"Would you please give us a moment of privacy, ma'am?" All Might spoke softly, politely even, with a small smile on his face. His face was thin and boney, made even more apparent by his mane of tangled yellow hair. A suit jacket, pinstriped and pale yellow, hung off his thin frame in large sags, likely tailored for his full size and haphazardly adjusted to fit his current form, and on his feet were a pair of shoes that were probably nice at one point but hadn't been shined for years.
It may have been a year since Izuku had seen the man like this, but it wasn't a sight he would ever forget. It was All Might in the flesh.
Uraraka looked to Izuku, a question in her brown eyes, but he couldn't drag his shocked gaze off of All Might long enough to give an answer. She gave one last look to the man she didn't know was All Might, before bowing her head respectfully and stepping towards the door. "I'll, uh, I'll be in the hallway if you need me." There was a flash of worry in her eyes, but with a few brief steps, she was outside the room, and the door clicked shut.
His hands in his pockets, All Might took a small step towards Izuku, giving as strong of a smile as his cracked lips seemed able to muster.
Izuku stared at him blankly.
A few moments of silence passed, as though All Might was waiting for Izuku to say something, but the stale air remained quiet. He nodded, small and curt, and settled himself down in the seat Uraraka was in moments before. Slipping a handkerchief out of his breast pocket, All Might coughed into it, before placing it back in his pocket. There were just the tiniest specks of red on the handkerchief.
Despite All Might's smile, Izuku frowned oh so slightly.
He should've been ecstatic. Nervous, panicky, amazed, angry, something. This was All Might, the Symbol of Peace, the most important hero for a generation and the man Izuku had worshipped like a god since he was a child! A year ago, this man telling him to give up was the push that made him nearly jump off a building! He was the man that said anyone could be a hero, but also the man that told him he couldn't be. Every part of him wanted to feel something so different, it felt like he was being torn apart! And yet, staring into the man's sunken, blue eyes…
Izuku's tense heart struggled to feel anything at all.
"It's nice to see you again, young Midoriya!" All Might smiled kindly, almost homely, as if he were a distant family member seeing Izuku at New Years or festival day. "I met you a year ago, didn't I?"
Izuku stared blankly. Arguably the most powerful man in Japan was sitting in a plastic chair at the end of his bed, so casually, so relaxed. Izuku took an uncertain breath, his lungs so tight that they hardly allowed in even the slimmest amount of air, and nodded. "You did. On the roof."
"... I suppose I should apologize for that day." The Symbol of Peace laughed weakly, but not quite real enough to be called 'nervous.' It was an act, a milquetoast attempt to mitigate the harm he did with his words a year prior. "It's not easy, when everyone always has their eyes on you. And what I did to you is a perfect example. I was having a rough day, and my words were too callous."
Izuku wanted to believe All Might, at least part of him did. It would be so easy. After all, he was All Might. He was a hero. A good person. The best person. But looking into the man's eyes, listening to that laugh, it just felt so… intangible. Not fake, not really, but so curated and practiced that it carried none of the weight that it should've.
Carefully selected.
Sterile.
A well polished veneer.
So easy to believe, but when Izuku looked deeper into the hero's eyes, he saw nothing but hollow exhaustion, a pair of blue stones eroded by the wind and waves of endless storms.
News reports and T.V. interviews simply couldn't capture that detail, but here and now, it made Izuku's heart tighten with a hurt he couldn't quite explain.
Izuku ducked his head a little, watching the hero with hesitant eyes. "I can't imagine what it must be like."
The man laughed. At first it was loud and boisterous, but it was cracked by a dry cough, and when he continued, the sound was hollower, weaker, a great cathedral eroding at the foundation. In his eyes, Izuku could see the weight of a nation on his back. "... It's a lot. Being the Symbol of Peace is more than a job; it's a lifestyle. One I've been living for nearly thirty years."
Izuku had always known that detail. It was one of those important statistics any All Might fan knew: He was 220 centimeters tall, weighed 274 kilograms, could jump 4.7 kilometers, and had been a pro hero for 29 years.
Yet somehow, seeing the man as he was now made that fact so much heavier than it ever seemed on a stat page. His suit, so large and baggy, seemed to almost swallow him.
The practiced half-sincerity, the tired laugh that refused to be anything other than strong, the words that were naturally chosen to be polite and non-controversial after decades of carefully navigating press release politics. It all seemed so manufactured. After twenty-nine years of being All Might, was there even a man underneath the hero costume anymore?
… Who had All Might been? It seemed so strange, but for the first time, the question struck Izuku. Obviously the man in front of him hadn't been All Might. He had a normal name. He had to. Izuku had long assumed that he was simply very private with his personal life; a lot of heroes were. Being the Symbol of Peace was a lifestyle, though.
… Maybe All Might was all he was anymore. Maybe he hadn't carefully concealed his personal life, but rather, simply let it wither away.
Or, more terrifyingly, whoever All Might was hadn't died, but was murdered? What if the young man that became a hero let himself be eaten by the Symbol of Peace for the sake of heroism? Or for the hero industry?
Even knowing it was all half-baked speculation, Izuku couldn't hide the sad empathy gathering in his eyes… And the dark dread in his soul.
Looking at the Symbol of Peace in the eyes, the hollow husk of a hero that had used to be a man, the thought of that happening to himself suddenly terrified Izuku.
He swallowed his fear, trying to steel his heart, but his green eyes flicked down to stare at his hands. "C-can I ask you a question?"
The calm, kind look on All Might's face didn't change. "If I can answer it, I will."
Looking at his knife, blade clicked shut, the images of Bakugou and Warp crawled out of the recesses of his mind. One was already a hero, and the other was bound to be one. Prize racehorse of his middle school, after all. One craved fame, the other power. And then… And then there was the worn down hero in front of him. All three so very different, yet all of them were distortions of the ideal image of a hero Izuku learned about as a child. Izuku gathered himself, taking a deep breath.
"... What do you think is most important about being a hero?" It was, on the surface, so simple. It was the sort of thing journalists in a morning talk show asked All Might, the sort that made fans and commentators feel good because it was fun and easy and could easily be used to flatter yourself. But the weight in Izuku's voice, the sincerity… He hoped it would break through the 29 years of All Might, to whoever was inside.
"I don't know how much you heard of the conversation before, but… Well, you've probably heard it all before. You were my inspiration. My hero." He bit his lip, his heart tight. "My entire childhood. I grew up seeing you everywhere, billboards, TV, online, my toys and kids books, and I dreamt of saving people like you. You were what it meant to be a hero." Pausing, he looked up, an uncertain desperation in his eyes. "So… Underneath all the flashy costumes and tabloid articles, the superpowered brawls and swooping in to the rescue, what does it all mean? What is a hero?"
There had to be an answer. After everything Izuku had been through, after all the things he'd seen, there had to be an answer that justified it. Something that would sort the good heroes from the bad, or make him understand why the system was what it was, or at least speak to his soul in a way to mollify the weight of his despair.
Because he failed. It hadn't really hit him, not really, until just now. Izuku had tried his hardest, he had trained his hardest, fought his hardest, studied and planned and researched till he passed out some nights. And he failed. Just like if he had done nothing.
He wouldn't be going to U.A., he wouldn't become a hero, he wouldn't be able to change the system from within. No, he would instead be going to a school for the disabled, probably go into the sciences tract, and end up going to college for something like accounting or library sciences. It wasn't the end of the world. He had no right to be upset.
But his eyes burnt with unshed tears. His heart tightened, and his stomach twisted. His mouth dried like a desert arroyo and his throat closed like a collapsing mineshaft.
So there had to be a reason. There had to be a reason he failed, and why people like Bakugou got everything.
All Might's smile shrunk, but somehow, it became that much more real. He nodded.
"You're right, being a hero isn't about any of those things. What my teacher taught me, and her teacher taught her, and what I hope to teach others, is that a hero's real job is to inspire people." He spoke slowly and confidently, but hesitated just long enough between words to choose them. "Young Midoriya, what is it I'm known as?"
Izuku frowned, unsure what the man was getting at. What was he known as? Every child knew what All Might was, he was...
"... The Symbol of Peace." The pieces clicked into place, the first steps in a much larger puzzle. Despite running himself ragged, fighting villains, All Might's goal was never to defeat every villain in Japan. Of course not, it was impractical. But if he could seem invincible… "A focal point."
The pro hero's smile grew, approval in his tired eyes. "My job isn't to punch villains or pick up collapsing buildings. I don't simply save people; I make sure everyone in Japan knows they're safe, and every villain in Japan knows that they won't be tolerated. My strength empowers others to do good."
"I am here." Izuku said the catchphrase, almost absentmindedly.
All Might nodded. "Exactly."
Once the idea was in his head, it grew like wildfire. Of course no one person, or even a group, could achieve something so massive as stopping all villains. Heroes were inherently reactive, responding to a crime after it happened. So, trying to be present at every possible site of a crime at all times was simply impossible. But if you could inspire more people to support heroes, and scare more villains into never even trying, it was possible to decrease crime with at least some effectiveness. And at the center of that web was the Symbol of Peace, the lynchpin that kept the illusion together.
But… that plan had holes.
"... What about the people you fail to save? Or that heroes hurt?"
If this was what All Might had been doing for the past three decades, he had obviously failed some, and encouraged reckless violence in others. In the effort to project invincibility, heroes like Warp had simply taken to attacking the weak but scary looking. So, for people like that, the system would only make them feel less safe. Not to mention what Izuku could only describe as rampant narcissism for pro heroes. And for any potential failures…
Izuku had grown up thinking it was impossible, but to think about it on a very strategic level, if All Might were to somehow fail, if the Symbol of Peace were to be broken-
Every illusion could be shattered.
"We all have our failures, young Midoriya. It isn't perfect. Some criminals outwit us, and some heroes are bad apples. All I can hope for is that the next Symbol of Peace will know the solution I can't find." The smile on All Might's face died, replaced by a serious, mournful scowl. Izuku could see the regret in the man's wrinkles. "I heard you talking to that young woman, and I think you might be on the right track, in some ways."
Izuku's heart skipped a beat. About the reforms? Of course Izuku thought he was on the right track, he believed in it, but to hear All Might say it, that was a completely different level of affirmation. It gave the ideas traction and potential outside of just his head. A smile began to grow on his face, enthusiasm dripping into his soul, but it was suddenly cut off by cold ice. He frowned. "If you agree, why don't you push for reform?"
"I might've been able to in my prime, but… Look at me. I'm tired. I'm getting old. I don't have the energy or willpower to do what needs to be done." He gave a sad, weak laugh. It failed to even slightly disguise the pain in his words. "... Honestly, I'm considering retiring soon."
Izuku grit his teeth, a sudden venom poured on his tongue. He was old? That's why?! All Might had been a hero, the greatest hero in the nation for nearly three decades, but when it came to this, he was too tired? That was no excuse! No one's safety could be put on a timetable, let alone put on hold simply because the ones with power and privilege were tired! It was irresponsible, it was unethical, it was-!
… Wait.
Five words.
Five simple words.
And Izuku's brain skidded to a stop.
"... Retire?"
"I may have to." All Might smiled softly, wistfully. "My body is falling apart. I can't afford to place all of Japan in my hands as they become too weak to hold it."
The boy just stared at him in shock. Th-there was nothing to say to that. What could he say to that? All Might was the constant in a changing world. So, for him to retire, to hang up his cape and take his leave as the Symbol of Peace, it could only be described as the end of an era.
He opened his mouth, then closed it. Opened it again, then closed it again. Finally, some clarity came to Izuku's mind, and he looked down, his gaze falling to his hands.
"All Might, why are you here?" He should've asked sooner. It was simple. The most powerful man in Japan didn't come to a high school entrance exam to vent about his problems and fears to the loser. "Why are you talking to me, the person you told to give up? And, why are you telling me all of this? I'm… Just some random kid. Less than that, even. A random, quirkless kid."
Izuku was a failure. Second rate. Reject. Always was a nobody, and always would be a nobody. The best he could hope for was a life of mundanity. To even be in the same room as All Might, he didn't have that right.
He was a deku.
There were a few long, tense heartbeats where nothing moved, and Izuku didn't dare look up to meet the hero's eyes. He didn't want to see what the man was thinking. He didn't want to see his sad smile or sunken cheeks or hear his longing, regretful voice. Either this man wanted to give him false hope, to scrape up something and fight his own guilt for shaming the boy a year ago, or he was there to put the final nail in the coffin of Izuku's dreams. Was he ready for that? Was he any stronger than a year ago, when it happened the first time?
… Maybe that's what Himiko had meant. Not that he was strong enough to win, but he was strong enough to suffer rejection, and keep moving forward. Despite himself, thinking of her yellow eyes, it warmed his chest. No matter what All Might said, Izuku would be strong, not only for himself but for Himiko. A strong scowl marred his face.
"Well, because you proved me wrong." Izuku's head shot up, and he saw All Might looking at him with warm pride. "You can be a hero-, no, not just that, you have the potential to be an amazing hero."
The boy shook his head, hot tears burning in his eyes. They burned with… Pain? Disbelief? Rage? All Might was lying, he had to be, because, because, it made no sense! Izuku had failed! Not only that, he was physically incapable of being a hero like everyone else was!
But All Might stood up, a sudden strength in his body and a fire in his blue eyes. "Young Midoriya, you are not built to be a hero, but you have the heart of one, the blazing desire to save others no matter the cost to yourself that few have. You took that passion, and did something completely unseen: got points on the hero entrance exam as a quirkless individual. More than that, you got the sixth most points in the entire exam!"
"H-how!?" Izuku's mind was reeling. Sixth? Out of everyone? No. No way. He screamed back at All Might, waving his hands in senseless motions that carried no meaning other than panic. "T-this doesn't make sense! I only got two points! I failed! I was nowhere close to anyone else!"
"You received two villain points, yes. But young man, this is a hero school! We don't simply judge on your ability to destroy things! We also score on hero points, where you risk yourself to help others!" All Might laughed as if revealing some final trick, a sound so much closer to his original energy than before. "When you saved that young woman, every judge on the panel gave you ten hero points. At a grand total of sixty-two points, you're well within the range to get into U.A.!"
"... I…"
A single, stammered word left Izuku's mouth. He was crying. When did he start crying? He didn't know. He didn't care. The tears were hot on his cheeks, and stung like acid.
"I got in?"
All Might coughed, covering his mouth, and held up a finger. "Almost."
Izuku scrunched up his nose, confused, but his vision had blurred too much through the tears for him to clearly see anything. "What?"
"I spoke with the admissions committee, and they're nervous about you." The pro hero glanced at Izuku's knife. "Not only your quirklessness, which would make you the first quirkless student to ever attend U.A.'s hero program, but also your record of getting into fights."
What was All Might saying? Was he getting rejected anyways? Had his fight with Bakugou forced him out? "S-so, I didn't get in..?"
All Might took a long, deep breath, as though preparing to lift a great weight, and put his hand on Izuku's shoulder. Despite his boney fingers, the grip was strong, tight enough to make Izuku wince. "Young Midoriya, I need an heir. Someone with a courageous spirit and a desire to make the world a better place. Someone who could stand up to the scrutiny of being the Symbol of Peace, and be the person all of Japan could look to and believe in."
"W-what!?" Stammering, Izuku looked around the room, panicked. Was there someone watching? Was this some sort of prank? Some cruel and petty way to lift his hopes only to remind him of his place? Or-
Or was All Might really about to offer him-?
"Having seen you fight, and save that young woman, and push past every barrier that was put up to block you, you've inspired a hope in me. You were never meant to be a hero. Everything in your life was meant to turn you away from it. But maybe, what Japan needs more than anything, is a Symbol of Peace that was never meant to be a hero. One that knows what it's like to be an outsider." All Might smiled from ear to ear, and blue locked on green. There was a clenching pain in Izuku's chest, a tight, screaming, twitching pain that made his tears pour out and his lips stumble as they tried to form words Izuku didn't understand.
"Young Midoriya, I can make sure you get into U.A.. You will become my heir, the heir to my quirk, and the heir to the Symbol of Peace. I have faith in you."
… He had done it.
Through his burning tears, Izuku smiled back, wide and genuine and stumbling over his disbelief.
Izuku had done it. It seemed impossible. Like a dream come true. Despite everything he had gone through, despite how he'd been beaten down, despite how the man in front of him was so much more fragile than Izuku had ever imagined, this was somehow everything he had ever wanted, even since he was a child.
Not only would he be a hero, he would be the heir of All Might himself, the hero.
But his mind paused, suddenly catching up to All Might's words. Or rather, one specific part of them. He swallowed, blinking away his joyful tears and watching the hero carefully. Something…
… Wasn't right.
"W-what do you mean, the heir to your quirk?"
It made no sense, now that he thought about it. A lot of this didn't make sense. Supposing All Might did see Izuku as a 'courageous soul,' he had even said that he wasn't built to be a hero. It didn't matter how good his heart was, Izuku simply couldn't become the greatest hero by being a good person. He simply wasn't All Might. But to be the heir to his quirk? That's not how quirks worked. It was like being the heir to someone's hair color. Something wasn't adding up. Cold, calculating gears cut through his emotions, ruthlessly churning to find an answer.
There was a moment of silence, where the warmth in All Might's eyes gave way to quiet contemplation. He seemed to be on the edge of some threshold, nodding at some conclusion Izuku couldn't grasp, he gave the boy's shoulder a gentle squeeze and his smile returned.
"Young Midoriya, my quirk was not one I was born with. One for All, the quirk that gives me my immense power, is more than some genetic oddity; it is a mantle, a great power with great responsibility, that is given from hero to student, and with each generation, it becomes stronger." Despite his small, fragile frame, All Might's presence filled the room, untold power and energy swelling in his voice. He stood tall, his back straight and strong, and pride seemed to inflate his narrow chest. Letting his hand drop from Izuku's shoulder, he held it out to the boy, extending an offer with his hand. "I am the eighth bearer of All for One, and should you become my heir, you will become the ninth."
All Might's thin, almost skeletal hand, hovered in the air in front of Izuku, just within reach.
His dream, everything he had ever worked for, the greatest opportunity he could ever wish for, was quite literally within reach.
Izuku should've snatched that hand.
He shouldn't've even hesitated.
He should've grabbed it with all his strength and dragged himself into the future, embracing the hero and his quirk and his future as the most powerful man in all of Japan.
But…
But he didn't.
His hands stayed firmly in his lap, and his nervous green eyes flicked between All Might's hand and his expecting blue eyes. His heart stopped.
Grab it.
Accept him.
Become him.
Izuku clenched his jaw.
"... I can't."
The air conditioner gently buzzed. Somewhere outside the door, a pair of feet came to a stop on the linoleum, and there was a muffled apology. If Izuku really focused, he could even barely hear the trees outside rustling in the wind. But what he couldn't hear, what wasn't there, was a response from All Might.
No, the room was in perfect, shocked silence. Whatever joy, or excitement, or hope had been in Izuku's green eyes had crumbled and withered away, replaced by stern metal. Raw determination, tempered by just the faintest amount of rage, filled his rot colored eyes.
All Might blinked, and his smile fell, as if not entirely sure of the situation. "What?"
Izuku squeezed his fists, and restated himself. "All Might, I'm sorry. But I can't."
"B-but you can! I shall give you the power, and the training, to become even better than I have been! Do not fear!" The hero stumbled and stuttered, trying to reassure and cajole Izuku, but Izuku shoved it aside. No, he wasn't afraid he would fail. With All Might's quirk and training? There wasn't a doubt in his mind that he could become the number one hero. But a cold rage burned in him.
"All Might, I don't want to be a hero." Only when the door to his dream opened, only when he was given the opportunity on a silver platter to get exactly what he wanted, did Izuku realize what he would become in a concrete way. He could see the exhaustion in the Symbol of Peace's eyes. He could only imagine how heavy that mask had become over the past thirty years. How the crown weighs upon his head. Izuku's knuckles were clenched so tight they were white. "... And I especially don't want to become you."
Izuku was weak. He had always been weak. Even his strength came merely from the inversion of his weakness; the usage of his intelligence, his strategic mind, and unique fighting style. He always had been a weak, quirkless, second rate victim. But Izuku was going to change that.
Just not like this.
What All Might offered wasn't a solution. It wasn't a method to overcome his weakness, to push past his victimhood, to stand on his own two feet. It was an escape. A get-out-of-jail-free card. He would no longer be weak, because he would no longer be himself. No, instead, he would become a new All Might.
And whoever he was, it would be consumed by the Symbol of Peace.
His pain, his struggles, his vindictive desire for justice, those were what made him who he was. And he would never give those up.
Somewhere in the back of his throat, Izuku felt a growl building.
All Might simply nodded, but there was obvious shock in his eyes. He fumbled, letting his hand fall to his side, then pressed his lips into a thin, uncertain line. "Why?"
Bile pooled in Izuku's mouth, poison he wanted to spit at the man. Why? He had so many reasons. So many! So much was wrong! The very structure of heroism was rotten and corrupt! Some part of him wanted to reform the system, maybe, but more and more, he wanted to just tear it all do-
Catching himself, Izuku froze. A deep breath filled his lungs, and he shivered as he released it, all the tension in his body mellowing. Calm. Calm.
… When had he become so angry? Izuku wasn't an angry person. He didn't want to be an angry person, at least.
Clearing his mind, he slowly blinked, letting his soft eyes see the situation anew. And there… there stood All Might. The man that saved people with a smile. He could still remember that video clearly, the one he watched as a child. They seemed like different people, not just physically, but in their expressions. Maybe it was simply because the man in front of him wasn't wearing an indomitable smile. The fire in his heart crackled, but only slightly, sadly.
He didn't hate All Might. He couldn't. Not really.
No, All Might was still his hero. Deep down, he would always be. Izuku couldn't deny that.
But this choice… It wasn't about All Might.
It couldn't be.
"I can't imagine you meant to do it. You're a good person. You have to be. But…" Shaking his head slowly, Izuku let his heart mourn a little. He didn't want to say it. But he was in a moment of clarity, and he refused to lie to his idol. "All Might, you created everything I hate about heroes. Or, at the very least, you paved the way for it."
There was a stunned silence from the man, but he didn't respond. Instead, he sat back down in the plastic chair, nodding solemnly, and gestured for Izuku to continue.
Sorry, All Might.
And Izuku was sorry. But he wasn't going to go back on what he said. He just hoped All Might, the man, would listen, rather than All Might, the Symbol of Peace.
With tentative fingers, Izuku plucked up his closed throwing knife, inspecting the utilitarian crosshatched handle. "There's a boy named Bakugou. Bakugou Katsuki. Do you think he'll get in?"
All Might cocked his head, but taking a moment to recall the boy, he nodded. "... He got the most points on the exam, so he likely will, yes."
A bitter scowl marred Izuku's face. Not an angry one, or even a sad one. One of tragic, but completely expected, disappointed. Bakugou had quite literally everything running for him. "I've known Bakugou since we were kids. We were even neighbors for a while, when the checks my dad sent were enough for my mom and I to rent a suburban house. That's how I met him."
He wouldn't say they were friends. Part of him quietly wondered if they had ever really been friends. Izuku couldn't remember a time the boy treated him nicely, let alone as a friend. But with a heavy sigh, he pushed the thought to the side. It didn't matter. Another month and some of school, and he'd likely, hopefully, never see the boy again.
"… In some twisted way, I think he's one of the greatest victims of the hero system, because he'll never have to grow up." He let out a dry, humorless chuckle, flipping the knife handle over in his palm. The other side was identical. "He has a really powerful quirk, perfect hero material. You probably saw it. He was always adored, propped up and promised everything. Because of his natural strength, the natural advantage his quirk gave him in subjecting others to violence, he was promised the power of being a hero. He was promised the throne. Even as a child."
His eyes carefully watched All Might, trying to gage the man's reaction, but either the man was very genuine in his quiet, almost nervous, listening, or he was very good at concealing his emotions. It didn't really matter, did it? He'd likely never see the man again after this, either… And he likely wouldn't change his mind about pushing for reforms no matter what he said. But Izuku wanted to be honest. To tell all of this to the man he admired as a child, it was… cathartic. Maybe not fun, or enjoyable, but it gave a feeling of wholeness. Of finality.
Bakugou's fiery, prideful eyes filled Izuku's mind. He could only imagine how the boy would react to this conversation. For someone so obsessed with strength and self-reliance, Bakugou really was sensitive to the smallest things... Izuku shook his head sadly. "All that attention, it went to his head. To him, to be a hero is to be strong. Famous. Powerful. And thus, a person like me… I challenged that. I was weak, but I wanted to be a hero anyways, and no matter what anyone said, I didn't give up. So I was a threat to the kingdom he built in his head." That's really all Izuku had become to Bakugou: a threat. An upstart to be quashed.
The fight in front of the school, that was the pinnacle of it. If Izuku was honest, he couldn't even remember what Bakugou was angry about. It didn't matter, really. Some small slight, but it was the justification to beat him down. Him and…
"When he attacked someone I cared about, when he pulled out all the stops, he didn't expect me to break him." Himiko's toxic sunflower eyes, her feline smile, her lilted giggle. His heart swelled at her thought. She was his to protect, and he was hers. Izuku grit his teeth. Looking back, he only regretted the fight insofar as he mitigated his own injuries so poorly. He didn't care what anyone else said, if he was put into the same situation again, Izuku would do it again the same way.
No. No, not the same way.
Next time, he wouldn't hold back at first. He'd strike first, and strike hard. He would be blamed anyway. But he'd rather beat Bakugou to the edge of death than let him get his hands on Himiko. In some ways, he didn't care whether it was 'heroic' to think like that. After all, Bakugou would get to be a hero. At least Izuku would be fighting to protect someone.
"That's the fight on my record." Izuku spat the words out with a certain sort of pride, as if it was a badge of honor. He wasn't just some delinquent. "He attacked Himiko, and he ended up hurting me so badly I needed skin grafts and over a month of recovery. But All Might, he wasn't the one who was punished. I'm willing to bet that the fight wasn't even put on the record our school submitted to U.A., because the principal sees Bakugou as his prize champion, his one chance to get a student into U.A., and all of the prestige that the school would get along with that. Bakugou's anger, his violent tendencies, his bullying, it was all ignored. There isn't a single bone in him that wants to save people. But he's the one everyone wants to make a hero. I was… an acceptable casualty."
"I-" The pro hero began to speak, but then paused, deciding to choose his words carefully. "I'm sorry, young Midoriya. I'll be certain to talk to the admissions committee about it, because this needs to be looked into. But I hope you know that that really isn't acceptable."
Izuku grimaced. "That's the thing, All Might, it is. It is acceptable. It's the norm." He flicked the blade open with practiced ease, and ran his finger down its mirror edge. The cold metal of the blade stilled his heart, giving it an icy focus. "Bakugou is the perfect example, but not the only one. You wanted to create a system where, by having people focus on heroes as symbols, they feel safer and braver. But what you really created was a society where being a hero is a status symbol, where cruel violence is enacted for fame, where heroes become billboards for product placement, where rules don't apply to the powerful."
Power and money, pride and fame. It all swirled together into a violent, chaotic, oppressivestorm. Yeah, that's the word. Oppressive.
The razor edge of the blade scraped slowly against the flat of his thumb. The dead skin fell off with no resistance, leaving strong calluses. "All Might, the society you forged in your thirty years fosters narcissism, lust for power, and corruption."
All Might looked at the knife, and then back at Izuku, cautious worry in his eyes. "... Is that what you really believe?"
As quickly as he had opened the knife, he snapped it shut, the silver of its blade hidden within its smooth black exterior. "Yes. And what I'm afraid of is that, when more people realize it, everything you built will crumble."
The pro hero narrowed his eyes. "What?"
Setting the knife down, Izuku met All Might's eyes, firm and determined. "All Might, I don't… hate heroes. They had an important purpose. But in this current system, they're a tool of government violence in the hands of corporate sponsors. And some of the people I've talked to online, the things I've read about in articles, I've…" Izuku's stomach twisted, his mind filled with images of the large, elephantine man Warp had beaten the night before over a sack of food. He couldn't forget the look of abject terror in the man's eyes as he tried desperately to flee. "Some people I've met, they don't see heroes as good people. They see them as narcissistic bullies with a state license to kill."
"As my heir, you could change that. You'll become the center of the system, the Symbol of Peace." The pro hero nodded solemnly, acknowledging Izuku's grievances in a perfectly acceptable, practiced way, but was quick to point out his preferred solution. He spoke calmly, with an even, reassuring tone, but when Izuku looked into the hero's eyes, all he saw was the same grief one might express at a car crash. A tragedy, but ultimately just a twist of fate.
… All Might wasn't listening. Of course not. No matter what the man said, he had come here looking to find a torchbearer for his legacy, not a reformer. Izuku sighed, letting his heart sink.
This… this was important for him. For closure. He hated it, he hated every moment he spent watching the hero of his dreams brush aside his suffering with polite sympathy. But it was necessary.
Izuku wasn't a hero, and he would never become one. Not because he couldn't, not because he was weak, but because he was going to save those that heroes couldn't, wouldn't, save. The Victim was not meant to become the hero, and he refused to try and change who he was in his heart.
"... The peace you created is unbearable, All Might. If I took your place, all I could do is sustain it. You can't reform a system that you epitomize." He could see disappointment in the hero's eyes, but he found the strength in his heart to crush any regret that made him feel. For him to succeed, he needed to be strong. "I'm going to take apart everything you built, piece by piece, and make it better. I don't know how, as a lawyer, or a journalist, or… something. But I'm going to make heroes better. And I'm going to do that by standing against them, and protecting those they abuse."
It was only at that moment, that he realized what Himiko had meant, telling him he was ready. It wasn't that he was strong enough to become a hero, or even that he was strong enough to accept rejection.
No.
` He was strong enough to reject heroes, and forge his own path. After all, heroes had never saved him. If he wanted to save those like himself, he couldn't do it as a hero. He could only do it as a Victim.
Goodbye, All Might.
