He stood on the edge of a muddy moat, studying his dark eyed reflection in the slow moving water. A light rain created ripples in the stream that distorted his appearance to the point of becoming someone he no longer recognized. He wondered to himself that if he were to fall in, would his friend Kacchan, or anyone else for that matter pull him out.

Izuku Midoriya was four years old when he learned that not all men are created equal. Not every child is born with a quirk meant for heroism. Some are given powers destined for the opposite. For in a world where there's heroes, there must also always be villains.

Inko Midoriya, little Izuku's mother, had prepared him his favorite meal for dinner. It was his birthday, afterall. You only turn four once. Not to mention, in this world, that age is known to be a special turning point when growing up. That's the age quirks begin to come into fruition. Like a baby's teeth growing in, children develop this major part of themselves at this critical period in their lives.

So Katsudon is served for such a special occasion. The panko breaded porkchop and rice with onion loaded eggs wafted with steam. The aroma was normally one that would have little Izuku salivating. In that moment though, the stench was worse than when he had to take out the trash. The four year old had to cover his mouth to keep himself from vomiting, but couldn't prevent a dry heave.

"Sweetie?", Inko looked up from her own plate having heard the sound coming from her son. Yet, she remained oblivious to the reason for the noise he made. The younger Midoriya was good at hiding his displeasure from her, faking a wobbly smile. Seeing he hadn't touched the food though, she did have the motherly instinct to at least ask, "Is everything alright?"

"Mhm!", he nodded his head frantically like the over exaggerated gesture would convince her better that way. Then, he braved a bite of the food that smelled so horrendous to him. If he was on the verge of puking before, now he had no choice but to let it all out. The rice felt like maggots squirming on his tongue. The porkchop tasted raw and the breading ground his tastebuds like gravel.

"Izuku!", Inko shot up from her chair so that she could hurry over to the other side of the table. Motherly concern had her checking him for a temperature and scheduling a doctor's appointment before he could try allaying her. She hadn't considered the food was what had caused him to throw up. She had thought something was wrong with her son. She was right, Izuku Midoriya would have thought bitterly, had he known better at that time.

It was unassuming at first. Initially, Izuku had only lost his appetite. The tastebuds in his mouth had simply started to reject the flavor of his favorite foods. Not even his mother's Katsudon was appealing to him anymore.

Even the doctor's appointment gave no indication to what his quirk would turn him into. There, the examination showed no other symptoms. His quirk was considered a dud. If only the doctor had looked closer, then what happened after may have been different.

Izuku made the mistake of telling his childhood friend, Katsuki Bakugo, about his quirk. Compared to the other boy's exploding palms, it was clear who stood at the top of the food chain. Young Bakugo scorned Young Midoriya, "What a worthless quirk! You could never be a hero with something as useless as that!", believing the lack of taste in his mouth was all there was to it. Much like the doctor, the boy was wrong. They would just realize it too late.

"C- Come on, Kacchan! I can still be a hero too!", Izuku desperately tried defending himself against his friend's shrewd judgement.

Katsuki sneered like the other boy had just insulted him. "You think you can brush shoulders with ME when your quirk is worse than something that'd be given to a side character?!", he scoffed before being joined by other crude children in the classroom, "You're not even good enough to be a sidekick!"

All the kids laughed and ridiculed Izuku for his quirk. "You would have been better off being born quirkless!", one of them had bellowed in between giggles. As cruel as it sounded to little Izuku at that time, neither child knew how true that statement was.

In that moment, Izuku foolishly prayed to whatever God would listen that his power become stronger than it already was. His prayer had been answered, but not by God.

Whether it was late to manifest, laying dormant, or there all along.. The darker side to Izuku's power climbed to the surface. It happened when Katsuki scraped his knee while they were on the playground. Despite Izuku sitting on the sidelines, being excluded from the game the blonde and his other friends were playing, he smelled the blood. Having not eaten in days, he began to salivate. His stomach growled in starvation much like his mouth did.

Unlike the Katsudon, this aroma was one that allured Izuku to it. It was a scent better than any food he'd smelt before. No fresh baked pastry could compare. The finest steak served by the pro hero, Lunch Rush, wouldn't have been as appealing of a fragrance. Izuku's nostrils flared. Such a pleasant, sweet smell. He had to get more than just a whiff.

Like a wild animal, Izuku viciously attacked Katsuki. He sunk his teeth into the other boy's open wound, fangs piercing the flesh. He could have torn a chunk off. Maybe even eaten through the leg. Except, Katsuki was quick to retaliate with his own quirk. A single blast to Izuku's face was enough to separate the two.

In Katsuki's state of shock, rage, and confusion, he almost misses it. The deformity of his childhood friend's eyes. The red veins splitting outwards, cracking in a webbed pattern that makes it look like it's about to shatter. For a moment, he worries that he caused it. He thinks the explosion from his quirk disfigured Izuku's face. It's when he catches the glint of red eyes through the smoke of the blast that he realizes that's just the face of the creature attacking him.

What was hunched over, ready to pounce on Katsuki like he's prey, wasn't Izuku. From that moment on, a ghoulish instinct had taken over. A drive to feast on human flesh compelled the boy to just dig in already. It took every ounce of willpower not to. It took all he had not to become a villain.

Izuku hadn't given up by that point. He pretended to be sick in order to get out of going to school. Locked himself away in his room like a caged beast. He fought against his impulses all that he could. He fought to stay alive, as though he could overpower the ghoulish thing within him.

He didn't dare tell anyone about the nagging temptation residing within him though. Even if it meant getting help from others if he did, he was too afraid. He was convinced he'd be better off solving his own problem. For fear of being labeled a villain, he would never share the new development of his quirk. Not even with his mother. He planned to keep it a secret. The poor naive child, only four years old, didn't know any better.

"Izuku? Dear?", Inko Midoriya knocked on her child's bedroom door with a reluctance. He had become somewhat of a recluse ever since the playground incident with Mitsuki's son. She figured he just felt guilty and never got over it. "I know you said you didn't like it anymore, but it's been a while since you've tried.. I thought I would make Katsudon tonight. Wanna just try to eat it?", it had been so much easier to solve these situations by making him his favorite dish. She didn't know what to do when that no longer worked. So she just kept trying. A pointless attempt to fix things, much like her son's.

After he didn't answer, she solemnly hung her head. "I'm going to make it anyways. It's here if you want it.", and she gave up.

She'd been so distraught that she became distracted while chopping the vegetables. The knife she was using slices open her finger. It doesn't matter that she shoves it in her mouth to stop the bleeding. It'd already been spilled. A single drop on the counter. Blood.

The ghoul broke down the barrier between it and her. Then it devoured its first meal. The monster used its predatory appendages to rip open the flesh and separate the bones. Its nails scraped at the skin and tore at the meat like talons. The creature sank its fangs into Inko Midoriya and chewed even after she stopped screaming. It ate until it was no longer hungry.

Only after the intense craving to eat subsided did Izuku Midoriya regain his senses. But by then, it was too late. He didn't even recognize the empty husk laying in the middle of his kitchen. The child's wails that echoed his mother's did though. The tears that hit the floor washed away the blood, but not the haunting memories.

He remembered the red sea that flowed into the valley he had created. The crimson cloud of his eye doesn't cover it. It's unhidden from him. He only has his reckless behavior to blame for it.

Henceforth, he named the ghoul Akatani Mikumo.