One For All: First Man!

"Hello." - Dialogue

"I am here!" - All Might/Special Character Speaking

"Detroit Smash!" - Special/Signature Move

What's happening?- Character Thinking

"Izuku!"- Phone call/Flashback Dialogue

Random Location – Random Time…– Time and Place

Chapter 5: Izuku Awakens!? Inko Realizes the Truth!

AN: What!? Another chapter so soon after the previous one!? Yeah, I know. It's pretty crazy, but I'm sure that some of you are not upset about that, eh?

Without further adieu, enjoy!

This is the list of songs that you should listen to to enhance the reading experience. Make sure you have them ready in a separate tab for easy access:

My Hero Academia OST – Shittori Tasogare (Moist Twilight)

Hajime no Ippo OST – Motherhood

Noon – An Apartment in Musutafu, Japan…

"Yeah… Goodnight, Inko."

"Goodnight, Hisashi. Love you."

"Love you, too." I sighed as soon as the call between me and my husband finished. I turned around to my bedside cabinet to grab an old picture of Hisashi that I managed to snag before he left. I could see his unkempt and silver hair that sat on his head. His one open eye revealed a hazel-brown pool. His other eye was shut by a scar. It was that of a deep sword slash that had barely faded as the years went by. He never bothered trying to hide that scar from everyone. His defined cheeks had those adorable freckles that formed diamonds, though some of them were covered by the scar on his right eye. His black goatee surrounded his mouth. That strong chin completed his manly visage. His once smooth neck was branded on the left with this horrible burn. I remembered that it went down to the left side of his chest. While the picture I took was mainly of his face, some of his large and defined muscles could be seen from his shoulders and chest. Despite his horrible scars, he still held that heart-stealing smile of his.

Hisashi… Tears formed in my eyes as I tried to contain my wistful pain. My hand attempted to muffle my sobs while I began to think of my husband. It hurts…

I missed my husband so much. It had been seven long and agonizing years without him. The thought of him coming back in seven months was such a joy. Yet, it also reminded me how much I wanted him to come back. Of course, his long mission in America was very vital to helping this world be a much better place. I knew that, but it still pained me to be without him for so long.

My husband being gone was not the only thing that greatly troubled me. I often had thought of the worst-case scenario regarding my husband being overseas: him leaving us to be with some other woman. It is a terrible thought to have, and it made it look like I didn't trust my husband, I understood that; however, I was never the prettiest girl around. In fact, I was always a plain and boring girl. I, like my son, blended into the background. Hisashi and I were friends with girls that I thought were way better looking than me and more interesting. The fact that I was friends with such an amazing man for so long – and becoming his wife, of all things – was something that I could never believe. I sometimes wondered what he saw in me.

Has it happened? Has he run off with some prettier woman? One that can give Hisashi so much more than I could give him? Can she give him what he deserves? My mind was becoming encumbered by this fog of negativity. I felt my heart was collapsing in on itself. I started to crumble under the weight of this horrific possibility. A creeping desire to give up on waiting for him was consuming me. Then suddenly a memory from one of the happiest days of my life struck me.

(Flashback to 16 years ago)

In a New Apartment in Mustafu, Japan…

(Song: My Hero Academia OST – Shittori Tasogare (Moist Twilight))

Hisashi, with his dashing black suit, carried me in his strong arms as we entered our new home. My own arms grasped onto his neck. Holding on to him was like holding onto a sturdy tree. It felt so secure. I knew that no matter what, I could hold onto him and he would never give in. A warmth embraced my heart as I was in the arms of my newlywed husband. While being held by him, we both giggled in giddy joy. Both of his hazel-brown eyes connected with my green ones. My heart fluttered as we ogled into each other. A deep blush made its way onto my face.

"Well, sweetie, this is it! Our new home…" Hisashi carried me on a tour of our new, yet humble apartment. It was not anything extravagant. Simple furniture and appliances were laid out across the place. It was perfect.

"Oh, Hisashi…It's wonderful!" My man really knew how to impress a girl. We left the main living room with a kitchenette and went to a hallway that had two bedrooms across from each other.

"We're not done yet!" We entered the bedroom on our right. The walls were painted this beautiful light blue that radiated comfort. The furniture indicated whose bedroom this would be. A white baby crib was placed on the left side of the room. A colorful rainbow carpet lay at the center of the room. Multiple boxed toys and baby supplies were strewn about the room. "This is our child's room. You like it?" I gasped in shocked happiness.

"Hisashi! How did you get all this?"

"Some of the fellas at R.H. decided to give us some wedding gifts." My heart was lifted thanks to the kind gesture of the Real Hero agents. It seemed that they were happy for us. "Come on, let's go to our room!" My giddiness rose once more in anticipation of our room.

"Tada!" Once again, I was impressed. The walls in this room were painted a dark green. It was our favorite color (Yeah, we had the same favorite color!). I could see a king-sized bed that was placed in the center of the room. The sheets, blanket, and pillows were plain gray and white. It had this back that was a light oak wood. There were two white bedside cabinets on each side of the bed, with a matching lamp on each of them. Various blank picture frames were leaning against the wall. I assumed that those were meant to hold pictures we would take throughout our marriage. I could see the bathroom door on the left side of the room. On the right was where an empty closet was. "So… What do you think?"

"It's… it's…" Tears welled up in my eyes. I could not believe it. I married the man I was in love with for so long. I became his wife! We going to be living together and have children! Honestly, I thought that it didn't matter where I lived, as long as I was with him.

Even so, the apartment in my eyes couldn't be more perfect. Why did I find it so amazing? It was because Hisashi took the time and effort to pick this place and make it look nice before we moved in. I looked back into his eyes, "It's perfect…"

"Aww gee. You think so?" A blush appeared on his handsome face while he sheepishly turned away from my gaze. "I did my best, so thanks…" He carried me into our new bed and sat me down on it. He then knelt down and placed himself in front of my eyes. It appeared like wanted to tell me something.

"Hisashi?" A smile was etched onto his face.

"Inko… I want to tell you something." My heart began to leap out of my chest as his tender voice reached my ears.

"You are the most amazing woman I have ever met. You're beautiful, wise, compassionate, brave, and loyal. You keep me out of trouble and make sure that I am taken care of when I forget to take care of myself. You always know what to say when things are tough, and when I feel that I can't go on." He looks away for a moment and sighed. His gaze returns to me. "Even with all these words, I still can't fully express what makes you so wonderful. No other woman can match up to you." My heart was pounding against my chest. I could feel tears drip down my face as my joy was unable to be contained; however, I was struck with a sudden thought of negativity.

"Even someone like Shimura-san or Himura-san?"

"Yup." The certainty in his answer quelled any negativity that I had. "No other woman… I love you Inko, and I couldn't be happier to have you as my wife." I wiped away my tears and returned the smile he held.

"I couldn't be happier to have you as my husband."

(Flashback & Song end)

"What in the world am I thinking!?" When my memory finished, I was able to clear the poison fog in my head and snap back to reality. In the seven years that he had been, I would have these bouts where I would start to believe my husband would leave me because I wasn't good enough. Each time this happened, it would seem that my mind knew what was going on and threw an old and happy memory at me to remind me of the truth: he loved me and saw me as worthy. In a way, it's like Hisashi himself was reminding me of his love for me. This happy memory gave me a renewed determination to wait for him to come home.

"When you come home, I'll be right here. I won't let anything get between you and me, Hisashi." With that, I felt that I could wait out those seven long months for my husband's return. My mind suddenly shifted to a part of that memory where I mentioned a name.

Shimura-san? Why is that name so… wait. No, wait a minute! My mind started to call back to the time Izuku told me about his new trainer. No wonder I thought the name of my son's trainer sounded so familiar! It can't be… No! I suddenly pieced together who that "fitness trainer" my son is working with really was. I didn't want to believe it. It seemed so impossible that it was her of all people that somehow met my son and started training him, that I just dismissed my thoughts when I heard Izuku say her name. Anger painted my face with the realization of who that woman was spending time with my son in the mornings.

"THAT HARLOT IS TRAINING MY SON!?"

1 in the Afternoon – Dagobah Municipal Beach...

Darkness smothered my vision as a muffled voice sounded off. I couldn't tell what that voice was saying, but I could tell that it sounded very exasperated. I could feel my eyelids lighten up and it allowed me to begin seeing once again. With my consciousness regained, the voice became clearer. When my eyes fully opened, the bright sun flashed my eyes. A slight headache formed while the light strained my eyes. My body felt perfectly fine. In fact, it felt quite great. Despite that, my head was struggling to get readjusted to waking consciousness.

"Ughh..." I groaned. I could tell that my groans alerted someone to my waking because I heard a gasp. I couldn't tell who yet due to the fact that I was still trying to wake up. "W-What's going on?"

"You're awake!" My eyes finally readjusted and I could see the source of that voice. All Might was standing before me with a happy expression on her face. Her face quickly shifted to that of apprehension. She turned her head away and looked as if she wanted to talk to me about something.

"Hey, All Might... What's going on?" I suddenly remembered that Recovery Girl was here before and asked, "Where's Recovery Girl?"

"Oh, she already left. Had to attend to some important business." She turned back to face me. "I need to tell you something." I could tell that she didn't want to say this, but she felt that it was necessary to talk about this.

"Okay, All Might. What is it?" She slowly breathed in and breathed out to calm herself down.

"Izuku. I know your parents. As a matter of fact, I've known your parents for a very long time." For the first few moments, I didn't react. The information I just got was, to put it simply, shocking. Then another few moments passed and my mind began to catch up. My eyes widened and my jaw dropped. After a few moments more, I finally spoke.

"WHAT!?" Well, "spoke" was a bit of an understatement. I stayed in the chair, not really knowing what I was supposed to do next. I didn't even know what to say next. It's not every day that you learn your favorite Hero has actually known your parents the whole time. That did beg the question - no, scratch that - it begged several questions. Why didn't she tell me this before, did she choose me because I was related to people she knew and not because I was heroic, how come my parents never told me they personally knew All Might, why did All Might tell me that I couldn't tell my family about One For All if they knew her? This was ridiculous and unbelievable.

"I can tell that you've got a lotta questions for me kid, but you gotta let me explain first, okay?" I paused my thinking. I definitely had a lot of questions, but I felt like I should let her explain herself. Then I'll see if my questions had been answered. I agreed to let her explain what was happening after I grabbed a notebook and pencil from my duffle bag which was conveniently placed next to the beach chair. I had to write this stuff down.

"Me, Hisashi, and your mother were childhood friends. We used to hang out all the time and dream of being Heroes. Well, Hisashi and I did. Your mother actually wanted to be in a band, of all things."

"No way! She did?" This caused her to chuckle.

"Yeah, she did. She was pretty killer on the drums. Anyway, we were quite close. Things started to change when we got to middle school." Her expression became more solemn. "That was when I met the previous user of One For All: En. I found her to be quite an amazing Hero and befriended her. She then chose me to be her successor. One day, she was mortally wounded from a battle with a certain... someone."

"Who?"

"I'll explain that to you later. I was there when she engaged in this battle. As she was dying, she gave me some of her hair. That was when I inherited it." She paused and held a reverent silence. I decided to do the same. She continued, "I became the next user of One For All."

"So, did my parents know about One For All and you inheriting it?"

"Your father did." I began scribbling down all the information that she just gave. "I had to get stronger, and your dad wanted to help me. He was training under a martial arts master at the time and offered me to join him. I took him up on that offer, but I decided that it didn't fit me too well after a few weeks of training, so I decided to just focus on improving my strength.

"That wasn't the only thing that caused change. You see, that was when we met some more people, two of which would become Pros in the future. Our relationships began to change, especially when I and the other girls in our group started to attend U.A."

"Does that include my mom?"

"No, actually. She went with Hisashi and the other guys to a regular high school. She never really wanted to be a Hero; though, the main reason she went with them was because she wanted to be with your father. That was also when they began to date." She sighed as if she was lamenting something, but I couldn't tell what it was. "We began to drift apart..." I realized that she was lamenting over the fact that she drifted away from her old friends, at least I thought that was the case.

"So... did you know I was their son when you met me?"

"No. I didn't pick up on that at first. At some point, I started to see the resemblances, but I was unsure. Chiyo helped me realize you were, in fact, Hisashi's kid."

(Song: Hajime no Ippo OST – Motherhood)

Hearing this formed a creeping doubt. A doubt that made me believe that I was picked because of my relations, not because she believed that I could really be a Hero. It wasn't really rational, I knew that. Even then, doubts made their way to me.

"Then why did you pick me to inherit One For All?"

"I already told you, kid. It's because you showed me true heroism on that day." My doubts weren't yet erased despite her answer.

"...Really?" She gave me a reassuring smile.

"Mmm Hmm." She put her hand on my shoulder. "You're amazing, Izuku." Tears started spilling out when she told me that. It was truly something special to hear someone you admire tell you that. "Just like your dad..." I let a few sobs quietly leave me; her words sank in.

"T-Thank you... All Might." All Might sniffled and wiped away some tears that formed. Despite the fact that I should have known that she wouldn't have picked me for a dumb reason like that, especially considering that she didn't even know that I was related to her old friends, she still said those words to me. She didn't judge me for having these irrational thoughts. All she did was reassure me. She really was the best Hero ever.

Laughter suddenly began to escape from me. Why? That was because I started to become overjoyed at the fact that I had just had a heart-to-heart moment with my favorite Hero. The one that inspired me to face the odds and become a Hero, myself. She began to laugh too. I couldn't really tell you how long we were there enjoying the moment, but I could tell you this: I loved every second.

(Song end)

Sadly, this moment was interrupted very suddenly by my phone going off. I quickly wiped away my remaining tears and took my phone out of my duffle bag. One look at the caller ID and photo told me everything I needed to know. My mother was calling me. This meant I had to answer immediately, so I did.

"Hey, Mom."

"Izuku," her voice sounded stern and serious, "I need to meet with your trainer, now."

Noon – Tatsuki's Room…

"Argh! You gotta be kidding me!" I was absolutely done with Izuku at this point. He somehow kept on evading me and sneaking around. I wasn't able to find out where he goes for this training in the morning, no matter how hard I tried. "How can he just keep slippin' from me!?" I didn't even know when Deku learned to be so sneaky.

For the past week, I have tried following Deku to where he goes to train. It forced me to wake up way too early in the morning for seven days straight and find out where that idiot runs off to at such an awful time. No matter what, he managed to find a way to avoid me. This had me wondering whether he already knew that I was onto his, quite frankly, terrible lies.

That, honestly, might be the case. I mean, he's certainly stupid, but not stupid enough to not realize how terrible his lie is. This made me wonder why he was being so secretive about whatever training he was doing. Why would he keep this a secret? Why is he hiding this from me? Does he think he's that important? Rage began building up in me.

"You know what? I bet it's 'cause that stupid Deku is full of himself. He thinks he's so important, that he doesn't want to tell me anything!" My eyes furrowed as my anger built up more and more. "I mean, he hasn't been answering my calls! He still answered my calls before this, so who does he think he is!?" Tears welled up in my eyes and my anger soon gave way to anguish. I started to breathe heavily as I tried to contain my crying.

"He thinks I'm not important enough to know!? I've known him for y-years…" Sobs escaped my throat as I felt tears trail down my face. In between my sobs, I managed to get voice my thoughts. "I hate him so much… I hate his dumb dream… I hate that stupid smile…" Every time I thought about the things I hated about him, my heart began to twist and jump around my chest. This kind of pain always came up whenever I thought about that green-haired dork; though, it hadn't hurt this much before.

Deku and I both had the same dream since we were kids: to become Heroes. Even though his view of a Hero – someone who always saves people – was different from mine – someone that never gives up – he, ironically enough, showed me what a Hero in my eyes was. He never gave up on his dream, even when he knew that he would never get a Quirk. It seemed that he wanted to challenge the whole world and become a Hero in spite of all the odds. I never told him this, nor will I ever tell him, but… it was inspirational. About as inspirational as All Might was to me; though, Deku's dream was still dumb.

I was okay with him having this dream before my Quirk manifested, but when it did, I realized that him having this dream was terrible. He was trying to run into a death trap, and I made a promise to him that I would protect him. I promised him that I would be his Hero, so why did he want to be a Hero himself? Did he think that I couldn't protect him? Did he not want me to be there for him? It just made me so pissed off that he would still hold this dream. He should've known better, right? To this day, he was still trying to reach for that dream. He never really changed, even after all these years.

My sobbing began to slow down, and fewer tears were falling on my face. I wiped the remaining tears on my face and began controlling my breathing. I couldn't believe it. I was breaking down over this useless Deku running off on his own. I couldn't just let myself cry like some baby over this. If I didn't want him to be a Hero, I just had to keep on going and make sure that he didn't. He certainly wasn't making this very easy for me, but hey! All Might never gave up, even when the odds were seemingly impossible, right? With revived determination, I turned to that picture of us as kids.

"Izuku… I refuse to break my promise!"

Another chapter is complete! There are some important things to the plot of this story being revealed in this chapter. Getting to the point where I can actually set up important plot stuff is sweet and exciting. This stuff was in my head for a while, so it feels great to start getting to this stuff. I also had fun writing the flashback Inko had. Getting to write how both Hisashi and Inko truly love each other was an absolute treat. I, myself, am a little tired of the usual absent or bad father/husband trope you see in a lot of Shonen stuff and media, in general, these days. I'm glad I'm able to finally go against that trope and have the dad be an essential and present character. I wonder if you guys feel the same way. Maybe, maybe not.

Either way, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Read, review (if you'd like), and criticize (constructively). Have a good day!

Posted on 5/16/2023