Here's the next chapter as promised. Enjoy :D

"This isn't enough," Takato said as he looked at his savings. Scattered on the floors were the very much coubtable coins and paper money he had been collecting.

Even if he added in his Digimon card pack budget, he would still be missing a quarter to buy two tickets to get to and from Musutafu. Asking Tao was out of the question lest the Wild Bunch find out he had used his quirk without supervision.

'You don't have to do all that for me, you know,' Midoriya-san said. 'It's not like we knew each other anyway.'

Takato picked up the plushie where the older boy resided now and stared. He could feel the disappointment flooding in the back of his mind.

"You lie a lot," he said.

Midoriya-san didn't reply.

Takato sighed and put his money back into his piggy bank.

"I'll try helping out at the bakery this week. Should be enough to get us there."

「「「•」」」

'What does your quirk do exactly?' Midoriya-san asked as he moved the new batch of bread to the shelves.

Takato was smart enough to answer in his head. He didn't want his parents to think he had gone crazy.

'Basically I can move souls from one place to another. If there's a dead but still working body around, I can put a soul into it to revive it. Gonna need to give it a shock it first though.'

Midoriya-san hummed as he felt the tell of a headache. Thankfully it never went past that.

'I find it interesting that my thoughts and emotions are translated into headaches for you.'

Takato nodded, both as a confirmation and satisfaction at seeing all the bread was in good condition for sale. Wouldn't do for the bakery to sell defects.

'Tao said it's a failsafe of some sort. Thoughts are mostly blocked unless you're sending it directly, but emotions and subconsciousness can leak through. If there's too much of it, my quirk will filter it as a headache. And if the headache is bad, I'll pass out.'

'Say, Takato. Who's this Tao you keep mentioning?'

'Oh, he's someone from the Wild Bunch. They're the ones studying my quirk.'

'Study your quirk?'

'Uh-huh. Got my quirk a few months ago. It's a unique quirk apparently.'

'How old are you again?'

'Nine this year.'

'You were quirkless for almost nine years." He sounded surprised.

'Yeah, why?'

Midoriya-san didn't say anything afterwards but the tell of a headache from before came full force.

"Takato!" Dad came just in time to catch him as he fell unconscious.

「「「•」」」

'I'm sorry.'

"It's fine," Takato assured him. "You got me a day off from school."

'Still.'

"If you want to make up for it, help me finish this homework.

"Write the name of one pro-hero and describe their best traits. Three marks," he read the question in his excercise book out loud. "Definitely All Might–"

He was out without a warning.

When he came to, he stroked his head and glared at the wall in front of him.

"What do you have against All Might?

'…a lot. And sorry.'

He was starting to hate this failsafe.

「「「•」」」

'I was quirkless, you know,' Midoriya-san finally said after staying silent for the whole day.

Takato yawned. It was late, but it shouldn't hurt to listen. At least not much. He grimaced, bracing himself for the pain.

"Did you get bullied?"

'Yeah. You?'

"A bit. But when you have a creepy girl for a friend and another that knows martial arts, people tend to avoid you."

'Creepy friend?'

Takato smiler, heat rising to his cheeks. "She has a sock puppet that talks for her. Anytime somebody came to tease me, she scared them away. Now nobody bothers me anymore."

He felt envy coming from Midoriya-san and frowned.

'I didn't have that kind of friend…'

Neither of them said anything after that.

Takato sat up on his bed, thinking of ways he can cheer the older boy up.

"Midoriya-san. If you had a quirk, what would it be?"

'What?'

"I used to imagine what kind of quirks I'd have before I got mine. I wanted to be big dinosaur!" he said, grinning.

Midoriya-san was laughing, or at least that was what it felt like. Takato smiled.

'Well, I wanted to breath fire like my dad. I also imagined having telekinesis like my mom. Combine them and you get pyromance!'

They talked late into the night.

「「「•」」」

Izuku floated in space. After all, that was the only thing he could do. Other than torturing a poor boy with his uncontrollable emotions that was.

With Takato asleep, he was left with his thoughts for company.

He could really use a sigh right now, if only for dramatic purpose.

The boy was perceptive, that much was true. Perhaps a nature of his quirk. But regardless, he was right. Izuku didn't want to be saved. What was the point when all that was waiting for him was only regret and guilt. Jumping down from the building was supposed to be his last chance to rid himself off these feelings. But now…

The only two people in his life that mattered were blaming themselves. He was sure of it. He knew them too well.

He could really, really use a sigh right now.

The past few days had been a rollercoaster ride. From dying to being turned into a living plushie, it was too much.

On the bright side, life death was in a way better than when he had been living, relatively speaking.

No society to look down on him, no comparing himself against peers ay school, and most importantly, no Kacchan to remind him of his uselessness every passing second.

And of course, there was Takato.

If there was any light in his otherwise bleak world, it was the boy. He was everything Izuku was and wanted to be. A kindred spirit who led a life he could only dream to have. It would be a lie to say he wasn't envious.

Sometimes Izuku imagined himself in his shoe. He imagined himself surrounded by people that actually cared. He was ashamed to say it crossed his mind that the quirk could backfire and switch their place.

Izuku would laugh, but with no mirth nor humor in it.

「「「•」」」

The sky came into view. When he pulled himself up, a pair of children who didn't look like they had any good intention were grinning at him.

Izuku had all rights to be confused.

"Is that all you got, Matsuda?"

Izuku was crying as he nursed his bleeding nose. No, that wasn't right. This was…

'Takato's memory.'

They appeared to be in a school courtyard. Takato was on kneeling on the ground, scrapes over his palms and knees.

"Okay, okay. You guys are strong. Just let me go. I don't wanna fight," Takato whimpered.

One of the boys towering over him cracked his knuckles. Before he got to say anything, a shadow creeped up behind them.

"Do you know what ghosts eat for dinner?" The person whispered and wrapped her arms around the two boys' neck. On the person's right hand was a sock puppet, staring right at them.

"Wha-"

"Bad children like you, wan!" The puppet screamed and bit the nose of the boy on the right, while the shadow pinched the other bully's nose with her left hand.

"Ah!"

"Leave!"

They complied and ran holding their red nose.

Takato looked up at his savior, a girl with an unsettling smile.

"Um, thanks," he said as she helped him up. He pointed at the puppet on her hand. "What's with that?"

Instead of answering, she shoved it into his face.

"I'm Juri-chan's right hand man, wan! Now laugh, wan!"

Nobody laughed.

When it was obvious Takato wasn't going to give any response, she took off the puppet and offered a handshake.

"My name's Katou Juri. We're in the same class."

Takato sighed.

"Yeah, I know. You must remember me, the quirkless boy." He stared at the ground.

Juri turned to look at the running bullies.

"Why didn't you fight back?"

"I don't like fighting,"

"Is that so? Hm, be my friend then." He looked up to see her holding out a hand, smiling. "I'll keep the bullies away."

Takato stared.

"You're weird–I mean, good weird!" He waved his hands in panic.

The girl just giggled.

"I get that a lot. So, wanna be friends?"

He hesitated but eventually nodded and shook it.

"Call me Takato."

The memory went on to show the two children playing together. And here Izuku was, being denied his ability to look away as he watched what his life could have been.

「「「•」」」

Izuku found himself in a room with a pair of men. Or rather, Takato. On either side of him were presumably his parents.

"It was an accident," Takato said, looking at the floor.

"We know," the man wearing sunglasses said. "Which is why it's important you learn to control as soon as possible."

"He's right," the man next to him smiled and talked in a more gentle voice. "Takato-kun, do you remember me?"

The boy pulled himself back, shaking from fear. "You're Li-kun's dad."

His dad rested a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry. He's not mad at you. Just hear what he has to say first."

Takato glanced at the man before nodding at his dad.

"O-okay."

The man smiled.

"Takato-kun, what your quirk did was not your fault. My son started it, and you were just reacting to the situation. He's alright now, so there's nothing to be worried about.

"But it'll happen again," he said, frowning.

"Correct. That's the reason we came here. You see, Yamaki-san here works for the government. He can find you very smart people that can help you learn to use it."

"The government?" Takato's mom gasped.

"Rest assured, we have your son's best interest in mind," Yamaki-san said. "This is mostly an opportunity for us too. Those without quirks by the age of four are usually quirkless their whole life. Few people develop a quirk this late, and the quirks are generally a passive type that are hard to detect.

"What I'm saying is, your son could give more insights to what quirks really are, and we can help him understand it better."

"You want to… study my quirk?"

Takato looked up to his frowning parents.

"I don't know what to say." His dad crossed his arms. "I'm worried for my son, but studying him…"

"How do we know he won't get hurt?" his mom bluntly translated. She turned to the other man. "Li-san, you're a parent. Do you think this is necessary?"

The man, Li-san, nodded in understanding.

"There won't be anything drastic. This is more like a quirk counselling, except we're also taking notes on him. The most physical thing we'll do is take a cell sample. I won't be personally involved, but I trust Yamaki-san to look after your son. I say that as a parent of a… victim so to say. I don't want anyone else to get hurt. And I don't think your son does either."

Takato gripped the hem of his shirt.

"If… If that means I don't hurt anyone, I'll do it. I have to."

Li-san smiled.

Izuku watched as yet another could-have-been flashed before him. It made him feel ashamed of ever envying the boy.

The both of them were one of a kind, a pair of kindred spirits whose life took a slightly different turn. If they had met earlier, Izuku knew he would have searched through every store in Musutafu to find a gift to celebrate the occasion.

If only, huh…

「「「•」」」

If Izuku was ever asked what the afterlife would look like, he'd describe this place; a white plane void of anything alive or otherwise.

A look at his hands showed that he was in his own body. The school uniform he had on was the same one he wore that day, free of blood and anything that could point to his not so gentle landing onto the pavement.

Both his and Takato's memories were laid out on imaginary walls for him to see, and standing before him was the boy himself who looked at him with tear-stained eyes.

Izuku gave a weak smile. "I guess you saw mine, huh?"

Takato sniffed and glanced to the floating memories. "Wh-where are we?"

"This seems to be your quirk's doing. You don't know?" Izuku asked.

The boy shook his head. "Never happened."

They stared at each other in silence until a memory slid by them. It was akin to looking at a recording on a camera. The tiny hands tearing off a wrapped box inside it froze in shock as the contents came to view; an All Might action figure and three tickets to an amusement park.

A nostalgic smile creeped up Izuku's face.

"This was my fifth birthday. I was disappointed I still hadn't gotten a quirk by then, so my parents took me took me out to cheer me up."

More memories passed by them as they progressively got darker and darker in colors. By the time his last memories appeared, there was barely any color left in them.

Takato grabbed his head in pain and either deliberately or by instinct waved them all away, causing the memories to circle around them and form a hollow tower.

Izuku gasped and reigned in his emotions. He approached Takato. "Are you okay?"

The boy didn't respond, though the tears flowing down his cheeks didn't appear to be from the pain.

"Was this why you wanted to die?" Takato asked with a voice barely above whisper.

Izuku looked away, not willing to see the boy's face.

"There wasn't anything worth living for," he replied, hugging his shoulder. "Sometimes life just doesn't go your way."

Takato gripped his hands into fists. "You must be mad at me, right?"

"No! Didn't we talk about this?"

The boy stomped his feet.

"Don't lie! I can feel what you feel. You don't want to be here. You're angry at me for saving you..." he said, looking away.

Izuku sighed and bent down to look him in the eye and grabbed his shoulders.

"Takato, it's true that I was disappointed. I jumped because I wanted to run away from my feelings. It was my fault that I made my parents sad, and now I'm feeling guilty. But that's on me, not you."

The boy stayed silent but the quirk let Izuku know the raging emotions flowing inside him. Izuku let him calm down.

"Midoriya-san, do you still want to see your mom?" Takato asked after his tears had dried.

Izuku considered the question and shook his head.

"There's no point. I can't see her, and we can't talk to each other. I don't know what I was thinking when I asked that."

"But what if you can?

He looked to see determination glowing in Takato's eyes. The boy didn't let him interrupt.

"I have a deal. I'll find a new body for you so you can see your mom again. But you have to promise."

The memories around them flew like a hurricane. The darker ones vanished while the ones with colors merged together into a glowing sphere. It floated down onto Takato's hands, showing them a four-year-old versions of them playing together.

Takato's tear stained face looked straight at him.

"Midoriya-san. Before we met, I never knew someone could be so sad," he said, gripping Izuku's hand. "You said there was nothing worth living for. I... I want to prove you wrong. I want to see you smile and make happy memories.

"So please." He sniffed. Promise you'll trust me."

Izuku smiled weakly and pulled the boy into his arms, the tiny ball of light squished between them.

"I can't promise that it'll be any different. But please," Izuku whispered. "Prove me wrong."

And that's it. Leave your comments and your thoughts.

Anyhow, after this there will be one chapter left in development. Beyond that, I'm not sure if I'll be able to continue it as I have my other works to focus on as well. Regardless, thank you for your support. Virtual hug! (つˆДˆ)つ｡