Something Different

7: Motivation

[2226 words]

"A... hero costume?" Izuku sighed as he stared at the piece of paper in his hands. He leaned back on the comfortable red couch in his home, directing his gaze to the ceiling as though it held all the answers. A hero costume was used as a statement to announce a hero's ideals.

     Ideals. What was Izuku's goal? To kill All For One, of course. But how would he condense his intentions into a hero costume?

     ...What was the opposite of All For One? Well, that would be All Might. But there was no way in Hell that Izuku would cosplay as someone he vehemently despised. Perhaps he could go for a much less flashy version of All Might? Black, forest-green, some red... Yeah, that could work.

---

Izuku slipped on a jumpsuit over the skin-tight bodysuit he had on. It was teal with black lines going down his arms and legs, a crimson utility belt strapped over his waist. A pair of black leg and arm braces to provide protection, along with his favourite pair of red sneakers. The arm braces acted as fingerless gloves, too, to add some style.

     To affix more fashion sense, Izuku draped a cloak over the whole outfit—it had inner pockets with knives, smoke bombs, and other... necessary items. Along with that, he had also asked for a metallic gas mask that obscured the bottom half of his face. It had ventilations at the sides to prevent Quirks like Somnambulist from affecting him.

     Due to the complications of his costume, Izuku was the last one to emerge from the tunnel leading to the changing rooms. He was greeted by his stunned classmates, who gawked at his costume. By the look of some of their faces, a few didn't even recognise him. Once he brought the hood and mask down, a look of understanding crossed everybody's faces.

     "It makes sense that it's him," —was Izuku's guess on their thoughts as of that moment. Uraraka approached him, a wide smile on her face.

     "Wow, Midoriya! You look so cool!" She beamed. Her expression then died down as she observed her own hero costume... which appeared to be a semi-appropriate stripper's outfit...? How did that get approved? "I should've been more specific with mine... The results aren't like what I expected."

     "I wouldn't be sure. It would be rather pleasing to a man's eye," Izuku wisecracked with a smirk. Uraraka's face turned into a bright shade of crimson at his comment, and a few eavesdroppers cooed.

     One of the boys—an abnormally short one, at that—went up to the two and gave Izuku a friendly pat on the thigh. "I love the Hero Course," Mineta Minoru drooled as he observed Uraraka's slim figure. Instead of expressing disgust, like everyone else, Izuku merely laughed and kicked Mineta to the side, disregarding him.

     "Alright, you zygotes!"

     Izuku's smile faded away, however, as he was faced with every villain's common enemy... All Might. His presence alone sent the class into a spiral of admiration—it sickened him greatly. Izuku wished nothing more than to get rid of the vengeful hatred that he bore for All Might, but that seemed to get increasingly difficult each passing day.

     All Might elucidated the specifics of that day's Battle Training, and started to draw lots. Izuku prayed, with all his heart and soul, that he didn't get paired with Kacchan. And as though the Gods heeded his prayers, Izuku and Uraraka got placed in Team A.

     "What a coincidence," Uraraka said joyously, playing off this miracle as a mere happenstance. Kacchan was placed in Team D, along with Tenya Iida... Fleetingly, Izuku wondered how long those two could last.