"Good night, Shizu."

"Onii-chan?"

Beckoned by his little sister, fifteen-year-old Okazaki Ryoku glanced downward to meet her inquisitive gaze, her face illuminated by the moonlight shining through the window in her room that couldn't quite close all the way. Snugly tucked into bed, Shizuka's bright, blue irises, the same color as her older brother's, stared back up at him. The shared sapphire hue of their eyes was characteristic of their mother's unique Demon Boost Quirk, a hereditary Quirk that had been passed down through many generations on the maternal side of their family. It was a Quirk that could manifest itself in wildly different ways from person to person depending on how it combined with their other parent's Quirk. One of their uncles could attain almost superhuman levels of stamina, while a cousin experienced this Quirk in the form of greatly enhanced mental capabilities upon activation. Without exception however, full activation would result in a luminescent, blue glow of the entire eye region, as well as a dark blue coloration of the skin, which would gradually spread as the Quirk acquired charge. The Demon name for the Quirk was more of a descriptor for the change in appearance its users underwent than anything else. These changes would slowly revert over time when the user's body and mind returned back to a resting state.

As everyone in his age range started to manifest their unique Quirks, Ryoku had endured his fair share of taunts from the kids in school over the morphing of his bodily features that Demon Boost would cause. The insults were often crude; the boy would find himself under fire from such creative insults as "villain wannabe" and "ugly freak". He often wondered how so many of his classmates could loudly proclaim their ambitions to become heroes while bullying someone based on their appearance at the same time. Although he never let it show, Ryoku took rather personal offense to "ugly freak". He still didn't exactly see himself as a regular Casanova, but the sapphire-eyed teen liked to think he wasn't all that bad. Ryoku was especially fond of his hair, sporting bangs that draped over the middle and the sides of a face that was somewhere between round and angular, with enough hair in the back to tie up into a short ponytail. However, his eyes were rather narrow, and even he had to admit that they gave him a somewhat devious appearance. Ryoku often found himself thinking that this couldn't be any farther from what he was. He was stubborn and straightforward in what he liked and didn't like, and despite all the trouble it caused him, there was something simple that he enjoyed above everything else.

Fighting.

The conditions for charging the Demon Boost Quirk were shared between all those who possessed it: repetitive action of the boosted ability granted by the Quirk. Thus, a younger Ryoku had simply responded to any perceived insult by performing the action required to charge his Quirk.

Which was also fighting.

Demon Boost had combined for Ryoku in an interesting way with his late father's Energy Ball Quirk. On top of a Boost to his reflexes and dexterity, an aura-like energy would gradually gather around his hands and feet, which he could either fire off as short-range projectiles, or keep in place around his extremities to give his punches and kicks a destructive wallop. Both aspects of his Quirk required prolonged combat in order to achieve significant charge.

'I basically start every fight as a Quirkless guy who can move and dodge a little better than normal' he'd explained to one of his only friends at school during a discussion about their Quirks.

Well aware of this drawback, Ryoku trained tirelessly to improve his body and his striking techniques for battle. On the other hand, this also meant that while other people tended to fade later in fights, Ryoku's Quirk allowed him to gain in potency as time went on.

"Bedtime, squirt," Ryoku chided as he plopped an index finger on his scarred, bruised hand down onto the tip of his sibling's button nose, causing her to scrunch up her face in protest. "You should be getting some shut-eye."

"Can you read me the one about the frog and the toad before you leave?" came the girl's simple request.

"Why do you like that little picture book so much, Shizu?" Ryoku queried with a small sigh as he regarded his little sister. "Don't you like reading all those crazy science books?"

As far as Ryoku was concerned, Science could've come to offer him a hug and he'd still smack it across the face. And yet, he couldn't help but look in amazement as his little sister spent her time pouring through books about the stars and the solar system. Sometimes she was beyond his comprehension.

"...Frogs are cute."

And sometimes, Shizuka was exactly the six-year-old child her older brother knew her to be.

"I mean sure, but-"

"I also enjoy the weird noises you make for the animals, onii-chan."

"..."

Shizuka was in the first grade, and already teachers were starting to talk to her mom about accelerated learning programs for her academically inclined six-year-old. She was a reserved and thoughtful girl, who spoke concisely and never betrayed many emotions on her face unless under extreme distress. While books had a tendency to put her older brother to sleep, Shizuka loved to read. Rather than objects like stuffed animals, rows of books lined the shelves of her small room instead, many of them gifts from their much richer maternal uncle and aunt. She was Ryoku's pride and joy, and he couldn't have been more happy that his little sister didn't appear to share in his more violent proclivities.

Martial arts classes by the time Ryoku was six had been his father's idea of "toughening the kid up". While a dark resentment made up most of what he felt about the man now, there was a time when Ryoku had desired nothing more than the grunts of affirmation he'd get from coming home and showing his father the cuts and bruises on his face and hands. Anything to make his dad proud of him.

Thus, that had become the blue-eyed boy's way of seeking validation from the father he once looked up to. Soon, the other kids in school began to actively avoid him. They would avoid him during lunchtime and never dare to approach him for group work. A painful loneliness took root in little Ryoku's heart. This only made him lash out further, desperate for his father's approval in the absence of friends amongst his peers.

Until one day, his father had been taken from him. The thirteen-year-old no longer knew what he'd been striving for.

Words left unspoken in grief and pain following his father's death until they'd faded into nothingness left Ryoku with a complicated relationship with his mother. He knew instinctively that he loved his mom, but words were hard to find when he was around her.

Still, Ryoku believed that no one had it worse Shizuka, who had loved her father with all her heart. The look on his little sister's face and the sound of her wails as she cried tears of sorrow and disbelief when he told her that their father wouldn't be coming home anymore was still burned into Ryoku's memory. He had thought his father was slowly changing his ways when Shizuka was born. The long periods of absence from their home to "make a quick yen on the side" were beginning to become less frequent, and his father would actually entertain family outings to bring Shizuka to the park, which he'd never done for Ryoku.

"There's my little princess," he'd proclaim happily as Shizuka would charge into his arms whenever he came home.

Something seemed to change in the man when his daughter was born to him. For Ryoku's part however, he hadn't been upset by the attention his father would lavish upon his sister. Her smiling, giggling face had given her older brother true hope that they could become a close knit, "normal" family. The kind of family that didn't feature his mom constantly screaming at her husband to shape up for the sake of his child, which would inevitably result in an angrily slammed door and then yet another indeterminate stretch of time without his dad at home. The kind of family he'd watch shows about on their small TV and would always be secretly envious of.

All hope faded on a chilly October night when the police came knocking on their door.

"Mrs. Okazaki, we have some unfortunate news."

His father had been found dead. A drug deal gone tragically wrong. Ryoku had barely reacted in time to keep his mother standing when her legs gave out at the news. As he held her up with the help of the police officers who had come to deliver the news, time seemed to melt around him. Ryoku would never see his father again. Never see him laughing with Shizu as he carried her merrily around their run-down apartment. The sapphire-eyed boy had never wanted to admit it. But now he knew.

'Dad was a criminal... He'd always been a criminal.'

"Okazaki Ryoku, huh?"

Two weeks had passed since Ryoku's father had been killed. The days crawled by in a slow haze. He'd taken a few days off from school, but returning there had done nothing to bring back any sense of normality. Home was where he would patiently comfort his heartbroken little sister while their mother forced herself listlessly around the house to cook and clean before she'd lock herself in her room. The sniffles and whimpers Ryoku heard from his mother's door drove him mad with feelings of helplessness and frustration. Meanwhile, school was where most of the kids already tended to stay away from him due to his penchant for fighting. He was even more of a social pariah now. The few friends he had in the first place also gradually strayed from his company, not wanting to be associated with the son of a criminal in a school where many aspired to be heroes.

And yet here he stood, Mikami Eito, flanked by two friends whose names Ryoku had never bothered committing to memory. As far as Ryoku knew, Eito came from money, the son of a business tycoon dad who was rarely home to take care of family affairs.

'I figured our fathers at least had that in common...' Ryoku thought to himself as he turned to face his fellow students. School had let out, and Ryoku was in a rush to get home to tend to his little sister. He didn't have time to be accosted like this. He also didn't have to be a genius to figure out the taunting hostility that laced Eito's words. Ryoku's frown deepened as he looked at the sneers etched on the faces of the teens. The emphasis put on his family name hadn't escaped his notice.

"Look boys, Okazaki still answers to that disgrace of a name."

The two hangers-on snorted in laughter while Eito seemed completely proud of himself for the observation. Ryoku could only clench his fists, desperately trying to fight back the cold anger rising in his chest.

'For Shizu's sake and mom's sake...' the sapphire-eyed teen forced himself to calm down by thinking of his family. Nothing good could come of this situation. He turned begrudgingly on his heel and began to walk away before he was again stopped in his tracks.

"Mikami-kun, don't you feel bad for this degenerate's mom?" Ryoku slowly turned his head back to take a hard look at the one who'd dared to mention his mother. Green hair, a lopsided grin, and a look in his eyes that told Ryoku that this one had never been in a real confrontation.

"Yeah, imagine giving birth to a waste of space like Okazaki," remarked Eito with a snort. "I'll tell you though, the one I really feel for is his sister-"

'...What?'

Everything Ryoku had bottled up inside over the last two weeks spilled uncontrollably over. Days of speaking nothing but gentle and consoling words to his sister had left him no outlet for the pain within his own heart. His father hadn't been able to fully turn away from the scant money his life of crime offered, and now he'd left his wife and children to pick up the pieces of their broken family.

"Your Quirk." Ryoku turned his body fully around to face the three teens having fun at his expense. His narrow eyes bore a dangerous darkness.

Eito was clearly taken aback by the sudden interruption, though he tried his best not to let it show. "Look, I've seen your grades so I know you're not the brightest, but we're gonna need you to speak in complete sente-"

"Your Quirk." Ryoku repeated simply. "Use it. And put your hands up."

The early November weather tended to have a calming effect on Ryoku, but the air right now held nothing but ill will and hostility. A somber wind blew softly over the scene.

"Guys, let's just drop it," muttered the one who had yet to speak. Ryoku could tell from the shakiness in the boy's voice that he didn't want anything to do with a physical confrontation. For his part, the green haired one to the other side of their leader didn't exactly look enthralled by the prospect of a fight either.

"What, are you scared of this punk, Saburo?" Eito growled at his lackey, a move which clearly intimidated the boy whom Ryoku now knew was named Saburo. Cowed into silence, Saburo could only look on as Eito stepped forward and got into a fighting stance.

"...What the fuck are you smiling at, freak?"

Ryoku blinked at the question posed to him. 'Guess it's happening again'. The blue-eyed teen had realized over time (and after many questions regarding his sanity) that he had a rather peculiar habit whenever it was time for a brawl.

An eerie grin stretched across his features.

'Can't help it.'

His current situation was anything but happy, but nothing could replicate for Ryoku the feeling of testing himself in the realest way possible. This was what he knew best.

"Let me wipe that ugly look off your ugly face for you!"

Eito charged forward as his underlings watched, his feet carrying him swiftly toward his target. Ryoku could feel his cheeks becoming sore as his smile stretched deeper across his face.

A sloppy left hook came Ryoku's way, but as he leaned back to dodge the shot, his eyes widened in surprise. The left hand had whizzed past Ryoku, but a spike began to quickly shoot out of Eito's elbow instead. Ryoku had barely noticed in time thanks to the latent boost in reflexes granted by his Quirk. He'd managed to avoid a lethal blow, but a trickling feeling down cheek told him that contact had been made. A smirk now adorned the features of his opponent, whom Ryoku surmised had a Quirk that let him generate spikes from his body.

"How's tha-" Eito had begun to taunt his opponent, but Ryoku quickly went on the offensive.

A quick left jab found the face of the arrogant teen standing before him, followed by what looked to be a right hook. However, as Eito brought his spiked left arm up to block, Ryoku quickly pumped out a left kick to the body instead. A cry of pain and frustration left his opponent's mouth, and a spike now jutted out reflexively from Eito's body just as the spike on his left arm retracted back inside. To his dismay, Ryoku's leg had long since withdrawn from its target.

'Looks like he can probably only generate one of those spikes at a time' Ryoku thought to himself. If that was the case, all he needed to do was feint and dodge. Judging by Eito's messy punch and the rigidity of his movements, Ryoku surmised that he definitely had the upper hand in technique. Like a tape on rewind, the taunts about his family looped over and over in his mind. He could feel the anger accelerating the charge on his Quirk against his will as dark blue energy already began to form around his hands.

Deftly stringing together punches and kicks, Ryoku gradually started to break his opponents defenses. The feeling of his knuckles making swift and harsh contact on another human being was a high unlike any other. He was quickly building up his Demon Boost, while Eito was fading rapidly. All the while, a vicious smile remained glued on the blue-eyed teen's face. In contrast, fear and realization seemed to be setting in for his opponent. His face was a battered mess, and his breathing came out harsh and contracted thanks to all the body shots he'd taken.

Eito's eyes widened as Ryoku renewed his vicious assault, a left jab seeming to come for his body this time. Predictably, a spike shot out from his midsection to defend. Eito's Quirk had made contact, but pain suddenly shot through his body as he realized what his opponent had done. Ryoku's energy infused left hand had grabbed onto the jutting spike, his extremely boosted reflexes allowing him to sense the exact timing to do so as the spike had shot out. A quick pivot of Ryoku's foot allowed for a picture perfect spin, and his elbow found its way beautifully but brutally slamming into his arrogant opponent's orbital bone. The spinning elbow attack had finally floored his opponent, but one look into Ryoku's menacing eyes made it clear that his desire to maim hadn't yet been sated.

Eito's body thudded harshly onto the pavement, his head spinning and his vision blurring from the violent force of bone on bone contact crushing his face. His eyes barely managed to bring into focus his two "friends" as they stood petrified behind his fallen body. Their gazes were locked wholly onto the demonic visage approaching them. Eito followed their stares and felt his breath catch in his throat. The blue-eyed teen he had been mocking minutes before seemed entirely replaced by some kind of monster. Roughly half of the skin on Ryoku's face and neck was now blue, and his right eye flickered faintly in a bright, blue glow.

All that remained of the person Eito had challenged was the face-splitting smile plastered onto the Demon boy's face.

'!?'

Eito was in too much disarray to scream as Ryoku firmly grasped the spike still jutting out from his body. He tried frantically to withdraw the spike but found it impossible. Ryoku's grip on the protrusion was too firm, and Eito was too weakened to employ his Quirk properly. The panicked teen could do nothing but grasp hurriedly at his Quirk with both hands, his eyes begging the Demon boy standing over him to cease whatever he had in mind.

"Okazaki, stop!"

Ryoku looked over at a pleading Saburo, who flinched visibly at the eye contact. The grin never left his face.

"Are you worried about tomorrow, Onii-chan?"

Ryoku suddenly found himself transported back to reality at the question his little sister had voiced. He was thankful that his train of thought had been stopped. That was far from being the end of what he'd done that day.

He never liked thinking about the incident, yet it crossed his mind often. People had gotten hurt that day because of him. Enough so that Ryoku was deemed too much of a threat to return to his middle school. Enough so that this incident had become a permanent black mark on his academic record. He hadn't even been able to find a school that would take him in for the remainder of the year.

And yet, it was because of all this that a mentor had been assigned to Ryoku to ensure he would be okay to resume his studies at a different school the following year. And it was because of the many torturous months he'd spent with his mentor that the teen had found what he wanted to do in life. He'd never say it out loud, but he knew he had a lot to be thankful to the old man for.

Including tomorrow's pivotal challenge which he'd need to overcome if he wanted to accomplish the goal he had set.

"Yeah," Ryoku admitted. "I am." He had sworn to himself that as long as he could help it, he would never lie to his little sister. After all, his father had fooled him for years until his untimely death.

He looked hard at Shizuka. He often wondered what she thought of him. For his part, he felt like a failure of a brother. As long as she'd been alive, her older brother would get into fights and come home to be yelled at by their mom. Even smiling around her made the teen self conscious. Did she see the same thing in his grin that everyone he'd hurt in his life had seen?

He wanted to get her out of the slums they were currently stuck in. He wanted to become a big brother she wouldn't mind bragging to her classmates about. He wanted her to look at him as a positive influence in her life.

In short, Ryoku wanted his little sister to be proud of him. And the first step to accomplishing this was simple.

Get accepted into the most prestigious high school for heroics in the country. UA High School.

However, given his troubled past, UA had informed him that while his grades had indeed shown tremendous improvement in his final year in middle school, there were still issues with allowing a kid who had gotten into more fights than the number of years he'd been alive to even take the entrance exams for a school designed to breed the heroes of tomorrow.

Thus, an interview with a sensei teaching at UA had been set up a week ago. Tomorrow was Ryoku's day of reckoning. And he had no clue in hell how he was going to impress a professional hero in any way. He'd just have to try his best.

"Well," Ryoku sighed as he headed toward Shizuka's bookshelf to find the picture book she so adored. "Even if no one else on Earth sees me this way."

He pulled the book out of its place on the shelf and looked into his sister's expectant eyes.

"I wanna be your hero at the very least."

"...You're embarrassing me."

Ryoku laughed softly as Shizuka covered her face in her blanket to cringe at what he'd said. His resolve was renewed. He'd try his best to make life brighter for his little sister. Even if it meant affecting strange animal noises for a children's picture book.

Thanks for reading! Leave a review if you enjoyed, or even if you didn't. Positive feedback as well as constructive criticism are both welcome. Follow the story if you'd like more, I plan to try my hardest to update this as quickly as I can. Love and peace, guys :)