Archive of Our Own ^beta

The news outlets have been buzzing over a new villain recently. They call themselves Persecution. Which sounds pretty ominous, but they aren't a typical villain, and that's why the news is so interested in them. For one, they don’t do any typical ‘villainous’ acts, per say, but the media portrays them as a villain for what they stand for.

They’re quirkless.

The first (well-known) quirkless villain.

They haven’t done any harmful or inherently dangerous crimes. A lot of it was simply trespassing or vandalism. At one point, they even stole a very expensive pre-quirk painting from a museum, only to return it a day later. 

They were smart. Very smart. They have never been caught, they’ve never even been seen except when they want to be seen. They slip into museums, banks- even hero agencies- then steal or vandalize something, and slip out undetected. They never kept what they stole either, it always appeared back where they stole it from or at a nearby police station, delivery completely unnoticed and the item unharmed, always with a little note signed by Persecution themselves.

A lot of people thought that they weren't actually quirkless, though, because they did a lot of things that “quirkless people can’t.”  

Like successful crime, for example.

Persecution actually posted an x-ray of their double toe joint as proof that they were, in fact, quirkless, and that, yes, quirkless people could do all of the things they were doing.

That was their whole point after all.

Every crime they committed: everything they vandalized, stole, and everywhere they broke into was all to spread a message. 

The quirkless can do anything.

They are not less than quirked people, and they do not deserve to be treated as such. They are not weaker, less evolved, or useless.

That is what Persecution believed, that was what they wanted people to know.

And it was working.

The fact of their quirklessness caused the media’s upheaval and the attention focused on them. Yes, they were portrayed as a villain (even though they were committing pretty harmless crimes), but because they were under so much scrutiny, their message was starting to be received. 

Some lesser-known pro heroes were taking note of Persecution’s actions, looking at the cause of them, and seeing what they were trying to say. Fundraisers and awareness campaigns were beginning to pop up. More focus was being shifted to the plight of the quirkless population. Which, although it was significantly less people than those with quirks, they were ultimately treated a lot worse.

Statistics came to light, studies were done, things were noticed now. The people who were shoved into the shadows were finally getting a little light.

Shouta, for one, was all for it.

He was known around UA as a pretty big Quirk Discrimination activist, given how he was treated for his own ‘weak’ quirk in his youth. He didn’t know any quirkless people, but he had seen the facts. As an underground hero, he (more often than he liked) had to talk people down from suicide, and the overwhelming majority of those he met were quirkless. And children. Convinced to kill themselves because of how society treats the quirkless in this age. For being such a small fraction of the population, the suicide rate was high. Too high.

So Shouta is happy that is beginning to change, thanks to Persecution.

Though, he is pretty curious what his students think about all of this.

Everyone in Class 1-A has a strong quirk, though there are some that have physical mutations that might cause for some discrimination. But all-in-all, none of his students have a mental quirk, and definitely not no quirk, given the bias of the entrance exam. Not to say those with less physical quirks can’t defeat robots, it’s just a lot harder.

Anyways.

Shouta’s class is partially full when he arrives on a Friday morning. He takes his place in his sleeping bag against the wall, and pretends to sleep while observing his students’ interactions. 

There’s some relationship gossip, people complaining about homework, and… there! A group of students hovering around Kaminari’s desk watching what appears to be a recent newscast. Shouta can just make out the tinny voice through his phone speakers, 

“-recent attack by the villain Persecution. They broke into Endeavor’s hero agency late Wednesday night, leaving the following message written on a portrait of Endeavor himself.” Kaminari tapped his phone screen and brought it closer to his face, presumably looking at an image of the vandalism. He snorted incredulously,

“Did they seriously write their message using hot-pink glitter paint? What a mood.” Sero leaned over his shoulder and snickered, while Mina whined,

“What’s it say though?” Kaminari passed his phone over, and Mina read aloud,

“‘Heroes are not always right.’ Signed ‘Persecution’ in, yep, pink glittery paint. That’s a pretty short thing to write after all the effort they must’ve made to break in.”

“But it gets the message across,” Sero pointed out. There was a small cluster surrounding the group now. 

“ Oui. We can see the point. It’s very simple, non? ” Aoyama said, “I approve of the medium. C'est magnifique!"  

“I think it can have multiple meanings though, kero .” The whole group turned to look at Asui.

“What do you mean?” Kirishima asked, having walked into the conversation a few minutes prior. Asui put a finger to her chin in thought.

“Well, kero , it could be literal, which would be pretty obvious. But it could also be a commentary about how society is not always right, or the government is not always right. Since both of those things revolve around heros and quirks, kero .”

Shouta could find himself agreeing with Asui’s statement as he listened in. 

“I guess,” Kaminari flung his head back dramatically. “I wonder why they did it in Endeavor’s agency though. Wouldn’t it be, like, super hard to break in there?”

“That’s probably the point,” A new voice said quietly. All heads whipped around to face Midoriya, who had snuck into class without anyone noticing. He let out a quiet squeak at all the eyes suddenly on him.

“What do you mean, Midobro?” Kirishima slung an arm over Midoriya’s shoulder, who began fiddling with his hands.

“W-well, since Persecution is q-quirkless, and the whole point of him doing what he’s doing is to raise awareness towards quirkless people and prove that they aren't lesser or weak, wouldn't it make sense to do something brash like breaking in to the Number One Hero’s agency? I mean, if he can do it and he’s quirkless, then that must prove that he’s really capable, right?”

Shouta could see that many of the student’s listening also nodded along to Midoriya’s statement.

“I guess that makes sense.” Mina said cheerily as the bell to start class rang, and everyone rushed to their seats. Shouta stood, his sleeping bag dropping around him, and prepared to begin class. He eventually wants to have a class discussion about Persecution and quirk discrimination, and based on this morning conversation, he knew it would be interesting. But for now, he’ll stick to normal lessons. He wants to get a good basis to plan their discussion around first, and knowing his class (gossips, the whole lot of ‘em) he knew there would be more outside-of-class, unfiltered talk that he could listen in on. So it could wait, for now.

Class is over in no time, and everyone is back at the dorms, the majority convening in the common room. The perfect time for Shouta to observe as he grades papers nearby. The chatter is light and mostly about schoolwork until someone mentions the topic of interest again.

“I wonder if they’ll catch Persecution soon.” Shouta isn’t sure who said it, but it sounded like Yaoyorozu. His suspicions were confirmed when Jirou turned and said to her directly,

“Well, they seem pretty smart. They haven’t been tracked or anything yet. They don’t even have an identity.” Yaoyorozu tugs lightly on a strand of her hair.

“I suppose. But they are quirkless, after all. They can’t go on much longer.” This got a few confused expressions, and a few nods of agreement. 

“But, like, isn’t their whole point in doing this to prove that being quirkless doesn’t mean anything in terms of ability?”

“But quirkless people are less evolved. So they’re practically not human.” Mineta snickered as he inched closer to where Yaoyorozu and Jirou were sitting.

Iida, who was nearby in an armchair, gave a solid chop before agreeing, “Yaoyorozu and Mineta, although brash, are correct. It’s only a matter of time before Persecution must pay for their heinous crimes. Their lack of quirk will serve as a way for heroes to catch them easily.”

Shouta observed his students’ facial expressions from where he sat. Most looked contemplative. A few were nodding. Even less looked even remotely upset. One of which was Midoriya.

“They’re not really ‘heinous crimes,’ Iida.” Midoriya muttered, almost to himself. No one seemed to hear him over the boisterous change in conversation topic. No one but Shouta. And no one seemed to notice the perturbed expression on his Problem Child’s face, either. Nor the way he looked vaguely uncomfortable with the topic, but also like he was holding himself back from saying more. 

Strange.

Midoriya doesn’t usually hold back what he wants to say, half the time it just seems to spill out on its own, anyways.

Shouta shrugs to himself and turns back to grading, tuning out the less-relevant chatter. He supposes it’ll make more sense when they discuss it in class.

Early the next morning, Shouta is back in the classroom in his prime observation spot.

The classroom is empty when he arrived, with Iida showing up a mere three minutes after him, and Midoriya a few minutes after Iida. They greet each other briefly before Midoriya takes his seat as well, pulling out a well-worn notebook and a pencil.

His student scribbles furiously, a hand resting over his mouth to prevent mumbling, but Shouta catches a few words that worm their way out, since the room is mostly empty.

“...quirkless… how…” is all Shouta can make out before a new group of students walk in loudly, and Midoriya snaps his notebook shut. Honestly, Shouta expected this problem child to be interested in Persecution. He is very analytical, and from what Shouta has seen and heard of his notebooks, he is good at figuring out quirks and their uses. It makes sense that he’d be curious about someone quirkless.

Soon all the students file in, and Shouta gets ready to begin class. He was up late last night (but when isn’t he?) writing up a lesson plan to go over quirk discrimination today. Persecution is a good segway into the topic, being of interest in pop-culture currently, so he begins there.

“Good morning, hellions.” He begins, receiving assorted greetings in return. He jumps right into the lesson. “I’m assuming you’ve all heard about the quirkless villain Persecution?” He looks out across class to gauge reactions. Most nodding or verbally agreeing. Midoriya, however, tenses slightly. 

He cuts right to the chase, “What do you think of them?” An influx of overlapping voices overwhelms the room, to which he activates his quirk and glares out at the class, cutting them all off. “Raise your hands,” he huffs out. A few shoot up immediately, he points to Kaminari.

“They’re, like, really cool! It’s crazy how they haven’t been caught yet! And no one even knows who they are!” Many heads nod, with Kirishima shouting out,

“So manly!” Shouta raises his hand to placate the noise. Yaoyorozu’s hand raises gracefully, Shouta gestures to her to speak.

“I don’t think it’s very ‘cool,’ as you said, Kaminari. They are a villain and they need to be punished. I’m sure it won’t be long.” This statement gets nods, before Jirou raises her hand as well.

“Just because they’re quirkless doesn’t mean it’ll be easier to catch them.” She sounds a little irritated, most likely from the discussion the night previous, where Yaoyorozu brought up the idea that the quirkless were lesser. There’s a lot of noise to this comment. Shouta should’ve known this topic would’ve been loud. He hears Tokoyami amidst the chatter,

“What a mad banquet of darkness.”

He runs a hand against his temple as his students speak over each other. He really should’ve known.

“Quiet down, class.” Thankfully, they listen to him. “Remember to raise your hands . This is a discussion, not a free-for-all.” Two hands pop up. He motions to Mina first.

“It is pretty cool that they are super smart, and I’m glad they’re not hurting anyone, but they definitely need to be caught eventually, since they are a villain.” Iida’s next.

“I agree with them needing to be caught, Mina.” A chop interrupts his statement, “But nothing they are doing is remotely ‘cool’ besides not hurting people, like you mentioned. They are a villain, plain and simple.” Bakugou speaks without prompt.

“Yeah, that stupid quirkless villain needs their butt kicked. Shouldn’t be too hard, I could take ‘em, easy.” Another chop from Iida.

“Bakugou! I must ask you to refrain from such brash behavior. We must leave this to the pros!” Sero laughs,

“I’m sure all of us could take them, buddy. They’re quirkless.” Shouts of agreements follow from the rowdiest of the class. Shouta feels like he has a good clue as to who in his class holds more prejudice. He glanced around the classroom, once again, as the yelling devolves into harmless chatter. The more boisterous students talk loudly, while Iida tries to rein them in. Many are just sitting quietly, waiting for class to resume. Midoriya, it seems, has shrunk down quite a lot in his seat over the course of the conversation. Shouta didn’t notice before now, but he hadn’t spoken a word, and had his head down and shoulders pulled in slightly. It’s not like Midoriya to zone out or get distracted in class, and he hasn’t touched his notebook, which is slightly concerning. Shouta wonders if he knows someone quirkless and it’s upsetting to hear people talk like they are less-than-human, but he’d be likely to stick up for them, if that were the case. It is really strange how his student has been reacting to conversations surrounding Persecution, especially since he has such a strong quirk, and most likely faced no judgement for it. It’s not even a mutant type, thought it does have its drawbacks. But he digresses.

“That’s enough,” Shouta speaks over the clamor, students quieting almost instantly. Having such a strict reputation was very useful. “So, now that we’ve discussed Persecution some, we are going to take a vote.” He scanned across the confused faces. “I want you to think about Persecution and what they do, and vote if you are for or against them.” Iida’s hand immediately shot up.

“Sensei! Shouldn’t we all be against them? Given we are heroes in training and they are a villain, it would be wrong for us to agree with them!”

“That’s fair, Iida. But I want you to take into account everything about Persecution. What they stand for, their actions, who they are. Don’t just see ‘villain’ and claim they’re evil. Think for yourselves.” A lot of thoughtful expressions. “So,” Shouta began, “raise your hand if you disagree with them.” The majority of the class's hands went up. He pointed to Todoroki. “Why?” The duel-haired student looked thoughtful, eyebrows twitching almost imperceptibly, before responding in a cool tone.

“Persecution is a villain. While their actions are not physically hurting others, they are still harmful acts. They should go through other means if they intend to make a statement.” Shouta nodded.

“Okay,” He gestured outwards, “Uraraka, how about you?” She pursed her lips softly before speaking.

“Like Todoroki-kun was saying, even if they aren’t hurting people, they are still breaking the law! That makes them a villain, and we’re going to be heroes, we can’t agree with villains!” Shouta sighed internally, really they were getting nowhere with this discussion. His students were missing the point. He continued anyway, pointing to another student who disagreed. 

“Well,” Yaoyorozu began, “Persecution is committing crimes. I disagree with them because it’s illegal. Plus, the only reason they are doing all this is because they’re quirkless, there’s really no point to it. They seem to be lashing out over a genetic problem.”

“Yeah,” Minetia added, uninvited. “They’re just mad since they’re basically less-human.” He scoffed and rolled his eyes. “They deserve it.” Shouta’s eye twitched. This student in particular was showing less and less potential as time progressed. If he can’t show any growth soon, Shouta may just have to expel him.

Tokoyami was next, saying, “While I don’t agree with their actions, Persecution is doing it for a good cause. I agree that quirk discrimination is bad, having experienced some, but i’ve heard it’s worse for the quirkless.” Tsuyu was on a similar page, as was Ashido, Kirishima, and Kaminari. Shouta’s eyes landed on Bakugou, who disagreed as well. This should be interesting.

“That quirkless scrub is a villain. They’ll be taken down soon enough and they deserve it. Useless idiot.” Bakugou mutters the last part, to which Midoriya, sitting directly behind him, flinches slightly; sinking ever-lower in his seat.

“Okay, class. Some fair points. Now, those who agree?” Shouta watched as fewer, more hesitant hands popped up. Few enough, in fact, to count on one hand. Jirou, Kouda, Aoyama, and Midoriya are the only ones to raise their hands in agreement. Shouta hears an appalled gasp from Iida, presumably, as well as a few confused murmurs. 

“Since there’s so few of you, you all get to explain why.” Shouta began, “Aoyama, you start.” His student smiled at the attention. 

“ Pour moi , I agree with Persecution because they are not hurting anyone, non? And it is all to end discrimination, which would be trés bon !” He sweeps his arm in a flourish, glitter released from his palm. Shouta sighs at the theatrics, but is grateful some of his students can see. Kouda’s next, answering in a short whisper.

“Yeah, discrimination is… not fun.” Shouta nods and moves on to Jirou, who looks pretty determined.

“My dad is quirkess.” She says straightforwardly. A few soft gasps around the room. “He got a lot of hate for it when he was a kid, still does actually, but he also said that it wasn’t nearly as bad when he was younger because the quirkless population was larger then. Most quirkless people are in my dad’s generation or older. Ones who are our age are rare, and treated much worse because of it. So yeah, I agree with what Persecution is doing. They’re not hurting anyone and they’re spreading awareness for something that most people ignore.” Jirou leans back in her desk and crosses her arms, daring anyone to argue with a glare that Shouta approves of. He nods, then looks at Midoriya, the last of those who agree and the most confusing. Shouta is quite curious about his reasoning. Midoriya sits up in his seat, clasps his hands nervously on his desk, and gulps.

“I agree with Persecution because, um, they aren’t hurting anyone. The, uh, media portrays him as a villain, but I don’t really think he should be called that. Yes, he does illegal things, but he isn’t a villain . He just got that label put on him because society doesn’t want to deal with what he’s trying to bring to light. Quirkless discrimination is… uh, really bad. Especially for this generation, like Jirou, mentioned. So, what Persecution is doing I agree needs to be done. He isn't harming anyone and is getting a message out there that should not even be a problem at all.” Midoriya pauses for a moment, in which Sero asks, 

“But shouldn’t they’ve just done it a different way? I mean, there’s no need to commit crime to raise awareness.” There are sounds of agreement all across the room. Midoriya responds,

“If that would work it would’ve been done already.” Midoriya pulls out his phone, glancing at Shouta who nods shortly. He scrolled for a moment before continuing. “I’m, um, following three separate quirk discrimination awareness accounts on social media. All three have good, accurate information, post regularly, and respond to messages politely. They all have a total of 247 followers.” He looks pointedly at Sero. “The point Persecution is trying to make isn’t fun and doesn’t affect a lot of people, but those who it does effect really need to be heard. This way is efficient and almost guaranteed to be noticed.” Midoriya exhales, finished with his spiel. All very good points, Shouta wonders, however, what prompted his student to know all of that. Most likely something akin to Jirou. Shouta smirks and claps his hands together, bringing attention back to him.

“Midoriya is correct. Not that you have to agree with Persecution, but that what they’re doing is good. Sure, heroes shouldn’t agree with ‘villains,’ and yes, we shouldn’t condone crime, but it really is the most efficient way to bring awareness to this topic. And,” Shouta clicks on his projector, “It’s greatly needed.” Staggering gasps can be heard as the students process the information on the board. Statistics on chances of the quirkless being bullied and being abused, suicide rates, unemployment rates for those that make it to adulthood. It’s all very upsetting facts, but his students need to understand. The bell rings abruptly, causing several newly-paled students to jump. Shouta sighs, just as they were getting somewhere. He hates to leave on such a distressing note, but at least his students will have time to mull it over.

“We’ll continue this Monday,” Shouta announces as his students slowly blink back into awareness. He ends with “Think about it,” and marches briskly out of the door.

That evening, Shouta returned to the dorm common rooms where many of his students are gathered. It seems that they plan to have a movie night, since it’s Friday and the curfew is extended tonight. The entirety of the class, minus Bakugou, is crammed on the couches and the floor surrounding it in front of the TV. He smiled slightly at his students fussing over what movie to watch, throwing snacks and pillows at each other. It’s nice to see them act like teenagers sometimes, and not have to be stressed over villain attacks. He counts their heads as a precaution (it became a habit after almost losing one of them). Eighteen. Shouta furrows his brows. Who’s missing? Bakugou was in his room, given it was past 8:30, but who else? He scans the room, ah, a familiar head of green curls is notoriously absent. Problem Child. Shouta walks over to his students, getting their attention. They quiet down a little and blink up at him.

“Where’s Midoriya?” Uraraka waves her hand at him.

“Deku-kun said he needed to go to the store! He said he would be back before curfew though, and didn’t mind us watching the movie without him.” She frowns a little, obviously thinking about something that’s bothering her. Shouta sighs, at least they know where he is. And if he’s back before curfew, it’s no problem. Although, Shouta would’ve preferred someone go with him; but given his personality, he probably wouldn’t want to hinder anyone else’s movie-watching. Shrugging, he returned to the table he was sitting at behind the couch. 

The movie begins while Shouta grades papers, and, sneaking a glance, he sees that it is some short, pre-quirk superhero movie that he’s never seen. Eventually, the movie ends and everyone starts to head back to their respective room, picking up trash from snacks and fixing the couch cushions. Shouta looks at his phone for the time: it’s 9:48, twelve minutes until curfew, and Midoriya has yet to return. He’s been gone for about an hour. Shouta wonders what he needed to get from the store. Maybe it was something really specific that took a while to find? Or a store that’s far away. Regardless, the Problem Child has never been late to curfew, so he doubts he intentionally will be. Shouta just hopes he hasn’t run into a villain, he’s known for being a trouble-magnet, after all. 

Shouta’s pondering comes to a close when Midoriya rushes into the building five minutes before curfew, breathing hard like he ran all the way here. He wasn’t carrying a shopping bag, but had his backpack on.

“Cutting it a little close, Problem Child.” Shouta greets as Midoriya walks in.

“S-sorry Sensei. The store I went to was out of stock, so I had to go to a different store that was kinda far away.” Shouta nods.

“That’s fine, just try to leave earlier next time, in case stuff like that happens.” Midoriya smiles brightly, and heads for the stairs.

“I will, Sensei! Goodnight!” Shouta waves in response.

“Goodnight, kid.” He watches as his student disappears up the stairs, hauling that bright yellow backpack. Shouta is heading to his own on-campus apartment when it hits him; Midoriya never mentioned what he got from the store.

Saturday morning and the dorms are already abuzz with energy. Most students tend to sleep in on the weekends, and today is no exception. It’s around 10:00 by the time almost all of the students are downstairs, eating breakfast or chatting in small groups. Some of the more studious ones are already doing homework for Monday. A group is sitting in front of the TV flipping channels when it lands on a news station. 

“Wait wait stop it here!” Kaminari yells to Uraraka, who had the remote. His yell gets the attention of most of the kids, who turn to look at the screen. The bold headline reads: “Persecution strikes again.”

“Ooh!” Ashido squeals, sitting next to Uraraka on the couch, “I wonder what they’ve done this time!”

“Me too,” Uraraka replies to her, turning up the volume slightly. Shouta walks a bit closer to better hear the TV as the Newswoman reads the story.

“Villain Persecution strikes again last night, breaking into The Museum of Pre-Quirk Art and stealing a famous painting. They left a message in place of the piece,” A picture of a sticky note pops onto the screen, with a message scribbled in black marker, “reading, ‘We are not weak.’ and signed by Persecution.” The Newscaster pauses to glance at the paper in front of her. “The artwork was found completely undamaged at a nearby police station. There are no leads as to who Persecution is, all we know is that the crime was committed sometime between 8 and 12 o’clock last night, based on the missing security footage. If you have any information about Persecution, please call the number on the screen.” A number pops up, but the class has already dissolved into chaos.

“Already? They sure are fast at committing crimes.”

“Wow! They must be good with hacking if they disabled all the cameras.”

“They do seem smart, kero .”

“They’re not that cool. Anyone could do that.”

“Oh yeah? I doubt you can.”

“Stop arguing guys! That’s not very manly!”

Shouta zoned out as the conversation drifted to other topics. He sincerely hopes that his students remembered what they had discussed in class, but unfortunately, a lot of them tend to forget the last week’s lessons come the weekend. Oh well, he’ll just have to drill it into them on Monday.

The rest of the weekend passed quickly and uneventfully except for the news about Persecution on Saturday. The biggest thing to happen aside from that was Bakugou exploding one of the couches after Kaminari bugged him for homework answers Sunday night. Shouta had been in his apartment inside the dorm when a loud knock sounded on his door. He opened it to a panicking Kaminari.

“What is it?” 

“There’s a fire!” Shouta entered the common area briskly, only to see his students (heroes-in-training) running around a flaming couch, screaming. It would be pretty funny if they weren’t being trained for situations similar and more severe to this one. Eventually, Yaoyorozu came into the room and created a fire extinguisher to put it out. Shouta ran a tired hand down his face as everyone congratulated and thanked her. He left the room and immediately went to sleep.

But he digresses.

Eventually, homeroom came around on Monday morning, all of his students already seated when he walked into the class. They looked… ready to learn for once. He quirked an eyebrow up at their attention, to which Iida raised his hand.

“We are all ready to continue Friday’s lesson, Sensei.” Many students nodded.

“Very well.” Shouta couldn’t help a little smile. They were learning. He quickly sets up the projector with the same statistics from Friday displayed to the room. “We left off talking about the quirkless population, and how Persecution is working to change that.” He motions to the rates listed on the board. “This is what a quirkless individual in this generation is very likely to face.” He clicked the next slide. “Here are the rates from 50 years ago,” It was significantly less likely, the highest rate being bullying. “And here,” He clicked to another slide, “Are the rates of quirkless individuals now versus quirked individuals.” Murmurs flitted throughout the crowd as the class took in the information. “Quirkless individuals face between five and eight times more discriminatory acts than those with quirks. The majority of quirked discrimination being towards those with percieved ‘villainous’ quirks, or those with mutation type quirks. A lot of times those with strong emitter-type or transformative quirks will never face quirk discrimination in their lifetime.” 

Shouta gazed across the room. “The majority of you here fall under that category, but those who do not, or anyone who has faced quirk discrimination, feel free to share your experiences with the class. If you are uncomfortable with sharing, there is no pressure to. It is just a good way to help your classmates to understand quirk discrimination more.” 

Shouta quieted and watched his students silently think about all he said. He could see a few students struggle with deciding to share or not, mainly Shoji, Kirisima, Koda, and Asui. There was also a strange look on Midoriya’s face, once again, but Shouta couldn’t really decipher it. He probably needs to talk with his Problem Child after class to figure out what’s going on.

After a few minutes of quiet, one of Shoji’s hands raised. “People were always acting afraid of me, and made fun of how I looked behind my back. They said I looked more like a villain than a hero.” Shoji spoke out of this mouth tentacle. 

Kirishima whispered, “That's not very manly!” to himself.

“Thank you for sharing,” Aizawa let his more… severe expressions slip into something calmer. He knows this can be a difficult thing to talk about, given his own experience. Kirishima immediately raised his hand, jumping up from his seat. 

“A lot of my old classmates said my quirk wasn’t flashy enough or it was too weak for me to be a hero. I’m going to be the manliest hero ever and prove them wrong!” He slammed his hardened fists together before flopping back down. Shouta saw many students smile at his enthusiasm, and even heard a few whispered encouragements. Shouta nodded to Kirishima and Aoyama raised his hand. 

“My quirk isn’t suited to my body, and some classmates were pas gentil about it!” Shouta supposed that makes sense, given how he was one of the only ones to (somewhat surprisingly) agree with Persecution on Friday. Asui is the last to raise her hand.

“A lot of people give me strange looks in public, especially if I’m out with my family, since we all have frog-like expressions.” Mina turned in her seat and patted Asui’s hand comfortingly.

“Thank you all for sharing your experiences. If you feel like you need to talk to a professional about anything, like this or otherwise, you can talk to me. That goes for everyone else, as well.” He glances around the room and, seeing majorly understanding expressions, he nods tersely and continues on to the next slide. “A few years ago, many villains were interviewed over their reasons for turning to villainy. Here are the results.” He paused to allow his students to read the listed reasons: bullying because of their quirk, abuse because of their quirk, isolation because of their quirk, no one would accept their quirk except for a group of villains, told they couldn’t become a hero because of their quirk that led to disillusionment with hero society, unemployment due to quirk. “As you can see, it all comes back to quirk discrimination. How many potential heroes were told that they couldn’t be one because of their quirk? And felt they had no choice but to turn to villainy either for revenge, to survive, or just to feel like they belong somewhere?” Many students looked sad, nervous, and some even looked regretful. There were two that stood out however. Bakugou, for one, had a face of almost shock. It was close to that, but it held a mix of guilt and anger as well. Midoriya, for the other, looked very pale and nervous, fingers twitching below his desk. Shouta was definitely talking with him sometime today. Speaking of, time was almost up.

“Quirk discrimination is a very serious subject that many people tend to ignore. What Persecution is doing is bringing attention to a group of people, however small, that are being ignored in their suffering. The quirkless are more likely to die before adulthood, and if they make it into adulthood, it is hard for them to find a job. The majority die or become villains before reaching the age of 30. Something needs to change here, and that’s what Persecution is aiming for. Now, before class ends, one last question.” That got the students’ attention. “Do you think Persecution is really a villain?” Many hands shot up almost immediately, and many more voices spoke without prompt.

“No, but they are still a criminal.”

“Yes, even villains can have good causes sometimes.”

“I don’t think they should be called a villain.”

“Me neither!”

“I do, even if it’s because of bad things happening to them, they didn’t have to resort to crime.”

Shouta cuts the voices off with a raised hand. “What should they be called then?” Silence is all that responds to him for a minute.

“Maybe just a criminal? They are breaking the law.”

“Yeah, that makes sense!”

A hand raises amidst the agreements. “Midoriya, do you have an idea?” The class all turns to look at the green-haired boy, who glanced nervously around the room.

“Y-yes I do. I don’t think Persecution is a villain, but I don’t think he should be called a criminal either. While he does commit crimes, he never harms anyone and anything he steals is always returned unharmed. He’s closer to a vigilante in that regard, though he isn’t actively stopping crime. Even so, many laws were written to pertain to quirk usage, so the description of a quirkless criminal is somewhat in a grey area. I think it would be most accurate to call him an activist. He’s using non-harmful means to promote his cause.” Shouta smiled at that response. 

“I agree, Problem Child. You are correct in everything you said.” The bell rings suddenly, and the students begin shuffling their things for the next class. “Midoriya,” Shouta steps closer to his desk and speaks quieter, “Come to my office before lunch.” His student’s eyes widen and he nods nervously. Shouta simply leaves, allowing the next teacher to begin their lesson.

Midoriya arrives at his office as promised, knocking gingerly on the door. Shouta calls him in and prompts him to sit on one of the chairs he has out. He’s practically radiating anxiety, wringing his hands in his lap.

“Calm down, you’re not in any trouble.” Shouta sits in front of him as he gets a shaky nod. He almost rolls his eyes, how can someone so powerful on the battlefield be so nervous over a conversation? “I just wanted to ask about some things regarding our recent topic in class. You had some strange reactions to some of the questions.” His student stiffens. “Care to explain?” Midoriya simply fidgets with his sleeve.

“What… what do you want to know?” Shouta sighs, learning anything about this kid is like pulling teeth.

“What do you want to tell me?”

“Uh…” Shouta pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Kid, you looked really nervous most of class today and Friday. I just want to understand why so I can get you help if you need it. Is there something going on at home or is it the topic we discussed?”

“Nothing’s wrong at home! It’s-it’s the topic.”

“Okay, so what about it makes you so nervous?”

“I’m not nervous!” Shouta lets out an exasperated noise. Like. Pulling. Teeth.

“Yes, you were. Are. I get it if you don’t want to talk to me about it, but if something makes you react like you did, it’s probably a big deal, and you should talk to someone .” Midoriya worries his bottom lip between his teeth.

“I-I guess I can tell you. You won’t expel me right?” Shouta raises an eyebrow.

“Is it something I should expel you for?” His student waves his hands frantically in front of his face.

“N-no no! Or at least I don’t think so…” Shouta makes a go on motion with his hand. “Well, um, I was a... late bloomer. Like really late.” 

“How late?”

“...fifteen?” Shouta blinks. Oh.

Oh.

“That’s... “

“Impossible? I know.” Midoriya lets out a tiny chuckle. “But here I am.”

“So you were nervous when we were discussing quirk discrimination because-”

“Because I experienced it for eleven years. Yeah.” His student looks down and fidgets with his sleeves again. “Everyone thought I was quirkless.”

And if that doesn’t explain so much. How he acted for the first few weeks of school, like he was expecting to be attacked during class, how Bakugou reacted on the first day of school…

“Bakugou thought you were quirkless.”

“...yeah.”

“You’ve known each other for a long time.” Just a nod this time. Shouta furrowed his brows. Bakugou had looked guilty today while they were discussing the discrimination the quirkless face.

“Was he your bully?” Midoriya simply nods. Shouta facepalms. Dear lord he missed something big. “Why didn’t you tell anyone? We could’ve helped. Bakugou probably could’ve been expelled due to UA’s ‘no bullying’ policy.”

“I didn’t think anyone would care! It doesn't matter anyways, Kacchan and I have worked through it a little, and he’s doing much better.” This kid. ..

“We’ll... come back to that later. But still, kid, if I had known about you getting your quirk so late I could’ve helped. Maybe you wouldn’t have broken all those bones.”

“I guess. But All Might knew I was quirkless before!” Shouta narrowed his eyes.

“Why did All Might know but not me?” His student puts a hand on the back of his neck, something he does when he’s nervous.

“Uh, well… he-”

“Okay fine. Don’t tell me if you’re just going to lie.” Midoriya’s eyes widened in shock.

“I wasn’t going to lie!”

“Yes you were. I’ll just ask All Might later.”

“But… but it’s a secret!” He slapped a hand over his mouth like he hadn’t meant to say that.

“You being quirkless was a secret, or your connection to All Might is? Don’t look so surprised, Problem Child, anyone can see you do have a connection. Either you tell me or I beat it out of All Might myself.” His already wide eyes got impossibly bigger, and he flailed his arms around in front of him.

“No! Don’t do that! I- ugh, I can tell you I guess. All Might has people he told anyways, I know he said I should keep it a secret for the safely of the people around me but you’re my teacher and a pro-hero you can protect yourself plus it might be beneficial for you to know the origins of my quirk since I’m going to be around you for three years especially if something weird happens since it’s pretty unknown still how it will react differently to me than how it did to All Might given what I saw at the sports festival…” Midoriya dissolves into muttering, bringing a hand up to cover his mouth. Shouta, on the other hand, is reeling at what he was able to hear. The origins of my quirk ? What does that mean?

“Midoriya. What do you mean by… all of that?” The greenette jumps a little, cutting off his rambling. 

“Oh I said all of that out loud, didn’t I?” Shouta sent a deadpan gaze at him.

“Yes.” His student bites his thumbnail, appearing to think for a moment, before nodding to himself.

“Okay. So basically…”

He then proceeds to tell Shouta the exact circumstances to where his quirk came from.

“So you’re telling me,” Shouta says, rubbing his temples in vain to try and stave off the coming headache. “That All Might told you you couldn’t be a hero without a quirk, then decided to give you his quirk and train you for the UA entrance exam, only transferring his quirk the day of the exam?” His student lets out a wobbly smile.

“Yep, that’s about it.”

“So, you’re actually quirkless.”

“M-hm. I have the toe joint and everything.”

Shouta puts his head in his hands and groans.

“Um… you’re not going to expel me, are you?”

“No, Problem Child.” He quickly adds on, “And I’m not mad at you either. I am mad at All Might, however, but I will take my concerns up with him later. For now, is there anything else you want to tell me?” Before Midoriya says anything however, Shouta has, what he might describe as, an epiphany.

Shouta is an underground hero. Meaning he tends to rely more on strategy than brute strength, so he considers himself to be pretty clever. And because of that, he had the feeling like he was missing something important about his student since they began the discussion about Persecution. Not just the way Midoriya acted in class, which could mostly be explained by his previous quirklessness, but the other little things he’s said and done lately. 

He was nervous when talking about Persecution to others, and tried to refrain from speaking.

He referred to Persecution as a ‘he,’ even though no one knows their gender.

He’s incredibly skilled at analysis, and is one of the most clever students.

He was adamant about Persecution being an activist, not a criminal or a villain.

He insisted on going alone to the store for something, and didn’t say what he got.

He was gone during the timeframe that Persecution’s latest act took place.

He was quirkless. He has the double toe-joint.

Damn.

“You’re Persecution, aren’t you?” Shouta suddenly said, bringing his student out of his thoughts. Midoriya gaped at him, eyes wide and mouth open.

“ What ?” He whispered, disbelieving.

“You’re Persecution. Am I wrong?” His student’s eyes flicked around the room like he was looking for an escape route. Shouta glared at him, red-eyes and all. He squeaked, and let out a quiet,

“...maybe?”

“Kid, what you’re doing is illegal.” Shouta sighed into his hands, “And you’re not even really quirkless anymore.”

“Maybe I’m not, but as long as people think Persecution is, it’ll still work.” Midoriya clenched a fist, determination filling his eyes. Shouta gave him a narrow glare through his fingers. 

“So how do you do it, huh? I’m assuming you don’t use your quirk?”

“Nope!” His student chirped, seemingly pleased, “I’ve done everything completely quirkless. It’s not that hard to just use your brains.” He tapped a finger to his temple. “Plus, Nedzu-san is a great teacher.” Now Shouta was the one to gape.

“Nedzu’s in on this?” Midoriya nods. “That little rat…” He grumbles to himself, then stops, eyes widening slightly. “And he’s teaching you?” His student, once again, eagerly nods.

“He’s the one that taught me how to program, among other things. I knew the basics, of course, but he is much more skilled.” Shouta was, for lack of better word, shook.

“How long has this been going on?” 

“Well,” Midoriya puts a hand to his chin, “Nedzu-san noticed my journals shortly after we moved into the dorms, I’m pretty sure he read them through the security cameras! He invited me to meet with him, and eventually he said he wanted to take me as a student! At some point, we were discussing the failures of hero society and the injustices certain groups have to go through when I brought up how my past quirklessness was really difficult. He already knows about my quirk, by the way. But anyways, so I wanted to do something about it and Nedzu said that if I came up with a plan he would help me, so here we are!” Midoriya giggles a little at the end of his spiel. “We also had a bet as to when someone would figure it out, we both thought you would be first, but Nedzu-san thought you would take much longer. He’ll be impressed.”

That. Freaking. Rat.

Corrupting one of his sweetest students and training him to take down the hero society that revolves around quirks. Shouta had no doubt that they could do it, either. Persecution (which the rat is in on ) was already changing things.

Midoriya tilts his head to the side and looks up at him with big doe-eyes. 

“I’m not in trouble, am I?”

Good lord Shouta should’ve just expelled this class from the start. Nothing but trouble.

“No. If Nedzu’s in on it, I can’t really do anything. Plus,” He gives his student a sly grin. “I never said I disagree with it.” His Problem Child puts a big, sunshiny smile on his face.

“Thank you Sensei!”

Eventually, he would need to get help for Midoriya so he could learn to deal with his past.

Eventually, he would need to have a discussion with All Might and Bakugou.

Eventually, he might even have to deal with the repercussions of a UA hero-in-training committing crimes once a week.

“Of course, Problem Child.”

But for now, he’ll let Persecution try to save everyone.