Chapter 3: The Boy Who Never Gave Up
POV: Nova Asahi
Six weeks in Musutafu had carved new rhythms into Nova's borrowed life. The morning runs no longer left him gasping like a dying fish—his stamina had evolved from pathetic to merely inadequate. His evening patrols had become routine, a steady accumulation of small heroics that fed the system's hungry algorithms while soothing his conscience with genuine good deeds.
[NOVA ASAHI - LEVEL 4] [STR: 15 | AGI: 18 | END: 13 | INT: 10 | WIS: 10 | LUK: 10] [Hero Points: 150] [EXP: 1,200/4,000]
One hundred and fifty points. Still pathetically short of the two thousand needed for his first real roll, but progress nonetheless. Each number represented sweat, bruises, and the grateful faces of people who'd needed help in dark alleys and empty streets.
The late afternoon sun painted Aldera Middle School's gates in shades of gold and regret as Nova passed by on his way to the convenience store. He'd been avoiding this route—too many memories of animated scenes, too much risk of encountering characters whose fates he knew too intimately. But today his usual path was blocked by construction, forcing him past the school where Japan's future Symbol of Peace currently suffered in anonymous obscurity.
"Just keep walking. Buy your dinner, go home, start tonight's patrol. Don't look for trouble."
The sound of cruel laughter froze his feet to the concrete.
Four boys clustered around the school's koi pond, their voices carrying the particular viciousness that only teenage cruelty could achieve. Nova's enhanced agility—eighteen points now, nearly double his starting value—let him move closer without being noticed, slipping between parked cars like a ghost.
His heart stopped when he saw the victim.
Green hair the color of forest moss. Freckles scattered across pale cheeks like constellations. Eyes that held too much hope for someone so clearly beaten down by life. The boy looked exactly like his animated counterpart, but smaller somehow—more fragile, as if drawn with trembling hands.
Izuku Midoriya. The future wielder of One For All. The boy who would inherit All Might's power and save the world a dozen times over.
Right now, he was just a fourteen-year-old getting his notebook thrown into murky water while his classmates laughed.
"Oh. Oh fuck. This is really happening."
Nova's meta-knowledge crashed over him like a tidal wave. Every detail of Izuku's story flooded his consciousness—the years of bullying, the moment he'd meet All Might, the training that would prepare him for One For All. This scene wasn't just random cruelty; it was a pivotal moment in the future hero's origin story.
"The notebook. In canon, Kacchan destroyed it with explosions and told Izuku to jump off the roof. That's what pushes him to save Kacchan from the sludge villain. That's what makes All Might notice him."
But Kacchan wasn't here. Just four generic bullies whose names Nova didn't know, whose roles in the larger story were so minor they'd never been given personalities beyond "cruel teenagers."
One of them grabbed Izuku's shoulder, spinning him around. "What's wrong, Deku? Too scared to fish out your precious hero notes?"
"Please," Izuku whispered, his voice barely audible across the courtyard. "That's my only copy of—"
The largest bully's hand drew back, fingers curled into a fist aimed at Izuku's face. That punch would land unless someone intervened. In canon, no one had. Heroes who fought monsters every day somehow never noticed the small cruelties happening in their own neighborhoods.
Nova moved before conscious thought could stop him.
His improved agility carried him across the courtyard in heartbeats, feet silent on concrete still warm from the afternoon sun. The bully's fist was already in motion when Nova's hand intercepted it, fingers wrapping around the attacker's wrist with strength born from six weeks of relentless training.
"Four on one?" Nova's voice came out steadier than he felt. "That's not very heroic."
The courtyard fell silent. Four bullies stared at the stranger who'd appeared from nowhere, their victim forgotten in the face of this new threat. Nova felt their eyes measuring him—height, weight, threat assessment. His lean frame didn't look particularly intimidating, but something in his stance made them hesitate.
"They're afraid. Not of my strength, but of my confidence. I'm acting like someone who belongs here, like someone who has the right to intervene."
"Who the hell are you?" The largest bully tried to pull his wrist free, but Nova's grip held firm. Eighteen points of agility translated to reflexes and coordination that made him seem faster than he actually was.
"Someone who thinks picking on Quirkless kids is pathetic." Nova released the boy's wrist and stepped between them and Izuku. "Find someone your own size to fight."
"Quirkless kids. Plural. Don't single out Izuku specifically. Act like this is generic heroics, not targeted intervention."
The bullies exchanged uncertain glances. Without Bakugo's explosive charisma to fuel their cruelty, they were just ordinary teenagers faced with someone who didn't flinch from confrontation. The social dynamics shifted in ways Nova could read like a simple equation—remove the strongest personality, and group courage evaporated.
"This isn't over," the largest bully muttered, but he was already backing away. "Come on, guys. This loser isn't worth it."
They left with the particular swagger that bullies used when retreating—heads high, shoulders back, pretending their exit was voluntary. Nova watched them go, tension draining from muscles he hadn't realized were coiled for violence.
Behind him, water splashed as Izuku waded into the koi pond.
"No, wait—" Nova turned to see the green-haired boy fishing soggy paper from the muddy water, tears mixing with pond scum on his cheeks. "You'll ruin it completely if it gets too wet."
But Izuku was already pulling the notebook free, pages hanging like wounded birds. Years of hero analysis, detailed observations about Quirk applications and fighting techniques—all dissolving into gray pulp.
"This isn't how it happens in canon. I changed it. The notebook was supposed to survive Kacchan's explosion, not get destroyed by pond water because I interfered."
Nova felt the weight of butterfly effects settling on his shoulders. One intervention, and already the timeline was shifting in unpredictable directions.
"It's ruined." Izuku's voice cracked on the words, small hands trying desperately to separate pages that had fused into unreadable lumps. "Three years of work, and it's all ruined."
The despair in that voice cut through Nova's concerns about timeline preservation. This wasn't a character in a story anymore—this was a real fourteen-year-old boy watching his dreams dissolve in dirty water.
"Hey." Nova stepped into the pond, ignoring the cold seeping through his shoes. "It's not ruined. Look—the pencil marks are still visible on some pages. We can save most of it if we're careful."
Izuku looked up at him with eyes that held too much gratitude for such a small kindness. "You don't have to... I mean, you already helped so much..."
"I'm Nova Asahi." He offered his hand, and after a moment's hesitation, Izuku took it. His grip was weak, softer than someone their age should be—the hands of someone who'd never been allowed to fight back. "And you are?"
"Izuku Midoriya." The name came out as barely a whisper, like he wasn't sure he deserved to take up space with his identity.
"Control your expression. Act like this is the first time you're hearing that name. Don't let him see that you know him better than he knows himself."
"Nice to meet you, Izuku." Nova pulled him out of the pond, both of them dripping and muddy. "Those guys said you were Quirkless. That true?"
Izuku's face crumpled with shame. "Yes. I know it's pathetic, but I still want to be a hero anyway. Everyone says I'm delusional, but I can't help hoping that maybe—"
"It's not pathetic." The words came out harder than Nova intended, carrying weight from his own experience as the only powerless person in a world of gods. "I'm Quirkless too. Well, I was until recently."
Izuku's eyes widened. "You were? But you moved so fast, and you seemed so confident—"
"Late bloomer." Nova hated lying to this earnest face, but the truth was impossible. "My Quirk finally manifested a few weeks ago. Something called Adaptive Evolution—it's still developing, but basically I can adapt to different situations in small ways."
"Vague enough to explain inconsistencies, specific enough to seem real. Leave room for the system's capabilities without revealing too much."
They sat on a bench while Izuku carefully separated the salvageable pages of his notebook, laying them out to dry in the afternoon sun. Nova watched him work with the desperate precision of someone trying to save pieces of his soul, and felt something crack in his chest.
"This is incredible," Nova said, examining a page of analysis about Mt. Lady's size-changing limitations. "You worked out the square-cube law implications for her strength scaling. Most pro heroes probably don't understand their own Quirks this well."
Izuku's cheeks flushed pink. "You really think so? Everyone says it's useless since I can't actually be a hero..."
"Who's everyone?"
"Teachers, classmates, my mom..." Izuku's voice got smaller with each word. "They're probably right. Quirkless people can't be heroes. It's just impossible."
Nova felt the future pressing against the present like a bubble about to burst. This boy would inherit One For All. He would fight villains and save lives and inspire millions. But right now, he was just a kid who'd been told too many times that his dreams were impossible.
"The greatest heroes," Nova said, choosing his words carefully, "aren't the ones born with power. They're the ones who never give up despite having none."
Izuku looked at him with something approaching wonder. "Do you really believe that?"
"I've watched you prove it. I've seen you break your bones to save strangers and smile through the pain because that's what heroes do. I've seen you inherit the power of legends and use it to redefine what heroism means."
But Nova couldn't say any of that. Instead, he offered the truth his heart knew: "I believe that someone who analyzes heroes with this much detail, who dreams of saving people even when the world tells him he can't—that person has the most important Quirk of all. The refusal to quit."
Izuku started crying again, but these were different tears. Hope instead of despair, possibility instead of resignation.
"Would you..." Izuku's voice wavered with nervous energy. "Would you maybe want to exchange contact information? I don't have many friends who understand about hero analysis, and you seem like you really get it."
[Social Link System Activated!]
[Izuku Midoriya - Rank 1 Unlocked]
[Benefit: +5% EXP when training together]
[Achievement: First Social Link Established]
[Bonus Reward: +5 Hero Points]
The notifications felt surreal, like the system was quantifying something as ephemeral as friendship. But as Nova saved Izuku's number in his phone, he realized he wasn't just building a strategic alliance with a future hero.
He'd made his first real friend in this impossible world.
They parted ways as the sun painted the sky in shades of amber and rose, Izuku heading home with his partially salvaged notebook and Nova walking toward his apartment with a heart lighter than it had been since his first morning in this borrowed body.
"155 Hero Points now. Ten months until the sludge villain attack. Ten months until Izuku meets All Might."
Nova didn't know if his intervention had changed that pivotal encounter or simply delayed it. But as he watched Izuku's retreating figure, shoulders straighter than they'd been an hour ago, he decided that some changes were worth the risk.
After all, the greatest heroes were the ones who never gave up—even when the future itself hung in the balance.
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