Chapter Text
“Kacchan, I am here!”
I was barely five yet, but I knew Katsuki bakugou, or Kacchan as I called him, would be my best friend forever. Our parents were friends since their school days, we were neighbors and we both liked all the same things. Especially All-Might, our favourite hero.
Today we were at Kacchan’s house, playing ‘Heroes and Villains’, and Kacchan let me play the hero again! We were running around, fake fighting a bit and ended up giggling on the floor from how much fun we were having.
After lunch with Auntie Mitsuki and Uncle Masaru we sat down to make drawings.
“‘Zuku, look!”
I looked up from my drawings, designs for our pro hero outfits, and looked at Kacchan. He was holding up a piece of paper that had a big colourful building on it with two stick figures next to it, holding hands. One figure had yellow hair and the other had green hair.
“It’s our hero agency!” he said softly, a small smile on his face. “We will work together as hero partners and be the best heroes ever!”
I smiled at him and showed him my drawings.
“I made us costumes, Kacchan!” I was so excited. “We’ll be so good together!”
We kept talking about the costumes and being pro heroes together. By the time Mommy came to pick me up we had fully designed a costume for Kacchan and picked Kacchan’s hero name, Dynamight.
“Because you make explosions, like dynamight” I explained “And it sounds like All-Might!”
Kacchan wanted to do the same for me, but my quirk didn’t manifest yet, so we decided to wait a bit. I was still brimming with excitement when Mommy and I sat down for dinner, and I could barely fall asleep at all.
A week later Mommy took me to the doctor, to see why my quirk wasn’t manifesting. It wasn’t unheard of for a quirk to manifest when you were five or even six years old, but everyone at kindergarten had their quirks, and we were worried I’d be left behind.
“Sorry kid, it’s not gonna happen.”
With six words the doctor broke every dream I had. He spoke to Mommy some more, but I couldn’t hear them. My thoughts kept running to my dream, of an agency with Kacchan, of how that wasn’t possible because I was quirkless.
That word felt like a burn.
It reminded me of when Kacchan’s quirk manifested, when he got so excited that his hand sparked with explosions, burning my hand as he was holding it. He cried because he hurt me, but I was so impressed at the time I barely felt it.
“I DON’T CARE WHO YOU ARE! THAT’S NOT THE WAY TO COMMUNICATE THIS!”
I snapped back to reality as I heard Mommy raise her voice. That was very rare. Looking up at her I was even more surprised. She was standing up, glaring at the doctor and shaking with rage, her chair had fallen on the floor behind her. She turned to me quickly, reaching her hand as her expression softened.
“Came, baby.” she said. “We need to go home. I’ll get you a treat on the way home.”
I took her hand and we left the doctor’s office.
“‘Zuku, ‘Zuku, ‘Zuku! What did the Doctor say!?”
Kacchan just came over a day later. I was still a bit upset at being quirkless, but Kacchan was still my friend, so I was happy. I was worried, however. How do I tell Kacchan our dream can’t come true?
“‘Zuku?” He asked again, coming closer and holding my hand like Mommy did when I was nervous. After nervously fidgeting some more I decided to just spit it out.
“He said I’m quirkless.” As I started I realised I can’t stop the words. They all came out at once. “I can never be a hero. We’ll never be heroes together, or run an agency together. You’ll have to find someone else. I’ll be all alone and you’ll be the best hero ever without me! And-”
Kacchan wiped away a tear I didn’t even feel falling down and I stopped speaking, fully sobbing.
Kacchan hesitated for a second before hugging me tight. I buried my head in the crook of his neck and he started running a hand through my hair. After a few minutes I managed to calm down enough to stop crying, but I didn’t want to move. His hug was warm and comfortable.
“‘Zuku,” He moved to lift my head, looking me in the eye. “do you want to be a hero?” He asked quietly.
I nodded, sniffling a bit.
“Then you’ll be a hero.” He declared confidently. “I don’t know how, but we’ll find you the teachers, training and support items you need.”
I looked at him wide eyed and nearly started crying again. My best friend wouldn’t leave. We’d still make our dreams come true!
When Kacchan’s parents came to pick him up we had multiple ideas for what kind of hero I could be. All we had left was to test these ideas and figure which worked best.