Judge me and I'll murder you. 🦐🔪
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A long time ago in a galaxy far far awa- oh wait, wrong series. Uhhh... Oh yeah. So, like a few hundred years ago or so some baby started glowing. Everybody freaked out until it became completely normal... Not the glowing babies thing, but the people having powers thing. Anyways, these powers were eventually called quirks and now EVERYBODY has them! ...Almost everybody. There are still a couple people out there who don't, but they don't do much.

Anyways. So after a while, government did its thing and banned people from using their quirks in public and I think out in the wilderness too..? I dunno. I'll have to ask about that. So yeah, that kinda sucks. But, don't worry, you can earn the power you were born with back mAgiCalLy! WOW!... All you have to do is sell your soul to the government. And risk your neck on a daily basis to save other people from their own stupidity.

...You can probably see why I'm not all too fond of this... *sigh* Oh well...that's just how the world turns. Nothing I can really do about it. *shrugs*

Ya know... It's kinda funny starting off with all this, under the context that this is the story of how I BECAME one of these "heroes."

Sometimes I just confuse myself..

Oh well. Enjoy the show, I guess.

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I...wasn't the kind one would expect to become a hero...

"Suii." My dead-pan voice wandered across the classroom to the shorter girl with long, green hair. Her already large eyes widened, head turning from the friends standing beside her toward me. "Meet me outside. Under the big tree." I followed up with. The shorter girl croaked, a little taken off guard by my hollow stare. I kept my unwavering gaze on her meek posture until at last I was at the door. Sliding one shoulder strap to my backpack over my shoulder, I turned and left the eerily quiet space.

Everyone remaining on campus was just conversing. Friends with friends... Enemies with enemies.

Within only a few short minutes, the frog girl bounced my way until she breached the shade of the tree's tall branches over us. The flower petals overhead were bright pink and just beginning to fall. ...Perhaps I should have chosen another location... Everything here was too tranquil and beautiful to match the topic at hand.

"You wanted to speak with me?" That girl's annoying voice squeaked once more. I shifted my eyes from staring at the tree above to the smaller girl's form. I too was female, though slouched and bearing the consistent, dead-souled expression that always ticked people off. The hostility of my simple glare alone was enough to clue the girl in on whatever was on my mind.

"You're applying for UA." I stated as though it were fact no one could deny.

Her eyes widened. "H-how did you know?! I haven't even told anyone yet!-"

"I have my ways.." Hands shoved into my pockets, the little of my face that could be seen under my pale blue hair was grim and steadily darkening under the growing shadow. Despite all this, pink flower petals flew past ignorantly. My body turned to face the girl head-on at last. Even as I slouched, she was several inches shorter than me. "Now, are you going to retract your application, or am I going to have to put you back in your place during the entrance exam?" My head tilted back, exposing my attempt at a grin. My canines shown. The girl shivered.

"I- I didn't know you had applied too!" She first responded with. But then, she paused. Despite my obvious threat, Suii decided to respond in a way that I wasn't exactly expecting... She stood straighter, the ferocity in her eyes competing with my own as she decided on what to say. "You know what? No! No, I won't retract my application, and NO I won't let you push me around any more! I want to be a hero to save people! And UA is my best bet! What is your reason for applying?? Just to mess with me?!" Automatically, I straightened my back some and widened my eyes a little. Suii wasn't exactly the kind to talk back like that. Then again, I had only been going to this school a couple years now and had no idea what she was like before.

A moment passed. Then I realized she had just asked me a question. A question I was now so dumbly ignoring. "Simple." I caught myself to prevent further humiliation. "Because I want to. And I don't need any other reason than that." Huffing, I gave her the best answer I had. She...wasn't exactly satisfied, but hey, that's just life.

"Well no matter what your reason is, I am not going to give up on my dreams either! You can threaten and tease me all you want, but I'm not giving up for you!"

Such a statement would have gotten anyone else in my position riled up. Maybe the more aggressive type might have punched her across the jaw, or perhaps in the gut...but I was no such person.

I had standards.

My cold stare was her response, calculating brows tightening just slightly on my forehead. There was nothing where the anger should have been, only calculative reasoning for how I knew to react. I had seen enough television to know this was strange...but this was just how I worked.

That was the end of our discussion, but not our debate.

In the Entrance Exam, I went on to trip that girl up so bad that she ended up spraining her ankle and was unable to complete it.

I wasn't exactly the kind of person one would expect to become a hero.

But this is the story about how I became one of the best.

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BRAP! BRAP! BRAP!

I tumbled out of bed to the sound of the alarm. In a frantic fashion, I managed to twist my ankle, bump my funny bone, chip a tooth, and bruise my skull in the matter of five seconds! Ughhh! Let's try that again, shall we?!

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BRAP! BRAP! BRAP- click...

Much better. Not startled by the sound this time, I rose carefully from bed and checked that my alarm volume was set just a smidge lower. A little jittery from the quick save, I stretched my arms high into the air, yawning loudly as my eyes pried awake.

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!

"I'm going to get you, Kinsé!" A small child screamed.

"Noonononono!" Another shrieked as he too ran over the wooded floor. Both were laughing, so it was probably fine. I groaned again as I stretched my whole body and slid a faint purple shawl to cover my thin strap tank-top. My black shorts were decent enough to wear out in the public space of my own house at least. Who knows, though? Sometimes, my little brothers brought friends over without warning.

The sliding door opened to reveal my head of medium length, messy hair. After a quick glance around, I concluded it was safe enough to step outside. The wall directly in front of my door was entirely window and fancy glass doors. The space in front of my room itself was a decently sized living room with plenty of chairs and sofas to sprawl out on after a long day, along with a television mounted over a modern fireplace. Beyond the glass was a pretty, overgrown garden with a marble fountain in the center that doubled as a small pool for the boys. To the right of me was the modern/Japanese style kitchen -- the whole house was to fit this style, modern with a hint of old fashioned Japanese for flavor -- and to the left was a hallway lined with bedroom and bathroom doors. The whole place was rather clean for a house containing three rambunctious little boys.

"Daseot! Stop chasing your brother around and help me clean the dishes already!" My mom commanded from within the confines of the kitchen. The kitchen was severed from the living room by only a long countertop. My mother was zooming around, a blur hurrying to clean up the mess made from fixing up breakfast. A plate full of pancakes still steamed atop the counter, hardly touched by my brothers. For the longest time, everyone thought my mom had a super speed quirk, but turns out it was a little more complicated than that. She can control time itself, either speeding up or slowing down the world around her as she pleases. Of course, this quirk had its limit, but my mom was never the kind to test those limits. One of my little brothers also had this quirk...but I couldn't remember who for the life of me.

Daseot stopped chasing his brother to whine back, "But it's Zig's turn!!" The eight year old complained. Mom just stood there intimidatingly, tapping her foot as she glared down the child. Finally, the boy yielded and left his play to help her in the kitchen. She started moving around quickly again, zooming past me on occasion down the hall. I moseyed towards the kitchen much, much slower than her. Meandering about with no real destination in mind. I couldn't shake the feeling that there was somewhere I needed to be, but I couldn't remember for the life of me what it was. Oh well. Must have not been very important.

My tired eyes scanned over the wall of pictures as I walked past. Many were just a bunch of small moments of the boys and their dad going fishing or bowling or something else together. My dad always had the funniest faces! 'Funniest,' in that he gave it no effort at all. He would smile a little, sure, but it was rare to catch a genuine smile of his at all, much less on camera! Heck! Even his wedding pictures had him just barely smirking. At least his long black hair was up in a nice bun for those pictures. I myself had a few vague memories of the wedding. I was only six. I remembered being obsessed with the wedding cake and how pretty it was, as well as insisting my new dad carry me around half the time on his back, hence why so many of the pictures of that day had me innocently pulling on his man bun or something.

You see... I was what was often referred to as an "accident child." My mom wasn't always as uptight and, well, motherly as she is now. One night she got drunk, met a guy, and had a one-night stand. She didn't even remember what he looked like! Well, whoever it was sure musta known how to turn on the charm... I sometimes wished I had inherited some of that. One failed attempt at conversation with a stranger was all it took to thoroughly ruin any sense of pride I had for half a year!

I sat down finally at the countertop and pulled out a plate to set the pancake of choice on. As I ate, my mother grew more and more antsy. I didn't quite know what was wrong, and I was too insistent on keeping my chore list as short as possible to dare ask.

That's when my -- technically step dad -- arrived. I heard the soft click of the front door opening, which immediately alerted the boys to his location. "DAD!!!" All three exclaimed. Even Daseot at the dishes stopped what he was doing to run down another hallway branching from the kitchen toward the front door. My dad tiredly chuckled as the three tackled his legs. He arrived a moment later, one child latched to one leg as he carried another equally clingy young one at his hip. Just like their dad, all the boys had jet black hair. My mom had dark brown hair. I was the odd ball; my bright, nearly white hair stood out like a sore thumb among my family.

My step dad was undeniably something special! His hero costume was all baggy and black, neck completely obscured by a massive weaving of thin gray scarves which were secretly his weapon. Daseot ran around with his father's yellow, slit goggles in hand. The man of the house had scruffy stubble and a thick head of long hair that only on rare occasions wasn't all knotted and blown around. His sons were clearly following in his footsteps. It was a challenge enough just to make all three of them care about their hair enough to brush it!

My half brothers, by the way, were often easy to mix up in the whirl of them! The older two were twins, Daseot and Kinse. Eight years old. Zwanzig, or just Zig, was the most recent addition to the family at only five years old. And together, the three were a near unstoppable force! Thank All-Might the twins knew not to use their quirks and Zig had yet to receive his!!

Dad eventually shooed the boys off of him so he could address Mom, who was still scurrying about in a blur, mumbling too fast for anyone to comprehend. As he turned his attention to her, his eyes focused on the blur. Suddenly, his irises shifted color, glowing a bright red. His long hair levitated for a brief moment. My mother suddenly stopped speeding. A little taken off guard, she fell forwards. All lined up perfectly enough for her husband to catch her before she landed. "Easy now, Deserae..." Propping her back up with a gentle add-on to the typical monotone way he spoke. "Heh, it is just another day at school." He assured calmly, casually placing a kiss on my mom's cheek.

"Another day? Another DAY?! (Y/n) is going to attend UA orientation!"

I spat a month full of milk all over my pancakes. "Wait, TH-THAT'S TODAY?!?" My eyes widened, instant regret for having forgotten such an important thing like what DAY it was. I was still recovering in my own way from replaying the exams over and over again until I could at the very least pass both the written and trial run! Doing something like that not only skewed my perception of time for a bit, but it also drained me a LOT both mentally AND physically!...

My parents' eyes turned to me after I had shouted, staring suspiciously my way. My face somehow both paled and reddened at the same time. Painful regret overcame every inch of my body. "Are you telling me you forgot-?" My mother asked with a scoff.

"I- I- well- well- well- well- I- class time a-a-and yes-ss."

"You are making no sense..." Dad.

"Remember to think about what you want to say first." The condescending tone of my mother chimed in, just adding onto the already painfully blunt way my father spoke.

"I um- I um... I um..." Forcing myself to calm down, I closed my eyes tightly, fighting back the inner turmoil of nonsense.

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"Another day? Another DAY?! (Y/n) is going to attend UA orientation!" My mom squeaked. I sat up a little taller in my chair, remembering all the steps required to speak without flaw.

"O-oh! I should..." pausing to let my mind and mouth catch up again, "probably start getting ready right now.." Head lowered a little, I stood from the tall stool at the kitchen bar and turned away.

"Hm... Good job pacing yourself this time. Perhaps that speech therapy is actually doing you some good after all?" Dad sounded. I just nodded. Sure... That was the case. Satisfied with watching me slowly step back toward my room, the husband to my mom turned to her again. "Sorry I came so late. Busy doing paperwork at my agency...." He continued to talk casually with her as the three little boys scurried about in the kitchen around them. I slid back into my room.

Determination set in once I slid the door closed behind me. It was decided. Today would go smoothly with NO incidents ending in embarrassment for myself! Today was my first day. I determined it would be flawless, even if that meant restarting from the very beginning a hundred times over!

I appeared about ten minutes later with my new school uniform on and my old backpack slung over one shoulder. Dad was eating pancakes when I passed by the kitchen. "Bye." I added before leaving.

"Wait-" Mom came rushing up to me. Before I could prepare, my mom had me wrapped in a tight squeeze. She pressed her face onto one of my shoulders and I sighed. "...I'm so glad you're on your way to becoming a hero, Zeya. I want to see you save hundreds of lives someday!" She smiled. I stood there stiffly, just letting her hug me since I had no clue what else to do. Saving lives, eh? Guess that is part of being a hero. I...forgot that somehow.

"Thousands." I added. "You'll see me save thousands." I had no idea the weight of my words. I just wanted to say whatever would make my mom happy. That was my only known to me goal in life, after all.

I just wanted to see her smile...

I knew I was saying the right thing when she did exactly that. Her head lifted and she just held both my shoulders in place as she stared directly into my eyes. "You're right." Tears lined her eyes. "I want to see you save thousands..." She hugged me again briefly before finally letting me go. I politely nodded a too-da-loo and headed out the door.

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"Zeya." I spun around after hearing my name called. Just then emerging from the garage with a bike at my side, I turned curiously to my dad. He had plans to walk there since he was in no rush..somehow. The car would be left behind for my mom to use. Under one arm of his was a curious yellow bundle. "A few things before we start class today.." I stiffened a little as my attention was turned fully to him now. He was usually really chill with me, but..ever since I applied for UA...something changed. Something I wasn't sure I'd ever be able to shake. Nothing much. Just...the little things in his posture and how he spoke around me. "First off, don't think you get any kind of privileges for being the teacher's daughter-"

"-Wait, so I'm in your class??"

"I wasn't finished."

"-Oh! Sorry, sorry.."

"So, while you're on school grounds I want you to refer to me as Mr. Aizawa. I'll refer to you by your mother's maiden name in return."

"Mh?"

"Also, don't think that just because you are my daughter means I'll go easy on you." That's when the intensity in his eyes multiplied by a thousand. My dad's dark gaze met mine. No longer did I see the kind, gentle eyes of my father, but the cold and calculating glare of the teacher who had expelled his entire class last year... I gulped. I knew exactly what he was getting at. "You thought the exams were hard? Believe me, this is just the beginning. Not even with your quirk will you be able to hide every flaw from me. And when I see so much as a stumble in your posture..." His face aimed downward, eyes still keeping with mine. "That's it."

I didn't even realize my fists were clenched until the sweat within began to build. I shook, thinking to myself how this was only a fraction of the intensity my dad subjected villains to and I was already caving! I ended our intense little staring contest, chickening out at the end to bitterly stare at the concrete floor. "Alright.." was all I could muster.

That was it. I hopped onto my bike and rode off.

Even more reason to make sure my first day was flawless.

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As I arrived, I untied my medium length hair from its ponytail and brushed my fingers through it. I usually kept it just past shoulder length so it was both easy to put up and not annoying to keep down.

I didn't realize how jittery I was until my bike stood safely locked away. I knew this place decently enough. All the major halls flashed through my head as memories of visiting my dad during after school hours flooded back in. I was assigned to Class 1A then. Would have been a cinch to find had they not renovated the place a couple years back. I was still adjusting to that change.

After racing down the halls with my backpack not even thrown over my shoulders but instead clutched against my chest, I worried I might be late already.

The smallest mistake would lead to my expulsion. I couldn't afford to make one mistake!

SLAM!

I was panting, spit nearly dripping from my exposed teeth when my body stood boldly in the doorway. My bleak brown eyes wandered upward. In surprise, my mouth suddenly closed seeing there were only two other students. I gulped, stood myself up straighter, and chuckled. Ah, of course... I was early. Heh...

"Don't tell me you were just running in the halls?!" A tall, fit young man flung himself from his chair. Wearing glasses similar to mine, the dark haired one pointed his entire arm in my direction like some odd robotic salute. My posture stiffened only a little more. But of course his harsh speech wasn't about to ruin the relief I felt for being early. The only other girl in class sat stiffly with her hands folded on the desk. Like the other student, she too was relatively tall and fit, with a crown of dark locks twisting atop her head. I calmed down and scooched to my assigned seating. There were little pieces of paper on each desk. Darn, I usually went with the back row... Looks like my dad wanted me up front where he could keep his eyes on me... I sat down at the far right side of the class.

Taking my seat, I sloppily shoved all my books and stuff under my desk, and rested my back against the chair. The other two sat silently, scarily staring ahead like NPCs or something. I attempted thinking about maybe taking the chance at starting conversation with the two, but to be honest, the two were a little too intimidating for that. I turned to the contents of my desk. Very odd desk by the way. More rectangular than what I was used to. And there was no kicking room. Only these walls of wood created with the explicit purpose of annoying me. Gosh, I could already see myself getting into so much trouble for idly kicking the wood to some beat without even realizing it.

After some rummaging, of which I was super self conscious about since I was the ONLY one in the room making any noise, I pulled out a spare notebook and pen. All the pages were blank with no lines, and my pencil the special drawing kind. I flipped open the empty drawing notebook and set to sketching on the first page. Started with the first thing that came to mind: a monkey. It was purposefully very cartoonish and silly. However, next to the monkey -- once I was finished with that -- I started drawing in more detail a mermaid sitting atop the sparkling rocky shore.

More kids began trickling in soon after I started. I hardly did as much as raise my head. Though I did notice one little boy with odd purple, almost plastic looking hair stop beside my desk and stare at what I was drawing for a little bit.

"...Can you draw her with bigger boobs?" I heard in my right ear. My head turned slowly, a stiff, deathly glare staring down the small salivating boy. After I had properly processed the situation, I faintly smirked.

"Hm. Didn't know this school accepted twelve year olds." That got him.

"OH WOW! REAL ORIGINAL!" The absolute hysteria that broke out of me in a genuine laugh angered the small one even more, but he just growled and stomped away instead of actually doing anything. The moment I saw half a dozen eyes on me, my laughing ceased. Odd. Some girl with no head or hands sat next to me at the other- ohh... She was invisible... I stared at her for a little bit curiously before returning back to my paper and pen. With a few small strokes, I finished the mermaid's long, flowy hair. Only a couple seconds of satisfaction later and I was drawing something else. This time a pirate ship with torn sails and raging waves all around. I had fun imagining how all of this was because of a curse cast upon the ship for having stolen the mermaid princess, who I decided was the girl I had just drawn earlier. I was just about to start drawing the lightning striking one of the sails when-

"Hmh, not too bad...for a first year (kindergartener)." I slammed my pencil down on the paper. There was little I found myself genuinely offended by... This was one of them.

"Oh yeah, smarta##? Let's see you try." I glared up, eyes meeting two crimson ones. It was a little bizarre. I had only just insulted him and he was already glaring. As my insult set in, the teen's lips parted to reveal sharp canines.

"WHAT DID YOU CALL ME?!" He started up, drawing attention from all corners of the classroom. "I'LL SHOW YOU WHAT REAL SKILL LOOKS LIKE!" Keeping my calm -- though painfully not used to the intensity this boy was bringing -- I flipped to the next page in my spiral book and scooted it across the desk closer to him. The spiky haired boy tore the pencil from my hand and roughly started scratching something out on paper. I had to lean back a bit just with how much his elbows were flying to and fro. In a blur of speedy movements and shouting as though he was charging up for a special move, spiky hair had finished. As the dust cleared, I leaned forwards.

The moment I saw it, I had to cover my mouth, a small laugh hissing through my fingers. "Tss-ss-ss-ss!"

"WHAT?!" Spiky hair shouted. This only made me laugh even harder. The absolute ignorance was hysterical!

(Something along these lines but with more explosions.)

"Hhhhhhhhaah! Dang, bro, that's even WORSE than a first year!" I fell back in the chair, clutching my stomach in laughter. Meanwhile, the spiky haired boy's face plummeted into a dark shade of red that nearly matched his eyes!

"AAAAA! GIVE ME THAT!!" He snatched my notebook. That's when I jumped up.

"Hey, wait! That's MINE!!!" I kinda ran out of things to say there. There was a stirring through the whole, now packed classroom as the drama between us two only escalated. Some poor kid with bushy green hair was witness to the worst of it, his eyes widening the moment they peered through the large door.

I jumped for my notebook as spiky hair shoved a hand in my face. Between the teen's fingers, my eyes bore witness to a small explosion going off in the boy's other hand. My book was burnt to a crisp. "NOOO!" I shouted. Fueled by a heated rage, I tore spiky hair's hand off my face and savagely bit into the meat of his palm.

"AAAOOWWW! WHAT THE CRAP?!" A little bite mark was left behind. I received a mighty fine blow to the cheek for that.

"C-CUT IT OUT, GUYS!!" A squeal sounded behind me. The short kid ran out from behind and grabbed one of my wrists with the intent to pull me away. Spiky hair dropped my journal in favor of catching my other wrist as it swung his way wildly. I had no idea what I was even doing! Why was I going so berserk all of a sudden?! But, there I was, trying to claw at this other teen who equally wanted me dead.

...Guess I didn't have the standards I thought I had... :/

And that's when--

My eyes snapped in the direction of the doorframe upon spotting a familiar face. My eyes widened... Oh no...

There he was. Mr. Aizawa. His dark eyes stared at me emotionlessly, and yet I knew exactly what he was thinking.

I was doomed...

All the hasty movements finally yanked the short boy from his spot, and since he had a firm hold on my wrist, he fell forwards, colliding with and shoving me forward, past the defenses of spiky hair. Before the next second had even flown by, I had fallen into the awkward predicament of my face pressed against the chest of my enemy, and some small pervert falling forwards clumsily onto my buttox. The three of us tumbled towards the floor in unison, yet my eyes never left my dad.

In that dreadful moment, only one thought raced through my mind:

Not even one hundred repeats could fix today. ...Still wish I had the chance.

But then-

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Wish granted...