#like fully quirkless. i refuse to give him an ability

[paradoxicalpaldeann]

been a while since i wrote up a big infodump post like this, but i had a really silly sr isekai au idea

tldr; kaif gets isekaid into a story he has a love hate relationship with and gets to make out with his blorbo

so. first things first. in kaif's starting world, literally all of sr does not exist. he's a bit lonely tbh, but he lives an almost entirely different life as a result. well, almost. he still ends up doing youtube. but without a 'cavalcade of fuckups' (direct quote) failing at wow to record and show off to the whole world, he ends up doing a different type of content.

he ends up becoming a media reviewer and critic. specifically, he reviews webcomics.

at first his channel is quite small, and he's okay with that. he's only doing this as a hobby during his time off work, and it's making him geniunely quite happy.

then one of his videos blows the fuck up. there's a sudden, sharp spike in viewship and the video in question even makes it to the trending page for a few, short, glorious hours.

the video in question is about aspiring hero's journal, a finished webcomic. now, kaif could go on for hours and hours about AHJ- it started off incredibly well despite having aspects clearly borrowed from other series (such as terminology, as powers are referred to as Quirks within the story) before both the webcomic and the author slowly devolved into a hellish toxic mess.

but he's not here to talk about the webcomic as a whole. no. he is here to talk about his favourite character, and the biggest point of drama in the AHJ community- how Elísabet "Entropy" Morgenstern had her character butchered and ending ruined all because the writer got salty that the community liked her over their self insert character.

about two thirds of the way through the webcomic, a poll was held on who the audience's favourite side character was. it wasnt known at the time, but the author was originally planning to make whoever won this poll the new protagonist after the planned death of the old one. the winner of this poll was Elísabet. the community absolutely loved her. Elísabet started out as quirkless, only developing her quirk Event Horizon at age 26. unfortunately for her, Event Horizon was so unfathomably powerful and uncontrollable that it nearly killed her and did infact kill hundreds of bystanders, leaving her with a permanent fear of using her quirk, as well as making her a prime target for the villain group of the week to sculpt into their ideal weapon of mass destruction. she did get a redemption, but her unique perspective and far more inventive ways of fighting had the community long believing that she should have been the protagonist instead.

so, she won the poll.

the author did not like this.

after one of the twitter rants of all time, the author began to update the comic far more frequently, with a sudden focus on Elísabet.

the audience did not like what they saw.

Elísabet suddenly had her 200+ chapters worth of therapy and development tossed out the window like it was nothing to reveal her as a random heel-turn traitor, going so far as to reinterpret her traumatic awakening as "the best moment of her life" and that she "enjoyed killing", as if said awakening did not also render her a burnt, broken husk. it made her into a stereotypical 'yandere' villain who was supposedly in love with the author's self insert out of nowhere, and completely eradicated her previous goal that she had been fighting for the entire comic- quirkless equality- and made her the leader of a secret quirkless society that was planning to... genocide quirked people, or something. nobody knows, their goal changed like every 5 minutes, and honestly nobody cares. even worse, the author decided that her quirk was no longer hers, and that it was infact stolen and Elísabet willingly chose to hold it (which completely went against her sudden ideology change to one of "all quirks are evil", but again, nobody gave a shit at this point) and that it was stolen from the author's self insert's dead girlfriend (???) who was never mentioned before this point despite supposedly being a pro hero (?????) and that part of her spirit (???????) still remained and that was why Elísabet was 'good' the whole time (?!?!?!?!) because it wasnt her it was this random fridged side character, or something.

AHJ fans do not talk about chapter 367. in fact, any 'fans' dont consider anything past 334 to be canon, but they ESPECIALLY dont talk about 367.

so, yes. kaif's three hour long well constructed rant about how his blorbo was done dirty is exceedingly popular.

he goes to bed, happy.

the next day he gets hit by a truck, because god forbid he has anything nice.

he wakes up in an apartment not his own, his appearance noticably different. since when has he had white streaks in his hair? and did he get younger?

after some incredible deduction and investigation skills (he opens his new wallet) he discovers he has been reincarnated. into Aspiring Hero's Journal. and not just as any character, no- he was reincarnated as the quirkless friend of the main villain, Sam Broulder, who's entire purpose is to be accidentally yet brutally slaughtered when the main villain violently awakens to his quirk several years late.

great.

anyway, kaif absolutely hauls ass upon realising he's got two weeks until sam's traumatic quirk awakening, putting in as many contingencies as possible and researching the world around him. he knows almost everything about what the canon timeline should be, after all.

after getting several things in order (such as why the fuck does this random unemployed guy that i now am have so much money) he decides to go out shopping to pick some stuff up for sam. after all, the entire reason sam's quirk causes him to go haywire in the beginning is that it turns him into a hemovore, requiring blood to survive. whilst sam's quirk, Maw, is the only hemovoric quirk mentioned in the webcomic, it takes him 5 seconds to realise that this is not the case in the actual world. so, he heads off to an out of the way butchers shop that is willing to sell animal blood to people who need it.

on his way there, he notices a commotion in an alleyway. nobody is paying attention to the man accosting the woman in the shadows, so nobody pays attention when kaif walks up, calmly places his bag down beside him, and decks the man in the face so hard he shatters his nose. after all, kaif can only get charged for vigilantism if he uses his quirk. bit hard to do that when he doesnt have one.

kaif leaves before seeing her face.

its only the next day when he wakes up in a panic does he realise that despite it all he managed to fucking miss something.

yesterday was the day that Elísabet Morgenstern was supposed to awaken her quirk.

frantically, he looks at the news, only to find no report on the massive explosion that should have gone off. all he can find is a report about a 'quirk accident' in a convenience store, which killed one would-be robber, injured another, and severely injured its user, who is now in a critical but stable condition thanks to the many healing quirks now availible. this- this isn't right, is it? he ends up resigning to the fact that the dates provided in the webnovel are not accurate to the ones in this reality, and promptly makes plans so that he never has to go into the district Elísabet will eventually wipe off the map in her debut as the villain Entropy.

he moves on, unsettled.

the next few days are fine. kaif has to piece together the memories of his predecessor- who he's come to simply call langley, as that was his last name- by himself, as he didn't start out with full access to them. he discovers a lot of things about the world. public transport is god's gift to the earth, unless there's a fight on your route. quirks have allowed for the creation of several interesting yet concerning new foods and drinks. he is out of the loop for so many pop culture references it's not funny. his best friend and roommate, sam broulder (who will NOT become the villain Nyarlathotep if he has anything to say about it- he doesn't deserve that fate) is a vegetarian, which is darkly ironic considering he's about to become a budget vampire, and in the original webcomic he became a rampant, unhinged cannibal.

the supposed 'secret evil quirkless society' from the webnovel is actually a quirkless and villain quirk support group that was named as a group of interest by the police due to belief that it is connected to several different instances of vigilantism.

kaif also finds out that he runs a quirkless and villain quirk support group which is definitely involved in a metric fuckton of vigilantism.

he does not panic. nope. not at all. he just calmly marks it down as a future kaif problem, and leaves his apartment, as today is the day he's meant to die.

he can worry about the potential quirkless mafia he's accidentally formed if he lives the night, thank you very much.

he goes to a hotel he's booked under a false name, before heading to the rooftop, bag full of everything he'll need for the day.

he spends a lot of time up there, and eventually it becomes night.

the door to the roof opens, and he freezes- only to hear someone gasp. he turns around and pauses, realising he recognises this person. it's the woman from a week and a bit ago. fun.

she comes and sits down next to him, smiling wide, and his heart stops because oh my fucking god that's Elísabet Morgenstern. oh my god. oh my god thats my favourite character. she seems injured, bandages still visibly peeking out from underneath her hoodie, eyes sunken and cheeks hollow, but still incredibly happy.

as he's trying not to panic, Elísabet thanks him quite openly for the other day, excitedly exclaiming that she FINALLY managed to get a restraining order against that bastard. he relaxes a little bit, and then tries very hard not to laugh (and fails) when Elísabet drops his name- it was the author's shitty self insert character.

she gets a little confused, asks why he laughed, and he accidentally lets slip that he runs an online quirkless support group and that he saw the name mentioned there. and then Elísabet starts crying because apparently she DID ask for help on his group, and the memory randomly comes back to him as she says this. bit of a cry, kaif comforts her.

then Elísabet casually drops that she's no longer quirkless and kaif is like WHAT since yknow, event horizon is supposed to destroy an entire district, but it turns out that was only due to stress, and kaif punching the self insert inadvertently prevented her original horrific awakening from ever happening. Elísabet also admits that she's going to that one university for heroes, and that originally it was just for quirk therapy but she ended up passing the entrance test with flying colours and now she's going to become a hero. kaif is understandably insanely proud of her, even if they've only just met.

they chat for a little bit, and Elísabet admits that her hero name is going to be Seraph. she also then tells kaif to just call her Ebbz because "thats what my friends call me" whilst she gives him her number, and he is too horrified by the fact that her nickname was never revealed in the webcomic, implying either she felt she never had any friends or she had so much of her personality destroyed by her first time as Entropy that she ended up leaving that part of her life behind that in true kaif fashion, he does not realise that she is flirting with him, and that the 'meeting' she wants to organise is very much a date.

don't worry! he realises exactly three days later when he wakes up in a cold sweat on the couch, loudly blurting "oh my god she was hitting on me" and causing his roommate sam to burst into laughter.

unfortunately for the both of them, sam's new quirk Maw which he is only just learning to control allows him to alter a lot of his body parts, but usually defaults to creating extra mouths in places (mainly a big one on his stomach) when he's not looking. sam can, in fact, use these mouths like normal mouths, and talk from them.

sam's startled kettle laugh ends up being so loud they get seven noise complaints.

[truly-quirkless]

This actually sprang up from an RP a hot minute back.

Fin's Quirk- Quirkless- could technically be distilled from their blood and given to others, much like Eri's ability. It's essentially the same if it's distilled into a bullet- shoot someone, they lose their ability to manifest Quirks.

But unlike Eri's Rewind Bullet, Fin's wouldn't have an 'antidote' that could also be taken from their blood. On top of that, Quirkless would be passed down through generations, effectively removing any Quirk of any future generation made by its victims. Quirkless- as a power- is built solely upon eternal suppression. Where Aizawa's Erasure suppresses (or rather, erases) a Quirk's capabilities for a time (every time he blinks), Quirkless in the blood stream has no limit. Once it's fully embedded, that's it. Unless Eri rewinds the victim, that person- and all their future progeny- will never manifest Quirks outside of Quirkless. They may have others, but those will be suppressed by Quirkless, itself.

Fin's Quirk, 'Quirkless', is a response to the Quirk Singularity Theory.- If Quirks start to overload those who have them, then Quirkless makes it so that overload never happens via eternal suppression.

And, of course, Fin can temporarily apply this to anyone within a ten foot radius for up to five minutes. That's because their version of Quirkless- their personal version- has evolved to suppress Quirks around them, which was done in a split-second panic when Fin thought they were about to lose Yagi (Eri's Rescue/The Yakuza Raid Arc- really those two have a habit of saving each other Istg). If they had any offspring (they can't, Fin's infertile)- their offspring would not be able to suppress Quirks around them, just anything in themself that's not Quirkless.

And finally-

The only reason All for One didn't take Quirkless from Fin for his own personal use was because Quirkless doesn't have an off switch. It can be pulled back/grow exhausted and retreat- but only to the extent of one's own body. If he'd taken Quirkless, every Quirk All for One had would've become suppressed forever. Quirkless' base power- to suppress- was amplified by the other Quirks in Fin's family tree and mutated. One would have to have about the same power as a black hole in order to actually suppress Quirkless, itself. Technically, AfO could achieve that, but he'd have to give up on a lot of concentration, which isn't worth it since he's trying to get OfA.

I write this on the assumption that All for One has a Quirk somewhere in his arsenal that basically tells him the details of any Quirk he encounters/attempts to absorb or something- possibly 'Quirk Data' or something like that. And when he realized what Fin's was after trying to overload their body with Quirks, he just threw them into the air. They were still so weak from the kidnapping that he figured they'd die- but thankfully, the U. A. kids were able to save Fin from splatting against the ground, and got them out of the fight.

Overall, Fin doesn't exactly realize most of this- nor do any of their allies- but Quirkless could be used to completely erase Quirks off the face of the planet- forever. It could be used to stop All for One, like Eri's bullet. It is the destruction of a Quirk-filled society.

Thanks to this kind of ability, Fin probably would have gotten dragged into the final war arc whether they liked it or not- because a Quirk like theirs would dismantle the world All for One wanted to build (or, raise it up, since he could keep Fin alive and just continually harvest Quirkless from them to use on all of the rabble who refused to follow him/weren't worth killing or worth keeping their Quirks- but for that to happen he'd have to keep Toshinori alive, which would probably be fine since the dude would essentially be in a living Hell if that future came to fruition).

[lliblo]

BN09 Draconic Spirit

Prompt:

By all technicality Katsuki was quirkless. Fait had put him in a body with that extra little toe joint but no one ever noticed. Since they never had a reason to look. Like everyone else in his grade he gained a “quirk” at five years old but what everyone saw as a quirk Katsuki knew it was just the draconic spirit of his past life manifesting in his present form. 

He was the dragon lord of destruction and had a massive army of dragons at his command. It was a ruthless show of power to get there; he had to subdue rival dragons, kill nefarious wyverns, and fight off those who wished to use dragons for their own selfish reasons instead of keeping the wellbeing of the clan in mind.  

Yet through all of that he was still forced into war as the humans sought to purge the world of magic. Unfortunately, through hypocrisy, the humans won then turned on their own magic users to finish the job. 

But before that the dragons were the main opponent against the humans. Katsuki would never just lay down and let his lands be taken and fellow dragons slaughtered. He joined forces with a magicless Druid who had eventually forged his own power through grit and determination. It was hard for the dragon lord not to fall for such a determined creature. Although they first entered into a reluctant alliance the two died with an unbreakable bond. One that would follow them into the next life. 

Dragon souls are too strong, too unyielding to be reincarnated easily. Fate had to wait for the right conditions, the right body to hold such a beast’s soul and with dragons extinct that took centuries. 

Until, finally, the first quirk manifested. 

And the conditions were favorable. 

Humans had evolved and with bodies able to contain strong physical abilities it was just enough for a dragon soul to be comfortably contained. 

But again, dragons were troublesome there was a reason they were reincarnated and that was because they refused to forget their past lives. Their memories were etched into their very souls.

Druids on the other hand were free spirits that went from one life to the next. There was no afterlife for them, only the next life to come. So in death the dragon chased after and the Druid wouldn’t leave his love behind so they drifted through the void until both of the souls could find a new life. 

The memories came in dreams. But only for the dragon now named Katsuki since Druids didn’t gain their memories back. 

Katsuki’s powers lay dormant until they partly came through as explosions from his hands. Even then his body would never be able to handle the full transformation so it would remain repressed. 

Other instincts not so much. 

He was aggressive, possessive, and kept many of the traits of his past life to his parents dismay. 

He hated sleeping on a bed and would instead create a nest of toys and objects to lay on in the corner. But that was not suitable for his current body and eventually he settled with a nest of pillows, blankets, and soft plushies with his other toys lining the outside. He was forced to clean it up each morning until eventually he was smart enough to hide a smaller version in his closet. The closet was more suitable anyways he just had to wake up before his parents got him up and found him there. 

His need to hunt appeared every time he spotted a small animal but after the first time he caught and almost killed a bird his parents put their foot down. He never heard his father yell at him before. When asked why he did it he told them he was hungry and it wasn’t much different then chicken. 

His actions were dragon-like and so were his customs but he was smart and as he grew up fought most of his instincts in a world where they were considered weird. 

He hardly cared, he only did it because it was convenient. 

But it was nice that he didn’t have to try too hard around Izuku. His Deku. (Deku could mean druid in dragon tongue?)

He relived his memories mostly through dreams but at times in waking hours he would see things that triggered flashbacks. 

One of those moments was when he fell into the stream. 

Looking up at the green hair blending into the leafy trees above, and a worried looking boy stared down at him with his hand out.. That was when Katsuki saw his Deku. 

In a past life they met when they were older. And he saw that looking up at Deku. The memory overlapped and for a moment he was sitting on the ground next to a dying fire with Deku holding his hand out “come on the wisps are about to wake up” he grinned. “I don’t want you to miss them” 

“Are you ok?” Five year old Deku asked as he interrupted. “Did you hit your head?” He sounded worried, because of course he did. It was Deku

Katsuki grinned sharply as he suddenly sprung from the water tackling Izuku in a hug causing them to fall against the bank. He didn’t fully understand the feeling he felt at that age, but they were young and he would grow into them. For now all he knew was that Deku was a very important person to him. 

From then on they were inseparable. And Katsuki told him everything he could remember. Each time a new memory popped up he’d tell the other boy. 

At recess they would play pretend. Instead of hero’s and villain is was dragons and sorcery though they still beat villains and they still were the good guys. 

Bakugo still looked up to All Might, seeing him as an equivalent of a dragon lord and wanting to take his place one day. Be the best protector. That’s what it meant to be a dragon lord. To protect and lead those under him.

-

Eventually when he’s in UA he gets to release some of his draconic powers and everyone in the class (or most) see (at the USJ incident? Before All Might wins? Fouled by the immense urge to protect Izuku.) a ghostly form of a dragon covers Katsuki like a cloak as he goes head to head with the Nomu and wins 

“You should heed my words weaklings, I AM the dragon lord!”

They finally let him have the name Dragon Lord of Destruction as his hero name.

This is a lovely blend between the medieval MHA and the modern MHA. I have this fun little head canon that the humans of this world are not purely humans anymore and that quirks come from fay magic from the fay who were smart enough to integrate themselves into human society when the magic war stated. It just took awhile for the magic to resurface. Could explain why Bakugo’s hatred for humans doesn't translate into this new life... because they aren't technically humans.   

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[class1akids]

Why do you think Hori refuses to give Bakugo and All Might any type of relationship? I know you say that Bakugo and Deku will take up All Mights will, but Bakugo and All Might dont actually have a relationship for that to be a thing for him. We dont see them having any type of one on ones or All Might mentoring Bakugo or anything. Anytime All Might has scenes with Bakugo, it's always relative to Midoriya. They dont have a single scene where it's not about Midoriya or caused by Midoriya

I would look at it the other way around, because I think Horikoshi is trying to build a relationship between them, but the question is how does he get his characters from A to B organically?

In the beginning, on the one side, you have All Might, who wants to be everyone’s everything to the point that he mostly lost his ability to connect at a personal level. On the other side, you have Bakugou who admires All Might’s strength and only that, but is completely wrapped up in his own ego and pride. 

So their early interactions reflect this. When All Might saves Bakugou from the Sludge Monster, he’s just another nameless kid among the many thousands he saved, and when he joins UA, he’s just one among the many talented students All Might has. 

All Might initially only has a relationship with Midoriya, and the reason Bakugou is even on his radar, is because of how important he is in Deku’s own journey for good and bad. On top of that, All Might’s first clumsy attempt to reach out to Bakugou after the battle trial is met with being pushed away viciously. 

There are a few times when All Might is shown to notice Bakugou’s strength and talent during the Sport Festival, and in the mid-term exam he teaches him a very personal, targeted lesson by literally beating him into the ground, showing him how much he has to grow and forcing him to choose between accepting help or losing. So while Midoriya is a big part of that, it really felt like All Might focused on them equally, which was not the case before. 

Then there is the post-Kamino mess, when they are both adjusting to their new reality - All Might to his loss of power, and Bakugou trying to deal with his immense guilt which culminates in the DvK2.  I think this is the moment All Might truly sees Bakugou for the first time not only in relation to Midoriya, but in relation to himself. 

Seeing himself in Izuku was an easy, gentle reflection - selfless, kind, saving people with a smile. But Bakugou holds up to All Might a much less flattering mirror - an insatiable drive to win, to stand tall above everyone alone, to push away help, a grin formed by pride. But the thing is, All Might is both and it’s a big moment when he not only acknowledges that, but acknowledges that both are needed. With this he is able to influence the dynamic between Bakugou and Deku for the better by placing them side by side as win and save, as equals, as people who both have things to learn from each other and setting up their rivalry in a way that it is less about winning but pushing each other to grow. 

It’s mostly implied, but All Might starts to get to know Bakugou in a non-Deku context during the Remedial Course, after he takes over the babysitting job from Aizawa and escorts the boys every weekend. There is a shift in the tone of their interactions from the first time he goes with them, to the much more familiar, comfortable interaction they have months later, during the fight after Bakugou and Todoroki get their license. 

And All Might takes the decision to include Bakugou in the OFA-meetings and in Deku’s training only after Bakugou demonstrated how he’s been listening and trying to focus more on saving. Obviously, the main motivation to invite Bakugou is because it’s to Midoriya’s benefit to have someone close to him who is fully in the picture, who can help train OFA and I think All Might is also thinking of his own possible demise, but it is also to empower Bakugou, so he can feel less like an “unchosen” one, the loser in the competition for All Might’s favour and more like an important part of their team. 

Because the truth of the matter is, while only one person could get OFA and for a long time, All Might focused only on Deku as his sole heir - All Might’s legacy reaches beyond this power. He became a Symbol which inspired and influenced many, notably Bakugou but not only him. Todoroki, Lemillion, Cementoss, Crust, Edgeshot... many students and pro-heroes are trying to live up to All Might’s legacy - and they all deserve to be acknowledged and lifted up. Also, it’s grown to be bigger than All Might himself, so it’s not his choice anymore who takes a part of the Symbol and how they use it. 

So I think it’s a slow and a bit painful process, but step by step getting closer to Bakugou has helped All Might to become more inclusive and start to see his legacy reaching beyond OFA and see the value of creating teamwork and bonds. At the same time Bakugou gets to know this person behind the giant muscle form and incredible power who despite being quirkless and powerless, still has incredible strength of the type that he felt from Deku their whole lives. 

Izuku is still the glue between them, but I think they have both slowly grown together to a point where they genuinely know and appreciate each other, and while Deku remains their main connecting tissue, All Might’s thinking has shifted from thinking only about how Bakugou can be useful to Deku’s growth, to genuinely helping Bakugou himself to grow, learn and figure out his place in the larger context of the world and avoid the type of pitfalls that All Might has seen himself and others make.

And I’m confident that this relationship will continue to develop. All Might is not the only figure important to Bakugou - he’s had very important experiences with Aizawa, Endeavor, Best Jeanist - but he remains one of the core influences to Bakugou’s picture of what the greatest hero ought to look like. And while Izuku remains All Might’s most important bond, among the students, the next “special” one is undeniably Bakugou who forced him out of his comfortable shell, to reflect on himself and the type of hero he was, but also widening his vision beyond Deku.

[makeste]

I just took that Bakugou introspection as Horikoshi's way of telling the audience that yes Bakugou can keep up with OP Deku because there has been so much muttering across the fanbase that Bakugou won't be able to. I don't see the melodrama of Bakugou only seeing his strength as a means to keep up with Deku or that his pride is problematic. I think him having an idea for his hero names means he knows what his strength is for. He's always been strong as a person (when Deku was not) (pt1)

Losing his quirk doesn't need to be the gateway to force him to develop the kindness and consideration he's already been showing, nor would it be karmatic balance between him and Deku- especially when any scenario that takes his quirk benches him from the story or cheapens the stakes by him getting it back relatively fast. Deku's 15 years of quirklessness can't be balanced. Additionally, Bakugou only lost in the story when he was too close minded to learn, once open minded he started to (pt2)

grow. It doesn't send out a good message, if after all that growth he still gets punished. His declaration of spirit to not lose, be it to Shigaraki or Deku is not a bad thing, he is the underdog with an indominable will and he is declaring his spirit as the symbol of victory. Bakugou may lose his quirk, I don't know, but your reasons I disagree with because we interpret those panels differently. They give the audience a point of reference to guage Bakugou's ability.

you make some excellent points, anon! and you see, it’s strange, because up until this chapter and his monologue, I was in full agreement with most of what you’re saying -- that he’s already figured out all of that hero biz, that he’s already in the process of sorting his shit out on his own, and that Horikoshi is simply waiting for the right moment to finally show it.

but after reading his internal dialogue in this chapter, I’m just not so sure anymore.

in the past I’ve done a lot of guesswork on Kacchan’s thought processes based on his subtle little actions and microexpressions, and on what we’ve already been told about his character thus far. I call it “guesswork”, though, because it very much is that, because we so rarely get an actual glimpse into his head to see what he is really thinking. so when Horikoshi actually does give us one of those rare glimpses, I’m inclined to pay very close attention, and prepared to make any necessary adjustments to my current understanding of his character if need be. he is very, very complicated, and despite my spending an absurd percentage of my free time analyzing him up and down and front to back, that absolutely doesn’t mean that any of those analyses are actually right, lols. I’m constantly updating my internal databank of Kacchan knowledge both from interactions with the rest of the fandom, and -- when Horikoshi actually deigns to give us some new information -- from the canon itself.

anyway! so when I read this chapter and saw Kacchan yet again comparing his progress to Deku’s in his head, and thinking -- even now, even in the moments right before an intense battle!! -- only about his rivalry and about keeping up, that immediately set me to updating my mental bakuwiki in regards to his current character growth status. so he definitely has his hero name picked out already, we know that much. and so presumably has thus already figured out what kind of hero he wants to be. right? right.

and yet he still apparently has not revealed the new name to anyone. even after three months. like yeah, we get it, you made a promise to tell Jeanist first, etc. fair enough, but still! it’s an interesting bit of hesitation to take note of. and then there’s also the matter of Horikoshi’s interview from back in December (which I’ll link in a comment once this is posted), where he talked a lot about Bakugou and made a point of saying that his character growth wasn’t done yet, and that he still needs to apologize to Deku. which is as good a confirmation as any that such an apology is indeed forthcoming.

so why, then, does it seem like we’re still no closer to that moment, even after Kacchan seemingly had a mysterious epiphany at the end of the internship arc, and even after we subsequently went through a three month time jump? Kacchan isn’t one to be slow about it when he decides to make progress. his growth in all other aspects has come by leaps and bounds. and yet when it comes to his relationship with Deku -- his friendship with Deku, except that he still can’t bring himself to acknowledge that’s what it is, and insists on thinking of it as only a rivalry -- it seems like he reached a certain point, and then just... stalled. like he’s not willing to go any further past this. and there are many reasons for why that may be the case. but at the root of all of them is pride.

and I’m not saying he needs to give up that pride, because that’s a huge and very important part of who he is. you said his declaration of spirit not to lose isn’t a bad thing, and I agree. but that doesn’t always make it a good thing either, and I don’t want to get so swept up in my love of the character that I start refusing to acknowledge the downsides of that trademark pride as well. pride, like anything else, is nuanced. it can be both good and bad. it’s good when it motivates you and pushes you to do your best and to achieve your goals. but it’s bad when it makes you inflexible, and when it prevents you from taking actions which would benefit you and others, just because doing so would mean humbling yourself in a way that is scary and which feels like it runs counter to your ultimate goals. because you want to be someone who always wins. and so any time you do experience a loss, you go through an entire mini-crisis, because it feels like your very purpose in life is being threatened.

I don’t know if “problematic” is the word I would use for this aspect of him. I feel like that word is fairly overused, especially in fandom, and now has certain connotations of “this is objectively bad behavior which should be called out and shunned.” and I don’t think that’s the case at all when it comes to Kacchan’s pride. he’s already learned how to put it aside in order to work with others and save others. and that’s great! he already is a great hero by this point, imo. if Horikoshi decided to just end his character arc here and not take it any further, I would actually be just fine with that.

but I think that there is still the potential for more. I think that we are still not done here yet. because this manga consistently surprises and amazes me with the way it goes the extra mile when it comes to character development. Kacchan and Deku didn’t have to reconcile their differences and learn to respect one another after only 120 chapters (I say “only” in a very sincere and not sarcastic sense here, because that really is an insanely short timeframe compared to most other manga). but they did. Endeavor didn’t have to see the error of his ways and decide that he wanted to become a better person, and he definitely didn’t have to be shown apologizing and admitting his wrongdoings and even going so far as to back out of his family’s lives for their sakes and even build them a house so they could move on apart from him. but he did! and that’s insane, you guys. name me another series that goes that hard in trying to redeem a guy whom virtually every single member of this fandom would have once described as ultimately devoid of any redeeming qualities. I can’t think of any.

but BnHA is just like that. it goes hard. it doesn’t back off. nothing about its character arcs is remotely half-assed. and so if a character is showing signs that they are still angling for more growth? that there are still things they need to learn? then I’m inclined to think we are going to roll up our sleeves and get that growth, one way or another.

this story consistently amazes me because whenever I look at a certain aspect of a character’s development and say to myself, “oh hey, that’s pretty awesome, even if it’s still not ideal,” Horikoshi goes and nudges it down another notch towards being ideal. like, the dude just doesn’t settle. and so that’s one of the reasons why I’m convinced this is a very real and even likely possibility. because this kind of development, to me, would be very, very, very close to my ideal. is it strictly necessary? absolutely not. would it fucking blow my mind as a development, however? I kinda think it would, ngl.

-- that is, with the one addendum that since I do love my son very dearly, I wouldn’t want it to actually be permanent. so in order to be truly ideal, such an arc would also have to include a way for him to climb back up again after experiencing that fall. which some might find contrived or “cheap”, as you put it. but that’s a risk I’m very selfishly and biasedly game for all the same, lol. I am more than willing to occasionally suspend my sense of disbelief in the name of character development, and honestly, I don’t actually think it would cheapen the stakes in any way, because just because Kacchan’s main character status gives him cool perks like a one-time get-out-of-losing-your-quirk-for-free card doesn’t mean the same would apply towards anybody else. and for that matter, it wouldn’t detract from whatever soul searching Kacchan does during that period while he fully believes that he will be quirkless for the rest of his life, either. it doesn’t have to be permanent in order to have a permanent impact.

lastly, in regards to it balancing things out between him and Deku, I don’t mean that Kacchan becoming quirkless would (a) be some sort of necessary and deserved punishment for him, or (b) be even remotely equivalent in any kind of way to what Deku experienced while growing up. that is very obviously not the case, and I can’t stand that kind of thinking, that redemption is only about punishment. maybe “karmic” isn’t the word I should have used then; I meant it as a way of signifying something spiritual in the push-pull balance between the two of them, not in the “what goes around comes around you were a jerk and now you’ll finally understand what it feels like” sense of the word. that’s a big yikes, lol. so yeah, just to clarify that part of it!

what I mean by balance is that it would serve as a catalyst to Kacchan finally being able to understand Deku’s side of it. finally being able to see things from the point of view of his rival-friend who’s had the exact opposite arc as him in terms of what he had to do and go through and learn and unlearn to get this far. it would serve as a means of finally bridging that one last gap of understanding between them. it would bring things back into balance because it would bring them back into balance, by giving them the push to finally mend that one last broken part of their former friendship. the part that’s still untouched by both of them, because they’re both afraid of disrupting the current semi-stable truce that they have now in their relationship. even if it’s not perfect. not, if you’ll pardon my use of the word yet again, ideal.

tl;dr I see Bakugou’s introspection as being a lead-in to something potentially game-changing both because I want it to be, and because, as strange as it may seem, the manga has conditioned me to think this way now. to have expectations. to anticipate more depth, more growth. so it may be the case that in this instance I’ve taken those expectations too far and I need to temper them back down and swing them in a less angsty, more traditionally shounen direction. and like I said, if that does wind up being the case, I won’t be upset.

but maybe, just maybe though, this manga will in fact go there once again. if for no other reason than that it can. “Horikoshi really went and did that” is a sentence I’ve gotten very used to typing since I started reading this manga. and so, well, let’s just wait and see.

[comedicreliefonlyworkswhenfunny]

I just wanna rant for a second about something I keep seeing

Bakugou losing his quirk is not going to be a good "redemption" tactic

If anything, it's a really bad plot point.

Yes, he'll understand how Midoriya felt, but people seem to forget that he already knows what it's like to be weak.

No, I don't condone any of the bullying that he's put others through. Yes, I understand that inflicting pain upon others to deal with your own is toxic, and, yes, I acknowledge that this is something his character needs to work past and overcome. However, stripping him of all his power is NOT going to "make him better;" it's going to make him worse.

People seem to forget that he's been dealing with shit for just as long as Midoriya has. Whether you focus on the constant praise that was pushed onto him- the EXPECTAIONS he was given- or the smaller fact that there was always someone out to get him. We don't know too, too much about him growing up, but he had an amazing quirk. From then on, he had a legacy; he had a duty to live up to those. He was constantly bombarded by the fact that he HAD to be strong ("because it's what everyone wants from him"). There are several issues that stem from this- one being his inability to show/acknowledge his own weakness.

When they were on the log bridge and he fell, Midoriya was the ONLY one who went down to help him. Everyone else brushed it off ("It's Bakugou, he's fine!"); he wasn't allowed to acknowledge how much pain he was in. Shit, man, did you see how high up that log bridge was? Water or not, that had to fucking hurt. Yet no one batted an eye (other than Midoriya). He was on his own, and that had a lasting impression on him.

He's not ALLOWED to lean on others, because- like everyone always told him- he's strong. This led to him pushing everyone away- this led to the idea that other people made him weak.

In addition to that, life was always against him. The show focuses a lot on how the world is always out for the weak- Midoriya, being the once quirkless main protagonist, was constantly mocked for his dreams of becoming a hero (if we're speaking honestly, those were very unrealistic dreams. While he poured every ounce of his being into studying and had the determination of an ox, he was a toothpick. He talked a lot about being willing to do anything for his dreams, but he did little to actually chase those desires- (but that's not what this discussion is about)).

When he was a first grader, a fifth grader bumped into him, and his friend group wanted Bakugou to apologize for it. Bakugou refused, and they tried to over power him. He ended up beating them (while Midoriya watched from behind a tree). Now, I can't really say for anyone else, but, when I was in first grade, the fifth graders in my school were scary, man!

But he won. He proved that he was stronger than them.

And you know what? No one was there for him. No one helped him fend them off. No one offered him a band aid or anything to help with his wounds. Of course, we can't say for sure, but (knowing any normal household) he was probably scolded for getting in a fight.

Another big event. The Sludge Villain Incident.

There were HEROES surrounding him within minutes of it happening. There were crowds of people WATCHING him squirm and suffer. They did NOTHING. They sat back and waited. The heroes got push down once, and said 'I can't do it. I'm going to wait for someone who can.'

Bakugou almost died.

He would have, if Midoriya hadn't rushed over.

If he had been weak, he could have lost his life. This event was just a staple telling him that he had to fend for himself in life, or he was going to crumble. Can you imagine being a child, VIOLATED AND SUFFOCATED in the middle of a CROWDED STREET, surrounded by people who were SUPPOSED to HELP others doing nothing?

And what happened after that?

He was praised.

He had to struggle for his life while everyone sat back and watched. And on top of that, they weren't concerned for his well being; they weren't asking him if he was okay. The heroes have him a blanket and a bottle of water, and showered him in praise for lasting so long. (Imagine if we treated r*pe victims like that. Instead of focusing on their humiliation and how wronged they were, imagine if we just told them they did great by enduring it. Does it help give you an idea of how this must have felt for him?) They told him that the only thing that mattered about him was his strength. The person that rushed in to save him- the ONLY one out of tens of people who didn't hesitate to act- was being scolded. Because he was weak (and shouldn't have rushed in).

Do you see the difference there?

Bakugou knew fully well that if Midoriya hadn't jumped in, he would have died. That was why he felt the need to chase him down after the incident and yell at him. He was so disgusted and upset with himself that he felt the need to prove himself- to say that "I didn't need your help!" Because he was so afraid of acknowledging his own weakness, he would rather look like a bully and an oppressor than the scared child he was.

Furthermore, the Sports Festival. A lot of people overlook it when it comes to Bakugou's growth and development, but it is quite important.

Todoroki used his fire against Midoriya (of course, Midoriya specifically plays into the impact for a couple of reasons, but I'm not going to go over them because this isn't the post).

Regardless of why, he went full out; he was determined to win the match.

Then, he entered the Final match with Bakugou, and refused to use his fire. From the point of view of someone who doesn't know the complicated Torodoki past, Bakugou only sees the fact that Todoroki isn't going all out. He's refusing to use the full force of his power in the FINAL match, despite being so determined in the past match.

Bakugou sees this as Todoroki looking down on him. Logically, who wouldn't? He used the full force of his power the match before, claiming that he wanted to win, but, suddenly now that he's up against Bakugou, winning doesn't matter enough for him. This is a major shot to Bakugou's pride (you know, the one that has been pushed on him for years, to the point where he has developed a hatred for weakness).

People get mad at Bakugou all the time for the Sports Festival arc, because of how his fight with Uraraka and Todoroki. However, they neglect to acknowledge the world they are in. Villains aren't going to go easy on Uraraka because she's a girl, and Bakugou going easy on her would be an insult. Same to Torodoki! Beating him at less than his full power isn't really beating him! Bakugou manages to prove to Todoroki that he doesn't need a handicap to win their match, and that Todoroki shouldn't look down on him. Even so, he doesn't step it up a notch. He doesn't kick it into full gear. Bakugou knows that he probably could have won if he had used his fire (at the very least, he had a chance), but he didn't.

He would rather lose than go all out against Bakugou.

He was so determined to win in the previous match, but all of that fire suddenly died out (literally ha)-

Bakugou was confused, hurt- angered. Why? Why was Todoroki so fired up against Midoriya *of all people (this has a specific impact given their history together, but, even without it, this has a major push), but refused to fully acknowledge Bakugou? He, no doubt, felt like it was an elaborate way to mock him.

But more than that, he didn't feel like he deserved first place. He didn't earn it. His opponent didn't go all out on him.

UA had NO RIGHT to force Bakugou to accept that medal, and I will take this to the grave.

What they did is basically like a sports team going up against their rival's injured star player. Their team's ace in the hole was limping the whole match. Of course, your team won! Except... it wasn't a fair match to begin with.

The people on Shinsou's calvalry team were allowed to just drop out, because they didn't feel like they deserved to move on after not being able to remember the event.

But Bakugou was CHAINED UP and FORCED to accept a medal he didn't think he earned?

Which led to him getting targeted by villains.

Villains who told him that they didn't think he'd make it as a hero.

Why? Because he didn't want to accept a medal he didn't think he earned.

Not just the kidnapping, the sheer scalet's of their operation- they gassed several students, injured several pros, and burned down an entire chunk of the forest- to get to Bakugou. (Yes, they would have done that with or without the goal of capture, but there's still the 'if they weren't after him... would they have go through the trouble?')

And then the rescue.

Bakugou probably didn't think the heroes were going to come get him. No one helped him during the Sludge Villain Incident, and that wasn't his fault. This one, however, he felt like was. He's massively conflicted by the fact that he should have just accepted the damn medal and the fact that he didn't truly earn it; he's pushed into a situation where neither options are good.

Then they did come to help him, no doubt, to his surprise.

The look on Bakugou's face after seeing All Might is priceless-

He wants to be happy that his mentor, his idol came to his rescue. They cared about him enough to save him.

But also

He was weak and needed saving.

Despite all of the people who pushed their broken dreams and shattered weaknesses onto him, he failed. Everyone was mad at him or disappointed in him when he was doing everything that he could to live up to the expectations they FORCED on to him. He was refused the ability to come to terms with his own weakness as a child- because of society pushing down on him- and now those same people are getting upset with him.

He was relieved to be rescued. When he saw Kirishima and the others, he didn't have to think about how it was impossible for him to take on so many villains. He was relieved to be safe.

And then he saw All Might fighting All For One.

He saw his idol bloodied up and barely standing- a shriveled form of himself.

And none of this would have happened if not for his weakness.

Yes, he has always seen weakness as something bad, but making him completely powerless isn't going to just make it all better. He KNOWS what weakness feels like. He KNOWS how much it fucking hurts. Rather than that, why dont we focus on getting this kid some kind of fucking therapy or closure?? Teach him that it's okay to be weak rather than trying to throw him into yet another fucked up situation.

Idk. Maybe I have too much of an attachment to this issue, but stripping Bakugou of his quirk is a terrible plot point and does nothing to further his character OR point out the societal flaws that made him that way.

[mysterylover123]

My Top 20 BKDK Moments (So Far)

by mysterylover123

Warning, anime onlys: I’ll be mentioning Manga stuff, though only 2 of them are all that spoiler-y

#20. YOU MADE THAT BORROWED POWER  YOUR OWN

3.19 “RUSH!” Provisional License Exam Arc

What Happens: Bakugo asks Midoriya if he’s made ‘that borrowed power’ his own, complimenting him indirectly by saying that of course he passed. Deku gets super excited at being complimented by him.

Why I like it: For all the shit they throw at one another early on, BK & DK do really look up to/respect each other. They won’t admit it easily, but scenes like this (and a later scene in Chapter 194, where Deku compliments Kacchan and he too reacts extremely) showcase that respect. I love it. Also, Kacchan knows Deku’s AM’s inheritor already.

#19. HAVE YOU GOTTEN ANY BETTER? (Manga)

Chapter 168 “The Strange Tale of Aoyama” Interlude arcs

What happens. Post Internship arc, Bakugo asks Deku if he’s gotten any better since they last talked. Deku says no, and Bakugo reminds him that he said he’d surpass him. This prompts Deku to work harder.

Why I like it: Ideal RivalShipping is about two characters pushing each other to be their best selves. Bakugo is great at getting Deku to try harder, just as Deku prompts his best self.

#18. YOUR QUIRK IS AMAZING, KACCHAN

Backstory flashback, multiple times. Mostly Battle Trial Arc

What happens: Baby Deku and Kacchan walk through the woods together, talking about quirks, before DK is found to be quirkless. This is one of many scenes of Baby Deku and Kacchan being casual friends.

Why I like it: I love the cute scenes of them as kids, where they seem to be actual friends and hang out together, bonding over All-Might and quirks and heroes. I hope we get to see them hang out like that again as adults some day.

#17. SECRET OFA TALKS (MANGA SPOILERS!)

Chapter 217: End of joint Training Arc

What Happens: Kacchan joins in the AM and Deku talks (for the 2nd time) to discuss what’s happening with OFA. He also works with Deku on trying to master his new ability.

Why I like it: Bakugo is instantly able to help Deku zero in on the information he needs up joining the secret OFA talks, in a way that AM wasn’t able to. He makes a great partner for Deku here, getting right to the point and refusing to waste time.

#16. “I COULD MOVE LIKE KACCHAN”

Hero-Killer Arc, 2.14-2.19

What Happens: Deku is trying to master OFA. He thinks about how he wants to move, and uses Kacchan’s moves as his model. He’s able to discover Full Cowling like this, which lets him fight Stain and do well in the race - and everyone notices (Iida, Uraraka, Todoroki, Bakugo) that he’s moving like Kacchan.

Why I like it: Deku has lots of moments where he thinks “What would Kacchan do” or tries to model himself on the guy. He admires the crap out of him - but not in the blind way he tries to imitate AM, or Ochaco tries to imitate Deku, or Iida Ingenium. Because Deku doesn’t hero-worship Baku, but sees his flaws, he’s able to imitate him without losing himself.

#15. “HE’S AMAZING”

Battle Trial Arc, 1.07-1.08

What happens: Midoriya and Uraraka are pitted against Kacchan and Iida in mock battle. Midoriya goes on and on and on about how awesome Kacchan is and how much he wants to beat him - first in a speech to Uraraka, later telling Bakugo to his face.

Why I like it: Deku really looks up to Kacchan, and even at their most adversarial, he still talks about him in positive terms and speaks of him as a cool guy he wants to surpass. Deku doing this is also good for Bakugo, since he’s able to acknowledge his flaws and strengths without kissing his ass like his sidekicks in middle school; Deku beating him upsets his pride and sets off his Character Development.

#14. TWIN STARS OF CLASS 1-A

3.17 Class 1-A, License Exam Arc

What Happens: Aizawa meta’s about his class with Ms Joke, explaining that Deku and Kacchan are the center of every Class A incident, and despite not getting along, their presence elevates everyone else up.

Why I like it: The staff of UA seem to ship BKDK. They teamed them up to fight AM and encourage them to get along. Aizawa sees clearly how each one inspires everyone else. This speech groups them together as a duo who act in tandem. Twin Stars.

#13. “THE MOST AMAZING HERO ALWAYS WINS IN THE END.”

2.24 “Katsuki Bakugo origin” Flashback

What happens. Baby Kacchan fights off a bunch of older kids, even though he’s in tears. Baby Deku watches him from afar and looks deeply impressed.

Why I like it: Deku seems to have admired Kacchan since he was really, really young. I’m not sure when this scene takes place, but Deku’s big smile and wide, shining eyes when watching Bakugo seem like a mark of affection and love to me.

#12. ABOUT MY/YOUR SHOOT STYLE

3.23 Deku vs Kacchan Part 2

What happens: Post Fight, under house arrest alone, Deku and Kacchan have a very civil conversation, where depending on the translation either Deku brings up Shoot style and asks for advice, or Kacchan offers it on his own. Ends with Deku smiling.

Why I like it: Post-DVK2, they immediately establish that they’re now capable of talking to each other in civil terms. Kacchan gives Deku civil advice, and despite saying ‘it pissed me off’, the whole exchange is beautifully positive.

#11. GET OUT OF MY WAY, DEKU

1.12 All Might USJ Arc

What happens: Deku jumps in to save Al Might and is nearly killed by Kurogiri. At the last second Kacchan saves him by taking down Kurogiri. Also Later Kacchan is nearly killed and Deku screams in horror.

Why I like it: Bakugo doesn’t have a ton of scenes where he saves Deku, but the few times he does save someone/show concern for them, it’s usually him. This is Baku’s first save, and though he phrases it in rude terms, he still does it. Actions> words.

#10. WELL, NOW I’M EVEN MORE EAGER (MANGA)

Chapter 202, joint Training Arc

What Happens: Deku and AM go off to talk OFA. Kacchan refuses to be left out and joins them voluntarily. Noticing Deku is upset he encourages him in his own way, which AM observes. Once Deku smiles, Kacchan goes back to being his abrasive self.

Why I Like it: Baku is newly nicer (in his Tsundere way) after DVK2. He’s actually able to be kind to Deku and encouraging. This is similar to the advice the OFA users give Deku later, which helps him actually use the power. OFA Co-conspirators FTW.

#9. NOW IT’S YOUR TURN

3.11-3.12 US of Smash

What Happens: Post All Might’s fight, Kacchan notices Deku’s tears and AM’s words, and puts the pieces together. He asks AM about Deku and when he’s shot down he remains quiet and brooding.

Why I like it: Bakugo changes forever in this section of the story. He realizes the truth about Deku. He blames himself for ending AM. He asks about Deku and shows awareness that something’s up with him. It’s all very self-aware and sweet.

(#8-2, examples of super-mega-ultra concern for each other)

#8. YOU’RE PROBABLY THE MOST FRUSTRATED OF ALL

3.04-3.10 Training Camp and Hideout Raid Arcs

What Happens: While fighting Muscular, Deku learns that Kacchan is in danger. He goes psycho Madman Deku mode for the whole Training Camp Arc, refusing to pause or rest until he’s saved Kacchan. He falls apart when Kacchan is taken, then immediately goes off to save him again even though he could die.

Why I like it. Deku likes saving people in general, but when someone threatens Kacchan, he goes crazy in a way he doesn’t for anyone else. He spends this whole arc hopped up on “Must save Kacchan” juice and keeps pushing and going no matter what. He cares about the guy, no two ways about it.

#7. DON’T COME, DEKU

3.07 “What a Twist!”

What happens: Bakugo is captured by villains. He’s being dragged through the portal and Deku comes barreling towards him with two broken arms, fully prepared to jump through the portal and die just to save him. Bakugo tells him not to and Deku listens.

Why I like it: Though this arc is filled with Deku being crazy protective of Baku, Baku gets his own fair share in right here. He tells Deku not to basically die protecting him, and Deku listens. Baku basically saves his life here, at the expense of his own.

#6. “ARE YOU ALL RIGHT? ARE YOU HURT?”

Backstory flashback repeated a lot.

What happens: Baby Kacchan slips and falls into a creek. Baby Deku goes down to help him up and asks if he’s ok. This offends Baby Kacchan’s pride.

Why I like it: Bakugo probably never had anyone treat him like a fallible human being until Deku came along. Everyone told him he was amazing and could never be hurt - but Deku doesn’t. That bruises his ego at first, but in reality it’s exactly what he needs: Someone who cares about him and will protect him, while still admiring him. (Plus this scene is cute).

#5. HOW CAN HE SMILE… (MANGA SPOILERS. MASSIVE ONES)

Chapter 210, Joint Training Arc

What Happens: In an effort to piss Deku off and get him to talk, Monoma using Shinso’s power taunts him about Bakugo, saying that Bakugo shouldn’t be able to smile since he destroyed All Might. Deku’s new quirk goes PsychoBerserker out of control in response.

Why I like it: Deku’s power-ups are often connected with Baku in some way. Like many superpowers, OFA seems to be fueled by emotions. So targeting Bakugo brings out Deku’s greatest powers. In this case, though, it’s not a villain trying to hurt him. It’s someone insulting him. And that means Deku will defend Kacchan’s honor and feelings as well as his safety.

#4. I GOT MY QUIRK FROM SOMEONE ELSE

1.08 “Bakugo’s Start Line”

What Happens: Post Battle Trial Arc, Bakugo is in emotional freeful. Deku notices and chases after him, telling him for no goddamn good reason that he has an inherited power. Kacchan doesn’t believe him and instead pours his heart out to him, crying and promising to beat him.

Why I like it: Buncha reasons. 1) Deku ditches all his lovely friends, including Ochaco, to go comfort Kacchan. Even in the same way Ochaco just ditched Kaminari. 2) Deku tells Kacchan about OFA. He won’t tell anyone else, he just decided comforting Kacchan was more important than his entire reason for being here. 3) Kacchan cries in front of Deku and tells him how he feels insecure. He doesn’t do that in front of anyone else. 4) Warm lighting, deep eye contact, and the beginning of a beautiful rivalry.

#3. DEKU AND KACCHAN VS ALL MIGHT

2.24 “Katsuki Bakugo Origin”

What happens: Deku and Kacchan work together to fight AM, after a nasty fight. Deku calls Kacchan out for not being himself. Kacchan sacrifices his body to make sure Deku can escape. Deku socks AM in the face to protect Kacchan. They win.

Why I like it: For a moment that started out so dark (sock to the face), this one gets sweet fast. On Deku’s side: He reprimands Kacchan for not acting like himself, compliments his can-do- attitude, and works together with him, overcoming his fear; he finds the strength to punch AM in the face to save Kacchan, with a callback to ep 2. Kacchan’s strength helps Deku win. On Kacchan’s side: He works with Deku to win, giving him his gauntlet, and sacrifices his safety so Deku can get out, even sounding kinda concerned for him when he gets in danger. They showcase what a great team they could/will make when they work together.

#2. MY LEGS MOVED BEFORE I COULD THINK

Chapter 1/Episode 2: Izuku Midoriya Origin/What it Takes to be a Hero

What happens: Deku, in a fit of depression, sees the monster AM saved him from suffocating some kid. He’s freaking out till he sees that it’s Kacchan. He runs into deadly danger to save Kacchan, inspiring AM to save them both.

Why I like it: Because this moment changed Deku’s entire life and Kacchan’s as well. Deku’s legs ‘move’ before he can think. And it’s explicitly because it’s Kacchan in danger; he doesn’t move until he sees Kacchan’s terrified eyes. Kacchan also shows concern for Deku, telling him to get away (he didn’t say that to the pros trying to save him) so he doesn’t die. This is another scene that follows up on an awful fight between the two, and changes both lives forever. Saving Kacchan gets Deku OFA. Being saved by Deku opens Kacchan to his humility for the first time and stops him from hassling Deku. Plus, just a super-snippy moment to me.

BONUS: Anime only, OPS & EDS

OP 1: The Day

Deku and Kacchan are surrounded by the romantic cherry blossom trees.

OP 3: Sora Ni Utaeba

Deku and Kacchan brooding on each other.

ED 3: Datte Atashi No Hiro 

Admitted by the writer to be about Deku’s feelings for Kacchan. Fantasy Deku with his hand over his heart watching Kacchan. BKDK teaming up in Fantasy AU to beat All Might as they look each other deeply in the eyes.

2.24 OG

Anime-only Kabe-Don scene.

OP 4: Odd Future

Deku’s head bows when Kacchan is stolen.

ED 4: Update

“Cause I love, cause I love, cause I love being with you.” While they watch the stars together.

OP 5: Make My Story

2 halves, one whole.

THE BEST:

#1. Deku vs Kacchan Part 2

Chapter 116-121/Episodes 3.22-3.23

“It’s about your quirk…If your way of looking at him was right, does that mean my admiration was wrong?”

“No matter how many times I pushed you away, you always keep coming back!”

“We never talked about our real feelings…”

“Why was I the reason for All Might’s end?”

“The only one who can receive Kacchan’s feelings is me.”

“To me, you were an amazing, inspiring person, who was much closer to me than All Might. That’s why I kept chasing after you” (is it me or does this sound exactly like Hinata’s love confession to Naruto in the Invasion of Pein arc?)

“This is gross, so I can’t tell you, but…you’re my image of victory.”

“If the two of you recognize each other, and honestly raise each other up, you can become the best heroes, who both win and rescue.”

What Happens: Deku and Kacchan tell each other how they really feel. Through a fight because Shonen.

Why I like it: AM himself says it. They’re perfectly matched. They need each other to become the greatest heroes. Kacchan knows he can only talk to Deku about how he’s feeling; nobody else can receive his feelings. Deku loves and admires Kacchan as his friend, not his Great Hero like AM. It’s just perfect.

[0lshadyl0]

Can I request a yandere Aizawa with a fem s/o whose quirk is exchanging her own life to revive someone from death? Reader have been friends with Aizawa since they were kids, they love eachother but never confessed until Aizawa died in battle. Kisses him and finally confesses then- ill let you decide what happens next 😉 I love your works btw gives out like a classy style~

of course sweety, btw I really want to know what kind of classy style I give 

No time left, Aizawa Shouta x Reader

warnings: death

word count: 1935

You knew it, that is his end, Aizawa, your childhood friend, which you knew from the moment you were aware, with whom you grew up supporting him at every moment of his life to the point where your heart only started beating for the love you had towards him but that you kept secret since it was dangerous to enter into a relationship with him ...  because it was dangerous, especially right now, for this precise reason

Shouta had been following in the footsteps of a dangerous organization that worked under government support to do the dirty work of them, creating massacres, disappearing people, among other horrible crimes that ended in the death of many, heroes, villains and civilians, all equally

Recently Eraserhead discovered that this organization called "the elite legion" had begun to arrive in Japan to commit its heinous criminal acts, he knew he should do something to prevent it

He thought to inform the authorities as to other heroes, but the government of Japan refused to help and forbid the heroes to act against this group, after all, they had special permission to act in the country, that permission it covered any kind of attacks, disasters, kidnappings, hacks, and even murders

Although the truth was that the elite legion had solved the problem of a dangerous international terrorist group acting in the country and as the government had signed agreements with them the legion could do whatever they wanted in the country, of course, in exchange they should help with all the dirty problems that the government had

And although Eraserhead didn't like at all that they could do what they wanted while they were passed by the law, he couldn't help but look away helplessly while taking refuge from his frustration in your arms, you were his only peace at that moment and  in those moments when you two were together, curled up in the armchair while he was lost in his thoughts, you had to endure to not telling him how much you love him, after all, it was not the moment, although the truth If you started thinking a little, you had never found the moment and you had the feeling that you had no time left

The murders were more constant, thousands of lives were lost with each passing week and although there was more security on the streets, of course, everyone was afraid of being the next victim of the elite legion or as civilians believed, villains, people were more cautious about following the law

But when babies, children, teenagers and people with special, powerful or unstable quirks disappeared for the elite legion to wash their brains, train them and finally add them to their ranks of mercenary murderers,  Eraserhead decided that it was enough, especially, for that the elite also decided to kidnap you, the most important woman in his life and that was something he was not going to let happen

You had a special ability that captured the interest of the elite legion after all your quirk allowed you to exchange your health for someone else's, scratches, cuts, bruises, serious injuries and ultimately, your own life for another

For that reason, they tried to take you and Eraserhead tried to stop him, but, amid his worry and fear of failing his goal and losing you forever he didn't think logically in that battle Nor do I take into account that all those who were in the elite legion were people with quirks prodigies, with special training and little moral enough to kill whoever hinders in their mission

For that reason it didn't take them long to neutralize Shouta, after all, they were ten of the legion fully prepared to counter the hero, as if that wasn't enough, four of them were quirkless and armed with guns in if he erased his teammates' quirks, which he did, neglecting the four without quirk who took the opportunity to shoot the hero multiple times

This is how Aizawa ended up with more than ninety shots in his body, his lifeless corpse collapsed strongly on the ground accompanied by your agonized screams for losing your beloved without confessing your feelings while the elite legion laughed out loud because the situation seemed fun to themAt that moment the leader of the group and the one that held you tightly, received a message, her smile disappeared so her face showed discomfort, she immediately released you and you quickly ran towards Aizawa's body, you knew what to do and you should do it fast before the elite legion prevented you from saving his life

One of them, the one with blue skin and three meters high, tried to prevent your task, but the leader prevented it, he saw her in the eyes looking for an answer to why she stopped him" she will use her quirk, if she dies we will have failed," said the big man

"New orders" was all the leader replied "we don't need her alive anymore" she whispered with some annoyance since the previous order specified that you were alive, well, she didn't care if you were alive or dead, she just wanted to finish her mission

"What do you mean by that?" The elite legion gathered around the leader to find out what the message was sayingIn the meantime you took advantage of the fact that they didn't pay attention to you to make the greatest sacrifice of love that someone can make for someone else, to give your life in exchange for that of your dear ShoutaYou activated your quirk and gave him a sweet kiss on the lips where you transmitted all your feelings at the same time that your life to him, little by little, the bullets left his body and his wounds healed while your own body was filled with holes and a terrible pain was beginning to consume you to the maximum point where your nervous system was already disconnected from your brain to not suffer more

Shouta slowly opened his eyes, when he could stop seeing blurry he saw your beautiful face adorned with a sweet smile from which a little blood came out, that made him aware and tried to hold him close to him, Aizawa was scared, you looked terribly slaughtered and although he didn't want to admit it, you didn't look like you were going to survive"But what happened!?, How could they do this to you ... it was not supposed ... quiet, everything will be fine, just resist a little" he was scared and for the first time in a long time his mind was blank, he had no idea what to do and time was not in his favor

"Shouta... I am very sorry not to tell you this... before" everything around you began to look black, your quirk took effect, there was no time left to live, this was your end "No, please no, give me more time, you'll be fine, I promise, just resist" he didn't want you to say goodbye, he didn't want to lose you, they had spent a lot of time together, you were too important in his life, you couldn't go, just like that, without him being able to do something to prevent your inevitable death, he understood that he was the one who was going to die but somehow it was you who had all the wounds, it was you who were dying right now 

"I love you Shouta ..." was the last thing you said before you took your last breath, but you had done happily because you knew he would continue to be alive, you had the hope that he would continue to be a great hero saving many people and with luck, he would end the elite legionHe wanted to answer that he loved you too, but it was no use telling him to an inert body, yet he cried inconsolably as he hugged you and your blood stained his clothes, he regretted not telling you before how much he loved you and the fact of that he wanted to be with you, be your hero, be your boyfriend, your husband, the father of the future children that together would never have now, and grow old with you until death separated you two, he had many plans with you and now none was going to be fulfilled

Suddenly he heard some sobs from afar and saw a member of the legion crying while he was comforted by two of his companions and their leader, at that moment he remembered that he was still in danger, but he didn't care anymore, he didn't I wanted to fight or live in that moment"I'm sorry, I got a little excited, I'm sensitive to love scenes," said the young mercenary who was not over 17 years old, short, with effeminate body to be a man, and black hair with green at the end of his hair

"It was a truly beautiful scene, the drama, the feelings and the declaration of love was moving," said the leader, a young woman with brown hair and three eyes who was wiping tears from her weeping partner "but we did not come to see dramas, we are here for the now dead body ”he smiled cynically as he gave the order to attack" she is going to be the food of one of our members "

"You will have to pass over me before putting your dirty hands on Y/n" he prepared to defend you, he did not want to live, not in a world where you were not by his side, he had already lost someone before and now he had lost you, which was even worse because you were the love of his life, but he would not let those who killed you take your body, much less to be the food of some disgusting being of the legion of the elite

"Do not worry, we will make sure that you meet your beloved very soon, after all, we have orders to disappear you for conspiring against us even though everything we do is legal," said another legion member

“What a waste" said the blue man looking at you body "she gave her life to return yours and in the end, you will die anyway, she would have lasted longer with me, although of course, with some bruises, hickeys, and wounds, Y/n is a very nice name, perfect for her, she was very beautiful, with a nice sexy body, don't you think the same Eraserhead? ”said the blue man as he ran his tongue over his lips, making Aizawa understand what the mercenary would have done to you if he had the opportunity, this angered Aizawa in such a way that I only thought is to destroy all of that group and especially the blue subject

Again they engaged in another fight, this battle lasted a little longer than the previous one and although the hero gave his best, he was again outnumbered, and they played dirty by trying to attack your body so that he couldn't take care of himself cuz he was trying to protect what was left of you

In the end, the hero Eraserhead was never seen again, nor his closest friends and the other heroes who sought him got a clue of him, after all, it is very difficult to find one of the secret bases of the legion, where his the body and that of his beloved became food for one of the most dangerous members

[aiiizawa]

Cecilia wondered if it was an extended, bad dream.  The sensation of falling all around them— the bright, blue sky being blinding with interspersed clouds of pure white and the blurry form of buildings flying past them.  They were no stranger to dreams about falling out of the sky, or some building.   Almost bored, they closed their eyes and tried to change the dream to something else, maybe even give themselves the ability to fly.  

…

……

………

That wasn’t working. 

In a flash, Cecilia opened their eyes and tried to look around.  How fast were they falling?  How close was the ground??  How could this happen when they lived on the GROUND FLOOR of a house with NO SECOND STORY— Cecilia was going to scream,definitely, but the sensation changed almost immediately.  What was once the rush of cold air flying behind them was now being shielded, and they gently opened one of their eyes hesitantly.

“Worry not, my young friend!!  I am here!!”

A booming, familiar voice.  This face…. Long, blonde hair…bright blue eyes nearly eclipsed by the strong bone structure of his face.

“ALL MIGHT?!”  The accusation came out faster than their brain could stop it.

“YES!””  His answer, brilliant and shining in the sun, took the wind out of them even further.  They stared up at him, mouth hanging agape as he deftly jumped with them to the ground.  Apparently, not the correct response, as he had a brief look of shock on his face, but it disappeared as fast as it came, so they chalked it up to the brightness of the sun around them and their imagination.  A small crowd had appeared around the two of them as All Might gently placed them onto the floor swiftly, placing both of his huge hands on their shoulders.

“Now, my young friend, as much as life may be hard for you-- or perhaps you were merely experimenting with your quirk-- You must value your life!!  It is not to be carelessly thrown away!”  He enunciated these words firmly, eyes boring into theirs as they blinked.  There was a misunderstanding somewhere there, definitely, but they couldn’t seem to find a moment to interject as he continued his well-meaning lecture.  More than likely, they were in a bit of shock.  First of all…that was All Might.  ‘That’ All Might.  The world’s greatest hero, the symbol of peace.... That is, in their favorite shounen manga.  Undeniably, they could feel his hand on their shoulder and his finger wag as he continued, and the way their neck hurt from attempting to look up to him.  Slowly, they tried to look around themselves.  Aside from All Might (surprisingly in his normal clothes), there were several heroes hovering nearby...even some in the sky.  They could read advertisements on the various buildings and hear the speakers announce clearly.

‘Be Free to Be You-- Unique Styles for your Unique Body Type.’

‘QUIRKS ARE DEVELOPING SOONER THAN YOU THINK.  IF YOUR CHILD SHOWS SIGNS OF DEVELOPING THEIR QUIRK, DON’T BE LEFT BEHIND.  QUIRK COUNSELORS IN YOUR AREA ARE SPECIALLY TRAINED TO MAKE SURE THAT YOUR CHILD CAN GO BEYOND’

‘Attention: those trying to commute to the 4th Ward on the train should make alternative arrangements as a recent villain attack has left the tracks unable to be used.  For the time being--’

As their gaze flickered between the various sights, oblivious to the world around them, All Might continued.  “If you have any other problems, please do not hesitate to take advantage of this country’s mental health services!   You have your whole future before you!  Go beyond!!  Plus Ultra!!”  He took a step back, saluted, and went to leap away.

Away.

Hold on--

“W-W-WAIT, DON’T G--”  Cecilia, finally realizing that he would be their best bet to understand things, reached out to stop him, hand outstretched.

“HA HA HA!!  DO TAKE CARE!!”  In a flash that was more powerful than they had thought, even when he had just saved him, he was gone.  Well, fuck.  Cecilia was frozen in place for just a moment, and then turned their attention to the crowd around them that was already dissipating since the attraction, All Might, had just vanished.  A couple of well-meaning people approached, asking if they needed help to a hospital, to which they firmly denied.  An embarrassed flush came to their face, so they bowed quickly and dodged them, walking in a random direction to make more sense of their bearings.  As soon as they had managed to filter in through the crowd and walk a little bit, Cecilia leaned up against the wall in a nearby alleyway.  

First things first, they needed to take stock of what they had on them.  Thankfully, they weren’t in their pajamas or anything...a blessing, since the last thing they remembered was crawling into bed at a late hour.  Simple pair of jeans (with pockets!  That was epic.) and a comfortable shirt that they recognized from their closet that had flowers decorating the front.  Worn tennis shoes, and...they patted their back pocket firmly.  Yes.  Quickly pulling out their phone, they hoped they’d have some information.  However, quickly running through their phone, it was clear it wasn’t the case.  No apps, except for an unnamed app that resembled the original internet browser and the notepad.  They didn’t think it was possible to have a phone like this; they never messed with it in this fashion.  At first, the thought did come across that perhaps their phone had been switched, but the telltale crack in the screen protector…the case and phone holder that they chose specifically together...there was no way it wasn’t their phone.  Idly, they tried to open the browser, but even then...nothing. ‘BAD GATEWAY’ was written in bold, dark letters each time they tried to reset.  Heaving a sigh, they decided to shove it back into their pocket rather than waste anymore battery.  For now, they’d just have to keep it in case something DID work.  Now...to figure out what to do now.  They didn’t have their purse, so it wasn’t like they could go anywhere with no money or identification.  Even if they did...the currency was a problem.  Cecilia debated about sitting down and just going ‘fuck it’, but in the end, decided on a random direction and started walking.

Even if the circumstances were the absolute worst, they’d always wanted to go to Japan, so they at least took in the sights.  It was really neat, especially with quirks everywhere, it was hard not to stare.  Naturally colored hair in so many fun colors...they frowned briefly at their reflection.  Would it have been too much to ask for some fucking pink hair without effort?  Everything else was the same.

“Um, excuse me…?  Are you alright?”  A young voice called out to them, and they swiftly turned on their heel to answer.

“Ah, yeah-- I’m fine, sorry, I’ll move.”  Cecilia bowed quickly and shuffled to the side.  The young man put his hands out in refusal.

“Oh no!  I just...recognized you from the article.  You just got rescued by All Might, right?  I saw you wandering around and-- Not that I was stalking or following you or anything!!  But you seemed confused and I wanted to know if you needed help to the hospital or anything--”  He stammered as Cecilia stared at him.

Green hair.  Not just any green hair, a very special, curly head of green hair…and freckles…

Wait a minute--  Cecilia recognized him immediately.  It took a minute because he wasn’t in the U.A. uniform, but that couldn’t have been anyone but Izuku Midoriya.  Looking down at his black gakuran, could it be?  Putting the clues from All Might’s appearance earlier, they must have been put in the very beginning of the story.  Made sense.  However…

Cecilia blinked.  If he was right here and wanted to take them to the hospital…he wouldn’t have his interaction with the sludge villain that let him meet All Might.  The thought sent a chill down their spine.  Absolutely fucked, they couldn’t let that happen.  Cecilia needed a plan, fast, and thankfully, there was always ol’ reliable.

Lying.

“Hey, you’re, uhhhhh, Midoriya-kun?  Yes?”  They asked him, tilting their head slightly.  Midoriya blinked rapidly in shock, round eyes widening.

“H-Huh?  How do you know my name?”  He asked incredulously.  He looked a little bit suspicious, but more shocked than anything else.

“I live in your apartment complex!  I’m really new, both to this country and to the city;”  Not a lie.  Technically.  “I didn’t recognize you until just now!   Unfortunately, you’re right.  I am a bit lost, but I just wanted to get home.  Would you mind walking me there?”  They flashed him their best smile, putting forth what they hoped was a trustworthy and slightly embarrassed face.  He thought for a moment, and then immediately nodded.

“O-Oh!  Of course!  I had heard that someone had moved in earlier, what a coincidence!”  He laughed brightly, bowing.  “I’m Izuku Midoriya.  I live with my mother-- Well, you probably already met her already if you know me.”  He stuck his hand out with a friendly smile and they grinned and introduced themselves as they shook his hand.

“Nice to meet you, Midoriya-kun.”  Cecilia smiled, nodding once and then returning their hands to their pockets.  “Lead the way, sir.”

They felt a little bit bad that they were having a child lead them into what they fully knew was danger on a full and blatant lie...but that would be a problem for Midoriya after he had his fated encounter with All Might.  After that...it’d be fine.

Probably.  He was a forgiving child.

“So you just graduated middle school, huh?  Wow, you must be really excited to start high school.  What school are you aiming for?”  They asked conversationally as they walked.  For the most part, even though he was TERRIBLY shy and only called them by their last name despite asking for him not to, he was pretty talkative.  

“I-- I want to go to U.A!  It might be silly of me, especially after everything that happened today, but…”  he sighed.  “It’s all I want to do, even though I’m quirkless.”  Cecilia nodded along.

“Of course, of course.  I get you, Midoriya-kun.  Don’t worry.  I know you’re gonna be a great hero, no matter what.  After all, you saw me lost and approached me.  The kind of person who can’t leave troubled people alone, I think, is a good candidate for a hero.”

They might have been a little biased, though.  He grinned bashfully, happy to be praised by an adult.  “Thank you, Love-san.  I really appreciate that…”  He scratched behind his neck.  “I’ve been feeling really discouraged recently, so thank you for believing in me, even though we’ve just met.”

Oops.  Cecilia laughed it off nervously.  “Well, you know, I’m an American.  We tend to say whatever’s on our mind!”  At that, they launched into a discussion (read: Midoriya infodumping) about All Might’s time in America.  It was very informative, even though it was hard for them to understand a lot of it with how fast he was speaking.  Mostly, he seemed content to have someone listen to him, so they did just that and tried to keep watch on where the sludge villain would finally come.  After the fourth underpass they walked under, they were starting to wonder if maybe their appearance had fucked up the timeline.  Taking a quick minute, they rubbed their temple gently.

Noticing they stopped, Midoriya turned and looked back concernedly.  They opened their eyes to tell him it was nothing, but stopped, suddenly making eye contact with the grate bubbling at their feet.

“Love-san...?”  He asked.  His eyes were so wide, and then, the manhole cover seemed to explode. A disgusting, creeping feeling crawled up their leg.

“Two disguises?  What a wonderful day I’m having, especially after having just run into that man here…”  Disgusting, cold, sticky.  They tried to kick him off but it was no use.  Midoriya ran running to their aid, even as he was also being ‘tried on for size.’

“You’re a little too short, so I don’t think I’ll bother with you...but I can’t have you running off to the cops.”  The viscous, amorphous fluid flowed freely into their mouth, leaving a rancid taste behind.  At this point, they couldn’t even see Midoriya, who was still trying desperately to save them even as his own airway was being blocked.

Maybe it was their karma for lying to him and getting him to follow them?  That sure would be a kick in the head.  Even with their eyes closed, a deeper, darker blackness was coming over them.  They hoped All Might would come here soon, damn it…They didn’t want to die for nothing.

“Have no fear, my boy!”

That voice, once again.  All of a sudden, a huge, unrelenting pressure from a different direction that seemed to force the villain out of their body.  As they sunk to their knees, and then flat on their face, they just barely saw him do the same to Midoriya.  Cecilia had just one thought.

Fucking finally.

It had been a hell of a day.

[quirkycombatants]

Spoilers: Noburu’s Backstory

So I usually don’t tell people the whole truth about my muses, or give all the details about their backstory, because 1. they tend to be super long, and 2. it makes it easier to react more naturally to things when they’re not considering information they don’t have. This prevents bias, but also metagaming. In any case, I felt that enough threads have been done the last few days that it was time to put down Noburu’s actual backstory, with explanations of how and why he is strong, and how and why he is the way he is. 

Major spoilers lie below. 

First, let’s talk about Noburu’s family. He claims he does not have one, save for his brother and father, who abandoned him as the false heir, and will one day return to slay him for his weakness. This, Noburu believes. He believes this completely. It is also a lie.

First, his brother. Noburu never gives details on his brother; not his looks, not his fighting style, nothing. Only that he is stronger than Noburu and the favorite of his father for having a quirk. In truth, his brother does not exist. Noburu is an only child, and his brother is not real. 

Noburu has dissociative identity disorder.

To quote WebMD: 

Dissociative identity disorder is thought to stem from a combination of factors that may include trauma experienced by the person with the disorder. The dissociative aspect is thought to be a coping mechanism -- the person literally shuts off or dissociates himself from a situation or experience that's too violent, traumatic, or painful to assimilate with his conscious self.  

 Research indicates that the cause of DID is likely a psychological response to interpersonal and environmental stresses, particularly during early childhood years when emotional neglect or abuse may interfere with personality development. As many as 99% of individuals who develop dissociative disorders have recognized personal histories of recurring, overpowering, and often life-threatening disturbances or traumas at a sensitive developmental stage of childhood.

Dissociation may also happen when there has been persistent neglect or emotional abuse, even when there has been no overt physical or sexual abuse. Findings show that in families where parents are frightening and unpredictable, the children may become dissociative.

It is now acknowledged that these dissociated states are not fully mature personalities, but rather they represent a disjointed sense of identity. With the amnesia typically associated with dissociative identity disorder, different identity states remember different aspects of autobiographical information. There is usually a "host" personality within the individual, who identifies with the person's real name. Ironically, the host personality is usually unaware of the presence of other personalities.

Incorporating all that, Noburu’s brother is his second personality. It is the personality that allowed him to cope with the killing that he did during his childhood years in the underground arenas. Consider the details that Noburu gives about his brother:

Noburu’s brother is stronger than Noburu. Noburu’s brother is more brutal than Noburu. Unlike Noburu, who doesn’t like to kill, Noburu’s brother kills willingly and readily, and without remorse. Noburu’s brother is more emotional than Noburu.

In truth, Noburu’s brother is the repressed personality that covers the parts of Noburu that allowed him to survive in death matches. Noburu, forced to kill and do so to survive, separated himself from what was occurring. His ‘brother’ is thus responsible for all the blood shed. The deaths that Noburu caused he associates with his brother. 

There’s another aspect to it. His brother is ‘strong’ while noburu is ‘weak.’ His brother is ‘powerful’ while Noburu is ‘careful.’ He is the opposite of Noburu, because Noburu has defined himself as the peaceful one, the one who possesses no malice towards anyone, while his ‘brother’ possesses only the urge for violence towards others.

In truth, Noburu’s brother does not actually have malice towards others. But that will be discussed later.

Noburu’s brother is Noburu. But the brother was a coping mechanism, and something that was encouraged to develop by Noburu’s father. It was specifically cultivated, in order to be controlled, because his father feared what would happen if the secondary personality consumed the main personality. Thus, the rules for his brother coming out, unknown to Noburu are: 

In the arena, when you must defend your own life, or when you must defend something so precious that you cannot live without it.

It was his father’s belief that this would keep him safe; after all, it would keep it contained to the arena, and it would ensure that his father would be safe since he was something that Noburu would be unable to live without.

This would be his ultimate mistake. 

Noburu was never meant to become attached to anything other than his father. He was never meant to feel anything like attachment towards anyone or anything. In reality, he became attached to a dog that would come by to where Noburu was kept by his father. Noburu understood that this animal would be killed, but it showed him affection, which was new to Noburu. and so he began to value the dog, and was careful to keep it away when his father was going to come around.

When his father found it, he attempted to make Noburu kill the dog. Noburu refused. His father then decided to kill it himself. This activated the last part of the indoctrination: defend something so precious that you cannot live without it. To Noburu, this dog was so precious because it showed him something unique, and thinking it was entirely unique in doing so, he could not live without these feelings of affection.

Thus Noburu killed his father. 

Noburu does not believe he has done this. To him, both his father and his brother are alive and merely waiting to return to kill him. But Noburu, under the guise of his ‘brother’ slew his father. His father of course, had a quirk, that part Noburu is accurate about. His father’s quirk really was the ability to see into the future up to three seconds at all times. Which means that Noburu had to fight in a way which made it impossible for that quirk to stop him. 

This brings us to Noburu’s strength. Noburu is quirkless. But Noburu is also a superhuman. It will also explain how Noburu’s ‘brother’ is stronger than he is.

Noburu’s father, realizing that noburu was quirkless, did in fact attempt to overcome this problem. But he did not try to ‘force a quirk’ as Noburu believed. Instead, he attempted to make it so that Noburu would be able to enter the ‘fight or flight state’ instantly. 

In Japan, this is called ‘enormous strength during a fire,’ but in America it’s usually referred to as the ‘emergency state.’ Basically, think of how when their child is in danger, a mother can somehow lift a car to save them. Think about how when a person fell out of a plane without a parachute, they somehow survived with other minor injuries. Think about how the original marathon was ran by a man who then died as soon as he declared victory. The truth is that our bodies have limits, because otherwise we would destroy ourselves through exertion. We learn this as children and keep it to this day. For example, the density of a human finger is the same as the density of a carrot. We can easily bite through a carrot, but biting through a finger would be hard for most people. Why? Because our brains are conditioned to believe that we should not do one and easily do the other. 

But there’s more than psychology to this. There’s biology too. To do the things in this state, the brain floods the body with endorphins. It then begins breaking down the base proteins that your body stores for emergencies. This is extremely dangerous, because your body is not meant to break down these proteins normally or even regularly. This is how people, even on the point of exhaustion, get a sudden burst of energy to act. It is the last gasp of your body.

Noburu’s father aimed to make it so that Noburu could act in this state at will. In truth, he got close. Noburu’s ‘brother’ naturally exists in this state. It is a state where he is stronger, faster, more lethal than a normal person. But it comes at the cost of his rational thoughts; your body cannot focus on rational thought while it is doing everything it can to survive. 

There is one other thing which explains Noburu’s strength, even while he is not in this state. And that thing is myostatin. Myostatin is a natural protein that is produced by the body in order to inhibit muscle growth. Without it, muscles would grow endlessly without end. There are many examples of animals that lack this, and who end up with giant muscles. When working out, our bodies intentionally limit myostatin, and that allows us to gain muscle mass. 

But Noburu’s body lacks the proper amount of Myostatin. However his body, rather than grow to extreme sizes, has compressed his muscles. This is why, if you were to compare Noburu with someone of equal height, he would probably weigh somewhere between 100-200 lbs more, though the reason isn’t entirely obvious. 

Noburu, from the day he was born, has muscle fibers that are naturally elastic and dense, along with dense bones that are harder and more durable than normal. This is a result of his muscles being forced to endure intense amounts of strain. 

This is why Noburu’s father put him through the training he did, and why he didn’t simply remove him. It is true that Noburu’s father wanted an heir. But Noburu’s father considered Noburu his real heir. 

When Noburu was born, he weighed over 20 lbs, though was no larger than normal. His birth killed his mother, because Noburu was too strong and caused exceptional bleeding when he was being born, and she was not being born in a hospital. 

Noburu, by virtue of birth, was a superhuman in a world of quirks. He was quirkless, but that didn’t matter. He had his powers by virtue of the old way, naturally. He would be considered a superhuman in a normal world. But he is not in a normal world, and so he seems normal. 

But Noburu’s strength, reaction time, and durability are many times greater than a normal person’s. This was why Noburu’s father trained him as he did, and why Noburu’s father was unable to kill Noburu despite seeing three seconds into the future. The three second headstart didn’t matter, because Noburu could move faster than he could react. 

But killing his father to protect something precious was the final break that caused him to need two personalities. Noburu was ‘weak’ so he had a brother who was ‘strong.’ Noburu was ‘calm’ while his brother was ‘violent.’ And because Noburu had killed his father, he was ‘wrong’ because he was not the ‘heir.’ Thus, he waits for ‘punishment’ for being ‘wrong.’ He is ‘guilty.’ And his brother and father will return to kill him. But he cannot stop growing stronger, because he cannot allow anyone else to deliver punishment to him.

Noburu’s ‘brother’ is a lie. His father is dead. But he does not believe this. Instead, his body and mind have undergone extreme trauma, which has created the ‘brother’ personality that contains all of the times he was forced to kill. It is the ‘stronger’ personality, because Noburu considers his ability to simply kill to be stronger. It is also the personality that formed when Noburu was on the edge of death by his father’s training, to get him through that terrible situation. Thus the ‘state’ of being near death, that state where the body has increased strength and speed to survive, is linked with his ‘brother’ who can achieve that easily. 

Noburu is thus the ‘weaker’ brother who relies on martial arts to overcome differences in strength. But his ‘brother’ is actually the one who relies on pure strength. ‘Noburu’ is thus his body and mind’s ‘limiter.’ He is the result of the coping mechanism. 

All questions about how he exists, how he can be as strong as he is despite being quirkless, and how he can use the techniques that he can, can now be explained. Noburu is the personality who has jettisoned his ability to feel most things, because the last time he felt affection it resulted in him killing his father. He had fear and anger removed from his mind by his father’s training. He has survived, through a combination of natural genetics and training by his father. 

Thus does Noburu’s true story become clear. 

[morgana-ren]

OMG!! Youll write BNHA villains? If you want to, can I PLEASEE get something with shigaraki becoming obsessed with a female UA student? Maybe he gets super creepy with her or something but its cause he likes her?! Thanks!!!

Ohohohohooo abso-fuckin-lutely. I hope you like it. I always get a little carried away in my work but I hope it’s alright. Enjoy, you Shigaraki fiend. By the way, please be gentle, I’m sorta new to the fandom and I know everything isn’t ‘right’ but I promise I’m trying. 

All Might was a pain in Shigaraki’s neck. Literally.

Chipped, broken nails dug into the tender skin of his throat. He raked his fingers across the thin layer of flesh that protected his jugular, ripping and tearing into the already marred flesh. Hands trembling, mind screaming. A sneer tugged at his cracked lips, threatening to rip open a barely healed dry split. Wrong, this was all wrong! This wasn’t how it was supposed to go!

All Might was supposed to die!

Nomu was making no game of it, but All Might hardly seemed to notice as he landed blow after blow on the monstrous beast, lodging his fist in its side so fast that it was almost impossible to register. The fallout from their battle was keeping Kurogiri at bay, and it took a lot of his own willpower to stay rooted to his spot. Everyone in the room, especially the students, seemed completely enthralled with the battle.

No, scratch that.

They seemed enthralled with All Might. With his smile in the face of danger. That fucking smile that never faltered.

Shigaraki would disintegrate it from his goddamn face if he could just get close enough. He would show them all what their precious Hero really was. He would sear the thought into their mind right before he destroyed them.

A trickle of blood ran from his neck down into his collar, coating the tips of his fingers in the plasma. The more he watched All Might pummel his Nomu, the deeper he clawed. The Hero was moving so fast that his Nomu didn’t even have time to get a single hit in, and at this rate, his shock absorption and regeneration would mean absolutely nothing.

He brought his other hand up to the right side of his neck, dragging his hand across the alternate side as well. Had he been lied to? All Might was supposed to be weaker now! He was supposed to be on the decline, downward,defeatable. He should be lying dead at his feet! Yet here he was, tearing into Nomu as if it meant nothing at all!

Rage made a pit in his abdomen, clawing its way up his throat like acid. This was all his fault. His fault his fault his fault his fault. He would make him pay. He would show them. He would tear down their idols and burn their society to the fucking ground. He would kill All Might one way or another. Then they’d see. He’d show them as a goodbye present.

All Might slammed another blow into Nomu, and Shigaraki flinched. This wasn’t happening. Everything had been planned so carefully, they had made sure of it! It was so disheartening, how things could turn so fast. Not only an hour ago, things had seen like they might go his way. And why shouldn’t they? He worked so hard. If they wouldn’t go his way when he worked so patiently, so painstakingly precise, would they ever?

Maybe it would be easier to just give up. Hell, fuck the entire thing. It was too much work for too little pay off. What was he gaining from this? Humiliating himself. Embarrassing. Worthless. Maybe he should just surrender. Surrender. Surrender? Surrender!

No. This wasn’t him. Tomura Shigaraki doesn’t surrender. The thought had never crossed his mind, never once. These thoughts were unfamiliar invaders, creeping into his mind and nesting. These were not domestic ideas. Someone was planting them. One of these little brats had control of him. Someone had a mental manipulation quirk.

He would find them. He would find them and snuff them out. He would make an example. No one violated Tomura Shigaraki.

He swung his head from side to side, searching for anything that seemed out of place. Most of the occupants in the area were paying full attention to the battle going on between All Might and Nomu with the pathetic sheen of admiration glimmering in their expressions, but someone was cheating. He scanned around slowly for a moment, looking at the eyes of everyone in front of him, all of them front and center.

All except for one.

It took him a few moments to notice, but someone had crept out of the crowd, positioning themselves far out to the side of the fight, giving themselves a clear view of Shigaraki himself. A young woman, by the looks of it, with her hand outstretched towards him in a peculiar position. Her squint told him that she was focusing very intently on him, no doubt using whatever quirk she possessed to manipulate his mind.

A small crooked smile played on his dry mouth. Perhaps this round wouldn’t be a complete loss after all.

Slowly, he turned to face her, his beady vermilion eyes zeroing in on hers from behind Father, conveying the message ‘I see you.’ He saw her stiffen, her brave expression slacking and posture falling. Her hands began to shake, and her lips opened slightly, inhaling steeply in panic. Message received.

She swallowed hard, but kept her hand up towards him. Despair. Depression. Anxiety. Surrender. Surrender! It was a whirlwind of negative emotions in his head now, but he smiled. He saw her teeth grit in frustration, grinding against one another as she focused all of her power on him now. She was refusing to back down, despite the fact that the only pro Hero in working order was currently occupied with Nomu and the most dangerous villain in the room had her in his sights.

What a brave little doll.

Kurogiri, who stood nearby, shifted his attentions to Shigaraki. He wondered what was so important that it had distracted the boy from the showdown. Tomura paid him no mind, but slowly began ambling towards the girl. Ever observant, Kurogiri followed his line of site, eyes landing on the small woman currently shaking in her boots as Shigaraki stalked towards her. If he had a visible mouth, he would scowl. Whatever this girl had done to peak his interest away from All Might, it would not end well.

However, unfailingly loyal, he slowly expanded his mist to better encompass the boy and hide his movements. Everyone in the room was fully focused on All Might so there was a very slim chance anyone would notice Shigaraki accosting the poor girl, but his reckless actions often had consequences, so it was better to be on the safe side.

Feeling more bold under the cover of Kurogiri, Shigaraki picked up his pace, advancing on the junior hero as she stumbled backwards away from him. He nearly faltered when the sadness he felt turned instead to raw and primal fear. He became terrified, feeling as if the world itself might end if he took another step towards her. Horrific dread swirled in his gut, threatening to overturn his stomach. Petrified in fear.

Clever girl. She was trying to make him afraid so he would retreat. He was becoming more sure of his guess that her powers revolved around emotional manipulation. Powerful. Useful.

It took him several deep breaths and a few scratches to resume, but he continued on his path toward her regardless, reminding himself that everything he was feeling was falsified. Her terror, however, was not, and judging by the look on her face, she was on the verge of a heart attack. From behind his protective palm, he grinned, licking his chapped lips as she backed into the wall behind her, cornering herself and leaving no where else to run.

He approached her, cocking his head to the side as he studied her. She swallowed hard as he drew closer, visibly shaking as she drew her hands up defensively as if ready to fight him. The overwhelming fear he felt dissipated, and he giggled under his breath. She couldn’t fight him and use her quirk. She wasn’t powerful enough yet. She was helpless against him.

She bared her teeth, and when he was within a few feet of her, she took the initiative to throw the first punch. He allowed it to hit his chest, in an effort to gauge her power. Brave, but it was painfully uncoordinated and pathetically weak for a hero. He felt better hits from quirkless. Chances are that she was more stealth based, and not much good in a one on one or group fight. This was going to be so easy.

She growled as he brushed her off, readying herself to strike again. However, he prepared himself this time, grabbing her wrist with little effort as she aimed directly for his jaw. Four of his slim fingers clasped her arm and gripped tightly. She grunted as he pushed her back against the wall. His other hand found her neck, clasping the column of her throat firmly. His pinky hovered precariously close to her skin.

“You saw what I did to Eraser Head. I let my finger fall even the tiniest bit…” He paused, tightening his grip on her and felt her pulse rise. “and you’ll turn to dust. So fighting me or struggling probably isn’t your best option.”

She stayed completely still, even stifling her breathing a little so as not to tempt fate. He didn’t blame her. After all, his power was disturbing to witness, to say the least. His decay ability matched with his jarring appearance often led people to be extremely uncomfortable around him in the best of situations. Even though she was very blatantly terrified, she tried to ignore him, purposely staring away from his intense gaze even as he placed his face only inches from hers as he inspected her. It made him smile.

And she smelled so good.

Shigaraki was, even at the peak of mental stability, not a very well functioning adult. He didn’t take very good care of himself, often forgetting to eat or sleep for days at a time. While he wasn’t necessarily dirty, it was Kurogiri who often had to remind him to shower and groom himself more than once a week. Most people close to him would describe his scent as 'stale.’ Not thoroughly unpleasant, but nothing particularly good either. So when it came to any form of frivolous hygiene product like cologne or hair gel, he was a complete stranger. He wasn’t often close enough to any other human being to indulge himself in any more satisfying smells, let alone the aroma of a woman.

He couldn’t help it. He leaned in and inhaled. Hard.

His fingers wavered on her skin. He hadn’t expected something as menial as scent to rouse him. He kept his face buried in her hair for a moment more, until she snarled in disgust, ripping at his wrists with her fingers in an attempt to pry him off. He had to force himself to pull his head away, cackling all the while.

“Quiet now. You wouldn’t want to distract All Might, would you? It looks like he’s not doing so well. If he loses focus…” The skin across his lips tore and cracked further as a large grin appeared on his face. All Might was bleeding heavily from a wound under his ribs, blood dripping down one side of his mouth. “After all, that’s why you attacked me silently while everyone was distracted, isn’t it? To not draw attention? To try and make me surrender without shedding any more blood? To try to be a hero?” He spat out the last word like venom.

Her lip trembled, and she tried to push herself further backward into the wall. He only moved closer. She was so young and inexperienced, so out of her element. Clearly she hadn’t woken up this morning with the intent of being threatened by a real villain. He could kill her while barely even moving a muscle. He could turn her to ash. He could suffocate her with only one hand before she could scream. He could end her and no one would even know until the dust from All Might’s battle settled. He had complete and total control over her and she knew it, and something about that situation just made him positively giddy.

It was foreign to him, this girl trapped beneath him. But he liked it. She was completely at his mercy, and there wasn’t a goddamn thing she could do about it.

“What were you were doing to me? Your quirk, what is it?” He narrowed his eyes at her, maneuvering the hand on her neck to force her head to the side as he studied her profile. She held steadfast, refusing to talk. She had likely been taught that bravado is useless as a stealth hero, and especially being only a student, it was best not to dig a deeper hole by talking to your antagonist. It made sense, since there was no dialogue tree she could pick that would bribe her from this situation. She likely knew that she was in deep trouble, and frankly, it wasn’t looking good.

He let her maintain her silence for a moment, wondering what she hoped to gain from it. Most people would cry or plead, begging for their life, but this was a hero we’re talking about. What are young heroes trained to do when they’re outmatched? Wait for a Pro Hero? Is that why she kept looking toward the doors? Was she trying to outlast him until the fight ended and someone noticed what was happening to her? Clever.

Not clever enough.

“Now, now, don’t be rude. I asked you a question. You wouldn’t want me to get bored, would you?” He flexed his fingers, digging them into her trachea enough for extra effect. A look of panic flashed across her face, comprehending his threat. She nodded subtly, and he loosened his grip just enough that she could speak somewhat comfortably.

“Emotion persuasion! I can make people feel things or mess with their emotional state if I want to. I was just trying to dishearten you enough that you’d stop and call it off!”

“Interesting.” He looked away from her briefly, pondering. “What kinds of things can you make them feel?” Turning to her again, he bore into her unblinkingly, bloodshot eyes surveying every detail of her face.

“A-anything, really. Sadness, happiness, anger, fear, anything at all. I can’t make them act on it but I can make it pretty overwhelming.”

“Very interesting. Your quirk manipulates the chemical balance in people’s brain to make them feel what you want them to, like a high powered drug.” He was staring at her lips now, tracing the little lines and divots across the plushy pink flesh.

“I guess, y-yeah.”

“What else can you make people feel? Could you make them feel bored or irritated? Murderous? Hate? Lust?” Her eyes were so pretty. The only eyes he ever really saw were Kurogiri’s, and they weren’t nearly this appealing.

Her face flushed, a painful blush painting across her cheeks. “Hypothetically, I could. My teachers told me it’s too dangerous for me to try most things right now because I’m so inexperienced but hypothetically I could make people feel anything I want. I can’t make them do anything about it, but I can make them feel it.”

“I see. You could grow to be quite powerful then. I bet your teachers and friends are all so proud of you, aren’t they? The perfect little heroine.” His gaze trailed downward below her face, to where one of his hands had a hold of her neck. He could feel her soft heart beat in his palm. She was so warm.

She said nothing again, looking at him as if she was completely unsure if she was going to live long enough to see that day. She was obviously still utterly terrified and unwilling to do anything lest he decide to place his final finger on her. It seemed like she hadn’t decided if he was mocking her or if he was just completely unhinged. The answer was both.

“I bet you think you’re brave too, don’t you?” The hand holding her wrist flexed a little, his thumb subconsciously rubbing little circles across the skin of her arm. Why was she so soft? She felt so perfect. “Waiting until everyone else was distracted to provoke me so none of your little friends would be in danger, even after you saw what I did to Eraser Head and knew how badly I could hurt you.”

Her eyes were wide, and it was taking active effort on her part not to try to run or shout for help. Even knowing the consequences of her sudden movements, there was something so unsettling about this guy beyond the fact he was a villain, and the way he was staring at her was leaving a horrible pit in her gut, like she had just made the worst mistake of her life.

“I bet it doesn’t hurt that you’re just so pretty too, does it? Being nice to look always helps with people like you.” His eyes drifted lower, occasionally lingering a tad too long on places less than professional. This didn’t escape her notice, but she did her best to swallow it down. “Oh, I bet you’d be just the perfect little pro Hero. Everyone would go so crazy for you because you’re just so cool.”

His forehead was practically touching hers now, the disembodied hand over his face occasionally scraping against her head and brushing across her hair. He realized that her heart rate wasn’t the only one that was through the roof. His own pulse had skyrocketed, his head clouding over, making it impossible to think. The longer he looked at her, the more he wanted to touch her or strangleher or do something to keep her eyes on him and no where else. Her scent was clogging his nostrils, cloying down his throat and suffocating him but he was finewith it. He would be fine if it was the only thing he ever smelled again.

She looked at him as if she knew what he was thinking and the fear etched on her face made his nether regions twitch with the same excitement he felt when he played his favorite eroge. There was also the matter of the disgust but he could fix that. He could make her submit to him, even warp her mind enough that she could grow to want him. The idea flooded his head with endorphins as he pushed back the tide of filthy thoughts.

The feeling of her chest pressed against his when she would inhale very quickly became one of his favorite sensations and he kept leaning in further and further just to maximize the amount of time he could feel it. He wanted to touch her everywhere, her face, her waist, her legs, close his hands around her neck as he laid atop her because she was so pretty so pretty just so pretty and he wanted it.

Nomu’s fight with All Might was still raging but Shigaraki couldn’t bring himself to look away from the girl. She was like the perfect little video game protagonist, happy and optimistic and just utterly perfect and he was the big, bad video game villain who was going to come in and ruin it. He was going to destroy it, all of it. He wanted to force her to watch as he turned her perfect little world to ashes and put her dreams, her friends, her idols in the ground and then watch as she begged him for a semblance of comfort. He wanted her to beg him for acceptance and watch as he twisted her ideals and her morals into shadows of their former selves. He wanted to watch the hatred in her eyes turn into reluctant longing as he… he…

He felt sick.

He hadn’t felt this before. Not like this. He’d seen pretty girls on the streets, on TV, or in his games but he’d never felt anything so strong. So possessive. So… Overwhelming.

“If you know what’s good for you, you’ll stop.” He hissed, digging his nails into her. She recoiled, blinking back tears.

“I’m not doing anything! I promise!”

“Don’t lie to me. You’re using your quirk, and if you don’t stop, I’ll dust you. Starting with your eyes.” He pulled his hand from her arm, poising it threateningly a few inches from her face instead.

“I swear I’m not! I promise! I can’t use my quirk without using my hands as a director! I’m not powerful enough to be able to use only my mind yet!”

He looked back and forth between her hands, which were curled into fists and not the peculiar formation he’d seen when he first witnessed her attack. It was possible that she was trying to pull one over on him, but judging by the terrified look on her face, she was in no position to try to manipulate anyone, let alone someone who held her life in his hands.

…Interesting. That would mean this was all him.

A particularly loud body slam between Nomu and All Might covered up the sound of Shigaraki’s shrill laughter.

Tomura was no fool. He knew he wasn’t immune to the influx of hormones they called attraction. He had crushes, found celebrities and models attractive when he was younger. Of course, the older he got, he receded into himself and only indulged in his lustful desires when it came to fictional characters from video games or TV shows. With a quirk like his though, you had to be careful. One misstep during your 'private time’ and you’d end up a pile of ashes in front of some rather incriminating literature.

If you couldn’t even 'take care’ of yourself, that pretty much marked intimacy with another person on a list of impossibilities. One little slip up and they’d be gone forever. Shigaraki had basically resigned himself to being alone, and sometimes it didn’t even bother him. He had more pressing matters on his mind. But other times, it hurt him so much it ached, and frankly, there was only so much you could do with a video game and a hand. It was a part of himself he locked away, shoving it back into the recesses of his mind and doing his best to ignore it. He was destined to be alone.

But did he have to be?

Surely there were others out there with destructive quirks like his. Some of them had to have figured out something. There had to be a way… Yes, there could be a way. It would just take the right partner. Someone who would submit to him and listen to his every command. Someone who he could dominate and control. Someone who he owned in body and soul. Master had said it was his destiny, his right to take what he wants.

And right now, he wanted her.

His penetrating stare found her face once more. She looked unsure and nerve wracked, no doubt wishing that the fight would end and someone, anyone would come to her rescue. She knew so little of what he was planning, the wheels turning in his head. It was almost endearing.

“I wonder if anyone will miss you when you’ve gone.” He mused to himself in a whisper.

“W-what?” Her eyes widened, her breathing becoming erratic and uneven. She found no solace in his leer, dread ebbing throughout her limbs, paralyzing her the longer she looked. She regretted trying to play solo hero more than anything. All she had done was successfully attract the attention of this madman who very clearly had poor intentions.

“Tomura Shigaraki, we should make our escape. I fear that the Nomu is a lost cause. We will try again another day, but for now, we must leave.” Kurogiri’s amber eye slits appeared next to Shigaraki, flexing in expression. He was clearly worried about the state of the fight, and with most of their paid minions knocked out and the Nomu getting the life beaten out of it punch by punch, it seemed to be for a good reason.

“Get lost, Kurogiri. We’ll leave when I say we leave. This round isn’t over yet. There’s still rewards I haven’t claimed.” His frantic pupils kept scanning over the girl while she mewled in discomfort as his claws dug into her neck.

Kurogiri sighed inaudibly. He knew this day would come. Shigaraki was a peculiar young man, and no doubt he was mentally unwell, but he was still just a young man. His biological needs were bound to catch up to him at some point. It actually amazed the nebulous void that this hadn’t happened before. The master was wise and had sensed the sadistic streak in him, instructing Kurogiri on 'protocol’ to follow if the boy’s desires ever got out of hand, but Tomura was a recluse and mostly kept to himself. Dating seemed to be the least of his concerns. Judging by the mad look in his eyes, it still was.

“I must insist. The student that escaped has no doubt alerted the Heroes by now. Backup will be here any minute and if we’re not home by then, all is likely lost.” He knew he was wasting words. The sweat dripping down Shigaraki’s neck was a testament to that. Whatever this girl had done, it had sent Tomura into a frenzy. He made a mental note to buy more laundry soap and tissues. He had a feeling it would be needed.

“Kurogiri, another word, and I will find a way to decay you molecule by molecule.” Shigaraki leaned into the girl again, inhaling her hair.

Kurogiri closed his eyes and rolled them, returning to his initial position and strategizing. It was only a matter of moments now before a great many heroes burst in. He needed to be ready to go, but more pressingly, he needed to get the young Tomura back with him alive as well. Sometimes he wished he had been born a toaster.

The woman trapped in Shigaraki’s cage of limbs had been looking pleadingly at the mist cloud, but to no avail. It was clear that whoever he was, he only had interest in keeping this guy safe. It wasn’t hero-like, but there was only one option left.

“Please, let me go. Please. I’m sorry I attacked you, I’m sorry I used my quirk on you. I just wanted to keep my friends safe. I don’t have to be a threat, just let me go!”

Shigaraki giggled, clearly enjoying the fact she had resorted to pleading and bargaining with him. It was progress.

“Begging? That’s not very hero-like. Maybe you’re no hero at all.” He grinned maniacally, the corners of his mouth reaching out past the palm of Father, revealing his chapped and bloodied lips to her.

“Please! I’m new to this, please just let me g-” The sound of sizzling cut her off. Shigaraki had laid all five of his fingers on her waist, and her uniform began to steam, burning away from her skin. She yelped, panic and helplessness consuming her. Was this the end?

“Oh dear, I seem to have made a tiny mistake. It’s just so easy to lose track sometimes.” He was still smiling like a lunatic, slitted pupils surveying the damage he caused. “Let me fix it.”

She was about to open her mouth to protest, but he grabbed a piece of the burning cloth between two of his large fingers and yanked his hand away, ripping a liberal amount of the pattern away with it. Her midriff was exposed, but her clothing had ceased decaying, which she was grateful for.

“See? All better now.” He held up the chunk of clothing, ripping the seam that was still decaying away and throwing it to the ground to ash and stepping on it with his shoe. Instinctively, she moved to grab the clothing from between his fingertips, but he narrowed his eyes on her, and she hesitated, slowly moving her arm back down.

He was still flashing that unnerving smile, but it was so sinister somehow. He moved his head in again, placing the burned cloth in his back pocket before bringing his hand up to the capped bottom of Father, moving the hand slowly up from his face to reveal his mouth.

“You kids these days are so rude. I go out of my way to help you, and you can’t even say thank you. Maybe,” He moved in so close that she could feel his breath against her face. “I should have just let you die.”

She gripped her eyes shut, refusing to look at him any longer. It wasn’t until she felt something wet and slimy across her cheek that her eyes shot open. He had lifted the hand just enough to show the his nose, and was pressing his face to hers. His tongue was extended outward, slowly making its way across the expanse of her lips. He was licking her.

And she tasted so wonderful.

Too traumatized to move, she didn’t stop him from finishing his action, not moving even when he pulled his tongue back into his own mouth and giggled again.

“You’re welcome.”

He didn’t withdraw, but instead gently pushed his lips to hers. He tasted like blood and skin, his peeling mouth scraping against hers. He was gone almost as soon as he made the move, pulling back and visibly restraining himself.

Before she could say anything, a shot rang out across the interior of the room, and the next thing she knew, Shigaraki was bleeding from the knee. She looked around, confused and in shock, and saw All Might and all the other students looking in the direction of the doors. The Heroes had arrived! She was safe! She couldn’t help but look at Shigaraki, who had a steady pool of blood leaking from his leg.

“And the Hero trash arrives.” He stated, apathetically.

Kurogiri was at his side in an instant, enveloping him in the warp cloud, but not before another few shots popped off, hitting the wounded man in the arms and corresponding leg. He fell to the ground, groaning in pain. She stumbled away from him, wrapping her arms around her midriff and staring down at the broken boy on the ground mumbling about All Might.

Several heroes rushed over to help the students that had crowded near the entrance, but a few of the observant ones had come over toward her and the two villains, some of them standing in front of her to protect her, others on the offensive and attacking Kurogiri. It made little difference, since they hadn’t learned his weaknesses yet. She could hear Shigaraki yelling about All Might, too enveloped in the warp portal to really suffer any more damage, but furious none the less.

Right before his head disappeared, his bloodied eyes focused on her once more, blinking in an unspoken promise. In a flash, both he and Kurogiri were gone, and the crisis was over.

Kids from the class gathered together in huddles, either crying or celebrating or just bragging about their prowess. Before she could try to blend back in, some of the teachers pulled her aside, questioning her on Shigaraki and why he had been so close to her. Her gut churned as she told the story as best she could, and she couldn’t ignore some of the looks teachers attempted to give each other inconspicuously. Some of them reprimanded her for being so foolish, others nodded in silent admiration. The only one who stepped forward was Midnight.

“Hey kid, I think I got some tricks I can teach you. It’ll help you ward off creeps like that. Don’t worry, we’ll catch that perverted punk in no time!” Midnight beamed her legendary smile, offering a hand. The girl took it tentatively. She felt she would need all the help she could get.

Back at the villain bar, Shigaraki was laying on the polished wood bleeding out in a puddle of his own making. Kurogiri occasionally glanced down in worry, but knew the boy had gotten distracted. Maybe a little pain would help him learn. The conversation with the master went relatively smooth, giving Tomura the extra spark he needed to reignite and recover.

Once the conversation had ended, Shigaraki turned his head to the best of his ability to face Kurogiri.

“Kurogiri? Take me to my room.”

He obliged, as he always did. The wounds were top priority, as Tomura seemed to be bleeding out excessively. However, it seemed to bother the boy very little in comparison. Instead, as he laid in his bed, reaching for the controller laid carelessly across his pillow. Before he turned his game on, he turned to Kurogiri one last time.

“I need a favor. I need you to find out the name of that girl.”

Kurogiri wanted to refuse, but he knew it wouldn’t matter. Shigaraki would get what he wanted either way. He only hoped that this infatuation would die before it came to fruition.

“Yes. I shall have it for you.” He bowed before clicking the door shut.

From his spot on the mattress, Shigaraki managed to reach his hands into his back pocket, gripping the fabric of her costume and weaving it between his fingers. He brought it to his nose, inhaling deeply before wrapping it around his arm and starting up his game.

[scribblestatic]

After the girl breaks down into tears, all of the stress from the day crashing down on her all at once, she stays sobbing even after All Might hugs her.

“You’ve done well,” he says, and he means it.

As she said, she’s done many things wrong. Invaded privacy, hacked illegally into systems, broke information laws. And yet, she saved the lives of one of U.A.’s students at the expense of her own privacy. She has solved case after case and brought many to a belated but still present justice. Even more, she’s opened his eyes to his faults—that his image, his idea of the Symbol of Peace that he’s always held up...that it will crumble. That he should have been preparing others for it to crumble rather than holding onto it until his last breath.

And Aizawa makes that point extremely clear to him and the policeman after the girl has been put away in a holding cell to sleep off her exhaustion.

“So, the two of you knew about a potential leader of the villain underground, and neither of you thought it’d be a good idea to tell any other hero about it?” Aizawa looks absolutely livid, maybe a moment away from using his Quirk and making his hair float. “I had to hear it from some teenager who hacked into one of my student’s phones?”

Before Tsukauchi can answer him, All Might holds up a hand to stop him.

“The fault is all mine, Eraserhead. While I had thought I had finished things with All For One...it’s clear he’s still lurking around, just as I am.”

Some of the anger clears, but just barely, to give way to questions.

“All For One?”

It’s hard...to say what needs to be said. To explain why the man’s name is what it is, and how it relates to his Quirk. To explain how, since the beginning of Quirks, One For All users have battled the man just as an unrelenting force combats and immovable object. He watches the anger slip from Eraserhead’s face into plain confusion and disbelief. It’s hard to finally tell someone who isn’t Sir Nighteye, who isn’t Tsukauchi, who isn’t Nedzu or Recovery Girl. But it has to be said.

That must be part of the reason why Kobayashi requested that Eraserhead be there. Because these sorts of explanations will be inevitable, and he better get used to it now rather than later.

“So. Users of this...One For All Quirk have been fighting this same guy for centuries. Meaning he’s over 200 years old.”

“Yes.”

“...And you really, honestly thought more heroes shouldn’t know about this.”

“...It was as Kobayashi said. I was blinded by my own desire to hold up the pillar for as long as I could. I wanted...” He looks down at his hand and clenches his fist. “I wanted more than anything to hold onto my mentor’s legacy. To become the Symbol of Peace that Japan needed. But...again, as Kobayashi said. What kind of peace is this? I’ve never seen it...not until now. How wrong I’ve been all this time.”

Eraserhead is quiet for a moment, but then, to the man’s surprise, he actually pats his hand against the older hero’s arm. His expression is still scrunched, still processing, still comprehending everything, but there’s a growing understanding.

“Well. At least you get it now. No point in whining about the past. But.” The man’s face firms up. “Recognize that now, we have to get the kids ready as well. This is more than Shigaraki and the League of Villains. More than you finding your successor. This is something they’ll have to face now, something they’ll be directly affected by that has never occurred with any hero class before. Not even mine.” He stuffs his hands into his pockets then. “I won’t be saying anything about you Quirk being passable or anything. But I will be telling them about the 200 year old villian cryptid.”

“That’s fair...I appreciate you for...taking this so well.”

“Don’t get me wrong. I’m going to need to drink, heavily, at some point this week. I’m just glad your head’s finally out of your own ass. And...” He glances off to the side. “I’ll need to pull mine out of my own.”

Tsukauchi huffs, amused, but All Might looks surprised. “What...I think you’ve been reasonable—”

“I haven’t. Just accept that part and we’ll not have to talk about it from here on.”

Because Aizawa knows now that he’s never really understood much about All Might at all. That his dislike for the man was on unfounded ideas that, even if he hadn’t thought his Quirk was better suited for heroics, he caused the rest of the world to think it was. That All Might was the reason he’d had to crawl his way up from General Heroics, because the sponsors who helped fund U.A. back then and still now only look at the physical without recognizing the usefulness of non-physical Quirks. All Might wasn’t attempting to facilitate that. Instead, he was trying to live up to the reputation of a woman no one remembered any longer. Someone who All For One had wiped off the face of the earth, but who All Might still adored with all his heart. Repercussions of his actions or not, All Might was only focused on saving others.

He’d have to look into Shimura Nana.

“Well, we at least have this out of the way. Eraserhead, I do have to ask that you hold back on telling the students until other teachers are aware of the situation as well,” Tsukauchi says.

“Yeah, of course.”

As the two start discussing future courses of action, All Might looks back down the hall, absentmindedly messing with his suit cuff. It isn’t until he feels a hand on his that he looks down, finding Tsukauchi looking back up at him with a knowing smile.

“We’ll work things out with her. Don’t worry.”

All Might frowns “I know...but...” He looks back down the hall. “It doesn’t feel right for her to go to jail.”

Eraserhead doesn’t say it right then and there but...he agrees. Despite her illegal activities, instead of locking her away, they’d be better off ushering her in the right direction. Especially someone so actively attempting to do good instead of actively going in the other direction.

“I can’t say exactly what will happen from here on, but I promise. We’ll work with this as delicately as we possibly can. Still, illegal Quirk use is just that. She’s done this for us, but she does have to be held accountable for her actions. At least, if she does get charge, it will be as a minor.”

There’s a twist to Tsukauchi’s face that says he’s not quite satisfied with what he’s saying, but he does have to say it. It’s the truth of the law. That’s just how that is...

Except when it isn’t.

“When Kobayashi woke up, she told us a few other things, including her identity.” Tamakawa pressed a folder into his hand, watching as Tsukauchi opened it and read it. All Might was present again, and so was Eraserhead, given a break from the day’s classes due to the length of his late-night rescue mission.

“She’s...well...” Tamakawa’s ear flicks. “From what she said herself, I’m going to keep using she/her since she seems more comfortable with it, but if she were to speak with someone less accepting—”

“She’d be identified as a male,” Tsukauchi finishes, blinking at the papers in front of him.

All Might chokes on his own spit, tasting copper at the back of his throat while Aizawa’s eyebrows raise.

“Right. Kobayashi Chouko exists as her stage name at Tea Cats Cafe. Really, her name is Midoriya Izuku, 15 years old, a first-year at Yamagura High School. She’s an A and B student, and despite working illegally at a cafe, she has been on the higher average of the grades that typically come from that school. Most importantly though...” 

Tsukauchi’s eyes scan over the words on the report, before stopping at one point and staying there. He turns to Tamakawa in mild disbelief.

“She’s Quirkless.”

“Well, that drops several potential charges that could’ve been risen against her,” Aizawa hums, hiding his grin behind his capture weapon.

After all, in a world full of Quirks, it wasn’t often for someone Quirkless to show out like this. Not that they couldn’t but so many of them had been beaten down by hate crimes and physical and mental abuse, most of them end up dying or killing themselves rather than breaking into U.A.’s firewall.

“Quirkless...no wonder it was hard to find her. With how much she was doing, even I was sure she had a Quirk for...well, if not intellect, at least some sort of hacking ability,” Tsukauchi scratches at the back of his head, a tad cowed.

“And, from a recording she gave us, we have a potential hate crime and a blatant disregard for child labor laws on our hands,” Tamakawa adds, his ear flicking again, a frown on his cattish face.

“That still leaves the other things she’s done. Still, I think...her particular set of skills could be attractive to a particular principal that we know of,” All Might hums, his chin in his hand. “Perhaps U.A. and the school could work on an agreement, and we can keep her jail stay to a minimum.”

“Right, that’s another thing I was thinking about, and this makes it worse.” Tsukauchi frowns. “Since she’s Quirkless, she doesn’t quite have a method of defense. Her having the USB taser was a blessing, but now...it’s likely that it’s more dangerous for her to be here than it would be if she were at U.A. If the villains were to attack her here because she refused Shigaraki, unless there’s police on her...well, even then, it’s likely that she’s as good as dead or kidnapped.” The detective over at his old friend firmly. “So if you have any ideas, I’d be glad to hear them.”

Midoriya Izuku spends three days in a holding cell. 

She’s let out for exercise and everything just fine, and the food is bland but edible, but she’s stripped of her comforts after waking up, before she confessed further. Without her wig, her hair only reaches the tippy tops of her shoulders, and she doesn’t have the comfortable weight on her chest of the chest pads she’d bought. She doesn’t have makeup on anymore, so her dark circles are plain as day, and her lips no longer glisten with gloss.

She feels stripped. Ugly. Like she’s not herself at the moment.

She’s not sure why she doesn’t seem to want to snap back fully into Midoriya. The male son born to Midoriya Inko, the boy who grew up wanting to be a hero, the boy who gave up on it. She knows she and the male idea of her self are the same, but the longer she’s spent as Chouko, the more she feels like something...clicked.

Like she had been seeing everything in her life just fifteen degrees off, and everything clicked into place. She hadn’t been uncomfortable being referred to as a boy before, but now, the idea of it brings a tingle of distaste.

She wants her long hair back. Wants her breasts back, too. She knows that those things don’t make her a girl, but...well, the mind is an unreasonable thing, and those things bring her comfort.

So despite being called Midoriya, in her mind, she corrects them to Kobayashi. Izukus to Choukos. Izuku, as sweet of a name as it is, as adoring and caring of a name, can also be changed to Deku in an instant. Chouko though, a ‘butterfly child’... It’s the name of someone who loves herself. A name that cannot be ugly. Someone who doesn’t exist purely on the love of their mother. It’s the name she’d come up with on her own.

She doesn’t hate Izuku, she just loves Chouko more.

But she can’t be Chouko right now. Chouko has long hair and pretty gloss and breasts. She makes people look twice and is full of surprises. People listen to Chouko, even All Might! But as Izuku, no one really listens. Not her school, not Black Tea, not even her mother. But that’s who she is right now. Izuku.

And yet...Izuku can’t shake her off anymore. It no longer feels like a switching, but instead a stripping. Like trying to think of herself as Izuku and what he represents is scratching at her skin and trying to pull it off after she finally found it and put it on. Even without the long hair and creepy fans and sassy sweet attitude, Izuku is still Chouko. Even now, with his shorter hair and slumped shoulders. With unglossed lips and no foundation. She’s still Chouko, like the skin has seeped into the old one and melded with her.

And maybe that was it all along. Maybe a part of her discomfort and not belonging...maybe all of it was because she just hadn’t known who she really was. Or maybe she’s just connected all of her good feelings to this persona she’s made and it’s all a mess and she’s really just messing with herself because she could never be...

Or maybe.

She just still has questions. Still has things she doesn’t fully understand about herself and who she is, and maybe, she just needs to keep seeing where this route will take her. How she develops from here on. 

But as it stands, she would prefer to be called—

“Midoriya.”

Well, not that.

She blinks from her place on the tough but barely comfortable bed and looks over to the door. There, a policeman she doesn’t recognize is standing there. The slot in the door is open, so she can see him outside.

“Put your hands through the slot, then turn around once you’re cuffed. You have a visitor.”

She hums and stands up, walking over to the slot and following the policeman’s directions. The air outside of the cell is cooler than the air inside, so she shivers a little. Cool metal cuffs lock over her wrists, and she pulls them back through and turns around, just as she was directed.

The door creaks open behind her, and the policeman directs her to leave. With one hand on her shoulder, he directs her down the plain halls to a single room. There’s a table behind closed bars, hard and bolted to the floor. On one side, there’s an empty chair just for her. On the other side, a familiar mouse-like body. Principal Nedzu of U.A. waves a paw at her as the guard unlocks the cell door and leads her inside. She doesn’t break eye contact with him as the guard locks her cuffs in place, chaining her hands to the table.

The principal doesn’t speak until the guard is standing outside the bars.

“Kobayashi-san, I’ve heard quite a bit about you.”

She feels her eyes widen a little at the sound of her more appreciated name.

“Ah, and I’m a...a really big fan. But...for the record,” she says in her lower voice, not confident in using the falsetto while the guard is there, without her wig and chest and everything else. “I still don’t regret it.”

“Hahaha, I imagined you wouldn’t. Despite your criminal exploits, you did save one of our first year heroics students through your indirect action. For that, I’m very grateful.”

“Ah...uhm...you really don’t have to thank me for that. I was just thinking I’d rather he not be killed.” She shrugs. “It was the most I could do.”

“Because you can’t involve yourself physically?” the principal asks. There’s not a hint of malice in his tone, just a simple question directly referring to her Quirklessness, but it still makes her flinch.

“Yeah, because of that.” She moves her arms in as noodle-y of a fashion as she can manage it in the handcuffs. “These arms are as good as string beans.”

“But your brain on the other hand,” Nedzu says, his eyes gleaming with mischief, “can govern your hands into hacking your way through our government-grade firewall.”

“To be fair, just smacking government on the name doesn’t do much. I hacked into the police system as well and they’re ‘government’. All it means is that they put wood in front of an already chain-link fence. It’s not so much better.”

She hears the guard grunt outside the bars, but, in a spark of her underlying nature, something she usually doesn’t have without her preferred clothes on, she sticks out her tongue, not turning around to face the man. But the principal sees it clearly and laughs openly at the gesture, much to her embarrassment.

“That’s hilarious! But also, our firewalls were made to be more sturdy considering we’re protecting the futures of our heroes.”

“It’s more like a government army recruitment project, but one I still sort of approve of in a very...kind of screwed up way. But still.” She shrugs, and her hand reaches up to twirl her hair, but the cuffs clang before she can reach close enough. That sobers her quite a bit, and her voice drops back lower, not realizing it had risen. “It’s a system that can’t afford to be broken or the world will fall into chaos.”

“Hmmm...very interesting point of view. What would you say your overall goal is in regards to heroes?” The mouse-like creature laces his padded paws.

“I guess...”

She thinks, dimly back to the South African model she had mentioned to All Might, Eraserhead, and Tsukauchi. While Quirks had initially thrown their society into chaos much like the rest of the world, and xenophobia ran rampant for a long while, they never really connected into the militia-like mindset like the Americans, and subsequently, Japan. Instead, after much time and adaptation and conversations over laws and agreements, South Africa became a haven for people who wanted to use their Quirks nearly freely.

Their model promoted having mental and physical health professionals quickly adapt to the new philological and mental developments happening around them. Instead of viewing Quirks as weapons, though the army there certainly does, as far as the general public, Quirks are a muscle. They are a part of the person’s body like any other part of their body. And, with certain restrictions, they can be used freely.

Unlike Japan, it’s not a crime to slide across the ground to get to work faster as long as you’re sliding in the bike route markers on the streets or sidewalks. New lanes were developed for people who preferred to float themselves and their company from place to place, a very green way of living. A new app had been developed so certain work places could allow for teleportation Quirk-users to have a queue so they could safely and suddenly appear at a designated spot at work without knocking into anyone else.

Quirks were allowed for use in industries outside of heroics. Fire eaters and water users became firefighters. Precision Quirk users became well-known internationally acclaimed doctors and architectural technicians. It took a while, but Quirks that affected the mind became a heavily regulated but popular subset in therapeutics.

That isn’t to say South Africa is a complete utopia. They, like any other country, have their faults as well. But in a post-Quirk society, they rank higher than even  Sweden and Finland in happiness, lack of crime, and lack of poverty. Meanwhile, the American system has had a steady increase in high villain activity, violence, hate crimes, and suicides. And so, Japan adopted the same poisons.

“What I want is something easily attainable.” She looks the mouse-like creature straight in the eye. “I want a Japan that doesn’t need heroes as much as we do now. I’m not going to say we could ever get rid of them, nor do I want to be rid of heroes...I’ve grown up with them, so of course I think, in part, that they’re necessary. And...well...I’m a fan of heroes. I like them. I don’t want to completely eradicate the idea of heroes. But what I want is more...just more. A better way of doing things. And it’s not as though it’s out of our reach.”

“Several countries now have adapted to having Quirks, and yet it’s as though our developments have inched along for the last 200 years. You know, Japan was once one of the fastest-adapting countries in the world? When Commodore Matthew Perry forced Japan out of isolation, we looked at how much the world had changed. How far behind we were. And we immediately began to adapt. We adopted things from Americans, from the Dutch, from the Netherlands. We reached out and grabbed what we could so we wouldn’t be beaten down by countries stronger than us. We became better because we learned.”

“And I truly believe we can still do better! I think Japan can keep learning, but it’s time to learn from someone other than the Americans. But before we can even do that, we have to try and clean up the mess we have now. I want to change Japan for the better, and I know I’m too weak to do it alone, I can’t do it alone, it’s absolutely impossible, so if I could just...if people could just...”

And there, she runs out of steam. Her head bows down and she stares at her hands.

But as she stares, a white, padded paw pats on them, and she blinks, looking back up to the mouse creature’s eyes. They are beady and dark, but shining with an eager light.

“Well then, Kobayashi Chouko, I have a proposition for you.”

[toshinoumu]

Hello!! I was wondering if you could go more into detail about the "Good Doctor"'s freeze frame quirk. He activates it with his eyes and it can make a person stop but not their breathing or heart beating, are they like paralyzed in a way or actually frozen like in time? I love how you two seem to really think about the quirk biology of the characters and I was curious :D

Swift: Sorry for the delay! I had a long day at work yesterday and wasn’t able to write much in the way of an answer. Aoi’s got you though! She wrote this while I was working. I’ll add notes as commentary now since it’s my day off. 

Aoi: There’s a catch. His quirk is a bit of a mix. The way we have his quirk established is that it’s primarily an information gathering quirk, similar to how we described Tsukauchi’s quirk. 

Catalyst Ch. 6:Naomasa activated his quirk. Enhanced Perception, it had been labeled. No detail, no microexpression, no vocal shift went unnoticed. Careful training honed the ability and made it a near-perfect lie detector. To his amusement, many of Naomasa’s peers claimed his uncanny gut feelings were somehow part of his quirk. 

His is a vision related quirk, but one that has no impact on the one being viewed.

Ragdoll’s Search quirk is similar in the sense that it’s activated by “seeing” someone and then gathers and retains information like weaknesses and location. Still no impact on the one being viewed.

Now we get to Aizawa. Quirk: “Erasure.” Activated by sight, and able to affect a user’s ability to control their quirk.

While Naomasa’s quirk is not canon in the series and is one we made up, I mention all of these to establish how sight/vision/eye related quirks can affect people.

Swift: Yup. I would add our OC William Wright whose quirk is on all the time (kind of like how Hagakure is always invisible). It’s just how he sees, but doesn’t affect others. And our OC Genji Tsuda who must make eye contact with someone with does affect the person by pulling truth out of them. 

LOL I remember we had a long debate on whether to have Naomasa be quirkless since he has no official quirk or to give him the popularly theorized lie detector via touch quirk. We compromised with a quirk that could also be something a quirkless person could learn. Picking up details and microexpressions to figure out if someone is lying. 

Aoi: With full, unrestricted eye contact, the Doctor can paralyze his victim, stopping their entire body, heart, lungs, etc. HIGHLY DANGEROUS.

He gains information from his sight, looking at vitals and overall health of his victim [I refuse to say “patient” here]. This is where his thick glasses/goggles come into play. They negate the more dangerous effects of his quirk and allow him to gather basic information. (The information is less detailed but still serves his purposes - Height, weight, muscle mass, body temperature, etc.)

The paralysis only works on the same living being once per day and has to reset with sleep (let the user’s brain heal) so he also has to use it wisely and has to have the timing just right if he’s being threatened. That way he can make an escape while the paralysis is active, because he has one chance per day per person - not smart to use while surrounded. One-on-one is best. 

Copied directly from my notes:Brain cells start dying 4-6 minutes after the heart stops due to lack of blood flow. He’s obviously tested this before… the limits of his quirk. Maybe their brains remain active. They are still aware and can see but can’t feel gosh most people pass out when the quirk is fully active for a minimum of 3 minutes, their body can’t handle the stress. But under 3 minutes they just get a surge of adrenaline and fight or flight so it’s a double-edged sword for the doctor.

I was thinking that it would deactivate if he touched them (even through gloves) so it’s limited what he could do to them, but it doesn’t prevent him from injecting them with a sedative - it also can deactivate automatically at around 3 minutes because of a mental limiter he puts on himself as a doctor. 

Swift: I remember when we were discussing this in our note document. The Doctor’s quirk is excellent for his work - both sides of it. Quickly figuring out whether or not a subject/noumu is healthy or adjusting well to changes. But also good for checking general health of actual patients with his glasses on to prevent the harsher side effects. (Part of the time limit I remember was based off a personal experience. My mom had a thing that randomly stopped and started her heart for a while. It’s fixed now, no worries. But the longest her heart stopped was like 27 seconds. Scary things from real life make villains in fiction scarier.) 

And yup, it deactivates with touch. It gives the people affected at least some protection.  

Aoi: He doesn’t want to destroy their brains. Also the longer he uses it the worse the rebound is (headache behind his eyes from keeping it active for too long) when he feels a twinge of pain in his eyes that’s usually the 3 minute mark (yes he’s timed it). The goggles reduce the amount of light that enters his eyes and soothes his headaches. 

Swift: Thanks for your question! We love getting these. It is a ton of fun to kind of give a little bit of a behind the scenes peek. 

[sparda3g]

My Hero Academia Chapter 193 Review

It’s time to go back to the past. Back to where everything started. Well, at least the time with All for One and One for All. The timing to execute a flashback is random, but at least we can start a new arc right away. With that said I still don’t know the purpose behind it outside of its past reveal. Whatever it is, in the long run, it could pay off well, as the sign of its aftermath could play a role for what’s to come.

As mentioned before, Deku only has his upper face and right hand to move around, while everything else is clouded. All One for All users are standing, though some have a different display. When they are completely visible, it’s safe to say they are dead. When only the flaming aura exist, which is All Might, it is likely mean alive but “retired.” As for the shadows, it could either mean they are alive but no longer possess the quirk or Deku has to unlock more to see them. That or he simply can’t see them from afar.

The lineup doesn’t seem to indicate the order of the users. Otherwise, All Might shouldn’t be that far down, let alone next to the two shadows. Maybe the two shadows will play an actual role, while the others are shown for display sake; sort of like in Hitman Reborn, where only first and certain other boss position matters. In any case, Deku is the ninth user and he’s there to witness the fallout between the brothers.

The main premise I’m assuming is about how All for One is using his quirk for selfish desires as the younger brother constantly tells him how evil he is. Deku could only watch and not intervene as he’s practically an invisible spectator. He can’t alternate the timeline. As a reminder, All for One has the ability to take quirk away as well as giving it. He pulled a demonstration in front of his brother with the two victims. One who has the quirk that altered his look and the other who has none but desired for one. This is how evil grows.

It’s strange how the one who got his ability taken away seems like it’s nothing wrong. Like why the younger brother would cry about it. The one who gained the quirk is understandable since his expression changed to sinister. The actual catch is the two saw All for One as their master, so they are willing to repay the favor. Well, I don’t see how that is his fault; it’s the people that technically created their own cult in a sense. I guess the fault is taking advantage of the situation. He can restore order to the world because he can bring “happiness” to the people. In short, he’s going to take over the world. Of course.

The younger brother opposed his intention, but a bodyguard pinned him down; indicating All for One has gained many followers already. Despite all of this madness, he still loves his brother, even without a quirk. He saw more people with “problems” and he saw more chances for new followers. It was a sneaky move, I have to say. When there’s people who refused to seek his help, the followers will kill them, even if he didn’t request it. So yeah, it is his fault to create this chaos, but it sort of undermined the thought of being fully responsible. Maybe that’s the point, but we’ll see.

The one part that is odd to me is how the brothers signifying the comic they read in the past is what altered their lifestyle. I get it’s a tie-in to the world and comic, especially since they miraculously obtain the power, but it is odd and maybe alarming how it influenced their mind. The way how the panel with All for One’s eyes open heavily emphasized to be the case. I have Naruto flashback from that.

What’s also strange is the fact All for One only read up to volume 3, which sounds like it ended on a dark note with villains ruling the world. However, the younger brother read the rest of the story and the hero prevailed in the end. This push the thought that villains will always lose, which proceed to enraged All for One. This came off a bit silly if the comic is truly the root of all evils. It’s not like how that character from another series where he felt villains should win for once. After all, this is the main villain we’re talking about.

Clearly, he didn’t like what his little brother’s opinion; determined that despite the world has become like a comic, not everything implies the same, especially the outcome. Funny, because lately, comic book has been going twisty like killing their characters off and world ending, but I digress. It was at this moment when the quirkless brother obtains the power of One for All, thanks to his older brother forcing the power upon him. That’s where the story ends.

It’s basically a deeper look to what All Might explained before, now with more visuals and emotional conflicts. It’s interesting to see how All for One brought chaos with the sneaky use of his ability. The comic reference is iffy to me, seeing how it emphasized to be the beginning of different paths between the two. I don’t think it is setting up for Pain-esque change from Naruto, but that would be a rude awakening. I don’t know the purpose behind it, but it’s likely to set up for the next arc or at least give Deku something to do.

One for All talks to Deku like he’s telling him to purchase the next tape for details. The price is more percentage use of the quirk. I wonder if Deku does unlock more, will we see more of later on or more back to their past when they’re kids. Granted, the childhood portion can still occur during the event like a fight between the two, but we have to wait and see. One for All interacts Deku like they’re friends, so basically, they can communicate like Naruto and Kyuubi, Aang and past Avatars, and so on. He reassures him that he’s not alone.

The ending is interesting. Aoyoma’s senses are tingling and checks Deku to see what’s wrong. It turns out Deku’s room is a mess and it’s because of him with the activation of All for One. I don’t know what that implies exactly. Did he gain a power-up from connecting with the first? Is it activated unconsciously in order to view the past? This left me intrigued to understand why. I do believe Kohei made an error on the arm for it supposed to have scars, unless it addresses to be “cleansed.” For now, I go with the former. It happens.

I thought this was a good chapter. It was neat to see the sinister display of All for One with his tyranny and chaos the followers ensued. The art is pretty good on capturing the terror with the background left “unfinished” intentionally. The comic reference is concerning though; perhaps I am making a big deal out of it, but the way how it addressed seems very significant. Deku waking up with his quirk activated unconsciously got me curious. What also got me curious is what’s next for him. What is he going to do about it? Ask All Might? After the break, we will know.