I was in kindergarten when I found out that I didn't have a Quirk.

Growing up, I admired Heroes. Like most young kids, I worshiped All Might most of all. I had as much of his merch as my parents could afford. I pretended to be him and saved my mother from imaginary threats all over the house. I was so sure that becoming a Pro Hero was the path I wanted to take in life. Just like what All Might always said: I can be a Hero too.

It took a single doctor's appointment to make it all fall apart.

An unusual mutation, they said. A very uncommon outcome from two parents who both had Quirks. Regardless, I was told that I did not and could never develop a Quirk of my own. Denial and depression quickly followed. Looking back, it made me feel bad that mom blamed herself for what happened to me. It wasn't like she had any control over how my body ended up.

Kacchan, my childhood friend, rejected me the moment he found out about it. Said that he didn't have time for someone like me. I tried to keep our friendship alive, desperately. Ultimately though, the distance he put between us grew until we stopped talking to each other after middle school. He went to U.A. and the rest was history.

I have never since brought up that I knew Dynamight when we were kids.

My passion for Heroes in general sputtered out as time went on. I tried to keep up with the latest news and developments of Pro Heroes, how their Quirks worked, how their battles went. I had piles and piles of notebooks filled to the brim with information that I would never really need. I attempted to continue my hobby in High School by starting a blog about Heroes, but those were a dime a dozen. I barely got any traffic, with most of it being from my parents.

I eventually had to confront a simple question about myself: Why did I ever want to become a Hero?

When I was a kid, it was because I wanted to be All Might. I wanted to help and save people as he did. Even after I found out I didn't have a Quirk, I still clung on to that dream for the longest time.

The difficult thing to accept was that, after that moment in that doctor's office, I wanted to become a Hero because I wanted people to acknowledge me and not because I wanted to help them. Validation. Something that I found out was thankfully common for everyone to want, Quirk or no. All that so-called research I did on Pro Heroes was my delusion on somehow eventually discovering a hitherto unknown way of unlocking someone's Quirk. My Quirk.

It ate at me so much that I didn't even bother making any friends in high school, so obsessed I was with it. The teachers seemed to have noticed and called in my mom so we could have a talk with the school counselor. I'll give them this, they were a lot better at their job than the counselor I had in middle school. My dad coming home from his overseas work to talk to me was the final nail in the whole thing.

All Might retired, Endeavour took over as Japan's Number One Hero. A couple more years and I graduated High School, friendless because of my own actions. After that, I finally said goodbye to that dream. I had to if I wanted a fresh start. When I was looking for a University to enroll in, an old question from my childhood came back in the back of my mind.

Did I still want to help people?

I didn't really know the answer to that yet, and I wasn't really sure where to take my life next. Becoming a Hero took up so much of my early life that I had not considered what to do if I didn't succeed. My parents said that it was fine, that University was a place where people can find themselves and their passions if they did not have one yet. My dad suggested, over the phone, to take credits for general classes that could count on most majors until I settled on one that felt right for me. I appreciated all their support, but knew that I shouldn't be wasting time and money for too long.

Still, I followed my dad's advice and got to learn a bit of everything. It did end up with me going home pretty late though. Ironically enough, I doubt that I would have met Uravity if my life hadn't gone down the way it has.

Speaking of Uravity.

"And then they had the nerve to complain that I shouldn't have needed to involve their car in the fight." The Pro Hero complained as she munched on a muffin that I baked for her, one of the new skills I picked up in school. "Like, excuse me?! I just saved everyone in that street!"

"Yeah, I saw the video of the whole thing online." I readily agreed with a nod. It happened earlier that day. A botched bank robbery by a villain from another city. They had a Quirk that let them spew out acid from their mouth with varying distance and intensity.

"So you agree that it wasn't my fault, right?" It really wasn't. The car was just an unfortunate victim of collateral damage. That no civilians were hurt from a Quirk as deadly as that was a testament to Uravity's skill.

"Ultimately, the villain is to blame. The car would have probably been destroyed anyway if they weren't stopped." She nodded at my words, unable to talk due to the tea she was drinking at the moment. She made a satisfied sound and leaned towards me.

"Exactly! Some people just don't appreciate that!" I was pretty sure that I was blushing because of how close she was. If she noticed, she didn't point it out. Instead, she just smiled at me. "More people should be like you, Midoriya."

It had been around two months since I first met Uravity. She came back to the park a few days after our first encounter to thank me. A week after that, she showed up again with a small cake in hand. She said that one of her friends insisted that she thank me in a more substantial way. I didn't really get it, but how many times can you say that you got cake from a Pro Hero?

After that, we just sort of started meeting up in the park every now and then. It was usually so she could vent about one thing or another about work. I had quickly realized that bringing her something sweet went a long way to improving her mood.

"How do you do it?" I blinked when I realized what I had just asked.

"Hm?" She tilted her head. One of Japan's Pro Heroes had spent so much time with me, I suppose that I just couldn't help but want to know more.

"How do you keep going?" A hitch in her breath made me realize that it probably wasn't the best question to ask.

"I wanted to be rich." She eventually said, giving me a lopsided smile. "I certainly accomplished that and more."

I felt that there was more to it so I kept silent. She seemed to hesitate and thought about something before continuing.

"Now?" Her eyes switched back to those same tired ones I still often see whenever we met up here. It was like she was looking through me. "I have to. I have to keep going."

She whispered those last few words seemingly to herself instead of to me. That was the moment that I knew.

There was at least one person I truly wanted to help.