Welcome to May and a new chapter. Lets see how Izuku's new life begins.

.

.

Comments:

AllSlayer: I've seen many fanfiction stories that make the character totally op, including MHA fics/Midoriya. Those can be fun to read, especially when Midoriya is one punch mand and beats Bakugo faster than people can even see, but real good story and story I want to write requires a bit more tension, threat and struggle so I made sure to set limitations and make the power progression slow enough. I did the same with my older fanfic Another Nightmare. Though Izuku is still going to be pretty powerful during the story.

copet: You just pointed out two among the most important things / biggest challenges in making this story. I wanted to make Izuku a villain by his father's side without making him a totally different character and that also demanded AFO to be a decent dad without removing the villainous things he has done

.

.

Proofread by 3DPhantom

Chapter 7: a New Life Begins

"Hello, my name is Izuku Midoriya. I am joining your class for rest of the year," Izuku said and bowed slightly to the classroom of students.

Bowing let him draw a few deep breaths without it being noticed. It felt uncanny to walk through the school without anyone avoiding or scowling at him, but he was still on edge, ready to be ostracised over even a single wrong move. Finishing his bow, he gathered enough courage to get up and face his new classmates again.

"Midoriya has transferred to us from Aldera Junior High from Mustafa City starting today," the teacher said. "Please make him feel welcome. Now does anyone have any questions, including you Midoriya?"

Several of the students had their hands up before she finished talking. She pointed at a girl in the back of the room.

"Nori."

"What is your quirk?"

Izuku gulped. Of course, they would ask that first. What else about him could people possibly care about? If he had any doubts before they were gone now. He held his hand up, the palm towards himself. Fire burst over the back of his hand and Izuku applied vibration to it as the blade stretched and thinned down. It still took too much focus to be practical in a fight, but at least Izuku could combine the quirks reliably for a while. He pushed his limits to make the blade as long and impressive as he could for the brief moment. Most people in the class were wide-eyed. Some made positive remarks about how cool his quirk was, not knowing how that wrenched Izuku inside. Izuku stopped before the teacher could comment on using quirks at school. Instead, she pointed at another student for a question.

"Why did you transfer suddenly and how did you even get in this school?"

Maybe there were worse questions than his quirk. This time Izuku couldn't completely hide his reaction.

"Is everything okay?" The teacher asked.

"Y… yes. I transferred because," Izuku paused as the words stuck to his throat as if they were trying to choke him, "my mother was killed recently and, well…"

"You don't need to talk about anything you don't want to," the teacher said, "and no one will pressure you if they know what is best for them. Now, let's start the lesson. You can get to know each other better during breaks."

"Thank you," Izuku whispered as he walked past her to the only free seat, on the second row behind tall blue-haired kid with eyeglasses. No one tried to pull their desks away or lean away from him. It would have been nice if it wasn't all based on a lie. He didn't dare to look anywhere but the teacher and his own desk as the lesson commenced. At least she actually taught him too.

The first few classes passed uneventfully. Izuku was used to getting from class to class with minimal contact with others and didn't think to do anything else. He was also distracted by the school itself. His old school had been… decent in teaching for people that had good or commonplace quirks, just reputable enough that mother had not gone out of her way to send Izuku to a better school further away. The school however had not been exceptional in any way and the buildings had been average at best. Soumei on the other hand showed the money rich parents had poured into it everywhere. Everything looked new, clean and shiny. Large open halls with high ceilings made the place feel more like a monument than a junior high school.

The morning lessons soon finished, and he was about to slip away for lunch when…

"You, Izuku Midoriya."

Izuku froze in place and turned around a few seconds later. It was the blue-haired boy. So far Izuku only knew that he seemed to be very formal and often quite loud. He walked towards Midoriya, waving his arms like a robot from an ancient sci-fi film.

"My name is Tenya Ida. Are you intentionally trying to avoid interacting with the class? We should all seek to improve both ourselves and each other and isolating yourself will hold everyone back."

"Wha…" Izuku was genuinely flustered for the first time in a while. This guy actually had a problem with him keeping his distance and not the other way around.

"Sorry," he said, "I didn't think anyone would feel that way. Usually people are happy that I stay out of their way."

"Why…?" Ida started and stopped mid-sentence. Izuku could see gears turning in his head with realization in his eyes. "Would you like to join us for lunch at least?"

The request almost made Izuku tear up from joy but even then, a nagging voice in his head kept saying Ida was only nice because Izuku had lied about his quirk. He still smiled slightly.

"I'd love to."

"Excellent," Ida responded. "The cafeteria is this way. Also, your tie is not straight. It shows disrespect to this prestigious school."

Izuku brought his hand to the tie that was part of the Soumei school uniform. He was surprised at the other boy's sudden critique, but… he didn't seem to be condemning Izuku, even if Izuku couldn't help but feel annoyed at the irrelevant complaint. He followed Ida to the cafeteria and to the line for food. Some of their classmates were already there.

"Hey, it's the new kid. Did Ida already chew you out for something?"

"So he does that often?" Izuku asked.

The others snickered. "Every single day."

"I merely wish everyone would give the school the respect it desires," Ida defended himself, waving his arms again. He got some laughs from the other students, but they lacked the sharp mockery Izuku was used to hearing in people's laughs. The group dragged Izuku with them to a large table full of their classmates. Izuku had never been with so many positive and neutral expressions.

"Hey, it's the fire hand."

"Uh…?" Izuku stared at the girl that had said that.

"She's talking about your quirk," another said. "You didn't yet tell us what it's called."

"Oh right," Izuku responded. Of course they were talking about his quirk. "I call it Dragon Blade. It's a pretty simple flame quirk but if I focus hard enough it can cut really well in addition to burning. It isn't that useful really, but people seem to think it's cool."

"It is," the first girl said. Others expressed their agreement.

"Hey, how…?" Another student started asking, but was interrupted when Ida stood up and started waving his arms again.

"Remember what the teacher said. Do not push Midoriya to answer questions he doesn't want to talk about."

"Chill out Ida. I wasn't going to ask about… that. Just wondered what his old school was like."

"Very biased and more interested in gaining prestige for the school than actually teaching its students, all of its students," Izuku said, feeling a sudden need to vent about something he didn't need to keep secret.

"What does that mean?" Izuku turned to look at his new classmate over the table. His stare was empty with tenseness on his face from anger.

"I was considered quirkless until I was thirteen years old, my childhood best friend got a flashy quirk that could easily hurt people. One of us could do almost anything, hurt anyone, and people would still talk about how he is going to be a hero in the future. The other could have just as well been invisible and could get almost anything done to him without consequences. Would you like to guess which was me?" He turned to look at the girl who had asked about his quirk in class.

"I hoped things might be different here, but guess what was the first thing you wanted to know about me?"

That startled most of the group. Several looked surprised. A few, too few, appeared angry at what they had learned. Some didn't really react or they looked annoyed. The person Izuku had been talking to moved to that group after initial surprise.

"Well, it's not like quirkless people could do as much as regular people. Of course a school would focus on making sure that someone more capable has a chance to become something. You should just be glad you got a quirk."

Izuku sighed and stood up.

"This is why I didn't bother transferring anywhere else before. People are the same garbage everywhere."

"It's the truth, quirkless people are just less advanced than the rest of us. It's simple evolution."

"You wouldn't talk like that if you were quirkless for a while," Izuku said as he took his food and turned to leave.

"The quirkless probably dream about that being possible, but you just can't change a person like that. It would be like turning a quirkless human into a chimpanzee."

Izuku squeezed the food tray, struggling to not make a remark that would make his situation worse. These people definitely would not accept his real quirk. He walked away, finding a corner table which occupants had just left, leaving the entire table empty. He was used to eating alone. At least people didn't go out of their way to get away from him. He stopped eating to look at his palm. The hole was barely covered by special tape and makeup. For the first time ever, he wanted to use his quirk on someone, and he didn't even regret the thought. If he hadn't chosen to fake his real quirk…

He sighed and put his hand down. It would just have been worse if he did tell the truth. At least there had been some that reacted negatively to hearing how he had been treated as quirkless. Izuku didn't dare to risk approaching any of them and the rest of the day passed with him keeping even more distance from others. In the end Izuku left school with his shoulders sagging and eyes on the asphalt.

"You should carry yourself more respectably, especially in our school's uniform."

Izuku turned his head to give Ida a tired look. He wasn't sure how to feel about the taller boy. Their main interactions had been Ida complaining about stupid things, but he had been the first one to at least try to approach Izuku in a friendly manner, and had seemed surprised, shocked even, when Izuku exposed his quirkless past.

"I carry myself as I feel," Izuku responded, "and if the school has a problem with it that's just more reason to feel this way."

"Yes… I am sorry for how our classmates acted. Even after two years I did not realize how… serious the views are that some of them hold. There has never been a quirkless person in our class."

"And what would you have done if there was?"

"That… would depend on the person. I think everyone should be treated equally unless their actions demand otherwise."

"Are you sure about that?" Izuku said. His voice started getting some venom along the tiredness. "You would do that even if it meant being ostracised just like the useless, less-than-human quirkless kid?"

Ida didn't say anything.

"I thought so. I was a fool to think that an elite school would be any better. It's easier to look down to people the higher you are in this quirk society, and to ignore the flaws of those on your level. Being from a whole family of heroes you wouldn't question the darker sides of the hero society whether you see it or not."

"I wouldn't… Wait, how do you know about my family? I never told you about them."

"The most important thing for a hero in this society is their fame and popularity over all else. Ida family and especially Ingenium nowadays aren't exactly unknown."

"Right, I accept your explanation."

They kept walking in the same direction in silence, but Izuku could feel Ida's eyes on his back. Eventually the taller boy couldn't hold things in anymore.

"I must ask. Do you have something against heroes?"

"Not the concept of a hero," Izuku answered after a moment. "I just don't think there are as many actual heroes as people think. The official title is meaningless, just a way to control who can use quirks. If anything, it stops more people from acting heroically. Not to mention the whole profession is the top example of how people are valued by their quirks, and not even their real usefulness, but how 'heroic' the society decides they are. I shouldn't need to explain after today's lunch."

Another period of silence followed. Izuku glanced at Ida.

"Are you following me or?" He asked. Ida stopped for an instance and raised his hands up defensively.

"Oh no, I am going home. Seems we just happen to live in the same direction."

Izuku looked at him for a moment.

"I believe you. If nothing else I get the feeling you aren't the lying type."

"Thank you."

"Well, I guess we'll see each other again tomorrow," Izuku said and turned into a yard. They had walked up a green hill and now on a ledge with an excellent view he entered the lush yard of a new two-story building, large enough for a family of ten. He cringed as Ida stared at the building. Why did father have to do everything so big?

Izuku walked a bit faster to get inside quicker. He had not even slept in the house so far, having only made sure all his things were there. Unfortunately, it had been up to him to sort out his mother's things and what to do with them. Half of the stuff stored in one of the many rooms would probably get mouldy after being soaked by his tears. Checking the time, he changed out of his school clothes and headed to the basement. His father had arranged for it to be made into a fully equipped gym and spa. Izuku had a feeling he would be expected to spend plenty of time there. The spa was nice though.

He had about thirty minutes for warmup and stretching before a familiar dark mist poured out of thin air. Izuku had a wide genuine smile on his face as Kurogiri's misty form stepped through the warp gate.