The silence was so quiet it felt as if it deafened every other noise, Midoriya unable to concentrate on anything else other than this strange revelation. 7 hours? How could 7 hours have passed since the school day ended? Midoriya had no clue to this mystery, so all he could do was question his mother.

"Mom, what do you mean 7 hours?" Midoriya asked. "Izuku… you usually take half an hour to get back home, and that's when you aren't using your shortcuts. Look at the clock, it's 9:30, so please tell me where you were!" Inko pleaded, her constant worry for her son in full force.

"Oh, well um…," Midoriya began, embarrassed to explain any details. The fact he was held hostage by some alien goo would send his mother into a panic, let alone the fact he illegally entered a restricted area, so he reluctantly was forced to lie to his own mother. "Well… mom, I was jumped." Midoriya lied with embarrassment, praying that his mother wouldn't go overboard. "JUMPED!?" Inko shrieked in horror, yep, she went overboard.

The sound both startled and hurt Midoriya, the pain felt similar to when the sirens went off when that weird sludge was attached to his body. He cursed at himself in his head, perhaps in hindsight, telling his mom that he entered a restricted area was better than outright saying he was beat up. "Who hurt you!? Who hurt my baby!?" Inko pleaded, crying as she demanded Midoriya to spill the identity of a supposed attacker.

Unfortunately, instinct and panic got the better of him. Without even realizing it, Midoriya said the first name that came to his mind. "Kacchan!" He shrieked, not even realizing what he had said.

Inko just looked at him with a blank expression at first, before shifting to quiet rage. Anger wasn't an emotion that Midoriya's mother expressed a lot, but now she was raging on the inside, the worst kind of rage. Midoriya knew things were about to get ugly, so he took two nearby pillows off the couch and covered his ears, as Inko picked up the phone and dialed a number, most likely the one of Bakugo's parents.

"Hello, is this Mitsuki Bakugo? Good, I just wanted to call to remind you that YOUR SON IS A-" Inko yelled before Midoriya hugged the pillows to his ears, the tsunami of profanity from his mother of all people barely getting blocked out. In a last ditch effort to avoid learning some new words, Midoriya sprinted upstairs to the second floor bathroom and hastily shut the door.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Midoriya got out his toothbrush and began to brush his teeth, but dropped it in shock when he saw his reflection in the mirror. All the injuries he got when he was sneaking around the epicenter of the meteor crash were gone, no cuts or bruises to be seen. Also confusingly, Midoriya remembered waking up with a slight cold and a sore throat, symptoms that seemed to have magically vanished… but only after the incident with the sludge.

This just brought up another question to the Quirkless teenager, where had the sludge gone? The last he remembers before going unconscious was the massive pool of sludge holding him hostage as it battled the cops, and when he woke up, the sludge was nowhere to be seen. He remembered how just a minute ago, he had lied to his mother about what happened and felt bad, but should he have told the truth? He didn't know which was worse. "I got jumped by my overly aggressive bully who beat me 7 hours straight" or "Hey mom, an alien substance tried to kill me and is now on the loose in our neighborhood".

All these questions would have kept Midoriya up for hours, but he ignored them, opening the bathroom doo-

"YOUR SON IS A MOTHERFU-"

"I guess I can wait for bed." Midoriya muttered to himself, closing the bathroom door as Inko had not seceded her rant against Mitsuki for her son's behavior. Midoriya finally could exit the bathroom and go to bed once his mother's phone call was over, 2 hours later.

The Next Day…

Midoriya woke up bright and early, he didn't want a repeat of yesterday after all. Eating a quick breakfast, he bolted out the door and jogged through each and every shortcut, (except the strike zone, he wouldn't dare go there again.)

Making it to homeroom on time, the events of yesterday had almost completely evaded his mind, minus the alien sludge, which he guessed was on the loose somewhere.

The school day went on pretty normal, besides small conversations about the meteorite that arrived yesterday, nothing noteworthy happened regarding Midoriya until the end of school. It was his final period, Biology II. The teacher talked about the meteorite and the strange sludge pouring out of it, describing it like a self-mutable organism, going on and on about humanity's first contact with alien life, if the sludge even was alive.

After the final bell rang, Midoriya was walking out when he noticed Bakugo, glaring at him and mouthing "football field". Midoriya's kind nature overridden his fear, so he obliged. Arriving at the school's football field, Midoriya noticed Bakugo with a few of his accomplices (or as Bakugo called them, and everyone else, extras.)

"DEKU! Did you lie about me to your mom!?" Bakugo erupted, advancing on Midoriya. Midoriya had to tell him straight, lying to Bakugo would only make him angrier. "Yes Kacchan… I did…" Midoriya replied, as Bakugo just growled at him.

"WHY!?" Bakugo questioned angrily, grabbing Midoriya by the collar. Midoriya just muttered incoherently, unable to make up any words. This just irritated Bakugo even further, who ordered his cronies to back him up. The bullies surrounded Midoriya, emanating an intimidating aura all too familiar to the Quirkless student.

"TALK! Don't make us beat the answers out of you!" One of Bakugo's accomplices yelled, as Bakugo himself was about to attack Midoriya. He swung his fist at a high speed at Midoriya's face, but Midoriya, not even realizing it, not even at his own will, caught it with his arm. Everyone was shocked, but Bakugo soon tried to launch a barrage of attacks.

All of them were caught by Midoriya, who was just as bewildered as the gang. He wasn't doing any of this, it was as if his body was moving on its own. Bakugo looked at his accomplices with anger, "Don't just stand there you idiots! Restrain him!" Bakugo blasted.

Two cronies attempted to restrain Midoriya from behind, but once again out of his control, Midoriya did a spin kick, knocking them both out. The rest of Bakugo's gang attempted to charge Midoriya in a sort of circle form, a bully at every side, but Midoriya did an even more advanced spin kick, knocking them all out too.

Bakugo just stood there, shook and angry that his entire gang was just taken out by puny little Hero wannabe, Deku. His shock quickly turned to frustration. "DAMN YOU DEKU!" Bakugo screamed as he charged at Midoriya, who unconsciously and without will initiated a powerful roundhouse kick that sent Bakugo flying into the fence.

Once he had control of his body again, Midoriya just looked around at the busted up gang, he felt proud, yet scared that he couldn't control himself. He just ran away, not wanting to be there when the bullies had the strength to get up. Getting home in record time, he set down his backpack and just crashed on the couch, then eyed the groceries. An overwhelming hunger exploded throughout his body, so without thinking, he just opened the bags and stuffed himself full with everything, even the foods he normally didn't like.

Inko came downstairs a few moments later, and was shocked to see her son gorging on the groceries, but even more so that he was late, albeit only by 10 minutes. "Izuku… you're late again, why?" Inko asked, her anger from last night having completely evaporated. "Got jumped again by Bakugo and his gang, they beat me up on the football field" Midoriya responded, not thinking about his words due to his sudden insatiable apetite.

"Oh that's it! This is assault! I'm calling the police!" Inko angrily complained, reaching for the phone.

"NO!"

Inko was startled by a loud and dark-toned voice, she looked behind herself at Midoriya, who just stared at her, he seemed to be in some kind of trance. His eyes looked glassy and blackish, while lightning-shaped black veins emanated from his mouth.

"No police… Sirens, they hurt!" Midoriya growled with an almost demonic-sounding voice. Inko just stared at her son before his eyes seemed to go back into his head. He fell over onto the floor, limp as a rug, the strange features disappearing from his body.

Midoriya quickly got up, noticing his mother in a panic. "M-Mom!? What's wrong?" He asked in a panic. "Izuku… what the hell was that?" Inko asked, "A-Are you ok? Do we need to see a doctor?" Midoriya just hastily nodded, he went up to his room to get some much needed rest.

After a while, Inko woke Midoriya up and got a neighbor to drive them, because Inko didn't own a car yet. Inko also brought some snacks and sweets for the ride to fulfill his strange new appetite, although Midoriya only cared to eat the chocolate for some reason. Once they got there, Inko hastily scheduled a quick appointment. The doctor came out just a minute later, calling their names.

"So what seems to be the problem?" The doctor asked, as he brought them into his office. "My son has been acting very strange today, he has a raspy voice, an awful appetite, and some kind of fear over loud noises." Inko replied, hugging Midoriya.

"Hmm. Did he eat anything bad or catch anything this week?" The doctor asked Inko, who said no, besides the small cold her son had yesterday morning. The doctor appeared even more puzzled, before asking a question that changed the trajectory of the check-up. "Do you think these effects are due to your Quirk?" The doctor asked, this time to Midoriya himself. "Oh no, my son is actually Quirkless you see?" Inko said, responding to the question for Midoriya.

"Then I only have two more questions. Was he affected by the Quirk of someone else?" The doctor asked. "No, not to my knowledge." Midoriya responded. "Alright, that leaves one last possible option," The doctor began, looking towards Inko, "Your son may be a Late Bloomer."

Inko had to do a double take. "Late Bloomer? What does that mean?" She asked. The doctor explained to her that there is a rare chance that a Quirkless person could be a Late Bloomer, meaning they won't manifest their powers at the typical age of 4 years old but instead either mid-teens to late 50s. Furthermore, because the person has been Quirkless for much more of their life, their body reacts negatively when they finally manifest their ability. He explained that Midoriya's strange symptoms could simply be the result of him being a late bloomer, and his body having not been accustomed to having powers.

After some more conversations and a little testing, the doctor allowed them to leave, only advising Inko and Midoriya to keep on the lookout if anything else strange happens, and to write it down. After getting back in the neighbor's car, the mother and son duo returned home, and Midoriya got ready for bed.

Putting on his sleepwear and turning off the light, he stayed up, unable to fall asleep. While he was excited by the idea of being a late bloomer, he couldn't help but remember the strange alien sludge. "What is happening to me?" Midoriya said aloud to himself. (Un)Fortunately for him, he would soon get his answer.

TO BE CONTINUED…