"Get back, you freak!"

"Stay the hell away from me!"

"Die, you damned monster!"

Sometimes, Midoriya Izuku wished he was quirkless. At least then, he wouldn't have to deal with literal mobs forming to hunt him down and string him up. Not that they would be able to, but if he fought back, then the police and heroes would get involved, and that was a whole mess he did not feel like dealing with.

So, Izuku ran. And he kept running, right out of town, on to the next one. This must have been the… Eighth one since his Quirk manifested? Man, he got around.

It was a cute place called Musutafu. It wasn't exactly small, considering that it was an entire city, but after living in Tokyo for a while, a lot of places seemed to be lacking. Well, better this than a village or something.

Izuku was currently wandering the quiet streets, slipping around in dark alleyways to get a scope of the place. He needed to find a place to stay, but he wanted it to be just right. A quiet suburb, with quiet, not-nosy neighbors, Probably not an apartment, since those tended to be far more up close and personal than Izuku was comfortable with. The last time he had tried living in one, the neighbors found him out within a week, and he was out the city after mere hours. Talk about a disaster.

Would there even be an available house, though? This seemed like a nice place, so surely a lot of people would be scrambling for an opportunity to live here. So, where did that leave Izuku?

The boy sighed in resignation, and pulled out his phone. Loathe as he was to do it, he needed to call for some help.

"Hey, mom, funny story…"

Today was his first day of classes, though it was after the semester had already started. At the age of thirteen, Izuku was in his final year of junior high, at Orudera Junior High. He fiddled with the collar and cuffs of his black gakuran. He scowled at his reflection in the mirror, not liking the uniform. It was just so… Tight, and constricting. Growling in frustration, Izuku quickly undid all the buttons on the jacket, revealing his white button-down shirt, which then suffered a similar fate as he opened the top. Now, his collarbones were exposed to the air, and he was able to breath easy. He didn't like things being near his neck.

Walking out his new single-story house, he tugged his bag into a more comfortable position, with the strap on his shoulder and the main bulk under his arm. He shoved his free hand into his pocket, curving his back into a slouch and letting his shoulders hang. He looked every bit as exhausted as he felt. It took a lot of energy to repress certain… Urges, and the longer this went on, the worse things would get. Unfortunately, he couldn't risk letting loose just yet. As the new person in town, if a bunch of strange occurrences happened, he would be a prime suspect.

In actuality, very few people would link a series of horrific murders to a zombified teen, but it wasn't paranoia unless absolutely nobody was watching

"Looks like we have a transfer student. If you would please stand and introduce yourself?" the teacher said, smiling idly at the green-haired boy.

Izuku rose slowly, pushing out his chair and causing the legs to loudly grind against the floor tiles. A few students cringed, but nobody paid it any mind.

The boy opened his mouth, but the first thing that came out was a jaw-stretching yawn. He half-heartedly raised a hand to cover the sight, but the damage was already done. A few of his peers began to chuckle, while the teacher seemed to vaguely disapprove.

"Name's Midoriya Izuku. Nice to meet ya." With that, Izuku bent down in a bow, but rather than straightening up to complete the gesture, he simply sat right down.

The teacher's mouth was curled into a small frown, but he ignored the poor manners. After all, they were much better than those of the blond boy who was glaring at the transfer.

"Oi, transfer, think you're tough shit or somethin'!?" Bakugou Katsuki shouted, swaggering up to his new classmate's desk.

Izuku blinked, stopping his drawing, mechanical pencil mid-stroke. "Huh?"

"The hell was that show during homeroom, hah!? What, too cool to even be bothered to introduce yourself!?"

Izuku blinked again. Why was this guy acting so offended by that? Was he just finding some reason to attack him?

"Um, no? I'm just pretty tired. I have issues sleeping, so I tend to stay up for most of the night."

"Oh, boohoo- little bitch can't sleep without his nightlight!?"

Against his will, Izuku yawned, mouth opening wide enough for the hinges of his jaw to click audibly. The green-haired boy flinched at the noise. "Oh, that did not sound good," he muttered. Meanwhile, the blond began twitching violently at the show of apparent disrespect.

"You fucking-!" Bakugou shouted, bringing his hand down to slam it against Izuku's desk. His palms were slick with his nitroglycerin sweat, primed and ready to create a localized blast to scare the new student. It worked wonders on the other extras in this school- they were all cowards, scared of a few noisy fireworks!

Except, unlike before, it wouldn't work this time, because Bakugou's hand would never connect with the desk. Instead, it was caught by Izuku, much to the surprise of Bakugou and all the other students in the class, who had remained to watch the inevitable confrontation.

In his shock, Bakugou's control of his Quirk slipped him, and the explosion he had charged up detonated without his consent.

"Ah," Izuku murmured, letting go of Bakugou in favor of examining his gakuran's sleeve. "It's burned…"

Bakugou was at a loss for words. Never before had anyone his age, or even the occasional older kid who would try and take him on, been able to stop him so easily. In fact, none of them had been able to stop him at all. HIs agemates were far too scared, and the high schoolers had learned their lesson after he beat them down in a five-on-one match.

The blond held the wrist which had been grabbed in his other hand, lightly massaging it and watching as it slowly turned red.

"Tch!" He turned away, ignoring one of the annoying groupies who was reaching towards him in what seemed like worry. He swatted the hand away, before pushing the kid's chest. While he stumbled against a desk, and with the new kid occupied with his damaged uniform, Bakugou stalked out of the class to think.

"Since you're all third years, it's time for you to think seriously about your futures," the teacher began one morning. "I'll pass out handouts for your future plans now, but…" He grabbed the stack of papers on his desk, and with a flourish, tossed them up into the air.

"You're all pretty much planning to go into the hero course, right!?"

The classroom erupted into noise, with kids showing of their Quirks. Rock-covered hands, elemental manipulation, flesh that turned into spikes, and… Removable eyeballs? That was kinda gross. Izuku cringed slightly, and shifted in his seat so he didn't have to see that particular student.

"Yes, yes, you all have wonderful Quirks!" the teacher cried, "But using them at school is against the rules."

"Sensei!" Bakugou called, cutting through the noise. "Don't lump us all in the same group! I'm not gonna be stuck at the bottom with the rest of these rejects!"

The room once more exploded into sound, but this time it was with his classmates yelling at the blond for being rude.

"You should all shut up like the extras you are!" Bakugou shouted back, seeming to take pleasure in the way his peers got even more riled up.

"Ah," the teacher said, and everybody stopped yelling to give him their attention. The man was looking at one of the pieces of paper now scattered on his desk. "It seems that you want to go to U.A High, right, Bakugou?"

"Eh!? That national school!?"

"It was in the top 0.2% of high schools this year!"

"Isn't their acceptance rate always really low!?"

"Exactly!" Bakugou shouted, putting a stop to the chatter. "That's why you guys are just a bunch of extras!" He leaned back further in his chair, then pushed himself into the air with just his arms alone, landing on the desk to tower above the rest of the class.

"I aced the mock exam! I'm the only one at this school that could possibly get into U.A! I'll definitely surpass All Might, and become the top hero! My name will be the highest on the list of top earners!" Bakugou cried with passion, steadily getting louder and using explosive movements to match his tone.

The teacher, used to his student's antics, spent a moment shuffling through some other papers, before something caught his eye.

"Oh, Midoriya, it seems like you never turned in your choices for which high schools you want to apply to. Do you have that on you?"

Izuku tapped his chin thoughtfully, before his shook his head. "I didn't do it, 'cause I have no clue what I wanna do in the future."

The teacher frowned slightly. "Well, that's important, so make sure you figure something out- the school year's almost over, and if you don't apply, you won't be going to high school. If you need any help, you can come talk to me or one of the counselors, alright?"

"'Kay~."

"Anyways, everybody quiet down. It's time to start lessons."

Izuku was walking home, passing underneath the same bridge as always, when he heard a metallic wobble or something behind him. Turning in curiosity, he bore witness to a disgusting… Thing pushing its way out of the sewers, causing the manhole to scrape against the concrete. The noise reverberated through the tight space, along with the blob's laugh.

"Oh-ho? What's this? A lonely little boy walking through an empty tunnel?" the thing asked mockingly, breaking off into laughter. It sounded distinctly male. "You'll make a perfect meat puppet!" he bellowed, launching his amorphous green body at Izuku.

Lips curling downwards in a disgusted sneer at the sight- and smell- of the sewer monster, Izuku leaped backwards, then again when the thing lurched forward a second time. Now that they were out of the dark tunnel, and in the sunlight, Izuku could see exactly what was trying to attack him.

The blob looked much the same as in the darkness, but now the sickly green color of his body was revealed. It looked the same as sewer water, which, considering how he just came out from a manhole, was likely accurate. Izuku could now also see the thing's yellow, bloodshot eyes, hovering inside the translucent jelly-like substance, at what appeared to be the top of thing's nearly-nonexistent body.

"Oh, so you can dodge? You must be pretty strong- I want you even more now!"

The slime drew back, preparing for another attempt, when a loud clang resounded behind him. Leaning to peer around the monster, Izuku caught sight of the manhole cover which the blob came from lodged into the underside of the bridge, embedded in the cracked concrete, From the now-empty space emerged a beast of a man. His muscles were larger than Izuku's head, and he had the type of blond-yellow hair one would expect to see in America. The two segments which stuck up in the air seemed odd, but helped Izuku identify the man.

"Have no fear, for I am here!" All Might cried, his booming voice echoing through the tunnel and blasting Izuku's ear drums.

The slime monster squealed in terror, eyes somehow going wide even though there were no lids to speak of. He began oozing rapidly towards Izuku, though his focus seemed more on escaping than taking Izuku hostage. Still, the young man didn't want to take any chances, and leapt up high. He did a spinning flip, and alighted on top of a lamp post, crouching down to observe.

"Detroit, SMASH!" All Might shouted, pulling his fist back and launching it forward at speeds so great, Izuku hardly saw it move. His eyes widened when he buffeted by a torrential gale, which threatened to knock him off his perch, which was all shaking in the gust. He raised one hand to protect his eyes from being snatched away by the wind, using the other to grab onto the light fixture with an iron grip, accidentally bending the steel.

When the miniature tornado finally died down, Izuku lowered his arm, to the sight of the slime monster torn to piece and scattered across the street, seemingly unconscious. All MIght burst into action, fast enough that Izuku, with his impressive kinetic vision, only saw a blond blur, before the man finally stopped moving. Izuku finally noticed the bag the hero carried, which held two large soda bottles that were now full of green goop.

Putting his hands on his hip, the muscular beast began laughing. "Ha ha ha! Nice job holding out, young man! But do not worry, for it is safe now!"

Izuku hopped down from his observation point, dusting off his clothes when he landed.

"You're really fast," Izuku said, digging through his bag.

"Ah ha, you're too kind, young man. Would you like an autograph?"

"Yup, lemme just find a- ah, there it is." Izuku pulled out his notebook and a pen, handing both over to the hero. He might not be the biggest fan of All Might, but meeting the Number One Hero in Japan? He needed to have something to remind him that it wasn't just a fever dream.

"By the way, All Might, I have a question."

"I'm sorry, young man," All Might apologized, handing the signed notebook back to Izuku, "But I am very busy, and unfortunately do not have time to talk. If you would like, you can always send an email to the address listed-"

"Can a monster become a hero?"

All Might froze, not expecting such severity. His mind began to race, wondering, just who was this monster? He had to be careful here- a wrong answer may result in the rise of a new villain, which could lead to many people getting hurt. He had heard of things like this happening all the time, where the absent-minded negligence of a hero drove someone over the edge, and did his best to avoid such a situation. Both because innocents may get involved, and because it hurt him, to know that he was the cause of a bright life turning down a dark road. He was a hero who wanted to help people, and sometimes that included situations where his fists were not the answer.

After a few moments of silence, All Might decided upon an answer.

"Well, if that supposed monster wants to become a hero… Then they aren't really a monster, are they?"