Chapter 1: A New Dawn
The first thing I noticed was the light. It streamed through a window I didn't recognize, soft and golden, spilling across a quilt that felt too small under my hands. I blinked, groggy, my head throbbing like I'd overslept after a late-night binge. But something was off. The air smelled faintly of laundry soap and… crayons? My room didn't smell like that. My room smelled like stale coffee and some other disaster.
I sat up, the mattress creaking under me, and rubbed my eyes. That's when I saw it in the wall. They were plastered with posters, bright and bold, screaming with color. A beaming figure in a red-white-and-blue suit dominated the biggest one, cape billowing behind him, grin wide enough to split the sky. All Might. Beside him, smaller posters clung to the paint: a fiery redhead with a smirk Endeavor, maybe? and a woman in a sleek suit floating midair. Heroes. Everywhere.
"What the hell?" I muttered, my voice catching me off guard. It was high-pitched, squeaky, like it hadn't settled into itself yet. I froze. That wasn't my voice. My hands shot to my throat, then my face smooth skin, no stubble, just the roundness of… a kid?
Heart pounding, I swung my legs off the bed and stumbled to my feet. The room spun for a second bookshelves stuffed with notebooks, a desk littered with pencils and half-finished sketches of caped figures, a tiny TV in the corner with a stack of DVDs labeled "All Might's Greatest Hits." This wasn't my cramped apartment. This wasn't my life.
I caught my reflection in a small mirror propped on the desk. Green hair, wild and messy, framed a wide-eyed face freckled across the cheeks. My breath hitched. I knew that face. I'd seen it a hundred times, drawn in sharp lines across manga pages, animated on a screen. But it wasn't supposed to be mine.
And then it hit me, a flood, a rush, like someone had flipped a switch in my brain. Memories poured in, sharp and vivid, layering over my own. A woman's gentle voice calling "Izuku!" from a kitchen. A blond kid sneering, palms sparking with tiny explosions. A doctor's cold words: "No Quirk." Notebooks filled with scribbled dreams. All Might's laugh echoing through a TV speaker. It wasn't just a dream or a hallucination it was a lifeline, a tether to this body, this world.
I staggered back, gripping the desk to steady myself. My name or what it used to be faded under the weight of it all. I wasn't me anymore. I was him. I'd transmigrated into the body of 10 year old Izuku Midoriya.
A sharp pain stabbed through my skull, sudden and blinding. I gasped, clutching my head as the room tilted. The posters blurred, All Might's grin warping into a smear of color. My knees buckled, and I hit the floor hard, the thud muffled by a thin rug. Darkness swallowed me whole.
When I came to, it was to the sound of sobbing. Soft, panicked cries filtered through the haze, pulling me back. My eyes fluttered open, and I saw her, Inko Midoriya, green hair tied back, face streaked with tears. She stood near the doorway, hands clasped tight, her voice trembling as she called out, "Izuku! Oh, honey, please wake up!"
I groaned, pushing myself up on my elbows. My head still ached, but something else caught my eye. The desk my desk wasn't where it should be. It hovered a foot off the ground, wobbling slightly. Notebooks drifted around it like lazy satellites, pages flapping open midair. A pencil spun slowly above my bed. Everything was… floating.
"W-What…?" I mumbled, standing shakily. The objects didn't fall. They just hung there, defying gravity.
Inko's sob shifted into a choked laugh. She rushed forward, tears glistening, and grabbed my shoulders. "Izuku! Oh, my baby, you did it! You've... you've awakened your Quirk!" Her voice cracked with joy, her hands trembling as she pulled me into a hug. "I was so worried seeing you collapsed, but look at this! I'm so proud of you!"
I stared over her shoulder at the floating desk, the drifting books. My Quirk? But Izuku... Izuku was Quirkless. I knew that. I'd read it, watched it, memorized every detail of his story. He didn't get a Quirk until All Might, until One For All. So why…?
Then it clicked, sharp and jarring. Me. I was the difference. I'd transmigrated into this body, brought my own consciousness into Izuku Midoriya's life. Maybe that collision, my soul slamming into his had sparked something, a chain reaction that flipped a switch the doctors said would never turn on. I, Izuku, had unlocked a Quirk.