The day Nozomi called Toshinori "papa" was one he would remember for the rest of his life. It also cemented the feeling Toshinori had developed towards his charge and started the process required to make her his actual daughter.

Nozomi was half asleep after a movie marathon, and he had picked her up to put her in her room so she could get some rest. She had school the next day after all.

Nozomi snuggled into his hold.

"Night, papa," she said quietly, before drifting off to sleep.

Toshinori stood there stunned, still holding her. Nozomi's weight wasn't very hard to maintain for him. A light blush spread across his cheeks as her words hit him.

She had called him 'papa'.

It made him seriously consider his own feelings towards her since he took her in, and he carefully came to the conclusion he had long since stopped viewing her as his 'charge' and more as his 'daughter' a long time ago.

Nozomi was a sweet girl, and was a breath of fresh air after a long day of hero-work.

She had already displayed some skill at cooking, and she always made sure he had something to eat when he got home late. She might not be up when he came, but there was always a meal he could put in the microwave and heat up in a few minutes.

Realizing that Nozomi had slowly slipped from being his charge into his child, he knew there was one course of action he should take.

The next morning, while Nozomi was school Toshinori went to his detective friend to find out what paperwork he needed to file in order to legally adopt her as his daughter. Tsukauchi wasn't surprised in the least, and openly admitted that he expected Toshinori to come in months ago for the paperwork.

"She's been good for you, and I'm glad you taking this step."

"What do you mean?" Toshinori asked confused.

"You've been taking less risks as All Might, and you've been more attentive about injuries you've gotten. You also seem happier in general and it feels like a weight has been taken off your shoulders," said Tsukauchi. "Not to mention from what I've seen, Nozomi-chan has recovered nicely over the shock of her mother's death and has adapted to her new living situation."

"So how long will it take for the paperwork to go through?"

"About a week, maybe less considering your connections. This is mostly a formality after all, since you took her in months ago. You're just making her status as part of your family official in the eyes of the law."

Once the paperwork was filed, it took all of three days for it to come back. Toshinori waited until the next day to tell Nozomi, since he wanted to make a day out of it...and he had to take a bit of time to let it sink in that she was now his daughter.

Several of his colleagues were quick to congratulate him once they heard what he had done. It was all very discreet, and the media seemed to know something big had happened to All Might regarding his personal life, but they managed to keep it hush-hush.

He did not want his daughter to be subjected to the sharks in the media. Not until she entered UA as either a hero or as part of the support class.

Nezu was already quite eager to get her into his school, as her natural ability to analyze quirks and her programming skills made her a valuable asset in helping to calibrate support tech for heroes and had helped a few times when it came to training certain students who had unusual abilities.

Nozomi seemed to sense something was going on when Toshinori took her out to eat on a Saturday. He seemed slightly nervous about something...but it wasn't a bad thing from the way he was acting.

Then...he showed her the paperwork. It took several moments for the writing to sink in, but once it did tears started to well up in her eyes.

The next thing Toshinori knew, his daughter was bawling and hugging him tightly. It took him a bit to realize she wasn't upset, but that she was deliriously happy.

"Does this mean I can call you Papa now?" she asked, once she calmed down, eyes full of hope.

"Of course," he said without hesitation. "Naturally I felt such a momentous occasion deserves to have a proper atmosphere... which is why we're going to be spending the day together at that amusement park you liked so much!"

Nozomi's eyes brightened with delight. Her papa had taken her and Shou-chan to an amusement park since Endeavor was "too busy" to actually celebrate his son's birthday. Shouto had been surprised, but quickly warmed up after his sister dropped him off with a wink and they had a blast at the park.

Nozomi had been so mad when she found out that Endeavor didn't even remember his son's birthday at all, and had been utterly dismissive about the subject when his daughter tried to bring it up.

(Shouto openly admitted he was jealous of Nozomi because she had Toshinori-san as a father...he might be an absolute dork at times, but he was leagues better than Endeavor on his best day when he deigned to remember someone other than himself. He couldn't remember the last time Endeavor did anything nice for any of his children unless it was to appease his own ego.)

They had a wonderful day, and she walked out of the park with a ton of new prizes. Some of them she would share with Shou-chan later, since he rarely had anything in his room. Endeavor was such an ass that he sometimes got it in his head that things like stuffed animals were 'distractions' from his son becoming a hero.

Shouto was happy for her, but what really had him tearing up was the fact Toshinori-san handed him a spare key to the apartment so that he could discreetly come in and crash whenever being around Endeavor was too much for him to take. He had a bedroom and everything.

Since Toshinori couldn't exactly adopt Shouto as well, despite the suspicions he had about the abuse going on, this was the next best thing.

Shouto's sister Fuyumi would always claim that he was having a study sleepover with his best friend if the police asked where her little brother was. The only reason she still even lived in that caustic home was to protect Shouto, since their older brothers had long since moved as far away from the blowhard the second it became an option.

Shouto and Nozomi were walking back to the apartment from school when she spotted it. It was a tiny little thing shivering from the suddenly cold thanks to the snow in an alley most people would ignore.

Nozomi took off her jacket and promptly scooped the tiny animal up, and Shouto didn't need to be asked as he discreetly kept the air around her warm with his fire quirk.

He used to hate his fire side until he met Nozomi, who helped him find a way to put a unique spin on his duo-quirks that Endeavor couldn't replicate if he tried...and it was also effective at both pissing the man off and training.

The first time he had unleashed the superheated steam during one of their so-called "training" sessions, Endeavor had ended up scalded pretty good because he had dismissed the sudden fog. For someone with a fire quirk, he never thought mere steam would be a threat. It was something his flames couldn't protect him from and trying to get rid of the steam only made things worse.

It was now Shouto's go-to method to avoid his father whenever he was forced into a training session and Endeavor was in a foul mood at the time. By the time it cooled enough for him to safely get past it, Shouto would be long gone.

Fuyumi didn't know where Yagi's apartment was, nor did she want to know. She knew her little brother was perfectly safe with him and was probably bonding with his best friend Nozomi.

If those two didn't end up dating by the time they entered UA, she would be shocked.

By the time the two made it to the apartment, a small nose poked out of Nozomi's jacket. It was black and hinted that the animal she was carrying would be utterly adorable.

They managed to clean the creature off, revealing a small kitten. It had two tails, and something told her that the animal had a quirk...or was possibly a nekomata if she remembered her mythology right.

"Too cute! Think papa would let me keep him?"

"If he says no, then pull the puppy eyed look and he'll cave instantly," said Shouto.

Nozomi had a devastating Puppy-eyed look. She used it on him once and he felt like caving to whatever ridiculous demand she made.

Toshinori predictably saw his daughter holding a tiny kitten in her arms with twin-tails, took one look at her expression and sighed. On the plus side she would at least have someone keep her company when he was working late and Shouto was at his house.

"What are you going to name it?" he asked finally. Nozomi beamed at him.

"I'm going to name her Tsuki, because she has this crescent mark on her fur!" said Nozomi. The kitten mewled in her arms.

The tiny kitten didn't grow much bigger, though Toshinori and Shouto felt an inordinate amount of amusement when Eraserhead took one look at her new animal partner and started cooing over it.

It was a little known fact that the underground hero had a major love for all things cat-related.

On an unrelated note, they did get an answer for what Tsuki was. She didn't have a quirk, but she was a rare creature known as a nekomata.

During a villain attack, when Shouto was dragged along by his arrogant father, Tsuki jumped off his shoulder and grew to enormous size with flames to match. Her tiny fangs became long daggers that were similar to a saber-toothed tiger and her tiny frame became large enough to carry a full-sized adult with ease...or two children. The massive fireball she blasted out at a villain that got too close to her Mistress' friend was impressive enough that Endeavor showed a speculative look that Shouto disliked immediately.

The expression on everyone's face when Shouto somehow found himself on Tsuki's back and the cat flew was HILARIOUS. The expression on Nozomi and Toshinori's face when he quickly found himself on the balcony of the apartment? Equally hilarious and he was glad that he had enough warning to take a picture with his phone.

Tsuki was just pleased her mistress liked her power so much that she put her through a full grooming session. She was purring for hours while sleeping it off.

Nozomi was only kept from running into the room by the strong grip Eraserhead had on her shoulder.

All Might had just been in a very nasty fight, one bad enough that he was immediately hospitalized.

Due to the nature of his injuries, the doctors weren't entirely sure he was going to make it and he had already returned to his base form as Toshinori. All Nozomi knew was that her father had gotten caught up in the fight and was badly injured.

Toshinori still hadn't dared to tell her the truth of him being All Might, even if Nozomi had made it very clear she didn't blame him for her mother's death.

Nozomi's eyes teared up when she saw him in the bed, looking pale as death. Only the machines steady beeping indicating he was still alive kept her from believing the worst.

She broke away from Eraserhead and to Toshinori's side, crying.

"Papa..."

Eraserhead winced. No matter how often he saw it, seeing a child so upset over their pro hero parent being badly injured never got easier.

Nozomi looked utterly horrified hearing the extent of his injuries, but Eraserhead hadn't the heart to take her away. After all, the way she was positioned wouldn't cause any malfunctions and she needed to see for herself that he was still clinging to life.

It was when he came back from getting coffee that had him doing a mass text session with his colleagues in the UA.

Nozomi was so upset hearing the extent of her father's injuries and knowing how close he was to dying that she put enough stress on her body to awaken a latent quirk none of them knew she even had.

Recovery Girl had given her the 'birds and bees' talk, since Toshinori was utterly pants at it and had left his daughter more confused than anything, and in the process did a proper exam of Nozomi to see if she genuinely was quirkless or if she had a latent one like Midnight had.

As it turned out, there was a possibility she might eventually awaken a quirk, but the odds were so low that it wasn't worth trying.

Nozomi had translucent wings on her back that looked almost like a fairies, and she was crying too hard to notice the odd glow she was giving off. Whatever she was doing was causing the machine indicating Toshinori's heart rate to steadily and calmly go up in a way that said his body wasn't being put into any undo stress...but was more likely being healed by an external force.

Needless to say the doctors were quick to come see what was going on, but Eraserhead held them back.

"She hasn't noticed yet, and I have the feeling she's going to be rather weak after awakening her quirk like this."

The doctor's nodded, and allowed the girl to finish whatever it was she was doing.

As predicted, Nozomi fainted almost right after with her wings disappearing in the process. The doctors immediately inspected the wounded hero, and found that the worst of the damage was healed over. He would have to remain hospitalized and would have to take it easy for a week or two, but he would live.

When Toshinori woke up, the first thing he saw was his daughter curled up on the couch nearby...with an IV drip on her. He looked to Eraserhead.

"I have two pieces of good news. One, the doctors said you'd make a mostly full recovery."

"What's the other?"

"Apparently she was so distraught at seeing you like in the bed near death that she woke up a latent quirk...a recovery-type quirk at that."

His head whipped towards Nozomi. That certainly explained the IV.

"The awakening and the healing session caused her temperature to spike, so the doctors put her on a drip to lower her temperature and help her recover any nutrients she used up just in case," he explained.

Either way having a healing-based quirk was extremely rare and meant that if she wanted to join the hero course at UA, she could get a recommendation easily. Healer-based heroes were very valuable, especially if they could do more than minor scrapes and most hero schools would jump at the chance to have them. It was why Recovery Girl was paid a premium and stayed at UA...it was the only place she could get any peace and Nezu never asked her to do more than she was willing.

If Nozomi could get the handle on it and learn to be like Recovery Girl, or however her quirk worked to heal, then she would become very popular indeed.

Being a pro hero wouldn't be a dream anymore...it could become a reality in very short order once she graduated.

The next morning...

"I have a quirk?!" said Nozomi in utter shock.

"Some quirks remain latent beyond the age of four because your body isn't able to handle the stress of having it active. Midnight didn't awaken hers until after she hit puberty," said Nezu. "From what we can tell, yours is a possible recovery-based quirk. Once we figure out how to get it working consistently it would be child's play to get you an admission into UA later on a recommendation spot."

"I thought they were already filled," said Nozomi.

"Healing based quirks are rare and coveted, so much so that most hero schools would fight to have one on staff for their infirmary," explained Eraserhead.

"As such if we can get your quirk to heal consistently, then giving you a similar recommendation spot and placing you in the same class as Shouto-kun would be ridiculously simple," said Nezu. The two worked well together as a team and he wasn't above rigging the circumstances for the teacher's betting pools for fun.

Todoroki Shouto was more inclined to follow Yagi's lead than his father's footsteps, and considering Endeavor's tunnel vision it would be better to continue that trend.

Besides, he had already discreetly approved Shouto's request to move into the dorms the second he was old enough to attend UA.