One day and one hour later than they'd initially agreed, Izuku climbed into the unassuming truck waiting for him in the parking lot just outside his apartment.

"Hey." Was all the greeting the boy got, All Might's utterly flat tone matching his blank expression. That already boded ill in Izuku's book.

"Good afternoon."

All Might started the engine immediately, and a moment later they were on the road. He didn't ask anything, he didn't volunteer any comment or observation. The manifest indifference was beyond unnerving. Izuku didn't do well with unnerving.

"Uhm. They told you already, didn't they?" Izuku blurted out. "That my father-"

"Yes. We can talk about that later. Tsukauchi will be giving us a call for a quick briefing."

"Oh. Okay."

They didn't speak as they drove. They didn't speak as they set to work on their respective tasks.

The atmosphere was completely different from the first day. All Might practically ignored Izuku for the entirety of his trash-hauling rounds: no advice, no critiques, no jokes or jabs. His quietness weighed on Izuku's mind like a boulder, sparking an oppressive sense of guilt in him even if he had no idea what responsibility he could possibly hold in the current state of affairs. The hero didn't look exactly angry, but certainly gloomy, hunched as he was on the files he was perusing, with drawn eyebrows and ill-concealed weariness. During the breaks, his questions were terse and unaffected, as if all the obvious engagement he'd shown so far in the case had mysteriously vanished.

By the time Izuku heard All Might's ringtone, his nerves were so frayed that he nearly lost his hold on the small TV he was carrying. Despite everything, he felt relief when the man beckoned him with a gesture: if any shoes had to drop, so be it. Anything was better than this anxious wait.

Only few pleasantries were exchanged before Tsukauchi asked the pivotal question.

"No, he hasn't." Izuku confirmed.

"And this isn't something you'd consider normal, is it?" All Might sat atop the stairs, his elbows propped on his thighs and his chin resting on his folded hands. His long bangs hid his eyes from Izuku's view, but it wasn't hard to tell that his mood wasn't improving.

"No, not at all. He always calls on the first day of the month, both me and my mother separately since I got my own mobile." And this time his father hadn't called either. Not a peep. For two days in a row, almost three now. And that, much to Izuku's dismay, was perhaps the most damning piece of evidence of his father's guilt that the boy had faced yet.

"Has this ever happened before?" The detective's voice chimed in, loud and clear from the speaker of the phone resting on the bare concrete between them.

"Yes, a few years ago. We didn't hear from him for several months. It turned out he'd been indisposed because of… an accident on the job…" Izuku was growing to hate the gut-churning sense of doom that came with constantly discovering new, chilling interpretations to just about every sentence his father had uttered over the past fourteen years. An accident on the job, imagine that. All Might grimaced, probably reaching the same conclusion.

"That's when he sent you those chat-only devices, right?"

"...Right." Izuku was fairly sure that his mother had already told Tsukauchi all that, since they'd already confiscated the chat-phones for 'more accurate examination'. Yet the detective felt the need to inquire again. Double-checking. Cross-checking. Confirming the reliability of the sources.

Suspicion and distrust .

"We can rule out an injury in this case. The timing cannot be a coincidence." All Might muttered, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"You mentioned an emergency number. Have you ever tried using it?" Tsukauchi asked.

"Only once. When my quirk manifested. It wasn't exactly an emergency, but I was a bit… upset. Oh, and my mother used it when we got worried because he wasn't calling."

"So it would be possible for you to contact him yourself, in theory."

"Yes, but… it would be strange if I did that just because of one skipped call. Last time we waited... three months, I think, before reaching out ourselves. He'd probably get wary if I used it without a good reason, it isn't something I would do."

His assertion was met with utter stillness. Izuku fidgeted uncomfortably, trying to parse the meaning of it. Were they at a loss? Angry at him for his uncooperativeness?

"O-Or maybe I would. I… I think I can come up with an excuse, if you want me to try using it." He went on, his brain racing to keep up with his overly proactive mouth. "Last time this happened he got badly hurt, so… I could pretend I got very worried and called him in a panic? W-Which would also be a good excuse if I were to, uh, actually panic while talking to him because of… all the stuff I know-"

"No. Please don't do anything of the sort." Tsukauchi interrupted him firmly. "Regardless of the reason for his current silence, we don't want to risk having this preferential line of communication cut off. It could be useful for us in the future, so don't mishandle it."

"O-Okay." Once again, the faint crashing of the waves did nothing to fill the troubling pauses in their discussion.

"...Midoriya." Tsukauchi eventually said. "Can you think of any possible explanation for your father not to call, other than him being aware of our scrutiny on your family?"

That was the crux of the matter, wasn't it? Izuku dropped his head and bit his lip. "...I'm sorry, I couldn't say."

"Excuse my bluntness." All Might interjected, finally turning his head to look straight at Izuku. His expression was no less than grim. "You didn't happen to alert him about what we're trying to do, did you?"

Izuku's jaw literally hung open in shock. That- Was that really what they were angling for? "N-No! No, I didn't!"

"I don't think-" Tsukauchi started, but the hero continued as if he hadn't even heard him.

"It is exceedingly common for relatives to shield or help criminals avoid detection, no matter how serious their misconduct. It is… a very human and understandable reaction, to protect a loved one no matter what." All Might's expression softened, somewhat, but his gaze was still so intense that Izuku felt pinned by it like a butterfly. "We'd hardly be surprised if you felt that urge as well."

"I… I did not, I swear…" Izuku gulped with difficulty, his throat tight with tension. He was freaking out. He was freaking out, he could tell, and that wasn't the kind of response that supported his plea of innocence. He had to be rational about this. Tsukauchi and All Might would see reason when presented with it, surely- "I-I couldn't, even if I wanted to, could I? You've been watching us, you know who we've been in touch with…"

"Not from the very moment you learned the truth. A whole night passed before the technicians put some surveillance measures in place… and I imagine it must have been a grueling night for you. You had many questions I didn't answer straight away - which was perhaps foolish of me. And if you wanted those answers straight from the horse's mouth…"

Izuku's heart sank right into the ground. Because All Might was right, he had been tempted to use that damn emergency number and demand some explanations, he had been oh so tempted … But he had (barely) managed to repress that impulse, because what were the chances of obtaining an honest reply anyway? No criminal with a lick of brain would spill the beans just because their child asked nicely, especially not someone as consistently secretive and silver-tongued as his father. All he could possibly get were denials he didn't know whether he could trust. But All Might's hypothesis made too much sense for him to just take his word, didn't it?

"I didn't." Izuku scrambled to pull his own phone out of his pocket, dropped it through sweaty fingers, picked it up hastily, tapped on some random icons to make sure the screen still worked, and held it out to All Might. "H-Here, check yourself. I didn't call him, or anyone else. Please check."

"They already did." The man didn't move an inch and barely looked at the device, almost absently. "But you're a smart kid, and your father is even more clever. I think we'd be naive to assume you couldn't find a different way to communicate if necessity arose, one we might not catch onto as readily. That's why I'm asking you."

Izuku's arm slowly lowered, his phone still clutched in his hand. There was just… no way to disprove such suspicions. He stared at All Might in dismay, failing to come up with any semblance of a reply.

"Please understand that, if your father was indeed warned about police involvement, our first and utmost priority would be, for obvious security concerns, to identify who provided such information to him, and how." All Might's tone was lower, almost reassuring, as he leaned towards Izuku slightly to emphasize his words. " Not to punish said informant. There would hardly be any negative repercussions for you if you admitted to doing it, given the circumstances. I can promise you that."

Izuku was speechless. All he could do was gawk helplessly at his idol as he more or less tried to goad him into a confession, and shake his head negatively.

After what felt like hours, All Might finally broke eye contact, his expression darkening as he rested his chin on his hands anew. "...All right. I understand."

Tsukauchi cleared his throat in a little burst of static, suddenly reminding Izuku of his existence. "...Anyway, at this point our best course of action is to wait and see if our man will decide to contact the family in some other way, and continue our investigations in the meantime."

"I suppose." All Might acknowledged laconically.

"That is all, then. Thank you both for checking in. I'll keep you in the loop about any developments on our end."

"Much obliged."

"Have a good evening. You too, Midoriya."

"Good evening." All Might fetched his mobile, but he didn't end the call right away. Belatedly, Izuku realized he was waiting for him to bid goodbye as well, but Izuku simply didn't have it in him to utter a single word at the moment. After giving him a brief, indecipherable look, the hero tapped his phone anyway and put it away.

"There's still time for one last workout session, I think." The man eventually said, apparently nonplussed by Izuku's continued unresponsiveness. Numbly, Izuku stood up and hobbled towards the heap of junk closest to the water, if only to get some more distance between them.

He worked slowly, on purpose. He didn't run, not even when passing right beside All Might, yet he got no reproaches or encouragements whatsoever. Izuku did not feel altogether there, but he could tell that the man's focus wasn't faring much better, considering that he didn't turn a single page in his file for at least ten minutes.

A travesty, that's what it was. All of it.

The big, worn maneki-neko he was hoisting suddenly slipped from his grasp and landed heavily on his right foot. Izuku yelped in pain and instinctively hopped away from it, falling on his rear on the soft sand.

He did not get up. He did not see the point. He simply sat there, massaging his ankle even after it stopped aching, sorely aware of his burning eyes and his quickening breaths.

"Is everything all right?"

Izuku was facing away from All Might, which was very convenient, because he wasn't sure he could bear the sight of him for a second longer. He focused his attention on the grimy paw of the tipped-over cat in front of him. This was a good thing, maybe. The definitive wake-up call he needed to put any last misplaced hopes and dreams to rest.

"Kid?"

Suspicion and distrust. Those words kept floating in his head like a jinx. His father was right, and how couldn't he be? He was the very cause of the consequence he'd foreseen, ancient legendary criminals be damned. His carefully-worded duplicity felt unspeakably cruel.

Padded steps behind Izuku's back made him aware that All Might had approached him.

"Hey, did you get hurt?"

"Why do you even bother?" Izuku kept his head resolutely bent downwards. Addressing the sand felt a lot safer than exposing himself to that searching glare again. "Questioning me. If you can't trust my answers."

"...What?"

"I don't know how to prove that I didn't talk to my father. I don't think I can." Izuku sniffed, unable to hold back his tears. He wondered if all that recurring crying was arousing All Might's suspicion too, no doubt he must look like he was fishing for pity or something. "But if you don't believe me, what's the point of asking me anything?"

"I do believe you. Of course. Otherwise I wouldn't-"

"Then what was that about?" He whined. Pitifully.

At times like these, Izuku wanted nothing more than to be like Kacchan. He wanted nothing more than to be the kind of person that, when faced with injustice or adversity, found the strength to stand upright, raise his fists, shout, fight back. Get angry. Why couldn't he just get angry , instead of curling on himself, crying, shaking, groveling? What was so fundamentally broken and weak in him that always made him beg for the barest scrap of acceptance, instead of exacting due respect?

All Might didn't reply immediately. If Izuku's outburst affected him in any way, his persistently level tone did not show it. "That was a very real possibility that needed to be ruled out. The possibility of you making a wrong move, out of naivety, trust, or fear. We had to ask." Another pause. "Believe me, if we thought you were deliberately feeding us false information, we'd be treating you very differently."

Was that supposed to be a threat? A poorly delivered reassurance? A dispassionate statement of facts? Izuku genuinely couldn't tell. He didn't know what to make of the hero's sudden detachment, of how different he was from the previous days. What Izuku did know, however, was that he deserved none of it. He deserved none of the suspicion, none of the scrutiny, none of the contempt, none of the trickery, none of the lies that had been dumped and were still being dumped on him.

And yet, he was going to have put up with it all anyway. For the rest of his life.

"I wouldn't do that." He didn't sound nearly as firm as he hoped. He sounded like a petulant child throwing a tantrum, and all the more accurate for that. "He's a liar, and a thief. I wouldn't help him. I wouldn't protect him. I wouldn't lie for his sake. I'm not…" I'm not like my mom , he almost said. But it felt cruel in his own head, too cruel and unfair to throw out there just for the sake of making a point.

"...No, you wouldn't." All Might said, just a tad more softly. Just a tad, but it was enough to compel Izuku to finally turn and look up at him. The hero looked pensive, and vaguely troubled. "You don't strike me as the kind of person who would. But…" All Might seemed to struggle for words for a moment, then he simply spread his arms and let them fall back to his sides dejectedly. "I've known you for all of one week. What do I know?"

Izuku blinked. That was… a fair point, to be perfectly honest. One week. Had it really been only one week since it had all begun? It felt so, so much longer… Was it unreasonable to expect that degree of trust from the police, from All Might so soon? Maybe it was. And yet… And yet…

"So… Y-You don't really think it was me who warned him?" Izuku was acutely aware of how pathetic he must sound, practically begging for consolation as he was, but pride and self-respect were luxuries he had never been able to partake in as much as he needed.

"No, I don't. Although… honestly, it would have been a relief if it had been you."

"W-What? Why?"

"Because we are reasonably sure that the house itself isn't under anyone else's surveillance, and if it isn't you, and it isn't your mother…" All Might's hand shot up and ruffled his own hair with a grimace, suddenly nervous, frustrated, strangely and overtly so. "It means that we have to look somewhere else."

It took a minute for Izuku to read between the lines. He remembered something All Might had said a few days before, about how they were employing a limited number of agents to avoid… exactly that, information leaks. Were they afraid that the mysterious snitch could hide within the police themselves...? That would indeed be a problem with a capital P. A leak a lot harder to pinpoint and contain than one caused by the most obvious suspects. Not to mention how it kept reinforcing the notion of Izuku's father being some freakishly influential figure in the criminal underground, if his network of associates included even members of the force.

"...Oh." Izuku commented eloquently.

"Look, I just… I was offering you an out, in case you needed one. Wiser people than you and me have done worse things for the sake of their family. I didn't mean to insult you." The man didn't move, not quite, but something in his demeanor deflated. His shoulders hunched somewhat, and the tense wrinkles in his expression smoothed - not as if his worries had cleared up, but as if even maintaining a simple frown took him more energy than he could spare at present. "...I'm sorry. It's been a bad day."

And just like that, Izuku's grievances vanished into the ether. They always did. He could never hold onto them, even when he rationally knew he ought to. One word of apology, one kind gesture, even a simple truce during an argument, and Izuku was always ready to let bygones be bygones. He knew for a fact that that was just about the only reason why he still called Kacchan his friend. He knew for a fact that it wasn't the most advantageous trait of his character, but it just was how he was. Who he was. Someone who simply couldn't reject a proffered hand.

"...Okay." He sniffed, wiping away his tears, as they were promptly replaced by new ones and as the low roaring of the sea drowned his last hiccups.

"...Do you want to go home?" All Might eventually asked. The sun was about to start setting, far beyond the city skyline.

"I can stay a little longer." Izuku offered, mostly because the simple act of standing up and walking back to the truck seemed a Herculean task after all that. "But let's just… drop this."

"Drop what?"

"T-This." Izuku gestured all around him, at the inglorious cemetery of old metal, plastic, and his own aspirations. "The 'training'. Let's just… forget about it. Ask me whatever you have to ask me. It's why we're here."

"You want to stop training? For good?" Izuku really, really did not understand what was going through All Might's head that day. Why now, after everything that had been said, why now was when he decided to sound disappointed?

"It's a waste of time. The investigation is what's important, right?"

"The investigation is about your father. This is about you. Your future is no less important than his."

They were charitable words, but they did not ring true to Izuku. Not because he thought All Might's concern to be disingenuous, but because they clashed so outrageously with the harsh reality of things that Izuku couldn't help but feel like he was being treated like a toddler, and expected to believe that Santa was just about to climb down the chimney.

"Well, my future seems dead set on going in another direction, doesn't it?" Izuku muttered, pulling his knees to his chest and wrapping his hands around his shoes. "First it was not having a quirk, then it was having a bad one, and now this thing with my father… Everything that could have possibly gone wrong with me trying to become a hero, has gone wrong."

"So you want to give up."

Izuku's jaw tightened, and his fingers dug into the sand forcefully. Now, that was just… unfair , wasn't it? "It doesn't matter what I want. I don't even know what I'm up against in the test. I don't even know what skills I'm supposed to have or improve. Everything is just so up in the air, I… There's no way to plan ahead, no way to know whether I have a reasonable chance, or even a small one…"

"This is hardly your problem alone." All Might retorted tersely. "No candidate will take the admission test knowing what they're in for, or with any reasonable certainty of making it in. You will all be facing unknown odds and challenges. Even those who receive a recommendation will have to undergo a preliminary-"

"Well, at least the others know for sure that they will be considered! And evaluated fairly, and trusted- trusted to be normal, decent people, instead of… of a criminal in the making with an ungodly powerful quirk! As if the test wasn't enough, I don't even know if I will be considered at all, or if they'll just- just show me the door the moment they realize what my power is, or who my father-"

"I told you," All Might interrupted him, visibly ticked off now, "That you have a chance. You said that a chance to prove yourself was all you needed. Is that not enough any more?"

"It's- it's NOT!" Izuku finally burst out, spreading his arms in exasperation, his vision growing blurry and warm tears trickling down his cheeks all over again. Pathetic, to his last whimper. "Not like this! A-Am I just supposed to… to work myself to the bone for ten months, just in the off chance that maybe that's exactly what I need to pass a test no one knows anything about, and that maybe people will be convinced that I'm not constantly at risk of- of making a wrong move just because I've cleaned up some trash for a while?!" Izuku dropped his forehead on his knees, huddling on himself even more in a vain attempt at stifling his own sobs. "I-It's just too much! None of this makes sense! It's never going to work!"

Silence stretched. Heavy, uncomfortable, miserable. What else was there to say?

"You want certainties." All Might said, an eternity later, low and plain. "If you want certainties, this profession might not be for you."

Izuku peeked at the man again. He wasn't looking at him. He was gazing at the sea, evidently lost in his own thoughts. What a harsh judgement to hand out with such unassuming calm.

"I'm sure this must look like an insurmountable hurdle stacked on top of an enormous task. But the work of a hero involves dealing with much worse odds, and for much higher stakes on a daily basis, I hope you realize that." The hero paused. "It is a rare privilege to enter a battlefield or the scene of a disaster with the certainty of being able to fulfil your duty."

Izuku exhaled with a shudder. He… He knew that, obviously. He wasn't comparing a school test to the hardships of hero work, not at all, but… But what? What counterpoint could he make to that assertion?

"I suppose I have no right to preach in this regard, though." All Might bowed his head humbly, a shadow of genuine regret clouding his features. "I was blessed with the power to do exactly that for so long that I have grown complacent and lost sight of that basic principle myself. Had I known better, I wouldn't have been watching idly from a crowd while an innocent boy almost got choked to death simply because I didn't think I had it in me to put in a little extra effort."

"That… You can't call that complacency!" Izuku objected unthinkingly, disturbed by the logic of that statement. "You were exhausted! It would have hurt you! You weren't the only hero on the scene either, you had plenty of good reasons not to-"

"That doesn't matter. It mustn't matter. Sometimes the only certainty you'll have upon undertaking a mission is that your chances of making it out of it in one piece are almost non-existent." All Might's eyes homed in on Izuku again, sharp and bright, his head jerking towards the boy so fast that it almost made Izuku flinch in surprise. "Nevertheless, you must play your part. Because if you don't, someone else will have to take your place on the front line, and take the brunt of it in your stead. And because your efforts, even if insufficient by themselves, might just be enough to pave the road for someone else to finish the job."

That shut Izuku up. That was… a wake-up call, all right. Heroes got hurt on the job commonly, sometimes they ended up maimed, sometimes… Sometimes they lost their lives on the line of duty. One never really thought about that, when pursuing a dream. One focused on the chance of making it, or not making it, but never really… on the possibility of it just going wrong. Of biting more than one could chew. Was it… stupidity? Frivolity? Short-sighted optimism?

"You are right." All Might went on, undeterred. "The path you would have to tread to become a hero would be bumpy, bumpier than most. But a hero's path - any hero's path - isn't just bumpy, it's an uphill climb riddled with chasms. No one reaches the end, or even the midpoint, without sacrifices and gambles. Dire ones, whose outcomes affect other people more often and more gravely than they affect you. If this -" All Might tapped the dirty maneki-neko with his boot, and then drew an all-encompassing gaze at the mounds of refuse surrounding them, "...Is where you draw the line between an acceptable sacrifice for a possible success, and a fruitless endeavor unworthy of your effort, then I'm afraid you are grossly underestimating the import of the profession."

Izuku couldn't hold All Might's gaze any more. His eyes dropped to the ground and he exhaled sharply, burning with shame. He couldn't argue with any of that. What right did he have to gripe and moan about sore muscles and legitimate, straightforward questions, when the kind of person he wanted to become should be able to bear so much more, and willingly? How could he lose his heart so easily, at the mere prospect of some workouts and a few odd glances, when he was supposed to be ready to risk life and limb on the regular? How could he have been worshipping heroes for his whole life, while underestimating their fiber so badly to mistake his sorry, spineless self for one of them?

"I'll ask you again." Izuku couldn't help but raise his gaze again, under the magnetic pull of All Might's imperious tone. "Why did you jump in to save your friend the other day?"

Izuku gulped. "Because… I messed up. And he was suffering because of it. Because of me."

"How did you mess up?"

"I didn't use my quirk the first time I faced the villain." If he had, All Might wouldn't have been forced to exhaust himself to save him. He wouldn't have dropped the bottles either, because you can't pour a person into a bottle. It had all started from Izuku's fear of exposure, from that one nearly fatal misjudgement.

"Because you didn't use your quirk." All Might pressed on, not unkindly, but unrelentingly. "So you jumped in after you chose to use it? Was it a calculated decision?"

"I… N-No. I didn't really think or plan ahead, I just… moved. I had to save him."

"Had you borne no blame at all for what was happening… Had the hostage been unknown to you, rather than your friend… Would you have jumped in all the same?"

"I…" There was a part of Izuku, a well-worn, deep-seated part, that almost answered I don't know , out of sheer habit. It was the part of him that always doubted, always made sure he didn't overstep, always reminded him of his own mediocrity. There was another part, however, that this time, just this once, positively burned with indignation at the thought.

It was the part of him that knew the real answer, because it had already long since proven itself. It was the part of him that had kept its ground, almost a decade ago, against Kacchan and his friends, back when they had first gained access to their quirks, and their childish glee had taken the shape of gratuitous bullying towards just about any suitable target that crossed their path. It was the part of Izuku who had stood in the way, who had defended those helpless children over and over, even if they never thanked him, or bothered to speak to him again afterwards. It was that part of him that just couldn't sit still and let unfairness and cruelty have their way right before his eyes. It was one part of Izuku that still, after all those years, hadn't changed one bit.

"...I think I would have."

Izuku expected further prodding, or a rebuttal, but none came. All Might studied him with unnerving intensity for a few moments, but then he nodded curtly, simply accepting that reply for what it was.

"You do have your heart in the right place, but that alone isn't enough. Since you want certainties, here's what I know for certain about you, and I know it for certain because I saw it the day we met, and because you just told me yourself. What I know is that, when you faced an emergency by trusting your instincts and taking action without hesitation, you saved a friend and defused a dangerous situation. When you faced the very same villain by fearing and doubting and thinking and thinking and thinking , you did nothing. You crippled yourself into inactivity so badly that there's no guarantee you'd have made it out without serious injuries if I hadn't arrived." All Might let out a sigh and shook his head tiredly. "Always wait to act until you have all the certainties you need, and you may as well never act at all."

More truths, being firmly shoved in his face. Izuku didn't have it in him to hold the sternness of it against All Might. He never could get angry at his father either, whenever he looped an ironclad reasoning around him. The truth was the truth, no matter how affronted one got at it. It was disgraceful and undignified to fight it, not to mention useless. So Izuku just sat, letting the number hero and Symbol of Peace lecture him like the naive schoolboy that he was. He supposed he ought to feel honoured, in a way, that the hero was deigning to dedicate his time to that ungrateful task, rather than ditching him without further ado and employing his time more suitably.

Yet, even if Izuku had no doubt he was behaving like the most irritating brat in the whole of Japan, All Might didn't seem properly… angry at him. Quite the opposite, he looked almost disheartened the more he spoke. The man sighed again and rubbed his neck slowly, apparently picking his next words carefully.

"I stand by what I told you on that rooftop. For someone who is quirkless, for someone who is that purely idealistic but utterly powerless, to become and live as a hero, it would take…" All Might slowly clenched his fist, and his eyes dropped on it for a moment, a strange, wistful look on his face. "A miracle."

Izuku contemplated that closed hand too. With its bony knuckles and raised tendons made all the more evident by the lack of bulging muscles and flesh, it looked rather different from the nigh-omnipotent fist the bulkier All Might had shown him a few days before during his pep speech. The man wasn't holding it out either this time, he kept it closer to his chest, like something more frail and private, to be diligently cherished rather than proudly paraded.

"But you aren't powerless. Neither you are hopeless. You have the potential to make a difference." The hero's gaze met Izuku's once again, with sudden sharpness. "Why do you want to be a hero, Midoriya?"

The answer came easily. Words stamped into his mind like a talisman, since his most tender age. "Because I want to be someone who smiles fearlessly through the worst hardships. Someone who gives hope with his presence alone. Someone everyone can always rely on. I want to be the greatest hero, like All Might."

...It was not the answer All Might wanted to hear. His eyes narrowed. "You are facing a lot of hardships, but I'm not seeing any smiles. You speak of giving hope, but you seem to have none for yourself. And you are at a point in your life where you can't help but rely on others more than others can rely on you. You are quite far from the ideal you'd like to incarnate right now."

Cutting. Cutting and merciless, like only the naked truth could be. It was true, Izuku did not live up to his ideals in the slightest, and didn't he know it.

Guilt gnawed at his stomach painfully. All Might was going to such lengths to instruct him on how to pursue his dream, he was dedicating some of his undoubtedly precious time to overseeing his pitiful struggles with trash, he had even gone as far as to use his quirk - he had used his quirk! He had coughed blood ! - just to encourage him, and it had worked… briefly. He had sparked a little hope in Izuku's heart, he had inspired him to try a little harder, endure a little more, push himself a little further… for a couple of hours. But then, by the time Izuku was sprawled on his bed that very same night, alone with his doubts and his achy limbs and the pieces of what he'd believed was his life, he hadn't been able to hold onto those words.

There was no sugarcoating it. No matter how much he tried or believed in himself, he wasn't going to clean any beaches. He wasn't going to move any vans. He wasn't going to smash past his limits and obstacles with raw guts. Someone like All Might would, but not Izuku. Because he was not like All Might, and never would be.

It was an awareness he'd always had, shoved somewhere under a rug in his heart. It was probably the very reason why he'd latched onto the hero's image and gestures so tightly in the first place. Because All Might was brave, strong, competent, indefatigable, optimistic, confident… everything that Izuku was not. Almost a polar opposite. An impossible dream, all the more tempting by virtue of being utterly unachievable. A coward's dream, because it required no real effort to be reached, because it could not be reached, so why even bother trying? Why training, why struggling against his peers' scorn, why putting on a brave front, when none of those things could ever bring him any closer to the impossible? He may as well sit tight and just wait, basking in his comfortable illusion that somehow, someday, something might magically change.

But All Might, the real All Might, the one positively towering right before his eyes and casting a long, caging shadow over him, a shadow made even more disproportionate by the sun setting behind his back, had zeroed in on that umpteenth truth without hesitation. Shredding the boy's paper-thin delusion before he could be tempted to hide behind it again.

Izuku bowed his head, meekly waiting for the inevitable, final verdict of his unworthiness to be passed.

"Do you want to try to give me another answer?"

Izuku's breath caught in his throat. He did. God, he did. He felt on the verge of an abyss, one he'd never make it out of if he didn't find it in him to jump, just this one time. He wanted to be a hero. That was his one certainty. He wanted to be a hero. And for once, his certainty was not being questioned because of his quirk, or lack thereof. All Might was questioning his will . Was that where he was failing? Was that, truly, the fundamental quality he was lacking?

No , the four-year-old kid standing in Kacchan's way cried, once more. Not that . Anything but that.

"I want to be there for the people who don't think they'll get any help. I want to do everything I can for the world to be fair, and right, and kind. I want to be-"

He stopped. What he wanted to express wasn't particularly dramatic, or glamorous, or shameful. Yet, it felt like the most private of things, the most intimate of secrets. It felt as if he was just about to slice his own belly open and spill his very innards before him, for the whole world, for his idol to behold. Something painful, disgusting, something that was never meant to be seen, neither by himself nor by others. But something that was, nonetheless, absolutely necessary to get out there.

"I want to be better than I am. I want to be someone others can look up to. Someone I can look up to."

For few, agonizing seconds, nobody spoke. Then, a soft sound. A sigh, or an exhale. Izuku dared to raise his head.

"...I like this one a lot more." All Might said with a smile. A thin one, the barest hint of it, but one that reached his eyes and wrinkled the taught skin around them.

It stirred something inside Izuku. Something that he could not name, tight and wound up like a coiled spring. A tension. A crave. He shuffled on the sand, until he was kneeling to face the man directly, fists clenched tightly on his thighs. "...How do I do that? Become that kind of hero?"

All Might considered the question with renewed gravitas. "You ask how to become a hero to a hundred heroes, and you'll get a hundred different answers, I think. If you want my take… Whenever you see a need, a task to be accomplished, a role to be fulfilled… you run ahead at full speed towards that goal." The corners of the hero's mouth twitched upwards into another smile, but one so very unlike that from a moment earlier. Derision, almost. Derision that, Izuku was somehow certain, was not aimed at him. "...That's it. It doesn't sound like much, does it?"

Oh, it did. It sounded like a hell of a lot of work. There was proof of it etched in the man's every dry limb, in every jutting bone, in every wiry strand of hair. It was plain to see exactly how much work and sacrifice it took to follow that one, simple, unassuming principle. "It does."

"Do you think you have it in you? To dash headlong towards your goal without ever stopping, no matter the obstacles, no matter the uncertainties, no matter how exhausting?" A poignant pause. "Do you think this is what you want to do with your life, even?"

It struck him, there and then. Like a proper epiphany, or a vision. How incredibly, unfathomably different All Might looked in that moment.

Izuku would never be like All Might - not like the All Might he'd always seen on TV, or admired from afar. He would never get anywhere close to that shining beacon of hope, strength, confidence, positively superhuman perfection.

But this All Might, the one standing right before his eyes, was something else. He was a striking sight, standing rail-thin, tall and proud before the setting sun, the perpetual shadows around his eyes and under the sharp angles of his face made even more cutting by the lighting, hair and clothes fluttering gently in the light breeze, but he himself unmoving and unbending. This All Might was something else, some one else, that transmitted an entirely different concept of heroism. This was someone who was not strong, not physically, someone who looked like he really ought to be kept as far as possible from a fight or a dangerous situation, and yet who braved them willingly every day. Someone with a quirk that was just as much of a blessing as it was an atrocious curse, and yet one that he used nonetheless for the sake of others. Someone who didn't just sit at the top of the hero chart with a boisterous laugh without breaking a sweat, this was someone who'd risen to that spot fighting overwhelming odds and bearing untold sacrifices in silence and at great costs, and who clung to it with tooth and nail. Someone who had bad days and put his foot in his mouth, and was honest enough to bow his head and apologize afterwards. Someone who, very clearly, struggled, and emerged anyway. Someone whose greatest asset was his will, and with that alone he'd made do. Just for the sake of running towards that goal.

This, Izuku thought, maybe madly but whole-heartedly, this was a kind of hero - a kind of person he looked up to, and he could realistically aspire to be.

"Yes. To both."

All Might raised his chin, eyes ablaze with something much brighter than the star burning behind his back. "Then the path ahead of you is apparent, is it not?"

It was. All Izuku had to do was steel his resolve, and stand up, and start running.

"Yes. It is."

He got to his feet. He held All Might's scalding gaze until the indescribable turbulence bubbling inside him grew too much, and he felt compelled to move. His eyes fell on the metallic cat, and he made to bend and pick it up and resume his task, when All Might's hand landed on his shoulder. A warm squeeze, steady but gentle, commanded his attention once again.

"That's enough. It's getting late." All Might said with a small smile, the most simple and uncomplicated one Izuku had seen from him in the entire day. "Good work today."

Izuku hadn't earned that praise that day, not even a little bit. But it did not matter. He would earn it twice, three times over the next days to make up for it, if it was the last thing he did.

He let All Might herd him back to the truck, and helped him gather his files and cooler and load them onto the vehicle. He didn't climb onto it though. He let his gaze roam along the deserted shore, the jagged outline of the buildings opposite the horizon, and the road between them.

"I'll jog back home."

All Might looked at him quizzically. "Hm? Why?"

Izuku shrugged. "I'm not too tired today. That's good training too, right?"

"...That thing I said about running wasn't meant to be taken literally, you know." The man countered with a fleeting smirk, leaning slightly against the open door of the driver's seat. "Nor was it an invitation to pointless recklessness. You should avoid going around on your own. Especially considering the recent developments."

"I'm never on my own though, am I?" Izuku gestured widely towards the city, and the presumably several invisible agents or drones stalking him on the regular. "I don't think this is any more dangerous than walking back and forth from school every day."

"No, but still…"

"I'll stick to the trafficked streets. It isn't a long way, I'll be home before it gets dark."

All Might regarded him in silence for a few moments, then gave him a slow nod.

"...Text me as soon as you get back."

"All right." Izuku saluted him with a small bow of his head, then he threw his backpack over his shoulders and started running.

By the time the truck's engine rumbled to life, he was already too far to hear it.