Izuku Midoriya had a bad day.
For some reason—Kacchan…
Izuku sighed and pushed the thoughts away. Shoulders heavy, he opened the door to the apartment he shared with his mother.
"I'm home," he called, wincing at the crack in his voice.
From the kitchen entryway, his mother—wearing an apron—greeted him while still mixing something in a bowl. "Welcome back, sweetie! I'm making katsudon for dinner tonight," she said, looking up with a smile.
But her expression quickly shifted to concern. She set the bowl down and walked over to him.
Cupping his face, she asked. "Are you okay, dear?"
Izuku forced a shaky smile, though he knew it wouldn't ease her worry. "I'm fine. I just need to unwind after school." He gave her a quick side hug and started down the hall to his room.
Frowning at the lie, she decided to let it drop so she could finish preparations. "Dinner will be ready in a few hours. I just realized we're out of some ingredients, so I'll run to the store," she called after him.
He turned and gave her a more genuine smile. "Okay. Be safe."
Opening his room door, he flicked on the light—only to be met by the bright, oversized face of his idol. A burst of yellow, blue, and red posters nearly blinded him, forcing him to wince and scramble to dim the lights. Normally, seeing his hero would lift his spirits. But today wasn't the day for normal excitement for heroes.
Dropping his bag by the door, he slumped into his desk chair, his head resting against the back of his desk chair. Memories from earlier played on repeat in his mind as he tried to relax.
At the end of every school year until graduation, students had to give presentations about which high schools they wanted to attend and how their choices would help them achieve their goals. Naturally, Izuku's dream of attending U.A. was met with scorn and mockery.
Especially from Kacchan.
"This shit again, Deku?!" Katsuki Bakugo sneered, the expression on his face something between a smirk and a snarl. "This is just pathetic. You really think someone like you could do anything worthwhile without power? You're less than useless garbage."
The laughter of his classmates—and even the teacher's lack of intervention—hit him like a punch to the gut. Their words had chipped away at his determination to become a hero.
Izuku tried to defend his goal with a quiet comeback. "Well, U.A. recently changed their application requirements to allow quirkless people to try."
Katsuki scoffed. "And you think that's enough to get in? Quit kidding yourself, Deku. It wouldn't matter in the next two years or a thousand. You're just going to fail like the dumbass you are." He shrugged.
His eyes stung. He squeezed them shut, forcing the tears back. With a deep breath, he sat up straight, brushing the negativity away like cobwebs.
Letting out a tired sigh, he turned on his computer and began scrolling through the usual hero platforms, hoping to distract himself by updating his notebooks. But news site after news site offered nothing new. A slow day. Not even a new rescue clip to analyze. With a groan, he closed the browser.
His desktop wallpaper came into view—a commissioned drawing of All Might's costume evolution. He stared at it, unsure of what to do next.
Then, almost like fate, his gaze landed on something nestled between the golden bangs of Golden Age All Might.
The app store.
With nothing better to do, Izuku opened the app. The home page was filled with hero-fighting games. He'd never really played them—most were too competitive for his taste. Browsing aimlessly, he opened the filter and searched for non-hero fighting games.
The results showed a decent number of titles. Most apps featured the generic face of a main character, with slideshow previews. Many looked like cheap, AI-generated cash grabs. He scrolled past more uninspired games—until one stood out.
A lone icon: a pixelated red heart.
The slideshow featured only the game's title—Undertale—and its tagline: A game where nobody has to die.
Curious, he tapped the page. It was priced at 700 yen. Shrugging, he bought it. His library now showed just one other game—already downloaded.
Huh. Surprised, Izuku double-clicked the icon.
The screen went black, and a second later so did his surroundings.