Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Once, there was a city in the sky. It was filled with tall spires where people worked to change the world, away from all the war and chaos below. They knew they could change the world because the people of this city had something the people of the ground did not, magic. Magic capable of making the impossible a reality. They took people in from the ground below, saved them from the wars and strife. All who pushed themselves to be masters of magic had a place in the city.

“Once, in that city, there was a boy. He watched the stars above move and he wanted to understand them. He saw horrible things happen on the ground and he wanted to change them. As he grew he studied the one form of magic none could master, time itself. He worked day and night to find a way to go through time and stop the pains of the world. 

“But the gods of the world were angry at the city. They saw the people of the city using their magic to help others without their help as a crime. So the gods banded together and forced the city to crash into the ground below. 

“But… the boy’s work was complete. He was able to turn back time, to warn the city that raised him. He protected the city from the gods’ attack. With his work he helped the city stand as a bastion of hope, where all have their place.”

The man now known as Hisashi Midoriya looks down at his son. Young Izuku is curled up in bed, an All Might action figure in his arms. The paint is faded and chipped in places. One of his hair tufts has a chunk missing. The boy’s eyes are heavy as he tries to stay awake.

“Do you think I’d belong there?” Izuku asks. “Even if my quirk isn’t strong?”

Hisashi internally sighs. Izuku’s “quirk” is being able to see in the dark, along with slightly pointed ears. The elf kisses his son on the forehead.

“With a heart as big as yours, you’ll belong anywhere so long as you put your mind to it. Now, you should go to sleep. I’ll see you in the morning. Love you.”

“Love you too.”

Hisashi tucks Izuku in and shuts off the light as he leaves the room. He closes the door and turns around to see Inko standing behind him. 

“It’s a sweet story,” she whispers. “Do you think he’s going to be okay?”

Hisashi sighs. “I don’t know. I hope he’ll figure out his place in this world. It won’t be as easy as a story makes it seem.”

“Maybe..” Inko takes her husband’s hand. “Maybe you should tell him that it isn’t just a story?”

He shakes his head. “Not until he’s older. He doesn’t need to know about my past failures.”

She reaches up and touches his face. “He doesn’t need to know about Aeor. Just that you’ll understand what it’s like to be different, and maybe tell him that he can learn how to do what you do. It would help if he still wants to be a hero when he gets older.”

A soft smile crosses Hisashi’s face. “I do what to show him magic, when he’s ready to use it. But I’ll have to get things ready.” He leans down and kisses Inko. “Let’s go to bed.”

Months later, Izuku sits on a set of swings at the school playground. In his hand is his All Might action figure. He flies the action figure around, making swooshing noises.

“I am here!” he squeaks. 

Izuku leans too far forward and slips off the swing. He hits the ground and coughs. Looking up, he sees his toy sitting in the mud. As he reaches forward a foot stomps on the toy. He looks up and sees Kacchan standing over him.

“Oops,” the boy says sarcastically. He raises his foot, revealing that one of the toy’s arms broke off. “Looks like your old toy broke. You should be more careful.”

“You did that on purpose, Kacchan!”

“Maybe you should stop pretending to be a hero. Or next time it won’t just be your shitty toy.”

Kacchan walks off and Izuku grabs his toy. He walks around the edge of the school building and sits against the wall. Tears run down his face. He holds the pieces of the figures together. 

His dad’s quirk lets him change the shape of objects objects. He can fix it. Izuku taps the pieces together. He has his dad’s ears and ability to see in the dark. Maybe his quirk can do the same things? 

“Come on, fix.” Nothing changes.

He frowns for a moment before thinking back on his dad’s quirk. He uses little phrases to help him focus on his quirk. He has one specifically for fixing things.

“Nikrent?” That sounds right, but nothing happens. He starts to growl at the figure. “Nikrent!”

A pulse of energy runs through his body. His eyes flash for a moment. He looks at both pieces of the toy before sticking them together one last time.

He takes a deep breath. “ Nikrent !”

The seam where the bits of plastic meet starts to glow. Izuku focuses on the that glow. The plastic starts to meld together. After a minute the glow fades and the toy is whole. Sweat runs down Izuku’s face as he smiles.

“I did it.”

A wave of exhaustion washes over him. He blinks-

And is laying on a bed. He looks around and sees that he’s in the nurse’s office. His mom is talking with the nurse, holding his toy. Her eyes widen as she sees him awake and she rushes to hug him.

“What happened?” Izuku groans.

“That's what I want to know,” Inko replies. “Your teacher found you after recess. Did someone hurt you?

He shakes his head. “No. My toy broke, so I fixed it.”

“You fixed it?”

“Like how Dad does.”

Inko looks down at the little All Might. A teary smile creeps across her face. She kneels beside the bed. 

“You have to go back to class, but Dad and I are going to have something for you when you get home.”

Izuku raises his hands. “Yay!”

Later, when the school day ends, Izuku walks back home. He bounces with each step. His quirk lets him fix things! Maybe he can do other things like his dad. He can be a hero some day! Plus his parents have something for him! He laughs as he walks up to his apartment door.

He opens it. “Mom, Dad? I’m home!”

“I’m in the kitchen!” His mom calls. “Wash up. Your dad is preparing your gift.”

Izuku washes his hands and changes out of his uniform before sitting on the couch. He vibrates in his seat. After a minute Inko comes in and sits beside him. 

“Are you ready, Izuku?” his dad’s voice calls from the other room.

He nods and bounces. “Yes yes yes!”

His dad emerges from his room, carrying a book and a small bag. Izuku looks at the book inquisitively. It’s thick, like the books his dad reads, with no words on the cover. There seems to be gold markings dug into the cover, though from his angle he can’t tell what they are. 

“Is that my present?”

Hisashi ruffles Izuku’s hair before sitting on his other side. “It is. But before we can give it to you, we have to talk about exactly what you did.”

Izuku frowns and looks down. “Oh.”

“Hey, don’t look so sad. I just want to know how you knew how to fix your toy.”

“Well, it broke. I wanted to see if I got your quirk, and I remembered that little word you used to focus. When I said it, I felt.. Tingly. Then tired. But I fixed it!”

Hisashi smiles. “Izuku, I have something to tell you, but it’s a secret. So you have to promise not to talk to anyone who isn’t me or your mother about it.”

“Promise!”

His dad laughs to himself before standing up. He turns to look at Izuku. 

“I need to tell you the truth about where I came from. I’m not from Europe. I’m… not from Earth. I am from a city called Aeor.” Hisashi waves his hand, starlight following. The light forms into a city. “We were a city where people used magic, not quirks, to help the world.”

The light of the floating city shines in Izuku’s eyes. He blinks. “You have magic? You have magic! Do I have magic? Wait, why don’t you have a quirk? How did you get here? The floating city! Were you the time traveling boy from my bedtime story?”

“Slow down, son. One question at a time. I came to Earth because of an accident. I was trying to use my time machine when something went wrong. I appeared in Japan, lost and confused.”

“Confused enough to walk in front of a car,” Inko interrupts. Izuku laughs and Hisashi rolls his eyes, still smiling.

“Never gonna live that down. Anyways, I don’t have a quirk because I’m not human. Though, no humans from my world have quirks. I am an elf.”

Izuku perks up at that. “Wait. Is that why I can see in the dark?” He frowns. “Am I quirkless?”

Hisashi gets down on one knee and puts a hand on Izuku’s shoulder. “You do not need a quirk to be a great man. In Aeor we learned how to manipulate the flow of magic. I can teach you how to do the same.”

“You can?”

“It will take a lot of time and practice, and you will need this.” 

Hisashi holds out the book and Izuku takes it. On the front, in gold, are symbols he doesn’t recognize. He opens the book and sees strange words and pictures.

“That is your spellbook. All the spells you learn will be recorded within. Now, you need one more thing. Hold out your right hand.”

Izuku does as he is told. Hisashi opens his small pouch and waves a hand. Silver flows from the pouch like water, along with a small emerald. Hisashi chants in a language Izuku doesn’t understand. Two rings of strange symbols appear around Izuku’s wrist and the silver flows between them. The symbols set themselves into the metal, followed by the emerald. Izuku is left with a perfectly formed bracelet.

“This is your arcane focus. It will help you cast spells.” Hisashi reaches into his shirt and pulls out a necklace with a twelve-sided box as a pendant. “Just like me.”

Izuku looks down at the bracelet, then his spellbook.He leans forward and wraps his arms around his dad’s neck. His dad slowly returns the hug.

Learning magic is difficult. Even before casting a single spell, Izuku spends months studying. He has to learn mathematics so far ahead of his class, the aeoran language, and more. He perseveres, though. Anything to be a hero. 

Eventually, the two sit in the living room. They are both on the floor, the table and couch pushed away. Between them there is a fireproof tarp with a candle on top.

“Lighting a candle is one of the simplest things you can do as a wizard,” Hisashi says. “All you need is to put a little bit of magic into the wick to ignite it. Watch me closely.”

Hisashi rolls his wrist in a circle before snapping, “ Yol .” The candle ignites. He waves his hand over the flame. “ Evenaar .” The flame goes out. “Now, get ready to cast.”

Izuku raises his arm. His bracelet weighs on him.”

“Good. Now cast the spell.”

Izuku flicks his wrist and snaps, “Yol.” The candle is still unlit. He casts the spell again. “Yol.” Nothing.

“Yol.” Nothing.

“Yol.” Come on, work.

“Yol!”

“Izuku.”

“YOL!”

“Izuku stop!”

Izuku blinks. Tears are running down his face. He drops his arm and looks down.

“Why won’t it work? I did it exactly like you.”

“That’s not entirely..” Hisashi shakes his head. He crawls around until he is right behind Izuku. 

Izuku feels his father take him by the shoulders and pulls him onto his lap. He leans his head back as Hisashi hugs him.

“Izuku, what powers arcane magic?”

The boy takes a deep breath. “Ether?”

“Correct.” Hisashi creates an orb in the air. Silver lines spread across the orb. “Ether flows across a plane through leylines like water through a river. Just as we can build machines to alter the flow of water, so can we with ether. But the human body isn’t a machine. So to move the water we have to stick our hands in and get wet. You get what I’m saying?”

Izuku nods for a moment before shaking his head. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry for not understanding.” He grabs his chin. “Perhaps throwing him in a lake would help? No, you’re letting the metaphor get away from you.”

“Dad, you’re mumbling.”

“Oh, so I am. My point is that you need to have the right mindset. Close your eyes.”

“I don’t think this will work. I’m just useless.”

“None of that talk. No one is useless, especially not my little boy. Now trust me and close your eyes.”

Izuku huffs and closes his eyes. 

“Good. Now try to ignore everything but my voice. Magic is the strongest force in the world, stronger than any quirk. But it can only do anything with your will guiding it. The spells help you shape it, but you are the connection point for ether to interact with the world. Imagine the ether as a warmth, something burning like the sun.”

Izuku’s breathing slows. He reaches out, trying to feel the warmth. Nothing. He scrunches his face in frustration. He shifts around to get comfortable, pushing against his father…

And feels warmth.

His father is warm, but it’s not just that. The warmth flows through his veins. The electricity he felt when he fixed his toy has returned. It feels like the sun is burning in his chest. 

"When you're ready, reach out for the candle and let the warmth flow from you to it."

Izuku turns his wrist and snaps. “Yol .”

He opens his eyes. The candle burns. He throws his hands in the air. 

“I did it!”

Hisashi ruffles Izuku’s hair. “Good job! You’re a real wizard now.”

Izuku smiles and leans into his father’s embrace. He has powers. He can be a hero.

Chapter Text

An eight-year-old Izuku walks down the street beside his father. He adjusts the straps on his backpack and yawns. 

“Why do I have to come to work with you? I can stay home alone.”

Hisashi shakes his head. “Because if you’re going to use your magic to fight at school you don’t get that privilege.”

“But Kacchan was being a bully!” It’s true. He was pushing around a kid with his quirk for being small.

“I know, but you need to be responsible. You’re not a hero yet, so you can’t just go around electrocuting bullies. Now come on, we’re almost to the Jiros’ home.”

Hisashi Midoriya works as a jewelry maker. Using his magic makes constructing or adjusting such items extremely easy. Today one of his jobs is a house call to one of the nicer neighborhoods in the city. 

As they walk up the walkway to the house, Hisashi puts his hand on Izuku’s shoulder. “Now, the Jiros are a new client. I need things to go well, so I want you to sit back and study. If you show me you can be responsible, I’ll talk to Mom about letting up on your punishment.”

When they get to the door, Hisashi knocks. After a few moments it opens, revealing a woman with short, dark hair and headphone jacks coming off her earlobes.

Hisashi smiles. “Hello, you must be Missus Jiro. I’m Hisashi Midoriya and this is my son, Izuku.”

“Oh, it’s good to meet you.” she steps to the side. “Come in. My jewelry is in the dining room.”

The house is filled with records, pictures, and musical instruments. Izuku stops for a moment to look at a guitar before following along.

“You have a beautiful home,” Hisashi says, “Thank you for letting me bring Izuku along. His mother is at work and our usual sitter is ill.”

“It’s not a problem. Our little Kyoka is about his age. You know, we can see if she wants to play.”

Izuku looks up at his dad. “Can we?”

Mrs. Jiro speaks in a voice barely raised above normal. “Kyoka, come downstairs please.”

A girl Izuku’s age comes walking down the stairs. She looks remarkably similar to her mother, though her hair has a light streak through it. She looks at Izuku and gives a slight wave with one of her jacks. Izuku waves back. 

“Would you like to play with Izuku?”

Kyoka shrugs. “Sure.” 

She turns and goes back upstairs and Izuku follows her. They go into a bedroom that’s filled with musical instruments. Kyoka hops on her bed and pulls out a ukulele. 

“Do you have super hearing?” Izuku asks as he sits on the floor. “Your mom wasn’t yelling when she told you to come down.”

Kyoka waves her jack around. “Yeah. Things are louder for me.” She starts to strum. “What’s your quirk?”

Izuku takes off his backpack and starts digging through it. “My quirk lets me mess with energy.” He pulls out his spellbook and starts flipping through. 

“What’s that?”

“Oh, so it’s easier to use my quirk if I have, what did Dad call them, mne-mon-ic devices. This book has a bunch of them for me.” It’s not entirely a lie. That’s part of what a spell is.

Izuku flips to the page he’s looking for. A very basic spell. A cantrip, as his father calls them. 

“Play something. I wanna try something.”

Kyoka raises an eyebrow, but plays a short tune. Izuku reads through the spell one more time before holding out his hands and closing his eyes. He focuses on the weave of magic that permeates the world. Warmth fills his body. He murmurs to himself and plucks the air. The tune that Kyoka played echoes through the air. He opens his eyes to see her, mouth agape.

“How did you do that?” she asks. “You just heard it once.”

He shrugs. “I have a good ear, I guess.”

“Okay, try this.”

Kyoka plays a slightly longer tune, with Izuku copying it. They go back and forth, the melody getting longer and more complex each time. After a few minutes, Izuku starts to pant. His forehead is slick with sweat. 

“You okay?” Kyoka asks.

Izuku nods. “Yup. Just tired. You, you’re good at making music.”

“Yeah, right. I’m not not my parents. And you can make whatever music I can with your quirk.”

“I just copied what you did. I can’t actually make new music. You can play.”

“Yeah…” Kyoka holds up her ukulele. “Wanna learn?”

Hisashi twists his hands as the last ring shrinks itself to be just the right level of snug on Mrs. Jiro’s finger. He shakes out his wrists and nods to himself. He starts to put the equipment he uses to mundanely examine jewelry back into his briefcase. 

“Thank you again for doing this,” Mrs. Jiro says. “I’ve been meaning to get this done for years, but with me and my husband’s careers and raising Kyoka there’s just never been time.”

“I know how that feels,” Hisashi replies. “Everything just feels so much more hectic than when we were kids.” His lips curl in amusement. He’s older than her by centuries. Human lives always move so quickly. His smile fades. “It feels like Izuku is growing up too fast.”

“That’s how we feel with Kyoka. You should have seen my husband when we took Kyoka to her first day at school. I could barely get him to let her go.”

“He sounds like my wife. Though speaking of our children, we should see how they’re fairing.”

Mrs. Jiro points her jacks towards the ceiling. “Hmn, sounds like Kyoka’s putting on a performance.”

They walk up to a bedroom and Mrs. Jiro opens the door. Izuku and Kyoka are sitting on the bed. He is holding a ukulele while she is guiding his fingers. 

Izuku looks up and waves. “Hey! Kyoka was teaching me how to play! She’s really good.”

Kyoka pokes him in the side with one of her jacks. “I’m not that good.”

“Remember what I’ve told you,” Mrs. Jiro says “Please don’t poke people with your jacks.”

Kyoka folds her arms and huffs. Izuku hands back the ukulele.

“Can you keep teaching me?” He asks. “Maybe later?”

“Sure. I wanna see you make music with your quirk more. Mom, can Izuku come back?”

Mrs. Jiro folds her arms. “That depends on Izuku’s parents.”

Izuku stares at Hisashi, his eyes wide. Hisashi sighs.

“We’ll try to figure out a time.”

Izuku pumps a fist. “Yes!”

A ten year old Izuku sits in his father’s office, in the center of an arcane circle. The circle around him glows with translucent, grey mist. Hisashi walks around him, the mist flowing from his hand. Izuku’s eyes are closed and in front of him is an apple on a kitchen scale. 

“Potentia,” Hisashi says, “Is a fundamental state of existence, the potenti al in everything. By gaining an understanding of potentia, we can alter the underlying properties of time, space, even entropy. Today’s lesson in potimancy is simple: make the apple heavier.”

Izuku nods and reaches out with his mind. As his arcane will touches the potentia, he gasps like he just broke the surface of a pool. Despite the fact that he knows the energy came from his father, it feels baked into the very air he breathes. His body shimmers between blue and red. 

“Imagine the space the apple exists in as a sheet. Its weight makes a dip in the sheet. What you need to do is pull the sheet under the apple, making it heavier.”

Izuku nods and extends his consciousness to the apple. He can feel the ripples it makes in the potentia. He reaches out with one hand and pulls down. Mist surrounds the apple. The weight on the scale starts to increase. One hundred ten grams, one hundred twenty, one hundred fifty, two hundred grams. 

“Excellent. Now hold.”

Izuku holds the spell as long as he can. The potentia is slippery, pulling back at his attempts to hold it. It quickly pulls itself free, and the mist disappears. He lets out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding.

“Did I do good?” Izuku asks.

Hisashi checks his phone before ruffling Izuku’s hair. “Thirty seconds. For a first attempt it’s better than expected. After decades of studying potimancy, I know how difficult it can be to grasp. In our early studies, my partner attempted to reverse the aging of fruit. It took hours to get the resulting fruit explosion out of the lab, even with magic.” 

Izuku smiles. It’s rare to get a story about his father’s time in Aeor. Sure, most days include a history lesson of some sort, but not a personal anecdote. He sits for a minute, listening to his father recount his experiments with high level magic that the boy still doesn’t have a grasp on. Then it’s back to training. 

After an hour of having Izuku manipulate gravity, Inko sticks her head through the door. “I know you’re having fun studying magic, but the Jiros are going to be over soon.”

Izuku grins. Right, he’s going to the park with Kyoka. He runs to his room and puts on his jacket.

At the park, Izuku and Kyoka are standing in front of some monkey bars. Their parents sitting on a bench a ways back, not paying much attention to the pair. Izuku jumps towards the bars, unable to touch them. 

“How much can you lift with your quirk?” he asks.

Kyoka raises a jack and attempts to menacingly point it at him. “Izuku, no.”

“I’m not asking you to lift me. Lift yourself! Train your quirk! Be like All Might!” Izuku pumps a fist into the air. “Plus Ultra!”

Kyoka softly smiles at her friend. “Jump up there yourself then.”

Izuku smirks. “Fine.”

He reaches out his hands and feels for potentia. Grey mist surrounds his body. He has a hang of increasing something’s weight, so the reverse shouldn’t be too hard. He pulls up on the potentia and suddenly feels lighter. He crouches and jumps. He grabs the bars and starts to hang there.

“Success!”

Kyoka reaches out with her jack and jabs Izuku in the side. He jerks around and laughs.

“Kyoka no!”

She starts to jab him more. He wiggles, trying to keep hold on the bars. After one too many jabs his hands slip. He falls, landing on Kyoka. They both look at each other and start to laugh.

Izuku and Kyoka are hanging out in a warehouse that Izuku’s dad rents as a workshop. They’re allowed to do pretty much whatever they want so long as they don’t mind being on camera. Kyoka is sitting on a chair, strumming at her guitar. Izuku is in the middle of a circle, swinging a sword made of black energy.

“Your dad makes some weird shit,” Kyoka says as she looks at a model of some sort of seven-pronged machine. “What even is it?”

Model of an anti-god defense grid. “Mechanical flower. He tends to craft a lot in his free time. Speaking of parents, have you talked to yours about UA?”

Kyoka sighs. “No. It hasn’t come up.”

Izuku swirls his sword in his hand. “You’re putting it off. Don’t you want to be heroes together?”

She puts down her guitar. “Yeah, but you try telling your parents you don’t want to go into the family business. Hell, your quirk is actually one that would be good for a hero. It’s basically magic.”

Izuku stops swinging his sword. In the seven years they’ve known each other, he hasn’t told her about his magic. He trusts that she won’t tell anyone. But at this point, how will she react to him lying about his quirk for years? He releases his hold on the magic and his sword fades. 

“You’re right,” he says. “My family has been supporting me being a hero for all my life. But your parents just want you to be happy. They’ll back you up if you tell them you want to be a hero.”

“If I can be a hero. I mean, my quirk isn’t all that special.”

Izuku walks over and leans on the work table. “Your quirk is really cool, and simple quirks don’t make them bad for being a hero. Best Jeanist’s quirk is literally controlling denim and he’s the number four hero. So long as you do your best to get there, you’ll make it.”

He flicks his wrist and a spectral hand grabs her guitar. He pulls the instrument to him and starts to strum.

“Come on, Kyoka,” he sings. “Tell them you wanna be a hee-” His voice cracks.

Kyoka softly smiles as Izuku coughs. She pokes him with her jack. “Dork.” She stands up and sighs. “Fine, I’ll tell them. But actually train if you’re going to try to sing.”

Izuku gives a thumbs up. Kyoka walks to the door. As he watches her go, he feels a warmth in his chest. He smiles as he goes to follow her. 

Himiko Toga runs through back alleys. Saito’s blood still stains her school uniform. She can’t go back home. Her parents will just have her locked up. But she didn’t mean to kill him. She needed to drink from him, needed to watch the blood run out. She feels the blood churn in her stomach. Soon she’ll become him too. 

She slips on some trash and tries to catch herself on a dumpster. Her hand slices along the metal and she hits the ground. She grabs her bleeding hand and hisses. 

“Oh no! What do we have here?”

Himiko looks up to see a man in a long coat. His left eye is a dark blue and scales spread across his face. He kneels and reaches for Himiko. She grabs a glass bottle and wields it in his direction.

The man holds up his hands, revealing two clawed hands. “I do not mean to scare you, dear child. That cut needs to be healed, though, or it may become infected.”

Himiko glances at her hand before slowly holding it out. The man gently takes it in one hand and grabs something under his jacket with the other. He murmurs to himself and his hand starts to glow green. Himiko’s eyes widen as she watches the cut weave itself closed. The pain fades and the man lets go. 

She clenches her fist. “Was that your quirk?”

The man gives a fanged smile. “No, dear child. This power is a small gift from my God.” His eyes run down her. “Your face, I saw it on the news. You killed that boy.”

Her hand clenches harder around the bottle. “Sorry, wasn’t me.”

“Do not mistake me for a ‘hero’. My Lord spoke to me, told me a child of blood would come and that she would need my aid.”

Himiko raises an eyebrow. “Yeah?”

“If you come with me, child, I will ensure your hunger is always sated.” The man stands and reaches a hand down to her.

Himiko licks her lips. She won’t have to go hungry again? She can’t pass up that opportunity right now. She reaches out and takes the hand.

“What’s your name?” she asks.

“You may call me Father Ryuga.”

“Cool. You say you serve a god. Which one?”

Father Ryuga leans down and whispers a name into her ear. Then he pulls back, a smile on his face.

“Come, child. I need to prepare for tonight’s sermon, and you need to get out of those clothes.”

And so Himiko follows the father into the dark alley to join his flock.

Chapter Text

Izuku lays in bed, staring at a ceiling. Above his bed is a model of the city of Aeor, suspended by magic. The home he never knew. He waves his hand, watching sparks of arcane energy follow behind. What would the people of Aeor have thought of his abilities? Of his desire to be a hero? He sighs and looks at his phone. Almost six in the morning. He sighs again. He pulls up his texts and messages Kyoka.

Me: You up?

The message back is almost immediate.

Kyochan: Nope

Izuku cracks a smile.

Me: Wanna hang out? Grab some breakfast before the exam?

Kyochan: Yeah I could eat

Me: I’ll be over in 10.

Izuku slides out of bed and changes into his school uniform. He looks in the mirror and sees the crookedly tied tie. He shrugs. No magic that can fix that. He grabs his pre-packed school bag and steps out his bedroom. He walks down the stairs and to the door. 

“Izuku?”

He stops and steps backwards until he is looking through the kitchen door. His father is leaning on the counter and holding a bowl of food. Right, elf stuff. Doesn’t need as much sleep as humans.

Izuku waves. “Hey, Dad. Just, heading out to meet with Kyoka.”

Hisashi sets his bowl to the side. “Neither of you could sleep then. You ready for the exam?”

Izuku takes a deep breath. “I really hope so. I’ve spent weeks studying for this. I’ve spent months preparing the right spells for any physical exam they throw at us. But…”

“You’re afraid it’s not enough.”

He looks down. “I’ve wanted to be a hero my whole life. To make people smile like All Might. To be the hero that could have helped Aeor like you tried to. But what if I’m not good enough?”

Izuku feels a hand grab his shoulder. He looks up to his father’s silver eyes. 

“Izuku, I’ve watched you grow into a fine wizard. I know that I will watch you grow into a hero our people would have been proud of. You’re my son. No matter where your path leads, I will always be proud of the man you will become.”

Tears start to run down Izuku’s face. “Thanks.”

Hisashi cracks a grin. “And maybe get around to asking Kyoka out so I can be proud of my daughter too.”

Izuku’s face turns red and he pushes Hisashi away. “Dad! It’s not like that!”

Hisashi pats Izuku on the back. “I know, but it got you to smile.”

Izuku blinks. A soft smile sits on his face. He wipes the tears from his eyes. “I-I should go.”

“Yeah. Good luck, son.”

Izuku turns to leave. Hisashi holds out his hand. “Wait, one more thing!” 

He steps back into the kitchen. Hisashi walks up and starts to fix his tie. “I swear, how can you never manage to tie this thing? I need to buy you a clip on. There. Now go!”

Izuku walks outside and takes a deep breath of the morning air. The sky is starting to lighten up. He turns and starts to walk to Kyoka’s house. Once his dad picked up some quite wealthy regular clients, the Midoriyas were able to move to the same neighborhood as the Jiros. Morning meetups before school have become part of the routine. 

Izuku spots Kyoka leaning on her fence and waves. She waves back and stretches. He can see dark circles under her eyes. 

“Took you long enough,” she says with a yawn.

“Ran into my dad,” he replies. 

“Let me guess, one last bit of ‘fatherly advice’ before the exam?”

“Something like that. You run into your parents?”

“My mom. Wished me luck.”

As Izuku and Kyoka walk, she offers him one of her jacks. He gently places it in his ear and the sound of soft rock pumps through him. An amazing use of her quirk, being able to transfer sound from a device with one jack to her other jack. Granted, it’s a use that only he can generally experience. 

They walk to a restaurant that serves quick breakfast foods. There’s actually a line today, mostly made up of students like them. 

“So what do you think the practical part of the exam is gonna be like?” Kyoka asks.

“I’ve heard they’ve been having the students fight robots,” Izuku replies. 

“Jeez, how much money do they have to throw around?”

“The benefits of being the best hero school in the country I guess. And the best support course. And I think the business course students can get into pretty much any business school. And colleges love the general course students. And…”

“You’re mumbling, Green.”

“Oh, sorry.”

“Nah, flex that brain.”

They eventually get to the front of the line and order some tamago gohan. Breakfast of heroes. Eventually, Izuku gets handed two bowls. 

“Good luck to you and your girlfriend, kid,” the cashier says. 

Izuku and Kyoka both turn red and she pulls her jack out of his ear. “Hey I’m not- he/she’s not- We’re not together!”

“Could’ve fooled me.”

They look away from each other and eat their breakfast. 

Eventually, Izuku and Kyoka stand outside the entrance to UA High. Izuku can feel his heart pounding in his chest. Hell, he’s pretty sure Kyoka can hear it. The culmination of everything he’s worked for his entire life is right here. All he has to do is pass one exam.

He looks over at Kyoka. To most, she looks like she’s keeping her cool. But Izuku knows the little details. The twitching of her jacks, the slight flaring of her nostrils, her bottom lip sucking in as she bites the inside. She’s as freaked out as him. 

He holds out his fist. “We’ve got this, Kyochan.”

A slight smile crosses her face. She reaches out and fists bumps. “Yeah, we do, Green.”

Ochako Uraraka walks up to UA. She’s got this. All she has to do is pass the entrance exam, become a hero, then make enough money so that her parents will never need to work again. Her stomach rumbles. Maybe she should have ate more. 

Out of the corner of her eye she sees it. A girl with strawberry hair tripping. She runs over and touches the girl on her back just before she hits the ground. The girl floats up and Ochako releases her from her quirk. 

“That was close,” the girl says. She turns and gives Ochako a wide smile. “Thanks for saving me.”

Ochako’s constant blush starts to grow. “Oh, it was nothing. Just thought it would have been bad luck to fall on your way to the exam.”

“Yeah, that would have been embarrassing.” The girl holds out her hand. “I’m Himiko Ryuga.”

Ochako takes it. “Ochako Uraraka.” As she takes the girl’s hand, she notices a dangling charm bracelet with a green gemstone. “That’s a really nice bracelet.”

Ryuga holds it up. “Yeah, my father gave it to me to celebrate the exam. Isn’t it the cutest? Oh, we should get moving. Don’t want to be late!”

Ryuga grabs Ochako by the wrist and starts to pull her towards the entrance hall.

Izuku is vibrating from nervous energy. The written exam beforehand was fairly simple. He already has a solid grasp of high level math and physics from learning magic. But now’s the real deal. The practical exam was explained by Present Mic of all people! He and Kyoka love listening to his morning shows. 

As he stands outside the battle center he takes a deep breath. Time to prepare. First, armor. He waves his hands and dark green light covers his body before fading. Then he raises a finger to the sky and wraps himself in an aura of potentia. Time starts to move slightly slower around him. Or, rather, his personal frame of reference moves faster. He loves time magic.

He gets down into a running position. The gates to the battle arena open, and nothing happens. Isn’t there supposed to be a countdown?

Present Mic’s voice comes over the intercom. “There isn’t a countdown in real life, little listeners! Go! Go! Go!”

With that, everyone takes off. With his spell active, Izuku bolts past most of the students. The only one faster than him is a guy with literal engines sticking out of his legs. Izuku wonders how that works for a moment before looking up at the arena. It’s literally a massive city! And UA has more than one?

Izuku is broken out of his thoughts by a robot coming around the corner. He holds up a hand that crackles with lightning. 

“Qohaal!”

With a single punch, electricity floods the robot and it falls over. One point. He looks over and sees a second robot rolling towards him. He thrusts out his hand and a wave of entropy washes over the robot. It starts to rust over before stopping. Two points. 

Kyoka dodges under a robot’s fist. Seriously, how much money do they have for these things? She jams her jacks into a joint and forces them to vibrate. The arm falls away. She thrusts her jacks into its neck joint and causes its head to fly off. 

She focuses her hearing. Multiple robots nearby. The sound of electricity. A yelp. She takes off down the street and turns a corner. One guy with electric yellow hair is fighting multiple bots. He’s doing good, but isn’t going to be able to get all of them without getting hurt. 

Kyoka runs and jumps on one of the bots’ backs. She drills her jacks into it and forces the head off. She chucks it at a second bot, distracting it long enough for the guy to shock it down. 

“Thanks,” he says. “That’s a neat quirk you’ve got there.”

Kyoka rolls her shoulder. That head was heavy. “Less talk, more smashing bots.”

Himiko runs down the city street. These robots are an interesting fight, but not nearly cute enough. The oil they leak isn’t even red. No, focus. Recite Father’s mantras. 

“I am His sight.”

Himiko waves her hand at a robot, blood lashing out and cutting through it.

“I am His voice.”

She stumbles upon a group of two-point robots. She smiles, showing her fangs.

“I am His touch.”

She presses her hand into the robot. Blood cuts through its shell and ravages the inside. 

“I am His heart.”

The blood flows from one hand to another as she turns it into a spike. She tabs through a robot’s head.

“I am His blood.”

Himiko looks at the robotic carnage before her. The power her father and their Lord has given her feels like lightning running through her veins. She thinks back to the Ochako girl from earlier. She was cute. Himiko can practically taste her blood. Maybe later. She needs to actually get into the school before she can help her Lord.

She starts skipping through the city. Time to get more points. 

“Shit!”

Himiko perks up at that. Sounds like someone’s hurt. She runs towards the sound of the yell. As she rounds a corner, she sees a girl on the ground. Fleshy headphone jacks come from her earlobes. Blood flows from her head onto the ground. A two pointer stands over her. 

Himiko licks her lips and her blood flows around her. She appears behind the robot and plunges her blood spear into its back. She pushes the robot aside and kneels beside the girl. Her hands shake. She’s already eaten today, but the sight of so much makes her stomach growl.

“Are you okay?” Himiko forces herself to ask. 

Headphone jack girl groans. “I’ll be fine.” She tries to stand, only to wobble and fall back to her knees. “Right after I puke.”

Himiko lifts the girl’s face towards her. She looks so beautiful with blood flowing down her head. She looks into the girl’s eyes and sees that her pupils are all over the place. 

“You have a concussion. Let’s see if there’s somewhere we can put you.”

Himiko helps the girl up and starts to wander towards a nurse station.

Izuku cuts his weight and leaps onto a one pointer’s head. A three pointer fires missiles at him. He leaps off, leaving the smaller bot to be destroyed. While he’s not looking, another one pointer rolls up and punches him. His mage armor ripples at the point of impact and he slides back a couple feet. 

He raises his hands to fight when a laser hits the one pointer and destroys it. He looks back and sees a blond boy with a massive belt. 

“Merci beaucoup for the distraction!” he calls.

Izuku notices the tracking laser from the three pointer run up the boy’s chest. He runs up, drawing a sword of dark energy. He slides in front of the robot and jabs the sword into its head, shutting it down. 

Izuku stands and puts his blade over his shoulder. “Merci beaucoup!”

The boy is about to say something when the ground starts to rumble. They look back and see a massive robot roll down the road. Is that the Zero Pointer? Izuku knows that it doesn’t have any points, but his mind races about ways to take it down. 

A crowd starts to run towards Izuku. He starts to turn to join them when he hears something.

“Help!”

He looks closer and sees some of the fallen rubble created by the robot. A shock of brown hair is amongst the stones. Someone must be trapped!

Izuku’s body starts to move. He runs through the crowd, trying to make his way towards the trapped student. On instinct he starts to weave a spell. Dark green runes appear in the air around his wrists. 

As he gets closer he can see the person’s face. She’s a girl, brown eyes wide open in fear. The Zero Pointer is almost on top of her. Izuku grits his teeth, forcing as much energy as he can into the spell.

He creates a ball with his hands. 

“Sahrot!”

The runes turn silver. An orb of silver appears in his hands.

“Qo!”

He thrusts his hands forward.

“Su’um!”

Lightning arcs from Izuku’s hands, to the robot’s chest. Electricity fills the robot. Every light on it bursts. Izuku pushes harder, and the lightning bursts out the back, filling the sky. The robot slumps backwards. 

Izuku drops to his knees, panting. He puts his hands on the ground and feels a stab of pain. He looks at his hands and sees burns from where the lightning left his hands. He clenches his fists and starts to shuffle towards the girl. 

“Are you okay?” he asks.

“Yeah.” She starts to nervously laugh. “I-I think I can move some of this.”

The girl touches the rubble and it starts to float. She starts to try and crawl out from under it. Izuku reaches out his hand, and a second hand appears beside his. He looks over and sees the guy with engine legs beside him. They grab her hands and drag her out from under the rubble. 

The girl tries to get up, but yelps in pain. Izuku looks at her legs and realizes that one is bent at an unnatural angle. 

“Oh, oh no,” he says. “Your leg.”

The other boy cups his hands around his mouth. “Medic!”

The pain and the sight of the broken leg causes Izuku’s head to spin. He gulps, trying not to puke. 

“So, what’s your name?”

“Uraraka.” She winces. “Oh, the pain is starting to come back. What are your names?”

“Uh, Midoriya.”

“Ida.”

“Well, thanks for saving me from that thing, Midoriya. And thanks for the help, Ida”

An older voice calls out from behind them. “Out of the way! Coming through!”

Izuku moves to see an old lady in a labcoat and holding a cane shaped like a syringe. He feels like he knows her name but he can’t quite spit it out. 

“Who’s injured, dearies?” the nurse asks.

Uraraka raises her hand. “Uh, my leg is broken.”

“So it is. Let’s fix that.”

The nurse leans down and kisses Uraraka on the forehead, much to the girl’s confusion. Her leg sets itself into place and heals before their eyes. Uraraka tentatively moves it before trying to stand. The nurse holds her in place before reaching into her pocket.

“Wait a moment. My quirk saps your stamina to use. Here, take some gummies.” She places gummies into Uraraka’s hands. “Now, is anyone else injured?”

“Wait a second,” Izuku says, eyes widening. “You’re Recovery Girl!”

“Right on the money.” She takes Izuku’s hand in her own. “Hmn, second degree burns. What did you do?”

“Shot lightning out of them.”

“Of course you did. I always tell them they push you too hard for the entrance exams. Here.” 

She kisses Izuku’s hands and the burns immediately clear up. Then she presses a gummy into his hand. 

“Okay, does anyone else have injuries?”

Izuku stands outside the exam hall, looking around for Kyoka. They should have gotten out at the same time, but it’s been twenty minutes and she still hasn’t shown up. He checks his phone again. Nothing. Maybe something happened to her? There might be injuries too bad for Recovery Girl to heal. He slaps his own face. Nope. Not going down that train of thought.

“Yo, Green!”

Izuku looks up to see Kyoka walking towards him. Her head is wet and she’s still in her gym clothes. He runs over and gives her a quick hug.

“Thank goodness. I was worried about you!”

She dismisses the thought with her hand. “I’m fine. Just got hit in the head near the end of the exam. Recovery girl wanted to observe me for a bit, and I had to wash the blood off. Though I swear there was a girl who looked ready to lick my face.”

Izuku stands there, stunned. An image flashes in his mind of Kyoka bleeding out on the pavement. 

“Earth to Izuku. You there, man?”

Izuku blinks and shakes his head. “Sorry, I’m just tired.”

Kyoka yawns. “I hear that. Let’s go home and pass out.”

Chapter Text

Knock knock knock

Izuku bolts up at his desk. A piece of paper hangs off the side of his face. His desk is covered in diagrams and arcane sigils. He takes the paper off his face and rubs the bridge of his nose.

“Come in!” he groans.

His mom barges into the room, holding a large envelope. “Izuku! It’s from.. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” He sits for a moment, staring into space. “I may not have slept well.”

Inko looks at the papers strewn across the desk. “Trying to enchant something? Um, protection spell?”

“Uh, yeah. You know what this is?”

“I may not be a wizard, but I’ve known your father for almost twenty years now. I know what magic notes look like.”

Izuku blinks. “Oh. But yeah, I’m trying to figure out how to enchant something to help protect Kyoka.”

Inko sighs. “Is this about what happened at the entrance exam?”

“Yeah. I know that there’s a risk of getting hurt as a hero, but I want to make sure she’s okay, you know, even if I can’t be there?” Izuku rubs his eyes, tears running down his face. 

Inko sets the envelope on the table. “Come on, stand up.”

Izuku stands up and Inko hugs him. “You care a lot about Kyoka, don’t you?”

“She’s my best friend. I should be able to help her, even when I’m not around. I want to give her something that can help her take a hit. Like a weaker version of my armor.”

Inko breaks the hug and rubs her left hand with her right. “Your father did that to our wedding rings. Though you might be a bit young for that.”

Izuku blushes and gently pushes her. “Mom! Look, I need to find something that she can wear with a hero costume. Something that won’t look weird if I give it to her, and I can just pass it off as a normal gift.”

Inko frowns. “So you’re not telling her about it being magic? You know your father would be fine with you telling her, right? We can trust her.”

“I know, but we’ve known each other for years. If she finds out I’ve been hiding it from her all this time…” He looks at the package on his desk. “What’s this?”

“Right! It’s a package from UA!”

Izuku’s eyes light up. “What? Why didn’t you lead with this?”

“This conversation isn’t over, young man.”

Izuku tears open the envelope and reaches inside. Inside is a metal object the size of a hockey puck. Some sort of hologram projector? Fancy. He sets it down and activates it.

A hologram of All Might appears. “I AM HERE, AS A PROJECTION!”

The Midoriyas jump back. “All Might?”

“YES, IT IS I, HERE TO TELL YOU YOUR EXAM SCORE. FIRSTLY, YOU PASSED THE WRITTEN EXAM WITH FLYING COLORS. CONGRATULATIONS. NOW FOR THE PRACTICAL EXAM. YOUR EXCELLENT CONTROL OF YOUR QUIRK AND QUICK REFLEXES GOT YOU FORTY-FIVE VILLAIN POINTS, MORE THAN ENOUGH TO PASS!”

Izuku and Inko grab each other and look at each other, smiles widening.

“HOWEVER-”

Their heads whip back to the hologram.

“-WHAT KIND OF HERO SCHOOL WOULD WE BE IF WE ONLY AWARDED POINTS BASED ON VILLAINS YOU DEFEATED, AND NOT THE ACT OF SAVING OTHERS?”

A hologram of Izuku’s attack appears for a moment before switching back to All Might.

“RESCUE POINTS, GIVEN BY A PANEL OF JUDGES! FOR THIS OUTSTANDING ACT OF HEROISM, ALONG WITH OTHERS IN THE FIELD, YOU HAVE BEEN AWARDED SIXTY RESCUE POINTS! WITH YOUR VILLAIN POINTS, THIS TOTALS TO ONE-HUNDRED-FIVE POINTS!”

A holographic total board appears. Izuku’s name is at the very top, with 105 points. The All Might hologram reaches a hand to Izuku.

“WELCOME, YOUNG MIDORIYA, TO THE HERO ACADEMIA!”

The hologram deactivates. Izuku and Inko stand in the room, tears streaming down their cheeks. He did it: he passed. He’s going to be a hero.

His phone starts to ring and he answers it, still crying. “Hello?”

“Green,” Kyoka’s voice says, “I got in! Wait, you’re crying. Did you get your letter?”

“Uh huh.” He sniffs. “We’re going to be heroes, Kyochan!”

“Hell yeah! Sorry, mom . Dude, we have to celebrate!”

“Yeah, wanna go to that karaoke bar or something? In an hour? Oh, bring your letter and we can look at our classes. ”

“Sounds good to me. See you, Green.”

Izuku rubs his face. “I have to tell Dad!”

Inko raises a hand. “Um, maybe you should wait. Remember the day?”

Izuku blinks. Right, Mourning Day. The anniversary of when his father came to Earth. The anniversary of Aeor’s destruction. Every year he secludes himself and avoids talking to people. Still, maybe this is the one time for an exception.

“I’m just going to tell him real quick.”

Izuku grabs the hologram projector and leaves the room. He walks to his father’s office and knocks on the door. After a few moments of silence he opens the door and steps inside. 

As Izuku passes the threshold, he is not in the normal office. Walls turn to open sky, plush carpet turns to hard concrete. They are on a massive tower. Hundreds of feet below them is a sprawling cityscape of stone and crystal. Gentle wind blows through his hair. Hisashi sits on the edge of the tower, legs crossed and a bottle of wine beside him.

“Uh, Dad?”

Hisashi turns his head. His eyes are bloodshot and his nose is red. “Izuku? Why are you in here? You know what day it is.”

“I know, but I just got a letter from UA. I got in!”

Hisashi gives an obviously forced smile. “Congratulations, son.” He turns back towards the setting sun.

“Uh, I guess I’ll go.”

“No.. you may stay. Just close the door.”

Oh. He’s never been asked to sit with his father on Mourning Day before. It’s an accepted fact that from sunrise to sunset the man is shut in his room, and nothing brings him out. He walks over and sits beside Hisashi. 

“I’m sorry I can’t really show it now,” the elf says, “but I am proud of you.”

“It’s a pretty rough day for you,” Izuku admits. “I’m fine.”

Hisashi takes a drink of his wine and holds the bottle out to Izuku. “You’re young by Japanese standards, but one drink won’t hurt. Celebrate.”

Izuku takes the bottle and slowly takes a sip. As soon as the alcohol touches his tongue he pulls back and spits. Hisashi laughs and waves his hand to clear the mess. 

After a moment Izuku looks out. “So is that what Aeor really looked like? It’s beautiful.”

“It’s merely a memory, son. Nowhere near as beautiful as the real thing. But memories will have to do.”

Izuku looks down. “I’m sorry.” 

“You are not to blame. The gods tore my home from me. I just wish I could show the real thing to you and your mother.”

“Do you think Aeor would approve of me trying to be a hero?”

“Hmm. Aeor does not have heroes in the same sense as this place, but Izuku Midoriya, the hero of Arcanum has a nice ring to it. You could be along the greats.”

Hisashi raises his hand and creates the sparkling form of a woman with tall horns, surrounded by robots. “Diligence, she who proved the gods were not the only ones who could create life.” The scene shifts to a sparkling silver dragon. “Bolo Maximus, one of our head investigators. She exposed the full extent of the Calamity at its outset.” The scene shifts again to two elves, with a spinning dodecahedron above them. “Those who discovered the primal magic of potentia, Athodan and myself.”

The shimmering illusion fades, until only one elf remains. Hisashi stares at it, pain in his eyes. 

“Were you two close?” Izuku asks.

Hisashi smiles. “Yes. When you spend half your very long lives together you understand the depths of the other’s soul.”

A second passes and Izuku blinks. “Oh. Ohhh. I didn’t know.”

“I don’t talk about it often. But when you lose everyone you love, you do what you can to keep it from happening again.”

“Like with Mom’s enchanted wedding ring?”

Hisashi shrugs. “And her clone.”

“What?”

“Stay out of the warehouse basement.”

“The warehouse has a -?”

“Speaking of humans we’re affectionate towards, have you told Kyoka you got into UA?”

“Yeah. Oh, I need to get ready to meet up with her!” Izuku gets up and runs to the door. “Love you!”

Kyoka looks down at the hologram projector. She’s made it into the hero course. She was so scared that she would have been disqualified for needing to be bailed out by someone else. But no, she gets to live her dream. 

She twirls one of her jacks around her finger. Her quirk isn’t that heroic, especially compared to Izuku. She’d love to be able to do what he can. 

She slides a leather jacket on and sighs. She looks fine. Hopefully Izuku doesn’t expect her to sing in public. She hears her mother’s footsteps walk down the hall and stop in front of her door.

“It’s open,” she says.

Mika Jiro opens the door and steps inside. “Oh, you look pretty. Wanting to impress Izuku?”

Kyoka turns red and she covers her face. “Stop it. I swear you’re as bad as Izuku’s mom.”

“That’s not a no.” Mika smiles to herself before frowning and gently touching her daughter’s shoulder with one of her jacks. “Are you okay?”

Kyoka fakes a smile and nods. “Just overwhelmed. But I gotta go and meet with Izuku. Bye!”

She moves around her mother and rushes out of the house. Izuku is standing on the sidewalk. He is staring into the distance, the light gone from his eyes.

Kyoka walks up to Izuku and waves her hand in front of his face. “Um, Izuku? You good?”

Izuku slowly blinks. “I’ve learned things about my parents that I never wanted to know.”

Kyoka sagely nods. “That’s why all the bedrooms at home are soundproofed.”

“Ugh, nothing like that. Probably.” His eyes widen and he puts his hands on the sides of his head. “Oh no, what if they are-?”

She grabs him by the shoulders and starts pushing him. “Okay, we’re not going down that train of thought today.” 

The pair make their way to the karaoke bar. This early in the day it serves young people, with the building currently filled by middle schoolers discussing their high school picks and high schoolers taking time to relax before finals. Izuku and Kyoka sit in a booth in the corner of the room, the soft light washing over them. Their school information is spread across the table.

“At least we’re in the same class,” Izuku says.

“Uh huh.”

Kyoka is looking at her papers, one of her jacks nudging her straw. “Sorry, I’m looking at the restrictions for costume design. Did students really try to pull some of this?”

“Have you seen Midnight’s debut costume? It’s, um, certainly a statement.”

Izuku watches Kyoka pull out her phone and look something up. After a few seconds her eyes widen and her cheeks turn pink. She quickly slams her phone face-down on the table and looks around. 

“God, I wish I had that much confidence in my body.”

“I mean I think you look good,” Izuku mutters as he reaches for his drink.

Two pairs of eyes lock. Izuku slowly drinks his tea, his face turning red. Kyoka keeps staring at him, her jacks hanging limply.

“What do you mean by that?”

 He keeps drinking, until a boba shoots through the straw and into the back of his throat. He coughs, slamming on his chest until the boba comes up and hits the table. 

“Sorry,” he says, “What was that?”

“I don’t look that good. Especially not Midnight good.”

“I mean, you’re still really pretty.” They sit in silence for a moment before Izuku redirects the subject. “Got any ideas for your costume?”

“Eh, I’m mostly thinking punk rock vibes. Some speakers on my boots I can plug my jacks into. Leather jacket.”

Izuku snaps his fingers. “Oh, let me handle the jacket!”

Kyoka raises an eyebrow. “Green, no offense, you aren’t exactly punk rock.”

“I’m plenty punk rock. But you know how my dad can sort of harden materials to make them hard to break? Well, I could do it to your jacket. Make it more protective.”

“God, your quirk is cool.”

Izuku looks down and rubs his neck. “My quirk isn’t that cool.”

“Dude, you can wave your hands and blow up giant robots! You have the coolest quirk in the world!”

“Earphone jack is really cool.”

Kyoka rolls her eyes. “Right. The weird lumps of flesh hanging off my ears are cool.”

Izuku watches a tear roll down her face. He’s spent years telling her about how cool her quirk is. He looks at his hand and feels aether flow through him. He could tell her about what he is. Maybe he could teach her magic. How would it all interact with earphone jack?

“Kyoka, I-”

“Yeah, I know what you’re gonna say. My quirk is amazing and has a lot of potential. Just let me vent, okay?”

“Okay.”

Kyoka leans back and sighs. “What are you gonna wear?”

Izuku pulls out his notebook and flips through it. “I have an idea. Here.” He spins it around.

She looks at it before glancing back at him. “Dude, is that All Might’s face?”

“All Might’s cool!”

“Yeah, but do you want to look like his knockoff?”

Izuku raises a finger, before lowering it. “Maybe I can do some redesigns.”

Kyoka cracks a smile. “Yeah. Maybe you can help me figure out my costume too. Aside from general vibes.”

He flips to a fresh page. “Okay, let's see what we can do."

Himiko skips through the streets, enjoying the sun on her face. Everyone who looks at her just sees a normal girl, thanks to Father’s magic. She flexes the power of her God, feeling it flow through her veins. She smiles as her eyes glow red.

She stops in front of a small temple. “The Church of Whispered Grace”. A simple stone building with a green eye on it. She shifts her backpack and walks inside. 

The inside of the building looks much like a traditional church. In the back, behind the podium, there is a massive tapestry of a hand with an eye in the palm. Below the raised podium there is a shrine with candles. Himiko bows before the shrine before going up to the tapestry and going through a door behind it. 

“Father!” Himiko calls as she walks through a dimly lit living quarters. “I got the ingredients!”

She steps into the back area of the space. A man is tied to a chair, his mouth gagged. A circle of arcane sigils surrounds the chair. The man looks at Himiko with pleading eyes and grunts for help. 

“Silence yourself,” Father Ryuga’s voice hisses from behind Himiko. The man’s eyes glow red before he slumps over. 

Himiko spins around and hugs Ryuga. “Father! Is this the sacrifice?”

Ryuga pats Himiko on the back. “It is. And we’re going to need every drop of blood, so you can’t partake.”

Himiko pouts. Ryuga sarcastically rolls his eyes. “We’ll take you out for a drink tonight. We need to celebrate.”

“Wait, did my UA letter come in?”

“It did! I didn’t open it, but it’s too heavy to be a simple rejection letter. Once we finish the summoning we can find someone for you to feed on.” He pulls out a slaughter knife and hands it, handle first, to Himiko. “If you want, you can slit his throat while I cast the spell.”

“Yes!”

Himiko gives Ryuga her backpack. He reaches in and retrieves a box filled with the various reagents needed for this ritual. Himiko goes up to the man and holds the knife to his throat, practically vibrating in excitement. With a nod from Ryuga, she draws the knife across. As the blood falls to the floor, he tosses the contents of the box into it and begins to chant. 

“Blood is the source of life. Through the blood we spill, we call upon our lord. Unholy master of Thar Amphala, we beseech thee. Cast your wisdom and might across the great void so that we may bask in your glory!”

The blood pulls itself from the man’s body, slowly desiccating it into a husk. It rises from the ground forming a vaguely humanoid shape.