A Quirk. A superpower that varied heavily from user to user. Only recently had these abnormal marvels of science begun to surface, and only a few years ago had the first recorded case been documented and announced. Some claimed it was the very next stage in human evolution. Some claimed that it was the work of God, bestowing gifts onto those who were worthy. Others said that it was down to pure chance, while others claimed it to be the results of a government funded research plan.

To others, they were something to be feared. And feared they certainly were.

Ashido Mina had to keep herself covered up whenever she went out in public, despite the fact she utterly hated having to do such a thing. Long sleeves and pants, boots, gloves and a hoodie that she could use to cover up her naturally pink hair. A face mask, like the sick wore, to cover up what of her pink skin she could, and sunglasses to prevent anyone from seeing her darkened eyeballs. Her horns were the real problem, so she wore the closest thing possible along with her hoodie to a turban to hide them, although it didn't do anything to make her look like the average inconspicuous teenage citizen walking through Tokyo, but it at least hid her more obvious traits. Sure as hell didn't help that it was the middle of summer, and this get up was enough to make her feel like a baked potato wrapped in tin foil, but again, it hid her up well enough.

Not a single inch of her skin could be shown. Not to anyone. It was too dangerous.

There was always a huge number of questions that anyone had when they first learned about their Quirks. Aside from the obvious ones, like 'What is my Quirk?', 'What can I do with my Quirk?' or 'How did this happen to me?'. Everyone asked these questions, and it was all because nobody had any idea what the hell a Quirk really was.

Another common question was why.

Why did this happen to me? That was a question Mina found herself asking nearly every day of her life since she'd gotten this damn thing.

She checked around the back alleyway that she had been travelling through, and came to an intersection where it met the main road. She looked right, and then left, and thanked God when she saw that it wasn't a busy day today. A few people here and there, but this wasn't something that she wouldn't be able to handle. In reality, even if the streets were packed, she could still travel through. She didn't even necessarily need all of the clothing she had one to hide her Quirk. It wasn't at the stage where people would just get away with attacking her on the streets… But she preferred it this way, at least for now. Better to be safe than sorry.

Why did people start to develop these things? These 'Quirks' as they had come to be known? At first, the birth of a luminescent baby was an isolated incident, but it marked the start of something that the rest of the world would never forget. Something the world couldn't forget. Never would be able to forget. People began to develop their own Quirks not long afterwards. Some people were in their late nineties when they learned about their powers, others were just children. It didn't matter what the age was, people just randomly seemed to develop these inhuman abilities.

It was never really something people discovered. As soon as a Quirk was activated – The user just knew. It was like a switch, and the person knew instantly how to activate their abilities. Some ranged from incredible things to Pyrokinesis, to mundane things, like changing eye colour.

No one knew why. It was just… Happening.

And not everyone liked that fact.

Most people hated these new developed powers. Quirks only affected a very small percentage of people, making them a minority in an otherwise Quirkless world. Those who had Quirks were easily spotted. They stood out against the normalcy of society. Like a sore thumb.

Mina was fifteen years old when the world around her was beginning to change in more ways than anyone could even honestly keep a track of. The time when everything that she knew about Japan, and the world, this ever turning world of those who had Quirks, and those who didn't, would change.

Wrapped up in all of these clothes was uncomfortable to say the least, but Yuuei opened in just a few weeks, so she figured that she would be better off finding a place to stay until the newly announced boarding school for those who had these mysterious Quirks would open its doors. Yuuei had been announced in its construction two years ago, and many members of the public who had Quirks, teenagers specifically, were given a notification of mandatory attention. It wasn't a negotiable thing. Promises of safety and security, and the further assurances of finding ways to help people learn to control their powers was pretty much all that people needed to accept this as a necessity. But Mina hadn't ever been to Tokyo before all of this, and it wasn't like she had a whole other lot of options of places to go.

Since her family had disowned her, she hadn't exactly had the most comfortable life. That was a little under a year ago, and now was this brand new school, opening up for people, specifically those who had Quirks like hers, offering free housing, and teaching their pupils a way to learn how to control the oddities that were their powers? It would have been insane for her not to want to go there.

The thing was… Mina knew that everyone there would be like her, each of them having a Quirk. So she knew that none of them even really needed help learning how to safely use their powers.

A Quirk was like a muscle, and activating it was about as tricky as making a fist. Those who had them didn't even really have to think when they activated them. It was as natural as breathing, and to some, even easier. Like a switch that had just been flipped, activating for the very first time when a person's Quirk activated.

Mina's Quirk had activated a little under a year ago, around the same time her family threw her out and never wanted to see her again – She amused herself by thinking of all the satirical things she should have said to them before she left - It hadn't been pretty. Growing these horns out of nowhere, skin turning pink, as well as her curly hair. Her eyes turning into something dark and void… Surprisingly, it hadn't been too painful.

Although to Mina – She thought she looked pretty kickass. It was just a shame that the rest of the world probably wouldn't ever be able to see her like that. She sighed as she made her way underneath one of the many bridges that covered this concrete jungle of a city, highways, train tracks, and walk paths always towering above her, held up by sturdy support beams and metal framing.

The world wasn't all bad. Not everyone hated Quirks. Enough so that walking down a dense public street wasn't a death sentence… But bad enough that people would pretty much just get out of her way the second they laid eyes on her. Mina had learned to just accept it, that it wasn't going to change any time soon. That this wasn't going to change unless Quirks became far more prominent than they were now.

"Bit of a heavy fuckin' get up for the middle of June, don't'cha think, kid?"

That statement alone was all it took for Mina to hazard a guess as to what the plan was that this man had in mind. He'd waited until she'd passed him, leaning against a wall on the underpass, smoking a cigarette, which he threw aside after she had walked past him. The second his lips had separated, two other men joined him either side, none of them a day over twenty-three. One of them was shorter than the others by about two inches, while another one, the tallest of the group of three, was a foreigner, possibly from the United States, or the UK. The one who had spoken had a thick Tokyo accent, and his dialect was akin to that of a thug. He had sounded civil enough, but Mina had a feeling that she knew where this was all going to go all too well.

And yet, Mina's legs now refused to move.

"Seriously, kid, it's what, thirty friggin' degrees out and you're in a hoodie, jeans all done up – The hell even – The hell even is that – Around your forehead? A burqa? You the religious type or somethin'?" The same man asked, obviously not buying into anything that he himself was saying. He awaited a reply that never came. "Silent type? That's cool, I can respect that. Just seems strange that someone would go out into the streets in this God forsaken heat in this God forsaken city with anything like that. You seem like you'd be cooking in there."

Once more, Mina didn't respond. She knew that she should just keep walking, that this sort of person wasn't going to follow her onto the main street… But something stopped her from doing so. Something that just felt… Alien to her, almost, yet so familiar. What was it?...

Fear.

That's what it was. Fear.

"I mean, you can't blame a guy for his curiosi – "

"Oh Katsu, just shut up." The shortest one, revealing himself to be of a far younger age than his appearance let on, edging off at around eighteen or so, snapped, before walking towards Mina at a brisk pace, who still had her back turned. Upon hearing the harsh remark, she finally turned her head, careful not to give anything away that might reveal her altered appearance.

"Hey, Ryu, calm it, we don't know if she's – "

"If we're gonna do this, let's just get it the hell on already." The teenager revealed as Ryu – but that information went completely over Mina's head as she stood, transfixed and almost mesmerized, unable to move out of her damn shaking legs' refusal to move – responded in an almost calm like manner, before he reached Mina's position.

Despite the fact that she knew it was coming, Mina never saw the fist fly from this young man's side and straight into her left cheekbone with speed and vicious force. The first few seconds, she didn't even know she was being punched until the pain set in, and even then, the shock had completely numbed her to that.

That one strike had been all it had taken to totally rip apart her disguise. Kinetic energy from the punch slammed right into her face, and knocked her sunglasses straight off. In the same motion as the punch, the assailant's fist opened into a claw like grip on her turban, and tore it straight off with enough force that Mina felt like her horns were going to tear right out of her skull. That was the one thing that she responded to with a vocal cry of discomfort, but by then the damage had been swiftly done. All that was left was for her hood to fall down and reveal Ashido Mina to the world.

Pink skin, pink hair, black sclera, and horns. No one on the planet would ever be able to mistake her for being one of the minority of individuals to possess a Quirk. It was so obvious, the only thing that would have been more so was a set of fireworks, or a signal flare, or an explosion of some kind ripping apart the concrete around her.

Her attacker had left a bruise on her left cheek, which with her skin pigments being what they were, turned a dark shade of magenta, though that was the least of her problems – She was barely acknowledging that – And she knew it perfectly well. Her attacker looked pleased with himself, while his two buddies looked disgusted at what they had just uncovered walking through the streets of Tokyo. Whatever civil charade they had been playing, weather they had known that it hadn't been working even slightly on her or not, was completely out the window now.

Now it was just glares of anger. Disgust, and something else there too…

"Crap…" Mina muttered to herself, throwing her hood back over her head, though she knew it wasn't going to do her the slightest bit of good. They'd already seen her, and they weren't going to believe that it was just the shade of the highway above them playing tricks on their eyes. They'd seen it up close. They knew what she was.

"…Know something kid?" The original man spoke, a notable deeper tone in his voice. Far deeper. There was no cheery act anymore. Just as Mina's true colours had been revealed, so had his. "This area used to be a pretty nice place to live. Live here myself for most of my life. None of… This."

The word 'This' was emphasised by the man opening his arms wide open, in reference to the trash and garbage that surrounded them, that Mina hadn't even taken into consideration. Looking at the place now, it was a total wreck. Cracks in the pavement and in the roads, graffiti everywhere, and unauthorized artwork at that. Garbage bins were present, yet were seldom even used, some even kicked over for no real reason except for random acts of violence, and set fire to, so the people who resided here could have a stable source of heat if they lacked housing.

Holes in the walls were also there, some looking like they were from bullets, fired by the law enforcement in order to stop something that refused to co-operate.

Whatever had refused to cooperate… It had left a huge crater in the centre of the road, and in several walls. Mina hadn't noticed a single one, being too busy to just get through here without getting spotted.

There wasn't any sort of doubt – Whatever had done this damage to this once peaceful neighbourhood had been in possession of a Quirk. And these guys had been caught in the middle of it.

Perhaps before that incident, these people wouldn't have had any sort of issues with Mina. Maybe they were Quirked supporters… But that time was long past, dead and buried, along with the calm that this place – Their home – Had held. These guys were sharp, no doubt… And they had a grudge. A heavy one at that. A grudge against those who had powers.

The foreigner was the one to speak up next, revealing himself to actually be from Ireland. "Then you freaks started showing up, going crazy. Police came in and fought… Took you abominations into a cell where you damn well belong."

"I'm… Sorry to hear that." Mina honestly responded, understanding how hard it was to lose a home, a place that you could call your own. She understood their anger, their frustration….

"See, that ain't good enough." The group leader said, his hands in his pockets now. "See, we gotta protect our own neighbourhood now, since the damn police ain't gonna do jack shit as it turns out. Against you Quirked freaks, can't say I blame them… But again, that's not good enough."

What Mina saw next sent a shiver down her spine.

A knife. Jagged edged, almost like a sawblade. It was a steak knife, primarily used to cut up cooked meat… But it was a deadly weapon, in of its own right. Suddenly, both the others had knifes too – One butchers, one serrated. Three different knifes for three different types of

"We have a rule here. Pretty simple one, but maybe you didn't get the memo, kid, so here it goes – No fucking freaks allowed."

Three against one… Mina didn't like those numbers, not at all. She knew enough self-defence to help her out when she was dealing with one guy, but against three, she wasn't so sure. Of course, she possessed a Quirk, something none of these lunatics had, and there was no way that they would be able to guess what her power was either. That gave her an advantage, even if they all did come at her at once. Running away would be a good option too, into the open. The police weren't going to just let her get carved up in broad daylight – People who had Quirks were still people, even if the rest of the world didn't like it.

Even then though… Her legs still refused to move! She swore at herself, again and again and again, to just move, for God's sake! But nothing came of it. It was like the signals she was sending to her limbs was getting cut off was soon as it reached her waistline, which just resulted in her trembling like an idiot.

Would her Quirk be enough?... Would she even be able to use the damn thing if she was this terrified of these people? She'd seen it sure, encountered it a few times… But to actually be on the receiving end of this sort of attack… It was horrifying.

"Freaks that come here, they don't leave without a scar to show for it." The Irish one added on, with a smirk on his face, showing some sort of sick pleasure in the fear he was inserting into the young teenage girl. The primal desires of man, the cruelty, all surfacing at the sight of someone weak before him.

"Hrmm…" The teenage one tilted his head and looked at Mina, like he was inspecting her, trying to figure out what was wrong with her, like she was damaged goods. He twirled his knife with impressive speed and skill in his right hand, before suddenly bringing it to a halt, and pointing it at the girl's forehead. "Hey, Katsu – How much d'ya reckon someone would pay for this freaks horns?"

The young girl froze.

"That – That's enough!"

Before Mina was even able to process what was going on, she found herself being shielded, for want of a better word, by a teenager, just a bit taller than she was, with black, curly hair, that rivalled only her own in its messy unkemptness. Going by the voice, and how broad his shoulders were, Mina knew that this person was a boy about his age. Spread out randomly across his hair, were green highlights, dyed with permanent product. The frame he had, though of limited exposure, thanks to him wearing a t-shirt and shorts to help him combat this scorching day, seemed solid, far above most people their age.

"Who the – "The pink girl stammered, stepping back, finally able to move her own body out of surprise. Part of her was expecting this guy to turn around and sucker punch her in the jaw, until she noticed one detail.

Like her, he was shaking.

The sudden arrival of another person on the scene, someone none of the group had been prepared for or had expected, seemed to throw them all for a loop. For the briefest moment, they lowered their weapons, in shock of the young boy who had rushed to her, but their surprise didn't last too long.

"Get out of the way kid."

"You don't realize that fucking alien's got a Quirk? She'll eat you as soon as you turn to let your guard down!"

"I - I said to l-leave her alone!" The boy yelled, stuttering on his own words. If he was trying to look tough, he was doing a very poor job of it. In fact, he was achieving the exact opposite effect. It looked more like he was standing up to the schoolyard bullied, even though he was completely petrified of them. "She – She hasn't done anything wrong to you! I – I'm telling you to leave her alone!"

Did this boy have a Quirk of his own? Mina had to wonder, since she was struggling to understand why – Why on earth this person, who she didn't even know, this person who she had never seen in her life – Hell, still hadn't seen his face – Was going out of his way to protect her, to defend her? Was this a case of those with powers having to stand together against the ones that didn't? There didn't seem to be any other reason for this sort of behaviour.

Or was this a strings attached rescue?...

Whatever this was… Mina couldn't help but stare at the back of this boy, who was still trembling in his boots, yet still stood, arms outreached, and blocking the way towards the pink girl. He was scared, as much as Mina was to the point that she couldn't move… And yet, here he was, whoever this guy was.

"Some fucking altruist…" The leader of the group muttered as he slapped his free hand against his forehead in frustration. "Fuckin' kids, can't do a damn thing right – Ryu, get this dumb prick out of the way so we can chase this pink little bitch out of here."

A sinister smile took over the youngest member's face, with his teeth showing as he took steps forwards, brandishing his knife tightly in his right hand. There wasn't any other way to put it – He looked psychotic. Like a madman out for blood, vengeance of some kind. Maybe in his deranged mind, he was getting it, against Quirks themselves.

"Please, this doesn't have anything to do with you – You don't need to be here!" Mina yelled at the black haired boy, trying to get him to pay attention to her, no matter what it took.

"I-If that's true, then p-please, just run away from here!"

"You don't get it – I have a freaking Quirk! I can handle them if it comes to that!"

"Using Quirks… It's against the law, you know that!"

"Not in self-defence! And even then - Better than getting us carved up! Who the hell even are you anyway?!" Who even was this guy, Mina thought to herself. Did he have some sort of death wish? Why was he here? She didn't want him getting hurt because of her! "I didn't ask you to help! Why are you even here?!"

For the first time, the boy managed to take his eyes away from the group, and back at Mina. He had eyes as green as his hair, and a fair few freckles sprinkled along his cheeks. His skin tone was natural, and he looked almost harmless – He didn't look remarkable in any way. He looked completely normal.

"I – I have a friend just like you!" He told her, his incredibly shaky smile not faltering in any way, even though his fear was as obvious as hers was. "I- I couldn't – My body just moved on its own!"

"Last chance, kid." The eighteen year old thug said, revealing in that short space of time, he was right next to the two of them, and was now threatening the boy. "Move to the side, and I won't hurt you."

"N-No!" The boy stood firmly where he was, refusing to budge. "I-I won't let you hurt her!"

"Suit yourself." The young thug said, with a smirk on his face, raising a fist to smack Mina's defending to the side like a ragdoll.

"Hey!"

Another new voice, one not heard as of yet, broke into the conversation from behind the group that had ambushed Mina. In that moment, everyone turned to face the source, revealing a blond, spiky haired boy, with a plastic bag in his hands. Seeing the situation, he let it drop onto the ground, the thudding of half full tin cans of food echoing in the silence.

"K-Kacchan!" The green hair dyed boy called out towards the other boy, who was shooting him a glare.

"Deku, for fucks sake, you keep being this altruistic to every prick with some sort of problem, and I'm not gonna be there to bail your ass the fuck out." The blond boy revealed himself to be incredibly foul mouthed, and extraordinarily loud and aggressive, openly swearing and yelling at the boy who was shielding Mina.

"You're with this boy then?" The Irish member of the group questioned the boy, Kacchan, as Mina heard the boy called Deku call him.

Kacchan took a few steps forward with what could only be described as a confident grin smeared all over his face. He didn't even seem worried in the slightest, not at all concerned, and that brisk calm walk seemed to make Deku relax some too. "Deku's with me, so I'll be taking him. Plus his friend, whoever the fuck that is."

The group looked between one another, before looking back at Kacchan. It was clear they didn't think much of him, and they were too fuelled up on testosterone and adrenaline to let some delinquent punk tell them what to do.

"Kid, unless you wanna end up on the chopping block with these two, get the fuck away from us." The leader said quite aggressively.

"You wanna know a couple good things about having a Quirk?"

Suddenly, the attention was entirely on this scruffily dressed teenager with a grin on his face large enough to sink a cruise ship. It was clear to anyone thinking clearly – So Deku and Mina – That he was intentionally riling up the attackers, edging them on. He had chosen his words very carefully, so as to get the response he wanted from them.

"Another freak?" The Irish member asked, gritting his teeth, and clutching onto his sharp weapon tighter.

Mina kept her eyes on the new arrival to the fray, more out of curiosity than anything else.

"Good thing about having a Quirk is that I don't need a weapon to beat down every single one of you fuckers into the motherfucking ground before I can count up every goddamn time Deku's fucked up a rescue like this." Another grin. "You dumbasses wouldn't even be able to touch me."

If his intention had been to provoke, he had gotten it in spades. The Irish member of the group lunged for him, having decided that he'd had enough of listening to this freak with a Quirk run his mouth for a damn second longer.

It was all Kacchan needed to take him out.

"Second good thing – We're still completely allowed to use them in self-defence!"

The blond boy suddenly ducked down, avoiding the lunge altogether, before slamming his right palm into the attackers stomach. Mina couldn't tell exactly from her angle, but she saw a huge flash, and what looked like an explosion erupt from the boys now smouldering hands, and knocking the Irish member a good twenty meters way, and into a wall that left a sickening crack along with it. It had happened so fast, so quickly, that Mina hadn't even been able to follow it.

The boy was allowing himself to breath raggedly. His palms now looked like they were burning, smoke rising from the aftermath of whatever it was that he had unleashed upon his attacker. Mina had to blink to make sure that she wasn't hallucinating in any way thanks to the heat her clothes were giving her. She'd never seen a Quirk like that before. Nothing so…

Openly ruthless.

"You fuckers wanna test me – Who the fucks next?!" A series of explosions suddenly covered Kacchan's hands, his Quirk showing itself off in the biggest way possible – With a huge bang. Flashes of bright, near blinding lights shot into the retinas of everyone who looked directly at the yelled teenager, and smoke, dark grey in its colouration, rose from the boy's location. "Get the hell out of here before I light all of you pricks the hell on fire!"

The warning didn't need a second heeding, and before Mina had even registered it, they were gone, one and all. They'd just taken off, leaving their friend behind in the process. He was completely knocked out, and unable to make any sort of movements whatsoever. It was possible that he had suffered a concussion, but Mina didn't really care if he had or not, considering what they had tried to do to her. The now retreating attackers yelled something about "Freaks getting theirs someday" But Mina couldn't give two damns about that.

Attention refocused to the two teenage males who had just defended her without as much as a drop of a hat. The black haired one, Deku, sighed and relaxed a bit, even chucking to himself in relief that the situation had been defused. He looked over to the unconscious attacker, showing a mixture of anger, and pity in his eyes, like he wasn't sure what to make of them. Like he simultaneously sympathized with them and their losses, and understood their rage, yet hated them for what they had just done.

The blond haired one on the other hand looked, frankly, pissed the hell off about the whole situation. Mina had already gathered that he was short tempered and foul mouthed, but when he grabbed Deku by his hair and began to yell right in his face, she saw he took it to a whole new level.

"The fuck was that about?!"

To his credit, Deku seemed to take it fairly well, showing timidness, yet nothing that would indicate downright fear. Almost like he was used to this sort of treatment from this guy. "Kacchan… Sorry man, I just saw this girl here and I – "

"Deku you useless fuck – The fuck were you gonna do, you dumbass?!" with what looked almost like a shove, the blonde boy ripped his hands away from the other teenagers hair with a set of gritted teeth showing. Now that he was closer, Mina could see the red irises that he seemed to hold. Like most other Quirk holders, he had a small alteration to his body due to the highly prone to mutation genes that he had coursing throughout his veins.

"I – I couldn't just… Leave her like that… You know what people can be like…" In the heat of the moment, Mina had the idea of someone strong, who didn't seem to have any concept of danger, defending her honour and being for no reason other than the right thing to do being to help her.

She didn't get anything but that last one. This boy, Deku, was the same age as her, and despite the muscles that he seemed to have, was as timid as they came. Stuttering turning out not to be a heat of the moment, adrenaline pumped slip up, but rather, just something that he couldn't help himself from doing. He didn't look tough either. Looking at his face, with his large, green eyes and freckles, he didn't look like he'd hurt an insect even if he stepped on it. Totally normal.

And yet, he was the one who had leaped in to defend her.

The boy with the explosive Quirk seemed to just sigh as he released him with a whack to the top of his friend's head, before taking a proper look at Mina. He didn't seem surprised by the way she appeared, and didn't even seem to focus particularly on any part of her, her skin, horns, eyes, or anything, scanning her over like she would anyone she met. Like he was trying to decide if she was worth the risks that had been involved to save her. "You're an odd one." Was all he had to say.

Frankly, after the last five minutes she'd just endured, Mina was a bit beyond just playing nice. With sass, she sarcastically responded. "You don't say."

"F-Forgive Kacchan, he's kind of… Uh… Unreserved?" The green hair-dyed boy said, stepping in quickly. "A-Are you alright? They didn't hurt you at all?"

"No, nothing like that… You didn't have to do that though."

"I-It was the right thing to do… I… I can't stand seeing people just doing that sort of thing to someone who hasn't done a thing to deserve it… I saw them, how they were threatening you… I – I had to do something…" The boy justified his actions rapidly, going over a few details of his thinking process before he eventually reached out and offered a hand for the pink girl to shake. "My name… It's Midoriya Izuku, but a lot of people call me Deku." He tilted his head back towards his companion. "His name is Bakugou Katsuki, but I just call him Kacchan."

"I've known this twerp since kindergarten. Couldn't get rid of him even if I wanted to."

The offer wasn't unappreciated, but Mina was surprised by the readiness of it. She stood there, staring at the hand for a few seconds, before accepting the gesture with her own firm handshake, surprisingly so for someone of her stature. Pink met white, and white didn't pull away of flinch for a second. "Ashido Mina… I um… thanks, I guess, for, y'know, helping…." The young girl paused for a second, before jumping right into her question. "Uh, neither of you know when Yuuei is gonna be starting up applications for admission, do ya?"

"Yuuei?... So, you're attending too?"

'Watch it, Deku, I'm gonna get you!'

'Tan – Tankaka, watch out!'

'Think fast!'

'Ha-Ha!'

'H-Hey! No fair Kacchan!'

Izuku remembered that day very well. It wasn't a day he could ever forget, even though it had happened now nearly three and a half years ago, while he was half sleep deprived. It had been the middle of November and he'd been sleeping for a couple of hours, sleeping in a fun filled slumber of warmth that his blankets provided. His mother was fast asleep as well, after staying up late on some sort of work thing that she had brought home. His dreams a reflection of the day's fun.

Totally normal for a 2AM morning in the Midoriya household. The night was cold, so dictated the winter weather, reaching levels of below freezing for the first time in the first time the young boy could remember. The twelve year old child had just returned from a long day of school and spending time with his friends, building snowmen and getting involved in the mother of all snowball fights. It had been Izuku leading one team, and Katsuki leading the other. Katsuki had utterly crushed Izuku's team, but had made sure his friends were warm as soon as he could, by bringing them towels to dry off with and warm drinks to heat up – Before he declared that he was charging them for them, though he didn't follow up, and everyone shared a laugh. Anyone could say what they liked about Izuku's best friend – He was good at heart. Like the anti-Hero in a comic book or manga.

Even in spite of the dangers the world was producing on a regular basis.

Recently, news of these oddities, these Quirks had been brought to the public attention. They had been around for about five years prior to now, but had been spreading more and more frequently throughout the planet. That winter, it had been practically all the news had talked about. Quirks this, Quirks that. They were being talked about like they were something incredibly dangerous to the human race, and the anti-Quirk sentiment could even be felt in middle schools.

Fitting with his nature, Izuku didn't really have any particular opinion when it came to Quirks. He was interested of course, but he didn't understand the anti-Quirk sentiment that people seemed to have. They seemed sort of cool, but only a few people had them, so was it really that big a deal?

No one Izuku had ever met in his life had a Quirk. Since they only came around into the public eye when he was seven years old, none of his classmates showed any signs of having developed any superpowers, and he himself was also Quirkless. To anyone who looked at his life from an outside perspective, it was a totally normal life of the average Japanese middle schoolers – Enjoying the rare snowfall that it offered to the fullest before falling asleep in a warm bed, oblivious to the changes that the world was experiencing.

But it all changed on that night. , Morning, November the 14th, in 2014.

The black haired boy's phone suddenly burst into life with Katsuki's ridiculously loud, rock-metal ringtone shooting Izuku straight out of his slumber and into reality again. For a brief moment, he thought that Japan was being invaded by demon monsters, but he managed to calm himself down and catch the scream that had been making its way up his throat when he realized it was just his friend's favourite loud song.

Groggy eyed, Izuku reached for the device, where he saw the picture he had assigned for whenever Katsuki called him. It was a photo the two of them had taken during a joint family day out at a zoo that let them interact with the animals in their enclosures. They were both about nine when the image had been taken, and Izuku hadn't bothered to change it. They were with a group of aquatic animals that could be interacted with via topless tanks. The image showed them playing with a peaceful and non-aggressive species of stingray.

"Kacchan?..." Sleepy Izuku muttered to himself, pressing the answer button, and sitting upright in his bed. "Is this a prank call, Kacchan?... I'm sleepy…"

"De-Deku…"

Green eyes shot wide open, and within a second, Izuku had shot straight out of bed and thrown on a jacket as quickly as he could. Right now, his mother hearing him, the amount of trouble that he was certainly going to get in for this, or how stupid he'd look running through freezing cold Tokyo in nothing but a hoodie and his pyjama bottoms weren't even things he was considering, and, if he had been, he would have totally ignored them anyway.

His best friend was a lot of things. Proud was one of them. Aggressive, loud, and almost thug like were a bunch of others, even at the young age of twelve, but he wasn't a bad person by any means whatsoever. Maybe troubled in a way, or stuck up, but he wasn't bad.

But he had called Izuku. And he had been crying. He never, ever cried. Ever.

Something was happening. And it was serious.

"Kacchan, what's going on?!" Izuku hissed over his phone, trying not to wake his mother or father as he quickly ran through his apartment to the front door, and slipped on his boots so quickly he hadn't actually bothered to undo the laces before he'd shoved his feet into them. "Are you alright?!"

"De-Deku… I-I need he-help…"

Not hesitating for a second, Izuku unlocked the front door, shut it behind him, and ran like hell as quickly as he could towards his friend's house, ignoring the shin-high snow, and the black ice that made every slip dangerous. He didn't slow down for a second. Bitter cold winds hit and stung his eyes and nose as he legged it for his destination, but he didn't care.

"I'm coming, Kacchan! What's happened?!"

"I-I'm at S-Setagaya park… S-Something happened…"

"You – You're what?! You're on the other side of the city!" Izuku skidded to a halt and stared at his phone in shock. What on earth was he doing over there?! "What – How do you expect me to get over there?!"

"I-I'm sorry… I'm sorry…. I-I didn't know who else to c-call… P-Please…"

It hadn't taken much to convince Izuku outside that. He roughly knew the way, and he could figure it out from the street signs and his memories. He had been to that park before. It had a playground that he and Katsuki went to a few times with their parents as kids. He knew he had to take the first right at the crossroads in the opposite direction, and follow that path until he reached a junction… He'd figure it out from there.

He took off as fast as his already frozen legs would carry him.

Because he hadn't bothered to put on any actual winter clothing, he was running around and facing the bitter freezing cold that was Tokyo's first winter snowfall in thin pyjamas. The bottom half of them were utterly soaked within a few moments, just above zero Celsius water slapping against his clothing and his shins. His boots became damp quickly too, water leaking into those and making him waterlogged from the heel down, making his feet quickly become numb and render the young black haired boy unable to feel a damn thing below his knees, but he kept on running.

Snow lightly fell from the sky as the night went on, some of which hit Izuku in the face, others landing in his hair. Every time the boy exhaled, he saw his condensed breath impact with the cold winter air and merge with the earth's atmosphere once again. It would have been a beautiful sight, a truly beautiful one to behold, if Izuku wasn't in a frantic rush to get to the other side of the entire city!

There were a thousand thoughts racing through Izuku's head as he made his way to Setagaya Park. What had happened to Katsuki that he'd felt the need to run away to the other side of the city, and what had caused him to be so desperate for help that he'd called Izuku for help this late at night, while he was still crying? He hated showing any sort of weakness whatsoever, to anyone. A typical tough guy. He wouldn't be caught dead sniffling at school.

But he had been while talking to Izuku on the phone. And that worried him to no end.

Katsuki had been his best friend for years, since they'd met in kindergarten. He'd saved the curly haired boy from a bunch of older bullies who had been picking on Izuku on his first few days there.

Izuku was the kind of person who would suffer in silence. He wouldn't speak up for himself, since he was way too shy to do that. He didn't have the strength to stand up for himself. He was timid, and barley had any social skills whatsoever. The exact opposite of Katsuki. He had seen the way that his playmates had treated Izuku, and had promptly dispatched of them within a few seconds. Izuku had soon learned that he was just as short tempered and violent as they had been, maybe more…

But he was a good guy, no matter what anyone else said! Katsuki had always been there for him, and he'd always been there for his best friend! Where Izuku lacked confidence and assertiveness, Katsuki provided, and when Katsuki looked like he was about to flunk out, Izuku had showed him the way with his incredible intelligence. They complimented one another, despite being nothing alike whatsoever.

So what sort of friend would Izuku be if he wasn't there for Katsuki now?!

These thoughts fuelling his running, he'd run even faster, causing him to slip and fall flat on his face a few times, though when that happened, he picked himself back up immediately, and kept running.

It took him half an hour to get to his friend's location, and by the time he'd gotten there, he was beyond exhausted, but he was finally there. When he said Setagaya Park was on the other side of Tokyo, this wasn't technically accurate. Rather, it was on the opposite side of the area they generally lived, which was how he'd gotten there so quickly.

But when he got there… He didn't even recognize the place.

Scuff and burn marks littered the place, like impact sites and wreckage from all manner of things was spewed all over the landscape. Bits of the playground that he and Katsuki had played in were scattered all over the place, some half buried by fresh snow. Metal from the monkey bars they had climbed on were blasted in all different directions. Snow was unturned in certain places, leaving puddles in the way. Smoke rose into the cold air.

It looked like a battleground. Not a playground. Like a bomb had gone off here. Like it had just exploded overnight.

Worry gripped Izuku rapidly when he saw the state of the place. "Kacchan?!" He yelled out, eager to find his friend, wherever he was. "Kacchan, are you still here?! Kacchan?!" He made his way deeper into the smouldering site, fear gripping his heart.

What had happened here? Had this happened to Katsuki before he'd called, or after? Was this why he'd called Izuku?... Had he known that this was going to happen?... Was he calling because he needed help? Because he was scared?

Had he been… Too late?

"Kacchan?!" He yelled out again, desperate now. "Kacchan, where are you?!"

"Dek-Deku?... Over… Over here…"

"Kacchan!" His voice! He was still sniffling, but it was his voice! Izuku turned his head instantly to where the sound of his friend's voice had come from –

But… That… That couldn't be right though… He was… His voice was coming from….

The centre of the smoke and flame?

"Ka-Kacchan?! Oh God…" Izuku stammered and stumbled for a brief moment before he used his short as an improvised smoke mask. His eyes narrowed and watered when the smoke hit his eyes, so he used his hand to try and disperse some of the dark grey vapour as best he could. "Kacchan, are you okay?!"

Upon seeing his friend's messy, spiky, ash blond hair, Izuku's face erupted in a huge grin.

And then it fell when he saw the smoke was actually rising from his friend's hands.

He didn't even need to see the look of abject horror on his friends face. He didn't even need to hear it. He knew, just by looking at it.

It was a Quirk.

Katsuki had developed a Quirk.

"…Kacchan called me since he knew that I didn't have any issues with people who had Quirks." Izuku explained as he poured another drink for Mina, and slid the glass over to her. "So I helped him learn how to control and hide it… Until the Toe Tests were introduced."

His eye twitching, Katsuki was having to try very hard not to blast Izuku out the nearest window with as much force as a frag grenade. A few sparks flew from his right palm and he held it up in the air so the two other teenagers would be able to see the detonations. "Deku, say I was crying, one more fuckin' time, see what happens."

"E-Easy, K-Kacchan! S-Sorry!"

It was one of the first times in quite a while that Mina could remember herself laughing in amusement at the situation and the stories hat Quirks had brought about. The story Izuku had just told her had been tragic, sure, but the clear embarrassment and way it riled up Katsuki was something that she wasn't quite able to get over. These two couldn't be more different, yet they acted as the best of friends. The two were clearly close, like Mina had been to very brother before she had gotten thrown out.

This was just nice.

"So, Bakugou-kun, your Quirk lets you create explosions?" She asked, taking a small sip of lemonade through her straw.

"Yeah." Katsuki nodded, letting out another, this time a smaller one, in his palm to demonstrate the point. "Only from my palms though."

"His Quirk mutated his palm's sweat glands. They secrete something sort of similar to Nitroglycerin, which he can detonate." Izuku explained, much to his friend's annoyance.

"I know how my own fuckin' Quirk works, Deku!"

"Must be nice…" Mina smiled weakly. "To have a Quirk that you can easily hide…" As she said so, she looked her the skin of her palm, impossible for her to ever hide her nature as an individual who had such a power inside her. Excluding his abnormally red eyes, Katsuki appeared to be a regular human in all regards, and even his eyes would pass for human, since amber coloured eyes were rare, but not inhuman.

They were able to discuss these things so openly and calmly since Izuku had brought Mina back to the apartment building he lived in with his mother, who had readily welcomed Mina after seeing her and immediately knowing what it was her son was doing. She was incredibly polite, and brought the group lemonade shortly thereafter. These discussions of Quirks, and the things that had happened because of them to each of them, was now completely acceptable. They didn't need to fear being heard.

Izuku sighed himself, and looked over at Katsuki with a look that emulated pity, one Katsuki didn't like in the slightest, but Izuku couldn't help but give anyway. "Like I said… We were able to hide it until the Toe Tests were introduced in schools.

"Toe Tests?"

"You're shitting me, you don't know what those are?!" Katsuki seemed to be genuinely ticked off now, like Mina had just slapped him in the face.

Mina shook her head. She knew they existed, but she didn't know what they really were. Since it was painfully obvious to anyone who looked at her for point ten of a second that she had a Quirk, she actually having the test done to her would have been an absolute waste of time and resources.

"Well, people who have Quirks lack an extra joint in their small toes." Izuku explained quickly. "We don't really need them, and if someone does have that join, it breaks constantly, but because it's so useless we don't even really feel it. People who have Quirks don't have that joint. So it's really just a matter of having an X-Ray scan done, and then they'll find out if you have a Quirk or not…"

Suddenly, Mina realized why Katsuki was so angry with her ignorance. The mere mention of what those tests were was something that Katsuki had an absolute abhorrent for. He didn't look at anyone else as Izuku explained, instead shifting his attention to the floor.

"We managed to keep his Quirk hidden for three years… Until about six months ago." Izuku admitted with a sigh. "When the tests came to our school, there wasn't much we could do about them. Kacchan got his Quirk found out… and his parents – "

"Do not call those fuckers that."

Swallowing, but nodding in his agreement, Izuku continued. "His… 'Guardians', threw him out after they heard the news. That's why he lives here. I've known him all my life, so I couldn't just abandon him."

"You got thrown out too?..." Mina looked towards a clearly angry, yet remorseful Katsuki.

"Those bastards ain't even worth the breath it takes to talk about them." The ash blond boy spat through gritted teeth. He glared towards Mina, which sent a shiver down her spine. "What about you, Raccoon eyes?"

"Raccoon - ?!"

"We don't know a damn thing about you. Deku's such an altruist, he didn't think, but we don't even have the first idea what you're about. What's your Quirk, anyway?"

To be fair to him, he had a point, Mina lamented. Though she had a passionate hatred for the nickname he had just given her, he had been honest with her about his own Quirk, and Izuku had been kind enough to allow her into his home. She at least owed them a demonstration of what she was capable of. After all, between people who had these superpowers, showing one another was a sign of trust. They had expressed their trust towards her, so she wanted to return the favour.

"Good point. One sec." Quickly, she chugged down her glass of lemonade in one large gulp, and placed the empty glass on the table, just in front of her. Concentrating hard, so that the liquid she would develop wasn't one that would destroy its container, Mina activated her Quirk. A semi-transparent, pale lime liquid ran from her pink skin and, with careful aim, landed inside the glass container that she had set up. She couldn't help but beam at her demonstration, which showed her full set of teeth as she smiled. "There we go. That's my Quirk – Acid."

"A-Acid?"

"Yes sir!" Mina chuckled. "My body lets me generate any kind of Acid that I want. Hydrofluoric, corrosive, citric, whatever. Let's me mess around with the viscosity and solubility too." Seeing the black haired boy reach out like he was about to touch the container, she warned him, "Yeah, I wouldn't touch it if I were you. It won't burn or do any like, permanent damage, but that'll still sting like crazy for a while."

"N-Now you tell me…"

"Yeah, we might wanna rinse it out before someone accidentally drinks that."

"Won't it mess with the pipework?"

"Nah, that in there is the weakest stuff I got. It ain't gonna mess with metals. Might wanna use warm water to rinse it though."

"I'll get it." Katsuki offered, grabbing the glass container and making his way to the bathroom, to safely dispose of the contents of the glass. He quickly made his way out of the room and towards the bathroom, before either one of the other two had a chance to offer to do it themselves.

This left Izuku and Mina in the room together, alone. There were a lot of things Mina wanted to ask Izuku. Why he had stepped in to help her when he knew exactly squat about her. Why he had brought her to his home despite her being essentially a stranger to him. Why he seemed to be doing all of this with no ulterior motive. He didn't seem like the type of person to do these things in order to accumulate favours from other people. Nor did he even seem to be that particularly complicated. She noticed a blush that was on his face – Was he embarrassed about being in a room alone with a girl or something?

He had an awkward streak, that much could be figured out just by interacting with him for a few minutes. He was smart, there couldn't be any question about that. The level of intelligence he showed when it came to Quirks seemed impressive, and he knew what he was talking about. When he was talking about that kind of thing, he was pretty confident and ready to explain, clearly spoken, but when it came to a regular conversation, he seemed to stutter and trip over his own words, but he seemed like a nice guy.

And Mina was indebted to him.

"Hey, Midoriya-Kun." Mina addressed in an unusually formal manner, catching the attention of the boy with green highlights.

"Y-Yes?"

"I… I never really expressed my gratitude for you saving me back there. Sorry I was kind of, y'know… A jerk back there. I just didn't want anyone getting hurt."

"O-Oh! Y-You don't have to worry about that!"

"…No one's ever done something like that for me… Well, not since I developed my Quirk. You and Bakugou-kun are the first people to ever do that. It just… I appreciate it. Really, I do. And I really appreciate you letting me take cover here for a few hours. Thank you so very much." She bowed her head as a sign or true honesty and gratitude. Mina wasn't the type of person to show this level of politeness, even when she didn't have her Quirk, but her true gratefulness override her usually informal attitudes.

"You – You're welcome to stay here until Y-Yuuei opens. We – We have plenty of room. The – The dorm rooms at Yuuei don't open for another couple of weeks, so you can stay here I-if you don't have anywhere else to go…"

"Are – Are you serious?" Mina's eyes widened at the offer, and she struggled to find words for a moment. "You would do that?"

He nodded, with a soft smile on his face. "We have to stick together, don't we? We need to help each other when the world is like this… Me and Kacchan do this sort of thing all the time when someone needs help."

"What, you guys some sort of Vigilante's who go around helping people with Quirks? That how you found me? Doing laps around Tokyo as the dynamic duo of Midoriya and Bakugou?"

"A-Actually, we were just out getting groceries for my mom."

They both shared a laugh at that, smiling kindly at once another. It reminded Mina of the times before, when she was still able to interact with people normally, without them wondering what it was that she would do if they pissed her off in any way. Of course, she had no intention of ever hurting anyone unless they attacked her, but everyone around her was afraid of what she'd do, just because of how she appeared… but this was different.

This was someone who saw her appearance, and was able to treat her like a regular human anyway. Someone who saw past the layer of pink skin. This only made her smile even wider and laugh even harder.

"I mean, if it's not too much trouble… I think I'd like that." Mina smiled at him, before realizing something. "I just realized, actually, I never asked. What's your Quirk?"

"M-Me?" Izuku pointed towards himself and chuckled lightly. "Oh, I don't have one. I'm Quirkless."

For the briefest of moments, Mina froze.

And then Katsuki walked back into the room, slamming the glass back onto the table again in an almost passive aggressive manner. "So Raccoon eyes here's gonna be staying with us for a while?"

"Until the dorms at Yuuei open."

Katsuki scoffed. "What a fuckin' joke."

"Huh?"

"Yuuei. The whole bullshit pitch they gave. 'A safe haven for those with supernatural abilities where they will learn to control their abnormalities'. Ton of complete garbage." The Explosion Quirk used mocked.

"I thought you were going to Yuuei as well?" Mina questioned. "Why're you going if you don't want to?"

"I don't get a damn choice in the matter." The red eyed boy snapped. "Sent a letter through the mailbox. Attendance mandatory for anyone under the age of eighteen with a Quirk. Already signed up everyone in Tokyo with a Quirk, whether we like it or not." He growled as he spoke, making clear his hatred towards the not even opened establishment. "Don't eat up the shit they feed up. Why do you even think they're opening a school specifically for people like us who have Quirks? No normal people or anything like that? Heh, 'cause lemme tell you, it sure as fuck ain't for our benefit."

"Kacchan…"

"They're keeping all the people with Quirks in one place so it's easier to keep an eye on us! That why they have the dorms in the fucking first place! So they can figure out how to get rid of us easier!" An enraged Katsuki turned to face Izuku with narrow slits for eyes. "I don't have a damn clue why you're even applying to get in. They ain't gonna let a Quirkless in."

Looking between the two of them, Mina had to question what she was even hearing right now. First thing came first though, she swallowed a lump in her throat before speaking again.

"You – You're trying to attend Yuuei, Midoriya-san?"

Scratching the top of his head, and laughing nervously, Izuku nodded. "Eh heh… Yeah, I am."

Mina gulped.

Katsuki laughed to himself from his seat, bitterly sarcastic and pessimistic as he could possibly manage. "Yeah, they'll let you in with all the other freaks, Deku. A bullet to the head'd be easiest way to get rid of you."

Though his frustration and resignation was apparent, Katsuki didn't stop. He vented his anger and pessimism to the room, and everyone heard him crystal clear. The sad thing was, he was right. Izuku had to sigh, and look between the two Quirked individuals around him. "I don't like to think of it like that…. But you're right, Kacchan. This is just a way for them to round up anyone who has a Quirk and keep tabs on them. That's… That's what the Quirk Registration is for."

That was something Mina remembered well, like a mark of shame. The day she'd been approached by police officers and professionals who studied Quirks, who looked at her like she was some kind of animal that needed to be branded and thrown in a cell, taking samples of her blood, and putting the name of her Quirk on a form that any government officials could read. It almost felt like she was being branded just by that motion in itself. Marked, so that her owners knew what they were working with.

"Having 'Explosion' on the form doesn't mean a whole lot." Katsuki muttered to himself. "All they know is that it has something to do with explosions. They don't know the ins and outs like I do. All Yuuei's made for is a way for those fucks to figure out my Quirk. Put me down if I start causing them problems."

Was this all that Mina had come here to sign up for? To be observed, and watched like she was some sort of… Creature? She had believed, she had well and truly thought to herself that perhaps, Yuuei would be a place where she could belong. Make some friends, and really feel safe…

But that was a lie, and she felt like an idiot for not seeing that.

If there was one thing – One thing – That Mina had missed more than anything, it was a shower.

Midoriya's mother had been kind enough to save her from the depressing conversation in the room with her son and Bakugou, to which Mina was grateful for, and asked her if she wanted to wash up. There wasn't any doubt in the Acid Quirk users mind that she stunk like holy hell, so she happily accepted it without hesitation.

As it turned out, this was far from the first time that Midoriya and Bakugou had brought back someone else who had a Quirk, so she was quite happy to offer all of these things to the young girl.

Of course, it didn't help for a second that his mother was also Quirkless. That little fact did absolutely nothing to calm Mina's nerves.

Nothing whatsoever.

Still, beggars couldn't be choosers, could they?

She was led to the apartment's bathroom by the slim middle aged woman, who sported green hair dye herself, so Mina knew where Midoriya's choice in colour came from. Upon reaching the room, floor and walls each lines with tiles, she assumed this Bakugou had gone to dispose of the Acid she had generated in order to demonstrate her Quirk. It looked genuine enough, so Mina allowed herself to relax, and lock the door, after thanking Midoriya's mother, of course.

Once she'd taken off all her quite frankly, disgustingly dirty and swear soaked clothes, she just stood there for a second, dazed by her new surroundings, before she turned around and stood underneath the showerhead. Turning the dial to the hottest temperature that it would go, Mina switched on the shower and allowed the water to rush over her skin.

It was, in a single word, utterly glorious.

"Oh, my Goooooood." Mina sighed and almost laughed while steaming hot water pelted against her nude body, for the first time in so long she couldn't actually remember. The simple luxury of having enough spare water to douse away the muck and grim that she'd accumulated on her on foot journey from the Chiba Prefecture.

Finding a place that would house a Quirked person wasn't an easy thing to accomplish, no question. And those that did… Were either stupidly expensive to the point of bordering downright extortion, or run down piles of crap. And it hadn't been like she'd had a whole lot of money to work with in the first place.

She let her hands run though her tangled, messy pink hair, feeling the dirt it had accumulated since her last wash leave her body, allowing her to feel so very much better. So much more refreshed that she felt her mood increase by about a thousand times over.

It wasn't long until she actually found herself outright laughing in the sheer happiness of the moment.

That was, until she felt her horns atop her forehead. Then she fell silent when she remembered where she was. Who was around her…

What she was.

The fact that remained, Mina thought to herself as she applied some honest to God shampoo – The kind that was suited for people who had curly hair, conveniently – Was that she was a Quirked human under the same roof as two Quirkless humans.

And that idea truly did terrify her.

From the news, to her own personal experiences with them, Mina was fully aware of what the Quirkless could be like towards the Quirked. She knew it all way too well. Exceptions did exist… but she didn't like the odds that those exceptions existed under. Not one bit.

It wasn't that she was ungrateful to Midoriya and Bakugou. It was, in fact, the opposite. She was, so grateful, she didn't think that she'd be able to convey it in an honest answer… The fact they'd offered her just this short time under their roof was… Amazing in of itself.

But there was one real answer why she honestly feel that staying here would be a bad idea. Why she didn't think that she'd be able to manage more than one night here before she packed her bags, made up an excuse, and see where the road took her. Maybe to Osaka, or Kyoto. Her reason was simple.

She was afraid of Midoriya.

The boy honestly scared her.

She didn't have any doubt that he was a nice enough guy… But he was Quirkless. She didn't know him. She couldn't… She couldn't bring herself to… Even trust him, really. There just wasn't any way that she could bring herself to let her guard down near him. Not after she'd learned this fact about him.

The pink girl rinsed her hair, though it was bittersweet as she thought more about her options, and applied conditioner to her hair next. Apparently Midoriya's mother was a fan of citric scented hair products, since each of them seemed to be themed around the fruit.

The simple reason for her fear of him was because of his Quirkless heritage. The fact that really… She didn't know what he was capable of.

He didn't have that limiter to his actions. Nothing to stop him from lashing out.

Not like her.

Not like Bakugou.

So could she even stay here?...

"So, what do you think of her?"

"Looking for a freak for a girlfriend, eh Deku?"

The black haired sighed in disappointment, as well as blushing lightly at his friends teasing, though he was more irritated than he was flustered with Katsuki's attempts to humiliate him.

"Don't do that."

"Do what?"

"Call yourself a freak. You're not any different to people who are Quirkless, Kacchan."

"Don't know if you recall, Deku – Don't worry, I know it's easy to miss – But I can generate explosions literally from my fucking hands!" As was customary at this point, Katsuki let loose a detonation in his palms, this one large enough to completely destroy the empty can he was holding onto, reducing the aluminium into something burnt and unusable. "I'm not exact Norman fuckin' Normal here."

Allowing himself to sigh once again, Izuku stood upright. "I know you're upset about this whole thing. I am too… It's not fair to you, or anyone else with a Quirk, but you can't beat yourself up for something that isn't your fault."

"Rest of the planet seems to." Katsuki responded, tossing his charred can aside carelessly.

While he didn't like to admit it, Izuku knew that Katsuki was right. No matter what evidence was put forth for Quirks just being the next step in human evolution, there were always going to be some people who claimed that it was the fault of the holder of their power. People who allowed ignorance and fear to overwhelm their common sense. Then there would be people who knew. But they wouldn't care. They'd hate them anyway.

Not the sort of world Izuku wanted to live in.

"You want my thoughts on Raccoon eyes? Here's 'em." The Explosion Quirk user added on, laying back on the bed he was sat upon. "We'd be better off chasing the bitch far, far away from Tokyo before the officials find out she's even here. Save her from attending Yuuei before she ends up like me."

"You know… You – You could try being at least a little positive…"

"The fuck is there to be positive about?! The ash blond haired boy shot upright and snapped. "I'm a freak, being assigned to a freak school for freaks, you're picking up freaks off the street like we're fucking collectables, and to top every – fucking – thing off, my best friend is trying to throw himself into the freak school for freaks to prove some bullshit claim that the rest of the planet is going to shit all over – What in the hell is there to be positive about in there?!"

"K-Kacchan…"

Katsuki looked at Izuku with burning hot eyes and blood, his anger and fury clear to anyone who saw him in that moment – Just Izuku – With teeth gritted and fists clenched as tight as they would go without his nails cutting open his skin. He quickly calmed down after realizing what he'd done, and sat back down, resting his forehead against his hands, now clasped together in a large singular fist. "Shit. Sorry, Deku…"

"…Yuuei offers the equivalent of a High school diploma… I-It's something to be positive about, right?"

"Right…" The middle school drop-out acknowledged, weak as it was.

Deciding it would be best to leave his friend alone to his thoughts, Izuku left to leave the room. "I'll… Let you be alone for a while, okay? I… Know that it must be a lot, being around so many other Quirked people, and that looking like the only thing that you'll have to look forward to for a while… I-I get it, really."

He didn't respond.

"… You're not a freak, Katsuki." Izuku told him before opening the door to exit. "You shouldn't think that about yourself. I haven't thought that you were any different since you developed your Quirk."

"…Guess you're one of the rare ones then, huh?"

Allowing himself to chuckle just a bit, Izuku nodded. "Yeah." He shut the door behind him, letting out a sigh as he walked down one of the few corridors of the apartment.

He understood – Of course he did – The feelings of anger and frustration that built up inside his already volatile friend on a daily basis. They weren't difficult to comprehend. Not in the slightest way were they difficult to understand to anyone who had even a shred of empathy in them. Being surrounded by so many people who were just reminders on how different he was to people like Izuku… It was difficult. It had to be.

And as it stood, Katsuki was going to be attending Yuuei alone. Though he wanted to think otherwise, Izuku knew the chances of getting into the school without a Quirk were slim at the best of times, and downright impossible at the worst. He'd tried, over and over, giving various reasons and sending various applications, each of which would at least grant him an interview at any other school, but with a school like Yuuei…

The chances were they were being burned on arrival when they started to recognize the name.

He was still trying though.

Making his way into the main living area, Izuku was met by his mother, who had just entered the room herself. Underneath her left arm were the old ragged clothes that Mina had worn when she had arrived. Chances were, she was preparing to permanently get rid of the damn things, since they didn't even look fir to be worn even if they were washed.

The two of them had discussed what Izuku did, many times over. How he treated the Quirked people, and constantly brought them back here, if only as a way for help them get back standing upright or get a meal in them before sending them back out – She was proud, so inexplicably proud of her sons compassion, his loyalty and his acceptance of other people. How he was willing to help them, without wanting anything from them in return.

In his mother's eyes, Izuku was a hero. She'd never be able to express how much she loved her son, and how much pride she had for him. It was all of this that made her go along with his efforts to help the Quirked people he found, why she didn't object to it, and why she would always accept what he suggested. She trusted her son, and had absolute faith in him.

"Izuku?" She spoke to him, tilting her head to get a better look at him. "I heard shouting. Is everything okay?"

The young Quirkless boy nodded quickly to assure his emotional mother that nothing had gone wrong. "Yeah. Kacchan's just… A bit stressed I think. He's a bit angry with Ashido-san for coming over here to attend Yuuei… And at me for trying to get in too."

"Did you make any progress?"

"Not yet. I'm going to go see Toshinari-sensei in a couple of days to discuss things. I'll take Ashido-san with me, if she still wants to go there."

"You're not taking Katsuki?"

"It's mostly about me going to attend. I don't think I'll need to take him with me, since he's got to go on a compulsory order. He might be better off staying here. I don't want him blowing someone up before the school term even starts."

His mother nodded at the boys thinking, agreeing that it was the most logical step. She knew his temper just as much as anyone else did, and with the power to cause explosions form his hands… Him getting angry was never a pretty sight. It usually ended in holes or scuff marks along the side of some building or tree somewhere.

"Speaking of that girl, she finished her shower. She's just stood on the balcony outside the front door now… Not sure what she'd doing."

"I'll go check on her." Izuku nodded, making his way past his mother, and up the route she had come from.

Since they lived in a shared apartment building, each one of the floors had an outer railing that overlooked the area that the building was located at. Each floor had a set of steps that took a person to each floors balcony, where they could be able to go up or down if they had business on another floor. With Mina stood out there, anyone who went up these steps would undoubtedly see her.

Izuku worried that someone would see her, or try to do something to hurt her, which was the last thing that he wanted to happen. She'd just gotten out of a traumatizing situation. He didn't want her to have to deal with anything else like that.

When he finally reached the door, he opened it quietly and slowly, so he wouldn't disturb her thoughts, at least for a few moments more, and so it would bide him a little extra time to figure out what the heck he was supposed to say to this girl.

Didn't matter if she was Quirked or not – Izuku still had no idea how to speak with girls.

She was a few meters to the side, watching the traffic flow from the street down below them. Her head was in her hands, watching with a look that the teenage boy could only really describe as being content. At peace, if only for just a little while. The pink girl looked cleaner, and a lot prettier now that she'd been able to clean up. No more much and dirt covered her skin, and showed off the exact tone of light red her skin was – Flamingo, or a light bubble-gum.

Curly hair that rivalled Izuku's drafted gently in the warm evening's wind, catching on her forehead-mounted horns. Naturally pink too, maybe a shade darker than her skin in places, and despite her sclera being black like charcoal, they shimmered just as much as anyone else's. Yellow irises helped cement further her inhuman appearance. She was unique, something that the world would never be able to replicate.

Mina was cute, even under her Quirked circumstances, Izuku considered. She wasn't someone who seemed to be particularly bothered by how she looked, only hiding it because of the way the world would try to flay her skin off if she didn't. When she slowly opened up to Izuku and Katsuki, she seemed energetic and playful. It had brightened up the gloomy mood.

But then she had gone quiet… And Izuku wanted to know why.

He slowly approached her, trying to quickly formulate what it was that he wanted to say, how to open up this conversation. What kinds of things did he need to say to her, what she needed to hear, and what was the honest truth. There wasn't going to be anyone else, anywhere on the planet, who would know the pain of the Quirked more than Mina.

Something he really did want her to know… Something eh truly wanted her to understand, was how he felt about people who had Quirks. Why he did what he did for her, even when he didn't know her. He just… Wanted her to understand.

"I-It's a nice night o-out, I-isn't it?" He finally spoke, stutters present all the while. He had a dry throat, but he kept pushing through it anyway, out of some sort of bravado that he himself didn't fully understand.

Very visually, the Acid Quirk user flinched, shooting up from her position and taking a step back from the railings, looking Izuku straight in the eyes. "M-Midoriya-san!"

"I-I'm sorry! I-I didn't mean to startle you."

The Quirked girl looked at him with suspicion. The clothes that she was wearing right now were provided by Izuku's mother. Since Mina was a few inches smaller than Izuku, she had handed him one of his old hoodies that he hadn't gotten around to throwing away yet. It was dark green, the same colour as the highlights that he had in his hair. Instead of a skirt or anything like that, she had some skin tight jeans on that had holes around the knee's, torn by accidents during sports activities in his younger years. All of them were a perfect fit for her, the hoodie leaving enough room for her chest, and the jeans leaving enough room for her hips, arms of which were crossed around her upper torso, like she was trying to shield her body almost.

"I was… Just thinking about today." She muttered. "About those guys who tried to attack me earlier."

"They were kind of uh… I-Intimidating, huh?" Izuku nodded, joining her side by the railing, watching the city below them bustle. He noticed how she took a step away from him, leaving a gap of about half a meter between them. "A-Are … I-Is something wrong?"

Running a finger along the length of her right horn, she looked down onto the street again. "I don't know… That's what I'm trying to figure out."

"H-Huh?"

"People with Quirks are supposed to hate the Quirkless… And the Quirkless are supposed to hate the Quirked… That's what the world is always telling us. That we're supposed to hate each other. And a lot of people… They do – They do hate each other." Mina looked at Izuku with a look that would get her pity, even though she wanted none of such a thing. "I… Don't know if I told you, but I'm from the Chiba Prefecture. It's…. Not far from Tokyo, but… My family still live there."

"You said …Did they throw you out?"

"….Yeah. They did…. My mom and dad just shoved me out the front door first chance they got… My brothers and sisters… They didn't even look at me… Just because of… This damn skin. Like it's my damn fault."

"…I'm really sorry. I can't imagine."

"Then I get here… And I learn Yuuei is a bunch of crap."

"They still give you a high school diploma."

"Great. So I get to fail tests while I'm in prison."

Her joke made both of them laugh, if just a little bit, releasing the tension for just a short while. Resting her chin against the railing and falling to her knees, Mina looked up at Izuku, with a quizzical look.

"Hey, Midoriya-san, mind if I ask you something?"

"S-Sure."

"You said you wanted to go to Yuuei, even though you know the kind of place it is… I just… I don't get it. Why? Why would you want to?..."

Still laughing nervously, but being serious all the while, Izuku responded clearly, and with total conviction. "I… I don't like how people with and without Quirks are constantly fighting… I… I want it to end. I want to attend a school full of people with Quirks, so that people will know that you aren't all just bloodthirsty savages… I – I want… I want peace between Quirked and Quirkless people…" His laughter became more prominent once he had finished. "Eh heh… Kind of idealistic, isn't it?"

For a short time, Mina had been scared of Izuku.

He was a Quirkless person, and from her experience, the Quirkless were some of the most dangerous people there were on this planet. Sure, she could generate enough hydrofluoric Acid to melt them down to their bone marrow, but she would never want to do that. She intentionally controlled and restrained herself so that she would never do that.

So many people who had these powers did the exact same thing that she did, hiding and restraining their superpowers so they wouldn't be able to hurt the people that they cared about that surrounded them at all times. Not just the people they cared about, but the people who surrounded them in general. It didn't make much difference if they knew them. People who had Quirks knew how dangerous they were.

And most of the time, people didn't want to hurt others. So they exercised extreme caution and control, even when in some cases, they were in the right to smack someone in the face, many times they didn't, for fear of hurting someone in the process.

For the Quirked, their powers were a handicap to their everyday lives. One more thing they had to keep in check, as the rest of the world tried to rip away their wheelchair.

But the Quirkless?

They didn't have those limits, and that was what made them terrifying. Just like the people who had assaulted her, and planned to do God knew what to her, they had all been Quirkless, and acted far more aggressive than anyone with a Quirk had ever acted towards Mina. They wanted to cause pain, and had no limitations placed on them. Nothing that they had to hold back, because they wanted to hurt another person.

They wanted to cause pain.

Psychopaths.

Killers.

Bigots.

Murderers.

Well, except for Midoriya now.

A rare, rare example of someone who, despite his own lack of one, held no ill will towards the Quirked whatsoever. Who instead, seemed to love the Quirked as much as he loved the Quirkless. Someone who spoke of peace between the two, as if it were possible.

But he was someone who didn't just speak of it. This was someone who was really trying to do something to achieve that goal. Attending Yuuei, while small now, would speak volumes to the sorts of things the Quirked and Quirkless could do if they liked in harmony with one another.

Attending school would just be one step on the road to acceptance. Proof that people who had and didn't have Quirks could still learn together.

Mina couldn't help but smile again.

"…Midoriya-kun, I think that's an amazing dream." She answered with complete honesty. In truth, Izuku was the first Quirkless person she knew who spoke with such open willingness for co-operation, not because of politics or potential for personal gain, but for the reason that he actually wanted the Quirked to be able to have the same lives as the Quirkless. "I… Didn't think anyone Quirkless would care about Quirked people like you do."

"Eh heh…" Izuku chuckled awkwardly to himself while grinning like an idiot, crimson in the face. "I uh… You're a good person, Ashido-san. I can tell. Th-There's no way someone like you can be bad."

"There's a lot of bad people out there… A lot of bad Quirkless people too… But… You're not one of them either, Midoriya-kun. I thought maybe you were… But… You're not at all."

"You – You've only known me for a day."

"I'm an awesome judge of character."

It caused a warm silence to descend over the two of them, Izuku's cheeks still burning a crimson colour, while Mina's went a light lilac colouration, due to her pigments. She wasn't able to wipe off the huge grin she had on her face either. She'd never been so happy to be so wrong about someone in her entire life.

Midoriya Izuku wanted to close the bridges between the Quirked and the Quirkless.

And Ashido Mina wanted to help that happen.

"Hey…. I-I've got a meeting in a few days… W-With one of the teachers at Yuuei… I-If you still want to, I could introduce you… S-See if he can make a place for you, A-Ashido-san."

"…Yeah. I'd like that."

"C-Come on." Izuku said, now standing upright. "We should head back inside... You'll catch cold if you stay out here for too long."

Bouncing up to her feet, Mina nodded with a huge smile to her face. Before the timid teenage boy could turn around though, Mina reached out and tapped his nose with her index finger lightly. "It's just Mina, by the way." She told him, before making her way back into the apartment floor, practically skipping the way.

The teenager became flustered almost instantly, erupting in a red colour all across his face. The action that's he had taken had caught him completely, totally and utterly off guard. In spite of all of the things that had just happened, Izuku had taken a mental note without really thinking, of one thing in particular.

She had a beautiful smile.

So here's my top secret project that I've been working on the side for you guys ^_^ This one is a bit different, since I thought it up while doing construction work, this story has a clear story planned out, and will end once the end chapter is reached, no dragging the story out. There's a lot of things planned for this one - See if you can notice some of the hints I dropped in because of how different the world is in this story ^_^

I hope you enjoyed this chapter - This was a mammoth one. Don't expect this story to update weekly like a lot of my other ones. This one will update when it updates. Chapters might be shorter i the future, but I wanted to give you guys a big starting chapter to begin with ^_^

Let me know what you thought, and what you'd like to see - The more feedback I get, the more I'll be able to do with this story, and it makes my freaking day when I see new comments or kudos or updates or whatever ^_^ See you next time guys!