A sigh escaped Izuku's lips as his head leaned to his hand out of boredom. It has already been 2 years since the events in the park. Since then he pestered his parents to bring him to the park even more often to play again with Nisha and Aponia. He lied about just wanting to play more in the park because of the potential endless teasing his mom and aunt would unleash upon him. Izumi hasn't been told either. He wanted to surprise her with new friends.
But unfortunately, he never saw them again. He searched everywhere, the road where he saved Nisha, the bench where their parents were, even the area they played in. But it all failed. The last memory he had of them was when both girls kissed his cheeks. His cheeks went red as he brought his other hand to cover his face. He vowed to never let anyone know about it.
But right now? Izuku was in the middle of afternoon class with the teacher trying to explain the concept of maths and Izuku hated that class, he internally groaned. The teacher was going over addition and subtraction, and Izuku was way more familiar with those concepts. He spends hours reading those receipts and understanding the concept of floating point numbers. He did it so he could justify the merch he and his sister asked for hero merch comparing how "cheap" they were compared to how much they spent on food and other kinds of stuff. It naturally brought him to the point that mathematics class in school was the time when he had to fake being attentive just to not be bothered by the two teachers.
"How much 8+9 makes ?"One of them asked looking around to see the different table groups occupied by the small children that were held against their own volition to be submitted to one of the worst forms of torture that their era could ever produce.
Naturally, as all excited and hyperactive children they were, every hand was raised as high as possible to stand out. Izuku looked at his sister trying to raise her hand higher as she almost started to stand to gain additional height.
The teacher's gaze went to the young blond-haired girl "Izumi ?" She called out, other children let out of groan out of frustration.
Izumi's eyes sparkled upon hearing that the teacher chose her "It's 18 !" she spoke out loud. Her response earned a swift response "Wrong Izumi." Izuku watched as his sister's expression turned from surprise to blank even though he could see that she was disappointed in herself.
"Anyone wants to try to answer ?" was the question that led to a voice piping up from the other side of the classroom. Fewer hands were raised, mostly scared of being wrong yet the teacher spotted a spiky ash-blond haired girl with her hand raised "Katsumi ?" she allowed the girl in question to speak.
"It's 17 !" she answered, she received an appreciative look from the adult. "Correct Katsumi, 8+9 does make 17" She announced to the class. Most of them shot an impressed look at Katsumi who guessed the answer correctly.
The older brother eyed the blond as his cheeks briefly tinted themselves red 'Kacchan is so smart' he told to himself, yet he also thought about his twin sister, he might have to help her on how to do addition when they come back to their home.
For now, his eyes closed themself, while his body was in the present, his body was in the past. He often thought back to that day when he met Nisha and Aponia. They wanted to play with him again, yet from that day...
He yearned for the day when the horned girl and her older sister would come back to play with him. He also had researched that man he saw for a second in the park, it proved that his endeavors were for naught.
Other memories flooded his mind for a few seconds as his train of thought was brutally shooked off his mind as a loud voice called out to him.
"Izuku !" His eyes forced themselves open as his vision revealed both teachers standing in front of him their arms crossed while the others looked at him snickering to themselves whispering to one another. Izuku took note of the board that had three addition written on the board with two children walking back to their seats.
Well the "board" was just a wall covered by slick slate paper and a projector flashing the wall to make the wall a large screen and they used a small stylus as a replacement to the traditional chalk. Technology has made quite a change to schools.
"Sleeping in class aren't we ?" Izuku could hear her musing, yet he could discern veins bulging on the side of her forehead. Izumi watched her brother about to be punished by her teacher for being prohibited from going for the break that will come in a few minutes.
"Yes ?" Izuku blurted out absentmindedly, Izuku was still somewhat sleepy from his mind. Izumi let out a shriek of horror.
"And you dare to speak back ?" The other teacher's voice prompted Izuku to look at her. She spoke harshly glaring at Izuku. The class unanimously dubbed her as the silver witch, she was extremely severe during the day when she was present, whereas the two other were pretty nice and patient, and she wasn't one to speak nonsense or tolerate any misbehavior.
"Isn't that how a conversation works?" Izuku answered her question with another question his eyebrow raised. It escaped his mind how her mom told him and Izumi that teachers went to school way before them and how it was important to listen to him and yet they find the concept of conversation so strange. Everyone outside of school speaks to people all the time yet at school they seemed taken off guard when they heard that.
Everyone expected Izuku to slump on his chair out of fear. He was scolded a few times about his muttering in class and often reacted by showing clear signs of embarrassment or stress, to say that everyone was surprised was an overstatement. Izumi's jaw fell as she tried to figure out her friend's point, she somewhat knew that teachers tended to be angrier when they scolded someone and said someone spoke back, seeing her brother's rebuttal made her question that.
The teacher's reaction was something that Izuku tried to read, on the other she was hesitating to speak her hand partially lifted at least recognizing that Izuku somewhat have a point. The silver witched just stared silently at him. Her facial expression didn't express anger on the outside but Izuku knew that expression, it was once reserved for the children that dared to overstep their authorities and were about to be put on Trial.
It consisted of a question on something that they saw in class, yet these questions were much harder to answer, and if the child failed to answer correctly they were receiving a punishment that feel like hell for most children. Either having extra homework for the entire month that took 2 hours each day to make or being forbidden to take part in breaks for the rest of the year.
The silver witch advanced towards him as she placed her hands for support on another child's desk who recoiled upon seeing the silver-haired woman so close to him.
"If you are so keen on answering. Why don't you walk to the board and answer the last addition ?" she moved her right hand pointing backward with her thumb toward the board with the last addition to make. Izuku gazed at the two other additions
14+7= 21
7+4=11
249+148
Izuku looked at teachers right in the eyes. Katsumi smirked at the green-haired expense, she couldn't find the answer herself so how could Deku do it... Kichiro was laughing to himself, he enjoyed each moment were Izuku would be punished by the teacher for no reason. And now the teacher changed the last one to make it much harder so Izuku would fail for sure.
Right?
He stood up from his seat with the most bored expression he could muster, he dragged himself towards the whiteboard feeling the numerous pair of eyes piercing through his back. picking up a stylus on the teacher's desk before stopping in his track right in front of the numbers that could potentially ruin his school year. In a quick motion, he wrote his answer
397
He gave one last look to his classmate and sister before gently placing the stylus on the desk he found it on before casually walking up to his desk to sit on it. Both adults looked at Izuku's answer before turning to Izuku who yawned in his hand. His eyes looked back almost defiantly toward both adults.
The silver witch spoke "Your answer is..." the class caught their breath in their throat. They are sure the resident quirkless was going to be punished, not that they had a problem with Izuku being punished, actually most of them usually laughed when Izuku make a mistake or got punished.
"Correct" this simple revelation brought the class to an uproar. Izuku had answered the question right, no one previously had managed to answer correctly. Yet Izuku managed to do it. Izumi looked at her brother with newfound admiration, Katsumi's breath hitched, and she looked at the board to see the calculation. Even \*she\* didn't know how to resolve it, 'How did Deku manage to do it ?'
The class was getting louder and louder until everybody winced upon feeling their eardrums sting courtesy of the silver witch using her quirk to make a white claw on her right hand as she slid her nails against a traditional slate.
"Silence. The next one that speaks or makes too much noise without having permission is denied to go" She warned as all children even Katsumi froze in themselves to silence. She gave Izuku one last look pondering on something.
"Izuku-san ?" The young boy perked up "Can you explain to your little classmate how found your answer ?" It was quite a surprise for her when she verified his answer and found out he got it right, but it could be luck.
Izuku opened his mouth "249 Is equal to 200+40+9 and 148 is equal to 100+40+8. For additional numbers with 9, I just add 10 and then subtract 1. With leave me with 200+40+100+57. 200 and 100 make 300 also 40 and 57 make 97 so 300+97 make 397" Izuku finished earning several dumbfounded looks surrounding him.
Nobody understood him "But there was a simpler way by adding 1 to 249 to make 250 and 2 to 148 to make 150. 250+150-3 is equal to 397" Izuku argument further, this explanation was much less complicated but most of the children looked at him like he announced he was speaking a foreign language.
"Right..." Both teachers looked at the messy-haired child searching for a rebuttal, Izuku's logic was for the lack of a better word unorthodox but it showed that it held logic.
Ring a familiar noise buzzed off signaling the start of the break. Izuku's classmates didn't move an inch mostly because of the silver-haired teacher.
"You may all enjoy your break." She sighed as the door to the terrain dedicated to the children break. The room emptied itself after a few seconds.
Instead of joining the others, Izuku just stayed on his desk as he crossed his arm and let his head rest within the gap. Both teachers looked at Izuku unsure of what was happening. Izuku has always shown himself as energetic and passionate, especially with everything that was hero related, the boy in front of them was calm, way too calm for their taste.
"Izuku-san" the silver-haired lady came to Izuku's side as she shook lightly his arm. "Don't you want to go play outside ?" she asked him. Izuku barely lifted his hand his eyes raised as he answered "I'm just tired, Ma'am."
She rose an eyebrow "I told your class not to call me Ma'am, call me by my name Yamana". Izuku did remember the time when everyone in his class was so scared of her that nobody ever dared to utter her real name.
It even reminded Izuku of one of the films he watched with his sister. "Okay, Yamana-sensei." Normally Izuku would be as terrified as the others but now he didn't even seem to be fazed by her presence.
Izuku let himself fall back into his arm, Sleep took next to no time in taking the young boy into his embrace.
Izuku's eyes snapped wide open when he felt a hand on his head rubbing his hair. His still blurry vision showed him dark blue. The familiar color and the sensation of his hair being rubbed made his mind black back to the horned girl he met 2 years ago.
'Nisha' he almost breathed out but was snapped out of it by her voice "Oni-chan ?". His vision started to adapt as he saw his sister showing him a drawing she made, her drawing was a brown mountain under a dark blue sky filled with stars,
Izuku almost chuckled to himself at how the sky she drew had an uncanny resemblance to her hair. "Icchan ?" Izuku muttered rubbing his eyes eye to knock the dust off his eyes.
"How did I do ?" she asked his opinion on her drawing. Izuku inspected him. While it was just a drawing made by a 6 years old kid, it was quite for her age, Since Izuku and Izumi spent most of their time together, and as the older one of the two Izuku has always been there to show Izumi how to do certain things like drawing or explaining things that she didn't understand. Inko and Toshinori even surprised Izuku by running in the park with Izuku carrying Izumi on a piggyback ride.
"It's so cool!"Izuku's energetic nature came back as he saw her drawing. Izuku has been allowed to rest since the teacher forgot to bring some papers and thus gave them a free period until the end of the day. "You think so ?" She brought her hand together behind her hips as she nervously looked away.
He always picked up on how she seemed nervous when she showed him something he ignored it since she would never tell him why she would be this embarrassed and also because when he talked about it to her mom and aunt they laughed telling him to let things happen.
Izuku looked around to see Katsumi and Kichiro talking, Katsumi seemed to show her drawing, and Izuku's eyes saw that her drawing seemed to be herself in a hero costume which looked like a black and orange body suit using her quirk to blast off people hopefully villains.
He remembered how Nisha looked when she told him he saved her. Since then he has hoped he could save people and bring them the same smile he brought to her.
While sleeping has been nice, the green-haired boy has been missing out on the fun that his classmates were having...
Well since he was declared quirkless, everybody avoided playing with him at first, then they barely interacted with each other, the only person he had real interaction with was Katsumi his best friend and not crush, Kichiro he was kind of a special case, he was kind with him at first then he started to ask a lot of question on Izumi like what she likes and everything.
Then he progressively started to become something akin to a bully when Izumi wasn't near them and faked getting along with Izuku in front of everyone when people were near. And lastly Izumi his twin sister.
Izuku didn't understand at the time and still doesn't to this day but it didn't matter, he knew that most of his classmate wont' be people he would see ever again in a few years. Izuku took a pencil out of the can near the corner of the table and a blank sheet in the middle of the group's table. "Are you going to draw too ?" She inquired. Izuku merely gave her a nod "I'm going to make another one." Izumi informed him before making her way back to her seat.
He gripped the pencil before starting to scribble on the paper. He started to draw the ground on the lower half with vibrant green grass. He then drew a light-brown sky with the sun setting down, His mind has given his body full control over his action as it drew what naturally came to him. the ground started to be covered by a layer of dark blue flowers.
Soon enough the then blank sheet left its place on a plain covered in dark blue flowers under the setting sun. Izuku looked at it smiling brightly at his work. Before sliding into his desk pocket that was lodged under the white wooden plank.
His eyes longed on the clock. 3: 56 PM. Only 4 minutes until Izuku and Izumi were going to come back home. It has been a tiresome day for the young boy and going for another nap seemed like a good idea to him.
He blink as his ears were assaulted by the bell of freedom. Everyone bolted toward the exit in direction of the Portal.
Izuku was walking with his sister towards the exit only to be met by a near literal sea of children plugging the portal like a group of primitive dingus having their neurons activated upon spotting a new chapter of their favorite fanfic. Some adults were posted near the exit for security reasons but behind them was a thick enough to walk on it and it curved to reach a spot where there were no adults present.
Izuku looked t his sister who whined in frustration seeing how long it would take them just to reach the portal, it was surprising for them to see the number of children enrolled in that large white building." I have an idea to pass without waiting !" he announced to her. She looked at him curiously "What is your idea ?" Izuku looked at the wall. "We can jump on the wall and walk on it to reach the exit instead of waiting for hours!" he told her, she looked at him like he insulted Pulse in front of her
"Are you crazy, we would be in trouble if the teacher or worse mom caught us." Izuku lifted his finger pointing at his sister " If "Izuku insisted"Mom will be looking at the other child to try to find us and the teachers are watching over the other since everyone is here. No one will notice Icchan trust me" Izuku insisted.
"Fine, I'll trust you Oni-chan !" Izumi conceded as she tried to jump only to end up at most half a foot from the ground before which was not even a fourth of the wall's height, turning to her brother she frowned " I can't! see ?" Izuku crouched down his back facing his sister. "I'll just carry you like we usually do when we play" he blurted out. Izumi looked at him and jump on his back as she was held on a piggy ride. Izuku looked around to see if anyone was watching them.
None of them looked their way.
Izuku stood up as he walked just near the wall as he flexed his leg and lept high. Izumi's jaw dropped as she saw her brother do a jump nearly 5 times her own while carrying her. he landed right on the wall, he didn't waste any more seconds and began to run as quietly as possible along the wall. Izuku passed the 3 adults with his heartbeat racing like a child succeeding in entering their parent's room to steal the candies they left there. Having their back against the wall their vision couldn't have warned them of Izuku and Izumi's mischief.
Almost arriving at the wall's end the green-haired boy spotted a tree whose branches were long and strong enough to give them the height to overcome the barrier. He suddenly went from running to sliding before jumping to the side his foot slamming onto one of the tree's trunk upper parts earning a quiet squeal from the younger twin who didn't want to be caught. Izuku turned to a branch that pointed outwards and over the barrier. Izuku exhaled and then breathed. He and Izumi blurred from their spot as they passed above the barrier.
Izuku's foot stomped on the floor hard against the gray concrete. He looked up for his eyes to meet his sister's "Are you alright ?" Izuku inquired, he was personally fine and wasn't injured, yet Izumi wasn't familiar at all with moving that way. Parkour was his own thing and Izumi looked like she wouldn't be thrilled by that way of running, and Izuku's suspicions were confirmed upon feeling his sister's grip on him tighten when he jumped and ran.
Her heart was beating so fast, she wasn't expecting Izuku to propose an idea that would usually cause them to be in trouble with adults, her twin brother always has been the voice of reason between the two. She was shocked to see Izuku able of jumping that high. Maybe he did have a quirk, She put that thought for later and nodded "Y-yeah." She weakly replied as she got off his back.
Both of them walked up to their mother who was looking at the sea of children as Izuku had told Izumi. Both sneaked their way to her much to Izumi giggling.
Izumi lifted her hand toward her mom before sharply poking her side promptly making the woman that was looking the other way flinch. Her head snapped to the younger girl.
"Izumi; Izuku where were you? I didn't see you with the other children !" Inko didn't wait a single second to ask the question that would probably make them into being grounded and forbidden from watching their favorite hero-themed cartoon.
Izumi knew that she could save both of them so she didn't waste time either "You probably missed us, there are a lot of other kids there" She answered her question, Inko looked back at the sea of children that could pass as a riot. She sighed in defeat "You must be right..." She missed Izuku and Izumi's sweatdrops trailing down their face. Usually, Izuku was the one that either took the blame or lied to save her from being grounded, he made a promise to his mother that day, and he swore that he would protect her anytime he could.
Inko turned back to them. "We're going home now, your dad would be off from work soon" she informed them. She took one of her children's hands before walking together back to their home.
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Izuku sighed as he was laying on his bed his small limbs sprawled out. He ate some cookies on the way, each time Izuku was hungry cookies were the best snack he could hope for. He could clearly remember the time when Inko would buy his favorite cookies and then hide them from her son mostly because he could eat them in one go. His aunt Mitsuki joked one time that his love for heroes was only second to cookies.
He stopped reminiscing when he heard his door click and open letting Toshinori enter the room "Hey son! I came to see if you were alright, you didn't eat as many cookies as you normally do;" His smile didn't leave his face.
"I just wanna sleep:" Izuku shifted to change his position into laying on his side. Toshinori looked curiously at his son, he rarely has been so down, the last time was when the cat that Izuku has been feeding Izumi was found near their house crushed and bloody, Izuku has found it when he was playing in the backyard. Izumi was doing her homework at the time so she wasn't with Izuku when he stumbled upon it. Izuku silently cried that day.
Toshinori and Inko were used to seeing that cat around and saw how they seemingly got along very well with Izuku. Toshinori was also creeped the hell out of his life when he saw Izuku carrying the bloodied corpse of the stray cat to the tears staining his cheeks. The three of them agreed to keep the whole ordeal away from Izumi while they choose a spot to bury him, for the next week Izuku stopped smiling, his eyes looked so distant. From that day on, the adults refrained to mention him to Izuku, thankfully Izumi seemed to have forgotten about him shortly after that.
The blond man looked back "Just take a nap and you can come down to eat dinner, okay son ?" Izuku didn't bother to look back "Okay dad." He told him before he felt his body drifting to sleep.
Toshinori walked back out of the room as he gently closed the door to not disturb Izuku's sleep. When the door was properly closed and silent, the blond man looked down the stairs to see Izumi watching her favorite show on a new black couch with a bright red armchair and his wife chopping down some carrots. He walked down the stairs as the green-haired woman turned her head to him.
"What did he say ?" She inquired, she was the one that sent Toshinori to check up on their son noticing that something was wrong. Toshinori's shoulder shrugged "He told me that he was just tired."
Inko sighed "We might talk about that to him you know ?" she expressed herself, Toshinori did know what she was referring to "Maybe..;" He mused " But I think that's a little too early for *that*" He rebutted, Inko looked defeated "Fair but has he told you if he was eating dinner ?" She pushed the carrots into a bowl before pulling out 4 large pieces of chicken breast as she started to cut them up into dice. Toshinori opened the fridge to pick up a water bottle "He told me that he would come." he poured himself a glass of water before putting back the bottle which he picked it up before gulping down the fluid. "I say that if we let time do its things, he'll get better." He gave his opinion
"Maybe" Inko breathed out.
Toshinori sighed "How about we bring Izuku and Izumi to the park tomorrow? Izuku always wanted to come back there, well at least more than usual. There's no class tomorrow since they are repairing the vents !" He proposed. "I'll take the day off for tomorrow:" Her husband's declaration took her by surprise "You ? Deciding to take time off without me forcing you to ? God has finally heard my prayers" she joked
"I do take time off Inko !" He defended himself only to be met by the green-haired woman's stare. His body slumped in defeat. "Okay, you won this one !" Toshinori conceded.
Inko looked back at her hands "Toshi, do you think that Izuku is like that because he's quirkless ?" she questioned, Toshinori didn't look back either "I'm not sure, but that wouldn't surprise me, the other kids are all over the place when it comes to showing off their quirks. But Izuku would grow out of it. He's smart."
Toshinori breathed out as he went to the couch sitting down on it. Since Izuku has been diagnosed as quirkless Toshinori always tried to take him out to have fun and escape that uncomfortable truth, yet he knew deep down that Izuku would constantly be reminded of his status. In a world where Quirks were considered to be the most prominent trait in a person by most, A quirkless individual would be ignored in those conditions. That being said, he know that even though he was quirkless, Izuku would strive forwards to accomplish his goals...
A sudden ringing tone was heard coming from his pocket, he groaned as he wiped the phone and looked at the screen.
*Amano Kamegima*
Toshinori groaned out of frustration.
The Yagi family stood at one of the park's entrances. The atmosphere was calm with the sun being in the middle of the sky, this same morning Izumi and Izuku learned that their parents would take them to the park for the day.
While Izumi was almost all over the place, her older brother's reaction was still positive but way more contained than usual. Only a small smile was displayed on his face. Once the group departed from their home they opted to go straight to the park for the morning.
Izuku was wearing his usual red sneakers along with a teal shirt and black pants. For the two last years, the young boy loathed as much as back then the concept of cutting his hair, whereas his hair almost reached his shoulder now they were reaching down the upper half of his back, his round eyes sharpened slightly while noticeable dark circles could be made out around his eyes.
The blonde-haired girl was wearing grey pants with a black shirt along with black shoes. Her mother was wearing just a white sundress and white shoes. Her husband was wearing a form-fitting black sleeveless shirt that allowed his muscle underneath to be visible to all, his sea blue jean didn't allow much space for imagination either, it was taking the leg's muscle shape.
Not many families were present at the time, it was only their school that had venting problems. Thus The two young children essentially had the whole park for themselves to play in.
Toshinori looked at both children "Do you want to play in the park alone or do you want me to play with you ?" Toshinori playfully asked he and his kids were playing quite a few times, and it always ended in either the blond adult or Izuku winning the game, most of this time was spent playing tag and due to his age and physique, he was always winning except if Izuku would use his small body to move around the tight place where his father could chase him.
"No, dad I think we prefer to play just the both of us for now at least !" Izumi answered, that she wasn't exactly keen on getting tagged after a few seconds and then being forced to chase two people that were way faster than her. Toshinori's playful smile turned into a grin "Afraid of losing to your old man ?"
Izuku snorted "I'm more afraid that you'd get ankle-break by your 6-year-old son and fall ." Toshinori had told Izuku and Izumi that he studied in America when he was younger and thus learned about many festivals and events that would attract the entire population, namely football and basket, When almost a year ago the Yagi family watched an NBA match between BlueSharks and the GoldenBell, Izumi, and Izuku were pestered by their father's commenting the match and explaining them the technical vocabulary.
Everyone looked at the blond-haired man whose grin left his face to let its place to a flabbergasted expression. Inko remembered that time, Toshinori's clothes were covered in mud as he was laughing beside their two children. She later explained how Izuku made her husband trip himself. She shared this little story with Masaru and Mitsuki much to the amusement of the three and much to the dismay of her husband.
Yet nobody was prepared for Izuku to use that as a rebuttal for his dad's teasing.
Toshinori crouches down in the darkness hugging his arms under a projector as he comically shook in defeat. "Izuku where did you learn to speak like that ?" Inko felt like she had to ask.
Izuku looked back at "The internet.". Izuku has always spent a great deal of time running around and practicing his parkour away from everyone's eye, Izumi has asked him about it several times but he would keep it a secret for himself, sure he loved his younger twin and spent all his time with her but it felt so nice to have something that only belonged to him.
Inko's face blanched 'I might have to look at his web browser history to see on what site he goes' she noted to herself. Izumi looked at her mom impatiently "Can we play ? It's been 10 minutes since we've been stuck here !" she complained that wasn't her opinion alone so Inko looked at the form of her still crouching husband before winking at her child "You can go play alone but don't get lost, I need to talk to your father about something.
" Inko dragged Toshinori to a nearby bench as she unwrapped his arm and unfold him like an origami papercraft.
Izuku looked at the blond girl "What do we play ?" he asked her.
"How about hiding and seek, You hide first and I'm the seeker !" She pointed to a tree "I'll be counting there to 30. So you should start running." Izumi advised.
Izuku took her advice to heart as he immediately began to rush into the forest as fast as he could before disappearing into the forest. Meanwhile, Izumi ran to the tree the pointed as she began to count
" ..." The further she went the more her voice became an ancient language. before she
"29 30! Ready or not I am Here !" She announced while running in the same direction she had last seen her brother go.
Izuku was running through a denser part of the forest, his breathing barely began to heave and no drop of sweat could be seen. His eyes narrowed as he jumped over a tree branch using it to bounce off to land on a bushless spot. He slid under another tree branch before climbing on a tree to reach leaves height and stay hidden there.
"I finally found a spot." He looked over a branch to see at the edge of his vision a familiar blond-haired girl looking around her to find him. He felt kind of bad, he knew that no other kids he knew could move as he do with his training even his crush Katsumi. He might restrain himself for the next games they will play from now on.
His eyes turned back to look at his surrounding, the upper hand of the trunk he was sitting on has a slightly hollow part where he could just sit without the worry of falling off. His emerald orb caught sight of something as his heartbeat spiked. it was a familiar sight for those last 2 years. It was where Aponia and Nisha has been playing Cops and Robbers. He knew his sister would take a while before reaching his spot.'I can't simply jump, I'll probably make too much noise and she'd find me' He concluded, he put his body on the edge of the trunk before letting his body slide along it, he safely reach the ground without making any loud noise before walking up to the playground he once played with the horned girl.
Arriving on the scene he breathed heavily feeling the wind slightly hurling his arm. He knew they wouldn't want him to feel sad, either his family or them, but it couldn't be helped, since those last 2 years,
They knew they were quirkless, yet they didn't mock or even joked about it. Even better Nisha found it awesome since he didn't use a quirk to save her. He also remembered how those adults referred to him as red sneakers, he also learned the meaning of that insult, and his stomach could barely take it,
"Because I'm quirkless they distanced themselves from me like I was some sort of disease! They mock me just because I was born without something everyone has!" Izuku fell to his knees "the others even try to attack me for just breathing !" He brought his fist back before slamming it on the ground. Tears formed in the corner of his eyes, and he couldn't feel his fist ache "They wouldn't stop talking about being heroes with their quirk and how I can't become a hero with a quirk !"
The rain started to dawn on him
"Why do they only care about someone's quirk !" He started to repeatedly punch the round his arm pounding against the ground.
"Why did I have to be born quirkless ?!"
"Why do everyone look at me like I was an animal ?!"
"Why does nobody ever see me for what I'm worth ?"
"Why ?!"
"Why ?!"
Izuku didn't register the tears leaking from the corner of his eyes, nor the blood spilled from his knuckles, he couldn't care less about the pain, all he felt was that was almost crushing him and partly leaving him, he brought him a certain sense of relief while he could only feel the rain starting to pour out on him.
His breathing came back to normal as he looked back at the spot he was hiding.
'Since it's raining, mom and dad should be looking for me and Icchan.' he concluded, he wouldn't any time as he bolted back to the forest,
As he was running his eyes found a familiar figure, his path changed completely as he looked his eyes slightly sparkling while tearing up at the implication, the said figure has long cloudy white hair reaching his waist.
Izuku got almost reached it but when he blinked because of a raindrop landing on his eye, he disappeared, His eyes lingered around for a moment in search of any clue of where this figure was but it was all in vain.
"I swore it was Nisha-chan and Aponia-chan's uncle but it was probably me being tired," He thought to himself out loud. "I better get back to Mom and Dad" Izuku went back running to find his parents
His head twitched at the sound of familiar voices "Izuku ! Where are you !" it was his mother calling out to him.
He lept high in the hair as he landed on a tree branch before he started bouncing off to land on the trunk of oak to finally dashing diagonally to the right pass just above a bush covered in thorns, he slid on the ground before resuming his pseudo-race to see a metallic barrier that was thrice his height, he caught the side of a thin yet sturdy branch extruding from the upper half of the tree. he lifted his right feet before slamming on the nearest tree to his right flexing his leg down before springing diagonally up to land on a tree nearer to the barrier.
Shifting his weight to the side he spun horizontally to jump even higher, normally he wouldn't have to jump on the tree the barrier was low enough for him to do a high jump and be done with it. For some reason, he just went along with his body that moved on its own.
He ended up leaping forwards his arm sticking diagonally upwards as his small hand latched onto the band using his momentum to swing himself forwards and pass over the obstacle. His hand and foot slammed onto the pavement his body rolling forwards to recover and move on.
Izumi's day started great, her parents brought her and Izuku to the park, Izuku was someone she could fully trust as he was the one that was covering for her when she messed up like breaking a vase training her quirk. He was also the one carrying her over when she was tired. But for an unknown reason it started to rain heavily, she even heard her father curse "How is it raining? They said it was going to be sunny for the whole day !"He let out an exasperated groan.
"Let's just find Izuku and go home, you said he would be around here Izumi ?" Inko asked her the blond girl
"I saw him running this way when he was playing !" She explained herself,
"Thank God, we brought an umbrella with us ." She breathed out, in this day and age some common items that were used in everyday life were technologically enhanced to be incorporated in some very small rod-life object that people placed on their person so when in need of use, they could be pulled out and have their button pressed and with advanced compression and decompression system. people could become swiss knives that could save the day.
Technology was really impressive these days.
The group completely stopped upon hearing branches repeatedly snap as the sound was getting nearer and nearer.
Toshinori was the first walk look over to see a familiar bush of hair running towards them. Izuku burst out of the forest his expression blank as his eyes turned to his family.
Well, two things happened at once. First Izumi and Toshinori's eyes pupils shrunk slightly when they saw a certain detail. Secondly, Izuku was almost tackled down by the bear as the two green-haired made eye contact.
"Izuku! How did you hurt yourself? Are you hurt elsewhere ?" The green-haired mother almost gunned her son down with question following the next. Izuku was keeping up yet he had taken her by surprise when he took his hands and gripped her shoulders.
"Mom I'm fine! My hand just got cut when I was running in a bush that had thorns !" Izuku explained. Right on cues, he listed his right hand up showcasing it for her to see small cuts on his knuckles that were pouring out the crimson red fluid.
Inko caught his wrist with her left hand before bringing it right before her eyes. She noted that the cuts weren't that small. She could see that there were some small tears on his skin and those didn't seem to be cut from thorns, thorns could tear some skin but it was mostly small cuts.
'Those cuts are too wide to be just some thorns, but then ...' Inko assessed, over the two last years she was Izuku getting injuries appearing on his body mainly his and knees, for some occurrence she even saw a first-degree burn on his cheek. Izuku told her that it was because he was playing with Katsumi, knowing Mitsuki's daughter that tended to often activate her explosive quirk when she was excited she would believe him on most occasions. It was no secret that since Katsumi manifested her quirk she started to get slightly more aggressive as it was on occasion the concern of her parents when they were hanging out.
Inko pulled her handkerchief out of her dress's pocket before wrapping it around his hand to cover the wounds. "It should be enough for now, we're going home for now. We will bandage your arm and disinfect the cut there," she told him. She soon merely looked away scratching the back of his head in embarrassment. "O-okay." He managed to utter out, he noticed the doubtful expression his mother made when she looked at his hand, her face looked the same when their father try to lie about not being the one that ate the last piece of pizza when they ordered. He managed to avoid being questioned further as the group was full again and was heading back home.
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Izuku was waiting, waiting for what? For the damn sausages to get cooked through. Several days later the Bakugos proposed to the Yagi to have a barbecue in their backyard, and one thing led to another as Inko and Mitsuki were roasting the seasoned chicken while their husbands, or more precisely Toshinori trying to cook sausages while discussing their last misadventure. Next to Toshinori was Bakugo Masaru a middle-aged man with dark brown hair, round eyes, a growing mustache, and an equally medium build, he was wearing simple white jeans white sandals with red socks, and a black v-collar shirt
Katsumi and Izumi were playing across the opposite side near enough to watch them and step in just in case, the green haired boy felt his stomach grumble as his nostril flared when they detected the meat sizzle,
"When are they going to be cooked ?!" Izuku groaned out impatient with the never-ending wait. Masaru smiled "You gotta be patient Izuku, especially with your father being the one to cook" a laugh suddenly escaped him "We would be lucky enough if he wouldn't burn your house down" Toshinori looked slightly offended. "My cooking isn't that bad" he retorted
The young child looked up innocently "Didn't you get scolded by Aunty because your cooking was so bad it gave food poisoning to Mom when she came back from work late ?" he questioned. Masaru instantly busted out in laughter "I can't, this kid..." He barely managed to mutter, the blond man was about to flip a sausage when he registered his son's words. His hand flicked upward with the sausages being thrown high up in the air before falling back into the grill.
Mitsuki was a middle-aged woman with ash-blond hair and ruby red eyes, she looked like an older version of Katsumi yet she looked to be much younger than her actual age which was in her late thirties. She and Inko's attention was picked when they heard her boasting laugh at Masaru while Izuku was standing next to the two looking unsure of what to make of the situation.
She decided to speak up "Oi! What is going on there ?" She looked at her husband laughing his head off, she couldn't help but smile. "It's nothing Honey, just Toshinori getting teased !" he explained. This explanation picked her curiosity even more. "What happened? Toshinori burnt the food ?" her voice held an audible groan, she already went over the 4 hours-long courses on how to cook for her blond friend following that incident, but now Toshinori could enter a kitchen without having Izuku and Izumi running away from their father.
"Sort of !" He wasn't one to keep secret but he wanted to keep this knowledge to himself, His laugh subsided as he was now dicing small meat cubes before placing them into a tomato-based sauce in a pan he placed on a stove.
Katsumi and Izumi were having fun. The ask blond's palm was glowing yellow as they produced several sparks as she slightly panted. the blond-haired lifted her palm as several pebbles flew upwards swirling around her form. Those smalls pebble slightly glowed white as they shot towards her blond friend causing her to jump back and swipe her palm sideward as she exploded the pebbles away;
The explosion seemed to be a little too strong and noisy as it attracted most of the adult's attention. From the other side, a groan could be heard.
"Brat stop using your quirk! You're ruining the peaceful mood !" Mitsuki had comically blank eye veins bulging on the side of her forehead.
"I'm not ruining anything hag !" Katsumi had completely forgotten about her and Izumi's game to bark her words out. Mitsuki's veins bulged even harder.
"I told you not to call me that! That's it you deserve a little spank !" The ash-blond woman placed the fork she was holding on an empty plate before walking up to her daughter. Masaru pipped up meekly "Honey can't we just tell her not to use her quirk at full power ?"
While this didn't shake off the anger of his wife it has the effect of stopping her advance. She eyes her surrounding, from the twitching eyebrow of her daughter or Izuku's worried stare. She slumped and sighed.
She resumed walking toward her daughter before bringing her fist in front of Katsumi's forehead and flicking her finger. It resulted in Katsumi flinching as she backed off holding her forehead. "What the hell ?!"
"Izumi-chan, Katsumi." She started "If you want to play with your quirk can you please hold back, because we do not want you to break something, You're too old to break something like that with your quirks !" She demanded in a gentle tone.
"Too old ?" Izuku butted in "What about my mom and dad? They keep breaking either the couch in the living room or their bed. Aren't they too old as well for breaking things each time ?"
Inko choked on her saliva. Her husband's soul was leaving his body. Izuku wasn't even finished "I remember they broke the bed 5 times and the couch 4 times"
Katsumi looked at Izuku as her brows furrowed, Izumi nodded along.
Masaru and Mitsuki's jaws fell to the ground. They gazed at their friend like their whole world shattered.
"I-IZUKU !" Inko managed to scream out her entire face flushed red and her body shook, her hand shot from whatever she was doing to herself.
"At least they're breaking furniture" Izuku spoke once again "So dad please." He looked at the blond man
"Don't break our mom !"
Toshinori and Inko passed out while Mitsuki and her husband started to laugh hysterically, it wasn't a secret that Izuku could be standing in the middle of the room, and yet nobody would notice him until the young boy deliberately made his presence known, neither was the fact that Izuku speaks in a way that could leave ambiguity in his words, Izuku would express himself using his words that could be understood to have 2 separate meaning.
It has caused Inko and Toshinori to break quite a few things when they hear their son talk about what sounded to be an inappropriate topic just to be just innocent sentences.
"Oh fucking god! This child is hilarious!" Mitsuki muttered. She would never get used to her nephew's casually speaking through double meanings.
The children look at the 4 adults present weirded out.
"Adults are weirds." Izumi declared.
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A few minutes later the situation calmed itself with the older ones taking their breath from the previous shenanigan.
Izuku was sitting on a wooden chair just next to a rectangular metallic gray table his eyes still on the form of the two other girls playing using their quirks. He was just peeking by the edge of the grill for the meat to cook but the wait was long.
Too long.
It has reached the stage where he jumped out of his seat to walk to his mom. He poked her leg to get her attention. The green-haired woman looks down for him to talk. "Mom, Can I play with Kacchan and Icchan ?" He asked. Inko slightly flinched before her eyes went to her daughter and Katsumi using their quirk, probably practicing their quirk by playing Heroes and Villains. Her head tilted to the side
"I'm sorry Izuku but you can't, we can't have you hurt can we ?" She denied the permission. "Why don't you play with the All Might toys in your room ?" she suggested as she rubbed her hand on his head.
Izuku looked dejectedly at his mother before surrendering "Okay mom !" He walked in direction of the back door. Inko kept her eyes locked on the green-haired boy from the side of her head, she hated it but it had to be done.
For his sake.
Meanwhile, Izuku walked up the stairs to open up the door of his room finding the familiar he has been using for his entire life. His eyes drifted to the All might figurines. He stopped just in front of them as his attention was directed to the toy. He remembered those times when her dad and mom would buy them for him either when it was his birthday or on a more special occasion, he also noticed the change in behavior of his mother. She was still the kind and doting mother she was but since those last months.
At first, when they were at the park, Inko tried to pull Izuku away from any other group of children having quirks that could even slightly injure him. The first times she tried his dad was there to take his side and reassure her that everything was fine, but she began to become overprotective of him. Izuku noticed how Inko looked at him like he was some sort of glass about to break at the slightest nudge. He couldn't hold it against her since she was his mother, the person that took care of him his whole life. But he couldn't stop that feeling stirring something deep within him.
Izumi had also been injured in her game with either Katsumi Kichiro or the other children, and Inko would display similar behavior. The difference was that the older woman would never attempt to forcibly pull her away from the other. He asked himself several times what causes this difference in treatment. No matter how many times he tries to find an answer to the same conclusion. And now she doesn't want him to even play with his sister not his friend.
His eyes went back to his arms.
That day.
That same feeling.
He wondered why everyone look so disgusted when they caught him from the corner of his eyes. 'Red Sneakers' he reminded himself. During those two last years, he often found those words escaping people's lips. He wanted to become a Hero and didn't keep it a secret from anyone, that simple dream was enough to make his classmate look at him like he's gone crazy. 'Even Kacchan mock me for wanting to become a hero.' he reminded him.
When Aponia and Nisha were playing with him that day they had discussed how were their lives, both girls revealed to him that they lived in a church that their family and their friends owned and thus, both of them wouldn't enter a public school in favor of getting private tutors.
Church... Before the dawn of Quirks, religion was a subject that was crumbling apart. Since the time humanity inhabited the heart started they always fought against demons and other hostile beings, those circumstances cemented the place of religion within human society, and with time humans have found the bravery to fight off the demons by themselves. Most religions spoke about Heaven and Hell; Angel and Demons with God in the middle. Yet for all these tome Demons were the only ones being recorded to ever interact with humanity, and religions started to lose their influence.
But at the dawn of quirks the population's opinion diverged on the reason for those strange abilities appearing, they appeared almost 500 years ago, and those dark days are still spoken of in this day and age. Some sects spoke of the blessing of Unknown gods. Some spoke of a sickness created by a demon, but the most common opinion was that Quirks were blessing given by God as rewards for fending off the Demons from the earth. Slowly but surely religion took its original place in society dictating what was morally right and wrong with an updated version of the Holy text with this time Quirks being explained.
If that was the case then why would God give everyone quirks, did they commit any crime in their previous life warranting this punishment? 'I hope I get to visit the church they live in one day he spoke in his mind.
He snapped out of his thought as a white butterfly made its way to Izuku's room from the open window. It was larger than most as it was the size of Izuku's forearm. it flapped its wing as it flew making a circle around Izuku who took a step back in fear, soon enough the insect gently landed on the wooden desk Izuku's room was equipped. The young boy rose an eyebrow leaning forwards "What is that ?" he asked out loud, as if the world heard his question the butterfly's wings began to flap harder and faster as they slowly became a blur. After a few seconds, Izuku's eyes widened.
The white insect started to emit a bright glow as it dissolved itself into the air in an infinity of particles. Completely dissolved the young boy could lay his eyes on a white sheet of paper with something written on it and an item next to it. He jumped on his chair before inspecting the newly appeared object. Next to the paper was placed a necklace withtwo pendants, one was a dark blue cross-shaped star with a small white dot all over it, and the other was a butterfly with amber-orange scales along black outlines. He gazed at the necklace "Wait !" He breathed out as he snatched the sheet of paper.
Dear Izuku-Kun,
It is me Hisashi, Nisha, and Aponia's uncle. I wrote you this letter because I knew that you miss both of your friends and also to explain the reason for their absence.
Our family work at a church as Aponia told you but that's not the full story. I can't fully explain in this letter but some peoples want to hurt them and because of that we had to hide them for a while.
Know that since that day, Aponia and Nisha have been missing you as much as you missed them. You might not have realized that you saw me when you last went to the park but I couldn't interact with you without being found by those people.
I know that you will be confused by this whole thing I ask you but be a little more patient. The situation is getting better and if things go smoothly you guys will finally be able to play again.
Nisha and Aponia have been asked to draw a pendant without them knowing that I would make one using their drawing as a gift for you!
I'm sure you are already loving your present!
That was pretty much everything I wanted to say
So thank you for being Aponia and Nisha's friend!
As Izuku went further into the letter the more tears trickled down from the corner of his eyes, his wish had finally been heard by the world. He felt a weight chained to his body disappear and for his smile grow further and further "I knew it !" he almost shouted, he had been sure that he would see them again, and now it was confirmed, but the part about people wanting to harm them stuck in him
'Who would want to hurt them? Villains? Demons ?' he questioned. The young boy has been searching several times about demons on the internet. They seemed to be more to Demons than just killing humans, He saw some stories about humans making a contract and gaining power in exchange for their loyalty, he also saw somewhere some demons targeted an entire family because of one of their daughter's quirk.
Fear started to take over. What if Demons were targeting his friend? He was nothing but a child and surely had no chance to fight the weakest of demons. His mind went back to his Hisashi, now that he remembered how Hisashi saved them from those bullies. Was he a Hero? A Hunter? He wasn't sure. All he knew was that he would be able to see Nisha and Aponia again. His cheeks flared red at the thought before a chill ran down his spine at the image of the red-haired man's threat.
The letter was stained with tears yet Izuku took hold of the pendant before holding it to his chest sobbing softly. The paper he was holding started to disappear his pupil shrank as the letter started to form a sort of purple smoke. "What ?" he asked himself as he accidentally breathed into the smoke.
He felt a sudden headache from the back of his head as several images flashed into his mind. He couldn't even recognize those places yet
'I've already been here.' he realized. They forced his body through every sensation that his body could ever feel. But for the most part, he felt something that stood out from the rest.
Coldness.
But those flashes and sensations disappeared as fast as they came.
He shook his head trying to put back his mind in place.
"Holy Fuck !" the green-haired boy cursed, he usually never cursed intentionally whereas Katsumi would often curse herself much to the horror of Inko when Izuku used the word 'Fuck' in front of her. He would be in a world of trouble in anyone were there to eavesdrop on him.
Izuku almost fell off his feet but managed to catch himself before hitting the ground.
His arm moved to rub the tears from his face as he examined further. The star and butterfly craftwork were attached to a single jet black string that seemed very sturdy to his hand.
He plucked the two ends together behind the nape on his neck for the pendant to rest just atop his chest. While he already cherished this gift way more than all of his All Might merch, he thought of another problem.
His mom. He didn't speak about either the girl or the event that led to him getting hurt. He was also pretty sure that his mother didn't know any of them before that day. She would try to pull Izuku away from both of them.
Did Izuku want that?
No.
"So won't tell them about that" he breathed out.
"Tell us about that ?" a voice spoke up from the door
Izuku nearly jumped to the roof when he realized that he wasn't alone. His head almost snapped from the neck to see his aunt Mitsuki leaning against the door with a teasing smile adorned on her face.
'Crap' Izuku thought
"N-nothing" Izuku sharply stuttered while his posture was as stiff as a board. The ash-blond woman's eyes narrowed at Izuku's before approaching
"You were crying ?" She asked. Izuku had visibly bloodshot eyes with some tears stained on the side of his head. Panicking internally he decided to do exactly like those criminals on tv.
Deny everything.
Not that he would ever become a criminal of course.
"No I wasn't" he countered, his objective was clear, keep everything to himself.
Mitsuki was standing just in front of Izuku as she looked around for any clues.
"Did you break something ?" she surprisingly inquired. the young boy looked at her questioningly "Nothing ?" he asked back. Was there anything he broke before that he forgot about? The last time he remembered someone breaking something was Izumi breaking one of the wooden planks when she practiced her quirk in the room where her mother and father used to do exercise.
The blond looked at Izuku "Did something happen with your mom?" she asked. Izuku was surprised that she'd ask that question. not that he would show it.
"No. Did she say anything ?" Izuku asked back his head tilting to the side in confusion.
"No..." She admitted "How about this Izuku? You tell me what is bugging you and I'm buying the last All Might figuring and Pulse for Izumi. Deal ?"
"No thanks Aunty"
"I'm giving them tom- wait what ?!" Mitsuki choked on her words. Izuku was kind, respectful, and polite. But Izuku had two large weaknesses. The first one is Heroes especially All Might and his younger sister. He would obey almost everything. Hearing that even those two combined didn't manage to sway him. It was almost something out of a dream.
"Aunty ?" Izuku spoke up again. "Did you go to look for me ?"
"The food is ready, your mom wanted to get you but I went instead."
"Did you snatch some of my mom's candies ?" He interrogated
Mitsuki flinched "No I did-" she froze when she saw Izuku pointing at her pockets that had a slight bulge on the hips which was quite unnatural if it wasn't for her pocket being stuffed. What truly betrayed her was the small candy that fell off to land on the floor.
"Okay I did" she moved her arms up almost surrendering under a policeman's command.
Izuku saw an opportunity and he was going to take it.
"How about this." Izuku asserted "You don't mention anything about me keeping a secret and I don't mention anything about you stealing the candies" he bargained
His aunt almost looked offended "I didn't steal anything !"
The young boy look back "Does she knows about you taking them?"
The ash-blond woman faked a confident posture "Of course"
"I'm going to ask"Izuku nearly bolted past her as he felt a hand grip his arm.
"No need to bother her !" Mitsuki's confidence started to collapse.
"It doesn't matter we're going to eat with her anyway. I will just ask her."
Mitsuki put her pointer finger in front of her lips
"Shhh Okay, you won I won't tell anything if you won't." Mitsuki felt utterly defeated, she was being manipulated by her 6 near 7 years old nephew.
"Deal ?" Mitsuki saw her nephew lift his hand proposing a handshake to officialize their agreement
"Deal." She shook the hand.
Everyone was seated around the table where sausages steak fries and other meals were being placed as they all ate their meal enjoying the moment by engaging in diverse conversation with each other. The green-haired boy was seated on the opposite of the adult's side.
His right hand sliced his piece of steak before poking it with a fork and eating it. On each side of he sat with Katsumi and Izumi who choose to eat sausages because they struggled to cut the pieces of meat.
Mitsuki thought for a moment "Now that I think about it Izuku and Izumi's birthday is coming up ! Did you ask them what they wanted ?". Izumi's Birthday was the 16th of July while Izuku's was on the 15th. Izuku has been born mere minutes before his younger twin. Toshinori proposed that both birthdays were celebrated the day instead of two, his proposition was made due to Toshinori's tight workload as he worded it.
His proposition was shot down instantly by the form of Izuku that it would mean having only one day off from school. As the family decreed that during one's birthday they should be excused from going to any work or school duties.
Inko pondered "Actually we didn't yet.". Toshinori struggled to hold back a chuckle "But we do have an idea of what they would ask for."
Masaru pipped up All Might and Pulse merch ?"
Inko merely giggled but nodded. Her behavior was slightly altered because of the bottle of wine near her plate. Her cheek had a red tint over them while Mitsuki didn't look affected even though the drank way more than the green-haired woman.
Masaru did know Izuku's and Izumi's obsession with their respective idols but he couldn't wait to ask. "Izuku! Izumi! What do you want to get for your birthday ?"
Izumi was the first one to answer his question "I know! The last set of Pulse's merch that just got released !"
Inko and Toshinori smiled 'We were right.' They thought
"I want soundproof headphones," Izuku announced, Inko and her husband froze in the middle of their movements while Masaru and Mitsuki blinked, Izumi turned her head to look at her twin brother like he poured milk before the cereal. Even Katsumi stopped eating to look in his way, her normal scowl was replaced by confusion.
Toshinori needed the context "Why do you want that ?!". What would Izuku even do about that?
"Izuku couldn't suppress a yawn as he remembered the reason.
"You guys are always watching the same Hero-based film each night and I can always hear it even with my window and door closed.!" Izuku explained
"Watching a film ?" asked Masaru
The green-haired boy looks at him "Yeah! It's always with that woman screaming out while people applaud" He detailed.
Toshinori looked at his son unsure 'wait, each night? we don't watch any movie? the only we do late is...'
Oh no.
He realized
"At the end, the Hero says to say that he's coming to help her" All adult's faces were drained from their colors to be reduced to a pure weight as their souls comedically started to move out of their mouths.
The young boy didn't miss the horror on their face "Is there something wrong? Did I do anything wrong ?" Nobody could tell him what was wrong, Toshinori couldn't believe this level of dread upon his soul.'We made all rooms soundproof and we always close the windows. How'
If it wasn't for the awkward moment Mitsuki would have probably teased her friend to the death. Inko who was still under the influence of the alcoholic beverage was forcefully brought back to earth by her son condemning them to a state of perpetual existential crisis.
The ash-blond-haired woman perked up "Wait is that why you started to have dark circles around your eyes ?!" she realized. She always wondered how Izuku seemed to be so energetic at a time and yet suddenly turn figuratively into a turtle. It all made sense for her, yet it took her 1 year to understand.
The Bakugo couple looked at the greenest and blond. Wasn't all of your rooms soundproof? "
Inko's shoulders were as stiff as a board "We did... I'm not sure how..."
Izuku's eyes narrowed down to the few pieces of meat remaining 'I don't understand...What are they talking about ?'
"Wait.." Izuku started "Is that why you are always breaking the bed or the couch ?!" Izuku connected the dots even though he missed most of the situation and fortunately. We can't have a child's innocence being killed off like that, can we?
At least let him discover that Santa isn't real.
The adults metaphorically died of a heart attack.
A few weeks after Izuku received the necklace and since then it hasn't left Izuku's neck for as long as a second. He quickly realized that his parents or Izumi would probably notice it and ask where it came from. The pendants were hidden under the shirt with the cold metal over his heart.
As the weeks has gone by he noticed two things.
Katsumi seemed to be fiercer towards him and also the fact that Kichiro was constantly trying to sneak up on him to beat him up with his quirk. But for now, Izuku was in the middle of the playground his school provided for the child to play. He had been following Izumi Katsumi and Kichiro and their friend groups as they played together.
Naturally, as time went on he was sidelined even with the efforts of Izumi trying to always include him in their games. His face displayed a frown as he watched from the other side of the playground his sister play with everyone else while was standing alone. He thought back to those times everyone would play with him. But then.
This was before he was declared quirkless.
His back against the cold black wall he chuckled to himself, since the day he received the letter and the necklace it made him feel like all those people he considered friends, the kids that played with all those times were just strangers that he shouldn't bother with, he couldn't either cut everyone off for a few reasons but the main one being his sister socializing that would require him to be there to help Izumi just in case, the other would be that a child of his age need friends.
"Oi, Deku !" A snarl made a presence known... Well in this case it would be more accurate to say presence known.
The green-haired eyes looked up to see the ash-blond girl followed by Kichiro and 2 other cronies on their side. Izuku noticed the glint in the brown-haired boy whose arms started to cover themselves in a grey metallic-like fluid as it shapeshifted to give a cybernetic appearance to his arms.
"Kacchan ?" Izuku moved himself to approach his friends. the said friend held a malicious grin "Has you finally given up on becoming a hero ?" She inquired, Izuku's stomach dropped at her words, him giving up on becoming a hero. This was the reason he was born! Everyone has been telling him that he should grow up out of his childish dream and acknowledge reality.
"I can't do that Kacchan! I've always wanted to be a hero since we're all in diapers !" Izuku retorted. his emerald orbs mirroring her crimson red ones. Izuku's eyes wandered across them but Izumi wasn't with them. It was probably the reason why they came to him he concluded.
Izuku's chest slightly leaned back as his eyes caught sight of Katsumi with the same grin plastered on her face as she was swiping her glowing palm aiming for his face. His face avoided most of the blow safe for a few small burns that could be seen on the side of his cheek. He didn't understand, he simply couldn't. his arm shot down to catch himself from falling.
Visible fear made its way onto Izuku's face as he saw a noticeable bunch of veins bulging on her forehead as her grin fell to be replaced by a scowl."Who allowed you to dodge Deku ?"
"Deku doesn't seem to understand who's he speaking to !" one of the cronies spoke up.
"I say Deku is good for another lesson." Kichiro mused, his nails morphed into sharp claws, Izuku stood back up facing the group his pupil shrunk and his small body trembled in his red sneakers.
The only warning Izuku got was the finger-kid with one of them starting to stretch out while Kichiro had small spikes extruding from his knuckles with the tip shining sharply.
Immediately responding to the attack Izuku moved his arms forwards just in time for the spiked hand to slam onto his arms, feeling his skin being pierced. While it didn't feel bad compared to the times he went to the park it still earned a wince from the boy. But before he could do anything else he heard small sparks popping out of Katsumi's hand as an explosion engulfed him blasting him back and making him lose his balance bouncing several times. Izuku's gaze softened as he took a breath mid-flight.
His right hand was slamming against the ground pushing himself in the air in a rather small just as he managed to land on his foot sliding on the ground as he watched the group staring at him. He was in a kneeling position with one of his knees against the ground and the other ready to push him back up but he felt his vision is fuzzy. As he audibly groaned, he placed his right hand on his leg trying to stand back up.
'Get up !' He told himself, his eyes went to Kichiro, the boy who he knew had a crush on his sister. For Izuku he was nothing but a bully, he hated to speak or even think ill of people but he held a visible distaste for the boy, he seems friendly at first but he would often punch other people when they didn't do what he asked them to do.
'Kichiro wants to get closer to Icchan ?!' he started, a flash of Izumi and him spending their time together, next was the flash of Izuku and Kichiro interacting together, it started as friendly but when he was told Izuku wasn't getting a quirk, his attitude changed, even Kichiro's parents would look at him like his very existence was an insult to them. But he couldn't voice his concerns on his own because of their friendship with them. It has led to Izuku taking a beating by him and the "friends" he made on a lot of occasions. He couldn't even tell anyone. Izumi played with him, this was the only reason Izuku silenced himself, it was for her happiness.
As always.
But now, a numbness wound itself around him like a wintery coat barely shielding the body from harsh temperature. He wouldn't hesitate. He felt millions of ice needles poking his back, he blinked as his mind went back to the most similar situation he experienced When Nisha was about to be attacked...
"Ready for another round Deku ?!" the brown-haired boy boasted, it wasn't that loud but it was enough to gain the attention of some of the other children. They all looked at the scene with a certain interest and some anticipation. For children of this day and age, what was more entertaining than to see someone using their quirk to fight? Their expression showed how much they anticipated the quirkless kid to get beaten up by the strongest of them.
His head was slightly tilted forwards hiding his eyes with his hair as the wind gently blew over him.
"Too scared to even answer ?" He taunted, his hand raised with the spikes of his fist retracting 2 blades grew on both of his arms, with the years Izuku has known Kichiro the first thing we noticed was he knew how to use his quirk, while most 4 would accidentally set off their quirk in middle of the class, Kichiro has always shown that he could keep his quirk in check, he initially thought that the boy was just talented.
But that opinion was discarded when he heard from his mom that Kichiro was training with his parents. Forming various objects with his quirk, armor around his arm, and parts of his chest, creating several objects like a hammer and oven more complex objects like a windmill. Izuku knew the gap between him and Kichiro, all he had was his mobility going for him. He knew he would surely lose.
His eyes blinked as for the span of a flash he saw Nisha speaking the same words that she said that day.
'You took all of those bullies out without even using a quirk,'
He breathed down as he lifted his head letting his eyes on full display.
Katsumi's breath hitched for an instant, and the glow in her palm disappeared just as fast as her grin. Izuku's gaze was locked on them. She was always the strongest. Since the time she could barely remember she was always praised. Her quirk was better than everyone's, she was supposed to be standing above everyone.
'Why am I shaking, it's Deku !' She screamed in her mind. She struggled to even stand.
The other children couldn't see Izuku's eyes but they couldn't believe that the blond girl dubbed the strongest of the whole school was shaking in front of the quirkless nobody.
Katsumi remembered 'This look...' Her heartbeat started to quicken. She finally realized.
Kichiro jumped forwards as he brought his right arm back and thrust it slightly to Izuku's head side to slash his cheeks. On normal occasions Kichiro would see next to no rebuttal on Izuku's side, he winced as he felt a fist slam against his own. Izuku has forced his right fist forward clashing against Kichiro's metallic one, his gaze remaining sharp. The sudden response caused Kichiro to falter as Izuku used that moment to force the same fist he used to counter to his right twisting his chest in the same direction, his chest slightly leaning back to avoid the metallic-like blade.
Kichiro's pupil dilated out of shock 'What ?'. Katsumi's reaction was no different, she wouldn't dare to ever imagine Izuku fighting back, that was one of the things that sickened her, heroes were supposed to be tough and defeat villains, not being weak and letting people walk over them.
Izuku's eyes looked at the brown-haired boy's face. His left fist was brought to the side before pounding the side of his head. While this strike landed on the target, the brunt of the attack was absorbed by the metallic fluid that formed on the side of his head.
His last thoughts went back to that day when he got that letter 'some peoples want to hurt them were the words written, would Kichiro hurt his sister, he wouldn't allow it. While his strike was absorbed it did stagger him. Izuku brought back his right arm clenching his right first as hard as possible. His feet digging in the ground 'SMMAAAAAAAAAASH !' his fist blurred to ram itself onto Kichiro's face, a sickening crack echoed through the entire playground as several kids gasped in horror, Izuku wasn't done yet.
He applied even more strength forcing Kichiro's small body to lean back as Izuku finished by knocking his head against the ground. The blow sent the entire playground into an uproar within the entire crowd. The shouting set off the alarm for the teacher to come and stumble across Izuku his fist partially covered in blood with Kichiro laying down blood dripping from his nose.
The rest passed in a flash.
The teacher ordered all the class to come back to class as several bean-shaped robots came to carry the unconscious child to the infirmary until further notice. The teacher had dragged Izuku Katsumi and the cronies for questioning. The finger-quirked boy tried to explain how they were playing and Izuku became aggressive straight away, Izumi who was getting permission to get one of the balls from the stock room learned what happened, when she asked Izuku why he punched Kichiro, he began to scratch his head telling her that they tried to force him to play their games.
The Bakugos, The Yagis, and the Kawamoto were called as the parents swiftly came into the picture to try and shed some light on this incident. Neither of them said the truth and tried to depict a twisted version of the events.
Izuku's saving grace was taking Izuku's defense saying how kids are volatile using their quirk and Izuku acted that way because he felt threatened. Normally something like that would have meant being expelled but in the end, Izuku got away with only being suspended for 3 days and being forbidden to play outside during break for the rest of the year.
The Kawamoto was enraged, it took the Bakugo and the Yagis to hold them back, but in the end, Izuku got scolded by Inko and Toshinori before Izuku went to bed
Izuku's eyes shut down as he once again felt slumber take its hold over him letting all of his problems vanish in the eternal tranquility that dreams provided him. _
The next time Izuku opened his eyes it was to find himself in an unfamiliar sensation of softness underneath him, he stirred awake before realizing that he wasn't in his room, nor in any of the rooms of his home. Sitting on the bed he looked around to see a Deep sea blue bed beneath him. The room was quite spacious if his opinion was anything to go by. He felt strange dizziness in his body
His entire world flipped over when he heard a familiar voice call out
"It's been a while Izuku, I'm glad we get to meet again!"