Curiosity killed the cat, satisfaction brought it back
***
Two years ago
His dad won.
His dad was the crowd favourite, but it still shocked Izuku to hear the news.
The Japanese Republic just elected Hisashi Midoriya as its 30th president since its transition to democracy.
Wow.
The administration expected the First Family to move to The Palace within this month, so Izuku hastily helps his mother in packing their things. He never knew they had this many, how did all of this fit in their average four-bedroom home? Who knows.
He was filing some old photo albums (they're still around?) when a photo fell out of them. Picking the faded piece of photopaper, he noticed it was a picture of a traditional house he never seen before.
"Mom?" he asked his mother. The new first lady, Inko Midoriya, was busy labelling the boxes to avoid confusion.
"Yes dear?" his mother answered.
He approached his mother placing the photo in her line of sight and asked, "whose house is this?"
Inko's brows crunched, whether due to recalling some distant memory or figuring out the faded picture, he's not sure.
"Ah! That's the ancestral house from your father's side" she said, finally recognizing it.
Ancestral house?
"WE HAD AN ANCESTRAL HOUSE?!" he asked in disbelief.
Inko chuckled on her son's reaction. She remembers she had the same one when Hisashi had told her.
"Now, now, maybe dad just forgot to tell you and bring you there. You know how busy his work is." She assured her confused son.
He looked back at the photo. Gliding his fingers on the surface, he felt something. He flipped the photo and found some date scribbled on it.
The date written made his jaw dropped on the floor.
It was a photo taken more than two hundred years ago.
Damn, are they part of some shady ancient clan or something?
"Huh. Dad might be a busy man, but he does not forget something as important as this." he silently mumbled.
Izuku felt skeptical, as if his father deliberately chose not to tell Izuku about this. And he must know why.
He kept the photo with him.
****
Izuku woke up with a jolt. Blinking, he noticed that someone was knocking on his bedroom door.
"Izuku?" his mom inquired before opening the door.
"Hmm?" is the only reply he can manage. He rubbed his eyes to get rid some of his drowsiness.
"You really outwork yourself yesterday dear, you overslept. Are you hungry?" his mom inquired while sitting beside him in his bed and pet his bed hair.
He leaned on his mother's touch. Call him momma's boy, he doesn't care. There's nothing much better than the sensation of his mother's hand petting his hair. He could do this all day.
Seeing his son relaxed on her touch, Inko chuckled.
"Izuku, as much as I like petting your nest of a hair, I have to help your dad prepare for his inauguration day after tomorrow. I already cooked katsudon, just reheat it if you're on the mood of eating it." His mom instructed. Then she tried to tame his hair before getting up from his bed.
"Mom, its katsudon, eating it is always my mood." He retorted. His mom always knew how to get his attention.
"I know." She replied with a smile. "Well, I'm going now. Text me if you're going out today, okay? I think I'll be out the entire day." his mom said and patted his head one more time before heading out of his room.
***
Izuku didn't notice that he fell asleep again after talking to his mother.
He woke up thirty minutes after and found himself alone in their almost empty house. He took his time walking towards the kitchen. He'll miss this house. After all, he spent most of his life here, voluntarily and involuntarily. He took twice as long as the necessary to reheat his food. And likewise, on eating it.
After washing the dishes, Izuku went back to his room and seated himself in his desk chair. At his desk rests the old photo he found the day before.
"Ancestral house.. huh," he said out loud to no one in particular.
Other than asking his father about the house, Izuku has another plan for the picture. He wants to do some experiments on his quirk.
Izuku's quirk was extremely rare to a point where a lot people thought it was just a legend. He was even the only one alive in the country as per records. It's remotely related to his parents or any of his relatives. It made his parents worried that they consulted a physician for some explanation. But unfortunately, the only logical explanation to it was evolution through mutations. Researchers have found that mutations, though rare, are occurring starting on fifth generation of quirk users. And the mutation gets more complicated in the succeeding generations.
Another proof of the mutation is that his quirk manifested late. Unlike other kids who manifested it at the age of four, Izuku hadn't until six years later.
All those years he already accepted he was quirkless, especially that he has two toe joints. The society silently treated him as an outcast, an abnormality in the society. At the age of four, Izuku learned that the world is unfair.
But, if it weren't for the trauma of his family dying, Izuku would never found out that he has a quirk.
It was after they dine out for his tenth birthday. They were on their way home when a truck from the opposite direction seems to lose control. The truck and the car they were in was only a few meters away from colliding when a portal appeared in front of them and transported them to the street in front of their house. It baffled his parents at first, but eventually figured it all out when they found Izuku passed out at back seat.
He was thankful of course. Even though he's been convincing himself that a quirk is not necessary on becoming a hero, having one would be a great help. Even if it was a rare quirk that the only reference he has about it had been fiction novels and comics.
Izuku became a hero and quirk otaku to supply his lack of reference. He's been studying different quirks to find out what he was missing. And who would be a better reference than those heroes who were free to use their quirks in public? He's already been doing quirk analysis before his quirk manifested, and now he has more purpose to do so. Bullies picked him because of this, but it's the only way he knew.
Up to this point, after more than two years of analysis and experimenting, he only had a few observations about his quirk. First, he could only make one at a time (bummer). Second, he can only make one to somewhere he'd been. Third, the portal is fuel by his stamina and its consumption on depends on how long the portal was open and how many living things he let pass to the other side. Fourth, transporting living things with his quirk is a pain in the ass. A boulder with a size of a truck? No problem. A family of three? The portal closes at once, and he won't be able to make one after an hour.
He knows these observations were not enough. He believes that this quirk is blessing, and he won't stop exploring until he gets the most of it.
This time, he wants to counter his second theory.
He was having visions. Every time he feels lonely and wished to be in any other place than where he was, weird visions comes to his mind. But those places seem familiar and not at the same time. After all, those have been the places he used to ogle on the travel magazines he collects. Maldives, Bali, the Grand Canyon, among others. But the oddest thing about these visions is that they feel so real. And it lit a kindle it his heart.
What if I can make a portal to those places if I am strong enough? Or even just concentrate enough?
Now is the best time to prove this. His parents will be out the entire day. And he did his homework already.
"...he forgot to tell you and bring you there" were the words used by his mother. This means the house is still there.
Izuku looked at the picture intently.
The picture has faded around the edges, but the house itself is still clear. He doesn't need to work hard on memorizing the details of the house, though. His eidetic memory will do all the memorizing for him.
Now for the concentration part, he needs a relaxed position. He decided to move to his bed, sit up straight and rest his back on his headboard. When he felt he's relax enough, he started doing the breathing exercise he looked up in the internet.
Then he felt a small static at the back of his mind.
After that, the visions came.
He sees the house. An authentic traditional one with wooden verandas, paper walls and sliding doors. It was also way more elevated than those traditional houses he has seen before. The flood-prone area maybe?
There was also a pond in front of the house, corners accented with odd shaped huge rocks. Raked white gravel floored the garden, it has occasional Bermuda grass just below on groups of some over-sized bonsai plants.
Another static brought him another vision. It's a bird's-eye view of the house. He noticed that it was in the middle of two mountains and surrounded by thick leaves of trees. The view was breath taking. He almost forgot his goals for this experiment.
This is it. The ancestral house.
Izuku was busy taking all the view that he hadn't prepared himself for the incoming static and its accompanying pain. It was so painful that he's sure it already surpasses the pain scale.
He clutches his head tightly and proceeds to curl into fetal position, hoping it will relieve the pain. Unfortunately, it didn't.
He was sure as hell he's going to die that instant. He's going to die young. He hasn't even been to Yuuei yet. He's going to die without even making the first step of becoming a hero. He hasn't even seen All Might in person. What kind of fan he would be?
Then suddenly the static and the pain stopped. It vanished completely it felt like the static and the pain never came in the first place.
So, I'm dead now?
Izuku was busy comforting himself for dying that he didn't notice a quiet hum in front of him. A familiar hum. A hum produced by his portal. Portal? If I'm dead, how did I make a portal?
He sits upright again and confirmed the portal in front of him. He's alive, he felt like a war survivor.
He regards the portal once again knowing where the other side leads to. He just made a portal to somewhere he'd just seen in the picture. And it was a two-hundred-year-old picture.
He revised his second observation, he can make portal anywhere if his mental image of the place coincides significantly with the real place, but for places he'd never been, it will almost cost him his sanity and maybe his life.
He needs to work on that later, this discovery is a major one.
After feeling that the portal is already wearing him down, Izuku crawled into it. He won't let the pain of making this one come to waste.
***
Sora Maki needs to make an appointment to an ophthalmologist.
Or a psychic.
Sora's clan, the Maki's, belongs to an organization called Karma, an organization (or house as the members call it) who aims to destroy the injustice brought by those greedy crocodiles hiding on their seat on the top of society.
Sora's forefathers were loyal members of the house. The Maki's are one the four pillars of the organization. And his ancestor, Makoto Maki, was very close friend of Midori, the founder of Karma, the first recorded vigilante in Japan.
The Maki's treated Midori as a patron saint or something. They were even taking care of the original headquarters even after the organization disbanded. They said it was to preserve Midori's memory and legacy. Sora's not complaining though. The house is massive, and even after standing for more than half a millennium, it is still impressive and intimidating.
Aside from keeping the house, the Maki's traditions also include story-telling of Midori's and the organization's exploits.
Midori, a brave young man, stood up to end the abuse of power of greedy Feudal Lords half a millennium ago. He has green curly hair, freckles, and a chubby baby face. In fact, a portrait of him was also been hanging in the main hall of the house.
So, imagine Sora's confusion when he saw a kid in front of the house with green curly hair, freckles and a chubby baby face.
Damn, he needs to find some psychic really quick, Sora needs answers right now.
After watching the kid for a while. Sora came with two conclusions. First, this kid is not a ghost. Second, this kid seems lost.
Mustering his serious face, Sora approached the kid.
"You seem lost, child." Sora said sneaking behind the kid. He purposely did it to startle the kid.
The startled kid jumped in surprise just a few inches away from the pond rewarded his pettiness. A remarkable scene for the fact that the kid was originally at least twenty feet away from the pond.
"S-sorry mister. P-promise I'm n-not a thief, I'm just a c-curious wanderer. P-please don't call the police." The kid said bowing to him from the ground and trembling.
"Relax child, I'm not calling the police if you tell me who you are, and why you came here." Sora demanded calmly, guilt bubbling in his chest as he saw how the idea of apprehension scared the kid.
"Mi-midoriya Izuku, m-my name is Midoriya Izuko." Said the kid.
Midoriya?
No one except the original four pillars knew Midori's real name. In the end, Midori's descendants adopted Midoriya as their surname.
"Maybe you know my dad? H-hisashi Midoriya? He has this picture of this house taken more than two hundred years ago. My mom said it's our ancestral house. I was just curious about this place since my father never said a word about this. I just saw this picture while packing our things. I was worried that we came from an ancient clan with a shady background. And I was experimenting on my quirk. I just confirmed that my quirk makes me go to places I want if the mental image I have of the place is identical in real time. And I was just fortunate that this house and the place in general didn't have any major changes since they took the photo. But if this house doesn't belong to our family anymore, I'm really sorry for trespassing. I'm leaving now mister. Nice me---"
"Holy shit kid, do you have some pause button or something?" Sora cut-off the kid's muttering. All of Sora's attempt to sound reputable flew out of the window. He must, the muttering is giving him a head-ache.
Fortunately, the kid stopped muttering. But he just blankly stared at him like he said something in another language.
He let out a deep sigh.
"Don't worry kid." He assured the kid.
"This house still belongs to your family; our clan was just assigned on keeping it in your behalf." He added.
"But you're right about the shady past, though." Sora paused to look at the kid whose eyes widen impossibly.
"But before I explain things to you. I'll let you know that your father chooses to hide things from you for a good reason." Sora hoped this wasn't a lie. He only met Hasahi once for the handover ceremony. He's a good guy, respectable and warm; and for the fact that he's now the beloved president of Japan, he's quite sure the guy has good reasons for hiding things from his son.
"I know. My dad might be a busy guy, but things like this doesn't just flew out of his mind. But that doesn't satisfy my curiosity though, this house is massive and ancient. And seeing it in person made me want to dig more." The kid replied, slowly coming back to his senses since earlier.
"I'm Maki Sora by the way, the caretaker of the house" Sora almost forgot to introduce himself. By the look of the kid's stature, he's sure he will be spending a lot more time with this kid.
"Maki-san," the kid said, tasting how the name sounds.
"Maki-san, I..." the kid trailed off. Sora just patiently waited for the continuation.
"Can I ask you a favour?" the kid asked.
"if I can deliver it kid, why not." Sora at once replied. Now seeing the other similarities shared by this kid and Midori, or what his predecessors told him, the earnest looks on their emerald eyes.
"Can you tell me about our history? I promise I won't tell my dad. I will just act innocent until he will tell me about this. You don't have any oaths to him, do you? It's just I'm very curious. I can't sit down well if I won't grab this opportunity to know the truth." The kid said bashfully.
This kid has his own charm. Just like what the oldies say about Midori.
Sora's heart melted on how earnest the kid looks.
He places his hand on the kid's shoulder.
"Sure thing kid, my oath just covers on taking care of the house. Keeping secrets, specially to those who deserve the truth was not covered." Sora smiled at the kid. He can't help but deliver what the adorable kid's desired.
Having the personal experience, Sora now understood why Midori and his descendants drew his predecessor's attentions.
The kid beamed at him in excitement. And Sora unconsciously squinted at the bright smile.
"Now come on, let me tour you around the house" He offered, walking towards the house.
The kid enthusiastically nodded and followed him.