A 16 years old Aizawa Shota walked on his way to U.A high school.
At such a young age, Aizawa had social anxiety and no confidence in himself.
'My quirk isn't flashy like All Might...'
It was raining heavily; he walked with his umbrella and heard a whimper of a cat.
Aizawa considered taking the kitten with him but chose not to. 'I can't take care of myself, let alone a cat...'
He approached the abandoned kitten and placed his umbrella on it, shielding it from the rain.
'Ever since I was a kid... I couldn't even picture myself saving a cat... that's how i see myself.'
Aizawa Shota ran to school.
He entered his class, 2-A, soaked.
"You forgot your umbrella?" the teacher, a man with a jewel on his head, eyed him with a scowl.
"Oh... yeah since I'm in a gloomy mood today it doesn't matter." Aizawa entered the class.
"Have it your way but don't come when your mood leaves you with a cold, managing your own health is also part of your duties as a student that is walking the path of a hero" the teacher replied calmly.
'Hero? path? I'm having a hard time picturing it...' Aizawa sat on his stool with a sad look.
"I'm... powerless." He muttered.
"Heeeere We Go! Shot Aizawa's Gloomy Gus Routine! Let's hear it again since it's so funny, "I'm... Powerless..." Hizashi Yamada leaned on Aizawa and spoke "Ha-Ha, what a charmer!"
"Shove it." Aizawa replied lazily.
"Whoa there Hizashi, you got your hands all over Aizawa!"
Aizawa turned and saw his friend, Oboro Shirakumo riding a cloud outside the window of the third floor.
"Oi Shirakumo! you're late again!" The teacher barked in irritation.
"Haha, my bad." Oboro entered the classroom "I got distracted on the way of life."
Oboro pulled out a kitten "I saw this little guy alone under the rain, some guy left him an umbrella though"
"..." Aizawa looked at the cat silently.
"Take the cat out after class but for now roll call, boys first." The teacher began, rolling his eyes at Shirakumo's actions.
"Aizawa"
"here."
"Tendo"
"Yeah."
"Niragi."
"Uh-huh."
"Shirakumo"
"Here!"
"Mushimori"
"Here..."
"Yamada"
"Yeeeaaah!"
"Pipe it down, Yamada."
Aizawa looked at the cat resting on Oboro's cloud, Oboro noticed his gaze and smiled with a thump up.
---
"Summer vacation is closing in, typically most students do work-study during their time but some haven't finished, I'm talking about you three of course."
"Aizawa."
"Right."
"Shirakumo."
"Yep."
"Yamada."
"Yeeeeah!"
"Pipe down, Yamada."
"Anyhow, grab your costumes and gather outside. Today we will be doing some Joint Practical Work with class 2-B." The teacher calmly spoke.
Aizawa quickly wore his clothes and ran out with the others.
"First, we will start with battle training."
Oboro rode his clouds and destroyed the other team using his strategy of riding the cloud and hitting them with his staff.
Aizawa barely passed.
"Next, rescue training."
Oboro threw multiple heavy dummies on his cloud and saved them.
Aizawa dragged two heavy dummies and barely passed.
"Next, entertainer lessons, play with the crowd and to de-escalate tension!"
"Hahah!" Oboro and Yamada danced and sang on a white cloud without their shirts happily.
Aizawa danced awkwardly and fidgeted, he barely passed.
---
Three teachers sat inside a room, discussing the results of different students.
"I see, so you have 3 work-studies students left incomplete?"
"Yamada, Aizawa, Shirakumo."
"Ucck...the loud two are among them..."
"Yeah. The performance of Shirakumo is nothing notable in academics but I personally believe he will make a good hero with his Go-get-it attitude."
"Yamada doesn't have a problem but he changes his style too quickly and doesn't settle on anything, perhaps he is the type of hero that wears silly costumes in the future."
"The problem is Aizawa, he really is trying hard, his practical and written exam results are quite high but he seems unmotivated with no planned path for his future... Just like the other day..."
---
"You suck, Aizawa!" A gruff tall muscular classmate pushed Aizawa down and mocked him.
"Your quirk is just not flashy! Erase my quirk then what? Twiddling with that scarf of yours?!"
Aizawa looked down.
"Battling against you is a total snooze, my Quirk, Lazer Spot, is better suited for hero work!" Two small flickering lazers shot out from the holes in his hands.
"Oi, Sensoji! Who do you think you are you bastard!" Oboro protected Aizawa and pointed his staff at Sensoji.
"That's right, Back Off Sparkler!" Yamada pushed the big guy back.
A loud whistle was heard and the teacher barked out. "Sensoji, dirty talk won't win you any fights!"
"Tch, weakling." He walked out in disdain.
"..."
Aizawa remained down, his long hair covered his face.
"Get back here, Sensoji! The training isn't over!"
"You okay, Aizawa?" Oboro asked worriedly.
"Yeah...not like I can do anything...I was born with this Quirk and thats final."
"..." X2
---
Aizawa, Oboro, and Yamada sat on the rooftop of the school, eating lunch together.
"All this talk about Heroes and everything...I simply can't relate." Aizawa munched on his food.
"All my quirk does is trip people up a bit. Compared to a flashy person I simply can't compare, I can't imagine myself making someone smile either."
Oboro, who was munching on his food spoke with food in his mouth "Yeah? So how about tripping up villains? Be a brawler."
"I have a hard time picturing him doing it..." Yamada munched on his hotdog.
"Then we'll help! With Aizawa's quirk of erasing all quirks we'll put any villains on equal ground, and with the combined efforts of me and Yamada, we'll be invincible!"
"The invincible big three!" Yamada's eyes glinted in excitement.
"So you're telling me that I have to mooch off on you two?" Aizawa spoke tiredly.
"No, no, we'll do the opening scene and the closing scene while you handle all the rest!" Oboro spoke confidently.
"That's right! It'll work out!" Yamada added cheerfully.
"W-wait...now that you put it that way I'm going to do all the work.." Aizawa spoke hesitantly.
"Hahaha!" Yamada laughed loudly.
"You three...what are you doing here on the roof... eating here is against the rules." a femenine figure jumped down.
"And this is what youth is all about!" She added with a glint in her eyes.
"Oh, it's that third year, kayama, right?" Yamada spoke casually.
Kayama in question wore almost nothing. Her hero "costume" was a simple coat and small tool bags to cover her chest, barely. She wore a tool belt to cover for her nether region... barely.
"Oh she's smoking hot!" Oboro eyed her body with a pervy smirk.
"More like smoking weed, why are you naked?" Aizawa quickly interjected with a glare.
"Naked? You simply don't understand! This is a bold and practical suit for my quirk, my Birthday Hero suit, I don't feel ashamed in the slightest!" Kayama added with pride.
"You should be." Aizawa bore at her face silently.
"Now, now, Aizawa, nobody asked for your opinion,I don't think there is anything wrong with her hero costume ~" Oboro pushed Aizawa aside and wiped his drool with a silly expression on his face.
"Just you watch! I'll have all of Japan change their mind on me after I become a hero!" Kayama (Midnight) danced flashily.
It is worth mentioning that one year after the debut of Midnight, the government had to put forward a new law called the (Hero costume skin exposure limitation act).
"By the way, what's that?" She asked curiously as she saw a kitten peeing on Shirakumo's chest.
"Oh, a cat I found on the road a couple of days ago, wanna adopt it?" He replied, not bothered in the slightest.
"Kuhh...it's so cute but I can't... They say you will have a hard time getting married as a single girl with a cat..."
"Hehe, don't worry I'd marry you~" Oboro muttered with a silly expression.
"Can you take care of it?" Aizawa looked at the kitten "They can live to 20, they need food, water, litter box, toys, and large amounts of love and personal care." He spoke passionately.
"Ehh... sure, it's just a cat. How hard can it be?" Kayama held the cat to her nearly bare chest and cooed.
Aizawa blushed at the cute sight.
Oboro blushed for... other reasons.
Yamada ate his food absentmindedly, staring at a cloud.
"Why are you here, Kayama-senpai?" Yamada asked her suspiciously.
"Me? nothing. I just like high places, the breeze is nice from below, why are YOU here?"
"We are thinking about the future; the work studies are nearing." Oboro cheerfully said.
"Hmm? if you have nowhere to go then come to go then my boss would take you in."
"Your boss?" x3
"His Purple Highness and his Purple Revolution agency."
The three looked at each other.
"Sure! /Okay. /Yeeeah!"
---
"Robbery in progress on Golden Street, in Tasomiya ward!"
"On it!" His Purple Highness ran out the door.
Aizawa and Yamada wore their costumes and bolted out with Pro-hero His Purple Highness.
Kayama took off most of her clothes and followed behind.
The group arrived at the scene quickly, it was close to the Purple Revolution agency.
"Who called the cops? was it you!?" A fat gray man with a socket on his head that emitted steam barked.
"Thats enough!" Midnight arrived at the scene first and landed a heavy kick to the thief side, sending him down.
"Sparkling like Diamonds and Pearls, elegant as a Rose..."
"We are team revolution!" Midnight struck a Jojo pose.
"One the scene!" Loud Cloud arrived on his cloud.
"Ah! he ran away!"
"I'll get him!" Oboro bolted out on a cloud.
"Eraserhead, he is coming near!" Oboro spoke in the air into his phone.
"I see him."
Aizawa ran towards him, his face showing a non-confident expression.
The villain's hand was hooked by his scarf, however, the villain simply pulled hard and tried to drag him.
Aizawa held his own and wasn't pulled back by the fat man.
Aizawa may only have an ocular Quirk but his body has been enhanced by his Quirk.
Most of Quirkless people in society couldn't even lift twice their weight but people with a Quirk could easily lift close to a ton.
This is the main reason as to why Quirkless people were considered a crippled group, they were weak.
As to why they were treated so badly? It was simpler, with the emargence of quirks the normal people bullied the people with Quirks, calling them names like "Mutant" or "freak".
And now that 80% of the population was with a quirk, they became the minority and started getting bullied for being different.
Karma's a bitch, or so they say.
"You brat let go of me!!"
The thief used his Quirk and blew smoke from his socket above his head at Aizawa and obscured his vision, he used his chance and threw a heavy safe at Aizawa.
Aizawa's eyes widened, he didn't have time to react and closed his eyes.
A leg kicked the heavy safe off with strength and protected him.
Aizawa opened his eyes to see the scowling face of His Purple Highness.
The thief managed to run away.
"That was horrible!"
"Ah... I'm sorry, my quirk is not suitable for comba--"
"Not that! your face! your face is horrible, boy you Bad!" He pointed at him with displeasure.
Aizawa thought for a couple of seconds and realized.
He wasn't smiling. He never smiled throughout the entire exchange. A hero must save others with a smile yet he didn't do both.
"I..."
"And what's with your overly reliant attitude? A quirk is a tool for a hero, it's not what makes a hero!"
"..."
Aizawa looked down.
---
On a changing room, Aizawa is sitting outside while Oboro is taking a shower.
"Does he really expect me to smile after I let the villain run like that? I screwed up badly."
"Meh, just do like me when i screw up, smile like usual."
"But I don't smile to begin with." Aizawa spoke tiredly and felt his phone buzz.
He opened it and saw multiple cat pictures sent by Kayama, lots of them.
"..."
Aizawa smiled softly.
"Ah! I saw that!" Oboro pointed at him with a grin, a towel wrapped around his lower body as he got out of the shower.
"You saw nothing." Aizawa's smile retreated as he blushed in embarrassment.
"So..." Oboro sat down "What was that back there?"
"...He obscured my eyes with his smoke, I couldn't use my quirk."
"Your eyes? hmm... then use this!" Oboro handed him his Goggles.
"This..."
"Me and Yamada both use goggles, let's make it a trio!"
Aizawa stared at the yellow goggles and nodded.
---
4 Days later.
The same thief was seen again carrying a large bag of money as he ran away from the police.
Aizawa ran to intercept him again.
"You again!?" The villain blew smoke from his socket.
However, Aizawa was not affected as his glowing red eyes were protected by plastic goggles.
Aizawa hooked one of his hands and pulled hard, making him almost fall.
"Yeaaahhh!!" Yamada screamed loudly at him making the villain fall on his knees and clutch his ears in pain.
"Loud Bang!" Oboro descended from the sky and hit the fat villain on his head using his staff.
"Oof!"
The villain fell down unconscious, Aizawa quickly tied him up.
"Well done, you three!" The proud voice of His Purple Highness was heard and Aizawa tried to smile to the cameras.
Keyword being tried.
The three boys high fived each other as Midnight hugged herself in a corner and muttered things about youth power.
---
In a joint training exercise, Aizawa and Oboro chatted calmly.
"Aizawa! Take off those goggles, you're robbing my style!" Sensoji barked angrily
Their chatting was interrupted by Aizawa's bully, Sensoji from 2-B, a big kid with laser hands that looked down at Aizawa and called him unworthy of being a hero.
"Uhh...no?" Aizawa looked at him like an idiot.
"Then I challenge you! The loser loses the goggles!"
"Like I said, no way I'm doing that. How stupid do you think I--"
"Challenge accepted!" Oboro interrupted with a toothy grin.
"..."
The two began their joint training exercise and Sensoji immediately ran to Aizawa, he grabbed some dirt and threw it on his face, activating his Quirk he aimed at his leg.
Only...
His Quirk didn't activate. No matter how much he tried, nothing.
Behind the smoke, Aizawa emerged.
Oboro arrived and used his Quirk to create clouds to obscure his vision.
Aizawa jumped up.
"Huh? Where did he go?" Sensoji looked around in confusion.
"He is behind you!" Sensoji turned back, something that Oboro wanted him to do.
"And I'm ahead of you!" Oboro grinned and struck his chin with his staff from below.
Aizawa wrapped him up like a spider using his scarf.
"Sensoji, out!" The teacher smiled proudly at his Aizawa's efforts.
"Aizawa, full mark!"
Aizawa smiled at his friend and high-fived him.
---
Aizawa, Yamada and Oboro sat on the roof again, chatting together about their plans.
So is the nature of the young, always looking forward to getting older.
"In two years let's start our three people agency!" Oboro loudly declared.
"An agency, you say?" Kayama or better known as Midnight interrupted the three by opening the door to the roof, she was wearing her formal U.A. clothes, very modest, most likely forced to.
"That's right! Our four people agency!" Oboro declared again.
"Huh? Did it jump to four?" Aizawa and Yamada looked at each other.
"Sorry boys but I plan on going solo. I want to have a huge castle with multiple boys waiting on me." Kayama declared as she imagined herself naked and sitting on a throne, with multiple boys near her feet serving her grapes.
"I wouldn't mind waiting on you~" Oboro muttered with a lewd smirk.
"What about our agency plan?" Yamada spoke in defeat.
"I wouldn't care anyway." Aizawa looked down from the roof, the breeze scattered his hair in the summer wind.
---
A week later.
It was raining heavily. The sky was dark.
Aizawa looked at the corpse of his best friend, Oboro Shirakumo as it was lifted using a stretcher.
It happened so fast.
They were summoned like usual, but a frog villain that could steal and store Quirks on his lumps appeared.
Multiple figures crowded around a reporter.
"Violent villain attack near Tasomiya ward critically injured His Purple Highness, some experts state that he might never be able to walk anymore."
The scene on the screen shifted and showed a giant frog villain.
"In the midst of the confrontation, the young hero in training, Loud Cloud, ended up losing his life after the giant villain threw a powerful attack at some pedestrians, the hero proceeded to protect the pedestrians using his quirk to stop the rubble from falling but ended up being crushed under the rubble himself."
The reporter's tone was somber. He was dead serious.
The scene shifted and showed Aizawa standing above the defeated figure of the giant frog villain.
"A student miraculously managed to subdue him singlehandedly, multiple witnesses state that he cancelled the villain's Quirk and proceeded to use the lumps that the giant frog villain used to store other quirks against the villain himself, he threw a lump to his mouth and it exploded which managed to defeat the villain."
The reporter turned the camera to multiple kids wearing kindergarten attire.
"Multiple people's lives were saved today by the young heroes, all prayers for the fallen hero in training, Loud Cloud."
Aizawa and Yamada stood in the rain, the sound of the loud rain deafening their sorrows.
It was loud. Like thousands of hands clapping at once, as if the sky was clapping for the great deed of Oboro Shirakumo.
This was the dark side of hero work. The side that everyone tried to not talk about.
Aizawa didn't smile afterwards for many years.
---
6 Months before Aizawa enrolled into U.A.
Eraserhead walked on the narrow streets, a villain got trapped and was being dragged with his scarf, he looked tired.
Aizawa wished to sleep. He was suffering from sever depression and the medicine is not helping him anymore.
He barely sleeps anymore. His friends are moving on with their lives while he felt stagnant, he's purposeless.
Dark thoughts clouded his mind everyday but he held on, in honor of everyone that sacrificed for him to be alive.
'Do your best, Aizawa!'
The voice of his best friend still lingered in his mind, pushing him forward.
Feeling a ringing, Aizawa opened his phone and saw it was someone he knows.
"Kayama, what can I do for you?"
Midnight, sitting on her bed, naked with a cat on her chest, playfully playing with her mounds, talked with him cheerfully.
"Aizawa-kun, come to U.A! I heard from Nezu that All Might will teach there soon for some reason, me and Yamada will come too~"
"Not interested." Aizawa was about to close his phone but heard something that stopped him.
"Are you sure?~ The salary is 15 million yen per year~"
"When do we start?"
"Fufu~"
---
Present moment.
"The last illustration shows the figure of Kurogiri, I heard from someone that he was also a Nomu from a person called Oboro Shirakumo." Izuku spoke calmly.
"..." Nezu stood there, shaken.
"Impossible! I saw him dead, his head was caved in from a lethal injury!" Aizawa lost his control and directly shouted.
"Calm down, Aizawa" Present Mic spoke in a calm voice with controlled anger, his eyes bore at Izuku with fire.
"Who told you this information, Midoriya?"
"A man with red eyes and dark hair if my memory serves me right." Izuku said after a bit of thinking.
"There was no such a man among the detained villains..." Nezu spoke after a thoughtful thinking.
"He might have managed to escape with the other two villains."
"...."
"It's impossible, Shirakumo has a Cloud quirk not a Gate teleportation quirk" Aizawa argued and slowly calmed down.
"As I said, Kurogiri is a Nomu. His body may have been experimented on to alter his Quirk by adding multiple other quirks." Izuku spoke calmly.
Aizawa's calm face changed into panic.
All Might slammed his hand on the table, he was in his muscular form and sweat was pouring from his face.
"It's him! That monster is still alive!"
"Yes, this is most likely the work of him, All for One. The only person capable of stealing Quirks." Nezu nodded grimly.
"How does that make sense?! Oboro is dead! I saw him myself! DID THAT BASTARD DIG HIS GRAVE?!"
"Aizawa-kun, calm down please." Nezu spoke calmly.
"I can't!" Aizawa stormed out of the room, followed by President Mic.
"..."
Izuku was silent, he didn't expect such an intense reaction from them.
He has only read the manga and didn't know how deep the connection between them was, it was never shown.
---
Getting out of the car, Aizawa and Yamada ran to their friend's grave.
Present Mic followed his friend to make sure he doesn't do something that he will regret.
"Wait, Aizawa! What do you want to do?"
"STAY OUT OF IT!"
Aizawa dropped to his knees and began digging desperately at the grave.
"Aizawa, this is illegal and immoral, Get A Grip!!" Yamada pulled him back.
Aizawa pushed him back.
"I said don't do it damn it!" He pulled his hand again, making him look at his angry face.
Aizawa turned to him, his eyes stained with tears, blood rushing from his fingers, he looked absolutely broken.
"..."
A lump formd in Yamada's throat.
Yamada dropped besides him.
"I'll help you."
The two dug in silence until they saw the casket, Yamada watched as Aizawa opened it hesitantly.
It was empty. The corpse of Oboro Shirakumo was not there.
Aizawa collapsed.