(Warning: Cursing)

People are not born equal. That's the hard truth Izuku and I learned at age four. That was his only setback in life. He's very determined to accomplish his dreams, to make them come true. My dreams seem to run away from me, laughing at me mockingly.

When we were four, we were friends with Bakugo, though we called him Kacchan. We'd hang out with him, and we'd all play together.

That changed a while after he got his quirk. He pushed us away once Aunt Inko took us to a quirk specialist, and we were diagnosed as quirkless. I would have expected Izuku to have a quirk, maybe like his mom's. But he didn't.

No one knew what to expect from me. No one knew who my parents were, or where I was from. My last name, Natsumi, was randomly assigned by a child placement agency.

I had never officially been placed into a family. The Midoriya's and the Bakugo's shared foster custody of me, though I preferred to stay with Aunt Inko once Kacchan got his quirk, and started fighting with his mother.

I roll out of my bed, and look out the window at the sky. Another day at the middle school of hell. Featuring Katsuki Bakugo.

I sigh as I brush out my hair. Just gotta give him another chance to see that I'm not useless. I head downstairs with Izuku, and we sit at the table with Aunt Inko. I take a bowl of cereal, while Izuku has more of a traditional breakfast. Inko makes herself some eggs and toast, and we all eat quickly.

Izuku and I walk towards the door and grab our bags, only to be caught by one of Inko's motherly hugs.

"Be careful, you two! Have a good day!" She says cheerfully.

I smile. "That's always the plan, Aunt!"

Izuku gives his mom an extra hug, and we set off to school. Halfway, we get stuck in a jam of people.

Izuku's eye widen as he looks up. "Wow. A giant villain!" He shakes me gently. "Nacchan look!"

I roll my eyes with a smile. "Yes, I see the giant villain."

We make our way through the crowd, me guiding Izuku while he takes notes. He pulls away from me and stands close to the front of the crowd. I cross my arms and stand behind him while he starts animatedly talking about the battle.

"Who's fighting him?!" He asks no one in particular.

I glance around, and spot a thin figure landing on a bridge. Before I can say it, however, hundreds of people have already begun to shout out:

"Kamui Woods!"

I sigh, and watch as my brother in all but name starts a running commentary, regardless of what others say. I smile at the thought. At least people talking about him doesn't bother him. He'll need that.

Before Kamui Woods can completely restrain the villain, a huge shadow rushes over the crowd, and a large woman kicks the villain in the face. A solid half of the crowd starts making weird noises, and both Izuku and I look at them, me with disgust and Izuku with confusions.

The woman poses rather innappropriately for the crowd, saying, "Today's my debut! Pleased to meet you all! You can call me Mt. Lady!"

I scoff. "A personality like that, she's not a lady. How much do I wanna bet that she's only in heroing because of the fame?" I ask myself.

Izuku starts muttering about Mt. Lady and her apparent quirk, Gigantification. Before I can pull him back on the way to our school, the man next to us turns to Izuku.

"Taking notes? I guess you wanna be a hero yourself. Good luck!" The man doesn't even notice me.

Izuku grins, and I try to match his smile. He tells the man, "Thanks! I'll try!"

I pull Izuku along to our school.

We've been in class for a while when the teacher says, "You guys are all third-years now. It's time to start thinking seriously about your futures! I would hand out these future career forms, but..." He pauses. "I assume you all want to be heroes!"

The room cheers. Everyone wants to be a hero, even me. Especially Izuku. The two of us don't join in on the ruckus. Izuku's sensitive about his lacking a quirk, and I'm just sick of all the hero worship. I only want to be a hero because I feel my parents were heroes. Not necessarily pros, but maybe the kinds of heroes we had before quirks happened. Before the pros took the spotlight.

Firefighters, police, paramedics, even doctors. I sigh, leaning my head back, and staring at the wall. If I can't make it as a pro, I'll just go be a cop, I guess.

The teacher continues speaking. "Yes, you all have wonderful quirks. But you know that it's against the rules to use them in school!"

I roll my eyes. This class only uses their quirks so much to make me and Izuku feel bad. It's discrimination, and I hate it, but I can't do anything about it. Yet.

"Sensei!" A rough voice yells from near the center of the room. "Don't lump me in with the rest of these losers! As if I had anything like their crappy quirks. Heh."

Katsuki Bakugo. A blonde, egotistical, arrogant jerk. Mine and Izuku's childhood friend, and our current bully. He only ended up this way because of his allmighty quirk, Explosion.

It's not just me who's done with his nonesense, though. "Get over yourself, Katsuki!" Someone shouts, and the rest of the class starts booing.

"Shut up! Extras should act like extras!"

"Ah, Bakugo," The teacher interjects, "You, of course, must be aiming for U.A. High School."

The class bursts into chatters, and I see Izuku lay his head down on his desk. I want to comfort him, but I also don't want to draw attention to us. I just look at him sympathetically from my spot in the back.

Katsuki jumps up on his desk. "I aced the mock exam! I'm the only one here with the stuff for U.A.! I'll even surpass All Might and become the best hero out there! Not to mention I'll be one of the richest people in the world!"

I clear my throat. "Eyyyy, Kats, use your head. Your parents are in the fashion industry, you're already rich." I stand up in my seat and gesture between me and Izuku. "Also, Izuku and I aced the mock written exams, and are doing our best to train for the physical," I add, crossing my arms.

"Oh, that's right," The teacher says thoughtfully. "Natsumi and Midoriya are also going for U.A., right?"

Katsuki freezes, as does the rest of the class. Then everyone turns to us, and laughs. Izuku gets anxious again, but I stand my ground.

"Midoriya and Natsumi? No way! Good grades alone can't get you into the hero program!"

Izuku speaks up. "Th-that's not necessarily true! Sure, there's no precedent, but..."

"COME ON, DEKU!!" Katsuki yells, throwingan explosion at Izuku. "Forget the crappy quirks. You're both totally quirkless! And you think you can rub shoulders with me?!"

I want to help him, but many of the students have formed a barrier between the two of us. Izuku stammers, trying to diffuse the situation, while the teacher does nothing!

"Wa-wait, no, Kacchan. I wasn't saying I could compete with you! Not at all! I mean it. It's just been my dream, since I was little, Evie, too. And, well... There's no harm in trying."

Katsuki does not like that, blowing up even more. "TRY?! TRY WHAT?! THE ENTRANCE EXAM?! YOU'RE TAKING THE EXAM JUST TO 'TRY'?" Katsuki's voice lowers menacingly. "What can you even do? At least Natsumi is good for cleaning, probably."

"I am not your maid, Bakugo!" I screech. "What do you take me for?! A submissive little kitty cat?! Guess what, Bakugo!" I yell. "This kitty has claws!" I step in between him and Izuku, but he slaps me.

"Go sit down, girl," he growls. "Women like you are only fit for being housewives and damsels-in-distress, not heroes."

I gently touch my cheek. "Wow. No damsel will ever run to you." I turn back to Izuku to help him up, then go back to my seat as the class returns to order.

As class wraps up, Izuku and I get ready to go home. I swing my backpack over my shoulder, gingerly touching my puffed up cheek. I didn't even get the option to go to the nurse.

"We ain't done here, Deku," I hear from behind me, and Izuku yelping.

I turn to see Katsuki holding Izuku's notebook, while Izuku panics. Katsuki's little gang joins him in mocking Izuku, and I run up to support him. I come up just in time to watch Katsuki singe Izuku's notebook.

"Why?!" Both of us shout.

Katsuki scoffs. "The best heroes out there, well... They showed signs of greatness even as students. I'll be the first and ONLY hero from this crappy middle school! The first to win the honor of becoming a student at U.A. High. Guess I'm just a perfectionist."

"You sound more arrogant and cocky to me," I say bitterly. "That's not a heroic attitude."

"Shut up, woman!" Katsuki yells at me, before turning back to Izuku. "In other words... Don't you dare get into U.A., nerd!" He looks at me. "That goes for you, too, woman."

His hand simmers on Izuku's shoulder, leaving Izuku stunned and afraid. Katsuki and his gang walk away, loudly talking about how the two of us "Can't face reality".

I glare at Katsuki and his group. "You're all a bunch of jerks!"

Katsuki rolls his eyes. "You wanna be a hero so bad? I've got a time-saving idea for you." He makes eye contact with Izuku, then me. "If you think you'll have a quirk in your next life... Go take a swan dive off the roof!"

Izuku has to hold me back. "YOU ASSHOLE!" I scream. "HOW DARE YOU?!" I can't make any more coherent words, though, and think about throwing something instead. I look over at Izuku, and his expression also says something similar.

Izuku goes to say something, but Katsuki glares menacingly and sparks an explosion. "Yeah? What?"

Izuku and I are left in the classroom alone, shaking with fear and and anger respectively.

Who the hell does he think he is?!

-End chapter-

Izuku and I leave the school, both our shoulders slumped over, and both our faces have tearstains. His from extreme disappointment and frustration, and mine out of fury for what Bakugo did to Izuku.

"He shouldn't be a hero, saying things like that!" I yell to no one.

Izuku pulls his notebook out of a small pond. "You never know, he could be a good hero one day."

"What about us, Izu? We can be great heroes too, but no one thinks that, even if we have the right mindset and temperament too! Just because we're quirkless," I say bitterly, kicking a rock.

Izuku sighs. "Remember the video, though?"

I calm down and fidget with a water bottle. "All Might's debut? Yeah, practically got the audio memorized, you watched it a lot."

Izuku looks at his scorched and sopping notebook. "You never know what he could have gone through. Maybe he was bullied."

"I doubt it. He was probably just a normal kid. Although someone doesn't usually smile like that unless they're hiding something, so, maybe? But I doubt it."

"I always hoped I would have an equally awesome quirk, and that you would too," Izuku says, looking up from his notebook as we start walking. "But then Mom took us to that doctor...."

"I always felt like he was weird, though," I say. "He just seemed fishy. Also, why would having a quirk mean one of your toes doesn't need a joint anymore? That sounds like a load of crap to me."

Izuku nods. "It does seem weird, but he was a professional! He knew what he was saying!"

"Mm, I guess."

"Mom had a breakdown after that. I felt so bad for her." Izuku looks up at the sky.

"I think we all had a breakdown. I was just behind the couch," I say wryly.

"Why?" Izuku laughs, and his laugh echoes through the tunnel we just entered.

I smile, then wince and touch my cheek. "That's just where I went when I was down, I guess."

"Well, let's try something new, Nacchan." Izuku smiles at me. "Let's not care what anyone says. Let's keep our chins up and keep moving forward!"

I agree and cheer, holding my water bottle up to my cheek. A splooshing, gurgling noise echoes through the tunnel. Izuku and I both turn around to see something slimy and monstrous coming out of a manhole.

Two eyes gleam at us as we look in terror. "Two medium sized bodies to potentially hide in! I think I know which one I want, though. The boy looks more suited."

A few things run through my head. First, How sexist. Second, NO, IZUKU!

The villain latches on to him, and we both scream.

"ICCHAN!" I yell, throwing my water bottle at the slime. It just bounces off and rolls away. I try to dig through the slime to save Izuku, but I get tossed away.

"Calm down, I'm just hijacking his body so I can escape from him. It'll all be over soon."

"ICCHAN, IF YOU CAN HEAR ME, IS HE CONDUCTABLE!" I yell, having a plan in the back of my mind.

"Mmmphha-!" Izuku clears his mouth for a moment. "Probably... not! Why?!"

"I have a plan, as long as it won't hurt you!" I say, pulling something out of my backpack. A Tazer. I always carry one, since you never know what might happen around here.

I lunge and connect the Tazer with the slime. The slime liquidizes for a moment, and Izuku breaks free, even if he's got some remnants. I pull my failsafe weapon away, and the villain immediately coagulates again.

"Oh, aren't you the feisty little one? Maybe I made a mistake."

I stand in front of Izuku as he recovers, holding my Tazer in front of me. I don't say anything, but my hand is shaking. From fear or adrenaline, I don't know.

The villain lunges, and wraps around my wrists. I gasp out in fear, and then pain as my wrists are violently squeezed. My Tazer drops out of my grip, and bounces off the ground.

The villain moves farther up my arms, and I turn my face away as far as I can. "Icchan, go get help!"

He goes to run, but then the manhole cover flies up into the air. A fist is raised in the air underneath the cover, and a voice echoes, "Fear not, kids! I am here!" The Number One Hero climbs out of the sewers before us.

"All Might?!" Izuku gasps.

"Help please!" I yell. "He's up to my shoulders!"

All Might pulls his fist back, then, as he punches, he yells, "TEXAS SMASH!"

Izu and I wake up to All Might rapidly patting us awake. I sit up immediately, and look around. Izuku lays on the ground in a daze for a moment more.

"Thank goodness. You're both okay! Excellent!" He says loudly. I wince, but don't want to cover my ears, as that would be rude.

Izuku sits up rather suddenly. "WHAT?!"

"Delayed reaction time, there, Icchan," I say dryly, standing up, and doing my best to smooth out my uniform. I reach out a hand to help him up as well, but he only has eyes for All Might right now. I blow a little air out, but cut him a break. This is his idol.

"Apologies for getting the two of you caught up in my villain hunt," All Might says. "Mistakes like that aren't really my style, but this is a strange land to me. And besides, I'm off camera!"

"Cool," I whisper.

He hold out a bottle filled with slime and random eyeballs. "Ah, but my success here is all thanks to both of you! I've contained the villain! Also, who's Tazer is this? It was laying on the ground back there."

I raise my hand timidly. "Uh, that's mine. Sorry, he made me drop it," I whisper sheepishly.

"No worries!" The hero says, handing it to me. I put it back in my bag.

Izuku snaps out of his shock. "Oh, uh, uh, uh, a-an autograph! Where's... AH! My notebook!" He gasps. "He already did it! Look Evie!"

I nod at the autograph covering a whole two page spread. "Lucky you," I say.

Izuku stands up and bows frantically, spilling out his thanks and how the autograph will forever be precious.

All Might starts walking away. "Now I must bring this fellow to the authorities! You can catch me again on TV!"

"Evie, I have to ask him something, for the both of us! Don't freak out! Okay?!" He runs after All Might, who has crouched down into a weird squat position.

"A pro battles not only enemies, but also time. Until next time, kids!" He launches off, apparently unaware that he has a hitchhiker. "THANKS FOR YOUR Support!" His voice trails away, and I'm left in the street, alone.

I sigh at Izuku's antics, and continue on my way home. I spot Katsuki in the distance, and even though we kinda hate each other, it's still a friendly face, and my basically-brother just abandoned me. I start gently jogging to try and at least tag along.

I see something fall out of the sky, and I frown at it. I watch as Katsuki turns to his friends, yelling at them for something.

I run forward as the villain takes shape again. "KATSUKI! BEHIND YOU! MOVE!"

Katsuki scowls at me. "EH? The quirkless girl?!"

I shove his two friends out of my way, and push him to the side. The villain grabs me instead.

"You again?! I didn't want you!" He tosses me aside, and I hit a wall.

I gasp for air, black spots dancing across my vision. I can still make out the villain latching onto Katsuki.

"A body that isn't quirkless! And he has a good quirk! Finally!"

Katsuki immediately starts fighting, at first with his body, and then his quirk. I take a moment to recover, hoping Katsuki's friends will help him out, at least a bit. But when I look up again, they're nowhere to be seen, and Katsuki is fighting all by himself!

The villain is winning, getting bigger, but I jump forward, pulling out and activating my Tazer. I plunge it into the villain, and the villain loosens it's grip on Katsuki, just a bit.

Katski clears his throat. "I didn't need your help, extra!"

I smack him. "Shut up, Katsuki! I'm not an extra, you did need help, and no one else was voluntering!"

My Tazer beeps suddenly, and I look down to see that it's died. "Dammit no! Kacchan get out of here!" I yell.

"I can take it!"

"No you can't!"

The villain takes advantage of Katsuki's stubborness and grabs him again, engulfing him entirely. Katsuki lets off an explosion, but it singes my arm instead of the villain. The villain throws me aside, harder than last time, and as I hit a lamp post, I hear a crack.

I stand up and hold my side, hoping someone will be able to help. But they're all focused on Katsuki. And worse yet, none of the available heroes can get to him or help him in any way. They're all focused on damage control and waiting for someone with the right quirk.

I run forward, hoping I can do something, anything. But I'm pulled back by vines.

"It's dangerous! You could get hurt!" Kamui Woods says as he restrains me from going any farther.

I struggle to escape. "LET ME GO! THAT'S KACCHAN! HE'S LIKE MY BROTHER! LET ME HELP HIM, PLEASE!" I sob, trying to wiggle out from the vines.

"We have to wait for a hero with a good quirk to help him," Kamui says.

"DON'T WAIT, HE COULD DIE! I DON'T GIVE A DAMN IF HE'S HURT ME, I GREW UP WITH HIME! JUST LET ME HELP HIM, PLEASE!!!!"

"This is my fault!" I hear from the crowd. "Kacchan! Evie!"

"ICCHAN!" I yell. "CAN YOU HELP?"

Izuku is frozen for a moment. I can just see his brain working. He suddenly starts running, looking terrified at the whole thing. I wiggle away from the hero holding me, and follow after him.

Izuku throws his schoolbag at the villain, then starts digging into the villain to free Kacchan. I join him, hoping we can make more headway with two of us.

"Deku?! Blonde?! Why?!" Kacchan yells angrily.

"MY LEGS JUST STARTED MOVING, I DON'T KNOW WHY!" Izuku cries.

"Shut up and take the help, Katsuki! It's not like anyone else is offering!" I shout.

"You looked like you needed saving!" Izuku says.

The heroes behind us are in an uproar, but I pay them no attention. I've uncovered one of Katsuki's feet. I grab it, and start pulling, trying to pull him away from the villain.

His shoe pops up, and I'm sent rolling backwards. I end up on my back. As I go to sit up, I feel a sharp pain in my side, and I catch my breath. I stand back up, only to be knocked back over by something rather speedy. The ensuing dust does not help me regain my breath.

"The lesson I left you with," I hear All Might's voice say, "I should practice what I preach! A PRO SHOULD ALWAYS BE WILLING TO RISK HIS LIFE!" I see blood come out of his mouth right as he yells, "DETROIT... SMASH!!!"

The resulting punch causes a pressure change that makes it start raining, which helps to put out any fires that Katsuki made in his battle.

Izuku and the crowd start going crazy over that feat. I carefully make my way to Izuku and Katsuki.

"Are you two all right?" I ask, still holding my side.

Katsuki huffs and looks away, but Izuku nods. "What about you, Nacchan? Why are you holding your ribs?"

Katsuki huffs again. "The stupid girl got up in my fight and got thrown around. Go see a nurse, Blonde."

Izuku looks at Katsuki like he's grown a second head. "Why are you acting like that?"

"He probably feels bad, because he singed my arm, too. But I'm fine." I wince as Izuku touches the slight burn on my arm. "Don't do that."

The heroes start collecting the scattered body of the villain, and hand him over to the police. I got bandaged up by a paramedic, but I don't tell them about my side. I went through worse and never got medical treatment.

The heroes were mad at Izuku and I, even without knowing that we were quirkless. Katsuki, on the other hand, got loads of praise. The heroes thought he was so cool, and hero material. I caught him glaring at Izuku and I, though.

Izuku and I were finally able to go home, Izuku muttering about All Might's website, when Katsuki's voice stops us.

"Hey, nerds!"

The two of us spin around to see him standing with his hands in his pockets. He looks up at us angrily.

"I never asked for you to save me! Like you could! I could have beaten him myself, Deku! How dare some quirkless failures pity me! As if they were trying to win me over. Don't you dare mock me, Deku! And, Blonde! Don't put yourself in the way of a villain for me again! You idiots!" He whirls around and marches away.

Izuku and I continue on our way home, talking about what had happened, mostly me explaining what I had done after Izuku went off with All Might, and Izuku telling me what All Might said in response to his question. We hadn't gotten far before we were interrupted yet again, though.

"I AM HERE!"

"Huh?" I say out of confusion.

"ALL MIGHT, WHY ARE YOU HERE?!" Izuku freaks out. "You were surrounded by reporters!"

I raise an eyebrow as All Might starts... steaming. He laughs. "Shaking them off is nothing to me! After all, I'm All Mi-" He breaks off into a coughing fit and puff of steam. When it clears, I'm surprised to see a frail and skinny man in All Might's place.

I cover my mouth. "What is happening, Icchan?!"

The man widens his eyes, as if he's just realizing I'm here. "Kid, who's that?"

Izuku panicks. "All Might, this is Evie Natsumi, she's basically my sister, and she does pretty much everything with me. Evie, Nacchan, don't freak out, that's All Might, he has a really bad injury so he only looks normal for about three hours, and he says it's not because of Toxic Chainsaw."

I raise an eyebrow. "What did that lowlife have to do with this?"

"Nothing, that's why I said so!"

"Well, if you're done. Kid. I've come to thank you, and revise what I said earlier. I also have a proposal."

"Oh, that's not weird and out of the blue," I say dryly.

All Might eyes me. "Can she keep a secret?"

"Izuku has no idea how many times I broke a bone," I say.

Izuku looks at me in terror. "WHAT?!"

"Yes, I can keep a secret."

All Might nods. "Without you, if I hadn't heard your story, I'd have been nothing but fake muscles and insincerity. So, thank you!"

Izuku sighs. "That... No. I mean, it was all my fault from the start! I got in your way. And even though I'm quirkless, I dared to ask if-"

"Exactly!" All Might interrupts. "Of all the people at the scene, it was you, and your sister there, but you, timid and quirkless, who acted. You spurred everyone else to action! Most of the top heroes showed signs of greatness even as children. Many of them claim that their bodies simply moved before they could think!"

Izuku starts crying, and I shuffle nervously, wondering if this is a good time to mention I'd been fighting for Katsuki for a good while before Kamui Woods restrained me.

"That's what happened to you back there, yes?"

Izuku cries, "Yes." He wipes his nose.

"You can be a hero." All Might says.

Izuku looks up. "What about Evie? Can she be a hero? She's quirkless, too! She had been trying to help Kacchan for a while, she did her best to save me, before anyone else even realized something was wrong! She let herself get injured for us!"

All Might shuffles. "I was unaware of that. I had no idea she had played a part."

"Can I be a hero?" I ask him, looking him in the eye. Challenging him.

"Well...."

-End Chapter-