The very next day, a man was waiting at the bar, holding a drink and checking his phone.

Shigaraki wasn't there, but Kurogiri was waiting at his usual place, ready to serve.

The man turned around when Izuku came in, he put down his phone and stared at the teen with keen eyes. Kurogiri stayed motionless, and, tentatively, Izuku went and sat on the stool beside the man.

He kept his gaze low, the man's face just in the corner of his eyes. He didn't know who that was, why he was there and he knew how to avoid a blow if he saw one coming. He wouldn't take any chances.

"So you're the kid who wants to learn hacking?" The man asked out of the blue, judging Izuku's height and hair, his freckles and stance with a mindful gaze. "Why?"

He was sure what to answer. He couldn't really say 'to spy in UA' to this random stranger, whoever he was.

"Useful skills to have. You never know." He simply answered.

The man snorted. He finally stopped looking at him and took his glass in his hand once more. "Well, I can't say that it isn't true. But, if you have the money you can always ask the right people to do your dirty job."

"Relying on others is a liability and I'd rather pay the right people to teach me how to do it myself."

"Well. If you have the money, anything is possible really. Do you?"

"He does." Interrupted the low voice of Sensei. The man looked a tad startled but quickly found his footing again.

"Sure, I won't pry." He turned back to Izuku. "I'm Giran." He extended a hand toward Izuku.

Quickly, he tried to find information about the man's quirk. He had no exterior sign of it, he wasn't wearing any kind of accommodation or items to protect himself or others of his quirk. Attentive to the man's reaction, Izuku reached it and shook it.

He didn't feel any particular effect, any weird impression or pain. "I'm...I'm just hoping to offer some guidance to those in need."

Giran shook his head knowingly before he smiled. "Well, Guidance then, since you wish to stay anonymous. I'll leave." He turned toward the screen after downing his drink. "I'll contact you when I find someone willing to take an apprentice. See ya."

And there the man went, out of the door.

Kurogiri took his empty glass and went to work as Izuku glanced at the screen.

"Well, Guidance... To each their own, I suppose. It is an interesting name. You'll probably have to stick with it now. You'll follow those hacking classes, with whoever Giran sees fit. You can trust him, to some extent. He works with a lot of people in the underground and his reputation relies on the fact that he doesn't ask questions and doesn't answer them. And before you ask, his quirk is called Muddled, it causes minor amnesia. He uses it if he's in trouble only. I would recommend you to stay guarded if you ever end up alone with him, you never know who can be looking for him. As for your other... project, I'm currently working on it. I'll let Kurogiri know when you can come and visit our... facility, yes. Until then, Izuku, take care of yourself. And thank you for Kurogiri's quirk analysis, some of your advice shall be followed."

—

The next day at school was interesting to say the least.

Before class even began, the bullies had fun taking away Izuku's lunch and throwing it in the fish pond as they did for his notebook on this fateful day a few weeks ago. Izuku was still at the window, crying for his lost food, when the bell rang and the teacher came in. He was screamed at, shamed for not knowing his place and following the rules like his so-well-mannered peers and should be ashamed of himself for bringing them down by his sole presence.

But Izuku wasn't even allowed to take the words and go and sit as the teacher sent him to stand outside of the classroom. He spent the time staring at the wall, trying to ignore the chuckles and nasty words coming from the classes. He heard during homeroom the words of his teachers. The entrance exam would soon be there and surely the class was all fit to be proper and brave heroes if they tried. After all, they all had strong quirks.

Of course it wasn't true, but as Izuku was the least powerful of them all, they could all use the words of their teachers, and none could be worse than Deku afterall.

The next class was English. Since no one would ever work with him, Izuku had to do his presentation by himself. He tried to use his newly-gained confidence, brought out of him by Shigaraki and Sensei, but wasn't even allowed to finish. Students kept throwing papers and pens at his face, whispering loudly about how boring and useless it was to listen to him. The teacher, one of the few who didn't usually add to the mess, simply thanked him and sent him back to his seat.

For lunch, Izuku could do nothing but sit away from everyone else. He didn't have anything to eat and the idea of Kurogiri's omelet was a wishful dream at the moment. He couldn't do much. He didn't bring his phone at school after Kacchan broke two of the last he had, and didn't dare take his notebook out of his room or the bar with all the sensitive information in it. He was currently working on coding them.

At first, coding a work seemed feasible. Izuku thought he could find equivalence in another type of subject, maybe cooking. It would be easier if his notebooks looked like a recipe book but it wasn't easy and had too many things to add that would require an actual knowledge of the culinary art. Which Izuku didn't. He knew how to make miso soup, fried eggs and heat things up in the microwaves, thank you very much.

Instead, Izuku had decided to create a language. He had filled an entire notebook with ideas and references to other existing languages and was greatly liking this terribly hard exercise. He couldn't simply make an alphabet and 'translate' everything from Japanese to this newly-created writing, translating would be far too easy and the whole point of it was to secure his ideas. Instead, he had picked a few languages, Japanese, English, Chinese and Arabic mainly, to create a writing and a language with its own rules.

He had hidden the notebook on which he worked on this language and planned on burning it once he was done, so no trace of the translation existed aside from his brain.

The afternoon went by almost uneventfully. Izuku simply had to sit with his head down, ignoring the few papers who flew to his deck and the accusation that he was passing notes in class.

The problem came when he was on his way home. He wanted to go home and leave his stuff as soon as possible and go to the bar. Shigaraki had told him that he was planning to teach him a game that they could play as a duo and Izuku couldn't wait. He didn't remember playing with someone else since the news spread that he was quirkless. Plus, he was famished and really wanted to enjoy the mist-man's cooking.

Instead of doing that, he ran right into Kacchan, falling on his back and losing his breath for a moment. The teen was trying to put his lungs back on track, to remember that he knew how to breathe and it would be very nice to start doing that properly again as the other was ranting hatefully about god knows what.

"The teacher said you were still trying for UA, huh, Deku? You think you're better than us or something? You're nothing, you forget your place." Some lackeys started kicking him in the ribs. You know, just for fun. "You waste everyone's time, why do you even bother coming to school anyway, you're too dumb to learn anything. Poor teachers, they have to put up with you and your stupid face everyday. They didn't sign up to teach trash like you." One of them gave a really nasty kick on Izuku's leg, making him cry out. "And poor Miss Yuji, forcing her to listen to your stupid presentation. She was so uncomfortable, she didn't even dare tell you how bad it was. You don't have a chance to enter the school. They have something called standards. They would rather accept a dog than your stupid quirkless ass. Give up, you don't stand a chance." Some laughed, others snickered. The kicks calmed down and Izuku finally saw Kacchan. He was standing right above him, a mean smirk on his face and cruelty shining in his eyes. "You should really listen to the advice I gave you, I even bothered wasting my breath on you, you should be thankful. Stop being a waste of space and end it now, you'd do everyone a favor." His hand was on Izuku's shoulder, right where it met his neck. It started burning quickly. Izuku could smell burned fabric and meat. His meat.

Smoke filled the air, he brain couldn't understand that the pain and the burn came with it. It smelled of barbecue, of grilled pork and tears fell down his cheeks.

He almost threw up under the pain. His leg was throbbing, his eyes filled with tears and he hated the smell of burned skin. He struggled to breath and black spots were dancing in his vision.

A flash of disgust passed on Kacchan's face, he let go of Izuku and he could see his hand not touching his skin anymore but the burning kept on going and it hurt so bad.

After a few more seconds, Kacchan stood and disappeared and left Izuku vision's field, he saw a flash of black, heard a muffled word; the teen passed out.

—

He woke up to bright light. He was covered with a tin blanket and all pain was gone from his body.

His head felt weird, and the room was unknown. He heard the steady rhythm of his own heart beating out loud and after a few confused minutes, he realized he was at the hospital.

He barely remembered what had happened, just the disgusting smell of burned skin, his own, oh so similar to the smell of food, of the enticing and appealing first breath you had when you came into a restaurant. He lightly touched his neck and a flash of pain, numbed by medication, pierced through his strange haze.

His leg was in a cast, his ribs wrapped lightly.

Someone opened the door, a tall man holding a sheet of paper. He entered when he saw that Izuku was awake and approached the bed.

"We called your mother, you'll be able to leave as soon as she's here. Your fees have already been paid for. You had a minor concussion, two ribs broken and your leg as well. A third degree burn on your shoulder will leave a scar but one of our doctors has a quirk that permits it to quicken the healing process."

"Wait... I have to leave already?"

"You've been healed and we need the bed."

"But I have a concussion. And a third degree burn."

"But we need the bed as soon as it's available. The hospital policy prioritizes quirked individuals. You're lucky you've been treated. The person who paid your fee came rapidly and told us to heal you and to call your mother."

"Who...who was it?"

"Shouldn't you know? I'll leave you, your clothes are there, be ready to leave when your parents arrive."

And with that, the man left.

Izuku was too tired, and probably still too high to do anything. In some corner of his mind he felt sick over what he just heard and bewildered to learn that the hospital actually had an quirkist policy.

Purple fog suddenly appeared in front of him and Kurogiri stood tall above his bed. He was holding a screen, like the first time they met and glanced toward Izuku's form.

"I'm sorry to see you in such a state, young Izuku. Master wants to talk to you." He said before Sensei's voice was heard from the tablet.

"Izuku, I heard what happened. After you didn't come today, Kurogiri went to look for you and found you lying, passed out, on the ground with a group of kids leaving the scene. One young man, black hair and sharp teeth, tried to stop them before Kurogiri came. Do you know who that is? Ring any bell?"

"Hum, no..."

"He told us his name was Kirishima Eijiro. Not familiar? Shall I do some research on him?"

"I- later, maybe? I'm just... confused right now."

"So am I. I would like you to tell me what happened."

"I was attacked. People from school wanted to put me back in my place. But don't do anything about it."

"I don't see why I should listen to you."

"Because if anything happens to them, it will be linked back to me and that wouldn't be good. They will claim it was a prank gone wrong, that I fought them instead of laughing and that it was all a terrible accident. They will be believed and I won't so I'm gonna keep quiet, agree to drop the charge if my mom presses any. And I'm going to go home, heal and we'll see. Maybe I can follow class at home and be done with this school. I just have to go to UA before we start doing anything big."

He didn't receive an immediate answer.

"It makes sense though it pains me to hear of you in such pain. But as you wish. But this won't go unpunished. We shall discuss this further once you are healed. On another note, I'm sure you'll be happy to know that Giran contacted me and told me he found someone to teach you. Tomura also wishes for news from you, he has been very displeased to hear that his friend was hurt. As for now I'll leave you alone, rest Izuku, use this to feed your anger."

The screen was turned off right after. Kurogiri excused himself and disappeared and soon, Izuku was left alone.

Not long after, his mother came barging in, already crying heavy tears.

She threw herself at her son, hugging tight and Izuku tried not to flinch too violently at the pain. She was a mess of tears and unfinished words. She tried to ask what had happened and if he was okay, if he needed anything and how much the whole thing would cost them.

Izuku managed to get her standing again, his breath shaky because of the pain.

"The fees have already been payed, I think the person who found me was trying to be nice but I don't know who it was. I'd like to go home please."

"Can you already? And who is this person we have to thank them."

"I don't know, but yes I can, the doctor said I should leave as soon as you arrive. Let's go."

Izuku changed and stayed quiet. His shirt was still half burned but it wasn't clear what quirk or who had made it. He struggled to walk with the crunches and his ribs still healing but he didn't say a word about it.

A police officer was waiting for them down the corridor. He stood with a tired face and his eyes flickered with annoyance and boredom as he saw Izuku come his way pitifully.

He told them the others claimed a bad joke and they were very sorry. The parents were waiting for them at the station and if Izuku didn't have anything to add they would let them go free. He grew more annoyed as Izuku refused to answer and finally left after telling the teen that he should learn to take a joke and grow some muscle if he didn't want to snap at the first touch.

The Midoriyas simply went home.

There, his mother felt the need to smother him. Understandable perhaps, but he was not in the mood for it and was growing annoyed by the second.

Instead of snapping, he took a deep breath and told his mom he was tired. No he wasn't hungry, (katsudon sounded dreadful at the moment and he just couldn't imagine eating meat), he really wanted to sleep and maybe they should talk tomorrow about what happened.

His mother left him alone after that. And Izuku went to sleep.

He was angry, revolted, sick and tired of it all and sleep wasn't going to help but it couldn't hurt either so he simply took off his clothes, went to bed and tried to lie without being in too much pain. After that, he dreamlessly slept through the night.

When he woke up, his mother was watching the news. The Hero Killer had made one more victim. Izuku noted down the name in the corner of his mind and went to the kitchen to make himself something to eat. His stomach still wasn't too happy about yesterday and he simply made some miso soup hoping it would to do the job.

Inko came from behind him, he could almost feel her fidgeting anxiously with her shirt. That was a bad habit he got from her.

"Izuku, honey, how are you feeling?"

"Peachy," he answered. "I think I'll need a few days to heal my ribs completely but it will be alright."

"You said we could talk about what happened... Is everything okay? Did you get in trouble again?"

"No, everything is alright," even if he told her the truth, he knew she wouldn't believe it. "I just didn't see the joke coming and it ended up badly. I'm fine. I just wanted to talk about school. After what happened yesterday... I don't feel safe going to school. I would really like to be able to work and I don't want to worry about another 'prank' gone bad." He kept his tone flat. "Maybe it wasn't their intention for me to end up like this but they still did it," weirdly enough, making the tears fall wasn't so hard. "I saved some money and I thought... I could finish school online? I don't really get along with the other kids-"

"I'm sure it's not all that bad, Izuku. Are you sure you don't want to keep going? It's a good school, and you might feel like you don't have friends but I'm sure some people would miss you..."

"I-, yes of course," he was tired and didn't want to think about the lack of trust. "But it's only until high school. I still want to go to UA, I have to focus on this, mom. You know how important it is for me," oopsie, that was manipulation, but so was it when she used her anxiety to pry answers from him, so. "I can't focus if I'm scared to go to school. I just... I'm tired mom and I want to save people, like... like All Might." This was almost sickening.

"Of course, of course, I want you to be happy and safe, my baby. If you think finishing the year at home would be better... well, I'll tell Mitsuki to tell Katsuki that he can still come here if he wants to see you..."

"No! Hum, that won't be necessary. I can tell him myself, you know, hum phones and all of that."

"Of course, honey, you tell me if you need anything. I'll let you take care of the money since, yes, since you said you would. What do you want for lunch? I still have the meat from yesterday. I could-"

"It's fine mom, I'll make something later. You eat and go to work and I'll make myself something. Don't worry. I'll prepare dinner if you want."

"Oh no, baby, don't bother, you rest and I take care of this. I love you, Izuku."

"Yeah, me too, mom." He lightly kissed her forehead and left for his room.

His bag was a mess, burned and shredded. A 'DEKU' written in bold letters decorated the front and his notes had been torn into nothing. He didn't bother and simply slipped it under his bed.

He first looked at the online course he could follow to finish middle school. He was sure it wouldn't be a problem and didn't expect the written exam to be a problem either.

He decided to sign into something where he could complete his work in the morning and whatever assignment he received to leave his afternoon free for the league, so not time consuming. Without school, he would have all the time in the world to work on his hacking and support learning.

For a while he tried to ignore the thoughts of what happened.

He felt weak for not being able to stand up for himself and fight, to end up injured after 14 year-old teens decided to have some fun. It pissed him off and he wanted this dumb mindset to be crushed. Somehow anger and resentment grew more and more in his chest as he accepted that villainy wasn't necessarily a bad thing.

He wanted to help, and he knew others must have ended up like him, broken because of some 'prank' or whatever. The police, like the heroes, weren't even willing to help. Mutant type and quirkless, they weren't even considered human. Some people just couldn't stand the idea of them having the same rights as 'normal' people.

And Izuku wouldn't let that happen. If he needed to become Guidance for that, he would.

He looked at his phone and saw a message from whom he assumed was Giran. Coordinates and a time.

Izuku was going to help, who cared how he did it and what price the world would pay.