Chapter Text
"Morning is here! Morning is here! Morning is-"
Izuku knocked the whole alarm clock from his nightstand in his effort to slam the button on top. Thankfully, he hit the button even as the infernal thing clattered to the ground. He groaned and sat up, dislodging a number of objects from his "All Might" themed comforter. (Yes, Izuku had finally identified the spandex-clad menace that decorated his walls. The man apparently was a rather famous hero, the number one in fact, and deserved all the praise he received.)
The objects that tumbled to the ground were a number of notebooks and wadded balls of scrapped paper he'd been using to theorize all of yesterday. Izuku absently peeled a sticky note off his face as he let loose a tired yawn.
The whole concept of heroes and quirks was new to him, and really, really cool when he thought about it, but also concerning. This idea of being in a manga too, still took some time for Izuku to wrap his mind around. Sure, he would've leapt at the opportunity before, because c'mon, which manga enthusiast wouldn't?- but now he wasn't so sure. The reality of his situation had struck him when he'd realized something rather crucial.
He had no idea who he was.
Not in an existential way; no, Izuku thought therefore he was. He had all the memories of his mundane life in his own world, but that wasn't the issue. It was in a narrative way. What part did he play in this story? Who was his character? What was their role? This was of the utmost importance.
Izuku may read manga, but in no way was he prepared to become a part of it. Any role the author had stuck him in, Izuku would no doubt perform poorly, and then he was just going to ruin the whole story. Not to mention that even if he knew he was in a manga, the other people didn't (as evidenced by his mother) and he couldn't properly bear the responsibility of their lives.
That's why Izuku used all of yesterday to learn everything he could about this version of himself in an attempt to classify himself into any of the common character "tropes" of manga. He'd like to say he was successful, but in no way was that even close. Despite all the time he devoted to his classifications, the effort only earned him a trashed room full of sticky notes, paper balls, and corkboards covered in red yarn.
He wouldn't let his fruitless research hinder his progress, however. Izuku hoped going to school today would reveal to him more clues as to where he fit into this story. He had to be either one of four (self-made) categories:
The first and most obvious was the protagonist. The main character. The do-gooder who tried their best and always succeeded against impossible odds. The center of the story and the one all the characters were affected by in one way or another.
The second was the antagonist. Where there was light there was darkness yadda yadda. The one whose dream lied in conflict with the protagonist's and who was, more often than not, extremely evil.
Next was the side-supporting character, or characters. They could be on either side, but their main role was to support the hero or the bad guy. While they could garner attention in their own right, they couldn't outshine the main character, and they also had a terrible tendency of dying.
Lastly, Izuku could be an extra. A "drawing in the background" if you would. Someone created only to move the characters to another point in the plot and then never be heard from again.
In all honesty, Izuku wasn't quite sure which category he hoped he would fall under.
His green hair was definitely a protagonist trait, or at the very least a side character one. His mother mentioned something about injuries from school and Izuku had yet to see his father, which could be a sign of a Tragic Backstory™. That would cement him as a protagonist, but could just as easily fit him into an antagonist role…
Izuku really just needed to go to school and meet his friends to see for sure. He also needed to figure out what quirk he had. That would be rather telling. If it was useful, that would be another point towards protagonist. If it was useless, perhaps more of an extra. He'd spent long hours yesterday trying to find out what his quirk did (he couldn't ask his mother or risk arousing suspicion) and nothing happened. Which was sort of expected considering Izuku had no idea how to activate a "quirk" in the first place. He hoped he'd find out soon, because it wasn't everyday you got transported into a world with superpowers! Izuku really wanted to have one too!
He was a little excited too, to attend a school with a bunch of superpowered people. Would it be different from normal middle school? Would they offer different classes? Izuku's head turned with the possibilities.
Besides the superpowers though, Izuku was also eager to meet his "childhood friend". His mother mentioned that his name was Katsuki, and Izuku caught a glimpse of him yesterday when he brought over Izuku's homework after school. He seemed cool enough. Izuku had never had friends before, any ones he did would fit more into the acquaintance category, so he was glad he had one here. Having a childhood friend was also a pretty common point for a protagonist, which could place him or Katsuki as either protagonist or supporting side character.
To be honest, Katsuki didn't have the colorful hair of a main character (though it seemed unnaturally spiky from far away), but he was also pretty attractive, so Izuku hoped it was him. If Katsuki was the protagonist, Izuku could rest easy. He didn't want to be in charge of the story.
He finished his morning routine early and decided to use the remaining time before he left for school to continue his research. The specific research he was conducting was for world-building purposes. Izuku needed to know exactly what he'd be getting into, maybe even predict the things that might happen to him.
Not that anything would happen to him, because he probably wasn't the protagonist. Still, it never hurt to be careful.
His main interests were the quirks. Because c'mon , superpowers were hella cool.
Izuku wanted to find out everything there possibly was about quirks. Not only could the knowledge benefit him (because everyone else had to already know about it and he could use it to figure out his own), it was also incredibly interesting.
Mutation quirks? Emitter quirks? Transformation quirks? Passive quirks? The quirkless? Quirk laws? The Hero Commission? Hero schools like UA and Shiketsu? This world was entirely new to Izuku and he planned to learn it inside and out. And nothing would stop him from doing so.
"Izuku, you're going to be late!" His mother yelled, pulling him from his research binge.
Except for that. Ugh. School.
Maybe he should've been spending his time tidying the absolute mess he made of his room yesterday. Maybe he should've been watching the clock. Oh well.
Izuku closed out of the 40+ tabs he had open on his phone and slung his backpack over his shoulder. He ran out the door, calling a hasty goodbye to his mother, and headed down the road.
Before remembering he didn't actually know where his school was.
He realized he was heading in the same direction as he remembered his middle school being, that was, if his middle school still even existed, or remained in the same spot as it once was.
A groan escaped him and he debated slamming his head into the closest wall. He couldn't exactly turn around and tell his mother he forgot where his school was, now could he? Damn, what now?
After a moment, Izuku decided he ought to go to where his middle school was, or uh, should be anyways, right? Just to see what was there. Who knew? Maybe his school was in the same spot.
That line of thinking proved to be correct. Izuku arrived at the gate of "Aldera Junior High". (Definitely not the name or the building of the middle school he remembered.) He'd seen a few kids with the same uniform as him, which confirmed he was in the right place. This wasn't his middle school though, at least not the one he knew, and now he had no idea what to expect when he stepped through the doors.
Probably cool hero stuff, right?
Wrong.
Izuku walked through the main entrance and immediately tripped over an unknown object and fell on his face. There was no way to save his dignity, especially when he determined that the object was a leg and that a round of laughter accompanied his fall.
"Man, you usually avoid that. Are you getting dumber?" Someone snickered above him, sounding very much like a B-movie villain. Izuku picked himself up and dusted himself off.
He was promptly shoved to the ground again. The onlookers laughed.
Oh. OOOOOOOOOH. Izuku was being bullied right now. Where did that put him? Did protagonists get bullied? Only in the beginning, if at all, right? In all honesty, Izuku would classify it as an antagonist trait, because-
"Oi Deku!" Someone yelled. "Where were you yesterday?"
-villain characters also had a Tragic Backstory™. But Izuku didn't want to be a villain! But he also definitely couldn't be the protagonist because-
"Oi shitstain! Are you ignoring me?!"
-he would totally mess the story up. He wasn't main character material anyways. He'd never thrown a punch in his life, he cried at sad movies, and he had no drive or intent whatsoever to conquer any obstacle that got in his way. At the top of his priority list for being in a manga was-
"Deku! Answer me you fucker!" A kick to Izuku's side jolted him from his thoughts. He looked up (was he still on the ground? How embarrassing) and was met with a very, very angry blonde.
-trying to survive.
"Katsuki?" Izuku asked once he recognized who it was. It definitely looked like him, the same spiky blonde hair and facial features, though the other boy froze in shock at his greeting. Was that wrong then? Izuku rose to his feet, but no, this boy was definitely Katsuki. The same one that brought him his homework and was his childhood friend. He must be here to help Izuku with the bullies!
Which meant Katsuki had to be the protagonist and Izuku wasn't and damn what a relief that was.
"Boy am I glad to see you!" Izuku said, slinging an arm around Katsuki's shoulders, trying to give his friend a proper greeting. (He didn't know if they were familiar enough where a hug would be appropriate, so he refrained. He only said something he assumed friends would say to each other.)
Katsuki was stiff under his arm and the other people (read: bullies ) looked at him like he made a bottle of Pepto-bismal float. He didn't really care what they thought though, because obviously they didn't have that high of an opinion of him either.
"C'mon Katsuki, let's get to class." He offered and attempted to drag the other boy forward. The blonde didn't budge.
"Deku." Katsuki finally spoke, sounding a little angry(?). But Izuku had no idea what Deku meant. Deku? Deku. Hmmmmmmm, like useless? Why was Katsuki saying that?
"What the fuck?" He finished empathetically.
And then before Izuku could respond with something like "oh yeah mood", Katsuki wrenched his hand from Izuku's grasp.
...Okay, Katsuki was not a touchy person. Noted.
The boy held up his other hand and tiny sparks popped along it like mini fireworks.
Izuku paused, momentarily distracted as his eyes were hypnotized by the amazing display of power. That was SO COOL! His friend had such an awesome quirk! If he could make those bigger, it would be terrific for fighting! That was it, Katsuki was absolutely , 100% the main character, he had to be. And Izuku was just the support, or maybe an extra, which was fine. The thought made him feel better.
That was, until Katsuki turned his hand toward Izuku, a menacing smile on his face, and let off an explosion large enough to send Izuku to the ground for a third time.
He knocked his head into the tile. Damn, that hurt.
This has got to be a top ten anime betrayal. Izuku's mind informed him.
His uniform was singed by the blast and Izuku started to see why it was burnt in the first place. Childhood friend ? Yeah, riiiiiight.
"Great." Izuku muttered as he picked himself off the floor and touched the now tender skin of his face. He hissed. Didn't quirk laws forbid the use of quirks like this? He read that this morning, right? This was- "Just what I needed."
Katsuki stalked towards him, flanked on either side by the others from earlier. Izuku wanted to punch his past self in the face. His friend coming to help him? Ha! Katsuki was the main instigator! How could Izuku have missed a flag like that?
"Oi Deku." Katsuki called again, which Izuku now thought must be an insult. "Since when does a quirkless screw-up like you think you can be all chummy with me ? Did you hit your head when you tripped?"
Izuku did hit his head when he tripped, and when Katsuki so rudely blasted him, but more importantly-
"Hold up. Did you just say quirkless?"
Because no . No way was he in a world full of superpowers with him being the only one (Part of the 20%! 20%, the article said! Most of them elderly!) that didn't have one.
Katsuki gave him a look again- like he was doing something strange or shocking. His lips pulled into a frown.
"What the fuck is up with you today?" He demanded.
And well, Izuku couldn't really answer that question, could he? He might've cared a little more that he wasn't acting his part but quirkless?! He was quirkless?! Where did that put him now?!
"FUCK!" Izuku shouted, tearing a hand through his hair. Katsuki and the others jumped at the noise. "You've got to be kidding me!"
He flopped back to the tile, not helping the bump on his head, his limbs spreading around him, because this sucked.
Well, that decided it. Izuku couldn't be a protagonist now even if he wanted to, (not that he did) not when he had no quirk at all. His role as a supporting character wasn't looking too good either considering he didn't know who he was supposed to support with no quirk. Katsuki could certainly handle himself as the main character with his awesome quirk. His attitude was the opposite of every shounen protagonist that Izuku knew, but it wasn't like he could debate it when he didn't write the story. Maybe Katsuki was actually a good person?…Somewhere deep, deep, deep within him.
"Uh…" One of the bullies whispered to Katsuki. "What should we do?"
Izuku ignored them. He was having an existential crisis right now, thank you very much. Did this mean he was an extra? Izuku didn't mind all that much except for the fact that extras could die. They didn't have the nifty thing known as plot armor. For all he knew, he could die to some random villain in the street. And dying was not something he wished to do, believe it or not.
Or… or Izuku realized with dawning horror, he could still be an antagonist. Not a very strong one, but he certainly had the buildup for one. Bullied? Check. Discriminated against? Probably check. History with the protagonist? It definitely looked that way. A broken moral compass? Well...not really? Uh, Izuku would have to come back to that one…
Right about now, he just wanted to fight whoever wrote this stupid story.
The ringing of a bell broke him from his thoughts. He lifted his head and noticed that Katsuki and his lackeys had already left. That was one good thing that happened to him, he supposed. Before anything else happened, he ought to get off the floor. He was lucky no one stepped on him.
It became obvious to Izuku then, that he didn't get stepped on because the hallways were now empty. And the hallways were empty because class had started. Which also explained why Katsuki left him alone. And now also meant that Izuku was late for class. Great.
Maybe he should just stay here...on the floor. The floor had been good to him. (He ignored the headache forming from falling into it three times.)
In the end, Izuku went to class. There wasn't really a choice otherwise. He still needed to figure out how his life in this world worked. The classes were the same as he remembered them: boring. Absolutely nothing about heroics or quirks at all. His interactions with his classmates showed that his bullies weren't limited to the group he met earlier, which threw whatever preconceived notions Izuku had that morning out the window because apparently he didn't actually have any friends.
Yippee.
The teachers did nothing to stop the blatant mistreatment, and some even openly encouraged it. It all revolved around one thing too: his quirklessness. Izuku didn't know why he was hated for not having something he never had to begin with. Before he was in a manga, no one had quirks, and now it was suddenly important that he did. He couldn't even be mad about it, or hate that he didn't have one, because it seemed so silly to work himself up over a fictional superpower in a fictional world. It sucked though. It definitely sucked.
But nothing too drastic had happened so far, although now Izuku suspected he knew where those injuries his mother mentioned spawned from.
Izuku also mentally removed the point he gave himself earlier towards protagonist for having green hair. It seemed unnatural hair colors were actually quite common here, as well as all sorts of eye catching mutations. Izuku looked quite plain by comparison.
His day just kept getting better and better.
"C'mon class, you're middle school seniors!" Their teacher announced, calling Izuku's attention to him. He was a greasy man with thin eyes and an out of style pompadour. The argyle sweater vest he wore didn't aid his image either. Izuku sorted him into the extra category immediately.
It was the right decision, but for some reason Izuku felt strange. There was a bad feeling in his gut, like a premonition, but he didn't know why. He never experienced something like this before.
"It's time you started thinking seriously about your future!"
Their teacher pulled out a stack of papers- some sort of form it looked like. "I'll be handing out the printouts of the desired life course you filled out."
Izuku relaxed a little. Okay, this was normal for a school. Nothing to be concerned about.
The teacher then threw the papers skyward with the air of an entertainer. "You all want to be heroes, don't you?!" He advertised with a smug grin. And oh no, how could someone do that without being embarrassed? Who was going to pick all those papers up?
The rest of his classmates were unperturbed by the strange display as they cheered and showed off their quirks even when the teacher reminded them that it wasn't allowed. (Not that he, or anyone else for that matter, really did anything to stop it.)
"Sensei!" A familiar voice yelled. "Don't lump me in with everybody else!"
It was Katsuki, of course it was, who unfortunately sat in front of him and to the left, as Izuku found when he arrived late to class.
"You can't compare me to these losers' weak ass quirks, mine's a whole other ballgame! C'mon!"
Katsuki continued to monologue about being the best and Izuku watched mutely as if he was the unseen audience for a stage rehearsal. Honestly, Katsuki left a lot to be desired in how he treated his classmates. Was this really how a protagonist was supposed to act?
...But, it wasn't like Izuku could be better at it. Maybe Katsuki would experience some much needed character development. Maybe this was one of those kinds of stories.
He heard Katsuki mention something about a hero school? Izuku didn't really know. The others seemed impressed at least. UA they said? And that was familiar from his research, but he couldn't place it right now. He caught All Might's name too, something about Katsuki surpassing him as the number one hero.
Izuku smiled to himself. There it was! All protagonists had one! A goal that they accomplished over the series! This set the tone for the whole story, and confirmed once again that Izuku was not , and never would be, the protagonist.
"Ah, now that you mention it, didn't Midoriya want to go to UA as well?" The teacher interrupted.
Oh yes, someone else had to compete with Katsuki or else it wouldn't be interesting. This Midoriya fellow, yes.
Wait a minute…
The class all turned to look at him before bursting into laughter. He forgot for a second, that he was this Midoriya fellow. Why was he trying for the most prestigious hero school in Japan? Considering his room and his notebooks, it seemed obvious in hindsight that he wanted to be a hero, but now? Now it was just his luck that the applications were filled out before he woke up here.
Being a hero? Izuku couldn't begin to describe how terrible of an idea that was for him. Not to mention that he didn't even have a quirk! Unless he had excess money lying around to build a bat suit or iron armor, his prospects as a hero weren't looking too good.
The only reason for this as part of the plot, Izuku realized, had to be so that he could fail drastically at the entrance exam and therefore make Katsuki look better. And that...that…
That made Izuku a little angry.
He didn't want anything to do with Katsuki. And regardless of whatever type of character Izuku was, he didn't want to suffer humiliation just for the sake of the plot.
He decided then and there that he was not going to go along with what the author had written for him. He wasn't the protagonist anyways, so he could do what he wanted.
"I changed my mind actually." Izuku announced to the classroom with a calm smile. "I don't want to go to UA anymore."
His classmates blinked at him, wide-eyed and stunned, for just a moment, and then they all erupted with something to say.
"Ha! You wouldn't have made it in anyway!"
"Finally come to your senses?"
"I guess you do have a brain after all!"
"Oh look, Deku finally gave up!"
"Well, it's not like he could ever become a hero."
And Izuku thought, while his cheeks burned with embarrassment and surprise over deciding against something that wasn't his decision in the first place, that maybe he made the wrong choice.
"Hey!" Izuku shouted, rising from his seat with a courage that came from rage and the overall unfairness of a fictional world that no one else could see. "I'm not saying that because I don't think I can be a hero! If I want to be a hero, then I can!"
His classmates laughed and continued to give him mocking smiles and eyerolls. Izuku felt his frustration fester, enough so that it just might boil over.
Why was this his fault? Why did he have to be a hero to prove that he was worth something? It felt like the author was laughing at him too, pushing him towards a direction he'd rather not go down. Izuku grit his teeth.
"Screw this!" He growled. "I am going to UA! I changed my mind again." And then he huffed, crossed his arms, and plopped back into his seat.
The classroom was incredibly silent. Obviously, his classmates had no idea what to make of his declaration. Honestly, he didn't either.
He didn't know if it was the right thing to say or do, but he was starting to think that he needed to make his own decisions instead of worrying what this story had in store for him. He was here, in this world now, and it was time to start living in it. This was the path Izuku picked. And maybe, maybe he did want to be a hero.
After all, I-
"Eat shit Deku!" Katsuki suddenly screeched. An explosion popped and demolished his desk, blowing Izuku back and toppling his chair, causing him to hit his head again.
"You don't even have a quirk! Where do you get off putting yourself on the same level as me?!" The blonde fumed, lifting Izuku from the wreckage of his desk, one hand fisted into his collar before he could react. Katsuki's face was close, dangerously close, and Izuku could smell his lunch on his breath.
And wow. Izuku had never had someone be so physical with him. How were people supposed to react to this? Talking it out, right?
"What the fuck is your problem?" Izuku snapped.
And perhaps that wasn't the best opening line, but he was angry damnit and this guy wasn't even his friend so he had no reason to be touching him!
It stunned Katsuki at least. And made him wonder if the Izuku of before never stood up for himself. He wasn't too used to it either, but then again, he'd never had a need to defend himself. But that also meant he didn't have years of bullying and verbal abuse holding him back from making a stupid mistake.
And Izuku had no doubts that this was a stupid mistake he would most definitely regret making later.
"What the fuck did you just say?!" Katsuki hissed, his hands crackling and smoking, which was probably a bad sign, but Izuku had zero, absolutely zero, preservation skills.
"I said," He repeated. "What. The. Fuck. Is. Your. Problem. Hmmmmmm? Aren't we supposed to be friends or something? Why do you hate me so much?"
Katsuki blinked, his face twisting into a grotesque sneer. "Friends?" He scoffed, pushing Izuku away from him and finally giving him a welcome breath of fresh air. "Since when would I be friends with a quirkless shitheel like you?"
Well damn , Izuku thought. I don't really like you either.
Beyond that though, Katsuki was really ripping through all of Izuku's images of what a protagonist was supposed to be. What happened to the power of friendship? Katsuki wanted to be a hero, right? The exposition literally just revealed that! So why the hell was he acting like such an asshole?! Izuku didn't get it.
Katsuki took his seat though, and class resumed as Izuku stewed with this newfound realization. Maybe...hmmmmm, maybe Katsuki wasn't the protagonist. But, it wasn't Izuku either, so he was probably nowhere near the main characters at all. Which was nice. His actions wouldn't affect the story then, since he played such an insignificant role. Hopefully that insignificance didn't paint a death flag on him, but it wasn't like Izuku could defend himself either way with no quirk and all.
He frowned. Was that something he should worry about?
Izuku killed time in class before the bell rang classifying each of the people he'd met today. All of his classmates were now "extras" because Izuku didn't have a lasting impression of any of them, Katsuki was an "antagonist" out of spite, and Izuku still wasn't sure where he fell. He put himself in the "extra" category too, but something just didn't sit right with him about that. It was like the bad feeling he had earlier. There was something missing, and he couldn't finish classifying himself until that something happened.
The bell rang. Izuku stood and started packing away his things. He just finished closing his notebook when it was ripped out from under his hand.
"We're not done yet, Deku ." Katsuki's voice called from above him.
The other two boys from earlier helped to block him in and Izuku sighed. He would hand it to Katsuki though, it was pretty smart to wait till the end of the day. Now there were less witnesses, and the teacher could have plausible deniability since, you know, he left .
"What do you want?" Izuku asked wearily, folding his arms across his chest. He didn't want to give the blonde any sort of reaction, even if he was a little scared of getting blown to bits. Right now, his irritation staved off his fear.
Katsuki didn't answer. He inspected the outside of Izuku's notebook, not even bothering to look within it, before he set it aflame with his quirk. Izuku couldn't deny that he flinched, mostly out of surprise at the sudden explosion.
He clenched his fist when the smoke finally cleared from around his notebook. Or...the charred remains of what was once a notebook. All of his hard work (as of yesterday and today) had gone up in flames. Literally.
Yep, definitely an antagonist then.
"Listen here, Deku. I don't know where all this stupid courage of yours is coming from, but let me warn you now." Katsuki tossed the destroyed notebook out the window. " I'll be the only one going to UA from our school, and you're going to do the smart thing and stay the fuck out of my way."
He placed a hand on Izuku's shoulder and Izuku could feel the effects of his quirk, sizzling his skin, burning him, and he clenched his teeth, his eyes watering at the pain.
"So what I'm saying is," Katsuki continued with the twisted facsimile of a friendly smile. "Forget about UA, stupid Deku."
Izuku stared at the blonde defiantly, even with tears prickling at his eyes. He didn't know what to say so he kept his mouth closed. The sooner this conversation ended, the better.
Oh, and he was totally going to UA now. No question about it.
Katsuki started to walk away, saying something to his entourage that Izuku didn't pay attention to in favor of assessing the burn on his shoulder. The interaction had ended, or so he thought, until Katsuki addressed him again.
"If you wanna be a hero so badly, there's actually a really good way to do it." He began, and Izuku stared curiously, wondering what he was possibly trying to get at now.
"Just take a swan dive off the roof, and pray you're born with a quirk in your next life."
Izuku turned, slowly, completely floored that this person, Katsuki, his supposed childhood friend, just told him to kill himself.
Katsuki stared back at him, a vindictive look in his eyes. He held up his hand, quirk in full effect- a warning- and taunted; "Got something to say?"
If Izuku was smart, he'd keep his mouth shut. He wasn't smart though, he was petty. And Katsuki was the biggest asshole he'd encountered ever. Who just told him to kill himself.
"Actually, yes." Izuku replied rather calmly. "You have got to be the worst character in this whole damn manga."
Katsuki furrowed his brow in confusion, but he obviously recognized the insult for what it was.
"Wha-"
"You were so close too!" Izuku lamented, cutting him off. "You had the spiky hair, the power, the looks, the ambition, but you just don't make the cut!" He concluded with a clap of his hands and a falsely sympathetic smile. "You wanna know why?"
He didn't wait for a response.
"Your attitude is ass."
When the blonde kept gaping at him in shock, Izuku couldn't help but tack on:
"You might want to work on that."
Katsuki launched towards him with no warning, but thankfully, Izuku was waiting for it. (He was literally taunting someone with anger problems and paper thin patience, it wasn't hard to guess.) He dove to the side, avoiding the initial collision, and hurried to get his feet under him. Then, he booked it.
He ran, and even though he could hear Katsuki shouting and chasing after him, sure to murder him if he caught up, a smile split his face. Because oh god, the look on his face! Priceless!
Izuku wasn't wrong either. Wherever Katsuki fit into this story, (and unfortunately it seemed like he did) he was going to need a lot of improvement. Especially if he was trying to be a hero and not a villain.
Heroes definitely didn't go around saying things like that.
Eventually, through many narrow escapes and an excellent use of windows, Izuku lost Katsuki by hiding out in a shed behind the school. His breathing took a while to even out as he waited for a sign that Katsuki was near. Yeah, maybe antagonizing the blonde wasn't his best move, but he couldn't bring himself to regret it just yet. Tomorrow would be a bitch, he was assured of that, but that was a problem for tomorrow.
Izuku waited for a long time, counting the minutes by the clock on his phone, and finally left when he was sure the coast was clear. He circled back to grab his things from the deserted classroom. Then he retrieved his ruined notebook he found being snacked on in the koi pond, and started his walk home.
This story...Izuku didn't know what to make of it. It bothered him quite a lot that he didn't know where he fit within it. And it shouldn't , because he needed to make his own choices, but he couldn't deny that it did .
The only thing clear to him was that he was definitely going to be a hero, because it sounded like fun, and it would annoy Katsuki. There was a reason too, for why his favorite genre was shounen. There was a part of him, a large part, that wanted to be a person like the characters he read about. He wanted to be special, and kind, and strong, and have friends that would fight alongside him, that he could fight for.
It had just never been a possibility. But now, in this world, it was. And even though Izuku wasn't the protagonist, that didn't mean he couldn't try his best to be all of those things. Just, away from the spotlight. Then when he failed, nothing would hang in the balance.
He walked under an overpass, his mind assessing what he would need to accomplish in order to pass a hero school entrance exam as he was. Izuku was so distracted by his own thoughts, that he didn't notice the faint sound of a sewer grate shifting. He didn't hear the sound of a gelatinous liquid spill onto the pavement. What he did feel, however, was a tug in his gut, the return of an extremely bad feeling that forced him to turn around.
But by then, it was already too late.
All Izuku got to do was widen his eyes in surprise and slightly part his lips before what felt and smelled like the contents of a sewer enveloped him.
It wasn't like a hug. It wasn't even remotely pleasant. The slime had a mind of its own as it forced its way down his nostrils and into his mouth and through his esophagus.
Izuku choked on the foreign object, his lungs already screaming in protest at the lack of oxygen. He tried to struggle, scratching fruitlessly at the sludge person, tearing embarrassingly small pieces of it off, as it laughed and taunted him. His vision flickered with black at the edges.
Izuku had it wrong then. Or maybe he had it right. He was an extra. And he was going to die. To a random villain on the street.
...Damn. With accuracy like that he should've bought a lottery ticket.
He'd never given much thought to dying before, certainly never to suffocation (or drowning?) which seemed an awful way to go.
He was scared.
He hadn't been taking this world seriously, thinking it fiction, and now it was painfully all too real. Izuku was going to die.
He was going to die. He was going to die. He was going to die.
His vision darkened completely, his lungs were about to burst-
...and then they weren't.
Izuku heard something that sounded vaguely like his alarm clock, before a buffet of wind ripped the slime from his body and he fell to the pavement (hitting his head for hopefully the last time today) and lost consciousness.