Chapter 18: Quirk Theory
A/N: Disclaimer: I don't know if the toe-joint has been directly said to be for quirkless people besides Garaki saying it and honestly I won't be changing it anyway, It is fanfic for a reason.
"Good afternoon," A female teacher welcomed with a smile. It was the last day of the week and Izuku was attending their first forensic science class, "My name is Shizune and I will be taking your forensic classes," she smiled warmly.
"Since today is our first class, let's just introduce ourselves. If you could tell your quirk as well, that would be nice," Shizune said.
Izuku paled slightly at the instructions, "Uhm, why do we have to tell our quirks?"
"I just want to see whether any of you have a quirk that would be useful for medical or forensic use," Shizune explained, "For example, my quirk lets me separate poisons and other toxicants from blood and lets me heal people to a certain extent,"
"But isn't that dangerous since the poison can touch you too?" Izuku pointed out.
"Well, yes. But my quirk gives me a little bit of protection," Shizune demonstrated as a green energy flashed on her hands, "This helps protect me,"
"Whoa, that's so interesting!" Izuku said, intrigued, "How does it work? Does it separate the elements? But if the poison is in the blood, how do you separate the liquids?" Izuku asked rapid-fire.
Shizune laughed, "Quite a smart one, aren't you?" Shizune said proudly, "I'll answer those questions at the end of class. Let's let everyone introduce themselves first. We'll start with this row," Shizune walked to the other end of the class.
Izuku counted the set of students in the class and determined that he would be the last one to introduce himself. He wondered whether Shizune did that purposely, knowing that he was quirkless or it was just by chance.
Izuku waited nervously as Shizune asked his two friends to introduce themselves. He would be next.
"My name is Uchiha Shisui. My quirk is Body Flicker. It lets me move very fast and make it seem like I teleported away. I can even create afterimages,"
"Hmm, wonderful quirk to use but medically I'd say it would only be good to transport patients," Shizune wondered out loud, "And you?" She asked Itachi.
"My name is Uchiha Itachi. My quirk is Genjutsu. I can make illusions and cast them onto people,"
"You can replicate hallucinogen drugs and calm people down while trying to do a painful operation. You can do a lot with your quirk," Shizune said and then turned to Izuku, "And finally you!"
Izuku stood up shakily and introduced himself, "My name is Midoriya Izuku,"
Shizune's eyes slightly widened in recognition at the name Midoriya, but let Izuku continue, "My quirk…" Izuku braced himself for any outrage, "I don't have one," he spurted it out quickly and looked around the classroom for any sneers. But all he got were a few bored and some, slightly inquisitive looks.
Shizune's happiness seemed to rise at the answer, "So you are naturally so smart! That is wonderful," she praised.
Izuku was slightly taken aback at the response. He had expected jeering or some other negative response but all he got was an excited teacher and a few bored looks. And not even the inattentive looks that acted like he didn't exist at Aldera. They just didn't think being quirkless mattered. Izuku smiled slightly.
Shizune caught on to the smile which slightly saddened her. She knew that Izuku was probably bullied because of his lack of quirk and the fact that people not acting negatively was enough to make him smile angered her.
She brushed it aside and asked the next question, "I must ask, Izuku. How did you come to know you are quirkless?"
"Wh-what do you mean?" Izuku asked slightly confused.
"Well, you know, it's extremely difficult to determine quirklessness considering many quirks are not visible to others like mental quirks," Shizune explained.
"I have a double toe joint," Izuku elaborated.
Shizune stared at Izuku for some time, as if waiting for him to go on, "And?"
"If you have a double toe joint, you're quirkless right?" Izuku asked, "Right?" he repeated as he saw Shizune fume.
"Sensei," a student slowly raised his hand, "I have a double toe joint too,"
"That's because you have a mutant quirk," someone pointed out.
"Yeah well, I have a double toe joint too and I definitely am not mutant," Shisui pointed out.
"Izuku… what kind of quack doctor did you go to?" Shizune demanded.
"What do you mean?" Izuku asked, getting scared.
"Double toe joint has nothing to do with quirks. It is a part of evolution, yes, but it was debunked long ago that it meant quirklessness," Shizune said, "The reason is that joints, muscles and bones are determined by alleles. If double toe jointed people have a kid, they are most likely to have a double toe jointed child," Shizune explained and then elaborated, "On top of that if two people with one toe joint and quirks have a quirkless child, the child won't magically grow the allele for an extra toe joint. It doesn't make sense," Shizune sighed.
"So… I'm not quirkless,"
"Depends. Did you do a quirk test or only an X-ray for your toe,"
"Only an X-ray," izuku said his face paling more. He couldn't believe that all these years, he might have had a quirk but because of a false diagnosis, his entire life had been so bad.
"But if that's so why did people think double toe joint means quirkless?" Izuku asked. He wanted it to be false. He didn't want to know that his life could have been better if he had gotten a better diagnosis.
"Because most people with double toe joints were quirkless but there is no direct correlation. It's just a coincidence that both quirks and the toe joint evolved together. Probability-wise, yes, it's unlikely you have a quirk but it's not impossible," Shizune explained.
Izuku shook, the reality hitting him. Nedzu had always mentioned that his quirk might be intelligence and now, he was no longer sure.
"Students, class is dismissed today. I have to sort this out," Shizune announced, "Izuku come, we're going to the principal,"
Izuku nodded slowly and got up, his body shaking in a mix of anxiety and anger. Shisui watched his friend with concern, "Izuku, do you need me to come along?"
"NO!" Izuku nearly yelled but caught himself, "S-sorry, Shisui, I just… I need some space,"
Shisui nodded understandingly, "I'll wait outside,"
Shizune walked hurriedly to Iruka's office and slammed it open, "Um, Shizune I'm in the middle of a meeting,"
"It can wait," Shizune said, "It's urgent,"
"Shizune that's the deputy commissioner,"
"Did I stutter?"
Iruka sighed, knowing that it was impossible to wrestle with Shizune when she was angry, "Can we reschedule this meeting? It seems I have urgent business,"
The deputy commissioner nodded, "Sure,"
"What is it?" Iruka motioned them to sit.
"Let's wait for Kushina to get here. She is the homeroom teacher after all."
Iruka nodded but could not understand why Shizune was so angry. Considering Izuku looked shaken, he wondered whether he had done something but then again Shizune was one of the calmest teachers.
"What's wrong," Kushina entered the principal's office less than a minute after. Seeing Izuku sitting, she asked, "Did Izuku get in trouble,"
"No," Shizune snapped, "What do you know about quirkless people?"
Iruka narrowed his eyes, "Shizune are you mad at Izuku for being quirkless?"
"Answer the question," Shizune gritted.
"They don't have a quirk," Kushina answered.
"And how is it determined?"
"Double toe joint is usually a giveaway," Kushina started but at the venomous look Shizune gave her, she quickly elaborated, "But it's not used for diagnosis because it's unreliable,"
"Exactly," Shizune said, "And can you guess on what terms Izuku was diagnosed quirkless?" Shizune asked rhetorically.
The room was silent for a bit, "Shit," Iruka cursed.
Kushina was fuming herself but she comforted Izuku first, "Izuku, it's alright. Don't cry, ok? Just tell me who told you this?"
"Doctor G-garaki," Izuku answered, slightly crying.
Iruka immediately sat up straight, "Could you repeat that?" he asked kindly.
"G-garaki. He was the doctor that came to Aldera. M-mom took me to him when he came once and he said I'm…" Izuku trailed off.
Kushina hugged Izuku tighter and tried to comfort him, knowing what he had gone through because of what may be a false diagnosis.
Meanwhile, Iruka put on his coat, "Shizune, could you please call Izuku's mother. I think it's best he goes home for today. The contact number will be on my computer," he showed.
Shizune nodded, "And where are you going?"
"To meet his father,"
"Hisashi-senpai?"
"Yes, this might be bigger than it seems,"
"Make sure he takes care of it," Shizune said. She never liked doctors who gave improper diagnoses.
"Don't worry, you won't have to tell him that," Iruka replied, knowing full well what Hisashi was capable of.
"So do you know what this is about?" Kenji asked Hisashi, waiting in the now police captain's room.
"No," Hisashi replied shortly, "It's weird. Iruka always has us meet in his office so something urgent must have happened for him to come,"
Kenji nodded, "Apparently he threw out the deputy commissioner after a teacher barged in angrily. Anyway, good to see you and Tsukauchi are getting along well. He's a fine detective,"
Tsukauchi smiled at the praise.
"Still has much to learn," Hisashi said, "But I do trust him. That's why he's here. Plus, Iruka ordered him to be here too and I really don't want to annoy him. The poor guy has to look after a bunch of noisy kids,"
"Say Hisashi-san. Are you ok with being demoted?" Tsukauchi asked.
"Demoted? How?"
"Well, you used to be the commissioner. And you were also an undercover legend with his own task force. And now you are a police captain. Kind of a desk job,"
Hisashi growled, "Don't make me send you on a lost pet case. I hear Tora is at it again,"
Tsukauchi shuddered.
The door opened and Iruka entered before slamming it shut angrily, "Sit down!" Iruka ordered, "We have to talk,"
The three hastily sat.
"Now you," Iruka pointed to Hisashi, "You bastard. Not only did you leave your son for nearly 10 years and didn't check up on him properly. You also didn't bother to check his quirk diagnosis!?"
Hisashi paled, "Well… I mean he was diagnosed quirkless so-"
"Shut it!" Iruka ordered as if Hisashi was one of his misbehaving students, "You should have gotten a second opinion. That's like a universal rule!"
"Well Inko was the one who took him to the doctor and-"
"No excuses," Iruka said, "Yes Inko-san did take Izuku to the doctor and she can be forgiven since she is not a police officer. But you! For such a legendary undercover cop, you really are dense!"
"Iruka, we have no clue what happened. Could you please explain?" Kenji interjected.
Iruka took a few calming breaths, but was still fuming, "Tsukauchi knows about the Garaki investigation?"
"Yes, he's in charge of the fieldwork," Hisashi said.
"And my dear Hisashi. Do you know who gave Izuku his diagnosis?" Iruka asked angrily.
Hisashi's eyes widened, "…Oh no,"
"It was Garaki?" Kenji asked.
"I can't believe it!" Tsukauchi exclaimed, "It's so obvious! He came to school to do quirk checkups so of course he gave the diagnosis!"
"But even so, we have no proof that Garaki is a villain. Plus, he does have a good reputation so it might be an ok diagnosis," Kenji said.
"And here's my next point. Izuku says that the diagnosis was only on the basis of having two toe joints. Something we know is false considering Gai is quirkless and has only one joint," Iruka said, "Kushina asked Inko-san and she also said yes. The diagnosis is false. Izuku could still be quirkless but the diagnosis is false,"
Hisashi's world seemed to stop. How could he have been so careless? So blind? Just when he thought he was making it up to Izuku…
"But why give a false diagnosis?" Tsukauchi asked.
"All For One is trying to nab as many people as he can. If Izuku was diagnosed quirkless, it would be easier for him to be kidnapped since people wouldn't care too much," Kenji pondered.
"On top of that, Aldera's goal was to set quirkless people onto villainous paths. We still don't know why All for One needs quirkless people," Iruka added.
Hisashi sighed, "As much as I hate it, we have no concrete evidence on Garaki. Even if we get a warrant, we might fail to find anything and lose all future footholds. No… we have to keep him on surveillance. Tsukauchi!"
"Hm?"
"Increase surveillance for Garaki to level 4 and check the backgrounds of all his contacts. It doesn't matter if he sees you, let the pressure mount on him,"
Tsukauchi nodded.
"Kenji, I need you to create a task force to find the missing persons and see if there is any collaboration with the commission there. We know hero commission and All for One are working together, but find out to what extent,"
"Of course," Kenji nodded.
"Iruka, thank you for this piece of information. Give my thanks to Shizune,"
"Pleasure is mine. But I think I'm going to get Nedzu on this too," Iruka said. He was pretty good friends with his rat counterpart.
"That would be good since I won't have time to make contact. Make sure Nedzu doesn't tell Izuku,"
"Why would he tell Izuku?" Iruka asked.
"He may be training him in private," Hisashi replied, "But anyway, please look after Izuku while he's at school. I won't be around for some time,"
Iruka's eyes narrowed, "Why not?"
"I'm going to have to go underground again," Hisashi cracked his knuckles, "Time to use my network,"
A.N: I really don't think Garaki's words should be trusted entirely given he is a villain so I'm just gonna use this as a plot point.