Chapter 1 - Origin
Musutafu Hospital, Third Floor, Hall Eighteen, Room Fifteen.
Date: December 24th 2129.
A teenage boy slowly wakes up in a hospital bed. His red eyes looking around the room as they adjust to the bright environment, moving between the door, charts on the wall, and a window that shows it is snowing outside.
The boy moves his left arm and messes with his white hair, and as the boy attempts to move his right arm, he notices that there is a complete lack of a limb.
Strangely the boy does not panic or scream, the missing limb does raise his nerves but he keeps himself calm as more thoughts move through his head.
Who is he? Where is he? What is with his missing arm? Why can't he remember anything?
He notices a holdable mirror on the nightstand next to his bed and he looks at his face.
The white hair and red eyes are obvious signs of being albino, but the boy does notice asian features.
The boy sets the mirror down and looks at a panel on the side of the bed.
A call button, of course. The boy presses it
A few minutes pass and an elderly doctor enters the room with an assistant "Merry Christmas" The doctor says "I'm glad to see you are awake, how are you feeling?"
"Ok" The boy says in Japanese, realizing that both he and the doctor are speaking it perfectly "Where am I?"
"Musutafu Hospital, you were found unconscious nearby and so we took you in, now if you don't mind I have a few questions. What is your name and your Quirk?"
"Quirk" the boy questions "What's a Quirk?"
The doctor pauses and his assistant has a similar bewildered reaction. The assistant takes the lead and steps forward "A Quirk is something eighty percent of people possess, think of them as some type of ability, transformation, or mutation."
The boy is clearly confused. "What?"
The older doctor sets his clipboard onto a table and sits in a chair near the bed "You could be Quirkless, which is the term used for one who doesn't have a Quirk, but let's go back to my first question, can you tell me your name?"
The boy thinks as hard as he can, but nothing comes to mind. "I can't remember it, I don't remember anything about myself now that I think about it."
The older doctor seems deep in thought "Then this is an issue, I suppose our only option is to test a sample of your DNA and go from there.
The boy doesn't have any complaints, the sooner he figures out what is going on the better.
"Then I suppose we will have to run tests" The doctor says "In the meantime you may go to the cafeteria and participate in the Christmas Eve event, perhaps with some time your memories will return." As he speaks the doctor takes a swap and collects a sample of the boy's DNA "I will let you know when the results come in."
The doctor and the assistant leave the room and the boy is left alone once more.
Quirks? Superpowers? Does that mean there are superheroes and supervillains? Does he have one of these Quirks? How could he know? What would it even be?
The boy gets up from the bed, wearing clothing provided by the hospital he exits his hospital room. Heading towards the cafeteria as the doctor suggested.
The boy starts to understand his situation.
While he may not know anything about himself or Quirks, he knows about hospitals and Japan, he is able to function as a person and is fluent in…
"Hello" The boy says out loud in English. The greeting is basic so he comes up with something that could be challenging: "Seven sailors sailed the seven seas."
Fluent in English and Japanese. The boy isn't sure how he can speak two languages if he can't even remember his own name, but his questions are only bringing up more questions.
He decides that those questions can wait until the test results come in. The boy enters the cafeteria and looks around the room. His eyes immediately stop as he looks at a person who looks like they had jumped right out of a comic book.
A large muscular man stands near a Christmas tree, wearing a red, white, and blue costume, with yellow boots, arm guards, and a yellow belt. His blonde hair splits upward in two directions, and the costumed man has a large smile on his face as he hands presents to children.
The boy hears the children thanking the man by his name.
All Might.
"Yup, there are definitely superheroes" the boy thinks.
All Might looks at the boy "Why hello there young man! Alone during Christmas? Not to worry, for I AM HERE!" The hero reaches into a sack and pulls out a present, handing it to the boy. The boy isn't sure how to feel, on one hand he is being handed a Christmas gift by an actual superhero, and on the other he is being handed a gift by an actual superhero.
"Thanks, I guess."
"Is something wrong? No one should frown, especially during the holidays" the hero says as he points at the smile on his face.
The boy is still not sure how to feel about the situation, and he tries to smile for the hero to show his appreciation, but he can't.
For some reason, the boy cannot smile.
He knows what a smile is, and he forcefully moves his mouth to smile, but the second his hand leaves his face the corners of his mouth move back down.
He has no idea why he cannot smile, but the boy guesses that the lack of a right arm most likely has something to do with that.
All Might watches as the boy sits down, away from the group of kids, the boy's missing arm and inability to smile are a reminder on why he does what he does.
The boy doesn't open the gift, and All Might guesses he is most likely waiting until an appropriate moment.
All Might isn't able to focus on the boy for long, he can only perform charity work for a few hours and his time is starting to run short.
He takes his leave and exits the room, heading towards a bathroom with the sack he had brought with him, the only things inside are the change of clothes he brought with him.
All Might deflates into his normal form, his secret identity, Yagi Toshinori.
Yagi re-enters the cafeteria and watches as the children open the gifts, most of which have been provided by donations and range from toys to clothes.
Yagi looks back at the boy who is holding an All-Might merchandise hoodie in front of himself. He isn't bothered that he got clothing, and if anything he seems relieved he can wear something other than hospital clothing.
The boy puts the hoodie on, stuffing the sleeve of the missing arm back into the hoodie so that it is clear he only has one arm.
Yagi isn't able to tell if it is international or something he is doing without thinking.
Yagi decides to sit next to the boy, now having some interest in him "I'm guessing I missed All-Might? You're pretty lucky to meet the man, and get a gift? I'm jealous."
"You didn't have to come back here," the boy says, immediately seeing through his secret identity, which catches All-Might off guard.
At first Yagi is worried that the boy would reveal his secret, but as the seconds pass the boy doesn't make any attempt in doing so "If you don't mind me asking, what gave me away?"
The boy shrugs "Same hair, just a different style, you're still wearing those boots but they're pretty hidden by those pants so I doubt anyone else would notice, and you immediately started to talk about yourself so that made it pretty obvious."
"How perceptive" Yagi thinks as he looks at the boots of his hero suit "I hope you understand that this is a secret."
"I don't have a reason to tell anyone about it" the boy replies "So what do you want?"
"I just came to see if you needed help," Yagi admits, "I am a hero after all, even if I'm not in my muscle form."
"If thats the case, I have a few questions."
The boy returns to his hospital room, knowing a lot more about the world than when he had first woken up.
Quirks emerged in the world over a hundred years ago, giving a majority of the world powers and mutations, but at the cost of grinding scientific progress to a halt. A little while after Quirks first appeared heroes and villains soon came after, heroes work with police to capture villains and function as protectors of society, able to live off their careers and fame.
Heroes are now taught in schools designed to teach them, and luckily for the boy, the school All-Might recommended is about to begin its exams, so if he can't find or doesn't have a family, he knows he could make a living as a hero. All Might even told him that a person training under him taught him that one doesn't need a Quirk to be a hero.
The boy also knows how to tell if he has a Quirk, he hits the call button and the doctor from earlier comes in "I would like an x-ray of my foot."
The doctor smiles as he holds a file "Ah trying to find out if you have a Quirk? Don't worry about that. Your results came in faster than expected as we have a DNA file from your birth."
"Oh, what does it say?" The boy asks, the anticipation of learning anything about himself eating away his patience.
The doctor clears his throat "Your name is Shinku Shigaraki."