The rest of Midoriya Izuku's night was pretty uneventful.
He bought dinner from a konbini near campus, then ate together with Eri and Ochako.
Ochako left at quite a late hour, probably dreading to return to the dorms after everything that happened.
Izuku honestly couldn't comprehend what she was feeling right now.
Yes, they may be his friends. And yes, they seemed to care a lot about Midoriya Izuku.
But he wasn't the Midoriya Izuku they knew.
He was just something that looked like their friend.
Izuku also had Ochako give him a list of everyone he knew, or at least their mutual friends. So Izuku shouldn't have a problem with names here on out.
Hopefully…
Izuku gurgled and spit, wiping his face with a towel and walking to bed.
It had been a very long day for Izuku, and half of it was spent in the hospital. How hectic was Midoriya-san's life There never seemed to be a dull moment when he was around, and he wasn't even a hero!
*Sigh*
Izuku lied down on his cramped bed, flipping several times before he got comfortable.
Normally the UA dorm mattresses were quite comfortable, they were sufficiently sized for every student to have a comfortable sleep in. Not too big nor too small, in fear of college students having 'sleepovers'.
But Izuku had a more 'permanent' issue…
*Snuggle*
Izuku had a little unicorn he shared his sleeping space with.
Although much smaller in size, the UA issued bed was built to fit only a single person. Leaving barely any room for a plushie, much less a little girl.
So they were left with no other choice than to cuddle to save room.
"…ringo….gorufu…" *snore* "…futon…"
'Shiritori!?'
Eri said some strange things in her sleep.
"…Izuku…" *giggle*
"!"
Midoriya Izuku gripped his chest, as his heart clenched.
That's right.
He wasn't the one Eri wanted either.
He was just Midoriya Izuku's stand in.
It was like a child who was told they wanted to see a unicorn, and their parents handing them a stuffed unicorn to play pretend.
Now it was the unicorn in his arms that had to play pretend with her fake Midoriya Izuku.
But this Izuku was too weak, he didn't have the heart to tell this happy little girl the truth.
He couldn't tell her that he wasn't the one who saved her.
But that was ok…
Izuku brought Eri closer into his embrace.
He couldn't just let all Midoriya Izuku's efforts go to waste.
He couldn't destroy her happiness because of his own weakness.
He couldn't take away her smile for his own selfishness.
*Giggle*
That made Izuku smile a little.
So he decided to keep up this illusion of his.
As Izuku drifted to sleep he only had one thing on his mind.
He just wished he knew how the previous Midoriya Izuku felt, holding this girl in his arms.
He just wanted to know how she made him smile too.
And that's when Izuku started to dream…
Izuku was walking down the back-alleys of Musutafu.
It been only a month since he started UA, but he hadn't even touched any of his assignments.
All he'd been doing was getting into fights.
"Oww, such misfortune…" Izuku rubbed his bruised torso.
He'd been going around beating up and getting beaten by delinquents from all over.
Most of the time it was because he saw someone in trouble, usually girls for some reason.
He'd walk up to them and try to 'rescue' them.
But most of the time it ended up either landing him in the hospital, the police station, or he'd land them in the hospital and the police station. His academic mentor, Midnight having to bail him out a number of times.
But why was he doing this?
Didn't he already accept that he wasn't going to be a hero?
Wasn't he already content with his normal life?
Wasn't he going to treasure this normal life that she didn't get to enjoy?
But perhaps it was because he rejected it.
He rejected the idea that he was the one living a normal life.
He rejected the idea that she couldn't.
He rejected the idea that he couldn't have saved her no matter what.
And he detested the idea that he could not even stand living his normal life while she suffered.
So that led him to go around trying to help whoever he could.
That led him to build up this grand illusion of his.
"Oof!" Izuku stumbled as he felt something hit him, breaking him out of his thoughts.
Izuku looked down to see a small girl, no older than 5 with red eyes, grayish-white hair and a single horn on her head. Izuku held her shoulders and steadied her.
"Ah sorry about that…" Right then Izuku just noticed how she looked, a dirty tan coloured dress which looked more rag than dress, along with bandages that decorated her arms and legs as if she just came back from the hospital.
But more than that Izuku noticed her expression.
A face of pure terror.
The same expression she had when they arrived.
An expression no child should ever have.
"Ah there you are Eri."
Izuku looked toward the direction of the new voice, and out from the shadows of the alleyway came a man wearing a black shirt and pants, a green jacket with a thick purple collar and a pair of surgical gloves. But most notably was the plague doctor mask he adorned, one that Izuku recognised.
Izuku had brawled some of his kind before… the Yakuza.
"I'm so sorry about my daughter, she should have watched where she was going."
He was lying.
What kind of parent would put their child in such a sad state?
Either he was lying or this girl was suffering at the hands of the very person that should be caring for her well-being.
But either way it was obvious.
Eri needed to be saved from this man.
Going by his attire he seemed like a quite high ranking member. All Izuku had fought before were the useless bums who occupied the roles of grunts and the lower echelon.
How much did Izuku stand a chance against someone like this?
If rank equated strength then this guy must have quite the strong quirk, at least enough to give a Pro Hero trouble.
What chance did this quirkless boy even have?
He was no Knight in shining armour, no hero clad in spandex and a cape.
He could not rescue a child from a burning building.
He could not swoop down from the skies whenever trouble arose.
He couldn't even do anything without tripping up thanks to his bad luck., his very existence seemed to be hated by life itself.
He could not even muster the will to live.
And with all of his might, he couldn't even save a single girl.
How could someone as weak as Izuku stand up against him?
Someone so weak they couldn't even want to stay alive.
But...
When Izuku turned back to look at that girl.
He almost vomited.
Yes, Izuku was absolutely disgusted.
When he saw that girl who didn't even have proper clothes to wear.
When he saw that girl lathered in bandages.
When he saw that girl who looked like she had never smiled her whole life.
He was disgusted with the trash known as Midoriya Izuku.
How dare he call himself misfortunate.
How dare he call what he went through suffering.
How dare he think of ending his own life while this girl still endured such a tormented existence.
Yes, he was still alive and standing but he had certainly thought of it hadn't he?
To end all his misfortune, to end the suffering of everyone around him.
He had thought to end his life once and for all.
So if he was going to die anyway…
Why not die trying to save the life of a girl that so desperately needed it?
That was what he had thought before, and it was with that resolve that he had failed.
Now he couldn't even bring himself to die because of the words of a girl he barely knew, but was still constantly on his mind.
But why should that even stop him?
If there was a one in a million chance he succeeded then so be it. If he failed then at the very least it would give her hope, hope that one day a hero would eventually come to save her. A real hero wearing a cape would finally swoop down to save her, if it took this useless boy's life to give her that hope then so be it. It was his own selfishness that kept him alive anyway, his own selfish desire to see that girl once again.
Even if he would die trying, he would do it.
Even if he'd break his promise, he would try it.
He would show her that she was worth saving.
He would break both their curses.
Eri was about to let go when Izuku held her tight.
The small girl gasped, confused at what this foolish boy was thinking.
"Ah sorry, sorry! She just seemed a little uneasy you know."
"Yes, so now-"
"Ah! But why is she covered in bandages? Poor thing…"
"She is quite a clumsy girl so just-"
"In that case I know an excellent Doctor, heck he doesn't even charge a cent!"
Izuku slowly picked Eri up into an embrace.
"So why don't we just stop by? Poor thing must be-"
He ran for it.
Izuku ran as fast as he could out of the alleyway.
Of course he didn't stand a chance.
He didn't have the strength to defeat all his enemies in a single blow.
He couldn't blow everything away with a giant explosion.
He was a loser that did everything worse than everyone.
So he ran.
If he could at least make it out of the alleyway, then a hero would take notice.
That way even if he would perish, then at least a real hero would swoop down and rescue her.
*CRACK*
That is if it weren't for the giant wall erected in his path.
"You pathetic piece of trash."
The Yakuza member slowly rose, removing his bare hand from the ground.
"What made you think that was actually going to fucking work!?"
*SLAM*
Several spikes rose from the ground, aimed at Izuku like spears to strike him down.
Izuku held Eri tight, ensuring that the only one hurt by the attack would be himself.
Clearly his enemy thought the same, aiming right for all of Izuku's vital areas.
Izuku had already accepted this outcome.
Of course someone like him stood no chance.
Of course he didn't even last a minute against an enemy of this caliber.
But he didn't want to accept it.
He didn't want to lose in an instant.
He wanted to see whatever his hero saw in him all the way back then.
He wanted to save the smile of this little girl.
So he struggled.
Izuku rejected the outcome of loss.
He struggled for Eri.
He manoeuvred between all the spikes he could, and defiantly grabbed the one that would inevitably collide.
And it shattered.
The entire length of the spike shattered in Izuku's weak, quirkless right hand.
"Eh?"
What the hell just happened?
Overhaul seemed intrigued.
"So that's your power? No matter, soon you too shall be cured of this accursed disease."
Wasting no more time, the ground beneath Izuku morphed and bent into several cylindrical shapes. Pillar after pillar was sent toward the boy, intending to squash him like a rat.
Izuku ducked and dived between, a terrified Eri still cradled in his arms.
"Hey! That could have hit your daughter too you know!?"
The man simply scoffed. "If anything happens, I can simply rebuild her later. You on the other hand."
The floor morphed into a large wave, splashing forward in a tsunami of liquid stone.
Izuku anxiously weighed his options.
He couldn't run because of the large wall behind them.
He didn't have anywhere to hide.
So instead he prayed.
Izuku slammed his right fist directly against the wave and prayed.
Prayed that whatever power that shattered the spike would blow this attack away and save this poor girl.
*BREAK*
The entire stone construct disintegrated from just a single punch.
His enemy looked completely flabbergasted at how easily his attack was dismantled.
Izuku took this opportunity and broke through the wall surrounding them.
*BREAK*
With their escape inevitable they finally make it onto the streets.
Screaming with desperation Izuku cries out for help.
He cries his heart out for a hero to come save her.
But his pleas were only answered with silence.
And a loud shockwave followed.
The yakuza returned looking more furious than a lion that had it's pray stolen from it.
The public screamed in terror, running for their lives away from the evident villain attack.
With a gulp Izuku's anxiety skyrocketed, he seemed more desperate to flee than ever.
He wondered why there wasn't a single hero out patrolling this time of day.
He wondered why none of them came at the sound of his cries and the loud explosion.
Yes, he was walking in a remote part of town, but certainly someone would have noticed something going on.
Did all the neighbourhood heroes decide to take a vacation on that very day?
Did they get dispatched somewhere else last minute?
What kind of crazy coincidence was this?
That's when it hit him.
This was just a case of bad luck.
Izuku's misfortune was keeping any and all heroes away.
He was the reason no one was reaching out to save Eri.
Izuku looked at Eri, looked at the despair in her eyes, the despair that no hero would arrive to save the day.
If there was no one around to help, would you wait and cry out for a hero to come save you?
So what was he to do when no one could reach out?
He was just a worthless, quirkless idiot who couldn't even pass the hero exam after months of training, after years of studying.
He could only run to safety and wait for a hero to come help this poor little girl.
So what exactly could he do?
Izuku gently put Eri down behind him, and stood his ground.
He already decided didn't he? He decided that he would save her from her suffering, even if it killed him, even if it went against his own selfish promise.
So Midoriya Izuku charged forward.
All thoughts of dying put behind him.
The constant anxiety of screwing up forgotten.
His fear of misfortune was being overpowered.
Overpowered by the single desire to save this girl who looked like she never smiled in her life.
Even if he could never be a hero.
Even if he didn't deserve to be called one.
Even so…
Izuku clenched his right fist.
He would save Eri's smile.
The yakuza sent spike after spike after spike.
His constant misfortune made Izuku incredibly cautious, having to constantly be on guard when the next tragedy would strike him.
Izuku dodged each one spike after the other, predicting where his enemy would launch the next one.
The ground beneath him exploded into a large spike, threatening to tear him in two.
His anxiety kicked in but instead of shackling his movements, plaguing him with needless worry. This time it spurred him forward, like a sixth sense formed from his unease.
The split second he felt the ground shift Izuku dived out of the way, narrowly avoiding the attack.
Izuku glared at the yakuza and clenched his fist.
A wall was erected in front to shield him.
His fear of death long gone, Izuku's fist no longer held any more hesitation.
Izuku gathered his resolve and punched through the wall as if it was made of thin glass instead of concrete.
But his enemy reacted just a second faster.
The yakuza grabbed Izuku by the arm, intending to dismantle him into meat paste.
But nothing happened.
"What!?"
Izuku took advantage of his enemy's momentary confusion and decked him right in the face, knocking his beak like plague doctor mask to the ground.
The yakuza fell to the ground, preparing to manipulate the concrete for a quick counter attack.
But Izuku reacted just a second faster.
He crushed his enemy's ribs, putting all his weight into a heavy stomp.
Not giving him time to recover Izuku gave a two handed spike into the yakuza's forehead, feeling a crack beneath his fists as his enemy's head was broken against the very ground was about to use against him.
But Izuku didn't stop there.
He kept swinging away at the yakuza, punch after punch until…
*Squelch*
He finally noticed the blood seeping through his fists.
Izuku got up in a panic, the reality of the situation sobering any previous thoughts.
Izuku pressed his fingers into the man's neck.
*Pulse*
"Whew." Relief washed over him.
For a moment there Izuku thought he'd actually killed the guy.
*Tug*
He felt a small hand tugging at his pants.
Izuku looked down to see Eri's crying face.
The crying face of the girl he was supposed to save.
The girl whose smile he was supposed to save.
The girl who he just let witness a brutal beatdown of her supposed father.
"Crap! L-Look, I'm sorry about-Oof!"
The girl crashed into him in a teary embrace.
What he just witnessed was very different from his pathetic tears of self pity.
These were genuine tears of joy and relief.
For the girl who couldn't smile this was how she expressed her happiness.
And Midoriya Izuku of all people, was the only one who made her feel that way.
"T-Tha-*Sob*-Thank y-you! Thank you s-so much!"
He returned the sentiment with a hug of his own.
"It's alright now…It's going to be alright now Eri."
"It was that way!"
It was not alright.
The local heroes had finally caught wind of what was going on and were en route.
Izuku quickly grabbed Eri and ran back into the alleyway.
Things would go very bad for Izuku, if the heroes saw him with his bloodied fists and a beaten body beneath him.
Diving into an empty dumpster Izuku held Eri close as they listened to the scuffling of the heroes outside.
"There were reports..."
"Hold on… that mask… isn't that yakuza?"
"Was there a gang war or something?"
"There couldn't be only just the one casualty…"
"….Vigilante?"
"G-Get AWAY!"
Izuku was shocked by the sudden yell.
But that paticular yell wasn't from one of the heroes, it was Eri!
Eri's horn suddenly started to glow and spark with yellow energy.
Was this her quirk?
"Get out of here! Please! I don't want you to disappear!"
"Did you hear that?"
'Crap!'
Quickly trying to quell her panic Izuku placed his right hand on Eri's horn, praying that the mysterious power would aid him once again.
*BREAK*
The sudden burst of energy, quickly fizzled out like bubbles from a freshly opened soda can.
Eri stared at his right hand in a mixture of shock and fascination.
If he was completely honest, Izuku felt the same way.
"Maybe they've already made it to the other side c'mon!"
After the rumble of footsteps disappeared, Izuku peaked out of the dumpster.
The coast was clear.
Izuku quickly scurried away from the scene of the crime, Eri in tow.
Without much thought Izuku hastily carried the little girl back into his student dorm, placing her on his couch and let out a long overdue sigh of relief.
The battle was over.
By some miracle he had won.
But he knew that miracles do not happen to Midoriya Izuku.
He stared at his right hand.
It was indeed a miracle.
A miracle that saved Eri.
It was this mysterious power that saved Eri.
Midoriya Izuku just so happened to be one channeling it.
If not for this power the both of them would have been killed.
Was this his quirk?
But he had the extra toe joint didn't he?
After the entrance exam he had Recovery Girl test him again.
Blood, protein, DNA, even going as far as having specialists with various analysis quirks hand deliver the bad news to them.
They had failed to detect a single strand of quirk genetic material from the boy.
Midoriya Izuku was 100% bonafide quirkless.
So where exactly did this mysterious ability come from?
And why only show itself now?
Izuku thought back to everything that happened.
All he knew was that this power existed in his right hand, and negated the effects of quirks.
But to what extent?
Could he reverse mutations?
Could he extend it past his right hand?
In fact did it exist in his right hand or right arm? Or maybe even his whole right side?
He could at least mark off the possibility of it being in his dominant left hand he used earlier.
For him to not realise this after all this time because he was left handed, what kind of m-
Wait.
If it could negate superpowers like quirks.
Then could it have negated his luck too!?
Did he really not know all this time because of this right hand?
It was indeed an irrational thought, but Izuku had unnatural levels of misfortune.
It certainly sounded ridiculous.
But if his right hand could negate even the most powerful quirk.
Then…
Izuku halted his train of thought.
That wasn't important right now.
Izuku had just discovered that he actually had some sort of power after all this time.
He finally had something that he could use to become a hero.
But why was the first thing he thought of such a selfish thought?
When there was a girl that needed his attention more so than ever, sitting on his couch right now.
It was clear he wasn't fit to be a hero in the least.
For Eri more than Izuku, life had been turned upside down and when they finally recovered from the vertigo of the most intense battle of their lives. The question had to be asked…
What now?
The hero finds the princess, the hero fights the dragon, the hero saves the princess and they live happily ever after.
So what exactly was their happily ever after?
A solider comes back from the war victorious but torn apart, both physically and mentally.
A refugee returns home to pick up the pieces of their former life.
It seemed like right after the war was over, a second one had just begun.
It seemed like 'Happily ever after' was just a crude saying, a fallacy that there would only ever be a single conflict, a single hurdle to overcome.
And that obstacle course seemed more daunting than ever.
What would Izuku do now?
Eri tugged on Izuku's shirt, urging him to come sit next to her.
Would he take care of her by himself? Or hand her over to the heroes?
He wasn't well equipped in the slightest to take care of a child, he could barely keep up with college as it is.
He was a delinquent that sought out fights and cut classes, he clearly lacked the responsibility to do this.
He barely had enough money to stay afloat, he didn't have the financial means to look after her, nor did he want to trouble his poor mother after all she did for him.
Eri held onto Izuku's right hand like a lifeline, afraid that he would vanish if she let go.
And a lifeline it indeed was.
For one, Eri could not control her quirk.
Her only hope of keeping it under control was his right hand.
But wait! Didn't Aizawa-sensei have an Erasure quirk? Maybe he could look after her! And with the support of Midnight-sensei and the rest of the staff, of course a school would be the best place for a little girl to grow up!
Eri's grasp on his arm tightened.
"Hey Eri you ok?"
Eri very subtly nodded, tears still in her eyes.
It was clear that Eri needed the help of a professional, not a naive boy like Izuku who still dreamed doing the impossible.
Izuku smiled at her. "I'm going to take you to see someone nice ok?"
They would be more than equipped to take care of her, give her the normal life that she deserved.
"S-Someone n-nice?"
Izuku nodded forcing his smile to remain. "Yeah he's-"
He felt it.
He felt her grip loosening.
Her body suddenly lost all its strength.
"He's a teacher here! H-He's one of the best!"
What did he sound like at that moment?
"He's going to teach you lots of cool stuff!"
Did he sound like responsible? Giving her up to people that could actually take care of her?
"He's caring and understanding!"
Did he sound like a coward? Pushing this poor girl away because he was afraid?
"He's a lot better than me at-at everything I suppose?"
Did he sound like a useless Deku? Leaving it to others to clean up his mess?
"And he's the best at suppressing quirks! You'll never have to worry about losing control ever again!"
But what did he sound like to Eri at that moment?
All she probably heard was that he was abandoning her.
Because he wasn't good enough.
Because he was too useless.
Because he was too weak.
Because he was the weakest of them all.
"He's going to teach you how to control your quirk, and then-"
So in his weakness…
"And then we'll come back, get something to eat and- Oh wait I'm almost out of everything so we'll probably have to stop by the supermarket first. But then-"
Eri tackled him with another hug, tears escaping from her eyes like a cracked dam.
And Izuku reciprocated.
In his weakness, he gave in to his own naive ideals.
He would try his best to look after her.
He gave into the ideal that his best would be enough.
The pair never ended up going to meet Aizawa, nor did they leave to buy something to eat.
They just sat there and cried.
For the first time in their lives they let themselves cry as much as they wanted, they needed to.
They cried tears of joy, not caring of what misfortune tomorrow might bring.
All they could think about was how happy they were at that very moment.
Sometime in the future, a slumbering Midoriya Izuku would smile as he held the girl he made so happy in his arms.
And the girl that made him happy smiled back, enjoying Izuku's embrace.
Eri smiled as she enjoyed her happily ever after.