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I was 13 when I decided to take my own life. I believed that I was not worthy of the gift called living. I grew up around people who believed that as well. Who would take away my happiness because I didn’t have what they all had. A quirk. So I took a swan dive off a building just like he had wanted me to. But when I hit the ground I didn’t see black. I didn’t feel pain. I didn’t get to rise to heaven or hell, or sit in eternal emptiness. I was ridiculed for not having a quirk during my lifetime. But turns out….
I had one all along.
My name is Izuku Midoriya. I spent my life never knowing I had a quirk. And that's because my quirk was something called Ghost. Once I die, my soul won’t drift away, but it will stay with me. I’m still Izuku Midoriya, but without my old decaying body. It’s been 6 months since my death. I am now 14. I float around my gravestone during the day. I fly to my old house during the night. I check on my mother.
Most days she is already asleep by the time I arrive, but sometimes I see her cry. My mother’s room is a mess, just like how she is even months after my passing. Before the whole house was a mess, but it seems like my mom now decides to keep her sadness to herself. Sometimes I see auntie there as well. I doubt auntie admits it, but I am glad that she worries about my mother. That she still comes to watch over her, clean up some of the mess my mom makes, restock her fridge. I used to have a closer relationship with auntie but that slowly faded after Kacchan and I drifted farther away from each other.
I’ve seen a lot of things happen to my gravestone. I’ve seen old classmates rip the flowers given to me, strangers dropping cigarettes nearby, even some cruel bullies still vandalizing my gravestone. I doubt anyone who has bullied me before has actually received backlash for what they did. Because to them I was quirkless. Every night when I come back from my old home my gravestone is clean again. A new bouquet of flowers placed, the paint scrubbed off, the garbage thrown away. Before I didn’t think much of it. Even though some are cruel, there must be good people in the world. Good people that would pick up from others' messes. But it seems that every day someone comes to my grave. It's no longer a coincidence and I doubt its multiple people seeing that this is a routine thing. So todays the day.
I’m going to figure out who comes to my grave everyday.
So the morning starts. The perpetrator never comes before nightfall, so I just have to wait for now. The day repeats as other days do. The flowers fall off my grave as the wind picks up. Someone walks their dog around. Others come to visit the graves around me. It starts to rain around 4 pm. It starts to thunder around 6. I start to regret choosing this day out of all days. Of course the person won’t come during this weather. The trees sway with the wind. The streets are filled with rain. I see no one around, only cars. But soon I see a man holding an umbrella. The man’s clothes are drenched as the wind blows water in his face. The man is also holding a bag around his shoulder. He slowly walks toward my grave. My grave? Why would this man come to my grave even during a downpour. The man takes off his hood. His blond hair is flat down.
Kacchan.
Why is Kacchan here? Why is he standing near my grave getting drenched by water? Why is he taking the same flowers that appear at my grave every day out of his bag? Why is he picking up the trash that blew towards my grave? The boy who used to be my only friend. Auntie’s son who used to play superheroes with me. That friend who then turned his back on me after he heard that I was quirkless. The bully who told me to kill myself.
“Oi Izuku,” I turn my head towards Kacchan. He stares at my grave. I stare at him. Izuku. The name I haven’t heard him call me in years. Has he lost his mind?! Have I lost my mind? Am I going crazy? “school was ok today. We had to train one on one. I was picked to partner with Pink Face. She’s pretty strong. Her power is gravity. It was a bad matchup considering I can just explode the stuff that she floats. She would have to touch me if she wanted to win. Even so, she was definitely the toughest opponent during the Sports Festival. You would have liked her a lot. She’s nice. I don’t think she likes me that much but that's how it goes when you're as angry as me.” Kacchan chuckles that comment. Kacchan is laughing. Kacchan is telling me about this day. Kacchan is talking to me. I think I’m about to break down crying. Suddenly Kacchan’s face goes stiff. “You would have loved UA. The people here are very nice. The teachers are not unjust. Heck you would have been able to talk to All Might! Though he isn’t the best teacher...I wish you were here with me.” What? “If I wasn’t such an asshole then we could have trained to become the best hero duo in the world. To be the best heroes in the world. Before I didn’t know that it was possible, but now looking back, you would have been such a good hero.” I don’t know if it's just the rain, but I think tears are coming out of Kacchan’s eyes. “Even without a quirk, you were able to analyze heroes better than anyone. I bet if we were a duo you could have been the mind and I could have been the strength, even though I’m definitely not dumb! Anyways back to my day…” Kacchan hit his own limit of sadness there. I saw it in his face. He couldn’t hold the rest of his tears any longer.
Kacchan continued to talk for an hour. He talked about school, classmates, and teachers. He complained about his mother not making his curry spicy enough. All I could do was listen. It was the most emotion I’ve felt since I’ve become a ghost. Kacchan was someone who impacted my life for the better and the worse. But looking at him now, all I could feel was happiness. That Kacchan doesn’t hate me. That he still remembers me. That he admits to missing me.
“I have to go now, Izuku. I love you. See you tomorrow.” That was the last straw for me. Tears were streaming down my face as Kacchan walked away with his umbrella and his now empty bag.
“I love you Kacchan. Come back again. Please.” My old love came back.
Kacchan comes here every day. He always does. No matter what the weather, what quiz he has, how he’s feeling. Instead of going to my mom’s at 7, I wait till Kacchan comes back.
Kacchan tells me about everything. I wish he could feel me when I hug him. I wish he could hear me when I reply to his comments, or when I tell him I love him. Loud chatter erupts from the entrance of the graveyard. I pay no attention to the bickering, too excited for Kacchan to come, but then I hear it.
“Shut up idiots, go away!” Kacchan. With others. What.
“We want to know what you do after school though.” A boy with yellow hair whines. Ah. His classmates.
“You're always gone during this time. And you come back to the dorms 3 hours later. It's suspicious. You know I love tea.” A pink-haired girl talks. That must be Mina. Or raccoon eyes as Kacchan says.
“Plus you’re the one that let us come with you.” A guy with longer black hair adds. Kacchan whips his head towards that comment. I had to fly a little closer to hear his next comment.
“It's because Izuku would probably want to meet you…” Oh my god. My face is red. Thank god they cannot see me right now. That would be a horrible first impression! Mina squeals. Kacchan groans. “Look. Just don’t say out of pocket shit.” The others look at each other. Well everyone but the redhead. I’m pretty sure he's the only one who connected the fact that Kacchan wants them to meet someone...at a graveyard. I sigh. This isn’t going to go very smoothly I assume.
“So Bakugou, why are we at a graveyard?” Kacchan’s eyes widened for a second. He’s realized that they don’t know. The redhead shuts the others up.
“Guys…we’re at a graveyard.” That little comment was able to shut up the Sero guy. They finally get to my gravestone. Kacchan takes a deep breath.
“Izuku. These are my classmates. They wanted to see where I was going after school, so here they are. This one is shitty hair, the one next to him is raccoon eyes, and those two are soy sauce face and dunce face.” The other two finally got the memo. I sighed a breath of relief.
“Hey dude! I’m Kirishima, not shitty hair. Nice to meet ya!” I smiled. Kacchan has made friends with nice people. The rest of them introduce themselves. They all talk to me for an hour. It's nice to see Kacchan with new friends. These people sound nice and haven’t said anything rude. They all have really cool quirks that Kacchan made them talk about, knowing that I love quirks. UA must be a really good school. Kacchan seems like he has found his place. I’m so happy. Kacchan gets a phone call, tells me that he needs to answer the call and that he will be back in a second. As soon as Kacchan walks away, the four friends start talking to each other.
“I’ve never seen Bakugou so...happy” Kaminari starts off. The rest of them nod their heads.
“This Izuku dude must have been such a good person.” If only they knew who I was. I was a quirkless nobody who made no impact on society. Someone who decided to take my own life knowing that my mother would be crushed. I was a horrible person.
“I wonder how long Bakugou knew Izuku. I mean he obviously loves him. Its so obvious.” A smile stretches on my face. Kacchan loves me, and I make him happy. Even though I can’t talk back to him, even though I’m just a ghost. They started talking about school, sometimes including me in their conversations. They were such good people. Not once did they ask about how I died, or how bad they feel for Kacchan. They just knew that Bakugou was happy, so they were happy as well. I’m so thankful for them.
“Aizawa wants us to get back to the dorms.” Kacchan shouts, walking back to his friends. “You guy start walking back, imma stay here for a little longer.” After saying goodbye to Kacchan and I, Kacchan’s friends stand up and start walking away. Kacchan sits down near my grave, placing flowers that were in his backpack near the side of the gravestone. “Those were my friends Izuku. They aren’t as good as you, but they are friends. I hope you liked them.”
“Of course I did” He couldn’t hear me, I knew that.
“-I know they are a little weird, but at least they aren’t mean, like the ones in middle school.”
“They seem like good people.”
“Anyways, today was a pretty good day. We had a quiz that I definitely aced. I trained with shitty hair. His quirk matches with mine. He's a good training buddy.” Kacchan talked about his day more. I love whenever he rants about his day. Especially when he had a good one. Since I’ve been listening to him speak, he has had more and more good days. I’m so proud of how much he has changed. Changed for the better. “I have to head back to the dorms now, bedtime and shit. I love you so much, thank you for meeting my friends.” Bakugou stands up and starts walking away.
“I love you too, Kacchan.”
Kacchan turned his head…
“Izuku?”