Chapter 4: Thank you
Before he knew it, 8 months had come and gone.
"Izuku!" His mother hollers, fixing her coat by the door. "Hurry or we'll be late!"
"I'm coming!" He bursts out his room, his fingers frantically combing at his unruly hair.
"You look perfect." Inko giggles, fluffing his hair. "Your curls are supposed to look that way."
"If you say so." Izuku grumbles looking away, as he continues picking at some strands.
"Do you have a place in mind you want to eat at?" She asks stepping outside. Izuku promptly discards his hair and takes out his phone, scanning his GPS favorites for restaurants he saved.
"There's this chicken restaurant that has good reviews."
"Let's go there then." She takes his arm in hers. He smiles, laying his other hand over hers as they walk to the train station. It's crowded with people standing chest to back. Izuku and his mother make eye contact.
"It is nice today." His mother comments on the weather.
"Yeah, it's not too far anyway." Izuku agrees.
"I could use this as my exercise for the day since I didn't go for weight training this morning."
"Should we run there then?"
"You'd be dining with my corpse."
Izuku snorts. She's technically dining with one right now.
"You've been hiking." He reminds her. "I think you'd make it."
"I'd rather not test that. And besides, I wouldn't want to enter all sweaty."
"That's true." Izuku drops the topic and the two carry on to their destination.
The restaurant is small but roomy. It wasn't too busy and they were seated and served quickly. But as they sit, and a natural silence settles in, words fills Izuku's lips wanting to spill out. And they do.
"Mom." He starts.
"Yes?"
He takes a breath. "I'm going to take UA's entrance exam."
Inko's chopsticks fall onto her plate.
"I applied in the beginning of the semester. I would've told you…it's just…" He hunches his shoulders, picking at his fingers. "I wasn't sure if I was going to go either. But then things happened and well. The exam starts February. I want to participate. I want..." He straightens his back, looking her in the eyes, "I want to be a hero."
"Oh, Izuku!" Inko tears up. She grabs at his hands across the table. "My baby. I've been a terrible mother."
"What? No, Mo—"
"No!" She shakes her head. "I have. I wasn't there for you. I should've been. I'm your mother for crying out loud! But I wasn't. And I remember the day you needed me most. You were sitting in your room watching the same All Might video you liked. You asked me if you could be a hero."
She remembers?
"And I did something terrible." She drops her head in a hiccup sob. "I didn't, I couldn't say what you wanted to hear. I regret it so much, but seeing you grow up..." She raises her head, "Izuku, you are so strong." She gives him a shake. "Stronger than me. You smiled even when you were hurt. And...you ran towards a villain to save Katsuki."
Izuku gasps, his eyes blown wide. She...she saw that?
"You moved when no one else moved. You ran even when you were scared. You ran even though you didn't have a quirk, and hurt the villain. You helped Katsuki. Even after what he's done to you."
Izuku jolts. She knows?
"Even though he wasn't your friend anymore. You helped him without hesitation. And...you saved me." She rubs her thumb over his hand. "You still chose to love a mother like me. Thank you, Izuku." She kisses his hand. "You are my hero. Always have been. Always will be. And you will be the greatest hero the world will ever know. I believe in you."
"I'm sorry Izuku!"
"I'm so sorry Izuku!"
No, mom. That's not what I want to hear.
"I'm sorry I couldn't give you a quirk!"
Stop. I don't want to hear another sorry.
"I'm sorry!"
What he wanted to hear, what he wanted her to say…what he wanted her to believe was…
"You will be the greatest hero the world will ever know. I believe in you."
"WAH!" Izuku's tears shoot out like a geyser. Reaching the ceiling and raining down like a fountain. His mother quickly follows suit. Their tears flooding the restaurant. Growing up, people always wondered if geyser tears were their quirks, themselves included, from how powerful and flooding they were.
"I wov you mom!" Izuku sobs. "Tank eyu so much. Twank eyu!"
After their crying becomes manageable the two get escorted out of the restaurant for public disturbance. They didn't care. Well, they did feel sorry, it's a Midoriya default, but their focus was on each other.
Son and mother, hand in hand, shoulder to shoulder. Together, strolling to their home.
KATHOOM! A heavy downpour releases after the thunder.
"Um…" Izuku looks to his mom, dripping wet within seconds.
"I'm still not running." She walks towards a nearby convenience store.
"I wasn't going to say that!" Izuku laughs using his hands to shield her head as best he could.
Months pass by. Fall comes and goes. Winter is close to an end leaving just a little less than a month until the UA entrance exam.
Exactly 28 days, 12 hours, and 20 minutes. But who's counting.
He's made a lot of progress on cleaning Dagobah beach. It looks unrecognizable from when first started cleaning, but still has some mounds to sort through. He's loaded the last of the trash from the beach for the day and decides to take flight over the city. Once he got the hang of flying he wanted to soar the skies and see how far he could go. The thought was always smothered down from the quirk laws in place. He could always fly invisible but his morals wouldn't let him. He didn't want to be breaking the law, even if he couldn't be seen.
Actually, can he be seen? People are still into the supernatural. There could be ghost finding gadgets or detectors. Some self-proclaim ghost busters running wild. What if there's a quirk that can see invisible things? What if an invisible person can see another invisible person? What if—
"AAH!"
Izuku stops, whipping his head around in search of what made the noise. Down below him, in an alley—
Why is it always an alley?
—He finds two girls being harassed by two guys.
He's helped people before. Stood up to those that Kacchan or others were hurting.
But he was terrified while doing it. The ever-present tremble from the learned cowardice that took root in his heart. And he's never confronted adults. They're too scary in their adult-like adulty-ness. Maybe a pro hero will come to save her?
"Help!"
That's all the push he needed to fly right to them. He grabs the most dangerous looking guy, the one with a tiger mutant quirk, and flips him into the wall away from the girls. The other guy pulls one girl into a choke hold, his other arm turning into purple crystal, pointed to sharp tip. He waves his crystal arm around, looking for the threat. The second girl runs.
"Get back here!" The guy points his crystal hand at her. The tip shoots out like a bullet.
No! Izuku flies the girl out of the way. He feels a pain at his side, but he ignores it to keep his full attention on the man.
"Are you a hero?!" The girl moves slightly away from Izuku, feeling freaked out from not being able to see who saved her.
"Run!" Izuku commands the girl. "I'll save your friend."
"Who's there?!" The man shoots at the girl again.
"Hurry!" Izuku throws the girl to the end of the alley. She stumbles catching herself in a run, then turns around the corner to safety.
The man starts shooting his crystals in every direction, frantically turning the girl with him by her arm. Izuku keeps his distance, waiting for the man to stop. That is until she gets nicked in the neck, a yelp sounding from her quaking lips.
Izuku grits his teeth, charging towards him head on. The crystals pass harmlessly through him.
He yanks the guy's arms away from the girl in a vice grip.
"What the—?!" The guy is tossed at the same wall, falling onto the awakening friend of his.
Izuku grabs one of the phones that fell in the scuffle and dials 911.
"911, what's your emergency?"
"Ugh..." He realizes he doesn't know where he is and he also doesn't want to use his voice. He technically is committing a crime by helping stop someone commit a crime. Now isn't that a crime?
"911." He says, placing the phone into the girls' hands. She flinches dropping the phone.
"911." Izuku's voice sounds again. The girl watches the phone levitate in the air and move towards her, then feels hands manipulate hers to take hold of the phone.
She grips it close to her chest, curling into a ball. She takes rapid breaths, eyes scanning the space in front of her, but she doesn't see or hear anything. The sound of her assailants sliding off each other—their shoes scuffing the ground—prompts her to start asking for help.
Izuku flies over to the unconscious men, keeping an eye on them until the police arrive. They come within a few minutes, the friend of the girl running back with a pro hero. Once the assailants are apprehended, he flies slowly backwards, his eyes never leaving the scene. As he loses sight of the people from the buildings blocking them, the weight of what he did settles in his mind, bringing him back down onto a rooftop.
He helped those girls. He threw those grown men like they were sacks of potato! It was awesome!
It was a crime! He grabs at his face.
But he saved those girls! He lights back up.
Did someone see him?! He panics. No, he pinches the bridge of his nose. He was invisible the whole time and tangible the rest. He couldn't have possibly been seen.
...
He threw those guys like a sack of potatoes! He vibrates with glee, a wide-open smile on his face.
What was that first guy's quirk? A tiger mutation. Probably enhanced strength. Agility. Did he have claws? He can't remember if he had a tail either. The crystal quirk was nice. Hardened skin for defense and projectiles for offense. He didn't think the guy could shoot them out, but thankfully the girls were okay. He feels a sharp stink at his side. Oh, yeah, he got cut.
His fingers run across his side. It feels...slimy? His hand comes back green.
GREEN?! He maneuvers his head to look at his side.
A deep gash runs just under his ribs leaking green goo. He can already see bits of the skin moving to close, healing itself.
Heal a deep gash. Leaking green goo. Cause his blood is green now. And glowing.
"Can I get a yeah!"
He nearly loses his soul from his blaring Present Mic alarm. Does he still have a soul to lose? He shakes his head, pulling out his phone. He checks the alarms title. Bedtime. He jets home in record time, phasing into his room. He quickly wraps his wound, then phases to the front door before changing back to normal.
"I'm back!" He hollers, throwing his shoes off.
"Welcome home, sweety. How was your day?"
"I'm almost done cleaning the beach. I could be done by the end of the month."
"That's amazing! I'm so proud of you Izuku!" She pulls him into a hug.
"I'm not done yet." He shyly mumbles into her shoulder.
"You still did a lot of hard work! You started something good and even if you didn't finish you still made the effort. I'm proud of what you accomplished."
"Hmm." He chooses not to argue. "How was your day?"
"It was good. I got two new clients, so I'll be extra busy. I actually wanted to talk to you about something."
"What is it?"
"I thought it'd be good to be in the office. Working from home is nice, but I've been a hermit for a little too long."
"You should mom. I don't like you being here by yourself all the time. You deserve to go out with friends too. Do something for yourself."
"You're too sweet." She brings his face in for a kiss to his forehead. "I'll still be back home to make dinner, and I have time to eat in the mornings too. So, sorry to burst your bubble, but you'll still be eating with your momma."
"No bubble burst. I like eating with you."
She smiles as she goes to serve his food.
He walks inside the restroom and pulls up his jacket and shirt to check his wound. His wound is still there but his blood is back to being red.
Guess that answers two of his questions. If Mumei's form is separated from his normal form? No. Seems both bodies are affected when hurt. And his other question, can he get hurt in Mumei form? Yes.
He needs to be careful.
The next couple days go by agonizingly slow. He keeps thinking back to that incident and feels restless. He puts that energy into testing more of Mumei's strength. Apparently, he can pick up a car with ease. Amazing, but he'd like to do it in his normal form. The most he could do is lift it to its side, but he's building up to it. Working on increasing his strength distracts him for all but four days.
He tried to put off the thought of flying out into the city, but he lost the battle. He flies out again and what do you know? He spots another crime.
The next day the same thing.
And the day after that.
The next day he ventures further, then further still. It helps that he can travel at incredible speeds, flying from one prefecture to the next in a solid minute.
Being able to use Mumei form out in public nice at first, but then people started recognizing him. Calling him the ghost vigilante. He worried for a while, stopping his outdoor escapades, in case those from the lab that exploded come looking for, but they didn't. So, he shrugged it off. And as for the police, it's not like they'd care about a small time vigilante with no face.
Literally.
He'd only show his eyes and body occasionally, so that the people he was saving would be a little less freaked out. Everything was fine.
Yet, just couple days before the entrance exam, he finds out he's on the most wanted vigilante list. Thanks to a pro hero's fist.
It all started with a bull.
He was flying over the city, like he had many times before, when he found a group of high schoolers running out of, you guessed it, an alley. They were being chased by a large horned man. Bull mutation.
He zipped down to the fleeing teenagers. Keeping only his head invisible.
"What happened?" He asks, moving one kid out of the bullheaded man's way.
"I don't know! Our friend started hunching over in pain and then he changed into that!" He points at the raging bull. "He's going crazy!"
"What's his name?" He'd rather not call him a bull. Sounds like he's ready to curse at him.
"Look out!" The teen points at the bull appearing behind them, horns ready to impale. Mumei stops the bull with one hand, grabs him by the horns and tosses him back into the alley.
"His name?" Mumei asks again.
"Shigeo!" The teen shouts with a slight crack of his voice.
"I need you all to stay, to help him after I calm him down." He orders, facing the bull, er, Shigeo.
"Wait, what?!" The teen blanches.
"Shigeo!" Mumei calls. Shigeo charges at him, red eyed with drool flying from his mouth. Definitely on something, he notes while dodging his horns.
"You guys know drugs are a criminal offense, right?" Mumei glances at the fallen teen with narrowed eyes.
"We don't do drugs!" He shouts, offended.
"Okay, I'm sorry!" Mumei says turning back to Shigeo.
"Shigeo, you need to stop! You don't maim your friends!" Mumei tries to reason with him.
"Wait," Mumei looks back down to the teen. "Do you?"
"NO!"
"Just checking." He's not that experienced with friends. And Kacchan is a horrible example.
"RARGH!" Shigeo lunges at him.
Okay, Mumei readies his fists. Guess, he's doing this the hard way.
"Sorry about this!" He yells punching Shigeo in the gut then spinning around to elbow him at the back of his neck. Shigeo goes down with a resounding thud.
"Take care of him." Mumei gestures to the stunned group of friends that remained huddled in the corner of the alley entrance.
"And you," He points at the teen fallen on his butt. "Call the cops."
The kids just stares at him wide eyed. Mumei turns his body fully to him, slowly getting up close to him as his invisibility takes over from his feet up to his face. Only his glowing eyes and mouth left.
"Now." He commands, his voice turning to an echoing whisper-like growl. Something he's practiced.
"Yes!" The teen fumbles for his phone.
"Stay out of alleys!" He shows his hand to wave at them as he flies up. He's immediately wrapped in something, being pulled onto the rooftop. He's slammed onto his stomach, a knee pressing onto his back.
"Ghost." A man's gruff voice croaks. "What you are doing is good but you're breaking the law. Not to mention, I don't think you're old enough to be out so late on your own."
Mumei quietly phases into the roof.
"Impossible!" The man exclaims.
"I'm really sorry!" Mumei peaks his head up from the roof, keeping only his eyes and mouth visible. "I don't mean to break the law, but I couldn't—Oh my, you're Eraserhead!" He squeals.
"You have a mutation quirk?" Eraser probes, his erasure quirk fully active; his eyes glowing red and hair raised. No quirk, even multiple would be able to keep working in his eyesight.
"I guess not." Mumei answers honestly. He already thought he didn't have a quirk. Eraserhead just confirmed it.
"If you know my name, then you know my quirk." Eraserhead glares. "If you don't have a mutation type quirk, then you can't possibly be maintaining your invisibility." He explains.
"I know, it actually confirms what I have thought for a while. If you're quirk doesn't cancel my powers, then I was right. Although, now that I know I'm right, I kind of feel sick. I mean, it was the only rational answer, but to have it so concretely confirmed is a whole other thing. I was always called a freak, but I guess now I really am one."
"Kid." Eraser interrupts.
"Ah, sorry! I didn't mean to annoy you. You!" He waves both hands. "Eraserhead! I can't believe I'm talking to Eraserhead!"
"Kid!"
"You're so cool! I'm a huge fan! You basically fight quirkless, it's amazing!"
"You can't keep doing vigilante work!"
"I can't believe you're here in the flesh! You're taller than I thought. And your hair is so long. Why don't you cut it? I think it would help hide the use of your quirk."
"Being a vigilante is dangerous and could get you killed!"
"Or at least tie it. The goggles are a good use. At least it hides who you're looking at. Do you get dry eye?"
"Does someone know you're out here?"
"I know keeping your eyes open for so long could be damaging. Maybe add a moistening feature in your goggles? OH!" A vibration comes from his pocket followed by low buzzing. "I've got to go!"
"No, wait!"
"It was nice seeing you Eraserhead-san!"
"Ghost!"
"Ah, don't say that!" Mumei squeals in a groan to his dubbed vigilante name. The people interviewed by the police, both villain and victim alike, would describe him as invisible. Appearing out of nowhere and leaving without a trace. The media heard of him and coined him the term ghost. Not so surprisingly accurate to his actual condition of being a ghost. But still embarrassing to hear from one of his favorite heroes. He scurries away, holding his face in hand.
"Don't come out at night anymore! If you need any help, come find me!" Eraser's voice echoes into his ears as he high speeds to his apartment.
That's nice of Eraser to offer, but he's not a runaway or in danger. He's not even a troubled teen. Not anymore at least. He's just someone who wanted to help because he could. He didn't mean to cause worry to Eraser. Even if the pro hero was trying to capture him. It was honestly startling to be captured so easily. Especially when he was essentially just a floating set of eyes and mouth. He'll need to stop floating backwards from a crime scene. He won't want a repeat of that night.
The next few days after that go by fast. His vigilantism comes to a stop, not because Eraser told him, although that was true in part, but because he wanted to focus on the upcoming UA's entrance exam. Of course, the media was wondering where their resident ghost vigilante was and if he was coming back at all. Izuku had an answer to that.
Not anytime soon.
He may have grown in strength and skill in preparation for UA, but he still feels like it's not enough. Like he's not enough. He's glad he can't physically be a bundle of nerves. Although, it's a little jarring, since his mind acts like he's in panic mode, yet his body remains calm. His mind was crazy before. Now, more so. Just the thought of UA makes his thoughts spiral into what if scenarios. The number one being, what if he fails?
He guesses, he could continue his vigilantism as Mumei. Maybe become an engineer by day? A professor?
But that's a what if. He should at least try to be optimistic about becoming a pro hero. Besides, that's way in the future. Right now, he still needs to participate in the exam.
The night before the exam, he spends the afternoon with his mom. She did all the emoting for both of them. She encouraged him, cried, offered to help him clean the beach again, cried, and took him out for ice cream, then cried some more. He made sure to give her a kiwi flavored drink, part of the hydration packets he began to keep on him from how often she cried.
After he says goodnight to his mom, he goes to the beach to finish up the last bit of his cleaning. It's amazing the stark difference from beginning to how it looks now. Once piled high with trash, the beach shore is now glistening from the rising and setting sun. Giving space for families to now enjoy the scenery once again.
Beautiful.
And him. His body changed as well.
Gone is his bony frail body. His strong arms are wrapped in muscles from finger tips to his neck. His abs are, dare he say, chiseled. His calves bulging and defined. His thighs nice and thick, rippling with muscle.
He never thought he could achieve such a thing. It's enough to make him cry. But he's not done. He needs to finish.
He wipes his face and puts on his gloves. He pushes the tires to the beach wall, then lifts it up the short steps onto the side of the road. Next, he carries the microwaves and the ovens. The refrigerators and the AC units. He lugs, and carries, and drags, and lifts. Until the last things left to clear are the cars. Three of them. A busted truck with no engine. A car with no tires. And a mini van.
This was his final goal. Carry the cars on his own. Without Mumei's strength. He knows he can do it now.
He cracks his neck and gets to work. He grabs hold of the car, tilting it to its side. He adjusts himself to get under the car and uses his back to tilt the car on top of him. He teeters, trying to balance the car above him with muscles straining and veins bulging, but he manages to keep the car in the air. He takes his steps slowly at first, testing out the weight. Then he walks forward steadier, taking the steps one at a time and depositing the car with the other trash.
He stares at his hands in awe, feeling a dime of pride bloom in his chest. This was him, he clenches his fists in a brilliant wide smile. He looks up for his next haul. He scans the truck, planning the best way to go about carrying it without injuring himself. Sure, his body could heal, but he can't rely on that if his goal was to be a quirkless hero. And quirkless don't heal overnight from a car accident.
The truck is harder to balance because of the tail bed but he is patient in adjustment. He takes longer and it totters more than he'd like as he makes his way off the beach and up the stairs. He almost drops the truck when he takes his last step on the stairs, so he drops into a squat to steady himself. He takes greedy heaping amounts of air, then pushes on. He drops the truck from the tail end first and it creaks landing on its side. Izuku leans on the stonewall boardering the beach for a quick break. He grabs his water jug and takes a few sips of water as he glances over at the minivan.
It had its tires and its engine. It makes him a little hesitant. It might be a little too heavy. Might not even be a good decision to attempt in case his back cracks or breaks.
…
No matter, he shrugs, taking hold of the vehicle. He said he'd clean the beach, so he's going to clean the beach. With a few quick breaths in preparation, he hoists the van onto his shoulders.
"Rah!" He marches off the sand onto the steps and right next to the other vehicles. He tilts it to hit the ground sideways and then runs out from under it as it clangs loudly onto the floor, bouncing slightly in its fall. He stumbles backwards, his back hitting the beach wall. He catches himself and leans onto his palms, his head thrown back as he gasps for air.
"I did it!" He laughs. "I did it!" He says again for good measure. He takes his time catching his breath, glancing at the cars every now and then, admiring his work. With a heavy exhale of breath, he picks himself up and grabs the sifters he bought. He doesn't want people to hurt themselves with pieces of glass or other miscellaneous small objects left behind.
He goes around a couple times, working in a checkered pattern then by quadrants. After he feels the sand has been thoroughly sifted, he puts his things away in his bag and plops down close to the water. He keeps his eyes closed; his other senses open with content. The sound of the water lapping onto his bare feet, the sun kissing his skin, the breeze ruffling through his hair.
A few tears slip down his cheeks. This feeling. This moment. This is what matters. And he's here to enjoy it. He's alive. He feels it. And he's glad.
"Thank you." He whispers.
Chapter 5: Start!
He stayed out on the beach all night. Getting the chance to see the sunset and sunrise. The morning is as quiet as the night. The world barely waking. A few birds start to sound and pass through the sky. A couple of joggers run along the walkway parallel to the beach wall. He finally picks himself up and tries his best to brush the sand off him. Sand being sand, it doesn't come off. A few moments later his morning alarm blares. He takes one last look out in the ocean. Watching the waves gently rolling forward and back, then heads out.
Today is the day. Win or lose, he won't let his mother or himself down. He will carry on. Be it as a vigilante, a professor, a scientist, or all of the above. He will still be Izuku Midoriya. A son to a loving mother.
Who is also a ghost.
But what she doesn't know won't kill her.
"I'm off mom!" He smiles, giving her a hug at the door.
"Be careful Izuku!" She squeezes him, sniffling back her cry.
"I will." He pulls away opening the door.
"Izuku!" She calls.
"Yes?" He waits.
"You look really cool."
"Ha!" He beams, walking out on cloud 9. Brimming with emotion, he decides to run to UA. He runs maybe halfway, before hopping on a train. He doesn't know what's in store for the exam, so he doesn't want to accidentally waste all his energy beforehand. He also doesn't want to show up all sweaty.
The train ride is quick and calming. A good sign, since it's usually slow and suffocating. He exits the station and briskly walks towards UA's gates. The view is breath taking. UA's gates are tall but the main building towers above in Babylon like fashion. It looks as prestigious as he's read it to be. The pictures are nothing compared to the real thing. He looks down at his raggedy uniform then back up at the magnificent campus. He feels like a peasant walking into a royal court uninvited.
"Deku!"
He stills. He hadn't heard from Kacchan since the day they both almost died from the sludge villain. Kacchan wouldn't so much as look in his direction. His mind had buzzed with anxiety from wondering when his silent treatment would stop. It didn't. And the rest of the class followed suit. Eventually, losing interest in their resident quirkless doll. Well, everyone except for Kaido and his friends. He blamed Izuku for the time when Kacchan turned on him. Couldn't let go of his misplaced grudge.
The approaching footsteps force him to turn his head. Kacchan looks just as angry and arrogant as he's always been.
"Get out the way!" He growls walking past him.
Out of the way? Izuku glances around. UA's entrance is as big as a track field. And that's just the walkway! There couldn't possibly be more space to walk through. But, of course, it's because he's Deku, and he's Kacchan.
He sighs, then carries on. As soon as he turns and takes his first step, he sees a beautiful girl standing before him. Milk chocolate bobbed hair. Creamy clear skin. Light brown eyes, big and round. A permanent blush on her round cheeks.
"That guy was rude." She says, her eyebrows scrunching slightly in a frown. "Are you okay?" She asks, looking him up and down.
"..."
"Oh, you look like a broccoli!" She exclaims. "Ah!" She slaps a hand over her mouth. "I'm sorry, now I'm being rude. There's nothing wrong with how you look," She flails her arms in a placating manner, "it's just your hair is so green and fluffy I thought of a broccoli. That's not helping," she shrinks on herself. "Anyway, I'm glad you're okay! Let's do our best! See you!" She waves, rushing inside.
"...see you." The words barely escape his lips, too late for her to hear. He's spoken to girls before. But they were never nice girls. This girl...she was too good to be true. Maybe he saw a ghost? No, that can't possibly be something to compare her too. If anything, he might've seen a fairy.
Entering the building, he listens to the repetitive instruction of awaiting staff that each participant must go to the booth with the letter of their last name and take a ticket. He has the unfortunate circumstance of seating with Kacchan. But, he was seated first, so he doesn't know why Kacchan sat next to him. Afterall, there was an ocean full of empty seats to pick.
Although Kacchan didn't even look at him. Just plopped himself down and took up both armchairs like the entitled jerk he is. Izuku tries his best to ignore him, but his eyes unconsciously glance at him. Then the announcer walks on stage.
"For all you little listeners tuning in, welcome to my show today!"
It's Mic-sensei! Izuku squeals inside, vibrating in his seat. Kacchan completely forgotten.
"Everybody say, hey!"
Silence follows. Izuku almost yelled out reflexively but choked on his spit. Equally humiliating.
"A serious bunch." Present Mic whispers under his breath. He shakes his head. "Then, I'll quickly give you a rundown of the practical exam." The screens proceed in a slide show, following Mic-sensei's instructions.
They'll participate in a 10-minute mock battle in their specified battle center. They'll have to fight robots varying in level of difficulty worth one to three points.
Robots. Izuku mumbles to himself as they are guided to the locker rooms. Some students had to change out of their middle school uniforms but he, like a few others, was already prepared in his exam outfit. He chose to wear a black cargo long sleeved jumpsuit. It was loose for comfortable maneuverability but tight enough to not snag on anything. All he needed to put on was his support items. His jumpsuit was made so that he could attach his escrima sticks to his back. He added some blade protectant material onto his limbs and torso areas. His utility belt clipped nicely around his waist. He sports some reinforced steel toes boots and tactical gloves. And last, some well-placed knives hidden on his person and his trustee last resort weighing on his ankle.
Robots. He repeats as he stares at his feet on the bus to his battle center.
Robots. He swirls the word around his head as he steps off the bus, hovering around the group of participants.
Robots.
He lifted a car before. Fought some actual villains. This should be no different. He'll just need to put in a little more force than necessary to do any damage to their metal hunks of limbs. And he'll need to be a little more creative. Strategical. Faster too, if he's going to try and take down at least one robot before the others reach them first with their quirks. He glances around his competition. They look fierce and strong. He recognizes the guy with glasses from Mic-Sensei's presentation. He stood up yelling about how one of the robots was missing from the slides and not given an explanation for it. The 0 pointer. Just an obstacle to avoid, Mic-sensei replied. The guy probably belongs to the Ida family, Izuku observes the exhaust pipes sticking out of the guy's legs. Known for their engine quirks, giving them super speed abilities. The pro hero Ingenium has his engines on his arms, requiring retractable skates in his boots and recoil stabilizers as well as air bags to compensate for his difficulty braking and turning. Seems the youngest got the better genes.
Oh! He spots a familiar head of brown. He lights up in elation. The fairy's here too! She looks nervous. Maybe he could try and help her calm down?
He begins to walk towards her when his shoulder is grabbed.
"Hey!" The engine quirked kid glares at him. "That girl seems to be trying to focus. What are you doing? Are you taking the entrance exam to interfere with everyone else?"
"N-No." Stupid stutter! "I just wanted to help. She's…" He trails off as he feels everyone's attention turn to him.
They start to whisper amongst themselves, wondering what's going on. Izuku misses turning invisible.
"Okay, start!"
Izuku jolts, then breaks off in a sprint towards the battle center. His feet moving before his mind could catch up.
"He's got the right idea!" Mic-sensei's voice chimes in. "There are no countdowns in real fights! Run, run, run!" He shouts in urgency.
Defeat a robot. Get points. Izuku sounds off in his head. He's running down the main street of the mock city in search of any robots. They find him first.
Two 2 pointers move right for him on spherical wheels. They wield four robot arms and have visuals on both sides of its head. It looks sturdy! It's bigger than he thought. Can he damage it? Oh no, oh no, it's coming really fast! What if he gets run over? What if he gets pummeled in one shot? Can he really stop this thing?! Wait, are there people inside manually operating it or is it remote controlled?! Did Mic-sensei go over this? He doesn't remember?! Was it or was it not remote controlled?!?!
The first robot swings at him. He dives under the limb, tilting to the side as the other hand comes straight down for him. His hand takes hold of one of his escrimas and thrusts it right at the robot's head. It spasms malfunctioning is a sputtering mess. He slides around it, then ducks, rolling under the two arms of the second robot. He comes around the back of it and immediately jumps up. Four arms slam down on the ground where he stood, cracking the asphalt. Glancing at the robot's arms, he sees they are in sets of two, sharing one joint each. He spins himself midair and comes down in an axe kick at the joint of the left arms. His heel slices right through. His robot's right arm swings for him, he crunches in and launches off the arm to kick at the robot's head. It pops right off, flinging into another approaching robot. Five more come out from behind it, jumping over the fallen robots.
He pulls out his grappling gun, shooting it at the roof of the building next to him. He zips right up, away from the stampeding robots. This is so fast paced! He reels. I thought I was going to die! He sweeps his body for injuries. But I lived! His lip turns up in a small smile.
Defeat the robots. Get points.
Leaning on the edge of the roof, he's able to take a good look at the testing area. Robots are swarming into the city from what looks like the epicenter where the battle centers connect. They make their way around every corner, flooding the city square, where most of the contestants have gathered.
It's absolute chaos. Quirks are being blasted every direction without care or accuracy. Some contestants are getting nicked or injured from stray quirks. Most of them having to evade both the robots' and each other's attacks. One particular contestant uses his navel laser quirk quite carelessly. He hits a guy, dressed all in red, head on but the guy barely reacts to it. Izuku observes some textured skin on the guy. It might be an augmentation quirk that makes his body rock-like. Said guy, actually thinks it was a robot attacking him and retaliates by head smashing into the robot closest to him. Navel laser guy, not caring that he nearly burned the face off a contestant, goes on to shoot at another robot, but the laser bursts straight through and continues its path, straight for a purple haired guy.
"Get down!" He swings off the roof, tackling the guy in a roll.
"You okay?" Izuku asks offering a hand to stand up.
"Typical." The guy slaps at Izuku's hand. "To think I stood a chance with a bunch of flashy quirked guys and metal heads." He bitterly remarks.
Izuku retracts his hand to his chest, biting his lip.
The guy rolls to his side glaring at the floor.
Izuku scans his eyes over the guy. Pale and frail looking with dim bruised eyes. Oozing an aura of defeat. He looks...like him. Before he started cleaning the beach.
"Are you quirkless?" The question slips out before he can stop himself.
"Is that how I look?" The guy scowls standing up in anger.
"I'm quirkless." Izuku placates in confession. The guy's scowl falls, his wound up shoulders dropping.
"But that doesn't mean I'm useless." Izuku shoves an escrima in the guy's hands. "Don't give up." He looks him dead in the eyes. No pun intended.
"Help!"
Izuku whips his head up. He spots a guy scooting back on his butt looking up in terror at the robot's raised arm shadowing over his body. Izuku takes off. He skids in front of the robot's fist, catching it in his chest, as the fallen guy fumbles up in escape. Then the robot blows up in his face.
"You snooze you lose!" Another contestant waves running off for his next point. Izuku's soot blackened face blinks through the faint smoke. Fair enough, he dismisses. This is a competition, he excuses. He tries to focus on taking down more robots but keeps helping others instead. Finding more people to move out of sustaining serious injury. They might've been fine without his interference, as some told them, but he couldn't be sure without knowing what their quirk was. And it's not like he could NOT help; however strange it seemed to his competition.
He continues hopping around to help others. Mostly giving them a moment to recover from falling. Honestly, it was getting ridiculous. They should really watch where they're going. One girl, he sees, trips over some debris. He picks her up and throws her at a robot. She glances back at him in confusion as she flails in the air.
"Keep going!" He shouts at her to take action. She adjusts her body landing on the robot's head.
"Thanks for the assist!" She smiles using her earlobes with jacks at the end to pierce into the robot's head. The robot spasms before blowing up. Most likely a sound related quirk. Possibly vibration or electrocution of some kind.
So cool! Izuku's fingers twitch, wanting to write down his ideas.
His eyes catch on a piece of debris hurtling across the city square. It's heading towards a guy fighting a robot. The same guy from earlier with an augmentation quirk. However, this time his quirk is only activated on his arms. Izuku jumps in and kicks it out of his way.
"Hey, it's you again!" The red guy recognizes Izuku. "Dude, you should really start trying to get some points. I'd hurry too!" He starts to run. "I don't think there's a lot of time left!" He shouts over his shoulder.
He really doesn't have time, Izuku realizes. There's maybe 10 minutes left, tops. He wipes the sweat from his lips. He's already tired too. He glances around the city square. The streets will be quieter. Less people and easier to coral robots, keeping their movement to a minimum. He could just hunker down and wait for some stray robots to make their way to him. Otherwise, he's not going to last. He takes one step then feels the ground quake. He stumbles, but catches himself and a contestant close to him, steadying them both.
A loud grinding shrills in their ears. The sound of something breaking and crashing. A cloud of dust makes its way towards them, filling the street.
Izuku raises his arms, blocking the dust and wind. His eyes flutter straining to see what caused the sudden quake and wind. His mouth drops open.
When they said there was a 0 pointer to avoid, he thought it was just a stronger crazier limbed robot.
But no. UA has to be extra and use their vast amount of funds into making a Godzilla sized robot of death. Its massive hands hold onto the buildings like handrails. It's legs in tank creation, giving it the power to drive and run over anything in its path.
It's eight red eyes lock onto him and everyone else in the city square.
"AAH!" Everyone screams, high tailing it. An appropriate response, to which he would be doing the same had he not heard the tiniest of voice call for help.
He whips his head around, his eyes scanning for the source. His breath catches. The girl he met at UA gates is on the ground, her legs pinned under rubble. At the edge of the robot's path.
Izuku squats low and bursts right to her, catching himself harshly against a robot's carcass. He pushes off and squats near her.
"You're going to be okay!" He tells her. She has her ankle pinned by zigzagged pieces of concrete. He throws the largest chunk off, quickly tossing the rest off her ankle. He picks her up by her shoulders first, careful to get his arm under her knees and starts running as fast as he can away from the danger. She clings to him, faced pinched in withheld groans from the jostling of her ankle. Now that he stares at it, it looks broken.
The roar of an engine rumbles in his ears followed by sounds of rattling.
A shadow passes over them. He looks up and finds the robot's hand reaching for them.
Woah! Izuku flinches. Its speed is surprisingly fast for its enormous stature. He uses his grappling gun, pulling them to the side. The hand crashes onto the ground with enough force to blow them off their feet and into a building. The wall breaks as his back slams against it and elicits a cry of pain from the girl, whose ankle is jostled.
"Can you use your quirk on yourself?!" He groans in question as he drops to the ground.
"I think so." She nods, touching her shoulder with all five of her fingers. The weight in his arms becomes nonexistent.
"Sorry about this!" He lifts her above his head.
"Huh?" Her eyes bug out. He tosses her towards the fleeing contestants.
"Catch her!" He yells watching her hurdling towards them.
"I've got her!" The guy in glasses, Ida shouts. He jumps, catches her and continues running with her in his arms.
Izuku sighs in relief. Ah! It's too soon to relax. He is still next to the robot. He uses his grapple to swing on top the building and run across the rooftops. If he veers off to the right, he plans, he could escape the robot's destructive range. He glances down at the square and sputters to a stop. The robot is following the fleeing contestants. Some too scared to run and others injured and slow.
He turns direction and shouts at the robot.
"Hey!" He waves his hands frantically. The robot doesn't pay attention.
Last resort it is. He takes the handgun out of his ankle holster and points it at the robot's head.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
The robot stops.
Good.
Then it turns its whole head to him with full attention.
Not so good. Move! He tells himself, jumping off the building as the robot's arm swats at him. He flips, facing the robot's arm and shoots his grappling gun to hook onto it. The G-Force pulls his body as the robot's arm jerks him with it. He grits his teeth, holding on for dear life as he's spun around and comes to a rough landing on the robot's arm. He clangs into it, immediately breaking into a sprint. He grapples to its head; being pulled straight to one of its red eyes. He moves both feet in front of him and bashes his way inside. He starts cutting and pulling whatever wires and things he sees, smashing everything he can with his fists and legs. Once he hears the first explosion, he busts out from another eye.
As he falls, he aims his grapple at a nearby building. He doesn't see the hand coming at him. He hears cracking. He feels excruciating pain.
Then nothing.
"Recovery girl how is he?" A woman asks.
"All Might, what happened?" A man asks in english.
"He got hit. I didn't make it." All Might somberly replies.
"Why wasn't it stopped!" A gravelly voice barks.
"He destroyed the robot." A high-pitched voice chimes in. "It couldn't be remotely stopped."
"You didn't make?" A familiar voice questions. "I thought you were All Might, sweeping in the last second faster than the eye can see."
"I was distracted." He voices low.
"Were you?"
"Enough!" Recovery girl shouts. "None of this is helping!"
"Ugh..."
"He's waking up!"
"Young man, you're okay. You're in the nurse's office." Recovery girl touches his shoulder in reassurance. "We're taking care of you."
"I feel like I got hit by a moving van." Izuku croaks, refusing to open his eyes yet.
"A robot, but close enough." He's answered in the English language again. "Wait, you know what being hit by a moving van is like?"
"...did the robot stop?" Izuku pointedly turns the conversation around, opening one eye to peek around.
"You stopped it." A man with a muzzle on his face informs.
"Good." He nods. "Woah!" His eyes widen. "You're Hound Dog!" He scans around the room. "Mic-sensei! Recovery girl! Eraserhead?! Midnight! I must be dreaming!" All the pro heroes standing around his bed make the nurse's room seem smaller than it is.
"No dream. We're all real. You scared us there, little listener." Mic-sensei conveys his concern in an oddly normal volumed pitch.
"Sorry." Izuku blushes.
"But what you did was nothing short on heroic!" A fluffy white animal makes itself known.
"No way…" Izuku stares in wonder.
"Am I a mouse? A dog? Or a bear? All you need to know is that I am the principal!"
"Principal Nezu, sir! Why are you here? I mean of course you can be here; it's your school. But why are you visiting me, specifically, sir."
"I came as soon as I saw that one of the participants had purposely engaged with one of my zero pointers." He explains as he crawls up onto Izuku's bed. Izuku wanted to help him up but felt it would have been rude.
"I had the support staff design it with a failsafe but unfortunately, you destroyed it when you were wrecking havoc inside its head."
"I'm sorry!" Izuku pales.
"Don't be." Nezu shakes his head. "It was exciting to see. What I didn't like to see was you nearly dying on screen. I had to come to make sure you were okay or would like to be compensated in any way."
"No! No! No compensation! I'm fine, and it's not your fault, I—" A tiny paw is raised in his face.
"As long as you are on UA's campus, you are my responsibility. Should you like to press charges—"
"CHARGES?!"
"—I will comply with any requests or demands. Within reason of course." He clarifies, raising his paws up to Hound Dog. Hound Dog steps close, lifting Nezu onto his shoulders.
Not gonna lie, that's adorable.
"For now, I'm afraid I'm going to have to take my leave. Until next time, Izuku Midoriya."
"Ah, yes, sir!" Izuku excessively bows. "Thank you, sir! Take care!"
"That's enough bowing." Eraserhead stops his head.
"Ah, yes, sir! Sorry!"
"Stop saying sorry."
"Sorry. I mean, sorry! Oh, uh—"
"Alright, that's enough talking." Recovery Girl steps in. "You're still not out of the woods yet, young man. How are you feeling?"
"Oh, I heal fast." He lifts his hands near his head trying to hide. "I'm already feeling better. Thank you. I'm guessing the exam's over?"
"Yes. But you need to be brought to our clinic."
"UA has its own clinic? That makes sense. Training must get intense. I mean I did almost die in a mock battle."
"You are a special case. We've never had anyone try and take on the 0 pointer then get punched by its spasming arm."
"Sorry." He looks down ashamed.
"Is he seriously apologizing." Mic sensei looks at his colleagues in question.
"But I really feel fine. You used your quirk on me, correct?"
"Yes, and you must have a lot of energy seeing as how you woke up so quickly."
"Ah, yes, I have a hard time sleeping at night too." He admits.
"Well, your vitals seem good." She checks his monitors. "I think I can give you another kiss instead." Her lips extend from her face applying a wet kiss to his cheek.
"Uhk!" He jolts, his mouth slamming shut. His whole-body tenses as he feels his insides healing itself.
"Woah!" He releases his breath after the effect stops. He moves around testing his body. "I feel great! That's so cool!" His eyes dilate, staring at Recovery Girl in a grin.
"How does your quirk work? Is it the kiss that heals, or the saliva? Do you produce something that speeds up the natural body's healing process or do you transfer something from yourself? Can you heal someone's severed arm?"
Recovery Girl clacks her cane on the ground.
"Sounds like you're all better." She strains a smile.
"Anybody else find that off putting?" Midnight comments.
"You understood all that?" Mic-sensei blinks.
"You'll still need to come back with me for some X-rays." Recovery girl tells Izuku.
"Of course, thank you!"
"We also need to inform your parents."
"No!" Izuku almost leaps off the bed.
"Dear!" Recovery Girl holds her heart from the startle. Eraserhead lifts an eyebrow.
"I mean," He sits back on his bed, "My mom doesn't need to know. You'll just needlessly worry her. She might even faint."
"Hmm." She eyes him. "Very well." She jumps on her chair. She spins to her counter to take some notes but does a double take.
"All Might, what are you still doing here?"
Izuku stills. He slowly looks behind the group of teachers to the man. He would've seen him if he hadn't been hunching off to the side.
"Ah," All Might bounces up to his full height. "Uh, yes. It is I!" He poses, then hunches again. "Hello, Midoriya-shounen." He meekly greets avoiding eye contact.
Izuku doesn't say a single word. Doesn't even make a sound.
"Yes, all might will be a teacher here," Recovery girl glares, "but he wasn't supposed to reveal himself until the first day of school."
"I should go home." Izuku stands. There's slight soreness in his stiff muscles. He definitely still has a whole lot of bruised something. "I don't want to worry my mom."
"You could call. You shouldn't be moving."
"I'd really rather go home, please."
"Alright, but here's my number," She hands him her card, "in case you feel anything wrong okay?"
"Thank you." He bows. "Thank you all." He bows to the rest. "And I won't tell anyone about…" He glances up at All Might, "him. You can be sure of that." He runs off, tripping over himself in haste.
"Did he look scared to you?" Midnight inquires.
"Yeah, looked like he'd seen a ghost." Mic agrees. "I thought he'd fanboy as soon as he saw All Might."
"All might, you okay?" Midnight notices his sullenness.
"By the way," Mic speaks up, "I thought the kid's quirk was super strength. Why'd he get hurt so bad?"
"He's quirkless." All Might reveals.
"What?" They all voice, astounded.
That's all the explanation they get before All Might takes off.
"Did he just say quirkless?" Mic asks, his glasses tilted sideways, the same as Midnight's, from the gust of All Might's exit. Aizawa's scarf was thrown over his face and Recovery's hair was tousled from its well-kept bun.
"The boy stopped a robot's punch." Midnight reminds them. There's a short silence in thought. Aizawa is the first to break it, simply fixes his scarf and walks to the door.
"I'm going to nap." He says, leaving.
"I thought they were dead." Mic says.
"Who?" Midnight asks.
"Quirkless people."
SMACK!
"OW!" Mic holds the back of his head and shin, his glasses clattering onto the floor.
"Don't say that!" Midnight scolds. Recovery girl clicks her tongue shaking her head disapprovingly as she walks out her office.
"I meant extinct!" Mic clarifies.
"That's not any better." Midnight rubs her eyes in a sigh.
Chapter 6: It's been a while
"Mom, I'm home!" Izuku hollers, sitting down to switch out his shoes for slippers.
"Izuku!" His mother nearly slips in her rush to him. "What happened?" She grabs his face in inspection. "Are you okay? Did you get hurt?"
"I did get hurt, but nothing serious." He gently pries her fingers off him. "The nurse checked me out and I just have some bruising." His mother narrows her eyes at him.
"UA was amazing though!" He lights up, not even trying to change the subject. Just pure innocent excitement.
"Tell me everything!" She pulls him to the kitchen, preparing some tea.
"The building is ginormous!" He starts. His story telling skills must have been a bit too detailed because his mom had a tough time staying conscious for it.
After fanning his mom twice from fainting and giving her electrolytes from all her crying, he helps her to her room for bed. He washes up and heads to bed too. From the 10 months of cleaning the beach, he's barely had a handful of hours sleeping. He doesn't know how he's still alive and functioning. He doesn't even get eyebags or dark bruising. Only when he's completely and utterly spent, does his body actually welcome sleep. Like now. Seems getting hit by a Godzilla robot hand and almost dying does it for him.
The next few days are filled with anticipation. His mom spends her time looking out the window and checking the mail. Openly waiting in anxiety for UA's acceptance or rejection letter. While he turns his focus on increasing his weightlifting and run time. Doesn't stop him from peeking his head out his room each time his mom picks up the mail. It's really more out of curiosity more than anything. He might've shared his mom's feelings of anxiety if he hadn't found out All Might would be at UA.
He really expected to never see the man again.
Why is All Might at UA? Is he planning on retiring as a teacher? He hasn't made any public statements alluding to it in any way. He has been seen less in hero work, but that's not too drastic of a difference to make note of. Actually, isn't he like 60 years old already? He really could be retiring. Unless he's looking to find apprentices? That's something old pros do. Take a few students under their wing and teach them their tricks to leave behind a kind of legacy. Have the world remember them in years to come. Not like the world would ever forget someone like All Might, number one hero for 20 years straight. Maybe he's one of the few that would very much like to forget.
And now, he has the unfortunate happenstance of seeing his face every day at school. Thus, the not so anxious waiting on UA's news of acceptance. Although, he has a feeling it will be a rejection. He only got like 6 points max. Everyone else was shouting numbers in the 30s.
But he doesn't regret anything. He helped people. And that's all that matters to him.
He continues about his daily routine, visiting the beach to check if someone's dumped more trash and just enjoy the view. He found that more and more people have started to use the beach. Couples, friends, and families. It bothered him at first. He felt like this was his own secret little hideout. His own little place to get away from the world. But, after hearing the little kids laughing, watching the smiles on people's faces, he found joy in it. He couldn't help the smile that rose on his face every time he came to see how lively the beach has gotten. He even saw turtle eggs and crabs.
And besides, what good is a beach if no one's there to enjoy it?
However, with the beach cleaned and occupied, he found himself wanting to venture out into the city again. It had been almost a week before UA's exam date when he stopped himself from leaving. And it's been about another week after UA's exams…
No, he shakes his head. I shouldn't. He walks around his neighborhood, goes to his new martial arts class (this time boxing), and chats with his mom. When the sun sets and his mom winds down for bed, his eyes stay open, staring at his ceiling.
I'll exercise some more, he tells himself, going through the walls down to their courtyard with a park and playground attached. He begins lifting some weights, trying to let his mind zone out in the rhythmic sets he pumps out. When the doesn't work he walks to the swings and reminiscences of his childhood days. When that turns depressing he starts to run around, sprint a few laps. He runs, and walks, and swings, and flips, and climbs. Nothing seems to take his mind off the air and focus on the ground.
It has been almost two weeks since he's ventured out…
He calls out Mumei and flies into the night.
He first takes a look around the general area then lands atop a train and sits back. The buildings pass him by, the wind washing over him, keeping his hair brushed out of his face. The people and lights pass by him in a blur. Grinding gears and the screeching of the brakes brings him back to attention. Signs show him that the train stopped at Shin-Yokohama station. Just one prefecture over from his own he notes. He flies up and wanders around an area called Kamino ward. The streets are lit up as if it was day. People were out and about. Eating, sitting, or standing around with friends. But there were also crimes happening right in front of people, yet they carried on minding their own business. A purse snatching which no one batted an eye towards. And there were no heroes patrolling. Not even a police station in sight. A real forgotten place. It was a very productive night for him.
Kamino ward, he decides, will now be his workplace. If no one else is going to patrol, he'll take on the task. If only until he finds out how to get police and heroes stationed there.
The following week that comes his school closes for spring break. He allows for a little risk and flies through the city during daylight hours. It was both thrilling and terror inducing. He had heroes like Hawks and Igneum try and capture him. They both were friendly and very talkative. However, he thought something was strange from Hawks keen interest in him. He likes Hawks, truly. Who he works for, not so much. The hero association is a bit too secretive and squeaky clean. Highly suspicious. All things are a little dirty. He just doesn't know the dirt the hero association is trying to hide. Although, he has a feeling it has something to do with raising soldiers. There was no record of Hawks until about 2 years ago. The guy had no family or friends. The hero association was his home, where he interned, and where he got his hero license. But that's just basic public facts. What was most concerning is that the hero association only takes on one hero every 5 years. The last being Lady Nagant. And no one knows what happened to her. Then one day, the hero association announced her early retirement. And that was that.
On the bright side, he got to see Hawks and Igneum in the flesh!
He even saw Mirko and BestJeanist. Unfortunately, he met Endeavor too. He didn't like him all that much since the beginning of his hero's debut. He was gruff and mean looking. He had this hate in his eyes that burned with as much rage as his fire. Sure, the fire facial hair was aesthetic to his hero outfit and to show off his quirk, but it also seemed a bit much. And seeing him in person, well, he was reminded of Kacchan. Fists first, questions never. Which is what happened to him when Endeavor's flaming fist punched him in the gut. It hurt almost as much as the 0 pointer's fist.
"Do you not hold back against kids?" He groans, lifting himself off the sidewalk. People scurry past him but stay close to witness Endeavor take down Ghost. Yes, Ghost. Izuku has come to accept the name now in place of Mumei. Just easier to go with what everyone else calls him to avoid his own confusion.
"You're a criminal. Heroes don't have time to show mercy." He says, creating a large hand made of flames and shooting it out to grab Ghost.
"I'm hardly a criminal." Ghost walks out of the flamed hand, untouched and unbothered.
"Vigilantes think themselves above the law. They are no better than criminals." He bursts out a wave of fire keeping them burning around him in a circle.
"Vigilantes save people. Criminals harm people. Clearly the vigilantes are better. However, you, aren't seeming much better either."
"What would a runaway like you know?"
"Well first, that you're a large contributor to global warming." He says as he steps on a tiny smoldering piece of flame.
"And second, that you would use violence against children."
"You could be an adult. Pretending for sympathy just to stab us when we have our guard down."
"Wow, I really hope you don't have kids. I'd hate to think how you'd treat them, seeing as how you'd hit a total stranger's child."
"If you turn yourself in, we wouldn't need to resort to violence."
"Pass." He starts to float away.
"Mark my words, Ghost. I will take you in. If not me, then someone else. So, stop playing hero!" Endeavor's flames flare. "This isn't a game! You're distracting real heroes from stopping villains because they have to waste time chasing the likes of you!"
"Then stop wasting time!" Ghost turns around in a growl. "You're the one that's choosing to chase me. Which is pointless by the way! You can't even touch me!"
"But I did."
Ghost narrows his eyes, touching his stomach.
"And the next time we meet, I'll make sure you stay down."
"All I need is a fire extinguisher to take you down!"
"You're just a criminal! A coward, that hides behind his invisibility!"
"Yeah, well, your mustache looks stupid!" He shouts. He wouldn't normally talk such a way to people, even someone like Endeavor, but being Ghost seems to change him in more ways than one.
And call him petty, but he may or may not have followed Endeavor around and made him question his sanity.
Other than heroes, and Endeavor, he did get to see one of the contestants again.
The purple haired guy who he thought was quirkless. The guy was running. Or dying. It kinda looked like both. It seems he realized he needed to exercise instead of wallowing in self-degradation. It brings a smile to his face. He flies down next to the guy.
"You shouldn't swing your arms so much."
"K!" The guy jolts, his eyes blowing wide. Then trips, falling back on his palms and backbone.
"Sorry!" Ghost turns his body visible. "I forgot you can't see me. Here," He extends a hand. "Let me help you up."
"Y...yea..." The guy wheezes, leaning back as he slowly raises his hand.
"I just wanted to—" Ghost blanks. Everything turns white. No noise or sound is heard. He feels like he's floating. A chill runs up his spine.
He can't move, he realizes, feeling some sense come back to him. It's as though he's sleeping but not. A panic like no other sets in. The white screen over his eyes slowly fades. His vision blurry and unfocused. This is wrong, he thinks. He needs to move! He needs to run! Phantom hands take hold of him.
No! No! Don't touch me! He shrieks, his body flinching in an attempt to move. Get away! I need to run! Move!
Don't touch me!
He jets back, slamming into the street wall. His head coming out the other side. He pulls himself out falling onto his knees. He tucks his limbs close, holding himself in a slight rock. He takes big gulping breaths trying to compose himself, which comes easier from the absence of an actual heartbeat. He starts to hear someone's voice. He blearily looks up through the fat tears that are spilling over his eyes. He thinks he sees a hairy purple thing. But as his panic subsides, he realizes it's the boy he was talking to earlier.
He remembers scaring the guy. He fell. He tried to help him up and then…nothing. He didn't make physical contact with the guy. No eye contact either. The only thing he did was reply back to him.
"Y-your quirk." He wipes his face. "Voice activated." He stands in composure. As if he wasn't a snotty hyperventilating mess just seconds earlier.
The guy looks like he was going to speak but drops his head in a short nod.
"I'm sorry."
"What?!" The guy whips his head up to him. "No!" He shakes his head backing up. "I literally made you have a panic attack. I'm the one that should apologize."
"Well, yeah." Ghost shrugs. "I guess you did. But since I don't remember it doesn't count."
Izuku has had a few times in his life that he doesn't remember. He'd become aware of himself and not know how he got to someplace or why he was there. One of the times being when he was trapped in a closet at school. The janitor opened the door for him and he just snapped out of whatever state he was in, wondering why he was crying.
"So," he continues. "I'm sorry if I made you feel bad. I'm okay now. So, no harm done." He reassures with a smile.
"Just stop. Don't." The guy shakes his head, looking at him like he's crazy. "You know my quirks voice activated. I just took over your body. I could have made you do anything or worse!" He huffs. "Yet," He turns sideways, lips pinching close, "you're still talking to me?" The guy voices low. "Why?"
"Why not? Talking is how people communicate; you want me to sign to you?"
"You know sign?" The guy raises an eyebrow.
"Not fluent," He raises his hands. -But I can get by decently- He signs.
You're weird- Shinso signs back.
"Ha!" Ghost laughs. "Yes, I get that a lot. Anyway," his face turns serious. "I saw you running and thought I'd give you some tips. I started exercising earlier this year. It was a trial and error for me with a lot of research. I could share a few things with you if you'd like?"
"I...why are you still talking to me?" The guy gets hung up on the action.
Ghost's faces falls. He remembers how the guy looked at the entrance exam. What he said. The bitterness.
"I guess you haven't had the best time growing up."
The guy looks to the side, his hands in fists.
"You have an amazing quirk."
The guy's eyes turn up, narrowed, his mouth in a grimace.
"I mean it. You could stop villains in a hostage situation. End things peacefully. You could even get civilians to listen when they are frantic in an emergency situation. I wonder," he brings a hand to his lips, "can you control multiple people at once? What's the drawback? Headache? Getting a voice recorder and speaker could help you get the slip on those that already know your quirk. Use their own friends' voices against each other or just to get them to speak to you. Actually, do you need them to speak to you directly or can even just a noise in reply work? Changing the timing of when you use your quirk could help too. Throw people off on the trigger for your quirk. Maybe even just use questions, acting like that's the trigger. You could go into comedy too! Like Ms. Joke! Get people to laugh. Or you could go the Kacchan way and just get people angry. I don't know. You seem like the type that would be sarcastic. Are you sarcasti—mmpf!" His mouth is slammed shut with the guy's hands.
"You talk a lot." The guy says, looking down. "But..." He lifts his head up. "Thank you." His eyes regain a light in them, a shadow of a smile on his lips.
"Rawr elcumm." Ghost mumbles. Wait, he pauses. If he could touch his face and find where to shut his mouth, that means he's revealing himself! He quickly turn his face intangible. The guy falls forward from the sudden disappearance of resistance against his hands. Ghost catches him by the shoulders pushing him up.
"I gotta go now." He takes out a notebook from inside his jacket. "Use this to help you. Has all sorts of tips and notes on finding a good work out plan. Take care! I can't wait to see you be a hero." He pauses. "Also, don't tell anyone you saw me. Please."
The guy doesn't seem to hear the last bit, just running his hands along the notebook. He grips it with both hands pushing it close to his chest. The guy looks up at him in a pinched smile. His eyes squinted and as dry as the savannah but veined red. For him, he may as well have been sobbing.
Izuku's glad he got to talk to the guy. But he does regret not asking for his name. With his more than likely rejection from UA, he won't be able to see the guy again. He would've liked to have been his friend. Actually, what if the guy doesn't make it into UA too? Unless he signed up for the general ed course? Izuku didn't think of going into any other place besides the hero course. A poor decision on his past self. He wouldn't mind gen ed or even support course. He's even interested in the med and rescue course. He could try at a different hero school? He only chose UA because…that's where All Might had graduated from. Not to mention it was the most prestigious hero school in all Japan, ranked highest amongst the other countries' schools as well.
But Shiketsu isn't bad. It's more militaristic, but a great school. Ketsubetsu is more relaxed environment with a focus on rescue. Seijin is an all-boys school. Isamu is a search and seizure focus type of school.
Furthermore, Ketsubetsu has a long-time one-sided rivalry with UA, but the true rivals are Shiketsu. A quiet, non-boastful bunch that could have been the number 1 school in Japan had All Might graduated from there instead. And they are still taking applications.
Why not? He sits down once he gets home and starts applying online. He fills it out and hits send. He gets a reply two minutes later with a date and start time for their exams. Three weeks from now. A written exam, a practical, and a quirk evaluation. Doable, he nods.
"Izuku!" His mother's voice alarms him. He trips out of his chair and leaps to his door. He rips it open and slams into the wall from his sprint.
"Mom!" He sees her standing at their apartment's entrance. Panicked and breathing hard.
"What happened?" He runs close checking her body for injury and glancing around for threats.
"The UA letter!" She waves the white envelope in the air. "It's here!"