It was a day like any other. Izuku Midoriya found himself standing amidst a crowd, watching Pro Heroes battle villains in the busy streets. The thunderous clashes of Quirks echoed across the city, and his eyes followed every move with fascination.
In his hands, he scribbled furiously into his worn notebook—analyzing their techniques, movements, and tactics. Every detail mattered to him. Every note was a step toward the dream that had defined his entire life.
But fate was rarely kind.
Izuku Midoriya was born Quirkless.
Many years ago, the world had changed forever when a luminescent baby was born in Qing Qing City, China—the first recorded person to possess a Quirk. From that moment on, people around the globe began manifesting extraordinary abilities, reshaping society in ways no one could have predicted.
Yet this new age also gave rise to chaos. Those who abused their powers turned to villainy, forcing brave souls to rise as vigilantes to keep the peace.
When the turmoil settled, a new profession emerged: the Pro Hero.
And from the moment Izuku could understand what that meant, he wanted to become one of them.
His idol was none other than All Might, the Symbol of Peace and the No. 1 Hero of Japan. Izuku dreamed of standing beside him one day, saving lives with a smile that could inspire hope.
But that dream had always been shadowed by an unyielding truth—he was one of the twenty percent of the population born without a Quirk. Despite his mother's mild telekinesis and his father's ability to breathe fire, Izuku had inherited nothing.
Still, he refused to give up. His dream, though fragile, remained alive.
That morning, he nearly ran late to school, his mind still replaying the Pro Heroes' battle he had just witnessed. Fortunately, his sense of responsibility outweighed his distractions. The bell rang just as he stepped into class, panting, yet relieved.
"Alright, everyone!" his teacher called out cheerfully. "You're all in third grade now! It's about time you started thinking seriously about your future. I'll be handing out career aspiration forms!"
The students groaned and murmured in response. Izuku quietly lowered his head, already knowing what would happen next. His chosen dream would only make him a target again.
As expected, the teacher waved the forms aside with a grin. "Who am I kidding? I already know what you all want to be—Pro Heroes!"
The class erupted into cheers, desks shaking from excitement.
Everyone wanted to be a hero.
Everyone… except the boy who couldn't.
Amid the noise, a confident voice cut through.
"Hey, teach!"
Katsuki Bakugo leaned back in his chair, a smirk plastered across his face as he propped his legs on his desk. "Don't lump me in with the rest of these extras! I'm not like them."
The room went silent for a moment before filling again with murmurs and annoyed protests. Bakugo ignored them all, laughing in self-satisfaction. He basked in the attention, completely sure of his superiority.
"Oh yeah, Bakugo," the teacher said, reading his form aloud. "You're aiming for U.A. High School, right?"
Gasps filled the room.
"The most prestigious hero school in Japan?" one student exclaimed. "You need a score of at least seventy-nine percent just to get in!"
"It's supposed to have the hardest entrance exam in the country!" another added.
Bakugo snickered. "You background characters sure love running your mouths. I'm the only one here who got an A on the exams! None of you are even in my league!"
He stood on his desk proudly, fire in his voice. "I'll surpass All Might himself! I'll become the greatest hero the world's ever known! My name will go down in history!"
The teacher chuckled. "Midoriya, you're applying to U.A. too, right?"
The room went dead silent.
Bakugo froze mid-smirk.
Then, slowly, his expression twisted into rage.
Laughter broke out around Izuku as he shrank in his seat. He could feel dozens of eyes mocking him, ridiculing his hopeless dream. His heart pounded, but he forced himself to speak, trembling.
"I-It's not set in stone yet! M-Maybe I can still—!"
BOOM!
A sudden explosion rocked his desk, scattering papers and smoke. Izuku stumbled backward, collapsing onto the floor as Bakugo glared down at him, hand still smoking.
"You dare to compare yourself to me!?" Bakugo shouted. "You don't even belong among weaklings—you're beneath them! And you think you can stand next to me at U.A.!?"
"I-I wasn't trying to compete with you, Kacchan!" Izuku stammered desperately. "It's just… it's been my dream since I was little… I just want to become a hero…"
"Dream?" Bakugo scoffed. "What kind of dream can a Quirkless loser like you have!? You're nothing! Useless!"
When class ended, Izuku quietly packed his things, hoping to leave unnoticed. But Bakugo had other plans.
"You and I aren't done, Deku," he said coldly, snatching the notebook from Izuku's desk.
"H-Hey! Give that back, Kacchan!" Izuku pleaded.
Bakugo's friends leaned in, laughing. "What's this? 'Hero Analysis for the Future'? What a joke!"
"It's none of your business! Please, just give it back!"
Without hesitation, Bakugo ignited his palm and blasted the notebook with an explosion, sending burning pages fluttering out the open window. Izuku's breath caught as he watched his treasured notes—the product of years of admiration and hard work—vanish into the sky.
Bakugo turned to him, smirking in disdain. "Listen up, Deku. Don't even think about applying to U.A. High. I want everyone to know I'm the best, and if you so much as try to act like you're worth something, I'll make sure you never have a future. Got it?"
He grabbed Izuku's shoulder tightly, his voice low and venomous. Izuku froze, trembling. He couldn't fight back—couldn't even speak.
Bakugo leaned closer, his grin cruel. "There's actually another way for you to become a hero, Deku. Why don't you take a swan dive off the roof and hope you're reborn with a Quirk in your next life? It's faster."
Izuku's eyes widened in horror. His body trembled with anger, but fear won out. Bakugo flared his hand again, warning him to stay silent.
"You got something to say, nerd?"
Izuku said nothing. He simply stared at the floor as Bakugo and his lackeys laughed their way out of the room, leaving him alone in the echoing silence.
When they were gone, he went outside, trudging toward the small pond behind the school. Floating in the murky water was his charred notebook.
He reached in, pulling it out carefully, his reflection staring back at him—wet, trembling, and broken.
He tried to smile. Tried to laugh it off. But his voice cracked. The tears came anyway.
There was no one around to see his pathetic self.And maybe that was for the best.
Unbeknownst to Izuku Midoriya, a figure watched him from afar—silent, spectral, and foreboding. Cloaked in both elegance and menace, the stranger's orange eyes glimmered through the shadow of a black half-mask, framed by tousled strands of dark, wavy hair that rippled in the breeze like threads of midnight.
He was clad in a sleek violet bodysuit trimmed with raven-feather gauntlets, the center of his chest marked by a cracked orange heart that pulsed faintly with energy. A tattered cloak, dark as twilight and frayed at its edges like the wings of a fallen raven, fluttered behind him as though alive.
On his wrist gleamed a watch—its face glowing with an eerie, cursed light.
He was known only by a single name.
Unknown.
"Is this truly the boy destined to wield One For All?" the figure mused aloud, his tone laced with disbelief. His piercing eyes lingered on the trembling green-haired boy below.
"Hard to imagine. Still… this variant of Izuku Midoriya comes from one of the most fragile timelines. The multiverse never fails to surprise. Unfortunately…" His voice grew colder. "…I must erase you, Izuku Midoriya. This reality requires 'adjustment'."
The glowing watch on his wrist began to hum with life as he tapped its surface. In an instant, space around him distorted.
A rift of green light opened beneath his feet, and in the blink of an eye, he appeared before Izuku, who fell backward in shock.
Before the boy could flee, Unknown raised his hand, and a luminous green force field materialized around him—spherical, humming with strange, crystalline energy.
The world outside dimmed, sound warped, and Izuku's desperate footsteps halted against the unyielding barrier.
"W–Who are you!?" he stammered, slamming his fists against the shimmering wall, only for ripples of light to spread and fade uselessly.
"Don't bother," the masked man replied coolly. "An ordinary human like you cannot shatter the power of a Miraculous. Your struggle is futile."
Izuku froze at the unfamiliar word. "M–Miraculous…?"
Unknown tilted his head slightly. "You may call me Unknown. I've been ordered to remove you from this particular timeline. You see, this is the only version of reality where you neither inherit One For All nor fall into villainy. A… 'baby reality,' as I call it. And it's about to die."
Izuku's eyes widened. "W–What are you talking about!? Somebody help! Please!"
Unknown sighed softly, as though pressed for time. "Calm yourself, boy. I can't afford to explain everything. Your universe will soon collapse—reversed into nothingness to satisfy the hunger of a Kwami. You have less than three hours before everything you know is consumed. I'm here to save one person from this doomed world. That person… is you."
Izuku's panic erupted. "What!? No, wait—what do you mean, disappear!? You can't just—what about my mom!?" His voice cracked as tears welled up. "Please, save her too! I can't leave her!"
"Unfortunately, Izuku Midoriya," Unknown said quietly, regret flickering behind his mask, "I can only save one soul per reality consumed. Your mother understood this."
He produced a small, white iPod from within his cloak, its screen faintly glowing.
"She recorded a message for you—to spare you from hating me for this."
Unknown deactivated the barrier just long enough to hand the device to him before restoring it again. Izuku's trembling hands clutched the iPod like a lifeline.
"Why?" he cried. "Why is this happening!? Why destroy our world!?"
Unknown's gaze softened, though his tone remained steady. "You'll understand one day. When next we meet, I'll tell you everything. For now, I'm sending you to another multiverse—a place where your existence still matters. A world far different from your own… where your role will be greater than even I can predict."
Izuku's heart raced as he held both his half-burned notebook and the iPod to his chest. "I don't understand! None of this makes sense!"
"It will," Unknown said, his voice like a whisper at the edge of reality. "When your mind clears, you'll see. Until then, remain still while I transport you."
"W–What do you me—!?"
Before he could finish, Unknown pressed a button on his watch. The barrier folded in on itself, and a portal of emerald light swallowed Izuku whole. The boy vanished into the rift, his final shout echoing briefly before the portal sealed shut.
The air grew heavy. Students who had been nearby froze in terror before erupting into screams, running through the halls and out into the streets. "A villain! Someone kidnapped Midoriya!"
Unknown turned his gaze skyward, his cloak rippling in the wind. Above, the heavens darkened—clouds churning into an unnatural spiral as shadows consumed the sun.
"Screaming won't save you," he murmured. His orange eyes glowed faintly through the mask. "I'm sorry… but your fate was sealed long before I arrived."
And with that, the masked figure stepped backward into his own portal, vanishing as the first cracks of oblivion began to crawl across the edges of the sky.