Spacetime Anomaly: MHA Fanfic

Chapter 2.2: Villain Encounter

An eight-year-old Izuku had just finished his academic work of the day, on this very special day. Though he should have been in primary school, he was already preparing himself to take the graduation test to begin earning his high school degree; it was about the same level of work he had before he killed himself.

To take a break from the monotony of study work, he left the house to pick up some groceries. He had started doing these errands when he turned six-years-old to help his mother and the purpose of today's visit was to restock his supply of supplements. True to the resolve he had set when he awoke his ability, he took his studying and training as serious as his past life's analysis of pro heroes. Thus, immediately after he began to start physical conditioning, he did his research on nutrition and how best to build up his body. He went so far as to abide by a strict diet and cook all his food to ensure precision.

Today should have been like any other day. Even the sounds of battle between heroes and villains barely impacted Izuku as he had seen far too many incidents as a result of living in a bustling city where millions of people lived. However, a rare occurrence found its way into this otherwise normal day as a fleeing villain was barreling right towards Izuku.

It was just Izuku's luck to be the only one on the sidewalk while the villain came running towards him and far before the villain could even see him, Izuku guessed he would probably be made into a hostage if he didn't act preemptively. Like clockwork, when the villain stopped checking his back to see if he lost the pros that were chasing him and made eye contact with Izuku, a distinct malicious light crossed his eyes as he made a beeline in Izuku's direction; he didn't even feign trying to run past him, hoping his move would directly intimidate Izuku into submission.

Unfortunately for the villain, Izuku had long since adapted to using his Spatial Awareness in practical situations. He had started learning martial arts if only as a way to become better able to defend himself. With his eyes emanating a golden-colored aura of calmness, Izuku watched lightly smiling as he thought to himself, 'It's like I'm seeing the world in slow motion.'

He didn't know it then because his reflection was not visible to him, but to villain Izuku's eyes had turned just a shade darker — a bit closer to dark gold in color. When the villain finally came close enough to lunge at Izuku and attempted the action, he found himself lying on his back before he could even react. At the very last possible second, Izuku swept the villain by his legs with such precision and ease that the fleeing villain didn't even feel the impact as Izuku carried over the running momentum of his enemy.

As if Izuku's reaction time was next to nonexistent, he quickly gathered both the villain's hands and pressed them against him back, holding him down by kneeling on the villain's back and using all his weight as absolute suppression. Naturally, that wouldn't have been nearly enough to hold down an a.d.u.l.t and it was actually an unseen pressure that Izuku didn't notice which ensure that the villain could no longer move. But as he was caught up in the moment of actually being involved with a villain attack — an occurrence that was actually rather rare, despite villain attacks occurring on the daily — Izuku wouldn't figure this out until much later.

Less than a minute passed and the pros that were in pursuit of the villain finally caught up. To their disbelief and utter bemus.e.m.e.nt, they found a little boy single-handedly take this villain down. To say they were nonplussed would be a mild under-exaggeration as it was nigh-incomprehensible how this situation came to be. After all, the villain was quite the speedy fellow; able to evade three pro heroes, and all.

When the pros were close enough, Izuku hopped off the villain, giving the pros a curt nod before moving along as if he had nothing to do with the villain's arrest. Naturally, he was stopped as a pro, which Izuku recognized as the Calming Hero: Fragrant, called out to him, "Whoa there kiddo, those were some pretty sick moves."

"Uh… thanks," Izuku said as he calmly looked over at the hand the hero placed on his shoulder.

He was just about to continue leaving when the pro said, "Y-you're going to leave? Alone?" Though it wasn't uncommon to see children travel the streets alone, Izuku was far too young for it to look natural. Then again, as the pro recalled how easily Izuku subdued the villain, 'He must be from some sort of Heroic Family. I just can't seem to recall a youth like him, though...' The pro thought it to be odd that he couldn't recognize such a capable trained child, but since there were thousands of heroes and agencies across Japan alone, it made sense if he couldn't remember all the outstanding youth of the next generation.

"Right," Izuku said as he turned to look at the pro. "I'd rather not get in your way. Besides, I still have some groceries to do." Eerily calm in this most unexpected situation, Izuku probably would have been over the moon if he had the chance to talk to a pro like this before he decided to off himself. Now, after years of systematic isolation and discipline had been ingrained in his very being he learned restraint and could rather calmly talk to anyone and everyone that crossed his path. To him, this pro wasn't any different than the cashier he would later have to exchange with to buy groceries or the teachers in the dojo where he learned martial arts.

"Well alright then, I'll remember you kid," the pro chortled, "When you enter a top tier hero academy, I'll be sure to ask my boss to send you an invite to join the agency for an internship. I know you'll be a top tier pro!" With an encouraging push, the pro sent Izuku off. As a direct consequence, Izuku was left ruminating over the event for hours. He thought about many things, but what left the biggest mark in his mind was just how big of a difference there was in the treatment he received, simply because he showed a bit of fighting potential.

When he was originally Quirkless it wasn't like he couldn't be useful to the pros or the world of heroics; even he subconsciously knew he had a gifted mind back then. Yet all he did was lightly act out with his ability in what he considered to be a most trivial manner and the pros were all over him. Fragrant might have been the only one to talk to him, but as the cops arrived and took the villain out of the hands of the Calming Hero's two associates, the other pros and even some of the cops and bystanders shouted encouraging words his way; praising him, if only for his ability.

It really made Izuku understand, 'Verbal exchanges and hypotheticals will never compare to physical, tangible, results…' Sighing, the cynical mind he had been developing walked another step towards evolution, Izuku felt his heart grow heavy in his c.h.e.s.t. To think and to understand where two very different concepts and Izuku was beginning to understand more of the treacherous aspects of human nature. He remembered when all he wanted to do was help others — and he still did — but the sunny world of heroics was slowly growing downcast as he acc.u.mulated life experience.

Still, his goal hadn't changed; becoming a pro hero and helping others was still his life's dream. The only difference today made in his psyche was that he feared becoming a superficial person. He wanted to help others and that thought alone prompted the idea, "Fighting villains and saving others in serious life-threatening situations shouldn't be the only thing that defines a hero. Even if it is… I will become a hero I can look up to. I can help others even now!"

Izuku picked up the groceries he had intended to buy and returned home with a new fiery passion lighting up in his heart. He was so absorbed by his thoughts of beginning what he considered hero work as soon as possible that he temporarily set aside reviewing his first fight against a villain.