Chapter 2:- Neglect

"Neglect is the worst form of cruelty." - Mahatma Gandhi

Unable to bear it, Izuku cried for hours and fell asleep out of exhaustion.

'Maybe Izuku can be a hero even without a quirk? Like the guy in the chair like many superheroes,' thought Kazuki as a hope ignited within his heart

Time passes like that, and before they know it, it's already dinner time, that's when Inko's husband, Toshinori Yagi finally returns.

He looks at his wife and son, immediately noticing the heavy atmosphere of the home, which he developed after being a hero for too long, "What happened? Where's Izuku?" He asks, trying not to think of the worst possibilities.

Seeing his obvious distress, and knowing what life as a hero is like, Inko quickly reassures him. "He's okay, just sleeping."

Breathing a sigh of relief, Toshinori Yagi looks at his wife, the question clear on his face. With a sigh of resignation, Inko speaks. "We went to the doctor to get their quirks appraised… and Izuku doesn't have one."

Inko doesn't beat around the bush, deciding to come out and say it as bluntly as possible. Inko doesn't even notice that she's crying until Toshinori is hugging her. Then Inko breaks down as the shock finally wears off. That her son, in a society that revolves around a person's quirk, is lacking.

After letting her emotions out through her tears for ten minutes, Inko looks up at her husband, surprised and a little angry at his lack of a reaction to the news.

"What the hell is wrong with you? Don't you care that our son isn't normal!?" Inko yells the last part, and both her husband and son who was listening from the room's entrance and both of them flinch.

Toshinori from the reminder of his past as he also was quirkless before OFA. Kazuki from hearing that his brother isn't normal.

He knew that of course, but knowing it and hearing your mother confirm it while yelling it are two different things.

The slight hope that ignited within Kazuki started flickering and shrinking, somehow smaller than it was before.

Had it been anyone else, the flame would never have come into being. But Kazuki's desperation to hold onto his and his brother's dreams managed to ignite the spark.

Yet now he was desperately trying to maintain it.

Toshinori shoots a glance at his other son's wide eyes before leaning into his wife and whispering in her ear. "I promise that I'll explain later, but for now we need to act normal. I don't want Kazuki to worry about such things from now." Inko glares at him as he clears his throat and speaks in an overly cheerful voice.

"So! What about Kazuki? Did you get his quirk appraised as well?" Glancing at his other son who had just entered the room, Inko's eyes soften before a mysterious yet playful glint appears in her eyes.

"We sure did!" Inko yells with more authentic joy than Toshinori. "The doctor said that his telekinesis is powerful even more so than mine. He said that, when he grows up his quirk will also mature and he can easily become the no.1 hero and surpass All Might.

"Hoo? Is that so, then I would love to see you surpass the current No 1 hero, All Might." Said Toshinori Yagi, as he showed a proud smile, as he was happy both as a father as well as the No.1 hero, for him to be surpassed by none other than his own son is definitely a proud moment for him.

Saying this he signalled Kazuki to come towards him.

Following this Kazuki did it as Toshinori took him in his embrace as well as the three of them had a happy time.

"Since you have a strong and versatile quirk let's celebrate it," said Toshinori as both Inko and Kazuki nodded as the three of them moved out to celebrate it.

Unbeknownst to any of the three, their words and actions that night would have consequences far worse than any of them could have dreamt of.

Not any time soon, but far more dire than any of them could ever dream of, changing their lives completely.

But that will be then, and for now, the three of them after returning from bringing tons of fast food and other things as Kazuki wanted to eat it at home, soon they take their seats at the table, talking about their day, future prospects and all eating merrily, totally forgetting Izuku who's sleeping in his room all alone.

(Izuku POV)

I wake up during the night with my stomach growling. Looking around, it's dark, so I turn on the lights of my room and make my way to the kitchen. There, I see a plate of food wrapped up for me.

I look around in confusion and ask if anyone is around before noticing the time on the clock. Half past twelve, when everybody would usually be in bed, asleep.

I can't help but feel sad that I slept so long, and no one woke him up.

After all, they had promised each other no matter how busy they were, dinner was the thing that they would do together without fail.

Except for today.

'They didn't wake me up?' Izuku questioned

'Given what we found out though, I guess I didn't want to wake up. I do appreciate that Mom left me a plate in case I woke up though.

I just wish that I would have woken up when they came to get me. It's not like they forgot about me, right?' asked Izuku to himself

Unaware of the fact how wrong he was.

Following this things started going downhill. His food got cut into half under the pretext of Kazuki needing more food for his quirk to work properly.

Izuku agreed thinking it was logical that Kazuki who has a quirk would need more food so that he can function properly thinking it's totally normal although given his age of merely 4 years he wasn't smart enough to understand that what was happening to him wasn't normal at all.

Even if one doesn't have a quirk, a four year old still needs enough nutrients to grow up normally

Yet Izuku thought it was totally normal, the fact that his parents told him about Kazuki needing more food so giving half of Izuku's with a straight face thinking it was totally normal didn't help anything other than worsening the aftereffects, not knowing how messed up it is.

And just like that slowly he was neglected to the point that his plate wasn't even placed on the dinner table.

Neither did Kazuki, Toshinori or Inko even think that Izuku existed as if he was never there to begin with.

Yet Izuku didn't lose hope as he still thought that he could become a hero.

However, it wasn't going to be easy at all.

Not only was he neglected at his home to the point they totally forgot about his existence.

He was even bullied and used as a punching bag by all the kids of his kindergarten which was later continued in his middle school.

Yet Izuku survived it all with a smile and the hope of being a hero as all he wanted was to become a hero and thought that if he became a pro hero he wouldn't be bullied.

This could have been true if it was a shonen story like Naruto, but this isn't shonen but a seinen story which was going to get even darker than it seems