I died the day of the slime attack.

At least, that's what it seemed like to everybody else. Izuku Midoriya, royal screw-up and Quirkless bastard, dead. The only person who cared was my mother. Everyone else seemed more shocked that I 'died'. It didn't matter to me. My dream of being a hero had been crushed by the person I looked up to more than anyone else and I was angry. Angry that me not having a Quirk meant I couldn't achieve my dream. I climbed to the roof of a building, determined to end it all.

That was when it happened.

Somebody saved me. Or, they left a false body behind to convince the world I was gone.

I was brought to a place called the League of Villains by a man who told me his name was All For One. I didn't question it. There were other people there, too—Shigaraki, Kurogiri, and a girl my age named Kazumi Hamasaki. All For One offered to let me join them, to reshape society the way I wanted it. He would give me power and the means to do it. In my anger, I agreed and became the newest member of the League of Villains.

I didn't get along well with Kurogiri and Shigaraki. And I rarely saw All For One. Instead, I spent my time getting to know Kazumi. Unlike Shigaraki, whose decaying Quirk was only seen as evil, and Kurogiri, who looked evil, Kazumi had a Quirk that meant her entire body was made up of water. The most noticeable part about it is her hair, which ripples like a river down her back. If not for that, she'd look like a normal person.

Why she joined the League was a mystery.

Unlike me, she could've easily joined the Hero course at UA. I asked her once why she stayed with the League and her response was that she was bored. I knew she was lying but decided not to press it.

Boredom is better than being evil.

Not long after I joined, Shigaraki came up with an idea to infiltrate UA using a mole. At the time, the only members of the League who could pass for high school students were me and Kazumi. Since I didn't have a Quirk, I quickly asked her to take the spot. She agreed.

While at UA's entrance exam, she wore a small camera and a near-invisible earpiece so we could see and hear what was going on. She ended up saving another applicant from one of the robots… and thanks to the camera, I could see the whole thing.

And my heart started beating faster when Kazumi helped the girl up.

The girl Kazumi had saved had brown hair and pink cheeks, with large eyes and a pretty smile as she thanked Kazumi for saving her.

"What's her name?" I asked absentmindedly into Kazumi's earpiece.

"Ochaco Uraraka. She has some kind of gravity-manipulation Quirk."

I drew Ochaco into my notebook of UA students that I was going to start keeping. I already had Kacchan (the bastard) in there and I knew that Ochaco would make it into the school too.

During the USJ incident, I stayed out of the field. I warned Shigaraki that it was a stupid plan but he pitched a fit and didn't listen. As a result, I wasn't able to warn Kazumi the attack was coming.

She… er… wasn't happy with me. We didn't speak for a while after that.

But the night before the Sports Festival, we met up at the roof of her building.

"Hamasaki?" I sighed.

"What is it, Deku?"

"Are you really going to be in the Sports Festival?"

"Yeah. Of course. The higher I rank at UA, the less likely it'll be that they suspect me as a mole."

"It's just… Kacchan…"

"Hey. Forget him. He's an asshole."

"He's always been an angry one…"

"I wouldn't say he's angry, actually. He's… more along the lines of a depressed asshole. Like something's bothering him or he's more angry at himself than other people."

"Did you ask him about it?"

"I did. Once. And all he said was 'none of your business, Water Witch'."

"To be fair—"

"I'm gonna stop you right there, dork." She shoved me affectionately.

I guess you could say Kazumi was my first real friend. She never treated me badly, like Kacchan had, and she saw me as an equal, unlike Shigaraki and everyone else.

"We're going to win," I mused. "I've been taking notes on all the classes at UA all semester. With me helping you, there's no way you'll lose… unless you go against Kaminari or Todoroki."

"Yeah, I go against Todoroki, my ass is frozen. Literally."

Being made of water made you more sensitive to low temperatures. And electricity.

"What about Uraraka?" she asked me teasingly.

"W-what?! What about her?!"

"You think she's pretty cute."

"She's… really pretty…"

"Uh-huh. I'm made of water, but it's good to know you're not thirsty for me."

"Kazumi!"

"What? I know you don't wanna ride the wave!"

"I'm leaving now."

"Okay, fine, I'll stop. But seriously, how would it work out between you and Uraraka? You're a member of the League of Villains and she's one of the top first-year students at UA."

"It's just a crush. It's nothing serious. I know it isn't."

"Good. It's just a crush."

"…you don't like—"

"No. Not like that. Just because I go both ways doesn't mean I like her like that. Or you."

"I think we've established that I'm unattractive."

"Aw, no you're not. You're cute. You're the human version of a puppy."

"Thanks, Kazumi."

"Anytime, Deku."

The Sports Festival was a good time for Kazumi. She ended up placing first in the qualifier thanks to her water ability (riding a wave all the way through the minefield and beating Todoroki by a hair) and her team in the cavalry battle—consisting of Tokoyami, Mei Hatsume, and Uraraka—got through to the main competition. And from there, it was all about watching Uraraka—er, I mean, Kazumi!. She won her first match—against Hitoshi Shinso—with ease.

Uraraka against Kacchan, though? That battle had me biting my nails and screaming at the TV while Shigaraki snapped for me to be quiet before he smashed the thing. Even though Uraraka lost, she proved to be extremely strong and above the level most people believed her to be at. Including herself.

Very narrowly, Kazumi was defeated by Todoroki in the quarter-finals. We'd both known that would've been a rough match-up.

Shortly after that, Stain took out Ingenium and Kazumi and I were reluctant to join forces with him. Mostly because of his Quirk and the way he activated it. Still, I went with Stain because of Kazumi's internship and watched from the shadows as he tried to kill Native, then Tenya Iida. It was after that that Kazumi showed up to help Iida—under Shigaraki's orders, I later learned—and signaled Todoroki, too.

I'd like to say she wasn't hurt because of her Quirk. But that would be a lie. She was hurt, badly. When I saw her again, I begged her to be more careful in the future, and she promised she would try.

Things changed after that.

The League got bigger. Another girl our age joined, but like Stain, she made Kazumi and I uncomfortable. Mostly because she became obsessed with me almost immediately and Kazumi almost sliced the girl's arm off to get her away from me. Even so, Toga (the new girl) and I were both sent to the 1-A training camp to capture Kacchan. I ended up saving Uraraka from Toga and dragging her out of the fight. Nobody but Uraraka saw me then.

And we failed to capture Kacchan.

I didn't—

What are you doing, Deku?

Oh, um… just recording something. Not a big deal.

Ooh, are you recording your story?!

Yeah.

You mentioned that I was your first friend, right?

Of course I did.

And you're gonna mention you and Uraraka's—

Kazumi, I will let you know when I'm done recording and you can listen to it, okay? For now, can I just finish?

Fine. Guess I'll go bug Kacchan. By calling him Kacchan.

Bye.

Okay, she's gone.

Like I was saying, I didn't know it at the time, but Kazumi and I—we weren't destined to be villains. I was destined to be the world's greatest hero. And Kazumi? In the top ten.

So rather than this being a story of us being brought down, this is how I became the world's greatest hero.

Like I said in the author's note on chapter four of "Miharu", this is my own personal take on the Villain Deku AU. Originally, I was going to have an 'evil twin' angle and Kazumi was going to be in a relationship with that twin. But then I decided that was stupid and complicated so I just went with her having a super-awesome friendship with Izuku because MY SON IS SUNSHINE PERSONIFIED AND I WILL TORCH ANYBODY WHO TRIES TO HURT HIM.

Anyway, this story is going to be somewhat… dramatic.

It's a star-crossed romance meets redemption drama meets superhero story.

I, er, already have certain scenes written in my head.

See you soon!

So long and thanks for all the fish!