Canary

Chapter 2: The Greatest Adventures Start with the Humblest Beginnings

The fact that Midoriya wasn't to try for UA's hero course seemed to satisfy Kacchan. He certainly wasn't happy that Midoriya would be trying for any course at all in his dream school, but general studies would have to do. It's not like the two would often cross paths anyway – let alone speak to each other.

Midoriya eventually concluded that his mother knew about his poor relationship with Kacchan. Whether she had ever spoken with Mrs Bakugo about the matter was another story. Nonetheless, she didn't make him travel to the UA grounds alongside his old friend. That, unfortunately, didn't save the two from meeting at the gates.

Kacchan glared at him, "Stay out of my way, Deku," he hissed.

Midoriya didn't say anything at all. He stepped back frantically and let Kacchan waltz in ahead of him. A few of the other people around him glanced curiously as he stood, head down, just outside the gates.

Once Kacchan was out of sight, Midoriya shook his head and stepped inside the school. 'I need to get a grip – I'm not going to be in his class anymore so there's no need to worry! Yeah, maybe words won't get stuck in my throat anymore and –'

and he wasn't looking where he was going. He tripped up on a loose tile, about to fall face first onto the ground and make an absolute fool of himself in front of everyone!

But then suddenly the ground stopped growing closer to his face – no, he stopped – in mid-air. 'What the –'

"Are you ok?" someone laughed.

Midoriya almost yelped in surprise at the pink cheeked girl beside him.

"I stopped you with my Quirk. I would have asked first, but I figured you wouldn't mind me helping!"

He just stared at her.

She didn't seem to notice, only propping him upright, deactivating her Quirk and waving goodbye, before skipping off towards the hero course entrance examinations.

The hero course... A different world to his own.

Midoriya shook the brief thoughts of friendship and panics over actually interacting with a girl, to refocus on the upcoming exams. They would determine his future, after all – hero course or not.

There were two parts to UA's hero course entrance exam, a practical and a theoretical. However, for general studies, the soon to be students were instead given two papers, one far more challenging than the other. It was clear, as Midoriya's pen scribbled across the exam, that whoever set these questions did not intend for all the necessary knowledge to be in place. Some were far too advanced and complicated for your average middle school graduate to complete to their fullest extent. However, Midoriya was not your average middle school graduate.

Question Eighteen:

Explain how Quirklessness is inherited and how this can be identified by specialists.

It was practically made for him. To have the last question revolving around Quirklessness was to be expected, of course. This was the first year that UA had allowed Quirkless people to enter any of their courses. That included the hero course, but as many had said before, it was time Midoriya got his head out of the clouds and strived for a dream that was... more attainable.

Midoriya's mind raced as he batted the top of his pen against his lip, 'There are eleven marks available for this question. It's clear they want us to use medical terms and clearly describe the link between the lack of a Quirk and an extra joint in your little toe...' he thought, before beginning to write:

Quirklessness is a hereditary condition caused by two recessive alleles. This means both the mother and father must have been a carrier of Quirklessness (or be Quirkless themselves) in order to have a Quirkless child, despite having Quirks themselves. This is because the gene that allows the expression of a Quirk is dominant, meaning if only one dominant allele is present, it will mask the effect of a recessive allele and produce a Quirk. The probability of having a Quirkless child if both parents are carriers is 25%. This probability isn't fixed because freak mutations can occur, resulting in Quirks entirely different to the child's parents in rare situations. Carriers of Quirklessness are increasingly rare, meaning the percentage of the population which are Quirkless is less than 5%. However, a majority of this number are rather elderly, and the proportion of Quirkless people who are of my generation is only around 20%. This means the percentage of people who are of my age and Quirkless is only 1%.
Quirklessness can be difficult to diagnose as some Quirks can be 'invisible' and difficult to identify at a young age. However, for Quirk doctors, this can be a little easier. Autosomal linkage is where two genes are positioned very close to each other on the same chromosome (close to each other in DNA) and are therefore frequently inherited together. The recessive alleles of Quirklessness are inherited alongside an extra joint in the subject's little toes. A Quirk doctor need only take an X-ray to see if this joint is present in order to diagnose Quirklessness. The chance of having the extra joint and having a Quirk is rarer than Quirklessness itself (if you don't take into account any situations where the Quirk results in extra bones or joints being present). In genetic inheritance, chromosomes can cross over and exchange pieces of DNA during meiosis. However, the recombinant frequency of Quirklessness and having an extra joint is so low (because the alleles are so close together) that the inheritance of either gene separately is near to unheard of.