"If you keep on hurting him, I- I'll stop you myself!"

Four-year-old Izuku stood in front of the cowering child on the ground, protecting him from the wrath of Katsuki and his goons. Katsuki stifled a laugh while the two others behind him just looked baffled.

"Hmph. You wanna pretend to be a hero?" Katsuki slammed his fist into his palm, creating a tiny explosion. His mouth warped into a cruel grin. "You don't stand a chance without a Quirk, Deku."

The three kids rushed at Izuku, causing him to hold his hands up in defense. The Fat kid with Wings began to try and Punch Izuku 'If... if I'm going to become a hero... then... I'm going... I'm going to fight back!' Izuku thought as he took a stance, readying to fight, and parried the Fat kid's punch with his elbows

KPOK

and punched back straight to the Kid's face.

KROWW

REVERSAL!

The Fat kid with Wings got knocked backed by the force of Izuku's punch. The Skinny kid with long fingers is still charging at Izuku so he spun and kicked the Skinny kid, sending the kid flying then Izuku jumped and Uppercut the kid's jaw

KRAK

Katsuki stopped charging and was dumbfounded that Deku, fought back. As Izuku and the Skinny kid were still in mid-air, Izuku proceeded to punch the kid 64 times

WHAM POW KRAK WHAP SOCK

64 HIT COMBO

Izuku charged his last punch and then

POW

The Skinny Kid was sent into the ground all beat up Izuku got into the ground as well. The goons were shaking, struggling to stand up, while Katsuki himself was frozen in shock. "Bakugou, wh- what happened?" the Fat kid hoarsed, slowly standing back up.Anger danced in Katsuki's eyes, and he clenched his fist. He raised the fist up to Izuku's face, opening his hand so that his palm was directly in front of the fearful boy's eyes. "I guess I'll have to teach you a lesson then, useless idiot." He ignited his palm.

"KACCHAN!" Izuku blocked the explosion, his arms became coated with small burns "G-gah!" the Fat kid with Wings, also enraged, tried to punch Izuku again but he swiped his foot into the Kid's legs and as he fell down, Izuku did a roundhouse kick

KAPOW

The Fat kid got knocked backed again but this time he Poofed and turned into three coins. "H-huh?! Deku... W-What did you do!?" "Y-You Murderer!" Katsuki and his goon scurried and ran away.

Izuku turned back and find that the kid he was protecting is already gone "O-oh, he must've gone home." Izuku looked at the ground and saw three coins "Sweet! Coins." he picked up the coins as if he doesn't remember that it was the remains of the Fat kid with Wings.

The Next Day

"I-I'm Telling you, Deku Murdered someone!" "Y-yeah!" Katsuki and the Skinny kid is complaining at the Teacher along with his Mom, Mitsuki. "Katsuki! What did I tell you about Lying to people?!" Mitsuki shouted "I'm not Lying you Old Hag! it's the Truth!" Katsuki Shouted back. "There's no way that sweet little boy Izuku can murder anyone, he's just a child." Mitsuki had an apologetic look to the Teacher. "Bakugou, I can't believe you would lie like this." Mitsuki and the Teacher have a disappointing look "B-but Bu-" "No Buts, young man." Katsuki then scowled and saw

"Hey, Izuku. Sorry about yesterday, I realized that hurting people because of their weakness really sucks..." the Fat kid is Talking to Izuku "A-Ah... don't worry about it." Izuku replied with a smile "I want to be a hero as well but hurting others would just make me a villain... So, How about this? let's hang out some time to make up for yesterday." the Fat Kid suggested and Izuku Immediately accepted "S-sure!"

'T-This... This can't be... it's that Winged Fatty from yesterday... H-How is he still alive?! I... I saw him...' Katsuki was shocked.

"You should probably give it up."

It wasn't like Izuku didn't expect those words, but he couldn't help but flinch anyway. He tried to contain his trembling, liquid brimming in his eyes. His mom put a hand on his shoulder, looking at the doctor with concern.

"Are you sure? I know it's been so long, but…," she questioned, her words drifting off.

The doctor turned towards the computer monitor on the desk next to him, looking at the picture on the screen. It showed an x-ray of Izuku's foot. "Midoriya's foot shows the absence of the joint in the pinky toe common in Quirk users. Normally, that would mean that he has a Quirk for sure. However, most Quirks manifest at the age of four. Midoriya is ten, and nothing even resembling a Quirk has appeared. It could be that his Quirk is just manifesting very late, but that is extremely unlikely. The more likely and common scenario is that the absence of the joint is just a separate mutation, and has nothing to do with a Quirk. I'm sorry, but at this point, he won't have a Quirk."

"Mom… can I be a hero too?"

And from that day on, Izuku still believes he's Quirkless as well as Katsuki, waiting for the day to settle the score with Izuku.

Izuku shook his head, casting away his thoughts. He didn't know why those particular memories were surfacing now, but the teacher was lecturing, and he couldn't afford to be left behind. Living "without a Quirk", Izuku had to rely on his mind, fighting prowess, and the memories only served as a distraction from that.

The teacher at the front knocked on the board, drawing the class's attention to him. Izuku brought his pencil down on his paper, preparing for whatever subject the teacher chose to work on next. However, once the teacher started talking about careers, he stopped listening, knowing already how the discussion would play out.

Izuku wanted more than anything to be a hero, but there was a slight problem- he was Quirkless. It didn't stop him from trying to pursue his dream, but without a Quirk, his Mom and the Fat kid from his childhood are the only ones who believed in him. unfortunately, he moved out along with his Grandfather. Whenever he had tried to bring up his aspiration to anyone, they had laughed at him, calling him foolish for thinking that he could be a hero. His determination had outcasted him from the rest of the school, but he was fine with that. As long as he had his mom's support and his dream, he could survive.

The school bell rang, but Izuku was too deep in thought to hear it. In his trance, he didn't notice the class leaving the room, or Katsuki and his friends sneaking up on him. "Hey, Deku," Katsuki snarled, the malice in his voice causing Izuku to back up in his chair.

"K- Kacchan, hey!" he replied, Katsuki grinned maniacally, his eyes sweeping over Izuku's desk. Out of the mess of papers on the desk, a notebook stood out to him, and he picked it up, his grin growing wider.

"What's this, huh? Hero Analysis for the Future?" he asked, reading the cover. He dangled the notebook in front of Izuku's eyes, only to pull it back when Izuku tried unsuccessfully to reach for it. Chuckling, he pocketed the notebook and addressed his goons, "Grab him."

Both of Katsuki's goons, the Skinny guy and Rock Hair guy hesitated, knowing that Deku of all people have beaten them up before, they always retreated when they were getting overwhelmed in fear of getting Poofed and turned into coins. They didn't know what happened to the Fat kid who moved out. "What are you doing, Extras!? Grab him already!"

"S-sorry Bakugou, but I can't" "Me too... we're out of here." the two goons left. "Tch! Useless Extras!" The first time Katsuki had tried to bully the small boy, Katsuki was always beat up but Izuku always got punished due to his "quirklessness" even though Katsuki started the fight and the fight was discontinued so Izuku always held back throughout his middle school years.

"I heard you were applying to U.A. The prestigious hero school that I'm applying for, huh?" Katsuki's voice took a darker tone. "You trying to drag my name down by failing the exam on purpose?"

"N- no, of course not-"

"Shut up. I'm the only one from this crappy school going to U.A., understand? You think Useless little Deku can even hold a kindling to me? You think you can get in by taking measly notes on heroes, heroes that you will never be?" Katsuki stepped closer, fire blazing in his eyes.

"Let's get one thing straight, Deku." A finger jabbed into Izuku's chest, an excessive amount of heat emanating from it. "You will never be a hero."

Katsuki ignited the palm with which he held the notebook, charring the worn pages to a crisp. He threw the book over the edge of the roof, bringing a staggering gasp from Izuku. Izuku stepped towards the book, but seeing Katsuki's writing glare, he thought better of it and returned to meekly standing. "Hopefully that'll teach you something about trying to compete with me."

Even though Katsuki knows full well that Deku can stand his ground, Katsuki believes that Deku has a quirk. That his so called "Quirk" makes him as strong as video game characters. The blond walked back towards the stairwell, his friends following like lemmings. Izuku scrambled to the edge, frantically searching for his notebook. Izuku brought himself up to his feet and rushed over to the stairs, practically flying down to the ground floor. He slammed the doors open and rushed over to the area where the book had landed, sweeping his eyes over the terrain.

After a few minutes of searching, he finally found it. It was laying in a fountain off to the side, fish nibbling at the now soaked pages. "My dream's turned into fish food…"

He picked up the book, shaking the water droplets off. Flipping through the pages, he let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding as he saw that the ink was still visible. "Maybe I can put this over a heater, or let it sun dry…," he muttered, starting his trek home.

He mumbles his thoughts about Mt. Lady's debut earlier as he walked, drawing looks from bystanders but quiet enough to not warrant too much attention. His speech wandered off into an analysis of the hero battle that had happened earlier in the day, where Mt. Lady had made her professional debut. Some bullying would not stop Izuku from pursuing the dream he had had since he was a child.

Izuku's focus on the battle prevented him from paying much attention to his surroundings, instead relying on muscle memory to carry him through the path home. His trance continued as he walked under an arch, Izuku notices the sound of a slime creeping by

The slime wrapped around his arm, causing Izuku to whip his head around and widen his eyes in panic. He dropped his notebook as the slime pulled him back, crawling all around his body until finally entering his mouth. He gargled, choking at the sudden absence of air, lifting his eyes until he saw some sort of face in the slime. A villain? he thought before his mind was filled with the primal instinct to breathe.

"Thanks, kid," the mouth attached to the slime said, the voice sounding like a nasally old man. The face crept up closer, mouth turning up into an evil grin. "You'll make a perfect skinsuit to escape in. Maybe with you, I can get out of this city before he shows up!"

Izuku couldn't concentrate on the villain's words, too busy with the constricting feeling of his chest. His lungs were stretching, trying to find any small pocket of air to no avail. He could feel the slime in his throat and running down his esophagus, slowly choking up from the inside. The world started to turn black, his eyes rolling up into his head. His arms which had been desperately clawing at his neck fell limp, no oxygen to support them anymore. Is this it? he thought. Is this how I die? No, I'm not ready! Please, someone, save me! Someone, HELP?

"It's alright now, young man. For I am here!"