Chapter Text
Working the front desk was the only thing he was really doing here. He was here to learn, so he could help people! Instead he’s doing an internship with people who avoid him most of the time, and only really working reception. He’s talked to the head counsellor a couple of times and she seems the nicest one here, however she’s usually super busy and today was no exception.
There were a couple people still waiting, most of them were very young considering adults usually didn’t go to quirk counselling regardless of whether they needed it or not. What caught his eye however was a girl, a girl with white hair and a horn who was looking down at her lap. Most kids are excited to be here, to learn more about their quirk, but she looked scared.
Seeing that there was no one to really serve, he grabbed a lollipop from the bowl on the reception desk and carefully made his way over. The man next to him watched him as he got closer, which was to be expected. If this man was her father then he probably wouldn’t want random strangers and such talking to his daughter. Luckily he does work here, even if he only has a week left, and his job is to help where he can.
“Hey.” Midoriya spoke softly, kneeling down to just below her eye level. “Are you feeling nervous?”
The girl doesn’t speak or look up, but she does nod. It’s a small nod, but he sees it.
“That’s ok. I was nervous too.”
The girl looks at him confused.
“You see, everyone who has a quirk will get an appointment at some point. But there’s nothing to worry about, they’re here to help you understand your quirk better. It’ll all be fine.”
The girl doesn’t look convinced and looks back down at her lap. Midoriya holds out the lollipop to her.
“Here, this might help cheer you up.”
She looks up to see the candy in the boy’s hand. She looks to her father for approval, who gently nods at her. She lets out a small smile and gently takes the candy.
“Thank you..”
“You’re welcome. Just remember, there’s nothing to be scared of. I’m sure your dad can protect you if need be.”
The girl looked a little better but still nervous. Midoriya didn’t want to push anything so he stood back up and walked back to the reception desk. The other receptionist, Akiyama Yuki, was still chewing on bubblegum as she watched him sit next to her.
“That’s not your job.” She states, not really caring either way.
“I know.” Midoriya sighed.
After a moment the head counsellor, Nishiyama Futaba, came out from her office and called out. “Aizawa Eri.”
The horned girl and the gruff looking man get up from their seats and follow Nishiyama to her office. Hopefully she’d be able to help them, though sometimes he’s had to chase up patients when they’ve left to give tips that they all seem to forget. Nishiyama is the most competent of the counsellors here, and yet sometimes she seems to miss easy things. Though his quirk may help with that a bit, it's also the same reason why they don’t trust him. No one trusts him once they know his quirk.
A couple minutes in he hears a commotion, or rather he senses it. It’s coming from Nishiyama’s office. He sighs, he wants to go over and help but they’ve already told him he shouldn’t be in their offices without permission. He’s tried to help loads of patients, but they all think he’s not experienced enough for it. How is he meant to get experience if they won’t let him try!
He was going to leave it be, but he watched the man carry his daughter out and she looked so sad. He couldn’t just leave it like that. Luckily it was his lunch break, so he let Akiyama know he was going out and headed off.
He almost gave up searching until he saw the girl with her father at the nearby park. Most kids would run around and play in a place like this, but she seemed content sitting on the grass and looking at the equipment from afar.
He approaches with a wave. “Hi!”
They both turn to him, the man eyeing him suspiciously. He doesn’t need his quirk to know what he’s thinking.
“Hi.” The girl greeted softly, he almost didn’t hear her.
“I assume the appointment didn’t go very well.”
She shook her head.
“Do you know why it didn’t go well?”
She looked up at him and nodded.
“Do you want to tell me why?”
The man stepped a little closer, obviously protective of his daughter, Midoriya just smiled at him with the most reassuring smile he could.
“I…” The girl starts, fiddling with the hem of her dress. “My quirk is a curse.”
Her father looks at the girl softly, a frown threatening to form.
“Why do you think that?” Midoriya asked, sitting down in front of her.
“Cause it hurts people.”
“Well, any quirk can hurt people. Do you want to hurt people?”
Eri shook her head vigorously. “No!”
“Then I don’t think you’re a bad person, and I definitely don’t think your quirk is a curse.”
“How? You don’t even know what it is?”
“Then, why don’t you tell me?”
The father stayed close but made no move to interfere, plus Midoriya was sure he was curious as to how he’d handle this. The father did look familiar though, he wonders why.
“It’s called Rewind.” She says after a moment's silence. “It allows me to rewind people.”
Theories immediately started popping up in Midoriya’s head. “Interesting.” He looks around and spots a flower. It had been pulled out of the ground, probably by some kid, and wasn’t looking too good. He went over and grabbed the flower.
“How about we try something Eri.” He sits back down in front of her. “Why don’t you try and rewind this flower?”
The girl is hesitant, but she takes the flower from his hand. “Why?” She asks with a cute little head tilt.
“Because if my hunch is correct, I think I can help.”
She seemed curious, but didn’t quite believe him just yet. That was ok, sometimes these things took time.
“You don’t have to if you don’t want to, Eri.” Midoriya didn’t want to force this poor girl to use her quirk if she was uncomfortable with it, but he at least wanted to try and help.
The girl nodded, and held out the flower in both her hands. Her eyes squeezed shut and her tongue poked out the side of her mouth. Midoriya looked over to her father to see he was finding this just as cute as he was. He did.
Energy flowed through her hands to the flower and it started to rewind. More specifically, it looked like it got younger. A reverse in state of sorts. And the flower continued to reverse and shrink till it disappeared. Tears started to fall from Eri’s face as her quirk slowly dissipated, though that was probably due to her fathers now red eyes. Wait… red eyes? You don’t mean? He’ll ask those questions later. Time to focus, Izuku!
“I killed it.” The girl sniffed.
“That’s ok.” Midoriya spoke softly. “The plant looked quite old anyway, and I was expecting you to do that.”
“You were?” Eri wiped her tears on her sleeve.
“Yeah. Now tell me, how did that feel? This could be important to helping your quirk.”
“It felt like… rushing water. Like when you turn on the tap!”
“I see…” Midoriya grabs another flower and gives it to the girl. “Ok, I want you to do the same thing again, but this time I want you to focus on the feeling. If you can, try to stop it.”
Eri reached out to the flower, but hesitated. “I…” Tears were still in her eyes.
“You don't have to, Eri. However this might surprise you.” Izuku didn't use his quirk often, at least not on purpose. Yet seeing this girl cry, Midoriya wanted to help ease her worries. So he did. He reached out with his mind, softly connecting with Eri’s and gently pushing feelings of calm and warmth forward. Eri’s tears got less and less as she started to feel better, better enough to grab the flower from his hands.
She wiped her eyes with her sleeve before speaking. “Was… that your quirk?” She asked.
“A part of it.” He smiled. “I can tell you and your father all about it later, if you want. But first, how about we try this one more time.”
Eri thinks about it for a second, before nodding. She pulls the flower close and lets her energy flow from her once more, and the flower gets younger and younger. As the flower shrinks and a seed takes its place, the energy stops. Midoriya quickly glances at her father, who he assumes is Eraserhead, to see his shocked expression. No red eyes. He smiles.
“I…” Eri beams with tears rolling down her cheeks, getting slightly overwhelmed. “I did it.” She whispered.
“Yeah, you did.”
“H-how?” She looked up at him.
“Well, how do you feel?”
“Better.” She smiles as she looks down at the seed.
“I don't know about your situation, but I think you have quirk build-up.”
“Quirk build-up?” Eraserhead is now speaking up. “What do you mean?”
“Well, when someone doesn't use their quirk a lot.” As he talks, his hands move with him. He loves talking about quirks. “Then you get quirk buildup. All that energy is stored with nowhere to go, and it has to be released somewhere. Especially with emitter quirks like Eri’s. So when she tries to use it, she can't control it and it bursts out. All she needs to do is continue using her quirk. That way the build up will be less and less, until it disappears. It'll also help with her control. I assume she can use her quirk on all living things, so start with plants. Once the buildup is gone, then maybe she can start practicing on animals and bugs.”
“So… I can control it?”
“Of course you can.” He smiles at her. “How about we plant that seed? Then the flower will grow again.”
She nods, determined as she goes to find a nice patch of nearby grass.
“How?” Eraserhead asked.
“She's like me, at least in a way.”
The man looks at him questioningly.
“Don't worry too much about it, Eraserhead.” He winks at the man. He pulls out a piece of paper and a pen from his jacket pocket, and scribbles something down before handing it to him. “My name and number. I doubt you'll need to contact me again, but just in case. It's there.”
“What is your quirk?” Eraserhead didn't put much stock in quirks, but did the boy have a quirk that helped him with analysis? Or was he just that good? Sue him, he was curious.
“You have my name, hero. I'm sure you can find out.” He waves to the man as he leaves, going back to the office he works in.