The Emperor's Dragon

Education Versus Ignorance

Izuku sat up as he listened to the teacher. Now that they were in the second half of their third year, their teachers were changing. They still had Miss Semai for homeroom and mathematics, but science, language, history, art and something called domestic affairs were all taught by other teachers. He couldn't help but think that Miss Rika was much better at teaching science than Miss Semai had been.

Except he was feeling somewhat nervous. They were doing quirk biology today and he was going to try to educate his classmates. He'd spent time with Doctor Garaki over the last few weeks, learning all he could about quirk theory and how it related to quirklessness. Essentially, there were very few people who were truly quirkless, that is those who didn't carry the quirk genes. Most of those who were deemed quirkless did carry the gene. Doctor Garaki had told him how he'd learned that by studying some of Izuku's upper classmates from the junior high associated with his previous elementary school. He'd felt an odd flush of pride when the Doctor had told him that. He'd helped! In a roundabout way.

So there were people who carried the quirk genes but who would not manifest a quirk (and not because they didn't know the trigger for it) and they were called quirkless, except there should be a distinction made there. They were functionally quirkless. If you looked at the data in a certain way, you could say that they all had the same quirk. Which was amazing, given that quirks were unique to bloodlines. Endeavor's Hellfire quirk, for example, was completely different to Ragnis' quirk. The people who had the genes but were functionally quirkless all had the same ability to stabilise quirks and Doctor Garaki indicated that they might even enhance quirks but there wasn't enough information about that. The old man admitted that the stabilisation may just give the perception of enhancement. But that's what more study was for!

"... which is why those who are quirkless are actually less evolved," Miss Rika was saying, as she gestured to a chart.

Izuku put up his hand, aware that the rest of the class were staring at him with near identical looks of smug superiority.

"Yes, Izuku?" Miss Rika called his name.

He stood. "With respect Miss Rika, the latest papers published in The Journal of Experimental Quirk Biology show that there are very few people who are actually quirkless. Of those who are deemed quirkless, most of them have a fully functioning quirk factor, which is believed will act as a stabiliser for quirks in general."

She looked at him. Miss Rika's eyes were part of her quirk. They were split like a cat and she could produce quite an intimidating stare. For a moment, standing there, Izuku felt vertigo, as if he'd entered a long tunnel. He wondered if this was another part of her quirk but he didn't have a chance to confirm that before the feeling vanished.

"That's a lovely theory, Izuku," she said condescendingly. Izuku braced for the addition he knew she'd make. "But there are no published papers that say that," she added.

"There is, Miss Rika," Izuku countered immediately, keeping his voice reasonable. "The December edition was the original publication," he told her. It was a very new paper. Doctor Garaki had been proud to show it off. Izuku had wondered why, since it wasn't written by the Doctor, until Doctor Garaki had explained that he had published it under a different name, Ujiko Daruma. He'd shown Izuku several other papers he'd published. They were all on the cutting edge of Quirk research.

"Ah," Miss Rika replied. "Then there is no corroborating evidence," she said. "The paper is merely a theory until it has been confirmed. And that requires more than peer review. It requires duplicate studies."

"Which are underway, and so far, have produced the same results," Izuku told her.

"It is February," Miss Rika responded with a small laugh. "Duplicate studies would not be set up that fast."