The Tale of the Accursed One.

Broken and Rebuilt.

Izumi didn't even realize All Might was gone. She had lost consciousness of what was going around her. All that was going on in her mind, was her newly discovered depressive state. She honestly didn't know what to expect. The odds of him saying yes were... already low, to say the least. But actually hearing it from his mouth made it feel a millions times worse. It was a miserable feeling. Izumi was always a "tough nut to crack." She would never truly get upset about anything. She couldn't. But.. this was different. Hearing from her lifetime idol that she could not, simply just could never become a hero it really just fucked her up.

BANG


Izumi jumped in fright. It sounded like an explosion. Looking around, she noticed that there was smoke coming from a nearby area. She quickly ran to see what it was. Maybe it was a villain attack?
Even if she herself couldn't become a hero, she wouldn't stop at least seeing them in action. That was too big of a habit to give up.

When she got there, she noticed a huge crowd surrounding an area. Pushing her way to an angle from where she could actually look at whatever the hell was going on, she soon realized that a villain had kidnapped a student from a nearby high school. Not just any villain either, but the same sludge villain that attacked her just a while ago.
Horror dawned upon her when she realized that All Might couldn't do anything because he was past his limit. She was worried for whoever the sludge villain had kidnapped. They seemed to be fighting for their life out there. Worry changed to pure terror when she realized who it was.
Katsuki Bakugo.
The bully himself had gotten caught by the sludge villain. This terrified Izumi to no end, although she had no idea why. Her feelings towards Bakugo were... less than civil, to say the least. He bullied her to no end, and literally told her to go kill herself. But he was her childhood friend, and classmate... so she should at least....
Izumi was confused to no end. What should she do? Scratch that, what could she do? What could anyone do? No one seemed to have a quirk fitting to defeat the sludge villain. All in all, they had no hope. No... hope.
Right?
Something inside Izumi was screaming at her, to move. To, interestingly, help her bully.
And she honestly didn't know why she did.
Nor did Bakugo, by the way he yelled at her, claiming he didn't need her help.
Izumi plainly ignored him.
After a few useless attempts of trying to free him, she realized how fucked they were. She didn't have any weapons to help him out. The heroes, so it seemed, were too cowardly to actually attempt to help them because of an apparent "disadvantage" in quirks, and whatnot. She was really about to die for her stupidity.
Or at least she thought she was.
Screams erupted from the crowd, after the smoke cleared, and revealed All Might. He had blocked the blow for them, and was looking at Izumi.
"Young lady... I am sorry for being so pathetic. I admonished you and said that you couldn't become a hero for how much risk the pros had to put themselves in, but after saying that, I did the exact opposite of it. All of the pros here, in fact, did so too. Only you, and your quirkless self braved the dangers. That is what allowed myself to move. Thank you."

All Might proceeded to use just a single Detroit Smash to defeat the Sludge Villain once and for all, along with somehow changing the weather.

Predictably, the moment he was released from the Sludge Villain's grasp, Bakugo began yelling at Izumi.
"Why the fuck did you help me?! You think I need help from a quirkless slut like you?! What, you trying to defame me? Make me owe you? It isn't gonna work. Katsuki Bakugo owes nobody. Especially not a slut like you!"
"I wasn't looking to gain anything. Not from the likes of you, anyway."
Bakugo genuinely flinched from that, not expecting an answer like that. He still didn't lose his bark though.
"Then why'd you he-"
"It's called being a good person, Bakugo. You should try it sometime."
With that, Izumi left the scene, picking up her bag while she did. She completely ignored the scolding the Pros were giving her.

On her way back, Izumi was honestly not sure what she would do. She couldn't become a hero now, and she wasn't particularly interested in any other professions. Welp, she had no choice now, did sh-
"I AM HERE!"
"GAH-"
It was All Might.
"Hu-Huh? All Might? How are you here? How did you escape the reporters?"
"HAH! That was easy. Why? For I am All-"

Smoke appeared around him as he evidently turned back into his slim form.
Coughing blood, he pointed out that he couldn't stay in muscle form for long.
"But anyway, that is not important. I am here, for I owe you an apology, young lady. You showed bravery that no one else there could have shown, not even I."
Izumi smiled shyly, before replying, "T-thank you. But... I still can't be a hero, can I? Not just with bravery, or whatever."
"Not necessarily."
Izumi blinked. "H-huh? What? But you said-"
"What I told you," All Might interrupted, "was wrong. You don't need a quirk to be a hero. Not necessarily. You need to have the burning flame that spurs you on, inspires you to continue on and on, to save the person in danger. Something that you showed me you have."
"Wait.... does that....?"
"Yes. It means what you think it does."

A single sentence shattered Izumi's hopes. But another rebuilt them, on a stronger foundation at that.
The sentence she yearned to hear the most, out of anything in the world.
"You can become a hero."