Education Versus Ignorance

Izuku sat up as he listened to the teacher. Now that they were in the second half of their third year, their teachers were changing. They still had Miss Semai for homeroom and mathematics, but science, language, history, art and something called domestic affairs were all taught by other teachers. He couldn't help but think that Miss Rika was much better at teaching science than Miss Semai had been.

Except he was feeling somewhat nervous. They were doing quirk biology today and he was going to try to educate his classmates. He'd spent time with Doctor Garaki over the last few weeks, learning all he could about quirk theory and how it related to quirklessness. Essentially, there were very few people who were truly quirkless, that is those who didn't carry the quirk genes. Most of those who were deemed quirkless did carry the gene. Doctor Garaki had told him how he'd learned that by studying some of Izuku's upper classmates from the junior high associated with his previous elementary school. He'd felt an odd flush of pride when the Doctor had told him that. He'd helped! In a roundabout way.

So there were people who carried the quirk genes but who would not manifest a quirk (and not because they didn't know the trigger for it) and they were called quirkless, except there should be a distinction made there. They were functionally quirkless. If you looked at the data in a certain way, you could say that they all had the same quirk. Which was amazing, given that quirks were unique to bloodlines. Endeavor's Hellfire quirk, for example, was completely different to Ragnis' quirk. The people who had the genes but were functionally quirkless all had the same ability to stabilise quirks and Doctor Garaki indicated that they might even enhance quirks but there wasn't enough information about that. The old man admitted that the stabilisation may just give the perception of enhancement. But that's what more study was for!

"... which is why those who are quirkless are actually less evolved," Miss Rika was saying, as she gestured to a chart.

Izuku put up his hand, aware that the rest of the class were staring at him with near identical looks of smug superiority.

"Yes, Izuku?" Miss Rika called his name.

He stood. "With respect Miss Rika, the latest papers published in The Journal of Experimental Quirk Biology show that there are very few people who are actually quirkless. Of those who are deemed quirkless, most of them have a fully functioning quirk factor, which is believed will act as a stabiliser for quirks in general."

She looked at him. Miss Rika's eyes were part of her quirk. They were split like a cat and she could produce quite an intimidating stare. For a moment, standing there, Izuku felt vertigo, as if he'd entered a long tunnel. He wondered if this was another part of her quirk but he didn't have a chance to confirm that before the feeling vanished.

"That's a lovely theory, Izuku," she said condescendingly. Izuku braced for the addition he knew she'd make. "But there are no published papers that say that," she added.

"There is, Miss Rika," Izuku countered immediately, keeping his voice reasonable. "The December edition was the original publication," he told her. It was a very new paper. Doctor Garaki had been proud to show it off. Izuku had wondered why, since it wasn't written by the Doctor, until Doctor Garaki had explained that he had published it under a different name, Ujiko Daruma. He'd shown Izuku several other papers he'd published. They were all on the cutting edge of Quirk research.

"Ah," Miss Rika replied. "Then there is no corroborating evidence," she said. "The paper is merely a theory until it has been confirmed. And that requires more than peer review. It requires duplicate studies."

"Which are underway, and so far, have produced the same results," Izuku told her.

"It is February," Miss Rika responded with a small laugh. "Duplicate studies would not be set up that fast."

"Yet they ha-"

"Izuku!" She interrupted, snapping his name. "You are very young, and very early on the journey of scientific discovery but I assure you that it takes longer than two months to set up duplicate studies. You have presented a nice theory, but I'm sure it is one which will be ultimately invalidated," Miss Rika added before she looked over at the rest of her class. "But having a theory disproved is not, in itself, a bad thing," she assured them. "Science is about the quest for the truth and there are times when one finds a dead end. This is not something to lament, but something which contributes to the whole of human knowledge, for in disproving something, you have shown that it is a dead end, and that other paths will be more profitable to explore."

She fixed Izuku with her stare again. "Please sit down, Izuku," Miss Rika said.

"Would it help if I bought the paper?" He asked.

"Izuku! Sit down!" She ordered. "The paper has no bearing on this lesson, which you are now disrupting."

"But Miss Rika, if science is truly the quest for the truth, then surely the most up to date papers are of interest."

"Izuku," she said with a clear note of warning.

He held firm.

She took a deep breath. "Only the most up to date but verified papers are worth learning about at this point in your education. At the moment, you do not need to be shown the false paths others have gone down. The truth must first be learned, to form a solid base to pursue the unknown. And the truth, Izuku, in your case, may be painful but that does not make it untruth. As a quirkless individual, you are less evolved."

"I am no-"

"Izuku, detention!"

"But-"

"Detention, and if you say another word, there will be a note on your record for disrupting class."

Izuku sat down. "It doesn't change it," he muttered.

Miss Rika decided to ignore that and the class continued.

-ted-

Izuku didn't even bother to sigh when he looked in his shoe locker and saw that his shoes weren't there. After having detention at lunch, and then detention after school, he was half expecting it. The mounds of mud in the locker were new though and he couldn't be bothered dealing with them now. When it ran down into the other lockers, well, it wasn't his fault. He hadn't put it there.

He shut the locker and picked up his bag as he headed to the door. At least today he'd managed to keep his coat so that was something. He just didn't understand. Why were they, was everyone, so insistent on remaining ignorant? Why were they using that ignorance as an excuse to be mean? It didn't make any sense.

He knew Miss Rika had looked up the article. He'd heard her soft exclamation at lunchtime detention as she'd been scrolling on her phone. He knew she'd read it. After that exclamation, she hadn't looked up, not even once and he had seen that her eyes were rapidly reading something on the screen. She hadn't noticed when he'd switched from doing the detention work to writing in his notebook, which is what had gotten him the second detention after school. But he had seen her phone when she'd given that. He recognised the logo of the Journal.

Wasn't it her job to teach the truth? Yet it was he who got into trouble! It didn't make sense.

It wasn't fair!

He kept his head down as he trudged to the gate. There was no water on the ground for a change but being spring, there wasn't any dust or debris there either, so he didn't raise little puffs of dirt. If there had been, he would have, such was his gait.

However, it was a mistake to look down. Usually Izuku would be a lot more alert for the presence of others, especially those who might want to bother him but he'd been kept after school, and he'd thought that would mean everyone else had gone home.

He heard steps behind him, running, and assumed that it was someone else who'd had detention and now was running late, so he didn't think anything of it, until something pitched into his back.

Izuku shot forward, balance destroyed. His arms automatically braced to stop his fall and tears leapt into his eyes as he felt the asphalt against his palms. He was vaguely aware that whatever had hit him didn't spin away. Instead there was a weight on his back, driving downwards and his knees hit the ground with painful scrapes.

He assumed that whoever had hit him would now go. When he was tripped, that was the end of it, and thus Izuku was unprepared for the blow that hit his ribcage. Until then, he'd managed to arrest his fall at the cost of scrapes on his hands and knees. That hit made him instinctively curl up to protect himself and he fell the rest of the short distance to the ground.

There was another blow, this time from the other side and Izuku curled tighter.

"Quirkless! What do you think you were trying today?" came the question. It wasn't a real question.

There were another few blows. Izuku realised there had to be at least two of them. He hadn't heard two sets of footsteps but just as he came to that realisation, another voice spoke, confirming it.

"Quirkless is useless! Just like your name, Deku! And don't you forget it!"

"The Quirkless are unevolved losers!"

More hits. They were kicking him and Izuku couldn't hold back tears as the asphalt rasped against him. His skin felt hot from where it was rubbing.

"Quirkless have different genetics. They aren't even human! So what are you doing here dog?"

"Oi! Don't insult dogs! I like them."

"Less than a dog!" Came the correction.

There were more hits. Izuku tried not to listen. He knew it wasn't true but the words cut deeper than the scrapes. A particularly hard kick caused him to uncurl and he landed on his back, looking up at the sky.

"If Deku's less than a dog, why is he dressed? Dogs don't need clothes!"

Even with his brain on fire with pain, Izuku heard that. Something sparked within him at the words and he tried to roll over to scramble away. He got a few meters, before he was pitched back on to the ground and hands grabbed at him. He tried to struggle, and he felt his shoe hit one of them but all that seemed to do was make them grab him harder.

"No!" Izuku screamed. "No!" He hit them again, feeling Caeli Imperium rise with his panic. He pushed it down. Dad said he couldn't use a quirk, but then he felt someone's hand on the back of his neck - just like Tomura - who despite the fact that Izuku sensed him more often than not, still liked putting one of his disembodied hands there. They yanked at his jacket and Izuku shrieked.

Then there was nothing. He didn't question it. Instead he scrambled to his feet and ran. He didn't even check the direction but heard the sound of his feet pelting on the ground change as he ran over different surfaces. He might have crashed into something, or someone. He didn't care. He just had to get away.

Eventually Izuku had to slow. His chest was heaving and his body burning. He retained enough presence of mind to check that no one was near but that was all he could see before tears clouded his vision again.

Izuku kept his sobs quiet as he worked on controlling his fear. Why had they done that? Why were they like that? What had he done?

"Where is he?"

He heard the shout.

Izuku swallowed and did his best to stifle his sobs as his fear spiked again.

"He won't have gone far," one of the others said. It sounded like they were running everywhere as they searched for him.

Izuku heard their feet hit the manhole covers and the tarmac as they searched. He flinched back to where he was. He wasn't well hidden. He hadn't been thinking of hiding, all he'd wanted to do was get away. He'd fled to one of the alleyways near the school. He was standing in one of the alcoves. Hopefully they just looked up the road and wouldn't see him.

Izuku trembled. The scrapes and scratches from earlier ached and his chest hurt. He slapped his hands over his mouth when he heard footsteps coming close. Izuku swallowed, and struggled to breath silently but to his relief the footsteps travelled on. He gulped in air, and tears fell again. Izuku curled up, squatting as the ground in the alleyway was wet. The deeper shadows caused by the buildings meant moisture lingered, and it didn't necessarily have to be rain. He cried as the sky went dark and the footsteps disappeared. He was cold and stiff and his chest still hurt.

When the stars came out, Izuku levered himself upwards, hissing at the pain as he stood. At least his legs were fine but it hurt to breathe too deeply. Izuku shuffled out of the alleyway and looked around. His ears hadn't betrayed him. There was no one around. He began walking towards home.

What had he done?