For those that didn't catch it...Meliessa IS Eiko's half sister. Melissa is half Oni, thus, half demon.
All Might grunted, steam leaving his body as he deflated. Classes were over and he had a chance to rest. He was very lucky he could time this thing now, and that Aizawa was there to take hold when needed. David was right about pushing himself. He'd have to call off classes the moment steam started forming just to play it safe.
"Ah, Bunny-sensei?" His successor's voice startled him as he knocked on the faculty lounge door. "Are you still here?"
"Of course Young Suzuki, come on in!" He shouted to the door. He watched the boy enter with the most contemplative look he's seen on him. "Is something on your-?"
"Why did you never tell David about One For All?" Toshinori coughed a bit. "And for that matter, why does everyone who knows … know?"
"Calm down, calm down!" He looked around, sighing in relief. "Did you even check to see if anyone else was here?"
"That's why I was knocking. No one other than you answered." Because you called him out-nope, he already had to deal with one life revelation conversation, two was too much.
Toshinori patted a seat on the couch, letting the successor rest as he took the time to put his thoughts into words. "They either learned by accident, already knew beforehand, or were necessary to tell."
"So you never wanted to tell anybody about it?" The boy asked. "Why not tell David about it? Wasn't he your sidekick in America, making gadgets for your quirk and stuff? Shouldn't he have known to help you better?"
"He was one of my closest friends … and that's why I couldn't." He sighed as the boy looked confused. "One For All is a very … dangerous power."
"I know, it breaks my bones if I go too hard."
"Not that part, the information about it." He explained. "It's history and ability to be passed down."
"Right, it was made by All Forty One and can be given to people if I want to give it away." Suzuki recalled. "What's wrong with friends knowing about that? If they're my friends, wouldn't I be able to trust them to keep a secret?"
"The information could put them in danger." All Might explained.
"How?" His successor continued. "Doesn't knowing more about something make it less dangerous?"
"If All For One knew that they were aware, he could find ways to exploit it for his own personal means." He looked curious. "Do you … know of your parent's quirks?"
"I know they have quirks, but I don't know what they are."
Worth a shot … "Do you know about Young Hitoshi's Quirk?"
"Oh, you mean brainwashing?"
"Now imagine." He started. "All For One has hundreds of quirks, combining them is no problem. Truth detection, manipulation, illusions. He could make your friend think that they've been working for him all his life … I've seen it happen." He watched the villain simply say a few words while staring into a police officer's eyes, next thing he knew, the man was willing to die for the bastard.
"That sounds scary…" Yes, it was. At least he.. "But Recovery-nurse knows, so does detective man, and I guess a few other people know too, right? Has that ever happened to them?"
"According to Nana and Gran Torino … my mentor." He clarified. "There have been a few times with the fifth and sixth, it's why we keep the list of people that know of it small."
"So…you can have people who know, but…I can't?"
"Iruma … I have people who know because we made an agreement." He stared at his successor's eyes. "If it came to the quirk, or them, I would be forced to sacrifice them." So many lives, thousands have been lost. "I still fear what would happen if he got his hands on Recovery Girl." Or Night Eye.
"I..I thought you wanted to save everyone?" The boy was starting to shake a little. "I know that's a lot to ask someone, but you'd sacrifice your friends?"
"Why do you think so few people know?" He sighed. "I don't keep it secret for my safety, I do it for them. I never had to 'pull the trigger', I don't even know if I could …" He clenched his fist. "So many people have given their lives to this Iruma, if One For All falls it's all for nothing."
"I..I see…but..but.."
"Iruma, please, I beg of you, don't tell anybody." Toshi immensely slapped his hand on his mouth the moment he finished that sentence.
"O..O…Ok-Okay." The boy didn't give his usually cheerful response to those words. In fact, the boy never looked more dead inside. So this was what it felt like to fuck up as a mentor … really bad.
Pony sat with her friends, watching one of the main reasons she came to Japan … anime! "We will defeat you, evatron, with our super combo robot galaxy five!"
"So this was the Eighties?" Setsuna asked. "I know I can laugh at stuff if it's stupid but … at this point it would be like kicking someone with mental disabilities."
"And for some reason it keeps making a come-back." Itsuka groaned a bit. "It's the decade that'll never die, no matter how much we want it to."
"It's cheesy, but that's what makes it fun!" Pony defended. "No one's going to make something like this ever again without making it a parody, so it's its own bubble of goofiness."
"You really are the sunshine child of the class, shroom." Kinoko complimented. "Where's Ibara? I haven't seen her around."
"Probably trying to trail the other sunshine child of the hero course." Rin said bluntly.
"Hm." Yui agreed in her own cute silent way.
"Oh, next time we should get something religious, we have a couple of God movies back in america." Pony spoke. "Even if a few of them tend to oversaturate the message."
"You know, quirks actually make the whole religious thing a bit hard to, you know, be a thing, since evolution and all." Setsuna said. "I mean it's cool I get to be a part of the dino bro family-"
"You're a lizard, not a dinosaur." Itsuka deadpanned.
"-But it was still interesting to see creation stories from fiction and stuff." She went on without acknowledging it. "I think..wow, speak of the devil." Setsuna said ironically as Ibara walked into the room, and Pony expected the girl to start ranting about how 'blasphemous' it was for her to be compared to Satan or something.
"So what are we doing?" And she said nothing about it.
"Um … watching shows." Rin spoke. "Hey, are you okay?"
"Just a feeling, like something bad is happening." The religious girl sat down with the group. "I saw my angel frown the entire journey to school. If he's upset, I doubt anything good can come out of today."
"The guy eats a headband without indigestion and breaks his bones fighting Todoroki, and now of all times is when he gets sad about something?" Itsuka looked a bit skeptical. "Didn't you say he apparently had a bad home life? Maybe that's the problem."
"Maybe … it just seemed more serious." No, go away you bad moods. It's time for some Pony cheering up!
"Hey Itsuka, take a look at this!"
"Now with the power of the goddess hecate from the fourteenth dimension, I cast evil kematon back to the shadow dimension." The people on screen shouted.
"Such a blasphemous display." Ibara didn't say it with her usual energy, but she was starting to act like her usual self, so they were halfway there already!
Sato packed away his bag as class ended. "So does anyone have afternoon plans?"
"Me and Denki are heading over to this new cafe that just opened up, maybe catch up on First Love memories." Momo explained. Kaminari lucked out big time. The lucky bastard better not screw it up.
"I'm spending some quality time with my family." Tsu spoke up. "I spent a while away from them … also the love talk is starting to drive me to snap, I need something platonic." That was fair.
"Same. My mother's been feeling better lately ever since I've started visiting. This time all my siblings are coming." Todoroki seemed very lively lately. Better than the cold shoulder he always gave at the start of the year.
"Training, what else, extra?" And the perfectionist prick struck again.
"Oh Iruma-kun, we can head out to the movies or something later!" Hagakure once again tried to fight her way out of the friend zone.
"Actually I'm catching up on studies and work, so I'm going to be busy for a while." He uncharastically went to the door, instead of chatting with friends. "I better head to the library while I'm at it."
"But you'll miss lunch." Uraraka tried to halt him.
"Oh it's fine. I'm not hungry." Every living thing was stunned, staring at the door in horror.
The silence was deafening. "So … red flag?" Mineta asked.
"Crimson." Iida reaffirmed.
"I actually expected the earth to crack open the moment he said that." Sato admitted.
"Okay, who made my Iruma-kun upset!? I need to add your name to the list!" Hagakure held up a pen menacingly.
"Nobody, we haven't talked to him since yesterday, and he seemed fine after class." Uraraka put in. "Do you think it was his parents?"
"Can't be, he doesn't think about people he doesn't like. He forgets about them the moment comes to school where he's happy." Everyone looked at Todoroki. "Great advice actually. It's how I'm able to separate Endeavor from my father."
"I don't know what's more shocking, the obvious amount of therapy you both need, or the fact there are people Iruma doesn't like." Jiro said with slight disbelief.
"Well there must be something we can do." Iida asked. "We must be upfront and ask him what-"
"Not gonna work." Bakugo spoke up, looking at the window with … a strange look in his eye. "Guys that bottle it up don't talk unless you lock them in a corner and make them confess." He growled, shoving his way to the door without care. "I'm getting food."
"Yeah, let me join you man." Kirishima walked to the door, a strange look in his eye too.
"We obviously know that the whole 'not hungry' thing is a whole line of bull, right?" Hagakure asked, and everyone nodded. "So we just need to bring him something so mouthwateringly tempting that he can't help but gobble it in seconds, at least more than usual."
"Plan Q has failed." Shoji watched as Hagakure whipped the name off the list. Those that weren't at summer school before had been dragged into the 'trap and help Iruma' plan, with little success. "Plan R will use a rocket launcher and some butternut squash."
"No, rockets are too dangerous, he'll dodge it without even knowing what he's dodging." Uraraka reminded her. "What about Plan S, we will tangle him up in large Soba."
"Isn't that just plan F again?" Kaminari asked.
"No, this time the food itself IS the trap, so he won't dodge."
"Then he could just eat his way out." Sero added.
"Exactly! He'll be forced to eat, which'll hopefully relax his nerves long enough for him to be open about what's on his mind." Hagakure surprisingly agreed with the plan quickly. "The only problem is getting noodles that long. Sato, do we have enough dough?"
"I'd need to ask Lunch-Rush for something like that."
"Has anyone considered we're just driving him away at this point?" Aoyama asked the group. "Cornered animals tend to be … vicious." He wasn't wrong, Suzuki was the most animalistic of the bunch.
"So the options are we corner him and he either runs away or mauls his way through us." Ashido groaned. "When did talking to Iruma get so difficult? He's never had a problem with talking about anything before…"
"Yeah, you're right…" Jiro pondered. "He's open about everything, he'd talk about anything…unless someone told him to 'please' not to."
"I knew it, someone is getting added to the list!" Hagakure growled. "I'm going to demolish whoever it is in a cream!" He subconsciously backed away.
"Should we exploit it then?" Mineta asked. "Just ask him to please stand still and just have us talk about it?"
"I'm not sure if that's the best idea." Momo added. "If the triggers are as deep as I think they are, asking him to do something contradictory to a previous order might hurt his psyche even more than it already is."
"So what's the plan then?" Uraraka asked. "Because this is getting us nowhere!"
"Let us remain calm!" Iida spoke up. "If triggered he will not tell us anything. All we can do is try to create an easing environment, remain calm and ready. Just look at how calm Todoroki has been … where is Todoroki?"
Shoto placed his hand next to Iruma's head. "Do you remember what happened the last time we were like this?" Alone in an abandoned hallway where no one could walk in.
"You … asked if I was Bunny-sensei's secret love child and told me your home life sucked?"
"Yes." That felt so long ago. "The whole class is really worried about you, Iruma. You're not acting like yourself. You haven't eaten anything all day."
"I'm not.."
"Don't lie, Iruma, you're terrible at it. Plus I can hear your stomach growling."
GRAAAAAAWW
More like hissing. "I … I can't talk about it."
"Because someone said 'please'?" He reasoned. "I could say please and get you to talk now … but I won't." He sighed. "You should have the right to talk about your problems when you're comfortable, you shouldn't be forced to say anything.."
"But…But I want to say so much!" Iruma shouted, a few tears fell from his eyes. "There's so, so much that I want to say to you, to Toru, to Ochako, Iida, Minoru, the rest of the class, Rabbit-Sama! I want to tell them how much they mean to me, how they're the best family I could've asked for, but..BUT..there's one big thing they should know..that I..CAN'T…SAY!" He pounded his head. "Stupid, stupid, stupid!"
"Why can't you say it?" He asked. "You never were told why you can't, right?" Give him something.
"Bunny-sensei said it was 'dangerous'." That was the first time he ever sounded irritated towards All Might. "He said you all could get hurt or worse …"
"Iruma." Shoto held onto his shoulder. "You broke your fingers just to get me to stop being stupid and smile. It would be hypocritical for me not to return the favor." He looked into his eyes. "It doesn't matter if there's danger, or if I die for some arbitrary reason … just know you can trust me like I trust you."
"Shoto…" Iruma wiped his eyes. "The…name of my quirk is.." The boy looked like he was gagging. "My quirk's name is.." The boy gagged again. "My quirk came from…" The boy was trembling all over, his hands over his head, and it looked like he was about to bust a blood vessel as his face went red.
"Iruma.."
"ThenameofmyquirkisOneForAll!" The bow threw up on the floor, spewing his non-existent lunch all over the place. "The Quirk belongs to All Might!" More vomit came out of his mouth. "He gave it to me right before the entrance exam!" Shoto watched and patted his back as the boy fell to the ground, trying to gently cool the boy. "It hurts … why does it hurt …"
"They say the truth hurts, although I don't think it was meant to be literal." He kept the boy steady, helping him not slip up on his own vomit. "So All Might is your father."
"No, no, Bunny-sensei is not and has never been my dad." Iruma reiterated. "He literally gave me his quirk. It's a movable power that's been given to eight other people." Iruma covered his mouth again, stopping another vomit attack.
He let the boy be silent and recover, contextualizing information. Quirkless kid gets bullied and abused by family, found innocent by All Might, given a quirk … pieces fell into place. "I can see why he wanted it a secret."
"You … do?" The boy looked confused. "I haven't even told you about All Forty One-" The boy covered his mouth again.
"... It's dangerous, having a powerful quirk villains could take." He would just save that probable nickname for later. "My father would kill for that kind of power as well. I guess I'm the only one you've told about this?"
"Y-yeah. Other than you, Recovery-nurse, Detective Man, and Bunny-sensei's sensei know about it. He never told Melissa's dad despite them being friends and partners, and everything during I-Island happened because David didn't know about it." Iruma looked at his hands. "If he knew, no one would've died or gotten hurt. But Bunny-sensei said he would have been in danger if he told him and … it hurts."
"Iruma." He looked his friend in the eye. "Let's make a pact."
"A … pact?" He looked confused.
"No matter what happens, we do our best to keep each other alive." Todoroki started. "But we don't blame ourselves if we fail."
"That..that's the best thing I've heard all day." Iruma was weeping with joy. "Thank you, thank you, Shoto, thank you for being my friend!"
"You reached out to me first, I'm just returning the favor." He looked at the ground. "We should probably get someone to clean this up and change our shoes. After that, let's get you something to eat." And then he'll tell Hagakure to put All Might on that list. The man's time was coming to an end.