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Yuga didn’t want to be a hero.
Or, rather, he didn’t know if he wanted to be a hero or not. He didn’t really have a choice. Not if he wanted his parents to live.
And, although he resented the debt his parents owed that villain, he couldn’t really blame them. He wouldn’t have survived a day quirkless. He didn’t think he could bear it.
And he liked his quirk. It hurt him, yes, but it was his. Well. It was given to him, but it was all the same other than the fact that normal, biologically-acquired quirks normally didn’t come with a supervillain breathing down your neck.
Hence why Yuga was here. At UA.
To be a hero.
It was the day of the entrance exam, and he had been told in no uncertain terms that he had to pass. He wasn’t keen on finding out what would happen if he didn’t.
Which was why he had no issues stealing others’ points.
Well, not stealing them, per se. Obviously, what he was doing was probably something that was already accounted for by the judges, and some of the times, he was basically doing some poor soul a favour. Heroing was a dangerous profession, after all, and not everyone could handle the attention as magnificently as him.
Like that plain-looking boy he encountered as soon as the exam started. The poor thing was trembling, not even attempting to stand up against the robot in front of him.
Really, Yuga was doing him a kindness by taking care of the robot himself.
And then he encountered another robot, not long after, that he also took care of.
And another.
And another.
Soon, Yuga had a tidy number of points to his name. He supposed it would be enough to pass.
Enough to keep him and his family safe.
But then the zero-pointer made an appearance, and a boy leapt up to smash it.
It ended up injuring his body, to the point that he was just a crumpled heap on the ground.
Why did he do that? Yuga wondered.
Why would he hurt himself like that?
Recovery Girl came, Yuga recognizing her immediately due to the prior intel given to him about UA. She healed the boy, and Yuga vaguely thought he looked familiar.
It hit him that it was the same boy who was cowering from a robot earlier, the one whose points he stole. (Would it count as stealing if the boy wasn’t even taking them?)
It baffled him how this could be the same boy, and he somewhat dismissed the thought. After all, unlike him, this boy wasn’t really noticeable-looking.
But, as he looked at the boy who was hurt by his own quirk, the way he always was without his belt, or when he wasn’t careful-
The way he always was because his body wasn’t suited for his own quirk-
He looked at this boy and, unbidden, a thought crossed his mind.
That this boy was like him.
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One week.
Yuga took less than one week to leak confidential UA files.
Some twisted part of him was proud of himself for actually managing to do it without getting caught. He had taken advantage of the UA barrier being breached and the ensuing media stampede, as he’d been instructed to, and found All Might’s class schedule. And no one saw him, somehow.
For the so-called top hero school in the country, the security was really lacking.
And then villains attacked during his school trip. He may have been given a small warning in advance, but that was all. He still had to fend for himself.
Everyone else didn’t even have that advantage, he had thought.
He was filled with guilt; while he was hiding like a coward, his classmates were holding their own to the best of their abilities. Like true heroes.
Yuga knew he wasn’t a hero.
Yet, for the first time since meeting All For One, he wished he was.
Of course, nothing much came from it, except perhaps the trauma. All Might came in the nick of time, saved everyone, was generally magnificent, and everything ended up well for everyone except the villains.
Well, them and the green-haired boy, Midoriya, who had ended up as the only student to be injured.
Yuga felt a sinking feeling in his gut at that. No one should have got hurt. But what else should he have expected?
It was all his fault.
He flitted from person to person, trying to get them to ask him his whereabouts, and giving a cryptic answer when the frog girl finally complied. Was he trying to get caught? Yuga didn’t know himself.
Because Yuga was not a good person. He hadn’t wanted to get attached to his classmates or his teachers, but after seeing them shine so brightly, he couldn’t help himself.
These people truly did seem like heroes, to be so unfazed after such a surprise attack. Or, at least, they seemed unfazed.
Yet, there was one thing that stood out to him. The injured boy, Izuku Midoriya, had hurt himself trying to protect All Might, of all people.
No one would have done that, everyone knew All Might was nigh-invincible. Unless they knew something others did not…
Yes, Izuku Midoriya was definitely a hero for his actions, especially if certain anecdotes of his classmates were anything to go by.
But Yuga couldn’t help but feel like he was keeping secrets too.
That, in a way, Izuku Midoriya was like him.
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Yuga had got used to life as a UA student.
Yes, he still technically had to find and relay as much information as he could, but there was only so much he could do. The security was upped significantly after the USJ incident, and Yuga couldn’t draw unnecessary attention to himself.
So he was just an ordinary student for now.
And he was enjoying it.
He found that he got along well with his classmates. They were a friendly bunch. He got an official hero name, “Can’t stop twinkling”, and, despite his still-lingering guilt, couldn’t help being excited at the prospect of being a hero.
Being a hero was nearly every child’s dream, after all.
It was his too, at one point. Back when he had a choice, and wasn’t held down by guilt.
He wondered if he would be in this position if he never had that dream in the first place. Probably yes.
But Yuga held his head high. He did his best in the sports festival. He went and worked hard during his internships.
However, something nearly all his classmates would attest to was that he had quite the flair for drama. He may have been a scum villain, but he was still a person. Still a teenager.
One who was always ready for gossip.
It was an interest that his spying actually came in handy for. A win-win, no?
And, yes, sometimes he liked to stir the pot, too.
Like when he told Ururaka that he knew of her crush on Midoriya. Although, Yuga wasn’t sure if she herself knew. He’d been wanting to ask about that regardless, and them nearly failing their final exam was the perfect opportunity.
Let it never be said that Yuga Aoyama’s wits weren’t as sparkling as the rest of him.
He hadn’t foreseen how embarrassed she would be at the revelation, nor did he think that Tomura Shigaraki would be at the same mall that his classmates were going to for a fun shopping trip. It was funny how those two things were related, in a sick, somewhat twisted way.
He also hadn’t expected Izuku Midoriya to be in the thick of things. Again.
He wondered if this was a pattern for the boy.
Somehow, Midoriya escaped unscathed, but, although it could be that Tomura had simply not done anything because he was in a crowded shopping centre with the threat of heroes coming at any time hanging over him, Yuga couldn’t help but think something was off.
Izuku Midoriya was one of those classmates he had the least information on. The boy seemed so open with everything, from his love of heroes…
To his suspicious closeness to All Might.
That closeness was something he couldn’t understand. Izuku Midoriya was an enigma at times, with his strange quirk, and strange ability to always be in the thick of things.
Yet, the way he wielded his quirk, as if he was not used to it…
As if his body wasn’t used to it…
It reminded Yuga of himself.
Yuga Aoyama decided to keep a closer eye on Midoriya. His knowledge of Ururaka’s (newfound?) crush gave him an excuse to do so, as well as the fact that they could bond over their self-harming quirks (although Midoriya’s quirk didn’t seem to be like that anymore…)
If Yuga’s suspicions were correct, maybe they’d have more to bond over in the future.
Because there was always a chance that All For One had planted more than one spy, albeit perhaps for different purposes.
There was always a chance Izuku Midoriya was like him.
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The forest was on fire.
In a happier situation (could there even be any happy situation in which a forest was on fire?), he would have remarked that the forest was shining as bright as him.
Except this is all his fault. Again.
But this isn’t like the USJ. There were less people, today, but it seemed better planned, somehow. More dangerous.
He almost didn’t send the location of the training camp. He wanted his classmates to enjoy their training camp as much as they were able to. They deserved that much, after all.
But then he was reminded of his parents, who were perpetually at the mercy of that villain. Maybe he’d be protected by the heroes, due to where he was, but they didn’t have that luxury.
They would die, and maybe no one would even find their bodies. Or their corpses would be kept to further his disgusting plans. Somehow, that monster would find a way.
Yuga was never told what the plans actually were. He just had to tell the where, with no one telling him the when and how. So he was currently in quite the predicament.
So, like the fabulous hero-in-training he was, he had fled. And hid behind a bush.
In his defence, he didn’t count as a real hero. He was a hero student, yes, but he was also a mole. Moles had the right to be somewhat cowardly, even as guilt and terror swirled in a confusing mixture deep in their guts.
But, alas, he was still not safe. For that was the very place the villains had decided to hang about. Two of them, actually, one with a strange habit of constantly contradicting himself, and another who seemed to be trying way too hard to be edgy and menacing. (Yuga himself couldn’t help himself from shivering when seeing the staplers in his skin. Ghastly. At least the other one seemed to embrace his insanity.)
As it was, it was all he could do to stop himself from inadvertently giving away his location. He was shaking with fear, hand over his mouth so as to not make a sound.
After all, they probably didn’t know he was the mole. The more it was kept a secret, the higher his chance of not being found out.
Unfortunately, it also meant that he’d be killed without a second thought. What would happen to his parents if he died without fully paying the debt of his quirk?
Seconds felt like hours, minutes felt like days. At one point, however, just as he heard the sound of footsteps, coming ever closer to where he was hiding, Yuga heard voices. Voices he recognised. His classmates.
Katsuki Bakugou was being taken. The villain in the trench coat, Yuga assumed, was the one responsible for it.
It didn’t feel real. Katsuki Bakugou, so loud and explosive, wouldn’t have gone down without a fight. He was the winner of the sports festival for a reason, after all.
And his classmates, so tenacious, so heroic, so bright. He could see Mezo Shoji, Shoto Todoroki, and Izuku Midoriya, each of them fighting for their very lives. Midoriya, in particular, seemed to be breaking the limits of his own body in order to try to keep up with the fight. Plus ultra, after all.
Yuga wasn’t thinking when he used his quirk, giving away his hiding place, potentially putting himself in harm’s way. Or, actually, that was a lie. He was thinking. He was thinking that he didn’t want his classmates to die.
His classmates, for could they truly be his friends? Not while All For One was still prowling, his parents’ lives, as well as his own, in constant, ever-present danger.
Not while he was guilty for many of the scars on their bodies. Izuku Midoriya, in particular, was a hero. He felt somewhat silly for even thinking that this boy could be a traitor as well. He wouldn’t be risking his life like this, wouldn’t dance on the line between death and life, if he was.
Yuga cursed himself for feeling disappointed that there was no one like him.
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Yuga was a nearly normal student, now.
All Might defeated All For One in a nail-biting clash between titans. All Might won, and the Aoyamas could finally feel a shadow lift from their household.
Of course, All For One’s followers were still definitely a threat, the new League of Villains especially. But they weren’t him.
Yuga was still, technically, a spy, but he was also integrating himself with his classmates more than before. A side-effect of living with them. With his friends.
He had a regular rapport with many of them. Tokoyami was as dramatic as he liked to be, which was fun, he had a new appreciation for Iida after the provisional liscense exam, he was even regularly spending time with Hagakure, the two of them making a special move together. And these were just a few of the many friendships he’d started. Maybe they weren’t too close, but guilt by proxy still hurt. He was still a spy, and he had to keep some distance.
Still, Yuga hadn’t even imagined this much before.
Additionally, he now had the freedom to investigate one of the few things that still eluded him. He was going to find out, no, not what species Principal Nezu was, but the truth behind Izuku Midoriya.
Which was how he found himself outside of said classmate’s window one night. He hoped Midoriya wouldn’t find out, but alas, he was unlucky. It was a miracle his spy status hadn’t been caught yet, to be honest.
Yet, he wasn’t really caught. Midoriya noticed him, sure, but Yuga was quick. He was gone in a flash, like a trick of the light, leaving behind nothing but a message that he knows. That said message was spelled out in cheese was even better, upon further consideration. It was definitely dramatic, if Midoriya’s reaction was any indication.
However, he had to re-evaluate his judgement upon seeing Midoriya even more jittery than usual the next morning. Perhaps leaving a cryptic message of I know in cheese on someone’s balcony after spying on them wasn’t the best idea. Although it did give off a certain flair.
Sadly, he didn’t get to talk to Midoriya until quirk training, despite both of them wanting to. And even then, he only managed to do it after getting a stomach ache from his navel laser.
If asked whether he was avoiding confrontation all that time on purpose, Yuga would say something cryptic, as was usual. After all, it simply wouldn’t do to admit he was thinking about what to say during said confrontation. And it definitely wouldn’t do to admit he was regretting his course of action. He must have been really sleep-deprived to think that balcony cheese messages were a good way of starting a conversation with someone.
Midoriya helped him to the infirmary, because Midoriya was just nice like that. And when he inevitably asked about the cheese message, and what it meant, Yuga knew just what to say.
You’re like me, he had said, among other things. And it was true. Both of them had quirks that hurt them and both of them had some kind of connection to, some kind of knowledge about All For One, even if Midoriya was unaware that they had the latter in common.
He didn’t dare hope for more, yet, when, the next day, Midoriya invited him for lunch, Yuga couldn’t help seeing a kindred spirit, in a way. In what way, he wasn’t sure, but maybe it had something to do with his gaze that spoke of someone who had experienced loneliness before, and didn’t want anyone else to go through the same thing. A gaze that seemed to know the burdens of secrets.
Midoriya was a hero, but Yuga was in a school for heroes, too. He may have secrets, but so did Yuga. Yuga allowed himself to hope, and allowed himself to believe in the words he himself had said: You’re like me.
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This was wrong, this was all wrong.
Yuga thought it was over. He allowed himself to hope that All For One was captured now, that he and his family were safe. That that monster could torment them no more, collecting a debt that was seemingly never repaid, the debt of the quirk given to him.
Yuga should have known that All For One was never truly gone. He was a boogeyman that had existed since the dawn of quirks, and he had survived all that had entailed, and all that followed. Not just survived it, but had risen to the top amidst all the chaos. All Might was the best of the best, but even he had failed to defeat All For One.
And now, everyone was paying the price.
It wasn’t enough that his classmates, no, his friends, were put in danger yet again. Not enough that they were put directly in the line of attack. Not enough that many of them were injured enough to have been put in the hospital.
No, on top of it all, Izuku Midoriya just had to be All Might’s successor, just had to be the one with the biggest target on his head.
He had apparently left UA, leaving behind slips of paper explaining his strange quirk. One For All, it was called, the exact opposite of the being its holder was meant to oppose.
Because that was the thing, was it not? Izuku Midoriya was meant to somehow oppose and defeat All For One, a feat even All Might had failed to accomplish. And Yuga was meant to oppose him, hand All For One the information he needed to win. The information All For One needed to kill Midoriya, and to ensure himself the throne that he felt entitled to, the throne of the world, with no one left to stop him.
I have no choice, he tried telling himself, but somehow the words rang even hollower than before.
All he knew for sure was that everyone he cared about was now constantly on the verge of death, and he had a hand in it all.
It was almost funny that he once hoped there was someone like him. No one should have to bear this burden.
No one should have to be a scum villain like him.
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Well, he was caught. There wasn’t any way out of it now.
Looking back on it, he wasn’t sure whose fault it was. His parents were the ones to suggest talking about All For One’s newest orders in the forest, where they thought they wouldn’t be overheard, but, as a hero-in-training, and as someone who had kept being a spy a secret for so long, Yuga thinks he really should have had more situational awareness.
Maybe it wasn’t anyone’s fault. It was futile to pass about the blame when it was Hagakure who found them out.
Hagakure, who he was friends with, who he even made a whole special move with, who he had spent so much time with. Hagakure, who he couldn’t bring himself to look at. Or, well, look in the direction of.
And not just her. He couldn’t bring himself to look at any of his soon-to-be ex-classmates. He had laughed with them, plotted with them, trained to be a hero with them. Now, as he sat there, head hung, with his parents nervously shifting behind him, they would realize he wasn’t a hero at all.
At least, that was what he expected.
But, instead, they were defending him. All of his classmates, all of his friends, were defending him. Even Aizawa-sensei, who was as ruthless and logical as they come, was on his side.
Why? Why would they defend a villain like him? They know, now, so why are they still fighting for him?
Izuku Midoriya held out a hand to him. It wasn’t the smartest gesture, perhaps, as his hands being tied meant that he couldn’t even try to take his hand, but the reasoning behind the gesture more than made up for it. He was trying to offer his help.
Izuku Midoriya, who, out of everyone in this class, probably had the most reason to hate him.
Izuku Midoriya, who was, and maybe, if he allows himself to hope, still is his friend.
That was the person who was on his side. Him, and an entire class of heroes. Because they were no longer just heroes-in-training, but, as far as Yuga was concerned, they were actual heroes too.
Because heroes save people, and if they thought it was a good idea to save a scum villain like him, he’d prove it to them, prove himself to them, and try to save them too. If they were willing to take a risk on him, he’d risk it all for them too.
And, eventually, he might manage to be a hero like them.