Chapter Text
In a deck of tarot cards, the sixth Major Arcana is The Lovers. This card can symbolize choice, union, temptation, and duality. When inverted, the card represents disharmony and a loss of balance.
This is the story of how two lovers changed and created harmony in the world.
The Earth has never been one to calm. There has always been inequality, even in the atoms. Therefore, when the dawn of man erupted on the planet, it was no surprise that inequality affected people too.
To preface this story, there are a few things that you should know. A quirk is a superhuman power. They could range from harmless to harmful; limitless and infinite harm became a possibility. When quirks first appeared, those who possessed them were social pariahs. Now, it's the other way around; 80% of Earth's population had a quirk of some kind, and 20% do not.
Quirks give benefits to the holder and provide advantages to people looking to get ahead. In Japan, there is a social hierarchy based on quirks. Those who have powerful quirks are at the top of the social pyramid and the quirkless are at the bottom.
The level of liberties one has depends on which prefecture of Japan one resides in, but most often those with powerful quirks have more privileges than others. Each prefecture in Japan is overseen by a council consisting of seven elected officials who create laws and monitor the population.
The following is how a lifetime works in this environment.
At birth, one is automatically assigned to the same social status as their parents. You live in the same borough as everyone with the same rank as yourself. At the elementary level, you are sent to schools based on, once again, social status. From there, your academic achievements and test stores dictate where you go to middle school. Same goes with high school. In the area I lived in, Musutafu, the most prestigious high school is UA. I was one of only a few quirkless people ever enrolled at UA; I was part of the pre-medicine program for the quirkless and studied to be a personal physician for heroes.
Heroes… Right. I forgot to mention that bit. Only those who had such great and powerful quirks could become a hero. These people would patrol the streets, stop crimes, and enforce the laws I discussed earlier. I always wanted to be a hero, one always needs to play the hand they're dealt.
Moving back to academics, high school graduation ceremonies were by far the most important day of one's life. Unlike the past with caps, gowns, and diplomas, one would have what is known as the Binding Ceremony. In front of the prefecture's council, your family, friends, and peers, you present to the council what your aspirations are; this ranges from career choice like jobs and University to life choices such as marriage and how many children you wish to have. Oftentimes, arranged marriages are officially announced during these presentations. Marriages and engagements that breached more than one social class were extremely taboo.
After each presentation, the council would create a permit for what you are allowed to do during the course of your lifetime. Most of the time, those with quirks get what they want such as actual careers. The Quirkless barely get offered a life of scraping by as they're made restaurant or retail workers. The permit becomes a contract which binds you to the state. You live your life according to the contract. No more, no less. Breach of this contract results in punishment which can range from jail time to even exile or death.
This is the world we live in.
Well, it was .
Like I said before, two lovers completely uprooted this hell and made Japan a land of free will. I'm one of them. My name is Izuku Midoriya. This is my love story.