Chapter Text
Izumi sometimes wondered how her life got to this point. Katsuki, once her friend, had become her bully and tormentor the day she was declared quirkless. Her mother was dealing with father being in the hospital from some traumatic incident and Izumi didn’t want to bother her mother by adding more onto Inko’s worries. So for years, she withheld the signs of abuse, kept quiet, tried her best to be humble and not ask for much.
But today...on top of Katsuki’s lackeys, the teacher had decided to join in too. Today, their teacher read out each of the high schools they had all applied to, which Izumi was pretty sure he wasn’t supposed to do. Today, he just smiled tauntingly at her and let her classmates whirl on her with their sneers and their hate. Didn’t do anything when Katsuki threw her out of her chair in his anger, kicking her down. No one did anything as the whole class laughed at her, the quirkless girl who seemed to have dreams too big for her capabilities.
Today, Izumi felt something snap. There was just something in her that just would not take it anymore. It started, as most of her bad days do, with Katsuki harassing her.
“Why don’t you go take a swan dive off the roof and hope you’re born with what you’re missing in the next life?”
Staring up at his leering face, her notebook having been scorched and thrown out the window, she sat there for a few moments, in utter disbelief. They had grown up together; their mothers had raised them together, even. When Izumi first started presenting herself as who she really was, Katsuki was the first to yell at anyone who misgendered her or dead named her.
This...was not the Katsuki she knew. And you know what? She was done. She couldn’t let herself be blinded by the haze of childhood anymore. He was not her Kacchan. They were grown up now. Almost in highschool. And Izumi had finally felt that she had had enough.
Taking a deep breath, not responding to any of his jeering or taunting, Izumi pulled herself to her full height and fixed Katsuki with a look so scathing, so full of sorrow, that for once in his life, Katsuki faltered. Katsuki faltered and seemed, if more a split second, to really consider what he had said. What he had done.
Head held high, refusing to let any tears fall, Izumi marched out the classroom and headed home, not once looking back. The silence seemed to echo in the wake of her leaving, and Katsuki found himself disgruntled with the foreboding that something had changed in Izumi forever, and that it was all his fault.
Arriving home, Izumi already knew that she didn’t want to return to Alderra High again. The faculty and staff did nothing about the bullying, no bystanders ever stood up for her either; Katsuki had his reign of terror and privilege over that whole school. No one ever helped her. And they claimed that they wanted to be heroes? She was sorry to see that society only seemed to encourage them.
Tiptoeing up to her apartment complex, weary of anyone catching her since she had just up and ditched school, Izumi was at least glad that at this hour, her mother would at least be at work.
“Izumi…?”
Or, at least, she should have been. Slowly turning around, owl-eyed, she found her parents looking at her with confused concern from the doorway. What luck, for them to have come home, literally just moments after she got here! See the wheelchair, her father for the first time in years without an oxygen mask or bandages - they had probably wanted to surprise her with the news that he was being discharged early. Fuck, they could probably see the bruising on burns all over her…
“Izumi, why...Why aren’t you at school? Are...are those burns and bruises…?” her father asked softly, Inko’s hands on his shoulders. Her father’s first day home was supposed to be happy, but he was, looking like someone had stolen all his joy at the sight of her. Izumi hiccupped, biting her lip, trying to find the words to explain, or at least explain and allay their concerns, but it felt like her throat was closing up and nausea was taking over. After holding it in all afternoon, her tears finally spilled over.
A good cry and an hour later, Izumi finally told her parents everything. The years of teasing, harassment, bullying… Inko herself was a bundle of nerves and waterworks, while Hisashi spent the whole while stewing in a cold rage. Izumi felt so light after getting it off her chest, but her heart was still wound tight with anxiety waiting for their response. She hadn’t wanted to bother them, to burden them, and it had all come out anyways…
To her surprise, it was her father who spoke up first.
“We’re removing you from that school. Immediately.”
Inko nodded in instant agreement and Izumi found herself slumping in relief. She had no arguments with that, but…
“Are, are you sure, papa? I don’t want to cause you or mama trou -”
But her father cut her off, “You’re never a burden to us, Izu! Your safety and happiness is worth everything. So don’t ever say things like that again, okay?”
“We want you to be where you will be happiest and safest,” Inko added, wiping her own tears away. “I’m going to call Mitsuki and Masaru and have a word with them. Can you handle the transfer and withdrawal process, Hisashi?”
“Of course, dear.”
“Wh, mom, you don’t, you don’t have to -”
“No child of mine will go through what you have, Izumi, and I’m sure that Mitsuki thinks the same. Now go and help your father with the transfer process.”