The rabbit hero stared at Midoriya, the green haired man sitting across from her inside her penthouse. The man told her everything- from start to finish. Every single detail that pertained to Horizon's creation- the amalgamation of Midoriya's ideals kept dormant until they forced themselves out. Starting from being quirkless, told to give up on his dream by his idol, and then gripping on the brink of insanity- the green haired man spilled everything.
"So? What now, are you going to lock me up?" Midoriya stared directly into the rabbit woman's chestnut pupils.
Usagiyama sat for a moment, contemplating heavily as she crossed her arms and returned his stare with a spine chilling glare. The green haired man slightly recoiled and held his breath- the whole environment around him felt as if he was sitting in a volcano. Midoriya was sure that he was prepared to be stuck in a prison for… well, the rest of his life. From what he could remember, as Horizon- at least 39 criminals were massacred because of his blind hero rampage. He was a criminal himself by all accounts beyond just murder- stealing police resources, obstructing and forgery of documents- needless to say, he was incredibly cautious about leaving any tracks.
Taking a deep breath, Usagiyama unfolded her arms and slammed her hands onto the table- standing up and yelling out of frustration.
"Y-You alright…?" The green haired man's generated anxiety was heard in his voice.
"No! I'm not alright, I don't know what to fuckin' do!" The rabbit woman held her head in both hands as if she was suppressing a migraine.
"...I've been telling you to just get rid of me." Usagiyama removed her hands from her head and let them hang, slowly turning to look at the green haired man who swiftly stopped talking.
Midoriya felt his body go cold yet the environment was an intense blaze, a cold sweat starting to develop as he was beginning to feel weak in his stomach. The rabbit woman angled the rest of her body and started to approach the green haired man, eventually standing in front of him and looking down into his verdant orbs.
"Get up."
"Uh...Ri-" Midoriya was yanked out of his chair and dragged along the ceramic floor.
Suddenly being thrown into a dark room lined with fitness equipment, the green haired man impacted with a hard wall, rubbing his head as he looked up at the hero. The room around him was incredibly large for a secondary room in the penthouse- it was perhaps the largest room in the structure. Taking menacing steps inwards, Usagiyama brought her fists up and glared at Midoriya, the green haired man slowly standing up and looking at her confused.
"Fight." The rabbit woman's war face formed as she prepared to pummel Midoriya and needless to say- he had no choice but to comply, nervously lifting his own fists.
The fight was never in Midoriya's favor. If he struck with a right hook, he was parried, countered and instantly thrown against the ground. If he attempted to get creative, he was immediately stopped with a kick to the chest. The armor that he put together to create the image and defenses of Horizon was horribly mangled in the process. It was extremely farfetched to say that Midoriya stood a chance in the first place. Once again- it was the difference between him and her, the difference between reality and his fragmented delusion. To him, it was the proving factor that the conception of Horizon was a mistake, here she would pummel and beat him as a means of penance before she got rid of him- after all that was all he was to those with quirks. A punching bag just like the ones lining the room around him, destined for nothing but to be slammed and brutalized until it eventually becomes destroyed and replaced.
A part of him still wanted to accept his punishment and give up right there. Another part of him wanted to fight back despite the fact that they were of two different leagues. Despite his brain thinking of literally everything else, his body reacted on its own. He stood up with his shattered armor dropping to the ground and continued to return ineffective blows, no matter how much he fell and was thrown around, he continued to attempt to fight. Minute after minute, his muscles starting to ache, he continued. Midoriya couldn't understand why he was willing to continue standing and fighting- he also couldn't understand why he was smiling. Eventually, he even forgot why the fight started as the first hour passed.
Hour after hour passed as Midoriya's armor was inevitably nothing but shrapnel laying on the ground with his muscles screaming at him to stop. Even with him staggering and struggling to stand- he continued to swing his fists, kick his feet, and keep his smile. Eventually, during his slugfest with Usagiyama, he found himself unable to move, tripping on his own feet and falling into her arms.
"Yep. I think I've decided." Midoriya wasn't able to look up as his vision was starting to fade and go black, Usagiyama's voice barely reaching his ears.
Dawn fell upon the city and beyond the crystal clear glass windows of the penthouse, the rabbit woman carried the larger figure and then placed him on a couch in her living room. She didn't know why she was adamant in not tossing him in a prison cell for a few years. By all reasonable law, she had every right to and was probably urged to, but Midoriya wasn't someone who deserved that. He was left to die in a society where he didn't belong. Sure, there are people who are quirkless in this world and therefore he wasn't the only one, but his overall sense of justice and drive was a byproduct of a world that told him he could be anything as a child. Midoriya didn't even get to draw a stick, he was simply tossed a short one and was punished for it. It's often said that self-sacrifice is the thing that makes someone a hero and from what the rabbit woman could tell from their six hour long one-sided combat, Midoriya was sacrificial to the point of surrendering his own existence. It was frightening, honestly.
Taking a deep breath, her tired eyes stared at the unconscious man. It would be a lie to say he wasn't bruised in multiple places yet surprisingly enough, none of the damage was located on his face which probably allowed him to fight for so long. Gazing at his features, she actually felt her face go a little bright for a moment. When he wasn't trying to kill himself or kill something that was moving, he was quite cute. Fluffy winged dark green hair, warm skin with dark freckles along his cheek bones, a narrow facial structure- he looked a lot better this way, at least in her eyes. Shaking her head, a wave of fatigue hit her and she instantly found herself falling forward and passing out on the carpet flooring of her living room.
Midoriya's eyes snapped open, beaming at the mounted flat screen television across from him. Looking around for his phone, he found that the screen protector was shattered which prompted him to pick at it and take it off. Turning it on and staring down at it, the time read 16:00. Standing up, every single muscle and joint in his body pulsed with a sharp stabbing sensation that swiftly dissipated as he held his breath.
"Fuck me…" Midoriya whispered to himself and gathered his surroundings, spotting an unconscious Usagiyama on the floor.
The green haired man stood there for a moment, remembering the lay out of the structure. After a minute or so of intellectual thought, he leaned over and lifted Usagiyama into his arms and waddled over to what he assumed was her room, which to his delight was. Entering the room, he was able to find her incredibly large bed and rest her on top of it. Turning from the bed and taking a glance around, it was very… plain. Looking for anything else felt dirty, so Midoriya exited the room- but reaching the doorframe, he couldn't help but look back and stare at the woman. He realized that he never actually took a good look at her and thinking about it just made him anxious- Beautifully tanned skin, toned features and heavy muscled thighs, long and silky white hair, cute bunny ears and a fluffy white tail. Gazing even longer, he felt the need to snap out of his trance and left the room. If it was up to him, he would've jumped into that bed too, but the green haired man found himself too nervous to do anything like that- also cause he felt wrong just thinking about it.
Sluggishly heading back to the couch, he oddly found that he shouldn't leave since he still wanted to discuss his fate. Currently, Horizon was compromised, the only person who knew about his vigilantism was Usagiyama. Beginning to think about the past events, the green haired man felt his stomach grumble so he decided to snoop around a bit and wandered to the fridge in the attached kitchen. Creaking it open, there were mostly vegetables accompanied with some chicken and some cans of beer. He didn't know she drank- this was great but he couldn't, Usagiyama would knock him silly. From what Midoriya could tell, there were enough ingredients to make his all-time zero taste comfort food- katsudon. As he started to cook in Usagiyama's kitchen, his valiant effort to not consume her alcohol reserves was meaningless because of his addictive urge to drink. Afterall, always taste what you cook and he couldn't taste anything. During his cooking adventure, the green haired man heard the rabbit woman yawn and fumble about as she entered the living room, effectively spotting him.
"The fuck are ya doin'?" She was sluggishly shuffling over to the kitchen.
"I'm… Hungry?" Midoriya responded with a slight confusion but soon remembered that this wasn't his kitchen.
"Okay, well make me some." Usagiyama pulled a chair out and sat, resting her head on her crossed arms.
Not bothering to respond, Midoriya swiftly finished the meal and put a bowl in front of her, the rabbit woman lifting her head and looking down at it. Taking a moment, she glanced at Midoriya's face and then back at the dish he made for her.
"Really? Katsudon? Don't ya eat anything else?"
"...I really like it."
An uninspired sulking image marked her face as she took a bite and quickly recoiled. It was not very good. Out of respect, she swallowed the bite and then looked at Midoriya who seemed to be completely unaffected by its horribly composed flavor.
"You like this…?" Usagiyama's eyes narrowed which caused Midoriya to slightly panic.
"Y-Yes…?" The green haired man responded.
"This… I'm gonna be honest, this doesn't taste all that good." Midoriya felt his heart stop for a moment- not from the fact that the food was bad but the fact that because he couldn't taste, he was unable to tell if it was edible or not.
"W-what could you possibly mean?" The green haired man felt himself lock up slightly.
"What? Do ya not have taste buds or somethin'?" Although being a rabbit did not allow Usagiyama the ability to smell secrets, oddly enough she could figuratively smell his secrets at this point, "Spit it out."
"I...I can't taste anything." Midoriya came to the conclusion that Usagiyama already knew everything about him anyways and this was tame compared to the information she had.
"What's that mean?" The rabbit woman tilted her head and inspected the green haired man's face, "So, like, ya don't have taste buds?"
"I don't know." The green haired man averted his gaze and stared at the table, "I guess I just… Food stopped tasting like anything since I was told I couldn't become a hero."
"That's not important." Midoriya continued and shook his head, "You still haven't decided on what's going to happen to me."
Usagiyama stood up and retrieved both of the bowls of undesirable sustenance which caused the green haired man to look at her confused. She proceeded to throw the contents of each bowl into her garbage bin and took out the same ingredients that he used from the fridge.
"W-what are you doing?" Midoriya was slightly confused as he watched the tanned woman prepare ingredients behind him.
"You could always start again, Midoriya." Usagiyama spoke, her eyes solemnly trained on her cutting board, "Ya never deserved the suffering you've been feeling- no one does."
Midoriya couldn't find any words, he was trying to understand what his partner was attempting to say, he was stunned.
"Are ya really going to listen to that walkin' skeleton that you can't be a hero?" She continued, "Ignoring the fact that you… forcibly took people to hell, you've shown all the qualities to being a hero- quirkless or not."
"I'm… I'm a criminal, Usagiyama."
"Everyone has their demons. Maybe yours are darker than others, but you got unlucky. It doesn't have to be like that." The rabbit woman still hasn't turned to the green haired man, "Who said that quirkless people couldn't be heroes? Who said that the quirkless need to become police officers? Tell me and I'll kick 'em."
"I can't match them." Midoriya ran his hand through his hair and gripped at the tufts, "I'm hardly even a police officer…"
"I'll make ya match them." Usagiyama turned to Midoriya with a bowl of hot katsudon, "I'll kick your ass so hard, you'll be better than them in no time, too!"
The green haired man raised his head to see the meal. It wasn't visually the best thing he'd ever seen but it was far better than the disaster he made. Before falling into his deep black abyss of anguish, he was incredibly good at cooking but without taste it meant nothing. Midoriya expected this to be no different as he brought his chopsticks up and took a bite. A sensation- the saltiness of the chicken accompanied with the crunchiness of the breading around it filled his mouth. Following suit was the savory taste of the egg with a slight pungentness from the mixed yolk which immediately found itself reinforced by a umami packed sweetness of the slightly caramelized onions. Midoriya spontaneously found tears streaking down his face which caused Usagiyama to become slightly concerned and confused.
"D-did I not cook the onions or somethin'? Ya alright?" She noticed the beads of water drip down his chin.
A tugging sensation was felt around his heart as he looked down at the bowl of now disheveled rice and chicken. He hasn't really taken a good thought about how much everything in his life changed within a mere month. Everyday is no longer a tug of war where he either continues to act happy or he chooses to paint his walls red with his pistol- he no longer feels the need to hide his miserable existence. Sure, Midoriya may still believe that the society around him is what led him to his actions, but he's come to understand that some people weren't part of that issue. Why started to think about this incredible shift in his life from eating some rice and chicken was beyond him, but he didn't hate it. For years he was unable to taste a single thing except when blood filled his mouth when he was punched or slugged. For years he was walking a thin tightrope with a slight sadism- the hope to fall.
"...Midoriya?" The rabbit woman walked past the table and leaned downwards.
"Huh?" Midoriya shook his head and recollected himself, "N-no, I'm… I'm fine."
"Well…? How is it then?" Usagiyama smiled which caused the green haired man to slightly recoil.
"I-I can taste it…" Midoriya responded, swiftly taking another bite, "It's… It's delicious."
"Oh. That's great." The rabbit woman waddled back over to the kitchen and proceeded to get herself a meal, "I was under the impression ya couldn't- ya know, taste anythin'."
The green haired man found himself reaching towards the opened beer can he pilfered- quickly being intercepted by the rabbit woman. Her smile was too much for him as he held his breath for a moment.
"Not today, Green." Usagiyama gripped the canister and brought it to her own lips- finishing the drink, "You needa head home."
Midoriya came to the realization that he was still in the rabbit woman's house. He had a few questions but he also felt like he needed a shower. Finishing up the meal, the green haired man stood from the table and first went to gather the shards of armor laying around. As he entered the auxiliary gym and started to reclaim his now destroyed creation, Midoriya found himself staring at the pieces. He was able to remember nearly every point of damage and the years it took for the armor to manifest into Horizon. Thinking about it, he's actually survived incredibly gruesome wounds. The green haired man had found himself getting extremely creative when trying to close his bloody disasters- once using a staple gun and other times using a red hot steel rod. Horizon was simply a self-destructive visage of what he wanted to become. Midoriya stood there for a moment and fell deeper and deeper into his trance.
What did he want to be? He wasn't going to say that he didn't want to be a hero nor a police officer. If he didn't become an officer and if he didn't slog his way through training and rank then he would've never met his team- in fact, he would've never had an opportunity to become a hero. Midoriya still wanted to ask about that, too. He didn't understand Usagiyama's course of action where she was willing to train him into a hero opposed to doing her duty and arresting him. Now was not the time though, he still had to gather up the remains of Horizon and process the information he now had. All the mental gymnastics he was doing wasn't helping him either, despite being passed out for six hours, he still felt incredibly tired. Taking his leave after five minutes or so, the green haired man assumed that Usagiyama was doing something in her office so he didn't bother saying anything. The long walk was uneventful but eventually he made his way home and left Horizon's debris in a corner and waddled over to his restroom where he positioned himself over the sink and stared at the black tarp over his mirror.
Midoriya's stare melded into a deep gaze at the abyss- his arm slowly raising itself and gripping at the corner of the cover. Hastened breathing, the green haired man clenched his teeth and ripped off the black tarp, the reflection was: Him. He wasn't used to looking at himself and not feeling sick to his core which in itself made him anxious. Setting his bath and then leaving the restroom, he wandered over to the fridge and procured himself another can of beer. Midoriya wasn't going to let Usagiyama stop him from drinking- at least not yet. Taking off his shirt and letting the air hit him, the green haired man sat down on his couch and leaned forward, slow methodical breathing to calm himself. He didn't understand why he was having trouble dealing with his sudden surge of anxiety, his hands instinctively lighting a cigarette. Was he… genuinely happy?
The green haired man's hand shook over the ashtray as he recounted the past events, he wasn't entirely sure why he was so excited, but he was a good excitement. Midoriya smiled to himself- he had a lot to do. He still believed that he should've been arrested but thinking about Usagiyama's argument, she wasn't entirely wrong. Immediately, Midoriya's heart sank as he remembered the young teenager he murdered in cold blood. Why did he deserve a second chance when that kid wasn't even granted his first? How does Usagiyama intend to make Midoriya into a hero after something like that? The green haired man decided to take his mental storm to the bath, taking off the special-made kevlar suit and throwing it onto the ground, sinking into the hot water and reclaiming his alcohol canister and lighting another cigarette.
Midoriya's already weak mental state was starting to falter even further as he thought of all the many lives he had taken. 39 criminals as Horizon, an even more immeasurable amount of criminals as a SAT officer. How many of them would have changed their ways? How many of them were also destined to be something better? Worse over, how many of them were barely young adults? These questions all wrapped around Midoriya like the black tarp he used to hide his mirror- he didn't deserve repentance. Midoriya understood that he deserved punishment, the green haired man understood that he deserved the darkness he fell into.
"Afterall, you're a criminal, aren't you?"
'N-no… I could… I can change…'
"You can't change, Green. As long as I'm here, you'll never change."
'Let me guess, Horizon?'
"Of course! And as long as you regret your pitiful existence, I'll be ready to take over again."
Midoriya took a sip from his drink, a dark overcast emanating from him as he glared at the wall across from him. Perhaps this was the fate provided to him by the world, forever stuck in his psychological tug-of-war with himself. Holding his aluminium canister in his left hand and his cigarette in his right, the green haired man crushed the cancer stick, leaning forward and dropped its remains onto the ground, bringing the now empty hand over his right eye.
"Take a breather, Green. I'm around every corner of your mind- I know everything."
'Shut the fuck up… Please…'
"You were so caught up in trying to get rid of me, you even- Monologued! My hero, o' my hero!"
Midoriya finished the beer in his hands and threw the can across the restroom, the voice swiftly fading. Of course, Horizon was always right. Monologues were stupid, heroes were stupid, he was stupid, and everything around him was simply and utterly meaningless. There was no progress being made- there was nothing that was changing. His life was nothing but rhetoric and none of it was beneficial to him. Horizon was always right- afterall, he was Horizon. It was painful to come to such a realization, but Midoriya knew it was impending.
He was contemplating to, once again, implant a bullet in his head, but Midoriya remembered Shirai and Okiyama's faces. The green haired man smiled ever so slightly and drew himself back letting his hand drop into the water and stare up at the ceiling. He was really looking forward to seeing them again, they were great company. With that conclusion- Midoriya knew that it wasn't his job to take himself out, but perhaps someone else's.
"Rumi…" The green haired man remembered the rabbit woman's soft smile, his face going red and immediately being covered by his hands, "I-I'm so fucked up…"
Assuming that the heat was getting to him, Midoriya lifted his scarred and physically built body out of the tub and drained it, drying himself off with a towel and getting dressed. Letting his blood run… properly, the green haired man walked out of the restroom and thought about his next course of action. He could go to bed but there was a lot more that he wanted to do: for example, repurpose the destroyed armor he had. The original material that the armor was pilfered by was from a Yakuza raid- unfortunately, it was developed by using a young girl's quirk. It was incredibly harder for heroes to fight that day, many of them losing their quirks with no real means of reversing it. From what Midoriya could tell by the reports of the numerous armor and ammunition that the Yakuza created, the ammunition stops people from using their quirks completely and the armor prevents emitter quirks from effecting the defended area. Someone like Endeavor would have trouble when using his Hellfire against someone wearing this armor and if he was struck by the "Quirk Killer Round" then the possibility of losing his is a true reality. Which caused him to become very interested in what he wanted to do- "Quirk Killing Shotgun Shells".
Midoriya knew he needed to be incredibly careful when using this type of ammunition, furthermore, he also had to change his means of combat. Usagiyama isn't happy when he… Forcibly takes lives. Infact, hero society in general isn't all too happy that most of his apprehended criminals are found in body bags. Being taught that a criminal or villain will only stop when they lose the will to fight has changed his mentality a tremendous amount, the most effective means of stopping someone is with equal stopping power: kinetic ballistics in the form of an extremely lethal package. To replace that means of apprehension, Midoriya decided on two types of munitions: Rubber Slugs and the "Quirk Killer Shells". Using his small armory as a workshop, the green haired man opened one of the locked cabinets and retrieved a pump-action shotgun that he purchased a few years back. The Remington 870 Pump-action 12 Gauge Shotgun. Taking a long look at Horizon's armor, Midoriya took a deep breath. It was time to leave that manifestation behind, or atleast what physically remained.
Usagiyama sat in her bed and scrolled through the multitude of news and media on her phone. There was a lot on her mind- her next course of action, Midoriya's mental state, Midoriya's physical state, his overall heroic ability. Now that she thought about it, Midoriya was mostly what came to mind as she struggled to think coherently. Usagiyama determined that wasn't currently important, she had to figure out how to get Midoriya into a position in which he could fulfil his dream of being a hero- hopefully saving his deteriorating psychological state.
There were no rules stating that you had to have a provisional hero license or were even required to attend a heroics educational facility like U.A. or Shiketsu. In addition, the Professional Hero License Exam was composed of two fields: Written and Practical. Both exams often require a 65% margin of success for a normal Pro Hero License- some people reach a high 95% margin and can qualify for higher status. These margins feel as if they are weighted differently depending on overall aptitude, those who went to more prestigious schools had a higher chance of success and those who may not even have gone to a school with a heroics program. A 65% margin of success might feel like a 75% margin of success for someone like Midoriya, a quirkless man who wants to become a professional hero. In all technicality, the Pro Hero License is only a document which allows the active use of quirks in apprehension of a villain or using their quirks to save people during disaster. Therefore, Midoriya doesn't really need to even take this exam- yet in the current state of society, it is nearly a requirement to do heroic acts without repercussions.
Usagiyama knew that Midoriya's overall intelligence was incredible and so she needed to teach him how to fight. The exam allows support items and the such- which means firearms were completely fine, however, there is a high chance that it is more detrimental to use a gun due to sheer lethality and the questionable legality of owning exotic guns like he did. There are plenty of quirks that have even more lethal capability than Midoriya's pea shooter pistol- like Present Mic's Voice. A single pitch too high and he could possibly rupture a person's head, which isn't good. There is a possibility that Midoriya could net a higher score during his practical exam if he shows aptitude in resilience, taking down the dummy bots with high effectiveness while also saving as many civilians as possible. As a primary objective, getting Midoriya to be more comfortable with martial arts would be good. The green haired man already knew martial arts, he just didn't really put it into practice because he ran hand-to-hand combat out of strength opposed to technique. Sure, he was able to think and react extremely fast to imminent threats, but without technique he was like a baby duck. A cute baby duck. Usually, cuteness does not work in apprehending an enemy.
Prior to reaching his rank in the SAT, from what Usagiyama could recall from his documents is that they were taught Taiho Jutsu. From the visible evidence that she witnessed during her rage induced fight with him, he struggled to utilize it fully and therefore practiced more on marksmanship than hand-to-hand. Getting him comfortable in both aspects would tip the scales in his favor. Inhaling the air around her and finally coming to a conclusion, the rabbit woman was ready: She needed to teach him how to kick- and kick real fuckin' hard. Now she needed to figure out when the next Pro Hero License Exam was, and with a few taps on her phone, she learned that it was in 6 months.
Fuck. Usagiyama came to the additional conclusion that she'll feed him before she tells him that he's running on a massive amount of borrowed time. Apparently, he could only taste her katsudon- which was odd because she was the worst cook that she knows.