Surprise! It's me, again!

Back when I was still regularly churning out chapters for my other fics, it took me about two weeks to plan out and write everything. But surprisingly enough, I was still in the creativity stage after uploading long enough to get this chapter in just a day.

Don't expect subsequent chapters to be like this.


III. My Strife

An hour and a shower later, Subaru changed into his PE clothes, and was once again walking through the underpass, but this time with a keen alertness. In his paranoia, he also kept the slender arm of Invisible Providence remaining visible and its lone fist raised.

The more he kept walking, the more he was made aware of his own physical state. With the interior of the underpass making it so that certain sounds would be amplified, Subaru noticed his manual breathing, the hammering of his heartbeat in his head, and the slipperiness of his sweaty palms. Every second that passed as he made his way further and further felt longer than they normally should have been, and what should have taken under a minute felt more like five.

Halfway through the underpass, Subaru noticed the stain of what seemed to be a green-colored paint, before he realized that it was where All Might had knocked out the sludge guy. For a moment, he stared at it, as if daring and waiting for it to do something, but what felt like several very long moments, he sighed, before continuing on his way.

With only a little bit of distance left to go, he ended up taking a moment to steel himself, before breaking into a sprint. His footsteps echoed throughout the entirety of the underpass, but when he finally made it outside and conquered his fear, he raised his hands up in victory, before he opted instead to walk the rest of the way to the train station.

On the way through the bustling part of Musutafu, Subaru spotted an alleyway. Normally, he only ever went through it if and when he was running late for school, but because he wasted almost two hours when he could have already been cooking dinner, he decided to just go through it.

He passed by a dumpster, and got to the point where he only had to take a left before he could keep going, but a voice that he didn't expect to hear again stopped him in his tracks, sending chills down his spine.

"You..."

Subaru whirled around, and true to his fears, saw the sludge man from earlier before, and looking royally pissed. But Subaru's eyes widened as he looked behind him to see Katsuki lying prone on the ground.

Katsuki? Why was he unconscious?

Subaru looked back to the sludge man with anger in his eyes. "What did you do to him?"

"The same I'm gonna do to you," he sneered. "Figured I'd use the blond kid as a disguise, but I figured I'd get some payback first."

Subaru took a step back, but before he could make a run for it, the sludge man lunged and grabbed a hold of him, but instead of trying to fill in his airways, he instead had neck tightly wrapped like a noose.

"All you had to do was just let me borrow your body for a bit, but you just had to resist, didn't you? Well, this time, there's All Might here to save you. Should've thought about that before you decided to use your Quirk on me."

Subaru was quickly panicking as he tried to find a way out of his grip, but much quicker than before, he was starting to lose himself.

What happened to All Might taking care of this guy?! Didn't he say he'd take him to the police?!

He continued clawing at the viscous arm strangling him, but with Invisible Providence once again not being able to do anything to help, Subaru, in his desperation (and later shame) tried to use Cor Leonis: Second Shift and divide his suffocation with the unconscious Katsuki, but to no avail.

I'm sorry...Katsuki...Mom...

All he could now, was simply continue to thrash about while desperately reaching a hand out to the bystanders doing nothing but watch as he slowly, eventually, gave in to the urge to just close his eyes.

But in that moment, in that final, infinitesimal second he had left, a strange clearness suddenly filled his mind as he was about to finally lose his life.

"Subaru..." a soft, feminine voice whispered in his ear.

Subaru had enough awareness still left in him to register the voice. An impossible voice he never thought he would ever hear again. But before he could even process the thought further, he suddenly found himself back in the locker room of Aldera Junior High, with the sudden transition of being able to suddenly breathe clearly again from suffocating to death rendering him onto the floor as he coughed his lungs out.

"Uh...you good, Izuku?" he vaguely heard Katsuki ask in front of him, but Subaru was too busy trying to organize his thoughts.

That voice...

A voice that he once no longer thought he would ever hear again in this world had entered his mind.

Was that you...

...Satella...?


Even with everything he had forgotten over the years, Subaru still knew with absolute certainty that he never experienced dying when his soul was forcibly returned to the world he came from. But how else could he have been un-isekai'd? Was his body just left behind in a brain-dead state? Had Emilia and Ram been hoping in vain for him and Rem to wake up this entire time?

Subaru closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Focus, he told himself. After a moment, he opened them at his reflection in the mirror of the restroom he was in.

He had already gone above and beyond in the overthinking department years ago. This was the here and now, and he needed to maintain his rationality to tackle the problem in front of him.

So what the hell happened? He remembered being assaulted and then All Might saving his life, but that sludge guy somehow managed to escape. And then because All Might wasn't there to stop him, Subaru died. That much was true, at least.

And then it happened.

What he had just gone through, that familiar feeling of slipping away into an abyss...it felt exactly like all the times he died previously. From when Return by Death would activate and either rewind the entire world back to a certain point, or send only him back in time to change the outcome that led to his death.

That was what just happened to him. There was just no other conclusion to be made.

With a sigh, Subaru turned on the faucet, cupping his hands under the cold, running water and washing his face to calm himself down. A minute later, he turned it off and dried off his hands and face before walking out of the restroom to see Katsuki still waiting for him.

"Katsuki." The boy in question looked at him, with an expression that Subaru knew was meant as a silent question for him to explain himself.

Right. Might as well test it.

What were the chances of Quirked humans being able to detect the Witch's Scent, anyway?

Subaru took a deep breath. "I can Return by Death."

As soon as the last word left his mouth, Subaru paused in shock, wondering if he heard what he just—

"Sorry, you can what, now?"

...huh?

"...Return by Death," Subaru murmured.

What was going on...? Why could he—

"Yeah, I heard you the first time," Katsuki said. "So what do you mean 'return by death'? What even is that?"

...

Subaru collapsed to his knees and held his head in his hands.

...

It didn't make sense.

It didn't make sense.

It didn't make sense it didn't make sense IT DIDN'T MAKE SENSE

"Oi! Izuku! Calm down!"

Subaru blinked as his awareness returned to him, and realized that Katsuki was gripping his shoulders.

"The hell's going on with you, man?"

Subaru opened his mouth to answer, but suddenly stopped himself. Could he really afford telling Katsuki the truth? Would he even believe him?

Probably not, he concluded. No normal person would.

"I think I just had a chūni moment," he lied.

"The hell you mean you—" Katsuki started incredulously, before he cut himself off and sighed. "All right, look—Kageyama wanted me to bring you to the arcade 'cuz she still has the hots for you or whatever, but I can tell you've got something going on with you right now. I won't ask, but you need to go home and get some rest. Tryharding in school can wait."

"Uh..." Subaru began, before relenting and nodding. "Sure. Yeah, I'll go do that."

Katsuki nodded. "All right. Just let me know if you start feeling like shit later. We're best friends for a reason, right?"

"Right."

Katsuki lightly punched his shoulder, before he walked away, leaving Subaru to wonder what the hell was going on.

He just said Return by Death in front of someone and nothing happened. Nothing physically keeping him from saying the words out loud, no Witch of Envy lightly squeezing his heart or even killing him or Katsuki, nothing.

Subaru wanted to cry right now. Tears even started welling up in his eyes, but he shook his head and picked up his book bag, wondering what he should do next.

It was honestly a wonder he never once tried or even thought about abusing Return by Death. The ability to instantly turn back time whenever he wanted should have been enough for him to use it for every whim, but each death and the pain he went through gave him enough of a healthy fear of dying to where it never crossed his mind.

Disembowelment by the Bowel Hunter and bleeding out.

Ram slicing his throat open with a blade of wind after begging Rem not to kill him.

Puck freezing him solid as he ended the world, with Rem's corpse still in his arms.

Being ripped open and consumed alive by the Great Rabbit.

But also, he didn't want to have to experience every hardship all over again based on a relatively small mistake.

He could just imagine himself doing just that, had he taken up Echidna's offer. Having no choice but to obey the Witch of Greed as he killed himself over and over again to find any and all variations in every possible loop until the end of time.

Subaru shuddered at the thought, and silently thanked Kami-sama for sparing him that fate—credit where credit was due, and all that.


At the entrance of the underpass, Subaru paused. The last time he had been here, about thirty-eight minutes passed since he left the school. This time, however, he ended up arriving over ten minutes later. But did that mean the sludge man wasn't there yet, or was he already there, waiting for some other unfortunate soul to pass by and take them over?

He looked down and forced his shaking hand into a fist. He was fooling no one if he said he wasn't scared of having to face that guy again, but he couldn't just leave someone innocent to suffer the same fate he did. If worse came to worse, then he'd try to run back the other way and call for help while All Might showed up again to save the day.

Taking a few deep breaths, Subaru activated Invisible Providence and walked through the underpass for the third time, doing everything he could to replace his fear with equal parts determination and anger.

But apparently he didn't need to worry about anything, because up ahead, he could see All Might already scooping up the sludge man into a large plastic bottle.

As he continued walking, he saw as the hero looked up and waved over to him.

"Good afternoon, young man!" he began. "Don't mind me—just busy apprehending this villain, here."

"Right..." Subaru replied. Silence passed between the two of them as All Might nodded and went back to scooping, and after a minute or so, stood back up and fastened the bottle in his pants' pocket, before waving him goodbye as he once again jumped away into the air.

"What now...?" Subaru asked himself. Might as well get those ingredients he still needed for tonight's dinner.


He forgot.

Subaru was so bewildered by All Might so effortlessly doing his thing, that he forgot to tell him to keep a close eye on the bottle.

And now, he was standing in a crowd, watching as the pro heroes on the scene shielded the onlookers from the sludge man...who was busy trying to take over a still-conscious Katsuki, who was actively resisting by using his Quirk in all directions.

Subaru took a step forward.

"Kid, this is a hostage situation. Don't do anything stupid."

Subaru looked up at the man whose hand was on his shoulder, and after a moment, vaguely recognized him as 'Death Arms'.

"That's my friend over there."

He watched Death Arms's eyebrows raise, before they returned to his steely expression. "I'm sorry to hear that, but that's what we're here for. Just let us take care of this."

Subaru grit his teeth. "And what the hell are you doing, just standing here?! He's over there dying and I see at least four pro heroes doing nothing but what, twiddling their thumbs?!" Before he could let the man answer, he turned back to the violent scene taking place and started walking. "Whatever. I'm going to help him."

"Kid, wait—!"

"Get your hands off me!" Subaru roared, using Invisible Providence to forcibly break free from the man's hold, before he broke into a full sprint towards Katsuki.

"KATSUKI!"

Taking his backpack off and holding it in his arms, Subaru unclasped the locks keeping his books and writing instruments in place. And using what parkour skills he still remembered, he used the edge of a wall to quickly jump onto a dumpster, before using his momentum to leap towards sludge man's only visible weak spot: his eyes.

His aim struck true, and a few of his various books made contact, who was now currently screeching in pain and holding what looked like his arms to his eyes as drops of blood fell to the ground below. With that, he used the precious amount of time he bought to pull Katsuki out with the strength of all three of his hands. Soon, the other boy was finally free, leading to the both of them unceremoniously dropping to the stone pavement below.

"That's gotta be the stupidest thing I've ever seen you do," Katsuki groaned. "But thanks."

Subaru quickly offered a hand to Katsuki and helped him up. "We gotta

"Well we could," Katsuki began, but instead of turning around to run or even walk away, he cracked his neck and knuckles, before priming his Quirk in his right hand.

"I've kinda got a score to settle."

Before Subaru could even tell him what an absolutely idiotic thing he just said was, two very large hands grabbed hold of both of their shoulders, keeping them in place.

"That determination of yours is admirable, young man—" All Might said. "—but just leave it to me."

With Katsuki finally acquiescing, Subaru nudged him and walked him back to the crowd of bystanders. Once they were safely in the crowd, a sudden BOOM! made itself known behind him, and he watched on as All Might drew his fist back.

"Detroit...SMASH!"


Several minutes and an insane wind caused by All Might's punch later, the sludge man was finally arrested by the police, and Subaru had to endure the grilling of his life as the pro heroes endlessly reprimanded him for risking his life and 'disobeying a pro hero', while at the same time praising Katsuki for his Quirk and even offering invitations to join hero agencies in the future.

It took everything he had in him not to just roll his eyes and tell them to go fuck themselves, but because there was no more danger to be had, he still took everything in stride.

Even if he wanted to tell them just how shit they were at doing their job.

By the time they were done 'making sure he wouldn't recklessly endanger his and others' lives again', Subaru still saw that Katsuki wasn't done being praised yet, and opted to just walk home by himself.

He'd just get the mayonnaise and panko tomorrow.

"Excuse me."

Subaru looked up as All Might stood in front of him, pose and all.

"All Might..."

"Yes!" the hero exclaimed. "I am here! But first—can I get the name of the young man who so gallantly charged in to save his friend?"

"...Midoriya Izuku..." Subaru replied.

All Might nodded. "I'm sure you're very angry at me, Midoriya-shōnen. After all, I told you I would see to it that the villain would be brought to the proper authorities, but it was due to my own negligence that your friend had to suffer as he did." He placed his arms at his sides and deeply bowed. "For that, I must apologize. I have failed you in a way a hero of my experience should have never risked."

Oh.

Normally, a lot of the high-ranking pro heroes ended up letting their popularity get to their heads and developed egos as a result, but Subaru had seen several videos of All Might regularly apologizing in his interviews, saying he could have done more. Even his actions now showed that he really wasn't just being nice for show—the guy had actual humility.

Japanese Superman, indeed.

Subaru returned the bow with his own. "No one really got hurt in the end, so I forgive you, All Might-sama! Thank you for saving my friend!"

All Might straightened himself and gave him a thumbs-up. "You're welcome! Now, I'm afraid I must be off—a hero's duty never—ack!"

Subaru tilted his head in confusion. ...'ack'?

But before he could wonder about the sound All Might made, Subaru saw blood spurt out of his mouth and stained his clothes, and was now leaning against the wall next to a light post with a hand covering his mouth.

"All Might-sama!" Subaru exclaimed, running towards the man. "Are you..." As he quickly ran to him, he watched as the towering figure of the man was immediately replaced by some very skinny guy with about the same height and blond hair, and wearing the same clothes.

"...okay...?"

The skinny guy who replaced All Might looked up at him. "Sorry you had to see me like this," he said.

Subaru involuntarily took a step back. "You're...you're All Might, right?"

The skinny guy who was somehow All Might nodded. "Yeah, kid. That's me." A little more blood leaked out of his mouth, and Subaru, finally remembering his manners, fished out a handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to him.

"Thanks," All Might said, wiping his mouth.

"...you're welcome," Subaru replied, still perplexed at the man in front of him. "Can I ask you what happened for you to drop him?"

All Might sighed. "Guess there's no use hiding it now," he said. "Sure, I'll tell you. But let's go to the park nearby, first."

Subaru nodded, and wordlessly followed the man as a thousand thoughts ran through his head. What happened to All Might for him to end up like this? Did he go back and forth from being skinny to being ripped every day? Where did he get the mass from to bulk up like that?

No one knew this about All Might, otherwise Subaru would have seen countless articles and TV news stations constantly going on about his condition.

"Take a seat," All Might said, and Subaru sat down on his left side, wondering what the man's story was. He took a moment to look at their surroundings, and saw that it was just the two of them in the entire park. Usually there would still be plenty of children playing or teenagers hanging out around this time of day, but he supposed that was the effect a villain attack had on nearby communities.

"Believe it or not, All Might began. "That muscular form everyone sees me as is actually what I used to look like five years ago. And then I got this." He lifted his shirt to reveal an intense-looking scar on the left side of his torso. "I got this from a villain I've spent almost my entire life training to put down. You've probably never heard of him, but he was the most dangerous guy I've ever fought, and more dangerous than anything you could think of."

Subaru had at least a few ideas on what he considered extremely dangerous, but to be fair, all of them only existed in another world.

"Because of this injury, I can only maintain my Quirk for about three hours a day—it's a strength enhancer, you see, and my body just isn't able to keep it up for long periods of time, anymore."

"...huh," Subaru said. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Because, Midoriya-shōnen, I was right about to lose my control over my Quirk the moment I dropped that bottle earlier today."

Oh, he understood now. All Might didn't drop him because he was being too careless about his job, but because he was about to drop to his death that very second.

...But wait, wasn't that still being careless?

Subaru set that thought aside for now and nodded. "I understand. Thank you for telling me this."

"This isn't something I tell just anyone," All Might said. "I'd really appreciate it if you wouldn't go around telling your friends or even your parents my days as a hero were numbered. There's no telling how much that'll encourage villains to act up just because I'm not potentially there to stop them."

"Of course," Subaru replied. "I promise you on my life I won't tell anyone else about this."

All Might chuckled. "I don't think you'll need to go that far, but I appreciate it." After that, the two of them sat in silence for several moments, before he spoke again. "So I gotta ask—what brought you to try to save your friend in the first place? It doesn't look like you have the Quirk to be charging head-on like that."

"...someone had to," Subaru replied. "The heroes who were there—they only stood back and watched. My best friend could've died, but they didn't do anything. So I had to do something. I wouldn't be able to live with myself, otherwise."

"...so you're saying something caused you to move? That you, despite your fear, acted on an unconscious desire to save your friend, no matter what happened?"

What was this guy getting at? Subaru wondered.

He shook his head. "No. Every action I took in that moment was out of my own free will. Even if I was throwing away my life, I couldn't just stand there and watch as the people who were infinitely more qualified than me pretend they weren't leaving Katsuki to die."

All Might smiled at his response. "That's a wonderful answer, if I've ever heard one," he said. "You definitely have the heart to be a hero, that's for sure."

"..thanks," Subaru replied. "But I don't exactly know if I really wanna do that. You said it yourself: I don't have the Quirk to be charging in like I did today, and being one of those underground heroes doesn't really seem like my thing."

At this, All Might's smile only seemed to grow wider. "Then what if I gave you that opportunity?"

Subaru furrowed his eyebrows. "What do you mean?"

"Perhaps I should have been more clear—how would you like to inherit my Quirk?"

...

Subaru blinked. "...pardon...?"

"Ah, sorry, I should probably explain." All Might said, before clearing his throat.

What followed was a story that Subaru thought a normal person would have never bought, but because he wasn't exactly normal, he stayed silent as the man told him about One for All—a Quirk that somehow had the ability to be passed on from person to person, and over the past two-hundred years, grew its stockpile in the physical strength it granted users.

All Might was currently the eighth, and he asked Subaru if he wanted to be the ninth.

"This is...this is a lot to take in," Subaru admitted, leaning forward with his arms resting on his thighs. "So what, you, the top hero—you want me, some kid you just met today, to be your successor?"

All Might nodded. "Yes. Obviously, you're not gonna top the rankings as soon as you finish high school—you've gotta start from the bottom like I and everyone else did—but yes, I'd think you'd be a great fit to eventually take my place as the next wielder of One for All."

"Right...and there's no catch? Nothing like I have to give you my firstborn child, and all that?"

"That's right, nothing like that," All Might replied, smiling at him.

"And there's no immortal crime boss that's gonna show up and demand a fight to the death, right?"

At those words, All Might barked out a laugh. "I assure you, Midoriya-shōnen, the only guy who ever fits that description is already very dead. I should know, I killed him myself."

Subaru stayed silent as he stared at him for a moment, before looking back down on the ground. "Yeah, okay, there's that too..." he murmured.

"So, what do you think? Are you up for it?"

"I..." Subaru started, before he stopped himself. In all honesty, this just sounded too good to be true. His entire life growing up as Natsuki Subaru, he failed to live up to everyone's expectations of him, throwing away his future and becoming a NEET. In Lugunica, he was too weak to do much of anything by himself, but his determination and persistence made it so that was still able to help Emilia and all the others who could.

And now, back in the world he was born in, and the most influential real-life superhero of all time offering him the power to finally be able to be the one to protect those he cared about here?

He'd have to be the biggest idiot to refuse. And sure, if anything went wrong and All Might really did have scummy intentions, there was always Return by Death.

Subaru looked All Might in the eye. "I'll take it. What do I need to do?"


"Bakugō-kun! Is it true you fought off a villain attack yesterday?"

"Bakugō! What was it like fighting for your life?!"

"Midoriya-kun! Is it true you tried to help Bakugō-kun?"

Subaru looked up at his classmate and sheepishly laughed. "Yeah, but I couldn't really do anything to the guy before All Might took care of him."

"You're so cool...!" she said, and Subaru couldn't help but notice the twinkle in her eyes, and briefly wondered if he had just made her swoon.

"All right, class, settle down now," their homeroom teacher called out. "I'm sure Bakugō-kun is eager to tell everyone what happened, but please wait until after homeroom, yes? We have a new student joining us today." Subaru watched as the other students surrounding Katsuki's desk dejectedly walked back to their own seats. When the last student finally sat down, the teacher looked over to his left. "Why don't you come on in and introduce yourself?"

At that, a girl with a brown bob-style haircut walked in holding a black book bag with a blush on her face, to which she turned to the chalkboard and wrote down her name. Afterwards, she turned back around and bowed.

"My name is Uraraka Ochako. It's nice to meet all of you. Please take care of me."


Random schoolgirl: I love you, Midoriya-kun! Please go out with me!

Izuku!Subaru: I love Emilia.

This is the part where I come across a dilemma.

The power creep OFA and the other Quirks give canon Izuku is one of the main reasons for me almost never writing him having it in my fics, but Izuku!Subaru ain't gonna do shit with just Invisible Providence and Cor Leonis, not to mention get in the hero course in the first place. Like come on, bro's one of the physically weakest characters in all of Re:Zero, so at least cut me some slack.

I mean, I could just completely disregard the PLF War Arc and just stick with the old headcanon of only Quirkless people getting the strength boost (which technically applies to Izuku!Subaru here), and it only boosting the previous users' Quirks, but it's too early to tell.