Archive of Our Own

A young girl runs through an alley, visibly out of breath, looking over her shoulder every few seconds before eventually slowing down and stopping to catch her breath. She's dressed in a black sailor fuku, with medium-length Auburn hair, and matching eyes. As she stands there, her breathing slowly eases going from exhausted panting to just a normal cadence. Having caught her breath, she takes out of one of her pockets a smartphone with a cracked screen in a blue, yellow and red case and holds it in her hand. It seems to turn on by itself and a circular turquoise symbol with geometric lines appears on the screen.

"Izukun, All I need to know is, did we lose him?"

She seemingly says to no one.

"I think we both know the answer to that."

A voice responds from the phone.

"We took so many shortcuts and sudden turns, how did he...?"

A green boy's face then appears on the phone's screen, replacing the cyan symbol. While his entire face seems to be green it's of varying shades, while what would have been his skin was a pale green, his eyes were a bright verdant green, and his hair a darker emerald. He’d often been described as plain-looking by others in the past, not even maliciously, he just had a face that would typically get lost in a crowd, his only other noticeable facial feature being a pair of 4 freckles arranged in a diamond on each cheek.

"Keep catching us? Kacchan's always been faster. As for how he kept finding us he's lived here as long as we have, he knows these streets just as much as we do."

"Almost as much as we do, given that we seemed to have ditched him."

"True, you know this could have all been avoided in the first place, right? You didn't have to punch him you know."

"He was being a bully and a villain, and he wasn't going to stop until someone made him stop. So, I stopped him, and I thought we agreed you weren't going to call him that anymore, he's not your friend you know."

"Right sorry, but you could still get in trouble for this Occhan."

"Maybe but I doubt Bakugou will tell anyone, if he does, he'll have to admit that he got beaten by someone 'weaker than him', and he's too full of himself to admit that. Anyway, we should probably start making our way home now your mom will start wondering where we are soon." 

"Yeah" chuckles 'Izukun' "if we keep standing around here, your parents will get home before we do."

"We?" questions 'Occhan' raising an eyebrow at the phone screen "I seem to be doing all the work here."

Izukun rolls his eyes "Like I have a say in the matter." 

Deciding to curtail that particular conversation, Occhan begins to continue through the alleys, occasionally taking a left or a right as they navigate their way back to the main road chatting lightly when Izukun suddenly calls out to Occhan.  

"Wait”.

"Huh, what is it?"

"I thought I heard...There it is again, listen."

And so, the pair go silent and Occhan begins to hear the faint sound of someone sniffling from one of the side alleys, as if someone had just been crying. Occhan and Izukun come to a silent agreement and so, holding up Izukun's phone so the camera's facing forward, the brunette slowly makes her way into the side alley, following the noise as quietly as she can, so as not to frighten whoever the source of the sound might be. About 5 metres from the entrance of the alley, behind a large dumpster, they find the source of the sniffling and choked sobs; a girl seemingly the same age as them with light dirty blonde hair done up in two messy buns, although the dirty part seemed a bit more literal as there were bits of mud and dirt stuck in her hair. And from what the duo could see she seemed to be wearing a fuku similar to Occhan's but in dark blue, over which she was wearing a beige cardigan that appeared to be several sizes too big for her, judging by how baggy it was. The girl appears distraught and too distracted to have noticed Occhan squatting in front of her. In an attempt to grab her attention, she calls out.

"Hi, are you all right?" 

She asks gently but even her normal volume seems booming compared to the previous silence, to the point that it causes the other girl to visibly jump and look up. The pair are now able to see her eyes which they note with mild interest are not only a bright golden yellow, but the pupils are slits, looking almost feline in nature. It's clear from looking at her face that she's been crying heavily as if the sounds they'd heard earlier hadn't made that obvious.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. It's just we heard you crying and wanted to make sure you were ok, I'm Ochako Uraraka by the way and this is Izuku Midoriya”.

And upon saying his name she turns the phone around so that the screen, and therefore Izuku's face, is facing towards the crying girl.

"Hi," says the green boy, a reassuring smile on his face. "What's your name?"

The girl is briefly taken aback by Izuku's appearance but recovers and responds shakily "T-T-Toga. M-my name is H-H-Himiko Toga."

"Nice to meet you Toga, so why are you crying in an alley?"

"Because I'm a m-monster" The blonde spits out in a choked sob.

The two watchers are visibly shocked and appalled at this answer. 

"Who? Who says you’re a monster?" Asks Izuku

"M-my m-mom and dad" replies the blonde.

At this, the shock turns into righteous fury. Ochako clenches her hand not holding the phone tight into a fist and grits her teeth. Izuku's face meanwhile is more of one of deep concern, with his eyebrows knitted together.

"Why?”

"Because my quirk is evil"

"Let me guess, something else your mom and dad told you?"

Toga nods meekly.

"Well, they're wrong. They're wrong and dumb and stupid. Quirks aren't good or evil. Allmight's the greatest hero in the world with an amazing quirk, even if no one knows what it is exactly” The last bit he almost mutters to himself before returning to full volume. “But if he started flattening cities and attacking people would his quirk be evil?"

"No, I guess not, but Allmight's quirk doesn't make him want to hurt people”. 

Ochako feels some of the anger slip from her as it's replaced with confusion at that statement, with a quizzical look on her face she asks.

"Himiko, if you don't mind telling us, what is your quirk?"

Noticing the fear and apprehension on her face, Izuku moves to reassure her.

"I promise we won't judge you for it. I just said how quirks are neither good nor bad, Occhan knows it as well, you can trust us, ok."

The silence stretches for a minute or so as Toga curls further in on herself, knees pulled up against her chest, arms wrapped tightly around them as she mulls over his words and internally debates with herself, wanting so badly to be able to put her trust in these two strangers who had shown her kindness her own parents had denied her, and wanting so badly to be accepted. And yet she was afraid, downright terrified that once they knew the truth they would abandon her, force her away like her parents did, like everyone did. 

*I suppose I don't have a choice* she ponders *I'll have to tell them eventually, at least if I do it now, it won't hurt as much when they leave. *

Slowly she uncurls, sitting cross-legged in front of the brunette and her verdant friend on the phone, hands resting in her lap.

"My quirk is called transform" she starts, eyes downcast "It allows me to turn into anyone, y'know shapeshifting”.

"I don't..." Ochako begins to respond, further confused as to why anyone would consider that to be an evil quirk. But before she can fully form her question, Himiko ploughs on.

"But for me to transform into someone, I have to drink their blood."

*Oh, that's why.*

Upon finishing her explanation, Himiko looks up, wanting to see the reactions of the two, and, fully expecting to see looks of disgust and horror, is slightly taken aback by what she sees instead. Ochako looks surprised, her eyebrows arching high on her forehead, but she otherwise appears neutral, which is in stark contrast to her partner who could only be described as ecstatic. The face on the screen bears a smile a mile wide with eyes that are as wide as saucers Himiko's fairly certain that if he was here in person, he would have started vibrating as if he was sitting on a washing machine on the spin cycle. He blinks, shakes his head and then begins to speak. The words taking Himiko by surprise.

"Oh. My. Gosh. That's so cool, you'd be such an amazing hero, you could sneak into anywhere, infiltrate gangs, recover hostages, and scout out hideouts for stronger heroes and the police to raid. You could singlehandedly takedown entire villain organisations. I have so many questions. First, can you use the quirks of those you transform into? I mean I assume you can use mutant quirks because they're passive and built-in but what about transformations and emitters? And if you can use their quirks, do you automatically know how to use them or do you have to work it out yourself? And howmuchblooddoyouneedtotransform?Doesit-" 

After the third or fourth question, Himiko wasn't sure, Izuku's speech devolved into a rapid, seemingly continuous, string of words, at least she assumed they were words. Bewildered, she looks towards Ochako, who merely shakes her head in mock weary at her friend's antics.

"You'll have to forgive him, he's a bit of a quirk nerd. He only tends to lose himself when coming across a new and interesting quirk. Unfortunately or fortunately, to him all quirks are interesting. Hold on."

She then raises her free hand to the large dumpster on her left and taps it twice in quick succession with her index finger, which seems to snap Izuku out of his spiel.

"-bout clothes, do they also trans-huh? Oh, did I do it again?"

"You did"

"Sorry, I tend to get lost in my own world when talking about quirks," he says with a slightly lopsided smile.

Ochako rolls her eyes at the statement, while Himiko giggles.

"Ochako explained as much but" Her expression falls again "You really think my quirk is cool?"

"Yeah, as I said you would be amazing at stealth and infiltration, and it'll allow you to get the drop on people in combat."

"But what about you know...?"

"The blood part?"

"Yeah, how many heroes do you know that have a blood quirk?" a hint of bitterness entering her voice.

*Heh, probably more than you'd think* Ochako chuckles to herself

"Actually, there's at least one hero I know of who has a blood quirk”.

Himiko tilts her head to one side in curiosity as he explains.

"His name's Vlad King, UA announced that he was their newest teacher at the start of the year. His quirk is called Blood Control, which allows him to control his own blood once it's left his body, he typically uses it to restrain villains by covering them in blood and then turning it solid trapping them. And I've not seen much if any backlash against it on any of the websites I visit”.

“Really? You mean it?”

“Yeah. Here” Suddenly the phone screen changes, no longer showing the green face, but instead a website with various forums, articles and chatrooms, the screen scrolls down a bit and stops on a thumbnail for an article from around January with the title “VAMPED UP: UA WELCOMES NEWEST MEMBER OF STAFF, VLAD KING”. The article itself isn’t lengthy just covering the announcement and press release, with a statement from Dean Nedzu and some information about Vlad King. It’s relatively positive, not singing his praises as if he was Allmight, but the writer notes how effective he’s been at restraining villains. The comments likewise politely congratulate Vlad on his new job and discuss his career. Inevitably, there’s a comment or two calling out Vlad’s quirk as disgusting and vile though they’re always rebuffed by other commenters.

“See.” States Izuku in a matter-of-fact tone “all those people and only a handful of them think badly of his quirk, and others were quick to defend him because of his work.”

At his words, and having seen the article, the abandoned child begins to feel less despondent. Noticing the change in the other girl’s demeanour, Ochako asks if she’s feeling better now.

“Yeah, you might be the first people I’ve met who didn’t think my quirk was evil or think I was a monster because of it.”

“Yeah, people can be…irrational about things they don’t understand, especially if it’s something they choose not to understand”. Izuku laments.

Hearing her friend say that, Ochako’s brow furrows slightly in concern. Knowing the particular rabbit hole her friend was about to fall into, the brunette decides to change the subject to keep Himiko’s spirits up.

“So, um, I don’t know how long you’ve been here, but I imagine you’re pretty hungry. Would you like to come with us to Izukun’s house and have something to eat, plus we can ask Auntie Inko for help with your…er…situation. That’s if it’s all right with you Izuku”. She finishes rather sheepishly, while turning the phone back to her, realising she probably should have asked her friend first before volunteering his home.

“No that’s perfect, Mum will be more than happy to help, and we’ve got the room if she needs to stay overnight.”

“Are you sure, Izu?” a hint of concern entering her voice. “I mean that is…”

Izuku cuts her off “I’m sure, it’s not like that room’s used much anyway”.

“Okay, well if you’re sure” She gets up from her crouched position and swaps the phone into her other hand and holds her now free right hand out to Himiko. “So, do want to come with us?”

“Are you sure? I don’t want to cause trouble for you or your mom”.

“I’m sure, mom’s always happy to meet new people”.

“I think she’ll probably be happier that you made a new friend” a cheshire grin appearing on Ochako’s face.

“Wait, friend?” Himiko pauses, her hand half outstretched, reaching for Ochako’s.

“Well, yeah, our parents always told us never to bring strangers home, so you’re not a stranger you’re a friend”.

“I’m not sure that’s how it works Occhan”.

Himiko on the other hand, failing to find the flaw in that logic, accepts the proffered hand. “That kinda makes sense, well if we’re friends can I get a cute nickname? I noticed you two call each other ‘Izukun’ and ‘Occhan’, which is adorable.”

“Sure-” Ochako helps the other girl onto her feet. “-Y’know, the reason we have those nicknames is because when we first met Izukun couldn’t pronounce my name, so my mom suggested he use ‘Occhan’”.

An audible groan is heard from the technicolour phone.

“And then my mom suggested the use of Izukun, and the names stuck”.

Slowly the two girls start walking out of the alley together and towards the street.

“Aaaw, that’s even cuter” cooed Himiko “So you two are childhood friends huh?”

“I mean we still are children, but yeah, we’ve known each other since we were five”.

“Cuuute, sooo, what’s my nickname?”

“Um, what about Himi-chan, is that ok?”

“It’s perfect”

“And if you want you can use mine and Occhan’s nicknames”.

The 2 girls and Izuku exit ‘Himiko’s alley’ into the larger alley Ochako and Izuku were initially on and turn right to where they can see light pouring in from the street, and head towards it. As they near the end of the main alley Himiko pipes up.

“I just want to say thanks again for what you said back there”.

Izuku and Ochako both brush it off saying that they merely said the truth and that they weren’t going to abandon someone in trouble.  

“Still, thank you” and at those words, she hugs Ochako, and the brunette reciprocates, patting her on the back. After a minute the two separate, and the blonde addresses Izuku.

“And thank you for inviting me to your home Izukun, I’ll be sure to give you your hug when I see you in person”.

At that, Ochako stops abruptly and looks down at the phone with a solemn expression, on her face. Himiko takes a couple more paces before realising her companion has stopped. She turns around, a look of concern evident across her face as she wonders what’s troubling her new friend.

“What’s wrong Occhan? Was it something I said?”

Ochako looks up and opens her mouth, wanting to say something, but reconsiders and closes her mouth again before looking again at Izuku’s face on the screen.

“It’s okay Ochako, I’ll explain it to her. After all, it does primarily affect me” He responds in a reassuring tone, and at a gesture from him, she hands the phone to Himiko. “Don’t worry, it’s nothing you said. It’s just that while you explained your circumstances to us, we never explained ours to you. So, it’s only fair I tell you the truth. I don’t have a physical body, not like you, Occhan, or most people for that matter. This phone is the closest thing I have to a body because" He pauses as if to take a breath. "I’m an A.I.”