Izuku walked through the quiet streets of her neighborhood, her chest slightly chafing from the bra she wore- although her mother insisted it was something she would get used to. She was alone when her mother had returned to the hospital earlier; Kacchan had told her he needed to get home and explain to his mother that he was all right from the sludge villain incident.
Shit, I gotta go home and let the old hag know I'm fine before she throws an even bigger bitch fit. Gimme your phone, nerd; we'll meet up this weekend and study for the entrance exam.
And so, Izuku had been alone once again with only her thoughts to keep her occupied until her mother had shown up with a bag of clothes, underwear included. The bra was a little too small and the skirt she wore was a little too long, but it kept her decent as she was checked out of the hospital and walked home while Inko Midoriya went back out to find clothes that would fit her properly. Izuku's mother was worried about letting her walk home alone, but she was insistent that the exercise would do her good and give her more time to properly digest everything that had happened.
The sunset dyed the sky with warm shades of pink and orange and she felt herself smiling despite her troubles. For the first time in ten years, Izuku had a friend- and it was Kacchan of all people. The thought of the tightly-wound blonde used to fill her with anxiety, but now he had promised to be her friend, and that made her feel… safe, and-
"I AM HERE!"
"KYAAAAA- All Might?!" Izuku stared with wide eyes as her idol skidded in front of her from the crossroad, arms straightened in his melodramatic pose. He was dressed in the same white tee and cargo pants from before. Izuku looked around hesitantly as if reporters would pop out of thin air. "Wh-what are you doing here? Wouldn't you be with reporters, or giving your reports to the police for the incident today?"
"HAHAHAHA," His laughter bellowed loudly, and Izuku couldn't help but wonder how nobody else had heard him, or why she was even thinking about that while the number one hero had come out of his way to see her. Women are naturally better abled at multi-tasking and reading body language, the doctor's words echoed in her mind, but All Might was oblivious to her internal monologue.
"Escaping them was no problem. Why is that?" He posed dramatically, flexing his muscles in a puffed out display. "Because I am All Mi- BLEHEHEHEHE."
"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA," Izuku shrieked out as he deflated in a spray of blood and a cloud of smoke. The silence that followed her screaming was interrupted by a few shallow coughs. The skeletal form of the number one hero looked directly at Izuku.
"Young Midoriya, I've come here with an apology, a correction, and a suggestion." He bowed his head slightly, eyes closed. "Thank you, for saving your… friend. I am sorry that I was nothing more than a man in a bodysuit who was all talk."
"What?! N-no!" Izuku stuttered, fumbling for the right words. "It was my fault to begin with! I got in the way of your work, and I… died for ignoring your advice earlier!"
"That's right," All Might lifted his head to look her back in the eye. "You sacrificed your life to save someone who had told you to kill yourself the very same day."
Izuku felt her heart squeeze with panic. "You… you heard us?" She gasped out, suddenly short of breath. This was bad- the number one hero had overheard one of Kacchan's biggest regrets. Something like this could end his career before it even started! "Kacchan, he-"
"He will be a wonderful hero, in time," All Might answered, as if sensing her panic. "Very crass, but it's more than apparent that he truly regrets his past actions and is working to atone. He was saved today, because of you, young Midoriya." Izuku stared, not quite believing what she was hearing. "Top heroes have stories about them from their school days. Most of them have one thing in common:"
Skinny legs ran forward on red high-tops before his mind could even process the situation.
"Their bodies moved before they had a chance to think."
Izuku gasped softly before choking back a sob, her eyes downcast and unable to look her idol in the eye.
For some reason, I remembered my mother's words.
I'm sorry, Izuku! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!
She clutched at her pounding heart as she leaned forward, eyes filled to the brim as tears threatened to spill.
"That was true for you, too, wasn't it?"
The dam broke and with tears running down her cheeks, and she choked out in a shaky voice, "Y-yes! Yes!"
That's not it, Mom. Back then, what I wanted you to say was…
The words I wanted you to say were…
With the glow of the setting sun framing the weathered, skinny body of the number one hero with piercing blue eyes, Izuku fell to her knees, hands clutching her chest, and tears falling freely. And her idol, her hero, the man she idolized more than anyone in the world said,
"You can be a hero."
Could there be anything more surprising than this? Could there-
"I believe you are worthy of inheriting my power!"
Wait, what?!
Izuku looked up with wet eyes and stained cheeks before tilting her head and squeaking out a confused,
"Huh?"
"GAHAHAHAHAHA" All Might cackled, obviously amused at her confusion. "What's with that face, young lady? Wait… how are you handling your new sex? Gender? Gah, I can't keep up with all the specifics- a hero never rests, after all."
"I... haven't really had much time to process it, but I have noticed some small changes," She answered truthfully with a noncommittal shrug, wiping the tears from her eyes. "But it'll probably be easier for me to just try being a girl from hereon out- it honestly isn't important to me. I don't exactly have a frame of reference since nobody, girls especially, wanted to be seen around the Quirkless kid."
"Well that's horrifically depressing…" All Might mumbled out. He panicked at the new tears coming from Izuku and realized she must have heard him. "But it matters not! The real challenge starts now! Listen, young Midoriya, you must decide!" He pointed at her dramatically, blood spraying from his mouth while shouting, "Whether or not you will accept my power!"
Izuku continued to stare dumbly at him as if he'd grown another head- which considering his two forms was an equally likely possibility. Just what the hell was up with this guy?!
"I'm talking about my power, young lady," All Might repeated. "The tabloids call it super strength with a boost, and I constantly dodge the question during interviews with a funny joke."
Huh… he did do that, didn't he?
"Because the number one hero, the symbol of peace had to be a natural born hero. But young lady, I will tell you the truth." All Might stretched his arms out in a dramatic pose- (he sure did that a lot, didn't he?) before continuing, "My Quirk was passed onto my like a sacred torch."
"Passed, onto you?!" Izuku gasped in disbelief.
"That's right, and now it's your turn."
"W-wait, wait a minute!" She stuttered. "It's true that your Quirk is something that's hotly debated as one of the world's greatest mysteries. In fact, there's not a day I don't see some sort of discussion about it online. But…"
And she then fell into a disturbingly long mumbling speech about the impossibilities of such a Quirk, how such a Quirk has never existed since the dawn of time- not noticing the deadpanned look of the hero in front of her.
"You always start with denial, huh?" All Might commentated on her mental breakdown. "Nonsense!"
"Huh?!"
"You have a Quirk that activated on your death, burned your male body in a great pillar of fire, and rebirthed you from the ashes with a fully anatomical female body, and yet you question a Quirk that can be passed on like a torch?!"
"…Good point," Izuku conceded. He had her on that- if anything, her Quirk was the weirder concept of the two. She tilted her head and blinked curiously. "So, what is your Quirk."
"The Quirk I was gifted with is called One For All. One user cultivates the power and passes it on to the next, who cultivates it further and passes it on," All Might explained.
"So it's a Quirk that stockpiles physical power over generations?"
All Might grinned, apparently pleased at her conclusion. "Exactly."
This was… a lot to take in. And for someone like her…
"Why would… you give me something so incredible?"
"I have been looking for a successor," He said matter-of-factly. "And then I saw you. A powerless person willing to sacrifice themselves to save those in danger. You may have died, but you were the most heroic person on site today. Will you accept my offer, young Midoriya?"
"…Y-yes," She sobbed, earning a grin from her hero.
"An immediate response, how wonderful."
"B-but…" He frowned, but allowed her to continue. "How do I explain this kind of power to my Mom? Or to Kacchan? It's not like I can hide it forever, especially from someone as smart and persistent as Kacchan. He aced the mock exam for U.A."
"….. SHIT! I didn't think of that!"
Her hero was a dork- it was official.
"Unless…" All Might scratched his chin, contemplating, "Unless they think it's a new side effect of your Quirk."
And apparently an impromptu genius. Izuku felt herself grinning. "When do I start?"