The Beginning of the End
Midoriya Izuku was a failure. Failing was the only constant in his pathetic excuse of a life. He was a failure at four when his quirk didn't come in, he was a failure at six when his dad left, he was a failure at eleven when he had the lowest grades in his graduating class, he was a failure at twelve when Kacchan sent him to the hospital, and he was a failure now. He was thirteen and legally an adult. Quirkless people become legal adults at twelve instead of eighteen like everyone else.
His mom had become increasingly distant since Hisashi Midoriya left, just bordering on neglect. But as soon as he hit twelve Inko practically disappeared. She only came home on Tuesdays when he was at school and spent nights with her friends. She didn't buy groceries anymore and slowly different bills began to cut off, first the water bill then the electricity bill, and lastly the gas bill. Izuku knew she was still paying rent because the landlord hadn’t visited him in his cold and dark apartment yet. That all changed on July 17th 20xx.
Izuku likes the rain, Kacchans quirk doesn’t work as well when it’s wet. He likes the ambiance it brings and how people stick inside during the drizzly days. He watches as the bright neon sign flickers above the convenience store. He kept walking, avoiding the darker allies that resembled where the sludge had attacked him. Izuku was quick to walk up the three flights of stairs, pausing in front of his door, it's ajar. He never leaves the door open, his neighbors love snooping and he doesn't need to be part of the apartment gossip. Carefully he pushes the door as quietly as he can. His eyes landing on his mom almost immediately, he honestly would have been less surprised if it were a robber. Inko was sitting on the couch scrolling through some app on her phone.
“Mom?”
All her attention was on him immediately.
“Izuku, sweetheart, it's good to see you.” her tone filling with dwindling affection. Humming in acknowledgement he sits down on the plush chair across from her. Inkos eyes seem to stare through him like he isn’t even there.
“Honey, you know I love you right? You’re such a kind son.” she stops, pausing to breathe in quickly, “Your father called me last week, he has been doing very well in America. He asked me if I would be willing to move in with him. Of course, as you know, I have always planned to move to America, we were just waiting for you to be able to live on your own. And now look at you! So independent and strong, I'm so proud of you, my baby.” Looking deep into Izuku’s eyes she continues, her words now rushed and impatient “Anyhow, I have decided now is the right time. I’m going next week, I will need your help packing up the apartment. The rent ends at the end of the next week after I leave, I'm sure you will have found suitable housing by then. After all, you’re thirteen now! Such a big boy.”
He wants to vomit, her patronizing words weighing down on him. Izuku thinks that if he talks right now he might throw up. All ge can do is nod his head, he watches as his mother stands up beginning to pack the throw blanket into the pile of boxes that he has overlooked until now. He stands up, scurrying to the bathroom. ‘I should probably pack too, I mean, if I don't take my stuff now she’ll surely take it instead’ He begins pulling items out of the cabinet, his toothbrush, ibuprofen, and deodorant. By the time he’s emptied the drawers of his stuff, his hands are full and he has to carefully walk over to his room. Dumping everything on the bed, he takes his yellow backpack and pours it out onto the hardwood floor. ‘What's most important?’ He thinks ‘ I'll need clothing and there's no way I'm leaving my notebooks.' He begins filling the base of the backpack with notebooks, stacking them so they take as little space as possible. ‘Thank god mom only got the tiny ones.’ He continues scanning the room, occasionally reaching out to put something in his bag.
His bag is almost full, how he got that much stuff to fit in this tattered bag he’ll never know. Moving over to the nightstand he falters, eyes landing on the framed photo from the carnival. Mom and Dad look so happy in it, holding Izuku in their arms. His smile was bright and he held the tiny all-might plushie high above his head like it was the most important item to ever exist. He reaches for it with shaky hands, holding it as delicately as possible. Sniffling he thinks ‘No I can't get emotional right now, I have to wait. There’s no point in crying useless tears now.’ If there was one thing he had learned from years of bullying it was that tears were useless and only caused more taunting shouts like ‘Deku!’ or ‘You useless fucking thing’. He didn’t like being a useless thing.
Izuku finished packing his room shortly after, moving on to the kitchen and dining room. Inko kept her eyes off him and acted like he wasn't even there. The silence is tense and heavy. It didn't take long for the two of them to pack up the entirety of his childhood home. Carrying the boxes out to Mom’s van in the rain was the hardest part. By the time he's shoving the last box into the cramped car, his curls are heavy and soaking. He barely noticed his mom pulling him back to the apartment entrance. Kissing his forehead Inko whispers,
“I love you, my baby, I'm glad you understand why I have to leave”
He in fact does not understand why she has to leave him. He Leans into the affection despite the feeling of betrayal that overwhelms him. Watching as Inko slides into the driver's seat and gives him one last watery smile he begins to walk back upstairs. He’s not sure he can even step foot into his childhood home at this point. Curling up against the front door he sobs, mind whispering words of resentment and failure, ‘It's all your fault..’ ‘If you had a quirk then…’ ‘You never even deserved their love in the first place…” He ends up sitting there for hours, spiraling as his dark thoughts start taking a toll.
He doesn't know when he walked back to his bed but he can't seem to get up. ‘Why do I care so much? She was never even really here in the first place. It’s stupid to mourn over a relationship that fell apart years ago. Stupid useless Deku.’ School is starting soon, why does he even go to school? I mean, it's not like his school could call his parents. Not wanting to spend one more minute in this stupid apartment he gets up and rushes through his morning routine. ‘You know what? Fuck it. I’m not going to school. I’ll just do online classes or something. Do you need parental approval for online classes?’ The walk to the library passes faster with his brain mumbling on and on, wait- was he saying this out loud?
The Library will always be one of Izuku’s favorite places. The walls have shelves running up all the way to the ceiling like they do in those old fantasy movies and there are Ladders that slide across the wall almost silently. There are smaller bookshelves scattered around the room along with small wooden desks or tables. The ceiling has a huge skylight that lets colorful rays shine through the stained glass, coating the library with a soft and comforting light. It’s one of the only buildings in Japan that are from the prequirk time that are still around. He’s pretty sure the city had a huge fight about keeping the building like a decade ago and now no one even dares to bring up demolishing the building. Izuku continues walking through the quiet building, counting the books on the shelves in hopes of distracting himself from his unfortunate predicament.
The spot he ends up choosing is in the corner of the library, surrounded by tables filled with students having hushed conversations. Izuku likes the noise, it's just loud enough to cut off the whispering in his head and it's just quiet enough to still let him think. ‘Okay, I need to make a list. What all do I have to do?’ His thoughts going 100 miles per hour he starts scribbling down a list in his fresh notebook (thank god he saved it).
It takes a while, but he ends up with a decently organized list of what all he needs to do. ‘Will this be enough? I mean, how hard is it to start a new life? Wait, no. I’m not supposed to stress yet, I can get to that part when I have a new place and a way to pay rent.’ Sighing, he continues reading through his list, hoping that the more times he reads it the more achievable the tasks become.
1. Job
the jobs in this area of Musutafu require you to be fifteen. But I heard that they are more lenient in the less wealthy areas. I'll have to get something that has adjustable hours will i need 2 jobs? I could do tasks or smth, but aren't those usually illegal? I mean well me working is illegal in its entirety. I'll just have to be careful with what I do. Okay, here's the list of options:
- Baggage (grocery store at xxxx st.)
- Custodian (^)
- Stock clerk (^)
- Tasks(?) (u probably need connections for this one)
- Hospitality worker (motel at xxxx st.) (all you have to do is clean and give people keys right??)
- Barista (Cafe xxx at xxxx)
- Production assistant (^)
- Etc, etc. If i find a better option i'll add it
2. Apartment
The cheapest and least shady apartments I could find are:
- (1 bed 1 bath)(xxxx st) (rent: 30951 yen a month)
(^) (xxxx st) (rent: 16075 yen)RATS!!!- (^) (xxxx st) (rent: 27519 yen)
- (^) (xxxx st) (rent: 22312 yen)
- I think the last one might be the best, i'll have to see it in person to be sure tho.
3. School (online pls)
- Okay so there aren't many options for this, but here's what i found:
- Shunshi junior high (application looks easy!)
- Ichikawa Higashi Junior and senior high (wouldn't have to find one next year :D)
- Kita online secondary school (the format looks nice)
4. Guess I'll find out what's next later (?)
Where Izuku will go from here he doesn’t know, but hopefully, it'll be better than where he came from.