Where's The Justice?

12.Rooftop Chat

"Give me one good reason not to punch you right now."

Izuku whirled around, looking to see Shinso standing at the edge of the clearing in the dump, glaring at him. "H-Hitoshi, what are-?"

"I figured you'd probably be going out tonight. Now answer the damn question."

"Um, well, punching me doesn't seem like a nice thing to do." Shinso's glare got even fiercer as he began walking forward. "What's this even about!?"

Shinso stopped right in front of him, getting in Izuku's face. "You rejected the offer, they were going to let you into the hero course, and you fucking rejected it!"

"W-wait, how-"

"I got in."

"Oh, congra-"

"Don't." Izuku instantly shut up. "I asked them about you, because I knew you deserved it more than me. I mean, you won the whole freaking sports festival!" Izuku opened his mouth to argue, only for Shinso to silence him again with a look. "Don't you fucking dare argue against that with any damn technicalities. You. Won. You beat down Bakugo, both physically and mentaly. Now tell me. Why did you. Reject. The. Offer?"

Izuku sighed before sidestepping Shinso and started to leave before his wrist was grabbed. "Let go Shinso."

"Why are you so against the idea of you becoming a hero!?"

"Drop it."

"No, I won't, I can't. I don't understand it. You say it's been your dream your whole life, you say it still is, but reject their offer! I just can't understand!"

"I said drop it."

"No, why won't you tell me!? I can't understand if you don't tell me!"

Izuku ripped his arm free. "Even if I told you, you wouldn't understand! You've suffered, and been hurt, but that's because you had a so-called "villain's" quirk. But me, I'm quirkless. You're on track to become a hero, but I could become the most obscure one out there, but the moment the general public gets even a whiff of the fact I'm quirkless, they'll practically riot. And that's if I can make it through three years of discrimination and make it pass whatever obstacles the quirkests in the hero commission put up to stop me. You're right, it's my dream, but in this world, that's all it'll ever be, a dream. You're right, I won the sports festival, but even then, there's still people, people who believe I have a quirk mind you, that claim I was only lucky or it was a fluke or maybe he went too easy on me and me stepping out of the ring was me allowing my betters to take the top. This is the society we live in, so no, I can't be a hero. Not as long as things stay the same as they have been." Izuku began walking away, putting on his mask. "Go home Shinso, it's late. You're going to need to start thinking about internships soon. If I may suggest anyone, see if you can intern with Eraser. He'll be a good teacher for you, he's skilled, experienced."

With that, Izuku left Shinso standing there, at a loss for words. "Izuku..."

Izuku ran, he ran out and away from the dump, away from Shinso, trying to get his words out of his head, to get rid of the thoughts and desires inside himself. He meant what he said, believed his words, knew they were true. Every time he reached out for his dream to be a hero, the world beat him back. Whether through the senseless bullying of others, or how he screwed up with Stain, because no matter what Shinso said, Izuku knew people were dead. He scrambled up onto the roof of a building, before running again, lost and confused by the thoughts raging in his head.

He finally stopped when he heard a shout nearby, quickly veering course until he stood over an alley where two men were restraining a woman. 'Yeah, I can't be a hero, but I certainly can take out trash like you.' Silently, he hopped down before he was only a few feet above them, clinging to a ladder as he pulled out a baseball. 'I'm no hero, I won't be, can't be, but... Even if as a vigilante, a criminal, I'll give all of my worthless self to help others the best I can.' Izuku lept.