19 April 2179

It was early morning, a few hours before the students would be arriving back from their long weekend.

Hizashi stifled a yawn, his eyelids heavy.

The last five days had been strange, first Shota had been injured, he'd spent most of his time resting, letting his muscles and tendons heal, then Toru has come to live with them, at Hizashi's insistence.

After all, he knew what it was like living with parents that controlled you, tried to force you to be someone, something, you were not.

They had given Toru her space, allowing her to settle into the guest bedroom, or rather, her bedroom now. The support boy, Akatani, visiting had helped as well, clearly having friends over was not something she'd been allowed to do with her parents.

All they could do now is be there to give Toru help when she needed or asked for it.

The door to the conference room opened, admitting Nedzu and Detective Tsukauchi, the two of them coming to a halt at the top end of the u-shaped table.

The two spoke briefly, before Nedzu took a seat, next to All Might, in his true form, Kayama and Yosei sat in the middle section, while Hizashi sat on Kan's left, filling in for Shota.

His partner had insisted on attending the meeting, but Hizashi had insisted he do it, Shota would need all the sleep he could get for his first day back, he was still far from top form despite Midoriya's healing.

Hizashi's eyes turned back to All Might, something about him was off, he looked happier, and weirdly, his face didn't seem quite as gaunt as normal.

Nedzu cleared his throat. "Apologies for calling this meeting at such an hour, but I felt it was pertinent that the results of the police's investigation should be shared with you before we return to full-time teaching. Detective, if you would."

Tsukauchi nodded, stepping forward, a small stack of papers in his grip. "The police have investigated the group of villains that go by the name 'The League of Villains' and their attack on the Unforeseen Simulation Joint facility."

The faculty members listened intently.

"147 villains were arrested on Wednesday, however, seven more, including the ringleaders, managed to escape." Tsukauchi paused. "Their leader, Tomura Shigaraki. There appears to be no record of a man by that name, in his 20s or 30s with a disintegration quirk like his. The same applies for his right-hand man, Kurogiri."

"In other words, they are people with unregistered quirks, living in the criminal underbelly of Japan. However, the other ringleaders are of note, two of them are villains we recognise the names of, Nigata and Sangata. But, these two must be copycats, the originals haven't been sighted in over thirty years, while these two appeared to be in their 20s."

"Nigata? Sangata?" Hizashi frowned. "I recognise the names."

Tsukauchi nodded. "They worked for a larger villain, but the record of their appearances and quirks seem to have been lost to time."

"I've fought them, when I was still a hero-in-training." All Might said, earning the attention of the room. "I've seen the footage, their appearance, their quirks, they're different, but their behaviour, their mannerisms, it's a perfect match."

"All Might, can you tell you anything more you remember about them?" Tsukauchi queried.

All Might nodded. "I can, the woman, Nigata, her quirk back then was touch-based, invoked a wave of irrational fear in the target. As for Sangata, he was quirkless, but always dangerous, more machine than man."

"I see, so these new villains, they're the originals, with new bodies." Nedzu postulated. "It's certainly possible, those sort of quirks do exist, for example, we have two students whose quirks involve the changing of bodily possession in first year alone."

"There is another point to consider." All Might spoke again. "These two, Nigata and Sangata, the larger villain they worked for wasn't just any villain, it was the same man who injured me six years ago."

Yosei shook his head. "That would make him at least sixty, more like seventy, when you fought him, it's not possible."

All Might sighed. "It is when you're the Merchant of Quirks."

"All For One, that's just a bogeyman parents tell their kids about to make them behave." Kan argued.

"Yeah, my parents did it, told me the All For One would steal my quirk if I'd didn't do my homework! Spoilers, I still didn't do the homework." Hizashi exclaimed, striking a pose.

"I'm serious, he's a fearsome foe who killed heroes for generations." All Might could tell he was fighting a losing battle.

"Come on, even the name All For One itself is a bit on the nose." Hizashi shook his head. "Lemme guess, he has some kind of opposite, a hero maybe, called One For All?"

All Might looked tense, glancing across at Nedzu and Detective Tsukauchi every few seconds.

"It's ridiculous." Yosei declared, motioning with his hand, rocking his dreadlocks slightly.

A murmur of agreement passed through the room.

All Might spoke. "O'Clock."

The room went silent.

"He lost his quirk to this supposed bogeyman." The No.1 Hero continued. "Yesterday, a woman, a civilian, reported her quirk, Dust Devil, was stolen. The pro hero, X-Less, suffered the same fate on the night of the USJ attack."

All Might stood, transforming into his hero mode.

"Many more have lost their quirks, it's why Japan has the highest rate of quirklessness in the world." All Might's eyes glowed with conviction. "And it's my duty to stop All For One, I refuse to pass the burden onto the next generation."

Deflating, All Might sat, the atmosphere in the room now tense, awkward.

Nedzu cleared his throat. "So, you were saying, this Nigata and Sangata worked for the Merchant of Quirks."

"They didn't just work for him, they were his children, created, not birthed."

Hizashi raised an eyebrow. "Created?"

All Might nodded. "Created. As in created artificially from All For One's DNA."

"That they are." Nedzu confirmed. "All For One's DNA merged with DNA harvested from pro heroes, villains, even civilians, anyone with a quirk he is interested in seeing compound with his own."

"I've seen them myself." All Might added. "My fight with that man six years ago started as a raid on a facility that was growing them, on a rig offshore of Dagobah Beach."

Yosei frowned. "I don't want to seem like I'm doubting you, but cloning technology was lost, during the Quirk Wars."

"Or it was taken, under the guise of being lost, by a villain, a villain who, for example, had a quirk that allowed him to steal a longevity quirk, perhaps." Nedzu lowered his paws, gaze falling on Yosei. "All For One hordes anything he finds interesting, quirks, technology, people."

Tsukauchi cleared his throat, before pressing a button on the remote in his hand. "Sangata is an example of this technology."

The screen behind the detective lit up, showing footage of a white-haired man fighting Mikumo Akatani. The camera switched angle and the image froze.

"WHAT?!" Hizashi shot out of his seat like a bullet fired from a gun. "That person, why does he look like Shota?!"

Tsukauchi winced, his ears ringing slightly. "It appears Sangata is a clone created from the DNA of All For One and Shota Aizawa, also known as Eraserhead. From what the student, Akatani, explained to us, Sangata's quirk allowed him to temporarily copy another's quirk, in a similar fashion to Eraserhead's own quirk."

Kayama gave a small chuckle of resigned disbelief. "So this man is technically Shota's son ?"

Hizashi gave a strangle shout at that, having to reign himself in, he didn't want to blast the ceiling out.

Again.

"In a manner of speaking, he is." Tsukauchi pressed the button again, the screen changing to show two images, one of Sangata, the other of Nigata. "The same could be said for the other Children of All For One."

"The Children of All For One?" Kan questioned. "Weren't they a terrorist group?"

"Hm, yes, they were, still are I suppose, although they've been inactive for many years, until now." Nedzu scratched his furry cheek. "They rose to prominence killing pro heroes they judged as being unworthy of their quirks, invoking fear by tying themselves to the legend of All For One. Now it seems they've somehow integrated into this League of Villains."

"More like they share common leadership." All Might looked pensive. "I thought I killed that man, but yesterday, that was right out of his playbook, an attempt to emulate him, learned from the source."

"This Shigaraki, you propose he is a child of All For One as well?" Nedzu placed his paws together.

"Perhaps not in blood, but certainly in every other way." All Might shifted in his chair. "He's a wild, immature child, he's a braggart, believes himself entitled to anything he wants."

"In fact, his behaviour, it's pretty similar to how All For One was the first time we fought, nearly fifteen years ago." The No.1 Hero leaned forward slightly, clearly deep in thought.

The room listened.

"When I injured him, not badly, a nasty cut on his arm, he freaked out, it was the first time he'd been hurt in over a century. He retreated immediately, and after that, when we faced again, he had changed, far more serious, far more cautious."

Kan sighed. "So this Shigaraki guy, he's a man-child, a powerful man-child, trying to emulate his mentor in his prime."

"Could it be that this guy never received any Quirk counselling that every child has?" Kayama offered.

Hizashi shrugged. "I don't know how counselling would have stopped that brat, especially if he learned at the foot of a supervillain like that."

Tsukauchi spoke. "All but a couple of the villains we arrested on Wednesday were small-time crooks, squirreled away in the back alleys. What concerns me is how easily they followed Shigaraki, his simple, childish method of approaching villany must attract those who've been downtrodden by our hero-saturated society."

Kayama frowned. "This is troubling."

Her fellow heroes murmured in agreement, Hizashi just nodding his head.

"Our plan moving forward is to expand our search network and continue to assist the heroes in arresting the perpetrators of the attack on the USJ." Tsukauchi folded his papers, lowering them.

Everyone began to move, getting ready to leave.

"Wait!" Hizashi called out, using a tiny portion of his quirk to make his shout louder.

The assembled heroes and detective stopped, their gazes turning to the voice hero.

"You said seven villains escaped, the man-child, the mist, the two children and those two beasts." Hizashi was counting off on his fingers. "That leaves one unaccounted for."

Tsukauchi nodded. "It does, however, at this moment in time the Hero Commission has placed a seal order on the identity of his villain, I apologise, I cannot tell you anymore about him."

Hizashi frowned.

This villain, is he an undercover hero, or would it make the Commission look bad if his identity was revealed?

Izuku sat in the Class 1-A homeroom, everyone had arrived, apart from Aizawa. His classmates chatted amongst themselves, some about the TV coverage of the attack, others about the attack itself.

And then there were the ones like Izuku, they felt like they were cut off from the rest of the world, out of step. They could not unsee what they'd seen.

Mineta. Tsuyu. Hagakure. Himself.

Sero shrugged at something Jiro had said, before leaning back in his chair. "Who's to say what would have happened if the teachers hadn't shown up?"

Izuku couldn't help himself from flinching, neither could Tsuyu.

Mineta jumped nearly a full foot into the air out of his seat. "Don't say that, Sero! Just thinking about it again terrifies me, and if I think about it too much I'll hurl-"

Bakugo interrupted him. "Shut up, rat-face."

Izuku frowned, his childhood friend seemed subdued, muted somehow, he'd noticed on the day after the attack, when they'd talked in Izuku's bedroom, but now, it seemed more prominent.

Was it because of our talk?

Maybe the stress of the attack has gotten to him?

But that didn't seem likely, from the texts he'd got from Uraraka over the weekend it was more like Kacchan had managed to overcome a personal demon that day.

Oh.

That was why Bakugo was so full of rage all the time. His demons.

Izuku gave a small smile, he was happy for his old friend.

Bakugo began to turn.

The green-haired boy was panicking, had he been muttering out loud again? Had Kacchan heard it?

Bakugo's head stopped turning before it could face Izuku, instead pointing to the back-right of the classroom.

Izuku followed Bakugo's line of sight, his eyes falling on Uraraka.

Wait, what?

Uraraka quickly saw Bakugo was looking at her, prompting her to beam at him and display a peace sign.

The corner of Bakugo's mouth turned upwards.

Was Kacchan, smiling?

Bakugo whirled around to face Izuku. "Stop fucking muttering, you shitty nerd! You've been doing it the whole damn time!"

Izuku's eyes widened, he slowly nodded. Bakugo huffed for a few seconds, before he turned back to the front of the classroom.

Okay, so maybe Kacchan hadn't totally lost his anger and rage.

Explosions crackled in Bakugo's palms. "You're still fucking doing it, dammit!"

This time Izuku blushed, aware of the entire classroom's attention being on him.

Kacchan is really touchy that I saw him smile at Uraraka, does he have a crus-

Bakugo tilted his head back and yelled, an expression of pure rage.

Izuku turned his head, most of the class watched on in amusement, Ashido and Uraraka were howling with laughter, Kirishima was coughing from laughing too hard and Kaminari had fallen off his chair, rolling around on the floor.

Izuku looked nonplussed. "What's so funny?"

The laughter only increased, Kirishima's face went almost as red as his hair as he wheezed, even Iida released a small chuckle.

This was the scene Aizawa entered to, his class dissolved into gales of laughter, Bakugo yelling ineffectually at them to shut up, while Izuku tried to hide under his arm.

Aizawa smirked, before clearing his throat.

"Morning."

Izuku's head shot up, taking in his teacher's appearance. He was disheveled, yet no more than usual, a curved scar under his right eye, bandages peeking out from under his sleeves.

The underground hero started making his way towards the podium, a limp in his step.

All in all, he looked rather well for a man who'd had all his limbs and his face crushed by a 300kg genetically engineered monster a few days earlier.

Iida's arm shot into the air. "Mr. Aizawa, are you sure you're well enough to return?!"

Aizawa sighed as he reached the podium. "I'm alright."

Uraraka looked aghast. "Could you even call that alright?"

Tsuyu shared a look with Mineta, they'd both been up close and personal with Aizawa's wounds before Izuku healed them.

"My welfare doesn't matter." Aizawa looked back at his class, their expressions ranging from stoic, Todoroki and Bakugo, to concerned, Asui and Kirishima, and finally crying, Midoriya.

The entire class recoiled, before yelling back in unison.

"OF COURSE IT DOES!"

Aizawa hid his smile in his capture scarf. "Sure, sure, but more importantly, the fight isn't over yet."

Mineta whimpered, shaking like a leaf in his seat. "Don't say villains, don't say villains."

"The U.A. Sports Festival is drawing near."

Kirishima leaned his head back, bellowing from the bottom of his lungs. "THAT'S A SUPER NORMAL SCHOOL EVE-"

Kaminari's hand pressed against Kirishima's cheek, tilting his head and cutting him off.

Mineta was openly crying. "I thought he was going to make us fight villains again!"

Momo patted the short boy's shoulder in an attempt to comfort him, shocked when Mineta didn't make some kind of obscene comment about her.

Maybe he was just that scared of facing villains again?

Jiro spoke up. "Are you sure it's okay to have a sports festival right after the villains have attacked the school?"

"Yeah, what if they break in again?" Kaminari chimed in.

"Personally, I agree with you, but I was outvoted." Aizawa rolled his neck, the horrendous cracking noises making the class wince. "Apparently, they think keeping it running will allow U.A. to show that our crisis management can handle even a villain attack inside a school facility. Security will be five times the previous years, with three times the number of pro heroes on site at all times."

The class murmured amongst themselves.

"The sports festival isn't just a chance for students to display their talent and determination to industry professionals, but the major sporting event of the Japanese calendar." Aizawa paused, pulling a sleeve down to further hide his bandages. "With the decline of the Olympics, starting with its banning of quirk usage, and sealed with their disqualification of any competitor with a mutant-class quirk, the U.A. Sport Festival, as well as similar events at other hero schools, have taken the spotlight."

Silence reigned, the students listening to every word their homeroom teacher spoke.

"A spotlight that will shine down on you all in a little over two weeks."

Kaminari grinned. "It's gonna be awesome, all those hero agencies will be watching us, scouting for the next generation of heroes, loads of heroes end up as sidekicks for an agency they've interned with!"

Jiro shrugged. "Yeah, but loads of those who don't go independent end up as eternal sidekicks. That's probably going to be you, right Kaminari? You know, since you're a moron and all."

The blond-haired boy's eye twitched, before he recoiled dramatically. "Et tu, Jiro?"

"Jiro." Aizawa spoke, his tone low, the class, bar Bakugo and Todoroki, froze in their seats. "No calling your classmates morons, U.A. is just as selective academically as it is heroically, Kaminari wouldn't be here if he was a moron, would he?"

The purple-haired girl shuffled slightly in her seat. "Right, sensei."

"Good, I'm glad to see you agree." Aizawa paused. "By the way, Kaminari, Mic wanted me to pass a message on about that English essay you wrote."

Kaminari looked hopeful. "Yeah?"

"Next time, don't write nearly three times the word limit." Aizawa shuffled slightly. "But, he did say it was good work."

Kaminari beamed. "Thank you, sensei!"

Aizawa cleared his throat. "Now, back on topic. Your time to advertise yourself to these hero agencies is limited, the sports festival only happens once a year, that's three chances in total ,you can't afford to blend into the background of this event."

The students were on the edge of their seats now, even Bakugo was getting excited, a bright gleam in his red eyes.

"In conclusion, the last thing you should be doing is slacking off. As such, from now until the sports festival, lessons will run in the mornings, while afternoons will be dedicated to personal development, be that quirk strength training, or quirk strategy training."

Izuku clenched his fists, pumped up by Aizawa's speech and the general atmosphere of the classroom.

"I expect you to give this your all."

"Yes, sensei!"

"Good, homeroom is dismissed."

Izuku walked along the corridor, lunch break had begun, Uraraka and Iida alongside him as they made their way to the food hall. Uraraka had explained her reason for wanting to be a hero to them, prompted by Izuku's asking.

"Bravo, Uraraka!" Iida cheered, clapping his hands.

Izuku nodded along. "Yeah, just because you're becoming a hero to support your parents, doesn't mean you won't still be saving lives like the rest of us."

Uraraka nodded, the same intense energy she had shown earlier in the classroom returning. "I'm going to do my best!"

"So I've heard." Izuku smiled. "By the way, you and Kacchan seemed, friendly."

Uraraka nodded. "Yeah, I spoke with him the day after the attack, where you said he'd be, I guess Katsuki isn't just an angry ball of rage all the time."

Izuku choked on air. "Wait, Katsuki? He let you call him that?"

"Yeah?" Uraraka looked slightly confused. "Why wouldn't I? We're basically friends, especially since I gave him that hug."

The green-haired boy's eyes seemed to bug out of their sockets. "You hugged Kacchan, and you still have all your limbs?!"

Uraraka frowned. "Why's that strange?"

"Young Midoriya! I am here!"

All Might appeared from a side corridor, in his hero form, flexing his muscles for effect.

"To-, I mean, All Might, w-what's wrong?" Izuku queried, having jumped nearly a foot into the air.

"Lunch." All Might held up a bento box, tied up in cloth. "Wanna eat together?"

Uraraka did a spit take, howling with laughter. "H-He's l-like a love-struck teenage g-girl!"

All Might smiled. "How about it?"

Izuku glanced first to Iida, then to Uraraka, getting a nod from each of them.

"I'd love to!" Izuku set off after the No.1 Hero, towards one of the staff lounges, while Iida and Uraraka continued to the food hall.

Toshinori, still in his muscular form, handed the bento box to Izuku as they walked. "Here, Izuku."

"Thanks." Izuku smiled, untying it as they went. "Wait, is this my limited edition All Might bento box?"

All Might looked slightly nervous. "Well, your mother may have made me lunch in it a week or two ago, she insisted, I guess I could say this is my way of making sure it gets back to you."

"R-Right." Izuku replied, caught somewhat off-guard by the reminder that All Might and his mom were, well, whatever he'd seen the day after the USJ incident. "Thanks, All Might."

Toshinori smiled. "You've kept it in mint condition. By the way, make sure to call me All Might when we're not in private, or with your mother."

"Sure thing!" Izuku bobbed his head.

Toshinori stopped, one a door, marked as a staff lounge by a golden metal plaque. "After you, Young Midoriya."

Izuku beamed, ducking into the room, followed by the No.1 Hero.

Todoroki peered out from the spot he'd hidden, having trailed All Might and Midoriya since before they'd parted with Iida and Uraraka.

"Midoriya, he almost called All Might something starting with 'to', could it have been..."

Tou-san?

"The close relationship, the similar quirks, could it be that All Might is Midoriya's father?"

Izuku stared at the mountain of food laid out on the coffee table between the sofa he and Toshinori sat on.

"W-What?"

Toshinori, now in his true form, laughed, not quite as booming as he did in his hero persona, but definitely more warm. "You healed my stomach did you not, if I'm going to increase my muscle mass once more I'm going to need plenty of fuel."

Izuku's eyes widened with horror. "You're going to eat all this food?!"

Toshinori laughed again. "In my prime this amount of food would have been enough to maintain my muscle, however, I don't need as much now, despite your healing of my stomach, my wound is still pretty nasty, I'll never be able to regain my full form."

"O-Oh, I see."

"Thus! We'll be eating all this food together!"

"Together? I'm not sure I could eat even a tenth of what's here!" Izuku insisted, his stomach choosing that moment to prove him wrong by rumbling loudly. "Okay, maybe I could eat a tenth."

"Izuku, my boy, you're not eating enough." Toshinori thrust a bowl of katsudon into the green-haired boy's hands. "After I got One For All I nearly ate my master out of house and home. Besides, I had Recovery Girl do some tests on you while you were out cold on the day of the attack, they showed early signs of malnutrition."

"Really, I-I just thought that was just a side-effect of one of my quirks!" Izuku exclaimed.

Toshinori shook his head. "It isn't, now, eat up, we'll talk as we eat. There's something I wanted to tell you about."

Izuku picked up a set of chopsticks, snapping them apart. "Is this about you and my mom, because I'm actually okay with it. I mean, I understand, my mom's been alone for such a long time-"

Toshinori choked on his food, unintentionally transforming into his hero form. "What?"

"What?" Izuku echoed.

"W-What are you talking about?" Toshinori wheezed, coughing up the rice he'd inhaled. "Myself and Inko-"

"Inko, huh?"

Toshinori's cheeks flushed red.

Izuku couldn't stop himself from chuckling.

Imagine if I told myself two years ago I'd have a quirk, no, quirks, and I'd be watching All Might himself blush like a schoolboy with a crush?

"I can be pretty oblivious sometimes, but even I could tell." Izuku smirked.

"You know, I think Uraraka has been a bad influence on you." Toshinori commented, smiling back. "I think I preferred it when you could barely speak to me, now you're giving me cheek."

Izuku shrugged, releasing the pull on Slingshot, Uraraka's frankness fading away.

Toshinori took a deep breath. "Fine, there is something, I asked Inko out on a lunch date for next week. We just clicked, I guess she reminds me a little of my master, the kindness, the warm heart."

"You mean Nana Shimura?"

Toshinori choked on his food again, deflating instantly. "H-How do you know that name?"

Izuku shrugged. "I checked the hero database, crossed MIA heroes who showed enhanced strength as well as another ability with the time period you attended U.A., it was p-pretty simple if I'm honest."

"I see, how astute of you, but this isn't what I wanted to talk to you about." Toshinori paused, uncertain of how to continue. "I guess there's no easy way to say this, but-"

"My father is alive." Izuku finished. "All For One is alive."

Toshinori sighed. "So it seems, those Nomu, those monsters, from examination of the one that was captured, two quirks were surgically implanted, but the other three, bar its natural quirk, were imparted by All For One."

"How did he survive?" Izuku questioned. "Your fight six years ago, you say you killed him."

"So I thought, the injuries I gave him that day, they should have been fatal." Toshinori lowered his bowl. "We buried the body, at least what remained of it."

"So, a fake then."

Toshinori nodded. "It seems likely, possibly with the help of an insider."

Tears leaked from Izuku's eyes. "It's been such a rollercoaster, in a week my father has gone from being missing, to a supervillain, to dead and then alive again."

Toshinori placed a hand on Izuku's shoulder. "I know."

"Is it bad?" Izuku looked up. "Is it bad that I just want to forget it, to go back to wondering what happened to my father, instead of knowing he's a monster who created something as twisted as those Nomu?"

Toshinori pulled Izuku into a hug, the green-haired boy sobbing openly. "It's okay, it's okay, it's a lot to take in, I understand."

Izuku forced himself to stop crying, breaking the hug. "Sorry, I really need to stop crying like you said."

"Izuku, it's not weak to cry, it's human." Toshinori gave his successor a weak smile. "I mostly said it because I was worried you'd get so dehydrated you'd collapse."

A wet chuckle slipped from Izuku's lips, unable to stop himself.

Toshinori sat back down, picking his bowl up. "Now, tuck in, I hear you've got quirk training this afternoon."

Izuku nodded his head, wiping his eyes with his sleeve at the same time. "Y-Yeah, I need to focus on training my copied quirks to make them more powerful, and work on creating quirk combos."

"Quirk combos?"

The green-haired boy rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "R-Right, I forgot to tell you about that. During the attack I figured out how to use more than one copied quirk at a time."

Toshinori's eyebrows shot up. "You did? I thought that was a hard limit on Quirksmith."

"So did I." Izuku stopped, gathering his thoughts, before continuing. "I thought I could only use one quirk at a time, however it's actually that Quirksmith provides energy, like a battery and I was channelling it into one quirk at a time."

Toshinori nodded along, understanding his protege so far.

"So I changed the way I think about using Quirksmith, now I can use multiple quirks at once, like in a parallel circuit, except the power is split between the quirks."

"Equally?"

Izuku rotated his hand in a 'so-so' motion. "As a default, yes. But I can alter the power distribution by imagining resistors in the circuit."

Toshinori placed his chin on his thumb and forefinger. "I see, what effect does One For All have on this parallel circuit?"

"Same thing as when I charge a single quirk, except the power is shared in the same ratio as I have the circuit set." Izuku explained, before seeing Toshinori's blank stare. "Basically, it works."

"Excellent!" Toshinori cheered, bulking up for a moment. "It seems you have a lot of work to do with your quirk before the sports festival."

"Y-Yeah." Izuku nodded his head.

"However." Toshinori pointed a spindly finger at Izuku. "About the sports festival, you still can't regulate One For All's power, can you."

Izuku's face scrunched up. "I think I did it, but by accident. Something Thirteen said before the attack started stuck with me, about how our quirks can easily be used to kill. The first smash I used on that larger Nomu wasn't my full power, I was consciously holding back. Around fifty percent in total."

"I see, can you replicate it?"

"I think so, I used a memory recall quirk I copied to remember the sensation of fifty percent, I'm going to try calling on the same feeling again during quirk training."

"Well, that's progress, is it not?" Toshinori smiled. "You should be proud of it."

Izuku hummed, nodding his head at the same time.

Toshinori stood, his food eaten, moving to look gaze out of the window. "Honestly, my time as All Might is growing short, you may have bought me some time, but my embers are still going to burn out. And that something that villains like Shigaraki are starting to realise."

Izuku stood, facing his mentor.

"I passed One For All on to you because I wanted you to succeed me." Toshinori turned, pointing at the green-haired boy. "I assure you, I still feel the same way, in fact, I'm even more confident in my decision than I already was then."

Izuku couldn't stop himself from grinning like a madman at his idol-turned-mentor's praise, his cheeks tinged red.

"So, it's come time for you to show yourself as the hero that will succeed All Might." Toshinori continued. "The sports festival is an event not just by pro heroes, but the general public as well are watching closely."

Izuku felt the tension rising in the room as All Might's voice did the same.

"The next All Might, the Symbol of Peace-to-be, is Izuku Midoriya." All Might stared directly at his successor, his face filled with pride. "I want you to go out there and tell the world, 'I am here'."

Tears once again brimmed in Izuku's eyes, warm, soft droplets, in harsh contrast to the racking sobs of earlier.

"Izuku, you must tell them, you will be a hero!"