DISCLAIMER: All My Hero Aca characters mentioned and used in this fictional work will forever be the property of Horikoshi-sensei. They are not mine and are only being used to share my love for this franchise, its story, and characters to everyone in the lovely place called the internet. The only other characters you are not familiar with, are mine.
While this story will generally follow all major plot points of My Hero Aca and eventually lead up to Shinsou joining the hero classes, this will have major canon divergence in the future so be warned, but that's still a long way from the this chapter, so just enjoy and feel free to review and criticize my work to make it better.
This is not beta tested, so there will be some typos and grammar mistakes that may have missed my eye. I'll go through them slowly, but for some reason they never completely end. May also make changes before I post succeeding chapters, but nothing too heavy. I'll have short updates on what has changed, or hasn't changed in notes section. Nonetheless - Enjoy!
Hitoshi Shinsou has always dreamed of becoming a hero.
At two years old, Hitoshi saw himself saving civilians and fighting villains in a hero suit of his own design. At four, he did what every other child his age would and religiously watched the morning hero cartoons. He even cheered for the real heroes in the news as they knocked out villain after villain even though he's not allowed to because of the violent imagery. To put it simply, every waking hour of Hitoshi's young life was dedicated to worshiping and wanting to become a hero.
And can anyone blame him?
The world is filled with heroes left and right. There's no shortage of them, and people can't get enough of them. Everyone, young and old can't stop wanting to be like them, to be them. Hitoshi grew up in the so called "Golden Age of Heroes". Heroes were beginning to rise in popularity all over the world, and just choosing one to follow is like choosing just one candy from a store filled with hundreds. He grew up looking up to household names like Yellow Bee, Miraculous Red, Cat Noir, Crimson Riot, and plenty more. They are all respectable heroes that deserved the praise and recognition thrown their way, but to young Hitoshi, none of them can compare to the greatest hero known to man - All Might.
The biggest, strongest, and bravest hero to have ever been born. The world's number one, and it's one and only Symbol of Peace.
With such a decorated namesake, Hitoshi looked up to him like a mortal would a God.
Every time All Might appeared on television, Hitoshi's world immediately faded out of existence. Wide eyes of wonder and awe wouldn't dare pry itself from the American hero's pearly white grin. That smile always gave him strength. Hitoshi didn't understand why All Might never frowned or showed anger, but his smile never failed to give people hope. Combined with his booming laughter, All Might's smile made him feel safe.
It made everyone feel safe.
Hitoshi wanted to make people feel that way too. As an idealistic child, Hitoshi started to dream. He wanted to become a hero; and not just any hero. He wanted to be exactly like All Might.
However, life doesn't always go the way one plans it to be. Life has always been unfair that way. Most especially towards children whose dreams have yet to be broken by the bleak reality of life. Young as he was, Hitoshi didn't have to see things the way adults did. He was a child. He was allowed to hope, to dream, and to imagine limitless possibilities. He was allowed to believe in everything. The word impossible never even existed to him. Something so pure and noble, couldn't possibly be tainted by anything.
Unfortunately, life always finds a way to break that hope one way or another. Thinking and praying, that children can come back from it stronger than ever, when in fact, no child will ever be prepared for heartbreak as strong as this.
When Hitoshi turned five, everyone started calling him a villain.
It started during a regular day in preschool. One of the kids thought it was funny to steal Hitoshi's new limited edition All Might action figure and threaten to destroy it with their quirk. And they did. Completely by accident of course, but the figurine still ended up in half, and Hitoshi was beyond furious.
He pounced at him, screaming.
Hitoshi doesn't remember much of it now, but he does remember what happened next as clear as day. He told them to "go eat a fucking rock".
No one expected, Hitoshi least of all, for the boy to turn on his heels and pick up a rock no bigger than his own hand. The boy bit down, crying, as his pearly white teeth shattered and bled as he continued to chip off at the rock. He didn't stop. He obediently did as told, like a good boy.
It terrified everyone; even Hitoshi himself.
Once his quirk was confirmed by the doctors. Every single one of his classmates, even those he considered friends began to avoid him. All eyes shied away from him, everyone stopped talking whenever he entered a room, and no one wanted to sit with him. They were all too afraid to instill the wrath of his words.
No one wanted to be friends with a kid that can make other people do anything he wanted them to.
Hitoshi knows that what he did was wrong. He was angry and scared. He simply did what his instinct were telling him without second thought. How can any of them blame him? He was a child that was spurred by emotion. He never meant his words, just a bunch of empty threats to scare the older kids. His quirk was the one that did it! Not him! He had no control of what happened.
It wasn't his fault his quirk decided to show up. It wasn't his fault his quirk ended up as something like this.
But they wouldn't believe him. They wouldn't listen a monster. His quirk, his fault, his decision. He tried, very hard, to make them take his side but no one would give a nobody a chance to defend his actions. When no one listened to him, he promised to keep his mouth shut. He promised never to talk again just so he can belong again. Still, he was ignored, shunned out, and started being called names. Both behind and in-front of his face.
Villain, they all said.
Only a villain would do that, they whispered.
Villain this, villain that - it made him seethe in anger.
Hitoshi hated how they vilified his entire life solely based on his quirk; and his quirk for being morally grey. It was different and scary, yes. He also hurt someone, yes; but it was an accident. Everyone had accidents when their quirks all first appeared. How was his case any different? He can still become a hero... With enough practice, he can. He'll make sure the same accident never happens again.
Heroes never give up, so neither will he.
As he made up his mind to stay true to his dreams, Hitoshi realized that hero society, for all its societal advancements, remained discriminatory against quirks like his. People with non-flamboyant and flashy quirks don't get to be heroes. They work minimum wage in offices and live off store bought microwaved meals till they die. What more with a quirk that steal people's free will? No hero would use a quirk like that.
Hitoshi began to hate his quirk the more he dwelled on that thought; even more so when he heard this time and time again from people he trusted.
He began to hate being born with his quirk to the point that the idea of being born without one, seemed like a better mercy. If the quirk he planned to use to become a hero worked against him - label him a villain - then its better to not have one at all.
At least the discrimination there would be easier to stomach than this. Having no quirk is better than having one and be repeatedly told that it's evil.
To add insult to the growing injurt, Hitoshi's mother never took his side. She thought it best to hide him, and transferred him to a different school the moment she got the chance. It was for his protection, she said; but Hitoshi knew it was really about.
She wanted to keep others safe from him.
She wasn't content with the results of his quirk test either.
She took him to more than one doctor to try and figure out how he ended up with such a quirk. His mother's quirk was "Intuition" which allows her to instinctively know if a person is lying or not based on a nauseating gut feeling; while his father's was "Charm" which makes his presence and requests hard to deny albeit possible to ignore. The doctor's explained that quirks can be passed down without evolving from one offspring to the next, but it may also evolve. These mutations can express themselves in strange and hard to predict ways. Sometimes, such mutations can even appear as something completely different.
Hitoshi's quirk was a mutation of his parents. With his mother's access to the human psyche combined with his father's connection to the susceptibility centers of the brain, it's only natural that their union would result in the creation of a quirk that takes control of the entire neurological system aptly named as, Brainwashing.
It took her time to accept the implications of raising a child with a quirk that controls the actions of others, and God forbid she tried, but she fumbled around on how to properly approach it way too many times. Despite her efforts, her intentions roughly translated to "Never use your quirk".
"There are so many ways you can do to get out of a situation, and even without using quirk you can do so many things!"
"Being a kind person and smiling through the hardships in life can help you become a hero. You don't have to tell them what to do. Just smile and be polite, and kind, like All Might"
"Do you understand me, Hitoshi? You can be whatever you want to be as long as you remember that."
She might have realized too late, but her words, while meant to protect Hitoshi from harm, only re-assured him of what he absolutely refused to believe. His quirk is evil and it is meant to be hidden.
In the end, however, Hitoshi couldn't heed his mother's words. He wanted to belong and have friends, but he also didn't want to deny what has been given to him. He continued to play around with his quirk. Not because he wanted people to be afraid of him nor does he want to be labelled a "villain" his entire life, but because he wants them to understand that he isn't one.
He was going to be a hero, and he won't make it there if he doesn't learn how to use his quirk.
Despite his increasing disbelief with his quirk, Hitoshi managed to make friends in his new school. Half the class was still apprehensive, a lot were suspicious, but a few were amazed by his quirk. Those that weren't afraid of him were a mix of curious minds and hero dreamers. They all agreed to help each other train their quirks to reach that goal.
Hitoshi never made anyone do something they didn't want or dangerous, but he did experiment on his limits. Their little group did this in secret, but other people soon found out. Those that were convinced that he was a mean villain like those seen on television threatened to report them to the teacher if they refused to leave Hitoshi alone. His friends defended him. The opposing side claimed they were all brainwashed. Then a fight broke out.
Hitoshi didn't start anything, but he sure was grateful for that little girl that kicked the other boys shin to protect him. The teacher's intervened before it can escalate any further, and the bullies all pointed their fingers at him even though the latter's friends said otherwise.
Hitoshi expected their homeroom teacher to be on his side, but was left disappointed. He was scolded for tricking his classmates into using their quirks against each other, and even blamed him for starting the fight. When their parents were called, the adults of both sides faulted him for having such an evil quirk.
His friends were still trying to defend him, but the adults weren't giving him the benefit of the doubt. Everything was on repeat despite the good start. He was once again labelled as that problematic child that's just a step away from becoming a villain.
Hitoshi can stomach being blamed for the actions of others, he can be the butt of a joke, but he'll be damned if they all accused him for doing something a villain would. He isn't a villain. He wants to be a hero.
They called in his parents for a conference.
He fully expected his mother to come to his defense, but his mother only kneeled and lowered her head as close to ground as possible, and apologized.
It was pathetic.
He got the other end of the stick after that. She berated him for using his quirk when she specifically told him never to. He cried and apologized without pause, promising that he will never use it again until his mother looked at him with a soft, understanding smile - She never did.
His relationship with his mother continued to sour as he began to get into more fights in elementary school. Hitoshi never got into them because he was being ridiculed, he got into the because that small fire that still burned, screaming "I want to be a hero!" couldn't turn a blind eye whenever he saw other kids with more powerful quirks bringing down people like him.
Like a hero would, he fought for them.
He never used his quirk against them even if they insisted; not even once. He didn't want to give them that satisfaction. If he listened to them and gave in to the easy escape his quirk provides, then it would be his fault. Then it's back to the drawing board, with him being painted as the villain once again.
His mother had become a regular to the principal's office during those days, and she would always apologize; burying her pride hundred of feet unto the ground until she couldn't take it anymore. She stopped responding to the notices. She was hardly home anymore. Somehow the lack of concern from his mother made Hitoshi even more irritable and aggressive. He got into more fights, and he wasn't just a villain-to-be anymore. He was an attention whore.
His drunkard, and less than stellar father, took the responsibility to attend in his mother's stead. The change had no striking difference, only this time, his father cared even less than his mother. Hitoshi was starting to feel like his fights were amounting to nothing and that he wasn't proving anything to anyone.
He still wanted to be a hero, but his actions weren't reaching out to them. They aren't loud enough to be heard, and so people were still afraid of him. Even if they weren't, they were afraid of the consequences of befriending him, so Hitoshi stopped fighting.
He ignored their jeers the best he could and learned to ignore their words, but whenever they got too much, Hitoshi fought back the way they wanted him to. Thanks to years of tolerating taunts and jeers, Hitoshi learned that the best way to get every arrogant, egotistical, and self-centered person under his quirk is to make fun of them, like they made fun of him.
It's unbecoming of a hero to talk down their opponent and rile them up, but Hitoshi's quirk isn't like most. People like him that are born with quirks that's more akin to a curse than a gift don't chose how they use their quirks. They're forced to learn how to make do with what he's given. He made them all forget and turn away the moment they tried to pick a fight.
No more office calls after that.
No more of his mother either.
After Hitoshi came to terms with how to properly use and hide his quirk, his mother and father started drifting apart. His father lost his job, and let out all his frustrations on alcohol and their marriage. Hitoshi didn't blame his mother for wanting to be free of her chains of raising a disappointment and living with an angry alcoholic husband. He knew she wasn't getting the life she deserved. So when the divorce was filed, Hitoshi didn't cry nor apologize as he watched her pack her things and slammed the door on their life.
The last thing he heard from her was a faint whisper that she was sorry, and that none of this was his fault. She left with a kiss on his forehead, and a responsibility to look after his father from now on. Hitoshi didn't want things to be like this, but life has never been fair to him anyway, why should it start making it easier for him now?
Two months after the divorce, his father thought it best to transfer him again. It was more for financial constraints than an institutional problem. Still, sick of his old school treating him like they do, Hitoshi didn't really object to the thought.
Despite the chance at a new start, Hitoshi maintained keeping all his new classmates at arms length. He never made friends, only acquaintances. He wasn't ashamed of his quirk anymore, not after what he accomplished in his last school, so he told everyone about his quirk almost immediately.
Their reaction to it was a mix of what he's already come to expect, disgust, fear, terror. Oddly enough, Hitoshi wasn't offended anymore. It felt more cathartic than anything. Those with more powerful quirks in class looked at him with envy, jealousy, and interest.
It wasn't the same kind of fascination the kids back in his elementary school had, this fascination was more... clouded and dark. They befriended Hitoshi for selfish reasons, and he wanted nothing to do with them. Middle school would've probably gone smoothly for him if only he decided to tread this problem in the most civil manner, but instead, he ignored them. Completely. He doesn't even remember what conversation they started with, but given that he doesn't, it was probably something stupid.
His classmates obviously didn't take his actions in kind and thought that he was looking down on them. Too arrogant, too full of himself, left sitting on a high horse, they said. And at that time, perhaps he was. All he had to do was make them talk, and they'd all be under his command. He had the power, but he never abused it. He chose not to. So regardless of his bad personality traits, he's already better than all of them.
But teenagers are persistent, so come one afternoon Hitoshi got himself in his first fight in middle school.
He landed in a few punches, they landed more. After bidding his time, Hitoshi got them, one insulting word at a time, to hit each other. It was fairly easy to get inside their thick-heads and make them completely forget about him soon after. Once the fight got too serious, he excused himself from the grounds before the teachers could hear about it.
Unfortunately, he still got suspended for it.
Hitoshi wasn't angry for being forced to stay at home for the entire week. It was almost heaven. He actually felt proud that he's getting so much better at getting people to respond to him, despite his reluctance to socialize.
When he returned to class the week after, his welcome was anything but. What started as small talks here and there completely dissolved to mere eye glances. Everyone went out of their way to avoid him as much as possible. Hitoshi soon found out that he actually liked not talking to anyone after that. He's rather keep to himself if the only company he can choose from are composed of people that judge based on people's quirks. Unfortunately for him, the self-serving pricks who got him suspended in the first place had the nerve to still bother him.
He could smell their plastic smiles from a mile away, but Hitoshi never found a way to get rid of them despite using his quirk on them multiple times. More annoyingly, they never tried to fight it. They would, occasionally call him out for using it too much on them, but played it off as something friends can acceptably do.
They were never his friends.
He knew, that they were only hanging out with him because they recognized the power of his quirk and how his ability is only limited by his imagination. They'd throw around ideas on what Hitoshi could do with his quirk, and if given the choice, what would they do with his quirk. He never joined in their discussion, but he absolutely hates how they desecrated his quirk - which was already antagonized beyond belief throughout his entire life.
The things they would imagine were beyond horrible. Disgusting, filthy, scoundrels. And they had the nerve to call him a villain.
They tried, multiple times, to rope Hitoshi into using his quirk for them to either satisfy their depraved needs or finally prove that he's really just a villain underneath that tired and apathetic exterior; but he never caved. Just as his dream to become a hero never faltered despite his trials.
He knew that it would be so much easier to make them stop and to tell them to hurt themselves by using his quirk. All it takes is is one word and he'll have full control of their actions. It was that easy, and the discrimination would end. They'd all stop making fun of him, and they'd stop telling him what he should and shouldn't be - but a hero wouldn't do that.
At least, a hero with a choice wouldn't do that; and Hitoshi didn't have that freedom. He never did. His quirk was all about taking away choices. He didn't have to like it, but it doesn't mean he has to curse it either. He knew that his quirk is better suited to be a villain's than a hero, but the heart doesn't chose what it yearns for. So even if he had to act like the villain to get people to respond to him, and in turn activate his quirk, he'd do it - all in the name of being a hero.
After all, they all mocked him for his quirk to begin with. What difference does it make if he does that to them too?
With his mind made up, Hitoshi kept his focus on the years of bitterness, fueled by years of discrimination and ridicule that he's been building up inside and worked to prove them all wrong. He'll show all of them that he can make it as a hero in a world that relies heavily on battle-oriented quirks for so long. He'll show them that anyone, even a person like him with such a "villainous" quirk can become a hero.
Hitoshi worked harder than anyone else in his school to achieve that. He studied harder than any other student in class, stayed up for countless nights just to study every single day until he got the highest marks and the highest praises in projects - much to the indignation of everyone else.
The biggest, and proudest, 'fuck you' he managed to end the year with was when the results of Yuuei's exam arrived.
It was the most prestigious hero school in the country, and the world, where the biggest and most popular heroes of the decade came from. It was where All Might started his journey, and Hitoshi, ever the faithful follower of his shadow, wanted to start his there. It's not going to be an easy path given the school's popularity, but he's going to show them all that he can make it.
Out of the eight applicants in his class, Hitoshi was the only one who passed the written exams, and consequently, allowed to take the practical test.
He couldn't stop himself from smirking like an actual villain when he heard the news. His classmates, who were all bark and no bite, finally got what was coming to them. They all fell the ladder race to the top while he was one step closer.
All he had to do now is pass this final hurdle and no one else's opinion would matter. If he proves himself worthy to be a hero, people will finally stop calling him a villain. He'll finally become what he's wanted since the very beginning.
And yet, despite working very hard for it, the world reminded him not to get too far ahead of himself.
Hitoshi let out a sarcastic dry laugh as he faced an enormous level 3 "villain robot"
It's gleaming red metal eyes mocked him of his victory. The practical exam was rigged from the very beginning.
Hitoshi and a bunch of other applicants that weren't (a) emitting a powerful damage quirk, or (b) incredibly athletic, never stood a chance. This was the end…
He had come so, so close, and still the world kept the prize dangling above him like it was something he can actually reach. Hitoshi fell to his knee and clawed at the ground just as another robot loomed over him. He stared at his pale knuckles as frustrated tears refused to fall from his eyes. Everything was just too unfair.
A wall of light suddenly appeared to protect him from the robot's crushing weight, and was abruptly thrown away to the side. Hitoshi rolled on the hardened ground and frowned, baffled, at the blade of light that now pierced the robot from above. The robot's plating cracked under the pressure building inside and exploded.
Hitoshi blocked his face from any flying shrapnel, and looked around frantically for any injured.
"Hey," shouted a dark skinned teen overhead the smoking mechanic. He jumped down from a ledge made of hardened light and hobble over to Hitoshi. He reached out a helping hand and asked, "You alright?"
Hitoshi looked at his hand like it was poison, and slapped it away.
The boy smiled and retracted his hand, apparently reading the situation between them quite well. "Steeling up in a middle of a battle zone, kind of stupid, right? I mean -" the boy corrected himself, "- It's not your usual strategy against robots, usually it's "Blam!" or "Whoosh-pow!" you know?" he said while mimicking battle punches and kicks.
Hitoshi frowned at the other boy, utterly at lost on what to make out of him, or even say to him.
"Strategy or not, being paralyzed by fear could get you killed out here. Probably not though, would be bad for Yuuei to kill a minor. So I just assumed you needed help! But I could be wrong," the boy confidently grinned.
Hitoshi glared at the boy smile and knocked his arm aggressively with the latter. "I don't need your help," he hissed at the stranger. "I don't need anyone's help."
The boy rocked on his heels and laughed. "Well I'm sorry, you can't fight. No need to be an asshole about it to someone who just saved your life."
Hitohi's eye twitched and fought the urge to throw a lump of metal at him. He had other things to worry about than this. Hitoshi opened his mouth to get the other to face the other direction and never see him again but was beaten to the punch.
"You know what? I'll pay it forward," the boy skipped over another platform of light that suddenly appeared from beneath his feet. "Call it an insurance."
Hitoshi watched in horror as the boy waved his hand and caught a robot flying towards them in mid air. He sliced the metal in four unequal halves then left it to fall on unsuspecting applicants. The ground shook as the debris fell, and dust clouds covered everyone's line of sight.
"Get to it, circles," the boy shouted. "You never know what get's noticed," before disappearing into another area.
Hitoshi waded through the cloud and heard voices coming from beneath the rubble. None of them appeared to be heavily frantic, but they were still terrified. As the cloud cleared, Hitoshi saw a number of people trapped beneath the robot's carcass. Other's were immediately on their case to help, and before Hitoshi could even consider taking this advantage to take down Level 1 Robot villains while everyone was occupied, he was joining the rest for rescue.
As he pulled two, three, maybe five, he really lost count after eight, out of their predicaments, Hitoshi completely lost track of the time.
The moment he realized he spent more time hauling people out and pushing them away from danger rather than get points, was a moment too late. A loud explosion followed by the commotion of a collapsing building caused everyone to stop. Before anyone could ask what happened, the siren blared and Present Mic's voice echoed in the stadium to end of the exam.
Hitoshi watched as the leader board flash the highest hero points attained by anonymous applicants and bitterly clenched his fists at the Plus Ultra score the leading applicant finished with. The runner up's were no cause to belittle either. They were all too high for his current level.
Hitoshi clicked his teeth. How could he let himself be distracted from his main goal? He entered to win, not save people.
The same dark-skinned teen slid down from his light structured platforms and smugly huffed a tuft of blonde hair away from his eyes. Hitoshi sent him a glare, strong enough to bury daggers unto his back and turned away before the other boy could notice him.
It was all his fault.
Hitoshi went home with a sour look permanently glued on his face.
He didn't bother to eat dinner, nor tell his father about the exam, even if the latter shouted at him in his drunken fervor to eat something. He went straight to bed that night, and dozed off. He doesn't remember if he cried or if he was just too frustrated to even bother shedding a tear. Nevertheless, Hitoshi knew this was the end and he was going to have to face it soon enough.
The next five days were horrendous.
He had little to no motivation to do anything. He barely ate, rarely got out of bed, nor did he bother to change clothes. He just laid in bed, twisting and rolling around in his depressive state. His father never really did anything to make him feel sympathetic, but Hitoshi appreciated his old man's efforts to leave him cold left-overs in the fridge whenever he got the urge to munch on something.
Too bad Hitoshi hated cooking when he's feeling miserable and would just throw the food away in favor of buying instant noodles.
He was actually getting used to this less than productive state of mind and routine, when, a week later, his entire world shatters when a letter he was not expecting arrived.
His father - looking the happiest he's ever seen him since his mother left - was the first to break the news to him. He wanted to open the letter together, and Hitoshi, who suspected it to be just a courtesy letter telling him he didn't make the cut to be a hero, allowed it. He had very little in him to care anymore.
So it came as a surprise when All Might appears before them, in full heroic, but holographic video form, to congratulate him.
"Hitoshi Shinsou-" said All Might with that stupid, grin of his that never failed to give Hitoshi hope for his own future as a hero. "The limitations of your quirk may have hindered you from getting enough points to rank high in the exams. But fear not, boy! We grade not only on the heroics young heroes show but the heart in which guides them to true heroism." The message shifted into multiple shots of Hitoshi helping one applicant to another out of their trapped state, before All Might returned on screen. "RESCUE POINTS!" All Might shouted, followed by that behemoth laughter of his. "Your unbridled sense of compassion for others has earned you the approval of Yuuei's faculty! It is my honor... to welcome you as a new member of Yuuei Academy!"
Hitoshi doesn't remember when his father embraced him as he cried in joy and told him that he has never been more proud. He doesn't remember when the letter stopped looping and when he started crying himself. For the first time since he accepted his end, Hitoshi told himself with enough conviction to make his younger self proud - he will become a hero.