The First Generation

Grey Clouds

As soon as Izuku had left Toshinori's office, he'd been greeted by Mina, leaning against the wall of the corridor, half asleep. She had opted to wait for him as opposed to carrying on with the rest of the group. According to her, it didn't seem right to just leave him to walk back on his own. A small gesture, but it was one that the black-haired boy appreciated nonetheless.

He told her about the conversation that he and his mentor had, about how he'd managed to guess that they were The First Generation. Initially, Mina seemed like she was about to panic, freaking out over the fact that their identities had been revealed not even twenty-four hours after having debuted. When Izuku assured her that the dishevelled appearing Headmaster supported them though, she quickly managed to calm herself down, before she made too big a commotion in the halls.

After that, with the promise that they'd talk more when they weren't in the main building, in case someone was listening, the pair of them walked back to the 1A dorms in relative silence, neither feeling the need to say much else. There wasn't any reason to. Both were tired from the previous night's mission and were probably going to end up taking a nap when they got back. Still, both were comfortable being around the other. They didn't need to talk. The company was enough between them.

"Uwaaaaaaaaa..." Mina let out a yawn of her own, this time moving her hand to her mouth to cover it up. "I'm sleepy..."

Both of them dragged their feet along the ground with each step, most of their energy sapped away, the caffeine from Izuku's earlier drink was already wearing off. He chocked it down to the stress and anxiety he'd suddenly felt from his conversation with Toshinori, which left him totally drained. He looked towards the pink girl, offering her a sympathetic smile. "You tired as well?"

"Mm... Exhausted." Seeing Mina like this was a rare sight indeed. Ever since getting to know her, and her growing comfort around him, Izuku had seen her hyperactive and energetic side more and more. Seeing her like this had become less and less common. Sleep deprivation was destined to do that to a person, he supposed. "I'm really glad we chose the weekend to make a debut..."

Izuku could only agree. He was thankful for that as well.

Despite being tired, Izuku did have a lot of things going through his already swamped head. This new assignment given to him by Toshinori, this girl, Eri... This orphanage that he was to take her to... He had to confess, orphanages disturbed him.

He'd seen only a few in his lifetime, and he'd never stepped foot inside them, but every time he'd passed by one, he'd always see the orphans. Mutated, usually, with bizarre and beautiful mutations and features. Tails, horns, wings, additional arms, varying skin colours, abnormal hair colours, just to name a few. There were many young children there who displayed none of these features though, and that was something that did disturb Izuku. He could, at the very least, understand the logic behind sending someone with a Mutation Type Quirk to one of those places. It would be impossible for them to have any kind of regular life, and sending them there might cause them less pain... But the fact there were those who showed no Mutations?

Those were the signs of parents who simply hated their child for existing, and sent them away when they found a 'fault' in their children.

Quirked orphanages were only a recent thing on the scene regarding Quirks, being about half a decade old. Places where people would send their children if they developed Quirks. If they had been active around the time Mina had been born, she would have grown up in one. Since the age of extraordinary was just beginning around her birth though, laws simply hadn't caught up, and her family didn't have the option. Frankly, she wished she had. Izuku wished she had.

Couldn't possibly be any worse than what happened to her.

Normally, they were run by Quirkless volunteers, people who didn't have prejudices, or overlooked them, in order to help these children, children who were in such desperate need of a helping hand at the early stages in their lives. A guiding source. A caring figure to help them feel they weren't alone. Izuku had always wanted to meet people like that. People who went out of their way to help the Quirked like this. He didn't have anything but respect for them.