Togata pushed open the door that Yagi had called him too, "Hey All Might-sensei!"
Amajiki trailed in shyly behind him, almost hiding behind the cheery blonde, as Sasaki walked into the room, looking around. His eyes caught onto Midoriya and Shinsou, sitting on one side of the couch, and he raised an eyebrow, "I understand Midoriya being here... as he's been helping you with some stuff... but what about the other... uh... Your name is Shinsou, I believe?"
Shinsou nodded, taking a long, awkward sip of his coffee, as Midoriya leaned forward, peering at the Pro Hero and the two members of the Big Three, cradling his coffee in his hands gently.
"Ah, welcome!" Yagi smiled, "Please, sit down! We have some things to discuss."
It took a few seconds for Sasaki to settle down into an armchair by the side of the room, and for Togata to sit down next to Shinsou, with Amajiki awkwardly wiggling between his friend and the armrest of the couch.
"First off, congrats on mastering Black Whip..." Yagi stated, as Togata scratched his neck, "Well... I wouldn't say I mastered it... especially in comparison to Permeation. I've only used it for about a week now... plus, I did have some help from Tamaki... did you know that he could turn his individual fingers into tentacles? He really did help me quite a lot with learning how to use Black Whip. I can only maintain it for a couple of seconds, but at my low level, it's already a pretty powerful supporting quirk!"
"That's very nice. The faster you learn the basics of how to use these new quirks... the more prepared you would be in the event that you would need to use them." Yagi nodded, and Sasaki spoke up, "So... you were trying to do some research into the other... potential quirks that Mirio could end up developing due to One for All... right?"
Yagi nodded, "In the end, I couldn't find everything. Despite this, you must move forwards to the next step. I've compiled all the details I could find about One for All's previous users... Unfortunately... I couldn't find any leads on the second and third users. Young Midoriya's also been doing his best to try and help me with my research, but given the era back then, and the multi-faceted nature of One for All... there's nothing about them in the records. If the past users realized that One for All would pass their quirks down, they might have left something behind themselves. but we cannot do anything to change it at the moment."
"Ah, so that's where Midoriya's being disappearing too after lessons." Togata smacked his palm with his fist, "I was looking for him a couple of times to see if he could analyze Black Whip."
Sasaki frowned, "If Mirio can use the quirks of the past users... maybe something other than the quirks are also stored within All for One?"
"Nope!" Togata shook his head, and Yagi shrugged, "If there was some way to contact the pass users through One for All... I've definitely not experienced it. Given the fact that Black Whip didn't even manifest for me... it is very possible that Young Mirio is the only one who might have the potential to somehow contact them, if that is even possible in the first place."
"Alright. Let's get back on track." Sasaki nodded.
Amajiki cautiously picked up the notebook, and started flipping through it, "So, forgive me if I'm wrong... but the fifth user was... Lariat?"
"Real Name: Banjo Daigoro. Quirk: Black Whip. Because of the strings of energy he could shoot out, he was well suited for binding enemies and maneuvering in midair." Yagi nodded.
"Not to be insulting... I know that there are some abilities that may seem powerful, but are really difficult to execute, just like Permeation..." Togata looked through the notebook over Amajiki's shoulder, "But I have a feeling that if these quirks were used in our time... on their own, they would be overshadowed pretty easily."
"You're not wrong in that regard. Your generation focuses on quirks way too much, and only consider sheer power, as opposed to how creative a quirk can be used. It's not their fault for thinking that way... given the past... but it's resulted in a lot of problems." Yagi sighed, glancing at Midoriya, promptly shutting up as the greenette lowered his head subtly, "All for One was obsessed with One for All. It was an age when evil wielded a degree of power that's hard for us to imagine nowadays. All for One went around crushing the strong because there was nobody who could defy his sheer malice and control. He went around stealing powerful quirks for himself. It was much easier to pass the quirk on to someone with a less flashy and obviously powerful quirk, someone that would fly under All for One's radar for a bit of time."
"That does make sense." Amajiki turned away, "And if used properly... any quirk can be strong."
"But based on his description, I don't think All for One would be interested in quirks that involved experience and training." Togata stated, "If he has so many quirks, it would literally take forever to train using each quirk individually to refinement."
"But obviously, once All for One did pinpoint who ended up with One for All... he would chase after them relentlessly. Writhing in that hellscape, as they lay down to die.. the past users made sure the power would reach the future. They weren't really chosen ones. They were just looking to pass down the quirk until it got powerful enough for someone to defeat All for One." Yagi admitted, "Through all those battles... all they could do was receive the quirk and then entrust it to another. They all died young."
"So... which quirk do you think would appear next?" Togata tilted his head, "Blackwhip kind of appeared out of the blue... but it was actually pretty useful in that fight. Sure, I could have phased through all the debris thrown my way, but using Blackwhip to just grab onto everything was a much better solution, and helped to prevent casualties and more damage along the road."
"I'm not too sure, to be honest." Yagi sat back, sighing, "It seems like a quirk may only manifest when it is needed. Why Blackwhip didn't manifest with your fight with Overhaul is also a mystery; I heard that there was a lot of falling debris, and there was a lot of damage done. Blackwhip would have be very useful. Why did it only manifest now?"
"Well... it seems like One for All is hiding many secrets than we don't know about, and it is more sentient than it seems." Sasaki pushed his glasses up, "It is possible that the quirk feels that something is going to happen, and it's trying to prepare for it somehow."
"Uh... what could possibly happen that would cause a two century old quirk to panic?" Shinsou suddenly spoke up, sitting up straight, "Don't you think that... it's something that we should be worried about."
Sasaki turned to Shinsou, "We know that something is going to happen. I know a lot of you can feel it. We just do not know what... and to what extent. We do not have any concrete evidence, though, and one wrong move by the Hero Commission could send everyone into a frenzy. At such a crucial time, we cannot afford to turn civilians against us; that never turns out well, and especially now, that would just result in more casualties. Once we have concrete evidence and a proper game plan, then the Hero Commission would make the necessary arrangements and announcements."
"What about our parents?" Amajiki shakily spoke up.
"I don't know. It is unlikely that the Hero Commission would get kids involved in this. I don't believe that they'll be that dumb. As strong as you kids are, you're not ready for something like this yet, not even you third years. They might ask you to help with evacuations, but that's probably the bare minimum that you would be involved in." Sasaki replied.
Midoriya let out a small shudder, and Shinsou gently patted his back.
"I think that's enough for today. You guys can go." Yagi sighed, "If there's anything weird going on with One for All, or if some other quirk appears... just call us."
The second that they were allowed to leave, Midoriya instantly returned to the dorms with his coffee.
"Heya!" Kaminari waved, wiping tears out of his eyes as he clicked away at his laptop. He had connected it to the television, and was playing some game that had stickmen for people, and his character seemed to be trying to steal something from a museum. The stickman had a gun, and he shot some cyan circle beneath a huge gem, before shooting an orange portal right above him.
The gem was somehow fell out of the portal on top of him, but it was most likely too heavy, and when the stick figure tried to catch the gem, both the stick figure and the gem began falling into the cyan portal and out of the orange one in a continuous, never-ending loop, making Kaminari burst out laughing again, until the word "Fail" appeared on the screen.
There was a huge paragraph under it, but Shinsou wasn't bothered to read it.
Jiro was sitting on the couch, tapping away on her phone, but it was obvious that she was also watching Kaminari play from the small giggles that escaped from her whenever Kaminari made a stupid choice.
"What are you playing?" Shinsou asked, peering over Kaminari's shoulder to look at his computer screen.
"Henry Stickmin Collection." Kaminari laughed, "It's so stupid that it's hilarious!"
"Says you!" Jiro smirked, and Kaminari just turned around, pouting, "Jiro, stop making fun of me!"
Midoriya used that opportunity to slink off to his room, not even bothered to close his door, placing his coffee on his table before flopping into his bean bag. Reiko and Ryuto had somehow managed to get into his room, and when they noticed Midoriya flop onto his bed, they immediately shot towards him, cuddling up with the greenette.
He was tired, very tired, but his brain was running at a hundred miles an hour.
Kurogiri might have been captured, but it didn't matter if they lost their teleporter if they literally didn't even know where the League of Villains were located. That, coupled with that Nomu that took almost everything Hawks and Enji had to defeat, and the fact that the quirk that had been passed down for centuries seemed to sense that something was going on and was revealing more of its quirks to Togata, didn't make things any better.
Midoriya already thought that All for One was bad enough. All for One was practically an overpowered sentient Nomu; he had the ability to think for himself, and was able to effectively utilize a huge variety of quirks in several devastating combinations.
From the bits and pieces that he managed to gather from the heroes when he heard them talking while they assumed he was asleep, All for One had been easily able to defeat Hakamata, Takeyama, Sakamata, and Nishiya. He was also almost able to defeat Yagi, had Aizawa not been there to occasionally erase his quirk to give Yagi a breather. He was pretty sure that Blackwhip would have been insanely helpful in defeating All for One during the Kamino Incident.
And there was something worse to come? Something even more powerful than All for One and his overpowered quirk?
Needless to say, Midoriya was getting worried.
"Looks like you're got the same thought process."
Midoriya looked up, and noticed Shinsou pushing his door open.
"Don't worry about it too much, alright?" Shinsou sat down next to Midoriya, "I don't think there's anything we can do now. Don't overthink it. You know that's not good for you."
Midoriya just groaned, and flipped onto his back, "Yeah... but... what can be worse than All for One?"
"I don't know. I know it sounds bad... but I seriously doubt that the Hero Commission would put a bunch of kids on the front line. If not from the lack of experience, but from the backlash from the general public if they ever found out. And if it is that serious that they do have to end up getting mere students to help... then I don't think we'd have much of a choice anyways. We'd have to fight, or we would risk losing everything." Shinsou admitted, "But for now, we'd just have to wait until the heroes get more information on what's going on."
The greenette let out a grumble, and Shinsou reached out, gently scratching Midoriya's head, eliciting a purr from the boy.
He just really hoped things wouldn't be so bad, but based on the information they had... the future looked bleak.
"There you are." Aizawa grumbled, "What are you doing out in the cold? The kids are inside playing games. I'm sure they wouldn't mind if you joined them. It's warmer inside."
"Uh... I'm not doing that much... But it's fine. I needed a bit of peace." Yagi admitted, "How's Eri?"
"Fast asleep. I'm going to start training her next week. Midoriya's analysis abilities might prove to be useful, since he's seen Rewind in action from close up. Stop stealing him away."
Yagi chuckled, "I can help too, you know?"
"Much appreciated." Aizawa grumbled, huddling down into his jumpsuit, before Yagi sighed.
"What is it?" Aizawa groaned.
"I've decided to keep on living."
"...What?" Aizawa raised an eyebrow.
"I've decided to keep on living." Yagi replied, "But it's like... how do I put this... This feeling... like I'm powerless... it keeps bubbling up inside of me. Whenever the students grow and learn, I end up feeling frustrated that I can't do anything for them. It's torture."
Aizawa rolled his eyes, "Can't cure a workaholic, I guess."
"Worka... what?" Yagi turned to Aizawa, bewildered, and Aizawa sighed, "You've kept this country on its feet for decades. Coming down from that high is like a shock to you."
"As direct as usual..." Yagi let out a chuckle, and Aizawa merely grunted, "You can do plenty for them. You can live. You can be here... For a lot of people... that's all the push that they'll need to grow and improve."
"I know..." Yagi sighed, "But I can't help but think that I'm doing things wrongly."
"How so?"
"You know about my quirk... right? And Young Mirio?" Yagi scratched his neck, and Aizawa nodded, "I mean... we didn't really have a choice, after the Kamino Incident. And that thing about Togata using another quirk?"
Yagi sighed again, "I got Young Midoriya's help in doing research with me... and called him in for the meeting with Nighteye, but with all the information he's got... He's smart, and he's going to come to his own conclusions. I'm afraid he's going to start overthinking things again. He's always been so focused on helping others... and after everything he's been through, I forget that he's just a child. I think that I'm placing too much of a mental burden on him."
"You were the Number One hero. You valued your work over your own emotions." Aizawa dryly stated, "You're a completely insensitive idiot when it comes to reading the feelings of other people, and with someone like Midoriya, who doesn't openly show his emotions, it's even harder for you to sense when you're crossing the line. Now you know what you've done wrong, so don't do it again."
Yagi just blinked at Aizawa, before he closed his eyes, and let out a chuckle, "I guess you're right."
Aizawa turned around to walk back into the dorms, "Don't stay out too long. We don't need the former Number One hero to catch a cold."
After they had finished dinner, Kaminari had continued playing that game, and since Midoriya had nothing to do, he just sat in his bean bag, watching Kaminari play. It was supposed to be a distraction from All for One and Nomus and villains and the sort, but really, Midoriya had absolutely no idea what was going on. Kaminari's character seemed to be standing on some red thing in the middle of the air. He clicked on something, which seemed to be acid or something like that, and his character instantly dissolved himself.
He didn't know how long he had been watching Kaminari play, but his brain was fried; he could not understand what on earth was going on in the game. Reiko was settled on his lap, and Ryuto was snuggled up in the crook of his arm, and at some point, Kinu had raced over to cuddle with him.
"Hey, Midoriya, how you liking the game so far?" Ashido grinned, and turned away from the television screen, where Kaminari was spamming "Dance Off" despite the fact that it got Henry killed every single time, and laughing like a maniac the entire time.
She got no response, and the pinkette turned her head towards the green haired boy.
Midoriya's eyes were glued onto the television, his mouth slightly open, and Ashido was pretty darn sure that Midoriya had absolutely no idea what was going on in the game. Sure, Midoriya was a logical person, and while the game didn't necessarily follow all the rules of science, it was supposed to be a funny game.
She could almost see the cogs turning in his head as he tried to make sense of what was going on, his fingers twitching slightly.
"Mido?" Ashido waved her hand in front of Midoriya's face as Kaminari selected "Dance Off" again, which resulted in the main stick figure character of the game getting whacked in the face by a metal hand for the umpteenth time that day, and still got no reaction from the greenette.
Ashido promptly turned towards the kitchen, where Shinsou was getting himself a nice warm cup of coffee. He didn't care that it was night time; he wanted his coffee.
"SHINSOU! HELP! I THINK WE BROKE MIDORIYA!"
Even her shout wasn't enough to snap Midoriya out of his stupor, and Shinsou poked his head out of the kitchen, "What?"
Ashido gestured wildly at Midoriya, who was still staring at the screen, looking like he had just fried his brain, "I...don't know?! Help?!"
With a fresh cup of coffee in hand, Shinsou stalked over to Midoriya, and sat down next to him, "Zuku?"
There was still no response, but they could hear an odd sound that was gradually growing louder and louder. It sounded like an indistinct grumbling sound, but they really couldn't make out where the noise was coming from.
"Are the lights broken?" Kaminari looked up, but the lights didn't flicker, so Kaminari just turned back to the game.
After looking around the room, Shinsou realized that the sound was coming from Midoriya, and he leaned in closer. Midoriya's voice was so soft that he was barely able to hear anything, but he was able to make out any words.
"... shouldn't be able to do that, the magnet shouldn't be able to pull the airship in. The magnet can't be strong enough to do that... and Henry is very light compared to the airship... and even if the magnet was strong enough, it won't be the airship that's being pulled in... and how do you even turn into a shadow, a shadow doesn't even have matter, how do you just make matter disappear like that? It's not like that device can create a black hole or something like that... How do you even print yourself onto a piece of paper and turn something that's three-dimensional into something two-dimensional, and then pop back out as a three-dimensional being? How does that not kill you in the first place? How can a force gun give you enough propulsion to blast you back into a helicopter?... How is bashing the helicopter into someone a good idea?... Why is dancing even an option when it's clearly not going to work? How do you just make blocks appear out of thin air? How does dancing as a distraction even work? How -"
"Zuku? You still there?" Shinsou reached out, gently poking Midoriya in the nose. Midoriya blinked, before he looked to the side, noticing that Shinsou was sitting next to him, though he didn't seem to realize that he had been mumbling under his breath.
"Hito?"
"Don't overthink it." Shinsou smirked, and Midoriya just huffed softly.
"Are you sure he's okay?" Ashido asked, and Shinsou and Midoriya just shared a look; they weren't going to tell the others about what they knew. They weren't going to throw this burden on the others, not yet.
"Yeah. He's fine." Shinsou just nodded, before he moved to sit next to Midoriya.
He took a sip of his coffee as Kaminari clicked "Dance Off", and it was only a matter of seconds until Henry got smacked in the face again.
Shinsou nearly spit out his coffee, and choked, "Excuse me, what the fuck was that?!"
Ashido and Kaminari burst out into hysterical laughter, and Midoriya glanced at Shinsou with a knowing look that practically screamed, "See?"
Shinsou just glared back, and puffed out a cheek in indignation.
