Izuku threw the ball.

"48 meters."

His quirks were gone, Izuku couldn't feel them.

Reaching out for his quirkspace, Izuku found nothing, his breathing was getting faster and shallower.

"I erased your quirk."

Izuku looked up, seeing Aizawa staring back at him, his eyes glowing red and his hair floating above his head.

"Y-You're Eraserhead!"

Aizawa continued to stare directly at Izuku, before his eyes returned to normal and his hair fell limp.

Izuku felt his quirks return.

"So cool."

Izuku's fanboy nature eclipsed the panic he'd felt at being quirkless again, especially since he could feel them resting comfortably in his quirkspace.

"You are a prime example why the U.A. Entrance Exam isn't fit for purpose," said Aizawa, just loud enough so that only Izuku could hear him.

A small squeak slipped from Izuku's lips.

"You were going to use your quirk just then, weren't you?"

The green-haired boy nodded.

He wasn't technically lying, he had just decided not to correct Aizawa about which quirk he was going to use.

Izuku wouldn't, couldn't, tell anyone about Quirksmith.

Aizawa sighed. "Then you would have turned the bones in your arm to dust."

Izuku felt affronted. "But-"

"Then you'd be no help to anybody, a liability in every fight you'd be in." Aizawa paused. "Like that, with your impractical quirk, you have no potential as a hero."

His cheeks ablaze with shame, Izuku hung his head.

"So I'm going to make this simple, you're expelled."

Izuku's heart dropped as he fought back tears, the months of training, all for nothing on the first day. He's been looking forward to learning and training with the next generation of heroes, like Uraraka and Iida, and working with Support students like Mikumo.

His life's dream, it was crushed all over again, because Izuku was scared to show his real quirk.

He felt like an idiot, a failure.

Aizawa stared down at the boy, seeing the look in his eyes. He knew that look, guilt mixed with fear.

Midoriya was holding back, he'd seen it in the other tests..

Glancing down at the spare softball resting in his palm, ready for the next student to throw, Aizawa took a careful breath and made a decision.

"That is what I'm going to say after you throw the ball again."

Izuku's head shot up to stare at Aizawa.

"Unless your throw manages to convince me that you have potential as a hero."

Izuku took the offered softball, staring at it. He could use One For All, breaking his arm and being expelled from U.A. or he could use Quirksmith and maybe not get expelled.

His decision wasn't even hard.

Izuku would choose to be a hero, even if he was hated for his quirk.

Lifting his arm back, Izuku began his throw and entered his Quirkspace.

Glancing around the black void, Izuku looked to the time, activating another facet of Quirksmith.

Time Dilation.

While inside a quirkspace Izuku could slow the time he experienced, his current maximum was thirty seconds for every one second in the outside world.

That meant he had a minute before the ball left his physical hand.

Izuku rushed forward and expanded Quirksmith to show the copied quirks it contained.

"I'll have to hold Zero Gravity on the ball for as long as possible, around fifteen seconds." Izuku rested his chin on his hand, activating the quirk in his physical hand and negating the ball's gravity.

Izuku continued looking through his quirk, disregarding Heal and Quirkspace immediately. "Attraction's no use, that just leaves…"

Explosion.

Izuku had copied it from Bakugo when the other boy had punched him in the face. He'd only tried it out a few times in the last two weeks, his explosions were far weaker. After all, Bakugo had been using and training with it since they were four.

But it would just have to do.

While Izuku could normally only use one copied quirk at a time, this didn't extend to passive parts of a quirk. Thus, Izuku would be able to use Explosion to propel the ball while maintaining its lack of gravity, he just wouldn't be able to remove or return the gravity to the ball or anything else.

But that wouldn't be a problem.

Confident in his strategy, Izuku prepared to exit quirkspace when his eyes landed on One For All.

Should he use it?

No, he couldn't.

Izuku couldn't afford to break his arm, but he did have thirty seconds, he could at least have a look.

Expanding One For All, Izuku examined the structure of the quirk, smaller energy spheres connected by strings of light.

"Huh, that's a passive trigger." Izuku cocked his head, that must be the power accumulation aspect of the quirk.

Izuku knew Aizawa was right about one thing, he couldn't be a hero if one punch left him a liability.

He had to focus his power on what he could do.

"Wait, focus my power. That's it!"

Izuku knew what to do.

Returning to the physical world, Izuku charged his arm with the red energy of One For All, focusing it all in his index finger as the ball left his hand, before activating Explosion.

The ball was consumed by a massive orange explosion, larger than what Bakugo had produced earlier, before it broke free of fire and rocketed away.

A massive gust of air blasted back at Izuku and the rest of Class 1-A

Calling on Attraction, Izuku pulled on the ground below him to counter the backdraft, Aizawa has made it clear he had to stay in the circle, while his classmates were knocked off their feet behind him.

As the backdraft cleared away, Izuku straightened up, staring in disbelief as the ball vanished into the distance. He felt like he was forgetting something.

Izuku's stomach made an odd jolt.

Oh right, Zero Gravity.

Releasing his hold on the ball, its gravity returned, barely giving Izuku time to stop himself from retching.

Looking down at his right hand, Izuku examined his index finger, it was clearly broken, but not as badly as his arm and legs had been during the entrance exam.

Clenching his fist, Izuku turned to a windswept Aizawa.

"My arm's not broken. I can still fight."

"1672.9 meters"

Of all the things Izuku was expecting his homeroom teacher to do, grin like a madman was not one of them.

"So, your quirk isn't super-strength then."

Izuku paused before scrunching his face, mostly in pain. "Well kind of, but also not at all."

"Woah, did he just use Kacchan's quirk?"

"Don't call me that, Round Face!"

Turning to face his classmates, Izuku prepared himself to see disgust and hatred, he was a quirk stealer, just like the ones in the cartoons he had watched as a child.

"That was tres stylish!"

"1670 meters! That's super manly!"

"You say everything is manly."

"It's over double Bakugo's score, kero."

Bakugo clenched his fists, Izuku could practically see the flashback to their fight in the alley in his eyes.

"Fucking explain yourself, you lying shit!"

Rocketing forwards, Bakugo aimed his explosions behind himself.

"I'll fucking kill ngg !"

The scarf around Aizawa's neck had moved, restraining Bakugo in midair, his quirk erased.

Bakugo struggled in vain. "This cloth, it's stiff."

Izuku heard a giggle from Mineta.

Aizawa sighed. "This is my capture weapon, it's woven from special alloy wire and carbon fiber."

"Let me go!"

"Damn it kid, would you stop using your quirk already, my dry eye is bad enough as it is."

"Deku! What the fucking fuck did you do! You had no power of your own so you took it from someone else?"

Izuku hung his head.

"So you can copy quirks? That's super cool!" Uraraka gave Izuku a peace sign as his head shot back up.

"Well I guess it is." Izuku rubbed the back of his neck. "I-I thought I was quirkless, until I touched someone with a power amplification quirk."

Uraraka threw her fist up into the air. "Wow, that means you copied my quirk as well, at the exam."

Izuku held up his hand to show the pads on his fingertips. "Y-Yeah, that's how I realised what my quirk was, I thought it was just super-strength before the pads appeared."

"Your weight limit must be pretty low then, I can show you how to increase it if you want."

"Really?"

"Uh-huh, isn't being a hero all about teamwork?"

"As riveting as this conversation is, let's get on with the rest of the tests." Aizawa dropped Bakugo to the ground, keeping his capture weapon wrapped around the teen's wrists.

"Imma gonna crush you, Deku!"

Aizawa glared at Bakugo. "You're going to do no such thing. Either you shut up and get on the tests, or you keep on acting out and I disqualify you from the remaining events."

"Then I'd be in last."

Aizawa grinned. "Exactly."

Bakugo grunted. "Tch, whatever, cheaty Deku isn't worth it anyway."

Izuku sighed in relief as Bakugo was released from Aizawa's scarf and went to sulk at the back of the class.

Aizawa sighed. "What a waste of time, now get on with the rest of the tests, before I expel you all."

"Is your finger okay?"

Izuku smiled at Uraraka's earnest expression. "Y-Yeah, I'm fine."

"Fine? Your finger is broken!" Iida was waving his arm again. "Are you sure you can continue?"

"It's not as bad as it looks, I think it's just fractured, using Explosion at the same time as my strength must be why."

"Of course, Bakugo's quirk must come with some kind of shock absorption for his hands." Iida gave Izuku a serious look.

Izuku nodded. "R-Right, otherwise he'd be breaking his hands all the time."

"Aizawa wouldn't expel all of us, would he?" Uraraka tilted her head.

"Of course not, he just wants us to give our all."

Izuku, Uraraka and Iida turned to see a tall, dark-haired girl.

"Yaoyorozu, I'm glad to see you got into U.A.!"

"Thanks, Iida." Yaoyorozu nodded her head.

Uraraka bounced on the ball of her feet. "You two know each other?"

"We met at the Recommendations exam."

Yaoyorozu smiled.

Izuku lost the ability to talk.

"But you were at the normal entrance exam?" pondered Uraraka.

"I placed sixth in Recommendations." Iida looked downcast. "They only accept the top four."

"Ya still made it in didn't you?"

Iida perked up. "You're right, Uraraka."

"Iida, softball throw."

"Coming, Mr. Aizawa!"

The last three events passed quickly, with Izuku managing decent results in each of them. For the endurance running Attraction had allowed Izuku to place seventh, while in the upper body training and seated toe touch none of his quirks were applicable, forcing him to fall back on All Might's training.

Aizawa cleared his throat to get the class's attention. "Be quiet, it's time for the results."

Izuku clenched his right fist, squeezing his fractured finger. He just had to hope he had managed to stay out of last place.

Aizawa pressed a button on his phone, activating a hologram that displayed the final results.

Seventeenth.

Izuku sighed in relief, it wasn't impressive, but it would be somewhere to work from.

The purple boy cried out at the sight of his name in last place.

"Also I was lying, no-one's getting expelled."

A wave of shouts came from the class as Aizawa grinned, his scarf floating around his neck.

"It was a logical ruse, how else were you going to give it your all?"

Izuku tilted his head. "Huh, Yaoyorozu was right."

"Third, I got fucking third!" Bakugo's hands crackled with explosions.

Aizawa ignored the explosive teen. "Your curriculum and orientation packs on your desks, the rest of the day is free for you to explore the school, lunch starts at half twelve, don't miss it, Lunch Rush won't cater for your tardiness."

The class stayed where they were, still in shock.

"What are you still doing here?" Aizawa's eyes suddenly shone. "Do you want homework or something?"

In seconds the class dispersed, heading for the changing rooms at speed.

"Midoriya, stay behind."

Izuku peeled away from Uraraka and Iida, walking back to his teacher.

"Go see Recovery Girl." Aizawa held out a medical slip, with Izuku's name written on it. "Should I be keeping a stack of these on hand pre-written for you?"

Izuku shook his head. "Don't worry Mr. Aizawa, I'm going to find a way to overcome the recoil."

Aizawa chuckled. "I'll hold you to that, now clear off, Problem Child."

Izuku blushed at the nickname, before racing off after his newfound friends.

"This kid." Aizawa sighed and shook his head.

Setting off for the faculty lounge, Aizawa pulled out a bottle of eye drops.

"Aizawa, you liar."

Acting on instinct, Aizawa flicked the eye drops at the source of the voice.

Turning, Aizawa rolled his eyes at the sight of All Might, the tiny bottle comically small in the Number 1 Hero's giant hand.

"You appear to have lost this."

Aizawa took the drops back. "For such a large man you are remarkably quiet."

All Might coughed. "Well, what can I say-"

"I don't care."

"Hm, well then, what I was going to say was, you lied." All Might held up the U.A. faculty registry. "You expelled the entirety of your last class."

"I later readmitted them." Aizawa used his eye drops, blinking rapidly. "I did it to be kind, they had no potential. Giving them that shock, is what they needed."

"Another of your logical ruses, then?"

Aizawa ignored All Might's question.

All Might fidgeted at the heavy silence. "And this year?"

"Better than average, Nedzu must have put all the ones with no potential in Vlad's class so he can coddle them." Aizawa slipped the eye drops back into his pocket. "They didn't need the same kind of wake up call as the last lot, just an idea of what would happen if they thought being a hero is fun and games."

"That's a bit harsh."

"Will you still be saying that if one of them dies?"

All Might gave a muffled grunt.

"Dies?"

Aizawa glanced back at the Symbol of Peace. "Oboro Shirakumo."

"Oboro Shirakumo?"

"We were classmates, here at U.A., we interned together with His Purple Highness." Aizawa paused, hanging his head. "We fought a villain, Garvey, protecting a class of elementary kids, Oboro died protecting them from a collapsing building with his quirk."

All Might frowned. "If your friend had been expelled then the children-"

"Oboro had plenty of potential. The one with no potential was me. Oboro died because I wasn't good enough."

Silence fell as All Might processed Aizawa's words.

"Anyone can become a hero, but not everyone can be a hero. That's why I expel those with no potential to be a hero."

With that, Aizawa began to walk away.

All Might sighed, he knew that pain, that guilt. He had beared it for years after Nana's death, only truly letting go after the fight with All For One that had crippled him.

"Aizawa, it wasn't your fault. That villain chose to attack those schoolchildren, never blame yourself for the decisions of others, decisions you can't change."

Aizawa snorted. "As touching as that is, encouraging mantras don't save lives."

All Might held his tongue as Aizawa left, his left hand subconsciously touching his injury.

SMOOOCH!

Izuku flexed his hand, marveling at his healed finger.

"Tut-tut, classes haven't even started yet and I've had to heal you twice already."

"Oh, right, thank you Recovery Girl."

"You're welcome young man, just try not to come back again soon." Recovery Girl reached into his pocket. "Here."

Accepting the small packet of gummies, Izuku stared at them. "Thanks. Um, I-I actually had a question about your quirk."

"My quirk? You certainly can."

"Er, well, my quirk permanently copies other quirks on contact, I copied it when you healed me at the entrance exam." Izuku paused, rubbing the back of his head. "Can your quirk heal yourself? I didn't want to risk trying it in case it backfired on me."

"Interesting quirk you've got there, and no, I can't heal myself, it has no effect."

"Oh, okay, thanks for telling me."

"I assume that this is a recent development?"

Izuku nodded.

"Could you describe your quirk to me so I can update your quirk data on the U.A. internal system."

"S-Sure. It's called Quirksmith, when I touch someone I permanently copy their quirk so long as I don't already have a copy. I can also manipulate and alter the quirks I copy."

Recovery Girl looked interested.

"What is the limit of your alteration of a quirk?"

"My mom's quirk allows her to attract objects, I tried to alter my copy to repulse objects instead, and the quirk just kinda fell apart."

"Hm, there we are, quirk description updated. Although, I do have a suggestion for you."

Izuku looked up. "You do?"

"Find a quirk to negate the damage from One For All."

"What! One For All, what's that? Never heard of it? Have you? Why am I still talking? Why can't I stop?"

"I know about One For All." Recovery Girl sighed. "Who do you think treats the great lummox when he pushes himself too far."

Izuku remained still as Recovery Girl waved her cane in front of the boy's face.

"I believe you've broken him."

"All Might!" Izuku spun around to see his idol enter the nurse's office.

"Young Midoriya, your throw-"

Before he could continue, Recovery Girl rapped him with her cane.

"No encouraging the boy to injure himself again!"

"Chiyo-"

"You hear me, no more injuries."

Izuku jumped up to his feet. "I-It's fine, Recovery Girl is right, I need to find a quirk to reduce the damage from One For All."

All Might flinched.

Izuku noticed, pushing down the feeling of fear that pulled at his heart.

"I'm going, going to go now, I don't want to miss lunch." Izuku bowed in thanks to Recovery Girl and fled at speed.

The sound of Izuku's footsteps hurried faded, leaving Recovery Girl and All Might alone in the office.

"You."

"Ow."

"Absolute."

"Ow."

"Idiot."

"Ow."

Recovery Girl punctuated each word by hitting All Might with her cane.

All Might deflated, wiping blood away from his mouth.

"Are you trying to give the boy a complex about his quirk?"

Toshinori sighed and hung his head. "I know, I know. I can't help it, every time he mentions his quirk, all I can think of, all I can see is that quirk, that man."

Recovery Girl lowered her cane. "I know I've said this time and time before, you need to consider therapy, you suffered a life-changing injury, like the rest of the faculty Hound Dog is aware of your injury-"

"I'll do it."

"-so sensitive information isn't at risk, I'm sorry, pardon?"

"I'll do it."

Turning to her computer, Recovery Girl began typing. "I'll book you in for a session with Ryo next week."

"Thank you, Chiyo."

"May I ask you, why now? After I've asked so many times before?"

Toshinori balled his fist. "I'm hurting him, I'm hurting Midoriya. I need to be better, for him."

"Deku!"

Izuku flinched, nearly dropping his tray.

"Over here!"

It was Uraraka.

Walking over to the table, Izuku slowly sat down, across from Uraraka and next to Iida, with Yaoyorozu at one side of Uraraka and the frog girl, Tsuyu, at the other.

"It was you, the 50-meters, you know 'you can do it, Deku'."

Uraraka tilted her head. "Yeah, your name is Deku right? It's what Bakugo called you before the test."

Izuku clammed up. "W-Well, my name's actually Izuku, Deku is another reading of my name, Kacchan, I mean Bakugo, he uses it to mean useless."

Uraraka blushed. "I'm so sorry, it just gave me a you can do it feeling!"

"That is a mean thing to say, but I am not surprised considering Bakugo's conduct today."

"He seems unstable, kero."

Izuku resisted the instinct to tell Uraraka that it was fine for her to call him Deku.

He had left Bakugo behind.

He would leave Deku behind too.

"I-It's fine, you didn't know it was an insult."

"What about Dekiru?" Yaoyorozu offered.

"Dekiru?" wondered Izuku as he turned his head to look at the black-haired girl, noticing the sheer amount of food on her plate.

"If Bakugo uses Deku as an insult, take it back from him."

"Dekiru, I like it! It's super cute!"

Iida chopped the air. "Bakugo really is disrespectful and arrogant!"

"I can hear you, you fucking extra!"

Izuku turned to see Bakugo sitting at the next table, eating his lunch alone. Being at U.A. felt so surreal, Izuku was with others while Bakugo was by himself.

"Don't ignore me, you fucks!"

A pang of pity shot through Izuku for a few moments before the memory of Bakugo punching him came to mind.

"Do you mind if I ask a question about your quirk, Midoriya?"

Izuku looked to Iida, nodding his head.

"I was curious if you can copy mutant-type quirks like mine."

"Oh, I don't actually know, b-but I don't think so." Izuku was taken aback with the question, still surprised that his classmates had awed at his quirk as opposed to fearing it. "I-I was researching online, every paper I found said that copy quirks can't handle mutant types, s-sorry."

Yaoyorozu placed her cutlery down, her plate empty. "How many quirks do you have?"

"Er, other than my own quirk, I have six, they're all emitters."

Uraraka counted on her fingers. "So, one is the first quirk that mutated your own, two are mine and Bakugo's, what are the other three?"

"My mom's, Attraction, and Recovery Girl's Heal. Oh, and one that analyses quirks."

Yaoyorozu was interested. "Analysing a villain's quirk would be pretty great for a hero."

Izuku shuffled slightly. "Well, it's not that useful in battle, it requires skin contact and reduces your awareness of your surroundings. I can't really copy too many quirks, I haven't tested yet but I think my limit is ten."

Uraraka, Iida and Yaoyorozu chatted amongst themselves as a smile formed on Izuku's lips.

All Might.

Making friends, it's so much more than I could have asked for.

Izuku flicked through Kokoro3 social media pages on his phone, searching for someone whose profile mentioned them having some kind of self-healing quirk.

Unfortunately, Izuku was finding nothing, healing quirks were rare in general, but ones that affected the holder as well were even more unheard of.

Closing the social media app, Izuku instead opened his contacts list.

After just one day at U.A. Izuku's contacts had doubled. Yaoyorozu had given hers just before her chauffer collected her, while Uraraka and Iida had swapped with him while they waited for the train to arrive.

Uraraka and Iida had both gotten off at the last stop, the former was almost to her apartment, while the latter had to switch trains.

Izuku smiled, scrolling down past his three new contacts, All Might and his mom to the bottom.

Dad

Pressing the call symbol, Izuku held the phone to his ear.

The number you have called is no longer in service.

"Hi Dad, I'm sorry I haven't called in a while, I've been super busy getting ready to go to U.A., Mom's been so stressed about it you'd think she was the one going."

Izuku gave a hollow chuckle, holding back tears. "I really miss you, Dad. I know it's selfish, but I hoped I'd wake up and you'd be there to wish me luck for school."

"I wish you'd come home, whenever I ask Mom where you are she gets really quiet, sometimes I can hear her crying after she thinks I'm asleep."

The number you have called is no longer in service.

Izuku sighed, hanging up.

Taking a deep breath, Izuku locked his phone and returned it to his jacket pocket.

The train car Izuku was in was nearly empty, as to be expected since the U.A. orientation day was a Sunday. He didn't imagine the train rides being quite so relaxed from tomorrow onwards, maybe he'd run instead.

"Oi, Quirkless, what do you think you're doing wearing that uniform."

Izuku flinched, jumping to his feet, expecting to see someone from Aldera Middle School, here to harass him.

But it wasn't him they were after.

It was the boy Izuku had bumped into earlier, the Support student, Mikumo.

He had been surrounded by three boys in Umbaru High uniforms.

"Clearly Quirkless has finally lost it, he actually thinks he got into U.A.!"

"Who did you steal the uniform from, Quirkless!"

"Yeah, like you could even afford to go there. Who's gonna pay, your parents? Oh wait, ya don't have any!"

The boys laughed, while Mikumo tried to ignore them.

Izuku watched in horror and anger, for the first time seeing how cruel quirkless discrimantation was when not on the receiving end.

When Bakugo and his classmates had belittled him, Izuku had just beared it with a smile, just like All Might, all the while a dark, nagging voice in his head told him he deserved it for the pain he caused his mom by being quirkless.

But now, with his training from All Might, his place at U.A. and his new friends, Izuku knew he hadn't deserved it.

And neither did Mikumo.

Small explosions issued from Izuku's palms as he slammed his fist into his other hand, allowing Bakugo's familiar motion to give him confidence.

"Shut up!"

The three boys looked up to see Izuku, his eyes glowing.

"Who the hell are you?"

Izuku took a step towards the boys.

"Someone who's telling you to shut up!"

Feeling Bakugo's quirk strumming in his veins, Izuku's resolve hardened.

"What's it to you, is Quirkless your basket case?"

"Oh, I get it, Quirkless must be the class pet."

"Gross, someone as useless as him stealing a seat from someone worthy like us."

"Yeah, Quirkless cost us our place at U.A.!"

Izuku clenched his fists. "Mikumo earned his place in Support, you three would never belong at U.A.!"

The expression on the three boys' faces darkened, their ire turning to Izuku.

"Strength doesn't make a hero! A true hero is someone with a selfless heart!"

The argument was starting to get attention from other passengers.

"You three, looking down and being vile to someone you think is weaker than you doesn't make you heroes. It makes you villains!"

All at once, the three boys exploded into action, charging at Izuku.

Before Izuku could react, a weak explosion sent the three boys flat on their backsides.

"Fuck off, you losers." Bakugo glared at the three boys, his red eyes striking fear into them.

The boys scrambled to their feet, bowing to Bakugo. "We're so sorry!"

"No you're not." Bakugo quirked an eyebrow. "You're just scared 'cause I can fight back."

The boys fled.

Izuku rubbed the back of his neck as his confidence abandoned him. "T-Thanks, Bak-"

"Shut up, Deku. Don't think you can act like me just cause you copied my quirk."

Bakugo stormed off.

Anger suddenly burnt in Izuku's chest, all those years Bakugo had bullied him for being quirkless and here he was.

A regular old defender of the downtrodden.

Was it just Izuku that Bakugo hated, not his former quirkless status? Had it just been a good excuse?

"You didn't need to take pity on me, I've put up with those three for years."

Pulled from his thoughts, Izuku felt the fire in his chest dim.

Izuku turned to Mikumo. "I-I wasn't taking pity."

Mikumo rolled his eyes. "Of course you weren't, the big-shot Hero student standing up for a poor little quirkless."

Looking at Mikumo, Izuku saw a reflection of himself, someone who had faced the same discrimnation as he had, without someone as kind as his mom to support them.

In that moment Izuku made his decision, he would support Mikumo just as his mom had supported him.

Izuku sat down next to Mikumo, smiling.

"I didn't do it out of pity."

Mikumo shot him a wary look. "Then why did you do it?"

"Well, until a couple of months ago I thought I was quirkless."

The breath caught in Mikumo's throat.

"You thought you were quirkless?"

Izuku nodded. "Yeah, it was a bit of a shock when I started copying other people's quirks."

"Then, you applied to U.A. as a quirkless?" Mikumo's hand gripped his backpack strap. "You were planning to take the exam without a quirk?"

"I was."

Mikumo paused, before making his decision. "Do think it's possible for someone like me to be a hero?"

Izuku smiled, filling Mikumo with warmth.

"Mikumo, you can be a hero."

For the first time in years, the flicker of hope within Mikumo burnt brighter.

"And I'm going to help you."