That Day // Villain Deku

Chapter 2: Liars

Toshinori Yagi's P.O.V

    I had been chasing a villain we had dubbed 'The Sludge Villain' throughout the city for the past hour or so now. He crawled into a sewer not too long ago, and I had been trying to locate him ever since. I was about to make my entrance when I heard the noises of someone in need.

    Shooting up to the surface, I clocked the villain in the face — crying out the name of my signature move in the process — but not without noticing a figure lodged inside the sludge. Quickly, I bottled up the villain inside some litter I found in the tunnel — scoffing inwardly at the blatant disregard people seemed to have for the environment in this neighbourhood — and then ran towards the figure. 

    Finally having a minute to breathe—now that the villain had been captured—I turned my attention back to the figure, and instantly recognized them as my son. Although I knew it was him, due to his hair and eye colour—inherited by his mother—and my ruffled hair that he fell heir to, he looked so awful I felt taken aback by his appearance. His face was bruised and cut, and his uniform was dirtied and even somewhat stained with both dried and fresh blood. Not only that, but his form looked sunken, and even his naturally full face seemed more defined than what was healthy for a fourteen-year-old boy. Making a mental note to discuss these observations later this evening, I lightly tapped his face.

    As Izuku woke up and noticed who I was, he began to freak out.

    Of course he would, his room is practically a shrine of my merch.

    He stood up and asked me to sign his notebook, acting more like a stuttering mess than I had ever seen. I was caught off guard, to say the least.

    Had he always been this way?

    I didn't recall ever seeing him like this.

    Come to think of it...

    I was brought out of my thoughts by a particular question — one that caught me off guard more than his odd behavior.

    "Can someone without a quirk become a hero? I'm a normal kid without any powers... could I ever hope to become someone like you?"

    With his words, I was frozen. I was about to change back, so I didn't have much time to answer. Of course, as a hero, I should always inspire my fans; although, as a parent, I certainly wouldn't want my quirkless, defenseless son to be put in any direct danger. Example: Just a few minutes ago. 

    I've heard the argument that quirks don't make a hero—being in that same position in the past, I somewhat agree—and I've heard of the comparison between heroes with erasure quirks and the quirkless, but honestly, it's not really that simple. The difference between someone with an erasure quirk and a quirkless was that people with erasure quirks still had quirks, they just weren't as flashy as others, but they were still just as useful. With an erasure quirk, heroes can remove a villain's quirk for a short amount of time and level the playing field.A fight between a hero and a villain would then become a fight completely dependent on hand-to-hand combat or quirkless weapons—which weren't typically carried by cocky villains with strong quirks. 

    However, a quirkless hero wouldn't have the luxury of a somewhat fair fight. They can't remove a villain's quirk and level out the battle, all they can do is fight as well as they can with what they've got, and when you're up against villains with strong quirks, no mercy, and no remorse, that's just not good enough. 

    As a parent, I just couldn't let my son get himself hurt, or worse, killed. So, after thinking it through a little, I answered. 

    "I'm sorry, but without a quirk... No, I honestly don't think you could become a hero."