Midoriya's changed, but does anyone really bother to care all that much?

Midoriya woke up from his dreamless sleep, thanking himself again, for coming up with the nanites that filter out any nightmares that would most definitely haunt him anytime he goes to sleep.

'You're welcome!' A voice in his head tells him.

'Oh right, multiple consciousnesses, I almost forgot about that.'

'Wait, were you sleeping? We don't need to do that anymore, remember?'

'What? You're saying that just because we don't need to sleep, it doesn't feel fucking amazing anyway?'

'...Fair.'

He gets up from his bed and stretches as his other consciousness delivers the memories of his progress.

The nanites currently residing in both of their bodies had been one of his greatest inventions to date, (well, future date) possibly even in history. They were essentially billions of tiny computers, with built-in instructions to integrate themselves into anything with memory, whether it be in a CPU, DNA, a human brain, or all three at once if the thing injected with them was some kind of cyborg.

Then, they essentially increase the effectiveness of everything inside their host, and give the nanites access to information from the brain and follow its instructions. This basically allows the host to control every single cell in their body without having to memorize their location since the nanites do all the work.

They empower the brain's processing speed as well, allowing the person injected with them a vast increase in intelligence and memory, the DNA inside them can also be manipulated into doing anything the brain can think of, allowing them to regenerate from practically any damage, strengthen muscles and bones, and even change eye, hair, and skin color for disguises.

It was only the later improvements that allowed the nanites to carry a copy of his memories, consciousness, and strands of DNA for his quirk, and safely inject them into another person or computer.

Though all this near impossible marvel of science was known only to him and his extra bodies. The ability to connect his signals between the nanites on different bodies, allowing for technopathic communication and memory sharing was something he also implemented for quiet intel sharing.

Was it dangerous? Yes.

Was it worth it? Absolutely.

It's not an exaggeration to say that he is now currently the smartest mind in the world.

'Oh, by the way, how are things with mom?'

He mentally sighed as he sent his memories of last night's events, the churn in his body became so strong when he heard his mother's voice that he had to pump serotonin into his brain to calm down and act natural. Thankfully his mother didn't notice anything odd, and just accepted the happiness he showed her all throughout the night.

'Oof, that must've been tough.'

'It doesn't matter, she's completely ignorant to the change so we're safe from her figuring anything out.'

'Alright, if you say so, what do we do to pass the time? Right now I'm just waiting for my debut with nothing else to do, I've already set up our base, and made sure it could never be found. I could have fun with our newest guest, but we kinda need him to be relatively "human-like" don't we?'

'Yes we do, but if you do get bored, just make sure to change your appearance when going out.'

'Duh, I could have figured that out even if you cut my IQ in half.'

'Pretty sure we'd still be smarter than anyone else in the world if we did that.'

'Obviously. Well good luck with mom, I'm gonna go scout out our mutual "friends" for now.'

With that, the connection cut off, and Midoriya was left to his own devices, he looked around his room, at all the All Might memorabilia he had collected for years. The same man who died at his hands. Even though he had killed the man himself, and even created a Quirk that acts rather similar to his to mock his memory, he never truly hated the man, even after he destroyed his dream. Angry perhaps, but the hate was from something else.

On the contrary, he actually still admired the man to an extent. He had never met any other man like him, a man so absorbed into his own self-delusion that he was willing to die for a cause that had long lost its meaning. He was just so interesting to study, no matter how many times he was proven wrong, no matter how many times he's seen heroes fail, he always clings to some misguided hope that his efforts would somehow lead to a better world.

'Huh, reminds me of my younger self now that I think about it. Maybe that's why I can't hate him?'

'Well, it doesn't matter now, he won't matter, not after I'm done. For society to truly move forward, people must move on from him. Instead of looking up to him, people should look at his colossal mistakes and vow to never repeat them. So when people look at a symbol, it won't be the Symbol of Peace they'd gladly flock to like mindless sheep, instead, they'd look at My Symbol.'

But one step at a time.

Right now, he has to convince his mom that he still wants to go to UA. But for different reasons this time.

+/+

Inko was not expecting to see her son awake early in the morning, why would she? It was a weekday and Izuku usually sleeps in at this time.

And she definitely wasn't expecting to see him tinkering with their microwave, using the toolbox that her husband, Hisashi, had used in the past, that was put underneath the sink.

She was so confused at the sight, that she just watched her son work on the wiring and electronics of the microwave for minutes. She stared until Izuku finally noticed her without pausing.

"Hey, mom." Izuku greeted her, smiling. As if he wasn't doing something that she had never seen him do before.

"Wh… Wha?"

Inko could do nothing but point at the half-disassembled microwave, still too shocked to say anything. Izuku, noticing the unasked question, answered her.

"Oh! This? I'm just fixing the microwave." Izuku answered her as if what he just said was in any way consistent with any of his previous hobbies.

"You're… fixing the microwave?"

"Uh… Yeah?"

Izuku's answer was phrased as a question, almost asking her what was wrong.

"Why?"

"Because you told me it was becoming faulty."

"I… didn't know you could do that."

"Never came up."

Inko shook her head to shake off any confusion. This is something that she had never seen before from her son, so of course, it would be a little hard to grasp at first.

"Where did you learn how to do that?"

"Online."

Inko lifts a finger to ask something else but realizes that the questions could come after breakfast, so for the moment, she eventually gives up on it.

"I-... Ok, well, be careful alright."

"Don't worry mom, I know what I'm doing!"

Yes, yes he does. She could tell by how fluid his movements were, how he knew where everything was, and how seamless he was in putting everything back together. By the time he was done, breakfast was ready. But she still couldn't figure out why and how he did it.

'Since when could Izuku fix the microwave? When did he learn to use tools? How long has he been able to do this?'

Before she could ask any of these questions though, Izuku speaks on top of her at the same time.

"Izuku when did you-"

"Mom I want to go-"

They both stop as they realize that they spoke at the same time, and they start telling each other to go first until Izuku agrees first.

'Whatever he wants to tell me, it can't be any more surprising than what just happened.'

"I want to go to the Support Course in UA."

'Ok then, I was wrong.'

+/+

Something was up with Deku.

Katsuki Bakugo is a young man of 14 years old, standing just around 5'6 feet tall, with a slim but muscular build, and thanks to his Quirk: Explosion, which allows him to sweat nitroglycerin that he can detonate into explosions, he also has fair skin.

Some might even say that he looked quite handsome, but everyone that spends even just a few seconds around him would know that his beauty is also filled with poisonous content. He is brash, arrogant, rude, and overall not a very enjoyable company. But despite all of this, he is still very popular in Aldera Junior High

Why? Because his quirk makes him a near shoo-in for being a hero.

Sure, there are other reasons why he could become a hero, such as his exceptionally high intelligence amongst his classmates and impressive combat potential. But in a world where everyone can obtain the power to become a hero, having an edge over anyone else in the superpower you were born with would greatly increase someone's chances of becoming a hero.

Luckily for Bakugo, he was born with an incredibly powerful Quirk, a Quirk that is effective in combat and versatile in its application. Almost everyone agrees that he would become a great hero.

Even his ex-best friend, Izuku Midoriya, who, since he was diagnosed Quirkless, has been the victim of his worst attitudes for years now, even calling him by his nickname, "Deku" which means useless. Taking his abuse again and again for almost all their life. Though because of this long-standing "relationship" between them, Bakugo is also the one other person, other than Midoriya's own mom, that knows his personality and traits.

This is why he was the first one in his class to figure out that Deku was acting differently.

Bakugo wasn't sure what happened to him, but right off the bat, he could tell that something was different. When he walked into class, he walked with his head up, steps confident, and with no notebook in his hands. When he sat down on his chair, instead of bringing out one of his annoying notebooks and start muttering about some hero he saw on the way here, he just sat there silently.

The oddities didn't just stop there, every time in class, he's always been very quiet, always trying to avoid drawing any attention to himself. Now though, while still not participating at all in class, he also doesn't even bother to take notes. He always takes notes, whether in class or about quirks.

What the fuck happened to him?

Bakugo silently followed Deku after school, ignoring the extras behind him and calling his name. Even after class, the differences keep piling up. He nearly revealed himself when saw Deku greet some people on the way out. Most surprisingly, they even greeted him back.

Politely.

'When the hell did shitty Deku have friends?'

He's known him for almost his entire life, and not once did he see Deku hang out with anybody.

What changed?

Well, whatever it was he was going to find out. When they were finally alone, far enough from the school that no one would notice them, he called out to Deku in his classic man of the people way.

Loud and with unnecessary swearing.

"Hey! Deku, what the fuck's wrong with you!?"

Classy.

He also popped a few explosions from his hands to intimidate him. These two things have never failed to get Deku to either flinch or panic. But today was different, Deku just turned around and faced him with a blank look on his face.

"Hm? Is there something you need Bakugo?"

He nearly flinched at the unfamiliar way he was greeted. "Bakugo?" Why didn't he call him with that shitty-ass nickname he's been calling him all this time?

"Where the fuck is that shitty notebook you always carry around?"

Midoriya raised a single eyebrow at that.

"Oh, you mean the notebook you burnt and threw out the window?"

Bakugo didn't answer, only glared harder at him. Where was the nervousness? The stuttering? The shivers? Why wasn't Deku afraid of him anymore?

"Well, if you must know, I didn't need it anymore. I'm not going to be a hero anyway."

Bakugo nearly choked on air after hearing that. Izuku's giving up? Just like that? After years of trying?

"I'm trying for the Support Course actually, so if you don't mind, I kind of just wanna get home early today. Got a lot of practice to go through."

Support Course? He's never even seen Deku pick up a fucking screwdriver!

"Don't fucking lie to me! You don't know jack shit about any of that!"

"Well, then I guess you don't really know me as well as you think you do, Bakugo."

That stops Bakugo's train of thought in its tracks. Of course, Bakugo knew everything about Deku! They've known each other since they were kids! If Deku's been studying for the Support Course, he would've known about it!

Right?

"Hm, I see you have a lot on your mind so I'll leave you be. See ya around, Bakugo."

And with that Deku just starts walking away. Bakugo, still processing everything, only watched him go. Unable to find any answers to the questions he has on his mind, Bakugo just defaults to his classic emotion, anger.

"Tch!"

Bakugo starts walking away from him as well.

'Fine! If Deku just wants to be another Extra, then he could go suck dick in the Support Course for all I care! Now, I'll be the only person in Aldera that gets to become a hero.'

It's what he's always been striving to achieve, to be the sole winner. The number one amongst the faceless masses. Now with Deku giving up, he should be glad.

So why is it that some small part inside him feels… defeated?

Author's note:

Yeah, that's all I got for today, hope you enjoy it.