Chapter 4: Tomura Shigaraki

Izuku stood outside of his apartment. The morning breeze had set in, pushing small scraps of paper beneath his feet. Izuku rubbed his eyes, he had trouble sleeping the night before. Initially, it was from his excitement, but whenever he tried to close his eyes after, his body would not go to sleep.

Izuku walked down the building stairs. "If I'm going to do this, I'll need to find an opportunity where I get to meet a villain in private," Izuku thought.

He knew his plan was reliant mostly on luck, finding someone trustworthy was going to be difficult.

"School comes first though for now," Izuku muttered, he held a brand-new notebook in his hands.

The atmosphere changed at the Junior High school ever since the incident. Katsuki was beloved by everyone due to his exceptional talents, they were sad to have him gone.

All of the students stop and whispered when they saw Izuku, keeping their distance from him.

Izuku was annoyed at how much attention he received. A group of first years stared at him, to which they only saw eyes of pure hatred, which seemed to penetrate into their souls. They quickly ran off, passing by him.

Izuku walked over to his classroom, his classmates quieted down immediately. He sat down once again at the chair he was given at the start of the year, this time no one was going to kick him in the back.

One of the students finally made the courage to speak up against Izuku. "It should have been you..." the student said in grief. "Why is it you that had to be here?"

Izuku turned to face his classmate, he smiled. "That was very nice of you to say," Izuku remarked sarcastically. "Glad to see you being ignorant as ever."

"What did you say?" the boy asked. He walked over to Izuku, grabbing his collar.

"Now you're resorting to violence?" Izuku asked with a bored expression. "How heroic of you."

They stood there in silence until the teacher slapped them both on the head.

"Enough with the fighting, both of you. I don't want to see that again," the teacher said.

The boy turned to his desk.

"Bye-bye," Izuku said quietly, he waved his hand.

"What's wrong with him?" asked one student behind Izuku.

"Pay no attention, he's just trying to mess with us," said another. "He should have ended up in prison."

Izuku ignored them. They were all insignificant to him.

"Midoriya," the teacher walked up to him after the last class ended. "Don't provoke them right now, it's a tough time for most of them."

Izuku looked at the teacher with perplexity. He had to clear his ears in order to make sure he heard what he thought he did.

"Whatever you say, teacher," Izuku responded back. He left the building, heading towards the downtown area.

"Is this what I'm really dealing with on a minor scale?" Izuku thought. "It's already gotten this bad. How many more people are going to be thrown away to rot?"

Izuku moved his backpack towards him. He opened the top and took out a pencil and notebook that he had brought with him.

"Time to look around," Izuku said gleefully. "I wonder what quirks I'll learn about today." His habit of analysing information was the last trait Izuku had kept unchanged.

It did not take him long to find an alleyway with the sound of people brawling.

"Lucky," Izuku said, he put his hands together. Quietly Izuku walked closer to the fight that had taken place. He noticed that there were mostly thugs, but one of the aggressors stood out.

"Show me your blood," the towering figure screamed. He picked up one thug by the head, the lifeless body lifted away from the ground. Before Izuku could examine the quirk, the thug's head exploded from the tremendous amount of force exerted on it.

A small amount of blood sprayed onto Izuku's notebook, yet his eyes lit up with excitement from what he had witnessed. "What was that?" Izuku thought. He only saw for a brief moment when the man's hand grew in size. "Did he just alter his physical strength?"

Izuku was lost in a million discussions that his mind went through, his habit of muttering long sentences began to spill out. Izuku instinctively started writing down observations and theories of the quirk the man used to commit murder with.

"Blonde hair. Around two meters tall and…" Izuku was interrupted by a body flying past his face. He initially thought he had been seen, but the blonde man continued fighting the remaining gang members. Izuku looked at the headless body that rested beside his feet. It was a shame he thought, he would never learn its quirk.

"Is that all that you've got weaklings?" the murderer asked. "I was told it would be worth my time fighting you."

The man opened up his arms, inviting them to hit him. "I'll give you one chance. You can hit me, and I won't block it with my arms." The thugs hesitated. One of them then quickly rushed forward sticking out a combat knife towards the man's chest.

Izuku could not see well from the man's back. Yet he noticed that he stood unworried. The murderer chuckled to himself before grabbing the thug by his hand, smashing him against the wall.

Izuku finally saw what the unknown man's quirk manifested into. Muscle fibres surrounded his arm and chest, the knife still protruded out of it. The man took out the blade, throwing it down on the ground.

"Didn't say I wasn't going to use my quirk," the man cracked up. He reverted back to his regular form.

"Screw that, I don't want to die here," said one of the thugs running off. The rest who were alive followed suit.

The blonde man scoffed, "Weaklings."

He was about to exit the alleyway before a quiet sound behind him caught his attention. The man turned around, he noticed something prodding a thug he killed earlier with what looked like a pencil.

"What the hell," the man thought before slowly walking up towards the sight. It took him by surprise when he saw a teen in his school uniform looking at the body with a curious expression. The boy mumbled to himself, occasionally writing down something in his notebook.

The man interrupted him, "Shouldn't you be in school little boy?" It confused him as to how the kid in front of him remained calm from his presence, let alone the fact that a dead body was laying in front of him.

Izuku looked up towards the man, realizing that he had been found out. He stopped writing in his notebook. "Classes already ended," Izuku responded back. "Can you give me just a second to finish this up?"

The man continued to stare at the boy, he was puzzled from what he heard. "Who are you affiliated with?" he asked, looking at the bloodied notebook. He felt a weird vibe from the boy, it gave off mixed signals.

"I'm just someone who is interested in quirks," Izuku responded. He closed his notebook.

"That doesn't answer my question," the man said, he tensed up his arms for a possible confrontation.

Izuku stood up, bringing his body up to face the man. "It's just me, but…" he stopped. "The more I look at you, it reminds me of a villain I have read about."

Before the man could respond, Izuku raised his voice. "Ah! I remember your quirk, you're Muscular, aren't you?" Izuku asked with interest.

"That's right," Muscular replied. He was impressed that someone recognized him.

Izuku changed his tone, he looked happy. "Your quirk is amazing! It's like so strong. Powerful enough to pretty much overtake anyone."

"Uhm, thanks. I guess," Muscular said, not knowing what else to say. His day was just getting weirder and weirder.

"What kind of other things can you do? How long can you use it for? Are there any side-effects? What made you decide to go down the villain path?" Izuku rambled on, he spoke almost without taking a breather.

"Jesus kid. Calm down, will you?" Muscular asked. He rested one hand on his head, shaking the back of his hair slightly. The boy piqued his interest. "Why isn't he scared of me? Shouldn't he be afraid that I'll kill him," Muscular thought.

"Oh, sorry," Izuku said, shifting his head down.

"Don't be," Muscular said reassuringly. "Say, you didn't happen to have anyone know or follow you on the way here?"

Izuku thought for a second, he looked at the alleyway entrance he came through earlier. "No, I don't think so."

Muscular let out a grin. "Good." He raised his hand, forming a punching stance towards the boy. Muscular flung his fist towards Izuku, the blow created enough force to dent the building wall, cracks formed around the stone.

Izuku looked to his left, the fist had barely scratched him. He felt a sharp pain on his cheek, blood dripped slowly to the ground.

"Not bad," Muscular said. "I don't sense any fear in you. However, I suggest you forget what you saw here earlier, for both of our sakes." He looked at the notebook that Izuku had held from the beginning.

"I'll be taking that."

"Huh," Izuku asked. He then realized what had happened, attempting to grab it back. "But you can't! It's mine."

"What did you say?" Muscular asked. He glanced at Izuku with rage, stopping the boy from complaining. Muscular then folded the notebook and placed it in his back pocket.

Izuku looked at the bent notebook protruding out. He drifted his eyes with a disappointed look, knowing it would be best not to provoke the man who killed others with relative ease.

"You should be glad I'm letting you live. I would have killed you if you attempted to run away," Muscular said. The alleyway had begun to reek of blood, he had already wasted too much time talking.

"You're a bit on the weird side, but I like you." Muscular stepped back, he created a large set of muscles around his legs. "What's your name kid?"

"Izuku… Izuku Midoriya," he said without thinking.

"Heh, didn't your parents ever tell you to never give out your name to strangers?" Muscular asked. He shook his head in disbelief.

"Well I, uhh," Izuku staggered. Muscular jumped into the air, passing over the building in front of him.

Izuku fell from the knockback. He got back on his feet after a few seconds, scraping the dirt off his shoulder. "Holy shit," Izuku said, the jump startled him. He naturally moved his hand around to find his notebook, upon which he realized he no longer had anymore.

He opened his schoolbag, taking out another one. Izuku wrote down everything he could remember. As he finished, Izuku wiped his forehead. He was surprised to feel sweat.

"Time to head out before anyone realizes I was here," Izuku muttered. He heard police sirens in the distance as he left the street.

Inside a small lounge, a man sat by the counter waiting for the bartender to finish his drink. The door slammed open, Muscular entered through with an annoyed look.

"Giran, the place you sent me to, had a bunch of nobodies there," Muscular said. "It was a complete waste of my time."

Giran took out a burning cigarette from his mouth, butting the end of it inside a receptacle. He exhaled a large puff of smoke to the side.

"Don't be like that. Their boss had some intel on the existence of our organization," Giran said with a calm look. "I take it you destroyed the files in his safe?"

Muscular walked over to the bar counter and sat parallel to Giran from across two seats. He waved off to the bartender, who had his face and arms covered in black mist. "I'll get an IPA, tap of your choice."

The bartender nodded, he handed over Giran the drink he made earlier.

"Yeah they're gone, it's the last we should hear of them either," Muscular responded.

Giran grabbed his drink and took a sip. "Good. Small or not in scale, right now the boss is intending on playing his cards right," Giran said, looking at the glass. He put the cigarette back between his teeth.

Muscular shrugged. "As long as I get to kill someone, I guess it's tolerable."

"Speaking of waiting until the time is right," the bartender asked. "Did we hear anything about looking for more potential villains to join our cause?"

Giran exhaled and looked at the bartender. "Well I have been looking Kurogiri, but so far it's a mixed bag."

Kurogiri placed a glass under the tap, pouring beer into it. "What do you mean it's a mixed bag?" he questioned.

"Well, for starters I already found some that pass the criteria. But the number is small, and only a few I still have to get background checks on," Giran noted.

"That doesn't sound too bad," Kurogiri stated, closing the tap.

Giran took out his cigarette once more, he waved it around in his hand. "I have already searched extensively in the entire applicant pool. And it's not necessarily increasing too."

"That's why we exist," stated Tomura Shigaraki behind them. Muscular turned around and saw a young man with light blue hair.

"Great," Muscular thought to himself. "Another kid I have to deal with today." His eyes slowly opened, "Hey Giran, I actually came in for another reason today." He grabbed the glass of beer Kurogiri handed him.

"Does the name Izuku Midoriya ring any bells?"

Giran thought for a second. "No, it doesn't. Why do you ask?"

Muscular reached for his back pocket, grabbing the notebook he took earlier. "Met him there when I was killing off the rest of the group. I think you might be interested in seeing this." Muscular said. He put the notebook on the table and slid it over to him.

"What's this?" Giran asked. The notebook he looked at had no title.

"I grabbed this off him when I talked to him. I don't know who he is, but he was an interesting fellow," Muscular said, gulping down the last ounce of his drink. "Take a look."

Giran opened the notebook, revealing detailed information on Muscular's quirk. Several pages explained the quirk's weaknesses, abilities, and ways on how to improve it.

"What's scary about this, is that it's all true. He wrote all of that after seeing me use my quirk maybe two or three times," Muscular said seriously.

Giran was surprised, there were a few things in the notebook even he did not know about. "Interesting indeed," Giran noted. He placed the cigarette inside the bowl.

"Is this something that has to do with his quirk?"

Muscular asked Kurogiri for another glass. "Not certain, I don't even know if that boy is a villain."

The entire group was taken aback. "I'm surprised you even let someone live, nevertheless the fact that it was a child," Kurogiri said.

Muscular dismissed his comment. "That's not the point. He's probably thirteen or fourteen, but I think he's good enough to join the league. Can't speak for his fighting skills though."

Giran sighed audibly. "I can't deny what you've shown me. I hate to say it, but his talent exceeds my own when it comes to quirk analysis," he agreed with Muscular.

Tomura attempted to grab the notebook but was stopped by Giran. "That's up for Muscular to decide. If he wants you to see, then he'll give it to you."

Tomura walked away, clawing his fingers at his throat with frustration.

Giran walked up and passed the notebook over to Muscular.

"Apart from this wonderful news, you've actually decided to visit at a perfect time. The boss is here," Giran pointed out. The entire group was surprised once again, there was no news of his arrival.

Clapping was heard in a dark hallway behind them. "As expected of you Giran, you never fail to entertain me with your antics."

"You flatter me sir, but I'm just an old man with connections," Giran replied with respect.

"I heard the conversation you had. I am curious in the boy as well, he may prove useful to us," the voice pointed out. A man wearing a suit appeared out of the door, a large mask covered his entire head and neck area.

"Indeed, All for One it is as you say," Giran said. "However, I am not certain how to approach this scenario, we know nothing about him."

"There is no need to worry about that, I will personally assess him myself," All for One stated.

Tomura had been watching from the sidelines, he did not like the interest his master took towards the boy.

All for One looked at the group gathered at the bar. "That covers it then, good work all of you. The preparations are coming along nicely." The mask covered his smile.

Giran nodded, "Would you like me to inform the non-present members of anything?"

"That won't be necessary," All for One said, he put his hand up. "Focus on the recruits."

"And Tomura…" the mask turned to face him. "I will need to speak with you soon."

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