Work Text:
There is a ghost who roams Yuuei’s grounds.
It didn’t used to, before. Before, the grounds held nothing but laughter, joy, the cheers of kids seeing their friends mixed with complaints of homework. But still, it was optimistic, and good, and bright.
Then, suddenly, the ghost appeared. Flickering green lights that blink in and out of existence, like the ghost cannot decide if it wants to stay or fade away.
But it stays, it always stays.
The students don’t know what to make of it- of its presence. The general ed kids assume that it’s a past student who died before graduation, a hero-in-training defeated by a villain during internships in their second or third year. The business students ignore its presence, always pretending that it’s just a hoax, that they didn’t see it following their teachers around, sparking brightly. The support students offer broken works to it in offering, as if their destroyed gifts can appease it, and sometimes they find the fixed pieces on their workbenches the very next day.
The hero students know the ghost much more personally, the sudden breezes and flickering sparks a familiar presence.
Only one student who got into 1-A knows why the green ghost has only just appeared, the origin story behind the lightning that haunts their homeroom more than any other class.
He remembers bright green eyes and wild hair to match. A nervous demeanor and a mumbling habit that he’d called out in front of hundreds, perhaps thousands. A shy boy, timid and scared and unthreatening.
A boy with determination in his gaze and urgency in his gait as he raced at the zero-pointer, the very bot that everyone else ran away from. Because a girl was stuck, and was going to be hurt, and the boy wouldn’t let that happen.
He remembers how the boy lit up, sparks of power surrounding him before he leaped , jumping high into the air and destroying the massive bot with only one hit. He remembers being impressed by the boy’s power, in awe of the undeniable skill.
And then the boy fell. And he remembers how he didn’t move, couldn’t move, too frozen in fear. He remembers how the girl screamed , trying to get out of the rubble, presumably to help her personal savior.
He remembers how the boy collapsed. Remembers the screams and shouts around him, remembers how he couldn’t make a sound, couldn’t do a thing. Remembers Pro Heroes racing to the scene, his body being carried away.
Tenya Iida never saw that boy again, or that girl, but he knows who those green sparks belong to.
Izuku Midoriya, the boy who could have saved millions, but died saving just one.
The ghost- because Tenya can’t handle calling him Midoriya, not yet, not when he only ever belittled the boy when he could see him- never leaves, oddly enough. During hours of lectures, it remains. Every so often, Tenya will see a spark in the corner of his eye, and then another, and he will inevitably let his eyes stray from his teacher and the board in order to look at the source of the light.
Seat Number Eighteen. The ghost always stays there, as if he knows the spot should have been his. The person who sat there before is long gone, having failed to impress Aizawa during the Quirk Apprehension Test. Tenya thinks that the ghost would have impressed Aizawa, would have made him change his mind.
Someone left a notebook on the desk. Tenya doesn’t know who, but he thinks that the ghost is grateful.
The ghost doesn’t leave, even as they can’t participate in most exercises. In English, they’ll occasionally flicker, a spark rising higher like they’re raising their hand. One time, Yamada-sensei calls on them.
A moment later, that same spark touches the right answer on the board.
The ghost does the same in quite a few classes, from English to Mathematics to lectures on hero ethics. If they can’t respond through taps and sparks, they stay silent, occasionally following the teacher around.
They do this every time All Might teaches them.
Tenya notices that the Symbol of Peace has to wipe away tears each time, but he does not say a word, and the ghost continues to linger.
The ghost doesn’t leave Yuuei, not when it can’t do anything but emit light. The ghost doesn’t leave Yuuei, not when U.S.J. comes and goes, and all it can do is distract the villains, taunting them and leading them away from their teachers. The ghost doesn’t leave Yuuei, not when the Sports Festival passes and Tenya is hit with the bitter realization that the ghost could have done well, perhaps even gotten to the final round, with the power it held.
The ghost doesn’t leave Yuuei...and then Hosu is set on fire, and Tenya is full of rage, and the world is chaos and he is on a mission.
And Tenya is struck down by the Hero Killer, and a blade is aimed at his throat, and it plunges down-
And it never hits, and Tenya opens his eyes and gasps.
Because flickering green, Izuku Midoriya stands over his form, stance defensive and ready to fight.
And Midoriya looks at him, in all of his translucent, sparking glory, and says, “Don’t worry, I’ll save you.”
And Tenya believes in him, because Midoriya lived and died to save.
He should’ve known that death wouldn’t stop the green haired wonder.
There is a ghost who roams Yuuei’s grounds, and occasionally it roams away as well. It sparks green lightning, and it protects the wards of Yuuei’s halls. It takes offerings from support students and makes them work, and it answers English questions with a tap on the board. It flickers in and out of reality, it trails teachers, and it brings hope to everyone it meets.
And one day, one day, he walks into the room, with skin that can’t be seen through and eyes that shine like green lightning, and he sits in Seat Number Eighteen with a shy smile that feels like warmth.
And when the students of 1-A look at him curiously, he opens his mouth and says, “It’s nice to finally meet you all. I’m Izuku Midoriya, and I’ve been dead for months! How are you today?”
It’s bizarre, and unbelievable, and Tenya is just grateful that the boy has a second chance.
One day, a ghost shows up at Yuuei.
Three years later, Izuku Midoriya walks out, and the world is all the better for it.