Was he really a 'lucky bastard?' Especially after being tasked with so much homework? Okay, fine. He met a girl a few hours ago. A beautiful, eye-catching, and friendly one, to an extent. But it seemed like she wanted nothing to do with him. He hadn't even mentioned the Quirklesness and she already disliked him. He wasn't lucky, if he was, he would've still had someone to talk to.

And Schrodinger would still be here. If he was lucky, Kacchan would actually treat him with respect. If he was lucky, he'd be somewhat respected as a human being at his school. If he was lucky, he wouldn't be Quirkless. Izuku had set a pretty low bar as to what 'unlucky' meant to him, but it was clear that even he didn't fit the bill.

"Yeah, right. If I was lucky, I wouldn't have to put up with this." The sound of his pencil scratching his paper served as a reminder to him about where his priorities should be focused on; school. Not hot girls or making friends, studying and school. That's what everyone else said, especially his principal. Even his mother.

'If you don't get good grades, you'll end up as a bum on the street!' they said. If he'd ignored them, his chances of getting into any sort of decent high school would diminish, and past that, he'd probably flunk any sort of entrance exam. All because he didn't get good grades.

Now, of course. Izuku loves studying. He loved the research associated with it. He was at the top of his class, even having better grades than Kacchan of all people, and for a good reason too. He studied the material given to him every night. Mathematics, science, literature, all of it. But could he say the same thing about his classes?

He didn't feel free at school. He didn't feel like himself, he felt suppressed. Forced to endure the same repetitive loops of information for the sake of a piece of paper telling that he did good, that he passed a test. If it weren't for his studying habits, he'd probably have the lowest grade in the entire school.

Why would he love school anyways? He was Quirkless, and Quirkless people rarely got any sort of luxury in terms of education. If you could really call it 'education' at this point. If he wasn't being picked on by five different students and scolded by the teacher several times throughout the day, maybe school would be a bit more bearable, even including Kacchan. In fact, maybe everything would be bearable if he just sat down, did as he was told, and didn't question things. Like the good student, he was.

After mentally going over the past events in his life, he was starting to feel depressed, which didn't complement his studying habits too well. Thankfully, he felt one of his ears twitch. A sound coming from his pocket. A buzz, another buzz, three knocks. Hm? Who could it be…? It's not like he gave out his number to anyone besides his mom, and she was already asleep, so he could be calling him-

His breath hitched once he identified the caller I.D. "Melissa Shield?!" A Shield. Someone who was likely related to David Shield. But who? And why would they be calling his phone? "Wait…"

And then it finally became clear for Izuku. With the gears beginning to turn in his head and the rapid fixation on his ringtone, he suddenly realized that he did, in fact, know this person. "That girl…" Yes, a girl he had known for less than ten minutes was calling his phone. A girl was calling his phone. Calling Quirklesses' phone.

Hot. He felt hot. Everything in his room felt hot. His body was hot. He couldn't concentrate, he couldn't breathe. Crap, look at him! He could barely withhold himself from dropping his phone, let alone properly restrict the blush rising on his cheeks. Deep breaths Izuku… deep breaths.

In and out, he went. Inhale and exhale. Don't hyperventilate, just pick up the call. And pick it up he did, sitting there in awkward silence as sounds of static filled the room. "H-Hello…?"

"Thank God, you finally picked up!" That was strange, the girl, or rather Melissa seemed glad that he received her call. A girl was glad to talk with him? What universe did he live in? "Ahem! You remember me right? That girl from the shed!"

"H-How could I not?" It had been less than twenty-four hours since they met face to face and they were already conversing on the phone? Maybe he was a lucky bastard. "W-Wait… how did you get my-" He paused. How did she get his number?

"Your number? Pfft!" He could hear a slight chuckle coming from his phone's speakers. If this was supposed to be a joke, he wasn't laughing. "Easy. I just hacked your phone." She hacked his WHAT?!

"Y-You hacked my what?!" By all means, Izuku wasn't a dumbass when it came to engineering or technology, but even he couldn't pull something like that off. He didn't even know how to hack to begin with, let alone hack his way into getting someone's phone number. Just how smart was this girl? Not only was what she just said creepy, it was kind of impressive if he was being honest with himself…

"Yeah, yeah… My dad and his colleagues really freaked out the first time that I did it to them. I don't know why, it was a pretty simple hack…"

"R-Right… simple." 'Simple' was a subjective term that ultimately, just seemed like a buzzword at most when dealing with someone as smart as Melissa. "S-Should I be…?"

"Don't worry. I didn't look into any of your personal stuff… yet. But more importantly, there's something really important that I need to discuss with you. It's urgent!"

Why did he have a feeling that this was related to that cat… Schrodinger? "C-Could you elaborate please?"

"Depends. Would you want me to bore you with five thousand words worth of information, or would you want to meet up and personally discuss this?" His social anxiety was making it hard to choose if he was being quite frank. "Come on! I already feel embarrassed as it is about requesting your help when we're barely acquaintances, don't make this more awkward!"

"Right, right… I'll be there in an hour, tops." Was it his phone, or did it feel like his entire body was vibrating? And why did he feel like his social anxiety just quadrupled in value within the span of two minutes?

"Awesome. See you there!" And why did he feel happy at finally getting the chance to talk to this girl again? Izuku was asking a lot of 'why's' today, and not getting the answers he needed. He felt like he deserved answers, especially from this girl.

Her name's Melissa, Izuku. Remember that, Christ! He was so out of touch with the entire population of teenagers surrounding his prefecture that it never even occurred to him that he'd have to start calling her by her name. "I am so screwed…"

The clock had barely struck noon, and he was already feeling exhausted. From Kacchan, his homework, potentially losing a potential friend that may or may not have been a cat with esper powers, and most of all… Having a girl hack his phone just to get his number. Because usually, that was meant to go the other way around.

I am going to need a cappuccino after this…

The commute from his house to Melissa's abandoned shed had thankfully, been a short one. If barely anxiety-inducing. With his mother going to work at her job, there wasn't much stopping him from traveling, unfortunately. Surprisingly, he had found himself wishing that the train ride could've been slightly longer. Just so he could collect his thoughts better.

And I haven't even finished my homework yet… Honestly, homework was the least of his concerns. Just what was this girl going to put him through? He could hardly imagine the hardships, even as he planned out several scenarios within his head.

Suddenly, as if it was a twist of fate from the universe itself, the door that led to Melissa's shed slid open, with Melissa stepping out in the open with the nonchalant if not exhausted face he had ever seen. Motioning for him to come, with her fingers. He obliged.

"Oh, and before I get into anything…" She turned towards him, and flashed him the scariest glare he had ever seen. "Don't touch anything. Like, literally, anything. Do not touch. Are we clear?"

"C-Crystal!" Her face relaxed and her smile returned as she moved past Izuku and straight to her computers, where Schrodinger lied, with various amounts of equipment attached to his head. "This is about Schrodinger, right?"

"Yup. Unfortunately." She sighed and clenched her forehead. "I don't know how, or why, but he's attached to you. Like, really attached to you. Even for just a cat. He wouldn't stop bugging me about it when I tried to take a nap. So as you can tell…" She waved her hands in an exaggerated manner. "I am very, very, irritable. No thanks to you presumably."

Right… She did mention something about that when we first met. But was it his fault? He didn't do anything besides pet the cat, feed the cat, and talk to the cat. As embarrassing as that sounded.

"What did you exactly do to my cat…?" Christ, he was boned. And for the fifth time that day! "You didn't, perhaps, talk to Schrodinger, did you?"

"N-No… Of course not! What made you think that…?" Contrary to popular belief, Izuku was good at lying. Or at least, he believed he was good at it. "I-I'm not that pathetic…" Would it kill her to ease up on her aggressiveness? Literally, anyone who owned a pet at some point talked to it... why was he being targeted specifically?

"Ahuh." Melissa deadpanned at him, as she showed him one of her computers. Why was she being so petty? "I analyzed Schrodinger's brain waves. Since he has ESP, they're pretty similar to a normal human's. The same goes for the structure of his brain. He just… doesn't know how to talk. Or at least, I don't think he does…"

Well, that was something he had to look into after this. The possibility of interacting with a talking cat. Which sounded impossible, but hey. This one had ESP. Who was he to deem what was "impossible."

"Anyways, around a few hours ago, I noticed a spike in activity surrounding his orbital prefrontal cortexes." She went silent, as Izuku stared in confusion. "The part of your brain which deals with social interaction! What, you didn't know that?"

"I-I do! I do! It's just that… the idea of a cat having a brain similar to that of a human… It sounds sort of…"

"Impossible? Ridiculous? Really mortifying when you realize what that would imply?" Exactly what he was thinking. Just what the hell was this, this… thing?

"Do you think it's genetically modified?" He said.

"No, and I don't care if it is." She pinched the bridges of her nose. "God, you're such a bad liar… To think that you'd go as far as talking to a cat of all things…" She wouldn't admit it, but a part of her felt bad for the boy.

It has ESP though… He sighed. Why did it have to be like this? Why was he always mocked for the most trivial of things? Come to think of it, from the second that they met, she was always berating him. With jabs or just plain rudeness.

The white-hot anger which traveled through his nervous system was a sudden feeling, but it was a feeling that he was all too familiar with. Okay, so what, he talked to the cat. He guessed that she probably did the same thing as well. Jerk…! He clenched his fist and held back the tears. Just as he always did.

"You good?" In truth, no, he was not. Part of him wanted to leave after hearing that. Izuku wasn't a judgemental person, but in that moment she really just sounded like a Kacchan 2.0. This time, he was at least ninety percent sure that she was in some way, bipolar.

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine…" No, I'm not. "I just didn't get much sleep last night." He got up and walked over to the shed's door. "Um… I think I'll be heading home for now. I'll see you later." He walked out of the shed and closed its door, not bothering to look back. It was a gut feeling, but something told him that he wouldn't be going back there for a good while. For a few weeks at least.

It was strange though. Seconds before he walked out of that shed, he caught a glimpse at Melissa's face. Was it him, or did she seem upset the moment he announced that he'd be leaving home? Ah, it's probably just my imagination… She probably hates my guts with the way she treats me.

And besides, was he supposed to care? She didn't seem to care too much about his own feelings before insinuating that he was pathetic for talking to a cat… with ESP. Why should he treat her with the same amount of respect that he treated his mother with? He had zero obligation to do so.

Before he knew it, he was already several blocks away from Melissa's hideout. Already at the train station which conveniently ran through his neighborhood. A quick solution to an otherwise tedious walk back home. He was tired. Izuku was many things, but he wasn't a liar. He wasn't lying to the girl when he said he didn't get much sleep last night. He never did. Not after his first day at middle school

Why did he continue to let this happen to him? Why did he willingly let people walk over him? In fear of punishment? In fear of being forced to look at the whites of their eyes, as their gaze boreholes in his pride? What was he, some divine hero of justice? Who was he kidding, this wasn't a shonen manga.

This is real life. A life where people trampled over everything he stood for. As well as himself and his dreams included. My life, not anyone else's. Midoriya Izuku's life… And yet, it didn't feel like his own. It didn't even feel like he owned it. It felt as if his own ideals were the driving force for him to remain in the world of the living.

No, stop it. He slapped his cheeks and ruffled a hand through his hair. But he subconsciously knew that these thoughts were right. In pursuit of a pointless ideal, he had lost nearly everything that he held dear. Friends, a social life. His dignity, damn near all of his pride… What was the point in continuing to follow his dream? In hopes of succeeding? In hopes of being kicked to the curb with little to anything left, other than a few notebooks and his smarts?

He stood at the station platform, patiently waiting for the train which ran through his neighborhood. Eventually, it came. He was probably the first one to board the train. Or so he thought. The rest of the train ride only seemed like a distant memory to Izuku, as he gazed out of the train's window, and at the surrounding prefecture, who was so out of touch with reality that he almost didn't notice that the train had arrived at his stop.

It was around evening by the time he stepped out of the station and into his surrounding neighborhood. In the distance, he could vaguely recognize his apartment complex from a hundred meters away. My room. He didn't know where, but he suddenly found an increasing urge to get to his room immediately.

His feet moved before his body could think, as he sprinted towards his apartment in seconds. He bolted up the stairs and stared at the door to his and his mother's apartment. Hopefully, mom isn't back yet. I just want to be left alone for a while… Or so he thought. His hopes were immediately dashed once he opened the door, as he recognized his mother sitting on the sofa, reading a book.

He clicked his tongue as he forced himself not to grain. Great, just my luck.

As it turns out, he was not the lucky bastard that he once thought himself to be.

Authors Notes

And that does it for chapter five! I bet all of you are surprised at how frequently I'm starting to update this fic, right? Originally, you guys were lucky if you got a chapter every several or so months. Now? You're getting content once or twice a month. I guess I'll attribute that to the fact that I really enjoy writing this story now that I fleshed out my writing skills. Hell, I wrote this chapter in about a week. Pretty impressive, am I right? :)

Anyways, I'm sure all of you are curious as to where this story is headed. And finally, I can admit wholeheartedly that I have a solid outline of the general plot for the following chapters to come. At least, up until we reach the 15th or so chapter. You'll just have to wait and see... Either way, let's go on to the reviews.

tacktician: Considering I don't think you described with the cat looks like, I'm just picturing the sound like Morgana from persona 5. And now I picture Melissa after a test with both her and Izuku using Headpieces to see if they could better communicate with the cat, after an unfortunate splitting headache they can both permanently "hear" the cat talking to them.

That's an interesting viewpoint you have there. I think I originally intended for the cat to be calico-colored. You know, like the cat from A Certain Magical Index? You should check that anime out if when you get the chance, it's good :) Either way, it never occurred to me that I might've forgotten to explain the specific type of cat that Schrodinger is. Thanks for reminding me!

Shoot, it'd be cool if the cat looked like Morgana as well. That would tie into a plot point that I plan on exploring, wink, wink.

Forge Steelheart: I sure hope Izuku will grow a spine and learn martial arts, if he does this and use support items then he will literally be batman and ironman but you know less edgy and douchy. Another thing as well that I want to point out with just intense training Human beings can break concrete and metal with kicks and punches while they are also able to lift a thousand pounds, we can run up to twenty-five mph, and we've done day-long marathons or longer. Technically the maximum limit of the human body is that we can lift three thousand to four thousand pounds and our bodies can in theory run up to forty mph as well as be able to maintain that speed for eighty hours. Please remember this is the theoretical maximum limit that we can achieve through intense training and dieting along with the help of science and technology then I believe that this can be possible in the far-off future.

Yes, I've also thought about the theoretical limits of Izuku's body once he finally gets the motivation he needs to start exercising and enacting his grind set. He definitely won't be able to lift a thousand pounds though... he'll probably be able to lift around three hundred kilograms by the time he gets into U.A. Which is pretty damn impressive for a high schooler. That is, assuming that he gets the correct training of course.

And I've also thought about him learning martial arts and using support items as well. Just not to the same crazy extent as Iron Man or Batman. Maybe a grappling hook here and there and an exoskeleton which can enhance his already impressive physical abilities. Definitely a realm worth exploring!

(And as tradition, I really don't know how to end this chapter. Bye for now I guess. Hope you enjoyed the read!)