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Nobody knows when the first Soul Locket appeared. History does not date it, it seems like it was always there. But everybody knows you can't force it open (there was a lot of people who tried once upon a time, and these same lot of people late discovered that they would never know who their soulmate was because the Locket broke and there was no way of reverting it), and the fact that you have to do certain things to open it, the most reliable theory being that what you have to do to unLock it is connected to your soulmate.
For example, let's say your soulmate is allergic to nuts so if you spend three weeks without eating any of its types, you succeed in unLocking it. But you can't really know what you have to do since the Locket doesn't come with a mannual or even a tip, and because of that, hardly ever someone unLocks it on purpose.
Shōta, when his unLocked, intrinsically knew one thing about his soulmate.
What happened was this:
On the fifth day of his hero work-studies, he and Nemuri were patrolling the area near Purple Revolution agency, exactly like the days before. She was whining that it was her last year while Shōta, Hizashi, Tensei and Oboro were only “starting their career”. Shōta had tuned her out somewhere near the start of their patrol, trying to see if he remembered every street they took three days before, since they changed their paths each day so they could patrol other areas. They weren’t really distracted and that’s why they saw it so quickly.
They reacted on instinct, running towards the kid that was running after a cat in the middle of the busy street. Shōta caught the kid and Nemuri the cat seconds before they heard the sound of brakes forcefully stopping a motorcycle right besides them.
“Are you guys alright?” the adult asked them, looking a little bit green with panic, their other two arms getting their helmet off their head. Nemuri and Shōta didn’t get to respond, because the kid’s dad was barreling towards them.
And that was when the kid started crying in Shōta’s hands. He dutifully passed the child to the worried parent, Nemuri taking over immediately to calm the three of them down after letting the cat in Shōta’s care, who started petting it while paying attention to the older girl reassuring the civilians while still reprimanding the child for their recklessness.
Only when the kitten, purring, headbutted his chest did he notice it. His Locket, that he always wore inside his shirts, had been unLocked. Holding his breath, Shōta fished it out and opened it with careful fingers.
Inside, there was a picture of a boyish face wearing a pro-hero uniform. His soulmate would be a pro hero, just like him! They were just like him; they would do everything to help who they could. The understanding of this made him smile while looking at it, his whole body warm.
(But days later, when Shōta watched his best friend be buried alive while he couldn’t do anything, it made him dread meeting them. Or maybe, dread never meeting them.
After that, Shōta stopped opening his Locket.)
-
Shōta prayed this day would never come (he yearned it would). His feelings were all over the place the second he saw those freckles. Why would they be here now? How could they be so young? How come his soulmate was a child taking the Recommendation Exam to U.A.?
It has been a decade, but Shōta never quite managed to forget that face; dark green curls, big green eyes, four diamond dots on each cheek (a smile so blinding it could rival the sun).
Midoriya Izuku, one of the many monitors in the room told him, 14, Quirk: Powerup. Sponsor (s): Gran Torino, Recovery Girl. And when the kid— Izuku— changed his whole demeanor the instant the exam started, he knew. Shōta knew he could only watch, because nothing would stop him from becoming a hero. Because they were the same: they would do everything it took to help someone who needed it. This time, this realization didn’t make him smile, but, somehow, it soothed his heart. If his soulmate would follow this path so fervently, Shōta would do everything in his power to help prepare him for it; as long as Izuku was his a student, Shōta was going to help him as much as he could (and even more than that).
It happened like this:
When Izuku was seven, he found a hurt kitten near the playground on his block. It seemed like it broke its legs, so with the utmost care he gathered the crying kitty in his school jacket and brought it home. After his mom and him went to a 24h vet and left the kitten in capable hands, Izuku found his Locket unLocked in his bedside table drawer.
Willing his heart to stop beating so hard (he did have a soulmate! contrary to what the other kids tried to tell him!!), he opened it. Inside, there was a picture of a man wearing all black. His hair was also black, his locks long and obscuring his obsidian eyes, and on his neck there was a white muffler and a pair of yellow goggles.
Izuku, seven years old, could not believe his eyes. Because yes, he did have a soulmate, and said soulmate was a pro-hero! And not only that, it was a pro who fought quirkless (!!!). He didn’t know his hero name, since he was an underground pro who had debuted the year prior, Izuku only having caught little snippets of him before the videos were taken out this whole time, but Izuku knew he was right.
His resolve, which had been shaken because of what the kids in school told him that day, solidified and hardened as stainless steel. He is going to become a pro hero. Whatever it takes, no matter what.