𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗾𝘂𝗶𝗰𝗸 𝗵𝗮𝗱 𝟭𝟭 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝗴𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗯𝘆?
Not quick enough for Izuku.
11 years of pain had passed since the day he was announced quirkless and the few days after that everything had started. It was small.
Miniscule even. However, izuku had started to notice. His mother didn't call him down for dinner. His father had slowly stopped asking him how his day was. That feeling of discomfort he started to experience from the moment he was announced quirkless had quickly heightened to reach heights he didn't know was possible in his body.
He tried. He really tried to believe his parents would change. He even tried talking to them but—
"Izuku, I'm busy. Just tell me later." Inko said abruptly before turning her attention to Izumi.
His mother, Inko, once so kind, now moved around him like he was furniture. Her hugs had stopped years ago. Now her attention belonged to Izumi—her golden child.
She helped with Izumi's training, cheered from the sidelines, her voice loud and proud. For him, there were only reminders to clean up after himself or lukewarm meals left on the counter, often forgotten when she came home late from hero work.
She never asked how his day went.
"Maybe later, I have to do something," his father said before going to Izumi and help her with her quirk.
Dad felt like a title he didn't deserve. When Izuku looked at him, all he saw was a man shrinking in silence, never angry, never cruel—just distant.
Hollow.
Like Izuku's very existence reminded him of something broken. Something shameful.
He stopped trying after that because he knew they wouldn't look at him again.
School was worse. Way worse. If it weren't enough that he was being neglected, he did not expect school life to be even worse than it. Not after going through pain every single day for the past 11 years. It had now gotten to the point where he couldn't even speak.
All of this pain, this suffering and agony can only be lead by 5 main perpetrators. The twins of the number two hero, Shoto and Shoka Todoroki. The fiery crackheads, Katsuki and Katsumi Bakugo.
And finally his 'sister'.
Izumi Yagi.
This girl was anything but the 'light' his parent's portrayed her as. And after she broke her promise she turned to became one of his main bullies and although she didn't hurt him as much, she did make snide remarks and comments that kept putting Izuku down.
Not that her words meant much anymore considering what she said 3 years back.
After school she'd avoid him and go with her friends who would laugh at Izuku's suffering before walking of to God knows where.
He had already considered them not his friends a long time ago when they decided to pull all this thinking he wanted to be a hero.
Izuku never wanted to be a hero if it meant being one amongst these villainous ones. How anyone sees what they are doing to him and not reprimanding them for illegal quirk usage, he will never know.
In fact, he did. The teachers. None of them reprimanded him and infact enjoyed seeing him get beat up as seeing a quirkless brat being thrown around was 'amusing' to their eyes.
Izuku didn't even hate them anymore.
They are just kids. Not that Izuku himself is also a kid but, he has definitely matured.
Quite a lot of evidence shows that on his body after all.
Not Izumi. Not Katsuki, Katsumi, Shoto, or Shoka. Not even his parents.
There was a time he did—when the words they threw at him burned hot, when each bruise came with that stinge of betrayal.
When Izumi laughed with the others instead of standing beside him, when she looked through him like he was just some nobody in the hallway. Back then it hurt. So had the silence from his mother, and the way his father avoided his eyes.
However there was a lying anger that had filled the back of his head for some reason. It was a repeating occurrence. The centre of his chest was burning. Right where the mark his 'sister' found whenever he felt a surge of anger come out slightly, as if wanting the anger to burst out.
But he suppressed it down. He wasn't sure why but he had felt that if this so called 'anger' came out, he wouldn't know what to do stop it.
Corny. He knows. However, it didn't stop him to think about the consequences of what would happen if it did.
As he walked down the hallway, he could still hear the snide remarks of his classmates and others as he gritted his teeth. Do people have no other things better to do than ruin another person's life?
What happened to the humanity? Why make it your life mission to put another person's life down?
"Pfft—look at the quirkless guy," a girl commented laughing with her friends.
"Ugh disgusting..." another girl commented on another side with her group.
"Imagine being quirkless," a guy with a very fat blubber of a chin said with his friends.
Izuku paused as he looked back at that guy seeing his mutation type quirk with his fat blubber chin quirk.
'Why is he talking? What the fuck does his quirk even do except store food for winter and not swallow it down?' He thought with a raised eyebrow.
It really confused him that there were people chatting so much about him being quirkless. Then there were people with quirks like him. A fat blubber chin quirk. He really wasn't particularly sure what that could do except maybe tank punches.
It could be useful…could it?
Even then, Izuku wouldn't back down from what he said.
He looked as though he was laughing but Izuku remarked back glancing down at him,"I'd rather be quirkless than have something like that as a quirk," he spoke with a low tone right at him.
The hallway paused and looked wide eyed at Izuku who finally spoke for the first time in what felt like a long time. The guy was embarrassed because it looked as though he couldn't find something for what his quirk could be used for.
But everyone else looked at Izuku with wide lit eyes. First, he spoke. And not only did he speak, it was quite a low rough tone. Manly even. Second, he spoke back at someone teasing him. They never thought that a quirkless kid would speak back to them.
Some girls got shivers up their spine from listening to him talk. Izuku noticed but looked to the side weirdly,'the fuck is wrong with girls being thirsty like that?'
He shook his head and kept walking to his classroom not bothering to look back at the stir he caused.
Another thing bothered him a lot lately. Heroes and Villains.
Villains have a few routes. Either they are people who were born innately through their genes and if placed in the negative environment, then they will be shaped into a villain. Another route is if they weren't born with said 'villainous' genes but they were born into a negative environment, they would have the choice of being a hero or villain.
It's a debate but he would honestly think that most would drive towards villainy. It was the easier option at the start, but gradually it becomes more dangerous.
However, there are those that are forced to become villains. They're situations whatever they may be would have forced them to go through the path of a criminal simply because, they need money to provide for families.
On the other hand, there are heroes. Heroes wore smiles and capes and do their primary objective of defeating a villain. But that would be it. Defeat the villain and the extra side dish would be the camera's that would record them and seal it in their own personal hall of fames.
Not that there are exceptions. There are heroes who do it for the sake of the people and not for the fame. The money they get paid aside, they want to help society thrive and help the little guy get along his way. Some examples, he could think of were his uncle Aizawa who he knew (secretly) was the underground pro hero, Eraserhead.
But those were exceptions. That's it. Aside from the exceptions, most would be in it for the fame, the wealth, the riches and a whole lot more privileges than what an average Joe would get.
Honestly speaking, they were less like opposites but...more like reflections.
Both chased power.
Both chose who is worth saving and who isn't. Really, they were just two sides of the same coin.
Let's give the scenario. Lets say a villain killed 20 people in an act of treacherous villainy for the sake of blood and living in the moment. Then the hero comes to save the day and stop the villain. They take the villain in to prison.
And that's it. Wouldn't it be socially sensitive towards the victim's families since the villain is still alive when in reality he should be dead just like the victims are?
Then coincidentally, there would be a prison outbreak. That villain would go on to cause more terror and destruction and once caught again, they would do more time. Then break out again. Then caught.
Repeated. Over and over again.
It was an endless loop. An endless cycle that would never end.
He knew that the only way for that cycle to break would be to finish the job and kill the villain.
But rules, regulations, morals, ethics come and ruin that whole thing. Killing wasn't allowed as a hero unless absolutely necessary for a very high class villain. What does that even mean? Haven't those smaller villains done enough damage and should be put down 6 feet under?
He shook his head of the small rant because there would be no point in causing a further headache. He walked into class and just there he had the urge to roll his eyes once again after seeing, his 5 main tormentors (not really because he just finds them a nuisance at this point) at their desks along with a few other students.
They all turned to see the quirkless Deku that they have been bullying for years as most of them smile wickedly.
"Well, well, well if it ain't the quirkless Deku, where have you been, huh?!" Katsuki shouted out as Izumi rolled her eyes and turned away from her brother.
Katsumi added along,"Probably wondering when he will ever get a quirk. Get in your head your quirk-less!" There was emphasis on the 'less'.
Izuku in his right mind did not want to deal with them at all but fate just clearly likes to fuck with him in mysterious ways doesn't it.
'Suck dick fate,' he thought shaking his head.
Unfortunately for him, Shoto caught him shaking his head as well as his sister who turned back to see him.
"What are you shaking your head at?" he spoke with a disgusted tone in his voice.
Izuku has long since hated them, they were merely people just ruining his day. However, things like this, Shoto and Shoka's disgust, the Bakugo's barkings and finally the distasteful stare from his 'sister' really does tick him off.
Just as he was about to say something, the teacher came in,"Everyone, to their seats please."
Izuku's eye twitched slightly and sighed as he sat down at the back corner of the room.
Yes.
He is him. The protagonist. A very unlucky one though.
Why couldn't he have some kind of God give him a power. Was there someone cursing his existence? What did he do wrong?
Did he kill people? Anyone in a possible last life? Did he commit a heinous action against humanity? He couldn't really recall it since well...
It would've been a last life.
Problems came one after another but he had one of the biggest question on his mind since he was announced quirkless.
The mark. What was it? Did it mean something? He couldn't figure it out because whenever he tried to search for it on the internet, nothing came up about a symbol that seemed so...angry.
Like it was glaring at him from his own skin, whenever he looked in the mirror.
It never hurt. It just sat there, etched deep and ingrained into his chest. As though someone carved it in whilst he slept in the womb.
No books nor symbols in temples told him what it was.
Now he didn't continue dwelling on his thought as his blonde haired teacher entered the room with a stack of papers being carried with a serious expression.
"So...as third-year students, it's now time to think about your future's seriously and what you all wish to do with your lives," he said so with a serious expression.
That was until he threw all the papers into the air with a victorious smirk etched across his face.
"HA! Why bother, when I know you will all be heroes," he said quite ecstatically as the whole class except for the likes of the Izumi and her gang going into uproar and Izuku in the back looking out the window with his hand being used as a rest for his face.
'Why are the birds doing it right now...I know I'm single but why rub it in my face...' Izuku thought with a deadpanned face.
"Oi Teach! Don't lump me and my gang in with these stupid losers," Katsuki spoke with a cocky tone as he sat on his chair with. his legs propped up onto his table,"We're not gonna be stuck at the bottom with these rejects." He boasted as his sister smirked, the Shoto sitting there with a poker face and Izumi and Shoka shaking their heads at his attitude.
At said claims, the fodders all turned to him and shouted in outrage shouting at him saying that it was uncalled for but Katsuki mocked them even more,"You all should shut up like the damn extra's you are!"
The teacher then finally silenced the class as he started to read out Katsuki and his group of friends result quite proudly at that,"I see that you want to go to UA High right? Along with your friends?"
The whole class gasped except for said group who all smirked as the whispers grew about the shocking and astronomical news that it was impossible to join such a prestigious school.
Yet again Izuku just could not give a flying fuck as he continued watching the two birds continuing their intimate love making session.
'How long have they been at it...I would've finished in 3 seconds...' he looked depressed but also impressed at the male bird's intense stamina.
His attention was then drawn down further to the ground as he saw a furry and fluffy bundle of cuteness.
'A bunny,' he saw as it was hopping around the tree looking up to see the birds love making. The bunny looked a little disgusted but sighed?
'How the hell did the bunny sigh...?' he raised his eyebrow.
"That's exactly why you guys are extras!" Katsumi spoke up mockingly as Katsuki jumped onto his desk as he began bragging even more.
"We all aced that mock test! We're obviously the only people who can get into UA from this little school. But y'all know, I'll be the one to surpass All Might and become the number one hero!" he shouted as Katsuki raised his hand into the air and laughed.
The teacher soon began took out a piece of paper from the floor since he did throw the papers onto the ground. Coincidentally, he picked up the quirkless student's form. He raised an eyebrow but nodded up a little as he looked at the back to see him staring out the window.
"Izuku, it seems you want to go to Shield Tech Industries?"
Everyone paused. The whole class went silent.
Izumi, the Bakugo and Todoroki twins froze as they turned towards Izuku with a surprised look on their faces. As far as they 'knew', since childhood, they always thought Izuku would still be hell-bent on becoming a hero.
'Then what was all the bullying fo-'
'Bullying...?' Izumi felt a pain in the back of her head as she realised that some of the pain and anguish she wrought on Izuku.
What she thought was her, trying to stop him from being. a hero was her bullying.
Katsuki was abysmally shocked. The Deku he knew had always dreamt of being a hero. Not a single day went by when he would beat up Deku and hear him painfully speak out that he would still become a hero and it angered him.
A quirkless bastard like him become a hero? How he thought.
But now he looked at deku he was still looking out the window with a conflicted expression.
All while this was happening, Izuku was looking at the bunny as the bunny stared back at him.
It was a deadlocked staring contest.
Unluckily he blinked when he heard his name being called out several times as his eye once again twitched before looking back at his teacher,"Yeah that's right."
"Didn't you want to be a hero...?" the teacher asked a little unnerved by his stare.
He shook his head lightly glanced to the side seeing the shocked expressions of his classmates,"Nah, it's not for me," he spoke before turning away to watch the out the window again.
The air grew heavy, like someone had just killed the mood with a sledgehammer. He could feel the heat of their stares, the confusion, the disbelief. The whispers came next, like a creeping fog.
"What...?"
"Did he say Shield...?"
"Tech? But isn't that—?"
The voice drowned out as he gazed down from the his desk at the bunny.
Outside, in the school's small courtyard, the bunny sat on the grass, its large ears twitching, its pink nose wiggling as it stared back at him. The smallest, most insignificant creature — prey in a world of predators. And yet, it sat there. Calm. Unbothered. It met his gaze, unflinching.
Izuku's lips pressed into a thin, humorless line.
Maybe he was like that rabbit.
Small. Forgettable. Unwanted.
He let them stare and let them talk.
Honestly, he no longer cared for people.
'Mood' he thought.
The bell's echo still lingered when the classroom emptied out, the noise fading into the distance. But the tension clung like humidity in the air. It was suffocating.
They'd bullied him for years.
Under the pretense of "saving him from false hope," they'd justified every cruel word, every shove, every sneer. They told themselves—and each other—that if they broke him down enough, he'd finally understand his place.
That the dream of a quirkless boy becoming a hero would only end in his corpse on the news or, worse, in humiliation.
So they chipped at him.
Izumi. Katsuki. Katsumi. Shoto. Shoka.
They all played their roles in the little play they'd written together, where they were the harsh mentors and he was the delusional fool.
But now...that fool was sitting there, hollow-eyed, bones heavy with defeat, and all their 'tough love' had finally worked.
And none of them liked how it felt.
They waited for him outside the gate, as if by unspoken agreement, like old predators returning to a wounded prey they no longer knew what to do with.
He approached them slowly, his worn shoes dragging slightly in the dirt, backpack loose over his shoulder.
Izumi was the first to speak, though her voice was thin, barely more than a whisper. "You're...really not going to try for U.A.?"
Izuku raised an eyebrow. Finally speaking to him after all those remarks and comments about him being quirkless?
Bruh moment.
"I'm not going to make a fool of myself in front of the whole world," he replied flatly, like it was the most logical answer. Like it was obvious. "Shield tech Industries is prestigious for what they make. It'll do."
His voice was filled with resignation though.
And somehow...that was worse.
Katsuki clenched his fists, his lip curling into a sneer that didn't reach his eyes. "That's it? What happened to all those years of you saying that you wanted to be a hero huh?! That's not like you, Deku!" he exclaimed loudly.
'The fuck is he talking about? Does he hear himself when he talks?' his eye twitched AGAIN, listening to his absurdly hypocritical words.
It ticked him off a little as he got up in Katsuki's face,"Who the fuck made me not want to be a hero in the first place then? Who was it that threatened to kill me every day for having a simple dream? Can you answer that?" he spoke irritated as he pushed him little by little with his hands.
Katsuki didn't expect this at all from Deku but got pissed as he pushed him. He was about to retort back but Katsumi exclaimed out,"Bullshit! You—you can't just quit like that after all these years!"
The amount of spasms his eyebrow was getting today was exceeding max critical.
He just sighed and walked away from them but not before saying his last words,"go enjoy being a hero...it's not like you guys ever wanted me there in the first place."
He went on walking not seeing the frozen statue of his sister as this was the first time she's ever seen him fight back.
There was a discomfort growing inside her but she didn't want to see it.
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Hi again.
Gimme your thoughts on this chapter :)