’s loud and harsh footsteps betrayed himself enough, even without his keen sense of observation.

That didn’t mean he was expecting the blond to shove him up against a building wall.

“What dirty tricks did you use to do it, you quirkless shit,” Bakugo growled and grabbed him by the front of his shirt. He pulled the boy close to his face and yelled again, spit flying everywhere. “HUH?!”

Midoriya flinched on reflex, shutting his eyes and raising his gloved hands to protect his face. He was more composed around his other peers, but something about the angry blond just didn’t sit right with him. Maybe it was because they were friends at one point? He didn’t really know.

“I was supposed to be the first and only from this shitty school!” he continued furiously and thrusted the teen against the wall once more, “You’ve ruined everything!!”

The timid boy looked to Gami, who was desperately trying to pull Bakugo off of him. When the spirit finally understood that his arms would not solidify and would only continue to pass through the student, he moved to yank on his successor instead. But the minute the specter lifted his head up slightly and made eye contact with the trapped teen, he hesitated. Something in his friend’s eyes screamed at him not to intervene. So he backed off wearlily, but kept his guard up.

But Bakugo didn’t catch the little interaction, His tunnel vision was only focused on his rage. “I thought I told you not to try for U.A. I told you-”

Midoriya didn’t mean to react, honestly. But his body moved before he could think.

He grabbed Bakugo’s arm, the one holding him against the alleyway wall, tightly. He burrowed his gloved fingers deep into the uniform’s fabric, half hoping to bruise the skin. The teen still kept his head down during all that. His unruly hair dangled over his eyes, and blocked the blond’s startled reaction from his sight.

“Well, I’ve got full faith that you’ll turn out to be someone great. And if you’re planning on going into heroics, then I’ll just have to keep an ear out for you.”

“S-somebody told me…” he started shakily, his heart heavy.

“I meant what I said when we first met. Quirk or not, you are going to be a great hero one day Midoriya.”

“That I could become a hero!”

He slammed his feet on the ground, steadying himself.

“Ka-” the boy corrected himself, “Bakugo…”

Said teen barely registered the words being said to him. He didn’t understand why useless, worthless Deku kept going. All their other classmates had already given up on competing with him, and they had quirks. So why didn’t Deku just give up too?

Midoriya wasn’t sure where this courage was coming from. He had stood up for himself in front of Bakugo before, but it was usually in a more passive way. Never something as brash as yelling back though. But he didn’t question it, and just let his mouth run.

“I earned this!”

Gami certainly wasn’t expecting an outburst from his successor, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t proud. He knew the boy hated confrontation, as well as the attention that followed. But that just made the few times he snapped all the more prideful to watch. The man knew he couldn’t force the boy to be more assertive towards Bakugo or the others, but he was glad that he was growing to be more confident at the very least.

“That’s why I’m…” the teen locked his grip on the blond’s arm and pulled it off of him impulsively. He couldn’t stand how aggressive or touchy Bakugo was, always seeming to creep into his personal space to ridicule him or make him feel miserable. After way too many times of him using his quirk on the shoulder where his father’s scar laid, he’d grown to dislike any time Bakugo laid his hands on him, whether it was on said scar or not.

But right now, he wasn’t focused on the blond’s lack of personal awareness. Sure, he had removed the invasive grip on his collar, but that didn’t mean he was done yet. He wasn’t the useless, worthless Deku that Bakugo thought he was. He was a changed person. The sludge villain incident changed him. Meeting All Might changed him. The entrance exam changed him. Ishihara’s death changed him. Gami’s consistent support changed him. And Bakugo needed to realize that.

He began to distance himself from the blond, walking down the alleyway towards the other end. Bakugo, while still in shock, began to go after the teen. But Midoriya quickly turned to face him, his glare stopping the angry boy in his tracks.

“I’m going to be here no matter what, so get used to it…”

He didn’t need to yell it out, or check on Bakugo, as he walked out of the alley.

He knew the blond heard him loud and clear.

Gami rushed to catch up to the teen. He got to see Bakugo’s reaction clearly, and it put a smile on his hidden face. The spirit wasn’t expecting such a fierce declaration from his successor, but neither was Bakugo, based on his seething expression.

He caught up to the boy right as he turned onto another street, but said boy didn’t seem to notice.

“That was not like you…”

Midoriya jumped at the sound of his mentor’s calm voice. He tightened his grip on his backpack straps. “Yeah… sorry about that.”

“I did not mean it like that, not in a bad way anyway.”

The normally reserved teen looked up at that, “Hm?”

“Nevermind. It was nice to see you stand up for yourself though.”

And then the teen looked back down bashfully, but regained his composure, “I heard enough already from the principal, I didn’t want to hear more from Bakugo of all people.”

“I guess that is understandable…”

The two continued to walk together, but Gami was merely following his successor. He assumed that they were heading home at first, but the boy didn’t turn down the street like he was supposed to. The man didn’t question it though, and just kept following without a word.

As for Midoriya, he really didn’t know where he was going. He was simply walking wherever his feet were taking him. He was a bit shaken after the confrontation with Bakugo in the alleyway, but it felt good to finally tell off the blond. It was something that didn’t happen often, but when it did, it felt like striking gold. But his mind was now wandering aimlessly, just like he was. It didn’t really matter where he was going, as long as it was away from that alley.

He noticed that he had stopped, so he shook himself out of his thoughts and looked up to figure out where exactly he was.

He froze when a partially destroyed quaint, blue house met his gaze.

The boy had found himself walking to the house as a force of habit, but as much as he tried not to, he ended up here multiple times a week. Each time he did, the house’s perimeter was blocked off by police tape, and would only permit him to come so close. But that wasn’t an object of complaint for him. He was quite fine with looking out at the friendly house from a distance. Ending up at Ishihara’s home wasn’t what made him freeze.

What made him freeze was the fact that police tape no longer fenced him out.

He took a slow step forward, into the area where before, the tape hadn’t let him cross. He stopped and listened, but there wasn’t any sound. No policeman telling him to leave, no bystanders asking him what he was doing, but also no Ishihara calling him to come inside. It was bittersweet, but he was going to take advantage of the fact that no one was going to tell him no.

Midoriya made his way up the front stairs, savoring each step on the weathered, but homey concrete. His hand moved to brush against the metal rails, and though he couldn’t feel the smooth steel, the chill still seeped through his glove. It had been such a while since he had gotten to walk up these steps, and it almost made him burst into tears. But he wasn’t going to cry out in public, so he forced the tears back in and continued up.

When he finally reached the front door, the teen wasn’t sure what to do. He wanted to knock, but he was positive no one would answer. He did remember Ishihara going on about his family, but as far as he knew, the older man lived alone. And if someone did answer, what would he say? There wasn’t any real reason he was here, other than the pull of something unnatural. No person in their right mind would let a stranger in for no reason, even if that stranger claimed to know the owner of the house.

“Um Izu, what are you doing exactly?”

“I… don’t really know…”

But even then, the boy made no effort to remove himself from the property. His instincts were telling him to wait, even if those instincts didn’t really know what they were waiting for. But his gut hadn’t failed him yet, so he gave the feeling a chance and continued to wait right in front of the door.

“I really think we should get goi-”

That’s when the front door opened.

At the door was a woman. She looked older, but definitely not as old as Ishihara, and had long, brown hair that nearly reached her mid chest. She jumped, not expecting him there, but quickly composed herself. She took up an annoyed stance, almost like it hurt her eyes to look at him.

“Excuse me,” she said snarkily, “but what are you doing here?”

Midoriya hesitated, not expecting someone to open the door either. He began to introduced himself even though she hadn’t asked his name, “Um, I’m Mi-”

“I know who you are,” she interrupted hastily, “you quirkless brat. You're wasting my time, so scram.”

The teen flinched at the declaracion. She must live somewhere in the neighborhood then, if she knew he didn’t have a quirk. But he still tried to get a word in, “Please, I-”

“Ishihara-san, who was at the door?”

Both parties stopped at that call, though for completely different reasons, but the woman recovered faster and called back.

“It’s nothing Takagi, just some quirkless kid,” she replied and then turned to look at the boy, “who’s about to be leaving.”

Midoriya shuddered, but didn’t move as the unknown voice from before made his way to the front door.

“Nonsense Ishihara-san, I’m coming to see for myself,” the voice called out again as the footsteps grew louder.

The brown haired woman seemed to grow a shade paler, “No, no, it’s fine, really. There’s no need-”

The puzzled teen shared a glance at the specter next to him, who seemed equally lost. The man just shrugged at his successor, at a loss for what to do. Getting no real helpful advice from the ghost, he decided to just wait and see who came to the door.

And right at that thought, a black haired man in fine clothing met his curious gaze. The man’s dark, brown eyes met his own and he looked away with embarrassment. He hoped this man was more open to what he had to say, if he could get his timid voice to say anything.

“Hello!” the man began first, to which Midoriya was grateful for, “Who might you be?”

“Um, I’m Midoriya Izuku and I was hoping-”

“Wait,” he interrupted. Goodness, was anyone going to let him talk today? “Did you say your name was Midoriya Izuku?”

That made the boy do a double take, “Um, yes and-”

“Oh, that’s wonderful!”

The death duo shared another quick look of bewilderment, before the teen returned his attention to the man in the sharp suit. He was a bit weary of why this man was interested in him, but the cheerful smile in front of him pushed back his worries enough to hear him out.

The man must have picked up on his hesitation, because he started to back track, “Ah, sorry. Let me introduce myself. I’m Takagi Masa, and I’m the Ishihara family’s executor.”

He then gestured to the brown haired woman that had answered the door originally, “This is Ishihara Tadao’s daughter, Ishihara Kohoni.”

The newly introduced Kohoni coughed, “Takagi, what are you doing? We have work to do.”

Takagi simply flashed her a bright smile, before continuing on with his tangent, “I’m sure you already know, but as the Ishihara family’s executor, I’m in charge of making sure that Ishihara Tadao’s will is properly taken care of.”

Midoriya, in fact, did not know this. Between training for U.A. and keeping out of trouble at Aldera, he hadn’t had the chance to brush up on legal studies. But he merely nodded his head and let the man keep talking.

“Ishihara Tadao did name one Midoriya Izuku in his will, but hadn’t left any way to contact him. I was wondering how I was going to get in touch with you, but the universe works in mysterious ways it seems.”

That statement definitely caught the teen’s interest. Ishihara has left him something in his will? That certainly surprised him. Though, he hadn’t had the faintest idea of what it could be.

“Well, why don’t you come inside Midoriya-kun? Since we’ll need to talk things out.”

The boy barely croaked out a response, “Um, sure I guess…”

Takagi then ushered him inside, to the shock of Kohoni. But she composed herself enough to come back in as well. Gami was left alone, wondering if he should really intrude on a matter this sensitive, but he decided to join his successor just in case. He quickly phased through the door to catch up.

By the time he did, Midoriya was now sitting at the home’s small dining room table with Takagi, Kohoni observing from the kitchen doorway. He could tell the teen was nearly in tears, and not only because he was finally back in the house. The spirit recalled Ishihara patching up the boy a few years back at that very table, where he later came out as quirkless. That day was momentous to his successor, as he finally had the support of someone other than the ghost himself. But Gami stopped reminiscing when the raven haired man piped up again.

“Normally, we wouldn’t do things here,” he started, “but you just so happened to catch Ishihara-san and I finalizing the details of her portion of the will.”

The teen nodded in understanding, waiting for the man to continue.

“Luckily, your visit still works out pretty well, since I’ve already set aside the items bestowed to you.”

Takagi reached over to a stack of paper on the dining room table and shuffled through them. He pulled out a few sheets from the center and laid them out in front of the boy. He picked them up to examine them, but the man started talking again.

“Because you’re under 18, as the executor, I’m supposed to hold onto your inheritance until you come of age. But, the items you’ve inherited hold little monetary value from a legal standpoint, so I can offer you them now.”

Midoriya picked out his name in the set of papers that Takagi had handed him. He really was written into Ishihara’s will. But he couldn’t find what his inheritance was in the mass vomit of words. He looked up to the executor, finally realizing he had stopped talking, “Do I… need a lawyer for this?”

The man chuckled, “Typically I would recommend one when dealing with inheritance, but like I said before, what you’ve inherited is of so little monetary value, that it’s really not necessary. Though, the decision is still entirely up to you.”

The teen eyed his mentor briefly, hoping that was enough to catch the spirit’s attention. Thankfully, it was.

“I only remember dealing with a few inheritance proceedings in my time, but from what I do know, I think you are alright.”

He gave a curt nod in acknowledgement before moving to respond, “I guess I’m good then…”

“Oh wonderful!! You’ve saved me quite a bit of time, Midoriya-kun. Oh, I love how clean this is turning out to be!!”

Midoriya, Gami, and Kohoni watched in silence as Takagi sang praises to himself. For dealing with a deceased’s will, the man was oddly bubbly, but the boy guessed it came with the job. Takagi seemed to realize he was making a scene and calmed himself down enough to continue with the proceeding.

“Well Midoriya-kun, follow me,” he stood up from his chair, prompting the teen to get up as well, “I’ve laid out your inheritance in the living room.”

The suited man walked out of the dining room abruptly, so he dashed after him. Gami didn’t trail behind as far, interested to see how the situation played out. The last to leave the room was Kohoni, who was a bit annoyed, but also surprisingly intrigued.

The boy had to stop himself, nearly crashing into Takagi. The executor seemed a bit hasty in his actions and that was starting to get on his nerves, but the man has been nothing but nice to him, so he refused the urge to call him out. He stayed close behind as the man slowly walked into the room, but still couldn’t see much.

“Here it all is,” he stated and moved out of the way, allowing Midoriya a perfect view of the coffee table.

On said table was a cardboard box, carefully folded together and taped. Only the top flaps were left open, so he cautiously made his way over to peer inside. Gami too was curious, but opted to let his successor take the first peek.

Midoriya wasn’t going to lie, he was nervous. He really wasn’t sure what to expect in the box, but he knew it wasn’t going to be anything bad. He wished he could tell that to his brain though. His hands were shaky and sweaty, and the boy was afraid he wouldn’t be able to open the box like this. Still, he willed up any confidence he had left and slowly lifted open the flaps.

The first thing that caught his eye was a glint of sunlight. It nearly blinded him, so he had to step back. But upon further examination, there wasn’t a miniature sun in the box. Instead, there was something silver that reflected the sunlight coming in from the window. He carefully lifted the silver object out to get a better look, and almost dropped it out of shock.

It was a beautiful, silver kettle with an antique finish. He quickly switched to holding it by the thin handle as to not smudge the polished surface. It looked so pristine, so he assumed it was unused and kept away in an attic or something. But when he turned it over to check, he could see the scorch marks it wore from time over a stove. That nearly brought him to tears, but not for the reasons you’d expect. The searing on the bottom of the kettle merely confirmed to the boy that this was most likely the kettle Ishihara used to prepare tea for the two of them.

Clearing his consciousness, he gently set the kettle down onto the coffee table and moved to look in the cardboard box again. Inside, the next thing his eyes picked out was a notebook with a light brown cover, so he wrapped his fingers around the slightly worn spine to pull it out. At first glance, he wasn’t sure exactly what the book contained, as it had no words on the cover, so he tenderly flipped through the pages. But he couldn’t tell what the book was about even then, so he stopped on a random page to examine the scrawls. After reading the first few lines, he figured out it was a recipe. Going back to look at the other pages, the teen realized that the whole book was full of baking recipes. Cookies and pastries that Ishihara loved to bake and serve when he came over.

That actually brought him to tears, so he placed the book down next to the kettle before those droplets fell.

Tagaki watched the boy grow more and more emotional at unboxing the items left for him. The executor smiled warmly at the sight. He knew first hand how emotionally valuable inheritance could be, despite whatever its monetary value was. Honestly, he was glad it wasn’t worth much, or else he would have had to hold onto it by the terms of his position.

Kohoni was practically indifferent to the situation, but not without curiosity. She wondered what relations this kid had possessed with her father. By now she had lost most of her hostility towards him, but that didn’t mean she was eager to be around him.

Midoriya figured he had wasted enough of Takagi and Kohoni’s time crying, so he wiped his eyes and reached into the cardboard box again. There was one last thing inside, so he grabbed it with both hands and lifted it out. The item was a wooden box, and a bit heavier than he expected. He put the box down onto the coffee table and ran a gloved hand over the smooth wood. It had a golden clasp on the front, so he popped it open and raised the lid.

When the sight of the chess set he and Ishihara played with met his gaze, the waterworks went into overdrive. He collapsed onto his knees and held the open box tightly to his chest as he sobbed, startling the two others, as well as the ghost, still in the room.

Gami quickly moved into action, floating over to assist in any way he could. But it was Kohoni who actually said the first coherent sentence.

“What is it?” she craned her neck to try and get a better look, “A chess set?”

“Indeed, Ishihara-san,” Takagi replied, “That, along with the kettle and recipe book, were specifically left for Midoriya-kun in the will.”

Said boy seemed to compose himself enough to close the box and get back up on his feet. He sniffled out a quiet, little “sorry” before placing the chess set back into the cardboard box.

“Nonsense,” the suited man interrupted, “These situations are always emotional.”

The teen rubbed the stray tears from his eyes and wiped his wet hands on his school uniform. He made sure his hands were dry enough before grabbing the recipe book and kettle to put them into the box as well.

The brunette woman broke the silence again, her nosiness getting the better of her, “What exactly was your relationship with my father?”

Midoriya was startled at the seemingly sincere question directed at him, especially from a person so hostile towards him at first. But he took the time to think about it. There were so many ways he could describe the relationship he had with Ishihara, and yet not enough words. He didn’t take too long though, just to ensure the woman’s patience didn’t run out.

He finished packing away the three items and shut the cardboard box. He placed a hand onto the top to force the two open flaps down.

“Ishihara-san was… a really close friend.”

Kohoni looked shocked, “That’s it?”

The boy laughed and picked up the cardboard box carefully, making sure not to disturb any of the items inside.

“Well… I’d like to believe he thought the same of me. But I’m sure he had many friends other than myself.”

The younger Ishihara scoffed, “Well, obviously.”

Midoriya continued despite the quip, “And while I’m sure I was not Ishihara-san’s first friend, he was most certainly mine.”

Takagi’s smile fell a bit, but he picked it back up before anyone could notice. The brown haired woman didn’t make any outward expressions, but she swore she felt a sharp tug on her heartstrings.

Gami wasn’t hurt at that declaration. It was technically the truth. The older man was his successor’s first “human” friend. Besides, the specter was already aware that he would forever be the O.G.

The teen paused at that and took a moment to reminisce. Ishihara was a lot of “firsts” for him.

He was the first person he had a premonition about, and the first person he saved.

He was the first person who had ever invited him over, and the first person to bake treats for him.

He was the first person who had ever patched him up, and the first person who supported his dreams.

The boy held the cardboard box close to his chest, squeezing it tightly in his arms.

“I’m really thankful to have known him.”

The first day of U.A. arrived faster than Midoriya thought it would, but he was ready. He set his phone alarm early for that morning, even earlier than he normally got up for his deathly duties. He wanted to give himself plenty of time to pack and prepare. The last thing he wanted to do was arrive late on the very first day.

Gami had helped him pack the night before though, so he didn’t feel at all stressed waking up this morning.

He straightened out his new U.A. uniform, the grey a nice change from the black of Aldera. The spirit had attempted to teach the boy how to do his tie, but his efforts were fruitless. He still walked out of the house that morning with a poorly done, fat tie, as well as his signature red sneakers and his black leather bag.

The subway ride didn’t feel as long as it was, and evidently enough, the duo walked down the beautiful path they had taken before for the entrance exams. Just as the teen had hoped, the trees now grew lushious green leaves on their branches and framed the walkway luxuriously. He almost wished he could spend the whole day out here, but knew that wasn’t an option.

He calmly strolled down the halls of the prestigious school, looking for his class. He had studied the map that came with the acceptance letter, but still managed to forget where he was going in the awe of observing every nook and cranny. Thankfully, the ghost had looked at the map as well, and was now leading the boy down the right hall. The two finally arrived at a large door that read “1-A” on it in big, bold lettering. They both stopped to stare mesmerizingly at it.

“Well, that is certainly one massive entryway…”

Midoriya chuckled, “It has to be accessible to everyone, no matter their quirks.”

But after that, he felt his laughter die off to replace his nervousness. Once he entered that classroom, he’d be in a room full of the best of the best. That thought made his heart sputter. Did he deserve to be here? Even though he technically didn’t have a quirk, he did have powers. Did that make his acceptance count, or was it a petty excuse? What if he was taking this spot from someone else who really deserved it? His head started to spiral again, but Gami caught it before he could fall any deeper.

“Just remember that you earned your spot here,” he spoke softly, “You took the same exam as everyone else, and you came out on the very top.”

The boy smiled up at his mentor, “Yeah, you’re right.”

He moved his gloved hands to grip at the sliding door and pulled it open slowly.

His mind drifted back to Bakugo in the moment, as well as the other kid that embarrassed him from the entrance exam, but he shook it off the best he could.

“Let’s just hope they’re in the other class…” he remarked to no one.

“Who?”

And that's when the door opened up all the way to reveal the blue haired boy yelling strictly at Bakugo right near the front of the room.

“Nevermind, I think I know who.”

“Remove your foot from that desk!” the strict boy from the exam berated, “Such an action is insulting to those who came to U.A. before us as well as the craftsmen who made the desk!!”

“Like I care,” the blond scoffed, not moving his foot, “What middle school are you from, extra?”

Midoriya deadpanned. It was just his luck that both kids happened to be in his class. He wasn’t sure how he’d deal with Bakugo, but he hoped at the very least he could get on good terms with the other boy.

Said boy gasped at Bakugo’s response, but answered the question, “I’m from Somei Private Academy. My name is Iida Tenya.”

“Somei?!” he repeated with a smug grin, “A stuck up elitist, then? I should blow you to bits.”

Iida grew even more flabbergasted, “Blow me to bits? Do you really wish to become a hero?!”

It was then that Iida noticed the green haired boy standing nervously in the doorway. He shuffled over to him to introduce himself again.

“Oh dear…”

“I’m from Somei Private Academy…” the teen started again.

“Ah, I heard you from before,” he interrupted, not really wanting to hear the same spiel from before, “Um, I’m Midoriya Izuku. Pleased to meet you, Iida…”

“Midoriya…” Iida mumbled out, causing said teen to flinch. That name reminded him too much of home. Maybe he could get his classmates to call him by a nickname or something. “You perceived the true nature of that practical exam… while I did not.”

The reserved boy and his mentor shared a look. He hadn’t really perceived anything during the exam, he simply did what was right. He couldn’t just stand and watch as the nice brunette got hurt, or as the giant robot tore up the mock city. He wasn’t expecting to get any points, much less 60 rescue points, but he wasn’t complaining.

“I misjudged you!!” Goodness was that boy still talking? “I hate to admit it, but you were the superior candidate!”

“Ah, well I only did what I thought was right…” he whispered, not enjoying the attention he was getting from the other kids in the classroom, “Um, I'm going to go sit down now.”

He started walking away from the blunt male. This was definitely not how he wanted to start his first day, but if he walked away from the spotlight now, there was still a chance he could get away with a quiet rest of the day. Though, it didn’t seem like the universe wanted that for him, because just as he attempted to move away from Iida, the class door opened again.

“That curly hair, it’s you!”

Midoriya recognized the voice, but he still jolted from surprise. He turned around and sure enough, it was the nice girl from the entrance exam. He smiled softly and tried to make his way to his seat. The brunette didn’t seem to realize his discomfort though, and walked right up to him.

“You got in! Just like Present Mic said!!” she cheered enthusiastically, pumping her fist into the air, “It makes sense though! That swing was awesome!!”

The timid teen grew more nervous at her loud and bubbly personality, but at feeling the ghost run a cold, boney hand through his hair, he calmed down enough to respond, “Um, well I have to thank you for speaking on my behalf…”

Gami just listened as the talkative girl rambled on and on to his successor. He took the time to examine the other kids in the classroom. There were certainly a variety of quirks to say the least, and each student looked unique, but his gaze inevitably landed on the seething blond. The spirit could tell Bakugo wasn’t happy about the arrival of his friend, but he hadn’t made any attempts to quip at him yet, much less attack him. That was definitely an improvement from Aldera, so the specter wasn’t too upset.

“So we got our entrance ceremony and guidance sessions today, right?” Gami wondered if all these kids just liked to talk, or if his successor was just quieter than he thought. But nonetheless, she hadn’t waited for a response before continuing. “I wonder what our teacher will be like? Boy am I nervous…”

Midoriya chuckled nervously. He felt the same way, but he was eager to go sit down. They were still at the front of the classroom and he could feel the eyes on the two of them. He wondered where the teacher was, considering he still wasn’t in the classroom yet.

“If you’re here to socialize, then get out.”

Ah, speak of the devil and he shall appear.

He watched the brunette turn around towards the open door in shock, and he turned to look as well. And while he didn’t know what to expect considering his homeroom teacher, he certainly wasn’t prepared to see a haggard looking man wrapped up in a yellow sleeping bag. He pulled his hand out of the bag, along with what looked to be a juice pouch. He gave the pouch a nice, long suck, before moving to stand up. He unzipped the sleeping bag and let it fall to his feet, revealing his outfit, which consisted of a black jumpsuit and a familiar grey scarf.

Oh my god! That’s Pro Hero Eraserhead!! the teen’s analytic mind snapped into overdrive.

“This is certainly interesting…”

“It took eight seconds for you to quiet down,” the rugged man stated bluntly, “Time is a precious resource. You lot aren’t very rational, are you?”

The class didn’t really know how to react to the man, or his declaration. Many simply gaped like fish.

The man didn’t waste any time though and continued talking, “I’m your homeroom teacher, Aizawa Shota. Pleased to meet you.”

Once the man introduced himself, Midoriya was sure he was Eraserhead. If the scarf didn’t give him away, the name surely did. He was arguably the boy’s favorite underground hero ever, and had a few pages in a notebook dedicated to him, his quirk, and his fighting style. Of course, it was unlikely that his other classmates had ever heard of him, since he really tried to stay out of the media spotlight. But he wasn’t about to call the man out, since the teacher obviously didn’t introduce himself as Eraserhead for some reason.

“Change into your gym clothes and out to the grounds,” he said, not skipping a beat, “Your clothes should be in a locker assigned to you in the class locker rooms.

The teen didn’t want to be the first person to leave the room, so he hesitated and let Iida, along with some other students, leave first before following them to the locker room.

“That was Eraserhead, correct?” Gami inquired.

He nodded subtly, trying not to draw any attention to himself. He walked into the locker room and looked for his own. All of the lockers had numbers plated onto them, but also had sticky notes as well. He assumed that the sticky notes had their names on them, so he searched for his. Finally finding it, he opened the door to see his gym clothes, which were a dark blue with white lines that spelled out the school’s initials. Quickly unfolding them, he realized the tops were short sleeved.

Luckily, he had come prepared just in case.

Placing his backpack into the locker, he opened it and pulled out a black, long sleeve turtleneck. He had purchased a few more of these shirts, thin and moisture wicking for any sort of summer activities. He had placed one of them in his bag in the event he needed it for school, not really expecting to be out on the grounds on the first day though.

Midoriya closed his locker and moved towards the bathroom stalls. All the other boys were changing out in the open, but he wasn’t too keen on revealing his scars. He knew the burn one would attract a lot of attention at the very least, and that was definitely something he didn’t want. He knew some kids were giving him weird looks, but he tried not to pay any attention. He opened one of the stall doors and walked in with his gym clothes and turtleneck.

“It was a good thing you decided to bring that with you.”

The teen hummed out a noise of approval, taking off his uniform top to slip on the turtleneck. The neck was tall enough to cover the bit of the burn scar that peeked out of his uniform, and the sleeves reached all the way to his wrist to shield his other injuries from view. And that was just the way he liked it.

“Do not let them get to you. They are just being curious.”

“I know,” he whispered under his breath.

He figured there would be stares if he decided not to change out in the open, so he wasn’t too surprised when he was proven correct. That was simply the nature of curiosity. When someone acts out of the ordinary, it draws attention. He was used to it.

Though, one stare remained on him a bit longer than the others, and returned once he left the stall as well. The boy didn’t notice it, but Gami certainly did. At first, the old ghost assumed it was Bakugo.

But a certain head of candy cane hair made him reassess his initial assumptions.

“A quirk test?!”

Midoriya had hung around the back of the class once he got outside. He wore the gym clothes just like everyone else, just with his black turtleneck underneath. It covered the parts of his neck and arms that his gym uniform did not. Paired with his usual black, polyester gloves, and he was comfortable and ready to go. He and Gami tuned in to the conversation currently playing out.

“What about the entrance ceremony or the guidance sessions?” he heard the nice brunette from before exclaim. He really needed to learn her name.

“You don’t have time to waste on that stuff if you want to become heroes,” Aizawa began.

At that, hushed murmurs grew from the class, so the teacher proceeded speaking.

“U.A. is known for its ‘freestyle’ educational system,” he continued, and the whispers died down, “That applies to us teachers as well.”

Aizawa walked over to what the teen presumed to be an area for softball throwing, and beckoned the class to follow. The new first years shuffled over nervously, including Midoriya. Just because he knew that man was Eraserhead didn’t make him any less intimidating. Actually, the pro was probably more intimidating with the knowledge that he was such a scarily effective underground hero, despite his non offensive quirk.

“Softball throwing, standing long jump, 50 meter dash, endurance running,” the boy was confused at first why the hero was listing basic exercises, but he then realized that those were the kind of tests that he had done in gym class back at Aldera. Of course, he didn’t say anything, and the teacher continued. “Grip strength, side to side stepping, upper body training, seated toe touch.”

He looked towards his mentor, who seemed a bit puzzled. I guess it was fair to assume the man didn’t perform anything like standardized athletics testing during his adolescence. He doubted there even was standardized athletics testing 5 centuries ago.

“You all did these in middle school, yes?” Aizawa addressed the confused looks in the crowd, “Your standard, no-quirks-allowed gym tests.”

The homeroom teacher scoffed seemingly at his own statement, “This country still insists on prohibiting quirks when calculating the averages of those records. It’s not rational. The department of education is simply procrastinating.”

Midoriya couldn’t deny what the pro was saying. The education system was sorely behind when it came to implementing transitions for quirks in the classroom. He remembered Aldera’s rules when it came to quirks, not only the ones pertaining to use in general. His middle school allowed a lot of unfair treatment depending on the quirk a student had. Bakugo and himself were prime examples. He had hoped for some changes while he was still in middle school, whether by Aldera or by the department themselves, but he knew not to expect anything. As they say, hope for the best and expect the worst.

“Midoriya,” Aizawa called out, startling the boy out of his thoughts, “Where are you?”

“Um, right here sir…” he responded passively, moving to the front of the crowd. Gami moved up with him, passing right through the other students.

The tired looking hero eyed his extra clothing, but chose not to call him out. Instead, he continued on his tangent.

“You came first in the entrance exam, correct?” the gruff man didn’t wait for a response, “How far could you throw in middle school?”

The teen shuffled a bit at being called out, and grew more nervous at the whispers coming from his classmates. He picked at his gloved fingers in an attempt to calm himself down.

“Uh, 46 meters sir…”

“Great, now try it with your quirk. Do whatever you need to. Just don't leave the circle.”

He simply nodded and walked into the circle drawn on the ground. Aizawa tossed him the ball and he caught it snappily. He could pick out Bakugo’s voice yell out loudly over the crowd.

“Hah, what’s Deku gonna do? He's just a quirkless runt!”

Iida stepped right in to defend him, “Quirkless? So you haven’t heard about his feats during the entrance exam?”

The two then devolved into squabbles, but Midoriya tried not to listen in. He was stressed enough as it was. Gami ran a hand through his successor’s hair, hoping to ease him. The pro seemed to have caught onto the boy’s hesitation, so he added a short comment of encouragement.

“Give it all you got.”

He nodded softly at the advice and tossed the ball from hand to hand. He opted to take off his gloves, but decided against it, deeming it not necessary. He quickly glanced to the side to look at his mentor, who stood outside the circle as to not get in his way.

“Do not worry about Bakugo or the others,” the spirit reassured, “This is your next step.”

“Yeah…” the teen mumbled. He shook off his nervousness for now. He didn’t want to waste any more of his teacher’s time. He had done enough hesitating, so he decided to just jump in head first.

He threw the ball directly above him, as high as he could. He could hear the startled gasps from his classmates, as they were most likely assuming he would throw it forward. But he didn’t have any time to think about them. He was completely focused on launching this ball as far as he could. This was his shot, and he was going to take it.

As the ball was in the air, Midoriya flexed his right hand and summoned his scythe. Quickly grabbing it with his other hand, he lifted it behind his head. He only had a single moment before the ball fell back down, but he poured as much DT as he could into his weapon. He could also hear the breaths of shock at the sight of the massive scythe, but he ignored them as well. He could feel a tiny tingle at the base of his spine, but paid it little attention.

The teen watched the ball begin to fall back down to earth. He was hoping to pull the same stunt he used to take down the zero-pointer. So once the ball got right where he wanted it, he let his weapon come down.

I’ll prove my worth right here and now!!

He knew the scythe didn’t hit the ball, but that was his plan. He could hear his class yell and cry in surprise as his weapon audibly tore through the air. And just like the swing with the zero-pointer, a loud explosion rang as the shockwave sent the ball flying. It took a few seconds, but eventually the ball came crashing down. A few beeps came from Aizawa’s direction, so he turned to look, and faced the shocked expressions of his classmates.

“It’s important for us to know our limits,” the teacher started up. He showed the crowd, as well as Midoriya, the monitor that recorded his score. The screen flashed and then showed an impressive score of 1,139.6 meters. “That’s the first rational step towards figuring out what kind of heroes you’ll be.”

Aizawa was arguably more shocked than the other kids, but not for the same reasons. He flashed his own quirk right as Midoriya had swung his weapon, and was flabbergasted that nothing had happened. He wasn’t sure how that was even possible, since his quirk was obviously not a mutant one. He was going to have to pull the kid after the tests and take him to Nezu for an explanation. But right now, he kept himself composed and proceeded with his plans.

Bakugo would probably give the pro a run for his money though. He was completely bewildered at what had just happened before his eyes. But his shock quickly turned to rage as his palms started sparking.

“What the hell? Explain yourself, Deku!!” the blond screamed as he charged at the shy boy with his explosions firing off in every direction.

Midoriya flinched and his scythe disappeared out of stress. He raised his gloved hands to shield his face from the incoming attack. He didn’t notice that the tips of his gloves started to disintegrate without him meaning to.

Gami initially shied away from the amount of light being produced, but he sprung into action. He figured he wasn’t going to turn solid to stop Bakugo, so he prepared himself to yank his successor out of the way.

It was then that the blond was halted in his tracks, a few strands of cloth wrapping themselves around his body. His explosions also stopped completely, but he didn’t seem to realize that.

“What the?” he grimaced, “This cloth… it’s stiff!!”

“It’s a capture weapon made of carbon fibers and a special alloy wire,” Aizawa corrected, “And geez, stop using your quirk already.”

That was when Bakugo realized his explosions had stopped. He looked back at the teacher, but continued to struggle against his binds.

“I’m getting serious dry eye over here.”

Midoriya moved a bit away from the raging blond, but let his excitement take over at seeing his favorite underground hero in action.

“Wow, you really are Eraserhead!!”

The class began whispering again, and that’s when the teen realized he had just said that outloud. He looked down embarrassingly as the pro released Bakugo from his capture weapon.

“So you know of me, kid?” the teacher questioned, “I try to stay out of the media.”

“Um, well you’re quirk is pretty interesting,” he mumbled, “and I do analysis as a hobby…”

He didn’t say any more than that, so Aizawa proceeded to get the rest of the test going. He could tell this was going to be a long day.

The boy returned to the group, where he was swamped by Iida, the brunette, and a few other classmates.

“Woah!” she cried, “Now that’s a hero-like record if I ever saw one!!”

“Indeed,” Iida observed, “Thinking back on the entrance exam, that is certainly a strange, but powerful quirk.”

Midoriya smiled and thanked them for their nice words, but was eager to be out of the spotlight.

“Nice swing. You are getting better at that move.”

He huffed in content at the ghost, but made it seem as if he was panting for breath.

The class seemed to realize that the tension from before was gone, and immediately grew excited at the prospect of using their quirks. Comments flew left and right from the rest of the students.

“Woah, this is awesome!”

“1,139 meters? Seriously?”

“So we can use our quirks for real! Man, the hero course is great!!”

“This is going to be fun!!”

Both the teen and his mentor noticed how annoyed their teacher was growing. The specter personally knew that look the man was giving, and figured he was just about to snap.

“Fun you say?” he stated eerily.

Aizawa turned slowly to stare at the group of first years and loomed over them. He held up his hand to examine it, but neither of the death duo could figure out why. Midoriya believed it was symbolic. Gami believed it was personal.

“You’re hoping to become heroes after three years here…” he growled lowly, “and you think it’ll be all fun and games?”

The class shut up at that, but it was too late. Everyone could tell the mood shifted again, and their teacher was pissed.

“Alright then,” Aizawa replied sarcastically, “The one with the lowest score across all eight events will be judged as hopeless…”

He could hear the cries of protests begin to emerge at his declaration, but it would not change his mind. They had pushed the normally nonchalant pro over the edge.

“…And will be expelled.”

Chapter Text

Midoriya’s eyes widened at his teacher’s words, but his reaction was nothing compared to the loud complaints of his classmates. Gami wasn’t all that surprised, honestly. It wasn’t like he was attached to any of the kids here, except his successor. And the ghost had full faith that his friend would do fine.

“The lowest score will be expelled…?” the nice girl from the entrance exam repeated, “It’s only the first day! I mean, even if it weren't… that's totally unfair!!”

Aizawa ran a tired hand through his hair and looked over to her, “Natural disasters, highway pileups, rampaging villains…the world is full of unfairness”

The green haired teen was brought back to the sludge villain incident. It had only been a matter of luck that he ended up encountering the villain underneath the overpass that day. And a matter of even worse luck that the villain had escaped and captured Bakugo later on. A lot of things ran through his mind that day, and the days after, but never the thought that it was unfair. He was more grateful that the villain decided to attack him actually, as he had the ability to restrain him. He couldn’t imagine if some other unfortunate soul ended up crossing paths instead. That would have been unfair.

“Heroes are the ones who correct all of that unfairness.”

The boy’s hand twitched at that statement. There was nothing incorrect about it from a rational standpoint, but he knew from experience that it wasn’t true for all heroes.

If you were hoping for a nice, easy three years here, I'm sorry to burst your bubble,” the pro grilled, “U.A. will run you through the wringer.”

Midoriya looked nervously over to his companion, but found no hesitance in his ghostly friend. Of course, it was always a bit difficult to tell, but he had gotten better at it over the years. His worries eased away at the spirit’s confidence.

“That’s Plus Ultra,” Aizawa finished, “Show me it’s no mistake that you’re here.”

The boy first was afraid he shouldn’t be here. That he took someone else’s rightful spot at U.A. That it was a mistake that he was here. But now, he felt the determination flush out any hesitance he had left.

“We’ve wasted enough time talking. Let’s get started.”

Bring it on, I’m ready!!

The first event was the 50 meter dash. He was unsure of how any of his abilities could really help him here. The obvious answer would be to propel himself with another shockwave, but that would likely cause massive damage to the buildings near the track, as well as any students standing too close. And once he realized they were racing in pairs, he knew there would be no way he could fire off a blast without hurting the person next to him. So Midoriya opted to just rely on his natural speed.

He watched with interest as the boy from the exam, Iida, prepared to race against a girl who slightly resembled a frog. He wasn’t sure what either’s quirk was, but he knew he was about to find out.

As the starting noise sounded, both took off with surprising speed. He watched as smoke plumed from the tubes in Iida’s legs, and that confirmed his initial guess about the student’s quirk from the entrance exam. It must be a speed boosting quirk. He easily outran the other girl and the robot at the end of the 50 meters announced his score to be an impressive 3.04 seconds.

The teen hadn’t caught much about the girl he was racing against, but based on her form and how she hopped along the track instead of running, he determined she had a frog based quirk. He noticed her long tongue when it escaped her mouth as she was jumping, and that only strengthened his guess. She had scored 5.58 seconds, not as fast as Iida’s, but still impressive.

The next two to go were the brunette and another student with a tail. He had a good idea what the girl’s quirk was, as he’d seen it in action in the entrance exam. At first, he thought she could make things float, but as he watched her touch her clothes right before the race began, he figured out it must have something to do with gravity. She only scored 7.15 seconds, but Midoriya couldn’t really see how she could have done anything different to boost her score.

He continued to watch as other students raced, wondering who he would be paired with. As students got called and the list narrowed, the boy felt his gut sink and hoped the universe would have mercy on him.

It did not.

“Students 17 and 18,” Aizawa called out.

He walked up to the track. The teen was number 18, but he paled when he saw who 17 was.

It being Bakugo of course.

He noticed that Gami stood on the sidelines still. It made sense, his mentor was probably worried about the light that would come off Bakugo’s quirk. The ghost did a slow fist pump at him, and he almost snorted at how awkward it looked. But he was officially calmed down now and ready to run.

Midoriya noted that the blond currently had his arms crossed in front of his face. He knew his quirk would be beneficial to this test, and he put that at the back of his head.

The starting noise reached his ears, and like instinct, he took off. He heard Bakugo shout something, but he wasn’t too focused on it. The boy’s explosion propelled body was flying up next to him, but the teen moved accordingly to dodge a stray blast coming at his head. His pace didn’t change though and he made it to the finish line a hair behind his former friend.

Bakugo had scored an imposing 4.13 seconds, but that was to be expected.

Gami flew over to him after he crossed the line, “What did you score? I could not hear over the explosions…”

The teen smiled briefly, “6.32. Much better than middle school.”

The specter could see the pride that radiated off his successor. It was nice seeing him like this, genuinely happy and proud of himself.

The second event was grip strength. Midoriya knew none of his abilities could help him here, unless he wanted to disintegrate the machine. So he simply focused all his energy on squeezing the life out of the machine currently in his right hand. It was nothing too spectacular, just 56kg, but he was content nonetheless. There weren’t too many quirks that could help out with this, but one kid with what looked to be multiple arms did score a striking 540kg.

Then came the standing long jump. At first, the teen thought he’d have to do this one without any assistance again, since the shockwave from his scythe would again be too risky, but a crazy idea struck him right as he was called up.

Gami once again watched from the sidelines, but upon seeing a tint of madness in the boy’s eyes, he was debating whether to intervene.

He took a deep breath at the start, before performing the test as he usually would. He poured his strength into his back legs and lept. But right as he hit the peak of his jump, he flexed his gloved hand to summon his weapon. Then, with both hands, he slammed the blade into the sand, the long handle now sticking up. As he fell, he reached for the handle again, towards the highest part of it. Once he felt the familiar grain of the wood, even through his gloves, Midoriya used it as support to fling himself off of it, traveling even further than he would have with a normal jump.

He touched down onto the sand with both feet a bit roughly, but stable as well, a wide grin on his face. Gami rushed over to congratulate him.

“That was quite ingenious.”

Noticing a few of his classmates eyes on him, he nodded his head instead of verbally responding. Aizawa was actually one of those eyes, impressed by the boy’s creative use of his abilities. But in the back of the pro’s mind, he knew that the kid was hiding something about his quirk. The fact that he couldn’t erase it earlier confirmed that.

The next event was side stepping, and the teen performed under average for that. But he wasn’t too worried based on how he was currently doing overall. Besides, not many students exceeded on this test. The only one that stood out was a small, purple haired kid that was using rubber-like balls from his head to bounce from side to side.

Next was the ball toss. For this one, he got to sit out as he had already performed it before. He watched as his classmates attempted using their quirks to launch the ball. Some were successful, like the nice brunette who scored an infinity by making the ball float into space. Others were not, like the one pink girl who seemingly tried to launch the ball with her acid. Unfortunately, the ball just melted instead.

When Bakugo walked up for his turn though, Midoriya grew curious. He was positive the blond would just launch the ball with an explosion, but he was wondering how far it would go. He walked into the circle and stretched out his arms as the teacher tossed him the ball.

“DIE!!” Bakugo shouted as an enormous explosion ripped through the air. The ball zoomed off into the sky. After a few seconds, the ball bounced to the ground and Aizawa held up the screen with his score.

“705.2 meters.”

The class was thoroughly awestruck at the score, including the reserved teen, but Bakugo seemed to react in the complete opposite way. He growled and dug his fingernails into his palm. How had he scored lower than Deku, who was supposed to be quirkless? And by over 400 meters? He was livid with everything, and his usual seething grew to the point where his hands started smoking. Of course, the pro hero noticed, but recorded it for later. He realized that the blond held some sort of animosity towards the green haired kid. That may be an issue later.

The sixth event was a display of upper body strength, and despite not finding a way to use any of his powers, he still scored over average. The months of training at Dagobah really paid off. Plus, he naturally had to have a lot of upper body strength to swing around his weapon.

After that came the endurance test, and again, he still scored really well even without his powers. Years of escaping bullies at Aldera as well as his nightly endurance runs really built up a reservoir of stamina. He was one of the last kids left running on the track and felt proud of that. Especially since one of the few kids that outdid him was on a scooter for goodness sake. Midoriya was sure that the student, a girl with spiky, black hair, would place first overall. Her quirk, which he was sure was some sort of creation quirk, was really well rounded and contributed to every test.

Last was the seated toe touch. The teen didn’t do so well on this one, but he wasn’t that worried. He scored a bit under average again, but it wasn’t too bad compared to everyone else.

And with that, the events were over. Aizawa grouped the class together once more so he could talk.

“Moving along, it’s time for the results,” he explained, pulling out a remote from his back pocket. The pro pressed a button on it and a screen popped up in front of everyone. Upon closer examination, the boy figured out it was a list of everyone’s placement overall. Gami realized this too and the two scoured the list for his name.

He found his name, ranked third out of the class overall. To be honest, the teen wasn’t expecting to place that high. He knew he did well enough to not place last, but he was sure his scores weren’t all that impressive. He guessed that his ball toss score really carried him, along with the standing long jump and the endurance run.

He looked at the places above and below him. In first was the girl with the creation quirk, as he expected, now learning her name was Yaoyorozu Momo

Right above him in second was someone named Todoroki Shouto. He wasn’t sure which student that was, but he swore the name felt familiar, at least, the family name did. He was sure he had heard that name before, somewhere.

And right below him were Bakugo in fourth and Iida in fifth. Being above both made his heart swell with pride, and he considered them both powerful and talented on their own. Though, he wasn’t sure how happy said blond would be once he realized he was above him.
His eyes then traveled all the way down to last place, to see the name Mineta Minoru. Again, he hadn’t really acquainted himself with his classmates yet, so he was unsure of who that was. But he followed the group’s eyes to the small, purple haired kid that had exceeded on the side stepping test. The student was shaking and sniffling, realizing that he was going home. Most of the class looked at him with pitiful gazes.

“Also,” Aizawa interrupted, “I was lying about expelling someone.”

The entire class, except a few kids, perked up at that in shock. Midoriya did as well, but not for the same reasons. So did the ghost, but only the teen could see that.

“That was a rational deception…,” the pro smiled eerily, “meant to bring out the best in all of you.”

The class of first years all erupted into shouts of chaos, especially Mineta. But the quiet boy kept his mouth shut as normal, and instead turned to look at his mentor.

“I am thoroughly confused…”

The child couldn’t agree more.

“It was pretty obvious that it was a lie,” the girl who placed first, Yaoyorozu, stated, “I assumed you all knew that too…”

The duo shared another puzzled look. They hadn’t imagined seeing Aizawa seething mad at the beginning when he made the declaration. It didn’t make sense for it to be just a lie. Without even discussing it, both were certain that the teacher was going to expel last place, but changed his mind for some reason.

“Anyway, we're done here,” the hero continued, completely ignoring his class’s outburst, “Change and head back to the classroom. Your documents about the curriculum should be in there.”

And with that, the pro walked away and headed inside himself, leaving the students to now rush back to the locker room. Midoriya trailed behind everyone, not wanting to be swept up in the crowd. He made sure to avoid Bakugo as well, unsure if he would want to attack him after the placements.

Once he arrived at the locker room, he made haste to his own locker. Opening it up, he quickly grabbed both his bag and uniform, as well as an extra pair of gloves.

He hadn’t noticed his signature polyester gloves were starting to disintegrate until Gami had pointed it out at the end of the tests. The ghost’s reasoning was that he had noticed it earlier, but didn’t want to worry him during the apprehension tests. Whether Midoriya truly appreciated the lateness of the gesture or not was debatable, but he was just thankful that most of his gloves remained intact. He always packed extra gloves for situations like this, his paranoia getting the best of him. But he wouldn’t consider it paranoia if someone called it that, just being precautious. And he was always precautious.

Finally snapping out of his thoughts, he walked towards the stall he used earlier. But as he passed by the other boys, Iida spoke up.

“I must say, Midoriya,” he started, “I’m very much impressed by your skills. I really misjudged you.”

“Ah, um, thank you,” the teen stumbled out, “You were pretty cool too. Your quirk is a speed boosting one, right?”

The glasses wearing boy seemed to straighten up at the praise, “Yes! My quirk is Engine, and it indeed boosts my speed.”

He smiled, and took that last statement as a cue to leave. But just as he was going to take another step, someone else called out.

“I must agree. You are a mad banquet of darkness.”

He turned around to see a student with what looked to be a bird head. He hadn’t recognized him though and was startled overall by his sudden statement.

“Uh thank you…” he wasn’t sure whether that was a complement, “I don’t know your name though…”

“I’m Tokoyami Fumikage,” the bird boy introduced, then gestured to his side, “and this is Dark Shadow.”

Midoriya was about to question the newly introduced Tokoyami, when a shadowy bird with red eyes materialized right where he had gestured. He recognized the shadow from some of the events back on those school grounds.

“That’s me!” the bird giggled, “His scythe is so cool Tokoyami! Can we keep him?”

Said boy looked done with his shadow counterpart, “That’s not how it works, Dark Shadow. Though I agree, his scythe is indeed cool.”

The teen looked down bashfully at the praise. Gami would have been weary, but the man was too busy studying Dark Shadow in the moment. He determined that the bird could not see him and returned to his successor’s side.

Iida jumped back into the conversation, “Though, I must ask. What exactly is your quirk, Midoriya? Because you displayed some other abilities in the entrance exam that you did not during that quirk apprehension test.”

The timid boy got a bit nervous at the question, but calmed himself down. He and the spirit had rehearsed this exact scenario multiple times. He knew it was only a matter of time before someone asked about his quirk, student or teacher.

He and the ghost both noticed that the other males in the room immediately tuned in once that question was asked. The others were probably curious as well. He knew Bakugo was definitely listening just to scope him out. Though, a certain candy cane student was also doing the same.

“Well,” he started, “My quirk is called Reaper. Um, it’s basically got two major parts.”

When both Tokoyami and Iida didn’t say anything, he continued. Dark Shadow cocked his head curiously.

“I can decay living and nonliving things with my hands. That’s probably what you noticed in the exam, Iida. Though, it works no matter how many of my fingers are touching, so it's a bit hard to control.”

“I see,” the strict student replied, “I’m assuming that’s why you wear those gloves?”

Midoriya picked at his long sleeves nervously and Gami narrowed his eyes, “Yeah. It acts up when I get emotional. My gloves are kind of like the first layer of defense.”

Tokoyami noticed the boy’s discomfort and tried to change the topic, “What about the other part of your quirk?”

“Well, the other part is my scythe, of course. It’s like my own personal weapon. I can make it appear and disappear at will.”

Dark Shadow seemed to get excited, “Is it heavy?”

The teen snorted lightly, “Not really. Though, that could just be because I’m used to it.”

Iida still looked confused though, “But what about the explosion with the zero-pointer? And the ball throw?”

“Um, I can basically combine those two parts together,” he explained, “I can share my decay with my scythe.”

That didn’t satisfy Iida, “But that doesn’t explain the explosion…”

“It’s honestly just something I figured out. My decay works on a molecular level. So even if my weapon only cuts the air, I can decay those molecules and-”

“You’re creating a brief, unstable vacuum, and that’s where the explosion comes from,” he interrupted, becoming excited, “I think I understand now.”

Midoriya looked over at the bird duo and Tokoyami nodded, confirming his understanding as well.

“Woah!” Dark Shadow exclaimed, “That’s so cool!!”

“Indeed,” Iida agreed, “You have truly amazed me with your ingenuity, Midoriya!”

Said boy cringed at the name. He didn’t really want to go by that during his years here at U.A. “You can call me by a nickname, if you’d like. I’m not too big a fan of being called Midoriya…”

He hoped he wasn’t being too demanding or abrupt, since neither Iida or Tokoyami said anything after. But Dark Shadow didn’t seem to notice the tension, if there was any.

“Can I call you Midori?”

The teen smiled at the little bird, “That’s fine.”

“Then I will call you that as well, if that is alright,” Tokoyami followed right after his shadowy friend.

He nodded in confirmation.

Iida spoke next, “I’m afraid I’m not very good with nicknames, but I’ll do my best.”

“Thanks,” the teen answered, “but I’m going to go change now.”

Both boys nodded and let him go, so he meandered over to the stall and shut the door. Unfolding his school uniform, he carefully took off his gym clothes and slipped it on, removing the black turtleneck as well.

“That went well.”

Midoriya huffed, “What? The whole quirk thing or just talking to them in general?”

The man snorted at his successor’s awkwardness, “Both.”

“Yeah, they seemed pretty nice, and I think the lie came off well.”

But after that, no more words were spoken. The boy exited the stall into a near empty locker room. His gym clothes were now neatly folded in his backpack and his school uniform smoothed out. He had already taken a while in the locker room, and pretty much everyone else had left already. He was about to do the same, when a new voice called out to him.

“Midoriya, correct?”

He turned around to see a heterochromatic eyed boy facing him, a scar covering the spot where his right eye was, “U-um, yeah. Y-you are?”

The student didn’t even pause, “Todoroki Shouto.”

The teen recognized the name from the quirk apprehension chart. This was the boy who placed above him in second. From the first glance, he seemed cold and reserved, a bit similar to how Gami acted when they first met.

But now, the room was filled with tense silence, and it unnerved him.

“D-do you need something from me?”

Todoroki didn’t respond instantly. Gami grew hesitant and moved closer to the boy. He wasn’t sure what this kid was going to pull.

“Are your parents pro heroes?”

Midoriya didn’t know what to expect, but he surely wasn’t expecting that.

“W-what? No…”

The other student narrowed his eyes, but didn’t say anything right away. So he tried to reassure him that this was the truth.

“My parents aren’t heroes, they’re just…”

“Why did you drive Hisashi away from me?! Why did you have to be quirkless?! Don’t you realize what you have done to me?!”

“Normal…”

“You quirkless misfit! Get out of my way! I SAID GET OUT OF MY WAY!”

“People…”

That did nothing to convince Todoroki though. In fact, he grew more suspicious at the hesitant response. He wanted to press him more, but the teen was growing skittish.

“We should really get going,” he stated abrupt, “or we’re going to be late.”

Todoroki didn’t want to let this go just yet though, “Can we talk after school then?”

Midoriya was eager to leave the situation, but at the same time, he really didn’t want this conversation to continue. But something in his heart wanted to hear his classmate out. He reminded the boy so much of Gami, and he knew how many repressed emotions the ghostly man was hiding. What if he was the same? Maybe talking after school wasn’t such a bad idea…

“Izu-”

“Sure, that sounds fine.”

Midoriya had gone through the rest of his classes with ease, as well as silence, until lunch had arrived. He was so excited to see Lunch Rush as part of the school staff, and for the first time in years, he ate a meal he didn’t have to cook. A warm feeling filled him when he took his first bite, and he knew it wasn’t from the hot food alone.

The teen found a table to himself, and was prepared to sit alone, as he always had. That’s when he could talk to Gami and do his job without any interruptions. Or mumble to himself as he scribbled away in one of his notebooks. Or analyze a quirk with his mentor. That’s what he was used to. That’s what he liked.

So he was certainly surprised when Iida and the brunette sat themselves down on the other side of the table.

“Ah, Iida,” he greeted, “um, infinity girl… I never caught your name actually…”

She giggled, “I’m Uraraka Ochako!”

Iida immediately began with praise, “Both your scores for the ball throw and your placements overall were impressive.”

Uraraka smiled, “You did just as amazingly… Iida Tenya, right?”

“Correct. But I cannot believe Aizawa-sensei fooled us like that.”

Yeah, that was sure stressful,” she confirmed.

Midoriya hummed in agreement.

“He made me think that this is how it’s like at the top, but our own instructor deceived us…”

The two then devolved into idle chatter after that, with the shy boy chiming in every now and again. He had originally assumed that Iida would be an issue after the events of the entrance exam, but he realized the student wasn’t like that at all. Just a very serious rule follower. And Uraraka was a very nice person overall. She was talkative and cheery, pretty much the complete opposite of himself. He really wasn’t used to this kind of treatment, though it really was just typical friendly talk. It made him wonder how much he’d missed out on during his years of elementary and middle school.

Uraraka had ended up asking about his quirk as well, so he explained it as similarly as he did in the locker room, with Iida butting in a few times. She was fairly awestruck when he recounted the destruction of the zero-pointer and clarified how he did it. Of course, she ended up being a bit nosy into the gloves, so he had to explain that as well.

“So you can decay living things too, right? Is there a limit? Like what about people, or animals. Or even plants?!”

Midoriya swallowed a chunk of food in his mouth, “There isn’t a limit. It works on all that.”

Iida joined in, “So no finger limit or target limit. Your quirk seems strangely unbalanced.”

Well, that was partially because it wasn’t really a quirk. But even then, it had its drawbacks, enough to make him weary of using it.

“Well, it’s a bit intimidating. Any damage I do to a living thing can’t be healed…”

Both kids paled, “What?”

The boy shrunk back. Maybe he shouldn’t have said that, “I can control it partially. I can touch people, as well as objects, without my powers activating, but not plants or animals. I’ve actually never touched an animal since my abilities developed. I don’t want to take the risk.”

The brunette looked heartbroken, “Oh, I’m so sorry if I brought up unwanted memories…”

Iida agreed, “I as well.”

“No, no it’s fine. That’s just how I’ve always been. I’m used to it at this point,” he assured them, “That’s why I wear gloves. Sometimes my power activates without my consent when I’m emotional. I’d rather not put anyone at risk.”

There was a bit of silence after that, but the stiff boy spoke up, “Well, I think it is admirable that you’re working to become a hero despite however your quirk acts.”

Uraraka perked up too, “Yeah! Your quirk may be a bit unnerving, but you’ve put it to good use!!”

Midoriya smiled, “Thank you guys. I’ve never really heard that before.”

That was technically the truth. He’d never told anyone about his abilities before, so no one had actually reassured him. Sure, Gami did from time to time, but that was to be expected of the man who introduced said abilities to him.

“Well, that’s what friends are for.”

That took his breath away. Did she just call him a friend? They had only just met, how could she consider him a friend so suddenly? Was that just how friendship worked? He surely didn’t know. His first day was turning out to be more groundbreaking than he expected, but he needed to make sure. He needed to know that she wasn’t just pulling his leg, like the other kids did at Aldera.

“We’re…,” he fumbled, “we’re friends?”

Iida backed up her statement, “Most certainly.”

“Yeah, of course!!”

But even then, he was still weary. The specter noticed his hesitation. The poor boy had lived in his shell his whole life, he wasn’t used to being coaxed out of it.

“They seem like nice kids…”

The man wasn’t sure if that was enough to reassure his friend. But as he turned to look at him, he picked up on the newfound confidence.

“Ok then…”

The girl brightened up, “Awesome! I’m kind of embarrassed, but I don’t think I ever confirmed your name. Midoriya… Deku, right?”

His mouth grew dry. They were going to make fun of him, weren’t they?

She noticed his pause, “During the test, that Bakugo guy called you that…”

Oh, she just genuinely thought that was his name then? “Um… my real name is Izuku. ‘Deku’ is just Bakugo’s way of making fun of me…”

Iida scowled, “Ugh, and that boy is truly aiming to be a hero?”

Uraraka kept on with her tangent, ignoring Iida, “Well I think it sounds like Dekiru. You know, like ‘do your best?’ I kinda like it!!”

As nice as he thought the girl was, there was no way in his right mind that he would ever let someone call him Deku again. He wanted that name to die with his old self from Aldera. He was really striving for a fresh start here at U.A.

“I’m not really comfortable with being called that…”

The brunette seemed sort of sad at that, so he did his best to save face.

“But I wouldn’t mind another nickname though. I don’t really want to be called Midoriya.”

And just like he hoped, her eyes sparkled again with newfound purpose. She raised a finger to tap at her chin in contemplation. There were another few moments of silence, where no one spoke a word.

“What about Midori? It matches your hair pretty well!”

He snorted at the coincidence, “Sure, that’s fine.”

She must have interpreted the huff as something else though, “Is Midori not good either?”

Iida jumped in to help explain, “I’m pretty sure he is just amused. Another student from the locker room ended up calling him that as well.”

That restarted Uraraka’s bubbliness, “Well, then it must be fate! Midori it is!!”

Everyone at the table laughed, and lunch faded into conversation. There wasn’t much time left, so the three ended up having to shovel the rest of their food down to get to class. There were only a couple more hours left before the first day would officially be over, and Midoriya wanted to savor every second.

His two friends from before left a bit earlier than he did, though that was only because he told them not to wait for him. He wanted some time to talk with his mentor.

“So,” he began, “Midori, huh?”

The newly nicknamed teen waved him off, “Joke all you want, but I actually like it.”

“Well, that is what matters, is it not?”

He placed his tray down on one of the dropoff tables, “Yeah.”

The two left the cafeteria together in silence, but at seeing the hallway empty, their conversation started up again.

“I’m guessing this means no more sorting at lunch then…”

The boy nearly slapped himself, “I didn’t even think about that. Shoot. I can’t just make them stop coming to the table though.”

“No worries, you will just have to pick up the slack throughout the day.”

“Yeah, I can just work extra in the mornings and evenings.”

The duo made their way back to the 1-A classroom with a little pep in their step. He was a bit disappointed that he would no longer have lunch to chat with his ghostly companion, but the change of scenery was pleasant.

Besides, he was glad to have Iida and Uraraka around.

Despite Midoriya greatest efforts to make the day last, the rest of the classes simply flew by. Before he knew it, it was already the end of the last class. After the rest of the regular subject classes, his schedule ended at 1-A, which Aizawa clarified would be heroics.

But they weren’t doing any heroics today, since the pro had already had them participate in the quirk apprehension test earlier. They were only going over some of the documents handed to them near the beginning of the day, syllabuses and such. Most kids thought it was boring, but the quiet teen didn’t really mind. Just the fact that he had gone through the day without anyone hurting him or making fun of him really gave him no room to complain.

But eventually, the class, as well as the day, was over. Midoriya sat up out of his chair, and swung his bag over one of his shoulders. He paused for a moment, letting a good portion of his classmates exit before him. But that didn’t stop Uraraka or Iida from meeting up with him at his desk.

“Wow,” the brunette sighed, “I can’t believe the first day is over already!”

Both boys nodded in agreement.

“Are you two headed to the station?” she followed up.

“Yeah, I am…” he responded softly.

“Indeed!” Iida confirmed.

“Well then, let’s get going!”

The two boys nodded again, and the three made their way to the classroom door. Gami trailed behind, silently observing the classroom. The teacher, Eraserhead, was still at the front of the room, shuffling around some papers. But upon closer inspection, the spirit realized he was sneaking glances at his successor. His eyes narrowed accordingly, just because his friend admired the hero didn’t mean he had to be easy on him. Gami never saw it as overprotecting, just simply watching out for the boy. Besides, it wasn’t like he could do much with his transparent form and all.

But the ghost desperately wished he could interact with more, because he watched the pro stand up and walk towards the small group of kids. He tensed, but even that wasn’t enough to solidify his hands so he could defend if he needed to.

“Midoriya…”

All three kids turned around, even though only one had their name called. Aizawa towered over them, his hands stuffed into his pockets. His long, black hair brushed over his tired eyes, but he still managed to look intimidating.

The teacher continued when no one responded, “I need to speak to you.”

The teen flashed a worried look to Uraraka, and she shared the same sentiment. Iida stiffened up and straightened out his glasses. The girl was the first to speak, surprisingly.

“It’s ok, Midori,” she assured, “We’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Ah, ok,” he mumbled.

His two new friends sent him bright smiles and waved as they exited the classroom. Midoriya smiled back, though it wasn’t as wide. He turned around to face his teacher, but kept his guard up, not knowing what to expect. Gami’s tall figure loomed next to him and made him feel safer. That was one of the nicest aspects about having the specter around pretty much 24/7. He never felt alone, no matter the situation. The spirit already did a lot to reassure him on a daily basis, but his presence alone simply put him at ease.

“What did you need, Aizawa-sensei?” he pondered.

“It’s about the quirk apprehension test,” he answered, “but not here.”

That made the teen pale. He hoped his teacher wasn’t getting suspicious about his quirk. That would definitely not end well.

The hero walked to the door and gestured for the boy to follow him. He was growing more nervous by the second, but he did his best to hide it so as to not draw attention. He twiddled his gloved fingers together and stepped through the doorway, but stopped to check the classroom. There were only a few students left in the corners of the room, and Midoriya didn’t know any of their names. But his eyes settled on the one student he did know, one red and white haired boy.

He felt bad that he wouldn’t be able to hold out on his promise, but there wasn’t anything he could really do. Todoroki just stared back without a word, and the tension in the room only strengthened. The shy teen just sent him an awkward smile and a slight wave, before rushing off to catch up to Aizawa.

The duo walked slightly behind the teacher as he led them down another hall. The ghost and boy shared a lot of looks between each other, with Gami making comments every here and there.

“Do not worry too much. I am sure it will all work out.”

He didn’t answer of course, so the ghost just kept rambling.

“Besides, we rehearsed what to say to most typical questions concerning your quirk.”

They turned down another hallway. Midoriya was still unsure of where they were going, or what exactly Aizawa needed with him.

“Whatever it may be, we are most likely overthinking it.”

He could only focus on the soft echoes of his footsteps behind the hero, and the smooth tone of his mentor’s voice.

“Maybe he is simply curious about-”

“We’re here,” the pro unknowingly interrupted.

The teen looked out from behind his teacher, but a seemingly normal door was the only thing that greeted him. Though the door looked similar to most of the closets and rooms in the school, something about it seemed so imposing. He clasped his hands nervously and held them close to his chest, his fingers twitching.

He couldn’t deny the fact that he admired Eraserhead. The man was one of his biggest inspirations growing up, especially after meeting All Might. The way he fought, his nonchalant attitude, his whole stature, made him Midoriya’s favorite hero. The hero just put the boy’s mind into overdrive. Even his companion admitted that he was interesting, and Gami found few things appealing.

But right now, he was feeling less awe and more afraid. The pro was radiating this serious energy and it just infected the air around them. It felt like something was caught in his throat.

Aizawa turned the handle and swung open the door. It creaked on its hinges for a second, but didn’t make a sound afterwards. The teacher didn’t walk it right away though, just held it open. When the student didn’t move, his eyes snapped down and he thrusted out his hand.

“Go on in…” he clarified.

The teen jumped, “O-oh, ok.”

He did what the hero said, and walked inside. The room looked to be an office, with wide windows covering the back wall. There was simply furnishing, a large wooden desk and a seating area in front of it. Behind the desk was a tall swivel chair facing the windows. The chair was moving, so he could tell that someone was in it.

The door was shut behind him, and drew a startled gasp from him. He spun around to see the hero closing the door. The man gestured to take a seat, so Midoriya did. He carefully sat down on one end of the small couch, and Aizawa placed himself on the other end. The boy nudged his form closer to the armrest, hoping to increase the space between them. Gami stood next to his successor by the couch, and rested his hand near the armrest. He tried to lean on it, but his hand slipped right through. Normally, he would have at least snorted at that, but he had enough self control and common sense to realize that may not be a good idea when in close proximity to a pro hero.

Then, the office chair turned around, shocking the teen out of his bewilderment. At first, he saw no one sitting and the possibility of a ghost ran through his head, but then, a small animal hoisted himself off of the seat and onto the desk. The duo observed him silently. They both weren’t sure what animal he was, but he wore a black suit with orange sneakers. The shoes were very similar to Midoriya’s own, the thick soles matching up and everything.
The rodent looking creature reached the edge of his desk and sat down, letting his feet dangle off. He smiled at the two sitting in front of him before saying his signature greeting.

“Am I a dog, a mouse, a bear? Who knows!” the animal declared, “But more importantly, I’m the principal!”

The boy paled. He was in front of the principal. Aizawa had taken him to the principal. He couldn’t shake the feeling out of his gut that this wasn’t going to be good.

“U-um, hello sir…” he stuttered out.

“You can just refer to me as Nezu, Midoriya.” he stated, “Would you care for a cup of tea?”

His hands grew clammy. It was just his luck that the principal knew his name. That meant he was probably looking into him. “S-sure, Nezu-san.”

The principal hopped off his desk and headed over to a small table by a bookshelf. While there, he opened up what looked to be a thermos and poured its contents into two cups.

“I’m assuming you don’t want any Aizawa-san?” he asked.

“No, I’m good. Thanks though.”

The animal then returned with two cups in his hand. He placed one on the coffee table in front of the couch and pushed it towards the teen. He slowly picked it up with both gloved hands, feeling the warm even through the polyester. He took a small sip and instantly felt at ease. The principal sat down back on the desk, his tail swinging back and forth.

“Do you know why you’re here, Midoriya?” he began, still holding the cup between his paws.

“Just stay calm.”

“No sir…”

Nezu then gestured to the other pro. Aizawa coughed to clear his throat.

“During the quirk apprehension test, I asked you to demonstrate the ball throw for everyone, yes?” the tired man questioned.

Midoriya resisted the urge to look at Gami for guidance. He kept both hands on the tea cup and looked over to his homeroom teacher.

“Yeah… you did,” he confirmed.

There was a short pause, before the man continued, “I understand you know of me.”

The teen brightened at that, “Yeah, you’re Eraserhead. If this is about me calling you out in front of everyone, then I just want to apologize and that I totally didn’t mean to-”

The pro held out his hand, and he immediately stopped rambling.

“That’s not what this is about. You know what my quirk is?”

Where was the hero going with this? “Y-yeah. It’s Erasure. You can erase people’s quirks when you look at them, unless they’re mutant types.”

“Your quirk is classified as an emitter, correct?” the man narrowed his eyes.

That was what Midoriya listed his “quirk” as. It seemed like the best fit. “Yes…”

“Then do you want to explain why I couldn’t erase your quirk during the test?”

The gasp lodged itself in the boy’s throat.

“This was certainly unexpected.”

He turned to glare at the spirit, but caught himself midway and snapped his head back. What was he supposed to do? There was no way he could have expected to have Eraserhead as his homeroom teacher, so he didn’t have an excuse prepared for something like this. Nezu and Aizawa were currently staring him down. He had to say something soon. But his mind was racing and drawing a blank at the same time. His heartbeat flooded his ears as his hands grew sweaty. He couldn’t even form a coherent thought like this, much less a believable lie.

“You could spin it as a misunderstanding. Make them believe your powers are a… what is it called… a mutant quirk instead.”

This time, the teen couldn’t stop himself from snapping to his mentor. He knew the man was only trying to help, but this wasn’t really helping. “That’s not how it works,” he seethed.

But unfortunately, his angry whisper wasn’t quiet enough to be completely unheard. At least, not to the individual in the room who had sharper senses.

“Who are you talking to, Midoriya?” Nezu inquired with a curious, yet sadistic smile.

If Aizawa’s declaration didn’t make him piss himself, the principal’s statement certainly did.

Eraserhead turned to look at his student. He definitely wasn’t expecting this kind of turn out. His gut was starting to push the idea that this kid could be a spy, and had some sort of communications device on him right now. He reached for his phone, and was ready to call Tsukauchi and some other heroes if it came to that.

Midoriya’s throat grew dry. He was really at a loss for what to do.

Gami could see the bind his successor was in. The truth about his powers and subsequently the explanation of being Death wasn’t some sort of secret that needed to be kept. There were no repercussions from the higher ups if the current Death spilled to someone. It was more of putting oneself at risk. After all, outing a fact like that could lead his friend to be targeted or experimented on, or even locked away. The specter wished he had this conversation with the boy before this.

“Your position isn’t something that is required to be kept secret,” he tried to explain quickly, cursing out his luck, “You will not get punished if you spill. However, you will be putting yourself at risk.”

Well, at this point, the teen could see really no other way out of this situation.

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you…” he finally responded to the principal.

Aizawa tensed. The rodent smirked even wider. “Try me.”

The boy swallowed thickly. Here goes nothing. “Well, there’s a ghost next to me.”

He could see the looks of disbelief on the teachers’ faces. There was no stopping now.

“He’s a bit over 5 centuries old, and he’s basically my mentor. I don’t know his real name though, so I just call him Gami.”

His homeroom teacher still looked skeptical, but Nezu just seemed interested, “Alright then. Assuming what you are saying is the truth, what does Gami have to do with your quirk?”

And here was the waterfall. He held his breath, preparing to go over.

“I don’t actually have a quirk. Gami passed his powers down to me.”

That was the simplest way of saying it.

After quite a while in the principal's office, Midoriya was able to explain everything. And by everything, I mean everything. How he was the current Death, and Gami was the previous. How he handled his position and what exactly that entailed. How his powers didn’t stem from a quirk factor and the mass amount of other abilities he actually had. And how the ghost had been with him since he was little, helping him through his first 11 years.

The teen wasn’t sure how the teachers had remained so level headed during the whole time. He was sure his story and claims sounded outlandish. If he was hearing them for the first time, he wasn’t sure that he himself would believe them. But Nezu and Aizawa simply let him talk without any interruptions.

After he was done explaining, the principal wanted to see his abilities for himself. So the boy disintegrated a few sheets of paper all while Eraserhead used his quirk on him. And just like the quirk apprehension test, he was unaffected.

“So Gami-san is basically the Grim Reaper?” Nezu questioned.

Said spirit growled, “I am not whatever you consider the ‘Grim Reaper.’”

“He’s not too happy at being called that,” Midoriya referred, “but basically.”

“Excuse me! I just said I was not!”

The rodent continued, “But he retired from his duties after a few centuries.”

“Indeed,” the teen confirmed.

“And because he is no longer active, his position is now yours.”

“Yes.”

Nezu hummed, “Well, I see no reason to not believe you.”

At that, the teen’s eyes popped out of his skull, “Wait, really? You believe me?”

“As unbelievable as your story may seem, there really is no reason for you to have such a bizarre explanation unless it were true.”

The student let out a huge sigh of relief, “Oh, thank god.”

The principal continued, “As for your quirk records, it is best to leave them as is for your safety. If you truly do have immortality, then keeping that a secret from villains is ideal. Though, I do want to keep a separate record of your abilities.”

“That’s understandable,” he nodded.

“However, I won’t keep you any longer today. Your first day has likely been hectic enough. I’ll be having you back in my office for further evaluations, though.”

Midoriya was shocked at what he was implying, “Wait, so you’re not kicking me out of U.A.?”

Nezu chuckled, “Why would I do that?”

“I mean, because of the whole lying on my quirk records thing and-”

“Nonsense!” he exclaimed, “Besides, your situation is most intriguing. I’d prefer to keep tabs on you here at U.A.”

Gami gave the rodent a suspicious look. He wasn’t going to let this individual do anything invasive or dangerous to his successor. He wanted to make sure both teachers remembered that he was here, watching them. He was still a force to be reckoned with. God damn, if they even laid a hand on him, he would make sure they felt his fury.

In the spirit’s protective rage, he impulsively swiped at the principal. His hand was off by a few inches though, and plowed towards the tea cup he had set down on the table. He wasn’t expecting to interact with anything, but the universe had other plans.

Midoriya watched in horror as Gami knocked over Nezu’s tea cup. The cup clattered on the table and the leftover tea spilled over the side.

“Gami!! What’s gotten into you?” he cried, “Oh, Nezu-san, I’m so sorry…”

“It’s quite alright,” he replied, but looked over to the spot by the couch in curiosity.

The teen also looked there with a disapproving stare.

“I do not want my presence to be forgotten. If they do anything to you, I will do all that I can to fight back,” the ghost clarified.

So he repeated what his mentor said, “Sorry again. Gami doesn’t want you all to forget that he’s here. He’s a bit protective of me…”

A bit was an understatement.

But the principal took no offense, “Ah well, Gami-san I can assure you I will not harm Midoriya, nor intentionally put him in harm’s way.”

The specter seemed satisfied at that and the tension in the room died down. Nezu dismissed them and moved to clean up his spilled tea.

Aizawa held open the door again for the student, and the two, plus the ghost, walked back down the hallway. Not a word was spoken, but the silence ate away at the boy’s conscience.

“D-do you believe me,” he mumbled, “Aizawa-sensei?”

The teacher looked down, “Well, if Nezu does, then I don’t really have a reason not to. Even if your story seems a bit too outlandish to be rational.”

“Oh…”

They continued to walk, with more silence creeping up behind them. He hoped he hadn’t made the pro upset in any way.

Aizawa never thought he was good with kids, but after years of living with Hizashi, he got good at picking up emotions.

“Look problem child,” he started, “I’m not mad or anything, if that’s what you think.”

“O-oh.”

They turned down a hall, and Midoriya could see the 1-A classroom. He fiddled with his gloved fingers nervously. Despite finishing his tea, he could feel his throat dry up again.

“Um, Aizawa-sensei,” the teen began.

The hero looked over to him again, but didn’t say anything. He just took it as a motion to continue.

“I’m not sure how much you caught back in the office, but my decay is permanent when used on a living organism.”

The tired teacher raised an eyebrow, “Yeah, I heard that.”

The timid boy kept on, “Well, I’m a bit afraid of it…”

Aizawa immediately caught on to what he was trying to say. The kid was training at a hero school, so eventually he’d have to fight villains. Having such a dangerous power like that would make anyone second guess using it on a person, even if it is in self defense.

“Problem child, if I see you hesitating, I’ll let you know whether or not to use it. Call it permission if you will.”

Midoriya smiled, “I’d appreciate that.”

They eventually stopped at the classroom door, and parted ways. Eraserhead went back inside to finish up his paperwork, and the student left for the exit. He had spent nearly 2 hours in Nezu’s office. If his mother cared about him, she’d be frantic to know why he was so late. But he knew she really didn’t, so the time difference was of no worry to him.

“Well, that went surprisingly well.”

“I know,” he agreed and pushed open the front doors.

The duo walked together down the beautiful path, trying to collect themselves. Today had definitely been a crazy day. Between finding out that Bakugo was in his class, to the quirk apprehension test, to the possibility of making real friends, and now outing his biggest secret to Eraserhead and Nezu. The teen was looking forward to just going home and doing nothing. Maybe he’d take a long shower and lounge out on the couch. That sounded nice right about now.

But right as he exited the front gates of the school, all thoughts of relaxation were blown from his head.

“GAHH!!” he cried out in shock.

The object that had startled him wasn’t even an object at all. It was a familiar candy cane headed boy leaning against the gate. At the cry, Todoroki stood up straight again and walked over to Midoriya.

“T-todoroki, I wasn’t expecting to see you…” he stuttered.

“We did agree to talk after school,” the student replied bluntly.

“Y-yeah, but it’s been nearly two hours…”

The green haired boy was a little freaked out at his dedication, but the other kid simply shrugged nonchalantly. Gami wasn’t sure what to make of the situation, but after all that had happened today, he was ready to defend any way he could.

When Todoroki didn’t start the conversation, Midoriya tried to. The awkward silence was really making him uncomfortable.

“S-so, what did you want to talk about…?”

“My father is the hero Endeavor. I’m sure you must have heard of him.”

Well, that was certainly one way to start a conversation. Though, that did explain why his family name felt so familiar.

“Yeah,” the teen responded carefully, “He’s the number two hero.”

Todoroki huffed in confirmation, “My old man is ambitious. He aims for the top.”

He could see where the teen in front of him was coming from. Endeavor had always been a bit rash and hasty in his hero work after all. That must have been due to his ambitious nature. But he didn’t bother to interrupt and let him keep talking.

“He used his power in order to make a name for himself as a hero, but he was never able to best All Might. The symbol of peace is living proof of his failure.”

Midoriya stiffened at the wording. Todoroki was being oddly harsh towards his father. Sure, he didn’t really fancy the number two hero either, but still, this seemed kind of rough coming from his own son.

“He’s still at it though, trying to take down All Might. One way or another…”

“I’m not really sure what you’re getting at,” he was desperate for some clarification, and he could tell his mentor was thoroughly confused as well, “What are you trying to tell me, Todoroki?”

“Have you ever heard of… quirk marriages?”

“What?!” the ghost growled.

He hadn’t heard of them, but based on the spirit’s reaction, he could tell they were nothing good.

“They became a problem in the first few generations after superpowers became widespread. There were those who sought out potential mates solely with the intention of creating powerful children,” the stoic student paused, “Many people were forced into relationships. They were simply viewed as old fashioned arranged marriages, but clearly, it was unethical.”

“Do not tell me…”

“My father had not only a rich history of accomplishments, but plenty of money to throw at his problems.”

Midoriya could see where this was going, but he hoped desperately for his thoughts to be wrong.

“He bought my mother’s relatives to get his hands on her quirk. And now he's raising me to usurp All Might.”

The shy teen couldn’t hold back the pained gasp that escaped his throat.

“How despicable! The majority of humans today have no respect for one another!”

But Todoroki either didn’t notice or didn’t care, “In every memory of my mother, I only see her crying.”

Midoriya brought his hands to his mouth, but couldn’t stop the stray tears from falling. It hurt to hear his classmate recount such a horrible childhood. His heart panged, as he recalled his own nightmares from when he was younger.

“I remember she called my left side unbearable,” he continued, despite the reaction from the boy he was speaking to, “before she poured boiling water on my face.”

He caught the sob that he nearly released after hearing that. His thoughts now centered on his own burn scar that laid across his chest. Todoroki was still just a child. He himself was still just a child. What had any of them done to deserve such a fate?

“Even though my mother was the one who gave me this scar,” he gestured to his right eye, “I only blame my scumbag of a father for pushing her to this.”

“W-why,” he stumbled, “why are you telling me all this?”

The candy cane boy took a step closer, “I saw the same pain in your eyes from the moment you walked into the classroom. You’ve gone through the same as I have.”

The currently distraught teen looked up shakily, “W-what?”

“I thought that your parents might have been pro heroes, but I don’t think that anymore. But that doesn’t dismiss the fact I still believe you are different from everyone else.”

Different? He knew Todoroki was probably referring to his home life or something, but, what should he even say. His classmate had just spilled his whole tragic backstory to him. And yet, he was hesitant to do the same…

“You… do not have to say anything,” Gami could probably see his dilemma, but still, the advice didn’t feel right to take.

The two boys waited in silence, but the minute he looked back up into Todoroki’s eyes, guilt flooded his conscience.

“My… my father was always distant,” his mouth had started for him, “He worked abroad and was never usually home, so it was only my mother and I when I got my quirk diagnosed.”

He watched as the red and white haired boy listened intently. He didn’t want to lie, but he also couldn’t spill everything, so he treaded lightly around the truth.

“I was an outlier compared to my parents,” that wasn’t technically a lie after all, his quirklessness didn’t run in the family, “My mother was quiet about it at first, but when my father found out, he wasn’t happy.”

Gami was impressed that his successor was managing to recount this horrific event so calmly. His friend had told no one about his situation at home, and yet, this boy had coaxed it out of him.

“The days after my diagnosis, my parents constantly fought. My father didn’t want me anymore, and my mother was at a loss for what to do.”

Midoriya tugged at his uniform collar, revealing the bit of his scar that peeked out. He heard Todoroki take a sharp inhale.

“On the third day after, my parents got into a really bad fight and he… he hit her. I tried to help her and calm him down, but my father was too furious. He… has a fire-breathing quirk.”

That definitely made Todoroki gasp, though it was small and light.

“He burned me that night, all across my chest and right shoulder,” the teen motioned to his chest where the scar laid, “He never came back after that night either.”

The other boy tried to respond, “I-”

“My mother,” he didn’t mean to interrupt, but if he stopped now, he was afraid he wouldn’t start again, “she blames me for his departure. She resorted to alcohol to try and cope, but things only got worse. I don't have anywhere else to go though, so I just try and stay out of her way.”

He took a slow breath once he finished, and Todoroki’s cold gaze softened.

“I’m sorry,” he began, “that you went through that.”

“I’m sorry for you too. I had no idea Endeavor was so cruel…”

“Most people don’t. He’s got enough money to cover anything up anyway, so it’s not like I could say anything.”

They stayed quiet for a while. Midoriya picked at his gloves while Todoroki shuffled his hands in his pockets. Gami moved his arms to wrap around the small boy, hoping to comfort him. He had no idea what was going to come of this conversation, but he didn’t want to see someone so similar to him struggle on his own, like he was. So he took a risk that he hoped wouldn’t backfire on him.

“I’m still not too sure what you were trying to accomplish with this conversation, b-but, do you want to be friends? We can work through this together…”

Todoroki’s eyes narrowed, “I didn’t come here to make friends.”

He paled, “O-oh.”

The timid boy’s reaction immediately made him feel guilty, for some odd, unfamiliar reason. So he tried to save face. “But… I wouldn’t mind making an exception, Midoriya.”

When said child flinched, he realized his mistake.

“Sorry, I forgot what you said about the name in the locker room, though now, I can understand why.”

“It’s fine. You can call me by a nickname.”

The candy cane teen shuffled, “I’m not very good with coming up with nicknames…”

Midoriya hummed, “Well, some people are calling me Midori. But if that’s not your style, you can use my given…”

“I’m afraid I don’t know it.”

“It’s Izuku.”

Todoroki nodded, “Then I’ll use that. If you could extend the same courtesy to me, I rather not go under that scumbag’s name.”

“Do you have a preference?” he asked, ignoring the quip.

“You can use my given as well,” the student clarified.

“Wha-”

He already knew what the green haired teen was going to ask, “It’s Shouto.”

He flashed the stoic kid a wide smile and gripped his backpack straps. Gami proudly stood behind his successor, excited he was taking the initiative to make a friend.

“So… friends, Shouto?”

“Friends… Izuku.”

Chapter Text

Midoriya didn’t get very much sleep that night, his mind still locked on to what Todoroki had shared with him. He felt somewhat guilty for trying to end the conversation earlier in the locker room, but also thankful the other student had been so persistent. Gami had told him not to think about it for too long, and to try and get some rest. After all, it was merely the end of the first day. Tomorrow would surely be the start of new chaos.

The next day, he woke up early as he normally did, surrounded by a beautiful array of flowers and plants. He would have never guessed that taking care of the spider lilies his middle school classmates left for him would have led to a green thumb. But it did, and gardening soon became a new, relaxing hobby for the boy. Of course, it was a delicate challenge. He had to garden with his gloves on, since the plants would wilt otherwise. And he scraped together the extra cash to upgrade from used mason jars and water, to small flower pots and soil.

He’d also strayed away from his roots, no pun intended. The teen had started out with taking care of the lilies he had received, but now, he didn’t grow as many flowers. Most types simply grew too tall for him to manage with gloves. He ended up taking a gamble on some dying succulents one store was giving away, but after a few days of intense care, they thrived and bloomed. The way those little plants grew was so rapid, he had needed to bring out the old mason jars just to give them more space. Succulents ended up becoming his favorite plant to garden, since they spread so quickly and were so resilient. His shelves were covered in them.

Midoriya found it ironic for an individual like himself to be surrounded by so much life.

He watched as Gami drew open the curtains, letting the morning sun peek though and shower him. The spirit had gotten much better at accurately interacting with his curtains, so that was definitely a plus. It was kind of like his everyday chore he liked to help out with.

Opening up his bedroom door, Midoriya made his way into the kitchen. He was fully dressed and held his backpack by the straps. He scoured the cabinet for something to bring along with him for the subway ride, eyes landing on an old granola bar. He could feel his stomach shudder, but it would have to do until he could go grocery shopping again.

The duo left the house and strolled down to the subway station. They were a few minutes early, so the boy plopped himself down onto one of the waiting benches.

“What do you think you will do in heroics today?” the man asked, hoping to start some sort of conversation to kill the silence.

He shrugged subtly, but when most of the subway goers cleared out of the area, he replied, “I’m not sure. Hopefully nothing too stressful like yesterday.”

He was actually hoping for some book work in class. Maybe they’d study hero and villain philosophy, or go over basic quirk laws and regulations. Yesterday caused him to sweat so much, he might as well have Bakugo’s quirk.

He felt his throat go dry. Maybe that old granola bar wasn’t the best thing to have eaten so early in the morning… His hands grew shaky and he started to feel sick.

But as his head began to spin, he started to think this wasn’t because of the granola bar.

Clutching his head, he groaned in discomfort. The ghost flew into action, and gave the teen an anchor. A familiar buzzing flooded his ears as he was thrown into a swirling mess of colors and shapes. As many as he had and would have in the future, Midoriya would never get used to the feeling of being sucked into a premonition.

The subway station quickly changed into what the boy assumed to be an office building of some sorts. He took in his surroundings. Currently, the room he was in had concrete pillars that stretched to the ceilings and evenly tiled flooring. He could make out large windows on every wall. The room was surprisingly empty, without any desks or anything, which made him second guess his initial assumption of this being an office building.

The most obvious thing he could see though, was a large hole in the floor. It looked to be a wide channel that stretched from left to right, and it had to be over 15 feet wide. He couldn’t walk over to it, as these visions normally had him stand in one spot, but he guessed it led to the floor below.

Then, he heard footsteps behind him. The boy turned to look away from the doorway. He could make out two figures walking towards him, or at least, towards the exit door. And as they got closer, he paled at who they turned out to be.

He watched Iida and Uraraka stop a few feet away from the canyon in the floor, idly chatting about something he couldn’t make out. They were wearing odd clothing, Iida in something similar to a suit of armor, and Uraraka decked out in pink, spacelike gear. He swung his head around in a panicked manner, searching to catch what would happen to them.

A loud explosion rocked his world. He couldn’t see where it came from, but the blast shot past him, tossing his hair all about. Hearing the brunette cry out, he lurched over in that direction. He could barely make out their forms, but watched in horror as they were thrown from their feet and over the edge of the gap, likely to their demise a floor below.

The crippling feeling of his spine shattering only confirmed that for the teen.

The agonizing taste of death finally released him from the vision. The scene returned to being just a subway station, and he focused on his companion squeezing his hands. He couldn’t tell if the man was saying something, his ears still ringing from the blast. It felt as if someone had knocked him right in the head, and the phantom pains in his spine throbbed.

“Izu, If you can hear me,” he could finally make out what the specter was saying, “tell me three things you can see.”

Midoriya looked around hazily. He could make out another blue bench a few steps away, as well as a directory behind it.

“T-there’s a bench over there. It’s blue. A subway map is behind it,” he groggily searched for something else, “And a passing train.”

“Oh thank god,” Gami replied, “Two things you can feel.”

The student flexed his fingers danitly, still reasonably dazed, “The metal bench. I-it’s rusty.” It was difficult to really feel things with gloves on though. “A-and my uniform pants.

“And one thing you can hear.”

“Just the passing trains. They’re really loud today."

The teen felt himself calm down as the man in front of him sighed in relief. “Are you back?”

He smiled tiredly, “Yeah. I’m right here.”

“You were mumbling a lot this time. I just got worried. Do you… want to tell me what happened?”

He gulped heavily, “I saw Uraraka and Iida,” he didn’t get any reaction from Gami, “You know, from lunch?”

“Yes, I remember. I have not forgotten yet,” he said with a snarky undertone.

Midoriya ignored it, “I don’t know where they were, but there was a big explosion and they fell.” His fingers snaked behind his neck and ghosted over the start of his spine.

The ghost got the idea.

The boy quivered, “I-it… it hurt so much this time.” His voice was quiet, like a scared child.

The man threaded a few fingers into his successor’s hair, “I can only imagine. But you can help them.” These pep talks never got any easier. Gami wished he could take some parental classes for the undead or something.

The teen nodded shakily, unsure of himself, “I can help them.”

“Exactly,” he reassured, “Now how about we board the subway before it leaves without us?”

He got up unsteadily, but with his mentor’s assistance, he managed to stand on his feet. With slow steps, he made his way into the train and threw his shaky body into another seat. Dropping his bag on the seat next to him, he picked at his gloves and stared as the train doors closed. With a sudden lurch, the subway started moving, its creaky wheels unable to drown out his overwhelming thoughts.

Why couldn’t he have a normal morning today?

So far, the day had been reasonably uneventful. Gami and Midoriya didn’t talk as much as they did in the past, but managed to sneak some short comments back and forth. They were currently in English class with Present Mic, and the teacher was trying to stir up some spirit in the students.

“So listeners!” he exclaimed, “Which one of the following english sentences is incorrect?”

No one in the class bothered to answer. The teen looked around at his classmates. They all just stared blankly towards the front of the room, seemingly bored.

“All right everybody! Hands up! Show me some spirit!!”

Midoriya knew the answer to the question. He was fairly decent in his English studies, but that didn’t mean he wanted to volunteer to respond. He was sure there were other students who knew as well, so someone would answer eventually.

“So… do you plan on telling Aizawa and Nezu about your foresight this morning? They are students here after all…”

“Yeah, I will,” he whispered lightly, “I’m going to do it after heroics. That’s the best time anyway.”

“How about you, Midoriya?!” the pro called out, “Do you know the answer?”

Said boy paled in shock. Of course the teacher had decided to call on him. It was plausible the man heard him mumbling, but that still didn’t make him alright with being singled out.

“Take a deep breath,” his mentor directed, “You know the answer.”

So he did. Collecting himself with a breath, he managed to get his nerves under control. “I-it’s number 4.”

Present Mic pressed on, “Can you explain why?”

He nearly growled. He knew that the hero was only doing his job, but did he really have to make him explain? “The r-relative conjunction is in the wrong place.”

“That’s correct!!” the man announced like he was on a gameshow, “Now for the next-”

The lunch bell suddenly rang, and all of the students quickly rushed out. Midoriya sighed gratefully and collected his things. He was ready for a break, and lunch would be exactly that. The boy piled up his books into his bag just as Uraraka and Iida approached him.

“Hey, Midori! Ready for lunch?” she asked cheerfully.

“Oh, U-uraraka,” his mind betrayed him and returned to that horrific scene this morning, “Y-yeah, I’m pretty hungry.”

The three kids left the classroom in a hurry, and joined the lunch line. As inexpensive as the school’s food was, the teen wasn’t sure if he’d be able to eat it for each day. His pockets were already running thin and he needed to shop for food at home. He wasn’t actually planning on eating today, but since the two students practically dragged him onto the line, he figured he’d indulge himself. He bought himself a hot plate of white rice and steamed vegetables and sat down with his friends.

“So heroics is our last class of the day,” the brunette stated, “What do you guys think we’ll do?”

“I don’t know,” Iida replied, “I assumed it wouldn't be anything strenuous at first, but with Aizawa-sensei as our homeroom teacher, I am no longer so sure of myself.”

Midoriya hummed in agreement, his mouth full of savory food.

“What about you, Midori? What do you think?”

At first, he had hoped for some simple bookwork, but after his vision, he desperately hoped for nothing that would put them in danger, “I just hope it’s nothing too crazy.”

Uraraka agreed with him, “Yeah, hopefully no threats of expulsion like yesterday.”

The three then continued to chat calmly, and made sure to balance out their time with eating as well. The time flew by and they eventually cleaned up their table. The quiet boy searched for signs of his other new friend, but Todoroki was nowhere to be found. That had left him slightly disappointed, but he didn’t let it show. The three of them left the lunchroom and walked back together to their classroom. Midoriya sat down at his desk towards the back of the classroom and smiled at Uraraka and Iida, who did the same. Eventually, the rest of the students filed in and soon enough, everyone was waiting on a teacher to arrive.

“Last chance to change your guess,” Gami teased, “I still think it is going to be a lesson on damage protocol after a villain attack.”

He scoffed quietly, “Whatever you sa-”

But the boy didn’t get to finish as the classroom door swung open. In walked a person both had forgotten was working at U.A.

“I AM…!”

The two both flinched at the voice, though, only one was truly visible.

“COMING THROUGH THE DOOR LIKE A NORMAL PERSON!!”

The last time Midoriya had seen All Might was during the holographic projection that had told him of his acceptance to U.A. He had been shocked that the hero was going to be teaching at the school, but forgot about it in the months between. And while he couldn’t bring himself to hate the number one hero, his presence definitely made him uncomfortable. He fiddled with his gloves nervously as he felt the spirit move closer to him protectively. The teen tried not to show his discomfort as the class gasped in awe.

“It’s All Might!! Incredible!! He’s really gonna teach us!!”

“That’s his silver age costume!!”

“Look at him go!!”

Midoriya stayed quiet, but across the classroom, one red and white haired teen noticed him shuffle in his seat. His heterochromatic eyes flickered from his new friend to the number one hero in the room.

“Hero basic training!” the pro started loudly, “The class that’ll put you through all sorts of special training to mold you into heroes!”

The duo grew worried. The odds of having a calm, last class of the day was growing slimmer by the minute.

“No time to dally. Today’s activity is this!!” he held up a card with bold lettering on it, “Battle training!!”

And there went any chance at a nice afternoon.

He had been unfortunately placed right behind Bakugo in the seating chart, but watched the blond grow more and more eerily excited at that prospect. That unnerved him, but he took a breath and just continued listening.

“And for that… you’ll need these!!”

Suddenly, the classroom walls shifted and extended. Massive shelving units broke from the wall, each containing a number from 1 to 20. Midoriya realized they likely corresponded with each student in the class.

“In accordance with the ‘quirk registry’ and the special request forms you filled out before being admitted…”

The class understood where All Might was going with this, “COSTUMES!!”

“Yeah!!”

“This is awesome!!”

“Oh I’m so excited!!”

The seasoned hero couldn’t get the students to quiet down, so he simply yelled over them, “After you change, come out in ranking order to ground beta.”

Everyone responded back in loud agreements before rushing over to grab their briefcase with their costume in it. Gami watched as his successor waited for the pile up to die down before walking over to grab his own. Together, they made their way to the locker room in order to change.

“Do not be too worried about anything. I am sure all will turn out well.”

The boy huffed indifferently, “That’s what you said yesterday and looked at what happened…”

The ghost rolled his eyes, but the child couldn’t tell.

Midoriya changed in the stall as he did yesterday and rushed out to the grounds as the hero stated. He was fully dressed in his hero costume that he and Gami had spent numerous hours designing. Together they came up with a costume that the teen really felt comfortable with.

“Ah Midori!” he heard Uraraka cry out, “Cool costume!! Really practical looking!!”

He flushed and grew embarrassed. His costume design was something he was proud of, but hearing it from someone else really made him feel good.

The body of his costume was a black jumpsuit, similar to Eraserhead, but a bit more skin tight and reached all the way to his wrists and ankles. He wore a short, brown cape that wrapped around and clipped together in the front. The cape only reached his elbows, but that was purposely designed so it was harder to be grabbed by a villain. He also had a pair of brown combat boots, which had thick, iron soles.

The boy wanted his costume to resemble more of a reaper style, since that was what his “quirk” was named, but realized a look like that would be inconvenient for fighting and would probably scare civilians off. So the duo quickly modified their designs to fit more of a steampunk look, with solid combinations of brown and black.

His costume had a few changes unlike his original design. The support team who designed it added iron heels and tips to his boots, which he was grateful for, as well as metal knee pads. But they also took his steampunk theme a bit farther than the duo had planned, and added numerous leather straps and belt buckles to the jumpsuit, and a pair of geared clocks to the sides of his shoes. And while the extra parts didn’t interfere with the costume’s practicality, he wasn’t quite sure how to feel about them.

But all in all, wearing the suit felt just like his own skin. Combined with his usual gloves, Midoriya was ready to take on whatever All Might had planned.

He turned around to face Uraraka and nearly fainted in shock.

Her suit was the same gear he saw her in during his premonition that morning. It was the same pink space gear he remembered. But he calmed himself down enough to respond.

“T-thanks Uraraka. Y-yours is neat too.”

She smiled warmly, “I wish I’d been more specific on my request form though. This suit’s really skin tight…”

He tried to get his brain back into analysis mode. Anything to get away from the pressing thoughts of his vision. “Well, your quirk makes you nauseous, right?”

“Ah, yeah…” she confirmed, remembering the entrance exam where she threw up right in front of him.

“Then it’s probably to cradle your pressure points,” he continued at her confused look, “You know, to make you less nauseous…”

The brunette laughed, “Oh, well I guess that makes more sense.”

Midoriya looked around in search of Iida, but couldn’t really pick him out of the crowd. Though, after a second look, he spotted a familiar suit of white armor and nearly threw up. Gami watched his successor grow distraught and added in his two cents.

“Izu,” he began, “Just keep an eye on them. Remember that just because the pieces are lining up now, does not mean the puzzle will be completed today.”

He grimly nodded and tugged at his costume pants. He just needed to look out for them. There was no way he’d let anything happen to his friends on his watch.

Looking to take his mind off of Uraraka and Iida’s possible demise, he spotted a familiar head of candy cane hair. Well, it was more like just white hair, as half of Todoroki’s body was covered in ice. He rushed over to talk.

“Hey To-” the boy corrected himself quietly, “Shouto.”

“Hello Izuku,” the stoic student replied back, “Your costume looks good.”

He grew bashful, “Ah thanks. I actually came over to ask about yours.”

“Oh,” Todoroki pondered.

“I’m not sure you ever explained your quirk to me,” Midoriya rambled, “But what’s with all the ice?”

The boy shifted and grew more serious, “My quirk is Half-Cold Half-Hot. It lets me generate ice from my right side and fire from my left.”

“But your whole left side is frozen over…”

“I refuse to use my bastard of a father’s quirk,” he stated bluntly, “I’ll become a hero without it.”

“B-but Shouto-”

The reserved teen never got to finish as All Might called out.

“It’s time for battle training!!”

Most of the students cheered, with the exception being himself since he was still in shock, Todoroki, Bakugo, and a few others.

Iida then stepped up towards the front of the crowd, making Midoriya realize how far back he was, “Sensei! This appears to be the same field used in the entrance exam. Will we once again be performing cityscape maneuvers?”

All Might shook his head, “No!! You will be moving on to step two!! Indoor anti-personnel battle training!!”

The hero grew more animated as he spoke, “Villain battles are most commonly seen outdoors, but statistically, the most heinous villains are more likely to appear indoors.”

He raised a hand to his mouth in contemplation. The teen and his companion studied him closely. The pro was making strange pauses in his statements, almost like he was unsure of what to say.

Between confinement, house arrest, and black market deals… in this hero society of ours…” All Might took a break to cough, “The cleverest villains out there… lurk indoors.”

Well, he couldn’t disagree with that, at the very least. His mind went back to the sludge villain incident. While the villain was indeed strong, he wasn’t too bright, if attacking Bakugo in the middle of a shopping district was saying something.

“You’ll now be split into villain teams and hero teams… and face off in two-on-two indoor battles!!”

The frog girl Midoriya recognized from the quirk test spoke up, “So no basic training?”

The pro seemed to grow defensive, “Practical experience teaches you the basics! The distinction here is that you won’t be fighting disposable robots.”

At that, the class devolved into wild comments.

“What determines victory?” probed a spiky black haired girl who he recognized to be Yaoyorozu from the quirk test as well.

“Can I just blast everyone away?” Bakugo growled.

“Are you threatening to expel someone like Aizawa-sensei did?” Uraraka timidly asked.

“How do we proceed to divide ourselves into teams?” Iida questioned stiffly.

“How fabulous is my cape?” shined one blond boy he didn’t know the name of.

All Might became even more frustrated, “One at a time! My quirk isn’t super hearing!!”

He quickly composed himself and opened up a tiny pamphlet from his back pocket. Both Midoriya and Gami deadpanned. The hero was reading from a guide. That explained his choppy behavior.

“Listen closely. The villains will be hiding a nuclear weapon in the hideout. And the heroes have to go in and take care of it,” the seasoned hero flipped a page, “The heroes have a limited amount of time to either capture the villains or secure the weapon. The villains must either capture the heroes or protect the weapon until the time is up.”

All Might reached for a small box labeled “Lots” and displayed it to the students.

“Your battle partners will be decided by… drawing lots!!”

Iida immediately countered, “Is that really the best way?!”

Midoriya pondered the thought. Well, it makes sense. Pros often have to team up with heroes from other agencies on the spot during emergencies…

The teen shuddered and looked up, only to find all the eyes of his classmates on him. He must have said that aloud by accident. Iida heard the comment as well and straightened up. “I see. I apologize for getting ahead of myself. My mistake!”

The number one hero stiffened up at the sight of the boy, immediately recognizing him from the sludge villain incident. He had gotten to see his performance during the entrance exam and was surprised at his display of a quirk. It made him wonder why the boy had even asked him that question underneath the overpass. But he pushed the thought from his mind and continued with his speal. “It’s fine!! Let’s just get to it!!”

As All Might drew student numbers from the box, Midoriya was afraid the universe would screw with him and pair him up with Bakugo, but he was graced with Uraraka instead, to which he was thoroughly thankful for. He listened as Todoroki was paired with another student who had multiple sets of arms. Iida was the unfortunate one paired with Bakugo, and the boy pitied him

“Nice Midori! Must be fate!!,” his partner cheered, “Let’s do this!!”

He simply smiled back at her, and flashed a thumbs up.

The hero assigned each team a letter and shuffled them around, “Moving on. First up are these!!” He pulled two letters out and showed them off.

“The heroes are team A!!”

Midoriya and Uraraka looked at each other. They were up first, but who were they going up against?

“And the villains are team D!!”

He saw Iida and Bakugo move, and he just knew. Of course the universe decided not to spare him. He was a fool to think it would have mercy on him.

All Might didn’t notice the hostility he had just created, “The villain team goes in first. They have five minutes to prepare before the hero team is allowed in. The rest of us will watch via CCTV.”

He turned to face Iida and Bakugo.

“You two need to adopt a villain mind-set. This is practical experience, so go all out. Don’t hold back!”

That was bad advice to give to a volatile teenager with a dangerous explosion quirk.

“Though I will stop you if you take things too far…”

It was too late for the hero to save face now.

The two teams separated. The villains entered the building to prepare, while the heroes remained outside to discuss their plans.

Iida and Bakugo made their way to the top floor, where they deposited the weapon. The strict boy rapped his knuckles on its side, deeming it paper mache at the noise. He was a bit disappointed at having to play the role of the villains, but didn’t let his mood sour his performance.

The blond wasn’t as composed as his partner though. He had been angry when he found out that Deku had gotten into U.A., but upon seeing the boy display a quirk the other day, he felt his rage peak over and spill. “So Deku has a quirk now…”

Iida caught the comment as well as the teen’s attitude, “You saw his technique with his weapon, no? He is definitely the bigger threat. Though, I ask you not to charge right at Midoriya…”

But Bakugo ignored his partner’s request. Deku had been fooling him this whole time, and there was no way he’d let the damn nerd get off like that.

Uraraka pulled out the building blueprints that their teacher had given them, “The buildings blueprints… better memorize these.”

Midoriya nodded. He studied the map of the building and came to the scary conclusion that it looked similar to the one he was in during the foresight. His hands started to shake nervously and his partner picked up on that.

“Are you alright, Midori? You look really worried…”

“Ah, no it’s nothing…” he tried to reassure her, but she didn’t look convinced.

“Is it because we’re up against Bakugo?”

“Sorta.” He didn’t technically lie. He was feeling worried about fighting him, so he played it off like that to ease Uraraka’s concerns.

“Well, don’t stress too much about it,” she replied, “We just need to come up with a plan!”

Gami, who had remained quiet for some time, pitched in to the pep talk.

“Focus on the task at hand. Come up with a plan that keeps both of them safe.”

Midoriya nodded his head confidently at his mentor’s words. He turned to look at the brunette.

“Well, if a plan is what we need, then I got one…”

The hero team listened as All Might called in on their intercoms, telling them to start. Midoriya flew into action without hesitation.

“Gami,” he whispered so Uraraka wouldn’t hear, “Find the weapon.”

“Of course. I will report to you once I discover it.”

The teen watched his ghostly companion float into the building, then turned to his partner.

“You ready?”

She nodded, “Let’s do this!”

He squatted slightly and motioned for Uraraka to hop on. They had decided that it would be best to enter from one of the higher floors to keep their element of surprise. But having the brunette float both of them up would take a serious toll on her condition. So Midoriya proposed a different solution.

Uraraka wrapped her legs around his waist and hung her arms around his neck. Once he felt stable enough to move, the boy made his way to the exterior wall of the building. He placed both hands on the concrete and began to decay it slowly, having removed his gloves once his partner was secure on his back. Once he felt the notches were large enough for his grip, he stopped and prepared to scale the building the same way he had with the zero-pointer.

“Midori,” she started, “Are you sure you don’t want me to make myself weighless at least?”

But he just shook his head, “That’ll just make you nauseous. Don’t worry, I got this.”

Uraraka didn’t want to make her friend doubt himself, so she huffed in agreement.

Midoriya hoisted himself up using his first two holes, and then gradually made more where he needed them. Sure, the time he scaled the zero-pointer was much easier considering he didn’t have another person on him, but even now, they were making their way up the building at a steady pace.

The rest of the class observing in the monitor room were having a field day.

“Wow!”

“Look at him go!!”

“Is he scaling the building? That’s crazy!!”

Todoroki watched quietly, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t impressed. Scaling a building, especially while carrying someone, was no mere feat. Something like that required great physical strength as well as quirk creativity. It was an ingenious move. Midoriya would definitely be a big contender while he was here at U.A.

The hero team was currently at the fourth floor when Gami returned.

“The weapon is being guarded on the fifth floor with Iida. There are no signs of Bakugo anywhere in the building…”

He hummed, “Change of plans then…”

Uraraka heard him, “What is it, Midori?”

“Well, the floor above us is the top floor,” he tried to explain without mentioning that his ghostly mentor had found the weapon, “So that’s probably where the weapon is. Iida would probably think that we would float up to the top.”

She didn't get his point though, “If Iida thought we’d start at the top first, why would he put the weapon there?”

The boy used his head to gesture up at the windows, “The fifth floor is covered in big windows. He’d definitely see us coming.”

“Oh, then what do we do?”

He had already come up with a plan in the time they had been hanging there, “Well, if we enter on the fourth floor, we can still keep our element of surprise.”

“Sounds like a plan!”

Luckily, Midoriya had paused right at one of the fourth floor windows, so he carefully maneuvered himself closer. He was a bit afraid of releasing one of his hands to grab at the window, but he wouldn’t let it show. Removing one of his hands from the hole, he touched the window with all five fingers and let the DT rush through. Uraraka gasped at the sight of the glass beginning to shatter. Feeling the strain on his one hanging hand, he poured more DT into his fingers and the glass shattered instantly. Thankfully, it broke apart in pieces and wasn’t too loud.

“Can you reach the window from here,” he asked, returning his hand to the notch for stability.

“Yeah, no problem!” she whispered excitedly and slipped off his back and through the window hole.

He felt the strain leave him once his partner got off his back and into the building. He then threw himself from the wall through the window as well, and landed with a crunch onto the glass pieces.

Uraraka did a small, quiet cheer, “Successful infiltration!”

Midoriya nodded, “Lots of binds and corners, so watch out.”

The two then left the window and walked through the building. Both of them had memorized the floor plans fairly well, but what his partner didn’t know was that a spirit was currently leading them through the building as well. The ghost scoped out each and every hallway they turned into, making sure he could see that they were safe. He was sure that Bakugo would be coming soon, and he expected either a sneak attack or a blatant rush.

Then, as they passed by a small, dead end hallway, Bakugo’s form suddenly jumped out at them. The teen snapped into action and dived to cover his partner. Just as he did, the blond let a loud explosion out, but thanks to his quick action, the blast only hit the wall.

“He barely grazed me,” the boy announced, “Are you alright, Uraraka?”

“Yeah, thanks,” she responded a bit shaky.

“That’s good,” he confirmed, “But stick to the plan.”

The brunette nodded and got to her feet. Midoriya jumped to his as the smoke cleared and he could see the blond.

“Nice dodging,” Bakugo growled, “Deku.”

The green haired teen took a fighting stance. He had told Uraraka earlier that Bakugo would likely go after him, so they incorporated that into their plan. If he fought the raging blond, he would likely ignore her. She would be able to get away and engage Iida faster than if the two fought Bakugo together.

Back at the monitor room, the class grew excited again.

“Sneak attacks are so not manly,” one red haired student cried.

All Might interjected, “But they are a valid strategy for either heroes or villains!”

Another pink skinned girl cried out in awe, “That Midori sure can dodge!!”

Most of the class agreed with her.

Todoroki again observed in silence. He could tell that the blond was unnaturally hostile towards Midoriya. That made him suspicious. Did the two know each other or something?

Bakugo rose to his feet and smiled menacingly, pulling one of his gauntlets back, “I’m gonna mess you up just enough not to be disqualified!!” He rushed at him with a strong right hook, but the shy boy saw it coming.

He rushed forward to close the gap between them and latched both hands onto the gauntlet. Making sure to have it secure, he steadied his stance and used Bakugo’s own momentum to slam him to the ground. He held onto the gauntlet for a little longer than he needed to, and let the DT flow from his fingertips into it.

Bakugo was just in shock. Did Deku just read my moves?

Midoriya didn’t waste the opportunity, “Uraraka, go!”

She reacted almost immediately and took off. She didn’t want to hesitate and cost her partner the opportunity he had given her. This was all part of their plan after all.

The blond was too angry to care that the girl left the scene. He was ready to bash Deku’s face in.

“Bakugo, you almost always lead with that right hook,” he stated, “I’ve seen it enough to know.”

Both boys watched as the right gauntlet flaked away into dust, one in satisfaction and one in rage.

“You see… I’ve analyzed a lot of people in those notebooks of mine,” he clarified, “Just like the one you blew up and tossed out the window.”

The blond took up a squatting position, eyes full of fury, “You spout all that crap… all while scared out of your mind.”

He pushed himself back up to his feet.

“It pisses me off!!”

Suddenly, Bakugo’s com went off.

“Hey Bakugo,” out came Iida’s voice, “Update me on the situation! What’s happening?!”

He just growled, “Shut up and keep watch! I’m ready to wreck someone!!”

And with that, he cut the line.

Bakugo shot himself towards Midoriya with another explosion, ready to ram his knee into the boy. But he saw that coming too and quickly rolled out of the way. Reaching into the pocket that held his gloves, he rummaged around and pulled out a roll of capture tape. He knew it was unlikely that he would actually restrain the blond, but it might give him an opportunity to attack.

He managed to wrap the tape around his leg halfway before Bakugo noticed. He yanked hard on the tape, pulling the blond off balance. What will come next? If I know Bakugo, he’ll rage and attack again…

“Damn you, Deku!!”

With his usual right hook!!

The teen dived out of the way as another explosion landed at the spot where he once was. Midoriya didn’t want to fight here, the hallway was too narrow for him to pull any stunts with his scythe. So during the chaos of that last attack, he quickly turned the corner and ran, knowing Bakugo would follow him.

That didn’t mean Bakugo liked it though, “Get back here, Deku!!”

He ducked into another hall and stopped just to catch his breath and collect his thoughts. Everything was going more or less according to plan. Bakugo came straight at him, flat out ignoring Uraraka. And based on the com interaction, there wasn’t much teamwork going on between the two on the villain team either. All was working in their favor so far. Now, he would just have to find a way to immobilize or distract Bakugo long enough to get away, so he could help his partner.

Uraraka had managed to find the weapon along with Iida, but stayed hidden. She watched her friend mutter to himself, and wondered what he was saying. But she had to stay out of sight until Midroya came back. She listened in as Iida’s mumblings grew louder.

“Bakugo has a natural tendency towards troublemaking, so this exercise is perfectly suited to him… I suppose I must also take on the role of a villain…,” he stayed on that tangent, “Though it brings shame to the Iida family name, this training will help me become a better man!! I must commit!!”

He turned towards the doorway with a menacing look.

“I am the ultimate evil!!”

The brunette couldn’t stop her laughter at that. She let out a loud giggle and alerted the boy of her presence.

“So you’ve come, Uraraka!” he announced with a dark undertone, “I know your quirk allows you to levitate objects you touch, so before you arrived…”

The armored student spun around a bit and extended his arms in a flashy manner as the girl left her hiding spot.

“I enacted a counter strategy against you by removing all objects on this floor!!”

She quickly turned on her com to get in touch with her partner.

“Midori!”

The boy answered quickly, currently weaving in and out of halls in search of a way to apprehend Bakugo, “Uraraka, what is it?”

“Iida found me, sorry,” she sighed, “And he moved everything so I’ve got nothing to fight with…”

Midoriya scowled, “That’s alright. Where are you?”

“Fifth floor. Right in the center!”

He looked up. So right above me…

“I’ll be there as fast as I can. Just stall and stay on the defensive.”

The teen then heard a click and turned his eyes back to the hall to see Bakugo standing in front of him. His one remaining gauntlet was pointed right at him. He quickly let his partner go to put his full attention on the boy.

The blond chuckled, “I’m sure you know from all your stalking, but…”

He took offense at that statement, but didn’t let it show. He didn’t consider his analysis “stalking”. Sure, maybe it was a bit invasive and maybe it freaked people out, but stalking? No way

“The sweat glands on my palms secrete…” he continued, “something like nitroglycerin. That’s how I make my explosions.”

Midoriya quickly put the pieces together. The sweat, the gauntlet, the smug grin on his face. Don’t tell me he’s gonna…

Gami, who had stayed on the sidelines most of the fight, stepped in to consult his successor, “Be careful.”

“Assuming they honored my design request… this gauntlet had been storing that fluid,” he kept on, “Call it revenge for destroying my other gauntlet.”

All Might immediately interrupted through the intercom, his outburst scaring the observing students, “Bakugo don’t! You’ll kill him!!”

The blond smiled psychotically, “He won’t die if he dodges!!”

Midoriya barely heard the pin get pulled out and clink to the ground before all hell broke loose.

He reacted as fast as possible. There was no room for hesitation as he felt his hair scorch. He flexed his hand and summoned his scythe. Not skipping a beat, he unleashed the dam and released his DT into his weapon as if it were a wild, savage beast. He swung the blade to meet the blast, his previous preparation merely lasting a second.

The shockwave met the blast and the two fought for dominance. Uraraka and Iida held their ground as the entire building shook on its foundation. All Might and the other students could only watch the cameras as Bakugo fought to prove and Midoriya fought to live.

A second went by, but the two forces continued to struggle. Finally, the teen’s shockwave won, but just barely. It pushed all the dust, smoke, and debris towards the angry blond, who had to shield his eyes. Midoriya didn’t waste a single moment though, and distanced himself. His eyes landed on his exit and he formulated a plan.

The smoke didn’t disappear right away, but he could still make out Bakugo’s deranged smile. And it scared him.

He quickly lowered his form to continue hiding in the smoke. He could tell the blond was looking for him.

“Come on out, Deku,” he teased, “I want to crush you…”

The boy would not fall for the taunt though, and instead searched the ground for something. His fingers ran over a small stone and he grinned. While hidden in the smoke, he tossed the stone to the other side of the damaged room.

Bakugo heard a stone get kicked and narrowed in on his prey, “Time to pound you…”

Midoriya stayed low to the ground and crawled away from the blond, towards his exit. The smoke was still decently thick, and he was going to use that to his advantage. He threw another piece of debris to another corner of the room, hoping to confuse him.

Gami watched his successor lead the blond around the room, playing him for a fool. He was proud of his friend’s cunning genius, but also relieved that he wasn’t too badly injured.

The sneaky teen tossed around a few more stones and could hear Bakugo grow more and more frustrated. After one final throw, he left the scene and headed up to meet his partner. Once he was sure Bakugo couldn’t hear him, he tried to contact her, but realized his com was out. He pushed his exhausted body to run faster up the stairs and to the room where Uraraka had told him she was.

He ran into the room, much to the surprise of Iida and his partner. The brunette quickly regrouped with him.

“Midori! Are you alright?” she pressed.

“Just a bit roughed up, but I’ll be fine,” he replied, “We don’t have too much time though. I’m not sure how long Bakugo will stay distracted.”

She nodded, “Well I tried to grab the weapon myself, but Iida keeps moving it around.”

He huffed. Iida’s speed would definitely be a problem. “Initiate Plan B then!”

“Alright!”

The boy playing a villain was confused. What did this “Plan B” have in store for him?
Midoriya quickly ran over to a support pillar closest to his partner and slammed his hands down onto it. It happened so fast, Iida had no time to react. The concrete pillar decayed almost instantaneously and Uraraka grabbed it and activated her quirk. She lifted the pillar up over her head, now finally having a weapon.

“Let’s go Midori!!” she cried.

He grunted in response and followed up with both hands on the floor. The decay spread throughout the floor and it crumbled to pieces, exposing the floor below. The gap stretched all the way from left to right, leaving Iida no room to run away with the weapon. The teen quickly realized the parallels of this scene to his premonition, but was too caught up in the moment.

Bakugo, who was directly under, figured out that the boy had tricked him and stormed up to fight him.

As the debris flew around the room, he called out.

“Now Uraraka!!”

She swung the pillar, the force of the swing blowing the debris right at Iida’s face.

“HOME RUN COMET!!”

The armored student raised his hands to shield his face and the hero team saw their chance.

“Now’s your chance!” Midoriya yelled to his partner, “Go Uraraka!!”

The brunette reacted quickly, dropping the concrete support pillar and touching her chest. She activated her quirk on herself and launched herself into the air, right above Iida’s head. The teen watched as their plan unfolded to the smallest detail, of course, not without a few hitches.

But he still watched in awe, as Uraraka hugged the weapon, securing it for the team.

“Weapon secured!!”

All Might’s voice rang over all the coms, though Midoriya couldn’t hear it.

“THE HERO TEAM WINS!!”

And finally, the fight was over.

The first thing the hero team did was barf. Well, more accurately, it was Uraraka who did the puking. Iida, being on the same side of the makeshift canyon as her, ran to her fallen form to help her as best he could. Gami floated over to greet his successor.

“That was certainly an eventful fight,” the man began, “You did well.”

The shy boy didn’t believe him, “You really think so?”

“I know so…”

“Hey Midoriya!!”

He flinched at the name, but immediately knew it was Iida who was calling him. He turned to see his partner back on her feet and the other boy standing next to her. They carefully made their way back over the large gap using the pillar Uraraka had discarded. Soon enough, they were at his side.

“That was quite the spectacular Plan B!!” Iida continued, “But if I may, what was Plan A?”

The brunette took over, “Well, that was in case you hadn’t moved anything out of the room for me. I was going to float as many things as I could while Midori batted them at you.”

Midoriya jumped back in, “It was our Plan A because it was less risky and easier to execute. We knew that Plan B was a bit dangerous, especially if this scenario had been for real, but we factored that in to make it as safe for a nuclear weapon as possible.”

Iida looked impressed, “Well, I am amazed. You certainly had the brains, power and teamwork to win this challenge. I am not at all bothered to have been beaten by you two!!”

The three smiled and laughed together. No one was majorly injured, and there weren’t any hard feelings between them. They all congregated by the room’s only exit to talk some more, oblivious to the dreadful hurricane headed their way.

Bakugo reached the fifth floor and quickly found the room that Deku was in. He was seething mad. How dare the nerd play him like that, tricking him into thinking he was still somewhere in the smoke. It wasn’t even just that. The whole time Deku had simply read him like a book, calculating his every move with terrifying accuracy. And that pissed him off. He wasn’t going to let him off that easy.

He stood in the doorway, surprising the three students, “Deku…”

They all turned around in shock, and that’s when Midoriya remembered his foresight. He couldn’t believe he had forgotten something like that, even for a second. The boy tensed, ready to act when he needed to.

The raging blond kept talking, “You played me like a damn fool. I bet you think you're so smart, don’t you?”

He raised his only gauntlet up at him, his mind too full of anger to properly realize what he was doing. That same anger had given him enough sweat to fire off another large blast if he needed to. The teens gasped in shock.

Iida was the first to reply, “Bakugo, what do you think you’re doing?!”

All Might and the rest of the class watched in horror from the monitor room. The hero tried to deescalate the situation. “Bakugo, the training exercise is over!!”

But the blond either didn’t hear the pro or simply ignored him, “I’ll tell you what I think, you fucking runt! I think you should learn your place!!”

It was like slow motion. Both Midoriya and Gami watched as Bakugo pulled the pin out of his gauntlet for the second time. This was it. It was happening. The same scene he had witnessed at the subway station was unfolding in front of his very eyes. The explosion was too large. It was going to hit Iida and Uraraka as well. They were going to be blown into the hole in the floor. They would land on the floor below. Their spines would snap.

They were going to die.

He prayed. He prayed to the universe so desperately in that moment… That he could reach his friends before they were hit.

Uraraka and Iida were still crying out in shock, neither even realizing what was truly happening. They were too caught off guard to think about using their quirks. The two were simply in pure disbelief that a classmate would attack them in such a manner.

Each frantic step the boy took was issued with so much force, he was afraid his legs would break. But he just kept on running towards his friends, who he watched in slow motion try to protect themselves from the blast. He had to make it. He just had to!

I have to get there!!

He reached out his arms desperately, hoping, praying, to feel something between his ungloved fingers. He couldn’t fail them. He wouldn’t be able to live with himself. That it was his fault Bakugo had fired, and they just got caught in the midst.

It was like a blessing, almost as if the universe finally granted his poor heart a wish, that he managed to feel two different arms in his grasp. Without hesitation, he roughly shoved both Iida and Uraraka out of the way, just as he felt the heat of the explosion touch his costume.

It wasn’t a second later that he was blown off his feet. There was so much chaos going on, he didn’t even realize that his friends were watching him in horror, as he went over the edge.

He felt himself fall through the hole he had made to win the training exercise, down to the spot on the fourth floor where he had tricked Bakugo with the stones. Even now, he could still tell there was still smoke on the ground. That massive explosion was truly impressive.

He wasn’t sure when exactly he had hit the ground, but after what seemed like forever, his vision went dark.

Midoriya didn’t know how long it had been since he lost consciousness, but assumed it wasn’t long considering he was still laying on the wrecked fourth floor. His whole body hurt, so he didn’t bother trying to get up. His mentor was at his side and kneeled down at his wake.

“G-g-gami…” he struggled to say. Even his breaths were painful, “W-what happened?”

“Do not move. You were hit by Bakugo’s explosion.”

His first thought went to his friends, who had also been up there, “U-ura… I-iid…”

“They are safe.” It sounded like the ghost was crying. “Please, worry about yourself.”

His mind switched back into rational mode, “D-damages…?”

“Your injuries are severe. You cannot move, no matter what.”

The boy listened obediently, “T-tell… me.”

“Your arm is impaled on a metal rod. I do not know if any of your other bones are broken.”

He couldn’t see his arms from the angle he was at, but trusted in his companion’s words. His neck ached so badly, it reminded him of the phantom pains earlier this morning. With each breath it felt as if his chest was collapsing on him. He was in so much pain, he just wished it would end already.

“T-tired…”

The spirit knew his successor couldn’t die, but that didn’t mean he wanted him to fall back into unconsciousness again.

“N-no. Fight it off Izuku. You have to stay awake!”

The teen didn’t want to disappoint his mentor, so he fought off the darkness, as much as he wanted it to consume him. He was running out of energy though, and only managed to stay awake longer enough to see some robots rolling towards him.

Then, he truly succumbed to his urge to sleep.

Midoriya wouldn’t lie, he was a bit disappointed to wake up again, but his eyes did flutter open. And once they did, he realized he was in what looked to be a hospital. But upon closer inspection, he realized it wasn’t a hospital at all. It was the school’s nursing office.

He slowly craned his neck to the left and was met by an immediate scolding.

“Don’t move your head! Your spine is still fragile!!”

It took him a moment, but he recognized the voice to be Recovery Girl’s. That made sense. She was the school’s nurse. But he didn’t listen and moved his head around again. Aizawa and Nezu were also in the office. What were they doing here?

“Ah, Midoriya!” the principal began, “It’s so good to see you awake. How are you feeling?”

The boy wasn’t sure if he could speak coherent sentences, but he took a try, “Hurts… a lot. What… happened?”

His homeroom teacher stepped in, “Bakugo fired off an explosion at you, Iida, and Uraraka after the exercise was over. You managed to push them out of the way and took the brunt of the hit. You fell to the floor below and landed on your back, damaging your spine and impaling your left arm.”

He looked down at his arm and sure enough, there was a large scar in his forearm, the size of a metal rod. That’s when he realized his arms were exposed and he was still in his hero costume. The sleeves had been ripped off.

Recovery Girl piped up at that, “The damage to your spinal cord should have killed you. It was in complete shambles, and yet when I used my quirk on you, it simply healed as if it were a normal injury. You need to explain yourself.”

It was a bit inconsiderate that the heroine was asking him to spill his secrets after he had nearly died, but at locking eyes with Nezu, he caved, knowing it was for the better.

“I-I… have i-immortality…”

The older lady clearly wasn’t expecting that, but the principal jumped right back in to explain, “Midoriya has been hiding a lot of things concerning his true abilities for his own safety. I will explain everything to you later.”

Midoriya hoped that was the end of the questions, and the teachers would let him rest in peace, but he was sorely mistaken.

“We just have one more thing, Midoriya,” Nezu continued, “before we must go.”

The teen just nodded. He noticed Gami at his bedside, holding his hand gently. He squeezed it tightly, just to let the man know he was ok. Well… as ok as he could be right now.

“Midoriya, we had to take off your costume to perform a medical exam on you,” the nurse picked up, “and I noticed some concerning things.”

Huh? Concerning things? What in paradise’s name was she talking about.

“You have a massive scar on your chest, as well as numerous ones on your arms. None of those were from today’s incident. So I must ask…” she explained, “Where did you get those?”

Oh

Oh shit.

OH FUCK-

Of course, he didn’t respond right away, so the heroine continued her onslaught, “I’m a nurse. I know plenty about how scars form. The one on your chest is clearly a burn scar and the others were hard to figure out at first, but from their depth, I can tell they’re from glass shards.”

Nezu tagged himself in, “We just want to know where you got them from, Midoriya. Can you tell us?”

Aizawa still hadn’t said a word.

The boy could feel himself panicking. Shit, they had already found out about his whole role as Death, he couldn’t just tell them his whole tragic sob story. Then what would happen? Would they deem him too much a risk to stay at U.A.? Or worse, send him off to some prison so he couldn’t take his revenge if he wanted to. Which he didn’t! But his rationality went out the window at that moment, and all the worse possible scenarios ran through his mind.

“Izu, you have to tell them. They might even be able to help yo-”

Midoriya completely forgot that Gami was invisible to anyone other than him. Or that Recovery Girl didn’t even know about his existence. His mouth simply opened and he didn’t think.

“You expect me to tell everything to complete strangers?! They already interrogated me yesterday!!”

No one said a word after and that’s how he had realized he just said that aloud. It was so quiet, the boy swore he could hear the pin from Bakugo’s gauntlet fall over and over again. He really screwed up this time.

Nezu was the first to respond, and he wasn’t as composed as before, “You were talking to Gami-san again, right Midoriya?”

The boy was completely embarrassed in himself, “Y-yeah, I’m sorry sir…”

But the principal didn’t stop there. He knew the look on his student’s face. It was the look of years of submission, of pain, of abuse… Something he had gone through himself many years ago.

“You’re… being hurt at home, aren’t you Midoriya?”

He snapped up from his hospital bed, startling the teachers in the room, “N- err… I… um…”

The words were foaming at his mouth and came out incoherent. He clutched at his chest, right where he knew the burn scar from his father laid. Aizawa finally took charge of the situation. “How about we ask you questions, and you answer? Does that sound ok?”

He couldn’t put the words together, so he just nodded his head solemnly.

Eraserhead didn’t stop, “When did you get that scar on your chest?”

He hesitated, but the ghost next to him gave him a slight nudge. “W-when I was 4.”

Recovery Girl asked next, “Did someone give it to you?”

The teen nodded shakily. “My father.”

“How?”

“His quirk…”

Nezu picked up there, “Can you explain?”

He took a shaky swallow. “His quirk is fire breathing. H-he burned me three nights a-after my quirk diagnosis and never c-came back…”

Aizawa realized at that statement that no one actually knew the boy’s true quirk, “What was the diagnosis?”

Oh god, why? Why was everything unraveling like this? “I...I-”

“Take your time, dearie,” he heard the older woman say.

“I don-… I didn’t-” he forced the words to come out, “I didn’t have a quirk…! S-so he didn’t want me…”

The room was silent. No one said a word, or asked another question. Midoriya didn’t want to hear the empty nothingness though, so he just kept on like he did with Todoroki, hoping to change the subject. The words came out easier when he was deflecting anyway.

“My mom became an alcoholic after he left. She blames me for everything,” he rambled, “She comes home late though, so I don’t see her often…”

Still, no one said anything. He was growing more and more nervous and could feel his panic take over his form. He realized he still didn’t have his gloves on.

“My gloves! I need my gloves!” He yanked his arms up from the hospital bed, ignoring the IV in one. Holding them up in midair, he made sure his fingertips weren’t touching anything. Aizawa was the first to figure out what was happening, his rational mind kicking into overdrive.

“He’s losing control of his powers right now!” the normally tired man exclaimed, remembering the boy had told them his powers acted up under emotional distress, “We need something he can use it on!”

Recovery Girl quickly tossed the pro a clipboard, and he threw it at the student in the hospital bed. In hindsight, that probably wasn’t a good idea, but luckily the student caught it. The clipboard disintegrated to mere dust in an instant. The boy calmed down.

Gami rummaged through the remains of his hero costume currently on the floor and managed to find and pull out a pair of discarded gloves. The pocket they were once in was nothing more than shreds of fabric. The ghost somehow was able to hold them and tossed them into his successor’s lap. The teachers were surprised at a pair of gloves seemingly moving on their own, but the man and the rodent knew the truth to what was happening.

“T-thanks Gami…” he answered and slipped them on. Instantly, he felt relaxed, and nearly fell asleep. He leaned back into the bed, returning to a calm state.

Nezu tugged a paw at Aizawa’s pant leg, “Well… we will be going now Midoriya. Please, rest up. I hope to see you out of here later.”

The principal left and his home room teacher quickly followed. Recovery Girl was the only one left in the room, besides the spirit of course. She walked over to him and gave him a quick kiss on the forehead. The teen could feel his energy drain away.

“Get some rest, dearie,” she spoke softly, “You need it.”

For the third time, his eyes closed and he was off to dreamland.

God, could this day get any worse?

Midoriya awoke some time later and was deemed in stable enough condition by Recovery Girl to return to class. He wasn’t sure how much time had passed, but he was definitely sure that all of the other training battles were already over. That disappointed him as he was excited to see his classmates’ quirks in action, but what could he really do?

The nurse had told him to be careful moving around as his spine was still fragile, but he wouldn’t have to worry about snapping it. The hole in his arm was fully healed, and only a small, round scar remained. Most of his stamina was gone, since Recovery Girl had used it to speed up his healing, so he was now groggily dragging himself down the hallway.

The heroine had given him a spare uniform to wear, since his costume was so mangled. His arms were now completely covered, with thick bandages around one. He used his signature glove-covered hands to pull open his classroom door, the mere action putting serious strain on his body. He barely got the door open when someone called his name.

“Oh, Midoriya’s here!! Welcome back man!!” one student with red, spiky hair cried.

The door was flung open for him, and the boy was immediately bombarded by his class. He backed away in discomfort, still an emotional mess from earlier in the nurse’s office. But the crowd was dispelled by two worried students, who shoved their way to the front.

“Oh, Midori,” Uraraka whimpered out with concern, “Are you ok?”

He reached out to her, “I’m fine, but-”

Iida was trying to hold some students back from tackling him, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t concerned as well, “Midoriya, you’re not seriously injured, are you?”

“No- well I was,” he started, “But I’m fine now! So please don’t worry!”

The brunette jumped back in, nearly embracing him before she remembered he was hurt, “You took the hit for us!! I was terrified when I saw you go over!!”

The teen’s mind flashed back to his premonition, but he pushed it away. It hadn’t come true. He had stopped it. He had saved them. “I couldn’t let you guys get hit. You’re… my friends after all.”

Iida looked heartwarmed, “Still, I must ask you please be more self conserving. You had the entire class petrified.”

Midoriya was positive that it wasn’t the whole class, but still, he had never had so many people worried about him, “I’ll… try.” He flashed a smile.

Uraraka wiped away a few tears and gave him a gentle hug, unable to resist anymore. He flinched at first, but slowly hugged back. The touch didn't feel as uncomfortable as it would have back at Aldera. Maybe that was a sign that things were getting better.

“We’re just so glad you’re alright,” she sniffled.

The girl eventually backed away and smiled in return. Iida, having done his version of damage control, now stood next to her. His glasses hid any stray droplets that may have escaped. But now that the two students had properly checked on their friend, the rest of the class pounced.

The red haired boy came back up to him, “I don’t know what you were saying back there, but that was a wild battle!!”

A girl with pink skin and yellow horns spoke next, “Your dodging was so good!!”

Another student with brown hair and plump lips interrupted, “We were all super pumped after that crazy first round!!”

The shy teen just smiled awkwardly during all of that, “Um… I’m afraid I don’t know all your names just yet…"

The red, spiky haired boy introduced himself first, “I’m Kirishima Eijirou!! Your fight was so manly!!”

“I’m Ashido Mina,” the pink female went next, “You dodge really well!!”

“I’m Asui Tsuyu,” said the frog girl Midoriya had noticed a few times, “But you can call me Tsu.”

The brunet only introduced himself with his family name, “And I’m Sato.”

Midoriya's smile turned genuine, “Well, I’m Midoriya Izuku! But I’m sure you already knew that! Though, I’d prefer to be called by a nickname…”

The newly introduced Ashido cheered, “Well, I heard you're going by Midori, so I’ll just call you that! Plus it’s cute!”

The boy wasn’t sure how he felt at being considered “cute” but the rest of the class quickly latched onto the name, so he didn’t mind. Plus, he actually enjoyed the nickname quite a lot.

Ashido was a very animated person, and he realized that very quickly. But that didn’t mean he was expecting her to slap a hand on his back. He hissed in pain and she moved it frantically

“Oh I’m so sorry!” she apologized.

“No, no it’s fine,” he reassured, “My spine is still a bit sensitive…”

Iida activated worried dad mode at that, “But you told us you weren’t seriously injured!”

“Well I was, but Recovery Girl healed me up…” he tried to clarify.

Uraraka lept on Iida’s bandwagon, “Midori, how badly were you hurt…?”

The teen waved his hands dismissively, “Guys, I’m fine now. You really don’t need to worry…”

But at his friends’ unbelieving looks, he caved.

“My spine was badly damaged when I fell,” that was definitely an understatement, but he didn’t want to tell his friends that he should technically be dead, “And I got my arm stuck on a metal rod, but I’m fine no-”

The brunette clasped her hands over her mouth in shock, “Oh my god!”

Iida only grew more worried, “Will you be alright to continue your hero studies?”

The rest of the class seemed interested in that.

“Y-yeah! I told you guys. I’m practically brand new again. I just need a good night’s sleep!”

That was finally enough to deescalate the situation and calm his friends’ nerves. His body ached from simply standing, so Uraraka and Iida finally allowed him a moment to breathe and let him sit down alone at his desk. He carefully leaned back in his chair so as to not aggravate his spine further, and let out a deep sigh he had been holding since waking up for the first time in Recovery Girl’s office. But even then, the universe would not allow him a single moment of peace.

Though, the peace breaker ended up being Todoroki, so it wasn’t as bad as it could have potentially been…

“I know you have been insistent on your condition,” the boy started, “But are you truly alright, Izuku?”

He widened his smile, “Yeah! Don’t worr-”

“I’m not referring to your injuries,” he interrupted bluntly.

Jeez, he really couldn’t slip anything past this kid. His smile fell. “How could you tell? Is it really that obvious?”

The candy cane student shook his head, “It’s not, but your eyes give it away. Do you… want to talk about it?”

Midoriya gulped. It was weighing heavy on his chest, but he didn’t want to put that kind of strain on a friend…

Todoroki noticed the hesitation, “Yesterday, you said you wanted to work through this together. That means you have to talk as well.”

He was sure the boy didn’t mean to put it that rudely, but he got the message.

“Recovery Girl saw my scars…” he whispered quietly, hoping not to attract any unwanted attention, “She brought in Aizawa-sensei and Nezu-san.”

The red and white haired boy stiffened, “I’m assuming you told them?”

“I didn’t want to…” he mumbled with a slight whimper, picking at his gloves, “but they practically figured it out themselves. I… don’t know what to do…”

“What do you mean?”

The teen looked up, finding it unnaturally easy to open up the boy in front of him, “I’m scared. If they decided to do something, where am I going to go? I can’t stay with my father, hell, I don’t even know where he is. What if I’m put into a different home? Will I even be able to come to U.A. anymore? I just-”

Todoroki cut off his frantic rambling, but softened at his desperate look, “I’m sure it will all end up alright…”

“But what if it doesn't…!”

The student reached into the back pocket of his uniform and pulled out a small sliver of paper, neatly cut and folded, “Here. We’ll figure this out together.”

Then, Todoroki returned to his seat. Midoriya didn’t miss the fact that he had said “together”. He unfolded the piece of paper, only to see a phone number on it.

“Well that was smooth…”

The teen socked his mentor hard in the arm. He was sure the student only meant it as a means of communication, so he wouldn’t feel as alone. But that also made him wonder, did Todoroki prepare the paper beforehand to give it to him, or did he just have random slips of paper with his number on it for emergencies? Either way, it seemed a bit strange, but he took the gesture as a friendly one.

He entered the number into his phone and labeled the contact “Shouto”. Gami watched as he did, but did not spare him from any teasing.

“Given name, huh?” the spirit joked.

“Be quiet,” he hissed under his breath, “You weren’t saying anything yesterday…”

“He did not give you his number yesterday…”

“Oh you’re unbearable,” the boy huffed, but the ghost didn’t miss the small smirk on his face, “I thought you were more mature than this…”

The man sighed, “I have been mature for over 5 centuries, let me have this.”

He rolled his eyes, “Whatever you say.”

The duo chatted sparingly since they were still in class, but eventually the bell rang and Midoriya got ready to leave. He wasn’t sure if he would get to go home or not. Maybe he was just overthinking things…

He slipped his backpack on as Uraraka and Iida joined him. Together, the three made their way out of the classroom, only to be stopped by Aizawa at the door again.

“Midoriya,” he began, “I need you to go to Recovery Girl. She wants to do one last check up before you leave.”

“Darn,” the brunette sighed, “We’ve been foiled again.”

“Sorry guys…” he replied.

Iida reassured him, “It is completely fine. We’d rather have you in the best shape possible, even if that means we do not walk to the subway together.”

The group walked together down the hallway, but split once the reserved boy reached the nurse’s office. He entered the room, to which only the heroine was there. She motioned for him to sit on the bed and started to check him over.

“Nezu explained your situation to me,” she stated.

“Oh…” he wasn’t sure what to say.

“Is… um, Gami in here? the older woman asked.

He looked over to his ghostly companion, “Yeah, he’s standing at the foot of the bed.”

“Please tell her I thank her for taking care of you. You are far too reckless for your own good.”

“He wants to thank you for healing me,” the teen repeated, “He also thinks I’m too reckless…”

The heroine laughed, “Well I’m certainly inclined to agree with him. Though, your injuries seem to be healing fine. You should be back to normal by tomorrow.”

“Oh that’s wonderful, Midoriya!”

Both parties turned to see the principal and a tired teacher walk into the office. Nezu had a bright smile on his face and Eraserhead seemed merely indifferent.

“Nezu-san,” he greeted, “Aizawa-sensei. What are you doing here?”

The rodent’s smile fell to more of a neutral face, “Well, we have decided what to do about your… situation.”

Midoriya instantly tensed. Gami moved to stand closer to his successor.

He continued, “As a school, it is our responsibility that all of our students are kept safe, and that includes both on our premise and at home. Aizawa-san and I have come to the conclusion that returning home isn’t a safe option for you.”

He wasn’t sure how to feel about that. Sure, he didn't really want to go home, but that was all he knew. What would happen to him now?

Nezu took a step forward, “I don’t think that putting you into a foster home right now will necessarily help your mental state as a growing teenager. Plus, I’m assuming you would need to hide your role as a Grim Reaper from anyone new that you’d be living with.”

“For the last time-”

“Gami,” he shushed, “I’m sorry. Please continue…”

Aizawa raised an eyebrow. He realized the principal was going off script. This wasn’t what they had discussed. Leave it to the chaotic rodent to throw a wrench into the gears at the last minute.

“So, as U.A.’s principal, I have access to a better option for you that would ensure you remain enrolled as well as out of your household!”

The boy fiddled with his gloves nervously, “Well, that’s good I guess…”

“Unfortunately, this solution will only be temporary until U.A. officially works out all the details with the police.”

“So… what’s going to happen to me?” he wondered why the principal was stalling so much.

“Well, I’ll be using the school’s executive power to pull you from your home, since we’ve deemed it unstable for you to live under,” Nezu paused briefly.

“And you’ll be staying with Aizawa-san in the meantime!”

“WHAT!?” Midoriya cried out in shock.

Aizawa turned to the principal, “This is not what we discussed!!”

Nezu just smirked sadistically.

“Things don’t always go according to plan, now do they, Aizawa-san?”

Chapter Text

Midoriya stayed quiet as Aizawa argued with Nezu, who just seemed to be enjoying the situation. He hadn’t moved from his spot on the hospital bed. Recovery Girl wasn’t making eye contact with him anymore and had simply moved to her desk. Gami floated over to sit next to him, but after deeming his form too unstable to make contact with the bed, he just stood by the boy. His successor hadn’t moved a muscle since the principal’s declaration, and that concerned the ghost.

“Are you… doing alright?”

He didn’t respond. The teachers just kept fighting.

“Is it because of Eraserhead’s reaction?”

Again, no response.

“Is it the change then? Is it because you are being forced somewhere new?”

No answer.

“Was it just the day? Has today been too much?”

Nothing.

The teen wasn’t sure what was wrong with him, honestly. It just felt like the air had been pulled from his lungs. Like he was gasping on nothingness. He felt empty, and alone, despite the yelling in the room and the words coming from his mentor.

He wasn’t sure if going home was what he wanted, but at the same time, he wasn’t sure if going with Aizawa was what he wanted either. I mean, it was obvious that the man wasn’t jumping for joy either. He didn’t want to cause any more problems for anyone, but was that worth going back home?

He really didn’t know.

“Midoriya!”

The boy jumped a bit, startled at the call, but otherwise made no effort to respond. Once he realized it was the principal calling him, he made a small hum of confirmation, but nothing more.

Nezu figured he finally had the student’s attention, “Sorry about all of that. Aizawa-san is going to stay with me for a bit to finish the finalities. But don’t worry, he’s having Yamada-san pick you up!”

Midoriya’s breath hitched at the name, the unfamiliarity sparking something like primal fear. His hand was halfway to his chest before he stopped it, and moved it back to his side. Gami must have understood the same thing, as he took a threatening step towards the rodent.

“A-are you sure about this, sir?” he whispered, “I really don’t want to be any trouble…”

The principal elbowed the tired man in the leg, but it wasn’t caught by either of the deathly duo. Aizawa definitely did, on the other hand, and stifled a curse.

“Trust me, Midoriya,” he assured, “you’re no trouble at all!”

The teen wasn’t convinced, but he flashed a small smile anyway. He gripped his backpack straps tightly, digging his gloved fingers into the leather. He watched Nezu make a slight movement with his paw and took it as a gesture to stand up from the bed. He wobbled on his feet, but grabbed at the bed for balance. He was still suffering from light headedness due to Recovery Girl’s quirk, but forced himself to stand nonetheless.

Then, there was a knock on the door.

“Oh! That must be Yamada-san now!” Nezu exclaimed, clapping his paws together, “Come in!”

Midoriya didn’t really know who this “Yamada” was, but he picked up some important tidbits about the person.

One, Aizawa knew Yamada on some sort of personal level, and probably trusted him. Even if the hero was making it blatantly obvious that he wasn’t looking forward to fostering him, he knew the man’s rational mind wouldn’t allow him to do things half-assed. So if the man was truly having someone else pick him up, he wouldn’t have just chosen someone randomly.

Two, Yamada must work at U.A. to have arrived at the nurse’s office so quickly. It was likely the man was a hero, and subsequently, a teacher. Most of his current teachers hadn’t introduced themselves yet, so he was stuck calling them by their hero names. Yamada could be one of his teachers then. Or maybe he was a teacher he didn’t have, like a Gen Ed or a Support Course teacher. Of course, there was always the possibility that this mysterious man wasn’t a teacher at all.

But other than that, he really knew nothing about the man.

So imagine the boy’s surprise when he watched Present Mic, his English teacher, walk into the room.

“Hey Sho! You needed something?” the loud man asked cheerily.

The teacher stopped right at the doorway, realizing the awkwardness of the situation. Aizawa stared at him blankly, while Nezu stood by his feet and waved. Recovery Girl had moved away to her desk a while back, and just seemed to be ignoring the situation. Midoriya reacted, though it was only his gaze, and Gami turned his whole form to now face the door.

“I’m sure you both already know each other,” the principal started, “but anyway, Yamada-san, this is Midoriya Izuku from the hero course. Midoriya, this is Yamada, but you probably know him better as Present Mic.”

The newly introduced teacher chuckled awkwardly, “Well, hello little listener! Just like the principal said, I’m Yamada Hizashi.”

The teen gulped quietly, not knowing what to say.

“I apologize for having Aizawa-san call you here on such short notice,” Nezu continued, “But I’m afraid it’s pretty important.”

Yamada grew serious, “It’s no problem at all. What is it?”

The rodent gestured for the student to come closer, so he did, walking over to stand beside Nezu and in front of his English teacher. His mind was racing, and yet, his throat felt like a desert. Was he going to be staying with Aizawa still, or was Present Mic picking him up so he could stay with him? What would happen to his mother, or his notebooks, or his plants? How long would this last? When would he have to find a new family?

“Well,” Nezu smiled a wide and unnerving smile, one that shook the boy to his core, “You and Aizawa-san will be fostering Midoriya for some time, so I need you to take him back to your apartment to get settled in.”

The teen deadpanned. The principal sure had a way of being straightforward.

When Yamada told his husband that he wanted a child, this wasn’t quite what he was expecting.

Currently, the two had left the school, and were walking down an empty street. The hero had changed out of his clothes to not draw attention, and combed his hair down from his signature look. His hands were stuffed in his leather jacket pockets and his jeans ruffled around in the breeze. And yet, as comfortable as he was, not a word had been uttered since they left the nurse’s office.

Midoriya walked next to him, eyes downcast and hands tightly wrapped around his backpack straps. He debated burrowing his fingers into the bottom of his uniform top, but decided against it to not make any more unnecessary wrinkles. His analytic mind was beaming at the thought of strolling beside a pro hero, but somber shadows quickly restrained his excitement, and brought back the dread. He was pretty sure he was spiraling again, as the unwelcome feeling of drowning in agony returned, but there wasn’t much he could do in the moment. He was positive the pro didn’t know about his situation, and that was not a conversation he wanted to have in the moment.

Gami simply floated behind the two silently, observing every step the hero took. His successor had first introduced him to this man back at the entrance exam briefing, and back then, he was sure the hero was only a loud and obnoxious individual. But now, he wasn’t so sure.

The silence must have gotten to the man, as he was used to naturally talking, so he finally spoke, “So Midoriya, you wanna tell me more about yourself? I’ve only known you since these first two days of school.”

Yamada knew he was a lot of things, but an idiot was not one of them. He had a good idea of what was going on. U.A. didn’t typically pull kids from their homes often, but it had happened enough that he understood the protocol. He knew that this student’s home life must be bad enough for Nezu to act so quickly. But there was no way he was going to open a conversation asking this kid about home, especially in an area so public as this.

And still, when the boy looked up at him to respond, his heartstrings were tugged violently. He looked so alone and unsure of himself. When he saw the kid in his class, he just chalked it up to being nervous or introverted. But now that he had a better idea of where his skittish behavior had come from, it tore apart his heart. The hero couldn’t understand what would compel anyone to hurt a child like this, especially one as shy and sweet as Midoriya.

The teen stuttered, trying to gather up the confidence to speak, “I like a-analysis… and gardening.”

The man leeched onto that information, hoping to keep the boy talking, “Oh, analysis? Do you analyze anything in particular?”

This wasn’t Yamada’s first time assisting U.A. in a sensitive situation. He knew how to tread around topics that were sensitive and to encourage a student to talk about something they enjoyed. He’ll like to think he was decent enough in handling children. Though, this was the first time he’d ever be fostering one.

He watched the boy light up, “I-I do quirk analysis. Most of my notes are on pro heroes, s-since they’re so easy to research. I w-wanted to write some notes on my classmates, but I’m afraid they’ll think it’s weird…”

The teacher was impressed, “Have you analyzed any heroes here at U.A.? And why would they think it’s weird?”

Midoriya felt the shadows loosen their hold and retreat, and his head clocked into overdrive, “I-I have! I’ve done pretty much all the heroes that work at U.A.! You, Midnight, Cementoss, even Aizawa-sensei.” Then he grew nervous, and the brightness in his eyes dimmed. He fiddled with his gloves anxiously and took a second to breathe before continuing. “Most p-people find it creepy that I observe t-them so closely. I think it f-freaks people out that I’m able t-to dissect their quirks and their weaknesses so q-quickly.”

Yamada hummed, “Well, what have you done on me? If you don’t mind me asking…”

“Um, well your quirk is Voice, and it allows you to amplify the volume of your voice to do damage, but that’s pretty obvious on its own,” the teen paused to try and recall his notes to the fullest extent, “By itself, it a pretty basic quirk, but that allows a lot of room for creativity.”

He looked up to the man, almost waiting for confirmation to continue. The pro glanced down at him, tilting his glasses to his nose. He flashed a small smile and gave a slight nod, which provided just enough confidence for Midoriya to keep talking.

“You already have your directional speaker system for support, but that’s barely the tip of the iceber-”

“Wait a minute,” he interrupted, “My directional speaker what?”

The student looked lost, “You know… the thing around your neck?” He waved a finger to his own neck to emphasize.

The hero laughed, “Oh! So that’s what that is called!”

The deathly duo shared a look of disbelief. Gami simply shrugged back, so the boy returned his gaze to the sidewalk in front of him.

“Well, considering your quirk, there are a lot of ways to give yourself advantages in combat. Creating echos would be a great way to increase the volume and range of your quirk, and it would confuse villains as well,” he stopped, raising a finger to his chin in thought, “Though, that would be difficult to achieve on your own. Pairing with Cementoss would be ideal, but that’s not exactly how it works during an emergency.”

“Echos…” Yamada repeated, “I’ve never thought of that.”

Midoriya must have not heard him, because he just kept rambling, “While you do have support gear already, there’s a lot of room to expand. Have you ever thought of smaller, long range speakers? They can be connected to you by a wire so you can throw them out like a grenade. Then, all you have to do is yell into the existing system around your neck and the sound will be directed out to the mini speakers.”

The teen realized he had been talking for a while and looked up to his teacher to check in on him. The lost look on his face was all he needed to see to understand that he had been rambling again.

“Basically sound grenades,” he re-explained, “powered by your quirk.”

“Oh!” he realized, “That actually sounds pretty handy!”

He looked down bashfully at the praise, the fact that he had just been giving a pro hero support tips finally clicking in his head. Now that he was done talking, his consciousness started to creep back and made him feel unsure of himself once again. His mentor did his best to reassure him, but even the ghost’s pats and hair ruffles weren’t enough.

“Anyone who would think that’s weird is insane,” Yamada spoke up, interrupting his spiraling thoughts, “Your analysis is really helpful!”

Midoriya did a double take, “R-really?”

“YEAH!!” the man exclaimed, “Your outside analysis is super beneficial to anyone looking to expand on their quirk! Just makes me wanna say yeah!!”

The teen was about to respond when the loud man in front of him stopped suddenly, making him skid to a stop as well. Gami wasn’t paying attention to either, and stumbled into his successor. The impact made him shift a few paces, but he corrected himself before his teacher could ask questions.

They had finally arrived at a small house, only a few blocks away from the school. It was an unassuming grey color, with few windows and a dark roof. Despite the boring colors, it felt actually quite welcoming, almost as if it was inviting him inside.

There was a soft click, and then the front door swung open.The pro held it open with one extended arm, beckoning the student to walk inside. There was a slight moment of hesitation, but the home’s ambient warmth soom engulfed him and he entered. He wiped his red sneakers off on the mat, but didn’t know whether to take them off or not, so he waited until Yamada walked in as well and shut the door. The hero took off his shoes and left them on the side of the mat, so Midoriya did the same.

His English teacher rushed off to the main hallway, so he took off after him. He wasn’t sure where the man was headed. Maybe he should have stayed by the door until he got a direct command…

“This was our guest room,” he suddenly explained, stopping at a door, “But Kayama doesn’t come over that often, so we don’t really need it.”

He turned to look at the boy behind him, only to meet a confused expression.

“Ah sorry,” he sighed, “I keep forgetting you don’t know us by our names. Kayama is Midnight.”

Midoriya nodded. Gami grew closer to him.

“Seems like a lot of the teachers at U.A. have close relations…”

That was true. Present Mic seemed to be close to Aizawa in some way, and he also knew Midnight personally enough that she would come over. Who knows how long they had been friends. Maybe when they started their hero careers, maybe even earlier.

“I’m sure Sho won’t mind this becoming your room.”

That short circuited his brain in an instant. There was a lot to unpack in that one singular statement.

He was getting his own room. Now, it wasn’t like he hadn’t had a bedroom before. He obviously had his own room living with his mother. But the room never really felt like it was his. It just felt like a mouse hole in the wall, and like he was a stowaway rat. Sure, it was his room, but it never really belonged to him.

Second, and probably the most shocking, was what his teacher had implied when designating the guest room as his own. He figured that “Sho” was the man’s nickname for Aizawa, based on the fact that he had addressed his homeroom teacher like that when entering the nurse’s office.

But bringing up the pro hero like that could only mean that this was Aizawa’s home.

This would have to be Eraserhead’s house or else it wouldn't matter what the tired teacher thought. And that brought up a whole new set of questions. Did that mean that Present Mic was living with him? Were they roommates? In a relationship? Or was the loud hero not living here? Did he simply just have a spare key? Even if that was the case, that still meant that Aizawa trusted him a large deal, to give someone a key to his home.

“-oriya! Midoriya!”

Yamada’s yelling jolted him out of his endless thoughts, and he blinked a few times to try and get his surroundings straight. He looked up in confusion, but that seemed to be enough for the man as he let out a sigh.

“I was just asking if this was alright for you…” he restated.

Alright? That’s what the hero was worried about? He had already given him residence in a new home and a new room to himself, and he was wondering if it was alright? If Midoriya truly had a say in things, he’d scream about how it wasn’t alright. That someone like him really didn’t deserve nice things like this when there were kids like Todoroki. He was doing fine on his own, after all, he’d practically been on his own for 11 years. His situation wasn’t anything of worth compared to all the other kids he knew were suffering out there.

And yet, the boy knew he didn’t have a say. He never had a say in his life so far, so why should he expect one now? His life had been governed so meticulously by the adults around him, he never expected more. And as nice as his English teacher was to him, in the end, he was the adult. He had the control.

It almost made him break into laughter that the man bothered asking the question in the first place. After all, it was obvious he didn’t care about whatever Midoriya said in return. It was like how people always start a greeting by asking how you’re doing. The answer really doesn’t matter to them, it’s just a matter of being polite. And everyone always says they’re doing good in return, even if they aren’t. Because nobody cares about how you’re doing; it’s just how the formality goes.

He personally wasn’t sure if he would feel comfortable in a completely new room of a completely new house after his whole life had been pulled from under him, but who actually cared?

“O-oh, yeah this is fine.”

That's just how the formality goes.

The room was pretty barren, which made sense considering it was a guest bedroom in Eraserhead’s house. It was of a fair size, with a large, grey queen sized bed in the corner. There was a nightstand on the bed’s free side, a boring, black desk, and nothing more. The only thing that had really excited Midoriya about the room, other than the spacious bed, was the beautiful window that stood right in front of the desk. It wasn’t any different from a typical window, but the way it allowed the sunlight to flow into the room made everything feel so much brighter. Gami probably didn’t like that though, so he’d have to get some curtains for it sometime.

But the awe from the window only lasted a good half hour, at best. The room wasn’t all that entertaining, and it wasn’t like he had much to do. There wasn’t much homework, since it was only the second day of school, and what there was he had already completed at lunch. He did have his phone and a quirk analysis notebook on him, but he couldn’t bring himself to really use either.

So he was simply sitting at the desk, flipping through his notebook for what was probably the millionth time. He wanted to lie on the bed, but he was still on his school clothes and really didn’t want to make Aizawa or Yamada upset. He was a bit weary of sitting at the desk, but figured that if they walked in on him like that, it shouldn’t bother them too much.

Gami had tried to coax the teen out of the room, but his efforts were fruitless. Nothing he said or did could convince him to leave even the desk he was sitting at. Present Mic said this was his room, and that was his safe spot. He rarely ever was hurt in his room, and so that was where he felt the most comfortable. There was no telling what would happen to him if he left the room and went somewhere else. He had been listening closely, and hadn’t heard the front door open, so that meant the hero was still in the house somewhere. What if the man caught him outside the room? He would most surely get upset, but the question was how upset? Upset enough to yell at him? Upset enough to punish him? Upset enough to take out his frustrations on him?

There was no way he was leaving this room. Not unless the house was empty, or someone told him to. And Midoriya didn’t care how long it took for one of those things to happen. He would be patient and he would wait.

That was exactly how he survived with his mother for 11 years, after all.

A sudden knock on the door startled him out of his thoughts. He fumbled in the desk chair a bit, its wheels squeaking on the hardwood floor. The sound dropped his heart rate a few beats, and he hoped that it was too quiet to be heard.

“Hey Midoriya,” a soft voice came from just beyond the door. He instantly recognized it as his English teacher, and wondered why he hadn’t just opened the door yet. “I’m going back to U.A. to see how Sho’s doing. I won’t be gone long.”

Why was he telling him this? What would it matter how long he would be gone? Was this just another formality thing? That had to be it. It was the responsible thing to do, to tell him he would be leaving. Of course Yamada didn’t care how he felt about being alone.

“Alright…” he replied just as quietly. There was a bit of a difference though. Present Mic’s voice sounded more of an unsure quiet, while his was a submissive quiet.

Besides, he didn’t have a problem with being left alone. In fact, he was waiting for this exact opportunity since he walked into the room. The boy wasn’t sure how long he had been in the room, but based on the dim light coming in from the window, it had to have been a couple hours at least. And the slight rumbling from his stomach definitely tipped him off that it was getting late.

The pro must have heard him, because he could hear the footsteps move away from his door and towards the front. The steps were distinct, echoing softly on the hardwood flooring. It sounded as if the hero wasn’t wearing any shoes still.

The teen felt the urge to walk up to his closed door, so he did. Ever so quietly, he crept towards it and pressed his ear up against the wood. Gami followed him silently and stood at the wall next to the door. There, the two listened.

They listened, as the man approached the front door, and the footsteps stopped. Midoriya took a shaky swallow. The feeling of deja vu washed over him so heavily, he felt as if he’d drown in it.

They listened, as both of them could make out the sound of shoes being slipped on and sliding against the doormat. The boy was positive the hero was putting on boots, specifically ones with hard soles, by the way they clicked against the floor. Maybe combat boots, maybe cowboy boots, he wasn’t too sure on the type.

They listened, as the jingle of house keys being taken off their hook pierced through the quiet air. That sound made him feel like throwing up. This felt so familiar, too familiar. His hands grew so cold and clammy, he wanted to tear his gloves off. Something was wrong…

Wrong.

Wrong.

Wrong.

He listened as the front door opened. The footsteps started up again. His heart pounded. He didn’t realize he had left the safety of his room. Throwing open the door, he lunged for where he heard the footsteps roam moments before.

“Dad no!!” he cried desperately, tears clawing at the corner of his eyes, “Don’t go!!”

But the front door had already closed, Yamada long gone and unaware of the cries from the house behind him.

Midoriya collapsed in the hallway, tears and sobs racking his entire body. His gloved fingers curled into his chest protectively, wringing his U.A. uniform into wrinkles. His breathing turned hysterical and unrestrained, as Gami rushed to calm him.

“Please Dad,” he called defeatedly, “please don’t go.”

The ghost wasn’t sure what his successor was talking about, “Your father isn’t here, Izu…”

“I’m sorry.” He didn’t seem to hear his mentor. “I’ll be good. Please don’t leave.”

“That was Present Mic who left, not your father,” the mysterious man tried to explain, but the boy just kept bawling. He kneeled down carefully and wrapped his arms around him gently. The teen was mumbling incoherent apologies, likely to his father as he had been doing in the seconds before. Gami wasn’t too sure what his friend was going through, but he had his assumptions.

The series of events right before his breakdown were eerily similar to ones from the boy’s early childhood, specifically from right before his father’s departure. It was plausible that the hero’s leaving triggered a dormant memory of his father. But even then, he didn’t really know how to help.

“Izu, I just need you to breathe,” he pleaded, “He is not here.”

The sobs started to quiet down, so the spirit figured he was headed in the right direction. He began running his boney hands through his successor’s hair, and instantly heard his breathing slow. That was a trick the specter had learned in his years of companionship with Midoriya. For some reason, the gentle affection helped him calm down, or feel more comfortable.

“D-dad…?”

“No. He is not here,” Gami repeated, “It is just me. Just Gami.”

That finally cleared the teen’s head. “Gami…?"

“Yes…”

And with that, he jumped onto the ghost with a large embrace, the sobs returning. The two hugged tightly, almost as if they hadn’t seen each other in years.

“I’m sorry,” he wailed, “I just thought… I saw… he was…”

But the spirit merely shushed him and held him closer, “It is alright.”

In all honesty, he really had no idea how to handle a situation like this. Should he give it to the boy blunt and just say that his father was never coming back? Or should he console him and give him false hope, even just to boost his mood for the day. Both options felt dirty, so the ghost just tried to assure him that all was good. But even that didn’t feel right. He wished he could do so much more for the broken boy in front of him.

Then, Midoriya’s stomach growled, ruining the sincerity of the moment. That made the teen burst into giggles and he wiped the tears away. Gami too gave a small chuckle, but it was relatively silent compared to his successor.

He lifted his crumpled form off the floor and dragged his feet into the kitchen. The house sported an open concept floor, with the living room flowing into the kitchen quite nicely. The kitchen itself was fairly large and even had an island counter. He reached for the refrigerator handle to open it, but stopped abruptly.

What was he doing? This wasn’t his house, and he couldn’t just take food that wasn’t his. At least when he was living with his mother, he could buy his own food. That’s what he used to cook his meals and feed himself. He made sure that there were no real grounds for his mother to get upset at him concerning food.

But here, he didn’t own any of the food. There was no way he could eat anything that wasn’t his and get away with it. He recalled the first few times he had taken some of his mother’s food without realizing the consequences, and the memories made him shudder. There was absolutely no way he would take something and risk rage like his mother’s.

But his stomach grumbled again, louder and more violent this time. He had been lucky enough to have eaten a full lunch at school today, considering he wasn’t planning to, but it had been hours since that. Not to mention Recovery Girl had sucked his stamina dry. He was practically running on fumes. Combined with his overactive imagination on what could be inside the fridge, and he was desperately battling the urge to yank open the handle.

“What is it, Izu?” his mentor asked with concern.

Right, he had been staring at the closed fridge for what was probably too long to be considered normal.

“I can’t take anything,” he replied almost sadly, but calm enough to signify that this was normal to him.

“What? What do you mean?”

“Well, it’s Aizawa-sensei’s food, I think,” he still wasn’t sure exactly who was living in this house, “I can’t just take it…"

“I’m sure he will understand,” the ghost tried to assure him.

But Midoriya just shook his head, “I’m not… I’m not taking anything.”

Gami didn’t really understand why the boy was resistant to taking some food, but he wasn’t about to let him starve. Not on his watch at least.

“Why don’t you cook a meal for everyone?” he pondered.

“Isn’t that just the same thing?” the teen questioned skeptically.

The spirit wasn’t too proud about tricking his successor, but he really needed the boy to eat something, even if it was under the guise of a selfless act. “No. You are cooking for them as well, not only yourself. They will be so pleased by the kind gesture that they may offer you a portion as well.”

He knew that the heroes wouldn’t let the teen starve, even if they didn’t like him. But he also knew that in his friend’s trauma ridden mind probably wouldn’t see it like that. This was for his sake.

“Yeah… that makes sense,” he answered.

That was thankfully enough to convince the teen as he opened up the refrigerator, but upon his flabbergasted expression, the ghost floated over to see what had caught his attention.

The fridge was almost as barren as the guest room Midoriya had been given. There was barely any food on the shelves, and any that there was definitely didn’t seem fresh. He almost seemed dejected at opening up the fridge. His imagination had hyped him up so much, and the disappointment hit hard.

“Well, this is a let down…”

That couldn’t be more true.

He shuffled through, pushing past containers of leftover food, searching for something decent enough to cook with. And even if he found something, what would he even make? He didn’t really know what Aizawa liked. If he was going to use his food, the dish had to be perfect. He rummaged through some more, and pulled out a container of white rice. Upon further examination, he guessed it was about two days old, which wasn’t too bad.

“I think there are some vegetables in the back,” Gami commented.

Midoriya hummed, but searched where his mentor had told him. Sure enough, there was a small container of steamed vegetables, so he took that out as well. It wasn’t much, but it should be enough for two portions, maybe even three. And still, rice and vegetables wasn’t really enough to be considered a meal. He needed to find some sort of protein.

Laying the rice and vegetables on the counter, he squattered back down to continue raiding the fridge. He scoured container after container, opening up ones he thought had what he was looking for. But either it wasn’t exactly what he was looking for, or it smelled too funky for him to feel comfortable using. He could feel himself grow more frustrated by the minute, and his stomach more hungry.

“Is that not chicken back there?”

The teen’s head swiveled towards the spirit’s outstretched finger. Scrambling through the fridge, he pulled out a container and lifted open the lift. When the smell of chicken met his nose, he smiled in relief. This was definitely fresh enough to use, and he had a pretty good idea of what he was going to make.

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Midoriya smirked.

“Most definitely.”

The kitchen was full of delicious aromas as the sizzle from the open skillet invaded the air. Midoriya flipped the vegetables sauteing in the pan, before pulling them back on the stove top. He moved over to the counters, where he laid out two large plates and then a smaller one for himself. He didn’t want to set out a plate for himself at first, thinking the heroes might get angry at him for serving himself with their food. But Gami managed to convince him to at least take out the plate. He didn’t have to serve himself after all.

The smell of scrambled eggs hit his nose hard, so he rushed over to the stove to check on them. He figured they were done since their edges were a crisp golden brown, so he slid them off the pan and onto a small plate. The ghost watched in amazement as his successor sliced up the eggs into microscopic pieces with a large chef knife. He loved watching the boy cook, and times like made him wish he could eat. He couldn’t smell the countless scents that were currently whirling around the kitchen either, but he was certain they were mouthwatering.

The teen then pushed the small pieces of scrambled eggs into the pan sauteing the vegetables. Lowering the temperature so the bok choy and the broccoli florets wouldn’t wilt, he set the pan down to check on the rice. He’d left that in a small pot with some water to boil, and the moisture rejuvenated the rice back to its sticky, fresher self. He opened the drawer where he discovered the utensils were and reached for a spoon. Pushing past his nervous hesitation, he took one tiny taste of the rice, and his stomach’s subsequent growl confirmed it was ready.

He snagged the two oven mitts from their resting spot on top of a hanging cabinet and slipped them over his own gloves. Carefully, he gripped the pot’s handles and carried it over to the dining room table, which he set before he started cooking. Still with the mitts on, he scurried back and took the vegetables off the stove top as well, placing them next to the rice. Having just a bit of time left, he quickly placed each plate down in front of a chair, leaving his own on the counter.

“That looks amazing, Izu… but aren’t you missing the-”

Midoriya held up one oven mitt, silencing his companion, and just as he did, the oven beeped. He turned off the oven completely, before opening it up and sticking both hands inside. He slowly pulled out beautifully breaded strips of chicken and brought that to the table as well. Once that was done, he took off the mitts and stepped back to admire his work.

“You really outdid yourself this time, especially considering the ingredients you had to work with,” the spirit praised.

“I just hope they like katsudon…” he murmured back, ignoring the praise entirely, “I mean, I don’t even know who’s coming back! Is it going to be Aizawa-sensei, or Mic-sensei, or both of them?!”

“I am sure that whoever comes back will enjoy this,” the transparent man reassured, “I know I sure would.”

“Well, I’m not sure when anyone will be back,” he sighed, “Let me at least put the covers back on so the food doesn’t get cold.”

And with that, they boy leaned over the table and placed glass lids on all the pots and pans, sealing the warmth with the food. His stomach churned at the sight and he clutched it tightly, hoping to quiet himself down.

Gami looked over with concern, “Why not serve yourself now? I am sure they will not mind.”

But Midoriya was unfazed, “No. I-I’ll wait.”

The ghost tried to press more, but his successor walked away to put cups on the table. He sighed and stared at the food the boy had made. The man waved a hand towards one of the serving utensils, but it only went through. His shoulders slumped dejectedly. He could only hope those heroes got back soon so his friend could eat.

The teen wished he had his kettle so he could make tea, but alas, he did not. So instead, he settled for water. Reaching for the pitcher, he set that down on the table as well. With that, he figured the table was complete. Now, it was best for him to retreat back into the guest room until whoever arrived. He was afraid that if the heroes saw him and realized he had used their food to cook, they would be too angry to care that the meal was for them. But if he was out of sight by the time they came back, then the heroes would have no choice but to check out what he made. It wasn’t a fool proof plan, but it was his best shot at maintaining peace as well as maybe getting some dinner.

He figured that he had a few moments to spare, so he stood by the table and just took in the savory aromas and the serene calmness. He felt his heartstrings sigh. What he wouldn’t give for a warm meal right now, and a family to share it with. Only around half a minute had passed, and while he knew he should get going, the longing in his heart figured 30 seconds more wouldn’t hurt.

The front door opened abruptly.

Well, thanks to the stupid longing in his heart, he was now royally screwed.

“Sho, I just don’t understand why you’re so against this,” Yamada was looking behind him as he unlocked the door, and didn’t see Midoriya or the cooked meal right away, “I think you may be overreacting a bit…”

“Look Zashi, I already explained this to you on the way here,” Aizawa remarked and walked inside, “I just-”

That’s when the teacher’s eyes met Midoriya’s petrified ones.

He stopped talking immediately and just stared at the boy in front of him. Yamada noticed the silence and looked into the house as well, looking for what exactly shut the man up. His eyes landed on the student too, and then moved over to the fully set table.

The timid boy felt all the color drain from his face when that front door swung open. What should he do? Should he just make a run for the room? Should he just try and wait it out? Should he say something, or wait for one of his teachers to say something first. He was stuck in his own head again, slowly drowning himself in his panic.

And yet, even through all of that, his brain just narrowed in on the fact that this all felt so familiar. He was being hit by some major deja vu again.

“Midoriya,” Present Mic started softly, “What… did you do?”

But the teen completely took that the wrong way. He had messed up. This was exactly why he needed to be tucked away in the room before anyone came home. “I...I-”

Aizawa took one big sniff of the air, “You cooked. What food did you even use?”

That made the boy’s blood pressure spike even higher than what it was before. This was a terrible idea. He shouldn’t have dared to touch food that wasn’t his. Hadn’t he learned his lesson with his mother?

“I just…” he stuttered, fear prickling at his fingertips, “I-”

But the rational man took an intimidating step forward, tossing what looked to be a folder onto the couch. Midoriya took a small step backwards in fear, afraid of the closing gap between the two of them.

Aizawa eyed the food on the table in confusion, speaking his thoughts aloud, “All I had in that fridge was leftovers. How did you even make that?”

The teacher moved another step closer, so the teen took two back. His sock caught a nail sticking up slightly from the hardwood and sent him tumbling down. He landed roughly on his rear, but that did nothing to shake him out of the paralyzing fear that racked his whole body.

“I-I’m sorry,” his voice wavered wetly, the tears to his eyes stopping by his throat first, “I just… I-”

Aizawa softened a little, but the boy was too terrified to notice. “Problem Child, just get off the floor…"

“What are you doing on the floor there, Izuku dear?”

“No, no, no,” he stammered, “Please…”

“Have I ever told you how much you look like your father?”

He raised his hands to his ears, hoping to block the harrowing cries out, “I’m s-sorry…”

The normally tired man looked back to Yamada in distress, unsure of how to handle the situation in front of him. Even the blond, with the vast amount of experience dealing with children in his career of being a U.A. teacher, never dealt with one as emotionally distressed as the one in front of him.

“It made me so sad when he left. How could you make your own mother so sad?”

“Please… I won’t.” Midoriya was sorry, how much more could he stress that? “I won’t do it again…”

Aizawa wasn’t sure what the boy was apologizing for, but whatever it was, it seemed to be causing him a lot of stress. He was still on the floor, covering his ears closely and trembling violently. And while he had dealt with his fair share of children, he never really got involved with the ones that U.A. pulled from their homes. He couldn’t understand why Nezu had chosen him to foster this kid, other than the fact that he was a student in his class. He wasn’t good with kids, he couldn’t handle a situation like this.

But despite his inexperience, he couldn’t just leave him on the floor. So he removed one hand from his pocket and outstretched it towards the prone teen, offering it to hoist him up. When the boy didn’t take it, or even react to it, he took a few more steps forward, now slightly looming over him.

“Why oh why… why have you done this to me Izuku?!”

Midoriya scrambled to his feet and turned tail, his breathing becoming erratic. His sudden movement surprised both teachers, but Aizawa snapped out of it quickly. His hero instincts kicked in and he chased after the frightened student. The pro called out for him, but wasn’t answered.

The teen couldn’t hear anything but the overwhelming sound of his heartbeat in his ears as he scampered down the hallway. He didn’t have to hear the footsteps behind him to know he was being chased down. He turned the corner and dashed towards the guest room. The door was so close, he could almost reach it.

His whole body was shivering in utter panic, but he pushed himself to keep running. He couldn’t get caught. He couldn’t let himself get caught. Every time he did, it hurt.

Every time he did, she hurt him.

He bursted into the room, using his shoulder as a battering ram. His lungs ached from the invasive sobs as well as his dash to safety, but he couldn’t rest yet. He had skidded to a stop a few feet away from the door, and he needed to lock it. Turning around, he almost broke down in terror at seeing someone running right towards the room. He lunged for the door. She had never been this fast before. Why was she so fast? She was going to reach the room before he could make it to the door. He wasn’t going to get to the door in time. She was going to catch him.

No.

No!

NO!!

Gami flung into the door from inside the room, and his shoulder slammed it shut. His fingers flew to the lock and he clicked that closed too. He had no time to ponder his solidity as his successor was still mid dive. The ghost zoomed over and caught the boy before he could face plant onto the hardwood. He cradled him closely with his oversized sleeves as the boy blubbered out inaudibles and incoherents.

Then, Aizawa slammed into the door.

The bang scared more sobs out of the crumpled teen, but his mentor held him close. Running soft strokes through his unruly hair, the spirit just tried to comfort him. But what he didn’t realize was that the bang was echoing through Midoriya’s head. And it sounded an awful lot like fists bashing on a door…

“Why did you drive Hisashi away from me?! Why did you have to be quirkless?! Don’t you realize what you have done to me?!”

“I’m sorry,” he wailed into his mentor’s arms, “Please I’m sorry…”

“Izu I do not understand…”

The boy gripped the ghost’s robe tightly, “Please don’t let her in…”

“Her?” the specter repeated, “I do not know-”

Then it hit him. His mother. Midoriya was talking about his mother. But she wasn’t here right now, so what was he talking about? Was this related to the episode he had earlier, where he had mistaken Present Mic for his father?

“Izu, that is not your mother. She is not here,” he tried to explain.

He looked up at the ghost, fat tears still streaming down his face, “B-but-”

Gami couldn’t let this go on any longer, “That was Eraserhead, not her.”

After that statement, the wails quieted down into sniffles, the teen’s panic changing into realization. But unlike the first time, he stuttered out no words. Together, they sat there on the floor, not caring how many minutes went by. No noise came from beyond the door either, just empty silence.

Empty, beautiful silence.

The minutes turned to hours, and Midoriya hadn’t dared to leave the room. He could hear hushed whispers coming from just beyond the hallway, but no matter how close he pressed his ear to the wall, they were too muffled to understand. He had passed the time by messing around with some souls. Originally, he was trying to get some sorting done, but his mind was the further place from responsibility right now. So he switched to instead tossing them from hand to hand, wishing he could feel more of the bright warmth that radiated from some.

After some moments of recollection, the boy had realized how much he had fucked up. It hadn’t even been a full day yet and he was sure Aizawa would want him gone. He wasn’t worth all the trouble he was. Times like now he wished the universe would have pity on him and just erase him from existence.

Gami had enough of watching his successor just mope around and sulk. His friend did that practically everyday. And he wanted to see it changed.

“Why don’t you do something different…” he suggested, nudging the soul out of the teen’s hand.

“Like what?” he moaned drearily.

The ghost motioned to something that lay on the desk, but from the floor, Midoriya couldn’t see what it was. So he shakily rose to his feet and shuffled over to the desk. The only thing on it was his phone, his notebook somewhere else in his backpack. He wasn’t sure what his mentor had in mind, but he grabbed it anyway and moved back to his spot on the floor.

He tossed his phone from hand to hand, but Gami quickly put an end to that.

“That is not what I meant.”

The teen rolled his eyes sarcastically, but stopped throwing the device around. He unlocked it and clicked through some of the applications, opening up his news feed to check if there was anything interesting on there. Sadly, there wasn’t, so he exited out of that. He raised his finger to press something else, his gloves working on the touchscreen surprisingly, when the spirit gave him a hard nudge, changing his hand’s trajectory.

“Hey,” he whined, “What was that for?”

“Sorry,” the man huffed, “My bad.”

Midoriya was not convinced. “Are you being sarcastic with me right now?”

“Me? Never.” Gami faked some shocked body language, since his face couldn’t be seen.

The boy just shook his head and looked back down at his phone. Because of the push, his finger ended up clicking his contacts instead. The list was pretty barren, probably even more so than the room he was currently staying in. There were only three numbers in his phone.

The first was Ishihara’s old number. He couldn’t bring himself to delete the number, even though he couldn’t call the man anymore. The family must have still kept the phone number in circulation because anytime he clicked on it and let it dial, he was met with the voicemail, not a machine telling him the number was out of circulation. Sometimes, on days that were particularly rough, he let it ring just to hear the man’s voice again. But he didn’t really think today was a day he needed it, especially since it usually made him cry afterwards. He had done enough of that already.

The second was some old food delivery service. He used it on nights he wasn’t able to cook, or didn’t feel like it, which wasn’t often. It was fairly expensive, enough for him to deem the service only for special occasions or dire emergencies, but the katsudon they made was delicious. It rejuvenated the fading memories of when his mother used to cook dinner for him, and brought him warmth on days that were especially cold, both physically and emotionally.

The third and final number was Todoroki’s, from earlier today. It was appropriately named “Sho”, at least, in the ghost’s opinion. His eyes hovered over the name.

“Here. We’ll figure this out together.”

Sure, the boy had offered his assistance concerning his situation, but could Midoriya truly burden him with his complaints? His morals told him that wasn’t right, but he still eyed the name like it was an option. His finger hung over the contact. All it would take would be one push, but he’d then be roping the student into his own problems. This was probably another formality thing. Todoroki was only offering his help to be polite. He didn’t really mean for the offer to be taken up…

The specter sensed his successor’s hesitation, and moved in for the assist. There was no way he was going to let the boy self doubt himself out of this one. This was all part of his master plan after all. He knew his friend needed a trustworthy, reliable person to confide in, and he figured Todoroki was just the friend Midoriya needed.

“Why don’t you just send him a text?” he proposed sneakily, just wanting to slip the idea into the boy’s mind, “It does not even need to be about this.”

He hummed in contemplation, weighing the ghost’s words. He was right. The text didn’t even need to be about the turmoil he was currently going through. Just something short and pleasant. So he clicked on the contact and started typing.

Hey! This is Izuku from class. How are you?

He hit the send button nervously. Was that too informal? Maybe he should have been more specific about what class… Should he have said class 1-A? His doubts were whirling through his head. This was a mistake. He never should have done this in the first place.

But his phone dinged back and cut through his suffocating thoughts like a knife. He picked it up for a read.

Hey Izuku. I am doing alright, though that may be because I have not run into my father yet. What about you?

He wasn’t sure if Todoroki was trying to make a joke, or was genuinely serious. Though, based on the boy’s personality, he figured it was more likely the latter. Though, how should he respond back? He thought about it for a moment. There was no real need to involve Todoroki in his issues. Besides, this was just how the formality went.

I’m doing good! Just chilling I guess

God, now that he was reading that text back, he felt himself cringe into yesterday. He had never texted another classmate before, much less a friend. How was he supposed to know what to say, or how to talk?

Did you figure out your living situation?

Todoroki always went straight to the point. He didn’t want to lie to the boy, but at the same time, he didn’t need to spill all the details.

Yeah

He face-palmed. That was too obnoxious of an answer. Why did he even text Todoroki in the first place? He was too stupid for this.

So? What happened then?

Well, he certainly didn’t know when to quit. A lot of people he once admired were like that. Bakugo, All Might… Did this mean his friendship with Todoroki was destined to fail?

“You do not have to tell him, but I do not think he means any harm…”

Maybe Gami was right. Midoriya certainly couldn’t remember a time when the ghost wasn’t. He could give this friendship with Todoroki a shot.

Principal Nezu sent me off with Aizawa-sensei, but from what I’ve seen, Mic-sensei lives here too

That was all the truth. Though, he still wasn’t sure what relationship his English teacher had with his homeroom teacher.

Oh.
Is that all working out well?

This was it. He either told Todoroki the entire story, or kept him in the dark. He let himself have a few moments to think it over, but he was surprisingly torn. So he looked over to his mentor for guidance.

The spirit knew he would have to be the tie breaker here. This was really important to the boy, but he didn’t have to give it any more thought. He knew his answer. This was all for his sake.

“He confided in you that first day. Give him a chance…”

That was all the convincing he needed.

Well
Not really
I don’t think Aizawa-sensei likes me here very much

It didn’t take long for his phone to ping again.

Oh.
Why is that?

Right… Todoroki didn’t know anything that happened in the nurse’s office. He’d forgotten about that.

Well, Nezu-san must have made the decision by himself, because even Aizawa-sensei was surprised
Plus I had a really bad panic attack in front of him
I’ve been hiding out in the guest room since
I think I annoy him

Shoot, was that too much information? He purposely left out the panic attack he had after Present Mic left, deeming that unimportant to the conversation since no one was around to witness it. But even still, he might have overshared.

A panic attack?
What did he do?

He could feel the murderous intent coming off that single message. Was Todoroki really that concerned over him? Maybe it wasn’t just a formality thing…

It wasn’t really his fault
There was a situation, it just reminded me too much of something from my childhood
I kinda freaked out and ran

There were a few moments of silence, then another ding.

Are you alright now?

Midoriya didn’t hesitate with his response.

Yeah I’m good
Just needed a breather I guess

He had needed much more than a breather, but Todoroki didn’t need to know that. A soft knock came from upon the door, startling the phone right out of his hands. It landed with a soft thud against the hardwood, but other than that it was fine.

Yamada’s voice rang out, “Hey Midoriya… it’s been almost an hour. Do you want to join us for dinner?”

Wait, really? Even after all that had happened, they were still offering him food? His stomach was surely empty. He couldn’t pass up an offer like this.

“Y-yeah, if that’s ok…” he added another comment quickly, “I’ll be out in a minute…”

He listened as the loud man’s footsteps moved away from the door, until they disappeared into the distance. He then picked his phone off the floor and sent one last cluster of messages to Todoroki.

I have to go
Dinner and all that
Talk to you later

He set the phone down on the desk and wearily walked out of the room, shutting the door behind him. Gami followed him out, phasing right through the wall instead. Midoriya had left so quickly though, he failed to hear one last ping.

Alright. Stay safe.

By the time Midoriya arrived at the table, Yamada was already seated. It was a small rectangular table, and Aizawa sat at one side along with the English teacher. The two adults had already served themselves each a plate of rice, topped with evenly sauteed vegetables and chicken. Even an hour later, the smell was still delightfully potent in the air, and it made his stomach growl.

Like an injured animal, he wandered over to the table wearily, waiting for instructions. He didn’t make eye contact with either man, instead opting to look at his feet. He couldn’t see either of them analyzing him with terrifying intent. Present Mic was the first to speak up, but he usually was. The man’s announcer tendencies carried with him throughout his daily life, and it naturally shined through even when he didn’t mean it to.

“Midoriya,” he started, “You can sit down wherever you’d like…”

The boy nodded quietly, but made no comment. He sat down in a chair of his own, on a side completely to himself. There really wasn’t any room for him to sit on the same side as the teachers anyway, even if he wanted to. Yamada passed him a plate. It wasn’t one of the small ones that he had set out for himself earlier. It was the same size as the other two that were out. That surprised him, but he dared not to say a word about it, risk it getting switched out.

He took the plate from the pro’s outstretched hand and set it down in front of him. But even then, he didn’t serve himself right away. He had never really eaten with anyone in a long time. Sure, these past two days, he had lunch with Uraraka and Iida, but two isolated incidents didn’t really change years of past experiences.

Both teachers watched as the teen simply stared at his empty plate. It was almost like he had never eaten with others before.

“You can serve yourself whatever you want…” the blond piped up for both of them, “You don’t have to wait for instructions or anything.”

Gami added his two cents, “Just take advantage of the situation. This is a tasteful meal you cooked. Now you get to have a portion of it.”

That gave Midoriya the confidence he needed to grip the serving spoon for the rice. He plowed it into the mound of rice in the pot and scooped up a small portion from himself. The entire time he moved it onto his plate, he watched the heroes carefully. He eyed them suspiciously, as if they’d take back their generosity any second. Then he moved to the vegetables, and then the chicken, but not without losing his apprehensiveness. But the pros never changed their mind about the food, and while that would normally be a calming thing, it only made him more paranoid.

He poked at his food nervously, not really sure if he should start. But the smell eventually got to his raging stomach and he took a bite. The mess of flavors exploded in his mouth, only amplified by his hunger. It was delicious, more delicious than he could have ever imagined. Part of his overly anxious mind was expecting one of the adults to take the food away from him, so he began shoveling mouthful after mouthful, not wanting to waste a single second.

Yamada had already started his food before Midoriya had, but he was flabbergasted at the boy’s eating speed. He was already almost finished with his plate, and the teacher was barely halfway done. He was worried the student might choke, so he attempted to make some light hearted conversation like he had done on the way to the house.

“So Midoriya,” he began, “I didn’t know you could cook. This katsudon is really good.”

The teen swallowed the mound of rice in his mouth thickly, “Y-yeah, I’m just glad you think it’s ok. S-sorry about using your food without asking…”

The two teachers shared a puzzled glance. Was that the reason for the mess that happened earlier? If it was, what did that reveal about this kid’s home life? Was he not allowed to touch the food at home?

The blond tried to make some progress amending the situation, “Oh, it’s really no problem. Those leftovers would have probably gone to waste anyway.”

Still, that didn’t ease the boy’s worries. He didn’t respond to the comments, and dinner fell into uncomfortable silence. Aizawa still didn’t make any efforts to join into the conversation, and Yamada was becoming frustrated. He racked his brain for a good way to get the man into the discussion.

“Hey Sho,” he started, surprising both the teacher and the student, “Did you know that Midoriya here likes to analyze quirks?”

Aizawa shot a glare at the loud man, “No I didn’t.”

“Well he does! And he’s super good at it!!” he practically yelled, “The little listener’s even done some notes on you!!”

That caught the pro’s attention, “Oh?”

Both adults looked over to Midoriya, one in excitement and one in dulled interest. The teen felt his face go pale and his throat ran dry. This was such a 180 from before, and he wasn’t sure how to feel about it. Gami placed a bony hand on his successor’s left shoulder.

“Just take your time,” the ghost advised, “You do not have to share more than you are comfortable with.”

He gave the spirit a slight nod and turned back to face his homeroom teacher, “U-um well, your quirk is Erasure. It lets you erase non mutant type quirks when you look at someone.”

Aizawa jumped in, seemingly annoyed, “Well, that’s obvious.”

Yamada elbowed him hard under the table, and the ragged man cursed under his breath, “Don’t mind him, please continue.”

The boy’s confidence caved in hard. He felt his passion for the conversation die off. He really didn’t want to keep talking, but it would be rude to just leave now. He shoveled in the last few bites left on his plate and pushed his utensils to the side.

“I-it’s fine,” he stuttered, “I’ll just get you my notebook. It’s got some of my notes on Aizawa-sensei…”

He stood up from his chair and scurried off back to the guest room. Once the boy was mostly out of earshot, the blond turned to face his fellow teacher.

“Sho what are you doing?” he hissed, “I get that you don’t think you're qualified for this, but that doesn’t give you a reason to be a jackass to the kid.”

Aizawa was taken aback by the use of foul language, “Fuck, I’m sorry Zashi.” He held a hand up to his forehead and ran the other through his messy hair.

“I’m not asking you to apologize,” the pro continued, “I’m asking for you to give this your full effort.”

The tired man tried to backtrack, “I already told you I-”

“Well you’re not,” he almost yelled, but kept his voice under control. The sudden interruption caught Aizawa off guard and he promptly shut up.

Yamada scooted his chair closer, and brought his voice down to a whisper, “Look, we still don’t know the full extent of what this kid went through. We have to treat this with care and sensitivity, especially after whatever happened earlier. And you purposely being a jerk isn’t helping.”

Eraserhead sighed, knowing he was completely in the wrong, “You’re right."

But that wasn’t enough for Present Mic, “And…?”

“And I’ll try and do better…”

“That’s what I like to hear,” the loud blond smiled.

The two quickly shut their mouths as a set of footsteps from the hallway grew louder. Their hero instincts kicked in and they slowed their breathing to make less noise. Both could make out slight whispers and strained to hear more.

“Don’t get me wrong, I am curious…” the next set of words were muffled by footsteps, but the footsteps eventually quieted down, “I can’t just ask them that! That’ll just give them more reasons to not want me around…”

The teachers didn’t bother to pretend they weren’t eavesdropping when Midoriya turned the corner and reappeared into the dining room. He was holding a thin notebook in one hand, a little battered but in good condition overall. He looked startled to see them there, and jumped slightly when making eye contact.

Aizawa cut straight to the point, “Ask us what?”

Yamada noticed the boy squirm under the piercing gaze and gave a look to the man next to him. Eraserhead immediately softened, but kept up his neutral facade.

“Um Gami’s a bit confused on what exactly your relationship is. Between you and Mic-sensei, I mean,” he added another comment under his breath, “I’m a little curious too…”

Present Mic watched the other hero carefully. He wasn’t going to say anything. This was the perfect opportunity for him to see how Aizawa would handle this situation. He hoped the hero took their little heart to heart seriously. This was his chance.

The ragged pro just sighed, “Yamada and I are married. Have been for a good five years now.”

Midoriya was surprised at the blunt answer, “O-oh.”

“I’m going to ask you to keep this under wraps for obvious reasons,” he continued, but the smugness in his voice was gone, “The amount of media attention around relationships between pro heroes is fatal to anyone underground.”

“Y-yeah,” he replied, “will do.”

The boy stood there awkwardly for a few moments, no one in the room saying a word. Then he slid the notebook onto the table, away from the food.

“Here’s the book,” he clarified, “Aizawa-sensei is on pages 48 to 52… and there’s a little more on page 117.”

“What about me?” Present Mic joked.

The teen seemed to understand it was a joke and smothered a laugh, “You’re in a different book, sorry.”

The two shared a smile and the student instantly felt more at ease. He reached for one of the pots in the middle of the table and wrapped his hand around the handle. The blond teacher looked confused.

“What are you doing?” he asked a little too quickly.

Midoriya immediately flinched back and let go of the handle, “Uh, I was just going to put the food away…”

Aizawa felt like it was a good time to jump in, “Don’t worry about it, Problem Child. We’ll pick it all up later.”

He clearly wasn’t expecting the nice gesture from the intimidating pro, but he didn’t shy away as much, “O-oh ok.”

He didn’t feel the need to stick around in the dining room anymore, so he quietly started moving towards the hallway entrance. The boy still had a lot of souls to send away before he went to bed, and the earlier he started, the better. Yamada noticed the student trying to retreat and stood up slowly from his chair, understanding from his quick question that suddenness made the teen uncomfortable.

“Midoriya,” he called out, but kept his volume steady.

Said boy stopped in his tracks and looked back behind him. “Yes?”

The answer was so small, so scared that it almost made the hero forget about his thought in the first place, “If you need anything, or if there’s anything we can do for you, just let us know.”

He nodded and turned to leave, but only a few steps later, he flipped back around and called out shakily, “Can you… not call me Midoriya? A-anything else is fine.”

Present Mic flashed a friendly thumbs up, “No problem, little listener!”

Aizawa chuckled from the table, “Pretty sure I've already got that under control.”

Both conformations were enough for the teen to feel comfortable leaving, and so that’s exactly what he did. The two heroes listened as his footsteps grew fainter and fainter, until they couldn’t hear them at all. A subsequent groan of a door on its hinges was all they needed to hear to confirm he had made it to his room.

Present Mic turned to his husband, knowing the boy was out of earshot, “Who exactly is Gami?”

Aizawa just let out an exasperated sigh.

“I'm not explaining that right now.”

Chapter Text

Over the next few days, the boy barely left his room. The spirit tried to coax him out for more than just food and school, but he was practically unsuccessful. Despite any kinds of motivation from Gami, he still felt mostly uncomfortable in the new environment.

Yamada did his best to interact with his student as much as possible. Whether it was sparking a conversation at dinner, or just calling jokes through the closed door, he made it happen. But even his natural cheeriness just wasn’t enough to make Midoriya feel comfortable in the home and Yamada knew that. The teacher wasn’t ready to give up, but could feel himself grow more and more unmotivated after each attempt.

Aizawa felt largely indifferent despite also noticing the tension in the house. He just wasn’t used to being overly emotional or caring, and when he was, it was only towards his husband. He did promise the blond that he would try harder when it came to making the teen feel at home, but promising and actually doing are two different things.

Said hero was currently sitting on the couch, flipping through Midoriya’s notebook. He had gotten home earlier than Yamada and the boy was hiding away in the guest room. He had been looking through the book throughout the days after he had received it, and couldn’t deny he was impressed. The notes inside were very thorough, and the actual analysis was astonishingly advanced. He found the pages dedicated to himself and wished he hadn’t shut the teen down at dinner all those days ago.

The front door swung open suddenly, a long creak resonating in the air. Eraserhead turned sharply, but his eyes only met his partner’s. He loosened and let his shoulders relax, going back to flipping through the notebook.

“Hey Zashi,” he greeted, “Hopefully whatever made you stay late wasn’t too bad.”

“No, it was just some paperwork I needed to catch up on,” the blond replied, “You know, with the whole new school year and everythi-”

The hero then noticed his tired husband wasn’t paying much attention to his ramblings, so he took a few steps closer to analyze him. He was almost fully engrossed in a thin notebook in his hand, and he quickly realized it was the one Midoriya had left for him on the table that first night.

“Hey isn’t that the little listener’s notebook?” he asked rhetorically, “You’re finally reading it, huh? What do you think?”

Aizawa turned to face him with a bit of unusual enthusiasm, then flashing the open page he was on. The page had a quickly sketched drawing of Eraserhead, along with some arrows pointing to his hero costume. There were notes all around the drawing as well as on the next page, mostly short scribbles and scrawlings.

“The notes in this book are on the level of professional quirk analysts,” he said with unnatural pride, “Not only are there in depth explanations of how exactly the quirk functions, but ways to counter it as well. There’s ideas for support gear and fighting styles for heroes.”

Present Mic lit up, almost as if it were his notes Aizawa was gushing over, “I told you it was worth taking a look at!! The little listener just makes me wanna go YEAH!!”

“Here, listen to this,” the rugged man pointed a finger to one of the word blobs next to the drawing of him, “Erasure has an blatant weakness to mutant type quirks and while Eraserhead’s capture weapon and fighting style are effective ways to combat this disadvantage, he still is largely capable of being overpowered-”

“Jeez, the little listener writes like he’s in college,” Yamada interrupted to joke.

The tired teacher shot him an annoyed glance and the blond chuckled, but subsequently sealed his lips. Aizawa rolled his eyes, but couldn’t help but snort at his husband’s antics. He checked to make sure he was pointing to the right part and then flipped the book back in the English teacher’s direction.

The pro decided now was a good time to continue, “Erasure naturally evens out the playing field between the user and the opposer, so creating support gear that mimics that against mutant quirk users would be ideal. An additional weapon like a high voltage taser or a tranquilizer gun might work and though that would still leave a disadvantage against mutant quirks with tough skin, it would be effective against most other mutant quirks.”

“You got support advice too?” his partner remarked, “The little listener said I should get some sound grenades and I’m honestly interested in seeing if my support team can whip up something like he was talking about.”

“Sound grenades, huh?” Aizawa repeated, “An electric weapon actually doesn’t sound like a bad idea.”

“I knew you would like it!!”

Eraserhead knew exactly what the announcer was looking for, and as much as his pride didn’t want to admit it, he knew he wasn’t going to be able to skirt around it.

“You were right…”

He watched his rowdy partner pump his fist in cheer, hissing out a short “YEAH!!” before returning to his mostly calm, normal self. Finally taking off his jacket, Yamada moved away from the door and kicked off his shoes. He knocked a hand into Aizawa’s hair playfully and the tired man shifted so he could plop himself down next to him.

“Any updates on the little listener?” Present Mic quickly changed the subject.

The ragged man sighed, “No. The kid’s just been hiding away in his room since we got back.”

Yamada’s shoulders slumped and he sighed heavily, “I just wish there was more we could do. He still seems so uncomfortable here even after all these days…”

Aizawa just sighed again, his words escaping him. He laid the notebook down on his leg and stared at the hallway. He couldn’t really understand what the boy was going through. The teen had been taken away from all he’d ever known, whether he believed it was a safe place or not. It wasn’t something he could just fix in a matter of days. He wasn’t sure how long it would take for him to get comfortable staying here, but he was sure his crummy attitude at the start definitely didn't help.

A slight buzzing from underneath him startled him out of any more depressing thoughts. Moving his hand down, he pulled his phone out of his back pocket. There was only one notification on the lock screen and so he opened it up to see the details.

The blond man noticed the lack of attention towards him, “What is it Sho?”

Said man flashed his phone screen at Yamada, “It’s the vet.”

Present Mic turned frantic, “Are the cats okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, the cats are fine,” he reassured, “We need to pick them up.”

A relieved sigh left the English teacher, “You should have worded that better. I assumed the worst.”

“My bad.”

Aizawa lifted himself off the couch, straightening out his wrinkled pants. He slipped his phone back in his pocket before sliding on a pair of general black shoes. He yawned and stretched out his arms, before returning to normal.

“Are you going to go pick them up now?” Yamada asked.

The tired teacher gestured to his pair of outside shoes sarcastically, “Yeah. Are you coming with me?”

“Sure, sounds lik-” he stopped suddenly, his train of thought hopping onto a different set of tracks. They couldn’t just leave Midoriya behind. I mean, they physically could, but it wouldn’t be right. Just ignoring the fact he was living among them would only further the uncomfortableness in the home.

Besides, taking Midoriya with them would be a great way to bond, not only with them, but with the cats as well. The cats had been at the vet since a few days before Midoriya had come into their household because of a FLUTD situation. Somehow, all of their cats had contracted feline lower urinary tract disease and needed serious medical treatment. The teen hadn’t gotten a chance to meet their furry companions, and this would be a perfect opportunity.

“Wait,” Yamada cut himself off, “Why don’t we bring the little listener with us? He hasn’t met the cats yet. This would be perfect!”

“That doesn’t sound like a bad idea,” he shrugged, “But you’ll have to convince him.”

The blond scoffed, “You underestimate me, Sho!”

But he didn't have time to hear his partner’s huff, because he was already walking towards the guest room door. He didn’t have any shoes on, but his footsteps were still loud enough to resonate throughout the hallway. He approached the door and immediately heard shuffling coming from behind it. It was fair to assume he had heard him coming.

He rapped his knuckles against the hardwood gently, careful not to be too startling, “Hey little listener. How are you doing in there?”

There was more shuffling, but not for too long, “I’m fine.”

Yamada frowned at the blunt answer, but didn’t let it get to his head, “Well, Sho and I were going to run some errands and we were wondering if you’d want to come with us?”

Of course, no answer came right away, and his ears were met with only the sound of more shuffling. There were some slight mumbles, but the blond just assumed he was talking to Gami.

His husband had explained Midoriya’s situation late that first night. He was skeptical at first, I mean, who wouldn’t be? A kid who’s powers didn’t come from a quirk? And from a ghost no less? It was a lot to take in, but the more time he spent around the boy, the more he realized how much time he liked to spend alone. And when he heard the slight whispers and conversations that came from behind that door, he started to believe his husband’s explanation more and more. He had never gotten personally introduced to the ghost, but he hoped he would soon.

A call came from the other side, bringing him out of his thoughts, “I’ll go… i-if that’s still alright?”

If he was being honest, Yamada wasn’t really expecting the kid to agree, much less agree so quickly, but he wasn’t complaining. He smiled to himself, pride bubbling in his chest. “Sounds great. We’ll be waiting by the front door!”

He moved away from the door to give the kid some space. He didn’t want to scare him by waiting right by his door for him to come out. As Present Mic approached the front door again, he sent a smirk right to Aizawa. He was sure his partner had heard the entire thing.

The hero rolled his eyes, “Fine, fine. You don’t have to rub it in.”

The blond laughed, “He’ll be out in a few minutes.”

He let his chuckling run its course before quieting down. He turned to stare longingly at his husband, growing into a wide smile. This was perfect, just the two of them. It was how it always was, and how the two of them had grown to love. Yamada had always wanted to adopt a kid, but he knew that didn’t really fit into his partner’s idea of a relationship. So he was content with just living like they always had. Just the two of them, now and forever.

Then, the guest room door creaked open, and the two remained two for no longer.

Aizawa drove down a busy street, his hands clenched on the steering wheel. Yamada was sitting next to him in the passenger seat, cracking jokes and quips. The two chatted like they always did, with the blond doing most of the talking and Eraserhead piping in every here and there. The car atmosphere felt so typical for the two of them and the muffled sounds from the street eased in like background noise.

So it was easy for the two to forget that Midoriya was with them in the back seat.

The teen just sat quietly, hoping not to draw the heroes’ attention back on him. When he had left the guest room, their piercing stares shot right through his soul. He immediately regretted his decision to leave the safety of his solitude, but there was no way he could just change his mind now. So here he was, hiding away in the back of the car.

Gami was the one who had convinced him to go in the first place. He really didn’t want to, but the ghost was desperate for him to open up. His mentor had done so much for him throughout his life, so he almost felt obligated to make him proud. He just kept telling himself that this was for Gami.

Currently, the spirit wasn’t even in the car. He had tried to sit down in one of the seats, but his form proved detrimental. The boy wasn’t sure what to do when the car started and his companion wasn’t in it, but Gami just improvised.

He could only imagine what someone would think if they could actually see the ghost chasing after the car beside them.

His gaze was solely focused on the window beside him, and he watched Gami push to keep up with the car. The car wasn’t traveling that fast, maybe about 20 mph, but that was an obnoxiously fast speed to fly at. Well, it was more floating than flying.

The car took a left turn and pulled up next to a decently sized building. Midoriya watched as Gami stopped at the entrance and moved towards his car door. The boy unbuckled himself, but waited for Aizawa and Yamada to open their doors before opening his. He looked up at his ghostly companion, and despite not being able to see his face, he was sure he was panting. He shot a joking stare at him, and the spirit just huffed and turned away. Together, they walked into the building behind the two heroes.

“Contrary to what you may believe, I am not fatigued.”

“Whatever lets you sleep at night,” he quipped back.

“Considering I do not sleep, your statement is invalid.”

MIdoriya smacked his forehead at his mentor’s idea of a joke, but he couldn’t help but give a small chuckle under his breath. He loved that Gami always tried to contribute, even if it was towards something he didn’t understand completely, like how to properly joke. Even if he didn’t do it exactly right, the attempts always made him cheer up.

Now paying attention to their surroundings, the inside of the building was surprisingly clean. The duo figured they were in some sort of reception area, considering the large front desk and the seating area. No one was in any of the seats though, so he still wasn’t sure where exactly he was.

Yamada sat himself down in one of the chairs, but Aizawa stood up by the front desk. The teen looked between the two individuals, unsure where to move himself. He could sit by Yamada, but would Aizawa yell at him for sitting and being lazy? He could stand instead, but then Aizawa might get annoyed with him. But he also couldn’t just stand in the middle of the floor like he was now. Picking at his gloves nervously, he could feel his fingers twitch.

“Little listener,” a familiar voice called out, “come sit over here.”

That was a direct command. That was something he knew. He could do that. So he listened, walking over to his English teacher and sitting in the chair next to him. He was unnerved by the close proximity, but this was an order. And he knew how to follow an order. Pulling his hands to his lap, he fiddled with his fingers in an attempt to take his mind off of everything plaguing it.

Gami moved over to stand next to him, but didn’t even try to sit down. Both of them knew there was really no chance of him being successful. Besides, it was much easier to stand.

“I wonder where we are?”

Midoriya was wondering the same thing, but didn’t respond as Yamada was right next to him. He didn’t know if the blond hero was aware of his secret, but he wasn’t going to give it away. But the specter had a point. Supposedly, the two heroes were going out to run errands, and if the boy were to believe his presence didn’t change that, he wondered what kind of business they needed done here.

All parties watched as Aizawa talked with the female receptionist. She seemed put off by his ragged appearance, but nonetheless gave him the information he wanted. He assumed the man was done, as he made his way back to where all were sitting.

“She said Dr. Chisabe should be out to get us in a bit,” he repeated to his husband.

“Oh ok,” Yamada replied.

Midoriya didn’t say anything, but that didn’t keep his mind from wandering. Who was Dr. Chisabe? He was a doctor, but what kind of medicine did he practice? Aizawa had said “us” so that must mean everyone was coming along, but then who needed to see a doctor? Was it him? Was that the reason Present Mic wanted him to come along? His hands suddenly grew clammy form under his gloves and his throat dry. Was this all just a ploy to get him in front of a doctor?

Gami seemed to notice his successor’s panic, even though the other heroes didn’t. He floated forward and rested his hands on the boy’s head, playing with his hair.

“Whatever it is, just take a breath and clear your head,” the ghost tried to reassure without outright saying he was overreacting. His successor did this a lot, over analyzing the situation and hyping it up to more than it probably was. Albeit, there were some times where the boy was right, and it ended up being exactly what he was thinking or at least similar to. But he often stressed himself out, and Gami did his best to try and ease that.

Midoriya took his mentor’s advice, and also took a deep breath into his lungs. Maybe he was overthinking this. Still, lowering his guard would be a foolish idea. He played around with the fabric of his gloves. Maybe just taking his mind off everything would suffice. That was easier said than done, but he would try.

Rhythmically, he matched the picking of his gloves with his heartbeat. The tempo echoed around in his head, effectively separating the paranoia from his head. It was almost soothing in a way, but if he thought about it more than that, he knew his paranoia would find a new way to seep into his mind. Sometimes, the boy wondered what life would feel like without his gloves. How did freedom truly feel? He couldn’t really say he’d felt freedom, not when restrained by his job and all his responsibilities and these damn gloves. These gloves were the bane of his miserable existence, just a reminder of how he could never have the luxuries of a normal kid his age. Nurturing parents, childhood friends, a loving household, he could have none of that. Sometimes, he thought his role as Death was purposely trying to make him suffer so it could feed off his misery.

No. Enough of that. He had lost the tempo. It was obnoxiously offbeat from his heart. He just needed to breathe and clear his head. Drain it, even if only for a minute. Match his heartbeat once more. Plucking the fabric again, he got back into the rhythm of things, this time, his head felt empty. It was nice, peaceful. If only every moment was like this…

There was a call of his name, then again, and then once more. It snapped him out of his momentary tranquility and his hands ceased movement. He looked up to meet the sound.

“Sorry to startle you like that, little listener,” Yamada spoke softly, “But Dr. Chisabe is here. We have to go to the back now.”

Midoriya didn’t respond, his mouth oddly dry, but that was a command. So he stood up and followed the blond hero. He didn’t see Aizawa in front of them, so he assumed the underground hero had already left without them. Though, he did wonder why exactly the heroes were at a doctor’s office.

Together, the two, plus a ghost, arrived at a private back office. Well, it wasn’t really an office, more like a check up room like the ones for pediatrics. Aizawa was already seated in one of the seats, but there was no sign of the so-called Dr. Chisabe. Yamada paused upon entering the room, so the teen cautiously peeked out from behind him to figure out why.

At first, he could see no reason for the teacher’s stop, but when his eyes focused on Aizawa, his brain kicked into high gear. There was only one open seat left. He wasn’t sure why the hero would contemplate giving it to him, but he would straighten things out.

“You can have the chair, Mic-sensei,” he confirmed, “I can stand.”

He didn’t wait for a response, moving towards the bright window to stand there instead. Yamada seemed to want to stutter, but sighed instead and moved to sit in the empty chair. Aizawa flashed him a slight look, but nothing more. Midoriya watched as Gami followed them inside the room and stood next to him by the window. The blinds were open, letting light flood the room. He could feel the warm sunshine touch his back.

The door then swung open and in walked a tall man with decently long brown hair. He wore a set of blue clothing. He looked more like a registered nurse than a doctor, but he of all people knew not to judge a book by its cover.

“Ah, Aizawa-san, Yamada-san,” he greeted, “and a new face? I certainly haven’t seen you before.”

“Present Mic smiled, “This is Midoriya.”

The doctor continued, “Nice to meet you, Midoriya-kun.”

The boy shuffled nervously, “You as well, Chisabe-san.”

He did his best to be respectful. That was the best way to avoid conflict with adults.

The doctor just laughed heartily, “Anyways, I’m sure you know from my email, but your cats have all recovered from FLUTD. I was most concerned about your youngest one, but even he has made a full recovery.”

“What a relief,” Yamada sighed.

“Indeed, let me go get them now.”

The doctor left as quickly as he came, leaving the door open this time. Midoriya shifted back towards the window. Cats. Dr. Chisabe was a veterinarian. There was a feeling of relief at realizing he was only overreacting moments ago, but a new taste of fear replaced that quickly. He couldn’t be around animals, he was just too dangerous. His gloves felt slick against his skin, sticky with sweat, but he didn’t even notice, too focused on the deadly power tingling at his fingertips.

The brunet returned, this time holding two cat carriers in his hands. He placed them on the examination table in the corner of the room. Both Aizawa and Yamada jumped up as Chisabe opened up their doors, while the reserved teen took a fearful step back.

The doctor reached inside and pulled out a calm, orange tabby with slight white accents. The cat barely squirmed in his hands, but relaxed even more upon being placed into Aizawa’s arms. Chisabe took a glance at the lab on the carrier.

“Juice recovered the fastest, and though he’s a bit chubby, he’s nowhere near being overweight,” he paused, “They eat dry food just fine, right?”

Eraserhead just nodded, stroking the cat in his arms.

“That’s what I thought…” he sighed, pulling out the other cat in that one carrier. It was a beautiful mix of black and white, with defining markings almost like a tuxedo. The cat seemed to sway away the doctor’s hand and strutted out himself. He stopped near the center of the table, but continued to stand proudly.

Then, Chisabe moved over to the second carrier, and though the door was open, he nudged it further. A little wearily, a pure white cat poked his head around the corner, scoping out his surroundings. Once it made eye contact with Aizawa and Yamada, he instantly calmed and walked out of the carrier himself. Not bothering to go much further, he plopped himself down on the table and curled up lazily.

The doctor didn’t move though, and seemed to be waiting on something. He sighed, and reached into the carrier. Midoriya listened unwillingly as a small cry came from inside and watched the brunet pull out one terrified tiny kitten. Chisabe looked sadly down at the ball of fur in his hands.

“Has he been like this for a while?” he inquired.

The blond nodded drearily, “Links is paranoid of almost everything.”

Chisabe hummed, “And how long have you two had him?”

“Well, we adopted him at about 3 weeks old, and he’s about 6 weeks now…”

The doctor put the kitten down and immediately, he scurried back into the carrier.

“I think that’s how this FLUTD outbreak started,” he concluded, “Links’s paranoid behavior is stressing the other cats out.”

Aizawa sighed, still holding onto Juice, “So what do we do? Just keep Links separated from the others?”

“That’s the best course of action right now,” Chisabe explained, “but only until his behavior calms.”

It was just then that Yamada remembered there was someone else in the room, and he turned over to Midoriya, “I totally forgot to tell you, little listener. We have cats.”

The boy nodded dumbly. He didn’t expect Aizawa to own cats, but even so, he did not want to be around them. Gami was no longer at his side. He had moved away towards the table to look at the four furballs.

The blond gestured towards the cat in Aizawa’s arms, “This is Juice.”

Then he moved over to the table and scratched the head of the tuxedo cat, “This is Octave.”

Continuing with his introductions, he stroked the back of the white cat laying down, “This is Cumulus.”

Finally he pointed a finger at the second carrier, “And the little kitten is Links.”

Remembering his manners, Midoriya nodded shakily again, but made no move to come closer.

“Would you like to hold one?”

“NO!” the teen cut him off, backing further into the corner he was in and away from the table. Then suddenly he started up again, “I-I mean no thank you.”

All three adults looked over at the boy weirdly. Gami rushed back over to his successor, standing next to him reassuringly. Chisabe coughed to clear his throat, hoping to ease the tension in the room.

“Well, other than that, you’re all good to go,” he started, “Let me just load these guys back inside.”

Midoriya suddenly felt the uncomfortableness creep up his spine. He should have phrased that better, or at least been more respectful from the start. He watched the heroes help place their cats back in their two shared carriers and wished he had the means to help. He inwardly cursed out his gloves, wondering what fur felt like. Was it as soft as it was claimed? He wished he knew.

Following the heroes out of the room, he lagged behind nervously. The carriers in their hands were mostly quiet, with the exception of soft cries from one in particular. That was Links… right? The poor kitten was so scared of everything, and he wondered why. The cries tore at his heartstrings, and made him long for the ability and the confidence to hold and reassure him. Was that what he sounded like? Was that how he appeared to others, like a lost, scared kitten? At least he had Gami with him every day, but Links… he had no one. The other cats, though they were older, didn’t seem like they knew how to deal with him.

The situation rang oddly familiar to his own, and though Midoriya never put the pieces together to see it that way, one particular ghost certainly did.

It was like clockwork, the trio exited the building and got back into the car. The teen didn’t bother asking if he could help, too lost in thought to care. He squeezed himself right back into his seat as tight as he could towards the window. Yamada didn’t go straight for the passenger seat, instead opting to travel around the car to the other side and open the back seat instead. The boy was afraid he was going to sit in the back with him, so when he didn’t climb into the car, he was momentarily relieved.

When the hero began loading the carriers into the back though, he wasn’t sure what was worse. He turned his head fully towards his window to stare at Gami, keeping his attention off the growing fear at the back of his mind. Picking at his gloves, he listened for his heartbeat, carefully matching his rhythms to it. He could do this. He just had to follow the tempo, one beat at a time.

One beat at a time.

Midoriya had spent the next few hours in the guest room, alone, like usual. Well, that wasn’t entirely true. Yamada had placed the small kitten, Links, in the room with him to separate him from the other cats. And he couldn’t just tell the hero not to. So he curled himself up in the corner with his notebook and his phone, as far away as he could from the creature.

Links seemed to only want solitude as well, as the cat had moved to the opposite corner of the room once he was placed on the ground. He hadn’t strayed away from that spot either, which was fine for the teen. But that didn’t mean he was going to move away from the only area that felt safe.

There seemed to be so much on his mind, and yet, he couldn’t really tell in the foggy mess of his head. Too much had happened too quickly, and he couldn’t even begin to process it all. It was a sickening type of overwhelm, one that left him drained and unable to even muster up the will to stand. He thought that feeling overwhelmed meant he should be bouncing off the walls, desperate to get out of this suffocating room, but he felt no desire to move at all. He just wanted to waste away, and hopefully sift through his muddy thoughts.

Out of everything: out of the vulnerability of admitting his past once more, out of the shock of being taken from everything he knew, out of the torment of reliving his lowest moments, none of that seemed to gain footing as the most prominent thought in his head. Out of everything that really mattered, at least, what Gami would agree that mattered, none of it was on his mind. It was there for sure, but that was the thing. It was just there. He wasn’t actively thinking about any of it; it was just treading the murky waters of his mind like a capsized sailor.

Why, out of everything, could he only think about one specific set of red eyes?

Well, to really be specific, he couldn’t take his mind away from the battle training exercise, even more specifically, the incident that had taken place towards the end of it. He dared not speak of it even in his thoughts, afraid that would be more than enough to will it into existence again. But that didn’t stop him from replaying the events over and over and over again like a broken record player.

Uraraka had secured the weapon. They had won. It was over. It was supposed to be over.

“Deku…”

Bakugo stood by the entrance to the room, the only way out. He was practically smoking from his skin, red hot steam bubbling off his body. His eyes glittered with anger, such livid hatred he’d never seen before. Sure, Midoriya knew his very presence irked the blond to no end, but never in the countless years he’d known him had he ever seen such an expression. It was so unusual, even for Bakugo. Something about the sheer loathing that radiated from him in that moment was so uncharacteristic, so unnatural.

“You played me like a damn fool. I bet you think you're so smart, don’t you?”

He remembered the pure fear that stammered through him as Bakugo raised his gauntlet at them. His heart rate was out of control, and he was so sure he was going to have a heart attack then. But, he also remembered the countless reassurances that he fed himself in the seconds before all hell broke loose. He remembered telling himself that Bakugo would never, ever, do something as stupid as that. There was no way in hell that the fiery teen would risk his placement at U.A. all over some petty rivalry, if it could even be called that. Yes, Bakugo was aggressive. Yes, Bakugo hated his guts to the ends of the Earth and back. But he was not an idiot. It didn’t make any sense. Why would Bakugo shoot at them?

“I’ll tell you what I think, you fucking runt! I think you should learn your place!!”

And then he went over. He pushed his friends out of harm’s way, and he went over the edge instead. He fell, landed on his back, and wouldn’t even be thinking about all this in hindsight if he wasn’t immortal. Well… at least it was him. If it had been anyone else, well… he’d really rather not think about that.

But, did that erase the severity of the incident? He couldn’t die, that was for sure, but did that excuse Bakugo’s actions? No, of course it didn’t. He still attacked after the training exercise was officially deemed over, and his actions still put all of them in danger, even if he was the only one injured from them. And of course, every hero watching would think the same. Though, by that standard, only All Might could be considered, but this would obviously go up to Principal Nezu. Midoriya was naive, but he wasn’t a fool.

Bakugo’s hero career was more than likely shot.

But, was it wrong for him to not want that? Something still felt off.

God, if Gami could hear his thoughts now, he’d drill into him that the blond deserved that. That Bakugo deserved to have his hero career ended before it could even begin. That Bakugo was too hotheaded and reckless and uncaring to fulfill a role as a hero. But he didn’t really believe that. And it wasn’t just childhood naivety thinking for him.

Every time he replayed the events over in his head, his gut was filled with such a sourness that his own lips nearly puckered. Something was so terribly wrong about it all, and he couldn’t make sense of it. All this, his actions, his hatred, his disregard, it just wasn’t Bakugo. And he wasn’t perfect, certainly not by any means. Far from it. But, despite his numerous flaws, Midoriya just couldn’t see a universe where he’d do what he did. And obviously he’d done that in this universe, but it felt so bizarre, so abnormal, like it was forced upon his very nature.

And he just couldn’t wrap his head around it, which made sitting in silence, drowning in own suffocating thoughts, so much more painful.

He shifted his head to a new placement against the wall, half heartedly listening to the muffled speeches from the living room to try and pry himself away from the swirling mess of his head. He wasn’t meaning to eavesdrop, as he had been in that exact spot before the conversations started, but he couldn’t really help it. He couldn’t make out specific words, but recognized Aizawa and Yamada’s voices instantly. There was a third voice he didn’t know at first, but figured it’s nonchalant tone to be the principal’s. The fourth voice though, he had no idea. All he could tell was that it was a young male’s, maybe about mid to late 30s.

He had been observing the muffled noises for at least an hour now, tuning in and out, and wondered what it was all about. Gami had been phasing in and out of the room to check, but so far, the ghost hadn’t spoken a word. And honestly, Midoriya wasn’t sure whether he wanted to know the true nature of the conversation. His outlook on today was already down the toilet, so he was afraid whatever they were talking about couldn’t be much better. Normally, Gami would stop him before his spiraling went too far, but the spirit’s quietness only reassured his growing paranoia.

Then, there was sudden shuffling in the opposite corner of his room, and his head lurched in that direction. It was just the little kitten, now up and pacing back and forth, just barely leaving the corner. He expected Links to cry out like he had done earlier, but to his surprise, the cat was completely silent save for his footsteps. He wondered what Links was thinking about. What was stressing him out so much? There was nothing even in here that would have provoked him. Was it just in his head? Was it like the boy’s own pressing thoughts that eventually consumed him?

Before he could spend any more time pondering the anxious cat in the corner, a knock came from the guest room door.

“Hey little listener,” came Yamada’s muffled voice, “We need you out here for some stuff.”

They needed him? Who needed him? Who was “we”? Why was he needed? Was he going to be taken away and put somewhere else more fitting? Did they finally stop believing his bizarre story? What was going to happen to him?

A small meow came from the corner, snapping him out of his spiraling. Midoriya looked up to meet the wide eyes of the kitten staring right at him. He had stopped pacing and was now just merely staring him down, tail swishing back and forth. Links meowed again.

“Are you alright?” Gami broke the silence while helping his successor up.

“I’m fine,” the teen replied, though he wasn’t sure who exactly he was responding to.

Links gave out another cry, eyes still not breaking away from his form.

“Uh, little listener?” came from just beyond the door again.

“I-I’m sorry,” he called back hoarsely, almost as if he’d been crying, which he had not, “I’ll be right out.”

He hoped he could make good on that promise as he heard Yamada’s tread leave the area. He knew he had to, as it was a command. But he wasn’t sure if he could will his legs to move far enough, the fear still plaguing his body. What was he even scared of at this point? Yamada? Aizawa? The new household? Being taken away? The kitten for goodness sake?

No, no, no. He wasn’t going to start again. His hands moved almost instinctively towards each other, his fingers aching as if they were freezing. The boy pulled at the fabric again. The little trick he had discovered earlier really made him feel calm. He matched his heartbeat easily this time, since it was thumping in his ears. He really didn't want to leave the comfort of this room, even if he wasn’t truly alone. He could deal with the company of Links if it meant he didn’t have to face whoever was waiting for him out there. But he had to. He was told, so he had to.

He took a first step, the landing matching perfectly with his echoing heart.

Step. Beat.

Step. Beat.

Step. Beat.

Step. Beat.

Step. Beat.

Soon enough, Midoriya found himself at the door. He found himself turning the doorknob ever so slowly. That was fine. He knew as long as he took steps forward, no matter how slow or timid they were, he would make it through that door. He would make it down the hallway. He would face anything anyone out there threw at him. Besides, the boy knew he wasn’t alone. With Gami simply walking beside him, the fears eating at his heart quelled.

He didn’t even realize he was currently walking down the hallway into the living room. He was just walking with his heartbeat. And boy was it beating fast. Fast enough for his saunter to seem normal.

He only looked up once he was sure he was in the living room. He knew it was right where his feet switched from hardwood to carpet. Glancing up, he made sure to keep his head low enough so he wouldn’t aggravate anyone. Eye contact was important, but so was reassuring the adult that they were in charge.

His guesses from earlier were correct as his submissive gaze focused on the two heroes and Nezu. But that fourth voice was someone he still didn’t recognize. He was tall, with short black hair and a long overcoat. His similarly black eyes were almost inviting, but Midoriya knew better than to judge a book by its cover.

“Ah Midoriya!” the principal cried, “So good to see you again.”

True.

The boy made a small wave, but kicked himself upon remembering that this was the principal he was speaking to, “H-hello sir.”

The rodent laughed, “I told you that Nezu worked just fine.”

True.

This time, however, he did not respond. The boy knew better than to address him by his name so openly. Nezu seemed to be waiting for him to correct himself, but he kept his vow of silence. Once the principal realized he wasn’t going to get a reply, he moved on to his next point.

“I’m sure you are wondering,” he chuckled on, like this was some sort of game, “This here is Detective Tsukauchi, from the police department.”

True.

He was a detective? Why the hell was there a detective here? The teen started growing more fearful of why they needed him.

“My full name is Tsukauchi Naomasa,” the man introduced himself, “It’s a pleasure.”

This was most certainly not a pleasure.

The detective reacted out for a handshake, and Midoriya’s haphephobia and behavioral instincts fought each other violently. In the end, his fear won out and he took a small step back, signaling that he wasn’t going to shake hands.

The newly introduced Tsukauchi narrowed his rectangular eyes, but didn’t make anything more of it. Nezu stood up from the couch and walked towards the teen.

“Now I’m sure you’re wondering what’s going on,” the principal continued, “I’ve been having Tsukauchi-san here look into your situation at home.”

True.

Oh, so that’s what this was about… He brought his arms up to his chest defensively, right where a big portion of the burn scar laid. He could feel his hands start to shake, but managed to keep his urge to just curl up and die inside him. Gami was still a few paces behind him, but made no move to come any closer.

The detective jumped in when Nezu paused, “She’s in custody, Midoriya. She can’t hurt you anymore.”

What?

He was in shock. What was he supposed to do? He hugged himself like he was his own lifeline, dropping to his knees as his legs gave out on him. He could feel the broken sobs claw their way up his throat and out of his mouth, but he really didn’t know why he was crying. Was he crying because he didn’t have to go back to her, or because he couldn’t go back to her anymore? He was just so lost… and so damn confused.

There was complete and utter silence in the living room other than the gut wrenching sobs coming from the prone boy. None of the adults moved a muscle as Midoriya’s shoulders heaved up and down violently. Surprisingly, it was Tsukauchi who broke it first.

“She was good at avoiding us at first, but we managed to catch her drunk at a bar one night and took her into custody,” he spoke carefully, choosing his words with precision, “Once she sobered up, we took her statement. Now, I just need yours.”

The teen looked up shakily, his face entirely red and puffy from crying. He hadn’t noticed his ghostly companion had moved up right behind him as he was sobbing. Midoriya’s lip quivered, his mouth unable to form coherent words. He just focused his vulnerable consciousness on the spirit’s rhythmic stroking of his hair.

“You don’t have to write anything. All you have to do is talk and answer some questions. I’ll record it,” Tsukauchi explained, hoping it would somewhat ease him.

“I know this is a lot to take in,” Nezu interrupted, “So we don’t have to start right now. If you need time to collect yourself, that is alright.”

True.

The boy turned to Gami, who was still behind him. He had undoubtedly known about what the adults wanted even before Yamada had gotten him from the guest room. So why didn’t he say anything?

“Just do what is most comfortable for you,” the ghost advised, “Do not rush into this if you do not want to.”

This was just like with Todoroki, or when he was hospitalized in Recovery Girl’s office. He had to just do it. If he waited or stalled, the fear would never let him muster up enough courage to try again.

“No, I can do this now,” he replied, “I need to do this now.”

True.

Tsukauchi turned to the principal in confusion and Nezu also frowned at the odd choice of words, but nonetheless clapped his paws together, “Well then, let us clear out of here so you and Tsukauchi-san can use this room to talk.”

True.

Aizawa and Yamada got up off the couch and moved to stand in the hallway instead. On the way there, the blond stopped by Midoriya’s fallen form.

“You need some help up, little listener?” he asked softly.

“N-no, I’m ok…”

False.

He felt a pair of cold hands wrap around his underarms and lift him up instead. Stumbling on his feet, he trudged his depressed self towards the now empty couch and threw himself onto it. Gami floated over to stand by the armrest.

Yamada turned back, “You know little listener, you can have someone sit with you during the statement. You don’t have to do this alone.”

True.

The teen had no problem answering that, “I’m not doing this alone. I’ve got Gami with me.”

True.

“Well, I wouldn’t advise talking to Gami during this, Midoriya,” Nezu jumped in, “The recording will most likely be used in a trial and we’re trying to keep that whole secret under wraps.”

True.

He sighed. The principal did have a point. Sure, Gami could still talk to him during all this, since no one would hear him. But did he want someone to sit with him, and who? The boy didn’t even register that the rodent had freely talked about his secret in front of Tsukauchi.

Nezu would definitely not baby him. He would treat him like the strong individual he was. But he didn’t know the principal on any sort of personal basis and didn’t want to show his vulnerability to someone he wasn’t yet comfortable with.

Aizawa was someone he admired. He would feel confident in completing the statement if he had his favorite hero by his side. But Aizawa wasn’t really known for his emotional sympathy and besides, asking the hero to stay with him would probably just annoy him.

Yamada had been nothing but nice to him since he had first arrived at the household. He was always gentle and thoughtful with his actions. And though he hadn’t really gotten close to the blond hero, he felt some sort of inviting feeling when he was around him. Besides, it would be the most respectful choice since Yamada was the one who had initially brought it up.

“C-can you stay with me, Mic-sensei?” he finally asked, “I-if that’s ok?”

The hero seemed surprised he was picked, but agreed and sat himself down on the couch as well, making sure to give the boy enough space.

Aizawa and Nezu continued over to the hallway and stood there, out of sight. Both were still close enough to hear any conversation that happened by the couch.

And so Tsukauchi hit record on his camera, and Midoriya started talking. There were times where the detective stopped to ask questions, but otherwise it was a steady stream of words coming from the teen. There were a few times where he broke down into tears, whether from stress or trauma was unknown. There were many times where he stuttered, or paused, needing a moment to collect himself before continuing. But he made it to the end, and was able to tell his entire story.

Tsukauchi had needed to record his injuries and scars after he had finished, and the teen was apprehensive at first, but when Gami talked him through it, he accepted. He rolled up his sleeves, revealing the numerous chunky scars from being impaled by liquor bottles. He made sure to separate the one circular scar on his left arm from the rest, explaining he had gotten that in an unrelated accident. Lifting his shirt to reveal the massive burn scar was the most challenging, but he knew he had to. He ended up having to take his shirt off completely so the detective could see the extent of the injury.

Yamada was in pure shock during the recording. He knew things with Midoriya weren’t good, but he had no idea it was this bad. Aizawa had told him as much as he knew, albeit it wasn’t much. But hearing it straight from the student was a whole other experience, one that ripped his heartstrings into shreds.

Tsukauchi eventually got all the information he needed for the statement, and turned off the video camera. Midoriya pulled his shirt back on quickly and the other two adults stepped back into the living room.

“Well, this brings us to my other course of action,” Nezu cut right to the chase, “which is where Midoriya will be staying.”

True.

The rodent gestured to the detective, motioning for him to speak. “I didn’t want to say this before I took your statement, just to make sure it didn’t interfere with your account. But your mother is in our custody permanently until the trial begins.”

At the shocked expression now plastered on the teen’s face, he clarified, “My quirk is called Lie Detector. It allows me to pick up on whether direct statements are true or false. There were numerous points in Inko Midoriya’s statement where my quirk registered her as lying, enough that it would be safest for us and you that she remained in our custody.”

His legs would have given out on him again if he were standing, but thankfully he was still sitting on the couch. Gami scooped him into a hug, whispering small reassurances. Everything he knew was suddenly ripped away from him. All his familiarity was now gone. He had lost his parents, his home, what next? And even if his parents weren’t necessarily good people, they were all he ever knew. He just wanted to make his mother proud. Was that so much to ask?

“I think it’s best to keep Midoriya here until further notice,” Nezu’s voice snapped him out of his thoughts, “If he were to enter the foster system, it might prove problematic to his studies here at U.A.”

True.

The principal didn’t mention that he also wanted to keep the boy as close to the school as possible.

Both Yamada and the student snapped towards Aizawa to witness his reaction. It was no secret that the rugged man wasn’t fond of taking care of a kid, at least at first. Both wondered if his reaction would be any different from the beginning.

But to their surprise, Aizawa didn’t huff or sigh. He didn’t yell or get mad. He just shrugged his shoulders, letting his hair flop around on his head. “Alright, whatever you think.”

False.

“Oh, wonderful!” Nezu cried, “Simply wonderful.”

True.

Both people on the couch were stunned by Aizawa’s nonchalant reactions, for very different reasons. But neither made a sound, allowing the principal to continue on with whatever else he wanted to say.

“One last thing before you go, Tsukauchi-san,” the rodent began.

“Yes?” said detective hummed.

“I was wondering if Midoriya could tell his situation to you? You know which one I’m talking about, correct?”

That made the boy pipe up, forgetting his manners, “You told him?”

Nezu chuckled, “Why of course I did. This doesn’t mean I don’t believe you, but you can’t blame me for wanting some solid confirmation.”

True.

The teen faltered, “Is this going to be recorded?”

“It isn’t,” Tsukauchi spoke up, “It’s just for securities sake.”

He took a long gulp as Nezu gestured for him to begin. Sure it wasn’t going to be recorded, but his mind still found paranoia to latch on to. Even though he knew his story was entirely true, Midoriya was still nervous about messing up, or doing something that would make his statements come off as false. It was a weak argument, but fear and paranoia made it grow exponentially.

But what was he to do other than talk. Not wanting to talk would only make him seem more guilty or suspicious. So mustering up all the remaining courage he had left, he let his secret escape his mouth.

“My powers aren’t quirk related.”

True.

Hearing nothing from any adult, he looked up for instructions. He caught Nezu just making another small motion with his paw and so he continued.

“I am the Grim Reaper.”

False.

Gami gave his successor a hard glare.

Tsukauchi interrupted, “That was a lie.”

Midoriya started to sweat, “W-well, I’m not technically the Grim Reaper. I-I’m more like an embodiment of Death, but I-I was afraid that wouldn’t make s-sense if I phrased it like that.”

True.

“That registered as true,” the detective fixed, “You can continue.”

He let out a sigh of relief, the stress fading from his shoulders as he detensed, “Gami was the previous Death, and I technically inherited my powers from him.”

T… true

“Can you elaborate on that?” Tsukauchi asked.

The teen knew exactly what to say, as he had been skimping out on information in an attempt to make his claims easier to understand, “Well, each D-death has a set of powers they are given once t-they begin the job. Since G-Gami retired and I became the new Death, I-I got the powers he once had. I g-guess that’s not really inheriting them…”

True.

“Alright, but can I ask a question?” the man inquired.

“S-sure sir.”

“What do you do as Death? Do you go out and… take souls?”

“No, no!” the boy cried, resorting to his rambling, “I don’t kill people. I… decide where their soul goes once they die. I’m not responsible for anyone’s death unless I k-kill them myself… like a villain or something.”

True.

“I’m assuming that’s all you needed to know, Nezu-san?” Tsukauchi wanted to clarify.

“Indeed! How did it turn out, detective?” he chirped.

“Well, it’s all true, whether you want to believe it or not…”

The principal tilted his head almost innocently, “I believed it from the very beginning, I just wanted to make sure.”

True.

Neither Aizawa nor Yamada had said a word. Yamada was the most silent, surprisingly, but he was busy taking in all this fairly new information. He was the one most out of the loop after all. Tsukauchi walked over to the front door, grabbing his matching hat off the hook and beginning to turn the doorknob.

“I’ve got to go get this recording to the station, so I’ll be off,” the overcoat wearing man stated, “I assume this won’t be the last time we meet over a matter like this, so goodbye for now.”

“Stay safe, Tsukauchi-san!” the rodent called with a cheery tone.

“See you, Tsuka,” Eraserhead remarked for the first time in a while, his voice a bit hoarse.

“Later, Tsukauchi!!” Present Mic cried, his annoncer personality making the call even more dramatic.

“B-bye sir,” Midoriya felt it would be rude not to say goodbye, even if the detective’s presence made his heart skip one too many beats.

The tall man waved, but didn’t stick around for long as he swung open the door and walked out. He pulled the door closed behind him and was gone. Only then did the teen release a breath he had no idea he was holding.

“I really did not enjoy that experience.”

The boy couldn’t agree more. Though, he had the sickening feeling it may not exactly be over.

Although Tsukauchi departed from the household, one rodent principal remained, sitting eerily still on the oversized armchair. His head was cocked to the side, like some curious street animal, and when Midoriya made the unfortunate mistake of making eye contact, he smiled so uncomfortably that he felt the strongest desire to shrink in on himself. He noticed a set of paws clasped on Nezu’s lap, as if he were waiting for something, or on something. And while part of him hoped whatever the principal wanted was resolved quickly enough for him to leave already, he couldn’t help but also wish for that desire to never come.

Though, when Aizawa and Yamada finally realized they still had one more guest in their house, he resorted back to hoping the matter would end as quickly as possible.

“I hate to bother you all once more,” Nezu smiled, though it came off conniving rather than comforting as he intended, though, maybe he didn’t exactly intend for it to be comforting in the first place, “But I wanted to speak with Midoriya privately before I left. Of course, if that’s alright.”

Was it wrong to wish he could scream no? Was it wrong to wish he could just scurry off and lock himself in his room? Even if he was locking himself in with Links, that would be such a better alternative than whatever hell he’d have to go through now.

There wasa small inkling of him that wished one of the heroes would tell Nezu it was getting late. Tell Nezu that he could talk with him some other time, or maybe even not at all. But he knew that would never happen. It was all wishful thinking, it was always wishful thinking.

And it never hurt to wish until it did.

Yamada sent back his own smile, though his actually accomplished its purpose of bringing warmth. “Of course, if the little listener doesn’t mind. We can wait out in our bedroom.”

It was sort of nice, for the voice hero to offer him a say like that. But it was more bittersweet than anything else, because it didn’t really matter in the end. It didn’t really matter as the pros stood up anyway. It didn’t really matter as they walked away without waiting for a response. It didn’t really matter as their bedroom door creaked open, and then clicked shut.

It was kind of funny, how Nezu leaned back into his chair relaxed just as Gami moved up to stand protectively in front of his side.

“I do apologize about occupying your time further, Midoriya…” the mammal admitted with only the slightest hint of concern in his words, “I just had a few questions for you that I never had the chance to ask in the days before.”

He only nodded in return, unable to trust his true thoughts to not bleed into his words. Gami growled, and the teen was thankful in that moment that his mentor could not be heard.

But when the rodent sat up from his relaxed position, taking on a much more serious attitude, Midoriya wasn't so sure he wanted to hear what he had to say anymore. Nezu’s little black nose twitched ever so slightly, reminding his audience how despite everything, he was still an animal above all else. An animal trying to understand the nature of humanity.

“Has Bakugo always been that aggressive towards you?”

For a moment, Midoriya drew the largest blank he had ever recalled, which was contradictory enough on its own. What was Nezu talking about? When was Nezu talking about. Who was Nezu talking about?

He hadn’t even realized how long he simply sat there in silence and worked against the words that eventually came out.

“Ah, well I guess… but it’s really not as bad as you think,” he rushed to spit out, “We grew up together, went to school together, of course he’d be a bit more…”

The words died on his tongue, dropping dead like they’d been shot point blank. He couldn’t bring himself to finish that statement, and to be honest he didn’t really want to. It was such an obvious lie, he’d just be wasting his breath. It’d practically be an insult to every breath he’d taken in his life.

Maybe Nezu understood that too, because he didn’t make him finish.

“I thought so. It was quite obvious to tell his personality even before coming to U.A., during the entrance exam,” the principal reaffirmed, “Though, it was equally obvious to see his personal grudge towards you during the batter training exercise hosted by All Might.”

The battle training exercise? Of course, why was he even surprised that Nezu knew that at this point? It was practically a given, that the principal would be briefed about one student almost killing another.

But, Bakugo didn’t mean to kill him, or Uraraka or Iida. There was no way he’d risk his position at U.A. by doing something as stupid as that. But… he did, and that didn’t make any sense. It was completely contradictory to everything the blond had worked for to get here. It just didn’t make any sense, and no amount of explaining could help him understand.

He was sent spiraling back into his thoughts from earlier, reassessing every moment leading up to his fall from the edge of the floor. Bakugo was pretty aggressive the entire time, so much so that it took everything out of him just to keep up. It was only luck that he managed to get away and fall back with Uraraka, but that was besides the point. The point was that Bakugo had been fairly normal, in an albeit terrifying way, up until he fired at the trio right at the end. Maybe someone like All Might looking in from the outside wouldn’t have seen a difference, but to Midoriya, who had known the blond since childhood, it was completely out of character. Bakugo was extremely intelligent, more than smart enough to understand the implications and consequences of that final shot. And even if he was flooded with emotion, which was most of the time, he had self control, that same self control he’d witness when Bakugo apologized to him after the sludge villain incident. At least, he was pretty sure that was an apology.

So for him to ignore every brain cell in his body and take that shot, and fire off that explosion, the boy just knew that something was terribly wrong.

And then his mind trailed off even further, still where he was thinking earlier, to punishment, to expulsion, and the subsequent panic was enough to send him flying back to reality. He hadn’t realized how much he had curled in on himself, or how silent the air was since Nezu’s previous words.

He looked up hesitantly, locking eyes with the principal in front of him, something he never would have done in a million years. “You… aren’t going to expel him, are you…?”

Everyone seemed particularly caught off guard by that statement. Gami snapped towards him, and though the ghost’s face was hidden, Midoriya could still tell his aghast expression.

“What?! You cannot possibly want to defend him?!”

And as for Nezu, he simply cocked his head like a curious scientist examining an unexpected development. The teen could definitely feel himself under a microscope, being prodded at in hopes of producing a reaction. And that’s why he said nothing to Gami, make no sound, no movement. He wasn’t going to give the reaction he knew the rodent was waiting for.

“Oh?” Though, this was Nezu he was talking about, of course he would press forward regardless. “You don’t believe I should? That is quite odd to hear from you considering what I believe to be your relationship with him.”

Midoriya already knew how strange this sounded coming from him, especially in defense of Bakugo, but he didn’t need Nezu restating that for him. In fact, he knew that anyone on the outside would agree with the mammal, hell even Gami, who was the closest to the “inside” that someone could possibly get. But his mentor was biased, having disliked the fiery blond from the start, as well as being especially protective of him. And Midoriya wasn’t particularly fond of Bakugo either, though, his actions right now certainly didn’t go to prove that. Maybe it really was childhood naivety, because admitting that he still respected Bakugo and his potential for heroism sounded so weird, even for him.

Regardless of where the motivation came from, however, he felt such a strong responsibility to do all within his power to fix this. Because he knew something was wrong, and he’d be damned if he just allowed whatever universal mistake it was to play out unresolved.

“I know our relationship isn’t the best example of… childhood friendship.” That was an understatement and even he knew it. “But, I know Bakugo better than anyone else, and I know that what happened during the battle training exercise wasn’t him…”

Beside him, Gami seemed even more flabbergasted, but Nezu looked intrigued, like MIdoriya was some complex puzzle he was trying to put together with his eyes alone.

“I’m not sure I understand,” the principal pushed.

“I know Bakugo isn’t particularly… tame by any standards, but he would never do something this reckless, this stupid.” Again, Midoriya found himself repeating his thoughts, trying to decipher how he was so certain the blond would never do something like this, though he had. “He would never… I j-just know.”

But he had, and that’s what puzzled the teen the most. He felt his brain tearing itself apart trying to come up with a plausible answer, but the more he thought about it, the less it seemed to fit, like it simply had been forced upon him all of a sudden.

He just couldn’t make sense of it all.

If he had been paying just a bit more attention, maybe he would have seen the way Nezu stared at his perplexed form. Maybe he would have also seen the bewildered look in his beady black eyes, like the gears weren’t quite turning for the rodent either. Maybe he would have seen the sadistic smile that pulled contradictory at his cheeks, like he was enjoying the mystery presented before him.

But the boy never got a chance to, as Nezu hopped off the couch and reset his face to its usual nonchalant yet cheery appearance. Midoriya looked up from his lap at the soft thud, only to lock eyes again with the mammal. And though his face looked as it typically did, he couldn’t stop himself from seeing some inkling of worry in the solid black eyes that stared back at him.

“The well being of my students is my most important focus at all times, I can assure you, Midoriya.” The principal gave a little nod after that. “I do apologize once more for taking up your time, and for having to depart so hastily, but I do appreciate the insight.”

The teen wasn’t really focused after that, barely hearing Nezu walk to the hallway and call out goodbyes to Aizawa and Yamada, or approach the front door promptly like Tsukauchi did. He barely heard the doorknob jiggle as it was unlocked or the hinges squeak as it was opened. But he did manage to catch Nezu calling out to him one last time before leaving.

“I do have the feeling we’ll be seeing each other soon, but for now, do take care of yourself, Midoriya. You’re certainly one of the most promising students I’ve seen through my doors, and it would be a shame if you allowed yourself to get hung up on this incident.”

Before he could even attempt to say anything else, the principal was out the door, and it was closed behind. The boy let out a breathy sigh he hadn’t even realized he was holding and sank back into the couch just as he heard the master bedroom door open. Somehow, he found himself even less reassured than before, but that was to be expected from an individual like Nezu. Though, he could assure himself of one thing.

The thought wouldn’t be leaving his mind anytime soon.

That night was sleepless for Midoriya. He tossed and turned uncontrollably, as if he was fighting off a villain in his dreams. There were a lot of things that caused his restlessness, the events that had transpired just before in the living room certainly being at the top of that list. But surprisingly, something about Links being in the room made him uncomfortable too. Just the fact that someone else’s eyes were upon him made him feel uneasy, even if it was just a kitten.

Gami was a different story. He wasn’t sure if the specter slept at all at night, but he knew that the man did watch him. For some reason, that fact never bothered him. Maybe it was because he subconsciously allowed the ghost permission to watch him while he slept. Maybe it was because the spirit was the only person he truly trusted. Who knows? He certainly did not. All he could confirm was the Gami was an exception to his paranoia, and thankfully so.

The morning sun didn’t hit him this morning, since the ghost couldn’t open the curtains of the guest room. The teen was woken from his few moments of sleep by the phantom feeling of ice cold water being splashed on him. Of course, once he jumped out from under the covers, he found himself completely dry. Still, chills washed over him as if he had just gotten out of the shower. He yanked open the curtains himself, his cold awakening turning his mood sour. Gami looked over as he rubbed his eyes awake.

“Someone is cranky this morning,” he teased.

“Be quiet,” the boy quipped back jokingly, but the slight undertone of crankiness was still audible.

The spirit smothered a chuckle, but it came out like a snorted laugh. There weren’t many times where Gami laughed, so the few times he did, it was like the sun shined only for him. His moodiness faded away as the corners of his mouth turned into a smile. Midoriya brought a hand to his mouth, but couldn’t help but laugh as well. One laugh grew into two, soon the duo were snickering by the bed like gossiping school girls over something as mundane as waking up.

The teen finally calmed his laughter down before it became too loud. Swinging his legs off the side of the bed, he hopped out carefully to change. Trudging towards the closet, he pulled out his spare turtleneck and sweatpants that he took with him to U.A., putting them on now instead. He still hadn’t gotten any of his stuff from home, despite now having spent a few days at the Aizawa-Yamada household. All he really had in terms of clothing was his U.A. uniform and that spare set of clothes in the closet, both of which had to be washed each day so he could keep using them. Yamada had given him a set of worn loungewear that had once belonged to Aizawa to use as pajamas, since he didn’t have any. Midoriya was apprehensive at first, not wanting to upset the constantly tired pro, but Present Mic insisted and eventually he gave in.

He slipped on both the turtleneck and the baggy sweatpants before closing the closet door. It was still early in the morning, obvious by the rising dawn. He had no idea who was up and who wasn’t, but he hoped everyone else was asleep. Being the first one up was sort of a safety net for him, as it allowed him to avoid any surprise encounters. The boy grasped the doorknob quietly and gave it a gentle turn. With a soft click, the door opened just wide enough for him to fit through. He didn’t want to take the chance of pulling it open further and having the hinges squeak. But he squeezed himself through and made his way to the living room without a sound.

He sat down on the couch, alone. Both the living room and the kitchen were empty. Midoriya’s stomach growled and his mind yearned for entertainment, but he dared not touch any more food, or the tv remote. Thankfully, he had his notebook underarm before he left the guest room, and that would be more than enough to entertain him.

He scribbled away in the book, just revising and adding to notes that were already there. Gami slipped in comments here and there, but the two stayed relatively quiet as to not wake anyone up. That never ended well for him back at home.

There was a sudden creak in the floor, and both of the deathly duo shot up. The teen’s heart dropped to his stomach, sure he had been caught. But how? He was sure he’d been quiet, so who had woken up?

The ghost flew around the corner, open to scouting out the situation. He peeked his head out from around the wall, staring down into the hallway. After a few moments of silence, the spirit returned to Midoriya’s side by the couch.

The boy looked up at him confused, “So?”

Gami shrugged, “False alarm.”

“What? What do you mean false ala-”

The ghost shushed him rudely and pointed towards the hall. Like clockwork, another creak echoed from beyond the hallway. Midoriya grew nervous at the small sounds, his heart thumping in his chest. His mentor hadn’t seen anyone, so where were those noises coming from?

His hands grew sweaty as soft footsteps came closer and closer. The steps seemed sneaky and deliberate. If it was Aizawa or Yamada, why didn’t they just announce themselves? He was loud enough for anyone to hear him from the hallway. What if it wasn’t either hero? Was it an intruder? A villain? He contemplated the thought of having to defend himself so early in the morning. He braced himself for whatever would meet his eyes, friend or foe.

He visibly crumbled in confusion when a small grey paw strutted out from behind the wall. He heaved out a sigh at realizing he had overreacted. Gami cocked his head, wondering how he had missed the small feline.

Links strolled out from the hall like he owned the world, eyes closed, tail wagging. It was almost if the kitten had earbuds in, and was swaying like he was listening to music. The cheery cat made his way all the way to the center of the living room before opening his eyes. And once he realized he was being watched, quickly scrambled to the corner of the living room, curling into himself to make him appear smaller. Midoriya’s heart hurt at the sight.

“Well, I was certainly not expecting that…”

But the teen simply ignored his friend, “He seems so sad. Did I do something wrong?”

Gami paused, “I do not think so. He just seems afraid of humans.”

“Afraid of humans?” he repeated, brows furrowing.

The ghost realized his successor had never handled an animal before, so he was pretty in the dark on the subject. “Yes. Sometimes it is because of paranoia. Sometimes it is because of previous trauma. But just as you can be afraid of cats, cats can be afraid of humans.”

The boy’s face soured and he turned defensive, “I’m not afraid of cats. I’m… just afraid I’ll hurt them. All animals for that matter.”

He turned towards the shaking kitten in the corner, and his heartstrings tugged. Was this how he seemed? All scared and alone? He felt a longing to help, but really didn’t know how. What if that were me? What would I want someone to do?

Pulling his legs up off the floor, he laid them along the couch. Shifting his body, he turned away from Links hiding in the corner. His head now face towards the kitchen and away from the scared feline.

“I’m not looking anymore,” he spoke softly, still without eye contact, “See?”

He then buried his head into his notebook and started revising his notes again. He made sure to keep his eyes away from the cat. He gestured for Gami to turn away as well, unsure if the kitten could tell the ghost was watching him. But the spirit listened, and soon, both were fully engrossed back into the notebook, quietly laughing and chatting.

Then, as quiet as it was, both individuals heard a small step on the hardwood. It was almost undetectable, but both were waiting for it. The, like clockwork, there was another step, and another, until the tiny paws sounded as if they were dancing upon the floor.

Midoriya felt a small smile form on his lips as he listened to the little cat move around. He was sure that Links had walked out of the corner by now and was somewhere in the center of the room. It certainly didn’t feel like much, but the small yips that came afterwards warmed his heart. Maybe he couldn’t touch the kitten, but this…

This he could do.

Surprisingly, neither Aizawa nor Yamada had too much of a reaction at seeing him up so early. Eraserhead had gotten up less than an hour after he had, Present Mic on the other hand slept in until much later. On a more unfortunate note, the minute the rugged man had walked into the room, Links had huddled up in the corner again. And once the blond entered, that sent the kitten running back to the guest room for good. Midoriya felt a bit of despair eat away at him while listening to frantic paws against hardwood, but there wasn’t much more he could do.

It was around noon, when the teen heard a jingle of keys being taken off their hook. He had remained in the living room despite the awakening of both adults in the household, just moving himself to the smaller armchair near the corner of the room instead. He looked up snapily from his notebook, eyes locking onto Aizawa’s form taking a single key from off a hook. Yamada too was interested, watching him from the kitchen island instead.

The homeroom teacher spun the key around his finger lazily, then making his way to the living room.

“What is that, Sho?” Yamada voiced both his and the boy’s thoughts.

He flashed the slab of metal at his partner, “Tsukauchi gave me this yesterday. It’s a key to Inko Midoriya’s house.”

What? A key to his home? Why would the detective give that to Aizawa? He put down his notebook, letting it rest on his lap. Gami moved from staring out the window to back to his side. Both were listening intently, expecting the two heroes to keep talking.

But shockingly, the underground hero turned to him instead.

“Tsukauchi gave me this so we could pick up whatever stuff you needed from home,” he explained, “We could do that today if you’re up to it, Problem Child.”

“You could finally get extra clothing,” Gami remarked.

That was true. But other than that, there wasn’t much else he wanted. His notebooks definitely, and his plants if they let him take those, but that was practically it. He really wished he could go alone, but he wasn’t going to argue with Aizawa. Besides, he really wanted to wear his own pajamas for a change.

“That sounds fine,” he whispered, but both heroes caught it.

“Alright,” the hero replied, “We’ll leave in a little bit.”

Midoriya nodded and lifted himself off the couch, leaving for the guest room to put his notebook away. He remembered that Links was probably in here, hoping for some solitude. He paused at the door, wondering what he should do.

What if that were me? What would I want someone to do?

He gave the door a soft knock, letting the sound ring out.

“Hey Links,” he spoke to seemingly no one, “It’s just me… Izuku. Can I come in to put my notebook away?”

He must have seemed so silly, asking a cat for permission to enter a room, but then, a small meow came from inside the guest room. The teen looked at Gami, thinking he just imagined that.

“I think that means you can enter.”

Turning back to the door, he gave a small shrug and twisted the knob. Deciding he would be quick, he slinked inside and placed the book down onto the desk. He left the room quickly and closed the door behind him, not staying behind long enough to hear a tiny goodbye meow.

Reentering the living room, he slipped on his signature red sneakers and stood by the front door patiently. He didn’t want to track dirt into the living room just to sit on the couch, plus he was fine standing. Neither Aizawa nor Yamada was in his line of sight, so he figured the two were in their own rooms. And just like he guessed, he heard a door open and close, then watched Present Mic make his way down the hall.

The man was dressed in casual clothing, wearing a pair of light wash jeans with a dark jean jacket to match. His burgundy undershirt stood out and his hair was pulled up into a half bun. He had swapped out his normal triangular glasses for a pair of rectangular ones.

He was fairly startled at seeing Midoriya just waiting by the front door.

“Goodness, little listener,” he sighed, “I didn’t know you were waiting on us.”

The teen faltered. He wasn’t trying to rush them. “I-I just didn’t want you guys to wait on me like last time.”

“You don’t have to feel bad about that,” Yamada tried to reassure, “I sprung that onto you pretty last minute.”

But before the boy could try and refute that, Aizawa came down the hallway, pretty much killing the conversation. He was dressed similarly to Midoriya, with a long sleeved black shirt and a pair of dark grey sweatpants. His hair was loose and messy, still with a few tangles in it.

“Alright,” he interrupted unknowingly, “Are you two ready?”

Both nodded in confirmation, so the rugged man opened the front door and grabbed his car keys. They loaded up the same way they had on the way to the vet, with Aizawa and Yamada in the front and Midoriya in the back seat. Gami trailed behind, but didn’t bother waiting for the car to start. He already knew how to get to his successor’s home from here, so he figured he’d meet them there. The teen watched his ghostly companion leave without him, and wished he could go with him. But alas, the car engine started up and soon enough, the three headed off towards the Midoriya home.

Yamada nodded off about halfway into the drive, his light snoring filling up the cabin. The boy wasn’t too sure how long they had been driving, but since the subway from U.A. to his house was about 40 minutes, he expected the drive to be a bit longer. Neither him nor Aizawa had spoken a word since they left, and quite honestly, he was alright with that. It felt lonely without Gami and he didn’t remember if he had ever been separated from the spirit for this long. His eyes were constantly at the window, just hoping he’d spot the man’s figure somewhere.

His mind oddly drifted back to the small kitten he had left in the guest room. Midoriya wondered what Links was doing. He was sure the cat was fine, since he probably enjoyed the empty house more. Maybe he was relaxing on the couch, or maybe playfully dancing on the living room floors. It was an unusual thing that brought a smile to his face, but he found himself stifling a giggle at the thought.

“We’re here,” came his homeroom teacher’s voice, sending him out of his head and back to reality. Sure enough, when he poked his head out he could see the familiar structure of his house from a distance, almost taunting him. Aizawa pulled into the driveway, which was empty, and put the car in park.

“Hey, Zashi,” he attempted to wake his partner up by shaking him lightly, “We’re here already.”

The blond man groaned loudly and stretched his arms out, nearly whacking his husband in the face. Not really saying anything coherent, he opened his car door and stepped out groggily, eyes squinting from the sunlight. Midoriya figured he could get out as well, since the two heroes had already. Looking around, he found no sign of Gami. Had the ghost not arrived yet? That thought made him frown.

Eraserhead slid the key into the lock on the front door and gave it a rough twist. The lock clicked out of place and the teacher shoved the door hard. It opened with ease and everyone walked inside. Midoriya got in first and then found someone familiar.

“There you are!” he cried.

Gami turned to face his successor from the couch. He was currently laying down on it.

“I can sit once more!” he yelled back uncharacteristically.

The teen laughed and rushed over to the sofa. Then, without warning, he threw himself down on it, right on top of his mentor. The ghost groaned, not expecting the extra weight, but he didn’t complain. Both quickly turned to laughter, just happy to be in a moment that seemed homey. They completely forgot about the other two heroes also in the room in their bliss. Swinging his head around, the boy opened his tightly clenched eyes to meet the deadpan look of his teachers, quickly losing his laughter for embarrassment.

“S-sorry,” he tried to explain, “It’s just that Gami’s here and he can’t really sit on the couches at your house, but that’s only because it takes time and practice and he already knows how to sit on this cou-”

“It’s fine, Problem Child,” Aizawa interrupted, “You can stop rambling.”

That shut him up quick, and Midoriya got off the couch, now feeling mortified. Yamada elbowed his partner in the side, not enough to stir a reaction out of him, but just enough to sting. The teen shuffled his fingers together, then pointed towards a door down the hall.

“That’s… my room,” he announced awkwardly.

The blond took a step forward, nodding, “Do you need help getting your things?”

“That would be great,” he whispered.

He did a 180 and began walking to his room, with the heroes following close behind.

“I am going to stay here if that is alright?” Gami called out from the couch still.

“No problem, Gami!” he answered back, stating the spirit’s name so the adults behind him wouldn’t get confused.

Finally reaching his door, he twisted the handle and watched it click open. Inside was the small sanctuary he dearly missed. Taking a few slow steps, he embraced the warm serenity of being surrounded by his plants. Aizawa and Yamada grew curious when no words came from the teen, so they both peeked inside.

The room was pretty bare on its own. There was a small bed by the window and a desk against the wall. Beside the desk were two thin bookcases.

But the furniture was definitely not the focus of the room. No. It was most certainly the remarkable displays of greenery all over the room. The bookshelves were full of potted plants, ranging from small flowers, to long stemmed leaves, and succulents. The pots containing them were a wide array of colors and shapes, some were even mason jars. Both men were in absolute awe.

Midoriya didn’t seem to realize his teachers were inside the room yet, too focused on his plants to care. His eyes settled on a specific bunch of red flowers and paled at their condition.

“My spider lilies!” he cried out in shock, rushing over to them. He stroked their wilting petals gently with his gloves fingers, careful not to break them off. Their red hue wasn’t as vibrant and the leaves drooped down sadly. He knew he hadn’t been here to water them for a few days, but still wasn’t expecting his plants to be in such critical condition.

Yamada was concerned over the outburst, but realized what the cry was about upon walking in, “Woah, I didn’t know you gardened, little listener…”

“The boy turned around in surprise, “U-uh yeah. It’s just something I picked up.”

“Well, these are beautiful!” he yelled out with pizazz.

That made Midoriya bashful, and me moved away from the lilies to focus on his other things. He quickly piled his notebooks on his desk, making two neat stacks. Then moving to his closet, he took everything off its racks. There wasn’t much in there to begin with, so he had no problem folding it all and laying that down on the desk as well.

Aizawa had come inside during the light chaos and observed all of the stuff now organized on the desk. While it wasn’t a lot, it was certainly enough to require some sort of help.

“Do you have some sort of suitcase you can put that all in?” Eraserhead asked while gesturing at the desk.

“I-I don’t,” he stuttered.

“That’s fine!” Yamada interjected, “We can just carry it to the trunk!”

Aizawa grumbled, but complied as the English teacher and the student both grabbed a small pile of clothes. Together, the three quickly managed to load up the trunk in just a few minutes. Midoriya walked back into his room, scoping it out to make one last check. His numerous potted plants stared back at him tauntingly and he wished he could bring them along. Yamada followed him in as well.

“Aren’t you going to take your plants?” the announcer questioned.

“I-I can?!” the normally quiet teen exclaimed in surprise and happiness.

“Of course!” he loudly yelled back, “They’re too nice to leave behind. Makes me wanna go YEAH!!”

But Midoriya only caught the confirmation and rushed over to the bookshelves. Quickly, yet carefully, he picked up the pots and jars and placed them down on his now cleared desk. His greenery was important to him, a little hobby that had grown into so much more, no pun intended. Raising sprouts into luscious leaves and petals helped him destress from the pressures of his job. Besides, it made him feel at home and safe. He couldn’t wait to decorate the guest room with his bushels of greens.

Carefully moving the spider lilies, he grasped them tightly as to not shake their fragile, wilting leaves. Who would have guessed these little flowers would have been the start of something spectacular. He sure didn’t. But there was no way he would just give up on them and let them die, and so the teen couldn’t wait to restore them to their former beauty.

Maybe then, would the guest room finally start to feel like his own.

Chapter Text

Midoriya woke up to the slivers of daylight peeking through his window, his curtains partially drawn. This was the first morning that the guest room actually felt like his room. The large bookshelf in the room was stacked with his potted plants, the greenery filling the space with a familiar warmth. His notebooks were on the bottom shelf, some still piled on the previously empty desk. The ceramic plates from Ishihara’s were also on the bottom shelf, and right next to them was his inheritance. The beautiful brown chess box lay daintily next to those plates, with the recipe book right on top. The antique silver kettle still remained in the cardboard box that he had brought it home in, the teen still unsure of where to place it.

Gami floated around his successor as he lifted himself out of bed. The ghost peered inside the closet from behind once it was opened. The closet no longer looked sparse and sad, and was now filled with pretty much all of his clothes. Unfortunately, that still wasn’t much, mostly battered shirts and worn shorts. And even though it may have seemed a little bit selfish, the spirit hoped the heroes would indulge the boy. At the very least get him some more clothing.

The morning was still fairly early, but nonetheless Midoriya changed quickly into his school uniform. He didn’t bother turning on the overhead lights, simply using the breaking light of dawn to illuminate his room. In the darkness, he couldn’t tell where Links was, but he just hoped he was staying far enough away from the small feline.

Ever since picking the cats up, Links had been basically confined to the guest room along with him. It was all in efforts to help the kitten work through his oddly paranoid behavior, but so far, it didn’t seem to be working. It had only been a few days though, so the heroes hadn’t given up just yet. The teen really didn’t know how long it took to heal such skittish behavior like that, but he assumed it was long and tedious.

Sneakily, he opened his bedroom door and tiptoed out into the hall. It was still early enough that he was the first one up, so in a desperate effort to not wake up any of the adults, he moved quietly to the living room. Throwing himself down onto the couch, he snuggled up into the armrest. The whole reason he was even up this early was to sort souls for his job and all, but he was feeling sluggish and unmotivated. He had been pushing himself lately to stay on track with his work, but with all of the emotional baggage he’d been carrying around, most days felt eerily dull.

But today would be different, at least that was what the boy was telling himself. He had been idly sitting on the couch for nearly five minutes, comfortablely curled into the armrest still, but he forced himself to sit up straight and get to work finally.

“Finally going to get started?” the ghost teased.

Midoriya looked at him narrowly, but replied, “Yeah, yeah. No need to bug me about it, unless you want to help?”

He chuckled hard, but only his successor could hear that, “When have I not?”

Giving a sassy eye roll, he swiped his hand close to his mentor, summoning the flames right in his face. Sometimes, the teen would make the flames appear just to watch them burn. It was calming, in a way, to see his work when he wasn’t under pressure. They were such an odd color compared to typical fire and the way they waved in the nonexistent wind was mesmerizing. But today was unfortunately not a day he could slack off, maybe later, but certainly not now.

One by one, the little puffs of light slowly made themselves visible throughout the living room. They resembled what one would believe stars looked like up close. Midoriya cupped the dimmest one he could spot, and quickly got to work.

With every soul he sent away, the boy grew more and more somber. When he first started doing this, his intention was to record the details of each and every person that passed through his fingertips, but he quickly realized it would be too time consuming and depressing. But still, he wished there was a way for him to remember all of the different lives he witnessed each day, as well as quell his guilt of not saving them, even if it was impossible. So instead, he reassured them that he would become an amazing hero, maybe not number one, but certainly a marvelous hero. Before he sent a soul away, he promised he would save another life in return.

“Who do you have there?” Gami asked, breaking the silence, “You have been holding that one for a while now.”

Snapping out of his stupor, the teen turned to look at his mentor. He tossed the soul to his other hand, using his now free right hand to deny the ghost’s previous statement. “No, no. I’ve just been thinking…”

“That still does not answer my question…”

That made Midoriya roll his eyes again, but nonetheless he responded, “Her name is Nagano Ko, if it interests you so much.”

“That is a classic name, though a pretty one. Can you tell me more?”

Midoriya wondered why the spirit was so interested in this particular person, but he entertained Gami’s curiosity. “She was a college student studying modern art. She was really good at painting. Died of a sudden heart attack though.”

Gami hummed in contemplation, seemingly pondering something. His hand drifted to the grey stone dangling from his neck and his boney fingers stroked it carefully. The boy focused on the oval shaped rock. The strange, black swirls had always tugged at the back of his mind, and he often wondered where they came from. But the way his mentor fed into the silence made him wonder if he was remembering something from his past.

“Did you know her? I don’t know how, since you two weren’t alive at the same time but…” He voiced his thoughts aloud.

“No, no. I do not know who she is,” the specter explained.

The teen pressed for more, “So what is it?”

Gami waved the pendant around his neck, wiggling the rope between his fingers, “Something about the painting. That feels… familiar.”

“Like what kind of familiar?”

“I do not really-”

The ghost flinched heavily, cradling his head in his skinny hands. Midoriya jumped from the couch, completely abandoning his job in favor of his friend. He wasn’t sure what was going on, but the man’s actions reminded him of when he had a migraine before and after a premonition. He whispered his frantic concerns, but it didn’t seem like his mentor could hear him.

Gami couldn’t hear any of his successor’s cries through the deep throbbing in his head. It felt as if someone was drilling a jackhammer into his nonexistent skull, but even then, there was something almost akin to whispering in the back of his mind.

“Look, look! I painted this stone for you!”

That voice… it felt so familiar, but he couldn’t quite pin who it was. It was high pitched, feminine, definitely not the tone of his successor. Besides, it was way too young to be the boy’s. The voice had to belong to a young girl, around 6 or 7 years old.

“Do you like it?”

Then, the headache stopped just as suddenly as it had begun. He could now hear the world around him, and the desperate cries finally reached his ears.

“Sorry to worry you, I am alright,” he reassured.

“Gami what was that?” Midoriya was not convinced. “That’s never happened before.”

He contemplated lying to the teen, but realized that would accomplish practically nothing. There was no real reason to keep this from him, so why did he feel the urge to do so? Nonetheless, he shook it off and swallowed his anxiety.

“I do not know,” he started, “There was a voice in my head, and I recognized it. But other than understanding it was a female child, I do not remember who it was.”

That seemed to shock the normally reserved boy. “Anything else? What did the voice say?”

“She… told me that she painted this stone.” Gami fumbled said stone between his fingers. “For me.”

Well, that certainly explained the swirls and specs away, but only raised more questions. Who was this girl? What was her connection to the spirit? What was the reason behind the rock that hung from his neck?

There was one thing that stuck though. His wordplay earlier somehow triggered this repressed memory back into the limelight. If that was true, could all of Gami’s memories be recovered? Was there a way for the ghost to remember his past again?

“This is promising though,” the boy assured, “If we can trigger your subconscious like that again, you might be able to remember more stuff.”

The transparent man nodded confidently, eager to recover more of his past. He had no idea why he couldn’t remember his life before retiring. Even his time as Death was foggy, with only miscellaneous, miniscule memories remaining. Although he was excited to continue gaining his memories back, he knew that right now, his successor should be working, not worrying over him.

“Well, we can worry about this later.” He was going to get his boy back on track, whether he wanted to or not. “You need to finish up. It is almost time for Eraserhead and Present Mic to wake up.”

“You’re right, I didn’t even realize it was this late!”

He plopped himself back down onto the couch and leaned into the cushions, reaching for another puff of light. Gami too cupped a dimming soul in his hands, holding onto it until his successor was ready. He moved a bit closer to the couch, his side tangibly resting against the armrest.

But neither he, nor Midoriya, realized that.

It wasn’t long before both heroes awoke from their slumber. Though it would have normally been surprising, both men were thoroughly used to seeing the young boy up and dressed before them. The student had long explained the way his odd behavior connected to his responsibilities, but he assumed it would be a hard pill to swallow without time to adapt. He had pretty much spent the majority of his life alone, so he still wasn’t used to people being around him while he was up at home.

But it sure didn’t take long for both pros to get ready to leave. It was still quite early, but since both were teachers, they had to arrive much earlier than typical students. Of course, he was not a typical student, so he got to U.A. just as early as the staff. But honestly, the lack of sleep didn’t bother him as much as it would another student. His natural sleep deprivation just became a part of his lifestyle, along with many other peculiar tidbits that would seem odd alone. But together, they made up the shambled mess that was his character, so he worked with them as any person would.

Midoriya’s ears perked up at the quiet jingle of keys, his eyes focusing in on his surroundings. Aizawa was standing by the front door, all decked out in his hero gear. Yamada was leaning on the kitchen island, munching loudly on an apple. It seemed as if everything the voice hero did was intentionally loud and obnoxious, though it could just be part of his nature at this point. But, like clockwork, the boy stood up at the metal jingle and walked over to the mat by the door to slip on his signature red sneakers. Despite however many times the ghost teased him, he would never get rid of those shoes in place of another pair. He had simply grown too attached to them.

“Hey little listener,” the blond man called out unexpectedly, showing off another bright, red apple in his hand, “Care for one?”

The teen tried his best to eat as little of the heroes’ food as possible, but he hadn’t had anything since he woke up. Normally that wouldn’t be enough of a reason for him to accept, but his stomach growled menacingly and he caved. Just as his head nodded slightly, Present Mic tossed the apple lightly at him in an underhanded throw. Despite being shy and reserved, his instincts were as sharp as ever, and he did not hesitate to snap his free gloved hand up and catch the fruit with ease. The apple was even shinier up close, its pristine, red skin drawing more saliva to the corners of his dry mouth.

He didn’t get the chance to take the first bite in peace, but he wasn’t really expecting to. Besides, the boy had no problem eating and walking at the same time. The school was barely a 15 minute walk away, and so both pros preferred to walk rather than drive.

In contrast to his partner, Yamada was still dressed in his casual wear. It was much more likely that he would be recognized in his hero wear than Eraserhead, who’s underground status and constant vigilance kept him out of the media spotlight. So the raven haired man could afford to leave the house in his costume, while the blond did not have that luxury.

Midoriya ended up listening to Gami’s quiet ramblings since the entire walk was flooded in nothing but silence. He would whisper back sometimes, but he avoided talking to the spirit when around the heroes because he wasn’t sure if they were used to that fact yet. He wasn’t sure if either adult was even used to him yet, but that was an entirely different tangent he really didn’t want to get into.

The trio were only a few minutes away from the hero school when Aizawa spoke up. “Just to let you know, Bakugo will be back in class today.”

What? Was… was Aizawa being serious? Bakugo had been suspended from school since the battle training incident, and the classroom had been obnoxiously quiet since his departure. Did that mean that his words had gotten to Nezu? That the principal had been convinced not to expel him? This was Nezu he was talking about, and he seriously doubted that his plea alone was the deciding factor. There had to be some ulterior motive, because Midoriya knew that he did not have the ability to convince Nezu. But, he didn’t really care what was the principal’s turning point, because it was all relieving in the end.

Gami had voiced his opinions on the situation a number of times, complaining that the teen should have been expelled, especially after Midoriya found himself vouching for him to Nezu that night. The ghost had made his beliefs more than apparent, but none of that did enough to sway the teen from his own. He would defend Bakugo and his potential even if no one else would, and not because he was some spineless wimp. He held grudges and kept up his paranoid layer at practically all times. He wasn’t very trusting and had a difficult time working with others at first. He was a whole mess of social skills, that was for sure.

But he knew he had to defend the fiery blond. He had to because he knew with absolute certainty that something about his reckless and endangering actions that day were wrong. He couldn’t put his finger on it, no matter how many times Gami had asked him to explain; he just knew that wasn’t Bakugo. His actions were too extreme, too over the top, even for Bakugo. He felt it in his gut, like a thick, obnoxious smell he couldn’t get out of his nose, that something peculiar was happening. And the righteousness in him, or at least that’s what he attributed it to, wouldn’t allow him to sit idly by.

Aizawa must have mistaken his silence as some sort of fear, because he attempted to reassure him. “Don’t worry too much about it. He’ll be taking anger management sessions with Hound Dog, and I’ll be watching him closely to make sure he doesn’t pull anything as idiotic as that again.”

That’s not what the quiet boy was worried about. In fact, he couldn’t really find himself worried about Bakugo’s return at all. He was just relieved. It was so strange, being relieved at the return of someone like Bakugo, but he couldn’t deny how it eased the storm in his stomach. For some reason, the wrongness he’d been experiencing while the blond remained absent from class felt so… personal, like it was his fault. He’d been such a mess these past few days, a mess of blame and guilt and he couldn’t make sense of any of it. The only thing he could place was this overpowering feeling of ownership. He just didn’t know why or how, such is the way of a gut feeling. All he knew was he had to fix it, he just had to.

But he had. He had done it, and the relief was so sweet he could die happy in it.

As the front entrance of the school came closer in sight, so did what looked to be a mass of people standing by it. This was one of the few times Midoriya was so shocked, he forgot his filter entirely, much less his vow of usual silence. “What in the world…?”

“Reporters,” Eraserhead responded almost instantly, “Damn bloodsuckers.”

Yamada piped in, “They must have found out All Might was teaching here.”

“I’m surprised it took them so long,” his husband added sarcastically.

The green haired teen’s attention shot back and forth between the two adults. Currently, they were out of sight from any nosy reporter stares looking their way, as well as out of earshot, but if they got any closer, he was sure they’d be discovered. He wasn’t sure if the teachers wanted to just walk through the crowd or not, but he hoped for his sake they’d be taking another entrance.

But after a few seconds of back and forth banter, he could contain himself anymore. “So are we going through there or what?”

Both turned to stare at him as if he’d grown an extra head, but Yamada spoke up for his husband, “Sho hates reporters, though I’m sure you could already tell-”

“And I have good reason!” Said man interrupted.

“Because of that,” Present Mic continued despite the quip, “we’ll be taking a side entrance inside.”

“Oh, good,” Midoriya huffed under his breath, though everyone around him caught the comment due to the silence in the air. But no one mentioned it, preferring to make their way to the side entrance instead. The doorway looked like a general staff entrance, it was no wonder why the reporters weren’t here as well.

Aizawa pulled out a seemingly normal looking key and slipped it into the lock. With little effort, he twisted the key into place until it clicked, pushing open the door with ease. They made their way to one of the upper floors and both teachers entered the 1-A classroom, even though Yamada’s room was further down the hall.

The boy plopped his bag down at his desk. It wasn’t particularly heavy, but it did feel nice to get off his shoulders. There was still well over an hour until class officially started, and the teen wasn’t sure what he would do with all the extra time. The past few days, he’d just sat at his desk and worked on adding details to his notebooks, but he really didn’t feel like doing that today. So instead, he strolled over to the window and pressed his gloves against the glass to get a close look.

“Wow, I didn’t realize how many reporters were actually out there,” he commented after having gotten a better look at the size of the crowd.

“They kind of look like ants from up here…”

Eraserhead took a few steps towards the window as well, but after only a glance, he sighed heavily and turned to the door. “I’m going to go see if I can clear them out before the students start arriving.”

“You need me to come help?” Yamada called after him.

But Aizawa just shook his head. “Those leeches will just freak out more if they see you, Zashi. They probably won’t know me anyway, so I’ll be fine.”

Present Mic’s shoulders slumped, “I guess that’s true.”

The tired teacher just nodded solemnly, but that didn’t stop his hasty exit of the classroom. Midoriya didn’t bother to glance back, just keeping his gaze focused on the small dots by the front entrance of the school. His ears were still trained on the other hero though, but not a sound was made.

“He is just standing by Eraserhead’s desk.” Gami seemingly read his thoughts in that moment, but he didn’t even nod to confirm the statement. The heavy silence in the classroom made it impossible for the boy to move a muscle, so he just kept staring at the window.

The emptiness must have finally got to the blond pro and he cleared his throat. The quiet teen’s head snapped around to look at him, and once the two made eye contact, the announcer decided now was the time to speak up.

“Do you mind me staying in here for a bit?” he asked, “I don’t really want to head down to my empty classroom just yet.”

Midoriya didn’t answer right away, instead taking a moment to think. He wasn’t really asking for his opinion, this was just another one of those formality things. He was supposed to say yes, whether or not he really wanted the hero to stay.

“If you do not want him to stay, then just say no.” The ghost seemed to realize the rut he was in, but his stomach still churned at the thought. All he had to say was yes, so why was it so difficult? Why was he hesitating? He had done this numerous times before without any problems, so why did this time feel so… different?

Yamada’s gaze moved away from the student during the awkward silence, turning towards the door instead. He should just leave. It was obvious the boy didn’t want him to stay if he was taking this long to answer. But then, why didn’t he just say no? The silence was arguably more disheartening than a simple decline, and easily more uncomfortable. Did he feel obligated to just go with whatever answer he was subconsciously pushing?

Actually… now that the hero thought about it, that would explain a lot of Midoriya’s behavior over the few days he'd spent with them. The teen always seemed to give the answer that he and Aizawa were looking for, practically agreeing with everything. Yamada wanted to slap himself. Of course his actions were submissive, he came from an abusive and neglectful household. The poor kid probably had to survive by going along with whatever the others around him wanted. The past few days, the pro made an effort to give Midoriya as many choices as possible to help him feel comfortable in his new environment, but that was probably making the problem worse. But it wasn’t like he could do the opposite and limit the kid’s choices either, so how was he going to fix this?

The blond dropped his head in his hands, feeling like he was right back at square one again. Maybe the best way to start fixing this mess was to just leave. That was what the teen seemed to want anyway, plus it would give himself a chance to think everything over. So he stood upright from his slouching position, startling the boy in the room, and took a few steps towards the door.

But right as he did, he picked up on some heavy sounding footsteps coming from down the hall. The only person that came to his mind was Cemetoss, but he usually didn’t come until later. He turned towards the reserved student and he too seemed to pick up on the loud tread. They shared a glance of confusion, before watching the color in the boy’s face completely melt away. His eyes widened to the size of baseballs and Present Mic noticed how his hands started to tremble slightly. He looked back towards the classroom doorway to find the cause of his reaction, unprepared for what he saw.

“Ah, young Midoriya, Yamada, what a surprise!”

A set of familiar, golden blond tufts peeked out from the size of the doorway, along with a chiseled and shadowed face. The man hobbled the rest of his hulking form to the center of the doorway so he could be seen in full.

Midoriya almost threw up at the sight of All Might. He never realized how the close proximity to the number one hero made him so uncomfortable. He could make out a low growl from the spirit next to him, but the echoing in his head drowned out most everything else.

“You need to be realistic.”

No, no, no. He had gotten past this already. He could become a hero. He was going to become a hero. He had made so much progress so far, he couldn’t let a chance encounter with All Might send him back to the starting line.

Present Mic had no idea why the teen behind him looked so sickly at the sight of All Might, so he treaded carefully. “You’re here early… All Might.”

The burly man laughed, “Indeed I am! Had a bit of extra time on my hands, so I figured I’d get here early for a change!”

The announcer chuckled uncomfortably, his peripheral vision allowing him to see Midoriya still looked afraid. The number one hero didn’t seem to realize anything was wrong, laughing loudly. All Might cleared his throat, wheezing slightly and brought his large hand out as a gesture.

“It’s lucky I caught you here, young Midoriya. I’ve been meaning to speak with you.” That made multiple stomachs in the room drop. “Would you head to the teacher’s lounge with me? I’m afraid it’s a private matter.”

Gami immediately interjected, “You do not have to. Just say no!”

But how was he supposed to say no to the number one hero? Sure he had done it that one time 10 months ago, but that was in a moment of unrestrained rage. Right now, he knew nothing but fear.

“You need to be realistic.”

He tried to breathe normally, but his thoughts were swirling around uncontrollably, like a hurricane. His erratic heartbeat was impossible to follow, or match with his gloves. He felt like throwing up and wheezing at the same time, but his pure panic only let him quietly hyperventilate.

“There just isn’t any other way you-”

Why did All Might want to talk with him? Was he going to punish him for his language during that encounter? Was he going to kick him out of U.A.? If anyone could do that, surely the number one hero could. All Might could definitely squash his hero career if he wanted to.

“You’re not going to be able to get anywhere when your records say quirkless. You’ll just be spinning in circles until you’ve lost all the energy to keep going.”

He had told All Might that he didn’t have a quirk that day, and while it wasn’t a lie, it was certainly dangerous information. What if that was what All Might wanted to talk about? The pro had seen him fight during the training exercise a few days ago, and he sure didn’t look quirkless. He had already spilled his secret to multiple heroes. Nezu, Aizawa, Yamada, and Recovery Girl all knew. He wouldn’t allow his secret to get out to anyone else, much less All Might of all people.

“I can see your potential, and that’s why I’m offering you my quirk. Hell, just the fact that it’s my quirk should have you excited.”

Was this about All Might’s quirk? He hadn’t told anyone about the little he figured out about it, not even the other heroes or teachers. He wasn’t going to take the chance of spilling to Aizawa or Yamada if they didn’t know about it, regardless of whether they worked with him. Did All Might think he told someone? Or was he going to use the fact that he lied about being quirkless as blackmail?

His heartbeat was pounding in his ears and his head felt light and sickly. The teen’s hands were cold and clammy under his gloves. He couldn’t move, he couldn't breathe. The air in his lungs felt suffocating. It had only been a few seconds, but the echoes in his head made it seem like forever. Why wouldn’t it stop? Was he still truly this reliant on All Might’s opinion, even after all this time?

Gami was shaking him lightly, calling out his name, but he didn’t register any of it. He just wanted someone to shut his head up. He just wanted it all to stop. The pain, the suffering, the misery. Why couldn’t he just stop breathing already? He wanted relief; he wanted release. Was that too much to ask?

“There just isn’t any other way you-”

“You’re not going to be able to get anywhere when your records say quirkless. You’ll just be spinning in circles until you’ve lost all the energy to keep going.”

“I can see your potential, and that’s why I’m offering you my quirk. Hell, just the fact that it’s my quirk should have you excited.”

“You need to be realistic.”

Realistic. Realistic. Realistic. Realistic. Realistic. Realistic. Realistic. Realistic. Realistic. Realistic. Realistic. Realistic. Realistic. Realistic. Realistic. Realistic. Realistic.

Yamada was not an idiot. He could see the obvious uncomfortableness all over Midoriya’s face. There was definitely some sort of tension between the two, and All Might either didn’t notice or didn’t care. Letting the teen talk with the number one hero alone would not end well, especially not with him in this state. But what was taking him so long to respond…?

Oh.

The teacher really wanted to slap himself. Maybe he was an idiot sometimes. He had just deduced that the boy felt obligated to just go with the flow. He was used to being submissive, not sticking up for himself and his well being. Just because his reaction was plain to see didn’t mean that his answer was that simple.

The rest of his thoughts hit like a pile of bricks. There was no way Midoriya would deny the number one hero, even if that was what he truly wanted. He just didn’t know any better. Present Mic had no idea what was the beef between the two parties, but he knew he needed to act fast and on instinct.

“Ah, about that…” The words just came spilling out, but he just trusted in his subconscious at this point. “The little listener is here early to go over some English stuff with me. So I’m afraid we’re both a bit tied up at the moment.”

All Might may be oblivious, but he certainly wasn’t dumb. It didn’t make sense for a teacher to be privately reviewing material this early into the school year. “But it’s barely the first week?”

But Yamada was a master of improv. “Ah, well the little listener is quite the hard worker. Who would I be to deny him?”

The number one hero seemed to take that response as valid and shrugged. “Alright then, I’ll leave you to it. I’ll catch young Midoriya some other time.”

With that, All Might walked away from the door, his footsteps slowly becoming more and more quiet. It wasn’t until the tread grew completely silent that the blond pro let out a sigh he didn’t know he was holding. He turned towards the student behind him, who only looked up in shock.

Midoriya couldn’t understand, no matter how hard he racked his brain. Why did the teacher lie? There was no reason for him to; he had no idea of any of the hostility between himself and All Might. He drilled himself further, but could come up with no good reason why. It just didn’t make sense.

But his mind was still in utter turmoil, whirling around violently. He couldn’t focus a single one of his many questions enough to phrase it verbally. But his mouth ached to say something to the man standing in front of him. He needed to know-

“Why?” It was small, timid, and somber sounding.

Yamada looked initially confused by the short question, but he shrugged slightly, as if he was puzzled. “Well, you didn’t seem all that eager to go, so I figured you didn’t want to.”

“I could have told him myself.” Even Midoriya knew that was a lie.

The hero didn’t want to belittle the teen by stating he couldn’t have, even if it was true, so he stepped over that point carefully. “I just figured I’d help out. Give you a good excuse so it wouldn’t look all that bad in front of All Might.”

They boy moved to rebuttal, but that’s when Gami stepped in. “At least now you do not have to talk with that pathetic excuse for a hero. Just leave it at that.”

The teen internally flinched at his mentor’s harsh words, but headed his advice. Sure he had a lot of questions, and not everything made sense, but Yamada had saved him from a potentially emotionally fatal encounter with the number one hero. That warranted at least some thanks, which could arguably start with silence.

But Present Mic couldn’t help his curiosity. “I have no idea what happened between you and All Might, and I’m not asking to know. I just wanted to tell you that if you ever want to talk about it, I’ll be there to listen.”

“He totally wants to know about it.” Gami couldn’t help but intervene with a sarcastic comment. Midoriya rolled his eyes dramatically, but didn’t deny the statement. Sometimes, he was really thankful no one could hear the ghost but himself.

Yamada still hadn’t heard a response from the boy in front of him, and took it as his cue to leave. “Well, I’ll get going. I’m sure I’ve got paperwork somewhere to catch up on.”

“NO!”

That outburst surprised everyone in the room, including the teen who exclaimed it. He grew red with embarrassment as his eyes turned downcast. He started fiddling with his gloves, which he determined a while back was his nervous tic. He noticed pieces by his fingertips felt threadbare. Did his scare with All Might really affect him that badly? He hadn’t even noticed he had unconsciously triggered his powers. He really needed to get a handle on the mess that was himself.

But now wasn’t really the time to be focusing on that, as the English teacher remained frozen on his way to the door. Gathering up any confidence he could muster, Midoriya ook his first step in repaying Yamada for his intervention. “I-I mean… y-you can stay. If you want, that is.”

Present Mic was genuinely surprised, but chose his question carefully, trying not to push any one answer. “Are you sure?”

The teen blinked. Was he sure? He really had no idea, but something in his gut told him this was right. Not that he had to let the hero stay, but that he should. But was that what he wanted? Even the spirit next to him stared patiently, wondering what he’d give to a question like that.

The answer was debatably more shocking than the outburst that started all this. Even Midoriya wasn’t quite sure if it was really him talking.

“Yeah, I’m sure.”

Yamada stayed for as long as he possibly could, but he did eventually have to leave. The two did enjoy some idle chatter during their time together, with Midoriya being the mediator for whenever Gami wanted to contribute. But the English teacher did leave the classroom, giving the teen a few minutes alone to himself. He didn’t really get to use his free time though, too busy setting himself up for class. Aizawa still hadn’t returned from when he left originally and the crowd seemed just as large as when he first observed. His classmates piled in gradually, each looking more disheveled than the last.

Iida was the first one in the classroom, besides Midoriya of course. He stumbled in a bit ungracefully, but caught himself on the doorframe. Once he caught sight of the reserved boy huddled by his desk, his attention focused and he power walked over, straightening his raven blue hair on the way.

“Ah… Iida,” he sighed a bit louder than usual since no one else was in the room, “How are you?”

“Midoriya!” he cried out upon reaching the desk, “I am well, though a bit frazzled. The number of reporters outside is completely obscene.”

That made the teen get out of his desk and walk towards the window. “Goodness, they’re really still out there.”

Iida looked puzzled. “Whatever do you mean?”

“Well, Aizawa-sensei went out there to try and calm the crowd, but I’m guessing it didn’t exactly go as planned…”

“Aizawa-sensei did help me get inside, but he is having difficulty controlling the catastrophe outside,” he clarified.

Midoriya hummed in confirmation and made his way back to his seat. The other boy though, seemed to have something else on his mind. He moved his hand towards the green haired teen, and he stopped and turned around at the gesture.

“The first two days of school, you came in at around average time, not too early, but certainly not late by any means,” Iida expressed, moving his hands around violently, “But these past few days you have been arriving here extremely early, even earlier than myself, which is saying something. I’m just wondering if there is a reason for the change in behavior.”

Startled, the boy looked over to his companion, who clearly wasn’t expecting that observation either. Any normal person might have been freaked out by the level of attention a declaration like that required, but Midoriya was also a person who liked to observe people closely. If anyone could understand, it would be him. His notebooks were definitely proof of that.

But still, he wasn’t quite sure how comfortable he was revealing his new home situation. Telling Iida the truth, that he was currently living with Aizawa and that was the reason he was coming into school early, didn’t seem like an option to him. Even though the raven haired boy had been nothing but kind to him since they had met, although a bit stiff, he just couldn’t bring himself to spill the beans.

“I just decided to try and get to school earlier,” he added in a bit of flattery in hopes it would get the strict student off his back, “You kind of inspired me to be more responsible, you know?”

Iida practically beamed, his eyes sparkling through his glasses. “I am so glad I could be a role model to such a successful student like yourself!”

Midoriya smiled and let out a small chuckle at the boy’s antics, surprisingly not a hint of uncomfortableness in his laugh. “Yeah, I got here a bit earlier than I should have this morning. Luckily, Aizawa-sensei let me in through the side entrance, so I didn’t have to go through the mob out by the front.”

“Well, that is quite convenient,” Iida replied, pushing up his glasses, “That does make me wonder how long it will take to disperse the crowd, if it gets dispersed at all, that is. I am a bit concerned that this could get out of hand.”

Gami jumped in suddenly, “I am rightfully worried as well. Those reporters seem relentless.”

“Well, they’re probably after updates on All Might,” the teen explained, relaying the info from Present Mic earlier, “but I’m sure Aizawa-sensei and the other heroes will take care of it eventually.”

But even he did not believe his own words, underlying doubt simmering over the surface of his voice.

The conversation died at that, with Iida making his way over to his desk to set himself up for the day. In, eventually, followed more students, each one a complete mess of ruffled hair and panty breath. The deadly duo grew more concerned at each entry, Midoriya for Eraserhead’s well being, Gami for his successor’s. But Bakugo was not among the students arriving for class, and the boy couldn’t help but feed his curiosity.

Uraraka rushed inside the classroom as one of the later students. The teen and his mentor both watched her struggle to her desk and throw her bag down into the seat. Her hair was disheveled and her face flushed red. She frantically waved her hand in front of her face, desperately attempting to cool herself off. Midoriya wanted to get out of his seat and ask her about how she was doing, but the churning in his stomach kept him grounded. Luckily for him, the brunette made her way over to him instead.

“Midori!” she cried, “Have you seen the number of people outside? It’s insane!”

“So I’ve heard,” he quipped back, “Are you alright?”

She laughed and combed her hair messily with her fingers, “Yeah, just a bit exhausted. Aizawa-sensei helped me get past them though.”

He hummed, “Yeah, I heard the same from Iida actually. How’s he doing? He’s been out there a while…”

Uraraka shrugged. “Aizawa-sensei looked more tired than anything really. I wouldn’t worry too much.”

That eased some of the odd churning in the boy’s gut, but he still looked towards the window in hopes he could spot his teacher’s figure. The ghost too floated over to sneak a glance, but his downcast head was more than enough for Midoriya to know he hadn’t spotted anyone.

“Worry about what?”

With a familiar sense of deja vu, both students turned to the now open door to see their homeroom teacher standing there, his hands stuffed in his pockets. The tired man walked inside casually, drawing silence from all corners of the classroom. But the shock of seeing the pro quickly faded when someone else moved from behind him.

This was the first time Bakugo had been in class since the training exercise incident, but his angry scowl still remained. The timid boy flinched instinctively and shied away his eyes towards the window. Uraraka, like much of the class, simply stared at the return of their volatile classmate.

Aizawa didn’t bother to pry out a response for his previous question. He also wasn’t blind to the stares coming at the student behind him. This was to be expected. This was what he expected. But he didn’t comment and moved tiredly towards his desk instead.

But when he watched Bakugo move towards his desk as well, right in front of Midoriya, he remembered the other thing he was supposed to do when he got back to the classroom.

“Midoriya,” he called out monotonously, opting to use the boy’s name rather than the nickname he had given him, “I’ve got a new seat for you.”

Originally, the hero wanted to move Bakugo elsewhere and keep Midoriya right where he was. He didn’t want the student to feel seemingly punished by having to change seats. But when he attempted to plan out the move last night, he realized that anywhere he moved the blond wouldn’t really work out. Most of the new spots were either still too close to the green haired teen or were too close to Iida or Uraraka.

He had talked to those other two students a day after the incident, and while neither seemed too traumatized by the event, Aizawa still didn’t feel comfortable moving Bakugo near either of them.

There were a few promising spots that the hero considered, but when he explored them more in depth, they were shot out of the sky quickly.

He could switch Bakugo and Aoyama. That would keep the blond far enough away from both parties, as well as in the front where he could see him. But there was a reason Aoyama was in the front of the classroom. The flamboyant boy was too dramatic to be moved even a row back. That was just a headache waiting to happen.

The only other spot he could think of was switching Bakugo and Yaoyorozu, which again would keep him away from both parties. But putting the angry teen in the back of the classroom would no doubt turn out to be a disaster. Plus Aizawa was observant, and he did notice the glares Bakugo would send to Todoroki. The blond seemed to have unnatural hostility towards the candy cane teen as well, not as much as towards Midoriya, but still enough to not want to put the two boys next to each other.

So the pro came to the conclusion to move Midoriya instead. But now the question was where?

There weren’t many options for that either. He didn’t want to put the boy near Uraraka or Iida, as he was concerned they’d just use the opportunity to talk or get distracted. Again, he could switch Midoriya and Aoyama, but that brought up the same problems as before. There was only one switch he could see working out…

“Yes s-sensei?” the boy called out hesitantly.

“Switch with Yaoyorozu.”

This made the most rational sense in his eyes. Now, Bakugo would be a good distance from both parties and still near the front of the class where Aizawa could keep an eye on him. Midoriya, Uraraka, and Iida were all decently separated so they wouldn’t distract each other. Plus, Yaoyorozu was a no nonsense type of student. If anyone could tolerate sitting behind the explosive blond, it would be her.

The move was quick. Yaoyorozu didn’t seem too bothered by it either, which was good. Both students packed up their things and swapped with haste, and Midoriya plopped himself down in the very back corner of the classroom.

Todoroki, who was seated directly adjacent to Yaoyorozu’s old spot, gave a stoic, but friendly head nod. The boy smiled back softly, hoping not to draw Aizawa’s attention. He noticed Gami making gestures in his peripheral, but bottled up his sarcastic comments for later.

The class didn’t get too distracted by the sudden move, and all the students piped down as their teacher placed his hands on his desk. All the attention was directed back to the front of the room, including Midoriya and Todoroki, whose heads snapped straight from looking at each other. Aizawa slapped a stack of papers hard onto the wood, startling anyone else whose attention may have been slipping.

“Good work with the battle training a few days ago,” the pro started, shaking around the papers in his hand, “I’ve looked over your grades and evaluations…”

Whispers started up at that, but the teacher quickly shushed them with a smack of the papers against the grain of his desk.

“Bakugo,” he began, debating his next words wisely. He didn’t want to beat a dead horse, especially since he and Nezu had already ridiculed him throughout the days before. But he also wanted to make it clear that the incident would not be swept under the rug. “Grow up already. Stop being petty and wasting your talent.”

All eyes turned to the blond, who merely growled under his breath. “Got it…”

“And Midoriya…”

He flinched at the announcement of his name, the eyes moving to him instead. Gami copied Bakugo’s reaction and growled, though protectively instead of cynically. The ghost stepped closer towards his successor’s desk, putting his hulking form between the boy and the hero. And though no one could really feel intimidated, the teen did feel more comfortable knowing someone had his back.

“Learn to be more self preserving. You can’t save anyone if you incapacitate yourself first.” The pro knew that was a bit harsh, but he was shaping future heroes here. After watching the replay of the training exercise with Midoriya, he saw scary similarities with that student and All Might, both reckless individuals who liked to put others before themselves. Normally comparing someone to All Might would be nothing but a complement, but Aizawa despised how the number one hero behaved. There were very few abilities that could allow one to keep up with a powerhouse like that, and though immortality was one, he did not want any of his students tearing themselves apart in the name of heroism. And being Midoriya’s homeroom teacher, as well as his temporary caretaker, he would do his best to squash the problem at its source.

“Y-yes Aizawa-sensei,” he replied submissively.

“You have to admit, he is not wrong…” Gami didn’t want to rub salt into the wound, but did want to reinforce the valid point the man was making. He cared enough about his successor to not want to see him in pieces every battle.

“Now, onto homeroom business,” Aizawa stated, moving on from the topic before, “This might seem a bit sudden, but today…”

The boy could practically see the wave of nervousness wash over the class, but couldn’t deny that the same wave washed over him. What would they be doing today? Another quirk test? More practical training? Risk of expulsion? The anticipation was eating away at his consciousness.

“You’ll pick a class president.”

And then the class absolutely exploded.

Cries from all around the room could be heard, each one proclaiming why they were the best fit for president. The complete outburst of chaos was so startling, Midoriya nearly fell backwards in his chair.

“I wanna be president!! Lemme do it!!”

“The position was made for me.”

“I’d like to do it!”

“I wanna be a leader!!”

“In my administration, girls will have to show 30 cm of thigh!!”

“Goodness, is this ‘class president’ role truly that important?” Gami wondered aloud.

“Well normally, the position entails just routine tasks, so nobody really wants to do it,” Midoriya explained at a decent volume, the rest of his class easily drowning him out, “But being class president here at U.A. would really be a position for a top hero in the making.”

“I see,” the ghost clarified, “but does that still typically require this much of an outburst?”

The teen simply shrugged, opting instead to sink himself down into his seat. As amazing of an opportunity to be class president at U.A. was, it definitely wasn’t something he could see himself doing. It was just too far into the spotlight for his confidence. He was fine with anyone else taking the position really. The only exception would be Bakugo, but even then, he could probably tolerate it with enough time.

“Quiet down everyone!!”

That voice was certainly not Aizawa’s, so everyone promptly shut up and looked around for its source. Eventually, all eyes fell on one familiar glasses wearing boy seated near the back.

“Leading the many is a task of heavy responsibility,” Iida started, pushing up his glasses dramatically, “but ambition does not equate to ability!”

He then stood up, startling the students around him. He placed his hands down roughly onto the surface of his desk, creating a dramatic bang. “This sacred office demands the trust of its constituents. If this is to be a democracy, then I ought to put forward the notion…”

The deathly duo eagerly awaited for the end of Iida’s declaration, along with the rest of the class. Surprisingly, despite his outward appearance, Aizawa too was listening in. He, unlike the others, had a fair idea where the student was going, but was more interested in how the rest of the class would receive the idea.

“That our true leader must be chosen by election!”

Gami cocked his head curiously. “An election? Is that how the position of class president is normally chosen?”

Now that the chaos was practically over, Midoriya couldn’t speak without being noticed, so he shook his hand side to side under his desk, indicating to his mentor that his statement was correct some of the times. The spirit nodded his head, but still continued to stare at the class of students in pure fascination. It hadn’t even occurred to the boy that Gami may never have seen a class president election. There were many things he often forgot Gami didn’t know about.

The two watched Asui turned around from her desk to face Iida, “But Iida, we haven’t known each other long enough to build trust.”

“Everyone will just vote for themselves!” Kirishima jumped in.

But the stiff boy didn’t seem fazed, “That is precisely why anyone who manages to earn multiple votes… will be the best suited individual to the job.”

That seemed to satisfy the majority of the students, so Iida turned to face Aizawa, who was currently stuffing himself into one of his sleeping bags. “Will you allow this sensei?”

The teacher merely shrugged, “I don’t care, just make it quick.”

And that was enough confirmation for the class to somehow gather up a box and enough slips of paper to start their vote. Iida directed it organizedly, having the students go up and submit their vote in an orderly fashion. Because of his move to the back, Midoriya was close to being last to vote and had plenty of time to think about it.

Todoroki went up before him, and both Midoriya and Gami watched him walk. He noticed the boy seemed a bit hesitant, but that was most likely because he’d never voted for a class president before. The teen drew a lot of similarities between Todoroki and his mentor, and often associated Gami’s experiences with what could potentially be his. So he assumed by his behavior that he had never voted for a class president before, but whether that was true or not needed a direct statement to be sure.

Eventually, it was his turn to get up and vote for a class president. His mentor followed close behind, interested to see how the process worked.

“Who are you planning on nominating?” he asked, hoping for another following explanation to why.

But Midoriya simply shot him a sly smirk, before waving off one of his fingers subtly in a dismissive tone. Gami still caught the action and huffed sarcastically, before heading back to the boy’s desk alone.

If his friend wanted privacy, then he would grant it, no matter his curiosity.

Eventually, all the kids had placed their votes. Iida took natural charge, walking up to grab the box and giving it a good shake. He then took off the lid and started taking out the individual slips of paper, marking the votes on the board behind him. The class waited in tense silence as the numbers were tallied up. And once Iida wrote the last tick mark on the board, everyone erupted.

“How did I get 2 votes?!” Midoriya exclaimed in nothing but disbelief. Gami shrugged nonchalantly, still not really understanding exactly how the process worked. Todoroki cocked his head in confusion next to him, but didn’t say a word.

“What the? Who the hell voted for Deku?!” Bakugo cried out in shock. He only got one vote, which he placed himself. Angrily, he stood up and clenched his fingers, steam practically leaving his ears.

“Guess we know it wasn’t you!” One black haired student with bulky elbows quipped back.

While his successor was internally freaking out, the ghost took a look around the classroom, observing the rest of the reactions.

Yaoyorozu was straightening out her clothes and making her way over to the front of the classroom. She, like Midoriya, received 2 votes, tying him for first place. Gami wondered how the position of class president was going to be decided now.

Iida was sulking at his desk, having only received one vote, which was unfortunately not enough to place. The other students were giving the strict boy weird looks, but otherwise said nothing. Though Gami was more interested in whether Iida voted for himself or someone voted for him instead.

Uraraka was whistling inconspicuously near the back of the classroom, her glance away from the currently yelling Bakugo. And while the spirit wasn’t accustomed to most modern societal practices, such as the concept of a class president, he could easily tell she had voted for Midoriya. It made him feel strangely honored that the brunette thought his successor was fit for the position.

“Well,” Aizawa called over the crowd, silencing everyone, “both Midoriya and Yaoyorozu tied for first place. How are you going to decide the class president now?”

The hero almost looked annoyed that the process was taking so long, but even still, he gestured for the green haired boy to come up from and join Yaoyorozu. Gami decided now was a good time to return back to the teen’s side, to at least show his support as he walked up to the front. The specter wished he could do more to ease his successor’s shaking though, as his nervousness was starting to spill over.

Once Midoriya stood next to the spiky, black haired girl, he tried to solve both the current dilemma and his own, “I-It’s no big deal, Yaoyorozu can just be-”

“Midoriya,” she interrupted him stiffly, “Did you vote for yourself?”

“N-no, but-” he tried to get his point across, but the student wouldn’t let him.

“Well, I did,” she revealed, “so you truly earned the spot of class president.”

“But-”

“Fine.” Aizawa figured enough time had been wasted, “So your president is Midoriya and your vice president is Yaoyorozu.”

“I look forward to working with you, Midoriya.” Yaoyorozu nodded professionally.

“S-same to… t-to you,” he replied back not as smoothly.

Aizawa sighed and let the two sit down, before attempting to get class started, but that didn’t mean he missed the way Midoriya dragged his feet back. After fostering the boy for a few days, he came to understand his submissive and shy behavior. So when he was selected to be the class president, especially after not voting for himself, the pro had mixed feelings. This was obviously not what the child wanted, but this was also a good opportunity for him to gain more confidence, which was essential for hero work. There was also the risk that the pressures of such a position could send any progress he made with the student spiraling.

He sighed again, heavier this time.

It was going to be a long day.

Lunch rolled around much quicker than Midoriya expected, but to be fair, he couldn’t really focus on the passing time due to his anxiety. The entire day, his hands shook uncontrollably and his skin was slick with sweat. He knew his mentor had picked up on his stress early, but couldn’t find the time to properly address it during one of his classes. Both were eager for lunch for related, yet different reasons.

He hadn’t planned on eating today, but his stress was starting to make him light headed, so he succumbed to his urges and bought a small bowl of rice. Gami wished his successor ate more each day, but the boy was used to fending for himself. His lunch funds still came from his own pocket and neither Aizawa nor Yamada had checked it out yet. The ghost could only hope that one of the two teachers got around to checking his lunch account and figured out he was still paying it himself. Then, just maybe, his friend would finally be able to eat substantially every day.

He sat down at his table alone, not waiting to start at his rice. It was only a matter of time before Uraraka and Iida joined him as they did every day. Gami was taking his time to weave between the crowded cafeteria, which had always seemed unusual considering the ghost could just pass through them. He made it to the table eventually and floated over to talk to his successor.

“Feeling any better?” the man asked with concern.

“A little,” he responded, shakily serving himself another portion of rice, “I just-”

“Hey Midori!” Uraraka called out, placing her tray down onto the table, “It’s finally lunch time, am I right?”

“O-oh hey Uraraka,” he responded startled. Had she heard him talking to Gami? By her statement, he assumed not. But still, he had to make sure. “Did you-”

“Midoriya,” Iida then unknowingly interrupted, “Congratulations on your position as class president!”

“T-thanks Iida.” He watched the blue haired boy drop his tray on the table as well, before sitting himself down. “I’m just worried about whether or not I can really be class president…”

Iida shoved a mouthful of rice into his mouth, “Midoriya, your grit and decisiveness in a pinch make you perfectly suited to lead us all. That’s why I voted for you.”

“W-what?” That made the teen do a double take, “You voted for me?”

“Indeed! One of your two votes was from myself.”

“Yeah, you totally got this Midori!” Uraraka jumped in on the pep talk, “Your plan during the training exercise was amazing and you predicted Bakugo to the smallest detail! I couldn’t think of anyone better to vote for than you!”

“You both really voted for me?” he asked rhetorically in surprise.

Both kids nodded, still eating. Iida though, let his curiosity get the best of him. “You admitted earlier that you did not vote for yourself. Who did you choose then, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“I am interested to know as well.”

Midoriya rolled his eyes sarcastically at his mentor, but turned to his friends with a more genuine look. “I actually voted for you, Iida.”

Said boy looked flabbergasted. “Me?”

“Yeah,” he confirmed, “You’re so responsible and such a great role model. You even organized the entire vote. I thought you of all people definitely deserved the spot.”

“That’s true,” Uraraka agreed, “Didn’t you want to be president, Iida? You’ve got the glasses and everything!”

Both Gami and his successor winced at the brunette’s bluntness, but Iida didn’t seem to mind.

“Again, ambition and suitability are different matters,” he explained, “I humbly made the choice I felt was correct.”

The more Iida talked, the more he reminded Midoriya of his mentor. His professional tone of voice and his respectful mannerisms made him question the specifics of Iida’s homelife. He wondered how the teen would react if he even met his ghostly companion. He would probably enjoy a conversation with him at the very least.

“The way you talk…” Uraraka seemed to be catching on. “Iida, are you a rich kid?!”

Again, the duo flinched at the statement. Iida too seemed a bit appalled by it, but distracted himself by shoving more rice into his mouth.

“I don’t like people to know… so I try to hide it…” he started, “But yes. I’m from a renowned hero family, and I am the second son.”

Both of the other students sparkled at the admission, growing more excited by the minute.

“Do you know of the turbo hero, Ingenium?”

That flipped a switch in Midoriya’s head, “Of course!! He employs 65 sidekicks at his office in Tokyo!! So you’re-”

“Yes!” he interrupted, “He is my brother! He leads the people with his unwavering adherence to rules and regulations. He's truly a beloved hero!!”

The boy stood up proudly, pushing his glasses up from his nose. He could feel the pride swell in his heart, making him want to show off his family heritage to the world, or at least to the two kids in front of him.

“It’s my admiration for my brother that has inspired my own desire to become a hero. Though I realize I am not yet ready to lead anyone.” He sat back down, sending a small smile in his friends’ direction. “As the superior candidate, it was right that the role should go to you, Midoriya.”

Both kids gaped in shock for a few moments. That last bit made the quiet teen feel especially bad about not wanting the role. Iida was just so enthusiastic about it, and he himself felt wrong for not feeling the same way. Uraraka was the first to break the temporary silence.

“I’ve never seen you smile before, Iida…” she commented.

“Eh?!” he cried back, “Is that so? I smile on occasion!!”

And just like that, the worries from before melted away. Seeing his two friends laugh so heartily made his soul feel warm, like he was standing next to a fireplace.

“I am truly glad they are your friends,” Gami whispered suddenly, as he watched the entire conversation play out, “I only wish you had met them sooner.”

“Me too,” he answered under his breath and the two chatted together, “but I’m just glad to know them now-”

All three, as well as the entirety of the cafeteria, jumped out of their skins at the sudden blaring of the school alarm system. Both Midoriya and Iida leapt out of their seats as Uraraka choked on her rice. Students started rushing to exit the cafeteria, pushing and shoving their way to get to the front. Desperate for direction, the group of friends plus one ghost listened for an announcement.

“Security level 3 has been broken. All students please evacuate in an orderly fashion.”

But that only raised more questions for the trio. Another student passed their table, so Iida called out to him, “What’s security level 3?”

“It means someone has infiltrated the building!!” he replied panicky, “Hasn’t happened in my three years. Anyway, hurry up and get out of here!!”

At that, both Uraraka and Iida rushed to follow the crowd, but something made Midoriya quickly pull them back by the ends of their uniforms, something he would have never done in the past. “Wait! If we just rush in, we’ll be completely trampled!!”

The two recovered from their momentary panic. Iida replied first, “Then what should we do?”

The teen knew he didn’t have much time to form a plan, so he looked around. The cafeteria was now completely empty, except for the crowd of kids piled by the exits. The walls around them were covered in huge windows that led directly outside.

“The windows!” he realized, “Maybe we can figure out what’s going on or who got inside!”

“Let’s split up then!” Iida added, “We can cover more of them!”

The three nodded and ran towards the windows to look. Midoriya took a second longer though, and addressed the ghost standing next to him.

“I assume you want me to search as well?”

The boy nodded, “Start by checking the perimeter of the school. If you find how they got inside, come right back.”

“Alright, I shall search urgently, but thoroughly,” he reassured, but left immediately through one of the windows.

Once the spirit disappeared, he ran over to a group of windows facing what he presumed was the back of the school. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, so he moved over to check the next set. His head darted around feverishly, searching for anything strange, like a suspicious person or a potential infiltration. But nothing stood out, and he was growing more concerned by the second.

“Over here!” Iida’s voice rang out over the panic from the hallways around them, “It’s just the media!”

Uraraka and Midoriya ran over quickly and looked in the direction he was pointing. Sure enough, it was just the large crowd of reporters from this morning, now somehow inside and trying to storm the school.

“We need to tell everyone,” Uraraka cried out, “They’re all panicking over nothing!”

“But how?” Iida looked towards the crowd, who were still fighting to escape, “The chaos will prevent any attention we try to grab!”

Midoriya’s gaze shot over to the crowd as well, eyes darted every which way. What should he do? They needed to stop the panic before someone was seriously injured, but his mind was coming up completely blank. This was his first action as class president, he couldn’t let Iida and Uraraka down so soon.

Then, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Gami floating back to him, coming from one of the packed hallways. He watched the ghost fly over the crowd to get to him.

But right at that moment, the spirit reached his successor, secretly out of breath, but would never let it show after the time the boy teased him. He hoped he hadn’t taken that long inspecting the cause of the break in, but he had discovered some riveting information he knew the teen would want to hear about.

“It is just the press,” the man explained exasperatedly, “They somehow broke through the front gate.”

The teen nodded subtly, trying not to draw attention to his weird movement in the already tense situation. His mind wandered back to seeing Gami fly over the crowd with ease. And that sparked an idea in the back of his head.

“Guys,” he said confidently, “I have a plan.”

Together, the three students made their way to the start of the chaotic crowd, arms linked to prevent their separation. Once at the start of the hallway and beginning to get sucked into the mass, Iida called out.

“Now Uraraka!” he cried, “Make me float!”

“On it!” she exclaimed, and slapped hands with him. Almost immediately, Iida began to lift off the ground. Midoriya and Uraraka then grabbed onto the bottom of his shoes and began guiding him above the ground, like a giant parade balloon. Anytime one of the two started to become separated, Iida would pull his legs together and draw his friend back towards him.

“Remember, we need to draw their attention!” the normally quiet teen yelled to his friends.

“There! The exit sign!” Iida shouted as it came into sight.

“Should we let go now?!” the brunette shrieked, barely clutching onto the tips of his shoe.

“No,” he called back, “Not yet. I need to be closer!”

As the three approached the exit sign, Midoriya could feel his grip on Iida slipping. He could barely hold on anymore. Gami, who was floating above him, tried pulling his successor closer, but wasn’t able to get a hold of him.

“Iida,” the boy cried out, “I can’t hold on much longer!”

“Now then!! Let me go!!”

The two did as they were told, and released Iida from their grasp. He allowed himself to float momentarily to roll up his uniform pants. Then, after pushing himself away from the wall, he activated his quirk.

“Engine boost!!”

Like a sonic jet, Iida whirled around on the air, a lot more uncontrollably than either he or Midoriya had anticipated. He twirled around like a spinning coin, so fast he couldn’t tell which way was forward. His eyes flew around disorientedly, trying to pick apart his surroundings.

“What’s Iida doing?!” Uraraka yelled to Midoriya, who she was reaching out for.

“I don’t think he can see which way to go!” he screamed back, “I think he’s too dizzy!!”

They linked arms after a few moments of struggling, now together, but still being mauled by the crowd. They both stretched for one of Iida’s legs, but neither could reach. Gami too tried to push the boy, but his arms simply phased right through.

Now, Midoriya was faced with a tough decision. He could summon his scythe to push Iida with, but that could turn dangerous in this volatile of a crowd. Plus his DT could act up and potentially hurt his friends. But if he did nothing, he along with Uraraka and countless others would be crushed. Two options currently were weighing in his head. Prioritizing his fears or prioritizing the safety of the students.

Well, when his mind put it that way, the choice was clear.

“Uraraka, I need my hands!” he ordered her, and she quickly let go, only to grab the back of his shirt.

He thrusted both hands as high above the crowd as he could, then summoning his weapon with a quick flex. In a hasty, but gentle motion, he snapped his blade to its flat side and bopped Iida with it, sending him in the direction of the exit sign. Once he saw the boy start to move, he allowed his shoulders drop and let his scythe disappear.

Iida tumbled around in the air before face planting into the wall. Recovering quickly, he grabbed the pipe overhead for stability. He needed to say something to catch everyone’s attention, something short and concise, straight to the point.

“EVERYTHING’S FINE!!”

The entire crowd of anxious kids stopped. The teen took that as a cue to keep going.

“It’s just the press!” he continued, “There’s nothing to panic about! We’re fine!!”

Feeling a bit of his older brother channeling within him, he added onto that, “This is U.A.!! Behave in a way befitting this great institution!!”

And just like that, students started to look around. The ones closest to the windows peered out and confirmed Iida’s statement. Once the panic died down, kids began making their way back to their classrooms, no longer fighting to escape the enclosed hallway. The space eventually emptied out, with only Midoriya, Uraraka, and a few other students remaining. Both kids rushed over to the entryway with the exit sign above it.

“Iida!” the brunette cried, “That was amazing!!”

“You did it!” Midoriya jumped in. “There’s no more panic!”

Iida didn’t bother moving from his spot on the wall, still gripping the pipe for dear life. “I don’t deserve all the credit. Without either of you two, there was no way I could have pulled this off.”

He turned to Uraraka, fixing his glasses with his free hand, “Your quirk was essential to this plan. Without being able to float above the crowd, I would have not been able to gather everyone’s attention. I would have been trampled instead.”

The girl flushed, not used to her non offensive quirk being praised in such a way. She rubbed a hand at the back of her head sheepishly. “A-ah thanks…”

“And you Midoriya,” he continued, “Your decisiveness and response time were incredible in the midst of the panic. And your plan to calm the crowd was remarkable, as well as your flexibility in the face of hindrance. You are truly the best choice for class president.”

The teen sighed. Back to that topic again. He really had no idea what he was going to do regarding his role. Would it be best to just suck it up and deal with it, or should he come clean to Iida and Uraraka in hopes they had another solution? He really didn’t think he was fit to be president, and that wasn’t even considering the fact he didn’t want to be.

“You shouldn’t sell yourself short Iida,” the green haired boy began, “After all, it was you who calmed everyone down. You sounded like a true leader up there.”

That wasn’t just formality talking either. Iida really did sound like a professional, calming the crowd in a matter of seconds. That was a trait Midoriya was certain he didn’t possess, one perfect for a role model. If only more people had seen the strict boy’s potential in leading others, then Iida would most definitely be the best candidate for class president.

That brought an idea to the forefront of his head, but he quickly pushed it aside when a U.A. staff member came along carrying a step ladder. Someone else must have alerted the staff that a student was stuck above an entryway, since neither Midoriya nor Uraraka had left to get anyone. Thankfully, the rescue response was quick and Iida was helped down by his two friends. The duo watched his shoulders relaxed as his feet touched the solid ground, though the stiff boy never addressed it. After a few moments of catching breath, the three made their way back to their classroom, hoping they weren’t late enough to spark Aizawa’s wrath.

Together, they held their breath as Iida pried open the giant door. It unfortunately made a loud groaning sound and the three students winced in conjunction. Once the door was completely opened, the three braced themselves for whatever was to come.

The trio were met with the enamored stares of the majority of their classmates. Kids started to get out of their chairs to make comments, but Aizawa quickly put a stop to that.

“Midoriya, the class has been waiting on you to start some presidential matters,” the blatant call out made the boy want to sink into the ground, “Everyone else sit down and stay quiet.”

The students that stood out of their seat quickly sat back down after that, and Uraraka and Iida scurried over to their own. Midoriya hurried to the front of the call where Yaoyorozu was waiting, and she debriefed him on the situation. Nodding solemnly, he turned towards the rest of the seated class, but hesitated to address them.

“Go ahead, class president.” The teen couldn’t tell if Yaoyorozu was trying to encourage him or just being sarcastic.

“Just take a deep breath. You can do this,” Gami whispered, which startled his successor since the ghost hadn’t said anything in a while.

Doing as his mentor told, he took a moment to regain his composure before speaking. “W-we’d like to choose the other student council members, but before that…”

He looked directly at Iida, before taking a second to organize his thoughts. To the others around him, it seemed like he was making a dramatic pause.

“I believe…” he started shakily, “that Iida is better suited to be class president.”

He watched said boy gasp in surprise, along with a good majority of the class, but he didn’t let that kill his confidence.

“You all saw how well he led everyone in that crisis earlier,” the boy explained, “I think he’s the correct choice for the job.”

Iida stood up in shock and tried to refute, but his classmates were faster.

“Ah! Sounds good!! Iida really showed his stuff back in the cafeteria!!” Kirishima agreed, “Not that I’ve anything against you, Midori!”

Another student with blond hair and a black zigzag streak jumped in. “He was like a beacon pointing to the emergency exit!”

The rest of the class joined the Iida praising bandwagon, and the strict boy felt a flush of pride flow through his bones. Though he turned to Aizawa as a last ditch effort to get Midoriya keep his position.

“Aizawa-sensei, will you allow this?” he asked with a hint of desperation underlying in his voice.

But the teacher didn’t care, since there was no way a pro like Eraserhead could miss a detail like that. He just continued to drink out of his juice pouch, whie giving the class an eerie glare. “Whatever, just get on with it…”

Well, with the teacher… semi approval, Iida couldn’t really refuse. As great as he believed Midoriya was suited for the role, he had passed it onto him. And an opportunity like that was one that should be accepted with open arms, not only for his own benefit, but to respect his friend.

“Very well,” Iida agreed, “I will accept the job then, but only if Midoriya remains on the council as secretary. Your brilliance is too great to lose!”

That in turn made the teen shy away in embarrassment, but luckily Gami was there to pick him up. “That seems like a fair offer to me, as well as a genuine compliment.”

Class president was something he could never do himself, but a student council member… maybe that was something he could. Besides, it was a great offer, something that made him feel prideful, an emotion he didn’t experience often.

“I can do that…” Midoriya confirmed, to which Iida smiled. Yaoyorozu, who had been observing the situation quietly at the front of the classroom, smiled softly as well. Surprisingly, she was glad to have both students as part of the class government, despite however she may have originally felt about the timid teen being class president. The other students followed suit at the feeling of celebration.

“You can do it, Emergency Exit Iida!!”

“Go Emergency Exit Iida!”

“Do your best!!”

The stiff boy chuckled and walked up to join Yaoyorozu in the front. Together, the two put up a strong, professional front for class 1-A. Iida latched his arms behind his back and puffed out his chest slightly, resembling a regal lion.

“Well, let’s get down to business,” he stated, calling the rest of the class to attention, “Now that Midoriya is our secretary, we’ll need two more students to step up for treasurer and historian.”

And at that, the class devolved into shouts and chaos, all trying to justify why they would be best for the position. Midoriya, now back in his seat, smiled at the antics around him. Gami approached his desk, wanting to say something about what he discovered earlier, but decided against it.

He wanted to let his successor enjoy the peace while it lasted.

It wasn’t long before the day ended and the students started leaving the classroom. All of the class roles had been filled, and Iida made one last announcement as president before letting everyone go. Like usual, he and Uraraka waited for Midoriya to pack up his things at his desk, as the boy took unreasonably long to put his items away.

“So, are we walking to the station together?” the brunette asked curiously.

At that Midoriya sighed and shook his head, “Sorry, but I have to stay back again.”

That was the third time he had used that excuse. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to walk with the duo, but ever since being put under Aizawa’s care, he didn’t need to go to the station anymore. The boy didn’t want to tell them the truth though, opting to keep it for himself. If he did, then they would start asking questions and prying into him, which was the exact opposite of what he wanted. Though, if he was going to keep this up, he would have to come up with better excuses…

“You've been doing that each day since school started,” Iida pointed out, “Is something wrong? If you do not wish to walk with us, that is fine as well…”

“No, no!” the teen immediately denied, “It’s not you guys. I… really don’t want to get into it, but just know that this isn’t really my choice. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to walk with you guys to the station…”

“That’s alright Midori!” Uraraka reassured, trying to lift the mood, “We’ll see you tomorrow then!”

Midoriya wanted to call after them, but the two left too quickly to hear. He reached out his hand in hopes to grab one of them by their uniform top, but his glove only gripped air. His shoulders fell solemnly, too sad to notice that he was the only one left in the classroom.

“They will understand when the time arrives,” Gami consoled gently.

“I don’t know if that time will ever come…” he speculated back.

Neither decided to keep the conversation going, but after only a few moments of silence, the ghost figured it was time to change the mood. “Would now be an opportune time to hear of all the discoveries I made earlier?”

“Oh?” he wondered, “There’s more?”

“Indeed,” the man explained, “I did not have time to divulge everything I witnessed outside.”

His successor made a gesture to keep going, “Do tell then…”

“The barrier to close off the front entrance of the school was destroyed completely, four layers and all,” he spilled, “Although, it does not look to be the work of an explosive.”

“Woah, that is concerning,” he mumbled, “I know reporters can get desperate, but it doesn’t make sense for one to pull something risky like that. U.A. could sue them for property damage at the very least…”

“I do not understand,” Gami inquired, “Are you implying that it was not a reporter who destroyed the barrier?”

“That’s exactly what I’m implying,” Midoriya clarified, growing increasingly worried, “Did you notice anything else?”

“Unfortunately not,” he replied, going back to a point he feared his successor missed, “Do you think the destruction of the barrier was the work of a quirk?”

“If it’s not from an explosive,” the teen continued, “then probably.”

He twiddled his fingers nervously, ignoring that fact that Aizawa was staring at him concerningly from his desk. This sounded bad, really bad. He was positive that a reporter would not have done the damage, but that only left one other plausible option.

It was some sort of villain that broke into the school, using the mass of reporters as cover.

But that brought up its own set of terrifying issues to think about. Why? What was the reason? Did they intend to retrieve something from the building, or was this just a statement? The more he thought about it, the more it unnerved him. The only way to ease his racing mind was to see it for himself, and draw his own conclusion.

Then, the classroom door opened suddenly, startling both Aizawa and Midoriya, who were sitting in silence the entire time. In popped Nezu, whose tail was swaying almost anxiously. He turned right to the pro, barely acknowledging the student at all.

“Aizawa-san,” the principal addressed, “We need you out by the front. The other teachers are already waiting.”

The hero nodded, standing up out of his chair to leave the classroom. It was obvious that the two along with the rest of the staff were going to inspect the front entrance. But when the boy realized he was going to be left behind, he stood up suddenly, his desk chair screeching violently against the floor.

“Wait!” he cried, “Can I come inspect the damage too?”

That comment made both heroes come to an ironically screeching halt.

“How did you know about the damage?” Aizawa’s eyes narrowed suspiciously. “Nezu said nothing about that.”

Realizing what his teacher was implying, he backtracked hard, “N-no, no. Gami told me about it just now. I had him investigate during the panic earlier.”

When neither Aizawa nor Nezu replied, he continued rambling, “He said the barrier was destroyed and I wanted to see for myself. I’m just concerned it’s not from a reporter and I just wanted to make sure for myself and all. I won’t bother you guys if you let me go…”

Figuring he should probably stop talking, he shut his mouth abruptly, opting to look at the ground rather than at any disapproving glares. He should have not said anything at all, considering he could probably have found a way to check out the entrance for himself. But no, he just had to go and ask for permission…

“Absolutely not,” Aizawa answered.

“Sure!” Nezu finished.

The conflict in statements brought Midoriya’s gaze up from the floor, just to see the two teachers staring at one another like they had each grown an extra head. Eraserhead was the first to speak though, beating out the rat by a few seconds.

“I am not allowing Midoriya to be a part of this investigation,” he stated strongly, “Despite whatever you may believe, he is still a student at this school, as well as a minor.”

“Nonsense, Aizawa-san,” Nezu responded as if what the pro said previously held no worth, “An extra pair of eyes never hurt anybody!”

“Nezu.” The teacher seemed to be reaching his limit. “May I continue to remind you that he is a student. The last thing we want to do is instill any more underlying fear after what happened earlier.”

“Ah, but he already knows. There’s no point in denying his curiosity if the secret has been spilled.”

Aizawa sighed, “You’re not going to take no for an answer, are you?”

“Nope!” The principal popped the “p” a bit too cheerfully.

Another loud sigh could be heard. “Fine then. Let’s go, Problem Child. We’re already late enough as is.”

There was a sudden, hushed “yes” from the corner of the classroom, but other than that, complete silence. The three exited the classroom together, with the two staff members in the front and Midoriya tagging behind. Well, Gami was there too, but it was easy for the teachers to forget about him periodically. Though, today was not one of those times.

“So Midoriya.” Nezu was certainly an unpredictable individual, and he often startled the deathly duo, whether it was through his actions or his words. “Did Gami say anything more about the barrier? After all, he was the only one to see it in the moment. We didn’t get to see it until after the reporters were cleared out.”

“Well, he said that all four layers of the barrier were completely destroyed.” The teen’s analytic mind kicked into gear. “The process must have been considerably fast since it was all destroyed by the time Gami got there, which was much earlier than any of the staff, going by your statement of course.”

“How did Gami know there were four layers to that barrier?” Aizawa questioned cynically.

The ghost looked confused.

“I… counted…”

Midoriya was puzzled too, but more by the hero’s relentlessness. “He says he counted…”

That made the pro huffed in annoyance, but he otherwise stayed quiet, allowing the boy to continue.

“Um… Gami did say that he didn’t think the damage was caused by an explosion,” he added.

“Hmmm,” Nezu hummed, “Interesting.”

It didn’t take much longer to reach the front exit of the school, and the three walked out as if they were going home. But instead, they stopped at the front entrance, where the rest of the main hero teachers were waiting. Midoriya could name them all by heart, which left him in an undisturbed state of awe.

Midnight.

Thirteen.

Recovery Girl.

Cementoss.

Ectoplasm.

Present Mic.

Vlad King.

Snipe.

Powerloader.

But the student was ultimately disturbed by one of the teachers.

“Nezu,” Cementoss stated roughly, “Why is there a student behind you?”

“I invited Midoriya to join us, Ishiyama-san,” he explained, “So no worries!”

The other teachers seemed a bit uncomfortable at the principal’s eagerness, but didn’t bother to say anything in return.

“Anyway,” Nezu continued, “I’m sure it is pretty obvious that no ordinary reporter could have done this…”

That comment turned the mood sour, and all of the adults, plus the one teen, turned to inspect the dismantled entryway. The boy peeked out from behind Aizawa to take a look as well.

The majestic front entrance Midoriya remembered so fondly from the entrance exam was practically completely destroyed. The four layers were visible, as well as piles of debris surrounding. The air smelled faintly of rusted metal, the same aroma one would expect old blood to radiate.

The rodent was the first to move forward towards the rubble, clasping his paws behind his back. “It’s obvious someone instigated this whole affair. The question is… did some evildoer manage to slip in, or do they intend to wage some greater war?”

Curious, the teen took another slow step in the direction of the entrance. The other teachers gasped in surprise, but no one made a move to stop him. Gami recognized the glint in his successor’s eyes.

“What is it, Izu? What have you noticed?”

Nezu too, seemed to pick up on the fact that the student’s mind was working into overdrive. He turned back around and smiled.

“S-sir,” he asked shakily, “M-may I?”

“Nezu!” Snipe cried, “You can’t be serious!”

“Go right ahead, Midoriya!” the principal answered, ignoring Snipe’s cry.

So the teen did. Walking right up to the destroyed barrier, he was careful not to put his hands on the torn metal. Inspecting the edge of the barrier, he quickly squatted down to feel the bits of dust and debris through the fabric of his gloves. He came to a startling conclusion.

“This was decayed…” he realized.

The adults around him didn’t say a word, that was, until Present Mic spoke up.

“How can you be so sure, little listener?” the blond questioned.

Midoriya turned back to look at the group. “It’s the exact same texture compared to the metal I decayed during the entrance exam. The lingering smell matches up and everything.”

Nezu hummed, jumping straight to the point, “Are you implying this is the work of a decay quirk, Midoriya?”

The boy turned back to the mangled barrier, his mind raced and yet drew up only one possible solution. Added with the information he had pieces together back in the classroom, and it painted a terrifying picture.

“That’s exactly what I’m implying.”

Chapter Text

The silence was eating away at any leftover confidence Midoriya had. No one had said a word since his declaration, not even Nezu, which quite frankly unnerved him. Had he said the wrong thing? Should he have just kept his mouth shut? His self doubt was invading his consciousness like an aggressive virus.

Nezu was aware that he should probably speak up to avoid any sort of angry opposing debates from his staff, as well as to reassure the boy’s dwindling confidence. But his morals had long been twisted and although he would never admit it, seeing the kind that had once enjoyed his suffering now squirming under him brought a sick sort of satisfaction to his brain.

The principal often fought with himself on this issue, especially now after he had met Midoriya. He couldn’t lie, he did enjoy toying with humans, but messing with the reserved student didn’t feel as good as messing with his staff. Maybe it was because the two had similar upbringings? He was able to deduce that pretty easily on the second day, where the teen was hospitalized after the training exercise. But that didn’t explain away all of his strange behavior. Unfortunately though, that was a thought to ponder another time, as he could tell his staff was beginning to grow quite restless.

“How could you possibly tell this was decayed based on such flimsy facts?” Vlad King questioned cynically, his arms crossed to buff up his figure.

The intimidation tactic was clearly working, as the boy slinked back, huddling in on himself. Gami growled protectively, taking a menacing step towards the blood hero, but thankfully, someone else intervened before the ghost could attempt to get physical.

“Actually,” Powerloader spoke up, surprising even Nezu, “That’s not a far off conclusion to draw.”

Vlad, along with the other heroes, quickly turned their attention to their fellow comrade. The hero took a few steps forward to inspect the metal himself, taking in a good whiff of the air. He stepped back and nodded almost immediately.

“Metal had a distinct smell due to its high potency of iron,” the support teacher explained, “You can actually determine an accurate guess of the method of destruction from the smell alone. I’m actually inclined to agree with the kid.”

The 1-B teacher huffed and prepared to refute the claim, but Nezu had enough of the pointless arguing.

“That was the exact conclusion I was reaching as well,” the rodent laughed eerily, “Though, I would say the dust surrounding the barrier is a large giveaway.”

That seemed to finally shut up the rest of the staff, and Midoriya breathed a heavy sigh of relief. His mentor, on the other hand, was not so easily fooled. His paranoia towards the other adults wasn’t dismissed as quickly as his successor’s, and for good reason.

Just like the old spirit expected, another baseless claim shot itself into the tense air.

“How do we know this kid didn’t have anything to do with the break in?” Snipe’s perceptive attention locked into an implication previously stated. “I mean, didn’t he just admit he has a decay quirk?”

Now it was Aizawa’s turn to be fed up with his colleagues. “For your information, Midoriya actually helped calm down the chaos from the break in. I watched the security cameras, and he’s accounted for the entire time. I’d appreciate it if you actually think before making such damaging claims about my student.”

The sudden burst of protectiveness startled said boy, and he turned towards his teacher in shock. He wasn’t the only one. Both Gami and Present Mic also snapped their heads to look at the tired pro. Nezu didn’t have to look, and simply smiled through the entire ordeal.

Not having four different heads, Aizawa chose to turn to Midoriya out of all the stares. “Yes Problem Child, I saw your entire stunt during the break in. You’re starting to make me think you’ve got a disorder that only lets you pick the most reckless of plans.”

The teen looked down bashfully at that, but could feel the tension start to wither from the air. Ignoring the jab as his friend, Gami silently thanked the hero for the extra support.

“Now that we’re done all this immature finger pointing, it’s best we hold an emergency staff meeting right now to gather up the rest of the pros,” Aizawa announced, quite frankly done with the childish banter.

“Ah, I was just about to suggest that, Aizawa-san,” Nezu piped in cheerily, “It is quite frightening how alike our minds work.”

The teacher rolled his eyes, but didn’t bother to quip back. Midoriya took the opportunity to leave the spotlight of the broken barrier and stand closer to his homeroom teacher.

“Well, that is the smartest course of action,” Cementoss agreed, and the rest of the staff follow suit. After all, Nezu was the principal, and no one dared to get on his sadistic side.

“Wonderful!” the rodent exclaimed, “I’ll meet you all in conference room A then. Come along now Midoriya.”

And that sent the pros right back on the apprehensive path they were just on at harrowing speed.

“Wait, you’re letting this kid sit in on the meeting?” Snipe shot (lol sorry I had to).

“As much as I’m for the integration of youth,” Midnight started huskily, “is this really a good idea Nezu?”

But the principal had already started whisking the boy away from the barrier, “Quite surely! We’ll see you all there!”

Aizawa rushed off after the two, muttering curses under his breath concerning the rodent stealing his student. Nezu was moving at a surprising speed, almost as if he was eager to remove himself from the crowd of pros, while Midoriya was simply doing his best to match pace, like a lost puppy. Unbeknownst to him, Gami was floating beside the two, taking occasional glances back at the hero as well as the rest of the crowd to make sure they wouldn’t try anything.

The teen shuffled nervously behind the principal, eyes downcast and hands fumbling. As much as he wanted to sit in on the meeting, he had to agree with Midnight. Was it really a good idea for him to be there? Especially since some of the pros knew his secret and some didn't. What if there was a slip up? It was risky enough for four of the staff to know, he couldn’t imagine what would happen if the entire staff did. Maybe it was for the best he sat this one out…

“N-nezu sir…” he began under his breath once they were away from prying ears, “I don’t have to go if it’ll cause problems…”

“Nonsense!” Nezu exclaimed, “It would be most beneficial if you attended!”

Aizawa narrowed his eyes at that claim, inclining to agree with his student. But he wasn’t able to speak as the albino rodent cut him off, seemingly aware he was about to contradict him.

“After all,” he continued, “Gami’s account of the situation is crucial since he arrived at the barrier first. And your insight into the damage deserves to be pointed out for safety reasons.”

“But can’t you just relay that to the rest of the staff yourself?” the boy asked, “And you aren’t going to tell them about Gami, are you?!”

“No, no,” the principal laughed, “Keeping your secret under wraps is a priority to me, so I’ll just keep his account as vague as possible.”
Nezu lifted a paw to his chin, pretending to contemplate a thought even though he was currently strolling down the hall. Midoriya figured it was just for dramatic effect, but combined with the added pause he took, it left an eerie silence in the hallway only accompanied by the echoing of footsteps.

“But concerning your attendance at the meeting, I feel it is necessary for you to come. Considering what I just observed outside and what Aizawa has vouched for, your analytics may prove useful.”

“Vouched?” the student wondered, “What do you mean, ‘vouched’?”

“I lent him the notebook you let me borrow,” Aizawa butted in to clarify, “I figured he’d enjoy flipping through it.”

Something akin to dwelled anger sparked deep within his soul at that, but he swallowed it back down for his own sake. He was quite protective when it came to his quirk analysis notebooks, and hearing his homeroom teacher admit to handing one of them around so nonchalantly made him feel fury. But this was Nezu they were talking about, and if his notes were safe anywhere, the paws of U.A.’s principal was a decent place to start.

“And indeed I did!” he assured, “Quite impressive notes for your age I must say! And that brings me to my next point…”

Both the ragged pro and the reserved teen turned their attention towards the rodent leading them, waiting on a response to satisfy their curiosity.

Nezu smiled thoughtfully. “If someone were to say they had notes of this scale written by a teen your age, most would simply ignore it, as Aizawa-san likely did…”

Said teacher grumbled and looked away with a scowl.

“It’s a fatal human flaw, to characterize capability by maturity. Many would look away from an achievement like this simply because they believe age defines ability. That is the exact reason I insist you attend this meeting. I refuse to let your intelligence go to waste on the sole prospect of your status as a minor. It truly is illogical.”

The raven haired man huffed, “When you put it that way, it makes rational sense, but I’m more concerned about a student sitting in on a meeting on how their school was broken into.”

“Ah,” Nezu sighed and waved a paw, “well risks must be taken. Sacrifices must be made.”

Aizawa looked as if he was going to shoot a response back, but it was at that exact moment that the three reached the entrance to the conference room. The rodent pushed open the double doors, indeed revealing that they were the first ones to arrive. Nezu strolled right on inside, and the other teacher gestured for Midoriya to enter as well. He dared not to disobey and hesitantly took a step forward, wondering where exactly he should sit, if at all.

“Is this truly a wise decision?” Gami finally spoke after a long period of absence.

“Well…” his successor whispered, “It’s too late now.”

There were plenty of extra chairs in conference room A, or at least that was what Nezu had said, so Midoriya didn’t feel too bad sitting down and getting comfortable.

The principal had chosen his seat for him, so that took away the added stress of potentially taking a seat that didn’t belong to him. The teen sat directly between Nezu and Aizawa, with his back facing the door, giving him ample access to get out of the room if necessary. He knew this was an intentional choice, but that didn’t mean he understood the reasons behind it. He didn’t bother questioning his mentor about the issue, as it seemed quite frankly pointless.

Aizawa was seated next to him, phone in one hand, and a stack of papers in the other. He insouciantly scrolled through his device, while flicking the corners of the stack rhythmically. Just out of the corner of his eye, the boy could tell the papers were long and tedious, most likely office paperwork. He couldn’t see what his teacher was scrolling through without turning his head completely, and there was no way he was going to do that. The repetitive flicking of the man’s thumb made him want to pull out his own phone, but he was afraid of making any sort of movement.

The door behind him suddenly flew open with a loud bang, and he instinctively flinched hard in his swivel chair, but fought his subconscious to keep still. With each entrance, the flinching grew less and less apparent until it was almost invisible to even those looking for it. But that didn’t erase the automatic fear response the slams triggered in his head, nor did it tone them down. Each bang felt like flooring the gas in an unmoving car, sudden and terrifying. Every time he heard one, his train of thought immediately went to reminding himself that no one was trying to break down his door and hurt him. That’s right. He was safe.

So why didn’t he feel safe?

“Wonderful!” Nezu cried all of a sudden from the seat to his right, “I think that’s everyone!”

The room had largely filled up since he last observed. All of the heroes from outside were here in attendance, but the room had some new additions, mainly being Hound Dog and Lunch Rush. But there was one key component missing from this heroic chaos.

“We’re still missing All Might,” Thirteen remarked from a few seats away.

A bit of a collective grumble could be heard around the table, but that didn’t dismiss the fact that the pro was correct. The number one hero was nowhere to be seen…

“Knowing Yagi,” Recovery Girl sighed, “he’s probably out doing hero work when he should be taking it easy.”

That made a few heads shake in disappointment, but the matter soon fell into oblivion. At least, that was, until Snipe picked it back up again, along with another issue thought to be left at the broken barrier.

“Wait, we can’t be saying anything about All Might,” the hero realized, “At least, not while this kid is still around.”

And so the fear of having all eyes on him became much more than a simple fear. The slightly oversized swivel chair already made Midoriya feel out of place, but now, he was debating whether to make a dash of the exit behind him.

“I’ll admit,” Nezu began, drawing the attention to him instead, “that did slip my mind. Hopefully that isn’t too much of a problem for you, Midoriya.”

“Wha-” Snipe cried, followed by other gasps of surprise at the sadistic rodent’s response.

“I-it’s not, sir,” he replied, opting to ignore the rest of the room in favor of the principal seated next to him. But at the same time, he couldn’t help but wish Nezu kicked him out of the meeting already. That, or just the prospect of his existence blissfully ending right there on the spot. Whichever came first.

But unfortunately for him, neither of those two options presented themselves. Instead, Nezu reached his grubby paws for the third option the teen was desperately trying to avoid, pulling it into the limelight as if he were discovering a new species of animal.

“Oh?” he pondered, “What do you know about All Might then?”

That focused all the attention back onto him, which was the exact opposite of what he wanted. Bringing this topic back up wasn't the only thing starting to resurface, but lying straight to the faces of a dozen pro heroes just wasn’t going to cut it. So he swallowed his rising bile and trauma and decided to just get on with it.

“I can admit.” The words began for him thankfully, because if he relied on his shaky confidence, they’d be here all day. “I didn’t know All Might's real name until just now. But I do know about his time limit as well as his other form.”

The teen debated on whether to add his knowledge of the hero’s strange quirk, but none of that had been truly confirmed to him, so it was best to leave that information to himself.

“And how exactly do you know this sensitive information?” Cementoss asked carefully, as if he were walking on eggshells. And though no one else had said a word, all of the staff were eagerly awaiting a response, especially Aizawa and Nezu. Although, the former was waiting with more suspicion, while the other with curiosity.

“He told me, when we met under an overpass about a year ago.”

The nonchalant answer nearly made every adult in the room deadpan. Aizawa resisted the urge to slam his head into the table in front of him, or better yet, his stack of paperwork.

“I don’t know whether to feel relieved or disappointed,” the ragged man sighed as his shoulders dropped in displeasure.

“I’m going to smack that boy the next time I see him,” Recovery Girl added, “Maybe that’ll fix his brain for good this time.”

Trying to stray away from the comments of utter disbelief on the part of the number one hero, Midnight pointed her flogger style whip right at Midoriya.

“You must be a fan of the big man,” she started, “Can’t say I blame yo-”

“I’m not.”

The simple, yet punctuated answer made the R rated hero, as well as nearly everyone else, do a double take to process it, all caught off guard by how forceful it came across. The only one not fully surprised was Present Mic, but that was only because he got to witness the interaction between the student and the number one hero earlier. And while he wasn’t sure why, he could tell there was a hostile relationship between the two, or at least on Midoriya’s side.

Nezu picked up on the hostility as well, but he chose to save that bit of information for analysis later. The more he learned about the boy sitting next to him, the more interested he became. But now was not the time to pick apart the student like he was an 8th grade biology project. He’d have plenty of time to do that later.

“Now, now,” the principal reined in his staff, “we’ll have plenty of time for idle chatter later. But we’ve got more important issues to discuss at the moment.”

Hound Dog growled, “Lunch Rush and I only know the bare details. You’ll need to fill us in.”

“Not a problem!” the rodent exclaimed with an inappropriate amount of cheer for the situation, “A recap of the situation would be beneficial to us all! Aizawa, would you care to start us off?”

The pro sighed, but picked up his stack of paperwork, lightly tapping the stack against the table. He then laid the stack back down where it just was, making Gami shift in confusion at the redundant act.

“At approximately 12:30 this afternoon, the front entrance barrier activated earlier was incapacitaed, allowing a mob of reporters to infiltrate the school grounds.” With every word his homeroom teacher spoke, the severity of the situation was brought back to him like a slap in the face. “The exact method of infiltration was unknown at first, but was later determined to be disintegration.”

Nezu cut in there. “Thanks to Midoriya and Maijima-san’s accounts, we can narrow down that field to look for a decay quirk in particular.”

“Wait,” Hound Dog interrupted, but with a curious tone of voice, “I understand Power Loader, but I don’t understand how this kid fits in.”

The teen was starting to get sick of being referred to as “this kid”…

“Midoriya has a bit of a complex quirk,” the principal jumped in to explain before his staff could witch hunt the boy again, “But it does allow him to decay objects at a touch. That’s how he was able to identify the cause of entry so quickly.”

“And before anyone says anything.” Aizawa took his turn to interrupt. “It has been confirmed that Midoriya had nothing to do with this break in. He is accounted for on video surveillance for the entire time the infiltration took place.”

Hound Dog didn’t seem to expect the assertive defense for the boy sitting at the other side of the table, but couldn’t argue with any of those claims, not that he particularly wanted to. Besides, he trusted Nezu and Aizawa, so if those two vouched for the student, he had no problem extending his trust to him as well.

“Anyway,” Recovery Girl stated sharply, bringing everyone back to the topic at hand, “What is our next course of action considering we have no video evidence of who exactly initiated the barrier’s destruction?”

“Simple,” Aizawa replied without hesitation, “I’ll get Tsukauchi to run decay and disintegration quirks through our villain database. Those kinds of quirks aren’t common, so if we get a hit, it’s a great place to start.”

“But what if this is a first time offender?” Vlad King pointed out, “Or a villain who hasn't been registered in the database yet?”

“Like I said,” the underground hero reiterated, “It’s a great place to start. Considering how little we know about this villain, we need to explore every lead available to us.”

“Are we sure this was the work of a villain, though?” Snipe backtracked, “I mean, couldn’t a reporter have done this for a scoop?”

“Highly unlikely,” Nezu chimed in, “All reporters must submit their official quirk records to their networking agency when applying for a position. If a reporter truly did this, it would be fairly easy to track the damage back to them, which they would understand as well. Knowing the risk involved when messing with U.A., no smart reporter would jeopardize their career for a story they may not even get.”

“I can see where you’re coming from, Snipe,” Aizawa reassured, “We do have video evidence of all the reporters crowded by the barrier, so I can have Tsukauchi run all of their quirk records easily. But like Nezu said, it’s highly unlikely we’ll find our instigator among them.”

The room devolved into an eerie silence after that, each individual pondering something different than the next. All of the previous talk was mere recap for Midoriya though, so he spent his energy recounting everything he could deduce himself, hoping to find a breakthrough there.

The “who” is mysterious, but simple enough. The instigator was an unknown villain, unlikely to have any affiliation with any of the reporters or networking agencies present. The assailant is cunning and opportunistic, using the spontaneous development of the crowd as cover to infiltrate the school without being seen.

The “what” is self explanatory as well. The front entrance barrier was destroyed with surprising speed, at least according to Gami’s account. All four layers were completely disintegrated, leading me to believe a decay quirk was the cause. The mob of reporters shielded the assailant from view of the cameras though, so I can’t be completely sure.

“Where” is quite obvious. The break in occurred at the front entrance of the school, which was being crowded by reporters since early this morning. That fact is easy enough to deduce.

The “when” is clear thanks to Aizawa-sensei’s account of the camera feed. The barrier was destroyed at around 12:30 this afternoon, though the villain was likely at the barrier before this initial time, staking out the scene to confirm the risk and reward of the opportunity.

But the most debatable aspect of this crime is why? What was the reason behind this attack? Was it to steal something from the school, or an intentional declaration of war? The crime was opportunistic, so it’s likely that-

“Midoriya?” Nezu’s voice suddenly echoed around his head.

“Ah!” he stumbled out, nearly slamming into the table in shock. The embarrassment quickly set in, so he fumbled around with his words while desperately trying to get the attention off him. “I-I’m sorry sir. I was j-just lost in thought…”

“I could tell.” the principal sounded strangely intrigued, pressing for more. “Anything of interest?”

Nezu was asking him to share his thoughts? His assumptions were just that, assumptions. He was lucky enough to be sitting in on a meeting of this sensitivity, there was truly no need for him to contribute as well. But the principal had asked him a question, and he felt obligated to respond as truthfully as possible, whether or not he felt that truth was important. Nezu had been kind enough to keep his secret as well as allow him to continue learning here at U.A. It was only fair that he did his best to assist in return. That was the formality after all.

“I-I was just… trying to piece together the intent behind the break in…” Midoriya muttered just loud enough for everyone to hear.

“Ah,” the rodent huffed, “That does bring up a good point. What exactly was the reason behind this crime?”

The rhetorical question brought only another wave of silence and thought among the pros. Sure, Nezu had his own ideas, but he very much wanted to hear the opinions of others before implanting his own into everyone’s heads. And by others, he was more interested in one person in particular.

“How about it Midoriya? What do you think on the matter?”

“M-me?!” the boy cried out in a mix of bewilderment and shock. The rest of the heroes seemed to agree.

“What? Nezu, you can’t be serious,” Vlad Kind echoed the thoughts of everyone in the room.

But he just smiled menacingly, “Oh, I quite am!”

Gami, who had been quietly listening in on the meeting since the start, now moved to step in. “Just take a deep breath in and collect your thoughts. If you panic here, you will lose any sort of respect you had among these adults.”

Following his mentor’s instructions, he closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, feeling the pressure of his chest expanding. He listened intently on the sound of the air leaving his nose, focusing his mind on the hissing noise. He opened his eyes after completing the breath, his panic now just simmering in the background.

“Well, I’m torn between two reasons,” he started carefully, trying not to come off imposing, “Either the break in was to take something from the school’s main building, or to be seen as a statement against heroism.”

That made Nezu smile even wider than before, something the boy didn’t think was possible. The response made logical sense, and that was what surprised most of the room. Many of the heroes didn’t think the teen wouldn’t contribute much to the meeting, but his statement was the start to proving otherwise.

“But what about an attack?” Thirteen added, “What if the purpose of the break in was to ambush a hero? All Might maybe?”

“Unlikely.” That was the moment Midoriya’s brain hit the autopilot, no longer concerned about speaking to a group of pro heroes. “If the assailant’s true goal was to attack a hero, they would have made their presence known. It was no mistake that the intruder was not caught on camera, that was intentional. The fact that no one saw the intruder further confirms to me that this was an infiltration, not an ambush.”

“Plus there are no staff members or students currently unaccounted for.” Present Mic began to see the teen’s point. “And no injuries linked to an attack were reported. If the villain’s plan was to attack someone but failed, we would have likely caught them. I don’t think the intruder’s intent was to ambush anyone, neither hero nor student.”

“I agree with that wholeheartedly,” Nezu confirmed, “Using that exact thought process, I was able to rule out the idea of a planned or spontaneous ambush.”

“Ah!” Midoriya interjected right after hearing that, “That reminds me of something I was thinking about before.”

The boy raised a hand up to his chin, pressing a pointer finger to his cheek to further separate his thoughts before speaking. He could feel shivers run down his spine, along with the rising feeling of dread, but he pushed them back down. He still had more to say. He still had to be useful.

“The crowd of reporters obviously wasn’t planned at all. It was a spontaneous development, which makes planning around it a challenge. That fact increases the likelihood of this being a statement attack rather than an infiltration to take something, though, that doesn’t take the idea of the intruder stealing something off the table.”

“So you’re saying due to the nature of the situation,” Aizawa clarified, “it would be easier to pull off a scare tactic than a planned infiltration with a set goal.”

The teen nodded, but his hand twitched violently, almost breaking his confidence, “Exactly, though if the assailant had preplanned what they would do upon breaking into the school, it's still possible their motive was to steal something. They could have just used the opportunity the mob created to jumpstart their plan.”

“Interesting!” Nezu hummed, “Reviewing all of our video feed is a must then! And I need all files to be checked and accounted for. If this villain did manage to take something from under our noses, we need to figure out exactly what is missing, no matter the sensitivity.”

Midoriya opened his mouth to say more, but finally found his train of thought empty. In fact, it was more derailing than anything else. His anxiety and paranoia had finally caught up to him. After all, he couldn’t run on autopilot forever, as much as he wanted to.

He hoped. He desperately hoped this would conclude the meeting, because he had nothing left. That was all of the analysis he had time to complete, and now that it was out, he had no more information, no more use. What if someone had another question? Would Nezu be upset with him? Would the rest of the heroes in the room retake their minimal respect for him?

Hearing his breathing worsen, he tried to calm himself to no avail. He couldn’t break down here, that would screw up everything. Everyone would get upset with him. Everyone would be disappointed in him. He had to hold it in. He pushed against the hurricane forming in his stomach, hopelessly trying to fight it from surfacing.

Gami was good at picking up his successor's moods. Albeit not as good as he wanted to be, but decent enough. So when his gaze picked up on the slight twitches coming from the boy’s fingers, he knew something was terribly wrong.

“Just ask to leave. I am sure they will allow you to.”

I can’t. I can’t.

The teen’s head shook subtly, so slightly one would miss it if they weren’t looking. His eyelids fluttered as his breaths turned from quiet and pained to raspy and uneven. It was something he found himself resorting to during these episodes: quiet hyperventilating. His fingers now curled, looking for something to clutch around, but he wouldn’t dare bring them to his shirt and risk someone noticing his current panic. He wanted to clasp his hands together and pick at the fibers of his gloves like he always did, but his blood felt like ice, freezing all possible movement. So he did the next best thing and clutched his pants for dear life.

Present Mic had exceptional hearing, though, not for the reason you’d expect. His quirk did not give him super hearing, it actually had the opposite effect. Years of listening to the damaging volumes of his own screams left the hero suffering from hearing loss in both ears. Such a detriment could develop into an occupational hazard, so he quickly invested in hearing aids. They were small and unnoticeable unless one was searching for them, and he often had them cranked up a few settings so he could eavesdrop on the staff and students. Was it wrong and invasive? Maybe. But the pro did enjoy some good gossip, and there was only so much he could get from Kayama.

So when quiet gasps and wheezes reached his ears from two seats over, needless to say he was quite concerned.

The sad part about it was he knew exactly who they were originating from. It nearly made him sick to think his mind registered those noises as familiar. But the blond couldn’t lie to himself, or attempt to trick his brain.

He just kept telling the guilt to go away as he looked over to Midoriya in worry.

The hero was surprised that Aizawa, who was next to the teen, didn’t seem to hear a thing. How high were his hearing aids turned up? How hushed were the noises?

When Nezu made eye contact with him, he felt slightly relieved in the sense that he wasn’t crazy or hearing things. The principal seemed to acknowledge the situation currently playing out, and gave a small nod as reassurance. He watched the mammal turn his attention back towards the faintly shaking boy, all while the rest of the room didn’t even notice, too wrapped up in their conversations to care.

Still, Yamada moved to step out of his chair and approach the student, but true to his implied actions, Nezu beat him to the punch.

“Well,” he began, the conversations around him stopping to give their attention, “I trust you all will investigate into the matters revealed at this meeting. You all are free to remain here and continue discussing the incident, however, I will be taking a break with Midoriya.”

“What?” came from around the room in a chorus of shared confusion. Even Aizawa, who was squished between the green haired boy and his husband, wasn’t sure if he completely registered what was being said.

“I won’t repeat myself.” Nezu’s words cut through the room like a scorching knife, sharp and unyielding. “Come Midoriya, let’s get going.”

Nearly all of the teachers cried out in surprise when the student sitting with them stood up robotically, without a moment of hesitation. As if he were on a charted course, Midoriya turned slowly and followed the principal out of the conference room, all without saying a word in response. Aizawa, who had seen a lot of eerie shit while out patrolling or engaging in nighttime fights, still seemed relatively spooked by the display, though he would never admit it if asked. But no one argued against the rodent, or cried out for the boy to stay.

As for Midoriya, his foggy head was just happy to finally receive something he could process without failure…

A command.

Nothing truly registered through Midoriya’s eyes. It was all just a mess of shapes and colors, all smashed together like they were trapped in a blender. His soft footsteps didn’t even make it from his ears to his brain. The echoing of his thumping heartbeat bounced around in his skull.

It was kind of funny, in an oddly depressing way, that he was back on autopilot again. His warped sense of comfort felt most at home when he wasn’t thinking. And that’s exactly what autopilot was for him: not thinking. He just let his instincts take over and lead him wherever. But just because he felt more comfortable like this, didn’t mean he enjoyed acting this way. It was a choice between comfort and freedom, and sometimes he found himself hating both options.

So he didn’t realize he was currently sitting on the couch in Nezu office until the principal asked him something. Of course, the comment never actually made it through his thought process, so the boy cocked his head slightly, hoping that would be enough for Nezu to repeat himself.

“I was wondering if you would care for some tea?” the mammal smiled while standing by a small table against the wall.

His mind was still hazy and he didn’t trust the words to come clearly out of his mouth, so the teen just nodded. As more seconds passed, his consciousness grew less muddy and he took the time to properly observe his surroundings.

The student was curled into the armrest of the couch, though in a more formal way than he was expecting. Both of his feet were still planted firmly on the floor with his legs pressed together. His upper body was squished tightly into the side of the couch, almost as if he was trying to take up as little room as possible. His balled up hands clutched desperately at his lap, wringing out his pants like a towel. He could feel slight tremors run down his spine and to the tips of his fingers.

Nezu walked over to the coffee table by the couch, two glasses in paw. He placed both cups on said table, pushing one closer to where Midoriya sat. He watched the wispy steam swirl into the air, not making a move to grab his drink.

“I hope you enjoy it.” The principal attempted at light hearted conversation. “Chamomile tea is known to reduce stress and induce the feeling of relaxation.”

Again, not trusting his speech, the boy just nodded. It took him a few moments to work up the courage to grab his cup, but the minute its warmth touched his gloved hand, he felt at peace. He now gripped the glass with both hands, wishing to feel more of that warmth in his soul. He didn’t take a sip, but merely sat unmoving with the cup clutched between his fingers.

By that point, Nezu had pulled up an extra chair to the other side of the coffee table, preferring to give Midoriya the entirety of the couch. He watched the teen’s still form with interest. The rodent wasn’t lost by any means, his quirk giving him understanding of even the most confusing of human psyche. But he had only read about minds as severely damaged as Midoriya’s in psychology books, never having the experience of seeing it in person. The rational portion of his mind wanted desperately to pick apart the boy, to figure out what made him tick. But at the same time, there was a sliver of his morality that felt almost sad as witnessing the display in front of him. It had been a while since he felt sympathetic towards a human, and the idea of meeting someone as potentially damaged as himself thrilled the principal more than picking him apart.

Maybe he’d entertain his subconscious this one time.

Nezu stood up and walked over near the small table where he had prepared the tea, his back to the student. He knelt down at one of the bookcases, and reached his paws towards a wooden box on the bottom shelf. He pulled it out gently, careful not to scrape it against the floor. It wasn’t particularly heavy, but for someone with Nezu’s stature, lifting it could prove difficult. But he managed to haul it to the coffee table, and placed it down softly. In the corner of his eye, he noticed the teen eyeing the object with a curious glint, only making the rodent smirk wider.

“Would you care for a game of chess, Midoriya?” he asked with a hint of unnatural cheer, “I would truly like to get to know you.”

Chess? At a time like this? He couldn’t lie, the idea sounded quite entertaining, but what about the meeting and all the other heroes?

Nezu seemed to catch onto his hesitation. “I’m sure the other heroes will be fine wrapping the meeting up without us.”

His gut wasn’t so sure of the principal’s words, but at feeling the sudden touch of his mentor’s hand to his shoulder, he eased up. It was easy to forget the ghost was in the same room as him sometimes, especially during and after breakdowns like this.

“That… sounds nice.” were the first words that exited his mouth upon leaving the conference room.

“Oh wonderful!” he smiled. “I’ll set up the board then.”

He watched the mammal open up the box, pulling out a beautiful wooden chessboard and a sack presumably filled with pieces. The box container reminded him of Ishihara’s back in the guest room, but this one just didn’t feel the same. Ignoring the slight sensation of sadness, his eyes continued to follow the erratic, yet graceful movements of Nezu’s paws setting up the pieces.

The principal had set aside all of the dark pieces for himself, and had given Midoriya the lighter ones. Honestly, he was fine either way. Ishihara had taught him the best ways to start with either color. But he did prefer the dark pieces. Something about playing as an underdog gave him a spark of satisfaction that made enjoying the game all the easier.

The board was eventually all set up, so the teen removed one of his hands from the cup to make his first move. But before he could, Nezu piped up again.

“Before we get started,” he chuckled, “how about we spice up the game a bit?”

The boy’s brows furrowed. “What do you mean by that?”

The rodent in front of him let out another stifled giggle, the sound unnerving him. “Every time you capture an opponent’s piece, you get to ask them a question. No lying or evading allowed!”

“I do not like the sound of this.”

Midoriya couldn’t agree more.

Nezu easily picked up on the apprehensiveness. “The rules apply to me as well. This is your opportunity to ask me anything!”

That made the idea sound a bit more appealing. Knowing more about the principal would be beneficial in the long run, but who knew what the sadistic animal in front of him would ask. That thought alone made him shudder.

This situation was another example of his age old debate between comfort and freedom. He could stay in his secluded comfort zone, and deny participating while he still could, or give in to his urge for freedom, and risk having to answer an emotionally volatile question. Both had their pros and cons, and this wasn’t the first time he felt equally torn.

So he reached into his pant pocket, and pulled out a single yen coin. It was still shiny, practically fresh off the mint. He twirled the coin between his fingers, watching the glint of reflected light move across its surface.

“Heads or tails?” he asked without making proper eye contact with anyone, though Nezu was smart enough to understand the boy was talking to the ghost he claimed followed him around all day.

“… Heads.” His successor had asked him to choose between the two often enough that he understood what it meant.

“Heads it is,” he repeated for no particular reason. Leaning over the armrest of the couch, he flicked the coin from his fingers, watching it clatter against the floor as it spun around. The scratchy metallic noise made as it revolved became almost pleasing to listen to, but it eventually stopped as the coin settled to a side. Leaning over further to pick the coin up, he got a good view of the side it had landed on.

“Alright then,” the teen stated with neither excitement nor disappointment, “let’s get started.”

Nezu flashed his wide signature smirk, “Oh wonderful! Your move then!”

And so Midoriya did as he was told, placing the coin on the table exactly how he picked it up from the floor, careful not to make too loud of a noise. He didn’t hesitate with his first move, grabbing one of his pawns near the center of the row and moving it up two spaces.

The principal’s smirk didn’t fade and he slid one of his darker pawns to match the move exactly.

So that was how Nezu wanted to play then? That was fine. He had no problem playing aggressively, even if it guaranteed Nezu the first question.

The boy moved the next pawn over up two spaces, so it was side by side with the first one he moved.

The rodent didn’t even bother hiding his increasingly large smile as he moved his pawn from before, capturing the pawn Midoriya just moved. The giddy look on his face remained as he picked up the light colored piece and brought it off the board.

“Well then Midoriya.” He seemed to have this question thought out already. “Who is your favorite hero?”

That question was innocent enough, and relatively easy to answer. “Eraserhead.”

The answer made the principal hum, as if he was trying to dig deeper into the response, but the teen didn’t let him as he aggressively moved his bishop into play. Nezu held in a chuckle and returned with an equally forceful move of his queen, bringing the student into check. Unfazed, he moved his light king piece out of the way and watched the principal move a pawn directly into the line of his now active bishop. The boy narrowed his eyes at the suicidal act, but took the piece anyway.

“Oh wonderful!” Nezu seemed way too enthusiastic for this. “What is your question?”

He didn’t respond right away, not having thought about what to ask. He needed something simple, yet respectful. After all, this was still the principal of U.A. he was conversing with.

“Can… you explain your quirk?” Midoriya asked carefully.

“My quirk?” he repeated, not expecting that as a question, “Well, my quirk is called High Spec. It is a mutant quirk that has exponentially increased my intelligence to that well beyond human capacity. My quirk is what has allowed me to integrate into human life so painlessly.”

He nodded at the reply, soaking up as much of the key information as possible to record later. He didn’t want to pull out his notebook now, in the middle of the game. That would be quite rude, after all.

The two continued with their game, making aggressive, yet calculated plays. After about ten more turns, most of the pieces were scattered around the chessboard. But it didn’t take long for another piece to get captured, this time being one of Midoriya’s white bishops.

Nezu laughed as he used his pawn to knock the bishop off the board, “It’s my turn again… how wonderful! Tell me about your school life before coming to U.A.”

The typically shy boy narrowed his eyes apprehensively. “That’s not a question.”

“Oh of course! My bad, my bad,” he corrected himself, “What was school like before coming to U.A.?”

Gami, who had been watching the events of the game since it had started, growled at the sensitive question, but Midoriya just waved him off. The exchange was not missed by the observant mammal, however.

Collecting his thoughts delicately, he answered with more hesitation than the last time, “Mundane… and lonely.”

There was a long pause after that, and upon realizing that the boy would not say any more concerning the topic, Nezu didn’t push. They resumed playing the game. This time though, the principal noted some increased aggressiveness in his opponent’s plays, forcing his queen to retreat with a few pawns. A bit distracted, Nezu didn’t notice a trap being set up until a few moves in, but by that point there wasn’t much he could do. Both his knight and pawn were in danger and he could only move one, so he chose the optimal piece and allowed his pawn to be captured.

This time, the teen had a question ready. “What’s your favorite brew of tea?”

That instinctively made the rodent take a sip of his chamomile. “That would have to be green tea. A bit of a basic choice, but it does help lessen my symptoms of PTSD.”

The surprise on Midoriya’s face was visible. Not obvious, but still visible. The spirit standing next to him was reasonably surprised at the reply as well, but neither pushed for more. The response was sensitive enough.

The student kept on the offensive, constantly making Nezu monitor the position of his queen. Pushing his light knight forward, he once again put the principal’s queen in danger, but instead of retreating this time, Nezu moved the piece far onto Midoriya’s side of the board, taking a pawn in the process.

He wasted no time with his next question. “What is Gami-san to you.”

That made the boy blink. He really wasn’t expecting a question like that, but it still made him pause. Of course, he knew exactly what his relationship with the old ghost was, it was just a bit difficult to explain.

“Gami is… a lot of things. The easiest way to describe our relationship… would be mentor and successor, I guess. But it’s a lot more complicated than that.”

He paused to look up to the specter next to him, but couldn’t detect any hint of emotion.

“Gami’s filled a lot of roles for me. From a mentor, to… a parental figure, to a friend. I’m… just really grateful he decided to stick around with me.”

Midoriya swore he heard a sniffle come from the space next to him, but didn’t bring it up to spare the ghost the embarrassment.

“Hm, a complex relationship indeed,” Nezu agreed, “Let’s continue.”

And so they did. It was only two moves later that Nezu captured a white rook.

“Why aren’t you a fan of All Might?”

Gami felt the temperature in the room drop a few degrees, the pleasant atmosphere created by the last question completely erased. Looking over to the seated boy, he noticed the grip on his pants grow much tighter than before, as if he was restraining himself. Twisting his body, the spirit moved to ruffle his hair, but stopped when he saw his shoulders tense up, deciding against it.

He didn’t even know where to start when it came to All Might. The man had been his idol for almost his entire life, and that day they met ruined everything. For a hero who preached such inspiring ideals, he sure didn’t follow them. That experience constantly made him wonder whether it would have been better for him to live in ignorant bliss.

The words came out laced with more anger than Midoriya would have liked, but he had thankfully restrained most of his outburst. “He’s a hypocrite with flawed logic.”

Catching his tongue, he refused to say any more. Nezu looked a bit surprised at the answer, but not necessarily offended or anything.

“Such strong words, very interesting indeed,” he remarked as if he was studying the boy in front of him, “I wonder what brought you to that conclusion.”

He couldn’t catch himself this time, “You already used up your question.”

“That is true,” the mammal chuckled dryly, “Well, your turn then.”

Midoriya, still clouded with bits of remaining anger, mistakenly moved a simple pawn, allowing the principal to capture his last rook with his queen, as well as put his king back into check. He nearly slammed his fist against the table, but he had more restraint than that and merely clutched his pants tighter.

Nezu wasn’t an idiot, in fact he was quite the opposite. He could see the obvious emotional strain his last question brought, and as much as he wanted to know the story behind the boy’s dislike of the number 1 hero, inquiring deeper into the matter could shut him down for good. So he switched gears a bit.

“What are you most scared of?” he asked as he moved the rook off the board.

Scared of? That was a strange change of topic, still a sensitive one though. There were a lot of things he was scared of, not that he would ever want to admit that. But what scared him the most, well that was something he wasn’t sure he could decide.

“I… I don’t know,” the teen admitted.

Not quite the response Nezu was expecting, he rephrased the question, “What’s something you’re scared of then?”

Still not a question he wanted to answer. But naming one fear was much better than listing them all. “I don’t like fire. Heat is fine though.”

“Fair enough,” the rodent hummed. That answer made sense, considering what he knew about the boy.

Midoriya moved his king out of check, and the game continued. The two players exchanged moves, sliding their knights around the board as if it were a real track for horses. Seeing a fateful opportunity, the analytical student used Nezu’s move against him, moving his knight to capture a dark pawn and put his king in check at the same time.

Keeping up this round of reverse, he shot the principal’s question right back at him. “What scares you the most?”

Unlike he himself did, Nezu paused for a moment to think before answering snappily, “I guess my greatest fear would be feeling helpless again.”

There was a lot to unpack in that statement. Helpless? Again? It made the boy’s mind spin as he tried to piece together what the rodent in front of him meant. But he didn’t bother asking another follow up question, just nodding and focusing his attention back on the game.

The principal moved his king out of check, and it was at that moment Midoriya could see his winning play. Nezu had practically trapped his own king at this point, all he needed was to eliminate the black knight near it and he was sure his plan would work. He had a risky idea to capture that piece, but pushed his self doubt down just enough to go through with it.

The teen slid his queen right onto Nezu’s side of the board, allowing it into a position where it was putting the opposing king in check, but also at risk of being captured by the knight. Now, he could only hope the principal took the bait.

The next second felt like an eternity, but alas, Nezu moved his knight to capture the queen, falling right into Midoriya’s trap.

Still, their game of questions and answers didn’t cease. “I know you’ve explained how you interact with souls before, so hopefully I’m still understanding this right. But have you ever had to send off the soul of a loved one?”

“Yes.”

There was no hesitation behind that response, instead only hard punctuality. Nezu took it as a que that this was an extremely sensitive topic and left it at that.

“Alright then, your move,” he reminded.

Without even a smile on his face, the boy moved his bishop instantly into a preplanned spot. “Checkmate.”

The mammal carefully reviewed his king’s movement options, but true to the words spoken, there was nowhere he could go. Sighing heavily, he placed both paws on the table.

“Congratulations!” he cheered, his mood shifting drastically, “That was a most exciting game!”

Gami, who was still observing, celebrated as well. “That was beautifully executed. Truly well done.”

His heart warmed at the praise from both sides, but he still felt generally down from that last question.

“I guess I was simply too focused on taking pieces to ask questions,” the principal tried to explain, “Distracted by the wrong motive.”

Midoriya’s eyes narrowed, wondering if the intellectual individual in front of him simply let him win. But he didn’t have too much time to ponder that option as a soft knock came from the door behind him.

“Come in!” Nezu called, not bothering to even look up.

The teen turned around though, curious to see who was entering. His mentor followed suit.

Yamada walked in slowly, unsure of what to expect. But seeing Nezu and Midoriya seated with a chess board was certainly not a possibility he had thought of. He didn’t bother closing the door behind him, leaving it slightly ajar. “Hey little listener. I came to see if you were ready to leave.”

“The meeting’s over?” He couldn’t help but ask.

“Yeah,” the pro confirmed, “It ended a little while ago.”

Nodding, the boy set his empty cup down on the coffee table, to which Nezu grabbed and picked up along with his own cup. “It was a pleasure playing against you, Midoriya. I hope we can do so again in the future!”

“Yeah…,” he responded, a bit unsure of himself, “Thank you for the tea, sir.”

The principal laughed, “It was no trouble at all. And please, call me Nezu.”

That would not happen for a long time, but the student nodded anyway. He picked himself off the couch, smoothing out the mess of wrinkles on his uniform pants. Swinging his backpack over his shoulder, he prepared to exit the room with Present Mic.

“Do not forget about your coin,” Gami reminded him.

Huffing lightly, he turned back around to pick up the piece of currency. Lifting it into his fingers, he watched the sunlight bounce off its surface. It was still facing the exact side it had landed on when he flicked it earlier, making him half heartedly stuffed it in his pocket before leaving.

Midoriya wished the tails side looked more appealing.

Despite the engaging game of chess, Midoriya still didn’t feel that much better. He was still feeling the effects of his panic attack far after it was over. Of course, he didn’t really point any of this out to Aizawa or Yamada.

The day had come and gone fairly quickly, despite how eventful it turned out to be. The three had eaten takeout for dinner, courtesy of the ragged underground hero, and immediately retreated back to their designated corners of the house. The two teachers lounged together in the living room, while the teen remained isolated in the guest room.

Well, isolated would be a lie. Links was there as well, but the two respected each other’s personal space by staying in opposite corners of the room. The boy was curled up on the bed, while the small kitten was huddled underneath the desk.

Midoriya couldn’t deny he was a bit bored, along with feeling stressed. He couldn’t really write notes while on the bed, and the feline was preventing him from sitting at the desk. He had resorted to staring at his shelves of greenery to pass the time, but it had almost been 30 minutes after dinner and his attention was running thin.

“Why don’t you do something productive?” Gami suggested.

The teen groaned, “But there is nothing productive to do…!”

The ghost sighed at his successor’s childish antics. He really wished the boy wouldn’t isolate himself like he did, and worked harder to develop bonds with the adults that he was staying with. But the man wasn’t going to force anything, after all, he knew these things took time. He was happy enough that he was eating with them, so that was a start.

Then, both heard a buzzing sound come from the backpack at the foot of the bed. Curious, Midoriya leaned over the side to pull the bag up and unzipped it hastily. He pulled out his phone, unsurprised. I mean, what else would be vibrating in his school bag?

Turning on his cell, he noticed one pop up on his screen. Assuming it was just a news update, he ignored it, placing his phone on the corner of the bed and laid back down. His fluffy, green hair flopped over his eyes, so he used his breath to push it out of the way. He tried closing his eyes to calm himself, but that only made him focus on his thumping heartbeat even more, so he opened them back up.

There was another buzz from his phone.

“You should probably check that…”

He groaned again, “Fine…”

Lugging his dreary form upright again, he reached for his phone. Now there were two pop ups on the screen, but when he actually took the time to read them, he realized they weren’t news updates at all.

“Shouto sent me a text?” It came out as more of a confused response than a statement.

That made the spirit perk up real quick. “Oh?”

“Don’t even start…” Midoriya attempted.

“It is far too late for that,” Gami stated bluntly, “What did he say?”

“Hold on, I’m checking right now.” The boy quickly unlocked his device and opened up his messages. Clicking on the candy cane student’s contact, he was able to see the two new texts on his phone.

Hey.
How are you doing?

He was about to read them to his mentor, but upon seeing the ghost eyeing his screen from over his shoulder, he scoffed lightly.

The man didn’t seem to care. “He texted you first…”

“And?” he replied sarcastically, “Stop making weird implications.”

“Do you plan on answering him back?”

“Obviously, I’m not just going to ignore him.” He rolled his eyes dramatically, making sure the specter noticed. Fumbling with his gloved fingers, he typed out a series of rushed responses.

Hey!
I’m doing alright
What about you?

It didn’t take long for a reply to come in. Todoroki must have been waiting by his phone.

I’m a bit tired.
Though I’ve attributed that to the chaos that happened earlier.

Chaos? Did he mean the panic during the security breach or something at home? Midoriya moved to clarify.

You’re talking about the panic at school, right?

Once again, the response came in quick.

Yes.
I hope you were not injured during the incident.

When he received that second text, the boy just knew the spirit next to him was going to make another remark. So he quickly turned around to face him and cut him off before he even began.

“He’s just being a concerned friend,” he interjected the man’s drawn breath.

“I did not say anything,” Gami finished snidely, the smirk on his face nearly auditory.

He huffed like the bothered teenager he was, but gave up and grabbed his phone instead. The ghost took that as a victory and smirked even wider, though no one could see.

I’ve got nothing more than a few aches
I hope you didn’t get hurt either

“Concerned friend?”

“Yes!” he hissed, “I’m returning the formality!”

He was unable to ignore the light chuckling coming from behind him, but he did his best.

I was not injured.
Though that was due to your efforts with Iida and Uraraka.

The teen felt his face heat up slightly, but he just credited the feeling to embarrassment. Thankfully, Gami didn’t say anything.

Ah
Well the three of us couldn’t just stand around and do nothing
Iida did most of the work though

“Izu…” the spirit attempted to sing-song, but ended up sounding more like a disappointed parent than anything, “We have talked about this…”

Confused, he looked back to the man. “What?”

“About giving yourself more credit…”

Midoriya shrugged. “It’s true… I mean Iida was the one who calmed everyone down.”

Gami tried to refute, but just then another buzz came in.

It was your plan though.

That confused the boy even more. How did Todoroki know that?

How did you know?

“See? Even he agrees that you need to give yourself more credit.” Gami tried to emphasize his point further.

I took a guess.
I figured a plan as reckless as that would only be yours.

The ghost let out a hard laugh, something he didn’t do often. “I am starting to like this child more and more.”

The shocked student merely just sat there. “I don’t know whether I should take that as a complement or an insult…”

I guess that’s fair

Midoriya’s confidence was a swirling mess at this point, unsure of whether to skyrocket or go right down the drain. But as the next text arrived, it didn’t take long for him to decide.

Still, your plan was quite effective, so I shouldn’t complain.
Though, that does make me wonder why you gave up your position as president to Iida.

The praise made him feel good about himself. But concerning the matter of the class president spot, he thought it was quite obvious. Gami didn’t say a word, silently wondering how his successor was going to respond.

The boy’s fingers hovered over the screen for quite a while as he debated with himself on how to word his response without sounding rude. After a few more moments, he hashed out a mess of words, afraid to lose Todoroki’s attention.

I just don’t think I was right for the job
Iida’s really good at leading others, so I felt if anyone should be president, it should be him

The red and white haired boy’s response was considerably slower than before, making Midoriya wonder if he had said something wrong. His anxiety from before started to build, now being fueled by a new insecurity.

That’s understandable.
I’m glad you’re still on the council as secretary though.

Another odd rush of unfamiliar pride swelled within him at reading his friend’s words, the nervousness from before gone. Maybe being on the council wouldn’t be so bad after all…

Thanks
I honestly only stayed on the council to honor Iida’s request
But you saying that makes me feel better about it

The teen swiftly turned around at the snort that came from behind him. His eyes were met with the sight of the old ghost holding a bony hand to where his mouth probably was, and shaking a bit.

“What’s up with you?” he questioned skeptically.

“Oh nothing. Nothing at all,” Gami answered with a hint of sarcasm that made the boy wonder if he was being serious.

I’m glad.

All it took was that single sentence, those two words, for a bright smile to explode on Midoriya’s face. Suddenly, all of the events that happened throughout the day were forgotten, replaced by a giddy feeling of bubbliness. The spirit simply watched from his spot by the bed. As much as he enjoyed teasing his successor, he wouldn’t dare ruin this rare mood he was in.

It had been a while since the man had seen him so happy.

Another subsequent buzz came in on his phone, making the attention of both return to the screen.

Sorry, I have to go.
My father is calling me.

The drop in his shoulders was near instant, and though he was a bit saddened at the fact that Todoroki had to go, he was more than grateful at having the chance to talk to him in the first place. Something about chatting with the normally stoic boy was so enjoyable, he couldn’t put it into words.

That’s fine
It was nice talking to you
Stay safe

Midoriya held his phone in his hand as those three messages were sent. He watched as the “delivered” notification popped up on his screen, making his phone hum. He held onto the device for a little bit longer, but after a few minutes, he set it back down at the edge of the bed nervously.

The “read” notification never popped up.

After Todoroki left, Midoriya had to find new ways to occupy his time. He bounced around activities, from scrolling through news updates on his phone, to tending to his plants, to even playing 20 questions with Gami. If anyone popped their head into the room, they’d easily be able to tell how bored the boy was. Though he would never complain about his boredom.

Eventually, night creeped in and the sun kissed the horizon goodbye. The teen still hadn’t interacted with anyone in the household since dinner, and he was intent on staying that way. His mentor, on the other hand, was growing tired of the stuffy room.

“Why don’t you take a break from this room?” he tried to suggest without implying that he was the one who desperately wanted to leave.

“Why? I’m perfectly fine like this…” the boy questioned while narrowing his eyes.

This was going to be harder than he thought, but the ghost knew it would be beneficial for both of them to leave the room for a bit. “I just presumed you would want to be in a more comfortable spot for when you sort tonight.”

The appeal to his successor’s sense of work seemed to be enough to persuade him. “I guess, but not now. I’ll go later when they’re both asleep.”

That was a fair compromise, so the man didn’t argue it more. It was already pretty late, just past midnight, so the two heroes were bound to hit the hay soon. Of course, he would love it if Midoriya went to sleep earlier and got more rest, but he of all people understood that a proper sleep schedule was nearly impossible when constantly plagued with declining timers. A Death’s life was certainly a stressful one, especially if social relations were a priority.

The two were cut out of their respective thoughts at the sound of footprints coming down the hallway. Afraid of being caught awake, he dived under the covers, a stunt children typically performed. The sounds stopped right in front of the guest room door, and the teen slowed his breathing to further add to the authenticity of his act.

“Should we go in and say goodnight?” he recognized the hushed whisper as the voice of Present Mic.

“No, he’s probably asleep.” That harsh tone could only be Aizawa. “Plus he’s not five.”

The sound of Yamada’s groan could be heard, but the two walked away from the door at that, presumably towards their own room instead. Letting out his own sigh of relief, he crawled out from under the blankets and tiptoed his way to his door, with Gami floating behind. Pressing his ear against the door, the boy listened as another door was opened, and then closed. And after a while of silence, the duo deemed it safe enough to leave.

Silencing his footsteps was a trick Midoriya had learned a long time ago, but still one of his most useful. There was practically no sound as his bare socks touched the hardwood. He shifted his body weight periodically, still unsure of where the creaky floorboards were. All of the lights in the house were turned off, leaving him guided by only moonlight. Carefully, he made his way to the living room, and sat down softly on the couch.

Surprisingly, the dark atmosphere felt oddly comforting, and he didn’t want to disturb it by starting his work. But the clock was ticking, and the night wasn’t getting any younger, so he sucked up his complaints.

It was almost surreal, when all of the souls popped into the living room. Most of them still had a bright glow to them, and lit up the room as if it were an observatory. The teen had always viewed the puffs of light as stars, but being in the dark room really made it seem that way. He sat still for a moment, just taking in the scene around him, before immediately feeling a rush of guilt. These were all real people that had died, he shouldn’t be enjoying this in the slightest.

Naturally, the dimmest souls crowded around him, so he reached for one of those, cupping it gently in his hands. It wasn’t as warm as the others, almost as if he was holding a breath of autumn air. He swiftly got to work, letting his mind shut down and run on autopilot.

“Hey Gami,” he asked suddenly, breaking the silence, “How did you do this for 5 centuries?”

The ghost didn’t seem to understand. “What do you mean?”

“Well, this job is really depressing,” he stated bluntly, “and I know you have to do it for a full century, but why did you continue for 4 more?”

That caught the spirit off guard, at least, according to his body language. But he didn’t answer right away, leaving the question to dwell in the air like a musty smell.

“I… do not remember,” the man answered with what seemed to be a hint of anguish, “Everytime I attempt to, all I get is a rush of blankness and a slight migraine.”

“Oh…” Well that was to be expected. His mentor didn’t remember much about his past life, only bits and pieces that the two were desperately trying to fit together like lost puzzle pieces.

“However.” He perked up at that. “Whenever I try to remember my time as Death, I feel a mix of strange emotions. Almost like anguished determination if I were to describe it.”

Anguished determination? What was that even supposed to mean? What kind of situation would even provoke one to feel that way?

“You mean desperation?” the boy tried to rationalize.

“No, not desperation,” the specter replied picky, “It feels like determination, but not the inspirational kind.”

That just confused him even further. Wasn’t determination supposed to be inspiring? He recorded the strange account in the back of his mind for further analysis later, but otherwise dropped the subject. The two continued their idle chatter for a few more minutes, casually switching conversational topics.

A sudden creak came from the hallway, and both of them froze. Midoriya quickly stopped sorting, which put out all the light coming from the souls, and held his breath. A few more creaks were heard, confirming that this was in fact real and not a trick of his tired brain. He pulled his legs onto the couch quietly, shrinking his form to better hide himself in the darkness. He wasn’t sure if his breathing was quiet enough, so he brought a hand to his mouth just in case.

As the steps came closer, he could hear a hushed voice hiss at something. Straining his ears, he could make out the voice of his homeroom teacher talking quietly to himself.

“Seriously Nezu, if discussing Bakugo was the only reason you called me, you could have left it for tomorrow in person.” That pretty much confirmed that Aizawa was on the phone with Nezu, not talking to himself.

There was a short pause, as Midoriya couldn’t make out what the principal was saying on the other end of the line, but he stayed quiet. He felt a bit guilty for eavesdropping, but it wasn’t his intention. And if he came out now, Aizawa would get upset with him being up still.

“Well, I wanted to move him to general studies, but you wouldn’t let me,” the pro seemed to be getting upset, “And you still haven’t explained why.”

What? Aizawa had wanted to move Bakugo out of the hero course as a result of the incident during the training exercise? He understood the reasoning behind a decision like that. But the fact that Nezu had denied him? That was an even stranger issue that was never brought up.

“I’m telling you, it doesn’t seem like a simple anger management issue.” The frustration was now obvious. “Bakugo has a lot of unnatural hostility towards Midoriya, almost like a grudge. I’ve seen some hostility towards Todoroki, but compared to the Problem Child, it’s nothing. And the rest of the class has gotten off easy considering that boy’s temper.”

Midoriya gulped. Of course an observant hero like Eraserhead had noticed the odd relationship between himself and the other student. He was hoping no one would pick that up.Nezu had figured it out easily after all, with only a few references to go off of. The last thing he wanted was for his past to catch back up to him. He was here at U.A. for a fresh start. Well, as fresh a start as he could get.

“I agree, the kid’s got potential, considering we push him in the right direction, but that doesn’t dismiss his actions against the other students involved. Whether you want to admit it or not, we got lucky he hit Midoriya and not one of the other two.”

He could hear an exasperated sigh come from Aizawa, it echoing loud and clear in the silent night.

“I just don’t understand why you insist on not expelling him!” he hissed in a whisper, “We’ve never tolerated this kind of behavior.”

Aizawa wanted Bakugo expelled? Wow, he knew his teacher wanted him punished but he had no idea he wanted that drastic of reprimand. It makes sense, he could acknowledge that, but still. He couldn’t help but think of what the decision might have been if he hadn’t voiced his opinion to Nezu, if that was even the deciding factor in the first place.

Relief had never punched him so hard before.

“Yeah yeah, I switched around the seats. Midoriya’s in the back with Todoroki and Yaoyorozu’s up with Bakugo. It’s the best option for all three parties, Bakugo, Midoriya, and the other two: Iida and Uraraka.”

So that was the reason behind the seat swap today. Well, with context, it now made sense. Plus, he’d be lying if he didn’t admit he was more than pleased with his new seat. He really enjoyed hanging around Todoroki, even though they’d only talked a few times.

“If this is all you wanted to talk about, then I’m hanging up. It’s one in the fucking morning, Nezu. I know you’re a night owl, but some of us like to get our beauty sleep when we can.”
That nearly made the boy snort in amusement, but he managed to hold it in. He had never heard Aizawa talk like that before, and the change in personality was enough to incite laughter.

“Sure, sure whatever. Goodnight.”

An audible click could be heard after that, signaling the end of the phone call. And with that click came the rush of fear that reminded him of his current situation. He was hiding in the living room, and his homeroom teacher was standing just beyond in the hallway. He desperately hoped the man would return back to his room and not decided to walk in a few steps further.

The footsteps began again, and to the teen’s horror, they were coming in his direction. With every echo, he could feel his blood pressure spike and his heart drop at the same time. His face grew cold and clammy while his throat was sucked dry. He had never heard so many curses going through his head before.

Shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shi-

He watched terrified as the hero walked through the living room and into the kitchen, almost making him exhale in relief as he hadn’t been noticed. But that relief never came as he saw the ragged pro move towards the light switch.

He gave one last cry to the universe, wishing for it to just erase his existence right then and there.

The kitchen light was blinding compared to the darkness he had been sitting in for the last hour. The white light was invading his eyes and forced him to squint. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the only thing it invaded, as some of the light flooded the living room.

Aizawa was noticeably startled when he saw Midoriya’s curled up form on the couch. If it weren’t for the skills he had picked up being an underground hero, he would have probably yelled out instinctively.

“Holy shit, Problem Child,” he gasped under his breath, “What are you doing up?”

Well, there was no getting out of this now.

“I-I’m sorry Aizawa-sensei,” he whimpered quietly, “I j-just needed to do m-my… my job and I’ve b-been in my room all day and-”

“Ok, ok,” he cut the boy off, “It’s fine. You just startled me. I wasn’t expecting you to be up and about this late.”

“S-sorry…”

“You don’t need to apolo-” Aizawa stopped himself as the realization flooded his head, “Wait, did you hear my phone call?”

“I d-didn’t mean to!” The high pitched cry broke his voice near the end. “It w-was an accident and I-I didn’t know what to do.”

He shushed the boy so as to not wake up his partner, but gave a hefty sigh, “It’s fine. I’m not mad or anything.”

“You’re n-not?” he asked to settle the fear in his conscience.

“No Problem Child,” he huffed, “You said it was an accident and I believe you.”

The two stared awkwardly at each other, with Gami in the background. He honestly didn’t know what to make of the situation, practically giving up for the night. The teacher then dropped his shoulders almost as if in defeat.

“Well, I was just going to get a glass of water,” he started, “but since you’re up, I guess I’ll make something more complicated.”

Aizawa pulled out a mug from one of the upper cabinets, setting it down on the counter. He looked towards the curled up boy on the couch and sighed again.

“I’m making hot chocolate,” he clarified, “You want some?”

Midoriya’s head perked up at the mention of the sweet drink. He didn’t want to trouble the man, but at the same time, he did offer. Oh the options were conflicting, but when he turned back to look at Gami, all he got in return was a curt nod. Well that made his choice quite obvious. Who was he to resist such a divine temptation?

“Yes please.”

Chapter Text

“Come on! I want to see the water!”

The small girl gave another cry, tugging an older male behind her by the wrist. He yelped in surprise, but made no move to resist her, allowing himself to be dragged onto the beach. The child had already ditched her shoes, now holding them in her other free hand, while the male still had his on.

“Slow down!” he yelled back, though not nearly as loud.

The girl just laughed cheerfully and continued to drag him along. After a few more hard yanks on his hand, he eventually sped up his pace a bit to appease her. The two eventually approached the shoreline, the sunrise peeking out against the sparkling blue horizon. The young child abruptly plopped herself down onto the sand, pulling the male down with her.

“Ah!” he yelped, not expecting the sudden movement, “Yōko-chan, the sand is still wet here!”

But she ignored his concern, laughing it off, “You worry too much, oniichan!”

The water pulled in, making the older male scoot back a little. “We should at least move back some. It will be suspicious if you come home wet.”

She sighed, but complied with her brother’s wishes, now allowing only her bare feet to come in contact with the sea water. Deciding to join her, the male removed his shoes and socks, and buried his feet into the wet sand.

As the two sat on the beach in silence, it was easy to tell the age difference between them. The young girl couldn’t have been older than seven, and the male next to her looked to be in his early 20s. One would never guess they were related, much less siblings, due to their vast contrast in appearance.

The girl, dubbed Yōko-chan by her older brother, wore her long black hair in a slightly messy bun. She was dressed in a simple, yet flowery kimono with her sandals beside her. Her face adorned a bright smile at watching the morning waves crash softly onto the shore.

Her brother, on the other hand, has messy hair the color of snow. He had always attempted to comb it down neatly, but it refused to be tame, so he often wore it in a basic ponytail. He wore a long, but simplistic overcoat and a pair of slacks. His expression was more reserved, but his smirk was still visible.

Yōko leaned closer towards the water, running her hand into the drenched sand. The young adult nudged her slightly, making her glance shoot back at him.

“You know you should not be doing that,” he lectured, “Now go clean off your hand before the sand grains get underneath your fingernails.”

She groaned, but listened, washing her hand off with the incoming water. It took a few waves, but eventually all of the sand was removed. She pulled her now wet hand in to dry on her kimono, but her brother instantly yanked it away, causing her to cry out.

“You cannot get dirty, or they will know you lied,” he stated bluntly, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, “Here, use my coat instead.”

“I am not going to do that,” she huffed.

Narrowing his eyes as his sister’s stubbornness, he grabbed the edge of his coat with his free hand, and proceeded to dry her hand with it anyway. She exclaimed at the act, but made little effort to pull away, savoring the last few moments of the water on her skin.

“Do you think mother will take me swimming if I ask her after lessons?” she asked hesitantly, looking up at the male.

“I doubt it, considering she is so concerned about preserving your hair texture.” He didn’t mean to come off so harsh, but that was the unfortunate truth. But watching her shoulders drop made him feel all the more guilty. He didn’t want to promise anything he couldn’t do, but his sister’s happiness was his entire world.

“Perhaps during one of our future meetings-” he said carefully.

“Really!” she interrupted, “You would take me swimming, Kimu-niichan?!”

He sighed, “I cannot promise anything of the sort, but I can try.”

“Thank you!” Yōko hugged her brother tightly, now dubbed Kimu. His heart warmed at her joy, and he returned the embrace. It was easy for the two to lose track of time, especially when spending it with each other, and so the hug clocked from moments to minutes. Combined with the rhythmic crashing of the waves, a feeling of serenity blossomed in both siblings. The male noticed her grip on him become tighter as each second passed, almost as if he would disappear once she let go.

“I miss you a lot, oniichan.” Her voice took on a melancholy tone as she buried her face into his coat. “Do you really have to go back to the city?”

“You know I have to,” he replied, unable to bring himself to say anything more.

“Then take me with you!” she cried, startling them both.

His heart shattered into hundreds of pieces at her declaration. Oh how he desperately wanted to just say yes. To take her with him, so they could see the world together. It would be so simple, and boy was it tempting, but it would never work.

“You know I cannot do that either,” Kimu whispered, “Besides, staying with mother and father is much more beneficial to your studies.”

“But they say such mean things about you, oniichan,” she desperately tried to convince him, “And I know they are not true, but I still hate hearing it.”

The two finally ended their long embrace, and the male took his time to look right at his sister, locking their eyes strongly.

“Whatever mother and father say about me is fair.” His harsh tone returned, unwavering. “I do not deserve their praise.”

“But-”

“No, Yōko-chan,” he continued, his defense unbreakable, “I have not done anything remotely remarkable to honor the Yūki family name. And until I do, I will remain in the city.”

“Why do you care so much about them and the family name?” she whimpered, “I just want you back home!”

Her pleas almost made him tear up, but he held in his guilt and grasped both of her hands in his.

“I am sorry,” he started, unsure of how to offer his condolences, “but mother and father will never accept me home until I earn the Yūki name. I have to make them proud.”

She yanked her hands away, not accepting his answer. Crossing them lightly over her kimono with her lips curled into a pout, the girl looked back at him. “How is city life going then? Any success?”

“I do not know if it can be called that…”

That made Yōko facepalm. Her brother had always had an overly pessimistic attitude, one that she blamed on their parents’ harsh treatment of him. It was no secret that she was the favorite child of the two, and as much as he liked to pretend their words didn’t faze him, she could see the hurt in his eyes.

Even at such a young age, she could realize they were each living the other’s ideal life. She received all the praise and lessons he wanted, and he had the freedom she desired. It was only when they were able to meet that their worlds collided, and they never met for long.

“Just tell me how your endeavors in the city are going,” she rephrased, “I can judge if it is worthy of being called successful.”

Kimu rolled his eyes at his sister’s playful narcissism, but obeyed, “I started a business selling tea blends, It is doing well so far, and I did receive another investment the other day.”

“That is wonderful!” the child praised, clapping her hands together, “Do mother and father know?”

“Yes, though I never told them.”

“And?”

He huffed, “They are unimpressed, as usual.”

“Well, they should not be!” she cried, “I do not understand why they are so cruel towards you, oniichan.”

The young adult looked away, almost saddened at his sister’s obliviousness, “I am not talented like you. They simply see me as a failure.”

The girl shook her head as soon as those words met her ears. This was another sensitive topic between the two, but she was not going to just let this one go. Her brother’s cynical outlook on life was only going to get worse if she didn’t intervene.

“Well you are not a failure. Your successful business should be more than enough proof,” she began.

“The success of my business is invalid if I have no talent to show for it-”

“Talent is not everything, for goodness sake!” The frustration in Yōko’s voice was evident. Her hands had moved to grip his shoulders tightly, giving him a shake. Tears of anger threatened to breach her eyes, but she held them in with all her willpower. “Stop letting them get to you!”

There was a moment of silence after the outburst, with neither sibling saying a word. Kimu turned his head to lock eyes with his sister, but his mouth remained sealed. For once, he couldn’t respond right away. For once, he felt hesitant to defend the actions of their parents.

She took her brother’s silence as a cue to continue. “Mother and father are trying to keep us apart, all because they think your lack of talent will somehow rub off on me. That I will lose any chance of future success. But what they fail to realize is that there is more to success than talent alone.”

The child waited eagerly as the silence returned. Her fingers twiddled anxiously as she broke eye contact to stare at the waves. Finally, she was able to breathe as her brother took the bait.

“What else then? What else is there to success?”

“Well t-there is dedication… f-for one. A-and passion.” The words fell rapidly out of her mouth, as if she had barely been restraining them. Still, her nervousness leaked through, as much as she didn’t want it to. “You may not be as naturally gifted as I am, but you did not let such a futile aspect stop you. And look where you are now. The start of a profitable business. Personal freedom. And your entire life ahead of you. You did not need talent for any of that to happen.”

Yōko stopped, finally allowing herself to take a breath of air. She desperately hoped her words had gotten through to him, or at least past his hopeless facade. Her brother was her light at the end of the tunnel. She wouldn’t allow him to wallow in guilt that wasn’t even his own fault. But the longer the silence continued, the more she second guessed herself and her efforts.

“But… I have to make them proud-” Kimu started to choke out.

“You make me proud!” she exclaimed, not caring if anyone else overheard, “Is that not enough?”

The young adult huffed out a slight chuckle under his breath, unable to hold it in. But both knew it wasn’t one of amusement. It sounded hollow, and broken, like he was trying to convince himself of its true intention.

“What? It’s true!” She didn’t know if she was reassuring her brother or herself. “You make me proud.”

The chuckling eventually stopped, and the smile fell from Kimu’s face. He refused to meet her glance, looking away towards the sea instead. The morning breeze ruffed its fingers through his hair, blowing strands of wispy white hair in all directions.

The child felt a rush of emotions at his actions. Frustration, anger, but most of all, desperation. “You do not believe me… do you?”

When neither a confirmation nor a denial came from the male beside her, she sighed. He still valued the opinions of their parents far more than he should, but honestly, who could blame him? Their family… no, the Yūki family, was supposed to be the best of the best. It was hard enough not to have the support of your own blood, but for their family to exile him, all because they believed he wasn’t up to par with their standards, was cruel.

That’s why the risk of getting caught only grew the more meetings they had. Their parents were already getting suspicious of the times she went unaccounted for. If they ever found out that she was meeting with Kimu, who knows what would happen? Who knows what they would do to him; her brother, the only thing she had left?

“When… did you grow so wise?” He still didn’t face her, continuing to stare out to the sea. “Surely it has not been long since we last met…”

The comment made Yōko’s head snap up. Was he finally listening to her, finally pushing past his self deprecating exterior? “I have not grown any wiser. In fact, I may be more oblivious to your struggles than ever. But the more time we spend together, the more I begin to realize there is more to life than just what mother and father tell me. I am just putting my skills to good use; exploring all potential sources, correct?”

And then, he laughed. A beautiful, resonating sound that seemed to echo over the crashing of the waves. And it wasn’t a hollow laugh like he usually let out. It was a genuine sound of amusement, almost as if the stars themselves were shining upon that very spot. The young girl’s heart practically melted at her brother’s laugh, and she was filled with the overwhelming sensation of bliss.

As hard as Kimu tried to keep up his nonchalant, monotone exterior, she knew he was one of the few pure souls left in this world. He was ambitious, had a strong sense of drive, but still managed to greet every stranger he met with nothing but kindness. His heart was open to all, despite having it stomped, torn, and scavenged on by their family. And even though there were over 10 years of age separating the two, Yōko felt an urge to protect her older brother however she could.

The male eventually brought a hand to his mouth, ceasing his laughter, to his sister’s disappointment. “Anyway, enough about myself. Tell me, how are your endeavors going back with mother and father?”

At that, the girl sighed, bringing her hands up into the air with a wide shrug. “Practically the same as what I told you last time. Mother and father are not exactly known for their variety.”

The wisecrack in her statement was purposeful, and succeeded in bringing out another small chuckle from the young man beside her. “Tell me anyway.”
Yōko paused, “Well, they are amping up my studies of language next week. I am supposed to be starting French.”

Kimu clapped his hands in surprise. “French? Goodness. Did you not just finish Chinese last week?”

“I did,” she sighed again, “But you know how they are. No time for rest.”

Her brother’s eyes grew heavy, but he hid it under another smile. “You are so talented.”

“I would rather be taking extra piano lessons than learn French.” She was determined not to go down this rabbit hole again. “And you know how much I dislike those.”

That drew another laugh out of him. “Indeed I do. But how are those lessons going, if I may continue on that topic?”

“My piano lessons? They are alright, though I wish my instructor would simply allow me to play, rather than making me perform classic pieces.”

That wasn’t a surprise, coming from Yōko. She had always been more of an unstructured child, craving the feeling of freedom in all aspects. She was the type to color outside the lines and then turn her mistakes into part of the piece. He had no doubt his sister would enjoy learning to play an instrument, if only her instructor wasn’t so strict.

“I am sure you will get to a point where you can play whatever you desire,” he reassured, placing a hand faintly on her shoulder.

She gave a defeated nod in return, her fingers itching to draw in the sand. This did not go unnoticed by her brother, however. He really couldn’t allow her to run her hands through the sand, but at the same time, he didn’t want to deny her any more than she had been in life. She had already been refused most typical childhood experiences, deemed unimportant, courtesy of their family. Their secret time together was supposed to be an air of release for the child to do the little things in life she had been rejected.

So Kimu rummaged through the long and many pockets of his overcoat, looking for anything that might aid him. For a while, his fingers met nothing but scraps and bits of trash he had been meaning to clean out, but then, they settled on something familiar. Wrapping his grip around it, he pulled out what looked to be a regular old tea bag at first. But upon closer inspection, he realized it to be one of the demo tea bags he had designed for his business, meaning it was clean and unused.

“Here,” he stated, shoving the tea bag towards his adjacent sister, “If you use this to cover your finger, I will allow you to draw in the sand.”

She gasped, not bothering to respond as she snatched the cloth covering from his hand. Placing it hastily over her finger, she moved her hand to the space between them and dug it roughly into the sand. The tea bag served its purpose well, keeping the grains from getting under her fingernail, preventing any noticeable damage, however small it could have been.

The male smiled at his sister’s giddiness. She was his entire world, everything he lived for. He treasured every moment with her, of which weren’t many, to his displeasure. Yōko deserved the world; she deserved so many things. And he would work like hell to give her as many of the things she deserved as possible.

Sometimes, he felt as if he was never doing enough. He was barely an adult, and still had to provide for himself, but even that wasn’t a good enough excuse for his conscience. There were times Yōko came crying to their meeting spot on the beach, and those times he felt his guilt chip away at his heart. And so he pushed himself harder, to do more. Sure, the times they met were few and far between, but he did his damn best and more to keep her happy when they were together.

Kimu looked down at the ground to observe his sister’s progress. The damp sand between them was covered in intricate swirls that led into each other, with delicate spots in between. The marks reminded him of tangled vines growing through the bricks of an old house, or the path the morning breeze might take across the ocean, calm and peaceful.

He nudged himself away slightly, not daring to touch her by accident and ruin her flow. The strokes her finger made through the sand were purposeful, yet delicate, like a paintbrush upon a canvas. Her kimono sleeve was thankfully rolled up somewhat, preventing any splatters of sand from landing on it. He could lose himself in those swirls, tracing them with his eyes. He wouldn’t mind spending the entire day just watching her draw in the sand.

“You are getting better with your strokes,” he remarked, not taking his eyes off her moving hand.

“Thanks, oniichan,” she hummed, pulling her clothed finger out of the wet sand finally. She prepared to shake off all of the remaining grains, but Kimu swiftly grabbed her wrist before she could. He took the tea bag himself and shook it off to the side, away from her clothes. Once it was dry, he stuffed it back into the pocket he found it in, mentally promising to clean out his coat later.

Together, they stared at the designs Yōko had spent the last few minutes working on. To the passing eye, they might just look like random indentations in the sand, but up close, it was truly a work of art to behold.

“I really wish mother and father would understand my passion for art…” she whispered, attempting to balance the serene silence and her aching heart.

Kimu could offer her little condolences there. His sister’s love for art was a sensitive subject within the family. They didn’t believe it would lead to anything successful, so they tried to beat the passion out of her by swamping her with other work. But Yōko loved art; it was one of the few things that made her happy, so he did his best to encourage it while they were together.

“You only have to wait until you are of age,” the male reassured.

“I will just be married off by then,” she replied angrily, “Sold away as nothing more than an object.”

“And I promised you I would not let that happen,” he shot back, “I promised I would take you with me once you come of age.”

His statement offered a bit of reassurance to her, but was a long way from helping her completely. “But I still have to wait over a decade then. I wish you could just let me come with you now…”

Her words weren’t lies. She did still have to wait over 10 years before he could even begin to plan how to get her out of the clutches of their family, but there was truly nothing he could do while she was still young. It would be fairly easy for their parents to report Yōko missing, and the police would have no trouble tracking down the daughter of such a regal family. She would have to go back, and he would go to jail… or worse.

So for now, the plan was to wait and continue meeting up in secret as they had been. He knew it was torturous for his sister, but they both knew this was the only way they would have a shot of success; which again, required another aspect, besides talent, that went unmentioned: patience.

“I know this is difficult,” he began slowly, the words forming on the tip of his tongue, “But I cannot take you with me, not yet.”

“I know, I know,” she groaned, “But it is so hard to do anything remotely artsy inside those walls. I barely have any supplies left, and finding the time to paint or draw in secret is getting harder.”

Kimu could understand how that would be challenging, but he had no real personal experience with such a situation. Regardless, he worked to assist her in any way he could. As said before, his sister’s happiness was the most important thing in his world, daresay above his parents’ approval or the Yūki family name.

“Well, I know it is not much,” the young man started, taking a moment to pause. He reached back into his overcoat, this time sticking a hand inside. Fairly quickly he found what he was looking for, a small pouch tied to the inside of his coat, hidden away from any attempts to steal it. He pulled at the twine holding it together, and the pouch fell right into his hand.

Yōko looked intrigued, leaning over to sneak a peek at the object her brother was removing from his coat. She wasn’t expecting to see a small pouch made of ragged brown cloth. She wasn’t sure what to make of the object, but didn’t bother to say anything as he handed it to her.

The fabric felt rougher in her hands, but nothing worth complaining over. There was a peculiar weight to the bag, nothing particularly heavy, but weighty indeed. It was held closed by another piece of twine, similar to the one holding it to the inside of the coat. The rope wasn’t anything designer, but it fulfilled its purpose. The girl tugged daintily at it, allowing the pouch to fall apart in her hands like a blossoming set of newborn flower petals.

Inside were three small glass jars, all able to fit within the palm of her hand. She gasped in shock, but not because of the jars themselves. Inside each container sloshed around a different liquid color, all just the right thickness to be identified as paint. Yōko’s typically semi-calm exterior crumbled at the sight.

She couldn’t believe she was holding the sunset in her hands.

“That is not all,” Kimu continued, stuffing his hand into a pocket this time. He didn’t want to overwhelm his sister, but at the same time, he was excited to surprise her. Pulling out another mass of cloth with twine holding the center together, he thrusted it towards her. Though, this one was more flat and long, unlike the previous, which was a clear pouch.

Getting even more excited, she set the three jars down in her lap and reached her hands to the new gift wrapped item. The paint splattered around gently, the soft colors just being held apart by the thin layer of glass.

The yellow jar exactly matched the color of her kimono, down to the shade. It was almost as if the sun itself was being held in there. Did her brother manage to capture some of its rays in liquid form? That was certainly a thought of its own, and those she knew it was physically impossible, it was something she didn’t mind entertaining.

The girl grasped the new gift tightly, afraid she’d drop it with one wrong move. The package felt long, and thin, almost cylindrical as she was feeling it up. Unable to restrain her curiosity any longer, Yōko pulled at the twine holding it together, allowing the same ragged cloth to fall apart in her hands.

Two thin paint brushes were then revealed, their tips soft and delicate against her pristine skin. Their handles looked to be made of fine cherrywood, its signature red tint seeping through. Each had a brass cuff separating the tip from the wood, nothing fancy, but still polished and clean.

She picked them both up shakily, like they’d break at the slightest touch. Rubbing her fingers against the wood, the child could almost see the red tint transfer to her fingertips. She moved them around in her hands, recreating nimble strokes in the air. Her form shook at each movement, accidentally making the jars in her lap clink lightly against each other.

The second jar was filled with blue paint, but not the kind she had expected. While most blue shades she’d seen were vibrant and warm, this one was fuzzy. The color was dulled, similar to the feeling of muddiness in her head after a long day of lessons. But that didn’t make it unattractive, not at all. There was something calming about the shade, familiar maybe. After all, she’d seen it in every sunset she had ever witnessed. Of course, the bright vibrancy of the setting yellow sun drowned it out to most, but if she focused hard enough, the murky blue was there, waiting patiently by the outskirts. Even though it was an easy, unimpressive aspect of the sunset to miss, she often reminded herself that the shade always made up a majority of the sky during those moments, much more than the sun itself.

“Kimu-niichan.” That alone almost brought her to tears. “You did not have to…”

Her brother laughed again, a cynical one this time. Not as pleasant as the ones before, but not repulsive either. “Of course I did. I imagine you were beginning to run low on supplies back at home. I wish I had gotten this refill to you sooner tho-”

Yōko wrapped her arms around him tightly, embracing him in a more compressing hug than before. The paint brushes in her hands were now being gripped harder, ensuring they wouldn’t fall and land on the sand. The male looked utterly stunned at first, but recovered fast enough to hug back and lose the awkward tension. The jars in his sister’s lap hit each other again, but a bit more violently this time, making a noticeable sound.

The last jar was a hot red, borderlining orange almost. It had reminded the girl of the tip of a candle, and she wondered if this shade was what condensed fire would look like. It was the most vibrant color she had ever laid her hands on, similar to the inside of a grapefruit, but even that wouldn’t do it justice.

Most sunsets she had witnessed were missing this red, unfortunately. It wasn’t often the sky had the right conditions to project such a magnificent shade, usually settling for a dull orange or pink. But when the sky did contain this color, it was a sight to behold. Normally, the bright yellow of the setting sun combined with the muted blue of the incoming night clashed like two powerhouses heading to war, but the majestic red was the link holding them together. It acted as two sets of arms, one for each opposing color, desperately reaching out to hold the other once more before one disappeared completely. But no matter how hard the red tried to hold them together, the yellow sun eventually was pulled below the horizon, and the drab blue remained alone, forced to count the seconds until it could be reunited with the other.

“Thank you,” she whimpered, but did her best to stop her tears from staining his coat.

“It is not that big of a deal,” the young adult tried to downplay, “But I am just glad you like it.”

“Of course I like it, oniichan.”

The two remained linked for a little while longer, each not wanting to release the other just yet. Time was never on their side, too slow in some instances, too quick in others. And despite the serenity of the current moment, Kimu knew it wouldn’t last. There were little occasions where the young adult felt truly in control, and he was afraid this meeting wouldn’t be one of them. Something would surely come to end his bliss, as it always did.

So the male broke the embrace on his own, despite the longing in his heart. He’d rather end the hug himself, than have some unfortunate force do it for him.

Yōko didn’t mind, though she wished she could have held on longer. She watched as her brother reached for the discarded pieces of cloth and twine, and used them to rewrap the gifts, enclosing them again. He instructed her to tie the pouches to the inside of her kimono sash, as she usually did when sneaking art supplies back home.

Kimu knew he was being a bit rash in his actions, but he also knew his time with his sister was coming to a close. He didn’t want to push their luck by staying any longer, as much as he wanted to. “So where are you supposed to be at this moment?”

The girl understood his question immediately. “I told mother and father I was heading off to piano lessons early so I could stop at the market.”

He smirked at the excuse, but his smile quickly fell. “Well, we should get going. I do not want you to be late.”

The thought of getting caught remained unsaid, but both individuals were aware of the fact. The child shifted idly, not wanting to leave the beach and her brother just yet. The two cloth pouches pressed against her midsection, only reminding her how truly hopeless their situation was, despite Kimu’s efforts to ease the hardship.

“Can we stay for a little longer?” she begged, “I still have time.”

The male sighed, knowing this was a bad idea, but nodded his head anyway. He let his tense shoulders drop as he leaned back onto his hands, the sea water nipping at his feet. Yōko didn’t bother to move, still huddled in a ball with her knees pulled in. Her hands rested on top on her knees as her eyes settled on the rhythmic pull of the ocean.

“Thank you, Kimu-niichan,” she whispered, almost going unheard.

He looked at her with a blank expression, his brows slightly furrowed in confusion. His right hand, which was hidden from his sister’s view, clenched the fabric of his pants tightly.

“Why… do you call me that?”

“What?” she questioned, not understanding what he was talking about, “Kimu?”

“You know you can just call me by my given name,” the young adult explained, “You do not need to call me that.”

Yōko hummed, “Well, I like it more than your given name. It has more meaning and besides, you chose it yourself… Kimura.”

Hearing his new name out loud made him unconsciously smile, which his sister pointed out to his embarrassment. “See?! Look how happy it makes you!”

He twiddled his fingers together nervously, “I guess it does… though I would still prefer the Yūki name over it.”

The child sighed, “I think Kimura sounds a lot better than Yūki. Embrace it!”

“If you say so. I guess I can try,” the man huffed, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

“That is the spirit, Kimu-niichan!”

With neither more saying a word, they returned to staring out at the sea, letting the calm crashes of the waves wash over them. And as serene as the scene was, his mind was far from clear, still stuck on his sister’s words.

Kimura. It really was a nice name. Going by it wouldn’t be too bad, at least until he could earn the family name. He couldn’t lie, it did make his heart spark whenever someone called him by it. Maybe that was because the new name was truly his own, with such a significant meaning behind it that it could even surpass the infamy that followed the Yūki name. But he would never admit that aloud. After all, his heart still craved to be accepted back to his family, to finally make them proud.

Still, he could work with Kimura.

For Yōko, he would try.

And so he pushed the issue forcefully from his mind. Sure, it was a lot to think about, but right now, he was with his sister. These moments were scarce, so he was going to enjoy them to the fullest. And thanks to the assistance of the morning waves, he was finally able to close his eyes and rest his head.

Kimura.

Kimura.

Kimura.

Kimu-

“Gami!”

Startled, the ghost jumped and turned around. Midoriya sat upright on the guest bed, still in his pajamas. His hair was messier than usual, and his eyes were still sleepy, likely from the late night before with Aizawa. Though, the spirit could tell there was a hint of concern laced in that stare. How long had his successor been calling him? He felt the slightest pang of guilt at that thought.

“I apologize. Do you need me for anything?”

“No, I’m alright. I was just a bit worried,” the teen admitted, “I’ve been calling your name for a while.”

His name? That brought on a wave of pounding in his head, but he didn’t outwardly react. What had he just witnessed? And why did it hurt his head so much to think about?

“I guess I was simply distracted.” For some reason, he really couldn’t bring himself to admit the truth, which was certainly unusual. He couldn’t recall hiding anything from the boy before, so why did he feel so compelled to do so now? “Lost in thought, you could say.”

Midoriya looked a bit skeptical, but quickly dropped his suspicion in favor of getting out of bed. “Well, okay. But you know you can talk to me, right?”

That struck a sensitive nerve the ghost didn’t even know he possessed, but he nodded anyway.

“I am alright.” The man nudged him playfully, bringing a snort out of the teen. He quickly retaliated, shoving his mentor back with a hard push. The two laughed quietly, keeping their voices hushed since the heroes were likely not up just yet.

Gami pushed the strange experience to the back of his mind. While it did concern him slightly, he was with his successor right now. He’d have plenty of time to ponder the issue later, after all.

“Hurry up and get dressed. We can mess around afterwards.”

Chapter Text

When Midoriya woke up that morning, he didn’t sense anything different about it. He got out of bed just as tiredly as he normally did. His bed head was just as messy. The dawn light coming through his window was just as bright. But one thing did stand out, enough to make him question the normalcy of his usual morning.

Gami was staring out the window, not at all bothered by the incoming sunlight.

The teen could reluctantly admit he didn’t know a lot about his mentor, not enough to satisfy his curiosity anyway, but he had picked up a few tidbits about the man. And one of those details was that the ghost hated bright lights.

Again, he wasn’t sure if that was just a personal peeve of the spirit or if all Deaths shied away from the light, but what mattered was that Gami hated bright light. His mentor always looked away whenever Bakugo pulled off a decently large explosion. He always opted for the boy to draw the curtains whenever possible. So to see him stand so nonchalantly as the rising sun encompassed his transparent form certainly made this an extremely strange sight to behold.

He couldn’t help but to ask the man if something was wrong. With his curiosity peaked, he couldn’t restrain the question dangling off the tip of his tongue. But he got no answer, only the sound of his voice echoing around in his still groggy mind. So he presumed the innocent, that his mentor didn’t hear him, and asked again, a little louder this time. But again, there was no response.

Even this early in the morning, Midoriya could still feel the anxiety and concern creeping up his spine. His mouth tasted especially dry, no matter how much he moved his tongue around. He couldn’t shake the somewhat unjustified feeling that something was terribly wrong.

It wasn’t that much longer that Gami finally realized he was being called. The specter simply apologized and shook off his successor's worry at just being distracted. And while he couldn’t help but feel that the man was hiding something, his rationality reminded him that the ghost wasn’t the type to lie. His conscience felt a bit guilty at the invading skepticism, so he just chalked up the experience as unusual and left it at that.

And so the morning continued as it usually did. He got out of bed, the two messed around and annoyed each other, he got dressed, and they both left for the main room. The teen plopped himself down roughly onto the couch, not caring about grace in the moment, and swung his school bad to the side. He leaned back in content, letting his poorly combed hair fall against the sofa. He was supposed to be working, after all, it was the only reason he continued to get up this early, but he couldn't find the right mindset to get started. Something about the day seemed off to him, but he couldn't put his finger on the exact cause.

As he continued to lie there, he watched the spirit float around out of the corner of his eyes. He seemed ansty, unnerved even, an odd trait to associate with the man. But even so, he was doing a damn fine job of hiding it, so Midoriya didn’t bother asking. He was confident Gami would come to him on his own terms if he needed to talk.

His eyelids fluttered unstably, easing towards shutting. Sleep was threatening to claim him once again, and he desperately fought to keep his eyes open. He had work to do and yet, that seemed to be the further thing from his mind. As his eyelids were pulled down like falling curtains, he figured just a minute wouldn’t hurt.

It was ultimate bliss, the satisfying feeling of his eyes closing shut. Focusing his attention on the solitary sound of his slow breathing, he couldn’t help but smile. It was a serene state to be in, feeling all of his worries melt away like ice cream on a summer day. If he could stay like this forever, it would truly be perfect.

“Little listener?”

And just like that, any traces of peace were over.

Snapping his eyes open violently, he was met with the image of Present Mic standing near the couch and Aizawa waiting patiently by the front door. On the floor of the living room rested three of the pair’s cats, with one notable absence. His head shot up from the couch. How long had he been out? Surely it couldn't have been for that long, right? He glanced at the time, if only to reassure himself. But his action did the exact opposite.

“O-oh I’m so sorry!” he exclaimed, realizing how late it currently was. It was likely that the heroes had been waiting on him to leave for U.A. He jumped up, grabbing his backpack in the process and rushed over to slip on his signature red sneakers.

Yamada smiled sheepishly at the boy’s actions. “It’s no big deal. Besides, you looked pretty tired.”

But Midoriya just waved him off. “I didn’t mean to make you guys wait… I didn’t mean to fall asleep in the first place. I was going to-”

The words fell limp in his mouth as he cut himself off. He was supposed to be doing his job, sending souls away to the afterlife, but instead, he went slacking. That was the whole reason for waking up this early. How could he even begin to prioritize sleep over something as important as this? He was supposed to be more responsible than this.

“You were going to?” the blond repeated, trying to goad him into continuing.

“N-nevermind,” the student ended abruptly, no longer wanting to talk, “It’s n-nothing.”

The expressive teacher was put off by the sudden shift in mood from the boy in front of him, but chose not to mention anything, instead opting to lead him out of the house. The three walked down the sidewalk at their usual pace, not bothering to slow at the slight chill of the wind. Both teachers had their breakfast in their hands, though Aizawa’s was only a cup of coffee. But even still, watching both of them enjoy their start to the day only reminded the teen how empty his stomach was. He hadn’t bothered to take anything from the kitchen, still weary about that.

Now, Aizawa was not an idiot. Far from it, actually. So he was able to tell by Midoriya’s hunched over shoulders and slight staggering that he hadn’t eaten, which only made him sigh. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out something wrapped and tossed it behind him, where the boy was walking.

Although he was slightly depressed, that alone did not affect the teen’s sharp instincts as he snappily caught the object thrown at him. He was startled at first, until he looked down at exactly what he had caught. In his hands was a packaged granola bar, nothing too fancy, but certainly enough to sustain him. He looked up with wide eyes, still unsure as to why his homeroom teacher had done that.

“Eat it, Problem Child,” he remarked with a lift in his voice, “You need to start eating regularly if you want to make it as a hero, or you won’t have any stamina to save anyone.”

The comment snapped him out of his stupor and he quickly unwrapped the snack to chow down. It was a bit bland tasting, but nothing to complain about. Every once in a while, his taste buds were greeted with the surprise of a dried strawberry, and that was more than enough to satisfy him.

Present Mic smiled thoughtfully at the man beside him. He wasn’t sure if the boy behind him caught it, but he certainly noticed the change in his partner’s attitude. The ragged hero seemed less annoyed and more playful, which was definitely an improvement. But to save the embarrassment of both parties, the blond kept his comments and smirks to himself.

The three continued their quiet stroll towards the school, with bits of chatter in between. It was mostly the announcer leading the conversation. Aizawa piped in with his own sarcastic comments a few times, but they mostly consisted of smirks and scoffs. Midoriya just quietly listened in as he usually did, but he definitely seemed more engaged. All in all, it was an enjoyable experience for everyone. But it certainly flew by as the magnificent sight of U.A. high school invaded their view.

Neither of the teachers deferred from the usual path through the front entrance, so both the teen and his mentor got a good look. There was a notable lack of reporters, something likely courtesy of the school considering what had happened yesterday. The debris was cleared out as well, not that the boy really expected it to be there.

Narrowing his eyes a bit further, he could tell that the barrier itself was completely intact again. He assumed it was either Cementoss or Powerloader that repaired the structure, maybe even both. It was relieving to know that this part of the school’s defense system was back up and running again. It gave his anxiety a little less edge to grab onto.

“Wow,” Yamada commented, seeming to be experiencing the same awe as himself, “Nezu sure got this fixed fast.”

“It was to be expected,” his partner remarked, “Sure, Nezu’s chaotic, but he’s not evil. He wouldn’t let such a major slip in his school’s defenses remain for even a short amount of time. I bet he had the barrier repaired before nightfall yesterday.”

“Well, that is certainly reassuring,” the blond sighed, resting a hand on his hip.

Eventually, they pulled themselves along past the front entrance and into the main building of the school. Pilling into the 1-A classroom as they usually did, the three, plus one ghost, all moved to find something to do for the next hour. Eraserhead settled on paperwork, as usual, Present Mic scrolled through the latest updates on his phone, Gami opted for staring out the window, and Midoriya scribbled in one of his notebooks, fine tuning his analysis and drawings. This was routine for the males and they fell into it each day as easily as breathing. The clock could have ticked by for hours and they all would still be content with their current situation, but thankfully, Aizawa’s watchful perception of time remained. They’d all eventually file out to their proper positions in their respective classrooms, but for now, all was filled with a quiet sense of serenity.

The 1-A classroom door was suddenly slammed open, crashing against its frame. The loud bang that resonated after startled everyone in the room, some more obvious than others.

All of their heads snapped like seagulls on a beach, eager to know who decided on such an entrance. But when the short principal met their glance, a collective sigh rang about the room.

And just like that, any traces of peace were over.

“Ah, good morning everyone!” Nezu greeted with his typical overly cheery tone, “I see you’re all up and about as usual.”

The underground hero rolled his eyes so drastically, Midoriya was afraid they’d roll right back into his head. “If you could call this up and about.”

That was enough to make the rodent chuckle, but it wasn’t for long as his tone shifted towards serious. “I wish my visit was simply to wisecrack and bother you all, but I’m afraid we have more professional matters to speak of.”

That caught both of the teachers’ attention immediately, as well as the student, who opted to sit quietly and continue observing. Gami too turned from the window to focus on whatever the chaotic mammal prepared to spill.

“All Might hasn’t arrived yet,” he admitted, “which leads me to believe he is out heroing right now.”

Present Mic failed to see the importance in that fact, but backed up the principal anyway, “He is. It’s all over social media currently, as well as most networks.”

Aizawa, on the other hand, resisted the instinct to slam his palm into his face. “He is truly the height of irrationality.”

“I don’t think I’m on the same page as you two,” the blond confessed, “I know he tends to arrive late and disheveled, but what’s so bad about that?”

The raven haired man turned to his partner. “All Might’s supposed to be joining my homeroom for heroics today, but at this rate, he’ll reach his time limit way before that.”

The boy’s ears perked up at that comment. The number one hero was going to be a part of their class today? Did that mean they were going to do another episode of battle training, or something different this time? Thinking of both possibilities made a small shudder slither down his spine.

He turned his focus back to his homeroom teacher, who seemed to be teetering between annoyance and fury. “Call him right now, and remind him of everything he’s got planned for today. Maybe that will set his priorities straight.”

Nezu sighed, before pulling out his phone and clicking it on, revealing three different call notifications, “Ah, but I’ve already tried, Aizawa-san. He simply won’t pick up.”

The hero seethed, “I keep telling myself I’m going to go off on him, and then I never do. I swear this will be the time he gets it.”

“Well, I’ll keep trying to reach him,” the rodent shrugged, “But I merely stopped by to inform you there’s a high chance he will either show up late or not at all. Hopefully, you can plan around that.”

And with that, the principal swiveled around sharply and exited the classroom, leaving a pretty peeved Aizawa, an exceptionally confused Yamada, and a slightly intrigued Midoriya there to eat his dust. The underground pro stormed off to his desk and pulled out his phone, presumably to call some other heroes, and Present Mic shook himself out of his stupor and returned to occupying his time with his own phone. The teen drooped his head back into his notebook, but his mind was leagues elsewhere.

What was going on in heroics today that was important enough for All Might’s presence? Whatever was planned, it seemed crucial enough that Nezu came to personally tell Aizawa the unfortunate information. Even still, the cryptic way both heroes spoke about the upcoming event only made him more curious, though the boy figured it was likely so he wouldn’t know in advance and possibly spill to his classmates. Either way, he now had something to think about for a good portion of the day.

Though, in the back of his mind, he wondered if it was truly a bad thing that he wished All Might would at least show up late…

Gami, who had been silently observing the entire interaction, as well as each individual’s reaction, finally floated over to stand next to his successor.

“Well, that was certainly something… though the peaceful atmosphere seems to have dissipated.”

And the teen truly couldn’t agree more.

The possibilities of what today’s heroics class was going to be focusing on really did last a good portion of the day. The minutes flew by so quickly, he hadn’t even realized it was lunch until he found himself walking on autopilot to the cafeteria. The teen didn’t bother to get any food, sitting down at his usual table with one of his worn notebooks. The granola he had earlier sat heavy in his stomach, but he had gone far worse in the past, so the slight aches didn’t faze him anymore.

Ever since moving in with Aizawa and Yamada, Midoriya had been eerily aware of his draining reserve of money. His new home was much farther away from the communities he was used to working in, so he had essentially lost his income entirely. He wasn’t sure if either of the heroes had noticed his lunch account yet, but based on the fact it only grew smaller each day, he was sure they hadn’t. The boy had been very reserved with spending for the past few days, but he was desperately looking for another source of income before either one of them found out or he starved. He feared the pros would only grow more annoyed with him if they discovered his monetary troubles.

Like clockwork, Iida and Uraraka sat down to join him for lunch, each with a tray of food. The brunette always had noticeably less though, compared to Iida, and he hadn’t been able to tell if that was because they differed in monetary income or dietary routines. But either way, they both looked overjoyed just to sit down and take a break from classes, away from even the smallest bits of stress that plagued at their conscience.

Midoriya wished his head could do the same.

“I’m really excited for heroics today!” He snapped his head to see Uraraka cheering to the strict boy next to her. He must have missed the start of their conversation while he was thinking, but nevertheless he could still catch on to the gist of what they were saying.

“As am I,” the glasses-wearing student replied stiffly, throwing his hands into the air while still holding his chopsticks, “Though I do wonder what Aizawa-sensei has planned for us.”

He debated whether to let his friends in on what little he knew, but decided against it. Aizawa and Nezu had gone through the effort to keep him out of the loop concerning whatever was happening after lunch and he would respect that, no matter his curiosity. Besides, heroics was approaching momentarily, and his inquiry would be satiated along with the rest of the class.

“You’ve been quiet, Midori,” Uraraka commented suddenly at him, startling him out of his thoughts. He jumped slightly, dropping his pencil onto one of the open pages of his notebook, despite having written nothing so far.

“Ah sorry,” he replied sheepishly, rubbing his neck with one of his gloved hands, “Just lost in thought I guess.”

Somehow, that phrase alone made him feel sick to his stomach. Although it was still a half truth, the way it left his mouth made his conscience feel guilty, as if he was purposely lying straight to their faces.

“You look a little pale, Midoriya,” Iida hummed anxiously, the cafeteria light glinting off the edge of his glasses, “You haven’t been eating lunch lately either.”

Was he pale? He certainly had no idea, though that was to be expected since he wasn't in front of a mirror. He didn’t doubt it though, as he suddenly began to feel shaky and lightheaded. He knew Iida was very observant when it came to the routines of others, and so it shouldn’t have surprised him when he pointed out his lackluster eating habits. But it did, and now Midoriya was caught on the spot having to lie to the face of someone he genuinely cared about, and the thought made him even sicker than before.

“I guess I just haven’t been hungry.” That wasn’t even a half truth this time, as he felt his stomach revolt against his will. But he refused to add anything more than that, opting to drown in the silence he created instead.

His rule abiding male friend looked even more concerned that before, shooting one of his hands swiftly in a chopping motion. “That is unbecoming of a promising hero such as yourself. You need to manage a healthier, more sustainable diet if you wish to continue performing at peak efficiency.”

The seriousness of the boy in front of him made him momentarily forget about his stress and sickliness, and he laughed heartily at first, but the longer the laugh drew out, the more it seemed to die off. No one seemed to notice though, as Iida looked genuinely confused, more so after Uraraka joined him in his giggles. Even Gami, unknown to the others, huffed in amusement.

After a few more moments, the teen quieted himself down so the hints of gloominess in his voice would remain hidden. Settling down into a more serious matter, he turned to face Iida, a hint of guilt shining in his irises, invisible unless you looked close enough.

“I’ll try,” he told him with a weighty tone, but that completely betrayed how he was feeling on the inside. Somehow, his body became even sicker, as if a physical reaction to his guilt was possible. But he ignored his shaky hands, dry throat, and the nauseating feeling currently spreading throughout his entire self, and pushed his fake confidence so far outwards, it may as well have been extruding from his body.

Iida seemed to take that pitiful lie at face value and calmed down, lowering his hands to continue eating, but not before forcefully pushing Midoriya one of the few bowls of rice on his plate. Said boy looked stunned for a moment and his fingers twitched, eagerly wanting to snatch up the food and chow down. But he paused for a moment, remembering that he wasn’t supposed to be hungry.

“Iida, I can’t accept this…” Was it wrong that the teen secretly wished he could, even after lying straight to his face?

“Nonsense!” But thankfully, the strict boy was certainly persistent. “I insist! You need to eat something before heroics.”

He moved to deny again, but his stomach growled aggressively and he caved, much to his displeasure. Picking up the set of chopsticks he was also handed, he began to nibble away at the food in front of him, hoping it would ease the sickness gnawing at him. But if anything, it only made him feel worse, as every bite was forced down his throat.

“Uhh, Midori, are you sure you’re alright?” Uraraka asked, worry laced in her voice.

He hadn’t noticed he had set down his chopsticks on the table in favor of holding his head. The boy felt like laying down and keeling over, the utter nausea rushing through his veins like blood. His head throbbed painfully, almost as if it were splitting open from the inside and something was trying to climb out. Coupled with the sickening feeling of wanting to throw up, and he felt agonizingly awful.

This wasn’t normal hunger pains, and he would know. Something was terribly wrong.

“Yeah, I’m alright.” The lie didn’t even faze him anymore, his own pain drowning it out. “I just need a second.”

Gami had now floated over, clearly realizing something was wrong with his successor. Even through his agony, Midoriya noticed the ghost seemed increasingly worried, his movements antsy and panicked. He could barely register the touch of his cold, bony hand against his shoulder.

“You truly look unwell, Midoriya.” Iida had now hoped on the bandwagon as well. “Maybe you should have Recovery Girl check you out?”

The teen wanted to say something in response, but he couldn't bring his mouth to form any words. It felt as if all of the stamina had been sucked out of his body, like he went through Recovery Girl’s quirk again. His head slumped into his hands as his eyelids fluttered shut, unable to keep them open anymore. The voices of his friends grew smaller and smaller until they faded away completely. The only thing that remained in his muddy conscience was the sharp digging on his shoulder by a familiarly comfortable force.

That’s why, when the darkness around him morphed into a theme park of some sorts, he wasn’t that surprised.

It should have been obvious that he was entering another premonition, but he’d never had an entry as painfully uncomfortable as that, so it didn’t dawn on him until now. Even still, he felt quite idiotic for not realizing it sooner.

But now wasn’t the time to harp on his stupidity. He had much more important things to do, such as actually figure out who would die here and what he could do to stop it.

Looking around, it seemed as if he was frozen in the middle of the park, near a central fountain. Surrounding him were different… biomes, if he could call them that. There was an area full of water, with a ship floating in the center. There was an area on fire, with plumes of smoke billowing from the taller buildings. Even an area that looked to have been wrecked by a landslide. The more he observed, the more he began to understand this was not a theme park, but something else entirely.

There was a deafening smash from behind him, and so Midoriya swiveled his head around to the best of his ability. The sight that met his eyes utterly horrified him.

Aizawa, face bloodied and limbs battered, being held by a terrifying amalgamation that almost resembled a bird. The monster’s brain was exposed, protruding out of its skull, but its eyes held no reflection of pain, just sheer indifference. Inside its beak hid sharp, jagged teeth, though just from the make, the boy doubted it could speak. Its limbs were nothing but muscle, with red hot scars that danced along its dark navy, nearing black, skin. Surprisingly, the monster was dressed in a pair of beige shorts with kneecaps that looked like morphed skulls. Its feet were disgustingly humanoid, with five toes that were spread too far apart to be considered normal.

He wanted to run. He wanted to run towards the man so badly and pry the beast off of him. He wanted to watch it disintegrate under his fingertips, until nothing was left of it but ash, just to convince his conscience it was truly dead. He wanted to scream, to scream for help, to scream for the monster to stop. He wanted to do something, but his body was unmoving, completely out of his control.

He could only watch, as the thing bashed his teacher’s head into the ground over and over and over again.

Aizawa then picked his head up, and that’s when the teen noticed his arm was bent in the wrong direction. His capture scarf was in tatters. And blood pooled around his barely lifeless form. That’s when he realized how truly hopeless the situation was.

Even still, his favorite hero found the strength to pick his head up, and Midoriya watched him flash his quirk to the left. His own head snapped in that direction as well, and just as he thought he couldn’t be more sick, he was proven wrong.

Hiding in the water at the edge of the flooded zone, he could make out Asui and Mineta, his two classmates dressed in their hero costumes. Even from his distance, he could also make out their petrified faces as a figure, covered in what he disgustingly realized was severed human hands, reached out to grasp one of his own hands towards Asui’s face. He could only watch as he wrapped all five fingers around her face and waited with fearful anticipation.

But nothing happened.

The boy turned back to his prone teacher to see that his line of sight had connected with the man’s, stopping whatever he had planned to do to his classmate. He almost sighed in relief, but the breath was caught in his throat when the monster slammed Aizawa’s head back into the ground. And this time, he felt it.

He felt the excruciating force behind each blow, and it made him want to just sink into the ground and let death accept him. He was sure that if his head was truly being pummeled into the earth, his face would be beyond broken by now, blood gushing everywhere. And just as he assumed the hits would stay relentless, they stopped.

It took a lot of effort to lift his own head up, even though it was perfectly fine, but he managed. The beast had stopped bashing his teacher’s head into the ground, holding it up in the air instead. He watched Aizawa struggle, but inevitably was forced to open his aching eyes and stare in the direction he was being held in.

Midoriya looked over too and stared horrifyingly along with the underground pro at the blue haired man looming over his classmates. The man said something he couldn’t make out and then released a chilling laugh, the sound alone shaking him to his core. He couldn’t remember the last time he had felt this scared, this helpless towards the likely end of a life. Even the hero appeared unnerved, though it was hard to tell underneath all of his blood, both caked and fresh.

Then, the villain grabbed Asui’s face again. He could tell out of the corner of his eye that Aizawa had activated his quirk again, but the man didn’t bother to let go. With the same chilling voice, he simply counted down. The student knew almost immediately that the man was counting down the seconds until Aizawa’s quirk gave out, but couldn’t stop his mind from mentally counting down as well. He was petrified at what would happen when he reached zero, but there was nothing he could do. He could only watch.

5…

He strained his legs, but they were frozen in place. No matter how hard he tried, there was no moving from his designated spot.

4…

He watched as Mineta remained frozen as well, though completely out of fear. He was visually trembling in the water, bloody tears streaming down his face.

3…

His breathing began to turn erratic as he watched Asui struggle to get away from the terrifying villain in front of her. But the man simply remained unfazed and gripped her arm with his other hand. He did take note that the man was purposely keeping his pinky in the air, not letting it rest on her arm like the rest of his fingers.

2…

He felt the wet tears run down his face, unable to cease them. Asui had started crying as well, but the villain was not swayed. It was easy to forget what a dangerous world he lived in, as the daily normalcy easily turned him lax. Then, he’d be reminded of death like a slap in the face, leaving as quickly as it came, but the sting remaining on him forever. It was an ugly contradiction, and he wished the universe would just pick one and leave him be.

1…

Aizawa desperately tried to escape the monster’s grasp but he was too weak, and the beast too strong. He had screamed something at the villain, but the teen couldn’t understand what it was. It just sounded like an anguished cry, which felt alien coming from the normally stoic pro. Something about the sound tore his soul apart.

0…

The hero was forced to blink, his eyes laced with anger as they closed for a split second, but that was all the man needed.

Midoriya felt the burning on his face before he even heard Asui scream. The pain was unbearably excruciating as the skin on his face felt as if it was falling apart. He didn’t dare open his eyes to see the state of his female classmate, afraid the sight would scar him forever. He clawed his gloves at his cheeks, desperate to make it stop.

He knew by the pain when exactly Asui gave out, but her screaming continued, echoing around in his head. That was all he could focus on, even as the pain of being bashed into the ground returned. He never knew experiencing two different deaths at once would be so painful, but he should have figured. But he couldn’t do anything about it, only wait and hope it would stop soon, the screaming, the pain, all of it.

But everything continued for an agonizingly long amount of time, almost as if the universe enjoyed to watch him suffer. He wouldn’t dare open his eyes though, not wanting to see the limp and mangled bodies of his teacher and classmate. Why wasn’t he waking up yet? He usually woke up shortly after experiencing the death in each premonition, but now, it felt like he had been standing here forever. He could feel the seconds tick by in his head and Asui’s screaming finally dwell down, but he was still here.

The only thing left he could do was open his eyes.

Was this some sort of sick joke? Did he have to see their bodies in order to wake up? That was never a requirement before. With Iida and Uraraka’s premonition, he didn’t get to see their bodies before he woke up, only the traumatizing feeling of their deaths. So why now? Why here? Was it because Asui and Aizawa’s demises were much more violent? He didn’t want to look. He didn’t want to see them in such a state. But he couldn’t stay trapped like this forever, or else they would certainly die as he just watched them.

He had to do it. Midoriya just kept telling himself that. He had to do it. It was like ripping off a band aid, as quick and painless as it could be. He was scared though. He was utterly terrified at what he’d see, but he had to do it.

Without warning, he shot open his eyelids, not bothering to stall any longer.

He took one, quick look at the scene around him, and promptly threw up all over the bloody earth.

“-ori! Midori! Please say something!”

The boy woke up with a gasp, eyes wide and desperate to fixate on other than the image circling in his head. He settled on his friends, who were staring at him concerningly. His hands were still shaky and the phantom taste of bile still remained in his throat. He reached his trembling hands up to touch his face and sighed in relief at feeling it intact. His instincts had told him the skin was likely in shambles since faint pain was still there, even though his common sense kept repeating that what he had just seen was all in his head.

He opened his mouth to say something, but his throat was too dry to even create sounds. He coughed instead, wheezing and hacking out any bits of rice he had managed to consume before the vision. He felt Gami pat him on the back gently as Iida passed him the unopened bottle of water on his tray. He didn’t even think to deny it, acting purely on autopilot, and let it wash down his throat. But even then it did nothing to erase the taste of acid and fear.

He could hear the ghost murmuring something to him, but it all felt incoherent to his jumbled thoughts. He just needed to get out of here. Away from his friends, from the loud setting of the cafeteria, from the now sickening smell of food. Away to a place he could pick himself back up again.

“I… I’m fine,” he finally answered hoarsely, “I just… I need to go…”

“Let us take you to Recovery Girl!” Uraraka cried out, “You don’t look good at all.”

“No,” he replied a little more forcefully than before, “No it’s fine. I’m just going… to the bathroom.”

“But we should accompany you!” Iida pushed.

“I’ll be fine…”

Midoriya didn’t bother to wait for a response, getting up from the table and striding off. He couldn’t hear his friends cry out for his return over the loud chaos of the other kids, nor Gami asking him to slow down. He simply walked wherever his feet were taking him, which currently was out of the cafeteria. Once he exited the large room, he took a moment to slump against the wall and try and process what had just happened. Thankfully, his friends had respected his wishes and left him to his own devices, though he wasn’t sure if that was what he truly needed.

“Just breathe.” The spirit had placed both of his hands on his successor’s shoulders, instructing him inhale and exhale. “Just breathe…”

And so he did. Taking in a breath, his mind was finally able to register what exactly he had just witnessed. The blood, the screams, the pure agony of it all. He unconsciously began to cry, the tears streaming silently down his face.

When the teen started to cry, the ghost was certain he was doing something wrong, so he anxiously pulled him in for a tight hug. He didn’t realize the boy was heading into a premonition, and he felt like an utter failure. What kind of mentor was he, to let his successor suffer alone like this? So he just resorted to what he best knew, gentle affection. Hair ruffles, soft touches, warm hugs, anything to let him know that he would be alright.

At that exact moment, Gami promised to himself that he would do better. If not for his dwindling confidence, then for the sake of his successor. Because even though that was his only relation to the boy, he was so much more. He truly deserved so much more.

But right now, he wasn’t sure whether to break the solemn silence or not. Listening to the muffled cries against his robe made his nonexistent heart shatter, so he opted to talk instead.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

That was a stupid question. But at least it got the boy talking instead of sobbing.

“N-no,” he hiccuped, “I need to g-get to Nezu…”

Gami cocked his head slightly, though it went unnoticed. So someone important must have died then? Or at least, someone related to U.A. But he didn’t question it as much as he wanted to. After all, his priority was getting the teen to calm down, and that started with Nezu.

He gripped Midoriya’s hand in one of his bony ones, and pulled him along. He could hear the soft sniffles behind him, reminding the specter of a small, lost child. He stopped at each intersection, looking to make sure it was empty before leading him down a new hallway. The last thing he thought his successor would want is to be seen at such a low point by a complete stranger.

Thankfully, Gami’s current memory was decent, and he managed to navigate the hall straight to the principal’s office. Curling his free hand into a fist, he moved to knock softly on the door, but simply passed right through. Huffing in annoyance, he turned back to the disheveled boy behind him.

“I apologize,” he started carefully, not wanting to set him off on another sob fest, “but I cannot touch the door.”

The teen seemed to understand well enough, and knocked politely on the door, despite his current state. It only took a few seconds for the door to be opened though.

“Ah Midoriy-” Nezu greeted as he usually did, but cut himself off upon observing the boy’s appearance, “Would you like to come inside?”

He didn’t spare a moment of hesitation as he nodded. The principal moved to allow him to walk inside, so he did, the silent tears never leaving his cheeks.

The ghost followed suit, his desire for an explanation now the furthest thing from his mind.

After a few minutes of Midoriya blubbering inaudibles, Nezu could only make out that single statement about Aizawa dying, so he quickly called the man to join them in his office.

The pro rushed in, fully not expecting to see his student broken down in tears on the rodent’s couch. He looked over to Nezu, who, for once, had a slightly confused expression on his face, one he had never seen the principal display before. But nonetheless, he slowly sat down on the other side of the couch, doing his best to goad the boy into talking.

The teen, upon seeing Aizawa alive and well, was torn between feeling relieved and crying harder, so he settled for choked silence. Thankfully, the silence was all his conscience really needed to finish collecting itself from the traumatizing vision before. His tear ducts were finally dry, having truly nothing left to cry. All that was left was his uneven breathing and shaky form, to which Gami was doing his best to coach him through.

“Problem Child,” Aizawa started off delicately, “Do you want to talk about what happened?”

“I…” He choked on his saliva, causing him to enter another coughing fit. “I s-saw you…”

Both individuals in the room waited patiently for the student to gather up his thoughts, or his courage, whichever of the two he was lacking.

“You d… you died.”

And then the boy spilled everything.

Aizawa had to admit, he was a bit unnerved listening to the gruesome tale of his demise. He could feel the shivers running down his spine at every excruciating detail, and yet his conscience still wanted to know more. Even Nezu was oddly intrigued at hearing about a death before it happened.

Though, the more Midoriya talked, the more his concern grew. Listening to the boy recount the death of one of his other students almost made him sick. The severity of both his and Asui’s deaths were truly nothing to scoff at. And as more details came flooding in, both Aizawa and Nezu started putting the pieces together.

“It sounds an awful lot like you’re describing the USJ building on campus,” the mammal clarified, “Each of its natural disaster zones matches one of the areas in your account.”

“Plus the fountain in the central plaza,” Eraserhead added with a bit of a heavier voice than he usually had.

The two teachers shared a look, with a now calmer Midoriya wondering what exactly was going on. The underground hero held a strong look in his eyes as he shot his glance straight through the rodent.

“I’m canceling the rescue training today,” he voiced firmly.

“Aizawa-san,” Nezu argued, “We don’t know whether this incident happens today or sometime in the future-”

“This is too much of a coincidence, even for you Nezu,” he interrupted violently, his eyes narrowing into a thin line.

Both began to argue back and forth about the trip, to which the teen now assumed was what was planned for heroics. Gami had now moved to stand next to him from his previous spot behind the couch. He attempted to graze one of his hands along the armrest, but it just went straight through.

“I am sorry you had to see that.” The ghost felt the need to apologize, even though there wasn’t really anything he could do.

“It was so awful.” His successor’s whisper was hoarse and nearly inaudible. “I don’t want to see it again.”

“I know,” the man reassured, though his condolences felt weak, “I know.”

The duo tuned back into the main conversation, hoping to catch themselves up to speed.

“These villains sound extremely dangerous,” Aizawa ranted, “I am not exposing my students to such a hazard.”

“But this could be a one in a time opportunity to scout out or capture these villains,” Nezu rebutted, “After all, one of them seems to have a decay quirk, which makes them likely our infiltrator from yesterday.”

The teen hadn’t even thought of that, but now that the principal had introduced the idea, it made a lot of sense. Decay quirks were pretty uncommon, and he was sure that the blue haired freak from his premonition had one, if Asui’s death had anything to say about it. He shuddered at remembering the horrific pain, his fingers instinctively reaching for his cheeks again.

“I am not putting my students at risk for this.” The hero remained firm.

“And you won’t have to,” the mammal replied calmly, “I’ll have the entire staff on standby. I will permit absolutely no casualties.”

Aizawa was growing more and more frustrated at the rodent’s stubbornness, tightening his fists against his pants. The principal however, was unfazed and unmoving, still flashing his signature cheery smile that was extremely uncomfortable considering the current situation.

Then, without warning, Nezu turned towards the seated boy on his couch. “What do you think, Midoriya? After all, you are the one with the most experience in handling these premonitions.”

Startled, he flinched back into the couch, sinking deeper into the cushions. He wasn’t expecting to participate in the conversation other than explaining what he saw. But his hesitance still got the better of him as he stuttered to try and respond.

The last thing Eraserhead wanted was to involve Midoriya in something like this, but Nezu did bring up a good point. The teen did have the most experience concerning his visions and what to do to best guarantee his success. If anyone had the best advice, it would be him.

Weighing his options carefully, the boy wasn’t sure what exactly he should say. Of course the obvious answer would be to not go on the trip at all, prevention being the easiest and safest solution. However, his premonitions were picky when it came to timing. If he tried to prevent a death too early, it could end up causing a scenario where that person could die anyway, and he wouldn’t be able to stop it. Would it be wise to risk both Aizawa and Asui’s lives like that and just cancel the trip? Either way he’d be risking their lives, one was just more of a controlled situation than the other.

“I think…” he started, “I think it would be best not to cancel the trip.”

Nezu looked pleased, while Aizawa harshened his glare unconsciously.

“Explain, Problem Child.”

The boy looked away from his teacher’s line of sight, opting to stare at the floor instead. “If my premonitions are intercepted too early, there’s a chance the death will happen anyway, just in a different way. Those kinds of deaths… I don’t get to see…”

He didn’t have to continue his explanation for both individuals in the room to understand.

The principal clapped his paws together. “That settles it! It does make sense to follow what we know now, then wait for the unknown later.”

Aizawa sighed, finally admitting defeat, “I still don’t like this…”

“Neither do I, Aizawa-san,” the rodent concurred, “Don’t let my demeanor fool you. I am just as concerned for the safety of our students as you are. This does seem like the safest option, however it is not ideal for me either.”

Both the pro and the student were genuinely shocked at Nezu’s sincere choice of words. It wasn’t something either of them witnessed often enough to really be used to. But neither could detect any traces of deceit in his tone, so they accepted it much quicker than they probably should have.

“How should I inform Thirteen?” The hero moved on to his next set of questions. “He doesn’t know about Midoriya’s true abilities.”

That made said boy’s head perk up. He really didn’t want his secret spilled to anyone else.

“I’ll just tell them this info was leaked to me anonymously,” he answered, “I’ll deal with any questions they have later.”

“And All Might?”

Nezu paused, “Ah, about that…”

Eraserhead’s demeanor changed almost instantaneously. “Nezu…”

“He still hasn’t arrived yet, and he still isn’t responding to any of my calls,” he stated almost solemnly, “But I’ll make sure he is available by the time your rescue training comes around.”

“Nezu, this is serious. You better,” the ragged man growled.

“You really worry too much, Aizawa-san.” The principal’s eerily cheery personality returned, making both of the deathly duo deadpan. “Ah would you look at the time! Both of you should be off by now!”

Gami grew suspicious of how quickly the mammal changed the subject, and he wasn’t the only one. However, no one bothered to argue any longer, seriously worn out from the dump of morbid information earlier. Aizawa stood up from his position on the couch, having sat down earlier in the midst of the conversation, and beckoned his student to follow suit. Like a lost puppy, Midoriya trailed behind, twiddling his fingers anxiously. Together, they left the office, strolling down the hallway towards the 1-A classroom. There was still a good 10 minutes before lunch ended, so the halls were relatively empty of students or staff.

The pro hero could tell something was bothering the teen behind him. His posture and expression screamed nervousness, but he wasn’t sure why. Aizawa figured the boy was still being eaten away by his premonition, and decided to break the silence. Letting him fester in his likely morbid thoughts would not be good for anyone.

“Problem Child-”

“I’m sorry!” he interrupted abruptly.

“What?” Now he was confused. “Why are you apologizing?”

He had stopped walking and turned completely around to give the student his full attention, with his typically tired and glaring eyes softer and more confused. The boy had paused as well, looking down at his shoes instinctively before shaking his head to himself and making shy eye contact.

“I j-just thought…” he stumbled over his words, “I just thought you’d be mad-”

Now it was Aizawa’s turn to interrupt. “Why would I be mad?”

“C-cause I didn’t agree with you… about the trip,” he murmured.

The ragged man huffed, seeing the boy’s point, “Sure, we didn’t agree, but I’ll trust your judgement. Right now, all we can rationally do is hope for the best and expect the worst.”

Midoriya nodded, but it was easy to tell he was not convinced.

“If anything does happen,” the pro started carefully, the words slowly forming on his tongue, “then… I give you full permission to use your abilities on anyone, as long as it's to save a life.”

Eyes widening, he nodded again, this time, with a bit of shaky confidence.

Eraserhead’s signature smirk reappeared on his face, “Also, I’m not going down without a fight, so I’ll be alright. Got that, Problem Child?”

The teen let out a nervous laugh, still a bit hesitant in his action. He nodded for a third time, not trusting his words to hide his true feelings, and the two continued their way back to the classroom for the last class of the day.

The entire way back, however, Aizawa hoped to the universe and above that he hadn’t just made a promise he couldn’t keep.

“Now for today’s basic hero training…”

Midoriya thought it was truly amazing how well of a poker face his homeroom teacher could put up. He didn’t look nervous for what might happen this afternoon at all. While himself, on the other hand, was shaking in his boots. Gami had assured him it wasn’t at all noticeable, but he felt he was trembling so violently, he could very well start an earthquake.

“This time,” the pro continued, “All Might, myself, and one other hero will supervise.”

The boy knew the unnamed other hero was most likely Thirteen, since that was who Aizawa and Nezu were discussing earlier. Despite that, he was still the most worried about All Might, if the principal’s comments at the start of the day and just now meant anything. Where even was the number one hero, if he wasn’t at U.A.? He was now starting to regret wishing the hero would show up late to today’s event…

“Um,” a thin, black haired kid with bulky elbows stated. He really needed to learn everyone’s names already. “What’re we doing exactly?”

If someone had asked that before lunch, Midoriya would have been just as curious, excited even. But now, he knew how this afternoon could possibly be headed, and that made him not want to hear the answer at all.

“Preparing you for disaster relief, from fires to floods.” Eraserhead was really trying to hype this up. The teen wasn’t sure if this was just a part of the hero’s planned speal, or if he was attempting to express his truly calm facade. Whatever it was, it was working as the entire class was on the edge of their seats.

“It’s rescue training!”

And with that, the class erupted.

“Rescue, huh…” a boy with blond hair moaned. Midoriya remembered his quirk, a powerful electricity one with a high drawback, but for the life of him, he couldn’t remember his name. “Sounds like another rough day.”

“Right!” the pink skinned girl, Ashido, agreed. Though, her face adorned the opposite expression, one of unrestrained excitement.

“Come on!!” Kirishima argued, not seeming to understand Ashido’s playfulness, “This is what being a hero is all about! I’m pumped!!”

The quiet teen picked up on Asui’s voice throughout the chaos. “I’ll be right at home in a flood, ribbit.”

“Hey,” Aizawa’s annoyed tone cut through the excessive noise, “I’m not done.”

Everyone turned their attention back to the teacher standing at the front of the room. The hero was now standing in front of his desk, holding a remote in one of his hands. He allowed the silence to fully engulf the classroom before clicking it, making the walls extend exactly as they had right before the battle training. Again, the numbered cubbies protruded from the walls, each holding a different classmate’s hero costume.

“It’s up to each of you whether or not you wear your costumes,” Eraserhead explained, “as some of them are ill-suited towards this sort of activity.”

Even with that, both the boy and his mentor doubted anyone would opt to not wear their costumes.

“The training site is a bit remote, so we’ll be going by bus.” The pro stuffed the remote into his back pocket just as the walls finished moving. “That’s all. Get ready.”

Gami watched his successor deadpan at the hero’s choice of words. Even in a situation like this, he still managed to resort to his sarcastic comments. But nonetheless, the boy stood up and joined the back of the crowd, trailing behind the mob. He walked into the locker room quietly, beelining for one of the back stalls, when Iida stopped him.

“Midoriya, are you feeling better?” he questioned with a mix of worry and skepticism, “You didn’t return to lunch?”

That was right. He never returned to the cafeteria. Iida and Uraraka must have been worried about him. How could he forget?

“Ah yeah, sorry,” he apologized sheepishly, “But I’m feeling better…”

The strict boy moved his hands around swiftly. “That is most reassuring! But do remember to take a break if you begin feeling unwell again.”

“I will, I will.” Iida reminded him of a worried dad. He truly was the perfect choice for class president, much better than whatever he could have done.

That felt like the end of the conversation, so he moved towards the back stall like he intended. In his hands were his folded gym uniform, as well as his extra turtleneck and his costume accessories.

His hero costume hadn’t made it through the battle training in one piece, so it was sent off to the school’s support department for repairs and improvements. Unfortunately, the team had been taking their time on it, so it wasn’t ready for him yet. So instead, Midoriya was forced to wear his gym attire, which would make him stand out like a sore thumb. Luckily, his accessories had made it out almost completely unscathed, so he was still able to wear those.

The teen slipped on his iron tipped combat boots and tucked the ends of his uniform pants inside. He clipped his utility bag over his leg and waist, and pulled the top of the gym uniform over his own turtleneck. Fixing his gloves evenly, he smoothed out any obvious wrinkles, running over his plan in his head.

“Please, do not stress too much…”

He looked up. It had been a while since Gami had talked.

“I’m just worried,” he admitted, “I know something really bad is going to happen, and yet I feel so helpless. Where do I even start?”

The ghost put a finger up to where his chin would likely be. “Well, sticking by Asui would be a good place to start, since she is less experienced in combat than Eraserhead.”

His successor hummed quietly, nodding his head. They were still in the stall, but his other male classmates were already leaving the locker room, judging by the mass loud tread heading in the opposite direction. The boy began to look more stressed than before, but the man simply ran his fingers through his unruly hair.

“We can go over the details on the bus,” he added, “If that is what would make you feel better.”

“I’d like that,” he mumbled under his breath, twirling his fingers anxiously.

And that was all it took for Midoriya to come rushing out of the bathroom stall, his U.A. uniform folded in hand. He stuffed it messily into his assigned locker, before running out of the room in a frenzied attempt to catch up with everyone.

He met up with Uraraka near the grounds outside the school. It seemed as if his entire class was already there, making him shuffle in embarrassment. The brunette analysed his attire swiftly, furrowing her eyebrows.

“You wore your gym clothes, Midori?” she wondered, “Where’s your costume?”

The boy scratched the back of his neck. “It didn’t make it through the battle training in one piece, so the school’s support team is repairing it. They haven’t finished yet though…”

“Oh,” she replied, tilting her head, “You still look super cool though!”

He stuttered, not understanding why she was complimenting him, “C-cool?”

“Yeah!” the girl cheered, “It might just be the way you’re carrying yourself, but you look super ready to kick butt!”

“Ah, t-thanks.” He wasn’t sure how to respond to that.

But before she could say anything more, Iida’s voice cut through the crowd. The reserved student picked his form out from the group, watching him chop the air violently with his hands.

“Line up according to your I.D. numbers,” he shouted, blowing into a whistle that had seemingly appeared out of nowhere, “Fill these seats in an orderly fashion!”

“He sure is going full throttle…”

He couldn’t help but agree with his mentor. Iida was sure taking his role as class president very seriously.

He listened as Tokoyami, who was standing a few feet away from him, groaned loudly, likely at Iida’s declaration. Dark Shadow, who was floating behind him, began cackling, probably teasing the bird boy. Midoriya couldn’t stop the quiet giggle that escaped his lips and he tried to use a heavy sigh to hide it. Nobody really noticed the small sound, that or they just didn’t care, but the shadow snapped his head towards the boy. Both he and Gami watched Dark Shadow flash a smirk and a thumbs up at him before returning to pester his partner. The duo were immediately filled with amusement, pushing back the daunting possibility of what might occur once they arrived at the USJ for just a moment.

The bus finally arrived, and the boy was eager to score a seat by himself in the back of the vehicle. He wanted to discuss with his mentor what to do upon arriving at the building, and for that, he’d need to be relatively alone. He wasn’t too concerned about someone in another seat overhearing him, after all, he could always play off his whispers as his usual mumblings.

But as he entered the bus, he realized it was a more modern design than the class president had anticipated. Iida’s seating plan would be useless with this type of design, as the strict boy quickly realized. His subsequent groan filled the vehicle as he plopped himself down into one of the seats.

“Darn,” he cursed, “It was this type of bus!”

Ashido sat down next to him, patting his back roughly. “All that work for nothing…”

Midoriya cringed at the poor choice of words, but didn’t want to stand around any longer. He moved to walk towards one of the seats in the very back, but just as he did, Iida quickly pulled him back. He flinched heavily at the aggressive touch, his body instinctively freezing up, but his lips remained sealed.

“I must ask you to sit in the front with us!” Iida stated forcefully, removing his hand from the teen’s arm, “As class president, I refuse to allow you to isolate yourself any longer!”

Somehow, the timid boy couldn’t bring himself to say no, his mind still locked onto the alien touch that had rested on his arm only seconds earlier. His head felt fuzzy, like he had just woken up from a day’s worth of sleep. He felt his conscience slip into autopilot, taking over his nerves. So he just nodded, allowing Iida to lead him into the open seat next to him.

He was still generally tuned out as the bus started moving and his classmates began conversing. He could feel his mentor floating next to his, running soft strokes through his curls. He instantaneously grounded himself on that feeling, allowing his thoughts an escape from limbo.

“I generally say what’s on my mind, Midori…” He heard his name being called from somewhere, so he picked his head back up, only to lock eyes with Asui.

He felt his tongue fumble around in his mouth. “O-oh? What is it, Asui?”

“Please, call me Tsu,” she reminded him.

He apologized genuinely, but she wasn’t really offended, easy to tell by the wide smile on her face.

“Anyway,” the frog girl continued, “You quirk is very unusual…”

At that, his mind froze up completely, almost forgetting about the numerous scenarios he and the ghost practiced in case something like this occurred. But thankfully, he was grounded enough to get a grip on his anxiety so he could steer the conversation in a different direction, at least, away from pondering the oddity that was his “quirk”.

“Ah, y-yeah. I’ve never even heard of a quirk like mine, so it’s always made me really self conscious.”

Midoriya felt extremely guilty at playing the self doubt card, but he needed to get the question off his back so he could refocus his mind on the task at hand. The task at hand that was quickly approaching…

Besides, it wasn’t like his self guilt was a complete lie. His powers really did make him feel like an outcast compared to his classmates, even if they didn’t know there was a difference between them.

Thankfully, Iida took the bait like a hungry fish, activating his constantly worried dad mode. “Nonsense Midoriya! Just because your quirk is unusual, doesn’t make it any less superb. You’ve found many ingenious ways to apply it to combat, I’m sure you will take to this rescue exercise just as easily!”

Not expecting that much praise and support, the teen flushed heavily and stuttered out a quick thank you. But just as he wanted, his classmates drifted away from talking about how strange his quirk was.

“Disaster avoided.”

That nearly made him break his cover.

“Hold up, Tsu,” Kirishima interjected, “Sure, Midori’s quirk might be weird, but it’s totally weird in a good way! It’s super unique and flashy! You can do a lot of cool stuff with it!”

The red head then lifted his own arm up, flashing his quirk really quick. His skin hardened in an instant, so fast that the metallic sound it made still resonated through the air.

“Not like my hardening…” he continued solemnly, “It’s good in a fight, but it’s real boring.”

The green haired boy was completely enamored by the display of the quirk, however, letting his cup spill over. “I t-think your quirk’s really neat! You might think it’s boring, but that just means you have a lot of room to experiment around with it!”

Other students seated around them began to add into the conversation, so much so that Aizawa, who was seated at the front of the bus, tuned in to listen.

A sparkly blond rested his chin in his hands, smirking widely. “But don’t forget that heroes also have to worry about popular appeal!” He flashed the shiny blue lens sitting right on top of his stomach. “My navel laser is both strong and cool. Perfect for a pro.”

“As long as you don’t blow up your own stomach!” Ashido laughed, to which the blond gave her side eye. He really needed to learn everyone’s names.

“You wanna talk strong and cool?” Kirishima exclaimed, “That’d be Todoroki and Bakugo!”

Midoriya shyly looked over in that direction, trying not to make eye contact. Bakugo, who was sitting next to a purple haired girl with the earphone jack quirk, just scoffed at the mention of his name, resting his chin in his hand. Todoroki, on the other hand, was deeply asleep in the seat behind them. He wondered if the candy cane boy had gotten any rest the night before.

“But Bakugo’s so unhinged, he’d never be popular,” Asui stated bluntly, not caring at all for the other boy’s reaction.

“WHAT’D YOU SAY, FROG FACE?!” the angry blond snapped, gripping the metal pole in front of his seat tightly. His outburst caused a few students around him, including the girl sitting next to him, to inch away slightly.

“See?” the aquatic girl continued to prod while pointing at his unrestrained form.

“We’ve only barely started socializing and already you’ve made it abundantly clear to us that your personality is as unpleasant as a steamed turd,” the electricity boy teased, stringing together such a composed line of words, it nearly made him double back.

“How about I pound you?!” Bakugo screeched again, even louder this time, which was somehow possible in the first place.

The duo could barely comprehend the amount of chaos unfolding in front of them. Never in their wildest dreams, could either of them imagine Bakugo of all people being teased, and yet, here it was, right in front of their eyes. He could hear Gami snickering loudly beside him, but his mind was so utterly shocked, he couldn’t even process it.

“What a vulgar conversation…” Yaoyorozu mumbled under her breath.

Uraraka, who was seated next to her, laughed loudly, “I think it’s fun!”

The entire bus erupted into their own laughter just as the vehicle pulled up to the USJ building, though none of the students really noticed. When Aizawa stood up suddenly, everyone quieted down and realized where they were.

“We’re here…” the teacher stated monotonously.

Iida took that as his que to take over, ordering everyone into a single file line to enter the building. Though Midoriya was the only student who knew where they were, he was still amazed by the sheer scale of the rescue center in front of him. Together, the class walked inside, completely amazed at the sight that met their eyes.

“WOAH!” everyone exclaimed, “Is this Universal Studios Japan?!”

The teen nearly let out a broken, hollow laugh. He had thought the same upon seeing the building’s interior for the first time. But as he continued to look around, he could make out all of the areas he had pointed out to Nezu from before. There was the flood zone, the landslide zone, even the conflagration zone, to which the same large plumes of smoke were still billowing out from.

As the class glanced around in awe, he heard the sound of footsteps slowly approaching the group. His instincts kicked in, as the boy spun around, prepared to fight, the premonition from before bouncing around in his head. But as his eyes met the figure, dressed in a puffy white spacesuit, he abruptly relaxed.

“Every disaster and accident you can imagine,” the voice echoed over the gasps of the class, “I built this facility myself. I call it…”

“Oh my goodness!!” Uraraka let out a squeal, shaking her head at an abnormally rapid pace. Gami let out a chuckle at her reaction.

“The Unforeseen Simulation Joint!” Thirteen finished their entry, ignoring the cry from the crowd.

“So it really is USJ…” the ghost mumbled.

His successor ignored him though, in favor of giggling at his brunette friend, who was thoroughly freaking out.

“It’s the space hero, Thirteen!” she exclaimed, gasping deeply, “They're a gentleman hero who does their best work in rescue scenarios! I love Thirteen!!”

Midoriya could tell, since his friend’s own costume was space themed, like her idol. Though, his focus quickly shifted to Aizawa, who walked over to the other hero while everyone was still distracted. Curious, the boy shuffled closer to the pair, hoping to listen in on their conversation. His mentor did the same, however floating right up to the pros, as they couldn’t see his invisible form.

“Thirteen, where’s All Might?” the underground hero whispered, looking around anxiously, “I thought he was meeting us here?”

“About that, Aizawa-san,” they sighed, holding up three fingers discreetly, “It seems he just about reached his limit during his morning commute…”

The ragged man cursed extensively under his breath, though both of the deathly duo could hear it, “I’m going to kill Nezu…”

Thirteen agreed, “He’s currently resting in the break room. Nezu-san did tell me he’s sending him as soon as he can.”

“The height of irrationality,” Eraserhead groaned, “Anyway, did Nezu inform you about his tip?”

Here it was, the big moment. The teen could only hope that the principal kept his promise.

“Yeah, he did,” the space hero responded, “I don’t really understand why he just didn’t cancel the training, but I won't let my guard down.”

Midoriya let out a huge sigh of relief, though his class’s excessive cries drowned it out. His secret was safe, that’s all that mattered in the moment. Now, the next problem to tackle was to prevent what he saw in his vision earlier. The thought alone nearly made him sick again.

“And neither will I,” Aizawa replied, “But let’s get started.”

Thirteen nodded and walked away from their hero companion, towards the anxious, yet excited class. “Before we get started, I have one or two points… or three… or four…”

The boy deadpanned, along with the rest of his class. Gami resisted the urge to facepalm, partially since his hand would just hit darkness.

“He sure has a lot of points…”

His successor couldn’t help but agree.

“As I’m sure many of you are aware,” the rescue hero began, “My quirk is called Black Hole. It can suck in and tear apart anything.”

Midoriya was one of the many who knew. After all, he had done countless notes on the U.A. staff, which included Thirteen. Their quirk was an inspiration to continue fighting against his own struggles, which plagued him relentlessly each and every day.

Uraraka began nodding her head even faster than before, to which the teen didn’t even think was possible. Someone could have convinced him that he was watching a video of the brunette at 2x the playback speed and he would have believed it without question.

“You’ve used it to save people in all sorts of disasters!” the girl praised excitedly.

The hero appeared a bit humbled. “Indeed.”

However, their demeanor shifted almost instantly after that, taking on a more solemn tone. It was easily sensible, as the entire class picked up on it and shuffled uncomfortably.

“However, my power could easily kill,” they admitted, “I’ve no doubt there are some among you with similar abilities.”

That resonated strongly with the teen, as he felt his fingers tingle from under his gloves. His power had always been something he’d been weary of, its deadly abilities constantly plaguing his conscience. It made him doubt his potential to become a successful hero and save people. After all, when your abilities kill others at the slightest touch, who could really believe they could save someone with those very same hands?

“In our super powered society, the use of quirks is heavily restricted and monitored,” Thirteen explained, “It may seem like this system is a stable one, but we must never forget that it only takes one wrong move with an uncontrollable quirk for people to die.”

That rang too true for the boy to swallow in that moment. He thought back to the incident with Ishihara. How that villain lost control of his quirk for a split second, and now the first person that had ever cared for him was dead. He wondered where that villain was now. Likely in prison, but that just didn’t bring enough closure to him.

Aizawa suddenly interrupted the hero’s speech, “Through All Might’s battle training, you experienced the respective dangers your quirks can pose to others.”

“This class,” the space hero reiterated, “will show you a new perspective. You will learn how to utilize your quirks to save lives!”

That was all that Midoriya had ever wanted, to save lives. He wanted to be useful, to help others and bring a smile to the public’s face. He wanted to prove that this world could be lived in peacefully. He wanted to help preserve that very peace.

“Your powers are not meant to inflict harm.” The hero’s voice had taken on a new tone full of determination. “I hope you leave here today with the understanding that you are meant to help people.”

He had always known that he was meant to help people, since way before the pro’s speal. He just never thought he’d make it this far. But now, with new, supportive friends, involved teachers, and his mentor by his side, he felt more confident than ever. Which albeit wasn’t much, but it was still the greatest he had felt about himself in a while.

“That is all,” they finished, “I thank you for listening!”

“They're awesome!!” Uraraka cheered.

Iida clapped his hands together violently. “Bravo!! Bravo!!”

Aizawa shushed the class before they got too rowdy. “Great. First off-”

The underground hero paused abruptly, looking around for something. Midoriya was about to question it, when he felt it as well. Something was off. A sinister, purely evil feeling crept up his spine as cold as ice, making his shiver involuntarily. He glanced at Gami and by their quick look, he knew the ghost felt it as well. The two scanned the building roughly, looking for something out of the ordinary, all while the teen was internally hoping he was simply being overly paranoid.

Then, he spotted it.

“A-aizawa-sensei…” he whispered, his voice laced with natural fear, pointing behind the man.

Right by the fountain, in the central plaza, a small purple vortex ripped through the once silent air. The pro heroes swiftly spun around, their instincts kicking in. It grew bigger and bigger after each second, to where it was about the size of a large yoga ball. Then, without any warning at all, a hand extended and gripped the edge of the portal tightly. Even from his distance, he could recognize the figure that pulled himself out, his signature blue hair whipping wildly in the vortex. And he couldn’t stop the rush of fear that flooded his system.

He was utterly terrified for so many reasons.

“Huddle up and don’t move!” Eraserhead yelled, with the slightest hint of panic in his voice, nearly undetectable.

Most of the class was confused, truly unsure of the imminent danger they were currently in. Midoriya watched the color drain from their faces as the more observant students realized what was going on.

“Thirteen!! Protect the students!!” he added, to which the rescue hero jumped into action.

As the portal expanded drastically, the teen realized how bad the situation was going to become. Villains flooded the building and he easily picked out the bird monster that he had seen kill Aizawa. There were so many villains. He had only seen two during his premonition, it had never occurred to him that this could be a full scale invasion. There had to be at least 70 different villains all rushing the plaza, and there were only two pro heroes. Plus, Thirteen was primarily a rescue hero, he wasn’t exactly used to combat.

Where… where was All Might?

“What the heck is that?” Kirishima questioned, still in the dark to the true nature of the currently unfolding attack, “More battle robots? Like during the entrance exam?”

“Don’t move!!” the pro commanded, slipping on his signature yellow goggles. If it had been any other situation, the boy would have been ecstatic to lay his eyes on them. If it had been any other situation, the boy would have been ecstatic to see his favorite hero in action, witnessing moves and techniques he had only read about on secretive blogs.

“Those are villains!!”

And just like that, any traces of peace were over.

Chapter Text

Midoriya watched his classmates huddle together as more villains came rushing out of the portal, and quite honestly, he couldn’t blame them. An unnatural aura flooded the building, one that demanded he run and hide, cowering with his life until this invasion was over. He remained rooted to his spot, caught between quivering with fear and moving forward. He had to escape this feeling, or else he’d be utterly useless when the time came for him to help.

“Thirteen… and Eraserhead, is it…”

The voice sounded so posh and elegant, but the teen had no idea where it was coming from, until he noticed the portal morph into a shapeless being, with two bright yellow eyes that seemed to pierce through to his very soul.

“According to the staff schedule I received the other day… All Might is supposed to be here…” the misty man continued.

Staff schedule? When did the villains receive a staff schedule? Then it dawned on him. The break in. The blue haired villain’s decay quirk. These two incidents were connected. That break in was an organized attempt to steal a staff schedule for this very moment. This wasn’t some random ambush, this attack was neatly planned and assembled. And anything with a plan certainly had an end goal, so what was the goal here?

“Of course.” Aizawa seemed to pick up on the villain’s words as well. “That whole incident was this scum’s doing…”

Hearing his teacher’s voice made him realize what had gotten him so anxious earlier, and the boy took a few rushed steps forward before his mind could make him back out. Gami floated up with him, unsure of what to do otherwise. His fingers mindlessly pulled at the ends of his gloves.

He had never been so eager to take them off before.

“Where is he…?”

That voice shook him to his core as he watched the blue haired villain bring his head up. Seeing the slight movements of the hands covering his body nearly made him sick again. Though, his analytical brain couldn’t help but pick up on the fact that this villain sounded very young, maybe around his early twenties. It seemed odd that someone so young was wrapped up in something so grotesque.

“We’ve come all this way,” the man rambled, “and brought so many playmates…”

Even though he was likely speaking at normal volume, Midoriya could hear each and every word as if he was right next to him. The emphasis, the raspiness, the childish nature hiding behind his sinister tone, all of it.

“All Might… the symbol of peace…” It now sounded like the villain was growing angry, which partially confused him, though he couldn’t even register it under his layers of fear. “Is he here…?”

Why was he repeating himself? Because even Midoriya could confidently say that All Might was not here. And that fact terrified him.

“I wonder if some dead kids will bring him here?”

That seemed to have knocked the sense into all of class 1-A. These villains were not playing around. They meant business, and if they had to kill some children to reach their end goal, by all means they would.

The teen felt a bead of sweat run down his face. He, of all people, knew that the blue haired man truly had no problem with killing a child if that would at least wound the pride of the number one hero. Asui’s death played in his mind like a broken tape recorder, and he unconsciously reached for his cheek to make sure it was still in one piece.

The rest of his class seemed to still be in disbelief, not that he could blame them.

“Villains?!”

“No way!!”

“What villains would be dumb enough to sneak into a school for heroes?!”

Thankfully, some of his more level headed peers jumped into action.

“Sensei!” Yaoyorozu called out, taking a hesitant step forward, “Aren’t there intruder sensors?”

“Yes, of course there are…!” Thirteen responded back, preparing to open up the tips of their gloves.

Todoroki walked calmly over to the edge of the platform, looking over the plaza at the numerous villains. “Are they only here, or also at the main building? Either way, if the sensors aren't working… it has to be one of their quirks that’s doing it.”

Listening to both of his classmates approach the situation rationally gave Midoriya the confidence to do the same. He stepped forward, preparing to summon his scythe at a moment’s notice.

“This place is far from campus,” he started, gesturing to the USJ building, “and they picked a time when there’d be few people here…”

The candy cane boy seemed to catch onto what he was saying. “So they are likely not as dumb as they seem.”

He nodded as his mentor stood proudly beside him, though no one could tell. “They must have an objective, because this is a well-coordinated sneak attack.”

However, Aizawa had heard enough. “Thirteen! Begin evacuation and try calling the school! One of these villains must be jamming the sensors. There’s a good chance one of their electric types is causing the interference.”

The teacher turned to the blond hair boy with the black streak in his hair. “Kaminari, try using your quirk to signal for help.”

Well, this wasn’t really how Midoriya had envisioned learning the names of his classmates…

“Got it!” he replied, moving hastily to his headset attached to his costume.

Eraserhead nodded and moved towards the stairs that connected the entrance to the central plaza. Seeing his teacher get ready to leave sparked something in the normally reserved boy, something fearful, as if all the confidence from before had disappeared.

“But Aizawa-sensei!” the teen cried out, “You can’t fight them all alone!!”

Realized how strange that sounded, he moved quickly to rephrase, the image of the man’s face being beaten into the floor resurfacing in his mind.

“Against that many, you can’t nullify all their quirks! As Eraserhead, your fighting style revolves around Erasure and a quick binding capture. Head on battle isn’t-”

“No good hero is a one trick pony, Problem Child,” he interrupted the boy’s rambling, “Thirteen, take care of them.”

And with that, the underground hero lept from the top of the stairs, his capture weapon drawn out and ready in his hands. Midoriya wanted to go after him, the sound of bones breaking echoing in his skull, but he hesitated. Something in the back of his head told him to just watch as see how the pro handled this himself.

He watched with obvious anxiety as a group of presumably long ranged villains crowded around the bottom, laughing to themselves. They aimed their quirks at the falling hero, ready to annihilate him, their morbid smiles still lingering on their faces.

But their faces soon turned sour as the villains lowered their arms. The boy felt his own smirk forming on his face as he witnessed Aizawa capture weapon wrap around the front two. They couldn’t use their quirks. They hadn’t realized just what hero they were facing yet.

Aizawa yanked back on his scarf, and the two villains caught in it were thrown towards each other, their skulls crashing together. The crack was audible, even from so far away, and made the boy internally wince. He watched his teacher land promptly afterwards, his weapon pooling back to him. The villains seemed to realize who he was after that, as two mutant quirk users loomed over to him. Erasure didn’t work on mutant type quirks, leaving the hero at an immediate disadvantage against these next two villains.

And yet, the pro didn’t falter in the slightest, leaping right into combat. Midoriya watched in awe as his homeroom teacher punched one of the burly men straight in the face, bringing a sickening crunch into the air. He wrapped his scarf around the legs of the falling villain and ducked as another mutant user punched the air where he just was. The ragged hero pulled on his capture weapon, sending the man he just punched crashing into the other, essentially taking them both down in one hit.

Though it wasn’t exactly the best situation, the boy couldn’t help but stare in amazement at the skills of his favorite hero. The mob of villains surrounding Aizawa seemed to now be hesitant to attack him after that display of power and cunningness, and Midoriya really couldn’t blame them. He too would be intimidated knowing he would have to fight against such a pro. However, in his wonder, the teen didn’t notice the blue haired villain’s increasingly escalating annoyance.

“He can truly hold his own, even when outnumbered…”

That did make him feel a bit embarrassed at doubting the man in the first place.

“This is no time for analysis!” Iida finally yelled at him, “Hurry up and evacuate!!”

Evacuate? Could they possibly evacuate? Would the villains truly let them get away after all their work and planning? Surely not, but Midoriya rushed over to his classmates anyway, prepared to fight against potential danger. Despite his newly growing determination, the fear in the back of his mind remained like an unwelcome parasite.

The misty villain from earlier suddenly appeared blocking the exit out of the building. He had moved so quickly, the boy had almost missed it. His fog-like tendrils loomed over the group of children, fading into wisps at the end. His form didn’t seem solid, making him wonder how to best fight him if the time came, since he didn’t think his DT would work.

“I won’t allow that.” the portal villain stated firmly, unafraid as he stared down Thirteen. His classmates took a step back in fear as Aizawa looked back. The underground pro seemed anxious about the villain, but was too preoccupied fighting his own horde of enemies.

Then, the man’s voice changed back to the posh tone he had heard earlier, “Greetings. We are the League of Villains.”

The League of Villains? How organized was this attack truly, to have a group name and all? Midoriya had the sinking feeling that this wasn’t going to be the last time he would hear of this group.

“Izu, I do not like this.”

He couldn’t help but agree, but there wasn’t much he could do in the moment. There was also no way he’d run off for his own safety and leave his friends and peers behind. Especially not Asui, who was in more danger than anyone had truly realized.

“Forgive our audacity.” The more this man spoke, the more uncomfortable the teen became. By the tone of his voice, it didn’t sound like he was a villain at all. Something in his gut told him that there was something off about this misty man, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it. “But today, we’ve come here to U.A. high school, to this bastion of heroism…”

Here it was, their end goal. Hopefully this would finally satiate his curiosity of what their purpose behind this invasion was. Of the purpose behind Aizawa and Asui’s possible deaths.

“…to end the life of All Might, the symbol of peace.”

What? These villains… wanted to kill All Might? If Midoriya was one of his unfortunately clueless classmates, he would be dumbfounded on how these villains even thought they could achieve something so impossible, but he had some traumatizing insight into their forces. And that hideous bird monster from before, he was sure that was their key to executing this plan.

Still, the statement sent chills down his spine, leaving him wanting to curl into himself. Something about so calmly declaring a murder plot made his mouth run dry. The mix of suffocating fear and a desire to protect clashed so violently in his blood, he thought his veins might explode.

The portal villain kept talking, as if his previous statement was completely normal, “We were under the impression that All Might would be here today, but it seems his schedule was revised? Well, no matter…”

The mist suddenly surrounded the class, encircling them and preventing their escape.

“My role remains unchanged.”

Bakugo and Kirishima jumped at the villain abruptly, aiming their quirks right at his wispy form. What were they doing? The villain was obviously not solid, their attacks would go right through him, leaving them extremely vulnerable. But he couldn’t pull them back now, the two had already launched themselves in the air. Fearing the absolute worst, he whipped out his scythe instinctively, ready to defend his classmates from a potential counterattack.

The two landed seemingly direct hits on the purple tinted man, Bakugo’s violent explosion making Gami shrink back. Kirishima had landed a hardened blow right at the villain’s side. The mist tore itself apart from the forces, scattering in all directions.

“Not if we end you first,” the explosive blond growled, holding up his still steaming gauntlet.

“Betcha didn’t see that coming!!” the red head cried, still raising his hardened arm.

But just as the teen expected, the mist pulled itself back together to form the villain again, his piercing yellow eyes shifting back into their correct spots.

“That was close,” he wavered calmly, “Though students you may be, you are the best of the best.”

Close? Midoriya had thought the villain to not be solid from what he had observed, but that statement wouldn’t make sense then. Unless…

“Get back!” Thirteen yelled, “Both of you!!”

The mist embraced the class again, but the boy had realized a stark contrast this time. The fog was more aggressive this time, moving right towards him and the others instead of simply around them. Then it clicked in his fear ridden brain.

This man had a warping quirk.

He was going to warp everyone.

Quickly, he jumped back into the crowd, making his scythe disappear. He couldn’t get separated from Asui, because if he did, there was a chance he’d miss the time to intervene. He couldn’t let her die. He wouldn’t let her die.

Gami tried to follow his successor back into the crowd, but his transparent form proved detrimental. The wisps of purple mist were traveling through him like rushes of sharp air. He couldn’t let himself lose the boy.

As the villain’s quirk engulfed everyone, Midoriya could feel himself getting sucked into a portal, just as he expected. He couldn’t see his mentor in all of the chaos, but his main focus was on Asui right now. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Iida grabbing Sato and Uraraka and another teen with a multi limb quirk shielding Ashido and the black haired tape boy. He sighed in relief, knowing at least those six would not be warped. But his relief was short lived as the sickening feeling of being swallowed into the earth surrounded him.

When the portal released him, the teen had to close his eyes due to the rush of air. The vortex had opened in the sky for him, and he was falling directly into what looked to be the flood zone. In the brief moments before he hit the water, he also noticed the ghost wasn’t with him.

He plunged into the ice cold water, the shock hitting him like a truck. He quickly switched gears however, getting ready to fight. It was likely that the misty man had separated everyone so they could be picked off by the numerous villains all around the building. He was likely not alone in these waters.

“There you are…”

The boy turned around as fast as he could in the water, only to be met with a man with a shark-like mutant quirk. His mouth was wide, filled to the brim with jagged teeth. He had a large fin protruding from his head and two bright eyes the size of marbles.

The villain opened his mouth, giving the teen a look at just how many teeth he had. “It’s nothing personal, kid, but say goodbye!”

He couldn’t swing his scythe around underwater like this, the drag would make it impossible to counter fast enough. But he also wasn’t comfortable with taking off his glove to disintegrate the villain. Running out of time, he prepared to use his scythe to block, hoping he could shove it into the villain’s gaping mouth before it could chomp down on him.

The shark villain’s head was then swiftly stomped to the side, leaving him stunned and immobile. Looking up, he found Asui to be his savior. A rush of emotions flooded him as he realized they were transported to the same zone, but he had no time to process any of them as the frog girl wrapped her tongue around his waist and shot back up to the surface.

They broke the water’s surface and Midoriya found himself flung onto the ship that was floating in the center. He landed with a rough splat, but overall could not complain. Getting up promptly, he noticed a third student, Mineta, at her side. He seemed to mumble something, to which the aquatic girl wrapped him up with her tongue and flung him even more violently onto the ship. He visibly flinched at the change in behavior, not having to wonder for too long what the grape boy must have said.

Asui herself scaled the side of the ship and upon reaching the edge, hoisted herself over. Her form was dripping with obvious water at first, but the teen realized there likely was some nervous sweat hiding in plain sight.

“Thanks Tsu,” he said gratefully, helping her onto the boat.

“No problem,” she replied, “but we seem to be in some trouble.”

“Yeah.” The boy’s mind shot into overdrive, collecting all of the information he had deduced over the course of the evolving situation. “They knew our schedule, which means the media rush yesterday was their doing as a means to sneak into the school. They’ve been waiting for this chance, and they’ve prepared for it well.”

Mineta still seemed to be in a state of ignorance. “But, but there’s no way they could ever kill All Might! He’ll thrash ‘em once he gets here!!” The short boy mimicked some punches of the number one hero.

“Mineta, they must have figured out a way to kill him,” she stated bluntly, “Otherwise, why come here just to get beaten?”

Midoriya flinched at her words, not because of their harshness, but because they resurfaced the memory of Aizawa getting his face pounded into the earth by that one beast. He needed to get his classmates out of this zone and to safety, especially Asui. Only then, would he feel completely comfortable leaving them to help Aizawa.

“I wouldn’t put it past them,” she continued, not realizing her affect on the grape boy, “That one guy promised to kill us too, after all.”

That brought up another vision from his premonition, one of Asui getting her face disintegrated by that very same villain she was speaking of. He quickly shook himself out of the spiral he was headed in, knowing he didn’t have Gami to help ground him if he fell in.

Speaking of his mentor, where was he? The ghost practically never left his side unless the teen asked him to. He felt a bit more vulnerable than usual without the spirit beside him, but he couldn’t let that show now. He had priorities after all

“Who says we can even hold out until All Might gets here?” Asui was still rambling. “Even when he does show up… who says he won’t be killed?”

Glancing at Mineta’s horrified face, Midoriya felt it was time for him to step in. “Tsu, we can’t think like that. Sure, it all seems overwhelming at once, but we need to break it down into pieces. And right now, our top priority is getting out of this zone alive and preferably uninjured.”

His classmate nodded. “You’re right. Let’s focus on that.”

There was a sudden, harsh tug on his arm. “M-M-M-Midoriya!!”

Said boy recoiled harshly out of the grip, trying to shake his head out of the buzzing that he experienced whenever he was touched. Thankfully, his mind was more preoccupied with the imminent danger his classmates’ lives were in, so he was able to switch focuses rather easily.

“What?” The word still came out rather harshly, but Mineta was too paralyzed with fear to notice.

“There’s a whole school of them!!” He cried wimpily.

Rushing over to the side of the boat, he leaned over, only to confirm Mineta’s claim. Sure enough, there were at least a dozen villains that popped out of the water, surrounding the boat in an intimidating circle. He couldn’t see them all, but most of the villains seemed to have a water related quirk, fitting for the environment.

But still, something rang oddly within his overactive mind and his focus went back to the villain’s objective. He knew they had figured a way to kill All Might, with the gigantic bird monster as the likely weapon, but what struck him was why? Why kill the number one hero, with a plan as organized as this? Sure, he stood against villains, against evil, so did one of the probable leaders behind this invasion have a grudge against him because of that? But even then, it seemed like a petty reason. Their motives behind this had to be more specific than that. But no amount of racking could make the boy magically obtain the answer to his pondering.

He pushed the thought to the back of his mind, saving it for later. “He’s right. We’re surrounded.”

“That’s certainly not good…” Asui croaked, “Got any ideas?”

Midoriya looked back down at the water. “Not off the top of my head, but we’ll just have to come up with one. After all…”

He thought back to all his other peers that were likely warped to other areas of the building. He thought of their possible struggles, their anxiety, their similar sense of fear. He had to push forwards, if not for himself, than for his classmates in front of him, for his classmates fighting all around the building. If they could do it, so could he.

“We have a fight to win!!”

If the situation wasn’t so dire, Gami would have slapped himself, his frantic form floating around the front entrance. He had managed to do the one thing he shouldn’t have, the one thing he was supposed to be focused on. He had only lost sight of him for a single second, but apparently that was all that was necessary.

His successor was nowhere to be found.

So were most of the students, actually. Only six kids remained at the front entrance, the rest gone thanks to the mist-like villain. And while Gami wasn’t too caught up on quirks and the like, he still was fairly observant. It wasn’t too difficult to figure out that the posh man had a portal quirk, especially after seeing the blue-haired man climb out of his shapeless body. It would also explain how everyone had disappeared so quickly.

But knowing that didn’t exactly help the ghost in any way. If fact, it likely put him at more of a disadvantage than anything. Knowing the man’s quirk just made him realize that no matter what he did, he would have been separated from Midoriya anyway. He couldn’t have followed the boy even if he tried, all because of his form.

His transparent form left him completely unable to interact with any objects other than souls and his successor. He couldn’t touch the mist. Even if he had caught up to the teen in time, he wouldn’t have been able to follow him through the portal. He would just pass right through and not be warped at all.

And now, he was stuck at the front entrance while his friend was likely fighting for his own wellbeing as well as the lives of his classmates.

What should he do? The most obvious answer would be to search for his successor, but that could take a while, depending on how good his luck was. He could stay here and try to help, but there really wasn’t much he could do here either, especially since no one could see or hear him.

“Where is everyone?!” The spirit heard Iida cry out. “Can we confirm their locations?”

“They’ve been scattered.” Unlike Midoriya, the man paid attention to names and faces, so he knew the child currently yelling was named Shoji, a student with some sort of multi limb quirk, though he wasn’t sure the specifics. “But they’re all still in the facility.”

Still in the facility? That at least meant the boy wasn’t too far away, which was a huge relief. He watched as Shoji seemed to sprout sets of eyes and ears of the ends on his extra limbs. That’s how the student must have known his classmates' location. Truly a strange quirk indeed.

But he couldn’t focus on that right now. No, he had to come to a decision, either stay here or find Midoriya. Again, the choice should have seemed obvious, but still the specter was torn. If he left now to find the boy, he wouldn’t really have much information to present to him once they were reunited. But if he stayed, he’d at least be able to tell him of the conditions of some of his classmates.

Besides, maybe Shoji would pick up on where his successor was.

Turning around swiftly, Gami watched as the mass of purple mist slithered over from one side of the entrance area to the other, a rush of chills passing through him as well. The blob congregated near a corner away from the entrance doors, writhing and pooling like a puppeted set of spider legs. The villain’s face then emerged from the center of the mass, sprouting up as if it were an uncurling snake.

“Physical attacks are just no good. He just warps away!!” Sero, a student with a tape-like quirk, exclaimed, “This guy’s quirk is just too tough to handle!”

Gami thought about his statement for a minute. That didn’t really make too much sense. If physical attacks truly didn’t affect the villain, why would he bother to warp away? Sure his misty form didn’t seem solid, but if that were the case, he wouldn’t have to move away from physical attacks at all. Something just wasn’t adding up here, but the ghost couldn’t quite put his finger on it.

The transparent man remained by the crowd of students, standing behind pro hero Thirteen. Despite the hero’s height, he still managed to loom over him, giving the spaceman a slightly intimidating presence. If only the villain could see him, that’d surely spook him. Maybe not enough to leave, but at least to make him hesitant on attacking this group of children.

Unfortunately, no one could see him here, and his presence was practically ignored. Thirteen shifted over to face Iida, who was standing next to them. The boy looked uninjured, but his expression screamed anxiousness and hesitance, even through his signature square glasses.

“Class president?” The hero used his title to address him, to which Gami found a bit weird, but otherwise paid it no mind.

Even through his fear, Iida still snapped to attention at the call. “Yes?!”

“You job,” Thirteen started, their voice remaining as serious as even, “is to run back to the school and report on what’s happening.”

Gami watched the strict boy flinch at the command, and move to refute. Times like this the ghost desperately wished he could at least be heard by others. Iida was likely the class’s only shot at getting help, as his speed gave him the best chance at escaping. But the boy’s headstrong personality and sense of responsibility wouldn’t let him just leave. The spirit swiped his hands at him, attempting to drag him to the door, but alas he just went right through.

The pro must have also sensed his hesitance, because they continued explaining, “The alarms haven’t sounded, and the phones aren’t working. The alarm system uses infrared tech, but the fact that it hasn’t activated even though Aizawa-san is down there nullifying quirks means whoever is interfering has hidden themselves well. You heading back is now our best option!”

The ghostly man’s attention was torn on whether to focus on the currently heating conversation in front of him or the now rising villain in the corner.

“The class president can’t very well abandon his class!” Iida still seemed shook by the hero’s words, unsure of what to do.

“He said go!” Sato yelled as he shoved the armored student, his plump lips curling with each word, “There are alarms on the outside, which means that these guys must only be causing trouble in here!”

Sero seemed to catch onto what Sato was attempting to do. “So if you make it out, they can’t follow you! Shake off that mist man with that speed of yours!”

Thirteen squatted down slightly, hands jutted out and prepared to move at a moment's notice. Their back was now facing the class president, but still, their words rang as if they were standing right beside him.

“Please use your quirk… to save us all!!”

Uraraka now shifted to stand next to her lunch buddy, her fists curled and a determined look now growing on her face. Ashido followed her, and together the two of them sent Iida a quick nod.

“Just like in the cafeteria,” she reminded him, “We can provide all the support you need!!”

Iida clenched his fingers, his nails digging into the skin of his palm. During the incident at the cafeteria, it was Midoriya who truly came up with the plan. Sure, he was the one to execute it and calm everyone down, but it wasn’t really his doing. His growing confidence faltered as he started to doubt his ability to carry out what everyone was begging him to. He wasn’t even a true leader. What was he doing up on the stand like this?

Gami could tell the spiral of self doubt that the rule abiding teen was currently falling into. It was a situation he often found his successor in, and he often found himself helping to talk him through it. He knew how crushing and demoralising doubt could become, but right now, on the battlefield, this would only end in disaster.

So in a desperate, frenzied attempt to provoke some sort of reaction, the man reached his hands out for Iida shoulders, and squeezed his hands as tightly as he could.

“Do not let this situation stir doubt in your abilities, take it as a chance to prove your worth,” the specter cried out, nearly yelling despite the lack of noise around him, “Prove to all that they have made the right choice for a class president! For a leader!!”

Something rang true in Iida’s head despite his ever increasing lack of confidence. It didn’t matter whether he thought himself as worthy for the position he was currently in, that didn’t change the fact that he was still in that very position. He was class president, whether he believed he deserved it or not, and right now, his class was relying on him to get help. He would show to everyone that their trust had not been misplaced.

The boy thought back to the cafeteria incident, where Midoriya had engineered the plan he executed. He had been lucky enough to avoid the portal meant for him, as well as rescue Uraraka and Sato, but Midoriya wasn’t. His introverted, yet considerate friend was lost somewhere in this very building, fighting for his life along with the majority of his classmates. Every second he wasted as class president would be another second Midoriya fought, another opportunity to be injured, another chance for something even more dreadful to happen.

Midoriya had given him this position, and this was his opportunity to show his friend that he could handle it. That he could be the pillar of a leader that was necessary, not only now, but in the future as well.

Iida couldn’t believe he had wasted so much time wallowing in self doubt. If the situation wasn’t so dire, he would have chuckled at his immaturity. But thanks to his mind’s pep talk, his confidence had been reimbursed. It felt almost like his brain was gripping his shoulders, coaching him back towards the task at hand, but he quickly attributed the feeling to stress and tense muscles.

“Aside from the fact you have no hope…” Everyone’s attention turned to the villain, who’s ever fluctuating form loomed over them from the corner. “What sort of fool discusses strategy in earshot of the enemy?”

But Thirteen continued their brave front, opening up their gloves to use their quirk. “It hardly matters if you overheard. You can’t stop us!!”

It all happened in a split second, not even Gami had the time to process what had occurred before him. The space hero activated their deadly quirk in the misty man’s direction, preparing to swallow the fog entirely, but the villain was one step ahead. The ghost watched in horror as the man morphed his body into another portal, creating the exit right behind Thirteen. At first, the spirit was just as caught off guard as the rest of the students, but he quickly realized the villain’s intentions.

He could barely process the anguished cries of the students around him, his own focus centered on the evolving horror before his eyes. Time seemed to slow to a crawl as Gami watched Thirteen get torn apart by their own quirk, the portals working against them. The back of the spacesuit was ripped to shreds, the vortex behind consuming the hero like a ravaging mouth. It didn’t take too long for Thirteen to slump over, but it felt like ages to all who were experiencing it from the outside.

He acted purely on instinct, floating over hastily to the pro’s fallen form. He naturally moved to touch the hero, but his hands went right through. Stil, the close proximity allowed the ghost to see that the spaceman was shaking, meaning they was still alive. The shallow, labored breathing coming from them reassured him, even if it was only slightly.

Gami swiveled his head over to look at Iida. The boy needed to run immediately, or the slight opportunity from Thirteen's defeat would go to waste.

Sato seemed to get the same idea, shouting intently at the class president. “Iida, he told you to run!!”

The strict teen needed only a single glance at the fallen hero to realize what hesitance was capable of, and he took off, activating his engines and dashing for the exit. It should have been an easy run, but the misty man’s reaction time was far quicker than the students accounted for. The villain’s head snapped backwards, his bright yellow eyes refocusing on his new target.

“My dear, scattered children…” his voice moved along with his swirling form, the wisps from his eyes mixing together with the fog like they were being blended.

The villain warped himself in the blink of an eye, creating a portal right in Iida’s path. Due to his increasing speed, the student was helpless to change his direction, only able to display pain and shock on his face at the sudden development.They were counting on him, the entire class was counting on him. He couldn't fail now.

“It would hardly be for our benefit if you called for help,” the villain finished, his voice echoing from the depths of the now open vortex.

The ghost’s face turned to one of mortification. If Iida was teleported, there would be almost no chance of alerting the rest of the heroes. The students would be forced to fight for their lives, along with the two teachers. But what could he do? He was even more helpless than the rescue hero right now, unable to even interact with the world around him.

The class president braked slightly, attempting to dodge the portal, but before he could stop all the way, Shoji lunged at the mist, capturing it with his limbs. Iida stumbled, but quickly changed course and headed for the exit again.

“Go!!” the multi limbed student yelled, but the strict boy was already on it, rushing down his original path towards the exit.

Gami couldn’t sit idle anymore, his nonexistent heart thumping with a mix of desperation and fear. He flew towards the shut door that Iida was running towards, the purple mist trailing them both. The spirit could hear him curse as he noticed the doors were locked in some manner. He arrived at the set of doors just as the villain was finally catching up to the student, but he wasn’t sure what exactly to do. The doors had no obvious set of controls that he could mess with, but that didn’t pose too much of an issue. This was one of the few times where he was thankful for his intangibility as he shoved his hands into the wall, searching for something. He stuck his head into the wall afterwards, hoping to get a better bearing of what he was dealing with.

Hearing some commotion behind him, the ghost peeked his head out of the wall. Out of the corner of eye, he could make out Uraraka frantically dashing towards Iida. His ears picked up the shocked cry of Ashido, who was now kneeling next to Thirteen’s body. There was so much going on, Gami could barely keep his eyes focused on the task at hand. He was afraid, a feeling that was alien to him. He was afraid for his successor, afraid for Iida and for Uraraka, afraid for Aizawa who was fighting alone against an army. But the fear gave him the warped motivation to do anything he possibly could to help. And so in a desperate, frenzied attempt to do something, the specter let out an anguished yell and ripped his hands from the wall.

He noticed that the misty villain was now floating, meaning that Uraraka had touched him with her quirk somehow. Sero had attached a piece of his tape to what looked to be the man’s neckpiece, and was now parading the villain like a balloon. And while this would obviously be a sign of relief, Gami couldn’t focus on anything of the sort over the damn pain in his hands.

He didn’t have to even look down to know his hands were shaking. It was almost as if they were being impaled over and over again, the slight pricks collecting to become an overly agonising feeling. He clutched them close to his chest, hoping that would stop the constant throbbing. If he had blood running through his imaginary veins, he was sure it would be all over himself and the floor by now.

A sudden blur zoomed past his form, and the ghost craned his head to confirm what it was. He was certain it was Iida, but all that was past him was the closed door. If the student kept running, he’d only crash into the shut metal. But he heard no sound, no crash, no bang. He moved his gaze over to the exit, wondering just exactly what he would see

The entrance doors were somehow separated by a small gap, to which Gami could see Iida using his hands to pry open. The boy only needed to push the doors open a bit more before he could squeeze himself through and take off towards the main campus. The villain audibly cursed from behind him, but there was nothing he could do as the student had already left the premise of the building. The sigh of relief from the remaining students was evident, knowing help would be on the way soon.

But one factor gnawed at the spirit. How did the entrance doors open in the first place? They were already open when Iida reached them, so he didn’t pry them all the way. So if it wasn’t the class president, how then?

Looking over to the wall beside the doors, he quickly found his answer.

The area he had been sticking his hands into moments early was now completely blown apart, bits of metal and wires hanging out of the broken panels. There was more debris on the floor surrounding it, but most of the damage was still inside the wall, hidden by the poorly lit space. There were small sparks, but nothing worthy of potentially starting a fire, thankfully. But, one question quickly led to another.

Had he done that? Was he the cause of the damage in front of him? But even if that was so, he couldn’t even begin to understand how, the pain in his hands overwhelming his thoughts.

The pain in his hands…

When his hands were in the wall, he was sure that they were transparent. After all, he couldn’t actually feel any of the wires his fingers were passing through. But now, the wall was blown open and his fingers trembling uncontrollably. Shakily putting the pieces together, he pressed his hands against the wall, on one of the undamaged panels.

Just as he thought, his fingers were stopped by the metal, a cool chill rushing through his bones. He had made contact with the wall. He was currently solid.

Then, that could only mean he had turned solid as he was ripping his hands from the wall. He had ripped his hands from the wall, and the wall along with him, destroying the mechanics behind the locked door. That’s why his hands ached so bad, they had turned solid while inside another solid, plus he forcefully pulled them out of that solid afterward.

He was the cause of this, but it made him more relieved than he could have possibly felt in that moment. He had done something useful, and now, help was on its way. He was so filled with gratefulness, the spirit almost broke down in tears.

But, he held in the dam, focusing his attention back to the next task at hand. The villain had grumbled something at Iida’s escape, but left the rest of the students alone. Figuring he wasn’t planning on hurting them, the ghost made a judgement call to leave the entrance area. He still needed to find his successor, and make sure the boy was alright. Thirteen was hurt, but stable, and the rest of the kids could take care of him.

So Gami left, floating away to begin searching the different zones. He had lost the boy once, sure…

But he would never make that same mistake again.

“How can we possibly fight, you dumbass?!” Mineta screeched, sweat running down his face, “These guys might even be tough enough to kill All Might!!”

Midoriya ignored the jab in favor of leaning back over the railing to take another peek at the waters below.

“Our only hope is to hide somewhere until the U.A. heroes come to rescue us!!” the panicked boy continued, not caring if the villains below hear his cries.

However, the green haired teen wasn’t paying attention, mumbling his thoughts to himself, “Those guys down there… most of them are clearly suited for aquatic combat…”

But his muttering was loud enough for the other two students to pick up on, with Mineta getting more aggravated by the short whispers. “Stop ignoring my point!!”

“So the ringleaders must have recruited their teams knowing about USJ’s different environments.” Asui however, picked up on his thought process right away.

Midoriya nodded. “Exactly! Their intel must have told them that much at least. But, with all their careful planning, one odd point sticks out.”

The frog girl tilted her head in confusion, while the short grape boy continued to grow more annoyed. In response, the teen gestured towards his female classmate.

“Tsu, they zapped you…” he explained, remembering to address her by her nickname, “into the flood zone.”

But to his dismay, neither of the two teens seemed to understand what he was trying to point out, both giving his deadpan looks. The lack of response made the boy falter, wondering if he should have just kept his mouth shut in the first place.

“What I’m saying,” he began to clarify, “is that they must not know about our quirks.”

That particular comment made Asui’s head snap up as she pointed one of her gloved fingers to the conflagration area in the distance. “If they’d known about me having frog powers… they’d have dropped me into that fiery area.”

“It’s exactly because they don’t know about our quirks that their strategy was to overwhelm us with numbers,” Midoriya added, “And we can use that to our advantage.”

Unfortunately, none of the teen’s words seemed to reassure Mineta, who looked more panicked than ever. Sweat dripped down his face and mixed with the beginnings of his tears as his teeth audibly clattered.

Asui, on the other hand, remained with her neutral facade, her face showing little emotion in general. She brushed a lock of her damp hair from her eyes, looking towards the water.

“Well,” she started, “I can jump really high… and stick to walls.”

Realizing she was explaining her quirk, he quickly began memorizing her words.

“My tongue can stretch to a maximum of 20 meters. Also, I can spit up my stomach to clean it,” the girl continued, letting her tongue fall from her lips, “and secrete a poisonous fluid, but it really just stings a little.”

Mineta seemed to perk up at her last statement, which sent a small chill down his own spine. Ignoring the disgust that swept through his veins, he nodded towards his classmate in confirmation.

“Those last two aren’t that useful.” Asui started to backtrack, maybe out of self doubt, but that didn’t seem like her from the few moments he had gotten to interact with her. “Just forget about them.”

“No, no, no,” he tried to reassure her, “You’re really strong… I underestimated you.”

Taking a deep breath, he lifted up his own gloved hands, curling his fingers ever so slightly.

“My quirk…” he began, “allows me to decay anything I touch. I can also summon a scythe to fight with, which can also decay what it cuts. By decaying the air with a slash, I can make large explosions too…”

Midoriya figured that was a simple enough explanation to satisfy his classmates, and Mineta sensed that it was his turn to go next, mostly because he was the only one left. He pulled off one of his purple hair balls and squished it against the boat. He began patting it gently, and his hand was bounced off.

“It’s really sticky. If I’m feeling good, it’ll stick there all day,” the short student explained, referring to his hair ball, “A new one’ll grow in the old one’s place, but if I take too many, I’ll start bleeding. They’ll also bounce off my own body without sticking to me.”

The quiet teen nodded, mumbling lightly while trying to put together this new information. Asui stared blankly at the other boy, not even attempting to break eye contact with him. Mineta stared back, uncomfortableness rising within him. Tears pooled in his eyes before he bursted.

“Like I said, we just gotta wait to be rescued!!” he cried, “My quirk is terrible for fighting multiple opponents!!”

Startled, Midoriya jumped up from his squatted position, shaking his head. “N-not at all. It’s a great quirk. We just have to think on how to make use of it…”

Then, the boat began rocking, making the three students grip the railing to peer over. The villains were becoming antsy and one with a strange looking mutant quirk turned to another, who he couldn’t see due to the slight waves crashing around him.

“I’m getting bored over here.” Midoriya could hear the mutant villain say to the person floating next to him. “Finish this already, huh?”

When he watched the adjacent villain nod, he knew the worst was yet to come.

“Get down!” he yelled to his classmates, who all quickly ducked behind the lower portion of the railing. Just as they did, he could hear explosions from all around him, as the boat shook violently. Chunks of rubble and debris flew in every direction as he watched a piece of the boat split in two only a few feet away from his hiding form.

“What’s going on?” Asui croaked, using her sticky fingers to cling onto the railing wall.

Curiously, Mineta poked his head out from below the railing, lasting not even a second before ducking back down while trembling heavily.

“Fingers!” he cried horrifyingly, “He’s shooting fingers at us!! I’m gonna puke!!”

Something terrifying clicked in Midoriya’s head once he registered that word. The explosions around him soon began to fade into nothing as his eyes grew heavy. The world drowned into silence, with nothing left but the echoing of his own, pressing thoughts.

He wasn’t an idiot, nor was he stupid. And denial certainly didn’t turn him into one. He knew. He knew the second Mineta even started to utter that word, and he sure as hell didn’t need him to finish. He had forgotten, though. He had let that slip from his mind since his first day at U.A., and he could admit that regrettably. But he had known all along, all he had needed was this one single spark to completely burst his stability into flames.

This bastard. This bastard had a certain finger rocket quirk, one that he could recognize all too well. The damage, the debris, the smoke, he just knew. It was him. This was the bastard.

This was the fucker who had crushed Ishihara in his own home.

A single question rang throughout his head.

How?

The villain had been restrained after the incident. That was the whole reason the ambulance was late in the first place. He was supposed to be locked up, in jail, somewhere away from here. So how? How did he keep finding his way back into Midoriya’s life, when he so desperately wanted him gone? This man had ruined the life of someone he truly learned to care about, someone who truly cared about him. Was he back for more? After all this time, was he truly back for more? Was he that desperate to taste his heartbreak again?

If that was the case, then this villain was certainly stupid, unlike himself. Did he think he’d let him get away with the same kind of stunt again? Did he think he could run off with another life like he did all that time ago? He had managed to slip from his grasp once, but that was because he was unprepared. The opportunity hadn’t presented itself to the teen, and by the time he had reached the crushed house of his dead friend, the villain had been long carted off. But he had foolishly shown up again, his greed getting the best of him. And now, the universe had graced him with a single opportunity. A single chance to grasp his vengeance by the throat and squeeze the life out of it until it was no more. He would clutch his chance so tight, it would turn blue out of asphyxiation. DT would pool at his fingertips and disintegrate it into submission, and he would enjoy watching the bits flake off and scatter into the wind. The warm blood would run down his hands and drip onto the floor, decorating his clothes like permanent ink.

And he would enjoy it, because the universe had given him this chance.

But, just as quickly as it had come, the thought removed itself from his head, a slight shaking rumbling through his shoulders. It felt as if his head finally broke the surface of the sludge it was drowning in, allowing a rush of fresh air into his lungs. He could breathe. He could breathe again.

What was he thinking?

“Izu…? Izu, please…! Say something!”

The sound of explosions rushed back into his ears as his eyes settled back down on the image of the splitting ship. He felt his back digging uncomfortably against the cold, metal railing as the black spots finally faded from his vision. As his sight refocused, he could make out Asui and Mineta squatting above him. Remembering the urgency of the situation he was currently in, he jumped up onto his feet, clutching his head into his hands.

“Midori, are you alright?” The frog girl cocked her head, tapping her foot nervously, “You’ve been mumbling for some time.”

Looking around quickly, he noted the boat was still afloat, which was relieving in a sense. How could he have let himself get so sidetrack, and by a thought so villainous?

“I’m so sorry.” He hoped to the universe and above that his classmates couldn’t make out what he was saying. But as he turned to Mineta, his hope was completely shattered.

The short boy was trembling violently, hiding behind Asui’s lean figure. He was making terrified eye contact with him, as if he was afraid to let him out of his sight. That crushed any confidence he had left, leaving him wanting to sink along with the boat.

He didn’t want to look at his peer’s expression anymore, so he turned his head away, finding his mentor in his sight instead. He was surprised the ghost found him as quickly as he did, but he wasn’t complaining. The man looked eager to say something, but held his comments back. That was right. They still had a fight to win.

Asui seemed to think the same way. “Look, Midori. We can talk about what you said later, but right now, we need a plan.”

That was fair. He needed to put his feelings aside, however intense they may be. Besides, he didn’t really want to focus on what had just transpired earlier. It made him feel sick, to think revenge had run through his thoughts, and even sicker that he had actually considered it as if it were a viable option.

“Alright,” he agreed, “I have an idea.”

He motioned for them to huddle in closer, and they did, although not without some hesitation. He hushed his voice down to a whisper to explain his thoughts, unaware of the dwindling patience of the villains in the water below. Mineta didn’t seem to get the memo, though, or maybe he was still too shaken from what happened earlier, because he continued to cry out louder, making bold accusations about how his plan wouldn’t work out.

The boat rumbled violently again, and that's when Midoriya knew they had to act. Nodding to his classmates, he approached the edge of railing alone, his thoughts racing through the remaining fragments of his broken mind. Finally seeing that the boy was by himself, Gami rushed over, his patience being pushed to the limits.

“Izu, what happened? Please… you had me extremely worried.”

The teen didn’t bother to look at his mentor, but he huffed something under his breath.

“I saw him, and I almost did something awful.”

The ghost looked even more confused after that, but he paid him no mind. The ship wouldn’t float another 20 seconds, and he needed to act now. He had a mission, and that was to protect Asui.

He could grill himself over this later.

Even still, he couldn’t get rid of all his anger. Nothing he could do in the moment would calm him down. But maybe that wasn’t too bad of a thing. Anger was an everyday emotion, even if he himself didn’t feel it all that often. He just needed to let it out in a healthy way, something that would be beneficial to the situation. He could be angry and he could help at the same time. It was simply a delicate balance, but if that’s what it took for the two to coexist, he would make it work.

Midoriya lifted his right foot to step on the railing, the iron soles from his boots digging into the damaged metal. He looked back over to his peers anxiously, but Asui was already in position, with Mienta clutched under her arm. She sent him a quick nod and turned away.

He was angry, but that wasn’t all he was. He was nervous, afraid, tense, all the possible negative outcomes rushing through his head. But even through all of that, he was determined. Sure, he was angry, but that wouldn’t define him right now. So he let his fury simmer right below his fingertips as he gripped his hands onto the railing as well.

As empowering as anger felt, it really wasn’t his kind of emotion. He’d rather leave this type of thing to Bakugo.

“GO TO HELL!!”

The boy leaped off the boat, letting loose his rage in a mangled, beast-like expression. The smug faces of the villains below him didn’t aid his efforts to calm down, merely feeding into his fury. But he wouldn’t let it overtake him. Channeling his anger, he summoned his scythe mid-jump, and swung down as hard as he could, screaming all the way.

The air audibly ripped apart at the slash, the force behind it so intense, it sent him flying back upwards. And yet, all he could do was search for the man with that damned quirk. He didn’t know what the villain looked like, and no one fired back at him, too preoccupied with fighting off the gigantic whirlpool that had just formed in the middle of the flood zone. Even so, the few seconds more he had in the air let him step back, and finally breathe. He was so overwhelmed by everything: the attack, his emotions, the constant breathing of death down his neck. So being up in the air like this, finally away from it all, it was relieving in a sense.

And finally, his anger was gone, replaced by an accepting smile that now adorned his face. He couldn’t help the few tears that escaped from his eyes, but the air around him quickly blew them away before anyone could notice.

Right after he made the blast with his weapon, Asui jumped from the boat, wrapping Midoriya’s waist with her tongue. Mineta, who was still under her arm, began hurling his sticky balls down towards the spiralling water. They were quickly swept up in the current and entrapped every villain that was waiting for them below, globbing them up in one sticky mass.

Throughout the entire ordeal, Mineta sobbed, his fat tears dribbling down his cheeks heavily along with his snot.

It was amazing, how two people in the same situation could cry so genuinely, for such drastically different reasons.

Midoriya felt a hand grabbing the back of his gym uniform, but assumed that was Asui pulling him closer as they flew through the air. He wasn’t facing forward, so he couldn’t see where they were landing, but he did get a wonderful view of all the villains piled up in the center of the artificial lake. He was too far to see any of their distinguishing features, though. Was that truly a bad thing? He had no idea.

The three landed right by the edge of the flood zone, hitting the water with a deafening splash. Well, the splash itself wasn’t that loud, but combined with the uncomfortable silence that enveloped the students had made it ring in their ears.

The teen wasn’t sure what to say, if anything at all. He wasn’t even sure what exactly his classmates heard in the first place. He hoped it wasn’t anything too damning, because if it was, he wasn’t sure words would be able to repair anything.

He noticed a sharp pressure on his right shoulder, but recognized its ice cold touch as Gami’s. He didn’t make any auditory acknowledgement, but he couldn’t help but visibly soften, to which the ghost observed.

Asui’s blunt personality allowed her to break the silence first. “Midori, you said some concerning things while you were spaced out on us earlier.”

He didn’t even care what exactly they heard anymore, now wanting to be wiped off the face of the earth. Deep in his conscience, he felt the urge to fall on his knees and beg for forgiveness, not caring how hard of a hit his limited pride took.

“I’m sorry,” he repeated, hoping that would be enough to express how genuinely guilty he felt.

Mineta didn’t look convinced, but his female classmate simply nodded her head.

“And I believe you,” she replied, “but you still need to explain yourself.”

He flinched at the strength in her tone. He wasn’t expecting Asui to be intimidating, but her words made him want to curl into himself. But she had a point, he needed to explain his actions, however uncomfortable they may have been.

“I recognized someone… a quirk, I mean.” The words came out shakily, fumbling at the tip of his tongue like marbles rolling out of his mouth. “I really didn't mean to… I just-”

“Got angry?” Asui finished with a questioning tone, tilting her head slightly.

Midoriya nodded, confirming her assumption. “Someone I cared about… he isn’t here, b-because o...of-”

The girl placed her gloved hand on his arm, signalling that he didn’t have to finish. Surprisingly, the touch didn’t bother him as much as it would have in the past, more worried about holding in his sobs. Now was definitely not the time or place to cry, as emotionally wrecked as he was.

“It’s alright. I think I get it now,” she spoke softly, a sharp contrast to her usual tone.

The spirit understood as well, after hearing that last part, and moved to run his fingers through the boy’s hair. He was starting to regret not trying to find his successor earlier, considering how much he missed upon arriving. He felt unnaturally guilty, having left him to spiral alone, especially in the face of the villain that had done so much damage.

“Revenge is not an easy choice to pass up,” the frog girl added, “I underestimated your strength.”

He smiled at her words and wiped any remnants of tears in his eyes with his own gloved hand. “Thank you…”

Asui then looked over to Mineta, who had distanced himself from the other two. Now that he was looking, he noticed his tears were lightly tinted red, probably blood from the drawback of his quirk. She elbowed him sharply and he cried out.

“Fine, fine!” he wailed pitifully, turning towards the green haired teen, “Just don’t do that again. It was really scary.”

While he was thankful to have his classmates’ forgiveness, the grape boy’s words stirred something uncomfortable in his stomach. He didn’t want to come off as scary or unnerving, that was the exact opposite of the image he wanted. He already saw his own power as dangerous and uncontrollable, but he didn’t want others to view him the same way. All he desired was to be a hero, to help others and restore peace. But he couldn’t do any of that if people saw him in fear.

The three approached the very edge of the water, resting their tired arms along the ground. Even from their distance, they could all make out Aizawa fighting against the horde of villains surrounding him.

“So, what should we do now?” Asui asked, looking over to Midoriya.

“Well, for now, calling for help is our priority,” he explained, suddenly remembering his main goal of keeping his classmate alive, “If possible, we should follow the shoreline and make for the exit, avoiding the plaza altogether.”

She had died right here in the water by the plaza’s edge. The last thing he wanted was to keep them in that very spot.

“Makes sense,” she agreed, “Looks like Aizawa-sensei is drawing a large number of them to the plaza.”

The teen hummed. He couldn’t deny his worry for his homeroom teacher, but what was he supposed to do? Right now, his focus was protecting Asui from the morbid end he had witnessed in his vision. But a lot still plagued his mind. They still needed to call the main campus for help, and he still needed to help Eraserhead against the horrific bird monster he had seen earlier.

“You do not need to worry yourself with calling for help.” Gami could sense his successor’s nervousness, and finally decided to share the little information he had. “I was able to assist Iida in escaping the premises. Help is already on its way.”

He nearly responded out loud in his relief, but managed to restrain his voice in his throat. At least now, he didn’t have to hold out for much longer. He could also now prioritize Asui and Aizawa’s well being.

He did catch the strange wordplay of his mentor, though. Assist? What exactly could Gami have done in the first place? His solidity wasn’t really a factor he could readily control. He would have to question the ghost later, after all, there were many more important things he needed to focus on right now.

“Don’t tell me you’re actually considering interfering, Midoriya?” Mineta questioned snarkily, “Because that’s just stupid!”

He hadn’t realized he had been spacing out for so long. It must have looked like he was debating on whether to help their teacher, which wasn’t a complete lie.

“N-no, I think we should get to safety first.” His main priority was to protect Asui, he couldn’t let that slip from his mind. But the three of them couldn’t help but stand there and watch Aizawa fight against dozens upon dozens of villains.

Then, the boy recognized the blue haired villain with the decay quirk step forward. A familiar rush of fear swamped over him, and yet, he couldn’t tear his eyes away.

The two engaged in combat and steadily grew closer to the edge of the plaza as a result. Midoriya could begin to hear the man’s voice. He was counting down. Counting down the seconds between Eraserhead’s quirk.

He watched in utter horror as the villain disintegrated his teacher’s elbow, the skin flaking off into the wind. He could believe he himself had thought about doing the same to that villain before. What kind of sick hero was he? Could he even begin to call himself that?

Aizawa punched him away, the man rolling off further from the edge of the plaza. The pro fought off a few more stray villains, even with his injury, and turned back towards the young adult. He couldn’t see the villain’s mouth with that disgusting severed hand covering it, but judging solely off his movements, he guessed the blue haired man was talking. Based on the childish personality he had displayed earlier, it was likely he was taunting the hero.

There was a quick flash, so fast, not even Gami could make out what it was. It all had happened so quickly, none of the students even had a chance to process what had unfolded before their very eyes. They were simply left at the edge of the flood zone in complete and utter shock.

Aizawa was pinned down by the hideous beast Midoriya had seen in his premonition. His face was buried into the earth, and his goggles in pieces around him. One of the monster’s hands was holding the hero down by his back with uncomfortable force. And the other, was twisting the pro’s now broken arm behind him at a sharp and unnatural angle.

Even through that revolting hand on his face, the boy could feel his smirk burn into his eyes, the giddy expression absolutely sickening. The villain had walked closer in the time Aizawa was restrained, and now the teens could hear his chilling voice loud and clear.

“Meet the anti-symbol of peace.”

He laughed, a repulsive and terrifying laugh.

“The bioengineered… Nomu.”

Chapter Text

Another sickening snap rang about the plaza as the monster, now identified as Nomu, crushed Aizawa’s arm further in his grasp, the vibrant hue of blood trickling down his fingers. The hero held in a pained gasp, letting his bloodstained hair fall over his eyes. The sight was nauseating, seeing his teacher so easily squashed by the horrid creature in front of him as if he were a mere insect.

The hand covered villain wobbled over to the restrained pro, stopping only a few feet away from him. He let out a sinister chuckle, the severed hands across his body only adding to the intimidation.

“Canceling out quirks. Pretty cool… but nothing special,” he started with a degrading zap, “Up against crazy strength, you might as well be totally quirkless.”

Aizawa didn’t release any outward reaction at his declaration, opting to lean his head so one of the Nomu’s hands was in his line of sight. He discretely activated his quirk, but the mutant didn’t seem to notice or care.

One last crunch echoed out as Eraserhead couldn’t hold in his cry of pain. The Nomu released his broken arm, letting it crash violently against the ground.

The students watched in absolute horror, their faces washed over with fear. Mineta had his hands clenched over his mouth to muffle his mumblings. Asui had ducked down halfway underwater, allowing the bubbles to froth over her mouth. But Midoriya hadn’t moved an inch, caught between the newfound paralyzing fear that rushed over him. He knew he had to get the others to run while they still could, but his feet felt frozen to the bottom of the lake.

His thoughts were running haywire in his mind, flash images of the premonition he had earlier circling through. Seeing the hero bloodied and battered in front of his very eyes made the bile churn in his stomach. He had assumed that the pro had erased the Nomu’s quirk when he shot the side glance, but the beast didn’t seem to react at all. It’s behavior didn’t change either, any hesitance was completely invisible. Taking the monster’s stature into consideration as well, the teen was inclined to believe that the Nomu’s base strength was insane.

He didn’t get any more time to think, as Aizawa’s head was promptly slammed into the ground; the Nomu’s hand gripped tightly around his skull. Little bits of debris and blood scattered about the ground, painting the scene red. Midoriya flinched at the blow, feeling the phantom pains from his premonition before. If the water wasn’t sloshing around him, he would have been convinced he was also being physically bashed into the earth.

The villain strolled towards him, now squatting above his fallen form. His shoulders heaved sporadically in complete silence, before soon being accompanied by chilling laughter.

“Your quirk… it’s not good in long, group battles, yeah?” he taunted, “You specialize in quick, sneak attacks.”

Listening to the man’s uncomfortably true words made the teen shudder in his skin, but his mind was nothing but emptiness. What was he supposed to do? He needed to get Asui away from danger, but the thought of leaving Aizawa behind made him feel terribly guilty.

“Yet you jumped right into this fight…” he continued, unaware of the spiraling mess of the child hiding behind him, “Hoping to make the kids feel safe?”

Was that what the hero was hoping to accomplish when he leapt off the top of the stairs? A fearless, steel-hearted facade? It had been utterly terrifying witnessing his teacher throw himself into danger when the villains first invaded, but pushed his doubt aside in favor of having confidence in the pro’s abilities. But now, he wondered if Aizawa was afraid as well. He had listened to the account of his own demise only hours earlier, fully aware of what could happen to him. And yet, he didn’t even hesitate to step in and fight, even with all of that likely on his mind. Was it simply his iron nerves of steel, or was he really trying to reassure everyone’s fears?

The villain cackled again, cracking himself up at his own declaration. Even throughout his sinister words, the boy couldn’t help but shake the childish nature he kept reading off the man. It became almost disgusting, listening to his laughter in such a dire situation. Did he even realize the severity of his actions, or did he just not care?

He stood back up, taking a couple steps back from both Aizawa and the Nomu. His laughter finally ceased, but was soon replaced by the villain feverishly scratching his neck, even through the set of severed hands wrapped around them. As the seconds ticked by, the clawing grew more intense and aggressive.

Midoriya recognized it right away, however, he himself having experience with it. The scratching was most likely a nervous tic, and while the teen didn’t scratch himself, he certainly had his own distinctive tics, the picking at his globes being his most noticeable. He couldn’t help but wonder where the villain’s tic had come from, especially one so self destructive. What itched so feverishly under his skin that he was unable to cease the instinctual urge to quell it?

His eyebrows furrowed. Maybe there was more to this man than what he was able to see at face value.

But the villain’s menacing voice returned, snapping the boy out of his thoughts as well as any remnants of compassion his subconscious might have been stirring up.

“All Might still isn’t here yet?” His whine sounded more like a question rather than a statement. “Even after all this?”

Despite however he felt about the male, he couldn’t help but agree with his plea. Where was the number one hero? He was supposed to be here originally along with Eraserhead and Thirteen, but he was nowhere to be found. He desperately wished for the man to show up soon, if only to end the raging fear that was flooding his system.

The scratching only grew worse and more violent. “Kurogiri isn’t here either… I swear, if he wasn’t our ticket out of here I’d have turned him to dust by now.”

Kurogiri? He needed a face to go with the name. He thought about the villain’s sentence some more, searching for anything he could pick apart and analyze.

“Ticket out of here? Does that make this Kurogiri the portal one?” The ghost was likely not talking to anyone in particular, but he unintentionally voiced his thoughts aloud. Thankfully he did, as it was the bridge he was missing. He snapped his eyes to the spirit on instinct, but didn’t move any more of his body out of fear the villain would see. Gami caught his slight action and nodded, if only to ease the confirmation.

It was a strange desire, but he hoped the villain continued talking to himself. The man’s ramblings were giving away his thought process, whether he was doing that intentionally or not.

“All Might’s absence is starting to get under my skin,” he huffed, drawing out the last word, “Maybe I should show him why he shouldn’t keep me waiting…”

There was something about the tone in his words that made absolute terror flood through him. His veins finally felt alive again, and with his newfound freedom, he knew they needed to leave. They had far overstayed their welcome, and Midoriya was genuinely afraid of the man in front of his eyes. He should have gotten Asui out of here a while ago, but he ignorantly let fear consume him.

He wanted to leave before he came to regret it.

“I’ve got a bad feeling, Midori…” Asui mumbled out, her blank face slowly starting to change to one of hesitance.

“So do I,” he responded, sharing her feelings, “We need to leave now.”

The teen just kept telling himself that he’d come back for Aizawa. He just needed to get Tsu to safety first.

But just as the three students began to sneakily make their way away from the edge of the plaza, another chilling declaration sent them right back rooted to the ground.

“I’ll at least wound the pride of the symbol of peace,” he chuckled eerily, his blue hair flopping about with each word, “Leave a few dead kids on his conscience…”

The villain then rushed over to the group of kids, so fast that none of them even saw it coming. He reached a hand right at his classmate’s face, right at Asui’s face. He knew exactly what was coming, and yet, he found himself caught in slow motion. The boy screamed for his limbs to move, but they didn’t obey, remaining frozen in the water.

No, no, no. He couldn’t fail her like this. He couldn’t watch her die in front of his very eyes, all due to his inaction. He would never forgive himself, to fail a premonition all because of his stupidity. The milliseconds ticked by as he watched the hand grow closer to her shocked expression, all five fingers spread and ready to grab. But he couldn’t move.

He had watched her death only hours before, and now he was going to watch it again. How he would ever live with this guilt, he didn’t even know. But all that was on his conscience now was the fact that he had failed. He had failed Asui, and he would never forgive himself.

“IZUKU!! Do something!!”

He had never wanted to break down and cry so hard before.

Midoriya watched his fingers wrap around her face, moving so fast her expression never had time to change. He couldn’t bring himself to close his eyes, and prepared to witness the skin begin to flake off into nonexistence. He braced himself for her screams as they already bounced around in his head.

A second went by. Then another. And still nothing. The villain didn’t bother to let go of her face, nor turn his head back. The boy willed his eyes to focus on his female classmate, but saw nothing he was preparing himself for. She was still alright, well, as alright as a potentially traumatized child could be. But the girl wasn’t injured, despite having all five fingers on her skin.

“You really are pretty cool,” the young man sighed, almost disappointed.

Midoriya moved his head slightly, only to be graced by the most thankful thing he could have ever wished for.

“Eraserhead…”

His teacher, bloody eyed and beaten, had found the strength to lift his head up while still in the Nomu’s grasp and erase the villain’s quirk, effectively saving Asui’s life.

This was right. This was exactly how his premonition went. Through his overwhelming terror and hyperventilation, he had forgotten that Aizawa saved Asui once right before her death. This was that moment. It had to be. There was no other explanation. And according to the rest of his vision, the villain would count down the remaining seconds until his teacher’s quirk gave out.

He had failed once, but he sure as hell wouldn't fail her again.

His blood was mixed with the nauseating combination of fear and determination, but the mixture was finally enough to thaw the ice in his veins. His brain screamed at him, and he didn’t dare hesitate this time. He moved purely on reflex, jumping out of the water and making a strong right kick into the villain’s side. He flashed the iron soles of his boots, ready to plow them into his body. He stuffed all his desperation into this one blow, not caring about restraint. If the man bled, so be it. He was prepared to protect his classmates with everything he had.

If the first time he had done nothing, then the second time he would give everything.

“GET OFF HER!!”

He dug his iron heel into the body in front of him. It was a sickening blow, violent enough to break ribs, but he wasn’t worried about that in the moment. All he needed was to get the villain away from his classmates.

But as the light smoke cleared, he was met with a different sight.

The large Nomu monster loomed over him with horrifying stature. His kick did not connect with the blue haired man, but instead with the beast in front of him. And just by the looks of it, it didn’t faze it one bit. The decay villain from before was now a few feet back, guarded by the Nomu between them. Did he call the creature over to take the hit? If so, that would mean it didn’t retain human level sentience. Or maybe the beast was protective of some sort? Either way, all that mattered was that this Nomu was like a loyal dog with this villain as its master.

This really wasn’t good.

Before he had any more time to ponder his next move, the Nomu let out a blood curdling screech, a true cry of war. Its large hands gripped the base of his leg, and he only had a second to process what was happening before all hell broke loose.

Oh shi-

His peers could only watch in pure terror as Midoriya was lifted up by the gruesome bird monster as if he were a stuffed toy. Then, with a bout of murderous force, it flung him into the center of the plaza like a shot put disc. The boy met the earth with an agonizing crash as the dust blew up around him, making Asui and Mineta scream out in horror.

He couldn’t stop the blood from escaping his lips, gasping out in pain as his back crashed from the blow. His whole body trembled uncontrollably as he took a second to reorient his mind. But he knew he couldn’t lay in the dirt forever, as much as he wanted to. So he willed every cell in his body to move as he shakily picked himself up off the ground. Looking over himself, he didn’t notice any broken bones, which was a miracle as well as a relief. It seemed the blow was nothing but shock, to which he could manage. He wiped the blood away from his lips, unfortunately letting it smear across his cheek.

Asui and Mineta were still by the edge of the plaza, staring as his standing form in complete bewilderment. Thankfully, the villain had moved away from them and was now facing in his direction. Was this it? Did he successfully stop Asui’s death from happening? He hoped so, but that didn’t leave him out of the woods just yet. He still had to save Aizawa, and keep himself standing.

His teacher was lying face down only a few feet away from him, unmoving. That sent a new rush of fear through him. He couldn’t have been too late. There was no way the hero was already dead. He needed to save them both. He had to.

Staring at the man’s prone form, he noticed the slightest twitch of movement. Just barely, he could make out the pro lifting his head to look at him. It hurt to see the man so bloodied and bruised, but he sent the hero a quick nod, if only to tell him that he was alright. He still had time, and he wouldn’t let anyone die.

The villain looked at his shakily standing form strangely, puzzled at his fast recovery. But he smiled nonetheless, to which he could tell even through the disgusting hand covering his face.

“Oh? This NPC’s got a little spunk in him…” he smirked, now fully focused on the wobbly boy near the center of the plaza, “Nomu, go play…”

The mutant rushed over with blinding speed, too fast for the teen to track. Unprepared, he had no time to even think of a counterattack or a dodge as his chest was met with another blow. He screamed out in anguish as his body tumbled a couple feet back, leaving him limp across the ground. The revolting taste of warm blood flooded his mouth and he coughed heavily in an attempt to clear it out. The red painted the earth as he clutched his chest desperately. He was sure a rib or two had been broken, but he didn’t feel as much pain as he thought he would. Maybe it was the adrenaline, or maybe the pure determination to not let Aizawa die, but he felt like he was walking on cloud nine, despite his blood painting him otherwise. His chest twinged again, but he ignored it. There were much more pressing matters.

He was still struggling to stand upright, currently on his hands and knees, when he heard the villain start laughing. That chilling laugh sickened him to his core, making him want to vomit. The situation was so overwhelming. Aizawa was still incapacitated. Asui and Mineta were still in harm's way. And fighting against this Nomu thing was like climbing uphill. There was no way he could even begin to keep up with it speed wise. And the power behind its blows was frightening. What could he even do?

Gami, seeing his successor struggling to move, rushed over to help pick him up. He was completely caught off guard by the monster’s speed and hadn’t reacted in time to do anything before the first two blows. But now, with a moment of pause washing over the battlefield, he found a chance to intervene. Ignoring the unplaced laughter, he looped his arms underneath the teen’s own, and gave him the push he needed to get back up on his feet.

“You cannot fight that creature,” the ghost tried to persuade, “It simply outmatches you in terms of strength and speed.”

“I have to…” His voice was raspy, but thankfully he was far away enough that no one could hear him whisper. “Aizawa-sensei… still needs help.”

That brought up its own set of problems. He still wanted to get his peers away from the edge and he needed to get his teacher out of there. But with the Nomu watching his every move, there was no way he’d have the opportunity to rescue both parties. But then how…

He looked over to Asui, and thankfully, her eyes met his own. He stared forcefully at her, his irises burning with determination. Sending a small nod, he hoped she could catch his message, before realigning his focus to the blue haired man, who was still chuckling.

“You know…” he started, pushing his voice to come out stronger than it was, “You really are stupid to think I’d go down that easily.”

The statement shocked all within earshot. Aizawa lifted his head up further to make strangulated eye contact with him, as Mineta loudly screeched at his proclaimed stupidity. Gami was taken aback, trying to get the boy to shut up, and the villain just looked surprised. But Asui kept her eyes locked on him, her expression remaining the same. He flashed her another quick glance before mustering up his leftover courage. All he could do was hope that this worked, in some shape or form.

“I may still… be a student,” he continued, “But I’m part of the best of the best. I’m more resilient than you think.”

That was true, in a sense. His undying body would allow him to put up much more of a fight than most, especially against such a monstrosity. But he pushed himself for more, trying to get under the man’s skin. He needed the attention to be solely on him for this to work. And if he had to push a few buttons in the process, so be it.

He wasn’t too focused on the sounds around him, but was sure that somewhere in the cacophony Mineta was screaming about how he was going to get himself killed. He hoped to his very core that Asui wasn’t thinking the same thing. He needed her to be one the same wavelength as him for this.

“So either give me your full attention.” His voice was laced with the intimidating combination of perseverance and grit. “Or you aren’t worth my time.”

Something in Asui’s head clicked at that last part. She was struggling to follow the thought process of the boy in front of her eyes, but now, she realized where he was headed. Their homeroom teacher was still in danger, and so Midoriya was trying to shift the target onto himself. He was going to use the villain’s childish nature against him, teasing him to hold his attention. And though it seemed suicidal at first glance, the girl was sure she had figured out the reason behind it.

The line was slow and powerful, leaving a surge in its wake. But yet, the teen couldn’t get his aching body to portray the same. He allowed himself to stumble for a moment before readjusting himself, but that was all the confirmation the villain needed.

He smirked. “A NPC like you? Resilient? Don’t make me laugh.” He turned over to look at the still fallen hero, who hadn’t found the energy to pull himself up yet. His sinister grin growing even wider, he focused back onto the boy.

“Nomu, finish off Eraserhead.”

Panicked, Midoriya swiveled towards the monster instead. If only he hadn’t broken his facade. This wasn’t what was supposed to happen. He needed the Nomu’s attention to himself, because as long as he was still standing, he could run. He could fight. But Aizawa could do neither of those things. And he himself couldn't fight and protect at the same time, he just didn’t have the abilities, nor the experience, to do so.

The Nomu was walking slowly towards the pro, unusual to witness compared to the insane speed he knew it had. But this gave him a chance to stop and think for a split second, just enough time to recollect his thoughts. Even throughout all of the chaos and fear, the villain was still toying with everyone, a detriment of his childish nature. And right now, he would take any opportunity that presented itself, no matter how it graced him. He was at the disadvantage, and that meant he had to scavenge for a solution.

If the villain wanted to toy around with the lives of everyone here, then he would have to exploit that fact and prove just exactly why he shouldn’t have been underestimated in the first place.

His scythe appeared in his right hand like a loyal dane, to the slight surprise of the blue-haired man. But despite all of the doubts running through his head, the pounding of the Nomu’s tread growing ever closer to the fallen hero, and his mentor’s concerned pleas for him to flee, he pushed past. Now was not the time for hesitation, and he would not hesitate. He had paused out of fear earlier, and he was lucky enough to get a second chance. He would not make that same mistake, and risk once again being at the universe’s mercy.

Like a lightning bolt striking down from the heavens, he slammed the blade directly into the ground, digging in far under the earth's surface. He gripped the handle deathly tight with both hands, and poured all of his fears and doubts out of him in a raging current. With his emotions so drastically heightened, the ground tore itself apart instantaneously, violently cracking into uneven pieces. The Nomu, having no chance to react, was plunged under, almost like a sinkhole; trapped from the waist down. It screeched and thrashed in an attempt to escape its confinement, but the earth held firm.

For now.

Eager to grasp his newfound opportunity, he tugged harshly on his weapon, trying to get it out of the ground. But his rush of emotions from before had been even stronger than he anticipated, the blade firmly lodged in the dirt no matter how hard he pulled. Watching the beast slowly begin to heave itself out of the ground, he quickly gave up pulling. Flexing his fingers twice, the weapon disappeared from its spot, leaving a small scar in the earth, and reappeared back in his grasp with a bit of a jolt.

He ran across the uneven ground with ease, the pieces small enough to hinder the large mutant, but large enough for him to walk upon. He only had to take a few steps before being in arms reach of the Nomu, but that was more than enough room. The boy pulled his arms back, raising the scythe up high. There was a single moment of which it was in the air, and he allowed himself a chance to breathe. His mind needed to be clear for this swing, uninterrupted by emotion, good or bad.

The monster that had been dubbed a Nomu seemed to be a horrific abomination of man and mutant, and that aspect both concerned and terrified him. The villain hadn’t uttered a single word, but still he wasn’t sure whether the thing was sentient. If it had a will of its own, or was merely a puppet being tossed around. But despite all that, the beast was still alive, breathing and moving and living. And while he desperately wanted to disintegrate the monster into nothing but a pile of ash out of complete fear for the safety of the people around him, his rivaling fear of ever decaying a living creature climbed up his throat and swallowed him whole.

His thoughts from before, back in the flood zone, resurfaced in his mind. It sickened him to think he was so close, and so eager, to use his deadly abilities on someone, no matter how he felt about them. He couldn’t do that again, not while he was of sane mind and body.

And so, in the single moment before impact, he closed his eyes, pulling himself away from all the stress and unease swirling around him. He allowed serenity to envelop him just as the darkness had, filling his lungs with a gulp of fresh air and freedom. He could feel nothing but the calm vortex of blankness that pooled in his stomach.

And just like that, he plowed the blade right into the flesh of the Nomu’s left shoulder, ignoring the deafening screech that came shortly afterwards.

“Tsu!” he cried out, somehow over the monster, “Go!!”

Fresh blood splattered in all directions, nearly entering his eyes and blinding him. But he held firm, digging the weapon further into its skin. The beast screamed again, flailing its arms in a desperate attempt to dislodge itself, but proved unsuccessful.

The frog girl jolted at the call of her name, but didn't waste any more time. She shoveled Mineta under her arm just as she did when evacuating the flood zone and leapt out of the water. The blue haired villain turned in surprise, but was too slow to do anything but watch as she soared through the air above everyone. Extending her tongue, she latched it around Aizawa’s waist and limply hauled him to the sidelines.

She landed on all fours away from the center of the plaza, towards the stairs that the underground hero had jumped down earlier. Asui released the grape boy from her grasp, who eagerly moved to hide behind her, and retracted her tongue back to her. Eraserhead’s body was yanked towards her, to which she caught as he collided with her.

Seeing that both his classmates and teacher were now out of harm’s way, Midoriya jumped back, finally out of reach and able to breathe. He returned his scythe to his hand, making it disappear and leave its spot in the Nomu’s shoulder. His retreat was just in time, as the mutant let out another deafening screech and ripped itself out of its earthly prison. The beast shook off the excess dirt and rubble as its shoulder dripped steadily with the flow of blood.

The Nomu cried out again, and everyone watched as its left arm throbbed and shook. Its skin bubbled as muscle wrapped itself around the large gash in its shoulder. The stream of warm blood began to slow down until it stopped completely, the flesh repaired as if nothing had happened in the first place.

The teen could only stare in shock, as the damage was completely erased in a matter of moments. He took a step back in shock, wanting to put as much distance between himself and the monster as possible.

Aizawa, who was still conscious surprisingly, could only widen his tired eyes, his body too exhausted to do much else. He heard Asui take a heavy gulp from behind him and Mineta spout terrified comments on how they needed to retreat. And for once, the hero wholeheartedly agreed with him. He didn’t want any of his students near the thing, much less have Midoriya engage it in combat, despite what he knew about his abilities.

The villain approached his beast, letting out loose chuckles along the way. “Surprised? Nomu here has a variety of quirks all essential towards defeating the symbol of peace, including hyper regeneration. Of course a NPC like you wouldn’t be able to damage it.”

He boy gasped at the newfound information. He was able to tell at a glance that the Nomu had super strength and speed, considering its endeavors earlier, but hyper regeneration would definitely pose a problem to not only himself, but All Might, if the hero ever arrived. A quirk like that would practically nullify any damage he did manage to do to it.

But the introduction of the new quirk brought up a whole new set of questions. Super strength and speed could easily be grouped into an enhancer quirk, but the confirmation of regeneration essentially proved that this creature had more than one quirk at his disposal. Having more than one quirk was considered extremely rare, and something deep in his gut told him there were still more shocks to come.

Though, he could hear the shift in the villain’s tone, as his head cocked to match. “Though, I’ve never seen a quirk like yours. Seems a bit… intimidating for a hero, don’t you think?”

The comment made Midoriya flinch, but he continued to brandish his weapon unwaveringly. He was still the only thing between the group of teacher and classmates behind him. And though he could be confident that both premonition deaths had been avoided, he couldn’t be completely sure, which left him torn on what to do next. He could stay and fight, allowing more time for either All Might to arrive or Iida to show up with reinforcements, or he could try and retreat. Though, he wasn’t sure if the villain would even allow him to retreat at all. But if he had to fight, what could he do? He didn’t want to draw any more blood, but even if he did, any damage he caused would practically be ineffective.

If he truly was going to stay and fight, his only option would be to use DT, as his decay was irreversible to organic matter. But there was no way he could bring himself to such an option. His hands grew clammy at the thought of what had run through his mind back on the boat, how eager he was to use his power on someone. His classmates had been scared of him, scared of what he could do in the wrong mindset. And he couldn’t blame them. Never had he been so utterly terrified of himself and what he was capable of. Even the villain had acknowledged he wasn’t suited for heroism.

The Nomu’s subsequent shriek brought him out of his thoughts. Only a moment had passed, but it had felt like ages in his self deprecating mind. Gami had now moved to float next to him, placing a hand upon his shoulder.

“Please, simply retreat. This battle is not in your favor,” the ghost pleaded with the boy, “You are at the immediate disadvantage.”

But he simply shook his head. “Fighting… even when the battle seems hopeless is the true making of a hero.” He paused to look at Aizawa’s bloodied form behind him, as well as Asui and Mineta’s terrified ones.

“If I must fight to stall for time, then that’s what I’ll do.”

He narrowed his eyes at the blue haired villain standing before him, bracing his form for immediate attack. He wasn’t sure what he could actually do, especially against such a foe, but that didn’t quell the pure determination running through his blood. He would continue to fight, as long as he was on this adrenaline high.

“Problem Child…”

Midoriya snapped his head around swiftly, making eye contact with his teacher, who was still in Asui’s grasp, fighting to stay conscious. His eyes were half lidded and struggling to remain open and dry blood caked over his face. His arms were mangled and his chest rose and fell in an unsteady rhythm. And yet, despite his obviously weakened form, his mouth moved to speak.

“I’m giving you permission to protect yourself and others… by any means necessary.” The words were slow and slurred, stumbling out of his mouth as if they didn’t belong.

Problem child, if I see you hesitating, I’ll let you know whether or not to use it. Call it permission if you will.

“Don’t… do anything rash.”

If anything does happen, then… I give you full permission to use your abilities on anyone, as long as it's to save a life.

His eyes widened as the grip on his weapon grew tighter. A jolt of pain rang in his chest again, but he couldn’t focus on that compared to the words bouncing around his ears now. The hero was asking him to protect his peers behind him, because he fully acknowledged that he himself could not. He was being counted on. They were counting on him. And until the other heroes showed up, he couldn’t let them down. His goal was clear now.

But the villain had grown tired of their mindless chatter, interrupting everyone’s thoughts, “Enough. If you’re really going to stupidly sacrifice yourself, then I guess you’ll be a perfect warm up for Nomu until All Might arrives.”

The male raised a tired finger to point at Midoriya, who was still hunched in a defensive position with his blade at the ready.

“Go play.”

The beast rushed at the command, barreling straight towards the teen, just like before. However, there was one major difference. The ground was still torn and uneven from his last attack, and the rubble prevented the Nomu from traveling at its top speed. He had unknowingly evened the playing field earlier, and now, he could stand the smallest of chances. At the very least, he could now employ hit and run tactics, which were his only option of offense against an adversary of double his strength and size.

A strong punch was thrown towards his gut, but thanks to its reduced speed, he was able to weave his body out of the way. Stepping lightly on the broken ground, he used one foot to propel himself upwards and over the massive navy skinned arm. Like lightning, he crashed his scythe into the flesh of the Nomu’s forearm, unable to hit the spot on its shoulder like he wanted. His hands burned against the handle, powerless to reduce the flow of intense emotion rushing through him. The slice was fairly shallow and allowed him to pull back easily. In his rough landing, he let his weapon disappear to catch himself on all fours, dust and his hair whipping around rapidly in the chaos.

The villain laughed, the menacing sound echoing around the plaza as if there were a hundred of him, “Did you not hear what I said about hyper regeneration? Or are you just too stupid to process it-”

But his rant was quickly cut short by a loud screech of pain, erupting from the beak of a familiar source. Standing up on his two feet, the teen grimaced at the twinge in his chest, but narrowed his eyes at the Nomu, more specifically the new wound on its arm. His face held no emotion, just blankness, not even pride at his successful attack. He couldn’t even bring himself to smirk, the very thought of doing so made him feel sick and apathetic.

The villain looked over to his beast in confusion, but it only continued to writhe and squirm in discomfort, soon beginning to claw at its wound to no avail. The injury continued to bleed, and showed no signs of ceasing, the red liquid dripping down heavily. The skin around soon began to flake away, revealing more unguarded muscle and tissue. It let out another cry, unsure of how to stop its agony.

The man turned to the boy standing in front of him, his mood shifting drastically to one of dangerous anger as he watched his creature’s hyper regeneration be rendered practically nonexistent. His voice was laced with an intimidating calmness and rippled through the air despite its quiet volume.

“What did you do to my Nomu…?”

Midoriya’s hands trembled and shook uncontrollably, not from fear, but he fought to clench them closed regardless. He was desperately attempting to keep his powers in check. He didn’t want to kill the Nomu, nor cripple it, but he needed it to safely remain incapacitated for as long as possible. And restraining the flow of DT was like trying to dam a raging river with mere twigs and stones.

But still, this was the reaction he was looking for, that sense of unease and unpredictability. If he could show the villain that he could be a wrench in his plan, maybe that would convince him to leave while his… weapon was still intact. It wasn’t fool proof, but it was the only leverage he had over such a potent threat.

So, while still clenching his fists to the point where his nails might break the polyester of his gloves, he made harsh eye contact with the bewildered villain.

“I can cause permanent and irreversible damage,” he stated strongly, keeping as many details concerning his abilities to himself, “So your Nomu’s hyper regeneration means nothing. I can incapacitate it long before All Might shows up.”

Of course, this was all a major bluff. Sure, he could decay the Nomu into nonexistence, but that was something he desperately wanted to avoid at all costs. Having blood on his hands, both literally and figuratively, would leave him traumatized beyond belief. He just needed the villain to get nervous and rethink his plan now that there was an unaccounted variable.

The man returned his hands to his neck and began scratching the skin violently, his nervous tic resurfacing in the uncertainty. He muttered to himself, cursing under his breath just loud enough for everyone to pick up on it. His voice grew steadily louder, making his next words easy to understand.

“You’re supposed to be a forgettable NPC, just a warm up fight for my Nomu,” he rambled on, clawing harder at his skin, “Not some sort of secret mini boss unlocked post-game…”

The doubt in his voice was exactly what Midoriya was aiming for. That hesitance, that riskiness, all he needed was one more push and the stress might overwhelm him. He looked back, to Asui, Mineta, and Aizawa, who were still waiting in anxious restlessness. The trio sent him a nervous look back, though only the pro could pick up on his obvious bluff due to his knowledge of the teen’s personality and opinions considering his abilities. He sent the boy a curt nod, his body still drained of energy.

The villain continued scratching at his neck, more vigorously now. It seemed his anxiety was clawing thin at his patience. This was it, the breaking point. The air around him was thick and tense, making it nearly impossible to take a deep breath. Though, that could also be attributed to the growing pain in his chest as his adrenaline began to die down. Something was definitely wrong with his body, likely from one of the impacts he had with the earth thanks to the Nomu’s insane strength. But he could worry about that later, because right now, there was still a dangerous set of villains staring him down.

Then, the rapid hand movement of the blue haired man in front of him died down suddenly, quelling completely. His own gloved fingers twitched in nervousness, still managing to restrain the current decay on the Nomu’s forearm to something of a non fatal injury. The wound was slowly growing bigger, a reminder to the villain of the time crunch his Nomu was on.

The disgusting hand on his face moved upwards, along with the arch of his brow, indicating that the male was now smiling in some way.

“Nomu,” he commanded, “Stop playing around and end him.”

Fuck.

The statement sent a new bout of fear running through each of the individuals who heard it, especially Midoriya, who’s resistance against his own power shattered into shambles. The injury on the Nomu’s forearm grew exponentially in size due to the newfound rush of emotion, allowing a heavy stream of blood to gush out. More muscle disintegrated away, revealing the bone hidden inside, gruesome and bloodied.

But the mutant still followed its command, despite the increase of terrible agony it was subject to. Still attempting to get his powers under control, the teen was caught off guard as the beast rushed him, tackling him down and pinning him to the ground. Its large grotesque hand held him against the dirt by the stomach, unmoved by his desperate thrashing. It raised its other hand above its own head and curled it into a fist, preparing to pound the boy’s face in.

“IZUKU!!”

“Midoriya!!”

“Midori!!”

“Oh my god!!!”

He could pick out his mentor’s voice from the cacophony, as well as Aizawa’s panicked cry, but they only added to his complete horror. All he could feel in the moment was panic and terror, pure fear enveloping his body. His emotions and self control were out of whack, completely all over the spectrum. All he could think about in the moment was that he was going to get his skull smashed in, regardless of whether he was immortal or not. Even if he would survive the blow, his secret would inevitably be outed, something that was on the foreground of his mind, whether he should have been focusing on it or not.

With the milliseconds ticking by, he acted on instinct, wrapping his hands around the Nomu hand pinning him down. His stress sparked up the DT in his fingertips, stopping the current decay happening in the beast’s forearm and sending a new surge raging through his blood. His whirling emotions acted as added gasoline to an already monstrous fire, and his deathly power poured so strongly, it decayed right through his gloves, going right into the Nomu’s skin.

The monster screeched out in newfound pain, instinctively loosening its grip as the skin on its wrist began to flake away into dust. He ignored the disturbing cry and continued to press his nails into the raw flesh, drawing more blood and muscle. His panic only fueled his rate of decay, and the digging of his fingers combined caused insufferable pain, to which the Nomu let out an ear piercing scream. Its hand spasmed and flexed its fingers unwillingly, releasing the tense grip it had around the boy’s stomach. This was just the opportunity he needed as he rolled out of the way and scrambled to his feet on all fours. Not without a moment's notice too, as the Nomu’s raised fist crashed into the spot where he just was. The strength behind it was so frightening, it crushed the earth and sent chunks of rock and debris into the air.

Midoriya jumped back, avoiding the onslaught of initial rubble from hitting his form. His mind flashed back to when he fought the sludge villain, and how he used the blown back rubble as a projectile to hit the semi solid villain with. But with his hands currently flaring with DT and his gloves in tatters, anything he touched would likely turn to dust the moment he made contact. So instead, he raised one of his legs mid jump and struck one of the larger chunks of earth in a violent kick. His boots were guarded with iron plates at the toe, so his foot remained largely unaffected, but the Nomu’s exposed brain, however, wasn’t so lucky.

The rock hurled itself right into the exposed brain of the mutant, burying itself deep into the muscle like a makeshift bullet. The Nomu screeched in anguish, digging out the debris with its one good hand, the blood running down its fingertips. Almost instantaneously afterwards, strings of muscle wrapped around its skull, repairing the damage just caused.

However, the beast’s hand remained pulsating and gruesome, with a good majority of its skin missing. Bloody muscle continued to throb, exposed to the harsher elements around it. The majority of the damage was centered around the wrist where Midoriya had grabbed, but some of the decay had snaked towards its fingertips, eating away at the tips. All in all, it was a disturbing sight to behold, but the boy’s conscience had no time to self deprecate as he still had a group of worried individuals behind him.

“Problem Child…” the hero mumbled, struggling to stay awake, “Goddamnit…”

The teen quickly turned to the frog girl holding him, her eyes now portraying an expression of fear and nervousness. “Tsu, take Aizawa-sensei up to the entrance, along with Mineta.”

“But Midori,” she questioned, still unsure of whether to leave him, “You can’t stay and fight on your own…”

“I’ll be fine,” he reassured a bit harsher than he meant to, “Please. Sensei needs medical attention as soon as possible and he’ll only get that at the front entrance.”

Asui seemed to agree with that, as she watched her teacher fight back unconsciousness in her arms. “Just please… stay safe.”

“I’ll do my best.” He made a great effort not to promise anything.

She nodded and hoisted the pro’s upper body upon her shoulders and Mineta submissively lifted his feet with his hands. Once he was sure the two would be fine on their own, he turned back to the villains, giving them his full attention. Stripping off the destroyed remnants of his gloves, he threw the polyester shreds behind him.

The blue haired villain seemed to be in a state of absolute shock, his fingers twitching in some kind of agony. The Nomu stood unresponsive, waiting for another command from its master, however, said man seemed to be in a state of unresponsiveness as well.

The tense staredown only lasted a second at most, but the air around the two parties was so full of stress it seemed as if ages had passed. There was no one to witness the showdown, as Asui and the others had left just before, but even so that somehow made it even more anxiety inducing.

The villain opened his mouth to speak, something Midoriya could tell due to the way the severed hand on his face moved.

“You…” His voice came out raspier than before, a complete 180 change. “You’re just like me.”

The statement shook him to his core, leaving remnants of DT tingling at his fingertips. Gami had approached him frantically after he had escaped the Nomu’s grasp, and had checked him over for injuries. When confirming he was fine, the ghost moved to stand beside him, if only to offer moral support. But both couldn’t help the chill that ran down their spines as the man’s hoarse voice started up again.

“You have a decay quirk, don’t you?” he clarified, though more to himself than anyone else.

The teen narrowed his eyes at the accusation. “So what if I do?”

This only seemed to spiral the villain further down, genuinely puzzled by the character in front of him. He began scratching his neck again, something he now deduced was done when the male was uncomfortable, rather than nervous. But what was making him so uncomfortable in the first place? The fact that they shared similar abilities and yet were on such different spectrums of society? The boy could admit, that did make him a bit uncomfortable as well.

“I don’t understand…” he rambled while scratching more feverishly than before, “Why is someone like you trying to become a hero?”

The words hit his gut hard, almost as hard as when he was first punched by the Nomu. It was difficult to distinguish why exactly he wanted to be a hero so badly, as he had always attributed his passions towards his childhood dreams. But hearing it worded like that made him feel like all his endeavors were pointless. How could someone like him really become a hero, when his powers were so rooted in trauma and death?

“Do not listen to his nonsensical ramblings,” the spirit warned, placing a protective hand on his shoulder, “U.A. accepted you because they saw your potential towards saving lives and you have more than proved your worth in exactly why you are aiming towards heroism.”

He nodded subtly at his mentor, swallowing his inspirational words carefully, as if he might choke on them. He had come so far in his efforts to save lives, he couldn’t let a bit of foul wordplay send him right back to the starting line.

So yet, why did he find himself questioning his motives?

“You don’t belong as a hero,” he kept on, “especially not with a dangerous quirk like that.”

Shaking off the villain’s words was just as difficult as shaking off his own self deprecating voices. He desperately tried to prevent them from latching onto his subconscious, but there were some that stuck and ate away at him. It was true. How could he ever expect to be seen as a symbol of good when his powers were meant to harm? There was nothing remotely heroic about him.

“Forget about all this hero nonsense.” His voice sounded so similar to the thoughts that had constantly plagued his mind throughout his life, even before he obtained his powers. Scarily similar, in fact, that he questioned if he was hearing it echo in his head.

“Why don’t you come join my league? Someone like you would be much better suited in my party than with these NPCs.”

And that snapped him out of his stupor. Sure, he wasn’t confident in his chances of being a hero. People wouldn’t trust him, get scared off by his abilities, and he would constantly have to worry about hurting the villain he was apprehending. But while he could accept the depressing thoughts of his failed dreams at heroism, he would never sway towards villainy. Just because he didn’t think he could achieve his goals didn’t mean he would suddenly shift to the opposing side. He still had morals, and beliefs, no matter how skewed they were from his childhood.

But he wouldn’t let the villain know just how rough his words had hit him. He couldn’t afford to show that kind of weakness in a situation where he could be taken advantage of easily. He was still in the middle of a fight, of a volatile scenario where lives could still be at stake. And for that exact reason, he had a facade to hold up, just like how Eraserhead rushed into battle despite being outnumbered and away from his usual setting. The pro did it to protect everyone, and reassure the class that they would be safe. And even though no one was watching him right now, the teen felt he had the same kind of duty to uphold, even if this fight was way out of his experience level.

So he scoffed, appearing much more brash than he actually was, “You really must be spoiled to think insulting me would even begin to convince me.”

He was surprised at how easily the lie flowed off his tongue, but didn’t bother to question it, focused on maintaining his unwavering cover.

The villain standing before him looked shocked almost, as if that was the first time he had been denied in his life. He growled like an angry mutt, quietly seething to himself. He seemed extremely bothered at the boy’s blatant and rude refusal, but before he could try and rebuttal, the air behind him ripped.

Midoriya recognized the purple vortex from before, back at the front entrance when everyone was still grouped together, as well as the set of piercing yellow eyes that emerged from within. He took a defensive step backwards, wary of being warped again, his fingers twitching in nervous anticipation. The mist swirled to form the elegant villain from earlier, revealing his large, metal neck guard and his stylish outfit of a blazer and tie.

“Shigaraki Tomura,” he greeted, his familiarly posh voice breaking the tense silence.

The name made him realize that the blue-haired villain had never introduced himself during all this. The teen was so concerned fighting for the safety of those around him, he never stopped to ponder his name. Shigaraki Tomura… not the kind of name he expected the man to have, but nice to finally know nonetheless.

The now named male slowly tilted his head to peer behind him, his angry simmering just below the surface. “Kurogiri… is Thirteen dead?”

There was a lot to unpack in that one statement. The portal villain’s name was Kurogiri, just as Gami had guessed, meaning he was one of the key instigators behind this attack. That would be good to retain and relay to the investigators that were guaranteed to show up one reinforcements came.

But now his mind leeched back to the other hero that was in the building at the time of the invasion. Was Thirteen alright? They were mainly a rescue hero, so this was out of their field of experience. His mentor hadn’t told him anything of the pro’s condition and so his mind was purely left in the dark, which was never a good place to reside when constantly plagued by doubt and anxiety.

“He’s incapacitated,” the man answered blankly, his eyes flickering, which sunk the boy’s stomach down to his feet.

Thankfully, Gami stepped in to provide more information. “The hero was injured, however they were still breathing and being tended to by the time I left.”

That allowed him to release a sigh of relief, to which he abruptly sucked back in as the newly introduced Kurogiri’s smooth voice started back up again.

“However, there were some students I could not warp away,” he continued, “and one of them escaped.”

He had to have been referring to Iida, who, by the spirit’s account, was the only one to leave the building premises. He did witness both Iida and another boy saving some of his other peers from their designated portals. Then, he remembered that Uraraka was up there as well, having also been saved by their rule-abiding friend, which made him feel slightly more relaxed. There was no way she would let Thirteen die on her watch, she simply admired the hero too much to let that happen.

It almost felt as if the misty man had come to report this news a bit late. There felt like a large gap in time compared to now and when Gami had reported the same situation to him earlier. But the phenomenon was merely the work of tension and stress, as it couldn’t have been more than 2 minutes between when Gami had returned and now. It was strange to admit that all that had just previously happened only occurred in a matter of minutes, but the nervous air clouded his perception of time.

Shigaraki looked appalled by the news, and began scratching his neck for the third or fourth time. He furiously clawed both sets of nails at the exposed skin as the Nomu stood eerily still beside him.

“Kurogiri, I swear…” he mumbled just loud enough for all parties to hear, “If you weren’t as useful as you are, I’d have killed you by now.”

That statement really unnerved the teen. Such psychotic words coming from such a childish personality made for an uncomfortable combination. Added to the fact that he had such a disturbing nervous tic and it created critical feelings of fear and hesitance.

“We won’t stand a chance against dozens of pros.” That was certainly true, now matter how arrogant the villain was. “It’s game over. It’s game over for now…”

Were they planning on retreating then? As much as he wanted to crumple down in relief, he remained in his guarded position. These villains, especially Shigaraki, had been unpredictable so far. He couldn’t count on their actions to mimic their words, no matter how they sounded.

Gami seemed to be on the same page. “I have a bad feeling about this.”

Shigaraki then turned to look at him, his eyes cutting through him with a malicious glint. “But, before that…”

The air turned sour, almost signifying something evil to follow.

“Warp him over here. He… interests me compared to the rest of these NPCs.”

Midoriya didn’t even get a moment to process those chilling words as Kurogiri acted on the command, opening a raging portal right below his feet. He couldn’t even get a word out as he was sucked in for the second time, his reaction time simply not being fast enough.

He could see Gami make a desperate lunge for his hands, but it was too late by then.

“IZUKU!!”

He was plopped down roughly, landing uncomfortably on his rear, with Shigaraki standing over him. That alone was enough to send him scrambling to his feet just as the villain reached out to grab him. He had only been warped a few feet, but the shock of being teleported for a second time, and to such close proximity to arguably the most unhinged person here, quickly overwhelmed his senses.

He scampered away on all fours just as Shigaraki swiped at his spot, eyes flashing around from corner to corner. He spotted Gami frantically floating around the spot where he just was, looking panicked despite his facial expression being hidden by his hood. He spun on his heels and stumbled towards his mentor, an unnatural rush of fear flooding his body. He couldn’t remember the last time he had felt so utterly terrified, the instinctual fear for survival.

“Nomu.”

The gigantic mutant practically teleported between him and the ghost, and lunged to grab at him. His mind switched to autopilot out of the pure need to escape, and instinctively dodged the massive hand coming at him. But the Nomu was relentless in its pursuit, and so Midoriya was forced to back away, getting unwillingly closer towards the other two villains.

Gami didn’t know what to do. He felt completely useless as he watched his successor trying his best to escape his deadly cornering. The navy skinned monster continued its persistent attempts to try and restrain him, due to its master’s order. And the other two didn’t sit around idle either, with the misty man making constant portals to try and nab him and Shigaraki making short grabs here and there. He attempted to reach in and tug the boy out of chaos, but couldn’t manage to get a good grip on him while he was moving. It was a miracle the teen hadn’t been caught yet, his panic fueling his dodgy movements.

And like all miracles, its existence was short lived.

He was snatched in the air mid dodge and reeled back into the Nomu’s grasp like a limp doll. His first instinct was to struggle, and so that’s what he did, but the beast had him by the waist in his non-injured hand. His efforts were like that of a fish out of water, floppy and effectively useless. And so his autopilot moved to his second instinct, to disintegrate the hand holding him captive. But despite his childish personality, Shigaraki was extremely intelligent, and was unfortunately one step ahead.

“Kurogiri,” he commanded forcefully, “Don’t let him touch my Nomu.”

It all happened in slow motion. Just as he shot his bare hands down to touch the mutant’s skin, the air ripped open in a purple hue. He unintentionally stuck his hands directly into the portal, sending each one in a different direction far away from each other. It was a bit disturbing, to see his hands so inhumanly far from his body, but as he attempted to pull them back, he felt an unnatural force tugging him forward, keeping him locked in the uncomfortable position.

Though, comfort was the least pressing issue on his mind.

A new dose of fear rushed through his veins. He was helpless, completely and utterly helpless. His hands weren’t anywhere close to the Nomu’s body, so he couldn’t free himself. And without both of his hands close enough, he couldn’t really swing his scythe around. Sure, he only needed one hand to summon it, but it was a large, heavyset weapon, meaning that without both hands, a swing from it would be too weak to even bother.

And as Shigaraki saw the panicked look on his face, his own grin practically tripled in size.

Midoriya desperately tried to calm himself as the villain approached, but the inadmissible fact that he was in a truly fucked situation just couldn’t escape him.

“You know…” he began, his voice sending chills down his spine, “I’d have turned you to dust by now for your cocky attitude if you didn’t interest me.”

He didn’t say anything in response, opting to shut his trap, to which the villain found absolutely hilarious.

“No quip this time?” he laughed his cold, sinister laugh, “Whatever. I’d rather not hear you anyway.”

If it were Gami saying that, he probably would have chuckled and socked to ghost in the shoulder, but it wasn’t him. If anything, the fact that it was specifically the blue haired man that said it made the phrase more than uncomfortable. Maybe it was because they were so similar in nature, that Shigaraki was almost like looking in a mirror. The very thought frightened him in a way unlike what he was currently experiencing, a subtle lining of self doubt that strung along beneath his subconscious.

“Though, I’ll admit, I don’t understand you at all,” he rambled on, something that Midoriya picked up on as a habit, “Your drive, your motivations… I don’t get any of it.”

The boy watched as he creeped up while he spoke, and was eventually within reach of one of his separated hands. His eyes sparked in hopes he could grab the villain in a threatening manner, anything to escape his current predicament. Right now, he was utterly at the mercy of these sadistic individuals with a thirst for violence. He didn’t want to stay helpless any longer.

But as he made a desperate swipe at Shigaraki’s form, the man saw it coming and snatched him by the wrist. The hand on his face moved, indicating he was smiling, as he pressed all five fingers into the teen’s wrist.

“I hope you can explain it to me.”

He wasn’t nearly as prepared for the horrific pain that followed.

He had always wondered what his DT would feel like if used on himself. It was a sick thought, and he could acknowledge that, but still the curiosity piqued at him. Thankfully, his power was rendered useless on his own biomass, so he couldn’t even if he wanted to. Gami had speculated that this was so a Death couldn’t use their own power to kill themselves and break their invisible contract, but the assumption had never been confirmed. The point being, he wasn’t sure how agonizing his own decay felt as he could never test it.

But as the end of his long sleeved shirt and subsequently the skin on his wrist started to flake away, he wasn’t sure if he wanted to know anymore.

The pain was grueling, making him believe that his wrist was a piece of stone being chipped away at relentlessly. The blood that escaped his skin dribbled down his arm in beads, staining the remaining edge of his sleeve and the earth. It didn’t help that Shigaraki was digging the tips of his fingers into his bloody muscle, pushing out more of the liquid as if he were squeezing an orange.

“It’s only fair.” The chipperness in his tone was so unnerving. He hated it. He hated it so much. “After all, you damaged my Nomu the same way.”

If Midoriya was of stable mind right now, he’d argue that this was completely different. He was only defending himself when he had to disintegrate the monster’s wrist. This was just some sick sort of torture, amusement to those watching. Plus Shigaraki sure didn’t care about holding back in the way he himself did. He at least attempted to restrain his powers in concern for his morals, but the man in front of him had no constraint whatsoever. That combined with an ability he personally knew was dangerous could only be a recipe for disaster.

He could now feel the muscle around his wrist slowly begin to rot away as the decay got closer to the bone hidden inside. He thrashed around in a desperate attempt to free himself, or at least brush Shigaraki with the tip of just one of his fingers, as that was all he needed, but his efforts were fruitless. Despite the extensive amount of pain he was currently in however, he let out nothing more than squirming gasps, to the villain’s great annoyance. And while he wasn’t really trying to hold in his screams on purpose, he couldn’t bring himself to cry out. Maybe it was because he had never reacted in that way while still in front of his mother, or maybe it was his subconscious trying to hold onto that strong facade he had presented earlier. Either way, the reason behind it didn’t really matter to him at that moment, as he had more pressing issues to concern himself with.

What really mattered, was that his lack of a reaction stirred up something even more sinister in the villain harming him, and he felt those thin fingers press even further into his flesh.

He couldn’t stop the tears from forming in his eyes, making his vision go fuzzy. Shigaraki was now squeezing his wrist along with his quirk. At this rate, he’d disintegrate right through the bone.

“Come on…” the man teased, the events unfolding before his bringing an even larger smile to his face, “I want to hear that heroic little facade of yours break.”

He didn’t know what to do. Gami had moved over once he was initially restrained and attempted to pry Shigaraki off, but couldn’t get a hold of him with his transparent hands. Then, the ghost tried to tug on his successor’s trapped arms, but the suction of the vortex simply canceled out his efforts. Gami looked just as hopeless as he felt, and his panicked and abrupt movements only added to Midoriya’s desperation. Neither of them could do anything, and the very proof of their useless struggles was so frustrating and demoralizing.

It didn’t help that the teen could practically feel the ocean of DT at his fingertips. His hysterical rush of emotions from the pain and thought of being helpless had piled it there, just clawing at his skin, but without any physical contact with anything, it couldn’t escape. The pressure from his disintegration power kept building and building, and with no way to release itself, it was becoming almost as agonizing as his current torture, like an overheating boiler.

He was scared. He was completely and utterly terrified, something he hadn’t felt in quite a long time. It had been years since he felt this overwhelming consumption of fear, and yet, even with that vast amount of time, he still hadn’t found a way to properly deal with it. Shigaraki was so close to his bone, just a little longer and he’d probably lop his entire hand off. He wasn’t sure if he was more scared about his temperamental healing factor being discovered by all of U.A. or the immediate danger that was the villain in front currently disintegrating his wrist, but he didn’t bother to try and distinguish. His priorities were so out of whack at this point, with the only thing he could properly acknowledge was the fact that he was scared. He was so scared, flooded with the cowardly desire to run and hide. But he could do neither, so his conscience opted for a third choice he didn’t even know was there, and yet one he was desperately trying to avoid.

His mouth opened and he let out that desperate scream Shigaraki had been waiting for all along. He just wanted it to stop, to be over already. Please…

PLEASE!!

There was a faint pop, almost like a small firecracker, so quiet that no one except for Gami heard it, and looked around in confusion. None followed in the second after, making the ghost think he was starting to hallucinate, chalking up the noise to something his panicked brain was imagining.

The next moment, Midoriya saw in slow motion, but that didn’t mean he was prepared for it either.

The sound came first, a threatening rip in the air, so loud the boy thought it was a building falling over. It practically blasted out his eardrums with its volume. None of the villains were expecting it either, just by the confused looks on their face, but no one had a chance to process it.

The air in front of his mangled hand exploded, sending Shigaraki tumbling backwards to the ground. The pure blowback from the explosion was enough to free his injured arm from the vortex, sending it back through the portal with surprising force. His fingertips throbbed, like the amount of blood rushing through them would explode as well.

He looked at his mentor, trying to figure out what the hell just happened, but wasted no time pressing his free hand into the Nomu holding him. He didn’t realize how panicked he was truly feeling, as the decay started up immediately and crackled along its dark skin, disintegrating it away even faster than before. The monster screeched and dropped him soon after, now with both hands mangled and no way to repair them.

Midoriya dropped to the floor, not realizing how high he was being held. But, like its own miracle, the drop was large enough to pull his other arm out of the portal as well. He didn’t hesitate, taking the opportunity to scramble back and put as much distance between him and the villains. He needed a breather, and a chance to figure out just what happened.

He panted, struggling to keep both feet planted firmly on the earth. Gami had instantly rushed over after seeing him free, and did his best to hold his friend up, but he had ended up using his scythe for balance anyway, like an oversized cane. But glancing at his newly summoned weapon, the thoughts started up in his head, first slow and unconnected.

What was that explosion that had miraculously freed him from that hopeless situation? It had to have originated from him, as the shockwave both hit Shigaraki and knocked his arm out of the portal. But he didn’t have any powers like that. The only kind of explosions he could produce were from his scythe and he wasn’t even holding it…

Wait.

The only reason his weapon could make shockwaves in the first place was because it came from his DT. He had managed to figure out a way to overload the blade with so much DT it disintegrated even the air, and the subsequent vacuum was what actually created the explosion. The only catch was that he had to swing the blade first, as the rush of DT at a standstill wasn’t enough to kickstart the process.

He looked down as his hands, more specifically, the still shaking one that had emitted the explosion earlier.

He was a fool for not realizing it sooner. It was practically common sense. If his explosions were a result of disintegrating the air, then by that conclusion, anything that could emit DT could become a catalyst for that potential.

Including his hands.

He had never thought about it before, the idea not once entering his mind. But putting the pieces together now, it made perfect sense. His hands were a standstill object, he wouldn’t really be moving them while using DT, therefore the opportunity that enough DT for an explosion would flood his fingertips at once was low. He had no reason to want that much decay, especially considering his delicate morals concerning his own power. The only way he could create the conditions for an explosion at his fingertips would be just what he experienced now: the restraintless overload of power with no possible outlet but the air.

Of course, the area of which his fingertips covered was much smaller than his blade, meaning that explosions by hand would be much smaller as well, but that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Now that he knew it was possible, he could see the doors of opportunity opening for him.

But now also wasn’t the time to be analysing his own power, as he wasn’t out of the woods just yet. He was pretty banged up, amazed at how he was still standing, despite his immortality. A thin trail of blood leaked out from the corner of his lips, much more inside his mouth. His chest ached painfully, sore and uncomfortable likely due to at least one broken rib from the Nomu’s initial attacks. His limbs were covered in small cuts and scrapes, his skin colored balck and blue from his numerous impacts with the ground. And his newest injury was the most gruesome of them all.

His right wrist was missing nearly all its skin, with dried blood at the edges. The decay was in the disturbing shape of a handprint, just how Shigaraki had held him. He could see his own bloody flesh and muscle throbbing, almost making him throw up at the sight. If he moved his arm in just the right way, he could see his ulna peek out like it was hiding from him. His radius was constantly showing through the decayed muscle, the whiteness of the bone standing out against the red tinted flesh. It was disturbing how calmly he could analyze it, almost forgetting the amount of agonizing pain it caused.

There was shuffling from in front of him, so he perked his head up anxiously, only to be met with Shigaraki picking himself up off the ground. Kurogiri stood behind him glancing over to the Nomu, who stood unnervingly still despite having both of its hands mortifyingly injured. The villain made eye contact with Midoriya, studying his uneven breathing and bloody form in pure disbelief.

“I don’t understand,” he growls under his breath, loud enough to hear, “Even mini bosses don’t have this much health…”

The boy looked around. There was still no sign of All Might, or any reinforcements from Iida yet. His body was in shambles, his stamina running thin, and yet, there was no other option than to stall for more time. He couldn’t defeat any of the three villains in front of him, much less all three at once. Everything hurt, he wanted to just drop and let the earth consume him, but he had to keep fighting, even if it was to simply waste more time.

“I… already said.” His voice was shaky and hoarse, no longer portraying the strong, unstoppable facade he wanted. “I’m m-more resilient… than you think.”

Serving its purpose as intended, Shigaraki only grew more angry. Though, it was a lot more than he expected, with the man now scratching vigorously at the red skin on his neck, seething heavily. Even Kurogiri looked over to him in concern.

“I don’t understand. I don’t understand you!” he cried out, almost in pain by his bewilderment, “Why do you keep going when no one is here to save you?!”

The misty portal man took a step forward, moving to stand behind the other villain. He seemed really concerned for his partner, to which Midoriya couldn’t blame him for. He reminded the teen of Gami, in a strange, mirrored way.

“Shigaraki,” his elegant voice returned, clearly not suited for the battlefield, “We should retreat if this child is upsetting you, especially since U.A. reinforcement will likely be arriving soo-”

“This kid is not stressing me out.” His rebuttal was very punctuated and firm, ignoring the rest of his partner’s statement completely. “So shut up.”

He began pacing, to which the boy could only follow with his eyes. The sudden movement startled him, making him think he was about to be attacked again. The male didn’t stop scratching either, and all in all made for an unnerving combination.

“It’s fine, it’s fine…” he repeated to himself, trying to convince his own mind of whatever doubt it was facing, “I’ll just take him to Sensei. He’ll know what to do…”

Sensei? Did that mean there was another villain behind this? An even larger mastermind? If so, it would explain a lot, especially how such a childish and spoiled man was considered the leader of this invasion. Of course no one would rightly follow him, not unless he’d been appointed by a much scarier and threatening person. Whoever it was, Shigaraki admired them enough to call him “Sensei”, so he must certainly be more skilled and dangerous.

“Please, you cannot keep fighting!” Gami was begging with him at this point, and Midoriya couldn’t stop the immense guilt from flooding his system. “I cannot follow you if they take you through another portal!”

Shit. That was true. Gami wasn’t warped with him when he got sent to the flood zone. If the villains warped him away now, he’d be alone and defenseless in an unknown land. It could take ages for him to be found or rescued, and by that time… well, he didn't want to think about that.

Kurogiri moved to presumably carry out his partner’s wishes and warp him away, but Shigaraki held his hand out.

“No, I want my Nomu to knock him out,” he finished, “If you warp him while conscious, he could tear the whole bar apart.”

Bar? Was that their hideout?

But before he got any more time to think, the mutant responded to its master’s implied command and rushed at him. The ground was still uneven, meaning that the beast was still traveling considerably slower than its top speed, but Midoriya was too weak to move out of the way. He could only close his eyes and brace himself for the hit.

The sock to his gut brought a whole new wave of blood up his throat.

He could feel himself flying back, his limbs almost floating in limbo. He waited to hit the ground, the impact would likely be the last straw needed to kill his consciousness. And yet, he still couldn’t muster the energy to even try and shield his head. Everything either burned or throbbed, his gym uniform stained with dirt and blood, his undershirt ripped and frayed. This was it. All he could do was wait for impact and hope unconsciousness would give him enough energy to try and escape the villains’ lair if it came to that.

The landing was rough, but not as rough as he thought it’d be.

Somehow, he was still conscious. His eyelids fluttered, almost expecting a bit of dramatic pause before falling asleep, but it never came. His focus darted around. He was alright, well, as alright as he could be. His body moved, like he was being pushed or slid off something, and that’s when he noticed.

Gami was under him, with his ghostly arms caged around him protectively. The spirit slid him onto the earth, a movement so subtle, it couldn’t be noticed. He must have acted just as he was punched, and moved to put himself between the teen and the ground, acting as a buffer for the impact.

Despite the likely extra broken ribs he obtained from the blow, Gami had effectively saved his well being.

His ears were ringing, but even still, he could hear the remnants of Shigaraki shouting, probably utterly puzzled about how he was still conscious, but he took the opportunity to pick himself back up, with Gami’s help of course. He could only bring himself to a sitting position though, not trusting his legs to support his weight at the moment. His breathing was even more labored than before, turning to pained wheezes and gasps.

Shigaraki must have ordered the Nomu to attack again, because the beast began hulking towards him once more. He looked at his mentor, who this time wasn’t sure at all what to do, out of ideas. He moved to try and stand, but his legs felt like jello, completely out of stamina and adrenaline. So he did the only thing he could think of, and summoned his scythe as a last means of defense.

A large explosion echoed from over the plaza, capturing everyone’s attention. Though, this time, it wasn’t the teen who caused it.

The front entrance doors of the USJ building had been completely blown off and even through all the chaos, he could begin to hear shouts and cries of relief.

“FEAR NOT…” a familiar voice boomed from inside the dome, raining down to the plaza like a miracle.

Midoriya never thought he’d ever be so eager to hear that voice.

“I AM HERE.”

Chapter Text

All Might burst through the front doors of the USJ building, a pained grimace adorning where his usual smile would be. He was still dressed in his professional clothes, likely meaning he came directly from the school. He shuffled with his tie, gripping it tightly in his massive fist.

His eyes focused on the group of students huddled by the front entrance. Uraraka had fat tears rolling down her puffy cheeks, standing next to a kneeling Ashido, who was crying profusely. Sato and Sero stood behind the two, looking utterly relieved minus the tears. And Shoji stood off to the side, his many limbs spouted around him as he monitored the building.

“The principal told me of his bad feeling about this trip, so I cut my talk with him short and came right away,” he declared to anyone who was listening. He had unfortunately occupied his entire morning with hero work, and therefore only just arrived at the school. Nezu had shortly called him into his office, and explained his concern for Aizawa’s class, who was at the USJ and had not contacted him since. That was enough for the hero to offer his time up to check, to which Nezu replied that he would have the rest of the staff on standby

“Then I ran into Iida along the way,” the pro continued, “He told me the gist of what was going on here.”

It turned out that Nezu’s worry was valid, and he was very thankful that he had decided to come check. The students seemed to be in a state of great distress, and all for good reason. Having to fight for their lives against hordes of villains at just the beginning of their first year was dreadful enough, but as he turned to see his fellow comrade, he started to get a grip on how bad the situation was.

Thirteen’s half disintegrated form was quivering against the ground, with Ashido leaning above him. Their costume was torn to shreds with his back completely exposed. The hero’s slight shivers and pained gasps of breath were all that signified their consciousness.

“A-A-All Might!!”

He glanced in the direction of the call, to see Asui and Mineta lugging themselves up the stairs to the plaza. The rest of the students gasped and quickly rushed over to help them, shouting cries of concern for their well being. Uraraka was the first to them, and helped the two haul something off their back and onto the ground.

All Might nearly gasped in shock at the sight.

Aizawa’s broken body was laid down onto the dirt, in an even worse condition than the space hero’s. Both of his arms were crushed, though one much worse than the other, and his face was beaten to a pulp. Dribbles of caked blood ran down his battered skin, and only his short wheezes could confirm that he was alive.

He stepped over out of instinct to get a closer look, and Asui, her eyes slightly watery, looked up at him.

“Please, All Might…” she croaked out, her lip quivering a little, “Midori’s still fighting that monster in the plaza… you have to help!”

The other students looked around in anxiousness, leaning over the edge of the railing to try and confirm. Uraraka looked even more concerned, scanning her eyes along the scene in hopes she would spot him. But alas, it was Shoji who responded first.

“I’m detecting four individuals in the center plaza,” the boy announced, retracting in one of his sets of limbs, “One of them being Midoriya.”

The number one hero nodded, but couldn’t see for himself due to the mass mob of villains in the way. Regardless, he finally ripped off his tie and set his expression to one of simmering anger. He needed to get to the center plaza and fast, as that was likely where the masterminds behind this attack were. He wasn’t sure how long the student had been fighting, but he couldn’t allow him to put himself at risk any longer.

“FEAR NOT!!” he declared loudly, announcing his presence to all, “I AM HERE!!”

He gave the villains no time to react as he flipped off his overshirt and barreled down the stairs and through the plaza, incapacitating any villains that were in his way. He glanced over to the center of the plaza, and a crowd of distinct individuals met his glare, including one green haired student who was currently prone on the ground. He wasted not a second and zoomed over, picking the boy up along with his weapon and setting him down on the sidelines.

Midoriya could admit he was surprised when his worn out body was lifted off the ground and to his feet a few steps away. His legs still felt unstable, and so he dug the end of his scythe into the dirt and leaned into it, balancing out his wobbly form. Blood ran down his lips and dripped onto his gym uniform, and the injury on his wrist continued to bleed endlessly as well. The warm liquid flowed down his bare hand and stuck to his skin as his exposed muscle throbbed relentlessly.

“Midoriya, kid…” All Might couldn’t stop his worries from escaping at the teen’s condition. His wounds were gruesome at best, it was a miracle alone that he was still conscious. “Are you alright?”

Gami wanted to strangle the hero. Of course his successor wasn’t alright. He was barely conscious and had tanked about three hits from the Nomu in the time earlier. His friend was likely on his last leg, but at least now that All Might was here, he could finally retreat and catch his breath.

Sure, the boy wasn’t too fond of the number one hero, but it would just be plain stupid to carry his grudge into such a life threatening situation like this. Besides, his head was too foggy to focus on petty things like that.

“I’m fine,” he confirmed, but the soft wheeze that came after pretty much disregarded his statement, “But those villains are really dangerous…”

The two, plus the ghost, all made eye contact with Shigaraki, who was adjusting the hand on his face after it was moved by All Might’s great speed. The male started to scratch again, but this time, it was lighter than before, just daintily grazing his skin.

“You’re fast. Too fast to keep up with, but not as fast as expected…” he declared with an audible smirk, “Could it really be true…?”

Then, the plaza was filled with a bone chilling aura, one of pure sinister intent. Midoriya couldn’t help but flinch into his skin, and even the spirit was unnerved by its presence. The pro grimaced slightly, but it was nearly unnoticeable against his powerful front.

“That you’re getting weaker?”

Kurogiri shifted behind the blue haired villain, his purple fog swirling around him threateningly, and the Nomu cocked its head sharply as if it were being tugged on a string. Combined with Shigaraki’s guaranteed smile, it made for a terrifying scene.

The boy’s analytics kicked in, despite the paralyzing fear running through his veins, and his instincts prevailed. He took a wobbly step forward, catching All Might’s attention.

“The brain monster… Nomu, it’s the most dangerous,” he informed the hero, racking his own fuzzy brain for more details, “It’s got multiple quirks, including super strength, speed, and hyper regeneration. I don’t know if it has any more though…”

The air was tense, as no one made a move while Midoriya talked. Each person was uncomfortably still, except for Gami, who moved closer in fear that his successor might collapse due to exhaustion.

“Kurogiri… he’s got a portal quirk. His body doesn’t seem solid, but I think parts of it are.” He couldn’t think of anything more for the misty man, so his thoughts moved onto the final villain. “And the blue haired one is Shigaraki. He has a five fingered decay quirk.”

The blond hero looked back over to the student’s mangled wrist, noticing how the tips of his undershirt were missing as well. He could vaguely see the wound, but definitely could tell the beginnings of an outline of a handprint. The next thought after that made his blood boil, but he couldn’t lose his cool like this. He had to keep the students safe, and that meant taking down these villains as quickly and efficiently as possible.

“I managed to damage the Nomu’s hands,” the teen added, beginning to ramble out of the pure desire to be useful, “And it can’t regene-”

“Midoriya, you can relax now,” he interrupted him with a flash of a smile and a peace sign, “Fear not!”

The hero then rushed forward, his arms crossed over his chest. He aimed his powerful attack towards Shigaraki, moving at blinding speed. Even if he wasn’t a fan of the number one hero now, he sure still remembered all of his signature moves.

“Carolina…” he began to call out.

He noticed Shigaraki mumble something, and with equally blinding speed, the Nomu zoomed over to place himself in the way of the attack just as All Might finished moving.

“SMASH!!”

To both his and All Might’s surprise, the attack did absolutely nothing, with the Nomu looking completely unfazed. The monster lunged to try and restrain the pro, but he quickly ducked under and delivered a strong punch to its gut, to which had no effect either.

Shigaraki laughed as he watched the pro continue to try and fight his mutant, throwing punch after punch to no avail. No matter where he aimed, at the beast’s brain, or face, or chest, nothing seemed to work.

“No effect. Because he’s got shock absorption,” he teased, standing perfectly still despite the two powerhouses trading blows in front of him, “If you really want to damage my Nomu, you’d be better off slowly ripping him apart piece by piece. Not that he’ll give you that chance…”

But All Might wasn’t fazed at the villain’s taunting, keeping his signature smile displayed. “Thanks for the info!! Appreciate it!!”

He then moved directly behind the monster, and wrapped his two muscular arms around its midsection, almost like a gigantic bear hug. But the move certainly wasn’t meant to be gentle, as the hero used his immense strength to haul the beast up and over himself, then headfirst into the ground.

The euphoria was short-lived however, as the Nomu’s skull didn’t crush against the dirt, but instead was sent through a familiar purple fog. Midoriya couldn’t hold in his gasp as the mutant reappeared underneath the hero and dug its fingers into his sides.

One of which right into his weak spot.

All Might let out a faint exhale, blood leaking through his clenched teeth, but the Nomu wasn’t unscathed either. Its hands were still fairly mangled, and having to use unprotected muscle so roughly surely wasn’t beneficial to any pain receptors it had. The beast let out a small screech, though nothing compared to the damage the teen had done earlier, and whatever pain it was in wasn’t stopping it from trying to hurt the pro.

The boy could only watch as All Might let go of the Nomu’s waist and struggled to free himself, attempting to pry the monster’s bloody fingers out of his flesh. But despite the hero’s massive strength, the angle that he was positioned in was too detrimental to apply it.

He wanted to move and help, but Gami had a firm grip on his shoulder, trying to keep his jello legs rooted in place.

Shigaraki erupted into laughter once more at seeing the situation lean in his favor, and he couldn’t help but run off at the mouth. “So you hoped to drive it into concrete and seal its movements? It wouldn’t have worked. Nomu is just as powerful as you.”

He then turned to Kurogiri, who’s swirling body was writhing around All Might’s restrained form. “Well done, Kurogiri. Perfect timing, really.”

It was unnerving, to hear the villain compliment his partner so seamlessly in the middle of a murder attempt. They smiled like business partners just nailing a contract, their proud air suffocating for everyone else. Midoriya could feel himself choking on it, though he might have been choking on his fear as well. His brain spiraled in disbelief, hopelessly trying to understand where their pride was originating from. He felt so sick and confusing, and the cowardly wish of it all just going away if he closed his eyes popped into his head more than once.

“I can’t say I much like the idea of having blood and guts inside my gate,” the misty man responded, turning towards the entrapped hero, “but if they’re yours, I’ll happily oblige.”

The Nomu began pulling downwards on All Might as Kurogiri’s portal began to stretch to encompass the entire hero. Slowly but surely, his legs began to get sucked into the vortex, along with the Nomu tugging on his prone form. Midoriya didn’t understand exactly what was going on, but regardless was horrified at the sight

“You see, it’s Nomu’s job to get around that blinding speed of yours and hold you down,” Kurogiri joined in on the banter, to which the boy found a bit odd considering what he was able to pick up on his personality, “And it’s my job to close the warp gate on you while your halfway through and immobilized…”

It was at that moment that the deathly duo realized just what direction this scenario was headed in.

“Thereby cutting you in two.”

Midoriya felt his throat run dry at that prospect. This wasn’t just some half assed attempt to kill the number one hero, this was thoroughly planned out, and on its way to completion. At their current rate, All Might wouldn’t escape the trap in time, not by the way he was struggling. He needed to do something, he had to do something.

He might not have liked the man, but he surely didn’t want him dead.

Gami could feel his successor’s efforts to move, and his worry peaked once more. “You cannot. It is a miracle alone that those villains have left you unbothered so far.”

“I can’t just stand here,” he whispered back hoarsely, holding back the train of coughs threatening to climb up his throat. He shook his mentor’s bony grip off him and took a shaky step forward. His bones ached from inside of him and his stamina drained out like his blood loss. It was true. It was a miracle that he was still conscious right now, even despite his immortality, but that only meant he couldn’t waste it. He could decay the Nomu’s arms and free All Might, and if he could do that, then his morals wouldn’t allow him to simply stand on the sidelines and watch the hero struggle alone.

He took another small step and watched the floor sway beneath his feet. He leaned into his scythe, now using it as a cane for his unstable form. His body was finally starting to run out of adrenaline, and was giving out on him. And though his movements were slight, they caught the attention of one person, who had been eerily fixated on him since the near start of the invasion.

Shigaraki moved his focus from the end of the number one hero to the green haired boy who had piqued his curiosity since he had entered the battlefield. His grin grew larger at watching his attempts to move. And when an opportunity presented itself, boy was he one to take it.

“Kurogiri.” All he had to do was command the portal villain, who in turn turned his attention as well. The two villains were practically on the same wavelength, as the moment Midoriya looked up, all that met his vision was a rush of purple smog.

He gasped, and moved to raise his scythe defensively, but the moment it left the dirt, he felt his legs wobble. He couldn’t lift it to protect himself without losing his balance, and there was no way he could force his body to move out of the way fast enough. Even if Gami could push him out of the way, he’d just be prone to another attempt.

The only thing he could think to do was raise his uninjured bare hand, hoping that maybe he could pull off that explosion from before in his other desperate time of need.

“Midoriya, kid!!” All Might exclaimed, watching the entire mess unfold before him but unable to do anything about it.

Just as the fog prepared to engulf him, a deafening explosion rang from in front of him, causing him to shield his eyes out of instinct. A bright yellow blast blinded the area around him, making Gami shrink back submissively. He knew for a fact this wasn’t his work, as even if he was blind, he still didn’t feel any blowback from the explosion. And though it was fairly easy to tell, a subsequent cry was all that was necessary to confirm it.

“Get… THE HELL OUTTA HERE!!”

He watched Bakugo launch himself and aim his grasp at the metal neck piece Kurogiri was wearing. With brutal force, the blond slammed him to the ground hard, unrelenting with his hand. The misty man was pressed into the dirt, with Bakugo’s palm placed dangerously close to his head.

A cold chill swept over the battlefield, rushing by his feet. Sure enough, when the boy looked down, he noticed a thin trail of ice running right past him and towards the Nomu, freezing half of its body only moments later.

Kirishima then jumped from somewhere on the sidelines and took a swing at Shigaraki, to which the villain unfortunately dodged. The redhead barreled into the main crowd, which was now much more balanced than before.

Midoriya looked around in disbelief. Just a moment ago, he had been on his own, fighting an impossible battle simply to stall for time. He had been injured, worn down, and afraid, unsure of how much longer he could last.

But now, as his glance moved from person to person, he could feel the spark of hope ignite again in his chest. And though the situation hadn’t gotten any less dangerous, being surrounded by the number one hero as well as his competent classmates kindled newfound adrenaline in his system.

All Might.

Bakugo.

Kirishima.

Todoroki.

If they were still up and kicking, then so should he.

The Nomu screeched in pain, which brought the teen out of his thoughts. The frost had spread further up its body, crackling against its skin. Its muscles spasmed as the beginnings of hypothermia started to set in, losing its grip into All Might’s sides. The hero gave one last tug against the appendages in his flesh, and finally, he was able to pry himself free.

The pro retreated back a few feet, now standing in front of the group of students. Kirishima had moved towards Bakugo’s crouching form, squatting into a defensive position to assist the blond just in case. Todoroki continued to send waves of ice from the base of his right foot, but turned to Midoriya anyway, despite being a couple steps away.

“Are you alright, Izuku?” he asked, scanning his eyes in search of injuries.

The boy tugged the remnants of his sleeve over his gruesome wrist wound, suddenly feeling very uncomfortable. He was still leaning into his scythe, with a small puddle of blood by his feet. “I’m fine… but we’ve got bigger problems right now.”

Just as he finished, Shigaraki slowly turned towards their group, sending a chill down his likely bruised spine. Something about the blue haired man simply terrified him, filling him with instinctive fear. But having his most capable peers around him was enough to push past his anxiety, putting up just as brave a facade as they were.

“You’ve pinned down our way out…” the villain mumbled, “Well, this is a problem.”

Bakugo’s sadistic grin grew a size wider at his quiet hesitation, as his hand tensely remained on Kurogiri’s neck. “You slipped up, bastard! And it’s just how I thought!”

Even Gami shied away as Bakugo’s expression became even more feral, his eyes growing thin and smirk stretching larger than what he thought was possible.

“The parts you can turn into that foggy warp gate are limited,” he explained aloud, almost as if he was showing off, “And you’re using that misty crap to hide your real body, yeah?! Am I right?!”

The ghost turned to his successor, bringing a bony finger to where his chin would be. “I thought that was determined already?”

If the situation was different, Midoriya would have probably let out a loose chuckle at the thought of Gami passively insulting Bakugo. But now definitely wasn’t the time. The Nomu had remained eerily still for the time being, and even though it was entrapped in ice, he couldn’t forget its hyper regenerative abilities.

He hoped All Might hadn’t either.

“If your whole body was mist and physical attacks didn’t work…” Goodness, was Bakugo still going on about that? As much as he could acknowledge the blond’s analytical prowess, now really wasn’t the time and place to group dissect a quirk. “You’d never say, ‘That was a close one’!!”

Something must have provoked the misty villain, or at the very least, he must have attempted to escape, because his body shifted slightly under Bakugo’s watchful gaze. Said boy picked up on this immediately, and pressed his hand further into the metal neck piece. He turned to make eye contact, his threatening smile unwavered.

“Don’t move!” he growled, getting up close and personal, “If I decide you’re doing anything fishy, I’ll blow you straight to kingdom come!”

Kirishima, who still stood beside him, glanced cheekily at his peer. “That’s not very hero-like, dude…”

But Shigaraki had witnessed enough of the banter, starting to become annoyed. He looked over to his Nomu, who was still in Kurogiri’s portal and still half frozen, but otherwise fine.

“Nomu, take out the explosive brat,” he commanded sharply, not caring if everyone else overheard, “We need our escape route back.”

The monster reacted instantly at its master’s instruction, beginning to pull itself out of the open portal. The group watched in shock as the frozen parts of its body began to crumble and break, much to Todoroki’s horror. It lost more of his right side as it progressively moved to stand up, with its entire right arm and leg breaking off completely. And yet, even with the missing limbs, the beast remained unaffected.

“Get back everyone!!” Midoriya couldn't help but warn as his classmates had no idea of the mutant’s multiple quirks.

Collective gasps rang about the central plaza as strings of muscle began to wrap themselves around the Nomu’s stumps, reforming themselves into limbs once more.

“What the-” the pro shouted in disbelief.

“Nomu’s got hyper regeneration, remember?” Shigaraki questioned cynically, a knowing smirk across his cheeks, “Or were you not paying attention when the decay brat practically spoiled it?”

The villain’s hair tussled with every prideful word, moving along with his ego. The boy shuffled uneasily at the call out, with Gami moving closer protectively. Unbeknownst to him, he had unwilling picked up the eyes of his classmates, who had now begun to put the pieces together concerning his injuries.

Shigaraki scoffed as his monster finished repairing its lost limbs, regaining a new, uninjured hand. “It is pretty unfortunate that our original plan didn’t quite work out, but Nomu at least got one of its hands back now, thanks to that icy brat.”

Shocked, the teen turned his focus to the Nomu’s new hand, and sure enough, it was uninjured. It did make sense, but it did startle him nonetheless. It was a stark contrast, to see one hand look so perfectly new, while the other still retained its grotesque wounds.

Then, the Nomu charged forward, having finished healing its injuries. The male laughed at the perplexed expressions in front of him, finding their disbelief absolutely hilarious. “Nomu is a super-powered sandbag, designed to withstand everything you’ve got.”

Midoriya knew that first hand, and it still absolutely terrified him.

Despite the ground still being torn up from his previous battle with the Nomu, it still moved ungodly fast, now with even less injury to slow it down. It zoomed towards the group, more specifically, right at Bakugo, who could only lift his head up and stare at the beast’s unnerving blank expression. Gami watched his successor step forward instinctively, trying to do something, but at his near collapse, lunged his ghostly arms back under him to provide extra support.

While being immoblile was certainly detrimental in a situation like this, it certainly made the teen more observant. He had to be, if only to make up for his hindrance in combat. So when a yellow blur moved out of the corner of his eye, he immediately switched gears towards it, watching it throw himself between the raging beast and his fiery classmate.

So when Bakugo suddenly appeared beside him as the Nomu violently launched something into the dome wall behind them, he couldn’t quite say he was surprised.

After all, this was the number one hero they were fighting alongside. He would never allow a student to be blatantly attacked like so on his watch.

Though, he registered the sight much before the shock of the punch, and was unprepared for the blast that came after, knocking his unstable body back to the ground. Todoroki and Kirishima managed to stay upright, but the trees around them swayed dangerously, threatening to fall over themselves.

The impact with the earth wasn’t really that severe, but combined with the fact that Midoriya’s body was covered in gashes and bruises, his likely broken ribs, and his overall drained stamina, he couldn’t help but cry out in pain. He couldn’t maintain his concentration anymore, and his weapon finally disappeared from his hand instinctively. He was able to catch his upper body with his hands, stopping his back from hitting the ground, but the impact to his mangled wrist sent another wave of shock and pain through his blood. He clenched his teeth to prevent another yelp from escaping his lips, the pressure of his jaw unfortunately causing a thicker trickle of blood to escape instead.

“Izuku!!” He heard the spirit yell out, finally bringing him out of his fuzzy conscience, but he could only groan in response, unable to bring himself to form words just yet.

His eyes fluttered open not a moment later, remembering just what kind of situation he was still in. His vision was dazed, but regardless he attempted to lift himself back to his feet, pushing for any more last bits of stamina. The dust from the blow finally began to clear, and that’s when he noticed a hand reaching out in his direction, and not the skeletal one he was familiar with.

Todoroki stood above him, which was strange considering the boy was behind him just before the Nomu’s punch. But nonetheless he was above him, leaning forward slightly and offering his hand out. His brain still foggy, it took him a moment to process the image in front of him, eyes blinking sporadically to try and register the sight quicker. He switched to autopilot when his head continued to sway, and reached out to take his hand. With their combined efforts, Midoriya was able to get back up on his feet, wobbling slightly, but otherwise alright. He brought his weapon back out again and leaned into it, stabling his form for the time being.

That was when his classmate had finally deemed him stable enough to let go.

That was also when the alien feeling of direct skin contact finally registered itself to Midoriya’s muddy conscience.

The realization was enough to shatter him out of autopilot, snatching his already limp hand back with a jolt. He unconsciously cradled it, but not in any gentle way, untrusting of his fingers to remain at a distance he felt was safe. He quickly glanced over to make sure Todoroki’s hand wasn’t disintegrating, to which it thankfully wasn’t, and allowed himself a sigh of relief. He could feel his heart still rapid firing out beats, and he worked desperately to calm it.

“Are you sure you are alright?” The two toned teen inquired again, making direct eye contact.

He shriveled under his gaze, but nodded anyway, wiping the drops of blood from his mouth. “Y...yeah, I’m good. Thanks for the help.”

His friend sent him a curt nod, and then repositioned his attention towards what had been shot into the wall behind them, to which Midoriya followed as well.

All Might stood strongly amongst the rubble, his arms shielded protectively in front of his face. The arm in front sported a decently sized abrasion, and even from his distance, he could see the hero spit out a few more drops of blood.

Bakugo, who was still on the floor, could only bring himself to watch in shock, finally piecing together what just transpired. He wasn’t the only one either, as the rest of the students seemed to realize that the hero had taken the hit to protect him.

Shigaraki too, quickly picked up on the transition, his expression morphing into an unrecognizable one from underneath the hand covering it. His eyes widened from in between the mummified fingers, pupils shrinking dangerously small. His shoulders started to twitch involuntarily as the breath in his lungs heaved.

Everyone switched focus at the villain’s sudden burst of laughter, and stared anxiously as he doubled over heaving. The plaza was filled with the chilling echoes of his chuckling, so unfit for the current context.

“Anything to save a comrade, right?” he questioned the hero with a sneer, cocking his head cynically. The smirk of his face was audible at this point, evident by the hint of chipperness in his tone.

The villain then turned his eyes towards the crowd, again landing on Midoriya, who was struggling to remain upright. His smile dropped, remembering how perplexing the boy was earlier, before shaking himself out of his funk and pointing towards him.

“Just like earlier, when that one… the little decay brat.” Said boy looked over shakily at the beginning of the unwanted spotlight, but Shigaraki didn’t care at all. Gami moved forward threateningly, wishing desperately that he could be seen so he could scare the living shit out of the villain, who was starting to annoy him. The specter could feel the eyes around them curiously land on his successor, trying to decipher just what he was going on about. The situation as a whole really pissed the ghost off, and he hoped at the very least for his sanity, he’d never encounter these individuals again.

“He fought my Nomu with everything he had,” Shigaraki almost teased, considering the amount of ghastly injuries he obtained from fighting with “everything he had”. But the statement still made his classmates look over in shock. They hadn’t realized how badly he was hurt in the midst of the chaos, nor that he got like that from fighting the very thing that had just sent All Might crashing into the wall behind them. “But violence in the name of saving others is admirable?”

He broke out into laughter again, becoming even more unhinged with each word. His calm facade from earlier was starting to crumble, revealing his swirling mess of a character inside.

“You know what, All Might? That pisses me off!!” he cried out to the crowd, becoming more animated with each word, “Heroes and villains both thrive on violence, and yet we’re still categorized. ‘You’re good.’ ‘You’re evil.’ That’s how it is!!”

The way Shigaraki passionately spoke, as if he truly believed he was in the right, Midoriya just couldn’t wrap his foggy head around it. Maybe it was because of how exhausted he was, or maybe it finally was his blood loss getting to him, but it was getting harder and harder to process what exactly the villain was saying.

“Symbol of peace? HAH!! In the end, you’re just a tool for violence made to keep us down,” he rambled, feeling his fervor for the topic start to die off, “And violence only breeds more violence. I’ll show the world that by killing you…”

All Might huffed, having walked back up to the group of students in the time he had been talking, “What a load of nonsense. Idealistic criminals have a different sort of fire in their eyes.”

But the pro’s criticism didn’t seem to rock the villain in the slightest, as he just sneered in his direction, “But you’re just enjoying yourself, you big liar.”

That particular statement rang through the boy’s head especially loud, making him shuffled uncomfortably, though the movement was easy to attribute to his shaky condition. He silently promised himself that once he made it out of this situation, he’d work towards fixing his perception of the number one hero. Because, quite frankly, even sharing a small inkling of opinion with someone who was the exact opposite of everything he was working to made him sick.

But as he looked around, his classmates thankfully didn’t pick up on his hesitation. They were all too busy preparing for another rush or blatant attack from one of the three villains in front of them, to which Midoriya figured he should join in on, regardless of his condition.

“It’s three on five,” Todoroki announced, wrangling everyone’s thoughts back into place, “We have the advantage.”

He nodded at his friend, even if there was a sliver of hesitation hiding behind his determined smile.

“These are some brutal dudes, but with us supporting All Might, we can beat ‘em back!!” Kirishima exclaimed, pumping everyone up.

But the hero disagreed, “No!! Get out of here!!”

But Todoroki only looked over blankly. “Things wouldn’t have gone well if I hadn’t stepped in.”

The deathly duo swiveled their heads around, stunned at the teen’s choice of words, but they couldn’t help but agree. Midoriya in particular remembered the conversation Aizawa and Thirteen had just before the invasion. The space hero had raised three fingers when talking about All Might’s time limit being up. He hadn’t thought much of it then, but when combined with what he remembered the pro telling him under the overpass all that time ago, it was fair to assume All Might’s 3 hour limit had run out just before the attack. He was trying to bluff off his incoming transformation.

The boy was the only one here who knew the true peril that the number one hero was in. And by god, if he could still move even a finger, then he would keep fighting, no matter what All Might said.

This was his first step towards change, and though in the past he probably wouldn’t have even considered it, now he grasped it with open arms.

“Right you are Todoroki!! So thanks for that!!” He continued to play it off like nothing was wrong. “But fear not!! Sit back and watch a pro get serious!!”

But again, Shigaraki grew annoyed with the conversation. “Nomu, Kurogiri, take him. I’ll handle the kids.”

Then, the decay villain rushed towards the group, more specifically, the group of students. The look in his eyes swirled with pure insanity as his light blue hair whipped around in the momentum his running created.

“Let’s clear the stage and go home!”

Kirishima, who was the closest out of the four, hardened his skin as everyone else lowered closer to the ground for extra stability in anticipation. “He’s coming! Get ready guys!!”

Midoriya gripped his scythe like a staff, looking much more intimidating than before when he was hobbling against it. He wasn’t sure how much he could do, or if he could even lift the blade off the ground without losing his balance, but he’d figure it out when it came to that. Right now, the fogginess in his head had been momentarily cleared, filling to the brim with two repetitive thoughts that he couldn’t be more ready to hear.

Protect… and save.

Then, with everyone unprepared, All Might rushed the Nomu even faster than before, slamming his fist right into its own mangled one. The blow was more powerful than any of his yet, causing Shigaraki to retreat from his own attack, with the shock tussling around the teen’s unruly, green hair.

“Nomu’s got shock absorption.” Shigaraki restated with a bit of annoyance, “You already saw it yourself.”

But the hero only smiled wider. “That’s right!!”

Like a brewing hurricane, both powerhouses’ punches grew stronger and stronger, the dust around them kicking up until nothing could be seen. Neither they boy nor the ghost could hear anything over the deafening slams in front of them, and that seemed to be the same for the rest of the students, until All Might’s echoing voice erupted from the chaos.

“It’s shock absorption, not negation, so he must have a limit, no?!” he shouted over the cacophony of sounds exploding from around them, “Built to counter me, you say?! Made to withstand everything I’ve got?! Then I’ll just have to go beyond that!!”

That’s what made everything click. Midoriya was confused at first, wondering why the hero was choosing to engage in a head on assault against such a powerful adversary while tight on time. But what he revealed made perfectly logical sense. Absorption was just that, absorption, meaning it had a cap of its own. If All Might could deliver enough shock to the Nomu’s body before it could distribute it evenly, in theory he could break through the absorption. He hadn’t even considered that as a possibility simply due to its improbability, but this was All Might he was talking about. It had been foolish to dismiss the thought in the presence of the number one hero.

“A hero’s always ready to smash through trouble!”

On the ground surrounding the two fighting, blood splattered occasionally, painting the earth with red. He couldn’t be sure whose it was, or if it was a combination of both, but any of those options were plausible, as All Might was spitting up blood and the Nomu still had its injured hand. But quite honestly, the fact that he couldn’t tell was arguably worse for his anxiety than just knowing in the first place.

“Tell me villain, do you know the meaning of…”

The hero paused for a split second, but it was long enough for the dust to clear partially. There, all of the observing parties could see him wind a fist behind his head, knee bent, aimed for the monster’s midsection. A thick trail of blood escaped his clenched teeth as his ripped clothes fluttered in the wind, but that seemed not to faze him in the slightest.

And then, the second was over.

“PLUS ULTRA!!!”

He slammed his fist in an uppercut right into the chin of the beast, the blow so strong, it sent it flying straight upwards, crashing through the top of the glass dome. The explosion that came after was massive, with glass shards raining down from the sky. The group of students all shielded themselves from the debris, with Gami shielding his successor since the boy couldn’t himself, even though the ghost’s transparent body made no difference. Thankfully, the glass impaled an area a few feet away from the kids, so none of them were harmed.

Though, the tensity of the situation did nothing to deter the awe of the students watching.

“Like straight outta the comics,” Kirishima could only gasp, “He just smashed his way past the absorption. The ultimate bruiser…”

“And against that power… the regeneration wasn’t able to keep up with that barrage of attacks…” Todoroki added, though one could still pick up on the shock in his tone.

The smoke and dust finally started to clear, and there revealed All Might, battered and tussled, but standing confidently, a wide smile adorning his face. His clothes were completely ruined, blood and bruises covering his skin, and yet he still stood strong, an arm crossed over his chest.

“Well villain,” his voice rang out so powerfully, it defied his very condition, “How about we hurry up and finish this?”

Shigaraki stared at him blankly for an awkward amount of time, before resorting back to scratching his neck even more furiously than ever before. Kurogiri swirled around him, almost in concern, trying to make him feel more reassured, but his efforts went completely unnoticed.

“Weakened? Not that I can see. We’re clearly outmatched,” he started rambling, switching thoughts sporadically, “How dare you do that to my Nomu. You cheated…!”

His scratching became even more heightened, swiping relentlessly at his neck like a dog with fleas. His persona seemed to be breaking down, at least, that's what Midoriya could tell. His plan had fallen apart, and he seemed to be falling apart with it. Was Shigaraki a meticulous planner, obsessive in a sense? But that wouldn’t make sense compared to the childish act he had displayed before, further enforced by the constant game references.

He added analyzing Shigaraki’s personality to his mental checklist of topics to turn his focus to after this mess was over.

“He’s not weak at all!!” the decay villain cried out, “They… they lied to me!!”

Weak? That brought up another issue. All Might’s weakening state was a secret that was heavy guarded, and it wasn’t even the most sensitive information about him. As far as the boy could think in the moment, only the U.A staff and himself knew of his drained strength from his injury, maybe a few others that he was unaware of. And that wasn’t even including his time limit, alternate form, and passable quirk. So how was it that these villains knew of the possibility that the number one hero might be weakened? And “they”? Did that imply that the villains had more than one informant that knew of All Might’s status.

“Well?” the pro questioned, still not moving from his standstill spot, “Coming to get me?! What happened to clearing the stage…?”

He slowly moved his head lower, allowing the glint in his eyes to pierce through the new shadow on his face, the utter contrast absolutely terrifying.

“If you can take me on, then bring it on…”

The wave of intimidating aura rushed through the plaza, making Shigaraki shudder in fear. And quite honestly, Midoriya couldn’t blame him. He’d be scared shitless if he found himself in that exact position, staring down the number one hero. Though, there was something bothering the teen about the dust that still hung in the air. It seemed off, consistency wise, different from the rest of the smoke, though hard to tell because of its constant movement. Bust as a small piece of the dust cloud swirled into a different spot, he could understand why it was bugging him so much. A strand of steam was coming off All Might’s shoulder.

The hero was bluffing.

He was about to detransform, the steam from holding his body leaking out of his skin and mixing with the dust cloud. That explained why he wasn’t moving. All Might was likely putting so much concentration into holding his hero form that even taking a single step would risk breaking it.

The teen took a shaky step forward, using his weapon to balance. Fear rushed through his veins in place of blood, as it seemed all of that had already left his body. He could feel his hand tremble against the blade’s wood handle, his nails digging into the grain.

Gami seemed just as confused as the rest of the students, watching Midoriya advance even though the situation looked so defused. Kirishima tried to break through to the ghost’s successor, but he seemed to be caught in a trance of his own thoughts, ignoring any cries he made.

“Well? What’s keeping you?!” the hero called out again.

He was trying to stall for time. Iida was still on his way with reinforcements, and once those got here, All Might and the rest of the class would be in the clear. But now, with his form teetering in the balance, he could do nothing but stall, just as he himself had done before.
“If only we still had Nomu!! If only!!” Shigaraki continued going on about their failed plan, “He was taking those hits so well!”

But Kurogiri had other ideas, swirling around the blue haired man. “Calm yourself Shigaraki Tomura. It is apparent that the Nomu did manage to deal some real damage.”

The misty man looked over towards the group of students, making uncomfortable eye contact with one green haired kid in particular, who was still debating on what exactly to do. None one was actually moving though, and that was just what Kurogiri wanted to see.

“The kids are holding back for some reason, and reinforcements from the school are bound to arrive in a few minutes,” he reassured his partner, “But if the two of us double team him, we still have a chance…”

That seemed to perk up Shigaraki’s mood, as he lifted his head from his hands. “Yes… yes, yes…”

He took a deep breath, the gasp of air even audible from Midoriya’s distance. He slowly removed his fingers from his rubbed raw neck, looking up from his slight nod, between the spaces of the hand on his face.

“Right, right, right... We can do this. The final boss is standing right there…” he heaved.

Midoriya remained in the same spot he had been in for the past few moments, idly staring at the two parties. His legs were just as unstable as they were before, and yet, he found himself flooded with the immense urge to take another step. The staredown occurring right before his eyes remained as tense as ever, and though he couldn’t make out what the villains were saying, it still filled him with an intense fear. Neither party had made a move yet, and he wasn’t sure whether to intervene before or after they did, or if to intervene at all. But his morals wouldn’t allow him to standby and do nothing, especially knowing that he could help in some way.

The students behind him however, didn’t exactly feel the same way. The three boys began to walk off, with Bakugo first, and Kirishima following after him. He remarked something about All Might being able to handle the rest of the villains and going to help the other students, to which he would agree if the situation were different, but his knowledge plagued him like a curse.

Todoroki however, hesitated, looking back towards Midoriya’s still form. He wasn’t sure whether to follow the others or stay behind with the person he felt closest with, torn on where to go. He looked towards his friend, candy cane hair whipping around his eyes.

Then, both Shigaraki and Kurogiri lunged for All Might, the pro not moving in the slightest. From outside eyes, it would simply be seen as an intimidation tactic, or a display of the hero’s confidence, but the teen knew the truth. His smile may be plastered onto his face, but underneath that, there must be a hurricane of emotions hidden. The hero had come just in the nick of time for the boy, just as he was losing hope for salvation. Right as he had run out of options, on his knees, staring down the Nomu only steps away, All Might had come and whisked him back up to his feet. He had saved him, whether the petty part of his conscience wanted to come to terms with that or not.

And he wasn’t aiming to become a hero for returns, not at all. He didn’t want to become an inspiration solely off of returning favors. That’s not what a hero represented to him.

Someone was in trouble.

He took a shaky step forward, but at the pace he was going, he’d never make it in time. His legs just couldn’t match his heart.

But if someone was in trouble, then he would save them. Not out of obligation, not out of returning the favor, but because he could. That was his moral.

His veins were surged with the desire to move, adrenaline coursing through them, and yet never making it to his bones. It could have been fear or desperation as well, but whatever it was screamed at him to move.

As long as he could still move, he could help.

His deadweight body screamed at him to move.

His conscience screamed at him to move.

His soul screamed at him to move.

Move goddamnit!! MOVE!!!

“Izuku?”

Suddenly, Midoriya felt himself launch into the air, his hair flipping wildly around him. The echoes of an explosion rang about in his ears, and the tips of his fingers, of which his entire arms were stretched behind him, tingled like they’d been too close to a fire. He soared through the air at breakneck speed, rapidly closing the distance between him and the other two parties. He could barely hear his classmates call out his name behind him in shock, as well as his mentor, who he had unintentionally left in the dust, but ignored it to focus on the task at has. He moved out one of his bare hands from behind him, spreading his fingers wide. He wasn’t exactly sure where Kurogiri’s real body was among the mist, but he would figure it out once he got there. His hands still trembled from the dual blast of DT, but that didn’t matter as he was ready to let loose another surge.

He could feel his soul burning with a new fire, something that reflected through his irises. His body may be at its last straw, but as long as he could still move, he could help.

“GET AWAY FROM ALL MIGHT!!”

The purple mist swirled in front of him, revealing the man’s metal neck piece. The boy shifted his aim for that, since he had witnessed Bakugo hold Kurogiri down by that very object earlier, confirming its solidity. But of course, the villain’s intention was not to give him an easier shot at his body, as soon his fog blended to open a new portal, to which Shigaraki’s hand appeared from. So he switched his aim for that instead, prepared to duel the decay villain with his own disintegration.

“If you’re going to keep getting in my way,” he screeched, “Then I’ll just target you instead!!”

So he bared his teeth and narrowed his eyes. How would this go? He had no idea. Would it be painful? Probably.

But as long as he could still move, he could help.

But just as he was close enough to note the villain’s chipped fingernails, a distance so chilling yet unable to truly process through his momentary adrenaline rush, a flash of metal shot right by his eyes. It sunk into Shigaraki’s skin as if it were water, blood splattering so close he could make out the glints of light reflected on it. He could make out its rounded shape, and paled at the realization.

It was a bullet.

It made his stomach queasy, thinking something like that whizzed so close to his face. And yet, it hit its mark so precisely, without a moment of hesitation. There was only one person he could think of that would be able to pull that off, one specific sharp shooting hero.

“Sorry everyone.”

Multiple more shots rang about the USJ building, just as Shigaraki’s eyes widened, the pain of being shot finally setting in. No longer needing to aim for the villain, Midoriya allowed his body to finish its course through the air, tumbling to a stop only a bit away from the number one hero. The rough landing made him cry out in pain again, his body finally sick of being thrown around, but it was drowned out by the heavy gun fire, only able to be heard by All Might and the two villains in proximity.

“We’re a little late.”

“A little” was an understatement. He wasn’t sure what Aizawa was thinking, or even if the man was still conscious, but he was sure he wouldn’t let the rodent principal ever live this down. Still, despite how long awaited Nezu was, he couldn’t help but feel glad at hearing his uncomfortably chipper voice.

“We brought everyone we could,” the principal finished.

That must have been why they were so late, busy gathering forces to be extra prepared upon arrival, but the teen couldn’t even lift his head to check. His body had finally run out of power, the battery dead and basically leaking. His crumpled form lay against the hard earth, and he could feel his wet blood pool under him. He wasn’t even sure where it was coming out of at this point, but he didn't bother to check, instead focusing on properly breathing.

“President of Class 1-A, Iida Tenya…” He trembled lightly at the call, convincing himself it was out of relief, and not any other reason. Iida had done it. He had saved everyone, just in time. If he had the energy, this would have been the point where his tear ducts burst.

He really was the best choice for class president.

“Reporting for duty!!”

Kurogiri looked at his partner, before beginning to morph into a portal. He swirled with anticipation, both literally and figuratively, waiting for the man to step inside, but his eyes seemed fixated forward, hands returning to his raw neck.

“The heroes are here,” the misty man clarified, “We can try again another time, Tomura.”

But Shigaraki didn’t look at all fazed by his comrade’s words, instead glancing up, accidentally making eye contact with the prone student in between him and All Might. But just seeing him filled the villain with an unnatural amount of rage. His entire plan, his Nomu, everything he had worked for, it was all undone by the kid in front of him. How… how was that even possible?

“No.”

His fingernails clawed at the skin in his neck, making it more red than it already was.

“I’m not quitting the game empty handed like this,” he mumbled, his fingers beginning to twitch uncontrollably, “I’m not going back to Sensei without any loot.”

He settled again on the green haired brat, who still remained practically unmoving on the ground. Bullets rained down on his own form, but Kurogiri shielded most of them from hitting him using his mist, allowing him a bit more time to think. He watched him struggle to push himself up, leaning on his elbows for support, but his efforts were to no avail.

Shigaraki was a man of opportunity, and besides, he was sure Sensei would be just as interested in him as he was.

Midoriya felt he could take his focus away from the battlefield to worry about his breaking down body. His bones were giving out on him, unable to support his weight any longer. After attempting and failing to prop himself up, he raised his head, if only to see if someone could help him.

His blood ran cold at seeing Shigaraki lunging for him instead.

He couldn’t move, rooted to his spot out of exhaustion and now fear. He couldn’t do anything. The smoke around him from All Might’s detransformation was billowing in plumes, hiding him from his classmates, the heroes, even his own mentor. Their eyes met, his piercing irises filled with the duality of burning rage and cold indifference, but he couldn’t do anything but stare helplessly, not even having enough time to cry out for help.

But just as quickly as he had come, the villain was suddenly pulled back, against his will as he struggled to stay rooted to his spot. He desperately clawed at the ground to try and solidify his grip, but it wasn’t enough as he was forcefully pulled backwards, away from the prone teen. Shigaraki looked around, and so did Midoriya, both unsure of what was going on, but against the thick plumes of smoke, they could see nothing.

“What’s going on?!” he screeched, now being sucked into the portal Kurogiri made and furiously trying to hold out.

A cry erupted from away from the plaza, and all parties looked to find its source, to which a figure could be seen laying down at the edge of the stairs.

“It’s me!!” Thirteen cried out once again, their beaten body collapsed at the top of the stairs, their quirk active and growing stronger by the second.

The space hero’s black hole quirk continued to pull Shigaraki deeper and deeper into his own portal, as the villain’s grip started to fail.

“I may have failed here, symbol of peace.” He was desperately trying to get his last words out before he was enveloped by the fog. “But the next time we meet…”

Now, only his face, revealing a wrinkled and cracked visage, was visible in the purple mist, even the hand he was using to hold on had been sucked in. But none of that stopped his efforts, pure determination fueling his strength to hold out.

“You’re dead, All Might.”

And with that, the portal closed, taking Shigaraki with it.

Just like that, everything was over.

Gami rushed over, kneeling down by his successor’s fallen form. The ghost was worried sick, and it didn’t help that he had trouble keeping up with the boy in battle. He couldn’t do much in the first place, but to the man, it was made all the worse if he couldn’t even stand beside him in his times of need.

When he approached Midoriya, he paled at his condition. The poor child had really overexerted himself, and he paid dearly for it. While he had no major outward injuries that the spirit could see, a small pool of blood was stretching out from under him, coming from the gruesome wound on his arm. His back heaved unevenly from his attempts at breathing, and his limbs twitched sporadically, almost disconnected from the rest of his body. There was no way Gami could even think about moving him, not in a condition like that. It was too risky, and even with the teen’s immortality, he likely only put him through more pain.

So he settled for his only option at comfort, slowly running his hand through his messy locks, now covered in dirt and dust.

The boy managed to get his head off the ground, just so he could look up at his surroundings. The smoke was finally starting to clear, and he noticed All Might’s silhouette standing in the exact same spot, not having taken a single step. Steam still rushed from his body, but with his vision already hazy, he couldn’t tell if the hero had transformed back yet. He squinted hard, hoping to clear up the fuzziness in his eyes

“If you hadn’t given me those few seconds…” A strong voice called out amongst the chaos and smoke, once that Midoriya’s foggy brain could barely place, “I’d be dead.”

Then, All Might’s figure walked towards him, the close in distance allowing him to see that the hero was partially detransfromed, half of his body reverting back to his skinny self. The pro was battered: his hair thrown about in a mess, his arms hanging limply at his sides, his outfit completely ruined beyond repair. And yet, he somehow found the energy to face in his direction and speak to him as if he were still in his prime.

“You saved me.”

He couldn’t help the small tears that followed after hearing that, the reassurance hitting his heart like a truck. Maybe he still did value the number one hero’s opinion as highly as he did in the past, but either way, that wasn’t what brought him to tears.

Despite the battle taking a massive physical toll on his body, that wasn’t the only thing that had gotten to him. His self confidence had also taken a hit, whether his pride wanted to admit he was that easily affected or not. It was hard enough dealing with his own self doubt each day, but his poor esteem was only fueled by Shigaraki’s comments, and while he would never admit that out loud, Gami already knew it was true.

So, just hearing that he managed to save someone, that he was able to do the one thing his heart longed for, it made him realize this path wasn’t in vain. His attempts at heroism weren’t some silly dream that could be crushed so easily. He could do this.

His pained expression morphed into a smile, his cheeks mixed with blood and the light dusting of teardrops.

He could do this.

“Midori? You alright?!” Kirishima suddenly called from the other side of the plaza.

He tried to respond back, but his voice had given up on his much like the rest of his body. He couldn’t actually see his classmate, but was able to hear him running in his direction. It sounded like there were actually two sets of footsteps, but he wasn’t sure in his muddied conscience.

Then, a giant cement wall rose from the earth, right behind All Might’s now detransformed self, shielding both of them from view.

That's right. His classmates couldn’t see the hero like this, or his secret would be exposed. All Might’s secret form had slipped from his shaky mind. Honestly, he could admit that the only thing on his mind at the moment was seeing if someone could help him off the ground. His clothes were damp and heavy, and every bone in his body ached uncomfortably. But despite the pain, he was having trouble focusing on any one thing in particular.

“We need to make sure all you students are safe, so head over to the gate.” That was Cementoss’s voice, evident by its rough and powerful echo. Though, the realization should have been obvious as seen by the large cement wall. “Don’t worry, Kirishima, Todoroki… I’ll deal with the wounded.”

Kirishima he understood, but Todoroki? Then that second set of footsteps wasn’t just a hallucination at all. He wanted to call out to them both, and let them know he was alright, but he just couldn’t find the air in his lungs to do so. He let his head collapse against the earth again, not having any more energy to hold it up.

“Makes sense! Roger that!!” his redhead classmate called out, and his footsteps faded away into the opposite direction. He also managed to catch a slight hum of confirmation from Todoroki, but he couldn't be sure if he actually heard it or if it was just his head messing with him. He was pretty sure the second set of footsteps walked away as well, but the sounds entering his ears didn’t seem right.

“Thanks… that was close, Cementoss,” All Might answered as he slumped over into a sitting position, but his voice sounded off. His tone was slurred and warped, and made his head feel like it was spinning. Midoriya just couldn’t focus on it, or anything for that matter, as his head rested against the cool dirt. His eyelids fluttered dangerously, but he couldn’t do anything to stop them. He just couldn’t keep his eyes open any longer.

The teen could just barely make out his mentor’s concerning cries from above him, but his throat was too hoarse to reply. His senses were dotted with blank spots, fading in and out like an old radio. He just felt so tired, figuring he could afford to shut his heavy eyes for just a split second.

So he did.

And the world went black.

Students began piling out of the USJ building after the heroes and police arrived. All of the villains, besides the two that had escaped, were quickly wrangled up and restrained by both forces. Police walked in and out of the building frequently, moving past the teens corralled at the entrance. Most of the heroes were out by the entrance as well, having served their purpose of battling the villains into submission, and left their arrest to the work of police. Some remained inside, however, but that was mostly to clear up major pieces of debris and safety hazards.

Nezu stood unimpressively in front of his staff, next to police detective Tsukauchi and his partner, a police officer with a cat head and paws. The detective had his head buried in a notebook as his partner counted out the students.

“17, 18, 19…” The officer paused, moving his pointed paw back over the group of kids, “Tsukauchi, we’re missing one.”

Said detective looked up from his notepad, clicking his pen closed. “There’s one student still inside with All Might, Sansa.”

The cat man nodded. “Then with that, everyone is accounted for.”

Both turned back to the group of students, all huddled together protectively, whether they realized it or not. Surviving such a traumatic deal was definitely impressive, as well as coming out unscathed, especially as first years. Even his fellow officers had a bit of difficulty restraining the numerous villains in the building, and that was even after the heroes had subdued them. To face a group of adversaries like that head on and hold your own, Sansa definitely held respect for them.

“Ojiro… looks like it was into the fire for you this time,” Hagakure, the invisible girl, cheered, her gloves bobbing up and down, “And all alone…? Nice going!”

“I thought everyone was alone… I only survived through hit and run tactics…” Ojiro grimaced, thinking back to his experience, “Where were you, Hagakure?”

She pointed towards Todoroki, who was facing away from her with a blank stare. “The landslide area! That Todoroki’s crazy strong!”

Sansa noted their interaction for the future, reminding himself that they still needed to sit down with all the students to record their experiences and note anything worthwhile about the villains. The officer turned to another small pod of students, listening in to their conversation as well.

“As far as my location…” Aoyama flashed, his eyelids fluttering dramatically, “Anyone have an idea?!”

The students around him gave him strange, uninviting looks, as they continued to talk amongst themselves.

Tokoyami turned towards the others he was with, his companion floating beside him, occasionally shifting around. “Guess those lowlifes were spread out, waiting for us.”

Kirishima pounded his knuckles together, his face adorning a scowl. “Looking down on us cause we're kids.”

Aoyama continued in his pursuit of self centered conversation, turned towards Mineta and Asui instead. “Where do you think I was?!”

Mineta gave into his inquiry, probing him for more. “Where?”

With that, the flamboyant boy spun around dramatically, hiding his head with one of his arms. “It’s a secret!”

Sansa chuckled at the students’ antics, surprised at how easy they were able to revert back to their personalities before the attack. They were truly a promising young batch of heroes, the balance of both seriousness and lightheartedness difficult to find in modern day. But his partner was not enjoying the situation nearly as much as he was, calming the students into silence.

“We’re gonna get you kids back to the classroom for now,” Tsukauchi explained, “This is no time to take your statements.”

But before he could continue, the frog girl approached him hesitantly, her usual blank expression furrowed into one of anxiety.

“Detective,” she asked, her voice unusually meek, “What about Aizawa-sensei?”

He frowned unconsciously at the question, knowing it was likely to come up eventually. He sighed, stuffing his notepad into one of his many jacket pockets and pulling out his cell phone instead.

“Both arms were smashed to splinters, and his face is also fractured,” he relayed with a heavy heart, “Thankfully he doesn't have any brain damage.”

The rest of the class keyed in as the policeman began to speak, paying close attention to his every word.

“But his eye sockets have been pulverized. There’s a chance he may suffer long term vision loss,” he added glumly, “Or so I hear.”

A wide array of concerned shouts and gasp rang about the crowd, with Asui and Mineta looking the most overwhelmed. The boy had his hands laced together with worry, and the girl simply stood with an uncomfortably aghast look painted on her face. She croaked out a small ribbit, but it shook unevenly out of her throat.

The detective tried to lift their mood with some better news. “Thirteen has terrible lacerations across their back and upper arms, but their life isn’t in danger. All Might’s injuries aren’t life threatening either. Recovery Girl’s healing should be enough for him, so he was just sent to the nurse’s office.”

But that did little to ease the students’ worries, as a few paced around nervously. Iida was one of those few, with very much on his mind, Uraraka stood next to him, attempting to calm him down, when she suddenly jolted towards Tsukauchi.

“What about Midori?” she cried out, alerting Iida of his same worries.

“Please, what of Midoriya?” he agreed with concern.

Asui also looked up at that, glancing over to the detective and waiting for a response. But the man’s first reaction was to furrow his eyebrows, which already wasn’t the best sign.

“I’m not sure, really…” he admitted to the dismay of the students asking, “I think he is still inside the building though-”

Before he could finish his thought, two other officers emerged from the USJ building, each wearing rushed expressions. Their movements were quick and with purpose, as if they had no time to waste. Both hurried towards Tsukauchi, with one of them calling out before they arrived.

“Sir!” one of the men yelled, “We need a bus!”

Most of the students had their attentions’ drawn at the loud cry, but very few understood what it actually meant. The adults present, however, snapped their eyes over, knowing exactly what they were referring to. Nezu instantly pulled his phone out of his pocket, dialing quicker than anyone else could.

“I’ll get one to Recovery Girl here right now,” he informed calmly, despite the urgency evident in the other two offficers. Tsukauchi looked over to him and nodded subtly, encouraging the rodent to continue.

Then, just as the officers reached the detective, someone else came running out of the building entrance. It was fairly easy to tell that the person was Present Mic, by his usual eye catching hair and signature hero outfit. But his face didn’t display the cheeky smile it always had, instead his lips curved into a wince. His actions were snappy and sudden, which was usual of the spontaneous hero, but something was off about them, seeming more out of uncertainty than his typical randomness. He was carrying something in his arms, clutching it tightly, but at the distance he was at, no one could really make out what it was.

Of course, the pro quickly got closer, and everyone paled at the sight.

In his arms, was a limp and curled Midoriya, unmoving and drained of all his color. His eyes were skewed shut, and his chest heaved unevenly in a desperate attempt to fill with air. His clothes were torn and dirtied, a large portion of his shirt stained with the disgusting hue of blood. The boy’s arms were placed in his lap, and only a piece of the grisly wound on one was visible. A small trail of caked blood was evident leaking from his mouth, painting his battered face along with the scratches.

Yamada didn’t stop rushing for anyone, despite hearing the gasps and cries at the student he was holding. He knew that the teen was still alive, even without looking at his barely moving chest, as both Aizawa and Nezu had informed him about his hidden power set. But that did nothing to quell his consuming fear at seeing him so lifeless. His heart already began turning cold when he first laid eyes on his partner’s broken body, he wasn’t prepared to take another blow.