heavy is the head that wears the crown | my hero academia
prologue.
[—USHIWAKA ITOMI IS BORN on August 15th, a beautiful baby girl with a full head of unruly black curls and eyes the color of charcoal grey found in the ashes of burned wood, to Ushiwaka Asami and Ushiwaka Kei in the slums of Kamagasaki, Osaka in Japan—]
Midoriya Izumi is born on July 15th, a charming baby girl with a full head of messy dark green curls and eyes the color of green found in the leaves of pine trees, to Midoriya Inko and Midoriya Hisashi in the suburbs of Shizuoka Prefecture, Honshu in Japan.
[—When Ushiwaka Itomi turns four, she learns that not all humans are created equal. Others do not suffer at the hands of the yakuza and lose their lives for their sight—]
When Midoriya Izumi turns four, she learns that not all humans are created equal. Others do not have to live their lives looked down upon for being Quirkless.
[—Ushiwaka Itomi is ten years old when she fails to save her closest friend from yakuza, promises herself never again, and throws herself into martial arts training—]
Midoriya Izumi is fifteen when she sees her best friend, Bakugo Katsuki, trapped in a villain's grasp and rushes in, seeing another in his place—never again, she promised—and knows she will do anything to prevent fate from repeating itself.
[—Ushiwaka Itomi is nineteen when she sacrifices her life in a yakuza fight protecting the lives of civilians and goes down fighting—]
Midoriya Izumi is born crying, remembering a life where she was silenced by the sharp bullet of a gun, with a birthmark over her heart that serves as a gruesome reminder of her past.
(—SHE FELT THE TERRIBLE HEARTBREAKING screams escape her throat when the limp figure of her best friend fell to the floor, ebony eyes lifeless and hands clutching onto the large bleeding wound on his chest, and it was in this moment where her whole world shattered and tilted on its axis—)
"—Midoriya-chan? Didn't you also want to apply to U.A.?"
Midoriya Izumi startled, snapping out of her thoughts, and looked up with wide emerald green eyes. Noticing all eyes in the room zero in on her, she nodded and ignored the fiery red gaze that was attempting to erase her from existence.
"But I thought U.A. Academy didn't take quirkless students?" Whispers broke out in the classroom. Some students even had the nerve to look at the unusually quiet Bakugo Katsuki.
"Although no one has attempted to enroll, U.A. Academy recently lifted the ban of accepting students without Quirks," Izumi explained, her naturally full lips curving up into a smile full of determination and her eyes shining with resolve. It went unsaid that she would be the first Quirkless student to enroll.
A scoff caused the entire class to turn to the its source, one that was already storming over to Izumi. Bakugo Katsuki slammed his hands on both sides of Izumi's desk, steam rising from where his hands connected with the desk, and leaned in, staring into her eyes as a form of intimidation. Izumi merely stared back with an unimpressed look.
The rest of the students watched in anticipation, wanting to see how this interaction between the infamous duo would turn out. It was known throughout the whole junior high school that Bakugo Katsuki was always at Midoriya Izumi's throat and the only reason why was a complicated history that no one but the two knew further details about.
"You think you can stand at the same level as me, Deku?" The blonde spiky-haired student spat, leaning even closer into Izumi's space and if anyone had been in Izumi's position, they would have leant back or blushed being so close to another's face. Instead, the girl placed a finger on his forehead and pushed him out of her space all without showing any emotion on her face. The boy retaliated by angrily lifting the girl off her desk by her collared-shirt with one hand and using the other to warningly flicker with the beginning of an explosion.
"Kacchan, I am not challenging you. My goal has always been to become a hero and I've got to try regardless of my Quirk status."
Bakugo glared and just as he was about to use his quirk, the teacher yelled at him to return to his seat. Roughly throwing the small girl back into her chair, he stomped back to his seat with hands clenched and steam coming from his ears.
Everyone knew the boy would only try again later and watched as Izumi let out an exasperated sigh as if resolving herself to face Bakugo and his followers after school.
When class ended, Izumi calmly placed her belongings into her bag, but was interrupted by Bakugo snatching her prized notebook from her hands.
"We're not done talking, Deku."
Looking down at the front cover of her notebook, he read mockingly, "Hero Analysis for the Future, huh? Seriously, Deku, you should know when to stop. Quirkless losers like you won't ever be able to become heroes."
Izumi watched expressionlessly as he burnt the book with his Quirk and tossed it out the window like it was nothing. Izumi frowned in disapproval which infuriated Katsuki more.
The boy leant back into her space and scowled at her, fierce red staring into unreadable emerald green.
"Top heroes usually have stories about their time back in school and I want the acknowledgement of becoming the first and only hero to attend U.A. Academy from this small-town junior high school. After all, you know how much of a perfectionist I am, Deku." He reached out to hold onto her wrist and steam arose from the contact. The girl didn't even flinch as the boy burned her.
Snatching her wrist back, Izumi abruptly stood up from her desk and looked at Bakugo with a challenging expression on her usually calm features. "And you know that I never give up once I set my eyes onto a goal, Kacchan."
With that, she walked out, but not before Bakugo let out another retort.
"If you want to be a hero that badly, Deku, you should just jump from the rooftop and hope in your next life that you get a useful Quirk."
Izumi only shook her head in disappointment as she continued walking away.
IZUMI KNEW SHE SHOULD HAVE EXPECTED the attack from the slime monster but knowing about something and living through something were two completely different situations.
Luckily, as the monster tried to force itself onto her, she was able to grab the taser she remembered to place in her backpack just for this special occasion. Sticking it into the slime with her burned hand, she pressed down. The monster gasped in pain as he was heavily electrocuted and released his hold on her.
"It's all right, young lady!" a voice boomed and Izumi watched as her all-time favorite hero jumped out from the sewer, "I am here—?"
The tall, broad-shouldered man paused, surprise taking over his masculine features. Before him, a dark green curly-haired girl, most likely from middle school judging from her uniform, stood gasping, holding on her throat with one pale freckled hand and the other clenching tightly onto a taser.
The slime villain that All Might had spent the majority of his day finding was on the floor still twitching with the electricity overload.
For a moment, Yagi Toshinori couldn't believe his eyes. This tiny middle-school girl that barely reached his hip had taken down the villain w-with a taser!
When she looked up, her emerald green eyes widened with surprise and then her face was taken over by amazement once she seemed to realize who was standing in front of her.
"All Might?!" She beamed, her lips curving up into an admiring smile and cheeks turning rosy, "You look completely different in person! Can I please get an autograph—"
Izumi quickly took out her crumply Hero Analysis for the Future notebook and opened to the first page. She held it out with her black pen and the hero, still recovering from shock, signed the notebook.
"Thank you! This is going to be a family heirloom—for generations to come!" The teenage girl grinned brightly and All Might had to blink multiple times to see if he wasn't imagining the sparkles forming around the girl which only made her smile even brighter.
With one hand, All Might bent down to place the still out-of-it villain into a used soda bottle and stood back up. Flashing his signature smile, Yagi Toshinori ruffled the girl's curls and flashed her a thumbs-up in farewell.
"Good job on handling him. Grown men wouldn't have been as resourceful as you, little lady. You can leave the rest to us heroes! I'll be taking this guy to the police. See you around!"
"Wait!"
Izumi had so many questions she had yet to ask her idol and did the only thing she could: she grabbed onto his pants in the last minute as he took off in the air.
Noticing an unusual weight dragging him down as he flew, All Might glanced down and startled when he saw the wild dark green curls covering the middle-school girl's face.
"Hey, hey, hey, hey! I love my fans, but this is taking it too far, young lady!" Never in his life had Yagi Toshinori met such a passionate fangirl who would risk her life to keep talking to her idol.
"If I . . . let go right now, I'll . . . I'll die . . . !" Izumi screamed as the hero tried to release her hold on his legs and he stopped in realization.
"Okay! But close your eyes and mouth before you swallow more hair!"
The man grabbed onto the girl, placed her his arms, and landed onto a tall building. Placing her gently on the ground, he winced when he coughed out blood and quickly wiped his mouth in the hope the girl didn't notice.
It seemed his caution was unfound since the girl was still wheezing and gasping for breath on the ground with a pale face.
"T-that was so scary!" Izumi gasped out and looked up to see All Might about to jump away.
"Wait! I—" She reached out with a hand and the man shook his head roughly. "No! I will not wait!"
"Can you become a hero without a Quirk?!"
All Might stopped and turned back to look at the girl with an unreadable look on his face.
Just as he was opening his mouth to answer, smoke arose from his body, causing Izumi's vision to blur. When the smoke cleared, a spiky blond-haired man made of skin and bones stood in the hero's place. Izumi gaped, eyes wide, and rubbed her eyes to make sure she was not dreaming.
"What happened?! Where's All Might, sir? He was just here a couple of seconds ago."
"I assure you, I am All Mi—" The skeletal man coughed into his hand. Izumi watched in disbelief and concern as blood leaked from the corner of the man's mouth.
Jumping onto her feet, Izumi quickly looked in her backpack for napkins. Letting out a shout of success, she grabbed the pack of napkins at the bottom of her bag. Taking one out from the pack, she quickly held it out the hero. "Here, this'll help."
The man looked at her with surprise, something that was becoming quite common around the strange teenage girl, and took the napkin from her hand to wipe his bloody mouth.
"Thank you. I'm going to ask you to not tell anyone what you saw here today."
"Don't worry, I won't let anyone know, but may I ask how this happened?" Izumi hesitantly looked up at the hero and tugged on the end of her sleeve nervously waiting for his answer. The hero sighed and nodded.
Running his hands through his spiky blond hair, he began his story.
Five years ago, there was a fight that took place, one that nobody in the public knew about. The hero did not go into detail about whom he had fought, but the ending result was the loss of his respiratory system and stomach. It had taken four surgeries for the hero to get better, but he was only able to maintain his superhero form for a maximum of three hours.
When he finally answered Izumi's question, the answer caused the middle-schooler's whole world to come crashing down around her.
"Now, you see that pro heroes are always putting their lives on line. There will always be villains who can be defeated only with powers. So, no, I don't think that you can become a hero."
Izumi looked at her idol with betrayed eyes and pushed back the tears that formed in her eyes. She couldn't become a hero for something she had no control over! All that time spent training her body in martial arts and studying the various Quirks around her had all been for nothing.
Too lost in her thoughts, she did not even stop the hero from leaving.
All Izumi heard over and over again were the words I don't think you can become a hero.
She snapped out of her thoughts when she heard the shrieks and loud voices of a crowd surrounding what seemed to be a fight between a villain and hero. There was smoke coming from behind the crowd and police cars wrapped around the back of the crowd. Her feet had unconsciously led her to another crime scene.
Just as Izumi was about to walk away, dejected from the answer from someone who was supposed to be a hero, she overheard a conversation between two civilians.
"Why isn't anyone doing anything?"
"Can't," someone from the back of the crowd answered, "There's a villain with some kind of impenetrable slime that has captured a junior high school student and the heroes here don't have the right kind of powers to deal with this kind of villain."
Alarmed, Izumi realized the bottle containing a slime monster had been dropped when she had clung onto All Might's pants. The weight of guilt laid heavy on her shoulders. The hero who would have been the perfect person to deal with the mess was unable to because of her and her persistent nature.
Izumi raced to the front of the crowd to see who had been captured because of her. When guilty emerald green met terrified fiery red, Izumi felt her heart drop to her stomach.
When she closed her eyes in an attempt to make sure she was seeing correctly, the image of her best friend jumping in front of her and shielding her from an incoming bullet sent her direction flashed in front of her. She remembered her bloody hands as she tried to stop the wound from bleeding. She remembered the promise she had made to him.
(—Haru-chan, I promised. Never again!—)
Her feet moved before her mind could comprehend what was happening. She grabbed the taser from her backpack and ducked under the arms of the hero holding the crowd back.
Running with determination in her steps, she recklessly chucked the backpack into the villain's eyes that widened with recognition when they laid onto her. Her childhood friend looked at her with wide eyes and when the words What are you doing? escaped from his lips, she responded.
"You looked like you needed help, Kacchan."
At that moment, Bakugo Katsuki was too shocked to realize Izumi's eyes flash from fierce emerald green to smoldering charcoal grey.
Shoving the taser deep into the slime, Izumi pressed down hard. At the same time, she yanked onto her friend's hand. Ripping the boy out the villain's hold and throwing him out of the way, she kept her finger down on the taser making sure the villain would not be able to get back up.
Her shoulders only relaxed when she heard a deep voice scream familiar words. "DETROIT SMASH!"
The monster was blown back and Izumi finally released her finger off of her taser. She fell to her knees, still in shock at her actions, and felt adrenaline course through her veins. Izumi threw her arms around a shocked Bakugo who was too tired to throw her arms off of him and let out tears of relief into his chest.
When the heroes pulled them apart and lectured Izumi for making such a reckless decision but congratulating Kacchan for keeping the villain at bay, it still didn't wipe the beaming smile from Izumi's face.
I kept your promise, Haru-chan.
DRAGGING HER FEET, IZUMI walked home, the weight of the past hours crashing down on her. Kacchan had scolded her, the heroes had scolded her and All Might had crushed her dreams of becoming a hero.
The only upside to the day was Kacchan was safe and Izumi had successfully fulfilled her promise to her late friend.
"Now, the best option is to think of a realistic career," Izumi reminded herself, shoulders slouched and voice small and tired.
When she saw a blur of yellow and white out of the corner of her eye, Izumi immediately placed herself in a fighting position, ready to use her knowledge of mixed martial arts to defend herself, but she relaxed when she looked up to a familiar face.
"What are you doing here? I thought the press was still holding you up."
"Shaking them off was easy, but I wanted to talk—"
Smoke began to rise from the strong form of the hero and once it cleared, All Might stood in his skeletal form. Blood leaked from the corner of his mouth and Izumi held out another napkin for the hero.
After wiping his mouth, the man continued. "I'm the one that should be apologizing to you, young lady. The answer I gave you earlier today was wrong. If you had not been there today, I would have not had the courage to help young Bakugo today. So I thank you."
Izumi shot her head up in disbelief and received the thankful smile of her idol. "W-what do you mean?"
"Out all the heroes out there today, you were the one who took action. Your feet also moved unconsciously before your mind could comprehend your movements and that is a trait that you can find in every top hero. They always move before they think when faced with a situation where they must save someone. That was what happened with you, did it not?"
Izumi fell down to her knees, tears pouring out of relieved emerald green eyes, and she nodded.
"So, yes, you can be a hero!"
Wrapping her arms around herself, she beamed up at her idol. The man, yet again, had to blink multiple times to make sure he was seeing the sparkles around her face. She felt the relief and assurance in her bones—she was going to do everything in her power to prove those words to all those who doubted her!
When she closed her eyes, she could almost imagine the proud smile and hair ruffle Haru would give her. Izumi looked up at All Might, eyes wide and smile so big it hurt.
"And I think you would be the perfect successor to my power!"
"What?!"
"Yes, I chose you, young lady. I am asking if you will accept my proposal."
"I accept." Izumi nodded but remembered the hidden weapons in her mother's closet, the story she had recently revealed to her daughter, her unnaturally quick and sharp reflexes when she trained with her daughter, and her bizarrely paranoid behavior. "But I have a request. We're going to have to let my mom know."
All Might looked confused and slightly betrayed as he stared down at her. Izumi stood up onto her two feet and nodded in confirmation.
"She will be able to help us. Now, tell me, have you ever heard of the Knight Institution?"
GENERATIONS AGO, THERE WAS A TALE of two brothers. One had incredible power in his hands and the other with seemingly no power at all.
The two brothers were polar opposites. Fire and ice. The sun and the moon. Night and day.
The older brother was the one with unspeakable power: the ability to transfer power from others to himself and vice versa. There was a whisper about his power, All For One—how it would grow so powerful that there would be no one to rival its strength.
Once crowned King of the Underworld, the older brother took pity on his younger sibling and gifted him an ability that did not seem to be much at first—the ability to store power into his body that would only grow stronger the more time it was stored and use it to protect himself.
However, no one besides the man himself knew about the other power the younger brother wielded. He had the ability of transference where he could pass on any ability he had to another. The more people this specific power was passed onto, the more powerful each next generation would be.
The younger brother grew weary of his older brother's power and how it corrupted. With a strong sense of justice, he knew something had to be done before the situation became worse.
In a fateful battle between brothers, the older one came out the winner while the younger lost.
The older brother realized how much more power he would gain if he took his younger brother's power back for himself, but before he could come to this conclusion, the younger brother had already disappeared, never to be seen again.
The older brother, however, acquired an ability that would lengthen his lifespan and began the hunt for his brother's power.
Once the younger brother was able to find a successor to take on the power, one he had deemed One For All, he took to the shadows and planned for the future.
It was in the years after his successor harnessed the abilities of One For All that the Shigaraki Ko founded the Knight Institution.
The institution's goal was to limit the power of dark organizations, protect the innocent from harm, and keep the peace across the world as more and more Quirks came to be. Knights were agents produced by the institution to fulfill its purpose and it remained in the shadows for generations to come.
Being an ex-Knight herself, Midoriya Inko could only gape when her daughter revealed she was the next chosen successor for One For All, a power that Inko had previously believed to be mere myth, and immediately contacted the Institution.
She was not surprised to find the current successor was the famed hero, All Might, but surprised to learn that he was going to pass on One For All onto her daughter only after she was physically capable—by clearing a junkyard beach.
(Inko could only shake her head in disapproval and move her fingers faster on her phone after she heard that training plan from All Might.)
Having studied the ancient power religiously at the Institution, she knew it would take a miracle for the power to be passed onto her daughter in a way she would not harm herself upon using it with her only being physically capable (and cleaning up a beach by the end of her school year would not even make that accomplishable).
If they wanted the power to successfully pass on her daughter, a year of training at the Institution would be the only option where her daughter could wield One For All as hers.
The next day, the Midoriya's packed up their bags and flew to a private island located in the middle of Pacific Ocean.
The island, their home for the next year, was warded by invisible and impenetrable shields—wards belonging to one of the original Knights at Shigaraki Ko's side—making the location unknown to all those but the individuals who already knew of its whereabouts.
Upon arrival, Izumi and Inko both stepped out of the plane onto the island and awed expressions immediately overtook both of their faces as they surveyed the island. Tall and giant mountains wrap around the island like shields hiding the green valley with towering skyscrapers and various buildings. There was an arena-like building at the center of the island and a luxurious mansion to the left.
If Izumi squinted her eyes, she could almost see the long obstacle course on the other side of the island. The mother and daughter snapped out of their sightseeing when a voice was cleared.
Standing before them were three people. A massive and intimidating dark-skinned man was the first to stand out with muscles that were the size of Izumi's face and a height unseen in suburbia Japan. If Izumi had to guess, she would reckon he would be at least over six feet and seven inches. His piercing dark eyes were staring right at her, head nodding firmly to himself, and then he walked away without a word.
Izumi's mother laughed once she caught the gawking expression on her daughter's face. "That's Relic, an old buddy of mine. He is the certified physical trainer of all Knight hopefuls and the one that will be making sure your body is ready to handle the power of eight generations of One For All."
"Yes, he is also not much for talking either, but the best for preparing Knights to their fullest potential. I assure you are in the most capable hands, Midoriya-chan," the pale blond-haired man with scrutinizing glacier blue eyes added, a polite smile on his lips, and then he bowed, "I am Cerebral, the one in charge of teaching you anything and everything that will help you on your journey to become a hero."
Once he stepped back, the only woman out of the trio stepped forward. Her fiery mane of curls framed a pale, freckled and sharply-featured face. She grinned down at the mother and daughter duo at her impressive height of five feet and ten inches and held out a pale freckled hand towards Izumi.
"It will be a pleasure to be working with you, darling. I am Phantom, your teacher for everything trauma and mind related." Phantom shook Izumi's hand firmly and then released it.
Nodding towards Cerebral, she motioned for the duo to follow her.
And, thus, Izumi's full year of training and journey towards mastering One For All began.