QUIRKLESS LIFE

~21~

Izuku made his way to the orphanage, since they couldn't care less about picking him up, while untying his disaster of hair to attempt and neaten it, before deciding a simple ponytail will do the trick until he made it back. His thoughts followed along Katsuki, how much his quirk had grown, how much the blonde himself had grown, how he couldn't wait until he got to analyse and come up with special moves for and with his friend, then remembering his 'friend' had forgotten him entirely.

Really ruined his mood with the last bit.

With a sigh, he fiddled with his pocketknife, not paying much attention to his surroundings until he heard a loud noise from in front of him. 

Once again, purely on reflex, he threw the knife at the sudden person in front of him, not realising it was the hero he's encountered three times that day.

"You really need to work on your reflexes young man. There's nothing wrong with them, but you need to stop throwing your knife at everyone." All Might laughed, handing Izuku's knife back, as well as his vest that he had taken off by the fire. The greenie looked down at the ground, a bit ashamed as he took back his blade and put on his vest.

"Apologies... I-" He was interrupted by the hero's coughing, and he looked up, only to be startled with a huge cloud of smoke.

"Are you alri-" The teen once again paused, taking in the almost skeletal figure in front of him after the smoke cleared. He looked it over, and was about to speak again before the man spoke first.

"I need you to keep everything you see and hear right now a complete secret. You must not tell a soul; do you understand me?" Izuku nodded, putting his knife away while watching in confusion.

"I wanted to talk to you about something young man." All might spoke, his tone serious, though the boy found it hard to take him seriously.

"Izuku, Sir..."

"Young Izuku, without you, that middle schooler would've ended up seriously injured. I can't thank you eno-" The greenie spoke up quickly, not at all believing what the hero said.

"No he wouldn't... you would save him in the end either way..." All might went silent, and Izuku narrowed his eyes.

"You were going to save him, right...?" The hero said nothing, making a silence grow for a few moments. The teen balled his hands into fists, irritated with the man in front of him.

"You're the number one hero... And you weren't going to save him...? You weren't going to save him from a villain you defeated just earlier today...?"

"It's not that simple, young Izuku, I was-"

"You managed to save him in the end, so what made you doubt you could do it...?"

"I was running out of time to hold my stronger form; I didn't think I would be able to save him in time. The heroes had it under control-"

"No they didn't... And what does it matter if you couldn't uphold whatever that form was...? I'm quirkless for a good knife's sake, and I still ran out, no hero training whatsoever... is that why you came out...? You were ashamed with your own actions...?" The hero thought over his next words for a moment, feeling like he was being interrogated by a journalist. 

"That... is um... that is exactly why I came to help. I was inspired by your-" The man was interrupted once again. Clearly, he didn't think over them enough.

"Whatever you wanted to talk to me about, I do not care about... please leave me be, I'll be late for dinner..." The greenie walked past him, frustrated and not looking back to him. How could that man even dare to face him? What was with the sudden transformation? Izuku thought that was most likely what he wanted to talk to him about, but he would not care for whatever a hero said if they willing stood by and watched someone suffer.

No matter the rank they held.

"You good man? You've been white as a sheet the whole week. Didn't think that villain would have such an effect on you." Katsuki's friend, Kento snickered, giving a playful punch to his other friend, Norio, who laughed in turn.

"Shut it. I don't want to hear a word out of you extras' mouths." The blonde was not amused, and his friends shrugged, not letting up on the teasing until Katsuki gave them both a stern a glare. The two left with their hands raised in surrender, going to flirt with some girls, and failing miserably as one used her quirk to drop her bag on them. Normally, it would've lifted Katsuki's mood, but not today. He couldn't stop thinking back to the stranger. Whenever he brought him up, his parents gave each other nervous looks, before shutting the topic down. 

Did they know him? Why were they being so secretive? Was he on the right track thinking he was related to Inko? Did he look familiar not because he looked like the woman, but because he had actually met him before? He doesn't remember anyone with green hair except the lady who stayed in his home, but his thoughts on her kept getting cut short at the memory of her that horrid day. 

It made him sick, and due to him thinking of her much more than usual, at least at school, he had to go to the bathroom far more often to throw up. This led to rumours about him doing underage drinking through the school, and why he had so many 'hangovers' and why he seemed so tired. That random stranger had ruined his school life entirely, even if he didn't know it. However the blonde couldn't bring himself to hate him, it felt too much like he would be hating the lady he cared for so, so much. 

It was after school now, and he walked to the flower shop, buying pink carnations, like he's done for the last 8 years with his weekly allowance. His friends had tagged along against his will, teasing him and pissing him off by asking if the flowers were for his girlfriend or something. He kept trying to get them to piss off, but they never listened, and so the blonde just let them follow. They went silent though as he approached the graveyard, and opted to finally leave him be. 

Katsuki came here every Friday, buying pink carnations to place at the Midoriya family grave, and to tell Inko about his week. The teen knelt down, taking a deep breath as he replaced the dying flowers gently with the new ones, one by one after each sentence, keeping the dead ones in his lap.

"I was attacked by a villain on Monday... I think it was made of green slime of some sort... and it tried to take control of me... I tried to get myself out, but it just set fire to the surrounding area... the heroes were struggling, and I managed to hear that they planned to wait for someone with a more suitable quirk to help... but a stranger got me out before anyone else, and All might came in afterwards to finish off the villain... the punch changed the weather, and I think the stranger and I both felt a bit sick afterwards from the air pressure..." He finished replacing the flowers, and so he sat straight with his hands in his lap, looking at the grave, and made sure the flowers were lined up perfectly and laid by the center of the head stone.

"He looked a lot like you... the stranger... he wore his hair half up in a bun like you do... he had green eyes, matching yours... I almost thought he was you... but then I saw he had freckles and was around my age... when I told the old man about him, he seemed... what's the word... conflicted... and hasn't told me anything since... same with the old hag..." The blonde stared at the grave, as if expecting it to say something back. It started raining lightly, and Katsuki soon began to feel sick, as usual when thinking of the woman, but he stayed a bit longer.

"I aced the test on Wednesday... top of the class of course... and I'm the only one in that shitty school who's going to apply for U.A.... I did amazing on the mock exam... and I'll probably start working out in preparation for the hero course practical... I'll definitely make it in the top 3... how was..." He swallowed, feeling a bit more nauseous as he took a deep breath, as well wiping away the tiny tears mixed with rain, which he would deny he had if anyone asked.

"How was your week Auntie...?"