When he got home, he went into the kitchen and grabbed himself a bottle of water.
After that, he greeted his mother and went upstairs. When he entered his room, he flopped down onto his bed and buried his face into his pillow.
He needed a moment to let everything sink in.
He decided to go over the facts first.
His inheritance of One for All as a resounding failure. Fact.
His loss of One for All and everything it symbolized. Fact.
All Might's time was limited as a hero. Fact.
The futility of everything if he continued to fail. Fact!
A five hit combo!
Should he just give up while the pressure was still manageable?
Perhaps just dig a hole in the ground and hide in it…
...forever.
He quickly shook such a pitiable idea out of his head. Didn't he already make up his mind to not let All Might down again?
And he wouldn't go back on his resolve, even if it killed him.
Izuku sat up on his bed and stared at his hands, his attention divided between them evenly.
All Might theorized his ability was one that disabled quirks.
But like the man himself pointed out, there were still a couple points of contradictions.
The best thing he could do at the moment was to figure out the true nature of his power. To do that, he needed to think back…
Izuku closed his eyes and shut out all that could distract him. That's right, think back… Use your interactions with All Might as the foundation and propel yourself to the truth!
The clock hands of his mind swung in reverse, and his memories started to rewind. Images flitted past him by the seconds, and for the next few minutes, he re-lived his past.
From the awe of meeting All Might, to the horror of the sludge villain, to the shock of Kachan's cruelty, to the depression of the quirkless. After a while, his mental time travel finally came to a stop, depositing him right at the moment of the first oddity.
He was once again his five year old self. Standing behind him was a sobbing child. And in front of him was Kachan, the most unpleasant person he had ever met.
He remembered that day well. The day where for the first time ever, Kachan left them alone without beating him to a pulp.
At the time, he had dismissed it as his body growing accustomed to the boy's blows. He thought that he wasn't hurt because he had gotten extra tough.
But was that really true?
Izuku opened his eyes again, bringing himself back to the present. He punched himself in the face and winced at the pain.
Probably not. Getting punched still felt as awful as ever.
A quirk that can nullify other people's quirk. Was that really his ability?
More signs were pointing towards it than not, at this point.
But if it wasn't, however infinitesimal the chance of that being, then what else could it be?
He needed to find out.
The boy hopped off his bed, made his way to his desk, turned on the lamp light, drew out a pen, pulled up a sheet, and stopped just before the tip of his pen met the white of his paper.
It was time to brainstorm.
If All Might's hypothesis was wrong, then what could his ability be?
Perhaps it was an ability to exist in a higher dimension and thus be immune to the happenings in the third dimension?
He quickly crossed the idea off of his paper for being too outlandish.
Ability to reduce the power of others?
Possible. It would explain why Kachan's strikes failed to hurt him. It wasn't that he had gotten tougher, but simply that Kachan got weaker.
He left a circle on that one and labeled it as a "maybe" in his mind. He would be sure to revisit this idea later on.
Ability to shift between zero and one?
Izuku forced himself to stop. That one didn't even sound remotely related. If he kept wandering down this route, he might end up with a really big head.
For the time being, he would just operate on the basis that "nullifying other people's quirks by touch" was all he could do.
Next, he needed to think of an effective fighting style. The simpler, the better.
Izuku pulled out his notebooks, and flipped each one cover to cover.
His ability had some similarity to those of Eraserhead. Perhaps it would do him well to reference the man's fighting style…
His eyes traveled down the lines on Eraserhead's page, towards the lines that documented the man's weapons.
"A capture weapon made of carbon fibers and a special alloy wire." He repeated the line aloud. Even though it looked just like bandages, it seemed that there was more to the weapon…
Where should he go to obtain such a weapon though.
Even if he could obtain it, would using it make him liable for a gimmick infringement lawsuit?
Maybe he could practice with a roll of toilet paper for now. It shouldn't be too dissimilar in concept…
What did he have to lose in giving it a try?
He found the answer half an hour later, when his room was covered in strings of toilet paper, and he was still nowhere close to figuring out the trick in Eraserhead's movements.
After he cleaned the mess up, he decided it would be best to just continue working on his body. With a quirk as limited as his, he needed a way to catch his enemies to even put it into use.
He stuck with that plan until the day he received a letter from U.A. high school.
His anxiety faded away on the first day of school. By an almost divine intervention, he managed to get accepted into the academy.
He still remembered it well, the moment the message arrived by his doorstep. The moment he opened the package and a projection of All Might burst into his room. The moment All Might opened his mouth and scared him into thinking he was rejected.
The moment that All Might finally decided to tell him that he passed. The moment he saw the video of the brave brunette who came to vouch for him. The panel of judges who was willing to give him a chance.
It was all so fast paced that his brain almost couldn't catch up. Everything was so exhilarating!
At the end of it, all he could feel was a dizzying, drunkening jubilance. As if he had been on a rollercoaster ride of his life.
Now, Izuku once again found himself standing in front of the U-shaped building, taking in all of its magnificence with his eyes. This time, he was not an aspiring entrant, but as an official student. Not as a boy waiting anxiously on the starting line, but a man who had taken off in a sprint.
He fastened his grip on his bag straps and took a series of steps forward, his feet carrying him up the stairs and through the doors. To his surprise, he didn't even trip once.
Izuku let loose a breath that he didn't know he was holding and wiped the sweat off his head. This day was already better than the day of the entrance exam.
He turned his head to the left, then to the right, hoping to catch sight of the brave, kind girl who came to his defense. Though amidst the sea of students, the familiar brown hair and big round brown eyes were nowhere to be seen.
With a nervous anticipation, Izuku made his way to his homeroom, all the while hoping to avoid the misfortune of being placed in the same classroom as the unpleasant people from exam day.
To his dismay, both of them were in his class. And by the sound of it, they were arguing.
Nervously, he peeked inside. Surely enough, both men were in the midst of a heated disagreement. From what he could gather, this all stemmed from Kachan's refusal to put his legs off the table.
What a strange thing to fight over...
Kachan didn't seem to enjoy seeing him walk into the classroom. His angry face seemed to have gotten meaner.
Luckily, the entrance of the cute brunette spared him the pleasure of having to converse with Kachan.
Their conversation didn't go as well as he hoped, though. On her part, she complimented him on his heroics, and on his, he awkwardly tried to not focus too much on the girl's uniform.
Last thing he wanted was to come off as a pervert.
He quickly lost his chance to make a better impression, when someone spoke from behind the girl.
"This is not the time to socialize." The voice was monotone, almost bored.
Deku looked past the girl's shoulders, catching sight of what seemed to be a caterpillar with a human face. Only on a second glance, did he realize that it was simply a man wearing a sleeping sack.
His memories told him that the one who spoke was Shota Aizawa —the man behind the persona of Eraserhead.
What followed was a tirade on them for wasting their time and a demand for them to get into their gym uniforms.
Then, came the words that sent the words that sent chills down his spine.
"What we're going to be doing now is participate in eight physical exams. You will be free to use your quirks. And the person who scores the lowest, will be expelled…"
The instructor's words alarmed him and Izuku was quick to raise his arm into the air. "What if your quirk is not one that can improve your performances-"
"Tough break." The instructor interjected coldly as he gave a noncommittal shrug—as if he couldn't be bothered to give a crap. "You will just have to figure it out."
Behind him, he could hear Bakugo snicker. "I'm not sure how a quirkless loser managed to sneak in here, but it seems like this is the end of the line for you." The boy then grabbed his uniform, swung it over his shoulders, gave him one last antagonizing sneer, before heading to the gym.
"I will see you out there in the field, loser…"
Izuku Midoriya kept his eyes on his hands as he lined up at the track field. The first trial Mr. Aizawa lined up for him was a 50 meters dash. If he could tag someone and turn off their ability to use their quirks…
The boy quickly shook the idea out of his mind. Doing so wouldn't be very hero like.
He snuck a glance at their homeroom teacher, only to quickly turn away when the man glared back.
He had a feeling that the instructor would disqualify him on the grounds of sabotaging his classmates anyway… This was quite the dilemma...
Soon, it was his turn to run the track. And of course, life had decided to place Kachan as his running partner.
In an instant, Kachan wheezed past him, a burst of explosion propelling him forward. As for Izuku, he was left to play catch up.
At the end of it, when the teacher displayed their results, he was surprised that his time was the fifth best...
The rest of the activities came surprisingly easy.
In fact, he would say he even breezed through it.
But, through it all, Mr. Aizawa stoney face never shifted. Not even a nod of acknowledgement as he passed trials after trials. This fact, was what disconcerted Izuku to no end.
Finally, it was his turn to throw the baseball.
The kind brunette had gone before him and achieved a score of infinity.
Obviously, he was under no delusions that he would be able to do the same, but if he could just achieve a respectable score, then he could at least ensure a good spot on the class rankings.
Before he could throw, Mr. Aizawa interrupted him and brought him to a halt.
"Mr. Midoriya, I have to say your physical abilities are quite impressive." The man set his gaze at his clipboard. "At this rate, I have to say you would rank in the top ten. No...in fact... I would even place you on the top eight of the class. But…"
The man set turned his attention back on him, his bloodshot eyes letting out a dull light of menace. "I noticed that you didn't use your quirk even once…To be honest, I don't know what to think of this…"
Izuku felt his legs lose strength. After he made it all the way here, was he going to get sent back to the starting line again?
"While I do commend you for honing your body to overcome whatever shortcoming your quirk might have, mere physicality alone will not get you far as a hero…"
He wished the man would stop talking at that point. But, as if ignorant or uncaring of his feelings, the teacher carried on.
"Just because your quirk places some limitations on you, to not even attempt to find a way around it... Surely this rigid mindset shouldn't be allowed..."
"...If you cannot, then I'm afraid I will have to disqualify you. From there on, you can consider enrolling in a separate program. General Studies might be a good place to start…"
Midoriya shut his eyes, the words he wished were not spoken now ringing through his head.
"Well?" Aizawa angled his head to the side as he awaited a response. "Can you or can you not?"
From the sidelines, Izuku could hear someone laugh. Even without his sight, he could tell that it was Kachan.
"Of course, that guy can't! He is a quirkless loser who somehow managed to get in here! I don't know how he managed, but he is getting exposed as a fraud now!"
Izuku wanted to rebuke him. To tell him that he was wrong. But at this time, he wasn't sure if he could. The boy's hand tightened around the baseball, gripping it until he could feel his hand bruise. Finally, he took in a sharp breath, his eyes opening once more.
"I can." He tried his best to keep his answer resolute, to fight off the quiver of his voice.
"Oh?" A glimmering interest lit up Aizawa's bloodshot eyes. "I look forward to it." His voice lacked enthusiasm, but in its place, it was packed with challenging expectations, as if daring him to show him something interesting.
His answer was a mere bluff. But at this crucial moment, he had to make his lie a truth.
Though it was true he didn't manage to awaken One for All during the weeks leading up to his enrollment, and neither did he manage to discover the true nature of his quirk. It was undeniable that everything that he did accomplish was produced through his own hard work.
It was because he stuck to a plan that he managed to outclass most of his classmates… If he faltered, he would just be back to square one—neither accomplishing anything, nor progressing. He'd be stuck in a perpetual limbo where his visions would never reach reality.
It was time to do or die...
Izuku clasped the baseball with both of his hands and reared his body backwards, as if he was a professional pitcher. Then he tossed, the ball jetting through the air, before disappearing behind the clouds.
Aizawa held out the display for all to see. The lemniscate line reflected on the glassy surface caused everyone's jaws to slack from awe.
The kind brown haired girl was the first one to recover. Her mouth closed slowly, before it opened again. "Infinity...just like mine…"
Aizawa sent a lazy glance towards the clipboard that he held in his hands.
That isn't what's written here… The corner of his lips jerked up ever so slightly. How interesting...
Izuku's eyes remained fixed at the sky, stupefied at his own strength. When the shock waned, he directed his attention to his hand, staring at it with comically bulging eyes.
What he did just now... was it One for All? No…it couldn't be. He didn't feel like he had gotten stronger at all.
The only thing he felt... was the lingering painful plainess that had haunted him all his life.
On the part of Katsuki Bakugo, his earlier hubris had given way to the same jaw dropping shock that plagued everyone else. Just as everyone recovered, Bakugo's anger escalated. He felt like he was about to blow a gasket. The veins on his head became more prominent and visible, all the while his face reddened from the pure rage burning inside of him. Infinity...that's greater than mine!
"Oi…what was up with that you shitty nerd?" The blonde boy stomped towards the freckled boy and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, catching him by surprise. "You have been hiding that power from me this entire time?!"
Katsuki reared his free hand back, his palm lightening up with explosive embers.
"Kachan, wait!" The loser in his grip held two weak shaky hands forward to try and deter him, but Katsuki Bakugo ain't waiting. He threw his hand forward, aiming to blast the idiot's face off and his dumb freckles with it. Though he found himself unable to indulge in his violent desires as a slew of what appeared to be bandages held him in place.
The blonde delinquent grunted against his restraints, but when they wouldn't give, he shifted his head to glare a hole into his attacker.
"That's enough! I will not allow needless violence in my class." Like he suspected, the manipulator of the bandages was their stuck up instructor, whose hair stood in the air, as if lifted by invisible strings.
Faced with an unbreakable restraint, Katsuki reluctantly allowed himself to settle down. But after this, he would for sure corner the freckled wimp and beat an answer out of him.
What filled the next few minutes was the teacher's anti-climatic reveal that this entire exercise was a joke that the teacher decided to play on them.
Izuku was relieved. He didn't want any of his classmates to be expelled. Katsuki simply scoffed in annoyance, disappointed in the total waste of time that he had been put through.
They returned inside for the remainder of the class.
After school, as he left to make his way to the gym. The cute brunette in his class caught up to him. He remembered her name as Ochaco Uraraka—a cute name for a cute girl.
"Are you heading home, Deku-kun?" The girl practically hopped right next to him. The closeness of their face and her intense eye contact causing him to blush.
Deku? Did she pick that up from Kachan? Should I correct her later?
"No, I, uh...I'm going to the gym. Y-you know to work out and stuff." He managed to vomit out a response.
"Hmmm… Deku-kun sure is busy…"
"What do you mean?"
"Nothing!" She chirped. "It just feels like you're in a hurry to get somewhere. Normally students would want to hang out with their friends and go to the arcade, but Deku-kun is heading straight to the gym all alone."
Of course…
...he had to!
All Might's time as a hero was limited. If he slacked off right now, then...
"It is almost like you're a hero with a secret identity, going off somewhere to save the world. By day time, you're a student, and by night time, you're a masked vigilante. Maybe you have some great expectations that you need to fulfill." She mused and inched closer to his face. Izuku's heart was pounding so fast that he thought it would burst. "Tell me, what is your secret?"
"W-what are you saying, Uraraka-san?" He quickly pulled himself away. "I'm just your ordinary high school student."
The brunette laughed, then graced him with a smile that was brighter than the shine of a thousand suns.
"I guess what I'm trying to say is, Izuku-kun is kind of cool."
Like he expected, U.A. High School was filled with surprises. Just the very next day, All Might himself burst into their homeroom and announced that they were doing a battle simulation.
Now, he stood face to face, with his childhood bully, in the middle of a cramped hallway. He gripped his improvised weapon, a bamboo sword, something that he requested from the hero support.
In front of him, Katsuki's face contorted, resembling the maw of a demon. "I'm looking forward to beating the shit out of you."