Rewind

Chapter VIII: Who We Are

With Izuku's victory over Kirishima, there were only five fights left in the finals of the Sports Festival. First up was Ashido against Shoto, and the pink-skinned girl was extremely confident about the results. "You know, Bakugou picked me for his team because my Acid can melt your ice."

"If you think that's enough to beat me, you're sorely mistaken." Midnight called for the start of the match, and Ashido charged at Shoto, only for him to respond by freezing her in a block of ice, timed so that she could barely move her hands. Midnight quickly declared him the winner, which left only Tokoyami and Iida for the quarterfinals. That match ... did not go how anyone expected. Iida's speed, which would have normally been a boon turned into his great weakness, as Tokoyami used Dark Shadow to mess with Iida's vision, resulting in Iida accidentally sending himself over the boundary in an attempt to push Tokoyami out of bounds.

That left only the semi-finals, and first up was the one match Izuku had been looking forward to, the one event he knew he could not mess up, the reason he had kept quiet about the truth so far. Izuku had been heading out to the stadium when Endeavor stepped out in front of him. "Ah, there you are, I was looking for you."

"Yeah, why's that?" Izuku asked, glaring at the Flame Hero.

"Your quirk, all that power, it reminds me of All Might."

"So, what about it?"

"It's my Shoto's duty to surpass All Might as the number one hero. His match with you will be a good testing ground to see how much training he has left to complete. So hit him hard, push him as much as possible to use his fire. I'd even be willing to pay you if you manage to do it."

Izuku stared at the man in shock, but his quick mind soon realized that there was a way to take advantage of this. "I don't need money, but I would like something from you that I wouldn't even think of asking from All Might." Just as Izuku calculated, Endeavor jumped at the chance to do whatever it was. "Could you bend down, I don't want anyone else to hear what I want from you." Endeavor looked at him in confusion, but did as Izuku asked.

Izuku's smirk was the only warning that Todoroki Enji received before taking a Massachusetts Smash between the legs, causing him to fall to his knees in excruciating pain. That brought his nose to the perfect height for a Detroit Smash, one that sent the Flame Hero flying out the door before crashing into the arena. Izuku stalked out of the walkway right behind him, and once the hero had stopped moving, he started talking. "I am not All Might, and Shoto isn't you. Any achievements that Shoto earns are his and his alone, not yours! Now get out of here, you bastard." Enji groaned, still in pain from the kick, but he managed to get up and walk away, only to be confronted by Detective Tsukauchi who walked the hero to a quiet corner.

"It's time for the start of the semifinals, and we are finally at a match we've all been waiting for! Midoriya Izuku, who went from dead last to first place in the Obstacle Course and has proven to have both brains and brawn! Facing him is Todoroki Shoto, a legacy student with a chip on his shoulders and has demonstrated the power to freeze half the stadium! Let the fight begin!"

Instantly, Izuku's spine tingled, a feeling he had grown used to throughout the Festival as an early warning of danger, and with Full Cowling boosting his speed, Izuku dodged Shoto's ice wall, and the two he sent after that. When the fourth ice wall made it so he couldn't dodge again, a quick St Louis Smash broke through all the walls, giving him room to move again. Shoto came again, sending one ice wall as a distraction while coming at Izuku from above. However, Izuku just danced out of the way. "You're holding back, Midoriya. You haven't thrown so much as one attack my way," Shoto complained.

"Yeah, well maybe when you stop holding back, then I will as well," Izuku growled out. "Look at you, you're shaking from the cold because you won't use your quirk to its fullest ability! Hell, you're only using half your quirk! You're not even using your fire to keep yourself warm! You complain about me holding back, but you haven't even managed to brush me with your ice yet! So come at me with all you got!"

Shoto charged at him, clearly upset with him, though not as furious as the first time, probably thanks to Izuku's utter humiliation of Enji. However, with how slow he'd become, Izuku barely needed his Danger Sense to dodge his attacks. "Why are you doing this?" he demanded in an echo of Izuku's first life.

"Because when I was a kid, I watched a man save a thousand people and kept them calm by smiling the whole time. That was what made me decide to become a hero, so I could be just like him! My motivation may seem simple and trivial compared to yours, but I want to live up to that example! That's why I'm willing to give it my all, even if I need to break my body to do so! So why aren't you?" Shoto tried again to freeze him in place, but a Delaware Smash shattered the ice … and his finger as Izuku worked to prove his point. "There's no way for me to know or understand what you've been through, or know how resolved you are. But stop screwing around! If you want to reject your father, fine, do that, but stop rejecting your own quirk! You're not your father if you use your fire, just like you're not your mom just because you use your ice! We all inherit our quirks from our parents in some shape or form, but that doesn't make us them! It's OUR power to do with as we see fit, not our parents. Your father didn't do what he did because of his quirk, but because he's ambitious and power-hungry! If you want to reject him, then do worse than refuse to use his quirk, ignore him, block him out of your mind completely, treat him like a stranger and use your power to its' fullest potential! A quirk is what you make of it, to hell with where it came from or what baggage it comes with!"

That was what did it. Shoto stood up, and his left side burst into flames. "You're helping your opponent? You fool! Even though you want to win this battle. Now which one of us is screwing around? I want it too. I'll be a hero!"

Izuku smiled so brightly, it could easily be compared to All Might's signature. "Now that's more like it!" Once again, the two charged at each other with their full power, and despite Cementoss' attempts, the two once again blew up the entire arena.

Midnight did her best, but she couldn't see anything through the dust and debris. While Aizawa and Yamada commented, she got as close as she dared and found Todoroki still standing, though only barely in the bounds of the arena. On the other side of the arena however … Midoriya was standing in Toshinori's classic victory pose, and still within bounds. That is, he was until he took one deliberate step backwards. "Todoroki is the winner! He advances to the finals!" While she was still speaking, Midoriya walked over to Todoroki and raised their hands into the victory pose. "What was that about? You could have continued the fight if you'd wanted to, and you still act like you won," Kayama asked, too consumed by curiosity to do otherwise.

"Because it was never about winning or losing the match. There's more than one kind of victory, and today, we both won. The Festival was nothing compared why we actually fought this match," Izuku responded. Kayama Nemuri just stared at the green-haired boy in confusion, not understanding his answer at all. But there was one thing she did know. Midoriya Izuku, you're someone to watch. I'm looking forward to seeing your future.


The rest of the Sports Festival went the same way as the first time: Kacchan beat both Tokoyami and Shoto. He still beat Shoto because while he was definitely better than the first time around, he still had some clear similarities with Enji when it came to personality. However, while the fight ended the same, he didn't react the same way when Shoto didn't go all out. "You're good, Icy-Hot, but you'll be even better after you get over your damned reservations about using your fire."

"Maybe next time, Bakugou." From there, they went to the awards ceremony, with Izuku sharing the podium with Tokoyami, Shoto and Kacchan (who was not bound and chained this time around.) However, like last time, Iida wasn't there due to Ingenium having been attacked. Izuku had winced at that, as he had tried to warn the engine-user about Stain, but it had apparently failed, or only resulted in the same results as the first time. Knowing Stain, it was probably the latter. When All Might had gone to give Izuku his medal, instead of offering words of wisdom and encouragement, he simply let Izuku know that Tsukauchi was at the stadium and just needed to know when and where to meet them. After that, All Might awarded the medals as before, (though with much less trouble from Kacchan,) and thanks to a subtle warning beforehand, everyone cheered with him.

Five minutes later, and everyone but Tsukauchi was in the room that Izuku intended to debrief everyone. "So, what's going on, Deku? Why are we here?"

"Well, first, you two are here because you've both been asking questions about my quirk, and I'm ready to answer," Izuku answered.

"But why now? Why not when we asked?" Shoto asked.

"That is the second part of my answer, and it's going to have to wait until Detective Tsukauchi gets here. Right now, you should know that both of you were right. I truly was quirkless until a few months ago, but my quirk is the same as All Might's."

"So, you truly are his secret love-child?" Shoto asked.

Kacchan stared at Shoto in shock, while Toshinori spat blood out in shock. "You were serious about that?!"

"Have you ever known me to joke … about anything?" Izuku asked, remembering how much trouble that caused with Sir.

"Icy-Hot, you don't just ask things like that!"

"Why not?"

"Okay, social faux pas aside, the answer is now and always no, I am not related to All Might. My dad had a fire-breathing quirk. As it turns out, there's more than one way to inherit a quirk." And with that, Izuku explained One For All, how it worked and how he had earned All Might's attention. "After I agreed to take One For All, All Might started training me so my body could handle the power of the quirk."

"Hold it, Deku, you said that that weakling over there was training you. And what's he doing here anyways?"

"I did say that, didn't I," Izuku answered with a smirk.

"What the hell's that supposed to mean?!"

"Isn't it obvious? Toshinori is All Might," Shoto said.

Katsuki was about to object when Toshinori said "I always knew you were one of my more brilliant students, Young Todoroki." Kacchan twitched at that, but didn't really react until Toshinori shifted into All Might. When that happened, his eyes went wide and his jaw dropped as he stared in shock.

"Huh, that's different from last time. He'd barely reacted at all to finding out the truth. Then again, hedidjustcomeoffthestressofhavingbeenkidnappedbytheLeagueofVillains. AndAllForOneisdefinitelyanintimidatingfigureunderthebestofcircumstancesletaloneashisprisoner. NotomentionthedevastationthatresultedfromAllMights'sfinalbattle-"

"WHAT?!" came four surprised shouts, the fourth coming from the newly arrived Tsukauchi.

Immediately, everyone started talking over each other, trying to get an explanation to Izuku's mutterings. After two minutes of that, Izuku gave up even attempting to understand them and gave a shrill whistle. "Now, could you calm down and let me talk? I'm sure all your questions will be answered by the time I finish explaining my second secret! First off, Detective Tsukauchi, how's your case against Shie Hassaikai coming?"

Tsukauchi looked surprised at that, but answered. "Quite well, actually. We've managed to arrest many of their oyabun and kumicho, and we've managed to hinder their production of Trigger. As for Rewind, it seems like they had a drug that only erases a Quirk for a few hours, but it's done now."

"How do you know you stopped the production of Rewind?" Izuku asked.

"Because we found the human source. A little girl with blue skin, purple eyes and a tail."

Izuku stared at the black-haired man. "You're either lying, or you got the wrong girl. Eri has normal skin, white hair, red eyes and a horn over her right eye."

"A test, actually. How did you know about Eri?" Tsukauchi asked.

"Because Eri is how I knew about Rewind two months before you found it." With that, Izuku explained everything he knew about his first life; Kacchan's bullying and ego, his struggle to gain and control One For All, USJ and its effects on Aizawa, the Sports Festival and its effects on his hands, Stain, Wolfram, the attack by the League of Villains and Kacchan's resulting kidnapping, the battle at Kamino Ward and the end of the Age of All Might, and finally their work studies which resulted in them finding Eri in the first place. "The only explanation of what happened that I can think of is that Eri managed to use her quirk on me and accidentally sent my mind back in time."

Everyone sat frozen as they processed the information Izuku had told them, Kacchan having been the worst off as he hadn't said a word since Izuku had revealed who it was that had told him to kill himself. Finally, Toshi-sensei spoke up. "Well, that certainly explains a few things, but just to confirm, can you tell us something personal you learned in that other life to prove that it was real?"

Izuku smiled. "That's easy, I'll provide three reasons that all apply to you, sensei. First, one of the reasons you picked me is because I remind you of yourself, including the fact that you were born quirkless." Kacchan twitched at that, but otherwise there was no response. "Second, you had two sensei's, one of whom is still alive: Gran Torino."

"Let me guess, I sent you to train with him after the Sports Festival?" Izuku nodded, which made Toshinori grin. "I thought I recognized your style of movement!"

"Yeah, he does leave an impression, doesn't he? I'd like to train with him again this time, if he doesn't mind. Anyways, your other sensei was the one who passed One For All down to you: Shimura Nana." Toshi brightened at the memory of his master … until Izuku spoke again. "She was the one who inspired you to always smile in order to reassure the people you saved. But she left behind a family, All For One found her grandson, Shimura Tenko and then adopted him. He now goes by Shigaraki Tomura, the guy who hurt me and Aizawa-sensei and controlled the Nomu at USJ."

Toshinori's eyes widened in shock and pain. "That's a lie," he whispered, trying to deny it, but the pain in Izuku's eyes was too real for it to be anything but the truth. Worse, it sounded exactly like something All For One would do. "I attacked my master's grandchild? Kami, what would she say if she knew how we turned out?!"

"She'd tell you that it is our choices, not our heritage or our quirks that make us who we are." Surprisingly, it was Shoto that had spoken up just then. "That was the lesson that you and Midoriya taught me. We are not bound to our predecessor's lives, ambitions or goals. If anything, I think she would be proud of you for standing up for what she fought and died for and disappointed in Tomura for his betrayal."

While it was obvious that Toshinori was still devastated by the news, Shoto's words had clearly helped. "Thank you, young Todoroki, I needed that. Now, another question, why didn't you say anything about the USJ Incident ahead of time?"

"First, because the worst damage was done to 13, Aizawa and myself, and even Aizawa, who took the worst of it, was fully recovered by the end of the Festival. Second, because you and Aizawa both said that the USJ helped us on our road to become heroes. If the injuries had been worse, then I might have warned you. But why change things that only helped us?" Toshinori thought for a moment then nodded, and after about thirty more minutes of interrogation, he pulled Tsukauchi out of the room with him. Clearly the two adults needed to talk for a little.

"Bakugou, would you mind leaving? I need to speak with Midoriya about a private matter."

Kacchan looked up at that, then nodded. "Yeah, sure, right after I get the answer to a question of my own. Why?"

Izuku was confused by the question. "Why, what, Kacchan?"

"After everything my other self did, why did you help me? I was a complete and total bastard to you, I even told you to kill yourself! Why?"

Izuku smiled at his best friend. "Honestly, at first I wasn't sure what I should do. You'd hurt me terribly, but you'd also proven yourself to have great potential as a hero. We had so many complicated feelings about each other that it took a fight to even start clearing the air and become proper rivals. It wasn't until I saw you again that I made my choice. You were so happy to see me that I decided I had to at least try to save my big brother. If things didn't change, well, at least I gave it my best shot, and if they did, so much the better. Fortunately, all that was really needed to keep your ego in check was the occasional kick in the ass," he finished with a smile.

"Hmph, we'll see who kicks whose ass next time we spar, Deku," Kacchan said with a smile as he walked out. But before he closed the door, he turned back and said "Icy-Hot, if you hurt him, I'll kill you."

"What was that about?" Shoto asked. Izuku just shrugged, then motioned for Shoto to say whatever he wanted now that they were in private. "Did you tell All Might about what we talked about? Is that why Tsukauchi was investigating my father?"

"Never! You told me that in confidence, Shoto, I would never betray the confidence of a friend. Yes, it was my motivation for having him look into your family, but I only used what was publicly available. I would never tell anyone, not even Toshi-sensei what you told me without your express permission." Shoto smiled, and then to Izuku's shock, hugged him before thanking him. With that, they started strategizing about how to deal with Stain this time around.

When Izuku left, Kacchan was waiting outside. "Hey, Deku, those months after we met All Might, back when you'd been blowing me off for training, what was up with that?"

Izuku slapped himself at that. "I never did tell you, did I? Sorry Kacchan, that was when All Might was training me. I swear, I won't be pulling anything like that without at least telling you why first."


Several changes had come about by the time they returned to normal school activities. It had been confirmed that Stain had attacked Ingenium, but thanks to Izuku's warning, his sidekicks had been closer allowing the doctors to do more to help him. He was still forced into retirement as the damage to his spine wouldn't support his engines, but he would be able to walk. Also, Endeavor had been officially arrested for suspected crimes against his family, and for his excessive brutality against criminals. However, the common consensus was that Endeavor would get off, at the very least due to a plea deal. Shoto had then went and asked for Izuku to come with him to meet his mother as moral support. The doctors had welcomed them with open arms, saying that they had treated her as best as they could without Shoto there to judge how mentally stable she was now, and thankfully, the reunion between mother and son went very well. The doctors even got Shoto's number so that they could work on scheduling more visits to further test Rei's health. Finally, Izuku gave Toshinori some books on teaching for newbies at the job. Toshinori just laughed, but promised to read them while the internships were going on.

Their first day back was again dominated by picking code names and the draft. The draft was basically the same, except for one thing: Izuku took third place in number of offers, with more than 2500 agencies offering an internship. Fortunately, as Izuku had told Uraraka on their first day, he'd already picked his name, and was the first to present it. "I'm the Can-Do Hero: Valiant." Kacchan's name was also approved of (Ground Zero,) while Iida was actually willing to take on the name of Ingenium. After that, the moved on to hero agencies, and this time, Izuku took the time to give everyone advice about where they seemed weakest so they could work with an agency that helped them deal with that weakness. For the most part, the students went to the same agencies, but Shoto out of necessity had to switch, though for some reason he kept who he was going to intern with a secret.

A/N: For those interested, the Japanese version of Izuku's code name is Dekiru Hero: Isamashii