Chapter 2: This rage and darkness
As she was in a deep coma for almost nine months, it wouldn't been a surprise to her if she had already failed in her school due to absence and had to repeat a grade. However, thankfully, the staff of the school had decided to gave Izuko a chance to earn enough credits in order to finish her studies and graduate.
Though in Izuko's mind, it was nothing more than pity.
She hated to be pitied by those bastards who ignored her bullying and left alone to fend for herself. However, it worked in her favor.
After getting injured due to the shards from breaking the mirror in her room, her mother accompanied her back to the hospital to have her wounds treated. Though her mother wanted her to be checked by a psychiatrist, Izuko asked her mother not to.
Due to the sudden manifestation of her daughter's quirk, Inko had her daughter checked by a specialist. While it was far too late in her age to start manifesting a quirk, rare mutations do happen, but they only happen to a handful of people and the chance of it happening is abysmal. The specialists figured that the accident that happen to Izuko is what triggered the mutation within her to manifest a quirk.
Izuko's quirk was categorized as an Emitter-type quirk. She seemed to have the ability to create objects. Much about her quirk is unknown, they didn't know the limit on what type of objects she could create or how many she could create. It could also be possible that all Izuko could create was the scythe.
While listening to the ramblings of the specialists that tried to bring some sense into her quirk, Izuko could only smile. She found it quite amusing how the specialists tried to rationalize the sudden manifestation of her quirk and its capabilities. Without their knowledge, Izuko already knew exactly how her quirk came about.
But even if she told them the truth, they wouldn't believe her. In fact, they would probably think that she her mental faculties were deteriorating and she was starting to go insane.
The specialists tried to do more analysis on Izuko's quirk. It was a very rare case after all. A rare mutation of quirk because of when it manifested and what type it was. According to their information, Izuko's quirk was vastly different to her parents. They offered to continue checking up on Izuko, but she declined.
After the day they went back to the hospital, Izuko and her mother went to the mall.
Her mother figured that they would need to replace the broken stuff inside Izuko's room.
Izuko figured that there was no need to such things, but seeing her mother smile, she couldn't help but agree. For nine months her mother was alone. She knew her mother was tired and depressed during those nine months, but she persevered. She stayed next to Izuko without pause and continued to hope.
She was all alone.
At the very least, she didn't want her mother to feel lonely again.
Even though her mother didn't believe in her becoming a hero despite being quirkless, Izuko knew that her mother only wanted the best for her. It wasn't her fault the she was quirkless.
Additionally, that was no longer the case anymore.
They bought all necessary stuff for Izuko's room. New mattress, bed sheets, pillows, blankets, and a new wall-mount mirror. Overall, they only bought simple and ordinary stuff for everyday use.
As they walked inside the mall window shopping, they happened to pass by a certain shop. Both Izuko and her mother looked over the store and realized that it was a store exclusively for pro hero merchandise. Countless posters, figurines, and other things with the faces of pro heroes were all over the store. The store's main attraction was a wide section on the entrance that was filled with All Might merchandise.
Izuko narrowed her eyes as she glanced over the countless merchandise with the face of the hero she once looked up to the most.
Her mother noticed and pointed to the All Might section with a smile.
"Want to buy some?"
Hearing her mother's words, Izuko's anger rose quickly. Turning back to her mother as she glared, she snapped.
"Are you kidding me!? I don't need any of that filth!"
Izuko had her teeth clenched tightly in anger and her eyes narrowed in sheer displeasure. However, seeing the terrified reaction of her mother, Izuko felt her anger diminish into nothing. Shaking her head to dismiss her anger, she looked around. Noticing the countless people staring at them due to her raising her voice too much, Izuko released a sigh and grabbed the arm of her mother.
"I'm sorry, mother. My head just ached all of a sudden, perhaps because of fatigue." Izuko smiled thinly. "We did have a packed schedule yesterday and I felt my sleep was not enough."
Hearing Izuko's words, her mother nodded and calmed down.
"I'm starving. Let's go eat, mother."
With Izuko finally having a quirk, she could now go apply for U.A.'s Hero course. Her free time was short, so she had to use her remaining time wisely. There was a certain beach she knew that would be a good place for her to practice using her quirk. Countless pieces of thrash were scattered all over the beach, so almost nobody goes to the area.
She arrived the beach before it got dark. She assured her mother that she would be alright and that she would come home before midnight. Before her mother could protest, she left.
Looking at the landscape of the beach, she frowned upon realizing just how much garbage were scattered all over the area. Due to the sheer amount of thrash, one could barely see the sands on the shore.
Stepping unto the middle of the beach, she reached her hand and opened her palm. After producing a black mist, a scythe appeared. The scythe's dark blade shone and appeared deadly sharp.
Izuko tried to twirl the scythe on her palm, but its blade almost slashed through her face as it spun, making her drop the scythe.
"Well, this is dangerous as I've expected."
She picked up the scythe and raised it up in order to look at it better.
"But this is my power now. For my sake, I need to learn how to use it better."
Izuko continued to practice swinging the scythe as she worked on her footwork. She twirled her body as she twirled the scythe alternating between her hands. She looked over to a broken washing machine that laid on the beach. Approaching the broken appliance as she continued to twirl the scythe. She sidestepped and after gaining enough momentum, she stopped twirling her scythe and leaped up. With a clean and distinct sound in the air, the washing machine was sliced completely into two clean pieces.
Observing the scythe, she made a decision.
She had never had the chance to test how much power of her quirk she can manifest, in order to fully know how much she can handle, she had to risk her own health.
Closing her eyes, Izuko focused and tried to feel her power. Feeling the power within her body flow through like molten metal through her veins, her face grimaced. Her power, or her quirk, was strong, but to be able to bring out more of its power, she will have to try and focus despite the pain her quirk brought.
Though she was dealing with great pain, Izuko persevered.
Her time is limited. The U.A. entrance exam was nearing, so she had to train without rest if she were to enter U.A.
For several days on end, Izuko trained with all her might alone on the beach. After using a great deal of her quirk's power, the thrashes on the beach got obliterated. Seeing this, she decided to go through cleaning up the beach. Having a clean beach as her training ground was much better than a dump site after all.
Finally, the day of the entrance exam has arrived.
Izuko turned her head up in order to see the unique building right in front of her. It's structure was definitely different that regular buildings. Just by looking at it from the appearance alone, one could understand just how expensive it was to build. The building had two giant letters in the color of gold that seemed to screamed out just how proud it is of its name.
U.A.
The said to be number one school in the entire country for the hero course.
Izuko smiled just by thinking how arrogant that saying was. However, she can't really deny it. The students who have graduated in the school had become successful Pro Heroes. Surely, the school had to live up to its reputation.
"Fuck off, Deku!"
Looking back towards the direction of the irritating voice, Izuko saw her childhood friend, Katsuki Bakugo.
It's been a long time since they last saw each other. Due to Izuko being in a deep coma, she couldn't attend school for almost nine months. Though she has been to their school after the accident, she was more or less alone in the faculty office in order to make up for the lessons and school work she has missed. Though the kindness of the teachers to her seemed more or less like pity to her, they did save her the trouble of repeating a grade.
Izuko turned her body sideways and looked at her childhood friend with only her head facing him with her hair swaying ever so slightly with the soft breeze the blew between them.
She expected him to spout out more insulting or rude remarks, but all she got was him staring back at her with slightly wide eyes.
The reaction of Katsuki confused her for a bit. She knew that even though she was a girl now due to the annoying intention of the damn woman, their relationship was still the same.
Katsuki Bakugo was the bully and Izuko Midoriya was the bullied.
Nothing should've changed.
So, seeing a silent Katsuki was something new to her.
He continued to stare back at her with a slightly bewildered look in his eyes. Izuko tilted her head to the side and finally talked.
"It's been a while, Kacchan."
The words spoken by Izuko snapped her childhood friend from his seem-to-be trance.
Shaking his head, Katsuki's eyes narrowed in displeasure.
"You seem different, but it's still you, you damn nerd." Katsuki walked forward to the U.A. building, passing Izuko. "Don't stand in my way, if you don't want to die."
Without another word, Katsuki continued to walk away.
I seem to be different?
She looked down to her body and she could only grimaced slightly as she understood what her friend meant.
Over the past month, her body has matured too much for her liking. Her figure became more pronounced, it was especially noticeable when she wore the tight fitting clothes her mother bought for her. Her height has also increased. Before, she was shorter than Katsuki, but now after meeting him, she has realized that they are more or less at the same height.
Asking her mother about this, she answered that maybe it was because of puberty. She stated that because her puberty happened quite late, perhaps her growth spurt has just began.
It was really quite a problem for Izuko.
But the main problem for her was the phenomena called 'Menstruation'.
She remembered seeing blood on her privates right after she woke up from her coma in the hospital. Due to the pain that accompanied the blood, she thought it was an injury or wound of some sort.
But after thinking about what just happened to her body, then it was no mystery what was happening.
She wasn't stupid, she knew what it was.
He is a boy.
Or at least, she was.
They tackled that kind of subject in school.
However, after experiencing the kind of thing only a girl could, she could only groan in complain.
That damn woman having fun however she likes.
Shaking her head to erase her thoughts and displeasure, she turned with her heel.
"Ah!"
However, before she could even take another step, she felt her shoulder bump against someone. Hearing a yelp, she looked to her side and saw a short girl with a petite build. Her skin was fair with a seemingly permanent blush to her cheeks. She had shoulder-length brown hair styled bobbed that had the ends curved inwards.
"I'm so sorry!"
As the girl apologized, Izuko shook her head gently.
"Don't worry about it, it was my fault for not minding my surroundings."
Hearing Izuko's words, the girl stared for a second before smiling shyly as she rubbed her head in embarrassment.
"It's my fault too. I was kind of nervous walking towards the entrance. It's quite weird, I know."
"Not really." Izuko stated. "I'm quite nervous as well."
"Really?" The girl looked at Izuko's face closer. "You seem really calm to me."
Izuko felt her face heat up slightly. She pulled her face away from the girl and tried to smile.
"Is that so?" Izuko turned her back to the girl and started to walk away. "It was nice meeting you, but we must hurry if we don't want to be late for the exam."
Without waiting for the girl to respond, Izuko continued walking. She clapped her cheeks gently and let out a heavy sigh.
That was bad. I almost made myself look like a fool in front of a cute girl.
Realizing that despite the fact that she was biologically different from what she was before, she was still the same mentally, gave her a sense of relief.
The written examination part of the U.A. entrance exam was now over.
Following the the directions of the U.A. staff, all hopeful hero course Examinees taking the entrance exam were guided to a certain room. At the right side of the double door to the room, a sign was fixed to the wall. It read "Hero Course Orientation Room."
Izuko was confident regarding her performance on the written part of the exam. If she had anything going for her in the past, it was her intelligence. She wasn't a genius, but she was confident that she was smart.
She entered the room and saw that most of the Examinees have already taken their seat. Despite there being seats available, she opted to stand in the back so that she could have a better view.
The interior of the room resembles that of a lecture room. But unlike most lecture room, it was obviously more spacious than ordinary than lecture room found in ordinary schools.
The constant chatter in the room died down as the huge screen in front started to brighten up. The logo U.A. popped up in concrete gold letters. The interior brightened up due to the lights flickering on. As more light flickered on, a man appeared up on the stage.
Tension began to fill the atmosphere as the idle chatter from the Examinees died down.
The man on stage had a very unique appearance. He was tall and slender, with long blond hair which was spiked way upwards in a huge tuft behind his head. His outfit consists of a black leather jacket with a tall collar, and matching black pants and knee-high boots. But what caught the most attention was the directional speaker on his neck.
The man braced himself and inhaled a lot of air before speaking up.
"Welcome one and all to my live show!"
His voice was strong and loud, gaining the attention of all Examinees without exception.
Despite the tense atmosphere, several sounds of awe could be heard. Probably from the Examinees who recognize the man standing in front of them.
Izuko knew the man as well. She used to listen to his radio show every week, after all.
The Pro Hero; Present Mic.
Raising his hand up like he was some sort of DJ in a club, Present Mic continued.
"I've got shivers down my spine, too, listeners! Alright, Examinees!" He continued without his voice ever lowering in volume. "I'm gonna give the low down on how this'll go down! Are you ready!?"
Though she would've been excited much more before, a tint of excitement still sprouted within her at the sight of a Pro Hero right in front of her.
Izuko smiled.
Present Mic oriented them on how the practical exam was going to play out. It seems the practical exam will be a ten minute practice battle in a replica of a city-district. Examinees can take whatever they want if they think it will help them out during the course of the practical exam. There are several designated meeting areas provided in order to split the Examinees evenly and split up any classmates or schoolmates in the process. There would three types of faux villain, each giving out a number of points once defeated by an Examinee.
Attacking other Examinees was also strictly prohibited.
"Look's like it was set up so that I don't get to crush you."
Suddenly hearing a familiar voice, Izuko turned her gaze to the side and saw her childfriend, Katsuki.
Izuko only looked at him as a respond.
Katsuki looked back and noticed that Izuko was looking at him. He growled slightly under his breath and glared back.
"Don't look at me. It bothers me a lot."
Same old Kacchan huh? How irritating. Due to the prohibiting of attacking other Examinees, I won't be able to kick you down. Lucky you, huh Kacchan?
Just thinking about the possibility to embarrass her childhood friend filled her with delight. A blush formed on her cheeks as she smiled to herself.
That sight would be delightful.
"Excuse me! I think there's a mistake!"
One of the Examinees stood up with his hands raised.
The Examinee had a tall and muscular figure with a wide frame. He had short dark blue hair and wore a square-rimmed glasses. He looked like the typical serious-natured honor student that existed in all schools.
He pointed out that on the printout that all Examinees had received, four kinds of faux villains were written. However, Present Mic had only described three of them. It would be such a disgrace for a top-tier school to commit such a mistake, at least according to the Examinee talking had said.
"...Furthermore-" He looked back to the very back of the room. "You over there in the back, the girl with the dark green hair!"
Izuko then realized that she was the one the boy was referring to.
"What's with your easy-going smile? You're a bit distracting to the other Examinees here!" He glared as he continued "You seem to take this as a game. If that is what all this is to you, please leave immediately!"
Izuko was silent as he was talking. However, as she heard the mumbled laughter, Izuko felt anger rising up within her.
She walked a bit forward and to get a better view of the boy who singled her out. Tilting her head, she scowled as she looked back in displeasure.
"I was being a distraction? I never said anything once I've entered this room. Not even once." Turning her gaze to the other Examinees, she narrowed her eyes. "If I became a distraction just because of my expression, then doesn't that mean that it's the fault of the ones who looked at me? Never once did I tried to grab their attention intentionally. Not once did I call them out. It was their choice to be distracted, not mine."
The other Examinees started to grew tensed and a bit scared due to the glare Izuko gave them and the threatening tone to her voice as she spoke.
"More importantly, me? Leave? You don't have the right to ask me to leave here. If I'm a bother to you, then shut up and leave yourself."
"What did you sa-"
Before the boy could even respond, Present Mic clapped his hands in order to stop them.
"Alright! That's enough! Stand down you two or I will make the two of leave."
Hearing the Pro Hero's words, both Izuko and the boy stopped their mouths. The boy sat back to his seat properly after bowing in apology to the Pro Hero. Izuko merely stepped back and leaned against the wall at the back of the room.
Looking around, Izuko noticed Katsuki looking at her from the corner of his eyes. Once realizing the she noticed, Katsuki went back to look at the front.
Present Mic faked a cough and spoke.
"Regarding your question, Examinee Number 7111! The fourth faux villain is not really a villain for you Examinees to defeat, so to speak!" The image on the screen then changed to show the silhouette of a huge robot. "It's less of a villain to defeat, but more of an obstacle to bypass! In each area, there is one! Even if you manage to defeat one, it's worth zero points! You have nothing to gain by defeating it. So it's strongly recommended to leave it alone and run if it ever appears!"
With that answer, the boy from before stood back up and bowed to Present Mic.
"Thank you very much! I am very sorry for my earlier misconduct!"
Hearing the boy apologize, Present Mic nodded.
"Well, that's enough from me! Let's all move on to the main event!"
With a very wide smile, Present Mic walked forward and shouted the school motto with everything he had.
"GO BEYOND! PLUS ULTRA!"
Present Mic put his hands up to his waist and winked.
"May all of you suffer gladly in the trials to come."
Izuko stood along with a great number of fellow Examinees in front of a very huge gate. The gate was the entrance to the city replica where their practical exam will take place.
Looking at the gate, Izuko narrowed her eyes as she contemplated.
This gate is the only thing between me and making my dreams a reality. With my second life, I'll do everything I can to pursue my dream of becoming a hero. Those who mocked me saying I can't be a hero, I'll show them.
Izuko then looked at her side and saw the girl from before. She had her hand fanning herself like she was trying to calm down. Though she wanted to talk to the girl, she was sure that the girl was trying to calm herself down and focus better on the practical exam.
To Izuko's left was the boy she argued with earlier. He was looking at her without saying anything.
Mu~ Ignore him. Ignore him.
It was only a matter of time before the practical exam begins. Not wanting to grow irritated and consequently get distracted just before everything began, she decided to ignore the boy.
The time has come. Everything will be decided after this. I must prevail!
Rallying herself up, Izuko felt the heat within her body increase. It would've hurt her, but after training for quite a while, the pain didn't bother her as much before.
"AND START!"
With Present Mic's shout signalling the beginning of the exam, the gigantic gates started to open ever so slowly. Almost every Examinee in the area was caught unaware and thus was late to react.
But not Izuko.
Before the gigantic gates could even open completely, Izuko had already rushed in.
Though there were a lot information and details regarding the practical given during the orientation, the exam itself was quite simple. Go in, destroy as many faux villain as you can, tally the scores received, hope to reach the threshold for passing.
The practical exam's main purpose was to explore and learn the different abilities of the Examinees. To test each ability to see if they have what it takes to tackle on the hero course.
Quirks were not given complete attention, but also the natural talents and skill each Examinee had.
Insight. The ability to grasp any situation with haste and accuracy.
Agility. The ability to stick dynamic entry without ever being late to enter the scene.
Judgement. The ability to face and discern any obstacles calmly and with complete straight composure.
And of course, Fighting Prowess. Being a hero is dangerous and posed many threats not just to the hero but to the civilians around, in order to protect oneself and others, the power and capability needed to fight back is important.
With a quick swing, three faux villains of different types got severed in half. Before they could even fall down to the ground, Izuko was already on the move. She had arrived earlier than her fellow Examinees, so she had more access to additional faux villains compared to them.
Looking around, Izuko realized that the number of faux villains around her area had started to diminish greatly. It seems that the faux villains were lured easier by flashier and louder quirks. Stopping in her tracks to listen, she heard much more noise further in the center of the city replica.
Sha had already gained thirteen points for defeating the faux villains. Though she was confident in her written exam, she had to do better in the practical. Despite having more Examinees in the center, there should be more opportunity in there to gain more points. After all, more Examinees should equal more faux villains.
Before Izuko could even reach the center of the city replica, she felt the ground tremble greatly. Hearing screams, she hasten her pace.
Arriving the scene, she was welcomed by the sight of a building collapsing to the ground. A sound of an engine roaring caught her attention. Looking at the direction of the collapsed building, she saw a gigantic robot just behind the rubble caused by the collapsed building.
Hey. Isn't this a bit much for a zero point faux villain?
Izuko just stood there observing the situation as many of her fellow Examinees ran away from the zero point faux villain.
Two Examinees were laying on the ground. They were moving, so they were conscious. However, their movements were sluggish, suggesting that they were either too tired or hurt to sprint. On another side, the girl she bumped into before laid on the ground with her legs underneath a pile of rubble.
Gradualy, the scene took a turn for the worse. Multiple small faux villains appeared and had started to surround the two Examinees laying on the ground, while the gigantic one approached slowly forward as its engine roared.
Izuko felt her body shake as she saw the events unfold.
I have gained thirteen points so far. I'm confident I did alright on the written part of the exam, but if I fail here in the practical, it would be worthless.
She was about to take a step back when something flashed inside her mind making her stop.
The memories of the hurtful and insulting words thrown at her face from the ones she thought were her friends. The memories of her being called useless and worthless. The memory of that certain time where her dream of being a hero got shattered.
All of these unsavory fragments of her past flashed inside her mind without stop. Just by remembering these memories of her was enough to make the anger in her heart pulsate.
Am I the same as before?
Stopping her stepping back, she raised her feet and took a step forward.
No.
Biting her lip in frustration, Izuko stood her ground despite the chaos unfolding in front of her.
Why should I be afraid?
Why should I shake on my feet?
One last image flashed her mind.
It was the image of her corpse laying on the ground on top of a puddle of her own blood.
I'm not the same as I was before!
I'll show all of them!
The heat inside Izuko's body started to increase. She felt her eyes get hot and felt pain surging through her entire body like molten steel coursing through her veins. Her vision blackened out completely.
'That rage! That Darkness!'
Hearing the words spoken to her by that damn woman, something snapped within Izuko.
She cursed those bastards who ridiculed her for being quirkless! All those times she was mocked for holding on to her thin dream of being a hero, she cursed them all! Those who looked down at her under their noses, she despised them all! The words of rejection given to her and her dream, she spat them all out!
Hearing the sounds of steel rattling inside her head, Izuko opened her eyes.
"TO HELL WITH ALL OF THEM!"
All of a sudden, black chains with a reddish glow started to weaved through the entire area, as if they were threads being sewn to a piece of fabric. The chains completely wrapped each small faux villain as they passed through each other like a web. As Izuko dictated, the chains receded against each other and pulled each faux villains caught into each other in a vice-like grip.
Without paying more attention to the smaller faux villains, Izuko turned her sights towards the gigantic zero point faux villain. She summoned another chain, with it and the help of her scythe, she scaled the outside of a building in the area. After decreasing the distance between her and the gigantic faux villain, Izuko jumped off from the top of the building.
As the distance grew shorter and shorter, Izuko twirled her scythe as she spun her own body. As she spun, she felt the power within her body course through to her hands and then to her scythe. Black mist started to engulf the entire surface of her scythe's blade.
'Allow me to enjoy the view as you get swallowed by the rage and darkness surging within you!'
Hearing the words of the damn woman once more, Izuko smirked.
This kind of rage!
This kind of darkness!
Izuko stopped the spin of her body along with her scythe. With the momentum she gained, she brandished her scythe and swung it down with all the strength she could muster.
The wind produced a sound akin to a deep howl, as if it was crying from pain. Like a raging flame, the black mist engulfing the scythe stretched out and expanded without paying any heed to its surrounding.
All the other Examinees watched in awe and fascination as the gigantic faux villain they all ran away from got sliced completely in half. It erupted into explosion, making a beautiful spectacle like it was some sort of firework. Each Examinee braced themselves as the wind generated by the explosion blew against their direction.
Izuko felt increased pain surging all over her body as she continued to fall. Despite the pain she was suffering from, Izuko smiled as she saw the gigantic faux villain explode into such a beautiful spectacle.
"This kind of rage-.. This kind of darkness-"
Izuko chuckled.
"-I'll swallow it whole!"
To be Continued.
Afterword
Hey ya!
Another chapter updated!
As always, help regarding the spelling, grammar, continuity, are always welcome! I'm also open for recommendations regarding the story!
Now then, while I know what quirk Izuku/Izuko has in this story(Hint: Not a regular Emitter-type quirk), I don't have the slightest idea on what to name it! It is quite a problem Haha!
Anyways, hope you enjoy the chapter!
See ya in the next one!