For want of an Izuku, the fate of Japan is forever changed.
When All Might tells Izuku to be realistic, he goes and does just that.
In doing so, though, many lives are lost, the status quo is irrevocably altered, and the very society that scorned and tormented him is made to face the consequences of their actions.
Written by RarepairKai22, Being Realistic Means To Adapt is a My Hero Academia fanfic that explores a What If? universe where, instead of proving to All Might that he is worthy of inheriting One For All, Izuku adapts his aspirations after his fateful meeting with his idol. Inspired by Chironex27
’s fanfic, The Best Case Scenario, if you're being "realistic", it can be read on Archive of Our Own here
.
This fanfic was completed on 28 October 2024, with a P.O.V. Sequel, inspired by Chironex27
’s fic, The Best Case Scenario is a matter of perspective
, titled Being Realistic Means Differently For Others, commencing on 31 October 2024, and can be read on Archive of Our Own here
.
This fanwork contains examples of:
- Adaptational Early Appearance: Principal Nezu makes his debut as Izuku's interviewer for the Analysis course, when he would only appear during the climax of the entrance exam in the canon series.
- Adaptational Late Appearance: Detective Tsukauchi Naomasa is formally introduced as the one who interviews Izuku and his mother about the events that led to Overhaul's demise, which take place after the Hosu attack, when he appeared earlier at the aftermath of the USJ attack in the canon series.
- Adaptational Relationship Overhaul:
- Instead of All Might, Nezu acts as Izuku’s mentor.
- Izuku and Hatsume Mei are close friends throughout much of the fic, subsequently becoming a couple in Chapter 21.
- Because Izuku is not in the heroics course or in 1-A, combined with Ochako's death by the Zero-Pointer, his canon friendships with Ochako and Tenya are nonexistent.
- Inko gains legal custody of Eri after she's rescued from Overhaul.
- Adaptational Sexuality: Todoroki Natsuo has a girlfriend in the canon series, whom he later marries. In this continuity, Natsuo is set to become romantically involved with a male Original Character.
- Adaptational Superpower Change: Togata Mirio receives One For All in this fic, unfortunately to horrific and tragic results.
- Adaptational Villainy:
- While the MLA were the main antagonists of the Meta Liberation Army arc, their main goal in the canon series was to "liberate" quirks from the red tape and rules that they believed were constraining society and humanity, which in of itself is not necessarily villainous. Here, though, Re-Destro perverted his ancestor's original crusade to serve his own bigoted and prejudiced views and even rewrote the Meta Liberation War to create his own manifesto that called for the genocide of the quirkless and certain heteromorph quirks.
- While Bakugou Katsuki has his problems and flaws within the canon series, he doesn't go through any of his canonical character development in this continuity. Instead, he spirals ever deeper into his prejudicial delusions, becoming an outright psychopath who ultimately mass murders over 300 people.
- Affectionate Nickname: Mei calls Izuku "Greenie" throughout the fanfic, even right up to the end when they get married.
- All for Nothing:
- Sir Nighteye exploits All Might's guilt and shame following the USJ attack to convince him to pass One For All on to Mirio, the boy who Nighteye had long touted as his "rightful" successor. But in a case of Be Careful What You Wish For, this has tragic consequences: One For All causes Mirio to age rapidly until he dies, taking the quirk with him.
- Endeavour gets hit hard by this when Shouto dies of hypothermia during the Sports Festival, as his "masterpiece" doesn't even complete his first month of schooling. Later on, after he officially becomes the number one hero, Dabi calls him out on this, among other things, while hammering in that he "got what [he] wanted" despite Shouto's death, which would've been entirely avoidable if his abuse hadn't made Shouto despise his own power.
- Despite Katsuki's increasingly psychopathic behavior, Kirishima dropped everything and burned all of his bridges in order to leave U.A. with him, doing what he thought was right and the epitome of "manliness". This cost him his friends, his family, everything he'd worked for at U.A., and everything else he'd once held dear, culminating in him losing his life, all for the sake of a spoiled brat who viewed him as nothing more than "Shitty Hair".
- An Arm and a Leg: When Katsuki unwittingly blows up an entire warehouse filled with flammable liquids and gases, the resulting explosion is so strong that, despite using his quirk in a bid to protect himself, Kirishima's arms are blown off at the shoulders and found lying amidst the ruined street several feet away.
- And I Must Scream: The author’s self-insert, Kai, who acts as the reaper who judges the souls of the deceased, does this to Aizawa and All For One so they can’t utter a single word while he lays down The Reason You Suck speeches onto them. They are also unable to scream and protest when they are Dragged Off to Hell.
- Armor-Piercing Response: Sero's response to Kirishima protesting that heroes don't run away from danger is to flatly shoot back how Kirishima spectacularly failed his match against All Might by simply jumping in with no back-up plan:Kirishima: A hero doesn't run away from their problems!
Sero: Yeah? What happened when you fought against All Might? I bet you just jumped in, and look how that worked out for you. - Asshole Victim: The so-called "vigilantes" that were pursuing Spinner were actually bigots towards heteromorphs and were using the chaos caused by the fall of the hero system to enact their prejudice. How ironic that they ended up dead at the hands of another hate-filled bigot.
- The Atoner:
- All Might is the prime example of this trope, especially in the aftermath of the USJ attack, where three students and two teachers died, and after Mirio dies when One For All kills him. In the former, he promises to bring those who instigated the attack to justice. In the latter, he covers the bill for Mirio's funeral. Ultimately, All Might fulfils his promise to avenge the USJ attack fatalities by killing All For One during the climax of the Kamino incident, albeit at the cost of his own life.
- Nezu is also another example, as in the aftermath of Ochako getting crushed to death by the zero-point robot during the entrance exam, he makes a public apology, promises that her funeral expenses will be covered by the school, and he will take the U.A. board of directors to task for ignoring his warnings about the robots being potential death-traps.
- Beyond Redemption: In the first chapter of the P.O.V. Sequel, Being Realistic Means Differently For Others, both All for One and Dr. Garaki are deemed as so evil and irredeemable by the author’s self-insert persona of the reaper overseeing the fates of the dead and are deemed unworthy of reincarnation. Overhaul would've gotten this fate had Inko not atomized him beforehand.
- Big "NO!": Endeavour's reaction to Shouto's death from hypothermia during the Sports Festival.
- Broken Pedestal: While Izuku still respected All Might as a hero, he is no longer the blind fanboy that he once was towards the Symbol of Peace in the wake of their fateful interaction on that rooftop. Later on, when the hero system is dissolved, Izuku's opinion of All Might darkens even further, recognizing that as much as the man heralded an era of peace, it was a peace that was deeply flawed and, whether All Might knew it or not, he fed into existing prejudices and problems that eventually resulted in said peace coming to a violent end.
- Brought Down to Normal: Katsuki effectively brought this upon himself; when he unwittingly blew up a warehouse containing flammable liquids and gases, and the resulting explosion inflicts severe burns on his hands. Then, a soldier from the intervening UN peacekeeping squad shot both of Katsuki's hands when he tried to attack them. As Izuku concluded, Katsuki was now completely quirkless.
- Brutal Honesty: Nezu bluntly agrees with Izuku's reflection that if he had gone beyond just his quirk analysis by becoming stronger and seeking out Support equipment, Izuku could've had a sporting chance in getting into the heroics course, but since he didn't, such a chance is practically negligible.
- Bullying the Dragon: It takes a certain degree of idiocy to mouth off towards a powerful supernatural entity acting as the Grim Reaper in their own turf. Kai shuts Katsuki up to prove the point that the brat's assholery means crap to him.
- Central Theme: As the title of the fic says. People like Izuku and Nezu are able to survive the trying times of society because they are able adapt to it while others like Bakugou, Kirishima and Todoroki wind up dead because they are unable, or unwilling, to adapt once they are thrown out of their comfort zones.
- In the P.O.V. Sequel, each of the featured characters' chapters are titled largely based on their experiences.
- Mina: Gotta Keep Going
- Natsuo: Someone Who Understands
- In the P.O.V. Sequel, each of the featured characters' chapters are titled largely based on their experiences.
- Commonality Connection: Nezu confides to Izuku that the both of them, while having completely different backstories, share a kindred connection in that they were both victims of circumstances that were out of their control, were looked down on, and disregarded as living beings deserving of any rights and privileges just because they did not fit into society's view of what counts as "human".
- Complaining About Rescues They Don't Like:
- The decision by the prime minister to seek the assistance of the United Nations peacekeepers to restore order in the aftermath of his decision to dissolve the hero system is met with outrage by certain segments of the population, who view it as an "invasion" of their country. The fact that Japan needs the peacekeepers and foreign troops to prevent the entire country from becoming a lawless anarchy is conveniently ignored by the detractors.
- In typical fashion, Katsuki is pissed that he had to be rescued from Kamino, deluding himself that he could've easily escaped without the heroes' intervention.
- Conscience Makes You Go Back: Kaminari’s reasoning as to why he returns to UA and joins the Security Course after leaving post-USJ.
- Cruel and Unusual Death:
- Poor Kirishima is hit with this after Katsuki unintentionally causes a massive explosion that not only blows his chest open but also ripping out his arms.
- Subverted for the most part when HPSC president Sayako Ayume and her inner circle are executed relatively quickly via hanging. Katsuki, on the other hand...due to a mishap, his hanging lasted seven minutes, leading to a drawn-out, excruciating demise by asphyxiation.
- Curb-Stomp Battle:
- Todoroki Shouto, just like his canon counterpart, freezes the entire building used for the battle trials during his run with Shouji Mezou. As a result, the "villain" team, composed of Katsuki and Tenya, is instantly neutralized, winning the exercise for the "heroes".
- Moonfish and Muscular become the victims of this, as the former is easily taken down and dispatched by Tokoyami and Shouji and the latter is singlehandedly defeated by Ashido. See Death by Adaptation below for more details.
- Darker and Edgier: When compared to Chironex27
’s fanfic, the author pulls no punches with those caught in the butterfly effect, describing in horrific, gorey detail about how those who died met their ends and the subsequent fallout of these events. - Death by Adaptation: Good grief...
- Ochako is killed when the zero-pointer crushes her during the entrance exam, as Izuku didn’t participate in it and all of the other candidates ran away when the robot was released.
- The USJ attack ends much, much worse than it did in the canon series. As All Might evidently failed to show up on time, three students - Asui Tsuyu, Mongoose Habuko, and Mineta Minoru - are killed by Shigaraki. Additionally, Aizawa Shouta is pummelled into a bloody paste by the noumu and Kurose Anan, a.k.a Thirteen, is killed when Kurogiri turns her quirk against her. On the villains' side, over thirty are electrocuted to death when Kaminari falls into the water of the Shipwreck Zone and accidentally unleashes his quirk at full power.
- Mirio is killed by One For All when the overpowered quirk causes him to prematurely age to death.
- During the Sports Festival, Shouto dies as a result of overusing the ice half of his quirk and stubbornly refusing to use his fire, resulting in him suffering from hypothermia, which kills him from multiple organ failure.
- Tenya is murdered by Stain during the attack in Hosu.
- Stain himself is burned to cinders by Endeavour, leaving nothing but "tiny bone fragments and melted splatters of steel that were once his blades".
- Inko unintentionally atomizes Overhaul in panicked self defense.
- Similarly to the USJ attack, the Summer Camp raid also ends in tragedy with Monoma and Tetsutetsu dying during the attack. On the villain side, Moonfish is decapitated by Shoji with a machete and Muscular falls victim to Mina's acid and then electrocuted to death by her stungun, in addition to 17 other villains found burned beyond recognition, most likely caused by Dabi.
- The Kamino ward battle ends up in a Mutual Kill between All Might and All For One. Ragdoll is also killed by All For One after he stole her quirk during the conflict.
- Dabi gets burnt to a crisp by Endeavour at the Hero Billboard Chart, but not before he publicly exposes his abusive past.
- Re-Destro and Mr. Compress are killed during the League of Villains' raid on Deika City.
- Kyudai Garaki is killed when five nuclear warheads are launched on Nezu's order and explode over Jaku city, wiping him and the rest of the LOV out, along with the entire city.
- Aoyama takes his own life before the first term in the Security course starts.
- Spinner and Kirishima are killed when Bakugou unleashes an explosion while Spinner is right against a shoddily-constructed building containing flammable liquids and gases. The former died instantly, while the latter died from blood loss and traumatic shock.
- Katsuki is executed by hanging three years after he is sentenced. However, the hanging goes awry and he ends up dying of asphyxiation.
- Rei Todoroki died of a cardiac arrest shortly after Endeavour's crimes are exposed.
- There is no information on what happened to Katsuki's former lackeys from Aldera after he and Izuku moved on to U.A. However, after a series of low-grade, clickbait documentaries reveal that they were involved in bullying Izuku and part of the reason why Katsuki became a psychopathic mass-murderer, the boy with extendable eyes is found murdered in an alleyway with his eyes gouged out and stolen, while the boy with extendable fingers is lynched along with his parents by an angry mob.
- Miruko dies from overexertion-induced kidney failure a year after refusing to join the police force and going underground.
- Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: Izuku observes, in the aftermath of the hero system being dissolved, many of his fellow citizens looking hopelessly lost and desolate, desperately looking for answers that seem to be nowhere in sight. Some, evidently, give up any will to continue living, shown in grim detail when a salaryman suddenly jumps off the platform into the path of an oncoming train just minutes after Izuku, Hatsume, and Eri left the station on their way to U.A. This is just one of many suicides reported in the days after the announcement.
- Dies Differently in Adaptation:
- Sir Nighteye hangs himself after Mirio is aged to death by One For All, instead of getting mortally wounded during the climax of the Shie Hassaikai raid.
- Native is killed by Stain during the Hosu attack when he would die at the end of the Paranormal Liberation War arc.
- Instead of being killed by Overhaul, Magne dies from blunt force trauma in Kamino when a building collapses on her due to All Might's finishing blow on All For One.
- Instead of giving her life to save Ochako in the Final War, Himiko Toga is killed during the League of Villains' raid on Deika city.
- Tomura Shigaraki, Kurogiri, and the remaining members of the League of Villains are vaporized by five nuclear warheads in Jaku instead of falling in the Final War.
- The HPSC president is put on trial for the laundry list of crimes perpetuated by the organisation under her watch, found guilty, and is executed by hanging when she would've been killed by Twice's clone acting as Re-Destro in his attack on the HPSC building.
- Dragged Off to Hell: This is the ultimate fate for many of the characters who were killed by the butterfly effect in the main story, with Katsuki, Aizawa, Mineta, Sir Nighteye, and the HPSC president being among the most notable examples. Subverted with All Might, as while he is sent down to hell, he goes down willingly, rather than try to put up a futile fight like those before him.
- Driven to Suicide:
- Sir Nighteye hangs himself after Mirio dies and One for All is lost.
- Aoyama kills himself before the first term of the revamped hero course begins.
- Drowning My Sorrows: All Might lampshades this trope in the aftermath of Mirio dying and Sir Nighteye’s suicide, if not for the fact that he lacks a stomach in the first place.
- Due to the Dead:
- Even though their interactions in this fic were limited, Izuku attends Kirishima's funeral with his mother and Mei. Sadly, it is a Lonely Funeral, with the only other attendees being Ashido and Nezu. Kirishima's parents are nowhere to be seen (see I Have No Son! below), no one else from Ashido's class shows up, and Ashido's parents, who despite being the ones to claim Kirishima's body, also don't attend, since they disapprove of Kirishima's stint as a vigilante and association with Bakugou. Regardless, those in attendance give Kirishima a decent send-off, with Ashido later claiming her best friend's ashes and keeping the urn in her bedroom.
- Subverted for Katsuki, as Izuku not only refuses to claim his former childhood friend's body after he was executed, he instructed the prison authorities to cremate the corpse and scatter the ashes into the surrounding ocean without any form of ceremony or funeral.
- In the P.O.V. Sequel, Natsuo places a small urn containing some of Shouto’s cremated remains in his roommate’s altar, and makes it a routine to pray for his deceased brother every morning.
- Natsuo later gives a heartbreakingly downplayed one for his mother, who died from a cardiac arrest after Dabi exposes himself as her presumed-dead son Touya, and outs all of his father’s abuses and excesses. By that time, with society rapidly descending into chaos, there is no lavish ceremony or send-off, just a simple casket in a small, empty room, with only Natsuo and Genji in attendance.
- Dwindling Party: As a result of the victims from Death by Adaptation and students pulling out of U.A. after various traumatic events, 1-A is reduced to slightly more than half its original enrolment numbers, so much so that in Chapter 12, Nezu has both 1-A and 1-B combined into a single heroics class. That said, the number of students continue to dwindle with the deaths of Monoma and Tetsutetsu during the summer camp attack and following the hero system being dissolved, with several students either pulling out or meeting untimely ends of their own.
- Earn Your Happy Ending:
- By the epilogue, Izuku and Mei are married, with the ceremony symbolically taking place before the memorial monument marking the ground zero hypocenter of the atomic bombing of Jaku city, which was wiped out by Nezu's machinations while the LOV was laying waste to the city and was subsequently rebuilt after the hero system was dissolved. For Izuku, having come from being tormented, bullied, abused, and having his dream ripped to pieces by the same man who he idolized his entire life, he truly deserves such a joyous ending.
- The same can arguably be said for Ashido. Having experienced her classmates dying because of how fundamentally broken the previous system was and then losing her best friend, Kirishima, to the reckless actions of a psychopathic monster, the fact that she not only has a successful career in law enforcement as one of the force’s best snipers, she also attends Izuku and Mei's wedding as one of the latter's bridesmaids and subsequently receives her own marriage proposal by Kaminari, is a truly heartwarming ending for her.
- Entitled Bastard: Katsuki is practically the definition of this trope, believing that just because he has a powerful, flashy quirk, he is guaranteed to become the number one hero and surpass All Might. Understandably, when things consistently go wrong for him while at U.A. and the hero system gets abolished, he doesn't take things too well.
- Expy: Kai, the author’s self-insert persona, is this to Isle. They are both supernatural entities who oversee the events of their respective series and interacts with particular characters, either expressing compassion for sympathetic characters, or giving dressing downs for those who deserve them. The difference between the two is that Isle is a multiversal observer while Kai is the judge for all the dead of his world.
- Fantastic Racism: Izuku reflects upon this when he and his mother are being interviewed by Detective Tsukauchi about what happened with Overhaul. Even though he isn't the one being questioned, Izuku can't help but muse that if it was him in the metaphorical hot seat, the situation would've been different and quite likely worse, given what he knows of how quirkless suspects are treated by bigoted police personnel.
- Fate Worse than Death: The author considers Endeavour being sentenced to life imprisonment as this, as he will have to live the rest of his days in isolation with the shame and guilt of his actions haunting him until his death.
- First-Name Basis: In Chapter 19, Hatsume becomes "Mei" to Izuku and presumably vice-versa.
- Flat "What": This is Izuku's exact response to Hatsume admitting that the sight of him tearing Tetsutetsu and Monoma a new one was hot.
- Godzilla Threshold: When the League of Villains wreak havoc on Jaku and kill countless civilians, Nedzu calls his associate, Kishida, to launch five nuclear warheads at the city, completely obliterating Jaku and killing everyone who was still alive. While Izuku is incredibly uncomfortable that Nezu went ahead with such a thing, he does acknowledge that the LOV would've caused far more destruction and deaths if they weren't stopped as soon as possible.
- Groin Attack: Izuku kicks Tetsutetsu in the manly bits for his tactless declaration of competition against 1-A.
- Heel Realization: Kirishima presumably begins to have one when, despite pointing out how those around them appear genuinely terrified of them during their vigilante spree, Katsuki simply shouts back at him. However, whether or not Kirishima fully comes to terms with how much he screwed up is irrelevant, as he is killed, along with over 300 people, when Katsuki unwittingly blows up an entire warehouse containing flammable liquids and gases.
- In the P.O.V. Sequel, we see that Kirishima does realize how badly he screwed up, as he breaks down in hysteric tears before the author's reaper persona, wailing about how much he failed everyone, especially his best friend, Mina.
- How the Mighty Have Fallen: Katsuki started out at the start as the "star student" of Aldera Middle School with everyone praising him to no end about how he will become a great hero. However, the moment he left his comfort zone, Katsuki's narcissism and sociopathy blew out of proportion and eventually destroyed every facet of his life: he was loathed by most of his classmates of U.A.; underwent repeated humiliations, either caused by heroes or villains; then tried to become a vigilante, which resulted in him being branded a mass murderer and having his hands shot, which destroyed his use of his quirk. By the time he was about to be executed, Katsuki has clearly gone off the deep end that he became a quirkless loser, which he had mocked Izuku for supposedly being.
- I Have No Son!:
- Ashido reveals to Izuku that Kirishima's parents disowned him and kicked him and Bakugou out of the house when news of their vigilante antics grew worse and worse over time. Even after Kirishima's death, they refused to claim his body, leaving Ashido, through her parents, to claim his body in order to give him a funeral.
- Mitsuki and Masauru legally disowned Katsuki as their son after his murderous vigilante spree and they are forced to leave Japan due to their association with him.
- Inverted with Natsuo, as he legally disowned his father, Endeavour, after his crimes and abuses are exposed and he has to bear witness to not just his missing older brother being burnt to death by their father on live television, but also his mother dying from cardiac arrest and his sister becoming a catatonic vegetable after the exposé.
- I Need a Freaking Drink: Izuku spies his mother slipping what looks like alcohol into her morning coffee and downing it all in one go after she gets off the phone with the Aldera administration about withdrawing him from the school. Knowing what a Sucky School Aldera is, such an act is likely warranted on Inko's part.
- I Reject Your Reality: Whether it was played straight or unintentional, Kirishima latches himself onto Katsuki because he believes that Katsuki is the paragon of what a hero should be. It is only when Kirishima is faced with the reality of seeing civilians become terrified of them during their short-lived vigilante spree that he begins to question whether what he believed was really true. Unfortunately, it is too late for Kirishima as he is killed shortly after by Katsuki's reckless abandon in pursuit of a supposed villain.
- In Spite of a Nail:
- Tenya and Katsuki still lose their Battle Trial, despite Izuku not being in the heroics course and Ochako being dead.
- The USJ attack still takes place without Izuku's involvement.
- The scene where a crowd of students gather outside of 1-A's classroom after the Sports Festival announcement takes place here.
- Ingenium is still attacked by Stain and left paralyzed from the waist down, with Tenya still going after Stain in pursuit of revenge.
- The hero students' summer camp is still attacked by the League of Villains, with both Katsuki and Ragdoll being kidnapped.
- Despite All For One being killed by All Might during the Kamino incident, Shigaraki and the LOV still attack Deika and Jaku cities as they did in the canon series.
- Ironic Echo: Katsuki receives one, which corresponds to his Suicide Dare against Izuku years ago, right before he is executed, by his own executioner no less.Executioner: You brought this upon yourself. I hope you pray that you will be a better person in your next life.
- Irony: There is something grimly vindicating to know that, for all Monoma and Tetsutetsu claimed that 1-B could've done things better during the USJ attack, they themselves would end up killed during their first ever experience of a villain attack when the LOV attacked the summer camp.
- It Is Beyond Saving: This is the view of the old hero system after Katsuki's vigilante antics kill 371 people, including Kirishima, and injure over 500 more, many of them gruesomely.
- It's All About Me: Chapter 20, which focuses on Katsuki's perspective, is the epitome of this trope. He doesn't give two hoots about his classmates dying and is entirely focused about how things should've been about him.
- Jerkass: Katsuki, period. He refuses to acknowledge any of his shortcomings and failures and blames everyone but himself when things go wrong.
- Jerkass Ball: Kirishima grabs this really hard, as his devotion towards Katsuki causes him to become delusional and scornful, which alienates many of his classmates, including his best friend, Mina who Kirishima, as he is about to leave to become a vigilante alongside Katsuki, angrily lambasts her for "not understanding" how he feels. Thus, many people, including Kirishima's own parents don't show sympathy towards him when he suffers and is ultimately killed by Katsuki, and Kirishima now bears immense guilt for hurting his loved ones.
- Judgement of the Dead: The first chapter of the P.O.V. Sequel revolves around this. While many of those who met an untimely fate are shuffled off to be reincarnated into their next lives, others are forced to face the consequences of their actions and get Dragged Off to Hell.
- Karma Houdini Warranty: Aldera Middle School's downfall starts with the school being shut down and the principal and teachers spending years rotting in prison after Nezu calls the authorities on them for their corrupt practices. Then, the students who sided with Katsuki in bullying Izuku become the target of enraged mobs following his mass murder of over 300 innocent people.
- Kick Them While They Are Down: Izuku contemplates on rubbing it in to the Bakugous on how their son has become a screw-up. Thankfully, he doesn't go through with it.
- Lack of Empathy: Katsuki, again. So much so that one reader has alluded to him being a psychopath, given his propensity for extreme violence and lack of care for anyone but himself.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Izuku has two such moments: the first is when he ponders if some higher being had orchestrated Stain getting killed by Endeavour just after he murdered Iida and Native and the second is when he wonders if the same higher being is shielding him and his loved ones from tragedy and loss as Japan goes down the toilet after the hero system is dissolved.
- Locked Out of the Loop: As Izuku doesn't inherit One For All and is not in the heroics program, he never learns about Shouto's backstory of being abused by Endeavour, nor does he ever learn about how, should someone who already possesses a quirk also takes on OFA, the immense power the stockpile quirk causes them to rapidly age because their body simply can't handle the strain. The former is especially tragic, as Izuku never gets Shouto to use his fire, causing Shouto to inadvertently kill himself by hypothermia during the Sports Festival from overusing the ice half of his quirk.
- Meaningful Rename: Katsuki calls himself "King Explosion Murder", which was his original choice of hero name in the canon series, as his title during his short-lived vigilante spree. A testament to his worsening entrenchment in his delusions of grandeur and subsequently a tragic Foreshadowing of the mass murder he commits that brings an end to his stint as a vigilante.
- My God, What Have I Done?:
- In the first chapter of Being Realistic Means Differently For Others, Tenya is horrified by the realization that his thoughtless actions led to his own demise and desperately pleads with Kai, the author's reaper self-insert, to promise that they will watch over his family and big brother. Kai refuses to make any such promises and merely pushes Tenya off to be reincarnated.
- Kirishima also has a tearful breakdown, wailing about how Mina and Hanta are surely disappointed in him and anticipates being sent to hell to pay for what he did. To his surprise, in a Pet the Dog moment, Kai sends him to be reincarnated instead, warning him that while his next life will likely be challenging and difficult, at the very least, Kirishima has a chance to redeem himself.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero!: Katsuki's short-lived vigilante spree, culminating in the mass murder of over 300 people and injuring 500 more, effectively destroys any chance of the old hero system being restored.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain!: On Shigaraki's order, Skeptic hacks into the HPSC's internal databases and releases all of the organization's insidious and shady dealings onto the Internet. Originally, this was apparently to one-up Dabi's attack on the Hero Billboard Chart event, but unwittingly, this exposes the irreparably broken and corrupt hero system for everyone to see, resulting in the HPSC being dissolved and the hero system being abolished.
- No Sympathy:
- Izuku can't find it within himself to have any sympathy or empathy for All Might during the memorial service for the five people killed during the USJ attack, when the hero apologizes to the school and the grieving loved ones of the deceased for failing his duties and responsibilities as both a teacher and hero.
- Izuku, again, can't really find it within himself to disagree with his peers' disparaging comments about Tenya's death, inwardly remarking that, as reasonable as his grief and pain were towards his older brother being crippled by Stain, pulling out of U.A. and going after a notorious villain that has killed established pro-heroes is beyond stupid and asking for something to go horribly wrong.
- Offended by an Inferior's Success: Katsuki is outraged by the revelation that the worthless Deku that he believes will not amount to anything in life actually became Nezu's personal student. The only reason why Katsuki doesn't immediately go to hunt Izuku down is Nezu's explicit warning that should he do so, he will get kicked out of U.A. faster than he can say "hero".
- Only in It for the Money:
- The aftermath of the dissolution of the hero system reveals that many pro-heroes were simply in the industry for the fame and fortune. Once those perceived benefits are gone, despite the resulting chaos that erupts all over Japan, many of these individuals blatantly refuse to help restore order simply by virtue that they won't be recognized or acclaimed for doing so.
- Furthermore, Katsuki has shades of this, along with his entrenched desires to surpass All Might and be regarded as the most powerful hero in all of Japan.
- Original Character: Genji Hirajima, Natsuo’s university roommate in the P.O.V. Sequel.
- Outliving One's Offspring: Masaru and Mitsuki fall into this trope as of Chapter 23 of the main story, when their son is executed by hanging for his mass murder of over 300 people during his short-lived vigilante spree.
- The Kirishimas also qualify for this trope, as their son was one of the over 300 killed by Bakugou.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Beware the moment that Hatsume willingly does not cause explosions, because you will know then that something calamitous is going down.
- Parents as People: Izuku's mother, Inko, recognizes her shortcomings with regards to supporting him during his darkest hours and strives to support him more and, at the very least, be on his side moving forward.
- Point of Divergence: Again, good grief.
- Inko pulls Izuku out of Aldera Middle in light of the systemic bullying, discrimination, and abuse that he faced from his peers, Katsuki, and the teachers.
- Izuku doesn't apply for the heroics course. Instead, he discovers the obscure Analysis course and subsequently enrolls into it. As a result, he never participates in the heroics entrance exam and doesn’t save Ochako from the zero-point robot, resulting in her getting crushed to death by the robot.
- Izuku is part of class 1-H, as officially, he is within the purview of the Support course, but has his own timetable that is largely separate from the rest of his classmates.
- Izuku never takes part in 1-A's battle trials. Instead, Shouto and Mezou are the "hero" team going up against the "villains", Katsuki and Tenya. (See Curb-Stomp Battle above for the end result).
- Izuku is nowhere near the USJ facility when it comes under attack by the League of Villains. Arguably, and combined with All Might's canon absence, this results in multiple casualties on both sides (see Death by Adaptation above for the full tally).
- Izuku never meets Mirio and Sir Nighteye, as both died shortly after the USJ attack.
- Kaminari pulls out of U.A. after he accidentally fries over 30 villains to death, but he rejoins once the hero course is rebranded as the security course.
- Izuku doesn't participate in the Sports Festival due to the fear of being targeted by Katsuki. Instead, he acts as a commentator under a pseudonym, using a voice modifier and inside the commentators' booth with one-way windows. This is due to Present Mic being too depressed by Aizawa's death in the USJ attack to participate in the event.
- The Sports Festival itself undergoes some changes from the canon material. The obstacle course has the first two obstacles changed and the cavalry event is replaced by a paintball match.
- The 1-v-1 matches during the final round of the Sports Festival have some changes, notably:
- Shinsou against Tetsutetsu instead of Izuku.
- Ashido versus Ojiro, when the latter had originally withdrawn from the festival after being brainwashed without his consent by Shinsou during the Cavalry round, and replacing Aoyama.
- Shouji Mezou and Kendou Itsuka against two OC Support students, when both never progressed to the third round in the canon material.
- Kirishima against Bakugou, when the latter would've fought Ochako in the series.
- Hatsume wins her match against Iida, when she would've forfeited in the canon series. This stems from Hatsume promising to win the festival for both Izuku and herself.
- Because Izuku didn't directly participate in the festival and never learnt Shouto's backstory of being relentlessly abused by Endeavour, he never convinces Shouto to use his fire. Tragically, this has fatal consequences. See Death by Adaptation above. Additionally, his death prompts Nezu to call off the entire festival.
- While Tenya does go after Stain for crippling his older brother, he doesn't do so under the guise of an internship. Instead, he pulls out of U.A. entirely to go after the villain.
- The heroics students do not have their internships after the Sports Festival, in light of what happened to Shouto and Tenya. Instead, they are given sessions with Hound Dog and, if needed, Izuku on how to use their quirks efficiently and safely.
- The Shie Hassaikai arc ends before it can even begin, courtesy of Eri making an Adaptational Early Appearance while Izuku and Inko are out on a grocery run. The subsequent encounter with Overhaul plays out almost similarly to how it did in the canon series, except Inko unwittingly kills the yakuza leader by literally atomizing him with her quirk.
- Nezu retires the hero course after All Might's death and tasks Izuku with changing the curriculum so as to not rely on quirks. The new curriculum he comes up with focus on security and emergency aid, saving quirks for the direst circumstances or if they would assist in aid.
- Dabi publicly exposes Endeavour's abuse of his children at the Hero Billboard Chart.
- After the events of Jaku and the HPSC having all of their dirty laundry and skeletons aired out via a data breach by Skeptic, the Japanese prime minister decides to dissolve the HPSC and integrate the heroes into the country's police force, army, and emergency services, thereby ending the hero system for good.
- Without the hero system, Japan descends into chaos, forcing the prime minister to ask the United Nations to intervene before stepping down.
- Hiryu Rin and Tsunotori Pony pull out of U.A. to move back to their home countries in the midst of the disorder surrounding Japan. Shiozaki Ibara also pulls out due to personal beliefs, as do Kirishima and Bakugou, both due to unknown reasons, but Izuku believes the reasons are that Bakugou is unable to find the glory and fame he coveted now that heroes no longer exist and Kirishima following Bakugou everywhere. This becomes apparent in Chapter 20, to devastatingly tragic effect.
- Police Are Useless: Deconstructed, in the sense that the police force are crucial elements in ensuring law and order. However, due to the HPSC's influence over all of Japanese society, the police are largely viewed as nobodies that merely clean up after the heroes. Unfortunately, that and when it was uncovered that the HPSC had been secretly stealing important funds away from the police and emergency services to fill their own coffers, along with an entire laundry list of crimes, the police are left floundering as the loss of heroes and the subsequent breakdown of society leaves them virtually unable to restore law and order, resulting in Japan having to seek international assistance from the United Nations to quell the anarchy.
- Revenge by Proxy: After Katsuki causes the deaths of three hundred people, and fuelled by the general breakdown of law and order, mobs were formed to go after those responsible for enabling the boy's destructive attitude, starting with Katsuki's parents who manage to escape on time before the mob comes close to lynch them. When multiple click-bait news documentaries expose the students of Aldera as enablers to Katsuki's psychopathy, his former lackeys are gruesomely killed, with the implication that this is just the beginning of a nation-wide witch hunt.
- Reincarnation: The sequel establishes that the vast majority of the dead will eventually be reborn; while the afterlife exists, it isn't eternal and the time a soul spends in heaven or hell depends upon the karma that they accumulated over the course of their mortal life. So even those who get Dragged Off to Hell will be reborn... eventually. It takes a lot of negative karma for someone to be deemed completely Beyond Redemption, permanently condemned to hell, and subsequently get destroyed from all existence, as All for One and Garaki can attest.
- Running Gag: Mei and her explosions, period. The author even set up a counter keeping track of how many explosions she has set off throughout the course of the story. However, by the end of the story, Mei has set off so many explosions that people have long stopped counting, with the final counter simply stating "Yes".
- In a much more Black Comedy fashion (mainly due to the author’s cavalier attitude to it), in the same chapter that the above gets added in, a Butterfly Death Counter gets added. Tallying the poor souls that get hit with a Death by Adaptation, the final toll is a sobering 17,425
- Sanity Slippage:
- Shouto's death has sent Endeavour into a downward spiral. He's been spotted wandering around Musutafu, looking desolate and lost. He has also become increasingly reckless and violent, always using disproportionate force against villains and not caring at all about collateral damage or innocent bystanders getting caught in the crossfire. Furthermore, it has been argued that Endeavour's dwindling sanity is also reason for him burning Dabi alive during the Hero Billboard Chart event.
- Dabi himself is another likely example. Hints of this are attributed when, during the summer camp attack, Dabi indiscriminately attacked both hero students and fellow villains alike. This is likely due to Shouto's unexpected death during the Sports Festival, thereby robbing Dabi of his chance to get back at Endeavour by killing Shouto. Then finally, Dabi was noted to be exhibiting further signs of insanity when he attacked the Hero Billboard Chart event and targeted Endeavour.
- Katsuki undergoes this over the course of the story with "Supposed to be Me" showing the gradual decline of his already unstable mental state. In "And Those Who Do Not", Katsuki finally loses any sense of rationality after being branded as a villain, being imprisoned, unable to have his execution be rescinded, and losing his quirk.
- Screams Like a Little Girl: The last time we see Katsuki is him screaming in utter terror as he is being pulled to Hell to suffer prolonged torment.
- Shout-Out:
- Another MHA fanfic, Beyond The Broken Horizon, written by JoWithTheFlow
is the source of inspiration for the revamped heroics entrance exam put together by Izuku and Nezu. - Izuku's choice of pseudonym as the Sports Festival commentator is Akatani Mikumo, which is the name given to Izuku's prototype character design.
- A student posits whether Iida’s fatal crusade against Stain would count for him to get logged in the Darwin Awards. Note
- The author invokes this trope with the character of Isle, a celestial dragon featured regularly in the sequel to Chironex27
's fanfic The Best Case Scenario, if you're being "realistic", who makes a cameo appearance as the judge presiding over the criminal trials of the HPSC president and her associates, Endeavour and Bakugou, and the one who sentenced Bakugou to death by hanging.
- Another MHA fanfic, Beyond The Broken Horizon, written by JoWithTheFlow
- Skewed Priorities: In the first chapter of Being Realistic Means Differently For Others, The Grim Reaper Kai greets various characters who died over the course of the main story in an Afterlife Antechamber and grants them all the Judgement of the Dead. When Asui, Mongoose and Mineta arrive together, Kai is disgusted by how Mineta is more concerned with continuing to sexually harass the distraught girls than face the fact that they're all deceased.
- Sins of the Father: Inverted with Katsuki, as it is because of his actions, which resulted in the deaths and injuries of over 800 people, that people automatically assumed that his parents were responsible for his behavior. Mitsuki and Masaru end up being forced to flee Japan, as they were not only Persona Non Grata in the nation, but would likely be lynched by the populace if they stayed.
- Spared by the Adaptation: Despite the grim death toll seen in this fanfic thus far, there are certain individuals who were spared from their canon fates:
-
Word of God has confirmed that Midnight is alive when she would've died in the Battle of Jaku in the canon series, presumably because of Nezu having the LOV and Jaku wiped off the map by nuclear hellfire. - With the LOV wiped out in Jaku, Cathleen Bate, also known as Star and Stripe, is alive, last seen flanking the Japanese prime minister as he announces the end of the hero system in Japan on live television.
- Due to not joining the League of Villains, Jin Bubaigawara/Twice avoids his canon death at the hands of Hawks and ends up working with Izuku for the Red Shoes Consulting Services that he founded.
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- Speak Ill of the Dead: When the Sports Festival is canceled due to Shouto's death, Katsuki takes it very personally and blames them for denying him the chance to prove that he's the strongest and most powerful student at U.A.
- That Man Is Dead: Toshinori completely discards his All Might identity, feeling he is unworthy of that after his mistakes cause the near-collapse of Japan and many of his friends and students dying, especially Mirio.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: Ochako's parents receive a large compensation for their daughter's untimely death as well as the school paying for her funeral. The sum is enough to ensure that they can live a life in peace and not misery, which, in a highly ironic way, is the reason why Ochako set out to be a hero - to earn enough money so that her parents can live comfortably.
- Too Dumb to Live: Kirishima plays this trope to a T when he follows Katsuki out of U.A. to become vigilantes. He realizes too late the horrible mistake that he has made, as he becomes one of the over 300 people killed by Katsuki unwittingly blowing up an entire warehouse full of flammable liquids and gases.
- Trauma Conga Line: Basically, Mina's experiences after she enrolls at U.A. as a heroics student. From seeing death up close at the USJ attack, witnessing her opponent dying from frostbite and hypothermia during the Sports Festival, having to kill a villain during the summer camp with her own hands just to survive, witnessing Jaku city being annihilated by nuclear hellfire on live television while Kaminari provides unsettlingly morbid commentary about what is happening on the ground, to her closest friend dying in the aftermath of the hero system being dissolved, the trope being lampshaded in the comments section is aptly, if depressingly, fitting.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Izuku gives one to both Tetsutetsu and Monoma when they belittle the 1-A students for supposedly thinking themselves as better than everyone else, despite the fact that three of their classmates and two teachers died and several more pulled out of U.A.
- You Are Not Alone: In the aftermath of Nezu having Jaku city wiped off the map through use of nuclear warheads, Izuku removes himself from the principal's presence to process what just happened. During that time, Izuku is supported by his family, with even Hatsume showing up at his apartment with an entire duffle bag of clothes and toiletries to keep him company.
- You Can't Go Home Again: Mitsuki and Masuru are forced to leave Japan for their own safety, knowing that they will never be able to return to the nation as long as the public blames them for their son's actions.
- Your Television Hates You: In the second part of Mina's POV chapter, she has a sleepover with Kaminari. When the conversation shifts into depressing territory about Mina's recurrent nightmares, she suggests watching a movie to lighten up the atmosphere. As soon as she turns on the TV, however, a breaking news bulletin of Jaku city being attacked comes on the air.
