Chapter 1

"Here, drink up."

Midoriya hesitated. Kuroko, the expressionless, teal-haired boy who just pulled him from the danger of the railing back to the safety of the rooftop, was holding out his water bottle towards him as they sat down on the warm concrete floor of the rooftop.

Slowly, the broccoli-haired boy took the bottle, and gulped down about half, not realizing just how parched his throat had become in the events of the previous hours. With a sigh, he capped the bottle back before putting it down next to him.

"Thanks."

"No worries." Kuroko nodded, "I didn't get your name, by the way."

"Midoriya Izuku, third-year at Orudera Middle School." the greenette answered.

A few seconds of awkward silence followed. Well, it was awkward in Midoriya's eyes. Kuroko was staring unblinkingly at him, face still as expressionless as a blank piece of paper. As if trying to dive into his soul to find out what prompted to attempt to take his life a mere minute ago.

"Midoriya-kun, why do you want to take your own life?"

'Does he have a telepathic quirk?' Midoriya wondered for a moment, "I…I'm…q-quirkless."

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"Ah, I see."

Kuroko's response wasn't what Midoriya had expected. He had expected pity at best, or disdain at worst. That was the two responses that people have given him when they found out that he was quirkless. Midoriya was honestly, sick of it by now, the "sympathetic" gleams in people's eyes or the frowns and huffs of contempt.

Instead, all he got was the same blank, expressionless face, and a response in a deadpan, almost nonchalant tone. It was as if Kuroko didn't care that he was quirkless.

"I may not know your entire life story." Kuroko said, "But I can understand why you would choose such drastic actions."

"How? A-Are you quirkless too?"

"No, I have a quirk." Kuroko corrected, "But it is not a quirk that is particularly useful."

"How so?" asked Midoriya.

"My quirk allows me to disappear and reappear at will." the tealnette replied, "The doctor called it 'Misdirection'."

To prove his point, Kuroko vanished into the air, as if he wasn't there to begin with.

"But that's so cool!" Midoriya exclaimed excitedly, "That means you have an easy means of escape from any situation!"

"That's not the case."

Midoriya fell silent, noticing a tinge of sadness flash across Kuroko's eyes as the tealnette materialized back into physical form.

"Why?"

"Because of my quirk, my presence among people was drastically reduced. People forgot that I existed – including my parents. It is a hassle to go through the day being ignored, or scaring people just for getting their attention…"

Kuroko fell silent, his words trailing off.

"What else happened?" Midoriya asked.

"My quirk has also cost me my friends."

"Huh?! How?"

"My friends…they had great aspirations. You see, the school I go to – Teiko Middle School – is like a prep school for students aspiring to enroll into Yuuei Academy…"

"The school where pro heroes are created! I know, I aspired to go there too!" Midoriya exclaimed.

"Right, and my friends, they too wanted to become pro heroes. That in itself wasn't a bad thing, since their quirks are powerful. But the thing is, pride got into their heads. They aced every training course in Teikō to the point that arrogance surfaced. They looked down on everyone as inferior, demeaning anyone who aspired to get into Yuuei…"

Midoriya felt a pang in his heart. Kacchan was exactly the same.

"They refused to take the courses seriously, but since they were so powerful and got the task done easily, no one – not even the staff – took any action against them. I was the only one who tried to get them to see the reality clouded by their delusion, but they just cast me aside as nothing but a boy who can merely vanish into thin air and has no actual power to save the world."

Kuroko's lips quivered ever so slightly, but it was noticed nonetheless by Midoriya's sharp eyes. The greenette's heart broke at such a tragic story. Even though Kuroko had a quirk, it still placed him in the same boat as he was. Kuroko was rejected as inferior, and so was he. Midoriya knew that society's treatment towards quirkless people was despicable, but from Kuroko's experiences, even those whose quirks were weaker, less flashy, or insignificant to the normal person were treated like second-class citizens.

"I'm sorry, it must have been tough for you."

"It must have been hard for you too, Midoriya-kun. I'm sure a lot of people gave you hell for not having a quirk."

"Yeah…even my childhood friend loathes me now. He even told me to go kill myself if I so desperately wanted a quirk in my next life."

"That is so terrible."

Midoriya sighed despondently. He glanced up into the bright, afternoon sky. Blue as Kuroko's hair and eyes, with a spattering of white clouds rolling past. The sun still shined its light upon the city, a stark contrast to the gloomy atmosphere that permeated the rooftop on which they sat upon.

"Kuroko-kun, why is society so screwed up?"

"No one knows the answer to that. Human nature is an enigma. We can't fully understand why people act in such ways."

"But we did nothing wrong to be born like this! Why do people treat us so badly just because of who we are?"

"I share the same sentiment, Midoriya-kun, but I don't have an answer to that either."

Midoriya sighed again, "Is there a way to change society?"

"Definitely not instantaneously."

"But it is possible, right?"

"Yes, but it will take time, and not without risk."

Midoriya turned to face Kuroko, "Do you have any ideas?"

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"Well, there is, but we will be putting ourselves at great risk."

"What is it?"

"We could become vigilantes, Midoriya-kun."

Midoriya went home in a thoughtful mood. Become vigilantes…was that a viable option?

Through his extensive research once he got back, Midoriya found that vigilantes were uncommon in history, but their impact rivalled that of the greatest heroes of their time. Some were purely working for good, weeding out villains and vanquishing their ranks. Others were on more morally-grey standings – they included heroes that they deemed were more of a bane to society into their kill lists.

One of them, was the Hero Killer, Stain.

Supposedly based in Hosu City, Stain was allegedly behind a number of attacks against pro heroes in the past few years, most either found injured to the point that they were permanently out of commission, or found dead in one of the city's dark alleyways. Until now, he has never been caught.

While the idea of becoming a vigilante like Stain sounds like a glorious, righteous fantasy to some idealistic simpleton, Midoriya understood why, as Kuroko said earlier, that becoming a vigilante would come with great personal risk. The official law of Japan outlaws vigilantism. And his research also revealed the names of both serious vigilantes and wanna-bes who were caught and given lengthy prison sentences for breaking the law.

But was that really such a turn-off, given his position? Midoriya thought to himself. He spent the good part of the last decade being bullied, tormented, looked down upon and discriminated for not having a quirk, even though he is still a functioning person with thoughts and emotions. Worse, he was almost driven to suicide had it not been for Kuroko's intervention.

And Kuroko, despite having a quirk, went through the same kind of shit-show he had gone through, all because his quirk was not as powerful as others. Not to mention all the other quirkless people and ordinary quirk-users in society who face such terrible treatment for who they were.

That's the thing, it was who they were. They born like this, or their quirks had manifested as such. There was nothing any of them could do in a reasonable frame of mind, but society had been cruel to them, just because they weren't at the same "standard" as them.

The more Midoriya thought about, the further his doubts receded as anger, indignance and determination flooded his scarred soul. Actions speak louder than words, as wise people have said. Society was not going to begin change with mere words, although they were still integral. Midoriya knew what he had to do.

It was a big decision, not to mention a risky and dangerous one. But for the sake of people like himself and Kuroko, it was a risk he would be willing to take, even if it ends with his death.

Midoriya picked up his phone – thank heavens his mother was still at work, so she wouldn't catch him in his plans – and dialed in Kuroko's number.

"Moshi-moshi?"

"Kuroko-kun, it's me, Midoriya. Hey, you know your earlier suggestion about becoming vigilantes?"

"Yeah?"

"How about we put that plan into motion?"

"Are you sure? You do understand the risks right?"

"I do, and it only serves as a motivation to carry on. But I can't do this alone, Kuroko-kun. Are you willing to join me?"

There was silence as Kuroko contemplated the offer. Despite what he said, Midoriya would have been perfectly fine if he had to go on alone. But he knew that two heads were better than one, and there were some things that he planned to do that would be better executed with someone there to help.

But he didn't want to force Kuroko to join him if he didn't want to.

"Midoriya-kun," Kuroko's voice came back on the line, "I would gladly join you to become vigilantes."

"That's great." Midoriya smiled, before his lips drew into a somber line, "Hey, Kuroko-kun, before we set out, there's a few things I need help with."

To Be Continued.

Hey everyone, thanks for enjoying the story. I would like to give special thanks to Karlos1234ify, morariii345 and the two guests who left reviews.

Stay tuned for future updates.

- SilentGhostWriter2017