A Good Friend

Dear Ochaco,

I hope you are going well. Have you spoken to Kazue recently? Dad says that since we moved her dad might let her talk to you! I'm jealous. Say hello for me. To Minato as well please. Who have you got as your homeroom teacher? Did you get Mr Yoshida or Miss Hirano?

I got Miss Semai. She's kind of like Miss Koushi. She dismisses the quirkless. Why do people do that? I haven't been able to make friends with anyone in my class. They have all formed their own groups. No one talks to me. Don't worry. I'm not alone. I have made friends with someone in fourth year. Her name is Himiko Toga. I think you'd get along well with her.

The rest of my class is…. Horrible.

They keep taking my bento, or bag, or pencils, and sometimes all three. The bag comes back. I have a cheap one but I think Kurogiri is getting tired of replacing bento boxes. Thankfully no one takes things out of my shoe locker so I've been able to keep lunch tokens in there. They are so mean! I don't know what I've done wrong!

Kurogiri hasn't said anything and Tomura just laughs.

I miss you, so much.

Izuku looked at the letter and then he screwed it up. He couldn't tell Ochaco that. She'd worry. He took out another piece of paper. Kurogiri had gotten him some writing paper when he said he wanted to send letters to his friends, since he couldn't text them. Ochaco didn't have a phone and it wasn't fair to just send the message to Minato and expect him to pass it on. Izuku knew he would but it would be better if he gave them both the same message.

He started again.

Dear Ochaco,

I hope you are doing well. Summer was so boring! Tomura played games all summer and I wrote in my notebook but believe it or not, even that gets boring!

Who did you get as your homeroom teacher? Mr Yoshida or Miss Hirano? My teacher is called Miss Semai. She's okay and has been able to help out in science a bit, so she's better than Miss Koushi that way! I know Miss Koushi was our first year teacher but I like science, you know that!

Have you spoken to Kazue recently? Dad said that since I moved, her dad might let her talk to you again. I'm jealous. If so, say hello for me! I'm sending a letter to Minato, so you don't need to say hello to him.

How much weight can you lift now? I can now project my fire breath 2 meters!

He looked at the letter. It was a bit shorter but definitely safer. Izuku added a few smiley faces and signed off before he folded the paper and put it in an envelope. Kurogiri had the address and had already said he'd post it.

Izuku pulled out one of his quirk notebooks. It was the one he'd started this year on the quirks of his new classmates. They might be mean and liars but their quirks were interesting.

Zakuro's quirk was to change other peoples hair and eye colour! That was so useful! He could be so helpful in generating disguises for others, though Izuku hadn't been able to figure out if Zakuro actually changed the hair and eye colour or simply changed other peoples perception of them. He desperately wanted to ask but he knew Zakuro would run a mile from him if he did. Mawari's quirk allowed her to recognise any smell and he thought she had great taste buds as well if her bentos were anything to go by. He wasn't sure, and she hadn't answered any questions but the bentos she brought were filled with an assortment of very yummy looking things!. Yusei's quirk allowed her to mimic any animal's cry. She could literally sing like a songbird. Izuku didn't know if she could use that ability to 'talk' to animals. They were saying things when they made noise after all, even if it was only to confirm that the tree was theirs but how cool would it be to know what they were proclaiming and to be able to talk back?

Himiko's quirk allowed her to… Izuku frowned, turning the pages past his classmates to his friend. There was a simple sketch of her on the page, this time with her hair up properly in messy buns. But he didn't know what her quirk did. She'd never told him and he'd never seen a reason to press. She knew he was quirkless and didn't seem to care so maybe he could ask?

Wait, no, if he was going to ask, then he should take her lunch. Something rare. Izuku jumped up. He had to give the letter to Kurogiri anyway, but while he was at it, he'd ask for something for Himiko. That would put her into a good mood and maybe she'd tell him.

Izuku smiled, glancing at the page. It would be good to get that information,

-ted-

"My quirk?" Himiko asked, looking up from lovingly licking at the rare beef Izuku had presented her with.

It was cold today, even in the classrooms so it had remained fresh in the bento. There was the threat of rain later so Izuku had his umbrella with him as well. If he left it in the classroom it would no doubt be borrowed. It wasn't borrowing if he never got it back. He didn't know how Miss Semai didn't understand that.

"You know I'm quirkless," Izuku said, "but I was wondering about yours. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to," he added quickly, looking over at her with bright green eyes, silently reassuring his friend that she didn't have to say if she didn't want to.

"My quirk's called Transform," Himiko shrugged.

"It's a nasty quirk!" That cry came from one of the others in Himiko's classroom. They were eating lunch there, though Izuku had brought his bag. Since it was nearly winter, a lot of the students were inside, though a fair number had gone to the cafeteria. Some, he could see from the window, were braving the outside but the number was getting less and less each day. That's why there were always people around to overhear conversations.

Himiko didn't even flinch at the comment. She did seem angry though.

"What does it let you transform into?" Izuku asked, ignoring the speaker. Transform sounded useful.

His friend gave him a look. Her buns were very messy today and almost looked like they weren't there with the amount of hair spilling out from them but he could see the elastic holding them in place.

"Anyone," Himiko answered softly.

"Anyone?" Izuku's eyes went wide.

She nodded.

"That's fantastic!" He cried. "You could do so much as a -"

"Quirkless moron!" Whoever had spoken before laughed. This time Izuku couldn't help but look.

"Transform is a wonderful quirk," he said to those still in the classroom.

"Not when it's blood triggered." He didn't catch who replied.

For a moment Izuku was speechless, then he turned back to Himiko. "So the blood forms a template?" he asked. He'd heard Doctor Garaki use the word.

She looked surprised, but nodded.

"That's amazing! Can you transform into anyone? Into anything? How small can you go, how large can you go? What are the limits? Does the amount of blood matter? How long can you hold the transformation? Does it hurt? Is it difficult to walk on four legs? Where do your clothes go? Can you transform into a bird?" He rapidly fired the questions at her, desperately wanting to pull out a notebook he'd left at home today. He'd have to settle for writing notes in one of his class books.

"Oh my god, Quirkless really is a moron!"

Izuku ignored that, looking towards Himiko. "That's why you like rare beef!" He laughed.

Himiko looked at him. He could see that her yellow eyes were confused. "I need human blood to transform," she told him.

"Oh," Izuku said, momentarily taken back. "Oh!" He said again, more understanding this time. "That's incredible! That's the best quirk for hero work!" He exclaimed.

Izuku could feel the weight of the stares on him from Himiko's classmates. He could see her eyes on him. "You could do so much with it!"

"You're not serious, Quirkless?"

"Of course I am!" Izuku responded without thought. "Infiltration would be so easy! Do you get the abilities of those you transform into? If so, then wow! That would be awesome and you could do so much."

"I don't want to be a hero," Himiko told him.

Izuku waved one hand to dismiss that statement. "There's still so much you could do with it," he gushed. "You're athletic! You could be a stunt double for actors and actresses! You could do detective work because you could look like anyone! There's so many options and limited quirk licences are easy enough to get!" Especially for stunt work. If Himiko went that way, the studios would probably put a rush on the application. His green eyes shone and Izuku couldn't help the smile that split his features. This was so exciting.

"I need blood, Izuku," Himiko reminded him.

"That's not a problem," Izuku dismissed it.

While Kurogiri tried to keep him out of the bar, he heard plenty from those who came in early. He was usually asleep by the time the later customer's came in. And he'd spoken to Giran and Juhin often enough to know they could get anything!

"Not a problem?" One of the other kids howled in laughter.

Izuku shrugged. It wasn't really a problem. If people knew what your quirk did, then accommodations were made all the time! His dad had told him how much had changed in the world since quirks came about. Tailoring, which used to be only for the super rich, was now a much respected profession with the number of mutations that had to be accommodated for. While most people had two arms, two legs and a head, the number of body shapes had exploded. Tails, claws, horns, everything was possible now! So most clothing retailers offered a customisation service to go with the sale.

Even diets had changed! And there were allowances for that. Maybe not at every restaurant but there were those that catered for people with some of the more unusual requirements. Where before, humans had been generalists, now they were specialists in every niche! You just had to find the right human!

So if Himiko needed blood, then that wasn't going to be a problem.

She was looking at him oddly, as if seeing him for the first time. Himiko gave him a shy smile. "You know, for someone quirkless, you have a lot of ideas," she told him softly.

"I like quirks," he told her. "I study them."

Himiko nodded. "I like you, Izu."

"Izu?"

The smile shifted to something more proud. "You're my friend!" She announced.

Izuku couldn't help the grin he gave her and the warm feeling Himiko's statement gave him carried him back to his classroom and all the way through to the final bell, which is when he should have known that things would start going wrong again.

He packed his bag and waited for the rest of his class to leave. That was for the best. He either had to rush out to beat them all, or wait for them all to go. That way he didn't get tripped. It wasn't that bad. His class was eager to get home and it was only a few minutes before he got up from his desk and went to the door.

There were still people in the corridor but that was okay. Izuku walked down to the school's entrance and went to his shoe locker.

Izuku opened it and instantly felt the warm feeling he had from Himiko's words disappear. His shoes were gone. His lunch tokens were gone. He closed his eyes, leaning forward to rest his head on the locker lip as he took a deep breath.

He should have known things were going too well.

Izuku didn't bother to look around. Chances were whoever had taken his shoes would be watching and he wouldn't give them the satisfaction of seeing his reaction. He did surreptitiously look though. Sometimes, they would put his things in odd or embarrassing places, and he would like to have his shoes now.

But they were nowhere.

He closed the locker, wondering if he could get a small lock for it. While it wouldn't prevent someone determined, it would make it clear that they had broken in. Surely the teachers would notice that?

Izuku picked up his bag and took a deep breath as he turned to the door. He still had his indoor shoes at least. Right on cue he heard a deep rumble, which was followed by a familiar pattern of rain. Perfect. At least he still had his umbrella. Izuku closed his eyes as he reached the door and pulled out his umbrella. It would at least keep most of him dry but he knew, by the time he got back home, his feet were going to be soaked.

He trudged out into the rain before someone could push him.

Izuku walked, blinking against the tears that formed. Why were they being so mean? Why? It wasn't normal! He thought fondly of last year. Ochaco and Minato would have shrieked in the rain and they all would have run. They would have been soaked, but it would have been fun!

Walking home, alone, even with his umbrella was not fun. Why had this happened to him?

The rain didn't give Izuku any answers.