Chapter Text
The green haired boy, Midoriya Izuku, lifts the charred book, smacking off the soot. Izuku look up in a melancholic expression, “What changed, Kacchan? What changed?”
Opening the book to the first page to, Izuku reread the words for the millionth: “Can you be a hero without a quirk?” To answer a loaded question, Izuku needed to define his terms. Quirks, referred to as individuality or superpowers (which is on the nose) in other languages and meta-abilities in academia, are a mutant with unknown causes which affects most humans and some other mammals (Nezu), granting extraordinary abilities. (Telekinesis, Levation, Pyrokenesis, etc.)
While a hero could mean someone who helps or saves others, the particular definition is the occupation that occurred after quirks became a major demographic with unique laws. Heroes are defined as people who can use support items and quirks to rescue people, primarily from villains (villainy being quirk-assisted crime).
Technically, quirks aren’t requirements for hero work, in any country, but technicality is not an answer to Izuku. With everyone so vehemently opposed to the idea, it does little to give Izuku hope in his own premise.
“Help!” The person screams, causing Izuku to return to reality. The victim is thrown on the floor before being pinned down by the scared man.
“Listen here,” the man spat, “you are gonna stay quiet and come with me,” the blue embers emitted in the spiky noiret’s free hand made him look like a younger, spiky blond Izuku knows, “BURNED or not. Your choice.”
Izuku feels his legs move on his own. Before he knows it, he grabs the villain's free hand, trying to pull it away from the man on the floor. The villain easily throws the boy off of him, grabbing the boy’s wrist. The boy cries as he almost pulls the villains off of the other victim.
After the villain shoved the boy to the ground, Izuku checked the blaze pain on his wrist, which is now charred black. “After she is all quiet,” the villain glared at the boy, “I will get rid of you. Nothing personal, just no witnesses.”
Izuku is going to die. He doesn’t want to die. Izuku stood up. He stumbled. Izuku is going to die. The Villain can’t kill if he is knocked out. Izuku can’t feel his arm. His burning pain muted. Izuku is going to die. His fingers are interwoven. Izuku approached the villain. He is going to die. He raised his hands. Izuku will die. Izuku swiftly strikes at the back of the villain's head.
The villain collapses as Izuku stands there, staring at his work. Eventually the surge of pain re-emerged causing the greenet to cry out. He turned to the man who the villain pinned down.
“Hey kid,” the man was quite young, what Auntie would call a new-born adult, “I called the ambulance about the villain attack, and that you were badly burned. The ambulance will be here shortly. Okay?”
“O-okay, okay,” Izuku struggled to speak through the burning pain.
—
Tsukauchi Naomasa sighs. “Why does my quirk make me the default detective for these cases?” Naomasa walks towards the interrogation room. “At least it would be easy; this Midoriya just needs to make everything official.”
The detective gives a soft smile to the short, plump, worried mother before entering the room with the young boy. The man sits down with the clearly anxious teen, if his fiddling with his compression glove means anything. He starts the recording. “My name is Tsukauchi Naomasa, Quirk: Lie Detector. I will clarify if any statement is a truth or lie.”
“M-Midoriya Izuku, Q-Q-Quirkless.” The boy answered, surprising the detective who noted the truth of the statement.
“Okay Midoriya, can you inform me why you were in the alleyways before the attack?”
“I-I was on my way home; I-I used the alleyways t-to get home faster.” The boy answered swiftly.
“Truth.” The detective messed with his tie, “Can you inform me when exactly you decided to act?”
“Oh, yeah, I heard the v-villain threaten to burn the man, a-and, in a m-moment of panic, I r-rushed to pull t-the villain off of him.” The boy looked ashamed.
“Truth. Why didn’t you go and inform a hero or police?” Naomasa is, admittedly, curious.
“I-I didn’t t-think about them,” Midoriya answered, “Thinking back I- I knew that I wouldn’t find a h-hero in time, l-let alone get them there. I-it was do or d-die.”
“Truth.” He understands the panic the boy must have had to excuse this. “What happened after you attempted to pull him off?”
“I-I was thrown off o-of him.” The boy starts to ring his uninjured wrist. “H-he grabbed m-my wrist to b-burn it- third degree i-if I recall my burns- and then h-he shoved me.”
“Truth.” Naomasa confirmed. “Continue.”
“H-he then th-threaten to k-kill me a-after he finished attacking the man he pinned,” the boy answers, massaging his arms to soothe himself. “T-this is when I… I killed him.”
“Truth,” the detective sounds melancholic, “What was going on in your head at that time?”
“I-I was so… preoccupied with the fact th-that I was going to die that I-I didn’t feel the burn on my wrist.” The greenet answers, “I-I thought that if I-I hit h-him hard enough th-that I’ll knock him out and s-stop him.”
“Truth,” Naomasa, “Just to clarify, you hit the villain to knock him out to preserve your life?”
“Yes.”
“Truth,” Naomasa clicked the recorder, “You are free to go.”
“C-can I ask you a question?” The boy asked.
“Sure, kid. Sure.” Naomasa barely has to think to answer that question.
“Y-you work with h-heroes often, right?” Midoriya asks, receiving a mere truth in response, “Do you think that I could be a hero?”
Naomasa pauses to think about the implications. While it is dangerous for someone without a quirk to be a hero, Snipe has to rely on guns more than his quirk, Nighteye can’t use his quirk in battle, and the existence of KnuckleDuster proves it is logistically possible for a quirkless person to be a hero.
Now Midoriya in particular is a unique case. Killing a villain before entering a hero school could be a red flag for control or a green flag for capability (further proving the possibility of a quirkless hero). But given how Izuku didn’t immediately resort to violence and did try to save someone- “Yes, I believe you can be a hero, Midoriya-kun.”