Hello, everyone! There was too much to put into 400 characters, so I'm leaving it here. If you want to try the prologue below this line, then I hope that you will enjoy the story.
Disclaimers: This is a story parallel to the canon timeline of MHA/BNHA. This also has the possibility of being considered an AU to Spiderman. The main cast will be Japanese alternates to Spiderman characters, with some extras living in the Hero Academia world. (Yes, it's an OC cast.) The some of the MHA/BNHA main cast will make appearances in the story, only to show up in untold missions or to remind us of the timeline existing alongside the story.
Now that you have an idea, it's time for the story!
The evening light faded further into dusk, streetlights and other glows lit the darkened area around a teenager as he stood waiting at the bus kiosk. Blue gym bag in hand, the lights played off of his cheap retrospect glasses, instead of his dark eyes, as he awaited for a bus to take him home. Bored, he used his free hand to swipe his mid-length hair out his vision, trying to tame his shaggy appearance after a rinse back at the gym where he had trained today. There was plenty of noise trafficking his surroundings, but one noise started to trickle into the boy's ear, catching his attention and causing him to turn towards the electronics store, where some televisions were playing something.
"This is Nancy…. And Kiba Hinoguchi on The Big Topic, where…. About ongoing issues and more!…"
Coming closer to the light of the screens, the juvenile's cheap white shirt and blue jeans were clearer as he tuned in to listen better. In a lounge setting, there was a woman and a man sitting together in recliners in front of a table with drinks. The middle-aged man with a handle broom mustache and a gray streak in his buzz top haircut was recognized by the boy immediately. Kiba Hinoguchi is a household name within the last four years, a news reporter who rose to the top of the charts by exposing the darker sides of the heroes as well as keeping up to date whenever he can of acts of villainy and people he thinks will rise to the top in heroics.
"We are here with Mr. Hinoguchi today to speak about the power struggles within the varied ages of children. People say that with the differences in power among the vast variety of quirks out there, fights at schools are becoming more frequent and it has even been a danger to some school staff. What do you think, Mr. Hinoguchi?"
The man didn't seem too impressed for some reason with the younger woman. "First off; let's call the issue as everyone else can see it as - bullying. It's a part of our nature. The stronger pick on the weaker and those in the minority. Back then, if you had a superpower among all of the normal humans, then you were ridiculed if not feared. But with eighty percent of the population having a quirk nowadays, the people without quirks or having weak quirks have become the primary targets of the bullies. I can't blame the public opinion regarding the matter…I myself have a weak quirk and have been bullied before."
"A suggestion by many people is to further reinforce the laws regarding the usage of quirks in public. Another suggestion is more laws against bullying.. Are you with either of these notions?"
"Those are not bad thoughts, but they will not tackle the root of the problem."
"Oh?" The woman seemed more interested in what the answer could be.
"The root of the problem is that kids who are bullies see the quirk they have as a means to get what they want. By using those quirks for violence, they get it in their heads that they are above others and that makes them less willing to listen to the rules. If we don't stop it right there, they will meet heroes or the law enforcement in ways they don't want."
"What is your personal suggestion, then, Mr. Hinoguchi?"
"We just got to educate the kids better. That our quirks are just another responsibility in our lives we need to keep up with. And the greater the power…" He leaned a bit closer to the woman and the table. "the greater the responsibility. With that fundamental in those kids' noggins, then we can see heroes rise from those powerful quirks rather than a lesser quirk who was tired of the bullying they suffered rising up into a hero we can be proud of."
That brought back memories to the boy. He didn't like them, but they were important memories…
Six years ago…
"My, Masaru! You look ready for your first day in preschool!" A woman dressed in plain clothing and an apron was crouching in front of a boy beside a kitchen table. Both mother and the excited son each had dark chocolate hair, the boy's being shorter while the mother's was touching her shoulders. They even had brown monkey tails, though the boy had a fuzzied tip that made it almost mistaken for a lion's tail. He was in a little bright blue uniform with tan shorts and a soft yellow hat. The mother passed him a lunch box and then looked around. "Where is your brother, Masaru?"
"I t'ink he is still sleeping," the little child said innocently.
"Oh, my…" the mother straightened herself up and walked towards a door deeper in the house. Taking a deep breath, she yelled at the door as she gave it one solid thump with her tail. "Hakkei Daijou! You're going to be late for school!" There was a yelp of surprise and a thud of someone falling out of bed during the shouting. She was satisfied as she heard a lot of shuffling about behind the door while she walked back over to her younger son.
A few minutes later, a boy wearing round glasses and black hair in a standard bowl cut charged out of the room, phone in hand, and hurried to the table to grab as many bites of food as he could. The boys' mother sighed as Hakkei stuffed his cheeks like a squirrel. "I told you not to spend the night watching videos, Hakkei."
The little brother laughed at him. "Sillie! No p'one fore bed."
The boy ignored his little brother's remark and swallowed his food. "But there was a really cool move being demonstrated by this martial artist! I wanted to learn this move so badly!"
"That is no excuse to be up so late at night," the mother gently scolded. Before she could speak any further, the boy shoved a piece of toast into his mouth and headed out the house. "See ya, Mom!"
As their mother shouted after the older kid, Masaru looked back at the table and saw something. It was a red phone with a phone charm of All Might. The younger child knows that Hakkei would be worried if he can't find it. So the little brother took the phone and headed out. He unwittingly snuck past their mother, who was turning as he went by her. As she went back into the house to retrieve her youngest, she looked around in confusion as he was nowhere in sight. "Masaru?"
Masaru recalled the various things he had always seen when mother went to Hakkei's school with him for adult chatter. Big, fluffy white dog, a yellow house, and other things guided the little boy straight to the big building called 'school'. It was bigger than where he was supposed to go, but he smiled at the sight of it. After he graduates preschool, he will be going to one of these schools.
Then he stepped foot into the school yard. All he has to do now is to find Hakkei before the bell rang as there were still plenty of kids outside in the schoolyard. Other kids were surprised to see a young kid on campus. One in particular spotted the red phone and All Might charm and a mischievous grin appeared on his face.
"Hey, little guy. Is that Hakkei's phone?"
Masaru looked to see a large boy that had a black shirt with a Jolly Roger on the front. "Yes? Aw you friends wif my brother? He forgot his p'one."
"Yeah, I'm quite chummy with your brother. You can give me the phone and I can give it to him."
Masaru hesitated. "Weally? You pwomise?"
"Yup!"
"But Mommy and Hakkei told me not to give t'ings to stwangers…"
Irritated, the hefty boy revealed his true colors. "Stupid monkey! Hand it over!" Shoving Masaru, he grabbed the phone and threw it to the ground, stomping on it. Horrified, the little kid raced to stop the destruction of what seems to be a treasure to his brother. But the older kid saw Masaru and just backhanded him away, laughing. Other children witnessing this were either feeling sorry for the child or disgusted at the fact that someone was picking on a preschool student. But to Masaru; no one was coming to save the day. As he started to cry, a familiar voice shouted.
"What are you doing to my brother, you dirtbag?!" The big kid looked, only to get knocked away by Hakkei putting much of his weight into a shoulder-thrust. Masaru took the chance to grab the smashed phone and ran behind his brother. Hakkei was furious, but quivering from fear as the kid got up.
"You have some nerve, you quirkless loser…"
"Says the brat who finds fun in tormenting preschoolers," Hakkei snapped back. "It was supposed to be his first day at that, Iji!"
"Aaaggghhhh" The bulky kid barreled towards Hakkei, his fists hardening with a metallic substance out of rage. He was itching for a fight now. Masaru hugged the phone tighter to his body while his brother stood his ground. Out of fear, the preschooler couldn't help but run to the side.
The child with glasses twisted his torso sideways in an attempt to dodge the attack, grabbing the arm of his attacker, and hurling him with all of his might into a nearby garbage can. Still shaking, he couldn't help but smile. All of those online videos of martial art techniques paid off for him. He then approached the monkey-tailed boy and took his hand. "Let's go, brother. I need to report to the principal for fighting." Confused, Masaru obeyed his brother, still clutching the broken phone and looked back at a couple of kids trying to pull the bully out of the trash can.
It did not take long for the boys' mothers to show up to the school. Masaru recognized the look that their mother gets when she has come here and Hakkei was injured. The other mother looked just as mad this time around. She always seemed disgruntled before whenever she was involved. All three boys were present this time, though Hakkei was ready for what was to come while still consoling his little brother.
The older man, who was the principal, spoke first as the mothers seated themselves next to their boys. "Mrs. Daijou. Mrs. Yougai. It appeared that your sons were fighting again. This time, however, this young child was involved and injured by Iji, Mrs. Yougai."
The mother of the large kid raised up out of her chair. "How many times do I need to spell it out?! My sweet boy is innocent! That quirkless runt is just seeking attention again! Being raised by such monkeys must be getting to him."
"Language aside, Mrs. Yougai," the principal sternly replied, "the fight took place in front of one of our newly installed cameras. You can't still say that this was a setup, can you? We can play the tape."
"Play it." Hakkei and Masaru flinched as they heard their mother's voice. She was holding back a lot of rage behind her fake smile. "If it is as you say, I will be suing her for all of the harm that her boy has done to my family. Let's see whose uncle is a monkey."
The principal played the footage. It was clear what was happening. Mrs. Daijou was pulsing with fury while Mrs. Yougai was appalled at what she saw. Then she turned to her son and slapped him.
"I believed you! How could you lie to your own mother, Iji?! You disgraceful brat!" She then turned to the Daijou family. "I'm sorry, too. Can we end this quarrel and pretend that it never happened?"
"Oh, really? Aren't we just monkeys raising a quirkless?" Mrs. Daijou said, oozing sarcasm in every word. "And monkeys are not ones to show mercy to an enemy, are they not?"
"I am really sorry! Please don't let this incident tarnish our reputation! My husband can lose his job since he is working at one of the hero corporations!" The other mother was begging at this point. All three boys were fearful of what was about to happen. Even the principal was too stunned by the mothers' interaction to chime in.
"Reimburse all medical fees we have spent on Hakkei thanks to your pit spawn and replace Hakkei's phone. I will be including a request for all of these incidents between our kids to be on record in case of further damage. Then, I will keep it quiet."
For a moment, Mrs. Yougai seemed relieved. That didn't last too long as Mrs. Daijou added one more quip. "I can't say the same for all of the kids that watched your son get bested by a quirkless. I wouldn't doubt the power of social media," she said, turning to leave. "The time it took us to get here is all the time people need to spread it like wildfire."
The faces on Mrs. Yougai and her son were worth laughing at if Hakkei wasn't busy tending to his traumatized brother.
Many things happened in the next few weeks. The Yougai family came to the Daijou household to apologize the very next day, apologizing many times as well as paying the agreed penalties with the phone paid by the son's school trip fund. Some extra cash was slipped by the father in case of lasting damage. That was proven when Masaru tried going for his preschool class, only to freeze up and then cry uncontrollably. He was also very distrusting of anybody besides his family. Their parents had no choice but to set up therapy sessions and an online schooling just to give him an education.
Hakkei was still treated the same at school regardless of his feat, but there weren't as many who would pick on him now that he proved to be capable of fighting back. However, there were still people who thought that he was just lucky. And he had to agree, because if just one thing had changed, that fight could have ended differently. But that fight had changed him for what he thought was the better.
"Mom…Dad… I want to become a hero…"
The teenager snapped back to reality as Mr. Hinoguchi's voice echoed back to him. The show was still on, but reaching the end. The woman, Nancy, must have enjoyed the talk. "Anything you want to say before we sign off, Mr. Hinoguchi?"
"Yeah." With that, he turned toward the camera. "To all of you kids with quirks out there, I will say it one more time: with great power, comes great responsibility. Use those quirks right and help others, why don't you?"
The doors of the bus squeaked open, prompting the young lad to abandon the last few minutes of the show just to get on and go home. Taking one of the back seats, he sat down and pondered over those words Mr. Hinoguchi had said.
He's right. Those who are quirkless or of lesser quirks get treated as bad as the gum on people's shoes. And here I am; a quirkless with the dream to become a hero. That's practically double the torment. Mom and Dad weren't supportive because of the lack of a quirk at first. Mom almost dropped a drink she had when she caught me studying nutrition guides and trying to figure out the best one for myself on top of my homework. Then Dad got shocked when I asked him to build me a rock climbing wall to train with…Never happened, though. Nothing has stopped me in these last six years as of yet.
He watched as various lights and objects darted past the window.
Mr. Hinoguchi should have added that being a hero is as much of a responsibility as having a powerful quirk. I can only go to the gym if I keep up with my studies. I have to avoid fighting as much as possible while in school. And I am allowed to get summer jobs to pay extra for anything I think will help me achieve my dream. I can't wait to show the world what I'm made of…
Poking out of the open zipper of his gym bag in his lap was a pamphlet. It was featuring an iconic place to everyone: U.A. High School.
