Living as a young child again was... weird. I never officially grew up into adulthood, but being a four-year old was much different than being a teenager. I wasn't sure of the precise time of my life I was at until I had seen my mother's face.
She was skinny and looked at me with a face full of despair. That's when I knew for sure what day I had reawakened at.
The day I was diagnosed as Quirkless.
That fact hadn't bothered me. Not anymore. I've known this for over a decade. My surprised face seemed to perplex my mother, although I'm pretty sure she mistook it as shock directed at her breakdown as she hugged me. I'd remember crying as I watched my favorite video of All Might at this point. Instead, I sat still as a statue as she hugged my tiny frame.
It had been a week since then. I've been trying to get accustomed to everything, but it's been hard. Living like this again was jarring, and my instincts hardened by battle screamed at me for action.
That's exactly what I ended up doing several days prior.
Running away from home, I had tried to find Shigaraki. Not only him, but also Dabi. Or, I guess his name was really Touya. I had to stop Shigaraki from being taken in by All for One, and I had to help the Todoroki family from falling apart. At this point in time, I was around, or at least nearing the time of the incident when they believed Touya died. If I could get there, maybe I could fix things and alter them onto a better course.
That is what I had hoped. Needless to say, my plans went up in flames.
I was captured by a Hero and the police all too quickly. After I had managed to sneak onto a transit train and travel out of town, I was immediately detained the instant I got off. I guess some passengers had seen me and thought it was weird to see a kid traveling all alone, then proceeded to call and report me in to an agency.
I was currently a four-year old child who couldn't do anything to resist. I'd desperately tried to call upon One for All - the warm and powerful sensation I had grown accustomed to - but I could feel nothing. I no longer held such power.
As they had captured me to find out what in the world was going on, I urgently tried to explain myself. It was imperative they let me through and solve these issues before bad things happened. They didn't listen no matter how thoroughly I explained it to them. I'd even whipped out that I was a time traveler and that I knew the future.
That one got a good belly laugh out of a few policemen.
Taking me under custody, they swiftly sent me back where my mother was waiting for me at the other station near home. She looked absolutely devastated and afraid, bawling harder than I'd ever seen her before.
I felt really guilty for doing that to her. But it had to be done.
That's why I had wound up doing the same thing two more times. Each time I had been much more careful than the last, yet they always got the drop on me. After the third try, I ended up getting placed on strict house arrest with an ankle monitor strapped to me.
A four-year old with an ankle monitor. How absurd.
Of course, it wasn't because I was in trouble. They had placed in on me for my protection, as I was a kid with a runaway problem.
They thought I was depressed, believing the issue stemmed from my Quirkless diagnosis. My mother had told them I was a huge hero fanatic, and that reasoning appeared to check out for them.
I had forgotten what it felt like to be so helpless. It was so frustrating.
My efforts hadn't been quelled yet. I still had a computer in my room and I typed away on it like mad. I sent Endeavor several emails - both to his Hero Agency and his personal one. I didn't get a reply, but I wasn't going to give up at that. Hour after hour, I sent emails like crazy, writing missives of extraordinary importance and articulating myself as professionally as possible. When that didn't work, I began to type like a troll and a hateful fool, trying to goad them into response. Anything to get their attention.
I got blocked.
At least I had been blocked from his Hero Agency. Whoever ran that account was a jerk. To be honest, I'm not sure if Endeavor checked his private emails at all, or if he even knew how. If he did, he definitely wouldn't care at this point in his life. He was too busy trying to catch up to All Might...
But I still refused to give in. I ended up sneaking my mother's smartphone from her purse and attempting to get ahold of him that way. I called his number directly, but an elderly lady had picked up on the other end. She had no idea who the heck an Endeavor was. My guess was that his current phone number wasn't the same one I had known from over a decade from now. With the rapid advancements in technology and being such a popular Hero, his phone number likely changed often.
Damn.
Mom knew something was greatly wrong with me, but I never once told her anything. I couldn't get her involved in this kind of business. I just couldn't. Even if I did, she probably wouldn't believe me just like the others. I would only end up causing her more despair, and I just didn't want to see anymore of that than I already did.
I wouldn't hold it against her. She had every right to believe that her child was disturbed or deranged. I had a hard time believing this wasn't some afterlife dream myself.
That is where I currently found myself; sitting on my floor with an ankle monitor strapped to me without a single clue what I should do. I sat with a blank face, pondering over my list of remaining options.
There was no list. There was no options.
I'm cooked.
I didn't want to give up, but what could I do? I fought with all of my might, even punching an officer with my frail little hand. He didn't even flinch. I had snuck out with as much stealth I could manage, using the skills I had built up from infiltration training back at UA and the little I had learned from hiding using my old unmastered Smokescreen Quirk. I got caught every time. I had contacted Hero Agencies and called for help, but nothing ever came back.
All I could do was sit here twiddling my tiny four-year old fingers.
...This sucks. I was wasting valuable time. I should be helping out the heroes and saving people's futures, and yet I was stuck with wooden blocks with letters laid out in front of me!
I'm not a baby, I'm a Hero!
"Damn!" The curse word had left my mouth as I stewed in anger.
I heard a loud gasp. "Izuku! Where did you learn that word?!"
Oh, shoot.
I said without thinking, "Endeavor!"
Another gasp, before my mother's face dropped in contempt. "You did?! Why... I should give that man a piece of my mind!"
I watched as my mother began muttering to herself. It was a near perfect image of how I used to mutter back in school when I would gush over Quirks - the key difference being that she was angry. As angry as my mother could get, anyway, which wasn't much.
She chastised me to not using that word again, and that I was forbidden from watching any videos with Endeavor in them from now on.
I'm sorry, Endeavor... I've given you another hater.
Guess I should watch my language from now on. I'm not the same teenager I once was. I was a four-year old kid expected to do four-year old things, and I had been aggressively acting outside of that mold.
How was I going to fit in? I had already been taken out of preschool because of my runaway antics, so I doubt that Kacchan or anyone else knew about my Quirklessness. I'm sure they would find out eventually whenever my ankle bracelet was taken off and my mother explained my situation to the teachers.
What was I going to do... I just didn't know.