A lot of people seemed to have it one of two ways in the world nowadays; Thanks to a glowing baby, you could either get born with some weird ability called a Quirk that comes out when you're five which can make your life awesome or weird depending on what side of the coin flip you getā¦Or you don't and spend your life among the ever shrinking group of people known simply as Quirkless.
Two friends however weren't so lucky with their genetics and they both ended up as the "Dud Duo of Musutafu Middle School" to be laughed at for not being like them. These two people were the introverted Izuku Midoriya and a soft spoken country boy from way out of town, Kenshi Yoshiyasu or as most people including his older brother prefers to call him: Ken.
Ken was a boy who got moved into town from the far north country village of Dathomi, Honshu. Along with that he took plenty of the country with him including the unique tang in his accent along with somewhat tanned skin and freckles on his face from being in the sun for Farm work, he had black hair and brown eyes that would have made him popular as a stereotypical cute farm boy if no one had heard that he was as Quirkless as Izuku Midoriya was.
Kenshi had managed to get caught by the local bully known as Katsuki Bakugo simply because he was lacking a Quirk while the blonde had the loudest and most bombastic Quirk around, it was only because the two ran into each other while trying to escape him and his gang that both Izuku and him became quick friends from the first day of middle schoolā¦Well, that and they both were equally fanboyish about Pro Heroes.
"So you saw that new Hero Mt Lady on the news? She was kicking villains butt for a short while and she's already gettin' real popular." Kenshi mentioned as he snacked on a convenience store onigiri at his desk while looking at the articles on Kamui Woods and Mt Lady's display in the city centre earlier, the only reason he hadn't been able to see it first hand was because he came from another train line and it got delayed purely because of that fight.
"Yeah, I saw them in person on my way to school, I nearly got trampled by photographers trying to get pictures." Izuku mentioned as he scooped up the last parts of his bento. "Though in all honesty, it was hard to watch; everyone was so high up, it hurt my neck just to watch."
"Stillā¦Seein' it in person is a lot better than the grainy videos you get online." Kenshi admitted as his country boy drawl slipped out, it always seemed to be the case when he was sad, excited or just angry that people could hear him in his natural accent.
"Well, if you wantā¦I can show you my notes I took, I got both Kamui Woods and Mt Lady." Izuku offered, more than anything; He wanted to be a Hero or at the very least be a student at UA to learn but without a Quirk, it wasn't exactly a realistic dream for either of them.
"Why'd ya keep taking notes, anyway? I know it's a hobby but we're not exactly Pro Hero materialā¦." Kenshi admitted with a little sadness in his voice.
"Yeah, maybe not but I can still learn everything I can about them and how their Quirks workā¦Then maybe I can at least do something with the references." Izuku agreed but then offered his own take. "But stillā¦You said you wanted to be a Hero too."
Kenshi thought on it but nodded; "Yeah, it might not be Pro Hero work but I figured that since I'm Quirklessā¦I could try enrolling with the Police." He suggested; "They still do a lot to help and I can at least still be around Heroes enough to not feel bad about it."
"The police? They still have people with Quirks in there too." Izuku pointed out as he put his empty lunchbox in his bag.
"True, which means that I'm gonna try bustin' my butt to get inā¦Who knows, I might be able to do it with the help of my lucky charm." Kenshi said with a rather optimistic grin on his freckled face.
"Lucky charm?"
"Heck yeah." Kenshi grinned as he pulled the sleeve back on his uniform to show what looked like rosary beads around his wrist; The beads were an oak brown but each of them had a different emblem of an animal's face on it and in different colours. "My dad got them when he went on a business trip to China and he thought they'd help when I told him I wanted to be a cop."
"Prayer beads, I get that but what's with the animals?" Izuku asked as he took note of each different coloured emblem.
"Dad said each one is something called a "Zodiac Animal" and they represent a different charm; Like bravery or intelligence, stuff like that." Kenshi explained as he turned the beads in his fingers to show the 12 different symbols.
"You know, jewelry's not allowed in school, Bumpkin." Bakugo interrupted them as he called Kenshi by his rather unimaginative nickname. "Never thought you'd be a rebel and break school rules."
"What do you want, Bakugo?" Kenshi asked with a grimace since he both didn't like being interrupted and the fact that he was less than eager to be labeled as some dumb lug.
"Well, seeing how you two were being all chummy, I'd act in on it too." Bakugo smirked. "So, you've given up on trying to be a big hero, bumpkin? I can respect it when someone knows their place in life." He taunted as his friends joined in with mocking laughter.
"You don't have to have a Quirk to be a Hero, Bakugoā¦I'm just gonna be one in my own way, people still respect cops just as much." Kenshi pointed out as he was used to being the punching bag for the double whammy of being a country boy AND being Quirkless too.
"Yeah, until the real Heroes come along and when I get into UA to become the next Number 1 Hero, I can make sure to rub it in your face when you're stuck being a glorified babysitter." Bakugo added to really grind it in.
"Yeah, or be three steps away from property damage after someone called you lame." Kenshi retorted with narrowed eyes. "Just because your power lets you blow stuff up doesn't mean that you're gonna be the best by default."
"Guys, can we not argue about this?" Izuku asked them both; He had been used to the two butting heads but most of the time had Kenshi backing down because he didn't want to start fights in class.
"Shut up, Dekuā¦At least the hilbilly over here has the sense to accept his place in the world and not be as delusional as you to think YOU could be a Hero too." Bakugo snarled at Midoriya and let off a few warning explosions in his palms.
"Oh yeah, way to act like a real Hero of the year Bakugoā¦" Yoshiyasu snapped at Katsuki before deciding to fire back at him, the growing anger in his voice had accidentally let his farmboy accent slip through for a brief moment. "Besides, how's your ego gonna handle reporters when they find out that your Quirk relies on you bein' as sweaty as a pig in summertime!"
There was a hushed moment of silence as everyone heard Kenshi not just yell at Bakugo but actively make fun of him and his Quirk. Though the frightening thing for the other students and especially for Izuku was the fact that Bakugo had gone deathly silent. "Oh noā¦He's done it nowā¦."
"Fineā¦You wanna play things like that., Bumpkin? Then lets see you do anything without that bracelet." Bakugo quietly growled before swiftly grabbing the string of beads and yank it into his hands before kicking Kenshi's desk over.
"Give my bracelet back, Bakugo!" Kenshi growled as he jumped out of his chair to grab the beads back but Bakugo's friends pulled him back so he couldn't grab them.
"Y'all ain't goin' nowhere, buddy boy pardner!" One of them mocked him and taunted in his ear, earning a growl and another pull at his arm to try and get free
"You want 'em so bad then come and get it, Bumpkin!" Bakugo smirked as he dangled the clattering bracelet in front of him and held his other hand by the beads like he was ready to blast them. "B'cuz it'd be a real shame if they got dropped out of the windowā¦or cracked right here." He sneered with a threatening crackle from his palm
"I'm serious, that's a gift from my pa when he went to Qingqingā¦I can't just let you go messin' around with it!" Kenshi yelled at Bakugo as he kept trying to struggle, the more he got flustered meant that the thicker his accent got which made the others laugh at hearing.
"Come on, you Quirkless hickā¦If you want your man-jewelry back so much then get on your hands and knees and start begging or I'll throw them in the furnace, then you can go cryin' to yer ma and pa over at your dumpy farm while you go milk a cow!" Bakugo goaded him maliciously and decided to really push Ken as he was enjoying the spectacle of him being so beet red with anger and humiliation.
"God-Dang it Bakugo, I said give 'em back NOW!" Kenshi roared as he finally had enough, pulling free of the grip that was on him by slipping out of his uniform jacket and then swinging a punch directly into Bakugo's face, knocking the boy backward and slamming into the teacher's desk with the resounding chorus of shocked gasps.
"Alrightā¦You know what? You Country Bumpkin bastardā¦If you want them so bad, then you can goddamn HAVE 'EM!" Bakugo snarled and yelled back at Kenshi as he rammed his hand with the beads into Ken's chest, intending on hurting Ken and giving them back but somehowā¦He ended up losing control and a resounding BOOM! echoed through the classroom as Ken got thrown off of his feet and into the wall with a seared shirt and where it wasn't burned had started to bleed where it had torn.
The sight of seeing a barely conscious Kenshi getting laid out like that was enough to make people start to panic, though among the frantic clamour; Someone else was feeling their emotions bubble over.
"Kacchanā¦What did you do?" Izuku quietly mumbled as he processed everything that happened before getting to his feet and grabbing him by the arms. "What did you do?!" He yelled louder while the blonde looked uncharacteristically shellshocked.
However it looked as though even Bakugo wasn't expecting or intending for this to happen. "Iā¦.It was an accident! I swear I didn't mean t-" He tried to explain as Izuku had him gripped by the collar.
"THAT WASN'T AN ACCIDENT, BAKUGO! You just used your Quirk on him intentionally without knowing your own strength!" Izuku snapped and yelled at Bakugo as he was both scared for what happened to Kenshi but also unbelievably angry at Bakugo for doing something so dangerous.
A lot of the students who watched were equally shocked at Bakugo's excessive action along with Izuku's sudden outburst including the use of his actual name instead of Kacchan. "S-Someone, get a teacher! Or go call an ambulance!" One of the more sensible girls called out as they went to go find a teacher, leaving Bakugo to mentally freak out with his entourage trying to either calm him down or tell him that Ken deserve it for slugging him.
Izuku crouched down by Kenshi trying to either wake up his friend, check him for a pulse or just to try and look for something to help stop the bleeding. "Come on, Ken! Stay with me! You're gonna be okay!"
Those were the last words that Ken heard before he passed out from the pain since the next time that he woke up, he was in the hospital. The sounds of the heart monitor beeped rhythmically as he heard one of the doctors outside talking to someone while Ken simply focused on trying to sit up. "Whā¦.What happened? One minute I was in class and yelling at Bakugo then Iā¦.Ohā¦" He thought groggily and then saw in his palm was the string of beads that used to be his lucky charm bracelet; it was now all broken and cracked apart with some pieces now missing and the parts that were missing were sat in a metal bowl. They were jagged and smashed apart but they were now a mixed colour of brown and a deep red.
"Ah, good to see you're awake, Mr. Yoshiyasu." The Doctor mentioned with a genial look on his face as he grabbed a nearby clipboard to examine it and looked rather serious. "Says here that you were caught in a point blank explosion." He mentioned, "Pretty nasty stuff too since we pulled all of that out of you as well." The Doctor added as he gestured to the bowl of bead shrapnel with a raised eyebrow. "We were going to call the Healing Hero Recovery Girl to see if she could heal up the worst of your injuries but by the time we got off the phone with her, all you had were minor scratches on your chest."
"Iā¦Healed up? That's good right?" Ken asked as he looked down at his body once the doctor finished undoing the bandages around his chest, showing off a surprisingly well defined farmer tan on a slight muscular body that was accrued from heavy lifting and active farm work.
"Ordinarily, any injuries that you would have sustained would have been around here." The Doctor explained as he made a glowing circle with his Quirk around his front from navel to neck.
"A point blank explosion plus the shrapnel from those beads should have resulted in a very severe burn on your entire front plus whatever lacerations that would have come from those shattered beads that we took out of your bodyā¦You are incredibly lucky that you've managed to recover so quickly. I have to ask though, do you or your family have a history of healing or regeneration Quirks at all?"
"Noā¦My mom has a cloning Quirk and my dad can make quills from his hairā¦I'm Quirkless." Ken mentioned with a somewhat depressed tone as the doctor noted things and then looked to him.
The Doctor looked confused but as far as he was concerned; It sounded like a Quirk misfire and teens being teens must have got overwhelmed by the loud explosion, "Well, as far as things are with your injuries or lack thereof, I don't really see any reason to keep you cooped up here, so you're free to goā¦.You're not feeling dizzy, nauseous or anything like that?" The doctor asked as he went to go help Ken sit up but was surprised when he got up on his own like he hadn't just been laid out.
"No, I actually feelā¦pretty good." Ken admitted with surprise as he stretched out and changed back into his damaged school clothes.
"The teacher said not to worry about your uniform since you and the others are graduating into high school so there's no need to worry about a replacement." The doctor mentioned before looking over the kid's x-ray and the bowl of broken bead fragments. "Odd kid..."
āLaterā
Izuku was feeling the worst than he had ever felt before; Bakugo had essentially broken what little remained of his admiration when the blonde exploded one of his journals and told him to pray he got a better chance at a Quirk by taking a swan dive out of the window. "If putting Ken in the hospital hadn't been bad enough, he got made to think that the whole thing WASN'T his faultā¦Maybe Ken was rightā¦Maybe Bakugo really is a-" His train of thought stopped when he saw a plume of smoke overhead in the city centre and headed towards it. "Why do this to yourself, Izukuā¦You're just going to upset yourself by watching heroes in action." Izuku mumbled to himself as he finally got through the crowd to see what was happening.
What he saw however was that the entire street was awash in flames with Pro Heroes trying to navigate them while also trying to negotiate with the familiar looking slime monster that tried to use him for a skin suit. "EVERYONE, STAY BACK! I got a kid with me so if you don't want 'im getting hurt then gimme cash, a way out and for you Pro Hero jerks to leave me alone!" The Slime Villain screamed out from his position as each time he moved/gurgled around, another explosion went off and made more work to Backdraft who was trying to extinguish the fires.
"That'sā¦That's the slime monster from earlier! But how did h-Oh noā¦Back when I clung on to All-Might, the bottle must have gotten dropped when I distracted him." Izuku mentally lamented when he realised that his questions to All-Might about being a Hero without a a Quirk had such a domino effect.
"What the hell happened out here?" A Familiar voice called out as Kenshi struggled to get in through the crowd; His face practically lit up as he managed to find his friend in this mob of people. "Izuku! IZUKU!"
"Ken?! You're okay!" Izuku wailed as he grabbed on to him and checked him over for his injuries; "W-Waitā¦You'reā¦not hurt? I saw you get blasted point blank in the chest, how are you not burned?!"
"I was looked over by the Doctor and he said that apparently it was all flash and little bang, said it was a Quirk Misfire apparentlyā¦But what happened out here? Villain attack?" Kenshi asked as he saw the Sludge Monster overhead and felt shocked when he saw the hostage that it took; a familiar blonde head straining his head to pull free of the slime and showing a look of scared vulnerability for a brief moment.
"BAKUGO?!" Both boys thought as they recognised him, however in that briefest of realisations; Izuku sprinted off and out of the crowd towards the Sludge Monster.
"Izuku, Have you gone nuts?! What are you doing?!" Kenshi yelled as he tried to run after but was grabbed before he could follow suit.
"Stay back, kidā¦It's too dangerous!" A middle aged man barked at him as everyone watched Izuku throw a bag at the Monster's head and scrambling to pull Bakugo out.
"Izuku, what are you thinking? From what you told me and what I saw; Bakugo made your childhood and school time a living hellā¦Heck, he did the same to me when I showed upā¦So why are you so gungho about helping him?" Kenshi thought to himself; "If anything, he's got what was comin' to him for being such a mean spirited, arrogant pile'aā¦" He kept ranting mentally and was about to say something but he remembered the talk from earlier about not needing a Quirk to be a Hero.
"Some Hero-wannabeā¦What am I doing, talking like thatā¦.I can't be sat on the sidelines with my best friend riskin' his skinā¦I have to get in thereā¦" He grit his teeth and clenched his fists as he pulled his arm free; "I don't care if I came outta the hospital and I don't care spit if I'm Quirklessā¦My friend's in trouble so what else am I gonna do but run in there!" Kenshi mentally hyped himself as he pushed past the crowd and once he passed the barrier; He blinked and for a brief moment, his eyes changed colour from dark brown into a vibrant purple.
"Deku! Get outta here! You can't do anything like this, you Quirkless sap!" Bakugo yelled as the sludge moved enough away for him to yell at Izuku who was still trying to get him free.
"I'm sorryā¦But I couldn't just ignore you when you need help!" Izuku fired back as he then felt his anxiety rise when the Sludge monster reached it's arm up to beat him down or to try and grab him.
"You bratā¦I'm gonna make sure you don't wake up this time!" The villain gurgled menacingly as it swung it's arm down but the hit never made it, it took Izuku a momentary blink to see why.
All-Might was currently blocking the hit between the Sludge monster and Izuku but Bakugo was nowhere to be seen. "You shall not slip away a second time, Villain! I will do my duty as a Hero and put you behind bars!" All-Might yelled as he reared his fist back.
"A-All-Might, wait! Bakugo's still inā¦There?" Izuku began to try stopping All-Might before he went too far with thing but then stopped when he noticed that the boy he looked up to was now missing from the Sludge Monster's grasp and that there was a slowly reforming hole where Bakugo used to be.
"TEXAS SMASH!" All-Might called out one of his signature moves as the Sludge Monster then burst like a water balloon and splattered against the windows of nearby shops, knocking plenty of people over in the process from the shockwave.
It took some time and a lot of plastic bags to ensure that this villain wouldn't escape again and while All-Might was currently fielding questions and taking in the adulation that came with being the Number One Hero, there were three boys who were currently in the firing line for several Heroes standing by.
"What on Earth were you thinking?!" Death Arms and Backdraft scolded Izuku who was currently looking more dazed than anything at what happened but he still felt the weight of everything as the adrenaline seeped away. "Do you have any idea what kind of danger you put yourself in by running into that situation?! You could've gotten you, your friend and anyone else around seriously hurt because of your recklessness!"
Meanwhile Katsuki Bakugo was on the other end of the spectrum but equally as confused at what happened earlier; One minute he was choking on that villain's slime and the next, he was on the ground a few yards away choking up a lung due to nearly getting smothered. His position as the hostage and his frantic but powerful use of his Quirk made it a high focus point for Pro-Heroes to praise his efforts with one dressed like a baseball umpire to address him.
"I gotta tell you kid, you had a lot of guts to keep struggling and swinging like ya didā¦With a strong will like that and that powerful Quirk of your's, I think you're gonna make it far! Once you've gotten into High School or if you feel like interning when you're older; Come find my agency and I'll make sure you can get it even further!" The Hero cheered him though that only caused other Pro-Heroes to try handing Bakugo their cards to see if they could sway him on the matter of joining their agencies instead.
Ken however seemed stuck in the middle of the two extremes; Kamui Woods was determined to stay neutral in the matter as he decided to lay down the law. "Kid, I appreciate the kind of courage you showed during that whole encounter but what you did was still incredibly risky! Even if you have a Quirk like your's, you still put yourself in great dangerā¦"
Mt Lady however was blown away that a kid like Ken was able to do what he did in such a short time. "Are you kidding me?! That was amazing! Whatever your Quirk was, it blew everyone out of the waterā¦" She practically yelled with a ginormous smirk on her face. "You keep practicing it and you'll end up a Hero in no time!" She encouraged him as she took stock of his features. "Not to mention he's cute as a button~ Once he graduates...He'll be needing that Quirk just for breathing room."
āLaterā
Both Ken and Izuku were walking home, however it seemed like they were both doing it in silence following the lectures that they got from other heroes. "Izukuā¦Are you doing alright? You look a littleā¦Not okayā¦"
"How did you do it?" Izuku asked and looked to Ken with an almost serious look on his face. "I thought you said that you were Quirklessā¦Nearly everyone at school said you wereā¦Were you hiding it all this time?!"
"I don't know what you're talkin' about." Ken argued for the millionth time, it was honestly starting to get frustrating because people kept mentioning what it was he did and even HE didn't even know how he did what people said he did. "One minute I was hopping the barrier to follow after you to help, the next thing I know was that everything slowed down like tree sap fallin' off a tree."
"But th-"
"DEKU! HILBILLY!"
Both boys turned to see Bakugo glaring at them with an outright furious scowl. "Don't get so full of yourselves just because of what happened! You just proved you were an idiot for running in, Deku! And you, Hick! I don't know what the hell you did back there but you better not think that I owe you anything!" Bakugo yelled at them before turning and stomping off towards his own house.
"I think he means wellā¦" Izuku mentioned to himself as he watched Bakugo's shape wander off behind a corner.
"He tried to blast me and bullied you mercilessly, nothing about him means well." Ken pointed out before sighing heavily. "Lookā¦Izuku, I'm not sure I even know what happenedā¦All I know is that I ran in as hard as my legs could carry me and the next thing I know, I was laying Bakugo on the ground." He said and tried to explain as best as he could while simultaneously trying to understand what happened.
"NEVER FEAR! BECAUSE I AM HE-Oh! Both of you are here, what luck! This will make things a lot easier." All-Might proclaimed as he dramatically slid in from behind an alleyway into the road in front of them. "Young man, there is something that we need to discuss!"
"A-All Might?! What are you doing here?! What about the reporters? And the fans and all th-"
"AAAHA HA HA HA! Do not fret about them, my lad! As the Symbol of Peace, I am no stranger to evading paparazz-PFFFT!" All-Might bragged and flexed but then felt his body deflate as he reverted back to his smaller form with blood shooting from his mouth.
"A-All-Might! You shrunk again!" Izuku yelped as he saw this spectacle without all the smoke this time and it equally freaked him out on the second time.
"All-Might's hereā¦Number One Hero All-Might is right hereā¦.A-And shrunk!" Ken quietly mumbled to himself as unlike Izuku who met him prior, was now meeting him face to face and was currently trying and failing to hold it together.
"Look, kidā¦There's something that I wanted to discuss with you bothā¦for two particular reasons." All-Might explained as he looked to both young men as he prepared himself to say what he needed to say. "First off, I wanted to say to you that what you did back there was something elseā¦"
"Lookā¦Everyone keeps saying that I did something or that I had a Quirk but I don't! I. AM. QUIRKLESS! I was born Quirkless, I grew up bein' bullied for bein' Quirkless and I went to Izuku's Middle School Quirkless yet now people seem to think I have one!" Kenshi yelled out angrily as he was now fully frustrated with this and adamant that he was what he said he was.
"You may not believe it, young man...But dozens of people including this other young man with you saw you in action." All-Might pointed out and then explained the facts from his perspective.
āEarlierā
"This is bad, that boy's putting his life at risk against something that nearly killed himā¦Yet here I am, able to do nothingā¦Noā¦No, I CAN do something! I'm the goshdarn Symbol of Peaceā¦I REFUSE to let someone get hurt while I'm around!" All-Might mentally argued with himself as he turned himself back into his larger form. "Now isn't the time to feel sorry for myself, now is the time for ac-wha?" He started to dash to save Izuku from the Sludge Villain but when he got between them; A second blur went past them at a speed that was almost too fast for any of the civilians to see accurately, but All-Might could see that black haired boy with the ragged shirt sprint past and through the Slime Monster which made it bubble and warp backwards as Bakugo practically vanished from it's body.
"A-All Might?" Izuku mumbled in complete terror as he thought he was about to die.
"We can discuss our prior talk later, young manā¦For nowā¦.Let me show you how the Number 1 Hero does things!" All-Might proclaimed as he reared back to hit his enemy with his Texas Smash and when it splattered all over the walls, All-Might could see Kenshi nursing a bruised head as he ended up running into a pole but managed to lay Bakugo down on the ground carefully. "That young manā¦He was in the crowd earlier, I think he was calling for this green haired lad. I almost didn't even see him run past meā¦If he's got a Speedster Quirk then it's by far more powerful than Ingenium's albeit out of controlā¦It was at least able to keep up with me in that short burstā¦I'll need to find him later and ask him about itā¦But for now, I need to disperse the press."
āPresentlyā
"I don't know what exactly it was that you did back there but there was no denyingā¦It was the work of a Quirkā¦" All-Might explained as he looked to the two. "There's no way that a kid as honest looking as that could lie about not having a Quirkā¦But if he is or WAS Quirkless then I think further looking might be needed, especially if All For One decided to feel particularly pettyā¦" He thought to himself as he looked to Midoriya. "As for you, what you did back there was incredibly braveā¦Not to mention incredibly reckless of you, the both of you."
Izuku bowed his head a little, he had to admit that people were right when they said it was dangerous but he'd rather have done it instead of sitting back. "Butā¦I couldn't just leave Kac-I mean Bakugo to suffer like that, he needed help so I ran in to help." He explained as he looked to Kenshi. "why couldn't you tell me that you had a Quirk...Did you think that I'd resent you?"
"N-No! Izuku, I'd never think that nor would I lie about it." Kenshi tried to explain but right now Izuku was too wound up with everyone yelling at him and berating him that he wasn't going to sit quietly anymore. "I helped you and hung out with you because we were the same! I told you my dream of becoming a police officer like you told me about your's!"
"So you just pitied me? Hang around me because I was weak looking?!" Izuku accused him as his tone quickly changed from it's confused tone to something more accusatory.
"Look, why don't we just take a deep breath and calm downā¦If you two get worked up like this then it'll just blow out of proportion." All-Might tried to mediate the two but then noticed a lightbulb going off in Kenshi's head.
"Waitā¦Up until I got blasted by Bakugo, I was normalā¦.Maybe it was the sudden shock and adrenaline that did itā¦" Kenshi tried to theorise and All-Might nodded along since it was a fair thought.
"Well, sometimes Quirks manifest themselves in strange ways; Some just wake up on their own, others through shock or strong emotionā¦But I think that maybe we can discuss this another time, I can dedicate some time with you to show you the basics on how to use your Quirk since I have a small form of it myself."
"Butā¦But what about me? I've done the same things that he did! I ran in because I felt that same pull that most heroes felt when they jump into action, train me too! I promise that I won't be a burden or fall behindā¦.I justā¦I want to be a Hero! One like you, All-Might!" Izuku was practically begging at this point since he was feeling that swirl of emotions growing stronger and stronger.
"You have to face the facts young man. Do you remember what I showed you on the roof? With what happened to my body even while I had a Quirk? The world of Heroes and Villains is a dangerous, unforgiving place and while I respect your desire and your drive to help others, strong will and good intentions aren't enough on their ownā¦ It's not that I wish to stop you from your dreams but if the worst should come to pass then it'll be on me to inform your family when, not if, when something bad happens to you. Let's not shy away from the reality which is that you don't currently have what it takes to be a Hero." All-Might grimly explained, he tried the gentle approach on the roof when Izuku first asked that question but this time he had to put his foot down, not just for the sake of a forgotten ideal but for the young boy's own safety.
Izuku felt like he had the wind knocked out of him, it was already hard once but hearing All-Might not holding back with his talk somehow made it even worse. "Butā¦But I looked up to you since I was a kidā¦I collected everything from you and I made sure th-"
"Please...For your sake, just go home, not just so that you keep safe but to ensure that you have your chance at a life you can really be proud of. Don't go chasing heroics anymoreā¦It'll only make your pain worse. Why not follow your friend's example? The police may not be as glamorous as Pro-Heroes but they can still be respectable and just as capable of helping people. Believe me when I tell you that you have the world to choose fromā¦ Just not from heroics." All-Might reiterated sadly, it truly made him feel guilty that he had to resort to breaking the kid's dream down but he knew that if something happened in the long run, it'd be on his conscience that a Quirkless but heroic kid gambled his life just to follow his idol.
"Izukuā¦Izuku, please listen to meā¦I-" Kenshi tried to reason with his friend but Izuku simply pulled away harshly and faced the two with a look of betrayal and anger.
"Youā¦You two are justā¦I can't even find the words! I just wanted to help but you won't even give me a chance!" Izuku finally broke down and yelled in a ragged voice before running off as hard as his legs could carry while doing his best to not cry in front of what was now his former friend and his idol.
"IZUKU! Izuku, wai-"
"Hold on, young manā¦It's probably better that we let him go." All-Might mentioned softly as he placed his hand on Kenshi's shoulder. "Going after him now won't mean that he will listen to us and even nowā¦Things have changed, what has been said and done today cannot be undoneā¦Trust me, I know what it's like to see a friend storm off like thisā¦"
"Soā¦What do I do now? I've lost my only friend and I'm stuck with something that I don't even know what it is if it's a Quirk or a curse butā¦"
"But nothing." All-Might stopped him in that line of thinking. "You might have a Quirk now but never EVER think that it is a curse, it is a part of who you are and I promised to help show you how to properly utilise your Quirk nowā¦Since you now have the potential, we can start training you to get into UA Academy for your first step towards becoming a Pro-Hero."
"Wait...You...You really think I can do it?" Kenshi asked as he looked to All-Might with that small spark of confidence ignite into something that he truly felt passionate about.
"Of course, once your Quirk is trained and with that mindset to do good by others? I know that YOU can become an excellent Hero."
"I...I won't let you down! I promise that I'll do my be-" Kenshi promised and grinned widely but with a simple step that he made, he ended up moving forward in that same blinding speed that he demonstrated against the Sludge Villain, however this time there was a brick wall to cushion his stop while he nursed his bloody nose.
"Once we figure out how pump the brakes on his speed, of course..." All-Might thought to himself as he was both impressed at the intensity of his speed though also grimacing at seeing the boy plant face first into a wall.