Six years of verbal and emotional, and even occasional physical abuse could easily break someone down, no matter how hard they tried to remain stood on their feet. Humans weren't impervious walls that were immune to anything that came their way, and no Quirk was strong enough to even claim that it was unbeatable. That wasn't the way that people were built. Even those who had the strongest wills, the strongest bodies, and the strongest minds, could be eroded away to leave a shell of a person. Every person had their weaknesses, their insecurities, their fears and Quirks all had limitations that simply couldn't be bypassed.

Izuku longed to have those limits though. He wanted to say that he had a weakness. He longed to have something that he could claim was the mountain that he just wasn't ever going to get across.

He wished... That he had anything, really.

That was the difference between those who were Quirkless and those who had Quirks in this world. Those who had powers had limits, mountains, entire continents that they had to topple and climb, to blast their way through and fight like hell to reach. They had hard lives ahead of them, filled with nothing but difficulty and hardship.

Quirkless people though? Like Izuku?

They didn't even get that.

No one who was born without any powers was going to be told that they had a hard life ahead of them. No one was going to tell them that they had mountains to climb over. No one was going to tell them that they had to split the seas in two. No one was going to tell them that they were going to reach the top.

To reach the top in the first place, you needed to have a chance at even getting to the base of the mountain.

No one was ever going to tell them that they could be a Hero.

If you wanted to even begin to have a chance, you needed a Quirk.

That was the difference between those who had powers, and those who didn't. Between those who weren't born equal, and those who were born on top.

Those who weren't born without Quirks had no life to look forward to. Not in a world where Quirks were the norm.

The ten year old boy sat alone, on the swings that were in the park that was near his school. He had found this place once when he was running from those in his class who were looking to try to harass him after classes were done. No one else seemed to even know that this place existed, which made it one of his favorite places to just be on his own.

No other students. No bullies. No odd looks. No one that Izuku would look at and envy their individuality with everything that he had. No Quirks. Here, he was just on his own, and could just think to himself. He could just be alone. And pretend that the world didn't have Quirks. That it didn't have Heroes. That he could just be rid of the soul crushing envy and sadness that living in this world gave him in the first place.

He'd wanted to be a Hero since he had the capacity to understand language. When he'd first seen All Might's original footage. How he'd come across it, he honestly didn't remember, though his mother claimed that the news had been rerunning clips of his during the number one Heroes tenth anniversary, and that he'd been hooked ever since. However it had happened, all he knew was that he wanted to be just like All Might. Someone who was so cool, so brave, and so dependable that just seeing the guy made the young child grin from ear to ear in absolute awe of his idol. He wanted to be that for someone else. He wanted to be a Hero, who saved people, and made them feel safe. He wanted to be someone that people looked up to, and were reassured by his mere existence. He wanted to be a Hero...

But he couldn't. Not without a Quirk.

Everyone around him said the same thing, every single day. There were no Quirkless Heroes. There weren't even any Quirkless Vigilantes that anyone was aware of. In this superhuman society, not being a superhuman just meant that you couldn't do anything that only superhumans could.

You couldn't be a Hero if you didn't have a Quirk. That was how all Heroes did anything. Without a Quirk...

He really was worthless.

Kacchan said it at every single available opportunity, which hurt a lot more than everyone else doing it daily. Izuku remembered when the two of them were friends, talking about their dreams to become Heroes with awesome powers. When it became apparent that wasn't happening for Izuku... Kacchan had changed. His insults hurt far more than anyone else's did, and he was by far the most frequent culprit behind those same insults.

Only...

They were never wrong.

The insults, no matter how personal or petty... They weren't ever factually inaccurate. They were never false. Nothing that they said was a lie.

On the green haired boys lap, was one of the many notebooks that he had when it came to recording the Quirks, costumes, moves and applications of various Heroes and people around him. Book number seven, most recently filled in entries being the debut of the Smoking Hero Smokescreen and Projectile Hero Frontline. He didn't even know how many hours he'd spent filling in the pages of this particular notebook, but he did know it was far more than the others he'd done previously. He'd been writing in it for at least the last six months, cramming information into each of the pages as much as he could. Every single bit that he could find about every single Hero he could think of, and their powers...

All of it was in preparation for his future. For the day that he would debut as a Hero that people could depend on, as someone who people would be able to feel safe under the watchful eye of. As a Hero...

As a Hero who...

A Hero...

For the last six years, Izuku had worked hard, pushing himself every single day to do everything that was in his ability to become a Hero. He'd studied endlessly, trained and tried to activate either of his parents Quirks, and all but begged everyone he knew to help him train in some way, to show them how they activated their Quirks, in the off chance that maybe, just maybe, something would happen and grant him his own unique ability. He'd done everything that he could, while being told that he was wasting his time. He refused to listen and kept trying...

But he knew. He knew the truth, deep down, and after over half a decade, he was battered and broken down enough.

Holding the notebook in his hands, he flipped through some of the pages, his vision blurred. He remembered all the information that he had ever written down, about every Hero he had ever heard about...

And with as much power as his arms would allow him, he threw the notebook as far away from the swing he was sat at as he could. Wind resistance didn't let it get far – Only about a pathetic four or five meters away. Pages flipped over with the wind, until it landed cover side down and open.

Onto the boys most recent attempt to make Hero Names, and a Hero costume. All Might Junior, Mighty Boy, Mini Might... A costume that imitated the small antenna like strands of hair All Might sported, and a cape... Just last night, he had dreamed about being able to stand next to the world's greatest Hero as a Sidekick despite being Quirkless...

Just a stupid dream...

Tears finally fell from his eyes. Six years after not getting his Quirk, after trying so hard in the face of adversity... He would admit the truth now. The truth that he'd always known, but never wanted to face. He was broken, and he couldn't deny it any more, no matter how much it hurt.

He couldn't be a Hero.

Without a power, he couldn't do anything. Without a power, he couldn't save or protect anyone. Without a Quirk... He was useless. He wasn't capable of anything. He was weak. He was defenseless.

Like Kacchan pointed it out every single time, he was poor, defenseless Izuku.

He was just worthless Deku.

"Yahoooooo!"

As sudden as the sound of a bullet being fired out of a rifle, the peace and quiet that characterized the park Izuku had used as his refuge was absolutely and immediately shattered by a single cry of joy, coupled instantly by an individual leaping onto the swing-set next to him, landing on the seat feet first and standing up, and letting their body weight act as the force that allowed them to swing.

"Gaaah!" On pure reflex, Izuku let out a short, but loud scream, out of shock and surprise more than anything else. This marked the very first time that he'd even seen a semblance of other Human life at this park in the many months he'd spent coming here to be alone, and for the briefest moment, he almost thought that he was being attacked by a Villain on the run.

Upon hearing his instinctive cry, the newcomer stopped what they were doing to just look at him, in a mixture of confusion and curiosity. Izuku looked back at them, regaining his composure at a rapid rate.

"Sorry!" They quickly apologized, trying to offer a smile to show sincerity, but was just a bit too wide to convey that particular feeling. "I honestly didn't see you there! Didn't mean to startle you!"

When he was able to begin to notice distinctive features once he had calmed down, and had had managed to identify that this person was about his age, Izuku quickly came to a singular conclusion within about three seconds.

This person was easily the single quirkiest person that he had ever met in his entire life. For starters, it was a girl, whom possessed pink skin, similar in color to that of cotton candy, and the same went for her unruly hair, which was similar to his, only a bit longer. Additionally, this person also had a pair of horns that extruded out of her skull just above the forehead, the entrance point of which was covered in more of that pink hair, so it was difficult to tell exactly where the point of exit was. To top everything off, her eyes were golden, and while that in itself wasn't an unusual eye color, the area surrounding the iris, the sclera, were pitch black, certainly an oddity Izuku hadn't recorded previously.

In short, she was the exact type of person Izuku had wanted to get away from by coming here. Someone who, just by looking at them, had a Quirk that could garner attention for them wherever they went. Someone who was like Kacchan, holding onto a power that had to be flashy and impressive, and useful and strong. Perfect for someone who wanted to be a Hero.

Someone who had pretty much everything that Izuku wanted.

He didn't recognize her in the slightest. If she was someone who was even remotely local to his area, he would have known who she was, or at least remembered seeing her, without question. She wasn't the easiest sort of person to miss or forget, even in passing. He had a feeling that if he wanted to, he'd be able to rough out a sketch of her that night without taking any sort of photo of her if he wanted to. The world was full of those kinds of people, those who skirted on the border of what was considered human and what wasn't, due to her many alien mutations, so the fact he had no clue who this girl was indicated to him that she wasn't a local at all.

Regardless of who she was or where she came from though, her energetic smile served as a stark, painful contrast to the depressed ten year old, though he found himself unable to look away from her. Part of that was due to the fact that she was so hyperactive that she just drew attention to her, like a moth to a flame. Even though he wanted nothing more than to not have to look at someone who had a future so bright ahead of them, who didn't have a care in the world, Izuku couldn't help but look at her, like she had the attention equivalent of gravity infused into her personality.

Considering that he'd been crying not thirty seconds ago, it wasn't exactly the best image for himself when he looked towards her. Tears were still in the corners of his eyes, and his face was flushed red from the increased activity around the area, and previously spilled tears were still sliding down his cheeks.

"Hey, are you - Are you alright?" The girl asked, suddenly dropping her smile to a confused but sympathetic frown. She quickly crouched down onto the seat, though it still swung due to her weight, so she used one of her feet as a stopping point. "Are you hurt or something?"

"I-I'm fine." Izuku lied, turning his head away from the pink skinned girl, while rapidly trying to wipe away the water that was running down his face.

"Are you sure?"

"I-It doesn't matter. I-I don't want to b-bother you. I-I'll just -"

"I'm Mina. Mina Ashido." The girl randomly introduced herself, jumping off of the swing set that she was on, and turning on the heel of her foot to spin towards the direction of the green haired boy. She then squatted down, so she could try and get a look at his concealed face. "What's your name?"

Moving his head just slightly, Izuku allowed the very tips of his eyes to look upon the black eyed girl. Her expression wasn't particularly difficult to read, though her black eyes were off putting to him, since he'd never seen anything even vaguely like it before. It made him need a few seconds to figure out that she was in fact, trying to be kind to him. So used to abuse he was that the idea of someone actually being kind to him was one that he struggled with.

"I-Izuku Midoriya..." He introduced himself, shyly, and resignedly. He had the distinct feeling that this girl wouldn't leave him alone until he did so.

"Alright then Midoriya, since we know each other's names, that means we're friends, right?"

The green eyed boy's head shot up at this tremendously flawed leap of logic, his eyebrows raised in surprise, and he remained stunned at the forwardness of this individual girl known as Mina Ashido. "Wh-What?!"

"Aaaaaaaaaand since we're friends, that means that if you're upset, then it does matter and I wanna know. Friends aren't bothered by this sort of thing." Mina offered a small, but very warm and welcoming smile, tilting her head ever so slightly to the left as she did so. "So, what's wrong, my good friend Midoriya?"

His eyes remained wide in confusion and in aghast, blinking several times, the Quirkless boy honestly had little to no idea how he was supposed to respond to such a series of events. Whoever she was, this Mina girl was straightforward and persistent, more than any other person than he honestly had met beforehand. When he wouldn't give a straight answer, she found workarounds, and applied her own personal version of twisted yet somehow viable – At least, to her - logic onto the events to try and put him into a position where he would have no choice but to confess what was leaving him in this state.

It left him pretty much speechless. How exactly was he supposed to react to something like this?

Mina didn't stay still for long, quickly rising up onto her feet again when she realized that Izuku wasn't going to spill his guts anytime soon. "You're not getting bullied, are you? People usually stay quiet when they're being bullied..."

"N-Not really -"

Turning around, and using her left hand as a sun shield by poising what looked like a salute over her left eye, the energetic girl seemed to suddenly start scanning around the place in the search of the bullies that she had no idea if they existed or not. From her own experience and knowledge, people who picked on others usually were the cause of a lot of childhood misery. And it was one that she absolutely could not stand. It was why she was so friendly to people around her, especially those who seemed to be upset by something. A lot of the time, it was because of people making their life miserable. There were other reasons that it might be, but she was just working with the most likely scenario.

And it was just the decent thing to do. Her whirlwind of subjects wasn't entirely due to her being hyperactive, but rather her trying to distract the boy from his problems, if only for just a short while. But she could tell. What Izuku needed right now was a friend. Someone who understood his plight and could offer sound advice. Someone who could help him.

If there were bullies around her, she intended to find them. Though since they didn't exist - At least not here - She didn't find any.

She did, instead, find something very different.

"That yours?" She questioned, moving away from Izuku, and towards whatever it was that had caught her eyes. With the direction that she was headed, it didn't take the Quirkless boy long to realize exactly what she had spotted.

His notebook. The one he had literally just thrown away.

"N-No, I-it's not!" He rapidly denied ownership of the book, flustered, embarrassed at its contents, and ashamed of what it would reveal about him. Ashamed that it would reveal the ambition that he had held onto for years. Ashamed at the idea that he thought he, someone who didn't have a single ounce of power in him, could even dream to stand by Heroes. "I-I-It - It's just trash! It's -"

"Izuku Midoriya... Notes for my future, mark seven..." Before the green haired boy could even deny ownership of the book, the horned girl had picked it up, dusted it down, and had read the title of the notebook aloud.

He simply froze, both from embarrassment and humiliation that this stranger had figured him out so quickly. He just sat on the swing, looking away, as he awaited ridicule and judgement.

Flipping over the cover and reading the first single page, Mina immediately knew what the book was for. It was filled up with ideas for costumes, gadgets and the likes. It couldn't more clearly be the work of an aspiring Hero. Anyone could guess that just from looking at the contents for about five seconds.

"You wanna be a Hero?" She asked, just wanting to make sure.

"I... I do... But - "

"Cool! You're like me then!" The pink girl cheered, throwing her pumped right fist into the air, and a grin reaching from ear to ear as she smirked. Her free hand kept skimming over the pages once again, her eyes darting all over the contents and taking everything in. "I wanna be a Hero too! Hey, who's your favourite Pro?"

"I - I didn't say you could - "

"Actually, never mind." Joked Mina, looking through several other pages. "I think I've figured it out. You're huge fan of All Might, right?"

"I..." Even regardless of his resignation, of his shattered dreams and acknowledgement of his inability to become a Hero, he wasn't ever going to be able to deny his admiration of them. Not ever. "A-All Might is... Such a cool and a-amazing Hero..."

"He is number one for a reason. Though I'm more of a fan of Xeno-Mistress myself, since, y'know, I kinda look like an alien myself."

"I-I remember her. She made her debut two years ago, over in Hokkaido, when she fought against Iceberg the Freezer, right? She was commended because she was able to stop him going on a huge rampage in a metropolitan area without even causing any damage to the surrounding area."

"Yeah! You know your stuff. Not really a surprise now that I think about it."

It was the first time that day that Izuku had managed to make even anything that remotely resembled a smile.

"You're gonna be an awesome Hero someday with this kinda dedication! Hey, maybe we'll even be in the same class in Yuuei!"

And just like that, it was immediately gone again.

Those words hurt. He knew that she didn't mean to do that, but they hurt. This girl, this total stranger, she was just trying to be nice, to be friendly, to encourage him. He'd managed to recognize that. But she'd only succeeded in reminding him. Of reaffirming his fears. Any semblance of ease that had come from their fleetingly brief conversation about Pro's died immediately thanks to that attempted compliment. It wasn't the girls fault, and he knew that she hadn't meant it...

But it still hurt.

"Hey, are you... Really okay?" Mina asked once again, this time more confused than anything else. She honestly now had no idea why the boy in front of her was looking so pained, even though, not too long ago, he was starting to show signs of cheering up. "Are you... Not well?"

"I... I'm not gonna be a Hero."

"Huh?" The pink girl questioned, not understanding what he meant. "What d'you mean by that? You mean you're wanting to go someplace else? Like a Navy Hero -"

"No... I - I mean, I'm not gonna be a Hero.. At all..."

"What? Why not?! You've got all these awesome notes that only Heroes would want to make, and they're so detailed! You said that you wanted to be a Hero yourself, so why aren' you -"

"Because I don't have a Quirk!"

Silence. Complete, deafening silence followed the sharp, emotional outburst from the young green haired boy. The only sound was the wind, that sent a small gust throughout the area. That aside, there wasn't a single noise. It made time feel like it dragged on much longer than it actually did. The ten seconds that ot lasted instead felt like hours.

"I don't have a Quirk..." Izuku said again, this time quieter. Sadder, barely able to hold back any tears. "I don't have any powers... I can't do anything... I don't... I can't do anything."

It was all true. He knew it deep down, but hadn't ever wanted to admit it.

"I can't do anything to help myself, to help anyone else... I've always tried... But I always end up getting beaten up, and unable to do anything..."

This was the reality that he had so desperately tried to ignore. But the reality of the situation always meant that he was going to lose.

"I... I'm Quirkless... I can't..."

He couldn't... Ni matter how much it burnt and hurt inside, he just couldn't...

"I... I can't be a He - "

"I have a cousin who's Quirkless."

Izuku's words stopped, immediately, at the other girls words. Quirklessness was a rare birth defect, only currently affecting about twenty percent of the population. He'd never even met another person who didn't have a Quirk before him. He had always been alone.

He looked up at Mina. Had she seen the hopelessness of being Quirkless before?

"He's... He's the best. He was a fun guy. Loved to play and hang out. Wanted to be a Hero. He would've been an amazing one." Mina recalled, seeming to fondly reminisce about the memories of her relative. Though the tone of her voice was coated in sadness. "He's a huge fan of Endeavor. He thinks his fire Quirk is awesome, and he wanted to have a cool Quirk like that... But he didn't get one."

The Quirkless boy swallowed. He understood that feeling all too well.

The hopelessness.

The emptiness.

The despair.

The defeat...

"He hasn't been the same since..." The black eyed girl looked away for a moment. "I... I do have a Quirk. It's called Acid. It lets me make Acid. So... I can't say that I know what being Quirkless is like. I can't imagine life without my Quirk... But my cousin... He would've been an awesome Hero... But he gave up. He stopped trying when he learned that he was Quirkless."

That had been the one thing Izuku hadn't been able to do. Not until now, when it just became too much to bare.

"He said... That he didn't have any powers. That he couldn't be a Hero without powers... That because he didn't have a Quirk, he didn't have a chance. That because he didn't have any powers, he couldn't do anything... I never got that... So... I'll ask you what I asked him."

She looked Izuku straight in the eye, eyebrows burrowed into a glare.

"Why not?"

All Izuku could do was blink at her. Her defiant stance. Her clear irritation, and her refusal to accept reality...

Was she serious?

"What... What do you mean, why not?" He questioned, though his entire body was shaking. From anxiety of anger, he wasn't sure. He didn't know exactly what it was that he felt, aside from that pit of burning that was present in his chest. "You're asking me why Quirkless people can't be Heroes?"

"Yeah, I am." Mina stood strong, not moving a single centimeter from her stance. "Why can't you be a Hero?"

"Because Quirkless people are Quirkless! That's why!" He yelled. How did she not get it? It was obvious! So obvious that he knew, even when he tried to defy the way of the world, he knew he was chasing a fantasy! "We can't do anything! We - We can't jump from building to building! We can't - Shoot lightning from our hands! We're not super strong! We're not fast! We can't make fire! We can't move objects with our minds! We - We can't make Acid!" He was shouting through tears and wrecked sobs by this point." Heroes can do all of that, but we can't! We can't do anything! You need a Quirk to be a Hero!"

It was always true. Always, no matter how much he had wanted it to be different. It hurt... It hurt so much...

It hurt...

It hurt so much...

But it was the truth.

He couldn't... He couldn't be a -

"So... Do you think All Might is a Hero just because he has a Quirk?"

Managing to quieten his sobs, Izuku listened. The only reason he didn't retort was because the lump in his throat, brought on by crying so much, was making it nearly impossible to do so. He only had the option to listen to the Acidic girl's argument, even if she just didn't understand.

But what did she mean? Why was she talking about All Might's Quirk?

What did that have to do with anything?

"Or do you think it's because of what he does? Do you think that Villains are born that way? That their Quirks are nasty, so they have to be Villains?"

He just looked at her. Where was this going?...

"Quirks... They don't make us who we are." The ten year old girl stated. She had seen so much about this subject for being so young... She couldn't help but feel the need to step her foot down and speak out now. "Quirks are a part of us, yeah... But we choose how we use them. We have to make that choice, and we have to get into the places we need to be in the first place... I mean, with my Quirk, I could easily end up as a Villain if I wanted. Anyone with a Quirk can..."

"…What are you trying to say?" Izuku managed to force out, towards the girl who now his her eyes from him. What was she trying to say?

"I'm saying that Quirks don't make us who we are!" She suddenly yelled, with just as much force and sound as Izuku had done just a few seconds ago. "Heroes aren't born Heroes just because they're born with cool Quirks, and Villain's aren't born because they have nasty Quirks! We get to choose how we act! We get to choose if we want to be a Villain or a Hero! We chose to act Heroic - So what does it matter if you don't have a Quirk?!"

The next words that she yelled made Izuku shiver.

"You don't need a Quirk to be a Hero!"

As she spoke, her head finally showed her eyes again.

Glaring towards him, a mixture of anger that he was just giving up, and sadness for the same reason. It was totally clear that this was a subject that she cared about deeply, and had watched happen before, heartbroken at the results. She was passionate about her feelings on this matter, even if it wasn't her own family involved, or her business whatsoever.

"So... Don't say that you can't be a Hero. As soon as you say it... And start believing that you can't... Then you won't be able to. It stops when you chose to stop trying... And you've been trying so hard. I can tell." The notebook was all the proof she needed of that. "So what if you don't have a Quirk? You don't need one to be a Hero!"

It was the first time.

The first time that anyone - Anyone at all - Had said that to him.

Told him that he could be a Hero, even without a Quirk.

Had told him with genuine belief, with actual passion, and genuine meaning behind what they said, that he could become a Hero even if he was powerless in the face off all odds.

That being a Hero wasn't just about Quirks - But the actions that someone took. The bravery that they showed, the selfless nature that characterised them, the way they charged quite eagerly into battle with Villains to protect people who couldn't protect themselves.

And it hadn't just been lip service.

She actually meant it.

No lies. Not jokes. No teasing and no pity service. She wasn't saying this just to make him feel better, but because she actually believed it...

He was just left speechless.

"It's not my business, I know… And I dunno if you've been bullied, or if you just think it's hopeless, or whatever…" The pink girl approached him, rubbing her eyes with her sleeve. Once she was within arm's reach of the green haired boy, she held his notebook out, for him to take.

And smiled.

"…But I really don't think that you need a Quirk to be a Hero."

That night, Izuku found himself scribbling faster and faster, more and more about Heroes, Villains, Quirks and costumes than he had for the entire year, filling in the entirety of his seventh book, and moving onto an eight. He'd been at it since he first managed to get home after separating from that Mina girl, called away by her parents come to collect her from wherever it was that they had been.

He had spent a long time with her after their initial conversation. Talking. Playing. She even let him sketch her and showed off her Quirk for him, so he could take notes of what she could do.

What she had said, she had meant, and Izuku didn't have any doubts about her sincerity. The way that she had spoken, and the way that she had just been so adamant about his ability to be a Hero… Even though she knew he was Quirkless. She didn't judge him, or ridicule him the way Kacchan, and everyone else did. She didn't abandon him like she had just found a lost cause. She didn't try to backtrack on what she had said earlier.

She stayed. And argued. And fought, passionately. Why she had such a passion regarding the subject, he didn't know. If it was just her cousin, then he had to be one of the greatest people that she knew. Either way, she was just as vocal and passionate about it as if it was her who was Quirkless.

But she wasn't. She was just a sweet, empathetic girl.

And she inspired Izuku. She inspired him to keep trying. To keep ignoring the way of the world right now.

To reject the notion that people who didn't have Quirks couldn't be Heroes.

To reject the idea that his dreams couldn't become a reality.

To reject the idea that he was poor, defenceless Izuku.

To reject that he was Deku.

"Izuku?" He heard his mother knock on his door gently, and then calling out his name. "You've been in there ever since you got back from school, sweetie. Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, it's fine!" Izuku called back, in a positive tone that honestly surprised his mother. "I'm just writing some notes down about someone I met today!"

"A friend?"

"Kind of." He admitted, finishing off a note that he was working on, and then going back to the page that he'd written in Mina's information, regarding her Quirk, and what she could do.

And also, the note that she herself had made.

"Okay, well, dinners just about ready. Come and get it when you're ready to." The green haired woman said, making her way away from her son's door. "We're having Katsudon."

"Awesome!"

Katsudon – His favourite food, pretty much of all time. Under most normal circumstances, he'd already be out the door and bolting towards the table to get as much of it down his throat as possible. Not today though. This time, he had something that he realized that he should have done as soon as he got home.

Before he ran out of his seat to go and grab his favourite food, he tore out the page next to the notes he made on Mina and her Quirk.

Earlier that day, when she was called away, she had asked to borrow his notebook for just a second. Though he didn't understand why, Izuku had complied, and had also provided her with a pencil to use to do whatever it was that she planned on doing. The pink girl had scribbled something inside it, and then bid him a goodbye, a good luck, and a hope to see one another again in Yuuei.

It was a small goodbye note, that didn't actually say goodbye in it.

Rummaging through his drawers, Izuku quickly located some white-tac that he used normally to pin the various posters of his favorite Hero all over his wall. He had about half a sheet left from all the other times he had hung up posters in his room. He used a lot – An excessive amount – To cover the back of the page that he had just torn out, and then, with a ton of force, plastered it in the spot on the wall that was right above the computer screen.

The words weren't anything particularly special to someone who looked at the note and didn't understand the situation. Some might even have thought that he had put it up there himself, to try and convince himself that he was still capable of doing something that the rest of the world said was impossible. Like a motivational quote that he hung up on the wall to try to make him push himself further into the mountain ranges of struggle and trials, reserved only for those with Quirks.

He knew what it meant though. And he knew that when he saw it, he'd remember the first time that he was told those words. And he'd remember that same person, who told him them, time and time again, even when she knew that he was powerless. And he'd know how much that meant to him, even if they had come from someone who, at that point, was a complete stranger.

Just five worlds. Five simple words that made Izuku want to push himself further and harder than he ever had before.

'You can be a Hero.'

I need to write more fluff in my life, okay? I write like, three majorly depressing and dark ones and I NEED SOME FLUFF.

This is only gonna be short. Maybe three or four chapters. Considering that I write this on the go, I dunno when the next chapter will be out – Priority does go to my main projects, after all.

I do want to give a special thanks to my Pat Reon supporters though - Thanks a bunch, guys for helping make this series something I was willing to risk trying out - and thanks to everyone who read this at all. If you'd like to get involved in the Pat Reon, the link is in my profile, or search in QuirkQuartz - ONLY if you want to though. Can't stress that one enough.

Otherwise, thank you all so much for reading - And let's see how this goes, shall we?