Chapter Text
Where was he?
It was dark. Too dark to see anything. No matter how much he could stare into the abyss, he knows his eyes will never adjust. Not only that, but he could barely even feel anything at all. Sure, he could move around, but that did very little when floating in an empty void.
The most he felt was a pain in the side of his head, but that’s probably because there was a gaping hole there. Despite that fact, it didn’t bleed. He probably didn’t even have blood, now that he thinks about it.
He couldn’t see. He couldn’t feel. He could only think. And even then, he could feel himself start to forget things. What was his name? Why was he here? What was even going on? Was he dead? So many questions, yet no way of answering them.
With what little left to do than to think, he began to look back at his life. It wasn’t a very good life, but he knows it could be much worse.
Sure, he lost both parents in a terrible accident.
Sure, he was left with an aunt who barely acknowledged his existence.
Sure, he never really spoke to other people the way he wanted to because of his insecurities.
But at the very least, he was alive.
Or… he was, at least.
Perhaps this is a dream. Perhaps not. Perhaps the hole in the side of his head was a reminder of something cold, painful, and comedically tragic. Maybe… a bullet? A rod? He couldn’t tell, nor remember. All he could remember was the pain of having something lodged into his head at high speed.
’Is this really how I’m gonna live my afterlife? Is this really what awaits after death? What’s a guy even supposed to do around here?! Why did I have to live the way I did?! WHY COULDN’T I JUST BE AT LEAST A LITTLE SELFISH IN LIFE?!’
Maybe if he had been more selfish, his life would’ve been better. Maybe if he had appreciated what he had more, he would be in a better place. Maybe if he had died as well in that accident, he would at least be with his parents.
But those are all maybes. And if he’s learned anything in life, it’s that maybe always means—
“Wake.”
’Eh, not my first thought, but—AUGH?!’
Light enveloped him. With what little he could still see or feel, the light had all but disoriented him. What was once an everlasting darkness had suddenly beamed into a blinding light. He could feel. He could see. He… still couldn’t remember, but that’s okay. Probably because he was missing a chunk of his brain.
”A soul taken too soon. A life for a life. Rise oh despaired one. Be rid of thy strife.”
’Oh hey, that rhymed.’
Despite not knowing what was happening, nor knowing how to react, the boy who had died was enveloped by the light once more, and the next thing he knew…
…he was gone.
”Rise in a world of fantasy, and indulge the wreath of a new reality.”
It was cold. Very cold. The darkness was sublime, obscuring everything inside the alleyway where a boy in his teenage years lay motionless. For a moment, the boy looked as if he were dead; not even showing signs of breathing or anything. If it weren’t for the rat suddenly scurrying next to him and sniffing his head, he most likely would’ve stayed there.
Instead, upon feeling the rat, he jolted upwards like a zombie given life and shrieked. “NGHAAAAA!!!”
“YOU CANT MAKE ME EAT THAT LEMON! IT HAS CANCER—! Wait, where am I?” After a split second of screaming the boy immediately became confused by his surroundings, unfamiliar with his current situation. “What’s going on?”
The boy found himself in the cold backend of some alleyway, shards of glass and metal littered the floor, and for some reason it was so dark that he could barely see a thing. The air felt… off. Not only did it feel so clean compared to the usual New York stuff, but it even smelled different. As he stood up from where he once laid, he noticed how jittery his legs were and shouted as he nearly tumbled.
“Shit, how long was I out…?” He muttered, rubbing his head and trying to remember what happened.
The moment he touched his hair, he immediately noticed how strange it felt. The last time he checked, his hair was barely an inch long, and now it felt like it could stretch out an entire foot. Not only that, but it felt dry and messier than it usually was.
“The hell? What‘s up with my hair…?” The teen muttered again, this time rubbing his entire head with both hands and rubbing certain strands and clumps.
He felt a bang of hair rub against his right eye and he grabbed it, looking at the bang with confusion. The hair was jet black, curly, unruly in every way, and looked as if it hadn’t been washed in days. It almost resembled a mop. He squinted his eyes and only became more confused.
“Is this a wig? What the hell am I doing with a wig?” The moment he pulled on it though, he immediately felt the pain. “OW! Seriously, did someone superglue this onto me or something?!”
With a groan of frustration, the boy decided to take another go at standing and wobbled a bit before getting his footing. Slowly he tried to take a few steps forward, but immediately felt one of his legs give out and force him to lean on a nearby wall for support. “Okay, what the hell’s actually going on? Why do I feel like crap? …Huh?”
As he clutched his right eye, or the right side of his face covered by the curly bang, and looked down at the ground, he finally noticed his body. It was… surprisingly thin compared to the last time he saw it. Sure he doesn’t remember ever working out but he was by no means a damn skeleton. Not only that, but what the hell was he even wearing? It was a dark gray school uniform that he thinks Japanese students wore to certain schools. What was it called again? A gakuran?
“…Okay, what the actual fuck is going on?” He said to himself once more while he inspected his attire. His clothes were incredibly dirty, looking as if he crashed into something at high speeds, and he was completely barefoot. “What happened when I was unconscious?! The last thing I remembered was… was…”
…What was he doing? For the life of him, he couldn’t remember a damn thing; from the moment he fell asleep one day, everything forward was blurred out. It was like they were being erased, and he didn’t know why.
Then there was that dream. A dream where he was floating aimlessly in a void of nothingness, deprived of all senses, and becoming worried for some reason he couldn’t remember either. Then there was a light, as well as some otherworldly voice, and then—
“Nē, daredesuka?” The boy’s stress and fear suddenly subsided as he heard an unfamiliar voice call out to him.
In front of him, coming from the only source of light at the end of the alleyway was an old Japanese man wearing a blue sweater and black pants. He sported rectangular glasses and had almost white hair that was slicked back. For someone his age, he seemed incredibly healthy, even having some muscle and being taller than the boy. Apparently he had better eyesight too, as when he was halfway into the alley he already seemed to notice I’m and panic washed over his face.
“E? Daijōbudesuka?”
“…huh?”
Now the confused and lost teen wasn’t exactly an expert, but he was fairly confident that he said something in Japanese. Maybe if he was okay? He heard ‘Diajobu’ so that probably meant something. “Uhh… I-I’m okay…?
The confused teenager watched as the old man approached him and came to a halt, squinting his eyes and then scoffing. “Ā, sore wa anata dake...”
The boy became even more confused. Not only by the fact his expression took a complete 180, but by what he was even saying. He didn’t understand a lick of Japanese, but even he could tell that the old man didn’t seem to like him. He panicked, unsure of what to say to the man. ‘Maybe he doesn’t understand English? I mean, that was weird considering America was primarily filled with English speakers, but he did seem old so he was probably either too old to learn or just moved here recently...’
“Koko de nani o shite iru nda, kaibutsu?” The man spoke again in an annoyed tone, this time crossing his arms and giving a wary glare. “Jugyō o saborou to shite iru nodesu ka? Soretomo, taberu tame no awarena tamashī o sagashite iru nodesu ka?”
‘Sir I can’t understand a damn word you’re saying.’ He thought to himself, wanting to say that for reasons even he didn’t know, but just opted to say “I-I’m sorry, I don’t speak Japanese sir… do you know English?” Sure, he watched anime and watched mostly in subtitles, but he was far from being able to even make a damn sentence, let alone understand someone speaking that fast.
“Nani? Watashi o bujoku shi teru ndesu ka?!” The old man suddenly yelled, coming closer to the boy with an infuriated expression.
The teen groaned at this and muttered, “God if only subtitles existed in real life— GAH!?” He immediately regretted it.
The moment those words slipped out, the boy felt as if he was suddenly stabbed through the head. It was as if newer memories were being injected directly into his brain, the sensation almost like being electrocuted and the pain causing him to kneel down and clutch his head. What was happening? What was this feeling? He felt like his head was about to split apart and burn up.
“Oi, son'na koto wa yamete tachiagare!” The old man’s tone didn’t let up, but to the boy, it sounded like he was under water. “Omae ga itami o kanji rarenai no wa yoku wakatteru!”
He ignored the old man and kept on clutching his head as hard as he could, trying to resist the urge to shout or scream. Memories of another person had flashed before his eyes; another boy who lived a similar life to his own, only… much worse. The pain he felt had suddenly spiked as the boy was filled with countless emotions, ranging from pity to anger to sadness and to the faintest joy that one could feel.
“Watashi ga anata to hanashite iru toki wa watashiwomite kudasai!” He could faintly hear the old man shout at him, though this time it felt… different. Like he could almost understand him. “Oi! Oi…!”
…
“…Hey, I’m talking god dammit!” Huh?!
Finally, after the pain eased up and the boy shook his head, the words of the old man came clearer than day to him. As he looked up at the old man and blinked, he shook his head and picked his ear. Did he just understand him? He could’ve sworn the man was still speaking Japanese, right? As he was about to ask, though, something weird happened.
“I’m sorry, what did you just say…?”
…
“…Huh?”
He didn’t know what happened or how it did, but the confused teen could’ve sworn that he too spoke Japanese.
When he tried to speak, his mouth began to move on its own, forming words the boy’s never even heard before. Not only that, but he could understand perfectly well what the old man was saying, as he just called him an idiot and said “took you long enough!”
“Listen kid; I get complaints about you every day, and with all the ruckus you’re causing we might as well just let you go!” The old man started, his eyes narrow and brows furrowed. “If you wanna cut us some slack and drop out, then be our guest and do it already!”
Jeez, this guy’s an asshole. The boy stood there frozen, more shocked that he could actually understand any of that than the words themselves. It was like random gibberish, as offensive as that may sound, but for some reason he could fully understand the meaning behind that gibberish. Aside from that, what’s this guy’s problem? What’d he do to make that old man so mad? He just woke up in the middle of some alleyway.
“Uh, I’m sorry sir. It won’t happen again… probably.” The boy said in an unsure tone, knowing that the best thing to do was let them hear why they wanted to. He then scanned around to try and get a better view of his surroundings, as he realizes his eyes finally adjusted to the darkness.
Aside from the obvious dumpsters and big red door, the walls were more or less littered with glass shards, papers, and strange posters posters. Each of them had some kind of person on them saying something a school would normally have, like ‘do your best!’ Or ‘hang in there!’ But something was off.
As by something, he meant that all of them seemed to have All Might from My Hero Academia on them.
While he remembers seeing some of these posters online before, a lot of them looked too weird to be real. Not only that, but there were also some other heroes who he’s never even seen before. He’s pretty sure they’re just some original characters though. Guess whoever hung these was a massive otaku.
“Huh? ‘Probably?’? If you’re gonna lie at least be convincing! Not to mention look me on the eye!” The old man suddenly snapped before turning around, and before he walked off he said something even weirder than before. “Whatever, do what you want, Akatani… not like I give a damn.”
…
Who??
As the man walked out of the alleyway and left the boy’s field of vision, he only stood frozen. Akatani? Why’d he call him that? Did he confuse him for someone else? Who even was that? His name was… was…
…
“…What the hell is this?” He spoke in Japanese once again, still not used to it before—
[Skill: Basic Japanese has increased by 2 points!]
“GAHH?!”
The boy sprang backwards at the sudden sight of a large screen suddenly appearing in front of him, the color a dark gray with a faint glow and bright white text saying something about Japanese. He fell on the floor, yet the screen followed him and stayed a perfect 10 inches away from his face. He then proceeded to shout some more and try to run away from a screen that was always in front of him, leading him to run around in a circle before he tripped on some glass and fell once more.
“Agh, shit…” The boy groaned, looking up once again and saw the same screen.
[You can’t run from a screen, moron.]
“Huh?! What the hell’s going on!?” The teen asked and stood up once more, looking at the screen intently. “What the fuck are you?!”
[Aren’t you rude? Oh well, that’s to be expected.]
The screen’s text changed in a flash, going from one thing to another almost instantly. If he was being honest, this was like something out of an isekai. Or like solo leveling. Or literally any webtoon or manhwa he’s ever read…
…wait a minute—
[Congratulations! You have been blessed by The Higher One and have been given a second chance at life!]
[*clap* *clap* *clap*]
Oh.
Oh shit.
This was… okay yeah he was not expecting that at all.
As the teen slumped down with wide eyes, his gaze unwavering from the screen, countless thoughts swarmed his head. Most of them excited for the fact he reincarnated, some of them depressed from the fact he died, and one annoyed by the screen. Though he quickly became even more confused by what the screen said next.
[You are now a character of “My Hero Academia.”]
“…What?” He said aloud, this time in English.
He shook his head and proceeded to read that line of text over. Then again. And again, trying his best to make sense of the situation. A character of MHA? As in that famous manga written by Kohei Horikoshi? HE WAS IN MHA?? FOR WHAT?! A swirl of confusion and fear began to form in his mind, and he quickly shook his head to try and clear his thoughts. This was some kind of dream, right? Was it some kind of high? He never took drugs before so it couldn’t be! Or maybe he was kidnapped and experimented on— Actually, he would rather not think about that.
‘The Higher One? Second chance? Wait, I fucking died!? What kind of bullshit is this?! I must be dreaming, right?!’ The boy thought as he tried to connect the pieces together. He went to go pinch himself on the arm, but quickly noticed something wrong with his arm.
It had cuts all over it.
Albeit shallow, he couldn’t help but feel a sense of dread wash over him as he continued to stare at them. They looked old, dirty, and more like scars than anything. Not only that, he couldn’t help but notice how pale and thin his arm was, looking almost like a skeletons own hand. ‘What…? What happened to me?’
[As previously mentioned, you are now a character of “My Hero Academia!”]
As the boy stared at the sudden pop up with less shock than before, he began to realize the wording of it. A character of MHA. Given his body’s condition, that meant that he was possessing someone who was from the manga, right? Well at least he didn’t just pop into existence with no background, but that also made him even more confused. Who the hell would be this pale, frail, or… scarred? Sure, it didn’t really hurt, but it was freaky to look at.
Then he thought back. ‘Holdup, that guy called me Akatani, right? Now that I think back, I could’ve sworn there was something about a beta character with this name…’
[Status]
[Name: Mikumo Akatani]
[Alias: Yamikumo, Yami, Vamp, Freak]
[Age: 14]
[Level: 1]
[Occupation: Student]
[Affiliation: Mustafa Private Middle School]
[Current State: Fatigued (16%)]
‘…Okay, that’s useful.’ Mikumo Akatani thought to himself. So apparently he just had a magic screen that could tell him everything about himself. Ranging from his name to his affiliations to even his level, whatever that was. ‘Wait, I’m Yamikumo? Wasn’t that guy just the beta version of Midoriya though?’
At this thought, about a hundred more questions filled his mind. If he was Yamikumo, then did Midoriya even exist? Shit, if that’s the case then he’s already screwed with the canon of the story. Not only that, but what even is level? Could he raise that and become stronger? Like having a leveling quirk? Now that he thinks about it, did this guy even have a quirk? If not then he can understand some of his situation, but why would that lead him into some backend of—?
“ACK! AGAIN?!” The teen asked as he suddenly felt like he was stabbed in the head once more, as memories he’s never experienced before emerged.
He bore witness to all of the tragedy this character went through. It seems this guy has a much more morbid origin than Midoriya ever had. The trauma was ranging from his early childhood beatings and strict rules to his constant self harm and bullying to his… his…
…Ah.
He jumped off a roof…
…
“…I don’t…. I don’t know how to feel about this.”
As he finished scanning over the memories, he only stood there, mortified. When he was around five he and a friend of his were almost killed and… touched, but in self defense Mikumo had ended up killing one of them and doing something else to the other. He didn’t know what, but it seemed to haunt the boy to this very day. After that, when his parents passed he was left with a neglectful uncle and abusive auntie, who had rules so strict it made him miss his own aunt. In school he was considered a freak and murderer by his peers, and he would constantly be assaulted or tormented. Eventually, it appeared the boy had finally had enough and… tried to make his own decision for once.
To say the boy felt conflicted would be an understatement. On one hand, he was glad to at least have been given a body that was already dead, so he wouldn’t have to live with the guilt of replacing someone. He’s seen that before in certain novels, and while the character is usually always a bad person, they’re still a person period.
On the other, he was possessing a fucking corpse. This just felt wrong in so many ways. Not only was this guy attempting suicide, his life was pretty much a living hell. He and Mikumo were completely different people, and if anyone notices that, it could lead to some unwanted attention. It felt like violating the dead, y’know? He knows damn well that he wouldn’t like it if he died and— wait…
If they both died and he was here, then shouldn’t Mikumo be in his body? Not only was that a fair trade, but his life was way better than whatever Yami had going on here. If he didn’t know any better, he would say that he inadvertently saved him.
“Never mind, I’m over it.” In all honesty he wasn’t exactly sure about that, but it was best not to think about it. Ignorance was bliss, after all.
Though what wasn’t bliss was the fact that this kid was treated worse than Deku was in his early life, which only led the now undead teen to wonder what the hell would’ve caused that? Sure, if this was beta Midoriya then he was also quirkless, right? Was quirkless treatment different depending on parts of Japan? He wasn’t an expert when it came to the manga, or in Japanese culture as a whole, but wasn’t there some kind of protection law for him? Not only that, but he didn’t even know where he was.
“Maybe Midoriya was also treated this way, which leads me to respect him a helluva lot more now…” Yamikumo sighed as he walked towards the light. Though before he fully emerged from the darkness, he froze and came to wonder something.
”If that were true, then how did he kill that guy…? And what’d he do to the other one?”
While he had certain memories, most of them were foggy or mixing in with his own and altering them in some way. He didn’t have any exact details, only loose ideas. It was strange to say the least.
Before he could think any further, the gray display popped up once more, almost startling him before he got a better look at the screen and bore witness to what he was working with.
[Stats]
[Strength: 12]
[Endurance: 7]
[Dexterity: 18]
[Intelligence: 24]
[Awareness: 14]
[Charisma: 3]
“Huh…” the boy mused, staring over the stats. He was unsure if they were good or bad, since he had no clue what the standard would be, but it didn’t matter. “…Well if it’s anything like that solo leveling guys it won’t matter much. Though since I’m probably quirkless, I guess I could focus on— wait what?”
[Quirk: Vampirism]
”…Okay, that’s new.” Yamikumo stared at the text with wide eyes, completely take aback by the fact he did, in fact, have a quirk. Vampirism? From the name alone he was quick to piece together why he even looked like this to begin with, and honestly it was quite fitting. He could even feel how sharp his canines were.
“So aside from naming me pale and skinny what else can it do…?” As he said this, another window popped up in front of him, and his eyes widened as he read it.
[Vampirism - Passively, the user is granted enhanced physical and regenerative capabilities at the cost of life essence acquired. Upon activation, depending on the amount of life essence stored, the user can wield a wide array of abilities that a vampire would normally possess. The result of amalgamation]
After reading over the description, the boy was simply left with his mouth agape. That kind of quirk sounded insanely strong, and he was bullied? A wide smile formed on his face and he chuckled. A quirk like this sounded obvious for someone in MHA, yet he was almost surprised by how unique it really was. Seriously, why has he never seen a vampire character in the show? Maybe Toga filled the role, but aside from being crazy cute and crazy crazy, she never really seemed like one in his eyes. Who knows? Maybe she did something cool in the war arc he never read.
Going back to his quirk though, he noticed a couple of things that seemed odd about it. While the quirk itself seemed crazy strong, his stats didn’t really match up with its description, and the scars kinda disprove the whole healing thing. ‘Maybe it was due to his lack of life essence? I mean, I technically just came back from the dead, so I’m probably out of it, but what even was it? And what does it mean ‘the result of amalgamation’?’
[One gains life essence by either consuming the flesh of living creatures, drinking blood, or devouring their souls.]
[In rare instances, when devouring the soul of a living creature, the user takes certain aspects of the devoured soul. Quirks included.]
…
“…I apologize, Akatani Mikumo, I was unfamiliar with your game.” The boy said, utterly baffled by this new information. All of a sudden, more feint pain shocked his head and the memories he already obtained became more clear.
The way he killed the man… he probably managed to devour his soul and take something from him that allowed the kid to kill the other one. If that was true, then no wonder he was treated so harshly. His quirk was probably the dictionary definition of ’villainous quirk’. And despite how hateful Mikumo was, he never really did anything because he knew he’d just get in trouble.
That's just… wow.
[Skill: Intelligence has increased by 1 point!]
”Okay that’s gonna be annoying if it does that every time something changes.” The teen sighed and then scratched his cheek. “So wait, if I can steal quirks and add them to my own, what even happens to the— OW, What the fuck?!”
As he uttered those words, from the tip of his index finger a razor sharp talon suddenly sprouted out and cut him, making him flinch back. He stared at the talon with frustration before quickly turning into admiration.
[Sub-Quirk Activation: Talons]
[Talons - Upon activation, sprout steel like talons from the tips of your fingers that could extend up to 8 inches. The sharpness and durability depends on stress and life essence.]
“Woah… okay that’s cool…” he murmured, clenching and unclenching his hand. The sensation felt like he was firing a crossbow, as he began to play with the rest of his talons. Retracting and releasing them felt like pulling back a crossbow string and firing it, though not nearly as hard. “Heh, y’know it kinda reminds me of that one Spider-Man from 2099 or something…”
As he released and retracted his talons a few more times, he hummed and looked to the sky. It was mesmerizing, so much more than the gray he was oh so used to. The world of My Hero Academia, free for him to explore and learn about. He could do whatever he wanted, live as he wanted to, be someone else…
…
…but, what exactly did he want?
As the undead boy delved in his thoughts, he realized something crucial: what exactly should he do?
Mikumo lived a life that, as he remembered, was very unpleasant to lead. Not only that, but since he was probably a third year in middle school, what should he do for high school? What did he even want to do in his life? He was hoping to be an English major when he went to college, or if he even got in, who the hell does English in Japan aside from teaching?
”Should I… try out for U.A…?” He found himself talking aloud the moment those words left his mouth. Apparently he and Midoriya share quite a few things.
In most fanfics he’s read, he always sees these sort of self inserts in U.A. and either replacing someone from 1A or being the 21st student. They also had some kind of overpowered quirk and had some bullshit origin, but looking back at his past, they didn’t seem so far fetched at this point.
Though usually, in his opinion, those books were written poorly. Even aside from the replacing a character aspect or bullshit power/backstory, he’s never really seen the stories actually build up to anything. The story was either unfinished or used references from other pieces of literature that have nothing to do with BNHA.
“Dammit, why did I have to be in MHA of all places…?” he muttered, this time willingly. He looked down to his chest and decided to ask himself questions aloud to see if they somehow made more sense.
“What should I even do? It’s not like I can just run around with no rules… I’m not even well versed in Japanese law to understand my limits… plus this isn’t even my world, what are quirk laws? Should I just follow what I’m doing right now? Should I try and get into U.A like all of those other fics? Be a hero…?”
”…Do I even want to be a hero?”
…
“…Maybe I should be thinking about this outside of an alleyway.”