MIDORIYA, IZUKU BLOG #0001
May 2, 2070 [Friday]
3:47 PM - The Pink Stach Café
The world is not a fair place.
I know that now.
According to the recent survey, 98% of the world's population mostly manifested their 'quirks' at the age of 4. Though some late bloomers were documented to have gotten theirs at the age of 6, not having it at the standard age would generally make that person 'quirkless'.
I've been fascinated by the subject since I was a young boy; seeing the people that surrounds you doing things that are both supernatural yet ordinary.
It was awe-inspiring, no matter what the quirk was; the extra ability of a unique individual that could potentially help the human race do better… or worse.
The subject of heroes and villains had been something of a dream for me.
While I excel at it in theory and analysis, the physical part of it had always been rather difficult for me. I guess that's what happens when you grow up as a sickly child.
Then again, it could just be because I'm quirkless.
The green haired young man sighed as he pressed the 'backspace' button on his laptop repeatedly in a bored, defeated manner.
"Why is making a blog so hard?" he muttered as he stared at the blank page of the program before being startled by a vibrating black puck situated on the table where multiple of his drawings were scattered.
"DARK MOCHA FRAPPUCINO FOR IZUKU? CUSTOMER IZUKU?"
The teen jumped slightly at the call of his name, quickly making his way towards the counter to claim his drink with his buzzer.
"Thank you, kind sir, enjoy your wonderful drink!" The stylish blond barista behind the bar grinned at the greenette. "How's the blog, by the way? Any luck finishing a whole page this time?"
Izuku huffed, but smiled in familiarity. "It's still blank, Kaminari. I don't know how you guys do these things. I certainly don't know how it would help my art sell."
"Well, you can market your sketches—do some commissions and post a digital portfolio for people to view your wonderful creations—!" The barista's grin only widened at the increasing uncomfortable expression on the other man's face as he gestured to the messy table in the middle of the café while talking loudly.
The place wasn't as packed as it would be during rush hours and meal times, but there were still quite a few occupying 5 to 6 tables; mostly group of friends, but there was another guy sitting all on his own like Izuku—only with a cleaner table.
"B-b-but I don't know how to market things! I mean, have you seen my drawings, they're not that great! Whenever I look at digital portfolios—" Izuku whispered frantically with hand gestures before he sighed. "There's just some quality to it that I can't hope to achieve in my current skill."
Kaminari gave a sigh of his own opening his mouth to comment when the lights in the café flickered off.
"What? A blackout?" The blond looked up at the hanging light bulbs catching reflection from the light outside; the manager insisted were 'hip and cool' and would attract the young crowd.
The overlapping noise of curious conversation of the patrons filled up the silence at the rest of the staff went around to try and figure out the cause.
"Hey, Denki!" A pink-skinned woman came out from the back room. "Do you mind helping me out with the generator? I think there's something stuck in it."
"Huh? What do you mean?" The barista turned to the girl only to be flung back to the counter when the ground gave a violent shake.
The people inside the café started screaming out of fright as some of light bulbs swung hard and came off their lines, raining down on the people.
Izuku, having fallen to the floor for his poor balance, was one such unfortunate customer to be struck on the head by one of the stray bulbs. The glass broke and stunned him for a bit before he quickly yelled for the people to go under their tables, doing so himself as he gathered his wits.
Among the panicked chatter of the crowd, a police siren could be heard far off—then, explosions.
The green eyed art student's head snapped towards the wide cracked windows of the café as a rather large villain ran pass by, holding a sack bulging with cash.
The villain was quickly followed by a hero—no, a hero intern. 'They seriously need to wear an ID during patrol?'
The intern was yelling angrily at the villain who seemed genuinely scared for his life despite the blond hero looking tiny compared to him. Sparks surrounded the interns hands as he took stance for a move.
Decked in full costume, the hero intern aimed an arm encased in a weapon that looked like a grenade at the running villain before pulling a pin and releasing a loud powerful explosion; destroying the café's poorly treated window. There were glass everywhere and the people in the café were more frightened then as the thin barrier that separated them from the fight was gone.
"His quirk!" Izuku grinned watching closely as the hero intern laughed maniacally before running off to detain the runaway villain. "That was so powerful! I wonder how he ignites the explosion—"
"IZUKU!" the student turned to the blond barista who looked as if he had been searching for him for a while. "Oh my god, are you okay? Are you hurt? You're bleeding! OH MY GOD, MINA HELP ME OUT HERE, GET ME THE FIRST AID!"
"What's the matter?" A man their age with wild violet locks walked up to the panicking barista. It was the other man sitting on his own.
"MIDORIYA IS BLEEDING AND HE NEEDS HELP, HE NEEDS—" Kaminari's mouth slacked, eyes blank and looked to be more relaxed.
"Alright, sir, I need you to stay calm and retrieve the first aid kit. I'll help your friend, alright?" The strange man gently instructed which the blond merely walked away presuming to do what was asked. The man sighed before turning to the injured person. "Are you okay?"
"Are you okay?"
Izuku blinked and turned to the man. "Your quirk is triggered by voice!" he gushed in excitement, making the other flinch and warily take a step back, but he barely noticed this as he went on in enthusiasm. "How does it work? Do you need to have a conversation with the person? Do they need to reply? Does it work with JSL or ASL? Does language affect the effects or not? How long can you hold the person's attention? Can you affect more than one with your—" the man's gaze lightened up with amusement as he blocked the other's mouth with his hand.
"I don't think I can answer all those right away." Violet hair chuckled before pulling out something from his pocket. He opened his wallet and handed over a card.
"You're a UA Student!" The shorter man grinned. "That's amazing! You already have your provisional hero license! My name is Izuku Midoriya, it's nice to meet you, Shinsou-kun."
The man blinked in a surprised pause before he remembered that his name was on the card. 'Stupid.' Then again, his sleep-deprived brain couldn't quite catch up to the boy's fast-paced talking, so he returned an awkward smile instead. "Nice to meet you, Midoriya-san."
"Oh, just call me Midoriya, or Izuku—I don't care much for formalities." The green haired student bounced in his place, looking around the chaotic aftermath.
The police finally reached the café, and the people inside gave their statements one group after the other.
Izuku watched the crowd collect themselves and leave after the police were done with them. The police didn't interview everyone, seeing as they all saw the same thing anyway, but they did talk to Shinsou before the left.
The intern walked passed the café on his way to the maiden, dragging the villain—he was anything but gentle.
The art student blinked when the aspiring hero turned to him; eyes meeting for a full second.
The blond hero stared at him with a somewhat haunted expression, before snarling at his direction and following a more well-known hero in jeans.
"I wonder where I've seen him before…" The greenette muttered, touching his upper lip with an index finger as his general pose for when he starts thinking.
"Izuku, did you draw this?" Shinsou's voice drew him away from his personal inquiry to the pile of paper in the other man's hands.
He felt his face grow hot in embarrassment and spluttered badly.
"These are good—you like drawing heroes?" The violet haired man smiled kindly, more natural.
"I-I do. They've always been my inspiration when I paint or sketch." The art student smiled back.
"You've got Eraserhead's detail on point. Are you a fan?" There was more warmth in his tone.
"I—y-yes. He saved me before. I look up to him." Izuku's smile turned enigmatic.
"I'm taking this one." Shinsou announced as he placed the other drawings back on the table. "As payment for treating your injury while you were muttering, all spaced out fan-boying on Ground Zero."
"Wait, you treated me already?" Izuku reached up to feel his head, and sure enough, he realized that part of head was wrapped in bandages. He turned to look at the other to thank him only to splutter in shock at seeing the man holding his phone and taking a selfie.
"There, I put my contact number in. I also have yours already. Did you know you mumble more when you panic? I mean, I don't mind it, but it's probably better if you try to tone it down a bit. You might get in trouble."
"Uh… Why?" Izuku asked, though he felt delighted that Shinsou did what he did.
"Well, some people find the muttering rather creepy and—"
"No, I mean why would like to, uh, keep talking to me? I don't mean any offense, but we just met and I'm kind of useless."
"What do you mean useless?"
"I mean, I'm quirkless. The only thing I'm good at is drawing and even then there are better artists out there who can draw better—"
"Wait, hold on—" Shinsou gave the kid a wide-eyed stare. "Have you never just, you know, be friends with someone after talking to them?"
"I—I don't have many friends, Shinsou-san. I never learned how to make friends properly." Izuku sighed as he recalled a friend—his only friend when he was younger. "My mom gave me away when I was 4, and since then I've only ever lived with Yamada-san."
"Your adoptive father?"
"My landlord, actually. I didn't want to burden him after he took me in, so I made sure he knew that I could take care of myself. Making friends would have made that a whole lot harder for a kid, so I kept to myself—not like anyone would've want to be friends with me anyway." The greenette smiled, ignoring Shinsou's expression.
"Yeah, that actually makes my decision more solid. You have no choice in this matter, we're friends now. I'm walking you home." The violet haired man glared when Izuku started to protest—not that it did much to deter the determined aspiring hero.
"—so you decided on studying to become a professional painter instead?" Along their walk to Izuku's apartment, "Shinsou-san" became "Shinsou"; a little more walking, and "Shinsou" became "Hitoshi".
"I mean, if I could teach kids to use painting as an outlet, the world might be a little more peaceful, you know? All these fighting with heroes and villains, and destroying buildings—it's the latest trend of the century. Everyone is born into thinking that they should be a hero because—well, you know, heroes are cool—"
"But it's detrimental to the development of their moral compass." Shinsou answered. "Kids would grow up seeing black and white."
Shizuka Homura, age 17, was found dead this afternoon in her apartment in XXXXXXXXXX. The victim was strangled, molested, and mutilated in her own bed. It was believed to be the work of a stalker. Police investigation believe that the assailant broke into the victim's home around 2:00, and left using an intern hero's fight performance at a nearby street that devastated a local café.
The victim's parents were out during this time to buy dinner for the family.
Shizuka Homura had been a student at a local art school "Bridges Academy for Arts", and was aspiring to be a world-renowned painter. The victim has been reported to be quirkless, and could not have defended herself against her attacker—
"Such dreadful news." Hizashi Yamada sighed as he turned off the radio and begun preparing for his patrol.
To be continued…
