Chapter 8

Quirkless.

He was starting to hate that word as the days went by. Quirkless. Quirkless. Quirkless. Every day that word was thrown in his face. They just kept rubbing it in. They refused to let the wound heal. They crushed all the dreams he had. All his hope. He could never become a hero. They tell him that every day. They made sure he knew it. They would make sure he knew how pathetic he was.

He was nothing.

Even his mother did not believe in him. She did not believe he could become a hero. His life long dream had been murdered on that fateful day and yet he continued on. He had hope. He could still make it. Even when his best friend turned on him. Even when he fell into darkness. Even when ended up alone. He still believed. He still had hope. He could be a hero. Quirkless does not mean helpless. Quirkless does not mean hopeless. Quirkless does not mean defenceless. Quirkless does not mean useless.

He told himself that every day.

He told himself that it was all true. There was still hope. He wasn't lying to himself. He truly believed it. There had to be another way. He had to believe. He could not give up. Even when no one believed he would stay resolute.

One day he'll be a hero greater than his idol 

One day for sure. He'll show them all. He'll show him.

He's not a useless Deku.

He fixed his uniform as he made his way towards class. First-year of middle school and it was already hell. Katsuki just had to be in his class. The world just won't cut him a break. He was hoping to get away from him, but sadly that did not come to be.

Stepping into his classroom he made eye contact with no one. He had no friends. Not anymore. He was quirkless. No one wanted to be friends with a weakling. All he had was his mother. His mother, his dream and his notes. He sat all the way in the back and kept his head low. The day just started and he already wanted it to end. He should be more positive. Maybe the day will go differently for once. He doesn't know for sure. There was no telling what could happen. Maybe Katsuki won't harass him today. Just maybe he'll be distracted by something or someone else.

All he could do was hope.

~~~~~~

He whined in pain when he was roughly shoved against a wall. Katsuki was glaring daggers into him as he held him by the collar. His hands emitted small explosions the he feared. How many times had he been burned by them? He gulped in fear as the boy smirked. Why? He was hoping the day would go by without incident. It was only Monday. Couldn't he have one good day?

He hadn't done anything. Well, he had done something but it was not on purpose. He didn't mean to bump into the blonde. Someone tripped him and he couldn't catch himself fast enough. He has such bad luck. He would get a beating again. Kattsui would treat him like a punching bag while his friends laughed in amusement. They laughed at his pain. It made things worse.

They were laughing at the useless Deku.

Useless, huh?

~~~~~~~

He stumbled out of the school building. His uniform was a mess and his arm was bleeding. He wanted to cry but held it in. Crying only made things worse. It was testament to his lack of strength. Lack of power. It proved how weak he was. Tears are useless. It won't change a thing. He pulled on his shirt and gripped his arm. He took a sharp breath as the pain stabbed him constantly. He should be used to it by now. It's not the first time Katsuki did such a thing. It hurt every time. It hurt even more because he was his friend. He was his best friend. They did everything together. He thought that friendship would remain.

But the blonde got a quirk and he didn't.

Quirks.

That is what determines everything, isn't it?

He clenched his eyes shut and forced the tears away.

He adjusted his backpack on his shoulder and continued on. Good thing his mother won't be home early this time around. He had a chance to fix himself up before she made it. She didn't have to know of what took place. She didn't have to worry. She already worries so much. He didn't want to be a burden to her.

His trip back home was uneventful. His arm was feeling a bit numb. He sighed. The usual. Once in his house, he made his way to his room, ignoring the letter on the fridge. He already knew what it said. Once in his room, he pulled off his uniform jacket an shirt. The bathroom is where he stores his bandages so that was his destination. He washed the blood off his arm with warm water. He wasn't too focused on that he was doing. He's done this so many times it comes automatically.

The world hates him. Why? Because he has no quirk. Why does that make him so bad or different? He's human like the rest of them. Everyone has a chance of being quirkless. Did they ever stop and think what it must feel like to be in his shoes? No of course not. People hardly care to begin with. Why would they care about the quirkless Deku? It goes to show what this world is really about. Quirks and power. His best friend abandoned him because he had no quirk and no power. His mother didn't believe he can become a hero because he has no quirk and no power. No one believed. Only he himself.

It's lonely. He has his mother, but she doesn't understand. She does her best for him. She's always there. She worries a lot. He loved her. He really did, but he still felt alone.

The bandage was applied and he stared at it. He wondered how long it would take the recent wound to heal. He'll be careful to keep his mother from discovering it. She has enough to worry about.

The world is a cruel place and nothing in life is ever fair. Everyone is not born equal and are of course never treated as such.

A lesson he learned at the young age of four.

He's so very close to giving up. He was losing hope. His dream was getting farther and farther away. The darkness seems so comforting now. He should just give up. Just do what everyone else tells him to do. Save himself the trouble and pain of rejection.

He shook his head. He didn't want such thoughts in his head. He couldn't give up. He can't lose hope. His dream may be far away, but he should still believe. There's still a chance.

He sighed.

He was Izuku Midoriya. Born quirkless. Dreams to be a hero.

Life is not fair and never will be.

~~~~~~

Nozomi kept glancing at the twelve-year-old Kuriko next to her. The girl was staring out the window. Blue eye following every building that passes. She seemed in thought about something. Nozomi didn't know what. It was hard to read her. She didn't let herself be an open book. Nozomi let her eyes trail down to the burn on her arm. Kuriko had bandaged it up. Nozomi was sure it would be gone by morning. She's a fast healer.

As the years went by Kuriko went through a lot. Just three months after unlocking what they thought to be her quirk something else happened. It was one of those bad days. Kuriko came home not looking so happy. She looked even more depressed than she usually did. Nozomi didn't know what happened at school that day. Kuriko never told her, but it was enough to trigger something.

Nozomi sighed. Kuriko revealed a new quirk each time she had a no-good day. Each time it was too much to take and her emotions were running wild. Some new quirk would appear out of nowhere. Once she split herself into multiple versions. Each was a different emotion. None of them were positive. That quirk most likely developed when the child couldn't contain her emotions. They were threatening to overwhelm her and the darkness had already begun to climb up her arm. Each clone was hard to be around because the air around them would just be so dark. Once close enough it's like you can feel the emotion the clone is supposed to be. You can feel it and it's hard to cope with. When she was back to herself she seemed emotionless. Must be the drawback of splitting her emotions like that.

Her quirks are random but always pop up when she's in a dark mood. When she's sad. Depressed. Hurt. Scared. When she's in panic. They always come. Most tend to be a bit dark. Some are less so but questionable.

Nozomi came to the conclusion that Kuriko had multiple quirks. She develops a new one regularly. She didn't know what else she could do with her supposed quirk. She knew the kid experimented with it. She always wants to know more and has taken to studying quirks more often than not. She must've figured out what exactly her quirk was. She just never told her and probably doesn't see the need to.

Kuriko followed each passing building with a critical eye. She wasn't interested in them. She was thinking about the boy she saw leaving school today. She was sitting under a tree with a book while she awaited her mother. That is when she saw a boy with messy green hair and freckled cheeks stumble out of the building. His arm was bleeding and he was on the verge of tears. Kuriko could feel his emotion despite the distance between them. She felt them. They were almost the same as her. They were somewhat similar. His emotions resembled her own except for the fact that the boy still believed. He had hope. He was naive. Things would not change. Not for him. She knew of him. The useless Deku. He's quirkless. She saw him get bullied pretty often. She knew what he was going through. He must've been going through it for years.

So why did he still have that false hope of his?

He's lying to himself. He'll end up making everything worse on him. When the truth is revealed to him he will break. When his hope is lost he will shatter. The will to live will be no more.

The boy was on a very suicidal path.

She wouldn't have cared normally, but they were similar and she found herself not wishing the boy to kill himself. Next to that, she was wondering what dream he was holding onto. What dream made him so idiotic and hopeful. She should help him, but she would not. She wanted to see how long it took for him to finally break.

Was she being cruel? Maybe. Did she care all too much? Not really. She stopped caring about other human beings a long time ago. Not every human being, just those outside her family.

She adjusted her glasses and tugged on one black glove. That boy. Katsuki. He is notorious for picking on the weak. He bullies those with weak quirks. He bullies those quirkless. He bullies those different. Of course, she would be one of his frequent targets. She didn't know why, but the fact that she could not talk ticked him off. The fact that she didn't seem to care about a thing he said to her even more so. The fact that she reacts to none of the injuries he inflicts infuriates him. Why? She didn't care enough to figure it out. All she knew is that the boy most definitely had a superiority complex. He was probably praised for his quirk since the beginning and it went to his head. He started believing that everyone else was bellow him because his quirk was powerful.

She could put him in his place in less than three seconds. If she did that she would most likely kill him. Not a bad thought actually. She wouldn't mind killing him. The world does not need scum like him. His bastard friends would follow after. Scum.

She felt the car stop and realized that she was home. She took her backpack and slipped out of the car. She trudged into the house and straight to the kitchen where she got herself some vanilla flavoured ice cream. She filled a bowl full of the stuff and retrieved some marshmallows.

"You just got back, you should eat properly," Nozomi said as she took the bowl of ice cream away from her. "You get ice cream later"

Kuriko watched as Nozomi placed her bowl of ice cream in the freezer. She looked at the woman, meeting red eyes. Her ice cream. Why would she do that?

"Don't look at me like that" Nozomi sighed as she moved around the kitchen. "I'll make you something to eat"

Kuriko made a couple of hand gestures to her mother.

"Yes you'll get your ice cream after you finish eating"

Another set of gestures.

"Yes you have to eat everything"

Kuriko did nothing anymore and turned to go up the stairs.

"Make sure to take a shower and take care of your injury, or should I call Noriko? "

Kuriko stopped for a moment to shake her head and continued. She was sure Noriko was busy. It's best not to be a bother. She could take care of herself. Her injury would be gone by morning. It's already starting to patch itself up. Stepping into her room Kuriko placed her backpack in a corner and started to strip down. She did indeed need a shower. She had gym class and did not take showers with the other girls. People like to judge and they already do. She preferred them not to have something else to judge.

Stepping under the shower Kuriko let the cold water hit her. It's not very good to let her head be hit with cold water that fast. It could cause a serious problem. Noriko told her that, but she never listened.

Her hair fell in her face and she halfheartedly pushed it out of her face. Her hair was still shoulder length. She always had it cut. It was curly and a mess on the daily basis. She figured having it longer would only be troublesome.

After her shower, she was dressed in a hoodie and pants. Her hair was out of control. It got even curlier when wet and drying it only made it wild. She sighed and pulled on her glasses and gloves. She decided not to care about it. Her injury was all bandaged up so she figured she did everything one must do if they care about their well being. She did not care about her well being but Nozomi did, so she had to do it.

She took a book off her bookshelf and climbed the ladder of her bed. Her book was opened and started reading the words.

As much as she hated life out there she loved life in here.