He watched the sky, haphazardly recording their quirks.

The people below, on the shore and in the water, cheered at the onset of the latest match in an aerial game that had been unveiled by the prefecture's event organizers just this morning. The crowd roared with renewed excitement as they watched others among them take off for the skies, filling empty spots of the impromptu team rosters. He smiled, watching the way they swooped through the clouds and soared above the land

He was almost mesmerized.

Almost.

It was an odd feeling, observing everyone else use their quirks like this, knowing that he was only here as a spectator. It was a feeling he had been familiar with for over half his life, but now it felt different, somehow more intense. Perhaps, perhaps… he was just finally able to see the world in a new light now that he could experience it as they did, and yearned just as much to stretch his own metaphorical wings.

That was a lie.

He would never experience it as they would.

Izuku shook those thoughts from his mind as he put both pen and notebook down. He realized his train of thought had gotten too deep and he'd zoned out. That was enough introspection for today.

He sighed softly, glancing around himself, and then further down the beachfront. Some people were sitting back in their reclined chairs on the sand, others were huddled together in the water, and yet more were spread here and there between the two; all of them absently using their quirks as they pleased. His eyes fell upon those of the second aforementioned: a number of which were under the water and seemed content to stay there, only rarely breaching the surface of the ocean. One in particular caught his attention. He stared in abject curiosity, studying how the person moved. They seemed almost inhumanly graceful, the way they twisted and turned between the waves and the ocean currents far swifter than any baseline human could ever hope to dream of.

His eyes trailed along the subject of his interest for a short time longer before they dove beneath the water, and then he turned away, gazing out into the distance again. Izuku Midoriya resolved to watch them later and take notes if they resurfaced, and should they not, then if they showed up again the next time the prefecture hosted a public event. His attention drifted then, unfocused, back towards the sky.

There was a sort of peace about being able to leave everything behind, just for a little bit.

He exhaled slowly as a breeze passed by him, lifting and pulling back at the hood of his loose sweater. Quickly tugging down on it, he covered his head once more, shivering slightly despite the relatively warm weather. He glanced across the sandy expanse, ensuring no one had noticed the slip up before turning back to face the sky.

Privacy was rare nowadays after Izuku had started going on the occasional patrol with his mentor. When his impromptu debut as a sidekick began, he wasn't quite savvy to the stalker-like behavior of some journalists and had been caught unawares once or twice—okay, maybe a bit more than just that. To say that his mentor had been displease was putting it lightly.

He winced at the memory.

Toshinori Yagi had been livid when Izuku's face had begun showing up all over social media and the news one morning. Izuku, however, much less so. He could understand their reaction after all: it wasn't every day somebody was trained by and worked alongside the Symbol of Peace, retired or not. How could he begrudge them their curiosity when he'd have been much the same if their places were switched?

It didn't stop All Might from taking him aside after the fact and lecturing him about it though.

Izuku had been called to the office that day and give a rather stern talking to by his mentor before being dismissed for the rest of the week. And come later that weekend, Yagi had sat him down, hands clasped tightly atop the desk, and gave him a very thorough rundown of how to handle the media and publicity as his disciple and sidekick. It was sorely needed, Izuku could admit, especially given the circumstances surrounding them not exactly being strictly above board.

The next day, he went on a routine patrol with All Might and the second incident occurred.

That was when the media got a hold of his name. Not his hero name, but his real name. In his defense, Izuku hadn't meant to let it slip. He had just been a little too excited after running into the current number ten Pro Hero, Gang Orca! And well, he couldn't help but introduce himself as he asked for Gang Orca's autograph.

It would've been rude otherwise! And it wasn't exactly as if he had any family to protect by not giving away his identity.

He hadn't been allowed to leave his apartment in Might Tower for another full week after that.

Which Izuku understood, of course. He'd learned his lesson, or so he thought.

The reporters were relentless after that, asking a lot of questions about him and his heroics during their patrols. Most of it Izuku answered honestly, at least about the heroics. He avoided commenting on anything too personal.

Then, the third incident occurred. Izuku had been running on fumes by then, which was no excuse, but… well, being forced to deal with relentless reporters, journalists, and the paparazzi in general had exhausted him mentally and emotionally. And…he may have implied that—oh. He was doing it again.

Izuku groaned, sometimes he could get too caught up in his thoughts.

Maybe he should try and work on that. But for now, he decided to focus on the moment, enjoying the warmth of the sand that surrounded him. Eventually, his gaze shifted to the horizon, taking in the landscape of their old stomping ground. The symbolism of it wasn't lost on him.

After all, today was another new start.

Izuku wondered if All Might was on his way yet, he was starting to get bored. Even the quirks on display were starting to lose their luster, if his absent-mindedness was any indicati—GAH!

He was startled to find someone standing there, right in front of him, staring intently into his eyes. They blinked. He blinked. She blinked. He blinked. Bright, candy-red eyes met viridian green.

"… I didn't meant to startle you."

"Oh." Izuku blinked, surprised. "Uh… you're…" he trailed off, unsure of what to say. It was a girl. He was talking to a girl! Wow, his mind unhelpfully supplied. Izuku flushed and looked away, scratching the back of his neck. "Sorry, I—" he cleared his throat, giving it a second attempt. "Sorry, but uh… is there something I can help you with…?" he trailed off, waiting for a response.

"Can I get my ball back?" The stranger pointed at Izuku's side. "It landed next to you a few minutes ago, but you seemed kinda out of it."

What?

Izuku glanced down and saw that there was, in fact, a ball lying there right next to him, just short of touching his thigh. "Y-yeah." He smiled nervously, something done out of absent-minded habit. It took a second for the words to really sink in though, and once it did—"Ah, right! Um—sorry, yes, of course. I'll just grab it and you can go!" He reached down to pick it up just as the girl nodded, holding out her hand. "Uh! N-not that I mean you have to… er, not t-that I'm trying to keep you here or anything," he quickly added, "I just—"

"It's fine," the girl interrupted, cutting off Izuku from rambling anymore than he already had. "Don't worry about it." Her voice was soft, calm, and Izuku relaxed somewhat in relief. She was pleasant to listen to, he noted distractedly, before freezing at the thought. He felt his cheeks grow warm and futilely hoped he wasn't blushing up a storm. "Um, are you gonna give me my ball back, or…?" she tilted her head to the side, questioningly.

Oh god, why was it suddenly so hard to think straight? "R—right… uh… of c-course," Izuku stammered as he looked anywhere but in front of him; she probably thought that he was an idiot and—"… just… the ball, take it p-please." He took a deep breath before nodding to himself, carefully reaching out toward the object of contention next to him. Mindful to leave his index finger outstretched away from the ball, he thrust it into her waiting hand.

She gave him what he thought was a clearly weird look before she grabbed it. The two stood there in awkward silence for a few minutes, with Izuku not sure what else to say. "Well." Finally, the girl spoke up ended it; she had a strange twist to her face as she spoke, however. "Um, thanks. For… y'know." She raised her occupied hand, waving, and stepped back. The same odd expression sat upon her face all the while. It wasn't quite a smile, but not a scowl either. " I should probably… um… bye. Yeah." She looked at him one last time, then turned around to head back the way she'd come without so much as another word.

"G-g-goodbye!" he managed to squeak out before she was out of sight.

There was, of course, no response.

Izuku groaned afterward, furiously shaking his head. "Idiot, idiot, idiot," he muttered under his breath as he buried his face in his hands, head drooping down in defeat. Why did I do that‽ His mind raced, unable to decide on an answer. Just because she's pretty doesn't—Izuku paused mid-thought before he huffed exasperatedly, and then decided that it might be better for his sanity if he just forgot about it.

Maybe he'd see her agai—no!

No thinking about it. No thinking about it ever again. Forget it. He shook his head and pulled out his phone, checking to see if All Might had messaged him. At this point in time, Izuku was pretty sure they were late to their appointment with Yūei's principal. The screen lit up as he turned on the screen, and a few seconds later he was past the lock screen and looking at his message history with All Might. There was nothing new whatsoever to greet him. He stared blankly at device for a second.

Huh, weird.

It wasn't like All Might to be late, but well, his mentor did seem to be in a bit of a rush to get somewhere this morning. Izuku had barely finished brushing his teeth when he was dragged out and quite literally dropped off at the at the beach with nary a word, only told to have fun until he was collected later. It was quite the spectacle, and the only saving grace was that it was early enough in the day that not too many people were already there. Now, All Might did occasionally tell him to get out and enjoy his youth every now and then, but he was usually more put together than that and certainly not so heavy-handed whenever he decided to force Izuku to attend 'youthful activities."

Izuku narrowed his eyes in thought.

There were very few things that drew All Might's attention with such single-mindedness, and fewer yet that he didn't share with Izuku. The last time he acted like this was…

… did this have anything to do with the incident in the Kamino Reclamation Ward?

Then he shrugged and pocketed his phone, replacing it with pencil and notebook; he shook off the latter of stray bits of sand. There was nothing more to be had by exploring that line of thought. For the moment, at least. He could ask later when he got home. Maybe. If the situation presented itself.

Izuku scanned his surroundings idly, observing the scenery and the people once more. He wrote down notes on quirks of interest and anything else that caught his attention. After what seemed like forever, Izuku felt his body begin to ache from the uncomfortable position he found himself sitting in. He sighed softly in annoyance annoyance as he rubbed the back of his head with one hand, and used to other to help him shift around.

He hummed distractedly as he started to work his way back through the older notes he'd scribbled down on the paper earlier this morning, occasionally tapping his pencil against the sheet and even drawing rough diagrams and sketches to go along with his analyses.

His mind was elsewhere as he worked, lost in thought. It was a hobby he'd had for as long as he could remember—and he could remember better than most—being able to write, and maybe even before that. While he knew others might find it disturbing, or perhaps at least a bit weird, Izuku found it soothing. Or, well. He liked to tell himself that it was calming anyway.

That's what he always gave in answer whenever he was asked by anyone about it; the "anyone" usually being teachers and his parents, when he was younger, and All Might now that he was older.

So, naturally he'd always have at least one (though oftentimes more) notebook and pencil with him wherever he went as long as he wasn't on patrol. It was something that All Might even encouraged despite his own dispassion for it. And as he sat there and listened to the sounds of distant chatter and people walking in the sand past him, Izuku let his pencil drag across the paper in slow, rhythmic motions, his brow slightly furrowed. He frowned at the notebook and continued with one particularly troublesome analysis as he thought over his own situation with… his newest quirk.

It was rather…odd, actually. The more he thought about it, the harder it became to understand. Sure, most quirks had some sort of backlash. You could see it prominently within the first few generations of quirk users as their bodies adapted to their newfound abilities. But to have such strength that you could break every single bone in your body using only a fraction of it… it was just absolutely unheard of. Izuku didn't even know what made it happen exactly. It made no sense.

All Might hadn't had this problem.

In fact, he'd said he had been able to use it at its full potential from day one. Maybe it had something to do with the person using it? Was it the presence of a secondary quirk? It couldn't have been—All Might had told him that the Seventh and her predecessors never had that problem either. Or maybe… it was whatever was being stockpiled; his mentor hadn't been too clear on what was being stockpiled beyond saying that it was 'power,' however nebulous a concept that was.

Let alone the transference aspect of the quirk. How did it happen? What caused it? Could he divide the material in portions and split apart One for All? He had so many questions. Did other quirks have the same problem? And if there were, what else was out there that Izuku didn't know about?

He frowned to himself, pulling his pencil closer to the page as he scribbled a quick note to himself.

There was something he was missing.

He bit at his cheek and leaned forward slightly, feeling frustrated with the fact that he had no idea what the answers to those questions were. He closed his eyes, tilting his head backwards as his arms dropped to the ground behind him, resting loosely beneath the grains of sand that surrounded him. Izuku breathed in slowly, held it stead, and then exhaled just as measured as he focused in thought.

So engrossed was he, that he almost missed his train of thought being interrupted by a loud whistling coming from afar, somewhere up and above to his rear. He jumped, startled as a heavy thump sounded out from behind him soon after.

He partially turned his torso around, shifting in the sand and looking ahead to where he heard the disturbance come from. Before he could manage a clear look through the cloud of kicked-up sand to make out whatever was hiding within it, however, a shadow suddenly passed overhead and eclipsed him. Izuku looked up, blinking owlishly at the figure that loomed above.

They wiped the sand off their face and looked around the area, ignoring Izuku and seemingly taking in their surroundings before briefly frowning. Just as quickly as it had come, however, it was gone. They tilted their head and a grin appeared on their face as onlookers suddenly began suddenly cheering.

"Ah, I am at the beach…" a strangely familiar voice sounded out from the figure in front of him. "ENJOYING THE WARM WEATHER LIKE A NORMAL CITIZEN."

Izuku blinked twice more before he realized exactly what—or who—he was seeing in front of himself with his own two eyes.

"Young Midoriya… I AM HERE!" All Might grinned down at him, giving Izuku a thumbs up as he spoke.

Izuku, gathering his wits about him, raised his hand and waved slightly in acknowledgment, sporting a small smile as All Might walked forward to join him. He scooted aside, allowing All Might room to walk slightly past him before he took place on the sandy beach beside him. As he sat and pulled himself downward onto the ground, All Might leaned back and stretched out his legs.

Izuku followed suit, laying back as he watched the sky alongside the Symbol of Peace, Toshinori Yagi, better known as All Might. To the people around them, Izuku thought that this must have seemed rather surreal. A few minutes passed before his mentor rose again, coming to tower above Izuku.,

Izuku sat up and a hand clasped down on his shoulder. He closed his eyes, relishing in the moment.

"Are you ready?"

Izuku nodded, assuaging his mentor's quiet concern and rising to his feat. "Yeah, I am. Let's do this."

All Might smiled warmly at him, shifting his large hand to rest atop his head. "Good, we don't want to get held up, do we?"

The pair began walking down the boardwalk leading toward the stairs along the seawall. They stepped past the sign announcing their location: Takoba Municipal Beach Park.

"No, not really. But it's not like we aren't late already, you know."

"Well…" All Might grinned cheekily. "JUSTICE WAITS FOR NO MAN… er, dog, bear… mouse… thing…" he finished lamely, coughing at the end.

"Right." Izuku rolled his eyes and chuckled softly at the man's response, taking a moment to stash away his notebook and pencil before taking hold of his backpack's straps and lifting it around his shoulders. "Still, we better hurry, I guess. We still have to unpack our rooms too and I'd rather not spend all night doing that."

All Might laughed heartily. "YES, THAT'S THE SPIRIT YOUNG MIDORIYA! LETS. GET. GOOOOING!" He leapt forward in a blur of red, white, blue, and gold. With a wave goodbye to his fans, his mentor took off, leaping beyond the sea wall with ease.

Izuku followed in his wake, jumping onto the sand and running alongside him at first, attempting to catch up with the sudden motion. Then jumping easily across the concrete wall and the street past it to land atop a building where All Might stood waiting for him.

The Symbol of Peace glanced down at him. "Ready?" he asked again.

Izuku nodded firmly.

"AND NOW AWAY WE GO!" All Might shouted, launching himself into the air with another sudden burst of extreme speed, blowing the wind around where he once stood and causing a large boom to echo throughout the area. It was followed by the quickly fading shout of "PLUS ULTRAAAAAAAA!"

Izuku leapt forward as well, and he let his smile slip as the wend blew in his face. He followed close behind All Might, keeping pace and watching as All Might leapfrogged from building to building with practiced grace and agility. Studied him. Analyzed him carefully. Contemplated his movements. His form. Everything.

It was no small miracle that All Might even had this much mobility left in him, or that he drew breath at all; the ironclad grit and determination that composed him to stay standing was downright astounding, near frightening really. But then again, what else could he expect of the man that killed All for One?

Izuku's thoughts shifted and swirled as he traveled alongside All Might, a question on the tip of his tongue that he bit back. Instead, he continued to silently scrutinize his mentor. His eyes remained trained on All Might as he soared through the sky, flying higher and faster with each leap he made. The distance between the two was steadily increasing as All Might pushed Izuku to further heights, challenging him to keep up.

It was something done in spite of the permanent, irreversible harm All Might was undoubtedly committing upon his own body. It was irresponsible, hypocritical, and something the man himself warned Izuku off from doing whenever he practiced with One for All.

So many things about All Might made it hard to accept how different his childhood idol really was from the real thing. But he kept those thoughts to himself as well. For now, it would be enough to observe. It was better to watch from the sidelines, wait until you knew enough not to make a complete fool of yourself—or so his dad had once told him.

So, Izuku would watch. Gather his strength and refine his knowledge.

Only then could he become the greatest hero the world had ever seen.

One worthy of living up to the title of "All Might's Successor."

But

was

that

what

he

really

wanted?

‹ x›‹x›‹x›‹x›‹x›‹x›‹x›‹x›‹x›‹x›‹x›

‹ x›‹x›‹x›‹x›‹x›‹x›‹x›‹x›‹x›‹x›‹x›

IT IS I, THE AUTHOR!

Be sure to review: thoughts, concerns, critique, questions? I'll read and appreciate them all!