"WHAT!?"
Izuku, in all of his infinite wisdom, never really told his mom about his goals of getting into U.A., nor did he get the idea that she would be starkly against his desire to be a hero. Sure, he might be able to get her support on the latter eventually, but whatever his goals might be to get into U.A. would just be out of reach as comes with being quirkless.
He thought that his top-of-class grades might give him the ability to apply for a general course, where he could skip a lot of the hero work and maybe not get assaulted by thirteen different quirks. But, it seems like even the basic general course required at least some sort of quirk application.
It's been a couple of days since the incident he had with Bakugou, his mom went to go complain to Aldera's administration to seek some sort of disciplinary measure. All she got was a "we'll deal with it to the best of our abilities, and make sure this situation will never happen again." So basically professional speak for "Nothing's gonna happen," they said that he might be disciplined, but he didn't really see anything happen for the last couple of days.
Maybe the school put something on his record, but he couldn't really be sure. Whatever it was, it really didn't affect Bakugou that much.
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier kaa-san. But I really was planning on telling you at some point! It just so happened that that point was now…"
And for the past 20-ish minutes, he had been walking aimlessly in the Musutafu's center looking for this random coffee shop that Rumi had recommended that he go to with her. Knowing her, he initially thought that she would have invited him to an arcade to beat him in basically every fighting game. What he hadn't expected was for her to invite him to a coffee shop to try some carrot cake and drink some coffee.
Brushing his fingers through his hair he sighed. It was definitely a mistake telling Rumi that she could go on ahead. 'There's probably only like three different coffee shops that you could be at,' he told her. Unknowing to him, once he got to Musutafu's center, he saw just an infinite row of coffee shops that may or may not contain a certain bunny-eared girl. And so here he was, in a call with his mom over his future aspirations while looking for a coffee shop.
"...I know, I know that I should've told you earlier. How about after I find Rumi, finish whatever she wants me to do in the area, I head back home and we can have this talk in person?"
With a loud huff, his mom eventually relented in her verbal assault and said goodbye. Now that he didn't have to worry about weaving his way around the maze that was Inko Midoriya, he laid his eyes upon the next coffee shop across the street.
'Hopefully I get lucky with this shop and I can get all of this behind me already.'
Peering through the window, he saw the usual: people drinking coffee, others getting their lunch, and others having a bit too much fun at the back of the shop. But again, he couldn't see any trace of the elusive bunny ears he'd been looking for. 'I wonder if Rumi purposefully gave me the most vague instructions for finding this place. I've probably been through eight different shops by now.' he thought.
Stepping away from the shop and onto the next, he took his phone out to finally ask Rumi where this coffee shop was, and before he knew it, he was in a dark alley with no coffee shop in sight. Looking around he honestly had no idea how he got there. From that previous coffee shop, he followed Rumi's directions to the dot. Head straight forward towards the light, turn a left, and when he saw a ramen shop turn another left.
'Either her sense of direction sucks and she found her shop by pure chance, or the shop that I was at just so happened to line up with how another shop in this area did. Welp, time to consult Rumi once again and hope to get lucky this time.'
"A teen left alone in a dark alley… how curious…" a deep voice rumbled behind Izuku. Whipping his head around, what he saw was something that looked like it came out of one of All-Might's fight videos. He didn't see a physical body, but a large blob of slime that left space for a mouth and his eyes only. "Now now boy, there's no need to be afraid, but I'm going to need that body of yours to get him off my back. Now be a good boy and LET ME TAKE YOU OVER!" the sludge villain yelled out as he lunged towards Izuku.
Quickly turning around, he started his sprint towards the street only to find his feet stuck in the same slime that composed the sludge villain's body. And before he knew it the sludge villain was on top of him. He felt the slime slowly creep up his body, and eventually, it got to his face. No matter how much he struggled against the villain, it seemed like it was an endless wave of slime covering his body. By the time calling for help went through his mind it was too late as the slime had covered his face and all that came out was a desperate scream that was stuck in his throat.
The more he struggled the more the slime crawled across his skin and started to invade his orifices.
At some point, he stopped fighting against it. He knew that he was about to die. There was no more oxygen that he could take in, dark spots began to creep into his vision, and all he could do in these last few moments was think.
Think about how devastated his mom would be and how the last conversation that they'd ever have was a disagreement.
Think about how he would never be able to achieve his dream of being a hero. Never to save people with a smile on his face.
And what about Rumi?
Now that was a thought to die on.
'I hope she's going to be fine… after all this…'
And with that, he saw no more.
…
…
…
"TEXAS SMASH!"
He was tired.
He knew that hero work is tiring, but being number one is just another world of tiring. Dealing with all the pr that came with being a high-ranked hero was even more tiring than dealing with the once-in-a-blue-moon bank robberies.
Like today of course. He came across some villains attempting to rob a jewelry store in the middle of Musutafu center, and of course, without even having a need to say a single word, most decided to give up. Granted, this time there was only one villain who was brave enough to try and run from him. Sighing, he surrendered the rest of the villains to the police and he made his way towards capturing the last one. Or at least he would've if there hadn't been 30 different reporters, their crew, and the general paparazzi already at the scene for a chance to get something out of him.
"All-Might!"
"All-Might are you free to take an interview right now!?"
"All-Might look this way for pictures!"
"ALL-MIGHT! HAVE MY CHILDREN!"
Brushing off the last couple… unsavory comments, he looked around for the last villain, only to be met with an increasing amount of people starting to surround him. "I'm sorry but I can't take any interviews right now, as there is still a villain on the run. I'll be free at a later time when I find this troublemaker and bring him in." he said with the most apologetic face that he could muster at the moment.
"... but All-Might! What is your opinion on the new prime minister and his policies on quirk usage?!"
"All-Might! Will you ever take a successor on?"
"... how do you feel about Endeavor edging towards being number one?!"
Seeing no way to leave, he decided to answer some questions to satisfy the story-hungry reporters as fast as he could. With some simple questions hurriedly answered he went back on the search for this escaping villain. The only trace that he had left of him was a faint trail of slime that weaved its way through the town's center. Oh how'd he wish to be done with this villain so he could go home and recharge. He's been in this form for a couple hours at least and he's sure that he's running out of steam soon. And with a jump, he gave chase to this brave (and possibly stupid) villain.
Not even a minute later he noticed the villain slip into an alley next to a coffee shop that he visits quite often. Kami, he'd be pretty miffed if that place goes down. Especially since it's the only place that serves a really good carrot cake in the area. Armed with another reason to speed this capture up he jumped across to another building to land in the street perpendicular to the alley.
"Now villain, surrender yourself to the authorities because I AM HERE!" he yelled out as he strode towards the pile of sludge, but as he strode closer, he noticed something wrong. The sludge wasn't just a blob anymore. It took the shape of a human, a screaming human...
Ice flowed through his veins. His negligence had led this villain to possibly claim an innocent life that wasn't even involved with the store robbery. And with an unimaginable fury, fire rolled through his body as he wound up for a punch as it seemed as though the villain was too involved in taking over the struggling person to register his presence.
"TEXAS SMASH!"
And with great force, the villain's sludge had splattered itself across the walls of the alley. No sooner than a second later, a teen's body had slumped down limp. Rushing over he took measure of the teens' vitals.
*badump*
*badump*
With a sigh of relief, he safely put the boy down and sought a quick way to detain this villain before he could do any more harm than he'd already done. Eyeing a soda bottle in the dumpster, he jumped over and began quickly gathering all the splattered parts of this mess that he created. Placing the bottle on his belt he glanced over at the unconscious teen that he left lying down in the middle of the street.
'Now that that's over, what to do about the kid…'
With a sigh of exhaustion, he searched the kid, eventually finding his phone and a method of identification. While searching though, he came across something quite… unique? Well unique was definitely something he could call it.
Hero Analysis For The Future #1 by Izuku Midoriya
Flipping through the first few pages he was impressed. For the first couple pages it was filled with some heroes that had retired quite recently, and well, only a couple seconds of flipping later he came across his page. It was very impressive, with some impressive drawings of some of the highlights of his hero career. With a snort at his seemingly short page, he turned the page to find another on him, detailing his strengths and weaknesses. The more he went through it, he found more and more pages dedicated just to him. From a page dedicated to his debut to one that even suggested improvements to his own fighting style.
Maybe impressive was underscoring the amount of effort placed into this notebook, and especially to him. Once he got to the last page it was just a page left blank with the only thing written down being All-Might's Signature.
He chuckled.
Maybe he should entertain this kid before he has to run home.
Was he dead?
All he could really hear was the thumping of his heart and the pulsing of his blood with his increasing headache
Is being dead normally this painful?
Slowly prying an eye open, he hoped for a beautiful angel to tell him that he lived a good life and did all the good things. Instead of a beautiful angel, a smiling All-Might standing in front of him.
Do all angels look like All-Might?
…
Wait, All-Might?!
And right then, he gathered all his marbles and shot up with a new bout of energy. Here he was. In the middle of an alley, recently attacked by a random villain, thinking he died, only to wake up with All-Might right in front of him.
All-Might!
'I could die right now and I wouldn't be against it…'
All-Might saved him from a villain and was standing right in front of him! Though… he wasn't really looking at him, he was looking at something in his hands, the villain maybe? Kami, that would be brutal. Standing up a little taller, he saw a small notebook in All-Might's hands. An eerily familiar notebook. Quickly tossing his hands into his back pocket he realized that his Hero Analysis book was gone, and it was pretty likely that All-Might was reading it right now!
'Okay, I can really die in peace now.'
As if hearing his panic, All-Might turned around to see that the teen that he saved was finally awake and seemingly well.
"Ah, young Midoriya! I see that you're awake! Sorry for this invasion of privacy, but I was looking around for some sort of identification on you. And I just happened to find this terrific little notebook of yours! I can tell that you're very dedicated about these heroes, and I see a lot of things that the other heroes on this list could maybe use in their own fights. And don't worry, I saw the last page and signed it, because I am here!" he rambled on, while showing Izuku his signature (and what do you know, he wrote "I was here" instead).
With a chuckle All-Might tossed back the notebook to Izuku, only for Izuku to fumble the notebook around for a second before quickly grabbing it, "It was nice meeting you young Midoriya, but I'm going to have to leave you on your own and bring this villain with the rest!" he said as he flashed the bottle to Izuku.
"I hope to see you and your notebooks soon!" he said as he started to turn away from Izuku and to the street.
Collecting himself, he looked up towards All-Might. The hero of all time, was standing only a couple of feet from him. How easy would it be to ask All-Might if he's qualified to do hero work with his quirkless status? Before he knew it, he was starting to walk towards All-Might and about to ask his life-defining question, until he noticed he was too late as All-Might geared up to jump away.
Making a split-second decision he took a leap of faith and grabbed the edge of All-Might's cape.
Izuku would never be the same.
There he was, flying across the Mustafu district while hanging onto the cape of All-Might. If he didn't know that he was grabbing onto All-Might, he might've thought that he finally acquired his quirk.
Oh right, he had to ask All-Might his question.
"AaaALlLL-MiiIGHHT, Iii hAaVE A quEsTioN!" he yelled out
As if startled by the sudden yell All-Might looked back with eyes almost popping out of his skull as he saw Izuku holding on for dear life.
"Hold on young Midoriya!" All-Might yelled back, "I'll get you down somewhere safe!"
Leaning his body towards the direction of the closest building the duo landed on the roof with All-Might landing gracefully and Izuku almost tumbling across the roof until All-Might caught him.
"That was quite dangerous, young Midoriya. What if you didn't have the grip and happened to fall?" he said as he brushed off his costume.
"And what compelled you to do that in the first…"
*cough* *cough*
"...place." he finished before he started a small coughing fit.
"Well, it just occurred to me that this would probably be the one and only time that I'd be able to meet you, and well…" scratching the back of his head Izuku felt quite a bit guilty for all of this, "I just really had to ask you a question."
"As important your question might be, it shouldn't have led you to…"
"C-can I be a hero?" Izuku quickly stammered out.
Briefly pausing his tirade, All-Might knew that he didn't have too much time to answer the question before his time ran out.
"Anyone can be a hero, young Midoriya, it just depends on whether or not you work hard enough for it." With another cough, All-Might gave his standard reply whenever he got this question, "Now if you excuse me, I'm going to need to turn in this villain and go through the rest of my rounds."
Taking one last look at Izuku he saw that his words had caused some deep thought. And so he started to turn around as he prepared to once again jump away, turn in this villain, and finally recharge his batteries, only to hear something that he was never prepared for.
"But what if I don't have a quirk?"
Pausing in the middle of his heroic "jump pose" All-Might turned around slowly to face Izuku who looked smaller than ever.
"...you don't have a quirk?" he questioned, "not even a simple 'I can hold my breath for more than 30 minutes' kind of quirk?"
In response to both questions, Izuku just shook his head lightly keeping his gaze towards the floor. All-Might was in shock. Throughout his heroing career, he heard questions similar to the one he was just asked, like "Can I become a hero if I can stretch my finger a foot longer?" or even "Can I be a hero if all I can do is yell slightly louder than 160 db?" To the former, he'd just say to find a non-hero heroic career, like a firefighter or even a cop, as they're somewhat heroic, and for the latter, well… if they worked hard enough they'd probably become able to be a hero. He slowly walked towards Izuku, eventually getting right up to him and placing his hand on Izuku's shoulder.
What was he supposed to say?
Literally all humans have been seen with a quirk at this point in time.
Everyone.
So why did this teenager who just so happened to be in the area be the one kid who didn't have a quirk?
*cough*
"Ahem, as much as I applaud your desire to become a hero and do heroic things, I just don't see any path for you, young Midoriya. All heroes have become synonymous with having a powerful or at least a useful quirk. And to those in other heroic jobs would at least benefit from the increased durability and the reflexes that having a quirk would give you. I'd love to think that you'd do well with your notebooks and the analysis they provide… but I'm not sure if that's going to be enough to really be considered… heroics…"
*cough* *cough* *cough*
'Shit, why does it have to be now? Right when I'm delivering heartbreaking news too…'
"I don't see you having any chance to go into heroics young Midoriya. I'm sorry." All-Might said as he rose up and steam began forming around his body while he started to walk away.
"S-so I-I don't have any chance… g-got it A-all-Might. Thank you for answering my q-questions." Izuku replied with a bit of a sob. 'Kami, I'm so sorry Mom, for making you worry about all this heroing business.' Looking up he saw All-Might's form hidden behind a thick veil of… smoke?
"Do not worry young Midoriya, I'm sure that you'll be able to fulfill whatever else you may desire in life," All-Might said.
Wiping his nose, Izuku watched as the figure started to tense up in preparation for a jump, and all of a sudden, a strange popping sound erupted from where All-Might stood, and in a couple of seconds, the smoke surrounding All-Might cleared. Izuku didn't see the strong domineering form of All-Might, but of someone who looked vaguely similar to him without any of the buff muscles of All-Might that the paparazzi rave about.
"Uhm…All-Might?" Izuku asked nervously to this new person in front of him. The new man was dressed only in a flimsy white t-shirt and a baggy pair of jeans and with a sigh the man turned.
"And here I thought that I had more time," the man mumbled as he scratched the back of his head, "Yes young Midoriya, the pitiful person that you see now is All-Might."
"B-but what happened to your form?" Izuku stammered out
"It was a fight many years ago. I think I remember you writing about it in your notebook over there, but to sum it up, I basically got more hurt than expected…" And with a slight tug, All-Might revealed the large gash on his side. Reaching from the top of his pectorals to the point right above his jeans, it was a terrible sight, "I'm now limited to how much heroism I'm able to do day by day. This is the risk that all heroes take and is why I can never recommend someone with a weak quirk, or now that I've seen it, someone without a quirk at all."
Putting down the side of his shirt he walked up to Izuku and placed his hand on his shoulder once again, "I understand your admiration of me and my heroics, but please, head on down back to the street and return to whatever you were doing before the incident at the alley."
Izuku took All-Might's advice and started his walk to the nearby stairs and back to the city down below. And once he disappeared behind the door of the staircase All-Might let out a sigh.
'My heart is out for you young Midoriya. Kami-sama must've had a hard day and struck down on you.'
Turning around he faced the buildings the other way and attempted to gather his strength for just a couple more jumps, and when he couldn't all he could do was to make sure that the villain didn't figure out the true situation of All-Might.
'I was sure that I put him around here'
Patting the myriad of pockets on his jeans and his belt the villain and bottle was nowhere to be felt. 'Did that bottle manage to fall during my jump?' With another round of pats, he just couldn't find the villain at all.
"Fuck"
It's been a couple of minutes since he's gotten out of the building that All-Might landed on. And he couldn't really think straight. His emotions were definitely getting the better of him.
'Maybe I can finally tell Mom that she was right. Heroics aren't for people without a quirk.'
'Heroics aren't for me.'
Walking down the street, he couldn't help but notice the lack of people around. No cars on the road, nor any couples sharing a drink, well, except for one man who seemed to be running towards him while swinging his arms and yelling… something.
"RUN! THERE'S A VILLAIN WHO TOOK A HOSTAGE!"
After the revelation from All-Might, there was a majority of him wanting to stay away from whatever the man was yelling about. But there was a part of him that urged him to head over and see what was going on.
And then he heard a voice at the back of his head reach out to him.
'What about Rumi?' it called
Rumi!
This entire endeavor with All-Might and all made him forget the entire reason why he was here in the first place!
'Don't tell me she's involved in this somehow.'
Pushing the part of him wanting to walk away down he ran towards whatever was going on.
"HEY KID WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! THE VILLAIN IS THAT WAY!" the same man yelled.
"THANKS FOR TELLING ME!" Izuku yelled back while on his sprint towards the road the man came from.
After a couple of seconds of sprinting and coming across more people running away from whatever was going on he finally reached another corner where he saw a large group of heroes standing around an alleyway. Kamui Woods was backing civilians away from the area as the police were starting to set up a perimeter, with Mt. Lady telling people in the area to stay away. Stalking his way forward he got a peek of the villain ahead of him.
All he got to see was the top of the villain, but he could recognize that top. It was that slime villain from earlier. In all of his green and sludgy form. Didn't All-Might catch him earlier? Didn't All-Might turn him in to the authorities?
Wait.
If he's here. Does that mean All-Might wasn't able to turn the villain in? Was that because he transformed from the Buff-Might into the Injured-Might? Does that mean that he caused this to happen? Is he the reason why the villain was able to escape? Why aren't the heroes stopping the villain?
As he got closer to the alley he began to hear the mumblings of the police officers.
"Why do you think it's taking so long? We've got like 5 different heroes here! It should take like 3 minutes max." One officer said to another.
"Apparently it's because the villain took someone hostage and is trying to prevent anything bad from happening."
"Really? I didn't see any hostages?"
"Well, all we know right now is that the villain is trying to bargain for its freedom by releasing its hostage."
'So because I caught on All-Might's cape I got someone else caught in harm's way? Who am I to want to be a hero if I get someone hurt like this?'
"There's the hostage! You can see them struggling against the villain right now!"
Getting as close as he could to the alley he took one more look at the villain. He saw the main blob of the villain, the eyes, and the mouth area of the blob… and a pair of white ears poking out from the villain's body.
"RUMI!"
A/N
Oh no! Rumi!
Dang, it's been quite awhile, and again. I wanted this chapter to be 8k words. But what really happened was that I wrote 2k words, somehow gaslit myself into believing that I wrote 4k and thought "That's good enough" proceeded to revise the same chapter 30 times, forgetting that I still needed to upload the chapter, then checking and seeing that it came out to 2k. So here's 4k
So once again, sorry for the update drought… desert, but don't worry, I have quite a bit of story boarded already, and I'm now more free to write. So I might write again sometime this year… I hope? If anyone wants to read the next chapter before it goes out and give feedback lmk.
Anyways, spam me angry messages about the lack of updates and stupid decisions I made on the story. See you all next time.