—after school, Izumi's classroom—

"The incident this morning is all over the headlines!" Izumi said to herself excitedly as she scrolled the net. "I wanna hurry up and go home so I can write it down in my notebook."

Right before she could put her notebook in her backpack, Katsuki took it. She flinched, and stared warily at her childhood friend glaring down at her.

"We're not done talking yet, Deku." He growled.

"Katsuki, what's that?" Great, his lackeys were here. "Huh? 'Hero Analysis for the Future'?"

"Seriously?" One of them laughed.

"I-It's fine, isn't it?" She stuttered, getting up and reaching for her notebook. " Give it back!" But Katsuki doesn't, instead he used his quirk to explode her notebook. "AHHHH!" She yelped, and Katsuki threw it out of the window with no care. "That's mean…"

"Most top first-string heroes have stories about them from their school days," Katsuki said, glaring at her. "I want the shine of being able to be called the only student to make it into U.A. from this mediocre city junior high school. I mean, I'm a perfectionist."

She flinched when he harshly grabbed her shoulder. She felt her skin burn slightly as smoke appeared under his palm. "So anyway, don't apply to U.A., nerd." He warned, giving a smile that sent chills down her spine.

He did this to me the day I refused to follow his orders. I wonder if he remembers it?

Izumi shuddered. Don't cry, don't cry. Grey would be here soon, bear with it until they leave. She didn't turn to look as Katsuki walked off… but then she heard him halt in his tracks and say,"If you wanna be a hero that badly, there's a quick way to do it. Believe that you'll be born with a quirk in your next life, and take a swan dive off the roof!"

Izumi's green eyes widened.

…

How...how—?

…

She turned to look back at him.

How could he say something like that to her!?

Why? Why? Why?

That was over the line...Katsuki wouldn't usually say something that would take things too far. Why was he—

Her breath hitched.

Ah...that's right. I'd forgotten... Back then, even though he pushed me around, he didn't allow anyone else to bully me as I was his "pet". I belonged to him… but now, Kacchan doesn't remember me as a girl, so I'm no longer his "pet". He wouldn't care less if something happened to me…

I'm nothing to him...now

"What?" Katsuki growled while creating small explosions in his hand.

Silence. She wasn't looking at him for a heartbeat, then raised her head, a ghost of a smile appeared on her face. " Thank you, Kacchan. You helped me make up my mind ."

Katsuki and his lackeys went stiff and blinked in confusion by her strange response. She still smiled, and quickly left ahead of them.

—Katsuki's perspective—

"Oi, What just happened?" One of the extras behind him asked the other.

He felt a tap on his shoulder. "Uh, Katsuki? You don't think Midoriya took the 'swan dive of the roof' thing seriously, right?"

Shit! That damn nerd better not...No, he definitely didn't. The stairs to the roof was the opposite direction from where he went. So why was Katsuki feeling uneasy?

"Wha—Katsuki? Dude, where are you going?"

The temperamental boy quickly followed Deku, the 2 extras followed.

Katsuki noticed that once in a while the freckled boy would get bags under his eyes, and be a little sluggish with his movements. You could say those were the rare days Deku didn't follow him around after school. For some reason, he would wear an earring on the right side as well (and it didn't make sense why he would wear ornaments whenever he looked sickly). It didn't bother Katsuki that much since such phases were short. However, Deku's composure lately hadn't been looking too good. The nerd not only had bags under his eyes, but he was looking much thinner and paler.

He...didn't care for a deku, much less like him. But what bothered him was why his mother wasn't doing anything about it. Surely she would have noticed this change in her son...

Izuku quickly retrieved his note from the fish pond and dashed towards the school gate, meeting with an unfamiliar tanned boy who waved at Deku.

Who in the hell was this? Why was Deku meeting another junior high schooler?

"Dude," Katsuki heard one of the extras, who chased after him, pant. "Isn't that uniform...Seirin junior high? Since when was Midoriya friends with an elite student from another neighborhood?"

Yeah, no shit. Why was an elite student even associating himself with a quirkless loser—

The tanned boy then noticed Katsuki's presence behind Deku, and glared at him with his sharp golden eyes. He suddenly grabbed Deku by the hand and left. Katsuki Bakugou growled in response. He didn't like this. He didn't like the boy one bit, he didn't like that Deku was being weird, and definitely didn't like not knowing what was going on here.

Seemed like he'd have to confront the shitty nerd tomorrow…

—In the city—

Izumi was now wearing her work clothes. She quickly changed from her uniform into her black boots and pants and white shirt when she remembered at the last minute that she needed to relook at some case files that were on her desk. She asked Grey to wait for her at the hospital as she would be on her way there soon. After successfully retrieving her files from the precinct, she walked alone in silence. With the device removed from her neck, her long fluffy green hair danced in the air as the wind blew.

In all my life, I was truly unhappy. People hated or pitied me and my mother because I wasn't blessed with a quirk. Being declared 'quirkless' was when my life started to fall, like domino pieces. My father, upset and angry by the results, divorced and left my mother because of me. I was just 5 when I last saw him.

"My precious child...Please understand me, I can't bear with all this anymore." Her father told her softly, both his large hands held her shoulders. "This is all for your own good. You're a good girl, Izumi. Please be a good girl and look after your mother for me. You can do that for your pitiful father, can't you?"

Isn't it your role to look after us? Looking back at it, I realized how pathetic you were when you told me this, dad. You basically ran away from us, unable to accept the reality. You were just too ashamed of me.

"Believe that you'll be born with a quirk in your next life, and take a swan dive off the roof!" Katsuki said earlier. She obviously didn't take it to heart, but…

I suppose the main reason why I still followed Kacchan was because I believed that somewhere inside, he was still the same Kacchan I knew before Ryuu died.

Before Katsuki's quirk manifested, and before she was diagnosed as quirkless, the two of them deeply admired All Might. Currently he says he wants to surpass the number 1 hero, but back then they both wished to become as strong as him. His eyes always shined like stars, she remembered him having the brightest smiles, being kind to her, being gentle whenever he held her hand.

The boy changed when his quirk manifested. Izumi always knew Katsuki was amazing at everything, but she should've paid more attention to how that would change his perception to his surroundings, and as much as himself. Katsuki believed the world revolved around him. Everyone praised him, everyone was amazed by him, no one could beat him. Slowly, he was starting to show off to the other kids. He even discouraged Izumi from becoming a hero as she was a girl and was weak. He claimed that only he could protect her as long as she would be with him. Izumi didn't like the idea at first, but later had to accepted it when it was confirmed she was quirkless.

When she became his "pet" later, she had to deal with all sorts of things with Katsuki, but, nevertheless, happy that Katsuki didn't abandon her. When no one was around, he would revert back to how he formerly had been and be gentle with her while they played. They used to talk about anything related to All Might, and Katsuki's admiration for the number 1 hero was always so expressive. His eyes would shine and he always gave bright smiles...but now...

Katsuki was and had always been amazing, but Izumi didn't want to believe that his amnesia erased the gentle 'kacchan' she knew. Even if she wasn't his pet anymore, even if he doesn't remember her being a girl, there had to be at least a fragment of that gentle side of him somewhere…

"Believe that you'll be born with a quirk in your next life, and take a swan dive off the roof!"

…

...

But she was wrong. What he said earlier made it so clear that the Katsuki she knew back then was utterly gone. It proved that she had no value and was nothing to him. He was stone cold whenever it came to her, and this whole time she had been enduring the abuse and bullying thinking the gentle 'kacchan' was still there somewhere ...

That's why she made up her mind to give up on him. She wouldn't chase after him anymore. It was pointless as the Katsuki she knew was gone. She'll support him and his dream of being a hero, but she would no longer look for the boy whom she deeply loved and admired as her personal hero.

As she walked through the tunnel with a sad smile, she heard something slither behind her. Izumi froze, and the blood drained out of face when found herself face to face with a villain...