The first time he took note of the name "Eclipse", was when a pair of letters arrived at his official office.
The first one he could have dismissed as basic fan mail, as it was address to All Might. However it was the second letter that made him actually pay attention to the contents.
Inside was a rather heart-felt letter to "Toshinori Yagi" thanking him for putting up with all the headaches that came with being All Might's secretary and a sincere wish that he continued to support the number one hero from the shadows.
There was also a link to a website that when he brought it up, had his actual picture on it with a similar letter. He wasn't the only one on there (he recognized Endeavor's secretary, among others), but his attention swiftly went to the tab labeled "Hero Statistics".
Whoever made the site had a surprisingly well informed list of heroes (including those who worked from the shadows) along with a basic analysis of their quirks, their strengths and a rather decent list of cases that they had either been a part of or had personally resolved.
When he checked the tab listed under All Might, he found several on the list that most of his fans either didn't know about or had swept under the rug because it was from his early hero days. Whoever made it must be a die hard fan. There was even a copy of the video from his first official appearance as a hero.
As he skimmed through the website, a new posting came up. Clicking on it, he found a new profile being listed for a recent UA graduate that was making their big debut as a pro hero.
According to the site's rules, all new pro heroes were given a "five case leeway" before the admin posted a ranking for them along with a general statistic list.
Remembering that there had been two letters, Toshinori dug through the fan mail and found the second one addressed to All Might.
Any doubts that he was dealing with a dedicated fan went away. Whoever wrote the letter was a true admirer of his, and had even posted a thoughtful mention of his 'secretary' by politely suggesting that the hero give the poor man a desperately needed vacation as the pictures they had seen suggested he was working a little too hard. With the additive that he go on vacation as well, if only to give the new graduates a chance to shine and give himself a break before he burned out.
It brought to mind the fact he hadn't had a proper vacation in three years, and the idea had some merit.
And there were a few 'hero-only' beaches he knew of but never had a chance to visit. It might take some doing, but the reward would be worth it.
He had no idea the idle comment he made to Endeavor after an interview about the site would cause it's popularity to surge to the point everyone was talking about it after he got back from his much needed vacation.
Endeavor ended up looking up the site himself and for once wasn't pissed about always coming in second to All Might in the popularity polls.
All Might might be ranked as the "number one popular hero", but Endeavor was listed as "the Number One Hero's Office". They had a list of statistics for all registered heroes that were attached to his office, as well as case resolution, efficiency, ability, and number of villains safely arrested without injury.
All Might's office was listed as the seventh best, which made Endeavor rather happy overall. It was nice to know someone appreciated his efforts and wasn't completely blinded by All Might.
With two of the top heroes showing interest and open approval of the same website, which had been little more than a blog, interest exploded.
One day it shut down for a whole week...and when it came back up, it was completely refurbished into something that was new and refreshing, while still maintaining the original purpose of it.
Though one question remained...just who was Eclipse?
Toshinori felt more than a little unhappy that he was about to expose his secret to a young woman who was clearly a fan of his. It was hard to bring hope to people when you went from someone like All Might to a man that looked like he was half in his grave.
"No way... All Might's secretary is actually the hero himself?!" she said in disbelief.
"Fan of the Eclipse website?" he asked.
The letters to the secretaries had remained on the site, but the picture that had been on it was an old one.
She seemed to debate something for a moment, before she said something that shocked him almost as much as he had shocked her when he turned back into his true form.
"Actually I'm the mystery admin Eclipse," she admitted.
Toshinori stared.
"You're Eclipse?"
"I wrote two letters to your office. One thanking your 'secretary' for putting up with the inevitable headaches of being the shield for the number one hero and a second one to 'All Might' suggesting that both of you take a vacation before you burned out," she replied. "The return address listed was to a post office box that was closed after two months once the letters were sent."
Toshinori was convinced she was telling the truth. A few of the heroes wanted to meet the mystery sender, especially after the website's popularity exploded thanks to him and Endeavor taking a strong interest in it, only to find out that the return address was a post office box that closed shortly after the letters had been sent.
As a result, no one knew exactly who Eclipse was or what they looked like.
Only a select handful would have known those details.
"Why did you start the site?"
"I might be quirkless, but that didn't stop my love of heroes. You were always my favorite hero growing up, and even when the doctor rather bluntly told me to give up on my dream of being a pro hero like you, that didn't stop me from wanting to show my appreciation for them however I could. The website was mostly a way for me to keep all my notes down about the heroes I watched help others...I never expected it to take off like it did."
"Who does the hero analysis then?" asked Toshinori. He knew for a fact that UA sent their student rosters to a seperate website run by Eclipse to get their opinion, and that several of the pro heroes had actually benefitted from the analysis sent back by Eclipse. Whoever wrote the results was very good at picking apart individual quirks and giving solid ideas on how to improve themselves and pointing out minor errors that could be corrected. Some of the comments made could only have come from watching said heroes first hand, or at least the videos of them repeatedly.
"I do everything by myself. Very few people want to be near a 'quirkless loser' after all, since it's clear I won't be doing anything important later. And the teachers are more concerned about promoting the few students with 'outstanding' or 'flashy' quirks into top schools like UA to bother dealing with the obvious bullying," Eclipse.
Toshinori winced slightly at that. From the sound of things, Eclipse hadn't had an easy childhood at all.
"What's your real name?" he asked.
"Midoriya Hikari."
Toshinori felt like he should discourage her from the pro hero path. But something stopped him. Maybe it was the way she spoke about how her teachers never bothered to encourage her, or the fact that she spent so much time evaluating the quirks of others despite the fact that she would never develop one herself.
Deep down it could have been the fact he did remember what it was like to be told he couldn't be a hero because he had been born quirkless as well.
"Just because you can't save people directly doesn't mean you are powerless. Those assessments you've been doing have helped countless pro heroes improve their own skills and save a lot of lives. Even Endeavor acknowledged the fact that the skills analysis you do have merit," said Toshinori finally.
Admittedly he had mostly sent in his son's stats for an assessment to see if she actually knew what she was doing, but he was rather pleased with the results as there was a marked improvement in his son's skill using his ice half. Not to mention the ideas she shared about using his ice for short range use like making a sword or other weapon that could be made in a short amount of time but have a wide variety of uses.
Seeing the hope spark in her eyes, he knew he had said the right thing.
"Sometimes the biggest hero is the person who believes in those who stand in the spotlight when the public turns against them. People like that often give more hope to those who have lost theirs," said Toshinori quietly.
He could vividly remember at least three heroes who had been saved by her website. They had been caught up in a nasty mess with a villain who had killed his victims while they were helpless to stop him in time. The public and the families had wanted someone to blame and it had resulted in a huge mess.
The heroes popularity dropped considerably around the board and they were targeted by the media and those who were always happy to destroy a hero's reputation for a costly mistake, regardless of whether they were at fault or not.
However one website didn't villify them or make the entire thing sound like it was their fault the people died.
The Eclipse website had posted the limited video of the incident and had taken apart with a critical eye, pointing out what they did right and what factors had turned the entire incident against them. Then they opened up a forum with the pointed question of what other pro heroes would do directly and when the comments came in, she turned the tables on those who tried to blame the three heroes by pointing out their mistakes that people had either forgotten about or glossed over.
Even if those mistakes were years old or covered up and forgotten about.
It had put things into perspective, and thanks to the popularity of the site, those that stood with the heroes had rallied behind them.
Eventually the entire mess blew over, but thanks to Eclipse the heroes were able to return to their job, a little more humble but a lot wiser and with a new perspective on who their true allies were.
As a side effect they created a support group for pro heroes who had that one bad day when nobody won except the villain, and they named it the Eclipse Society.
Toshinori had to wonder if Midoriya knew how much her actions meant to those heroes.
Hikari blushed at bit at the compliment, especially since her beloved hero hadn't outright told her it was impossible like so many others had. Even her own mother had given up on encouraging her dream.
Hikari stayed on the roof for a bit, until the sound of an explosion happened. It was the villain All Might had captured earlier, which had fallen loose because of her impulsive actions.
She raced to the scene and was only mildly horrified to discover Bakugo trapped by the slime villain.
All the pro heroes available on the scene were unable to do anything as their quirks were either ineffective or they were too dangerous to use with a hostage that close to the villain.
Hikari took one look at Bakugo and a plan immediately came to mind. One that had minimal risk of her classmate and former childhood friend being hurt.
However it was one that would get her a rather thorough tongue-lashing from the pro heroes.
She debated on whether to act, when Bakugo's eyes met her own. Contrary what she was used to, he looked absolutely terrified.
That expression made her decision and she found herself bolting forward, heedless of Kamui trying to stop her.
Unknown to her classmates, their taunts and jeers did in fact bother her.
However instead of giving up, she used it to motivate her into learning how to defend herself without needing a quirk at all. One of the hobbies she picked up happened to be parkour.
Her feet carried her over the slime creature, and gave her the perfect angle to launch her next move.
Which happened to be using the pepper spray she always carried in her bag in case a villain targeted her or against her bullies. She aimed it right in the slime's eyes, and he screamed in pain.
Bakugo wasn't an idiot...he bolted the first chance he could away from the villain and Hikari jumped up to grab a nearby ladder to hoist herself up past where he could reach.
And just in time too... there was a sudden gust of wind that made her very glad she generally wore shorts under her school skirt as there was no way she could have kept from flashing anyone.
All Might had arrived to defeat the villain a second time, and Hikari felt every minute of the lecture she got was worth it.
Even if she felt the resentful gaze of Bakugo because the 'weak loser' from his class had been the one to save his ungrateful ass.
Hikari stared at Toshinori-san in absolute shock.
"Wait...what?" she said in disbelief.
"I said it's possible for you to become a pro hero," repeated Toshinori. "I've been spending the past few years after that fight looking for a successor to my power, but I've had no luck at all...until I saw how you jumped in to save a classmate without any hesitation and used your head to free him from that villain with minimal harm to the hostage when everyone else just stood there. There are a lot of pro heroes out there for the money or the fame. But I have the feeling you could be the sort of hero that could act as the next beacon of hope for the right reasons."
Hikari was still in shock.
"But how? There's no way the government would issue a pro hero license without a recognized quirk. I've checked," said Hikari.
She was like a dying man in the desert who had just discovered an oasis. It didn't matter whether it was a mirage or the real thing, she just knew she had to reach for it.
"What if there was a way for you to gain a quirk?" asked Toshinori seriously.
He knew he had made the right choice with the way her eyes lit up with hope.
"How?"
"Much like you, I wasn't born with a quirk. However I attracted the attention of someone who was able to transfer their powers to me, as it has been for a while. If you agree, you will become the ninth successor of One for All."
"Wait...ninth?" said Hikari stunned. What sort of quirk could transfer between users? Her mind was already racing with this new information and what it could mean.
After having to do so many Quirk Assessments for UA and other top hero academies, she immediately went into analysis mode over the possibilities.
Toshinori bore her enthusiasm with patience. He knew instinctively he had found the perfect candidate to pass on his power to, they just needed to train her body up so that she could use it without killing herself.
There was one tiny tidbit he hadn't considered, which was the reaction her mother would likely have if people knew she was spending so much time with an older man.
Fortunately Hikari knew the perfect cover story that they could use even if someone found out that she was spending time with him that would pass any inspection given.
It was a well known fact that the name "Toshinori Yagi" was the secretary for All Might. And considering how much work was involved, it wouldn't be that unusual for him to take in an intern so that he could get a break. Even one as young as Hikari.
Since she was registered as 'quirkless', everyone would consider it work experience or something. The fact she had no issue with helping with the paperwork was just bonus.