THE CURSED GAMER

Chapter 37: Changes (2)

—

Izuku Midoriya had a stupid smile on his face as he walked a few steps behind the three boys walking in front of him.

It was Kacchan’s group.

School just ended and they were returning to their homes – Izuku was happily following Kacchan. Kacchan hated him because he didn’t have a quirk – but now that he got one, he would be fine right?

Obviously.

While Izuku was daydreaming, the guy leading the group, Katsuki Bakugo, stopped.

A deeply frowning Bakugo turned back to him, glaring.

“What do you think ya doing, Deku? Stop following me.” He said in a deep, apathetic voice. “You are getting on my nerves.”

Deku’s smile stiffened at this. “B- but Kacchan, I now have a Quirk–''

“SHUT IT!” Bakugo made his palms explode. “It doesn’t matter. You’re weak and pathetic. I don't know how you got that quirk, or if you’ve been hiding it for all these years, but it’s clear that my Quirk is superior to yours. So, stay away from me!!”

Izuku flinched. “O- of course, yours is superior, Kacchan… that’s why I am ‘following’ you instead of walking by your side.”

Bakugo’s lips twitched as he turned around. “Tch, annoying bastard. Stay as far away from me as possible.”

He then walked away while his group gave Izuku a pitying look.

Izuku sighed and lowered his head. “I just wanted to be friends…”

–

After making sure that Kacchan was out of his sight, Izuku Midoriya started to move again.

‘At least I made some progress, hehe…’

At least Kacchan didn’t say “Stop following me!”, and instead said, “Stay as far away from me as possible.”

This meant he still had a chance to gain Kacchan's true friendship...

Ting~

‘Hm?’

While laughing to himself as he was about to enter a tunnel, he heard something moving behind him.

Turning his head, his eyes went wide– ‘A villain?!’

A slime-like creature came out of the gap in the manhole behind him. Rushing towards him, the villain wrapped his slime-like body around Izuku.

“Ugh! Ngh!!”

Izuku struggled as he felt the slime entering his throat, nostrils, ears, and the other open holes in his body. His desperate struggle caused the villain to growl and chuckle.

“Don’t worry, don’t worry. I am just ‘hijacking’ your body. Calm down.”

Tears gathered around Izuku’s eyes as he desperately tried to struggle, he tried to use his newly found quirk, but he couldn’t even think properly amongst the pain for him to use it.

“Calm now. It’ll only hurt for about 45 seconds… Then, it’ll all be over…. Hehe.”

“You’re a real hero, you know? I would have died without you.”

Izuku struggled for a breath, barely holding it. He scratched the man’s arms, but his fingers just went through his jelly-like body.

“No point in trying that. I am fluid, you see~”

‘No!’ Izuku moved his legs to kick him. ‘I can’t breathe!’

Izuku cried, helplessness sweeping under his skin.

‘I am dying… I am dying! Someone… Kacchan…. Help me!!’

His vision finally started to darken as he started to lose his strength entirely.

‘No…’

Just then – the cap covering the manhole went flying, as a muscular man wearing a white t-shirt jumped up.

“Fear not, kid!!”

With a mixture of grin and grit, the man swung his fist back.

“I AM HERE!”

He positioned his punch at the right spot and punched forward.

“Texas Smash!!”

The punch didn’t connect with the villain, but the sheer shockwave it released caused the villain’s fluid body to scatter around in a matter of seconds.

Izuku fell on his butt as he stared at the living legend with wide eyes. “All Might?”

“HA HA HA!” All Might took a pose by placing his hand on his head. “Thank Goodness! You don’t seem that injured and you are fine enough to recognise me.”

Izuku coughed out some of the slimy fluid from inside him and smiled. “I am fine… I think.”

“HAH! That’s good.” All Might then displayed him a bottle filled with mud-like green fluid. “Because of you, I have got the villain. You have my thanks, young man.”

Izuku was surprised. ‘When did he capture the villain…?’

“–Cough…”

“Anyway,” All Might cough on his hand, a frown appearing on his face that disappeared the next second – which wasn’t missed by Izuku, the biggest All Might stalker. “I am very busy, so I have to go.”

He crouched down, his legs bulging. “Take care!!”

Kicking the ground, he disappeared into the sky.

Bo–Oom!

Izuku stared at his vanishing with a small smile on his face.

“Should I have asked him that question?”

This time, Izuku Midoriya didn't grab his legs.

This time, Izuku Midoriya didn’t ask if he can be a Hero without a quirk.

Because this time... Izuku Midoriya had a Quirk.

“Probably not, hehe.”

«—(★)—»

"—Cough!"

Toshinori Yagi, aka All Might, flew by the sky while coughing.

"Hah… So my current limit is only 2.5 hours?"

He has been overexerting himself for a while now – after Nighteye introduced 'that' boy to him. All Might has already chosen a successor, so there was no need for him to hold back anymore. That's why he's saving as many people as he can.

"—Cough!"

With another cough, All Might lost his balance and tripped in the air. Smoke came out of his body, as his Chad form became skinny.

"Hori Shit!"

All Might started to fall down from the sky, but still managed to transform back and kick the air.

"Ah, I should be more careful."

Sighing, and feeling depressed at his weakness, All Might moved from his spot and vanished into the sky again.

Maybe it's fate… or just the timeline doing its best to keep things straight – because, from All Might's pocket, the bottle sealing the slug villain had dropped to the ground.

-

–

—

Luckily, All Might realised this soon enough.

He looked down on the city from the top of a building that he landed on with wide and horrified eyes.

"Shit."

Smoke and fire were soaring in the middle of the street, the sound of loud explosions was being heard from even here.

All Might felt he could still hold on for 5 more minutes so he quickly kicked the rooftop and flew towards that exact street.

The villain has to pay for what he did!!

«—{★}—»

In the street,

His code name is Bijok, he's a man from North Korea who was lucky enough to escape from that shit-hole of a country.

He was currently hiding amongst the crowd, a struggling look on his face. But people didn't notice it since they were more focused on the kid and the sludge villain in front of them.

Though that's because they didn't know that this man was in fact the partner of the exact sludge villain.

Looking at his partner, Bijok could only grit his teeth. Why was that stupid bastard trying to <Hijack> a middle–schooler's body in broad daylight?

'That fool...'

He probably shouldn't have even teamed up with him. Now they're surrounded by heroes already.

'Luckily for that fool, he has me by his side.'

Bijok's struggling face distorted more. He was using his quirk, <Mind Control>. But unlike its cool and badass name, it can merely 'convince' a person into doing what they wouldn't usually do - he can’t even do a specific command.

A pretty weak quirk, according to him. But in situations like this, this quirk is best to have.

By focusing his quirk on the heroes around him, 'convincing' them to believe that they don't have suitable quirks to fight the sludge villain and is waiting for a hero with a proper quirk to appear.

Though he wouldn't be able to keep this up for long. It's all his partner's fault, again. His partner usually needs only 45 seconds, but the prey he targeted this time is an annoying one – so he's been delaying it for 3 whole minutes...

Boom–Boom!

"Mghnn! Mghnn!"

There was a blonde kid in his grasp, who was creating explosions all in vain.

Bijok released a relieved sigh. He's familiar with his partner's pattern – and from the looks of it, it seemed the blonde kid's body was just about to being <Hijacked>.

But, just then – all to Bijok's annoyance, his gaze followed a green-haired boy who leapt from the crowd.

Under everyone’s shock, the kid ran towards the villain with shaky legs.

"Y– you! Let Kacchan go!"

The kid, Izuku Midoriya, reached for the sludge villain and curled his fist up, punching him, but the villain's fluid body only spread out from his punch.

"Argh! It's you, the annoying kid!"

The sludge villain couldn't stop the green head since he was almost about to devour the blonde, causing Bijok to facepalm.

Just then, Izuku raised his palm facing the villain.

"<R– Repulsion!>"

Izuku used his quirk!!

Immediately, an invisible force left his palm, creating a hole in the villain's chest.

The sludge villain's eyes went wide, but he wasn't injured because of his body's property. His chest slowly filled up on its own, all to Izuku’s horror.

The sludge villain prepared to devour the kid too, in anger. But...

Just then – Bijok's eyes went wide as a gust of wind appeared out of nowhere.

A tall and muscular figure towered over his partner with his fist swung backwards.

"UNITED," Bijok felt his blood run cold. "SMASH!"

Thu- tutututut!

The slug villain's fluid splattered all around the street like rain while a tornado of wind left the impact point of the punch.

Bijok gulped… Maybe he really shouldn't have teamed up with this guy.

Everyone started cheering All Might's name, just as–

"Hey, isn't that Bijok!? The wanted criminal!?"

Some heroes yelled towards him.

Bijok gritted his teeth and looked for a way to escape, but by then, Mt. Lady had grabbed his small figure with her large hands.

At that moment, Bijok could only use the Quirk Enhancer drug he brought from his home country and burst out his Quirk at once.

«—[★]—»

All Might felt a slight headache all of a sudden.

'That's weird…'

He assumed it to be a side effect of his weakened body and instead focused on the kids he just saved.

"Kacchan… are you okay?"

Looking at the kid who just talked, All Might recognised him as the same kid that he saved a few minutes ago.

The guy he called Kacchan didn't reply and stared at the air dazedly.

Izuku's face showed worry as he was about to ask something again – just then some heroes walked towards them.

"You two did a very impressive job, even though it was a little dangerous for Mr. Green Head." Kamui Woods, a promising young hero, tried to console them while All Might smiled.

"All Might, if you don't mind, we should make these two kids see the doctor."

All Might nodded as Kamui woods prepared to take them away.

All Might smiled at Izuku's back. He has seen how Izuku leapt in the air while everyone else was standing by the side.

'What a heroic spirit–'

...His mind suddenly went blank and a thought which would have been normally impossible – appeared in his mind.

'No, that was foolish.'

All Might stopped Kamui Woods. "Hah, young man. I would like to talk to this one for a second if that’s fine."

All Might couldn’t see Kamui’s face because of his mask, but he could tell he was a little surprised.

"Ah, of course." Kamui Woods scratched his head and handed Izuku to him then walked away with Bakugo.

All Might was left alone with Izuku, to which Izuku smiled stiffly, nervous at what All Might had to say.

With an unreadable look on his face, All Might placed his hand on Izuku's shoulder and crouched down, staring at his face.

"Kid, that was very dangerous and foolish." All Might talked, he seemed genuine about it. "I noticed the use of your quirk… it's nothing impressive, I must say. If you think you can save people with such a quirk, then you should stop it right now. You'd only get yourself killed."

All Might couldn’t find anything wrong with what he was saying, but by then - Izuku's eyes had gone wide and blank.

"I am extremely disappointed in what you did. You could have gotten yourself killed by not knowing your limits which would have damaged the reputation of other heroes."

Izuku's body was still as he stared at All Might's darkened face with a shell-shocked look in his eyes.

"From next time, make sure you don't do anything stupid like this. Just because you have a quirk doesn't mean you are a hero."

All Might stood up and walked away, while Izuku fell on his knees.

The world around him… shattered into pieces.

What is the meaning of this life?

«—«★»—»

2 months after that incident,

Katsuki Bakugo returned home from school and walked inside.

"Oh, you're back."

His Mom who was in the kitchen noticed him and walked towards him.

She handed him a bag and some money.

"Go and buy some veggies, quickly."

Bakugo's lips twitched. "Huh? Can't you get it yourself, ya old hag!?"

Smack!

A blow fell on his head as Bakugo growled.

"Who are you calling old, you dumbass!"

"Grrr…"

Bakugo growled as his body trembled.

His mom hmphed. "Now go! I don't want to see your face before you bring the veggies!"

Bakugo nodded with a red face and trembling body and walked away. Suddenly stopping at the door, he looked back at his mom, Mitsuki Bakugo.

"Hey, Mom…"

Mitsuki turned her face to him while blinking. Did he just call her Mom…?

"You are friends with Deku's Mom right?"

Mitsuki nodded. "Yeah, we were pretty close."

Bakugo looked at the ground before sighing. "Do you know where Deku is? He hasn't been coming to school for the past 2 months."

Mitsuki blinked at this. "Huh? You don't know? Something happened to Izuku so Inko had to move from this city, sadly. I thought you'd know since you're friends."

Bakugo blinked. 'So he's gone? What happened to him?'

His thought then moved on to his mother's other words.

'Friends…?'

Bakugo was surprised. Did his mother think Deku was his friend…?

What the hell.

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Author’s Note:

Well, the competition in freemium novel is about to end, so I decided to add 2 chapters ahead, check out if you like. Link: www.freemiumnovel.com/