Unheroic Appetites

Heh… So, the last time I tried to upload this I forgot to proofread and wound up not writing an entire section. So anyone who's returning to this fic for whatever reason, uh, I hope you enjoy it this time… heh...

Damn I'm an idiot...

Anyway, might as well get this out of the way: I don't own anything related to My Hero Academia or Tokyo Ghoul. By the way, does anyone even know why we have to write these? Do we even have to write these? Regardless, I hope you enjoy!

Akihiko Mori had a secret, and no one cared. He always ate alone, he always refused to talk about his personal life, and he didn't have any friends. Of course, it had only been a few days since he had been transferred to class 1A, but even still his extreme isolation would have been bizzare if anyone had even noticed. Except Midoriya.

Mori was a plain looking kid. Very plain. His hair was a dull brown and short, he was no taller than should be expected from a junior high student, and his eyes were completely unremarkable. Ask anyone and they wouldn't be able to tell you what colour they were, though in reality they were a dull greenish brown, but so easily forgettable that you had trouble remembering almost the moment you looked away.

Everyone expected he would get his hero license and then fade away into obscurity working for some adequate hero agency, maybe distinguishing himself from time to time or making a headline but nothing more. He was destined for mediocrity.

That was what everyone else saw, but to Midoriya there was something else about Mori, something hard to place. Maybe the reason he felt this way was because he had been served a similar dish at one point. Being shunned by his classmates. He knew how hard it could be to be the least remarkable individual among many, so maybe that was why he decided to approach Mori, exactly one week after his transfer, as the bell rang to mark the beginning of lunch.

"Hey, Mori!" called Midoriya, running to catch Mori as he exited the class. Mori turned to him.

"Oh. Midoriya. Can I help you with something?" he asked, slightly puzzled as to why anyone should actively seek him out.

"Oh, uh…" Midoriya stammered. "I was just wondering if you'd like to join me and Uraraka and Iida for lunch."

Mori seemed a little taken aback. "Uh, sorry about that Midoriya, but I didn't bring anything to eat. Besides why would you want me of all people to eat with you?"

"Well," said Midoriya "it's just that you always sit alone during lunch, and I thought it might be nice for you if you had a little company."

"Oh." Mori was at a loss for words.

"So, will you be joining us?" asked a beaming Uraraka as she exited the class and caught up to her classmates.

"Yes. I too wish to express a desire to eat with you today," said Iida, who had followed Uraraka. "It's good for a class's overall learning capacity if every member is equally involved as a member of the class." He was delivering sharp gestures with his hands to punctuate each word.

Mori seemed a little overwhelmed. "Well... if it's the class rep asking I guess it would be rude to refuse."

"Excelent!" exclaimed Iida.

"Yeah," said Midoriya. "And don't worry about not having any lunch. It's on me today."

"Oh, no that's okay really. I appreciate the offer, but you don't have to do that," said Mori.

"Oh, come now. We insist!" Said Iida.

"Yeah, we do!" Uraraka chimed in.

"Besides, I think you'll need the energy for later today. I heard that Mr Aizawa was planning to run us through some more quirk exercises."

"Oh. I see. Well then I appreciate the offer. I'll have to pay you back sometime though."

"Don't worry about it! We're happy to pay," chimed in Uraraka.

"Of course we are," said Midoriya cheerfully.

"...Thank you, guys," said Mori quietly.

"Come on now, I heard that Lunch Rush is making his specialty white rice today. You don't want to miss that," Midoriya said cheerfully.

"Of course not."

The walk to the cafeteria was more quiet than usual. The three friends would normally have all kinds of things to discuss, but with Mori present it might have seemed rude just chatting amongst themselves. Mori didn't seem to mind though. He had a small, quiet sort of smile as they walked together.

They were strangely quiet in line too, and the odd, quiet smile that Mori wore seemed to have vanished. When he finally reached the front he seemed a little surprised when asked what it was that he wanted.

"Umm… I'll just have the same as him," he said, gesturing towards Midoriya.

"Good! It's just what you need. Get some meat on those bones!" Lunch Rush said jovially. "One bowl of white rice, and a side of assorted fried vegetables, coming right up!"

Mori seemed a little crestfallen as he took his tray, even though he was given a crisp thumbs up from the Chef Hero.

"Come on, let's eat over here today," said Midoriya, leading the way to an unoccupied table.

Lunch started quietly too, and Mori didn't eat much. He quickly and quietly stuffed small amounts of rice into his mouth, and chewed and swallowed quickly. He didn't seem the type to really enjoy eating. It was Uraraka who broke the silence first.

"So, Mori," she said. "What do you do when you're not training to become a hero? I mean, do you have any hobbies or stuff like that?"

Mori looked up. "Oh, um. I guess. I draw sometimes."

"Really? That's great! Are you any good?"

"Uh, I guess. I'm not sure."

"Here," she said, passing him a pen. "Draw me something."

He hesitated. "...That's not really how it works. I can't just draw something out of the blue. I have to feel like it. There needs to be some inspiration… Well, I guess that's not entirely true. I could do a portrait. They're pretty spontaneous."

"Oh, great! Please, draw me!" she said excitedly.

"Sure thing. Just, give me a moment. Also, I'll need you to hold still while I do this."

"Oh, sure thing."

Both Midoriya and Iida watched closely as Mori quickly drew a rough outline of Uraraka's head, then the shape of her hair, then about where her eyes, nose, and mouth would go.

"That's Incredible Mori," exclaimed Midoriya. "It already looks so much like her!"

"Yes. It truly is fantastic to see the way you can so easily construct her face," said Iida seriously. "The process is fascinating, the way you start with the broad recognizable shapes, and move down into the more intricate details."

Uraraka sighed. "That's just like you Iida. You can make something as beautiful as art sound like a dusty old lecture"

"Please, Uraraka. Don't move," said Mori.

"Oh, sorry."

"It's alright, I don't have much longer."

It was true. In moments Mori had put down his pen, and slid the scrap of paper he'd used over to Uraraka.

"Wow! That's Incredible, it looks just like her!" Midoriya said excitedly. "You're really good at that." He thought back to the times he'd tried to draw exactly what the heroes he'd admired looked like in his journals, and he had thought he'd done a good job then. But seeing Mori in action, how quickly he'd managed to capture the essence of Uraraka, how lifelike she was? It almost made him jealous.

"Can I keep this?" Uraraka asked, breaking Midoriya out of his reverie.

"Of course. I drew it for you, didn't I? Besides, it's not like I don't already have enough art."

"You have more?" Uraraka asked curiously.

"Sure, lots. It's all in my room at the dorm. I'll show you all sometime if you like."

"Oh, yes please," said Uraraka excitedly.

"Yeah, that'd be fantastic," echoed Midoriya.

"...Sure thing. Just, swing by some time and I'd be happy to show you."

The rest of lunch passed pretty much normally, the friends talking about what they had learnt in class, or things that heroes had done in the news recently. Mori was relatively quiet, but he did pipe in from time to time. Then, all of a sudden, lunch was almost over, and MIdoriya suggested that they head back to class.

"Don't worry guys, I can take care of our trays today," he said, piling everyone's trays and bowls and plates onto his, and lifting them carefully.

"Oh, thanks Deku," said Uraraka with a smile. "See ya!"

Mori smiled too. "I'll see you back in class, Midoriya."

His friends departed, and Midoriya was very careful as he walked their trays back to the counter. He thought that today had been a success, and that Mori had enjoyed his time in their group, as brief as it was. When Midoriya made his way back to class he he distinctly heard the sound of vomiting coming from the boys' restroom.

Huh, he thought to himself, someone must have eaten something that didn't agree with them. I hope they're alright, and continued on cheerfully.

…

"Alright," Mr. Aizawa spoke. "There were rumors that you would be testing and training with your quirks today. That is not entirely the truth. You will be assigned a partner, and you're going to fight. Eachother."

This caused some surprised mutters, but nothing really bad. It was a hero course after all. Fighting was kinda to be expected.

Iida raided his hand.

"Yes," asked Aizawa in as bored a manner as possible.

"Sir! If we are to fight in one on one bouts, how will the matches be decided, especially since there is now an odd number of students in this class?"

Aizawa sighed. "I'll be drawing two names at a time. Each pair will fight. The last three names in the bowl will fight a three way match. Understand?"

"Yes sir. Thank you, sir."

"Alright! Go get you stuff on, and be quick about it."

…

"Is everyone here? Good, we can start," said Aizawa.

"Hold on, where's Mori?" asked Midoriya.

"Oh, right, him. I forgot he was here."

"That damn nerd, he better not keep us waiting any longer," yelled Bakugo, small explosions crackling around his open palm.

"Oh, here he comes-" said Toru, followed by a small "eep!"

Everyone turned to look.

"Wow, did you really have go overboard on the creep factor?" asked Yaoyorozu.

"I know," added Kaminari. "I mean, I thought Tokoyami was supposed to be intimidating, but you?"

"I don't know what to say," said Mori rubbing the back of his head. "I just thought it would be better if the villains were afraid of me."

"Yea, no duh," said Mineta. "But did you really have to go so far?"

Mori wore a mask that looked like it came out of a nightmare. It was more of a helmet really, and it was shaped generally like a skull, but it had goggles poking out of the eye sockets. The nose had an empty hole with cloth behind it to allow Mori to breathe, and the teeth had been replaced by small, smooth spider mandibles that flowed eerily smoothly. The mask looked to be made from real bone, but it was probably just a synthetic material. Underneath, he wore a long black coat with the collars turned up.

"First match," Aizawa called. " Akihiko Mori and Hanta Sero."

Sero looked surprised, but readily walked into the ring. Mori followed him, and as he passed through the crowd Kirishima said, "Hey, you've got a big hole in the back of your coat."

"I know," Mori calmly replied, his voice lended a hollow ring from the helmet.

As he entered the ring Aizawa said, "Okay, you can begin." Mori just stood there.

"Huh, well you should know that just because you're the new kid I won't go easy on you." And with that, before he'd even finished speaking, Sero flung his tape from his arms and grabbed Mori, spinning him around the ring, and then stopping, and letting Mori's momentum wrap him completely. Mori fell over. "Huh, you put up no fight at all," Sero said, turning his back on his bound opponent. "Maybe I should have at least let you use your quirk," he gloated.

A cloud covered the sun.

"Didn't you?" There was a tearing noise, and a gasp from the onlookers. Sero swirled to see Mori's form hanging in the air, suspended by four extremely long crimson spider's legs which had sprouted from his back. The ribbons of Sero's tape were fluttering to the ground around him, reflecting faintly in the dim light. Then Mori rushed him.

...

The rest of the day's classes wore on as usual, nothing really interesting happened at all in any of them, and when it was time to return to the school dorms there were few voiced complaints, apart from Iida, who was very vocally displeased with the disorganized evacuation of the classroom.

That night passed easily as well, and then the week, and then the next week, with strangely few moments of excitement, especially considering U.A.'s track record.

And then it happened.

It was long past curfew when Midoriya heard the crying. It was a Wednesday night, and it was pouring. No one had seen the rain coming, but then, just as the sun set, a thunderous blanket of water crashed into the world and drenched it in oily blackness with lingering, violent bursts of lightning tearing into the black gulfs of the night. He was on his way back to his room after a quick trip to the restroom when he'd heard it, a light quiet sort at first passed off as a figment of the imagination, but it was hard to ignore when Midoriya literally stumbled upon its source.

Toru was sitting, back against the wall, shaking gently with her sobs, and as Midoriya regained his composure after literally falling over a naked girl, he tried to comfort her.

"Hey, Hakagure, I'm sorry, I didn't know you were there. What's the matter?" He questioned gently.

She answered between sobs. "It- It's Mori…"
Midoriya blanched. "What about him? Is he alright?" There was urgency in his voice. It wasn't outside the spectrum of belief that something had happened to him. Afterall, even though he was late, he was a part of class 1-A.

"I- I saw him. He was d-dripping wet, and w-wearing that m-mask of his," she sputtered.

"He went out? Huh, that's weird…" Midoriya muttered.

"Y-Yeah, I heard from Mineta t-that he l-left campus every Wednesday after curfew, and I just though maybe it would be a g-good idea to f-find out where he w-went."

"Is that why you're, um… not… wearing… clothes?"

"Mhm," she muttered in confirmation.

"So he frightened you, is that it?" Midoriya questioned. "I'll admit his mask is definitely creepy."

"No, that's not why I got scared." She hesitated for a moment. "He… He was carrying a human arm."

There was a shocked moment of silence.

"...What? It- It must have been a trick of the light," Midoriya desperately tried to explain.

"I'm telling you Midoriya," she pleaded. "Look! There are drops of blood!"

Indeed there were. Small crimson jewels sparkling in the dim light of the corridor. And they led down the hall towards the elevator.

"You can't have really seen that. Mori's a good friend. And besides, what would he want with an arm?" Midoriya tried desperately to refute Toru's claims. Even still, he felt the cold hand of dread clawing at his heart. "Look. I'll go check on him, make sure that he's alright, then I'll come back and tell you what I find out."

"...Okay, Midoriya. Just… Be careful…"

"I will," he said with a nod of assurance. He then rose and padded softly down the hall towards the elevator. He was about to call it when he realized that the drops led right past it and towards the stairs. Midoriya guessed it made sense. If Mori really was sneaking around in the night, he probably wouldn't want to risk anyone hearing the elevator call when he returned, even if he did sleep all the way on the top floor.

As Midoriya climbed so did his sense of dread. Everything about this scenario seemed wrong. Like out of a nightmare, but he continued anyway, following the small pips of blood up the stairs until he reached the top floor of the building, and then followed them down the hall. He paused when he saw the edge of a small splash just under the the wood of Mori's door, and when he again began to approach it, be could just barely hear faint shuffling through the thunderous rainfall.

Midoriya swallowed the lump in his throat before he gently knocked.

There was a moment, and then "Go away," came Mori's muffled voice through the door.

"It's Midoriya. Can I come in?"

"No, go away. It's not a good time," came the response.

"Seriously, I need to come in. Hagakure said that she saw you… saw something bad, and I need to make sure that you're alright."

"Not right now, Midoriya. This is really a bad time."

"I can't accept that answer, Mori. Not right now. Now please open this door, or I'm gonna have to force it."

"No! Just leave me alone!"

That did it. Midoriya placed his hand on the handle and twisted. Nothing.

"Stay away Midoriya! This is none of your business!" A hint of desperation was entering Mori's voice. It only added to Midoriya's stress.

"Full cowling." he whispered to himself. A small tingle of energy entered his body. It was a comfort against the stress of the night. But it couldn't prepare him for what he would see as he forced the door open.

There was a crack as the wood of the door's frame splintered around the metal of the handle, and the door swung open with a creak. The room was pitch black, only a small amount of light entering from the window at the back and at first Midoriya only noticed the thick smell of blood. Then there was a flash of lightning, and the room was illuminated in stark black and white, the only color being the deep red dripping from and around mori's mouth to the severed remains of an arm clutched tightly in his hands, and the twin pin pricks of red gleaming in the centers of his eyes.

What looked like bloody tears streamed down Mori's face as he screamed a final "No! No, this isn't what was supposed to happen! I… I was supposed to become a hero!"

Midoriya screamed.

Gah…

Alright. I guess I just had the urge to write some author's notes. Weird, huh? So, my goal in creating this character was kinda to do an inverse of your common anime hero. Y'know, the personality of a paper towel and yet it seems like everyone is interested in them. I tried to make it different for Mori. I wanted him to be so normal seeming that no one gave him a second glance. Of course, it might be a little hypocritical of me to say this stuff considering that he is the focal point of this story, but anyway. Maybe I'm just talking out of my ass. Of course, the more interesting part of this story is probably going to be just reactions and interactions. I was really curious to see how one might react upon meeting a Ghoul for the first time with absolutely no prior knowledge as to how they work.

I was gonna write more, but this is probably a good spot to end the chapter and keep the interest going... What did you think of the first chapter? I might make more, but i already have so many projects in the works that I should probably try and finish that it may not happen for some time.

Another thing. I just wanted to recommend some stories, specifically ones of a similar taste to this hopefully. Glass Lilies by FineChyna is spectacular. I especially like it because of the way you don't really need to be all that into RWBY to enjoy it. It is a fantastic read and comes highly recommended.

And finally, please write a review! I love to hear anything you have to say about my work! It means that someone read. And, honestly, that's all I want. I just want to know that someone read my story. So, if you did and are feeling charitable, please just let me know at least.