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Deku gave a small smile, watching as Kacchan stood at his grave. That’s all he did now. Watch. He recalled the theory that ghosts stayed when they had regrets.
..His regret must’ve been being unable to see Kacchan grow up into a hero he had always meant to be, besides not being able to get a quirk. It was only logical.
It was sad, though. Kacchan had so many friends now. Sometimes he felt jealousy pulse through him, making him shake. All he was, was just a figment of his past. He should’ve felt happy that Kacchan was able to be himself, and enjoy it without him, but it hurt. It hurt so bad. It hurt more than anything Kacchan’s quirk could do. Because it wasn’t fair, and if he thought, he could pretend that he was there, and that they were his friends.
But anyway.. He followed Kacchan for a long while, until he heard of a little girl with white hair from the teachers (it was so easy to eavesdrop while Kacchan did boring things).
So of course, like any person would, he went to see the little girl. She was in a kids room filled with toys, and looked so adorable ! He squealed, hovering closer, only to jump when she did, staring at him.
Deku’s eyes widened, recoiling. “You– can you see me..?”
Immediately he became aware of his ‘appearance’.. Blood dripped from his forehead, staining his fluffy hair, and he was in Aldera’s uniform, albeit blood covering most of it as well. It was not a pretty sight. His sadness grew when she didn’t seem to care about how bad he looked (how bad was it, when a little girl is completely insensitive to a sight?)
“Mmhmm!” The girl- Eri, he recalled, nodded.
Hope ran in through his veins immediately. After all, if she could see him, then who else could ?
“Ah.. My name is Midoriya Izuku. What about you?” He gave what he hoped was a kind smile, drifting down and sitting on his knees to better match heights.
She stared at him for a moment in wonder, before reaching out.
Deku blinked. “Huh? Are you trying to..-”
A gasp left his lips as suddenly he was wrapped in warmth, and there was a bright light–
He opened his eyes, and took a breath. He…
“M-My name is Eri, Izuchan..” She whispered. ( Later, she would tell him that something told her to use her quirk on him.)
“It’s.. nice to meet you, Erichan.” Deku fumbled, trying to make sense of it. He felt for the first time in a while, and it felt so, so overwhelming.
Drip. Drip. He almost froze at the sound of the blood dripping. It felt sticky and wet, but it.. he didn’t know what to think. He hadn’t before. He.. Deku had heard of her quirk to rewind, but he hadn’t thought it could affect ghosts . He had never even considered it, and now, here he was. Physically younger than he should be, but he wasn’t hurt..
..He was just so tired.. “I.. think I’m gonna rest now..”
The former ghost hardly heard the door open.
Deku opened his eyes, meeting a blinding white that instantly had him shutting it. He groaned, rubbing at them. He barely contained his flinch when he was met with an old woman- Recovery Girl! His mind immediately supplied.
“You’re finally awake. What do you think you were doing? You looked like you were dead - and then you just PASS OUT in front of the young girl?” She snapped at him, and he raised his hands in a ‘ mercy!’ gesture.
“U-Uhm–!!” He spluttered, backing off a little only to- FLOAT?
The greenette took a moment to look at her, and then at him, and- “Wait- You can see me!? W-Well it’s not that surprising if Eri-chan could, but before that…” He went off on a tangent, before he flinched when Recovery Girl clapped to get his attention.
“You have a lot to explain, young man. You weren’t even hurt, although that may be due to who you encountered.. Take a drink of water, and rest up. Seeing as you’re fine enough to use your quirk. You’re lucky as it is that you aren’t being put under quirk suppressors.”
Quirk? Ah, he had so many questions!! Glancing to his side though, he saw a lone glass of water, and he hesitantly moved towards it, wrapping a hand around- and shivered . “Cold.” He mumbled under his breath, holding it and downing it in an instant before putting it back down.
At least he felt a little more awake now..? But that didn’t explain anything! Did she think he had a quirk? Well he supposed that was only logical if he was floating, but– wasn’t he a ghost?
It took a moment before he realized what had happened. Eri-chan! It was her quirk, she– did she.. Bring him back to life? He..
A familiar burning sensation was found in his eyes, and fat globs of tears streamed down instantly, and he went on another muttering tangent.
“I’m alive! How would that have even worked? I assumed that she would’ve been able to use it on humans, especially considering her story, but on ghosts? I didn’t have a physical body, so that wouldn’t have made sense, but she could see me! That’s unusual in and of itself! Would that mean she could possibly use it on non-living objects too? But that’d mean her clothes would reverse, and that just makes no sense. There’s so much that could be done with that quirk. ..Could she bring back the dead? But that’s probably too risky. I mean I guess I was lucky because I still have my mind and everything- or I think I do.. But it probably wouldn’t work as well if it were a body because there’d be no mind for the body to use. Is that even how it works? It would most likely be a zombie, but even then! She should never be near people like that, and shouldn’t be used to bring people back to life, no matter how much of a miracle it is! But if she could see me then that should mean that she should be able to see other ghosts, but not even I could see ghosts! Well I don’t know if there were other ghosts, I tend to avoid graveyards most of the time. They’re scary places after all, and–”
He jerked when he felt a poke, staring at Recover Girl, who had her cane raised. His face heated up in embarrassment. “O-OH-”
“A-Ah.. sorry about that, force of habit.”
Whatever the heroine was going to say, she was interrupted by the door opening to two adult men, who the former ghost gazed in curiosity at.. .. Or were they men? Not that he wanted to assume, that’d be rude!
He realized that he’d been thinking too hard when he blinked and suddenly there were two chairs next to the bed, and everyone stared at him expectantly.
“I- um- uhh–” Jerking back, Deku intelligently responded, mouth opening and closing as gravity slowly took hold and brought him into the mattress. “..Did you say something? I didn’t catch it.”
The shorter haired man shifted to come off as more casual, gesturing when necessary. I’m Detective Tsukauchi, and this is my partner, Shouta. And you are?”
Outwardly, he nodded. Inwardly, he panicked, cause what has he gotten into!? “Midoriya.” Is he supposed to say his full name?? But he’s legally dead!
“It’s nice to meet you, Midoriya, despite these circumstances.. I trust you understand what happened?”
Deku gulped nervously. “..No?”
Shouta (oh my kami, he’s ERASERHEAD !!!) snorted. “You don’t sound very sure about that, kid.”
“U-Uhm.. There was a bright light, and then I was here..??? I think it was yellow.”
“As we see it, you’re an intruder. Clearly though, you’re a bit dazed, so we have a compromise for you. We just want to understand what happened. How you got there, and why you seemed to be injured. Is that alright with you, Midoriya?”
He hesitantly nodded. Should he tell the truth? But he’ll just be seen as insane.. “I-It’s my quirk.”
Tsukauchi’s brow twitched.
“N-No one can see me, or hear me usually.. Yuuei has always been my dream.. It was all harmless fun, I swear! I just followed the students- wait no that sounds creepy.. I just listened in on Heroics! I’d just.. Got curious. I didn't expect Erichan to be able to see me.. You know the rest.”
The detective had a contemplative look on his face. “Midoriya, there’s something I need to say. My quirk is, in the simplest sense, a lie detector. Surely you can see where I’m going here?”
Deku flinched. “O-Oh…”
Shouta spoke up. “While we’re at it, I’m sure you know of my quirk. What I wonder is how you haven’t spontaneously appeared whenever I use it in class.”
Oh no, what has he gotten into this time..?
“I-I..” Welp, time to be brave! “I’m a ghost, haha…? Idon’thauntyouguysIswear,I’mnotabadghostpleasedon’texorcisemefromexistence,IjusthaveafriendIwasfollownigcausehegotintoYuueiandIwantedtowatchhimnbecomeahero..ButIdon’tactuallyhaveaquirk,andIthinkwithwhateverhappenedtoEri,mybodyactslikeit’sstillaghostbutnowyouallcanseemehaha–andyouallprobablythinkI’minsane..”
They both blinked multiple times, and an awkward silence filled the room.
He wanted to sink through the ground right about now– wait could he–?
Deku jumped as a mouse? popped out of Shouta’s capture scarf. “Well isn’t this intriguing?”
He bluescreened. “P-P-P-Pr- Y-You’re–” holyshitholyshitholyshit
“Am I a stout? Am I a bear?”
And now he found himself having made a deal with the smartest man ( animal? ) in existence. Haha, Yuuei’s resident ghost-boy.
He was introduced to the third-years first, or more specifically, the Big Three.
They were so cool!! He found out he could phase through stuff like Togata-senpai, but of course, having ghost powers is different from Permeation. ..Considering one had to be human-safe, and the other was just your average phase through walls, and technically didn’t have a real body to be chopped in half by a wall if he let go inside . No shooting out either.
He could float around with Nejire-senpai, but nothing really cool, except he was very cold to the touch. Note to self: Don’t hug mid-air in case the shock causes the other to let go on accident.
And Amajiki-senpai.. Well he always got flustered by the -senpai. Two socially awkward boys in a room only makes it more awkward.
But yeah!!! Maybe he can get used to interaction again.
Now for the moment of truth though. He knew Shouta-sensei would eventually introduce him to 1A- and maybe 1B? But he just.. Couldn’t- no, shouldn’t let him wait any longer, albeit unknowingly.
So here he sat on Kacchan’s bed, a soft smile on his face as he gazed around, caught by the little homage for them on the shelf. Their two not-really-special action figures of All Might they had gotten as kids, clearly old by the paint chipping.
Little paper stands had text in.. English, sat next to their according figures. ‘Deku’ ‘Kacchan’
His notebooks sat in a neat pile near ‘Deku’, and in the very middle labeled the duo as ‘Wonder Duo’.
His head shot up as the door opened, forest-green meeting ruby-red. The other’s expression faltered.
“..De.. Izuku..?” He whispered heartbrokenly, in disbelief.
Izuku gave a grin, trying to pretend he wasn’t doing an obviously nervous tell with his hands in his lap.. “Hey Kacchan. Miss me?”
OMAKE
Shouta: Here’s your new ‘classmate’.
Izuku: Hehe, hi..?
Kacchan: *stare*
Izuku: If you have any questions–
Kacchan: Shitty nerd. You never said you were gonna be here..–
Mina: *whisper* am i seeing things or is he not yelling??? Look at him, he’s fully mellowed himself out in green-bean’s presence!
Izuku: Ah, sorry Kacchan. I kinda forgot to.
Kaminari: ' KACCHAN'??