Chapter 1 : Worth

"There's a Villain Gate by Tatooin Station! I hear some sort of giant broke through the Heroes lines!"

Those two sentences sent a shock of excitement through Izuku Midoriya's body as he watched the masses begin sprinting towards the site. Not because he liked watching Villains rampage, but because he loved watching Heroes take them down. It was a spectacle that anyone and everyone loved to watch, a spectacle that proved Humanity wasn't just some punching bag, that they were a force to be reckoned with.

Of course, while this was the excuse Midoriya gave out, it was not the truth. Every takedown, every display of Heroic power gave him the extremely satisfying catharsis he could not give himself.

Izuku Midoriya, like most of the world's current population, was considered an E-Rank Hero, but unlike the majority of the world, he did not have any unique Quirk to accompany him. He was completely special in that regard, which only made him mundane in the eyes of the rest of his peers. He didn't have the same increased strength that came standard with being a Hero, or the slightly increased regeneration. Midoriya was as weak as they came.

If he were to face off against even the lowest of E-Rank Villains, it would take all of his efforts and a healthy amount of luck to escape with his life. He wouldn't even be able to hope to defeat his enemy.

For all those reasons and more, he found himself inexorably drawn to every last Hero fight he could witness. And before he even knew it, Midoriya found his legs rapidly pumping as he followed closely behind the crowd.

As he neared the station, Izuku found his eyes tracking far above the railways to gaze upon the Shark-headed villain tearing apart the surrounding area. Just behind him, Izuku could see the telltale signs of a Gate. The swirling blue ethereal portal stood fifty feet in all directions.

Though Izuku himself was adept at sensing the intricate energies coming off the Gate, he had seen enough to recognize the pattern. It's rotary speed and the duration of the particles coming off of it told him it was a low B-Rank at best. Highly dangerous and yet, hundreds of people had crowded around to observe as if it was an everyday occurrence. Probably because it was.

It had been decades since the first emergence of Gates and in modern times, people had become desensitized to it all. Heroes were always stationed at Gate entrances, so even in the event that some Villains snuck out, they were typically dealt with in a matter of seconds. In this case, it was none other than Kamui Woods at the rear guard.

His body was completely unnatural, made entirely of wood that bent and flowed like water. With roots shooting from Kamui's body to entangle the Villain, Izuku made haste to pull out his latest notebook, nearly missing a second giant join the fight.

"EAT THIS!"

With a roar that would put a dragon to shame, Mount Lady, a Hero with Gigantification Quirk, brought a massive iron mace to the side of the Villain's head, deeply denting its skull.

Midoriya almost sympathetically winced, forgetting for a moment that it was a Villain, an interdimensional monster that only existed to kill.

Mount Lady was an A-Rank Hero. At the top of her game, it wasn't unfeasible for one strike to be all she needed to take down the threat. In fact, as the Villain collapsed to the ground, Izuku was able to make out his unmoving body.

The sudden beeping of an alarm shook Izuku out of his focus and he looked down at his watch, blanching as he did so, "I'M GONNA BE LATE!"

Izuku hated the feeling of his current clothing. His sweatshirt hung too loosely and was so baggy that he ended up spending a good two minutes trying to shove all of it into his too tight pants.

These were his "Hero" clothes so to speak. They were the only clothes he owned that he could also afford to lose. On multiple occasions, Izuku had considered his form-fitting school uniform, which was by far more comfortable. But school uniforms were expensive and Izuku didn't have the skill needed to knit the clothing back together well enough to hide the claw marks and bladed attacks.

Approaching a construction site, Izuku looked down at his phone making sure that this was, indeed, the site of the D-Rank Gate.

While Pros were officially licensed and run by the Government, thus giving them access to more power and more money, it wasn't necessary to become a Pro Hero to clear Gates. It was, however, necessary to be in possession of a Beginner's Badge, an ID of sorts that confirmed the person in possession was able to make their own informed decisions about entering Gates.

Izuku grimaced in response to the memory that thought brought up. It had taken months of convincing and conniving to get his own Beginner's Badge without a Quirk of his own. In reality, he shouldn't have been able to get a hold of it in the first place.

"Again?!" Izuku heard a familiar voice cry out in his direction and flinched in response.

"Uh... good afternoon Miss Yaoyorozu."

Turning on his heel, Izuku came face to face with Momo Yaoyorozu, an irrefutably beautiful girl who was a good 7 centimeters taller than him. Her obsidian hair was currently hanging low over her back as she attempted to work it up into a massive ponytail.

Izuku had a hard time not staring at her. Every bit of her body was as if it was hand-sculpted by the gods. No matter how much of a gentleman he was, her chest always demanded a quick glance from him, much to his shame.

Thankfully, Yaoyorozu was too caught up getting herself ready to focus on Izuku's emerald-green eyes.

"I keep telling you, it's just Yaoyorozu... or Yaomomo. It's what my friends call me. Besides, we're the same age."

Izuku bowed low, "I'm sorry Mis- um... I'm sorry Yaoyorozu."

Yaoyorozu fought to not roll her eyes. Her father always scolded her about how unladylike it was. "What happened this time?"

Izuku stood up straight once more and scratched the back of his head nervously, "Oh... it just happened while doing some Hero work."

"Sure... what actually happened?"

Izuku sighed, knowing full well where this was going.

As expected, he ended up sitting on a nearby piece of rebar with the girl as they waited for the entire Hero party to be assembled.

"You even went to a hospital?!"

"Yeah," Izuku mumbled, red hot embarrassment filling his body, "It was an E-Rank and I was the only one hurt."

"How could you have gotten hurt that badly in a party?"

Izuku found himself wishing that he didn't exist at that moment. Here he was, sitting with the drop-dead beauty of a girl and he was spilling his guts over why he was so weak. It was detestable, it was shameful, it was just straight-up horrifi-

"Midoriya?" Yaoyorozu's concerned tone dragged him back to the present and he shook his head.

"Sorry, it's been a long day and I haven't managed to snag any coffee yet." He chuckled lightly in an attempt to ease her mind, but her gaze only grew more concerned. "I swear, it's nothing... I'm fine."

Yaoyorozu finally nodded, giving up her immediate concern for him and instead choosing to ask, "Why do you even want to be a Hero?"

Of course, it was only Izuku's luck that a change of topic would draw him back into that pit of shame and disappointment.

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Earlier That Day :

"Since you're all third-years, I think it's time for you to seriously take a look at your future and think about what you want to become." Izuku held his head low to his desk as his middle-school teacher spoke, "I'll be passing out the handouts now, but..." The man threw the papers into the air, "You're all pretty much planning to go into the Hero course aren't you?!"

The class screamed "Yes!" In affirmation and Izuku meekly raised his hand alongside them. He might've already been able to do Hero work with his permit, but Izuku didn't dream of merely staying at the bottom of the ladder. He wanted to climb as high as possible and reach his favorite Hero, All Might. To do that Izuku needed to go to the very best Hero school.

"UA High?!"

Izuku realized the rest of his class was staring at one Katsuki Bakugo. He didn't need to hear the rest of the conversation to know that the blond was bragging about how he was totally going to enroll at UA and get accepted for sure. He had been like this since childhood and showed no signs of changing anytime soon.

The teacher nodded as he looked at his papers, "Oh? It looks like Midoriya wants to go to UA as well."

Izuku attempted to bury his head further into his desk, but the attention of his peers drew it back up.

"You can't get into UA's Hero course just by studying!"

"Yeah! A Quirkless E-Rank like you stands no chance of getting admitted."

"H-Hang on!" Izuku tried to break through their wall of shouts, "They abolished that rule! T-There's just no precedent- AH!"

Izuku was flung back as Bakugo slammed his palm down on his desk, a mini-explosion sending him flying backwards into the wall.

"Listen here you Quirkless loser!" Bakugo shouted, "You'll never make anything of yourself! You're below even the rejects! So why don't you just take a nosedive off a building!"

"Bakugo," The teacher said calmly, "We don't accept that sort of talk here."

Izuku didn't bother to mention that the teacher had only spoken up after Bakugo had made his point.

Grinning arrogantly, Bakugo took his seat once more, a final, "Worthless," Thrown over his shoulder at Izuku.

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Present Time :

"Worthless, huh?" Izuku murmured to himself as he looked up to the partially constructed building, wondering if he should just make the climb now and save everyone the trouble. But Yaoyorozu's calming hand on his shoulder dislodged the bleak thought from his mind. He had a responsibility to his mother, he couldn't leave just yet.

"Midoriya? You keep spacing out?" Yaoyorozu suddenly blanched and hopped off the beam before bowing, "Forgive me, I've caused you discomfort with my question!"

Izuku waved her concern away with a wide smile, "Nah! It's nothing! I just wanna become a Hero for the fun of it! I think I'd die of boredom if I didn't have this job to keep me company!"

Yaoyorozu looked like she wanted to say something else, but a nearby, "Alright! Let's get this show on the road!" Cut her off.

Looking over, Izuku saw their raid leader standing at the ready and pushed himself to his feet. Clenching his fist, he steeled his nerves, "Time to prove my worth."

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