Quirk Under Pressure Chapter 1: Yasuke Nagasuki: Origin
"Look mommy!" A young boy exclaimed as he tugged on his mother's shirt, in his other hand was a purple rubber ball.
"Not right now dear, mommy's busy." The woman said as she ruffled her son's hair a bit before returning to her phone and speaking to it. The boy never understood what language she was in when she talked to people on her phone, she would always say something different every time he asked her.
The boy pouted before turning back to his rubber ball and bouncing it on the sidewalk that he and his mother were walking on. His pout was replaced with a childish electrical spark in his youthful mind as he took the ball up with his hands.
He unwrapped his hands from the ball and cheered as the boy remained suspended in air, with nothing to keep it up. He slapped it, but it didn't move, it remained suspended.
"Mommy, mommy look!"
"Not now, Yasuke." His mom paused her conversation before starting over.
The boy's pout returned, and he turned back to the ball still frozen in air. Abruptly, the ball began to fall before flying to the right quickly, as if it had been pushed by some imaginary force.
The boy ran after it, leaving his mom's side. He grinned as he picked the ball up again. He still didn't really understand what his Quirk was but that meant he could be like All Might. Like every kid his age, he wanted to be a hero.
His thought track was interrupted as a rough hand grabbed his shoulder. He felt a strange burning sensation sting him a bit as the hand picked him up.
"Alright! Settle down!" The owner of the hand shouted, his voice was tired, but deep.
"Let me go!" Yasuke exclaimed as the man held an arm around his neck. Yasuke struggled around in the man's arms but he didn't move.
The man chuckled a bit, "Stop struggling kid. One false move and I won't be afraid to bite." The man then turned to the police who pointed their guns at him. The man smirked as he pointed the kid in the direction of the cops.
"And that goes for you guys too! You already know my Quirk, let me just walk away and nothing goes wrong."
Yasuke gulped as he began shaking in fear. A villain was holding him hostage… he looked at the police turning their guns in his direction. Yasuke was just a boy at this point, he wouldn't realize till he was older that they were pointing the guns at the villain and not him.
"Mommy!" He sobbed as he shuffled a bit more in the man's grasp.
"I said quit it!" The man yelled at he held his grasp on the kid even more.
"Remain calm, young child." The police attempted to reassure still holding his gun towards the villain. "Let the child go, Vanda!"
The man began to walk away from the police, keeping the child pointed towards them. Yasuke hadn't stopped his attempts of struggling in the man's hold.
"That's right, I'm just going to walk away and you're just going to stand there." The man laughed as the police remained still. He continued to walk further and further towards the city.
"Oh my god, that's my son!" A cry came from the civilians that had surrounded the scene. Mommy dropped her phone on the ground and rushed forward next to the police. "Please help him!" She sobbed.
"Mommy!" The kid cried as his shuffling doubled seeing his mother. His tears were still falling but he was getting more and more desperate. "Let me go!" He shouted before biting into the man's arms. The man let go in pain before cursing.
"You brat!" He rubbed his arm for a second before he pulled out a knife.
He chased towards his mother, tears still falling, as he passed by the police. Yasuke turned around from his mommy to see the man pull out a knife and just drop it. Yasuke's eyes then widened in horror as the knife fell to the ground before suddenly launching towards him at high speeds.
He would never forget the feeling of the knife piercing the area on his shoulder where he felt the burning sensation or the cry he would give. His sobs had been so loud that he couldn't hear the various gun shots that came soon.
Yasuke learned here something that no child really thought about.
In a world where there was everyone blessed by these powers known as Quirks, heroes used their Quirks for good and the bad guys did bad.
It was here Yasuke found out that Quirks, no matter how weak or powerful, could be used for evil.
"Mr. Nagasuki!" His teacher yelled and Yasuke's head snapped up as he was distracted from his zoning out.
His light brown, wavy hair sailed as he rubbed his likewise light brown eyes. Yasuke was 5'8'', not too small or too tall.
"What?" He asked with a little annoyance in his tone, that he seeped out on purpose.
"What did I say about the attitude?" He heard her say and he rolled his eyes in peeved off manner. "Now, what high school are you going to apply for?"
He looked around to make sure that everyone was watching before placing a smug smirk across his face, "U.A's Hero Course! Isn't that obvious?"
The class launched into murmurs and gossip at the words.
"Nagasuki at U.A? Good riddance!"
"Can he even pass if he doesn't use his Quirk?"
"I'll be the first to pass without using a Quirk!" Yasuke replied as he painted a smug grin on his face, he leaned back in his seat and laughed.
"Sure… are we even sure you have a Quirk?" Another classmate questioned and soon the entire class looked at Yasuke with interest.
"Well duh!" He exclaimed.
"Then prove it!" Someone else yelled and soon the entire class was nodding.
Yasuke remained silent for a bit, thinking on how he could keep his act was like this for 30 seconds or so before he finally spoke, "Nah!"
The entire class just shrugged and returned to their teacher. Yasuke nodded feeling content with the act he had just put on. Everyone knew him as the annoying guy who always declared he would be a hero without using his Quirk and he'd like to keep it that way.
It wasn't like he didn't have quirk. He just… preferred not to use it, so whenever anyone asked why he wouldn't use it he would make some excuse, which usually in his mind was perfect.
He packed up his belongings at the end of the day and walked out of the school alone, as it was every day.
He preferred to not have any friends… yup, none. He didn't want any anyway, he told himself. There was less of a chance that anyone would get hurt by him if he was by himself, so he made it a fact that everybody disliked him even though he felt bad about the process that he did it.
As he opened the door of the home his mother and he lived in. The small home was nothing special and from the occupation his mom worked you'd normally expect him to live in a big house, but his mother preferred to live simply.
He was met with silence. Shrugging, he figured that his mother wasn't back from her overseas trip to some country. She was a diplomat, so she would always be travelling to some foreign place but for now he couldn't care less.
With the U.A exam coming up, his eyes were on the prize of being accepted into the school of heroes. He was truthful when he said that he wouldn't use his Quirk during the testing.
I can totally make it in without having to use my Quirk! He told himself.
Yasuke couldn't stop the smile that grew on his face when he walked towards the entrance of U.A. He had always dreamed of coming here and he was finally here! He wasn't exactly accepted into the school, yet but he was sure he would get in.
He took one last look at the building before walking into the line where people would receive the information for what rooms they would be going to for their assessments.
"Hurry up!" Someone from behind him asked and Yasuke turned around to see a person his age with long, grey hair and some strange pale thing around both his eyes. The man growled revealing sharp teeth, "You're next in line!"
Yasuke turned to the front to see a receptionist beckoning him over, and Yasuke bit back a "sorry" before walking up.
"Good morning, what course are you applying for?" The receptionist asked.
"Hero Course, please." He said politely, he usually didn't keep his rude façade around people he wouldn't be around for long.
"Please make your way down the right hallway. Make sure you know which rooms you're in for both parts of the assessment." The receptionist informed him.
Yasuke looked at the card mailed to all students who were taking the hero course. He was in Room B for both assessments.
He nodded and thanked the receptionist before walking down the hallway. If his ears were correct the man behind him was applying for the hero course as well.
Yasuke exhaled to calm his nerves as he stopped along with the other students who were waiting for the assessment to start. He wasn't sure why he was feeling nervous, he was confident he could pass the assessment with flying colors without his Quirk, or at least that's what he thought.
The gates in front of all the students were locked, and inside would be where the robots that would they face would be roaming.
His hands trembled as they gripped his black sweatpants. I mean… how hard could this possibl-
"Nervous about the exam? Me too." A voice drawled and Yasuke jolted in surprise at the sudden voice. The voice came from a girl with light blue eyes and white hair.
"Sorry, a lot of people say that I'm a little quiet when I approach them." The girl continued still maintaining her melancholic tone. "Well, good luck." She walked forward with her arms out as if she were zombie.
That was weird… The boy thought before something rang in his ears.
His thoughts were cut off by a loud voice over the intercom, "READY? GO!" Yasuke was stumped by the sudden announcement and looked around as many other shared his confusion. "What you thought there would be a countdown? In the real-world heroes aren't alerted whenever a villain attack!"
The crowd shuffled into action and many rushed forward, Yasuke included, looking for their enemies insides the gates. There was mix of excitement, panic, and chaos within the crowd as the surged forward.
Within seconds the sounds of destroyed robots echoed throughout the land and Yasuke looked around in shock.
He gulped before rushing forward in search of robots, "I'll take first place even without using my quirk!" The sound was lost to many others who were occupied with robots but for Yasuke the yell had done its job. The lie had filled him with the confidence he needed to move forward.
"Am I hearing things, right?" Present Mic asked as he cleaned his ears with his pinky. "Did that kid just say he was going to take first place without his Quirk?" He chuckled a bit.
"That's impossible, he's just bluffing." Cementoss replied as his eyes scanned the students frantically defeating robots.
"He's already in last place since he hasn't defeated a single robot." Snipe voiced.
"Maybe he is bluffing but how interesting for him to say that… Ectoplasm what is this student's Quirk?" Nezu asked with piqued curiosity as he took a sip of tea.
Ectoplasm pushed a few buttons on the tablet which was connected to the cameras that scanned the practical assessment area. He moved to area B before homing in on the boy and tapping on him to pull up some information.
"Yasuke Nagasuki, Quirk: Chronostasis." Ectoplasm replied as the screen finished loading.
"Well if that's his quirk then he should be able to get a few rescue points but unless he has some crazy strength of his own he won't get too many villain points." Aizawa commented as he watched the boy. "But if he's not willing to use his quirk he's better off not coming here."
"What an interesting student we've found…" Nezu muttered before taking another sip. "Well let's talk about this Katsuki Bakugou who is leading the charge…"
True to his word, Yasuke Nagasuki hadn't used his Quirk. He was still running around trying to find a robot to defeat. His eyes landed on a one pointer that was not being targeted by other students in favor of more rewarding robots nearby.
He chucked at his luck before darting forward with a fist reeled back and launching it forward. The punch connected to the robot's side, and a small sound of the collision came from it, but the robot continued rolling forward on its wheel. The robot suddenly sparked to life and it backed up from Yasuke before barreling forward towards him at high speeds.
Yasuke was sent flying backwards from the impact of the robot tackling him. He gasped for air and stumbled onto his feet quickly when he saw the robot preparing to barrel towards him once more.
Maybe I can trip it from the side? He thought as the robot sped towards him once again, Yasuke prepared to roll to the side but a blur of orange hair came in his sights.
A girl, with orange hair put to a pony tail on the side and large green eyes, dashed forward and spread her hands apart before her hands enlarged. She then moved them together unleashing a mighty clap that destroyed the robot and stopping its collision course with Yasuke.
"Sorry about that." The girl apologized to him before darting off in search of other robots.
Yasuke mentally cursed at his slowness at defeating the robot. He looked around for other robots frantically, panic in his eyes. Time was running out and he could tell. I can still do this without my Quirk! He told himself but didn't feel the surge of confidence the words usually would've given him. Maybe not first place but second place? Third place maybe even?
His earlier courage faltered as he watched his lies crumble around him. He was an idiot to think that he would be able to do this without his quirk. He was an idiot to even show up here, he frowned as he looked at his Quirk.
Maybe if I use my Quirk… He thought before shaking his head from the forming idea. Using his Quirk would cause him nothing but trouble that he didn't feel like facing.
And just as Yasuke began to give up, the sound of loud stomps echoed through the field. Broken from his trance, Yasuke turned to the area where the booming came from and his eyes widened in shock.
Not that far away from him, a massive robot was trekking across the battleground crushing anything in its way. This was the one pointer that the informer was telling him about in the pre-assessment room. Yasuke had began so caught up in his thoughts that he hadn't heard the footsteps till they were this close.
His eyes darted around in search of anybody nearby and he was met with almost none, most people had probably ran away the second the robot appeared before his eyesight.
Most people…
Yasuke's eyes widened in shock as he watched the girl with big hands from earlier scaling the massive robot. Was she insane or something?
She gripped the forearm of the robot with her enlarged hands before scaling higher and higher until she reached the shoulder. She stumbled a bit as the robot took another step forward, shaking her in the process.
She enlarged her hand again and took a chop towards the robot's neck, but nothing happened. Yasuke could see the girl wince in slight pain at the armor of the robot.
The robot's arm lifted, and it moved its hand to slam onto the shoulder the girl was on. Yasuke gasped as the girl jumped to avoid the hand before beginning to free fall. She grasped the side of the robot's arm with her enlarged hand but couldn't get enough of a grip to stay in place, she slowed descent, but she was still plummeting.
She reeled back both her hands before slamming them together as she got close to the ground which kicked up a gust of wind that slowed her descent even more. She still hit the ground leg first, but it seemed that she had slowed her descent enough to where she wasn't too hurt.
"Watch out!" Yasuke yelled to the girl as she staggered from suddenly dropping to the ground. She couldn't she it from her angle of vision, but the robot's hand was reaching forward towards her.
She looked at Yasuke in bewilderment before turning behind her to see the robot's gigantic hand reaching forward. She started before attempting to rush forward but she couldn't move to far. She clutched her knee in pain.
Did she sprain her ankle? Yasuke thought in surprise as he watched the girl. Damnit, she's not going to make it out in time.
She moved to use her enlarged hands to dart away but Yasuke was sure the robot would still be able to grab her. A look of panic flashed in her eyes and something clicked in Yasuke's mind.
The image of him running away from that person who had held him hostage, the feeling of terror as the knife darted towards him, and the pain he felt all came rushing to his mind.
Yasuke dashed forward, not sure where the sudden speed came from, with a tunnel vision on the robot's hand. He stumbled a bit in his run but slammed his hand to touch the side of the zero-point robot's hand before it could grab the girl.
A shiver ran up Yasuke's body as he felt his Quirk take effect. The robot froze in place and the hand which was just a few inches away from grabbing the girl, froze in place around her.
Why was he willing to use his Quirk now of all places? He didn't know but he saw the panic in the girl's eyes and he moved.
It had been a while since he used his Quirk, but it still worked as it did before. Chronostasis, anything he touched with all five fingers would be frozen in time temporarily. Yasuke took a chance to size up the robot before assuming that it was easily over 100 pounds, meaning the time freeze would last a second or two.
Yasuke stammered in a haste, "G-get a-away now! It w-won't last for long!" He gave one final look at the girl before shakily running, covering his mouth as he did so.
The girl blinked at the frozen robot that had almost gotten her. Not taking any chances, she believed the boy's words and moved out of the range of the robot's grasp. She ran away using her hands to hop away quickly, hightailing it even faster as she heard the robot whir back to life as if nothing had ever happened.
She looked around for the boy who had saved her, but he was nowhere to be seen.
Yasuke fell onto the ground in a reckless manner and grasped at the ground as he looked down. His breaths were rapid and drew in tons of air as he began to hyperventilate. He had used his Quirk and boy was he regretting it.
Thoughts began to rush forward into his head. Thoughts of hurting people, hurting anyone with his Quirk. The despair he always tried to avoid had returned.
I'm not going to do anything bad! He tried to reassure himself to no avail. I'm not going to hurt anyone! He mentally exclaimed.
He looked at his hands and tried to cease the shaking, but he couldn't. He closed his eyes fiercely trying to fight back the tears welling in his eyes.
He begged for the thoughts to stop, he wasn't sure whether he was begging mentally or verbally, as he was too focused on the thoughts, but he begged.
A violent image came to his mind and something surged forward from Yasuke's stomach. He threw up whatever he had eaten for breakfast that morning.
Ever since that day he had been in that villain's grasp, he hadn't been able to use his Quirk without the thought that he would just snap and use his Quirk to hurt someone entering his mind. Not without the thought of doing violent things. He felt pathetic for having the thoughts, but he couldn't stop it.
His Quirk wasn't the most violent, but that day had taught him that any person's Quirk could be used for evil.
He knew it an irrational thing and he was sure that he didn't want to use his Quirk to harm but that didn't help. The thoughts still scared him, and he was always filled with the thought of "what if" whenever he tried to reassure himself that everything would be alright, and he would get scared all over again. The thought sometimes invaded his mind if he hadn't used his Quirk and it was just as scary, but the main trigger for the thought was just activating his Quirk.
So, he pledged that he would just never use his Quirk again, even if he continued forward with his dream of becoming a hero.
He could say the invasive thoughts were the reason why he wanted to become a hero now. He wanted to show himself that he could use his Quirk for good and only good if he became one. Which was redundant to him in hindsight because he still hadn't gotten over the fear of using his power.
"TIME UP!"
Yasuke wiped his tears and the cold sweat that had formed on his visage while he staggered to his feet, using the side of the building for leverage.
He had failed… he wasn't going to be able to become a hero and he wasn't going to be able to prove to himself that he could use his Quirk for good and good alone.
It was the first time in a long time that his lies had failed him. Because even as he tried to lie to himself at night that he had passed the test, he knew that it wasn't realistic. It wouldn't be the last time that his lies failed him, however.
"Oh my god! Am I seeing this right?" Present Mic exclaimed as he watched Yasuke throw up on screen. His sunglasses were pulled down as he had to make sure what he was seeing was real.
"Is he having a panic attack?" Cementoss asked as he watched the boy with a look of concern on his face. "Should we go and get him?"
"No, I think he'll be fine." Nezu squeaked as he took a sip of his drink. His interest had been piqued now. "I wonder if a panic attack is the side effect from his Quirk?"
"Nope. He would've listed it on his application." Snipe informed, the applicants were instructed to include the drawbacks of their Quirks.
"Then is it a mental problem?" Nezu wondered.
"If so that would explain why he was so reluctant to use it in the first place, if he has problems using his Quirk, however, I'm not sure that U.A is the place for him." Aizawa informed critically, before shaking his head. "So, for saving the girl known as Itsuka Kendo from the zero-pointer, how many rescue points do we reward him?"
"Well let's assume that he didn't use his Quirk on the basis that he would suffer a panic attack. A feat that is difficult for anybody. I'd say…" Nezu began as his tail swung calmly behind him.
A week later, Yasuke opened his mailbox to receive the mail. He scanned through the letter expecting the usual, letters from his mom overseas, letters for his mother in fancy government format, a letter from U.A addressed to him. He shuffled back inside and set the mail down on top of the other letters his mother would open when she returned before yawning.
Wait… a letter from U.A addressed to him?!
With a jolt Yasuke ripped the letter into his grasp. His excitement high ended as he remembered that he had likely failed the test. U.A had to inform people that they had failed the test too.
With a sigh, he opened his letter and watched a strange pod fall out. He bent down to grab it before it sparked to life and a hologram projected from its center.
"If you are receiving this letter then you took the annual U.A enrollment examination!" The man in the hologram beamed and Yasuke watched with piqued interest as he saw the Symbol of Peace, All Might appear.
"If you are receiving this letter than I am glad to inform you that… YOU HAVE PASSED THE EXAM!"
All Might continued speaking but Yasuke zoned out as the words registered into his mind. He had passed? He passed?! How, he didn't even defeat any villains or anything! He snapped from his trance as his question was answered.
"-meaning that you receive points also for the judges ranking how you used your abilities to rescue others!"
So, using his Quirk to save that girl was the actual reason he had passed? He looked to his arms and blinked. That meant that he needed his quirk to pass, he felt a weird sense of excitement and sadness enter his body before he shook the sadness away.
"Here is the scoring for the event!"
Yasuke's eyes darted across the small board on the hologram showing the practical exam leaderboard.
Number 9. Yasuke Nagasuki
A/N: Ok so this A/N is going to be a tad bit long for all the things that are going to be discussed.
First, the Class 1-B is going to be the main characters of this fanfiction. I do this with the knowledge that most of their Quirks are not explained in canon and their personalities even less so. What is the importance of this? It means I'm going to be taking liberties in how the characters are: their Quirks, their backstories, personalities, everything. If you're not comfortable with this fact than this isn't the fanfic for you because I'm essentially adding non-canon elements to these characters. For example, Setsuna Tokage's quirk in the manga is Lizard Tail Cut. I could not imagine any ability that could match this, so I decided to change it to a Quirk known as Lizard Form.
Second, I don't want to take Class 1-A's spotlight from them. So, I may not be shifting the USJ Arc to Class 1-B, and the Hero Killer Arc is not going to be filled with Class 1-B characters (Meaning it'll probably be mentioned but not featured). They could be, but I'd have to find a way.
Third, expect OCs in this fanfiction. Heroes, Villains, normal people, the list is going to build but we won't have to worry about this early on. This also means, Original Arcs!
Fourth, why did I pick a main character OC for this fanfic? I originally planned on using Izuku for this, but I decided against it because of the sub plot that One For All Izuku would bring into the story. A different quirk Izuku could've been done but I wanted a character completely new that fit the MC mold and with an interesting Quirk. Plus, I think the fact that Yasuke can't use his quirk without such a panic attack is a fantastic stepping stone for a character to overcome so I'll enjoying writing that.
Building on, One For All/All For One, and the League of Villains will be a re-occurring mention in the story most likely and not central to the plot. Class 1-B doesn't have much connection to it besides the Summer Training Camp Arc and I don't want to bring it into the story, especially since Izuku isn't the main character. They may some impact on Arcs, because All For One has heavy implications on future arcs in the present story, but nothing too big for now.
Fifth, Chronostasis will be explained in depth as time goes on but for now just know that it's pretty much not a strictly combat quirk, its more versatile if anything depending on the user. And there will be a way that Yasuke uses it that reflects his character.
Sixth, there is an in-story reason why Itsuka Kendo attacked the zero-pointer. I didn't just have it there so Yasuke could get his chance at getting accepted into U.A. It'll be explained in the actual plot when we get there.
Seventh, in the terms of pairings, I have no plans and to be honest this is my first fanfic using an OC as a main character and I feel like planning on ships this quickly will ruin plans I have for characters. So, it's possible but not the focus.
Eighth, I will be accepting fan interpretations of the quirks for Class 1-B, so feel free to suggest.
Ninth, I'm hoping to flesh out a lot of Class 1-B's characters so feel free to request what characters you'd like to see. I'm hoping to copy Horikoshi's style of fleshing out the lesser focused characters while doing it good.
Tenth, I've decided to remove Sen Kaibara from the story. The Class needs 20 people to function properly and it was either him or Shihai Kuroiro. I decided on Shihai staying because he has a cool design and potentially a cool Quirk to work with.
Lastly, why did I try and tackle this task? I hope this gives me some valuable experience with writing a large group of characters in a modern fantasy setting!
So, with that out of the way! I hope you enjoyed the first chapter and stick around for more. If you have any questions, or some constructive critiques please drop them in the reviews. Thanks!