Izuku sat in the cushioned seat of his family's carriage as it took him down a long road. It was a stormy morning with rain pattering the windows as they went through the country roads, he was reading an intriguing piece in his newspaper; headline had just reported about the city he was to be sent to:
"6 NOBLE OFFICERS DECEASED IN LOWER HOSU DISTRICT AFTER A MOST NOBLE ACTION AGAINST VIGILANTISM"
Izuku read about the officers who had been brutally murdered in an industrial district the night before and it didn't help his nerve to read the harrowing tale further. His father looked up from some business related papers taking note of his clear nervousness before speaking to him in a firm voice, "Not to worry about those vigilante scum boy-o, a lot of cowards they are"
"Well what do you expect me to feel? If the police or heros couldn't stop them, why should I feel safe?" Izuku muttered out loud as he continued to read the news. His father sighed, but relented that his son had a point. Still, while his son was quite capable if he found himself in dire straits, it would do if there was at least someone with him to take a brunt of whatever situation he found himself in.
"I suppose if it makes your mind at ease, I've hired a good man to watch after you." He stated as he set his newspaper aside to look at him. "If only to give you a-"
His mother looked up in clear confusion at what her husband was saying and interrupted, "I thought I was to hire someone to look after the boy."
"You hired a mercenary as well?" his father asked curiously, his wife huffing as she went back to reading, annoyance clear on her face.
"Yes, some bankrupted hero one of the governesses spoke about" his mother said, not looking up from her book. Izuku watched as his father grinned and shook his head as he sat back.
"Well clearly I've been looking a little bit harder." He laughed as he began to fiddle with his jacket, searching for something within. "I've found the man who purged Anarchists a few years back" his father stated in pure confidence.
"Oh?" his mother asked, her eyes now trained on him rather than her book. His father seemingly found what he was looking for as he pulled a fold sheet of paper and photo.
"This man!" Izuku felt a little flustered as his father handed him without warning. His eyes widened as he unfolded the paper to see a score of medals and awards being listed along with a photo of an old white grizzled war veteran with a large bushy mustache.
"He's a Austrian Officer who calls himself the name Herr Kette, a fine man indeed!" His father nodded "A hero as well to all good civilised people in Japan-!" his father exclaimed, continuing to praise the man.
The young green haired lad didn't share his father's enthusiasm on Kette; He had heard about the brutality Herr Kette carried around him, though he did wonder why such a man came all the way to Japan. His talents were surely put to better use than to babysit him, no doubt thinking he was some brat with a superiority complex. The man was better suited to fighting on war fronts, not the public streets of whatever country he happened to be in.
Still, Izuku did have to admit that having a man of his standing an ability would be a boon in many ways… perhaps he can show him some of his own weapons. At least so the man himself wouldn't think of him as some useless child he had to take care of.
But he was more interested and excited in the hero that his mother had mentioned, for he had never heard of the man, His father kept ranting about how much of a hero The Kraut was while Izuku became trapped in his thoughts. Who is this hero? I wonder what his quirk could be? What is he like? The young boy's excitement grew rapidly and eventually burst.
"I'm going to have a-!" Izuku faltered, shaking his head before bowing slightly. "My apologies father, mother. It wouldn't be polite to lose my composure like that, even in private."
"Izuku, it's good to see the Governess lessons are still within your mind. Perhaps take a breath to calm your racing thoughts. It won't do if the commoners believe their future nobles are not fully committed to their roles. Still, the fact you caught yourself shows much progress." His father spoke in a firm but proud tone towards the boy as he sunk deep into his seat.
"I'm sorry sir, it won't happen again, I swear" Izuku said in a hushed and quick voice, his face burning at reverting back to a childlike state moments earlier.
"But If I hear of any rude behaviour at Yuuei, I'll have your head!" His father says jokingly but his mother was clearly not pleased.
"Well, I might as well inform you of who is going to be your guardian. You're going to be with a man named-" his mother reached into her breast pocket to read a small slip of paper- "Hm… let's see. Ah. One Toshinori Yagi," his mother said.
Izuku blinked in confusion at the name,"Who?"
"Toshinori Yagi, Izuku. Please try to remember-" His mother stated annoyed, only to pause as Izuku held up his hand in a placating manner.
"No, I can remember his name, but what I mean is who's Yagi? What's his hero name? If I can recall a face it would be better to put his actual name to the image." Izuku pressured his mother who had an annoyed look on her face as she read the paper again
"All Might?" she answered. "What an odd name."
I thought I knew even the most obscure heroes but... who in the blue hell is this guy? The young lad thought to himself, putting his hand to his lip and began to think to himself. His father gave him an amused smile and gently tousled his wild hair, not really getting a reaction from the boy, but getting much disapproval of his wife. But his thoughts were soon interrupted by the small hatch of the carriage being opened by the driver letting in all the cold "We've got ten minutes till we reach the Hiroshima Central station Master Midoriya" the driver said in a rough cockney accent.
"Thank you and close the hatch, you're letting in that freezing rain," his father said, while getting soaked in said freezing rain, he gave an annoyed sigh at his predicament. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, before releasing a large exhale of air. The carriage immediately began to warm up, gaining a slight smile from his son and wife.
"Thank you dear." She simply stated, slowly preparing herself to walk out in the dreary rain. "Izuku, put the paper away, you can read it once you are on the train."
"Of course, Mother." Izuku folded his newspaper into his overcoat while his family were preparing themselves for the cold. He looked out the window and noticed the scenery had completely changed from a vast country to the bustling city streets of Hiroshima. Vendors were harking out fresh goods with people going about their business of the day, it was all rather pedestrian in Izuku's eyes but it made for good training in spotting people with talents that could be beneficial for him.
Silence filled the carriage as they neared their destination, Izuku all but shunting out the awkward silence with his people watching, taking note of various people using their quirks or natural talents in the streets. He didn't see his father's worried face as he continued to watch, the man knew the boy was intelligent and had a natural charm, but he still worried about his dual status both as a Noble and as a quirkless individual. While some overlook such issues, others find it abhorrent to even talk to the boy that couldn't even be graced with a power. He couldn't help but smirk a little though, once they find out what the boy had created on his own, without his assistance whatsoever, they would be singing a different tune soon enough. The carriage came to a halt in front of the station, with Izuku watching Naito as he came around to the door and opened it for the family.
"Masters and madam Midoriya we have arrived" Naito said with an umbrella floating around him, giving the boy a small ghost of a smile as he stepped aside to give them room to exit.
"Thank you Naito. You, chauffeur." His father gave a bark over the rain to the driver.
"Sir!"
"Grab my son's bags." He ordered, with the man nodding rapidly as he quickly began to unlatch the luggage from the carriage. However, before the man could even grab hold of them, they were quickly lifted out without him even so much as touching them. He turns to see Naito giving him a nod in appreciation in freeing the luggage.
"Many thanks, my good sir. But I have it in hand, do take care of the Master and Madam reach back home safely."
"Of course Sir" The driver gave him a toothy grin before quickly scrambling back into the seat. Izuku's parents watched the young teenager one last time before he exited the horse driven carriage which would be the one of the last times Izuku saw his parents alive.
Mina and Tooru were hit by the freezing rain the moment they exited the shelter. It was still dark outside, it couldn't be earlier than four or five in the morning with dawn just barely breaking when they were walking to the factory. It wasn't long before they talked to distract themselves from the cold, the light rain making their teeth chatter before long.
"So what part of town are we in?" the pink girl asked, rubbing her arms to gain some semblance of warmth. "Jeez, we should have stayed in the shelter if it was going to be this miserable."
"We're pretty close to the taverns because of your heavy drinking last night" the invisible lass responded in a joking serious tone, though she gave a small sneeze once she finished, causing the pink girl to give a small giggle.
"I was that bad huh? How come you didn't just take my money and leave me?" Mina asked jokingly.
"I would never do that, don't ever joke about that" Tooru responded in a joking tone, trying to keep the talk light, feeling that it may turn into something heavy. "Though…"
"Why what's wrong?" Mina asked with curiosity as she tilted her head as they trudged through the light drizzle.
"I only say this because you're my friend Mina, but we only have 5 yen left." Tooru said, pulling out said copper pieces, with Mina wincing at the amount. "Yeah, I mean, I wasn't any better so…"
"Yeah, but we still have our hidden stash, so there is that." Mina tried to cheer up the invisible girl. Considering both girls had taken the factory job as a last resort, they made some considerable headway in their funds since then. Still, they needed to be more careful in the future if they wanted a chance to escape the situation they were in, after all, 8 months working in a factory wasn't exactly what one would consider beneficial for their long term health.
"Yeah, but I should've known better." Tooru's shoulders droop a little, but Mina only gently patts her shoulder.
"Me too... and thank you tooru for looking out for me." Mina responded in a laughing tone.
"It's no real issue, it's just your my only friend Mina" Tooru with a few fake floating tears descending down her face. The pinkette girl wrapped her arm around the invisible girl comforting her in the freezing cold as they laughed at their positions. The two continued walking to their workplace as the gas lights in the streets were being put out by some young boys. Dawn was fully broken along with the light drizzle and all manners of third class citizens were heading out either to a job or to find one, some even considering going to the more well off areas to begin begging. Mina and tooru were fortunate to have a factory job that was safer than normal then the regular factories because they only needed to straighten and put on door hinges on an assembly line for about 10 yen a day, it was boring work but work all the same.
When Mina and Tooru were traveling through the streets they saw a large crowd forming around a small wooden podium as a speaker who was a relatively skinny and pale but well dressed looking man who was seemingly ranting gaining the crowd with a good charisma. It was pouring at this point but the man yelled his words nonetheless.
"Huh?" Tooru paused in her steps, Mina taking a few more steps before pausing as well. "Looks a little too well dressed for this area? Think he is loaded?"
"I'm not too sure. He looks… Off." Mina said, noting the strange glazed look in the man's eyes. Still, the duo drew closer as the crowd appeared to be agreeing with the man.
"THESE HEROES ARE NOT HEROES AT ALL! THEY SERVE ONLY THEIR FOREIGN MASTERS AND WARLORDS TO LINE THEIR POCKETS WITH FOREIGN GOLD!" the man ranted while the crowd murmured in agreement.
"I want to go up front, I can't hear everything he's saying" the invisible girl whispered in her friend's ear.
"Aight... but we have to leave soon to get to work" Mina told her invisible friend in a hushed voice.
"THEY WORK WITH THE VERY GOVERNMENT WHO OPPRESSES THE GREAT LADIES AND GENTLEMEN OF OUR CLASS AND KILL US EVERY SINGLE DAY!" the man yelled pacing on his small podium while the crowd once again started to cheer on the man. Mina and tooru managed to squeeze into the front where they could see and hear more clearly of what the speaker spoke.
"WE SHALL FIX THESE PROBLEMS WE SHALL PROTECT YOU FINE PEOPLE" The man yelled as the crowd cheered in clear approval of this charismatic figure, Mina spoke the second the sounds of the crowd and the man lulled.
"Who the hell is this guy?" Mina asked Tooru, the girl in question only shrugged. The man's ears must have been pretty sharp to notice the small conversation the two girls were having and spoke to them directly.
"We 'fine' young ladies of the lower class in the league of lower gentlemen and women" He said with an aura of enthusiasm and charisma.
"You're with the vigilantes? Oh man. Please don't burn down another person's work alright?! Unlike you we actually want to earn money to drink!" a Tooru called out, gaining some laughs from the crowd.
"NAY WHORE!" The man bellowed as he raised his arm and pointed it directly at Tooru, who only could only falter at the name calling.
"Excuse me?!"
" WE ARE THE PEOPLE WHO 'REPRESENT' YOU" He said with air quotes and continued on as he spun in a circle with his arms spread as he crowed.
"WE ARE THE FINE PEOPLE WHO DARE CHALLENGE THE POLICE ON THEIR BRUTALITY AND WE BURN THE SLAVE FACTORIES YOU CALL JOBS!" He yelled with large hand movements swaying the crowd a bit, unfortunately for them local policemen who were monitoring the event heard exactly what the man had said and marched on the large gathering and breaking up the crowd and tearing up leaflets a girl was handing out to the crowd.
"SEE HOW THEY OPPRESS US, EVENTUALLY THEIR UTTER CONTEMPT WITH US WILL BE THEIR DOWNFALL-" He shouted over the police whilst they arrested numerous people for attending the event, much to the shock of the crowd. Several of them even leap over the crowd towards the Speaker, who only grin at their arrival before getting tackled onto the mud coated ground. "YOUR TIME WILL COME OPPRESSORS! WE ARE MANY AND YOU ONLY ADD TO OUR NUMBERS! YOU ARE FAR TOO LATE TO STOP US!"
"We have to get out of here before they lock us up as well" Mina grabbed Tooru's arm and began to drag her away from the now riled up crowd, giving the duo cover as they began to fight against the police. It wasn't long before they made their escape and began to navigate the back alleyways to both lose any pursuers and make their way to their workplace.
"It's crazy right? I mean how could they just show up in public like that and talk all that stuff. Did they expect the police not to respond?" Tooru said with a huff, reaching into her pocket to pull out a small leather bag, pulling out her clay kiseru and began to stuff it with incense. Mina was always fascinated by the object, she had no idea where the Tooru got it, claiming she found it on the ground one day. Tooru only ever used it to relax and even let Mina try it once, but the pink girl found herself instantly disliking it, along with trying to clear out her lungs of the smoke.
At least it smelled nice whenever she used the good incense, so she suppose it also helped her relax too.
Mina was about to tell Tooru to not light the pipe up, as they were running late as is, only to pause as she began to smell the sickly signs of ash. Tooru must have noticed too as she paused in her lighting, looking behind Mina and nearly dropped her pipe.
"No… Nonono!"
Mina blinked as Tooru rushed past her, spinning the girl until she saw what caused her distress.
A huge pillar of smoke was rising in the air in the direction of their factory, their livelihood, and source of their funds, and the two made a full sprint towards what remained of the burned down building
Praying that it wasn't a total loss.