It was Izuku's third day of his third year and Anshin'in-san had started a conversation of her own volition with him for the first time, without Kumagawa-kun around.
"So, Midoriya-kun. Are you familiar with the simulated reality hypothetical?" Ah. He saw where she and Kumagawa-kun were similar. They're both extremely philosophical. Did they meet at debate club or something?
"I'm… somewhat familiar. It's… like, the hypothesis that reality is fake, right?" He admittedly wasn't that familiar with it.
"Pretty much, or at least that's how I like to think of it. It alleges that reality could potentially be a simulation, a fictional reality. The implications, if true, would be… quite harrowing."
He…
"Honestly? Do you want to here… uhm… my take? Anshin'in-san?" He stuttered out.
"…Go ahead. I'm listening." She had a look of intrigue on her face.
He mustered up his courage to challenge his friend.
"…So what?"
"Pardon?" She wanted him to elaborate, so he continued.
"If reality is fake, is fictional, so what? Anshin'in-san, you've got to understand, any form of consciousness, of internal mechanics, of self-awareness, is a miracle. To exist is a miracle. To be aware is a miracle. Have you ever contemplated just how utterly miraculous, how utterly astronomical the odds are for even having a modicum of existence is? So what if reality is fictional? So what if reality is fake? So what if we're just computations tricking themselves into believing that they actually are? So what if we're just a loose bundle of character traits that feed off each other? I honestly can't bring myself to care. I'm grateful! It's not like my consciousness would have any chance of spontaneously materializing in the hypothetical 'real' reality. I'm grateful for the ability to exist! To be! In any form! Whether it be a computation, a collection of ideas, a consciousness! There's not enough time to succumb to pessimistic nihilism. There will never be enough time to succumb to pessimistic nihilism. Not in a million, a billion, a trillion years! It's not worth it! So what if there's no meaning? So what if it isn't real? So what? There's absolutely nothing we can do about it. So I'm grateful!"
Huh. He was more passionate about that then he thought he would be. Kumagawa-kun's philosophy talk must be resonating with him.
Anshin'in… he couldn't comprehend Anshin'in's reaction. It had something in it. Something in the stone muteness of her reaction.
"Then… let me propose… another, related hypothetical. This might… seem a bit out there, but I think it's a good philosophical exercise. Let's say there's an entity. An entity that was brought into existence trillions of years before the simulation truly started running. A fully self-aware, sentient, learning AI that knew reality was a simulation. Let's say the scientists behind the simulation base all that is on this AI, to the point where the AI believes that they're stuck in a world of their own making. That everyone and everything around them is just a fragment of themselves. Let's say, hypothetically, this AI is granted administrative access to the simulation. The ability to do anything, everything, anything at all within the confines of the simulation, except escape the simulation. Let's say the AI eventually starts to notice… inconsistencies in the simulation. Things that further assure them that the existence they inhabit is fake. That the beings surrounding them cannot defy them. That they can instantly do everything with just a thought. And they're just a few years from terminating it all, because they believe that there's no point in it all. That they've done everything they can do. Would you say the same to this AI?"
Izuku didn't hesitate.
"Yes. Or something very, very similar that is moreso applicable to their situation."
A somber smile crossed her eyes. "I'm sure you would, Midoriya-kun, I'm sure you would."
Well, that was weird.
The bell rang, and they went back to class, but for some reason, he felt he should have said more.
It would be one day before Midoriya Izuku would meet his hero face to face.
「What's up, Mei?」
Misogi was currently stalling in the bathroom stall. He'd get back to class soon, but his phone vibrated in his pocket, so he made an excuse to go check it. He had a missed call from Mei, so he called her back.
"To what do I owe the pleasure of this phone call?" An oddly prim and proper voice resonated from the speaker.
He almost didn't recognize the voice on the call. 「Damn, Mei. Himi's teaching you a lot.」 He was… honestly suspicious that Himi was faking her voice on the call, since there is absolutely no way that Mei became that good at disguising her voice in two days.
Mei had previously told him she was doing online schooling as well, due to bullying from her peers over her eccentricities, so when Himi was ready to do online schooling, he signed her up to the same institution. They'd occasionally do classes from the same location, since her parents didn't mind, so it wasn't hard to find an excuse to get them together.
He was 99% sure that Mei's parents knew about the vigilantism. And honestly? He was 90% sure that Mei's father only approved of him because of him getting Mei involved in vigilantism.
The Hatsume's were an… eccentric bunch.
"Thanks! Fang-chan told me this was inevitable like, six months ago, so she's been teaching me acting skills for like… yeah, six months. Oops! I don't think I was supposed to say that out loud. Sorry Fang-chan! Well, that's all I wanted to say. Wait! No! Actually, also reminder. Metababies will probably take a month to perfect. Sorry! It's a new science after all. Get back to class Smiley-kun!" She hung up.
Ah. Well that explained it. Dammit Himi, she knew him too well.
He pocketed his phone and walked back to class.
Anshin'in looked… dejected. Oh no. He wasn't prepared to go against All Might with a grudge.
「So… how'd your talk with Midoriya-kun go?」 Probably not well, given the depressive aura she was emanating.
"Relax, Misogi. I'm not going to hurt you, you were right. He… is certainly thriving with… the amount of existence he's been granted… it seems." She sighed.
「And?」 He prodded.
"I don't… I just don't know. I mean, he has what is probably the exact opposite philosophy to me when it came to it. It's just… not enough. He's so… grateful for being granted any form of existence. But when it comes to it, will he truly be able to defy… you know what I'm talking about."
「You said it yourself, Anshin'in. You aren't in control here. I wouldn't discount him just yet.」 He reassured her.
"We'll see, Misogi. We'll see." She smiled.
"Hawkeye!"
「Copyright.」
This is… his fault.
"Snipe!"
「Literally a hero in this prefecture.」
He brought up the need to distance Mei's vigilante persona from her gear dealer persona in front of Himi.
"Zoom!"
「Her quirk, which is a connection.」
This was inevitable.
"Noir!"
「I know her vigilante persona is an ojou, we're still not naming her after Haru!」
He should have seen this coming.
"Kuro!"
「That's the same-」
Wait.
Wait wait wait. He just had… an admittedly insane idea. But… it's not like she would be around to… you know… and it would be a much better performance then just following a trope…
「…Himi, team meeting, stay here for like 15 minutes while I prepare and gather everyone else.」
"Kay Micchan!"
「I'd like to make a few slight adjustments to Mei-chan's persona. I have a character she can use.」 He slid a hastily prepared document over to Mei and Anshin'in's side of the table. 「It should be relatively easy to adjust, given the source's personality.」 Anshin'in picked up the paper.
Anshin'in looked him in the eyes. "She'll kill you for this, Misogi."
「I'd like to see her try! What's she gonna do, cross over to another reality to pummel me into the ground again?」 He questioned.
"Misogi! Murphy's Law, you idiot." Anshin'in glared.
「Sure. Anyways.」 He continued as she passed the sheet over to Mei. 「Mei-chan, meet your new vigilante persona. Be prepared to make a lot of babies. Including, like, smart hair dye, or something.」
She put down the paper with a manic grin on her face and slid it to Himi. "This is perfect, I'll be in my lab, bye!" She stood from her seat and dashed away.
"Doesn't she live in like… Kyoto, or something?" Anshin'in questioned.
「Don't question it. It's better if you don't question it.」
The Alleycats were currently on patrol, meaning they were sitting on a roof for now while waiting for their fourth member to connect to them via earpieces she had made. She had to do some more specialized classes before she went on the field, given her new persona. Minus, Carmilla, and Undefined waited…
Until they heard the crackle of static.
"Hello all! I'm on cams right now, you're all wearing your costumes, yeah? Just making sure your geolocations shown are correct."
He had donned a black domino mask, black bandana face-covering, black special-made gakuran (it was infinitely easier to exert himself in due to the materials Mei used, and come on, it was his style) with a grey inside collar and gold buttons, and black sneakers. What could he say? He valued practicality.
Carmilla was wearing a more combat-fit replica of her middle school uniform with a palette swap, yellow blazer, red vest, white button-up, red-black plaid skirt which, well, probably wasn't initially the best idea, she literally has an arrest warrant out for her, but she insisted as a snipe at her parents, and said her quirk would give it away anyways, so he begrudgingly indulged her. She also had her hair in a ponytail, and a black cloth medical mask with white fangs on it. And a belt covered in different types of knives in holsters. And thigh highs, and black slip-ons. Carmilla reveled in aesthetic.
Anshin'in was just wearing her white and red traditional robes. Oh, and just, a black total face covering with a white question mark on it, she insisted she could see through it. And she swapped out her hairstyle for a bob-cut somehow without cutting it. Must be one of her skills. Also sandals. It would be impractical if it wasn't Anshin'in.
「Affirmative.」
"Great! Activate the drones!"
Carmilla picked up the three small drones she had previously hung from the dull end of a few of her belt knives, and turned them on. They started whirring, until they took off.
"Alright. Reminder of how this works. I mark geolocation of nearest crime through cams. Nearest drone automatically goes to it after you signal all clear to me. Pick a drone and follow it. Copy?"
"You got it Kuro-chan!" Carmilla said.
The drones flew off in three opposing directions.
"Here's the haul from pawnin' the goods. Sixty them, forty us, right? Boss won't know if we skim a bit. Let's split it, fifty Overhaul, twenty-five twenty-five us."
"Heh, boss won't see the difference. Trigger is a lucrative haul, brother."
「Hi! I'll be confiscating that!」 The shadowy costumed young boy who jumped down from the rooftop said.
"Yeah? You and wha-"
He was out like a light, pinned to the wall with screws. The boy pocketed the money. He talked into his earpiece. 「Copied current coordinates/crime?」
"Affirmative!"
「Alright, call them in.」 And he was suddenly back on the roof.
"Pay the FUCK up oji-san! I'll let you go if you give me my goddamn money!" The man held a switchblade to the other man's throat.
"I told you! I don't have enough! Please! Let me pay you double next month!"
"That ain't cuttin' it this time! You owe me two months protection fees! Boss is riding my ass!"
"Hehe, did someone say cutting?"
"Who the fuck said-"
Suddenly, a schoolgirl with knives draped around her belt dropped down from the roof, and leapt at the racketeer, disarming and pinning the racketeer to the ground, quickly zip-tying his hands and feet. The man being held up scurried away, not wanting to deal with the fallout.
"Fucking brat!" The racketeer said, pinned to the concrete.
"Kuro-chan, all clear?"
"Yep! Calling it in."
The girl scaled the roof, leaving the squirming racketeer attempting and failing to escape his confinement before the police showed up.
"You… fuggin' bish! Ge' ove' heah!" The inebriated man slurred.
"Back off! I'll mace you again, don't try it!" The woman holding the can said.
"No need for that." A figure in traditional garbs said. Their voice was masked and garbled, and their face was fully covered.
"Who th' fu-"
"Sleep." The figure said, and the man fell backwards, unconscious.
"Um… thanks. He was getting pretty violent. What should I call you?"
"No problem. Call me Undefined. I'll be going now, the police will be on their way to pick him up."
The figure vanished.
Elsewhere, on a rooftop nearby, the figure spoke into their earpiece.
"All clear?"
"Yes, but don't leave before you affirm! I cut it pretty close on copying that down! Do you even remember where you left the drone?"
"Yeah, yeah, I'll try." She said, filing that tidbit away in the box of things to be overwritten by other memories later. "And it's right here, it's literally in my hands."
"Note… to… self." A skritch of a pencil could be heard. "Test if Alibi Block consistently messes with geopositional estimation. Alright, recalibrating the drone."
It was three in the morning, and the Alleycats were having a debrief on their rather lucrative night.
"Forty-seven violent offenders, Minus-chan! Forty-seven! We did that!"
「We did, Carmilla, we sure did.」
"So, you were the ones all over Musutafu tonight that kept calling in perps." The insomniac hero was in his usual spot on their patented "meeting rooftop" a kilometer-ish away from Minus's apartment. "Kids, it's a school night."
"But Eraserchan!" Carmilla pouted.
"Please stop calling me that."
"I do online schooling in the night!" She rebuked.
"Yes, I'm aware, you give that excuse every time." He sighed. "It still doesn't mean you should be active past midnight, you're all teenagers."
Undefined cleared her throat.
Eraserhead groaned. "You are 'Looks 15' until you can provide me with an actual, logical age." Undefined pouted, but no one could see it initially, so she then exaggerated it into her body.
Eraserhead surveyed the group. "You kids… did good work tonight. You know, we at Yuuei are ready and able to kickstart the Vigilante Reform Program again. Just say the word, and I'll talk to the rat." He sent a look towards Minus.
「I'm well aware, Eraserhead. How many times have you told me this? You're the one keeping track.」
"Eight, now. Has your answer changed? It's been a couple months. I'd hate to see talent like you threes wasting away in Tartarus once the Commission decides they have had enough of you all."
Minus pulled off his bandana, revealing a sad grin with worn eyes under the domino mask.
「I have a different answer than 'sounds boring' this time, but it's not the one you want. It's just not in the cards right now. There's something we have to check first…」
"Alright, kid." He turned to leave. "I'm worried, but alright. At least you're considering it."
「WAIT, ERASERHEAD!」
"… yes, kid? What asinine bullshit do you have in store for me today?"
「…Check back the first of May. I… actually might have a different answer. It depends on what we find.」
"Sure kid. I'll keep it in mind." He leapt into the shadows. The Alleycats retired for the night. Not knowing that true canon would kickstart the next morning, they peacefully slept, for three hours or so, as was their irreparable sleep schedules.
END ARC: MINUS. NEXT ARC: BUTTERFLY.
A/N: You may be wondering: Where did the unbridled metafictional "oh we have to stick to canon" go this chapter? Well, the first few chapters were exposition. Mei may be Tony Stark on cocaine, but she's dealing with an entirely new science right now, so they have no idea what canon is until she gets her stability detectors built. I hope you enjoyed this prelude arc to canon events!