Toshinori looked at the tiny green-haired little girl with sad, unhappy green eyes.
Her name was Midoriya Nozomi, and her mother was killed in a villain plot that he failed to stop in time. Seeing her expression at the funeral was so heart-breaking he had to step in the second he heard she was being sent to an orphanage because she had no one to claim her.
In a single instant, her life was completely shattered...all because some villain had the bright side to blindside him with a kick to the leg, causing him to trip slightly and lose the momentum that would have allowed him to reach her mother in time to save her life.
Toshinori had gone to the small funeral, mostly to pay his respects to the woman he failed to save...and happened to overhear the girl's situation. Seeing the poor child so broken over losing her whole world had moved him that he had to take her in as atonement.
For the first few days, there was a bit of awkwardness as they slowly began to adjust to one another. Logically he knew everyone grieved differently, and Nozomi had to rely on her mother's friends to help with the funeral arrangements. There was no way she was over her mother's sudden death this quickly.
It wasn't until he happened to see the lights on in her room one night that he finally found a way to hopefully nudge his new charge into opening up... at least enough that she would be able to grieve properly and hopefully adjust to her new life.
The light he saw was from the small TV, and closer inspection revealed that the media player attached was recording something onto a blank disc from the casing. Nozomi herself was asleep, but the media player was recording a late night talk show he recognized immediately. The TV was on mute, but he could see from the images that his hero form of All Might was giving a late-night interview.
While logically he knew there were a few other interviews on that episode, it made him wonder if Nozomi was a fan of All Might... even though he had failed to save her mother that day.
What cemented his decision to keep her and possibly start the adoption process happened two and a half months after her mother's death. A reporter he didn't particularly like but learned to tolerate somehow recognized Nozomi as the daughter of the woman All Might failed to save.
He wasn't sure why she felt it was acceptable to question the girl about her mother. He also didn't appreciate the fact she had her cameraman nearby to record the entire thing. One thing he would never forget was the way Nozomi reacted when the reporter asked how she felt about the fact All Might failed to save her parent.
Nozomi, rather than break down crying like the reporter expected, grew pissed off.
"It wasn't his fault! All Might did everything he could to save her! If that stupid villain hadn't deliberately blindsided him, he would have made it in time! It's not like he orchestrated the whole thing!" said Nozomi angrily, furious beyond belief this woman would insinuate it was the hero's fault her mother died.
Dead silence. Toshinori was still a little stunned and was unable to stop himself from asking something he probably shouldn't have.
"Nozomi-chan...how did you know that one of the villains blindsided All Might the moment your mother was killed?"
Nozomi flinched.
"I...I wanted to see for myself why she died. It's not like they secure the surveillance cameras that well, and I've gotten into their recorded feed before to get a better view of hero fights," said Nozomi. She knew she would likely get into a great deal of trouble for admitting she hacked into the cameras, but she had to know what happened.
Considering the skill level of the villains in question, her mother shouldn't have died in the first place unless there were mitigating circumstances.
"You don't blame All Might?" said the reporter dumbfounded.
"Why would I?" said Nozomi, honestly confused. "He made every effort to save her, it wasn't his fault Mama went so quickly. Besides, there has never been a hero who could save everyone during every villain attack."
Toshinori bent down to eye-level with his charge. Nozomi didn't need to be told when she saw him holding his arms out slightly, as she wrapped her arms around his neck. She was stuck between the denial and anger stages of grief, and was still too emotionally raw to fully comprehend that her mother was gone for good.
He felt slightly gratified the cameraman discreetly deleted the video, and handed the only copy to Toshinori, to the annoyance of the reporter who was hoping for a sob story she could sell.
Nozomi cried for hours, and slept until morning. However she looked a little more alive than before, which was a small mercy.
Which was why he made it his personal mission to try and get her to smile. It was slow, and there weren't many successes at first, but he was able to figure out a few things.
One thing Nozomi seemed to enjoy was him carrying her around with her head against his shoulder with one arm. The physical contact seemed to help soothe her nightmares. Another thing she really seemed to enjoy was pre-quirk movies.
He was beyond happy to discover Nozomi was a major fan of the pre-quirk era things, as it meant he had a proper audience to help him watch all the movies he had in his collection.
Nozomi was still a little nervous about transferring to a new school. Her last one didn't exactly treat her well for being quirkless.
This school wasn't much better. It was one of those places where only those who had parents or patrons with major connections had any chance of getting into. Something she didn't have, but her guardian had picked this place out due to a recommendation of a friend and the school was all too happy to do All Might a favor by letting his secretary's charge into their school.
Just as she feared, the second they learned she didn't have a quirk most of the kids discreetly began to snub her. Since she was still fairly new, it would take a while for that attitude to sink in, but once it did maybe she could convince her guardian to let her do homeschool instead.
It was only around lunch that she found some ray of hope that she wouldn't be completely miserable.
She spotted a boy sitting away from everyone else with duo-colored hair, and upon closer inspection had heterochromatic eyes. He was in a fairly secluded spot, which wasn't visible from the main path and was through some fairly unpleasant bushes.
"Mind if I sit here?"
"Leave me alone."
"I am, I'm just asking if you mind quiet company," she replied.
He glared at her, though there was a hollow nature to the glare.
"Do what you want, but pretending to be my friend won't get you close to that man."
She blinked.
"Let me guess, you're hiding because your parent is a famous hero and you don't want to deal with fake friends who are more interested in meeting him than actually being around you?"
He nodded slowly.
"I have the opposite problem, at least until they find out who my legal guardian is. I've already resigned myself that no one wants to be my friend in the least because I'm quirkless," she replied. "Hence why I would rather sit here with someone clearly avoiding everyone else. I can avoid the worst of their condemnation and hopefully have someone who isn't trying to fake being nice."
Complete and utter shock.
"You're quirkless?"
She nodded.
"My guardian sent me here because he has a full time job as a secretary for a pro hero office and someone recommended this school. Apparently the part that decided him was the fact that the arrogant blowhard known as Endeavor sends his own kids here," she replied.
He stared at her.
"You think Endeavor is an arrogant blowhard?" he said dumbstruck.
She nodded.
"He may have one of the highest clear rates of any other pro hero office in the area, but the sheer amount of collateral damage he does because of his overbearing ego is ridiculous. If you look at public record you'll see he has to take that many cases on just to pay for the damages he does to buildings and the pay the hospital fees of those caught up in his attacks since he doesn't pay enough attention to the civilians on the side that are caught up in the mess. And anyone can tell he's a complete jackass with an ego that can't take the fact everyone loves All Might over him," said Nozomi flatly, and without a single hint of hesitation. "He might be a competent hero, but he's not a good person and I honestly feel sorry for his kids."
She never liked Endeavor. And that was long before she became the charge of All Might's secretary.
The boy seemed to mull something over, having sensed the complete sincerity of her words.
"Shouto," he said, holding out his hand.
"Nozomi."
The two ate their lunch in companionable silence, and she only learned after the fact that he was Endeavor's son.
In spite of that, he was the only kid in her class who openly befriended her long before it got out that her guardian was All Might's personal secretary.
A few weeks later, Shouto came to have a study session with Nozomi. She was scarily smart, and his sister fully approved of his friendship with her since she had little to gain from it beyond someone to talk to. After all, Endeavor was a quirkest and the idea of accepting someone as sweet as Nozomi who had no quirk at all would never even occur to him. Especially since her guardian was All Might's personal secretary.
He almost wanted to sweatdrop at the sheer number of All Might items in Nozomi's room, except he could only imagine the look on that man's face finding out his new best friend was an absolute All Might fan girl.
(The good kind, thankfully, not the overly obsessed nutjobs that seemed to believe they were destined to be soul mates with the unfortunate object of their attention.)
"How did you collect all this stuff?"
"I was always an admirer of All Might, even before my mama was killed. Toshinori-san is nice enough that he doesn't mind bringing back stuff from work for my collection, and I have a TV to record the interviews in my room. He also lets me watch the less graphic videos of other heroes, since I like collecting data about them. You should have seen Eraserhead's face when I asked him for an autograph along with Present Mic!"
Eraserhead was an underground hero, and therefor had next to no fans. Which he preferred, because he despised the media. Having a little girl actually recognize him on sight and ask him for an autograph in front of Present Mic had shocked him greatly.
Hizashi still hadn't stopped laughing about the look on his face when it happened.
As it was, when Nozomi admitted to hacking surveillance cameras to watch hero fights after the fact, Toshinori decided it was better to nip that potentially bad habit in the bud by introducing her to principal Nezu.
Apparently she was a natural genius, but the sheer harassment she went through because she lacked a quirk had her downplaying it. He had given Toshinori several puzzles and exercises to keep her mind extra sharp and to help develop it properly after meeting her.
Nozomi didn't know this, but most of the UA staff that had met her generally ended up smitten with the adorable young girl who had an honest love of heroes and a realistic view of their job.
With Toshinori...
Toshinori had to admit, he never thought his life would change this much by taking in a child. Nozomi was an adorable bundle of sunshine who brought smiles to everyone by being herself, even the more jaded heroes. She had a natural knack for computers and programming, and there was a good chance she might be able to join UA as part of the Support class...if only to help calibrate new toys for the heroes to play with to better suit them.
The strange feeling of protectiveness he felt around Nozomi was something he had grown positively addicted to.
It wasn't until he made a comment about it around his former sidekick that he was enlightened as to why.
"You're feeling the love and devotion that only being a parent can bring. She might not be your blood, but you're starting to see her as your actual daughter," said Sir Nighteye.
"I am?" he said surprised.
"That little girl has managed to worm herself past your usual barriers into your heart. It's not surprising...she's a sweet kid who genuinely loves your hero side while having a surprisingly realistic view of All Might and doesn't blame him for her mother's death. I bet you anything it won't be long before she calls you Papa or something similar," said Nighteye with confidence.
Once Nozomi had come out of her shell...mostly...it was clear she was starting to develop a bond with her guardian. He wouldn't be shocked in the least if she started calling him Daddy or something similar instead of "Toshinori-san".
In fact he had the feeling a lot of people would be willing to get into that betting pool if it was made.
(Though in the end, Present Mic ended up winning that particular bet on when she would openly call him dad and which version she would use.)
Toshinori, spurred on by what Nighteye said, decided to take Nozomi and Shouto to a small carnival for a bit of fun. Endeavor had no idea where his son was, and considering his foul mood and plans to 'train' him, that was probably a good thing. His sister was more than happy to undermine her genetic donor by allowing her little brother to spend as much time as he wanted around Nozomi.
Considering Shouto hated his father, it meant he generally tried to spend as much as he could get away with.
Of course it was only natural that a villain would decided today was the perfect day to ruin everyone else's fun.
All Might stopped the villain, but it was what happened when he went to get Nozomi and Shouto out of their hiding spots that would end up becoming something he almost felt like punting his publicist for.
Someone managed to capture the chaste kiss on the cheek Nozomi gave him in his hero form, and it hadn't taken long for his publicist to find out that Nozomi was the daughter of the woman All Might failed to save that his secretary ended up taking in.
You could imagine the spit take he gave when he saw the picture of him holding Nozomi like he usually did when she wore herself out and was too tired to walk, only this time with a kiss on the cheek instead of her curled up against him.
(He once asked why she liked curling up against him like that. She would only comment that he felt like 'warm sunshine and safety'.)