Practice!| bkdk

Chapter 1. Bigotry

It's ingrained into the world, into history, and into the depths of the Earth. Hundreds and thousands of years of worth of yore and skeleton below the surface is evidence of that. As the age of extraordinary abilities reaches the point of the present within the timeline that is humanity's existence, the record replays the same tune, and the stupidly short-term memory that humans possess comes into play.

Now with a newly born differentia disseminating throughout the planet, a group of minorities joins the scene, and so does a new form of bigotry.

Quirk discrimination.

From Izuku's point of view, there was nothing much that could be done to stop the development of quirk discrimination in the first place. Sure, education and respect towards quirkless people can be provided these days, but the start of quirk discrimination was inevitable.

As seen in every history class ever, small-mindedness has existed in humankind throughout the centuries that humans were able to tell that "Hey! That guy's different from me!"

Izuku is well aware of how the world works, despite his optimistic paradigm. Unfortunately, with the rise of heroes and the fall of quirkless, the amount of prejudice towards quirkless people doesn't seem to cease. As people chase as much normality as possible in such times, they steer far from anything unusual.

Which is why Izuku found the treatment towards him from his classmates in his middle school no more surprising than the fact that breathing is required to live. Of course, it took time to fully understand why quirkless people were mistreated, but it became apparent with the knowledge of previous world experiences. Colonization, Auschwitz, segregation. It happened over and over again. And in depressed 14-year-old Izuku's mind, there was nothing about it that could be stopped despite what the progress of the equality movement has shown us.

So he took it like a champ. Said not a word to his mother about the bullying. That was until, by some hard-luck chance that she found out.

Izuku appreciates his mom, really. In fact, he loves her. And nothing could get in the way of that. He just wishes she could see the consequences of her actions. Primarily when her actions consist of having a screaming match with his current principal, even if the match was slightly one-sided on her side.

"-absolutely disgusting behavior! How could you allow such bigotry in this school and allow teachers to do nothing!"

"Ma'am, we really didn't-"

"Oh, you didn't know?! You didn't fucking know?!"

Izuku had never once in his quirkless life heard his mother swear. Which is why-

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that" She apologized.

"It's okay, Ma'am. Now, before you could let me finish, I was going to say that I fully agree with you. An investigation should be organized immediately. We hope to see that no charges will be pressed as we investigate this."

The principal, if he's seeing this correctly, all but gives puppy eyes to Ms. Inko, making a wrinkly forehead instead. The grays of his backward mohawk look almost grayer, with the top of his head looking as shiny as ever. Of course, Kachan would say, "That old bastard could beat the fucking moon at a contest of who could reflect the most light with that bald head of his," but he shouldn't be thinking about that now.

"No, we won't be pressing any charges. Thank you for cooperating. And I'd really hope to see a few teachers being fired."

As the sunshine that Inko is, she mainly blamed this on the teachers and not the bullies themselves. She believes that children are prone to making mistakes, especially when it comes to things they don't fully understand.

As she walked out of the principal's office, Izuku followed behind her.

"I had no idea what Katsuki and those other boys were doing to you. Izuku, you should have said something."

"I'm sorry, mom."

As Izuku treads behind his mom, he walks past the classroom he was pulled out of. Kachan sits with his arms crossed and his usual frown, except he has this twitch of his eye that Izuku doesn't even wanna know what that means.

He was allowed to leave school early due to the circumstances that he was in. He didn't complain. 

-----------

It was a Friday when his mother had met up with the principal. The Bakugo family was seen the Saturday after in the same office, as well as many other families. Or so Izuku heard.

Now that his big secret is out, he sits with his Auntie and Uncle and the star of the show. Katsuki Bakugo.

"Thank you for having us around, Inko. Especially after what Katsuki here has done." Mitsuki smiles with a smile that's a little too calm. She must be furious if she isn't even yelling.

"Isn't that right, Katsuki" She speaks through her teeth with her nostrils flaring in wrath.

"Yeah," is all Kachan can reply. His under eyes look darker than usual, and his fight seems to have left him. Whatever Mitsuki told him (or ehh, yelled at him) the previous day must have been really getting to him because all he could do was stare at his lap.

If Izuku didn't know Katsuki like he did, he wouldn't have caught onto what looked almost like embarrassment on his face. Izuku chooses to ignore it.

Despite the absolute rage exhibited by his mom the previous day, Inko was sitting quietly with a smile, a genuine one unlike Mitsuki's, who was filled with outrage towards her son.

Izuku had helped his mother prepare dinner, fully knowing who was coming over. He was anxious about it, but a big part of him felt kind of numb to the whole situation. It was relief mixed with anxiety, and somehow those two feelings crossed each other out, making him feel impassive.

Izuku seemed to have zoned out long enough that it was nearly nine o'clock, his food being mainly untouched.

"Wow, Inko, this food is fantastic. Really, thank you so much." Uncle Masaru says.

"Yes, thank you, but it is getting late, so we should start heading home." Mitsuki smiles as she grabs her phone off the table and stands up, holding her husband's hand tightly, which makes Izuku suspicious.

As Katsuki holds onto the table to get up, a rugged grip sends him falling back down onto the chair.

"wha-"

"And thank you for allowing Katsuki to stay over. I'm sure he'll behave well." Mitsuki says to Inko while only looking at her son.

Before Katsuki could complain, Inko ended the conversation with, "Yes, I think it would be good for both my Izuku and Katsuki to get along for the night. Well, thank you for coming around. Good night."

Mitsuki and Masaru smile at Inko one more time before they leave the apartment building.

The room is silent.