Kei and Izuku could only watch from their lockers, "How is it the new girl has been here for only a period and she's alright being invited to practice and to the party on friday. We're a part of the team and only just heard about the party."
"Have you ever known Kacchan to not be confident in himself? Yaoyorozu is beautiful and Kacchan is just letting everyone know she's off the market." Izuku said, then took a hit from his inhaler, "Come on, we have the rest of the day to get through."
Izuku closed his locker and walked off to second period. The rest of the day was normal, no one besides Kei talked to him. He ate lunch by himself, he wasn't called on in class and he never saw Momo again.
When the final bell of school rang, Izuku gathered all his materials and headed out to his bike. Where he found it to have a flat tire, from a pen that was still sticking out of the tire. Izuku sighed and pulled out the pen and walked his bike to the field that was two blockers away. He was one of the first to arrive, so he pulled out his uniform and padded and headed over to the bathrooms to change.
By time he had changed, Coach arrived and was getting the supplies out of his trunk.
"Hey Coach." Izuku called out, walking over to the car.
"Hey Midoriya." Coach Yuuto said. While he was the coach for the local lacrosse team, he was also the economic teacher for Aldara middle. He was the only teacher that really acknowledged Izuku, and was fair to him, but he kind of treated all the students like that. He never played favorites, act as if he couldn't are less for his student.
"Anything I can help with?" Izuku asked, looking for something to get his mind off from the day.
"Yeah you can put these on." Coach Yuuto pulled out a goalie stick and tossed it to Izuku. Izuku looked them over and began distraught, he was hoping to be a midfielder. As that was the position he had tried out for.
"I thought I had made the first line, why am I the goalie, that's not my position?" Izuku asked.
"You do today, got to let some shot through, first day thing. Get 'em energized, all fired up." Coach Yuuto said, as he carried a bag of lacrosse balls over to the benches.
"Sir, what about me?" Izuku said, as he looked at the gloves over again.
"Try not to take any to the face." Coach Yuuto said. Izuku sighed as walked over to the benches to switch into his lacrosse shoes. As he sat, Kei arrived and sat next to him.
"Midoriya, if you play, then who am I going to have to sit next to. You aren't going to do that to your best friend, right?" Kei said, as he wasn't evening wearing knee pads or the correct shoes.
"This is my only way of not being on the sidelines, I have to take it." Izuku said, as he slipped on the goalie gloves and wrapped them tight. He then stood up and walked to the goal, as he walked he noticed some of the friends of the team had arrived and were waiting to watch practice. Izuku noticed Momo among those from Aldara. Izuku sighed as he never had a shot with her, despite her trying to stand up for him, Izuku knew as soon as she learned his secret, then he would just be forgotten again.
Izuku saw Momo lean over to another student and heard her ask, "Who is the goalie?"
"Oh, that's Midoriya. He gets into trouble, starting fights with other students. Though kind of pointless." The student said.
"Why?" Izuku heard Momo ask but then Coach Yuuto blew his whistle. Izuku almost fell to the ground, from how loud it was. Since when had Coach Yuuto been able to blew a whistle that loud. Izuku cleared the ringing in his ears, then Coach Yutto then said, "We'll start with free shots then to blocked shots."
Izuku sighed, free shots mean that it would just be him and the person taking the shots. All the players lined up 11 meters from the goals in the center of the field, afterwards Coach Yuuto provided them each with a lacrosse ball. "In turn you walk and place your ball and have 15 seconds to decide on your choice of action. Once you hear my whistle, you have five seconds to take your shot. Understood?"
"Yes Coach." All the players yelled. Coach Yuuto blew his whistle and the first player stepped forwards and placed the ball in their lacrosse stick. Izuku was still trying to get the ringing out of his ear, so when the first player took their shot, it went directly into Izuku's chest.
Izuku flew to the ground and had the wind knocked out of him. He could hear everyone laughing and Coach Yuuto yelling, "Midoriya, get your head out of the ground."
Izuku shook his head, his ears clearing and took a deep breath. He grabbed the lacrosse ball and put it in his stick, he threw it back to the player, then got ready. He looked at his next opponent, trying to read his mind to see which way he would kick the ball. Coach Yutto suddenly blew his whistle and the lacrosse ball came flying towards him.
Izuku's entire body flexed and he moved his stick to the left. The lacrosse ball came screaming directly to his stick and he got it. Izuku took a knee from how fast he moved so as not to twist an ankle. His mind caught up with the world and he looked down to see the ball in his next. As he stood up, he saw that everyone was shocked and surprised, but none more than Izuku himself.
He had never had fast reflexes before, yet he had been able to track a lacrosse ball flying at him. He heard Kei cheering for him, giving Izuku a small smirk. He judged the lacrosse ball a bit then and threw it back to his teammates. Coach Yuuto blew his whistle, signaling the next kicker to step forwards and place their ball. 15 seconds laters, the ball came flying towards Izuku. Izuku saw it curving to the right and up, they were trying to put it in the corner.
Izuku sidestepped and brought his stick up, this time only managing to knock the ball off course enough for it to hit the side beam and for it to go out of bounds. Izuku caught his breath and got his feet back under him before hit the ground, as a smile appeared on his face. He had trained over the summer, but his reflexes shouldn't have improved that much.
But clearly they had and Izuku wasn't complaining. He looked very and saw the whistle slip out of Coach Yuuto's lips. Izuku just shrugged and moved back to his starting the next 15 minutes, Izuku was managing to catch or deflect all the lacrosse balls that came flying. No matter how fast they were or where they were flying to.
After catching another one, Izuku noticed Bakugo stepped out of the line and walked up to the front. He shouldered their teammates out of the way and placed his lacrosse ball in his stick's net, yet no one complained, some even took a step back. Izuku locked eyes with Bakugo and Bakugo gave a small growl. He couldn't believe it when long hair thought about standing up for Deku, that's why he had invited her to practice and the party, just so she could see how useless Deku was without any quirk.
"Come on, Deku, let's see what you got." Bakugo said, then Coach Yutto blew his whistle. The world around Izuku slowed down, everyone was moving in slow motion. He could see Bakugo's eyes flicker to the right, but it was faint. His hands were posed to throw the ball left, Izuku took a small step back then swung his stick to the left, just as Bakugo took a small step forward and chuckled the ball.
Izuku looked forward and saw the ball coming towards his face. Izuku panicked and his hands began to move to catch the ball. Izuku closed his eyes, waiting for the impact. However, it never came. He listened for the sound of the lacrosse ball hitting the net behind him but it never did. Izuku finally opened his eyes and saw he had caught the ball within his goalie net. Izuku confusedly tossed the ball into the air and caught it with his hand.
Izuku then held the ball up like a trophy to show that he had caught it. The crowd cheered and Kei yelled out, "That's my friend." Izuku looked over at Coach Yuuto who had an impressed look on his face. Izuku then looked over Bakugo, who was snarling. Izuku smirked, and tossed the ball back to Bakugo.
Bakugo caught the balls with his own hand, and Izuku could see smoke coming out from under it. Bkaugo growled as he turned away from Izuku and walked off the field Izuku quickly turned to face his next opponent.
After blocked kicks, where Kei was put as defender, though he wasn't really good at it, Izuku was called off the field to talk to Coach Yuuto. "Midoriya, due to your unique position." Izuku had a feeling Coach wasn't talking about being a goalie, "There's a specific question I have to ask. I know you trained over the summer since you made first line, but you couldn't get that good that quickly. So I have to ask, are you taking enhancing drugs?"
"You mean steroids?" Izuku asked, and Coach nodded, "No, my mother would kill me and curse my grave."
"Still, when the first game comes, you might be forced to if you want to stay on the team." Coach Yuuto said. Izuku couldn't believe his ears, he got good, but because he didn't have a quirk people were going to assume it was drugs. All because quirkless people couldn't be good at anything.
Izuku huffed and looked at Coach Yuuto, he knew it wasn't Coach's fault. "May I ask to leave Sir."
Coach Yuuto nodded and said, "Yes."
Izuku pulled out of his gloves and walked to his bike. He grabbed his backpack and began walking home. Things had changed, that much was obvious, but it couldn't be from anything he had done. He wasn't that prideful to assume all the training he had made him good enough to block each shot, even pros let one or two slip through.
All the changes had happened all of sudden, but the only thing out of the ordinary for Izuku was he and Kei's visit to the forest. That must have been the cause of this, more specifically whatever attacked him. Izuku needed to figure out what really happened in the forest.
Once Izuku got home, he changed out of his lacrosse uniform, threw his backpack on his bed and quickly got changed into a regular pair of clothes. Izuku made a quick bite to eat, then headed out for the forest. With bikes, last time it had only taken 30 minutes, but this time it took Izuku nearly an hour and half to get to the forest.
With it being Monday, the park was empty, so Izuku headed to the hiking path. He walked around a tree then Kei suddenly asked, "So Coach asked if you were on steroids?"
Not even surprised by his friend's sudden appearance, Izuku looked up and said, "Yeah, how did you figure it out?"
"Let's see, you're not exactly the best player, yet somehow you managed to block, deflect or grab over 50 lacrosse balls without letting one into the goal." Kei said, swinging his legs back and forwards from the branch he was sitting on.
"Don't forget I'm quirkless so that makes me more suspicious." Izuku growled a bit. Why did the world have to be so quirkist. Sure he did have amazing powers, but at the end of the day everyone was still human.
"You know that's not how I see you." Kei said, jumping down from the tree.
"It is for the rest of the world." Izuku said, kicking a rock. It bounced off the ground a few times, but then disappeared down a small hill.
"We're not talking about the rest of the world, we're talking about you." Kei said, putting a hand on his friend's shoulder. He could see the stress in Izuku's mind and he wanted to help.
Izuku took a deep breath then said, "I can't really explain it, except for, time slowed down. Like I had all the time in the world to catch the ball, but that's not the only weird thing."
"We're both weird so you're going to have to explain it further." Kei said, as he followed Izuku.
"I can hear stuff, I shouldn't be able to hear. I can smell things that I haven't been able to before." Izuku said, as he jumped across a small creek.
"Smell things, really." Kei said in a sarcastic tone, that made him sound like he couldn't believe that Izuku would feel the need to point that out.
"Yeah, like I can smell things. Like that mint gum in your pocket." Izuku said, turning around and looking at Kei. Having smelt the gum since before he spotted Kei.
Kei laughed and reached into his pocket, "I don't have any…" Kei stopped as he pulled out a stick of gum, "Oh cool, I thought I had lost this one." Kei unwrapped it and threw the gum into his mouth, "So you think all this started with the bite."
"It's the only logical reason. I can't suddenly gain a quirk at this age, it's unheard of and if I didn't my body won't be adjusted to it. That's why we gain quirks when we're kids, so our body can grow to handle whatever quirk we get. So what if it's like an infection, my body is producing a lot of adrenaline before my body goes into shock." Izuku said, having studied from medicine before he started volunteering at the Animal Shelter.
"You know what? I think you might actually be right, in fact I've eventually heard something like this before. It's a specific kind of infection." Kei said, as he shoved the wrapper into his pocket.
"Really?" Izuku asked.
"Yeah, it was called Lycanthropy." Kei said, with an extremely serious tone, but a dumb look on his face.
"What's that? It sounds bad." Izuku said, becoming extremely concerned for his health.
"Oh yeah, it's the worst. The case studies of it weren't pretty, but luckily it only happens once a month." Kei said, keep in his serious tone of voice, while trying not to laugh at how dumb Izuku could be sometimes.
"Once a month, that still doesn't sound good." Izuku said, as he began to look for his inhaler. He could feel his anxiety rising and the middle of the woods was the last place he wanted to have a asthma attack
"Yeah on the night of the full moon." Kei said, then let out a small wolf howl.
Izuku paused as he processed what Kei just said, then Kei started to laugh, "You're a jerk you know that right." Izuku pushed Kei away.
"I know it's a gift and a curse. Besides you're the one who heard a wolf howling." Kei said.
"I said I thought I heard a wolf howling. And there could be something seriously wrong with me." Izuku said.
"I know! You're a werewolf." Kei said, growling like an animal.
"The supernatural doesn't exist." Izuku said. Of all the crazy ideas Kei had had, one probably took the cake. Sure quirks were a thing, but there was still a limit to how crazy a world could get.
"I'm obviously kidding, but wuirks do. Come on, think about it. Quirks have been around for a long time, what do you think are the chances of one appearing that could turn people into werewolves." Kei said.
"Then I'm sure it would be written something in history, and until I read it, the supernatural simply does not exist." Izuku said.
"Okay, but if you see me in science class trying to melting all the silver I can find, don't blame me." Kei said.
"Why?" Izuku confused by that as Kei wasn't that cautious as a person and rarely planned ahead.
"Cause Friday's a full moon." Kei said.
Izuku suddenly stopped. He looked around and realized where he was, had he instinctively walked back here. Yet he wasn't even thinking about it, he hadn't thought about the dead girl all day. "This is where it was?"
"What?" Kei said, looking around, then crouch down to look at the ground."Nothing is here."
"The other half of the girl. This is where I was attacked, then found the girl." Izuku crouched down and moved some leaves, his broken bat was revealed. "I dropped my inhaler and found the body when I was looking for it."
Kei slapped his leg as he stood up, "Maybe the killer moved the body." Then he took a step back.
"Well if he did, he better have left my inhaler, those things are really expensive." Izuku said, as he grabbed his broken bat.
"Hey Midoriya." Kei said, as he took another step back.
Izuku stood up facing Kei and asked, "What?" Kei made a gesture for Izuku to turn around. Izuku turned around and saw a man that appeared to be in his early 20, wearing all black walking up to them.
"What are you doing here?" The man asked.
"Um." Kei and Izuku looked at each other. Kei was the best at lying, but he couldn't think of anything, and that did not give Izuku much hope.
"This is private property." The man said, as he stopped walking and looked between Kei and Izuku, before settling on Izuku.
"No, this is a part of the park." Kei said.
"The edge of the hiking trails ended, 50 yards in that direction. Notice the stone wall." The man said, pointing behind Izuku and Kei. Izuku and Kei looked behind them and noticed an old stone wall that looked like it had been around for a long time. It was falling apart and moss and grass were growing all over it.
"You need to replace that thing." Kei said.
"Shut up." Izuku said through clenched teeth, then turned back to the man, "Sorry, we didn't know. We're just looking for something, but.."
The man made a gesture for Izuku to continue.
"We'll just forget about it." Izuku said. The man then pulled his hand out of his pocket and tossed Izuku something. Izuku caught and found it to be his inhaler. Izuku looked up to thank the man, but he had already turned around and walked away, "Come on. I'm supposed to be at the Vet volunteering."
However, Kei stopped Izuku and said, "Dude, that was Kuriam Takeo. He's only a few years older than us. His family was really rich and had a lot of history with Musufatu, especially in the quirk revolution wars."
"Was?" Izuku said.
"They were killed. What, 10 years ago? Their house burned down and they were trapped inside, it took days for the police and heroes to search through the remains to find the bodies." Kei said as if he was telling a story.
"Wonder what he's doing back in town." Izuku said, then hit Kei across the chest, "Come on, I need to get to the animal clinic and you need to get home."
Together they walked to the park, where Kei got on his bike and bid his friend farewell. While Kei went south, Izuku headed north. Izuku walked alongside the road until he hit the main city, then head east until he arrived at arrived Dr. Asa's Animal Clinic. He walked around to the back door and pulled out from his back pocket and unlocked the door.
He walked in and said, "Dr. Asa I'm here."
"Yeah Midoriya, happy to see you're serious about working here." Dr. Asa said, coming around the corner. He was a shorter older gentleman, and had little twigs with leaves around his body. There wasn't much he could do with the twigs, not that they ever got in his way, "You seemed excited to have this opportunity."
"Well there weren't many that were willing to hire me." Izuku said, as he grabbed a bag of cat feed and hauled it over his shoulder. Izuku knew he should have felt some bite in his abdomen but he didn't. However, that did remind him of something, "Hey Doc, would you be able to identify an animal bite for me."
"Is this for a school paper of some kind?" Dr. Asa said as he walked past Izuku to put a bottle of medicine back into a locker drawer.
"Um, not exactly. It's more personal in nature." Izuku said, as he set the cat food next to all the bowls that were used to feed the cats.
Dr. Asa locked the drawer, then turned around, "Alright let's see the photo."
"It's not exactly a photo." Izuku said, as he began to feel up his shirt. Dr. Asa saw the bandage and immediately ran over.
"You were attacked? When?" Dr. Asa said, holding a hand close to Izuku's side but not touching it. His hand waved as if he was going to be attacked from the bandage.
"Yesterday evening. I haven't felt that much pain, even during lacrosse practice." Izuku said, then began to peel back the bandage, "It's weird, but after I was bitten, I heard a wolf howl, but there haven't been wolves in Japan for some time."
"Well I'll see if I can identify the animal by the bite mark," Dr Asa said. Izuku nodded and pulled back the bandage, however, the injury on this side was missing. The skin was a little raw, but there was no scarring or any sign that there had been an injury in the first place, "Well all I see is the side of my assistant."
Izuku paused for a second, then pulled the bandage off the rest of the way and dropped his shirt, " I swear, I was attacked by some kind of large animal."
Dr. Asa stepped around, mumbling something that Izuku didn't understand, "Well, it could have been a recalled dream that you see so clearly that you think of it being a memory."
"No, it wasn't a dream. I even showed it to my friend Kei." Izuku said, as he balled up the bandage, still trying to processes that he didn't need any more.
"Well you don't have a regeneration quirk, so that's out of the question too. And besides those theories, there is nothing else to explain your mysterious injury." Dr. Asa said, sat down on a stool. For a moment a sense of dread appeared on his face. This sense of dread was masked with a smile, as he says, "For tonight, I'm going to leave a checklist of stuff to do before locking up. Think you can handle it."
"It's only my second day." Izuku said, still trying to not focus on his vanishing wound and failing. He didn't have a quirk and regeneration quirk were rare and he didn't know anyone that had one. So how had his side healed so quickly?
"And you learned a lot on your first day. I'm sure you'll be fine, mainly it is making sure the animals are fed and the locks are secure. Shouldn't be too hard for you, you're a quick learner Midoriya." Dr. Asa said as he stood up from his stool to make the list.
"Are you sure, Doc?" Izuku said, as he walked over to Dr. Asa.
"The worst you can do is burn the place down. Maybe then I'll have an excuse to finally retire." Dr. Asa joked, he noticed the stress on Izuku face, "You'll be fine."
Izuku didn't believe in Dr. Asa's confidence in himself. Dr. Asa wrote the list then handed it to Izuku, "There's some more complex and dangerous stuff that I'll handle before heading out, but everything on that list is what you would normally do if you owned a pet."
Izuku looked down at the list and saw the truth in Dr. Asa's words. He had never owned a pet, but the list was full of stuff that seemed normal to do. First on the list was sweeping and vacuuming the front lobby, no one was currently in it, so it seemed the perfect time to do it
Izuku headed out to the front and cleaned the front lobby. By the time he was done with it, Dr. Asa called out that he would be leaving. Izuku acknowledged him then set out on completing the rest of the list.
Last on the list was feeding the dogs and cats. As Izuku began feeding the dogs, a storm rolled in again, similar to the night before, but it was still in the distance. Izuku quickly fed the dogs, then began on the cats. However the moment Izuku walked in to feed the cats, they began hissing and crying loudly. Izuku figured it was the storm, but hadn't reached the clinic yet, then suddenly the cat's cry went straight through Izuku's ear.
A massive headache quickly formed in his head and he had to walk out to have a single thought. As he closed the door behind him he noticed the cats began to calm down. He thought about heading back in to feed them, but then he heard a worried knock on the front door. He quickly walked to the front and saw Momo Yaoyorozu standing outside. Her hair was wet and clung to her face, and matched her watery eyes.
Izuku walked over to the door and opened it. Before he could get a word out, Momo said, "It happened so fast. I was changing the song on my headphones, then before I knew it I hit it.
She began to cry so Izuku said, "What exactly did you hit?"
"A dog." Momo forced out before she took a shallow breath.
"Can you tell me where it is, so I can call animal control." Izuku said, putting a reassuring hand on Momo's shoulder.
"It's… It's right down the street on the corner." Momo said through tries. Izuku nodded, it was close, he could handle it. Momo led him to the street corner. When they followed a dog on the ground, as they approached it, it raised its head and tried to bite Momo. Momo jumped back and let a small cry escape her lip.
"It's okay. It's just scaried." Izuku said, as he saw that was the main emotion within the dog's eyes.
"That makes two of us." Momo said, taking another step back.
"Let's see if I have any better luck." Izuku said, as he crouched down to be eye level with the dog. The dog locked eyes with Izuku then looked as if it was going to bark, but then it lowered its head and began to whimper. Izuku smiled and reached forwards and scratched the dog's head, "See, they need to know that they can trust us and that we trust them." Izuku scooped the dog up and carried it back to the clinic
Where he took the dog to the back and placed it on a metal table, then looked the dog over for injury. He heard Momo walk in, so he said, "She's just got a broken leg. I've seen the doctor do them before, so I can do it myself, then give her a painkiller for now. No collar, I'll have a look around tomorrow, call the owner when I do."
Momo nodded, so Izuu grabbed a gauze wrapped then walked back over to the dog. He set the bone the best he could, then began to wrap the dog's legs in the gauze. After a few minutes it was completely wrapped and the dog seemed to relax. Izuku then looked over at Momo and noticed her wet clothes, while he tried hard to not look at how her shirt hugged her curves, he said, "We have some extra uniform shirts."
"No, I don't want to bother you any further." Momo said, as she chewed a bit on her nail before stopping.
"It's no issue." Izuku said as he walked over to a floor to ceiling cabinet and pulled out a maroon shirt, "Here." Izuku tossed Momo the shirt, "You can change in one of the empty rooms."
Momo caught the shirt and said, "Thank you." She left to get change, while Izuku walked back to the dog. The dog lifted its head, looked towards the door Momo had just walked out, then back at Izuku and licked his face.
"Oh shut up." Izuku said, then fed the dog the painkiller he had grabbed from the cabinet, "I'm not going to look." Momo returned shortly afterwards, brushing her hair. Izuku was confused where she got the comb from.
"Thank you, but you really didn't have to do that." Momo said, but she was happy to have a dry shirt on.
"It's no problem." Izuku said, as he scratched the dog's head.
"It's just that I feel like an idiot." Momo said, as she sat down on a stool.
"It's okay, it was an accident." Izuku said, remember all the time he practically did first aid on himself to cover up the the burns he had. Those times weren't accidents, but this was.
"I don't know, maybe because I freaked out like a total girl. I'm training to be a pro hero, but I can't handle accidentally running into a dog." Momo said, as she continued to brush her hair.
"Well you are a girl, so I think you're allowed to… you're training to be a pro hero." Izuku said, as he sat down across from Momo. He had to rein himself from freaking out.
"Well I don't want to follow in my father's footsteps and with my quirk, I thought I could become a pro hero. But with how I just acted like a girly girl, maybe not." Momo said.
"Yeah, everyone has a bad day. You just moved and it was your first day at a new school." Izuku said.
"How did you…" Momo said, then finally realized who she was talking to, "Midoriya."
Izuku blushed that a girl as beautiful as Momo would remember her name, "In the flesh." He said before he said anything embarrassing.
"Small world I guess. I saw you at practice, I don't know lacrosse but you handled yourself pretty well." Momo said, as she rubbed her arm a bit to warm up. How could a boy that seems as sweet as Izuku, be called a troublemaker.
"Well I trained over the summer. Though that was my first time as goalie, Coach wanted to see how I would do." Izuku said, as he went back to rubbing the dog's head, "So you said you wanted to be a pro hero, you must have an amazing quirk."
Momo beamed a bit with light, and said, "It's nice to have. I struggled in the beginning to control it."
"Is it hard to do so? Control it I mean?" Izuku said.
"Maybe control isn't the best word, it's not like I have super strength. Maybe use or understand would be better." Momo said as she began scratching the dog's head too. Doing so, Momo heard her heartrate drop a bit and her shoulder relaxed.
"How so?" Izuku asked, he enjoyed seeing new quirk and what the possibilities of them were.
"Well I can transform the lipids in my body into inorganic materials and create an object, but to do so I need to know the atom structure of the object." Momo said, then was taken back when Izuku suddenly pulled out a notebook and began writing. Momo watched for a bit, then recognized the notebook as the same one Izuku had been drawing in at school, "What are you writing."
Izuku paused for a second, then looked up at her, "Oh sorry, I take notes about quirks that I find cool and I've never heard of one that's like your's."
"Oh, I remember you drawing Mount Lady in science." Momo said, remember how detailed Izuku's drawing was. She still wanted to ask if that dealt with his quirk.
"Well she's a new pro hero that debuted only early this year, so I have new stuff to add everyday." Izuku said, embarrassing Momo had seen his drawing. He hadn't let anyone seen them before, not even his mother
"Well I think it looked lovely, very realistic. I guess you have a lot of practice." Momo said.
"Well I've been making notes since I was a kid. I've always wanted to be a pro hero." Izuku said, in a solemn voice.
"Do you no longer want to be a pro hero… Sorry, it's just you sounded sad when you said you're always wanted to be a pro hero. Is your quirk not suited for it?" Momo asked.
Izuku didn't answer but moved back to the cabinet as if to grab something. Momo heard something shaking then a hiss of air being released. Momo then noticed Izuku looked a bit more relaxed, but stress was still evident in his body language.
"Midoriya are you okay?" Momo said standing up from the table, causing the dog to start whining again. Momo walked over to Izuku and raised a hand to put on his shoulder.
"Please don't." Izuku softly said, causing Momo to pause then withdraw her hand.
"Is your quirk a topic that you don't like talking about?" Momo asked, as she took a small step back. Izuku put his hands on the counter and Momo saw a small device in his right hand, she recognized it as an inhaler, "Is that why my question…. You have asthma."
Izuku didn't enjoy talking about his quirk, or the lack of one, or his asthma, but if he had to choose one he preferred to talk about his asthma. As long as it kept Momo from asking about his quirk. "Yes, growing up I always wanted to be a hero, but when I was diagnosed with asthma my chances practically became zero. I take notes in hope of becoming a scientist that specializes in quirks."
"Oh." Momo said. Izuku's goal of becoming a scientist was an admirable goal, as though quirks had been there for many generations. Deciphering the genetic markers of quirk was still being researched, "Midoriya, do you have a phone I can use, mine broke when I fell over."
Izuku took a deep breath then said, "There's a phone in the front desk you can use. I'll walk you to it."
"What about the dog?" Momo asked.
"She'll live, just hope she doesn't sue. I'll put her in bed for the night" Izuku said, getting a small laugh out of Momo. Izuku walked over and gently lifted the dog off the table and carried her to a bed in the back, with Momo following him. Once the dog was settled down, Izuku walked Momo to the front room and pulled out the phone.
Momo thanked Izuku then tapped in her mom's phone number. It quickly picked up, "Hey it's Momo. I'm fine, just got into a bit of an accident." "I ran into a dog and knocked it over. We're both fine, there was a veterinarian down the street." "My phone broke when I fell over, I'm calling you from the veterinarian's phone."
Momo paused, then looked over at Izuku, "My mom needs the address." Momo pointed the phone away from her mouth so as to pick up Izuku's voice.
"It's 21575 Moonlight avenue." Izuku said.
"Did you get that?" Momo asked, "That was one of the workers." "MOM!" Momo screamed then slammed the phone down, "Oh Sorry."
"It's okay. I can guess what your mom said." Izuku said, as he had had many conversations with his mom that ended like that.
"My mom is coming to pick me up, she'll be here shortly." Momo said.
Izuku nodded and said, "You can have a seat while you wait." Momo nodded and walked out to the reception area and took a chair. Izuku sat down behind the desk and looked for something to do, but he had done all Dr. Asa wrote down. Finally he looked up at Momo and asked, "Yaoyorozu, I was wondering, I mean is it really a family night on Friday?"
Momo dropped her head and said, "No, family night was a total lie."
Izuku took a long breath and then asked, "Then would you like to go to the party with me?"
Izuku was sweet and seem like genuinely nice gentleman, the total opposite from the boys from her old school. Boys that her father had to chase off, something Momo herself had gotten really good at. Momo began to answer, but then headlights filled the office and a small horn went off. Momo quickly jumped up and walked to the door. However, as she began to open it, she stopped then turned around, "I would Midoriya. I would like to go to the party with you."
Izuku nodded, allowing Momo to walk out. As soon as the door closed, Izuku's knees went weak, causing him to fall. He hit the edge of the chair, pushing it back and allowing him to fall to the ground. Izuku couldn't believe he had just asked a girl out to a party, especially one as beautiful as Momo Yaozoyoruz.
The head light pulled backwards and left the parking lot, giving Izuku a moment of clarity. He sat on the floor for a bit longer, then he stood up and locked the front door. It was time for him to go home and get some rest, he had a long week ahead of him. Izuku quickly checked all the exterior doors and windows, then walked outside and went home.
At home he took a cold shower, then changed into a pair of pajama shorts then hopped in bed. He laid his head on his pillow and looked up through his window at the moon, it's light bathing his room. This day hadn't gone the way he was expecting, but that wasn't a bad thing. He had spent his entire life living with no direction, but maybe in this last semester of middle school that could change.
Momo seemed interested in him, or she wouldn't have accepted his offer. Maybe he could keep his quirkless secret a secret a bit longer, but eventually she would learn. Izuku shook his head to get that thought out of his head, he would deal with it when he came across the bridge.
Izuku closed his eyes to go to sleep and roll onto his side. However, his mattress became wet and stiff, and it felt like something was poking him in his ribs. Izuku quickly shot up and looked around him. He was no longer in his room, his rooms had walls, his current locations did not.
It was foggy around him, but Izuku could see trees all around him. Izuku shook his head but his vision stayed the same. Telling him he wasn't dreaming about being in a forest, he actually was. Izuku quickly stood up, using a fallen tree to brace himself on. The cold wet ground covered in leaves made Izuku shivered a bit. He was confused about how he could have gotten out here.
Izuku took another look around, his eyes passing a dark figure. Izuku's eyes shot back to the dark figure, it was the same one from the night before. This time however it was on all fours and staring directly at Izuku. Izuku took a hallowed breath, then the next second he took off in the opposite direction.
Izuku could hear the creature, or whatever it was following him. Its feets, paws shook the ground as it ran. Izuku knew he couldn't slow down, or the creature would easily catch up to him. He willed his legs to move faster, not noticing he was running faster then he had ever before. Trees whipped past as Izuku ran for his dear life, he might not have done a lot with his life and might never really got to. But his conversation with Momo gave him hope that his life would get better.
Izuku looked over his shoulder to see if he had last seen the creature, only to feel his feet miss the ground. Izuku's eyes became dinner plates, as he looked forwards and found him falling into a stream. His head went under water, and he had to stop himself from taking a breath.
He kicked as hard as he could and shortly afterwards, his head broke the surface of the water. He took a long breath, before remembering the creature, causing him to look around in the forest but he couldn't find the creature.
Izuku shook his head, and his vision changed. He was no longer in the forest, or swimming in a stream. He was in a pool and found an elderly gentleman watering his flower. Izuku wiped the water off his face and smiled, "Good Morning"
The elderly gentleman gave a small wave. Izuku nodded, then quickly swam out of the pool and began walking to the gate. As he reached the gate, he opened it then quickly took off running to get home.
When he got home Izuku realized he had 45 minutes to get to school. In a panic he threw on a shirt, changed into a pair of pants, grabbed his backpack and took off to school. He would have to worry about fixing his bike tire when he got home.
At school, Izuku ran into his first period, Economics just as the bell rang. He sat down in the back as usual and did his best to pay attention. However, his morning was still fresh in his mind. He was still confused of how he could have woken up in a pool, he wasn't known to sleep walk.
Izuku thought about this throughout school, but fortunately once school was out, Izuku could distract himself with lacrosse practice. Without his bike all of his teammates easily rode past him, laughing as they did. Izuku was the last one to show up to practice. Izuku walked over to the changing rooms and changed.
Izuku then walked out as he adjusted his knee pads. As he stood up, he was suddenly thrown into the wall. Izuku had hit the wall and his mind momentarily went white. Once his mind cleared, he saw Bakugo hold him against the wall with one hand. Bakugo's other hand was pulled back ready to unleash an explosion, "Alright you damn nerd, why don't you tell me where you're getting your juices. Tell me the truth, then I'll finally be able to get you kicked off this team."
Normally Izuku would want to curl up into a ball, but something made him hold his ground. Yet he was still confused, "What?"
"Where are you getting your juice?" Bakugo repeated his question, a small explosion starting from his free hand.
"I don't know what you're talking about, my mom does all the grocery shopping." Izuku answered as the smell of caramel filled his nose. He never realized Bakugo's quirk gave off such a strong scent.
"Now, listen, Deku, you're going to tell me exactly who you're buying from because there is no way a quirkless nobody like you could have stopped all those goals yesterday. You're going to tell me, then I'll tell the coach." Bakugo said, lighting off a small explosion.
"Oh you mean steroids." Izuku said. Izuku and Bakugo had known each since they were kids and at one point were friend. So how could Bakugo ever question that Izuku would do something as immoral as steroids.
"Yes you idiot, what else could you be on." Bakugo said, pulling Izuku away from the wall and slamming him into the wall again, "Or have you been lying this entire time? You've had a quirk this entire time, but you've played the weak Deku, just waiting for the perfect moment to show me up. Is that what is going on?"
"No, it isn't. I'm still quirkless and I always will be. You want to know, well so would I. I don't know what's going on, but I feel like I'm going out of my freaking mind." Izuku said, as he felt some anger build up in his chest. He had spent years as Bakugo's punching bag, and though nothing had realy change, Izuku had a sense he no longer had to be.
Bakugo scoffed and dropped Izuku to the floor, "One way or another, I'll learn the truth, I don't care how long it takes and then you'll be kicked off the team and I won't have to deal with you anymore Deku." Bakugo then kicked Izuku in the guts, then promptly turned and left.
Izuku struggled to catch his breath, once he could take a deep breath, he slowly picked himself off the ground. He brushed his hair out of his face and slowly walked out to practice.
"Midoriya! Midoirya wait up." Kei yelled as he came running over to Izuku.
"Hey, can it wait, I'm playing the first elimination, can it wait." Izuku said, as Coach Yuuto blew his whistle.
"Just hold on, okay? I overhead my dad on the phone. Call came from Toyoko, fiber analysis came from the body they found in the woods. They found animal hairs on the body." Kei said in a paniced tone.
Izuku walked away, "Kei I got to go."
"Wait no, Midoriya. You're not gonna believe what animal it was." Kei said, raising his arms up, but Izuku walked out of ear range. Kei sighed, dropping his hands onto his head, "They found wolf hair, it was a wolf."
Izuku got into the huddle, but made sure to be on the opposite side of Bakugo.
"Alright you've all had a day to warm up, so practice starts for real today. You all know how this goes, if you don't make the cut, you'll most likely be sitting on the bench for the rest of the season. But if you do, you get to play. Make your parents proud, show off your skill, get some extra points with your girlfriends. Everything else is rice." Coach Yuuto said then blew his whistle, "Alright let's see what you've got."
Izuku stayed quiet while everyone else cheered. Izuku quietly moved to the Right Wing position and waited for the whistle. As he waited, he saw Bakugo moved to be Center Right Defender, which was unusual as he was usually Center Attacker. Coach Yuuto put the lacrosse ball down in the middle of the field and raised the whistle to his lips, causing everyone to become focused.
With the blow of the whistle, the game had started. Izuku's team had managed to win the break and get the ball first, and get it to their center forwards, however, Bakugo quickly descended on them and knocked the ball out of their pocket. As the players stumble to the ground, Bakugo smoothly swipes the ball out of the air and flicker across the field to his own team's center attacker.
"Come on, that was weak." Bakugo yelled as he looked down as the teammates he had made fell to the ground, he then turned to glare at Izuku. Izuku did his best to ignore him and moved to help defend his goal. His team worked well to get the ball back and past it to their goalie. The goalie swooped it up and looked around the field.
Most of Izuku's team was in their own territory, except for Izuku, as he was right on the mid field line. Normally no one would dare pass to Izuku, but maybe because of how well he had done yesterday, the goalie pointed at Izuku and then threw the ball.
Izuku froze as the goalie pointed at him and then threw the ball. Izuku had to take a few steps back as the goalie threw the ball a little hard. Izuku caught the lacrosse ball in the pocket of his stick then immediately turned around and began judging it to the goal. He still had the opponent Center Defender, however as Izuku got close, he noticed his opponent didn't seem too stressed about getting the ball back.
Then Izuku remembered the unspoken rule. It was rare for Izuku to have the ball in his possession, but every time he did, it was always Bakugo that was the one to take it from him. Something Bakugo made sure happened, as he scared off anyone that tried to defend Izuku. Izuku could hear footsteps right behind him, then he felt something attack his stick.
Izuku's stick was knocked down then up and out of his hand, while an elbow was rammed into his jaw. Izuku fell to the ground, hitting his head, but getting a clear enough view of Bakugo catching the ball again. He tossed into the air mocking Izuku while he said, "you shouldn't have played Deku."
Bakugo then turned and began working the ball to Izuku's goal. Izuku took a bit to catch his breath and get his hit from bussing, a clear sign that what Bakugo had done was a penalty, but like at school, Bakugo was never called out for breaking the rule.
As Izuku finally sat up, he heard Coach Yuuto blow his whistle and Bakugo and his team cheering. Izuku looked over his shoulder and saw Bakugo sliding across the grass, then Coach Yuuto walked into his field of vision.
"I know you can be a good player, sports is the one place you have a level playing field." Coach Yuuto said, as he crouched next to Izuku, "Show them what you've got."
Izuku stood up and brushed off his knees. Coach Yuuto blew his whistle and said, "Alright, change positions. Bakugo and Midoriya will break."
Izuku signed as he walked to his new position, Bakugo bumping his shoulder as they walked past each other. Izuku's goalie threw Coach Yuuto the ball and he placed it in the center of the field, "On my whistle"
Izuku and Bakugo both crouched down and held their sticks ready to swoop the ball on.
Coach Yuuto then moved off the field and raised his whistle to his mouth and blew. Before anyone else had a chance to move, Izuku swooped the ball off the ground. Then shoulder checked Bakugo, causing him to fall to the ground. Then everyone began to move, The defender moved to stop Izuku, but he was too fast for them. He juked the first one, jumped the second one and shoulder checked the third one.
This left Izuku with a clear shot to the goal, where the goalie waited for him. Izuku fainted to go to the top right corner, but went to the bottom left. He shot the ball and it bounced in off the side beam. Izuku took a breath as he realized what he had just done.
Everyone on and off the field stood still for a second, as the lacrosse ball hit the net and stretched it to its full length. Worse yet there was so much force still within the ball, it threatened to blow through the net and keep on going. Eventually the ball slowed back and the net was able to bring it back into the net.
"Let's go Midoriya." Coach Yuuto was the first one to yell and after that other people began to yell his name. His teammates began to run over to Izuku to congratulate him, except for Bakugo and the one who should have been doing it, Kei.
Kei was just looking at the lacrosse ball that was sitting on the goal. He should have been down on the field, congratulating his friend and what he was going to do but then his joke from yesterday came back into his mind. Lycanthropy, it was a joke that was all it was supposed to be. A dumb joke to poke fun at his best friend for thinking of crazy things, to get back at him.
Yet Izuku Midoriya wasn't that kind of person, sure he and Kei messed with each other, but that wasn't Izuku style. Then there was the improved skills, reflexes and speed. Kei walked away from the bench, but not in the direction of Izuku. No Kei walked towards the hanging room, where he grabbed his backpack, got on his bike and then went home. He needed an answer.
Once home, with his father off work, Kei was distraction free to do some research. Beginning with his library of books, Kei pulled out the different books he had about legends, myths, supernatural animals. And he had combed through all of that, Kei switched to his computer. Many of the search results talk about how supernatural things could have been early signs of quirks appearing and how quirks had created new myths.
Yet Kei wasn't looking for that. So after filtering through all of that, he came across an old website. It soly talked about legends, myths and supernatural animals, not bringing up quirks once. Kei looked up werewolves and found the section about Lycans.
Once the page loaded Kei began reading it: Lycans, commonly known as werewolves, are a myth about supernatural wolves that began in 1,000 BC in the Epic of Gilgamesh. But modern day werewolves did not appear until later the height of the Greek empire. In 425 BC Greek Historian Herodotus described a tribe of men who used wolf fur and skin to cover themselves during the winter time. During the time that the story was placed around that the transformation was changed to be a more physical transformation rather than a statement of fashion."
Kei began to skip down the page until the words 'Ways of transformation' caught his eyes.
"Throughout history the ways one became a Lycan have changed. Each way originates in different parts of the world and only a few have known origins. We have the previously mentioned one, and then one from Socrates said, "He who tastes of the bit of human entrails minced up with those of other victims is inevitably transforming into a wolf.
"This is believed to go along with the philosophical nature of ancient Greece. "You think therefore you are." Meaning from Socrates' words it states that it was believed that if a man were to act like a wolf he would eventually transform into one.
"Another belief of Lycan transformation comes from a passage from Platos. He tells of a story of King Lycaon, that to prove Zeus's weakness, King Lycaon's son murder their youngest brother. Then when Zeus came to visit their father, the boys served Zeus a feast that contained the body of their brother. However, Zeus learned of their crimes and to punish them he killed them with a lightning bolt and then transformed their father into a wolf.
"Another philosopher, Ovid, told a different version of Plato's story. The major difference being Ovid provides a more detailed section of how Lycaon's body was transformed and that provides the for werewolf transforms in modern day stories."
Kei continued reading late into the night. More ways of transforming were provided. Being bitten by a werewolf, drinking water from the paw print of werewolf. People selling their souls to the devil, or divine punishment from god. And as history moved, the transformation of a Lycon was no longer set for months but set for the days leading up to and the days after a full moon.