"L-Leave her alone!" Spoke a young boy, face filled with a mix of fear and conviction.
"Or what Deku?! You'll stop me like you're some kind of hero?! Give me a break!" The ash-blonde child stared down at his trembling classmate, ruby red eyes meeting a shimmering sky blue.
"I-If that's w-what I have to do!" The smaller boy took a look behind him, taking note of the frightened look on the purple-haired girl's face, and steeled himself.
His first act of heroism started today.
"You'll remember your place Deku!" The ash-blonde tike screamed, igniting his palms and propelling himself toward the smaller boy. The greenette dove toward his right, narrowly avoiding the blow as the white tips of his hair lightly singed. Growling, the taller boy pivoted and threw a sloppy right hook that tagged Izuku in the jaw, sending him sprawling to the ground.
"DIE!" Katsuki attempted to mount the boy who responded by rolling onto his back and bucking his hips out, slamming his legs into the taller boy's chest. Scampering up, Izuku spat out a glob of blood before narrowing his eyes.
"Focus!" The smaller boy commanded himself, staring at his adversary for a few moments before the familiar dark blue hue enveloped Katsuki.
"USING THAT SHITTY QUIRK OF YOURS AREN'T YOU DEKU?!" The blonde growled before rushing in once more. The larger boy threw an explosive left hook that Izuku narrowly leaned to avoid. Using the momentum from his own dodge, Izuku snapped his right leg out, kicking Katsuki in the stomach. The blonde doubled over, painfully clutching his stomach as he desperately attempted to withhold today's lunch.
"I'm….going…TO KILL YOU!" The blonde lashed out with a left that Izuku moved to avoid.
"I GOT YOU!" The blonde growled, using an explosion to propel his right hand into Izuku's jaw. The greenette saw the fist heading towards him as though it had been captured by a high-quality camera and moved his left arm to block it as he'd seen All Might do a million times. Dropping his hips, Izuku sent his right fist barreling into the larger boy's sternum with everything he had, sending the boy sprawling to the ground, wheezing.
"You can see what now Izu?" Inko looked at her son as he eagerly bounced around the house.
"I can see the flow of energy whenever you use your quirk!" The small boy motioned to a syrup bottle on the dining table, silently instructing his mom to activate her quirk. Inko complied and slowly attracted the condiment toward her open palm.
"So what do you see Izu?" The green-eyed woman asked her son, a hint of excitement to her tone. Izuku's sky-blue eyes shimmered as his snow-white lashes fluttered with every blink.
"It's like you're covered in green stuff and when you pull the syrup to you that green stuff reaches out!" The greenette explained, eyes following the trail of energy only he could see.
"Is that all you can see?" His mother asked, releasing her quirk and setting the syrup bottle on the counter beside her.
"Kinda; if I concentrate super hard I can see really far away! And I can even see with my eyes closed but that makes my head hurt" Izuku gushed as he gave the overview of his quirk to his mother.
"That's quite the quirk Izu! I'm confident you'll use it to be a great hero!" Inko gave her son a genuine smile before scooping him up and wrapping him in a bear hug.
That was the only time someone had believed in his quirk.
Izuku jerked up, baby-blue eyes fluttering open and shut as he attempted to wipe the sleep out of his eyes.
"Pretty ironic that I'd dream about that right before committing to UA," The greenette thought to himself with a dry chuckle. Focusing his vision, Izuku stared out the window, watching people several kilometers away engage in their day-to-day activities.
"As useless as this quirk is it's great for people watching," The teen thought to himself.
"The peeping tom is back to perving again, can't say I'm surprised!" Izuku immediately recognized the gruff voice as his former friend and current tormentor and turned to meet his gaze, shimmering baby blue meeting fierce ruby red.
"I-I'm not perving!" Izuku winced at his slight stutter.
"That's the only thing that sorry excuse for a quirk is good for!" The ash-blonde teen narrowed his gaze at the smaller teen, beads of sweat forming on his face.
"I don't know what it is, but something about those god-forsaken eyes gives me the creeps!" With that thought passing through his mind the blonde only seemed to get angry, setting his palm on the smaller boy's shoulder.
"N-Not n-necessarily. I can be a rescue hero, s-spotting endangered civilians other people can't s-see!" Izuku cast a glance at the palm on his shoulder, before turning his gaze back to his bully.
"His energy is starting to flow towards his hands. He plans to spark the sweat in his palm!" Acting on instinct, Izuku grabbed the taller boy's left hand with his own and threw it to the side, said hand popping an explosion off fractions of a second later.
"He predicted my explosion?!" The blonde growled as he stared the boy down who, despite his actions seconds prior, looked back at the blonde nervously.
"No. It's those fucking eyes! He said he can see some sort of energy; I thought he just meant how strong a quirk is but I guess he can see when someone's gonna use it" Katsuki furrowed his brow in frustration, glancing at his palms before returning his gaze to the seated boy.
"If I catch you using that disgusting quirk again I'll blow your pathetic body to bits and feed it to the Koi outside" His tone was even as he let out a few small explosions for extra emphasis before taking a seat.
Meanwhile, Izuku was internally geeking out.
"My eyes are able to see the activation of the technique now. Before I could only see the flow after activation. If I pair this with my enhanced vision I'll be able to counter a quirk before its activation. Will it be enough to become a hero? No, no matter how good my eyes are if my body doesn't keep up it'll be worthless. I need to train my body to better be able to react to the activation of a quirk. WAIT! If I can see the energy associated with quirks could I manipulate it? Could I manipulate my own energy?"
"Midoriya, shut up." Izuku's eyes shot open before a blush spread across his face.
"S-Sorry…" The boy mumbled, shielding his face from his giggling classmates.
"Anyways, today we'll be doing a career exercise. Write down your reach, target & safety high schools alongside your top 3 career choices" The elder man instructed before passing out worksheets. Izuku stared at the sheet of paper in contemplation, his brow furrowing in concentration as he read over the instructions.
"I want desperately to be a hero…but what if Kacchan is right? What if my eyes won't be enough in a disaster scenario? What if I'm forced to combat someone with a strong quirk? Will I be able to save lives then? I can't let my own dreams end lives!" Izuku ground his teeth while squeezing his pen, eyes locked on the assignment.
Ignorant to the blue flame-like whisps of energy encompassing his fist.
"So you're aiming to apply to UA's hero course?"The teacher pointed toward the ash-blonde firecracker who stood on his desk in response, popping off explosions in his palm.
"Damn straight! Out of all the extras in this shitty fucking school, I'm the one who'll make it to UA!" Katsuki exclaimed. While the classroom cheered/jeered at their classmate, the blonde shot a glance toward his former best friend.
"I'll become the best. I'll surpass All Might. And you…you'll forever be a pebble in my path to greatness." With a pointed glare and a final explosion, Katsuki returned to his seat, the unease after seeing Izuku's eyes never leaving him.
"Midoriya, you wanted to attend UA as well right?"
The class immediately fell silent.
Izuku panicked as he felt a plethora of eyes settle on his frame, the feeling of judgment washing over him.
"Do you think he can do it?"
"Probably not, his quirk isn't combat-oriented or flashy"
"What Tomoko said. He'd probably be better as a police sniper or something with those eyes"
Izuku set his head on the desk, trying his hardest to disappear from the classroom, until he felt the familiar hum of flowing energy approaching him. The greenette quickly threw his head back, narrowly avoiding the explosion that splintered his desk.
"Is he insane?! That blast would've killed me…and he knew that!" Izuku focused his sky-blue eyes on the taller boy, keeping a careful note of his energy flow.
"How many times do I have to tell you that you will never be a hero? Your quirk is nothing. You are nothing."
"I can still try." Izuku's tone lacked its usual stutter and his eyes held none of the fear they usually did. Determined sky blue met rageful ruby red as the two sprung their quirks to life.
.
.
.
.
.
"DIE!"
Katsuki made the first move, launching an explosive left hook at the smaller boy whose sharp eyes allowed him to catch the activation of his opponent's quirk. Raising his right arm, Izuku managed to block the hook before slamming his knees upwards, driving what was left of his desk into Katsuki's stomach. Sliding his chair back, Izuku quickly stood up and threw a sloppy right straight that Katsuki caught with ease.
"Your cheap trick may have worked that once but you're still weak" With a flick of his wrist, Katsuki bent the smaller boy's wrist at an unnatural angle, Snapping it.
Izuku's pained scream nearly obscured the bell signaling the end of class.
As students began filing outside of the classroom, Katsuki gave the crumpled and crying form of Izuku one last look before sauntering toward the boy, kneeling to meet his eyes.
"You still want to be a hero. Izuku?" The greenette vigorously nodded, tears streaming down his face while sobs wracked his body. Upon hearing the boy's answer, a wicked grin washed over the boy's face.
"Then as a former friend, I'll give you some advice. Go to the roof, pray you'll get a stronger quirk in your next life, then jump."
Izuku could see very well, it was one of the core functions of his quirk. However, he hadn't seen his current position coming in the slightest.
Izuku stood on the ledge of Aldera Jr High, blue eyes tracking a variety of bugs, birds, and other animals as his left leg dangled over the edge.
"He's right. No matter how much I try and convince myself, my quirk just isn't suited for hero work. It can be useful for police work but anything more than that…" Izuku trailed off. Focusing on his eyes further, the greenette expanded his vision to its max allowing him a 360-degree view of a large chunk of the city.
"I don't kn- no. I can't live and not be a hero…maybe I should take his advice" The teen contemplated his decision, running over each and every possibility, considering every way his quirk might be useful to someone.
But it all came back to the same conclusion.
"Whoever's up there…please give me a stronger quirk when I reincarnate"
With a slight shift of his weight, Izuku plummeted from the roof.