This time I woke up when my alarm went off in the morning and I had woken up straight from the deeper sleep, so I hadn't glimpsed Deku before I woke. I did my usual morning routine of exercise, shower, breakfast and then off to class with everyone else. I still felt some weight on my shoulders from my lingering guilt and the unknown of One For All, but overall I felt better rested and maybe a little lighter. Some of the others in the class seemed a bit less tense since the funeral too. When the lunch bell rang, and everyone started to stream out of the class Mr. Aizawa raised a hand to catch my attention and I stayed standing by my desk while the last of the class filed out and then I approached him.

"How are you holding up?" he asked in his standard monotone voice.

"I'm alright" I replied flatly. He was not one for heart felt speeches and he knew it. He simply nodded at my reply.

"You know," he began, "I used to be a student here" I wasn't facing him directly as he spoke and I shot him an annoyed glance to let him know I wasn't in the mood for story time, but he ignored me.
"During my time in the hero course, one of my closest friends died during a fight with a villain" I perked up a little at his words and turned to face him properly. He wasn't one to share things either, so this was something big for him.
"It took me a long time to heal from that. So, you don't have to push yourself and act so tough. Take the time you need" he finished, and I couldn't think of anything to say. But he dipped his head to let me know he was done, and I could leave. I hesitated for a moment and then stepped towards the door.

"Oh," he added still with an unenthused monotone, "also, All Might asked to meet you in one of the counseling rooms during lunch" and with that he went back to shuffling with his papers.

It wasn't really a counselling room exactly, more like a casual meeting room. The school had several, but I knew which one he meant. I had accompanied Deku to several of his meetings with All Might before and he always used the same one. I slid open the door to find he was already perched on a seat that looked too small for him, leaving the couch to me. I sat down to one side of the couch out of habit. Deku had always sat on the side furthest from the door and I had always kept a good gap between us. I thought about sitting in the middle, but then chose to stay where I was. All Might noticed this, but thankfully didn't say anything.

"I spoke to Deku," I began before he could speak, "about your theory of him hanging around in my subconscious or whatever. He agrees with you" I finished with my usual scowl. I had no issues with All Might, but my absence from lunch would not go unnoticed by pack of idiots and I already caught worried glances from them from time to time.

"Well, that's good to hear" replied All Might with a nod. I don't think he had expected me to try to confirm his theory and he didn't really seem to know what to say about it, so he dove right into what he wanted to talk to me about.
"Tonight after classes, I've booked a time slot for us at the USJ for you to test out your quirk and One For All. We will have two hours for you to try to feel things out and we can start from there" he said with a broad smile and I nodded, though my thoughts were elsewhere. I wanted to ask how the quirk had manifested in him, how it had felt the first time he used it, if he could gauge it from the feel of it, but I recalled that he had once said that he had had a natural aptitude for it, unlike Deku. Deku had also told me once that All Might wasn't the greatest teacher when it came to One For All. A lot of the things he worked out himself but taking pieces of information from other pro heroes and applying them to himself.

"Sure. I'll be there" I replied and rose back to my feet. If he had more to say about it, he didn't speak up as I left. I made it to the lunchroom in time to still get some food and found Shitty Hair and Dunce Face at their usual table. When they asked what had kept me, I just shrugged it off and explained that Mr. Aizawa had wanted to check in on me which they nodded. I wasn't feeling too hungry, so I glanced around as I poked at my dish. My eyes glanced over the space and fell to Pink Cheeks who was already looking my way with a serious face and when my eyes struck her, she turned away quickly. I felt that annoying itch again at the back of my mind that she had something against me for failing Deku. I was sure others did too, but she either didn't bother to hide it as well or she just sucked at it.

After classes were all done for the day, I changed into my UA gym uniform and headed out to meet with All Might at the USJ, ignoring any glances I got my way and thankfully no one pestered me with stupid questions. All Might was already there, and he decided to start things off simply enough by just testing out the new strengths of my own quirk.

"For most of the previous users, One For All amplified their own quirk with he strength of the previous holders, allowing their quirk to be several times more powerful than it was on its own" he had explained. We gave it a shot and I fired blast after blast until I felt I had a handle on it. My explosions came out stronger than I intended to begin with, and I had to focus on reeling them back in back to a base level, which was far less output than I was used to. Using the same amount of output it took me to light our way in those tunnels, I could blast a door in just as easily. At first the new found strength had actually made me panic a little, glad that I had taken the hit from Four Eyes rather than retaliating. Things would have gotten messy. Once I had a base level down I wanted to see how far I could go, slowly increasing the output until I was panting for breath, and All Might had to tell me to stop. If I wanted to experiment further, I'd need a place without a roof. And I hadn't even gotten around to testing out my AP Shot, Stun Grenade or Howitzer Impact.

"What about strength and stuff?" I panted when All Might finally stepped back in close. My body felt hot from the heat from my own blasts, and I was already looking forward to a cold ass shower.

"You may find yourself a little stronger physically, but not by much. You won't be able to use it the same way Midoriya or I have" he replied, and I narrowed my eyes at him.

"Huh?"

"It's different for everyone," he explained, "both Midoriya and I were born quirkless so for us the quirk manifested in boosting the strength output of our physical bodies. Even then it varied between us. For those born with quirks, it works on that aspect instead" there was a lot to take on board with that, but something stuck out.

"You were quirkless?" I asked with surprise, but I tried not to let it show. All Might smiled to me.

"Yes, my boy" he nodded, "I received One For All from my master when I was a teenager too"

"You're telling me Deku would have gotten all buff like you?" I tried to imagine it and I didn't like it.

"No, no," he waved my thought away, "as I said, he manifested it differently to me" I thought of Deku's green sparks when every he used One For All and how it boosted everything about him. His strength, speed, reflexes. Shit, I wouldn't be surprised if he could have seen better in the dark while using the damn thing.

"Let us pick this up again in a couple of days," offered All Might with a thought, "I will have to book us a different area for you to explore your quirk more. For now," he walked to me and patted my shoulder, lifting it before I could flick him away and continued to walk and talk towards the stairs – those damn stairs, I was so exhausted I hadn't even thought about having to climb them again and walk back to the dorms - ,"you have learnt your new limits. Keep them in mind when you are in training" he smiled over his shoulder and with a huff I followed.