Chapter Text
"Normality is death." -Theodor W. Adorno
One day, long ago in Qing Qing, China, a luminescent baby was born with a unique power. Then, as time passed, the similar phenomena happened all over the world, and soon the majority of the population had obtained superhuman powers-known as quirks. Due to the rise of these new powers, criminals began having the ability to go much further in crime with their newfound abilities, leading to create villains. Of course, where there was darkness, there would always be light. With the creation of villains rose a new profession: heroes, people who protected the world day and night, without fail. 80% of the population now were people blessed with these so called quirks. You had been classified as being in the 20% of people without quirks: quirkless. Of course, you still had many career options an opportunities that weren't quirk reliant. That didn't exactly mean that living your whole life as an abnormality was a pleasant thing. Nevertheless, you tried to live life as peacefully as you could with no one but your family and your singular friend by your side.
"Wake up!" You groaned at your alarm before grudgingly pulling yourself out of bed. Today was one of the rare days that you had chose not to abuse the snooze button on your poor alarm clock. Fixing your hair as best as you could in a short period of time and slipping on your uniform, you dragged yourself down the stairs and into the kitchen.
You scooped a helping of rice into a bowl before grabbing some chopsticks. After all, rice was great when you wanted to eat 2000 of the same thing. It was also the only things you could make with your limited cooking knowledge (besides instant ramen). Waving a farewell to nobody, you locked the door of your house and began walking to your "delightful" high school.
Josei High School could be considered the bane of your existence. You didn't have a problem with education itself; it was the people that made your experiences unpleasant. Unfortunately, school was still the only means you had of educating yourself since there was no possible way you could be homeschooled.
Taking your seat at the very back of the classroom by the window (the anime protagonist's seat, as you called it), you pulled out your necessary materials for class. Shortly after that, the bell rang, signaling the start of first period. After your teacher had taken roll call, you began doodling in your spare notebook. Today was a Friday which meant that you didn't have any shifts at any of your various workplaces. It also meant that once the dismissal bell went off, you were free from this hell for the weeke-
Your thoughts were interrupted by the lunch bell. Grabbing all of your supplies (as your belongings have been vandalized before), you went to a secluded area in the cafeteria, far away from the middle of the room. You ate your rice as fast as you could before rushing back to your classroom. You looked at your desk and sighed. Somebody had wrote over it in marker again, saying various insults ranging from calling you a loser to telling you to kill yourself. These people really were immature, targeting someone over something they couldn't control. Grabbing some wet wipes, you set off to cleaning your desk as best as you could before you could get in trouble for "damaging school property."
Maybe 5 minutes later, the bell rung again, which meant that lunch was over. You disposed of all the wipes you had used and sat down once again, waiting anxiously for the last bell. Fidgeting with your fingers, you ignored the ball of paper someone with a telekinetic quirk had thrown at you. Time passed faster when you spaced out and sooner or later, the bell had rung one last time, which led to you bolting out of the door to your freedom.
"Finally, I thought this day would never end," you murmured to yourself as you naturally began walking in the direction of Yuuei High School. Although you may be quirkless and not suited to be a hero, that doesn't mean other people couldn't pursue that profession. Well, at least a job that was similar to heroism. The person you had in mind was Hatsume Mei, the pink haired genius of class 1-H in Japan's most prestigious hero school. To you though, she was just a childhood friend. As you lamented in your head, the very person who you were thinking about was preparing to pounce on her next target; you. You let out a small yelp of surprise before prying yourself free of Hatsume's grasp.
"Oho? What's this? You've actually decided to pick me up from school? I never thought I'd see the day my antisocial [Name] would want to be seen with me in public!" she teased, her cross hair eyes glinting.
"Hatsume, you know that it's not because I don't want to be seen with you. It's more of a...." you paused to recollect your thoughts. "I'm a person without a quirk, inconspicuously standing next to Japan's best hero school. It's uncomfortable, needless to say." She raised an eyebrow suspiciously.
"You know that you're smart enough to land a position in the support class, you know. You are friends with me, after all," she chuckled as you let out a tentative smile.
"You know that I have no desire for learning about machinery and I thought Yuuei didn't accept quirkless students?" you replied nonchalantly as she sighed.
"Why can't you indulge me just this once, [Name]?" She shook her head to clear her thoughts as she regained a smile on her face. "Never mind that, I heard that there was a new café that just opened around the corner. Let's go check it out!" She grabbed your hand and began pulling you down the sidewalk as you barely kept your bag from falling out of our grasp.
"Geez, you still have a vice grip," you muttered, rubbing your hand in pain. She scoffed.
"Relax, it's not like I'm that angry porcupine I told you about from class 1-A," she shrugged as you questioned her strange choice of words. Angry porcupine? Why porcupine?
"Go find a spot, I'll order for the both of us. My treat!" She exclaimed, finally letting go of your arm. You stared blankly as she went to the barista before turning around and finding a nice, vacant table. Well, it was vacant before some random punk kid basically blasted their way into the seat. You furrowed your eyebrows in disapproval before turning up to notice that-
"Hatsume was right, there really are angry porcupines out there," you muttered to yourself. Unfortunately, the person you had been talking about heard you.
"THE FUCK DID YOU JUST SAY, BITCH?" He yelled, things resembling fire spewing out of his hands.
"Uh, nothing! Goodbye!" you said in a hurry, finding another table to sit at instead despite him screaming that you were a coward. A few moments later, Hatsume showed up and handed you one of the two cups she was holding.
"I got your favorite drink," she said before taking a sip of her coffee. "Hey, are you alright? You look a bit shaken up." You shook your head furiously.
"It's nothing, I understand what you mean when you were talking about angry porcupines," you said before taking a sip of your own drink. Once you put the cup down, Hatsume shoved a small, orange, card like object into your unsuspecting hands.
"What's this?" you asked, holding the object delicately and away from your body. "Is this going to blow up on me? I already said that I can't afford any more uniforms." She waved her hand dismissively.
"That was one time, my dear (Name), and you should know that I've properly fixed it by now! This baby, on the other hand has a completely different purpose!"
You suppressed the urge to sigh as you knew Hatsume was about to talk about another one of her "babies" yet again. Unfortunately, you weren't exactly machine smart (or interested in machines), so all words she dedicated to explaining her albeit genius inventions were wasted on you. To each their own I suppose.
Tuning out her words, you continued drinking the beverage you held in your possession. After Hatsume's lips had stopped moving, the two of you decided to talk about other topics, such as school, other class projects she had, and the newest anime that you had watched. The day went by in a flash and it was already 19:00 (7 pm). You and Hatsume lived on the same street, so the both of you naturally walked home together. As the two of you approached the crosswalk, you stopped to tie your shoelaces while Hatsume continued moving forward. However, you managed to see that a car was about to hit your unsuspecting friend.
You knew Hatsume still had more to offer to the world with her machines and high intelligence. She was worth more now than you could ever been in your entire lifetime and most importantly, she was your friend. You'd be a terrible person if you just stood by the side. Without a moment of doubt, you dropped everything currently in your possession as you raced forward.
"Hatsume, watch out!" you cried out as you shoved Hatsume off the road. You watched as she fell forward with a gasp and registered an unnatural cracking sound as you fell to the road with a thud.
Pain.
Who knew that someone could experience pain as strong as this?
You could barely hear the sound of Hatsume screaming. Using all of your strength, you tried to look up and saw red.
Is this really how you were going to die?
Really?
Being hit by a reckless driver?
You supposed there was nothing left to do besides resigning and accepting your fate.
If you had another chance, of course, you would change things.
But you were just a quirkless nobody in the grand scheme of things.
Sighing one last time, you allowed yourself to succumb to the pain as you closed your eyes.
The last thing you could register was a strange, white light.