Interview With A Broken Hero

Yagi met the next day with an annoyed groan as he remembered the press interview scheduled for today, after which he was going to meet his old mentor to talk about what happened. He also felt there was something else that was going on, but he couldn't–

"G-good morning, A-All Might." Ah yes, he was being haunted by the ghost of a boy he failed to save. Izuku stood nervously by the bedroom door. "Its time for breakfast." Yagi groaned as he lifted himself out of bed, and gasped painfully as he felt a twinge in his scar. Izuku began fretting. "A-All Might! A-are you o-ok? What-what's wrong?"

"I'm fine my boy, I'm fine," Yagi said, though Izuku knew that was a lie.

"D-don't lie," Izuku said. Then he asked, "How did you get t-that s-scar?" Yagi paused, wondering if it was wise to tell Izuku the story behind his wound. Then he decided that since the boy was going to be with him for the foreseeable future he'd probably find out sooner or later, might as well get the explanation over with.

"Five years ago, I got into a fight with a villain," Yagi began as he got to his feet before Izuku started rambling that he didn't have to say if he didn't want. "As a result, I lost half my stomach and my left lung. The resulting surgeries I had have caused me to weaken since then, and now I can only work for three hours a day."

"Five years ago… you mean th-the fight against Toxic Chainsaw?"

"You know your stuff kid. But no, that punk couldn't beat me. This fight was never made public, I wanted it covered up."

"O-oh," Izuku replied. "Well, th-that would explain why you vanished for a bit. And why your fighting style seemed to change." Yagi paused at this.

"It changed?" he asked.

"Y-yeah," Izuku replied. "You started favouring y-your right arm more. An-and you seemed more protective of your l-left side." Yagi made a mental note of that.

"Well, I need to get dressed. So, if you could give me some privacy?" he asked.

"O-oh yeah," answered Izuku, seeming to blush slightly. "I'll do that." And then he disappeared back to wherever he went when Yagi couldn't see him. Yagi himself got to his feet and went to his closet. He opened the doors and pulled out a yellow striped suit he used for interviews and press meetings. "Y-you know, if you don't have a stomach, than you should eat little but often," Izuku's voice said as Yagi began changing into his suit.

"I'll remember that," Yagi said. After he was dressed, he went down stairs to the kitchen. "So, what do you think a man with no stomach should have for breakfast?" he asked Izuku, who appeared nervously beside him.

"I-I don't know. S-sorry…" Izuku answered, looking down.

"Cereal it is than," Yagi said, pulling out a bowl from a cupboard. "And don't be sorry. No-one knows everything," Yagi assured as he poured a bowel of milk and cereal before getting a carton of orange juice from the fridge. As he did he saw just sparsely stocked it was. Was he really struggling so much to take basic care of himself that he let his fridge get nearly empty without noticing? Did he honestly believe that a carton of orange juice, a bottle of milk, and three cup ramens was a sufficient food stock for the Number One Hero?

'I need to get my life together,' he thought to himself, pulling the orange juice out and closing the fridge door. He poured the orange juice into a glass and sat down at the dining table.

"I don't know if you're aware my boy, but I have an interview today," Yagi said with a mouthful of cereal. "So I must ask you to keep quiet. I can't be distracted."

"Okay," answered Izuku. He then remained silent as Yagi ate his breakfast. A knock on the door permeated the apartment just as he finished. "I'll get it," Izuku said as he materialized and started moving towards the door.

"My boy, can you even interact with solid objects?" Yagi asked, making Izuku stop in his spectral tracks.

"Ah…" he said, once again blushing despite having neither veins nor a physical with which to do so. "N-no, I c-can't."

"Or be seen by other people?"

"I-I don't k-know."

"Even if you could, whoever that is, their looking for Yagi Toshinori, not a ghost kid," Yagi said as he stood up and walked over to the door. "Let me deal with it." He reached the door and looked through the peephole, seeing Kayama Nemuri, AKA the R-rated Hero, Midnight. She wasn't wearing her hero outfit, instead having chosen to put on the typical business suit of an office worker. Yagi opened the door to greet her. "Kayama, how are you doing?" he asked.

"I'm doing alright," Kayama answered. "What about you?"

"Oh, you know," Yagi replied, ignoring the fanboying of the ghost next to him. "About as well as you can imagine, given the situation."

"Want to get this press release out of the way than?"

"Just let me get my shoes on, and I'll meet you in the car," Yagi said. He picked up his shoes – much too big for his skeletal form – and started putting them on as Kayama went back to her convertible.

"All Might," Izuku began as Yagi tied his laces. "I-if this forms meant to be a-a secret, is it alright for fo-for all these other Heroes to know about it?"

"The Heroes who know about it know for a reason," Yagi explained as he finished with his laces and stood up. "And they are all sworn to keep quiet about it. You can trust them my boy."

"O-ok," Izuku said, vanishing from view. Yagi walked out the apartment and went to Kayama's convertible after locking the door behind him.

"After the interview, I was hoping you could take me to that coffee shop a few blocks from U.A," Yagi told Kayama as he fastened his seatbelt. "I'm meeting an old acquaintance there for a talk."

"Sure thing," Kayama replied. "Is it anyone I know?"

"Gran Torino," Yagi answered. "He's my old mentor and he wants to talk to me about what happened."

"I figured after today's interview, you'd want to just go home and forget all about it."

"Do you really think that's possible?" Yagi asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I suppose not. I don't think I'dbe able to forget that either," Kayama answered with a shrug. The rest of the trip was completed in silence, the only sounds coming from the humming engine and the music from the radio. Yagi contemplated the upcoming interview and what he was going to say. They eventually reached the news studio where the interview was taking place and parked outside. All Might undid his seatbelt, entered his muscle form and stepped out off the car.

"Lets get this over with," All Might said, not even bothering to smile.

"I'll meet you here when you're done!" Kayama called from the car.

"Will do!" All Might called back as he entered the building. He eventually reached the news room and sat down on his seat as he waited for the cameras to roll. A couple of minutes passed before someone called out to him.

"All Might," a woman said, getting his attention. The woman smiled as she approached him, which All Might felt was inappropriate given the subject they would be discussing. "I would just like to say what an honour it is to be talking to you," she said as she sat in a chair nest to the Hero. "I've never interviewed an Hero before, and now I'm interviewing Japans' number one. Oh, this is wonderful." That last statement struck something in All Might.

"I have to disagree," he said. The woman looked at him in confusion. "Considering the reason for this interview, I'd say there is nothing wonderful about it."

"O-oh," the woman said, face morphing with realization. "Of course, I–" All Might raised a hand to cut her off.

"Let's just get this over with, and move on." The woman nodded and brushed herself down.

"You're on in thirty-seconds!" called a man's voice. All Might took that as his cue to sit up straight in his seat.

"And now, we will be going to Sero Yuki who is conducting an interview with All Might, concerning a young man's suicide he witnessed one month ago," he heard a newsman say. "Over to you Sero." The cameras in front of All Might and Sero turned on, with the people behind them giving a thumbs up to say they were working.

"Hello viewers. Sero Yuki here, and I am indeed interviewing the Number One Hero himself," she said, turning towards All Might with a small smile. "Now All Might, you are here today to talk about the previously mentioned suicide, correct?"

"Yes, I am here to do just that," All Might answered, lacking his usual smile. "I would like to point out that this will be the only interview I will give on the matter."

"Fair enough," Sero said, her smile growing just big enough to show a few of her teeth. "I imagine that you want to forget about the incident entirely."

"Sadly, I don't think that will be possible," All Might replied sadly, letting out a sigh. "I haven't slept right since then, I just see his face every time I close my eyes."

"I imagine that must be quit hard on you," stated Sero, still smiling.

"Yes, so I would ask you to stop smiling," All Might replied, a touch more firmly than before.

"Ah, yes," Sero said, smacking her face lightly. "Sorry about that. But surely you should be smiling like you always do? To show that it's alright?"

"But its not alright," All Might countered. "I'm not alright. Seeing that boy end his own life after what he'd been through, believing that death was the only valid option has left me scarred. Especially since…" All Might paused, considering whether or not to say this. Then he sighed and told Sero, "I used to be like him." Sero was visibly confused by this.

"What do you mean?" she asked

"I was Quirkless," All Might explained. Sero's mouth dropped open and the TV crew started muttering to each other. "I have the toe joint that indicates being Quirkless, and I never showed any signs that I wasn't. It wasn't until I was fifteen that my Quirk manifested."

"Fifteen?" Sero asked in disbelief. "Your Quirk took that long to show itself?" Her smile was reappearing on her face, being the one to conduct the interview where The Symbol Of Peace admitted to being a late bloomer would surely do wonders for her career.

"Yes, and during that time I was bullied for it," All Might answered, leaning forward and placing his head in his hands. "Just like young Midoriya, I wanted to be a Hero, people mocked me for it, I was miserable, and why are smiling!?" All Might snapped, making the rest of the room jump slightly. "This interview is meant to be about a young man who committed suicide, I'm telling you about how I could have ended up like him, and you think it's an appropriate time to smile? Why?"

"Um…" Sero struggled to give an answer, her mouth opening and closing as she searched for words.

"You know what? Don't answer that," All Might said as he rose from his seat. "Interview over, I have nothing else to say." He turned to leave, stopped and looked directly back at the cameras with a look of miserable disappointment. "Actually, I do have something to say. To the teachers who allowed one of their students to be abused until he couldn't take another day of living; if you find yourselves in danger, do have fear, because I won't be there." With that declaration made, he walked out of the news room leaving the shocked reporter and TV crew behind.

Once he got outside the building, he looked around to make sure no-one was around and deflated into his civilian form as he walked over to Kayama's car where she was reading a book. She put it in the glove compartment as Yagi entered the car and put on his seatbelt.

"That didn't take long," Kayama observed as she put on her own seatbelt and started the engine. "I thought it'd be as long as your normal press meetings."

"The interviewer was an idiot," Yagi said, surprising Kayama.

"Well that's a first," she said. "I don't think I've heard you insult an interviewer like that before."

"Just… just take me to the coffee shop would you?" Yagi said. "I'll walk home after that."