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Izuku was sitting at the table when he heard it. There were voices all around him, laughter, and conversations but Izuku was always able to pick out that one word no matter what was happening around him. Quirkless. Izuku snapped his head towards the direction of the sound Quirkless…..Suicide.
Izuku was met with a broadcast coming from the Tv. There were a few of his classmates crowded around hearing as the news reporter began speaking. There was never any coverage on quirkless people...suicide or not. So why were they talking about it now? What was so bad about this suicide they felt the need to broadcast? Why were they showing it? Why was this time so different?
“Turn it up,” Izuku yelled from his seat. His friend's attention turned towards him. Uraraka and Todorki stopped talking in favor of turning towards Izuku who was sitting right beside them.
Momo nodded her head grabbing the remote control, turning up the volume snatching the entire room's attention -well at least everyone who was in the common room.
**Hittori Rito, age 11 was found dead in the courtyard of his school early Monday morning. The body indicated a fall from the school roof, a janitorial staff was the one to find the body. After talking to students and staff no one could come up with a reason as to why such a young boy would end his life. Hittori was an exceptional student who always looked out for everyone around him. Someone who loved going to school and smiled at any possible situation.**
no.
No...
NO...*
...Age 11
School courtyard.
**But something did recently come up after we received word. This video surfaced online.**
Izuku watched as the new broadcaster pulled up the video. It was a compilation...a 10-minute compilation of Hittori getting harassed and bullied. To an outside view, it could be seen as playful roughhousing amongst boys but Izuku knew better. He knew the look in the poor boy's eyes. He knew the desperate sound, asking them to stop. A picture was pulled up of Hittori in his school uniform with his parents by his side. He had a radiant smile but it shed no light, no happiness, a mask Izuku was all too familiar with.
“Turn it off. It's kind of annoying.” Todorki said, trying to get back to his conversation with Uraraka.
Izuku's voice cracked as he turned towards his friend “What?” Izuku must have misheard him. Right? There was no way Todoroki would have said something like that
Todorki gave him an unimpressed glance in his direction. Usually, Izuku would find it amusing how Todorko could be so expressionless but….“It's uncomfortable hearing about this.” Todorki explained. This time Izuku did not find it amusing.
Izuku gave a soft laugh in disbelief. Uncomfortable? He was uncomfortable? “Are you serious? Why? This is important.” Izuku questioned in disbelief, his voice trembling to try to contain a strong consistency.
“What's going on Izuku? Are you okay?” Iida asked, trying to intervene. He always had a sense of knowing when trouble was going to start. And if this conversation was going in the way Izuku thought it to be then it would be trouble.
“H-have you heard of the Suicide of Hittori?” Izuku asked desperately, the class president should know, right? He was always going on about being heroic. Iida is always talking about how we should always stay true to ourselves. How every single person is important.
“I can not say that I have no,” Iida explained with a bit of worry looking at Izukus's expression. Iida assumed it was someone Izuku was close to.
“It makes sense that he hasn't heard of him, I mean they're kinda pointless.” Uraraka laughed. She laughed…. Like if Hittoris's death was some kind of practical joke.
Izuku looked at Uraraka…. These were the people Izuku chose to surround himself with. “What?”
“What are you guys talking about?” Kamairani asked, throwing his arm over Todoroki's shoulder walking in with the rest of his friends. He couldn't read the room. But that was it, he did read the room and what he saw was Urarka laughing and joking around.
“Hittori. We're talking about Hittori.” Izuku stated his voice a little harsher and deeper than it was before.
“Who's that?” Sero asked, a bit curious now.
“The kid that was on the news. The one that committed suicide.” Todoroki explained.
“Someone committed suicide! Oh no.” Sero said voice saturated in sadness, it brought relief to Izuku. Someone in his class actually cared
“They were quirkless.” Uraraka clarified
“Oh.” The sadness died down. “That's fine then.”
“Why is it fine?” Izuku saw sadness replaced with relief. Why would they feel relief? Someone died! A kid died! They SHOULD be sad.
“I mean they're quirkless so what exactly do they have to look forward to?”
“Life. They have life to look forward to.” Izuku uttered, not understanding why his friends were acting like that.
“Yeah but they're undeveloped so they wouldn't fit into our society.”
“Quirkless people can't do anything.”
Izuku looked at them a bit astonished. They couldn't mean that. They're all heroes. It's their job to care for and save everyone. “That doesn't mean they deserve to die.”
“I mean it's not that big of a deal right? It's not like it was someone important. They probably just could handle going to school since they're so undeveloped.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Theyre quirkless! That amounts to nothing. I mean if I was quirkless I'd probably kill myself too.”
Laughter was heard around the room. Everyone laughed, every single person in the room laughed except for 4.
Izuku looked towards his friends expecting them to smile and say they're just kidding. Something to show that these aren't the people he chose to surround himself with. But their confirmation never came. Instead, he was met with weird gazes, his breathing began to stammer.
How could he be so stupid? How could Izuku forget so easily? The only reason his friends were his friends was because of the quirk he NOW had. But after spending an entire year with them Izuku thought he'd gotten to know them pretty well but…..maybe they aren't the people Izuku thought they were. “You guys don't think that do you?”
“That they are useless?” Kaminari asked “Of course we do. You don't?”
“No, of course, I don't. Quirkless people have just as much of a right to live as you guys do. Just people are quirkless, that doesn't make them any less human!”
“Izuku, I think you're getting too heated over this.”
“NO FUCK ALL OF YOU GUYS!” Izuku yelled
“Izuku, that language is very inappropriate.”
“FUCK YOU, Iida! God, I can't believe you are the people I surrounded myself with. That I called you all my friends.”
“What are you talking about? We are friends”
“No Todoroki you're not. You never were okay. Not after today.” Izuku said Todorki and Iida were taken by surprise. Izuku hasn't called them by their last name since the middle of last year. Everyone in class A decided to use their first names considering everything they've been through. But Izuku just used his friends last name, not only that but he cursed at them
“You guys can delete my contact information from your phone. Don't talk to me unless it's for school. I'm over all of you guys.” And with that Izuku left for his room, leaving his classmates all in confusion.
___
Izuku's friends knocked on his door that night and that morning but Izuku did not respond, instead, he chose to ignore their calls in favor of scrolling through Twitter trying to get any information on Hittori. Maybe Izuku could find a picture of him actually smiling but instead, he came across the video they showed in the news outlet. They only shared the first 2 minutes out of the compilation. Izuku knew he shouldn't have watched it but he did. He saw as they teased, beat, and stripped Hittori on camera. He heard his begs to stop, his cries. He saw himself. The video was more gruesome than the news outlet made it out to seem and it made Izuku furious.
Quirkless people already didn't get enough news coverage as it is but for them to downplay the abuse Hittori faced was something even worse than not showing it at all. They made him seem weak, unstable, but Hittoti was anything but.
The day after what happened in the living room Izuku didn't go to school. It was a tradition amongst all quirkless people to skip school the next day as a sign of respect and a sign of protest. When one of their own had fallen it was time for them to mourn the loss and celebrate how long they fought. Because them being gone only proves how much needs to change. It shows how tired they were. Hittori fought a long battle of 11 years. Put up with the bullying, discrimination, and hate. Hittori a brave soul, a warrior, someone who was never to be forgotten, maybe by those with quirks but never those without.
Hittori fought a long hard battle, every quirkless knows that battle but now he can rest.
-----
“Where's Izuku?” Uraraka asked to walk into class, she was hoping to catch Izuku on his way over but the green-haired boy never walked past her. It was a few minutes until the class started and Izuku was nowhere to be seen.
“I haven't seen him since everything that happened yesterday,” Kirishima explained, turning towards the rest of his class. He couldn't understand why Izuku was so mad, what got him so heated yesterday. All they were talking about were quirkless people.
“What happened yesterday?” Shinsou asked from the back of the room. Shinsou had been admitted into the hero course by his second year. He wasn't exactly buddy-buddy with the entire A-class but he was with Izuku.
“Well, yesterday.” Todorki began to explain but was cut off by the door being slammed open by Aizawa.
Aizawa gave off a low groan he didn't want to be there, he'd had a long night and was about ready to pass out. Yet there he was, about to teach the hell class. “Okay everyone pull out your textbooks and turn to page- where the hell is the problem child? Is he sick or something?” Aizawa asked, looking around the room for answers but everyone seemed just as confused as he was. Does no one know where the villain magnet of Class A is?
“We haven't seen him since yesterday afternoon. He skipped dinner and breakfast.” Uraraka explained
“Did any of you go check up on him?” Aizawa asked, closing his eyes, letting his fingers massage his temples. He couldn't go one day without something going terribly wrong. And if something involved Midoriya, Aizawa knew he was in for a massive headache.
“Well we did but he wouldn't open his door.”
“Yeah. It was like he was PMSing or something. He blew up at us for no reason yesterday then he ran out and told us to delete his contact information from our phone.” Mineta explained getting smacked but the girls used PMSing to describe Izuku's mood.
“What the hell happened yesterday?” Bakugo asked. Did he miss something or what?
“Umm well we saw something on the news and began talking about it then Izuku suddenly went mad.”
“Well, what was on the news?” Aizawa asked, he just wants to get to the bottom of everything, fix it then move on.
“Some quirkless boy who committed suicide.”
Bakugos eyes went wide….. “What hell did you guys say?”
Eyes immediately shot to Bakugou, the urgency in his voice sent a small shiver down everybody's spine.
“Nothing just, it wasn't such a big deal.”
“Someone's death wasn't a big deal?’ Aizawa questioned, eyebrows raised, arms crossed. He knew of the suicide it was one of the reasons he stayed up late. He wanted to find out more information about the kid. Aizawa wasn't an idiot; he knew about the discrimination quirkless people face.
“I asked everyone to turn off the Tv because it was making me uncomfortable,” Todrooki said getting right to the point
“Why the hell would it make you uncomfortable?” Bakugo asked, turning towards the duo's chromed classmate.
“Suicide would make anyone uncomfortable.” Kirishima chimed in, earning a scowl from Bakugo and a smile from Todoroki.
“But it wasn't the suicide that made you uncomfortable, was it? It was the fact that they were quirkless…” Shinsou said out loud, voicing his thoughts. All eyes turned to him.
The class went quiet. Thoughts can be heard but nothing was said. Bakugo waited for any sort of explanation to what happened but nothing was said. Instead, the class exchanged glances towards one another.
“What the hell did you guys say?” Shinsou sneered, if Bakugou was getting so defensive over Izuku's behalf then he knew something was wrong.
“They said some rather mean stuff and Izuku he umm ...he wasn't so happy,” Shoji explained he was one of the 4 people who didn't laugh when the class was telling jokes, alongside Tokyo, Tsu, Ojiro, and Koda but they didn't stand up against it either.
“I would like to know as well,” Aizawa said, standing by his podium crossing his arms. “Start from the beginning”
So they did. They explained everything from the moment Izuku asked for the Tv to be turned on to the moment he stormed out of the living room. They explain every single detail they said.
Aizawa watched as they told the story. He knew they felt no remorse, their reaction towards the quirkless people was stale. They didn't feel bad about what they said, what they felt bad about was getting in trouble.t
“You guys are a bunch of shits,” Bakugo yelled, standing up from his desk. The chair ranking against the floor. Hell if this would have happened at the beginning of last year Bakugo would have been in the same position as them but after everything….he knew better.
He and Izuku talked, worked things out and he will never be able to thank Izuku enough for being able to forgive him but Bakugo still had a lot to do to make up for what a shitty person he was in the past.
If Bakugou could go back and punch his middle school self in the face he would. He wouldn't even second guess it. Looking at his classmates he's flabbergasted. Was that how he sounded when he would talk shit about quirkless people? Like a complete dumbass?
“Bakugo calm down,” Aizawa said
“No, I'm with Katsuki on this one,” Shinsou said standing up as well. “What kind of heroes are you if you can't even defend those who are supposedly weaker than you?”
“Nothing we said is wrong. Quirkless people are undeveloped. Why are you getting so defensive?” Todorki asked, standing up as well. He didn't like the tone the two boys were using against him.
Bakugo gave off a hysterical laugh. Was that how crazy he sounded before? “How about I beat you until YOU'RE underdeveloped.” Bakugo threatened to walk up towards Todoroki only to be held back by Kirishima. But Bakugo had a bone to pick with him too.
“That's enough back to your seats!” Aizawa scolded, causing the uproar to quiet down.
“Hell no! I need to go find Deku.”
“No Bakugo sit down.”
“No!”
“Bakugo SIT down, I will not tell you again. Midoriya chose not to come to school today, which means he wants space. If you want to talk to him, wait till after class.”
Bakugou grumbled but took a seat.
“Are you sure we can't go?” Shinsou interrupted
“No. No one is leaving. You need to wait until after school.”
So that's exactly what they did. Shinsou and Bakugo had a very complicated relationship. Izuku was the first person Shinsou came to trust in Class 2-A. The first person to ever welcome him with open arms, and he was the first person to talk to him without the fear of being brainwashed. Even when Shinsou brainwashed him as a joke, Izuku never held resentment or fear because of it. Since Izuku and Shinsou were so close, Shinsou took notice of how Bakugo would treat Izuku. He never understood their relationship and he never might but the one thing he knew for sure was how well they knew each other. They knew each other like the back of their hands. So if Bakugou was saying something was wrong then something must be wrong.
Throughout the day Bakugo kept giving everyone the death glare, not talking to anyone unless it was school-related or he had to and even then he kept it the bare minimum. And as soon as the bell rang he was off.
Bakugo and Shinsou expected Izuku to be in his doors walling or maybe even the gym wrecking a punching bag or two, but when they found everything intact they began to worry. They searched everywhere but weren't able to find their green-haired friend.
“Did you find him?” Bakugou asked, coming from the recovery girls' office hoping that somehow the nerd got hurt and made his way over there.
“No,” Shinsou responded by coming from the teacher's office hoping he was there with Eri.
“Fucken shit. We have to find him. If he….. We have to find him.” Bakugo's voice cracked in fear of what Izuku missing could mean.
Soon the entire staff was notified of his disappearance. The class took to looking through dorms while the teachers looked over the security footage to see if there was some sort of break-out. It then turned to nightfall and Izuku was still nowhere to be found.
“This is why you should have let me come the fuck back!” Katsuki yelled at Aizawa
Everyone was gathered in the living room, thinking and discussing where their classmates could be. But the ideas ran dry.
“I knew this would happen. Fucken shit.” Bakugo cursed out a bit desperately
The room was interpreted with All Might, Detective Tsukauchi walking in through the common room dorms with Izuku trailing behind them. A breath of relief was heard across the room.
“Deku!”
“IZUKU”
“IZUKUBRO!”
The entire class went to tackle him for a hug only for Izuku to move away when they got close. Izuku was wrapped in bandages, his face scraped and bruised, carrying a backpack with him.
“Izuku?”
“Don't call me that.” Izuku snarled out, pushing past everyone towards the kitchen.
“What happened?” Aizawa turned towards all might “You knew where he was?”
Everyone turned towards All Might who shook his head. “No, I was looking for him on school grounds when I got a call from Tsukauchi saying he was bringing Izuku back to campus.”
The detective took over from there. “Izuku was arrested for fighting against a police officer.”
“Arrested?!”
“Police officer?”
Tsukushi took a deep breath “There was a protest for the Hittori the quirkless young boy who committed suicide and Izuku was in the dead smack center of it. It took about 5 officers to put him in handcuffs. He was dragged to the station. He was given multiple chances to call someone but according to the officers, he wouldn't. I came in to grab some paperwork from my desk when I saw him sitting in one of the cells along with some other protesters.” Tsukishi explained, “I bailed him out and called All Might to let him know we were on our way.”
Just then Izuku returned from the Kitchen looking over at everyone before trying to make his way upstairs but was stopped by Aizawa calling him back into the common room. “Problem child, come here.”
Izuku frowned but followed directions standing in front of Aizawa “You were arrested?”
“No. I was detained, there's a difference. I told them I was a hero student and they didn't put anything on my permit record.” Izuku explained crossing his arms not bothering to acknowledge any of his classmates.
“Deku,” Bakugo said, grabbing the attention of the green-haired boy, surprisingly being the first, he tilted his head towards the stairs and Izuku nodded.
“Is that all? Can you give me my punishment tomorrow?” Izuku asked, “I need to go change my bandages.”
Aizawa nodded his head, excusing him “I'll see you in class.” Izuku nodded, walking up towards the stairs with Shinsoua and Bakugo following.
------
“Aizawa. I need to talk to you about something.” Tuskushi said
Aizawa didn't like the look he was giving him but nodded his head at the building, giving them privacy to talk.
------
“Holy shit nerd, you fought a cop?” Katsuki exclaimed, sitting down on Izuku's bed with Shinsou by his side, both boys watching as Izuku dug his closet for clothes to change into.
“A few,” Izuku said in the same monotone voice he's been speaking with ever since he showed up to the dorms..
“Izuku.” Shinsou noticed the same thing Bakugo did. Both boys looked at each other then back at the .
“Deku…. Look at us,” Bakugo said as he stood behind Izuku.
Izuku turned around his face was expressionless but as soon as he saw the look Shinsou and Bakugo face Izuku couldn't help but crumble
Shinsou watched as Izuku's face went from serious to tears streaming down his face in a matter of seconds. Izuku had grown during his second year of U.A, only a few inches shorter than him and about the same height as Katsuki. He was the sunshine boy, always happy, always taking care of people. At times you would forget he could be sad too. The only reason he ever cried was when he was happy. He only cried happy tears, you forgot he's capable of crying sad tears too.
“Toshi, Kacchan.” Izuku wailed out hard, coming to wipe the constant flow from his eyes.
“Yeah, we're here nerd.”
“It's okay Zuku. Let it out.”
With those words, Izuku sobs erupted “H-he was only 11. He was a baby. He had his whole life ahead of him. He was smart, kind, and sweet. Why did this happen? Why does this keep happening? Why are people so mean?” Izuku cried out begging for an answer. But it was an answer neither boy could give to him. Bakugo and Shinsou wrapped their arms around the crying boy trying to bring any form of comfort.
“I thought it would be different here. I thought things would be different. I thought our classmates would be different.”
“They need to get a good beating, that's what needs to happen.”
“For once I agree with Expoldie.”
“You should have heard what they said. It's like they took everything word for word. Kacchan, why would they say things like that? They want to be heroes right? So why?” Izuku cried out looking hopeful to Katsuki, pleading for an answer “Isn't it a hero's job to keep everyone safe? Isn't it a hero's job to not discriminate and protect everyone? So why? Kacchan, why are they saying things like this? Toshi, why do these things happen? Why? ”
All Katsuki and Hitoshi could do was hug the boy as his sobs became more controlled. They didn't have answers for him. They didn't know why people are so cruel. They didn't know why. As much as they wanted to give Izuku an answer...they just couldn't.
Izuku pushed back from both boys, whipping away the last of his tears, going back to look for some clothes. He was sweaty and bleeding everywhere. “When I saw the video I couldn't help but put myself in his shoes.”
“Is that why you didn't come to class? You were getting flashbacks or something?” Shinsou asked, a bit confused. There was more to the story than he knew.
“No.” Izuku responded “I can deal with them. It's a tradition amongst quirkless people to skip the following school day as a sign of protest and to pay our respect to our fallen soldier.”
Bakugo nodded his head but Shinsou was still confused. “But you're not quirkless.”
Izuku gave a small laugh “I was up until last year. That could have been me. It would have been me if I never developed my quirk.”
“Izuku…”
“Everything was just so hard. Going to school, going home…...living...breathing... I heard about the protest this morning and I knew I had to go after I saw the second video posted.” Izuku explained “I would have gone either way but that second video… there were people there when Hittori uh…”
“You don't have to say it.”
“Y-yeah. There were people there, recording the entire thing. Telling him to jump, telling him he would be doing the world a favor.”Izuku's voice cracked as he explained the second video “You can see him jump. And the boys...they just ran and did not contact anyone. They left him rotting there for two days until the janitor found him.”
“That's fucked! Did they at least get punished or something?” Shinsou asked more like demanded
“Not yet. The police are trying to figure out who the kids from the video are. Turns out they were older. Maybe middle schoolers. That's what the protest is for. To bring justice for Hittori.”
“Is there any more?” Bakugo asked
“Yeah, tomorrow night.”
“Are you going?”
“Yeah.” Izuku nodded. He was expecting some refusal from them to tell him not to go again. But instead...
“I'm coming with you.”
“Me too.”
Izuku's eyes began tearing up again. “Thank you…”
-------
The next day in class was awkward, to say the least. Izuku didn't come down for dinner that night, instead, it was Katsuki who cooked and brought the food up to the boy's room so the three of them could eat. During lunch, Izuku sat with Katsuki and Shinsou talking about the protest and what they should expect. Izuku had been going to the quirkless protest since he was in elementary school and was pretty well equipped all things considered.
It wasn't until the end of class when more problems arose.
“I ended class early because there is something I need to discuss with you all. The police force reached out to U.A, the hero course specifically and they are looking for backup.”Aizawa began to explain
Izuku already did not like what Aizawa was suggesting
“As you may know there is a protest for the young quirkless boy, Hittori. And as you may also know things got very out of hand yesterday. More people showed up than expected and tonight more people are expected to show up. As are the following days as this gains more traction. What the police force wants you to do is hero up and make sure the crowd doesn't get out of hand.”
Izuku immediately shot up from his seat. “It's a peaceful protest, why would you need to bring in heroes in training! Are pro heroes going to be there!” Izuku yelled, slamming his hands to his desk.
“Peaceful protest? Didn't you get arrested? Didn't you fight a police officer?” Iida fired.
Izuku snarled towards him “That was because he was beating some kid with the dam stick. We were marching and holding up signs. It was because those police officers began to tear-gas us that things began to escalate!”
“Midoriya, I need you to calm down?” Aizawa said raising his hands, he needed to get the situation under control
“Calm down!?” Izuku yelled louder. “You want me to calm down?!?”
“I don't think he needs to calm down, teach, if anything he needs to yell louder,” Shinsou suggested
“You're not helping.” Aizawa groaned
“I wasn't trying to.”
“Why do you care so much Izuku,” Uraraka asked
“Don't call me that! You want to know why I care so much! FINE!” Izuku yelled, grabbing his backpack and slamming it on the desk. He pulled out his wallet and took out his middle school Id card then slammed it on Uraraka’s desk. “What does it say?”
“Aldera Middle school.”
“Keep Reading.”
“Midoriya Izuku Year 3. Disability……..Quirkless.” Urarka said out slowly. All eyes fell upon Izuku. The room suddenly got cold and breaths were sucked in.
“That's why I care so much. Because I know first hand what it's like to be treated like your “undeveloped” “useless” a “freak”.” Izuku said after a few minutes of silence. He looked around to his classmates, none daring to look away from him.
“Izuku we.”
“ It's not Izuku to you, it's not even Deku. It's Midoriya.” Izuku exasperated “This protest isn't just about getting justice for Hittori! It's about basic human rights! Are you guys so privileged you don't see what's going on around you! Sure we make up 20% of the population but that's still a whole lot. We still exist no matter how hard you try to deny it.”
“Quirkless people have human rights.” Iida tried saying. Izuku just gave a small laugh..that's what everyone always says. ; Quirkless people have rights’ ‘There is no law in their government that discriminates against them.’ But that doesn't stop the discrimination.
“No, they don't. Tell them about the hospital thing Kacchan.” Izuku said, looking over at Katsuki. The government themselves may not ‘discriminate’ against quirkless people but everyone else sure does and the government has never once stepped in to help.
“Any hospital, or health care facility is allowed to deny rights to Quirkless individuals,” Katsuki said, remembering back to the time when Izuku first told him.
When Katsuki would hurt and burn Izuku, he would get mad to see Izuku didn't take the time to get his injuries checked out. To Katsuki it was a sign Izuku was looking down on him. Showing him his burns didn't hurt; he was weak. But in reality, Izuku couldn't even get treated. He couldn't even set foot in a healthcare facility.
“Is that a thing?” Sero asked, turning towards Mr.Aizawa who nodded his head. Aizawa seemed to be as much as shocked as everyone else to find out Izuku used to be quirkless. That's something Aizawa should have been made aware of so why didn't he know?
“Or maybe it's the fact that I'd never been to an amusement park or a movie theater until a few months ago because quirkless people aren't allowed in those establishments either.” Izuku continued “That attitude you guys have is from a position of never having to be discriminated against. For knowing no matter what you do, you guys were never to be blamed or hurt because you aren't quirkless. You guys don't have to communicate with others to prove your existence like Hittori did. No, because it's different, it's alien to all of you. Never having to be anything other than being you. Constantly saying quickness people have rights yet letting organizations and people constantly deny those rights. Quirkless discrimination, nothing more than a product made by hero society.”
Izuku looked up expecting them to say something but no one did. So Izuku continued once more. Everything bubbling up from past years finally resurfacing. When Izuku was quirkless he could advocate as much in fear of getting hurt more. But now he has a quirk, he has rights, he has the right to speak out.
“You guys don't know what it's like to be pushed around every second of your life. Sure you may have faced discrimination because of your quirks, gender, sexual orientation. But it's nothing compared to what quirkless people have to deal with on a daily basis. And I'm not trying to play the oppression Olympics, I know what it's like for those with mutation quirks. I know what they have to go through because I'm educated on it. But the way quirkless people are discriminated against is different. And it's that stupid mindset you have that makes us so oppressed.”Izuku yelled out, hand failing everywhere
Everyone stayed quiet. No one dared utter a word. “ That could have been me, you know. That would have been me...if my quirk didn't come in. You guys don't realize how hard it is. Sure you may have just brushed it off as our ‘underdeveloped brain’ but after being beat, tormented, suicided bated every single day for years straight it starts to run you down.” Izuku said, looking up at his classmates whose eyes began to tear, some of them with tears running down their faces. “Did you know that my school had a whole page online dedicated to how much they wanted me dead? I could be doing the smallest things, like reading a book or eating and somehow they would always find a way to criticize me. ‘Look at useless Deku, reading a book to try to develop his mind. Not that it would work!’, ‘Deku shouldn't be eating, he should just starve himself to death.’”
Eyes fell upon Katsuki. They knew Katsuki was the one to give the nickname Deku. He was the only one in the room who went to middle school with Izuku. He must have known about the page. “Don't look at him like that. What happened between me and Kacchan is between us. He changed the way he thinks, he supports me and the movement.That's more than I can say about all of you.”
Izuku took a deep breath before he started saying something he knew he was going to regret later on. “I had a date set. I had my notes ready. I had my way of death planned. Everything was there, I just needed to do it.”
Everyone in the class knew what he was talking about.
“W-what?” Katsuki croaked out looking at Izuku with tear-filled eyes. Izuku looked back at him and gave him a small smile
“Just like Hittori, I was just going to jump. And I deserved it.”
“No Iz-Midoriya you didn't.” Uraraka cried out tears running down her face falling onto her desk. She tried to stand up to reach out to Izuku but her hand was shaking too much.
“You didn't deserve any of that,” Kaminari said breathing becoming harder with every word
“Maybe I did? I was quirkless after all.” Izuku said trying to prove a point
“No….if you weren't here I don't even know if half of us would be alive. You saved us more than once.” Todorki said. If Izuku had actually……… no one would have inspired him to confront his past, to build a relationship with his mother… to use his fire.
“Midoriya. You didn't deserve any of that. The bullying, the neglect… anything.”
Izuku gave a soft sigh “Neither did Hittori...he was just a child….he was just a baby….but he fell. He fought for so long for so hard but he just couldn't take it anymore. One of my own fell…”Izuku said talking into his hands
The bell rang just as Izuku finished his conversation, he stopped every few seconds to see if his classmates had anything to add but none of them did. Instead, they cried as Izuku told his story. Izuku slung his backpack over his shoulder retrieving his Middle school Id from Uraraka before walking out the door.
Just as he did Izuku turned around and said “This is a fight I'm ready to die for. So you either stand with me or against me.” And with that, he walked out the door.
---------
Izuku walked up to his room. He couldn't believe he had just done that, he exposed himself to not only his entire class but also to his teacher. Izuku thought at least Mr. Aizawa would have said something when Izuku began lecturing his class but he seemed just as stunned and speechless as everyone else.
Izuku threw his backpack on the floor and flopped down on the bed. No way he could escape the repercussions that would come out of what he said.
Izuku just hoped now that he shared his story that his classmates might see things in a different light. It didn't take long for Katsuki to barge his way into the Izuku room and flop down on the bed beside him. Izuku knew what he wanted to ask, but he didn't know how to ask it.
“Where's Shinsou?”
“Making sure the extras don't come up here. That was quite the performance nerd.” Katsuki said, looking over at him. He was trying to hold it together but that was only getting him so far.
“Thanks.”
“Hey…. did you…” Katsuki tried asking for voice cracking, not being able to get the words out. But Izuku knew what he was trying to ask
“Yeah.”
“When? Where? How? Because of me?”
Izuku said, “Because I was tired, it wouldn't have been your fault.”
“I'm so-”
“Kacchan, the past is over with. You've saved my life more times than I can count. Just continue having my back and we'll call it even okay?”
“But.”
“No Kacchan.”
“Fine. Whatever……..did you leave notes?”
Izuku looked at him for a moment before sitting up and sighing “Yeah.”
“What did you do with them?”
“I still have them,” Izuku answered. He knew he wouldn't be able to lie about it. Izuku liked keeping his notes around because it made him remember all his pain and suffering. It was a momentum to never forget where he came from and what he was fighting for once he became pro.
“Can I read it?” Katsuki asked, a bit hopeful. He wanted to know what Izuku put. He...
“No. You're just going to blame yourself even more. I didn't do it, we’re good.”
Hours passed until the sun finally went down. Izuku, Shinsou, and Bakugo had what they needed for the protest. According to Izuku things were only going to get more intense after tonight so they had to be prepared for whatever the police were going to throw at them.
When the trio finally made it down the stairs, the class was waiting for them, all dressed in their civilian clothes instead of their hero uniforms like Izuku expected.
“What are you guys doing?” Shinsou asked, looking over at his classmates dressed in tedious outfits.
“Izuku. We're sorry. We didn't know how bad it was. You have every right to be mad at us. We were ignorant. But we want to help.” Kirishima was the first to speak out
“We're sorry. But we all made our choice.” Iida said, signaling the rest of his classmates to step up closer to Izuku.
Izuku began tearing up…..people can learn...people can change...Katsukis proved it but seeing it in great numbers. It was overwhelming.
“If you guys are going to come, you're going to have to change,” Izuku said as everyone nodded their head
“We're going to stand with you.” Uraka said, placing her hand on his shoulder “Not just now but until quirkless people are heard.”
Headlines
Justice for Hittori Rito was brought.
U.A changes admission test to allow those with non-combative quirks to have a greater opportunity at success
Medical Quirkless Ban up for debate in the Government
Quirk discrimination at school.
Quirkless are speaking out
Quirkless movements
Hero Students strive to make a difference against quirk discrimination.
Change can happen, it takes time. But if one person can strive to make a movement then it can inspire someone else to act.