—Later, on the way back home—

After getting scolded by Grey, and her uncle (over the phone) for 30 minutes, she finally got herself checked out at the hospital. She first visited her mother. They talked for a while, and, as always, loved having Grey around as she knew full well that he took care of Izumi 24/7. Izumi was glad her mother was slowly recovering her trauma and was smiling more lately. Later, after some tests, the doctors informed her that her vitals signs were completely unharmed from the incident earlier...however…the doctors all confirmed that her medications had to increase temporarily because "that" was going to happen in a couple of days. For safety measures, she had to be absent from school for a couple of days.

"Your mother looked happy," Grey hummed. "So glad that I didn't ruin it by spilling the beans, right?"

"Grey! I'm sorry!" She exclaimed. "I know I messed up! But please! Don't tell her now! She may end up getting a heart attack!"

"Deku!" Izumi flinched when she heard the aggressive shout behind her. Grey quickly put his jacket over her head to hide her long flowing hair as Katsuki came after her, stopping from a distance, panting and catching his breath.

Grey stepped in front to hide her as his face darkened. "What do you want now, Bakugou?" He growled.

"My business ain't with you, tanned skin!" He growled back, his eyes narrowed suspiciously at her. She could tell in Katsuki's eyes, that Grey was an extra who was getting in his way.

"I never asked you for your help! And you didn't help me!" He shouted at her, clenching his first, glaring at her. "Got it?! I was fine by myself. You're a quirkless failure playing with a full deck! I don't think you can look down on me! Are you trying to make me owe you?! Damn nerd!" He turned to his heel and began stalking off.

Grey looked at him incredulously, narrowing his eyes by that sudden outburst. "Toughness, I see." While Izumi laughed softly, happy that Katsuki recovered fast.

"But...he's right," she said, and Grey looked at her confused. Izumi took his jacket off her head.

But it's just as he said. It's not like I accomplished anything or changed anything. But I'm glad. Now I can think of a realistic future…

"I AM HERE!" All Might appeared in front of them out of nowhere. The two teen jumped in fright.

"All Might!" Izumi said in shock. "Why are you here?"

"You were surrounded by reporters earlier!" Grey added.

"Ha Ha Ha Ha. Getting away from them was a piece of cake. Why?" He began flexing his muscles. "Because I'm All Mig—ughh!" He squirted out a lot of blood from his mouth and reverted back to his skinny form.

"UWAHHH!" Grey yelled. "SKELETON!"

"AHH! WAIT! GREY, DON'T LOOK!" She frantically waved her hands to cover his eyes.

—later (after explanation)—

"Wow, who would have known this was All Might's true form" Grey sighed. "That face is enough to scare kids away."

"Don't be rude!" She punched his gut, and he groaned. "I'm so sorry. Even though he's the same age as me and we work together, he still hasn't properly learnt his manners!" She bowed, and shoved his head down as well to apologize.

"Are you his mother?" All Might murmured. The hero sighed and said, "Young lady. I come with thanks, a correction, and a suggestion." She released her hold on his head and looked at her idol. " If you hadn't been there… If you hadn't told me about your life… I would've turned into a guy in a bodysuit who was all talk. Thank you."

Izumi looked down at her black boots, ashamed of herself. "That can't be. It was my fault in the first place. And as a police officer, I was just taking responsibility for my actions. I put a former f-friend...No, a civilian, in danger and got in the way of your work, and said all those impertinent things even though I am powerless."

"That's it," she looked at him again. "It was because it was none other than a timid, quirkless you at the scene that I was able to act." She gasped and looked at him with wonder.

"Top heroes have stories about them from their school days." Yeah, she knew this. Kacchan said the same thing earlier. " Their bodies moved before they had a chance to think."

…

Her eyes widened.

She didn't know why, but her throat ached and felt parched as her tears flowed from her eyes, recalling what her mother said all those years ago.

"Izumi! Izumi I'm so sorry! Mother is sorry about this!" Midoriya Inko bursted into tears as she hugged the small girl.

No...mom...that's not what I wanted you to say…what I wanted to hear was…

"Izumi?" Grey said warily. He caught her as her knees buckled and fell forward. "Izumi?!"

"That was true for you, too, wasn't it?" All Might said.

"Ah...a… a...yeah…" she sobbed out as she held onto Grey as though her life depended on it.

"You can become a hero."

She finally cried aloud in Grey's arms. She was shaking badly, and the tears poured out endlessly. No one had said it, the words she wanted to hear, not even her family. She was tired of being looked down upon, bullied, enduring the pain she went through these past few years...And now , the man who she admired since childhood, the hero she wanted to be like, told her she could be one.

She was happy. She was really happy!

"You are worthy to inherit my power,"

...

She looked at him. "Eh?" She tilted her head.

"Huh?" Grey looked at him with wide eyes.

"Inherit your power?" She sniffed.

The two of them flinched when he laughed suddenly. "Why are you making that face? It's just a suggestion." He approached her. "The real show starts after this."

"...wha?" The two of them gaped.

-later, Izumi's apartment, Toshinori's perspective —

Before All Might said anymore, Grey suggested they talk in a better location—their apartment. Izumi went to the bathroom immediately to make herself look less horrible after all that crying.

Toshinori thanked the young man for their hospitality as tea was prepared.

"So," the tanned young man started. "For Izumi to inherit your quirk—"

"Yes, well—"

"—I don't want to know." The hero was stunned, confused as well. Grey ran his fingers through his hair and looked away. "For the number 1 hero to have a shriveled up form like this is—that's valuable info. And that's more than enough for me to hear. Unlike Izumi, not everyone trusts me back in the precinct. I kind of have a juvenile record. And because of that I have this collar," he pointed at his black choker. "This is actually a monitor. I can't take it off no matter what I do, as they didn't want me repeating my mistake."

The hero stared at him, baffled. Here's another odd one. So a female quirkless middle school cop was partnered with a male middle school cop with a record. Man the world had gone weird. "How long were you watched?" He asked.

Grey stretched his arms. "Hmm, 3 months before I began my police training. So, since I was 9. Oh, don't be shocked. This monitor is only on me so that I wouldn't use my quirk on people unreasonably."

He frowned. "Quirk? You mean your teleport—"

"No, no. I inherited that from my dad. My mother's quirk is the dangerous one, you see. One day I snapped at my classmate as I was tired of them making rumors about my dad, so my rage got the better of me as I beat them all half to death…" he huffed closing his eyes...then changed the subject. "...You know, it's the first time I've seen her cry."

"I'm sorry?"

"Izumi," he said, getting up. "She's discriminated against a lot of her coworkers because she's quirkless. But she never submitted herself to despair and cry in front of them. You see at work, we need to be objective about everything, and not get emotional or biased while solving a case. Her uncle taught her to control her emotions and be careful with her judgments with people. That's why it took so long for her to earn her badge. She had perfected herself to act like a professional whenever she wore that fake mask. When she met you today, did her demeanor change suddenly?"

Toshinori contemplated, then nodded. It made sense. One moment she was a squealing otaku like fan of All Might, asking for his autograph. Next moment, she went as a stone cold officer, formally requesting him to hand over the villain.

Grey went on, "The boy she saved today. I'm envious of him." Toshinori snapped his eyes at him. "Izumi personally considered crying as a weakness to herself, so she'd been holding out strong in front of other people. Even me and her mother. However, because that porcupine haired bastard is her childhood friend, he's probably the only guy she cries in front of."

Porcupine? Did he mean the boy she rescued earlier?

"Well, anyway. Imma go and buy something from the store downstairs, meanwhile, you can take your time to tell Izumi the secret of your quirk." He opened the door. "I promise to keep my mouth shut about this."

The door slammed shut.

2 days later, she began her training in order to be a suitable vessel for All Might's quirk. And her first step was to clean all the trash that was stranded in the deserted beach before the U.A entrance exam. There was also this super tough training schedule All Might prepared for her which, honestly, took out all her work hours. After much discussion with her uncle (to fully prepare herself for the exam), he agreed to let her take leave for 10 months (he planned to let her take a break anyway since he wasn't paying her to begin with).

"Haaa—are you serious?" Grey whined on the couch as Izumi made dinner. "Investigating murder without you would make things soooooo boring~"

"It can't be helped," she set the table. "Besides, you know being a hero has always been a long term dream of mine. I can't be a cop forever."

Grey was silent for sometime, contemplating. "Are you...really going to quit once you catch Ryuu's killer?"

She froze, dropping the spoon to the floor. Ryuu...every time she heard his name escape from other people's lips, she shuddered. "Y-yeah," She stuttered, picking the spoon. "I...I don't know how long I can bear seeing a murdered corpse first before catching the criminal responsible later…"

Grey turned his head to her direction. "You know what happened to you, Ryuu—" she shuddered again, "—your mother and Bakugou that night at your old apartment… wasn't your fault, right? No one saw this coming…"

"...I know," she replied in a hesitant manner. "But...if I hadn't been so damn oblivious and let that monster in my house when he said he was looking for my father, then maybe…"

She closed her eyes…

—flashback, hospital —

"Kacchan!" Little Izumi cried when it caught to her attention that Katsuki had woken up. She rushed to his hospital bed and hugged him tight . He had been unconscious for a week. Thank god! Thank god he awoke!

She heard him groan and quickly let go, remembering the bandages wrapped around his head. "Sorry, how are you feeling?"

Katsuki rubbed the side of his temples and looked at her confused.

"Kacchan?" She frowned, worrying why he was silent. Normally he would say, 'yeah, of course I'm alive' or something.

He narrowed his eyes at her and the words that came out next shattered her world…

"Deku?"

...eh?

"Kacchan?" She stared at him. Deku? Who was that?

"Oi, Deku," She flinched. "Why are you spacing out like? Why are you here? And what's with that girly outfit of yours? Are you trying to cross-dress or something?"

...

This can't be happening. "...Kacchan? Why...are you calling me 'Deku'?"

"Huh? It's the name I gave you, duh. In Kanji letters, "Izuku" can also be read as "Deku". Did you forget?"

No. No. No. Izumi's breathing went fast. "Kacchan, you're joking with me right?" She felt her throat ache as tears threatened to fall. "I'm Izumi, not Izuku."

Katsuki stared at her, then suddenly groaned in pain , pressing both sides of his temples. "Kacchan!?" Izumi said in panic. Was remembering making him go through pain?

Izumi held his hand when he stopped being in pain. He slowly opened his eyes, and looked at her green ones, confused. "Kacchan? Are you okay?"

He narrowed his eyes at her. Then opened his mouth...

"Deku? What are you doing here?"

Her breath hitched as she let Katsuki's hand slip from her fingers.

…

He'd forgotten her...

—later, park—

"Sorry for being late," Bakugou Mitsuki said, making her way to meet Izumi. "That lowlife brat of mine was still awake, so it was difficult for me to sneak out. How are you, Izumi, dear?"

Izumi smiled brightly. "I'm fine, Aunty. Sorry for asking you to come meet me this late...I felt that I needed to talk with you about...Katsuki…"

The older woman nodded, her face full of pity. "What'd he do to you this time?"

A lot of things, she wanted to say. But…"I'm not here to talk about what he did to me...it's just…" she took a breath. "It's about my situation...I don't think I can hide my gender from him once I get accepted to U.A… the school wouldn't want that."

Mitsuki flinched hearing this, but sighed as she patted Izumi's head. "It's alright. I understand. I should actually thank you for cross-dressing for Katsuki's sake since that tragic night. It must have been difficult."

"But...I'm still worried. Kacchan still hadn't recovered his proper memories of me, what if I end up hurting him when he's forced to remember? Or forget?"

"Don't worry," Mitsuki smiled. "The doctors said the pain in his thick skull wouldn't be as sharp as it used to be as he grows older. He'll eventually remember things bit by bit rather than be in that loop of forgetting. Of course, you have to take things one step at a time. He'll probably flip his lid and harass you endlessly demanding the truth, but once he gets the whole picture of what happened that night at your place...I'm sure he'll understand." Izumi smiled weakly.

Then Mitsuki added, "And I'll make sure that little ungrateful shit sincerely apologizes to you for all the hell you've been through because of him. Starting with treating you with Katsudon everyday, then writing a long apology letter, then all those birthday, Christmas and valentines gifts he ignored. I mean, you deserved all that for taking care of him."

Izumi sweatdropped. "Gifts are a bit…"

Mitsuki scratched her head, and looked at the sky. "That brat...he's always been bad with his feelings, and doesn't think twice about what comes out of his mouth. Even if he called you his "pet" when you were kids, which I always smacked him for, Katsuki really cared for you, nonetheless."

Izumi felt her cheeks heat up. "I-I'm aware. He even declared I'd be his till we were dead in front of all the kids."

"Haaa!?" Mitsuki smacked her forehead. "What the hell? He proposed to you already? Tch, no use trying to tease him about now. Anyway, the reason I'm bringing this up now is to give you a heads up. Katsuki had feelings for you when you were kids, that's a fact. When he...slowly sees you as "Izumi" and not "Izuku", his memories would slowly return—including how he felt about you before. And since he's at that age of puberty and hormones acting up, there's no doubt he'll lose control of his emotions due to confusion and anger from his feelings. So, the point is…There's a possibility that he-he may fall for you again, for real this time."

The green haired girl stiffened.

...Eh!? What?

"He may not be direct about it, but from what my gut tells me, he'll definitely start calling you his "pet" again. So when that happens," Mitsuki grabbed both her shoulders and brought her face close with a serious expression, " Feel free to reject him. Hardcore. " Izumi's mind went blank. "Don't get me wrong, as much as I love the idea of you being part of our family, that little shit doesn't deserve you or your heart. Yet. So make him suffer for a bit, alright sweetheart?"

Izumi forced a weak smile, nodding quickly. Why did she had a feeling that Aunty Mitsuki had been planning this for a long while now?

Scary...