...
Tears poured down Izuku's face as he kneeled in front of his idol after hearing the words he longed to hear from him. Nejire stood next to him, smiling down at her boyfriend, a look of happiness on her face.
"To do this, young man, I shall offer you my quirk!"
At this statement, Izuku and Nejire turned their attention back to the skinny man in confusion.
"Offer your quirk?...What does that mean, All Might?"
Suddenly, All Might reinflated. "WHAT, ARE YOU SAYING YOU DON'T WANT MY AMAZING QUIRK?" He said laughing.
"N-N-No, All Might, o-of course not, I'm so sorry if you misunderstood, that's not what I meant, please don't leave, I think-"
All Might then deflated again. "I was kidding, young man. But, to go more in depth, I mean for you to inherit my quirk."
The two children widened their eyes.
"My quirk has never been officially confirmed. Many assume that it is super strength or invincibility or some sort. However, neither are really correct. My quirk is called..."One For All."
"One...For...All..." they repeated.
"It is a power passed on from generation to generation. Each person cultivates the power, and then passes it to the next person, who cultivated it again. It is the accumulation of power from those who wish to help people!"
Toshinori Yagi! Quirk: One For All!
Hits people with a power that gets stronger with each new wielder!
"But make no mistake, young man. It will not be easy. Given your current physique, you are close, but not yet completely physically capable of inheriting the quirk. You will have to put in lots of effort to strengthen your body to contain the quirk. Are you willing to go through with this, young man?"
Izuku mulled it over. He didn't see a reason as to why he couldn't train more, but no doubt there would be very high expectations for him as the inheritor of the number one hero's quirk. But after looking up at his girlfriend, and seeing her encouraging smile which seemed brighter then the sunset behind his idol, he made up his mind.
He smiled as he turned to All Might. "I'll do it!"
The skinny man gave a smile as he gazed at the boy. "Just the answer I was expecting. Meet me at Dagobah Beach tomorrow at 8:00 am, and we shall begin!"
"Ummm...can I bring Nejire with me?"
All Might seemed to consider this for a few minutes. "Well, as she already knows, I see no harm in it. However, I would prefer if neither of you speak about this to anyone else, unless they are 100% trustworthy. This is to be a closely guarded secret."
"I promise that I will keep the secret safe!" Cheered Izuku.
This made Toshinori grin at the young man. "Good. I look forward to working with you, young Midoriya!" And with that, Toshinori transformed back into All Might in a puff of smoke, and left the area.
Nejire looked down at Izuku, who still had tears of happiness pouring down his face. Smiling, she put a hand on his shoulder. "See? You are worthy of being a hero," she whispered softly. Izuku gave her a grateful smile and wrapped his arms around her, which compelled her to do the same. The two remained for a minutes, before they finally pulled away.
"We should probably head home now, Izuku. You don't want to oversleep tomorrow, do you?"
He nodded his head in agreement. "You're right. Well, I'll see you tomorrow, Neji." Nejire gave him a kiss on the cheek as she waved him goodbye, and Izuku now was the only one who remained in the street, and he slowly wandered home, amazed at how this day had gone. Never, in a million years would he have imagined this.
—
Beads of sweat poured down Izuku's face as he sat down on the benches near Dagobah Beach. "Closer and closer," that's what he told himself over and over whenever he trained. Hours of tiresome physical labor cant exactly be considered fun for anyone though, can it?
It had been about 2 months since All Might passed his power down to him. He had been training everyday, clearing out Dagobah Beach and doing workout routines. Nejire helped him a lot too, coming with him to help him train whenever she had the time to, and occasionally sparring with him until he was tired.
Even so, a kiss on the cheek would always encourage him to continue.
The green-haired boy sat there, chugging down water from his water bottle as he gazed at the sunset on the horizon.
"Woah, it looks so beautiful out here! Maybe I should take Nejire here for a date when it's all cleared out..." he murmured.
"WHAT A GREAT IDEA! YOU TOTALLY SHOULD!"
Izuku jumped a little as a loud, yet familiar voice rang out behind him. He turned around to face Mirio, who had his head poking out of the wall next to him.
"Mirio...what did I say about surprising me like that?.." sighed Izuku.
"Not to! Can't help myself though, Izuku. You're too easy! Always out in the open, unsuspecting after some training!" Mirio gave his friend a shit-eating grin at these words. "Good to know that you have so much confidence in me, bud."
"Well anyways, jokes aside, I wanted to see if you had time to spar! It's been a while since our last one."
Izuku gave his friend a grin. "Sure. Let's see if you can keep up!"
Mirio returned it. "I should be telling you that, green bean!"
Two minutes later...
Izuku and Mirio got into battle stances as they gazed at each other in absolute focus. While they were friends, the group of pals treated spars as proper fights, and didn't pull punches. They wanted to make their spars close to what training at U.A would probably be like.
"I can't make the first move...if I do, then he'll just react with his quirk and get a hit on me instead. I have to fight this defensively..."
In a sudden burst of movement, Mirio lunged at Izuku, hand closed into a fist. In response, he leapt to the side and dodged the strike, and then swung his own fist towards where Mirio was. However, when he felt nothing but a ghostly feeling, he jumped back as Mirio phased into the ground, nowhere to be seen, and in a pure wave of instinct, he gave a sharp turn and parried a strike from a now reappearing Mirio with his arm, and he countered with a high kick aimed at his face.
However, the blonde was clearly not deterred at all, and he immediately phased underground, dodging the strike.
"Crap! Where now? I didn't think he would react that fast to it!"
He looked around. There was nothing high enough to jump on to dodge a strike from below, and he didn't know where he would pop up. Mirio typically would be a little shocked if his attack was countered-he was the surprise attack specialist, after all. Izuku had written down so many things about Mirio over the duration of the group's friendship...this was something he didn't expect. With his quirk being so dangerous and easy to bring a disadvantage to him if used improperly, Mirio liked to stick to tactics and moves that he knew worked. This reaction time...he must have been expecting Izuku's analysis of him. He had never done this before...how much had he improved since last time?
This was the standard of which one had to perform to in order to get into U.A.
Not sure of a better solution, Izuku leaped into the air, hoping to get enough distance from Mirio to plan something else. There was very little time, though. In a battle against Mirio, reaction time was key. He needed to think of something fast-
"POWEEERRR!"
Too late.
Izuku fell to the ground with a bruise on his cheek. In that mere second he took to think, and he had already gotten behind him to land a strike...amazing. Mirio really was something. Speed, strength, intelligence...everything you could want in a hero when it came to stopping villains.
It was at that moment Izuku realized something.
All Might may be the number one hero, but while that is inspiring, it also makes him seem so...impossible to live up to. Like a pillar that could not fall.
But the boy standing in front of him...a hero at heart, with an unbreakable will and a bright smile...
...and a friend. HIS friend. A person he knew. Someone who wasn't so impossible to live up to. Someone that he talked with, laughed with, and got to know better everyday.
"You alright, Izuku? I hit you kinda hard, didn't I? Sorry..." said Mirio in a sheepish tone as he held out his hand.
But Izuku couldn't find it in himself to be annoyed. He looked up with a small smile on his face, and took his friend's hand."
"Don't worry about it."
...
Elsewhere...
"Get back here."
A tremble.
"Now."
A tear.
"Did you not hear me? I said...NOW!"
He was the one in charge. He had made that so very clear, from the moment he was designated as her caretaker.
She should go back...right?
But when she stepped out of that building, she had felt so...free. It was a feeling she had never felt before, being confined to the white room, strapped in a chair with unknown tools next to her on a table...and that man, that terror, that caretaker standing over her...that was what she was used to feeling, or on occasion a bed that despite the covers, felt so very hard, so very cold, in a dark, dark room lit with a single, dim light bulb.
He was forced to take her out of the house while it was inspected for something. Whatever it was, she didn't know. The fresh air, the buzz of the city, the bright lights...it was like a completely different universe.
She didn't want to leave, not now that she had seen it.
His eyes were narrowed as he glared down at her, a vein pulsing in annoyance within his hand. He was angry. They weren't supposed to visit this early. He hadn't expected it. He didn't need more problems right now.
"I'm not in a good mood, girl. Don't make it worse."
She should definitely go back...that's what her mind was saying.
But as she gazed around, there were so many people. They were laughing, smiling, talking, playing...it was nothing like the cruel world he had described it as.
Whenever she asked to go outside, he always said no, that it was a terrible place full of diseased people. He always said she was safe from it in the house, and that outside, people would scream, mock, attack, and do terrible things. They were cruel and emotionless. He was supposed to be the only good one, and he needed her so other people would be good like him.
But seeing these people, so happy, laughing, welcoming...the feeling that he was wrong was growing. Had he lied to her?...
She never got to go outside. This might be her only chance. This world...was nothing like the world of diseased people that he had described. If he had been lying, then how much could she trust him now?
It was an opportunity to escape. One, she decided, that would not go to waste. She turned her foot a little, not going unnoticed by him.
"Hm? Coming back now?"
Her foot turned a little more. This time, slightly away from him. His eyebrows narrowed slightly more.
"What are you doing, girl?"
Then she did it. She sprang off her feet, bolting as fast as she could, running towards a crowded space, the rocks on the sidewalk piercing her feet, making her wince. But she kept running.
"LITTLE BRAT! WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING?"
Footsteps clapped against the sidewalk at a fast pace. She had gotten a head start, but she didn't know if it would be enough. From the sound of it, he was quite fast.
"Uh, sir, could you fill out a survey for-"
"GET OUT OF MY WAY!"
He was gaining on her. Closer and closer. She was going to be caught. She was going to be taken back to that room, and he wouldn't be forgiving. He would grab the tools, the sharp thing, he was going to hurt her again-
"UGH!"
A crashing sound was heard behind her, and the footsteps stopped. Had he...tripped? Surely she wasn't that lucky..
But if the footsteps had ceased, she was going to take the chance. She ran again, at a faster pace this time.
As she dashed down another street, then another, into crowds on the sidewalk, a demented howl of frustration shook throughout the night.
...
"Fucking leg...stupid people...STUPID GIRL!"
Kai Chisaki bellowed in anger as he marched through the compound of the Eight Precepts of Death. He was especially angry today. Everything had gone so wrong. He had never been this angry before, and it was to the point that even Chrono stayed out of his way when he arrived back at the compound following the inspection.
How? How had everything fallen apart so easily? The key to his success, the key to his new world, the key to restoring the world to where it should be, with Pops and him at the helm... it wasn't possible now. Without her, the plan was impossible. The bullets would be out of reach.
Everything he had worked for was now at stake. Everything came back to Eri. And if she was gone, it was all in jeopardy.
"Okay. Calm down. She can't have gotten far. She's far too crippled right now to put much distance between us. I couldn't chase her earlier...running through public screaming for a girl that there isn't even any government records for...not a good idea. We're already suspicious to them as a designated villain group anyway. But we can look for her later, once Nemoto returns with the car."
He narrowed his eyes, and glared out the window towards the night sky. What a tiresome night...a beer sounded nice right about now.
...
"Can we go to karaoke?"
"Please no..."
"Maybe the clothes store?"
"Don't need 'em!"
"Or maybe-!"
A sigh. "Let's just eat, Neji."
"Hmph! You guys are no fun."
Mirio, Tamaki, Nejire and Izuku wandered through Kiyashi Ward shopping mall, arguing all the way. They had been there for a few hours on an outing. The time till the U.A entrance exams was approaching fast, and the group of friends decided to take a break from their extensive training.
"We're kinda tired, you know? we've been wandering the mall all day...you're the only one with energy left right now." Izuku deadpanned.
Nejire gave a pout that in the eyes of Izuku, was the most adorable thing in the world.
"Must...not...succumb!"
With difficulty, Izuku gave a deep breath and faced his girlfriend. "Neji..."
"Fine...where will we eat though?" She asked, looking curious.
"I heard there's Korean place nearby that's pretty good!" suggested Mirio.
"As long as we can eat..." Tamaki mumbled.
"Sounds good," nodded Izuku.
Nejire then gave a little skip. "It's settled, then! We'll eat there! But right after that, we're going to the fashion store, ok? I wanna try stuff out!"
The group gave nods as they set off towards the restaurant.
2 Hours Later...
Nejire waved goodbye to Tamaki and Mirio as she left Kiyashi Ward Shopping mall and left towards her home. Izuku had to go home early which left the three of them there, but what could you do.
She skipped home, with a cheer in her step. This day was a nice break from the constant training that they had been doing for the U.A entrance exams, and she had a date tomorrow with Izuku that she was really looking forward too. She knew that he had been overexerting himself in their training, so it was for his sake too.
Nejire reflected on her boyfriend's progress with All Might's quirk. Over the course of the last few months, Izuku had been trying his hardest to regulate One For All, and currently he could go up to 8 percent of the quirk without breaking anything in his body. But that other 92 percent...she didn't know much about the quirk, but Izuku had been training so hard these past few months...and only being able to control 8 percent currently made her wonder what her boyfriend would be capable of once he reached his full potential. He was already incredibly intelligent, being able to analyse information in an instant and craft scenarios and results in his head in mere seconds. He would be quite the opponent for anyone to face.
"Ughhh...ow..."
Nejire turned toward the source of the sudden noise-an alleyway a couple feet in front of her.
"Should I go take a look? It sounds like their in pain..."
"Agh..."
"Yea...I should. I'm going to be a hero, right? I need to help people like this..."
Nejire walked towards the alleyway and poked her head in slightly. But there was...nothing?
"Huh? I was sure I heard someone...I'm not hallucinating, am I? God, that would be terrible!"
She shook her head to regain focus. She squinted towards the end of the alleyway, but she still saw nothing. Maybe she was hallucinating...
"Uh...h-hello?"
She darted her head downwards, and saw something she didn't expect.
A little girl laid there on the cold, rocky ground, covered in cuts and bruises all over her body, as well as a few bandages here and there. She was dressed in rags, by the looks of it. Homeless, maybe. But that wasn't what was bothering her the most.
The girl was looking at her with...something akin to terror in her eyes. She looked scared, nervous, and...surprised. Odd.
Nejire leaned down and put on the friendliest smile she could. "Hi there. don't be scared, ok? I'm here to help. Where are your parents?" Simple question to start off.
"I...I...I don't live with them. They died. I...have no home. I'm alone."
So she was homeless. Poor thing. She looked so young...and she had no parents either. It reminded her of...
"I have no home. My dad abuses me, and my mom died two years ago. And a couple hours ago, my dad kicked me out of the house."
...herself.
A tear dropped from her eye. This was a child who had the same misfortune as herself when she was a kid...before she met Mirio, Tamaki and Izuku. Except, she had no friends to help her. Not like how she did when she ran away from home.
There was only one question now...what should she do?
"Why don't you come live with me?" Mirio's words from that night echoed in her head.
She was just like her. Suffering the same circumstances.
So...should she use the same solution?
As she gazed at the fearful girl, her heart tightened, and she made her decision.
"Why don't you come live with me and my friends?"
...
Was this really the right choice? She would be going to live with someone who she didn't even know until today. Many people wouldn't have done it.
But...this person. This girl, who had introduced herself as Nejire, she seemed...friendly, and approachable. She was nothing like him...and a home didn't sound too bad right now.
She felt bad for lying. Technically, she did have a home. However, that home was with him, and after she ran away, she didn't want to go back. She wanted to be with the people that were friendly, not like him. The people that he had lied about all her life, but now that she had seen one in person, she wanted to stay with them
Maybe this was a mistake. She prayed it wasn't.
She didn't want to talk about him just yet. The terrors of that former home were still fresh in her mind. Maybe, if these people were as good as she was hoping for...one day, she would.
...
"FUCK! IT'S BEEN 4 HOURS! HOW HAS THERE NOT BEEN ANY SIGN OF HER?"
Kai Chisaki was absolutely livid. After four hours, four long, precious hours...there was still no sign of Eri. They had scoured the district that she had ran away in and all the surrounding areas, but...nothing. Every nook and cranny, every building, every possible place where a child could hide, but there was no trace of her.
They were now back in the car driving home. They couldn't search too long-people would get suspicious, and more problems were exactly what Chisaki didn't need right now.
"So...what will we do now, boss?" Came the voice of Mimic.
Chisaki took a deep breath. "We still have some vials of blood left from before she ran. We continue our experiments and be more careful with how much we use. Beyond that, we have no choice but to track her down. The vials we have won't last forever-we need more...and Eri is the only source."
The Eight Precepts in the car with him listened closely.
"We'll need an agent to get into the government, or some sort of database to track down where she went. She'll want to take shelter somewhere. Every human has a base instinct for survival. We'll decide on the details later."
They gave their nods, and Chisaki sighed, glaring out the window.
"I won't let this plan fail. This is all that I've worked on...years of effort, research and experiments all funneled into this one project. I won't fail, Pops. This is just a bump in the road. I will succeed. And when that day comes...you'll thank me."
...
Holy shit, it's been a while.
I'm not gonna get into details of what's happened over the last few months. I went through some personal issues, and I'll leave it at that. I hope you guys understand. I'd rather not disclose that information.
Also, over the last few weeks when I resumed work on this story, I also did a lot of editing to the storyline I had planned, as well as tons of changes. So I will go over the most important one now.
The core story has changed. As I've said before, in this story Izuku is the same age as the Big Three, and two years older then his canon classmates. So there is two years until they come in. So, the canon that we all know and love will be pushed back to when they do come into the picture. Originally, I was going to mold in the canon with the four friend's first two years and then make a new storyline for their final year, which is when the canon Class 1-A would join the story. However, I've changed it now. I will be writing the chapters focused around the group's first two years at U.A, and I will have my own storylines and villains to create arcs over those two years. Then, when Class 1-A comes into the picture, I will write the canon with twists to include the Big Three, and there will be one final, very important and original arc to end off the story. As to how far into the canon I'm going to go, I will probably stop at the cultural festival or maybe a little bit beyond that. While I would like to go as far as the war arc that's ongoing in the manga right now, that's going to take wayyyy too long and I'm not ready to write all of that.
So that's the plan. I'm not sure when I'll update again. I don't really have a clear schedule set in stone, so I'll update when the chapters are ready. As for when that will be, I have no idea. If I don't update for a while, don't worry about it. Only if I delete the story will mean that I have given up on it.
If you are still a fan of the story, I really, reaaallly appreciate that you stuck around. If you came across the story recently, welcome!
If you have any questions about the story or anything you want to say, be it praise or constructive criticism(and please only constructive, pure negativity doesn't help the story at all)then leave it in a review!
Also, PLEASE be safe during this whole coronavirus thing. Keep yourself sanitary and stay in your homes, do not put others at risk.
Anyways, I've rambled enough. Have a nice day, everyone!