Midoriya Izu (Female Midoriya)

Prologue

Izu knew, for what felt like all her life, that the world was unfair.

She first noticed this when she was three and Mitoko-chan got in trouble for asking her to share her building blocks. Mitoko-chan was four years old and had a quirk that gave her the appearance of a snake.

Arataka-sensei had pulled Mitoko-chan aside and told her not to scare the younger kids, even though Izu didn't find her scary at all. Instead, she felt upset, seeing Mitoko-chan cry quietly to herself in the corner of the room.

Izu tried to bring the blocks over to her, but Mitoko-chan shoved her and told her to go away. Her parents got called to pick her up for "dangerous, violent tendencies", whatever that meant.

That was the last time that Izu ever saw Mitoko-chan.

The next day, Kacchan bit one of the older kids who hogged the hero toys and got put in timeout for fifteen minutes. Auntie was never called to pick him up.
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She was four years old when the truth that not all men were created equal made itself known in her life.

Her mom had taken her to the doctors to see if she was simply a late bloomer. Kacchan had gotten his quirk ages ago, and all her classmates were slowly catching up.

They took all sorts of tests, and even got a blood sample. Izu was proud that she only cried twice during the entire exam.

The first time was when they stuck that needle into her arm. The second time was at the end of the exam, when the doctors and nurses started looking at her differently.

It didn't feel nice, and Izu cried because she didn't know why they were doing so.

If only she could have remained so blissfully ignorant.

"I'd give up on any dreams of becoming a hero if I were her," spoke the doctor, sounding completely and utterly bored. As if his words weren't ruining her life.

Her mom looked appalled at the lack of tact. But most importantly, she looked worried. "What's wrong?"

"Your quirk is attraction to small objects, correct?"

"Yes," her mom said, sounding puzzled, "And her father's is shooting fire out of his mouth."

"I see..." The doctor droned on. "As both of you are documented as third-generation quirk users, it's almost unheard of to have a child without a quirk."

He pulled up the x-ray scan of her foot. He then zoomed the image in on her pinkie toe.

"We can tell she is quirkless by how many bones are in her toe. Quirked individuals, even ones with mental or invisible quirks, have a single bone in their pinkie toes. Quirkless individuals have two."

It was strange, Izu wondered distantly, that she felt so much worse than before, yet she was unable to cry.

In the end, she quietly followed after her mom as they left the doctor's office, hunching her shoulders when she felt the eyes of various adults staring at her.

"Poor thing," they whispered, "Poor, useless thing."

When they got home, Izu ran to the computer. Her mom quietly walked up and put on her favorite All Might video.

I AM HERE!

Click. Repeat.

I AM HERE!

Click. Repeat.

I AM HERE!

Click. Repeat.

Izu paused the screen, All Might's grinning face stared back at her. His face turned blurry, and she realized that she was crying.

Moments later, her mom came in with a steaming plate of katsudon.

"Mama," her voice warbled, "Do you think I can become a hero like All Might?"

Her mom started crying as she dropped the plate of katsudon, uncaring that it broke, and ran to hug her daughter.

"I'm sorry Izu, I'm so sorry!"

Izu wanted to take comfort in her mom's hug. It was just as warm and loving as it always has been. But it was the words her mom spoke that made her cry harder.

That's not what I wanted you to say, mama. What I needed to hear you say was...

Izu looked up at her mom and flinched back. Her eyes were just as loving as before, but now it was mixed with the same look those doctors gave her.

"My poor daughter," her eyes spoke, "My poor, fragile daughter."

Izu felt something within her crack.