Chapter Text
Izuku Midoriya stirs awake, his head feeling heavy as he wipes drool from his face. How long had he been asleep? He remembered arriving back in Japan after a long flight and falling asleep on the ride to their new apartment.
But he doesn’t feel like he was in a moving car. In fact, he felt like he was sitting upright, his head resting on his arms on a hard surface. Immediately he jolts awake and finds himself inside of a classroom. One that was painted blue on every surface, with velvet material coating the walls. Looking around he spots posters in the room as well, reminding him of those cheesy ones that would be plastered on the walls of his old school overseas to encourage the students.
But instead of cheesy encouragement messages, they all looked to be familiar posters of All Might, only all sharing the blue colour that was consistent with the rest of this strange room. Looking outside the windows he spots no school grounds, but endless thick fog that cloud his sights.
Where… just where was he?
“Ah, our guest is finally awake.” the voice of a man startles him as Izuku turns towards the front of the room to find a bizarre bald man with greying hair, a long sharp nose and a black tuxedo. He sits at the teacher’s desk with his arms folded in front of him, bulging and bloodshot eyes staring at him.
Next to him was a young woman with platinum blonde hair tied into a bun with a blue ribbon, wearing a strange blue dress and holding a closed file in her arms, that was blue like everything else in the room. Something about her stirs his mind, like she looked familiar.
“It’s been so long since we last had a guest. And one with a strange destiny like yours.” the strange man continues as Izuku stares at them blankly in shock,
“W-where am I?” Izuku asks, finally recovering his voice as he frantically stands up from his seat, looking around in a panic, trying to find a way out, “Who are you people? How did I get here?!”
“There is no need to fear, young man.” the man chuckles before spreading his arms, “And to answer your question, welcome to the Velvet Room. My name is Igor, and beside me is Agatha. Delighted to meet your acquaintance.”
At this the young woman, Agatha, bows in greeting towards him.
“A pleasure to meet you.” she says in a soft, almost melodic voice, “I look forward to assisting you in the future.”
Izuku wasn’t sure how to respond, so his body moved on its own and gave a little awkward wave.
“As for your last question, this place exists between dream and reality, mind and matter. And what a peculiar location it has taken form of. It must hold some considerable sway in your heart.” Igor explains as he gazes around the classroom, “Only those who are bound by a “contract” can enter this place. A fate that awaits you in the near future.”
“Contract?” Izuku asks confusedly, “I… I don’t understand.”
“You will, in due time.” Igor assures before continuing, “Now, why don’t you introduce yourself?”
Izuku hesitates but he senses no hostility from either Igor or Agatha. What were those names anyway? He was supposed to be in Japan now, but those were definitely Western names.
“Izuku… Izuku Midoriya.” he hesitantly responded as Igor grinned.
“Izuku Midoriya… A pleasure to meet your acquaintance. We are inhabitants of the Velvet Room, Agatha is my attendant, and our duties are to provide assistance to ensure your safety.”
“Safety?” Izuku asks, starting to get worried again, “Safety from what? I don’t understand what’s going on!”
“You will eventually, Izuku Midoriya.” Igor assures, “We shall attend to the details at another time.”
With a snap of his fingers, the doors to the classroom swing open revealing a near-blinding white light emanating from it.
“I ask you to remember this, Izuku Midoriya, some advice.” Igor adds as the light begins to overwhelm Izuku, “I urge you to accept responsibility for your choices, no matter how they end. Good day.”
***
Izuku snaps awake with a scream, falling out of the car seat as the door he was leaning on was opened. His mother jumps in surprise at this before rushing to aid him,
“Oh my, I’m so sorry Izuku!” she hastily apologises, “Are you alright, did you break anything?”
“Ugh… Mom, I’m fine.” Izuku groans and rubs his arm where he had landed, looking around in a bit of a daze before he realises they are parked outside of a small apartment building. A white building with three floors, “Is this…?”
Inko smiles as she helps him to his feet, “Yes it is, welcome to our new home. Come on, the moving company’s already set everything up. Let’s go check it out.”
“...Is dad already up there?” Izuku asks as he looks around trying to find his father, but seeing no signs of him. He wasn’t in the car with them either, but he recalls hearing he was supposed to meet them here.
His mother instead gives him a forced smile, “He… couldn’t make it. He’s still trying to look for his next job and is held up by an interview. But he has a great feeling about this one!”
A month ago the Support Item company that his father worked at went under, the boss fleeing overseas with millions of dollars that belonged to the company. Despite efforts being made, they were forced to be declared bankrupt, and Hisashi Midoriya lost his job.
It was why they were forced to return to Japan; they couldn’t afford to live in the States anymore. So they decided to return, hoping to start over again from the beginning.
Not like moving bothered him that much, there wasn’t really anything he was leaving behind. There were plenty of things that were good while they were living in California, memories of the only friend he made there flashed through his mind before he remembered everything else.
The discrimination, both because of his country of origin and also because of his Quirkless nature. And most times it would get physical. Explaining to his mother and father why he returned home limping was not rare.
Most times they did just enough not to leave bruises, but when they did it was areas well hidden. And when he did fight back to defend himself, it would be even worse. There was only so much throwing a few punches could do when his bullies had Quirks that gave them an advantage.
Not to mention during one of the times he did, he was labelled the aggressor. Forced to apologise for his ‘aggressive behaviour’ in front of the bullies and their parents for attacking them. His parents weren’t having that, though, so they transferred him to another school.
Unbeknownst to them nothing had changed. He just got better at lying to them to ease their worries.
The elevator takes them up to their apartment on the third floor, carrying their personal luggage with them as they enter their apartment room. It was quite small but just enough to fit the three of them, filled with the bare minimum essentials.
The moving company had already unpacked most of their furniture, arranging the tables, chairs and whatnot. The place was definitely smaller than their old home in California -- he was sure there was less than half the space -- but it was home for now.
“It’s not bad, don’t you think?” Inko asks with a smile, “It’s only temporary anyway. Until things get better. Why don’t you go check out your room? I asked them to leave your stuff in the boxes in case you wanted to decorate yourself. Get some rest after that, and I’ll wake you up once dinner’s ready.”
“I’ll do that,” he says, giving her a smile as he walks into his room. Like the apartment, it was small, with only a single bed, closet, desk and chair squeezed together. A cardboard box was set on the floor taking up even more space, so he kneeled down and began searching through them to unpack.
He didn’t bring much anyway, just a few posters and figurines, a few volumes of books, and to his surprise a pair of old boxing gloves.
He remembered joining the boxing club at some point in his old school. A way for him to try and enrol into a Hero School without a Quirk, was his thought process at the time. It didn’t last long and he left soon after. Not that he was good at it or anything, but he still tried to keep practising every now and then.
Picking them up, he throws them into the closet before resuming unpacking his items. Arranging them on the desk and plastering posters on the walls, all of them merchandise of Pro Heroes he had collected, especially All Might.
Now that he thought about it, the posters were quite similar to the ones he saw in that weird dream of his. And what was up with that classroom and strange people?
…Maybe it was just stress at the thought of transferring to another school. He had to head to some middle school called Aldera Junior High tomorrow to finish his last year before heading to high school.
He was already dreading it, but there was nothing he could do about that. Sighing, he flops down on his new bed to get as much rest as possible. He could tell that tomorrow was going to be a long day.
* 2XXX April 4th/Monday *
“Did you hear? Apparently, we’re getting a new transfer student today.” some student in the class gossips to her friend.
“Yeah, from America I think? Do you think it’s a cute foreigner?” her friend whispers back. They weren’t the only ones, a lot of the class was chatting with each other, curious about this new transfer student.
“Ooh, I hope so. What do you think their Quirk is anyway?”
“Don’t know. Do you think it’s probably cooler than Bakugou’s?”
“Shh! Don’t let him hear you damn it, you want to get your ass kicked?”
Katsuki Bakugou scoffs as he hears all the gossip occurring all around the classroom. These losers, kicking up this much of a fuss over something so little. The hell was the big deal of some stupid transfer student anyway? And what the hell was that about them having a stronger Quirk than he did?! He was going to have a stern talking to with that extra after this.
The class quiets down as the door to the classroom slides open and their homeroom teachers walk through followed by another student they didn’t recognise. He had dark forest green hair and wore an uncomfortable expression on his face as he nervously eyed the class.
“Alright, alright, settle down kids.” their homeroom teacher calms them down, “I’m sure you’re all excited to meet your new classmate, so let’s not waste any more time. He just moved back to Japan from America, make sure to give him a warm welcome.”
Their homeroom teacher says quickly but without any passion, waving at Izuku dismissively while heading towards his desk.
“Come on, introduce yourself and tell them something about yourself. We haven’t got all day,” he says as the boy nods and clears his throat.
Izuku Midoriya… something seemed very familiar about him, but Katsuki didn’t know what. Something about his face pissed him off for some reason, but he just couldn’t nail it down.
“Er… good morning everyone, my name is Izuku Midoriya.” he introduces himself with a bow, “I hope we can get along for the rest of the year. I’m pleased to meet you all. I’m happy to answer any questions if you have any.”
“Tell us about your Quirk!” one of the students immediately asks and everyone, even those who weren’t paying much attention before, focused on Izuku for his answer. It was just how the Aldera students’ social hierarchy worked, the more impressive your Quirk was the better you have it. More people would want to be your pal, and less people would want to mess with you.
It was how Katsuki Bakugou had reigned at the top all these years, by simply being better than all the other shitstain losers beneath him. He listens closely, thinking that if this nerd was going to be uppity about having a halfway decent Quirk, he was going to be shown his place. But the answer surprised all of them.
Izuku Midoriya looks downcast as if avoiding eye contact with everyone before muttering out his barely audible answer,
“It’s…I’m actually Quirkless.”
Katsuki’s eyes widened at that, the words triggering an old memory from long ago and suddenly he realised who this person before him was.
“Deku…” he growls under his breath.
***
Classes ended without much of a problem, although he had a few issues almost dozing off in the middle of lectures, but he forced himself awake anyway to listen. It was a bit hard acclimating to listening to lectures in Japanese since all the lessons he learnt back in California were in English. Still, he felt he learnt something at least, so it just meant he needed time to get used to the change.
As for the classmates…
Well, they were sadly about as he expected. The usual comments were already heard,
“Jeez, Quirkless in this day and age?”
“Hey, when was the last time we met anyone Quirkless?”
“I can’t imagine being born without a Quirk. What does that feel like?”
None of them were spoken directly to his face yet, so that was a plus. It was all just gossiping and muttering behind his back, that was something he was used to. Their words chip away at his spirit despite his efforts, but he’ll just push forward like always,
He begins to pack up his things when he sees a blonde classmate approaching him, glaring down at him while standing up. Izuku can see an aggressive look in his eyes and begins to worry. He wasn’t going to have a confrontation on his first day, was he?
“Can I help you…?” he asks, confused as the blonde glares.
The blonde student scoffs in disbelief, “Ten years, and that’s all you gotta say, Deku?”
Izuku’s eyes immediately widened upon being called that. He hasn’t heard that name in so long, no one’s ever called him that since he was a kid. And only two people did that anyway, while they were both blonde one of them was a girl. So that means this was…
“Kacchan?” Izuku mutters in realisation, his eyes widening in shock.
“Can’t fucking believe it.” Katsuki glances at him up and down, “It really is you. What the fuck are you doing here?”
Izuku can’t help but swallow a gulp, remembering the times Katsuki and him would play as a child. If one would consider being bossed around and always delegated the role of either side-kick or villain for the former playing. Never mind that sometime after his Quirkless nature was declared, he would be constantly berated and beaten by the blonde to show his supremacy.
“...My father lost his job.” Izuku responds after a pause to consider his answer, “We had to move back to Japan. I didn’t know you were studying here, Kacchan.”
“Hey Bakugou, what’s going on?” two other classmates walk up to Katsuki with their bags in hand, “You two know each other or something?”
“Fuck off, he’s just a shitstain from the past.” Katsuki growls and glares at them, causing the two to sweat nervously before backing off like ordered. Once they did so Katsuki turns back towards Izuku, “I don’t give a crap why you’re here Deku, but let’s get one thing straight. A Quirkless shit like you need to learn his place, and around here it’s bottom of the barrel. I don’t need you mucking things up for me, so as long as we’re clear on that, this school year’s gonna pass by peacefully. Am I clear?”
Something about Izuku’s face infuriated Katsuki, it was almost a combination of boredom and disappointment. Memories of similar eyes looking at him from the past flash through his mind as he reaches and grabs Izuku by the collar, pulling him up,
“The hell are you doing, looking at me like those damned eyes?” he growls, “I asked you a damned question. Are we clear?”
“...Crystal.” Izuku nods his head and Katsuki drops him back onto his seat, walking off with a huff.
“Damn bastard, wasting my time with this…” he mutters as he leaves the class and leaves Izuku alone in the class.
Izuku sighs at this, slumping back in his seat as he takes in the whole day he is having. Honestly, even with just now, it was slightly better than his old school was.
Still to see what was once a close friend remains practically the same over the course of ten years… He doesn't know why, but part of him genuinely thought Katsuki Bakugou would’ve changed in those ten years. It was disappointing that he didn’t.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
***
“-yes sir, I’m very sorry sir!” a businessman apologises frantically over the phone as he bows out of habit despite no one being there with him in the dead of night, “I’ll get the reports written up as soon as possible! Yes, I’ll definitely be working overtime for the next week, you can count on me, sir. Thank you very much.”
The call ends soon after and the tired businessman lets out a groan, tugging at his tie. This was just too damned much, the dumping a project on him that he wasn’t even a part of just because the ones that were quit the other day. Everyone was jumping ship from this company after a few questionable decisions made by the higher-ups, and it wasn’t as if he could blame them. Honestly, he should put in his resignation form eventually, but perhaps after he receives his bonus.
For now, he just has to tolerate doing more work than he could handle. God damn it, he needed a strong drink but he also needed to get as much sleep as he could, work was in a few hours after all.
His stomach aches and he winces, perhaps he should also take his dinner as well. He was sure that the convenience store near his apartment would still be open at this time of the day.
Sure enough, it was, and he bought him a small microwave meal with a can of beer using his meagre salary. Sighing at the pitiful meal he walks back home, trying to keep himself up with prospects of a better job soon.
“...ungry…”
“Huh?” the businessman snaps to attention as he glances around but all he can see are closed shops and a barely lit sidewalk, windows reflecting the light from the streetlamps, “What the hell? Could’ve sworn I heard something…”
He was going to continue his walk home when he heard it again, soft whispers all around him like he was surrounded. Nervous he steps back towards the light to give him comfort, edging close to the glass planes of a shop selling clothing.
“Who’s there! This isn’t funny!” he shouts with worry, hand reaching for his phone. His Quirk was just a simple one that let him project snowflake patterns not at all useful in a fight, so it wasn’t like he could defend himself, “I’ll call the cops!”
The whispers silence themselves and then he sighs with relief, glancing down at his phone to realise the time is nearing midnight. He really needs to get home now and-
He sees movement in the reflection on his phone screen, but before he can react he hears glass breaking and black arms wrap around him like a web, pulling him backwards. He screams out as he struggles futilely.
He was inside the shop now, he thinks at least, and that’s when he spotted them. Black mounds looked like shadows emerging from all around and wrapping over him, wearing strange masks as they slithered closer.
“Stop this! Let me go!” he screams as he tries fighting back but he is held too tight and suddenly feels the energy drain from him, “Let…me…go…”
But before his eyes could close forever, a loud crack was heard sounding like a gunshot. One of the shadows burst apart and all the others immediately dropped him like they were scared or surprised. He sees a hooded figure step up, grabbing him by the arm and pulling him up. From her voice, he could tell it was a woman,
“Come with me if you want to live!” she shouts as she throws him behind her and fires into the darkness with what looks like a sniper barrel emerging from her elbow. The businessman stood up and was prepared to run, to call a Pro Hero or something, anything to get him out of this mess.
But as he stumbles to his feet and looks at his surroundings, he feels something immediately wrong. It wasn’t dark like it was just now, in fact, it looked quite well-lit, but the buildings were different. Still similar but distorted in a way, different shapes and sizes and the wordings on signs were illegible.
And the moon! It was pitch black instead of white, and the night sky was the opposite. Where the hell was he?!
The woman with the strange gun Quirk grabs his arm and starts running, “That’ll take care of them, but more will come. I’m getting you out of here, so keep up or die!”
He can only helplessly nod and try running to keep up with his mysterious saver, but then she skids to stop and he almost trips forward if it wasn’t for her stopping him.
“Damn it… of all the times,” she mutters in frustration as out of the corner of the street, the galloping of a horse could be heard as something large steps around to face them.
He wasn’t ashamed to say he almost pissed his pants at the sight, who wouldn’t?
A large snarling horse bigger than two cars was covered in black shadows, with predatorial red eyes glaring at them. On its back was something that looked like a giant twisted version of a European Knight, a menacing halberd in hand pointed at them that was longer than a lamp pole.
To make matters worse, more of those small dark slimy things were coming from the buildings, crawling out of gaps in the doors or bleeding out from the bricks. They were surrounded.
But instead of shooting, the strange woman for some reason withdraws the barrel back into her elbow making it return to normal. He was about to ask but she turned and silences him,
“Just stick by my side and we’ll get through this, and don’t get in my way.” she warns as she raises her right arm, which was now covered in blue chains he was sure weren’t there before, “Don’t worry, you won’t remember much from this. Just think of it all as a bad dream once it's over.”
She takes a deep breath as her left arm is used to grab the chains on her right, closing her eyes and muttering under her breath,
“Alright, let’s try this one more time. Don’t fail me now… Lend me your power…” she whispers as the air starts shifting around her like it is distorting, her eyes flashing blue as she opens them and snaps the chains off her right arm,
“Persona!”