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“Hm, hmmn. Interesting.” The old creepy looking doctor says as he looks at Izuku’s foot scan. “Yes, indeed. Young Izuku here doesn’t have a quirk. That’s very rare these days. It means that he’s potentially a witch. That means you should visit an occult store and see if there’s anything there that he resonates with to help him get started on learning. However, it’s only about a 50% chance that he’s going to be a witch, so don’t get your hopes up. He may simply be quirkless. Here.” The doctor opens a drawer and pulls out a paper after a bit of rummaging. “This is a list of legitimate occult stores. The chances of finding something that resonates is much higher in any one of these stores than in one of your run of the mill occult stores that are mostly for the delusional.”
Inko takes the list, feeling like she stepped into a weird dream. “Witches exist?”
“Witches have always existed. They’ve always been rare, though, so I’m not surprised you haven’t heard of them beyond mere fairy tales. The chances of identifying one at a young age have gone up sharply since the rise of quirks, however, because only the quirkless can have magic.” Dr. Tsubasa tells her. “Before quirks, finding someone born with the talent for magic who also happened to be interested enough in the occult to start teaching themselves or learning about it were so rare that it was unusual to find more than ten practicing witches worldwide. That’s an estimation by the Witches’ Association, by the way. You’ll find their address on the back of the page, there. Only contact them if you find something young Izuku resonates with, however. They don’t like to be bothered by wishful thinkers.”
She bites her lip. “Okay, thank you, doctor.”
It looks like she’ll be spending the rest of the day going to occult shops, because Izuku is vibrating with excitement and mumbling to himself about it.
~
Inko is exhausted. This is the fourth occult shop they’ve been to and while the staff have been very helpful in every store after she explained what they were after, they’ve gone through every item in three stores scattered around Musutafu with nothing to show for it and now they’re halfway through the items in a fourth store and Izuku is tired enough that tears are slipping down his cheeks even as he determinedly tries every single thing, unwilling to give up.
Her brave little boy is currently picking keys off of hooks and setting them back one after one, obviously disappointed when there’s no reaction.
Suddenly, though, something glows and she looks down to see an ornate key clutched in his tiny fist.
“Momma, momma! Look! It worked!” He shrieks joyfully, waving it around.
“Oh my! That’s unusual.” The staff member says cheerfully. “Izuku must be very attuned to knowledge to get a key to an occult library this young.”
“Uh-huh! I can read good!” Izuku answers for her.
Inko droops in relief. “So he is a witch?”
“Yes, indeed!” The staff member reassures her. “While normal people can feel drawn to items meant for them, magical items only glow for those who are witches or other supernaturals. It gets less obvious after the initial item that unlocks their magic, though, so it’s easier to hide.”
“Oh.” She hadn’t thought about hiding it. “So, how do we find this occult library he has a key to?”
The staff member winks. “You don’t have to. Watch. Izuku, hold out your key like you’re putting it in a door to open it. There you go. Now turn the key.”
A door appears out of thin air and opens easily when Izuku pushes on it. It opens to a lobby with a desk that in turn opens onto a darkened library. There’s a sign on the desk.
Hours: 4pm-6:30pm.
Inko blinks and looks at her watch. It reads 3:59pm.
“Well, it won’t hurt to wait a minute for the librarian to come in and open up.” The staff member opines.
“Wooow!” Izuku says and walks in.
Inko follows, a little surprised when she’s allowed entry. She turns in surprise when the staff member doesn’t follow.
“Oh, don’t worry. You’re allowed in because you’re his mom and he’s underage. You probably won’t be able to read anything the library has, but you can talk to the librarian on his behalf.” The staff member says, waving a little. “Just come out when you’re ready. I won’t lock up until after you leave, if you stay a long time.”
She nods gratefully for the information. “Thank you.”
“No problem!”
Someone clears their throat and she turns to see a scruffy looking man with black hair staring at her and her son. “Welcome, I guess. You’re looking for the little kids’ section, right? Go straight back to the far wall. That level of books is unencrypted, so you can read to him if he has trouble with that. Books can’t be taken out of the library, but he’s welcome during library hours.”
“Thank you so much!” She bows. “I’m Inko Midoriya and this is my son Izuku.”
“Aizawa Shouta. Wake me up if you need anything.” He replies and promptly lays down behind the desk.
“Um.”
“Momma, momma! I wanna see the books!” Izuku tugs at her hand.
She blinks and realizes that the library lights are on now. “Alright, honey.”
~
Ten years later…
“Library will be closed starting tomorrow, for the next two weeks.” Aizawa-san warns him, as he does this time of year every year.
Izuku grins at him. After pestering the tired man off and on for years, he knows that a. Aizawa is an underground hero named Eraserhead, b. he’s a vampire that went to UA a while back and c. he’s a teacher at UA. This is exam season, so it’s no surprise that he’s too busy to keep the library open during his napping hours. “Not a problem!”
“Good.”
“I’m trying out for UA this year.” He adds, even though Aizawa already knows this.
“Good luck.” Aizawa says flatly. “You’ll need it.”
“Rude. But thanks!” He answers. Then wanders off to check the proportions on his latest potion recipe.
He’s learned over the years that he’s what’s called a ‘universal witch’. Meaning he doesn’t need a wand or focus and that he can play with anything from potions to amulets to time magic to transformation magic. Eventually, though, he’ll have to settle on an area or areas of interest, because doing it all is too much for any one witch. There’s also things he can’t and shouldn’t do. Those are more the domain of other supernaturals out there.
Like transforming himself into an animal unless he wants to stay an animal permanently, because only were creatures can transform themselves back. Or into another supernatural unless he wants to be that kind of supernatural permanently with all the downsides and only half the upsides. He can transform other people temporarily, though!
Kacchan had found that out the hard way when he’d pissed off Izuku in the first year of middle school. Apparently Kacchan’s soul animal is a Pomeranian! Super barky and kind of bite-y, but loves being petted. His friend has never quite forgiven him for that revelation. Auntie Mitsuki, on the other hand, had thought Kacchan’s dog form hilarious and adorable and sometimes she asks him to transform Kacchan again.
Izuku doesn’t, of course. But mostly because Aizawa told him to reserve that kind of thing for when Kacchan super duper needs a lesson in humility. Also, because he was lucky that Kacchan hadn’t been dead set on staying a dog. Cuz, uh, he’d transformed their classmate Tsubasa into a bat like a week later and the boy has refused to let the magic work in reverse ever since. Mr. and Mrs. Tsubasa were pissed.
Doctor Tsubasa had apparently talked them out of a lawsuit, but yeah, until Tsubasa decides to let the reverse transformation work, the Tsubasas have a cute pet fruit bat to feed and take care of. Honestly, he’s pretty sure that Tsubasa decided that a bat didn’t have to do homework or grow up and get a job, so being a bat was preferable. The math assignment that week had been a nasty one, after all.
Annnyways. Izuku likes spellcasting, but it takes a lot of energy to do more than one in a row, so he actually prefers potion making, crafting amulets and wards and using spell circles that do so much of the work for him, even if setting them up is a pain and takes time. Thus his study of the potion grimoires.
UA keeps the practical a secret and witches are only allowed to bring one weapon, wand or focus or up to ten potions, so he has to be prepared to use a lot of spellcasting tomorrow. It’s going to wipe him out, no doubt, but at least tomorrow is a Friday, so he’ll have the weekend to sleep, eat copious amounts of food and recover.
~
“Hey, Yagi, who you watching there?” Nemuri asks curiously.
Yagi startles. “Oh, the boy with the green, curly hair. He helped me catch a slippery criminal a few months back.”
“Well, that explains why you noticed him, but why are you glued to watching his performance?” She asks.
“I’m just confused at all the different things he’s doing. I thought his quirk was transformation, but so far I’ve seen him use ice, fire, acid and a metal bat.” He sounds worried.
Shouta straightens and peers at the screen for a moment. “Oh, him. He’s a universal witch. The kid who’s been visiting my library for the last decade. He’s pretty good. I’m surprised he’s not using his potions, though.”
Yagi looks relieved. “Oh, that explains it.”
Explains what, Nemuri would like to know, because it sounds like he was worried about something they don’t know about. Still, it perks her interest. Shouta’s mentioned his little visitor off and on over the years, but it’s still rarer to meet a universal witch than it is to find a time quirk. “You think he’ll get in, then, Shou-bear?”
“I have no doubt.” He says without hesitation, turning his attention to other screens.
Which, coming from him? Says a lot about the kid’s potential, even if Nemuri hadn’t heard the stories of the boy’s shenanigans over the years, many of which are pretty impressive. Stupid, but impressive. Not many 12-year-olds can say that they’ve accidentally permanently transformed someone into a fruit bat just because they were challenged to turn them into their soul animal for a few hours.
“Wait. Is this the kid who transformed his best friend into a dog because he pissed him off?” Vlad asks.
“Yes.” Shouta says disinterestedly.
“Nedzu, please put that kid in Aizawa’s class.” Vlad requests. “I don’t think I can handle the sheer chaos.”
“Done!” Nedzu chirps pleasantly.
Shouta groans in mild irritation, but doesn’t protest, which is a testament to how much he likes the kid.
Yagi looks bewildered. “Are you so sure he’ll get in?”
“He’s only one villain point short and he has fifteen rescue points already, so he’s passed.” Nedzu explains.
Nemuri will never get used to the way Nedzu can simultaneously track the points of every potential student who catches his attention.
“Now, shall we see how the children react to overwhelming force?” Nedzu grins. “Aizawa, if you would do the honors?”
Shouta grins evilly and leans over to hit the big red button that releases the 0 pointers. “Don’t mind if I do.”
She doesn’t say anything when he redirects his attention to the green haired witch in particular. Trust Shouta to be interested in his favorite’s reaction to an arena boss.
~
Izuku is tired. Nine minutes of spell casting constantly has worn him out. He hasn’t had to use more than two of his potions, though, so he can probably just use those for the last minute.
Then the rumbling and screaming starts and people start fleeing past him from whateve- Oh, that’s a big robot.
He’s a little tempted to see what his potions can do to it, but that’s probably not smart, so he turns to follow the crowd.
“-help! Someone help!” He hears faintly.
Turning back, he sees a brunette lying trapped by a slab of concrete directly in the oncoming arena boss’ path. Shit! Welp, time to see how much damage his potions can do to a multi-story robot.
Izuku doesn’t bother pausing to see if he can help the girl directly. He doesn’t have enough juice left to do a telekinesis spell or any spell, really. Honestly, he’s running on fumes alone. Skidding to a halt, he chucks one of his explosive potions at the right leg of the thing. It jolts slightly from the impact and Izuku can see the divot left in it. Not enough to stop it, but if he keeps throwing potions at the same spot, it might be enough. Good thing his aim is decent.
One after another, he throws the remaining 7 potions at the same spot, backing up as he does so. Fire, ice, acid, Greek fire…
The thing slows notably, tottering on its unstable leg. If he just had one more potion, it’d go down, but now he’s backed up against the trapped girl and it’s still moving.
Welp, time to find out if he can force a couple more spells out.
He overcharges an acid spell and lobs it at the damaged spot.
The zero pointer creaks ominously and then crashes sideways, taking out several buildings in the process. It’s a miracle that none of the resulting debris hits them.
Vaguely, he notices that the brunette has managed to free herself and is standing beside him. She bends over and starts puking rainbows, but his vision is tunnelling and then he blacks out entirely.
~
Ochako is busy puking when her savior suddenly passes out too suddenly for her to react and thwacks his head with a hollow bonking sound as he hits the ground. Oh, no!
“THE TEST IS OVER, LISTENERS. PLEASE RETURN TO THE STARTING POINT IF YOU ARE CAPABLE OF DOING SO.” Present Mic announces.
Her leg hurts like hell and her companion is definitely not mobile, so she decides to sit down and wait for help to find them. Near death experience aside, she’s sure UA isn’t so irresponsible as to leave test takers injured and/or trapped on the testing grounds.
Idly, she watches the robot and crushed buildings burn. UA sure takes Plus Ultra to the extreme. Her kind of place.