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Chapter Summary:
Then maybe the hand of a new friend can help me get back on my feet and show me a path to keep going forward.
Or.
Izuku doesn’t like bullies and is willing to lie to scare them, and to share his quirk status with another student to help them understand that he really Does want to help them.
Chapter 8: If the World is Against Me
The flare of Anger caught Izuku by surprise.
It was lunch, and most of the students had all made their way to the cafeteria by then. He had decided to eat in the classroom, for the sake of his nerves if nothing else. (Too many people, too many emotions. He was comfortable in a classroom, but the lunchroom was a hurdle he didn’t feel ready for yet. Nooroo was proud of him for recognizing his limits.)
It was two halls down from where he was, and it was tinged with Frustration, Exhaustion, and Resignation. There were others nearby as well, at least three people, all with echoes of Disdain, Smuggness, and faint hints of Fear to them.
It was a combination he knew painfully well.
Nooroo squeaked from inside his bag as Izuku suddenly leaped to his feet, almost knocking it over in his rush, and burst into a sprint out the door and down the hall. He needed to get there fast.
(This was UA. This was a school for aspiring heroes. No, that couldn’t happen there. It shouldn’t happen there!)
He almost stumbled in his effort to slow down and pretend to act natural before he entered the scene. He needed to appear calm, like he’d just walked into the scene by chance. And not like he’d just made a mad dash from his classroom to get there. He needed to be just slow enough to get information while still able to cut in before things could go wrong.
“Man, I’m surprised UA would let someone like you in,” one voice said, snide and condescending. Another chuckled.
“Maybe they did it to keep an eye on him. Best to keep a close eye on a future villain, right?”
“They oughta just expel him and be done with it. Then they don’t have to take a hit when he gets arrested.”
Izuku felt himself frowning. It was close, far too close to what he’d thought was happening. A group of bullies, ones who’d found a potential victim to target. It didn’t feel like things would get violent yet, but he didn’t plan on taking the chance.
But what to do?
He could step out, but what then? Should he confront the bullies? Should he fake a story to get them to leave? Or should he abscond with the victim? Or would it be better to watch and note down who the students were and report them to the teachers? (They were heroes, so they should at least look into it. Right?)
Izuku remained still as a tingling feeling traveled up his leg, and a weight appeared in his blazer pocket.
“Izu-bocchan?” Nooroo’s whisper traveled up to him. “What do you want to do?”
What did he want to do? (What had he always wanted when people taunted him?)
He took in a steadying breath and stepped around the corner, making sure his footsteps were loud enough to be heard on the tiled floors.
His eyes met the eyes of the victim first.
He was a first-year student, Izuku could tell, and had the uniform for the General Education course on. (In fact, all three of them looked to be GenEd students.) Spiked purple hair swept back from his face, doing nothing to hide how pale his skin was under the electric lights. His eyes were the same shade of purple as his hair and had deep, dark bags under them. His uniform was neat and orderly, everything matching the school’s regulations, and not showing any kind of personal customization. Which was unusual, since UA was one of the few schools that allowed for students to wear personal accessories and clothing tailored to their preferences.
His face was set in a neutral, bored expression. But Izuku could feel the Tiredness and Frustration hiding underneath. And the tinge of Curiosity that appeared when he spotted Izuku.
Forcing back his own nerves, Izuku spoke.
“Excuse me, is there a problem here?” He tried to keep his voice neutral, no outright hostility but definite hints of disapproval. He crossed his arms in the same way Sango-sensei did when she saw students in the class messing around when they shouldn’t or deliberately ignoring the instructions she’d given and not taking her lessons seriously. (Sango-sensei had mastered the “disapproving adult” stare.)
He knew what was going on, and he didn’t like it. And he wanted them to know it. He wanted to channel that Angry Teacher energy so that they would, hopefully, leave quietly without the situation escalating.
The three bullies jumped, turning quickly to see Izuku’s disapproving stance and not-quite glare. The middle one, the one who’d lead the group if he had to guess, tried to act nonchalant about what they’d been caught doing.
“Hey man, it’s nothing for you to worry about…”
“Is it? So the three of you aren’t cornering a classmate in a hallway, alone, when the teachers are all away from the classrooms?” He rarely got sarcastic with people, but surely they knew how bad this looked?
It was so stereotypical that anyone would know the instant they saw. Anyone with eyes could see that they were trying to harass their classmate when there was no one around to stop them. It was so obvious it wasn’t funny. He had no idea what they were thinking, and he wasn’t sure he wanted to know. (He had been the one cornered too many times before he met Nooroo to want to understand the other side.)
The leader started stuttering, obviously trying to find something he could say in their defense and not succeeding. At least he seemed self-aware enough to realize how things looked. The other two, not so much. They panicked when their leader seemed to, without fully knowing why he was panicking.
Which ended in them putting their foot into their mouth.
“He- He shouldn’t be here! He should just drop out already,” one of the others squeaked out, waving at the purple-haired boy. And completely missing when the lead bully’s head snapped to them. “We’re doing the school a favor…”
Izuku felt his eyes narrow, one foot tapping slowly as he started to properly glare at the three.
He pulled on a tiny amount of magic, just enough to make an invisible, almost undetectable pressure in the air. Not enough to be properly noticed by anyone who wasn’t magical themselves, but enough to make a non-magical person feel just-a-litte-more-nervous than they would normally feel. (It was a trick Nooroo had taught him to help train his external control of his magic for making things like protective barriers.)
“No. No, you’re not.” The three started shuffling, squirming under the Look he was giving them. “UA is one of the best schools in the country. They don’t let just anyone become a student. If someone is a student, then it’s because they proved that they had something that the school thought was worthwhile. This isn’t for the school and I believe we all know it.”
He swept his gaze over them. They were starting to look nervous, and just the littlest bit guilty. (Good, his magic was working.)
“You are UA students, you should know better.” He paused for a moment, then continued. “And you should also know that Principal Nedzu ensured that all the hallways in the school have security cameras. Cameras that include sound recording.”
Abruptly, all three students paled, staring at him with wide eyes and radiating Alarm.
“According to the student handbook, the teachers regularly check the recordings to make sure students are following the rules…”
And, with that, all three made panicked excuses before they went tearing off down the halls. Just as he’d expected (and hoped) would happen. Leaving Izuku and their victim behind.
Izuku watched their retreating backs, waiting until he couldn’t hear them clearly anymore before finally turning to check on their victim. He dropped his strong disapproving stance and finally letting the concern he felt show. He quickly approached, calling back his subtle magic to make their air feel normal again.
“Hey, are you alright?” He asked, eyes quickly scanning the other over. Nothing was pinging in his senses but he felt like he had to check anyway.
The purple-haired boy blinked at him.
“Yeah, I’m fine. They were just talking smack, not like they were brave enough to do worse.” It was said casually. Like it didn’t bother him. But the green-haired boy could sense what he was hiding. He was bothered by it, but was masking it. Probably because he didn’t know the strange student who’d come to help him.
Izuku gave him a weak smile.
“Today they were. But if they think they can get away with it, then they’ll have the chance to get worse.” Izuku’s face got more serious. “Have they tried to mess with you before? Or was this the first time?”
The GenEd student shook his head, feeling just a little bemused and just a little thoughtful.
“Nah, this was the first time. For two of them, at least. One of them went to the same middle school as me, so his groupies are new. They’re all in a different class, though.”
Ah, so this was a longer-term acquaintance then. Not someone who’d singled him out after meeting him in school. That was a little better, he guessed. It meant the other wasn’t just roaming the school looking for targets. This was something that both were (unfortunately) familiar with. Izuku could kind of understand that, at least. He knew Kastuki-san was attending UA now and would probably take personal offense to Izuku being there too. Even if the quirkless boy was in the Management track and not the Hero course. Katsuki-san’s ego was… Tender enough to feel like he needed to make a fuss about his former childhood friend attending the same school.
Even when Nooroo tried to explain what he understood of that kind of mindset to him, it just didn’t make sense to Izuku. He just couldn’t understand Katsuki-san’s logic and how it led to his extreme defensiveness over anything and everything that revolved around his ability to be a hero.
Izuku frowned, letting out a little hum at the answer the purple-haired boy had given.
“Still, if they start to escalate, you should tell a teacher. UA takes discrimination like that really seriously.”
“It sounds like it,” the other said with a chuckle. “Surprised about the microphones in the security cameras, though…”
“Oh, there aren’t any. A lot of the halls should actually have the same number of cameras and microphones as a normal high school,” Izuku said with a small, nervous laugh. “I, uh, made that up to get them to leave. I didn’t know if they were the sort to get violent if someone confronted them so…”
Purple eyes widened and a slow, wide grin spread over his face.
“You’re kidding. You made that up? You sounded so serious!” Izuku could sense the glee bubbling up in his yearmate at that. He let himself grin back.
“I figured that they probably hadn’t actually read the student handbook, not cover to cover at least. And enough people know what Principal Nedzu is like that it would sound like something that he would do. So, I just rolled with it.”
“Oh, that is amazing.” The purple-haired boy started laughing. “What’s your name? I have to know after hearing that. ”
“I’m Midoriya Izuku,” he said, nodding politely. “I’m in the Management track. And you?”
“Name’s Shinso Hitoshi, GenEd. But I plan to transfer into the Hero Course.”
“Oh really? What kind of heroics were you planning on?” Izuku couldn’t help perking up at that. It sounded like Shinso had an… Unusual quirk, so asking about it directly might not go over well. Asking about what he wanted to specialize in would probably be okay, though. Maybe?
Shinso blinked in confusion at that.
“Uh…”
“As in, what specifically did you want to be called in for? Like, do you want to do rescue? Disaster relief? Crime investigation?” Izuku carefully suggested. He sometimes forgot that not everyone thought the way he did. He needed to give a little more detail for people to know what he was talking about. And, apparently, the full range of hero specializations tended to fall into that category. People knew about Villain Capture and Rescue work, but not much more than that.
(Nooroo had playfully called it his secondary Hyperfocus, after quirks. He couldn’t say the kwami was wrong.)
“Oh, uh, well…” Shinso’s brow furrowed in thought. Izuku gave him time to think, quietly assuming that Shinso hadn’t ever taken the time to really think about what he wanted to do. “Underground. I wanted to do underground work, my- my quirk is better suited for stuff like that.”
Izuku nodded, that would make sense. Shinso’s quirk must be something that had very specific conditions to work right, then. It needed to be kept a secret so he could use it without someone anticipating him or having a counter ready.
“I see. So more background work instead of being in the Limelight, then. Criminals tend to be a lot more clever and brutal in that line of Heroics.” He tapped a finger against his chin in thought. “Do you have any kind of martial training that you’re doing? Underground work requires a higher agility and personal fitness level than Limelights, since they tend to need to work in much tighter conditions with a lot less backup. And they often have to back their skills physically in order to maintain secrecy and subtlety while working.”
“Uh… Not… Really. I’ve had a hard time finding places that’ll let me- That have the kind of classes that I want.”
Ah, right. Those other students thought that his quirk was “villainous”, so that probably meant that he had trouble finding people willing to help him. Similar to how Izuku had dealt with so many people telling him to give up on being a Hero, and refusing to let him do anything to protect himself for the longest time. Not until he’d convinced his mom to sign them both up for the self-defense classes.
The green-eyed boy smiled to himself. Well, he’d made a promise to himself about who he’d recommend if he met a hero student who’d wanted to take lessons.
“You should try the community center near Tatooin Station. They have a really good self-defense class there. The teacher is strict, but she’s great.”
“Really? Guess I’ll have to take a look.” Polite disbelief. Shinso wasn’t going to outright say he thought the other was wrong, but he didn’t think the butterfly wielder was right.
“You should, it’ll be worth it. She won’t turn you away if you sign up, even if you’re from a different district. I mean, she’s willing to have a quirkless kid like me in her class, after all.” Izuku could sense the way Shinso’s emotions spiked with shock at that, his head abruptly snapping to the boy walking beside him to the main halls.
Izuku kept his face relaxed and pleasant, pretending he couldn’t sense as much as he could. (He wasn’t hiding that he’d told the truth. He didn’t have a quirk. He had something else at his disposal.)
“That’s- That’s cool. I’ll definitely look into it then.” The purple-haired boy was being much more genuine that time.
Good. Hero work required a lot of effort, and they needed to be willing to take the initiative. Shinso didn’t look very athletic, so he probably hadn’t done more than was required for a normal school’s gym class. If he really, truly wanted to be a hero, then he needed to put in the work and not just hope that he’ll be given the chance.
Izuku couldn’t help the grin that appeared.
“Just a heads-up then, Sango-sensei will snap you like a twig. But if you’re going to be a hero, she’s exactly what you’ll need.”
Hidden away in his office, far from the prying eyes of students and teachers alike, Nedzu listened to the playbacks of the school’s security footage.
He was very pleased that he’d managed to convince Maijima-kun to experiment with the alerting sensors for the hallway security cameras. He had a large number of hidden microphones and cameras on the school grounds, it was helpful to have the sensors tell him if there was something unusual going on so he could take a look instead of combing through the entire day’s footage himself. Keeping them a secret from the students made keeping an eye on potential troublemakers much easier.
Even if, in this moment, a student made a bluff that they weren’t aware was actually true. If anything, it made him want to laugh at the coincidence of how well the student in question had sussed out the kinds of things the quirked animal would do.
Nedzu was quickly growing fond of Midoriya-kun.
First, his deeply fascinating quirk profile, which had turned out to be almost perfectly on the money. He’d missed a few details, but those were only because the police hadn’t released all of the case details to the public. He was sure that, if the boy had access to them, he would have easily figured out the exact quirk’s effects.
Then helping discover the problems with the student uniforms simply because he’d “gotten lost” while exploring. Yes, he had been wandering the halls aimlessly prior, but the turn to the locker rooms was too deliberate to have been entirely by chance. Something seemed to tug the boy in the direction of the changing rooms, though Nedzu couldn’t be sure that it was a conscious choice on Midoriya-kun’s part.
And now thwarting some budding delinquents who thought they could skate under UA’s anti-discrimination rules! His reaction was fast, incredibly so. He’d reacted like he’d heard something that immediately drew his attention and told him to move as quickly as possible. As if he’d heard a shout or something being knocked to the floor.
Honestly, if he kept this up, Nedzu would consider extending private lessons to hone whatever subconscious ability he had that was letting him find so many problems before they could become something more serious. Because he was sure the boy had some kind of hidden ability other than the sharp mind he’d shown in his tests. No matter what his records claimed his “power” status was.
Midoriya-kun had the toe joint, yes. But…
Nedzu was the smartest being in the world. He had noticed things. Noticed people and places that were just a little bit more. There were people and places in the world that seemed to carry an air, carry a Power, that existed outside the laws of quirks. There were things humans could do, things hidden in their pasts, that modern science couldn’t fully explain away. And there were people who had those strange, non-quirks bubbling away under their skin. Quietly waiting for the moments when they were needed. Waiting to show that they were More than what society tried to box them into being.
If his guess was right, Midoriya-kun may be one of those people with a quiet power whispering away at him and waiting for its chance to fully appear.
And there was nothing he enjoyed more than seeing his students grow to be their Best Selves. He would be more than happy to help refine that hidden talent, no matter where it came from. Especially with the little cues and clues it seemed to already be giving his budding student.
(Even without that, Midoriya-kun had a sharp mind that appealed to him. Good observational talent like that was hard to find. It was best to give a mind like that the chance to flourish properly instead of letting it get lost in the shuffle. Yes, Nedzu planned to keep an eye on the skills of that student.)
For now, however, he had to put a flag in the files of some of the GenEd students.
They had to keep an eye on students who seemed inclined to harass their yearmates for things outside their control, after all.
Afterword:
I’ve always loved the contrast between a character thinking that they’re doing a great job of acting normal, only to cut to someone else or a narrator revealing that they are not, in fact, very good at pretending to be normal.
After this, Shinso and Izuku become classmates in Sango-sensei’s self-defense class. Izuku kicks his ass in many spars. But he’s not mad, because Izuku always helps explain how and why he lost and helps him improve. He’s also very chill about Izuku being quirkless and having a baby sister with a potentially dangerous quirk that she had trouble with.
Eventually, Shinso tells Izuku what his quirk is. And then gets flooded with ideas for ways he could use his quirk and what kind of equipment would help him as a hero. It’s great to have someone know about his quirk and still think he could be a hero. A great one, even.
Izuku is making so many friends! Nooroo and his mom are so proud of him~
Nedzu is watching Izuku now, because he’s sniffed out that something is up. But also he is an agent of chaos and loves the idea of seeing what he’ll find and figuring out how he can use it to drive everyone else batty.
