Chapter 1: Discovery (Prologue)
Inko Midoriya had always prided herself for her patience and ability to stay composed in stressful situations. She couldn't remember the last time she seriously snapped at someone, or felt the urge to punch a wall. The patience was mostly out of necessity, given that her husband was a man-child with a flamethrower for a mouth. She meant that in the most endearing sense of the word of course; Hisashi was the gentlest, kindest soul she had ever encountered, and she could never regret attending to his burns all those years ago. In that way she considered it lucky that Hisashi discovered his fire breath didn't mix well with alcohol and intoxication at that dorm party. It certainly spared them from any accidents later in life.
Considering all of the above, this damn pregnancy was seriously testing her patience. She had already endured nine months of hell, filled with Hisashi's frequent jokes, and his inability -or unwillingness- to take things seriously was not helping. Though as her husband worriedly spoke to her in the backseat while the Bakugō Patriarch drove them to the hospital in the dead of night she could only give a mental sigh of relief; the worst part was finally over and it'd better all have been worth it.
Oh god, the worst part was definitely not over! She couldn't even concentrate enough to be annoyed at Hisashi for practicing his dad jokes with Masaru whenever he wasn't by her side. It took several excruciating hours but as the signature crying of a baby filled the hospital room, right as the sun rose above the horizon, she couldn't help but feel the happiest she'd ever felt in her life. And not just because it was all finally over and they were both lying next to each other in the hospital bed, but because they were looking at the most adorable baby they'd ever seen, their adorable baby. The first thing to break the silence in the newly sunlit room was Hisashi, who looked like the definition of a proud dad, welcoming Izuku, 'their little Sunshine', into the family.
The nickname proved to be rather fitting as Izuku grew up over the years; he had the uncanny ability to always lighten up any room he entered. The way he hopped around any room whenever he was supposed to be sitting still, or how he excitedly babbled about whatever new thing he and Katsuki encountered, how he salivated over every plate of Katsudon and gobbled it up with his chubby hands, how he diligently woke up to watch the sun rise and say goodbye to Hisashi in the morning, and the 'ooooooh's' and 'aaaaah's' whenever Hisashi showed off his 'totally super-duper awesome' fire breath for the umpteenth time. Inko herself never thought much of her own quirk, it was useful for cooking and for keeping her son (and husband) on a leash, but she couldn't help but feel like it was one of the best whenever she did show it off to her little Izuku. Even Katsuki, whose personality would be the embodiment of the actual sun up close like the way Izuku's was the sun viewed from earth, was significantly calmer whenever Izuku was around.
Considering all of that, it might not be surprising that one day Inko was seriously concerned when Izuku was still in bed by the time school was supposed to start. He hadn't even clamped onto Hisashi's leg in a fit of giggles right before he left for work earlier in the morning, which she later learned over the phone from a slightly upset Hisashi (she could practically hear him pouting). Despite her worries, Inko brushed it aside for later and woke up a dazed Izuku. His fourth birthday party had been pretty tiring after all. A lot of kids had come to see Hisashi spit roasting the BBQ meat (his favourite trick) and Izuku had spent a good amount of time talking each guest's ears off about All Might.
The worrying feeling returned in full force the following day as it got progressively harder to wake him up. According to his kindergarten teacher Izuku had even fallen asleep in the middle of playtime. He ate less of his breakfast and dinner at home, even Katsudon, and Inko suspected he threw away his lunch at school too. Inko decided enough was enough when Saturday morning Izuku woke up, burning to the touch and throwing up any food that entered his mouth. Hisashi's attempt at lightening the mood by suggesting they cook his breakfast eggs on Izuku's forehead was not appreciated either, though it did yield a few giggles from Izuku, so Inko let it slide. They decided to take Izuku to the hospital just in case for some general testing, which is how they found themselves in a small office with an older doctor whilst Izuku was resting in a room close by.
The small room had been silent after they'd sat down, save for the soft ticking of an older clock in the corner and the occasional creaking of wood from Hisashi nervously shifting in his chair. It was almost calming to Inko if the sterile walls and medical charts didn't remind her that she was in the hospital for her baby boy. After a few seconds of this serene silence, the doctor put down the relevant medical files on his desk and addressed the pair in his room.
"Well, Midoriya-san, we have bad news and good news regarding your son. The good news is that he does not seem have caught any illnesses that we're aware of; we did however find an alarming decrease in the amount of mitochondria in his cells compared to previous records."
That definitely sounded like the bad news, but Inko decided to keep quiet as she realised her husband wasn't the greatest when it came to the medical sciences and instead gave the doctor her patented 'get on with it' stare. To his credit, the balding man quickly got the message and went on to elaborate. "Ah, essentially it means that his body seems to be gradually shutting down his metabolism; his inability to ingest any food seems to corroborate that. The good news however is that, given his age, this change seems to be related to his quirk instead of some genetic disorder."
At this statement, Hisashi seemed to have been shaken out of his stupor, as he angrily leaned forward. "How exactly is my son's quirk slowly starving him to death good news in any way?!"
Inko shared her husband's sentiments but knew that antagonizing the professional wasn't the best course of action and interrupted Hisashi before he could continue. "Quirks that actively harm their user are documented but have basically become non-existent after the first few generations, isn't that right doctor?"
The doctor blinked at the unexpected bit of trivia but quickly continued. "That is completely correct Midoriya-san. As for why this is good news, now that we know this is the work of your son's incoming quirk we can start figuring out what exactly it is and why it seems to currently be harming your son so that we can hopefully find a way to counteract it. I hope you don't mind if we do some more specialised tests on him and see if he takes after either of you."
Sounds of agreement filled the room and with that the rest of the day was taken up by doctors and nurses moving a lethargic, sweating Izuku around testing rooms, the only relief coming in the form of Izuku greedily gulping down large bottles of water whenever they were given to him.
It wasn't until after the sun had set that a different doctor entered the hospital room and asked if the parents could come with him to discuss the results. Inko only had to glance at the slumped figure next to her to understand that Hisashi had completely tired out from the frantic day, so she opted to join the doctor by herself, but not before gently tapping Hisashi's mess of hair to make sure he was at least somewhat awake. Hisashi just returned a lopsided smile and mumbled to her to 'compile the lecture notes for later' before going back to his half-pretend, half-genuine sleep.
Hisashi stayed in this position for fifteen more minutes after Inko left until he was startled awake by Izuku screaming about everything being too hot, immediately running over to embrace his son's red-hot, glowing body in a tight hug, mumbling a seemingly never-ending stream of reassurances into his Sunshine's ear as the room was quickly illuminated by an increasingly intense light.
Inko Midoriya had always prided herself for her patience and her ability to stay composed in stressful situations, but after a whole day of stressing out and seeing her son being prodded everywhere she really couldn't deal with a doctor who seemed extremely excited about the results and wasn't getting any closer to the actual point. So far he had discussed how Inko's hands seemed to unnoticeably distort the space in front of them when her quirk was active and how this same distortion was constantly present and much more noticeable within Izuku's stomach and now he seemed to be finishing up on the specifics of Hisashi's flammable gas but Inko still couldn't understand where the guy was going with all this.
Before the doctor could continue on her husband's slight heat resistance, Inko decided to politely interrupt him to prevent her ever-present composure from finally breaking. "Doctor, I don't quite see how my husband's stomach producing his flammable breath by turning ingested water into hydrogen and oxygen gas is related to anything else you've said or why my son's quirk is essentially starving him to death, and quite frankly I think I've been away from my husband and son for a bit too long."
The doctor, for the first time since she had entered his office, looked away from his reports with a creepily excited smile and hastily interrupted her as she was about to grab her purse and leave. "I'm so sorry, Midoriya-san, I'm just really excited that's all. But think about it, the most logical explanation for why your son's body seems to be shutting down its metabolism is because it's preparing to switch to a completely different source of energy. Coupled with today's observations of your quirks it seems his stomach has been gathering the hydrogen from the water he's consumed and is slowly compressing it in his stomach."
Inko's eyes widened as the observations the doctor had been rattling off for the past 10 minutes finally clicked and she couldn't stop herself from shouting her realisation in disbelief.
"You're saying my son's stomach is turning into a fusion reactor?!"
The doctor just nodded excitedly and the fact he acted like Izuku would've been funny if he wasn't an old, stubby, bespectacled man that looked like he was seconds away from taking Izuku for himself. "Yes, isn't it exciting?! Once again quirks are doing what we never could've achieved with science for at least another century! Since this quirk is somehow locally manipulating gravity like yours but to an even higher degree it completely bypasses the known practical issues of needing enough mass or a high enough temperature to generate the immense pressures needed to facilitate artificial self-sustaining fusion! As long as we keep providing him with water, the hydrogen in his stomach will eventually reach a critical limit for kickstarting the fusion process and afterwards your son should be completely fi-"
Whatever the doctor had wanted to say was cut off by a loud scream coming from the relatively empty ward Inko knew Izuku was in. She immediately ran out of the small office but had to shield her eyes as a bright flash of light filled the hallway, before it and her son's screams died down. Without slowing down she entered the hospital room only to be greeted by her husband and son in a tight embrace on a bed that was barely standing on its half-molten frame, Izuku being surrounded by a soft, golden, glowing aura that was already dimming.
After a few seconds of silence, the bed finally collapsed to the ground, shaking Izuku and Hisashi out of their stupor as they parted and started laughing over the weirdness of the situation, until Hisashi hissed in pain and revealed bright-red blistering burns all over his arms. Seeing his son starting to panic he quickly joked about 'not expecting to need sunscreen tonight', which did its job of calming Izuku back down into a fit of giggles. Inko hadn't realised how tense she had been as for the first time that day all tension left her shoulders as she tried to hide an ugly snort.
Everything was wrapped up fast after that incident. Just some last few check-ups on Izuku and quick treatment of Hisashi's burns. Luckily his decent fire resistance spared him from the bedframe's fate, and the Midoriya's walked out of the hospital with burn cream and tired faces, but accompanied by an absolutely glowing son, figuratively and sometimes literally.
The days following the incident were a lot less stressful though no less busy. At first, Izuku felt guilty about burning his dad, but that was quickly replaced by the excitement of exploring his own quirk. As they were later told, the light produced by the fusion of hydrogen was absorbed by a specialised organelle that had been reconstructed out of the original mitochondria, which formed a protective layer around the cell's nucleus and stored the energy for later use while using part of it in the production of ATP. Izuku was a little bummed out that he couldn't really ingest too much of anything except water anymore, but the later discoveries of having almost infinite stamina, needing barely any sleep, and receiving a significant boost to most biological functions including his immune system and his natural healing as long as he regularly drank water more than made up for it. It was quite tiring for Inko to constantly run after him at 1 AM, but nothing was as tiring as her husband's insistence of pointing out that their child was now literally their 'little Sunshine' at every opportunity.
In the following week, with Izuku and Hisashi staying home together, more of these discoveries were made. The morning after the hospital visit they quickly found out that Izuku passively generated a skin-tight magnetic field after he excitedly showed his dad he could finally balance a spoon on his nose, only to then find he couldn't actually get the spoon off at all and Inko had to stop her husband from accidentally putting his foot on Izuku's head during his attempts at removing the accursed thing. The doctors speculated that the produced helium plasma seeped into his bloodstream and the moving charges were generating a small-scale magnetic field that helped shield others from the harmful radiation that wasn't immediately absorbed by Izuku's body. The quirk counsellors suggested that Izuku could potentially control the flow of the helium plasma, allowing him to change the shape and intensity of the magnetic field.
The day after that they discovered that the circulating helium exited through his lungs after he accidentally inhaled the contents of a balloon he'd been inflating for the 'quirk manifestation party' Hisashi had made up on the spot and spoke in a -somehow- even squeakier voice than normal. Inko had walked into the living room that morning to find Hisashi dying from laughter on the floor with Izuku fretting over him while doing a flustered chipmunk impression, prompting her husband to laugh even harder.
As for the magnetic field, during all the extra free time at night Izuku found out he could release a portion of the stored radiation as light and if he budged and magnified the field just right he could recreate the Aurora Borealis around his body. That trick immediately won over all his classmates when he returned to kindergarten after his week long absence.
Over the year, Izuku developed a habit of passively emitting light whenever he got scared or nervous, but it also started happening whenever he got really excited. It would take a few years before he gained full control over that aspect of his quirk, and Inko was grateful when Hisashi brought up buying sunglasses. She was less grateful when it turned out he only ordered All Might themed ones.
"Izuku's room already makes the All Might museum giftshop look like a cheap knock-off, he doesn't need more encouragement, Hisashi!"
By the time Halloween rolled around, Izuku had enough control over his light and magnetic field to make his aura look like flames, he decided to dress up as Endeavor that year with Katsuki as All Might. They quickly discovered that Izuku couldn't scowl without it looking like a pout and that Katsuki couldn't smile as bright without looking like a crazed psychopath. Before the boys could get too upset Hisashi threw on a dollar-store cape, kneeled in front of them and booped both their noses.
"I am the evil villain…Mindswap and I just swapped your minds! You could never hope to beat me now heroes!"
Hisashi then quickly ran off doing his interpretation of a maniacal laugh before he got tackled by the pair of gremlins. All in all, the past year had been extremely taxing on Inko, but her husband's carefree attitude, booming laughter and never-ending optimism never failed to make her feel a bit lighter.
Considering all of that, it might not be surprising that Inko started getting concerned when Hisashi became less energetic sometime after her own birthday. Not from any lack of trying, he still managed to cheer everyone up, but he couldn't match Izuku's excitedness anymore. He didn't take the opportunity to make jokes or pranks whenever he could, and whenever he laughed it was usually interrupted by a hacking cough. It all came to a head when Inko found Hisashi coughing up blood in the toilet a little after Izuku's fifth birthday. Despite his half-hearted reassurances that it was just that morning's jam, they soon found themselves back at the hospital in front of a doctor, and this time without a happy conclusion.
"I'm sorry to say this, Midoriya-san, but I'll put it bluntly. It appears you have cancer. And from what we're seeing it's advanced quite rapidly to stage four. I'm not quite sure how this has gone unnoticed for so long, especially since you were completely fine a year ago, but I don't think this can really be treated anymore unless you're willing to part with a significant sum of money for experimental treatment. It is quite a shame that the medical field regarding cancer has practically stopped any and all advancements since the emergence of quirks."
The doctor shook her head in a disapproving manner before returning her gaze towards the pair. "Still, it is quite baffling how this happened. Did you perhaps come into contact with any highly ionising sources the past year or so?"
Inko was too dazed to really come up with a response but surprisingly Hisashi wasn't and piped up. "Well…my son has a unique quirk that produces some radiation and I was hugging him when it manifested, but the worst I received from that were some burns thanks to the fire resistance I get from my quirk, and the doctors assured us that his quirk shields the outside world from the worst of the radiation so I don't quite see…"
The doctor shook his head. "Well, Midoriya-san, I have taken the opportunity to look into some of the medical records concerning your son, and it's quite possible that the initial burst overwhelmed his body's natural defence systems, that and the helium that's attributed to the generation of the magnetic field wouldn't have been produced in any significant quantities yet at the point of ignition so…"
As the doctor trailed off a silence fell over the room, one that Inko couldn't bear to listen to any longer as she swiftly stood up. "…I think my husband and I have heard enough medical talk today doctor so let's cut to the chase, how long do you expect he has?"
The doctor sighed and slumped slightly in her armchair. "I estimate you have about a month left before you're confined to a hospital bed most of the time. I know these things are never fun to hear, but I hope you'll make the most out of it with your family."
And with that the door to the doctor's office slammed shut slightly too forcefully as the Midoriya's left.
Their ride back home that day was filled with tense silence.
By the time they reached their own neighbourhood Inko couldn't take it anymore. "Hisashi…I-"
"He can never know, Inko." She looked at her husband to see him giving the most serious, solemn stare she'd ever seen from him.
"Hisashi, what do you mean?"
His knuckles went white as he clenched his hands around the steering wheel. "If Izuku finds out about this…You know what he's like Inko, he'll never touch his quirk again beyond the bare minimum needed to live. You've seen how happy he is with it, how many plans he's made with it. I can't just take that all away from him."
Inko gulped as her mind's eye supplied the image of a somber, shut-in teen, that bright smile of his wiped from existence. "Hisashi, it was a one-time occurrence, he'll surely understa-"
"You know he won't, that's just who he is." He cut her off. "And even if he did…If his classmates find out about this, even just from rumours, I don't even want to know how they might treat our boy. You know how enraptured with heroes and villains kids his age are. They'll start treating him like heroes treat villains. We also can't just tell him I have cancer, he's smart enough to figure out what really happened if we do that."
Inko opened and closed her mouth, trying to come up with any rebuttal, but could only respond by defeatedly slumping in her seat. "What do you suppose we do then?"
Hisashi glanced at her as he turned into their street. "For now I'll take time off from work and spend it with you two, and you should probably start looking for a job…But I'll see if I can think of something in the meantime."
Izuku thought he was pretty good with understanding emotions; daddy always told him that he never knew how Izuku could 'keep that Pomeranian on a leash', which sounded like a pretty mean thing to call Kacchan, but daddy was never serious about anything so it was okay. That was also why Izuku didn't like how the past few months had gone, daddy seemed a lot sadder now and he didn't know how to fix it, and after yesterday mommy was sad too. Kacchan just told him that "Uncle and auntie probably ran out of patience for dealing with your shitty hyperactive ass, stupid nerd" during recess, and Izuku knew he just had to fix that so he waited for dinner before speaking up.
"Mommy, why are you and daddy sad? Kacchan said you're tired because of me but I didn't mean it, maybe I can give you some of my energy and-"
Mommy swallowed and interrupted Izuku's mumbling before he could get too caught up in his thoughts. "Izuku, sweetie, it's not your fault. It's just that me and your father heard some…interesting news."
Daddy then coughed a bit and spoke up. "So, Izuku, you know that I work for a support company right?"
Izuku lit up. "Yeah! You make the bestest support items for fire quirks, you even helped create parts of Endeavor's hero costume!" He rambled excitedly as he stood up on his chair.
Daddy flashed his signature grin and waited for Izuku to sit back down. "That's right, and my boss thinks I'm doing such a good job that he talked to hisbosses over in America and now they want me to go over there to start making support items for the heroes there."
That was something Izuku's young mind could barely comprehend. "Holy whoa, so you're gonna help even more heroes? Are you gonna go to the same places All Might went?! This is so cool, I have to tell Kacchan!"
He was just about ready to jump off his seat and run out when daddy spoke again. "Ah well, it's a bit of a secret that I'll work there since the company doesn't want any peepers, so I hope you can keep it to yourself, alright Sunshine?"
Izuku bobbed his head up and down as fast as his super-stamina charged body would allow. He stopped when he realised something else. "Ummm, when do you have to go there daddy?"
Daddy looked thoughtfully before he answered "The plane leaves in about a week so that's when I'll be going"
That seemed to satisfy Izuku, and he went back to playing with his All Might and Endeavor action figures, not noticing the worried, guilty glances his parents exchanged with one another.
The week had gone by in a flash (Izuku knew a lot of light-based puns; he blamed daddy for that) and the Midoriya family were standing at the front door under the night sky, starting to brighten with the imminent sunrise. Uncle Masaru was outside in his car, waiting to pick daddy up. Izuku was happily rambling away in the meantime however.
"-and apparently in America you can get special licenses so you can use your quirk in public, are you gonna get one of those? Will you show off your quirk there too? They're gonna think it's amazing just like me and Kacchan. Do you think they have special Young All Might merch over there, since he went to college and met David Shield there, and he also-"
"Izuku, I do actually have to leave on time for my plane y'know" Daddy looked sheepish but also a bit sad as he cut him off.
It was then that it dawned on Izuku how far away America was exactly, as his sight became blurry with tears. "Daddy how long are you going to be away?"
Daddy's eyes fell. "…I don't know, Sunshine. Maybe the big bosses will think I do my job so well that they don't want me to leave, maybe when I get tired I could start doing a bad job so they'll let me go."
Izuku huffed at that "No, daddy, you can't just do that! That would be bad for the heroes that use the support items!"
Daddy chuckled, Izuku didn't think it was very funny though.
"Daddy, how will you be able to see me all the way from America if your job doesn't want you to call us? It's so far away from here." Izuku said as he started panicking before daddy ruffled his hair and pointed at the sky.
"Do you see all those stars in the sky Izuku? Do you remember what that pretty picture book said about them?"
Izuku was a bit confused but nodded hesitantly "Yeah, they're really far away right?"
Daddy nodded with a pleased grin. "Correct, waaaayyyyy further away than America is from here, but despite that distance we can still see them aaaalllllllll the way from here. And I know that no matter what you want to do in the future you'll always be a star in it, that's just how you are Izuku."
"I'm gonna be a hero though, they're the coolest." Izuku huffed again, before he came to another conclusion. "But there are so many heroes in Japan daddy, how are you gonna know which star is me if there are so many?"
Daddy looked thoughtfully in the distance before squinting as the morning sun started rising above the horizon. "There's something that book didn't say though, did you know that the sun is also a star?"
Izuku looked surprised at that. "Wait, really?! But it doesn't look like the other stars?"
"Yeah, it's because the sun is the closest and thus the biggest and brightest star in the sky. Izuku, promise me you'll be just like the Sun, the brightest star in the sky. That way, when I and everyone else all over the world look up, we'll know it's you." Daddy flashed him a thumbs up.
Izuku smiled brightly at the challenge (Kacchan would totally say it's a challenge after all). "Definitely daddy, I'm gonna be the greatest and brightest hero, just like All Might!"
He then proceeded to pull off his scarily accurate All Might impression and started laughing just like his idol. Daddy laughed with him. Actual, real, booming laughter. Izuku realised; something he hadn't heard from daddy in a while. The moment was interrupted by a car horn.
At that daddy seemed to sadden a bit again "Well I think I've stalled for long enough. Don't think I'm gonna forget our little promise, Sunshine. In the future I'm gonna expect to see you up there and you're gonna be so bright that I'll go blind for staring too long because I forgot to put on sunglasses!"
Izuku cackled at the mental image of daddy working at his job and then seeing Izuku's face plastered on the sun (what kind of ridiculous idea is that anyway) as daddy ruffled his hair and kissed mommy, before entering uncle Masaru's car and excitedly waving at them as the car drove off. If Izuku hadn't been too preoccupied with his special promise with daddy he would've noticed that uncle Masaru's car wasn't going in the direction of the airport.
It was about ten years later that Inko found herself in a familiar situation, situated in their apartment's hallway as Izuku was standing in the doorframe with his fresh school uniform, ready to join Katsuki in Masaru's car to be driven to UA for the first day.
"Do you have your tissues? And your notebooks, don't forget those!"
She was greeted with an exasperated sigh. "Mom, don't worry. Seriously, I'm gonna be fine. I've got everything ready."
Inko nodded with a watery smile. "I'm sorry, baby, I just can't help but worry for you. I know you'll be just fine over there. I know UA is a pretty serious place but don't forget to have some fun!"
Izuku flashed a sheepish grin (Oh and it was so similar to Hisashi's). "Got it! And I'll make sure the homeroom teacher will remember that too."
Inko waved her son goodbye before getting back inside and closing the door behind her. She knew the day that Izuku would be fully independent was getting closer and closer but she didn't want to imagine how dark the house was gonna be without her son and husband. That was also partly the reason why she was never able to bring herself to tell Izuku that Hisashi had 'died in an accident at work' like she and Hisashi had originally planned. She was too afraid that Izuku would loose his brightness if she told him, that and she had plenty of time to tell him in the future anyway, she did pride herself on her patience and ability to stay composed after all.
It had been the most difficult at the start. Hisashi had lasted a lot longer in the hospital bed than either of them had expected, but she was glad that Izuku hadn't known about or witnessed any of it. Seeing her beloved husband grow dimmer and dimmer until he eventually flickered out had put a significant strain on her mental health. And then there was what she saw once he'd died after 6 months of hospitalisation, when they had to- had to- they- 'No, that didn't happen! That was just from the nightmares. Especially when it was her baby in his place instead. Stop thinking about it Inko, you'll just invite the nightmare in tonight at this point.'
Speaking of, it hadn't helped either that Izuku kept asking about his daddy during the latter's last few months, but the occasional letter and America-exclusive hero merch from 'Hisashi' was enough to placate him. Masaru had been pushing her to tell Izuku as well and she regretted giving Masaru the cold shoulder whenever he did. The man had been happy to secretly set aside part of his sizeable salary as a hero costume designer to keep Inko afloat after all. There was no way she could have a job, not when her baby still needed her here to greet him back home.
~"Hisashi was my first friend and the one who introduced me to my current job and employer, it's the least I could do."~
Eventually, after the first year or so, Izuku started mentioning Hisashi less and less until he dropped it altogether. Inko wasn't even sure whether Izuku still remembered him at this point. That was also the other reason why she couldn't bring herself to tell him. He'd gotten used to the current situation and seemed totally content. She didn't want to suddenly bring all of that back up again, especially if Izuku didn't remember. Inko also knew that if Izuku really wanted to find out it'd be rather easy, Hisashi's ashes had still been buried at the family grave and she had his death certificate stored someplace safe. If he ever did Inko knew she'd have to face the consequences, but for now she was content with the way things were.
It had to be, Izuku was so much like his father after all.
Izuku was pressed up against the car window, absently counting the amount of trees they'd passed. He wasn't a stranger to mom's fretting but it could get a bit annoying, especially since his quirk kept him pretty safe and healthy. He did understand where she was coming from though; he'd experienced an attempted kidnapping around the age of nine after all. One moment he was strolling through the back alleys he and Kacchan loved to run through and the next he woke up in some sort of dilapidated warehouse with some scientist standing near him, talking to himself about 'exploratory…something' before 'he' arrived. He annoyingly, or perhaps thankfully, couldn't remember much of anything, except for the scientist leaving once an overwhelming, dangerous presence approached him. So overwhelmingly dangerous that for the first time in his life Izuku had tried to expel all of his quirk's energy at once. He hadn't tried that again since. Well, until the entrance exams anyway. The zero pointer being almost completely erased from existence matched his vague recollection of the warehouse and all surrounding buildings being replaced by a crater as he ran away, the sounds of large explosions and constant shockwaves emanating behind him. He was luckily able to find his way back home safely thanks to some police officers, but that hadn't stopped mom from going crazy and putting him in a bubble-wrapped bedroom for a few days straight.
"Oi nerd, I'm not gonna wait for you forever dammit, I'm not gonna be late on the first fucking day at UA because of you."
Izuku was shaken out of his reminiscence by Kacchan's loud voice, realising that they had stepped out of uncle Masaru's car a while ago and he had just been standing there, staring at UA's imposing towers. Kacchan was already walking ahead but Izuku couldn't help but look at the towers in awe again.
This was it, his first step towards becoming a hero. He knew that Kacchan wanted to become a hero so he could show everyone that he was the strongest, but Izuku had a different reason. He wanted to be the brightest hero out there. So bright that everyone, far and wide, would know that he'd be there for them. He wanted to be the light that would help lead those in the dark towards a brighter future. He wasn't quite sure where that desire had originally come from anymore, like most of his childhood memories it was all vague, but whenever he thought about it he could hear booming laughter in his mind, so it must've come from his adoration of All Might, he was his idol after all. Speaking of, All Might was gonna be teaching this year!
"This is gonna be amazing!" He shouted, before getting some weird looks from bystanders. Upon further inspection, Izuku realised the weird looks were actually eyes being squinted, and he sheepishly turned off the light he'd been emitting before running towards the entrance gate, hoping to catch up with Kacchan. He couldn't help but wonder though, the booming laughter had felt gentler and more comforting than All Might's laughter ever had.
Name: Midoriya Izuku
Quirk: Starborn (passive, focus/resource; energy/generation/stockpile, energy/manipulation/healing type)
Description: The user's stomach has mutated to isolate hydrogen atoms from digested water, which it then compresses until the pressure is great enough to facilitate micro-scale fusion. The resulting radiation is mostly absorbed by special organelles that also serve as a protective coating around the nucleus for the cell's genetic material. The stored energy is slowly used up to generate ATP in a specialised process. The helium plasma produced by the fusion circulates through the bloodstream and is exhaled through the mouth, where it's quickly cooled back to room temperature. The moving charges generate a small-scale magnetic field.
Limitations: The user requires a large amount of water every day to keep up the fusion process. The stored energy is enough to keep the user alive for a while but if the hydrogen goes under a certain level the fusion process will likely stop, needing a much larger amount of water before being able to kickstart again.
Applications: The user can expel the stored energy as radiation, with high frequency radiation requiring more energy than lower frequency radiation. The magnetic field catches high ionising radiation and turns it into non-ionising radiation. The user can control the intensity and speed of the helium plasma in different parts of the bloodstream, allowing them to manipulate the shape and intensity of the magnetic field, which has the effect of shaping the emitted light/heat. Without manipulating the magnetic field the emitted light/heat will take the shape of a comfortable, warm, golden aura. The user can use the magnetic field to concentrate the emitted light/heat and release it in attacks akin to solar flares in specific directions. The user can also expel all excess energy at once, generating an explosion similar to a miniature supernova, at the cost of being extremely lethargic for a while.
Chapter 2: Assessment (Act 1, Leap)
All of Izuku's original excitedness of starting his tenure at UA had quickly evaporated once he entered the building and realised he had absolutely no idea what the building's layout was. He did find what looked like a floor plan near the entrance, but he couldn't make heads or tails out of it (who writes on a floor plan in code?), and that wasn't even talking about the three separate entrance doors! Why use a door for each of the year levels when they all led to the same entrance space?
After squinting at the floorplan for a few minutes all the lines started blurring together, so Izuku just gave up and went with the tried and true method of 'frantically wandering around but trying to look composed while doing it'. 'Ugh, why did Kacchan have to go ahead? I'm sure he found the classroom first try and is already sitting there, mocking everyone who arrives later than him. Oh gosh he's going to yell at every classmate and call them all extras before I even get there and make a horrible first impression, I have to get there quickly!'
Once the first bell rang through the halls Izuku gave up on looking composed and started sprinting around. He screeched to a halt when a blond blur came around the corner and slammed into the wall on the other side.
The person fell to the ground with a thump and Izuku jolted into moving. Having completely forgotten about the Kacchan problem, Izuku ran to the figure sitting on the ground clutching their head and channelled his inner mom. "Oh my gosh are you alright? Do you need to go to the nurse's office? What were you even thinking, running straight into a solid wall?! How many fingers am I holding up?"
The blond teen held up one hand to interrupt Izuku and…'Wait, is that black lightning bolt natural or dyed? Is itt from a quirk? How would it- Not the time, Izuku, he's talking! Zone in!'
"Dude, calm your non-existent tits, I'm fine. I've had worse anyway, really." The teen groaned as he stumbled back up onto his feet.
"Why did you do that though?" Izuku asked.
The blond boy sheepish shrugged. "I honestly have no idea where my classroom is. So here I was, running around the entire building when I saw this cheery, buff, blond dude walking around and, like, he looked like he knew his shit, so I followed him until I saw him going through that wall. I thought it was like a platform 9¾ situation ya know?"
"You thought UA had secret magical passageways…"
The teen grinned. "Imagine how cool it would be if they did actually exist." He slapped his side in disappointment. "Ah well, bummer…Hey, do you know where the 1-A classroom is?"
Now it was Izuku's turn to look sheepish. "Uhm, I was actually frantically sprinting everywhere to find it before you ran into that wall?"
The blond boy -Gosh, he still didn't know his name yet, did he?- fell back down on his knees with a comically anguished expression on his face. "Oh god, I'm never gonna make it to class on time! Broccoli dude-"
"Midoriya." Izuku deadpanned.
"-yeah whatever, Midoriya, if I don't make it to class tell our classmates that I love them!"
"…Are you sure you're fine? Do you have a concussion maybe?"
The teen frowned. "Bro, not cool, you're supposed to go along with it. That's, like, part of the bro-code."
"Oh uhm, sorry…"
"Kaminari"
"Alright Kaminari-kun, let's do our best!" Izuku raised his fist and smiled.
Izuku got interrupted when a nearby door slid open and an annoyed looking girl with earphone jacks attached to her earlobes appeared in the, frankly unnecessarily large, doorframe. "Can you guys shut up already! I already have to deal with a shouting match in the classroom and I have seriously sensitive ears."
Both teens looked at the opened door and realised that '1-A' had been staring at them in bright red colouring for the entirety of their conversation. "Oh."
After sheepishly entering the classroom, Izuku took stock of the classmates that were already present, which was most of the class actually. His Kacchan alarm went off before he could start taking in all the visible mutations, and he zoned in on said blond, arguing with a tall teen that appeared to be doing the robot with his hands.
"-really think you can call your esteemed classmates extras?! All of us have a name and I expect you to learn them!"
Kacchan just leaned back in his chair and let a cocky grin spread across his face "Haaah? Do you have a stick up your ass or something?" He snapped his fingers. "Oh, I get it, you're just jealous that I arrived here earlier than you. Did you expect to be the first by arriving 10 minutes early, four-eyes?"
The teen who had been officially christened 'four-eyes' looked offended and gasped. "Jealous?! I would- How could you- I-"
Izuku decided now was the best time to interject and spoke up from the doorway. "Kacchan, no bluescreening your classmates on the first day of classes. We talked about this before!"
Kacchan turned his gaze towards him with an amused grin. "Oi Zuku, fucking finally! Didn't think you'd show up. Well, that's what you get for stalling me."
Before Izuku could come up with a comeback, 'four-eyes' rebooted his OS and powerwalked over. "Greetings, my name is Tenya Iida! I wanted to congratulate you on taking the top scores for the exam. It's clear that you figured out the secret grading system and I feel ashamed to not have done so myself. I wish to apologise for accusing you of trying to interfere!"
Before Izuku could respond, Iida made a perfect 90 degree bow and Kacchan spoke up from his desk instead. "Hah? You seriously didn't guess that there was something besides 'destroy robots'? Even I figured out the Rescue Points and I only gave a shit about destroying those metal fuckers." Another shit-eating grin appeared on his face. "Hey, how'd it feel, having to beat up your relatives?"
Iida did a full 180 degree turn and went back to looking aghast. "I can assure you that I am not a robot!"
As the two went back to their arguing Izuku noticed a stoic looking teen in the back observing Iida's calves with a contemplative look on his face.
Izuku then felt someone's gaze piercing his back and he swirled around to find a strangely familiar blond teen staring at him…'No wait, at something behind my right shoulder? But there's nothing there. Seriously, what is up with blonds at UA? Oh he's actually looking at me now. Zone back in, Izuku.'
The teen skipped over to him and put a hand on his shoulder. "Ah Monsieur, I was hoping you'd get in. Je suis Aoyama and I wanted to thank you for saving moi from that 0-pointer." 'Ah, is that where I recognised him from? I barely even looked when I heard that scream.' "It was très magnifique! You truly were the ✰dazzling✰ star of the exam."
The sparkles around his face seemed to decrease at that last statement 'Wait there were sparkles around his face? Oh, Aoyama just pecked me on the cheeks…isn't that a customary greeting in France? Wait he's French right, those were French words at least. Oh and now there's a giant caterpillar laying at my feet…Is this my life at UA now? Has me getting into UA all been a fever dream after passing out from attacking the 0-pointer?'
Before Izuku could continue having an existential crisis, said caterpillar stood up to reveal a scruffy-looking man. The man silently looked him over with an appraising look before humming and finally speaking up in a tired, drawling voice. "You're Izuku Midoriya right? The one that shaved off a good chunk of UA's annual budget by obliterating the 0-pointer?"
The disapproving glare intensified as Izuku gulped and nodded hesitantly.
That appeared to be sufficient for the man. "Good enough. My name is Shōta Aizawa. I'll be your homeroom teacher. I could hear you hellions all the way from the teacher's lounge and the coffee machine broke this morning, so take this."
Aizawa-sensei threw what looked like a P.E. uniform at a stiff and confused Izuku. "I'm not even going to bother calming you lot down so go inform your classmates that they have to put those on and then meet me at the P.E. grounds in 10 minutes or be expelled."
Aizawa-sensei turned around and calmly walked away from the classroom, leaving behind a panicking Izuku. 'Wait, I have to calm all of them down?!'
In the end, Izuku decided on flashbanging the entire class to get their attention, and after a panicked struggle they all managed to find their way to the P.E. grounds in time, standing in front of their homeroom teacher in tense silence. Aizawa-sensei looked at them as he slowly grabbed a juice pouch and sucked it empty, focusing on Izuku afterwards with another hum. "It seems everyone is on time. Good job I guess, Midoriya."
He then proceeded to address the class as a whole. "I already told your classmate but my name is Shōta Aizawa. I will be your homeroom teacher here at UA."
A pink-skinned, horned girl with black sclera 'Oh wow, how did I not notice her before?' raised her hand but was cut off by Aizawa-sensei. "No, we will not be attending any entrance ceremonies or the like. I prefer to use my time more logically, so instead, I'll be putting you through a Quirk Apprehension Test. This assessment will be made up of 8 individual tests".
As Aizawa-sensei continued explaining the make-up of the assessment in his droning voice Kacchan elbowed Izuku in the side and gave his trademark 'feral Pomeranian' smile accompanied by a few pops from his quirk. "Going straight into showing off our quirks huh? I'm starting to like this hobo already."
Said hobo appeared to be listening more intently than he had been letting on as Kacchan was suddenly ensnared in a snake-like object and pulled towards the man. "'Showing off', huh? If you seriously think the Hero Course is a place where you can just relax and show off your quirks then you should leave and go join a circus instead."
Kacchan, never one to have respected his teachers in the past, bit back. "Hah? You think I'm some kinda clown? How about you look in the mirror first. Cause you look like the bearded lady's lost lovechild! I'm here to become the strongest hero and the first thing I'll do is show these extras who the alpha is!" 'Really laying on the Pomeranian there huh, Kacchan?'
Aizawa-sensei quirked an eyebrow. "Well, since you're so eager to show off, throw this ball as far as you can with your quirk."
Kacchan happily obliged, resulting in the earphone jack girl crying out from the sound of the resulting explosion and scream and Aizawa-sensei showing off a score of 705.2 meters on his measuring device with a lazy grin. "It seems Bakugō can back up his words with actions. Let's see if you all can do the same."
Izuku sighed. 'At least Kacchan antagonizing the teacher didn't totally backfire for all of us like back in Aldera.'
Aizawa-sensei wasn't done yet though. "Talking about 'showing who the alpha is' though, let's go with that. Whoever comes in last place will be judged as the 'omega' of the group and will be expelled on the spot."
A sadistic grin that rivalled Kacchan's appeared on the man. "Here at UA we have no place for omega's, so show me that you're worth staying here."
Izuku paled and zoned out as a girl with a permanent blush on her face cried out in protest. 'I guess I was asking for too much huh?'
Luckily, Izuku didn't have much to worry about since he was able to score relatively high scores on most of the tests with purely his enhanced, infinite stamina and some assistance from low-powered 'Solar Flares'. 'Yes, he and Kacchan already had several super moves thought up before middle school even started, blame all their hero vs villain games.'
He did notice some of his classmates looking disappointed at him whenever he finished a test. 'I guess I did put up unreasonably high expectations back during the entrance exam. I'm still doing pretty good but I haven't had any real stand-out scores yet, at least the ball throw is coming up so I could make my mark there.'
As it was finally Izuku's turn at the ball throw he could feel some anxiety seep into his stomach as he walked up to the circle. 'Oh man, I have my Solar Flares, but I've been focused on getting those to work properly with Kacchan for way too long. Stupid! I should've realised that wouldn't cut it anymore at UA! I need something new and powerful, and right now. Uhm…focus Izuku, dangit! Think of something already!'
Izuku thought back to Kacchan, who had the flashiest ball throw so far. 'Ah, I got it! I could try and expel all my energy like my Supernova but fully focused through the palm of my hand! Oh man, I hope Kacchan won't mind me taking from his style for this.'
Izuku put his body into a low, stable stance and aimed the arm holding the ball at a 45 degree angle, supporting it with his other arm by holding it at the wrist. 'Alright, no time like the present to test this out!'
Izuku's golden aura flared up and started thrashing around faster and more violently as he pulled as much energy as possible out of his stockpile. He then directed the torrents of pure energy coursing through his whole body towards his right arm, his aura rippling towards it as he did so, and started manifesting a piece of his internal sun in his hand, the golden aura around it condensing and turning a bright white as harsh winds started emanating from his palm, the surrounding air rapidly heating up and expanding from the now infernal temperatures. By the time the pressure in his hand finally built to a crescendo Izuku had already come up with a fitting name. 'New ultimate move: GAMMA RAY BURST!'
Izuku finally pushed all of the pent-up energy against the palm of his hand and released his magnetic hold as all of the plasma around his hand condensed into a singular brilliant point directly behind the ball…only to abruptly fizzle out and disperse. 'Eh?!'
Shocked by the abrupt stop, Izuku dropped the ball, falling on the ground in front of him with several thumps as ice-cold dread settled in his stomach. He looked back to his classmates, who looked just as bewildered, as a queasy bloated feeling suddenly started building up.
Izuku groaned and bent over, clutching his belly. 'Wait, those descriptions feel a lot more literal than I meant them to-.' Izuku yelped as a sudden flash of white-hot pain came from his stomach.
Shōta Aizawa would say that this day was turning out to be a three out of ten, pretty shit but he definitely had worse. It all started yesterday evening when, instead of getting a full night's rest for once, which he always aimed for the day before the new schoolyear, he had to pull an all-nighter helping All Might set up and register his personal UA staff account, because of course the blond oaf forgot about that. If that wasn't bad enough already, all coffee machines on UA grounds broke overnight because of some glitchy software update and his current class was turning out to be even more disruptive than last year's at the start of the term. Again, not the worst he'd been through by far but a solid three out of ten nonetheless.
So when Shōta saw the child who turned the 0-pointer into literal hot air walk up to the circle with a scarily determined look on his face, he knew something was going to happen to turn his day into a two out of ten.
Shōta knew that kind of look, it was the look he saw on one of his students right before they did something unnecessarily reckless and harmful. He figured this was going to happen, the kid hadn't shown anything even close to the power he displayed at the entrance exam, and for good reason. The kid was lucky that the only thing close to him was the 0-pointer or there would've been lawsuits. It was clear, and logical, that he hadn't done anything close to that at any point in his past, but it seemed that his actions at the exam had made him more willing to use that kind of firepower.
Shortly after, Shōta's suspicions were confirmed as he had to shield his eyes from the blinding light and billowing winds originating from the boy. As the smell of ozone started to fill the air and crackles of electricity generated from the swirling plasma intensified he flared up his own quirk, bringing back the silence.
Shōta already had his 'do you want to render yourself useless on the field' speech prepared as he walked up to the problem child, yes Midoriya was definitely this year's Problem Child, all capitals included. What he hadn't expected though was for Midoriya to physically react to Erasure, looking back to the crowd of students with a panicked expression before hunching over, clutching his stomach.
Shōta halted in surprise before worriedly picking up his pace to make sure the Problem Child was okay. He finally reached him and was about to ask him how he was feeling when Izuku yelped in pain and-
BUUUUUUUUU-
-UUUUUUUUUU-
Oh gosh, it felt like all the sparkling water Izuku had drunk in his entire life came back to haunt him all at once! It was like his stomach had become the world's biggest party balloon and he forgot to tie the knot after inflating it all the way. Trying to come up with more weird analogies, Izuku blinked as two boots suddenly entered his vision and he looked up to see his homeroom teacher 'Was that a worried look?'staring down at him.
-UUUUUUURRRP
The merciless torrent of gas ceased and Izuku realised that he had just burped directly into his homeroom teacher's face, said teacher's shaggy hair settling back down from being blown back by the gas.
"Oh no-" burp "sen-" burp "-sei, I'm so sor-" buuurrrp
The source of his current torment returned with a vengeance and Izuku immediately looked away from his teacher's face, instead looking at the faces of his classmates, who were standing further back.
Iida and Aoyama both looked horrified at the lack of decorum, and Iida especially seemed like he was holding back a lecture. Kaminari-kun and a black-haired teen with funky elbows were snickering, faces ripening from trying to hold in their laughter. Meanwhile, Kacchan had abandoned all pretence and was rolling on the floor, cackling loudly. 'Well, I guess that was an impression alright.'
"Guys-" burp "-this isn't-" buuuuurrrp "-funny!" BUURRRP
With one final, magnificent burp, Izuku's stomach finally settled back down. Izuku looked back at his teacher to tell him he was fine and could continue when the coldness in his stomach spread throughout his entire body and a wave of tiredness washed over him. Izuku was unconscious before he hit the ground.
Oh, this was definitely a solid two out of ten day for Shōta. First, he decided to show some worry for the Problem Child, who then proceeded to show his thanks by burping directly into his face for a solid three seconds, before having to get worried again as the kid promptly fell unconscious.
Shōta sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "All Might, how about you actually make yourself useful and transport Midoriya here to the nurse's office instead of gawking like a civilian."
All Might, who had been peeking around the corner of the gym building like a nervous school girl waiting to ask out her crush, startled, but quickly recovered and leapt to the middle of the field with his booming laugh. "I AM HERE…TO BRING MIDORIYA-SHŌNEN TO RECOVERY GIRL!"
And before any of the students could react, All Might ran off with the Problem Child in his hands, disappearing as quickly as he had appeared.
Uraraka was the first shaken out of the class's collective stupor. "Wait, All Might was watching us?!" And oh god, Shōta definitely had to plan out some situational awareness exercises, didn't he? Who misses a blond wall of solid muscle staring right at you?
Shōta decided to empty another juice box as the other teens started shouting, before activating his quirk again. "Silence! You lot really aren't very rational, are you? We'll pause the ball throw for now. Get started on the seated toe-touch and sit ups first and have your partner write down the results, then go do the long-distance run. I'll be going away to check up on Midoriya in the nurse's office but don't try anything funny; there are cameras all over campus."
And with his duties fulfilled, he left the rest of the class behind and strolled to the nurse's office
Annoyingly, Recovery Girl's office was pretty far from the P.E. Grounds, so the walk took a while. Shōta eventually arrived and opened the door, spotting Recovery Girl looking over some scans before she noticed him and walked over.
"Ah, there you are dearie, All Might just came by to deliver Midoriya. I've put him on the bed next to the window over there." The woman's grandmotherly demeanor evaporated. "I thought I told you to be more careful when flashing around that quirk of yours! What were you thinking?!" Her face eventually settled on disappointed parent. "Oh well, now's not the time, it looks like he's about to wake up."
Recovery Girl motioned to a bed on the opposite side of the room where the Problem Child was trying and failing to sit upright, before giving up and slumping against the backside of the bed.
Shōta walked over to greet him but was surprised when the Problem Child blinked a few times and gave him a half-lidded stare before talking in a slurred, drawling voice. "Ohiii Zawa-sensei, why'm I here?"
Shōta raised an eyebrow. "Problem Child, you collapsed on the field after I erased your quirk with mine. How are you feeling?"
Midoriya giggled in response (it was surprisingly cute). "I feel like…'m on low battry mode or sometin'."
Shōta groaned. "Problem Child, do you have any idea why this happened. Do you even understand me right now?"
Midoriya seemed to ignore the question and continued staring at him. "Hey, Zawa-sensei, did anyone evah tell you that you have uhhh…a big snake friendo around your neck?"
The gremlin giggled again and Shōta turned around to address the other occupant in the room, branding the Problem Child a lost cause for now. "Recovery Girl, do you have anything to say about this situation?"
She adopted a thoughtful look. "Hmm, I checked his medical record and he has a clean bill of health. Though I did a quick scan and found a weird rupture on some tissue that was covering the entrance of the stomach, but that healed up nicely after I used my quirk on him. He seems to be extremely tired out, even after that nap he took. Last time during the entrance exam he quickly bounced back after waking up, but he doesn't seem to be showing any signs of that now."
'What a mood' "I guess I'll call the emergency contact on his file and see if we can get some answers from them." Shōta replies as he took out his phone.
After Izuku had left for his first day at UA, Inko decided to spend the time going through all the stuff related to Hisashi that she had stored away in the safe in the back of her closet. She'd been staring at the picture of her baby's first Halloween after his quirk manifestation, with Hisashi making a ridiculous pose in the background with that cheap cape, when her phone went off, snapping her out of her reminiscence.
She fumbled with the device before accepting the call. "Ah, good afternoon, this is Inko Midoriya speaking."
A gruff voice came out of the speaker. "Are you Izuku Midoriya's mother?"
"Uhm yeah, yeah that's me. Is something wrong?" Inko squashed any worries at her baby getting hurt or kidnapped in the halls.
"That depends." The voice answered. "My name is Shōta Aizawa, pro hero Eraserhead, and I'm your son's homeroom teacher. Earlier today your son tried to do something reckless during a quirk assessment test, so I temporarily erased his quirk before he could. He then proceeded to air his stomach's contents into my face for several seconds before promptly passing out and has woken up acting like a drunkard."
It took Inko a few seconds to process all that information before frantically responding. "Ah, oh my god, I'm so sorry! That doesn't sound like something he'd ever do on purpose! Uhm, you said you erased his quirk, right? That might be a problem."
The voice grunted. "I figured, based on his reaction and current state, but why exactly? His quirk registry file states it's an extreme heat/energy generation quirk with a minor manipulation aspect."
Inko nervously started fiddling with the hem of her cardigan. "Ah, well, it's a bit more complicated than that. You see, my son's quirk turns his stomach into an- uhm…fusion reactor."
Shōta thought his day couldn't get any weirder, but here he was, realising he hadn't actually responded to Midoriya-san's statement in the past few seconds. "…his stomach is a what now?"
The woman at least had the decency to react sheepishly. "I suppose you didn't check the full file. A few years back my son received some…unwanted attention due to his quirk, so I asked the registry to classify that information for his safety."
Midoriya-san went silent for a bit, probably finding her words, and resumed talking. "Most of his quirk is entirely physical, but the actual fusion happens because hydrogen is being pushed together by the quirk. I guess if that effect disappeared, then the hydrogen would expand and try to leave. There probably wasn't enough left to restart the fusion when you stopped erasing his quirk. Back when his quirk manifested his whole metabolism stopped, but he didn't have enough hydrogen to get any fusion going. Drinking a lot of water kickstarted it, so as long as you do that it should be fine."
Shōta side-eyed Midoriya, who was now asking if Recovery Girl was a dwarf from a fantasy book, before focusing on the phone call again. "Thank you for the information, Midoriya-san. I'll get back to you when everything's done."
Shōta was about to address Recovery Girl and hang up on Midoriya-san when- "WAAAIT, PLEASE!"
He shielded his ears, trying not to make his headache any worse from the ringing, when the woman continued. "Ah, oh my god! I'm so sorry for shouting at you, but- uhm, you should have him in an isolated place when his quirk ignites again…It might be pretty dangerous, you know…with the heat and all…Yeah, sorry, I'll hang up now."
A beeping sound indicated that Midoriya-san had hung up. 'I should include aspirins in my outfit from now on if today is a good indication for how the rest of the year is gonna go.'
Izuku blinked as he came back to consciousness, which was kinda weird now that he thought about it. He didn't get sleep anymore once his quirk came in. The closest he could really get to sleep was getting knocked out or going into a meditative state for a while, which he started practicing after he realised that his mom was barely getting any rest with him being awake at home all the time. Though those were always dreamless sleeps, so it was kinda weird that he could distinctly remember dreaming this time. It was a pretty weird one too, sudden involuntary burping in front of his classmates and homeroom teacher and then going on a magical journey with said teacher and a dwarf to drink an entire lake until he eventually exploded. 'Where am I anyway? This room looks like it came straight from an asylum. Oh gosh, I'm not locked up in here am I? I swear I'm not a crazy person…Oh, the door just opened.'
Izuku stopped his train of thought when Aizawa-sensei appeared in the doorframe and assessed him with a critical gaze. "Good to see that you're back to your senses, Midoriya. I'd rather you not call Recovery Girl a dwarf the next time you see her." 'Oh no, that dream was real?'
Aizawa-sensei didn't seem to notice or care about Izuku's mental freak-out, and continued talking. "In case you didn't realise, I erased your quirk during the quirk assessment test which needlessly endangered you. For that I must apologize, I had only done the surface level research for all my students and thus missed critical information, which is fully my fault, and goes against my responsibility as your homeroom teacher."
Izuku waved his arms in front of him. "It's alright, Sensei! I was kinda asking for it with that move of mine…Oh gosh, I really did burp in your face, didn't I? I'm so sorry, Sensei!" Izuku kept the frantic screaming inside his head.
The man put up his hand. "Problem Child, just stop. You're giving me a headache. Just go pick up your stuff in the classroom, the test finished a while ago but I think there were some people waiting for you."
Izuku swallowed. "But I didn't complete four of the eight tests. I'm probably last…Does that mean I'm expelled?"
Aizawa-sensei looked back incredulously. "Ah, you're worried about the 'expelling'. That was just a ruse to motivate you all. Nobody's expelled, Problem Child. Now go to your classroom. I think I'll take a nap in this padded room right now."
Izuku stood up as Aizawa-sensei returned to his yellow cocoon and lied down. "Right, Sensei!"
At least the way back to class 1-A was a lot easier to do now that he knew where it was; the Kaminari-kun shaped indentation on the wall was a great landmark. As Izuku entered the classroom he was surprised at the amount of people still present, despite school having ended early for the first day. The stoic teen was still sitting in the back, scrolling on his phone; Iida was watching the remaining students in the corner like he was the CCTV; and Kacchan, Kaminari-kun, and perma-blush girl were in a conversation…well, the latter two were having a conversation and were pretending that Kacchan was participating. Izuku walked closer to them and listened in on the conversation.
"Dammit Round-Face I'm not here to waste my time with small-talk with you and Pikachu over here. Once Izuku gets back I'm bailing."
Izuku smirked and snuck up on Kacchan. "Oh wow, Kacchan, already made two new friends? That's three times as many as in Middle school; I'm so proud of you!"
Izuku automatically stepped back as Kacchan startled and turned around. "Oi, shut the fuck up, Zuku. Not like you had any other friends back there either. At least you realised those extras were just trying to fucking suck up to your shitty ass. Coulda tried harder to get rid of them though."
Izuku put on a disappointed face. "Kacchan, you know I'm not part Pomeranian like you; I can't bark away everyone that comes near me."
Kacchan grimaced. "Dammit, you little shit, you might fool everyone around here with your sunshine act but I know you're a smug sassy shithead when you want to be!"
Izuku laughed as Kacchan raged on but stopped when something was pushed against his lips. 'Uhhh, cheese?! What?'
He looked to his side to see that Aoyama had somehow manifested next to him with a plate full of different cheeses on it. "Ah Monsieur Midoriya, it's good to see you again. I forgot we didn't have lunch today, I brought all this délicieux fromage too. Would you like some?"
Izuku awkwardly backed away from the cheese pressed against his mouth. "Ah, no. Sorry, I don't eat."
Aoyama looked disappointed and walked to another group as the girl Kacchan called Round-Face piped up. "Oh, are you lactose intolerant?"
He awkwardly started rubbing the back of his neck. "Uhm actually, I don't eat…at all. I only drink water actually. Don't worry, it's just part of-"
Izuku instinctively ducked and avoided an aggressive hand chop from Iida, who came up from behind. "Midoriya-san! Not eating your daily calories and vitamins is irresponsably unhealthy of you! As UA students we should act as role-models and look after our physical health to the best of our ability!"
The stoic teen at the back of the room looked up from his phone. "Midoriya, are you one of those Breatharians I've read about online? I wanted to try it myself but I could never find any practitioners anywhere off the web. Would you mind answering some questions for me?"
Izuku backed up even further. "Wait, please, no, you're all misunderstanding. It's just part of my quirk! I wish I could eat food, but I just barf it right back up if I try. I actually do still ingest vitamins, which is why I occasionally drink vitamin water, but they don't actually go through my stomach."
'Round-Face' chimed in again. "Oh, so you really can't eat any food? Oh man, that would suck if I couldn't taste Mochi again."
Kaminari-kun finally decided to stop listening and entered the conversation. "Whoa, Midoriya, dude, speaking of your quirk though, what was up with that insane burp, man? That's gotta be a world record or something, and right into the teacher's face too, what a riot! I really wish I had my phone with me back then."
A teen with spiked, bright red hair walked right past them and to the door mumbling "Burping into someone's face isn't very manly though." before exiting the room with the pink-skinned classmate.
"I can't believe hobo-sensei fucking cockblocked you like that Zuku, that shit looked like it was gonna be fucking awesome!" Kacchan yelled. "I guess I'll settle with you finally sticking it up to authority."
Izuku flashed a sheepish grin. "Guys, can we just let that rest? I don't wanna be reminded of that right now. Besides, Aizawa-sensei made the right call; I wasn't thinking about potential collateral damage and I would've been exhausted afterwards from spending all my energy anyway."
Kacchan huffed at that and flashed a thumbs down. "Boo, stop being a lame-ass nerd, Zuku. I thought I got you to man up already."
Izuku shrugged and grabbed a bottle of water from his backpack. "Yeah, and I decided to use it solely to annoy you, so I guess that backfired for you, Kacchan."
Kacchan scowled and responded with some explosions in playful anger. "I swear to fucking god, Zuku, I'll-" but was interrupted by a "pshhhtt" from Izuku opening the fresh bottle of sparkling water.
"DON'T 'PSHT' ME, YOU LITTLE SHIT!"
Shortly after, Izuku found himself running away from the classroom while being chased by a feral Pomeranian, trying and failing to chug the sparkling water while cackling. As they approached the entrance gate he looked over his shoulder and yeeted the now empty bottle directly into Kacchan's face.
"IZUUUKUUUUU, I'M GONNA FUCKING KILL YOU!"
As he sprinted all the way to the subway station (uncle Masaru only agreed to drive them to UA) he reminisced about his first day at UA. 'Well that definitely was quite a…memorable day, despite that one embarrassment it was pretty fun overall though. Hopefully that was the most eventful day for a long time.'
'…right?'
Izuku's current Move-Set
Passive abilities:
Fusion: Powerful gravity-manipulation that fuses hydrogen atoms isolated from water together.Photosynthesis: The organelles absorb the fusion's radiation and also incoming sunlight. However, in normal circumstances sunlight is insignificant compared to the energy produced by the fusion.Increased Healing Factor: Stored energy speeds up all cellular growth, requires stored energy.Infinite Stamina: Off-shoot of Increased Healing Factor, constant muscle healing as well as a near-limitless source of ATP when energy isn't actively being used grants insane stamina.Sleepless: Off-shoot of Increased Healing Factor, somehow negates the normal issues of being awake 24/7.
Basic Moves:
Solar Aura: Directly uses energy from the fusion core, bypassing the stored energy, to emit light and heat up the air near and within the magnetic field, feels warm and comforting to the touch. Requires constant upkeep from the core without the use of stored energy.
Special Moves:
Pulsar: Izuku rapidly brightens his Solar Aurausing stored energy, blinding and stunning opponents before dimming it again. Uses up a low amount of stored energy. Can be used in rapid succession for further confusion.Solar Flare: Izuku concentrates his Solar Auraover time in one spot before suddenly releasing it with the help of stored energy, causing the contained plasma to shoot out in a quick burst. Concentrating for longer will result in higher power bursts. Izuku mainly identifies three distinct levels of power: low power: plasma fizzles out almost immediately (C-class), medium power: plasma stays long enough to burn someone (M-class) and high power, most plasma stays, upon impact the imploding plasma generates a limited EMP (X-class) like most moves he was inspired by real life astronomy terms. Uses up low to high amounts of stored energy depending on the class.
Super Moves:
Solar Storm: Izuku rapidly speeds up his heartbeat to an insane rate using internal energy, which allows for the magnetic field to spread up to a radius of 15 meters, within which Izuku can control the currents of heat/plasma. This move uses up a medium amount of stored energy but Izuku risks getting a heart attack if kept up for too long.
Ultimate Moves (These moves are designed to end a fight immediately, as it uses up all stored energy and renders Izuku unconscious):
Supernova: Izuku channels all of his stored energy throughout his entire body and expels it in one go, creating an immensely powerful, medium range AOE attack.
Edit (23-05-2021): To give you a general impression of how much energy Izuku spends on each of his moves, as well as how much energy he generates from fusion I've made a handy-dandy chart mainly because my mind didn't want to get back to writing until I finished it. This chart will be updated/more revealed once we've gotten to a certain point.
The green line below the main line means that it's energy being added (in the case of Photosynthesis it's the energy that Izuku gets from drinking one bottle of water). The grey, all above the line, means that it consumes energy. The moves that don't have a line associated with them are variable and depend on how much Izuku draws out of his stockpile when using them. Solar Flare has three separate sub-moves associated with it so it gets a vague assignment in the three classes but Izuku could use any amount of energy for it if he wants to.
It's also shown here that the actual act of Fusion takes up a lot of the energy generated by it, but not all of it, so the energy from fusion that's actually stored in the stockpile is lower than what is generated.
One last point (added really late (11-6-2022)): It might seem a bit OOC for Izuku to not have that many moves, especially as a quirk nerd/proficient analyst. But his quirk originally started off as mainly unlimited stamina from water, sped-up healing, and a nice, comfortably warm aura all around him. Just to train his quirk to the point where he could actually use something as basic in this moveset as Solar Flares would require him to 1) train his quirk output to the point where his aura gets hot enough, fast enough to turn nitrogen into plasma, 2) train his control over his magnetic field's strength and shape, and 3) get skilled enough to use his magnetic field control to keep forming heat/plasma concentrated on one spot and then expelling it at the correct angle. For most of the years that he was training he was working on this exact move, giving his quirk more offensive applications, which, while sounding crazy at this point, wasn't as feasibly clear-cut back then for a while, and mostly theoretical. So Izuku was basically hyperfocused on getting his plasma idea to work for most of his pre-UA training. Canon Bakugou, who I modeled Izuku's progression after, is shown suddenly improving rapidly once attending UA as well. I figure it's like that in canon (and now also here) because of a) quirk restriction laws, and b) their quirks are very obvious and destructive without training in a controlled environment, so especially not feasible as kids without supervision in the nearby forest.
So from the original one-shot you might've gathered that I put a lot of effort into properly figuring out how Starborn works at a base level...with some handwaving of course, it's still a fusion reactor stomach after all. But I don't think I've properly explained and showed the actual biology/components properly yet. So yesterday...er today I booted up Paint at 12am and got to work...
The ingested water goes down the oesophagus like normal until it gets to the entrance of the stomach. Instead of the normal entrance a special <1 cm thick disk is guarding it, which I've called the water electrolysis disk. The disk is made up of two layers, the outer two membranes are semi-permeable (only water and smaller molecules can go through) and the middle layer is impermeable but has ion channels. The water enters from above and gets oxidised by the 'anode' aka several folds made of graphite in the top chamber. The oxygen gas can't travel up or down and gets absorbed by nearby capillaries like those in the lungs, the oxygen absorbed via electrolysis is negligible compared to actual breathing. The hydrogen ions then travel through the middle layer into the bottom chamber, where they get reduced to hydrogen gas by the 'cathode' (same graphite as the 'anode'). The hydrogen gas has no way to go but down and enters the stomach (As for where the required voltage comes from/is generated from for the electrolysis to work, that's the one thing I haven't worked out yet). To make sure the electrolysis is maintained/kickstarted if it stops the stomach tissue cells nearby produce a low amount of stomach acid to keep the insides of the disk slightly acidic. If the upper membrane ever gets blocked it elicits a gag reflex. Oh btw, this 'electrolysis disk' is what got ruptured when all the hydrogen gas expanded and tried to get out of the stomach.
Once the hydrogen gas enters the stomach it is attracted to one of the stomach's walls. Basically, whatever cells/organ Inko has in her hands that allow her to attract small objects is also lining the stomach walls and is constantly active. The hydrogen closest to the walls eventually starts fusing under the pressure from the hydrogen that's pushing onto it and the radiation produced by the fusion travels through the user and gets absorbed by the organelles present in all of the body's cells. The organelles are a specialised variant of chloroplasts which can store light in a much more compact/efficient way which can easily and quickly be reversed alongside simply performing regular photosynthesis. Since Izuku can't eat anymore he gets the carbon needed for his cells' building blocks from inhaled carbondioxide through regular photosynthesis.
The produced helium plasma gets pushed through the stomach walls and enters the bloodstream where it stays as plasma until it reaches the lungs, where it's breathed out.