Quirkless.
In society, they were treated as abnormal, as underdeveloped failures.
They could never even dream of becoming Heroes, the most admired profession, and they became easy targets for bullying.
Because of that social stigma, their self-esteem was usually low, and their suicide rate and rate of social exclusion were extremely high.
What if a Quirkless person became a Pro Hero?
What if, using nothing but a weapon, they captured Villains with powerful Quirks and even outpaced the Heroes?
That would go beyond idol worship.
They could be treated as a savior, a pioneer of the Quirkless.
With a single word from the "symbol of the Quirkless," they would pick up weapons, fight when told, and die when ordered.
That was why I would turn Midoriya Izuku into a symbol.
I would hide in the spotlight of a Quirkless Hero and manipulate things from the shadows.
I would build an armed force to fight [All For One] from behind the scenes.
Of course, most Quirkless people were older.
Most were elderly or middle-aged.
An army made up only of veterans was a huge problem.
Normally, it would be.
What did age matter?
I could just make them young again with [Rewind].
And if they didn’t die from [Overhaul], I could even create an army that would never go down, an army whose bodies could be replaced and remade as needed.
"Y-yes!? Not that I can... but you want me to... ?"
He still couldn’t imagine even a speck of the bigger picture.
"I’m not telling you to just do it. Prove it.
I’ll see whether you’re worth investing in."
"If you’ve made up your mind, come to the entrance of the back mountain tomorrow at 7 p.m.
If you’re not there by 7:10, I’ll take it as a refusal."
The Heroes who arrived late were shocked to find the situation already over and began buzzing among themselves.
Cleanup was Hawks’ problem.
I took Eri’s hand and headed home.
Eri asked quietly, "Did you help the green-haired brother?"
"No. He and I just traded what we needed."
Eri’s hand trembled slightly.
"...Then I’m like that too, right? Because you need me."
She wasn’t wrong.
"Yeah. Because I need you, I’m not sending you off to anyone else."
"But I’m not going to do that yakuza crap to you."
"......Why not?"
"Not because I like you. Because I don’t need to become that ugly."
Eri gripped my hand tighter.
With her other hand, she held out an apple to me.
She seemed to have interpreted that in a strange way.
"You don’t need to give me that. Eat it yourself.
Or ask Rappa to peel it for you when we get home."
Eri stared at the apple, then asked curiously, "Do apples have to be peeled?"
I answered without thinking much of it.
"Not strictly, but it’s better that way."
Eri fiddled with the apple and said softly, "...Then I’ll ask Uncle Rappa to peel it for me."
There was no reason to answer, so I kept walking.
+++++
Left alone, Midoriya mulled over what Tenma had said.
He felt ashamed.
He wanted to become a Hero more than anyone else.
Being a Hero was a job that demanded more fighting than anything else.
And yet, all he had ever done was analyze theory.
The famous Heroes he had diligently written about in his notebook were approaching.
All Might, the man who had told him he couldn’t become a Hero, was also in sight.
Midoriya sprang to his feet and ran.
"Hey, what are you doing? Kid, get out of the way now!"
Death Dego stepped in front of Midoriya and blocked him sternly.
Midoriya broke into a cold sweat, terrified of the backlash.
He didn’t stop. Under normal circumstances, it would have been unthinkable, but his body moved before he could think.
"I-I’m sorry!! But All Might!!!"
He twisted his head, desperately trying to get All Might to look at him.
"That boy from before...?"
All Might turned his head a little toward Midoriya, looking startled.
Midoriya seized the chance and shouted at the top of his lungs, "Even if I’m Quirkless, I’ll become a Hero like you!!"
After delivering the words, Midoriya panted for breath.
He could hear Death Dego and the other Heroes scolding him, along with the laughter and contemptuous sneers of the people around them.
All Might didn’t laugh. He didn’t smile encouragingly either.
For a brief moment, his expression was bitter.
"I... hope so."
All Might grew farther and farther away.
In the end, Midoriya never heard the words he wanted most: that he could do it.
Still, he looked relieved.
It didn’t matter. He could never become a Hero like All Might.
Now, he believed he could become a Hero like All Might.
"...I can become a Hero."
Midoriya intended to go to the meeting place.
+++++
The next evening, safe house.
"Damn it! Stupid knife! This is useless!"
Rappa was butchering the apple Eri had asked for.
Eri ate the whole thing without complaint.
"Kid, I’m just not built for holding knives.
How about apple juice instead? I can just crush it with my hands."
At the word apple juice, Eri looked at the apple Rappa was squeezing and smiled.
"Can an apple become apple juice?"
"...Can I become something else too?"
"Ask your kindergarten teacher about that.
I’m probably a zero when it comes to teaching kids."
Rappa said that while crushing the apple.
I informed Rappa, "The appointed time is up. Lock the doors and windows and come with me."
"Eri. If you see anything strange, call me right away."
There was no harm in being careful about remnants of the Shie Hassaikai, or Public Safety trying to dig up weaknesses.
"Okay. I understand... Please come back quickly."
I swallowed the hair I had bought from Giran and opened the status window.
[Muddy]
If you touch the other person’s head, you can erase memories from five minutes before and after.
It was Giran’s Quirk.
I hadn’t paid much attention to him because he didn’t use his Quirk often, but it turned out he had a surprisingly useful ability for interrogation.
Even if negotiations fell apart, as long as I could touch him, I wouldn’t need to bother killing him.
When I arrived at the meeting place, Midoriya was already there.
As soon as I arrived, I summoned clones of Silence and Truth Extraction.
"Wh-what exactly is the mechanism behind that Quirk...? Before, it was like Endeavor and Hawks’ Quirks, and I want to write it in my notebook!!"
What cheap sincerity.
Midoriya blurted out his true feelings, then clapped a hand over his mouth in shock.
"No matter how much you shout until this conversation is over, no one outside can hear you now, and you can’t lie either.
Don’t even think about trying anything stupid."
"Y-yes?"
Without looking at Midoriya, I placed a hand on a nearby tree.
"I’ll tell you what I can give you."
"I’ll support you as a patron with equipment, techniques, and a certain amount of funding so you can become a Hero as a Quirkless person."
"And finally, I’ll make you reborn with the strongest body a Quirkless person can reach.
Those are my conditions."
"B-but... weren’t you a middle schooler, Tenma?
What exactly are you? Why are you giving me all this?"
I frowned.
"I told you to ask questions only when I say you can.
It’d be better for your health not to be curious about my identity."
"O-okay!! But what about the qualifications?"
I summoned an [Overhaul] clone, destroyed the tree, and rebuilt it.
The ordinary tree became a monstrous shape with several sharp stakes jutting out from it.
"I’m going to make you like this."
"Y-yes, yes, wha—!?"
Midoriya collapsed to the ground, trembling.
"This is proof of qualification.
With this Quirk, I’ll rebuild you and complete your body."
"This is your last chance to run.
Either let me erase your memories and leave, or take this and become a Quirkless Hero."
Midoriya pushed himself up with a hand on the ground and brushed the dust off himself.
He couldn’t answer.
I wanted an answer faster. [Muddy] had conditions too.
"If you’re going to do it, answer quickly. If not, get lost.
There are plenty of other Quirkless people besides you."
Midoriya trembled with clenched fists and hesitated for a moment.
I was prepared to erase his memories and leave if he didn’t answer within thirty seconds.
"...I’ll do it. I’ll become a Quirkless Hero."
The moment I heard that, I attached the feathers of a [Strong Wings] clone to Midoriya.
"You’re under surveillance for the next twenty-four hours.
If you tell anyone what I did, it won’t end well for you or the people around you."
Midoriya broke into a cold sweat and tried to ask something.
I didn’t wait. I brought out an [Overhaul] clone.
"First, we complete your body. Then we work on technique and mentality."
The clone’s hand touched him.
Midoriya’s body burst apart from the inside with a sickening crack.
He didn’t even have time to scream.
Before a single drop of blood could hit the ground, I rebuilt him, or rather, I completed him, back to his original form.
"Keh... huh!! Huh!!"
Midoriya rolled on the ground, frantically feeling his neck and chest.
Once he confirmed he was alive, he gagged violently.
"Wh-what, what happened...!? My body!!!"
Midoriya’s arms were now defined by taut tendons and muscle.
Even the body hidden beneath his clothes had a three-dimensional presence that could no longer be concealed.
"I remade you into the highest-level body a Quirkless person can achieve."
"Right now, your body has evolved to the point that it won’t lose to most Heroes."
Even after I said that, Midoriya still looked confused.
I told him firmly, "This is the story you chose."
"Don’t ask questions, and don’t be curious.
All you have to do is become a Hero who saves people.
Your chance to choose ended a while ago."
I couldn’t give him time to think or doubt.
Now I had to confirm what I was teaching him.
"Rappa, can you only box?"
Rappa raised his fist proudly.
"That’s just my specialty. I know enough of other fighting styles to beat up guys who use something else!"
"Good enough. Start. Do it like it’s real."
When Midoriya heard me, he hurriedly shouted, "R-real fighting...? What about basic training?
I’ve never fought before..."
Rappa scratched his head too.
"Your body’s pretty decent now, but you’re way too much of a coward, kid."
I looked at Midoriya with contempt.
"Your body’s already complete, so you don’t need basic training."
"If you can’t fight, then make yourself able to fight.
If you’ve never fought before, then do it now."
"In the end, make Midoriya stronger than you, Rappa."
"If you train someone to become stronger than you, that insane fighting spirit of yours will be satisfied too."
At that, Rappa’s lips curled with interest.
"Are you a genius? I need to make myself a dedicated sparring partner."
For the next stage, I even brought out a [Rewind] clone.
"If there’s any physical injury or fatigue, I can heal it immediately. You two only need to think about getting stronger fast."
"Now get into stance."
When I glared at Midoriya, he reluctantly charged at Rappa with a shout that was almost a battle cry.
"U-raaah!!"
"Ghk!"
Despite the shout, it didn’t take long before he was hit in several places by Rappa’s liver shots and blows to the vital points and collapsed in a miserable heap.
He was weak. Extremely weak.
His toughness had definitely been raised enough to endure repeated strikes to the vital points, but he didn’t know how to fight at all.
Rappa seemed to wonder if this was really right, and clicked his tongue.
"Can he even do it? He’s going down in one hit."
Then Midoriya, trembling all over, tried to get back up.
"I-I can still... do it!!"
Rappa reset his stance and prepared to strike again.
"You’ve got guts, kid.
If you don’t want to get hit as much, green kid, then get stronger fast."
After that, Midoriya continued his "training" while cutting back on rest.
Aside from taking care of Eri and going to school, we spent our time on the back mountain.
I used healing on him countless times as he pushed himself too hard.
By the end, he was even the one asking for it first.
A month passed.
Once again, Rappa’s fist flew toward Midoriya’s jaw.
Midoriya muttered something under his breath, then narrowly avoided the incoming punch so that it only grazed his cheek.
"Haaah!!"
With a sharp look and a shout, Midoriya drove a kick into Rappa’s thigh.
A crack like a whip sounded out.
Rappa glanced briefly at the red mark on his thigh and grinned.
Even after taking the hit, he didn’t stop and tried to throw a right-handed liver shot.
"...Right."
As if he had analyzed Rappa’s movement, Midoriya twisted his body and dodged.
After evading, he rotated his body.
He lifted his leg high and drove a kick into Rappa’s jaw.
The high kick landed cleanly, forcing Rappa back a little.
Rappa wiped the blood from his mouth.
"Hahaha! You’re learning faster than I expected, kid!"
"T-thank you!! I dodged and hit this time..."
There was a strange sense of pride in Midoriya’s eyes.
He was now able to stand toe-to-toe with Rappa to some extent.
"That’s enough. Today’s a checkup."
I used the status window on Midoriya.
[Midoriya Izuku]
Power C / Speed C+ / Technique A / Intelligence B / Growth Potential S+
He still hadn’t reached his peak.
At the very least, he was someone worth raising and modifying.
"Um, how is it...?"
Midoriya looked at me with a mix of anticipation and anxiety.
Now was probably a good time to say it.
It would work as a carrot, too.
"You can become a Hero."
At those words, Midoriya’s eyes began to unfocus. His arms trembled as tears welled up.
"Sniff... sniff... thank you...!!"
Rappa grinned and slapped Midoriya on the back a few times.
I cut off the sound with [Silence].
I didn’t care whether he was moved or filled with hatred.
Still, for him to thank me for making him do this, that kid was pretty far from normal too.
Now I needed to prepare his debut.
I called Hawks.
[Tenma? Perfect timing. I had something I wanted to ask you too.]
He’d do.
"Let that gutter Villain I beat down loose again."
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