November
"Hey!" A poke.
"Hey broccoli man!" Poke.
"C'mon man, I forgot how touch sensitive you Japanese were." Poke.
Izuku felt the harsh light of sun penetrate his eyelids as he struggled to open them, his vision filled by the sight of an angel.
"Am I in heaven?" It was the only thing he could think of saying, his eyes drawn to the shadowed beauty above him. She giggled, holding a hand out to Izuku who after a second or two finally took after he cleared his mind of the fog. Flushing at the contact, he dusted himself off after relinquishing it.
The blonde haired beauty touched her fingers with her own flush, looking down slightly and eying him guiltily, "Sorry about that, I'm American and we're much more touchy in the states, I'm sorry for being culturally insensitive." A bow, Izuku raised a brow as he listened before his eyes widened, she gave him an unknown ample view of her cleavage. Izuku was a gentleman so coughed and avoided his eyes, mostly.
"Ah well, not a big deal… But why did you touch my hair?" He questioned with a tilt of his head, Izuku couldn't possibly see why.
She flushed at his question and adjusted her hair, "Well I wanted to see if it was the result of a quirk or not, I've never seen green hair much less hair as fluffy as yours!" Izuku flushed again, grumbling inwardly.
'I haven't flushed this much since that one time I was asked out as a joke in highschool…' shaking his head, Izuku looked back at the woman who was expecting a response.
"Uh, I'm… quirkless actually." He spoke the last part softly, hoping she wouldn't hear him. His emerald green oceans shut as he prepared for the verbal onslaught that usually followed such a revelation. Everyone looked at him with the same disdain once he revealed it, a quirkless? Pathetic, useless, good for nothing. That's all he heard his entire life, that's all he knew. But… Maybe that was a blessing at the same time...
She grabbed his hands and cupped them in her own smaller ones, "Oh my gosh, me too!"
The world slowed to a crawl, 'Did she just say…' Dozens of emotions flashed through his brain at once, his breath quickened and his throat tightened. Izuku's eyes began to water and he tried to keep his sobs in…
Tilting her head, the blond woman looked confused. "Hey, what's wrong?" She got too close for comfort again, but Izuku didn't care anymore. This person… His reservations didn't even matter anymore, she was someone he just needed to know, to be near.
"I just… never thought I'd meet someone like me, it's emotional for some reason." He spoke quietly, reigning on those tears. Thinking about it herself, the blonde beauty laughed and smiled brightly at him. She felt the same way after all, being quirkless.
"I see what you mean, it always feels like a huge weight has been lifted off my chest too." He nodded, smiling and I mean really smiling for the first time since they met. Onlookers looked at the pair with judging eyes but the quirkless didn't care, they began to laugh at the chances of this meeting. Only a small percent of Japan's populace was quirkless, less than 2% actually.
"I never thought I'd meet another quirkless here, the majority of quirkless are located in underdeveloped parts of the world after all." He nodded, more focused on her beautiful face. Laughing with a gorgeous woman was definitely not something Izuku did on a typical day.
Wait.
He checked his phone for the time, his eyes bogging out when he realized what time it was.
"Crap!" He grabbed his bag from the floor quickly, "The expo starts soon!" He turned to the strange foreigner and bowed suddenly, repeatedly. Who knows how far away the expo was now, did she drag him out of the train really far away?
"T-thank you for helping me! But I must be on my way." He reluctantly turned to leave, only to be stopped by the tug of a delicate hand. Flushing, Izuku turned back and looked at the beauty holding his hand.
"We're going to the same place then, and don't worry the main event doesn't start for an hour, you have plenty of time." Phew, Izuku felt the stress leave his shoulders. The blonde woman began to tug him along, ignoring the stares of the Japanese folk around her.
'She's an inventor also? And she wants to walk with me? And she's quirkless???' Izuku was smiling inwardly, satisfied with the way this day was starting already.
Walking side by side, the two quirkless inventor(s) felt a natural kinship with each other. Izuku usually felt uneasy talking to women but for some reason her being quirkless made it easier. "You're an inventor then? Wow, small world." No kidding.
"Hehe, y-yeah. Since I'm quirkless I decided to get into inventing to do something at least. If I couldn't be a hero then I'd help the heroes right?" She nodded in agreement, smiling at him in a way that made him flush.
"I'm glad I decided to stand next to you on the train, it seems we have more in common than just being quirkless, I see it the same way. Ever since I was a little girl and a popular local hero saved me and my dad from a giant tornado, I knew I wanted to help in some way even if I was quirkless." His admiration grew for this person, he still didn't know her name.
'So she wanted to help people for her entire life… Wow, and here I was with it as my back up plan…'
Izuku felt himself get more comfortable, this woman was just like him… well not just like but similar, they both were quirkless after all. But it was much deeper than that, she wasn't fake at all, whether out of choice or out of nature, Izuku appreciated it because it meant he wasn't as unlikeable as the world made it seem. That or she was really nice.
Izuku snorted, "I just can't believe I finally met another quirkless, I was beginning to think I was the only one in Japan, I mean you are a foreigner so y-you never know." She laughed at his attempt at humor, Izuku didn't know if it was real or not but he'd like to believe he actually made her laugh.
"Yeah, I've never really met a quirkless person in the states either. The only quirkless people I know work with my dad, and they are all gross old men so they don't count." She made a grossed out noise, drawing a smile from Izuku, his second one. It was her turn to get flushed.
Breaking eye contact, she changed the subject "So what's your invention? You have something cool to show everyone?" Izuku laughed awkwardly and rubbed the back of his head, holding onto his bag tightly.
"Well yeah I hope so… I a-assume you're familiar with c-chemistry." She nodded, giving him the chance to continue.
"Well basically for the past two years I've been thinking of a way t-to create my own uh… c-capture tool for heroes, you know something like um… Erasureheads scarf!" Her gaze was intense, like she wasn't vehemently focused on whatever he was saying. Izuku gulped but continued.
"I w-wanted to make a device that let's you immobilize villains easily without harming them much, and to use an environmentally friendly substance to do it. Nothing we use today matches that description so I t-took it on myself to make it, are you familiar with spiders?" She made a grossed out face, Izuku chuckled. "T-they aren't that bad, actually they inspired my invention!"
"How so? Do you mean you are trying to recreate their webbing?" Izuku snapped, "Bingo." She flushed at his sudden confidence.
"I've already done it in my chemistry lab back in Highschool, I just need the materials to build an actual shooter and container of the fluid. But I have recreated as much as possible the web fluid created in spiders, recreating the silky strings that come from their… behinds." She giggled at his refusal to curse.
"Anyways, I'm hoping I can impress the judges enough with my blueprints and chemical compound, if they greenlight me I feel confident I could turn this into reality." His eyes became hardened, the passionate intensity of an inventor was shown off full force offsetting his blunder.
"I'm sure you'll impress, just give them a smile and be confident!"
"I'm terrible at that, I blunder all my job interviews because everyone is so serious and terrifying, I-i get nervous easily."
"Darn, you Japanese sure run a cutthroat job market."
"Hey! It's n-not that bad, I'm just a really bad erm, speaker?"
"I'm sure you'll do just fine here, don't worry about it! You're doing good so far."
"Y-yeah but you're not an interviewer, you're way easier to talk to." He wanted to add, 'And way prettier.' but he refrained from saying something so crass.
"Then just pretend like it's me, or someone you can talk to easily, either way I'm sure you'll get through it easier than you think!"
"I'll try…"
The two walked in a comfortable silence for a minute or two after their conversation, Izuku suddenly realized how far she must have traveled, she was American?
"You must be in Japan for the expo then, must have been a long travel h-huh." He decided to ask her, it was an obvious conclusion.
She nodded, "Yeah more so to support my dad, he's been here for a few weeks already, I've been behind at I-island but he wants me with him wherever he goes, you know how dads are." Izuku didn't, the closest thing to a father figure he had was his chemistry teacher in highschool.
"Haha right… Is he an inventor too?" She laughed like it was the funniest thing in the world what he just said.
"You could say that."
The two continued walking through the streets of Tokyo, it wasn't long before they reached their destination. The entrance to the expo wasn't extravagant or anything, the expo was being held inside an unused building with an auditorium. The blonde girl ran ahead of Izuku suddenly, turning to look at him.
"This is where we part ways I guess, I have to go find my father." Izuku frowned, he still hasn't got her name. The woman began to speed walk away, as if she was embarrassed, why?
"Wait!" His voice didn't crack, thankfully.
Turning to face him, she smiled. "Yeah?"
He gulped, "My name's Midoriya Izuku, what's yours?" It took all of his courage, but he didn't stutter. She flushed slightly but opened her mouth to answer.
"I'm Melissa, see you soon Izuku!" He spluttered at her casual use of his first name, Melissa used the distraction to run inside. Her lovely hair disappearing behind the door, he was alone again.
His heart skipped a beat.
"Huh."
"E-excuse me!" Izuku was trying to reach his seat, E-30. There were about 300 attendees so it was quite crowded, thankfully he found his seat. The speech from David Shield would begin soon and then they'd open the fair. Izuku was still tired after staying up at 3 am to finalize his blueprints and make his ideas presentable. The crowd was talking amongst themselves loudly, fortunately Izuku was used to loud ear numbing sounds.
The lights dimmed suddenly after a few moments. A man in a tuxedo, likely the owner of this building, walked up on stage. "Welcome everybody, I'm the owner of this building Makishima Tadano." The voice reverberated across the rows of seats, silencing the crowd.
The man smiled, "Now I won't keep you and honestly I suck at public speaking anyways, so let's give it up for my good friend David Shield!" The crowd began to clap vehemently when the world renowned inventor walked onto the stage with the lights focusing on him suddenly, he shook hands with the tuxedo wearing man and clapped him twice on the back before taking the mic.
Silence ensued as the man inspected the microphone, flicking it once, the sound reverberated, satisfactory. David Shield held it up to his face, "Hello." He spoke softly with a smile, the crowd was surprisingly silent, as if calmed by his presence rather than excited by it.
He coughed twice, "Well, it has been nice to be in Japan again and seeing so many wonderful new faces here only proves it, you guys really produce some geniuses huh? Huge crowd today. Well anyways, I just have a few words to say before we get started." Shield stood a little straighter, his auburn hair shifting as he did so.
The man was a master at using body language to emphasize his points, his hands addressing the crowd expertly. "I'm not just here to be a figurehead for this event, I was once in all your shoes, inventing for myself and others in a hero University back in the states, never knowing if I would make it far with my ideas, always doubting myself… I can't begin to understand how each and every one of you has struggled to get to this point, but I can understand that each and everyone of you have the same fire I do. And that's why I'm here today, on that note, to prove my honesty, some of you with the most promising inventions may be tutored by me personally. I made it a life goal of mine to cultivate the minds of the next generation, quirk, no quirk, background, gender, doesn't matter." Giving the crowd a thumbs up and a grin, David chuckled at the applause.
One final word, "This is the home country of UA, excellent heroes must have excellent designers to back them up, so how about we go plus ultra with this? Show me what you got, Japan." He gestured to the officials standing by the stage, relinquishing his hold on the microphone to someone else as the crowd clapped one final time for the prestigious inventor.
Izuku's eyes widened when he saw her. "Melissa???" Wait, wait a minute… David Shield's daughter was named Melissa also…
Izuku grabbed tufts of his hair and pulled, 'holy crap.' Why hadn't she told him? Maybe because she didn't want him to know, he probably wouldn't have been able to hold back the fanboying nature he'd always had.
Melissa was smiling to the crowd, her dazzling beauty stunning them all for a moment. "Heya everyone, I'm Melissa Shield and I'm here to direct you all to the specific stations. First up, hero support and development…"
Izuku shook his head and began to follow the crowd, his arms shaking. 'I can't believe I talked and walked with David Shield's daughter… holy stinking supercrap…' Izuku thought to himself, walking towards the hero support station with a pale grimace drawn on by anxiety.
"Name." The man wasn't interested in him in the slightest, it slightly unnerved the young adult.
"Erm, Midoriya Izuku…" A hm, his name written down, Izuku went to the waiting area. Individual inspectors had to interview any upcoming designs, there were several inspectors per station and the interview would be mostly around the invention or inventions in question. Most weren't made yet due to budget constraints of the individual, that's why Shield industries would financially support ideas deemed worthy.
Izuku checked his non-existent watch about 19 times before he was called.
Half an hour later, "Midoriya Izuku?" The green haired man shot up instantly at his name being called, "Yes!" Everyone looked at him oddly, muttering about his anxious behaviour.
"Hm, follow me." The man from before led him through a door and down a hall, the entire time Izuku had to force his anxiety down, his knees shaking. Izuku frowned at himself.
'Just relax Midoriya, it's time to change your life and it all starts with making a good, confident impression!!' He clenched a fist, his eyes hardening. Finally they reached the room where his interview would take place, Izuku sat where he was instructed; setting down his bag and he began another waiting session, thankfully this one was a lot shorter…
The doorknob spun, and Izuku's eyes bugged out when he saw the figure who entered. Melissa smirked at him, her features lighting up with glee at his shocked expression, priceless. Izuku quickly collected himself and shot her a fake glare, his emerald green eyes narrowed into slits. Sighing, he shook his head.
"What are the odds?" Melissa giggled at his expression, taking a seat opposite to him and propping herself up with her elbows.
"Actually pretty high, I'm one of the three inspectors for hero support, being one of my dad's top inventors after all!" Izuku sighed again, the familiarity of Melissa calming his nerves slightly.
"Well, I should've guessed you were his daughter based on those h-hints you left but… Yeah anyways, you already heard my ideas for my invention, do you want to see my sketches and blueprints?" She nodded eagerly, Izuku flushed at her interest in his project.
Holding out her hands, she gestured for Izuku to give her the bag "Hand it here Mr. Inventor, let's see what we got." Opening the bag, Melissa quickly sprawled out the blueprints over the table, also grabbing the complimentary notebook at the bottom of the bag.
"Incredible, you created a new chemical compound entirely, something strong and sticky enough to entrap even strength enhancers yet light and small enough to be used hand held, it's ingenious actually, you sort of skimmed over the finer details earlier but now that I'm seeing it for myself, I'm going to be honest, this is impressive and likely to land you a spot at Shield industries." Izuku felt his spirits rise with every word, Melissa had dropped into analysis mode a while ago for objectivity reasons but her praise wasn't sugarcoating. Melissa sounded far less friendly this way but he was used to it, he appreciated her honesty.
"T-thank you, Shield."
"Just call me Melissa, 'kay?" The third time she corrected him, he was just too earnest in following his cultural traditions.
"But I do have one question Mr. Izuku, you mentioned environmentally friendly but I'm surprised to see what you actually meant by that, your new substance only lasts for 30 minutes to an hour before dissolving, clean up would be a thing of the past with this. Forgive my muttering, but this leads me to think you have another goal other than "making a hero gadget"." Izuku flushed once again at her casual use of his first name, but recovered quicker this time.
She stood up suddenly, "What is your ultimate goal? Do you want to support heroes with these items or is there more to it? What is your true goal? Elaborate." Izuku smiled, that request was simple.
"It's not even just h-heroes, but heroes who don't have strong quirks, a support tool like this would allow for much easier captures of villains especially since it's inherently non-l-lethal. Looking out for the little guy you know? Not everyone can change the weather with a punch." Melissa didn't know who he was talking about as nobody had the power to do that besides superman in the comics, but it was effective enough, she wrote that down in her own notebook.
"I see, so you don't just have the basic motivation to help heroes capture villains, but to help the lower brass too? Interesting." she wrote it down on her notepad.
She asked him several more questions, about his hobbies, life back home, background, etc. At times it seemed she was more interested in him than his invention, but Izuku wrote it off as him imagining things again.
"You mentioned you used to like music editing?"
"Y-yeah, when I was younger and after middle school I... Wasn't able to attend UA, even as just a general education student. I turned to music."
"Why did you stop?" Izuku was confused at her personal questions, were these really necessary?
"Well... I didn't have any time after I graduated highschool, I use to apply to 3-5 jobs a day..." A nod, she wasn't writing this down.
The room was silent for a moment after his last answer, Melissa staring at him with a deadpan. Her sapphire blue eyes were not holding warmth anymore, they were cold, critical. Izuku felt himself sweat under her gaze, the green haired man grew uncomfortable.
She clasped her hands together, suddenly the tension broke. Her smile returned, and so did the light in her eyes.
"Alright! Interview finished, I'll send my notes to my pa and if you're lucky he'll see something special. I know I do, personally I'm rooting for you!" Izuku smiled at her optimism and support, he'd only known her for a short time but talking with her was such an easy endeavour compared to the rest of the quirked world.
"Thank you, thank you so much." He wiped his eyes, sniffling.
She gave him a warm smile, "No problem, and hey dry those tears, be proud, man! Not every day the daughter of a famous inventor personally takes notice of your ideas!" They both chuckled, Izuku's still red face curling into a grin, eyes closing. Melissa flushed at the view.
"Sorry that was vain…" The blonde woman rubbed the back of her head and adjusted her hair. She didn't like to draw attention to her status, because people treated her differently if they knew. Izuku however, he was different. This entire time he hadn't treated her any differently than he did before when they talked on the way to the expo, the sparkle in those emerald eyes only grew larger.
A comfortable silence continued, for a few moments as they shared a glance. Izuku felt different around her, maybe it was because they both had a large and understanding mind, maybe because they were both quirkless, something made it so easy to be in her presence. It was euphoric to the young adult, to them both.
The rest of the expo went normally, Melissa had told him that when her dad read her notes on him and decided whether or not to give him a spot they'd send an email. Only thirty people would be chosen at a time, and then only fewer more would be permanently allowed to stay as an official of Shield industries.
The train ride home gave him much to think about, if he got accepted then life would be looking up finally, and maybe he could get to know Melissa better also… As far-fetched as it was, he'd never felt drawn to another person like this since Katsuki, and this was more than that as she was a woman, a beautiful one too… He was lucky to have her as his interviewer, it gave him the confidence he usually lacked.
Mentally exhausted, he met his mother with an ear to ear smile when he arrived back home. Tears dropped from her eyes at his expression of joy; he hadn't smiled like this for years, somehow she knew then and there it was going to be ok, because somehow, Izuku knew that he could make it.
"I will make it." He said, whispering to himself as he ate dinner.
"Izuku, what have I told you about muttering to that fish."
"I'm…! Not muttering just erm…"
"Young man, how will you ever get a wife if you mutter to your food during a date, you'll scare her off like that!" She snapped as an emphasis.
"Oh mother, you should be a comedian."
"Don't smacktalk, finish your food."
Things seemed lighter now… Izuku was grateful.
