Chapter 3: New Beginnings, Same Old Shit
Inko had a hard time wrapping her head around just how drastically her son had changed in the four days since he had awoken from his coma. Doctor Ito was currently explaining to her the full complexity behind Izuku's quirk and the exams they had performed for him, but her exhaustion mixed with her concern for her son prevented her from fully comprehending his words. Unlike her son, she had barely slept in the past month. Anxiety and grief prevented her from sleeping for more than a few hours at a time. It had gotten better the past few days now that Izuku had recovered, but she was still having trouble relaxing in the constant chill of the hospital. Her eyes drifted to the sleeping form of her son before they dotted back into the doctor's, 'Ok Inko, you need to focus. If you want to understand what's happening to your baby boy, you need to actually understand what he's saying.'
Doctor Ito donned a comically large grin as he looked at his clipboard with absurd enthusiasm. If Inko didn't know better, she would assume he was looking at some video of his grandchildren. Why the doctor has been so ecstatic about her son's condition was alarming, but at the same time, also comforting. It was nice to know he was dedicated at the very least. He glanced up from the report to look at Inko, "These are the results from the MRI and X-ray exams. What we found is incredible! Pardon my excitement, Mrs. Midoriya, but never in my nearly sixty years of medical experience have I ever encountered a patient as unique as Izuku."
He left Inko no time to respond, quickly rattling off the results, "While in his coma, Izuku was unable to be closely monitored due to the heat he radiated short-circuiting our equipment, which made us blind to the transformations happening inside his body. However, our team of doctors here at Central Hospital were all very concerned for him and theorized that his body was going through an intense metamorphosis. From what we could figure out, all signs pointed to a cataclysmic change happening to his very being. And from these test results, we were not only correct in our assumption, but also severely underestimating the extent of it."
The doctor flipped his clipboard around for Inko, revealing an almost unrecognizable X-ray of Izuku, "Firstly, from the X-ray we took of his body, it seems like his bones have increased in density by nearly three times the typical amount for boys his age. There are also several new bones along his spine. The MRI determined that those bones support a double helix structure containing the same tubes that we see on his hands. This, by itself, is an incredible feature, but the MRI reveals even more than that. While Izuku was in the MRI scanning machine, we actually had several instances of interfering magnetic fields. We were able to find a workaround for the problem, but the cause for the interference was the fact that your son has tubes of highly ionized substances running throughout his entire body. Those tubes in his hands stretch throughout his arms, around his spine, down his legs, and even through his esophagus. With that much ionized material flowing through him, your son has become a walking, talking magnetic field. It is no wonder why monitoring him during and after his coma has been so difficult!"
Doctor Ito had begun chuckling a bit too loud for Inko's liking. If he woke up Izuku, she would be very, very upset. That boy deserved some rest after all the hoops the hospital staff had him jumping through. Inko was about to speak up when the doctor opened his mouth and continued speaking, "Our scans of his body indicate that several things happened to his body while he was going through his metamorphosis. His entire digestive system has been shrunk by twenty percent, his appendix is now nonexistent, and his lungs have grown by ten percent. His lungs have changed substantially, likely to increase his resistance to breathing in smoke and carbon dioxide. The shrinkage of his digestive tract will likely mean that his dietary needs will be severely altered, and I assume there will be corresponding changes to his appetite as a result. The largest transformation, however, is Izuku's development of an entirely new organ."
The doctor flipped through a few pages of his clipboard and then turned it around for her to see. Inko couldn't make heads or tails about it, but she at least knew she wasn't looking at an organ she was familiar with. Along the spine, in the middle of Izuku's back, was a new organ that was shaped in a wide cylinder. It had the tubes Doctor Ito had previously discussed stemming from it before they coiled into a double helix around the spine. A shiver went down Inko's spine and a pit formed in her stomach. She cursed her squeamishness. A new organ wasn't super uncommon in quirk activations, but they usually happened in the womb and were a part of the user from the day they were born. To have her son rearrange his own organs and then create a new one was too much for her to think about. Inko tore her eyes off the image, "Accommodating his fire quirk with the tubes, I understand, but why did he create an entirely new organ? What is it for?"
The doctor turned his gaze to the sleeping form of her son, "I believe that the new organ is acting as some sort of generator or furnace. If the tubes are attached to it, and the tubes in his hands produce flames, it wouldn't be too much of a stretch for his new organ to be specifically designed to create flames. The only problem with that theory is that those tubes are not isolated. The tubes also appear to connect to your son's veins in various locations. My personal belief is that it connects to the veins so that his sweat glands can secrete the substance that will come out of your son's fingertips. However, I have not confirmed that, since the boy currently has no control over that part of his quirk. So perhaps the new organ has multiple applications." He paused and set his clipboard down. "Beyond that, it seems like the boy will make a full recovery and have quite a substantial quirk. I hear he wishes to become a hero. This quirk would work mighty fine for something like that."
A silence filled the room for a brief moment before Doctor Ito looked back at Inko, "I know that this process has been very difficult for you and Izuku, but I appreciate the opportunity to work with you to help him get back to full strength. Developing a quirk at the age of twelve is a miracle, and I am not the only doctor who would be fascinated by his development. With your permission, I would like to continue monitoring your son and document his quirk progression as part of a case study. I believe your son is one of a kind and the changes inside his body could be a precursor of the future. Have you ever heard of the Quirk Singularity Doomsday Theory?"
Inko recalled reading an article a couple of years back about it while she researched possible explanations for Hisashi's decline in health, but the details were escaping her. She spoke, "I've heard of it before, but I don't remember much of it. Are you insinuating that my son is some sort of doomsday plot?"
The doctor held up his hands weakly, "No, no, nothing of the sort. The Quirk Singularity Doomsday Theory is an outdated theory that speculates that as quirks get passed down from generation to generation, they will become more and more powerful. With time, these quirks would evolve to become so powerful that the human body wouldn't be able to handle them. This would cause human existence to change drastically, leading to a 'doomsday' that would end civilization as we know it. Many of the predictions from the theory have already been debunked, and, for good reason, the theory never gained much popularity."
Doctor Ito smiled again, "It is not without its truths, though. Quirks are getting increasingly stronger. The power outputs of quirks are swiftly rising with each generation. Unlike the theory suggests, however, documented cases of quirks harming their users are at an all-time low. I believe your son is a testament to the adaptability of the human body. I believe that he has achieved this 'singularity' that the theory proposed and instead of harming him, his body adapted to his quirk. If this is true, your son may be patient zero. He could be a pioneer for research that will help future kids with their quirk manifestations. This is why I believe monitoring your son as he and his quirk grow could be a great blessing to the medical world, and I would be honored to be a part of it."
Inko didn't know what to say. The doctor believed that Izuku was some sort of next generation of human and that he wouldn't be the last. That his journey could help those after him. But he also wanted to use him as a lab rat. Something that was to be poked and prodded. The whole thing didn't sit right with her, but she couldn't deny the logic of possibly helping other kids.
The dissonance in her brain gave her a headache. She let silence fall upon the room as she closed her eyes in thought, 'If I agree, we would be at the mercy of whatever Doctor Ito wants to do during his study. Not only that, it could seriously distract Izuku if the examinations are too frequent. A hospital is no place for a child. Plus, he may even be wrong about the entire thing. Izuku may just be an anomaly and not some precursor to an entire generation of evolved humans. He is basing his theory off of an insane doomsday theory in the first place.'
Inko thought she had made up her mind when another point brought itself to her consciousness, 'What if Doctor Ito is correct? What if there will be thousands of children being born with evolved bodies to suit their quirks, and they don't have a top-of-the-line hospital at their disposal? They'd suffer tremendously. If the information gained from Izuku is spread to neighboring hospitals and clinics, then they could be helped more efficiently. Izuku could be a hero.'
Inko sighed as she opened her eyes and looked at the door of the hospital room, "I'll agree, but only if you promise to follow several conditions. Firstly, I don't want Izuku's identity to be known in the study. Keep it anonymous. Secondly, I want full transparency and the ability to refuse any procedures or exams you may want to do. Lastly, there can be no more than one or two exams every six months. Any more than that and I fear it would interfere too much with Izuku's life. I'm sure I will think of more stipulations in time, but those are some of the ground rules if I were to accept a case study."
Doctor Ito's eyes lit up. "Of course, Mrs. Midoriya. Those are all reasonable boundaries and I will honor every one of them. We can discuss details later while we are both a little more rested. These last few weeks have been quite hectic for all of us. For now, let us focus on Izuku's recovery. Do you have any more questions for me before discharge?"
Inko took the chance to ask about what had been on her mind for the past several days, "The substance that Izuku is assumed to secrete. What is it made of?"
The doctor raised his eyebrows, "Oh, I don't believe we've done any extensive tests on it yet, but I have a few ideas. Why do you ask?"
Inko looked down at the clipboard that had been discarded on a thin metal table on wheels, "My late husband, Hisashi Midoriya died a quirk death. His flame breath also came with a substance similar to Barium Ferrate. That substance became unstable and decayed into a toxic material that slowly killed him. I want to know if the same thing will happen to my son."
Doctor Ito raised his eyebrows again before scratching his chin, as if he had a beard, "Ah, I see. I'm sorry for your loss." He paused for a moment, debating how to proceed, "Quirk deaths are exceedingly rare. And they are often genetically solved in their offspring. So the odds of Izuku's quirk not figuring out a way to stabilize his substance is low, but not zero. Even our basic testing of his quirk revealed that whatever the substance he secretes is, it is dense with barium and iron. So it may be similar to your husband's Barium Ferrate-like substance."
He hesitated before continuing, "Considering those two components, the substance Izuku likely contains is similar in nature to Hisashi's. I have no doubt in my mind, however, that if the boy's body can figure out how to deconstruct and then reconstruct itself, then it can figure out how to alter the substance so that it wouldn't kill him. I would not worry about the possibility of the boy dying. While we would need to do extensive testing of the material to find out for sure, I think the probability of your son suffering the same fate is incredibly low."
Inko felt the tension in her shoulders release as the doctor assured her of her son's future. She couldn't help herself as a tight smile formed on her lips. Perhaps this new quirk wasn't all bad. 'Izuku's life is most likely safe, but it's never a bad idea to take precautions. I'll continue supporting him wholeheartedly so that even if the worst does come to pass, I will not look back with regret. I'll make sure that Izuku becomes the hero that Hisashi always believed he could be.'
She smiled, "Thank you, Doctor Ito. I believe that's the only question I had. If I think of anything, I'll give you a call."
He gave a warm grin as he grabbed the clipboard and stood up. He said, "Great. I'll send a copy of the exam results to you for your records, and I'll keep in touch about that case study. I'll have to coordinate some things, but you should hear from me soon. You are free to leave whenever Izuku wakes. Have a great rest of your day and tell Izuku 'good luck' for me. If he wishes to become a hero, he'll need it. He is developing his quirk eight years late, after all."
Doctor Ito bowed before turning to the door and leaving. A sigh escaped Inko's lips. She hated hospitals. It had to be the worst place in the world. She was more than happy to be able to leave. The thought of waking Izuku crossed her mind so that they could leave sooner, but she quickly crushed that line of thought as she looked at the boy's peaceful face. A line of drool had formed at the corner of his mouth while his arms were spread out wildly across the bed. Inko smiled, 'He needs this.'
Izuku had the greatest mother in the world. After a bit of sweet-talking, he had managed to convince her to keep him home from school for another few days. He didn't completely need the extra rest, but adjusting to his new body was turning out to be easier said than done. After his discharge from the hospital, the first thing he noticed now that he was out and about was how heavy he felt. At first, it wasn't noticeable, but as he walked around their apartment, he began to realize how quickly he became winded and how much additional effort it took to move his feet. He had heard from the doctor that his bones had increased in density, but for whatever reason he hadn't anticipated difficulty walking being one of the side effects. The stiffness in his back was also obnoxiously prominent as a result of the additional structure tied to his spine.
Sure, he wasn't the most athletic or flexible person before the transformation, but he at the very least wouldn't get winded by simply walking from his bedroom to the kitchen. 'Maybe I finally need to bite the bullet and make a workout routine. I've never found the concept of exercise very enjoyable, but right now I'll take anything if it means being able to walk normally again.'
He pondered the thought as he poured water into a stainless steel pan, 'Exercise can wait a bit since I'll probably adjust to this new weight in the next few days. First things first, though. Time to test out my quirk's fire.'
Izuku didn't know why his first instinct to test out his quirk was to make a pan of rice. Maybe it was because it was a process he was familiar with. Maybe it was because it was a safer option than anything else, considering his mom wasn't home. Maybe he was just hungry. There was no way of knowing. He glanced down to the side of the counter, where his new notebook was splayed open. It was a special forest green notebook that his dad had gotten him before he passed. Instead of the cheap convenience store Campos notebooks Izuku typically used, this one was a sturdy hardcover that had a strong binding and spine. While it was still just a notebook, it felt more intimate and meaningful, so Izuku felt an immense amount of pride in being able to fill it with a quirk of his own. After more deliberation than he was willing to admit, he settled on a title he deemed fitting for the book that marked his origin: 'Hero Analysis for the Future #0.'
Inside the pages of the notebook were neatly organized notes of everything he knew about his quirk so far, theories for how his quirk could grow, and ways to test his quirk. Currently, it was flipped to a page describing his first fire temperature test, the 'rice test'. The gas stove was usually set to medium-high heat while cooking rice, which, according to a quick internet search, correlated to a temperature of between 700 and 900 degrees Celsius. Coincidentally, the average temperature for fire quirks typically falls in the 800 degree range. If he could heat the pan using his quirk and successfully cook the rice, then he'd be able to create a low-end baseline for his own flames. His plan was simple. He was going to fill the pot with water and rice and attempt to bring it to a boil with his flames. If his flames are around 900 degrees, it would take close to five minutes to bring about a rolling boil and if it takes closer to ten minutes, then he'll know that his flames are closer to the 600 or 700 degree mark. Once he got it to the boil phase, he planned on just straining it and putting it onto the actual stove top, and continuing cooking it at a low heat as normal.
Izuku had already laid down a broken-down cardboard box on the ground and laid a plastic cover over it. Priority number one was protecting the wooden floor and making sure he didn't burn the apartment building… again. Izuku shook his head, holding the pan by its handle with his left hand, and placed his right underneath it, ready to ignite. He closed his eyes and thought this through one last time, 'Ok, so I know that the upper limit of my flames is probably around 1700 or 1800 degrees Celsius since I melted the porcelain toilet when I first developed my quirk. However, if my hunch is correct, that heat is far from my baseline. I need to figure that out before I can do anything else.' His eyes glanced to the front door nervously, 'It's a good thing mom still has this old saucepan. I'd hate to see what she'd do if I melted through a nice one. Well, here goes nothing.'
With a flash, dancing green flames illuminated the room as Izuku's right hand erupted. Izuku blinded himself for a second before his eyes adjusted. "All right!" Izuku exclaimed, "It didn't explode or anything. What a relief."
He watched with fascination as his palm was engulfed in flames. It was one thing to have a quirk, but it was another to see it in action. The pan was seemingly holding on fine at the moment, but as his experiment approached thirty seconds, he began to notice the water begin to form small bubbles. 'Already?!' Izuku thought incredulously as he leaned closer to the pot. 'At this rate, I'll begin boiling the water in less than a minute! That should be impossible! The energy required to bring a few cups of water to boiling isn't some trivial amount and even with ambient energy loss, my quirk is doing it! I bet Dad's notes have a section on fire quirks and classifications based on temperature. If I'm capable of doing this, then I'm sure I have a pretty powerful one, just like Endeavor!'
Izuku focussed back onto the water. He can try to figure the math out later, right now he had to make sure this didn't go horribly wrong and wreck the apartment. The seconds passed by slowly as he watched on with excitement. The small air bubbles that had hung to the surfaces of the pot were now growing larger and forming without the aid of the metal, which forced the rice to fervorously thrash around the container. ' This counts as boiling, right? ', he appraised. As Izuku went to turn off his flames, however, he felt the odd sensation of dripping on his palm. 'What? The water isn't even overflow- oh.'
A glob of silvery liquid fell onto his hand before a cascade of boiling water poured through the opening, quickly extinguishing the flames. He silently thanked his quirk for giving him extreme heat resistance as the boiling water now leaked onto the plastic tarp below him. Izuku lunged over to the sink and placed the pot and its contents in it. 'So much for lunch. ' He thought sourly before perking up, 'I just boiled water in about 70 seconds and more importantly, melted through solid stainless steel! Even if it was only a little hole, I still melted the pot!'
Izuku grabbed the bath towel he had placed on the nearby counter and began wiping up the water that had spilled. He had imagined that something like this could've happened, considering how destroyed the bathroom had been when his quirk first manifested, but he anticipated it to be an explosion or him dropping the pot by accident. To have his quirk melt the pot itself in such a short amount of time was insanity!
He quickly made sure the kitchen was spotless before disposing of the tarp and the cardboard. A glance into the sink revealed that the metal had quickly solidified and was, fortunately, easy to peel off of the sink's porcelain. He touched the pan. It was impossible to gauge its temperature due to his quirk's higher tolerance of heat, but it didn't seem to be incredibly hot. Izuku gingerly grabbed the handle and wiped the water with a cloth. 'A memento to mark the beginning', he thought eagerly as he hauled it back to his room and placed it on his desk.
He whipped around to the box that held all of his dad's stuff. The collection was once neatly organized, but now it had several textbooks popping out of it and notebooks sprawled across the floor as a consequence of Izuku's curiosity. 'Now, we get to the fun part. Figuring out how the hell I did that.'
Time was lost to him as he submerged himself in the science of fire quirks. His mom came into his room to tell him that dinner was ready, which finally broke his trance. Izuku looked down at his green notebook. He had filled out six entire pages with dense notes about his experiment and what it had meant for his quirk.
The first thing he realized while looking through his dad's notes was that he was an idiot. The rice test wasn't even necessary at all. It was fun, of course, and would have been an excellent quirk assessment for any other fire quirk or if he didn't have preexisting knowledge of a quirk similar to his. However, if his flames were as similar to his dad's as he assumed it was, then an even easier way of determining a temperature baseline was to use his dad's notes and consider the core of the quirk.
According to his dad's notes on himself, Hisashi Midoriya had a base flame temperature of around 1000 degrees Celsius, which was classified as an enhanced fire quirk. Izuku figured that his quirk wouldn't regress in temperature output, so creating a lower limit of 1000 degrees would make the most sense. Following that line of logic, the rice test was inconsequential from the start. Izuku also found notes from when his dad was in college and had taken a sample of his spit, which revealed that he had a high amount of barium compounds in his system, which caused his flames to become green. Many common barium compounds such as barium chloride have melting points of around 900 to 1000 degrees Celsius, so it would make sense that his flames kept those compounds in liquid form.
The only good thing that came out of the experiment was the accidental melting of the pan. With a little help from an online database, he found that the melting point of stainless steel was about 1400 degrees. Which consequentially meant that he had been able to raise the temperature of the steel from room temperature of 20 degrees to its melting point of 1400 in a matter of about a minute. Following the general rules of thermodynamics, this meant that his flames were likely at the very least 1500 degrees. If that is true, then the jump to 1700 that he experienced when he singed his bathroom wasn't as significant of a jump as he thought it had been.
Thinking back to the night of the incident, technically speaking, what had destroyed his toilet wasn't the flames themselves, but it was a concussive blast from his flame igniting that caused it to break. The porcelain of his shower was a better indicator of the heating ability of his flames. Its walls were only partially deformed, which told him that his flames' temperatures were extreme, but couldn't transfer heat capable of completely melting the porcelain in the span of a few seconds. That meant his flames maxed out very close to 1700 or 1800 degrees Celsius.
Izuku was very pleased with his progress, but still had a knot in his stomach about the uncertainty of his hand-wavy math. If he was correct, his flames fluctuated between 1500 and 1800 degrees. That was a wide margin, but either temperature would still put him in the upper echelon of fire quirks. Since he had just developed the quirk and not progressed it at all, that meant his flame quirk was likely in the same power group as Endeavor! Izuku began jumping up and down in excitement, "With a fire quirk like Endeavor's, there's no doubt I can become a great hero! UA will have to let me in!"
Now that he had a basic grasp on how his fire operated, his next goal was to understand whatever the liquid was that sometimes leaked from his fingertips. That would be significantly harder than testing his flames, due to the unfortunate fact that he currently had no control over it. In the hospital, he had tried to use that aspect of his quirk several times, but no matter how much he tried, he just couldn't figure out how to release it. If it wasn't something he could consciously use, then how was he supposed to figure out what it even did?
Quirks don't develop with absolutely no purpose so, whatever it was, it had to be somewhat important, right? 'Perhaps it works like Kacchan's quirk and I need to sweat it out. I guess that would make some sense, but that'll limit its output, which would be disappointing.' Izuku thought about it for a moment longer, 'I don't even know if I sweat anymore. My body doesn't exactly register ambient heat anymore now that my internal temperature is the same as a raging inferno.'
He brought himself back to reality and announced to himself, "It doesn't matter right now. I'll figure it out eventually. I should just be happy about my fire. I have a super powerful fire quirk that'll no doubt land me in UA! I can't wait to see the look on Kacchan's face when he sees how powerful I am now!"
Lost in the exhilaration, Izuku ran over to the window and cast his eyes on the distant figure of UA. 'Dad, even if you aren't here in person, I'll be sure to make you proud. I'm strong, just like you wanted me to be. I'll make myself into a hero in no time!' He clenched his fist and daydreamed of what life at UA would be like for a minute before he heard his mom yelling from the other room.
'Oh right. Dinner,' Izuku reminded himself. He swiftly turned around with a smile that stretched from ear to ear. "Coming!"
The sound of rhythmic pattering filled the silence that had fallen upon the car. Izuku was in the backseat of his mom's car, tapping his hand against his thigh nervously. Fidgeting with his uniform's tie had only occupied his mind for so long, and his mind needed occupation. His mom glared at him from the rearview mirror, "Izuku, cut that out! I know you're nervous about your first day back at school, but you need to calm down a bit. Frantically hitting your leg won't do you any favors in class, right?" Her eyes went back to the road in front of them as a small smile spread across her face, "Unless, of course, you want to be known as the 'tapping' kid on your first day."
The tapping stopped. Izuku groaned and held his face in his hands, "It's just so embarrassing! Aldera started school weeks ago, so I'm already super behind! And It's probably all the same kids from elementary school. Kacchan is there, isn't he?"
Kacchan . The thought of him sent a cold shiver down Izuku's spine. He hadn't seen him in months, and their last confrontation had been less than pleasant. How was he going to react to him developing a quirk? Was he still going to call him a 'useless Deku'? He'd be lying if he said that hadn't been thinking about his return to school since he got home. Did they know what had happened to him? That he wasn't quirkless anymore? Izuku slowly wiped his hands down his face as he leaned back into his chair, 'Are they going to think I'm an even bigger monster than before? That developing a quirk at twelve is more unnatural than being quirkless? How will the school respond if they make fun of me? '
Anxiety-driven thoughts swirled around in his brain for a handful of minutes until he noticed the car stopping. He glanced outside the window. It revealed a large white building several stories high. The main doorway at the front of the building was daunting, with large glass doors opening into a small courtyard. It was definitely nicer than his previous school. He could make out an assortment of colorful structures on the building's roof. 'I think one of those is a greenhouse.' Izuku thought as he tried to regulate his breathing.
Countless other cars were gathering in the parking lot, and kids were roaming all over the building. Izuku thought he might've seen a few of them before, but he wasn't sure. He could feel his blood pressure rising as he realized that most kids were clumped in groups. He knew he had missed the first few weeks of junior high, but he failed to consider how everyone probably established their friend groups already. Izuku wanted nothing more than to just go back home as the panic welled up in his throat. 'Uh oh, uneasy sensations in my throat didn't work out so well last time.' He thought as he swallowed hard.
"Izuku, honey, we don't got all day here. I know you're nervous, and I don't blame you, but classes start in ten minutes, and you don't exactly know where you're going, so I suggest you get a move on." Inko said softly to her son.
Izuku let out another long sigh before grabbing his bag and hopping out of the car, "Alright. Thanks for driving me today, Mom. I love you!"
As the door shut behind him and the chill of the morning air introduced itself, he got a strange feeling in the small of his back. It was a warmth that climbed his spine and enveloped him in a comforting warmth. 'I've got this. It can't be any worse than elementary school.' Izuku thought to himself as he uncharacteristically strolled up to the large glass doors with an unfamiliar confidence.
With his head held high, he walked into the building and immediately was overstimulated by the sheer amount of people packing the entry room. It was hard to tell from where he was standing, but it seemed like two branching hallways were each lined with glass cases of photos and trophies. In the back of the common room was a staircase and a closed doorway. 'Alright. All I have to do is figure out if I go up the stairs or down one of the hallways,' he concluded.
That was where the problem was, he supposed. The markings on the walls were either covered by other people or not helpful in the slightest. Izuku thought to himself as he walked closer to the junction, 'Maybe I can just choose one and see where it takes me. I'll find the room eventually.'
He considered doing that, but his gut told him to do something he would have never done a few weeks ago. He spotted a group of guys congregating near the stairway in the back of the entry room. They were tall and amid a passionate conversation. He picked one guy out as the friendliest looking and made his way over to him, "Excuse me."
The boy he had approached hadn't noticed him, but one of the friends that faced his direction noticed him and smiled politely, "What's up? Need help with something?"
The entire group had ceased their conversation as they all looked at Izuku. At any other time, he would have caved under the pressure of their gazes, but that feeling of comfort that had enveloped him since he got here gave him the conviction he needed, "Yeah, sorry. I'm new here, and I'm trying to find my classroom, but don't know where to look. Would you happen to know where classroom 1-C is?"
The kid that he had originally intended to approach smiled lightly, "Yeah. It's down that hallway," he pointed to the hallway to the right of the entryway, "and on your second left. It'll be the second classroom on the right. If you can't find it, just go through these doors next to us, and it'll lead you to the front office. They'll be able to help you out too. Welcome to Aldera and good luck finding your class, dude!"
Izuku bowed slightly and thanked them before making his way down the hallway. 'Ok, so it's the second corridor on the left and the second room on the right. That's pretty easy to remember. ' He brought out his phone to check the time. ' Damn, there's only a minute left until class starts, I should hurry.'
In no time, he scurried to the right room and stopped himself outside the doorway. He drew in a deep breath and tried to steel his nerves. It didn't work, but he felt more confident than when he was in the car, so he figured it was now or never. He can't stand outside the doorway like an idiot forever. Slowly, he opened the door and immediately felt everyone's gazes dart to his entrance. Izuku put on a small smile as he fully entered the room. A bell had gone off behind him, but he was too focused on scanning the crowd of faces for anyone he recognized — there were some, but only one stood out. In the right half of the classroom, was a beacon of danger. A spiky mess of blonde hair accompanied by a cold glare. 'Great. Kacchan is here.'
Whatever confidence he had previously felt on his journey here vanished completely and was replaced by a sense of unease. An itch also formed on his fingertips. 'Wait, my fingertips?'
Izuku looked down and immediately realized what was happening. His fingertips were beginning to secrete a dark, charcoal-colored substance. 'Shit. Shit. Shit. Why now of all time?' He complained to the universe before shoving his hands into his pockets.
The teacher grabbed his attention as he made his way over to him from his desk, "Ah. Class, this is our new student. Well, he isn't really new, he's been enrolled since day one, but he's decided to take a little vacation before joining us. On the plus side, it seems he's picked up a new quirk, so I guess it all works out."
Kacchan's boisterous yet menacing laugh filled the room, "Ha! Whatever miracle quirk he got has got to be a second-rate ripoff! It won't amount to much, knowing Deku."
The teacher whipped his head around, "Bakugo, what did I tell you about unprompted outbursts? Now, Midoriya, I'm sure you recognize a couple of faces here, but why don't you introduce yourself to the class anyway."
Izuku formed a thinly veiled fake smile and wiped his right hand against his thigh before taking it out of his pocket and waving to the class with more enthusiasm than he expected from himself, "Hello everyone. I'm Izuku Midoriya, and I'm pleased to join you all."
Izuku had wandered his way to the back of the school once class had dismissed. He was hoping to avoid Kacchan on his way out. The blonde maniac had been glaring at him all day and every time he dared to look in his direction a whirlwind of insults was thrown at him. Clearly, Kacchan still had problems with him. He had a powerful quirk now, though, so at least he couldn't be called quirkless anymore.
He made his way outside and was inspecting what seemed to be a koi pond when he heard the familiar sound of an explosion behind him. 'Here we go,' Izuku braced himself.
Turning around, he saw Kacchan and two other boys he didn't recognize approaching him. "Deku! Just because you developed some wonder quirk doesn't mean you've become anything more than a fancier punching bag!"
Izuku's face drained of color as he forced a smile, "Kacchan, I was wondering if you'd change at all for junior high."
An explosion was let out in Kacchan's hand as his group stopped a meter in front of Izuku, "You can't improve perfection, so why would I change?"
"Nobody's perfect Kacchan," Izuku replied, "I'm sure there's something you could-"
He was cut off by Kacchan saying something and one of his goons leaping forward and grabbing Izuku by the collar and dragging him along. Izuku struggled against the iron grip the boy had on him but was unsuccessful and received a punch to his rib as a reward. The boy had a low-pitched voice and a slight lisp as he ordered, "Shut up."
Doing all he could, Izuku quieted and let the boy drag him farther from the school's entrance. Kacchan's voice was in the background, but it was drowned out by the roar of a heartbeat in Izuku's ears. The farther they traveled, the tighter the boy's grip on his collar felt. Kacchan led them to an empty corridor on the exterior of the building. It was hidden from sight and the foot traffic around them was nonexistent. Izuku thought agonized, 'No help this time, I guess. Why even have this jut in the building if it doesn't have a purpose other than to create the perfect beating grounds spot?'
The grip was released as the boy shoved him to the back wall of the corridor. Standing tall at the other end of the alley was Kacchan. Izuku rubbed his neck, "I don't suppose you're here to throw a 'welcome back' party?"
He was met with a cold and sadistic grin, "Something like that. Just here to remind you of the garbage you are."
The first punch came swiftly to his gut. It wasn't horribly hard, but it was followed up by a second one to his side. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the two lackeys back up to the entryway. One was on the lookout and the other was ready to jump in whenever Kacchan gave the word. The third punch came straight for his face but fell centimeters short before exploding in a flash of light and a wave of force. 'At least the heat of the explosions is gone,' Izuku thought idly.
Several punches and explosions pressed him against the wall before Kacchan exclaimed through his pants, "I've missed this Deku! Teaching you your place as a hopeless nobody! I hear from my parents that you've got a fire quirk! Congrats, maybe you'll make yourself useful as a dumpster fire!"
Another series of fists rammed against his face and abdomen, while a couple of kicks also began to join the choreography. 'This is even worse than before I got the quirk. Usually, it's just a couple of punches, but he's not holding back this time. I didn't even do anything to him!' Izuku cried to himself as tears began flowing. The pain in his chest hurt incredibly. He felt like curling into a ball and giving up on the ground, but something inside of him wouldn't allow him to do it. He didn't have anything to prove. Why was his body telling him to keep standing?
The pain of an explosion burning into his left arm brought him back to the fierce look in Kacchan's eyes. "You useless Deku! Developing a quirk over the summer and thinking you're hot shit. What a fucking waste of space. Maybe you can light a few candles now, but you're still going to amount to nothing."
That quip about his quirk triggered something in the back of Izuku's mind. His quirk was far from a candle lighter. It had just burnt through solid stainless steel! It was not an everyday fire quirk. A gasp escaped his lips as another punch landed on his stomach, "My quirk is strong. You're just too dense to notice it!"
Izuku didn't know where that retort had come from. He had never talked back to Kacchan during a beating before, so why was he doing it now? A laugh disturbed his thoughts as Kacchan exclaimed, "Fat chance, loser! You're still just an insignificant fraction of what I am, and that's all you will ever be. Your dad breathed fire, right? I bet your lame-ass quirk is just as shitty as his was. Look at where that got him, six feet under. Serves him right for being so weak!"
A flash of warmth filled Izuku's entire being as his assailant droned on. The warmth originated from his spine before spreading outwards to his extremities, increasing in potency as it expanded. Soon the warmth felt like a searing fever. The itch in his hands had also returned. Through the blows, Izuku caught sight of his hands. The charcoal-colored substance he had seen earlier began spreading across his palms and enveloping his entire hands in a slimy layer of black. Then with a blow to his chin, his hands erupted in green. The flames followed the trail of black slime like it was oil and started to lash out wildly.
Kacchan had a moment of hesitation as the first flickers of viridian light reached his eyes. This was it. The moment his body had been waiting for. Without skipping a beat, Izuku willed every muscle fiber in his body to engage as he ferociously brought his fist to Kacchan's chest.
The force behind the punch sent him skidding backward toward his two lackeys. Izuku quickly glanced down at his flaming hands before staring ahead to the small gap that he had created. Without a thought in his mind, he opened his mouth and willed a stream of flames to engulf the space between them. The brightness of the flames was almost too much for Izuku's eyes, but after a moment, they had adjusted and revealed that a low-hanging fire had placed itself on the ground. He locked eyes with Kacchan's. His eyes were alight with fury, but there was nothing he could do but back away from the encroaching flames. The two goons had backpedaled to the corridor's entrance and were more than ready to flee.
Through the green, Izuku could make out the fist-shaped hole in Kacchan's uniform and the blistering skin underneath it. Izuku glared as fiercely as he could in his direction, "I was willing to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you'd matured, but that's not the case! I'm fine with you making fun of me, Kacchan. But don't EVER speak about my dad like that!"
Apparently, the words struck how he had wanted them to as Kacchan hunched over and winced in pain, "You're fucking crazy Deku! Wait until the principal hears about this!"
An unfamiliar growl left Izuku's throat before he shouted with a more threatening tone than he had ever used before, "Don't think I don't have the scars you've left me with over the years, Kacchan! A couple of star-shaped explosion scars can only come from so many places! If I'm going down, I'll be taking your ass with me! Then you'll never make it to UA, and you'll forever be a useless Deku like me! Now leave! Don't speak to me again unless you want your mom to find out about your 'extracurricular activities'!"
Kacchan grit his teeth before shouting back, "You're a fucking useless nobody and always will be! Don't kid yourself and play hero now!" He turned to his friends, clutching his chest, "C'mon guys, let's get away from this maniac before his crazy rubs off on us."
They grumbled in agreement before scampering away. Once their footsteps had receded far enough, Izuku's confident persona evaporated. 'What the fuck just happened? Why did I say those things? Why did I punch him back AND use my quirk? My flames reach almost 1800 degrees! I could have killed him! Shit, shit, shit! I need to put out these fires before it draws too much attention!'
He quickly wiped his still-flaming hands against his sides and managed to extinguish them. His frantic gaze then followed the wall of flames that had overtaken the ground. He ran over and began stomping it out. He had taken out a spare jacket from his backpack and patted down any resilient fire. During this process, all that he was thinking about was his sudden change in persona during the fight. He thought back to earlier in the day when he had felt an unnatural confidence flow through him. Only one explanation came to mind. 'It's been a theory for decades that quirks influence an individual's personality, but I've technically had my quirk for my entire life, and it only manifested recently. So wouldn't I have the same personality regardless?'
Izuku begrudgingly acknowledged the possibility that his assumption was mistaken, and the manifestation had triggered this personality shift — and now it was starting to take root in his psyche. If his personality was to be influenced by his quirk, then he was bound to become more like fire. That didn't sit well with him. If being 'fiery' meant burning his childhood friend's chest in a punch, then he was incredibly worried.
'No, no. It's not a personality shift. I'm just having a long day and lost my temper. I won't develop a rash personality. I won't become like Kacchan. I can't. If I am going to be a nice, powerful hero like Dad wanted, I just can't turn out like Kacchan!' Izuku frantically reasoned with himself.
As the last flames were stamped out. Izuku quickly tidied up the singed edges of the corridor and ran for the school's exit as fast as his feet could take him, only slowing to avoid the suspicious gazes of onlookers. Continuing that pace all the way back home, thoughts had begun to swirl uncontrollably in his head. What if Kacchan does tell the principal? What would he do if he actually had to display his scars and advocate for his innocence? What would his mom say if she found out? How will he be able to go back to school and share the same classroom as Kacchan?
If Kacchan did go to the principle, then Izuku would really be in trouble. Those scars he had leveraged against Kacchan were healed when he had gone through his quirk activation, so if Kacchan called his bluff he would have nothing to defend himself. His only hope was that Kacchan was intimidated enough to not bring their fight up to the school or the police. While it was out of self defence, he still burnt Kacchan's chest with his fist, which would count as unlawful use of a quirk. Even if he was only 12, the law took quirk usage very seriously and he could be prosecuted for assault and illegal quirk usage. He cringed at the thought and forced his legs to go faster, not caring anymore for the odd looks he got from passerby.
It was all too much to think about, and Izuku's heart had already taken residence in his throat. The last thought Izuku had before barging into his apartment was, 'I wonder if I can homeschool?'