Well the autum is approaching and my last summer vacation is over. Hopefully this chapter cheers others in the same situation.

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Proofread by 3DPhantom


Chapter 57: Smile of a True Hero


The heroics lesson continued with a detailed look into Friday's matches, though for certain members of the class there wasn't much Aizawa could say that they hadn't already covered during the weekend between a day's training and dinner. The class passed quickly, and the school day was over. With Todoroki still missing Izuku left the classroom with Hitoshi, Tenya, Eijiro, and Tokoyami.

"Time for some real training," Eijiro declared, cheerfully stretching his arms above his head. "Any special plans?"

"Some," Izuku responded. "For you, we can pound your quirk to be stronger elsewhere, I don't want to anger Aizawa by blowing up the sports field… again… so I want you to keep improving your agility in combination with controlling your quirk. It served you well on Friday. Actually..."

Izuku stopped in the corridor and turned back towards the classroom door.

"Shoji!" He called. "Would you like to train with us?"

The group around him seemed surprised, but their expressions quickly shifted into happy smiles, especially Hitoshi and Tenya. One of Shoji's tentacle arms stretched out of the door to join them. It formed a mouth.

"I would be happy to. I have heard many good things about your training." The mouth turned towards Eijiro. "It is difficult not to."

Eijiro held the back of his head. "Heh, sorry."

During the conversation Shoji had walked up to them, shrinking his arm into its normal, yet still impressive length.

"Is there anything specific you want me for? Sounded like it has something to do with Kirishima."

"We… I'd like you to join for you," Izuku stuttered, "but I think you and Eijiro could work great together for training. You can train attacking faster with multiple arms without risk of injuring someone, and he gets to train dodging them as he attacks instead of just taking everything head on. If he somehow got tired, if that is possible, you can use him for a punching bag. It just trains his quirk."

"Sounds great," Eijiro gave thumbs up. "You really know what I need Midobro."

"Well, it isn't anything very complex. If… when Shoji gets tired before you, we can maybe have Dark Shadow toss you around a bit, but any holes you make you fill."

Eijiro smirked.

"Don't say it…" Izuku sighed. "Oh, who am I kidding, go ahead."

"Just more training."

Izuku shook his head and smiled; he wasn't the only one.

"Excuse me," a meek voice said from behind them, though a voice that made Izuku's blood boil and smile melt away. Tenya's hand was holding his shoulder by the time Izuku finished his turn to see the large form of All Might.

"What do you want?" Izuku snapped, his voice sounding like he had venomous teeth rather than nails.

"Uh, there is something I'd like to talk to you about," All Might said. He had some paper in his hand. "Can we?"

"If you have something to say, say it here where they can protect you."

Izuku nodded at the group around him. He pulled on the Calm Mind to maintain his controlled, albeit still angry appearance and to keep his breathing even.

"Oh, I don't think…" Izuku stared at the man harder, "I hope that won't be necessary." He held up the paper and offered it to Izuku. "I just wanted to give you this. It is an offer for internship."

"We already got those. Why wasn't it with the others?"

"Well, this is a bit different. It is from my old teacher Gran Torino."

If Izuku had been suspicious of the offer from Best Jeanist, now his alarm bells were really going off. Wasn't it enough that All Might had had police investigating him for nothing more than his quirk?

"Oh? And why would he care about me? More importantly, why would I care about him?"

"He uh… that is really something we should talk about in private."

Izuku drew in a deep breath.

"Fine."

"Are you sure?" Tenya whispered.

"That is probably the fastest way to get him to leave me alone, and there are still strings I can pull to make sure of that."

Izuku took great satisfaction in the scared look that briefly appeared on All Might's face. He tapped Tenya's shoulder to affirm it was okay to let him go before stepping away. All Might led him to the nearest empty classroom. The door snapped shut.

"Answer my questions," Izuku demanded. "Gran Torino? Why?"

"I… may have written him about you. It has been a long time since he taught me, but he is still a mentor of sorts occasionally when I need advice from someone I can trust."

"Someone who knows about your real state."

"Yes, one of the few. He thinks I have failed as your teacher and…"

"Well at least he isn't completely clueless," Izuku interrupted. "Still doesn't answer my second question."

"Well, I heard you didn't receive many offers and Gran Torino is very experienced. He is also perhaps the most experienced person alive concerning someone with… your quirk."

"You mean he fought All For One and most likely holds a grudge. Probably wants to find any dirt to get me out of UA, maybe to figure out how easy it would be to kill me too."

All Might backed away, holding his arms up defensively, looking way too meek for anyone as large and powerful as him. The image really couldn't fit in Izuku's head.

"No, no… Young Midoriya. He might have a history with All For One, but he would not do anything inappropriate."

"Like having police snoop in my life for no other reason than how I was born? Oh wait. That was you. Not very heroic. How long are you planning to keep this act going?"

"Ummh, for a while longer."

"The sooner you stop the better. Need to have someone more worthy take your place," Izuku turned towards the windows to not have to look at the man.

"I understand you have had difficult experiences, but you should be careful to not fall into demanding impossible standards. Many heroes already impose such on themselves."

"Doesn't look like it."

"Then, then what should it look like?"

"What?"

"How should heroes 'seem' like, in your opinion?"

"Focus on helping most people rather than being famous and climbing ranks involving popularity polls, stop using hero status as a business brand. It takes lot of time and money to train a very small share of people as heroes who already get paid very well. They shouldn't be spending their time modelling or using their names and privilege to use their quirks freely to sell stuff and make a show of themselves. A hero would be more interested in victims they couldn't save and their families than media around him."

Izuku paused as his hands twitched really wanting to tear into the man.

"People seeking to become rich or famous off of a powerful and popular type of quirk just take opportunities from those who would be better as actual heroes."

"Aren't you exaggerating…?"

"Bakugo," Izuku said.

He began, slipping closer to a rant.

"Only wanted to be a hero to be the best, to be rich, and to be famous. Never helped anyone in his life unless it directly benefitted him, or at least not voluntarily. Yet the way this school selects students rated him second best, remember? Our class is still short one because he was given a seat and whoever really belonged here already went somewhere else, and someone didn't get into any hero school at all because of it. I can only hope the rest stay on a decent path, or at least those that are on it… There are more going down the right path than I feared."

"So," All Might said clearly, still thinking about what he was saying. "Considering your view of what a real hero is, who would you say is closest to it?"

Izuku raised his eyebrows, suddenly highly aware. He got the feeling this was more than just challenging his earlier words, something in the way All Might said it. He leaned on the Calm Mind more, even at the risk of seeming suspicious. With the quirk restraining his emotions he could finally glance back at All Might.

"What do you mean?"

"You think some students in your class can be worthy heroes, even as you see it. Who is closest to that ideal? If one of them became the next number… Symbol of Peace, who would do it best?"

Having used Calm Mind, Izuku's jaw didn't drop from the suggestive question, but he had also focused his focus on coming up with an answer even if the risk started gnawing at the back of his mind.

He stared at the window with empty eyes, thinking.

"I understand you might want to answer young Shinso or Ida, but please consider beyond your persona-"

"Ei… Eijiro," Izuku interrupted.

"Young Kirishima?"

"Yes, no doubt about it. If this country's peace must rest on one man's shoulders, which I still say is a stupid idea in and of itself, then, well… I can't think of anyone better."

"I didn't expect you to respond so quickly."

"A week ago, I might not have, or at least not as quickly."

"So why?"

"A couple of reasons," Izuku hummed. "First goes back to why he wants to be a hero. How should I put it…? All of them want to help people, but there are also other reasons that guide them, nothing as selfish as money or fame at least among those I could even consider, but still. Tenya feels pressure to keep up the family name, literally with the name Ingenium now. Toshi wants to show people quirks like his can be heroic, which is actually something the country really needs, but still bit of a distraction, a good one, but not the absolute best. Todoroki doesn't even know what he wants or why anymore since he always made his choices based on what his father wanted. Not sure about Tokoyami and Shoji. Haven't spent enough time with them yet, but Dark Shadow is more interested in protecting Tokoyami than anyone or everyone else. On that note, I'm definitely not in the contest myself."

Izuku paused. He was starting to hesitate on talking about this to All Might anymore, but it was already too late and Calm Mind did wonders to block random worries and feelings.

"Eijiro… he appears to want to save people, nothing more and no less, and it doesn't seem to be just lip-service either. A lot of people want to be the strongest, most famous, best at this or that, or just number one in general. He just doesn't want to be too weak to save someone in need, and that drives him to train even harder than those who want to be the best. I don't think he has ever been anything but excited for training, any training, at school or elsewhere. Toshi at least jokes about the bootcamp before doing the training, but not Eijiro. If it was up to him, we'd start training before I even have a chance to suggest it."

"I see. I think I understand what you mean. It is about pureness of the motivation."

"Yes, it impacts so many choices that people make. If you are motivated by personal benefits, you are not going to truly risk them, risk yourself, to save someone else, and that is one of the fundamentals of a real hero. Without that you only have someone who is somewhat helpful as long as things don't get too dangerous, at least for pay. That's why it might be the most important and often biggest failure for most people that call themselves heroes," Izuku concluded.

"But not the only one?"

"People fail at a lot of things, but if you want to know why Eijiro would be a good hero," Izuku stopped to look for the words. "You should have noticed it already. He has this… presence, I guess you could say, in the way he smiles."

All Might's eyes widened a bit, his mouth hanging a little open as there was a disruption in his breathing. With Izuku's-quirk enhanced focus it was natural to strike at that.

"You are famous for smiling in every situation, and for talking about smiling in the face of danger, but really it is just an arrogant smirk. It only works on people because of the shiny image, because of how powerful you are and because people believe that power is unbeatable. If anything makes people see past that ideal illusion, it will turn into nothing but an expression of arrogance from a man who thinks he is better than others just by being powerful. You don't have much reason to trust me on anything, but you should trust me on that."

"And how is this related to young Kirishima?" All Might asked with an annoyed frown creeping onto his face.

"Because he does it right," Izuku responded. "He isn't being arrogant or overconfident, more like the opposite. He's not telling people 'I am better than you so don't worry', but he still makes you feel at ease, and not just in battle."

"I'm not sure I understand exactly what you are going for."

"The best I can put it is that your smile says: 'I am here,' and assumes that is good enough, but his says: 'everything will be okay.' The okay doesn't even need to be his doing. He can still make you believe it, or just feel better when everything else is going wrong. There isn't arrogance, just optimism. I hope you get the difference."

At least All Might's earlier frown had melted away and he was brushing his chin deep in thought. Izuku tilted his head, looking at the man's expressions.

"Any of them can be fine heroes, but if you want a symbol that can smile people into feeling safe there really aren't better alternatives, at least not in this school, yourself included. Really, I should just take your quirk and give it to Ei before you kick the bucket."

"I see. You have given me something to think about."

"Assuming you can do that."

The frown returned on All Might's face. "Now young Midoriya…"

"Was there anything else?" Izuku interrupted.

"About Gran Torino's offer…"

"My answer is still no. I'd rather deal with Best Jeanist with Toshi than play games with you and your old teacher."

All Might opened his mouth to say something annoying.

"Don't think I'm too busy with Endeavour to not expose dirt on you too."

"Very well. But you should still reconsider, and I will consider your words too."

Izuku didn't turn away from the window, only following the supposed hero's movements through a faint reflection. Izuku's hand was already pressed against the windowsill. Thankfully the gorilla of a man decided to finally make his exit, leaving Izuku behind wondering what just happened.

His whole quirk-enhanced focus had been on the man and their conversation, leaving him briefly in a vacuum before he let his focus loosen. He stumbled towards the nearest chair. Tears made their way into his eyes, but he wasn't sure what previously suppressed feelings had caused them. Memories of his mother that came up every time he saw All Might, or talking about those that waited outside?

Right. Them. All Might had left the door open.

"Guys?" He called, his voice breaking a little. At least he reached the chair, leaning on the backrest as the world returned around him with full force.

"Time to go," he faintly heard Hitoshi's voice. "Shoji, sorry, can you stay back a bit? I'm not sure you are, well, close enough yet."

There was a brief pause and some indistinguishable voice.

"Yes you, apparently especially you."

Hitoshi stepped in first, dragging Eijiro from his sleeve with Tenya and Tokoyami following them. Dark Shadow stretched over all of them to reach Izuku first.

"Hey, you okay? You look like you got hit by a spotlight."

"Dealing with All Might is always hard on him, even without all the other things," Hitoshi said and brought an arm around Izuku's, taking the chair's place as support. He nodded past Izuku. Another hand landed on Izuku's back.

"Are those things really true? About All Might or that other guy investigating or… wanting to kill Izuku?" Eijiro asked, "or that All something…"

"All For One," Tenya corrected. "He's the only other person known to have a quirk like Izuku's. He was a bigtime villain in the past."

"Oh," Eijiro said. Izuku was finally returning to the present moment and blinked a couple of times. He spoke as soon as he was physically able to.

"What are you talking about. It sounds like…"

"We heard everything," Hitoshi said. "Well, Shoji did, but he repeated every word to us."

"Really?" Izuku asked, trying to decide how to feel about it.

"Don't be angry at him," Hitoshi said. "It was my idea."

"Oh."

"The six-arm made two new mouths to repeat what each of you said," Dark Shadow added.

Izuku drew a deep breath.

"So, you heard everything?"

"Pretty much," Hitoshi confirmed.

"Y... yeah," Eijiro stuttered.

Izuku turned from Hitoshi to look At Eijiro on his other side. Both of them tensed as they met each other's gaze.

"Uh," both said pretty much the same thing, but despite Eijiro being mainly embarrassed and concerned, Izuku's lip twitched upwards, and his heart beat a little slower.

"Eijiro was very taken aback by what you said," Hitoshi snickered and Izuku could hear the smirk without turning to look. "You'll be happy to know you were right about the lack of overconfidence. Good thing the rest seemed to be true too. I think you made a good choice."

"Yeah," Izuku nodded, still in a friendly staring contest with Eijiro.

"So you were serious?" Eijiro finally got entire words out.

"Absolutely," Izuku responded. Now being a bit steadier on his feet, he straightened up, being let go by Hitoshi as he fully turned towards Eijiro, "every word."

"I-" Eijiro turned his face away, "I think you are wrong. I'm not…"

"No, and trying to refuse it only makes me more convinced about that."

"I just want to help people."

"Exactly. Weren't you listening?"

"We were, but… I don't know what to say. What should I even do?"

"Just keep being yourself. That is more than enough. Also… remember what you made me agree to on Saturday after we came back from the beach?"

"After the beach…" Eijiro muttered. "You mean that talk? But that was you… Oh, right, I remember. Sure, any time."

"Good. It was hard to resist hitting that gorilla."

Eijiro seemed confused.

"All Might," Hitoshi clarified.

"Oh, well I guess I'll be your All Might then."

He really said that with a straight face and smile. Izuku huffed.

"So you really want to test the limits of your quirk?"

"Yeah, of course."

Izuku kept staring at him intensely for a long time, but even with the recent memory of All Might's face he couldn't keep going, which itself was further confirmation of his previous words. His lips twitched and he turned his face down a second before a chuckle got out. He reached over Eijiro's shoulders, leaning on him a bit as he pushed them into motion.

"Then let's go. I'll give you the worst beating you've had since… Friday I guess."

"Heh, I see what you did there, but don't expect me to make it easy!"

"I would expect nothing less. Do you worst… All Might."

"Did…" Tenya started.

"…Izuku just say All Might's name while smiling?" Hitoshi finished.

"The darkness is missing, or perhaps merely hiding."

"If it's the latter I'm glad Eijiro is the one taking the hit," Hitoshi shuddered. Izuku didn't need to see them to sense them nodding as they left the room.

He stopped as one large form entered the edge of his vision and turned to face Shoji. Shoji raised one hand in greeting and it formed a mouth.

"Hi."

"So," Izuku began. "You were spying on me?"

"Well, technically yes."

"Nothing technical about it."

"Izuku," Hitoshi complained, "he only did what I asked him. Meeting All Might is never easy on you, let alone doing it without anyone there to support you. I thought it was better to keep up with what was going on.

Izuku still stared at Shoji. Eijiro raised his arm over Izuku's shoulder like Izuku often did. Eventually Izuku relaxed enough that his shoulders dropped a bit under the arm.

"Toshi, shouldn't you already be training with Eraserhead? You really want to keep him waiting?"

The corridor was completely silent for several seconds.

"Uh, see you later," Hitoshi said, followed by running steps. Izuku had never turned away from Shoji.

"As for you," Izuku said, "I hope you won't mind training with Tenya and Tokoyami before getting a shot at Eijiro."

Shoji's face was covered, making reading his expressions difficult, but his eyes opened in surprise.

"You aren't angry?"

"I am annoyed," Izuku responded in a cold tone. "But I have to talk about that with Toshi. He is probably right, but don't tell him I said that."

"I can do that."

"Also," Izuku's stare softened. "Sorry that you got left behind in the corridor. Toshi did it because of me. I have… issues. It was better to only have specific people around."

"I could see that, or at least hear. I hope things are better now."

"Yes," Izuku glanced around at the group surrounding him. "Still coming to train with us?"

"Of course."

They headed to the dressing rooms and then out to the sports field in their hero costumes. Hitoshi and Aizawa were already at it on the other side of the field. Shoji's arms stretched and split into more arms. Tenya and Tokoyami would get some good agility and dodging training with him. Meanwhile Izuku formed his Dragon Fists and started letting out steam. He didn't want anyone present to be hurt, but as long as Eijiro's quirk held it was very satisfying to keep punching him without a care in the world, even more so when Izuku imagined All Might's face on him.

Eijiro didn't fight as well as before though, not as aggressively. It made hitting him easier. Izuku would have thanked him for the opportunity to let out his frustrations, but he didn't want to reward not fighting properly.

"Excuse me," a voice came from next to them. Izuku stopped, his fist still against Eijiro's chin that it had smashed into. Without moving from that position both of them turned their heads to look next to them and down where their short principal stood. Eijiro pulled his already smoking chin away from Izuku and turned towards Nezu, undoing his quirk.

"Mister principal, good afternoon."

"Good afternoon to you, Kirishima."

Of course Nezu had already memorized their names, or he had had a recent conversation with All Might. Izuku raised his eyes, noticing Todoroki some distance to the side from the principal. His expression didn't seem as cold as usual, but more hesitant and uncertain. Izuku turned and stepped past Nezu to go to him.

"How are you doing?"

"I'm okay. They aren't trying to return me to Endeavour right now at least."

"Well that is the least they can do. Don't worry, things are going to get better."

"I hope so." Todoroki brushed his forehead. "There are so many things to consider."

"I believe that. Do you want to join our training? It might be a good distraction from everything else."

"I'd love to, but…"

"Ahem," Nezu interrupted, finally earning Izuku's attention. Izuku moved a bit to be partially between him and Todoroki.

"While I appreciate seeing such concern between fellow students, I am afraid Todoroki won't have time to join you today as he will have a meeting with his siblings to determine what happens next, including his living situation."

Izuku thought about the words for a moment and tilted his head to look at Todoroki.

"Is that what you want to do?"

Todoroki kept looking down, not meeting Izuku's gaze, but he nodded.

"They aren't the problem like Endeavour is. I'm the one who hasn't been fair to them, and I need them to help mom, I think. I might be going to live with my sister, or maybe my brother. She tries to be nice even to Endeavour. He doesn't."

"Are you okay staying with them?"

"Yeah, it's not the same as… As long as she doesn't try to make us pretend things are okay with Endeavour it is okay, I hope. We are looking into getting a court order against him. Also, I don't want to be trouble to you any longer, even though…"

Izuku stepped closer despite feeling the air cool.

"That is one thing you don't need to worry about." He reached to grab Todoroki's right arm and the coldness disappeared. "You know the address if you need to stay somewhere."

"You can have mine too!" Eijiro declared, approaching from behind Izuku. "If you need someone to train with."

"Or talk to," Izuku added.

"Yeah! That too."

Todoroki's lips turned into a slight smile and just so happened to do so as soon as Eijiro arrived by Izuku's side.

"Thank you. I… I think I'm going to need that, but seems I won't be bothering you tonight at least."

"Never have," Izuku responded.

"Mister Aizawa has kept me informed on the arrangements you have had after the sports festival," Nezu said. "I thought you should at least be informed on how things are progressing. Also, young Todoroki refused to leave without getting to talk with you, especially you two. That said, I would appreciate if you could limit your involvement in the Endeavour situation, especially the publicity and legal side."

"No… only Todoroki has a say in that," Izuku scowled. Nezu shook his head clearly unsurprised by the response.

"There is one more thing. I got a call from concerned parents of a student who had decided to sell her quirk, and apparently you already had an agreement."

"Yes, that happened. We haven't signed a contract or transferred the quirk yet though. Let me guess, her parents forbade it?"

Nezu shook his head. "I got the impression they intended to, but seems their daughter has some say in the matter."

"Of course I do! It is my quirk," a familiar girl declared, approaching them. "I thought you were avoiding me when you left the class without looking for me. Had to send one of my babies to look for you."

She pointed at a drone hovering over them.

"So did you get all of the law stuff ready?" She asked.

"Yes," Izuku responded. "I can send you the contract digitally, but your parents have to sign it as well."

Izuku glanced down at Nezu to evaluate his reaction.

"This is not a matter I or the school can interfere with, but I must insist you to not seek quirks in school from other students or staff. We cannot do anything if someone approaches you at their own initiative and enters a contract outside the school, but such actions taking place within the school put us in a difficult position in terms of publicity and…"

Nezu shivered.

"…the parents."

Izuku rolled his eyes. "Fine, I'll try not to market my offer at school, but you know as well as I do that people are still trying to use the school to attack me."

"Unfortunately so, yes, but we aren't in the habit of interfering with students' affairs simply because someone took offense on them outside of school, so long as no crimes or objectively villainous behaviour happens."

"Since when do you people care about that?"

Nezu frowned, or at least he seemed to, with animal faces there was always some room for interpretation. They fell into a staring contest for a moment.

"Hey, I'm sure they've learned from the whole thing with Bakugo," Eijiro declared. Izuku made the mistake of looking at him and couldn't stay as angry as he wanted to be. He couldn't even correct the misunderstanding that he was only talking about the school.

"I doubt that," he retorted, missing the previous venom in his voice.

He faced Nezu again. "Know this: I only agree to not asking to take quirks from students permanently. That doesn't mean I won't discuss giving students new quirks. Just because people always forget that side of my ability doesn't mean I won't use it."

"Yes, the school won't oppose that as long as the quirks are acquired legally from someone giving them up freely and proper care is taken to ensure the quirks don't harm the recipient. From what I have heard you have already done so." He turned towards the others who had stopped training to listen in. "More than once it seems."

Tenya scratched his new engine exhaust. Nezu focused on Izuku again.

"Well, I believe we are in at an understanding regarding transference of quirks. As for young Todoroki, you should at least believe we take the security of our students seriously. To that end, we should go now."

Izuku had a response to that ready, but Eijiro bumped on his shoulder as he turned to say goodbye to his classmate. Izuku chose not to interrupt that. He was concerned to see Todoroki leave, even though everything should have been okay.

At least he would be free in the evening for different activities.