Chapter Text
He never really paid attention to her. I mean sure, he remembered when she first came into his class—her introduction was short and simple. It was only a few months into the school year…
“Everyone quiet down now, we have a new transfer student, let's all be kind now as she introduces herself”
The girl who he hadn’t even noticed stood from the desk next to him, she had short black hair and was wearing the school issued uniform. If anything, she looked kind of plain, maybe the only unique thing about her being her black hair, maybe she had a stealth quirk? Blends in with shadows? Her eyes are a simple blue, with white sclera, so nothing out of the ordinary.
He frowns, realizing nothing about her gave away anything about her quirk, and beats himself up about it because a hero should be ready and able to observe anyone and find tells (he ignores the voice in the back of his head telling him that he was holding himself to too high standards, and that it's only been a few seconds— besides it's not like he won't find it out with time)
The teacher prompts her to say her name and she smiles (he thinks she looks uncomfy) and says:
“Cain Cassandra, please take care of me”. With a short bow. Her voice is vaguely monotone and he assumes she’s nervous.
Dismissed back to her seat, the teacher turns to shuffle some papers for today’s lesson and the class turns to face Cain, now sitting in her seat with a pencil and journal out. She pauses, not expecting the eyes on her (or uncomfy with the attention?) when the questions start pouring out of his classmates mouths.
“What school did you transfer from?”
“Your name is foreign, are you from here?”
Before she can even answer the questions another blurts out,
“What's your quirk?”
It’s this question that Kacchan looks up, trying to gauge if she's going to be a threat to his success.
Her eyebrows edge up slightly and she has a friendly smile on her face.
And with a single gesture she put her finger up to her mouth in a “shh” motion.
…
“WHATEVER. Keep your damn quirk to yourself if you want, you’re just stepping stones to my goal!” Kacchan bellows out and fully turns his body to the front. The rest of class is quick to egg him on, shout their support, the new student left in the dark.
Maybe her quirk has something to do with secrets? Whispering? She doesn’t talk a lot, maybe her quirk has something to do with speaking? Is it not active when she's not speaking? Maybe she can command people with her voice—that would be such an overpowered quirk, definitely not stronger than all might though, a great underground hero quirk though….
And that was it really. The notebook he keeps for his classmates has a page for her but it's scarce and full of theories. Doesn’t matter to him though, not like she’s done anything to him (you sound creepy like you’re planning revenge stop that izuku!). He hears her speak when she's called on in class but he guesses the teachers also picked up that she prefers not to speak so they don’t really try. In their English class they don’t even bother because it’s her first language being from the states (as his teacher mentioned, not her herself). When invited to join conversation she answers with body language, like shrugging or furrowing her eyebrows with a shake of her head. When asked about her favorite hero she just shrugged! Cain was always just…there.
But at least she was kind, and doesn’t ignore him when he asks for a pencil.
So why is he just now finding out that she wants to go to U.A? How did he not even notice that? Anytime someone brought up U.A (typically from Kacchan starting it) she didn’t show any interest! No turning towards the person speaking (Kacchan again, typically), no recognition in her eyes, no input. She doesn’t even have a favorite hero!”
“Bakugou is gonna try for the national school?! That has an acceptance rate of 0.2%,that’s impossible!” One of his classmates exclaimed in shock.
“That’s why it’s the only place worthy of me.” Kacchan says arrogantly—jumping on his desk proudly proclaiming that he aced all the mock tests, and that he was the only one that stands a chance at getting in. “I'll be more popular than All Might himself! People all across the world will know who I am. AND IT ALL STARTS WITH U.A HIGH!” shouting at the class.
“...Oh yeah Midoryia don’t you wanna go to the U.A too?” His teacher says as the class whips their heads back to glare at him and he sinks into his chair, away from all the negative, disbelieving eyes.
…
…
The class burst out into laughter and he frantically tries to defend himself—no not him—why a quirkless person should go to U.A in the first place, nevertheless become a hero. “They got rid of that rule actually! I could…” he gets quieter, realizing the class only laughs harder at him “—be the first one.”
Kacchan launches himself towards him with a war cry, exploding his desk and he falls off his seat on the floor. Cain stands now, holding the back of his shirt. Had she…pulled him out of the way of the explosion? Looking up at her in surprise but she's not looking at him, her eyes narrowed and locked onto Kacchan.
“WATCH IT EXTRA! LISTEN UP DEKU!” He makes little explosions in his hands as a show of strength meant to scare both of them (not that it was necessary—he knew the lengths of Kacchans quirk and how his anger felt already).
“You’re worse than the rest of these damn rejects you Quirkless wannabe!” he shouts at Deku, “And you might as well be too you Speechless Freak! Too lame to show how weak your damn quirk is”
“Oh and you too Cain, didn’t you also want to go to U.A?” the teacher chimes in as if a desk wasn’t just blown up and he's not being complacent in the bullying taking place.
There’s eyes on her now but no one is laughing. People treat you better when they assume you have a quirk: it’s a universal truth at this point.
“You really think they’d let you extras in, when they have someone like me?” he sparkes up again ready to beat the thought into them.
Backing up frantically and simultaneously knocking off Cain’s hold on his shirt, he denies any claims “No! Wait… i'm not trying to compete against you or anything!”his back hits the wall “you’ve got to believe me!” sweating profusely Deku says weakly,
“It’s just that…I’ve wanted to be a hero since I was little. And I may not have a quirk but, I can still try my hardest…can’t I” His voice getting quieter near the end, not confident in the words coming out of his mouth. Cain’s looking at him now, her eyes have a glint in them but they snap back to Kacchan the second he starts speaking again.
“You’d never be able to hang with the best of the best, you’d die in the exams!” the words are growled out from above him “Defenseless izuku! This school is already crappy, you really want to embarrass it even more by failing so hard!” and the class laughs.
He doesn’t even try to plead his point, just sits defeated while the class dispurses in laughter, glaring at his shoes.
“What’s the point of having strength if you use it to put others down, instead of lifting them up.”
Cain’s words hang in the air. With how quiet she is, it's rare that you ever hear her voice so when you do: you listen. Kacchan pauses, his eyebrows furrowed and he finally looks towards Cain.
“A damn Deku like him would never be able to contribute to society. He’ll be lucky if he even makes it past graduation!”
Instead of responding, choosing not to use her voice for the blonde, she crouches next to Izuku with a smile and a hand held out. He takes it, unsure, and looks down at his shoes. Cain guides them both out to the door but before they cross the doorway she addresses Kacchan.
“Your life is a gift. Use it better.”
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They don’t speak to each other as they walk out of the school but before they can split up, he asks
“Do you think I can be a hero?” he asks desperately, and expects a pitying look. But…the smile that greets him is so assured—in him, that he starts tearing up when she responds with a silly thumbs up.
Her smile switches to a frown, she says quietly, “Everyone experiences tragedy. Me. You. All Might. It's not what the world tells you to be. It's about how you choose to see the world. Everything else is just an excuse to not be your best self. Prove them wrong Midoriya Izuku.”
Not shying from physical touch, she rubs his shoulder as he looks back down trying to hide his tears from the world—from her.
Leaving him to work out his feelings, she walks away and he doesn’t try stopping her.
“Thank you” for believing in me when no one else would.
He grasps his backpack straps and walks away, thinking of the hero she was going to be, as her words ring in his ears, replaying the scene in his mind. He pauses for a second, focusing on the image of their shoes. Did she…always have red shoes? Could she also be…?