personal-0004

Tsukauchi frowned at the woman sitting across from him at his desk. There was a rather large stack of paperwork from last night, and she was one of many who had come into the station to help fill out that paperwork. It could either be a good sign or a bad sign. Either some new underground heroes were taking interest in the area, or they had a vigilante. The second option was the most likely, but not optimal, especially since Tsukauchi was still dealing with the aftermath of the recent Hero Killer activity nearby.

"Why don't you tell me what happened?" he suggested, glancing over the report she'd helped fill out.

"Sure," she said, looking anxious in her chair, with her hands clasped nervously in her lap. "I was cornered by three men last night. They, um, they attacked me in an alley and told me to give them money, but I didn't have anything on me because I don't usually carry money on me since when I have money with me, I use it. I told them I didn't have anything, but they didn't believe me. One of them cut my arm with a knife and I screamed. They stole my purse, but I didn't have anything in it except my phone. When they realized it was empty, they said I'd have to pay them, um, in, um, other ways." A faint blush started on her cheeks and her eyes dropped down to her hands. "They started, um…" She bit her lip, tears coming to her eyes.

"You don't have to give all the details," Tsukauchi said kindly. "I have that part on file. What happened next?"

She nodded, meeting his eyes again. "It was getting really bad, and, um, uncomfortable, when this kid dropped down from the roof and started fighting them. He knocked the first one out immediately, and then started fighting the second two right after, but they ran away before he could really do anything to them. I saw their faces though," she added hastily, "so I worked with a sketch artist yesterday to help you find the two that ran."

"That's fine, keep going."

"Okay, so then another man dropped down from the roof after the kid and told him that they ran because they thought he was a threat, which made the, um, the kid look a little more relaxed or something. He'd seemed, um, kind of disappointed before that. So then the kid asked me if I was okay, but the other man started dragging him away. They left, but then a few seconds later, the kid came back and told me to call the police. He asked if I was okay and I told him about the cut on my arm, so he asked if he could do first aid on it, and I told him that was fine, so he pressed some gauze on it. He didn't really say anything else, just worked on my arm until we heard police sirens and the other man came back and told him they had to go. And then he just… disappeared. I think maybe he went to the roof? Sorry, I don't know where he went."

"Hmm." Tsukauchi looked over the notes he had from last night. This was definitely a vigilante case, which was unfortunate. "Did you happen to see the kid's face?"

"No, sorry. He was wearing a black medical mask and a green hoodie. It looked very, um, last minute. Like he hadn't put much thought into what he was wearing. But he had a lot of weapons, um. Knives, I think maybe swords on his back? And a big, long stick."

"Did you catch a name?"

She shook her head, looking very apologetic. "The other man just called him 'kid.' His voice sounded like he was around… Well, I'm not sure how old, but in his teens. Younger teens? It was kind of high pitched. But… capable." She frowned deeply. "I'm sorry, I feel so unhelpful."

"This is very helpful, actually. Thank you. Now, could you describe the other one?"

"The man?" she said, looking a little more excited. "I didn't recognize him last night, but this morning I was watching the news and I saw him. Stain, the Hero Killer."

Tsukauchi's blood ran cold. This was very bad. One Stain was enough, but Stain with an apprentice, most likely a hero school dropout, was worse.

"O-okay," he said, trying to keep it together. "Stain. And, last thing. Did you happen to see the kid's quirk?"

She shook her head, looking sad. "Sorry, I didn't see it. He didn't really seem to be using one, but I don't know."

"Okay, thank you. Do you need an escort home?"

"No, thank you, I'll manage." She stood up with a smile. "I'm glad I could help. Please call me if you have any more questions."

"Of course." He showed her out the door and then closed it. With a weary sigh, he pressed his forehead into the wall next to the door. A vigilante training under Stain. From the sounds of it, a very talented, very young vigilante training under Stain. They'd have to catch him soon, or he'd grow very quickly into a tremendous problem, like Stain had.

Sighing again, he reopened the door and waved in the next person to get saved last night.

Stain was changing his M.O. to paralyzing heroes and destroying their public image instead of just killing them. Toshinori was refusing to slow down his hero work and suffering because of it. Several gangs were beginning to rub up against each other in the worst way possible. And now Stain was taking on a student.

Could this year possibly get any worse?

Something was happening in the underworld and Tomura didn't like it.

He didn't mind that something was happening, that was normal-- good even. The more power upheavals that took place now, the easier it would be for him and Sensei to make use of the instability. No, having things going on was good. But he didn't know what was going on, and that was annoying.

To be fair, no one else knew what was going on either. Giran didn't even know what was happening, even after he'd met with the one person in the underworld who usually had all the gossip. But it would appear that that person was the gossip in this case, because apparently he'd shown up with a kid who completely threw all of Giran's attempts at information gathering into the trash and instead managed to draw information out of Giran, which was not how that was supposed to work. Giran was the Tomura's information broker for a reason, because he didn't talk about things he wasn't supposed to. He was good at it, at keeping his mouth shut. But something about this goddamn kid made him open that mouth and spill.

Tomura had been so angry about it, he almost murdered Giran on the spot. Only Kurogiri's soothing words had held him off.

So this kid, this little 'green' kid was messing things up. And Tomura wouldn't care normally, but this kid had dipped his fingers into the wrong people's business now. Tomura was going to get to the bottom of this, and then he'd decide whether or not the kid would be useful to him and Sensei. If he was useful, he'd be recruited.

If he wasn't useful, Tomura would make sure he regretted messing with his broker.

By the time Izuku was back in school on Monday, he'd been recommended for the U.A. hero course. He hadn't really expected Reiki to act so quickly, but she sent out the necessary emails and letters in no time at all. Nezu apparently moved equally quickly, because on Monday morning, the entirety of Aldera faculty had been informed that one of their students had been submitted for recommendations.

Not only that, but the student recommended was, not in fact, Bakugou Katsuki, but was instead one Midoriya Izuku.

Most of the faculty were either in denial or were currently worshipping Izuku, and he didn't know which was better. He didn't really like either of them, to be honest. He'd much prefer being ignored by the teachers than this. The teachers in worship mode were just fake and slimy and Izuku didn't want them near him because seriously ? Only now that U.A. thought he had potential, he was worth something?

The teachers in denial weren't any better.

"One of you got recommended for the U.A. hero course last week," one such teacher started class with, glaring around the room, "And it sure as hell wasn't the Quirkless. Was it you, Katsuki-kun? Why are you hiding behind Deku?"

Kacchan scowled around the room, looking for whoever had dared surpass him and got in from recommendations. "I'm not gonna get in from recommendations, I'm gonna prove how good I am in the right way," he growled, finally meeting eyes with Izuku, who wasn't sure how to handle this situation. "And Deku definitely didn't get a recommendation."

Izuku resisted an eye roll, but it took a great deal of self-control.

"So which of you bastards was it?" Kacchan asked, returning to glaring at each student in turn. "Which of you decided to get someone to recommend you for U.A.?"

With an annoyed huff, Izuku raised his hand. "Excuse me, I did get recommended for U.A.'s hero course." Kacchan whipped around in his chair, eyes blazing. But Izuku had fought real villains now, he'd gone toe to toe with some of the most dangerous people in the underworld, and Kacchan didn't scare him any more. Izuku didn't care about what he had to say now. "I got recommended by Fujimoto Reiki, who's a hero healer I met the other night."

"Don't lie to me," his teacher hissed, eyes narrowing. "You fooled the U.A. staff into thinking you got recommended, cheating to get up in the world, just like always."

Izuku was starting to get a little angry at this point. Everyone at this school was so stupid , underestimating people who didn't have flashy quirks. People without flashy quirks were going to be these people's downfall someday, because they let their own stereotyping get in the way of their heads. "You seriously think a middle schooler could trick Nezu? I'm just a useless Deku, right?" he snapped. "How on earth would I do that?"

"Then you tricked this Fujimoto person into recommending you," his teacher snapped back.

"Don't call her that," Izuku said, voice going dangerously low. He didn't use this tone often, and if his teachers paid any attention to him, they would have known that this was the tone that made bullies back off and run. This was the tone that meant murder. It was making more and more appearances lately.

"Don't call her by her name?" Izuku's teacher said, in an almost teasing voice.

Izuku stood up, slamming the palms of his hands into the top of his desk. His teacher had the decency to actually jump a little, looking marginally terrified. Some of the other students in his class were actually starting to edge out of their seats away from him. "Don't pretend you understand everything about me," he snarled. "You know nothing about Reiki, and you're stupid if you think she'd be so gullible as to be fooled into recommending a someone to the U.A. hero course. Reiki recommended me because she saw something in me that no one else ever takes the effort to, and she had the compassion and the bravery to act on it. So don't act like you understand her. And don't call her Fujimoto."

"You couldn't possibly have gotten recommended to U.A.," his teacher insisted.

"How would you know that?" Izuku retorted immediately. "How would you know what talents I might have, if you've never taken the time to look? Reiki looked for potential, and she found some. Is that so hard to believe? Maybe if you spent less time with your head up your ass, you'd actually see that I'm not as incapable as everyone seems to think I am."

Maybe that was too far. Even Kacchan looked surprised, so that might have been pushing it.

He slid out from his desk and fell into a deep bow. "I apologize for my outburst," he said, forcing his tone to lighten up a little. Several students relaxed. "It was out of line, and completely uncalled for. I was the student recommended for U.A., and I'm going to do my best to get in." He allowed the threat to show in his tone as he finished, "I would suggest you support me, before you find yourself left behind."

Chapter End Notes

I love it when I'm writing and I have a plan and then while I'm writing my fingers are like, "yes, that was the plan, it was-- but how about this, how about he takes the recommendation exam instead?" and then the plan is better but so much more complicated.

Hello! At this time, you have read about 50 pages of Google Docs, which is the equivalent of something like 100 pages in novel form. It you are binge reading, go take a break! Sleep! Eat a snack! And then... proceed :)

Training

Chapter Notes

'Sup.

This chapter's a little rushed because I really want to get to the entrance exam and UGH why does there have to be so much stuff in between I just want to be there already

tw// discrimination, mentioned suicide baiting, minor injuries, explosion

See the end of the chapter for more notesIzuku felt a little like he was the latest exhibit in the zoo.

At school, the feeling was inevitable. Everywhere he went, he was followed by whispers. Most of them were not nice whispers. They were, in fact, quite cruel. People turned to each other in the halls and made bets on how long he'd manage to stay alive. They told him he was cheating, or said they didn't believe he'd been recommended at all. Some people were nice enough, he supposed, and would congratulate him or wish him luck, but even they had a tone that expressed pity, not real encouragement. The teachers gave him sorrowful looks when he passed them, as though they were looking at someone on his deathbed. Some particularly brave bullies were putting spider lilies on his desk. He figured it was only a matter of time before they began telling him to kill himself now to avoid a humiliating death later. That was fine. He'd dealt with them saying stuff like that before, he could bear it again. Anyway, he only needed to hold on for a little while longer, and then he'd be free from this school.

No one, not a single person in the entire school, seemed to think he could actually be a hero. All of them were just waiting for the illusion to finally break, when he would finally see that he couldn't do it. But he refused to see it. He didn't want to see it, not when he could focus on hope instead. His hope to become someone who saved everyone. That was his focus, no matter what anyone else had to say about it.

He couldn't pretend it didn't hurt, though. The way whispers followed him wherever he went at school. The way people looked at him like he was fragile enough to break at any second. How people seemed to expect him to be unable to carry himself one more step, just because he didn't have their kind of power. But, to be honest, he'd always felt alienated from everyone else. He didn't see how this was any different. Anyway, half the time he believed them. Maybe he wasn't cut out to be a hero.

But then, all that was different when he was out on the streets with Stain. People seemed to think he was capable of anything as soon as he put on his green hoodie and grabbed his knives. Whispers followed him there too, but they were a different kind of whisper. People spoke about him with a tone of admiration, of fear, of expectation. Everyone anticipated great things from him as a vigilante. And he'd only been on the streets for about two months. He hadn't even tried going solo yet, and people still were talking about him. It was flattering, in a terrifying way. When he walked up to villains who were in the know, they would sometimes back down. Not always, not even often, but that was too much to hope for anyway. Most of the time people treated him like he was an interesting new challenge, at least until he kicked their asses, and then they tended to start respecting him. But sometimes he would meet people who took one look and then backed off, apologizing. Not because he was a threat now, but because no one wanted to anger someone who had so much potential, someone who had caught Stain's eye. It made him wonder why people at school never thought he was capable of growth.

At night, when he slipped down the alleys in his gear, keeping half an ear out for trouble as he headed home, he would consider the difference between school and his new extracurricular. At school, people hated him because they thought he couldn't amount to anything. As a vigilante, people hated him because they were afraid of what he could turn into. He never showed any sign of a quirk on the streets. At first, he'd thought that would make people see him as less of a threat, but actually it made him into more of one. Because no one knew what his quirk was, everyone figured he was hiding it, but if he ever got into really big trouble, he could use it just as well as he could use his knives. It added an extra layer of mystery that made people wonder exactly how powerful this new kid was.

But Izuku didn't have a quirk. He was planning on keeping that secret for as long as possible, because things changed when he told people. But as time went on, and he got better and better as a vigilante, he began to wonder if not having a quirk to rely on meant that he had that much more room to grow than everyone else. And as he began to wonder that, he started hating the world of quirks that shut him out. Because he had just as much potential as everyone else. It just manifested itself in a different way. And everyone in this society was too blind to see that anyone, even a useless quirkless freak, could succeed.

Then, there was home. His mom… wasn't exactly sure how to feel about him getting recommended to U.A. She would alternate between bursting into tears about the possibility of her losing her 'baby,' and beaming at him with pride from across the room. And she absolutely loved Reiki. Almost every conversation Izuku had with his mother after Reiki came over was about her-- what she did for a living (hero healer), how Izuku had met her (at a friend's house), why she hadn't come over again (she had a busy schedule), why she was recommending him for the exam (he'd asked her to). He was finding it increasingly difficult to think of convincing enough half-truths to answer the harder questions.

And meanwhile, Stain had realized that Izuku's exams were coming up, and therefore was pushing him even harder than before. At first, he had been extremely helpful, throwing out tips and occasionally stepping in to aid Izuku during fights. Now, he stood on the sidelines and watched as Izuku struggled, and then later lectured him on everything he could have done better. Izuku would be the first to admit it worked, but it was still difficult, and he was quickly losing much-needed sleep with the pressure of studying for the written exam added on.

Reiki was a godsend during all of this. While she didn't come over often-- something about not wanting to make Izuku's mom an "accomplice"-- she was almost always around the bars after