Fanfic / Canary

Canary is a My Hero Academia fanfic written by cloud_nine_and_three_quarters, who is also the author of Why Are We Here Again?.

Midoriya Izuku is Quirkless. Well, he thought was. That was until he opened his mouth to sing.There is more power in Midoriya's singing than he could have ever dreamed of - a power truly worthy of a hero. But will he ever have the confidence to spread his wings and soar?

Follow Canary on his journey to find his voice and become the hero he was always meant to be.

This story also explores the trials of selective mutism, and overcoming it.

The story was completed on February 2nd, 2020.

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This work has examples of:

• Ambiguously Absent Parent: Averted with Hiashi as a father. He is working in America, yet does videocalls weekly. When he learns his son has escaped from captivity, he rushes home to Japan to see Izuku. He also actively participates in the ensuing discussions about Izuku's academic career.
• Adaptational Angst Upgrade: Midoriya's a whole lot more bothered about the bullying he gets in this story than in canon. He also suffers a Broken Pedestal after he remembers All Might's words that he couldn't be a hero
• Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: In canon, Midoriya and Present Mic don't have a close relationship, and at most are just student and teacher. Here, they have a much closer mentor-student relationship, with Izuku being on his radio show once a week, and interning at the man's agency.
• Adaptational Superpower Change: Instead of getting One for All, Midoriya has a Quirk that involves singing.
• Bait-and-Switch: When Midoriya finishes his essay in the middle of Present Mic's radio show intro and he asks if he can deliver it, Present Mic bluntly tells him no. Not because they're in the middle of something important, but because he guarantees he'll just lose it later.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Izuku, a.k.a. Canary, is this for sure, and would be a lot more terrifying if not for his generally sweet personality. There are a lot of songs which can be lethal if he chooses to use them, and case in point that he killed a Nomu just by touching it. For the final fight, when he was using weaponized radiation against Overhaul, the villain was outright terrified of him.
• Canary in a Coal Mine:
  • This trope's one of the reasons why Midoriya decided to use the name "Canary" while in Present Mic's show; he tells of the story of how coal miners took canaries with them, and it was their singing that both reminded the miners of the world above, and how once they stopped singing, that it was time to get the hell outta dodge. Various villains try and use this story against Izuku, pointing out how the canary will die.
  • During the assault on the summer camp, Siren actually fulfills this function, as her passing out clues Izuku and Jirou in that they are dealing with poison gas. Fortunately Siren recovers.
• Doorstopper: Once completed, the has fifty chapters and just a little over 290000+ words. The author regularly bemoans how long it has grown on them.
• The Dreaded: Siren the canary. Many characters, aside from Izuku and Inko, fear this aggressive, little attack bird. For the most part it comes out as comedy, but repeatedly mentioned how she clawed out the eye of a Nomu.
• Failed a Spot Check: During the Last-Minute Project bit, Present Mic eventually wonders what the essay Midoriya's writing about... When he's the one who sent it. Naturally, this gets lampshaded by Midoriya. Revealed in the end that the reason Present Mic cannot remember, is because Izuku is making it up about the homework as a prank against his friends, making them believe they forgot to do it.
• Humiliation Conga: Stain is defeated in Hosu by Shinso telling him a joke and Midoriya poisoning him by singing Toxic. It's another reason Midoriya lets the police cover the story up - even he finds it embarrassing.
  Shinso: Imagine the headlines.
  Midoriya: Oh, please don’t tell them that...
  Shinso: “Breaking news – the Hero Killer, Stain, defeated by a knock-knock joke and Britney Spears.”
  Midoriya: Don’t you dare tell them that!
• It's Personal: Between Izuku and the League of Villains, but particularly Shigaraki:
  • For Izuku, he hates them for abducting him and holding him prisoner, and especially for Shigaraki destroying his tongue, and putting a hole through his cheek. They were also on the verge of breaking him by threatening to kill Canary fans to make him stop running away.
  • For Shigaraki, he hates Canary as a 'cheater,' especially for killing a Nomu by disintegrating it with a touch, which is his thing. When captured, Izuku also refuses to join them despite how the world abused him as 'Quirkless' means that he should be the perfect recruit, and remains true as a hero to inspire people. After capturing Izuku and destroying his tongue, he became increasingly frustrated by Izuku's repeated escape attempts, wanting to keep him as a pawn. But when Izuku successfully escaped and healed his tongue to sing once more, Shigaraki became absolutely livid.
• Last-Minute Project: The story's first few paragraphs are about Midoriya (going by Canary) accidentally messing up the introduction of Present Mic's radio show when he decides to work on his English essay. Revealed in the end that the reason Present Mic cannot remember, is because Izuku is making it up about the homework as a prank against his friends, making them believe they forgot to do it the night before it is due.
• Loyal Animal Companion: Siren very much so. This Quirked canary loves Izuku very much, and has repeatedly proven a willingness to go for the eyes of whoever threatens her human. Even if it means taking a bullet meant for him. It takes a long while though for people to truly process and appreciate that Siren is more intelligent than a normal bird, just taking her behavior as quirky and not Quirky.
• Title Drop: "Canary" is the name Midoriya uses while in Present Mic's radio show.
• The Quiet One: This is how Midoriya's presented after the radio introduction; he's seen studying for the U.A. entrance exam, and when his mother comes in, he doesn't say much of anything outside of thanking her for the food and clarifying singing's different from dancing.
• What the Hell, Hero?: While Izuku does not hate All Might, he also acknowledges he has serious issues hating or resenting people in general; aside from Shigaraki. However he does later chew out All Might for what the man did in destroying his dream, and how he had in all the times at school giving Izuku encouragement failed to understand just how seriously he had hurt Izuku. Notably this is all non-verbally, as the boy physically can no longer speak to him. A later conversation between them is more positive.
• Yandere: Toga is romantically obsessed with Izuku, and deluded into believing he would just return to be a captive of the League and tortured by them, after they had already mutilated him, because she asked. She is also upset when he submits negative reports about her, unable to recognize he is entirely serious and outright hates her and the rest of the League.