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Chapter 6: A Reason to Fly

Midoriya woke up before his alarm the next morning. His dreams had been busy; although he couldn't remember the details, he knew they had to be about his Quirk somehow. He just couldn't stop thinking about it – all those years spent analysing Quirks and picking at their strengths and weaknesses; finally, he had the chance to do that for his very own.

Although, he still wasn't completely convinced he had a Quirk at all. Perhaps it had just all been a weird dream. But then Midoriya saw his guitar, still balancing against the radiator by the front door. And he saw the black spots covering it in its entirety – yeah, not a dream.

That was when the idea hit him. Before hurrying out of his house to begin the new day, Midoriya raced back to his room, grabbed his portable speaker and shoved it in the bottom of his rucksack.

"Mum?!" Midoriya called out as he stood by the door, ready to leave.

"Yes, Izuku?" she replied at a much lower volume, reappearing right next to him at such a speed that Midoriya briefly wondered if her Quirk included teleportation.

"Oh, um, I just wanted to say that I might be later home than usual today," he warned her.

"Are you going to that beach again?" she frowned.

"I-If that's ok?" Midoriya stammered, gripping the straps of his rucksack nervously.

"Well, honey, if you really think y-you have a Quirk – then you need to be exploring it somewhere a little safer..."

"Dagobah's fine, Mum! Really, I'll be safe – I promise."

"Yes, but, other people might not be," she acknowledged, glancing at the burnt guitar.

"O-Oh..." Midoriya said, following her gaze, "I suppose not."

"Why don't you ask UA?" she suggested hopefully. "They could help you register it!"

"Um... yeah, I'll see if I can practise there then," he agreed.

Inko teared up and threw herself into a hug, "I'm so proud of you, Izuku – you know that, right?"

"Thanks, Mum. See you later." He pulled away after a moment and hurried out the door, leaving his mother staring after him, gripping the handle of his guitar fondly.

__________

"There he is!" Uraraka exclaimed as Midoriya ran up the hill towards them.

Shinso wasn't too sure what he thought of Uraraka and Iida. The three of them had been waiting for Midoriya to arrive for the past five minutes, with Iida getting increasingly worried about being later than ten minutes early to homeroom.

Uraraka was definitely the one he preferred out of the two. She seemed light-hearted and kind; easy to befriend and easy to understand. But, just like Iida, she had it too easy. Neither of them had faced the troubles that Shinso had in terms of reaching for their dreams. Then again, it was nothing compared to Midoriya. He tried to hide it, but it was clear to see – Midoriya would have loved to be a hero, but his lack of a Quirk held him back. Shinso couldn't help but wonder how different life would have been for Midoriya if he had just been born with a power of his own.

"Did you miss your train or something?" Shinso questioned, eyeing the pair of green headphones hanging around Midoriya's neck.

"N-No," he replied. He was getting more confident with his speaking. Shinso couldn't help but feel a little bubble of pride rising in his chest. "I-I just got a l-little lost in thought."

"What were you listening to?" Uraraka quizzed as Iida encouraged them to hurry up and head towards school.

"Um – here," he replied, before pulling off his headphones and handing them to Uraraka. She accepted them eagerly, standing close to Midoriya so the wire wouldn't pull them off.