Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Inko Midoriya had always wanted a child.

She had loved children ever since she was a teenager. Every time she went to the park, there would always be families everywhere and they all looked so happy. She wanted to experience that happiness too. Children seemed so fragile, in more ways than one. But, she wasn’t worried about that too much. Her brother always commented on how gentle and meek she was, and when he mentioned that she would be a good mother, she couldn’t help but cry at how excited and flattered she was by the statement.

However, he also said that she was too kind. He was concerned that someone would try and take advantage of that kindness, but she always shot down that thought with something joking like, “Don’t be a pessimistic little brat just because all the girls avoid you at school ‘cause you’re too harsh.” She just assumed that since he wasn’t the nicest person in the world, his vision of what was nice and what was too nice was skewed.

When she met Hisashi, she was over the moon.

He was kind, charming and handsome. Every time she was around him, he always made her feel like she was a princess. He showered her with gifts and affection and she couldn’t help but fall for him. Her brother told her to be careful, but she just brushed him off because Hisashi was practically the man of her dreams and would never do anything to hurt her.

After they got married and moved into their own apartment, the thought of children crossed her mind again and she finally scraped up enough courage to ask her husband about it. She was a bit concerned at first, but the second a word about children left her mouth, Hisashi lifted her off the ground and spun her around in the air. She giggled as her face turned bright pink and tried to tell Hisashi to put her down but it just came out in a jumble of words and frantic stutters.

“H-Hisashi, p-p-put m-me d-down!” She said quickly, trying to recover from the drastic change of the calm environment to being picked up and spun in the air. He gave a hearty laugh and then gently set her back down. His eyes locked with hers and he smiled, the corner of his eyes crinkling in pure glee. “What?” She asked

The corners of his lips twitched and he put a hand in front of his mouth to stop himself from laughing. “You’re adorable when you’re flustered.”

Her face immediately changed from bright pink to dark red and she squealed as she folded her arms in front of her face.

He let out another hearty laugh that seemed to rumble through his chest and enveloped her in a hug. After a few moments, he was finally able to pry Inko’s hands from her face and look her in the eyes. He smiled again, his eyes practically overflowing with love and fondness. She couldn’t help but smile back and poured every ounce of love she had into her eyes in return to his own expression. They simply stared at each other for what felt like eternity before he leaned forward and pressed a gentle kiss to her lips. After he leaned back, she saw him smiling so hard it looked like it hurt.

“Of course I want kids!” 

The second those words left his mouth, the tension in her shoulders disappeared and she let out a breath she didn’t even know she had been holding. Before she knew it, she was crying. Fat tears were rolling down her face and she sniffled. Hisashi immediately panicked and enveloped her in another hug.

“Wait! I’m sorry! Was that not what you wanted me to say? I’m so sor-” 

She cut him off with a noise that was between a laugh and a sob. She had been labeled a crybaby her entire life and she definitely lived up to that title. She always cries whenever she feels any strong emotions whether she likes it or not. Right now, she couldn’t help but cry. She was just so relieved. She was worried Hisashi wouldn’t want kids and she would spend her entire life without having her own family.

She eventually calmed down enough to be able to speak, and told Hisashi everything was okay before he could worry himself too much.

For the next few months, they tried desperately to have a baby.

She began to lose hope, but finally, right before she was about to give up, she got pregnant. Since Hisashi was at work, she would have to wait for him to get home, so she quickly made dinner and tried to watch some daily news, but her mind couldn’t get off the fact that she was finally pregnant .

When Hisashi got home, she was practically vibrating with excitement.

He was still in his suit from work and looked exhausted. His eyes locked onto her and he paused in the doorway as his gaze swept over her, calculating, and he raised an eyebrow. Her patience was getting shorter and shorter and she practically started bouncing in place as she waited for him to ask. He eyed the object in her hand for a moment before glancing back at her and he finally opened his mouth to speak.

“Wha-” To late, her patience was now nonexistent.

She threw her arms in the air. “I’m pregnant!” Then launched herself at Hisashi.

His eyes widened as he dropped the briefcase he was holding so he could catch her and stumbled back. When she finally made contact, the force from her jump threw Hisashi backwards and since the door to their apartment was still open, they fell out into the hallway. A puff of smoke came from Hisashi’s mouth along with a small flame before quickly going out as he hit the ground. Inko was thrown into a coughing fit as she inhaled the smoke and Hisashi sputtered, luckily the smoke eventually aired out.

She started laughing and he quickly joined in. They stayed there for a moment until she finally let him get up and handed him the pregnancy test. He looked at her skeptically for a moment before glancing down at the object hesitantly. Not even a second later, his face lit up and he looked up at her with a bright smile and wide eyes.

In contrast to Inko, Hisashi rarely ever cried. So, when he did cry, it meant that there were very strong emotions involved. When she saw his eyes grow shiny, her own eyes teared up in response.

“We’re finally going to have a baby Inko!” He said, eyes continually growing shinier yet tears still refusing to fall.

Tears were pouring down her face out of the waterfalls that were supposed to be her eyes and she couldn’t even see anymore at this point. She really should get a handkerchief. Inko silently put the thought away in an imaginary folder and stored it, hoping she would remember it later. She saw the blurry shape of Hisashi open his arms and she rushed forward into them. He closed his arms around her and linked his fingers together behind her back. She sobbed into his chest as he kissed her forehead and sniffled every once in a while.

A few months later, her stomach had expanded enough that it was obvious she was pregnant. They had scheduled an ultrasound today and Inko was both excited and nervous. Hisashi had canceled work for the day so he could go with her and was currently fretting over whether she was comfortable in the car.

“I told you Hisashi, I’m fine!” She said, for what seemed like the millionth time.

“Are you sure? Are you in any pain anywhere? If you’re uncomfortable, I can get a pillow for yo-” His hands were frantic and grazed just over her arm as if he touched her she would break.

“Hisashi!” She was grateful that she had a caring husband, but right now he was being too caring. He had asked her if she needed anything eight times in the past thirty seconds .

“Okay, okay. Are you sure you don’t need anythi-” His hands reached out again but she swatted them away and shot him a glare. “Fine! Fine.” He finally shut the car door and walked to the driver side of the car. He opened the door, climbed inside, shut the door, stuck the key in the ignition and twisted. 

The drive to the hospital was uneventful except for the many times Hisashi glanced over at her as if she left his sight for even a second, she would disappear into thin air. She would rather him worry about driving, but at least he wasn’t asking if she was okay every five seconds anymore. A sigh escaped her lips in annoyance, which resulted in Hisashi casting a worried glance her way and she just acted like she hadn’t seen it. 

Her gaze shifted to the window and she watched the trees that were equally spaced apart and in a neat line on either side of the road rush by in a green blur. She could feel the excitement rise to her throat as the thought of getting to see their baby set in. Her hand instinctively went to her belly where she rested it. She had been doing that a lot lately. It seemed to be some sort of comfort mechanism, since whenever she did it her thoughts usually ended up straying to the baby growing in her belly and it always helped to calm her down. 

When they arrived at the hospital, Hisashi parked the car and then opened the door for her. He helped her out and offered her support as they walked to the front doors of the building, sliding his arms around her waist so that the weight of her stomach put less strain on her legs. The inside of the hospital reeked of antiseptic and brought back memories of the few trips to the hospital she had experienced while growing up. The floor was a white, shiny tile and the ceiling and walls were smooth and white with a few monotone colored art pieces scattered around in odd patterns. There were grey plastic chairs lining the outskirts of the room with a few people occupying them here and there.

They approached the front counter and the receptionist greeted them.   

“Hello! How may I help you?”

Hisashi answered before she could even open her mouth. “We're Inko and Hisashi Midoriya. We have an ultrasound scheduled at four today but they told us to come at least an hour early.”

“Ah! Give me a moment.” The woman then typed something on her computer and then clicked a few things with her mouse before looking up again. “Alright! If you two could take a seat and wait for your name to be called, your room should be ready soon.”

They both gave quick nods and Inko thanked the woman.

A few minutes passed and a nurse with a clipboard walked into the hospital lobby. She stood there for a moment, glancing at whatever was on the clipboard before she finally looked up and called the people for the next appointment.

“Inko Midoriya and Hisashi Midoriya!” They practically jumped up.

They approached the nurse and she smiled sweetly before turning around and gesturing for them to follow her back down the hallway she had just come from.

“Follow me!” She said welcomingly.

The nurse led them down a few winding hallways until she stopped in front of a closed door. The nurse grabbed a hold of the door handle, slid the door open and strolled inside. Inko and Hisashi followed suit. The woman had Inko lay down on the bed in the middle of the room and began prepping her for the ultrasound. It took about forty-five minutes until she was ready for the scan and once the nurse was done, she pressed a button next to the bed and exited the room.

“The doctor should be here in a few more minutes!” The woman smiled warmly before she shut the door and left them alone.

Like the nurse said, a couple minutes later, the door slid open and a man wearing a laboratory coat with a stethoscope around his neck and a clipboard walked in.

“Hello Mr. and Mrs. Midoriya.” He greeted them with a small bow, which Inko would have returned but wasn’t really in the position to. “You’re here for the ultrasound, correct?” He raised an eyebrow.

Both of them nodded and the doctor smiled.

“Alright!” He said excitedly. “I’m just going to check your vitals and a few other things like your breathing and temperature, and then we can start the scan!” Inko returned the smile and gave a short nod in confirmation. He unwound the stethoscope from his neck and stuck the two ear pieces in his ears before setting the chestpiece against her heart. “Can you breath in for me?” She slowly inhaled and the doctor moved it to another spot around the same area as she did so.

After checking her breathing, he checked a few other things and wrote some things down on his clipboard. Once he finished, he clapped his hands together and announced that it was time for the ultrasound as he hooked up the machine for it.

The next few minutes were spent with the doctor rubbing the machine in circles on her stomach and pointing out certain parts of the baby displayed on a screen next to the bed she was laying on. The doctor had rubbed some transparent cream on her stomach area beforehand so that the odd machine could maneuver around easier and get a clearer picture of the baby.

After the procedure was finished, they were sent home with pictures of the baby and Inko was already bawling before they even stepped out of the room.

“It's so beautiful Hisashi!” She wailed. More tears slid down her face and she took out the handkerchief she had bought a few days beforehand.

She knew she would be bawling on this day whether she liked it or not when they scheduled the ultrasound a few days prior so she purchased a handkerchief because she didn’t want to ruin any more of Hisashi’s shirts.  Hisashi gently wrapped his arms around her and she wiped away a fresh wave of tears and snot so she didn’t get any on him.

The day Izuku was born was one of the best days of her life.

After the ultrasound, they started talking about names and ultimately decided on Izuku. Hisashi suggested Mikumo, but Izuku was the final decision because Izuku Midoriya had more of a ring to it than Mikumo Midoriya.

It was around three in the morning when Inko’s water broke and she jerked awake. Hisashi was asleep next to her and he looked so peaceful she felt bad for waking him up.

“Hisashi!” She whisper-yelled. He stirred, but didn’t wake up. “Hisashi!” She said louder. His eyes opened slightly but he was only half awake.

“Inko?” He spoke slowly and slurred her name.

“Hisashi, my water broke.” She said, her voice frantic.

He blinked at her for a moment, trying to process her words, and when the weight of her sentence set in he gasped and his eyes widened. He jumped out of the bed and ran around to her side.

“Here, use me for support.” He folded his arm and brought it down by his side so she had something to hold as she walked.

He helped her out of the bed and was able to get her down to the car. He opened the door for her and when she was sitting down, he put her seat belt on. She grasped her stomach as she felt harsh movement from inside of it and gasped.

Hisashi practically flew into the car and was already pulling out of the parking lot before her mind could even process they were moving. The car flew down the road so fast Inko was worried she was going to get whiplash. They ran quite a few red lights and started to see red and blue flashing lights behind them but Hisashi still didn’t stop. If anything, he drove faster. When they pulled into the hospital parking lot, the police cars simply turned off their lights and drove away. Hisashi pulled up in front of the main doors and rushed her inside.

“Someone get my wife a doctor! She’s having a baby!” The receptionist stood up quickly and called for some other nurses.

They rushed over to Inko and began guiding her down one of the hallways. She could tell Hisashi wasn’t very comfortable having her ushered away from him, but he let it happen and just walked a few feet behind them.

The pain started to get worse and her legs seemed to stop working, but the nurses continued to walk her to wherever they were taking her. Her breathing had become ragged and was coming in short bursts as she tried to withstand the pain and her vision blurred with tears. She could tell there were people yelling around her but it all just sounded like jumbled nonsense. It took her a moment to register that she was laying down, and now that she was off her feet, the pain wasn’t as bad. There were blurred shapes of people around her and there was someone standing between her legs. She squeezed the tears out of her eyes and saw that the person’s mouth was moving.

The person was saying the same thing over and over again and she strained her ears to try and understand it. One word finally filtered through the jumbled mess.

“ Push! ”

Inko didn’t even process how much time passed or anything else around her other than the person in front of her telling her to push and that she was almost there . She was in a world of pain. Until she suddenly wasn’t. It was like someone flipped a switch and the pain just disappeared . 

The ability to breath came back and she took advantage of it immediately, gasping for breath. Her chest was heaving. Sweat rolled down her forehead and tears stained her cheeks, but it was finally over .

“It's a boy!” She could hear faint crying as the person spoke, and she blinked the tears out of her eyes.

Her vision finally cleared and she glanced around.

Hisashi was standing next to her bed with tears streaming down his face and large bags under his eyes. She smiled weakly at him and his face crumpled, more tears sliding down his face. The person that had been speaking to her earlier walked around the bed so he was standing next to her and she looked up. They handed Izuku to her and she cradled him in her arms against her chest.

Oh, the tears were back.

The salty drops of liquid flowed down her cheeks and she sobbed along with Izuku. His cheeks were large and round and there were already hints of fluffy green hair protruding from his scalp. His skin was soft against her hands and his lovely voice echoed in her ears. Even if he was wailing, his voice was still one of the loveliest things she had ever heard. She couldn't believe it. He was beautiful, and he was theirs. Nobody else's. She finally had her own child, and he would be her happine-

No, he wouldn't be her happiness, he would be her joy.

Her "little bundle of joy" as people said.

She looked up at Hisashi with a smile so wide it hurt along with tears and snot running down her face. She didn't have her handkerchief at the current moment in time so she wouldn't be able to wipe it away. 

"He's so beautiful Hisashi!" Her sentence ended with a sob and a fresh wave of tears.

Hisashi eyes were swollen and red from crying and he looked absolutely exhausted, but he was smiling like a complete dope anyway. He stumbled closer to her side and rested his hands on the bars on the next to the mattress. He then leaned forward and touched their foreheads together as they both looked down at Izuku.

"He's ours." Her voice was barely a whisper, but Hisashi heard her nonetheless.

They sat like that for a while, silently weeping together.

Izuku was everything she had hoped for and even more.

As he grew up, he became even more perfect than she had ever imagined. He had a head of fluffy, soft green hair, emerald green eyes and freckles that dusted his cheeks and the bridge of his nose. He was polite and kind, and very intelligent for his age. He loved heroes, especially All Might, and loved to collect hero merchandise.

She had always taken him over to play with Katsuki at Mitsuki's almost every single day ever since he was a newborn. Both Katsuki and Izuku loved heroes so they got along great. Katsuki wasn't as obsessed over heroes as Izuku was, and the reasons he loved them were different, but he still loved to play heroes and villains with Izuku. Katsuki usually ended up being the hero and Izuku being the villain, but it didn't seem to bother Izuku too much so she didn't jump in to help.

She usually just casually chatted with Mitsuki while they played and then after a few hours ended up taking him home. It was a normal thing to just show up at each other's houses and ask to come in for a chat.

It was when Izuku was almost four that quirks came into the picture.

She and Hisashi had discussed what his quirk could be at some point and had come up with some interesting possibilities. The very first one they had come up with was Manipulating fire. It was the one that made the most sense and had the largest chance of manifesting since it was a direct mix of their quirks. The second one they had come up with was being able to draw fire to himself. Hisashi brought up that he might be able to light himself on fire with this quirk and seemed particularly excited about for reasons she didn't know. The third one they had come up with was him being able to breathe fire like Hisashi, but also be able to manipulate it. It was a mix of the first possibility but he could only manipulate the fire that he created. The last two possibilities were just their own quirks, Weak Telekinesis or Fire Breath.

When Izuku finally turned four, they celebrated it with the Bakugo family and went out to eat. Katsuki had his birthday about two months before Izuku and had developed his quirk just a few days after he officially turned four years old. It was an explosion quirk that could possibly get very powerful as he got older. After Izuku's birthday, his didn't develop as fast as Katsuki's, but they didn't worry too much since Katsuki's quirk developed faster than most other people's did.

After about three weeks, Inko began to get worried. All the kids Izuku's age had developed their quirks and it was almost every day now that he came home crying because none of the other kids wanted to play with him at the park, which included Katsuki.

At the month mark, she eventually gave in to her worries and took him to a quirk doctor. The building looked very similar to a hospital, but the usual scent of antiseptic was replaced with a calming vanilla aroma. She approached the front desk and the receptionist looked up and smiled. 

"Um, I'm here for my son's quirk appointment." She had to put it quite a bit of effort not to stutter, and she luckily succeeded.

"Name?" The receptionist asked.

"I-Inko Midoriya and Izuku M-Midoriya." She internally groaned at how nervous her voice sounded, but she couldn't do anything about it so she simply blinked at the receptionist and awaited the their response.

After messing with some stuff on the computer, she looked back at them with a warm smile. "Dr. Tsubasa is just finishing up with another patient, so if you two could take a seat he should be out soon."

Inko gave a jerky nod and shuffled over to the seats with Izuku's hand in her own. He plopped down into the seat next to her with a smile that was so bright she swore the room actually lit up. Unlike her, he was practically vibrating in his seat he was so excited.

After about ten minutes, she saw a man wearing odd goggles and a laboratory coat walk out and call their names. She stood up and went to follow him, dragging Izuku with her. On the walk there, the doctor introduced himself.

"Ah, hello you two! My name is Dr. Tsubasa. I'll be conducting some tests to tell whether you-" He paused glanced at Izuku with a smile that seemed mildy unsettling but Izuku smiled back anyway. "-have a quirk!"

He led them into a small room and had them sit down on some stools. She glanced around and saw a screen on one of the walls and an odd machine across the room.

Dr. Tsubasa turned to Izuku with another one of his toothy smiles. "Alright! It's time for the big moment! Could you take off one of your shoes and socks young man?" He asked.

Izuku gave a quick nod and immediately started untying one of his shoes. He pulled off his red sneaker to reveal a brightly colored All Might sock and the doctor huffed out a laugh. "I see you're a fan of All Might?" He asked.

Izuku's face lit up and he started gushing about how much he loved All Might. She saw something in the doctor's expression change, but it was gone before she could tell what it was. Izuku was eventually able to get his sock off in his rant about the Number One Hero and Dr. Tsubasa told him it was time for the X-ray.

It only lasted a few minutes, and then the doctor told him to go sit down on the stool again. He rolled his chair over to a computer in the corner of the room and typed and clicked a few things before looking at them again. An image appeared on the screen on the wall of the bones in Izuku's foot. He rolled back up in front of them and leaned on the armrest of his chair. Izuku was bouncing up and down while holding the All Might figure in his hand.

"Ms. Midoriya, I'm afraid to inform you that your son is quirkless."

Her stomach dropped. Izuku stopped bouncing abruptly and went completely still, the smile still plastered on his face yet his eyes hollow. The All Might figure slipped from Izuku's hand and made a noise that suddenly seemed much too loud in the silence of the room. The doctor simply looked disinterested. 

"Are you sure?" The words slipped from her mouth before she realized she was speaking.

The doctor nodded and pointed to bones in Izuku's pinky toe. "He has an extra joint in his pinky toe. People that have quirks are only born with one joint in their pinky toe so if you're born with an extra one, there's a very small chance that you'll develop a quirk."

A spark of hope lit up inside of her and she jumped on it. "There's still a chance though."

The doctor sighed. ".02%."

The spark of hope inside her chest went out. 

The trip home was silent and Heavy. Izuku still had that hollow smile on his face and hadn't spoken ever since Tsubasa had dropped the news. 

When they arrived at the apartment building, she parked the car and got Izuku out of his booster seat. They walked to the level the apartment was on and she unlocked the door. The second they walked in, Hisashi looked up and gave a hopeful smile. The guilt in her stomach coiled like a snake when she realized that he had come home from work early to see Izuku after the appointment. His brow furrowed at the sight of them and she could practically sense his confusion. Izuku simply walked past him with a blank face and she heard the door to his room close from down the hall.

"How did it go?" He asked.

She didn't answer for a moment, avoiding his gaze, until she looked up at him with a pained expression. "He's quirkless."

Hisashi paused, something in his gaze shifting and his smile dropped. The warm aura around him changed to ice in a matter of seconds and her breath hitched. He stood up from where he was sitting at the kitchen table and walked to their room, slamming the door. Something cold and unpleasant coiled around her heart and settled in her chest.

Hisashi slept on the couch that night.

The next morning, she got up early to make Hisashi breakfast before he went to work as usual, but when she walked into the main living area he was gone. She immediately panicked and frantically dialed his number on her phone. It rang a few times before it was picked up.

"Hello?" His voice was gruff and annoyed.

She hesitated, surprised at the sudden roughness. "Are you okay? I came out to make breakfast for you but you were gone."

The line was quiet for a moment. "I left for work early." There was no trace of the usual kindness his voice held and he just sounded bored.

"Oh, you could have said something last ni-" He suddenly hung up and she was cut off by the noise of the phone beeping, signifying that the call had been ended.

She blinked, and then set the phone back down, her eyes suddenly stinging with tears. She didn't know what it was, but something inside her told her that this wasn't a good sign. She tried to convince herself that he didn't mean to hang up on her, that it was just an accident, but deep down she knew something wasn't right.

That night, he got home later than usual and went immediately to their room instead of eating dinner with her and Izuku. She told Izuku that once he finished dinner he needed to get in the bath and then walked to their bedroom door.

"Hisashi? Do you want dinner?" She called through the door.

She heard the noise of their closet door opening and closing and footsteps. "I ate at work."

Her brow furrowed. "O-okay, how was your day?"

"Fine." He answered quickly.

Before she could ask anymore questions she heard the door to the bathroom inside their room close and the shower turn on. She felt tears stinging at her eyes again, but held them back.

The next few days went on like this, Hisashi leaving for work earlier and earlier then coming home later and later until she barely even saw him anymore. He never spoke to her or Izuku and kept to himself. At the week mark, she couldn't handle it anymore. She sent Izuku to bed and then waited until Hisashi got home from work. Finally, at three in the morning, she heard the sound of the key sliding into the lock and the door opening. Hisashi walked in and paused at the sight of her. His face was completely blank and he eyed her warily.

"What job are you doing that results in you being home at three in the morning?" Her mouth contorted into a scowl and she narrowed her eyes.

He didn't miss a beat. "Why do you care?" He said, his voice sharp.

She gawked for a moment before she snapped. "I ask you what you do at your job that causes you to be home at three in the morning and you respond with why do you care? Why do you think I care, Hisashi? Hm?" She rarely ever raised her voice, so when she did, it meant she was very angry. "You haven't spoken to me or Izuku for an entire week! Izuku is asking where you are but I can't answer that question because I don't know! You won't talk to me, you won't tell me where you're going, you won't even look at me!" Her voice had turned pleading and all the tears she had built up for the past seven days were spilling out.

Hisashi stared at her for a moment before throwing the set of apartment keys he had at her with a scowl. He turned away from her and started towards the door. Her stomach dropped and her face paled. No, he wouldn't do that. He wouldn't abandon her. He wouldn't hurt her like that. She knew Hisashi, he would't do that to her. He was just going to go for a walk to cool down. He wouldn't lea-

"What are you doing?" Her voice was wary.

He paused in the doorway for a moment until he finally responded.

"I'm Leaving."

Her breath caught in her throat, her body went rigid and her heart shattered. She thought he would just walk out after that, but instead, he kept talking.

"Your quirk is weak, but I thought that if we had a child together, our quirks would be combined into another powerful quirk. However, you birthed a quirkless child and I'm not willing to wait for another one, so you're of no use to me now."

You're of no use to me now.

"You were just a waste of my time."

You were just a waste of my time.

Then, he stepped out the door, and slammed it closed. She stood there long after he had left, clutching her heart.

Your quirk is weak, but I thought that if we had a child together, our quirks would be combined into another powerful quirk.

Tears streamed down her face and her shoulders shook with silent sobs.

You birthed a quirkless child and I'm not willing to wait for another one.

She paused.

A quirkless child.

If Izuku hadn't been quirkless, she would still have her loving husband.

They would still be a happy family.

If only Izuku hadn't been quirkless.

All of the warmth and love she had felt towards her child turned to grief and that grief turned to anger.

This was all Izuku's fault.

He had robbed her of her husband, he had robbed her of love and he had robbed her of her time. He had robbed her of everything.

"M-mommy...?" She froze.

She slowly turned around to see innocent green eyes peeking around the corner of the wall between the hallway and the living room. Those eyes didn't deserve to be innocent, he was a criminal who had robbed her of everything. Her eyes were wide and bloodshot as she stared at her abomination of a child.

She had been wrong. Izuku wasn't her joy, he was her failure. He represented how she had failed her husband. He represented how much she had lost.

She stormed over to him, grabbed a handful of his hair and dragged him to the middle of the room. She threw him on the floor and he tumbled into the coffee table, hitting his side and crying out in pain. Before he could get up again, she struck him in the side of the head and he banged the back of it on the corner of the coffee table.

"Useless!" She screamed at him.

He started crying and she hit him again. He always cried, and it was just so annoying.

Every time she hit him, she felt a little better. So, she beat him until she felt okay again. She beat him until the sun was peeking above the mountains. She beat him until he was covered in bruises, one of his eyes were swollen and he had a bloody nose. She beat him until he couldn't cry anymore. She screamed how useless he was and how he was such a failure at him. Then, when she felt like she had done enough, she dragged him by his hair to his room and locked him inside, threatening punishment if he came out when she didn't give him permission.

Then, she went to her room, slammed the door, and cried.

If only Izuku wasn't quirkless.

Chapter Text

Izuku never really cared for living.

It was just one of those things that he thought of as, for example, a pen. You lose it, a little disappointing but you eventually move on. It's one of those things you never really pay attention to because you think it doesn't matter very much so you don't get attached to it. That way, when you lose it, it doesn't feel like much of a loss.

His head was laid on his folded arms leaning on his desk and he was half asleep. He had gotten a pretty bad beating from three to four in the morning last night and he was exhausted. The only thing that was going through his mind for the entire beating was who decides to beat the absolute shit out of their kid at three in the morning? He was covered in fresh bruises and favored his left foot whenever he walked.

He was completely zoned out of what was going on around him but was vaguely aware that the class was getting worked up over something and Kacchan was yelling at someone. That's when one line of speech filtered through the jumbled mess.

"Say, on that subject, doesn't Midoriya also want to attend Yuuei?" He sighed. Why couldn't people just leave him alone? They always had to bring the quirkless disappointment of a kid into the situation. Even his teacher. It got extremely irritating.

The class was quiet for a moment before bursting into laughter and mocking him as the telltale sound of hands slamming on his desk right next to head made him grumble in annoyance. People really were a nuisance.

"Oi, nerd!" When he didn't lift his head, he felt fingers grab a handful of his hair and yank his head upwards, forcing him to look at Kacchan's face. He kept his face carefully blank and made sure no emotion leaked into his eyes. "Don't even think about applying to Yuuei or else!" Or else what? He was tempted to ask, but stopped himself. "I plan on being the only from this crappy junior high to get into Yuuei so if I see you there, I'll blow you to pieces!" 

He didn't plan on saying anything, but the words tumbled from his mouth before he even realized he was speaking. "That doesn't sound very heroic." He deadpanned.

Kacchan's lips contorted into a snarl and he pulled back a fist as Izuku prepared to get punched. Luckily, the teacher jumped in before any serious damage was done and Kacchan returned to his seat. 

The rest of the school day passed by in a blur and before he knew it, he was packing up to go home. He was in the middle of putting his most recent hero analysis notebook into his backpack when it was ripped from his hands and the familiar sound of Kacchan's lackeys snickering filled his ears.

"I don't know who you think you are, but we're not done Deku." Ah, Deku. The famous nickname Kacchan gave him after he was diagnosed quirkless.

He usually didn't say anything, but he didn't have time for a session with Kacchan right now. If his mother got home before him on her lunch break, she would give him a beating because he wasn't home on time. She always nit-picked the smallest little things for reasons to beat him so he tried to at least make that list of reasons as small as possible. "Look Kacchan, I really have to get ho-" He was cut off by Kacchan frying his notebook and tossing it out the window.

He watched as it went out the window, like his reputation, and landed in the koi pond, getting eaten by the fish. Kacchan set a smoking hand on his shoulder and he winced as it burned his skin, shifting his gaze back to the boy.

"Why don't you do me a favor and save me the time I'd waste killing you and take a swan dive off the roof!" 

He paused, tilting his head and giving a thoughtful frown. 

Hm, he hadn't thought of that.

He might just do that.

He wasn't going to do it to draw attention to himself or make anyone feel bad, it just made the most sense, so why not? It wouldn't affect anything and nothing would change, so what was stopping him? What reason was there to keep him from doing it? That was exactly it. There wasn't. There was nothing stopping him and there was no reason he shouldn't do it. 

Kacchan and his lackeys eventually left and he just stood there, thinking. After a while he shrugged to himself and finished packing up his stuff.

It wouldn't matter if he took a bit of extra time doing a few things before he went home because he wasn't going to go home ever again. So, he wanted to feed the cats he was currently taking care of.

He took a different route instead of his usual route home that was a little more shifty, but he wasn't too worried. 

The cats he was taking care of were a mother and her four kittens. The mother was a black and bronze calico cat with golden eyes that he had named Butterscotch, then there was a male black kitten with white sock markings on all four feet and nose and golden eyes named five (for the five white markings), a female white and grey kitten with golden eyes named Ghost, a female black kitten with bronze and grey markings and golden eyes named Buttercup (after her mother because she looks the most like her), and last but not least, a completely black male kitten with green eyes named Panther.

He hadn't seen the father of the kittens yet, but he suspected that he was white, grey and black with green eyes. Panther was the only one who inherited his father's green eyes and ended up being a solid color.

He stopped at a small convenience store one the way, picking up a can of wet cat food, a water bottle, a few cheap cat toys, some cat treats and a handful of snacks. After he grabbed everything he wanted, he checked out at the counter and thanked the cashier.

When he finally got to the alley they were hidden in, he quickly moved the garbage cans out of the way and slipped through the hole in the wooden fence behind them. Once he was through, he moved the garbage cans back to where they originally were and continued into the place where the cats were living. 

The area he kept the cats in was the overgrown, dead backyard of an abandoned, run-down house. The windows of the house were boarded up and the few that weren't were cracked and shattered, shards of glass littering the ground on the inside and outside of the house. The walls were covered in graffiti and it was infested with rats and cockroaches. 

There was actually a squatter that lived in the house that he had made friends with. His name was Shurui Ningen and they had an agreement that Izuku could keep the kittens there and he would watch over them when Izuku wasn't there in exchange for food. 

He knocked on the back door to the house and held up the bag of snacks so it was in clear view of one of the windows. "It's me Ningen-san! I brought you your snacks!" 

There was shuffling from inside the house and then the lock clicked and the door opened to reveal a smiling, middle-aged man.

"Ah, Midoriya-kun!" He said cheerfully, while taking the bag of snacks. "How are you doing today?"

He shrugged and averted his gaze. "I'm fine, I guess."

Ningen's expression shifted and Izuku could tell he was concerned. "Did something bad happen at school?" He paused, scowling. "Was it that rotten bully Kacchan again?" When Izuku didn't respond, he sighed and gently laid a hand on his shoulder. It was gentle enough that it didn't hurt the burn Kacchan had given him and he suddenly felt the urge to cry at how thoughtful it was, even if Ningen didn't know the burn existed. When Ningen spoke again, his voice was teasing. "He's a full of himself little rascal who has an ego bigger than the sun." Izuku chuckled slightly, but the urge to cry was even stronger now. Ningen must have realized this, because his voice softened. "Don't listen to him, he doesn't know what he's talking about. He doesn't know you."

Izuku's vision blurred and he sniffled. No matter how much he willed himself not to cry, he couldn't stop himself. He saw Ningen's arms open in an invitation and he took it, wrapping his arms around the man. He knew it was kind of gross and weird to be hugging a homeless man that probably hadn't showered in months but he didn't care.

Every time he came to visit the cats, he always sat and chatted with Ningen and before he knew it, he had spilled his entire life story. Even the quirkless part. But, Ningen hadn't judged him and had even offered support during especially hard times. He knew it was depressing, but Ningen was probably his most prominent parental figure in life. A poor, homeless man squatting in some random house in the shifty part of town was who he considered his family.

When he was finally able to stop himself from crying, he pulled away from the hug and wiped his eyes.

"I'm sorry." His voice was ashamed.

Ningen smiled warmly and his eyes crinkled at the edges. "Don't apologize for crying Midoriya-kun, it's a normal thing to do, so don't be ashamed of doing it."

He nodded and Ningen went to close the door, but he remembered what he had originally come here to do.

"Oh, Wait!" Ningen opened the door again and blinked at him expectantly. "U-um, I won't be coming back again so I just wanted to give you a heads up that this is the last load of food I'm going to be bringing you and to say goodbye to you and the cats."

Ningen's brow furrowed and he opened the door a little wider. "You're leaving?"

"Something like that." He mumbled.

Ningen gave a sad smile. "Well, goodbye then, Midoriya-kun. It was very nice being able to meet you."

He returned the sad smile and bowed in thanks. "Same to you, Ningen-san." 

Then, the door closed and the lock clicked.

He shuffled over to the corner of the yard where the box was and squatted down so he could see inside. The box was turned on its side and the back of it was leaning against the fence. There was a blanket with small pictures of stars and sheep folded on the bottom of the box and another piece of red cloth covering the open side of the box so that wind wouldn't bother the kittens. He had placed two bowls in the box next to the Butterscotch's head for food and water so she didn't have to leave her kittens to hunt.

He slowly pulled up the red cloth, as to not startle them, and softly announced his presence. Butterscotch looked up and him and meowed as she slowly blinked and he could immediately tell she was exhausted. All of the kittens were feeding so they didn't really pay attention to him, but he saw Panther turn to look at him. He glanced over at him and they locked eyes.

Panther was an odd cat. He acted differently than the other kittens and usually sat with his mother, watching his siblings play instead of joining them. There was just this knowing glint in his eyes that practically screamed 'I know know something' but Izuku could never really tell whether it was something he should care about or if he was just seeing things.

He smiled warmly at Panther and he meowed back before shuffling over to him. All of the kittens' eyes had just barely opened a few days ago and they were finally starting to walk. Well, it was more of a shuffle, but it still qualified. He was a little surprised at the sudden approach of Panther, but he gently picked him up and set him in his lap, sliding his hand through his soft fur. Panther looked up at him and meowed again and he giggled. Animals were so much easier to talk to than humans, they were just so kind and willing to listen. Even if they couldn't understand you, they at least didn't hit or slap him every time he spoke, like his mother and Kacchan.

"You're adorable." He swore Panther smiled but he was a cat. So how in the world would he be able to smile. Izuku's smile turned sad at the thought of not getting to see them anymore and he sighed. "I just wanted to say that I'm not going to be able to see you guys anymore, and I just wanted to say goodbye." Panther tilted his head and blinked, as if he was asking why, and he raised an eyebrow. "I'm going to a better place. Maybe there, I'll finally be happy." 

Panther howled. His eyes widened and he quickly lifted him out of his lap and set him back on the blanket, worried he had hurt him, but Panther just continued to meow extremely loudly.

"W-what's wrong?!" He asked frantically.

Panther finally stopped and looked up at him with the most sad expression he had ever seen on a cat. Okay, now he was sure he was seeing things. There was no way Panther would be able to understand him, right?

He simply brushed the thought off and shook his head, he was definitely crazy. He grabbed the can of cat food out of the second bag of stuff he had gotten and opened it before he dumped it into one of the bowls near Butterscotch's head. She started eating it the second his hand was out of the way, and he filled up the water bowl with the water from the water bottle for when she was done with the food and needed a drink.

"Alright, bye everyone." Panther meowed at him again and tried to shuffle up to him but he moved him back with all the other kittens. Then, he draped the red cloth back over the open part of the box and stood up.

Now that he had finished everything he wanted to do, he exited the yard the same way he had entered, and started the walk home. While he was strolling under an overpass, he heard an odd squelching noise and turned around to see what it was, but there was suddenly a blur of green and something was covering his mouth.

"Alright kid, if you don't struggle it won't hurt for very long, so just give up and it'll go quick." The voice was raspy and low as the person- person? Thing spoke.

Well, he was planning on jumping off the roof of the school building to end his life, but if the universe wanted to take him now, he wouldn't stop it. His body went limp and he felt something cold and slimy slither down his throat.

"Wow, I didn't actually expect that to work." The thing said.

Izuku felt the odd substance enter his lungs and block any air from entering. His lungs burned without oxygen and his vision began to darken. But, right before he lost consciousness, he heard a familiar voice yell, "SMASH!"

He could vaguely tell he was laying down, but everything else was unfocused and he felt like he was floating. The only thing going through his mind was Am I dead? But, everything slowly came into focus and his sense of gravity came back

He could feel something gently slapping his face and he opened his eyes to see a blurred yellow shape. He blinked a few times and his vision cleared to reveal All Might.

Wait.

All Might?

The number one hero straightened back up and let out a boisterous laugh. "Thought we lost you there! I'm glad you're okay young citizen!"

His eyes widened and he tried to say something but instead ended up rolling over and vomiting up all the disgusting green liquid that had lodged itself in his air-pipe. He heaved and coughed every bit of it up and was finally able to inhale. He had tears streaming from the violence of it and he could guarantee his face was red.

He turned to glance up at All Might again and wiped the tears from his eyes. "A-All M-M-Might?!" He internally cringed at how scratchy and dry his voice sounded and his face flushed in embarrassment.

All Might laughed again and Izuku watched as he slid two bottles filled with the same green liquid that he had thrown-up into the bottom set of pockets on his cargo pants. He quickly stood up and scrambled over to his backpack to find something to write in, but he then remembered that he had left his notebook in the koi pond at school and he internally cursed at himself.

"What's your name young one?" All Might asked.

He gulped. "M-Midoriya. Izuku Midoriya." It was quite painful to speak but he couldn't just not respond to All Might. 

"Well young Midoriya, I have to return this villain to the police!" Izuku's palms grew sweaty and he debated on whether he wanted to ask the question. "It's always nice meeting my fans!" Come on, it was just a question and if he didn't ask him now he would most likely never get the chance to ask him again. "Alright! I must go, because justice waits for no o-"

"Can a quirkless kid like me be a hero?"

He knew he was going out on a limb, but maybe if All Might said yes he would reconsi-

"I would say no." His heart shattered and his face fell. "It's much too dangerous and you have no way to defend yourself from other people who have quirks. It's practically suicide. There are lots of other jobs that aid in saving people, try becoming a policeman or a fireman." 

He nodded and threw his backpack over his shoulder before turning around and walking away. He heard All Might launch himself into the air behind him and he hung his head low.

However, as he walked away, he didn't notice the soda bottles that fell and hit the ground, splitting open as they made contact with the concrete.

Instead of going through the main school gates, he went around to the school field and hopped the fence there so that nobody inside of the building saw him. He stayed in the shadows as he walked to the doors on the side of the school that were usually unlocked, opened it as quietly as possible and closed it slowly so it didn't slam.

It had only been about an hour since school had ended which meant that there were probably still teachers in the school building finishing up correcting classwork and getting ready to go home so he needed to be careful. If he got caught, he'd not only not get to complete his goal, but he would also get in trouble for being in the school building after the school day had ended.  

He glanced around the corner to make sure the hallway was empty and sprinted down it. But, just as he was about to turn the corner that led to the stairs, he heard voices. He ducked into a small side hallway with a drinking fountain until the voices passed and then continued on.

His feet carried him up the stairs, each step getting more exhausting. When he finally made it to the door to the roof, he picked the lock with a bobby pick and when he heard the satisfying click of the door unlocking, he twisted the door handle. The door opened smoothly and he was immediately hit with a strong breeze that blew his hair out of his face.

He gently closed the door and walked to the edge of the roof that led to the side area of the school where the dumpsters and garbage cans sat. He checked to make sure no one was around and returned to the edge of the roof that he wanted to jump off of. He supported himself on the small flimsy fence that was put in place to keep people from  accidentally falling off as he took off his shoes and set them in front of it. He then hung his backpack on above his shoes and stepped over the fence.

There was a small ledge outside the fence that overlooked the area below and he stood there, taking a moment to appreciate the world, just in case he couldn't anymore after he died. The wind whipped his hair around and rustled the trees' leaves while the birds sang to their heart's content. He swore he could hear whispering, but ultimately decided that it was just the wind echoing in his ears.

As he looked over the ledge, he wondered how big of an impact what he was about to do would have on the world. His mother hated him and would most likely be happy if he was gone and Kacchan wouldn't be bothered by him anymore. They were the only people who would probably even notice he was gone, but they would be happier when he was, and everyone else around him wouldn't even notice he had disappeared. He let tears freely fall out of his eyes as he stood there, crying for the first time in a while just in case he wouldn't be able to cry after death.

No one wanted him here, not even himself. So why stay?

He closed his eyes and suddenly, everything went silent. The wind stopped, the trees went still and the birds went quiet.

Then, he jumped.

He closed the distance between his legs so they were pressed tightly against each other and brought his arms into the air before curving them downwards in an arc and into a point in front of his head in a graceful swan dive. As he fell, his body turned at a vertical angle until he hit the ground. His arms shattered upon impact and made his body curve forwards so he fell on his back.

All his senses were blinded with white hot pain for a fraction of a second, his eyes shooting open and the wind being knocked out of his lungs, but then the pain stopped. He felt cold and hot at the same time and he could feel blood pouring from his head and various points of his body. A small smile tugged at his lips as blood poured from his mouth and his body fell limp.

Then, everything went black.

This time, he knew he was dead.

Everything was dark and he felt like he was floating again. It was an odd feeling, and he couldn't tell if he liked it or hated it. It was like endlessly falling, making your stomach fill with butterflies and stick your heart in your throat. So basically, it made him want to giggle and throw-up at the same time.

His body was still, floating through the endless darkness that was like a world of its own. At first, he could hear pounding that sounded like it was coming from everywhere but nowhere at the same time that was slowly getting slower and quieter. It eventually stopped, everything going silent, until it was replaced with more noise. He was conscious yet unconscious of everything around him all at once, and he didn't know how to feel about it.  

The constant aching from his right leg was gone, the pain of his bruises was gone, the throb of the burn on his shoulder was gone and the sting of the cuts on his wrists and legs was also gone. He didn't feel like he was going to fall asleep every time he blinked either. He wasn't cold, he wasn't hot, he wasn't uncomfortable or exhausted, he just felt... nothing.

It was a surreal experience to not be able to feel anything but he wasn't complaining.

He could hear voices around him echoing as if they were in a large room and trying to talk to each other and he slowly opened his eyes. The feeling of floating still didn't go away, and everything was blurry as he sat up and looked around. He heard someone hush all the other voices and they went silent.

He blinked a few times, everything finally coming into focus and the reverb of sound becoming clearer. His head swiveled around to look at everything around him and was met with the gazes of at least fifty people. They were all crowding around him in a circle and he was in the middle of it.

He usually would've freaked out, but he was just super confused. Why were there a bunch of people gathered around him? Was this just a normal thing to do after someone died? Where did they all come from?

It took him a moment to process that these weren't normal people. Almost all of them had visible injuries that were bad enough to be fatal. One person had half of their torso missing and another one was literally cut in half. 

That's when he realized that all of these people were ghosts. They were all dead and had gathered around his own ghost.  

Before his thoughts could wander too far, a man in front of him spoke. "How do you feel?" He asked. The man had green hair that was a few shades lighter than his mother's and green eyes that were perfect copies of hers. He was wearing a yellow t-shirt, blue jeans and black sneakers.

He was tall, looked quite muscular with broad shoulders and would have been quite handsome if it weren't for the literal hole in his head that was supplying a constant stream of blood that was staining his face and dripping off his chin and down his throat. 

It was an odd question, because if these people felt how he was feeling, then they didn't feel. "I... don't."

The man raised an eyebrow. "You don't what?"

"I don't feel. I feel nothing." His voice was smooth and it didn't hurt to talk anymore.

The man chuckled and murmurs spread through the crowd of people around him. "Inko was right, you really are something."

He paused, blinking at the man. "Pardon?" How did this man know his mother? Who was he?

"Inko told me that you were really a special kid, and you sure didn't disappoint." The man folded his arms as he spoke and his tone was amused.

"Who are you?" He asked.

The man scoffed. "I can't believe she never told you about me."

He frowned. "That woman tells me nothing."

The man sighed before sliding one of his hands into his pocket and extending the other one out towards him. 

"Name's Shibito Midoriya, I'm your uncle. Nice to meet ya."

Chapter Text

Izuku gave the man a skeptical look before shaking his hand.

"So, you're my uncle." The man nodded. "Um, alright Midoriya-san."

He slid the hand Izuku had just shook into his other pocket and clicked his tongue. "Ditch the honorifics and last name, just call me Shibito." 

"O-okay." His eyes flicked around at all the people and felt himself get queasy just by looking at them. "Even if you actually are my uncle, who are all of them?" He asked, motioning to everyone around him.

"I actually don't know most of them, they all gathered on your walk to the cats and back. I've been following you since I died." Shibito just kept his eyes on him while speaking, seemingly not caring about the people around them.

"Why specifically then?" He asked.

"All ghosts can all tell when someone has intentions to enter our world." Shibito paused, tapping his finger on his chin. "It's like a pregnant woman, you can tell she's going to bring life into your world soon because of the size of her stomach. With ghosts, it's more of just a feeling but you get the gist."

He glanced around at all the people gathered around him and shrunk under their gazes. "So, everyone just gathers around people that are about to die?" 

"Actually, no. If it's an old man about to die, for example, he doesn't really have intentions of entering our world, he's just going to die because his body can't support him anymore. The only people that really have intentions of entering our world are people who are going to commit suicide." He stared, trying to process all the information that was coming out of Shibito's mouth. "Usually, when someone wants to commit suicide, it means their life was probably pretty terrible, so any ghosts that see them before they die gather around the person to welcome them to the afterlife. Besides, it's kinda cool getting to see a ghost made."

Shibito held out his hand again and Izuku raised an eyebrow.

"I'm helping you up, kid. Do you want to sit on the ground forever?" The second the words left Shibito's mouth he scrambled to take his hand and was yanked up by the strong grip of the man while his face flushed in embarrassment.

The people around him moved so there was room for him to stand up and he stumbled a bit when he didn't feel his feet touch the ground. He yelped in surprise as his feet suddenly floated out from under him and didn't let go of Shibito's hand. His feet continued to float up until he was upside down and the only thing keeping him from floating into the sun was Shibito's grip. He saw Shibito frown and confused murmurs spread throughout the crowd around him.

"I-I th-think I'm g-gonna th-th-throw u-up!" He directed the line at Shibito, expecting him to jump away, but he just looked bored.

"You're a ghost. You can't throw up." Shibito closed his mouth for a moment, brow knitting together in thought. "That's weird." Wow, what a reassuring thing to say to someone about to float endlessly into space.

"W-what's w-w-weird?!" He asked frantically.

"Usually the only ghosts that float after they're dead are people who drowned, and even then, they only float a few inches above the ground." Izuku's grip started slipping and he panicked, desperately grabbing at the man's wrists and arms. "Anyone here died by the hands of water?" Shibito called to the crowd. 

He could see people parting in the crowd as someone pushed to the front. "I did! I can help!" 

A woman with light blue hair that was floating around her as if she were under water emerged and floated up to him. She had a scar next to her right eye and was wearing a sailor outfit that was floating in the same manner as her hair. She had sharp horns that protruded from her scalp and stretched towards the back of her head. Her left eye was dark blue with a slit pupil and the other was completely white, most likely from the scar that grazed it.

The woman looked to be about in her early twenties and had a ghost macaw on her shoulder. She eyed him for a second, until she grabbed his feet, brought them back down to the ground and held them there so they didn't float up again. "Try thinking of how it felt being pulled down by gravity when you were still alive. It should be pretty fresh on your mind since you literally just died like, five seconds ago."

He shut his eyes tightly and let his mind imagine gravity pulling him down to the earth. He imagined his hair bobbing as his feet thumped down on the pavement and how he was pulled back down to the ground whenever he jumped. When he finally felt the solid ground under his feet, he opened his eyes.

"Once you get the hang of it, you should be able to switch freely between walking and floating." The pirate-dragon-woman said.

He nodded and when the woman seemed satisfied, she shuffled back into the crowd. 

"Whelp kid, what are you gonna do now that you're dead?" 

He paused. What was he going to do now that he was dead?

He shrugged. "I don't know, I guess I'll just do whatever I want."

Shibito hummed before motioning to something behind Izuku. "You wanna see your body before you leave?" He asked.

Izuku hesitated for a moment, but eventually he slowly turned around to face his body. His gaze locked onto his own eyes and he winced, freezing in place. The back of his skull was cracked open, staining his green hair red while blood pooled under it on the concrete. His eyes were dead in a way that made it deeply uncomfortable to look at them for long periods of time and there was a small smile on his lips as blood dripped from his mouth down his chin. The last of his tears were streaming down his face and his eyes were swollen from crying. His arms were split open, exposing a shattered bone with pieces laying all around him, a stark contrast to the dark red blood under his entire body. His legs were crooked, bleeding and facing a completely different direction than the top half of his body while his spine was snapped in half and poking out of his back. The only part of his body that wasn't severely damaged was his face, but it made it all the more disturbing since his face was relaxed and he was even smiling while his body was deformed and broken.

Even though he was internally suffering just by looking at himself, the words slipped out of his mouth before he could think. "Man, I feel bad for whoever finds my body. I would pay for their therapy if I could, but I probably need it more than they do."

Shibito let out a soft chuckle and set a hand on his shoulder. "I'm surprised you're reacting this calmly, I honestly thought you would be crying by now. That was my first reaction to seeing my own dead body, and mine wasn't even this bad."

"Oh, believe me, I am." Shibito raised an eyebrow, and he whispered the last part. "On the inside."

Shibito laughed quietly and patted his shoulder. "You ready to leave, kid? It's not very good to stare at your own dead body for very long. It can set off a ghost's temper, especially ghosts who committed suicide." 

It was his turn to raise an eyebrow. "'Temper'?"

His uncle nodded. "Yeah, ghosts tend to have a temper that can be set off by certain things. Each one has their own individual triggers, but most of them consist of things that remind them of key memories in their lifetime. They turn into poltergeists and start throwing stuff and trying to hurt other ghosts or living people. Not to mention the screaming." He groaned. "It's extremely loud and very painful to listen to." 

He simply nodded, stood up and turned to face his uncle. "I want to look around anyway, so we can just walk around or something."

Once they were out of the crowd, all of the people dissipated and returned to wherever they were before, leaving him and Shibito alone. Shibito allowed him to ask questions on the way to wherever they eventually decided to go as they walked at a relaxed pace and he jumped on the opportunity.

"What happened to you?" He asked.

Shibito paused for a second, frowning, before he finally responded. "I got involved with drugs earlier in life and ended up getting shot during a deal."

"That sucks." He deadpanned.

Shibito huffed out a laugh at his response before continuing. "Once you turned four, Inko wouldn't let me visit you and refused to talk about you, so after I died when you were about six, I came to see what was happening with you and your life only to find out Hisashi used her for her quirk, left when you were diagnosed quirkless and Inko was abusing you." 

He physically winced. "Don't... don't phrase it like that."

Shibito paused, glancing at him for a moment, before shifting his gaze back to the sidewalk. "Sorry."

Both of them were quiet for a moment, until Izuku mumbled out an, "It's fine."

"I've just been pretty angry about the whole thing for a while." Shibito's face contorted into an ugly grimace and he practically spat out his next words. "I warned Inko to be careful, but did she listen? No."

They both went silent again, the atmosphere tense. That was until Izuku spotted the koi pond and he saw a familiar shade of blue sitting at the bottom of it. His pace quickened and he approached the small, square-shaped area the fish were kept in. He bent over the water, reaching out for the notebook but paused when he didn't see his reflection. 

Shibito approached him from behind and glimpsed at what he was looking at. "You're a ghost. You don't have a reflection."

Izuku nodded in understanding and scrunched up his face. "This is going to take some getting used to."

Shibito rolled his eyes and scoffed. "Tell me about it."

Izuku continued reaching for the notebook and Shibito rushed forward, reaching out for his arm, trying to stop him. "Wait, kid, that's not gonna wor-" He was cut off as Izuku's fingers curled around the spine of the notebook and he fished it out of the water. 

He held it over the concrete beneath them as water leaked from the pages and shook it a bit, speeding up the process. Once most of the water was gone from the notebook, he went to open the first page, but it phased through his hands before he could complete the task. It landed with a slapping sound and ended up opening to the page on All Might. It had a detailed, realistic drawing of All Might's Golden Age costume and information about him like age, height, weight, etc... He squatted down in front of it to check it out when the memories of his last meeting with the number one hero fronted in his mind and suddenly his entire entity went cold. 

The memories of it flashed in front of his eyes and his hand clenched. The area around him dropped in temperature and he felt Shibito tense. He was hyper-aware of the area around him and he could practically sense Shibito's concern. Everything blurred together except for the notebook page and he just stared at it.

"Kid?" Hearing Shibito's voice made his anger spike violently and he seethed.

Everything around him became extremely irritating in that moment and he just wanted to shatter it all. He felt blood pouring from all of his injuries and it aggravated him even more. He heard Shibito rush over to him and he slowly turned to stare at him.

Shibito harshly shoved him from the side and he fell over. "Alright kid, that's enough of that."

The second the notebook was out of his view, he felt his shoulders loosen and his anger wither away. Shibito shuffled between him and the notebook so that he wouldn't be able to see it if he looked up and folded his arms together. 

"Jeez kid, you were freaky. That notebook must have really ticked you off." His voice was slightly strained and Izuku just looked up at him.

After a moment, Izuku slowly stood up, now recovered from the sudden anger fit and his gaze shifted to the koi pond. His brow furrowed at what he saw and he approached the water again. He bent over, staring at the water, and tilted his head in confusion. "I thought you said ghosts didn't have a reflection." 

Shibito also approached the water and bent over, but his reflection didn't show up. His face was confused as he glanced between Izuku's reflection and where his was supposed to be, his brow furrowed. "They don't." Izuku saw Shibito staring at him with an odd look on his face in his peripheral vision and he turned so he could look back at him. 

Shibito reached an arm out and went to touch Izuku's arm but his hand went right through him. A tingling sensation went through his entire body and he shivered. Shibito immediately pulled his hand away in confusion and took a step back. 

"Y-you're a ghost, you shouldn't- I should be able to touch you, so why-" Shibito was alarmed and Izuku was just as confused as ever.

Instead of just staring at Shibito, he reached out and went to touch his arm. His fingers brushed against Shibito's skin and Shibito paused, trying to touch his hand as it brushed his arm, but, like before, Shibito's hand phased through his fingers. Both of them were quiet for a moment, just looking at his hand, until he glanced back over at the pond.

He didn't have a reflection anymore, which caused him to pause, but he stuck his hand in the water anyway and saw the fish swim away from the small waves of disturbance it caused. He gently moved his hand over to one of the fish, expecting to swim away, but it just sat there as if it hadn't seen his hand. He moved his hand closer but the fish still didn't move. So that meant that the fish couldn't see him right? He frowned. Then he shouldn't be able to- His hand wrapped around the koi fish and he pulled it out of the pond.

The koi struggled in his hand for a moment, but ultimately went limp and just sat there. He turned to Shibito with wide eyes and slight frown. He was dead. He was a ghost. He had literally seen his body, so how was this possible? He would have asked Shibito if this was a normal thing, but the look on his face told him everything he needed to know.

He set the fish back in the pond and faced Shibito again, expecting to see the classic confused face, but was instead met with a sudden realization face. He paused, raising an eyebrow.

Shibito seemed happy to explain. "Are you sure you were quirkless when you were alive?"

Izuku sighed. "Yes. We even went to a quirk specialist and got X-rays of my foot, I have the extra toe joint."

Shibito's eyes narrowed and a toothy smile broke out on his face. "Maybe you did have a quirk when you were alive, it just couldn't be used until after you were dead." 

Izuku was about to shoot the idea down but he hesitated, his brow furrowing in thought. "That-" He paused again, mouth opening and closing. "-actually makes sense."

Shibito's smile widened. "Let's see what else you can do, kid. Maybe your dream isn't over just yet."

As they walked through the city, Izuku glanced around. "Jeez, this is also a popular place for ghosts, apparently." His voice was strained as he swerved to avoid running into another ghost.

"Yeah, it's filled with living people that actually have souls so all the ghosts come here and practically bathe in the energy they give off." Shibito was much more comfortable as he weaved through the crowd at a much quicker pace and hadn't even gotten close to hitting any other ghosts.

Izuku just barely clipped another ghost's shoulder and the ghost cursed at him a few times as he apologized at least ten times and then quickened up his pace so he could catch up with Shibito.

"Where are we going?" He asked.

"Dagobah beach." Shibito responded quickly, veering out of the way of a giant, deformed ghost.

He saw Shibito's eyes drift over to him for a moment, obviously seeing his struggle, and slowed down a bit so that Izuku was able to catch up and walk next to him.

Once Izuku was within hearing distance, he continued to talk to Shibito. "Why?" He asked.

"We're gonna see what you can do with that quirk of yours." Shibito smiled like he did back at the school again and Izuku could tell he was excited.

Izuku was just unamused. "We're not even sure if it's actually a quirk."

"Ah, but we are. I have never met a ghost that could hold objects for that long, even as a poltergeist. Especially something as heavy as that koi that you literally grabbed out of that pond and just held for like, thirty seconds straight. You're a ghost, kid. 'Not a quirk' my butt." Shibito just continued along and started whistling as if he didn't have a care in the world. Which he probably didn't because he was dead.

Suddenly, there was a loud explosion and he heard people start screaming. Shibito didn't even seem phased and just continued on, whistling to his heart's content. "They can't hurt you kid! You're a ghost!" He called from down the street.

He began to grow frantic and started wringing his hands. "That's exactly the point! They can hurt other people, but they can't hurt me! I can do something! I can touch things in the living world!" He saw Shibito pause before turning around to look at him.

Shibito narrowed his eyes, thinking, before waving him off. "Eh, go get 'em kid. You've always wanted to be a hero and you're dead anyway, so do what you can. It's what we were going to test at the beach regardless."

The second the words left Shibito's mouth, Izuku was off. He ran in the direction of the explosion and saw an alleyway that was lit up with fire. He could see a few pro heroes, civilians and reporters standing in front of it but they weren't doing anything. All the living people were running and screaming as more explosions went off, but all of the ghosts were just casually strolling down the street like nothing was happening.

He didn't even care about running into ghosts anymore and practically shot down the road. Ghosts jumped out of the way and either cursed at him, told him how useless trying would be or laughed at him.

When he finally reached the alley, he jogged to the front of the crowd and looked to see what was happening. What he saw made him go rigid.

He saw the familiar green substance of the slime villain that had attacked him earlier that day and blond hair. His eyes locked onto the ash blonde-color of Kacchan's hair, and he saw Kacchan look up, green meeting red. Izuku then remembered that Kacchan most likely couldn't see him, but he didn't care. Kacchan's eyes were panicked and pleading for help, yet no one was doing anything.

He glanced around at the people around him, but the hero's just stood around, trying to keep any other civilians from entering the scene. He felt his anger spike at the fact and he glanced back at Kacchan.

Everything else around him seemed to blur, the sounds, the sights, the colors, everything became one except for Kacchan. He knew how it felt to be suffocated. He knew how it felt to have a cold, slimy substance forcing itself down his throat. He knew how it felt to have his lungs burning from lack of oxygen. He knew how the thought of death crossed his mind at that moment. He knew. But, one thing he didn't know, was watching as strangers stood by, watching as he was slowly strangled by a criminal who deserved to be in jail.

His mind zeroed in on the scene playing out in front of him, and he felt the temperature around him drop. Energy sparked through the area around him, and his mouth opened.

Even though he hated Kacchan,

Kacchan didn't deserve to die.

Kacchan was going to become a hero.

Kacchan wasn't a waste of space like him.

Kacchan had a dream.

Kacchan had a purpose.

Kacchan deserved to live.

Then, he let out the most ear-shattering scream he had ever heard. Every ghost within hearing distance covered their ears and tried to get as far away from him as possible. Within seconds, they had all evacuated the street, even Shibito, and he even saw a few of the living people around him flinch and glance around.

Before he realized what he was doing, his feet were carrying him forward and he launched himself at the villain. His fingers phased through the green slime for a few moments which resulted in him growing even more angry and his scream growing louder. He could hear other ghosts starting to scream from farther away but he didn't care. His mind was completely gone and all he cared about was making sure Kacchan got out of this alive.

He was just so angry. He didn't even know why, he was just angry and he didn't want to be angry anymore. The cause of his anger was the sludge villain so he just needed to fix that. 

Blood poured down his face from his cracked skull, shattered arms and split in half spine, seemingly leaking onto the ground but disappearing before it could make contact. 

His fingers finally started to actually touch the sludge villain's form, and he took advantage of it. He raked his hands through the green sludge, continuing to scream. His anger spiked again when the sludge returned to place after he ripped it out and his form wavered.

He saw the sludge villain's and Kacchan's eyes widen but he kept going. 

"Where the hell did you come from?!" The sludge villain cursed. 

Izuku didn't respond and just continued to pull at the sludge villains form and scream. Kacchan was able to wrench his face out of the sludge villain's grip and he gasped for air before turning to look at him. 

"The hell are you doing?! Get the fuck outta here! You can't do shit for me you useless rat!" He practically spat the words in Izuku's face which only made him angrier. 

He was tired of being called useless. He was tired of being told he couldn't do anything.

Because he wasn't useless anymore, and he could do something.

That's when the realization set in.

He had a quirk.

And he could fucking use it.

His jaw unhinged and his mouth opened even wider, the scream becoming so loud he couldn't even hear the explosions, fire and yelling around him. He reached his hands through the green sludge, grabbed ahold of Kacchan's shirt, and yanked.

"L̵̢͇̲̙̪̣̰̞̼̝̮̲̠̬͖̩̭̫͙͙̬̦̹̅̀͒͊̋̃̈̉̑̒̀̕̚͝ ̴̞̤̆̐̓̿̃̾̈́̓͑̇͒́͊́̕E̶̢̹͔̪̟̳̦͈͓͎̜̖̎̿̍̊͊̈̄͑̉̈́̓̇̆̐̄͌̇̇̾͌͂ ̸̨̢̛͙̜̖̟͉̗͖̫̩̼͈͎̪̫̘̦́̔̅̀̾̈́̎̍͒̓͂̉͋̿̄̾̍͗̈́̓̇̽̄́̂̽̏͘͘T̴̡̛̥̳̗̗̘͚̞̻̂̅͑͑̆̇̓͋̋̅̈́̎͆̌͋̔̋̃͝͠ͅ ̴̨̨̢̢̱̯͇̰͙͎̙̘͚͕̠̫̹̯͍͚͒̾̓̅̅̇̈́̄̎͐͘͜͝ ̵̩̬̞͈͎̻̹̹̱͙̮̮͓̗̺̮̖͎͉͓͔̪̤̉̄̉̍̒͒̇̒ͅͅG̶̯̙̜̭͓͉͒̋̑̑͋̄̒̈́̌͂ ̸̗̞̯͂Ở̷̡̗̺͈͎̠̞͙̲̗̐̓̓̀͊͒͑̾̈͋͐̏̔̎͛̑̄͗̔̍͒̀͌͌͘͘͝͠͝͠  "

His voice was distorted and the words were barely intelligible but they were words nonetheless.

A brief expression that Izuku couldn't quite understand flashed across Kacchan's face but it was gone before he could fully analyze it. The sludge villain's grip loosened and he and Kacchan flew backwards with power Izuku didn't even know was possible.

He heard the sludge villain howl in anger and there was a sudden burst of wind along with a familiar voice. "FEAR NOT, CITIZENS! WHY? BECAUSE I AM HERE!"

He and Kacchan had ended up getting launched into a wall across the street, heroes immediately coming over to help them. He didn't remember much after that. It was like he was watching himself in third person, like this wasn't his life (or death, for that matter). Everything sounded like it was being said and done across a very large room and he lifted one of his hands into view to watch it waver and flicker out of corporeality like a computer glitch.

He could tell there was someone lecturing him, but he tuned them out. His eyes were cast at the ground and they stayed there the entire time. He was exhausted. In every single form imaginable. He was worried that if he let himself associate with the world right now, he wouldn't be able to handle it. The only thing he could process was that he felt like absolute shit. It took every part of being to keep from disappearing right in front of the heroes and it was making him feel even worse. Through a very laggy revelation, he vaguely realized this was most likely what quirk exhaustion felt like and let out what would've been a small exhale in a chuckle from his nose. 

Izuku was eventually sent home and his feet took him to the normal pathway he always took on the way back to the apartment. He heard someone call his name and turned around to see Kacchan. Unfortunately he was still too overloaded to tune in on his surroundings so he just watched as Kacchan's mouth shifted into vague shapes while his hands gestured violently with each word. He just waited until Kacchan's mouth stopped moving then turned around and continued the way he'd been going.

With his gaze set on the ground, he saw a shape jump out onto the sidewalk in front of him and he looked up, stopping where he was. He was met with the familiar sight of giant muscles and blond hair until All Might was thrown into a violent coughing fit and erupted into a large cloud of smoke. When the smoke cleared, all he saw was a shell of the previous man; blood dribbling down his chin.

Izuku was deeply disturbed by the site in front of him, but it wasn't All Might that was bothering him; It was the seven other ghosts around him. A decently large handful of both men and women were engaged in whispered conversation around the man as they seemed to be observing him. It was making Izuku severely uncomfortable.

Izuku's brain finally decided to reconnect with the world as the sight finally set in and his eyes widened and he stared at this man who was previously All Might. On the inside, he was freaking out, but on the outside, he just looked mildly surprised because he didn't have the energy to put into any real physical reaction.

"I can explain." Izuku just pretended to look at his wrist where a watch would have usually been even though there wasn't one there to insinuate that he should get on with it.

After a quick explanation of what the hell was happening and All Might's quirk, Izuku was even more confused than he was before. So, All Might had gotten an injury that had damaged his health substantially, which resulted in his second skeleton-looking form, he had a quirk that had been passed down from generation to generation that he needed to give to someone in order to continue to the next generation because his health was getting worse by the day and he wanted that person to be Izuku.

"I thought you were quirkless, but you just appeared out of nowhere and saved young Bakugou so I'm assuming you have a quirk, but it doesn't change my opinion. All heroes I have spoken to experienced the same thing, their feet moved without them thinking. That's what happened to you, wasn't it?" Izuku stared. All Might simply cleared his throat and continued. "I want you to be my successor, the next holder of One for All. So what do you say, my boy?"

The ghosts that had been whispering around All Might went silent and he realized he was supposed to respond. 

He couldn't believe how absurd this whole thing was, and he had to cover up a laugh with a cough. "Um, I-" He was cut off by a sudden voice next to him and he jumped, his head whipping around.

"I don't think he can hear you, kid." It was Shibito.

He glanced back at All Might, a look of confusion flickering across the man's face. Izuku tried to speak to him again out of muscle memory to try and clear up the uncertainty but look of confusion on All Might's face only grew into concern.

"Are you alright young Midoriya?" He asked.

Izuku sighed. All Might really couldn't hear him. He wanted to explain that he couldn't take All Might's quirk even if he wanted to because he was pretty sure his ghost body couldn't perform what was required to receive the quirk anyway so he just huffed and frowned at the man.

Izuku took a step forward and All Might blinked at him in surprise. "Oh, um-"

But, Izuku just ended up walking past him and continuing down the road. He could practically feel the shock radiating off of All Might as he strolled down the sidewalk and he didn't turn back. He doubted there was any other way to really get his point across and he wasn't interested in bridging the gaps between he and the pro hero anymore so he just kept walking.

As he strolled down the street, he realized how late it had gotten. The sky was a mix of at least four colors and he realized he had never really paused to admire the sunset before.

During the walk, Izuku wondered what had happened during the whole sludge villain incident, so he turned to Shibito. "What happened?" He asked.

Shibito just stared at him wide-eyed and his mouth opened and closed a few times. "Um, like, everything...? Or...?" 

"No, during the sludge villain issue. I can't remember much other then screaming my ass off and pulling Kacchan out of that green sludge or whatever it was." He glanced at the sky, further admiring the sunset as Shibito worked up a response.

His uncle made a noise of recognition and followed his gaze, watching the orange, yellow and pink sky. "I can't really tell you much, kid. Every single ghost within a fifty-mile radius had to evacuate because you were so loud. Even five miles away, if I was alive I would have worried about going deaf. I can't imagine what it would have been like up close." He paused for a moment, eyes squinting in thought. "After the screaming stopped, I came to find you and you were getting yelled at by some heroes that were on the scene. It was pretty obvious you were visibly not doin' too well though. I tried to talk to you but you wouldn't respond."

Izuku just nodded and looked away.

Once Izuku was at his apartment, he gently opened the door and stepped inside. He could hear the TV on and he glanced over at it to see a video of him saving Kacchan from the sludge villain and he squinted his eyes in thought. He was mostly facing away from the camera, but every time he turned even just a little bit, anyone could see that his mouth was wide open in a silent scream.

The only hint that he was making any noise was a high-pitched screeching noise that could be passed off as electronic feedback. As he was examining the footage while it was playing, he heard a loud slam and violent steps down the hallway. He could practically feel the phantom sensation of his face paling and the empty crevice of his being fill to the brim with terror out of muscle memory.

His mother stepped into view carrying a glass bottle, an expression of pure fury on her face. "What the hell kind of a stunt was that?" She stepped towards him slowly, voice eerily calm. "I told you to stay out of that hero shit, but did you listen? No. If only you would listen to me I wouldn't have to do the shit I do to you." Her facade cracked just slightly as he face morphed into an ugly expression of disgust and he hand clenched around the bottle. "If only you would listen to me neither of us would have to deal with this bullshit and I would have to look at your pathetic face." She picked up speed and began striding across the room towards him. "I wish I had never given birth to you you damn DISGRACE. I just wish someone would run you over or some shit so I don't have to deal with your PATHETIC ASS anymore." Inko's voice was raising in volume with each step and he watched her arm holding the bottle lift. "I JUST WISH YOU WOULD KILL YOURSELF!"

She swung the bottle down and he clenched his eyes shut, preparing for impact; but it never came. He heard the sound of glass shattering and flinched again, but didn't even feel any force against his arms or head, so he slowly opened his eyes to see his mother with her arm still partially up in the air and a wide-eyed gaze. He paused, confused, until he looked down and saw the shattered glass of the bottle sitting on the floor under him, partially phasing through his feet.

His eyes widened even further than Inko's and stood abruptly, making a beeline for the door. He slammed it closed once he was outside and ran.

He could feel Shibito's presence next to him after he had slowed down to a walk and sighed.

"If you want to say something, say it." His voice was cold and gruff, all the previous warmth and humor he had spoken to Shibito with was gone without a trace.

Shibito glanced at him before quickly looking away again. "I just wanted to ask if... if you were okay...?"

He nodded slightly and went silent again, his mind wandering off. He eventually came to his death earlier that day and how much had happened within the past few hours, but a thought entered his head and his mind froze, his eyes widening.

"What is it?" Shibito asked from behind him.

He slowly turned to face him and hesitated before speaking. Should he do it? Well, if he didn't do it, it could mess up a few things later on, so should he? But, if he did do it, it could also mess up some things in the future. Each way had its pros and cons, so it all came down to how much he wanted to do it in the long run. He was a ghost, so he had all the time in the world to do what he had always dreamed of. 

A toothy smile broke out on his face; a fresh wave of blood spilling from all the open wounds scattered around his body in the strong fit of emotion.

Let's just say, by the time the sun rose, Izuku swiped the non-existent bead of sweat off his forehead and stepped back to admire his work. He glanced over to Shibito and once he received a nod of approval from the man he threw his shovel into the bushes of the school field, strolled away, and never turned back.

There, in the back of the school field lay a mysterious new freshly filled pile of dirt with a few picked wild flowers beside it, and a new mysterious crimson stain on the concrete beside the school building.

He wouldn't be worrying about his "body" anymore.

"Alright Shibito, where should we start?" Izuku asked, motioning to the trash along the beach.

Shibito's face broke out into the toothy smile that Izuku himself had been wearing earlier and he pointed to a section of Dagobah beach where there were at least five very concentrated piles of junk. "I like your spirit kid. Let's start over there."     

Chapter Text

10 Months Later

Izuku flew through the night sky, wind whipping his hair out of his face. He rolled as he landed on the next building, minimizing the force he had gathered from jumping, and continued running. He ran to the very edge of the building's roof and didn't even hesitate, launching himself off of it towards the next building.

When he was genuinely serious about getting away from a hero he usually didn't run, but he had been a bit bored for the last few hours and wanted to have some fun.

He let a small smile creep onto his lips that was invisible to the human eye as he shot across the rooftops. His feet pumped and his arms swung back and forth as he ran. He came to a main road with an area too far to jump so he let himself fall, landing harshly on the ground after a sixteen story drop that would have killed any other person. He recovered quickly and brushed himself off, continuing across the road. 

It was fairly quiet at this time of night so the road was empty except a few cars in the distance so he sprinted across it. He was currently being chased by a small-time pro hero with a fairly powerful quirk, metal manipulation, and he almost felt bad for teasing him. The hero was putting a ton of effort into trying to catch him, but he would most likely get away within the next few minutes at most without even going imperceptible.

Just as he suspected, he lost the hero after about two minutes and let himself feel the smallest bit of pride. 

After he died, he thought it would be the end, but he had found out he had a quirk. Shibito and he had practiced every single day for hours on end with it to see what he could do, cleaning the beach in the process. He figured out he could not only do a lot with his quirk, but a lot in general since he was a ghost. 

Sometime during the entire fiasco, the subject of becoming a vigilante came up and it never quite left Izuku's head. He tended to get bored since he was dead and didn't need sleep which resulted in a lot of free time, so it was more of a 'why not' kind of thing. 

His vigilante form was quite simple, he made his entire body look like a pitch black shadow except for his eyes. Every once in a while he would show his mouth so he could smile at villains, but he usually just kept himself completely black. 

When he first started, he wasn't the best at what he did but he didn't have to worry about getting injured or hurt so it may have been messy, but it got the job done. He didn't plan on getting publicity or making a name for himself, but the community seemed to think otherwise.

A lot of the people he had saved had claimed to hear whispering when he arrived on the scene so they had started calling him 'Whisper'. The reason they had been hearing whispering was because ghosts liked to watch his fights so they gathered on the sides and cheered him on. The gatherings had gotten large enough that the volume they were yelling at had become so loud it was able to be heard by sentients.

'Sentients' was what he called living things. It was annoying to call them 'living things' all the time so he and Shibito had started calling them 'sentients' and the name had spread, so all the ghosts he knew were using it.

He did most of his work at night, but if he ran into crime during the day, he would go in as Whisper and take care of it.

Since he was a ghost, he didn't need to do a lot of things which included eating, sleeping and using the facilities, so he didn't really live in any certain place. He technically didn't live anywhere since he was dead, but he meant home wise.  He rarely ever went to the apartment he had stayed in with his mother before and mostly just traveled around Mustafu, visiting different shops and areas, cleaning the beach or taking care of the cats.

Ah, the cats. They had long since grown into adult cats by now and Izuku had figured out quite a bit about each one. He still remembers how Ningen and them reacted when he came back the day after telling them he was leaving.

He slowly approached the back door with a bag filled with more snacks than usual. He rapped his knuckles against the back door and rustled the plastic bag in his hand, raising the bag of snacks in front of the window next to the back door.

The door flew open to reveal a brightly smiling Ningen with wide eyes. "Midoriya-kun!" He said happily. Izuku scratched the back of his neck and smiled nervously while handing the bag of snacks to Ningen. The man was quiet for a moment, blinking at him before squinting his eyes with a slight frown. "I thought you said you were leaving."

Of course. Izuku had expected this question. He nodded and took out a paper that said, 'Yeah, me too. But, there were circumstances that allowed me to stay.'  It wasn't a lie, it just wasn't the full truth.

The harsh facade Ningen had put on dropped and he smiled at him again. "I thought you were tricking me!" He gently shoved Izuku's shoulder and a smile pulled at his lips. "I was about to lecture you on tricking this old man!" Ningen paused, pointing at him accusingly. "But, not too old, I'm still in my prime." He had to cover his mouth so that Ningen couldn't see that he was laughing. But, his shoulders shook with silent laughter and Ningen's face scrunched up. "Hey! Don't make fun of me!"

After a bit of not responding to Ningen's statements and questions, Ningen asked why he wasn't talking and he simply took out another paper that had been pre-written that said, 'I know it's a bit hard to believe, but I was diagnosed mute yesterday.' Luckily, Ningen didn't push it any further and simply wished him a good day.

When he uncovered the cats' box, Panther whipped around to look at him and he smiled warmly. Panther started meowing at him loudly and he gently picked him up to snuggle him. Panther immediately started purring and made it as loud as possible. 

The other cats turned to look at him and followed suit, they all approached him and before he knew it, he was completely covered with cats. He laughed quietly and Panther's purring got louder.

He was still close with Ningen and brought him snacks every single day even though he wasn't watching over the cats anymore. It was the least he could do considering how much Ningen had done for him.

Ever since he had died, every animal avoided him at all costs, except for cats. In fact, they actually seemed attracted to him, he was like a cat magnet. Cats also seemed to be the only animal that could see him when he went unseen to the human eye and other ghosts that normal animals and people couldn't see.

Families of cats usually split up when the kittens got older, but the specific family of cats he had taken care of stayed together. But if he was being honest, he could understand why.

It took him a little bit to figure it out, but he was absolutely ecstatic when he did.

Izuku moved the toy back and forth quickly as Five pounced on it. He giggled and ruffled the kitten's fur as he attacked the small maroon feather on the end of the string.

As he played with the kittens, memories started shifting through his mind and he was brought back to the realization of what he had gotten himself into. His playing became a little less enthusiastic and his smile dropped.

Suddenly, he was pulled out of his thoughts when he heard a quiet meow and felt a small paw on his leg. His eyes locked with Panther's and his brow furrowed in confusion.

There was that look again. But this time, there was more than just intelligence in the cat's gaze, there was concern and understanding. He frowned, only becoming more confused, and Panther meowed at him again.

He had completely forgotten that the cats most likely couldn't hear him anymore, and he spoke. "Panther...?" The kitten just stared at him, eyes wide and innocent as he tilted his head at Izuku. He knew it was a long shot, but he tried anyway. "Can you... can you understand me?"

The cat's eyes lit up and the kitten nodded. He stared. No, this wasn't happening, there was no way this cat had just nodded. He paused, squinting his eyes in thought.

He had heard of animals having quirks before, there were even rumors that the principal of Yuuei was previously an animal that had developed a quirk and was smart enough to evolve and become a citizen, so it was possible. If Panther did have a quirk, he could just keep asking questions to figure out whether or not he had actually seen the cat nod.

Panther was still sitting there silently, eyes sparkling. "Do you know what a quirk is?" He was worried he was making himself look stupid by talking to a cat, but when he saw Panther nod again, he knew it wasn't coincidence. "Do you have a quirk that allows you to understand me?" Panther nodded a third time and he felt himself get excited. 

He continued to ask Panther questions for the rest of the afternoon and eventually came to a conclusion. Panther's father had an intelligence quirk, Panther had been the only one to inherit it and he and the other cats could hear Izuku even though he was a ghost. He should have figured out the signs earlier on since Panther was the only one to end up with green eyes and he acted differently than all the other cats, but he was still glad he found out at some point.

Every time he went to take care of the cats and drop off Ningen's snacks after that day, he was able to chat with more than just Ningen.

Panther was already quite intelligent, but he tended to teach him things when he went to visit. Panther knew how to do math, understood the entire Japanese language up to the level Izuku was on, and could communicate to the other cats if Izuku needed him to. Izuku was pretty sure that if Panther could speak, he would be fluent in Japanese and many other subjects.

He weaved through the alleys of the city, hopping fences and jumping over obstacles with fluid, comfortable movements that showed he had done this many times before. When he finally arrived at the street he had been heading for, he paused in the middle of the road before heading down it. 

During the time he had become a vigilante, he had also become a well known apparition. It was more of an accident, but it had become part of his routine since it was right in the middle of his route to the beach that he always took. 

He was known as 'The Whistling Ghost' because he always walks down the road at a specific time while whistling. The first few times he did it, he didn't even know he was visible or audible, the world just decides to do things sometimes apparently. 

He started to see videos of himself on the internet and realized that people could see him. Luckily he just looked like a shadow, so he was still anonymous. The streetlights on either side of the road flickered as he walked past them and the whistling sounded far away and breathy, as if it was carried by the wind.

There was a small motel on the street that only had ten rooms that could be reserved and used to get barely any business, but ever since he had begun haunting the street, the rooms were completely full almost every single night.

As he slowly made his way down the street, he whistled an old lullaby his mother used to sing to him as a child before he was diagnosed quirkless. She would sing him short lullabies from all around the world and he had chosen an old western lullaby that was called 'Ring Around the Rosie' that had a much deeper meaning if you took it at more than just face value.

The lights flickered around him as he walked and he was very well aware that people were watching him from their windows. He slid his hands into his pockets and whistled away as he strolled through the street in the middle of the road. This was one of the more shifty neighborhoods on the dangerous side of town and he had even had people try to mug him the first few times he did it which was what had destroyed the business for the small motel that his appearance had ended up fixing.

When he reached the end of the street, he disappeared while the lights flickered the last few times and continued on his way to the beach. 

As he ran, the sun was just beginning to rise over the mountains and Izuku sped up his pace. He would be late if he didn't hurry, and Shibito wasn't really known for patience or mercy. He reached the main part of the city and started swerving around all the ghosts walking around. He switched from walking to levitating if there was a shorter ghost he could jump over and just huffed out a laugh when they screamed or cursed at him.

During the time he had been a ghost, he had gotten better at learning to weave through large crowds quickly and was even able to out-weave Shibito. As he made his way towards the beach, a few familiar ghosts greeted him and he waved. 

When he got out of the large crowd, he put on a burst of speed and when the beach came into view, he used his quirk to shoot him forward. He skidded to a halt once he reached the beach and bee-lined for the slightly transparent man standing near the last few piles of trash on the beach, looking into the distance of the ocean and sunrise.

He approached Shibito from behind, but Shibito already knew he was there. "You're late." His voice sounded like a disappointed mother. 

Izuku winced. "Oh come on, I'm only two minutes late." He rolled his eyes as he spoke and his tone was teasing.

Shibito slowly turned around with the tips of his fingers touching and a look in his eyes that threatened punishment. "If you're early, you're on time. If you're on time, you're late. If you're late, you don't qualify." He then slid his hands in his pockets and narrowed his eyes. "It seems you have failed me once again, so you must be obliterated." He spoke in a fake Russian accent as if he was a crime boss and pretended to pull out a weapon, holding his right hand in a finger gun.

Izuku moved his hands so they were up in front of his chest and put on a pleading look. "Wait, Just give me one more cha-" He was cut off by Shibito pretending to load and cock the gun before making a shooting sound and jerking his finger gun backwards.

He gripped his chest, making a fake choking sound and collapsing while letting his tongue loll out of his mouth and his eyes shut. They were both silent for a moment before Shibito burst into laughter and Izuku let out a soft chuckle.

Shibito helped him up and lightly shoved his shoulder. "Come on kid, you don't smile enough anymore."

He scoffed. "I'll smile when I'm alive." His tone was joking but had an edge to it that warned Shibito not to push it further.

The man simply averted his gaze towards the last few piles of trash for a moment and then glanced back at him expectantly. "Alright kid, you've only got a few more piles of trash and then you're done." 

As he worked, Shibito chatted with him, asking him questions or asking him for input every once in a while but mostly just rambling on about some of his memories from his life before he died or an experience he had with another ghost. On rare occasions, Shibito would give him tips on how he could improve his quirk or try something new with it, but it was mostly just a time where they could catch up with each other and joke around.

He was lifting a particularly large pile of trash with his quirk when Shibito went quiet, so he set it down and glanced in his direction to see why. Shibito was standing with his arms folded and a thoughtful expression on his face, so he stared at the man, waiting for him to say what was on his mind, since he always did. 

When Shibito finally opened his mouth to speak, Izuku was all ears. "The Yuuei entrance exam is in a few days, you ready?"

Izuku paused, squinting his eyes in thought before shrugging. "I guess."

Shibito still seemed a little unsure. "We'll go through everything the day before the entrance exam to make sure it's fresh on your mind." 

Izuku sighed. "Don't worry Shibito, I'll be fine. I can't die so I don't know what you're so worried about."

Shibito looked offended. "Hey, you're the closest thing to a kid I've ever had, let me have this moment." The man huffed and turned away from Izuku, folding his arms.

"You are the pettiest person I have ever met." He chuckled again when Shibito flipped his hair dramatically and scoffed, still facing away from him. 

Shibito smacked his lips. "I have been offended. I will not be speaking to you for the next twenty-four hours." He pretended to inspect his nails before walking away with his arms still folded.

Izuku's lips tilted upwards slightly and he snickered. "All right, I have to practice with Taisaku-sensei anyway, bye you petty little rascal." He said jokingly.

When he had first become a vigilante, he didn't want to just depend on his quirk and the fact that he was a ghost so he watched and listened in on different dojos that taught different martial arts. He had met a woman who had died in a car crash at a small dojo that used to teach there during one of the lessons and she agreed to teach him any martial arts she knew since she hadn't been able to teach anyone for a while. 

Shibito just continued marching away in a dramatic walk and he sighed in exasperation at his uncle. He couldn't say he didn't love the man though, he was family after all.

He finished up his last work load at the beach in a few minutes before he left and turned to look out at the beach. The water sparkled as it rolled back and forth across the beach and the sand was finally visible. Movement caught his attention and he realized there was a family of crabs walking across the sand. He glanced around a bit more and saw that there were baby turtles heading towards the ocean in one of the areas he had finished cleaning a while ago and his eyes lit up. He glanced around a bit more and saw people on the beach. Children were playing with each other, adults were chatting on the beach and dogs played fetch with their owners.

"It's beautiful isn't it." He didn't react as Shibito appeared next to him as he usually did, used to his uncle always trying to scare him but playing it off as an accident whenever it genuinely startled him.

He turned to the man with a raised eyebrow. "I thought you weren't talking to me for the next twenty-four hours." His tone was teasing.

The man paused for a second, narrowing his eyes playfully. "I swear, I can't have one emotional moment around you, kid." He roughly ruffled Izuku's hair and he snickered.

"C'mon, you know me, the quirkless failure who disappointed everyone he met during his lifetime." Shibito lightly smacked him in the back of the head as he spoke which only caused him to snicker again.

Shibito's tone was still light but there was seriousness hidden behind it. "We already established that you aren't quirkless, we also already established that you aren't a failure because it was your shitty father that used your mother," His tone softened slightly. "and I am currently establishing that you didn't disappoint me when you met me." 

"I said during my lifetime." The grumble he got in response signified that the statement had the effect he wanted and he smiled mischievously.

Shibito just huffed at his expression. "Like I said, one moment-" Izuku just shoved his shoulder and he groaned. "Fine, get out of here before Taisaku-san beats me up for making you late." 

A faint smile crept onto his face as he walked away from his uncle and he felt a familiar fondness of the man blossom in his chest.

When he arrived at the dojo he usually practiced at, he didn't bother with the door and just walked through the wall. Besides, he wasn't technically registered at the dojo and he wasn't visible so there was no point in using it.

He glanced around for the familiar face of his sensei, and when he spotted her, he strolled over. 

Taisaku had previously taught at this dojo, but it was passed on to her son after she died so she watched over him as he taught the lessons. She had enjoyed teaching the classes when she was alive so much that she had even given short, free lessons for people who wanted to learn martial arts but didn't have enough money to pay for it. The reason she had been so willing to teach Izuku was because she had missed teaching people the art she loved so much and had even been excited when she heard about Izuku's quirk. So, for a few hours each day, she taught him everything she knew about every martial art she knew.

His fighting style was a mix of about four or five different martial arts because Taisaku had been so eager to teach him. Of course she also did it for free, since they were literally dead so what would you use money for. Most ghosts couldn't even touch the money if he tried to pay them anyway.

She had actually told him that he had learned everything she had to teach him at one point, but he stayed anyway because he was her only student and he could tell she enjoyed teaching him. Besides, he would have someone to spar with that was on his level and could help him stay caught up in the routine he had for practicing to keep his muscle memory strong.

They greeted each other with a bow and she got into a fighting position almost immediately after. "Alright, let's review the basic fighting techniques before the lesson, Midoriya-kun."

He copied the fighting stance perfectly and nodded, determination clear in his eyes. She shot forward as fast as a bullet and he waited until she was within striking distance before pivoting his feet and shifting to the side. He grabbed her by the waist and bent backwards, attempting to shove her face into the ground but she curled into herself and grabbed onto his own waist, causing her to roll when she hit the ground.

He lost his balance and fell onto his stomach, leaving the opportunity for Taisaku to gain proper footing open. She took the opportunity as soon as it came and slammed him on the ground, back-up.

This would have usually knocked the wind out of someone, but he didn't breathe nor did he feel pain so it didn't affect him. She laid a knee on his spine, trying to keep him down, but he shoved her leg to the side. She fell sideways, putting out her arm to catch herself and he took advantage of her lowered guard to flip over and punch her in the throat.

The force of his punch caused her to topple backwards and he was about to pull another move when she held up her hand, implying for him to stop. He paused for a moment, staring at her hand before getting up and holding out a hand for Taisaku. She took it, gripping onto his wrist tightly as he did the same and pulled her up.

She turned to him with a frown. "You punched me in the throat." She deadpanned.

He shrugged. "There are no rules against throwing in my own twist to better my chances of winning the fight." He deadpanned back.

She narrowed her eyes and her frown deepened before sighing. "Fine. But I said we were reviewing basic techniques not street fighting." He nodded and she returned to her side of the mat, preparing for another match.

They sparred for the next few hours, Taisaku correcting his stance or giving him tips on how to better his moves every once in a while, until the clock hit five. He didn't get tired or physically exhausted so they just went until a specific time during the evening.

He waved goodbye to Taisaku and then walked through the wall onto the sidewalk outside of the dojo. He hummed to himself as he sauntered down the street, looking for a familiar gas station sign.

He quickly picked up Ningen's snacks along with the items for the cats and continued on his way. When he made it to the alley he entered through every day, he realized he felt lazy that day and cancelled out his gravity and floated over the fence with the bags. He usually would have just phased through the fence, but he couldn't phase the bags through with him so he either went through the hole in the fence or floated over it.

He gently landed back on the grass on the other side and approached the house. He knocked on the door, greeted Ningen and listened to him chat before dropping off the snacks and heading over to the wooden shelter in the corner of the yard where the box used to be.

Over time the cardboard box had deteriorated so he built a box out of plywood that was a bit bigger than the cardboard box from before and draped a tarp over it. The same blanket from before was still inside of the box however since Panther had said he liked it and wanted it to stay as a memory of his kitten-hood.

The cats always came to this certain area at this time of day to see him and get fed but would also come here if it was raining, snowing, cold or windy. He had bought quite a few more bowls for the now adult cats and had to buy a lot more food and water than before, but, he never missed a day and he never let them down. He had sentients to take care of, and he wouldn't fail them like all the other sentients during his lifetime.

The second he approached the wooden shelter, all the cats ran out towards him while meowing loudly. "Well, hello to you too." He said jokingly.

He squatted down so he was level with the box and opened the few cans of cat food that he had bought at the convenient store on the way and poured them into the bowls. He knew that the cats could eat hard food at this age, but he didn't have the money to buy them a bag so he just continued to get wet food. Panther had told him that the cats weren't bothered by it when he asked him though, so he wasn't too worried.

Once he filled all the food bowls with a few cans of cat food and poured water in some of the other bowls, almost all the cats started eating straight away except for Panther. He turned around to meow at Izuku and he chuckled.

"You're welcome." Panther then turned around to join the other cats in eating.

After the visit with Ningen and the cats, he exited the yard and ultimately decided to walk around until he had patrol at one in the morning.

The next two days continued on like normal until the night before the Yuuei entrance exam during his patrol as Whisper.

He ran into a certain underground pro hero.

Shouta Aizawa had been up for the past forty-eight hours and was currently running on eight cups of coffee. He had been working on multiple cases for the past two days along with preparing for the entrance exam and hadn't even had time for one short nap.

He was ready for his shift to be over so he could go back to his apartment and pass out. Hizashi had said he had been especially snappy and needed to stop overworking himself but Hizashi didn't understand that life waited for no one and time was a precious thing that shouldn't be wasted so he just ignored the man.

He usually briefly patrolled around Mustafu and then moved on to some other areas that were more commonly patrolled by other heroes, so there was less crime. He had heard rumors and a few reports from Tsukauchi of a vigilante that had been on their radar for a while now but still hadn't been caught.

He wasn't on the case of the vigilante and didn't want to have to deal with yet another one on top of the ones he already had to do, so he just left it alone. He didn't actively seek the vigilante out, but if he ran into them he would try to catch them. He wasn't new to vigilante cases but rarely took them on because they were just people who had decided to fight crime. He knew it was illegal, but he would mostly leave them alone unless they crossed paths with him or they were getting in the way of his work.

Most of the vigilante cases he had taken on were closed quickly since they usually relied heavily on their quirks and didn't tend to have very good fighting or escaping skills. He would erase their quirks, capture them and turn them in to the police.

Since he was his own agency and mostly took care of the more shady, disturbing cases, he almost always partnered with the police and depended on them to give him information and back him up when needed. But, that also meant that he was constantly at the police station and heard a lot of information about cases that were bothering them or just interesting cases in general. One of them being the vigilante 'Whisper'. 

At first, the conversations of the vigilante were rare, but they became more and more common and he constantly heard groups of policemen talking about them. In fact, they were the ones that started calling him 'Whisper' in the first place. All of the victims that came in after being saved by the requiter had claimed to hear whispering as the vigilante worked, but they all also said that the vigilante themself never actually spoke.

He had gotten annoyed at how often people spoke about Whisper, it was like it was the only thing they could talk about. He heard the vigilante's name at least five times a day just by walking around.

Barely anyone had seen the vigilante in the flesh and there was only one video that actually had them in it but the video was shaky and the vigilante moved too fast for the camera to focus. The police force had tried to slow down the footage and clear it up, but all they saw was a blurry black shadow like being.

Almost all vigilantes that got this much attention were most likely cocky and thought they were all that and a bag of chips, and he would be lying if he said he didn't get at least a little bit of satisfaction of knocking them down a few pegs.

He was almost completely silent as he hopped across the rooftops but came to an abrupt stop when he spotted a black silhouette crouching on the ledge of a building a few rooftops away looking over the street. Even though he was only about fifty meters away, the figure was blurry and gave him a headache to look at. Shouta knew he didn't have bad eyesight, so why was the figure so blurry? He and Tsukauchi had come to the conclusion that the figure in the video was just blurry because of the quality of the camera, but they could be wrong. 

It looked exactly like the outline of the vigilante in the video, so it must be them, but he had to make sure before he tried to capture them just in case they were a citizen. The figure looked even darker than the dark area around them as if someone had taken a photo and just cut one person out of it and hadn't even bothered to fix the gaping, black hole it left behind. 

His eyes narrowed and he ducked into the shadows of the building edge, jumping onto the next roof over as quietly as possible and continuing to approach the vigilante from behind.

As he got closer, he began to hear odd noises that he had just assumed were wind from farther away, but now that he was closer he could hear voices. He had thought that the victims were just hearing wind when they claimed to hear whispering, but now that he was here, behind the vigilante, it definitely sounded like whispering. It was eerie, like someone was whispering right into his ear and he could feel their breath on his eardrum but when he turned to see who it was, there was just no one there. It sounded like it was coming from everywhere yet nowhere all at once and the hair on the back of his neck stood up as he resisted the urge to shudder. The whispering confirmed that this was in fact, the vigilante Whisper.

He expected the image of the vigilante to get clearer as he got closer, but it still stayed blurry. He had to squint his eyes repeatedly to try and get them to focus and it was giving him a headache. Just glancing at the blurry image of the vigilante for even a few seconds made his eyes hurt and he already had to deal with enough of that from his quirk. Whisper was quite literally, an eyesore.

Even when he was a few feet away from Whisper, the vigilante still didn't turn around or try to run away. It's like they weren't even aware he was there, which made him even more sure that this vigilante was probably a full-of-themself little bastard who was so sure they wouldn't get caught that they weren't aware of their surroundings.

He stopped when he was about a foot from the vigilante, lightly tugging on his capture weapon and letting it levitate up around his head. His eyes lit up red as he erased the vigilante's quirk, expecting the blurry, shadow form to dissipate, but it stayed in place. Was it the work of someone else's quirk? If it was, it meant that there was more than just one person they had to arrest for vigilantism.

His capture weapon shot forward and wrapped around the vigilante's shape before tightening and pulling the person backwards. He turned them around so they were facing him and was met with wide, green eyes. He was a bit surprised at first, but after a few moments, he poured every bit of his frustration and anger from the past few days into a menacing glare. 

The wide eyes just stared at him at first, but they eventually relaxed into an almost bored expression. They mostly just looked tired, but it pissed him off considering they had just been caught and Shouta's face contorted into a scowl. 

He had heard from multiple heroes that Whisper was slippery and could escape from situations that they had thought weren't even possible, so he took extra precautions just in case and got out some quirk cancelling cuffs from his utility belt. He forced the vigilante's hands out of the capture weapon and slipped the cuffs on, keeping his own quirk centered on Whisper the entire time.

When the quirk cancelling cuffs clicked, signifying that they were locked on, he let his eyes relax and his quirk sputtered to a stop, his hair settling back on his shoulders. The vigilante didn't even struggle, his body was limp and his eyes were relaxed, Shouta's scowl deepened and he couldn't help but get the feeling that something was off.

He let his face loosen into an uninterested expression before speaking. "Every hero I've spoken to that's attempted to catch you says it's impossible. I had pretty high expectations to be honest, but this was quite disappointing." His tone was flat as he deadpanned his thoughts. Whisper's eyes just remained bored looking, packing the entire ambiance of Shouta's expression in just his eyes.

He was actually a bit impressed that someone could cram so much emotion into their eyes, but quickly stomped on that thought. The vigilante just sat there, completely relaxed and comfortable in the capture weapon, silently.

"What, you're just not going to say anything?" His tone remained flat as he questioned Whisper, but the vigilante just remained silent. He sighed.

He spun around, slipping his hands into his pockets before beginning to make his way back across the rooftop in the direction of the police station.

He glanced at the vigilante through the corner of his eye, still as black as a shadow and felt his annoyance prick him in the back like a needle. "I'm putting you under custody, so you should just drop the disguise. There's no point in keeping it up since you're going to jail for illegal vigilantism."

Whisper still didn't give in and he internally groaned. These types of vigilantes were extremely tiresome.

His gaze wandered back to the rooftop as he jumped across an alley onto the next one and his lips tilted down in a slight frown. If Whisper was going to be difficult, he would make it difficult. He went to tighten his capture weapon when it tightened on nothing but air and he paused. He whipped around to see his capture weapon floating in the air with nothing in it's grasp and the quirk cancelling cuffs on the ground below it, still locked.

Now he was even more pissed than before. He whipped around again to see if he could catch the vigilante in his escape until he came face to face with Whisper himself. They were mere inches away from his face and he forced himself to a stop to avoid running into them.

Even this close, the vigilante was still blurry and made his headache even worse. Whisper's form seemed to be almost wavering at the edges as if they weren't even actually there and the whispering was back, louder than ever. Every hair on his entire body stood on end and he felt his heartbeat speed up substantially. There was an unsettling look in the vigilante's eyes that made them incredibly uncomfortable to look at, yet he couldn't look away. An unnatural, incredibly intense sense of fear coiled like a snake in his chest and his lungs seemed to stop working.

He was so terrified that his body wouldn't move. His lungs begged for air but he was too afraid to breathe. Whisper just stood there, so close that he expected to feel the warmth of their body and their breath, but he instead felt nothing but cold, sharp ice that threatened to puncture his being if he moved. 

Whisper's eyes didn't blink, they just stared at him with the same look Nedzu always had whenever he looked at someone. Calculating, analyzing your every move. His mouth went dry and he swallowed, his throat becoming tight. He could hear his heartbeat pounding in his ears and blood rushing through his veins, both extremely fast from panic.

Suddenly, Whisper took a step back and the fear disappeared immediately like someone had flipped a switch. He blinked and inhaled deeply, his lungs finally cooperating.

The vigilante continued to walk backwards and he realized that he couldn't let them get away so he shot forward, capture weapon following suit. The vigilante didn't stop even when they were at the edge of the roof and he let out a yell in warning, eyes widening, but he was too late. He watched as Whisper tilted backwards and fell below the ledge.

He skidded to an abrupt halt before he could go off the edge like the vigilante and peeked at the ground, preparing to see Whisper's corpse, but was instead met with empty sidewalk. He glanced around the entire road and still found no sign of the vigilante. Whisper was gone.

Shouta internally cursed at himself for letting the vigilante get away. Why did he just stand there when the vigilante was right in front of him? It was just fear, so why did it bother him so much to the point he couldn't move? He had experienced fear before, so what was so different now?

He turned around to see the quirk cancelling cuffs still sitting on the ground and he walked over to pick them up. He inspected them, hoping to see some sort of sign that the vigilante had unlocked them or they were loose enough to let someone with the vigilante's size hands slip through, but there was nothing. That was also another thing to think about, Whisper was tiny. They were almost so tiny that they looked like a kid. It was a possibility, but a very low chance since the skills Whisper possessed were very advanced from what he had heard and what he had just seen.

But, back to the cuffs, how could the vigilante escape from them? They hadn't been unlocked nor were there any scuffs or any of the telltale signs that the vigilante tried to escape from them. They were just locked in the size they had been in while around Whisper's wrists.

His headache had become a migraine by now and he pinched the bridge of his nose in irritation. He clenched his eyes shut with a sigh that embodied all of his exhaustion and infuriation from the past few days and grumbled to himself. He was too tired for this crap.

He finished the rest of his patrol and then returned home, falling asleep the second he hit the pillow. 

He had a report to give Tsukauchi and an entrance exam to watch tomorrow.       

Chapter Text

Izuku groaned as Shibito insisted that they review his cover once more. "We've done it five times, Shibito. I'm not doing it again."

Taisaku just laughed in the background as Shibito ghosted his palm over Izuku's shoulder and his brow furrowed. "Look, I just want to go through it one more ti-"

Izuku slapped his hands away. "That's what you said last time, you paranoid old man." 

Shibito's expression turned pleading and he looked as if he was about to say something but Taisaku butted in before he could. "Just do it one more time and then you can leave. Right, Shibito?" The woman raised her eyebrow and folded her arms.

Shibito gulped and averted his gaze, slowly nodding. He would admit, Taisaku could be pretty intimidating when she wanted to. It was just more of an unspoken agreement that she could beat you up if you ticked her off, so it was better just to listen to whatever she had to say or told you to do.

He could do a weird thing that scared the absolute shit out of sentients by just looking at them, but he honestly didn't know exactly how he did it. It came and went depending on his emotions and the power of it also varied depending on the strength of the emotions. 

He didn't mean to do it sometimes, sentients just didn't like ghosts, and their souls didn't react well with the fact that they could be touched by a dead person's spirit. 

He sighed, recalling the interaction with Eraserhead. Meet one of the greatest underground pro heroes of all time and scare the living shit out of him. Great, always works when you want to make friends and communicate that you don't want to murder them.

Izuku wanted to complain, but ultimately ended up agreeing to go over his cover one more time. Neither Izuku or Shibito seemed satisfied with the bargain, but neither of them wanted to argue with Taisaku so they left it alone.

"Show me your sentient form." She commanded sternly.

Ghosts didn't age, so he needed to make his form look like he had aged. He had found out he had the ability to change his appearance to the eyes of sentients when he had been figuring out what he was wanting to do for his vigilante costume, and boy was he glad he had it. 

His height changed and he was presented as a few inches taller than he was in middle school with broad shoulders and muscular arms, chest and legs. He had an undercut, so the back and sides of his head were shaved but the top was still the fluffy, curly green hair he had always had. His face was more filled in and slim than the baby face he had when he died, his eyes were slimmer with a more intense vibe and he had a few large scars on his back, arms, scalp and legs as a reminiscence of how he died. Freckles littered his cheeks, the bridge of his nose and his shoulders. 

The only things he couldn't change in his appearance from his ghost form were the cuts on his arms and legs, the bags under his eyes and the tone of his skin. The cuts were extremely concentrated on his wrists but were more spread out as they got higher up his arms. The bags under his eyes were extremely dark and his extremely pale skin didn't help. His skin was almost white he was so pale, it made his freckles stand out too.  

"Okay Midoriya-kun, what's your quirk?" She continued.

He grumbled at first, rolling his eyes, but eventually just opted to answer instead of making this harder than it had to be. "Magnetic field manipulation."

When he had first died, he knew he was able to touch things and physically manifest himself, but they had also discovered that it magnified everything else he could do as a ghost. Which included, an odd type of ability ghosts had that allowed them to move and touch things in the living world.

He had tried to figure out how it worked, but had come up with nothing so he just left it. His quirk made the ability extremely powerful. However, the larger the object or thing was he was trying to move, the more strain it put on his quirk, which caused quirk exhaustion. So, he had expanded his tolerance over the ten months that it took to clean the beach and was able to lift very large items. He didn't know how it worked and a basic telekinetic quirk sounded boring so they came up with some weird excuse that he was apparently able to manipulate earth's magnetic fields.

So, they planned on him just using that ability as his 'quirk' since his other abilities would give away that he was Whisper.

Taisaku hummed. "Ah, but it says here that you were previously diagnosed quirkless because you had the extra toe joint, so how is that possible?"

"There's still a .02% chance of developing a quirk even with the extra toe joint, I was one of the lucky ones." His voice was bored, wanting this to be over with.

"Why did you choose to become a hero?" Taisaku asked.

Izuku huffed. "Because I want to save people."

"But why do you want to save people?" The woman tilted her head.

Izuku paused, thinking for a moment. He knew exactly why he wanted to be a hero and save people, so he said it. "I want to save people so no one has to suffer the same fate I did."

Shibito groaned and slid his hands down his face while Taisaku sighed. "This is why I'm worried about him!" He made a dramatic hand gesture in his Izuku's direction. "He won't cooperate, because of what?" He paused and turned to Izuku with an exasperated expression. "Pride?"

Izuku's gaze snapped to Shibito and he felt his temper spike. He usually didn't get offended easily and hadn't had issues with his temper since the sludge villain incident, but this subject was touchy and quite sensitive to Izuku.

Shibito's mouth snapped shut at his expression and his brow knitted together as Izuku just stared at him. After a few seconds, Shibito looked down at the sand and started fiddling with his hands.

"You know it's not pride." His voice had a dangerous undertone.

Taisaku looked between them for a moment, observing the sudden tension in the air and narrowed her eyes before bursting into laughter. Izuku could tell he wasn't the only one that was startled by the sudden outburst from Taisaku when Shibito looked up in surprise but the woman just kept laughing. She eventually calmed down and turned to look at Shibito.

"Man, I thought it was impressive that I could intimidate you, but if he can intimidate you, you must be weak as hell." Her tone was light, as if she didn't even care about the tension in the air. He honestly wouldn't be surprised if she didn't.

He saw Shibito huff and turn away, folding his arms with a pout. This seemed to set off Taisaku again and she started howling with laughter again. Shibito pouted harder. 

He checked the time and saw that he should have left at least fifteen minutes ago. He planned on just walking so he didn't have to find an area where he could switch to becoming visible around Yuuei, but he apparently didn't have a choice now and would need to float there.

"Aight, I gotta go before you guys make me even more late than I already am." He twirled on the ball of his foot and cancelled out his gravity, feeling butterflies fill the inside of his being and an involuntary giggle bubbled up from his lips. He used to hate that feeling, but he loved it now.

Taisaku paused in her laughing fit to wish him goodbye and he could tell Shibito also wanted to wish him goodbye but he was too busy being petty to give in to it. He saluted to the woman and she saluted back, smiling slightly. Both of them were going to watch the exam, but they didn't want to go with him and interfere with his exams so they were going to join him a little later. 

He launched himself into the air and shot through the air, letting a maniacal smile creep onto his face as he skimmed above all the sentients and ghosts below. Everything around him blurred together as he sped up and almost flew right past Yuuei. He abruptly stopped in mid-air, floating around to look for an alley with no cameras or people so he could materialize into existence and after a few minutes he finally found one. 

It was pretty shady, broken glass, odd stains and strange smelling puddles littered the ground but he honestly didn't care. He dropped onto the ground and appeared out of nowhere, crunching on a few pieces of the broken glass. 

Now that he was in full transformation, he chose to put himself in a black tank-top and black sweats with his usual red, high-top sneakers. They were supposed to wear their school uniforms, but he didn't really care about it too much so he just came in casual clothes.

He walked forward, avoiding the deepest puddles of whatever it was, and strolled out of the alley. He casually slid his hands in his pockets as he walked down the street leading to Yuuei at a relaxed pace, a stark contrast to the panicked and excited people around him. 

He entered the gates of Yuuei, still walking at a relaxed pace to the auditorium. He had explored the school for a few days and even ducked into some of the staff meetings beforehand, so he knew exactly what the entrance exam was and all the details for it. That included the extra rescue points that were possible to get, the giant one pointer and all the answers to the written exam.

He wasn't cheating, he was preparing.

He was almost to the front doors when rapid movement in the corner of his eye made his gaze shift. There was a girl with brown hair wearing a maroon hoodie over her school uniform that had tripped over her own feet and was falling forward. Her eyes were clenched shut and she was holding onto her black backpack's straps tightly, already accepted her fate.

However, fate wasn't written in stone. He used his quirk to hold her in the air before she could fall completely and slowly approached her as she peeked open one eye. After she had checked that she wasn't going to face-plant on the ground, she opened her eyes, obvious confusion clear in them.

She glanced around for a moment, eyes locking on him, and he just stared at her. He grasped her by the shoulders and set her back on her feet, and once she had calmed down, she turned to him again.

"Um, were you the one who did that?" She asked. He nodded a huge smile broke out on the girl's face. "Thank you so much! Falling before an exam would be bad luck, am I right?" When he didn't respond she just coughed a bit awkwardly and continued on. "I'm Ochako Uraraka by the way!" She held out her hand in an invitation to shake it and he begrudgingly did so. After he let go of her hand, she looked even more awkward than before.

"So, uh, what's your name?" She asked.

Oh yeah, he was supposed to talk like a normal person. They had submitted his forms a while ago and had put that he was mute on it, so he was apparently mute now. He hadn't learned sign language since there hadn't been a need for it yet, but this was probably a situation he would need it in. It was extremely difficult to even make noise as a ghost, let alone speak. And when he did speak, it exhausted his quirk. On days there was a lot of wind and naturally-generated noise it was a bit easier, but if he was in an area where he had to make his own noise, it was exhausting.

He tried to motion that he was mute but the girl just looked increasingly nervous. He groaned and tilted his head back, dragging a hand down his face. He tried one more time, opening his mouth and motioning outwards from it before making an 'x' with his fingers over his now closed mouth. 

The girl's eyes finally lit up in realization and she pointed a finger in the air with her arm still in front of her chest. "Oh! You can't talk!" She scrunched her eyes shut and scratched the back of her neck nervously again and he just wanted to get out of this conversation. "That makes a lot more sense." She paused for a moment, opening her eyes again and waving to him while her dark red face calmed down to a soft pink dusting her cheeks. "Anyway, see you later! Good luck with the exams!"

He nodded slightly, acknowledging he had heard her, and she skipped away, humming. His face just sank into a 'I will murder you if you so much as look at me' expression to keep any other people from approaching or talking to him and it seemingly worked, until he got to the auditorium.

He saw a few people judging him as he walked by since he wasn't in school uniform, but he frankly didn't give a shit and just slumped into the chair he was assigned. He didn't even realize who was sitting next to him until he heard an angry, familiar voice. A very angry familiar voice.

"Deku?" Kacchan almost sounded like he had been offended just by looking at him, which Izuku wouldn't be surprised if he was.

He turned his head to look at the bully with the most bored expression he could muster. There was an odd look on Kacchan's face for a moment, but it disappeared when Izuku's gaze locked with his.

Kacchan leaned forward and grabbed him by the collar, getting mere inches from his face. As Izuku looked into Kacchan's red eyes, he felt his temper rise to his throat. After he had committed suicide and save his childhood friend from the sludge villain, he had avoided him. He went out of his way to avoid him. Because every time he saw Kacchan, it made him want to kill something, and that would either be Kacchan himself or someone else around Izuku at the time.

Kacchan's lips were curled back in a snarl and his gaze was intense. "What did I tell you about trying for Yuuei?!" He spat in Izuku's face.

A few people around them looked uncomfortable and Izuku saw a few ghosts glance over at them. He didn't flinch as spittle landed on his face, even when it landed directly in his eye, and just stared at Kacchan.

Kacchan hadn't been the only thing he had wanted to avoid, anything that reminded him of his childhood made him want to scream and cry at the same time so he just didn't go near it. Anytime Kacchan had tried to beat him up after school, he would miraculously disappear in a supposedly dead-ended alley, or when Kacchan tried to catch him in class before he left, he would seemingly evaporate into thin air after a group of students passed by his desk.

He never even acknowledged Kacchan's presence when he was in the same room as him. He just couldn't. He had gotten better at controlling his temper over the time at the beach and the dojo, but there were still things that really bothered him. One of them being, Kacchan.

He just stared at Kacchan, his silence seeming to make him even more angry. He opened his mouth to spit something else at Izuku, but was cut off by Izuku wrapping his fingers around his wrist. 

He had learned a lot about pressure points from Taisaku while training, and knew exactly where they all were. He knew ones that when pressed in a certain way, would cause mild pain, would cause extreme pain, would stun someone, he even knew a pressure point that literally made someone crap their pants.

Kacchan seemed mildly taken aback for a moment, staring at Izuku's fingers, when Izuku pressed his thumbs into a pressure point on both of his wrists and his eyes widened. Izuku could tell that Kacchan was trying desperately to not cry out in pain as his mouth opened and closed a few times and veins popped out on his forehead. Izuku let no emotion filter onto his face, but was feeling immense satisfaction on the inside. He pressed down harder on the pressure point and Kacchan let out a quiet, strained, high-pitched squeak.

He could have laughed like a maniac in that moment. He continued to press down on the pressure point, making direct eye contact with Kacchan the entire time, and pulled Kacchan's hands off of the collar of his tank top and set them back down on the giant table in front of the boy. This forced Kacchan to face forward again and when he finally let go, the lights had dimmed, everyone had gone silent and Present Mic walked onstage so Kacchan couldn't yell at him again.

The few ghosts that had seen the interaction were howling with laughter and talking about how much of a bully Kacchan was and how much he had deserved what Izuku had just done. He saw a few people glancing around in confusion, which told him that they could probably hear some sort of noise and he groaned. He could see a few people around him look at him weird, most likely because he hadn't made any noise even though he had made a motion that was supposed to make noise, but he just ignored them.

He looked up at the ghosts that were being noisy and whistled, gaining their attention. "Can you all shut up please? I'm trying to focus but y'all are loud as hell." The ghost people were quiet for a moment as they glanced at each other, before continuing to talk to each other but whispering instead of full-on talking.

He sighed, it was better than before at least. They did the written exam first, which was obviously a piece of cake since he already knew all the answers and ended up being one of the first few people to turn it in and have to wait for everyone else.

Once the written exams were done, he couldn't help but get a little excited for the practical exam. Getting to beat up giant robots sounded kinda awesome. He leaned back in his chair, folded his arms and completely zoned out as Present Mic spoke since he already knew everything about the exams.

He let his mind wander, riling himself up for the exam when someone harshly elbowed him in the side. His head snapped to face Kacchan, giving him the most cold look he had ever given anyone when the boy motioned forwards. His gaze scanned over the crowd when he realized a boy with dark blue hair that had a spotlight on him was facing towards him while motioning his arms up and down like a robot.

"And you! You have been whispering this entire time! If you are not going to take this seriously, then you should leave!" The kid's voice was extremely loud, and Izuku physically winced at the sheer volume of it. Why was everyone so loud?

He didn't respond and simply frowned at the kid until Present Mic interrupted them and told the kid to sit back down while thanking him for his question. 

The rest of the exam was quickly explained to the restless students and finally assigned them to a faux city, letting them get ready and head over to the front gates of each one.

Since he had originally come clothes he was comfortable with fighting in and already knew where he was supposed to go, he traveled to the front gate of the ground beta he was assigned, to wait for everyone else. He ended up being the first one there, taking out his phone and earbuds. He was the first one there, so he plugged in his earbuds and clicked shuffle on one of his playlists. 

He lightly bobbed his head to the beat of the music and hummed along with his favorite part of the song. Eventually, people began to appear around him but he just kept listening to music, not caring. 

It was in the middle of one of his favorite parts when he suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder and he turned around while taking out one earbud to give the person his full attention. Well, that was until he saw that it was the kid who had called him out from before and his expression dropped

"You should not be listening to music! You should be preparing for the exam! I won't tell you again, if you aren't going to take this seriously, go home!" Did this kid seriously have to call him out on every single little thing he did? Izuku just sighed and turned away.

The kid tried to talk to him again, but he just stuck the earbud back in his ear, turned away and ignoring the kid. He didn't even hear the buzzer or announcements that the exam had started, he just saw the gates to the city open and he started forward in a slow, calm walk.

He got a few feet past the gate when the rest of the possibly-future students ran past him, further into the city. A song with a lot of bass and a fast tempo came on after the previous one ended and the tips of his lips tilted upwards. The perfect song for beating the crap out of robots.

Everyone had run down the main road, but he instead turned into an alley off the side of the road that led into another large area. There was a large explosion as a one-pointer broke through the wall in front of him and locked its single, red eye on him. 

He didn't even take his hands out of his pockets as he smashed the robot to pieces by lifting it off the ground and smashing it back on the ground multiple times. He continued down the road, waiting for more robots and when they came, he either completely smashed them to pieces in one go or made them fight with other robots for his own entertainment. He saved a few people along the way, racking up rescue points, and once he was sure he had enough to pass, he just turned down another alley.

The chorus on his song started and he bobbed his head as he walked, stepping to the beat of the song. He saw a hidden camera peeking out from behind a stone of the building on his right side and saluted to it as he passed it, knowing the teachers were observing them.

He walked out of the alley, finding himself in a smaller area with someone fighting a robot. It was a two-pointer that had locked its gaze on a kid with gravity-defying purple hair that bounced as he swerved out of the way of the robot's giant arms and eyebags that were almost as bad as his own. The kid looked absolutely terrified and had an expression that said 'I messed up'. 

He took out his earbuds, giving the situation his full attention and waited in the entrance of the alley until the kid was close enough for him to reach out and touch him. He then grabbed the kid's arm, pulling him into the alley. The kid was breathing hard, chest heaving, sweat dripping down his forehead. The kid looked startled for a moment but when his eyes found Izuku, the kid visibly relaxed and let out a relieved sigh.

Izuku peeked out from behind the corner and used a particularly strong force to smash the bot into a pancake. He turned to look back at the kid and was met with wide eyes, he could even see a bit of awe in them. 

He examined the kid, trying to see if he had any physical manifestations of a quirk but found none. He narrowed his eyes as the kid, trying to figure out what it would be, but ended up just opting to ask him.

He squatted down, punched the area in front of him, creating a spiderweb of cracks in the concrete, and pulled them up. He uncovered a section of dirt and motioned for the kid to squat down next to him. The kid was hesitant, but eventually followed his instruction and crouched down next to him.

He drew in the dirt with his finger and stood in a way that was blocking what he was writing from any of the cameras. He wrote 'Points?' in the dirt, turning to face the kid. He looked nervous, but finally answered after a few seconds.

"Zero. I haven't gotten any yet." Izuku just nodded in response and swiped his hand over the dirt to erase the word. 

He then wrote 'Quirk?' in the dirt, glancing back at the kid, waiting for a response. The kid averted his gaze and looked extremely uncomfortable, mumbling out something Izuku couldn't hear.

He huffed. He didn't have time for this. They had five minutes left and if he wanted to help this kid, he needed to do it now. He waved in front of the kids face and motioned to the question written in the dirt exaggeratedly again.

Finally, the kid spoke loud enough for him to hear. "Brainwashing, I can take control of someone by getting a verbal response from them after I ask a question." 

He squinted in thought, the kid suddenly standing taller, eyes locking with Izuku's in a challenge. He was obviously self-conscious about his quirk and Izuku wouldn't be surprised if he had gotten bullied for it, so he silently paid the kid words of empathy. 

His quirk was pretty amazing though, he had to admit. It wasn't good for physical battling, which was probably why he didn't have any points, but would make a great hero in the future. He could do so much with it. Alright, it had been decided. He was going to help this kid out and give him a chance at getting into the hero course.

He erased the letters in the dirt again, writing quickly this next time. 'Rescue other people for rescue points' the kid looked surprised, but it quickly transitioned into a skeptical expression. Izuku just ignored it and renewed the dirt area, writing more on it. The last line he wrote was 'Don't focus on villain points' Then, when he was sure the kid had read it, he swiped his hands across the dirt, removing any sign that he had written anything and stood up.

He held out a hand for the teenager, offering to help him up, but the teen just looked at him suspiciously. Izuku gave him a bleak look and when the kid finally took his hand, he grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him up. The kid's entire weight would have been heavy to someone else, but he didn't have muscles so nothing really had a weight to him. 

He didn't even stumble, he just yanked the kid off the ground and stood him up, leaving his other hand in his pocket. He then put his earbuds in and walked away, leaving eyebags to himself.

He gave a single, two-finger wave with his back still turned right before he disappeared around the corner from the kid's view. He could hear footsteps running down the alley to follow him, but he seemingly disappeared into thin air. He just shot himself forward a few blocks and then turned down another road so he was out of sight from where eyebags was standing.

A three-pointer came into view and he was about to smash it when he saw a poltergeist trying to destroy it. The robot locked its gaze on him and started forward, the poltergeist screaming in anger as it rolled away from him. Izuku raised an eyebrow at the scene and huffed, deciding to just end it by destroying the robot. The second the machine was in pieces, the ghost came to an abrupt halt and shook his head, pinching the bridge of his nose.

He strode over to the ghost, taking out his earbuds once again, and cleared his throat, garnering the attention of the ghost. As the ghost glanced up at him, he had a chance to get a good look at him.

The ghost looked to be about his age, fairly muscular and a bit taller than him. There was a huge hole through his chest that was supplying a very large constant stream of blood that stained the kid's clothing and poured onto the ground. He had extremely light, almost white, mint green hair and purple eyes and was wearing a casual plain grey t-shirt with black jeans and black tennis shoes.

Izuku and the ghost stared at each other before he just decided to screw it and ask what was going on. "So, why are you here and why were you just trying to beat the crap out of a robot?"

The ghost just scowled. "I was killed by a three-pointer and every time I see one it ticks me off."

Izuku paused. He had gotten killed at Yuuei, huh? He could probably use that later to his advantage somehow. 

He raised his eyebrow at the other ghost. "You got killed by one of the exam bots? How?" 

He seemed pretty happy to explain. "I wasn't prepared for the physical exam because my quirk doesn't give me any special abilities or whatever crap they require you to have, and I ended up getting impaled by one of the three-pointer robots." His tone seemed to sharpen. "Nezu got my family to agree not to give out any information on my death in exchange for a constant supply of yen. Yen. My own family agreed to tell people that I died in a car crash for yen." The kid pulled at his hair and yelled out of frustration. "I hate that stupid rat!"

Izuku ignored the kid's sudden outburst and continued to ask questions. "What's your quirk?" He asked.

"Puppet, I can form 'strings' on a person's body wherever I touch and control them, including myself." The kid responded.

Man, why did everyone have to have such good quirks that went to waste? The physical exam sucked. He could understand why this kid wouldn't be able to get in, since his quirk worked on people and not robots. It was the same issue that eyebags had been having a few minutes ago.

He raised an eyebrow. "What's your name?" Nezu obviously didn't want people knowing about this kid's death, so he could maybe use that as leverage if anything ever happened that could get him expelled from Yuuei or any other inconvenience. Maybe Nezu would finally get a taste of his own medicine.

The kid smacked his lips. "Kugutsu Mojiretsu." He glanced at Izuku for a moment, obviously thinking about something before sighing and shrugging his shoulders. "You can just call me Kumo though, it's what my family used to call me." His cheeks were slightly pink, giving away that he was a bit embarrassed by the nickname, but Izuku just hummed in response.

"Alright, Kumo." He paused for a moment, narrowing his eyes. "You seem awfully eager to spill your life story to a stranger, any reason as to why?" 

Kumo just huffed and motioned to Izuku, then the smashed robot. "Well, there's obviously some weird crap going on if you can see me and still do well, that, and I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who noticed that Nezu doesn't want this information out so you're most likely planning to use this information against him in some way judging by the way you looked after I told you what happened." He scoffed. "I'd do anything to get revenge on that vile rodent any day so I'm completely fine with telling you everything."

Izuku nodded and came to the conclusion that he could trust this kid. "Alright, well I'm Izuku Midoriya. You can call me Deku." 

Kumo gave him an odd look before turning around and taking a step forward, but before he had the chance to walk away, Izuku asked him one more thing. "Are you the only one?"

Kumo slowly turned his head around and the sides of his lips tilted up slightly. "Nope." He popped the p. "And they're just about as angry as me so they'll be glad to help you."

The glint in Izuku's eye was back and Kumo's smile widened a small bit. "See you later Kumo."

The boy swiveled his head around to face forward again and started walking away. "Same to you, Deku."

Izuku chuckled before slowly turning to face a hidden camera he had seen on the way to the clearing he had found Kumo in. There was a devious smile on his face and his eyes were bloodshot as he stared directly into the camera. He was totally going to chew the shit out of Nezu's ass until he got what he wanted.

After staring into the camera for about thirty seconds straight, there was extremely loud and violent rumbling coming from down the road. He turned to face it and realized that it was the zero-pointer. 

Everyone ran around him, screaming, as he stood there, hands in his pockets watching hit all happen with a bored expression. He was about to turn around and walk away with everyone else since the robot wasn't worth any points and was worthless to destroy, when he heard someone calling for help. His head whipped around and his eyes scanned the area, looking for the source of the noise.

His eyes locked onto brown hair as she called for help again, weaker this time, and he sprinted forward. He swerved around everyone running the other direction, grateful for his ability to weave through crowds so well, and eventually made it to the pile of concrete on top of the girl. Her arms were trapped at her side, there was concrete covering her entire body except for her face and he could see that her head was bleeding.

He could hear the zero-pointer thundering closer but kept his focus on Uraraka. Her pupils were dilated which meant she most likely had a concussion, so he needed to work fast or else it could cause permanent damage.

The presence of the zero-pointer was quite stressful, but he kept working anyway. He used his quirk to move some of the pieces of concrete, but didn't want to try and move all the specific pieces at the same time. He wasn't the best at manipulating magnetic fields into detailed circumstances and he was worried he would miss a piece or two of concrete and it would make the situation worse.

Uraraka had passed out as soon as she saw that someone was there to help, and he grumbled about how inconvenient that was. Great, now he had to carry someone. He was finally able to move all the concrete chunks off of the girl and picked her up, cradling her limp body gently in his arms so he didn't irritate any of her injuries.

He was about to book it in the other direction but was instead met with the roaring of the zero-pointer right behind him. He made a noise that was in-between a groan and a yell. He hadn't accounted for the time it would take to get away from the robot after he had retrieved Uraraka and he definitely wasn't going to be able to outrun the giant machine without aggravating Uraraka's injuries or giving away that he had more abilities then he was letting on.

His feet slowly shifted and he turned around to face the robot with a glare. The robot was supporting itself on one of the buildings and had outstretched its arm, reaching out to crush them, but, right before it could, he emitted a massive wave of energy that was so powerful it launched the robot into the air and threw it backwards. It landed back on the ground with a shock wave so strong it felt like an earthquake, and he sighed as a wave of exhaustion crept through his ghost and his being wavered.

That's when a blaring alarm rang out and Izuku winced at the loud noise. After a few rings of the alarm, Present Mic's voice came through the speaker announcing the end of the practical exam and he heard someone calling through the crowd.

"Excuse me, excuse me! Pardon, please let me through!" A small old lady emerged form the crowd of students gathered at the gates and her gaze landed on Izuku. She blinked a few times before shuffling over to him but meeting him halfway instead, since Izuku had walked the rest of the way. He had recognized her syringe cane and her hero costume as the famous healer hero, Recovery Girl. 

Two robots carrying a stretcher rolled up and he gently laid Uraraka's body on it, nodding to Recovery Girl.

He got a few steps away from the old woman before she called for him again and he turned around to look at her. "Do you have any injuries of your own you need me to heal young man?" She asked, already walking over to him, preparing in advance.

He shook his head and continued walking towards the front gates of the city they were in where the rest of the students were trying to shove their way out. Recovery Girl just stood there, stunned. He had exhausted his quirk and didn't have the energy to float over the crowd, so he instead just pushed through the crowd like everyone else.

He was ready to find Shibito and Taisaku and then relax with the cats.

Toshinori Yagi was not easily impressed. But, he had to admit, Izuku Midoriya was quite impressive.

He remembered when he had last spoken to young Midoriya, it was quite a long time ago. It had been at least half a year since he had asked him to be his successor and the kid had just walked away.

After that day, he had searched for him, seeing glimpses of him every once in a while, but the kid always seemed to disappear when he tried to approach him. He wanted to ask him whether his response was a no or a yes, but hadn't gotten the chance.

But here he was, taking the practical exams to get into the hero course. 

He was watching the kid like a hawk as he traveled across the screens and had even asked for the file on him from Nedzu. He had been surprised to find out that young Midoriya had been diagnosed mute ten months prior and had developed a quirk, Magnetic Field Manipulation.

During the exam itself, young Midoriya had been able to destroy robots easily while also constantly stopping to help other contestants. He demonstrated immense power, fast reflexes and rescuing skills. Toshinori had never seen anyone more fit to inherit One for All. Togata shounen had been nice, but he had met young Midoriya quite a while before and had his eyes set on him.

However, one thing he was worried about was the kid's lack of self-preservation. He didn't even care that he was fighting robots five times bigger than him and always jumped in to take the place of other contestants if they were in danger. He would have to have a little chat with him about that.

He had already been quite impressed by his actions in the exam, but when it came to the zero-pointer and a girl who needed saving, his jaw was on the floor. The kid hadn't even ended up with injuries that needed to be healed by Recovery Girl.

This kid was destined to be a hero.      

Chapter Text

Nedzu was quite entertained as he watched through Izuku Midoriya's footage again. The kid was definitely peculiar from what he had seen during the entrance exam and he was a little excited to meet him in person to see if he could break the 'tough' facade. Humans usually found him quite intimidating, so it shouldn't be too difficult. 

The kid had been able to spot a few of their hidden cameras and knew at least someone had been watching him. Every time he had acknowledged them was like experiencing a fourth wall break and he could tell some of the other teachers were a little unsettled. Especially when he had turned towards the camera with an expression like he had struck gold. A few of the teachers had even teased Aizawa about the similarity between their maniacal smiles, calling Midoriya his son and making fun that they were related to each other.

As he re-watched the portion where he was standing in the clearing alone seemingly talking to air, the fur on the back of his neck stood up. The feeling of being watched became extremely intense, and he felt the area around him grow chilly. He glanced towards the windows but found no one, and even stood up to check if anyone was outside of his office door, but found no one.

He glanced around his office to see if there were any hidden cameras or things that could be watching him, but still came up with nothing. His lips tilted down slightly in a frown, the feeling of being watched still very potent and slightly unsettling.

He eventually brushed it off and continued viewing the footage. Midoriya seemed like quite the odd-ball, very strong but also quite smart. He also seemed like the apathetic type, so Nedzu was rather eager to see how he would do with Aizawa, especially after all the other teachers had teased the man about Midoriya being his son.   

Midoriya had not only attained the highest score in the entrance exam that year, but he had also gotten every single question correct on the written exam. He would be slightly impressed if not for how suspicious he was.

If he looked at the situation from a skeptic's point of view, there were a fair amount of pieces that didn't quite fall into place. Another student, Hitoshi Shinsou, had been having trouble with the exam, so Midoriya had saved him from getting seriously hurt by pulling him into a side alley out of the robot's view. Midoriya then blocked the camera's view for a moment, broke a small bit of concrete, pulled it back and proceeded to write something on the patch of dirt under it. After Midoriya had left, Shinsou focused on rescuing other contestants instead of trying to destroy robotic villains.

No information about rescue points had been released to the public so Midoriya shouldn't have known about them, and there was a punishment in place for students who gave out any details on the entrance exam whatsoever to anyone so there was no possible way he could've gotten information about them. He had threatened that if they did, he would know. It had apparently been intimidating enough to scare all the students into obedience, so he hadn't had to worry about it.

But, there had obviously been some type of leak somewhere, so he needed to figure out where, or else there would be some unexpected issues.

Another one of the pieces that didn't quite fit in, was the footage that he had re-watched over ten times in the clearing. Every time he watched it, there was a very heavy presence that seemed to hover around him and make it difficult to focus. 

He narrowed his eyes at the screen as Midoriya motioned and seemed to speak completely silently to some unknown force. He had expected his quirk to give him some type of ability to see other beings, but when Yagi asked for his file, it was just Magnetic Field Manipulation.

Whenever Midoriya walked into a sunny area, a shadow didn't follow. It was very odd, every time he strolled into an area with sun that should cast a shadow, there was none. It was just Midoriya and the cement of the road under him.

The last thing that didn't seem to fit in place was his score on the written test. Yes, he knew it wasn't impossible, but it was extremely difficult. He had made the last few questions very strenuous, which even some humans with intelligence quirks couldn't grasp, but Midoriya was somehow able to get everything correct and he didn't have a quirk that modified his intelligence. He was the only one in Yuuei history to get everything correct, so Nedzu was quite suspicious of him.

He clicked play to watch through the same clip he had watched more times then he could count, and when he got to the part where Midoriya smashed the robot, he felt someone's hand brush his shoulder.

He whipped around, expecting to see someone, but was met with complete silence and the wall behind his desk. He paused for a moment, staring at the empty area, expecting someone to reveal themselves, but no one came forward and his office remained quiet.

His head slowly swiveled back around to face the monitor again and he felt a shiver go down his spine, suddenly freezing cold. He glanced at the machine that measured the temperature his air conditioner was on, but it said it was on it's normal temperature and that it was nowhere near as cold as he was feeling.

That's when he decided that he would finish up Midoriya's report and move on to the next one. The second he started working on the next child's report, the feeling of being watched went away and his office seemed to heat up again.

Hm, how odd.

Izuku checked the mailbox in front of his mother's apartment repeatedly for the next few days, waiting for his acceptance letter. He had put that his address was his mother's apartment's address since he didn't really have any other address to assign it too, but it honestly kind of sucked. He didn't know whether his mother would pretend like he lived there or just out him to Yuuei if they ever asked about him. Knowing her and her opinion of him, it would probably be the latter.

He was absolutely terrified he would run into his mother while he was there and he couldn't handle that right now, so when he finally got it he was immensely relieved. He ran to the beach to see if Shibito was there, and when Izuku saw the familiar shape of his uncle standing on the beach looking out into the sunset, he tackled him.

"Whoa! Jeez kid, what's up with you?" Izuku held up the letter and Shibito's face lit up. The man motioned to the letter and gave him an exasperated look. "What are you waiting for? Open it!" 

Izuku chuckled. "I already know I passed, so there isn't really a reason to be excited." 

The man puffed out his cheeks and tried to flick Izuku's forehead but he grabbed his wrist before Shibito could. This just made him scrunch up his face. "You and Taisaku are no fun!" He motioned to Izuku. "You're the most interesting thing that's happened to me for the past decade, just let me experience emotions other than boredom for once!"

When Shibito's hand was pulled out of Izuku's grasp, he instead flicked the man in the forehead. Shibito yelped in surprise and slapped a hand over the area he had flicked. "Calm down, you can't feel pain and I didn't even flick you that hard. Besides, it's fun to tease you, if you were boring then we wouldn't tease you, so just be boring if you don't like being teased."

Shibito whipped around with folded arms in a classic pouting session and Izuku snickered. "Alright, I guess you won't get to see my acceptance letter." 

His uncle whipped around, a frantic look on his face. "W-wait! I'm sorry, please, I want to see it-"

Izuku just flashed him a maniac smile and shook the letter. "You're like an adult child." He mocked.

He could tell Shibito was about to make another pouting face, but stopped himself and scrunched up his face instead. "Jeez, you're ruthless, kid."

Izuku just chuckled and decided to just open the letter before Shibito could go off again. He ripped the top of it off and dumped it upside down, but instead of a letter falling out, a small, circular metal item fell into his hand. He stared at it in surprise, eyes widening a small bit, when suddenly the small piece of metal sprang to life and a large projection formed directly in front of Izuku's face. He was met with All Might's bright smile and he was so startled by it that he dropped the small item on the ground.

Luckily, there was no damage to the object wasn't harmed and the projection continued. 

"I am here! In the form of a projection!" All Might's voice was still extremely loud, even through the small speaker of the gadget and Izuku resisted the urge to cover his ears. "You're probably wondering why I'm here at Yuuei, and the answer is, I'm going to be teaching the hero course this year!" Izuku's brow furrowed, All Might was one of the few things that reminded him of his life that he had tried to avoid. It would be impossible to avoid him now that he was literally teaching the hero class. That could be dangerous for both Izuku and everyone around him since there was the risk of him becoming a poltergiest. 

"Now for your entrance exam results!" All Might stepped to the side and a collage of videos started playing next to him. "You were able to score enough points in the entrance exam to take first place! You not only scored enough villain points to pass the exam with exclusively those, but you earned rescue points as well!" A few videos of Izuku saving other possible-students started playing and All Might motioned to them. "Your heroic actions resulted in another form of points that slid you into the first place slot on the entrance exam!"

Another video started playing next to All Might that Izuku didn't recognize and he felt it peak his interest. It was the girl that he had saved from falling in front of the school before the exam itself and during the exam from the zero-pointer. She looked nervous. "Um, e-excuse me? There w-was th-this kid, he said he c-couldn't talk, he had g-green fluffy h-hair and green e-eyes, you know him? W-well, he saved me, and I- I just wanted- can y-you give him some of my points or something?" She was fiddling with her hands throughout the entire thing with a slight blush on her cheeks. Present Mic, the one she had been talking to, told her that it wasn't needed and sent her on her way.

The video then ended and All Might stepped back into the center of the screen. "You scored extremely well on the written exam as well! You got every single question correct, making you the only student in Yuuei history to get one-hundred percent!" He let out a boisterous laugh with a hand on his hip and outstretched the other one towards Izuku. "Welcome Midoriya, to your hero academia!"

The video clipped out a few moments after and Izuku was left with a small piece of metal that had short-circuited itself after the message had been played. Both he and Shibito were silent for a moment, not knowing what to say.

He heard his uncle shift behind him. "So, you've got the number one hero as one of your teachers this year?"

"I guess so." Every time Izuku thought about the man, he could feel his temper stir, and if just thinking about him bothered Izuku, it meant that actually seeing the man could cause some issues. 

Not to mention the fact that if All Might was one of his teachers this year, it probably meant that they would get pestered by the media about it. Why did human beings have to be so infuriating? He couldn't get a break for more than a few minutes without having issues with some kind of sentient.

Since he had passed the entrance exam, it meant that he would have to continue to check the mailbox in front of his mother's apartment until he received his Yuuei uniform. Even better.

Shibito could practically read his mind. "You'll survive, kid."

Izuku sighed. "We'll see."

Hitoshi Shinsou stared at the wall where the projection had just been after it flickered to a stop. He had passed the entrance exam by exclusively rescue points and didn't know what to think.

He hadn't trusted that random kid that had apparently just decided to help him during the entrance exam, even after he told him his quirk, but he honestly didn't care anymore. He had made it. He was going to fulfill his dream.

Hitoshi would be lying if he said he didn't cry at least a little when he found out he passed, not that he would tell anyone though. If he was in the hero course, he needed to take it seriously. He wasn't there to make friends or 'have fun', he was there to become a hero. He didn't need friends.

At dinner that night, he tried not to seem too excited when he told his guardians about getting in Yuuei, but the second a word about it slipped from his mouth in an attempt to tell his foster parents, he regretted it. He ended up getting yelled at and sent to his room, but he honestly didn't care that much. He was just too excited to care.

He already barely slept due to insomnia, but didn't even so much as blink that night he was so excited.

But, that night didn't even compare to the night before the first day of Yuuei.

Izuku quickly slid on his uniform and started on his way to Yuuei. Izuku didn't necessarily need to use the actual uniform the school had given him, but it made the form more realistic and put less strain on his quirk so he just put it around his solid form. If he got burned or hit, it would only damage the uniform.

Shibito walked next to him, chatting his ear off the entire way, but eventually left him alone when he got to the front gates. Izuku gave a small, two-fingered wave in return to his uncle when the man waved at him, watching him walk away.

He entered the building, making a sharp turn down a hallway with a much smaller amount of students lingering, and continued making his way to the 1-A classroom. This way would take a little longer, but he didn't want to have to deal with all the other students that were lingering in the main hallway that the map of the building they had given each student said to follow.

He passed a few other classrooms on the way, recognizing a few students from the entrance exam that had tried to get into the hero course but didn't end up succeeding. After he passed through the 1-B area, somehow avoiding social interaction, he finally arrived at the 1-A classroom door. 

He slowly slid it open to already be met with loud voices that made him want to rip his ears off. "-ectful to school property!" It was four-eyes from the entrance exam getting angry at Kacchan for having his feet on his desk. Great, he had to be in class with this kid now. "Alright, how about we start over, my name is Tenya Iida from-"

Iida was suddenly cut off as a familiar high-pitched voice sounded from Izuku's left and he wanted to bolt out of the room at that very moment. "It's you! From the entrance exam!" Uraraka waved at him frantically and quickly approached him. "Remember me? You saved me from falling before the exam and then saved me again from the ze-" 

Her words were cut off as Izuku just set his hand over her face, preventing any more words coming out in that high-pitched voice that made him want to scream. She blinked in surprise before her face turned a bright red and she started sweating. Izuku just scowled and returned his hand to his side, motioning for her to be quiet with his other hand with a finger over his lips.

She looked extremely confused, but just opted to nod. Izuku looked up to see that both Kacchan and Iida's gazes were on him and they were furious. Izuku grumbled to himself, what a great first day this was starting out to be.

Iida stormed over to him before Kacchan could yell at him and started motioning like a robot again, practically screaming in Izuku's face. "You! You shouldn't be here! Are you trying to sabotage every other student's chance to succeed?! You-"

Another voice suddenly sounded from behind them and Izuku resisted the urge to laugh as both students in front of him tensed. "If you're here to make friends, you should leave now." Izuku slowly turned around to face Aizawa and couldn't help the small glint of amusement that filtered into his eyes at the sight of the man. He had seen him in the faculty meetings he had watched before the year and had even met him on patrol as Whisper before. 

Aizawa was laying sideways on the ground in a yellow sleeping bag that made him look like a caterpillar. He heard Ochako screech in pure terror next to him and Iida pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

Their homeroom teacher practically inhaled a juice packet and then unzipped the sleeping bag, standing up. Izuku just turned to face Ochako and Iida, shooing them into the classroom so they were out of the way of the doorway. He made his way to his seat, sitting by the window between Kacchan and eyebags from the entrance exam. Eyebags had previously had his head down on his desk, but Izuku saw one of his eyes peeking at him through his arms as he approached.

After he had sat down, Aizawa entered and shuffled to the front of the classroom behind the lecture stand. "It took you all eight seconds to shut up, that's not gonna work." He paused, his eyes scanning the room. "Welcome to the hero course, I'm Shouta Aizawa, your teacher."

Almost the entire class freaked out except for a few kids here and there, Izuku was able to pick out who the quiet kids would be this year. Himself being one of them. 

Aizawa glared at the class's sudden outburst, silencing them again, and then held up a red, white and blue gym uniform. "Head down to the locker rooms and get changed, then go to the P.E grounds and wait for further instruction."

Izuku stood up as the rest of the class sat there in silent confusion and made his way to the door. He could see a few students staring at him through the side of his eye, but he completely ignored them and slid the door open, stepping out into the hallway. A few moments later he heard Aizawa growl something out at the class and the sound of chairs scooting out and shuffling sounded.

He turned the corner at the end of the long hallway just as the rest of class started filtering out the door and strolled through the long, winding hallways to the locker room. When he entered, he took a locker and pulled out the gym uniform inside it. He slipped the pants on quickly before anyone else arrived, and tightened them to his size. He then unbuttoned his jacket and his white shirt, slipping them off to reveal the black tank-top he was wearing under it.

He heard a few other kids enter right as he slipped his arms through the arm holes of the gym uniform top and eavesdropped on their conversation.

"Bro! Did you hear that someone got a one-hundred on the written exam?" Judging by the kid's voice, Izuku most likely wouldn't like him very much because he sounded way too happy and upbeat.

"Of Course! I've been asking around to try and find out who they are, but I haven't had any luck so far." This kid's voice was also extremely optimistic and gave him a headache to listen to.

"Bro, sa- whoa, dude." They went quiet for a second, so Izuku turned around to see what had happened.

That's when he realized they were both staring at him. They both looked concerned, especially the one with bright red spiky hair, he looked horrified. The other kid had blonde spiky hair with what looked like a black lightning bolt on one side. The rest of the boys had entered by now and a few of them had followed the first two boy's gazes.

He was just confused, what was wrong with him? Had he let his real form leak through? 

The red hair kid pointed at his arms. "Dude, are you okay? Your arms-" He seemed too afraid to continue and Izuku looked down. 

He lifted up one of his arms and faced it palm up so he could look at it. The two boys gasped at the sight of his wrists, and Izuku just looked irritated. He thought the cuts on his arms wouldn't be this noticeable, but he was apparently wrong. They had actually slipped his mind until now and he didn't realize that they would be able to be seen but the sleeves of the gym uniforms were short. How convenient.

He just gave the two boys a deadpan look, zipped up the front of his uniform, and strolled out of the locker room. The P.E grounds were quiet as he walked out, a small breeze blowing a bit of dirt up from the ground.

No one else had made it outside yet, including Aizawa, which explained why it was so quiet. He slid his hands into his pockets, striding forward at a relaxed pace. He followed the white lines that had been painted on the ground to an area he could stand and stood towards the back of it.

His gaze landed on the trees in the distance and he watched as the wind rustled their leaves. There was an odd longing to be in the midst of the natural life he could see, and he let his eyes close as a small draft whistled in his ear.

He hummed along with the song of the trees and heard his voice become far away and breathy, echoing against his eardrum like it did when he became audible to the sentient's world. He let his eyes close and his body sway slightly to the slow tempo of the tune he was humming and the wind's volume increased, making his humming louder.

He only stopped when he heard student's voices entering the courtyard and opened his eyes again. Aizawa was now standing next to a painted circle in front of the box Izuku was in and the man's gaze flicked away from Izuku right as his eyes opened, glancing down at whatever object was in his hand. 

For the rest of the wait, Izuku was silent and when all the students were there, Aizawa cleared his throat and the class quieted down, giving their attention to their teacher.

"I'm going to put you through a series of physical tests to give you a sense of practicality with your quirk." Aizawa just sounded bored.

Ochako stepped forward. "What about orientation?" She asked.

Aizawa's gaze landed on her and he saw her physically shrink away. "Here at Yuuei we aren't tethered by traditions, so I can teach my class however I see fit. You don't have time for useless things like orientation." He paused, gaze sweeping over the group of students.

Izuku saw the man's eyes briefly pause on him for a second before continuing on, analyzing the class. "Bakugo." 

He saw Kacchan perk up a bit at his name. "Yeah?"

Aizawa suddenly held up a ball seemingly out of nowhere and tossed it to Kacchan. "What was your score on the ball toss in middle school?" The man asked.

"Sixty-seven meters." There was a faked bored tone to Kacchan's voice.

Aizawa motioned to the white circle in front of him and Kacchan approached it, stepping inside of it. "Try using your quirk with it this time."

Kacchan seemed more than pleased to do so and stretched his arm a bit before blasting it into the sky. "DIE!" His voice was somehow louder than the explosion he had made.

Aizawa then flipped around the rectangular object in his hand to reveal a tablet displaying the numbers seven hundred and five point two meters. The majority of the class gasped and amazed whispers spread through the class. One girl with small yellow horns and pink skin pumped her fist in the air with a small hop. "This is gonna be so fun!"

Aizawa's gaze slowly moved to her and he sent her a sharp glare. "You think this is fun?" The girl's fist sank slightly from the air and he saw her grow nervous. Aizawa took a small step towards the group, gaze still on the girl with his quirk now activated, hair levitating above his head, capture weapon hovering around his torso and eyes glowing red. "This is fun to you?"

The girl let her fist fall and her gaze started flicking around frantically and a light red blush dusting her pink cheeks in embarrassment of all the gazes on her. "U-um, y-y-yeah...?"

Aizawa closed his eyes for a small second, hair and capture weapon settling back around his shoulders as his eyes returned to their usual black color. "Alright, how about the person who places last in the rankings will be automatically expelled. I bet that'll be super fun."

Quite a few of the people in the class immediately turned to the girl and started scolding her for what she had just done. Izuku just watched it all happen, slightly amused at the class's reaction. The chances of Aizawa actually expelling someone on the first day was extremely low, so there was no reason to make a scene about it, but no one else knew that so he would let Aizawa have his fun. He couldn't exactly tell anyone anyway.

There were a few people who still remained calm and he locked eyes with the girl with a black ponytail. There was a silent confirmation in her eyes that she had also worked out the probability of the logical ruse and Izuku just subtly nodded to her. She returned the nod and both of them set their gazes on the scene in front of them.

Izuku's eyes landed on eyebags from the entrance exam and he could see the kid freaking out. Physically, the kid was just standing there with a tired look, but his eyes looked panicked. Izuku could see the drips of sweat on his forehead and his tense form.

Once the class had, for the most part, calmed down, Aizawa continued with the test and students took turns on the ball throw. Ochako went at one point and was able to get an infinite symbol by floating the ball into the earth's stratosphere. 

Izuku was one of the last few people to do it, but he honestly wasn't bothered. He strolled to the circle and settled himself in the middle of it, catching the ball as Aizawa tossed it to him without moving his gaze from the area in front of him. He slowly pulled back his arm, tightening his fingers around the ball, before launching his arm forward. The ball flew into the air, but stopped a second later. 

He let the ball sit in the air for a few moments as he straightened back up from throwing the ball and slid his hands back into his pockets. The ball just sat there, vibrating back and forth slightly in mid-air. Confused whispers came from the class and he even heard a few scoffs, until it disappeared. A few seconds after it was gone, a sound the same volume as a gunshot echoed through the clearing and a shock wave blew them all back, forcing most of them to adjust their footing so it didn't get blown away. Since Izuku's ghost was already planted on the ground, it just blew his hair and clothing back.

The ball went straight up, so Izuku tilted his head towards the sky to see the few clouds around that area with a perfect circle cut out of the middle of them. A few kids squawked from behind him and he turned to face Aizawa, waiting for his score.

His teacher turned the tablet around to face the class, revealing another infinite symbol. Izuku's gaze snapped to the group of students when he heard a familiar voice yell his name. "DEKU!" Izuku just stared at Kacchan with a bored look as his childhood friend lunged at him, preparing to stop him before the angry pomeranian could actually attack him, but Aizawa's capture weapon wrapped around Kacchan's form before he could activate his quirk.

The white cloth tightened, stopping Kacchan in his tracks and making him even angrier in the process. "DEKU! TELL ME HOW YOU DID THAT OR YOU'RE DEA-" His words were cut off as the capture weapon slapped over his mouth.

"Be quiet." Aizawa sounded exhausted and Izuku's lips twitched at how much he felt that entire statement.

Kacchan squirmed inside of the white cloth, angry grunts and muffled words Izuku recognized as curses erupting from his form. Izuku watched as Kacchan was tugged backwards, feet dragging in the dirt under their feet, and returned to the group of students.

The rest of the test was quite easy, and in fact, fun, for Izuku. He received second in the fifty meter dash, right behind Iida, by launching himself forwards with his quirk, but he could have done it much faster with the rest of his abilities but was only able to use the quirk they thought he had so it slowed him down. He also got second in the standing long jump, a girl named Asui with a frog quirk getting first, since he could technically jump forever, he just cut it off at a certain point and let the girl take first place. Then he got first place in the sustained sideways jump since he didn't have to deal with physical exhaustion and he could use his quirk to help him jump lighter and faster.

The one that he considered to be the most interesting was the grip test. He was the fourth to last person to do it, and had just gone after Shoji who had gotten a whopping four hundred and fifty kilograms by using all of his extra limbs.

Izuku gripped the machine and began to pull his hand into a fist. The number continued to grow as he pulled and he narrowed his eyes. He wanted to see how far he could go without breaking the machine and even if he could go that far.

He had gotten to nine hundred and ninety-nine kilograms and was about to make it to one thousand when there was a loud snap. Izuku's eyes widened slightly and he stared at the machine as the metal handle that he had been pulling on slipped out of his grasp and fell on the floor with a loud clang.

For what seemed like the millionth time that day, the class erupted into loud chatter and Izuku heard the telltale sound of a zipper unzipping. Izuku turned around to face Aizawa as he approached and handed his teacher the machine. He leaned down, picked up the broken handle on the ground and also passed it Aizawa. The man inspected the items for a moment, shifting them around, before looking up at Izuku.

"You broke it?" The man asked. 

Izuku nodded. 

"You, broke it?" Aizawa asked again, emphasizing the 'you' as if to say, You broke it? Yeah right.

Izuku nodded for the second time, staring back at Aizawa with the exact same expression the man was wearing himself. The man just stared at him for a second before sighing. "Alright, if Nezu doesn't want to replace it, you're gonna have to pay for it yourself."

And that's why you don't experience with your quirk. He didn't have the money to pay for another one of these things and this one looked expensive.

That's when the memory of Kumo fronted in his mind and he resisted the urge to smile like a maniac. Maybe now was one of the times he could use it to his advantage.

After the Aizawa had taken care of the grip test machine, he took his tablet, held it screen up and a list was projected onto the area above it. Izuku was pleasantly surprised to spot his name in first place, right in front of a girl named Yaoyorozu. He glanced down to see some kid named Shinsou in last place and turned around to see if he could figure out who it was, but he didn't have to put too much work into it.

Eyebags from the exam was extremely pale and he couldn't hide his fear anymore. The disappointment was clear on the kid's face. Shinsou met his eyes for a moment, some sort of apology in his eyes, and then his head dipped down, gaze shifting to the ground.

There were many other reactions from all of the students around him, but they were all halted when Aizawa cleared his throat. They all turned to face their teacher and when all eyes were on him, his face broke out into a maniacal smile so similar to his own that Izuku paused for a moment.

"I lied about expelling whoever came in last, it was a logical ruse to make sure you all did your best!" Aizawa's voice dripped with amusement.

Many shouts came from the group of students and a lot of them started yelling for no particular reason. He turned to see the ponytail girl, who he found out was Yaoyorozu, with a concerned look on her face at the kids that were yelling. "I thought you all had figured that out already, it wasn't very hard to work out."

Her eyes found him in the crowd and she winked, a regaled expression on her face as she covered her mouth so nobody saw her small smile. He honestly did find the logical ruse pretty funny, especially after the rest of the class's reactions, and let a slightly amused expression filter onto his face.

He glanced back right as Aizawa's gaze grazed over him and he saw his teacher pause, the maniacal smile dropping slightly.

The man raised an eyebrow. "Something funny Midoriya?"

Every pair of eyes in the courtyard turned to stare at him and he paused slightly at the sudden attention. He glanced around at all of his classmates and then back to Aizawa, mimicking the man's maniacal smile. Both of their maniacal smiles met and the class glanced between them, obviously confused.

Izuku didn't answer and just continued smiling like a maniac. The girl with pink skin and horns stepped out of the crowd again and pointed accusingly at him.

"Are you like his son or something?!"

The kid with two-toned hair, who he had found out was named Todoroki, pushed to the front of the group after Ashido's line with an expressionless look. "I knew it." He stated blandly.

The class exploded.

Quite a few students got to experience what Aizawa's capture weapon felt like that day. 

At the end of the day, Izuku walked away from Yuuei with quite a few things. The rumor that he was Aizawa's son, sign language lessons, and Uraraka. He honestly didn't really want the last one, but she had just followed him out of the main doors and wouldn't leave him alone.

"Which way do you go?" She asked.

He just turned left when he got out of the front gates and Uraraka seemed to light up.

"I go this way too!" She said cheerfully. 

The sign language lessons spoke for themself. Aizawa had approached him after class before he exited the building and had somehow convinced him to come in for sign language lessons every morning twenty minutes early.

He sped up his pace when they got close to the alley he had come out of just that morning and turned the corner before Uraraka so he was out of her view before disappearing. He heard her call his name and when she came around the corner she paused.

"Deku-kun...?" He wasn't a huge fan of the nickname being used by other people but it's not like he could correct her anyway so he just left it.

She glanced around the alley for a moment, brows furrowing, before walking straight through him. He turned around to see her frozen where she was in a tense position, staring at the area in front of her with a fearful expression.

"C-come D-deku-k-k-kun, th-this isn't f-funny." Her voice was shaky and she sounded genuinely scared.

There was a rumor that whenever you shivered, but you weren't cold, it meant that a ghost had walked through you. She was already scared, but he wanted to test that theory. 

He stepped forward, a small breeze accompanying his form, and phased through her. His ghost moved smoothly, having no issues whatsoever while passing through her being. He turned around to see her reaction and saw her eyes go wide in terror. She covered her mouth with both hands to keep from screaming and turned around to bolt out of the alley.

While her back was turned, he purposefully crunched on some glass and watched as she threw her arms in the air with a yelp. He knew he shouldn't be entertained, but he couldn't help but chuckle at the girl's reaction. Superstitious people were easy to scare.

Being a ghost was pretty nice.

Maybe he would have a little fun with his classmates throughout the year.

But, right now, he had responsibilities to attend to so that would have to wait.

Shouta slumped into the chair in front of his desk and let out a bone-tired sigh. He would have to come in even earlier than he already did to teach Midoriya sign language and he felt himself physically wither when Hizashi's loud voice echoed through the room as the door flew open.

Loud footsteps approached his desk and he shrunk away from the loud voice to his left. "Shouta!" He scowled and glared at the noisy man as he halted next to his desk. Hizashi paused, raising an eyebrow. "Bad first day?"

Shouta just directed his glare down at his desk since he couldn't glare at the puppy of a man. He didn't like dogs but Hizashi could do magic with his puppy eyes. "Every first day sucks. Actually-" He turned to look back up at Hizashi, face relaxing into a bored expression. "-all days suck."

Hizashi pulled him into a hug and he leaned away as far as possible as Hizashi completely crushed him while snuggling his face into Shouta's. "I'm sorry you had a bad first day Shoutaaaaaa!"

He felt the severity of his headache grow substantially as the man yelled directly in his ear and he shoved him away. "You're too loud, try being quiet for once."

Hizashi just laughed and leaned on him, slinging an arm around his shoulder. "So whaddya think of the hero bunch this year?"

Shouta thought for a second. "They're all the same." He said. Like he would actually tell Hizashi if any students had peaked his interest.

Hizashi's eyes lit up like they did when he was about to suddenly change the subject and Shouta prepared himself for any question the man could possibly ask.

"I heard you got the mute kid in your class this year! What's he like?" Hizashi sounded genuinely interested even though the kid had been introduced during the entrance exam and Shouta huffed.

"He doesn't know sign language so I have to come in early to give him lessons every day from now on." He saw Hizashi open his mouth to say something but he let a subtle smile filter onto his face. His bloodshot eyes partnered with the slight upwards tilt of his lips made him look like a psychopath. "He thought my logical ruse was amusing."

A look of pure dread filtered onto Hizashi's face and he backed away slightly. "Okay, now I'm completely sure he's your son."

Shouta shot up, capture weapon and hair floating around him as his eyes glowed red in a fierce glare but Hizashi sprinted away from him before he could scold him and he shot after him. "Get back here you prick!"     

Chapter Text

Izuku made his way across the roof of the building he was on and kept the girl in his view as he did so. It was quite late and she looked to be about nineteen or twenty, while the man following her looked to be about forty-five or forty-six.

The girl seemed to be completely oblivious to the man following her and continued to stroll down the street, humming slightly. The guy ducked behind a corner as the girl turned around to check behind her and then reemerged as she swiveled around to face forward again.

Izuku couldn't see any physical manifestations of a quirk on the girl but the guy seemed to be able to elongate his fingers to a certain length. He couldn't do anything until the man had actually attempted to do anything to the girl so he just followed them, keeping an eye out for any sign of the man trying to advance.

Sure enough, the man eventually got within arms length of the girl and waited until they were in front of an alley before wrapping his fingers around the girl, trapping her arms against her sides and covering her mouth to keep her from screaming.

He immediately switched into hero mode and shot forwards, launching himself off the edge of the building into the dark alley below. The girl was being held against the wall as she struggled in the man's grip and tried to scream through the man's fingers but was only able to get out muffled noises. He saw the man's fingers slithering around the girl like snakes and his face contorted into a look of disgust.

He hated rapists and molesters. There was absolutely no reason that could justify their actions and he tended to be much rougher with them than other criminals. He wasn't saying that crimes could be justified, there were just certain reasons that made a little more sense than others.

The other ghosts around him howled as he flew towards the criminal and his foot met the man's face. The man didn't let go of the girl which resulted in her flying forwards as he fell down and Izuku had to catch her to keep her from crashing into the ground.

The man's voice was low and scratchy and he reeked of cigarette smoke. "What the-"

Izuku socked the guy in the face and his head smashed onto the concrete below him. He yelped in pain and his fingers loosened to the point that Izuku was able to yank the girl away from him. The guy tried to stand up, slurring curses at Izuku, but he harshly stepped down on the man's chest, keeping him on the ground.

He could hear the girl speaking on the phone, most likely with the police and he turned to her, foot still on the man's chest. She told them the area they were in and that the man had been caught and was awaiting arrest. After the phone call had been ended, she quickly stuffed it back into the small purse she was wearing.

Her expression was nervous and she was obviously quite disturbed but turned to face him anyway. "U-um-" She gulped. "Th-thank y-y-you f-for saving m-me."

Izuku just gave a slight nod and the girl started fiddling with her hands. She suddenly gasped and outstretched one of her hands toward Izuku before pausing with a confused expression on her face. He looked down to see the man swiping at him and trying to grab him with his extended fingers, but they just swept through him like he wasn't even there. He could see the man growing frantic, but he just stood there and stared at him. 

Then, he slowly leaned down until he was a few inches from the man's face. "Disgusting." A small breeze carrying his voice blew through the alley and he saw the man freeze, eyes going wide.

The man just stared at him, blinking owlishly in horror. Izuku then socked the guy in the face again, this time it was hard enough to knock him out cold and Izuku glanced around for something to tie him up with. His eyes landed on a small piece of cloth partly handing out of a dumpster and he stepped towards it, grabbing the blue cloth.

He dragged the man to a lamppost out on the sidewalk in clear view of the entire street and tied him to it. He balled up the man's hands so that he couldn't use his fingers to escape if he woke up and then turned around to face the other direction when he heard sirens. 

Blue and red lights lit up the sky and Izuku twirled around to look at the girl who was still standing in her original spot. He stared at her for a moment before giving a two-finger wave and then proceeding to scale the wall of the building next to him.

He crouched on the very edge of the corner of the roof to watch as the police cars pulled up to the scene and stepped out of their cars. He saw a few average policemen get out, but then a new, more interesting person exited the car.

He was wearing a tan trench coat with a white button-up shirt, black tie, black pants and black dress shoes. His hair was combed back into a smooth wavy look and his expression was stern. He held himself slightly differently than all the other policemen and walked with determination. He saw the man approach the girl he had saved and greeted her, holding a small notepad and pen.

The group of policemen hauled the criminal into the police car and the new person questioned the young girl he had saved. He first introduced himself as Tsukauchi, the head detective of the police force, and then started asking her questions. Most of them were mostly about what had happened, some information about the girl herself, until the subject of the girls savior came up.

"You said that you were rescued by someone, correct?" Tsukauchi asked.

"Correct." The girl answered.

Tsukauchi scribbled something on his notepad and then looked up at the girl again. "Could you describe them for me?"

She tapped her chin for a moment, thinking. "Well, there isn't much to describe. He was completely black, like a silhouette, except for his eyes, they were green. He was also really blurry and kind of gave me a headache to look at."

Tsukauchi wrote quickly as the girl spoke, only stopping when the girl had finished her explanation. "Was there anything else you noticed? Maybe something a little out of the ordinary?"

That was an awfully specific question. The girl's brows furrowed and her gaze clouded over for a moment before zoning back into reality. "While they were saving me, I heard... like... whispering, or something? It was weird, it actually kind of freaked me out a little bit."

The detective visibly deflated and sighed, ripping off the note he had been writing on and calling a policeman over, handing it to them. "Add this to Whisper's file."

Whoa, hold up, he had his own file? He knew that people had started calling him Whisper, but he didn't know he had his own file. That sounded extremely professional and special or something, so he must be a lot more popular than he thought he was if this guy knew about him.

"Anything else?" The detective just sounded exasperated now.

The girl thought for a second before responding. "Nope."

Tsukauchi then ushered the girl into a police car, promising a ride home, and then a police officer with a cat head approached him.

"Did you get anything new?"

Tsukauchi pinched the bridge of his nose. "Nope, nothing. Everything was the same. Appear out of nowhere, cue whispering, rescue victim and disappear like nothing was even there in the first place. Same thing every time."

The cat-headed officer chuckled. "Gotta say, they are pretty good at their job though."

"Don't encourage it, Sansa." So the cat's name was Sansa, huh.

As the policemen slowly filtered out of the area, Tsukauchi and Sansa continued to converse for a little while until Izuku stood from his position on the roof. The ghosts around him burst out into excited whoops and shouts and he could tell that the noise was filtering through the wind which meant that it would be audible to sentients and he huffed in annoyance.

Both Tsukauchi and Sansa ceased all conversation immediately and he saw them look up. Their gazes locked on him as he stood there, a chilling breeze blowing Sansa's fur and Tsukauchi's hair forward, an odd feeling traveling with it.

He just stood there, staring down at them for a moment, before saluting with two fingers and hopping away. He heard shouts from behind him and then engines roaring, tires screeching down the road. He chuckled slightly as they shined a bright light along the roof buildings he was jumping on, but skimmed past him since he had gone imperceptible.

He launched himself forward with his quirk while going anti-gravity and flew over the city. He returned to a normal state when he spotted a subway and jumped onto the roof while it was moving, grabbing onto the handles that were placed there. There hadn't been very much going on for the past few days and crime levels had dropped in Mustafu ever since he had appeared so it wouldn't hurt to explore a little bit. The subway came up on a tunnel and Izuku just turn off his quirk and didn't even have to shift positions as he phased through the tunnel.

It was dark as he went through the tunnel, waiting to emerge out the other side, and when he did, he couldn't help but pause.

There weren't any clouds in this area so the moon was in clear view and the light was reflecting off the water, illuminating the clearing. The subway was on a track that was now extremely close to the side of a mountain with a cliff on the other side that dropped down into the sea below. It was in a horseshoe shape with trees and mountains curving out from the original mountain and then gradually getting smaller and smaller as it went along until it eventually just faded away completely and left an exit out to the ocean along with a clear view of the moon.

It was beautiful.

He entered the ghost world so he wasn't affected by the kinetic energy of the sentient world and stood up on top of the train. The subway traveled around the inside curve of the main mountain so he could admire the view until they went into the tunnel on the other side of it.

When it did enter the tunnel, he actually found himself missing the view. But, he brushed it off since he could visit it later anyway and the subway had come out of the tunnel into another city.

He hopped off the roof of the train when it passed by a building the same height as it, and stopped to glance around for a moment. He didn't know what city he was in, but he honestly didn't care. He let his feet carry him and admired his surroundings as he traveled through the city. The streets were almost completely empty since it was so late at night, but there were still a few people driving on the roads and walking around.

As his feet wandered, his mind wandered to. It was odd not being able to feel tired, it was also weird not being able to feel hungry either. He couldn't remember what it all felt like since he had been a ghost for so long, but he could tell that it was odd. His spirit seemed to have the memory of experiencing the sensations but he didn't undergo them, so it just felt like something was missing every single second of every day. Like a hole inside of his soul that he couldn't fix.

He slid his hands into the pocket of his middle school uniform and narrowed his eyes as he saw someone in a black hoodie with the hood up duck into an alleyway. He quickly followed after them, expecting some kind of drug deal, but was instead met with the last of the person disappearing into a purple portal. Then, the portal shut and there was no sign that they were even there in the first place and Izuku was left standing there alone. Well, if you didn't count the ghosts that had followed him here that is.

His brow furrowed in confusion and concern and he slowly stepped further into the alley, inspecting the area. There was nothing there. He should have followed the person, why didn't he think about that? He cursed at himself and whipped stomped on a bottle on the ground, shattering it in the process.

He turned around and was about to exit the alley back onto the main road, when he heard shuffling from inside a dumpster. He whipped around, immediately returning to his previous position as the shuffling continued. He narrowed his eyes at the dumpster the noises were coming from, when suddenly, a blur of black shot out of it and towards his face.

He readied himself to block whatever the oncoming thing was, but it latched onto his face before he could. His eyes widened slightly as he got a close up of black fur and he chuckled as a meow echoed in the alley around them.

"Quite an entrance if you ask me, Panther." Another meow answered him and he reached up to pry the cat off of his face. Panther's knowing eyes stared back at him as he held the cat just under his armpits in front of him at eye level and he chortled. "You're quite the cat, aren't you?"

Panther smiled at him and he couldn't help but let his lips tilt slightly upwards at the effort the cat was putting into his expression. Cat's didn't have enough muscles in their face to really be able to express emotions through facial expressions, so Panther just looked like he was constipated or something.

"Well, at least now I know where you go when you're not at the shelter." He then set the cat on the ground, petting him a couple of times. "Aight, I gotta go. It was nice seeing you though."

He ruffled the fur on top of the cat's head before standing back up and pouring every ounce of fondness he had of the cat into his eyes. Panther meowed at him and he saluted to him, his signature farewell. He honestly didn't know why he started doing it, he just did it one day and didn't stop.

Right as he exited the alley, the sound of breaking glass could be heard along with the blaring of an alarm. He rushed to the source of the noise, pausing when he saw three heroes already there.

In Mustafu, there was about a twenty percent chance that a hero would come to your aid when you were screaming for help. At night, it was even lower. The city was severely neglected by heroes and had become a crime hotspot over the past few years with drug dealers, gangs, thieves, you name it. It was the reason why he usually only patrolled there and since he had first appeared, crime rates had gone down significantly.

He simply watched as the heroes worked, only willing to jump in if anyone's life was on the line. The heroes working were Midnight, Ms. Joke and, wouldn't you know it, Eraserhead.

Eraserhead had recently become Izuku's favorite hero. First of all, the man was an underground hero, which he respected, and hated the media and being in the spotlight which meant he wasn't doing hero work for fame. Second of all, he was a no-nonsense person and got the job done fast and clean, like a knife cutting through butter, and kept it quiet enough that no one usually found out about it. And third of all, he didn't brag or exaggerate any stories about his missions, in fact, he didn't even tell stories about his job. The man kept to himself and he didn't bother you if you didn't bother him.

The best part was that he was also Izuku's teacher. He was pretty sure that the rest of the class hadn't even heard of the hero 'Eraserhead', but he didn't care, at least he did. Eraserhead was a pretty cool hero. His combat skills were amazing and Izuku guaranteed he could take on the entire 1-A classroom all at once and he would still win. Well, everyone except Izuku. He wasn't being full-of-himself, there was just a zero percent chance that the man would win considering Izuku's abilities. It was physically impossible.

Within minutes, the alarm was quieted, the robbers were unconscious, handcuffed, and wrapped in Eraser's capture weapon. Izuku just stared down at them from the rooftop as his hands rested in his pockets and the heroes waited for the police to arrive.

Once he was sure everything was under control, he pivoted around and strolled to the other side of the rooftop, hopping onto the next one after.

Shouta tightened his capture weapon around the unconscious criminals they had caught and glared at their still forms. He was almost done with his patrol but most likely had to wait another hour for the police to arrive and get everything taken care of.

Ms. Joke and Midnight were chatting with each other about some type of makeup brand or something and he just wanted to get this over with and go home. As he stood there silently, he suddenly felt the hair on the back of his neck rise and his pule quicken. The feeling of being watched made him tense and faint whispering filled his ears, making him narrow his eyes in recognition.

He instinctively looked up just as a dark silhouette disappeared beyond the edge of the building across the street above him. He felt suspicion creep up his back like a spider and the feeling of being watched went away immediately along with the whispering.

What was Whisper doing so far out? They usually stayed in Mustafu, so what encouraged them to appear this far north of Japan? Maybe there was something going on, in that case, he should be a lot more weary.

"-erhead! SHOUTA!" He whipped around to face the two women who had moved from their spot a few feet away to right behind him. Midnight huffed and set her hands on her hips while raising an eyebrow at him. "Jeez, we called you ten times." She tapped her head. "What are you even thinking about anyway?"

He scowled at the woman. "None of your business." He snapped. He just wanted to go home and didn't want to have to deal with Midnight and Ms. Joke's antics.

Midnight's eyebrows shot up and she folded her arms with a smirk. "Why so defensive?" She poked a finger to his chest. "Were you thinking of something s-"

"No." He cut her off before she could finish her sentence to spare his ears from her exotic language. 

Midnight narrowed her eyes at his bored expression and took a step back, arms still folded. "What were you thinking about, then, hm?"

"Yeah, Eraser! Were you thinking about our wedding day?" Ms. Joke looked towards the sky and clasped her hands together while blinking rapidly.

He glared at both of them. "No. And I would appreciate it if you left me alone."

Midnight took out her whip and whipped the air. "Oh come on! We won't make fun of you! We all know that men have their fantasies-"

"Fine." He grimaced. They wouldn't stop pestering him about it until he told them, so he might as well tell them since it would just make things easier. "I was thinking about Whisper."

Both of them paused, blinking in surprise, and then turned to look at each other. They had a silent conversation with their eyes before turning to look at him again with understanding expressions.

Ms. Joke spoke first. "Um, I can respect that. You do you I guess."

"Yeah, it's a mysterious love story!" Midnight put a hand on her hip and thrust the hand that was still holding the whip in the air. "A hero and a vigilante, how will it end? Will the hero capt-"

His eyes widened slightly and he immediately cut them both off from their rants. "What? No- you know what, I'm just going to completely ignore both of you."

Ms. Joke giggled and Midnight smirked, irritating Shouta even more. He was ready to go home and get away from these pricks so he could cuddle up with his cats and go to sleep for the next ten years of his life.

After police arrived and the criminals had been shoved into police cars, Ms. Joke and Midnight offered to take the rest of the load, so he let himself relax and headed to the train station to catch one going to Mustafu.

Izuku silently floated through the sky in the direction he assumed he had come from and smirked when he saw a bird flying through the sky a few feet away. He positioned himself in front of it before seemingly appearing out of nowhere directly in the bird's path, successfully scaring the absolute crap out of it. He cackled as the bird squawked and frantically flapped its wings in the other direction to fly backwards. It lost its balance for a moment, a few feathers flying out around it, before it regained its composure and again and flying around him, cawing angrily.

His eyes flicked up as they caught movement and he saw another bird in the distance and he smiled maniacally. He quickly started to drift in its direction until he got close enough to realize, that's not a bird. It looked like a person with wings.

Once he got close enough to see details, he was honestly surprised. It was Hawks, the wing hero. Hawks had his gaze set on the world below him, eyes narrowed and intent on finding something. Suddenly, the hero abruptly stopped, hovering in the air as his eyes scanned the area around him. He spun around, wings flapping behind him, gaze sweeping over the environment warily, movements fluid and comfortable.

Izuku wondered if the hero had seen him, but was soon reassured that he was still undetected when Hawks shrugged to himself and continued studying the city beneath him while starting forward again. The wind blew the hero's hair and feathers back as he flew, making him look like the most aesthetically pleasing human being Izuku had ever seen.

Izuku would be lying if he didn't admit that he was at least a little but excited that he was getting to see Hawks in the flesh. There wasn't much he took joy in since he was dead and he couldn't feel anything, so he took the small little sparks of excitement he would get every once in a while wherever he could get them. Whether good or bad, he didn't care. He was sucker for emotions because he didn't have any.

Suddenly, a thought entered his head and that spark of excitement turned into a very small flame. What if Hawks was looking for him? The hero had only ever visited Mustafu once before, so what would encourage him to visit now? Especially in the middle of the night nonetheless.

He squinted his eyes in thought as he drifted next to the number three hero. If Hawks really was looking for him, then he could represent himself in a way that couldn't be missed from the hero's view. He might get to meet Hawks tonight.

He floated down to a rooftop a little farther forward from where Hawks was and sat down on the very edge of it so he was in clear view of the sky. He swung his legs back and forth over the drop below that would guarantee any living sentient certain death if they fell and started humming. The world seemed to like it when he sang, and usually played it through the wind like some sort of radio for any ears that wished to listen.

A few seconds later, he heard light footsteps so quiet that you wouldn't be able to hear them unless you strained your ears to hear them approaching him from behind and he internally pumped his fist.

He suddenly felt a strong force jerk him backwards and lift him off the ground, dragging him over to the figure standing in the middle of the rooftop. He came directly face to face with Hawks, the number three hero.

Hawks had a smirk on his face. "Well, well, well, if it isn't Whisper."

Izuku had been alone before, but a few ghosts glanced in their direction before moving closer and breaking out into excited murmurs. Hawks' gaze flicked around for a moment, but ultimately ended up settling back on Izuku.

The hero was quiet for a moment, hands sat comfortably in his pockets, before tilting his chin up. "I've heard quite a few stories about you." His tone was amused. "Ingenium says he's tried to catch you before but he hasn't even been able to set a finger on you." He stepped forward and poked Izuku's chest, chin still tilted upwards.

Hawks' eyes seemed to be focused on him, but Izuku could tell that the hero was subtly surveying him. He was still being held up one of Hawks' feathers and was quite fascinated with how sturdy one single feather could be. He had studied Hawks when he had first appeared whilst he was young, absolutely captivated by the man's quirk. He had even counted all of the hero's feathers individually after watching many videos to get different angles and was able to quickly determine whether any of Hawks' feathers were missing from either wing.

Izuku knew his strengths, weaknesses, fighting style and even ways that the hero could improve or use his quirk in new ways that would benefit the hero and give him the upper hand in fights. The hero was already amazing, very intelligent and observant, but there were always things that could be improved, and Izuku had nitpicked every single one of them.

After a few more moments of letting Izuku dangle in the air, the feather that was holding him up let him fall back down to the rooftop and then darted back over to its place on Hawks' right wing.

"You know, you're actually pretty interesting." The hero squinted his eyes. "You've got a pretty good disguise, you look really weird. I couldn't figure out who you were even if I wanted to."

The hero then threw his arms around Izuku's shoulders and slumped, putting his full weight on him with a calm laugh that wasn't meant to be friendly. A few feathers flitted through the air around Izuku and he felt them poke his arms, shoulders, back and legs every once in a while. One eventually shoved him a little too roughly from behind and he stumbled forward, quickly catching himself and regaining his composure.

"Oh, sorry! I lost control of one of my feathers there for a minute, you alright, kid?" The hero wrapped one of his arms around Izuku's neck again, putting him in a loose headlock before ruffling his hair. Izuku turned to look at him and tilted his head at the fact that Hawks had called him 'kid'. The hero paused, blinking innocently, before stepping away and placing his open palms in front of his chest. "Oh, are you not a kid? My bad! You're just so tiny!"

Izuku could feel the feathers whistling through the area around them still, a constant reminder that they could impale him at any time. It was small things like this that Hawks used to intimidate criminals and villains. This entire interaction had simply been a plot to show that Hawks could take him down at any time and was simply letting Izuku stay because he was letting him stay. Hawks didn't just 'lose control' of one of his feathers, he had enough practice and training not to. He merely thought of Izuku as a toy.

Hawks was asserting his dominance over him, and he wasn't having it. The small jabs from the feathers every few seconds was beginning to irritate Izuku and the smug look on Hawks' face as it was happening was helping. The hero pretended to notice something and Izuku felt another feather jolt him forward again. Hawks leaned forward, outstretching his hand and fingers towards Izuku's face.

That's when he snapped. He grabbed Hawks' hand in one smooth movement and pressed down on a pressure point that was meant to cause extreme pain. Hawks paused, blinking in surprise, and made no move to pull away. Izuku just kept his eyes wide and innocent, even smiling at the hero. Hawks was pretty good at hiding his pain.

Izuku tweaked one of Hawks' fingers in a way that should be extremely painful and felt a few feathers whiz through his being as he did so since he had made himself untouchable to sentients. Some more feathers left Hawks' wings and started trying to hit him, but they continued to shoot directly through him. He bent the finger even further until he heard a loud crack, and then let go, the finger falling limply.

Hawks' smiled slightly, eyes narrowing at Izuku and the feathers finally stopped trying to impale him.

"You don't seem to like me very much." Izuku grabbed one of the feathers out of the air next to him before it could shoot away and thrust it at the hero. The feather was shoved against Hawks' chest until the hero reached up to grab it and chuckled. "Okay fine, calm down."

The hero tossed the feather in the air and Izuku narrowed his eyes as he watched it do a loop around him and then return to the wing it belonged to. He almost smirked, yeah right he was going to fall for that. The rest of the feathers supposedly returned to their wing and Hawks slid his hands in his pockets, being a little more careful with the one with a broken finger than the other one.

Izuku locked eyes with the hero and Hawks continued to talk to him. "How do you do that whispering thing? I wanna know so I can use it to creep out villains." He bent over slightly and wiggled the fingers on the hand that didn't have any broken fingers as he spoke for effect.

Izuku just gave the hero a bored look and folded his arms with a sigh. A slight breeze blew the hair out of Hawks' face and Izuku saw him halt for a moment, eyes shifting to the side before returning to him.

"Come on! Loosen up, I'm not gonna do anythi-" The hero was cut off by Izuku catching the one feather that hadn't returned to its wing and had tried to stab him in the leg while Hawks was speaking.

He held up the feather between two fingers and kept it in place with his quirk when he felt it try to escape his grasp. When Hawks had done a loop around Izuku with one feather, he just switched them around and made a different one return up front instead of the one Izuku had thrust at the hero in the first place.

The hero hummed in slight surprise and slid his hand back in his pocket. "I'll give it to you, you're pretty observant and you've got good reflexes. I like you." The hero ended his sentence with a grin and Izuku rolled his eyes.

"And I'm All Might." He mumbled to himself. He seriously doubted the hero actually liked him and was most likely trying to manipulate him into feeling comfortable so he could catch Izuku. The hero was known for being smarter than he let on. 

The ghosts around him giggled and he saw Hawks' eyes flick away from him for another moment, inspecting the area around them again. "Man, seriously, how do you do that? It's actually sort of freaky."

Izuku just chuckled and finally let the feather go, watching as it returned to Hawks' side. He then walked forward so he was within a few inches of the hero, reached up, and flicked Hawks in the forehead.

The hero's eyes widened slightly in subtle surprise before Hawks burst into laughter and laid a hand over the spot Izuku had flicked. After a few moments, Izuku stepped back again and the hero's gaze settled back on him.

"This is gonna be fun, you and me." The look in Hawks' eyes wasn't amiable, oh no, it was a challenge.

Izuku smiled like a maniac and continued stepping backwards until he was standing on the edge of the building. He then gave his trademark, two-finger salute and hopped off the building like it was a jolly good diving board at a public pool.

He let himself disappear right as Hawks glanced down at the ground from over the brim of the building so that it looked like he had evaporated into thin air. There had been a series of comics from before the time that quirks existed that had some sort of character inspired off of a bat, or something? He couldn't remember the name of the character off the top of his head, but the character would do a similar thing with exits where he would just disappear on people. Izuku may or may not have taken inspiration on him.

As he continued on his patrol for the night, he couldn't help but get excited at the fact that he had challenged the number three hero to a cat and mouse game. Whether Izuku was the cat or the mouse, he would find out soon.    

Chapter Text

Izuku repeated the motion for 'emergency' as Aizawa critiqued and corrected it. They had about ten minutes left of the sign language lesson and Izuku had only been able to learn a few signs. Each individual sign was a specific motion that needed to be exact or it could mean something completely different which made sign language quite difficult to learn. Since it was only his first lesson, Aizawa had decided on teaching Izuku the signs that he would need to get through everyday life. Like bathroom, emergency, help and a few others.

They were sat in the teacher's lounge at a table in a small area that contained a fridge, microwave, vending machine and a few other things that the teacher's could use to their heart's content. There were a few other teachers working at their desks in front of monitors and some just casually chatting. He was pretty sure he wasn't allowed to be in here, but he honestly didn't care and Aizawa didn't seem to care either so he didn't question it. He was pretty sure Aizawa just wanted some coffee so he came here instead of the classroom. 

Aizawa showed him the motion again and slowed down on a certain part that he was having trouble with. "Try doing it a bit faster." He sped up the movement a bit and his teacher gave a nod of approval. "Alright, now repeat it a few more times, just like that."

Izuku performed the sign a few more times until Aizawa instructed him to review the other signs he had learned that morning so he went through them again.

[Emergency] He had gotten this sign down quite well so his hands were smooth and the movements were fluid. 

Aizawa took a sip of his coffee, staring at Izuku with a bored look as he signed.

He paused for a moment, trying to remember what the sign was before signing a little slower and a little more unsteady than the last one. [Bathroom]

Just as Izuku was about to complete the next sign, a loud voice shot through the room and Izuku flinched as the door flew open. Loud footsteps approached the table they were sitting at and he saw Aizawa grimace from behind his coffee mug.

"SHOUTAAAA!" Present Mic's voice rang in Izuku's ears and he clenched his hands into fists.

Present Mic practically skipped to their table and approached the side Aizawa was sitting and Izuku was immensely grateful that the hero hadn't stopped next to him instead. He saw the voice hero pause and look up, staring at him for a moment and blinking before glancing back at Aizawa. 

"Oh! So this is the little listener you offered to teach sign language lessons to?" Aizawa just ignored the other pro hero and kept sipping his coffee as Present Mic outstretched his hand towards Izuku. "Hello little listener, you can call me Present Mic or Yamada-sensei! It's nice to finally meet you!"

Izuku hesitantly shook the man's hand and didn't respond. After the hero smiled at him, he whipped back around to face Aizawa again but paused, frowning. The man pointed at the mug in Aizawa's hands accusingly and Izuku winced as he raised his voice again.

"How many cups of coffee have you had this morning?" Aizawa just stayed silent and took another sip, staring at Yamada as he spoke. "You've been drinking out of that same mug for the past hour and a half, I know it doesn't take that long for you to finish a cup of coffee!" Aizawa just sat there, slurping the steaming coffee loudly. Yamada looked pissed. 

Suddenly, the teacher snatched the cup out of Aizawa's hand and held it in the air next to him so the man couldn't reach it.

Aizawa glared at Yamada before setting his palm upwards towards the voice hero. "Hizashi, give me the coffee." His voice was eerily calm, a stark contrast to the look on the man's face.

"No! You've had enough coffee!" Aizawa activated his quirk so his eyes lit up red and his hair levitated upwards and Izuku found himself wanting to leave all of a sudden. He saw his teacher sign something to Yamada and the man just held the cup farther away. "I don't care! You've had enou-"

Izuku saw Aizawa's capture weapon begin to float upwards and he knew this was about to get nasty. You didn't take away someone's coffee, especially Shouta Aizawa's. Before the white material could reach Yamada, Izuku shot forward and grabbed the mug in a green blur, downing the entire mug of steaming hot black coffee in less then a second. He slammed the mug down on the table and stared at the teachers in front of him.

All conversation in the entire lounge had ceased and Izuku could feel all eyes on him as he stood there, hand still on the mug. He felt the coffee slowly slide down from his mouth into whatever was inside of his sentient form and settle there. It was actually slightly uncomfortable, the feeling of something just sitting inside of his ghost, but it was warm. He hadn't felt warm for a long time so it was actually a bit surprising so he frowned slightly before returning his expression to an emotionless state. Another thing that was odd was that he couldn't taste the contents of the cup, it was just liquid with no taste. 

He hadn't had the need to eat or drink anything before so he hadn't actually tried it until now and it had probably just unlocked quite a few new doors. Would the food just disappear or would it sit inside of his ghost forever? Guess he would find out soon.

Both Aizawa and Yamada were staring at him, Aizawa with his usual bored look mixed with a tiny bit of surprise and Yamada with a look of pure horror on his face. Yamada slowly turned towards Aizawa and signed something else, before bolting away. Whatever Yamada had told Aizawa had sure pissed him off.

After everything had settled back down, Izuku was sent to the classroom to wait for class to start and opened the door to be greeted by the sight of four-eyes chilling at his desk in the otherwise empty classroom. His mood immediately dropped and his posture slumped and he approached his desk and plopped down in his chair.

He expected to get lectured, but the kid seemed to have nothing to say and remained silent so he let his shoulders loosen. His gaze settled on the scene outside the window next to him.

There was a field in the distance filled with trees and bushes and he could see a few faux cities from where their classroom was. As his mind wandered, people slowly began to arrive and gather together in small groups to chat with each other. The second Aizawa walked in, all conversations stopped and everyone quickly found their seats. When their teacher called for their attention, Izuku's eyes locked on him, giving him his full concentration.

"You'll be starting the hero classes today, so prepare yourselves." Aizawa was silent for another moment, building up tension for his next words. "You can do whatever you want until next period now, just don't be loud." He saw his teacher slump and then fall behind his desk, most likely getting into his sleeping bag.

Almost the entire class let out sighs of relief and he saw everyone that had been chatting previously return to their small groups. Izuku looked around, observing everyone and found the few people who weren't talking with anyone. Some kid with a head that looked like a rock seemed to nervous to talk to anyone, the bird headed kid was just sitting there with his eyes closed and arms folded, the kid with two-toned hair was just sitting there staring at nothing, Shinsou was sitting with his head in his folded arms on his desk and the kid with blonde hair in the seat closest to the door was just staring at a random spot in the corner of the ceiling with his head propped up on his hands.

The most surprising thing was that Kacchan was talking to someone. Well, it was more someone talking to him, but it still counted. It was the Kirishima and Kaminari kid that had pointed out the cuts on his arms the day before. Well, at least Kacchan wasn't bothering him, so that was a win.

The rest of homeroom went smoothly and before they knew it, it was time for next period. Aizawa exited the classroom quickly and everything was silent as the class sat at their desks, waiting for the next teacher to enter so they could begin class.

A voice sounded outside the classroom door. "I am here!" Immediately all students except Izuku and Todoroki perked up. The door flew open and All Might stepped in with his seven ghosts while wearing his silver age costume while making a dramatic pose. "Coming through the door like a normal person!"

The class broke out into awed and excited murmurs and Izuku just stared at the pro hero. He saw All Might's gaze sweep over the class and pause on him for a moment before settling on the lecture stand at the front of the classroom and strolling up to it.

Before anyone could react, they heard a clicking noise and compartments in the wall opened up revealing twenty briefcases. "Grab your assigned briefcase and head down to ground beta! I'll explain the rest there!"

Everyone scrambled out of their chairs towards the front of the classroom and Izuku waited until the commotion had calmed down before approaching his compartment and retrieving the briefcase.

He then strolled out the door, walking to the locker rooms and pausing in front of the same locker he had used yesterday. He clicked open the two locks that kept the briefcase firmly closed and lifted the top, disclosing his hero costume.

He lifted the upper piece of his hero costume out to reveal a sleeveless, skin-tight black shirt with green stripes on each side that stretched out at an angle before straightening out and then returning back into the side at another angle. He quickly slipped it on, lifting out the next item. It was the bottom piece of the costume which was just black pants that were loose and comfortable. He grabbed the grey utility belt inside the case and clipped it together directly at his waist where the two items of clothing met and then slipped on the black fingerless gloves. He slipped on the black boot that went up to about the middle of his calf that tied with black laces and tucked the bottoms of his black pants into them before taking out the black cloak that clipped together at his neck and stopped right before it touched the ground. He positioned the black hood on top of his head and then took out the very last item in the case, a face mask with black lines in a zig-zag pattern from top to bottom that tilted upwards towards the edges of the mask so it looked like a sinister, sharp-toothed smile.

His arms were once again fully exposed, which left his scars out in the open, but he hoped that his scars wouldn't get mentioned or brought to anyone's attention again. Some of his hair poked out of the front of the hood and it bobbed slightly as he smoothly walked out of the locker rooms towards ground beta.

When he arrived, the majority of the class was already there and showing off all their costumes to each other while also admiring everyone else's. The only person who seemed to care about sparing Izuku from going blind was the bird-headed kid, Tokoyami, and eyebags, Shinsou. Tokoyami's costume was literally just a black cloak that went around his entire body and Shinsou's costume was an almost completely black jumpsuit with light purple accents here and there and a white stripe on his collar. Izuku knew an Eraserhead reference when he saw one.

As Izuku glanced around at everyone he caught Kirishima looking at him right before the boy turned away and grabbed two handfuls of his bright red hair. "I'm straight, I'm straight, I'm straight, I'm straight, I'm straight." He continued to whisper the same line to himself over and over again and Izuku just felt like he had seen something he wasn't supposed to.

Tokoyami approached him a second later, subtly nodding at Izuku. "Felicitations, fellow comrade of darkness."

Izuku paused, staring at the bird-headed kid before returning the nod even though he felt like he was selling his soul or something by doing it. Suddenly, a shadow extended from Tokoyami's cloak and shot straight towards Izuku's face. He didn't even flinch, even though it about hit him before Tokoyami called at it angrily. In front of Izuku's face sat another bird-looking thing that seemed to be made out of shadows with glowing yellow eyes. The creature eyed him warily, tilting its head and circling around him before returning to its place next to Tokoyami.

"This is Dark Shadow, my quirk." Dark Shadow continued to stare at him and he stared back, unblinking.

Everything was silent for a moment as the shadow bird and him stared at each other when the creature abruptly darted towards him again and shoved its head under his hand, nuzzling it's head into his palm. He just stared at the creature, patting its head slightly while chuckling.

Tokoyami seemed moderately surprised, tipping his head up slightly at the scene. "He likes you."

So the creature was a he, then. He continued to pet Dark Shadow until All Might called for the class's attention so he glanced over at the number one hero.

"Alright! Today we'll be doing a training exercise in the form of a villain against heroes scenario!" All Might motioned to an odd object sitting next to him filled with small balls with letters on them. "You'll each be put on teams of two and assigned to either be a hero team or a villain team. The villain team will have five minutes to hide a fake bomb and the hero team will be able to use those five minutes to come up with a plan. The round will last fifteen minutes but can be ended earlier if the bomb is touched by either of the heroes or both the villains are captured. However, if the clock hits fifteen minutes then the bomb blows up and the villains win."

Izuku ultimately got put on a team with Shinsou, so he approached the kid. They just stood next to each other awkwardly for a moment since Izuku couldn't talk and Shinsou just didn't say anything. Eventually, Izuku and Shinsou were assigned to a hero team and found out they were going against Kacchan and the earphone jack girl, Jirou.

Great, just great, he had to go against the single person in the class that wanted to murder him. He could feel Kacchan's eyes on his back and he wanted to claw at the burning sensation it was giving him.

Before he knew it, they were waiting outside the building while the villains hid the weapon and prepared for them to enter. That was when Shinsou finally spoke.

"So, got any ideas?" Izuku just turned to look at him with a blank look.

He thought or a second, squinting his eyes as he went through each synopsis. Jirou had a quirk that allowed her to stick the small things that came out of her ears into any material and hear the vibrations of footsteps so she would be able to hear when they entered. However, he didn't make any noise so it would be most logical for him to go after the weapon since he guaranteed Kacchan would be out looking for a fight and she would be forced to stay and protect the bomb. Kacchan didn't know Shinsou's quirk so Shinsou could get him to talk by insulting him over and over before eventually getting him to respond. The most prominent obstacle in the way though, was that Kacchan would probably come after him and most likely completely ignore Shinsou if he came across the kid.

What sucked was that he couldn't talk to Shinsou so he couldn't explain any of this to him. Writing in the dirt again would be his only option, so he used the same method he used last time and pulled up the concrete. He would have to write quickly since they only had a few more minutes before the match started.

He quickly went through the plan he had in mind as best he could and then swiped his hand across the dirt when a bell sound rang out and All Might announced that they had permission to enter the building.

Kyouka Jirou considered herself to be a logical person. Katsuki Bakugou, was not. For the entire five minutes they had to place the bomb and prepare for the heroes, he had just screamed at her whenever she had tried to talk to him. He had yelled about how he didn't need her or a plan and told her to shut up. She had just given up after a certain point since she knew he was never going to cooperate.

She winced as the alarm sounded while her earjacks were stuck in the wall but quickly listened back in after All Might had given the heroes permission to enter. She only heard one pair of feet enter and quickly turned to face Bakugou.

"Only one person entered, the other one might be entering at a different part of the building." Bakugou just scoffed and strolled out into the hallway, leaving her there alone.

She huffed in annoyance, they hadn't even come up with a plan and he had just left her there to herself. The hero team seemed quite strong, especially Midoriya, and she didn't even know Shinsou's quirk. Her brow furrowed as Midoriya was brought into her thoughts and she felt herself grow nervous.

When she walked into class on that first day, she could hear each of her classmates' pulse, footsteps and breaths. She actually tended to focus on those things when she was anxious to help calm herself down and it usually worked, until Midoriya walked in. When he sauntered into the classroom, his footsteps made no noise whatsoever and she couldn't hear his breaths. Both of those were already sort of disturbing and odd, but the thing that bothered her the most was the fact that she couldn't hear his heartbeat. The usual pounding that each person's heart gave off in their chest was completely silent in his and she felt herself grow uncomfortable just by looking at him.

There was something off about him, the way he stared at nothing without blinking for longer than a normal person should, the way he moved that seemed almost supernatural, the way he didn't speak. She usually wouldn't get put off by someone being mute, but he wasn't just mute, he was downright silent. There was obviously something more going on and she was going to find out what it was.

As the seconds passed, she felt herself grow even more nervous. What if both members of the hero team had entered and she just hadn't been able to hear it? What was she going to do? She had no plan, didn't even know Shinsou's quirk, wasn't able to locate Midoriya and she was alone. What a great team member Bakugou was.

.          .          .

Hitoshi split away from Midoriya further down the main hallway they had entered into and they nodded to each other in confirmation that the plan had been put into gear. He found a staircase and slowly started making his way upwards as quietly as possible. Jirou apparently had extremely good hearing and could probably hear him, but there was that small chance that she couldn't and he would take what he could get.

He stopped at the next floor up and explored for a little bit as stealthily as he could and when he found no sign of the bomb, he moved up to the next floor. While he was on the staircase, he clicked a button on the earpiece he was wearing to contact Midoriya.

"Second floor cleared." He whispered.

A tap on the earpiece from the other line told him that Midoriya heard him and was now heading up to the second floor. He moved on to the floor and quickly came to the conclusion that there was nothing there. He was just about to continue heading up the staircase when he heard a door slam from further up and he scrambled to catch the door he had just come out of before it closed and duck inside so that whoever it was wouldn't see him.

Bakugou stormed past the door as Shinsou cracked it open and peeked through. Once the tornado of a person had passed and was out of sight, he continued up the staircase to the next floor. After a few floors of nothing, he finally found the room the bomb was on and quickly ducked behind the door frame before Jirou saw him.

"I know you're there." His stomach dropped.

He quickly tapped the earpiece and whispered as quietly as he could. "It's on the fifth floor near the north corner." The tap from the other side assured him that the final stages of the plan would commence soon and he just needed to keep himself in the exercise until then.

He stepped out into the open and he saw the girl tense up at the sight of him. "You seem tense, what's wrong?" He asked.

The girl frowned at him, the tension in her shoulders evaporating. "Are you serio-" Her words were abruptly cut off and her eyes went white as her posture slumped.

A sinister smile spread across his face. "I win."

Right as he spoke, the earphone jack that she had stuck in the wall was pulled out as it began to relax to normal length and it jerked her out of his quirk. She blinked a few times and shook her head, stumbling for a moment. When she had recovered from getting taken hostage by his quirk, her brow furrowed before she put on a determined look and her earphone jacks extended while she positioned her fists in front of herself.

"What? Something happen?" She opened her mouth to respond but hesitated, eyes narrowing.

Shit. He wasn't skilled in physical defense whatsoever and it looked like she knew what she was doing. The advantage he had was her not being aware of his quirk, but she had figured out that it had to do with speaking so he had lost his chance.

Izuku continued down the main hallway they had entered into as Shinsou turned down a different side hallway to try and locate the fake bomb. He moved quickly through the hallways of the bottom floor until he heard Shinsou confirm that the bomb was not on the first or second floor before heading up further.

When he arrived at the third floor, he heard a door fly open and slam closed while Kacchan's voice echoed through the hallways.

"I KNOW YOU'RE HERE DEKU! GIVE UP NOW AND THEY ACTUALLY MIGHT FIND YOUR BODY!" Izuku chuckled at the line and ducked into a separate hallway right as he saw Kacchan's green grenade gauntlets round the corner.

Kacchan's footsteps were loud and heavy, echoing through the hallways, giving Izuku an easy time avoiding him. He wasn't supposed to use any of the other aspects of his quirk so he couldn't just disappear into thin air or go through a wall which meant he had to actually stay and fight Kacchan or try to outrun him.

It went quiet for a moment as he moved down a hallway, but he stopped and stepped back when he saw a blur shoot out from the hallway in front of him.

"FOUND YOU DEKU!" Kacchan shot forward towards him and he put his arms up in an 'x' position in front of his face in a mock block. Hm, he liked that, 'mock block', maybe he would use that from now on.

When Kacchan started out with his usual right hook, he broke his mock block and grabbed his fist, shifting his footing so he was facing backwards and flipped Kacchan over him onto his back. He quickly bolted away from his childhood friend and bee-lined for the doorway leading to the staircase.

Just then, Shinsou's voice came through the earpiece in a whisper giving him the location of the bomb. He acknowledged he had heard him by tapping back, and then started full-on sprinting towards the staircase. Kacchan had those gauntlets for a reason and it was time to put them to use.

"GET BACK HERE DEKU!"

Kacchan was hot on his tail as he bolted up the stairs but he slowed down slightly, most likely due to exhaustion, giving Izuku a chance to gain some distance. He burst through the fourth level door and  weaved through the hallways to the north corner of the building, supposedly right below the fake bomb. There was a room conveniently placed right where he needed to go and only had one entrance and exit so he allegedly couldn't escape in Kacchan's mind.

He turned around when he heard Kacchan enter to be met with the forbidding smile that Kacchan always wore when he was going to beat Izuku up. "You can't escape now, Deku."

He pretended to look nervous and stepped back slightly, gulping nothing to make it look like he was swallowing a large wad of saliva in fear. He then moved into a defense position, placing his closed fists in front of him with a fake look of stubborn determination. 

The smile on Kacchan's face dropped and switched to anger. "You see, this is why I hate you, Deku." His eyes narrowed and he tilted his chin up. "You're quivering in your boots yet you still want to fight me." The smile then returned and his lips tilted upwards as he lifted up a gauntlet. "You see these bad boys? They store up my sweat for a giant explosion and they've been loading up the entire time and they're full now, thanks to the chase you gave earlier."

Kacchan lifted up the gauntlet and put his other hand on the pin that decided Izuku's fate. 

"Get ready to lose, nerd."

All Might's voice chimed in through the earpieces as Kacchan's finger curled around the pin. "Don't pull that pin Bakugo, you'll kill him!"

"Not if he dodges!" There was a small click as the metal piece slid out of the lock and Izuku jumped up right at the last second, causing Kacchan to aim upwards towards the ceiling.

The scene seemed to play out in slow-motion as Izuku watched the explosion appear right at the hole of the gauntlet before spreading like roots to all areas around it. A small smile graced his lips as he watched it, the last step of his plan going into action right before his eyes. The explosion was like abstract art as it spread, sudden small explosions popping around the main one causing it to sprout outwards like a flower in the morning after the sun had just come out, surprisingly beautiful.

Then, everything sped up again and the explosion blew around him, destroying the ceiling above his head and causing it to crumble, Jirou falling with it. He quickly saved her so she didn't gain any serious injuries from the fall and made sure she landed softly before shifting his gaze away. He didn't have a center of gravity so he couldn't be moved by an outside force which meant the explosion just blew around him and destroyed his hero costume, pieces of black cloth flying backwards.

He glanced up, locking eyes with Shinsou as he activated his quirk and launched the other young hero in training across the giant hole now in the floor on his level. He landed on the other side of the room and quickly slapped his hand on the bomb, ending the round with a win for the heroes. Izuku fell back down to the ground after he had accomplished all he had wanted to in the air and landed on his feet in the exact same place he had been standing before he jumped.

"The heroes win!" All Might's voice was deafening among everything else as the building settled from the giant explosion, creaking and groaning in protest at the giant hole now in its side. 

He stood there as the smoke cleared, making direct eye contact with Kacchan as his childhood friend stared at him with his hand still in the air. After a few moments of silence, he started forward and brushed past Kacchan, accidentally clipping his shoulder slightly. As he walked down the hallway, Kacchan was left standing there with his own thoughts. Izuku didn't even look back as his feet carried him away from the war zone.

In the end, Jirou only had a few cuts and bruises from the fall and the rest of the group had no injuries whatsoever. All Might and Recovery Girl were actually surprised that Izuku hadn't ended up with any injuries since he had been in the brunt of the blast and his costume was almost completely destroyed, leaving many areas of bare skin exposed. He changed back into his school uniform before returning to class and entering the observing room.

The rest of the matches went well and Izuku took mental notes on all of his classmates as they fought, analyzing their quirks and fighting styles to figure out their strengths and weaknesses if he ever had to fight with or against them. He could feel Kacchan's eyes on him the entire time but he ignored it, acting completely oblivious to it.

That day, he came home with a new story to tell his people.

Keigo Takami sauntered into the police station, nodding to the police officers at the front desk before heading to the back area. He read each sign to each office until he finally found the name he was looking for and rapped his knuckles on the door.

A muffled 'come in' was heard from the other side and he wrapped his hand around the doorknob, turning it slowly before stepping in and closing the door behind him. Tsukauchi looked up from his desk and his eyebrows shot up as Keigo slumped into one of the chairs on the opposite side of the desk from the detective.

"Hawks? Can I help you with something?" Tsukauchi's voice was smooth and the man's posture was relaxed, comfortable with Keigo's presence.

His feathers darted around the room and he remained quiet for a moment before responding as they anatomized the room and police station. There were currently fifty-one people in the building, forty-five of them were up and moving around while the other six of them were at their desks. One of them was tapping their foot on the ground, another was humming and another one's heartbeat was fast, obviously distressed about something.

Tsukauchi's pulse was slow, his blood pressure normal, his breaths were steady and his facial expression was loose, all signs that he was at ease and his guard was down. Whisper hadn't been breathing nor had he had blood pressure or a pulse. He was honestly quite interesting with the vigilante and he had quite a few questions about him which he could usually answer on his own, but the vigilante was quite difficult to analyze.

He didn't answer the detective for a while, observing the man as he adjusted himself until he was in a relaxed position with a carefree expression to make it look like he was unaware of everything going on around him even though he was completely alert.

Tsukauchi just waited patiently, blinking expectantly and perking up slightly when Keigo opened his mouth to speak.

"I want to join the Whisper case."    

Chapter Text

That night during patrol as Whisper, he had completely forgotten about the coffee he had drunk that morning and ended up spilling it during his fight with a criminal. The coffee had poured out onto the ground after he had gone incorporeal when the criminal had tried to strike him and left a large brown splatter on the ground. Both of them had frozen in place and stared at the brown area on the ground that was steaming instead of continuing the fight.

The criminal had just started laughing, doubling over and clutching his stomach while Izuku remained there, staring at the brown liquid. Not only had the coffee not disappeared, but it was still steaming hot, which meant that the space inside his ghost had kept it at the exact same temperature it had been when it entered for the entire day. He was like a giant walking thermos.

The criminal wiped a stray tear away from his eye while panting from laughing so hard. "Did you just-"

Izuku delivered a roundhouse kick faster than the criminal could process, knocking him out and leaving him there for a moment so that he wouldn't lose his train of thought.

If the coffee hadn't cooled down while it had been inside his form, that meant that the inside of his ghost was either extremely hot, modified itself to heat or cool whatever had entered or didn't have a temperature at all so whatever temperature it was at remained since there was technically no change in the temperature of its environment. He would have to test that theory with more substances later since this could actually be used to his advantage.

After he had tied the criminal up and called the police, he scaled the building next to the scene and sprinted across the rooftop. He hopped onto the next one over as red and blue lights danced across the sky, getting closer by the second. He had quite a few theories on what would have kept the coffee hot and experiments he wanted to try. But, he would have to finish patrol first.

There was still so much he didn't understand about his quirk.

Before he was able to enter Yuuei early that morning, he spotted a large crowd of people gathered in front of the Yuuei gates and felt a spike of annoyance prick him in the back. As he approached them, all of the reporters and cameras whipped around to face him and a bunch of microphones were shoved in his face. 

"What is it like being taught by All Might?" One reporter asked.

"What is All Might's method of teaching? Is it different from a normal teacher's?"

The questions continued to come and no one even gave him any time to answer. This was why he hated the media. He couldn't even actually answer them and the constant flow of questions was even more irritating. He had places to be and this was wasting his time.

His temper continued to rise until it was in his throat and energy started to hover in the space around him. He saw some of the reporter's cameras start flickering on and off and a few of them backed away slightly. However, a few brave reporters remained and kept barreling him with questions until he snapped. The atmosphere turned cold and he saw their eyes widen and he shot a wave of power out around him, forcing them backwards until he had a clear path to the front gates.

He locked eyes with Aizawa who had been in the middle of stepping forward, about to fend off the media, but had stopped dead in his tracks with his eyebrows raised slightly more than usual. Izuku slowly continued to step towards the gates while intensely glaring at the reporters and found himself satisfied when they didn't try to advance again and remained silent. Aizawa followed him inside the gates and scoffed.

"I thought I was going to have to step in, but you're not bad at fending off the media. You looked at them like you wanted to murder them." He just remained silent in response and kept walking, his temper still in the process of calming down. 

When they eventually made it inside to the teacher's lounge, Aizawa had him go through the alphabet so he would be able to finger spell and they spent the entire lesson reviewing it so that it was ingrained in his mind. After the twenty minutes was over, he and Aizawa walked to class together this time instead of Izuku just heading to class on his own.

His teacher seemed to shuffle more than he walked, but his pace was still fairly quick and he and Izuku were able to keep an average walking pace. The walk was silent, since Izuku couldn't really talk and Aizawa probably didn't want to talk, so when they reached the classroom, he slid the door open and strolled in with Aizawa behind him. Iida practically shot up from his desk and saluted to Aizawa with his hand turned to the side and stayed silent regarding him. He honestly didn't mind though.

He slumped into the chair at his desk and leaned on the desktop into his folded arms as he waited for the class to enter. When everyone eventually slowly filtered in, the bell rang so everyone quickly made the way to their desks so they didn't get scolded by Aizawa. After everyone had gone quiet their teacher walked up to the wooden podium at the front of the classroom and stared at them for a moment, eyes grazing over the class.

This immediately created tension in the room and Izuku almost laughed at how easily these future heroes were intimidated.

"Alright, let's get down to homeroom business. Sorry for the late notice, but today I'll have you..." Izuku could almost hear every student freaking out as to whether it was another surprise test or something. "A class representative."

The tension immediately evaporated and almost everyone in the class shot out of their seats and started yelling about why they should be chosen. The few people that didn't start screaming either didn't react or shied away from the noise. Izuku's posture just slumped farther forward and he leaned down towards his desk. They eventually agreed that the class would vote for who they wanted as class representative and whoever got the most votes would take the role even though everyone was most likely just going to vote for themselves..

Izuku ended up giving his vote to Yaoyorozu since he felt she was the most organized and smart one, so it honestly wasn't a very hard decision. After everyone in the class had voted and each vote had been counted, the results were announced.

"The vice president is... Momo Yaoyorozu with two votes!" Everyone cheered and Izuku just clapped, the noises only able to be heard by other ghosts. "And the class president and representative is... Izuku Midoriya with four votes!" 

His eyes widened slightly in mild surprise and he chuckled when he heard multiple people around the room start yelling, especially Kacchan. 

"ALRIGHT, WHO VOTED FOR HIM?!" Izuku just sat there with an amused smirk on his face and continued to chuckle at the chaos. He didn't necessarily want the role, but he would take it if it pissed Kacchan off.

Fumikage Tokoyami just kept his head down and his eyes closed with his arms folded as he sat in the middle of absolute chaos. Quite a few people were yelling and screaming about the choice of class president, but he personally wasn't bothered.

In fact, he had actually voted for Midoriya. He respected him and considered him a fellow being of darkness, which was a fairly special title to have in his eyes and even dark shadow was fond of him which proved even further that he was some kind of other being.

He was just going to keep his vote to himself.

Hitoshi was actually quite content with the results of the votes. He hadn't wanted the position himself and didn't even want to have the possibility of getting it by voting for himself so he decided to vote for someone else.

His ultimate decision had been Midoriya since he was smart, strong and always willing to help and take the brunt of any hit for anyone and he had literally helped Hitoshi get into Yuuei, so there was no way he was voting for anyone else. He actually expected him to get chosen since he knew at least two other people that were obviously going to vote for him, but what he hadn't expected, had been the uproar directly after it being announced.

He was just going to keep his vote to himself.

Momo Yaoyorozu had felt like voting for herself was dishonest and unfair, so she had decided to give her vote to someone else. Her mind had automatically gone to Midoriya when she considered who she would want to be class representative since he was quite intelligent and seemed to be good at leading and planning from what she had seen during the battle trials.

The class didn't seem to be very happy with the decision, but she could definitely pinpoint the three other people who had decided to vote for him too and they were awfully quiet about the fact that they had voted for him. If she was being honest, that was probably a smart choice.

She had even gotten chosen as vice president by just barely squeaking past with two votes and was actually satisfied with it since she had won without adding her own vote to it so it was worth it. She wouldn't mind working with Midoriya.

She was just going to keep her vote to herself.

Ochako Uraraka knew who she wanted to vote for as class representative as soon as the words left Aizawa's mouth. Of course she had wanted the position herself since it would get her popular quicker but she felt like Midoriya was a much better candidate than herself so it wasn't a hard choice. He hadn't even raised his hand or made a commotion about wanting to be class president so it made her even more concrete in her decision so it was pretty easy to choose.

She was quite happy when he ended up winning the votes but the rest of the class except for a small handful of people sure weren't so she just whistled to herself to make it seem like she wasn't suspicious.

She was just going to keep her vote to herself. 

Izuku hadn't really wanted to be class representative but other people apparently did so he would take it. He didn't understand why people would want to vote for him since he didn't really have any leadership qualities and he wasn't the most decent person nor did he give a flying fruit flavored shit about it, but there apparently were at least a few identifiable qualities about him if people voted for him so he would have to learn how to care about it.

As he entered the lunchroom, he ducked into the background and traveled along the outer edges of the room until he reached the darkest and furthest corner table. He didn't want to sit with anyone and didn't really need to eat food, so he would try to divert attention from him by staying out of public view. He could see a few people in the crowd of people most likely looking for him so he ducked lower down and let his posture slump so his head was lower and less recognizable.

However, as his head was down, he saw someone approach him from the side and he glanced at them out of the corner of his eye expecting to see one of classmates or someone from one of the other classes but immediately relaxed when he saw Kumo.

"Jeez, I thought I was going to have to conversate with a sentient. Why don't you tell me it's you instead of standing there like a creepy bastard." His voice was exasperated.

Kumo just scoffed and folded his arms. "It's not my fault you're sitting over here like the broody bastard you are and giving me the perfect chance to be a creepy bastard."

Izuku just scoffed and leaned back in his chair. "What do you want, Kumo?" 

The kid raised an eyebrow. "You're literally the one who offered to help me and the rest of the ghosts so I told them about it and they want to meet you."

"Alright, where are they?"

Kumo phased through the wall behind him before returning a moment later with a group of at least ten highschoolers following behind him. Some of the chairs at the table were pulled out far enough for them to squeeze into them since they couldn't move them while the rest just sat on the table or stood around. 

He glanced around at all of them for a moment before leaning onto the table in front of him expectantly. "Names?"

After a few minutes of introductions, he had attempted to memorize most of their names and how they were killed. One girl had gotten crushed by the one-pointer, another girl had suffocated after being trapped under rubble for too long and a kid had even been electrocuted by exposed wires on one of the robots. The common thing that really caught his attention though, was the fact that almost every single one of them had a quirk that only affected humans which automatically put them at fault with the giant robots in the exam.

He would have written all of this down, but he didn't have anything to write on. He really needed to get a notebook.

While one of the other teenagers were explaining how they had been murdered during the entrance exam, a very loud alarm blared from the speakers in the ceiling while quoting the same line about a 'level three security breach' over and over and rang through the entire school. He winced and seethed at the loud noise that continued on for who knows how long and politely asked for the kid to pause for a moment as students began screaming and flailing around.

Everyone started rushing out of the lunchroom in a chaotic manner as they pushed and shoved everyone around them while continuing to scream. Some students ran by him and he heard a few lines as they passed.

"A level three security breach means that someone got into Yuuei grounds! They've never had one of these before!"

Izuku just remained in his seat as everyone flooded out of the room and eventually got up when most of the people were out and there was a bit more room to move around and get out the doors. He could get out a lot faster and easier than this, but he couldn't risk getting seen on the cameras.

After he was out of the lunchroom, he moved people out of the way with his quirk and eventually made it to the bathroom, slipping inside and into one of the stalls and locking it. He quickly went incorporeal, his uniform falling to the ground, and floated out of the bathroom. Once he was in the hallways and invisible to the human eye, he phased through all of the people and out of the Yuuei building to see what all the commotion was about.

Immediately, he felt the irritation from that morning enter his system again. The media had somehow gotten through the gates and were flooding the pathway to the front doors of the building. He saw someone duck into the trees right as he floated over the fence though and decided to follow them. He caught a familiar black hoodie with the hood up right as they were walking into a familiar black portal and his eyes widened. He didn't know who they were or what they wanted, but he knew they were bad news. He would have to look more into it as Whisper, but right now, he had to tell everyone about the media.

He drifted back inside through the wall and students into the bathroom and his stall, got his uniform back on as quick as possible and tore out of there faster than the speed of light.

When he made it into the hallway, he started glancing around for anything or anyone he could make a plan with. He spotted Uraraka and Iida, but they were quickly whisked away with the crowd before he could grab them. Eventually, he tried to get anyone's attention that would listen, but they all just looked at him for a second before continuing to scream and shove past everyone else.

His temper was getting more and more violent as time went on and he started to get shoved forward by all the students behind him. He tried waving to get people's attention and motioning towards the windows, but no one would listen. Why couldn't people just listen for once? 

His temper was about to explode at this point and he was about ready to murder some kids just to get everyone's attention. His gaze caught on the exit sign and he launched himself upwards towards it before he could even think about what he was going to do. He landed on the top of it and accidentally kicked Iida on his way there because he was floating in the air for some reason, but brushed it off and returned to what he was doing.

A few people here and there glanced up at him as he began motioning to the windows but just kept going and still didn't stop. That was it. He had tried everything possible and still, no one had reacted accordingly. These were supposed to be future heroes but if they reacted like this to any form of danger, they wouldn't survive a day in the real world of heroics.

The atmosphere around him turned cold again and his hair started floating as if it was under water even though there was no wind or small draft around him as his mouth opened. His quirk sparked inside of him and he could feel the exhaustion already on its way even before he had made any noise. His jaw unlatched and he saw a few people scattered around him look up and their eyes widen.

Then, he let out the most ear-shattering scream that shouldn't have been humanly possible, but, he wasn't human, so it was possible now.

It had the same magnitude as the one in the sludge villain incident, just with his quirk so sentients could actually hear it. His scream was even louder than the blaring alarm and it shook the building, making small pieces of the roof chip away and fall onto the students below. Most of the students covered their ears and shrank away while others just straight up ran the opposite direction and a few even started crying.

Shouta would be lying if he said he didn't jump when he heard the scream.

At first, he had thought it was Hizashi, but when he turned around to face the other man, he seemed just as confused and concerned as him. The pure power and volume of the scream outdid even Hizashi when he was using his quirk and shook the earth to its core. He had to cover his ears in order to not worry about going deaf and the scream hit a frequency that matched the material around him so the ground started shaking at a pace that made his legs buckle and all the hair on his entire body stand up.

He collapsed, along with Hizashi and the rest of the media, as the ground continued to shake and he curled up into a ball while covering his ears. It was extremely painful and it felt like his organs were shifting as they vibrated inside of his body. The entire experience was absolute agony and he resisted the urge to scream along with it. He could hear sobbing coming from behind him and he quickly came to the realization that Hizashi was crying, and it wasn't a sad cry, it was a scared cry that insinuated he was in pain.

But, after a moment, not only Hizashi was crying, but some of the reporters in the crowd were sobbing. Was this a new defense mechanism that Nedzu had installed? Because if it was, he was going to murder that rat.

Nedzu had to admit, the scream was very loud and very painful, but it was also fascinating. It had not only hit the ghost frequency, it had also hit a frequency that matched earth's which meant that it could vibrate it at a very quick pace that would cause extreme discomfort for those standing on it. The Yuuei building was strong enough to withstand it but it still shook violently and creaked at the shaking.

At the volume it was at, the scream could most likely be heard from miles away and the earthquake it was causing also most likely expanded to a very large range. The entire situation was already fascinating as is, but the thing that was the most fascinating of it all was the fact that a human being was doing it. And that human being was Izuku Midoriya who was supposedly mute.

This year was definitely going to be very interesting. 

Izuku screamed for quite a while, exhausting his quirk until he couldn't anymore, and then finally stopped. Everyone in the entire hall had stopped and gone silent and were staring at him with wide eyes. When he finally had everyone's attention, he motioned towards the windows again and all the eyes shifted from him to the panes of glass next to them. Then someone's voice echoed through the hallway and he saw everyone visibly relax.

"Oh, it's just the media!"

Everyone eventually started shuffling back towards the lunchroom and Izuku could feel his form wavering. The exhaustion was extremely intense and he knew he had to find a way to get out of everyone's view before he completely disappeared and decided that he had no choice but to skip out on the rest of the school day. He hopped off of the exit sign, landing back on the ground, and stumbled away as fast as he could.

He returned to the bathroom for the third time and used the same method as before by letting his uniform fall off and then float out of the bathroom after. After escaping Yuuei grounds and deciding to retrieve his uniform later, he let his feet blindly take him somewhere. He could barely focus on anything. He eventually stopped walking and found himself in the backward next to the cat's shelter and he let himself collapse and sprawl out on the dead grass.

His eyes closed, even though he knew he couldn't sleep, but he quickly opened them again when he heard meowing and felt a small paw on his chest. He was met with the curious green gaze of Panther and he chuckled.

Hopefully the next day would be much more calm.              

Chapter Text

The next day was definitely not calm in the slightest.

The night before had made Izuku wary since there hadn't been one single crime attempted, which had been nice until he got to school the next day and realized why. 

He was currently standing still in a relaxed position as all of his classmates ran away from the villains emerging from the portal that had opened in front of them. His eyes were just slightly wider than usual and he chuckled in surprise at the fact that villains had actually been able to break into a location that had the same level of security as Yuuei itself.

Aizawa had told them all to follow Thirteen to the exit but he had simply stayed there, watching everything unfold since he didn't have to worry about the risk of dying. 

His hands were sat comfortably in his pockets as he continued to stand exactly where he was with a bored expression. He honestly wasn't really that scared, but everyone else sure was. Just as Aizawa was about to head into battle as Eraserhead with some of the low-level criminals that were accompanying the villains, he turned his head slightly to face him.

"Go, Midoriya."

His eyes narrowed at his teacher for a moment but he eventually turned around and started towards the rest of the class right as Thirteen sucked up her own arm through one of her black holes that the purple misty guy he had seen earlier had turned against her. A ghost that was following him around screamed in frustration and tried to stop him from doing it but his arms simply phased through him and he collapsed on the ground in tears and grasped at his bright blue and white hair in desperation.

The kid looked to be about his age and Izuku considered that he might be another kid who had been killed in the entrance exam but there obviously had to be a reason why he wasn't with the rest of the kids who had been killed by the robots and why he was following villains. The kid turned towards him in a wide-eyed stare when he realized Izuku was staring at him and they just sat like that for a second, until Izuku chose to walk over to him.

Right as he was about to ask who the kid was, a portal opened up under him and suddenly he was falling. He looked down to see water filled with people that were most likely criminals and he huffed in irritation. He had been trying to talk to someone and now he had to fight criminals. There were two other splashes right as he was about to land in the water which meant that two other classmates had been scattered around the flood zone so he had to figure out where they were located and rescue them or this could go downhill very fast.

He landed in the water with a splash and immediately, the villains shot after him, trying to grab, hit or slash him in any way possible. But, even when they actually made contact with his being, it left no marks or made blood spread through the water. He saw something else reach for him but he sunk to the very bottom of the body of water he had been transported to.

His ghost didn't really have a weight so he technically weighed nothing but also everything at the same time so he could pretty much choose whether he wanted to sink or float.

When his feet hit the concrete bottom of the pool of water, his hair bobbed downwards and then started floating around him while his clothes followed suit. He looked up to see some of the villains staring at him in confusion from the top of the water while a few others swam down a small bit to hover around him and he could hear some villains' muffled laughter through the water that he had 'died' so easily.

But their laughter immediately ceased when he started to walk forward with slow steps as if he was walking on the moon. Being under the water was peaceful. It was quiet and dark at the bottom of the pool and he could see everything going on above him. He traveled along the bottom of the pool until he was slightly off to the side of what looked like a boat and looked up. He could see two people's heads leaning off the boat and looking around frantically and he quickly came to the conclusion that they were looking at him.

One of the villains that had a shark tail and an odd looking head suddenly shot down from the area above him and tried to bite his head off but was shoved back when Izuku used his quirk and pushed him back to the surface before throwing him out of the water and flinging him into the air.

The few villains that still had their eyes on him began panicking and frantically started swimming towards the boat or side of the pool. He shot a wave of power outwards from himself that ended up spreading through the water and creating a wave that moved some of the villains on top of the pool slightly that made them look down and see him before starting to swim towards any solid ground in a panic and he then sent out another one.

Then, he propelled himself upwards with his quirk and flew out of the water into the air, creating a giant wave causing the villains to get sucked under while the boat was swept to the other side of the pool towards the shore with his classmates.

He then flew towards the boat and landed on the deck with so much power that it cracked the area under him slightly and looked up to see Asui and Shinsou looking at him with wide eyes.

"We thought you were dead!" Asui said frantically. "I tried to grab you with my tongue but you were yanked downwards by something."

So that was what had tried to grab him in the water that he had sunk away from. He just nodded awkwardly at the girl and glanced over to where they had just been before getting transported to the flood zone.

A few villains started trying to grab onto the boat so he quickly floated them off of it onto the solid ground surrounding the pool of water before ducking behind some random bushes that were placed closest to the fountain in the middle of the building where the villains had manifested themselves.

Eraserhead was fighting some of the criminals while the supposed main villain with hands all over him was monologuing and his classmates just squatted in the bushes with him silently. He was about to advance and join in the battle when this giant bird-looking thing that the villain called a 'noumu' emerged from one of the portals and shot towards his teacher, slamming his face into the concrete before anyone could react.

His temper stirred violently and a cold breeze blew through the bushes as well as the clearing where the villains were standing. The villain with hands placed all over his body turned around and spotted them in the bushes, a creepy smile blossoming across his face under the hand that was covering it. He slowly approached the bushes with five ghosts following him, a small girl, a dog, a woman and a man, and when he got within a few feet of the bushes Shinsou and Asui shuffled backwards while he remained towards the front of the bushes. He scooted so that he was obscuring them from the villain's view which also put them out of the villain's reach and the villain's smile grew wider.

"Oh, trying to play hero?" The villain giggled and Izuku narrowed his eyes. "Let's see how much of a hero you are when I turn you to dust!"

The villain then deftly lunged at him, outstretching his hand towards Izuku, maniacally squeezing his fingers around his neck. The villain's fit of insane giggles, which arose from what seemed to be Izuku's game-over, gradually became more and more muted, fading into silence. Shigaraki's fingers clenched tighter about Izuku's neck, his crazed smile rapidly dropping in tandem with his growing frustration.

"Why aren't you disintegrating!" He exclaimed angrily.

The villain whipped around to glance at Aizawa but the man's face was still shoved into the concrete and there was no way he could be using his quirk on him. When he turned back around, Izuku was now the one with a smile stretching across his face farther than humanly possible.

Another cold breeze blew threw the clearing that chilled and living thing to the bone and stirred out of an area that had been completely calm seconds before.

"You can't kill what's already dead."

His voice tickled the eardrums of anyone who was listening and the villain's eyes widened right as Izuku reached up and socked him in the face with the extra power of his quirk, causing him to fly backwards as he howled in pain and anger. He landed on the ground a second later with a thud before quickly sitting up again and pointing at him.

"NOUMU!"

The second the word left the villains mouth, a black blur shot at Izuku in the corner of his eye and a second later he was being thrown across the clearing towards the fountain. He slammed against it and a weight was set on top of him, holding him down, and he looked up to see the noumu trying to twist his arm and bend it back to break it without success. 

He struggled a bit, attempting to escape the monster's grasp, but it continually tried to break or rip any part of him off while holding him down. He heard quiet sobbing and his head whipped around to see Asui crying and Shinsou panicking as the hand villain stood up and started towards the bushes again. He struggled against the noumu's grip again, more frantic this time, and began to get frustrated as Asui's sobbing got louder. The noumu then tried to fold him in half to snap his spine but when that didn't work, it started slamming him into the ground.

He couldn't just phase through the noumu right now since people were watching and it was starting to piss him off. The villain was now reaching out for Asui's face in the corner of his eye and his temper lashed out.

The noumu went flying and he got back to his feet with his mouth wide open in a scream that once again caused a breeze to somehow blow in a seemingly still area. The villain's attention snapped to him and Izuku lunged for him, arms outstretched and palms open completely. The villain's eyes widened and he swiveled his torso around so he was facing him and placed his hands in front of his chest to protect himself from Izuku.

"Tomura Shigaraki!" A voice sounded next to Izuku and he was suddenly flying through a black portal towards the same body of water he had been transported to earlier.

Oh no you don't. He whipped back around in the middle of the air and launched himself back through the portal right before it closed and threw his feet out under him so he skidded to a stop on the concrete on the other side and drifted around in a sharp turn so he was facing the villain who was supposedly named Tomura Shigaraki. Izuku then pushed off the ground and lunged for Shigaraki again, phasing slightly through the very edges of his fingers so that they didn't push him back and he finally made contact with the villain's body.

Both he and Shigaraki were thrown backwards and he let out an angry scream as they rolled over the ground until Shigaraki's back was slammed against the fountain. Izuku dug his nails into the villain's shoulders and screamed directly in his now exposed, dry and crusty face. While they were rolling quite a few of the hands that had been placed along his body had fallen off and were scattered along the ground.

Shigaraki was absolutely livid. "Why won't you just die?!"

The villain wrapped his hands around his neck and shook him, attempting to wring his neck and strangle him, but it just made him even more angry since it did absolutely nothing to hurt him whatsoever.

He screamed at Shigaraki again, clawing at the man's hands until there was blood dripping down his neck from the cuts he was ripping into the sentient's skin. Shigaraki howled in pain and tried to squeeze Izuku's neck harder but eventually gave up when he realized it wasn't doing anything. The man pushed against Izuku's chest hard enough to make the boy fall backwards onto his back and successfully get him off, giving the villain a chance to get away.

Shigaraki quickly got to his feet and sprinted towards the mist villain that was currently in a tussle with Kacchan, Kirishima and Todoroki but kept glancing at him and Izuku frantically. Shigaraki frantically bolted towards the scene before diving through a black portal that had appeared in front of him and transported him directly next to the mist man and ducked behind him so that he was out of Izuku's sight and reach.

"One of the students escaped, we need to go." The mist villain's voice was quiet but still able to be heard from where Izuku was standing.

Shigaraki growled and snarled like a rabid animal. "I don't care! I want him dead!" He stared directly at Izuku and the mist villain tensed.

He sneered, teeth showing, but his attention was ripped away from the mist man and Shigaraki when he heard quiet sniffling and turned to see Asui attempting to wipe away her tears and Shinsou awkwardly patting her back in an attempt to comfort her.

He looked back to the villains to see Shigaraki cowering behind the mist man and he narrowed his eyes but ultimately decided on heading towards his classmates to make sure they were alright since his other few peers were holding their own just fine against the other villains.

When he got to the bushes, Shinsou and Asui immediately looked up and she let out a nervous squeak, gripping her chest and shifting backwards slightly along with Shinsou. Once they realized it was him, they instantly relaxed and another wave of tears flowed down Asui's face as she sniffled and muffled a sob. Shinsou just proceeded to get even more uncomfortable and Izuku paused for a second, staring at her, before shuffling forwards and wrapping his arms around the girl in a hug. Asui tensed for a few seconds before relaxing and practically melting into the hug, full-on sobbing this time.

He pulled back and looked her in the eye before looking her entire body over to make sure she wasn't injured and then his gaze shifted to Shinsou who had shuffled farther away and was now squatting as far into the bushes as possible. Izuku looked him over, making sure the kid was clear, and then gave a short nod of approval before standing back up and launching himself into the sky.

He swiveled around while he was gliding through the air so that he was facing the villains before landing on the ground with enough force to crack the concrete under him. He looked up with another smile spreading across his face that showed off all of his teeth and snickered when all the villains and his peers turned to look at him. 

Izuku attempted to charge at the mist villain and Shigaraki but the man pointed at him from behind the mist man's form and screamed, just, screamed. Not even a second later, a strong force barreled into him and he flew sideways until he slammed into the wall on the other side of the entire building. His head shot up right as the noumu's giant fist made impact on the top of his head. Instead of the hit completely flattening him like a normal human being, it just caused the ground to collapse under him. The noumu continued trying to bash his head in over and over until he was in a hole as deep as him and no damage whatsoever had been done to his being.

He just grabbed the creature and screamed in its face before throwing it off of him with his quirk and proceeding to slam it on the ground over and over with all the strength he had. Blood splattered everywhere as he did so but the noumu just kept regenerating so the cycle was never ending. He began to get fed up with the creature and the next time he slammed it down on the ground, he made sure it was over rock so it severed the noumu in half, but before it could mend itself together again, he used his quirk to launch the bottom half in the opposite direction.

The noumu's body began regenerating again so he lifted the boulder he had originally sliced it in half on and repeatedly smashed it whenever the creature's body began to squirm. His lips curled into a snarl and his eyes narrowed as the boulder was once again lifted into the air as high as he possibly could before opening his mouth again and letting out an ear-piercing scream as the rock was thrust directly towards the ground when the noumu tried to regenerate again.

But, just then, the door flew open and Izuku jerked to the side, setting the giant rock off course and slamming it down higher on the noumu, crushing it's entire top half and splattering guts on the wall and ground around him while Shigaraki screamed in pure rage.

"I AM HERE!" All Might's voice bounced off the walls and seemed to close in on the villains like a boot about to step on an ant.

Izuku whipped around to see the number one hero in his trademark pose, but instead of the usual smile he was wearing sat a grimace. All Might's gaze swept across the area, seeing Shigaraki cowering behind the mist villain with some of the students fighting against him, most of the criminals knocked out on the ground, the noumu's splattered guts all over the wall that was now not moving and Aizawa's still form on the ground laying a pool of his own blood. The hero paused at that, head tilting upwards slightly and the shadows that usually covered his face faded slightly, revealing bright blue eyes that were tinged with concern, shock and confusion.

All went silent for a moment, everyone pausing and staring at the number one hero who now guaranteed certain defeat. Izuku bristled at the fact that All Might was literally just standing there staring at them instead of going after the villains, and another cold, unsettling breeze blew through the clearing as he scowled and opened his mouth, letting out a yell of frustration and anger that was carried by the wind towards the man.

This seemed to finally startle All Might out of his stance and his gaze shifted back to the villains, head tilting downwards and shadows returning to his face. When the number one hero's foot slid back, the portal villain literally picked up Shigaraki and dove through a portal that had appeared behind him and it immediately closed when they were through.

He could see the second that all of the criminals realized that they had been abandoned and pretty much left for dead and it was like a switch had been flipped. It went from silence to screaming, yelling and chaos so intense so quickly that he could barely hear himself think let alone react when he was shoved backwards and forced onto the ground where he got trampled. Every time he tried to get up he was just pushed back down again and he was beginning to get frustrated.

Right as he was about to start tossing criminals off of him, a hand wrapped around his own and he was pulled out from under everyone's feet. When he was able to actually sit up, he turned around to see who it was and his eyes landed on the familiar blue hair of the ghost that he had attempted to speak to earlier.

The boy looked frantic and had been wringing his hands until he pointed at something and Izuku followed his finger to see Aizawa's form still lying limp on the ground with an odd, faint flickering shape appearing around it every once in a while.

"You have to help him or else he's going to die, no one else can and you're the only one who's able to hear and see me." He was frantic and his voice was pleading as he begged Izuku to help him.

Izuku swiveled around to see All Might barreling through all of the criminals that were trying to escape and the rest of his classmates either doing the same thing, aiding anyone that was injured or trying not to get flattened. He turned back around to face the blue-haired ghost again and quickly nodded right before he started sprinting in the direction of his teacher. Once he reached the underground hero, he picked him up so he was carrying him bridle style and the faint shape flickered into existence beside him for a moment before ceasing immediately.

All of the villains were swarming towards the exit and there was absolutely no room to get through and he couldn't phase through with a physical body in his arms or else his barely alive teacher would fall to the ground so he had to find another way out. His head instantly tilted upwards towards the roof of the dome building and his eyes narrowed in concentration.

His quirk was fading from all the work he had done with it so he needed to work quickly or Aizawa's life was at risk.

His form flickered at the edges and he clenched his jaw as he mustered up what was left of his quirk to hopefully give him a chance of escaping the unforeseen simulation joint. He grit his teeth together and used the very last of his energy to launch himself into the air and slam his back into the glass roof, cracking it but not breaking it. He started falling towards the ground where he just was and screamed with effort as he pushed himself to fly upwards again and slam into the roof once more, finally breaking a hole in it and emerging out into the blue sky and sunlight.

Aizawa's body began phasing through his arms and he started falling, unable to scrounge up the power to remain in the air. He landed on the glass panels and started sliding forwards. He tried to grab onto the small ridges between each panel but his fingers just phased through them and he continued sliding while Aizawa's body continued to phase through his grasp.

If his teacher fell from here, death would be imminent and he could do absolutely nothing about it. A few ghosts that were gathered on the ground below stopped to look up at him, one of them being the blue-haired ghost from earlier looking terrified.

Aizawa slipped completely from his grasp and began to slide down even faster than him, making it impossible to save his teacher.

"No!" He screamed, making even more ghosts pause to glance upwards at the scene. His teacher slid off the roof and began falling towards the ground, only a few seconds left before impact. He pointed at the underground hero. "Save him!"

The ghosts glimpsed at each other silently until the blue-haired ghost ran to the area that Aizawa looked to be falling towards and reached upwards in an attempt to catch him even though the chances of it actually happening were low.

"Please!" The boy screamed. "It's better to try than just watch!"

A few seconds later, a few ghosts had gathered next to him and were also reaching upwards towards the man falling through the air. As the milliseconds ticked by, more and more ghosts appeared and gathered in a circle, a few even hoisting others onto their shoulders so they could achieve a higher height to hopefully reach Aizawa faster. Izuku watched in amazement as the ghosts climbed each other like ants, forming a pillar that reached about as high as half the unforeseen simulation joint building.

The blue haired ghost was at the top, reaching out for Aizawa's limp form as he fell until he finally reached the ghost pillar. Izuku fully expected him to just phase through them and keep falling, but as he fell towards the ground, which he did, but instead of just continuing to fall, he slowed down to a point that when he hit the ground the man only gave a soft groan of pain when the arm he landed on made a cracking noise instead of dying on impact.

When Izuku slid off the roof, he let himself finally relax and his form continued to flicker as he fell. The exhaustion was overwhelming and his body went limp as he fell.

"Midoriya!"

He blinked in confusion at the voice and spotted the shape of a person running towards him. When his eyes finally focused, he saw lavender hair and a frantic purple gaze. Great, just great, he couldn't hold his form any longer and there was now a sentient about to watch him disappear into thin air. Shinsou continued to sprint forward towards him as he fell even though he most likely couldn't do anything to attempt to save him and Izuku just watched as it happened, unable to do anything about it.

The ghosts that had previously been in a pillar had now separated from each other and were just watching the scene play out since Izuku didn't really need saving and they could do absolutely nothing to help him with his quirk.

He was now a few inches from the ground and Shinsou dove through the air in an attempt to try and break the fall but simply phased through Izuku's body and landed on the ground directly on the other side of him right as Izuku landed. Shinsou whipped around but paused when he saw Izuku's form flickering while he laid there, limp and eyes halfway open.

He pointed to Aizawa weakly and Shinsou turned to look at the man, eyes going wide, before glancing back at him.

He locked eyes with the Shinsou as he laid there and let them slowly close as his ghost finally went incorporeal and invisible to the human eye. Shinsou gasped and fell onto his knees, feeling at the ground with a look of horror on his face and Izuku heard someone cackling in the background. His eyes opened again to see the blue haired ghost's shoulders moving up and down as he laughed and a hand over his mouth while his eyes crinkled at the corners.

"You might want to explain what just happened to him at some point because I'm pretty sure he thinks you just died." The boy continued to huff out an amused laugh and Izuku sighed.

"Yeah, I got that. I just can't do it right now because I'm about to disassociate like crazy in a few seconds so pardon if I don't respond when you talk to me." His vision began to blur as another wave of exhaustion crept over his being and he curled up but forced himself to focus on the boy for a little longer. "Who are you?" He asked.

The boy slid his hands into the pockets of his clothing and a small smirk appeared on his face. "An old friend of Shouta's." Izuku had to search through the fog in his mind to remember that Shouta was Aizawa's first name and his eyes squinted in confusion. The kid crouched down and ruffled his hair. "Thanks for saving him."

The boy then stood back up and looked down at him while he started zoning out again.

"Name's Oboro. Oboro Shirakumo."

Everything blurred and Izuku had to shut his eyes to keep from making his head feel like it was going to explode. Quirk exhaustion really sucked ass.

All for One leaned his chin on his palm as Tomura stood in front of him screaming about the attack on Yuuei's class 1-A and how much it had failed. Even the noumu had been destroyed. He hadn't been especially interested in the information he was hearing, but when he heard that a child had been the one to kill the noumu, his ears perked up.

"He destroyed my noumu! And I couldn't kill him with my quirk either!" As the child spoke, he put up his hand, signaling for him to stop.

Once he was silent, All for One leaned forward and Tomura's heat signature tensed. "What exactly happened?" He asked.

Tomura sneered. "I wrapped my fingers around his neck, all five of them, but he didn't disintegrate and punched me in the face. Then, he crushed my noumu!" Well, that explained the black, swollen eye.

"Did you get his name by chance?"

Tomura's eyes slowly shifted up to him.

"Izuku Midoriya."