Chapter Text
“What does it mean to be normal?”
In this new superhuman society, the word normal has been warped into multiple different meanings.
To be normal is to have a quirk. A special ability that about 80% of the population would possess globally.
To be normal is to be the old human, quirkless and boring, living their boring quirkless lives.
To be normal… Could mean to live in your own way, to follow your ideals and to just do whatever the hell you wanted to. Just because you can!
If only it was that simple.
If only…
At the late hours into the afternoon, slowly turning into the evening, the sun would slowly fade away into its breathtakingly orange hue, leaving streaks of light, the light that'd kiss the obstacles of the cities and homes and workplaces and shopping districts a soft farewell, a reassuring light that'd leave hope for tomorrow that it would do the same again. It would also leave its mark on the people, who didn't care about the state of the sun or the rotation of the earth because they surely had better things to do.
The students of all sorts of high schools and middle schools would've taken their usual routes home or to their chosen place of entertainments like karaoke or the arcades and if the even felt peckish, there was always a fast food restaurant just around the corner of these things.
It was a gruelling week for them all. The news were always busy with their reports on all sorts of events that would have happened. And with the help of such a mighty group of people, taking on the profession of a “Hero”, life would keep on being easy going, simple and sweet for citizens such as Izuku Midoriya.
Midoriya was always such a kind hearted and polite young man. Though his appearance was horrendously plain, with no quirk or anything to show, he was quite wishy-washy about his life.
You see, he wanted to become a hero.
He'd even keep notebooks on him for his “future” as a “hero”. All because he idolised the number one hero, All Might, his desperation for some sort of sign had grown stronger. As if the top hero’s words had a direct effect on him.
“Step aside, lame ass.” The gnarly stomach churning voice would accompany the action of harshly shoving the young green haired underdog, quirkless, with nothing to show, to make way for the strongest there was.
While being shoved to the side, Izuku squealed unexpectedly, garnering a malicious look from the three students that'd pass him in seconds. They chortled and snickered, except for one. His eyes burned deep into the timid man as if he was expecting him to melt and sizzle away from the burning hot crimson irises. This was a scary classmate.
“That was pretty uncalled for! I didn't even do anything!” Midoriya protested, holding his notebook to his check, and being shoved to the side ruined his handwriting a bit. Right when he was on a roll too. Darn.
“What you were doing was writing in that stupid book you always carry around. I even burned that shit up! Why are you still using it if it's worthless?” He turned around, expecting an answer from trembling lips. He seemed to already guess it but this was super sad for him to watch.
“Be-Because I—”
“Want to be a hero? Do you need another reality check, All Might wannabe?! How many times do I gotta tell you that you're below me?!” The classmate, with his iconic quirk, Explosion, flexed his fingers with a threatening tone, his body fixing itself into a fighting position. At least that's how Mr. Protagonist saw it. “Well?! Answer me, you freak!”
“W-Well, it's a habit! I don't want to become a hero anymore! I swear! Just don't blow me into smithereens please…!” Rightfully so, he cowered backwards, seeing as it was one aggressive boy with an explosion quirk, all Midoriya could do was lie! Seeing this made the aggressive bully cease the sparks and shake the smoke from his hands. He actually smiled at him in the manner that he was still ridiculing him. He had a face that'd just read “that's more like it”, as he'd walk closer to snatch the burnt book from his hands.
Bakugo Katsuki, the honourably easily agitated bully that'd torment poor Izuku took the time to read its contents. He didn't seem too impressed with what he read but Izuku’s unintentional whine made him feel even smaller than he already is. When does this end already?
Is he going to blow it up again?
Or worse, tear it up?
“Since this damn book is so important to you, Deku… Maybe I'll keep it. Since nerds like you would kill themselves over information like this, I think it'd be funny to watch you live without it.” All as the terrorising teen said this, Izuku would only confuse his words mid sentence try argue for it.
“C-Come on, give it back!”
“Or what? You'll fight me for it?” Katsuki sneered and crooned his head at an angle to further make the quirkless wimp shudder and fall silent. “That's what I thought. Now piss off outta my way before I kill you.” He says casually, shoving the notebook into his own bag as he'd continue walking onwards. Maybe that'll teach the little green idiot a lesson about the world.
Nobody cares about quirkless guys like him anyways!
As Midoriya watched the taller male laugh on with his own friends, he just decided he wouldn't stand for it. Clenching his fists, adrenaline rushing across his body in seconds, he took his bag and threw it in his direction, forcing Katsuki to stumble forwards and cut his banter short.
“I've had enough! Give it back!” This adrenaline was the only thing keeping him here. His response was to fight this time. Like the countless times he's been beaten, he didn't know when to give up on such a dream.
But this was an awesome invitation for Bakugo to put his quirk to use.
“Alright then… Come and get it.”
Silence loomed over the both of them, the faint sounds of explosions crackled instantly as it would also disappear in that exact frame of time. The blond boy simply stood his ground as he waited for Izuku to do something.
The underdog, Midoriya, was also compelled to fight again with more resolve than usual. Though he was thinner, more scrawny and mentally weaker than his opponent, he brought his hands up. Bakugo began laughing at his sorry attempt at initiating a fight, soon speeding towards the boy with a slight boost from his quirk.
As Bakugo extended an arm to blast the freckled idiot, he was surely not expecting a firm grip to his wrist to further force him forward and his leg to trip him up. But Midorya was only lucky because of how fast he was going. In a matter of strength, the meek boy was dead meat.
“I missed?” He grunts in disbelief, watching his target move away right after that series of action.
But because Bakugo himself stopped moving, this uneasy feeling, straight fear, would make Izuku already start to reconsider his actions. Maybe he should've ran away? It's certainly not smart to do that with a boy with anger issues. He gulped, his legs jittering like jelly. Bakugou's friends simply watched in amusement.
“He looks like he's got his tail between his legs.”
“But now he's serious about this, huh?”
“Is this too far?”
The explosive boy grinded his teeth for a second, immediately blasting towards the quirkless bum with his hand reaching out to his face, fingers pressed firmly and harshly into his cheeks. He can feel his own sweat in his palms build up as he did so.
This forced Izuku backwards, a few metres away from their initial spot before landing on his back. The concrete hurt but Deku here was still struggling to pry his fingers off. His hands held onto his opponent's wrist firmly. Both of their expressions were mixed up.
Izuku was really in it for that notebook.
“Stay still or I'll blow your head off!” He bellowed to the squirming male, tightening his grip on his face as he furrowed his brow. Katsuki was aggressive that way.
“If I even see your face at UA, consider yourself dead. I'll surpass the top heroes and become number one— By myself!” He yells, eventually releasing his grip on the poor boys face. Katsuki’s foot still rested on his stomach.
“So stay the hell out of it, you quirkless loser!”
Thump! His foot landed harshly onto the scrawny boy. He continued to kick and kick and kick while he was down and unable to defend himself. “I'm number one! I'm number one!” He'd repeat himself, with each kick becoming harsher and harsher, the bully felt he hadn't had enough.
At this point, Midoriya was curled up into a ball of hurt. Instinctively covering his stomach and face that was taking all these hits. Being rough was normal with Bakugo, but this was too much more than normal.
The insults that were hurled at him as they were supposedly supposed to go home only made his day worse. It's bad enough that Izuku already wanted to be a hero with no quirk but to have an oppressive force beat it into him could mean a few things.
Was Katsuki trying to protect his own pride as a promising fledgling hero as well as Izuku’s livelihood by beating it into him?
Nah. He's not that nice.
The sun had already set after such a beat down and the one sided beating session had been over about an hour before dark. The victim of such bullying scratched his head. Unfortunately, he never got his book back. Carrying his bag just over his shoulder, his eyes were glued to the floor. Just earlier, that might have been the harshest he's ever seen him get. It was painful to bear for Deku.
I mean, nobody wants to be told that they can't achieve their dreams.
He's been wanting this since he was a little kid!
His clothes were still dirty… But at least he was almost home. But he should be used to this, right? That's just the way Kacchan was. For as long as he could remember, Kacchan was also egotistical about his quirk. He'd downplay anything else that could match up to him.
The streetlights were finally turning on and the physically and mentally exhausted Izuku had just slowly but gradually started to cry just for a bit. His eyes already hurt from holding his feelings back. Why couldn't he be so much luckier?!
Since nobody was around on this particular street, he was thankfully given just a bit of privacy to pour his feelings out through his tear ducts. Tears stained his face and even trickled down to hit the floor. Midoriya’s sniffles were so faint. Why was it so easy to cry so silently?
Just then, he felt a very faint nudge at his leg that'd make him jump in place.
“Oh… A cat.”
The cat was clearly dirty, wet and certainly smelly due to lack of care. Orange fur mixed with white pigments only reminded him of Bakugo Katsuki.
“You're so thin…” He took a closer look at the cat who seemed to be so malnourished. It's bones were so clearly visible, it hurt his heart to see it. He remembered that he had a leftover from his meal that day earlier. He had some pork, though not as warm as it was earlier, it'd surely earn some gratitude from a starving cat.
Laying the last three slabs of meat on the ground for it to eat, the cat, that didn't seem to be any larger than a kitten, began to chow down as if it was literally the last meal of its life. Watching this gave Deku the vague sense of accomplishment just over his grief of his broken dreams.
He had a very unrelated thought about cats though.
“Why do people always name their cats ‘Tama’?”
He had a confused look. He did not open his mouth just now, did he? He just thought of that exact same question so why…
He looked around, particularly into the darkness where the streetlights couldn't reach. The cat in front of him disappeared in seconds, leaving just one pork cutlet. It was either full or scared of the foreign voice. What a timid cat.
“Aww, I scared it off.” This voice was certainly feminine, footsteps drawing closer until their whole figure was revealed. It was a girl, just about his age for sure. Certainly from another school. But why was there a random girl here?
“Hiiiii! Wanna be friends?” She asks with such an enthusiastic look. The beaten up boy had the feeling that something was wrong. Rightfully so, it was basically nighttime. It's hard to tell if what he was looking at was real. He trembled and stood onto his feet quickly.
She was so eerie… Why is she looking at him with such a creepy smile? Her eyes were the most unnerving part of her charm. A yellow gaze, cat-like slits for pupils and very pale and clear skin. Her hand was extended out to him.
Her smile felt… Unnatural. As if it was extremely obvious what her intentions were.
But for the information nerd that Izuki was, he knew exactly what he was looking at. His face had gotten pale with fear as anxiety and adrenaline was bubbling up inside his body all over again. Though his body was tired and hurting, it was amazing to see what it would do to be sure to get away from danger.
So why couldn't his feet move?
As a result, he trembled, his legs were obviously shaking, sweat was already building up on his forehead. Why can he smell the pork cutlet from that distance? Why the hell was he suddenly able to sense things he wasn't aware of before?
“Y-You— You're—!” Izuku stammered, tripping over his own words. He felt dizzy, breathing so quickly and heavily that he was slowly starting to get indescribably loud. Luckily, the creepy girl before him had covered his gob before he could finish his sentence.
She did this prior to shoving him against a wall, certainly not leaving any time for the wishy washy civilian to think like he could with Bakugo. He can't overpower something like this! He'll die! He's going to die! Somebody help him!
Though her grip on his face was tight, he could only muffle his words and whimper. He felt something cold at his neck. It sort of stung his skin but it allowed for his mind to focus onto it more than her hand.
Which was a very bad thing.
“Don't yell! I don't wanna get in trouble just yet!” The feminine voice complained, glancing left and right the second she did so. She didn't pay attention to her weapon and had actually cut him already, though it wasn't a dangerous wound, it made room for just a little bit of blood to trickle down onto the knife, slithering to the handle and onto her hand.
A unanimous “oh”, one in amusement and one in fear, being held back by another oppressive hand. She glanced at the knife, the blood, the boy she was apprehending… He looked all beat up prior to their meeting but…
Wow, he looks really cute!!
Now things were heating up for her. Where the hell is this rush of excitement coming from? Her face was really scary to look at through the eyes of Midoriya but it just got even worse in a few seconds.
Her face had lit up instantly, following with a blush while revealing her noticeably pointy teeth, giggling, she pushed the boy away to the side for a moment, almost cutting herself in the process. Like she was some sort of creature, she was weirdly obsessive with the blood she had accidentally drawn from him, even going as far as to licking the trail that was on her hand.
It felt really freeing for this psychopathic girl.
“I like boys like you! You're super cute!” She's suddenly boasting. “Can I cut ya?! Can I?!”
For any sane person, this situation is a nightmare. Izuku, wiping away his cut with his sleeve, had just struggled to keep himself in check. He obviously can't scream for help now. But he was extremely thankful that she pushed him away.
She marvelled at him to the point of almost dropping her knife. She squealed. “You're so cool!”
Oh.
Now the pieces were coming together. Now he knew why he recognised her.
She had just recently become a criminal. Based on reports from the news and social media, that was booming back and forth about this story, it was a gruesome attack. But the girl was such an ordinary person. Why on earth did she lead herself astray from an easy life? Just because she wants to?
Swish.
Well that was close! The knife just cut his sleeve and he was just barely able to react in time. Thank god for that. But the situation may have actually gotten worse.
“Bruised and beaten up boys are so cool and awesome… The fact that you're still standing is amazing! So c’mon! Lemme cut— Oof?!”
His bag, his best tool, was thrown at her face so quickly. And with that attempt, he shoved right past her and just narrowly escaped with a single unlucky cut at his forearm, likely due to how fast and unexpected that shove was, she'd have no control of the weapon.
But even so, his body would tolerate the pain for this moment. He just had to leave. It would be the best course of action rather than to stay with a… warm blooded(?) killer.
Successfully, he fled. There wasn't much damage to him. But the girl was left with something pretty cool. His bag. It was a big, yellow, hunky thing, likely filled with books and all sorts. She'd at least be given a gift as he left (as she'd see it).
She just can't wipe that face he pulled.
What a wimp.
The escapee, sweating from fear and anxiety, his only thing keeping him alive is his adrenaline and the thought of what his mother would say about how he had completely missed his curfew and might get scolded.
It didn't seem like he was being followed at all once he disappeared from the creepy girls' sight. He was able to catch his breath and slow down as the rush of cold air had seeped under his skin and hurt his throat through erratic breathing. Right now, the sky was a blanket of dark blues and black, making it incredibly difficult to see without a streetlight or a torch. It was one of the reasons he was so thankful to be a city boy.
His legs hurt from tensing his muscles too much, he felt prickles on his fingers but his chest felt lighter than ever. Guiding his hands to his throat, he began to laugh. He's alive. He's alive! He made it through! He choked his tears with silent laughter all while he held his own house key in his free hand, unlocking the familiar door to his home.
He felt as if he was tipsy, although he's never gotten his hands on any sort of alcohol, he is relieved. That was so scary.
Taking off his shoes, scratched and dirty, he'd announce through the hallway.
“I'm back!”
“Izuku!” A frantic voice replied instantaneously, a chubby middle aged woman scrambled over her own feet to rush to her son, grabbing him and pulling him into a hug.
Clearly, she had been worried. It's already evident enough by her tears and tight, warm hug. He was glad to know that wasn't necessarily in trouble but his protective mother would also start to ask questions.
“Where have you been?! You didn't answer your phone at all! Where's your bag? Why do you look so beat up?! Who did this to you?” She rambled faster than his tired mind can keep up with. But the panicked mother, clearly in distress, sighed in relief to see that he's back in one piece.
Now how should he go about it to his mom?
Inko was always this way for as long as he could remember. His nurturing and overprotective mother was someone who would give the world to her son if it meant that he could fit in properly and have opportunities in his life. Truly, a wonderful parent that's only consumed by worry.
And a smidge of regret.
Izuku stretched, containing a slightly painted groan before taking off a part of his uniform. “I ended up getting lost earlier today. And some routes home weren't available so I had to take a detour.”
“And your phone?”
“Dead. I think.” He muttered the last part to himself. He definitely lost it in that scuffle with that creepy girl. He shuddered at the thought. He's fine now, he's at home. “I want to take a bath…” He could go for that right now.
But today was eventful. In a bad way. He had felt guilty lying to his mother earlier in order to keep her from worrying. But he should try to make a report or something along those lines. Not that he's ever had to do it.
His mind would flash back and forth to that girl he stumbled upon. She… Was certainly crazy. Was she a nut? Maybe under the influence of something. No, she was intentionally being eerie around him. Izuku is smart enough to tell that.
Was that some sick way of trying to flirt with someone? With a knife? Even so, Izuku, with zero experience with interaction with women (so far), still grew pretty flustered while thinking of his interaction with her. She's probably a desperate girl.
Without even paying attention, he was sinking further and further into the warm water, healing his soul and washing away the first and gunk off of his skin and hair. He wasn't even hungry. He'll probably wake up later that night to eat something in his own time.
He won't see her again if he makes a report. Maybe the next time he hears about her is on the news, a headline about her getting caught would lighten the weight off of his shoulders. Anyone can be a killer but it'd be a lot worse to have a killer recognise your face and potentially hunt you down because they can.
Things will go back to normal.