hero's shadow // mha

62) art of noise

Izuku hates places like Chuck E Cheese's.

There was always something unnerving about the rat mascot to him. It wasn't the eyes, surprisingly enough. It was something else. Maybe it was the fact that the modern version of the costume doesn't have a tail, or maybe it was because, most of the time, Izuku wouldn't sense any kind of quirk inside the suit.

It's weird, but Izuku can still tell the difference between a quirkless person and nothing.

He can still feel the remnants of quirk genes in quirkless people, likely due to the fact that their parents or other family members had quirks. Except whereas those with quirks feel full, quirkless people feel a little lighter somehow.

Izuku isn't sure how to describe it, but if he focuses hard enough, usually he can sense the dull buzz of any person's energy, quirk or not. Well, Aizawa was the only exception to that a while ago, for reasons he's still unsure of, but anyway!

Perhaps this is a mechanism Extract was built with in order to seek out potential suitors for quirks, which is kind of sad to think about, as only All for One can give quirks. Extract seems to have gotten that ability but not the means to act on it.

Since Izuku can still, in more ways than one now, sense a person even if they're without a quirk, it's pretty easy for him to tell if there's no human present.

How? Well, if there's just nothing there for him to sense.

So those few times that he went to Chuck E Cheese's after he manifested his quirk, back when he was still young and accompanying Kacchan and Auntie while his mother worked, he was always confused by the lack of a signal behind the costume.

It was nothing. Just radio silence from his quirk.

Even as the rat talked. Even as it waved and walked around and said hello.

It wasn't a quirkless person, as again he still would've been able to very faintly sense the hidden genes, so what was it?

It's a mystery Izuku has yet to solve. It makes him hate Chuck E Cheese's to this day.

He's certain the mascot isn't an animatronic. So it has to be something else. Something... otherworldly. But to be in every Chuck E Cheese location? Izuku has a conspiracy on his hands.

This is why arcades are a hit or miss with Izuku. It's a love-hate relationship.

He won't enter an arcade of any kind if they have a mascot. Izuku simply won't go in. He'll turn right back around.

Yagi sees him glaring through the windows of the brightly colored pizzeria style arcade room on the top floor of the mall. "Do you like arcade games, my boy?"

"Yeah," Izuku says. "Usually. I used to play against Kacchan a lot. I always won."

Yagi laughs goodnaturedly, but after a few seconds he frowns. "You know, you've mentioned a lot about Young Bakugou recently. Have you ever done anything fun with anyone else? Maybe another friend?"

Izuku turns and stares at him blankly. I only had Kacchan, he thinks, unimpressed. You know that.

Yagi must sense his mistake, as he rubs his neck and turns his face to the sky, where the ceiling opens up to allow the sunshine through. "Or just anyone in general? Not necessarily a friend."

At this, Izuku pauses. He knows what he's implying with that last part. He's probably talking about an adult. Maybe his mother. Or his father.

Any other time and maybe Izuku would've clammed up immediately, but this day has gone relatively great so far, so he's feeling... happy. Happier than he's been in a bit, he thinks. With his hands full of bags and his heart feeling light, he doesn't mind talking.