1: The Affected

Losing isn't horrible, Tenya decides. It isn't about losing, because the fight was fair, and he'd given it his all. After all, Todoroki was known to be the strongest of his classmates. But even if he decides the losing isn't horrible, he can't rid himself of the urge to cry. Something lays heavily on his shoulders, and he doesn't like thinking he's a failure, but he also can't quite help it.

Everything is a mess, he concludes.

The buzzing of his phone snaps him out of it for a moment, though it all crushes in on him even more when he sees the caller ID.

"Ah… Tensei…" The words burn, but he's glad that his brother thought to call at all, "Aren't you at work? It's terrible for a hero to take time off like this…"

"Tenya? I heard you nearly beat Todoroki-san! That's incredible!"

Tenya's brain short circuits.

"H…how did you hear that? It was only finished a few minutes ago!"

"I had to drag a kid out of an intersection before a car got him and he recognized me, I guess. Once I made sure he was alright, he mentioned that he was caught up in your match. Are you alright?"

Tenya's chest tightens till he can barely breathe.

"I… I know it was a fair match, and that Todoroki is strong but… Tensei, I…!"

"Tenya. No matter what, you did incredible making it that far. You're only going to get better. Feeling sad isn't wrong, it's human. Are you okay?"

Tenya breaks down after that, and all record of Ingenium's traffic stop in Hosu is forgotten by the Iidas.

Katsuki hears about the beach getting cleaned up in passing from his mother. At first, he ignores it. Some beach getting cleaned up means absolutely nothing in the face of Katsuki's plan. Then his dad mentions something about how public service projects should get recognized more, and that actually catches his ear.

He'd considered everything about becoming the best hero… right? People could think he had a shitty personality, but it didn't mean anything in the face of his potential and his work ethic.

But this had gotten his mother's attention. That took an act from the gods.

In hindsight, it's a great plan. Cleaning a beach fixes a public spot and restores the area. Everyone in the neighborhood is talking about it because now there's a beach within walking distance. Business is steadily growing from the newfound popularity, and morale is higher than Katsuki has seen it in a while.

He asks around. When no one knows who cleaned it up, or why, he goes to the internet. After the fifth article citing it as one of three different anonymous public service projects happening around their neighborhood, Katsuki can't help but wonder who's doing it. Even if the hero industry is about being heroic most of them do things like this as a publicity stunt.

A pin goes in his phone on each of the three locations. He takes a couple of people from class 1-A down to the beach to shut up his mother and prove he's not totally devoid of personality.

The beach doesn't suck.

Eijirō is just exiting the third athletics shop when someone snags him by the elbow and drags him to the railing of the mall. He barely catches green eyes and dark, curly hair before the stranger points to someone in a black hoodie down on the first floor.

"Sorry to drag you away, but I know who you are, and I need you to tell me if you recognize that person." The stranger tells him in a hushed tone, glancing over their shoulders suspiciously. Eijirō frowns and gets ready to harden up his right side, keeping his eyes on the black hoodie. After a few seconds, he sees a scraggly hand reach up and scratch at something beneath the hood, revealing…

Long, tangled blue hair.

The stranger is shaking him out of a haze a few moments later, looking him with concern clear on his face.

"Are you okay? Do you know them?"

"I… I think… maybe it's a villain? I couldn't see much. Who are you? What-"

"Look, there's no time." He's dragging Eijirō from the railing, muttering a million kilometers per second. "Aren't you here with your class? You need to get out of here, call the police. I'll track him, here's my number just in case, ok?"

Eijirō gapes as the stranger hops the railing and lands in the main walkway like its nothing, power walking after the black hoodie. Before he can stand there paralyzed, the stranger's words are replaying through his head and he's moving, whipping out his phone and clutching a scrap of paper in one hand.

No one questions his emergency message to meet up outside, and within fifteen minutes everyone who came to the mall is standing there with him. Uraraka takes one look at the way his hand is shaking and turns deadly serious, showing off a vibe that Eijirō really wishes he could imitate.

"What happened?"

"I think… I think Shigaraki followed us here." Everyone freezes, staring at him as he continues, "A guy pulled me aside on the second floor and pointed him out. I called the cops and they're on the way, but that guy, he took off after Shigaraki before I could do anything… I froze up."

"Someone went after Shigaraki?" Jirō is the only one who's voice actually cuts through the group's panic. "Wait, did he know who it was?! He could get killed!"

"I…" Eijirō replays the scene in his mind and pales. "I didn't tell him who it was, just that it was a villain…"

"Shit."

Before they can do anything about it, the police are there. He retells the story and hands them the crumpled piece of paper, to which they're all told to leave immediately and get home safely.

Eijirō spends the entire train ride imagining a rotting corpse left in an alley, or somewhere inventive. He can't help but feel guilty for it.

Aizawa calls him aside the next day, and he can't help but feel like it's the end of his career at U.A. When he retells the story, trying hard to remember something about the stranger besides 'green eyes', Aizawa remains lifeless the entire time.

"You did the right thing, Kirishima. The boy who went after Shigaraki is at fault for being reckless, but they've already scolded him. Everything is being taken care of. Good job keeping a level head." Aizawa pats him on the shoulder and sends him back to class.

The face is already fading from his memory, though he can't forget someone throwing themselves off the second story of a mall just to go chasing a possible villain. Whatever happened, he can't help but feel like they got lucky. If what Aizawa said is true, then the kid made it out safe.

Maybe they caught a break for once.

Meetings with Tsukauchi will probably always be under horrible circumstances. Their raid on the League's headquarters failed miserably, and Toshinori really, really just wants to punch something, but instead they're going out for coffee. Neither of them mentions the time, because coffee is just a really horrible excuse to take a little time away from work.

"I can't deny… I'm a little glad. If they'd actually been there, and we'd fought them tonight… We were really understaffed." Tsukauchi groans.

"All we had was the word of a random high school student. I'm shocked we had as much support as we did." Toshinori sighs. "What are kids thinking these days, charging into villain attacks and chasing after villains like this…"

"Oh, I almost forgot." Tsukauchi flips a folder onto the table, smirking at him over the rim of his cup, "I promised you the file on the kid, right? Since this is becoming a thing for you."

"I'd just like to thank him for… his bravery…" Toshinori has barely opened the file when he feels his wound begin to twitch and a rapid headache coming on.

"Toshinori? Hey, are you okay?" Tsukauchi is already up out of his seat before Toshinori can wave him off, coughing and trying to hold off the blood. He really doesn't want to make a scene.

"Sorry, sorry… but, I probably shouldn't be surprised. This boy, it's the same person as the slime villain incident I told you about." He slides the file back, unable to scrub the pictures and memories from his brain.

"Are you joking…? Well, I guess it makes sense, you'd have horrible luck if you found two kids so similar to you. I'm surprised though. Didn't you say the kid was pretty scrawny?" Tsukauchi cocks an eyebrow at the file and sets it back down.

"Yeah. Barely bigger than a twig, really."

"I mean… it's not like I got to see, but he really must have changed a lot since that little incident. He tracked Shigaraki pretty far. Everyone felt pretty bad for telling him off about it." Tsukauchi sighs.

"Ah… of course they did…" Toshinori can't help flinching.

"Something the matter?"

"It was like that during the first incident too. The heroes, they made the right call but Bakugo needed help. Midoriya rushed in, and afterward he had several heroes telling him how reckless he was. I… Feel a bit bad for it. He's been essential in two different villain incidents, and both times he's been reprimanded for it. I know he needs to be, that we need to tell him to leave things alone, but… still."

"Still," Tsukauchi chuckles. "you two really are alike, aren't you?"

Toshinori isn't sure what to say to that. Midoriya can't be like him. Sure, the kid had a dream, and he'd thrown himself into danger on instinct, but… No. Finding the boy at this point is a lost cause.

"…Don't even think about it, Toshinori." Tsukauchi growls.

"I'm not!" A bit of blood spilled over his lip at that. Toshinori hates that it leaks when he's flustered. "Really, I doubt we're very much alike at all."

"Good. I hope so. He's already got two incidents too many on file for my liking."

"I guess so, hmm… Everyone would say the same thing, I suppose."

Summer goes by without a hitch, surprisingly.

Most of class 1-A ends up failing the exam for provisional licenses, despite how many of them get close. Aizawa forbids them from going back for the extra courses on the grounds that too many of them would be out, and then the school goes ahead and prevents them from doing internships after all the incidents they've had.

Ochako doesn't know whether or not she's disappointed or relieved after it's all said and done. Class 1-B seems to be doing a bit better, though only because a few of them got their licenses. She's out grocery shopping on a Sunday, drifting between shops and thinking about school, when the sound of a car accident has her sprinting down the block and praying that no one is hurt.

When she finally reaches the intersection she freezes, staring at the street as she tries processing what she's seeing.

A car is there, stopped halfway through the crosswalk, with the engine compartment caved in as if the driver had slammed into a concrete pillar. Lying in the street is a woman curled around her child. Everyone on the block has frozen and is caught staring at what remains of the car's engine. Ochako is two steps into the intersection when a grunt makes her stop again. Her jaw drops as someone climbs out of the wreckage of the engine and walks over to the woman and her child.

"Are you okay? Did I push you too hard?"

For a half hour, Ochako drifts on the edges of the accident. Police show up and question the driver (no I didn't run a red light I would never, of course I was going the speed limit…) the woman (my baby, she just ran in the intersection and it said walk but I saw the car crossing and I just moved and then we were flying…!) and, oddly enough, the boy who'd gotten hit (she isn't close enough to hear his statement).

Then, just as suddenly as it all started, it's gone. She watches the car get towed away and the woman and her daughter are leaving in an ambulance just to be sure. After a few minutes, she looks around and sees the boy across the street, still talking with the officer. It looks almost like he's getting scolded, and then he's just wandering off and the officer is there, talking on the phone.

Before she knows what she's doing, Ochako is walking up to the police officer.

"Was that boy okay? The one who got hit by the car?" The officer blinks, then sighs then slips their phone into their pocket.

"Everything is fine, miss, nobody was hurt. The driver may have some hairline fractures, considering the speed he was going, but everything looks like it turned out all right. I was worried for a bit since the kid was acting strangely but I think he was just nervous."

He won't say anything more than that, and Ochako can't do anything other than leave it at that. She had barely caught a glimpse of the boy, other than a shredded high school uniform and dark hair.

The next day, she wanders into class and finds Mina and Kirishima staring at a video on Mina's phone.

"Oh, is that the accident?" Spills out before she can really think about it, and suddenly Mina is on her for details. Once she tells them what happened, Kirishima frowns and rewinds the video.

"I swear, that guy looks almost like the one who was at Kiyashi…"

Mina asks a bunch of questions after that, and Ochako files that little tidbit away in the back of her head. She isn't sure what has her attention, but something seems strange. The police officer seemed uncomfortable when she approached him. And if that boy was the same person… Just who was he?

Mirio thought he'd seen everything.

He'd been taught how to use his quirk 'properly' by a man who could see the future. All Might had exposed the secrets of Japan's champions, then offered to train him for the role. Sir had been proud when he accepted the offer for training. While out on patrol, one of his friends had been hit by a bullet that took his quirk away for a night. Out of all his classmates, his internship had been the most in depth, the most intensive, and he was sure that he'd started seeing the world for what it truly was.

Nighteye's agency investigation into the Eight Precepts of Death was a secret. People were focused on the League of Villains, after their recent moves and the failed raid, which left Sir with the job of 'cutting the head off of the sleeping snake', apparently. Mirio wasn't a huge part of it. His only job was to keep up the patrols and try to maintain the peace while Sir went investigating.

Everything was supposed to be normal.

It goes like this:

Mirio is walking down the street a few blocks from Sir's agency, doing his patrols as normal, when he sees Overhaul himself wandering down the street. A pair of his direct subordinates walk beside him, judging from the plague masks on their faces, and the killing intent rolling off of them has every civilian avoiding them by a full block. It doesn't help that they're walking in the middle of the street, and the pair are slowly wrecking any car that comes too close. Barriers protect them, and the big one's punch destroys any vehicle that gets too close to Overhaul's path.

Before he can step in or call Sir, there's a civilian walking into the street out of nowhere looking determined to do something. Mirio really doesn't like it, but Overhaul stops a decent way away and stares at the boy when he doesn't move out of their path.

"Are you a hero? Coming to do the job even off duty?" He calls. Mirio chews his lip, praying that Sir will pick up because this looks really, really bad.

"You're the one who hurt her, aren't you?" The civilian asks, fists clenched so tight he's shaking. Emotions roll across his face in waves: fear, nerves, anger, desperation, determination. When Sir sends his phone to voicemail and sends a text, Mirio shoves his phone in his pocket and gets ready to rush in. Overhaul is already talking.

"Oh? So you're the one who took her from me. Give her back. She's necessary for my goals." He calls. On either side, the henchmen shift and get ready for a slaughter.

"I won't let you hurt anyone else." Civilian calls out, forming a rough fighting stance. Mirio screams internally because this kid obviously hasn't fought anyone before and he's already phasing through a parked vehicle when the big guy with fists of steel rushes out to attack.

Mirio is popping out of the ground in a rush when the stranger takes the punch against his arms. He phases through the attack coming his way and pauses on the other end of the street, eyes locked on the civilian. The pavement beneath his feet is cracked, nearly shattered from the force of the blow, and he's pushed back a full meter, but otherwise he's totally fine.

Everyone seems just as surprised that he made it out as Mirio is, which… he tries not to think about that.

"You took a punch, huh? Then I'll just go all out!" The thug cackles, rushing in for another blow. Mirio waits, watching as the civilian reforms his stance and makes a slight move to block, this time with one arm.

The pair dig a long track through the pavement as the Yakuza continues throwing blows. Each hit has the civilian slowly but surely pushed back, dug nearly past his knees into the street from the force of the onslaught. Mirio is shocked when the civilian is still standing after such an insane number of punches, but when the dust clears and reveals the pair staring one another down, Mirio finds himself shocked for a different reason.

Despite blocking most of the punches and taking a few to the chest, the stranger is just a bit dusty. Red like he's running a marathon, but not red from bleeding and bruising. His skin is flushed, not broken, and the muscle beneath is substantial enough that Mirio thinks he must be a hero-in-training, maybe Fatgum's nephew or something?

"Who the hell are you kid? You got a good quirk, that's for damn sure! No one ever goes two rounds with me!" The Yakuza cackles again, pointing a finger at the boy, "My name's Rappa Kendo! Call me Kendo, if you survive this!"

"…Deku." The boy states quietly, throwing off the shreds of his shirt and jacket. Mirio frowns as he runs a hand over his body, almost… appraising himself(?). "I guess that car thing wasn't just a fluke… Whatever. If it keeps me going, I'm not going to complain."

Deku settles into a fighting stance, looking more sure of himself now.

"I guess you're not going to let me take on your boss before you're down and out, are you?" He asks, offering a shaky smile. Rappa laughs even louder.

"HELL NO! I haven't had this much fun in too long! Let's go, round two!"

The shockwave is definitely unexpected. Rappa freezes, fist locked tight against Deku's, staring at the boy in disbelief.

"You…! Now you're gonna fight back, huh?! JUST HOW I LIKE IT!"

Compared to the first 'round', Mirio's eyes can actually track the fight now that 'Deku' is fighting back. Wind tears up and down the street in bursts every time their fists collide. Deku isn't being pushed back anymore.

When Rappa speeds up, Deku meets him. Mirio can only stare when their fists begin to blur into streaks of black and white. The street dissolves into a hurricane of wind around the pair. Mirio watches as heroes arrive.

Every single Hero stops on the edge of the conflict and stares, waiting because in the end, there's nothing else they can do. Moving against Overhaul is impossible with the random element and the barrier user.

A thunderclap breaks across the street as Rappa goes down beneath a right hook from Deku. Everything near the end had been beyond Mirio's eyes, which almost never happens. Only heroes like All Might and Edgeshot move at speeds like that, as far as he knows. When Rappa gets up and wipes the blood from his face, he begins to laugh again.

"Man… what… are you even… made of… Quirk like that… and you're just a brat…" Rappa barely steadies himself on his right leg, his form completely shattered, when he freezes entirely and glares at Deku. Mirio imagines he missed something, drinking in the injuries on Overhaul's man. "Don't lie like that, dumbass. This is a fight, not a FUCKING GAME! THIS IS A BATTLE OF MEN!"

"Lemillion." Sir's voice snaps Mirio from his staring. He hadn't even heard his mentor approaching which is… well, he's not proud of himself.

"Sir! Um, report… That kid, he came out of nowhere. It seems like he has someone Overhaul is looking for, which may have started the rampage. That person seems to be one of Overhaul's personal guards. I don't think that the boy, he calls himself Deku, is hurt. But he's moving…"

"I saw." Sir presses his glasses up his nose, fingering his seals with his other hand and glaring between where Overhaul is watching the fight and where Rappa is still screaming at Deku. "What set the Yakuza off like that? Is… Deku provoking them?"

"No, sir. He's been very quiet. Just… he's been getting better over the course of the fight." Mirio mutters, looking at Rappa's strangled screaming and a look of… shame? Resignation? He has no idea what Deku is feeling. Something is off but whatever it is, it seems to be between them.

"We can't go after Overhaul like this… I was hoping to save it, but I suppose there's no choice." Sir is already half covering his face, trying to hide the effects of using his quirk, when Rappa lunges forward. Mirio is lucky he had just turned back to the fight, but he still isn't sure he was fast enough.

The ground breaks as Rappa's chest hits the trench he'd formed from the street, and Deku lands gently on the ground beside him.

Mirio blinks, staring at the dust cloud where Deku had been standing a moment before. A small burst of cracks lay there beneath the dust, but nothing else.

Deku's eyes scan the street after staring at the unconscious Yakuza and settle on him. They're bright green with dark edges, glittering vividly in the sunlight. His hair, Mirio realizes, is the opposite: black at the roots and green in the light, vivid enough to make up for the complete lack of personality in his features. Other than streaks of dirt and sweat, his expression belies what he's just accomplished. Really, even with his muscles, he's more like Sir than anyone Mirio has ever met. Shorter, sure, but thin, covered in tight, compressed muscle that didn't quite show off just how powerful the person really was.

"…Lemillion, did you see him move?" Sir whispers. Mirio frowns and shakes his head.

"No. I wasn't looking right at him, but… it looked like one second he was standing, and the next he was just… there. Did he hit the Yakuza, Sir?"

"…If he did, it was a kick to the shoulders." Sir is straightening, staring at the boy with an obvious frown. "For a moment, he was too fast for me."

Mirio decides that he hasn't seen everything. This 'Deku' has just shattered his worldview for the… He isn't even sure how many times it's happened this year. Really, it's not fair.

Deku walks out of the crater, facing Overhaul without flinching. Overhaul stares him down, but they're too far for Mirio to see if Overhaul is angry or just… resigned. Resigned to the fact that his spear has just been completely shattered by this stranger.

"Did you really do it…? Did you really use her like that?" Deku's voice carries in the quiet that has taken over the street. Mirio guesses that maybe five or ten minutes have passed, more than enough time for the blocks of city around them to quiet down and evacuate. Is this a class three incident yet? He has no idea. Overhaul and his Yakuza would qualify for class four if they had the quirk erasing bullets.

Overhaul pulls out a gun, proving that the situation can still get worse.

"Sir, is he… is he a hero? A sidekick, an apprentice, do you have… any idea…?" Mirio's voice is quiet. He knows protocol says not to interfere because that could make it worse but Deku can't possibly know…!

"I've never heard of him before. This is new to me, but who would make this their debut?"

A bubble forms around Deku, which seems to shock him. The heroes stare at his back, waiting for an opportunity.

"Sir, have you looked?" Mirio never asks that question, but this is…

"No. There are too many unknowns. I can't afford..."

A crack stops them both short. Deku flinches back, then reaches up and rips something from his shoulder.

"I was really hoping to wait and show off the full clip of finished product… but maybe this will put an end to this foolishness. Return Eri to me. Without your quirk, you're powerless against us. You'll save no one else with this foolishness." Overhaul's projecting his voice, full of barely suppressed rage. The gun is holstered, and a glove pulled off slowly. According to their sources, Overhaul's quirk works by touch, and he's probably going to turn Deku into a bloody mess in less than a second if someone doesn't do something.

Sir's hand on his shoulder stops Mirio. He grinds his teeth, desperate to jump in and do something but knowing that his mentor is right.

Before Overhaul touches the ground with his hand, Deku disappears again. Mirio blinks when the barrier-user flies into the air and a small cloud appears where he'd been standing. Deku lands on the street near Rappa's trench, holding another unconscious Yakuza in his arms and glaring at Overhaul.

"…Your quirk should be gone." Overhaul is frozen, hand suspended a few centimeters over the ground, as his eyes narrow towards Deku.

"These bullets erase quirks?" Deku's voice breaks, rising to a fever pitch, "You…! How DARE YOU!"

"Who ARE YOU?" Overhaul shouts, touching the ground and erasing the pavement between the pair. Powder fills the air between them, then fades just when Overhaul reforms the earth into a wave of spikes reaching all the way back, stopping bare meters Rappa's unconscious body.

"I'M THE ONE WHO SAVED HER FROM YOU!" Deku's scream breaks the silence in the square. The earth shudders and the spikes vaporize in a rush. Overhaul collapses forward, unconscious, a moment before Deku grinds to a stop a full block away from where he'd started with a pair of trenches tracing his wake.

Mirio isn't sure when he started holding his breath, but he… doesn't have the words for what just happened.

"He couldn't have… All Might wouldn't lie to me like this." Sir is quietly steaming, eyes locked on the green haired boy who stands at the end of the street, looking back at the wreckage. Everyone who watched the battle begin to descend from their preferred perches on the outskirts, approaching the unconscious forms of the Yakuza. A blanket of shock covers them all, and Mirio finds himself heading down the street towards Deku before anyone else. Sir has headed to where Overhaul lies unconscious.

Before Mirio can reach him, Deku's eyes lock onto him and the boy seems to snap back to reality. A gust of wind blows down the street as Deku disappears, either running too fast for Mirio to see which direction he went or flying away. Mirio wouldn't be surprised if that was the case, he decides.

Apparently, the world is never going to make sense. He just needs to get used to that.

Tsurugamae Kenji gets the full, compiled report one month after 'Deku's' debut. He's not entirely surprised when it's Tsukauchi delivering the report, because that particular detective has a tendency to end up with cases like these. After a brief bow, Tsukauchi decides to get right to it. He begins a year and a half ago, when All Might had first moved to the city.

Why it begins with the discovery of All Might's secret, Kenji will never know. Maybe the universe has chosen this boy for something, or maybe he has very peculiar luck.

Once the slime villain incident is covered, things quieted down. Midoriya apparently decided to do some public service as part of some kind of self-help project. The list is extensive, listing at least ten projects that have garnered media attention and three that no one really noticed. Kenji isn't sure why Tsukauchi is taking the long route until he slides an incident report from just before the summer out of the file. As it turns out, it's the first of many.

Midoriya has chased after the League of Villains. He's got seven counts of throwing himself in to save civilians, only to get caught in the crossfire (a car going seventy-five KPH, a gigantification quirk, a bomb blast, and an apartment complex fire are the most notable of those). Two months ago, he'd picked up a small child who was lost, running through the streets without her guardian, and apparently was deemed fit to look after her until they'd discovered who she could go to (some sort of trauma made it impossible to separate her from Midoriya). When the little girl saw Overhaul destroying downtown, Midoriya had gone after Overhaul to keep the damage to a minimum and keep the little girl safe. She'd confessed that he had done some rather horrible things to her, during the incident. People had whispered about Overhaul performing human experiments, but… Kenji found himself wishing they could just put an end to the bastard.

Tartarus was the worst they could do for his kind, sadly.

After the incident exploded, and the hero industry went on a witch hunt for the suddenly infamous 'Deku', Tsukauchi had been hard pressed to get the Midoriya's to see a physician. Near the front of the file, the medical reports confirm the worst rumor of all.

Midoriya has no quirk.

He's just naturally strong enough to do these things, apparently. A little note near the end expresses some mild horror at Midoriya's daily routine, and Kenji makes a mental note to talk to the boy about it at some point in the near future.

When Tsukauchi finishes that, he sheepishly reports that there are another three incidents where Midoriya jumped in to save people, using 'Deku' as an alias that people have started pursuing. The internet has a small following for Musutafu's Deku, the "Green Wind Vigilante" as the reporters have started calling him.

The notes from that are staggeringly in the boy's favor.

"Even if he's not using a quirk, this can't stand. He's breaking the law by stepping in without a license, even if he is All Might's second coming." Kenji mutters. Tsukauchi coughs, and Kenji's ears detect the barest trace of a snort beneath it.

One day I'll find out, Kenji thinks. If he let a detective run around with secrets of the state, what kind of chief was he?

"Well, sir, we can't really charge him. At worst, we could charge him with obstruction of justice, but the system isn't geared towards punishing Midoriya's type. He doesn't use weapons, and he only ever retaliates in kind. Self Defense ends up covering it, though a good lawyer may be able to argue that he puts himself out there in the first place. I've looked it over, and each incident he gets involved in is one where heroes just don't make it in time. Accepting the Overhaul fiasco, of course." Tsukauchi sighs, "I'm at the end of my rope. We have the medical reports, incident reports and the proof that he was there, that he acted without guidance. But between the self-defense case and his lack of any sort of violence on his track record, I couldn't make a case."

"I know that. In the end, people acting out against villains wasn't something we could easily stop. Heroes exist to separate the civilians and the villains, in the end. His actions are those of a vigilante, quirkless or not. We will pursue them as such." Kenji says, shutting the file and laying it atop a stack of similar cases. A pen scrawls 'Patient Zero' over the front, and then the folder is left for later. Tsukauchi stiffens as Kenji folds his hands and stares at him. "As of right now, I'm taking you off of Midoriya's case. I'll handle this personally, and we'll make sure that Midoriya and these other cases are addressed as quickly as possible. Focus on the League of Villains. Our raid seems to have slowed them down, but I'm sure that you've got plenty of leads."

"Yes sir."

"Dismissed."

After the detective is gone, Kenji sighs, staring at the small bin of papers on the left side of his desk. His eyes don't linger long before they're drawn to the stack of folders before his computer. Midoriya's file sits on top, but the others are ones he's both more (and less, in some ways) familiar with. These files have been building on his desk for eight months, and he's read each of them enough to know the details by heart.

Before he can stare at them for too long, his hand reaches out and smoothly draws the phone from beside his monitor, dialing a number without too much thought. Each time the phone rings, it sends a shiver down his spine.

"Kenji-san, this is a rare occasion! To what do I owe the pleasure?" A chirp bursts from the line all at once, making him jump. His fingers dig into the bags beneath his eyes as he barely suppresses a 'woof' of shock.

"Nezu. I was hoping that things wouldn't reach this point, but I have some things I need to consult you on. We need to call a meeting."

"I see. I take it you mean one of those meetings? Should I invite Yagi-san?"

Kenji sighs, "Please. I'd like his input on this. I'm going to send you a few files. Look them over, and I'll let you know when I can get everyone together. I'll be moving on the first one soon, but the rest are a bit beyond my reach at the moment."

The call doesn't last long. Kenji has always appreciated Nezu's brevity, if only when the two of them are working together. Being in the same room as Nezu is like being the same room as a snake, and Kenji would prefer to avoid it. He doesn't seem to have a choice if things continue to evolve.

Three attacks hit U.A. during October.

Eraserhead is attacked by Stain while on patrol one weekend, leaving him nearly blinded and bleeding out in an alley. A new scar stretches across his cheekbones, just beneath his eyes, all the way from temple to temple.

One of his students is kidnapped, then murdered on broadcasted video. Shōta has expelled more students than almost anyone in U.A., excepting Nezu and someone named Gran Torino, but this is one of a very small list of incidents where a student lost their lives. The brutality shocks the media so much that no one has the heart to strike out at U.A. An entire family of five is found burnt to a crisp in their home, and when the remains are recovered every member of the squad wants to throw up or cry.

Across the city, Bakugo Katsuki is attacked by Shigaraki, Kurogiri and a girl with blonde hair named Toga. During the battle for his life, his left arm is destroyed, and the damage from Shigaraki's quirk spreads all the way to his shoulder and down that side nearly past his ribs. The bones of his shoulder barely remain, and they find a still decaying humerus at the scene.

Shōta is sitting in the room, staring at the mess of twisted flesh (the bandages cover it, but his eyes can't help seeing the photos) left where his student's arm is supposed to be when a knock at the door startles him. He glances up and for once in his life is shocked enough to gape.

A young man with black-green hair and bright green eyes stands there, dressed in shorts and a hoodie, staring wide eyed at the hospital bed. There's nothing about him that sticks out, but Shōta knows who this is. Nezu had showed him the file a few weeks ago. He calls himself Deku in public, but a hospital isn't a public place. Which means-

"Kacchan…" Midoriya whispers. Shōta closes his eyes as 'Deku' rushes to the bedside, ignoring him entirely (Shōta had tucked himself into an armchair in the corner, out of the way of the family, before he fell asleep there) as horribly intense emotions begin to spill out. For a student who Shōta believed near bereft of a social life, the experience is eye opening. Concerning, true. But… it reminds him of several 'aftermath' moments. This feels intimate.

Everyone has someone willing to cry for them.

It takes nearly a half hour before the boy calms down and sits on the edge of the bed, staring red eyed at Bakugō without a word. Shōta is a little glad. He doesn't feel like he's intruding anymore, so he pushes himself out of the chair. Midoriya doesn't move, but he hums a slight response when Shōta calls his name.

"What kind of relationship do you two have, exactly?" Shōta asks tentatively.

"Hmm…? I, um, we knew one another as kids." Midoriya mutters, voice still hoarse from his crying, "We aren't friends anymore. I haven't even spoken to him in nearly a year. But… I couldn't just…"

Shōta gets that. Mic had been impossible to turn away. He can only assume they have a similar relationship, but Bakugō is… well, he's a dick. It speaks to Midoriya's character that he showed up at all.

"The damage is extensive. I sincerely doubt that he'll be able to become a hero after this. His entire left side…"

"Sensei." Midoriya's voice cuts him off. Something about the tone sends a skittering trace of fear down Shōta's spine. The boy's eyes are as sharp as raw, shattered gemstones as he speaks, and Shōta is glad that he isn't the one the boy is looking at. "If you know Kacchan at all, you know he'll find a way. Ka-… Bakugo would never let something like this stop him."

Midoriya stands up, turning his eyes to the floor and looking drained from his time in the room.

"I… I doubt I should be here when he wakes up. But… could you promise me something?"

Shōta's eye twitches. When Midoriya looks up, he's just a teenager. Not a vigilante or an anomaly. His eyes are red and watering, he's exhausted and his shoulders sag as if he's just been assigned weekend homework.

"When he tries to get back up, don't stop him. Let him keep trying. Holding him back will only make things worse." Midoriya says quietly. Shōta hates the little part of his soul that reaches out towards kids like this one, because it makes it really, really hard to say no. Especially considering what Midoriya has accomplished, considering his condition.

"No promises. But depending on how he goes about it, I'll do my best to keep him on the right path." Shōta's eyes narrow. "I'll stick by my students till they have no potential, or no other choice."

"Thank you, Eraserhead-sama."

Shōta watches Midoriya walk out of the room, shoulders sagging, eyes trained on the ground. He sits on the edge of the bed, staring at Bakugō and the bandages covering his left shoulder for several minutes.

"…What the hell is happening to the world…?" He mutters under his breath.

Children were the future, but that didn't mean they were supposed to face it like this. No one deserved to grow up like this. That's what heroes were for.

Aizawa keeps Momo back one day after class, just before the end of October, looking more unruly and far more anxious than usual. No one in their class can blame him, considering Bakugo and…

"Yaoyorozu. You're the top of this class." Aizawa growls, fingering a file as if it might rear back and snap at him, without ever looking away from her eyes. "I'd like to ask how much free time you have. U.A. is looking at a prospective student, aside from Shinso Hitoshi, and we'd like you to tutor him, or see if he needs the tutoring in the first place."

"Um… I have the time, sir, but why not a teacher? Or a tutor?" Momo asks, knowing that there must have been who-knows how many better options…

"We're trying to ensure that he comes into the class not feeling ostracized. He's a bit of a special case, and the whole thing is sensitive. All Might and I are busy, and the school is still on high alert after everything that's happened. We need a pro to patrol while we're there in the first place, so it fell to the student in the number one academics spot. You." Aizawa claims. His stare is drilling holes through her eyes into the back of her head, reminding her that she shouldn't have talked back in the first place. This is a hero's decision after all, what right… "If you accept, it will be twice a week, when we aren't having heroics. Will that be acceptable?"

"Of course, sensei." Momo looks at the floor as she bows, glad to have the opportunity at all.

While Momo isn't dreading her first visit, she doesn't know what to expect. Living with her classmates has proven that she's… out of her depth in the real world, to say the least. Most of them aren't from wealthy families or notable schools. Iida is the closest student to understanding her situation, considering how cold Todoroki is. The Iida family lies somewhere in between the normal and the Yaoyorozu level. Even if the girls have taken a liking to her, she doesn't quite understand their lives as well as she'd like to. So, she reminds herself as Aizawa escorts her onto the train, she must not be surprised if things do go as she expects.

They get off the train in a nice neighborhood. Small, quaint even, but exactly the sort of thing Momo knows she wouldn't have been prepared for considering a student under 'special circumstances' (U.A. is the top hero school in the country, for crying out loud, she wasn't trying to be so…)

Before they can get to their destination, a park explodes. All Might appears out of nowhere, checking on them briefly, and is then held back by Aizawa.

"This isn't your place, All Might. Let Deku handle it."

Momo blinks in shock. She wasn't expecting heroes to leave things to vigilantes, but she guesses its some sort of protocol she doesn't know and chews her lip as a group of three villains go on a rampage in the otherwise peaceful residential area.

A gust of wind blows viciously down the street as something lands in the park with the force of a meteor. Momo barely blinks before the villains are piled up on top of one another and left there, unconscious, and another gale howls through the streets. No one else bats an eye, though the heroes stare for a moment before they continue the escort. She swears Aizawa mutters something about 'getting faster by the week' as they continue walking, but she decides it's not for her ears and keeps her eyes on the sidewalk.

The destination is an apartment in a small complex, the type of place Yaoyorozu Momo has imagined and visited briefly, back when she was small, but not the type of place she is familiar with. When they knock, a small woman with green hair and lines worn into her face (she has to be forty at the oldest, what could wear someone down like that) greets them at the door.

"You're just in time, he's just come back from school. I had to force him to sit still and not head out on his normal routine." She chuckles, sounding tired, as she lets them in. Momo pauses in the doorway, after her teachers (who seem familiar with the place, as if they've been here before and know Midoriya-san somewhat) and bows at the shoulders.

"Thank you for having me. My name is Yaoyorozu Momo…" She's interrupted as the woman takes her hands, smiling at her with so much kindness and youth in her smile that Momo is momentarily stunned.

"Oh my, you're absolutely stunning, aren't you? Please, there's no need to be so formal, you're welcome here miss Yaoyorozu. Come in, come in! I heard they were asking a student to tutor my boy but lord, I never imagined we'd be entertaining a lady…"

Momo isn't sure when she was placed at the kitchen table and given a cup of tea, or exactly what she's been talking with Midoriya-san about. It hits her in a rush, and she finds herself staring into her tea for a minute or two trying to cope with it. She resurfaces to the sound of All Might's laughter, and a reassuring tap on the shoulder.

"Midoriya-san is very good at making people feel at home, isn't she young Yaoyorozu?" His smile is completely genuine, in a way that Yaoyorozu only knows after being his student for so long. The number one hero has a lot of shadows and shades, and this one is entirely proud and kindhearted.

"Yes… It took me by surprise for a moment, how natural this felt. My apologies, Midoriya-san." Momo isn't allowed to bow, apparently. The woman is waving her hand dismissively, then taking her hands and smiling at Momo with so much warmth that Momo feels as if she's being hugged.

Midoriya-san sighs, "Yaoyorozu-chan, don't apologize for taking a moment to relax. This house is a place where people can feel safe. Our doors are always open to you and your friends."

A sudden thump sounds from the door near the entranceway, and both of Momo's teachers freeze as they turn towards the noise. Slowly, the noise turns into the clear sound of someone struggling, bumping into things and muttering curses under their breath.

"I believe I'll excuse myself, if I may. Patrols." All Might's smile is forced now, and the air is… less warm. More awkward. The number one hero excuses himself, pausing by the door in question and staring at it with… a strange look on his face. Momo turns her eyes to the tea, wondering just what on earth could make him look like that.

Once the front door has shut, they wait a few more minutes before the door in the hall opens and someone falls out, paws their way up the wall onto one foot and then stumbles into the living room and collapses onto their back again. Momo is on her feet before his back hits the living room floor, gaping at the display of clumsiness. Green eyes stare up at her from the floor, panicked and surrounded by a face red as a tomato.

"Uh… hi…?" He stammers.

"Are you alright…?" Momo manages to ask.

"Oh, um, yes. Yeah. I'm fine. Just, eh… Hey, you're Yaoyorozu-sama, right? From U.A., class 1-A?" He doesn't make any move to stand up, instead talking to her while rolling his eyes up and lying on the floor. Momo blinks, then remembers the sports festival.

"Y-yes… Aizawa-sensei asked me here to tutor someone?"

"…Oh." He blinks, still staring wide eyed and looking more like a deer in the headlights than someone lying on the floor of their living room. "Eraserhead-sama… Do you hate me?"

"Not particularly." Aizawa calls, not bothering to take his eyes from his tea. Momo glances back and forth between the two as the boy drags his hands down his face.

"Um, I assume you're Midoriya-kun… and that you're the person I'm here to tutor?" She asks uncertainly.

"…Yeah, that's me." Midoriya's eyes are closed, and breath is slowly hissing out of his lungs in a way that proves he's equally, if not more, uncomfortable with their situation than she is. Watching Midoriya deflate makes her a little envious. She wishes she could do that.

Not that she's uncomfortable with the situation. It's a gift from Aizawa-sensei, and she can't afford to waste it when they considered her at all.

Momo tutors Midoriya-kun whenever she doesn't have heroics after school, and after a week it becomes something that she looks forward to. All Might and Aizawa escort her each time, and she becomes used to arriving to the house and spending a few minutes with Aizawa and Midoriya-san before her student ends up fumbling his way out of his room. The tea is never expensive but always lovely.

During November she watches villain incidents bloom all across the district, only to be stopped by something she can only describe as a force of nature. When she hears Mina and Kirishima and Kaminari talking about this new vigilante named 'Deku', she pins the incidents on him and shelves her curiosity (it festers, though she doesn't think about it too often). After a little while, though, the incidents die down and stop altogether.

Oddly enough, despite being clumsy and easily embarrassed Midoriya-kun is charming and bright. He follows their tutoring easily, taking notes and falling into a trance like muttering state so often that eventually she just lets it happen until he gets too far off track. The amount of notes he takes is obscene but, considering the number of chemistry texts she's consumed during her middle school days, her conscience won't let her mention it.

Three weeks into their program, Momo notices some problems with her tutoring program. Anytime someone brings up U.A., both Midoriyas startle and divert the conversation. It took a while for her to notice since Midoriya-kun was prone to combustion when complimented but avoiding U.A. isn't his normal flustered denial.

When she brings up how much physical training is involved in the hero course, Midoriya only mentions that he focuses on body weight training. He looks uncomfortable enough talking about it that she can't bring herself to push him.

Occasionally, while they're studying, police will drop by and ask him questions. It never lasts long (he only takes breaks for ten or fifteen minutes) but it's worrying. She never asks, knowing that it might have something to do with All Might and Aizawa escorting her to the area and Midoriya's supposed consideration for U.A. admission.

She isn't allowed to discuss the sessions with her classmates, and apparently, it's stressing them out. Both Midoriyas have apologized for the secrecy, but neither one offers to break it.

There's a little girl living with the Midoriyas, a girl named Eri who isn't fond of strangers. She lives in the same room as Midoriya-kun and won't leave it while Momo is visiting unless it's absolutely necessary. No one will talk about why she's there, other than a quiet mention of adopting her to keep her safe.

All Might and Midoriya have run into one another exactly twice. The tension of their meetings is so horrible that Momo wonders if maybe Midoriya-kun is a scandal that the number one is paying to keep quiet, a long-lost son or a relative. Part of her knows the idea is ludicrous, but she can't shake it.

After a month, her escorts see her to the station and leave her once they reach the stop nearest the Midoriya's home. When she asks All Might, he mentions that the area is almost completely free of villain activity now and they've decided she isn't in immediate danger.

One day, while the three of them are talking about quirks, she idly mentions that she uses her body's mass to create objects. Halfway through his wide-eyed rant on how incredibly amazing and useful her quirk is, he panics and completely destroys the kitchen table. Despite her wide-eyed stare, the pair exchange a look (Midoriya-kun is embarrassed and apologetic, already picking up the pieces, and his mother looks rather exasperated) and explain that it happens all the time.

Momo doesn't realize until after she left that he'd panicked because he mentioned how 'perfect' her figure was.

She visits on an odd Sunday after ends up talking with Midoriya-san for an hour. When she asks after Midoriya-kun's muttering habit, his mother grins mischievously and sets down her tea.

"Yaoyorozu-chan, would you like to know a secret?"

Momo feels a thrill run down her spine, because this sort of thing isn't what she expects from the matriarch (her classmates, maybe), and ends up nodding before she can get too nervous.

The All Might name plate hanging from Midoriya-kun's door is adorable and childish just like the boy himself. She almost opens her mouth to say something when Midoriya-san goes to open the closed door, but a finger over Midoriya-san's lips stops her.

Inside, Midoriya-kun is sprawled out asleep in his desk chair. A little girl that Momo has only seen once or twice in passing sits on his lap, wrapped in a blanket and cradled in his arms. His chair is leaned back, and his snoring rocks the chair slightly every time the pair breathe. Papers, colored pens and pencils cover his desk in messy piles. It takes a moment for her to realize that most of the papers are notebooks, though a small pile of loose paper lies near the corner.

Quietly as possible, the pair step into the room and Momo's eyes widen. Every page is covered in writing, some neat and some narrowly crammed into the margins. She recognized a few of them as subjects they'd gone over during her earlier visits, and more besides. Two books for math, one for English and three for history, another four for sciences that she could recognize (physics, chemistry, biology and one she didn't know) and a few notebooks with mixed artwork and notes on… people?

"Izuku started muttering when he was little. He probably got it from my rambling, and even I was a little worried at one point. But he had a friend, a boy who was always popular and smiling. That boy was naturally good at things, in a way that Izuku… wasn't." Midoriya-san's smile is tight, but not awkward. "The other children began picking on him. I'm not sure if watching his friends do well inspired him, or if his dream drove him to do his best. But Izuku grew up working hard, harder than almost anyone, to keep up. During middle school I'd find him here like this occasionally."

Momo follows Midoriya-san's gaze to the bookshelf tucked up against the wall, with shelves full of subject textbooks and notebooks and pictures (mostly selfies, some actual pictures, and Midoriya-kun looks awkward in every one of them, nervous but earnestly happy) with people that range from elderly to children of all shapes, sizes and quirks. She takes a notebook from the wall and flips through it, reading over notes from middle school that must cover every problem and example with so much commentary it makes her gut churn just remembering the subject.

"I never thought about it until he was older. Izuku isn't smart like other people but he works hard. When he mutters, I think he's trying to keep his thoughts on track. If you're not paying attention, you wouldn't even notice how hard it is for him to stay focused. Sometimes I listen to him talk and it sounds like gibberish, but then he says one thing and it all just… slots into place." Midoriya-san sighs, looking at her son fondly.

Momo glances at the boy in in the chair. Her chest feels full, and she's afraid that it's all a bit much when she'd only been asking about his bad habit. But… it certainly explains a lot.

The tutoring comes to a stop midway through December so that they can prepare for exams. As she's typing her number into Midoriya-kun's phone, she can't help but notice that his contacts are limited to his mother and a few people with police force titles by their name. Her contact list is no better, so she doesn't say anything when he clutches at the phone after she hands it back.

His smile is so blinding that it infects Momo, and she smiles the entire way back to her dorm.

Midoriya's picture is a selfie of Eri sitting in his lap, red eyes looking curiously up at the camera while he grins and flashes a peace sign (apparently his trademark, if the photos on his bookshelves are any indication). For Midoriya-san, Momo picks one that Midoriya-kun took, showing Momo and Midoriya-san sitting at the kitchen table grinning, cups of tea paused halfway to their lips ('so you don't forget about us', Midoriya-san had told Momo when they took the picture).

Momo doesn't return to tutor Midoriya-kun, but instead for a simple visit. She shares her customary cup of tea with Midoriya-san, waiting for her friend to come out of his room. When the door opens and she glances over her shoulder, she finds a tentative little girl with white hair hiding behind Midoriya-kun's leg.

"Yaoyorozu-san," Midoriya-kun's words caught her eyes and his eyes held her gaze, "Eri would like to meet you, if you don't mind?"

"Oh… of course…!" Momo mutters, remaining seated as she watches him lead the little girl around the couch. Up close, Eri is even more adorable than she remembers. The horn is long, not pointed but easily as tall as her head, and it parts her hair on either side of it. A single long lock of white dangles before her right eye. For the first time, they look at one another. 'Red' isn't the right word for the color of Eri's eyes, because red is the color of Kirishima's eyes, hair and costume. Eri's eyes glitter like small rubies. When her eyes water and drop towards the floor, it feels like watching petals fall off a rose and fills Momo's chest with… something.

"Hi there," She says, remembering to keep her voice gentle and light, "my name is Yaoyorozu Momo. May I call you Eri-chan?"

The little girl nods, taking a step towards Midoriya-kun but not looking towards him. Emotion presses at the insides of her lungs and ribs till her throat tightens to contain the flood. She waits, fighting against the cry welling in her chest, and eventually the little girl looks up and meets her eyes again.

"…I missed you…" She whispers, looking uncertain. Momo glances towards Midoriya-kun, who squats down and sets a gentle hand on Eri's shoulder as he answers the unspoken question.

"Eri likes your voice, and she missed you while you were gone. When she heard you were coming back, she said she wanted to see you, too." Midoriya-kun's grin is all pride, diffusing the bomb in Momo's chest and leaving her with warm goosebumps rolling down her arms. Then his eyes sparkle, and he holds up a hand to whisper, "She really likes hugs, but she doesn't want to make you uncomfortable."

Eri turns red enough that she could pass for Midoriya-kun's younger sister, but she doesn't flinch when Momo slips off her chair and kneels down, hands out towards the little girl.

"Eri-chan," Momo's voice cracks as Eri looks up, tears welling and cheeks flush, "I don't mind, if you feel comfortable."

The little girl hesitates, but eventually she slips into the embrace and gently clutches at Momo's shirt, reaching as far over Momo's shoulders as the she can.

Eri spends the first half of the visit in Momo's lap before she slips away and Midoriya-kun picks her up without a word. The motion is so natural that Momo freezes, teacup halfway to her mouth, and the moment is captured in her mind.

Her friend Midoriya-kun is goofy, clumsy, awkward, nerdy (to an extreme, though he tried to hide it) and the complete opposite of what Momo would call a hero.

This is not her friend Midoriya.

This person's smile is solid, bright and kind. His eyes don't water or flit from place to place, they meet her gaze at every opportunity and capture her. With Eri in his lap, he sits straight up with his shoulders back instead of slouching. Every move is slow, deliberate and careful without any hesitation or tremor. It's no surprise that the girl falls asleep in his lap because he radiates safety and warmth in a way Momo hasn't felt since she was a child playing with her parents. Returning his smile is the most natural thing in the world as they giggle and shower the sleeping girl with compliments.

For a little while, the weight on her shoulders disappears.

A/N: Hi!

So this is a bit of... I guess you could call it an outlook? This story is my One Punch Man Izuku. This first chapter is the perspectives from the people who caught glimpses of the person he became without All Might, training on his own. My hope is that this comes off as a bit ridiculous, but something fun. Let me know what you think with a PM, or add me on Discord or Tumblr! My other story, A Smile on Your Face and a Song in Your Heart, is my priority but this has been too fun to write and I'm hoping to keep up with both.

Also, if you like this, let me know if anyone wants me to make a discord server for people to come yell at me. There's lots, so i usually hang out in a few others. I'm not against it, just don't want to make one to take people from other servers.
Hope you liked it!

Discord: KreadStornham#1553

Tumblr: KreadStornham