A Precise Note Chapter 27 - Responsibility

I need Momo’s Quirk.

Momo’s Quirk was something that would have come out of Izuku’s greatest and filthiest wet dreams, had his Quirk not removed his ability to have them. Had he possessed Momo’s abilities while fumbling about trying to figure out how to improve the Trigger drug, there would be almost zero need for trial and error, as he could mentally create combinations, modify them, and then synthesize them all at once.

If her Quirk allows her to create drugs and medicine…

It was entirely possible he could develop his quirk-consent drug in a matter of weeks rather than the months and years he’d previously anticipated. Beyond that, just the ability to mass-produce controlled substances meant an ever-present source of insulin, antimalarials, and vaccines, a way to help people on a grand scale. There were laws in place preventing that, but Izuku had already skirted the laws. He was more focused on the amount of good her quirk could do.. Her power is a goldmine in pharmacological research. Momo had to be aware of it. Yaoyorozu seemed intelligent. It wasn’t possible for her not to know the ways she could help the world…

And she wants… to be a Hero?

Izuku, unwittingly, felt what Saiko must have felt when he told her about his desire to attend a Hero Academy. She would save more lives and help more people if she chose to do anything but heroics.

“I’d prefer it if you stop, now, Midoriya-san.”

Izuku’s mind snapped back to the present. Yaoyorozu’s expression was different. There was a sharpness to her eyes. A coldness that he was certain had not been present a few minutes prior.

“What?”

“Stop.”

“Stop?”

“You’re thinking of all the ways you can use me to your benefit. Stop it. It’s disgusting.”

Izuku blinked. “I’m sorry…?”

Izuku’s brain scrambled for answers. He did not see it. He could not see it. Momo was born with an amazing ability that could help countless people and save lives. How was it wrong to try to think of ways to use that ability for the good of others?

What if she doesn’t want to use it to help people?

The idea was odd. Counter-intuitive. Yet, the possibility was there.

What if God existed, and he had no care for the suffering of others?

Momo was not God; she was no goddess, but, with her Quirk, she was close to one. The notion that she had this power, yet would only use it for selfish gain, was… ridiculous. If all it’d cost him to save thousands of lives was a few pounds of flesh, he’d give it all in a heartbeat. Create medical aid in the thousands and donate it, create rare and expensive drugs that could save lives, or even create organs needed for donors—

Can her power create organs?

He did not know. If yes, then it was beyond amazing. If not, then he was certain, with his improved Trigger, she would be able to do so. There were those out there with heart problems whose lives could be saved right this instant if Yaoyorozu were willing to do so.

Disgusting?

“I think you may have the wrong impression of me, Yaoyorozu-san. I’m only considering how you can help others with your powers—”

“You mean all the ways I can be used as an infinite resource?” Her smile was anything but pleasant. “No doubt you considered all the ways my quirk could be used to make me rich beyond my wildest dreams. Or all the ways I could save lives by giving a daily pound of flesh. Perhaps, Midoriya-san, you would like to lock me up in a room, fatten me, and have me endlessly make things for the benefit of others?”

“Not to that extreme,” Izuku frowned. 

Why is she getting upset over this? 

“All I’m saying is that you have the power to save lives every day if you want to—”

“And if it’s too much of a bother?” Momo smiled. “If I choose not to? What then?”

What… then?

It’s immoral, Izuku wanted to say. It’s downright unethical.

Multiple boards flew around him, and arguments hovered one after the other. From a consequentialist view, if given the power to save lives at little to no cost to oneself, and one still refused to do so, they were ethically irresponsible, if not outright immoral, because their inaction meant they allowed preventable suffering and death.

From a deontological view, outcomes didn’t matter, only duties. If one had the unique capacity to prevent harm, they gained a duty to act. Failing to do so is a neglect of moral duty.

Even under virtue ethics, a virtuous person would do what they could to help others, and choosing not to was a deep moral failing of character.

Different philosophical frameworks came to Izuku, and many of them told him: It means you’re a bad person, Momo.

But— 

Izuku… Izuku wanted to believe in people. He would believe them. He would always believe that a person who wanted to do something could do it, even if no one else believed them. If she decided she didn’t want to use her gifts to save a life, who was Midoriya Izuku to tell her she was wrong for doing so? Was it even right to judge her? To put such a burden atop her shoulders?

It was different, he argued. This was different. 

Was it?

Two sides of Izuku warred against each other, and time slowed to a crawl, and Izuku’s thought processes picked up. On one hand, Midoriya Izuku wanted to respect Momo’s right to do what she wanted with her Quirk. It was not on him to decide who she was or what she could be. On the other hand, Midoriya Izuku wanted to scream at her: How could she not consider using that Quirk to save lives and save people?

His desire to ‘always save people’ and his desire to ‘always believe in people’ came to a deadlock.

Izuku was reminded of the Pre-Quirk Era comic books that Manga loved reading. In which there was an alien super-being in one of them, who spent half of his days pretending to be an unpowered, everyday journalist. How many criminals got away, or lives were ended, in those off hours where he sat at an office desk, doing a job he didn’t really need to preserve a sense of normalcy he didn’t really have? 

Even then, was it not too cruel to demand that he spend all twenty-four hours of his existence, constantly fighting evil and saving lives, all at the total cost of his own?

But…

Isn’t… that what All Might does?

Many people online had put together a timeframe of All Might's presence and heroic activities, and confirmed it was highly unlikely the man had time for a family, for a normal life, or that if he did, he was grossly absent. Many refused to believe All Might would be a neglectful spouse or parent, thus, he was likely single and All Might himself confirmed as such in interviews that he was unmarried and had no children.

Thus, All Might was always, always, a hero.

To sacrifice oneself in absolute totality for the sake of others… Was it wrong? 

No. 

It could not be wrong. Accepting that it was wrong would mean that what All Might was doing, had been doing for years, was wrong. It would mean that the definition of heroism he accepted was wrong, and it would mean everything he believed was wrong.

As long as everyone else had their happy ending… He did not mind sacrificing himself, again and again, and again.

That was what it meant to be a Hero.

However, this case wasn’t about being a hero. This was about being a decent person. If one could save hundreds of lives at the cost of minor discomfort to themselves and chose not to… how were you any different from a villain? If it were him, who was born with Momo’s Quirk, every day, every second, he would be out there, looking for people in need, helping them, saving them. He knew that many would not like it. Organizations and governments that gained income from hoarding vital, life-saving drugs and necessities would stand in his path, but that would not stop him.

Even if he was declared a criminal, it would not stop him from helping people.

You’ve at least saved some lives with your power… perhaps in secret?

Looking into Momo’s eyes, he hesitated to ask the question. He knew that her answer would not be what he wanted to hear. Her answer would not please him.

For the first time, Izuku felt he might actually hate someone.

But…

Izuku saw a problem.

Izuku… by that logic… By that logic… if you follow that logic…

A man passed a shallow pond and saw a child drowning, and he could jump in and save the child easily, but his clothes would get muddy, and he would be late to work. So he did not. Almost everyone universally declared that jumping in to save the child was the right thing to do, because the cost of missing work or muddy clothes didn’t matter compared to the life saved.

Not jumping in was a moral failing.

Every moment, children were dying from preventable diseases, Quirk-related problems, hunger, or lack of medicine. Anyone could help them at minimal personal cost, at a slight inconvenience, by donating part of their income, skipping luxuries.

People refused to do so.

If one said, ‘I can’t help because I need to buy this new shirt, go to this place, enjoy this new game,’ how were they morally different from the man who walked past a drowning child to avoid getting his suit wet? 

For the sake of avoiding inconvenience, both allowed death.

Did distance make it less of a moral failing, because one was in front of them, and one was far away? No. Izuku was aware that distance didn’t eliminate obligation. If it did, then during natural disasters, people would refuse to give aid to others because ‘the disaster is too far away and it doesn’t affect us.’

Did it being a collective failure make it less of a moral failing? Izuku denied that. If others fail to act, that doesn’t excuse one’s inaction. If ten people walk by a drowning child and nine ignore it, that doesn’t absolve the tenth person of the responsibility to help.

If he accepted that Momo was immoral if she refused to help others with her power due to the inconvenience, then he would need to accept that the vast majority of the world was immoral, because they could help others but didn’t, because it was inconvenient.

Izuku couldn’t accept that the entire world was immoral, but Momo was clearly immoral, and if Momo was clearly immoral, the entire world was immoral, and he couldn’t accept that the entire world was immoral, but Momo was clearly immoral—

Thus, he fell into a loop, a looping cycle of thoughts that only ended once a hand landed on his shoulder. A hand he should have instinctively moved out of, but didn’t.

“Uh, hey, Midoriya… you okay?”

Kaminari was looking at him with concern. A lot of people were. Izuku opened his lips, and a smile came. “I’m sorry,” Izuku bowed his head formally. “I wasn’t thinking, Yaoyorozu-san. I didn’t realize how it would appear from your end.” 

He raised his head, the faintest ghosts of a true smile on his lips.

There was no hiding the slight widening of her eyes and raising of her brows. An apology had been the last thing she was expecting, because the conversation had almost seemed to be going in an opposite direction.

“I… accept your apology, Midoriya-san.”

“Well, now that whatever-that-was has been taken care of,” Kaminari cleared his throat. “Time to meet another new classmate. Kami-sama, please give me someone who isn’t a buzzkill.”

Izuku didn’t pay much attention to Kaminari’s words. His mind was too preoccupied, trying to come to terms with a concept he had never once taken into account.

Is the world… itself… immoral?

Izuku felt an itch.

If the entire world is filled with grossly immoral actors…

Izuku felt an itch.

Then is the problem with the world really Quirks… 

Izuku felt an itch.

Or is it… people?

XXX- A Precise Note - XXX

What in the world is going on in his head?

Midoriya Izuku had backtracked rather quickly, either genuinely or not, Momo could not tell. He was an enigma. Complex. Complicated. If anything, the more she spoke to him, the less she liked him. A person capable of accepting their wrongdoings that easily was a person to be more wary of, rather than a person to welcome openly.

Momo decided she would keep her distance from Midoriya Izuku as much as possible. He was interesting, but he wasn’t entertaining.

She was more interested in Kaminari. Far more entertaining to watch, witness, and see stumble or rise. As the doors to the classroom opened, and Kaminari began to moonwalk again, as he did when he approached her, a twitch formed on her lips. The boy was no doubt readying another cheesy electric-pun pick-up line. Momo would have cringed at some of them, but even in that cringing, there was levity. Indeed, Kaminari’s antics were entertaining. 

Doubly so, for this time, as he sauntered up to the girl, the color immediately drained out of his face. The girl, too, with black hair and long earlobes, appeared as though she’d seen a ghost, once she got a good look at him.

“K-Kyoka?”

“D-Denki?”

Kaminari froze up. Oh, there was certainly some drama to be had there. The two stood like that, staring at each other at the door, with neither of them moving or speaking.

Yaoyorozu let out a coy chuckle. “Well, this is definitely entertaining. Do you two know each other?”

“We were—”

“Friends,” the girl, Kyoka, interrupted.

“Right,” Kaminari said. “Friends.”

The word was dripping with more sarcasm than Momo thought possible.

“I… didn’t know you applied to UA, Denki.”

“I told you I would.”

“You said you’d think about it. That you’d do it if you felt like it.”

“Well, I felt like it,” he gestured his arms out. “So… Here I am. Dazzling everyone.”

“That means… we’re classmates. Again.”

“Yeah.”

“That’s… great.”

“…Yeah.”

“So do you mind, like… moving out of the way?”

“Ah, yeah, of course, um…”

Kaminari shuffled aside, leaving the girl, Kyoka, to enter. She took a few steps before fully registering someone’s presence. Her composure broke slightly, her eyes widened a bit, and she pointed. “A-ah, Midoriya!”

There was a sound like heads collectively snapping as one. Momo noted it came from the girl with the Thorn Hair and the Invisible One in the back. Midoriya, who had been oddly deep in thought, turned to her. “Jiro-san.”

“You made it into UA,” she breathed. “That’s… amazing. I mean—” She cleared her throat. “Um, my dad keeps saying that you’re welcome back to the shop anytime. He uh… really loved your playing.”

“I’m glad your dad enjoyed it.”

“I mean… I-I liked it, too, of course… but, yeah… he… wouldn’t mind, if you stopped by, from time to time…” 

Momo noticed Kyoka's face getting red. Momo also noticed several pairs of eyes were locked on Midoriya. One was Kaminari. The other belonged to the two girls. 

Oh?

Slowly, she created a bag of popcorn with her Quirk.

Drama. How delectable.

This was an especially delicate situation. Far more entertaining than watching Desperate Hero Wives.

“Say, Midoriya, do you—”

Yaoyorozu idly tossed a handful of popcorn into her mouth. She noticed everyone staring at her and tilted her head. The sound had caught everyone’s attention.

Unfortunate.

She had accidentally defused the drama in her penchant to be entertained and snack at the same time. Kaminari slid over to her, grabbed a handful of the popcorn, and stuffed it into his mouth.

“Mmhmph— It’s… real?!”

“Yes,” she said. “Organic and inorganic material can be created with my quirk.” 

Momo made a mental reminder to create inaudible popcorn next time. That way, she could chew and observe drama without interfering.

“Knock Knock!”

The door to the classroom slid wide open. Midorya’s blond friend returned, stomping straight back into the class with a fiery look.

“Kacchan?”

Oh. It’s him.

He pushed everyone in his path aside, walked straight up to her, and grabbed her straight up by the collar until her face was directly in front of his.

Momo couldn’t hide her surprise.

“What are you doing?”

“Listen here, balloon-tits.” 

“Balloon—”

“Oi!” Katsuki barked in her face. “I’m fucking talking here.” 

He pressed his forehead into her face until their eyeballs were practically touching. Until she could feel his every breath. The proximity took her by surprise. She could not recall if she had ever been this close to anyone before, much less this strange, arrogant, hot-headed boy.

“Look into my eyes. You see them? Yeah. I see you. I see you. I’m gonna be watching you, real close. Seeing as you’ve got shit manners, it's up to me to teach you, princess, about the do’s and don’ts of not being an asshole. From today, I’m your dedicated handler.  I’ll be on you like yellow on yolk. You’re not gonna be able to take a fucking dump around here without me being there to hear you flush. You understand?” 

Momo’s face burned, whether with indignation or fury she could not tell. “Y-you’re—”

“I’m gonna be the No. 1 Hero. And so help me god, if I get expelled cause I had to flambe a bitch who liked to pull shit pranks—”

He stared deep into her eyes.

“You best be sure every damned day of your life will entertain you, ‘cause you’ll be spending it running away from me.” 

He let go of her, and Momo’s mind went blank. No one, not even her parents, had scolded her like this, or spoken to her like this. Where did… where did this ruffian, this delinquent, where did he get off on—

“From now on, you’re going to play nice. No more grenades in class. Understand?”

“You’re—”

“I said,” He slammed his hand into the wall beside her, his face so close to hers that their eyeballs were practically touching again. “You’re going to play nice.”

Momo couldn’t retort. No, she didn’t want to. No, she had no retort. The raw, unhinged boy in front of her wouldn’t allow it, and in that lack of allowance, he was the first, the first and only boy who truly, undeniably, unspeakably made her…

Something stirred in Momo’s chest that had never stirred before. Heat crept to her neck and face. A stiffness came to certain places. A shudder ran down her spine. For a long time, she thought the stories where girls fell for bad boys were all written by idiots who had never been in the head of a woman, or by women with poor character judgement, but, on the contrary, now she understood it.

Excitement.

Bad boys… were exciting.

Momo could not tell if Katsuki would keep good on those promises, but there was a chance he would do so. That uncertainty, that challenge, that sense of danger that would come from being around him, a person with an Explosion Quirk and a temper to match…

Sheer excitement.

If nothing else, the expression of horror on her parents’ faces if she brought someone like him home would be absolutely entertaining.

Slowly, Momo nodded. He removed his hand from the wall, crossing his arms, and scoffing. “Good.”

Katsuki spun his gaze to the rest of the room, which, understandably, had everyone staring directly at him. Under his breath, he was muttering something, something Momo faintly caught about framing and failure.

He cleared his throat, climbing atop a desk, “Oi! Listen up!” He said. “We’re all here to be heroes! Henceforth, this is an anti-asshole zone. We’re Class 1-A, damn it! That 1-A means One A-hole! That’s the limit! The only one allowed to be an asshole here is me! You got a problem with that? Then fucking fight me. If I beat your ass, you’re not allowed to be a fucking asshole. If I catch any of you fuckers acting like me, I’ll beat your fucking ass! Get it?”

Momo cupped her cheeks in her palms as she stared. Everyone was left speechless. Kaminari flat-out laughed. Kyoka was stuck between confusion and bewilderment. Shiozaki sighed, shaking her head, whereas Shōto made no inclination that he’d been heard.

“You heard the man!” Kaminari clapped, gesturing with his fingers. “The Anti-A-Hole Patrol is here, folks! No funny-business!”

“I don’t have any problems with that. Sounds cool!” 

Two more students arrived at the same time. A boy with spiky red hair and a girl with pink skin and horns atop her head, whom Izuku could vaguely remember taking the exams with.

“Yo,” the boy waved his fingers. “Kirishima Eijiro. Nice to meet you.”

“Hallo!” The girl with pink skin made a pose and put her fingers into the V-for-victory sign. “I’m Ashido Mina!”

“Bakugo Katsuki,” Katsuki pointed at himself. “Welcome to the asshole-free zone.”

“Do you have cookies?” Mina asked, grinning.

“Nope,” Kaminari answered, jerking his finger. “We’ve got popcorn.”

“Popcorn! All right!”

The life of the classroom changed. With but a few words, with that exciting display, Katsuki swept up the classroom. Kaminari struck up a conversation with Kirishima. Shiozaki and Kyoka began talking, and even Shōto and Shinso had decided to take up the backseats of the class, apparently finding some comfort in their mutual aloofness. It was like watching magic occur before her eyes.

More students began trooping in, one after the other, and the air, the feeling changed.

At the center of it all was… unexpectedly…

Katsuki Bakugo.

Now this…

This was the entertainment she was here for.