MHA - Ghostly Rise: Don’t Escape

The next morning, Izuku woke up and looked at the streets in the slums. He pulled his hood lower, then rubbed himself against the dusty house, dragging his body along the ground and broken walls.

After that, he nodded to himself, a satisfied smile on his face.

'Good. My appearance won't be too much of an eyesore here.'

The cold air bit at Izuku's skin, but he welcomed the discomfort. That was the life of the slums, and he had to accept it to live his new life.

What was the best story possible for a promising hero? People would undoubtedly support the talented underdog!

Izuku could easily fake his new identity because All For One had given him a new quirk. He had been diagnosed as quirkless—a genetic physical trait that couldn't be changed. Who would even doubt him?

'I just need to change my hair color and my eyes. Maybe add a scar that looks old as well.'

Pondering the best ways to change his physical appearance, Izuku wandered around the slums. It was quite empty, with only a handful of children sneaking around. Their parents or the older residents were elsewhere in the city, searching for the day's meals.

He ducked into a narrow alley and leaned against the damp brick wall, pulling a small notebook from his pocket.

「Reaper: 200716」

While Izuku was dying to be a hero, he would occasionally try to hone his skills. Despite not having a quirk and being deemed useless by society, he knew what he had—a talent.

His uselessly over-complicated and overly perceptive brain.

While the police and heroes focused on the bigger villains and the most obvious ones, Izuku tracked down many smaller villains who caused less notable issues.

For example, Reaper.

Izuku took a few turns and soon entered one house. In the corner of the house, there was a small figure crouching and shivering.

Whoever saw that person might think he was a pitiful child, utterly terrified and crying. But Izuku knew better.

"Two, double O, seven, one, six."

"Eh? A customer?"

The figure immediately stopped shaking and jumped to his feet. He smiled brightly as he extended his hand. "Payment first, sir!"

The child-like man had long, messy purple hair adorning his small black face. Dirt and other stains covered his face and tattered clothes, but Izuku didn't find it disgusting.

He pulled his notebook again and slowly chose his pick. It was three pages filled with detailed information about a certain hero; at the top was the name: Eraser Head.

Reaper smiled widely and grabbed the pages, scanning them as his stiff body slightly relaxed.

"Thank you! What kind of help do you need?"

"A new identity. Choose whatever name—I don't care."

Blinking and tilting his head, Reaper asked Izuku for more details.

"What about the age? Gender?"

"Same gender. Age is fifteen. I'm counting on you. I'll come back to get it at night."

Saying that, Izuku crept out of the house and left the scene. Reaper had been searching for Eraser Head's information for a while; he wouldn't be stingy with someone who gave him such good analysis.

As for Reaper himself, he was a young smuggler with an unregistered quirk due to how 'villainous' it was considered.

Hero society had its own merits and demerits. The fact that many faced legal discrimination went unnoticed because it was nothing but a minority.

'How amusing that the heroes are the ones who created most of the villains.'

Perhaps the government realized that fact, and out of guilt, decided that all villains would be jailed instead of executed, no matter what heinous crimes they committed.

Izuku sat on the edge of a cracked sidewalk. He didn't have anything to do during this time of day. The golden light painted the broken buildings in warm shades, an ironic contrast to the nature of the slums.

A few hours passed quickly, and he was on the move again.

He wandered around, exchanging more information for objects: hair dye, knives, canned food, water. He also traded for necessities to support his new house.

Reaching the house he picked, he began reinforcing the fallen walls and roof.

"I should've trained physically better."

The start was difficult. Izuku lacked strength, and he ended up with several bruises and broken skin. Despite that, he was happy with the result.

More damage to his body meant more potential changes and better chances of not being discovered.

After ensuring the house was in better shape, Izuku dyed his hair white and pulled a small container from his bag. 'That's going to hurt,' he muttered under his breath before opening it and pouring the contents into his eyes.

"Ugh—fu-"

A searing pain pierced through his eyes as his irises started to change colors. Truly, there were all kinds of quirks in this world. Izuku's irises finally turned purple once he was done.

This was a permanent change—unless he used another quirk.

Izuku then grabbed a mirror and looked at himself. He looked different, but that wasn't enough. He needed to look completely unrecognizable. So he grabbed the knife and started cutting his hair messily, giving himself a shorter hairstyle.

Then came the last mark.

Izuku ignited a small fire on the side and heated the knife before swiftly cutting from the end of his eyebrow down to his cheek. The wound was deep, but he still felt it wasn't enough. He carved his skin and flesh with the knife, creating a hideous scar on his face.

Once he was done, Izuku sat down to catch his breath while heating the knife again. This time, he gently caressed the gruesome scar to stop the bleeding and mend the wound.

By then, Izuku was unrecognizable. His appearance had completely changed. He fell to his knees and shakily reached toward the bottle in his backpack. Firmly gripping the pills, he swallowed them all at once.

They were painkillers.

When night arrived, Izuku grabbed his new identification and chuckled. He had told Reaper to pick any name he wanted, but the choice was truly interesting.

「Hizashi Izuku」