"You're all third-years now. It's time to decide your careers."

An older teacher stood at his desk as he lazily addressed the students that sat in front of him. He had a stack of papers with various things written on them. He crumpled up the papers and threw the newly-formed paper ball in the trash with a well-aimed toss.

"I'm sure you all want to be heroes, though!"

Nearly all of the students cheered, with the exception of a small green-haired boy who looked rather nervous. He slightly jumped when another student called out. "Hey teacher, don't lump me in with these extras! I'm way better than these losers! I'm gonna go to U.A. and be the number one hero!"

The spiky blonde-haired student who called out was met with little enthusiasm from the teacher. "Right, Bakugo." He then looked at the green-haired boy. "That reminds me. You want to go to U.A. as well. Is that correct, Midoriya?"

The nervous boy in question simply nodded, as if he were ashamed of his desires. This caught the attention of the entire class, who burst out laughing, making the boy slump further into his seat.

"No way! Midoriya?! As if!"

"That quirkless loser will never get in! Don't they have a rule against people without Quirks?"

Izuku Midoriya frowned as he slightly trembled. "N-No, they actually got rid of-

His defense was interrupted when the spiky blonde, Katsuki Bakugo, firmly placed his hands on his desk, using his quirk to create small explosions from his hands. "Deku! What the hell are you talking about?! You'll never get into U.A.! Worthless rats like you are meant to stay in shitholes like this place!"

The green-haired boy looked down in shame, with nothing left to say while everyone else continued laughing at his sadness. This went on for a bit longer until the bell rang, signaling the end of the school day. Most students left, but three stayed behind.

Katsuki and two of his cronies approached Izuku, feeling satisfied as they saw the fear in his eyes. The blonde pointed at Izuku and one of the other boys grabbed his backpack, handing it to Katsuki. The blonde looked inside, and smiled devilishly as he took out a journal. He read its title in a mocking tone. "Hero Analysis for the Future, huh?"

Katsuki held the journal between his hands as smile grew more sadistic. "It would be a shame if I were to do... this!" Izuku watched in horror as the blonde used his Quirk, burning the journal and partially tearing it up. Still not finished, Katsuki walked closer to Izuku until he was inches away from the Quirkless boy. With a fake smile, he put his hand on Izuku's shoulder as he used his Quirk to lightly burn him, and he leaned in to whisper in his ear. "Maybe if you take a swan dive off the roof, you'll get reborn with a Quirk in your next life!"

Feeling happy with his work, Katsuki turned around and tossed the journal out the window, giggling as he heard a splash. The three bullies left the classroom, finally leaving Izuku alone.

With no one around to care, Izuku spent the next five minutes softly sobbing to himself, letting out some of his pent up emotions. After regaining his composure, he decided to head outside and reclaim his property from the koi pond it landed in.

As he flipped through the soggy pages of the journal, he felt the tears returning. He looked around to make sure he was alone, and began crying again when he found that there was no one else around.

After several minutes, Izuku was taken by surprise when a finger tapped his shoulder. He let out a brief scream, as he thought it was Katsuki coming back for round two. Instead, it was someone new. He looked up into the eyes of a girl, and an attractive one at that. The girl slowly placed her hands on his shoulders as he struggled to breathe properly. Her gentle words made him calm down a bit. "I'm gonna need you to breathe for me, alright? It isn't good to hyperventilate."

As Izuku's breathing slowed down, the girl smiled and patted the boy's head. "Good boy, good boy."

After giving him some time to breathe, the girl helped him stand up, not hesitating to ask him questions. "Hello! My name is Himejima Akeno, but you can just call me Akeno. What's your name?"

Izuku blushed while looking at the ground. "My name is M-Midoriya Izuku. Y-You can call me Izuku, I guess..."

The green-haired boy was now able to get a good look at the girl who stood before him. She had long black hair tied up in a ponytail by an orange ribbon. She looked to be a head taller than him, and she wore a school uniform which he did not recognize. If he had to admit it, she also had an impressive bust, but that wasn't his first thought.

Akeno smiled, finding the boy's shyness endearing. 'He's so cute. He's totally my type.'

"So, Izuku, where do you go to school?"

Izuku blushed, feeling slightly embarrassed at having a pretty girl call him by his first name. "Um, I-I go to Aldera Junior High, and I'm a third-year." he said, looking up at the school building that towered over them.

Akeno was surprised that he was a few years younger than her. "I see. Well, I go to Kuoh Academy, and I'm a second-year there."

The green-haired boy's eyes slightly widened. "Kuoh? I think Mom wants me to go there..."

The girl smiled, feeling much happier after hearing that news. "That's great! I hope I get to see you again!"

Izuku blushed again, not used to receiving this much kindness from a girl. "R-Right..." He awkwardly looked away. "I uh... I think I-I need to go home now, bye..."

Akeno frowned somewhat, but she didn't want to make the boy uncomfortable. "Alright, I guess I'll be seeing you soon!" She waved to him as he walked away. Before he got too far away, Akeno called out to him, getting his attention once more. "Whatever you're going through, it'll get better, I promise." He continued walking away, but she could tell by the way he walked that he was feeling a little better after that.

After he was out of sight, she suddenly remembered something, and began mentally cursing herself. 'Damn it! Why didn't I get his phone number?! Why am I like this?!'

———————————————————————

When Izuku got home, he saw that most of the furniture was gone, and it was replaced by several large cardboard boxes. Izuku's mother Inko was frantically putting pots and pans in a smaller box by her side. "Izuku! The movers will be here any second! We gotta hurry!"

Izuku nodded. Inko noticed that he looked happier than usual, but she was too busy to ask him about it. The boy quickly began helping his mother pack their things, as they would be moving to the town of Kuoh fairly soon.

This decision was made a little while ago. Inko found out just how badly her son was being treated by the other kids, and so she took the money she had been saving, and used it to buy a house in Kuoh. Inko explained that the town she had in mind had a surprising majority of quirkless people, so it would be perfect for Izuku.

Izuku didn't want to leave his old life behind, but he also wanted to get away from Katsuki and all the others. On the bright side, he'd get to see that Akeno girl again. He thought she was kind of intimidating, but also beautiful and nice.

He continued packing his things with a smile on his face, deciding that it would ultimately be a good choice to move to Kuoh. Inko had approached him, now that she was taking a little break from packing. "What's up, Izuku? I haven't seen you this happy in a while. Is this something related to those heroes?"

The boy shook his head, still smiling. "No, it's something else. I made a friend today, I think. Her name is Akeno, and-

He stopped when his mother began staring at him with wide eyes. He blushed when he realized what was going through the woman's head. "N-N-No, it's not like that! She's nice and all, but we barely know each other!"

Inko let out a soft chuckle, happy that someone was finally being nice to her son. She also liked the possibility of him having a girlfriend one day.

As Izuku's blush died down, he got back to what he was saying. "She goes to Kuoh, and she's a second-year there, so maybe I'll see her again."

The green-haired woman was so proud of her son right now. "Oh, this is great! I knew I made the right choice!"

The two froze when they heard a truck pull up outside. Inko began running around and grabbing boxes. "Izuku! They're here! Help me bring these boxes out!"

The boy nodded, picking up as many boxes as he could and rushing outside. He couldn't stop smiling as he thought of his new life.

———————————————————————

Brief addition to this AN: I was originally gonna wait until January to upload this, but I just couldn't help myself. I also want to make the unfunny dad joke of not uploading the next chapter until next decade.

I bet you guys weren't expecting me to do this. I would say I'm doing it "too soon", but it might not be too soon by the time I upload this. As I write this, it's November 13, 2019, but I'm gonna wait until later to upload it. Why? Because November is too soon for a fic that was uploaded only four months earlier.

The main reason I'm doing this is to go back and fix the things that I was not happy with. Looking back, there are quite a few things that make me go "What was I thinking?!", and I want to fix those mistakes. Also, there are a few details I'd like to change. Mostly minor details, but there might be a major difference or two here.

One more thing. Because I'm doing this, there will inevitably be some conflicting details between this and Side Stories, so I have to say that Side Stories is not canon to this and should not be viewed as such.

'Till next time!