Chapter 3: Into the New World
Izuku had stumbled in his regiment. There were a few times where he hit the snooze alarm. A few times where he didn't do half the sets he had done the day before. A few times where he lets his weaknesses to the forefront of his personality. But he had repaid those lapses in judgement with more exercise, less closed off to the world. And now, months after getting his quirk, he realized that he was becoming stronger. It seemed like Kacchan had a point.
Now if his childhood friend would notice it would make his life easier, but he couldn't expect miracles.
But it was the Christmas season, so he could hope, couldn't he?
As for the quirk part of his life… things had gotten easier at school. It turned out that a lot of people literally only messed with him since he had no quirk. Or they were scared he would get angry at them and knock their lights out with an Anger Boosted punch if they tried. Like Kazuki did for insulting his mom to purposely make him angry.
He had gotten suspended 3 days for that one. He made sure to apologize profusely, and he got lucky the parents knew their son could be a bully. Or else it could have made a headache for his mother.
As for the quirk itself, he still had no idea about its limits. He wasn't the sort of person to get angry, so he was unable to test it's full potential. But from he could do he knew he got ridiculously strong. He could break a cinder block by just slapping it, could jump up and land on the second story railing, and could take a baseball bat to the chest with no problem. That last one may not really count since it was a very understanding neighbor who probably didn't use their full strength when they swung it, but still. The downfall was how hard it was to think straight when he made himself that angry. Thinking about personal injustices, made up ones, and all the bad occuring in the world didn't leave much room for planning and strategy. It was something he had to fix.
And the problems of frustration and annoyance were static. While he was better able to control his strength, his training had made him stronger which meant even though he was controlling a good portion of his strength, he still had the same sort of power he did when he first got it. A troublesome dilemma to say the least.
But all in all, it was a good year. As he put his head on his pillow Christmas Eve, he couldn't think of one thing he wanted as a gift that year.
The gusts of wind that rattled the apartment building woke him up however. Along with the evacuation order. No one knew what was going on. Everyone felt something in the air, but had no idea what it was. They just ran to the underground shelters the city pushed them too.
"Mom, what is going on?" Izuku asked as they huddled on a bench, kept awake by the artificial glow.
"Honey, I'm not sure. I heard there is a big hero battle going on but… that seemed more like an act of nature than a quirk." She honestly told him back.
It was only at dawn where they allowed to leave the shelter, the chaos of Christmas Eve coming to a halt, and a few days passed before the story became clear. The headlines told it all.
"THE QUIRK MAN" ALL FOR ONE PERISHES AFTER FIGHT WITH ALL MIGHT, LEAVING THE NUMBER ONE HERO IN CRITICAL CONDITION
Thirty Four Casualties at the Scene, Including Hero Ectoplasm
After months of hunting down the "The Quirk Man" All for One, All Might had finally tracked his location and had received the assistance of multiple pro heroes who wanted to stop the villain once and for all. The history of All for One became far more public, with his decades of crimes becoming known, the details of which horrified professional heroes around the country. While All Might had planned on just capturing All for One considering the urban surroundings, the villain had decided to put up a fight which escalated into the landscape altering battle that would go into lore. The team with All Might tried their best to evacuate the area, but obviously not all could be saved. The fight grew in scope the longer it lasted, from a battle of good and evil to a battle for their very lives. A battle only one could escape.
And fortunately for the world, the one that escaped was their hero. Not that he was in good shape from the battle. All the reports came that he had to be rushed to the hospital, with no one knowing what would become of the Symbol of Peace.
His retirement a few weeks into the new year was shocking, but not wholly unexpected after the fight. While no one had seen him since the battle, everyone took the news as well as one could hope. Many people saw it as poetic, that a great evil could only be stopped by sacrificing a great good. Many people, like Izuku Midoriya, didn't see that way at all and cried at the loss of their idol.
But this did not stop Midoriya. In fact, it strengthened his resolve. The world needed a new number one hero, a new Symbol of Peace. And, no offense to Endeavor, but he was no All Might. He swore he would fill that role. No matter how many times he stumbled on his way to become strong and to become a better hero, he would not fall until he climbed his way to the top. This was something Izuku promised himself.
…
More than a year had passed since the retirement of All Might, and Izuku was finally entering middle school. Which meant three more years until he could fully start his road to become a hero, by joining U.A. He couldn't wait.
He enjoyed the spring weather as he walked to his new school that was nearby, still getting used to his new uniform he was wearing. He was also enjoying that this would be a new start for him.
While yes, most of his class would be going to the same school as him, a lot of other kids from other nearby primary schools were heading here as well. While there had been 80 or so kids in his grade last year, this school would boast 210 students in his grade. It meant that maybe a third of the class might know him from reputation and a fraction of that would know him as a classmate. It meant the past could stay there. Depending on who was in the class as well.
In fact, he saw someone in the same uniform as him that he didn't recognize. Based on the color of the collar, he would be a first year like himself. Nothing tried, nothing gained.
"You going to Aldera too huh?" He jogged to catch up to the boy who had been going along listlessly.
It seemed to startle the boy, who looked around to see where the voice had come from. When he noticed Izuku, he only nodded. "Yeah. You a first year too?"
Izuku nodded, quickly looking over the boy. Judging from his hairstyle, as in his hair was a pile of stones, he assumed his quirk was some sort of fortification or transformation quirk. Of course, he wasn't going to judge him for that. It was just his thing to figure that out. "Yeah, I'm Izuku Midoriya."
"Mine's Takeshi Golonya. I'm coming from Isamu Primary. How about you?"
"Oh, I went to Aldera Primary. But isn't it a little far from Isamu, to come here?" Izuku knew that was a good distance away and was concerned for this new person
Takeshi shrugged. "They still haven't fixed the old Isamu Junior High building after Christmas Showdown, so we all had to travel a bit. I mean, those of us who were able to keep going there."
Izuku realized that made sense. That part of the city had been pretty much the epicenter of the All Might vs All for One fight, aka the Christmas Showdown. Quite a few homes were destroyed and building ruined. It was kind of surprising that the building hadn't been fixed by now but he guessed the government must have been busy. "Oh, wow. That is troublesome. I didn't mean to bring up any old issues…"
Takeshi shrugged. "It is what it is." He looked ahead to see they were coming around the final corner to the cool. "So yeah, I was actually gonna meet a few of my friends who are going here with me so…"
Izuku knew not to press. Most friendships were slow, and he didn't want to look pushy. "Yeah, no problem. See you around Golonya. Who knows, we might be in the same class?" He replied with a shrug.
Takeshi nodded, happy this new guy wasn't going to make it weird. "Maybe, see ya later Midoriya." Takeshi waved him off as he began to jog around the corner to meet up with his buddies.
Midoriya let out a sigh. Trying to naturally deal with people like that wasn't easy but he could do it. Especially since it was a one-on-one thing. It was the stuff like this that helped him know he was becoming stronger, someone that had to be respected.
He kept up a smiling face as he made his way to room 1-C, where half of the class had arrived. Quickly he looked around the room, noticing interesting people with interesting quirks and if he knew anyone.
No surprise, Kacchan was there looking irritable. As much as he disliked his childhood friend attitude at times, fate seemed to make them inseparable.
He also noticed Takeshi, but he was talking with friends so he wasn't gonna say anything to interrupt that.
There was a girl with long blue hair that she could definitely control, which seemed cool. Maybe like as a shield or a whip? That guy had teeth that could probably take a bite out of cement, which seemed like an interesting quirk. Then there was a girl who looked like she was supposed to be there… if her body wasn't the size of a first grader's. Her 'hair' too was unique, a deep purple forming three balls on each side of her head. He wondered if that was her quirk or what. Finally, there was the guy was obviously tallest in the class, with silver hair and wearing a mask that covered his face and neck. His quirk seemed obvious, as instead of the normal two arms he had six, webbed together. Though on closer observation, he noticed that the four back arms didn't have hands. They had elbow joints and seemed to move independently, but no hands. He was really curious about that. He took a seat that was out of Kacchan's line of sight behind the tall guy and waited for homeroom to start.
…
After homeroom and orientation, the day ended pretty quickly. He had gotten to know the names of his classmates, and a bit more of their personalities. The two that stood out was the purple haired girl, Minori Mineta; and the tall guy Mezo Shoji. Mineta was very direct and seemed very interested in guys. It would be off-putting if anyone could take the pintsize girl seriously. But as of now, she seemed harmless. As for Shoji, he seemed pretty cool. He looked like a real hardass, but was really nice and tolerant. It was obvious that Mineta had a thing for Shoji because of his size and muscles, but Shoji didn't really judge her and didn't mind having her hover around him. Seeing how nice he was, Izuku knew he could be a good person to befriend. So he quickly caught up with Shoji as they were leaving the schoolyard.
"Hey, hey Shoji, hold on." Izuku called out, trying to catch his attention.
Shoji stopped, looking a little surprised it was the green haired boy from class calling out to him. "Yes...Midoriya." It took him a second to remember his name.
"Oh, yeah, well uh, you seemed pretty cool in class. So, ya know, I kinda wanted to get to know you better."
"Know me better?" Shoji was a bit surprised. His eyes narrowed at Izuku. "What do you mean?" He asked inquisitively.
Izuku was a bit embarrassed by the blunt questioning, but he was honest to his taller classmate. "Well, you seem like would be a cool friend so...yeah."
Shoji eyes relaxed, seeing what was obvious. Izuku just wanted to be his friend. He didn't know anyone so it wasn't the worst idea. Behind his mask he smiled. "That sounds like a good idea, Midoriya. You too seem like a nice person...though it was odd to see that Bakugou guy call you a 'useless Deku'." He led Izuku on to explain, which he did.
"Oh yeah Kacchan...we go way back. We used to be friends when we were little but when he got his quirk and I didn't he...kinda got meaner. He isn't a bad guy but… he has an inflated ego. Yeah…"
"You didn't get a quirk. So you're quirkless?" Shoji asked neutrally, as one would ask any other question.
Izuku face froze, not meaning to spill that tidbit of info. He had been planning on pretending his quirk was natural, but it looked like the cat was out of the bag. "Uh, I mean...no. I'm not.. I mean...it's complicated."
"Complicated?" Shoji asked.
He knew he had two routes he could go. It seemed like Shoji could just accept his excuse of it being complicated and leave it at that, so it was tempting. But Shoji was quickly showing himself to be a good guy, someone that could be a great friend. Was it so bad to tell him the truth? IT wasn't like it was some big secret.
"I… should be quirkless. But about two years ago I got… forced one by All for One." Now that everyone knew his name no one used the childish moniker he had gone by. All Might sacrifice was too great to disrespect his opponent that much.
Shoji eyes widened, a bit surprised he was actually meeting one of the "Quirked", the group of upwards of one hundred affected by All for One's mysterious plans. Once the public knew of the totals and what that meant, of how many quirks the villain had stolen over the decades, his name went from obscurity to legend. "Oh that must have been...difficult." He knew by Midoriya use of the word 'forced' it was a pleasant experience. "If you don't mind, what quirk did he give you?"
Izuku gave a smile, thankful of the understanding Shoji was showing. "I really don't. It is called Anger Boost. It makes me stronger and more durable the angrier I get. It can be really hard to control, and I have hurt people by accident from it. I think that is why he gave it to me, because it can be a quirk used for villains really easily. I think he tried to tempt me or something… I think about it often. But I don't care. I don't care what quirk he gave me, I am gonna use it to become a hero. A hero just like All Might, who can save everyone with a smile on my face." His monologue ended up growing to a near yell, attracting some attention by nearby people. Izuku couldn't help but curl into a ball of cringe when he realize what happened.
Shoji let out a soft chuckle. Not to mock Midoriya or anything, but astonishment for his passion. It was something he could respect. "I like your kind of thinking, Midoriya." Putting his arms out, he formed a mouth on one of the nubs of his other arms. It startled Izuku, but not too badly. " My quirk is Dupli-Arms, which lets me create duplicate of body parts that I can use as needed. It also has given me a body far more powerful than I have worked for." Izuku was a little unnerved that the mouth on his arm was clearly talking, but he didn't say anything about it. "Sometimes it doesn't feel like my quirk is that strong, that it isn't good enough to be the hero I want to be. But then, I remember that I shouldn't force my quirk to hold that burden. It should be me, making myself good enough to be the hero I want to be. It is why I came from Okawa to be here."
Izuku took a minute to place where Okawa was, until his eyes went wide. "Isn't Okawa on Kyushu Island? Isn't that like a thousand kilometers away from here!" He couldn't help but be impressed by Shoji's dedication.
"Indeed it is. But after hearing about All Might's retirement...I knew I couldn't slack off. I had to be the best, and go to the best hero school in the country. And that is located here, in Musutafu. I was lucky, my father was able to transfer to his job's Tokyo branch." Shoji looked off in the distance, to the western part of the city.
Izuku knew what he was alluding to. He had the same dreams. "You know, me and Kacchan both plan on getting into U.A. too. It would be pretty hard, for one class to have that many heroes coming from it." He couldn't help but be realistic.
"But not impossible." Shoji countered, again the mask behind his face smiling.
Izuku saw that and couldn't help but smile too. "Yeah, not impossible."
The duo departed soon after, as Shoji had to catch the subway to get to his home. But both realized they had become friends that day.
So, yeah, I changed a bunch of things. So first off, I did totally up end established canon. But I have a plan. Probably. As for some people disagreeing about what happened to All For One, you aren't the only people who would. Even All Might could have a say about it… when he appears in a few chapters. And yes, I did gender flip Mineta. It just works better. Seriously, go to YT and google female Mineta. There is a video that proves my point. Is it sexist? Probably. But it also creates better balance in the class 1-A gender wise. Have a good one!