Maybe in another life

Izuku Midoriya is waiting for his fourth birthday with great impatience and exciting anticipation. After all, four years is the age at which quirks appear in children. Her best friend Kacchan, who is only a couple of months older than the girl, has already awakened a cool quirk of explosions in his palms. Katsuki's quirk is so adorable! Izuku will also definitely develop a quirk and then she will help her friend in his heroic deeds. And now both Midoriyas, mother and daughter, were sitting in the doctor’s office and waiting for the specialist’s verdict. — Your daughter most likely has a so-called “invisible” quirk. Quirks of this type have certain activation conditions that are different and unique to each quirk, although there are a couple of universal ways to activate them. If it works. - Oh, how can we find out more about these methods? - Inko said excitedly, but still happy for her daughter who has a quirk. The girl sat no less joyful, fidgeting impatiently on her chair with a wide smile, literally glowing with happiness. - Here, everything is written in this brochure. True, this is all the available information,” the doctor said a little guiltily, smiling awkwardly and looking away. The mother accepted the thin brochure, just a couple of pages long, turning it over in her hands. “Thank you for that too,” Inko stood up and bowed slightly to the doctor, Izuku repeated after her mother. - Let's go, daughter. It's time for us to go home. - Mommy, what kind of quirk do you think I will have? — the girl chattered, jumping up and down with anticipation, holding her mother’s hand tightly. “I hope it’s something cool like Kacchan’s!” I will definitely try every possible way to activate my quirk for this. Maybe I can breathe fire like dad? Or will my quirk be the same as yours, mom? In any case, it should be something strong and incredible, right for a real hero! Inko, with a soft and gentle motherly smile, watched her excitedly and cheerfully chattering daughter, like Izuku herself, believing with all her heart that she would soon manifest her superpower. Looking at this shaggy, green-haired miracle, full of bright optimism, I just wanted to believe in it. Already at home, Izuku, as promised, read all the information from the brochure and tried to awaken her quirk. True, there really was almost nothing sensible printed in the brochure, so I had to work intuitively and with imagination. Izu hasn’t tried anything! And she blew on the candles, trying to exhale a stream of fire. And she threw her toys up, trying with her thoughts or gestures to pull them towards her. She herself jumped up on the bed to take off. Maybe something will help? But everything was absolutely useless. It was as if the girl’s quirk didn’t want to show itself. The girl's parents watched the attempts of their only daughter with understanding smiles. But with each attempt, an expression incomprehensible to Izuku was read on their faces. Doubts? Humility? Something else? With each new attempt, with each passing week and month, Izu's hope faded, and fear and sadness came in its place. What if the quirk never awakens? What if she remains quirkless, and that doctor only gave vague hope for something unrealistic and impossible for her? What if Izuku was always quirkless, and the first doctor he and his mom went to was the only one right? Why try at all if my own father chose to go to America for work and has never come back in all these years, except for rare holidays? Gradually, over time, Kacchan and his friends began to move away from Izuku due to the lack of queerness, and by the first day of junior school, the relationship between the best friends left much to be desired. Katsuki began calling Izu weak and slow, because so far her quirk has not shown itself in any way. Over time, the name-calling turned into outright bullying, and the now former best friend was not afraid to push, trip, or even make explosions very close to Midoriya, sometimes leaving redness from burns on her skin. Bakugo's friends, or rather now his supporters, also began to bully Izuku, trying to keep up with their leader. “What if your quirk shows up now, what about Deku? Unless you really are quirkless, of course!” — Bakugou grinned at such moments. - “After all, you are De-eku, which means useless. How are you even going to become a hero without a quirk?” The words of her childhood friend hurt Izuku very much, causing her to cry often. Midoriya at least somehow tried to object to him, fight back, complain to the teachers and the school principal, but all to no avail. Nobody even wanted to listen to her. Classmates were either too intimidated or respected Bakugou to inform on him, and adults saw in the guy a future hero with a powerful quirk, which Kacchan himself loved to shout about literally at all corners. The teachers advised “just not to pay attention, because Kacchan is a boy and is just paying attention.” “How can a future hero mock the weak, especially a girl? He simply shows signs of attention in his own way, but anything seems to you. Just be patient, he will freak out and realize that he acted wrong." And these are the words of almost all adults? The former hope barely glimmered at the bottom of the girl’s soul. Nothing had changed in middle school, but now those around him seemed to be even more afraid of Katsuki. The bullying from his former friend and his gang only intensified. Izuku’s quirk never appeared; Midoriya herself fell into a kind of apathy. What if she really is useless, as Kacchan likes to tell her? When Midoriya came under attack from the Mud Villain in a dark alley in her second year of high school after winter break, she was saved by All Might himself. Then Izuku, without a second thought, clung to the leg of the Symbol of Peace, as if he were the last hope for admission to U.A. Fortunately, the hero noticed the girl clinging to him in time and stopped on the nearest roof. True, at the moment when Izuku asked the question that was tormenting her, smoke came out from All Might, and in its place was a sickly and skinny skeleton. Having recovered from the initial shock, Midoriya listened to her idol’s answer: “It’s impossible to become a hero without a quirk, young Midoriya. This is too dangerous a job, especially for those without a quirk. You should consider becoming a policeman, fireman or doctor, because they also save people.” Izuku stared with a frozen gaze at All Might, who had taken on his usual appearance, feeling complete inner devastation, as if something inside had completely broken off. Apathy completely captured the girl. She looked blankly at the roof where her idol had just destroyed her dream. In complete prostration, Izuku returned home, almost not paying attention to the noise and pandemonium on Basho Street, but something still caught her attention. And these were all too familiar explosions that the girl remembered over so many years. Running to the scene and squeezing through the crowd, Midoriya looked with some horror as the Mud villain, who had almost killed her earlier, tried to strangle Bakugo. At that moment, Izuku did not control her own body, rushing at the enemy with a briefcase at the ready and not hearing other people’s screams in her direction. “The eyes are the villain’s weak point,” the girl quickly realized, aiming her briefcase at the villain’s face. But she didn’t have time to be a heroine. There was a familiar loud shout of "Smash!" and Mud was simply blown away by the air flow, the Almighty’s blow was so strong. In the end, all the laurels went to All Might, who resolved the situation, and Kacchan, who “carried like a real hero!” Midoriya was once again at her extreme. She was not only yelled at by Katsuki, but also scolded by the heroes right in front of the journalists with their cameras and microphones. She had never been so ashamed before. Izuku really wanted to fall through the ground or become invisible. So the Almighty again quickly disappeared from sight and the girl again felt bitterness and emptiness inside. Already at home, Izuku collapsed on the bed and cried for a couple of hours from emotional shock and devastation, until she fell asleep from fatigue. The very next day at school, a terribly emotionally broken and drowsy Midoriya chuckled darkly, glancing sideways at her habitually screaming former “friend,” who miraculously survived being taken hostage. The guy shouted boastfully that he held on without fear and that the heroes praised him for his courage and rebuff to Gryazevoy. Noticing Izuku's gaze, Katsuki bared his teeth angrily. - What do you want, you fucking Shit?! - the dissatisfied guy barked. “Nothing,” Izu answered in a dull tone. Then, silencing her instinct of self-preservation, she added with a grin, “It wasn’t me who was taken hostage yesterday in front of the whole country, like a weak extra.” And it wasn’t you who was saved by the quirkless Deku - even Izuku herself was surprised by her words, not like Kacchan, who again climbed towards her with explosions on his palms and screams. I remembered Kacchan’s recent words after another beating. "Better jump off the roof, Deku. Maybe you'll have better luck in your next life, huh?" Maybe in the next life, right? Izuku walked to the edge of the roof of the house on which she stood, where there was no protective grille, and stood on the very edge, involuntarily clutching the net as if it were a “saving straw.” Although, what should she hold on to in this life? Why do Inko and Hisashi need such a useless daughter? Taking a deep breath, Izuku, with confidence that had come from nowhere, finally stepped forward, ceasing to hold on to the bars, and flew down. *** Midoriya Inko sat in the hospital room, sobbing loudly for the umpteenth time in the last few hours and holding the hand of her daughter, wrapped in bandages almost from head to toe. Doctors said that Izuku fell from the roof of a five-story building, only miraculously surviving. The girl was treated, but it would be better for her to spend some time in the hospital until the doctors’ whims finally affect her and completely cure her. Inko was very worried about her only child when she didn't return from school yesterday, Then, on the evening news, she saw a report about a villain's attack on a schoolchild, in which the woman identified Katsuki Bakugo, her daughter's longtime friend. This only made Inko more worried. At night, Izuku also did not come home, which is why the eldest Midoriya did not sleep, not finding a place for herself and constantly calling her daughter. The next morning, Inko received a call from the hospital where her daughter was taken, and the woman immediately rushed there, asking to leave work. Now Izuku lay unconscious, pale and bandaged. Even more fragile than usual. Inko blamed only herself and no one else for what happened. It was her fault that she did not look after her only daughter and did not pay her due attention. It was her fault that she did not stop bullying Izuku at school, because she had long suspected this, but she didn’t lift a finger to make her daughter’s life easier. The doctors did not say this out loud, but in this situation a suicide attempt is clearly not excluded. And Inko felt guilty that through her inaction and ignorance she had practically allowed this to happen. Sitting in the hospital room and holding her unconscious daughter by the hand, Inko Midoriya clearly and firmly decided for herself - she would no longer let Izuku suffer. And the first thing Inko wanted to do was talk to her friend Bakugo Mitsuki about her son and his many years of bullying Izuku. With these thoughts, the woman usually felt a determination that was unusual for her. Inko called Mitsuki to warn her that he was coming to visit her with a serious conversation. Mitsuki quickly realized that the conversation would be about her son. The elder Bakugou agreed to listen to Inko and promised that she would talk to Katsuki and punish him if anything happened. In the evening, sitting in Mitsuki's kitchen, Inko told her and her husband about all her suspicions about the relationship between their children. About Izuku's singed jackets and ties, and his reddened hands. About her torn and set fire to notebooks. About his daughter’s forced smile and her uptight behavior. About her recent hospitalization. Mitsuki listened carefully to her old friend. Despite the fact that Bakugo tried to control herself as much as possible, Midoriya saw how she literally began to shake with anger and irritation at Katsuki. The kind-hearted Masaru was no less shocked. The sound of the door opening distracted the three adults from their conversation. It was Katsuki who returned home with an extremely gloomy expression on his face. After greeting the adults, the teenager wanted to go to his room, but Mitsuki, in a serious tone, ordered him to sit with them at the same table. The woman asked only one question to her son: did he really bully his childhood friend? From the guy’s darkened appearance, averted eyes and clenched fists, everything became clear. Mitsuki went through Katsuki's behavior with feeling and sense, demanding from him that he apologize to Izuku after she awakens. Katsuki could only nod and mutter "okay." Inko didn't know if she was happy with the whole conversation and how it ended. When Izuku finally woke up two days later, she didn't immediately recognize Inko or Bakugou's family. Absolutely no one. Then the girl slowly began to recognize everyone, but she perceived her life not as her own, but as someone else’s, which she simply followed as if from a TV screen, while considering herself a completely different girl. In addition, some of the memories were still irretrievably lost. Doctors called it "paramnesia", a type of amnesia. According to them, being in a familiar environment can help Izuku come to her senses and restore lost memories, so she was quickly discharged from the hospital. In addition, it turned out that Izuku still has a quirk and always has, but special conditions were needed to activate it. Both Midoriyas sincerely rejoiced at this miracle. Inko only hoped that her daughter would finally be able to fulfill her long-standing dream of becoming a heroine and Inko would fully support Izuku in this. Soon, everything in the Midoriya family seemed to be almost the same as before. Izuku gradually began to come to life and explore her newfound quirk. And only a couple of gray strands in her daughter’s hair reminded of that very day, but, as it turned out, these were just minor consequences of a quirk. The relationship with Katsuki, which was frankly shitty even before going to the hospital, fell even lower, literally to the bottom of the Mariana Trench. “Kacchan,” under the gaze of his parents, asked for forgiveness, and seemed to even sound quite sincere, but Izuku sent him to hell, dumping on him the accumulated emotions from years of bullying. Only Mitsuki agreed with her. *** Bakugou Katsuki learned that Izuku was in the hospital the very next day, when All Might literally saved him from death at the hands of the Mud Villain at the last moment. “Accidentally fell from the roof,” as the teacher said. And this "accidentally" made Katsuki feel extremely bad. only in his “heroic” form, and save not only physically, but also illuminate the “hearts” of people. In addition, the girl showed sincere heroism by jumping on the villain without a quirk, with only a briefcase in her hands. Toshinori felt like he had failed as a hero and a Symbol of Peace for Japan. In order to somehow make amends and “praise” the girl for her pure heroic thoughts, Yagi Toshinori invited Midoriya Izuku to become the successor to his power, One-For-All. The girl promised that she would think about his proposal and say something later when she made a decision. Then she asked for Almighty’s phone number so that she could contact her if anything happened and give her final answer. At this point they went their separate ways, thinking about their own things. A few days later, Midoriya wrote to him that she was refusing his offer. Yagi still felt guilty towards young Midoriya, but calmly accepted her refusal of her quirk. Surely she feels disappointed by the Almighty, which is why she essentially abandoned her own dream. Because of him. Immersed in gloomy thoughts, Yagi Toshinori trudged home on his only day off. The man once again remembered his longtime friend and assistant, Nighteye, and that he was raising a successor to All Might, Mirio Togata. Toshinori had heard a lot about the guy and even saw him a couple of times. He was an excellent option for transmitting One-For-All. After thinking a little and gathering all his will into a fist, Yagi dialed the number of his old friend.