An empty classroom.
Was this the afterlife?
Suffocation. A horrible way to go. I'm… such a Deku.
He recalled the events that led up to his untimely demise as he sat motionless in the chair.
"WOW! A giant villain!"
A story starts as it always has. A smiling young boy, with dreams greater than himself, looking in awe at the scene of an ongoing crime.
"GET AWAYYYYYYYYY!"
It was Izuku's fourth day of his third year, and he was currently keeping his head down at his desk.
"You guys are all third years now."
Sure, Kumagawa-kun and Anshin'in-san were a row behind him…
"It's time to start thinking seriously about your futures!"
…but the most they could do without getting detention for the mockery that was to come when his teacher inevitably publicly humiliated him was just projecting a malicious aura.
"I would hand out these future career forms, but…"
Don't get him wrong. Kumagawa-kun was scary. He had this… aura around him that screamed the ability to hurt everyone around him in an instant. But Izuku wasn't one to judge over petty things like that. It wasn't ever directed at him, anyways, mostly Kacchan…
"I assume you ALL want to be heroes!" He threw the papers in the air, like the choice wasn't even a choice to begin with.
…who, lately, hadn't been bothering him much. He had Kumagawa-kun and Anshin'in-san to thank for that..
His classmates were all using their quirks, in a brazen illegal act that would be inevitably overlooked.
…but on the other hand, he didn't want to be protected. He wanted to protect! How could he handle saving lives if he couldn't handle Kacchan!
"Yes, you all have wonderful quirks. But you know that it's against the rules to use them in school!"
Heh. Like they'd even try enforcing that without heavy public scrutiny.
"D-" Kacchan was cut off at the start of his sentence. 「Sensei, what if I want to be a doctor, are you insinuating that my dream doesn't matter?」 The previously mentioned malicious aura leaked from the smiling boy.
Huh? He always assumed…
The jubilant atmosphere in the room was slightly stifled. The balding man at the front awkwardly cleared his throat. "N-no, Kumagawa-kun, I don't mean to insinuate that… it's good that you're being realistic."
He should have asked Kumagawa-kun. He was projecting on him. He was being a bad friend.
「Well, good thing I want to be a hero, not a doctor. That sure would be awkward if it were the case!」 Kumagawa-kun plastered on a grin.
Oh, it was just Kumagawa-kun being Kumagawa-kun. Still… he should ask him these things in the future.
"DON'T GET AHEAD OF YOURSELF, SMILES! YOU CUT ME OFF! AND THAT GOES FOR THE REST OF YOU LOT TOO! DON'T INSULT ME, TEACH!" Kacchan ranted. "AS IF I HAVE ANYTHING LIKE THEIR CRAPPY QUIRKS! GET REAL!"
If Kacchan was good at one thing… other then well, fighting. And… studying. And well… most things. But if he had to chose one, it'd probably be antagonizing others!
"Drop the ego, Katsuki!" Jeering reverberated throughout the classroom.
"SHUT UP! EXTRAS SHOULD ACT LIKE EXTRAS!" He taunted.
Well… it's true. If all these people think of when they think of heroism is their quirks… then they won't have much luck. They… admittedly, didn't have the most versatile or powerful quirks. They'd have to make up for it with hard work and effort in order to overcome their weakness.
"Ah, Bakugou… you, of course must be aiming for Yuuei High School."
Oh. Here it comes…
"That national school?!" "The cutoff score this year is 79, right?!" "I hear they barely accept anyone!"
He nested his head in his arms. He… didn't want to be embarrassed any more than he was already for being so… arrogant.
"AH, THE STUPID CHATTERING OF EXTRAS!" Kacchan jumped on his desk. He probably won't even get in trouble for it. If Izuku did that, he'd probably be fined, and have detention. "I ACED THE MOCK EXAM! I'M THE ONLY ONE HERE WITH THE STUFF FOR YUUEI! I'LL EVEN SURPASS ALL MIGHT AND BECOME THE BEST HERO THERE EVER WAS!"
This… is what he admired about Kacchan. His drive, his passion, his determination…
"NOT TO MENTION I'LL BE ONE OF THE RICHEST PEOPLE IN THE WORLD!"
Wait, what? He jolted out of his defensive position. Kacchan… what happened to you? That's so… materialistic. You should have left it at-
"Oh."
He scrambled back into his defensive position. It was coming. It was inevitable. Of course this would happen. He braced for impact.
"You're also going for Yuuei, aren't you, Midoriya?"
He could feel the eyes on him. The snickers. The looks they shared with each other that amounted to the shared glee of teenagers about to prop themselves up by pushing someone down. The… holy shit, the PRESSURE!
It was near murderous. He'd never felt pressure like this in his entire life. Not even from Kacchan. Not even from… Kumagawa-kun. And it was coming…
…from… behind?
He opened his shell to glance behind him. It…
It wasn't Kumagawa-kun, it wasn't Anshin'in-san. It was both of them. Kumagawa's eerie, malevolent smile. Anshin'in-san's… very pointed glare. Honestly, she… didn't tend to show much genuine reaction. This? He knew this was genuine. There was at least a small, exaggerated part of this that was genuine.
He would thank them for stopping everyone else… but it was both embarrassing to have other people stepping in to deal with things he should be dealing with, and they were… very scary… admittedly.
Kacchan… had a look in his eye. He clearly had more to say, but was prevented by the atmosphere.
He'd… probably be seeing him later.
"We need to talk. Alone, Deku."
「Why?」
"SHUT UP, SMILES! I'LL KILL YOU IF YOU INTERFERE!"
「You're welcome to try!」
"I'LL PUMMEL YOU INTO THE GROUND, FREAK!"
「Again, welcome to try!」
"Um… Kumagawa-kun…" He said.
"YOU AND ME, LET'S GO!"
「When and where?」
"Kumagawa-kun…"
"RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW!"
「Alright, let's go. Or, are you all bark, Pomeranian? Scared? Chicken? Does little old loser me scare you? That's so cute. I'm the weakest there is, and I still make Bakugou Katsuki shake in his boots! That's hilarious.」
Kacchan looked like he was about to commit murder.
"Misogi!" Anshin'in-san enunciated.
Oh thank god.
He turned around. 「What?」
She cleared her throat and glanced towards me in an exaggerated manner. Thank you, Anshin'in-san. And… she's gone. Okay.
Anshin'in-san just… did that sometimes. He'd probably do it too if he had her quirk.
"Um… Kumagawa-kun… I appreciate the help… but… I'd like to talk to Kacchan. Um… alone."
「Midoriya-kun, are you insane?」 He said, in a tone as if he was asking if Izuku had any pets or who his favorite hero was.
"No, Kumagawa-kun. I'm fine. Um… thank you for… uh… never mind. I'll be fine." He assured.
After a brief moment, Kumagawa-kun relented. 「…If you're sure, Midoriya-kun.」 His tone had a smidge of worry laden in it. He glared towards Kacchan. 「If you physically harm Midoriya-kun in any way, I will take you up on that fight. Think of it as a loser avenging another loser, if it makes you feel any better. I'll… meet you outside… Midoriya-kun.」
「He what.」
"I'm not gonna do it! It just…"
「Midoriya-kun, that's not my problem. This isn't your fault. This is Bakugou Katsuki's fault. The next time I see him, I'm fighting him for both our dignities.」
"Honestly, I got angrier at him for calling you a creep behind your back than for… well, yeah."
「Midoriya-kun, he told you to kill yourself.」
"I don't think he actually thinks I'm gonna do it, though!"
「Midoriya-kun… that… let me explain it in different terms. I am not suicidal. If I truly wanted to kill myself, I would. It's not hard to die, I could do it like, right now, if I really wanted to.」
"PLEASE DON'T!"
「Honestly, I realized like halfway through that that's probably a bad way of convincing people I'm not suicidal but I'm truly being serious when I say I'm not suicidal. So, let's say someone told me to kill myself. They don't think I'm actually going to do it, but they tell me to kill myself anyways, because they hate me. Right here, right now. Is that okay?」
"What? No. That's horrible."
「But I'm not suicidal, Midoriya-kun.」
"That doesn't… oh."
「QED.」
"I have a feeling you and Anshin'in-san met at debate club."
「The answer to that question is-」
"A medium sized body to hide in…"
And then his memories cut off.
"You're not supposed to be here."
He whipped around, and saw himself staring back at him, sitting on the lockers, swinging his legs back in forth. He saw himself jump down from the lockers lining the back wall.
"Well, if you're here, then there's at least a chance of saving you yet."
He had a hard time believing that.
It was probably something like a fragment of him in denial.
He should deal with it. Rip the band-aid off.
"What do you mean? Is this the Princess Bride?! Are we only mostly dead, or some trite like that?! I suffocated to death! Stop denying reality!"
His double sighed. "I'm not you, Izuku… I just don't have a face, so I'm borrowing yours. Hope you don't mind."
"Denying reality is his job, anyways, not mine." His double mumbled.
And suddenly, he felt a metaphysical tug.
"I'd say you should be thanking him for helping you out here, but he'll be long gone by the time you come to." His double cynically laughed. The noise echoing in the otherwise quiet space. "Besides, he'd probably just say something like 'just helping out, one minus to another' if you managed to catch him in time."
He was grateful to his savior, unnamed as he was. And concerning identity…
"Wait! Who are you?"
"Oh, me? Just an impartial non-human. But you shouldn't be worrying about me, you have a friend with you, do you not?" Shit! Kumagawa-kun…
His double smiled. "I wouldn't worry about his physical health, at least. Misogi has gotten up from much, much worse. Mentally? Ah, you're the amateur quirkologist here, you should be able to figure out what's going on here… though it is a rare phenomenon. I'd call it… a permanent scar, but it's one you two would probably… well, something one of you actually died for. Stressful occasion." Something in their tone screamed wrongness… but he couldn't figure it out.
He could feel his presence in the classroom starting to fade… but… he had so much more… to ask…
"Au revoir, Midoriya Izuku. Until we meet again, which, is hopefully never."
And unto the light.
Black… blurry… Kumagawa?
He was alive. His thoughts were simple, clouded, but that was probably due to him recovering from oxygen deprivation.
Expression… anger?
He had sludge in his mouth, but every time it became hard to breathe, something would happen that would clear out his lungs.
Fighting… weapon… where… quirk?
"You… FUCKING BRAT!"
But… quirkless?
「THIS ISN'T MY FAULT!」
Wait… scar… mental?
「YOU ATTACKED US!」
Quirkology... rare... stress… wait.
He was about to pass out.
Oh… oh no… Kumagawa-kun…
"FEAR NOT, CHILDREN! I AM HERE!"
Kumagawa-kun… I'm… so… sorry…
He felt the wind rush past him.
All... Might…
And unto the dark.
「Hey… All Might?」
"YES, YOUNG ONE!"
「Could you uhh… make sure Midoriya-kun's alright? I'm… fine, don't worry about me, I'll live, but I'm going to pass out because I got like… three hours of sleep last night… in three, two, o-」
The young man went limp instantly.
Well, if he was lucid enough to be that coherent, then it's no problem. The other kid could help him get home after they wake up…
Toshinori would honor the kid's request. It was his duty to make sure civilians were alright.
Misogi woke up from his two hour nap on the pavement. His loser aura must have been so minuscule that no-one noticed him still on the ground.
Damn, Eraserhead was right. He did need sleep.
He scrolled through his texts, of which he had multiple. One from Anshin'in, he opened it.
"Thank god you're socially inexperienced enough to not have read receipts off, you asshole." Anshin'in was suddenly standing over him. He liked the pavement. It was comfortable. Home, sweet home. "So, tell me. Why was Midoriya Izuku in the empty classroom, Misogi? Care to share with the class?"
「Asshole, you can't pull that card. You told me you function at full power in that wretched place. You already know.」
"Misogi, have you ever learned the value of privacy? Consent?" Anshin'in said. "Because I have not, no. You're correct."
「…fucking regular Kishibe Rohan over here.」 He mumbled
"I tried being a mangaka for a bit. Not my thing. Too easy for me."
「You say that about everything, Anshin'in.」
"And that's why life is meaningless for me, you get it!"
Shit, they slipped into their casual banter too easily. He had stuff to ask about.
「What happened after… you know?」
"After you nearly exposed Abnormality to Midoriya Izuku? The boy who wants the power to be a hero more than anything? The boy who would probably actively traumatize himself to gain a Minus? The boy who would without a doubt try to minmax his mental state if he knew how powering up Abnormalities works? I'm not a sociopath, Misogi-"
「Doubt.」
"Fuck off, this is serious. Misogi, I had to feed him a lie about quirkless quirk awakening. You know that's bullshit, right? He'll realize it's bullshit soon, too. Get ready to tell him about the invisible quirk that somehow wasn't on your file. He'll probably take it well, too. He's pretty forgiving, but are you ready for him to constantly doubt that you still want to be friends with him because he only approached you because you two had a shared weakness? Are you ready for him to, in his pursuit for becoming a singularity of quirk and hero knowledge, stumble across your vigilante persona and immediately make the connection? Are you ready to backpedal again after that and say your quirklessness was a lie the entire time? Misogi, you've created a relationship centered on a lie."
「Alright, I'll tell him I'm a vigilante.」He bluntly stated.
Anshin'in looked at him with gaping eyes.
"Do you want to get arrested?"
「I honestly don't care. Not like they can contain me, anyways.」
"...Right. Sure. That's probably the best plan we have."
A/N: Rewrote the ending! Having a bit of trouble with continuing past the old ending right now. Need to pace better.