Chapter Text
Everything was so normal a few hours ago. Koharu had a normal school life, a best friend even though she is a loner, and a loving mom. And she could see properly and didn't have a nasty burn scar on her face and arms.
Everything was fine.
Until… that man appeared in her life again. The Man who claimed to be her sperm donor aka her father came back out of the blue to her house and ruined everything.
Apparently the weather also felt like shitting on Koharu today because it was pouring down rain while she just aimlessly wandered around, wanting to get as far away from him as possible.
Life sucks sometimes.
"Koharu, you better hurry up so you don't miss school." Her mother Inko called out to Koharu as she walked out of her room and down the stairs while putting on her shoes and grabbing her yellow backpack filled with her notebooks.
"I'm already done mom." Koharu called out as she rushed her way to the door. "See you later mom." Koharu called out to her mom as she left the house.
This is the one thing Koharu wished she could redo about that day, said those three words she never got the chance to say before her mother died at the hands of that man. She wished could have said -
"Oi, Ko. You doing alright. You're more lost in your head as of late, you damn nerd." That voice belongs to the only friend she had/needed at this quirkist school, her childhood friend Katsuki Bakugo. The explosive blonde was rude and stubborn but always had a soft spot for Koharu.
"Yeah, just thinking about stuff." Koharu responded as she looked at her friend who had the same crazy grin on his face as he always did.
"What did you run into a hot guy or something on the train?" Katsuki snorted out, as he knew his friend was cold to any one who tried flirting with her. Who could blame her, she saw right through everyone. No one can hide their true intentions from Koharu.
"No, just forget about it. Let's get to class Kat." Koharu said as she walked into her school with Katsuki a few steps behind her.
Looking around the hallways and her classroom, Koharu activated her quirk, Emotion Observation, and viewed her classmates' emotions. As always they were a mix of stubborn, snooty, angry and selfish. What else did she expect from people who bullied people with weak quirks when their quirks could do nothing useful except for lame party tricks.
As usual their teacher did nothing but encourage this behavior, so taking a page out of their books, Koharu turned out the teacher and pulled out a notebook and her phone and pulled up a news site she frequented a lot and took notes on the heroes and villains that were talked about today. Writing notes on just heroes would be a waste of time and talent, at least that's what Katsuki said, so Koharu did the next best thing: started taking notes on heroes, villains, and vigilantes alike to broaden her research.
When lunch time came around, Koharu went up to the rooftop to eat in peace and away from the obnoxious teens who acted like kids. Of course she didn't mind Katsuki coming and eating with her. Katsuki was the one person who she found was true to his word besides her mother.
When she approached him one day about getting counseling to reign in his anger so he wouldn't get detention or worse suspended, Katsuki begrudgingly agreed and Koharu had managed to get him from cussing and lashing out in public to cussing and lashing out in private.
"You don't have to eat with me everyday, you know Kat." Koharu eyed the stairwell to the roof and sure enough Katsuki walked out of the stairwell and sat down next to Koharu who was looking at her laptop while taking notes on stuff and eating at the same time.
"I know I don't have to, but I want to. Our classmates are so full of themselves." Katsuki groaned out as he looked at Koharus laptop and saw it was on a website that wasn't quite legal, but Katsuki would keep quiet considering he knew what Koharu did behind public eyes.
"Still doing that shady stuff huh?" Katsuki said as threw a smirk at his friend who in turn gave him a stink eye before returning to her work.
"What's shady about talking to anonymous people and trading information from time to time." Koharu remarked. "I'm smart enough to not be traced or tracked down. Besides all information I trade is info people can obtain themselves if they look hard enough."
"Whatever you damn nerd." Katsuki rolled his eyes. "I'm just trying to look out for you, you know." Koharu in kind gave him a blank stare.
"So you don't want to look at my notebook then." Koharu said, holding a notebook in front of Katsuki. She was about to put it back in her bag when Katsuki snatched it from her.
"I never said I didn't." Katsuki scoffed before opening the notebook and flipped to his page in the book and read what Koharu had written about him.
Katsuki stared down at the book and looked at all the information that Koharu crammed into the few pages she did about him. It had everything, his quirk, its ups and downs, his fighting style, and every special move he had ever tried. It was impressive and overwhelming at the same time.
"You should change your mind about not applying for the UA hero course. With your quirk, and your analysis skills you make a perfect hero Ko." Katsuki tried to convince his friend but he noticed her immediately clench her hands and glare at him.
"Kat, you know that in this day and age, flashy quirks are all that. Quirks are everything. They decide what we will be before you can comprehend what other careers there will be. Mine falls into 3 categories. Therapist, Detective, and normal civilian. I wouldn't make it far on my small body's strength alone." Koharu said with a sad pissed voice.
"Besides, as the days grow more and more heroes turn to fame and fortune and not actually saving a person in danger just because they need saving. I don't want to associate myself with those kinds of people." Koharu let out a sigh as Katsuki just stared at her.
"I already know your reason for not being a hero, I just wanted to see if I could change your damn." Katsuki said as he flipped to the last page of his notes and read them.
After a couple of seconds of reading, Katsuki looked at Koharu with rage in his eyes. "I am NOT egotistical." Katsuki screamed as Koharu stifled a laugh.
"Yes. Yes you are Kat." Koharu reasoned. As Katsuki was about to yell her ear off, Koharu spoke up and interrupted him. "I never said it was a bad thing, I was just stating it as it is."
Katsuki glared at her for a few seconds before huffing and muttering "damn bitch" before going back to the book but the school bell rang signaling lunch was over.
"Take your shitty and incorrect book, and I'll talk to you tomorrow, you damn nerd." Katsuki said as he threw the book over his shoulder towards Koharu and tossed his bag over his shoulders and walked down the stairs leaving Koharu alone.
"Like I said, egotistical." Koharu let out a sigh as he grabbed the notebook from the ground and gathered her stuff. Gazing out into the distance, Koharu couldn't shake off the feeling of dread she had been feeling since she left since she left her house that morning.
After school was the same as always. A bunch of Junior High kids talking shit about stuff they did even though they never actually did it. Koharu despised them and they didn't like her back. Most people would take Any chance they got to make a comment about her height or that she was still flat in the chest area. Of course no-one did shit when Katsuki was around, cause he was in fact the strongest person in the school.
Since she would rather avoid the headache of talking to them, Koharu would always take the back way home. It wasn't safe by any means, she would have to go through many alleyways and under bridges where criminal activities would be conducted. Such criminal activities were drug deals, murder, and even on the rare occasion rape.
Koharu knew it was risky but there was the sense of thrill that came with it. When she came across an attempted murder or rape and sneaked away before she was noticed and always left an anonymous phone call to the police about it. The face the murderer would make and their emotions would do a 180 in seconds when they say they couldn't get away, it got Koharu's heart pumping.
However, today was not Koharu's day. After years of avoiding fights in her back route, she came across a villain made of slug. Her first real life villain encounter face to face. Nothing like the ones she observed from a distance.
Koharu took off running from under the bridge, since she couldn't kick a villain in the balls if they were made of slug, but only made it a few feet before the slug villain grabbed the backpack she was wearing and yanked her backwards into the villain's slug and encompassed her. Luckily she managed to press the emergency help number on her phone before she was grabbed.
As the villain began monologuing about his plan to use her body as a skin suit and get away from "him", Koharu did everything in her power from passing out cause if she passed out, she would probably die. In a last ditch attempt to break free from the slug villain, koharu used her free hand to grab the nearest thing that wasn't made of slug. And it just so happened to be the villain's eye.
As the villain roared in pain, his grip on her loosened enough that she was able to catch her breath. The villain was about to suffocate her again, when they both heard a booming voice shouting: "FEAR NOT CITIZENS, FOR I AM HERE!"
Koharu didn't need to see it happen to know what would happen next, so she curled onto herself and used her arms to block the wind force that was to come next. The slug villain had enough time to whimper "Why is he here, I thought I lost him in the sewers." A loud voice shouted "TEXAS SMAAASH." And the villain couldn't hold himself together and was splattered all over the underside of the bridge.
Koharu wasn't sent that far from the attack and landed near the river, thankfully because she needed to get all the slug out of her throat.
By the time she was done throwing up, she noticed that all the sludge that had been previously scattered all over the underside of the bridge had seemingly disappeared. Before she could question what she saw, Koharu felt a tap on her shoulder followed by the same voice that she heard as she was expelled from the sludge.
"WHY HELLO THERE MISS ARE DOING YOU DOING ALRIGHT DOWN THERE?" That voice only belonged to one hero. The number one hero of Japan, All Might. The greatest hero of all time as people would call him.
At first Koharu was thrilled to see the number one hero, being a fan and all, but that turned to caution when she noticed that he was holding one of her notebooks filled with that had fallen out of her bag during her struggle with the sludge villain.
"Hello All Might, thanks for the save there." Koharu said in a polite voice, still keeping her eyes on her notebook in All Mights hand.
"HAHA, IT'S ALWAYS A PLEASURE TO HELP SOMEONE IN NEED, CITIZEN." Oh the irony of how his opinion might change if he just read the notebook in his hands. "WHILE YOU WERE THROWING UP, I COLLECTED THE BITS OF SLUDGE THAT SPLATTERED ALL OVER THE PLACE AND PUT THEM IN THIS HERE BOTTLE." All Might explained as he showed Koharu the bottle containing the slug villain.
"Umm, if you don't mind can I have my notebook ba-" Koharu tries to ask for notebook but was interrupted by All Mights laughter as he opened her notebook to a page that Koheu hadn't written in yet.
"WHY OF COURSE, YOU WANT ME TO SIGN YOUR NOTEBOOK. FEAR NOT FOR I HAVE ALREADY SIGNED IT." All Might exclaimed as he showed Koharu her notebook with his signature on two blank pages. All Might being All Might didn't notice the disgust and shock that was on Koharus face at seeing the signature.
"SORRY TO CUT OUR MEETING SHORT YOUNG…" All Might trailed off looking at Koharu who recovered from her shock.
"Midoriya." Koharu muttered not wanting to look at All Might for ruining her notebook.
"YOUNG MIDORIYA, BUT I HAVE TO GO AS I HAVE OTHER PLACES TO BE." All Might said with a laugh as he walked over to the edge of the bridge's shadow, and was about to jump to jump when he heard Koharu yell at him.
"Carry the bottle in your hand instead of your pocket, so it doesn't fall out." Koharu yelled out wanting to prevent the villain from escaping All Might again.
"AH I SEE, THANKS A LOT YOUNG MIDORIYA, MAY WE MEET AGAIN." All Might said as he took off leaping into the air laughing in classic All Might Fashion.
As soon as All Might left Koharu looked down with disgust at her notebook and opened it to the page that All Might had defiled with his signature. If she wanted his signature, she would want it on the page she had on All Might.
"Self-righteous ass" Koharu muttered as she scooped up the rest of her backpack's contents and continued her walk home as if nothing happened.
When Koharu got to her home, she was met with the stench of smoke coming from inside and the faint sound of yelling between two people inside.
Instinctively Koharu activated her quirk Emotional Observation to somewhat look at what's happening inside. There were two people, one was nervous and afraid while the other was mad and frustrated. The first was obviously her mom Inko, but as for the second voice she couldn't figure out who it was.
The smoke seemed to grow as the angry person seemed to be getting more and more angry and Inko was getting more and more scared. Koharu, wanting to save her mother from this person, quietly entered the house and stuck to the walls and silently traveled the house until she got to the source of smoke and the yelling.
When Koharu peeked around the corner to see just who was in her house. The person yelling at her mom had his back to Koharu and Inko was practically shaking as the man continued yelling at her.
"For the last fucking time Inko, I need money. I know you got some lying around somewhere." The raspy and horrid voice of the man yelled at Inko as she shook her head. Koharu swore she had heard that voice before, but she couldn't remember who it belonged to.
"I-I have nothing n-nothing of v-value in this house H-Hisashi." Inko stammered out as her eyes went all around the room looking for something to satisfy him. Koharu on the other hand almost gasped upon hearing who the man was, she remembered him too well in fact. He was her bastard of a father who abused Inko and left them when Koharu was 4.
"I know you're lying Inko. Give me what I want or I'll end your life right now and your daughter's life when she inevitably gets home." Hisashi growled as she breathed another huff of heavy smoke out of his nostrils.
Upon hearing that, Koharu started slowly moving backwards toward the door. Unfortunately, as if fate itself wanted her dead, Koharu accidently stepped on a creaky floor board that alerted both adults that she was there.
Inko looked shocked and tried to reach for her daughter but was swatted to the side by a furious Hisashi. "Run Ko, get away from here." Inko screamed out as Hisashi ran after Koharu who was at the door.
By the time Koharu reached the door handle, she turned and saw her father breathing in and saw a glint of fire in the back of his throat. That was all the time Koharu had to use her arms to block her her face and drop to the ground as Hisahi released a massive flame attack at Koharu. Koharu had dropped to the ground to limit the amount of damage done to her body, but the flames engulfed her head and arms searing her arms and her unprotected left side of her face, causing Koharu to scream in pain and drop to the ground like a bag of bricks from the shear pain of the flames.
After attacking his own daughter and possibly killing her, Hisashi looked at the wall around her and saw that it was on fire and spreading. Turning his attention back to Inko, he was suddenly stabbed by 2 kitchen knives, right in each shoulder and Inko standing in front of him with a desperate look on her face. Hisashi then grabbed Inko by her head and charged up another flame breath and this time scorched and burned Inko's entire body before setting the house of fire and walking away as if nothing happened.
Koharu being barely awake and conscious, ignored her pain and slowly moved toward her mother as the fire around her spread at an alarming rate, however Koharu ignored all that and knelt down and felt for her mother's pulse.
After 10 seconds of no heart beat of breathing, Koharu's hands began to shake and started tearing up as she looked down at her mother's charred corpse. When the smoke began to get thick, Koharu stood up again and grabbed her backpack and emptied its contents except her laptop and notebooks and began to gather as much supplies as possible from her room and her mother's emergency supplies and stuffed it all into her school bag. Koharu went to the shattered living room window.
Koharu cast one last look at her mother's corpse and went back to it and gave her mother one last goodbye kiss and muttered "I love you mom and I'm sorry." And went full speed through the window and took off in any direction, just not toward her father or her house. She didn't care where she ended up so long as she could survive and make her father pay for what he did.
That Koharu swore as she disappeared into the streets of Tokyo, leaving the sound of shouting and ambulances behind her.