Chapter 1: Prologue

It all began in Quing Quing City in China with the news that a bio-luminescent baby was born. After that, strange instances like this began popping up all over the world. The cause was never discovered, but as time passed and the strange became the norm, soon problems followed. At present, 80% of the world’s population consists of meta-humans with special abilities. In a world where laws are slow to change, more and more people used these newfound abilities to do as they pleased. Of course, some use their powers for the greater good, stopping this new breed of villains as professional heroes.

 

Some fanboys would probably tell you about how amazing heroes like All Might or Deku are. They’d tell you they want to be a hero themselves and become just as famous as those two. Fact is, heroes don’t stop as many crimes as they’d like you to think. Sure, they’ll stop some big bad every now and then, making a big show of it in their flashy costumes while everyday crimes fly under their radar completely. Someone getting mugged in an alley doesn’t need to hold out for a hero to come and save them, chances are that nobody will hear them. 

 

As was the case for Yamada Kaede, a woman in her early 20s working as a server in one of the more popular bars of Shinobe city, Japan, sitting in the north of Saga prefecture. She was what some may describe as “plain”, focusing more on getting through the day than worrying about the future. After a hard night of serving drinks to people barely holding onto their senses, Kaede didn’t think of anything that wasn’t her futon back home. The second the door to the bar closed behind her, all thoughts of work, the customers grumbling uncalled for names at her and even the thoughts of the occasional handsy guest flew right out. She told herself that the moment she clocked out, all those things didn’t matter anymore. After all, she wasn’t getting paid to worry about work outside of her hours. 

Her way home wasn’t particularly far, barely 20 minutes by foot, so, even in the early morning hours she’d just walk there. This gave her just enough time for a smoke and to check her phone for any news. 

 

She idly scrolled through the news pages while walking up the road toward her apartment complex, practically knowing the way blindly. She flicked her burnt out cigarette into a trash bin while turning the corner into the yard of the building complex, pocketing her phone before starting to fish around in her purse for her keycard. Kaede looked out to the street while trying to retrieve the small plastic card, sighing a little as it started to rain. “Come on already…” She complained. “I made it just in time, don’t make me get wet now! Where is that darn card…?!” 

She’d notice another figure cross the street while she was still looking around in her purse, covering their head from the rain with a beige trenchcoat. It was practically impossible to make out their face in the dim light of the flickering street lamp, but she didn’t make much of it. ‘Probably just another tenant coming home from the night shift.’ She thought, finally losing patience and opening her purse properly, using her phone as a light to get a better view of its contents. 

She wouldn’t get very far though, a massive hand suddenly grabbing her from behind, covering her entire face, another arm wrapping around her torso, dragging her out of the light. She tried to struggle against him, dropping both her purse and the phone as she attempted to pry the hand off her face, only to be met with his oversized fingers gripping on harder. Her phone shattered as it impacted the ground, the purse spilling its contents while she was dragged to the side of the building. Every attempt to twist or turn her way out of the man's grip only resulted in his unnaturally large, claw-like fingers cutting further into her skin. Then it came to her. This wasn’t just some tenant or passerby, no, she knew this man. She never paid much attention to him, but there was a certain customer at the bar that showed up almost daily, the sort of person Kaede and her colleagues would talk smack about in the employee lounge. He was one of the few guests with an obvious quirk. They always just called him “the Oni” as he was growing two smooth horns and had massive hands, his fingers practically sharpened claws. Unfortunately, he also had the demeanour of a demon. He was the type of guest who couldn’t keep his hands to himself, or reign his tongue in. Their boss, however, never said anything aside from, “Oh don’t complain so much! Those kinda customers keep comin’ back! Just ignore ‘em!” 

 

That night, there was no hero to help her, no matter how much she called for help, no matter how much she prayed. In the end, another tenant would find her in the late morning, curled up near the side of the building, her work uniform torn to shreds, her face and back covered in cuts and bruises, her breath shallow. 

The case showed up in the local news for a few days before being drowned out by the usual news of heroes and villains. While the police officially started a hunt for the suspect, the man all but disappeared. Kaede was admitted to the local hospital to recover from her wounds. She had broken several ribs and one of her arms along with the hand of said arm, had deep lacerations all over her body from where his claws held onto her and spent several weeks under intensive watch from therapists and rehabilitation doctors. 

In the end, the police organised for her to be moved away from Shinobe City and have her name changed to minimise the chances of her attacker striking again, under concerns that he might come to finish the job. Ultimately they decided to move her to Musutafu City due to its high presence of active pro heroes and relatively low rate of minor crimes.

 

From then on, Kaede, now Ishida Kaede, lived a relatively peaceful life. The government paid for many of her living expenses, such as her apartment, tucked away behind larger buildings and hard to find for even those who lived there, her food and medical bills that piled up due to lasting damage to her body. At least… everything would have been peaceful from then on, if it wasn’t for one small problem. 

Several  months after she had moved she’d be admitted to the hospital after collapsing on the street from abdominal pain. A few hours after that, at least the doctors knew what had happened to her…

 

Kaede was just waking up after being put under for some emergency surgery when one of the nurses stepped into the single-bed room, giving her a soft smile. The nurse was of rather small stature and had some form of feline related quirk, evident by the two tabby cat ears sticking out of her orange hair. 

“How are you feeling, Ishida-san…? Please, try not to move too much, you’ve gone through quite a lot today.”

“W-what… what are you talking about?!” She stuttered out, still trying to figure out where she was and what exactly was happening. She pushed herself up in her bed to sit up, only to be met with excruciating pain coming from her lower half, causing her to instantly sink back down, letting out a yelp of pain.

The nurse quickly made her way over to her, re-adjusting her blanket and pillow as well as making sure all the cables and tubes attached to her were still in order, taking a step back before speaking up again. “I must ask you to not sit… you might break the stitches… the doctor will be with you in just a second.”
“Stitches?! T-tell me already! W-what did you do to me?!” Kaede shouted out, full on panicking now, throwing the blanket aside and lifting the medical gown she had been put in. Her lower abdomen was wrapped in a bandage, her skin still yellow from the antiseptic used in surgery. She felt her heart sink like a rock as the truth dawned on her, a knot forming in her throat and tears building up in her throat. She managed to keep it together, taking a deep breath and swallowing the cold feeling creeping up her spine, at least, until the aforementioned doctor stepped into the room. Unlike the nurse, he was quite tall with snow white hair and a neatly trimmed beard. What stood out most about him was the fact that his left eye had a minty green colour to it, the other being a deep brown. As his nametag implied he was a surgeon by the name of Sawada Izu.

He didn’t try to put up a facade for his patient, giving her a sombre nod as he looked at his tablet for a moment, taking a deep breath and gesturing to the nurse to step outside, which she did right after once again fixing Kaedes clothes and blanket.

 “Ishida-san… I am deeply sorry for what I must tell you now.” He said somewhat hesitantly, bowing deeply. “I… had a moment to read through your medical records just before the surgery…” His words still didn’t make sense to her, no matter how calm his voice was. He stood up straight again, adjusting his coat a little before continuing to talk. She was just staring at him, thoughts racing through her head, yet never forming anything she could interpret. “It would seem that… during the incident about 8 months ago-” He’d be cut off just before he could finish the next word.

“S-stop… don’t say it…” Kaede now just staring right through him. She could no longer deny or suppress it. The signs she had been purposefully ignoring ever since she moved. She had known for a while now, yet never accepted it. She didn’t want to. A world where something like that could happen was wrong after all… yet, she was living in it. But even after everything that happened in the last few hours, she still did not want it to be true.

 

While she looked completely calm, the beeping of her heart monitor picked up rapidly. Just as the doctor was about to continue talking, she’d cut him off again, talking in a trembling voice. “W-where… where is it…?”

“The child is currently being taken care of just a room over. She was born with a mutant type quirk we believe is inherited from her father.” The doctor explained as professionally as he could, not wishing to upset his patient even more.

Indeed, it didn’t take an x-ray of the foot to tell that this child was born with a quirk. Two bumps were budding just on her forehead, her tiny hands adorned with unproportionally large fingers ending in claws, yet to grow sharp. 

In the end, Kaede wouldn’t even take a single look at the child she had given birth to, not even giving her a name. Instead, the newborn would stay in the hospital for a few more months, being taken care of by nurses as they attempted to find a foster family for the abandoned child, which was easier said than done. 

Many of the couples that were looking for a child were put off by her appearance, the bumps on her head quickly growing into two small smooth, red tipped horns. Her fingers grew more into claws resembling those of her father and even the nurses taking care of her couldn’t help but compare her to the demons from old stories. 

After many months of searching for a family, the child, now named Minami Makoto, was handed over to a foster home near the hospital. It was by no means a bad place to grow up for any normal child, yet, someone like her stood out, even here. The employees were well meaning and did their best to treat everyone equally, only revealing their true feelings about her behind closed doors, however, the other children weren't as sensitive. 

Even before Makoto hit school age, the other kids were already picking on her, telling her that she was given away because she was actually a demon or that her parents were scared she’d turn into some kind of villain once she grew up. Insults only became worse the older she got, yet she always tried to stay out of any conflict. She did her best to ignore their stares, their comments and the stories they had spread about her. Sure, she had gotten into trouble every now and then, small fights around the school yards, having her things taken by the other kids on her way home, which often ended in even more fights between them, even starting arguments with the adults at the foster home, a few times even attempting to run away and live on the streets.

However, things took a turn for the worse around the time they got into junior high. Her biological father, a relatively unknown criminal at the time, had managed to get into a segment on the news after being arrested for attempting to rob a bank. Perhaps it was a slow news day or just bad luck for Makoto, but they went into a detailed story on the criminal, the story soon spreading on social media, eventually reaching her classmates.

“And now, coming straight from Saga City, the police have caught Ishii Ryou after a 6 hour standoff at the City Bank. Ishii has been known in the past for other crimes, including theft, assault and several cases of sexual assault. Locally, he is known as the Oni. During the confrontation, the police were assisted by several heroes who bravely captured the criminal and detained him after securing several hostages… and now to the weather…” Sora, one of Makoto's classmates, moved the phone away from her face after showing her his recording of the broadcast for the second time. He rewound it and paused it as they showed the criminals mugshot, including his distinct clawed hands and horns. Sora grinned mischievously in the picture, showing off his shark-like teeth.

“Whaddya say, Minami-me? Think we found your daddy? No wonder you look like that.” He said with a laugh, once again shoving the phone into her face to show her the picture as close as he could. 

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Makoto knew relatively little about her parents, only where she originally lived. She had always asked her caretakers about them, taking up research herself once questions became too uncomfortable for them to answer. She had found reports of a criminal that had the exact same quirk as herself and it didn’t take her too long to make the connection.

Kimura Sora came from a wealthy family and had an attitude to match. From the day he joined her class in elementary school, he was one of the kids who had it out for her the most. Thanks to his family's standing, others soon joined him. Ever since, she had been plagued with him and his group of equally self important friends.

She swiped at his arm with her backhand, pushing it aside, letting out a sigh, adjusting her backpack a little. “That's all for today then, Kimura-san…?” She said in an annoyed tone, avoiding eye contact with the boys. “We’re gonna be late for school, so get out of my way…”

The boys just laughed at her, spreading out to surround her and block off her way forward even more, slowly forcing her to retreat towards a fence behind her. “No, I don’t think so… you know what the heroes do to villains, don’t you Minami? And you do look an awful lot like that villain…” Sora began to grin a little as he held out his hand, activating his quirk. Compared to Makoto, it was a minor quirk, he could turn the edges of his hands into sharp metal blades, similar to those on a cleaver. “So… how about we help you out with that, what do you say? You wouldn’t want a hero to mistake you for that villain now, would you…?” At this point, they had cornered her, her back pushing against the chainlink. 

She had always tried to stay out of actual fights as she got into enough trouble already, instead just using her looks and threats to scare away anyone who tried to mess with her, but this time around, that wouldn’t be much of a choice. 

“Let’s start with those horns of yours!” One of the boys shouted, his arms extending thanks to his quirk and holding the girl in place as Sora swung his arm in a big arch down upon her. She flinched, attempting to duck away from his attack, tucking her chin into her chest. 

The bladed edge of his hand impacted with a loud crack, Makoto's skull shaking as if she was headbutting a brick wall, leaving her dazed for a few seconds. After regaining some semblance of balance, she realised that she was unharmed, aside from a light headache. The girl slowly raised her head to look at the boys just as the next one moved in for his turn. She didn’t know his name, only that he had some form of speed quirk, making the punch to her jaw so much more effective, her head recoiling, dazing her yet again as it felt as if her brain was being rattled in her skull. She tumbled backwards, struggling to stay upright as he punched her again, hitting her right in the nose. This time, she couldn’t even recover as she felt a knee slam into her stomach, her legs buckling and causing her to fall onto the floor, the kids who were holding her in place finally letting go.

A warm stream of blood ran down from her nose, drizzling into the grass below her. She attempted to push herself back up. Her vision was blurry and the boy's laughter and insults only a dull rumbling in her ears. Just as she had managed to peel herself off the floor, she felt a boot hit the same horn Sora had hit earlier, the sound of it snapping off ringing through her entire body. Every nerve in her body felt like it was going to explode for a moment as the horn broke off. It felt as if someone was ripping out part of her actual skull, her vision going completely black for a moment, her body falling back onto the ground as she almost lost consciousness. Makoto felt more blood stream down her face, every single bone in her body screaming in pain, yet, she couldn’t get out even a scream for help.

Sora and his friends just laughed a little at the sight of the demon child writhing in pain in the dirt. One of them ended their brief confrontation with a kick to the girl's ribs before they turned their backs, leaving her where she was.

Then, she felt that searing pain subside, her panicked breath slowing down, and her consciousness fading. She fought to stay awake, clinging to any thought that came to her in an attempt to not pass out.

What had she done to deserve any of this? It wasn’t her fault that she looked like this. It wasn’t her fault her father was a criminal, that her mother abandoned her. She had never hurt anyone, sure, she had said some mean things, but so had they. No, none of this was her fault. The world had always been against her.

 

The caretakers and other kids, even the news, no, everyone, talked about the great deeds of heroes all around the world. How their appearance made the world a better place. In class when they were asked what they wanted to be, the others always said they’d be pro heroes one day. Makoto never understood it. She never understood any of it.

No hero ever stopped the other kids from treating her the way they did. No hero came to get her out of her life of pain… and she knew, nobody would come this time either.

‘Useless fucks…’ She thought to herself. ‘I’ll show them…’ She slowly pushed herself off the ground once again. That electric pain she felt throughout her body now gave her the strength to stand once again. “T-that… all you got…?” She coughed out, spitting out a big glob of blood as she got back onto her feet, picking up the broken piece of her horn. “H-how are you gonna become a hero with those w-weak moves…?” She stuttered out, trying to get a chuckle out. She wiped the blood off her face with the sleeve of her school uniform and brushed her hair out of her face. She now felt a tingle in her fingertips and feet. She felt her muscles tense up as the boys turned around, her vision sharpening again. The pain had completely faded, instead, there was only a burning hate in her now. 

Makoto had tried to stay out of fights, up until now, if she didn’t act now, everything would just stay the same. Once she recovered they’d just continue where they left off. They’d find yet more things to use against her. No, she had to put a stop to this right now. 

“Give up already Minami-me. You were right where you belong.” The Kimura boy turned to look at her with a disgusted look on his face. “Look at yourself… you’ll never be anything but a useless thug, just like your dad!”

She clenched her teeth as he said that, her claws digging into the palm of her hands as she gripped onto the broken horn like a dagger. “Don’t compare me to that man… you, you don’t know anything!!” Makoto shouted in anger, the edges of her vision blurring, veins on her forehead and on her hands popping out just before she dashed towards them with a hate filled scream. All of this, it all would end right here.

The other boys tried to step into the way but she smacked them out of the way with her free hand, locked in on Sora. She tackled him to the ground, grabbing onto his hair and smashing the back of his head onto the concrete floor as she raised the broken horn above her head, staring right at him with glowing red eyes.

“You forgot your trophy!!” She yelled, bringing the horn down onto him with all her built up hate and strength she had. He let out a scream of terror, attempting to shield his face as best he could. 

Makoto held his head pressed against the ground with her free hand, gripping onto it as hard as she could, her claws slowly drawing blood. 

She felt the heat of her own blood on her face, the searing pain from her broken horn, her heart racing in her chest, but none of that mattered right now. Seeing the boys look of terror as he realized she could end it all right here made her feel… warm. A sinister smile formed on her lips, baring her bloodied teeth as she let out a chuckle. 

He’d finally pay for everything that he had done to her, she’d finally show the world that they couldn’t just mess with her. Her grip on the horn tightened as she got ready to thrust it down onto him.

But, she didn’t. As he slowly opened his eyes again he’d see the girl still sitting on top of him, her face drenched in her own blood, the red glow in her eyes subsiding. She had just barely missed his head, the broken horn now stuck in the concrete right next to his ear. Makoto was still trembling in anger, from Sora's point of view, truly looking like one of the demons from the stories.

Maybe, he had a point after all. She wasn’t cut out to be a hero. No matter how much she had tried to stay out of trouble, it always found her. This wasn’t just Sora, no, there were so many before him that treated her the same way. The adults in her foster home, who could barely stand to look at her. The other kids, who constantly grouped up against her and spread all sorts of stories about her. But worst of all, her own mother, giving up on her without even giving her a name. She was done with all of this, done with trying to run from all the trouble. If they were gonna think that way about her, then she might as well give those stories some truth to them. 

She loosened her grip on his head, giving him a look of resentment. She pulled the horn back out of the ground without saying a word, looking at the other boys around them that had either moved to a safe distance from her or were recovering from the blows they had suffered during her attack. 

Makoto took a deep breath before speaking up again. “You’re wrong, Kimura-san…” She slowly got back onto her feet, still squatting over him. “If I really was the demon you all talk about… I’d have gone through with it….” She spit a bloody wad of saliva right into his face. “Go ahead… tell your friends… tell them how you tried your hardest, but ended up in the dirt anyway…” She hesitated for a moment, then brought down her fist onto his face, knocking his head into the ground once again.

It felt like someone was lifting a mountain off him as the girl finally got up, shaking her now bloodied hand to clean it, splattering him with it. Sora couldn’t get out even the smallest noise, he was still frozen in fear.

“If you are the kind to become a pro hero when they grow up… no wonder that they’re all cowards.” She gave him one last, dismissive look before stepping away from the little park they were in. The further she walked, the more the pain caught up to her. Her head was throbbing in pain, the broken horn starting to send an agonising pulse down the right side of her body. Her body couldn’t take much more, her knees buckling after she stepped into an alley a little off the path she intended to take. She slumped against a wall, blood still running down her head and face. 

An unbearable wave of thoughts and emotions filled her as her mind caught up to what had just happened. What had just happened? What was that burning anger she had come over her? Was she really going to stab Sora back there? 

No, this… this wasn’t what she wanted. It wasn’t who she was. She was better than that man. Yet, it felt good to finally stand up to Sora and his friends. It felt good to finally show them that she could stand up for herself.

With her remaining strength, she raised her hands to look at her bloodied palms and the piece of her broken horn she was still clutching onto. 

Makoto made a choice at that moment. She wouldn’t let something like this happen ever again. No longer would she run away or hide from others. Now she knew she had the strength to stand up to them, beat the respect into them if she had to. Never again would she allow herself to be treated this way.

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