After school, Izuku wandered around All Might's territory until he found a good intersection. Massive roads and plenty of foot traffic meant a higher chance that a criminal would be around, especially one of those "rampage" criminals who wanted media attention. Izuku considered waiting by the laundromat from the news, but forum posts made him think that was just a two time occurence. He sat on the base of a pillar near the entrance to a bank.

Izuku rotated through hero websites with "sightings" pages on his phone. He also looked through a couple of general Musutafu forums. After the hour ended, he lingered for a few more minutes in case All Might stayed out late, then headed home.

Inko hugged him. She asked if he had fun. Once again, he felt terrible lying to her. Less terrible than last time, though. He told her the details of a fake baseball game, making himself out to be an average player.

For the first time in over a month, Izuku spent time working out in his room. He felt the energy and drive again. If he had a chance at becoming a hero, he needed to be in top physical shape. The idea of barely missing All Might because he was out of shape made him push his muscles harder.

Three days later, a forum reported a villain sighting at the right time and place; two villains were working together to rob jewelry and electronics stores. One of them used a Quirk that let him teleport small, nearby objects to him. The other, a bodyguard, had a generic strength Quirk and saber teeth.

Izuku ran to the jewelry store the poster had mentioned, a giant smile on his face. When he got there five minutes later, panting, police cars were just arriving, but he didn't see the villains anywhere. Of course - they wouldn't just stick by that one store. He took out his phone to look for updates. A couple of other people had seen the villains, who were now on the run, two minutes from Izuku's location and increasing. He took off after them.

After another mile of pursuit, bobbing through dense crowds, Izuku had to stop again and walk. He could only run so far after a month of sitting around. The sightings subforum was full of posts about the new villains, who'd made it even further from Izuku.

A post appeared about All Might arriving to fight the villains. Izuku tried to run again but only lasted half a minute before he had to return to walking. All Might worked fast - by the time Izuku arrived, even the police cars were gone. Members of the forum talked to each other about how awesome the encounter was. One of them had taken a blurry phone photo of All Might. Izuku saved the photo to the collection of amateur All Might photos he'd started as a kid. Something about regular people seeing their hero warmed his heart, and his heart needed the heat.

The next two All Might sightings during the right hour were too far away for Izuku to reach, which frustrated the heck out of him. He ran every day, pushing himself farther each time so he wouldn't miss out again.

A week later, Izuku heard about the next villain sighting that he could actually get to. With the two sightings only a week apart, life felt full of possibility. He would get that conversation with his hero any day now. This time, instead of a thief, it was a rampaging villain who nobody could miss. Her Quirk let her turn into animals. In the form of an elephant, she was barrelling down the streets of Musutafu.

Izuku sprinted through the crowds to the elephant's location. Her story had already been picked up by the local news, making it easier for him to find her. She could make a long battle for All Might, long enough for Izuku to get there. Plenty of animals had the speed to run away or the size to hide. She could turn into a tardigrade and lay low until the right opportunity came along to become a polar bear behind All Might's back. Nobody could defeat All Might, of course, but she could at least stall him.

The crowds thickened as he ran closer. In the gaps between heads, Izuku could make out All Might with a tiger in a chokehold. An awed grin spread on Izuku's face. There he was, Izuku's idol in the flesh. The tiger disappeared, replaced by a goshawk, flapping to the sky. All Might captured it in his hands and jumped away while Izuku was still half a block distant. The crowd clapped and cheered. Izuku clapped half-heartedly; he didn't feel the same elation at All Might's victory. Sure, he wanted All Might to win, but couldn't he have taken a little longer?

Still, the hope within Izuku surged. If he could get a little bit closer every time, then soon he would meet his hero. Another reason to work out more.

He didn't get close to the next fight in time, and the hero turned out to be Mt. Lady instead of All Might. Izuku didn't let that failure get in the way of his goal. He discovered over the next month that he'd gotten lucky the first two times with All Might arriving at all. So many heroes patrolled the area that any given villain was likely to be taken out by a different hero.

As he ran more during his free time, he expanded the range of where he could run to find All Might. No matter how often he trained, All Might still eluded him. He found he could outrun his bullies better, but sometimes he decided to stay and fight even though they always beat him down with their Quirks. Every month he would get one or two All Might sightings to fire him up and keep his hope alive.

Classmates teased him often about how he still wanted to get into UA. It hurt for so many people to dislike him, but he had a secret card up his sleeve: he wasn't going to use their opinions to decide on becoming a hero. He was going to use All Might's.

As the months dragged closer to the entrance exam, all his near misses started to feel more frustrating than inspiring. No matter what he did, how far or fast he ran, he could never catch up to his hero. Was this another bad idea, like trying to contact All Might through the people he tweeted?

The week before the entrance exam, Izuku found a villain sighting closer than ever. From the description, Izuku already knew the villain's name. Moonfish must have broken out of prison again. The authorities could never find enough evidence for major crimes to lock him in Tartarus, but it was only a matter of time, especially with all his escapes.

When Izuku reached Moonfish, All Might was still fighting him. A giant crowd had gathered. Metal tendrils stuck out of Moonfish's teeth. They wrapped around All Might, digging into his ribs. Izuku tried to get closer, but the crowd stood packed tight to watch the fight, while still giving Moonfish plenty of distance.

All Might flexed his muscles, bursting from Moonfish's cage. He grabbed the metal spikes and used them to toss Moonfish into the ground. While All Might beat up Moonfish, Izuku jogged around the circumference of the crowd. He didn't find a single opening.

He hated to impose on random people, but he needed to reach All Might. He tapped the shoulder of a man with a three foot neck. "Can I get past you?" He asked.

"No way. I got here first. Why should I move?"

Izuku sighed and kept moving. Three police cars and an armored van arrived on the road opposite the fight. The crowd moved to accommodate them. Izuku ran for the opening. By the time he arrived, the police had Moonfish bound. Izuku raced for All Might in the center of the intersection, but he arrived too late. All Might jumped into the sky and disappeared.

He was so close. If only the stupid crowd weren't in the way, he could have ran up to All Might as soon as Moonfish was incapacitated. He wondered if he would ever get to All Might early enough. How long would he have to wait? He had already waited months with this tactic. Would it be years? A decade of chasing All Might sounded unbearable. But this was his best shot.