The Green Flame

What's Different?

It was a lovely morning in Musutafu. The birds were chirping, the sun was beginning to rise and banish the darkness of the night, the Green Devil was holding a criminal by the neck and dousing him in freezing heat. A usual morning. When he dropped the criminal, he noticed that the sun was rising to tell him the night shift was over. 'Damn, already? Oh well.'

Putting on a black compression shirt, black shorts, a face mask and short-sleeve hoodie, Izuku was dressed to walk casually among the civilians. Before leaving, he reached into his backpack for three things: his journal, and his pictures of his family.

Day 15
I continue to fight whatever bad guy comes my way, doing what I can to help people sleep at night. Recently, I helped Yagi and Bakugo, and I've had a bothering burning sensation in my chest ever since. I hope that isn't any indication.

He put his notebook in his backpack and prayed to his deceased family members. Time to survive another day.

...

Izuku walked through the streets, not interacting with anyone. He thought about how different things were compared to two weeks ago. He may sleep on rooftops, but at least he doesn't cry himself to sleep anymore. He may be a target of heroes, but the need to run away from people is hardly anything new to him. And thanks to the money he takes from the criminals he beats, he can afford to feed himself better than the Yagi's did. Best of all, they aren't here to hurt him. His walk took him to a local library, where he saw another missing person poster.

'So why does it burn when I think about them?'

He decided to do some light reading to hopefully clear his head. The library always brought him a sense of comfort during his middle school days. Many days, it was a safe haven from any bullies trying to ruin his life. The librarian was probably the only person in the entire school he built a somewhat positive relationship with. Some afternoons, he helped her put the books back on the shelves. Thick, heavy books. It was an exercise that made him not completely frail, and have a small bit of muscle. Definitely nothing on Katsuki, at least not back then. But what about now?

'Damn, there's that burning again.' He shook it off and looked for a good book to read. Perhaps he could brush up on treating wounds, although it's been a while since he needed to. As he was browsing, he heard a voice groan too loud for a library.

"This is heeeeellll!" she moaned. "Just kill me, it'd be easier at this point." Izuku went to investigate. It's become a habit of his to look into situations that grab his attention. He found a pink-skinned girl looking at a pile of textbooks. 'Studying when it's Summer break?'

"Uh, c-can I ask what you're doing?" Izuku walked up to the pair and asked. The pink girl had bushy hair like him, and black sclera with golden pupils. A mutation quirk. She looked at him with tired body language and eyes. "Writing my will..." Pinky answered. Izuku smiled just a little bit beneath the mask. "Studying." she answered for real this time. Izuku tilted his head. "During the Summer? Am I missing something?"

The girl explained that she had faked being sick during finals three weeks ago to miss being tested on her worst subjects. Eventually, the school and her parents found out the truth, and she had to write the papers during Summer break. "My parents left me here to study the whole day!" Pinky whined. "This is cruel and unusual punishment! I want a lawyer!" she shouted, only for a librarian to shush her. Izuku's smile widened slightly. He looked at the textbooks and saw she was covering Math, History and English.

"I do well in all of these." he muttered aloud. "Really!?" she asked in surprise. "Could you tutor me? Please! I've only got three days to get through all this!" Izuku was taken aback by the pink girl's request. "T-Tutor you?" No one ever asked him to help them study, despite him consistently being at the top of his academics. Even the lowest of the class turned their back on him when he offered. They'd rather fail than get help from Deku. The worst was when his notes got stolen. He was brought out of his bitter thoughts when the pink-skinned girl was on her knees in front of him. "Please help me, I'm begging you! There's no one else. You're my only hope!"