1: Extraordinary/Singular.
When they tell you that you're special, it usually means something good, right? To be so different from others that people call you something unusual, something different, singular, extraordinary even.
In a world where eighty percent of its population is born with a superpower, being singular, different, unique, only means being part of that twenty percent that wasn't lucky, that was born "disabled" without any quirk, without being the same as others.
For Izuku Midoriya, this reality couldn't have been worse. For someone who dreamed, longed for, truly wanted to be a hero, being singular by birth was nothing but a curse.
Being different wasn't something to be happy about, it wasn't something that made him special, even though everyone else said otherwise.
Because the "special" in their words was very different from the "special" that Izuku dreamed of being.
"Idiot! Watch where you're walking." In a school not very different from many others, a scene that shouldn't be common but is more common than people would think was unfolding.
A green-haired boy trembled nervously, apologizing with stutters to the boy he had bumped into.
"Tch! Damn it, you touched me, you've completely dirtied my uniform," he complained, even though there was no stain on his clothes, and the collision had been nothing more than a simple brush of their shoulders.
"Why are you still standing in front of me? Get lost, freak!" Izuku Midoriya didn't hesitate and ran through the school doors after the clear dismissal. The school day had ended, and it was better if he went home before getting into more trouble.
Of course, Izuku had always seemed like the punching bag of the world, so even though he had quickly tried to escape, trouble still found him.
"DEKU! Useless trash, where do you think you're going!?" An irritatingly loud voice made Izuku freeze in his tracks, almost causing him to stumble.
An arm wrapped around his neck, and the smell of nitroglycerin and smoke filled his nostrils, making his pupils tremble.
"K-K-K-Kacchan!"
A blond boy a few inches taller than him smiled with arrogance and anger upon hearing the silly nickname. He squeezed his arm tighter around Izuku's neck as he dragged him into an empty alley, while a few other boys who accompanied him followed, covering their backs and making sure no one noticed anything unusual.
There was the sound of an explosion, a brief flash of light, and the smell of smoke intensified. Shortly after, the group of boys emerged with smiles on their faces, their hands holding some extra bills.
Inside the alley, Izuku writhed on the ground, his clothes damp from falling into a puddle of strange liquid.
"D-Damn it, that was my allowance for the month." Maybe it would have been smarter to leave it at home, but he had seen a new All-Might figurine in a nearby store and wanted to buy it. Now it seemed like he would have to wait.
"This stinks." Looking at the dark liquid of unknown origin, Izuku couldn't help but scrunch up his nose in disgust. His fist clenched tightly for a moment, but that moment passed quickly, and he could only sigh in frustration and resignation.
He should hurry back home and take a long bath.
"That was pretty pathetic, huh..." A strange voice coming from behind surprised him, causing him to turn around quickly. Perched on a fence in a crouching position, a man in his twenties looked at him with a bored expression.
His attire was unusual, some form of combat gear covering his body, and what appeared to be a large sword was strapped to his back.
"W-What?!" Izuku quickly stepped back upon seeing the weapon, his body trembling with nervousness. Who was this person? A hero? Or a villain? The latter thought made his face turn pale.
"Oh, come on, I haven't done anything! Do I really look that intimidating?" Izuku didn't trust his voice to respond adequately, so he simply nodded quickly.
"Tch! Don't worry, kid, I'm not a bad guy," but neither am I a good one, is what he didn't say.
"W-Who are you?" Finally finding the words, Izuku asked with some concern. Why was this stranger talking to him? Did he want to make fun of him?
"A traveler! Or a wanderer? Maybe a vagabund! I can be many things, actually, but right now, I'm your chance!"
"chance?" Confusion was evident in Izuku's voice.
"Of course! Tell me, kid, what is your greatest dream? What's the desire in your heart?"
Izuku forced himself to calm down. The situation was strange in many ways, and he didn't fully understand the man's intentions, but his question had only one answer, one that he gave with surprising firmness and determination.
"I want to be a hero!" Anyone who heard the fire in his voice would doubt if he was the same boy who had been trembling and stuttering a few seconds before. That fire in his eyes made the man smile.
"But even if you want to be a hero... can you do it without any power?" The question seemed to extinguish all the candles in Izuku's body. His posture, which had gained some firmness, instantly collapsed.
But even if most of his confidence had dissipated, Izuku still had a spark in him.
"E-Even if it seems impossible, I... I'll try!"
"Perhaps a bit scrawny and lacking in confidence, but you still have that spark in you, and that will do," the man smiled and smoothly jumped down to stand in front of Izuku.
"You can call me Dan, and like I said before, I'm your chance! One in a million, or even a billion! Rejoice, kid, because I'm going to make you a hero!"
"What?!"
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From there on, things only became more confusing for Izuku.
The man named Dan somehow convinced him to let him train him. It wasn't really that hard, Izuku had spent his whole life wishing, yearning for a chance, for someone to tell him that his dream wasn't impossible, for someone to support him. Dan, even if he was a strange guy and said confusing words, became that person. And his actions proved it.
"The first step to being a hero is to have the physique of a Greek god! I won't accept anything less! That's why I've devised a one-year training plan, become Hercules in twelve steps or less! Not literally, of course..." Dan provided the equipment and training methods that Izuku hadn't expected.
He had only thought he'd do some exercises with whatever he had on hand, but somehow Dan pulled a whole set of training equipment from somewhere and rented an isolated space near his home to help him train.
How much money was he spending?!
But even if he was worried about his new... teacher's finances, Izuku didn't stop giving his all.
As a scrawny 14-year-old, starting to exercise suddenly was tough, very tough, but with Dan's encouragement and care, Izuku demonstrated the same determination that had kept him afloat throughout his life despite harassment and discrimination.
Slowly but steadily, his body began to get in shape.
"The second step to being a hero is to kick butt like a badass! You have to do it with style and make every move practical and fantastic at the same time. Photos should capture your best angles! Your future fan club will need that material for their lonely nights!"
"F-Fan club!?" Blushing, Izuku couldn't help but stammer, and Dan couldn't help but sigh.
"We'll work on that, too..."
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Learning to fight was very different from what Izuku expected. He had anticipated being defeated, but he didn't expect to be beaten so badly.
"Oof!" His back hit the ground, and he felt the air leave his lungs involuntarily.
"Come on, is that all you've got?! Is that all your dreams are worth?!" In the face of Dan's taunting, Izuku forced himself to stand up slowly. His vision was somewhat blurred by sweat and tears.
It hurt, it hurt a lot. Every blow felt like being hit by an out-of-control truck. But despite that, even if his body screamed to stay down and his feet felt like noodles, even with all of that, Izuku didn't want to give up. He didn't want to give in!
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"The third step to being a hero is a radiant smile! Come on, give me your best smile!" Dan smiled widely as an example.
In return, Izuku gave the worst imitation of a smile that Dan had ever seen.
"Oh, come on! You like All-Might, and that's all you can give me?! Come on, bring it from the heart, give me that smile, the one that says 'I'm here!' I know you can do it!"
Izuku took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and thought about his past, all the times he'd been bullied, scorned, or simply treated as if he didn't exist. He thought about his mother's tears and her lack of faith in his dreams, his lonely and sad life. He thought about that figure walking through the fire with a smile on his face, with a back that seemed capable of holding up the entire world, and how everything seemed brighter with his presence.
On all those nights when he wondered if it was worth continuing, his words gave him the courage he didn't seem to have.
"Because I am here!" he opened his eyes, shining like brilliant green gems.
"Exactly!" Dan exclaimed with joy, looking at that huge, genuine smile on Izuku's face.
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Time seemed to blur for Izuku now. His entire life had always felt like it was submerged in a stagnant pond filled with dirty water and garbage.
Now, it was as if someone had looked at that pond, been disgusted, and decided to clean it thoroughly. The water became clearer and more crystalline, and a stream seemed to connect to it, creating a current that flowed into the vast ocean. Where before the sunlight had seemed so faint as to be nonexistent, it now completely penetrated the clear water, even reaching the bottom.
"Step four! Confidence! A hero must always be worthy of it, always exude an aura that tells people, 'I can count on him!' So we must make that confidence burst from every pore of your skin like sweat!"
"That's a strange analogy, Sensei," Izuku, now less nervous around Dan, couldn't help but comment.
"You got it?" the man asked.
"Yeah?"
"Then it works!"
Having gotten used to his strange teacher, Izuku could only sigh before following the man to a crowded plaza.
"What are we doing here?" Izuku looked around. It was midday on a weekend, so the place was packed.
"Here, you'll gain confidence! Go, Izuku! Ask a girl out!"
"W-What!?"
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Needless to say, Izuku couldn't invite a girl out that day. He nearly fainted more than three times, and the other ten times, he could barely say a word. His greatest achievement was saying "hello" to a girl before running away.
They would have to work on that.
Dan sighed, looking at his dejected student sitting on a bench after his day of failure.
"Cheer up, man! At least you managed to greet a girl without exploding!"
"That's not helping, Sensei," Izuku replied with some reluctance.
"And how is this supposed to make me exude confidence from every pore of my skin?" Even saying it made it sound weird to Izuku.
"It's simple, my young friend! Once you've been rejected a hundred times, you won't be afraid of anything anymore. Your confidence will increase after each rejection, and in less time than you realize, your broken heart will be rebuilt into an impenetrable fortress. Your self-doubt will be reduced to nothing, leaving only confidence!"
"W-Wait! The plan is for me to get rejected?" In the face of Izuku's incredulous look, Dan couldn't help but tilt his head in consternation.
"Of course. Did you expect someone to accept?"
Silence was the only response.
That day, Izuku swore he would punch his teacher in the face once, just once!
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Blow after blow, a feint in one moment, a kick in the next, and a well-directed elbow – combat practice made Izuku's blood pump. But unlike other times, this time he was a man on a mission!
His target: his sensei's face! His method: a solid punch!
Too bad, even with his best effort, Izuku couldn't even graze him.
"You've improved quite a bit. At this point, you should be able to go one-on-one with a Beowolf and win," his teacher commented as he watched Izuku catch his breath while lying on the ground.
"A what?"
"Never mind. I think it's time for the next step!" Izuku suddenly got up, looking at his teacher with nervousness and distrust, still remembering the fourth step.
"Come on, you'll like this one more, the fifth step! Looking like a hero! We're going to design your costume!" he exclaimed with clear excitement.
"A costume?! But I'm not even an official hero!"
"But you're going to that school, right? U.A.? Don't their students need their hero costumes?"
"But I haven't even taken the exam! I don't even know if I can get in!" Izuku said with clear nervousness, doubt creeping in. But a hand on his shoulder cleared his mind. When he looked up, he saw his teacher's smile, filled with confidence.
"Of course, you'll get in! Who do you think I am?! Those I train can overcome any stupid test that comes their way!"
"Stupid test?!" Ignoring his words, Dan continued.
"Besides, all this training is for that, right? Getting into U.A. If you don't even have confidence after all this time, what's the point of continuing?"
These words calmed Izuku. "It's true, right? What's the point of all this effort if I don't even think I can get in?" Suddenly, the doubts in his mind and the distrust seemed to fade.
"You're right, Sensei! Let's design my costume!" His excitement made Dan smile, and he patted his back.
"That's the spirit, kid! That self-confidence! See how the fourth step works?! And you doubted it, tch."
Suddenly, Izuku didn't seem so excited anymore.
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Designing his costume was one of the most fun things Izuku had ever done in his life. All those years analyzing heroes and quirks seemed to shine in this moment, as if all that effort had not been for nothing. They considered all possible scenarios, and Dan provided all the required materials.
While it wasn't a definitive suit capable of countering everything, it was versatile enough to face any situation, no matter how unusual. Adding so many small support gadgets must have cost a fortune, but somehow Dan managed to get everything.
"Phew! We've really outdone ourselves!" In front of them, the suit was displayed on a mannequin.
"It's incredible," Izuku felt his eyes welling up, and tears threatened to fall. Before him was everything he had ever dreamed of, everything he had worked so hard to achieve, as if it were the embodiment of his ideal.
If it weren't for Dan's training, he would have already started crying.
"Come on, cheer up! This is just one of the first steps to achieving your dream!"
Dan patted his back good-naturedly. 'It's almost time, eh?' his eyes glanced at the calendar – only one month until the U.A. entrance exam. Just one month before he had to leave. 'Let's make it count!'
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The next thirty days were the toughest and most satisfying of all. Every day, Izuku woke up with an energy he didn't know he possessed, despite being beaten to exhaustion.
Between studying, training, and planning his future as a hero, time flew by.
On Dagobah Beach, two agile figures navigated through vast piles of trash. Their bodies jumped and dodged every obstacle with practiced ease.
Their fists and kicks occasionally crossed in a battle for supremacy. Izuku spun, attempting to connect his knee to his teacher's stomach, but Dan easily dodged the attempt, and his fist easily broke through Izuku's defense, causing his head to turn to the side. But that's what the green-haired boy was after!
In a quick move, his body twisted, and a fist connected with Dan's face. Their bodies, suspended in mid-air, seemed to freeze for a moment before both fell to the ground. Dan touched his chin, where Izuku's fist had connected. He didn't seem hurt at all, but despite that, Izuku couldn't help but burst into laughter.
"I did it!"
Seeing him so excited, Dan laughed with him.
"You did it!"
The duo laughed until their lungs demanded air, and even with that, a big smile was plastered on their faces. Both bodies lay on the trash and sand, looking at the morning blue sky.
"The time has come, Izuku. It's time for you to take the exam. How do you feel?"
"Like I'm dreaming," he couldn't help but respond.
A year ago, he was just a scrawny kid with dreams and goals that seemed impossible. Now, even if he still looked like that kid, he felt completely different. He felt like he could do it. He could be a hero.
"Thank you."
"Huh?" At the unexpected gratitude, Dan couldn't help but look at him.
"Thank you for helping me, for training me, for believing in me even when I doubted. I really don't think I would have come this far without you, Sensei." The seriousness in his tone made Dan smile with pride.
"Believe me, you would have gone far even without me."
Izuku didn't refute it, though he wanted to. Could he have achieved so much without his sensei's help?
That question didn't have an answer, at least not for his current self.
Izuku looked at the sky and thought of something else.
"When we first met, you asked me if I believed I could be a hero even without a power. A year ago, I doubted, I thought it would be impossible. But today, I believe I can do it! I believe I can be a hero even without any power!" Izuku straightened up and looked at the sunrise.
"I believe I can be a hero!" His words resonated on the beach, as if they were a fact and not a doubt or a question. He stood up and looked at his fist, which he clenched with a strength and confidence he never imagined having.
"I believe I can get into U.A. even without a Quirk!" At his astonishing proclamation, Dan suddenly seemed somewhat embarrassed.
"Uh-oh..."
"Uh, what's going on, Sensei?" Noticing his strangeness, Izuku turned to look at him. Dan's eyes didn't seem able to meet Izuku's, and with a nervous smile he had never seen on him, he stood up and approached him, his voice low and somewhat embarrassed.
"I may have forgotten something..."
"Huh?" Izuku tilted his head in confusion. Suddenly, with a sudden confidence, Dan placed his hand on Izuku's shoulder, and his body began to glow with a silvery color.
"The sixth step to becoming a hero! Having a unique power or ability! Rejoice, Izuku Midoriya, because you will gain a superpower!" At his exclamation, the light emanating from his body increased and began to flood Izuku's body.
"EH? Wait, what!?" Izuku felt an energy like no other begin to flood every cell of his body, and suddenly, a fire ignited deep within himself. His soul shone intensely like a blazing fire, and an emerald-colored aura burst from within him. The air stirred, and the sand and trash around him shot up into the sky.
"UUuuuooooooohhh! What intensity! You have a great deal of it within you! Appropriate for a hero!"
"This!? What!? No! How!? What!?" In his amazement, Dan patted Izuku on the shoulder with appreciation and suddenly pulled out a small notebook and a strange watch.
"I no longer have time to explain further. Everything you need to know is in this notebook. The watch is an extra gift. I don't know if we'll see each other again, Izuku, but I truly wish you success in everything you set out to do. I hope you become the greatest hero you can be. The time I spent in this world was valuable, and I will treasure it forever. Oh, and don't forget to give that blond kid a good punch in the face for me, okay?"
The incredulous and still dumbfounded Izuku could only nod dumbly before realizing that his teacher's body was starting to fade into the air.
"What!? No! Wait, there are still things I need to ask!" He reached out his hand, trying to grab his teacher, but it passed through the air.
"Everything is in the notebook, Izuku! Remember not to lose it! Good luck, kid!"
And just like that, Izuku was left alone in the middle of a trash beach, the sun illuminating his body and an emerald aura emanating from him. Faced with these events, there was only one word he could utter.
"What the heck?!"
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Note:
What is this! A new story?! At this hour?! I'm sorry, but this idea came to me in a burst of inspiration, and I couldn't help but write and post it. If there are any mistakes, I'll fix them tomorrow!