Time continues to pass, and my daily life takes on a kind of uniformity. Go to school,  hang out with Himiko and/or Meruem, who’s grown into a friend instead of just a convenient social stopper. The rest of the class are still pretty annoying though.

Go out and hunt down criminals, avoid the heroes who try to catch us. Twice has been really helpful with that. He’ll make a clone of Himiko and I, then when a hero chases us we’ll switch places with them out of sight. Then when they’re a ways away they’ll self-destruct.

It’s honestly a bit irritating to see how often heroes fall for that. It does not inspire confidence in their abilities to keep the general public safe. But I have more important things to worry about at the moment.

I stretch in my waiting room as the announcer riles up the crowd. “The challenger, a man who’s quirk turns him to rubber, the bounciest guy you’ll ever meet: Give it up for… BALLER!”

The crowd cheers, and I hear the sound of rapid impacts on the cage and floor of the arena. Now I know why they offered me more to make this a cage match, though I can’t help but snort at my opponent’s quirk.

Normally they’d be able to cushion, or even completely negate any attack that uses blunt force. But my attacks all utilize my claws, which will cut him apart like anyone who doesn’t have reinforced skin.

I check my new mask to make sure it’s working properly. It’s still a half mask,  but now it uses some kind of suction technology to keep it attached to my face in addition to the strap. So even if it gets damaged or the strap gets cut, it will stay on.

I gather half of my catergy as I use my usual technique when I fight here. Judging by the announcer’s excitement, it will be time to make my entrance soon.

“The challenged? You know her, you love her! She clawed out a place in all our hearts with her rapid rise through the ranks! The direct disciple of the most famous person to ever step foot in this ring! Nya it up for the feline goddess, CAT-ACLYSM!”

As I rush out of the room and leap into the arena, watched by the widening eyes of my opponent and the chants of ‘Nya’ from the crowd, I can’t help but wonder what Midoriya has been up to. After all, the UA entrance exam is just a month away.

𝌡𝌡𝌡

(Midoriya POV)

“I can’t believe that someone would throw out a perfectly good taser! It’s even waterproof! But did they throw it out here, or did the tides bring it in? Though I don’t think anyone would be stupid enough to throw something with a working electrical current into a body of water…”

I shrug before wrapping it up and carefully putting it in the large bag nearby. It’s filled with other bits and pieces that I can use in making my gear. I know Catia offered to have her friend make something for me, but this isn’t just about having gear to help me pass the exam.

It’s about proving to myself that her faith in me isn’t misplaced. It’s about me proving to myself and others that I have what it takes to be a hero. Even without a quirk. That she was right to believe in me. My mind goes back to the words she said to me when we first met.

“Being a hero is about helping people. So as long as your heart is in the right place, you don’t need a quirk to be a hero.”

Whenever I feel like things are getting difficult, whenever I feel like I can slack off due to the progress I’ve made, I remind myself of her words. I can’t take it easy. I’m working at a disadvantage compared to the rest of the world, so I need to work twice as hard to make sure I can even match other heroes.

But looking at the mostly clean beach, I can’t help the feeling of pride that fills me. A few people have laughed at me, telling me that trying to clean the beach by myself is ridiculous. When they find out that I’m trying to do it without a quirk, the laughter would turn to ridicule.

But I ignore them, and eventually they leave, scoffing at my naivety. A few people have offered to help, and I haven’t refused. But they usually don’t stay long. Usually just an hour or two when they realize how much work cleaning the beach actually is, even with a quirk. Those people will look at me with admiration as they leave, impressed at my tenacity.

But there’s one person who shows up weekly, without fail…

“You’re still at this, Deku!? I guess you really did give up on becoming a hero and decided to become a trash-man instead!”

Kachan is shouting at me, but after the Sludge villain incident he’s mostly left me alone. But when he found out what I was doing, he came and shouted about how cleaning the beach is meaningless.

He honestly seems kind of… disappointed? I’m not sure why, but either way I ignore him. I haven’t told anyone about me trying to make my own support gear, except for my mother. I can’t really hide what I’m doing from her since I try to build at home.

Not getting any response from me, focused as I am on moving the trash to the cart I bring with me, he clicks his tongue.

As I pass by him yet again, I hear him mutter a question. “Damn nerd. Did you really give up on your dream…?”

I stop and look at him, a surprised look on his face. I guess he didn’t mean for me to actually hear him, huh?

But either way, I take a deep breath before looking him straight in the eyes. “I’ve never given up, Kachan. I will become a hero.”

He looks at my back as I walk away, an unreadable expression on his face, before he snorts and stomps away.

I ignore his departure, continuing my work. Eventually I call it a day and place the bag of useful stuff on my cart. Picking up the handles, I haul it back home. I thought about getting a bike to make moving it easier, but realized that moving the cart by hand has more benefits than just strength training.

I learned to understand the motions of the objects in the cart, and have been able to sense when they’re about to move. My body’s reflexes have adjusted to respond based on that feeling, and it even applies itself to what’s around me!

It’s not anything quirk-like, just a keener sense of the area around me and improved instincts. But as I briefly let go of the handles to avoid the shock of the cart bouncing over a rock, I can’t help but appreciate its usefulness.

At home, I greet my mom then head back to my room with the bag. It’s a mess, but in a different way than it was before. After All Might tried to crush my dream, I got rid of most of his stuff that was crowding my room. Mainly because I needed the space for my experiments, but also because I realized that  it basically looked like a shrine to him. 

I couldn’t invite Catia over when it looked like that! Sure, I haven’t exactly worked up the nerve to invite her over, but if I ever do I can’t have my room be a shrine to someone, especially All Might! Though she still hasn’t told me why she dislikes the number one hero.

Anyways, I spend the time until dinner working on a pair of gloves. They’re almost done, and it only took me a year to make them! Since I did it all myself -not counting the aid of the internet- that’s really good progress! All that’s left is…

As I disassemble the taser and work its components into the gloves I can’t help the slight smile that crosses my face. When I wear them and turn them on, it expands into a slightly mad grin in the blue glow they give off.

She’s definitely going to be impressed when she sees these.

𝌡𝌡𝌡

(Himiko POV)

Jeez. Catia is so busy at the fight club that we haven’t gone out to kill anyone recently! I’m feeling pretty pent up, which is why I’ve been out hunting with Twice. Catia was right, we do make a good team!

I was really impressed when he was able to copy a grenade, and for it to work the same as the original! That was a fun day, blood decorated the entire room before it collapsed!

But he’s been busy lately too! He hasn’t even told me what he’s busy with! Which is why I’m checking in with Giran. If I don’t find a bad guy soon, I’m going to end up stabbing the first person I see. And Catia always gets mad when I kill indiscriminately.

But I found out that a hint of catnip in her food or drink will calm her down without the side-effects! I think she knows I’m doing that though, since her tail always sways in excitement when I bring them to her.

Oh look, there’s Giran! “Giran~! Who’s around that I can kill?”

He blinks at me. “Hi, Toga. I’m good, thanks for asking. Anyways, you and your friends have cleaned out all the unimportant gangs around. I’ve got nothing.”

I pout and slap the table my head is resting on with my hands. “But I wanna stab someone! And I’m running low on catnip from making Catia not be mad at me.”

He sighs. “Just go to the fight club with your friend. I don’t think it’s a big deal.”

“Yes it is! They always try to pit us against each other, and whenever one of us loses a fight Coach makes us train until we faint! I want to have fun, not unfun!”

He sighs. “Well there is one up-and-coming gang…”