Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Izuku opens his eyes. The first thing he sees is the sky, and the next thing he sees is the glaring sun shining down on him. He’s lying on his back, looking straight up. He squints up at the sky, his eyes adjusting to the bright shine of the sun. He lets out a groan and uses his hand to block it from his eyes.

Izuku has never really been a morning person, preferring to sleep in as long as he could before his mom came to wake him up so he wouldn't be late for school. It usually takes him a while to fully wake up and register his surroundings. He never really understood how some people could wake up and just immediately be wide awake and go about their day.

He stares some more at the sun, pouting and wishing it would go away. He spends a minute debating on just going back to sleep or getting up before his mom has to come to drag him out of bed. That's when it hits him that he woke up outside, and not in his room, where he usually wakes up.

Why is he outside? Did he fall asleep here? Where is here exactly?

Izuku sits up quickly, now wide awake. He tries to take a good look at his surroundings, but he lets out a yelp as he stumbles a bit when he doesn’t meet the resistance he was expecting when pushing himself up from the ground. He flails his arms and legs around as he starts rising up. 

Izuku quickly moves his gaze to the ground underneath him, only to see he's not touching it at all. The floor is actually quite a few inches away from him while he is suspended in the air. He’s floating. This is unusual, as Izuku has never been able to float before.

Huh… How exactly is he floating?

Completely flabbergasted at the situation he has currently found himself in, Izuku moves to stand upright— or at least he tries to. Instead of floating in an upright standing position, as he had intended to do, Izuku actually keeps turning in the air. Panicked, he tries waving his arms around, trying to find some semblance of balance. A few accidental somersaults later he’s finally floating upright, somewhat stable.

Okay, so. This is new. How is he floating? Is it a quirk? Did someone use their quirk on him? While he was sleeping no less? Is it.. his quirk? Did he somehow gain a quirk in the past few days? Did it finally come in? If it did, how did it activate? And why did it activate in his sleep?—

He pauses in his mental rambling. The past few days… What’s the last thing he remembers? He remembers getting home from school, quickly going to his room to get the first aid kit to take care of some cuts and bruises he got at school, and then starting on his homework. He knows he ate dinner with his mom, it was soba, not his favorite as nothing can top katsudon but it was still good. Then he went to bed and then… nothing. Something doesn’t feel right… 

Izuku looks around, taking a good look at his surroundings. This time was more successful, as he was careful to only move his head so he wouldn't lose his balance and start somersaulting through the air again. That was not a fun experience… Might have been a little fun if he hadn't been so panicked though. It could be useful for—

He shakes his head. Now is not the time to think up all the different ways this floating ability could be utilized. Izuku tries to focus on what he's seeing around him. Why is he even outside? How did he get here? Did he sleepwalk? Or sleep-float for that matter? He has never sleepwalked before, as far as he knows anyway, but there’s a first time for everything. Maybe it's some kind of quirk side effect?

Or maybe he’s dreaming? That's another possibility and it could explain his whole floating/maybe quirk situation. Besides, it's more reasonable than him suddenly gaining his quirk in his sleep or someone breaking into his house to use their quirk on him and then leaving him sleeping outside.

Well, there are a few different ways to find out whether or not he's dreaming. Izuku tries to remember the different ways one could find out if they were in a dream or not that he read about. Number 1: look at a (digital) clock. Number 2: try to read something. Number 3: look in a mirror. Number 4: counting your limbs.

Due to the unstable nature of dreams, complex and abstract systems often fail to remain stable. The sleeping mind often cannot comprehend things such as digital displays, text, mirrors, etc. So it should help Izuku find out if he's really dreaming. It might also help him wake up.

Izuku checks his wrist and pockets but he doesn’t have a digital watch or clock on him, and he hasn't spotted one in the area either. He, unfortunately, doesn’t seem to have any of his notebooks on him. Otherwise, he could’ve checked the text in them. There’s no mirror around either. Counting limbs it is then.

Izuku looks down at his body. First, the arms. One, two. Then his legs. One, two. His fingers. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. The numbers are correct. He lets out a sigh and looks up at the sky. Alright, probably not a dream then. But— He stops his train of thought and frowns. Wait a minute… 

He looks back down at his body to take in the outfit he's wearing. He wasn’t wearing his All Might onesie that he last remembered putting on before going to bed. Instead, he’s wearing a red shirt with some shorts and his favorite red high tops. If the sleepwalk theory is to be believed, then did he also sleep-dress? Or did someone actually break into his house and kidnap him while he was sleeping? Did they also dress him? Why?

Izuku closes his eyes and takes a shaky breath. Alright, he should stop theorizing before he starts to panic again. Right now he just needs to figure out where he is and try to get home. Then, he has to let his mom know he’s okay. She’s probably so worried about him! When checking his pockets he noticed he didn't have his emergency phone on him, so he couldn't even call her. This is bad.

But, if he can find out his current location and how to get home he'll hopefully be able to call his mom there if she's not home. Though he might need to get the emergency keys from the hiding place underneath the stone in de plant pot next to the front door, as he doesn't have his own keys with him. Then he can start finding out what exactly happened. Maybe he can also get an explanation for the whole floating situation too, while he’s at it.

It’s currently daytime, probably early morning considering the position of the sun. There’s grass and a few trees around him. He also notices a path to the side and some peculiar, neatly arranged stones some having flowers by them and some not— Oh… those are gravestones.

He’s in a graveyard.

Why is he in a graveyard? How did he get in here? Aren’t the gates closed during the night? And aren't there any security guards or anything to keep people from just sneaking in during the night? How did he get in then? Did he sleep-break into a graveyard? He hopes not. Does it count as breaking and entering if he did it unconsciously, while he was asleep? Will it be put on his record? And if someone else put him here, will he get blamed for it anyway?

There doesn't seem to be any evidence that he didn't get in here himself. And if he can't remember anything and there are no witnesses, they probably wouldn't believe him if he said it was an accident. Oh no, will he get arrested? And if he is capable of breaking and entering a graveyard while sleeping, what more did he do while he was asleep? There’s so much he could’ve done without being consciously aware.

As far as he can remember there aren’t any graveyards close to where he lives. The closest one is about a 30-minute walk. Surely he couldn’t have actually gotten that far? He would’ve woken up by then. Or someone would have noticed him. 

Izuku shakes his head. No time for panicking. He just needs to try to get out of here as quickly as possible and get back home to his mom. Maybe someone will let him use their phone? That way he can quickly call his mom to let her know that he’s okay and maybe ask if she can come pick him up. 

Why did sleeping-Izuku decide to go to a graveyard of all places anyway? A hero merch store or a park would’ve been more likely. He could maybe even see himself sleepwalking to school. But no, he somehow ended up in a graveyard.

As he's considering his current options, Izuku takes a closer look at some of the gravestones around him. He notices that there’s one right behind him. He must’ve been laying on the grave while he was sleeping. Geez, that’s awkward. He hopes they didn’t mind him sleeping on their grave. He should probably leave some flowers or something. Perhaps as a 'I'm sorry I broke into this place to take a nap on your grave, I hope you're not too upset about it!'

He catches a glimpse of the text on the gravestone which makes him do a double take and immediately cuts off his train of thought.

…

What?

“Izuku, did you remember what we had to get at the store? I believe I might have left the shopping list at home…”

“I saw the list on the table and I grabbed it before leaving. Let me find where I put it.”

“Oh, thank you, sweetie!”

“It’s no problem!"

Izuku beams at his mom before rummaging through his pockets to find the shopping list. He likes going to the story with his mom and helping her shop. Though he's been coming along less the older he got, as he has more homework to deal with now. But he still tries to come along and help out as often as he can. He likes spending time with his mom, even if it's for something as simple as grocery shopping. 

"Ah, here it is. We need… uhmm… some eggs, milk, coffee, new toothpaste, and some tissues.”

“Alright. Could you get the milk, coffee, and eggs while I get the toothpaste and tissues?”

“Of course, mom. I’ll be right back.”

“Thanks, Izuku!”

Izuku quickly locates the needed items and brings them back to where his mom is with the cart. After gathering everything on the list they go to the checkout. After paying for the items, they leave the store together. Izuku insisted on carrying the grocery bag, taking it from his mom's hand. It was quite light, and she could have easily carried it herself. But his mom just lets him carry it anyway, handing the bag over with a smile.

“C’mon mom, they’re not that heavy. Don’t worry about it and just let me carry them.”

"If you're sure, sweetie…"

"Mhmm!!"

“Alright, you can carry them for me. But if you need any help carrying the bags…“

“If I need any help I’ll make sure to let you know mom”

She pats his head while a closed-eye smile before speaking up again.

“Oh, let's go to the park. We can get some ice cream on the way home.”

“Really?”

“Mhmm!”

“Yes! Thanks, mom!—”

Their conversation gets cut short as a hand coming from behind suddenly covers Izuku's mouth. He drops the grocery bags on the sidewalk in surprise. The eggs crack as they land on the pavement. Izuku's hands immediately fly toward the hand on his face, trying to get it off. It doesn't work. The person holding him keeps a firm grip on him as they drag him back into the alley he and his mom just walked past.

“Izuku!” 

Without a second thought, his mom takes off after them into the alley. The person dragging him starts moving quicker to the back of the alley. Likely to get as far away from the street and any possible witnesses as they can. In his struggle, Izuku manages to glance at the person holding him and take in their appearance.

It’s a woman with short silver hair. One of her hands is covering his mouth. The other hand is in a finger gun position against the back of his head. Izuku notices that the perp’s index fingers are mutated; they look like gun barrels. So she has a mutation quirk that makes her index fingers look like gun barrels and considering the way she's holding one of them against his head the quirk likely has an emitter aspect as well which lets her shoot from them.

“Stop struggling, kid!”

The woman grumbles at him. She stops dragging him once they get to they get far enough in the alley and switches her gaze from him to his mom. His mom had followed them into the alley. The perp adjusts her hold so that she’s holding him more securely. Lowering his chances of being able to escape her hold successfully. Before his mom can do anything, the woman speaks up.

“Not a sound and don’t come any closer or the kid gets it! I’m not afraid to shoot a child. Got it?!”

Izuku sees his mom shakily nodding. She seems to be doing her best to keep calm. Izuku, meanwhile, is terrified. His entire body is shaking and tears are flowing down his face. His mom doesn’t move from her position, standing stiffly in front of them. He catches his mom’s eyes. The look she gives him tells him to go along with what the perp says. He tries to nod but the grip the woman has on him makes him unable to do so.

“Good. Now, you two are gonna hand over all of your valuables. Money, phones, jewelry, everything, and do it quick!”

His mom carefully nods and she starts slowly combing through her bag. She lets a few items, like her bracelet and her purse, fall to the ground. She sticks her hand in her bag again, as if she’s going to grab something else. Suddenly, the woman holding him lurches forward. It’s as if she’s been grabbed by something. She’s being dragged towards his mom, hands pointing forward.

Ah. Izuku quickly understands what's happening. His mom is using her quirk, which allows her to pull small objects toward herself, to pull the perp’s hands toward her. Because the woman's hands are attached to her body, she gets dragged behind.

The perp lets out a startled yelp, having not expected this. A gunshot sounds through the alley. The sudden movement had startled the woman, making her quirk accidentally activate. A bullet shot out from her finger and into the air. Izuku, now free and still shaking and crying, starts carefully making his way over to his mom. The woman’s eyes narrow at them and she starts yelling. 

“YOU FUCKING BITCH! I told you not to move!”

She raises her hand and shoots a bullet toward them. It was aimed at him. Izuku is frozen in place, staring right at the bullet coming toward him. Before he knows it, his mom shoves him out of the way, falling on top of him. She lets out a scream as the bullet goes through her arm. Izuku unfreezes.

“MOM, NO!”

The perp clicks her tongue, annoyed. His mom is crying from the pain and breathing heavily. Izuku is full-on panicking at this point. He tries to think quickly and remembers that he needs to put pressure on the wound to stem the bleeding. He takes off his jacket and presses it onto the wound. He starts putting pressure on it and tries to take the emergency phone his mom got him out of his pocket to call 119. It slips out of his shaking hand.

“All of this could’ve been avoided if you two just played along nicely. But no, you just had to put up a fight.

“Well, looks like I have to clean up a bigger mess now. Thanks.”

Izuku raises his head to look at the woman, only to stare straight into the barrel of one of her finger guns.

His mom tries to move. 

A third gunshot sounds through the alley.

He falls down.

“IZUK—!”

A fourth gunshot sounds through the alley.

It’s the last thing he hears before his vision goes black.

In disbelief, he rereads the text on the gravestone. 

Here lies

Izuku Midoriya 

2303 - 2315

Kind and gentle of heart

Chapter Text

Izuku stares at the gravestone, trying to process what this means. That’s his name. On a gravestone. The two stones next to the one with his name on it catch his eye. 

Here lies

Hisashi Midoriya 

2275 - 2306

Devoted father and husband 

“Mommy, where is daddy?”

“Daddy is... in a better place”

“When will daddy come back?”

“Daddy won’t be coming back. He’s… staying at the better place now.”

“I miss daddy. Can I go to the better place too, mommy?”

“No, Izuku. You can’t go there. Eventually, we will be able to see daddy again, but it will hopefully be in many, many years.”

He looks at the last gravestone, feeling numb.

Here lies

Inko Midoriya 

2274 - 2315

Loving mother and wife

A gunshot sounds through the alley.

“YOU FUCKING BITCH! I told you not to move!”

A second gunshot sounds through the alley.

“MOM, NO!”

Izuku raises his head to look at the woman, only to stare straight into the barrel of one of her finger guns.

A third gunshot sounds through the alley.

He falls down.

“IZUK—!”

…

A fourth gunshot sounds through the alley.

“Hey, kid. Are you doing alright?”

Izuku startles at the sudden voice. He turns around to see a man stand— or, well, float upright— a few feet away from him. The man seems to be in his late 50s. He has grey hair and a walking cane with him. He's wearing a simple white button-up with black slacks and shoes. As he's inspecting the person in front of him, Izuku notices the man is also slightly see-through. The man lets out a low whistle at the sight of Izuku's face.

“That’s a nasty wound you got there”

Izuku frowns to himself. Wound? He doesn’t have any wounds, he's actually entirely unharmed. He doesn't feel any pain at all for ones, which is new for him. Usually, he at least feels some of the bruises he got the day before at school. But now? Nothing. Ignoring the voice in the back of his head that sounds like his mom saying 'Stranger danger!' he replies.

“What?”

The man vaguely gestures with his cane toward Izuku’s forehead. He seems to be very casual and nonchalant about meeting an, apparently wounded, kid at this time in a graveyard. 

“There, on your forehead. I take it you didn’t know of it yet?”

Izuku reaches up to his forehead. He touches something wet. Confused, he takes his hand back and looks at it. His fingers are covered in blood. He's not particularly squeamish and used to waking up wounded. So instead of being panicked he just frowns and moves to touch the wound again. He might be used to being wounded, but being unable to feel the wound is unusual, and slightly worrying.

“Ah, you must be a new one. Aren’t you?”

The question the man throws at him distracts him. He moves his arms back to his sides and looks back at the figure in front of him.

“A new one? A new what?”

“A new ghost, kid.”

The reply the man gives him sends Izuku for a loop. He's not quite whether he should cry or laugh. Or both. Both sounds good right about now. What kind of sick prank is this supposed to be? Kidnapping him from his bed, dressing him in different clothes, leaving him in a graveyard asleep on a fake tomb someone made for him? Making him believe he's dead? Trying to convince him his mom is dead too? 

“A ghost? Me? No. I— I am not a ghost, sir. Those— uh, those don't really exist, uh, Mr. sir.”

The man raises an eyebrow questioningly. He lets out a sigh and uses his cane to gesture toward the gravestone behind Izuku, the one with his name and birth year, and death year on it. Izuku just shakes his head, slightly frantically. He waves his arms around as he speaks.

“No, that’s— that’s just some stupid prank. That’s it. Someone must have— must have pranked me. It’s probably some of my classmates. They probably thought it’d be funny to— to see me freak out. And to— to make me think I’m dead! Yeah… 

“It’s not— I’m not dead. Not a ghost. So…” he trails off, slightly awkward.

He stopped moving his arms as he stopped speaking. The man waits until he was done. He gives Izuku a somber look.

“So the floating and being see-through thing is what, a quirk? And not feeling the head wound?”

He continues before Izuku can speak up.

“You wake up in a graveyard, but you don’t remember getting there. So they kidnapped you during the night, then? And brought you here? Oh, and the amount of work these gravestones must’ve cost… Pretty elaborate prank I must say.”

The man gives him a look. He's not trying to sound harsh, he just wants Izuku to fully grasp that this is not a dream or some stupid prank. It's always hard to get the newer ones to understand what's going on. Preventing them from having some kind of mental breakdown or existential crisis is unfortunately not always entirely unavoidable.

“Be honest with yourself, kid. Don’t you remember what happened?”

Izuku glances at the graves before looking back at the man.

“You already know, don’t you, kid?”

Izuku doesn’t answer the man. He looks down at the ground and clenches his fists. The tears that had slowly been gathering at the corners of his eyes are now flowing freely down his face. He doesn't make any move to wipe them away. Instead, he moves his arms so he's now hugging himself, keeping his gaze on the ground. He tries to keep in his sobs. He is unsuccessful. The man floats a bit closer. He’s now only a few feet away from Izuku. He has a sympathetic look on his face.

“Can I touch you?”

The man waits until Izuku nods. The man lets go of the cane in his hand. Instead of it falling to the ground, it disappears into thin air as if it were never there to begin with. The stranger slowly wraps his arms loosely around Izuku. He puts one of his hands on the back of his head and lets Izuku cry into his shoulder. He stays silent as he comforts Izuku.

After a few minutes, when most of Izuku's tears have dried, Izuku lifts his head from the man’s shoulder. He sniffs and quickly moves out of the man's hold, looking at him nervously. The man doesn't say anything but gives him a small, patient smile. Izuku moves his gaze to the ground.

“Sorry…”

“It’s alright, kid. No need to apologize.”

The man moves back a little, to give Izuku some space. The cane from before reappears in his hands out of nowhere. Izuku's gaze is locked onto it as it reappears, but he doesn't comment on it yet. Is it his quirk? Can he make items appear out of thin air? Is he summoning them from somewhere or creating them himself? Or can he perhaps access some kind of pocket dimension? Maybe it has to do with only specific items. The cane seems to be made out of wood. Maybe he can create and/or manipulate plants or wood?

Izuku doesn't reply for a while, trying to gather his thoughts into something coherent. The man lets him, not saying anything as he stares at Izuku. After a few minutes of silence, Izuku speaks up again.

“I’m dead…”

The man doesn’t reply. 

“I’m— I’m a ghost…”

Izuku looks at the stranger as if to ask for confirmation. The man nods. 

“You’re— you’re a ghost too?”

“I am.”

“Why?”

“Are you asking me why I'm a ghost, kid?”

Izuku quickly shakes his head. Oh, no, that's not what he meant! He tries to correct himself, waving his arms around in a slight panic.

“No— Well, yes— I mean, I know that you’re a ghost because you died. And I’m— I’m not asking you how you died. Because that would be very disrespectful and you don’t have to tell me. Like I’d listen if you told me but you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to— But that’s not what I uhh… what I was asking. I meant to ask why you’re still here. Why I’m still here. I mean. Why are we still around as ghosts?

"I didn't even know ghosts actually existed until, well, today. I thought there was like a place you went to after you died? I mean, it’s not like I often thought about what would happen if I died. But isn’t there some kind of heaven? Or— Or purgatory or something? Some other, ‘better’, place? Why are we here? And if everyone became a ghost after they died, then wouldn’t there be more people— more ghosts— here? It's a graveyard and we are currently the only ones here. 

“Oh, and what happened to your cane? It disappeared a bit ago, but it’s back now. Is it a ghost thing? Is it your quirk? Can you create or summon items? Or is it from a pocket dimension? Wood or plant manipulation? Can ghosts still use their quirks? Oh, and if you don’t know the answers, that’s fine too! I’m not assuming that you know everything or that you can answer all of my questions. But if you do know, could you explain, please? 

“Oh, and—… Oh, wait, no. I’m so sorry. I’ve been rambling this entire time. Oh no. I’m sorry. I’ll shut up now.”

Izuku lets about a squeak at the end. He had been rambling the entire time. His face turns red from embarrassment. He uses one hand to cover his mouth to stop himself from saying anything else and tries to cover his face with his other arm.

The man, who has been staring at Izuku with a surprised expression while he was rambling, lets out a small laugh.

“It’s fine, kid! Don’t worry about it. It’s been a while since I’ve had someone to talk to. I don’t mind listening. Now to answer some of your questions… And forgive an old man if I can't remember them all. My cane disappearing is a ‘ghost thing’, as you called it.”

Izuku, still largely embarrassed, rubs the back of his head sheepishly. The man continues talking.

“When someone becomes a ghost, they will look like how they did when they died. The same clothes, wounds, and all. However, we’re not stuck like that. With some focus, ghosts can alter their appearance. Though we can’t do much more than changing outfits, making minor objects appear, or hiding injuries. 

“Personally, I use it to always have my trusty cane with me. I didn’t have it on me when I died, but I needed it. As soon as I found out I could get it back, I tried to manifest as fast as possible. It reminds me of my wife… She made it for me, after all…”

Izuku nods along, mentally making notes because of the lack of notebooks on him. He makes an effort not to mumble, so he doesn’t interrupt or bother the man.

“As for the question about ghosts being able to use their quirks. The answer, as far as we know, is no. At least, not in a way that matters. People with mutant-type quirks still look like they did when they died. People with transformation-type quirks can usually still transform. But it could be them altering their appearance like any other ghost can do, and not noticing the difference. Emitter-type quirks work sometimes. But it all depends on the quirk. Those that affect the world of the living, can’t do much.

“As for your other question…”

The man pauses, contemplating his answer.

“There is indeed another place. At least we think it’s a place. We don’t know for sure, of course. But most people go to this ‘place’ after they die. Some, however, stay behind. Like you and me. We can’t go to this other place, yet. You see, kid, we’re stuck here because we’ve still got something we have to do. We have ‘unfinished business' in the world. And so, we cannot rest until we’ve finished this business. Then, we can move on.

“There’s not many people who have unfinished business. A lot of those who do, often resolve theirs in a few days and move on. That’s why you don’t see many ghosts. Even in a place like this.”

The man looks around the graveyard as he finishes talking. Izuku frowns slightly, thinking about what the man is telling him.

“So… I’m here because I have unfinished business left to do? But how do I know what it is? How do I finish it?”

The man raises his eyebrows in surprise.

“You mean you don’t know?”

“Uhmm, no? I don’t think so? What do you…”

“Usually, ghosts already know what unfinished business they’ve got. Even if it takes them a while to remember after they find out they’re dead. You really don’t know?”

Izuku shakes his head slowly, slightly confused. He wracks his brain for the answer but comes up blank.

“Hmmm. That’s peculiar…”

Neither speaks for a few moments, both getting lost in their own thoughts. Izuku's gaze lands on the headstones again and he has an epiphany. His head snaps toward the man quickly.

“Do you… Do you maybe know if…”

The man inclines his head as if to say ‘go on'.

“My mom… Have you seen her around? Do you know if— if she’s come back? If she’s still here?”

The man lets out a hum.

“What does she look like?”

“She has long green hair and green eyes. She doesn’t have the same freckles as me. She’s a bit taller than I am.”

The man thinks the description over.

“I don’t think I’ve seen her around. But she could have become a ghost and left the graveyard when I wasn’t here. Or, she could have materialized somewhere else like her home. Or at another place that’s important to her. Or, perhaps, somewhere that has something to do with her unfinished business. It’s a possibility…” 

“So there’s a chance she’s still here?”

“Well, yes. But ghosts don’t form often, and most that do, finish their business quickly. So it’s unli— Kid, wait!”

The man reaches out a hand to him, but Izuku is already gone.

Chapter Text

Izuku is zooming through the air at a rapid speed. He’s too distracted to notice that making running motions with his legs isn’t helping him move faster. He's just not quite used to the whole floating thing yet. 

When Izuku remembered that his mom died too he was filled with both sadness and hope. While he'd rather forget that both he and his mom died, it also means that he's not entirely alone. His mom is still out there. She has to be. If he came back as a ghost, then surely his mom would be there too! She just showed up somewhere else. No big deal. He'll just have to find her.

The first place that pops into Izuku's head where his mom might be is home. So that’s where he’s currently headed. The graveyard he woke up in was indeed the graveyard that was 30 minutes away from his house. It’s the one he and his mom always go to, to visit his dad. Izuku isn't quite sure whether he misses his dad or not. That might sound bad, but he doesn't really remember him much. After all, he died when Izuku was only 3 years old, due to a car accident.

Izuku doesn’t know how long he’s been running— or flying— for. But he doesn’t slow down after entering the familiar street that the apartment complex is on. If anything, being able to visually see his home makes him more determined to get there as quickly as possible.

Because he was still not paying attention to the fact that he was floating a few inches above the ground, and could potentially just fly up to the correct apartment, Izuku rushes up the stairs. Once he's on the correct floor he tries to grab the emergency spare key from underneath the rock in the plant pot. But once he reaches forward to lift the rock, his hand goes right through it. Not expecting this, Izuku leans too far forward and loses his balance.

He lets out a startled yelp as he starts somersaulting through the air again. Izuku reflexively covers his head with his arms to protect it from hitting the door. Instead of hitting it though, Izuku barrel rolls right through the door and into the apartment. Having noticed the lack of impact, Izuku uncovers his head and looks around. He tried to find his balance again and manages to right himself. Once he’s sure that he’s stable, he takes a look at his surroundings.

The first thing he notes, as he’s looking around the apartment, is that it’s empty. Emptier than it's supposed to be. Some of their old furniture is still there, and he recognizes a fake plant that's on the windowsill, but apart from that all of their other stuff seems to be gone.

The medical books his mom likes to read aren’t neatly arranged on the bookshelf or stacked on the coffee table anymore. Their kitchen appliances, like the coffee maker and rice cooker, are gone. The fridge looks barren without his old drawings of heroes on it. Even the picture frames that hung on the walls are gone, leaving the walls empty.

Izuku looks up, where he sees something familiar. On the ceiling in the kitchen, directly above the dinner table, there are a few scorch marks. They are left over from an accident with his dad’s quirk. Izuku can still remember the incident, despite being only 3 at the time. It is one of the few memories he has left of him.

“Happy birthday, dear daddy~ Happy birthday to youuu~!”

Izuku giggles as he and his mommy finish singing the birthday song to daddy. It was his daddy's birthday today! He and mommy spent all day in the kitchen making the perfect birthday cake! Mommy even allowed him to decorate the cake all by himself. Izuku lets out a small gasp, he can't believe he almost forgot one of the most important things about birthdays. 

“The wish, daddy! Make the wish!”

Izuku looks at the poorly decorated cake with the burning candles on it in anticipation. The cake had a badly drawn All Might face on top. In the place of the eyes were 2 candles in the shapes of numbers. Daddy smiles at him before making an exaggerated thinking face. Clearly, he was making the important decision of what his birthday wish was going to be.

“Alright, alright. I wish…”

“No! Daddy, you have to blow out the candles first! Else it won’t count!”

Izuku pouts at him. His daddy lets out a chuckle and ruffles his hair.

“Ah, thank you for reminding me, Izuku.”

Izuku beams at him. His daddy makes a big show out of taking a very deep breath before leaning in. He blows out the candles, only to have the cake burst into flames when he accidentally activated his quirk. S ome panicking and the use of one of their emergency fire extinguishers later and there is now a burnt cake covered in foam sitting on the table in from of them. The ceiling had gained some scorch marks after the incident too from the big flames. His mommy was never able to get them out.

Izuku shakes himself out of the memory. That's not what he's here for. He has to find his mom. He hasn't seen her yet, but she could be in one of the other rooms. He moves slowly through the apartment, taking everything in. A sinking feeling enters his chest.

“Mom? … I’m home…” he calls out hesitantly.

He waits for an answer. Any kind of reply or noise to indicate that someone is there. That his mom is there. Only silence greets him. Izuku clenches his fists as tears gather in the corners of his eyes. He looks down at the ground for a few seconds. Maybe she’s there but she hasn’t heard him. Or maybe she’s just not home, but somewhere else instead. Izuku knows she’s not gone. She can’t be gone yet. He takes a deep breath and tells himself that now is not the time to cry. He has to be strong.

Once a little calmer, he keeps on moving. First, he enters his own room. He doesn’t bother trying to open the door, remembering the incident with the front door earlier. Instead, he goes right through it without much thought. As he takes in his room he stays completely still. He knew what to expect but to see it in person… It’s gone. All his stuff: his hero merch, his toys and action figures, his clothes, his notebooks… He stares at the wall, imagining the All Might face that used to be there.

It’s strange, he supposes, seeing his room so empty. He almost doesn’t recognize it anymore. After a few seconds, he swallows and takes a deep breath. His mom isn't here. That's what he came here for. He silently moves on. He leaves his room and enters the next room: his mom’s.

This one’s also emptier than he’s used to. The bed is still there, but his mom’s stuff is missing. The vase with pink carnations on her bedside table is gone. Her clothes are gone. The Mother’s Day macaroni heart he had made when he was 6 and that had hung on the wall of her room ever since was gone.

Seeing as his mom was not in here either, he leaves the room quickly. He has seen enough. Seeing everything so empty, devoid of life, devoid of everything that once made him call this place home… It hurts.

Izuku leaves the apartment, once again going straight through the door. It’s clear that his mom isn’t here. That’s fine. There are more places she could be. With that thought in mind, Izuku starts making his way to the local hospital in search of his mom. It’s the place she works at… or, used to work at… The hospital isn’t too far from the apartment, luckily, only about a 15-minute walk. This time he doesn’t quite ‘run’. He’s still making his way there quickly, just not as quickly as before.

Seeing what used to be his home be so different, so wrong… It lowered his spirits somewhat. Pun unintended.

He reaches the hospital after a little while. He approaches the automatic doors. He quickly stops after realizing they’re not opening. He pauses before reaching out with his hand to touch the glass. His hand goes through. Ah. It’s still going to take a while for him to get used to that, but he supposes he's making progress. Izuku goes through the doors and looks around. There aren’t many people around. Izuku sees the receptionist at the reception desk and a few nurses walking about.

He starts his search. Izuku starts on the first floor and works his way up. He makes sure to check every room and hallway, though he doesn’t do much more than poke his head in and scan the rooms for anyone who looks like his mom. He doesn't want to accidentally invade anyone's privacy but he has to find her. He doesn't want to be alone. He wants his mom back.

Izuku makes sure that he has checked every single room on all 5 floors. Occasionally, he tried to call out for his mom. He hasn’t seen or heard any sign of her yet. He doesn’t give up hope though. When he was wandering, he had noticed a few… peculiar people hanging around. They were mainly minding their own business and were ignored by the doctors, nurses, and patients around them. They were also translucent. Izuku was about 90% certain they were ghosts.

There weren't many around. Only about 3 in the entire building as far as he had seen. It surprises him, considering this is a hospital. But then he thinks back to what the old man— he really should’ve asked for his name— had told him.

“There’s not many people who have unfinished business. A lot of those who do, often resolve theirs in a few days and move on. T hat’s why you don’t see many ghosts. Even in a place like this."

So, ghosts don’t form often, and if they do then they’re gone quickly. That greatly reduces the chances of him finding his mom. But he's sure she's still out there. She wouldn't just leave without him. She would never leave him all on his own.

Izuku tries to work up the courage to go over to one of the ghosts and ask whether they had seen or heard anything about his mom. It might be stranger danger but he's not sure how much they could actually do to him considering he's already dead… He hesitates before approaching one of them.

“Uhmm, excuse me? Miss?”

The ghost he addresses takes a moment to realize he's addressing her and she snaps her head toward him in surprise. The ghost he approached had long bright blue hair. She was wearing a black tank top with a chibi cat on it and black ripped jeans with combat boots to top it all off.

“Huh? What?”

She notices Izuku and blinks a few times in surprise. She looks him up and down.

“Uhhh... Hi!”

Izuku gives her a small nervous wave. He hunches his shoulders a bit and looks at the floor. He tries to calm his nerves but doesn't quite manage to stop some nervous fidgeting. He takes a deep breath and looks back up at the lady, who is still giving him a bewildered look.

“I was uhhh… I was just wondering if you had maybe seen my mom anywhere?”

“Your mom, kid?”

Izuku gives her a nod.

“Yeah, I’ve— I’ve been looking for her and uhhh I was wondering if you’ve seen her around anywhere? You see, she used to work here before she uhhh… before she died and I’m trying to find her. She has green hair and eyes, like me. She’s a little taller than I am. Her name is Midoriya Inko. Have you— Do you know if she— if she’s around here somewhere?”

Izuku fidgets some more as he stares at the woman, waiting for a reply. The woman is silent for a bit, clearly thinking, before speaking up.

“I think I know who you’re talking about, pipsqueak. Though I haven’t seen her in a few weeks and back then she was still uhhh… you know…”

The woman gives him an awkward smile at the end.

“Sorry, kid…”

Izuku lowers his gaze back to the floor and wraps his arms around himself. Tears gather at the corners of his eyes again. He doesn't let them fall. There's an undeniable waver in his voice as he replies.

“It’s— it’s okay. That just means that she’s— she’s somewhere else. Alright, err. Thank you, and I’m sorry for bothering you and wasting your time…”

Izuku turns around and starts making his way out of the hospital.

“Hey, kid. Wait!”

He pauses and turns around to look back at the woman.

“Good luck with finding your mom, pipsqueak! And maybe try doing something about hiding that wound of yours. The living might not be able to see you, but a pipsqueak like you waking around with a headshot is still a bit off-putting to most ghosts”

Izuku nods at her with a small smile that doesn’t quite reach his eyes before turning back around. He leaves the hospital, his next destination already in mind: Their favorite park. The one his mom always takes him to, and where they usually go to get some ice cream… The one she used to take him to…

Chapter Text

On his way to the park, Izuku takes the woman’s advice into consideration. Perhaps he should do something about his injury. The old man had said he could disguise it with some focus, right? Izuku hadn’t really looked into any mirrors or other reflective surfaces yet. He’s not sure what his injury looks like, but he can’t imagine a headshot looking very pretty. He probably wouldn’t want to see it either.

So, while he’s making his way to the park, Izuku starts to focus. He after thinking about it for a moment, he tries to change his outfit as well. That way he can see if it works without having to look into a mirror and potentially still see the wound if it hadn't worked. It's not foolproof, but it might work.

Izuku closes his eyes. In his mind, he tries to imagine himself, without any injuries and wearing a new outfit. He can see his hair, his eyes, his freckles… He doesn't have any injuries, he has some old scars, but other than that he's in perfect health. He sees himself wearing a white T-shirt with ‘crop top’ on the front, a pair of black shorts, and his favorite red high tops.

In no time at all, he feels a shiver run down his spine. He opens his eyes and looks down at himself. His eyes land on his clothes. It worked. Izuku smiles to himself and lets out an excited squeak. So cool! Is this what it's like to have a quirk? He shakes his head before looking back to where he’s going. He makes his way over to the park as fast as he can. It still takes him at least an hour.

Izuku enters the park and starts searching for his mom. He occasionally calls out for her as he looks around. He doesn't spot his mom's green hair, the same shade as his own, and he never gets a response. After wandering through the park for a little bit, Izuku's eyes land on a specific bench. It makes him recall an old memory.

Izuku was running as hard as he could. He needs to shake them off. He needs to hide. Quickly. He spots a bush positioned behind a bench with someone sitting on it, they're probably waiting on someone. Without paying too much attention to the person on the bench Izuku rushes into the bush. He sits there trying to catch his breath when a voice calls out to him.

“Eh? What the fuck are you doing, you damn nerd?!”

Izuku startles at the sound of the familiar voice and looks up at the direction the voice came from. Sitting on the bench next to the bush is— 

“Kacchan?”

“What the fuck are you doing? Why are you hiding in a fucking bush?”

“Please don’t let them know I’m here, Kacchan! Please, don’t tell them you saw me—”

“Calm down! What’re you fucking talki—”

“Hey, Bakugou!”

Kacchan gets interrupted by some of their classmates walking their way.

“Have you seen Deku anywhere? The loser deserves to be taught a lesson,” the bully illustrates his point by punching his hand into his palm, “We saw him run into the park, but we lost him.”

Kacchan narrows his eyes at them. Izuku doesn’t move or make a sound. After a beat of silence, Kacchan speaks up with a scoff.

“Yeah, I’ve seen him.”

Izuku’s heart skips a beat.

“He ran that way. Probably went home to go cry to his mommy”

Kacchan rolls his eyes, pointing in a random direction. The bullies snicker and laugh. They thank him before running off in the direction Kacchan pointed to. After a few seconds, he speaks up again.

“You can come out now, nerd. They’re gone.”

Slowly, Izuku comes out of the bush. He stands up and runs a hand through his hair to get rid of the sticks and leaves that have gotten stuck in there. He then beams up at Kacchan.

“Thank you, Kacchan!”

Izuku goes forward to try and hug him. Kacchan holds him at arm's length as he answers.

“No need to fucking thank me. Just don’t mention it. Ever.”

Izuku nods happily. He has stopped trying to hug him. Kacchan pauses and ruffles Izuku’s hair before quickly pulling his hand back with a scoff.

“There you are, brat! C'mon, your dad’s waiting for us at the car”

Auntie Mitsuki approaches the both of them. She smiles when she spots Izuku.

“Hey, Squirt! Nice to see you again! Has the brat been behaving?”

“Fuck off, old hag!”

She ignores Kacchan, her gaze focused on Izuku who gives her a bright smile in response and nods.

“That’s good! Say hi to your mom for me, will ya? Now, c’mon brat let’s go!”

Auntie Mitsuki waves goodbye to Izuku as she leaves while dragging a scowling and complaining Kacchan along. Kacchan and Izuku make eye contact. Izuku gives him another grateful smile. Kacchan looks away with a frown on his face.

Izuku smiles at the memory. Kacchan never really joined in with his classmates with the bullying, but he didn’t really do anything about it either. They had drifted apart after finding out Izuku’s quirk might never come in. But Izuku still considers Kacchain his closest, his best, friend. Izuku still remembers that horrid visit to the doctor vividly.

“He’s as good as quirkless.”

“‘As good as quirkless’? What does that mean?”

They were sitting in the doctor’s office. Izuku is sitting next to his mom. She’s holding his tiny hand in her own. The doctor looks up from his clipboard, a neutral expression on his face. 

“Well as you can here,” the doctor shows them an x-ray of a foot, “Your son doesn’t have the extra pinky toe joint that quirkless people have. This means that he has a quirk. We also checked his blood and he certainly has the quirk factor needed for a quirk. However, since nothing has shown yet, his quirk is most likely hidden, or it requires a very specific activation. Or perhaps it’s simply weak.”

“So, he does have a quirk?”

“Yes. But it might not show up for years, if ever. He’s as good as quirkless.”

The mother and son duo leave the office in silence, still holding onto one another’s hand.

Izuku shakes himself out of the memory. He had gotten his hopes up, thinking that he might have finally awakened his quirk when he woke up as a ghost. But of course, it was too good to be true. Not really finding anything indicating his mom is around, Izuku makes his way toward the end of the park.

“Moooooom? Are you there?”

Still no response. He lets his eyes wander until they land on the ice cream stand he usually goes to with his mom.

“Oh, let's go to the park. We can get some ice cream on the way home.”

Izuku pulls his eyes away from the stand quickly. He doesn’t want to be reminded of that. He quickly dries some of the tears that started streaming down his face again. He sighs. He's such a crybaby. He leaves the park. Lost in thought, Izuku doesn’t really notice where he is headed. He snaps out of it once he hears a familiar bell ring. He looks up at the source. It’s his school.

Another spider lily in a vase adorns his desk. Snickers sound around him as he stares at it. He gently picks the flower up and puts it in his backpack, he always makes sure not to crush the flowers. He puts the vase onto the floor next to his desk. Izuku sits down and starts rummaging through his bag for his school supplies. A crumpled piece of paper hits his head. He ignores it.

More pieces of paper get thrown at him as the snickering around him gets louder. Izuku doesn’t react to any of it. He idly notices that Bakugou is staying quiet. He’s not doing anything, just sitting there scowling at their classmates. The teacher enters the room, and the snickering and chatter die down immediately. Izuku puts his school supplies on his desk. The teacher speaks up.

“Midoriya! Your desk is a mess! I expect you to keep it neat and clean. You’re staying after school to clean it up!”

Izuku nods, keeping his head down.

Students are starting to leave the building, indicating it’s now somewhere around 3:15 pm. Izuku had spent a lot of time that day searching for his mom. She’s still nowhere to be found. Izuku gazes at the students. His eyes land on some of his classmates and he flinches subconsciously.

The bell rings. Izuku starts packing his bag. Hands slam down on his desk. He looks up startled. 3 of his classmates were surrounding him. Takano, Mino and Tanabe. His main bullies. All the other students had already left the classroom, not even bothering to spare a glance his way.

“Hey, Deku. What’s this, huh?”

Tanabe snatches one of his notebooks off his desk. Izuku swiftly moves forward, reaching for it.

“H-Hey! That’s mine! Give it back... please...”

They ignore him.

“Hero analysis for the future Nr. 9, huh? Ha! As if a useless Deku like you could actually become a hero!”

They laugh at him. Izuku lowers his gaze to the floor and closes his eyes, trying to stop tears from falling.

“Please just… Could you just give it back, please?”

“No. I don’t think I will. It’s not like you’ll need it. You’ll never be a hero without a quirk. You’re so pathetic, Deku!”

“Hey, Tanabe. Hand it over” Mino calls out with a grin.

Tanabe tosses the notebook over to Mino, who catches it. He starts looking through it, noticing it’s almost entirely full. He lets out a low whistle and looks at Izuku with a mean grin on his face.

“Wow, you must’ve put a lot of work into this, huh? It would be such a shame… if it all went to waste…”

He closes the notebook and holds it in his right hand. He moves his left hand close to the notebook. Izuku’s eyes widen as he realizes what he’s going to do.  Norio Mino. Quirk: Fire flick. When he flicks his fingers, small flames spout from his fingertips. The flames can't get much bigger than a coin. Mino clicks his tongue.

“Then again, it’s not like you need it.”

Before Izuku can react, Mino flicks his fingers. Small flames fly from his fingertips onto the notebook, burning it. Izuku yelps and moves forward, reaching for the notebook again. The bullies laugh at him. Mino holds the notebook high above his head where Izuku can’t reach it. He holds it there for a few seconds, letting the notebook burn, before throwing it out of the open window behind Izuku.

“You need to give up on that dumb hero dream of yours, Deku! Or, better yet, if you really want to be a hero so badly perhaps you should take a swan dive off the roof and pray for a quirk in your next life!”

The bullies laugh at him again. Takano roughly shoves him onto the floor before they all walk out of the classroom, still snickering. Izuku stays behind on the floor, trembling, as tears leak out of his eyes.

Izuku is shaking as he stares at them. He quickly analyses his surroundings, looking for a place to hide, when he realizes they're not approaching him. Strangely enough, they don’t even notice him. One of them glances his way, but he doesn’t look at Izuku. It's almost like he’s looking through him— oh. They can’t see him. He’s a ghost. Right.

Izuku forces his hands to stop shaking and he takes a deep breath. Though he realizes he probably doesn’t really need to breathe anymore, it helps a bit with calming himself down. Once he’s sure he’s somewhat okay, Izuku looks back up. He's relieved to see that they’re gone. The place they were standing at is now occupied by someone else.

Kacchan!

Chapter Text

Kacchan!

Izuku starts making his way over to him. Kacchan seems to be checking something on his phone before walking away. Even though he knows Kacchan won’t be able to hear him, he still calls out after him.

“Kacchan, wait!”

Izuku tries to physically get his attention by grabbing his shoulder, but his hand moves right through him. Kacchan doesn’t do much more than briefly glance over his shoulder. Izuku lets out a frustrated groan. Isn’t there any way he can get Kacchan to notice him? Unfortunately, he’s dead. And now living people can’t see him, touch him, or even hear him. This sucks.

Dejected, Izuku decides to just keep following Kacchan. He wants to know what he missed between when he died, and the moment he became a ghost. How much time was there between those two moments? Izuku doesn’t have a calendar or a phone where he can check. Was it a few days ago that he died? Or was it a few weeks? Or months? What if he’s been gone for years?!

Ughh, he should have asked the old man from the graveyard how long it takes for ghosts to form when he had the chance. Instead, Izuku left without warning and without even thanking him. Stupid, stupid, stupid! Alright. Izuku has decided that he’ll go back and look for the old man again after he has found his mom. Then he can thank him and maybe asks him some more questions, if he won’t mind that is.

Izuku lets out a yelp and slaps a hand over his mouth when he realizes he's been muttering this entire time. He flushes slightly in embarrassment and covers his face with his hands for a bit. Looking around to see who heard, he doesn’t see anyone looking at him. He turns to Kacchan, who is… also just ignoring him. After a few moments, he facepalms.

No one can hear him. He’s a ghost. This is going to take longer to get used to than he thought. If he doesn’t move on before then… What’s he supposed to do then? If he doesn’t move on? He still doesn’t know anything about his unfinished business. The old man had said that he was supposed to already know his unfinished business when he first ‘woke up’ as a ghost. But he didn’t wake up knowing why he’s still here. And he still doesn’t know yet…

Izuku just shakes his head. Right now, his only objective is finding his mom. What comes after is something for future Izuku to deal with, he decides, determined to find his mom first thing. He continues to follow Kacchan, head held low. After a while, they arrive at the Bakugou residence. Kacchan fishes the front door key out of his pocket and enters his home. Izuku follows him inside through the open door, flinching as it closes right through him.

Izuku takes a look around. Everything seems the same as the last time he was here, which was a few months ago when he delivered some home-baked cookies with his mom, except… Izuku recognizes one of the pictures in the living room. It’s a picture of him and his mom together with the Bakugou’s. He floats over to it to take a better look at it.

In the picture, they’re all sitting together in the park on a picnic blanket. Auntie Mitsuki is seen teasing Kacchan. Mommy is looking at him and Kacchan with a soft smile on her face. Uncle Masaru is holding the camera selfie-style and smiling at it. Meanwhile, Kacchan is yelling at his mom with an angry expression on his face as he offers his ice cream to Izuku. Izuku’s ice cream lays on the ground next to him. Izuku has some tears in the corners of his eyes, but he is beaming at Kacchan.

Izuku remembers it all quite clearly. That day they were having a nice picnic in the park together. They had just gotten some ice cream when Izuku accidentally dropped his ice cream cone. He had gotten distracted by a cool quirk he saw. It was someone who could control their hair to do stuff like holding things!

Izuku started crying when he saw his treat laying on the ground. Kacchan took one look at him, scoffed, and then angrily offered him his ice cream. ‘So that he would finally stop bawling like a fucking baby’. Kacchan’s words, not his.

The picture used to hang on the wall in his and his mom's apartment. It seems like the Bakugou’s had gotten some of their stuff after he and his mom died. Which is understandable, to be honest. His mom and auntie Mitsuki had been best friends for years after all. And Izuku and his mom didn't really have any relatives left… 

“I’m home!”

Izuku snaps out of it when Kacchan yells through the house. The house stays silent after his yell. No one seemed to be home to respond. Auntie Mitsuki and Uncle Masaru must still be at work. Kacchan clicks his tongue at the lack of answer before walking off to his room. Izuku follows him after one more glance around the living room. Kacchan enters his room, Izuku following closely behind. Kacchan drops his backpack on the ground. He uses his phone to put on some music and starts working on some of his homework.

Izuku gazes around the familiar room. The room is very neat. There are some posters of some bands and a few heroes on the walls. There’s an All Might clock hanging above the door. There’s an orange beanbag in one of the corners of the room. Next to it, there’s a stack of CDs. Above the desk, which has a computer on it and some school supplies, there’s a bookshelf. There are some books on there, as well as some hero action figures. All Might ones are the most common, but Izuku also spots some others like an Endeavor one and a Best Jeanist one.

Izuku furrows his eyebrows a little as he takes in all the hero merch around the room. Kacchan used to have less merch than this. Are those…? Izuku takes a closer look at some of the action figures and posters. Huh. It seems like Kacchan had gotten some of his old hero merch. Izuku smiles. He’s happy that if anyone were to get his hero merch, it had been Kacchan.

Izuku’s smile falters a little as his eyes land on the All Might figurines again. It reminds him of when he met the hero briefly and asked him something important. Izuku doesn’t hate the man. He really doesn’t. He should. He knows he should, after what the number one hero had told him. After his lifelong dreams had been crushed by his favorite hero with just a few words.

But Izuku doesn’t hate him. He can’t hate him, really. Izuku can’t help but still admire the hero. He admires him for the work he does… for the lives he saves… He gets it. He does. The hero had just been honest with him. He had told him something he already knew in the back of his mind. Something he’d been ignoring.

Izuku had just desperately hoped he’d been wrong, that he still had a chance… But All Might was right. He told Izuku the honest, harsh truth. And Izuku can’t fault the hero for that.

“Can I be a hero? Even if my quirk never shows up, or if it’s a weak or useless one? Can I still be a hero, just like you?”

The desperation in his voice is clear as Izuku asks the number one hero of Japan his questions. He just got attacked by a villain on his way home from school when All Might saved him. All might! The number one hero! Saved him! Him! Izuku almost couldn’t believe it. Part of him still thinks it’s a dream, even with All Might standing before him. 

All Might had been about to jump away and deliver the villain to the police when Izuku managed to stop him from jumping away and asked the hero his questions. All Might’s smile tightens once Izuku stops speaking, it almost seems forced. Fake. The silence between them is tense.

“My boy, I’m sorry. But no. I do not think you can be a hero without a quirk. Being a hero is dangerous work. It’s nice to have dreams, but you have to be more realistic. You’d be better off being a firefighter or a policeman.”

All Might jumps off, leaving a frozen Izuku behind.

He averts his gaze. Izuku continues mindlessly inspecting the room. In another corner of the room is a box filled with paper or books of some kind. He floats towards the box and starts looking at the contents. The box is filled with notebooks. He looks at the one laying on top. The title reads: ‘Hero analysis for the future Nr. 9’ His smile reappears on his face. He’s happy his notebooks hadn’t gone to waste. He had put a lot of work into those!

Izuku tries to pick one up. His hand goes right through the box and notebooks. Izuku pouts before backing off. He goes back to looking around the room. Izuku spots a picture frame on the desk. He floats closer to it and inspects the picture in the frame.

It’s a picture of him and Kacchan. They were wearing matching All Might onesies together. Kacchan had one arm around his shoulder and an All Might action figure in his other hand. They were both beaming at the camera. Izuku had no idea Kacchan still had this picture.

He hears the front door opening.

“Brat! I’m home!” Mitsuki yells through the house.

Izuku leaves Kacchan’s room to go see Auntie Mitsuki. He turns the corner and floats towards the front door. He spots Auntie Mitsuki closing the front door and making her way toward the kitchen while carrying a grocery bag. His eyes fall onto the figure trailing behind Auntie Mitsuki and they lock eyes.

“Izuku…?”

“Mom!”

Chapter Text

“Izuku…?”

“Mom!”

They meet in the middle. As soon as the other is within arm’s reach the mother and son duo embrace each other. Happy tears are already streaming down their faces. They don’t pay the tears any mind.

“Mom…” Izuku sniffs.

He presses his face into her shoulder.

“Oh, Izuku. Honey… I was so worried about you”

His mom strokes his head. Their forms change without their notice. Izuku is wearing the clothes he died in again. His head wound is now visible too. Inko’s clothes don’t really change but where before, she looked entirely unharmed, she now has a bleeding bullet wound on her arm and there’s another bullet wound right in the middle of her chest.

“Mom, I— I looked everywhere for you! When I woke up in the graveyard and you weren’t there— and I didn’t know what to do. And then there was this old guy— and I know you always tell me not to talk to strangers, but I swear that everything went fine! And he was really nice, and he actually helped me and told me stuff about ghosts!— But then I knew that I had to find you— but I didn’t know where to look. So, I went home first, but you weren’t there, and everything looked different. It was all very empty—  I didn’t like it… so then I left.

“I tried to look for you at your work at the hospital and then at the park, but I couldn’t find you there either. I— I almost started to doubt if you even stayed as a ghost… But I couldn’t give up! I knew you were out here somewhere, probably looking for me too. So, then I ended up at school, where I saw Kacchan again! I followed him and— I’m so glad I did because now I found you again!”

His mom stayed silent during his rambling, she just looked down at him and smiled.

“I’m glad I found you too, honey. When I first woke up in the graveyard and you weren’t there, I panicked for a moment. But I knew you’d come back too. You just took a little longer than I did. I left the graveyard then. I decided to start on what I knew I came back for as a ghost. I had to see the people I love one last time and tell them how much I love them. It's been 3 days since I first woke up.”

Neither of them has left the embrace yet, and they have no intention to do so either.

“I love you, Izuku, baby. I wasn’t able to tell you how much I love and care for you right before I died… But I need you to know that I love you, and I will never stop loving you.” She smiles at him, tears still in her eyes.

“I love you too, mom. Always.”

She moves back a bit to take a good look at his face. When she sees the wound on his forehead, her spirits lower somewhat.

“Oh, Izuku…”

Seeing her baby with that awful wound on his head— seeing her baby here in front of her as a ghost. Dead. It breaks her heart. He was only 11. He was too young for what happened to him. Too young to have died… Mournfully, she gives him a kiss on his forehead, right on the bullet wound.

“Mom, your arm! And you—!”

Izuku’s eyes are locked onto his mom’s wounds, horror clear on his face. Some non-happy tears form in the corners of his eyes. Inko pulls him back into her arms and against her chest to comfort her child.

“Shhh. It’s alright, honey. I’m right here. I’m alright.”

They sit there in each other’s arms, clutching each other as if the moment one of them lets go they disappear and reveal that they were never really there in the first place. That’s when Izuku notices something.

“Mom?...”

The solidity of her form starts lessening, causing Izuku to almost fall over right through her. She’s more see-through as well. Inko looks down at her hands before looking back at Izuku.

“I... think it’s time...” she says, a small smile on her face.

“You mean our business is finished?”

Izuku still wasn't quite sure what his unfinished business was. But he was sure it had to do something with his mom. And since she's moving on, that means it's also time for him, right? His mom gives him a nod. They sit in silence for a short moment. Izuku looks down at his own hands. His brows furrow, then panic starts to form on his face.

“Mom, I think something’s wrong.”

“Hmm? What's wrong, honey?”

“Nothing is happening to me. I’m not disappearing.”

She takes a good look at him. Izuku looks just the same as before. He’s not any more see-through or any less solid. A look of understanding dawns on her face.

“Oh, honey…” She smiles sadly at him.

“Mom?! Why am I— I’m done here, right?! I— I found you again and— and I got to see and hug you again. Then why— why…”

Izuku continues sobbing. No. He can't stay. Not without his mom. She can't leave him.

“Izuku, honey, it’s… it’s alright…”

She tries to comfort him a little. Her hands go right through him again. She puts her hands on his cheeks anyway. The tears streaming down his face like tiny waterfalls aren’t happy tears. Meanwhile, Inko has become more see-through. She’s barely visible anymore. It's hard to focus on looking at her and not through her.

“Mom, no! Don’t go, please!”

“It’s okay, Izu”

His mom takes a pin off her shirt. It’s her favorite pin, one she always wears. It’s a pin of a pink carnation, her favorite flower. She drops it in Izuku’s hands. The pin doesn’t fall through his hands, like he expects it to. Instead, he can touch it.

“We’ll see each other again someday. My time here is done, but you still have a whole adventure left for you. Please don’t be sad, dear.” Her words sound like a mere whisper.

“And never forget,” she gives him a lingering forehead kiss, “I will always love you, Izuku.”

He reaches out to her again. She’s gone.

“Mommy… please don’t leave…”

There is no sign left of her.

“I don’t want to be alone, mommy…”

He sobs his non-beating heart out on the floor, clutching the pin to his chest. His form shudders as Auntie Mitsuki walks right through him, giving no sign of having noticed anything amiss.

Chapter Text

“I don’t want to be alone, mommy…”

Izuku stands up from his position on the floor. His gaze stays downward, eyes wide, and tears flowing freely.  Something in him tells him can't stay here. He has to go. He has to find mommy again. She can't just be gone. She can't have left him here. She wouldn't. He found her once, he can find her again. Without looking up he runs out of the house, still sobbing. 

He doesn’t give it any mind as he runs straight through the wall. He doesn’t give it any mind as his legs stop moving but he’s still going forward. He doesn’t give it any mind as a high-pitched ringing starts drowning out the noise of the world around him. He doesn’t pay it any mind as some kind of static starts forming around him. He doesn’t pay it any mind as he starts lifting higher into the air.

All that matters to him right now is that he needs to leave. He needs to find his way back to mommy. He can’t be without her. He can’t be alone. He—

“Hey, whoa! Little guy, you doing okay?”

A voice that’s slightly muffled by the ringing startles Izuku. It makes him freeze in place. Body tensed, Izuku subconsciously angles his body to where the voice came from.

“Shit, this doesn’t look good…”

Izuku doesn’t say anything in reply, still sobbing.

“Can you hear me, little guy? Is there anything I can do to help?”

He’s not paying the voice much attention. He can't really understand what it's saying. The ringing in his ears is too loud to make it out. But something about the void is somewhat… calming to him. The high-pitched ringing lowers in volume. Izuku doesn't understand what's happening. He just wants mommy back. He wants to hug her, and tell her about his day, and help her with cooking dinner, and watch their favorite movies together, and—

“Alright, Mamoru. Don’t panic. That’s not gonna help. Shit”

The voice seems to be talking to itself more than to Izuku. Izuku lifts his head somewhat, now noticing the staticky, and somewhat glitchy, air around him. His vision is blurred with tears and blood, but he thinks he can see someone in front of him. They’re a small distance away with their hands moving in a slight ‘calm down’ motion. There also seems to be some kind of glowing shield between the two of them.

“What did old man Tetsuo say to do in this situation again?”

Izuku tilts his head a bit. Who was ‘old man Tetsuo’? He also notices he's about 10 feet up in the air, give or take. How did he get so high up in the air? His arms are tightly hugging himself, nails digging into his skin. It would've probably been a very painful hold, except for the fact he can't feel it. One of his hands is still desperately keeping hold of the pin mommy gave him before she—

“Oh, I think I know! Okay, so, I’m not too sure if it’ll work, but it might help! I hope I’m remembering this right… So, can you hear me? Nod if you can hear me, please”

His grip on his arms loosens slightly. Izuku moves his head the tiniest bit in a nod. It was apparently enough for the stranger, as he started talking again immediately afterward.

“Alright, okay, great! Can you uh, can you answer me? Like, can you speak?”

“.̵̥̆.̸̱̞̝̞̻͆̒.̴̲̄ ̶̝̳̮͛̆̄̔͜y̸̤͊͝͝e̶̯̘͋s̷̲̗̜͔͔̊́̏̕”

(… yes)

“Cool. Cool, cool, cool. Cool! Great! Okay so, can you tell me 5 things you see?”

The person patiently waits for Izuku to speak again, staying in place.

“t̵͔̣͂e̷̯̿a̷̺̗͔̎̈r̸͉̮̻͌s̶͇͋.̷̟̫͎̓.̵͍͕̤̘͗̔ ̸͎̦̪̃̅ s̶͙͔̏͑t̴̠̥̾͐á̶̢̚t̸̙͎͠i̵̗͋̑c̶̣̼͆̅,̵͈̙͔̭̓̾͑ ̵̨͔̝̞̈ù̴̖̹͓h̷͇͓̏ḿ̸̢̩͎͊͑̃ͅm̵̢̳̤̠̅̅̿͌,̴̡̢̋̚͘ ̶͉́̑̀̈́p̷͈̩̥̱̃͝ẽ̵̡̯̯̼ŗ̶͓͉̈̌̈́s̸̢͕̹̪̄ö̶̲̬̰͔ṇ̶̌͗̈́?̸̠͖̟̈́͌̄͜.̴͈͇̿.̴̢̛̱͈͋.̶̟̯̗͑͑̓ ̷̧̪̯̯̀͗̇͝i̶̡͎̊m̵̨̈́̈́̈́͝ͅp̷͖͆̂͗͆e̴͇͂̇n̸͚̎ḑ̸̣̬͔̿i̴̖̍͛̉ṅ̴̳͑̊̚g̷̟̀̿ ̶̭͊ͅd̸͓̰̃o̸̺̩͒̓o̸͈̓̀͝͝m̴̝̂.̵̰̽.̷͚͆̎.̶̙̪̞͝ ̶̧̡̠̭̆̿̃t̸̪͚̺̗̊̆̆r̴̨͈̠͝e̶̦͋̂̉e̸͈̹͉͙̋͌̿͘”

(tears… static, uhmm, person?… impending doom… tree)

The ringing noise from earlier has quieted down.

“Great job, little guy! Okay now, can you tell me 4 things you can feel? Take your time!”

“s̴̠̘̆h̵͈̼̀i̴̞͒͝r̴̜͔̈́t̸͖͛͌̉,̵̢̠̻̏̿ ̴̢̥̳̓́l̶̨͕̲̃ȏ̸̝n̶̮̿e̶͖̲̒l̵̼̩͉͋i̸̛̖̫̪͌ṅ̷͍͔̊ȅ̴̬̕s̴̠̩͑̓s̶͍̏̈́.̵̗͉̬̍́̐.̴͖̈́.̵̢̮̏̂ ̴̞̀̐t̶̬͆h̸̨͆̊̾ẻ̸̪̰͉ ̵̡̘̬̂ẃ̸͉̜̰̒́i̸̡̙͔̓͒͝ǹ̶̨̖̝̊d̴̜͔͌͑͑.̷͇̬͙̍̃͆.̴̦̏͌.̴̝̒ ̶̡̛̱h̴̗̎̎̑͜e̴̡̦̊̚͝r̷͚͒ ̷͇̺̻͊p̶̗̭̍i̴̲̹̻͌ń̸̫̲̯.̵̝̖̃.̴̪͙͋̍.̴̫͔̝͑̀”

(shirt, loneliness… the wind… her pin…)

His grip on the pin doesn’t loosen. He can’t lose it. Mommy gave it to him. It's her favorite pin. She's always had it as far as he can remember. She had told him it was a gift she had gotten from her grandmother before she died. Now mommy has given it to him. He has to hold onto it. He'll give it back to her when he finds her again! If he finds her again.

“Nice! You’re doing really well, little guy!”

The voice of the stranger snaps Izuku out of it. The stranger seems to be standing a bit closer than before. Izuku notices the static that had been surrounding him earlier has disappeared.

“Now, can you tell me 3 things you can hear?”

“ỳ̴̜͜ö̷͍́u̶̦͗r̶̬̀͜ ̴̣̀͝v̴̛̰̐ȍ̸̗̎ȉ̷͎̘c̸͔̓e̷̫͗,̷̛̳ ̸͇͔͝m̶̛͈̫y̵͔͒͊ ̶̦̑͜v̸̝͎́o̶̢̬̅ī̵̦c̸̯̾̏ͅe̶̬̕.̶̯̈́.̷͈͈́.̵̩̼̏ ̸͚͉̇ḁ̷͎͋̾n̵̼̗̾͒d̵̙̠̂ ̴̪̇̈́t̷̯̤͋͘h̵͚̳͝e̵̫͒ ̵̻̹̀̚w̴̧̭͐͛i̷̗̞̓n̵̤̈́d̸͖̄̌”

(your voice, my voice… and the wind)

Izuku’s floating directly above the ground now, no longer as high up in the air as before. He hadn’t noticed he had been slowly descending to the ground.

“Okay, next, 2 things you can smell”

“b̶̫̚l̶͘͜ô̷ͅȍ̴͜d̷̮̈́,̴̬͝ ̷͖̇a̸̛̪n̶̢͘d̵̪͠ ̴̰̀g̷̯͗r̶̰̚a̸̢͘s̶̝͂ṣ̷̋,̶̞̔ ̵̡̇Ȋ̶͍ ̶̱̏t̷͈͝h̶͚̃ì̵͚n̴̮̏ķ̵͑.̸̤͐.̴̺͊.̷̪̊ “

(blood, and grass, I think…)

He scrunches his nose at the first smell. Why is he smelling blood? He wasn't bleeding, was he? He hadn't drawn blood when he had dug his nails into his arms, so where did the blood… Oh, wait, his head. He had forgotten about his head wound. Did it start bleeding again? He hadn't noticed changing back to his original form. The static has disappeared from his field of vision.

“1 thing you can taste”

“s̵̼̏ȧ̴̹l̸̛̝ṭ̸̔”

(salt)

The flow of tears that had seemed to be never-ending, has finally ceased to be, leaving dried tear tracks, mixed with blood, behind on Izuku’s face.

“Well done, little guy!”

The shield from before has disappeared by now. The world is spinning— or is he spinning? It sure seems like it— and he feels exhausted. The stranger seems to be standing closer than before. They’re about an arm’s length away from him. Izuku is still taking shaky breaths. They’re not physically helping, as he doesn’t really need them, but breathing is an subconscious natural process that’d be hard to unlearn. Werther, he was dead or not.

“Hey, hey, hey, it’ll be okay. Can I touch you?”

Izuku manages to nod. A hand carefully touches his shoulder, as if making sure that he’s alright with the touch. Izuku would really like a hug right about now though. He lets go of his arms and lurches forward, wrapping his arms around the stranger’s waist and putting his head against their shirt. He has his eyes closed tight.

“Woah there—oomph"

The stranger was caught off guard by Izuku’s sudden movement, but then slowly wraps their arms around him. They make sure not to hold him too tightly so that Izuku can easily get out of the hold if he wants to. The stranger puts one hand on his back and one on his head. They start slowing rubbing circles on his back and patting his head a bit.

They stay like that for a while, neither of them saying a word. When Izuku starts moving out of the hold, the stranger lets go of him and moves back a step. Izuku avoids looking at the stranger. Instead, he keeps his eyes on the ground. He’s still holding onto the pin tightly.

“You doing a little better now, little guy?”

Izuku nods, still not making a sound.

“Well, that’s good! You don’t have to, but would you like to talk about it? Or would you just like some company? If you want me to go away, I can do that too. Just say the word!”

It’s silent as Izuku thinks over the options.

“My mom— she—” his voice cracks and he takes a shuddering breath.

“Hey, hey, hey, it’s okay, little guy. It’s fine, you don’t have to tell me anything. Don’t force yourself”

Izuku shakily nods. He hesitantly looks up at the stranger, taking in their appearance for the first time. The stranger has long ombre hair that’s orange at the roots and yellow at the bottom, it’s also shaved on one side. They have multiple piercings and are wearing a dark grey band shirt with a black jacket and black jeans. The stranger seems to be an older teen or young adult, somewhere between 18 and 22 years old, Izuku guesses.

They don’t seem to have any kind of mutation quirk, so it’s likely an emitter or transformation-type. Add in the shield he had seen earlier and he's willing to bet it's an emitter type where he can produce some type of shield—  Wait, no. Now is not the time for this. Right now he needs to focus. Izuku brings his attention back to the person in front of him. The stranger is smiling and gives him a small wave as they start speaking again.

“Hi! So, guess I’ll introduce myself. I’m Mamoru Kusaka. I use he/him pronouns.”

“Iz—Izuku Midoriya… uhh, he/him…”

“Though I wish the circumstances were better, it’s nice meeting you, Midoriya!”

“You— You too…”

Izuku’s gaze switches between the floor and Kusaka uncertainly. Kusaka notices his hesitance.

“If you want to say or ask me something, you can—”

He gets cut off by Izuku, who starts talking as soon as he gets permission.

“When I was freaking out earlier, I noticed a big glowing shield between the two of us. Was that yours? Did you make it? Is that your quirk? What is the shield made out of? Can you make it bigger or smaller? Does it have to be a shield, or can you make other shapes? Can you make a full dome? Are you able to make multiple shields at once? How are they made? Do you need to make gestures to make them, or can you put them up without moving? Can you make them without even looking?

“Does it have a time limit? Or a distance limit, for that matter? How much force can it withstand? Can it break? What happens if you made a shield but then you get knocked out or go to sleep? Will the shield stay, or will it disappear? How much have you tested your quirk?—”

Kusaka is clearly overwhelmed, having not expected oncoming the rant of questions concerning his quirk. He cuts Izuku off with a chuckle before speaking.

“Woah, hey. Could you slow down a little, please? I can’t answer all your questions if you speak that quickly.” 

Izuku immediately shuts up and clamps a hand over his mouth. He blushes in embarrassment.

“Ah— Sorry! Sorry. I’m so sorry! I’ll— I’ll shut up now! You don’t have to answer!”

“It’s fine! I honestly don’t mind answering your questions. But like I said, it’s hard for me to answer them all when you’re talking a bit too fast for me to understand.”

Izuku doesn’t give a verbal response, just nodding before looking back at the floor. He keeps his arms straight at his sides and squeezes his hands into fists.

“Well, tell you what. I’ll tell you what I know about my quirk and then you can ask me some more questions that’ll I try to answer to the best of my ability. Though, unfortunately, I don’t think I’ll be able to answer all of them. Alright? How does that sound?”

Izuku nods once again, now looking back at Kusaka curiously.

“So, my quirk is called Sun Shield. I can make shields made from a mix of sunlight and my own energy. However, my shields can only stop physical attacks and entirely solid objects. So gasses and liquids can still pass through the shields I make. Let’s see… uhh, I can also make multiple shields at once. I think my current limit is somewhere around 3 or 4 at the same time. But it becomes harder to keep them up the more I make, so I usually stick to 1 or 2.

“I can make them bigger or smaller. However, the bigger I make a shield the harder it is to keep it up and the more tired I get. So I try not to make them too big. I think that’s about it… So, what questions did you have again?” He ends with a grin.

Izuku, who has been basically vibrating in his spot the entire time, despite feeling absolutely drained after whatever just happened (which he is really trying not to think back on) and brimming with questions, immediately starts talking again.

“So, can you only make shields or can you also make other shapes? Like a dome, for example?” He has to restrain himself from asking more questions, forcing himself to patiently give Kusaka some time to answer.

“I can only make shields. Other than making them smaller or bigger, I can’t really change their shape. Domes are more my sister’s thing” Kusaka answers with a shrug.

“Do you need to do something specific, like make a gesture or something similar, to make them or can you make shields without moving? And what about sight? Do you need to have your eyes open and see the shield to make it?”

“I can make shields without moving, pretty much. I never put much thought into it, to be honest. And yeah, I can make them with my eyes closed, but it’s hard to know where they are when I do that”

“Do you have a time limit, or can you keep them up indefinitely, until you get tired? Because you said you also use your own energy to make them. And do you have a distance limit?”

“Well, both making the shields and keeping them up requires energy. So yeah, I can pretty much keep them up till I get too exhausted to keep them up.”

Kusaka pauses for a moment, thinking on his answer to the other question.

“As for the distance limit… I honestly don’t know. I think it needs to be within my vicinity. Like, it needs to be within my sight at least. But other than that… I don’t know”

He sheepishly rubs the back of his head, thinking to himself that ‘Man, he really doesn’t know everything he can about his quirk…’ Izuku continues with the barrage of questions.

“Do you know how much force your shields can withstand? And whether or not they can break? Can any liquids and gasses pass through, or only those with a certain density?”

“I can’t really answer those questions, sorry! I never really thought about it much. I also never really tested it a lot… Though I honestly kinda wanna try it out now…” Kusaka says, a look of contemplation on his face.

“Has becoming a ghost impacted your quirk in any way? If so, in what way exactly?… ”

Izuku stops speaking, realizing what he asked might be insensitive or rude, as it has to do with the guy’s death. He begins backtracking quickly.

“You don’t have to answer me if you don’t want to, of course! I—"

“Midoriya, dude, don’t worry about it. I don’t mind answering the question.”

“Are you sure?” Izuku asks, somewhat hesitantly.

Kusaka nods “Mhmm! I really don’t mind. Now, to answer your question… Ever since I came back as a ghost, my shields only seem to stop physical objects or attacks that are from other ghosts”

He smiles down at Izuku, waiting for him to ask another question if he has any left. They’re both silent for a while before Izuku speaks up again.

“Thank you…” he says, not specifying what he’s referring to. Not that he needed to, as Kusaka understands what he meant anyway.

“I’m glad I could help!”

Kusaka ruffles Izuku’s hair with a grin. Izuku lets him, looking up at him with wide eyes.

A/N 

Here's a small author's note with a pic I drew of Mamoru to give a slightly better visual :)

Chapter Text

It’s a little while after Izuku’s breakdown in the middle of the street. The sun is setting, painting their surroundings in an orange glow. Izuku and Kusaka are now sitting next to each other on a bench with a lamppost next to it, close to the street they were in before. Izuku’s gaze is settled firmly on his lap as he clutches the pink carnation pin in a painfully tight hold. His other hand is on his chin as he’s lost deep in thought. Kusaka had been looking at the sunset.

The silence between them is… comfortable. It is only broken from time to time when Izuku’s muttering gets just loud enough for Kusaka to pick up on it. Kusaka doesn’t comment on it. He can only pick up a few words from the muttering. ‘Artificial sunlight’, ‘ultraviolet light’, and ‘electromagnetic radiation’ to name a few. Kusaka guesses it’s something about his quirk, but he doesn’t really get any further than that, being unable to completely follow along.

Kusaka’s arm is draped over the back of the bench. He lets out a hum and moves his gaze to Izuku, whose face contains a slight frown. Noticing the other’s clenched fist, Kusaka speaks up curiously, interrupting Izuku’s mumbling.

“What’s that?” he asks, pointing to Izuku’s hands.

“Hmm?” Izuku snaps out of it and glances at Kusaka.

He looks back at his hand. Izuku hadn’t noticed how tightly he had been clenching the fist that contains the pin. His knuckles are entirely white and he can feel the pin digging deep into the palm of his hand. It doesn’t hurt him, surprisingly enough. Though, it does feel a bit uncomfortable. It seems he can’t feel any pain anymore, he idly notes. Well, no physical pain at least.

Before that thought can bring his mind back to a place he doesn’t want it to be, he shakes himself out of it. Breathing in and out deeply, Izuku slowly starts relaxing his hold and unfurling his fist. Kusaka stays silent. Once the pin he visible Izuku turns towards Kusaka and shows him the pin.

“Ohhh, that’s a cool pin dude. Though I have to admit I’m not the best at flower names, what kind of flower is it?” He asks as he studies the pin in Izuku’s hand.

Izuku keeps his eyes on the pin as he replies.

“It’s a pink carnation. It’s my mom’s favorite flower”

Kusaka nods in reply.

“Nice, does it have any symbolization?”

Izuku nods but doesn’t elaborate.

“Would you like my help to put it on?”

“Huh?” Izuku looks away from the pin and at Kusaka.

“Would you like my help to put the pin on?” He repeats. “I mean, you could just keep it in your pocket, but if you want to wear it I can help you put it on if you want to?” He shrugs casually.

Izuku takes a moment to think about it before nodding. He moves to hand over the pin to Kusaka. His hands are shaking. Neither of them comments on it. Kusaka carefully takes the pin from Izuku.

“Where would you like it? Just on your shirt?”

Izuku points at a place on the left side of his shirt, just above his heart. Kusaka nods and helps him put the pin on the shirt. After he’s done Kusaka leans back. He puts his hand on his chin and narrows his eyes as if he’s inspecting his work intensely. After a few seconds, he nods, satisfied with his work.

“Welp, there ya go!”

“Thanks,” Izuku says with a small smile, keeping his gaze on the pin which is now on his shirt.

“No problem” Kusaka grins at him.

There’s a lull in the conversation again. After sitting in silence for a small while a thought enters Izuku’s head. Izuku moves his gaze to Kusaka and asks him a question with a tilt of his head.

“Didn’t you mention something about a sister earlier? When I was asking you questions about your quirk, you mentioned something about ‘domes being more her thing’…” Izuku says, in an attempt to change the topic and lighten the conversation a bit.

“Oh yeah, I did mention her. Yeah, I have a sister. Riri’s still alive though. She’s kinda the reason I’m still here, to be honest…” Kusaka rubs the back of his neck.

“Oh… ” Izuku pauses “Would you mind telling me more about her?”

Kusaka lets out a sigh as he stares up into the sky.

“Sure, I don’t mind.” He pauses, gathering his thoughts and deciding on how to start.

“So, her name’s Akari, though I call her Riri or sometimes Ri-Chan, and she’s 15 right now. She’s currently still living with the bastard sperm donor I got to call my ‘father’, and now that I’m, y’know, dead, I can’t really keep her safe anymore…

“So, I stayed around to keep an eye on her, y’know? To make sure she’s doing alright. At least until she’s out of that asshole’s house” Kusaka’s face darkens at the mention of his father but his expression softens when he talks about his sister.

“What did your da— your uh, ‘sperm donor’… do? Why is he so bad? Not that I’m saying that he’s not bad or anything! I’m just curious about why you called him a— I’m gonna shut up now—”

Kusaka chuckles at Izuku and ruffles his hair.

“Heh. It’s fine, Midoriya. Don’t worry about it. As for what he did…” Kusaka takes a deep breath.

“Basically, he’s an abusive, sexist, homophobic, and transphobic, piece of shit. And now, because she’s still a minor, my sister has to live with him for three more years until she can finally get out of there. She has to live in his ‘generous care’ for three more years all alone…”

Kusaka wipes a hand across his eyes before looking Izuku in the eyes. Izuku notes the tears glistering in the corners of his eyes.

“I was planning on getting her out of there, y’know? I had it all planned out… I had taken up a job at a small bakery to earn some money. I’d been saving up for one and a half years now. I’d been looking at apartments that would be big enough for the two of us…”

Kusaka moves his gaze up to the darkened sky, his teary eyes reflecting the stars. He lets out a wet chuckle.

“I’d been eyeing one in particular for a while. It seemed perfect. It was a 2-bedroom apartment right across from the bakery I worked at. It was far away enough from the dick bag’s house and his workplace to not have to see him again, but close enough to Riri’s school so she wouldn’t have to change schools. I almost had enough to get the place, and once I’d bought it I was gonna get custody of my sister and take her with me. I was prepared to fight the asshole in court for custody over her and hopefully get him in jail, and if not that then at least a restraining order against him…”

Kusaka slumps forward and moves his gaze to the ground. A forlorn look enters his face as he continues.

“Then, one day, on the way back from work, a drunk driver crashed into my motorcycle and I…” Kusaka trails off before letting out a deep breath “I was never able to tell her goodbye…”

As soon as Kusaka finishes speaking Izuku wraps his arms around his middle, surprising Kusaka. He buries his face into the other’s chest. Izuku, with his face hidden against Kusaka’s shirt, speaks up.

“There's nothing you could have done, I'm sure she doesn't blame you for that. And I'm sure she knows how much you love her. You might not be able to be there for her anymore physically, but you're still here, watching over her. I'm sure she'd appreciate it if she knew…” 

Kusaka ruffles his hair again with a gentle smile on his face. He puts his arm around Izuku’s shoulders in a side hug as he responds.

“Heh… thanks little guy… and sorry for the info dumping I did there…”

Kusaka lets go of Izuku after a few minutes, which prompts Izuku to let go of him as well. He stretches a bit before talking.

“Now, Midoriya. What would you like to do? Would you like some help getting home or something? Anyone you wanna see or go to?”

Izuku shakes his head. “I— I’m, uh, ‘new’ and I don’t really have a home or anyone to go back to right now… I don’t know why I’m here yet and I— I thought I finally found my mom but I, uh, I lost her… and I don’t know where she is now or how to find her…”

Kusaka reads between the lines. The kid mentioned having found his mom, before ‘losing’ her. A few dots connect for Kusaka. Understanding Izuku’s situation a bit more, he takes a good look at him. Here he’s got a kid sitting in front of him, who doesn’t look like he’s any older than like 9 or something. The kid’s face is covered in blood, which is emanating from what seems to be a gunshot wound on his forehead.

The kid just died. He just lost his life, his home, and from the looks of it, he also lost the only family he had left, as no other parent or guardian has been mentioned. The kid’s all on his own, now stuck on a different plane of existence where the only people he can interact with are not only few and far between but also strangers to the kid. Kusaka makes a decision.

“Alright, you’re my little brother now”

The sudden declaration throws Izuku for a loop.

“… Huh?”

“You’re my little brother now” Kusaka repeats. “I’ve adopted you. There’s no getting rid of me. You’re stuck with me now. Sorry” Kusaka says with a grin. His tone is laced with finality, and he’s not sounding sorry at all.

Not waiting for Izuku to process what he said, Kusaka continues “Now, as you’re now a part of the family, you’ll need a nickname. Them’s the rules, kid. Now, how do you feel about Izu-Kun? Zuku? Izzy? Ku-Chan? Zuzu?”

Completely bewildered, Izuku takes a moment to react. Though his reply consists of nothing more than an “Uh, sure?”

“Alright, Zuzu it is! And you can call me Momo or Ru-Nii, that’s what Riri usually calls me” Kusaka— Or, uh, Ru-Nii apparently, says.

Izuku nods dumbly.

“So, you mentioned being new, huh? Have you spoken to old man Tetsuo yet?”

Izuku tilts his head. “I— uh, I don’t know? Who is ‘old man Tetsuo’?’

“He’s this ghost who hangs out at the graveyard here in the city. He likes helping out new ghosts, explaining things to them, and helping them move on if they want to. He’s kinda well known around here. Well, among the ghosts, I mean.”

This ‘old man Tetsuo’ sounds familiar to Izuku.

“Is he by any chance in his late 50s? Gray hair, wearing a white button-up and some black slacks? Carries a walking cane with him?” Izuku asks, describing the man he remembered from the graveyard.

Ru-Nii snaps his fingers. “Yep, got it in one. That’s him alright. So you met him?”

The confirmation makes Izuku groan. He uses his hands to hide his face as he replies. Izuku gets quieter and starts talking faster the more he speaks.

“Ah, yeah, I’ve met him. But I kinda might have… forgottentothankhimforhelpingmeandforgottentoaskforhisname”
(forgotten to thank him for helping me and forgotten to ask for his name)

Having been unable to follow along with the fast speech, Ru-Nii speaks up.

“Sorry, I couldn’t quite catch that. What did you say?”

Izuku sighs, his face red from embarrassment. He slowly moves his hands away from his face and into his lap, where he starts fidgeting with them. He repeats himself, this time making sure to talk slower.

“I might have… forgotten to thank him for helping me when I first, uh, came back? Appeared?... Anyway, I— I kinda ran off before I could thank him… and I didn’t ask for his name… Agh, I was so rude to him! Does he remember me as that rude kid who just ran away from him? What if he dislikes me now? I was planning on going back to him to thank him, but what if I made him hate me? I still have so many things I want to know! And if he has answers, I really want to go back to talk to him. But what if he won’t answer me? Maybe he’s not even there anymore. Or—”

Izuku’s spiral gets cut off by Ru-Nii.

“Hey, chill Zuzu. Old man Tetsuo is chill. He wouldn’t mind too much that you left before thanking him. I’m sure he won’t mind answering your questions.”

Izuku nods in reply, calming down a little. He’s still a bit unsure though. Picking up on Izuku’s worry, Ru-Nii continues speaking, trying to assure Izuku.

“And you don’t have to worry about him not being there either, he barely ever leaves the place. Y’know, no one even really knows how long the dude’s been around. From what I’ve heard he’s been around for decades. He’s the oldest ghost around”

“Decades? But I thought ghosts didn’t usually last more than a few days or weeks?”

“And that’s why he’s such a mystery, Zuzu. No one knows how long he’s been a ghost. There are even some rumors going around that he’s not even a ghost at all but some kind of other being. Some think he’s some kind of reaper, or guide or something, who helps spirits move over to the other side. I think I’ve even heard some refer to him as the grim reaper. Though I personally don’t really believe in those rumors” Ru-Nii shrugs.

Izuku’s mind is running a mile a minute at the possibilities. Though he kinda agrees with Ru-Nii. He doubts that he’s really the grim reaper or something. Didn’t he mention something about a wife to Izuku? Is the grim reaper married?

They both stand up from the bench. It’s still dark out, probably around midnight, if Izuku had to guess. Their surroundings are illuminated by the lampposts that are around and the moon that’s shining down on them. Izuku idly notes he doesn’t really feel tired. A little emotionally exhausted, but not physically tired at all. Huh. Another thing he’d like to ask ‘old man Tetsuo’ about.

“So you’re gonna go find the old man, huh? Ask him some more questions?” Ru-Nii asks casually.

“Mhmm” Izuku replies with a nod. “I have so many questions, mainly about ghosts. But maybe he can help me find my mom too, or maybe he can shine some more light on why I didn’t leave with her… Or why I still don’t know my unfinished business.”

“Want me to come with?”

Izuku shakes his head in reply.

“No, thank you. I want to do this on my own… And I’m sure you have other stuff to do rather than escorting me or hanging out with me all the time” Izuku says.

Ru-Nii lets out a hum “Well, alright then. I guess I’ll leave you be. I think I’m gonna go check on my little sis”

Ru-Nii reaches out and ruffles Izuku’s hair again. He seems to really like doing that a lot huh.

“Welp, see you later, Zuzu! If you need me, you can find me at XXX street. That’s where I usually hang out when I’m not following Riri around.”

Izuku nods in reply. He stands on his toes and wraps his arms around Ru-Nii’s middle once more, in a goodbye hug. Ru-Nii wraps his arms around him as well in reply. Izuku rests his head against Ru-Nii’s chest. Izuku likes hugging, sue him. He’s just glad there’s someone, other than his mom, who he can hug and who doesn’t mind…

Chapter Text

Izuku makes his way through the streets at a calm pace, taking in the sight of the city at night. There’s no one else, be it living or dead, out at this time as far as he can see. Its… peaceful…

Izuku scrunches his nose as he suddenly notices the feeling of something wet on his face. He touches it and looks back at his hand to see it covered in blood. He should probably do something about that. He closes his eyes to help himself focus as he thinks up what he should wear. The hand which is not covered in blood clutches his shirt and the pin on it in a fist to make sure he doesn’t accidentally get rid of it.

It’s the only thing he currently has left of his mom. He’ll take good care of it and make sure not to lose it so he can give it back to her when he sees her again. After a few seconds, Izuku opens his eyes again and takes a look at his changed outfit. He’s now wearing a blue shirt with the white text ‘table’ on it with some shorts and his favorite red high tops.

He reaches up again to touch his face with the hand not clutching his shirt. He doesn’t feel any blood anymore. He takes his hand back and looks at it to make sure. Satisfied, he continues making his way to the graveyard. His other hand doesn’t let go of the pin.

As he starts moving he hears a clanging sound coming from a nearby alleyway. Izuku stares into the dark pathway. He feels a hand covering his mouth the pin digging into his palm as his hand clutching his shirt tightens its hold. Izuku gets dragged back into the alley is frozen in place, body trembling.

“Stop struggling, kid!”

His breath quickens as memories enter his head. Izuku wants to move. He has to move. To get away. To get to safety. But he’s stuck in place. His body is not moving, no matter how much he tells it to. His gaze is stuck on the dark alley.

“YOU FUCKING BITCH! I told you not to move!”

Another clanging sound comes from the darkness. It seems closer than before.

“MOM, NO!”

“IZUK—!”

“Meow”

A meow snaps Izuku out of it. He looks down to see a small form move out of the darkness and into the light coming from a nearby lamppost. The same clanging sounds as before follows. Now fully in the light, Izuku watches a small cat paw at an empty can, playing with it.

Izuku lets out a small breath at the sight and gives the cat a shaky smile. He’s able to move again and stands up, when did he even fall down onto his knees? He glances once more at the cat, which is still pawing at the can, moving it back and forth and making more clanging sounds with it.

Izuku then starts moving again, ignoring the leftover tremors in his body. He’s not letting go of the pin anytime soon and hugs his body with his other arm as he floats away from the alley and onwards to the graveyard.

Izuku doesn’t look back and so, does not notice the cat has stopped playing with the can and is now looking in his direction as he leaves.

Izuku reaches the graveyard almost an hour later. The gate is closed, but that doesn’t stop Izuku as he moves right through it as if there was nothing there. He looks around, trying to see if he can see anyone in the area.

In the distance, he notices a person strolling along floating above the path, a cane in hand. Izuku starts making his way toward them and finally lets go of his shirt, which is now rumpled. As he comes closer, he’s able to hear them humming a tune while they walk. He doesn’t recognize the tune.

When Izuku is close enough to make the person out, Izuku recognizes it’s the old man from before: or ‘old man Tetsuo’ as Ru-Nii called him. As Izuku approaches him, the older man turns around, catching sight of Izuku. His eyes light up with recognition and he stops moving.

“Ah, it’s you again! Welcome back” The older man says with a smile.

“Hi again!, Ah, err…” Izuku trails off, not knowing how to address the other ghost and unwilling to call him ‘old man Tetsuo’ to his face.

“My name is Tetsuo Tanji” Tanji-San holds out his hand.

“I’m Izuku Midoriya, nice to meet you, sir! Officially, this time…” Izuku shakes his hand with a beaming smile and uses his other hand to rub the back of his neck in slight embarrassment as he remembers the last time he spoke to Tanji-San.

“No, no, you don’t have to call me ‘sir’, kid. No need for such formality. Just call me Tetsuo or Jii-San if you want to, I don’t really mind it. The others already call me that anyway ” Tanji-San says.

Izuku is about to ask if he’s sure when the notices the look receives.

“Ah, alright Tanj— err, Jii-San,” he says nervously.

Jii-San gives him a satisfied nod and smile in return before speaking up again.

“Now, Midoriya-Kun, what brings you back here? Last time you seemed in such a hurry…”

“Ah, I actually came to thank you for before, and to apologize for running away so suddenly,” Izuku says, face red from embarrassment. “So, thank you! And I apologize for leaving so suddenly!” Izuku bows.

Jii-San gives him a dismissive wave “No need to worry about that, kid. It’s fine, I understand you were worried about your mother. Speaking of your mother, did you manage to find her?”

“Mhmm, I did!” Izuku straightens up and nods in response, lighting up a little. His demeanor then changes, gaze moving onto the ground, as he continues “Though, after I found her she disappeared… and I didn’t leave with her…” he trails off.

He quickly looks back up. “But I— It’s fine, I’m sure I’ll be able to find her again. I’m sure she just appeared somewhere else! She mentioned she had to see the people she loves and tell them she loves them.

“So I’m sure she’s just visiting some more people! Maybe some of her friends from work. Or perhaps some distant family, like the cousin from her grandpa’s side from the family whose birthday we visited a few years ago!

“Or maybe she has only seen auntie Mitsuki, and still has to go see uncle Masaru and Kacchan! Or— Or— “ Izuku gets interrupted by Jii-San.

He looks at Izuku with a solemn expression. “Midoriya-Kun… I’m sorry to say, but your mother… From what you said, I assume she has fulfilled her unfinished business and moved on. You will not be able to find her again in this plane of existence… I’m sorry…”

“No…” Izuku shakes his head in clear denial. “No, she can’t be gone. My mom wouldn’t leave me. She loves me, she wouldn’t just leave me… If she moved on, why didn’t I? I have nothing left here… Without mommy here I have nothing!” his voice cracks at the end. “I don’t even have business left! But then why? Why am I still here?...”

Jii-San doesn’t respond. Izuku is trembling. With clenched fists, he stares at the ground. Tears leak from his eyes, cascading down his cheeks, some dripping onto the floor.

“It’s unfair…” Izuku murmurs in a broken tone.

Jii-San nods in sympathy. “Life simply is unfair, I’m afraid. No matter what we do, we can’t seem to stop it from taking our loved ones away from us. Or from taking us away from our loved ones…” He lowers his head as he continues speaking “One day, you’ll be reunited again with your loved ones, once you manage to move on. But until your business in the living world is finished, I’m sorry to say you’re stuck here…”

Izuku sniffs and starts wiping away his tears. As soon as he wipes them away, they form again. He stops trying. He looks up at Jii-San as he asks a question in a small voice.

“Does it ever go away? The hurt?”

Jii-San looks at him sadly.

“In my experience, the pain never truly goes away. Those painful memories stay with us, no matter how many years it has been since… However, it does get better, over time. As you manage to heal and move on from it, as you continue ‘living’ as it were, it… gets better… I’m sorry to say I don’t have a better answer than that.

“But I do have a word of advice. Those painful memories? Hold on to them. No matter how much it hurts, keep remembering them. Keep your loved ones alive in memory, lest you forget…” He trails off, looking into the distance.

A tear rolls down Jii-San’s cheek. He wipes it away and smiles softly. Izuku’s own tears are slowly coming to an end, leaving dried tear tracks behind on his cheeks. Izuku nods in response to Jii-San's advice. He looks down at the pin on his shirt and rubs a thumb over it.

The conversation lulls, silence now between them. Izuku speaks up after a bit, awkwardly trying to lighten the atmosphere and change the topic.

“I uhhh… I actually had a few more questions, about uhmm, ghosts and… stuff… If you don’t mind answering of course!” He fidgets with his hands a bit as he waits for Jii-San to respond.

Jii-San pauses. He seems to think for a bit before giving Izuku a considering look. He suddenly speaks up again.

“Alright kid, I’ve got something for you. Give me a second”

Izuku looks on in slight confusion and curiosity as Jii-San closes his eyes and holds his hand out, palm facing upwards. His hand starts glowing and slowly something in a rectangular shape starts forming on top of his held-out palm. After a few minutes, the glow fades away, giving Izuku a clear view of the book that now lies on top of Jii-San’s hand.

Izuku’s mind is already going a mile a minute. Is that his quirk? Can he make any object or just books? What’s the book about? Does it contain memories or information? Is it a book that already exists, that he’s read before, or is it entirely new? Does it just have text in it, or also pictures, or just pictures? Maybe it contains memories drawn out as a storybook. Or perhaps it contains practical information he knows.

Can he manipulate the wording in it, as if he were writing it out himself? Can he choose which information is put into the books, like leaving certain parts out? Can the book contain information that he himself does not know? Can he make books containing information or memories he once knew and has forgotten since?

How many books can he make? Is there a limit? Are the books permanent? Do the books disappear after a while? How long does it take before they disappear? Does he still know the information that’s in the book when it is made or does the information get transferred from his mind onto the paper, making him forget it?

Izuku stops muttering at the chuckle Jii-San lets out. He lets out a squeak and covers his, now-red, face.

“Ah, sorry about that! But thank you! I’ll be sure to take very good care of it!” Izuku beams at Jii-San with a closed-eye grin.

Izuku looks down at the book in his hands and studies it for a few seconds. The book is black in color with no picture on the front, only the title. The title reads ‘The Astral Plane and its Ghostly Inhabitants by Tetsuo Tanji’. The book looks like it’s brand new.

When Izuku looks up from the book in his hands, a question on the tip of his tongue, Jii-San is nowhere to be found.

Meanwhile, somewhere else…

Mamoru stares up at one of the windows of his former home. The light inside is still on. He floats on up to the closed window and moves right through it and the wall around it. The room he enters is quite organized. There’s a person sitting at the desk, seemingly drawing something in a notebook.

Mamoru immediately recognizes them as his little sister. Riri has her shoulder-length hair loose, tucked behind an ear. She’s wearing some earphones, likely listening to some music as she draws. She uses one hand to push up her glasses when they slip a little lower. Mamoru smiles at the sight. He moves closer to his sister and ruffles her hair. Not a hair on her head is moved. He leans in closer and peeks over Riri’s shoulder to look at what she’s drawing.

The edges of the page are filled with small doodles of some cartoony-looking dragons. The bottom right side of the page is currently being filled up with a big sketch that she is currently working on: a big dragon sleeping in a curled-up position, drawn in much more detail than the doodles. Despite knowing Riri won’t hear him, even if she wasn’t wearing headphones, Mamoru starts to talk, telling her about his day.

“And then I saw this kid freaking out in the street. I’m not gonna lie Riri, it looked pretty bad. Almost looked like the air was actually glitching or some shit, real freaky, and kinda cool to be honest. Anyway, then I remembered old man Tetsuo mentioned something like this before, like when a ghost is having an emotional upheaval and what to do in such situations. I managed to help the little guy calm down.

“His name’s Izuku Midoriya. He looks young, probably somewhere around 9 or 10 years old, but I don’t know. I didn’t ask him, so I could be wrong. Anyway, the kid apparently just lost his mom, which like, ouch, and also mood. Anyway, he was on his own now. So, of course, I’ve decided to adopt him as my sibling, as our sibling. You have a little brother now! Congrats! You can call him Zuzu, as a nickname, I do it too.

“Anyway—"

A loud banging on the door breaks the peaceful atmosphere. Riri pauses in her drawing. She puts down her pencil and takes out her earphones. She stares at the door, eyes slightly wide. Mamoru moves between his sister and the door, eyes narrowed.

“Turn the damn lights off and go to bed, Yoshiro! It’s fucking 1 A.M. Don’t make me come in there and drag you off to bed myself!” A rough voice yells through the closed door.

Riri is frozen as she stares at the door. A beat. She slams her notebook closed, rushes to turn off the lights, and moves into her bed to try and go to sleep, knowing better than to ignore the other person’s commands.

Mamoru glares at the door, arms crossed and tense. “Tch, fucking asshole…” he mutters to himself. His gaze softens as he turns to look at his sister. He moves to sit on, or more like float slightly above while in a sitting position, the edge of her bed and puts a hand on her arm. He’s not actually touching it, as he can’t, but he doesn’t care. He speaks to her with a soft tone.

“I’m so sorry Riri… I wish you didn’t have to deal with that fucking dickbag alone. I wish I could do more than just watch from the sidelines...”

Mamoru solemnly stares at Riri as her breathing slows and she falls asleep. He lets out a sigh and moves off the bed. He leaves the room, again, right through the closed window and wall. He floats down to the ground. He gives one last glance at the window. Mamoru then looks up at the night sky, silently studying the stars as he leaves, deep in thought.

A/N 

Here's a small author's note with a pic I drew of Akari to give a slightly better visual :)

And I need y'all to see this beautiful piece of fanart of Mamoru!

This gorgeous work was created by @CalmboyL on Twitter

Again, thank you so much, it looks awesome. I love it <3

Here's the link: https://twitter.com/CalmboyL/status/1605609879250432000?s=20&t=Q-gWV3qvMy3EaydCm-Sa3w

Chapter Text

Tetsuo lets out a small chuckle as he watches Midoriya in the distance looking around confused. He wasn’t upset with Midoriya, not at all, but he was simply returning the favor of suddenly disappearing. A small and harmless prank, if you will.

He hopes Midoriya will find the information in the book useful. Tetsuo turns and makes his way out of the graveyard, his next destination clear in mind. While floating away, he gives a silent farewell to the place in which he has spent much time in the last 94 years, meeting and helping many new ghosts.

Though Tetsuo’s unsure of the exact date and time of his departure from this plane of existence, he does know that he doesn’t have much time left here. After all, his business is almost finished.

Once he reaches his destination, Tetsuo makes his way over to the room he knows Sayuri-Chan will be in. He keeps a steady hold of his cane as he watches his granddaughter lay in the hospital bed. The room is silent, except for the steady beeping coming from the heart monitor.

With Izuku…

After the disappearance of Jii-San, Izuku decides to get out of the graveyard, pick a spot to sit down— as much as a ghost can sit down anyway, considering he can’t actually touch anything— and take a look at the book Jii-San had given him.

He’s still a bit unsure about referring to the man as ‘Jii-San’, just as he is about calling Ru-Nii ‘Ru-Nii’. But Izuku doesn’t want to argue with either of them nor make them sad or angry with him… So, he’s a tiny bit nonconfrontational, sue him.

It’s really not a big deal anyway. Izuku really doesn’t mind what they call him and what they want him to call them. If Jii-San and Ru-Nii want him to call them such close/familial terms, he will, ‘cause it means they like him and his presence, right? It’ll just be something he’ll need some time to get used to. It’s been a long time since someone who wasn’t his mom honestly wanted to be friends with and close to Izuku…

“Midoriya?...”

A seven-year-old Izuku looks up from where he was writing in his notebook next to a tree at the sound of his name being called. In front of him is one of his year mates. Hanako Murata. She is not in the same class as him, but she is in the same year. Murata has blonde hair in pigtails and multicolored eyes. Quirk: Palette. Her quirk allows her to remove paint from surfaces and items and expel it in various forms and ways.

Murata is standing in front of him, hands behind her back and her gaze switching between his face and the ground. She seems nervous for some reason. Izuku slowly puts down his notebook and pen before speaking up.

“Y— Yes, Murata? Can I, uh… Can I help you with something?” he asks her, slightly anxious.

Murata seems to steel her nerves, her eyes gaining a determined glint, before speaking up.

“Can I sit here?”

Izuku tilts his head, slightly confused.

“Uh, yes? I mean— Sure, you can, er…” he gestures lamely at the grass next to him.

Murata nods and sits down next to him where he gestured. There’s an awkward silence between the two of them. They’re staring at each other.

“Is there… a reason you wanted to sit next to me, Murata?” Izuku questions hesitantly.

“You don’t have any friends, right?”

The blunt statement, because it was much more of a statement than an actual question, throws Izuku for a loop. Bewildered, he asks her “Are you— Are you making fun of me?”

“No, no, no! I just…” Murata counters quickly with a panicked tone.

She trails off for a second before taking a deep breath and continuing what she was saying “No one wants to be friends with me, they said— They don’t want to be friends with someone with such a ‘useless quirk’” She crosses her arms and glares at the ground.

“But your quirk isn’t useless at all! It—” Izuku gets cut off by Murata.

“I know, but that’s what they said. So, I don’t have any friends, and you don’t have any either. So, I think we should be each other’s friends.” She declares.

Izuku’s breath gets caught in his throat. After a moment of silence, he quickly tries to form a response to her declaration.

“You want to— You really want to be my friend?” He asks her hopefully.

“I mean, I’m sure there are other people, maybe some of your classmates, who would like to be your friend, Murata. Your quirk— It’s not useless, it’s very versatile, and you can do a lot of stuff with it! It’s really cool and pretty and I mean, I—  I don’t really have— Are you sure you want to be friends with me when there are probably plenty of other people who would love to be your friend? I’m just the useless De—"

“I’m gonna cut you off right there, Midoriya. I really don’t care you don’t have a quirk, it’s fine. Now, do you want to be friends or not?” Murata stares at him intently.

“… You really mean it?” Izuku asks with a small voice.

Murata nods confidently. She uncrosses her arms, holding one out to him for a handshake. “Friends?” Murata asks with a small smile. Izuku smiles back at her and takes her hand.

“Friends!” he says with a happy grin, shaking her hand.

Murata lets go of his hand.

“You can call me Hanako!” she says, smiling a little wider.

“Then you can call me Izuku, Hanako-Chan!” Izuku beams at her.

From then on, Hanako-Chan and Izuku met up every lunch at that tree. It became their spot. They spent most of their lunch period just talking with each other, Izuku telling her all about heroes and quirks and in turn, Hanako-Chan told him about all types of plants (she has a gardening hobby) and showed him some of the drawings she made of various flowers.

Though a few months later, something changes in their little routine.

Izuku is sitting at their spot during lunch, eagerly awaiting Hanako-Chan’s arrival. But when she doesn’t show up the entire lunch period, he starts getting a little worried. Before returning to class he takes a quick glance at the rest of Hanako-Chan’s class. She’s nowhere to be seen.

He asks one of Hanako-Chan’s classmates if she knows anything. She tells him with a scoff that Hanako-Chan hadn’t come to school today. Izuku decides to shrug it off. Hanako-Chan might be sick or something, that’s probably why she’s not at school.

A few days later, at the end of the school week, he sees her walk into the school. She’s wearing bandages on her arm and has a band-aid on her face.

Izuku approaches Hanako-Chan to say hello and talk to her. However, instead of the greeting he was expecting, she ignores him and quickly walks off. A little put off, Izuku lets her walk away from him, watching her enter her own classroom without a glance back at him.

“Midoriya!”

Izuku turns around at the sound of his name being called by a teacher.

“Stop pestering Murata-Chan and get to class Midoriya! You’re almost late!” the teacher tells him with a scoff. Izuku nods and quickly makes his way over to his own classroom. He’ll be able to talk to Hanako-Chan later during lunch, he reasons to himself.

During lunch, Izuku tries to get her attention once again to talk with her. She does not pay him any mind and she goes out of her way to ignore and avoid him. He even tries to stand in her way when she’s on the way back to her classroom so she can’t move past him and has to talk to him.

Instead of talking to him though, Hanako-Chan glares at him and pushes him to the side with a small “Hmmpf.” Izuku watches as she enters her classroom and gets approached by some other girls who, Izuku is pretty sure, never talked to her before.

The bell goes and Izuku quickly turns around, intending to make his way to his own classroom before he gets marked late. Before Izuku can move from his spot, he gets stopped by the same teacher as earlier.

“Midoriya, stop bothering Murata-Chan! I’ve seen you harassing her during lunch. She probably just doesn’t want to be your friend anymore. So you should leave her be. This is your only warning, Midoriya. Now, get to class before you cause more trouble!”

During class, Izuku can’t focus on the lesson at all. His mind is stuck on Hanako-Chan’s strange behavior. What happened to her? Why is she ignoring him? He hasn’t done anything. Right?... Eventually, the bell rings, signaling the end of the school day. Izuku packs his stuff as quickly as possible and makes his way toward the school entrance, hoping to catch Hanako-Chan on her way out to try and talk to her again.

He spots her as she is on her way out of the school. Izuku rushes after her, one hand on one of the straps of his backpack, the other reaching out towards her.

“Hanako-Chan, wait!” He yells out.

She starts walking away quicker. Izuku doesn’t give up though.

“Hanako-Chan, wait up! I just wanna talk!”

Hanako-Chan stops walking. She doesn’t turn around as she speaks up, talking to him for the first time since coming back to school that day, saying something that hurts Izuku far more than the push from earlier did.

“I’m sorry… Deku."

Izuku’s breath hitches. Hana— No, Murata, doesn’t spare him a glance as she continues walking away from the school. Izuku stays behind, his body trembling as he watches her leave and tries to process everything. He gets snapped out of it when the teacher from before approaches him once again and speaks to him with a glare.

“Midoriya! I’ve already told you to leave Murata-Chan alone! It is unacceptable to torment another student and keep bothering her when she clearly doesn’t want anything to do with you. You’ve had your warning already. Detention!”

Izuku’s shoulders sag. He gives one last glance at Murata’s back before turning around and walking back into the school for the detention he just got. He keeps his gaze firmly on the ground while moving. Tears are streaming down his face and his shoulders shake with tiny sobs. Izuku lets out a sniff. Just before he’s entirely inside he catches a small part of the conversation between two teachers behind him.

“Poor Murata-Chan… First, she gets injured and then someone like Midoriya keeps tormenting and harassing her the entire day she’s finally back at school… “

“Tch. It’s all because of Midoriya. I thought it was already clear to all the other students that he is a bad influence. Murata-Chan should’ve stayed away from him or this wouldn’t have ever happened. You know, Murata-Chan never mentioned which student did it, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was Midoriya himself.”

“When is it not? The kid causes trouble wherever he goes. Starting fights, disrupting class, messing up his desk and blaming it on his classmates, and now this. He’s such a problem child.”

Izuku shakes himself out of it and ‘sits’ down on a bench he almost passed while he was lost in thought. In an attempt to take his mind off of his memories, Izuku opens the book Jii-San had given him. The book contains several chapters.

• The Astral Plane and the Physical Plane: what’s the difference?
• Spooky inhabitants of the Astral Plane
• The nonexistent interaction between the Planes
• Unfinished business: how to finish it?

Izuku goes to the back of the book first, to see if the book contains an ‘About the author’ section. Finding one, Izuku decides to read that first.

Tetsuo Tanji, local ghost expert of Musutafu since 2221, is not much of a writer as one would believe as his quirk writes his books for him. His quirk Archive lets Tanji-San create semi-permanent books about anything he knows, at the cost of the knowledge inside of the book disappearing from his own mind. Tanji-San had a wife and two sons. He spent his living years running a small antique store and spent his ghostly years learning as much as he could about ghosts and the afterlife to help other ghosts, and watching over his granddaughter.

Izuku mentally takes notes of the information he takes in. He’s especially curious about the part where Jii-San’s quirk is explained. Jii-San making this book resulted in him losing the knowledge inside. Why would he choose to forget everything? He didn’t mention anything about how long Izuku was allowed to borrow the book. Will it disappear on its own after a while? It does say ‘semi-permanent books’ so that is a possibility. But how long does he have the book for then? He should probably read it as quickly as possible if it can disappear at any moment.

But why give Izuku the book at all? He could have told Izuku just as easily unless he doesn’t have the time. That’s also a possibility. Is his disappearing soon? Is Jii-San almost done with the reason he stayed here? According to the book he has been a ghost since 2221. That means he’s been a ghost for 94 years. The book also mentions he has been watching over his granddaughter. Is that why he’s still here? To watch over her? If that’s the reason, and he’s been a ghost for 94 years, then Jii-San’s granddaughter is at least 94 years old. Probably a little older.

In that case, it’s highly likely that she won’t have long anymore. Though that sounds a little rude, Izuku knows he’s correct. Then that would also mean that Jii-San might be disappearing soon. Is that why he gave Izuku the book? To share the knowledge with someone else, before he moves on? Will the book disappear once Jii-San does?

Izuku doesn’t know. But if this was the last time he ever saw Jii-San, he wished he could have thanked him once more, and told him goodbye…

Chapter Text

Putting his thoughts aside, Izuku contemplates moving somewhere else to read the book as he can only just read the text due to the lamppost next to the bench he’s on. However, he doesn’t quite know where else to really go.

He doesn’t want to break into someone’s house so he can read, and he can’t really touch the light switch so finding a home where the light is even on would also be a bit of a challenge. And despite the living not being able to see or hear him, Izuku doesn’t really feel all that comfortable just hanging around them or following them without them knowing and it's not like he has the ability to let them know in any way… 

Izuku doubts Kacchan would be happy with being stalked by the ghost of a childhood friend, especially without knowing it. He’d probably yell at Izuku to go bother someone else if he knew. And while it seems pretty impossible for Kacchan to find out about it in any way, Izuku wouldn’t put it past him. He briefly considers going to Ru-Nii to tell him about the book and show it to him before shaking the thought off. Ru-Nii is currently watching over his sister. Izuku really doesn’t want to bother him, especially not with something only Izuku might be interested in.

Having made his decision to stay, Izuku continues reading the rest of the book. He wants to know as much as possible as quickly as possible anyway. Oh, and if only he had some of his notebooks with him… and was able to write in them…

The Astral Plane and the Physical Plane: what’s the difference?

The Physical Plane, also referred to as the Living Plane, is the Plane of Existence which is populated by anyone and anything that is alive. It refers to the reality that is visible, and physical, to those inhabitants. When the physical body of an inhabitant of the Physical Plane dies, this physical body is left behind and the soul forms into an astral body that either moves onto the Astral Plane or disappears completely. What happens to those who do not move onto the Astral Plane is currently unknown.

The Astral Plane is the Plane of Existence which is populated by the souls of the departed of the Living Plane. It is populated with immaterial beings, who ‘live’ out the rest of their non-physical lives in this Plane of Existence. The inhabitants of this plane are unable to go back to the Living Plane after having entered the Astral Plane.

Izuku subconsciously mutters his thoughts to himself as he reads. Are these the only two ‘Planes of Existence’ or are there more? How removed are the planes from each other? People who exist on the Astral Plane can clearly see and hear the Physical Plane. So is there any way for people on the Physical Plane to witness the Astral Plane? How are the Planes connected exactly? Is the Astral Plane somehow ‘layered’ on top of the Physical Plane?

And what does this mean for people who have had near-death experiences? Or people whose heart has been stopped, or people who were on the brink of death, but got brought back just in time? Have any of them visited the Astral Plane in any way before going back to the Physical Plane? Or is it really just a one-way ticket?

Spooky inhabitants of the Astral Plane

Inhabitants of the Astral Plane are commonly referred to as ghosts, specters, apparitions, phantoms, spooks, or spirits. These all refer to the same thing: the soul of a person from the Living Plane who has died but still has business left in the Living Plane. These souls get stuck in the Astral Plane and form an astral body because their physical body was left behind.

Not every person who dies becomes a ghost. In order to become a ghost, one must have a strong enough will or be determined enough to still stick behind. Most ghosts take several days to weeks after the moment they died to fully form. After a ghost has formed, it might take them a few hours to a day to remember what happened to them.

Ghosts take the form and appearance of who they were and how they looked before they died. This includes injuries. They have the ability to change their appearance at will with some focus. While no major changes are possible, ghosts are able to change their outfit, hide their injuries, and make minor objects appear such as bags, accessories, etc. These changes can be easily maintained with some subconscious concentration, though as soon as a ghost completely loses focus or experiences extreme emotional turmoil they will revert back to their original appearance.

Ghosts do not need to breathe nor blink, though most ghosts maintain the habit of doing so anyway due to being used to it because they needed to when they were still alive. Ghosts do not have a heartbeat either. Furthermore, ghosts do not need to eat or sleep. While it is practically impossible to test whether or not a ghost can still eat, despite not needing to, it has been proven that a ghost cannot sleep at all, though meditation is possible. Lastly, ghosts are unable to feel physical pain or gain any injuries while in the Astral Plane.

Izuku immediately puts his hand on his neck to check his pulse. Needless to say, the book is correct. He doesn’t have a pulse. Izuku doesn’t really know what he was expecting. Of course, he doesn’t have a pulse. He’s dead. Still, the clear reminder of what all this ghost business actually means for him puts a small damper on his mood.

Izuku takes in a small breath, which he doesn’t need anymore, and goes back to reading after wiping the tears in the corners of his eyes to take his mind off of it.

The nonexistent interaction between the Planes

Ghosts are unable to interact with the Living Plane. They cannot be seen, heard, or touched by anything or anyone that exists on that Plane of Existence. This means that they are also unable to touch even the ground, though they can fake it by floating in place exactly above it to cast the illusion that they are actually standing on it.

Though ghosts are unable to be seen by the inhabitants of the Living Plane, there is evidence to suggest animals can sense their presence. Though they can’t actually see or hear ghosts, animals are usually able to guess their general direction. This hypothesis has come to be due to the way animals occasionally tend to stare at ghosts, when there’s nothing behind them except for, for example, a blank wall.

While ghosts cannot interact with the Living Plane, they can instead interact with the Astral Plane. This means that ghosts can be seen by, heard by, and touched by other ghosts.

Ghosts can, technically speaking, use their quirks. However, their quirks only affect the Astral Plane and Astral Plane inhabitants. People with mutant-type quirks still look the same. People with transformation-type quirks can still activate their quirk, though whether they are actually using their quirk or just changing their appearance like any other ghost is able to, is still in debate. Emitter-type quirk users can use their quirk, but it will only be able to affect other ghosts.

For example, someone who can control plants is unable to control plants once they are a ghost but someone who has the ability to change other people’s hair color can change the hair color of other ghosts, but not of anyone of the living world.

However, there is a rare exception. If a ghost is feeling a very strong or potent emotion, it may cause the ghost to become ‘unstable’, for a lack of better word. The form of the ghost in question will waver and become bigger, and something resembling static or shadows will form in the area surrounding them. The ghost will often revert back to how they looked when they died. Meanwhile, noises such as whispers or loud ringing can also be heard.

All of this is visible and audible to both the Astral Plane and the Physical Plane. While ‘unstable’ a ghost might also subconsciously interact with the Physical Plane around them by, for example, making electronics in the area malfunction or making small objects like rocks float around them.

This will last until either the ghost is no longer feeling strong emotions/has calmed down or if they are completely out of energy. Once the event is over, it will leave the ghost feeling drained or sometimes even dizzy. Some end up with a bloody nose, though it will disappear after a few hours. Most cannot remember what exactly happened while they were in this state.

Is that what happened to him when he ran out of the Bakugou’s house? He doesn’t remember much of what happened, other than him having some sort of panic attack or breakdown and Ru-Nii being there helping him out of it. Izuku wonders if anyone else in the area has noticed it. Because according to the book, when an event like that happens, it is visible to and affects the Physical Plane. Are there any physical marks left over from it? What does it exactly look like to people on the Physical Plane?

Would the Bakugou’s have noticed? Izuku doesn’t quite remember how far he got before he started moving upward instead of forward. Though, he can’t have gotten too far. Did they notice anything? Did Kacchan notice anything? How long does it take until the event is no longer visible to the Physical Plane? Would it be worth it, and even possible, to fabricate a scenario where a ghost becomes ‘unstable’ enough to interact with the Physical World, but where they’re still calm enough to be able to have a conversation or have contact with anyone from the Physical Plane?

Izuku’s fingers twitch as he’s itching to write all of his thoughts down. He could try to make a notebook and pen appear, like how Jii-San made his cane appear. However, he would probably lose it if he ever lost focus again and started reverting back to how he looked when he died first appeared.

Unfinished business: how to finish it?

A ghost does not form without reason. A ghost is formed because the person still has to do something before they can move on peacefully, and they have enough determination to stay behind on the Astral Plane to do it. This task that a ghost still has to do, is referred to as ‘unfinished business’. As mentioned before, after a ghost has formed it might take them a few hours to a day to remember what happened to them. When they have remembered, a ghost will instinctively know what their unfinished business is.

A ghost’s unfinished business can range from telling someone they love them (even if the other cannot hear it) to watching over a loved one for a while to making sure someone they care about is safe to even wanting to stay behind until someone they absolutely loathe is 6 feet under.

Unfinished business is always something a ghost can do without actively interacting with the Physical Plane. Usually, the time it takes a ghost to finish their unfinished business is short. It typically takes them from a few days to a few weeks, this is partially due to a ghost not needing to eat or sleep and them having no other obligations anymore other than their unfinished business.

Once a ghost has finished their business (once they have done the task which made them stay behind in the Astral Plane) the ghost will move on peacefully, losing the solidity and visibility of their bodies until they are entirely gone from the Astral Plane.

Izuku reads the book from front to back. He absentmindedly notes the sun being up and people passing him on the street. He scoots a bit to the side when someone else, who is decidedly not a ghost, moves to sit on the bench, resulting in Izuku floating in the air in a sitting position next to the bench due to scooting just a bit too far.

Izuku looks a little surprised as he floats there, nervously looking at the ground for a bit, before deciding to shrug it off as another ghost thing he’ll need to get used to. He spares one glance at the person now on the bench, some teen who seems to be trying to gain the favor of the birds in the area by feeding them, before moving his gaze back onto the book.

After a few minutes, the teen sneezes. Izuku, engrossed in the book, reflexively murmurs a quiet “Bless you”. With his mind being preoccupied with reading the book, Izuku almost doesn’t register the absentminded reply of “Thanks” coming from the teen.

Chapter Text

With his mind being preoccupied with reading the book, Izuku almost doesn’t register the absentminded reply of “Thanks” coming from the teen.

Huh?

Both Izuku and the teen freeze in place. Izuku turns to the teen to see them looking around suspiciously before their eyes land on the pigeon in front of them that’s staring up at them. Izuku watches as the teen leans down and starts talking to the pigeon.

“Was that you?”

The pigeon doesn’t blink once as it stares the teen straight in the eyes. The teen gives the pigeon a suspicious look. They look around, their eyes gliding over Izuku as if there’s nothing there before they turn to look at the pigeon again. It’s still staring straight into their soul, not having moved an inch. The teen then whispers to the pigeon.

“It’s alright. I’ll keep your secret”

The teen gives the pigeon a steady nod and the pigeon flies off. Izuku, who was watching the scenario mesmerized, snaps out of it at once. He turns to fully face the teen.

“… Did you just hear me?” Izuku asks the teen hesitantly.

The teen gives no indication of having heard Izuku. They have resumed feeding the birds, currently trying to lure a raven closer to them by making ‘pspsps’ noises and tempting it with some nuts and dried fruit.

“Hello? Can you hear me?” Izuku tries again, now a little bit more insistent.

Once more, the teen doesn’t respond in any way. They give no indication of having heard Izuku.

“Please, just respond. Say something if you can hear me… “

Nothing. He hadn’t imagined it, had he…?

“Please!” Izuku yells out, a little frustrated.

The birds around them fly away and the teen startles. Alarmed, the teen looks around. Their eyes land on Izuku for a split second before they squint, rub their eyes, and, after another glance in Izuku’s direction, shrug before continuing to take in their surroundings.

“You heard me!”

Izuku jumps up and moves in front of the teen, staring at them incredulously. The teen, however, looks right through him again. They continue looking around them for a bit. Not seeing anyone, nor any birds, around them, the teen slowly looks up. While looking up at the sky, the teen quietly speaks up again.

“…God?”

“…What? No! Not god, but a ghost! Me!”

After a few seconds, the teen’s gaze falls from the sky. They shake their head a little before moving their gaze back onto where the birds were earlier.

“Is there someone using their quirk to play a prank on me?” they ask aloud, annoyance and suspicion lacing their voice.

“No, I’m not pranking you! Please tell me you can hear me!”

When the teen doesn’t hear a response they sigh and rub their eyes.

“Man, I guess Kenji-Kun was right, I should’ve gone to bed earlier. Cleary didn’t get enough sleep if I’m starting to hallucinate talking birds, or god speaking to me, or whatever. I thought the hallucinations started after 50 hours of no sleep, not 36. Tch, can’t trust anything on the internet these days… ” They seem to be talking to themself.

The teen stands up and starts walking away, walking right through Izuku without so much as a twitch. Izuku lets out a small yelp as they move through him. He watches them walk off for a second before quickly going after them, hand reaching out to them.

“Wait!”

Whatever just happened with a living person being able to hear him, Izuku currently doesn’t seem to be able to replicate it. After following the teen for a few seconds and talking more to them without getting a reply, Izuku slows down to a stop. He watches as the teen moves further and further away until they walk out of sight by turning a corner. Izuku looks down at his hands. Living people shouldn’t be able to hear him. Not unless he’s feeling a very strong emotion and, as far as Izuku knows, that wasn’t the case… Was it a fluke? Would he be able to replicate the event? Did it have something to do with the teen’s quirk? Or… did it have to do with his own?

Izuku’s quirk finally showing up, but only once he has died? It seems like some kind of cruel joke. Unless his death was some sort of activation requirement for his quirk? Is that even possible?  Alright, let’s say it was his quirk activating. What exactly does his quirk allow him to do? Can he make it so his voice gets carried through the connection to the Physical Plane? Is it just his voice, or can he also interact with the Physical Plane in other ways?

Can he interact with anything or anyone on the Physical Plane, or are there limitations? What limitations does his quirk actually have in general? Does it just allow him to interact with the Physical Plane, or does it also allow him to interact with any other Planes of Existence, if those exist? And what then? If he can interact with the Physical world? What will he do? Can he go back to school? Can he become a hero now that he has a quirk? If it was, indeed, his quirk showing up after almost 8 years of waiting.

Can he be a part of the living world in any capacity? He’s declared legally dead. Would he be able to repeal that or have it reverted to being legally alive somehow? He’s actually, physically, dead though. It’s not as if he has been miraculously brought back to life. He’s still dead just… capable of interacting with the living world despite his body being 6 feet under, unlike other ghosts that have stuck around on the Astral Plane.

But what if he can’t get his legal status reverted? He doubts he can go to school while legally dead. He might even get denied even if he were declared alive again because he is still just… a ghost kid… And how would that work? He’s dead, so it’s not like he can age. Would they let an 11-year-old go to hero school and graduate so he can become a hero?

Izuku shakes his head to snap himself out of it. He’s getting ahead of himself and thinking too much about the what-ifs and going off of hypotheses. First, he should get his facts straight. He needs to see if he can replicate the event and, if so, try to figure out if it’s truly his quirk and if that is also proven to be correct, then he can try and figure out what it does and doesn’t allow him to do. He needs to know the strengths and weaknesses of his quirk and ways to improve it. He should also name it.

Izuku lets out a puff of breath. Time to concentrate. He looks around at the people walking through the streets. If he wants to try and recreate the event, he’d probably need to try to talk to someone to see if they can hear him. But he’d need to find someone who isn’t busy, so he wouldn’t be bothering them too much, and who also would be willing to help him if it happens to work and who won’t freak out and call for an exorcist or something…

Would an exorcist actually work? Can they actually evict or banish spirits? And what about Ouija boards? Do those work? And spirit mediums? Can they actually talk with the people on the Astral Plane? Is that what he is? Some kind of reverse spirit medium? A… living medium? Job title still under review— Because he might be able to communicate with the living? Though, the book never mentioned anything about exorcisms, mediums, et cetera, as far as he has seen. However, the book is based on the knowledge that Jii-San possessed. And while Jii-San has been a ghost for nearly a century, that doesn’t mean that he knows everything. Perhaps he never tested it, or hasn’t thought of it, or hasn’t had the opportunity to try it out yet.

That could be such a useful quirk though. As a ghost, Izuku would be able to infiltrate and spy on villains without any of them knowing he’s there and do information gathering. He might not be able to do anything physically, but he could easily share the information with other heroes or law enforcement. It could also be really useful in certain rescue operations. He could, for example, search for people stuck under debris by simply phasing right through it. Or he could enter burning buildings and other dangerous areas, without any harm coming to himself, to find if there are any survivors left to rescue.

Oh, and— Izuku shakes his head to snap himself out of his thoughts again and puts his hand on his mouth to stop his muttering stream. Nope. Not the point. He shouldn’t let himself get distracted again. He can think of all the ways he can use his quirk to be a hero later. For now, though, Izuku needs to focus and get to work.

He also idly notes he’s still holding Jii-San’s book clutched in his hand. Izuku should probably get a bag or something to carry it in so it’s easier to take along with him and so he can have both of his hands free. After shortly focusing on getting a yellow backpack just like the one he had before to appear, Izuku has it appear on his back within a few seconds. He takes it off to stuff the book inside before putting it back on and continuing on his way.

Not wanting to bother a random stranger on the street, Izuku mentally goes over the still-living people he knows who he might be able to go to so he can test his quirk out. Classmates, year-mates, and teachers from school immediately get crossed off his mental list. He briefly considers the living family he has left, but he doesn’t have any direct family left and the others are so distant he barely even knows about them. The only people he can come up with are auntie Mitsuki and uncle Masaru and… Kacchan…

Izuku thinks about it for a good few seconds before ultimately making the decision to start testing out the other theories he has about his quirk instead. Like whether he can interact with the Physical Plane in other ways rather than just with his voice. He can deal with Kacchan, and let him know he’s still around, later… Much later, preferably, Izuku thinks with a slight grimace as he can already imagine the yelling that would come his way.

The choice made, Izuku starts his journey to try and find another area, which is less populated, to try out some of his theories. While looking for a suitable place, Izuku finds that finding an unpopulated area in the city is hard. He briefly considers going into a remote alley, but quickly dismisses the idea with a shiver after staring at one for a bit too long and feeling the sensation of a bullet entering his skull. He takes a wide berth around it as he continues his search.

Izuku contemplates going into a building, but he’d rather not break into anyone’s house. He also can't really go back home, as it's not really his home anymore... And finding an abandoned building (one that is truly abandoned and not used by anyone else like for example villains, vigilantes, or homeless people) will take a while. Besides, abandoned buildings are usually still owned by someone, and to enter it would be breaking in or trespassing, which Izuku would like to avoid doing if at all possible.

After some time he stumbles upon a trash-covered beach. Ah, Takoba municipal beach park. The once beautiful beach has become a junkyard over the years due to trash in the sea washing up onto the shore and people deciding to add to it with their own trash instead of cleaning it up. Because of this, the public space has become semi-abandoned. It seems like a great place for Izuku to test what he can and cannot do without any prying eyes. At least, that’s what Izuku is hoping for. There shouldn’t be any living people over there, and hopefully, there are no ghosts that he would be bothering at the beach either. At the very least, it wouldn't be considered trespassing for him to be there due to it being a public space.

Chapter Text

It has been a few days since Izuku started trying to interact with the living world. During his testing, he decided to reread the book he got from Jii-San a few times and he started making a few notes in the margins. Izuku made sure to use a pencil so it can be erased, in case Jii-San ever wants the book back. Despite having spent multiple days trying to interact with the living world, Izuku has not had much luck yet.

The good news is that he has interacted with the physical world a few times! Izuku can say with certainty that at some point, likely due to his death, his quirk had finally shown up and it allows him to interact with the living world in different ways. Or maybe it has always been there but he didn’t notice it because he could already interact with the living world because he was, you know, alive…

The bad news is, he can’t reliably control it yet and so far he has only managed to: suddenly stop floating in the air which made him fall into the sea, attract a stray cat towards him with ‘pspsps’ sounds, and scare a raccoon away when he accidentally knocked over the trashcan it was resting in.

Izuku floats above the sea as he stares down at the trash-covered beach. He’s trying to look for a spot that is empty enough so he can do his testing there. But the entire beach seems to be filled to the brim with garbage, so it’s difficult to find a space for him to work.

A clanging noise nearby makes Izuku startle. Before he knows it, he’s suddenly falling. Too out of it to try and catch himself, Izuku falls directly into the sea below. The feeling of cold water shakes him out of it and Izuku immediately starts swimming back up. As soon as he breaks the water's surface, he somehow keeps ‘swimming’ up, into the air, until he’s floating above the sea again. Now completely soaked, because of course his quirk allows him tangibility in the Physical Plane only when it inconveniences him, Izuku stares down at the sea with a betrayed look on his face.

When Izuku later goes on to investigate what the clanging noise, which had drawn his attention in the first place, had been, he comes face to face with a raccoon that has decided to climb into and inhabit an old trashcan someone had dumped on the beach. Izuku, the hero fanboy that he is, decides to call him Mr. Raser, after a relatively unknown underground hero called Eraserhead Izuku has analyzed before.

Izuku lets out a sigh. He has been trying to test his quirk and interact with the living world for 2 days now and so far nothing he has tried has worked. He’s determined to keep trying though. Training any new quirk, especially one which is entirely unknown as it doesn’t even seem similar to one of his parent’s quirks, is difficult. But hey, he already managed to turn gravity on for himself and have some tangibility in the Physical Plane! However accidental it might have been…

Movement in the corner of his eyes draws his attention. Izuku looks to his left to see a black stray cat sitting on top of a broken cabinet. The cat is staring in Izuku’s direction, though not directly at him. As the cat stares right through Izuku, she tilts her head at him. Izuku is unable to resist her adorable face.

Izuku slowly turns his body so he’s facing the cat, but doesn’t move closer. Instead, Izuku holds out his hand and starts quietly making some ‘pspsps’ noises to try and have the cat move closer to him so he can pet her. After trying for almost a minute without any luck, the cat staying completely still in her spot the entire time, Izuku is about to give up when the cat twitches her ear. Holding his breath, which isn’t really all that hard considering he doesn’t need it anymore, Izuku stays still as he continues ‘pspsps’ing. Slowly but surely the cat starts moving in his direction.

Once the cat is close enough, she starts batting at his hand and moving her head into it, clearly demanding pets. Izuku mentally names the cat Boo, quite obviously in reference to his own ghostliness. Though no matter how much Izuku tries to comply with Boo’s demands, his hand moves right through her. He cannot pet her, no matter how much the small and demanding ‘mew’ Boo lets out makes him want to. After a few minutes, the cat, seemingly put off by the fact she isn’t gaining any pets, turns around and leaves the beach. Izuku watches her leave, mentally wishing Boo a farewell for now.

Izuku makes his way through the garbage, somewhat glad for being intangible to physical objects so he can easily go through everything. The small cleared spot on the beach he had been using up until now is currently occupied by someone else.

To Izuku’s surprise, a girl his age with pink hair styled into dreadlocks and wearing oil-stained overalls had entered the area he was using while he was writing some more notes down in the margins of the ghost book. The girl proceeded to pick up random pieces of scrap metal and broken electronics from the trash on the beach and stuff them into her bag, occasionally whispering to herself about how they would be perfect for her “babies” or something.

Izuku had decided to leave her be and went to look for another spot to continue his testing, which is what he’s currently doing. Izuku scans the area around him as he’s moving, trying to see if he can find a clearing that’s big enough. The fact he could just float above the trash, instead of going through it, has not occurred to Izuku. Spotting a promising space a little further ahead, Izuku starts moving quicker. He doesn’t pay attention to the stuff he is moving through. Without warning, he abruptly hits a trashcan he was about to move through. With a yelp, Izuku falls down only to make a head roll in the air. He quickly rightens his body again.

The trashcan he had slammed into falls down with a large clang. The raccoon, which had been sleeping inside the trashcan during the fall, and was the raccoon which was recently dubbed Mr. Raser, lets out a screeching noise as he runs out of the trashcan. Mr. Raser looks around for a bit but, after seeing nothing, proceeds with running away from the scene.

“Oh no, Mr. Raser! I’m sorry!” Izuku yells after the raccoon.

The raccoon doesn’t turn around or show any sign of having heard Izuku. Instead, Mr. Raser keeps running until he’s far away from the beach, out of Izuku’s sight. Izuku watches as Mr. Raser leaves, a sad and guilt-ridden expression on his face.

Izuku looks down at the notes he has made so far. There are quite a lot. Margins and pages of the ghost book are filled with different test results, questions, theories, etc. Izuku starts working on the basis of his quirk and what he knows about it out, writing down all the information in a neat and concise quirk description.

Quirk: (to be determined)

The quirk allows the user to interact with the Physical Plane when they are in the Astral Plane in various different ways.

Interactive abilities include:

• Audibility in the Physical Plane
• Tangibility in the Physical Plane
• Being affected by gravity (as opposed to only being able to float in the Astral Plane)

More information is required for a full analysis.

Possible abilities which require further testing and evaluation:

• Visibility in the Physical Plane
• Bodily functions working (as those don’t work anymore once the user has entered the Astral Plane)
  • Heartbeat
    • Blood flow
  • Breathing
  • Gaining injuries
  • Body temperature
  • Getting ill
  • Gaining/Expending energy
    • Eating
    • Sleeping
    • Exhaustion/Fatigue
• Ability to interact with other Planes of Existence
  • NOTE: This might be difficult to test, as there is no current proof of there being any other Planes of Existence

Izuku lets out a sigh. There’s still so much he doesn’t know about his quirk and what he can and cannot do with it. Everything is still kind of surreal to him if he’s being completely honest. He died, became a ghost, and, in the process, activated his quirk after years of just… nothing… After years filled with doubt that he even really had a quirk in the first place… After giving up hope on his lifelong dream of becoming a hero… He finally has somewhat of a chance… And there is no way he will give up now.

Izuku grabs his yellow bag, which he has put aside, and opens it up. After stuffing the ghost book, which also contains his notes, and the pencil he conjured inside of it, he closes the bag and puts it on. Izuku decides to try and take a small break. His current way of testing out his quirk hasn’t really been working out much, so perhaps he should take a break and, afterward, try a different approach. When contemplating on what he should do, or whom he should visit or hang out with, Izuku realizes it’s been almost a week since he’s seen Ru-nii. He’d also like to see Jii-San again, to ask him some more questions about the book (and if Izuku can keep it or if Jii-San would like it back). However, Izuku doesn’t have any clue where he could find Jii-San.

He visited the graveyard a few times in between his tests, but he hasn’t been able to find Jii-San there again. Izuku hopes everything is fine… Either way, he does know where to find Ru-nii, however. Hopefully… If Ru-Nii hasn’t left the street he told Izuku he’d be at… He shouldn’t have, so that’s where Izuku decides to go first. And if he isn’t able to find Ru-Nii there later… Well, then that’s a problem for future Izuku, he decides.

As Izuku makes his way through the streets, fairly sure he’s going in the right direction, the sky starts darkening. As the night starts to fall upon the city, the amount of people on the streets is lessening. The crowds are thinning until there are only a few more people left. Those few people are also clearly on their way home. In seemingly no time at all, the once-busy street is practically deserted. No being, living or otherwise, except for Izuku, around.

Some rustling coming from an alley draws Izuku’s attention. He stops moving. Dread fills him as he’s looking into the alley. Izuku swallows and takes some deep needless breaths to try and calm himself. There’s no need to investigate the noise. He should just move on. Izuku nods to himself and is about to do so when another noise coming from the alley stops him. This time it’s a quiet whimper. Izuku’s body is stiff. He should just go. He should move on. He can’t go back in. But there might be someone in there who needs help. And while Izuku might not be able to do much, he can’t just leave without making sure whoever it is, is alright.

Because that’s what a hero would do. A hero helps people, and Izuku wants to help people. He wants to be a hero. And so, Izuku makes his decision as he wipes the tears from his eyes. Swallowing his emotions for now, a slightly trembling Izuku starts making his way into the alley slowly, ignoring the feeling of a hand on his face. He surveys his surroundings carefully as he enters the alley.

“… Hello? Is anyone there?” he calls out hesitantly.

Izuku waits for a few seconds. No response. After taking another good look around the alley and seeing the blood drip from the bullet wound in his mom’s arm not seeing anything, he quickly turns back around, ready to leave the alley. He assumes he must’ve imagined it.

As he’s about to leave, a small hand grabs onto his sleeve. Izuku freezes at once. He slowly turns to look behind him. Shocked green eyes catch sight of a little girl in pajamas, staring up at Izuku with teary fearful brown eyes.

A/N

Hi, there! Just needed to put an author's note here to show you all some amazing drawings of characters in the fic made, once again, by @CalmboyL on Twitter

First off is this gorgeous drawing of Akari ^^

I absolutely love the way CalmboyL drew her :)

And here is a beautiful drawing of how CalmboyL pictured Izuku to look in this fic ^^

I have to say, this looks very accurate to how I myself pictured Izuku in the fic

I absolutely love both drawings, so again, thank you so much CalmboyL!! <3

Here are the links to the drawings on Twitter:

Akari: https://twitter.com/CalmboyL/status/1619690830561955840?s=20&t=6b3YYxHVHpOwOMsQELYvoQ

Izuku: https://twitter.com/CalmboyL/status/1620905163274985472?s=20&t=6b3YYxHVHpOwOMsQELYvoQ 

Chapter Text

As he’s about to leave, a small hand grabs onto his sleeve. Izuku freezes at once. He slowly turns to look behind him. Shocked green eyes catch sight of a little girl in pajamas, staring up at Izuku with teary fearful brown eyes.

Izuku and the little girl stare at each other for a bit. The girl carefully lets go of his sleeve and takes a nervous step back. She’s trembling and almost trips as she moves backward. Izuku reflexively reaches out for her in an attempt to help and steady her, ignoring the fact that the girl can both touch and see him for now. The sudden motion makes the girl flinch and Izuku quickly brings up his hands in front of him to show her he means no harm.

“It— It’s alright. I— I won’t hurt you!” He tells her, hoping she’s able to hear him.

He crouches down a little, and he’s actually touching the ground, what so he’s on the same eye level as the girl. The girl looks to be around 6 or 7 years old. She has black hair with brown eyes. She’s wearing a pink set of pajamas with a strawberry pattern on them and dirty socks, but no shoes. Her hair is quite messy and her eyes are watery and red. There are some leftover tear tracks on her cheeks.

“Are you alright? Are you hurt anywhere? Do you need any help?” Izuku tilts his head as he asks her. She doesn’t seem injured from what he has observed, but she might be hiding an injury or pain.

The girl doesn’t verbally respond at first. She fiddles with her sleeves and bites her bottom lip. She glances around a bit, seemingly trying to see if there’s anyone else in the area. While doing so, she shifts anxiously from foot to foot. Not seeing anyone, she looks back at Izuku and takes an uncertain step toward him. Izuku stays in place. The girl looks like she wants to say something but is clearly hesitating. Izuku decides to speak up again.

“It’ll be okay. Let me help you, I’ll do whatever I can”

The girl finally seems to have gathered the courage to speak, though her voice sounds slightly hesitant.

“My uncle, he— his friend stopped by and— and I went to bed cause it was bedtime, and they were drinking and it— And then they came upstairs and— I thought Ji-San came to tell me a bedtime story, like daddy always does, but— “

The girl suddenly cuts herself off as she starts quietly sobbing. She gasps for breaths and tries to wipe the tears from her face. It’s clear she’s trying to stop herself from crying, perhaps to seem less weak or vulnerable. Izuku moves a little closer, still crouched down, but makes sure not to touch her. He really wants to hug her right now, cause hugs always make things better, but he refrains, remembering how she flinched back from him earlier. He speaks up.

“Hey, hey, it’s alright. You don’t have to tell me what happened if it makes you sad or uncomfortable. Just let me know how I can help”

The girl slightly calms down and Izuku takes that as a sign to continue talking.

“You mentioned your uncle, do you need help finding him?”

As soon as the sentence leaves his mouth, the girl flinches back again. With wide panicked eyes, she quickly shakes her head. Her breathing has quickened again as well. At her bad reaction, Izuku immediately brings up his hands in front of him again and starts backtracking.

“Okay, no uncle! We’ll stay away from the uncle. Uh, did you run away from him? Are you hiding from him?”

She gives him a hesitant nod.

“Do you need help hiding? Or getting away?”

Another nod.

“Alright, okay. Uhm, we should probably get you to a police station. But those might not be open at this time… Maybe we can go to your parents first then? And then we can call the police. Cause I don’t have a phone on me. And I doubt you have one with you. Uh, do you know where your parents are?” He slightly rambles, showing his nervousness.

The little girl shakes her head and sniffs.

“They’re— They’re not here. They’re on a trip…”

“Oh. Uhh—“ Izuku says, eloquently.

The girl interrupts whatever he is about to say as she sniffs again, more tears falling from her eyes.

“I just want mommy and daddy to be back,” she says in a tiny voice.

Izuku is about to speak up, but the moment gets interrupted by yelling echoing down the street.

“Cho-Chan! Where are you?”

“Come back here, you useless brat!”

At the sound of the voices, the little girl lets out a tiny squeak and panics. She looks around frantically, seemingly trying to find something to hide behind, before just grabbing onto Izuku’s shirt and hiding behind him. She peeks out behind him, out of the alley, and towards the voices, with terrified eyes. She pulls him with her a little further back into the shadows of the alley. He’s being pulled backward, into the alley.

Izuku quickly shakes himself out of it and takes a steadying breath. He glances at the girl and, after standing back up, moves with her as she pulls him along into the darkness, before moving his gaze toward where the voices came from.

In the distance he can see 2 older men, somewhere in their 30s, walking around while clearly looking for something… or someone. One of the men has a slight resemblance to the girl behind Izuku, with his black hair that’s neatly combed back with a few strands that have fallen loose. He’s probably the girl’s uncle that she had mentioned. The other man doesn’t look like either of them, with bright red hair, a long beard, and bright yellow eyes without a pupil or sclera, that shine like flashlights where he’s looking. Probably the uncle’s friend. They both seem to be slightly drunk as they stumble around, the black-haired man more frantic than the other.

“Cho-Chan! Come on now, let’s go back home! Stop this rebellious little game of yours! I know you’re hiding somewhere…”

The uncle is yelling through the streets as he checks another alley a bit away from where Izuku and the girl are. He’s looking through the alley, knocking over a broken broom handle that someone had put there and almost tripping over a trash bag. The other man stands at his side, providing them light and also looking around for someone. They’re talking to each other, voices loud enough for Izuku and the girl, Cho, to hear.

“I thought this was going to be some fun night. But that useless little brat of yours just had to run away” The red-haired man hisses at his companion.

“It’s not my brat, she’s my sister’s,” the uncle grumbles, “Besides, I wasn’t expecting the back door to be fucking open. I told you to lock it behind you”

“You’re the one to let go of her after she punched you in the nuts, Osamu. Like, please. It can’t have been that painful. The brat’s quirkless” His friend bites back.

Izuku’s heart skips a beat as he hears the end of the sentence. 

“Just help me find her, asshole!”

The friend just curses under his breath before continuing the search.

“Come now, Cho-Chan! You know how fragile you are. You shouldn’t have run off like this. Now, come back to uncle Osamu and all will be forgiven! We’ll take good care of you…” the uncle continues.

“We just wanted to… play a game!” The friend adds on.

Cho lets out a quiet whimper and her hold on Izuku’s shirt tightens, almost becoming restrictive. Her body is trembling and Izuku feels her bury her face in his back, the soaking of his shirt indicating tears as well. Izuku, however, is completely frozen. He doesn’t move his gaze from the men. After clearly having found nothing in that alley, the men leave and start moving closer to the alley Izuku and Cho are in. The uncle continues his yelling through the street.

“Your parents would be very disappointed if they found out their poor little daughter ran away from home after they explicitly told her to be good for her uncle. And we don’t want mommy and daddy to be disappointed, now do we?! But I won’t tell them if you stop your little hiding game and come back with me. It’ll be our little secret. Just be a good little girl, and come back to Ji-San”

Izuku looks back at Cho. She lifts her head from Izuku’s back and makes eye contact, staring up at him. Her eyes are still glistening with tears.

“I can’t—“ Cho quietly begins but she cuts herself off, squeezing her eyes closed and shaking her head.

The plan had been to find a police station that’s hopefully open or a phone booth or something to call the police. But it’s clear to Izuku that they won’t be able to leave without attracting the attention of the men. Izuku takes a deep and calming breath and tries to stop his own body from trembling as he evaluates his options. He also briefly thanks whatever deity is out there that he is still interacting with the Physical Plane, and that he can help this terrified little girl clinging to his shirt, before nodding to himself with a decision made.

Izuku gently holds onto Cho as he starts slowly moving the both of them behind a large dumpster on the side of the alley, so they’re better out of sight while keeping his eyes on the men. Once he’s sure the men aren’t going to be able to see or notice them, Izuku turns back to the little girl again, crouching a little to get back to her eye level again.

Izuku is slightly out of his depth. He’s just an 11-year-old who died not too long ago, who just found out he had a quirk and is still trying to gain control over it, and has only just gained the hope back that he might be able to become a hero after all. Even after having given up his hopes and dreams back when he got a reality check from his hero… From the hero. But he’ll do anything within his power to make sure the little girl is safe. He might not be a hero, but he can be hers.

“I’ll have to get rid of them first, get them away from here or restricted somehow. Then you’ll be able to get somewhere safe, try and find a phone, and call the police who’ll be able to contact your parents” as he whispers, more to himself than to Cho, Izuku starts moving to stand up straight again.

However, Cho tugs him back down and vehemently shakes her head. She hugs him tightly around his middle, to prevent him from moving, and looks up at him with tears in her eyes.

“We should just go, we should run, we can’t—“ her panicked whispers are interrupted by Izuku shaking his head and speaking up again.

“If we move they’ll see us, and there’s no way to quietly sneak out of here without being heard either. They’ll be able to find us both in no time. But, whether I succeed at getting them away or restricting them or not, I can at least buy you some time to run”

“But… you’re just a kid too… ” she says quietly, her voice having a defeated tone.

“I’ll be fine,” Izuku says, determined.

“Please, please don’t go” she whispers to him.

Izuku gently tugs her arms loose so he can crouch down to her height again. He takes one of her hands in both of his, while she uses the other to try and wipe at her tears and to try and keep herself quiet so her uncle and his friend don’t hear. Izuku gives her a reassuring smile before quietly speaking up again.

“Don’t worry, I’ll spook them.”

Chapter Text

Izuku gives her a reassuring smile before quietly speaking up again.

“Don’t worry, I’ll spook them.”

Izuku lets go of Cho’s hand and straightens back up. He turns around and carefully gets out from behind the dumpster. Taking care to be as quiet as possible. He silently slips off his backpack and puts it down next to the wall of the alley. Having it on him right now would only hinder him. He then starts making his way out of the alley, trying to come up with a plan. As he’s moving, Izuku’s feet leave the ground, causing him to float a few inches off the ground again. He then wills himself to disappear, to become invisible. He mentally (and physically) crosses his fingers. He hears a small gasp coming from behind, and he hears the quiet voice of Cho.

“Ghost…”

Izuku assumes it must’ve worked, and mentally celebrates for a second before shaking his head to clear his mind. He needs to focus. He’s in desperate need of a plan. To start, Izuku should probably know how much of a threat these men are. He begins by trying to analyze their quirks. The red-haired man’s quirk is the more obvious of the two. Simply put, his eyes shine like flashlights. It is currently unclear whether or not he can turn the lights off in any way or if he’s stuck with his eyes always shining. There also might be more to the quirk than just the lights, though it seems unlikely to Izuku at the moment.

The uncle’s quirk, however, is more difficult to determine. Izuku should have probably asked Cho what she knows about his quirk, but the thought honestly hadn’t crossed his mind at that moment. So Izuku will have to figure it out on his own. Family members often have similar quirks, and even the quirkless can have minor genetic mutations passed onto them. Cho is quirkless, but she has no genetic mutations from what Izuku saw. The uncle also has none from what he can see.

This means that the uncle, who isn’t quirkless based on the context of the conversation Izuku overheard (unless he’s extremely hypocritical), is most likely an early-generation quirk user with either an emitter or transformation-type quirk. He also doesn’t have any type of light or night vision-based quirk, seeing as he’s relying on his friend and the lampposts to search around for Cho in the dark. In addition to this— Izuku’s analysis shutters to a stop as the uncle speaks up to his friend.

“She’s close by, I can still feel her heartbeat in the area. She can’t be too far”

Well… That helped Izuku immensely in his analysis… The uncle most likely has some kind of locator or radar quirk based on what Izuku can understand. Probably no enhanced hearing, as the uncle mentioned ‘feeling’ Cho’s heartbeat, not hearing it, and he also luckily hadn’t heard him and Cho before in the alley.

Izuku considers the men, thinking about what they did to Cho. What they tried, but luckily failed, to do to her. What they were planning to do, to a young child. To not just any child, but a family member. A child who relied on and trusted her uncle to keep her safe. A child whose trust was shattered as her uncle tried to use it against her to do something abhorrent to her…

Izuku is filled with a feeling of justified rage.

Osamu will kill the little brat once he finally finds her. She just had to punch him in the nuts, of which the phantom pains are still present when he thinks about it. Then the brat ran away through the backdoor that Hansuke left oh so conveniently open despite Osamu telling him to lock it behind him beforehand. He takes a deep breath to try and calm himself a little. He needs to find his niece. Oh if her mother ever found out about this he’ll be flayed, so he’ll have to make sure the little brat keeps her goddamn mouth shut.

Osamu grumbles to himself as he walks closer to the next alley to look for Cho-Chan. He should’ve taken Hansuke‘s advice. Drugging the brat would’ve been so much easier than having to deal with all of this.  He’s about to round the corner of the next alley, Hansuke following right behind him when a sound catches his attention. He looks toward the sound to see a knocked-over traffic cone on the other side of the street.

Next to it, is a small figure, though the figure is standing too far from a lantern to properly make out details with the darkness from this time of night. Osamu takes a step closer to the figure and examines it. It’s about the size of a child. Their head seems to be pointed down as if the child is hanging their head and looking at the ground. As Osamu squints at it to try and get a better look, Hansuke turns to look at the shadow as well, causing his eyes to shine right at it. The bright light doesn’t seem to make the figure any clearer, however.

“What the fuck is that?” Hansuke mumbles to himself, sounding perplexed.

“Hey, can you turn your damn headlights off for a sec? I can’t see shit” Osamu hisses at his companion.

Hansuke turns an annoyed gaze right towards him, temporarily blinding him for a few seconds as the light is now shining right into his eyes. Osamu blinks a few times to clear his vision while his friend responds.

“I can’t see anything beyond some freaky shadowy shit either, and I can actually see with this light on. So I don’t know what you’re hoping to accomplish but sure mate” He rolls his eyes at the end of the sentence, the light making an arch in the sky, before closing them.

Osamu doesn’t deign that worthy of any response other than a slight scoff. He turns to look back at the shadow, which is still in the exact same place as before and tries to get a better look at it. Is that a child he sees? Osamu lets out a scoff. He quietly hisses at Hansuke that “it’s the brat” and to “keep quiet”. He gains a nod in return and then turns back to the shadow to speak up.

“Have you finally come to your senses, Cho-Chan? Look, I’m sorry about earlier. I didn’t mean to scare you. I just wanted to… teach you this new game that I learned! Now, come back to Ji-San and we’ll go back home. We can forget about this defiant behavior of yours and leave it all behind us. Does that sound like a deal?”

Osamu takes a step forward and holds his arms out towards the shadow expectantly. He gets no verbal response. Instead, the head of the shadow slowly lifts up until the figure is staring straight at him. In the spaces where the eyes are supposed to be, are two green glowing dots, staring straight at him. A buzzing starts to fill the air as the figure starts growing— extending— upwards until it’s looming over Osamu and his friend.

Around them, dark, static-like particles start forming in the air. The lampposts in the area are violently flickering and the poles themselves seem to be shaking. An inexplicable feeling of dread starts to form inside Osamu as he stares at the shadow. Osamu is frozen in place. Something dark and wet starts dripping from the shadow’s supposed head and onto the ground. Osamu takes a quick glance at the ground where it landed to see that it is indeed blood before his eyes snap back onto the figure.

“Yo, what’s the holdup, Osa—”

A bright light shines upon the figure in front of them, which was closer than before— And when did it even get closer to them?— But he suddenly wishes Hansuke had kept his eyes fucking shut.

“What the fuck, what the fuck, whatthefuuuuuuuuuuck?...” Hansuke whispers from right beside him.

While most of the figure’s body still seems to be shrouded by some kind of distortion and darkness, the face had become clear to them. The face of a young child is staring right into their souls. The child’s eyes are glowing a radioactive green, and the child seems to be crying blood. The child has a blank expression. No smile, no grimace, just a blank face. It seems worse, somehow. Osamu feels the desperate need to run away. To get far away from whatever the fuck this, this thing, is. He tells his body to move. MOVE, DAMN IT— but his body stays frozen in place, not even twitching at the mental command.

Osamu and Hansuke can only watch in horror as a bullet wound starts forming on the child’s face, right in the middle of the child’s forehead. Osamu thinks he can see a few pieces of bone in the wound. He feels like he could throw up. The figure leans in closer, their face now hovering right above Osamu’s, who has to crane his neck to keep his gaze on the face. His head hurts. His vision wavers. Osamu’s quirk is telling him that the only people in the area are Hansuke next to him, and Cho somewhere close by. It’s not a person. It can’t be a person. But he does feel something else in its place. It doesn’t feel like a heartbeat, however. This feels dark… cold… empty…

For a split second, Osamu thinks his mind is playing tricks on him. It’s probably some sort of illusion. Someone distracting him with the use of a quirk or something. But that thought leaves him as soon as he feels the breath of the child on his face. This is no illusion. He wants to scream, but it’s stuck in his throat. Osamu desperately wants to look away but no matter how much he tries, he can’t. He’s just stuck in place while watching this horrifying display that his mind can’t seem to properly comprehend.

The figure looks down at Osamu’s terrified eyes unblinkingly. A drop of blood drips from the figure’s face right onto his. Bile makes its way up his throat but he forces it back down. Meanwhile, he can guess from the smell of pee coming from beside him and Hansuke can’t quite handle what he’s witnessing either. The buzzing from before has now slowly morphed into a loud ringing noise.

It had begun very quietly and easy to ignore, like a sound you don’t know is there until it’s gone. But the noise had been steadily climbing in volume, now being loud enough to drown out any other noise from the surrounding area. Only a quiet voice manages to break through the deafening ringing noise invading their ears. A voice belonging to a young child, that he’s certain will haunt him in his nightmares for decades to come.

“L̵̩̰̦̰͖̀͂̈e̵̱̞̹̗̻͆̈́̑a̸̗̝̬̚͜v̸̠̣͉͋̅̓͊͠e̵̛̬̱͂̓͝ ̷̛͙̫Ç̸̩̹̂̀ḩ̸̮͕̈́̉̏̈́͠ò̷̧̢̧̺̟̿ ̷̲͕̈́̐̑â̵̧͇͛͌̈͝l̷̫̳͛̾̂ȯ̵̠̪̩̥̱͈̓͑͝n̴̜̫̹͎̳͑̓̌̈́̿̚ͅè̶̡͙̱͘.̵̢̧̱̰̙̙̾͌̏͋”

(Leave Cho alone.)

The floor seems to sway beneath his feet as the world goes dark around him. The last thing Osamu knows is the stinging pain he feels in his head as it hits the concrete. Next to him, the body of his friend also hits the ground.

Izuku’s head clears. The static and shadows disappear and the ringing sound quiets. Izuku starts floating down until he is once again floating only a few inches above the ground. He also changes back to his uninjured appearance. He looks down at where Cho’s uncle and his friend are passed out in the street. Izuku scratches his head sheepishly. He had only meant to cause a distraction for Cho, not to knock them out…

He lets out a small sigh. Oh well, they deserved it. And it’s not like he hurt them too bad or anything, they only got hurt when they fell onto the ground from passing out. The only thing Izuku did to them was just… scare them a little. With a small shake of his head, he leans over the uncle’s body and proceeds to fish his phone out of his pocket. At least he can call the police now.

Izuku hears some shuffling and moves his gaze up to watch as Cho carefully comes out from behind the dumpster. Huh, he’d thought she’d run away while he was causing the distraction. Perhaps she wanted to make sure he was alright, she did seem awfully worried for him when he left her… The thought makes Izuku feel warm.

He watches as Cho hesitantly approaches the unconscious bodies on the floor. She nudges her uncle’s head with her foot. He doesn’t react in any way. Cho pauses before taking a few more steps and then kicking her uncle hard in the crotch. A quiet groan leaves his mouth. Cho has a tiny victorious smile on her face, clearly proud of herself. She then looks back up at Izuku and proceeds to fling herself at him.

Izuku catches her with a small yelp as she crashes into him, wrapping her arms around his middle and burying her face in his shirt. A stream of “thankyouthankyouthankyou” enters his hearing, occasionally interrupted by some sniffing. Izuku wraps his own arms around Cho in return. He’s glad she doesn’t seem to have been affected by whatever he just did to scare those men. Or perhaps she did see and hear it, but just wasn’t afraid? Either way, Izuku is glad she’s alright. Cho moves her head back to look up at his face. Her teary eyes meet Izuku’s own.

“Why did you help me? You could have just walked away, or vanished, but you didn’t. You stopped him. Why did you—” She cuts herself off with another sniff before continuing.

“Even after you found out I… that I don’t have a… that I’m quirkless. You still…”

Cho is unable to bring herself to say anything else.

“No matter what anyone else says. No matter what life throws at you. Quirk or no quirk, it doesn’t matter. You’re still worth saving, Cho.”

 In response, she just starts sobbing harder. She buries her face back into his shirt. Izuku just holds her tight, comforting her. As he gently rubs her back, he speaks up again.

“I’ll go call the police now to come help us. Alright?”

Cho nods and lets go of him so can Izuku can use the phone he took earlier. Izuku takes out the phone and proceeds to call the police. They pick up and Izuku starts explaining the situation to them, saying he came across a little girl who had run away from her uncle, who had been looking after her tonight, after he had tried to SA her. Izuku also mentions that the uncle and his friend are currently passed out on the ground next to him and that the little girl is safe and with him as well.

When asked how the men got knocked out, Izuku hesitates before vaguely mentioning they “got scared by something, anyway—“. Izuku quickly tells them the location after glancing at a nearby street sign. After getting a confirmation that the police are on their way, Izuku immediately hangs up the phone. He puts it on the ground by the uncle’s body. Izuku then turns to Cho.

“The police are on their way. We should stay here to wait for them, they’ll be here soon.” He tells her.

Cho nods in response. It’s silent for a little while until Cho speaks up curiously.

“Are you a ghost?”

Izuku lets out a small chuckle.

“You could say I’m a Spook” he jokes, unaware that this response would have consequences.

Just as he opens his mouth to say something else, he gets cut off by Cho.

“Spook? Where did you go?...” she asks, confusion clear in her voice as she looks around for him.

“Cho? I’m right here—“ 

He tries to put a hand on her shoulder but instead, his hand goes right through.

“Spook?…”

She looks around with a slightly lost expression. Izuku can do nothing but watch as Cho decides to sit down and hug her knees to her chest. She does what she’s told and stays to wait for the police. She’s looking down with a sorrowful expression. Izuku sits down next to her, still floating above the ground, and waits with her for the police to show up. All the while staying right by her side, whether she’s aware of it or not…

Chapter Text

Izuku feels exhausted, whatever he just did to scare Cho’s uncle and his friend really drained him. He’s also kinda dizzy. But he makes sure to stay right by Cho’s side the entire time while they’re waiting for the police to arrive. The police and an ambulance arrive a few minutes after the call. Cho’s uncle and his friend, who have both luckily stayed unconscious the entire time, get loaded into the ambulance.

After the medical team is done checking Cho for injuries, she is deemed unharmed, if a bit shaken. She then gets led into the police car so she can be taken to the station so they can contact her parents and ask her a few questions. Izuku also approaches one of the officers and tries to speak up. However, none of the people who show up at the scene pay Izuku any mind. The officer he’s trying to talk to cuts him off by walking right through him, making his form shudder.

He lets out a dejected sigh. Whatever made him audible, tangible, and visible before, is clearly not working anymore. He should have better control over his quirk by now, he thinks to himself. Izuku fiddles with the pin on his shirt. He debates whether she should go with Cho to the station or not. While he’d like to make sure that she’ll be alright, he can’t really do much. He’s unable to become get his quirk to work again at the moment. So what could he really do to help right now? Besides, Cho is going to be taken back to the station. She’s in good hands. She’s safe now…

He lets out a small sigh. Decision made, Izuku moves into the police car where Cho is currently sitting. He gives her a last, ghostly, hug before moving back and whispering a quiet goodbye to her, despite knowing she won’t be able to hear him. Afterward, he makes his way back out of the car, missing the way Cho’s shoulders relax minimally, and her quiet response of “Bye-bye, Spook. Thank you…”

Izuku turns and watches as the ambulance and the police car with Cho leave the scene, leaving him, and a few officers that are examining the scene, behind. He keeps his eyes on the car until it moves out of his sight. He then turns and moves back to the alley where he left his backpack. Can’t forget that. As Izuku glances at the spot where he left his backpack, he sees it floating in the air, for some reason.

Perhaps because it was not an actual physical object but a part of his ghostly appearance. So when gravity was no longer working on him, that extended to his backpack. This would also explain why the officers examining the scene aren’t seeing the bag, it’s because Izuku is currently invisible as well. Or well, that’s what Izuku theorizes. He puts his backpack back on. Izuku had almost forgotten that he was on his way to Ru-Nii before he got distracted by a noise coming from the alley. He should probably get moving gain. Izuku has a lot to tell him. And so, he starts making his way to the street Ru-Nii mentioned before again.

At the police station…

Naomasa really wishes he had a strong cup of coffee right about now. It’s 3 am, he’s stuck on the night shift, and a new case just opened up. He stares down at the little girl in front of him, the victim in the aforementioned case. Cho Hatanaka. Age: 6. Height: 115cm (3’9”). Quirk: None.

Hatanaka’s parents have already been contacted and informed of the situation. After explaining what happened, both were reasonably concerned and worried for their daughter. The mother, however, seemed to become livid after being told what her brother and his friend tried to do. When she started listing all the ways she’d make her brother regret being brought into existence, Naomasa wisely decided to tune out of the conversation until she was done.

Hatanaka’s parents had then informed him that they would be there as soon as they could, which would probably be in a few hours if they manage to take the first plane home at 4 am and if they don’t break any traffic laws when driving from the airport to the station.

Naomasa relayed the information to Hatanaka and had also given her the phone for a little bit, so she could talk to her parents. It seemed to have done wonders to calm her down. Hatanaka seemed a little bit nervous and withdrawn at first, but now, after having talked with her parents and sitting ready with a blanket around her and a cup of hot chocolate in her hands, she was luckily being cooperative when asked questions about what happened.

According to Hatanaka, her parents are currently on a business trip and they had left her in her uncle’s care in the meantime. However, her uncle and his friend had… bad intentions, Naomasa notes as he glances at the transcript of the call. Hatanaka had managed to get away by punching her uncle in the crotch, “Because that’s what mommy said I should do if there are bad men.” Afterward, she ran away from the house. Her uncle and his friend, however, had chased after her. Luckily, she was able to get far away for a bit and hide successfully in an alley. Hatanaka had then managed to get someone’s attention who “took care of it,” in her own words, before the police were called and here she was.

Naomasa makes sure he has everything written down. While Naomasa now has a general outline of the situation, there are still a few mysteries about the case that need to be resolved. Like the fact that the men were knocked out at the scene, and the mysterious caller wasn’t at the scene when they arrived. So, to get some answers, he needed to ask her some more pointed questions.

“Do you know the person that called the police?” Naomasa starts off.

“Why? He’s not in trouble, is he?” Hatanaka says, a hint of hesitance in her voice.

“Not necessarily…” Naomasa hesitates to elaborate.

Telling Hatanaka that the person who called might be in trouble because he might have broken the law while helping her, will probably result in her not sharing what she knows. On the other hand, outright lying to her would also be a bad idea. He gets the feeling that if he lied to Hatanaka, she’d know.

“We’d just like to make sure that he’s alright after what happened, and we’d like to ask him some questions too.” He decides on saying.

Hatanaka gives him a contemplating look. She seems to be judging his worth. Naomasa just keeps quiet as she stares him down. After a few seconds, she must’ve approved of his answer, as she just nods at him before speaking up again.

“Spook called,” Hatanaka states, not elaborating in the slightest.

“Spook?” Naomasa questioned, hoping she’ll give him something more to work with. From the sound of it, she most likely had contact with either: a very new and relatively unknown hero that broke protocol by leaving the victim alone after a rescue, or she was saved by a new vigilante. And while Naomasa desperately hopes it’s the former, not wanting to deal with a vigilante case, he suspects with dread that it’s the latter.

Hatanaka shrugs, only replying with “He said he’s Spook.” Before taking a sip of her hot chocolate.

“Right…” Naomasa takes a quick note before continuing, “Can you tell me more about him? Like what he looked like?”

Hatanaka seems to think for a moment.

“He was taller than me, and he had dark hair,” She says after a little while.

“Anything else you might have noticed? Like what he was wearing? Or maybe you could take a guess on his age? Even if you think something might not be important, every little detail could help us”

“Hmmm,” Hatanaka thinks it over for a few more seconds.

“Oh! He was wearing shoes!” She says proudly. “And he was older than me! I think…”

Naomasa nods as he notes it down. He almost feels like Hatanaka might be purposely holding back information, but then shrugs the thought off. She hasn’t lied so far, according to his quirk, and she might still just be a little nervous. Besides, it had been dark out and she probably didn’t pay too much mind to her savior’s appearance, probably being more focused on staying away from her uncle. He decides to ask some different questions about this ‘Spook’.

“Do you know why Spook was not at the scene when we arrived? Did he leave you there alone?”

“He disappeared.”

“Did you see which way he went?”

“Nooooo, he disappeared. He was there and then he wasn’t,” she says, the statement ringing true to his quirk. Hatanaka’s tone tells him she thinks he said something dumb and is now trying to explain it more clearly to him. Naomasa coughs, trying not to feel embarrassed. He takes some quick notes, some of which are theories on ‘Spook’s quirk.

According to Hatanaka, ‘Spook’ disappeared from the spot. This could point to a few different types of quirks: an invisibility or camouflage quirk, perhaps some type of transportation or teleportation quirk, or maybe even some kind of projection or duplication quirk. After he’s done writing, Naomasa continues his questioning, changing it up slightly from where he left off.

“How did your uncle and his friend get knocked out?”

“Spook said he’d distract them so I could run…“ Hatanaka begins, “So he scared them.”

She pauses before adding, “It wasn’t really scary, to be honest. But Ji-San was being a scaredy-cat.”

Hatanaka looks Naomasa right in the eyes as she speaks with full conviction.

“He was weak.”

His quirk pings the statement as being true.

He doesn’t have enough coffee to deal with this. Naomasa looks down, finding the eye contact a little bit too intense. Hatanaka takes another sip of her hot chocolate as Naomasa takes some more notes about what she told him. He speaks up after he’s done writing.

“What happened after that?”

“Well… I didn’t actually run away during the distraction…” Hatanaka catches Naomasa’s look and carries on with a defensive tone “I just wanted to make sure Spook was alright too!”

“That’s very kind of you Hatanaka. But please remember that when something like this happens, it’s better if you get to a safe location when you can.”

Hatanaka just gives him a small despondent nod before drinking some more of her hot chocolate. As he’s noting some more information down, Naomasa continues speaking.

“Did you see Spook use a quirk at all? Not counting the moment he disappeared, of course”

Hatanaka gives him a funny look, shaking her head.

“Did Spook say anything else before disappearing?

“… He only said goodbye to me…”

Hatanaka looks down at her hot chocolate, slightly sad. After a moment she steels her expression and looks back up at Naomasa.

“But I’m glad he helped me, even if he couldn’t stay around. Maybe he was just very busy. Or, or, maybe he had to save someone else! Or he might have had some ghostly business to attend to.”

“… Ghostly business?”

“Mhmm,” Hatanaka nods confidently, “He’s a ghost, y’know. I asked.” She says. 

Naomasa’s quirk pings her statement as being true. He mentally raises an eyebrow at that. He quickly takes some notes, ' Victim believes the unknown savior is a ghost and has told her so himself.’ Naomasa looks back up as Hatanaka starts speaking again.

“Or maybe he was just tired. Can ghosts get tired? It did look like a lot of work. He should probably take a nap. Naps are good.”

Naomasa really wishes he had that coffee…

Meanwhile, with Izuku…

Izuku has finally arrived at the street Ru-Nii had mentioned before. It’s still a little dark out, the sun not having risen yet. But despite the lack of sunlight, Izuku is still able to spot Ru-Nii floating on his back just above the grass of one of the lawns, seemingly looking at the stars.

Approaching the other, Izuku calls out to him. “Ru-Nii!”

Ru-Nii shoots up into a sitting position when he’s addressed. He looks around a little startled before he spots Izuku. Once he spots him, Izuku waves and Ru-Nii’s face lights up with a big grin. He calls out to Izuku.

“Hey, Zuzu! It’s been a while!”

Ru-Nii moved so that he floats upright. He opens his arms wide, a clear invitation for a hug. Izuku smiles and hugs Ru-Nii once he’s close enough. He closes his arms around Izuku in return and hugs him before ruffling his hair. They both pull out of the hug and Ru-Nii speaks up with a grin.

“So how have you been, Zuzu? Did you find old man Tetsuo? Was he of any help?”

Izuku nods in reply with enthusiasm.

“Mhmm! I found him at the graveyard, just like you said. And you were right, he wasn’t mad at me for how I left before” Izuku admits, rubbing the back of his neck with a slight blush of embarrassment.

“Oh! And he gave me this cool book he made with his quirk about everything he knows about ghosts and the Astral Plane! Check this out!” Izuku grins, moving the backpack off his back to grab the book.

Izuku takes his backpack in front of him, which feels a little light, he idly notes and opens it up. He reaches inside for the book only to not come in contact with anything. Frowning, Izuku takes a look inside the bag. The bag, which once held the book on ghosts from Jii-San, is empty. The book is gone.

Chapter Text

Hi there!

This announcement is long overdue, and has been spurred on due to a comment of a concerned reader (I hadn't been heard of in a while).
Due to my schedule being incredibly full right now, and a writer's block I can't seem to get through, I'm putting this story on a temporary hiatus.

I want to be very clear that this story is not abandoned or discontinued!

I am currently just having a hard time writing the smaller/filler scenes that are needed to make the story flow better.
I have a lot of bigger scenes and plot lines thought out, some later scenes already written down, and I know which direction I mainly want the story to go in.
But it's hard for me to write the transitions between what I have planned and not just time skip towards the next scene with all the development in between only being implied or refferenced.

I hope that might have answered some of your questions and explain why I haven't posted anything in a while.
I kinda forgot to make any official announcement of the hiatus, but now here it is.

If anyone has any other questions, feel free to place a comment.
It might take me a while sometimes to reply, but I always try make sure to read and reply to every comment.

This 'chapter' will be deleted once the hiatus is over.

I hope you all have a lovely day.
Take care!! <3