Chapter 18

"Troll what are you doing here!" The blond shouted. Then the blond noticed the boy with Izuku "and useless what do you think you're doing following me to this school"

Izuku ignored Kacchan as he walked past. Izuku sat in his seat and waited for class Bakugo sat down after he declared his dominance to the class.

The class went through introductions. The teacher glared at both Izuku and the blond boy who's name was Hideyoshi Nagachika or Hidé for short. Helpfully telling the class of his quirkless status and telling the class about how Izuku's quirk was shut off due to an undeclared incident.

When it came to the first break no one wanted to speak to either Hidé or Izuku. Izuku resigned himself to eating his lunch alone until he saw Hidé being forcefully walked into a corner of the courtyard by Bakugo and his friends who started using their quirks on him. Izuku went straight to a teacher to tell them about what was happening. He was disgusted when the teacher shrugged and said "Don't worry about Bakugo he'll be fine. He's just teaching the quirkless brat his place." Izuku realised his mistake by trusting the teachers and immediately ran to stop Bakugo.

"Aghh" Hidé screamed as an explosion his arm.

"You still want to be a hero. You're nothing, you'll never be anything. Give up or else" Bakugo said as he kicked the boy in the gut, making him cough up saliva. Bakugo used another explosion more powerful than the last. When the smoke cleared Izuku was standing there with his back taking the blast. Izuku shoved Bakugo away, launching him away before turning and offering a hand to Hidé. It was then the teacher decided to intervene not to help Hidé but Bakugo. Izuku was sent to the principal's office and given detention for the remainder of the week. The teachers hoped it would stop the mutant freak from protecting the quirkless abomination.

That evening Izuku went to the karaoke bar. As he entered the bar he found himself slammed into by a purple blur. As soon as he realised who had attached themselves to his chest he received a painful earphone jack stabbing his arm. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry" he said through his girlish wails.

"What are you sorry for?" She responded in an irritated tone

"That I haven't spoken to you for over a week" he answered unsure

"And?" She continued

"I don't know?" He said wincing back a bit.

Another earphone jack stabbed his other arm "you go away for a month and a villain destroys half the island then don't contact me" she said, amping her jacks harder getting a small "eep" from Izuku. She was upset and worried. The choked laughter of the regular patrons showed she wasn't the only one.

Izuku started to tear up and Jirou realised it may have been a sensitive subject. She guided him to a booth so the two could talk. Izuku explained what had happened and Jirou was shocked not only was he there but he was the demonic villain of Okinawa. He wasn't. Not really, the woman who controlled him; she was the demon.

Jirou hugged Izuku. She couldn't do anything else. Her friend, probably her best friend, was hurting and blamed himself for his own father's death. He was being forced to wear a helmet and he was only free from prison because his quirk was stopped. He could only remove it for a few hours a day. Jirou didn't like it, Izuku was so innocent and he kept being used by villains.

Izuku cried into Jirou's shoulder for much of the night. Jirou sung a few songs whilst Izuku only sung one. Izuku sang Citizen soldier, would anyone care. Jirou was concerned that her friend was going back into his depression. Izuku asked Jirou about her opinion on what to do with Hidé at school. She at first found it funny that Izuku got detention but then found out what for and was angry. She told him he should befriend the guy and support him as he's probably lonely. The two descended into casual conversations talking about how Jirou's first day in junior high had gone. She hadn't had many issues. A few kids thought it was funny to start calling her Earlobes as a result she used her earjacks to zap them making the two laugh. As Izuku was about to leave he remembered that he had a present for Jirou's birthday: a pair of tickets for the next Deep Dope concert at the end of September. He'd already cleared it with Jirou's mom and she was fine with it. He also asked if it would be okay to bring Yaoyorozu to karaoke the next week or two. Jirou agreed but was internally very excited to meet the girl who had essentially nuked her best friend. Izuku felt a tinge of fear at the feral look in Jirou's eyes.

Before Izuku left Jirou asked Fatgum if what Izuku said was true. It wasn't that she didn't believe him but he was so sweet and innocent it was hard for her to imagine him defeating the No2 hero, fighting Star and Stripe and being hit by a nuke and being able to walk away without even a scar after a couple of weeks. Fatgum confirmed everything but he did add that not all scars are external. A statement she wouldn't truly understand. After she gave Izuku another hug and said bye until next time.

At school Izuku became Hidé's unofficial bodyguard. Everytime anyone tried to attack Hidé, Izuku would stop them and get in trouble for attacking them.

Izuku gained a bad reputation at the school and had multiple warnings from teachers. By the end of his first week only Bakugo would attack Hidé.

Izuku had started speaking to Hidé and his happy attitude was a nice change of pace for the school. Hidé didn't seem to mind Izuku and would hang out with him every break they had. He apologised constantly for every warning Izuku received.

At the end of Izuku's first week he was picked up by a HPSC operative, a hero called Slide'n Go. Izuku explained what had been happening at the school and how the quirkless boy was beaten and abused whilst he as one of only 3 who appeared to be mutation quirks was treated with scorn whilst Bakugo was treated with praise for abusing people. The hero agreed to look into it but Izuki could tell he didn't mean it.

The following week Izuku began his extracurricular activities again, dance gymnastics and his music lessons. He also found that the teachers had stopped giving him warnings for protecting Hidé. They hadn't tried to stop the bullying of Hidé though.

During class the teachers covered Destro and the Liberation army. The class heavily implied mutant quirks were abominations and should be removed from the gene pool. They also taught that mutant quirk users were more violent and usually villains. They also implied that strong quirks users are superior to weak quirk users. A boy in the class named Getenko Himura asked if that means that people who were strong with mutant quirks were monsters or heroes. The teacher gave a long-winded response which translated to "they are still mutants"

With the backing of Bakugo who started the rumour that Izuku had killed someone in elementary school people started to "teach the villain a lesson" fully supported by the teachers. Izuku wouldn't fight back against them if they attacked him and would only fight to protect Hidé. It left Izuku with numerous cuts on his back and chest. Pain was a sensation Izuku had only just become familiar with; he was concerned to find he didn't hate it. It made him stop thinking about the ship, the memories that haunted his mind whenever he was alone.