[-Edited for Grammar and Readability Purposes as of July 3rd, 2024-]

[Vol 1 – 1: Humble Beginnings – Part 1]

"Out of my way, Cat-Eyes!" the harsh, anger-filled voice of one Bakugo Katsuki snarled, shoving Izuku Midoriya aside as the aforementioned teen stormed past him. Izuku's crimson-red, cat-like eyes narrowed in frustration as he watched Bakugo walk away, his form vanishing from sight as he blended into the crowd.

Even after all this time, even after almost seven years of growing up and maturing, Bakugo was still the same brat he always was and had been. It was almost upsetting, had Izuku not come to realize that Bakugo would always stay the angry, self-absorbed little prick he was known to be once they finished the first grade.

"And he wants to be a Pro Hero that surpasses All Might? Heh, sure, when Hell freezes over…" Izuku thought to himself as he pulled his body out of the dent that was made in his locker. The brute, damaging school property. But, he wouldn't be punished for it—of course he wouldn't. Why would he? He was the school's star pupil both for athletics and intelligence—second to him, of course in the intelligence category, and if Izuku tried more than he already was, probably in athletics as well.

Not that Izuku wanted to try. The last thing he wanted was for Bakugo to harp on him from hiding something. He had gone so long hiding the true nature of his Quirk that one measly little slip-up would be all it took. One irregularity, and Bakugo or anyone with half a brain cell would figure it out.

But, that wasn't what mattered. What mattered was that it had been seven years, and time had drastically changed Izuku appearance-wise. For starters, he now stood at a height of 137cm, or four foot six inches tall, and as such, his frame had taken quite the broader shape.

His shoulders were broader and less round. His arms had grown just as his legs, and he had lost a majority of his baby fat, causing him to slim out. He had even started to develop natural muscles from performing well in physical education—not that there was anything there, but he was bulkier than his peers.

His hair had also changed, having taken a majority leaning on green with only parts of his hair being black unlike when he was younger, when it was more of a half-and-half deal, with green on top and black on the bottom.

His hair had also poofed out. It now looked more similar to Bakugo's, though it was less spikey and more soft. Befitting of his appearance—meek and shy as he appeared, which was in sharp contrast to his always borderline neutral expression and his emotionless face. It was a mask he wore to hide his contempt toward those lesser than him. He seldom ever wore any other face. Not unless it was for an important reason.

Then came his attire. His school's uniform, the school in question going by the name Mandal Elementary School, which located in the deeper part of Musutafu City where he had been growing up.

The uniform consisted of a grey shirt, a red tie, black puffy pants and black tie-up shoes. School regulations dictated that his hair was supposed to be slicked back, neat, and tidy, but his hair was ever the unruly type, and no matter how much gel was put in it, it never stayed down—another thing he unwillingly shared with Bakugo.

Izuku detested the fact that he had to share the same uniform as Bakugo. Izuku detested the fact that his mother was still close to his family; even if Auntie Mitsuki kept Bakugo in line whenever they came to visit. He detested the very air that Bakugo breathed.

The fact that he used to be friends with him had been lost on Izuku. The more Bakugo talked, the more he wanted to pluck out his eardrums and go deaf in perpetuity for as long as Bakugo breathed the same air as him.

Although, he supposed it wasn't without merit. Bakugo was told time and time again that he was the best. His ego was stroked by just about everyone around him. All because of his Quirk. All because of Explosion. The only thing that made him unique in a world of people with power at the palms of their hands.

To think that 280 years ago, humanity had to rely on guns and bombs to match even a fraction of the power that humanity currently holds? Bakugo was a shining example of such power, and yet it was squandered on someone as boorish and as rude as him.

Whenever Bakugo spoke about wanting to be a hero, Izuku couldn't help but feel his blood boil, and his seven hearts pound like drums.

Oh, yes, his seven hearts, matched with his five brains. Another anomaly regarding him.

The discovery came when Izuku was hit by a truck. It was five years ago, around the time he had turned six years old. A few of the children who lived in the apartment complex asked to play with him, and seeing as he had no real friends, he decided to go out and play. He was still a child, and despite his intelligence, he wasn't above having a game of tag.

Only, this was street tag. It was normal, seeing as most people walked rather than drove—especially with how dangerous driving was when heroes like Ingenium sped down the road and obstructed traffic, and that was just to name one out of the many heroes who ignored traffic laws when it came to chasing down hoodlums and Villains alike.

During their game of street tag, Izuku had lost the last game, and as a result, was dubbed "it" for the next round. The other kids were fast and wild, and truth be told it had been the most fun he had in a while.

While he took solace and joy in studying, the primal side of himself, the one who wished to be a child, took over in full force. He laughed, he played, he made jokes and allowed himself to be just that—himself. Granted, he fell under the rules put in place by his mother. He didn't want to scare off his new friends, after all.

Except, it didn't matter in the end, as a truck driver whose breaks failed him ran over Izuku. He remembered the moment of impact—the pain that filled his bones as he was crushed and splayed apart. His body was torn to shreds at that moment and lay scattered upon the street. He should've died, but he didn't.

Rather, his body repaired itself. Piece by piece, broken bone by broken bone, his body merged back together like a puzzle putting itself together. Anything that was beyond repair simply reformed in its correct spot, and all the while the children who he had been playing with ran away and screamed in fear. Not because he had repaired himself. He later found out that those kids found it to be cool. If only they had gone to his school rather than the school they went to.

But, then again, that would get Bakugo on his radar, and that wouldn't do any good. That, and the parents of those children forbade them from ever meeting again. They saw him as a thing rather than a person. No one should've been able to come back from being torn apart by a speeding truck.

Yet, here he stood, six years from now, viewing it only as a testament to his power.

But, back to the topic at hand. His mother, who had been reasonably worried, decided to take him to the doctors to figure out how he was able to survive. When they got back the results, the doctors were astonished to find that, alongside his DNA being slightly different from regular people, he was found to have not one, not two, but seven hearts and five brains.

Needless to say, the doctors were intrigued, and for the next year or so, he was tested on to see if just how durable he was. How fast he could regenerate, and so on and so forth. As it turned out, if he really wanted to, he could heal his wounds before they even became permanent. As for his durability, they tried to recreate the accident that had brought him there in the first place but failed miserably.

Why?

Because his body seemingly adapted to the force. Rather than be blasted apart, his body caused the truck used in the experiment to crumple like a piece of paper. Luckily, there was no driver, and it was a crash dummy within. Had there been a person inside, they would've died.

After all the tests were done, the HSPC—the people who were in charge of the heroes and the laws and regulations behind them, approached his mother to see if she would be willing to pawn him off to them for a steep price, starting at 20 Billion Yen, which was roughly $123,885,000 in American.

His mother declined all offers, much to his pleasure and the HSPC's annoyance. He wanted nothing to do with heroes, and she didn't want to pawn off her flesh and blood for some money—life-changing money, but not enough to where she'd be willing to sell her son, which as he found out, would not have been even a Trillion Yen, as was one of the offers.

His father, on the other hand, was furious that Mom never even gave the idea a chance, and Mom was upset that Father would even so much as believe that to be a good idea. Since then, they were no longer on speaking terms, and they had divorced. As such, the only money they received from Father, who changed his name back to Hisashi Kamado, were from legally mandated Child Support, which had been half of what he would typically send.

That left them with less money to work with, but Mom didn't mind. She got a job at a call center, which paid 400,000 Yen a month, or 200,000 every two weeks. It wasn't much, but it was enough to cover groceries.

Nevertheless, Izuku asked about helping out, but his Mom made it apparent that all he had to do was make it through school. To achieve an education according to law, and become a functioning member of society. She even joked about him not robbing any banks until high school.

As he grew older, he realized that his goal of becoming a Villain would've been a little bit childish. He had no reason to be one, even if he wanted to supplant himself as better than All Might, he figured that the best way to do that would be in secrecy. He didn't need a flashy show of power. He just needed to be in a higher position of power than him.

So, he settled for the next best thing.

He was going to be a politician. Assuming everything worked out, and assuming he was able to keep his Quirk a secret for as long as possible, he would move on to become a politician and become the District head of Musutafu, and use that as a jumping-off point.

Unless, of course, something drastic happened that uplifted his entire life. But surely that wouldn't happen, right?

Regardless, that was his goal. He would become a politician, and from there, he would begin his campaign for the Primeminstership of Japan. Again, assuming everything went the way he wanted.

And assuming Bakugo wasn't a complete and utter jackass along the way and found out his secret. Or made him do something he would regret, not because he would regret ridding the world of Bakugo Katsuki, but because that would stain his criminal record. Something that was flawless as of late.

The only way he would stain his criminal record would be if it meant protecting those who he held dear. Those people were his mother, and his sole, only friend. Someone who he met in the second grade, and someone who since then had become a stalwart friend.

Someone who he was supposed to be meeting up with after school, which was two hours from now. However that meant he had to endure another two hours with being in the same class as Bakugo, and that was something he didn't really like.

But, he had this nifty little thing called "brake blocks." He won them by setting the district record for this year's Testathon.

For those who didn't know what a Testathon was, it was, essentially, a marathon of tests. The top performing student from each class every year was set to do as many tests and get as many answers correct in the allotted time, which was four hours every year, and it was usually held toward the end of the year.

Depending on the grade depended on how many tests one had to go through for that racket. Being in the fifth year, which was the last year before Junior high, meant that Izuku was given fifty tests he had to complete, with an allotted time of four hours.

The last record, which was set by a boy named Hinata Yu, clocked in at around two hours and eleven minutes, with 200 of the 360 questions correct, spanning across all of the tests lined up in front of him. It was seen as an impossible record to beat, so much so that Yu's teacher, a woman by the name of Itsuki Sugimoto, had placed a 40,000 Yen bet on his teacher, Kusukabe-Sensei, that he wouldn't be able to beat Yu's record.

And so, Izuku set out to prove her wrong and to earn Kusukabe-Sensei an easy 40,000 Yen. He not only beat Yu's time, shaving off an hour, but he did even better and got all 360 questions correct. It was fact-checked three times before it was accepted, which didn't count toward his time thankfully, and Sugimoto begrudgingly handed over Kusukabe-Sensei his money.

Needless to say after that stunt he pulled, he was recognized as the district's smartest student. His mother celebrated the occasion by taking him to see the new Godzilla Movie starring the Pro Hero who looked like Godzilla—Zilla. Ironic, and just as cheesy as the Showa Era Godzilla movies, but still great.

He also won a handful of brake blocks he could use throughout the rest of the year—five in total—and he typically used them toward the end of the day. Seeing as there had been only five weeks left of school, he had used one every Saturday since he won the Testathon. This was his second to last one, with him saving the final one for his 12th Birthday in the middle of the week so he could go home early.

And so, with that in mind, he made his way to the second floor of the school, his demeanour the same as it always had been, passing by several of his classmates and peers as he walked along. He kept to himself, as did they, with only a few of them passing strange glances in his direction.

He had a bit of a reputation as the "quiet kid". The one to be ever-so-slightly weary of in case they set off and lose their minds. That would never happen, though. He prided himself on his composure. Though he supposed that, as of late, he had been feeling a little funny.

There would be times when he would catch himself sizing up his classmates. For what purpose he didn't know, and ever since he turned ten, everything his mother had been feeding him didn't even so much as fill him in the slightest. He was starting to get worried, and that worry had been gnawing away at him.

He hadn't brought it up to his mother, but for the last year, he felt as if he was starving. As if his body wasn't properly digesting his food. Come to think of it, he never produced any kind of waste, either.

It was… strange. His mother had taken him to the doctors on several occasions about it, and all they could chalk it up to being was that it had to have been Quirk-related. They even started giving him nutrient pills to combat the issue. Not that it did anything, which was infuriating.

Was this his Quirks doing?

What even was his Quirk at this point? He honestly didn't know. Neither did his mother and seeing as his father wanted nothing to do with him, he just assumed that his father didn't know either.

He was beginning to think that maybe he wasn't human. Not in the traditional sense. It was the only real explanation that made sense. Though, he chose not to believe it—chose to believe that his Quirk was just that unique.

Because if he wasn't human, then he didn't know what he was going to do.

As he got to the second floor, and once he entered the secretary's office, he informed the secretary of what he was doing, to which she paged his classroom and informed Kusukabe-Sensei. When it was all said and done, Izuku left the secretary's office and decided to go on a little walk.

xxXXxxXXxx

A black cat sat patiently outside of Mandal Elementary. It was a thin little thing, and while it was a pure black cat, its bright yellow eyes were a bit different; specifically their irises. They weren't slit like a cat. They were round like a human. Which signified that they weren't just cats, but that this was the product of a Quirk.

The cat sat there, perched on a tree branch as it licked its left forwardmost paw, before pawing behind its left ear as it let out a soft pur before shaking its head. It stretched out, yawning all the while.

The "cat" was bored. It had been sitting here for what felt like ages waiting for someone to rear their face. But they hadn't, and they were starting to get annoyed, bordering on frustrated. So, being the cat that they were, upon spotting a bird at the foot of the tree they were sitting on—a domestic cat's natural prey aside from a mouse—the cat leapt down in a pouncing motion.

The bird, seeing its attacker, attempted to move out of the way by beginning to flap its wings, but it was far too slow to even take flight, as the cat was already atop it. With a very quick, and very precise bite to the back of the neck, the bird—a blue jay—was only able to let out a single squawk of pain before keeling over.

The cat, victorious in their assault and the taking of the life of the bird, purred as their tail wagged from side to side, prancing about in a circle as they swatted at the bird, rumbling to itself until they got bored. The cat looked toward the front door of Mandal Elementary School and hissed in annoyance.

School had been out for twenty minutes, and there was no sign of him. The cat was starting to get frustrated, but they had already killed a bird…. The cat growled, essentially saying "screw this" as their attempt to spook their target didn't work out. There was no sense in trying anymore, so, they decided to drop the disguise.

The fur of the cat began to sink back into cream-coloured skin, as the cat's body began to grow and transform. Frontal paws turned into hands with the front legs turning into human arms, whereas the rear paws and legs turned into fleshy human legs. The body of the cat shifted and morphed into a child's body, whilst the fur that had shrunk into the body poofed back out and turned back into clothing.

The cat head morphed from, well, cat head to the youthful face and head of a shoulder-length black-haired girl with wide, expressive emerald green eyes. The only thing that didn't change on the head of the individual were the cat ears, which remained. Oh, and the tail, which stuck out from the top part of the child's skirt.

Speaking of their clothes, they were dressed in Mandal Elementary School's uniform, which was the same uniform as the boys, that being a grey short-sleeve shirt and a red tie, with the difference between the boy's uniform and the girl's being a blue skirt that covered up to the end of the thighs and knee-high black socks with similar shoes to the boy's uniform.

"Where is he~! He's taking too long~!" The girl bemoaned, tapping her left foot in repeated motion as she frowned, staring at the school's entrance. He was always like this. Always making her wait knowing full well she only had a limited amount of time to hang out after school, lest her Step Dad start breathing down her neck.

The girl in question was named Natsumi Nakime. She, like the person she was waiting on, was a fifth year at Mandal Elementary School. Her Quirk was called Cat Transformation, which as the name suggested, gave her the ability to turn into a Cat. But not just any kind of cat, specifically, she had two modes, not counting her human appearance.

Her first mode was her Domestic Cat mode, which took the form of a standard black cat. Small, flexible, and easy to sneak around places undetected. Agile and quick, Natsumi usually used this to sneak out of classes she didn't like, usually to great success.

Her second mode, and one she hadn't used at all, was her ability to turn into a Jaguar. She knew she could do it due to an accident she had when she first used her Quirk, but ever since then, she hadn't been able to.

That being said, while the Quirk was rather useful at times it did have its drawbacks. Like most Mutation and Transformation Quirks—which hers was a mix of—it came with biological drawbacks. For example, she would cough up hairballs. Luckily, she wasn't like her mother, and went into designated times of the year when she was aggressively clinging to people—she didn't know what that was but her stepdad and her mother would up till very late in the night when she was.

Apparently, she was going to be expecting a little brother soon! Wasn't that swell? She always wanted a sibling. They even already picked a name for him. Katsuma! Though, she wondered if that was a good thing, given how strict her Stepdad was….

"Bah, whatever, doesn't matter," Natsumi thought, crossing her arms as she stared at the front entrance of the school. "Gah! C'mon, show up already!" Natsumi thought, frowning. This was seriously the worst!

Well, no, there had been worse. Like their first meeting, when she was being picked on by some jerk in her third-year class. Junpei was seriously the worst—the worst of the worst, she'd say. Always tugging at her ears and doing things to make her upset. There was one time when he took her lunch!

Thankfully, He showed up, and He made Junpei give everything back. He and Natsumi became great friends after that, and they've been basically inseparable! Well, except for the times that they had to go home…. And on Sundays, when her family did family things…. And any other time past 7:30 pm.

Okay, so maybe they weren't inseparable, but at school, during recess and lunch, they always hung out no matter what! It was after school that was the problem since He liked to drag his feet all the time. The darn slowpoke.

"Sorry for keeping you waiting," His voice spoke out as Natsumi smiled. Izuku Midoriya walked over to her, dressed in the school uniform, only there was a slight difference with him today. It wasn't like he physically changed—his eyes were still the same, but it was what was on his head that was different.

"Is that a Fedora, Midori?"

Midoriya blinked, looking up at the top of his head before shrugging. "Oh, yeah. I got it last week. Mom took me to the store to buy clothes and I got this. It was on sale, marked down from 20,000 Yen to 5,600."

"That's a sale to you?! Darn, you must be rich!" Natsumi quipped as Midoriya chuckled.

"No, Nakime-chan, my family isn't rich. If we were rich, we'd be living in an actual house like you and your family," Midoriya replied as Natsumi shrugged, before doing what she did best, and hugged the life out of Midoriya. He was never used to her doing it, and he always froze up when she hugged him. That was why she called it "hugging the life out of him." Because he always froze up like a statue.

"Can you stop doing that…" Midoriya groaned as Natsumi smiled, skipping back with her trademark radiant smile.

"Nuh-uh! Why would I do that?" Natsumi said, poking him in the nose as Midoriya recoiled. "Because if I did that, then how else could I punish you for being late, Midori~!"

"It's not my fault the hallways are crowded…" Midoriya grumbled, his face flushing red with embarrassment, prompting Natsumi to giggle. She loved teasing Midoriya. The usually cold and stoic expression of his melting away into something more relaxed and goofy was something she prided herself in doing.

There was nothing better than knocking down someone's ego with a well-timed prank or an even better-timed poke or surprise hug. Especially when they were known to be stone-faced and boring.

Throwing her hands behind her head, she began to walk away as Midoriya followed behind her. She stared up into the sky, the clouds blotting out the sun preventing her from squinting. It was a shame since the skies were clear this morning. Now, however, they weren't. They were covered and ugly. It was sad.

The world was sad today for a reason. She didn't know why. It was kind of weird because it was so happy this morning. Why did the sun want to hide itself now? Maybe a massive tragedy happened elsewhere in the world?

Maybe. She didn't know for sure.

"So, how was school, Midori?" Natsumi asked, peeking over her shoulder, but found no sign of Midoriya. She stopped and turned around. "Midori? Where are you?"

She was answered with a sudden shove that nearly made her trip and fall face-first into the pavement, only to be effortlessly swept off her feet and caught as if she had been dipped in a dance. Midoriya's right hand held hers, as his left held firmly onto her left wrist.

Their faces were closer than she would've liked them to be, and his expression was that of a cheeky smirk. Her heart pounded against her chest and her face was red with embarrassment, just as he was a few moments ago. Except, there was something else there too, but she ignored it.

"I believe this makes us even, yeah?" Midoriya said, smirking all the while as he let her go, making sure she stood up full first before doing so. She puffed out her cheeks and crossed her arms, her face still burning red.

"Jerk!"

"I'm not a jerk, you're just salty I got you back," Midoriya quipped as Natsumi stuck her tongue out in protest. She hadn't noticed—or at least pretended not to notice—that other people were watching and snickering at one another at the scene. There would surely be rumours now that they were dating. Which sucked. Natsumi didn't see Midoriya that way, even if she would admit that he was cute.

"Let's just go…" Natsumi muttered, stomping away, though her tail had been swaying from left to right. It was hard to put up a front of anger and annoyance when her tail gave her true feelings away. Something Midoriya knew full well, which was more than likely why he had a smile on his face.

The Jerk. Meanie. Rude. Midoriya was a big meanie today and it was annoying. Or maybe it was just her emotions, she didn't know. They were all over the place today. She blamed her Mom. This was her mother's fault. She didn't know how it just was. Then again last month she had unexpectedly started having her period, which was around the same time her mother had started having hers, so maybe that was why.

Regardless, it didn't matter. It was still Midoriya's fault for being a meanie, so there. Even if she did get butterflies in her stomach when he caught her from the fall he had set up.

"Stupid emotions. Stupid Midori. Stupid, stupid, stupid!" Natsumi berated internally. For the last year, she had caught feelings for her friend. Her mother called it cute, but she needed to focus on her studies and not get caught up in said feelings. Which, quite proudly might she add, she hadn't.

She didn't know why she fell for him. Her mother had met Midoriya when she picked her up one day instead of walking home like they normally did. Her mother liked Midoriya, and she had noted how polite Midoriya had been.

Maybe it was his politeness that had caused it?

No, that wasn't it. He never smiled so it wasn't anything corny like that. He was always reserved and kept to himself.

Maybe it was his personality? No, he was too bland. Too rigid.

"Doesn't matter…" She thought. Truly, it hadn't mattered. Nothing really did nor could be explained when Midoriya was involved. He was an enigma. He was special. She didn't know how but he was.

As for why they were walking home together, it was simple—they lived near each other. It was a half-hour difference from his apartment complex to her place, which had been where the villas were. It was closer to the border of Shizuoka City, but it was still a short distance from Mandal, about a fifteen-minute drive and an hour's walk.

She had left her school stuff in her locker, mostly because she didn't have any homework assigned that day. Since it was close to the end of the year, they were starting to lax with the homework and put more emphasis on the final exam that was going to happen three days before the final day of school.

Her Mom and stepdad wanted her to study more, but studying was lame, and she'd much rather run around outside in her cat form and mess around with birds or spy on her other friends like Kujisaki and Yui-Chan—both of whom were her classmates.

"So…" Natsumi began as she looked over to Midoriya, who was fixing his hat. They had been walking for the last ten minutes and were currently at an intersection waiting for the walking signal to start. "You free tomorrow?"

"Hm?" Midoriya hummed, looking at her with a raised eyebrow. "Oh, tomorrow? What time?"

"6:30ish, why?" Natsumi asked as Midoriya reached into his pocket and pulled out a smartphone. "Lucky…" Natsumi thought. She always wanted a smartphone, but her mother didn't want her to have one, and her stepdad said it was a corruptive device that would make her scatterbrain even worse.

He opened up a calendar app as Natsumi peered over his shoulder. He shooed her away, making her frown as she waited, swishing her tail side to side absently, her left ear twitching as the muttering of people behind and around them invaded her ears. After a few seconds, he put away his phone, a scowl on his face.

"Unfortunately, I have another doctor's appointment on Friday. It's for a medical condition I have," Midoriya said as Natsumi raised an eyebrow.

"Medical condition?"

"If you must know, it has to do with my body not being able to extract nutrients from food. You might've seen me popping some pills at lunchtime. That's how I get my nutrients for the time being. The appointment is about seeing how well they're working," Midoriya explained as the walking light blinked, and the chiming sound started playing to get everyone's attention that they have the right of way.

As they walked, Natsumi frowned. "That sucks. So wait, does that mean you don't eat?"

"What's the point if my body doesn't pull nutrients from it? I cook, though. Mostly for Mom," Midoriya said, putting his hands in his pockets.

"What about your Dad? Does he know?"

"He's a deadbeat, so I don't care if he knows or not," Midoriya spat, clearly annoyed.

"Note to self, don't bring up Midori's Dad," Natsumi thought before sighing. "Well, that sucks. It also sucks you can't come over tomorrow. I'm pretty much locked up for the weekend."

"Your Mom and stepdad making you study all weekend?"

"Yup…"

"Well, that's what you get for not studying," Midoriya quipped as Natsumi playfully knocked him in the back of the head just as they finished crossing the street. Midoriya chuckled to himself as Natsumi grumbled. What was with him today, anyway? He was being more of a jerk than usual.

"You're mean…"

"Not mean, just correct."

"Shuddup!" Natsumi squealed, which made Midoriya laugh as they walked. "Why're you being so rude!?" Natsumi grumbled, bopping him repeatedly on the back of his head, chanting "idiot" over and over again. It only stopped when Natsumi felt something grab her wrist. She paused in her mini-temper tantrum and caught sight of something slinking back under Midoriya's coat.

It… looked like a bramble.

"Huh?" Was she seeing things? What was that? She also noticed that Midoriya's shoulders were slightly raised and that he was looking over his shoulder and… his eyes. Was it just her or were they glowing?

And… was it just her was he snarling? His teeth, too. Specifically his incisors. They looked… larger than other people, even hers due to her Mutation/Transformation Quirk.

"Enough," Midoriya hissed. He sounded genuinely mad—something he never got around her. Both of them had stopped moving as everyone else passed by them, continuing their conversations and or walking in silence. Although it didn't feel that way. It felt like it was just the two of them in that moment.

The seconds crawled on forever as Natsumi felt as if any wrong move would make him do… something. She didn't know what, but with how his face was contorted. How angry he looked. It was all so… scary. Like standing in front of a wild animal.

And then, as if it never happened, Midoriya looked away. Not only that, but he shook his head as if he was in a daze. He even went as far as to cup his forehead as if he had banged it against the side of a wall.

"I… I'm sorry about that. I don't know what I was thinking…" Midoriya mumbled, continuing forward as if nothing happened. Natsumi stood there for a few more seconds, trying to rationalize what just happened.

"That was… scary…" She had never seen Midoriya so mad before. Never in her life had she ever imagined Midoriya to be capable of getting angry like that. She pushed down that feeling of fear and moved on to catch up to Midoriya, though, she couldn't ignore the fact that what looked like a bramble had slinked back under Midoriya's shirt like a snake.

What was that? Where did it come from? What wasn't her best friend telling her about himself? Did he think she didn't see it? It was okay to keep some secrets away from others, but from someone you called your best friend? Secrets weren't a good thing. Especially if they led to miscommunication.

And especially if it was Quirk-related. In a world where Quirks could be as weak as having the ability to produce bubbles from fingertips to turning into Godzilla,

"I guess I'll just have to see for myself…" With that, Natsumi came up with an idea. Once they broke off on their usual split-off path, she'd go toward home, and then turn back around as her cat form and follow him home. Maybe there she'd figure something out.

If Midoriya had been lying to her for the last two years about his Quirk being Hyperintelligence then she and him were going to have some words about it.

You don't just lie to your best friend and get away with it.

[XXXX]

"I'm home!" Izuku called out, looking over his apartment with a careful eye so he could try and spot his mother. After a few moments with no response, he checked the doormat to see if she was home by checking to see if her shoes were there.

Sure enough, sitting at the front door was a single other pair of shoes, those being his mother's. "So, she's home. Maybe she's having a nap?" Izuku thought, taking his shoes off and putting them next to hers. She tended to get home two hours before school let out, so it wasn't unheard of.

Although, he would admit that it was a little unusual. His mom didn't usually like having naps, so unless today was just a really bad day for her at work, then he felt a little concerned regarding his mother's lack of an answer.

Stepping into his apartment, Izuku was greeted with the familiar sight of the split living room, dining room, and kitchen, evenly divided into threes. The living room consisted of a couch facing a flatscreen TV that had been mounted on the wall, and two recliner chairs that sat across from one another at a small tea table.

Just behind the couch was the dining room, which had a small dining table and two chairs spaced across from one another. The table was made of oakwood, as were the chairs, and it looked recently cleaned, meaning his Mom had done some cleaning before she, supposedly, went down for a nap.

Then there was the kitchen, which would be more accurately described as a kitchenette. It was a small space with a stove and oven, a fridge with an attached freezer for meats and ice cream, a sink, and some counter space separating each appliance. There were also some wall-mounted cabinets for dishes and some drawers attached to the counter for spoons, chopsticks, forks, and knives.

Each part of the main body of the apartment was separated in such a way that it was made even to save on square footage, but to also upcharge the rent. Of course, that wasn't all. There was a hallway where two bedrooms and a bathroom and shower were—it would be borderline illegal for anyone to live or sell in this place without those, but he digressed.

There was a bag of groceries on the dining table with a sticky note attached. Walking over to it, Izuku plucked the note off the bag and frowned. It said that she was, in fact, having a nap because of how stressful work was. It further said to make her some Udon for dinner when she woke up, and that if she wasn't up for when dinner was made, to wake her up and or leave it in the pot and keep the heat on so it stayed warm.

Crumpling up the note, Izuku walked over to the kitchenette, groceries in hand, and started setting up the kitchen to make his mother some Yaki Udon. It was already 5:00 pm, so if he wanted to have this done in time, he was going to need an extra hand.

Which was why he was glad that his Quirk was as unique as it was, despite all of the drawbacks that came with it.

His left arm began to shake and twist, as if breaking itself while being boiled, until finally, it split three ways, the flesh reforming and melding to create three separate arms with three separate hands. Each arm and hand he could control as if they had always been there, and each of which he knew where they were at all times.

As he grew older, he figured out just what exactly it was he could do with his Quirk. The original series of tests showed him that his body was powerful enough to stitch itself back together should he ever find himself in a fatal accident, and his body could seemingly adapt on a small scale to traumatic events.

Using that information, he learned that he could independently control his cells when he accidentally cut one of his fingers off chopping carrots to make stew for his mother three years back. He thought about having two fingers replace the one finger he cut off, and lo-and-behold that was exactly what happened. He even reverted it without having to injure himself.

Since then, when he was home alone or when his mother was sleeping and or she was out doing something, he used his newfound knowledge of how his body worked to make multiple limbs and practiced using them so much so that he gained mastery over every limb he could create on command.

It was why right now, as he made Udon with the three new arms he created out of his left arm, he was not only preparing the noodles but also gathering the spices and vegetables and preparing the chicken as well. With his right arm, he gathered the dishes that he was going to need for everything on top of that.

He was like a well-oiled machine. "If only I could do this at school. Maybe then I wouldn't have to deal with all of Bakugo's nonsense…" Izuku thought, his expression just as neutral as normally was. "Though, maybe not. There's always the possibility that it could get worse. After all, with my Quirk being as bizarre as it is, and with how sensitive society is about "villainous" Quirks, I'd rather not see what happens."

He knew his mother had reasons as to why she wanted him to keep his Quirk quiet. It was already explained to him when he was little. He just wished the world wasn't the way that it was, and wished it was more accepting.

If his politician dream went well, he'd lobby for law reforms and mandates about Quirkism. That would be the platform he'd run on, seeing as right now it was such a hot-button topic.

While he felt bad for lying to Nakime-chan about his Quirk, it wasn't as if he had much of a choice. His mother had made it clear that nobody needed to know about his Quirk. Which was why earlier today that slip-up made him rush home, much to her annoyance. He didn't know if she saw anything, but if she did, then he'd talk to her about tomorrow.

But that aside, there was something else there that happened that Izuku was still trying to wrap his head around. Specifically, what happened when he quite literally snarled at her. He knew that, in the back of his mind, she was just joking around. But a part of him felt truly insulted at what she was saying.

Maybe it was because he hadn't been in the bestest of moods as of late due to feeling as if he was starving. After all, there had been plenty of times that his mother had come home feeling agitated or was being plain old snippy with him before eating something, and then in the next moment after having eaten something, she was just fine.

He assumed that was what had happened. He just hoped that at the doctor's tomorrow, they could figure something out. He would tell the doctor that these nutrient supplements weren't doing anything, and then he'd move on from there.

"I guess I'll have to apologize to Nakime-chan tomorrow…" Izuku thought as he finished preparing the chicken and noodles. But as he was getting ready to finish setting up dinner for his mother, he failed to notice something staring at him from the kitchenette's window.

He failed to notice the black cat with oddly human eyes staring at him through the window, eyes wide and mouth slightly open.

He also failed to notice the cat leaping away from the window, and sprinting down the outdoor stairwell.

He had failed to notice that his friend, Natsumi, had followed him home, and now knew about his Quirk.

-To Be Continued-