CHAPTER 15:

CONFESSION

I have to admit, when I learned All Might's secret, I was surprised. An emaciated scarecrow of a man was the most celebrated hero in this world? One who was struggling against injury to keep going?

But then again, that is the basis of all meaningful existence. To struggle and contend against fate. To defy the plan life has written out for you. To cut the strings the tyrannous gods have tied onto you.

Toshinori Yagi struggled to become a hero from the beginning, as I later learned. Born Quirkless, it was only the kindness of Nana Shimura and the particular foibles of One for All that allowed him to become the Pro-Hero he ardently desired. For such a man to become a paragon was astonishing, and yet, I have to admit to admiring him. I may be labelled a Villain by the narrow-minded dotards of this world, and I certainly do not subscribe to petty consideration of morality in my acts, but I can still find someone like him admirable.

It's rather perversely fitting that it was my own child who first discovered his secret out of Izuku's little circle of friends. And she reacted quite well. For Izuku, though, it was a true lesson in learning the truth behind one's heroes, to learn what lurks behind the smile, for even if they are still a paragon of virtue behind that smile, they still bear a lot of pain…

Izuku didn't know why Janos had called them in later that afternoon, when school had finished. And when he saw All Might there, along with an unusually pensive Himiko and a bemused Hitoshi, he knew something was up. So he restrained his fanboying over being up close and personal with his all-time favourite Pro-Hero, and sat down.

"…I called you here because there is a matter of considerable delicacy and importance to discuss," Janos said. "Hitoshi…Izuku…Himiko stumbled across a secret earlier this afternoon, and I decided, to avoid any awkwardness, to explain the truth, with All Might's help. However, this is a secret that must not be discussed with anyone else. This is of national importance. No discussing it anywhere with anyone not in the know, especially not on social media."

Both Izuku and Hitoshi nodded, and then, Janos turned to All Might, and nodded in his turn. With a sigh, and a brief blast of smoke, or maybe steam…All Might shrank. And he shrank into a form familiar to Izuku, whose eyes widened in shock…and horror. "…Mr Yagi?" he murmured in surprise at the skeletal man he had first seen at Dagoba.

Hitoshi frowned, and then turned to Janos. "He is no impostor, Hitoshi," Janos said, anticipating the question. "This is indeed All Might, real name, Toshinori Yagi. I know, because I was present during the battle that reduced him to this state."

"This state?" Izuku asked, even as Toshinori coughed up a wad of blood.

"…Janos is telling the truth," Toshinori said, sitting down heavily on a couch, before gently opening up his suit jacket and shirt. "He was also the one who persuaded me to tell you guys. I really should have closed the door when I was making that phone call, but I was distracted. Sloppy. A poor showing for any Pro-Hero, much less one of my standing." And with that, he opened up his shirt, pulling it away from his left-hand side of his torso and abdomen.

And upon seeing what lay beneath it, Izuku wanted to vomit.

"Not pretty, huh?" Toshinori asked with a pained smile. And it wasn't. A massive crater of scar tissue ate into his left-hand side of his torso and abdomen, surrounded by lines of scar tissue from operations, like a massive starburst. "Six years ago…this was done to me."

"Six years ago," Izuku mused, trying to distract himself from the horrific injury. "It wasn't Toxic Chainsaw who did that to you?"

Toshinori chuckled bitterly. "You know your stuff, but given how much of a fan you are, I shouldn't be surprised…but no. That lowlife wouldn't have been able to get close. The one who did do this to me…well, my lungs make heavy smokers look healthy by comparison, my stomach was removed…I was lucky Janos was on hand to stabilise me."

"Indeed. I have debated with myself whether to speak of this matter to you, or rather, when to do so," Janos said. "But I have decided, in light of everything, to tell you of the man who did this to All Might. Nobody knows his true name, but he is known as All for One."

Hitoshi was the one to react. "…No way…those rumours I saw on the internet…about some Quirk-stealing crime lord…All for One truly existed?"

Izuku blinked. He knew Hitoshi trawled around online, looking for various things about Villains. Intel-gathering, he called it. He went on sites even Izuku wouldn't dare, though Izuku tended to look up stuff that was confirmed public record rather than rumour or on darker sites. "All for One?" Izuku asked.

"It's a long story," Toshinori said. "All for One had the ability to steal Quirks and grant them to others, hence his nom de guerre. He's been around since…well, shortly after the advent of Quirks. A Machiavellian mastermind, one pulling the strings from behind the scenes like Moriarty from the Sherlock Holmes books. Until recently, he was an active force in the Japanese underworld…no, he pretty much was the Japanese underworld. And pretty much behind the government too."

Himiko frowned. "Did he take some sort of anti-aging Quirk or something? I mean, if he's been around since shortly after Quirks started appearing, then he has to be…what, nearly two hundred years old? And if he can take Quirks…"

"Got it in one, Young Himiko," Toshinori said. "He's accumulated a lot of Quirks. He spent a lot of time in the shadows, gathering followers and power while presenting a legitimate façade. But…he had a brother. An apparently Quirkless brother who opposed him. All for One, on a whim born of perhaps pity, gave him a Quirk that allowed him to stockpile power. But in truth, the brother had a Quirk that allowed him to pass his Quirk onto others. The two melded, and became a new Quirk, one that could gather power and grant it to someone who ingested enough of the bearer's DNA. The brother of All for One named it as a renunciation of his villainous sibling: One for All."

Izuku put the pieces together. "…One for All…that's your Quirk, isn't it?" he hissed in realisation. "That's where you got your super-strength from! That's why All for One targeted you!"

"Smart thinking, Young Izuku. And yes. One for All is one of the few Quirks, if not the only one, that All for One cannot take. That, plus All for One having created One for All by mistake, means that he and the bearers of One for All are destined to clash."

"I'm guessing there's more to it than that," Hitoshi said, his eyes narrowing. "You clearly defeated him…but the way you're speaking of him, he isn't dead or in Tartarus."

"I thought he was dead…but we never found the body," Toshinori admitted. "To be honest…I'm worried that all he's doing is lying low. I definitely injured him badly, and it was one of the few times I was willing to kill. He murdered my mentor and predecessor, Nana Shimura. But…he may still be out there. In fact…when I first heard about what the Soul Reaver did, in absorbing the Quirk of that mugger you killed in self-defence, Izuku, I felt a very real chill run down my spine. It was part of the reason I came to meet you, not just to reassure a scared fan, though that, I must emphasize, was the biggest reason. Tsukauchi is a good friend of mine, and he told me of how much of a fan you were. But…"

"You were worried I had some relation to All for One," Izuku concluded morosely.

"Yeah. But…even before I met Raziel and Ariel, I soon realised, upon seeing you, that even if you had any relationship to that monster, you were nothing like him. The sins of the father shouldn't fall upon the son. We did some discreet DNA testing, based on the few samples we could obtain after my final battle with him, and the likelihood of you being related to him is low, if not non-existent. The fact that I am willing to trust you and your friends with my secret should speak volumes about my opinion of you three. And in truth…I saw a little of myself in you too. I know the Soul Reaver is no Quirk…and I know what it's like to be bullied because of a lack of a Quirk. Yeah, I was Quirkless."

Izuku stared at Toshinori. All Might, of all people, had been Quirkless? "So, before you gained One for All…you didn't have a Quirk?"

"Yeah. I actually considered giving it to you, but the Soul Reaver grants you quite a lot of abilities already, and there were other factors at work. As it happens, Himiko overheard my discussing my chosen successor with Sir Nighteye. He's one of your seniors, Mirio Togata. That being said, I must emphasize, this is not to be discussed. The teaching staff here know my secret, but other than that, the people who know could be counted on my fingers and toes. I can only tap into One for All for maybe four hours a day, four and a half if I push it, and the further I push it, the less time I have afterwards. I've got just enough time to teach classes and do some crime-fighting, but not enough."

"…So you'll need to retire soon," Hitoshi said. "But so many people look up to you as the Symbol of Peace. So if things go wrong…well, so many Villains will be emboldened, coming out of the shadows. Hell, even if your retirement and handover goes smoothly, things will still get hairy."

"Yes. I understand the implications, Young Hitoshi." Toshinori fixed them with his electric blue eyes, which seemed to shine within the deep, hollow sockets. "And it seems, so do the three of you. Because of your circumstances, you understand more than most how delicate matters are. You cannot reveal my secret to anyone not in the know."

"…Because someone like you, a Symbol of Peace who saves people with a fearless smile," Izuku said, "they can't show themselves to be vulnerable to evil, can they?"

"Yeah. I smile to stave off the fear and pressure I feel. But…I also do it to reassure the people. That things are all right, because I am here."

"But the people have become too reliant on you, too complacent, to act as a deterrent to the bigger Villains," Hitoshi said. "And just because you're a deterrent doesn't necessarily mean the criminals are all deterred. I mean, look at Overhaul and what he was doing to Eri. The people see you as a panacea, a cure-all, and yet…"

"And yet, here I am, looking like the offspring of Worzel Gummidge and Skeletor(1)," Toshinori chuckled, before coughing up another wad of blood. "Ugh…I know laughter's the best medicine, supposedly, and yet, it doesn't do my lungs any favours. Anyway, you have a point, Young Hitoshi, as much as I hate to admit it. But…that's why you three are here, why I have given One for All to Young Mirio. One for All is a baton, no, a torch, like the Olympic Torch, passed down from bearer to bearer. A beacon of hope, burning brighter with each successor to its legacy. But it is not the sole one, and to think so is utter hubris. You, Hitoshi Shinso, you had a Quirk that many believed to be utterly villainous, and yet, you desired to be a Pro-Hero in spite of that! You, Himiko Toga, struggle with the desires blood instils in you, and have succeeded, and will continue to succeed! And you, Izuku Midoriya, a Quirkless boy who was granted a gift! One that you could have rejected, considering the traumatic circumstances under which you awoke it, and yet…here you are! In spite of all of what life threw at you, the three of you still decided to become Pro-Heroes! That, more than anything else, shows your true strength, not in your bodies, but of your hearts and souls! You are the next generation of Pro-Heroes in the making, doing it not for money or for glory, but because you want to help others! You say I am an inspiration to you? Well, take heart from the fact that you guys inspire me as well. To try and teach you, and to shape you into the best damn Heroes you can be. I may give others hope as the Symbol of Peace, but you kids…you're my own hope, that the future can be better."

The three of them sat there, silent after Toshinori's speech. They were affected in their own ways by the sheer power of Toshinori's speech. For all that he looked grotesque and weak in this form, he had certainly lost none of his charisma and strength of will. And then, the moment was spoiled when Toshinori began coughing. Not much blood came out this time, but still, Janos sighed. "A most admirable speech, Toshinori. Just don't overexert yourself when it comes to your lungs. You have the Heroic Studies class tomorrow with 1-A."

"Ah, yes, at the Unforeseen Simulations Joint," Toshinori said, before looking at Izuku. "It'll be rescue training. Aizawa will be co-teaching with me, as will Thirteen. Your telekinesis ability and shifting could be a potential boon there, I'm sure."

Izuku nodded, though he wasn't so sure about the shifting ability. The Spectral Realm was still dangerous, and evacuating injured people through it could do more harm than good. And then, there was the malevolent laughter he'd heard, something that seemed to be a ghost from Raziel and Ariel's past.

Still, he felt more privileged than ever before. Not just being taught by All Might, but being privy to his greatest secret. He wouldn't divulge it, and he knew Hitoshi and Himiko wouldn't. Both knew what was at stake. And none of them wanted the world to lose its light when it lost its Symbol of Peace…

CHAPTER 15 ANNOTATIONS:

So, there you have it. All Might has confessed to Izuku and his friends. He did this mainly as damage control, though he was already considering telling Izuku. I hadn't planned for this to be the way his secret comes out, but hey, it works.

Next chapter will be the USJ chapter, at last. I'm not sure when it'll be out, though, as I need to figure out how it will go…

Review-answering time! ZLC genesmith: It hasn't been confirmed in the manga, but Dabi being Touya Todoroki is a popular fan theory, and it's one that has quite a bit of evidence in the canon manga. Touya seems to have some sort of connection to Shouto (he shows pity towards him in particular during the raid on the training camp) and Endeavour (mocking him during their encounter and alluding to a connection). In addition, when Hawks is told Dabi's real name in a recent issue, while the name is blanked out, Hawks reacts with shock, apparently.

1. Worzel Gummidge was a living scarecrow from a series of children's books, who was portrayed on live action TV by Jon Pertwee of Doctor Who fame, though Mackenzie Crook played him in a recent remake. Skeletor was the infamous main villain of the He-Man and the Masters of the Universe SatAM cartoon.