Power Quaking - Chapter 3.2

It was almost surprising to Izuku, how unsurprised he was at how quiet the house was right now.

Usually his brother's room just across the hall from his own, emitted a cacophony of sound. Whether that be from the loud music he liked to listen to as he constantly worked out, his laughing and arguing with people as he streamed gaming online or even just the loud and girlish giggling of his girlfriend that he…very much did his best to ignore.

Izuku paused mid-curl of a dumbbell weighing fifty kg as he sat on his bed, a shudder running through him. Camie was a very nice girl, but she was also like his brother, very shameless and not very quiet at all. The things he'd heard her say before, made his face burn even now.

But the thought of her made him grimace as well, because it was his fault he wouldn't be hearing her unique verbose any longer. Kano had been spending a lot less time around the house lately.

Because of him.

It was his fault his brother had broken up with his girlfriend of two and a half years. His fault his amazing older brother had to throw away all of his own plans to watch over him.

He couldn't even be fully truthful with his brother. Not when he hadn't actually finally obtained his own quirk but rather had inherited All Might's. As such, he had no right make apologies to him and beg for his forgiveness.

He shook his head, putting it out of mind for moment and swallowing the shame that threatened to brings tears to his eyes, and continued curling the weight in his hand.

A week had passed now since the entrance exams to U.A. He'd done very well on them. He'd hesitated a bit because he wasn't used to fighting, but the basics of fighting his older brother had drilled into him, had managed to cover for his inexperience alongside the ability to use five percent of All Might's strength.

'If it was Ka-ni, he could probably use the full power of One For All from the get go.' an invasive voice whispered in his ear.

Invasive as it was, he didn't disagree or try to hide that thought. It was the truth after all, his brother might have only been only an hour older than him, but he was amazing.

It wasn't just his incredibly powerful quirk, it was his mental strength as well. Maybe it was because of the pain he went through early on as a child from almost dying when he activated his quirk, or maybe it was the fact he spent much of his formative years around pro heroes and was personally trained by one until he could be let out into public safely without worry of his quirk going out of control.

Whatever it was, his brother while only being an hour older, had always felt much older than that. Whenever he followed behind his brother growing up, it always felt like staring at the back of a massive towering giant.

Absently, Izuku rose from his bed, leaving the weight behind and made his way over to his computer. Wetube was already up on the screen, with a video already loaded and paused.

He'd already watched it dozens of times over the past week, but he couldn't help but want to watch it again.

He sat down, pressed play and watched his older brother Kano tear through the U.A entrance exams as easy as breathing.

With a single swung fist, he destroyed dozens of multiple story buildings, with a single bound he cleared an entire street.

Even without using his quirk, Power Quake, a single punch from him crumpled villain bots, and with a single arm he casually lifted them into the air and tossed them aside, his white and gold clothing practically glowing in under the sunlight.

He looked the perfect picture of an bright, unyielding hero that could protect everyone.

Nothing at all like him.

Even with all the training he'd done over the last ten months, even with all the tips and tricks he'd picked up from Kano in regards to fighting and even using his quirk, and even with his Full Cowling technique to use part of All Might's power to tear through the villain bots.

He didn't even come close to the strength of his brother. He only managed to amass fifty five villain points.

His brother had more than that before two minutes into the exam.

Even with five percent of One For All enhancing his body, Kano was faster, stronger, more durable and just flat out better in general.

'As expected, Ka-ni really is just too strong for me to keep up with right now, even with One For All.' Izuku sighed.

In a fight between them, his brother wouldn't even need to use his quirk, he was just flat out better than him and decimate him easily. And it wasn't even in just physical ability, but fighting ability as well.

Izuku had some basic martial art training thanks to Kano, but his older brother had trained in them for years. First as a young child under the Erasure Hero Eraserhead, then later he studied at Gunhead's Dojo and learned Gunhead Martial Arts, before moving on to Muay Thai Kick Boxing.

Compared to him, Izuku thought he was pitiful. Even Kacchan couldn't beat his brother after all, no matter how hard and how many times he tried, so what chance did he have of measuring up right now?

His brother had been training his butt off for over ten years. Where as, Izuku had barely stepped over the starting line!

The video progressed and Izuku bore witness to his brother helping people here or there that were having trouble with the villain bots, before finally saving and proceeding to casually flirt with an invisible girl who really should be wearing more clothes than that!

'No matter how many times I watch it over, I can't get used to it, I can see everything!' Izuku swallowed heavily, cheeks blazing red hot.

And he thought he was doing well actually managing to hold a small conversation with the round cheeked girl he met at the exam!

But as always he didn't hold a candle compared to his brother.

And before long, it appeared.

The gargantuan towering monstrosity that was the Zero Pointer. Izuku shuddered as he recalled it. Shuddered in remembrance of his legs snapping like twigs alongside his arm as he leapt into action to save the round cheeked girl and almost died in the process.

Yet in contrast to his own life or death struggle with the zero pointer, his brother almost casually blew its head away, before splitting it down the middle with his Quake Blade, then landing and unleashing his ever mighty and unstoppable Quake Fist that blew both remaining halves into the hair and pulverized them into a rain of tiny debris that wouldn't hurt anyone.

It was almost like watching All Might at work.

That was the kind of strength his brother possessed. To Izuku, if All Might was the incarnation of the ideal Hero, and Kacchan the incarnation that always pursued victory, then his brother was the personification of unstoppable power itself.

'Ah, Ka-ni…' Izuku smiled wistfully as he stared at the image of his older brother on the screen, clenched fist raised high in the air victoriously, 'You're just too cool.'

The view count of the video was massive, over a million views. It was his brothers most viewed video of all and only after a week too. and his subscriber count had jumped by nearly fifty thousand in just that week.

How crazy, but Izuku wasn't really surprised. It was kind of what he expected of his brother.

He sighed as he pasued the video and stood back up, making his way back over to his bed to continue curling the dumbbell.

It hurt that his always reliable brother wasn't speaking to him right now. 'I deserve it though.' he thought as he picked up the weight.

He couldn't be truthful with his mother or brother about the origin of his power. As such, he could only go with a lie. That his quirk was similar to his brothers. And it only hadn't activated so far, because his body hadn't been strong enough to contain it, and even when it did activate, it had broken his arm in multiple places.

His mother had horrified, and terrified.

After all, such a power had almost killed Kano when he was little. And Izuku had always been the weaker, more frail of the two. And now he wanted to rush off to hero school with his newly awakened and 'volatile' quirk.

His mother had refused, vehemently.

It hadn't even occurred to Izuku that she would, 'Because I was selfish, I wasn't even thinking of mom's feelings at the time, just that my dream could come true.' he grimaced.

In the end, after he begged and pleaded with her, she'd agreed. If he went to Shiketsu, where his brother could watch over him. Only, he couldn't go there, he needed to go to U.A that was where All Might was from and where he'd said he'd go to him, he couldn't go back on his word.

He hadn't expected at the time, the kind of blow out that would occur from that selfish desire. Of his mother refusing to give in unless Kano was there to watch over him, of his mother then pleading with Kano to go to U.A instead of Shiketsu like he'd been planning for so long.

And his brother agreed. No matter how much it hurt him, no matter how much it strained his relationship with his girlfriend, no matter how much it effected his plans for the future.

As he always had, he'd chosen Izuku.

But he'd asked him one thing. Just why it had to be U.A.

He hadn't realised the scope of what he had taken from his brother in that moment, hadn't considered his words well, just too filled with relief. And he'd told him.

U.A was All Might's school, and he'd been trying to so hard to train and better himself, because All Might had said he could be a hero.

Watching an understanding dawn in his brothers eyes, followed by a hurt look that made him want to cry even now, had been devastating

And then anger.

Kano had never been truly angry at him before. He'd been annoyed with him before, a bit aggravated here and there, but never truly angry.

And ever since, his brother hadn't said a word to him. And Izuku didn't have the courage, nor the right to talk to him and beg his forgiveness. Because in the end, he couldn't even be truthful with him.

"Izuuuku!" a hand banging on his door and his mothers startled, surprised call made him bounce up in his bed and drop the weight.

Moments later his mother pulled the door open, a wide eyed look on her face and carried in her hand, was two letters, "T-they're here!" Inko Midoriya spluttered.

Two U.A letters.

His brother wasn't in the house at the moment, preferring to spend his time away from them lately, so they could only check his own.

Izuku should have been incredibly excited to get the letter, considering he was sure he passed. Even more so when the letter contained a holo disk and from it sprang a hologram showing the face of All Might, who was going to be a teacher at U.A this year.

But…he felt a million miles away, like watching an out of body experience as All Might welcomed him as a student to U.A and told him he passed.

…Because, it felt very empty without his brother here as well.

And the only semblance he had of his brother in this moment, was the test results that popped up at the end of the message displaying the top ten ranked examinees, and their villain points based on destroying villain bots and rescue points based on helping others during the exam.

1 - Kano Midoriya: 182 - 25
2 - Katsuki Bakugou: 133 - 0
3 - Izuku Midoriya: 55 - 60
4 - Ochaco Uraraka: 38 - 45
5 - Eijiro Kirishima: 39 - 35
6 - Ibara Shiozaki: 36 - 32
7 - Itsuka Kendo: 25 - 40
8 - Tenya Iida: 52 - 9
9 - Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu: 49 - 10
10 - Fumikage Tokoyami: 47 - 10

It was a dream come true, yet tasted bitter all the same to him. Tears budded in the corner of his eyes, but he did not let them fall.

He didn't have the right to whine about the cost of his own actions after all.