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Nineteen years have passed since I was born in this world, and out of all the worlds I could have reincarnated into, I ended up in Boku no Hero…
One of the most dangerous ones, of course, where if you weren't born with a good quirk, you were definitely screwed.
To make matters worse ¡¡¡I'M THE FUCKING PROTAGONIST!!!
Not to mention the guilt of having stolen the body of a poor baby somehow.
Because—¡surprise!—the only thing I remember is that I was celebrating my 29th birthday, having a great time with my friends and family. I really had an amazing time, then I went to sleep and BOOM!!! Birthday isekai gift.
The worst gift I've ever received, if I may say so, because being a baby was hell. At first I thought I'd had some kind of accident that left me half-blind and half-deaf, with no capacity to control whether I wanted to use the bathroom or not… not to mention moving around.
It wasn't until I was nearly a year old that I realized my exact situation.
I had my suspicions since I didn't smell the typical hospital disinfectant, and because the only way I could eat was by being breastfed by a woman.
I… I honestly just didn't want to believe it, and the panic and terror of not knowing what was happening kept me from thinking straight.
It was literally an impossible situation, and I had been an atheist—not a total man of science, I had simply learned to believe in facts over people.
This was supposed to be a fictional anime, but now it was my reality, and honestly? I was very scared, if not outright terrified.
At the beginning I thought I was just dreaming, but the pain, the love of mom and dad—everything felt too real to ignore.
And when I learned that my name was Izuku Midoriya, and that some things were different—not too much, but knowing the butterfly effect… then yes, things were going to get ugly.
I decided to adapt and train hard. I practiced every martial art I could sign up for. I wanted to learn lethal martial arts, but mom didn't agree and said it was too dangerous, and the frustration I felt no matter how hard I insisted was brutal.
What did I do? Instead of wasting my time trying to convince mom, I started learning robotics, programming, mechanics, artificial intelligence, and business administration. I trained my body and mind as much as I could to enter the best hero university, U.A.
You'll say, "But Izuku, isn't that too much to learn?"
It is, but I was born with an incredible brain—practically a genius, dangerously close to a super genius.
I have an almost perfect memory, photographic memory, and an intellect that honestly? I didn't bother trying to calculate.
Honestly, surviving this world was more important, and then I could think in peace.
Fun fact: you have to send your application along with your medical records a year beforehand to U.A. so they can investigate you and your quirk properly. Entry slots are limited for obvious reasons, but they can make exceptions if you're extraordinary—at least that's what I found while checking the entrance requirements.
That way the staff can organize the entrance exams properly so no accidents happen.
U.A. itself was one of those changes, because instead of training teenagers, they trained adults, which made a lot of sense.
I mean, who in their right mind would let teenagers try to become heroes when the mortality rate is so high even in this era of "peace"?
But that was only one of the changes that tormented me during my adolescence.
Because if the canon was supposed to start during the teenage years, it meant the League of Villains might attack earlier. When I didn't even have OFA yet?
Yes, I'd definitely be doomed if that happened, but that only fueled my will to survive.
I could try going to another country and getting away from canon—if one still existed.
But would that save me from AFO? No, it wouldn't. I'd only be delaying the inevitable.
I could also try sending my mom to another country, but that'd be more dangerous since I wouldn't get there fast enough to save her in time, so it was easier to keep her close, where I could protect her.
And I… I couldn't let anything bad happen to mom, so I decided to do everything possible instead of staying in a hole waiting to die.
The good part? At least I had time to prepare, that's why I sent my application to the Support Course and not the Hero Course, because clearly I don't have a quirk.
Annoying? At first yes, but when I saw that my classmates had absolutely useless quirks—quirks that made the monsters from Silent Hill look like children in comparison—I felt immense relief.
Anyway, I couldn't afford to complain about the cards life gave me because I had a potential damn war to face, or maybe something worse thanks to Murphy's Law.
And once I turned 17 and nothing happened at all, my paranoia eased. That and All Might didn't seem to have suffered any injury yet, since I had been keeping a close eye on him.
Why? You might ask. Literally the entire society depended on whether that man was still standing.
And since his presence still seemed strong and he hadn't reduced his appearances yet, I concluded that the Symbol of Peace still hadn't suffered that mortal wound.
I stopped looking at All Might forums online—at this point it had become a habit.
My stomach growled loudly and I frowned. Looks like I'll have to go downstairs to eat.
As I walked down the stairs I called out to my mom but received no answer, and when I checked the house briefly, it was empty. Looks like mom went out to get groceries.
I sat down and ate the still-warm katsudon my incredible mother had made, and I couldn't help but think mockingly about how ironic it was that I shared this taste with the original "Izuku." Honestly, if not for my ridiculously incredible memory, I wouldn't remember something like that.
Another surprise that's not really a surprise: I also remember my first life without any issues. And honestly, I wonder…
How did those isekai protagonists act like nothing happened?
Like their first life never existed, like leaving behind their family and loved ones wasn't a big deal…
But I knew. Isekai stories almost never touched serious topics like that, because of course, if the protagonist couldn't adapt to his new world and get a ridiculous harem he couldn't even control, then it wasn't fun.
And now that I was in such a situation, I would love to go back and bring my current mom with me, but I didn't even know if it was possible.
And even if it were… I still wouldn't risk it. After all, traveling through the multiverse with zero knowledge of how it works would be nothing but suicide.
Even less would I do it if I had to bring mom with me.
Have I talked about time dilation yet? Well, it probably wouldn't be a surprise if my former family had already…
I simply didn't want to think about it. No, I wanted to ignore it.
But I knew it wouldn't help and sooner or later I'd have to accept it.
Still, that didn't take away the bitterness and frustration it caused me—after all, I'm human.
And even if I wanted to stop feeling, to tell myself it was useless to think about it, I couldn't avoid wondering "what if…" What if maybe… if I hadn't fallen asleep, I never would've ended up in this situation.
But even if it hurt to admit it, even if I didn't want to see the truth, that was indeed the truth.
But my train of thought was stopped by warm hands resting on my shoulders.
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Third Person
Inko Midoriya
Ever since her son was diagnosed quirkless, she had felt guilty, because she knew how their society treated people who weren't born with a quirk.
She knew her son didn't care, that he didn't blame her, but she still felt she owed him.
After all, he was a genius—her little genius. He graduated from school at age 6, and from Harvard University at age 7.
And one degree wasn't enough for him; he graduated from several.
He was also an incredible martial artist, an incredible son, and an incredible person. She was so, so proud of him that she always did everything she could to make sure he never lacked anything.
Inko entered her house with her groceries and found her son, and from the vacant look in his eyes, he had gone off into the clouds again. But that expression of anguish on Izuku's face worried her.
Inko placed a hand on her chest in pain and concern.
Izuku did that from time to time, and whenever she asked him what was wrong, he always gave an excuse.
And she realized it obviously wasn't the truth, and it hurt her because if her son didn't want to talk, she couldn't force him.
She could only hope that someday he would tell her, and support him as much as possible, as she always had.
At first she thought he was sad because he didn't have a quirk, and that he was just pretending to be strong, but she quickly dismissed that—her son wasn't someone who let things like that affect him.
It was something else… but she never found out what it was that made Izuku wear that bitter expression; it simply didn't make sense. He was happy, and thanks to him they were rich, though they chose to live humbly.
But she had found at least one way to make him momentarily forget whatever was bothering him so much.
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—She laughed softly as she placed her hands on her son's shoulders— Though one could say she raised him? Because once he could walk on his own, he practically started doing everything by himself.
"Zuzu-chaaaaaaan, did you like it? This time I definitely outdid myself cooking!!" Inko's chest puffed with pride and the hands she had on her adorable son's shoulders wrapped around him in a gentle hug.
Izuku squirmed in his chair, embarrassed by the surprise hug.
"Mom, you know tha—" Izuku groaned with fake frustration as his mom hugged him tighter, completely suffocating any complaint he might have had.
"Shhhh, shut up and finish your food, your mom worked hard cooking it for you, so don't be a brat, understood?" His mom released him from her mama-bear hug once Izuku nodded, and she gave him a loving kiss on the cheek while laughing.
"Now finish that katsudon before it gets cold," Inko said with gentle firmness and a warm expression.
Izuku groaned again and finished his katsudon, leaving the plate practically spotless.
While Izuku was placing his plate in the dishwasher, Inko asked him a question.
"Zuzu-kun, how was your day? Did you make any friends today?" Inko didn't let it show, but that question always carried worry.
Because Izuku literally didn't have a single friend.
Not counting Bakugo, although they hardly ever saw each other, only when Inko met with Mitsuki on New Year's.
And those two… they never got along very well, so Inko never insisted that they should. But at least they tolerated each other.
Izuku sighed at the question. He understood his mom's concern, but it wasn't his fault that people distanced themselves from him like he was a plague when they learned he didn't have a quirk.
And then there was what Izuku hated the most, even more than people speaking badly about him behind his back—
It was pitiful when they looked at him as if he were a piece of glass about to break.
That was one of the reasons he graduated so quickly and stopped going to school as soon as he could.
He simply couldn't stand those damn bratty kids.
He tried, he really tried, but the fact that his classmates were children didn't help back then.
So he decided to stop wasting time and spent it on something truly useful.
Izuku answered with a calm, steady voice, "Mom, I already told you that when I enter U.A. I'll try to make friends, but for now I'm focusing on getting into U.A." He wasn't lying. He needed to get familiar with everyone so they'd trust him and make sure they wouldn't die along the way.
Inko sighed, "I trust you, Zuzu, so make sure you have a good time at U.A. ¿okay?" Izuku smiled warmly, happy that his mother was so certain he'd get into U.A. and he nodded, bringing the conversation to an end.
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