'Crap, crap, crap, crap' Thoughts identical to these had been present in Izuku's mind from the moment he met Eraserhead, to being led to UA and being seated in front of the principal. He knew what this was about, the news had learned about the shadows from a report Nezu had posted on the hero network, meaning the Chimera had likely found out about his fight on Dagobah.
"Tea?" The boy shook his head. "Very well, I can imagine this is most stressful for you young Midoriya. Worry not, I doubt you have done anything worthy of punishment, at least not anything relating to our world." The teen's eyes widened in alarm. "Indeed, I was able to gain access to the report about the Phantom Thieves. It was most intriguing, but nothing I will punish you for. If you would Midoriya, I ask you tell me all you know of recent events."
Izuku thought for a few seconds, glancing around the room, though he only found one way out of this situation: "Those creatures are called shadows. They're beings formed from the souls of humanity." The Chimera began to note down the boy's words: "Normally they wouldn't be able to get to this world, but recently a large amount of souls gained the same power I have, causing a bridge to be formed between the two worlds. My current theory is that it was one person who awakened to their persona, but their quirk granted them multiple souls."
"And what are these Personas you speak of." The hero asked, flipping to a new page within his notebook.
"Personas are similar to shadows. While shadows are related to humanity as a whole, personas belong to a specific person. By accepting who you truly are, you release the chains upon your heart and gain a persona. At least, that's how it is for most people. I'm able to have multiple personas by absorbing shadows, I've never done it to one in the real world but I don't see a reason why it wouldn't work."
"I see, so, someone's quirk is causing monsters to appear from another world, and you are able to absorb said monsters to control them yourself. Do I have that correct?"
"Yes sir. Oh, and shadows can't die, they just end up back in the sea of souls. Was there anything else you needed to know sir?"
"There was one thing. After you defeated those four shadows, a girl appeared and teleported you some where, may I inquire as to where."
"Of course sir, the girl is Lavenza and the place she brought me to is the Velvet room. The Velvet room is a place between mind and matter, dream and reality. It's sort of like the crossover point between the real world and the sea of souls. Lavenza and Igor, the one who controls the room, help me use my powers to their full potential by fusing personas to make new ones."
"I see... you have given us a lot of information Midoriya. For that I am most grateful. I have a proposal for you. You are a year or two ahead in your education, you successfully led a criminal group for a year and you have a better understanding of these events than anyone else on the planet. I'd like to offer UA's services to you. The best training equipment and locations in Japan, pros who know everything there is to know about being a hero, and my own personal tutoring. In exchange, you tell us more about these creatures, and UA gets to produce another great hero." The bear, mouse, rat creature extended his paw across the table: "What do you say Midoriya?" Silence filled the room for a short time, before a hand reached out and grasped the paw.
4 Months later:
Izuku and Morgana waited outside of Mustafar train station, the two making small talk as they did. Their conversation was cut off by the group they were waiting for approaching: "Hey dudes!" Ryujji shouted in excitement as he dashed up to the two, slapping Izuku on the back.
The rest of the thieves approached, though without the obnoxiousness of Ryujji, well, most of them did: "Izuku!" The auburn haired girl was basically skipping with the excitement in her movements as she moved to the front of the group to hug the boy.
Her excitement was certainly not unshared as Izuku's eyes lit up with exhilaration: "Haru!" The two cinnamon rolls embraced, ignoring their friends around them.
"Eh, should we just leave them to it or...?" A red haired girl, Sumire Yoshizawa leaned over towards Makoto, who was equally unsure of what to do.
Their indecision didn't matter in the end as a short girl, Futaba Sakura, interrupted the two: "If you two are done being so sappy, can we get to your house already, I've been carrying Inari's bags for the last hour."
"Oh right, sorry!" The two exclaimed at once, Izuku continuing: "Why are you carrying Yusuke's bags?" The teen looked over to the blue haired boy, seeing him holding a camera, taking various photos of the area.
"I simply must have reference to draw from later. This place very clearly means a lot to you, Izuku. Imagine the kinds of emotion such a piece could convey."
"This is a normal street Inari!"
Inko was ecstatic. Izuku never had many friends, but something had changed when he went to Tokyo. She didn't quite know what it was, but her boy seemed so much happier then he used to be. So, when he told her his friends wanted to stay over, she was more than happy to say yes.
Now, the teenagers were spread out around the living room, chatting amongst themselves. They all seemed quite nice, if slightly odd. Sakamoto was anything but polite, but as Izuku described, he had good intentions. Takamaki had been rather intrested in Inko's cooking, apparently Izuku had spoke highly of it. Kitagawa was probably the strangest of the group, he had brought an entire easel and was now painting the group. Overall, his friends seemed like good influences on him, that was a good sign.
There was one thing she hadn't done though: "If you kids would like, I've got a bunch of pictures of Izuku from when he was a kid." Haru's eyes seemed to light up at that.
"That would be amazing!"
"Haru please, have mercy!"
"But you're so cute when your embarrassed!"
Toshinori pressed a thin finger against the doorbell, a folder hung from his other hand. After a few seconds of waiting, the door was opened by a green haired woman: "Ah, Toshinori! I presume your here about Izuku's training again." That was the cover they had used for Izuku's contact with UA. Toshinori was a trainer who had seen potential in the boy, and delivered training plans to him. In reality, the training plans were reports on new shadows that were spotted, the teenager was responsible for informing them of their strengths and weaknesses.
As Inko let him in, Yagi noticed a group of people were within the living room, who looked up at him as he entered: "Oh, my apologies. I didn't realise you already had guests. I'm just here to drop something off." The injured hero handed the folder in his hands to Izuku, before recalling the other thing he came to do. Fishing a note out of his pocket, he passed it to the boy. "Again, apologies for the interruption, I'll be going now." The man left, leaving the teen's rather confused.
"What was up with that Zuku?" Ryujji questioned.
"It was quite obviously related to the shadows, you ape!" Morgana commented from his perch on a shelf: "What do you think all the subtly was for!"
Izuku ignored the insults that the two began to throw at each other, instead opening the folded note, upon it a rather strange message: 'Midoriya, you've caught the attention of a pro I've work closely with, if your interested go to the faculty lounge the next time you're in UA.'
Izuku sat across from Toshinori, a serious expression was present on the man's face. "So, who was the hero that wanted to talk to me, sir?"
"I'm actually his secretary. At least, on paper I am." Izuku gained a rather confused expression at that: "The general public knows Toshinori Yagi as All Might's secretary, but in reality-" The skinny man began to steam, before his body expanded forming into a tall and muscular figure, two large strands of hair lifted up from his head, resembling ears: "I'm the man himself!"
The green haired boy seemed to shut down for a few minutes, before finally catching up with reality: "WHAT!" Izuku's chair tipped over as he recoiled in surprise. "B-But then why is your civilian form so different? Do you have a transformation quirk? How does getting bigger make you stronger?" The teen quickly descended into incoherent muttering.
"Midoriya. I can't understand a word your saying."
"Oh, sorry sir."
The giant of a man laughed: "No need to be so formal, young Midoriya. To answer some the questions I did hear, my civilian form is something I was forced to adopt. 6 years ago, I sustained a major injury, half my respiratory system was destroyed and my stomach had to be removed. I defeated the villain who caused it, and made sure the public never learned of his existence. However, I now believe that I failed to stop that man. You told Nezu that the person who gained a persona had many souls, and that man was able to give and take quirks. I don't know if that correlates to taking souls, but it's the closest quirk I know to such a thing." The boy in front of him adopted a terrified expression at the implication of such a power. "But that is not the main reason I called you here, I have an offer for you. I would like you to be my successor, to inherit my quirk, One For All!"
For the second time in 5 minutes, Izuku fell of his chair.
6 Months Later: One week before the UA entrance exams.
"You bastard!" Izuku was pulled into an alley and slammed into a wall by the person he really didn't want to see. "You think criminal scum like you can be a hero?! You that fucking naive!" Izuku from a year ago would be freaking out, yet now Izuku only felt apathy as he stared at the form of Katsuki Bakugou, the boy who had bullied him since he turned 4.
With an effortless move of his elbow the younger of the two teens removed the others arm from his shirt, slightly shoving him back in the process. "I'm not a criminal Kacchan." He spoke the childhood name with a malicious tone. "I've been cleared of all charges."
An expression of rage crossed the blond's face as he stared at the unrecognisable boy in front of him: "Are you looking down on me you piece of shit! I'm the only one who's gonna make it into UA! A quirkless weakling like you could never be a hero. If you want to be one so bad, why don't you take a swan dive of a roof and pray for a quirk in your next life!" The explosion boy stomped away, cursing under his breath. Izuku simply stood there, wondering how someone who wanted to be a hero could be so villainous.