Chapter 4: Neighbors of the strangest kind, he sure doesn't look like a pro…
When 21 people had arrived they started the meeting, if Izuku kept staring at everyone no one was the wiser.
A woman stood up wearing a work outfit and a name tag, her name was Iijuki Tomio
"Hello Red shoes! My name is Iijuki Tomio! You may call me Iijuki!
I am today's meeting host, I work at this cafe and the owner is my grandfather who is not quirkless but he has a minor emitter quirk.
He is a very kind man and if anyone here needs a job we're always open to hiring anyone!
Remember everything that is said in this room stays in the room where it happend or just in the Red shoe community.
Anyways! Another job in the area is 'The Vigilant Cat' which employs Red shoes as well as vigilantes. They don't need any information since they have vigilantes that work there, but if you have a cover story and you don't use your real name then let them know how to call you. Now let's go around and introduce ourselves"
She turned to the person to her right
"You! Tell us your name and age! And something about yourself"
The boy nods and turns to the group
"M-my name is miller and I'm gonna be 7! I love snakes and I have a p-pet snake! Oh I love the color dark blue." He says in a squeaky voice
Iijuki nods and turns to the next person
"You! Go."
They continue on like that
Until the person next to Izuku went
"My name is Amane Nakami. I just turned 12. I am non-binary and I like mochi, the color yellow and I paint." They said in a casual voice,
Izuku's eyes widened for a second, Celeste, his neighbor, had mentioned them along with 2 others! They were his neighbors! Izuku had only met Celeste and Tango for training; the other two had always been busy.
Iijuki turned to Izuku
"Your last! Go ahead!"
Izuku felt a bit nervous but he went and spoke anyway.
"M-my name is Hanako S-Suzuki! I am almost 11… I like to analyse hero fights and really everything.. uhh I LOVE katsudon! Oh and something not many people know about me is that.. I like singing sometimes and writing short lyrics for songs I don't do it ver oftenanditsjustnotsomethingihavethetimeforyaknowbutofcourseyouallknowyoureapartofthistooandimeanitsnotlikeimaloneandimsohappytomeet-"
"Slow your horse, little guy! Save that for the after meeting!"
Iijuki said patting Izuku's back,
"After meeting?"
Iijuki laughs
"It's kinda like an after party but instead it's after a meeting! We can all hang out and get some food or play games or just chat!"
"Oh.. cool!"
Izuku's eyes lit up, he got to talk AND hang out with other people!?
"Speaking of the after party we should wrap this up so you can get to know each other!"
She says enthusiastically
…
:.—at the after meeting—.:
Izuku had been helping set up the snacks and drinks for the after meeting when he saw his neighbor , if Izuku remembers correctly their name was Amane forgot his last name but of well!
Amane was the closest in age to Izuku at the meeting plus they were neighbors so Izuku thought they should talk that made sense, right?…
"Hey Amane!"
Izuku said while walking over to where they were.
"Oh hello …Suzuki right?"
"Yeah.. but call me Hanako."
Izuku said firmly
"Okay then please continue calling me Amane, no last names for me. It's nice to meet you Hanako ."
They Shake hands
"Sorry, were we supposed to shake hands? I've never talked to or met anyone in a long time so yeah…"
After a second Izuku gestured to the couch across the room and they started walking towards it.
"Don't worry Hanako, it's fine"
Amane said as they sat down on the couch.
"So what do you do in your free time Amane?"
Izuku said with a smile
"Hmm well I like to paint, uh I am about to start work at 'the vigilant cat' it's the cafe that Iijuki mentioned my neighbor told me about it"
"Are you gonna be a vigilante?!"
Izuku half whispered
"Well, I already am, and it doesn't matter if others in the red shoe community know by the way, remember everything you learn stays with the red shoes. Besides, I'm not telling you which vigilante I am."
"Huh, well that makes sense… oh! right I work there too at the moment! My neighbor also recommended it to me as well! By the way we're actually neighbors, I've heard your name from Celeste and Tango along with another girl's name, Irene? Anyways I normally stay on my floor but I sometimes do short training sessions with Celeste and Tango. They told me they are also vigilantes. Oh right I am gonna start vigilante work soon hopefully although I already help though hero coms! And So, yeah.."
Amane sighs
"Oh that's cool yeah come to think of it they did mention you! Huh I can't believe I never even saw you! And you haven't met Irene yet? I'll have to introduce you later on! And for the job, I've known about it for a while. They are always hiring since not many people want to work there if they aren't red shoes or vigilante's."
"Well it'll be fun working together! Plus We should hang out more! We ARE neighbors ya know! We could hang out all of us since we do live in the same building! It'll be fun!" Izuku says the stars in his eyes bright enough to put the sun to shame.
"Well you're quite enthusiastic, Heh well Tango and Cel live on the same floor since they are best friends plus they always work together and Irene is on the floor under yours so it should work!"
Amane smiles
"Wait, then who is on the first floor? I thought every floor was taken!" He says Confusion clear on his face
"Oh yeah well from what I heard some other vigilante named Lavender lives there, they are older than us but that's all we know since they are almost never seen. But yeah so lavender is on the first floor, Tango and Cel have the second, I have the third, Irene has the fourth and you have the last before the roof. The fifth!"
They explain to Izuku,
"Ohhhhhhhh huh makes sense, cool!"
He gives them a thumbs up
"— hey question..what kind of stuff are you planning on doing as a vigilante? Not that it matters" he said nervously,
"Oh well so you know how cel and Tango are vigilantes?….. oh right Irene is also one she is new though"
Hanako (izuku) nods he didn't know about Irene but it's good to know.
"Well I'm going to help them, we're gonna be kind of a team, we'll really wear separate vigilantes although cel and Tango almost always work together that's besides the point. Well we all work together on ocasión if someone needs backup someone is always there! We all have coms on our vigilante personas just in case, or if we do some big mission together. Maybe if you come over sometime we could give you a com so if you wanna team up we could?"
They say barely stopping to breath,
"Wow, that's handy! It is good to have support.. if you have another com that I could use then sure! Sounds good!" Izuku says excitedly
"Mhm, sounds good. Oh right! I totally forgot you were telling you about what I do for them hah.. sorry!"
"No problem, don't worry about it, I do that sometimes as well!" He says smiling
"Cool, thanks man. Well anyways uh I guess I am the kind of the behind scenes crew in a way. Well I have a bunch of equipment to hack and stuff so I normally help them find crime and tell them where to go, sometimes I look things up, sometimes I turn on sprinklers or smoke bombs that I hid basically everywhere in our patrol area for quick escapes. It's all fun, even if I barely go outside to patrol in person."
"Wow! You've gotta teach me your ways! I only have minor hacking skills and I only hack hero coms and cameras normally!"
"Sure sounds good!"
—
Iijuki stands up on a chair
"Hello Red shoes! I hope you had a fun time, thank you for coming and I hope to see you all soon! I now declare this meeting adjourned!"
She jumps down from the chair and opens the doors letting everyone one out.
"Hey Amane! Wanna walk back together?"
Izuku says as the walk together out of the cafe
"If you can lead the way then sure, I came on the train"
"Sure! — It's this way!"
Izuku says walking in the opposite way of the station.
"So you got a favorite hero?"
Izuku said excitement in his tone
"Well hero's don't help the quirkless much and many heroes are fake. However there are some real ones! My favorite is Eraserhead. What about you?"
They says shrugging
"Wow! I love Eraser! I have even worked with him over coms a bunch! But I would say all might maybe? But there is really so many heroes it's hard to chosebutidoreallylikepresentmicbutialsoloveeraserheadandallmightisawesomeidontlikeendevourtoomuchbutbesidesthatidolovehawksplus-"
Izuku says catching himself from rambling too much
"Sorry"
Amane shakes their head
"No, don't worry! It's totally fine."
—
-They arrive at the building-
"Since you seem to know the others better would you ask them to meet up on my floor tomorrow at 1pm?"
Izuku says as he started up the stairs
"Yeah sure, I'll text the others. See you tomorrow then!"
"Hey you want my number just we have each other's numbers?"
"No, I'm okay. I'll contact you…."
"Huh? But how-"
"It's a secret"
They laugh then Amane smiles and they head onto their floor while Izuku continues the rest of the way to his floor.
~—~
"Hey mom you home? I just got back from the cafe…
phew she's not home,"
He goes to his room setting his backpack on the floor, it is currently 9pm and it's not like he would be able to sleep tonight like usual so he decides to listen to music until he may fall asleep.
It was 1 am when his foster parents got home slamming the door open, that action would have woken him up if he was actually sleeping but since he couldn't he was still very awake. His foster parents were most likely drunk so it would be best for him to stay in his room unless he wanted them to put the muzzle back on him after he went through all the effort of taking it off.
After about an hour he finally managed to fall asleep.
"HITOSHI GET YOUR ASS OUT HERE YOU HAVE SCHOOL!"
Hitoshi gets up quickly since his alarm had failed him once again. He quickly got his school uniform on and grabbed his backpack already packed from the day before.
The door slams open.
"COME ON BRAT"
He nods and rushes out of the door, once he is out he rushes down the stairs of his apartment and starts towards his school. His foster mother was always getting him out of the house as early as possible, and left before he was home. His foster father however left for work early and then came back with her.
He started taking small amounts of money when he could so that in the morning he could go get food. And also so at the end of the day he could go to his favorite cafe, 'The Vigilant Cat' which was open 24/7. Hitoshi was surprised that those who worked there looked surprisingly young which made him wonder if he could get a job there sometime.
Hitoshi just got an onigiri when he saw a group of cats around some kid, he looked familiar- oh he was feeding them hitoshi went over to feed them since he ALWAYS carried cat treats for situations like this.
His uniform, oh this kid was from aldera that made sense it was the one of the closest schools in the area other than his school.
"Oh hello there!" the black haired kid said cheerfully
He waved back to him, since that is what he had been taught, never talk unless he wanted people to hate him.
"Oh" 'mute?' the black haired kid signed
'Selective' he signed back, he was now glad he had learned a bit of sign language.
"Oh okay! Well I'm Suzuki Hanako! Nice to meet you!" Hanako said happily
'Shinsou Hitoshi.' he signed
'Do I know you?'
"I don't think so,"
Hitoshi checks the time
"Oh shit-" he was going to be late!
Oh no and he just talked! He turned to Hanako to see him smiling
"You have a nice voice, you should talk more."
He checks his phone and sees the time.
"Oh, I see! You're going to be late!"
He mumbles "Well me too, but it's not like anyone will care"
"lol I'll see you around Shinsou" he says brightly
'Call me Hitoshi, see you later' he signed, wait had Hanako just said lol out loud?
"Oh okay Hitoshi! You can call me Hanako! And since names are hard in sign language you can just sign my name as Eclipse since that is my sign name."
Hitoshi gives him a thumbs up and they go the opposite ways to their schools. It's only when Hitoshi arrives in the classroom that he realizes something is wrong, he must have missed whatever it was the teacher had said but that's fine since they didn't-...
That's not his teacher.
Who the hell even is that? A homeless man? His teacher is nowhere to be found, everyone is quiet. This guy must have done something, maybe it's his quirk?
The bell rings and after a minute of sitting in absolute silence.
"Hello class."
The class straightens.
The man smirks, why was he wearing a scarf? It wasn't that cold today was it?
"As I said before class, I am not a substitute. But I will let you guess what I am. You have 10 minutes to speak your answers, GO."
It's only about 30 seconds before the first kid says
"Janitor?"
"I'll tell you if its correct if I don't answer then it is incorrect"
Some other kid asks
"Are you an undercover police officer pretending to be a homeless man?"
No answer, Hitoshi thought that girl should at least get a point for creativity.
What could he be? He thought to himself as he listened to some other responses while the man stayed silent. People said so many things but it was when the kid in the front row who had some intelligence quirk said "pro hero?" that shinsou finally thought of it.
This guy was an Underground Hero. How did Hitoshi not notice! He wanted to be one himself!
'Underground Hero.' He signed hoping the man knew sign language,
"Correct."
The man said smirking at Shinsou,
The class erupted with questions since they didn't know sign language and they didn't know what he said.
One of the transfer students who was new and only on their 5th day asked Hitsoshi
"Why don't you tell us what you signed?"
The man glanced at the boy and then at Hitoshi.
"Is he not mute?"
The transfer kid answered
"No I've heard him talk a bit… no one answers him ever tho"
The man was about to ask a question to Hitoshi when the loud kid interrupted.
"No you can't talk to him! it's a rule everyone knows it! he might brainwash you because he's a villain remember? I thought we already told him this!" the kid says, turning to the kid behind them.
"Oh.." the transfer says in a small voice
Then the man clears his voice,
"What this kid signed to me was that I was an underground hero and that is the correct answer. I am here to give you all a quick lesson on Quirk discrimination I am a pro. They are giving a bunch of the least recognizable prose the job of going to schools and teaching about work discrimination since it's not something that's already taught at some schools."
The class was silent, dead silent.
"Let's start, discrimination is something that has been a part of our society since the first people got quirks.
Originally those with quirks were discriminated against for being different but as the years went on more people started getting quirks and less people were quirkless which made things flip quirkless people now have A suicide rate of 85.6% per year and as you know 20% of the population is quirkless.
Quirk discrimination is not a good thing. It leads to more villains in our society which makes the heroes work harder to save people and by creating more villains there's an increase in the possibility of someone you care for dying.
Quirk discrimination kills people whether you like it or not so you all as kids need to learn this earlier better than later.
Now I understand that you all have your reasons for whatever you are doing but it still does not justify that you're hurting others, you're being villainous.
I don't know what any of your quirks are and I don't know any of your strengths or weaknesses but just because someone can't do what you can doesn't mean you have a right to hurt them and if you're being hurt you have the right to do something about it and I'm not saying to hurt them back or attack them, no, that would be worse.
I would say to find help or someone who can support you, if you don't already have that you could find a parent or teacher or in the worst case, a pro or maybe a police officer if you don't have any of the others.
If you know someone quirkless or someone who's being discriminated against then take this opportunity and help them.
That is my speech.
I will let your teacher back in and I will be off to the next class.
If anyone has any follow-up questions you can find me after school.
I will be somewhere at pickup if you truly need to talk.
I'm sure you'll find me or I'll find you.
My name is Eraserhead Underground Pro Hero, thank you for listening and enjoy the rest of your classes."
And with that the man left.
—
"HEY Amane Tango Celeste!"
Izuku said as he ran over to the stairs where they had just come onto his floor though.
"And you must be Irene! It's a pleasure to meet you! I've heard about you from these three"
"Hopefully all good things"
She said chuckling
"Yup all good! — right! I'm Hanako Suzuki"
He said with a smile
"Wait what? That's not your name it's Izuku Midoriya right? Oh no Cel did I forget his name nooooo"
Tango said whining to her best friend
"No he said his name was Izuku Midoriya positive. —- Explain also Call me Cel" Celeste said to Izuku
"Oh sorry yeah I keep forgetting what identity I'm in. My real name is Izuku Midoriya I was presumed to have been kidnapped. Well no wait, that did happen but I got out. lol anyways my identity for school is Hanako Suzuki quirkless. For 'The Vigilant Cat' I am Akari Manka quirk -8 makes me look 8 years younger than I am, that's obviously fake."
He said like it was common knowledge
"I was gonna say that I like your hair dye but I'm now assuming that's your original hair color?"
Amane said in a silly yet suprised voice
"Wait a sec…are we- we're- WERE ALL WORKING AT THE VIGILANT CAT TOGETHER! Omg you should've told me tangooooo!" Irene said dramatically flopping backwards onto Tango as they followed Izuku to his "comfy room"
(Btw Ik Izuku already knows their quirks and that Amane is quirkless but pretend he didn't know Irene's quirk since my dumbass forgot. I'm sorry!)
Izuku looked at Irene seeing her ears and small tail she looked like a bear, was that her quirk?
"Hey Irene question"
He said as they all sat on the cushions bean bags and couches, Izuku sat on the small couch Irene and Tango on the giant bean bag together and cel on a smaller beanbag with Amane on a cushion next to her.
"Yeah what is it?"
She said tilting her head in confusion
"What's your quirk? Is it some type of bear quirk?"
"Oh yea lol, my quirk is literally called bear, well brown bear but whatever. Anyways! So my quirk gives me, claws that are retractable, great hearing, great strength and I'm a bit better at climbing then average, oh! I can talk to brown bears, though I've only met one. Lastly I can turn into a brown bear but that takes a lot of strength so I use that as a last resort!
Aaanndddd yeah! That's a basic rundown"
She says pointing to her nails to show them retract and pointing to her ears as she mentioned her hearing.
"That's awesome" he says clearly in awe he was about to start on rambling when Irene interrupted his thoughts.
"Soooo I have a question for you since you asked me one!"
"Huh? — o-okay! Shoot!"
He says mind still racing
"You know that blondie? The one you keep bringing to your floor? Are you two dating?!"
She says excitedly and surprisingly fast,
"W-what?! Me and Kacchan dating?! What?! No of course not! He's my best friend! We've known each other since forever! It would be weird anyways if we did date each other…"
He says embarrassed
"oh so you have thought of it?"
Irene says suspiciously
"it's like they say friends first then lovers! or something like that I forget..hah.."
Tango says supportively after Irene
"Pssstt- cel? Can you draw some popcorn? Pretty sure this is about to get good…—-thanks"
Amane whispers, saying thanks after cel gives them the popcorn.
"no problem"
Cel whispers back
"Do you like this Kacchan kid?"
She says teasingly
"His name is Katsuki Bakugou…" he says a bit annoyed "I'm the only one who calls him Kacchan." He mumbles
"Somebody's protective~!"
She says Tango looking intrigued and stary eyed at the new info
"I've only seen him a few times, but I can already picture it! Omg " Tango said and then turned to Irene so they were facing each other,
"SHIP!"
They said in unison
—
They talked for hours and hours, until it was 2 am and they all decided to go get some rest.
Izuku had learned more details on the quirks of Tango and Celeste and he learned other things as well.
They gave him coms so that if he needed it he could call her back up from any of them or if they wanted to join patrol or meet up or anything as vigilantes.
He learned that Irene's family was actually really nice The only reason she was staying in the building was so that she could hang out with Tango more but also she wanted her own space away from her sibling and parents.
And her parents were fine with it as long as she always made sure to contact them every day, her parents agreed to her working because they thought it would be good for her to learn early on how to take care of herself and have a job he talked a lot with Irene.
Apparently Irene was also the most popular person in her school which was not something he had expected from anyone he knew and was friends with because according to them they were friends.
He told them about his life and about Bakugou with Irene and Tango teasing along with his descriptions.
Izuku also learned all of their vigilante names.
Irene is Cub
Tango is Singsong
Celeste is The Illistrator
Amane is foggy mist or misty (they were indisisive)
It was the best time he had had in a long time to say the least, they would have to do it again but next time invite Kacchan, and maybe even someone else if any of them had any other friends.
It felt nice to have friends Izuku thought.
…
Maybe he could get Hitoshi's number, he knew him from the café but hitsoshi didn't actually know it was him and they had met while Izuku was disguised as Hanako and they had introduced themselves…
also he hadn't even spoken, probably quirk discrimination.
…
He got some water and texted Kacchan a quick 'good night' Like he always did before he went to bed, then he turned off the light and fell into a deep yet happy sleep.
—
Kidnapped child found dead after almost 8 years!
On August 13 2XXX at 8:56 pm 11 year old Izuku Midoriya's body was found on the shore of dagobah beach skull bashed in. Police suspect whoever kidnapped the child did some kind of experiments since there is a lot of evidence in the form of scars on his skin, whoever left the body likely is the kidnapper. Keep your children safe and take good care of them. This kidnapper is still on the loose.