Author's Note: I don't own My Hero Academia, MHA was created by and is owned by Kohei Horikoshi.
I've wanted to write a story about pro hero Deku and his successor ever since I read the Yakuza arc. A next generation story seemed too good to pass up and while I have created one on the site previously I was disappointed by its quality and storyline. As a result, I rewrote it and came out with this.
I also want to thank Seanic Blueblur for his advice and for beta reading this story.
Daisuke Arashi gasped for oxygen, his head throbbing as he struggled to process what had unfolded before him. Two bodies lay on the sidewalk in a pool of their own blood.
He had never seen death or gore before – eight-year old children weren't supposed to see the horrors of death and gore – but the scene cast a horrible darkness upon his heart akin to the darkness of night around him.
A flicker of radiance lit up the sky.
Crack!
A boisterous rumble accompanied the flash of light.
The child felt his heart sink into his stomach as he clung to the lifeless bodies lying on the ground.
"Please, wake up!" Daisuke screamed, tears running down his face.
He shook the bodies, hoping that by some miracle he would find some spark of life left in them.
"Mom! Dad! Stay with me!"
Crack!
The bellow of thunder echoed in the distance.
The boy punched the pavement in a burst of outrage, bloodying his knuckles in the process.
He refused to accept what he was seeing.
The corpses of his parents, the pools of blood, the gashes in their chests, and the deranged criminal smirking with his blade-like left hand soaked in blood. He had to be in some sort of nightmare. At any moment, he would wake up. Any moment, everything would be normal. He had to wake up because this was not a world he wanted to live in.
The red-haired boy jabbed himself in the side with his fingers and squeezed them together. He tensed up from the pinch, but his worst fears were realized. He wasn't waking up.
Crack!
Another roar of thunder shattered the mist.
In that moment, something inside Daisuke changed. The red head wiped away the cascade of tears running down his face. There would be plenty of time to mourn.
The man was getting away.
The boy stepped into a small ray of light provided from the street-lights overhead. Crimson sparks danced inside the palms of his hands. Rage took over every bit of his mind and body, clouding his judgment and leaving one thought on his mind. Daisuke wanted justice – if not outright revenge – on the man fleeing the scene.
He may not have been able to bring his parents back, but he would make their killer suffer. The man would pay with his life.
"Why don't you just die?!" Daisuke snarled as he rushed towards him and lunged at him.
Crack!
Another flash of lightning lit up the sky behind the furious boy as he drew his arm back to throw a punch.
The criminal turned, just in time to see the boy rushing at him and dodge the left hook from Daisuke. The furious boy shot a hateful glare intimidating enough to make the thief flinch as he clutched his foe's chest with his left hand. Bloody sparks coursed through the murderer's body, causing him to shriek in agony and stumble backwards momentarily.
Daisuke expected the electricity to strike down his foe; however, the jolt of electricity only infuriated the criminal and turned his attention back to him. A punch to the gut slammed him backwards against the brick wall with a thud. Daisuke felt the world begin to spin around him and felt a trickle of blood run down the back of his head.
He groaned. Had his head hit the wall during the whiplash?
With his victim staggered from the punch, the criminal took off down an alleyway and into the shadows of the night.
Daisuke inwardly hoped for a hero to show up and save the day like in comics or movies. However, once more, reality presented him with a far different outcome – a criminal fleeing the scene of the crime, leaving Daisuke all alone with scarring injuries and two dead parents.
The boy felt another cascade of burning tears stream down his face, and unlike the first, he could not hold them back. He had once heard someone say that not all men were created equal, but he would go a step further.
Life simply was not fair.
Today was supposed to be a happy moment. He was supposed to be celebrating the recent discovery of his quirk with the two people that meant more to him anyone else in the world. However, in a mere glimpse of a moment, his parents had been taken from him by a deranged murderer.
It made him sick.
The boy attempted to stand up again and chase after the criminal. While Daisuke doubted that he could subdue the criminal – as an eight-year old who had only recently manifested his quirk, there was no chance he could match the older quirk user even if he tried – he couldn't find it in him to care.
He had to make the man pay for his actions. He would make sure that the man couldn't lay a finger on another soul. He didn't want another person to ever experience his pain. Unfortunately, he was too woozy to even stand up.
The world spun around him even more, and the boy staggered backwards as a result. The boy cursed under his breath, kicking himself for his own weakness. He felt oblivion slowly pulling his psyche into a void of darkness.
Finally drained both emotionally and physically, Daisuke surrendered to the tug of unconsciousness, and a second later everything went black.
Crack!
Daisuke gasped, stirred awake by a rumble of thunder that rattled the entire room. An unshakeable sense of impending doom lingered over him. Beads of cold sweat poured down his forehead, his heart racing from the sudden shock.
His survival instincts kicked in.
Daisuke clenched his fists and channeled electricity to his hands. He forced his eyes open to get a look at his surroundings. Everything around him was a blur, adding to his fear and uncertainty.
Where was he again?
Daisuke glanced around once his eyes could see with clarity to regain his bearings. Desks, chairs, and other people his age surrounded him. A chalkboard and much larger office desk were positioned at the front of the room. There was only logical explanation he could come to.
He was at school.
Daisuke allowed the electrical charges to dissipate and ran his hands through his fiery red hair. A second thought came to mind from the agony of his headache.
Why did it feel like his head had been pressed in a vice?
Daisuke groaned as he moved his head. There was something hard underneath his head. He looked down. Apparently he had rested his head on a wooden surface with metal legs.
It took another moment for him to figure out what he was looking at thanks to his exhaustion and burning headache clouding his thoughts.
He was starting at a desk – his desk, no less.
It was starting to come back to him now. Apparently, he had laid his head on his desk to take a nap.
That had been a huge mistake.
It was akin to resting your head on cement. It was likely the reason his head felt like it was being pummeled by a sledgehammer. There was only one question left unanswered.
Why was Bakugou staring at him?
Actually, now that he was paying attention, it looked like all the students were staring at him. It was starting to tick him off.
Before his mind could reach something even remotely resembling a conclusion, Daisuke was met with an irritated look from his teacher.
"Mr. Arashi, would you mind turning in your paper?" The old man stated, tapping his foot on the floor.
Daisuke groaned, rubbing his aching head. "What are you talking about, you old windbag?"
The man narrowed his eyes. "The paper that everyone decided to work on while you were snoozing at your desk and flailing around."
The class laughed at the teacher's remark. Daisuke growled and clenched his fists. But just before he could lash out, the red head did a double take and raised his brows in slight surprise.
Wait, he had been flailing around?
"While you were sleeping, everyone else finished and turned in their essays about what they planned to do after middle school," The teacher stated with heavy sarcasm in his voice. "You know, about how they planned to make something out of their lives."
Daisuke glanced down at a sheet of notebook paper lying on the floor beside his desk. The teacher's not so subtle reminder refreshed his memory of their assignment.
He leaned over to pick the essay up and dropped it into his teacher's outstretched hand as unceremoniously as possible.
The teacher rolled his eyes. "Thank you, Mr. Arashi."
"You are welcome, any time!" Daisuke responded with a gratingly cheerful tone.
He scoffed at the mere thought of their school assignment as he watched the teacher skim over his paper while returning to the front of the classroom.
How could he put everything he had been through in words? How could he explain the loss of his family? How could he explain the dumpster fire of a home life he had at the orphanage? Along with its constant fight for survival and isolation?
Instead of a detailed biography, he settled for a basic overview of what he wanted to do after middle school. He rewrote the same canned speech he had given everyone before. He told them he wanted to learn how to use his quirk better, go to UA, and that he wanted to become a hero.
People didn't need the details. There was no reason for him to give motivations for his aspirations, a long speech about who he was, an internal monologue of philosophy, or random mutterings about role models he looked up to.
It was sort of a waste of time for both him and everyone else. People were essentially demanding answers that he didn't have.
Not that it mattered – the assignment wasn't for credit.
Daisuke glanced up at the clock in the corner of the room. Judging by the time, the writing assignment would be the class's final assignment of the day, and with it the final assignment of the school year. Any moment now, middle school would draw to a close and bring aspirations of high school. After all, UA awaited him.
The most prestigious hero school in all of Japan was the training grounds for most of the greatest heroes of all time. Daisuke understood strength when he saw it.
UA would be the perfect place for him to work to accomplish his dream. Their classes were top notch, and he would be learning from some of the best in the business.
Besides, UA had dorms. He would need a new place to live soon, considering his age. After all, the orphanage wouldn't keep him forever, and he was fast approaching the age limit at the orphanage.
He supposed that he would head over to the library after class and look into applying for UA after he got off of school. Anything to advance his future was worth it.
"Mr. Arashi," The teacher called out.
Daisuke sensed a subtle hostility in the teacher's voice.
"Since you took so long to give me your paper, I'm assuming that it must be quite the read. We still have some time to kill. You wouldn't mind reading it to the class, would you?"
Daisuke gritted his teeth. "No thanks."
The teacher smirked, clearly enjoying their exchange a little too much. "Then perhaps I should read it for you."
Daisuke frowned.
He wouldn't dare.
"I'm not exactly sure what you all want to hear from me because I only have a few goals. I want to enroll at UA, I'm going to study in the hero course during my time at UA, and afterwards become the number one hero." The teacher read out loud.
The class burst into a playground of laughter.
"Like he'd make it into UA!"
"Daisuke? A hero? With his temperament?!"
"I can see it now – The Symbol of Arrogance: Daisuke Arashi."
"Why don't you save yourself the trouble and just start your career as a villain!"
Daisuke sneered and channeled another wave of electricity through his palms.
"Now, now, quiet down." The teacher chided in a halfhearted fashion.
Even as he watched the teacher pretending to restore order, Daisuke knew the old grouch better. The teacher's apathy in scolding the class and choice to read his essay out loud was intentional.
The teacher never liked him much. The old man was likely miffed about his snarky reply after handing in his essay. Daisuke had already seen that exactly sort of thing out of him before, and exactly just like all those past times, the teacher's lack of effort to silence the class hardly quelled their laughter and snide remarks.
Daisuke covered his ears to drown out their collective mockery. He had learned to drown out his critics long ago, and now wouldn't be any different. If anything, he had even more motive to do so.
Unfortunately, their childishness was making his headache worse.
The red-haired teen sighed under his breath as he rested his chin on his desk. His gaze wandered around the room and fixated upon a familiar blonde at the front of the class. Her mannerisms made her stand out from the rest of the class. She wasn't laughing, throwing her hands up in the air, or falling over in her seat like the others. Instead, Bakugou stared back at him from her seat at the front of the classroom with a sympathetic expression. If anything, she appeared wounded – even grieved – by their laughter.
Daisuke shut his eyes. His head hurt from just looking around. His lips quirked up into a smirk.
Most people would have shrunk down in embarrassment from their peers laughter, but Daisuke wasn't most people. He didn't care what anyone thought about him or his goal. He would do what he had trained himself to do, he would endure their laughter. What they said wouldn't matter soon, because just beyond this trivial moment, a far more exciting promise was ahead of him.
School was ending, so he wouldn't have to deal with any of these people anymore. He looked forward to that sweet moment and it couldn't arrive soon enough.
A loud ringing echoed throughout the classroom. With the school bell sounding off, the school year was officially over. They were officially free!
The same thought appeared to be on everyone's minds and fueled their rush for the exit and even the old grouch seemed to be in a hurry to leave the classroom. All too willing to linger at his desk to wait, Daisuke folded his hands and rested his chin on his hands. The longer he waited, the less likely he was to run into his peers in the halls.
His head was still killing him and he didn't feel like hearing the overwhelming noise of his peers' mindless chatter.
Crack!
Another rumble of thunder rattled the room.
Daisuke glanced up at the wall clock. Ten minutes was likely a long enough delay, he usually gave the other students a five minute head start.
After gathering his books, the red head slung his backpack over his shoulder and meandered through the row of desks towards the exit. The teen took a moment to listen to the noise in the hallway to gauge how busy it was. It sounded fairly quiet, at least for crowded hallway standards.
Daisuke took a deep breath and stepped out of the classroom. His lips quirked upwards into something that very loosely resembled a smile. Most of the students were already gone, leaving with a far less crowded hallway than usual.
It was the first thing that had gone right for him all day.
"Daisuke!" A shrill voice called out.
The red head winced in pain and felt his head throbbing once more. Just when his headache was starting to subside, he had to have someone shout at him. The words felt like another sledgehammer.
His ears were still ringing from the shout which left him with a pretty good impression of who was trying to get his attention. He glanced over at the source of the shout to see if his hunch was correct and cursed under his breath.
His hunch was right.
"Wait up, Daisuke!"
Why did it have to be her?
Daisuke ignored the voice calling out to him and continued down the hallway.
He heard heavy footsteps behind him.
"Daisuke!"
Her voice was getting closer, and her footsteps on the tile floors were getting louder. Daisuke picked up his pace, only for his pursuer to speed up. He glanced over at the blonde standing alongside him, matching his own pace equally stride for stride.
"You're pretty quick, you know that?" The blonde waved her hand in Daisuke's face. "Hey, listen, I wanted to know if you were doing anything during the school break."
Daisuke tensed up and took a deep breath. Apparently, it wasn't enough to shout in his ear. She now had to invade his personal space.
The red head shrugged off the girl's gestures and moved faster, attempting to leave the blonde behind.
"I'm going to be doing lots of epic stuff before high school starts! I want to finish a couple anime that I started watching. I also want to get outside more, I'm thinking about going swimming and visiting the beach. Maybe I'll even go hiking! My fam hinted that we might visit the summer house before I start high school!"
Did she not have an inside voice – or any other voice for that matter – that didn't threaten to blow his eardrums out?
The squeaking of Daisuke's shoes on the tile floor grew louder and faster.
"Come on, Daisuke." The blonde girl stepped in front of Daisuke and jogged backwards in front of him, determined to continue her conversation. "What I was wondering was whether you wanted to hang out while we're on break! I think it would be fun! There's so much we could do!"
Daisuke slowed down as he realized he wasn't going to be able to leave her behind.
Kasumi Bakugou couldn't catch a hint.
"Like what?" Daisuke snorted, a hint of sarcasm in his voice.
A grin stretched across Kasumi's face. "I think you'd enjoy the ninja show I started watching! The rival is a lot like you! He hates a lot of things, and doesn't particularly enjoy anything!"
Daisuke rolled his eyes. He wasn't sure what was more absurd, Kasumi once again bringing up another one of her stupid cartoons as if they were real, or the idea of him watching one of her mindless shows.
"Or we could also go get ice cream together sometime! I even heard that they have a couple new flavors!" Kasumi changed subjects, realizing her first suggestion wasn't working.
Daisuke gave her a skeptical look as he continued towards the now approaching exit.
"Even you have to like ice cream." Kasumi insisted.
Daisuke grunted.
"Bet I can even guess your favorite flavor – death by chocolate – it's dark, it's icy-cold, and has a bit of an edge from the dark chocolate just like your tsundere personality! It even has an edgy name!"
Daisuke glared daggers at her, eyes glowing with hostility.
He made it unmistakably clear that he didn't want to talk after class by ignoring her and speeding up his pace in the hallway. He had been holding his aching head all throughout the last moments of class.
He already knew she was dense, but this was definitely a new level of oblivious, even for her. Crimson sparks crackled through his hand, before he flicked her in the arm with an electrified finger.
"Ouch! What was that for?!" Kasumi winced back, caught off guard by the small spark resulting from the touch. Although the jolt from the finger flick wasn't overly painful, the flash was incredibly startling.
Daisuke shot her a lethal glare. "Just leave me alone."
Kasumi's signature grin instantly disappeared beneath a scowl. Caught off guard by Daisuke's sudden outrage, she gritted her teeth. "I was just trying to lighten the mood. You seemed tense in class after...well…"
Daisuke blew past her and reached for the door.
Without thinking, Kasumi grabbed Daisuke's hand. "Why, Daisuke? Why do you keep blowing me off? Why do you always push everyone away?"
Legitimate resentment, anger, and pain overcast her eyes.
He had hurt her. That much Daisuke could tell, even if he wasn't the best with people. It caused something inside him to hurt, even if he couldn't quite understand why.
Despite her own hurts, Kasumi still projected a sense of calm. Though she wasn't the bubbly chatterbox she tended to be, she refused to allow her emotions to take over.
He had to admit that he was impressed, even though he'd never say so out loud. However, that changed nothing. Daisuke wanted out of the entire situation and wanted to get away from school; it was all he wanted from the beginning. Everything was making him incredibly uncomfortable.
He had no answers for her. He hadn't even wanted to talk to her after the mess that last class turned out to be. His disdain for the entire situation intensified once he noticed the crowd gathering around them from their outbursts.
"Just leave me alone." Daisuke barged past her and reaching for the latch to the door.
The thunderstorm's fury hadn't let up at all.
Kasumi frowned. Flashes of lightning tore through in the sky followed by the rumble of thunder and the rain was still falling in sheets.
"Daisuke!" she exclaimed, reaching into her backpack for a black umbrella and pulling it out of her bag.
Daisuke ignored her call and opened the door.
"I just wanted to-"
Daisuke stormed off down the sidewalk, letting the door slam in her face.
"…Help." Kasumi felt the words dissipate in her mouth.
The blonde sulked and threw her arms down in frustration.
Woosh!
Steam exploded out from both of her hands. She hadn't noticed all the people watching her until her outburst. She bit her lip as a bead of sweat rolled down her forehead.
She felt like she was under a microscope. Dozens of eyes were fixated on her and her every movement. It was the price to pay for being the daughter of the second best hero in Japan – no privacy, constant scrutiny, and publicity galore.
Kasumi hated it.
How much had they seen? How long had they been watching? What were they going to say about her? Had they heard her conversation with Daisuke?
The crowd's judgmental glances and whispers amongst themselves were killing her.
She sighed. All she wanted to do was disappear like a mist, anything to escape the crowd's judgment and piercing stares.
Daisuke did the only thing he knew how to do and he ran.
He wasn't even sure where he was headed, running purely on adrenaline. All he knew was that he wanted to get away from school. He swore the rain was only getting worse as he continued.
It was miserable.
The rain soaked through his clothes. Even worse was that each droplet was cold to the touch.
Daisuke ran faster, only to slip and land face first in a puddle.
If he wasn't already soaked head to toe from the rain, he certainly was after landing in the puddle. The red head got up and his adrenaline rush started to fade.
The first thing he noticed was that he felt chilled from being soaked. The downpour wasn't helping much with that.
A shiver ran down his spine. He couldn't keep going in this weather. It was too rainy and chilly. Besides, he didn't even know where he was going.
Daisuke eyed a dark alley. He reluctantly entered the alley and hid underneath a dilapidated staircase hanging above the alley. It was hardly an adequate shelter, but it shielded him from the full brunt of the rain by blocking out a little over half the raindrops.
Daisuke felt his shivers intensify. His teeth chattered instinctively.
He was freezing!
He took a moment to examine his surroundings, trying to get his mind off of his misery; although it brought little comfort.
The amount of space, lightning, and the layout of this alleyway all dragged him back into the darkness of his memories.
Crack!
Thunder rumbled in the distance.
Mom, Dad! Stay with me!
Daisuke clutched his burning-red hair and tried to push back the memories. He could hear his screams ringing in his ears like they were yesterday. Those memories always reminded him of how alone he really was and filled him with a sense of hopelessness.
Crack!
Another crackle of thunder.
Blood-stained corpses flashed through his mind.
The sight made Daisuke weak. The distressed teen leaned back against the wall and slid down it. Hot tears ran down his face.
He was feeling alone again and nothing hurt more than that feeling.
It cut his heart worse than a razor-sharp knife.
Suddenly, just as a flash of lightning lit up the sky, Kasumi's smiling face flickered through his mind.
Why do you push everyone away?
Daisuke slammed his fist into the brick wall behind him, bloodying his knuckles.
The words stung because they were true. All he did was push others away, as forcefully as his own fists had punched the wall into a bloody mess.
His tears came rushing down like a waterfall.
It was all he knew how to do.