It's Hero Time!
Chapter One: Convergence
The damage was even greater than Itsuka had speculated.
The city- or what was left of it, anyway- burned underneath the red sky, the grounds that had housed generations upon generations of people now barren ash. The war had already been devastating, but the sight of her home reduced to cinders birthed a new kind of pain within her. Through it, her mind witnessed and cataloged the presence of various Time Beasts still on the prowl, still laying waste to the last surviving pieces of Tokyo. One noticed her and gave a roar, springing forward to swallow her whole, but Itsuka was ready for it even without Danger Sense aiding her. Teal lightning burst from her skin and crackled outward, suffusing her muscles with the otherworldly power of One for All, which had grown even stronger within its tenth host. She didn't even need to try; a single punch was enough to snap the Beast's neck, killing it instantly. The others, sensing the death of one of their own, acted in a rather smarter manner than their unfortunate relative now lying dead at her feet. A red glow surrounded each of them before they all teleported away, gone before Itsuka could even process it.
"So many times have I seen it, and yet your strength still amazes me, my dear," came a gentle voice from behind her. Itsuka didn't need to turn around to see who it was, yet she turned away from the sight before her to welcome the man who had spearheaded the war effort since the beginning, before she had even been born. "Professor Paradox," she greeted. "I'm glad to see you."
Paradox smiled gently, though years of knowing him alerted Itsuka to the weariness in her friend's brown eyes, the slouch in his posture, the slight wince coloring his features. "What have you been doing?" she asked him.
The smile fell away from his face, leaving behind a brooding expression. "He has gotten stronger," he admitted. "His power is so vast that I fear for myself every time I tangle with him. I...I am lucky to have gotten away from him alive."
"You're kidding." Paradox wasn't one to kid, but Itsuka couldn't help saying it. "How could he have gotten even more powerful than he is already? He was already stronger than all of us put together. Now you're saying-"
"You sell yourself short, my dear," interrupted Paradox with a serene smile. "I have always said that you are his equal, even if neither of you has realized it."
Itsuka looked away, gazing at the war-torn city. "It's you who overestimates me. Eon has powers I will never have. It's been like that since-"
Since that time, when each of them had only been concerned with doing their best, every single day, to become the greatest heroes they could be. Itsuka hated thinking about that time. She hated remembering that the monster they were all fighting against today had once been a person she had been proud to call her friend, and eventually her best friend, and eventually-
"-since I first knew him," she finished weakly.
She ignored the waves of sympathy radiating off of the Professor, resolutely fixing her eyes on the horizon. "Eon can do things you cannot, that is for certain. But the same goes for you; you can do things he cannot, either. Yet if he keeps growing at this rate, not even One for All's full power will be enough to contain him. We need another plan, Itsuka. We need...I need to advance once more."
Itsuka whirled around to stare at him, this time in unfiltered, unabashed surprise. She could have a guess at the euphemism's true meaning, and seeing the ancient determination in Paradox's eyes convinced her that her interpretation was correct. "You can't be serious!" she expressed. "But if this doesn't work out-"
"This is the only way." Paradox's voice had hardened as it rarely did, and it silenced her immediately. "Itsuka, I have seen. Eon is too powerful. I will not survive my next fight with him, and the only other warrior who has even a whisper of a chance against him is you. No one else is ready to stand against him."
"If I pass on One for All-" argued Itsuka.
"Passing on One for All is a suicide move," intoned Paradox flatly. "It is powerful enough now that Eon cannot beat you outright, which is more than anyone else on our side can say. But what you seem to be overlooking is your experience with it. If you pass it on now, you will be surrendering our most powerful weapon to someone who does not have the time to master it properly, assuming they are physically ready to accept it. We will lose our strongest warrior for nothing, Itsuka."
Itsuka gritted her teeth, but she didn't bother continuing the debacle. One for All had grown even more powerful within her than it had within Izuku Midoriya, its previous wielder, and her being in her physical prime at the time had allowed her access to all its previous holders' Quirks right from the outset. That along with Eon's seeming leniency when fighting her or any of his former peers was the only reason so many of her former classmates were still alive. Furthermore, the war had molded them into hardened warriors, each more capable than most erstwhile Pros and each more than ready to accept One for All. But if Paradox was to be believed, then there was simply nothing for it. The mercy Eon appeared to have for them did not extend to the elderly academic or anyone else on their side.
And there was little question that Paradox was to be believed. The man- if he even was a man anymore- possessed the most powerful Space-Time Quirk in existence, which he had employed with impunity to explore the vast reaches of time and plumb the space-time continuum until he had grown mad from the experience. The nature of his powers easily placed him at a level just below godhood. He was immortal and could create universes if he so wished through the simplest of actions, as he could go anywhere he pleased within any universe, and in any timeline. If he knew this was the only way to defeat Eon, then he could not be deterred. He was imperishable.
Paradox extricated from his lab coat a grey sphere of metal and held it up. Itsuka didn't have to look inside it to know what it contained, the kind of destruction the device had wreaked upon her world. The existence of this device was the sole reason she had not been sorry to hear of Azmuth's demise at Eon's hands, even though it had robbed them forever of the chance to someday equal his power.
"And so, I must advance, old friend," Paradox murmured, his voice as deep and slow as a rumbling tide. "My actions shall once more change this universe inexorably, creating ripples which I cannot reverse...
"And I only pray we may achieve our salvation at last."
X-X-X
X-X-X
EXACTLY TEN YEARS EARLIER
Ochako Uraraka was ecstatic. In this case, ecstatic meant that she was fully prepared to sing the Ode to Joy at the top of her voice while running across her new two-bedroom apartment and juggling miscellaneous objects she had made weightless with her Quirk. The fact that she was absolutely horrible at English and sounded like a dying seal when she sang did not deter her in the least.
Today was the day she and her parents had finally moved to Musutafu, away from their old home in the Kansai region and towards the metropolis of Japan, so this attitude was wholly unsurprising. Even now, her father was shaking his head at her with a fond smile and putting down the cardboard box he had been carrying to pat her on the head.
"Jus' a few more minutes, Ocha," he assured her. "Then yer free to explore th' area however ya like."
Ochako had made no secret of the fact that she wanted to be a hero and rescue people when she grew up, having at first been inspired by a video of Thirteen using their Quirk to rescue a couple trapped beneath the rubble that had previously been their house. Observing her family's poverty had altered that fledgling dream slightly, reshaping it so that she would become a hero to earn plenty of money so her parents wouldn't have to work as hard as they did. This had been when she was but a toddler, and seven years had done nothing to waver her convictions in the slightest.
However, a miraculous uptick in their fortunes had poured swathes of money into their previously empty bank accounts- enough money, in fact, for the Uraraka household to restore their construction company back to a state near its prime, pull in more workers to speed up their ongoing projects and still have enough left over to settle their various outstanding debts. About six months later they had amassed enough wealth to move to Musutafu, where her father could open some more offices and spread his business even further, and also where Ochako could try for admission to U.A when she grew old enough. Maybe soon they'd be able to afford a car! Ochako let out a little squeal at the idea, inadvertently brushing another cardboard box and taking away all its weight. This would have normally been enough to make it start floating, but it was still full of their stuff, so it didn't.
"Ochako," chided her mother, her voice a familiar mixture of scolding and amusement as she used her own Quirk to restore gravity back to the box. Ochako grinned sheepishly, knowing her mother wasn't actually mad. "I know yer excited, but Papa and Mama still need ta move some more things into our house. Jus' a few more minutes, 'kay sweetie?" she asked, unconsciously echoing her husband.
"'Kay," agreed Ochako, though she felt so jittery that even sitting still for a bit was quickly shaping up to be an impossible task. Noticing this, her mother cast a quick glance over to her husband, who was carefully attaching a painting of the family that Ochako had done as a toddler over their fridge door by way of having glued it to a magnet. "Anata," she called. "Maybe it would be best ta let Ochako run around fer a bit. She's bein' all twitchy, and you know how she gets when she's like this."
The sandy-haired man looked over. "Ya sure that's a good idea, Terumi?" he asked, though he sounded less forbidding than either female had expected. "We 'aven't ever been anywhere near Musutafu before. She could get lost easy."
"As long as she doesn't stray too far away..." Her mother looked at Ochako contemplatively. "It might do 'er a bit o' good, workin' off all that energy."
The eleven-year-old knew from experience that staying silent and letting her big brown eyes do the pleading in these situations usually got her what she wanted. As she had expected, a few moments later, her father gave in. "I wan' ya close and no wanderin' off," he ordered gently. "Make sure not ta get lost, Ocha, and keep off th' road-"
"YAAAAY!" she trilled, tackling the man in a big hug that he returned heartily, before reluctantly releasing her so she could do the same to her mother. "Be safe, Ocha," she advised softly, but her words fell on deaf ears as Ochako sped out of the door faster than she had ever been able to run before, barely remembering to slip into her pink sandals and pull on a sweater before running out onto the corridor, down the stairs and into the open.
Musutafu was gigantic, she observed in awe. She had seen much of it from the car ride here, but looking at the glass towers brush the clouds once more filled her with delight once more. No buildings she had ever seen were this high! It was ten in the morning on a Wednesday, so it was fairly obvious why there was no one else on the road. There was only the occasional bus zooming by and the sound of the train from far away. As she watched, some tall men in suits hurried into a nearby building that she guessed was their office, like her dad's. They were drinking something out of big white cups and chatting between themselves animatedly.
Grinning to herself and almost jumping in place with anticipation, Ochako turned around to run in another direction once more and-
"Oof!" came a surprised voice, followed by a thud on the pavement below. Ochako felt the wind knocked out of her as excitement was replaced quickly and abruptly by pain and a little bit of fear at having accidentally bowled someone else over. That someone else turned out to be a boy who seemed about her own age, looking winded as he rubbed his belly.
"Oh gee!" she gasped, getting up and folding instantly into a bow. Her parents had drilled manners into her and now seemed a good time to use them. "I'm so sorry!" she gasped as the boy got up. "I-I wasn't lookin' where I was goin' an'- an' I din't mean to-"
"-It's fine," the boy cut her off, brushing himself off as he looked her over with equanimity. Now that she wasn't bowing anymore, Ochako could see that he was about her own height, with spiky white hair looking a little like in those old anime shows that she didn't watch because they were so violent. He had grey eyes and skin noticeably paler than her own, and he was wearing a nondescript black sweatshirt, with grey jeans and black shoes. "Say, I don't think I've seen you around here before," he continued, eyeing her up.
Ochako flushed. This boy was apparently very direct; indeed, the fact that she had just knocked him over had already seemed to be completely forgotten. "I- mah family jus' moved 'ere," she explained, waving her hand to indicate the building she had just run out of. "I wanted ta explore th' area a bit 'cause Mama an' Papa are doin' stuff I can't help 'em out wi' 'cause I can't lift boxes and stuff."
"Huh. Well, what do you know; I live there too," commented the boy interestedly as he looked where she was pointing. "Also, you talk funny."
The brunette reddened further, this time out of anger, but before she could snap at him he went on to say, "Are you from the Kansai region? One of my dad's friends is from there, and she talks like that, so." He waved a hand languidly, staring at her intently. "Are you?"
She nodded, her anger quickly draining away as she realized this strange boy wasn't pointing out her accent to make fun of it, but simply because it was something interesting which he'd observed about her. At her affirmative response, he nodded in a satisfied manner. "I've seen pictures of that area; it looks so different from Musutafu that I couldn't believe they're in the same country," he proclaimed. "And- uh, sorry. I've forgotten to introduce myself." He rubbed the back of his head with a chagrined grimace before giving a short, polite bow. "My name is Kyosuke Kirihara. It's nice to meet you."
Ochako smiled, bowing as well while deciding she liked this boy even if he didn't smile all that much. "I'm Ochako Uraraka!" she trilled.
"Uraraka-san, huh?" he murmured to himself. Ochako frowned at that. "Ya can drop th' '-san', Kirihara-kun!" she assured him brightly. "I don' mind bein' called 'Uraraka-chan.'"
Kirihara blushed at that, looking half-annoyed, half-embarrassed. The expression seemed so foreign on his face that she found it curiously endearing. "'-Chan?'" he asked her.
"Mm!" she smiled at him happily.
"...I think I'll just stick with Uraraka," he demurred, squinting for some reason before turning away slightly, shielding his eyes. "Too bright..."
Ochako knitted her brows in confusion at the last two words but decided to ignore them when it was clear Kirihara wasn't going to elaborate. "Ya could show me aroun'!" she suggested, fingers tangled behind her back as she shot him another smile, this time slightly pleading. "This place is huge, an' I don' wanna get lost on mah firs' day!" This was an attempt to get her new friend to bond with her further, not an actual plea for help, but the more she stood here talking to him, the more she realized that Musutafu was an easy place to get lost in, and she didn't know anyone here except for this boy who could help her out. And her parents, but they didn't count because they would be just as lost as she had they come along.
Kirihara peered at her before shrugging. "I don't see why not," he agreed. "You're right, besides; Musutafu is huge." He beckoned for her to join him as he walked past. His gait was unhurried and measured like he was in no hurry to explore the area, which was in sharp contrast to Ochako's excitement. Then again, walking here was probably second nature to him. He had obviously lived here far longer than she.
Doing a little dance of celebration, Ochako hurried to join him, gasping in delight as they soon entered a small square where more buildings and colorful advertisements revealed themselves to her in an explosion of activity that had been wholly absent back home. Everything around her was steel and concrete, wide panes of opaque glass reflecting light everywhere. Kirihara sighed in exasperation but increased his pace to keep up, hands in his pockets as Ochako whirled around, absorbing, feeling, tasting everything around her. The sensory input was almost overwhelming in its magnitude, and she had to stop moving just to experience everything going on around her in its entirety.
"The area is full of shops and stuff," explained Kirihara a few minutes later, walking up behind her as she caught her breath. They had gone past it by then and were now entering a relatively quieter street fringed with houses. "Up ahead is a more residential place where you'll find most people who go to my school. I think you'll be going there too if you're living here. Your other option is a private academy that's six kilometers away and way more expensive," he professed bluntly.
"Ooh! D'ya know anyone? Are they nice?" she asked eagerly. It seemed sensible to ask about her future classmates if Kirihara was correct. The boy shrugged lackadaisically. "Yes and no. There's this one guy who's friends with me, but everyone else kind of hates us," he revealed with all the casualness of someone commenting on the weather.
The bald statement pulled Ochako up short like an anchor held taut, her smile slipping away. "Whaddya mean, ev'ryone hates ya?" she breathed, all her previous lightness disappearing. Someone who had taken the time to help out a lost kid didn't seem like someone who deserved to be hated, and that too by everyone in his school apart from one person. Kirihara peered at her before sighing. "I guess it can't hurt to tell you. There's this guy who really wants to be a hero and go to U.A. The thing is, so do I, and a third guy in my class."
"Really?" she squealed. "Me too! I wanna be a hero when I grow up too!"
Kirihara nodded, looking impressed. "That's great. You'll probably like my friend, then," he praised, though his expression was somber. "But you see, the guy is Quirkless. He doesn't have any powers that can be used for heroic stuff, and the Quirk I have is also pretty useless. It's called Super Saiyan, because it makes my hair look exactly like a Super Saiyan's no matter what it goes through." He indicated the mass of flame-like white hair on his scalp that Ochako admitted did look very unique, even if she had no idea what a Super Saiyan was. "And that's it. Neither of us has great powers or anything like All Might or Endeavour, but we still wanna be heroes. We've both wanted to since we were little kids...well, rather, he's wanted to. I only made the decision about a year ago-"
"That's awesome!" expressed Ochako loudly, which stopped the boy dead. "Not havin' cool Quirks but still wan'ing ta be heroes is so cool!"
Kirihara smiled for the first time; a genuine, surprised smile showing his teeth that Ochako suspected was an expression he rarely showed to anyone. "I'm glad you think so," he declared softly, "because no one else in our school thinks we'll be heroes. The third guy in our class who wants to go into U.A makes fun of us all the time because of it, and everyone else joins him because his Quirk happens to be amazing." He scowled, looking away from Ochako's horrified expression momentarily. What Kirihara was describing had an ugly name attached to it; a name so horrible that she refused to let it form in her head. "It doesn't matter, though. To hell with Quirks and whatever. I'm still becoming a hero, and so is Midoriya. No matter what it takes."
The fire blazing to life in his grey eyes stopped Ochako short. At that moment, she saw not her new friend, the quiet eleven-year-old with white hair, but an image of the tall, confident hero he would grow up to be- the same hero whom anyone could rely on to save them when they were in a pinch. "Amazin'..." she whispered, but so quietly that Kirihara didn't hear her. Her new friend was amazing.
"Anyway," he dropped the scowl and peered at her once more. "What's your Quirk?" He sounded a little warmer now, as if something subtly forbidding in his voice had melted away. "I bet it's something really cool."
Ochako flushed happily. "Well, its name is Zero Gravity, an' it lets me do this..."
X-X-X
Izuku was bent over in the sand, folded like a deckchair from the force of Kacchan's fist. Coughing hard despite remembering to tighten his stomach, he slumped over, trying hard not to burst into tears. "Kacchan..." he pleaded. "Why do...why do you keep doing this?"
"Shut the fuck up, Deku," came the hissed voice, which had already started to crack despite its owner not even being twelve yet. Suspicion pointed to the cause being all the yelling he did, not actual adolescence, but it still lent a weight to his words that had been absent before. Kacchan grabbed his collar and threw him to the ground roughly, not giving him a chance to breathe. "Fucking loser, always goddamn whining about becoming a hero- get over yourself, you fucking failure!" he seethed, kicking him in the ribs. Izuku wheezed, the tears pouring out despite all his efforts to stop them. "Look at you; you're just a Quirkless fucking crybaby!"
Sobbing out, Izuku attempted to get to his feet, but Kacchan gave him another sharp kick to the stomach that put that idea to rest immediately. Air whistled through his lips like a deflating tire as it was knocked out of him once more.
"Just give up, Deku," sneered Kacchan, explosions popping at his palms. "Otherwise, well..." he gave a savage grin. "You know what I can do to ya."
Izuku's gut twisted at the expression. "Why are you like this, Kacchan?" he whispered. "What did I ever do to you?"
For some reason, the last question wiped the smile from Kacchan's face for an instant before it was replaced completely by a snarl. "More than you know, shithead!" he howled. "More than a fucking Quirkless like you has any right to do! Just go and fucking die in a hole, you assrag!"
Izuku struggled to his feet, wiping the tears on his face away with his sleeve. "I-I don't even know what you mean," he confessed brokenly. Everything hurt. His gut ached, he was fairly sure his ribs were bruised, and his sleeve came away bloody from where he'd used it to wipe across his face. And yet he could only ask, over and over again. "I don't know...what I-I did! Why d-do you do this?"
Kacchan seethed, all previous glee vanished. "Shut up, you useless waste of space." It was clear that something about Izuku's question had destabilized him, and he was desperately trying to buoy himself up with his explosive anger in traditional Kacchan fashion.
At least his lackeys weren't here. Maybe Izuku would get away with nothing more than a few more burns. He tried to raise his hands in a guard like All Might sometimes did when facing off against a villain, but faced with Kacchan's rage, he simply couldn't do it. His arms felt like limp soba and his knees were inches away from knocking into one another. God, why? Why was he so weak?
"Go away, Kacchan," Izuku found himself whispering instead, a fervent wish from the boy who was tired of being knocked around. For an instant, the hurt friend-turned-victim was spirited away and replaced with a broken child who just wanted to be left in peace.
It proved to be exactly the wrong thing to do. Kacchan slammed a fist into his palm, grinning once more. "No, Deku. I don't fucking think so. Heroes don't run from villains, do they?" He stalked forward, smoke streaming from his hands. "I think I'm gonna kick the shit out of you a bit more until you're too fucked up to move. Just like a villain against All Might, yeah?"
He spread his arms, light popping from his palms. "No need to fear!" he yelled, doing an imitation of the Number One Hero. It looked so out of place, so wrong on his childhood friend that Izuku almost gagged simply from seeing it. "I am here! And you're going down, villain!"
Kacchan ran forward once more, ready to drive a palm into Izuku's gut like he had hundreds of times before.
"HEY!" came a voice filled with the wrath of a thousand suns. "LEAVE HIM ALONE!"
Izuku gasped as a black blur came barrelling out of nowhere, shoving Kacchan aside with the force of a freight train. The blond boy gave a squawk of surprise, followed by a grunt of pain as he tumbled in the sand, rolling thrice before he finally came to a stop. He recognized the second boy, of course; he was Izuku's only friend among the hundreds of students in Aldera, or at least the only person his own age still willing to talk to him. Kirihara looked furious, a vein pulsing in his head the way it did when he was really angry, and not simply annoyed. Izuku's gut twisted once more, but with a curious mixture of relief and shame this time.
Relief, because Kirihara was here, and Kacchan would now be likelier to leave them alone.
Shame, because he depended on Kirihara so much instead of being able to stand up for himself.
"Well, well," wheezed Kacchan, struggling to his feet and eyeing up Izuku's friend with disdain. "Fucking Kirihara, just as useless as that waste of space. At least you have a fucking spine...fat lot of good it'll do you in U.A, though."
Kirihara snarled. "Oh, and I suppose you're so much more heroic, pushing around someone who refuses to fight back." He bared his teeth coldly, looking for all the world like he was ready to tear Kacchan to pieces. While Izuku's friend was usually calmer than this, Kacchan's actions set him off much quicker than anything else. "Don't play at being a hero...not when you're just a bully, Bakugou."
Kacchan gave a roar of fury. "You loser! I'll fuck you up so bad!"
Despite his profane utterances, it was clear right from the outset that the blond was in no hurry to attack Kirihara. His stance was rather warier than it had been before, when he could have afforded to be aggressive and prideful. Now, he was facing an opponent who wouldn't just roll over and let him do whatever he wanted, and Kacchan knew that if he tried attacking Kirihara, he wouldn't get away without injury. While the white-haired boy would never win against Kacchan in an all-out fight, because Kacchan's Quirk was just that powerful, the blond would never be able to take home a flawless victory if they tussled.
It was so unlike when Izuku faced him...the thought made the green-haired boy want to cry once more. Why, why, why couldn't he stand up to Kacchan? Why did Kacchan have to attack him so much? Taking a deep breath to try and ease some of the pain he was feeling, Izuku stepped forth until he was standing beside his friend. "Don't, Kirihara-kun," he whispered, wincing as his lip ached at the movement.
"Damn it, Midoriya," ground out Kirihara, though he did not take his eyes off the plainly fuming Kacchan for even a second. The vein in his head had stopped pulsing, but he was clearly still angry. "Don't let him push you around just because you're so nice..."
Kacchan laughed harshly. "As if that Quirkless waste of space has the guts to fight back against a brick, forget an actual person! And he fucking calls himself a future hero?"
Kirihara gritted his teeth. "Go away, Bakugou," he snarled, every vibration in his voice sharp enough to draw blood. Kacchan sneered at him, flames sparking in his hands like firecrackers, but he made no attempt to move either away or towards the white-haired boy.
"Wha's goin' on?" came a third, frightened voice that was plainly female and not one that Izuku recognized. Even Kacchan was pulled up short like he didn't know who the voice belonged to either. Only Kirihara did not waver, instead continuing to glare stonily at the blond. "I don' un'erstan', Kirihara-kun. Why was tha' blond boy pushin' the one wi' tha curly 'air an' freckles aroun' like tha'? Wha's that guy's problem?"
Izuku peered around his friend's rigid frame, trying to see who was sticking up for him, at least for now. If she couldn't recognize Kacchan, then she probably didn't go to school with them, and that funny way of talking meant she wasn't from around here, either...
Oh.
He stopped dead as he finally caught sight of the cutest girl he had ever seen in his eleven years of existence, by far.
Izuku's jaw slackened, his heart started beating hundreds of times faster, and a blush fired upon his cheeks as he continued to gaze in her direction.
She was adorable, with round, pink cheeks and brown hair reaching up to her neck. Her big brown eyes were swimming with tears and her fists were balled up at her hips. Her lips were pursed in an expression similar to his when he was trying to restrain himself from crying, and she was wearing a yellow sweater over brown shorts and pink sandals. Kirihara, amazingly, did not so much as glance in her direction; Izuku felt as if he could look at her forever and never tire of it.
Just his luck. The first time he saw a girl willing to be within ten feet of him, at least until she found out he was Quirkless, and whom he just so happened to consider the prettiest one alive, and it was when he'd just gotten a beating from Kacchan. He would have started to cry at the thought but for the knowledge that it would probably repel her quicker, and he didn't want to chase away the only person willing to stick up for him except for Kirihara or his mother quite so quickly.
"I said go away, Bakugou." Kirihara had held a hand up, halting the girl's frightened questioning without so much as glancing at her. Kacchan scoffed, finally turning away and stalking off, hands in his pockets. "Have fun with your girlfriend, loser," he jeered, but Izuku didn't care. Relief was soaking through his bones as Kacchan slowly became a black dot on the horizon, unable to hurt or belittle him for the rest of the day.
It was then that Kirihara finally relaxed, running a hand through his hair as he glanced at the scared girl. "I'm sorry you had to see that, Uraraka," he apologized contritely.
Uraraka. So her name was Uraraka. Izuku sighed internally; the name sounded like it suited her. Already the brunette was shaking her head, brown tresses flying. "Tha's okay," she smiled weakly, rubbing at her tears. "Was tha' the guy ya mentioned before? Th' one who..."
Kirihara gave a nod. "His name is Katsuki Bakugou. This," he gestured in Izuku's direction, "is Izuku Midoriya. He's the friend of mine I told you about."
Hearing Kirihara call him friend nearly reduced Izuku to tears once more, but he managed to avoid making a complete fool of himself.
"Midoriya," and this time Kirihara looked at him and gestured at the girl, who smiled and waved a little hesitantly. Izuku cringed inwardly, hoping that she wouldn't be repulsed like all of his other classmates by his general uselessness. "This is Ochako Uraraka-" oh God that name sounded adorable- "and she just moved in the same building I live in. I met her about an hour ago. She's nice," he concluded with his usual brevity.
Nice enough to associate with us, was the unspoken statement. Izuku wiped some more dust off himself and attempted a flimsy smile, which proved challenging when one considered the bruises hiding beneath his clothes and the blood on his lip. Uraraka stepped forward a little concernedly, her eyes on Izuku's arm. "Ya have somethin' there, Midoriya-kun," she pronounced hesitantly, pointing at a burn Kacchan had left on his arm. Izuku quickly pulled his sleeve over the hurt area, shaking his head. "I-It's okay!" he laughed awkwardly. "I-It'll go a-a-away soon; I'm f-fine."
Uraraka's eyes widened as she stared at him, seemingly at a loss for words at his behavior. Fortunately- or unfortunately- Kirihara chose that moment to intervene. "Come over, and we can get that looked at."
"D-don't...it's n-no trouble..." protested Izuku weakly, but a Look from the white-haired boy silenced him immediately. Uraraka glanced between them worriedly, biting her lip. "Kirihara-kun, I still don' un'erstan'. Why was tha' Bakugou guy beatin' aroun' Midoriya-kun like tha'?"
Kirihara sighed. "It's...you'll understand if- when- you enroll in Aldera Junior High. Bakugou is the guy I was talking about earlier, the one who picks on everyone and gets away with it because his Quirk is so cool. Midoriya, who's Quirkless, and me, whose Quirk is useless, are on the other end of the spectrum; his main targets, so to speak. Uraraka, your Quirk is great too, so you'll probably be on Bakugou's level in terms of respect and such-"
"Hey!" interrupted Uraraka, suddenly looking angry. "Why're ya lumpin' me in wi' tha' guy? He's nothin' but a bully!"
Izuku flinched. Uraraka seemed genuinely offended, judging from her darkening cheeks and tight frown, and people getting offended around him usually never ended well for him. The white-haired boy raised his hands up in a supplicating gesture, looking just as alarmed as Izuku felt. "I'm just saying," he stated in a tone that Izuku recognized as the same one he used when he was trying to apply logic to a situation he didn't understand. "You don't have to be with us if you don't want to. We get picked on all the time, and no one's friends with us."
"Well, I wanna!" she proclaimed boldly, and that made Izuku tear up even further. Such a cute, friendly girl lowering herself to his level was enough to do as much. "You an' Midoriya-kun are nice people. The guys at yer school are dum-dums!"
She whirled towards Izuku, almost making him flinch once more, and she stuck out her hand. "Le's be friends!" she declared. "Um. I mean- i-if ya wanna," she trailed off a little more shyly.
Hesitantly, almost certain this was all just a cruel dream, and he would soon wake up to Kacchan sneering down at him once more, Izuku took her hand, grasping it gently, feeling his throat tighten. "Sure, l-let's be...f-f-friends," he accepted. Uraraka nodded at him shyly, an adorable blush coating her cheeks.
They stayed like that for a few seconds, looking into each other's eyes quietly. Izuku felt that he could have lived in that moment forever, his hand in Uraraka's and each of their eyes drinking in the other. She was so pretty, so easy to look at.
Then Kirihara broke the moment by dryly clearing his throat, something resembling amusement in his voice. "You know, I'm right here."
They jumped apart immediately, Uraraka snatching her hand away from his as if something had burned her. Feeling his face grow fire-engine red, Izuku struggled to get some coherent words out, but the brunette beat him to the punch after some mutual stuttering while Kirihara went on smirking like the cat that had gotten the canary. "I-I just remembered. Why'd ya call tha' guy Kacchan? An' why'd he call ya Deku?"
Kirihara's smile vanished, but he stayed silent, clearly wanting to let Izuku do the explaining. Swallowing, the green-haired boy spoke. "K-Kacchan and I...we used to be friends, a l-long time ago before he g-got his Quirk." No, no, that simply wouldn't do, he had to elaborate further- "He was g-good at everything; he could r-read kanji and do t-tricks with a football and climb t-trees much earlier than a-any of us. All of us looked u-up to him. But b-because I c-couldn't do any of that, and I d-didn't get my Quirk, he started calling me D-Deku, which is another way y-you can read the kanji of my first n-name. It means 'useless'."
A scowl was marring Kirihara's face, similar to the one he'd worn when Izuku had told him the same story the first time they'd met.
Picking at her chin thoughtfully, Uraraka spoke up after some time, sounding cheerful. "But I kinda like Deku, ya know? It sounds like 'you can do it'! It's a super adorable nickname if ya leave out the useless part!"
Steam poured out of Izuku's ears. "I'M DEKU!"
"Midoriya?" spluttered Kirihara, sounding genuinely surprised. Uraraka grinned, folding her hands behind her back. "Hehe! So can I call ya that?"
"That's an insult!" hissed the white-haired boy, sounding scandalized. "Why would you even-?"
"Yeah- but I'm sayin' it doesn't hafta be!" insisted Uraraka, talking over him while rolling her eyes in exasperation. This pulled Kirihara up short, the shocked frown on his face falling away to be replaced by a more introspective expression. "Hm. I never thought of it like that...well, if Midoriya's okay with it..." he trailed off questioningly, peering in Izuku's direction.
"Y-you-" Izuku put his face in his hands. "You can. Um. Call me D-Deku, i-if you want."
"Great!" cheered Uraraka, and oh, she was so bright that it was getting hard to look at her. Even Kirihara was turning away, positioning a hand over his eyes like he was blocking out the light of the sun, lest it burn his eyes. "Yer now Deku-kun, then!"
When she said it, Deku no longer sounded like an insult. No, when the name rolled from her lips it sounded so sweet, so gentle, that Izuku could only pray he wouldn't wake up, if this would end up turning out to be a cruel, cruel dream unearthed from the darkest imaginings of his brain.
"Thank you, Uraraka-san..." he whispered quietly.
The brunette frowned at him at that. "I 'ad ta do this wi' Kirihara-kun, too...ya can drop th' '-san', Deku-kun! Just Uraraka is okay, or even, er." She reddened suddenly, shuffling her feet. "If ya wan', um...Uraraka...chan."
Izuku could faintly hear a shrill whistling in his ears. "Uraraka-chan," he whispered, just audibly enough for the two of them to hear him. "Ura...raka...chan..."
Then he promptly keeled over into a dead faint.
"Uh- Deku-kun- DEKU-KUN? Oh mah God, wha' th' 'eck even 'appened ta 'im?"
"Hey, Midoriya! MIDORIYA! Quick Uraraka, call an ambulance!"
"HOW!? I DON' 'AVE A PHONE, YA KNOW!"
"DAMN IT! Hey, wake up man! She only said you can call her Uraraka-chan if you want, not marry her or something! HEY! WAKE UP, DUDE!"
"Wha's this 'bout marryin', now!?"
"Oh my God- just. Just help me carry him to his house, it's not far-"
(Needless to say, this was the start of a beautiful friendship. It was at this moment, this blessed instant of time, that two became three, and the Loser Duo of the Quirkless and the guy with the useless Quirk became the Loser Trio, accompanied by the girl with the weird accent. These three would soon grow up and graduate Aldera as fine young students, and soon after that, fine young adults.)
(This is their story, and though nothing truly significant really happens for the rest of their middle school career, it can only be this moment that may truly be called the start of it all).
X-X-X
A/N: Hello, and welcome to the rewrite of It's Hero Time!
It's been a while since my decision to overhaul my work, on account of me realizing I could do better. Hopefully, I've indeed managed to do better. This project of mine is one I've put quite a bit of my time and effort into, and I hope that all of you enjoy it.
Thank you so much for reading, and please do leave a review if you enjoyed the first chapter, want to provide some criticism, or just any reason you feel is satisfactory. Let it be known that you will make my day by leaving a review unless it's a pointless insult or flaming; in which case you will simply make the other reviewers even more awesome by comparison. I am more than happy to receive criticism so long as it is constructive and not criticism for criticism's sake.
That's all for now. I hope you're looking forward to the next chapter. It shall be out very soon, hopefully.
Thank you and take care.