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Izuku had never been a heavy sleeper, so when a thud echoed down the hallway of the apartment he and his mother shared, he awoke instantly.
As he rubbed sleep from his eyes, he could hear footsteps padding down the hallway, as well as some muffled cursing. That alone confirmed that it wasn’t his mother going for a late night drink of water. She never cursed, no matter how angry or upset she was feeling.
He quickly slipped out of bed and cracked his bedroom door open. The hallway beyond was pitch black, but he could still make out the sound of footsteps padding away from him. If he had been more awake, he might have realized that the footsteps were coming from the opposite direction as the front door, but he was too exhausted from crying himself to sleep for the past week to realize that. He just knew that he had to follow the footsteps.
They led him into the kitchen, which only strengthened Izuku’s hope. His mother didn’t like late night snacks, saying that they ruined Izuku’s appetite the next day, so the footsteps couldn’t be hers. His father, on the other hand, always had a drink when he got home from a trip.
“Daddy?” Izuku called, stepping into the kitchen, “Are you home? Mommy said you weren’t—” He froze as he took in the scene in the kitchen.
The refrigerator door was hanging open, the light inside illuminating the kitchen and throwing long shadows on the opposite wall. Standing in front of the refrigerator was a creature that was approximately Izuku’s size, with bright pink skin, ragged clothes, and a short tail that twitched back and forth with agitation as Izuku stared. It’s eyes were wide, allowing Izuku a perfect view of their black sclera and glowing golden irises. A pair of small, nubby horns poked out from it’s mop of curly pink hair, completing its otherworldly appearance.
Izuku couldn’t help it. He yelped in fear and surprise, stumbling backwards and tripping over his own feet in the process. As he toppled to the ground, Izuku sent a silent prayer to whatever gods were listening that the monster would be satisfied with just eating him, and would leave his mother be. That was all he hoped for, as he waited for the end.
And waited.
Finally, Izuku could wait no more. He cracked one eye open to see where the monster was, and was utterly baffled to find it nowhere in sight. The only sign that it had been there was the shaft of light coming from the open refrigerator, and an empty bowl lying in front of it.
With a flash of irritation, Izuku realized that it was the bowl that his mother had stored the leftover katsudon from their dinner that night in. All of his previous fear of the monster vanished. His mother had worked hard to make that food, and the monster had stolen it without a second thought.
He quickly picked himself up on the ground, and stomped petulantly over to the mostly empty bowl. It seemed as though the monster had run away, and left him to clean up the mess it had made. A part of him wanted to leave it for the morning, but he knew that would only upset his mother, and he didn’t want to make things harder on her.
As he bent down to start cleaning, something caught his eye. On the far side of the kitchen, barely illuminated by the shaft of light from the refrigerator, the cupboard under the sink was cracked open, and the tip of a pink tail was poking out. As Izuku watched, the tip quivered and twitched wildly, giving away the monster’s location in an instant.
In just a few steps, Izuku was at the cupboard. He flung it open without any hesitation, but was stopped by what he saw inside.
The monster was cowering in the deepest part of the cupboard, its eyes as wide as saucers and its arms and legs pulled tight around its body. At that moment, it looked far less like a monster than a frightened puppy, hoping it wouldn’t be kicked again, even as it knew it would be. Izuku knew that look well. He’d seen it on the faces of the kids Kacchan would beat up on the playground before.
Before Izuku could say or do anything, the monster shocked Izuku by speaking up in strangely accented Japanese.
“I’m sorry! Please, please don’t hurt me!”
Izuku was temporarily dumbstruck. It’s… no, her voice was like nothing he’d ever heard before. Her tone danced up and down with every word, giving her speech an almost musical quality. It was also full to the brim with fear, so much so that Izuku was certain she wasn’t faking any bit of it.
“I-I’m not going to hurt you,” Izuku said, kneeling down so he could look her in the eyes. Not that she made it very easy. She kept her gaze firmly turned away from his. Only her tail gave any indication of her emotions, as it flicked back and forth.
“You’re not?”
“No!” Izuku said, scandalized at the very idea. He would sooner hurt himself than actually hurt someone else, even if she had stolen his favorite food.
“Why not?” she asked, uncurling a little bit from her defensive posture, “I took your food.”
“Because hurting people is wrong,” Izuku said.
“You’re weird,” the creature said, finally raising her eyes to meet his. She still looked wary, but his reassurance seemed to have calmed a lot of her nerves.
“I’m weird?” Izuku said, unable to help himself, “You’re the weird one. You’re pink, and you have horns, and you steal katsudon.”
“Hey! I’m a perfectly normal imp!” she said indignantly, “You don’t even have horns! Or a tail! How are you supposed to balance without a tail?”
Izuku floundered for a moment as he tried to come up with an answer to the sudden question. He had spent plenty of time thinking about how he was different from other children because of his American father, but he had never considered something so basic as why he didn’t have a tail.
Before he could come up with a response, one part of her statement derailed his train of thought.
“Ummm, what’s an imp?” The term sounded vaguely familiar, but Izuku couldn’t place where he had heard it, or what it meant.
She looked at him like he was an absolute idiot. “Me! I’m an imp! And someday, I’ll be a full fledged demon!”
Izuku’s jaw dropped open.
“Y-Y-You’re a demon?” he spluttered, scooting back slightly. He’d heard of demons, of course, but only in books or T.V. He’d never thought they were actually real .
“Nuh uh. I just told you I’m an imp. Demons are way bigger,” she replied, taking the opportunity to clamber out of the cupboard and dust herself off.
“S-So an imp is like a baby demon?” Izuku asked. He should probably be terrified out of his mind, but his fascination was overwhelming his fear.
Her eyes flashed with annoyance, and she stomped her feet. “I’m not a baby! Just cuz my horns are a little small, everyone thinks I am. But I’m not!”
It was obvious that Izuku had hit a sore spot, which he instantly regretted. He knew what it was like to have people mock him for something he couldn’t control, and that he would change in a heartbeat if he could.
“I-I’m sorry,” Izuku said, bowing to her, “I didn’t mean to upset you. I was just surprised. I’ve never met a future demon before.”
“Hmmph,” she huffed, “I suppose I’ll let you off the hook. But only because it’s obvious that you were wowed by how awesome I am!”
She wasn’t entirely wrong. He’d always loved learning about the world around him, and the revelation that there was a whole species that he barely knew anything about was fascinating. Talking to this imp was just like all the time he’d spent in the library reading books on cool animals, but a million times better.
It was at that point that Izuku realized he’d overlooked something.
“Do… do imps have names?”
“Of course! I’m Mina. What’s your name?”
“I’m Midoriya,” he replied, sticking his hand out, “Izuku Midoriya.”
She cocked her head in confusion. “So, which is it? Midoriya or Izuku?”
It’s… both?” Izuku said, unsure of how to properly explain it, “Don’t demons have family names?”
“I guess?” she said hesitantly, “No one really uses them though. My brothers and sisters all know who I am, and no one else really talks to me unless they have to.”
“That sounds rough,” Izuku said, knowing exactly what it was like to be shunned by everyone except his mother.
“Eh, It’s alright. I’ve got plenty of friends to hang out with. Besides, once I become a full demon, I’ll be super popular.”
Then, a wicked grin spread across her face as she stared at Izuku. “Plus, no one else I know has a human friend, so that makes me special! Thanks a bunch, Midori!”
Izuku could feel his brain short circuiting at that statement, for multiple reasons. She had called him his friend, the first friend he had made since Kacchan had stopped spending time with him several months ago. He could hardly believe that this was happening, and so soon after meeting her. He had only just learned her name, and she was already calling him her friend. But that wasn’t the only thing she was calling him. The nickname stuck in his brain and commanded his attention above all else.
“M-M-M-Midori?” Izuku said, his voice squeaking as he spoke.
“Yep,” Mina said brightly, “Two names is way too many. And they’re too long! So, Midori!”
Surprised as he was, Izuku’s heart still swelled with happiness at the nickname. Unlike his other moniker, it didn’t contain a hidden barb. It was simple, honest, and friendly in a way that he hadn’t felt for a long time.
“T-Thanks,” he said softly, “I like it.”
“Well duh!!” Mina said, “That’s because I’m a nickname master!”
“A nickname master?”
“Uh huh! All my friend’s nicknames come from me, and everyone says that the ones I come up with are really unique!”
“I, uh, don’t know if that’s a good thing,” Izuku said.
“Course it is! Do you have any idea how hard it is to be special when you have 36 siblings? Especially when you’re the smallest one of them?”
Izuku’s mind boggled at the idea. After being an only child, the idea of having so many people around to talk and play with sounded like heaven. He couldn’t understand what she was complaining about.
“Is it really that hard?” Izuku asked.
“Ugh, it’s the worst!” Mina said, hopping up on the counter and kicking her heels as she spoke, “Anytime I try to do something cool, I find out someone else has already done it. No matter what I climb, or whose tail I tweak, someone always beats me to it! I’m not even the first to come here. My sister apparently comes out to take chocolate all the time, not that she shares any of it with the rest of us.”
All of a sudden, the string of candy thefts that had been the talk of his school the last few months made much more sense. He knew at least two other kids in his class who had lost their favorite treats overnight, while candy stores across the city were running out of all kinds of sweets, much to everyone’s despair.
Thankfully, Izuku’s house had been spared up until this point, so he still had a few chocolate bars saved up for special occasions. Whenever he did especially well on a project in school, he and his mother would take one of them from the cupboard and share it, nibbling it square by square while she praised his efforts. He wasn’t supposed to take them for himself, but his mother had never said anything about sharing one with a friend. He felt confident that she wouldn’t be too upset.
“M-Mina. Y-you said we were friends, right?”
“Of course!”
“Then… do you want to share a chocolate bar?”
“Wait, really?” Mina said, staring at him incredulously, “This isn’t a trick or anything, is it? I can actually have some?”
“I-I wouldn’t trick you like that,” Izuku said, a part of him slightly offended at the idea he would do something so cruel. He knew she didn’t think he was a mean person, and was probably only suspicious because other demons or imps had tricked her like that before, but he still felt the need to prove his words true.
He quickly made his way over to the cabinet where his mother kept the delicious treats, and pulled out one of the bars. The milk chocolate bar that he selected was the last of its kind, and smaller than some of the others, but he got the feeling that Mina would prefer it to the dark chocolate bars that his mother favored, and that he had grown to appreciate. He quickly peeled the wrapper off and broke the bar in two, handing the slightly larger piece to Mina.
It was gone in a blink, consumed in a single bite by the pink imp. She squealed in delight as she chewed, her tail twitching back and forth in a staccato rhythm of happiness, the same way a puppy would when given a treat.
“Ish soooo good!” Mina exclaimed before she could even finish chewing, “ ‘M never eatin anything else!”
Izuku giggled, her joy and enthusiasm at the simple treat infectious. “You’d get sick if you ate that much chocolate,” he said, doing his best to break the news gently.
“Don’t care,” Mina replied, licking her palms clean of any remaining chocolate. As she did, Izuku noticed that her tongue was long and forked at the end, like a lizard’s. “I’ll be sick forever if it means I can eat more chocolate!”
“I’m glad you liked it,” Izuku said sincerely, “Sorry there isn’t more.”
“It’s okay,” Mina said with surprising enthusiasm, “I’ll bring some of my own next time, so we’ll have lots and lots to share!”
“N-Next time?”
“Course!” Mina said with a grin, “We’re gonna hang out all the time, especially once I learn how to make my own portals!”
“Really?” Izuku said, barely able to believe it.
Mina nodded. “We’re gonna hang out all the time, and eat chocolate, and be best friends forever!”
To Izuku, that sounded like a perfect plan.
---
7 years later
---
Izuku was studying in his room when a sudden crack filled the air, causing him to jump. He really should be used to Mina’s entrances by this point, but they always seemed to catch him by surprise. A part of him suspected that she did something to make them extra surprising, not because she was malicious but because she liked having attention for her entrance.
On the opposite side of the room, a floating rift in the fabric of the world had appeared, allowing him a glimpse into Mina’s room in the other plane. It was a little smaller than Izuku’s own, with dark stone walls and a rather gothic looking chandelier in the center. Aside from that, it looked like a relatively normal teenage girl’s room. She had an assortment of stylish black and purple furniture, most of which was covered in various magazines and candy wrappers, a chair piled high with clothes that she hadn’t quite gotten around to folding, and even a few cute looking stuffed animals surrounding her bed. Apparently she had a thing for bunny rabbits with overly exaggerated floppy ears.
“Guess who!” the demon girl in question called, bursting through the portal in a shower of pink sparks that served as magical confetti.
As he always did, Izuku marveled at how much Mina had changed since they first met. If it weren’t for the bright pink skin and enthusiastic personality, she could almost be an entirely different being than the tiny imp he had met all those years ago.
She stood just under five feet tall, not including the long pair of horns that protruded up from her forehead, curling back slightly at the tips. Her tail had lengthened as well, becoming long and prehensile enough that she could pick up light objects with it, or just tickle Izuku from a distance with the heart-shaped tip. The greatest change, however, was that she had sprouted a large pair of bat-like wigs. She could apparently use them to fly, though not for very long. In Izuku’s experience, she mostly just used them to keep the sun out of her eyes when she was trying to nap.
Her clothes were fairly eye catching as well, though that was mostly due to how risque they were compared to most of the girls Izuku saw around town. They were obviously custom made for her, or at least altered, since they had openings to accommodate her wings and tail. The T-shirt was very low cut, exposing quite a bit of skin, and her shorts lived up to their name.
“I guess Mina,” Izuku said, setting his textbook to the side so he could give her a proper greeting. Despite how much she had changed, she was still his childhood friend, and no amount of impending homework would keep him from spending time with her.
The fact that he was crushing hard on her probably also factored into that decision.
He’d just gotten to his feet when Mina closed the portal behind her with a snap of her fingers and bounded forward, pulling him into a tight hug.
“You guessed right!” she said happily, nuzzling against his chest and nearly poking him with her horns several times as she did so.
“Did something happen?” Izuku asked, lightly patting her back. Mina always enjoyed physical contact, but this was excessive affection, even for her.
“Nah,” Mina said, remaining firmly attached to him, “I just missed you.”
“Mina, it’s barely been a week since we hung out,” Izuku replied.
“Yeah, and that’s way too long. I need Izu cuddles or I’ll die of loneliness.”
He sighed at the exaggeration, but wrapped his arms around her, careful not to pinch her wings, and squeezed. Mina sighed in contentment, and snuggled closer to him. In doing so, she pressed entirely up against him, causing Izuku to flush. She had the kind of figure that many women would kill for, and it was times like this that made it very hard to forget that fact.
“M-Mina, your—”
“Shhhhhh,” Mina hissed, placing a finger to his lips, “Relax. You can go back to studying in a minute. For now, just let me enjoy this.”
There was absolutely no way that Izuku could relax like this, but he did his best to follow Mina’s request while keeping his gaze pointed firmly upwards. She was his oldest and closest friend. He didn’t want to freak her out, or irritate her by openly displaying his crush.
“Izuku…” Mina said, pulling him back to the moment, “You know, you don’t have to keep looking away…”
He glanced towards her, confused by the statement, and nearly had a heart attack. Her eyes were half lidded as she stared up at him, twin pools of darkness with a gently glowing golden center and veiled with dark pink lashes. As he stared, Izuku felt like he was being inexorably drawn into them, even more so than usual.
Slowly, ever so slowly, he leaned forward just a hair. Not enough to close the gap between them, or even to close it significantly, but enough to be noticeable. Enough to draw a sharp breath from Mina. Enough to make her close her eyes and learn forward as well.
As if on cue, Izuku’s phone began to ring, startling both of them.
He felt guilt rush through him, and quickly stepped back from the embrace. Despite his vow not to pursue his feelings for Mina so that he wouldn’t make her feel uncomfortable, he had nearly done exactly what he’d been afraid of. He’d nearly forced himself on her, when she was just being friendly.
Mina meanwhile had retreated to the other side of the room in a pout, grumbling something about “losing progress”, and how hard it was to train a herbivore.
Izuku was impressed that she knew the term, since it was more complex than her usual vocabulary, though he made a mental note to correct her usage of the term later. He enjoyed katsudon far too much to be considered a herbivore.
His musings distracted him enough that he almost let the call go straight to voicemail, only realizing at the last second that he should probably answer his phone, in case it was important.
“Hello?”
“Izuku!” his mother said, sounding halfway between elation and tears, “Honey, I’m so proud of you! This is such a big step! But, why didn’t you tell me?”
“T-tell you?” he asked, his already overtaxed brain struggling to catch up to the conversation, “Tell you what mom?”
“About your application letter to UA!”
His jaw dropped open. He most certainly hadn’t applied to UA. It was one of the top schools in the country. Even if he did apply, he stood no chance of getting in. Thousands of people requested acceptance every year, and only a fraction of those were allowed to take the incredibly difficult entrance exam. Of course, he would be thrilled to attend, but he had never considered it as a real option. Just a pipe dream.
“I… what?” he said intelligently.
“Oh, I’m sorry honey. Did you want it to be a surprise? Is that why you used a special envelope? I didn’t mean to pry. I was only curious, since it was such a lovely color.”
A thought struck him then. He never sent letters with any sort of fancy stationary or envelopes, but he knew someone who did. Someone who had a flair for the dramatic, and who knew about his ridiculous dream to attend UA. Someone who even then was staring at him in curiosity.
“Mom, the envelope you’re talking about? What color is it?”
“It’s pink,” she replied, confirming his suspicions in an instant, “Are you feeling alright honey? You sound stressed.”
“I’m fine,” he lied, “Just a little tired. Mom, do you mind if I call you back? I have to finish studying.”
“Oh, with that kind of attitude, you’ll get in for sure. I’m so proud of you, Izuku! I’ll make katsudon for dinner tonight to celebrate!”
“That sounds great. Bye mom,” Izuku said, lowering his phone to his side and leveling his gaze at Mina.
She must have realized that her plot had been discovered, since she was staring at the floor while she traced some arcane pattern with her foot. Her tail was twitching back and forth behind her, making her agitation even more obvious.
“Surprise?” Mina said, looking up at him innocently. Thankfully, her eyes didn’t pull him in like before.
“Mina, you filled out an application to UA for me?”
“Uh huh,” she said, relaxing a little when she saw he wasn’t angry with her. Despite the many years they had known each other, her instinctive reaction was still to shrink away from him. It was only when he treated her with kindness instead of anger that she relaxed and could be honest about her actions.
“Why?”
“You were talking about it like it was some amazing place to be, and you got me excited about it too. Then you said it was only for really smart people, so you weren’t going to go. And you got all sad about it. But you’re really smart, smarter than anyone else I know. I know you’re gonna be awesome there! You just needed a little push.”
For a long moment, Izuku said nothing. Hearing Mina praise him like that made him feel more than a little giddy, and not just because he had feelings for her. But the more rational part of him knew that it was only because she didn’t know any humans besides him. If she did, she would see just how average he was, would stop thinking of him as someone special, and would think of him as just another human.
“Mina it… it doesn’t work like that,” Izuku said, once he had finally gotten his thoughts in order.
“Then the way it works is stupid,” she pouted, “You deserve to go wherever you want, even if it is some stupid, boring, stuffy school. You’re the awesomest person I know!”
“I’m the only person you know,” he pointed out, which only seemed to make her more frustrated.
“Just because I spend a lot of time with you, it doesn’t mean that I don’t watch T.V., or go people watching, or listen to all the stories other demons tell. I listen all the time, and I know that you’re special. You’re smart, and you’re kind, and you work harder than anyone I’ve ever heard of.”
As she spoke, she stomped angrily towards him, until she was standing just a few inches away. Her eyes were wide, but they held none of the gentle liquidity from before. They were harder than he’d ever seen, and made her look every bit the demon that she really was.
“So, you listen to me, mister. You are going to apply to that school, and you are going to get in. Then you’re going to show everyone else exactly how amazing I already know you are. And when all of that is done, you are going to hand feed me chocolate until I burst, tell me how right I was all along, and apologize until you’re purple in the face. Understand?” With each sentence, she poked him firmly in the chest, to emphasize her point.
He wanted to argue, to tell her that she was wrong about him and the whole situation. She was completely oversimplifying things, and letting her friendship with him cloud her judgement. But her expression told him that it would be pointless. Mina had set her mind to the idea of him getting into UA, and if there was one thing he had learned over all these years, it was that Mina always got what she wanted, particularly when it came to him doing things.
“O-Okay. I’ll do it,” Izuku said, doing his best to sound more confident about the situation than he actually was. “I’ll try to get into UA.”
The smile that bloomed across Mina’s face made agreeing worth it. Sure, aiming to pass UA’s entrance exam would mean countless hours of studying and effort, but he would do it all happily just for one more glimpse of that radiant grin.
“That’s my Izuku!” she said, pumping her fist into the air as she did so. “You’re gonna be the best University person ever!”
Izuku chuckled. Leave it to Mina to get so excited about something she knew next to nothing about.
“A doctor,” he corrected, “I want to be a doctor, so I can help people.”
He’d briefly considered a career in demonology a few years back, considering he was probably already somewhat of an expert in the field thanks to Mina, but had ultimately decided against it. No one else really took it seriously, and he couldn’t see Mina sitting still long enough to do any sort of examination unless bribed with copious amounts of candy.
“That’s so you,” Mina said, settling down on his bed and arching her back until it popped. “You’re always helping everyone around you, even if they’re a little imp stealing your leftovers.”
“Of course. Everyone needs help sometimes. And I think meeting that imp was one of the best things to ever happen to me,” Izuku replied with a broad smile.
Mina’s irises seemed to flash for a moment, transforming from circles to twin golden hearts. Then she shook her head vigorously, and they were “normal” again. It was fast enough that if he weren’t used to Mina doing a variety of mystical things, he would have dismissed it as his imagination. That said, he couldn’t figure out exactly why the change had happened. Knowing her, it was probably some sort of joke that he was missing.
Before he could ask about the change, Mina grabbed the textbook he had been reading from when she entered and flipped it open to a random page.
“Here. Why don’t you read it to me?” she said quickly.
“Come again?” Izuku said, completely baffled by the request.
“Well, you’re gonna be studying all the time now, but I don’t want to be bored. So, you can read to me while I snack. Win win!” she replied, producing a candy bar from seemingly nowhere.
“Mina, I’m studying algebra. You’re going to be bored even if I do read it to you.”
“Nuh uh. I like listening to you talk. Doesn’t really matter what you’re talking about,” she casually admitted.
His face burned once again. After the earlier incident and her whole monologue about him special, he was feeling a little lightheaded. Normally he would have come up with a reason to excuse himself for a minute or two while he composed himself.
Unfortunately, Mina was already patting the bed next to her and looking at him expectantly.
Accepting his fate, Izuku dropped down beside her and picked up the textbook once more. He knew from the get go that actually concentrating with her beside him would be next to impossible, but he did his absolute best.
After all, Mina was counting on him to be an excellent student and get into UA. He wouldn’t let a little thing like the gentle warmth of the girl he adored most in the world seeping into his side distract him, would he?
As the rest of the afternoon proved, yes, he absolutely would.