Not Everybody Can Be A Protagonist

Nin:3 at lassssst!!! <3

Answer time! Why was [Wakuneco] in bold? Because it's not the name of the company! 

Midoriya Izuku started his day like he started the day a month and three days ago. He woke up, he showered four minutes longer than usual, he made sure his blinds were at a 17-degree angle, he ate, and he left for work. Repeating the same morning every day was asking for something spontaneous to happen. 

Maekawa was coming back to work today, or they were supposed to, at least. Hikari was the one who snitched. It was a good thing he did. Maekawa had a quirk. Their nose had a small, constant drip of water. A new feature. Their first new feature in four years. 

Maekawa was sent to a new department yesterday. The collective email they got told them that under no circumstances were they to act as if they remembered her. They could not risk what happened to her spreading to them.

Midoriya caught a shiver in the air as he thought about the worker. What happened was a very rare, very cruel tragedy. They dare not name it, but in the ears of gossips, it's known as Lead Broken. Where the name came from is lost- and with good reason- but that's not the important part. Lead Broken happens so rarely the first time it happened the person was thought to have insulted a god. 

The second time it happened was centuries later. With the newer generation of protagonists it happens once every two years, Maekawa was no exception. Midoriya knew what route this story was taking. Maekawa was shifted.  Their entire life changed at that moment. Memories, friends, personality. All of it was edited. They would no longer remember the world of background characters. They would no longer have the laws embedded into their bones. What's worse is that if they do not aid the plot they morphed into, they would cease to exist. One cannot handle the change to and from. 

He boarded the train and looked at his phone. 

-

Two rows down from him, Kirishima Ejiro was talking on the phone. 

"No, I haven't seen a Taniguchi. Do you think they lied?"

His crew had been searching for this Taniguchi guy the moment they got his name. So far they had nothing. 

Bakugo was persistent. He wanted to come into contact with whoever owned the house that day. Kirishima was unsettled by it. His buddy had seen something. He knew something. And whoever ran that party was the key. 

"Hey," Bloodhound whispered to him. "I smell something familiar."

Kirishima nearly snapped his phone. "Who?"

Bloodhound shook his head. "Too many people. But it's coming from somewhere over there." He tilted his head toward the exit doors.

"What..was the description given to us again?" Kirishima eyed all the people next to the door. 

"Let me look at his file," said the voice on the other side, followed by a rustling noise. "Average height, slightly curled hair, freckles-"

"Got it," Bloodhound interrupted. "I see who you're talking about. Tell the boss we should have his man."

Kirishima looked unsure. He hung up the phone. "You sure?"

"I'm positive," Bloodhound pointed toward the exit doors. 

"The one on his phone?"

"..."

"Bloodhound?"

"..No. The one looking out the window."

"Green hair?"

"Yeah."

Kirishima leaned forward on his knees and sighed heavily. "Okay." His eyes glanced around the train...and suddenly......he understood. 

-

"Breaking News! Pro Hero Red Riot takes suspect into custody shortly after exiting the Northstraight train!"

Hikari and Iwa whistled from over Midorya's shoulder before looking away from the phone. 

"Poor guy," Iwa said, shaking his head. "Weren't you on that train, Midoriya?"

"Yeah," Midoriya said. He took a bite of his sandwich and dramatically wiped his brow. "I got lucky."

"As if anything could touch you," Iwa said, acting as if Midoriya had a barrier around him.

Hikari pointed at his neck. "I'd rather be caught dead then be caught on a train with him."

"Shush, before the boss tells us to get back to work." 

Iwa patted their shoulders. "Relax, Midoriya, the boss would join us in joking."

"Damn, I've been caught."

Hikari tapped the table, alerting them to the fact that he was about to finish chugging a good sized can of sparkling water.

"Haru," Midoriya said, "you're going to have to go home early."

"Home? He's going to have to go to the funeral home early."

"Don't jinx him."

Hikari slammed his hands onto the table. "DONE!"

Hikari then stood up and involuntarily slammed his body into the floor.

"Iwa you tell someone to call 9-1-1 and then go get the boss."

"What're you gonna go?"

Midoriya formed a fist with his hands. "I'm gonna beat the devil out of him."

-

Iwa returned home at 9:45pm. He unlocked his apartment and wrestled his dog to get through the door. He sang weird songs that played on the radio as he cooked dinner. He teased his dog by raising and lowering it's food bowl before setting it on the ground. He said his thanks before eating. He bathed. And he watched T.V. for an hour or two before falling asleep on the floor. His dog then curled up next to him because the dumb human had forgotten a blanket. He slept through the explosions on the other side of the building and he slept through the chaos that happened on the string of apartments across from his. His door remained untouched by the scratching beast that bothered everybody on the top floor. Iwa was a background character. 

-