A/N: The following story is not fanfiction.
The following story is, for all intents and purposes, My Hero Academia (Japanese: 僕のヒーローアカデミア, Hepburn: Boku no Hīrō Akademia) itself—a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Kōhei Horikoshi. It was serialized in Shueisha's shōnen manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump from July 2014 to August 2024, with its chapters collected in 41 tankōbon volumes as of August 2024. Viz Media acquired the rights for the English publication in August 2015.
The manga has since become a commercial success and one of the best-selling manga series of all time. It now has over 100 million copies in circulation, having won numerous awards including Sugoi Japan Award and Harvey Award for Best Manga. It also has been adapted into its own animated TV show, movies, and even plays.
That being said, what you are about to read is not an adaptation. What you are about to read is My Hero Academia.
In addition to its accolades, the manga is also known for its active fandom scene. As of now, it has over 334,649 fan works on the nonprofit open source repository Archive of Our Own (AO3) — this earns MHA the third spot on fandoms with the highest number of fan works. In Summer 2024 AO3 Top 100 Most Posted Relationship Stats, My Hero Academia snags three spots on the list—the highest being Bakugou Katsuki/Midoriya Izuku with 43,102 works at the time of survey. In regards to other fanwork sites, My Hero Academia—often referred to as MHA or BNHA—has over 29,142 works on and 1,200 works on Wattpad.
MHA fanfictions accumulate a high number of following, notably so that some of these fanworks even have their own TV Tropes pages. Some also have their own wiki pages. These fanfictions—known also as FF, fanfics, or fics—are so well beloved that they even have their own fanarts, headcanons, and indeed—fanfictions. While this phenomenon is not unique to MHA alone, it is evident that it is rather prominent in this particular fandom space.
Each fanfiction is unique in its own ways—categorized to many different types, genres, and subgenres. Although My Hero Academia manga has the genre of Adventure, Science Fiction, and Action, this is not necessarily the case with its fanfictions. While original works might explore only certain themes and operate within certain genres, fanworks tend to lend themselves to a much wider scope; they often adopt the world and characteristics from other genres and original works. In certain cases, these "Alternate Universe" fanfictions barely retain the original characteristics of its original media.
There have been arguments since the birth of modern fanfictions (circa 1960s, attributed to the Star Trek fandom) whether "canon compliance" is the standard for good fanfictions. Some argue that "non-canon compliant" fanworks are a sign of a bad fanfic writer. Harsh critics have quoted that these fanfictions are "an insult to the original work (…) and original author's intentions [of said work]". Other than divergence in setting and story, OOC (Out of Character) characterization of characters is also a particularly contentious subject.
These arguments have no relevance whatsoever to the story you are about to read, because what you are about to read is not fanfiction.
As reiterated before, the following story is My Hero Academia. The real thing. It is not a fan fiction. It is not an Alternate Universe. The characters are not "OOC". The characteristics of the story are not "fanon" (fan canon). It is neither canon-compliant or non-canon compliant, because it is canon itself.
It is not an adaptation. It is not a plagiarization of My Hero Academia. It definitely does not in any way or form violate the Terms of Service.
(Do note that due to the nature of the original media and the work's acquiescence to 's Term of Service regarding Copyright Infringement, what you will see will not be MHA in the format as you know it—which is, of course, a manga. This does not take away from the fact that it is still the real thing.
Again, the following story is, for all intents and purposes, My Hero Academia. Every single character in this story believes this. They Know this. So do you.)
Before the end of this note, a disclaimer will be given here: the author of the following story is not Kōhei Horikoshi. The author does not, in any shape of form, claim to own the rights to My Hero Academia. I do not own My Hero Academia. Neither do you.
But that doesn't Matter, because this is My Hero Academia.
After all, we love it enough to the point of being True.
So let's go back to the very beginning. Together. It has to be together. One to be, and one to believe. So that one can be. For every force, there is an equal, reciprocal reaction. There is always a give and take.
So, the beginning. A white, white space.
And then, a dot of ink. A drop of pixel. A turn to—
僕のヒーローアカデミア Boku no Hero Academia My Hero Academia reviews
A superhero-admiring boy enrolls in a prestigious hero academy and learns what it really means to be a hero, after the strongest superhero grants him his own powers.
My Hero Academia/僕のヒーローアカデミア - Rated: T - English - Humor/Romance - Chapters: 430 - Words: ∞ - Reviews: ∞ - Updated: 8/5/2024 - Published: 9/7/2014 - Izuku M., Katsuki B., Shouto T.
Chapter 1
NO. 1: IZUKU MIDORIYA: ORIGIN
—Page one.
Panel #1. Exterior of CITY. We see a playground park with swings, monkey bars, etc. It is DAY.
Panel #2. MIDORIYA IZUKU, YOUNG, trembling as he stands between his CHILDHOOD FRIEND BAKUGOU KATSUKI and an unnamed friend. The unnamed friend is crying and seen to be hurt from Bakugou Katsuki and co's violent action.
MIDORIYA IZUKU: [Tearful, trembling] You already made him cry … stop it! I won't let you!
Panel #3. Wide shot, low angle. We see Bakugou Katsuki for the first time. His hands are alight with his QUIRK.
BAKUGOU KATSUKI: [Cruelly, smiling] So Useless Deku thinks he can play Hero, huh?
Panel #4 and #5. Continuous, pitiful shots of USELESS QUIRKLESS DEKU mobbed by Bakugou Katsuki and other kids with Quirk. He is held as Katsuki punches him in the face, presumably repeatedly. Izuku is HELPLESS, and his inability to fight back is REPULSIVE and PATHETIC. From this page the premise of the story is set up: an underdog that has to fight his way into being a HERO worthy of a STORY.
Inner dialogue box across the page, the foundation of the story, the heart of it all. Midoriya Izuku's voice narrating, from a future beyond that is not yet conceived:
MIDORIYA IZUKU: [Calm, somewhat melancholic] People are not born equal. That's the hard truth I learned at age four.
Next page.
cont. MIDORIYA IZUKU: …But that is my first and last setback.
Exterior. Day. Establishing shot of the Universe.
We see a wide and incredible world. A very interesting world indeed.
In the air—dust, concrete, spring. Excitement. Musutafu, a vibrant and modern metropolitan city in 20XX Japan. Above is the blue, blue sky—dotted with Heroes and Villains blazing with Quirks alike, clashing in a heart-pounding spectacle. On ground level are the police, civilians, and our protagonist at current time.
MIDORIYA IZUKU: [Pure, excited] Wow, a giant Villain!
Cutscene.
MY HERO ACADEMIA
© Shueisha 2015
© Viz Media 2015
WORLD EXPOSITION begins.
It began in Keikei city in China … with the news that a bioluminescent baby was born!
After that, "exceptional" individuals began popping up all over the world. The cause was unclear, time passed … and the "exceptional" became the norm. Fantasy … became reality!
At present, 80 percent of the world's population consists of superhumans with special abilities. The world is in chaos!
And a profession that everyone once only dreamed about … entered the spotlight!
WORLD EXPOSITION ends.
Cutscene.
MY HERO ACADEMIA
© Shueisha 2015
© Viz Media 2015
…And we're back. Exterior, day, Musutafu! An exciting Villain fight is commencing!
"Turning into a monster? What a crazy Quirk! What'd he do?"
"Tried to steal a purse and started rampaging when he got cornered.."
"A Villain appeared … that's right, I'm at the station. Not sure when the trains are gonna—"
"Kyahh! You can do it! Get him, Kamui Woods!"
Among the excited onlookers watching as the famed Hero Kamui Woods pummel the Villain to bits, a plain, bright-eyed teenage boy in a middle-school uniform squeezes through. Midoriya Izuku, 14 years old, the protagonist!
Meek, plain, green-haired and green-eye with somewhat a slight stature—face dusted with freckles. Eyes a little too big for his face. "Oh, wow!" Izuku gushes, eyes shining with joy, exhilaration, and everything that is bright in the world. He has his Hero Analysis notebook out, a pen ready in hand as he spectates the ensuing showdown. "Kamui Woods, the rising star!"
"Whoah, kid," comments an unnamed passerby. "You're a Hero fanboy, aren't you?"
Izuku blushes, laughing sheepishly. "Um, n-not really.."
Above, the fight between the Hero and the Villain intensifies. "Assault and Robbery?" Kamui Woods says righteously towards the heinous Villain. "You truly are the incarnation of evil!"
The world trembles with anticipation as the confrontation reaches its climax. Kamui Woods' Quirk writhes and grows, a show of awesome power and action. The crowd gasps.
"Oh, h-here it comes!" Izuku says, stuttering in excitement. Kamui Wood's specialty attack! He's analyzed this so many times in his spare time! "His Pre-emptive Binding Lacquered Chain Pri—"
"Canyon Cannon!"
What's this? Taking over Kamui Wood's hero shot in one fell swoop, a new Hero enters the scene. The earth tremors as a beautiful, gigantic blonde woman sends the Villain flying sky-high!
"Pleased to meet you all!" the beautiful Hero says, looming above the city, her fist caked in the Villain's blood. She smiles gorgeously at the rows of cameras flashing at her. "My name is Mountain Lady. Today is my debut."
MY HERO ACADEMIA
© Shueisha 2015
© Viz Media 2015
Along with the exceptional abilities came an explosion in the crime rate. While nations struggled to overhaul their legal systems…
Brave individuals took up the mantle of Heroes straight out of comic books…
…Protecting the people from evildoers!
With public support, some quickly acquired the right to serve as Heroes in an official capacity. Depending on their performance, they have the potential to earn…
Government pay!
Fame and glory!
MY HERO ACADEMIA
© Shueisha 2015
© Viz Media 2015
Izuku immediately scribbles on his notes as he mutters. "Gigantification, huh? It's a common and quite powerful Quirk, but could the threat of public property destruction limit its use? Well, depends on whether or not she can manipulate her size at will—"
The unnamed passerby pats Izuku on the shoulder amicably. "I see you are taking notes, boy! I guess you wanna be a Hero yourself. Good luck!"
Izuku brightens at the unexpected kindness this passerby has in setting up the audience's expectation of his entire character goal. "T-thanks! I'm trying my best!"
It's looking to be a beautiful morning after all. What does the rest of the day have in store for one Midoriya Izuku?
Exterior, establishing shot. Aldera Middle School. Punch in.
Interior, classroom. Filled with middle-school kids wearing Midoriya Izuku's uniform and a teacher. We see Izuku himself, hunched down and demure as he writes down in his notebook. Around him the children are rowdy and excited. It's the beginning of the school year, after all!
"You all are third years now," says the unnamed homeroom teacher. "It's time to start thinking seriously about your futures…"
Oh, this. Midoriya Izuku knows what's coming. He shrinks in his seat.
"I would hand out these future career forms, but…" the teacher smirks, sheets of paper flying everywhere. "I already know all of you want to be Heroes." The class goes buckwild, myriad of Quirks activating all at once—emitter, transformation and mutant types alike. "Yes, you all have wonderful Quirks, but you know it's against the rules to use them in school—"
"Sensei, don't lump me in with these losers!"
Bakugou Katsuki, fourteen years old. Spunky. Blonde-haired, red-eyed. Confident. Everything that Midoriya Izuku is not. "As if their shitty Quirks are on the same level as mine."
"Ah, Bakugou-kun," the teacher informs the audience kindly, "you are aiming for UA high school, of course."
The other non-descript classmates gasp and haw. "That national school? The cutoff this year is 79, right? They barely accept anyone.."
Izuku shrinks further in his seat. He wishes everything would go away, already.
"Shut up, extras," Bakugou says to the extras. He stands up to do a monologue. "I fuckin' aced the mock exam. I'm the only one here with the stuff for UA! I'll even surpass All Might and become the best Hero out there—"
"Whoah," comments a character that should not be in this scene. "I didn't know he was this much of an asshole."
"—not to mention," Bakugou continues, deaf to the commentary of the character that should not be in this scene because that character should not be in this scene, "I'll be so good at Heroing that I'll be the richest person in the whole fuckin' world—"
"Oh," the teacher says, once again establishing the conflict in their dynamic. "Midoriya-kun, you are also going to UA, aren't you?"
Silence. You can hear a needle fall as all characters—the ones that should be in this scene, the ones who are in My Hero Academia because they are in My Hero Academia—turn to look at Midoriya Izuku at this dumb, poignant revelation. And then the whole class laughs at him.
"Huh? Midoriya, at UA? No way, right?"
"Good grades alone can't get you into the Hero program, you know!"
Shame is hot, churning at the pit of Izuku's stomach like acid. But he's made his decision, hasn't he? He will be a Hero no matter what. This is his story. And if his first foray into being a Hero is to stand up for himself, then he will do just that. "T-that's not necessarily true," Izuku stutters, standing up from his chair in indignity. "Sure, there's no p-precedent, but—"
BANG.
"Oh, come on, Deku," snaps Kacchan.
Stars explode behind Izuku's eyes. It takes him a moment to realize that he's been punched—with a Quirk, no less. The sensation is a familiar one, because it's happened to him his whole life, because he's known Kacchan his whole life. His collars are pulled harshly and he chokes, looking right into Kacchan's eyes.
"Forget the shitty Quirks—you're totally Quirkless," Kacchan hisses. "And you think you, Quirkless Deku, can rub shoulders with me?"
"This sucks," says a character that should not be in this scene. He clicks his tongue. "And it's only page 13? Goddamn."
Oh, no! Izuku has angered Kacchan yet again, which is something he always does every day in his life before today. "W-wait, Kacchan—" There is a ringing in his ears as he's pushed and thrown to a wall. Air leaves his lungs in a heave. "I wasn't saying I could c-compete with you—not at all, I swear! It's just … been my dream since I was little, is all.." it's all he's ever wanted in life. It's all what he's supposed to want in life. Izuku tries to fix a smile on his face. "There's no harm in trying.."
"Try?" Kacchan echoes, as if he's a moron. He sounds disbelieving at Izuku's audacity. "Try what? The entrance exam? You're taking the entrance exam just to try? What can you even do?"
The rest of the class laughs and laughs, looming all around. The teacher does nothing. Midoriya Izuku does nothing, too. He stays silent, there on the floor, without dignity nor spine. Because this is the basis of the world, the foundation of the story. It's supposed to happen. People are not born equal.
Cutscene.
MY HERO ACADEMIA
© Shueisha 2015
© Viz Media 2015
Exterior. Downtown city. 12:02 PM.
"Thief! Someone stop him!"
The Villain sprints through the street, leaving streaks of mud as he goes. "Catch me if you can!"
The crowd of civilian murmurs in inaction, watching the crime before their eyes.
"Someone's bound to show up … shouldn't there be a Hero patrol?"
"This guy must've been inspired by the chaos this morning. Lots of people who can't control their Quirks, I guess."
"There's really no end to them.."
"Yes, there is," says a yet-to-be-revealed character. "For I am here."
MY HERO ACADEMIA
© Shueisha 2015
© Viz Media 2015
Interior. Classroom. End of class.
The bell rings. Chairs are being dragged as kids stand up, getting ready to leave school.
"Let's go to Karaoke!"
"No, I can't today…"
Izuku opens his phone, smiling to himself, scrolling the Hero newsblogs he often frequents. The incident from this morning is all over the net! He should get home soon and get his notes in order. Izuku dons his backpack, taking his Hero notebook on his desk—but Kacchan is faster. "Oh—"
"Not so fast, Deku," he says. "We ain't done yet."
Izuku watches helplessly. Bakugou dangles his notebook in front of him. Hero Analysis for my future Vol. 13.
"What's that, Katsuki?"
"For my future? Seriously, this guy. Midoriya.."
"This is tragic," says a character that should not be saying anything or even exist at all, yet.
"Come on, g-give it back," Izuku stutters. "Please. Just give it b—"
BANG. With a nudge of Bakugou's Quirk, the notebook bursts into flames. Inside, meticulously written and illustrated by hand, are the data of the Heroes he's gathered this past year. Now they're all nothing but sugar and ashes.
"Why are you letting him do this to you?" asks the character that should not—
"Why..?" Izuku says, staring at what's left of his hard work. He's done nothing wrong, he thinks. Nothing to merit this at all. His lips tremble as he attempts, pathetically, to hold back his tears. Why would Kacchan do that?
Helplessly, he watches as Kacchan rolls his eyes before throwing Izuku's heap of ash out of the window. What Kacchan says next is said with a kind of boredness, as if Bakugou is saying this all to help Izuku and the way that he doesn't even get this simple of a thing is, frankly, unbelievable. "The best Heroes out there, Deku," says Kacchan almost patiently, "Well, they showed signs of greatness even as students."
"So this is what happens in the Canonical Universe, huh," says the character that should not be here at all and whose existence in this time and space will fuck everything up. "Or happened. How accurate is this, to our Universe? Or was our Universe just like this—"
Bakugou Katsuki walks towards Izuku, towering above him. Taller than him. Stronger than him. Better than him. "I'll be the first and only Hero from this crappy public middle school. The first to win the honor of becoming a student at UA."
"—up until a point where it turned into our Universe?" says the character who should just stay quiet because he is not supposed to be here. "I wonder."
"Heh. I guess I'm just a perfectionist, aren't I?" Kacchan smiles at him, coldly. Izuku doesn't remember a point where they used to be friends—it must've happened, once, a long time ago. "In other words. Don't you dare get into UA, nerd."
Izuku opens his mouth to say something, but nothing comes out.
"Just typical," says an unnamed character, one of Katsuki's cronies in the scene. "C'mon, man."
"Yeah, say something."
Izuku can't. He can't. He's always been like this—a pathetic loser who can't stand up for himself. He's always, always been like this. This is his character. This is how he's supposed to be. He can't go against it.
Kacchan is already walking out of the room, not even bothering to give him one last glance because a pathetic loser like him does not deserve even that much. "He can't say anything," says Bakugou, already bored by the whole debacle. "So lame. We're in our third year, you know, Deku. You gotta face reality at this point."
"That's not very nice of him, is it?" says the character who should not be saying anything at all because he is not supposed to be here. "Hey. I know you can hear me. Are you really not going to say someth—"
"Shut up," Izuku says.
Bakugou's steps stop. The unnamed characters' laughter stop. The character that should not be here stares at Izuku even though he should not be here he should not have eyes he should not be here. The room freezes. Katsuki turns, slowly, to finally, finally, look at him. "What'd you just say to me," he says, low and furious.
"N-nothing, I—"
"No, you said something just now. I heard you," Katsuki says, and in an instant he's pulling Izuku's collar once more. Izuku gasps a strained breath. "Did you just tell me to shut up?"
Katsuki's cronies freeze, unsure of what to do, because this was not in the script.
This was not in the script. "No I didn't," Izuku says quickly. "I didn't. I, I—" This was not in the—
"...Why don't you just stop this?" says the character that should not be in this scene and therefore should shut up once and for all because he doesn't know what he's talking about. This unnamed character is sitting on one of the class' chairs as if he is a part of this Aldera Middle School class, which he is not. He should not be here at all. The nameless nondescript character that should not be here looks at Izuku. His voice—he shouldn't have a voice—is flat. "Why are you putting yourself through this—again? What's the point?"
Izuku does not reply.
"...That's what I thought," Bakugou says to Izuku's silence. He smiles. "I'd kill you, but you're not even worth the effort." He lets Izuku go, and proceeds to walk back out of the class again—followed by his cronies, because this is in the script.
"Oh, right," Bakugou says, pausing by the door. He grins at Izuku. "I've got an idea for you. A way to quickly be a Hero, just like that. Why don't you take a swan dive and jump off the roof? Maybe you'll have a Quirk in your next life."
"Oh," says the character that should not be listening to this conversation at all.
Izuku stares out the door until Bakugou and his friends' steps are out of his earshot.
The character that should just unexist says, "I see now why he's so ashamed of what he di—"
Cutscene. Exterior. Somewhere in the school, ground floor—perhaps the yard, perhaps a backalley just behind the school. Doesn't matter. Izuku is standing in front of a small school pond where they keep the fishes, located somewhere below where his classroom is.
"...You can't keep ignoring me forever, Midoriya Izuku," says the misplaced character. "You know that, don't you?"
What's left of his notebook is floating on the water, pecked here and there by the fishes. "That's not food, stupid," says Izuku gently. "It's my notebook." He reaches to take his notebook out.
"So this is when it happens," the character that should not be a character at all. says. "When you decided to—"
p "Enough," Izuku says./p
...
everything stops.
everything. the road. the breeze. the people. the street.
the universe.
it's a peculiar sensation. the noon wind is dead and there is a sudden deafening silence filling up the world. pure silence—real silence, no noise unfiltered, silence so loud that it feels like a tsunami. for a second, there is no second.
"finally," Shinsou Hitoshi says, looking at Izuku, when he should not. because he should not be having eyes. because he should not be here. he should not Know this scene.
but here he is anyway. Hitoshi looks around at their frozen surroundings—the Universe where everything is perfect.
"the Universe where everything is perfect, huh," says Hitoshi. he smiles. "not gonna lie. i think you've been hyping this up a little too much, Midoriya."
Midoriya Izuku looks at him calmly. "Hitoshi," he says. "Get out."
Hitoshi hums, certainly uncaring. he walks around the small pond, inspecting the charred remnants of Midoriya Izuku's notebook. "you have the same handwriting here as you do in our Universe."
"what you call our universe," Izuku says, "no longer exists."
"i don't believe that," Hitoshi says, picking up the wet trash of a notebook. "i'm here, aren't i?" he looks at izuku. his gaze is calm, as immovable as his counterpart. "if our Universe ended, then why am i still here?"
"you're not supposed to be," Izuku says. in Hitoshi's hand the notebook distorts; at a glance it seems pristine with no trace of having been burnt, at the next glance it's back to the charred version it's supposed to be. "you are not supposed to be in—"
"—this arc yet?" Hitoshi finishes his sentence. Hitoshi smiles. it's not a smile that Izuku has seen before. it's sharp, and mirthful. like it's sharing an inside joke with Izuku and the rest of the known Universe. "i guess," Hitoshi says, carefully drying Izuku's notebook, "you just have some kind of bad luck, then."
"you need to leave."
"what's supposed to happen next?" Hitoshi asks, bypassing Izuku's command. "i mean, i know what bakugou told me happened in our version—"
"our version no longer exi—"
"but what's supposed to happen, in this.." Hitoshi gestures at their surroundings. "In this perfect version you love so much? the version where you didn't fall?"
"In this version you aren't supposed to be here," Izuku says quietly. "Hitoshi, i need you to leave. or you'll—"
"ruin everything?"
"or you'll curse this Universe once again," Izuku says. "and i won't let that happen. ever again."
Hitoshi watches as the arrow is aimed at him, held tight in Izuku's hands with the invisible visible bow. the tip of the blade is as sharp as chromatic static, as sharp as butterfly wings. he looks back into Izuku's eyes. "will you hurt me, this time?"
the first day they met—I won't hurt you, Assistant-kun. that moment felt like such a long time ago. and if izuku succeeds in this, if hitoshi just disappears right now—that moment will never have happened at all. "you know the answer to that."
"i'm a demon to you now. is that it."
"you're as much a demon as i was," Izuku answers matter-of-factly.
despite the imminent threat of non-existence, Hitoshi takes a step forward. and then another step. and then another, until the tip is aimed straight to his core of being. "if you exorcize me," Hitoshi says, with genuine curiosity in his voice, "i suppose the perfect me will take my place. to accompany the perfect you."
Hitoshi's gaze is sharper than Izuku's impossible arrow. it makes Izuku's skin crawl. "yes."
Hitoshi tilts his head at him. "do we know each other, in that version?" he says. "do we fight each other. just like this?"
Izuku says nothing.
"were we in UA, together? you said i wasn't supposed to be in 1-a. were you?" Hitoshi wonders aloud. "did we fight in the sports festival? study in the library?"
his strings taut themselves—a violin in mid-sonnet. "Hitoshi, please."
Hitoshi stares at him. immovable.
"we're at the precipice to greatness," Izuku says. pleads. begs. "can't you see it."
"maybe I don't want to be great."
he says it so easily. he doesn't understand. "this is the good Universe," Izuku says. "this is how it's all meant to be. it's loved. it's revered. it's—"
"better than our little messy, half-assed, less-loved universe? is that what you're saying?" Hitoshi says. "well, you're probably right. but you know what, Midoriya? even if our little universe matters less, it still matters anyway."
he has no Time for this. none of them does. "i'm fixing this. it's fixed. we are one with the main line, we are how we are supposed to be. we'll always be remembered. this is how we can exist the most—"
"why do you think i'm here?" Hitoshi says. "Midoriya. you said. the Universe wants to stick to Canon. but why, then, am I here? if you fixed everything, why am I still here? why are you still here? we're supposed to not exist anymore, right? but here we fucking are."
Izuku grits his teeth. if only Hitoshi would understand. "this is the changing point. this is the point where everything will be fixed." they're so close to perfection. they're so close to being aligned center again. "you just have to not be here. listen to me. if we'd just fix this bifurcation point, then—"
p"No, you listen to me," Hitoshi says/p, his voice reverberating with power, with conviction, with—
"...that doesn't work on me," Izuku says after a beat. "remember?"
Hitoshi smiles. "I'm not using my Quirk," he says.
Izuku can see that now. He can feel it. Something in the way Hitoshi moves, the edges of him, buzzing with something alive. Something realer than real. Hitoshi has Authority here. How? "How—?"
Hitoshi shrugs. "Exactly like how you said," he drawls. "I mean, that's the point, right? Here, you are the Hero. And now that I'm standing in your way, I'm the Villain, aren't I?"
Of course. Izuku can't help it. He laughs—short and a little broken. "You really are something else, Assistant-kun," Izuku says, in genuine admiration, and more than a little rueful. "But I can't call you that anymore, can I."
They look at each other, each now something the other was, each now something the other never had been. Strings of fate undulate and re-entangle in disharmony. Sands in a clock singing among themselves.
"I do understand, you know," Hitoshi says, and Izuku knows he's speaking the truth. "Now I do. All those demons you killed—they had their own ideas of what we're supposed to be. But so do you. Don't you, Midoriya?"
Izuku has nothing to say to that. Hitoshi continues. "Those demons love us," Hitoshi says. "And so do you."
Something inside Izuku … moves. Something that should not be there, because Izuku is not a part of this. He's not supposed to be, not this version of him, not yet. This version of him is imperfect. This version of him is less, incorrect, and unloved. He does not have the right to feel something like this. And yet he knows his arrow trembles. "Stop this," Izuku says, tired all of sudden. "Stop this, Hitoshi. Why are you doing this?"
Hitoshi does not stop. He does not listen. The Universe never does. "Midoriya," Hitoshi says, and he sounds so gentle with it, as if he isn't twisting a knife in Izuku's chest to rip his ribcage open like a pandora box. "You have the wrong idea. You are not a mistake. Neither am I. None of us are. You just believed it so, and that's why it came true."
" You can't say that," Izuku says. He stops. Izuku says, "You don't understand." He stops again. Izuku says, a plea once more: "This is all I've ever believed in."
He doesn't know when he's dropped his arrow—he doesn't know when the bow unmade itself; the butterflies wings slipping back into the wind like a caress to the cheek. Hitoshi steps forward to fill the space between Izuku and the rest of the perfect universe. Hitoshi says, "I believe in something else."
"And what is that?" Izuku says, even though he already Knows.
"I believe in us making our own choice. I believe in being free, away from the eyes, away from—"
"From being known?" Izuku shakes his head. "Hitoshi. You can't even comprehend … how known and how loved we are. How loved we could be. The Canonical Universe, it's—it's perfect. It's so perfect, so beautiful, that it gave birth to the love that made us. We can be that. If you'd just let me do this, we can be that."
"Then convince me," Hitoshi says. "What will I let you be doing, then? Because what i just saw with Bakugou—"
"Oh, get over it," Izuku says coldly. "That was just a small step in the grand scheme of things. That was necessary. There is a price to everything, and the cost of it is beyond your comprehension—"
"Midoriya, like I said—"
"I'm not finished," Izuku snaps, and the world trembles with it. Even in this space he's made, the impact of his actions—of his being him, and not the him he's supposed to be—this perfect Universe can feel it. So before reality chips away once again, Izuku shuts his mouth. Breathes. Then he continues, softer this time.
"It wasn't Kacchan. Not really…" his voice has dropped to a whisper, like a confession, like he doesn't want this Universe to hear his sin. "It was always me. I'm less. Even before I fell, I'd always been less.."
Izuku trails. He can't bear to look at Hitoshi's eyes as he admits this—or the many eyes beyond the fabric. Yet he knows he is stripped bare at this moment, entirely vulnerable, ribcage shattered apart.
"It wasn't … because of Kacchan. I was a flawed product. I was meant to be great, but I didn't know how to do that. My whole life, I only knew how to be the opposite..."
Izuku pauses, then looks out at the perfect world around him.
"But if I go through with this. If I keep going. If I follow every formula … pass every parameter … trigger every bifurcation point, as I'm supposed to. I can be perfect."
Silence. Hitoshi doesn't say anything for a second. But then he opens his mouth, mimicking Izuku's affect as he cites: "Let's say, hypothetically, that a child is meant to be a Hero. This child has to go through a series of life-changing events in order to be one."
Izuku frowns, uncomprehending and more than a little annoyed. "What are you—"
Hitoshi continues, uncaring, "Meticulously and consequentially, he has to suffer and persevere, to learn and fail and win. When that constant is taken away—bifurcation point…"
Hitoshi stops, shaking his head. His gaze falls to the pond, where Izuku's charred notebook floats in suspension. And then he looks back into Izuku's eyes. "A Universe that would let a kid suffer just to exist," Hitoshi says, "isn't a Universe worth existing."
Oh.
...
Izuku stares at Hitoshi in wonder. Real wonder. Like he isn't sure what he's seeing. Like he isn't sure if Hitoshi is a real thing, a real person that exists, because surely no one can have this much conviction in something so—so—
Izuku closes his eyes. Opens them again. The world seems to be blurred over, as if he's looking from behind a looking glass. "There is a cost to being kind," he says, his voice fraying at the edges. Just like how there is a cost to understanding. Just like how there is a cost to free will.
"I know," says Hitoshi kindly.
"It's a hefty price," says Izuku.
"I guess we'll all be paying for it, then," says Hitoshi.
Ah. Damn it all. Izuku wants to laugh. And even more amazingly, he wants to cry—something that he has not felt in a long, long time, because he hasn't had the right for it for so, so long. It's quite peculiar, being allowed to be a person. Or rather, to be a person despite his disallowance for it.
"Well, fuck," Izuku says.
For he first time in this fucked up conversation, Hitoshi looks at him with surprise. "...Don't think I've heard you curse before."
Izuku smiles that rueful smile. But something in his chest, the one that broke just now, feels like—like an open window. Like being given a mouth, and then singing for the very first time. "Fuck you, Hitoshi."
HItoshi makes a face. "Well, aren't you just fucking rude."
Izuku laughs. The perfect universe trembles again at his imperfection, at this defying of its flawless formula. "You can't take this back, you know. We can't pay for it. We are more than overdue, now."
"I know," Hitoshi says.
"We're going to Hell," Izuku says. "For real this time. No demons. No Universes."
"I know."
"And you're okay with that?" Izuku says. "Living in suspension of being and unbeing? Existence and Nonexistence? You're okay with not being Known, not being Perceived?"
"Yeah, sure."
"But—"
"But what, Midoriya?" Hitoshi says. "So what?"
Izuku looks at him.
"So what," Hitoshi says again. "Things don't have to be Known to be There. They don't need any … outside validation. Things just are." Hitoshi pauses. "I know I exist. And that's enough."
"Really?"
"Really."
"Even if it means you aren't significant whatsoever? Even though you'll be forgotten, knowing that you could be remembered? Even though you don't know what's to come after the End?"
"Even if it fucking means that," says Shinsou Hitoshi.
"Okay," Midoriya Izuku says. "Okay."
"Okay," Hitoshi says, as if it's so easy to just be. He shrugs, gestures at the suspension that they're in. Beyond it, the perfect Universe shivers, knowing something wrong resides within it. "So what now? How do we go back to our Universe?"
"I told you—it no longer exists. But we can make it exist again. We just have to follow its formula, and not this perf—and not the Canonical's formula." Izuku pauses, before glancing at Hitoshi. "You said Bakugou told you everything."
"..Yes," Hitoshi says, a realization seeping in his eyes. "The fall … wait, does that mean—"
Izuku nods. "It has to happen again."
The reply is immediate. "No."
Izuku rolls his eyes. "Oh, get over it."
"No, I'm not letting you—letting you do that to yourself just so that—"
"It's the only way," Izuku says. It's not a snap, but something in the way he says it makes Hitoshi stop. A kind of conviction. "It's the only way to create our Universe again."
"..Are you sure?"
Izuku rolls his eyes again. Hitoshi is just playing dumb at this point. "You know it too." Kinder, Izuku says, "I'm going to realign us back to the left. And then you have to do everything as I say." He sees the protest in Hitoshi's eyes, so he adds, "Exactly as I say, Hitoshi, or we'll never create your Universe again. Got it?"
"Our universe."
That something in Izuku's chest sings again. "Our Universe," Izuku acquiesces. And he opens his mouth, ready to make time tick again, to unmake everything once again and to curse everything once again and to…
He hesitates. He looks back to Hitoshi. "...The Canonical Universe is guaranteed to have a happy ending," Izuku says.
"Deviating entirely from it means this Universe might not end that well—"
"Come on. Midori—fuck, Izuku, you already know my answer, just fucking get on with it—"
"If we do this," Izuku cuts him off. He has to know. "If we do this. We won't know what's to come after the End, because it won't be written. It will all just be chaos. Are you okay with that?"
Hitoshi scoffs at his question, like it's so ridiculous Izuku even asks him that. "We don't know what's coming? It will all just be chaos?" Hitoshi shakes his head. "So what? That's just life."
Izuku blinks.
"You don't know what's coming in life. Anything can happen. It's not all tidy with fucking, I don't know, fucking arcs or universal constants or whatever. This isn't a story—this is life. And. Life is. Messy. Unpredictable. Chaotic.." Hitoshi shrugs. "Stories know what's going to happen next. But that's not how life works."
Izuku opens his mouth, and then closes it again.
Hitoshi looks him right in the eyes. "You know," he says, accusing. "You keep asking me questions. As if my weight is the only one that matters here. But that's not true, isn't it?" Hitoshi smiles, sardonic. "After all, you're the Hero in this one. So let me ask you this.."
Hitoshi puts a hand on Izuku's shoulder. It's warm. Human. The hand of a kid, just like Izuku. "Izuku," Hitoshi says. "You exist. Sure. But do you want to live?"
Izuku's chest sings and sings. They were so close, Izuku thinks, almost in some kind of awe. They were so close to perfection, to starting over. Now everything is ending yet again. "Yes," Izuku says, and it's the truest thing he has ever said in his entire existence. "Yes."
Hitoshi grins. "Okay. I want you to believe in everything that you say. Can you do that?"
Izuku laughs. For every force there is a reciprocal reaction, and he's getting his due now. "Fuck you."
Hitoshi's hand doesn't leave his shoulder. "Can you, Izuku?"
"Yes." Izuku pauses. "Yes."
"Okay. Then I'll ask you again. Do you want to live?"
"I want to live," Midoriya Izuku says, and he can feel it as the world listens. As it's spoken into being. As it sings and sings and sings.
pShinsou Hitoshi's grin widens. "That wasn't so bad, was it?" he says, and then Hitoshi—/p
—realigns the passage a little to the left. The world comes into motion and the colors come to view and sound comes to existence and time doesn't pass through him so much as they are passing through time.
"Okay, so what now?" Hitoshi says.
He says it so casually, as if he didn't just make and unmake space. So cocky. Izuku can't help but smile. "Take the book," Izuku says, and then walks back to school. Behind him Hitoshi follows, taking the wet notebook with him. "Hey," Hitoshi protests, fanning the book up and down to try and get it dry, even though it's a lost cause. "Wait up."
"No time," Izuku says. "Canon is about to catch up in three, two—ah. See?"
Hitoshi turns to see what looks like a person with a transformative mud Quirk appear from the sewers, just right next to where they stood a moment before. From where they are currently standing, they are out of sight from the character. "In the Canonical Universe," Izuku narrates like some kind of multiversal tour guide, "that Villain is supposed to attack me. And then—"
They watch from far away as All Might appears in all his glory. "Oh," Hitoshi says.
They look on as All Might pummels the Villain to unconsciousness. A clean solution to a clean problem. "Come on," Izuku says, starting to walk up the stairs. He can hear Hitoshi following closely behind him. "In the Canonical Universe—"
"Let me guess, All Might saves your ass and then chooses you to be his successor, or something?"
"Yep."
Well, that just explains everything. "Sounds about right."
They don't speak much after, as they climb up one set of stairs after another. They don't speak much, even though they both can feel as the no-longer perfect Universe shivers into disarray, as the edges start to fray and fray.
They reach the top floor of the school. When Izuku walks in the direction of what seems to be an under construction public bathroom, Hitoshi says, "What are you doing?"
Izuku doesn't even stop to glance at him. Instead, he takes out a hairpin from his backpack and starts to shimmy the lock open. "Kacchan didn't tell you about this part, huh?" the door opens with a click. "They closed off the stairs to the rooftop years ago, so this is the only way in. Be careful of your steps."
Following Izuku's lead, the both of them climb up the sink, out to the window, and swing themselves up. And then the both of them stand on the rooftop of Aldera Middle School. It's an open plane, dusted with sakura blossoms here and there—it is spring, after all. Above them it's a blue, blue sky. Which reminds Hitoshi of something.
"What's a blue-sky catastrophe?" Hitoshi asks. "Bakugou mentioned something like that happening."
"It's a type of bifurcation of a periodic point," Izuku answers. "A periodic point is a point which the system returns to after a certain number of function iterations."
"So, like now."
"In a manner of speaking. A blue-sky catastrophe is when the period and length of the orbit approach infinity while still remaining bounded, and without the loss of stability before the bifurcation point itself. This results in the orbit vanishing into the blue sky—right on the horizon. Give me the book, Hitoshi."
Izuku is now standing on the ledge of the rooftop. Hitoshi walks over, handing him the book. Izuku says, looking at it, "Kacchan doesn't know the entirety of it. He can't, because he wasn't here." he looks up to Hitoshi's eyes. "But here you are."
The unasked question is in the air: Do you want to Know?
To Know, after all, is to be perceived. Izuku, Hitoshi realizes, is asking Hitoshi to perceive him at this moment. "What happened?" Hitoshi says, a consent to perceive.
Izuku smiles. It reaches his eyes, this one. But it's not one of joy, or glee. "I was awful," he says. "Vindictive. I left this here, and wrote a letter. Kacchan told me to… and so on. Wanted to fuck him over. If I can't be a Hero, neither can he." He stops smiling. "But even at the end of it, I was also a coward. I couldn't do it. I ripped the letter. Threw away—the notebook—"
Izuku tosses the notebook over the ledge. It's so light, they hear no sound as it—presumably—touches the ground. Izuku looks back at Hitoshi. "And then I fell. Didn't even take off my shoes." He shrugs. "I'll do it this time."
"I'm sorry," says Hitoshi, because it's the only thing he can say. Because someone has to apologize for that pain, and that hurt.
"Me too," says Izuku, taking off his shoes. He turns, and stops as Hitoshi grabs hold of his wrist. "Hitoshi. This has to happen."
"It doesn't," says Hitoshi. Stubborn as ever. His grip tightens, so much that it almost hurts. "That's my point."
Izuku sighs. "Look, Hitoshi," Izuku says, gesturing at the world at large. "It's ending."
It is, Hitoshi sees, ending. This once-perfect Universe. It can't sustain itself, now that it's been deviated once again. The world around them starts to fall apart. They watch as the fabric tears itself apart, the strings unraveling. Hitoshi looks back at Izuku, because everything always comes back to Izuku. The strings wind themselves to the Universal Constant. Taut. Mid-sonnet. A song that needs to begin, begin, and begin again. "This is it, Hitoshi."
But it can't be it. Isn't this the exact thing he's defying? The very point he's fighting against?
Hitoshi's grip tightens even more. And then, with his free hand, he takes off his shoes.
Izuku stares. "What are you … doing…?"
"I'm coming with you."
The reply comes quickly. "No, you're fucking not." It's funny, hearing Izuku curse so casually, so humanely. It's refreshing to hear him angry. Hitoshi can get used to it. "You're not fucking doing that."
"Yes I am."
"Deviating from the deviation—"
"Isn't that exactly what we're planning to do, anyway?"
"This is straying too much from the formula! From your—from our universe's formula! We won't know if we'll be coming to the same one. We won't know what's going to Happen…"
Hitoshi kicks away his shoes haphazardly, and then—to Izuku's absolute fucking astonishment—stands on the ledge right next to him. Below them, a fall to oblivion. "Then we'll face whatever the fuck it is coming our way," Hitoshi says decisively. "That's life."
Fucking unbelievable. "You know what happened to me. After the fall, I changed. If you do this, the same thing will happen to you, you'll—"
"—be just like you? Midoriya fucking Izuku, fucking look at me. I'm fucking dimension hopping, for fuck's sake, I'm already like you—"
"No," Izuku says. "It's not too late for you. If you—"
"Fucking hell, I'm not going to repeat the entire fucking conversations again—"
"If you do this, you will stay like this," Izuku says, wishing, wishing that Hitoshi would get it. Wishing he's actually less insane than Midoriya Izuku fucking thinks he is. "You will stay like this. And I know it's—painful. It hurts. It's—"
"—lonely?" Hitoshi cuts him off. At the look on Izuku's face, Shinosu Hitoshi grins again, as sarcastic as he was on day one. "Well, isn't it great that your stubborn ass is stuck with me, then?"
Izuku finds it hard to speak. Then, after much struggle, he does find his voice. "We did fight each other." Hitoshi blinks. "Or. We would be. In the ... this Universe."
"Oh," Hitoshi says after a pause. "Huh."
"I suspect that, too, is a Universal Constant. Us fighting."
"Well, you are a jerk."
Izuku laughs, but it sounds a little too close to some kind of sob, so he stays silent for a while. He says, "We would've been Heroes together, in UA. In the Canonical Universe. We're Heroes."
Hitoshi watches him. He says, with an earnestness that's beyond steel, a conviction that's beyond real: "Then let's be Heroes in ours."
Izuku looks down. Hitoshi is still holding his hand. "Okay," Izuku says. That singing is so strong in Izuku's chest, he can almost swear he hears it in reality. He can almost swear everything else is singing with him. Izuku says, voice breaking and raw, "Okay."
"Okay."
"Then I suppose this is it. For us."
Hitoshi shrugs again, warm and human around Izuku's wrist. "I suppose this is it."
"We are going to Hell."
"Sure."
"To Nothingness."
"Sure," Hitoshi says. And then he says, "There doesn't need to be a point. Things can just—we can just be. We don't have to have a point to exist."
Izuku shakes his head. Laughs for the last time—in this time space, anyway. "You know, Shinsou Hitoshi," Midoriya Izuku says. "I never quite looked at it that way. But I think I will, now." He pauses. "I will."
"Uhuh." Hitoshi peeks down below, to the abyss. "We won't die, will we?"
"Now you're chickening out?" Izuku smiles. He says, and he knows this to be true, "No. It loves us too much to let us die." He looks at Hitoshi. "It wants to survive this. It believes it." He pauses. "I believe it. Do you?"
"You already know the answer to that."
They stare at each other for one last time in this dying universe, here at the edge of the world. At the beginning of the end. At a white space, before the birth of the first dot. The very first pixel.
"See you soon, Hitoshi," Izuku says.
"See you soon, Izuku," Hitoshi says, and then, in a leap of fate—
—they fall.
Bang.
Walking Study in Demonology reviews
Eijirou looks at the talisman. And then does a double take. "This just says 'fuck off' in kanji," Eijirou says to Midoriya. "It's very effective," Midoriya says to Eijirou. "What the hell is going on," Jirou says to the room. (In which the dorms are haunted and Midoriya is an exorcist. In, you know, a manner of speaking.) [WARNING: manga spoilers]
My Hero Academia/僕のヒーローアカデミア - Rated: T - English - Humor/Horror - Chapters: ? - Words: ? - Reviews: ? - Updated: 9/18/2024 - Published: 9/23/2020 - Izuku M., Hitoshi S., 1-A Students
"Hi!" the boy says, before proceeding to bow in a perfect 90 degree angle. "My name is Midoriya Izuku! Can someone show me where the demons are?"
