“So, here you put in this formula, solve it, and then move on with the simple method like this.”
“...”
‘What the hell is this guy muttering about?’
Hakuji felt a first wave of headache from the math textbook, then a second wave from Midoriya, who had been babbling nonstop without taking a single breath in a voice so tiny it sounded like a mosquito flitting around his ear.
The problem was, it didn’t end there.
“Humanity originally lived by hunting and gathering, but once agriculture began, settled life became possible, and because of that, cities and civilization developed. Ancient civilizations arose in river basins like Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Indus, and the Yellow River, and it’s no exaggeration to say that this was the beginning of world history...”
What is this?
Is this brat trying to cast some kind of Blood Demon Art on me?
Once they moved on from math to history, which was even longer and more boring, it had become practically a chant.
At this rate the headache would probably heal with his super regeneration, but with one thing ending only for another to begin, Hakuji’s mind drifted farther and farther away.
“S-Soyama-kun... not done yet... there are still thirteen pages left in this term’s material, and then. Then...”
Even while being scared of him, Midoriya still managed to keep talking to the end, and Hakuji felt something strange at that.
‘A weakling, and yet he doesn’t stop.’
Sometimes, when Hakuji finally couldn’t take it anymore and tried to take a short break, Midoriya would immediately widen his eyes and force him back into it, saying, “Oh, today’s work isn’t finished yet...”
“Your name. Was it Midoriya?”
This was the first time he’d ever met a lunatic like this.
“So the core of this policy is... Y-yes!?”
Midoriya, who had been force-feeding him knowledge one-sidedly until now, jumped in shock when Hakuji spoke to him for the first time in a week of private tutoring.
“Your name.”
“Huh?”
“I asked what your name is.”
“M-Midoriya Izuku!”
It was the first time in his life.
The first time Hakuji had asked the name of a weakling, and not just any weakling, but the lowest of the low.
And the reason he asked was one of the things his teacher had requested of him.
‘Soyama, sorry to ask you to do this, but if you get the chance, could you casually ask Midoriya why he wants to be a Hero? If it comes from a classmate instead of an adult, maybe he’ll say something...’
This guy was weak, and yet he wanted to become a Hero.
Really.
Even though he was absurdly weak.
Even though he was such a weakling that if Hakuji lightly poked his forehead with a finger right now, it wouldn’t be strange if a hole went straight through him and killed him.
“Why do you want to become a Hero?”
Why do you work so hard?
Even though you’re that weak.
Power, ability, talent, fighting spirit.
You have none of it.
“......”
“I heard you’re Quirkless. Why would someone with no ability at all, someone at the very bottom, aim to be a Hero like All Might?”
Hakuji meant no malice.
To Hakuji, a Hero was a title for absolute power, like All Might.
Only someone like that could give citizens peace of mind and protect them.
He couldn’t imagine a weakling like Midoriya becoming someone like All Might.
Especially not with such pathetic [fighting spirit].
“Uh, w-well... um...”
At Hakuji’s sudden question, Midoriya first tried to dodge it, but then he glanced at his notebook. Little by little, the wavering in his eyes began to clear.
[Hero Analysis Notebook for the Future, VOL. 3]
It was the title of a notebook for a dream, for the ridiculously foolish dream of making that dream come true.
“...Just because.”
“Just because?”
“Yes. Just because. I just want to be that kind of Hero.”
What came out of Midoriya’s mouth was incredibly simple.
He just wanted to be one.
That was all.
He didn’t dream of becoming the strongest of the strong like All Might.
He just wanted to become a Hero and live a life helping others.
“......”
“I-I think there doesn’t need to be some huge reason for one person to want to help another.”
Watching Midoriya spill his heart out without even realizing it, Hakuji felt something strange.
‘His fighting spirit is blurry to the point of being almost nonexistent.
There’s no sign of any real courage.
And yet.
That resolve is bizarrely solid.
The guy who couldn’t even meet my eyes a moment ago is looking at me with a light clearer than anything whenever the subject turns to Heroes.
Why?
We shouldn’t have a single thing in common.’
“Because my heart told me to!”
He didn’t understand it.
Not the appearance.
Not the talent.
Not the vessel.
Everything about them was completely different.
‘I will fulfill my duty!! I won’t let a single person here die!!’
Why am I thinking of you?
Kyōjurō.
“Pffft!! Khah. Khahahaha!!!”
“Eh!?”
When Hakuji suddenly burst out laughing, Midoriya’s face turned red, thinking his answer must have been that ridiculous.
“Izuku, I like you!!”
“W-What!?”
But contrary to Midoriya’s expectations, Hakuji laughed loudly and started slapping his shoulder.
“Oof! Ghk! Ah!”
Of course, even those light taps hurt enough to make Midoriya cough.
“This is the first time I’ve ever seen a weakling like you in this life!”
“Ugh!”
“And yet a weakling like you has the eyes of a strong one. That’s funny!”
“Eh?”
Midoriya felt strangely off-balance watching Hakuji, who had been silent all week suddenly turn into a chatterbox.
“Khahahaha!!”
All that could be heard in the classroom was Hakuji’s laughter.
‘I-I still need to get through the lesson...’
Midoriya, being dragged around by the suddenly excited Hakuji, was just along for the ride.
And then.
One sentence slipped out of Hakuji’s mouth.
When Midoriya heard it, tears began to drip from his eyes before he even realized it.
“Khahahaha!!”
“......”
“...T-today was scary too...”
After finishing his evening self-study session with Hakuji and heading home, Midoriya finally let go of the tension he’d been carrying and managed to relax his shoulders.
‘Soyama Hakuji-kun...? Th-the one who’s supposedly first in gym class...’
‘Yeah, that’s him. Help him out a little, okay? It’s nice when U.A. hopefuls help each other out, right? Hm? I’ll count it as volunteer hours too. One hour a day, how about it?’
During self-study, he’d been suddenly called in and told to tutor a classmate rumored to be the strongest student in the entire school.
At first, he’d been terrified out of his mind.
Who was he?
The man who, just two days after entering school, had beaten down every upperclassman in the martial arts club, which was full of Hero-aspiring muscleheads.
In reality, he had only subdued them in simple sparring, but by then the rumor had already spread...
He beat them into a pulp, left them unable to function as human beings, nearly killed them, and so on, the story growing bigger and bigger, which was why Hakuji had gained such a fearsome reputation.
Being told to become the teacher for Hakuji’s private study time sounded to Midoriya like, “Go into a tiger’s cage covered in meat.”
In fact, over the past week, every time he saw Hakuji sitting through class with a flat, uninterested expression, Midoriya had been breaking out in cold sweat.
But today was different.
“Izuku, I like you!”
That was how it started, with Hakuji suddenly getting excited.
And more than anything else, what he said at the end still wouldn’t leave Midoriya’s head.
As he walked home with a faint grin on his face...
“Hey, did you see how he got scared in the karaoke place?”
“Told you, guys like that fold if you just scare them a little.”
The moment a familiar, vicious voice came from right in front of him, Midoriya’s face went pale.
“Hiiik!”
“Hah?”
Then, the instant he saw the blond boy stepping out of the alley, Midoriya let out a pathetic sound from pure learned fear, and the blond boy immediately glared at him like he’d just heard something he shouldn’t have.
“K-Kacchan... h-hello?”
“Tch.”
Kacchan, also known as Bakugo Katsuki, spat on the ground the moment he saw Midoriya, as if he’d seen something disgusting.
But only a few seconds later, a savage smile returned to his lips, and he strode toward Midoriya with a swaggering gait.
Bang!
“Hiiiik!”
Bakugo’s foot blocked Midoriya’s path.
“Hey, Deku.”
“Y-yeah...”
“You’re not still spouting that stupid crap about becoming a Hero, are you?”
Bakugo was smiling, but all that came out of his mouth were crude curses and insults.
“......”
“Oh, I heard that bastard applied to U.A. again.”
At the side, one of Bakugo’s lackeys chimed in, and Bakugo’s expression twisted into a hard frown.
“Listen, a Quirkless bastard like you, Deku, is just like a pebble rolling around on the ground.”
Bakugo casually picked up a pebble lying on the ground and clenched it in his fist.
And a few seconds later...
Sssss...
Black smoke rose from Bakugo’s fist.
Boom!!!
With a small explosion, the pebble turned to sand.
Even though he was only in middle school, his Quirk was already powerful enough to set him apart from the rest of the students.
A Quirk so strong Midoriya could never even dream of it, something he could only possess in his dreams.
“Just crawl away on your own. Don’t get in my way.”
With that Quirk, Bakugo wiped the soot and sand from his hand onto Midoriya’s school uniform.
Midoriya’s once-clean uniform was instantly ruined, but he couldn’t say a word.
That was because Bakugo was the kind of existence that combined top grades, a top-tier Quirk, and the worst personality imaginable.
“......”
“Get lost, idiot.”
“...Okay.”
Midoriya said nothing and walked home with his confidence, self-esteem, and uniform all in tatters.
‘If only I had a body like Soyama-kun’s... or a Quirk like Kacchan’s...’
He sighed and walked with his eyes on the ground, thinking that his inability to even argue back against those humiliating words made him a real Deku, a real loser.
Then, suddenly.
‘...Sh-should I try learning some exercise from Soyama-kun...?’
Thinking of the classmate who seemed to have the most solid body among everyone he knew, Midoriya swallowed nervously and made up his mind.
Tomorrow, he’d try asking him, just a little.
And once again, Hakuji’s words surfaced in Midoriya’s mind.
‘Go for it! Try it!
Even a weakling like you becoming a strong Hero would be fun too!
Give it a try, Midoriya Izuku!!’
Soyama Hakuji was the first person in his life to tell him to become a Hero.
So he should tell him.
That he wanted to try exercising together too.
For the first time, Midoriya wasn’t thinking only about fandom anymore. He wanted to change his body too.
“No. Your body is far too pathetic to keep up with my training.”
“..................”
Of course, Midoriya had forgotten that he was a bean sprout who wasn’t even qualified to stand at the starting line.
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