Chapter Text
This wasn’t supposed to happen… was it? On any other day, Izuku would have been on the ground, bruised and burned by his “best friend.” Today was different, though, and nobody knew how to handle it.
“I-I’ll have to stop you myself!” Once again, he was defending a weaker kid from Kacchan and his gang, afraid, but ready to face his punishment. Something changed this time, though. Instead of freezing up and taking the beating, a surge of confidence and power erupted from his very core. As his childhood friend prepared an explosion-charged right hook, Izuku caught it effortlessly, stunning them all. His eyes showed a fierce will the blond had never seen from the worthless Deku, and a milky white aura began to emanate from his pale skin. All that could be heard was an angered cry.
“ENOUGH!” This was followed by a blast of wind that sent the three antagonizers careening into the dirt behind them. Out of pure shock and fear, something uncharacteristic of Kacchan but understandable given the situation, he and his group fled. At this point, they all realized what this retaliation meant: Izuku Midoriya wasn’t a Deku anymore… he had an incredibly strong – and quite fearsome – quirk.
//
Many things had changed from that day forward. Kacchan was no longer Kacchan and Deku was no longer Deku. Rather, they became Katsuki Bakugou and Izuku Midoriya once again. They no longer considered each other friends – not that the former had ever since he got his quirk, though that’s neither here nor there – but mere acquaintances on a first-name basis. Katsuki didn’t bother Izuku anymore and actively avoided him, while Izuku just went about his business. Unfortunately, Izuku still had to step in on more than one occasion when Katsuki decided to bully another “extra,” as he called everyone else. When that happened, the exchange was often short and Katsuki relented after seeing the aura appear.
After extensive testing and quirk counseling with numerous specialists, Izuku finally had a name and a baseline amount of information on his quirk. The doctors called it “Judgment,” and it seemed to be an overall power amplifier in relation to the perceived misdeeds, or sins, of another person. When fighting someone with a relatively low sin count or low-severity sins, the only noticeable effects were small white bolts of electricity coursing around the viridian-haired boy. When facing someone more sinful, that electricity became a flowing milky white aura. It had some level of autonomy, at least when detecting sinful people, but it was never a hundred percent out of Izuku’s control.
//
By the time their final year at Aldera had come, Izuku had grown into his own. He held his head high and maintained a strong confidence in his demeanor – not arrogance like Katsuki, he learned fast and knew better after a few close calls – and kept his warm and kind heart, always willing to help those in need. It wasn’t a surprise when their homeroom teacher revealed that both Izuku and Katsuki were aiming for U.A. High School, as the announcement received elated acknowledgment from their classmates.
“Are you fucking serious, Izuku?!” An enraged voice laced with venom cut through the joy-filled classroom as the blood-red eyes of Bakugou bore through the greenette’s head. This earned concern and a slight bit of fear from the rest of the kids and the teacher as they all fell deadly silent in a matter of seconds.
Izuku was unfazed by this outburst and, with the same deadpan manner he'd grown accustomed to using with his acquaintance to hide any of the sudden fear or hesitance that he still had to fight from time to time, replied in kind. “Is something the matter, Katsuki?”
“You shouldn’t be trying for U.A.! How many times do I have to remind all you extras that I’m the only one who’s getting out of this shithole of a school? I'm going to be the only first-rate hero here! You’re better off trying for Shiketsu or Ketsubusu!”
“I plan to get into U.A. and become a great hero, Katsuki. You should know by now that I don’t intend to show you up or look down on you.”
A slightly angered twitch came to a single eyebrow of both boys as they came to yet another impasse. Katsuki’s hands started to give off sparks as his glare grew more and more explosive by the second, while Izuku’s trademark milky aura started to fade into visibility. Surprisingly enough, the latter’s quirk activation was what made the air grow thicker among the bystanders, and Katsuki once again blinked first and sat back right in his chair with a “Tch! Asshole…” On the inside, Izuku hated to use his quirk like this. It felt so dirty, so wrong. It almost felt sinful in its own right to use his quirk as an intimidation tactic. He gave himself a light smack to the face and kept repeating in his mind, keeping the peace, keeping the peace.
//
Today was a bit more eventful than normal, and Izuku certainly wasn’t complaining. A large villain had appeared in the middle of the city and was quickly apprehended by the up-and-coming heroic duo Kamui Woods and Mt. Lady. The showing of their powers in the short-lived brawl gave Izuku more than enough information to log into his new analysis journal. Unfortunately, he had to make a couple of detours due to the commotion causing some emergency shutdowns, which led to him crossing under a bridge near his home. Suddenly, he found himself unable to breathe properly. Grabbing at his mouth, Izuku felt slime instead. When he tried to get away, all he could do was struggle.
“This won’t hurt a bit, kid. God, I hope you have a useful quirk…” the slime-like villain said in a sadistic tone. Clearly, he actually wanted it to hurt a lot.
Immediately inferring this was a villain trying to attack him – and, judging by his words, trying to take over his body – Izuku activated his quirk. Unlike with Katsuki, but not surprisingly either considering this was an actual villain, his power grew to a height he hadn’t ever experienced. With a single flipping maneuver he had learned while teaching himself martial arts from online videos, the sludge was scattered across the ground alongside a cry of agony.
“You’ll pay for that, smartass!” The villain screamed as he put himself back together with remarkable speed and lunged for another attack. This cycle of actions went on for a while with neither noticing another party exiting from the manhole cover that the sludge villain himself had emerged from earlier.
“Just leave me alone!” Izuku yelled with fierce conviction as he delivered one massive punch to the center of the sludge villain, causing a second air blast to pin and seemingly K.O. the monster as he fell limp on the ground. At this point, the bystander decided to step in with a hearty laugh, startling Izuku.
“You did quite a number on that creep, didn’tcha, bud? That was obviously self-defense, so I won’t cuff ya’ as well.”
For the first time in what felt like ages, the viridian lad felt a well of anxiety – alongside excitement – rise to the surface as his mind confirmed what his vision was telling him. “O-oh my god, you’re Miruko! You’re th-the number five hero!” he managed to stammer out, pulling out his journal and holding it towards the rabbit hero to sign if she so chose.
“In the flesh and fur!” she cackled as she eagerly signed Izuku’s journal. “You got talent, boy. Gonna become a hero with that quirk?” While questioning him, Miruko found a bottle and stuffed the villain into it before he woke up.
She turned around to see the emerald-eyed teen grinning wide and nodding. “Definitely! I want to be a hero who saves everyone with a smile!”
An intrigued eyebrow raised on the face of the feminine hero, the tips of her ears twitching ever so slightly with excitement as the gears started turning in her head.
“Ya’know, I normally hate working with anyone else in any capacity. I prefer working alone. Being with others holds me back, yeah?” Izuku nodded understandingly, keeping quiet as the hero continued. “I might make an exception, though. The entrance exam is still ten months away, but I can tell you still have a ways to go before you’re ready! How’s about I help you train for it?”
“T-train? Me?!” At this point, Izuku’s face somehow became a mixture of ghostly pale and bright red from the elation of having a pro hero personally train him to get into U.A. The trademark Midoriya tears started to slip down his burning cheeks before he wiped them away, revealing a wide grin and expression of sheer determination. “I accept!”
“That’s the spirit, kiddo! I love that enthusiasm! We’ll get started first thing tomorrow. Meet me at Takoba beach at ten o’clock sharp, got it, buddy?”