Scene 1
Characters
NARRATOR ONE
NARRATOR TWO
IZUKU MIDORIYA
INKO MIDORIYA
ALL MIGHT
KATSUKI BAKUGOU
STUDENT ONE
STUDENT TWO
STUDENT THREE
Setting: An empty stage. Narrator One and Narrator Two stand there, and look up at the audience when the curtain rises
AT RISE
NARRATOR ONE
Of the end and the beginning, the rhythms and the rhymes, those who seek us out will learn our tales. The stories we tell, and those we don't, all happen in their own way. All of you have gathered here today to watch a tragedy unfold beneath your eyes.
NARRATOR TWO
A tragedy? You said this would be a happy story this time! One involving heroes and villains, damsels in distress and all the fun stuff.
NARRATOR ONE
Well, they are here too, almost as if they were straight out of a comic book in fact! But, you must remember, we are here to tell a tragedy.
NARRATOR TWO
Why can't we have a happy story? We are the narrators.
NARRATOR ONE
Exactly! We are the narrators. We do not make the story here, the author does and alas, they have chosen for us to unfold a tragedy for our dear readers.
IZUKU MIDORIYA walks onstage, alone. He carries a backpack and a burnt notebook. The cover is illegible and runny, as if the notebook was submerged in water.
NARRATOR TWO
Ah, yes, here he is. The protagonist of our story, a poor soul by the name Midoriya Izuku.
NARRATOR ONE
A tragic figure himself, an outcast by no means of his own. Children can be quite cruel when confronted with something that is different, outside of the reality they call their own. Humans are societal creatures, and thus bond with each other in the ways they know how.
NARRATOR TWO
But does that mean they must interact in the way they have?
NARRATOR ONE
If the author dictates it, it must be so. We have parameters within to act, a tale to tell. This time we are tasked with the tale of Izuku Midoriya. And thus, our tale must be so. Let it begin!
NARRATOR TWO
Time to face the music.
[Aside] But why must it be a tragedy? It could be a wonderful Comedy, a classic underdog tale! Alas, it cannot be so, can it?
NARRATOR ONE and NARRATOR TWO walk offstage. Soft music begins to play. The stage begins to unfold, revealing scene to be the top of a roof and a fence that can be easily climbed over.
IZUKU MIDORIYA
[sung] Feel it cutting into me, the doubting painful knife
Feel it deepening the rift, finally hit just right.
Couldn't take the love I had, so weak and burning low
But it grew into a weapon only hurting me, this I know
INKO MIDORIYA walks onstage, before running to hug IZUKU MIDORIYA. Her back is turned to the audience, making what she says unudiable.
INKO MIDORIYA
I'm sorry.
IZUKU MIDORIYA reaches up and hugs her back. INKO MIDORIYA walks offstage.
IZUKU MIDORIYA
It shouldn't matter if I'm willing to try. It shouldn't matter that I need to put in that bit more of effort. It shouldn't matter when there's more to being a hero than just fighting villains. It shouldn't matter that I'm quirkless!
IZUKU MIDORIYA
But that's all anyone cares about, isn't it? That I'm quirkless.
[sung] ...is nonfiction.
People enter the stage from both sides. They jeer and mock, causing IZUKU MIDORIYA to bunch in on himself.
STUDENT ONE
What're ya tryin ta do now, Quirkless?
STUDENT TWO
What can a Quirkless even do?
STUDENT THREE
Idiot.
IZUKU MIDORIYA
[sung] So good with numbers, science, math I like
But I'm terrible with english so I despise
The simple part of me that wants a simple right or wrong
And it feels like anything I choose will always be false!
[Aside] I'm one of the best in the class in grades and tests! And yet…
STUDENT ONE
Quirkless idiot. Can't understand, can he?
STUDENT TWO
Keeps trying and trying like he can actually achieve anything. Like being smart means anything when you're Quirkless.
STUDENTS walk offstage.
IZUKU MIDORIYA
All that matters is that I'm Quirkless.
IZUKU MIDORIYA pulls out a blank sheet of paper. It's a Career Sheet. It's for him to fill out, obvious that the previous wasn't acceptable.
IZUKU MIDORIYA
[sung] And today
This homework
About me
A blank sheet
Accomplished
Content with
This life I will now lead
Is this all they want from me? A blank, empty life where I simply coast from day to day, unable to accomplish what I desperately want?
ALL MIGHT enters from the opposite end of the stage from IZUKU MIDORIYA. He simply takes a single step on, not rushing over.
ALL MIGHT
A pro should always be ready to risk his life. Without power, can one become a Hero? No I should think not. If you desire to help people, becoming a police officer is always an option. Those Villain Custody Officers are often mocked, but that too is admirable work!
ALL MIGHT takes a step backwards, off the stage he had just entered. NARRATOR ONE and TWO enter the stage, in the background. They watch IZUKU MIDORIYA, unheard by him.
IZUKU MIDORIYA
Villain Custody Officer? A fancy title for taking the Villains off the pros hands after everything is over and done with before giving them to a Prison Guard? How will that allow me to help people, stop them from feeling this frustration of a luckless life!
[sung] 'Til I think why are we
Just sometimes, no always
Saying how we're sad and
Saying how we're lonely?
NARRATOR TWO
See, perfect underdog story!
NARRATOR ONE
[sung]Can you even read the blackboard written clear as can be?
He wants to be a proper Hero, but we both know he cannot.
NARRATOR TWO
[sung]Can you even read his mind? See that kid's lost fantasy?
He wants to help people! What part of that means he has to be a hero?
NARRATOR ONE
[sung]Can you even find the one who dyed his red heart to black?
Hey, who could it be?
Hey, someone tell me!
NARRATOR TWO
His Idol, the one he looked up to. The one who could've reaffirmed his hopes and dreams.
NARRATOR ONE
Exactly.
IZUKU MIDORIYA
Why can't I help them, someone who knows just as well that they what that life is like? Someone who can say, it gets better than this! It gets better, I know! I can't though, can I? I'm not allowed to be any better, get any better than being Quirkless? Does it get any better?
NARRATOR TWO
So why can't I interfere, make this a comedy? Right here would be a perfect point to lift his spirits, give him the energy to push through this and not stop trying, take his life by the reins and realize that being a Hero really isn't the only way to help someone! Come on, the author hasn't dictated that this must be a tragedy!
NARRATOR ONE
[sung] Can you even solve the question with your abacus yet?
NARRATOR TWO moves away from NARRATOR ONE, towards IZUKU MIDORIYA.
NARRATOR TWO
I can do this, I know I can!
NARRATOR ONE
[sung] Can you even stop the rope from hanging him by his neck?
NARRATOR TWO whips around towards NARRATOR ONE, raising their voice.
NARRATOR TWO
[sung]Did we choose it right saying we're okay this way?
NARRATOR ONE
He's doomed you know. He doesn't have a quirk and there's no practical way to get him one. This society, this world the author has dictated says that Quirkless do not survive. The fact he has gotten this far with his hopes means he won't stop his dream of being a hero. He won't stop and that will get him killed one day, either by his own hand or anothers, and the farther he gets the worse it will be.
NARRATOR TWO
[sung]Hey just tell me how
It's not like I care now!
Please, just help me. Let me give him some happiness?
NARRATOR ONE
You'll give him triumphs and victories but the world will still cry out "You're Quirkless" and discount them. In the end, it could only be a tragedy.
NARRATOR ONE walks offstage. IZUKU MIDORIYA starts pacing the rooftop, almost in tears
IZUKU MIDORIYA
[sung] Counting days like numbers, they all pass their prime
And again hypnotically swimming through time
Behind the power and guards I put up
I hide
Knowing they had long died
What's the point? The best bit of my life were when I was younger than four. Four! And it's only ever going to get worse. I know that being a hero's a pipe dream, that UA only accepts fourty students in their Hero Course! I wanted to try!
[sung] From problems
My resolve
Just can't solve
That homework
Accomplished
Content with
This life I will now live
But who's to say that trying for anything else will be any better? That being Quirkless will only ever get me rejection? Why does the world have to be like this? Why aren't we allowed to try despite our faults, the parts of us that the world can't accept? Will never accept! Why aren't we allowed to be more than what the world has given us?
NARRATOR TWO has their head in their hands, crying. NARRATOR ONE enters the opposite side of the stage with KATSUKI BAKUGOU.
IZUKU MIDORIYA
[sung]'Til I think and he speaks
That demon inside us
Saying "let me just leave"
Saying "someone kill me!"
Or is that the answer? That we cannot become more than the world has given us? That we are doomed to only be as good as what the world accepts of us? To simply...
KATSUKI BAKUGOU & IZUKU MIDORIYA
[in sync] Take a swan dive off the roof and hope for a quirk in the next life.
IZUKU MIDORIYA is fully in tears now, walking up to the fence. NARRATOR TWO launches themself at NARRATOR ONE as KATSUKI BAKUGOU walks off stage the way he entered.
NARRATOR TWO
[screaming][sung]Can you even read the blackboard written clear as can be?
He shouldn't die here! He's not meant to die here! He's not meant to give up like this, you said it yourself! He's too stubborn to give up his dream of being a Hero!
NARRATOR ONE
[sung]Can you even read his mind? See that kid's lost fantasy?
And yet, he has. In a twisted way, this might just be nicer. You know, instead of a long, drawn out, self-inflicted torture that ends up killing him anyways, devastating
NARRATOR TWO
[screaming][sung]Can you even find the one who dyed his red heart to black?
Hey, who could it be?
Hey, someone tell me!
NARRATOR ONE
No matter what I say, you're going to blame me, aren't you?
NARRATOR TWO
[screaming][sung]Can you even solve the question with your abacus yet?
Can you even stop the rope from hanging him by his neck?
[screaming] How can you say you're not to blame? You're the one who caused this chain of events, wrote them into existence! You're the one that has caused this story to unfold!
NARRATOR ONE
[sung] Did we really choose it right saying we're okay this way?
[screaming] It's not like you didn't go along with this!
NARRATOR ONE & NARRATOR TWO
[screaming][sung] Hey just tell me how
Hey just tell me how!
NARRATOR ONE
[sung] Can you even say the formula of area now?
[screaming]Do you even know what a Tragedy is? It's a play dealing with tragic events and having an unhappy ending, especially one concerning the downfall of the main character.
[screaming][sung]Can you even scream the dreams you swore would never go out?
[screaming] You didn't even try to stop me! You didn't even try to give him any hope! You just went along, feebly trying to stop things set in motion with words that could not be heard! You are at just as much fault here, you know!
IZUKU MIDORIYA
[sung]Who was the one who let my hopes just curl up die?
NARRATOR ONE & NARRATOR TWO
[screaming][sung] Hey, who could it be?
No, it's gotta be...
NARRATOR ONE
[screaming][sung] Just open up your eyes, why don't you grow up and see?
[screaming] People don't get happy endings! Nobody truly gets a happy ending!
[calm]All they get are tragedies!
NARRATOR TWO
[screaming][sung]But what the hell is "growing up" and tell me when will I be?
[screaming] That's only because you are the one that's making them! All you make are tragedies, that's why there are no happy endings!
IZUKU MIDORIYA climbs over the fence. Tears stream down his face. NARRATOR TWO does not move one inch.
NARRATOR TWO & IZUKU MIDORIYA
[screaming][sung] Can a single person out there just explain it to me?
Hey, just tell me how
It's not like I care now!
NARRATOR ONE
[shouting]Tragedies are stories where when the character falls, they can't get back up! This is a tragedy! Izuku Midoriya can't get back up! AND. THUS. HE. SHALL. FALL.
IZUKU MIDORIYA lets go. He falls and does not get back up.
END SCENE