4 Septembr

I woke up this morning and it was very cold. and I didn't want to get up but I was tiold I must get up at 8. I had breakfast with Mommy today but she didn't smile so much and she asked me a lot of questions, not many that I knew. Today I did my cards and I got most of them write. Akagi was so happy and I got ice-cream for supper.

5 Septembr September

My previous date was wrong, just ignore my previous date. My current date was correct. Today was warm. Akagi said the Cool Front had ended and that it would be warm in future. I asked Akagi about my sister today but he didn't answer. They don't like me. I can't speak like my sister. I went to be early today.

6 September

I'm sad. Akagi said that soon that he will be leaving. I couldn't understand why when he tried to explain it. If Akagi leaves then who is going to talk to me. I won't be able to eat breakfast and I will get hungry and die. I don't know what I'm going to do.

7 September

Akagi left today. There was a new lady who I didn't like. She's strict. I'm going to leave tomorrow. They won't miss me anyway. I will pack my bags and live in the park. I've seen people live in the park but Akagi wouldn't allow me to talk to them. I miss Akagi.

8 September 2315

I look back at my diary entries and I wince in psychological pain at its owner's former inability. Truly life is not fair and it has never been fair to the former holder of this chronicle. Born into a wealthy family she lacked not only a Quirk of her own but the mental acuity to thrive in this world. She grew up physically in the cold Akamine family but mentally she never grew up. To the avaricious Akamines her lack of ability signalled her eternal status as a lodestone and she was shunted unused for the moment; the hidden shame of the cold Akamine family.

On the prior day her caretaker was promoted to a non-useless member of the family and she decided to escape. Normally this would be impossible but luck or fate or the devil showed its favour towards her and somehow this incapable child was able to elude her newest warden and made it all the way to the park. Under almost any other circumstances she would have been captured in a few days, her plan foiled by those vastly more capable than her. That would have been her fate if it wasn't for a single meeting today.

The young girl, tired after the process of lugging around all her worldly possessions, decided to stop by a bench taking a seat next to a short boy with dark green hair who eyed her with intense green eyes containing profound mysteries. Oblivious of his impending significance the young girl stumbled into conversation with him, her words barely formed and rough just like her sluggish thoughts.

The conversation was light with her explaining her situation stumblingly and he nodded sympathetically adding in a few questions that she answered stumblingly. After a few questions he suddenly gave an ineffable smile before he reached out his hand and took hers.

That was the second that Sakura Akamine died.

I wonder if this is what people feel like when they undergo religious conversion. In a second the simple yet terrifying world that I had seen was stripped away revealing the complex underpinnings. My muddy thoughts became clear as thousands of memories were absorbed and reinterpreted. It was simultaneously horrifying and beautiful; wretched and sacred, leaving me feeling both terribly full and hauntingly empty as my world was torn down and reassembled. Maybe comparing it to meeting a god was not so far off.

More aware and yet more confused than I have ever been in my life I turned towards my casual acquaintance who had given me this wondrous, impossible, beautiful gift. Despite my newly gained intelligence I had not yet reached my current eloquence and so I looked into the eyes of the boy/man/god and poured all my confusion and disbelief into a single word.

"Why," I asked alone and adrift finally seeing the ocean from my raft of ignorance.

"I wanted to," he said simply downplaying the impossibility of what he had done.

"You are a good person," I said remembering the words that had been taught to me, but they felt ill-fitting to describe this being and he snorted in amusement causing shame to run through me.

"I'm not good," he denied emphatically. "I'm evil." Despite my newly ascended brain I lacked far too much context to seeing why what he did was evil and so I merely tilted my head and remained silent. After a moment he chuckled to himself before he sat up straighter and looked me dead in the eye.

"A good person would return you to your parents," he said, his bearing indicating that he believed that he was telling the truth. "Maybe they would have reported your treatment to the police station but nothing would have happened in the end. The law is ultimately a way to prevent people from kicking up a fuss. As an evil person I can give the gift of knowledge to a previously disadvantaged girl throwing her life into question and simultaneously launching a bullet against a rich and powerful family; and this was all because I felt like it."

He laughed at that point and I couldn't help but notice how his laugh appeared to be modelled after those stereotypically evil laughs favoured by cartoon villains. I could easily see the holes in his worldview but his enthusiasm was infectious and in that moment despite all my hard analysis I found myself enraptured.

"What is your Quirk called," I asked trying to discern knowledge about the item that gifted me with such intelligence.

"Mother Tree of Life," he responded and my newly upgraded brain rapidly drew and discarded conclusions until I arrived at the most likely one.

"A biblical reference," I said. "You are referring to one of the two trees in the Garden of Eden along with the Tree of Knowledge. It either seems misnamed or your Quirk is more versatile then I have been led to believe."

"I can't just disclose my Quirk to anybody like that," he said leaving certain things unsaid. Those certain things were as plain as day to myself. I was indebted to him and I was well placed into society in order to leverage my new found intelligence. I would be a great asset to him in almost all endeavours that he could undertake. Even having worked this all out I desired greatly to help him, my gratitude was not contingent on his altruism. My saviour from the darkness was truly deserving of all my efforts whether he was a god or a devil.

With a small smile on her face Sakura Algernon put down the worn diary. There was very little place for sentimentalism in her life but her old journal was something that she still kept in its original form. She put down the diary in a sealed vault before locking it and placing it with the rest of her luggage in her hotel room. It had been a long two weeks having to deal with the various business partners in China. The country was a powerhouse in manufacturing and simultaneously a huge consumer and Sakura had expanded the trade routes in a wholly successful attempt to increase profits.

Still despite the great benefits she had obtained the process started to wear on her a bit and she felt herself looking forward to her small, homely multi-billion company. Still there was one more meeting and it was a rather important one. She was meeting a Mr. Hai Rong at the Theed Tower and the company that he represented was the leading in Quirk enhancing substances used by Heroes. The market was medium in size but dominated by the aforementioned An Hai industries and there was a strong persistent customer base.

She stepped out of the door to the hotel room and one short limo ride she found herself engaged in conversation with a rather well-padded man of fifty years. The dull dance of negotiations commenced and Sakura found herself getting into the well-trod practice that she always won. Still today the practice was a bit too easy which occupied her mind slightly. It was likely that something was going to be sprung on her at the end of the meeting. If the proposition was benign than she would look forward to it but if force looks like it was going to be used then she would press the button for a second time and call in her support. If her opponent was observant enough than they would recognize that the shadows in the corner of the room had already darkened slightly, and if he resorted to violence then Brain was very willing to leave a bloody mess.

"Two hundred thousand units over a period of two years with a deposit of 10% and 6% per annum interest is the best we can do," Mr. Hai Ron said and Sakura nodded to show her acceptance of the favourable offer. "Before you go can we speak about one more last minute item that wasn't placed on the agenda?" As he said that he left the table waving off a few of his aides that attempted to follow him.

"A few minutes just opened in my schedule," Sakura said with interest as she did the same.

"Very well," the man said with a grateful smile before handing a folder across to Sakura. Without any preamble she opened up the folder and scanned the document containing very, very interesting implications. Her eyes easily skimmed along the paper confirming an unlikely but possible outcome.

"Some very interesting chemicals you want," Sakura said watching him stiffen. "Maryaceodoxital, Hepisterimel-42, and the list goes on from what I've seen," she mused already seeing where this was going. "Not illegal by any means but quite regulated. A shipment this size can only have two possible uses. Either you are playing Build-A-Bear with hundreds of thousands of people organs or you are dabbling back into the Oshimoto project."

He drew a breath in at that. The Oshimoto product was a secret experiment by the Chinese government years ago in which the country bypassed international law in an attempt to create genetically engineered humans with much stronger bodies. That didn't work and when it was discovered China played it off as rogue elements and were forced to officially disband it.

"I would be honoured to aid such a humanitarian effort as providing medical treatment to the injured," Sakura said with a smile noticing a well-hidden look of relief on her opponents face. The details would be hashed out after a while and the increased risk would lead to a much greater profit. Not that the profit was the only advantage or even just the most important. Izuku would never forgive her if she discovered a group performing research on Super Soldiers and didn't make plans to obtain it.

"You are very much like your father," the Chinese businessman said in a complimentary tone and Sakura maintained a polite smile despite the distaste that bubbled up within her as she heard that. Instead she spent a few more words sorting out the final details of a possible collaboration and organized an online meeting to discuss the topic further. Lastly she said her goodbyes before she left the building and was driven back to her hotel room. Almost as soon as she got back to her hotel room her phone rang and she picked it up switching the calls into untraceable mode before she took the call.

"Good Afternoon Boss," she said. "How did the exams go?" She had long altered all the listening devices in the room. Right now any recordings would play innocuous pre-recorded sounds at certain times.

"They were easy," Izuku replied flippantly. "I didn't even have to use High Spec and I still got in the ninety-fifth percentile. Mom and I went and watched a mystery movie to celebrate. How did the business negotiations go over on your end? Did anything interesting happen?" Despite him asking it was easy to tell that he wasn't really that interested and was just asking for her sake.

"Yes, they were very successful overall," Brain said smiling at the thought. "By the way what do you know about the Oshimoto project?"

"China's doing it again," Izuku caught on immediately. "How ironic the timing is. Our mutual associate seems to be dabbling in the same field of study. It seems like fate is pushing forward humanity to evolve again." He laughed at that point, a laugh that sounded like that of a cartoon supervillain and Brain smiled to see him so excited.

"That is not as ironic as you believe," Brain said. "It makes sense that he would be dabbling in human modification given the breadth of research you had already acquired from him. I would be surprised if he hadn't made overtures in that direction. What did they show you?"

"A genetically altered being that could contain and operate multiple distinct Quirks," Izuku said and Brain immediately realised they were in a long time alliance. "Problematically the process seems to put additional strain on the beings mental capacity," Izuku remarked casually if he was discussing the weather. "This is obviously pretty unacceptable for us."

"Evidently," Brain said. "What is he going to be using this superbeing for anyway," Brain said.

"You're asking questions that you already know the answer to," Izuku said. "He gave it to Shigaraki and allowed him to take a shot at All Might." Izuku's words showed he had little faith in his student's ability to do so. "I'm going to be frank Brain. I've been tracking All Might and I'm beginning to suspect he's on a timer of sorts. If I spent the better part of the day wearing him down then I should be able to kill him with some certainty. Even that creature, Nomu he called it, appears to be a rather durable opponent. If Shigaraki just went into the battle attempting to rope-a-dope and then mopped up afterwards then I would actually bet money on his victory."

"But you haven't advised him either way," Brain deduced. "What did All For One recommend."

"He's using it as a test for Shigaraki," Izuku said. "Don't get me wrong, he could get lucky and win, but I wouldn't put money on it."

"Hey Boss what would you do if you had to kill All Might?" Brain asked. She already knew the answer of course, having gained some familiarity with her leader over their years of working together; she even knew how to phrase the question properly.

"I never have to do anything, Brain," Izuku said calmly, emphasising the word 'have'. People who tried to force him to perform would likely never have good ends.

"Oh my apologies, if you wanted to kill All Might how would you do it," she rephrased. "Would you follow your own advice?"

"I would face down All Might head-to-head and defeat him then," Izuku said seriously, not even entertaining the thought of performing it sneakily. "Right now I lack personal strength; otherwise I would have done it already. I've almost ninety percent done simulating Mr. Smiley-All-The-Time's Quirk and maybe actually recreating it will give me an idea of its weaknesses."

"That's amazing," Brain said, smiling in delight. "I can imagine I will be treated to another round of megalomaniacal boasting when you finally obtain the most powerful Quirk on Earth."

"You know it Brain," Izuku said chuckling. "Now I've got myself excited. I'm going to go dive into my research. By the way Brain if you have time can you try and find out if there is anybody with a duplicating Quirk. Kthx, bye." He hung up the phone at that time and Brain could visualise him diving towards his laptop and poring over details of tests.

That was a bit of an asshole move at the end but she couldn't stop herself smiling at the image of him hard at work. She wouldn't be surprised if he had a particular affinity for this Quirk considering the similarities with his own. For all of his abnormal intelligence Izuku could develop rather serious blind spots; a combination of casual disregard for most people coupled with a natural arrogance that was only mostly deserved. Actually that was true for most people; once assumptions were built up people would instinctively fortify them when they were challenged.

Two quirks with similar DNA arising in Japan was not something she could overlook no matter how long the percentage overlap was. So she investigated and what came of her investigations was a deep descent into a rabbit hole that became more and more strange and problematic each step she took and each fragile connection she inferred. She grew more and more concerned as she traced the lines from Yagi to Shimura; and she inferred that the common percentage of DNA was the ability to transfer the Quirks. From then on she traced disciple-mentor, relationships back to a bit over a hundred years ago. From then onwards she was able to narrow down the possible existing Quirks by a great deal considering the absolute minority back then were Quirkless. The final inferences were child's play and like any correct hypothesis all the evidence repeatedly confirmed one answer.

"Dammit Hisashi," Brain swore, uncharacteristically worked up by the sheer fucking coincidence laid out bare before her; if that even was his name in the first place. She had speculated if was aware that the person he was engaging in business with was his own son and then made a negative judgement. Izuku deliberately acted differently in costume in order to draw attention away from his civilian identity and very few members of the Living Tree even knew his name. Furthermore the father-son duo only spoke occasionally out of costume over the phone and they hadn't met in person for a few years now. Still Brain had resolved to keep an even closer eye on All-For-One in future, more than she had already been using in the first place at least.

She calculated the disclosure of this information would foster a closer working relationship between the two of them, which would cause Izuku to divert his goals slightly but likely increase the size and backing of the Living Tree. Sharing information and resources it was exceedingly likely that All Might could be beaten. From then on the logistics were not important but Izuku could likely absorb the nascent group that Shigaraki was forming with not many difficulties. The fact that he hadn't already was only due to respect for All for One who would likely encourage it in that situation.

There seemed to be only benefits to this arrangement and no discernible downsides and yet for some reason Brain could not find it within herself to bring it up to her boss. A quick analysis of her feelings allowed her to isolate the reasoning. If she were to reveal it to Izuku then everything would change for him. She wouldn't forgive herself if the change she inflicted by her own choices would be to the detriment of the one who saved her.

xxx

Izuku stared at the gates at U.A school for a short while trying to stir some emotion within him. For many of the future heroes who arrived at these gates there would no doubt be a thrumming hope or nervousness inside them as they prepared for a life ahead taking down villains. Izuku cocked a smile at that as he placed his hands into his pockets and walked forward. There were no doubt a lot of deliciously informative Quirks that he could sequence and incorporate into his fighting style. To get the full effect he would need the student records, but Shigaraki had already said that he had a plan for that as well as a time for attack. He would likely have to sit the next one out or get a good body double. Ultimately he would probably send a member of Living Tree to aid his protégé, realistically it would be Sudor.

Izuku strolled towards his home room inwardly salivating at the various Quirks around him. He felt like a lion among unsuspecting lambs at this point. 'No, not lambs,' he inwardly reconsidered. Lambs don't have much meet on them. They were fattened sheep ripe for the taking. He was so absorbed in his contemplations that he failed to take into account the most dangerous part of any school, ninety degree blind corridors. He wasn't alone in making that same turn and he got a brief flicker of responsiveness before he crashed into something soft and went crashing into the ground.

"Good morning," Izuku said as he extricated himself from the mess and pulled himself to his feet. His hands were in his pocket the entire time so thankfully he didn't touch anything incriminating, especially since there was so much in front of him that was incriminating. He took one out and offered it to the girl on the floor who was rubbing her arm. She had black hair tied into a pony tail and her physique could be easily described as developed.

"Sorry, I wasn't concentrating," she said taking his hand and being pulled to her feet. "I was just looking around school before my class starts."

"I was also a bit out of sorts," Izuku said chuckling as he ruffled the back of his head. "Shall we split the blame Miss…?"

"Momo Yaoyorozu," the girl said, smiling eagerly. "And you are."

"Izuku Midoriya," he replied easily. "So which course are you in; hero, general, support or management?" It would be hero of course. The Yaoyorozu were a hero family in general and one of his supporters had a Quirk copied from a now dead member of their family. Izuku placed his hands in his pockets ruffling through his collection of Quirks before picking a seldom used one.

"I'm in the hero course 1-A," she said cheerfully. "And you?"

"I'm in the general course," Izuku replied. "I'm afraid the lifestyle of heroics is not for me. I'm glad to see that there are so many capable new heroes like you to protect people like me from the villains." Izuku smiled encouragingly at this point and Momo beamed in response although her face seemed to be a bit red at the thought of being knocked down by a future civilian.

"I'll do my best to protect you from villains in future then," she said before she suddenly seemed to remember something. "I should be going now before class starts," she said. "It was good to meet you Midoriya."

"It was likewise good to meet you, Yaoyorozu," Izuku said truthfully walking past her on the right. Just as soon as he entered her blind spot his fingers morphed into serrated whip-like limbs a few feet long and he twitched his hand sending them towards her left thigh. In an instant a thin cut opened up on her arm and started oozing blood and Izuku turned back dropping the Mutant Quirk.

"You're bleeding," he said acting surprised. "I didn't think the fall was that hard? Do you need a handkerchief?"

"I am," Yaoyorozu said sounding somewhat confused. "Oh," she said as she looked down and caught a glimpse of the blood. "No that is fine," she said pulling down her sleeve. Her skin bubbled slightly as cotton appeared and she started to swab the cut. "Thank you for telling me," she said gratefully. "That could have gone badly if I hadn't noticed."

"It's no problem," Izuku said flippantly. "You're probably going to get used to being cut in future." It was a morbid thing to say but the girl didn't pick it up. Instead she finished dabbing up the excess blood before she pulled out a band aid and placed it on the wound. With one last goodbye she deposited the cotton into a nearby bin and headed off. Izuku took a brief look to see the corridor still empty and there were no cameras before Attraction of Small Objects appeared inside his mind and he immediately summoned the bloody cotton from the bin.

"A most intriguing Quirk," he stated before he placed the bloody cotton inside a plastic container and slipped it into his bag.

xxx

"I'm sorry for my lateness," Izuku said bowing slightly to his teacher. That statement was only partially a lie he did find it inconvenient to be a bit late.

"By not arriving on time you are disrespecting me, your classmates and even yourself," the teacher a sharply dressed man with glasses said. Well he had two of those statements correct; Izuku didn't really respect his classmates or his teacher but he had the utmost respect for himself.

"That's enough," the teacher said. "You can take the last seat next to Shinso over there." He pointed out to some gloomy looking guy with purple messy hair. Izuku nodded and headed towards the empty seat sitting down and relaxing as he watched the rest of the homeroom. It had been so long since he had gone to an ordinary school after all; maybe he would enjoy the experience.

Nope, on second thoughts he wouldn't. The next hour or so was an extended homeroom in which the teacher went over the various rules of U.A and Izuku mentally started compiling All Might's Quirk again. He was currently at about ninety-six percent but the last few traces were by far and away the hardest. If he continued this way then it might take him until the end of the week to finally get it. Izuku actually got a lot more of it done while the teacher was talking and when he finally stopped going through all the rigour of the first day it was finally lunch time.

"So what's your story," Izuku said yawning into his hand as he spoke to the tired looking student next to him.

"Story," the purple headed guy said turning towards Izuku. "What do you mean by story?"

"Like have you ever got a four homer game in baseball or do you write shitty fanfiction about your favourite hero," Izuku started. "Have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight? You know basic stuff."

"I've done none of those things," the guy said to Izuku. "And you?"

"All three," Izuku stated proudly. "That's a lie," he half-lied. "I've only done two of those things," he said somewhat more truthfully.

"I still don't believe you," Izuku's conversant said. "But my name is Hitoshi Shinso. My dream is to join the hero course."

"Now you've got it," Izuku said smiling. He didn't really seem to have the muscle for it though. In fact it looked like a stiff breeze would blow him over. "Would you mind telling me what your Quirk is?"

"I would prefer to keep it a secret," Hitoshi stated as he headed towards the lunch room with Izuku following him somewhat.

"Fine, fine," Izuku said. "My Quirk allows me to pick stuff off the ground. Watch." Izuku raised his hand at that point bringing Attraction of Small Objects to the front as he picked up a piece of litter off the floor and flicked it towards the bin causing it to bump off the rim. Annoyed Izuku did the same thing and got it within the bin on his third try.

He entered the cafeteria just behind the stoic student and headed towards the food. After a few seconds however he felt eyes upon his back and immediately turned towards the source of his gaze meeting those eyes with his own. For the first time in a long time red met green and Izuku sized up his former friend and former tormentor expecting to find feelings of affection or hate that just weren't there. There was an almost empty feeling as if whatever connection they once had was clearly severed.

Whatever feelings were cut on his end there were clearly some existing on Bakugou's end. That was eminently understandable; after all their final confrontation didn't end in his favour. Izuku gave him a wide smile that seemed to stoke feelings of fury within him, but he seemed to force it down and turned away to his meal. Izuku really hoped he became a great hero; after all it would give him the perfect reason to beat the stuffing out of him again.

Izuku wasn't sure if it was the cooks at U.A being excellent but that was one of the best tasting meals he had ever eaten, even if the meat was a bit overcooked.

NazgulBelserion: Sorry. All For One's thoughts would probably be closer to 'This person reminds me of my son' than this person is my son. Izuku doesn't resemble himself much in costume. But you were 100% correct in my motivation for writing this. I did want an Izuku who had a stronger reason to be a villain because of a stronger reason than feeling disillusioned over some heroes. Lastly Izuku has all the tools he needs to push his Quirk to top tier