AN: You know what time it is? Time to start another fic I will never finish! This time, I'm gonna try smaller chapters to see if it would spare me a bit from burnout…

Music: Circus – The Bandsman (1977)

I. Negentropic Aggregation

Cause did not always come before effect, despite what you may believe. They exist only as an abstract derivation of our observations of the flow of entropy based on our limited, unidirectional, worldview. To an observer looking backward, what we would see as the effect would appear to be the cause, and vice versa. Entropy is only a matter of perspective.

Boom!

Take, for example, the burnt remains of Midoriya Izuku's math notes fluttering across the air. To him and everyone else in the room, the law of entropy in this system was followed: one state of order (the notebook) to many of chaos (the ashes). But, flip the direction in time, it would be just as reasonable to say that the one state of chaos would naturally converge on many states of order, like a notebook, for a tax return, or even a paper plane. To them, the book being blown to pieces would seem odd and impossible, just as the opposite is the same to us…

"Who do you think you are, Deku!?" Bakugou Katsuki growled, "You trying to rub shoulders with me with that shitty quirk of yours!?"

…But with no way to turn around, all of it was pointless conjecture. Izuku was never getting his hard work back.

"K-Kac–Katsuki, I'm just– I'm applying to Gen–"

"Oh spare me the bullshit, Deku, I know what you're really after. Everybody knows you want to try to sneak into my class, into my school," Kacchan sneered as he put a hand on Izuku's shoulder, "Here's some advice: don't bother. You'll only waste their time and be a short footnote in my backstory."

And then he walked off, leaving as the final bell of the day rang. All around, his classmates looked at him, chuckling at his misfortune as they gathered their belongings.

Deku – that was all he was since he was four, ever since he had gotten his useless quirk. A quirk to duplicate objects seemed quite handy on paper; but when those copies only lasted a fraction of a millisecond… Well, what the hell was the point?

Idly, as he got up, Izuku used his quirk on the pencil he was still holding. Over his left hand, a floating reflection flickered a few times…

…Hesitating, unable to decide whether it should exist or not.

In the end, he was forced to stop because of the headaches.

As always, the answer was no.

After taking a moment to rest near one of the school's koi ponds, letting the faint sound of nature and the distant honks of traffic overrun his worldly stresses. Or, at least he tried to – his problems were growing by the day.

Why couldn't Katsuki see it? Izuku gave up on his dreams of being a hero a long, long time ago. So how come his so-called "childhood friend" looked over his damn ego and see Izuku as anything other than a wannabe itching to butt under his precious spotlight?

U.A. wasn't just a hero school damn it! A high school diploma from there would be a shoo-in for any prestigious university around the world, and from there, a key to a good job so his mother wouldn't have to worry about the bills so much!

Izuku didn't want to be a hero anymore. He didn't have the guts or diligence for it, and he sure as hell lost the spirit for it after the relentless bullying, after seeing the true face of the world being trampled over and over again, after seeing those with weak quirk, mutant quirk, and the quirkless leaping off a roof, and the news barely even bothering to report it beyond a one-sentence obituary, if at all.

So why couldn't that blond bastard open his fucking eyes and see it for one in his life!?

Izuku slammed his palm against one of the stones, scaring away the fish. The faint reflection of a mirrored stone continually flickered under his left palm for a number of seconds, before another sudden wave of exhaustion hit from his party trick of a quirk.

He slumped forward and gave a deep sigh, "Should probably go home now before Mom gets worried…" He mumbled under his breath.

Getting up, he worked out the kinks out of his unathletic and rather bony frame and started making the long trek back. Initially, he was about to go through one of the tunnels as he usually did, but for some reason, the thought gave him the heebie-jeebies deep in his gut, so he took the long way back.

It wasn't too bad, despite the extra twenty or so minutes of walking; his path took him through a decently wealthy suburban neighborhood which quickly transitioned to equally upscale urban streets, so there wasn't much for him to worry about. Additionally, with the sun an hour away from setting, the yellow and orange hues pleasantly reflected all around.

As he then neared the busiest and most populated stretch of his trip, he started silently praying that nothing interesting in the Chinese sense would happen, as they are oft to do in a world with so many villains. He'd very much preferred not being in the crossfire of all that trouble, thank you very much; he'd only barely avoided that fight where that tall woman hero what's-her-name made her debut by taking an alternate route to school.

Pop. Pop. Pop.

A cold tingle went down his spine as the sound he dreaded to hear started drumming against his ears.

Pop… Pop. Pop. Boom!

And, as he turned the corner, he found that luck was not on his side. A scene straight out of a news report was unfolding right in front of him.

Pop. Boom! Pop. Pop. Boom!

Blindingly bright and deafeningly loud bangs blew away from a large, stinking mass of sludge, but did little to make an actual effect. In the middle, trapped under a disembodied, enraged visage, the titan of his life thrashed helplessly. Almost as helpless as the heroes all around engaging in the Sisyphean task of reducing the fires from the explosions. Kacchan, who was always so strong, so proud, was trapped like a wounded animal.

For a brief second, their eyes met, pleading… But Izuku didn't have the nerve. His legs refused to move out of terror…

"Hrrrrghghghphhh!" Pop. Boom! Boom!

"Give up already!" Shouted the slime monster, "Just let me take over, you stubborn brat!"

He really was a Deku…

If this lack of action, this lack of fortitude and spirit didn't prove he would never be a good hero, Izuku didn't know what did.

"...Am HERE!"

Whoosh! Boom!

In a sonic boom, All Might arrived on scene, blowing the putrid villain apart with but a flick of a finger. Instantly, a wave of soothing calm washed over the scene, even the heroes sagging their shoulders in relief.

Izuku watched, frozen in awe as the hero collected the villain into a couple of empty two-liter bottles. The press, once they got their wits about them, tried to get a word and a good shot in, but All Might just gave his trademark smile and, "Apologies, but I gotta go! As they say, crime never sleeps!" and leaped away toward the horizon.

Who was his younger self kidding? Being a hero like All Might? Bah! He and Izuku were worlds apart! Izuku could barely handle the rigor of Japan's education system, while All Might saved thousands every day. Perhaps it was for the best that such responsibilities were left in more capable hands, like Katsuki's…

Wait, Katsuki! Was he okay!?

Izuku looked again and saw a paramedic helping his former friend to the nearest ambulance. The look in his crimson eyes: fear, anger, humiliation… Izuku didn't dare confront him in such a state.

Perhaps call Auntie about it later– No, Katsuki would find out if he did that…

…God, he was a coward.

Taking a shuddering breath, trying to hold back tears of shame (damn them for coming so easily), Izuku turned back and started walking home. Sooner better than later. Those lost math notes weren't going to rewrite themselves for the fiftieth time.

Ahead, a stray fire crackled on the sidewalk, coughing ash up in the air. Izuku gave it a wide berth for his own safety, but as he was about to walk past, something caught his eye: some of the ash was being sucked into the flame, assembling into something near its center.

"Huh?..."

That something started floating up towards the fire's top, where it began to… unburn itself into paper of some kind?

"Eh!?"

Was somebody using a quirk somewhere? Izuku glanced around and found nobody in the immediate vicinity, just the peanut gallery from before leaving the scene.

He looked back, finding that the ash had finally congregated into a rough-looking envelope, which tumbled in the air opposite to the prevailing gusts of wind. Eventually, the envelope landed right at Izuku's feet, and he was stuck gaping at it in befuddlement.

A few seconds passed… nervous curiosity finally overtook him.

He bent down to pick it up, but halfway there, it flew up into his hand, giving a brief spook.

Wait, no. It didn't fly up, per se… It looked like it was falling, but the video was played in reverse. As he handled the envelope, the sounds coming from it were odd too – distorted and playing a split second before the actual movement happened.

"What the actual…" He muttered.

The envelope was already opened too, and seemed to have been for a long, long time. He reached into it and pulled out the creased paper inside.

In ink, up top: FOR ME

The handwriting was familiar, for some strange reason; he couldn't place why though. It was as if a classmate wrote with his left hand – rough and nearby, yet not recognizable at first glance. He scanned it carefully.

Hello Izuku,

The words damn near gave him a heart attack, but he couldn't help but keep reading.

This is going to sound strange, but your quirk is so much more than you think it is…