The spectacular Deku

Chapter 28

On a rooftop of power loader agency building

Mei Hatsume stood frozen, eyes wide, her breath caught in her throat. Before her, lying slumped against the wall on the rooftop, was a sight she could barely process. Spider-Man—bloodied, tattered, his iconic suit torn in more places than she could count—wasn't just any random hero. His mask, half-peeled off, revealed something Mei would never have guessed in a million years.

Mei: Izuku Midoriya... is Spider-Man?!

Her voice trembled as the words spilled out. She blinked, staring in disbelief at the familiar face of her classmate—her friend. Her heart raced as her mind began spinning in a thousand directions at once, refusing to settle. She took a step back, nearly tripping over the clutter of tools strewn about her rooftop workspace. Her hands moved to her head, fingers pressing against her temples as if that could slow the whirlwind of thoughts storming inside her.

Mei head: What happened to Izuku?!  How did he end up like this?! Why did he hide his quirk?! HOW could he have hidden his quirk?! No, wait... Why is he even a vigilante?!  Why is he Spider-Man?!

She turned sharply, pacing back and forth on the rooftop, her feet barely making a sound as her mind screamed at her. Looking around wondering where Izuku had come from and seeing a building exploded and burning. Some heroes already on the case containing the fire. 

Mei head: Is the person who did this to him still around? Should I be scared?

She stopped, hearing Power Loader's stern voice echo in her mind, as if he were standing right there beside her. 

Power loader in Mei head: Mei! Call for help! Call emergency services! Don't let your curiosity get the better of you!

It felt like the logical thing to do. The right thing to do. But she couldn't move toward her phone. Her eyes kept flicking back to Izuku, lying still, his chest barely rising with shallow breaths. He looked so vulnerable, so broken. Nothing like the Izuku she knew.

Mei: Izuku...

He had been one of the very first people in her life who didn't scoff at her passion or label her a mad inventor. No snide remarks behind her back, no doubting her ideas or treating her like a nuisance. Izuku had always been kind. Patient, determined, encouraging in ways most people weren't. And now, lying there in front of her, he was also someone who had been hiding this monumental secret.

Mei head: Is...Is he a vigilante because he couldn't get into the hero course? 

She thought about the day he told her he was quirkless, the way he had seemed so earnest, explaining why he'd chosen the Support Department over anything else. But that had been a lie, hadn't it? He wasn't quirkless. He was Spider-Man. This had to mean something bigger—something about why he couldn't share this part of his life. Mei clenched her fists, her mind running back to all those moments they had shared as classmates, as friends. 

Mei head: Was he always hiding this from me? What else is he lying about?

But then, another memory surfaced—Izuku smiling as he talked about how much he wanted to help people, how his dream had always been to become a hero. 

Mei head: He had to have really meant that... didn't he? 

She thought, her chest tightening. And now...now it made sense in a way. He didn't abandon his dream. He became a hero in his own way. She thought he meant it in a way where he could help people with his inventions. 

Mei head: But did he mean it as being a vigilante? And NOT as a support developer? 

The pieces of the puzzle were beginning to click together in Mei's head, and yet the image it formed was still blurry and overwhelming.