Prologue
"Why do you want to be a hero, Hannah?"
…
"Am I still speaking to Hannah?"
…
"Noone? Do you want to be–"
"Hannah wants to be a hero because her mother was one. I want to be one so no one else can the people that don't deserve it."
The doctor began to write in his notes. "People that don't deserve it. Noone, wouldn't that risk you getting hurt as well?"
"…I'm someone that deserves it, aren't I?"
The doctor stopped writing. "Just because you THINK you can take it, doesn't mean that you should. Noone, is it okay if I speak with Hannah?"
…
"I'm sorry, doctor, what was your question? I must have been distracted."
"You mentioned you wanted to be a hero. I wanted to know why."
"Oh! Of course. Well, you see, I didn't want to, after what happened. But I think about my mom and what she'd want me to do. I'm supposed to do what I want to, no matter what anyone else says!" She stood up from her chair. "I can do so much good if I put the effort in. Letting anything stop me would only be worse in the end."
The doctor nodded, "But surely you must be concerned about the Vam–"
"Please don't say his name in the presence of my client. It's shown to be an emotional trigger."
The doctor looked up. "...You're new. What's your name?"
She sat back down. "It's Dr. Fletcher. But my name is not important. What IS important, however, is the mental well being of my patient. Let's skip the niceties. She's improved since the incident. Her alters, while problematic at times for her, have become significantly more cooperative."
The doctor spoke to interrupt her. "The goal hasn't been to make the alters cooperate. The goal has been to merge them into a singular mind. I've been very transparent with all of you about that. The fact that you've been made is simply the opposite of what was needed."
"Doctor, I can tell you right now that cooperation is the best thing for her at this time. In fact, one such opportunity would be for her to try to become a hero, along with her other alters that wish to."
The doctor considered what she said. Logical from her point of view, but from others… "Regardless, it isn't your decision if you're even cleared from therapy for hero studies. Until I am confident that you are well, you cannot be leaving. With you appearing, and with no progress towards even non hostile acts from HIM–"
"You live in Kyoto, correct?"
"…I've never told you that."
"But it is true. You commute here every three days to work with your patients, and at the end of that day, you head back to your wife and kids."
"There haven't been any cases of new quirks appearing with each alter. You couldn't have known about this. Who told you?"
"You're becoming erratic, doctor. Please try to calm down. Your marriage depends on it. Especially since you've started seeing people from your college days. I'm sure you realize the consequences of cheating in relation to a marriage. What that might do to your little boys. How your wife will have to explain to your daughter why she can't grow up with a father."
"…You're him, aren't you? The Va–"
"Do NOT compare me to that creature. It's rude." She calmed herself, despite already staying levelheaded. "There's a way to prevent that from happening, doctor."
"You want me to clear you from therapy. Fletcher, you're not well."
"It's DOCTOR Fletcher, and I tried the easy way already. My patient needs this to happen for her. Even if it wasn't safe, it'll be good to study for future purposes." She waited for his response. He remained quiet. "The only thing you lose from agreeing is one less commute."
A pause. "Fine. This will be our last meeting."
"…Doctor, are you okay? You look shaken up. Is everything alright?"
"Hannah? I'm terribly sorry, I must have been lost in thought. I have good news for you. Both you and Noone."
Chapter 1
Izuku Midoriya still couldn't believe he was attending UA. Even standing in front of the main gates felt like a dream. He wanted to pinch himself to see if it was a dream. No, it's better to not risk it, Midoriya decided. It would be better to just head to class and not dwell on any kind of possibility of this being fake.
That is, if he could actually find his classroom. "This place is far too big. How could anyone find any rooms here?" Midoriya started talking to himself. "Maybe someone can guide me there."
As if on cue, he felt someone barge into him, knocking him down onto the ground. "OHMYGOSH I'm so sorry are you okay please I'm so sorry do you need anything?"
Midoriya looked back up towards the person. A girl with red hair up in a ponytail and glasses without lenses. Her eyes were glowing with a green hue as she panicked over him. Or maybe that was just his imagination. He blinked and the glow was gone. "Oh, it's okay, miss. I should've paid more attention to my surroundings. I was too focused trying to find class 1-A."
She helped Midoriya to his feet before responding, "Oh, that's actually where I'm heading. Follow me, we don't want to be late," and started walking. Well, maybe more like jogging.
"I'm Hannah Patton. Before you say anything, I'm from Kyoto, born and raised. It's a long story."
"Uh– I wasn't thinking about that. I was gonna say it's a pleasure to meet you, Patton. I'm Izuku Midoriya."
"Well, Midoriya, I'm glad to meet you. You seem cool."
Midoriya started to blush. A compliment from a girl… "Um–well–I mean–thanks. Eh–you too."
Hannah had been walking with him for a bit before she finally saw the sign for Class 1-A. "Finally! And just in time, I think." She almost opened the door before hesitating. Doubts started to rush through her mind. They're going to be so much better than me. They actually deserve to be here. I only got in because of a chance recommendation. What if they don't even like me? Am I trying too hard? Maybe I'm not trying hard enough.
She finally snapped out of it after hearing Midoriya say, "Patton? Are you okay?"
"Yes! Sorry! I'm just nervous. Let's do this!"
You're trying too hard.
The door slid open. None of the worst happened. The day kept going. Two students were arguing with each other, some others were having their own conversations. Then they started noticing.
One of the guys arguing started walking over to her. Crapcrapcrap he's gonna talk to me what do I do should I compliment him he's got some nice glasses no that's not a good compliment-
Pull yourself together!
She shook her head. He was already talking to Midoriya. "...misjudged you, and for that I am sorry. I am Tenya Iida," he bowed to Midoriya. She noticed then how tense Midoriya looked. They had some kind of history, but not enough to know each other?
"I'm Izuku Midoriya," he said. Ish. Hannah wasn't entirely sure if that counted as talking, even if it was words.
"And who are you, if I may ask?"
She didn't realize he was talking to her. "Oh! I'm Hannah Patton. Nice glasses." Idiot! "So um, yeah it's really nice to meet you, Iida."
"Likewise," Iida smiled, with maybe a little bit of a blush, but Hannah couldn't tell, "Your glasses are nice, too…why don't they have lenses?"
"Um, it's mostly a styling choice," Hannah began to walk further into the room, "I like how glasses look on me, so I just pop the lenses out of some store bought ones."
Iida sat at a desk towards the front of the room. I don't really know anyone else, so…
Hannah sat next to him. She noticed a pink girl starting to write in a notebook. I wonder what she's writing maybe I should ask that'd be a nice icebreaker but I don't wanna invade her privacy oh it doesn't matter I'll just say hi!
"Hey, I'm Hannah Patton. What's your name?"
She looked up, "Hi! I'm Mina Ashido! Tell me, what do you think of Iida?"
Huh? "He seems nice? Why?"
"Oh, nothing," Ashido said as she wrote more in her notebook.
"Everyone to your desks," a voice called out from the hall. Someone laying on the ground in a… sleeping bag? "Eight seconds. If time keeps getting wasted like this, you'll never become heroes."
Is that the teacher? He seems a bit odd. Maybe he's just like that.
"I am Shota Aizawa, and I'll be your homeroom teacher. Now that introductions are out of the way, everyone meet me out on the field so we can start your quirk apprehension test."
You can't pass that.
Shit what do I do about that maybe I should say something wait maybe I'm overreacting it'll be fine I'm sure he knows my situation the school should know at least.
"Patton?" She jumped and looked over to the voice. It was Iida. "Are you okay? You zoned out for a bit."
You're fine. "I'm fine! I was just… lost in thought." Just take the test. "Let's go and rock this!"
Iida gave a…confused? No, a concerned look at her, then turned to head out the door. Oh, no! I didn't mean to worry him.
Why would he be worried?
It was hot outside. Hotter than Hannah thought it would get. April shouldn't get so hot.
That doesn't matter. Focus on what Aizawa is saying.
"What about orientation? We're gonna miss it if we're stuck here taking a test," a girl with brown hair was saying.
"All orientation will do is waste an hour and a half of time that could've been used for training you to become heroes," Aizawa responded, "This test will give me an idea of what I'm working with. Bakugo, how far could you throw?"
"Around 65 meters," the blonde kid that was arguing with Iida spoke up.
"Show us how far you can REALLY throw. Use your quirk when you throw. Don't hold back."
Bakugo went up to throw. As he threw, an explosion fired from his hand, launching the ball further.
"These tests are also to show you your potential," Aizawa continued, "since you didn't get to use them in school, you haven't been able to train them in any effective capacity or even learn how they can work. It should be each of your goals to make yourself as strong as possible, and that starts with your quirk. It'll let you achieve feats like throwing a ball…" he looked down to his phone, "...700 meters. Impressive, Bakugo."
He threw it that far?!
"This is gonna be so fun!" Ashido exclaimed.
"Fun? We're not here for fun," Aizawa began, "Since this is going to be so 'fun,' whoever scores last on this test will be expelled. I won't bother working on those with no potential."
You need to say something right now, Hannah.
"Um, sir," Hannah spoke up, "What am I supposed to do?"
"...What do you mean? I felt like the instructions were fairly clear." Aizawa looked away from the class.
"No, they were. I was just thinking about what I can do since… I don't have a quirk."
Aizawa froze, then turned to Hannah. "You must be Hannah Patton. The rules apply to you as much as anyone else. Prove why you got into UA, and show us why you deserve to be in the hero class instead of someone that actually has a quirk."
Shit. Just do your best.
Hannah noticed the eyes on her. She knew what they were thinking. She met Iida's eyes. Shock.
I should've asked Aizawa in private.