Alright, time to post yet another chapter! Yay. Things are going just as planned, although the slight decrease in the speed of obtaining new readers is saddening. Then again, we no longer get immigrants from the Cure to Evil, hmm? On a sidenote, I wrote chapter 39 yesterday and so I'm pretty much writing one chapter per one published. Yay we.
Crimextar06 - Not exactly, but also, yes. Do you remember the Cure to Evil discovery about Juggernaut and some students' parentage? Multiple quirks cause heightened chance of a mutation in the offsprings, but the result is almost always a powerful quirk. It makes sense for All for One (who is like the king of multiple quirks) to give Class-Six (just, different) quirks to his children as a result. Eri is a random lottery win, and Izuku here got it from... well, another Shigaraki, just through proxy really.
TheGreatBubbaJ - Oh, trust me. By chapter 39 all teachers dealing with 1-A are getting hazard pay. Teaching them is an... experience. Expect lots of shenanigans.
Detrametal - Thank you for your positive opinion! As for Star and Stripe, she doesn't show thus far, but I'm almost certain that eventually she will. Then again, I'm not fully sure where the story will bring me sooo...
(***)
Two months after the Thunderbolt's retirement, All Might found himself entering Nedzu's office. With, as always, the feeling of being deeply unsettled, probably in danger, and most certainly not wanting to be there.
Nedzu was tolerable for as long as he kept to less than two teas per hour. He was dangerous between that and four teas. Anything above that, and, well, if he was angry at you at this point, it was wise to consider suicide and spare yourself the pain. Principal Nedzu was legendarily vindictive, sadistic and cruel.
How exactly he managed to remain a principal of the most reputable hero school was anyone's guess. The rat was either too smart to be caught on anything, or he already managed to terrify everyone notable in the country beyond the point where they were willing to risk his wrath.
All hail our secret rodent overlords, to quote what Tsukauchi once said after he got a bit too drunk. Okay, not said. Chanted. On the street. Somehow, just somehow, Nedzu knew and sent him a 'thank you for your support' message to the detective's private number.
"All Might!" Rodent was sitting there, in his signature sneakers (were he and Izuku buying their shoes in the same shop?) and with a chamomile tea in front of him. "What a pleasure to see you today! What brings you to my office?"
Calm down, All Might tells himself. Inko is way scarier. He remembers her reaction when she finally discovered that her husband left her son on a rooftop after crushing his dreams. Frankly speaking, fighting All for One again didn't feel as scary after that scolding.
"I was chosen as a representative of the school faculty." All Might replies and puts some papers on the desk in front of Nedzu. "Despite not technically being a part of it yet. I was told to bring you these proposals in their stead."
There are two of them now. Only because Eraserhead decided to jump on the bandwagon and announced that he will give his support if he gets to put forward a proposal of his own. Aizawa was just kinda like that.
Nedzu quickly skims through the first file.
"Ah, changes to the entrance exam." Nedzu nods. "I can see Eraserhead's hand in it, though the reference links, bibliography, et cetera are certainly not his. However, I have my own reasons for using the robots. The sad part of Mankind is its overreliance on image, and the image of heroism is, more or less fortunately, based on you. At least in Japan. So direct firepower. With how the HPSC tailors the public opinion, I need to tailor the graduates of the UA properly in order to not be outdone in terms of public image. As otherwise we'll no longer be a number one hero school. This is why there is a backdoor in the form of the school festival - it allows people with less flashy quirks to show their skills to the world, and prove that they are the equals of the Hero Course students."
"Please, do not tell me straight to my face that my position as the Symbol of Peace is why many non-flashy yet still useful quirk-bearers are denied their chance to realize their dreams." All Might sighs painfully. "What about the argumentation for the changes in that proposal?" He is quite curious about it. After all, Izuku wrote it.
Okay. Asa helped. Inko helped. All Might helped. Even Mr. Compress and Stain (who had some serious beef with hero schools that All Might decided to not dig into) helped. Eraserhead helped as well, of course. But most of it was still Izuku's work.
"Well, I admit that it does raise some valid concerns that weren't brought up before." Nedzu nods again and caresses his fur for a bit. His equivalent of making a thoughtful face. "It is true that the option to switch courses isn't advertised enough, resulting in many prospective kids not applying to General Course after failing the Hero Course exam. It is also true that in order to make things more honest and give the General Course kids a chance, they should be offered at least a possibility of attending self-defense, quirk training and additional physical training classes. Since without that, even the relatively brief time between the start of the year and the first school festival is enough to widen the gap between hero course and general course. The idea of organizing a special exam for the potential transfer students is also interesting."
All Might didn't expect that.
"Really?" He asks. He is still in his skeleton form, so his brow lifting is rather noticeable. He always talks louder when in hero form, and from his experience, that doesn't sit well with Nedzu. "I expected you to disagree with it."
"The idea is interesting." Nedzu says again. "It is true that some students might simply have bad luck during their first school festival, and that such a failure can easily breed malice. The idea of allowing the homeroom teachers of Gen Ed courses to pick particularly prospective students and for the school to organize them a closed exam a few months after the school festival is interesting. Whoever wrote this paper certainly took notice of my reasons for the robots on the entrance exam, as he even states that passing the exam doesn't have to mean transfering courses, but it should mean being cleared to attend at least the foundational heroics lessons alongside the hero courses, in order to not widen the gap and prepare for another attempt at course transfer. I believe Eraserhead struggled a lot with making up for the lost year of heroics, since he managed to earn the transfer during his second school festival."
Nedzu goes silent and continues stroking his fur while lightly kicking his short legs in the air. Deep thinking, this time, really deep.
"Robots will stay during the entrance exam." Nedzu finally comes to a decision. "I agree that their regular presence during the school festival is an overkill, especially the zero-pointers, however neutered is their programming. I also believe that the rest of the proposal does raise some valid points. Points valid enough to justify testing the offered solutions in real life. I'll advocate for that during the school board meeting."
Considering the fact that when Nedzu said 'jump', the school board didn't even ask how high (instead it jumped as high as possible while wiggling their metaphorical tails in happiness caused by being able to please their rodent overlord), this meant that the proposal was accepted.
"The appetizer is behind us, now time for the main dish." Nedzu says, while putting the first file away. The second one is clearly a thicker stack of papers. It was Izuku's magnum opus that he spent every remaining free minute during the last two months on. While getting any help he could. Including many, many hours of technically illegal access to the hero network (under his father's supervision, but still).
"Oh dear." Nedzu says quietly midway through the file. "Oh. Dear." He adds a few more pages in. His speed of reading is inhuman. He is just taking a brief look at the page and continues on. Second per page? But unlike normal human speed readers, he has enough brain power to read and understand every single sentence, correct all typos, and cross-reference with previously possessed knowledge… while simultaneously plotting the downfall of Mankind or something. All during that single second.
"That's… an extremely interesting and bold proposal." Nedzu says after putting the file away. His whiskers are trembling slightly. Is it excitement? "I also enjoy the personal touch. Especially the point in the list of arguments that only states that, and I quote, 'The Hero Commission President will be royally pissed off, and that's frankly a reason to do it on its own'."
The feud between Nedzu and the president was… probably the second most intense feud in the history of Japan after the one between All Might and All for One, really. And Yagi Toshinori isn't sure if it wouldn't get just as intense if the two were allowed to publically murder each other without losing their hard-earned positions.
All Might is still going to have a serious talk with Izuku about sneaking swear words in official papers past his parental proofreading brigade.
"Frankly, it's a high risk high reward proposal, especially in light of the presented list of candidates." Nedzu adds. "We'll need to ramp up security, notify the PR department in advance, and probably expand the campus with one or two additional buildings. Not to mention fact-checking the data, screening the candidates on our own… Hound Dog is going to go bald from overwork. Then again, he clearly signed the proposal, so he is ready for it. Or expects to get some helpers."
He goes silent for a few long seconds. Even the whisker shivers calm down. All Might isn't going to interrupt him right now. It wouldn't be safe.
"Time to spill the beans, All Might." Nedzu finally speaks. "Who put this forward? I can see the signatures of Eraserhead, Present Mic, Midnight, Cementoss, Power Loader, Hound Dog and… pretty much the entire faculty save for Lunch Rush and Thirteen, which is reasonable enough due to their minimal involvement in the execution of this proposal. Even Vlad King is on-board. But the idea certainly came from none of them. So who was it?"
"My successor." All Might replies promptly. Nedzu is taken aback for maybe two or three seconds. All Might forgot to mention earlier that he has chosen someone.
"Certainly not Mirio Togata." Nedzu replies, it's probably just him thinking aloud. "He is smart and driven enough to put up such a paper, but this sort of an idea just isn't his style. You picked someone else, but… who could it be?" He is staring at All Might for a few more seconds. "Certainly none of the UA students. Some recent graduate? An older hero?"
"You'll meet him in a few months." All Might replies. "When he will attend the UA entrance exam."
All Might isn't sadistic enough to time that revelation with Nedzu's regular tea sips. It's probably an expensive tea, and he doesn't want to get hunted by the members of Inko's tea parties. He can (probably) survive Mr. Compress's rage, but Gentle Criminal and La Brava would hunt him to the ends of the world.
Nedzu still sounds for a second like he choked on air. All Might expects him to spit out a fur ball for a second, but no. The chimera isn't feline enough.
"A fourteen year old child wrote this?" Nedzu raises the file with his hand, while staring at All Might like he just met him and wasn't sure what to feel about the Symbol of Peace sitting in his office like it was no big deal.
"Well, he had help." All Might shrugs. "He is working real hard to prepare himself for the entrance exams, so he had maybe an hour or two per day to work on it. Took him almost two months to get it done. Then again, knowing where to find competent help is a useful skill on its own, isn't it? And I assure you that the others merely offered their input. He wrote, fact checked and prepared the bibliography and the footnotes on his own."
"That's true, yes, indeed." Nedzu is lost somewhere in his own world. That All Might feels comfortable NOT visiting. "What did he do to make you notice him and decide on making him your successor?"
"Despite being quirkless, he managed to properly analyze the villain's weakness in a heartbeat and did more damage to him by throwing his backpack than several pro-heroes on the scene managed to do with their quirks." All Might replies promptly, and with paternal pride that it's only slightly tainted by guilt of knowing what sort of absolutely stupid thing he told the kid earlier. "All because the villain was about to strangle his school bully, of all people, to death. Meeting his mother and discovering that not only is she my old acquaintance but also that I just offered my quirk to my own son was a cherry on top."
"Your s…" Nedzu blinks a few times. "Oh, that certainly had to be shocking. Discovering that he was your son after making the proposal certainly clears the suspicion of nepotism." He thinks for two more seconds. "We'll have to make some adaptations to not make you his teacher, provided that he passes the exam… then again, if we follow those proposals, expanding the foundation heroics classes with another teacher would have…" Nedzu's eyes trail off for a while. "You know, I might be willing to agree to the second proposal as well, if…"
"The answer is yes." All Might interrupts Nedzu.
"Excuse me?" Nedzu blinks a few times. "But you don't even know what I wanted to say." And All Might knows agreeing before Nedzu says what you are agreeing to is generally considered to be suicidal. But this time he knows what it is about.
"I don't." All Might replies. "But my son, after listening to some inside stories about you from Eraserhead, decided that there is a high chance that you will be interested in giving him some personal lessons if he passes the entrance exam. So he prepared accordingly." All Might pulled a scrap of paper out of his pocket. On it was one more benefit of the second proposal acceptance, written with the same formatting and probably explaining the oddly large open space at the end of that page in the proposal. "Here. Terms and conditions of those lessons. Written by my son, proofread and accepted by his mother and me."
Nedzu only glances at the paper before laughing in his most maniacal, disturbing way. The tea gets spilled en masse, and All Might immediately realizes that somewhere out there, Gentle Criminal is probably crying.
"Oh I love your son already!" Nedzu finally says. All Might sees way too many teeth in front of him. "I'm agreeing to the terms and conditions wholeheartedly, and the second proposal will also be accepted! It will require some changes, since I do happen to have access to some information sources that your son clearly doesn't… but the general idea is solid and sound. I can see the benefits if we manage to pull it off."
"At least make him overthrow a FOREIGN government as a graduation exam, alright?" All Might clicks his tongue in his irritation. Then he remembers about the bullying thing he mentioned earlier and he decided that now is a good time. Nedzu is clearly happy, and he agreed to the deal, so he won't try to twist around it by making this a part of it. "By the way, I have a question about your secretive covert wars of organizational destruction."
"Yes?" Nedzu, the rat/bear that once dismantled a criminal syndicate in twenty-three minutes without leaving the teacher's lounge because he felt bored during a faculty meeting, asks back. Obviously curious.
"Do you take requests?" All Might deadpans. There is a sadistic grin on the rat's face, almost matched by the one that breaks out on the face of the Number One Hero. Teachers from the Aldera High School are woken by nightmares that night. Oh if only they knew.
(***)
"The true hero has convictions." Stain, the Hero Killer, announces in the dead silence of the room. "They know when they have to risk their lives for the greater good. For others. They have convictions, and they are ready to stand by them even if it costs them their lives. Death, after all…"
"Stain, I'm begging you." Mr. Compress interrupts the Hero Killer. "Stop being a drama queen, we're just playing Uno and you are supposed to pick the card. Don't blow this out of proportion every damn time." He sounds relatable to Eraserhead. Because he sounds like he is having a migraine.
Stain - the man who has destroyed the careers of forty-seven corrupt heroes by unleashing the evidence of their corruption (La Brava and Gentle Criminal were extremely useful in obtaining that) right after beating them up in the alleyways, thus proving both their physical and moral weakness - snarls and picks the card.
"Can I borrow a knife?" Aiko Midoriya asks. Eraserhead, honestly, almost falls off his chair because he didn't notice her being there. She just somehow popped up right next to the table taken by two supervillains and a hero that was chosen by All Might to look over the kids that evening.
Because he and Inko are apparently out on a date.
Eraserhead calls bullshit, but at least it's a calm evening. Asa is napping on the couch (he even gave Eraserhead his wallet back) and Izuku is typing something on a laptop in the corner. All while Present Mic is with Aiko and Eri in another room.
He wanted to 'fight through the trauma' or something.
"Interrogation, combat or… problem-solving?" Stain asks back, without even looking at her.
"Problem-solving." Aiko replies. "Present Mic is too loud." Eraserhead can relate. Just not to needing a knife to solve that problem. Especially not when it's the kid that wants to do it, and especially (times two) when it's THAT kid.
Aiko Midoriya is giving him the creeps. Worst of all, she stated that she wants to become a hero. Like her 'beloved oniichan'. Eraserhead is going to retire right before she becomes old enough to apply to UA. There literally isn't enough coffee in the world to make him consider being Aiko Midoriya's homeroom teacher.
He can deal with problem children, yes. But demon children are outside of his area of expertise.
Worst of all, All Might is absolutely enamored with her. Almost as much as he is with Eri. Does he even have working eyes?!
"Sure." Stain pulls a small but surprisingly nasty looking knife from a pocket and tries to give it to a seven year old girl, but Eraserhead grabs his hand with his capture scarf.
"Are you insane?!" Aizawa says while glaring at the Hero Killer from across the table. "You do not give knives to children, ESPECIALLY when they ask."
"Well, you heard the man." Stain says with a shrug and pulls his hand back. This time he looks at Aiko. "You need to do it the old way, girl."
"Psychological violence, then." Aiko nods, her face filled with an expression indicating that she just came to a decision about something. Then she lunges under the table. Eraserhead bends himself to look under it as well, but… all he is seeing is three pairs of legs belonging to the two villains and a hero.
"What the hell?" He asks, his head returning to the surface of the table. "A warp quirk?"
"I have absolutely no clue." Mr. Compress replies. "And, frankly, I don't want to know. Her parents and siblings know what her quirk is, let's trust them that it's nothing dangerous and keep living in peace."
"The less you know, the shorter the interrogation." Stain ads absentmindedly while staring at his cards. The game isn't progressing in his favour.
Five minutes later, a thoroughly terrified Hizashi comes running through the living room, screaming something akin to "I CAN'T I CAN'T I CAN'T', repeated continuously like a madness mantra. He flees through the front door, without even taking his leather jacket.
Aiko and Eri step from the room he just fled. Eri looks saddened and goes after Present Mic (who is most likely right outside of home, panting heavily and trying to man up, but Mr. Compress still darts off after Eri just in case), probably to hug him and tell him that everything will be alright.
"What happened?" Stain asks Aiko.
"I drew him." The girl replies promptly. Then she shows them the drawing.
It's just a tombstone, with a PAST MIC written on it.
"He didn't like it." Aiko, somehow, sounds genuinely surprised by it.
(***)
"OH MY GOODNESS!" All Might positively beams. "I thought that it was going to take you ten months, but you've done it in seven!"
The beach is clear. Seven months of hard work paid off. Takoba Municipal Beach Park is, once again, a park. And there is a beach.
Izuku is tired, but happy. He is also way stronger than he was at the beginning.
"I'd have shown you the photo of yourself that we did at the beginning…" All Might says, eyeing Izuku curiously. "But you actually changed less than I thought you would? I mean, you are clearly stronger, we tested that, but you are still kinda… small?"
"Oh, uhm, that's normal on mom's side, I think?" Izuku replies. He did get some muscles, yeah, just less than he thought. He kinda hoped to get bigger, too. Was there still a chance of some last, final growth spurt? "They are all stronger than they look. She mentioned that a few times."
"Well, I can certainly attest that she is surprisingly strong." All Might replies. She was always more… flexible and agile than strong, but he still remembers that bar brawl. Misaki (okay, Inko) anesthetizing seven bar brawlers with a creative use of a coffee table that she swung around like a weapon was truly an inspiring moment to watch. "The point is, I believe that we've come past the minimal physical requirements for One for All inheritance."
"So, we're going to do it?" Izuku asks. He is clearly excited, because of course he is clearly excited.
All Might calculates things. No, let's not be that risky. He isn't one hundred percent sure if the One for All is based on natural strength or on the size of the muscles. He isn't having his son explode on him, right? He only just barely met him!
"Let's not be too hasty." He can see his mood drop a bit, and he curses himself a bit. "Izuku, this is a dangerous thing. We still have three months until the entrance exam. I'll figure out some additional training for the next two months, and then you'll get the quirk."
He should also invite Gran Torino to try to teach his child the basics. He learned a lot of things in the United States, but dealing with intricate details of a quirk as unique as his own wasn't among them.
They don't exactly have a manual at hand, thanks to a certain someone that's technically the stepfather of the kid in front of him (All Might still didn't figure out what to think about this, really). It's hard to maintain a line of inheritance of information when there is a semi-omnipotent lunatic pursuing you constantly with an intent for murder.
Gran Torino is old. He saw the entire history of two different One for All holders. If someone has a clue on how to deal with it, it's probably him. Then again, considering how wide Inko's contacts in the underworld were, All Might wouldn't be surprised if she could find out more than them both combined.
All for One kept his family mostly separated from the business, but Inko was still Mischief. She knew a lot of people. A lot of villains. Mostly the current old guard, but still. If there was someone who could find All for One's old stash of knowledge about One for All, it was probably her. But knowing All for One, he kept information about One for All in his head.
Explaining to Gran Torino that Yagi Toshinori is now a stepfather to All for One's children was going to be an… experience.
All Might shivers slightly. Inko will save him, right?
"One month should be enough to get some reasonable basics in when it comes to handling your quirk before your exam." All Might continues. He doesn't add that it was probably going to be the BASICS. Less 'be a mini-me!' and more 'be able to punch a robot in the face so that it breaks more than your arms do'.
Izuku still sulks a bit.
"Kid, you do realize that the worst case scenario of you inheriting the quirk is too early is your limbs coming off?" All Might decides to drive the nail home. He doesn't add that what would follow would be All Might's death at the hands of Inko Midoriya and probably a revenge rampage that would go down in history.
"I know, I know." Izuku looks down. "I'm just… kinda impatient?"
"I get it, son." He puts his hand on his son's shoulder and gives him a smile. Not one of All Might's, but one of Yagi Toshinori's. The private ones. "I felt the same when I was waiting for Nana to give me this quirk. Be patient for a while more, alright?"
Eri, Aiko, Asa and Inko are there, waiting for them with a picnic on the verge of the beach. To celebrate what Izuku managed to do.
("So, is he going to make it?" Nana asks. "Because I'm not going to survive seeing Yagi's son exploding into pieces in front of me."
"We all won't survive this, Nana." Lariat reminds her. "We'll explode with him, you know?"
"We won't." Yoichi replies. "He is strong enough, though he will have to deal with a high risk of damaging his limbs if he goes all out. He'll have to keep training to suppress the level of power used rather than the other way around. Getting some additional foundational training before inheriting us is a good idea."
"And since he is young enough AND we've finally gathered enough power…" En decides to add. "...we'll finally get to the true form of One for All. We should be able to communicate with him. Give him our quirks."
"Well, not like he has anyone to really use those against." Lariat comments. "We kinda geared it all up for an epic final confrontation, only for All Might to just cave All for One's face in and call it a day. Without One for All reaching the final form." He sighs. "Unless Aiko Midoriya decides to become a villain, because frankly speaking I don't get how she is doing ninety percent of what she is doing if her quirk is what Inko and Izuku claim it to be. She is seriously freaking me out."
"Why?" Aiko asks from her position right next to Yoichi Shigaraki, staring at Lariat with one of her signature glares.
"Well, she is kinda… WAIT WHAT THE F…" Lariat manages to - in the span of a few seconds - go through a sensible reply through the shocked scream to a barely avoided swear word in front of a minor. He still jumps back with enough speed to actually fall over an imaginary couch.
Nana realizes two seconds later that Yoichi Shigaraki was so freaked out by the sudden appearance of his niece that he actually jumped at her and she somehow grabbed him unconsciously. So she was princess carrying the First Holder, and she wasn't sure if he noticed that.
"You are weird." Aiko comments. "Funny, but weird." She doesn't specify who she is referring to. "I came to check if your music wouldn't hurt Izu-nichan, but it seems that things will be alright. You could change a few notes to fit him better, though. Are you sure that he needs so much strength?" She tilts her head, her eyes drilling through Yoichi. Then she vanishes.
"What in the fuck?" Lariat is still half-hiding behind the couch, but it doesn't stop him from voicing their thoughts.
Aiko is calmly eating the food in the real world, just in front of Yagi Toshinori. It's as if nothing has happened.
(***)
No. Still not the promised Nedzu omake. Why? Because this still isn't the peak happy-rat. Trust me. It gets better. Also yes, more Aiko moments. Because honestly she gets the backseat for a while once the school starts (she returns full-force later on) so I had to give her some more time in the spotlight.
What's the second idea that Nedzu received? You'll see soon enough. In 2-4 chapters, don't remember exactly the number. Let's just say that it's FUN.