My friend once said, "Not everyone is born equal."
I didn't believe those words when he first said them.
I even said he was stupid for saying it.
But, when I look back on everything from now.
Those words couldn't have been any more true.
The streets of Musutafu were busy as always, whether you were working the nine to five or on your way to class, it was a regular occurrence to get caught up in the streets, and today was no different.
Apart from the appearance of some giant causing trouble in the middle of the city, most would reasonably run away in fear from the giant creature causing commotion. But, this society was much different. Giants attacking the middle of the city only guaranteed you a front row seat to watch Pro Heroes in action, and you'd have to be crazy to want to miss out on that.
And a certain green haired boy wouldn't miss a chance like this for anything. The boy sprinted down the streets, absolutely ecstatic to see Pro Heroes in action, while another boy followed, lagging behind him, walking in a slow and sluggish pace. The second boy looked up to see a sign hanging overhead, reading Tatooin Station.
'Tatooin Station, he came here to watch the heroes, he knows we have class.' The boy thought, with a deep sigh of annoyance and his hand brushing through his shaggy blonde hair, he then continued walking after the boy. As he got closer to the scene, he caught more and more people recording the ensuing battle with their smartphones, that's when he heard some of the bystanders commenting on the scene.
"I can't believe Pro Rescue Hero Backdraft is here!" Exclaimed an excited man, watching the firefighter themed hero hold back the crowd with his water quirk.
As the blonde haired boy approached the crowd, he then spotted his green headed classmate trying to work through the mass of people, right before he could push through he found himself yanked back by a powerful hand.
"Gwahh!" The boy cried out as he was pulled, he turned around to see the unamused expression of his older classmate, the boy let out some sheepish laughter and scratched the back of his head.
"I'm guessing you didn't hear me calling your name, Deku?" The taller boy asked, raising a brow and narrowing his eyes, his crimson colored irises casted an intense glare that practically burnt holes into Izuku's.
"Haha…sorry, Hideyoshi-san." Deku gave Hideyoshi a meek bow and then quickly turned around to watch the battle, the other boy just let him watch the fight, he knew there would be no way he could change the Hero obsessed Deku's mind when it came to this sort of thing, he knew that all too well. "Hide-san, look!" An absolutely overjoyed Deku pointed upwards and immediately after came the cries of a horde of equally as excited fangirls.
"Ahhhh! It's Kamui, we're your biggest fans!" They cried out as the No. 7 Pro Hero quickly maneuvered from the street and up a building, dodging the punch of the giant creature, using a very impressive display of acrobatics and maneuvering in mid air. "Wow, Hide-san look at him move, he's been making a big name for himself lately! You think he'll use his special move?" Deku's question was met with an uninterested shrug, so he went back to watching the battle taking place right in front of them, then once it was happening he excitedly shook his classmates arm. "He's doing it! He's doing it! Binding Lacquered Chain Prison!"
"CANYON CANNON!" The sudden view of a skintight suit cladded rear cut off their view of Kamui Woods performing his special move, the entire crowd was absolutely shocked, even Hideyoshi couldn't help but feel a little bad for the guy who got his spotlight stolen. An entirely new crowd of people made their way in front of the two classmates, holding cameras and snapping pictures of the woman's voluptuous rear, as she posed provocatively for paparazzi to snap all the pictures they liked. When Hideyoshi looked down at Deku he could see the boy scribbling away in his notebook, he'd then snatch the boy by the ear and walk him in the direction of their school. "Bakugo is right, you really are a damn nerd Deku. Speaking of which, you did last night's Hero History homework, right?"
Deku happily nodded and reached into his bag to fish out two papers, both having two sheets stapled to them. "Yes I did, I even did yours for you since you forgot to ask me to do your homework like usual. I wrote both our essays about All Might!" Hideyoshi looked slightly more unamused than usual. "Oh, I forgot you don't like All Might." Hide let out a sigh and took his paper, skimming through the essay.
"I can't really get mad at you for it, after all, I didn't even do it." Hideyoshi shrugged and kept walking, Deku continued walking alongside the older boy, smiling as they made their way to school. Throughout the remainder of the walk, Deku rambled about Heroes, though Hideyoshi didn't care he could at least admire the boy's passion, despite not having a quirk.
Episode One! My Friend Midoriya!
Staring aimlessly out of the window, Hideyoshi let out a yawn as the class erupted into a quirk filled chaos, papers flew through the air and his fellow classmates used their quirks without permission, but the teacher wasn't going to stop them. 'Man I can't wait to get out of this place.'
"Who's taking the entrance exam?!" An overjoyed dude bro classmate asked the class, the entire class erupted into further chaos in excitement, however one of the girls noticed Hideyoshi not taking part in the classroom chaos. "Hey Hideyoshi, are you taking the exam?"
"No." He quickly replied.
The classroom seemed to quiet down, it was rather surprising to hear that someone with a quirk didn't show a speck of interest in trying their hand at being a hero, a few whispers started going around before someone spoke up. "Now that I think about it, I've never seen Hideyoshi use his quirk." And then another person spoke up. "Yeah, does Hideyoshi even have a quirk?" Then someone else chimed. "I don't think he has one." Then a certain someone's voice reigned over the rest of them.
"Whether or not he has a quirk, doesn't matter. Because everyone aside from me is gonna end up some D-lister's foot stool if you get lucky." Katsuki Bakugo boldly stated, though he didn't care to say anything, all the whispers amongst his peers and then Bakugo's cocky remark only seemed to further annoy him. The rest of his classmates would then bombard Katsuki with angry remarks while he just laughed at them, early on in the year Hideyoshi figured Bakugo was the type of guy to say he fucked your mom while playing an online game, and it turns out that he was in fact that kind of guy, he also heard Bakugo get whacked over the back of the head while playing said online game. "I better not see any of you losers at the U.A. Entrance Exam, because I'm gonna-"
"Oh yeah Midoriya wants to go there too." The teacher deadpanned, the rest of the class mocked Deku, which was to be expected, Hideyoshi couldn't help but cringe as he heard this.
'I didn't think he was serious, did he honestly think he'd get into U.A. without a quirk?' Hideyoshi thought to himself, burying his head into his arms, he couldn't believe this. They've talked about U.A. plenty of times and as Deku's "friend", did he have any faith in Deku to get accepted without one?
Hell no.
As Katsuki berated Deku mercilessly, Hideyoshi continued doing nothing, there was no reason for him to fight Deku's battles for him, it would only fuel the fire and have the boy grow further dependent on him. Katsuki always put down the boy, Hideyoshi never confronted Bakugo about it, despite being friends with Deku somewhat, he never stepped in to stop Katsuki from bullying him. Because it honestly wasn't any of his business. When Hideyoshi finally glanced back, he could see Izuku backed up against the wall sitting on the ground, while he could've done something, but this just wasn't his problem, Deku needed to learn how to man up eventually, especially if he wanted to be a Hero.
Class ended for the day and Hideyoshi waited outside for Deku, like usual. He couldn't help but wonder if Deku was finally gonna give up on being a Hero, it was the smartest choice after all. If Deku was known for anything, he was known for being smart.
"Hey Hide-san, Kacchan might've put me down but I'm still gonna be a Hero one day."
God damn it.
Hideyoshi sighed and bent down to grab Deku's journal, shaking off the koi fish that attempted to eat it, he then handed the book back and stuffed his hands into his pockets. Hideyoshi shook his head and walked away, Deku looked down at his wet soaked notebook, his hopes and dreams were both burnt and soaked. When Deku finally looked up, he saw Hideyoshi quite far ahead of him and he quickly sprinted to catch up with him, and once he did, he kept quiet. Their walk was silent, all they did was just walk in silence for a while. But as he walked, he thought to himself. 'Damn it Deku, all you do is make yourself a target, why can't you just give up on this stupid dream already?!'
"Hideyoshi-san...I was thinking that just…just maybe I can-" Hide's mere glare was enough to cut off Deku, then with a sigh he started.
"You need to get a grip Deku, though what Katsuki said was shitty, it was right. If you can't even stand up to a guy like Bakugo then how could you expect to fight a villain? You don't even have a damn quirk or know how to fight, how do you expect to protect people?" Hide shook his head and let out another disgruntled sigh. "Get real, just do something else. I plan on becoming a police officer, I have no desire being a Hero or anything like that. Be a cop, they're the unsung heroes." Hide's advice was harsh, he always had a very direct way of speaking and was very blunt, but Deku knew he meant well, or at least he hoped so. "You want to be like All Might, but that's an unrealistic goal that you've set for yourself, someone without a quirk will never be able to compare to All Might in a million years, but hey, don't let that deter you. You can still help people."
Though it was rather disheartening to hear from someone he considered a friend. But he knew Hide said this because he cared, in some kind of way, Deku nodded and smiled, which confused Hide. "I understand Hide-san, All Might would hear this and keep smiling! He'd go forward with a smile on his face and take your advice."
'I knew he'd hear me and understand what I'm trying to say, hopefully now he'll-'
"I'm going to listen to your advice and try even harder to become a Hero!" Deku then did his best All Might laugh, which was pretty accurate and he walked towards the tunnel, his heroic laughter echoing from inside the tunnel.
'How the fuck did he get that out of what I said?' Hide scratched the back of his head and watched Deku walk off, he then took his eyes off the boy to look elsewhere. 'I guess there's no convincing him to do anything else, no matter how many times I try to do it. He's always been this way, ever since we were kids…' Hide cracked a rare small smile at the thought of his friend, though he was very hard on him, it came from a genuine place, but those thoughts were quickly interrupted. His attention snapped in the direction of the tunnel, he could hear Deku cry out from inside but blocking his sight of the boy was some large puke green substance, that's when he realized it had to have been a villain.
"Ahhh perfect, a new little skin suit." The sludge villain towered over Deku, preparing to absorb Deku into his being, suddenly a soda can flew through his torso and struck Deku right in the nose, knocking him on his back. The sludge villain was confused for a second, then turned around to see Hideyoshi just standing there.
"Oh...I...I didn't mean to do that…" Hideyoshi was now starting to realize how bad of an idea that was, the sludge villain cracked a disgustingly wide smile at him and began to slowly approach. Hideyoshi hadn't trained his quirk at all, as a matter of fact he barely used it, so the extent of his power was probably what he used on the villain. But maybe, maybe he could do something to protect both him and Deku. He stuck his hand out towards the sludge villain, his hair began to stick up, his red eyes started to glow, and a faint blue aura outlined his body. "I'm going to make you regret crawling out of the sewer." His arm began to shake and he let out a couple of grunts which then turned into full on yelling, then…a pebble flew at the sludge villain.
"Hideyoshi Sakamoto"
"Quirk: Telekinesis"
"Uhhh…did I miss something?" The sludge villain asked, looking around then at Hide.
"I'm afraid you didn't, that's the extent of my abilities...I've never trained my quirk. There wasn't anything around so…" Hide backed away from the sludge monster, who's attention was now fixed onto him, the monster paused for a moment, then rushed towards him aiming to consume Hide. Before he could react in any kind of way, he found himself snatched up by the waist, the force of the monster's grip was extremely tight, the life was being squeezed out of him. It didn't take long for him to dip in and out of consciousness, that's when he heard it, that laugher. The same laughter Deku was imitating!
"TEXAS SMAAAAAAAAAAAASH!" Suddenly, Hideyoshi found himself in mid air, his ability to breathe returning to him as the sludge monster around him began to remove itself. Then with a loud thud, Hide was out cold.
Hide felt rapid tapping on his cheek, effectively waking him up from his passed out state, then once the ringing left his ears he was able to hear another high pitched noise, Deku fangirling over...him.
"Thought we lost you there!" Hide pushed himself up, dusting off his uniform, grumbling under his breath. As Deku darted around All Might scribbling in his notebook, the Pro Hero continued. "Usually I do a better job keeping bystanders out of the way, but the sewer system is quite difficult to navigate!" Then the man laughed once again, Hide picked up his backpack and turned towards the tunnel and started the walk back home.
"Hide-san! Hey wait, don't you wanna talk to All…" Deku's voice trailed off, he was so caught up in the joy of meeting his idol, he temporarily forgot about how Hide felt, how he felt about Heroes. "Wait Hideyoshi!" The other boy stopped once he reached the tunnel, turned around and stared at the two for a moment. "Are you sure you don't want to talk to All Might, maybe you'll understand-"
"Sure I guess."
"What?" Deku was floored at his friend's response, he didn't think it'd take such little effort to convince him, but here Hideyoshi was, walking over to talk to the No. 1 Pro Hero himself, perhaps he'd actually be able to come to an understanding with All Might and change his perspective on He-
"I don't like you." Hideyoshi deadpanned, Deku lost all of the color in his face, and All Might was a bit surprised. "Alright Deku, let's go home." His hand latched onto the boy's collar and dragged the boy off towards the tunnel, that's when Deku realized something, he was so far gone in his fanboyism that he had forgotten to ask the most important thing.
"Well boys, I have to go and take this criminal into the police station, take care and stay out of trouble! Japan's youth of today!" All Might got into a squat position, Deku recognized this all too well, he was going to leave! And there was no way in hell he'd let that happen without asking his question! As if Deku secretly had super strength this whole time, fueled by his fanboyism, he took off in the direction of All Might and dragged Hide with him. Before he could even comprehend what just happened, the city was so far below him, both him and Deku let out cries which gain the attention of All Might. "Hey what're you doing, get down!" A brief struggle ensued and Deku momentarily let go of Hide, latching onto the man's belt, while Hide quickly grabbed onto his pants leg. Unfortunately, today was a bad day to have his belt not fastened properly, the two would end up unintentionally pantsing the Symbol of Peace. "Haha! It's awfully chilly up here today! Wait...my pants! How embarrassing!"
"I'm sorry All Might, I just had a few questions to ask you and don't worry we won't tell anyone we pantsed you!" Deku apologized, holding onto the man's pants by the waistline. "Don't be embarrassed All Might, as far as I'm concerned, that's Japan's Ass!"
Hide face palmed and let out an annoyed sigh. "I can't believe you said that." As they flew through the air, All Might let out a few coughs, he started to bleed from the mouth, signs of his transformation starting to give out. It didn't take long for the three to land on a rooftop, Hide laid face down on the ground and Deku stood very shaken.
"Not the smartest move, but I hope you enjoyed the ride, pound on the door a couple of times and someone will come for you two. But I must be off!" All Might waved as he walked towards the edge of the roof, with his pants around his ankles.
"Wait! I have to know!"
"Nope, no time."
"But All Might-"
"Real busy."
"I-"
"Oh look at that, it's Pro Hero o' clock!" All Might then got into his super jump position and was about to take off, Deku's head dropped, it was evident he was going to give up.
"Hey!" Hideyoshi called out, stopping All Might before he had the chance to leave, the man stood as still as a statue, Hide who was still very dizzy, leaned against the door. "My friend practically worships you like you're some gross meat headed god and you can't even spare five seconds to answer it? I don't care about whatever you have to do, just act like you give a shit for five seconds and answer his question!" All Might turned around with his signature smile, the boy had quite the mouth on him, but his words seemed to resonate somewhat with the Symbol of Peace. "Hurry up and ask, I wanna get to the takoyaki shop before the lines get long." Deku perked up and stood straight, his eyes shut tightly as he asked the question he's recited in the mirror a million times before.
"Yes! All Might, I was wondering if someone without a quirk could be a Hero as great as you? I know it's stupid, but being a Hero is all I ever dreamt about. And you're my biggest inspiration! All my classmates at school like to poke fun at me because of my disadvantage, I might not have a quirk but this is my dream, and I'll do anything to-" Deku then opened his eyes to see a thick cloud of steam. "Wait, what happened?"
"Is that normal? Does he just…steam up like that?" Hide pointed into the cloud, then once it fully faded away, they were met with that sight. Not just a much skinnier and sickly looking All Might, but an All Might whose clothes were much too big for him, their eyes dropped to the floor to see that his pants weren't the only thing around his ankles. "Please tell me…wait…I don't wanna know if that's normal."
"That's definitely not normal!" Deku exclaimed.
"Is he even All Might? You sure that's not a really good cosplayer or something? Or some kinda knock off? You sure you didn't run into Small Might or something?"
"I'm the real All Might, it's just…well to put it shortly…" All Might trailed off, he then lifted his shirt exposing a horrible wound, earning shocked reactions from the both of them. "It's gross ain't it? Well don't tell anyone, not even your little friends online. My entire stomach, gone. It was lost in that battle five years ago. The surgeries to fix it have worn me out. Three hours of Hero work is my limit, and…well the rest of the time I'm like this." All Might was seated on the ground now, leaning against the railing.
"No way…five years ago? In the fight against-" Deku was then interrupted by All Might.
"Toxic Chainsaw? As if I'd lose to some small fry. I will say this though, most of the world never knew about this fight that happened, I made sure to keep it away from the public." Deku and Hide couldn't help but look mortified, after all, the symbol of peace revealed his true form right in front of them. "To keep it simple, being a Pro Hero is a dangerous job, and you'll be going up against villains that will need a whole lot of power to defeat. So no, without power you can't be a hero."
Deku's gaze dropped to the ground, his lips quivered as All Might rose up, Hide let out a sigh and turned to leave. "I see…" Was all Deku could say, prompting the other boy to stop and look back.
"If you wanna help people, become a police officer, the Heroes do most of the work but it's a fine profession." All Might then stopped in the doorway. "Dreaming is fine, but make sure your dreams can be acquired, young man." And with that he left, leaving the two boys up on the roof together, Hide just kept looking at Deku, it was obvious he was trying to hold himself together but wasn't doing a good job.
"Hey Deku." Hideyoshi planted his hand on the shorter boy's shoulder, his head turned to meet him. "You know what they say, never meet your heroes." His attempt at a joke wasn't acknowledged by the other boy, Hide sighed. "I can't pretend to understand how you feel about all this, and I know I've said the same thing before, but I need you to keep your head up. That All Might guy is always smiling, but…just because he said you can't be a Hero…doesn't mean you can't be." He didn't know why he was saying this, for the longest he's been telling Deku he can't become a Hero, so why the sudden change? Hideyoshi didn't know, but he didn't want to ask any questions about it.
"Hideyoshi-san? Why are you-" Before Deku could finish his question.
"Look, how about I treat you to lunch or something? I know that this is hard for you, so let's do something." Hide sheepishly scratched the back of his head, Deku raised an eyebrow, it wasn't like him to offer him anything. In all their time being friends together, Hide really only hung out with him at school, he liked keeping to himself for the most part. So when he offered to spend more time with him, though it didn't completely fix the emotional pain of being put down by his idol, it certainly made him feel better. "That takoyaki shop is pretty good, let's go there. Maybe catch a movie after?"
"Yeah!" The two boys then left the rooftop.
Sometime later
"Man, that movie sure did suck." Hideyoshi stated as they walked out of the movie theater, they had watched some movie about Heroes, though he didn't care much for it, it was the movie Deku chose to see. Deku would scribble into his ruined journal mumbling something under his breath. 'He's in nerd mode now, how typical.' Hide smirked, shoving his hands into his pockets and just kept walking with Deku.
"Hey Hide-san, were you serious about not going to U.A.?" Deku asked.
"I've never been more serious about anything." Hideyoshi nonchalantly said.
"How come? I mean, even though you don't use your quirk, if you train it hard enough, you can do amazing! From what little I've seen of your quirk, there's a lot of untapped potential, and you can bring that out." Deku seemed to have much more faith in Hide than he even had in himself, but once again he had to let him down.
"Deku, my quirk sucks, part of the reason why I don't even use it." Hideyoshi deadpanned.
"Eh?" All of the color drained from the boy's face.
"Back when I had a speck of interest about being a Hero, me and my father trained together. One of the few things he actually did with me, that's when I found out at most I could probably make a car slide a foot or two." Hideyoshi then shrugged. "Then there's the fact my quirk has a horrible downside, a devastating mental drain, over using my psychic powers make me really tired, if I keep pushing after that I could even go into a coma."
"How long have you used it?" Deku asked.
"The longest I've used my quirk was about…" Hideyoshi then cupped his chin and thought to himself. "Five to ten minutes of continuous usage, I was drained completely afterwards. The powers aren't very easy to use as well, so my dad just taught me how to fight instead. Honestly, even if I was better at using it ...I'm incredibly limited to what I can do."
"Hand to hand? How interesting…" Deku then continued writing in his book, Hideyoshi didn't notice this until he had half a page worth of information written. "Very interesting, I'm thinking of ways you could overcome that hindrance of yours, a way where you can implement both your quirk into your hand to hand skills. Despite thinking the way you do about your quirk, it is still quite useful, it's like a stronger version of my mother's quirk!"
"Um…thanks?" Hideyoshi shrugged again and kept walking. "I don't plan on ever using my quirk, I actually just want to become a police officer, like All Might said it's a good profession. If you want to, we can both go to the Police Academy? I mean, there's gonna be some people like Bakutard, but there's gonna be people like him everywhere."
"That's…pretty nice actually, yeah let's do it!" Deku smiled, but as if the green headed boy's happiness was like some sort of sign, then the happy mood suddenly darkened.
"Well, look who it is." Bakugo entered the scene. "Man, you two extras have quite the nerve to show your ugly mugs around here." Hide and Bakugo's eyes met, sending death glares at each other with equal amounts of malice behind them.
"I wasn't aware that we were trespassing in a completely public area." Hide retorted, earning a cocky snort from Bakugo.
"You entered my line of sight, which was your mistake, and you brought that little loser Deku with you!" Bakugo smirked. "You two little fairies on a date or somethin'?"
"I dunno, are we?" Hideyoshi asked the bully. "Look Bakugo, can we do this some other time, your little outburst in class was exhausting enough."
"Is that so? Well, for a guy who acts like he knows everything you sure don't like hearing the facts. But there is one thing I can credit you on, having enough common sense to not show your stupid face at the U.A. Entrance Exam." Hide was never one for conversation, he always found it rather troublesome arguing with people when he could always walk away. But he wasn't sure what it was, but today something was different, and for once he actually bit back.
"Yeah you're right Bakugo." Then, a rare sight occurred, a cocky smirk of Hide's own forming on his face. "Your mom is pretty hot."
"Hahaha yeah that's right!" It didn't occur for a good five or ten seconds for Hideyoshi's remark to register in his head, then came the instant embarrassment. "Wait, what the fuck did you just say?!"
"Your mother is a very attractive woman, Kacchan." The childhood nickname being dropped only poured salt on the wound. "Your mother, a very feisty and attractive older woman. While your father may be a nice man, she surely can't be pleased by him." Hide let out a chuckle, as Bakugo went from confused and angry to absolutely steaming. "Maybe we could come to your house and play video games, and by that I mean you and Deku play video games. I'll just fuck your mom."
"You piece of-"
"Yes, I can picture it now. She's young and full of life, that's perfect for me. I like older women who can keep up with a girl half her age in the sack. Maybe I'll make return trips and keep her satisfied, and if he keeps quiet I'll let your dad watch." Then a sinister look appeared in his eyes. "Then soon, you'll start calling me daddy, Kacchan." That final comment seemed to set Bakugo off, the crackling of an explosive burst began to form from his right palm, he stared at Hide.
"Oi Brainiac! I was wondering when you'd decide to talk shit! Now I'm really gonna clobber you for that shit!" Bakugo began to walk towards the boy, the streets were surprisingly clear for once and that meant the two boys could go at it without worrying about bystanders trying to break them up, at least for the time being.
"I'm getting sick and tired of your shit Bakugo, Imma lay your ass out on Deku's behalf as well!" Hide palmed his fist and approached Bakugo.
"So you're approaching me Brainiac?! That's a fucking dumb decision!"
"I can't knock your ass out without getting any closer." Hideyoshi cracked his knuckles, a faint blue aura appearing around his body as he prepared to use his quirk in a fight. Hide recognized he was at a severe disadvantage, Bakugo's quirk was inherently combat effective, while his telekinesis was hardly trained.
"Wait guys! You can't fight here, we're in the middle of-"
"Shut it nerd! This is between me and your friend here!" Bakugo cut off Deku and reeled back a fist, his foot planting down on the cover of a manhole, Hideyoshi raised an arm anticipating the hook being thrown his way and planned to block it, his foot also stepping onto the manhole's cover. In the split second between Bakugo's punch coming in contact with his forearm, a rumble could be felt under their feet, then the moment the attack struck Hide's guard, green sludge erupted from the small holes on the manhole's cover. The green sludge caught Bakugo's left arm as it rose up and carried the boy into the air, both Hide and Deku were surprised by the event transpiring, Bakugo would cry out and instantly set off a powerful combustion. The firepower put into it was enough to cause the windows of several shops to shatter and explode a nearby car. Instinctively, Hide would throw himself onto Deku to shield him from the next explosion that was set off, this time it was much larger and consumed another nearby vehicle, setting off a chain explosion awfully close to the two boys. The manhole would be blasted off the ground as the monster emerged from the sewer, towering over the boys as Bakugo attempted to pry himself free from the monster.
"Get the hell off me you bastard!" Bakugo exclaimed, ready to use his free hand to blast the monster point blank but the sudden tightening of the grip on his left arm kept him from following through. It felt as if the bones in his arm were cracking, the sludge around his arm began to coil, twisting it inside the thick substance, all Bakugo could do was cry out as his arm was being broken slowly.
"As if I would let a skin suit like you get away, I can tell your quirk will be very powerful! But you have a nasty and volatile attitude, but that doesn't matter. If I break you as you are now, it'll make assimilating you much easier. " The villain cackled as he continued to slowly torture Bakugo, no matter how hard he would resist, the creature would just continue to twist the captured arm. Sickening pops and cracks could be heard, the limb trapped inside was twisted in such a way that Bakugo found his shoulder now starting to move along with the limb, the pain shot up to his shoulder as it too now began to experience such horrendous pain.
Pushing himself off from Deku, Hide turned to see Bakugo hanging from the villain by his arm. "What the hell? I thought All Might bagged that guy? Hide wasted no time grabbing Deku by his wrist and pulling him onto his feet, the green haired boy didn't take his eyes off the villain for a second, watching in horror as it gleefully tortured Bakugo. "Come on, we gotta get out of here and get help!" He attempted to pull Deku along, but for the first time, Deku was immoveable. "Deku? Come on, we need to go!"
Turning to face Hideyoshi, Deku gave his friend a weak smile. "I'm sorry, but I can't turn my back on someone in need, Bakugo needs us right now."
"Are you insane?! We need to go get help now, there's nothing we can do, and you're quirkless!" Hide exclaimed, attempting to pull Deku yet again, but he didn't budge an inch.
"That doesn't matter! Bakugo needs someone right now, we can't wait for a hero! When someone is in need, you need to act! You can't alway sit around and wait for someone to save you! You need to be your own hero, for the sake of other people! Bakugo, I'm coming!" Deku took off, freeing himself from Hide's grip with little to no struggle. Hideyoshi watched the boy run off into the face of certain death, crying out Bakugo's name as he sprinted toward the monster. Watching this scene was absolutely harrowing, his only friend pulling a suicidal action in order to save someone who treated him like garbage, while he could only sit there and watch. "Kacchan! I'll be your hero!"
'I don't get it, Deku is about to get himself killed to save Bakugo, he's running at this villain without a single ounce of fear.' He bit his lip and continued to watch, the villain's eye moved to look over at Deku approaching his side, a single tentacle sprouted out from its mass. 'I don't understand, why is he doing this? Why can he do this?' The end of that tentacle suddenly sharpened and resembled a blade, it shot forward at a blinding speed, too quickly for the green haired boy to dodge. The blade struck the ground and kicked up a large cloud of dust.
It was by this point crowds had arrived and Heroes were on their way to the location, the many people on the scene pulled out phones and cameras to record the unfolding scene. "Did….Did that boy just…." A woman spoke, unable to finish her sentence, her hand moved up to cover her mouth as she stared blankly at the plume of dust. "I think….he's dead…." A man commented. Suddenly, an explosion rocked the city block and a shockwave blowing back the crowd, this resulted in a much larger cloud.
His eyes struggled to open, the thick and overwhelming amount of dust and smoke paired with the blood leaking into his eyes made it difficult to see. His vision was tinted a bright shade of red, yet even through the blood and smoke, he could make out the silhouette of the creature looming over him, yet he couldn't see Bakugo. "Wha….What happened?" He muttered out, bringing up a hand to his head, just a moment ago he was rushing into the scene to save Bakugo yet here he was now face down and a few feet to the right of where he just was. The dust and smoke had finally cleared and with it gone the scene was now much more visible to him. The tentacle that had been fired at him was lodged in the ground, Bakugo had managed to blast himself free shortly after that, and standing beside the tentacle was….
"Hideyoshi-san!" Deku exclaimed, he could see the blonde boy clutching his right side and right arm outstretched toward him. The tentacle had cut him instead, this was evident by his school jacket being torn on his side and blood leaking from the gash he covered up. His left eye was closed due to him wincing in pain, his legs were bending and buckling, yet he still stood.
"Oi Deku….you wanted to be….Bakugo's hero or somethin'?" He muttered out, the pain in his side and mental fatigue was wearing him down. Deku's eyes widened as he watched the rather stone faced and stoic Hideyoshi, flash a small smile. "Well, let me be yours."
Several heroes had arrived on the scene, they all watched the scene transpire, but not a single one could act. The sludge creature pulled the limp Bakugo toward him with several tentacles, it was in the split second of Bakugo being pulled into his grasp that Hideyoshi noticed something horrible.
'Bakugo….he….he….blasted off his own arm!' Hideyoshi's eyes widened, he was able to clearly make out the bloody gibbed left arm. It was almost admirable the lengths Bakugo went to free himself, yet he couldn't help but feel responsible for that happening in the first place. Pushing past the pain that kept him stationary, Hideyoshi took off toward the sludge villain, he held an arm out and attempted to grab Bakugo but he was pulled too quickly by the monster.
"You're the pest from earlier! I found a worthy skin suit, with a flashy quirk to boot! You're nothin' but collateral!" The sludge villain fired another sharpened tentacle at the boy, just like the one prior it moved at such a high speed that it was nearly impossible to dodge, yet at the last second he was able to move out of the way and came out of it with a nasty cut on his shoulder.
"Get your…." His right hand managed to secure the manhole that was blasted off the ground using his telekinesis, pushing his quirk to its limit he would raise the discus and spin the manhole at a high speed. Blood would leak from his nose and eyes, but he ignored the pain and focused his mind on spinning the disc faster and faster, to the point he couldn't even see it clear. "Damn dirty hands…." With all of his might he would reel his arm back, gritting his teeth as he planted his foot down and prepared his throw. "OFF OF BAKUGOOOO!" With everything he had he threw the manhole with his psychic power, the sludge creature's eyes widened in surprise as he saw the manhole fastly approached, then….a sadistic smile appeared. The villain would morph his body so that a hollowed out hole would appear and shifted Bakugo further into his mass, the manhole was already out of Hide's reach and moving too fast to stop. "Wait no!" He reached out, even though he knew he couldn't stop it.
Blood sprayed out over the street and Bakugo's other arm flew into the air. A feeling of dread washed over Hideyoshi, the manhole he threw lodged into the concrete. Falling onto his knees, his body was finally giving out and there wasn't anything he could do left. Bakugo's head was the only thing left outside the sludge monster's being, the creature's attention went from Hideyoshi to Deku. Several tentacles sprouted from his body and flew at full speed to the barely conscious Deku.
"When someone is in need, you need to act! You can't alway sit around and wait for someone to save you! You need to be your own hero, for the sake of other people!"
It was as if time itself began moving at a snail's pace, he could see each spear-like tentacle inching toward him, there was no way he could get out of this. He started to understand what Hideyoshi was getting at, he couldn't be a hero, he never could. For the first time, Deku was ready to throw in the towel and give up. Until he saw his friend throwing himself in front of him, Hideyoshi had dived in front of Deku with the last bit of his strength left in order to shield him from the oncoming attack.
"HIDEYOSHI-SAAAAAAAAN!" He exclaimed.
Before the tips of the bladed tentacles could reach his back, a shockwave blasted the two boys back and tumbled across the ground. They looked up to see All Might reeling back a powerful punch, the No. 1 Hero was dead silent as he threw out a punch so strong that it released a wave of pressurized wind that blasted the villain apart and released Bakugo. The boy would drop to the ground with a loud thud, that was the last sound made for the most agonizing thirty seconds. All Might simply stood still as a statue, while Hide struggled onto his feet holding up Deku with him. The towering figure of All Might walked over to the boys, a hand planted onto Hide's shoulder and that signature smile All Might was known for faded.
'What the hell did we do?'
A couple hours later
Some time after the boys had been dispatched from the hospital, they quietly walked home together, neither had said a word to each other. Deku out of anxiety of his friend being angry at him, while Hide simply wasn't sure of what to say. As they approached Deku's home, Hide stopped in his tracks, his head lowered and eyes staring at the pavement. Deku took notice of his friend no longer walking alongside him and he stopped as well, turning to face him.
"I….wanted to apologize for earlier." Hide muttered.
"For what?" Deku asked, genuinely confused.
"Saying you couldn't be a Hero, I was wrong. You ran in there to help Bakugo while I just stood there, unable to do anything until you were in danger. You're far braver than me, if you had a quirk then you could be far greater a Hero than I could ever hope to be." Hideyoshi stuffed his hands into his pockets, his usually sharp eyes softened. "I just wanted to tell ya that, I can be an ass sometimes, but I always admit when you prove me wrong." He then turned around, walking away at a sluggish pace. "Well I gotta get home and make dinner, I'll see you tomorrow or something. Lets cut class, not like anyone is gonna be showing up anyway."
Deku watched Hideyoshi walk away, his figure slowly blending in with the setting sun over the horizon, something about watching his friend walk away from him after today just didn't sit right with him, especially for what had happened earlier. Tears had built up in his eyes and he would let out a powerful exclamation
"SAKAMOTO-KUN!" Deku cried out, the taller boy turned around to Deku. "Please, don't say that about yourself. You're my Hero, you've always been! Stop selling yourself short, you helped me and Bakugo, even though he was rude to us both. Just because you were hesitant to jump into the fight, doesn't make you any less heroic! What I did was irresponsible, I only made things worse, but you stepped in to save me! I'll never forget that!"
Once again, his hardened exterior was broken and an expression of visible shock was plastered on his face. He was unsure of how to respond to this, it was certainly nice to have someone put so much faith into him, it was completely foreign to him. Even after all the time they spent together as childhood friends, as distant as he always was, and how blunt he could be. Deku was always his biggest fan.
Brushing a hand through his hair, he looked away for a moment as a red flush appeared on his almond brown skin, a smile appearing. "Oi Deku, you're such a cry baby." Hideyoshi approached. "You're embarrassing me, which isn't the easiest thing to do. I may hate heroes, but I hate letting people down even more."
"What do you mean?" Deku wiped his tears on his sleeve.
"What I'm saying is, if you think….no….if you believe in me that much. I wouldn't wanna let you down, so what I'm saying is-"
"You'll join U.A?!" Deku exclaimed, only to receive a fist colliding into his head.
"Oi! Let me finish knucklehead!" Hideyoshi scoffed. "What I'm saying is, I….will….ermm….consider it." Deku leapt into the air and cheered at the news, Hideyoshi awkwardly watched and felt even more embarrassed. "But if I do decide to go, that means you need to go too." Deku lost all color in that moment, a blue hue forming on his forehead.
"Nani?" Was all Deku could mutter out.
"You heard me, you gotta apply for U.A. too. No way in hell I'm gonna apply to that place by myself, I'd be awfully boring." Saying he was confused was simply an understatement, he was absolutely bewildered. It didn't make any sense.
"But I thought you told me not to apply for U.A.? I don't even have a quirk, how could I-" Deku was cut off by Hide jabbing him in the shoulder.
"Tch, you don't need to have a quirk ya knucklehead. U.A. functions as a school as well, take the General Studies course and you'll be able to learn a lot of useful shit. Get an education, you're smart as hell, make honor and graduate. You can get into a good school easily, there's no way you can't." Hide knew that this wouldn't be appealing to Deku, it wasn't even appealing to him, which is why he followed up with an alternative. "Or, instead you can apply for the Development Course. That way you aren't wasting away in a classroom, you can be a Hero by proxy. Help those a part of the Hero Courses by developing gear and shit, not only that, but you can still be a Hero. A quirk never stopped you from doing so, if this is your life long dream then you'll find a way without a quirk or not. Start working out, go to the gym, take martial arts lessons. You may not have some superpower, but you have the ability to bring out the best in people and believe in them when no one else can, you're just….just an amazing person, that's your quirk!"
Deku erupted into a fountain of tears after Hide's passionate outburst, he would lunge at Hide and latch his arms around his friend, holding with an iron grip. "SAKAMOTO-KUUUUN!" Frantically, Hide would attempt to shake off Deku, he wanted to get the boy off of him before anyone happened to look out a window and see them.
"Oi! Oi! Let go! Get off of me you knucklehead!" Hide would continuously bonk the boy on the head with his fist, Deku would eventually fall back and quickly get up.
"Sorry Hide-san, but thank you! I'll apply for U.A.'s Development Course! In the meantime, I'll learn everything I can about mechanics and stuff! I'll even make your Hero costume and everything, I'll be the No. 1 Support Hero!" Deku then did his best All Might laugh imitation which made Hide visibly cringe.
"Yeah sure, I gotta head home, my mom is probably hungry. But, let's hangout tomorrow. We can drop off presents for Bakugo and maybe go to that takoyaki place." Hide scratched the back of his neck, Deku's eyes lit up at the suggestion.
"Yeah! Sure thing, if you go to U.A. we should hang out before the Entrance Exam. I can apply for the Development Course online." Deku stated. "Sakamoto-kun, let's give it our best, wherever we go. Okay?" Deku held out his fist to the other boy.
Hide smiled and without another word, he would give his green haired friend a fist bump. "Deku! Come inside, your dinner is getting cold! Oh! Your All Might underoos came in the mail today, they look really cu-OH! Hello Sakamoto-kun!" Inko Midoriya waved out the window, Hide waved and watched the red faced Deku run inside.
'Well….that settles it, guess I'm going too U.A.' Hideyoshi thought, turning away and walking down the street, he was already having second thoughts but it was too late at this point, he practically promised to go. As his mind was flooded with thoughts, he ended up bumping into something hard, it was as if a wall spawned in front of him. When he looked up he saw…."Oh, All Might." Hide then walked around the No. 1 Hero and kept moving.
"Hey! Wait!" The No. 1 followed behind the boy. "Wait a second, Young Sakamoto. We must talk for a second."
"We don't have anything to talk about." He curtly stated.
"Actually we do, Young Sakamoto." The sudden change in his voice was enough to cause Hide to stop in his tracks, he turned around to face the much more frail All Might. "I will keep it brief, I understand you're in a rush to get home and you don't like Heroes. But, I know you have potential as a Hero. I want you to become my successor, please, become my student."
Hideyoshi was surprised yet again, today seemed to be a day full of them, after the momentary surprise he would roll his eyes and walk away. "No, I don't like Heroes. How about you offer your mentorship to someone who deserves it and be much more appreciative. Please, go to Deku, he deserves this more than me."
"Why do you think I'm here now?" All Might deadpanned, a sudden breeze blew past them both, causing their clothes and hair to billow lightly in the wind.
"What?" He questioned.
"So he didn't tell you, huh?"
"I wouldn't be surprised if he did, what….what did he say to you."
Earlier at Jaku General Hospital
The boys were put in separate rooms for questioning, after an officer had talked to Deku about his experience, All Might had entered the room and praised Deku for his bravery and heroism. So much so that it brought the boy to tears, soaking whatever outfit All Might wore. Then when it came to All Might offering to take Deku under his wing, his tears abruptly stopped and a solemn expression appeared on his face. He was silent for a couple seconds, until he muttered out.
"I always admired you….so much, you're my Hero you know. I always dreamed about being just like you, that when I was told that I was quirkless, I was….heartbroken. So many other children were born with unique and amazing quirks, all with the potential to be great Heroes, yet here I was with a dream so unattainable due to having no quirk. Many people told me it was pointless chasing after a goal I could never reach, many shunned me for not having a quirk and looked down on me, but….there was one person, one who stood above all others, one person who never turned their back on me. Hideyoshi Sakamoto, he was there for me from the very beginning, he's someone I'm glad to call a friend. He hates everything to do with Heroes, why exactly? I don't know if he'd want me to tell anyone, he has a lot going on at home and….I can't help but feel bad about it. In spite of everything he's gone through and how he feels about Heroes, he's never treated me badly. He has a quirk, but he never uses it, he says he hates it and wants nothing to do with it, but I feel like he envies me. It's as if he looks at his quirk as if it's a curse, as if he wants to be ordinary….or well, in my case I'm the opposite of that."
Deku looked down at his palms, though his body language betrayed him, he slowly began to get more and more confident with his words. "You said I was brave, I showed more heroism than most Heroes on the scene, and even inspired you, but what about Sakamoto-kun?! What I did was brave, but it was just as stupid! I ran into the fray and only caused things to get worse, it was because of me that Sakamoto-kun was also hurt and Bakugo…." Deku choked back a sob, he refused to cry at a moment like this. "I….I want to see Sakamoto-kun become a Hero, I've always wanted to see him become one. How he acts doesn't represent the actual person he is, he's always helped people regardless of what he says and how he pretends to feel about it. When we were kids, we had a chart back in elementary that displayed how many times we helped people and were kind to others. Sakamoto-kun never had any starts on his chart, but that's because he helped people when no one was looking. He doesn't want to be recognized for doing good things, because he does good whether or not people are watching him, he doesn't care for being noticed and would much rather not be in the limelight at all. If he were a Hero, he'd probably not even care about rankings. Meanwhile, I want to be the No. 1 Hero, I'd love to help people all I can….but he doesn't care about being No. 1, he only cares about the good he could do."
Deku wiped a single tear from his cheek and looked up at All Might. "I'm sorry sir, I'm rambling. The point is, while being a Hero is my dream, I think you should approach Sakamoto-kun. After all he did, after what he's gone through, and after all those years of being my friend, he deserves this more than me. This is a way for me to pay him back, for all those years of standing by me. He said he'd be my Hero and there's only one way I can make that happen, if you choose him instead."
All Might nodded and stood up from his seat. "I see, Young Midoriya. I will respect your request, I will talk to Young Sakamoto this evening. Take care, and thank you for your bravery." The towering man pat Deku on the head which caused the waterworks to return.
'Izuku….' The boy's eyes softened yet again at the thought of his friend. 'He turned down training under his Hero, so that I could be a Hero….no….his Hero.' Tears began to build up, his vision blurring as he lowered his head. 'Damn it, Izuku. What did I do to deserve you being so good to me?'
All Might planted his hand on Hide's shoulder, rubbing it gently. "You don't have to answer me now, whenever you're ready you can ca-"
"No. I'm ready to answer, I've never been more ready. I wasn't sure whether or not I'd follow through with going to U.A. or not. But I know….I know for sure that this is what I want! I told Deku I'd be his Hero and I meant it, it wasn't one then….but now that's a promise. I hate Heroes…." Hideyoshi looked up at All Might, his voice now cracking as tears rushed down his face, this was the first time he had cried in years. "But I hate letting people down with a passion, All Might, please….help me become Deku's Hero!"
A small smile appeared on All Might's face. "Your training starts tomorrow, I'll come and meet you. When we finish, I'll tell you about One For All."
"One….For All? What's that?" He asked.
"I'll tell you tomorrow, Young Sakamoto." All Might shoved his hands into his pockets, walking away. "Until then, don't forget why you're doing this. Don't let him down." Those words struck Hideyoshi deep, like they were a knife that plunged into his heart. All he could do was stand there and watch him walk away.
A while later….
Opening the door to the dark apartment, Hideyoshi sluggishly walked into the small apartment he called home. The only light on in the home was the tv in the living room, he placed his house keys on the counter and dropped his book bag on the floor. He didn't really bother putting his things in his room, not like anyone would tell him to put things where they belong. He just kept walking, not paying any mind to the figure sitting in the chair until the last second before he turned the corner, he would scoff and stop himself, not bothering to even look at them."Hey, as you can tell I'm back from school. Yeah, I'm late….but I'll start cooking in a bit. Not that you'd eat anything I'd make you anyways." Hideyoshi walked into his room, slamming the door behind him.
The figure in the living room blankly stared at the television, watching footage of a caped man being interviewed by the press. Suddenly, the door to Hideyoshi's room flew open and he would walk back out, going into the kitchen that was connected to the living room but separated by the counter his keys sat on.
"Had a really interesting day today." He spoke, turning on the stove. "Got attacked by a villain twice, nearly died. Ain't that crazy?"
The figure in the wheelchair was completely unresponsive, as if they were stuck in a trance, they didn't seem to pay any mind to Hide.
"After that I was in the hospital for a bit, got questioned by police even." Still no response from the figure in the chair. "I also met the Number 1 Hero, All Might. He's a real character, he told me not to tell anyone his secret. But I could probably tell you, not like you'd tell anyone, you won't even talk to your own damn son." As he said that he threw the uncooked top ramen into a pot, the block of noodles breaking into two once they hit the pot.
The figure still didn't say anything.
"You know, I decided to go to U.A." He stated."U….A?" The voice croaked out, despite the low gravelly tone, it was a female's voice."Oh...so U.A. got your attention? How long has it been since you actually said a word to me? About nine years? When I was six years old." Hideyoshi gripped the counter, his teeth gritting.
The TV flashed a bright myriad of colors, allowing the woman in the chair's appearance to be made more pronounced, a frail sickly looking woman with messy dirty in color and condition blonde hair, that casted over her face to the point her eyes were concealed, her skin was pale, as if she hadn't seen the sun in years. Her white shirt was dirty and sported several holes, as if it were the only thing she wore, her lips were cracked as well.
"Yeah, U.A. I finally decided to go there. Not for you or dad, not at all. I'm going there because I promised Deku something, you probably don't even remember who that is….when do you remember anything I tell you?" Hide found himself getting more and more frustrated, these one sided conversations always managed to bring out the worst in him. "I don't wanna let him down and break a promise, I don't wanna be that kind of Sakamoto. You and dad would know a lot about broken promises, you sure his quirk wasn't being a total piece of shit? All you ever used to talk about was how strong he was and how he could've been the next No. 1 if it weren't for All Might yet you never talked about how treated his fucking wife and son."
The woman in the chair once again said nothing to him, stuck in a trance, staring aimlessly into the television.
"I don't understand why you even miss that bastard, I'm glad that piece of shit croaked. After all he did, to me….to you….and you have the nerve to mourn that fucking prick….I wish you could've died with him!" A flame rose up from the pot and Hideyoshi quickly put out the flame, he looked in the pot to see the completely charred block of noodles. "I forgot to put in water, I was so fixated on telling you about my day, thought you would have cared to listen and talk about it for once." Hideoyoshi was too frustrated at this point, he walked out of the kitchen. "Make your own fucking food." He told her before slamming the door.
The woman continued to blankly stare into the television screen. On a night stand by her chair was a small picture from, the glass had been shattered and part of the picture had been torn entirely, as if someone attempted to erase the man in the picture's presence, but in that picture stood the woman when she was much more lively and holding a tight grip on a boy's wrist, that boy being Hideyoshi of course, who didn't smile.
The woman's mouth moved slowly, as if she were attempting to mouth something, but they simply closed again, stopping herself entirely. She went back to watching the television, the program she watched had ended only to start from the very beginning due to it being set on loop. The title suddenly flashed on screen in bright colors.
BRACER CENTURION: A HERO RISING!
To Be Continued.