I watched Izuku's daily life carefully with the use of a Quirk called 'See me not', the last user used it for... well I don't feel comfortable thinking about what that predator did. Doesn't matter though, I made it so that he couldn't hurt anyone else even without his power- I killed him- though I suppose it's my Quirk now isn't it? They all are really.
The Quirk allows me to, mask my presence from others, unless I try to draw their attention I'm essentially invisible to them, it's very useful for spy work and I've been making sure to spectate the protagonist of this anime worlds daily life.
Like expected it's terrible.
As much as it enraged me to watch the teacher and his classmates belittle him, to watch him be used as a punching bag to relieve Bakugo's frustrations- at what? You have literally everything you spoiled brat- it made my blood boil when I saw Izuku lower himself to this bully. It was like looking at a whipped dog.
Granted I knew that fighting back only got you beaten up worst, I've had that lesson grinded onto me a number of times, but watching him act as though he deserved it all and just lie there and accept it was insulting to me. Quirks don't determine a person's status, I most certainly wasn't worthless just because I didn't have a Quirk, by lying there and acting as though they're in the right he might as well be saying that discrimination against the Quirkless is justified, that we deserve this societies prejudice. That we aren't worth even the air we breath.
The only save and grace for this kid was... his emotions.
Using 'Empath' I could see exactly what he's feeling.
I used the power of this Quirk and looked directly at Izuku Midoriya. He was a massive cloud of both blue and grey- sadness and shame- for a moment I was immensely disappointed by what I saw. I was convinced that this boy couldn't want revenge against Bakugo then how could he ever feel rage.
I was moving to turn my Quirk off and give up on recruiting Izuku into my group however something caught my eye in the very eye of his storm of emotions. I saw a black spark, it was constantly going on and off, putting itself out only to be reignited whenever Bakugo or one of his other classmates would demean or abuse him.
There it was. It was tiny, almost unnoticeable, but it was there. Izuku Midoriya hated the way he was treated.
The realisation was enough to make a wide smirk spread on my lips in place of the blank expression of disappointment that once ruled over my face.
He was repressing his feeling of hatred. And I think that I know exactly why.
In the anime Izuku was simply too pure and too good to be human, he was so self sacrificial and overly selfless to the point that he nearly lost his arms because of it. I've asked myself many time this question 'just how can any person act so selfless after being treated the way he has his whole life?' And after thinking on it for years, on his suicidal action that the people around him encouraged, to him receiving a Quirk that hurts his body for the sake of other, to receiving one of the strongest Quirks in the world, I can only make one conclusion.
All Might. He's the reason for Midoriya being the way that he is.
All Might was Izuku's shining beacon, a man who gave him the power that he's been so thirsty for his entire life, the man who allowed his dreams to happen by giving his own power to Izuku, the man who saw value in Izuku when the entire world saw him as nothing more than a Quirkless piece of trash.
Midoriya was never a person who didn't feel anger or hatred, in fact I'd say that he felt a lot of it towards the world for what it did to him, but at the same time he was also raised in a generation where All Might was perceived as some all powerful and all loving perfect being that never felt malice or fear towards everything. After All Might gave Izuku his own power, and enabled the dream he's always wished for to come true, he suddenly owed an unpayable debt to his hero, to this ideal figure of what a person should be. So in response he tried to be exactly like All Might, or at least his image of the man, he thought that he had to be the next All Might, a true hero, one who doesn't put his own wellbeing above others, one who doesn't feel hatred or have a need for revenge, one who will always save others with a smile on his face and work himself ragged for the sake of other.
How pathetic.
So he simply bottled up his hatred, or repressed it to be more accurate, so instead of feeling a need to resist or argue against the society that mistreated him he has the belief that the society that was created as a result of his hero's actions cannot be bad in any way, because All Might can't do any wrong, he doesn't feel pain, he doesn't get tired, he's simply above what a human should be both in terms of strength and emotions.
Ohhhh this was perfect.
His entire world view holds itself up on the idea that All Might is the type of person whi he wants to be like, his ideal human being, and I bet that belief only faltered in one single moment in the entire series.
The moment that All Might told him that he couldn't be a hero without a Quirk, the moment he saw his invincible model of a hero did get hurt, the moment when he discovered that All Might could only be a hero for a few hours a day. The moment when his personal hero failed him.
My grin parted my face, if someone saw me I bet that they'd be extremely creeped out, but I didn't care.
The Izuku in the anime and manga was never the real Izuku, at least for most of the show, he was simply a product of this hero society's ideal model of what they think a hero should be, we never saw the real him in the show. All we saw was a brainwashed puppet, one who coped with his low self esteem and terrible view of himself by finding value as the holder of 'One For All', one who was only selfless because that's what he feels he needs to be to pay back All Might and a naïve little boy who doesn't cope well with the idea that maybe the world isn't black and white like he was taught to believe, even if he accepts reality by the end.
Izuku Midoriya is a ticking time bomb of repressed hatred and rage. One that didn't detonate because he received 'One For All'.
So then... all I need to do is make sure that he doesn't get that thing. Right?
Izuku walks home with his uniform hiding the nitro-glycerine burns which stung on his arm.
Today was not a lucky day like yesterday was, they got their test scores back from a maths test and Kaachan got angry when he saw that Izuku did better than him.
Izuku held back tears. Why was he like this? What can he do to stop-
I fail to see why it would be a bad thing to be Quirkless. If you mean the way that society treats those without powers then I'm going to have to disagree with you there
Izuku paused the moment he was about to shed tears when he thought back to that strange man's words. It was ridiculous what he was saying, right? Being Quirkless is like being born inferior, it's something to be ashamed of, how could he possibly be proud of his own worthlessness?
It's not like I'm diseased or anything
Those words made... sense in Izuku's mind? What is he thinking? Why is he questioning his way of thinking so much? He is worthless, that's a fact in his mind. What can he do next to someone as amazing as Kaachan?
The thirteen year old boy sagged down visibly at the mention of the explosive blondes name, Kaachan had everything a hero needs, confidence, determination, a strong Quirk, everything that Izuku lacked Katsuki Bakugo had naturally. He'll be a great hero, strong, confident, tenacious, compa-
Eat shit you damn nerd!
The green haired boy once again shook his head to try and clear up the clashing points in his head. What's he thinking about? Kaachan will be a great hero, a hero needs to be strong to protect and save those around him, something he isn't, what right does he have to judge whether Kaachan will make a great hero when he-
"Hey kid."
Izuku was about to open his apartment door and withdraw to the safety of his bedroom, however found himself frozen in place when the voice of that man from earlier in the day spoke from the doorway next to him.
Izuku was feeling rather tired from his terrible day- but could it be considered terrible when most days are like this?- but decided to speak with the white haired man once again.
"Um hi, I don't know what you want but-"
Izuku was immediately cut off when the man gestured to his arm." You have a burn there, don't you." The man stated as a matter of fact.
Izuku once again froze in place and failed to meet the mans red eyes when he said." I don't know what your talking about."
The man looked at him." I never got your name, what is it?"
His random question confused Izuku a little but he complied and said." Izuku Midoriya."
The man nodded in understanding." Alright then, Izuku, do you think I'm an idiot? Because you would have to be if you think that I'd be fooled by your terrible lying."
Izuku flinched away at his words and closed his eyes for- for him to hurt the freckled boy like everyone else seemed to.
The tall white haired man sighed at the sight of Izuku preparing for a beating. It was positively painful to watch a thirteen year old prepare to be abused as though it were second nature." Just wait here for a moment."
Izuku opened his eyes as he watched the man walk through the doorway he was leaning on, presumably to his own apartment, and came back a few moments later with some burn ointment in hand.
Despite Izuku's protests the man applied the ointment to his tender skin and it immediately took effect to lessen the pain he felt from the wound and a band aid that he placed over the red and pink skin finished the job and his anguish was stopped.
Izuku touched the medical product that stopped him from feeling pain before turning his gaze up to the man who was apparently living right next to him.
"There you go, make sure that you get another one if you take it off an-"
"Why?"
Izuku cut him off immediately as a result of his perplexion of the situation. Why was this stranger showing kindness to him? He's nothing but a worthless Deku so who in the right mind would help him out of the goodness of their heart.
In response to his question the red eyed man rubbed the back of his head slightly." Well I felt kinda bad about earlier, I shouldn't go around picking fights with kids, I won't make it a habit, I just felt like I had to point out that what you were saying is wrong."
His words again confused Izuku." What do you mean by that?"
In response his neighbour scoffed." Well I just had to try and break your depressing illusions about yourself, I knew you for what? A few minutes tops and even I noticed how low your self esteem is, your Quirkless like me correct? Is that the reason you had those burns?"
Izuku immediately felt a flare of indignation at the blasphemous way that this stranger blatantly outed his way of thinking as incorrect but put a lid on his emotions as he questioned this stranger further." What's wrong about the way I think?"
In response red eyes met his green ones and he spoke seriously." Quirkless are a dying people Izuku. And because we're a minority group who are massively outnumbered by the Quirked the population as a whole find it easier to belittle and abuse us, because humans find like looking down on others, it's also made easier by the fact that we don't have special powers of our own to defend ourselves, they see us as weak and inferior because of it and as a result they look down on us to make themselves feel better. We aren't worthless purely because we can't punch buildings into rubble or shoot fire out of our hands and if you think that then it's an insult to me, because if you think that you're worthless purely because of your Quirklessness then what about me?"
Izuku had wide eyes when this stranger was done with his rant. In his entire life Izuku has never heard anyone have an ideology as... alien as this man's is, it was like talking to a robot or another species and despite everything there was a tiny voice in the back of his head that agreed with what he was hearing but-
Izuku simply repeated what he's always been told, be it by that doctor, his classmates, teachers or Kaachan." But we can't be heroes, we can't be like All-"
"What makes a hero Izuku?" The man in a suit asked with a serious expression on his face.
At the question the green boy paused for a moment. He opened his mouth, and then closed it, then opened it, only to keep it shut and think very carefully for a moment before answering." A hero is someone who saves people."
That was his opinion at least. Izuku has always believed that a hero should simply do just that, save people, that if you can do that then your a hero.
The man then asked with crossed arms." And why do you need a Quirk to save people?" He asked very expectantly.
Izuku came up dry honestly. Why was a Quirk necessary to be a hero? It's always just seemed natural to him, a hero needs to be special, a hero needs to be powerful, a hero needs to be unbeatable. Like All Might. But why can't someone like him do that?
Izuku still answered though, even if he doesn't really believe what he's saying." Well you have to be strong to be a hero... if your not then people could die on your watch."
The man merely raised an eyebrow at that." And that doesn't already happen to heroes with Quirks? If that's what you think then your just wrong. Even All Might can't save everyone, he's just one man, he eats, he sleeps, he gets tired and that means that he's not constantly just saving people 24/7 so, logically speaking, he can't save everyone. And if he can't then why should anyone else be expected to?"
Izuku doesn't know how to respond to that. How is he meant to dispute that? It's true that All Might logically shouldn't be able to save everyone, given that it sounds physically impossible but-
"But All Might is- he's... well-" Izuku starts to form an argument but can't quite find the right words to make a good point.
Seeing Izuku fumble the man simply says." My name is Ryu Saiki, if you come up with a decent argument to defend your own suffering then I'll be in here."
With those parting words he walks into his apartment and shuts the door behind him, leaving a gaping and confused Izuku in the hallway to contemplate the words of a white haired stranger.
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