Learning to Trust
"When all else is lost, the future still remains."
—Christian Nestell Bovee
Chapter 1: Lost
Toshinori stood at the living room window of the small, cramped apartment he'd rented in Musutafu City. It wasn't much—just a small one-bedroom on the fifth floor of an aging complex located in the older part of the city. But it came furnished and wasn't too far from UA, two perks already.
Toshi gazed out the window as the first light of early morning slowly colored the horizon. The view wasn't bad either. Sure, as Number One Hero he could afford significantly better, but he didn't want to draw attention to himself. Anyway, it was a waste of money that could be used, or better still donated, more functionally. He only needed the place for somewhere to rest. His real home was being maintained in Minato for him while he was away.
The sun wasn't yet up, but the brightening glow over the black silhouettes of skyscrapers implied it wouldn't be long now. His lips curled into a small smile; his breath came slow and even. He could feel some of the tension fading from his tight shoulders and aching muscles. He'd always loved the sunrise, even when he'd been young, but even more so in these past few years since his debilitating injury. It had somehow felt as though the early morning light brought hope, cleansing the world of old pain as it banished the cold darkness of night. Each time he watched the sunrise, he felt reborn.
Toshinori generally was an early riser. With his weakened lungs, he found it difficult to sleep for long spans of time before he would wake himself up coughing, triggering further pain in his side. Often by the time he'd gotten up and taken his pain medication, he would just put on a pot of tea and start his day. Still… he glanced at the clock… quarter to five was early even for him.
But today was the day he would officially make an appearance at UA. To his surprise and general amusement, he found this to be more nerve wracking than tracking a crazed villain. Of course, he knew what to expect when engaging with the enemy. This would be a different battle entirely, and he wasn't sure he was prepared.
Then again, it isn't really All Might who's arriving today, is it, old man? Officially, All Might was currently busy tracking a villain, and had sent one of his employees—Yagi Toshinori—ahead of him to the school to take care of the paperwork and set up his office.
Toshi sighed, allowing his sharp blue eyes to sweep over the sunrise. The velvety blue of the sky seemed to be shedding its stars as it was washed out by a cold silver from below.
Principal Nezu had not been keen on this idea. Honestly, Toshi didn't much like it either, but he could think of no other options. He was naturally an honest man. Lies and subversion were not a part of his nature, and he was uncomfortable with them. But he wasn't willing to gamble his secrets so easily… And, technically, he wasn't lying any worse here than he did at his own agency. He truly was using his own agency's resources to continue tracking this Shifter villain—a low level thug for sure, but with the potential to become dangerous. Anyway, at his agency he had employed his weaker form as a sort of "paperwork lackey"—for lack of a better term—so he could stay in the action past his time limit while not arousing suspicion. If Yagi Toshinori were an actual employee instead of All Might himself, this would probably be the job he would get. All Might hated paperwork.
He snorted at that. So what do I do? Assign myself more paperwork. Brilliant.
He leaned against the wall, pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration. This whole thing was giving him a headache. None of this was ideal, and neither he nor the principal was completely happy with it, but what else could he do...?
Nezu had sighed, and Toshinori hadn't even been able to completely meet his eyes. "All Might," the principal had replied gently, "you claim that you want these people as your allies, yet you refuse to trust them, even when I give my word. If you deceive them now, how do you intend to earn their trust later?"
"I don't like it either, sir," Toshi had responded, "but if one of them isn't worthy of your trust, I risk toppling everything I've worked for. This isn't just about the public knowing that I've become… this—" He'd motioned to his wasted body at that.
"All Might..."
But Toshinori had continued before Nezu could finish, "It's not just about me. I could handle losing their respect. But what about their safety? If any villains find out I can't protect Japan anymore, what then? I'm not willing to risk the safety of everyone before finding a successor just to ease my conscience. If they are as noble as you say they are—and I do trust your judgment, sir—then they should be able to understand… eventually."
"I know you, All Might. This is going to eat away at you. You don't need any more stress."
He'd sighed. "You're right, sir. But I'm technically not deceiving them any more with this than I've been doing by hiding behind All Might's form. I've managed to live with myself for the past five years. What I'm proposing now is less dangerous. I'll be using my real name. I'll tell them I work at Might Tower and am taking care of paperwork before All Might starts. It will all be true… just missing a few details." He'd leaned forward seriously. "And I will be very clear that anything they say to me will go to All Might himself. I promise you that I'm not trying to trick them, sir. But I need to spend time with them, and three hours won't be enough. I can't risk running out of time..."
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
Toshinori jumped, started out of his musing as the alarm on his phone blared, reminding him to begin the day. He dug the offending device from his pocket and deactivated the alarm. Then he took one last deep breath before removing the plastic mask of his breathing treatment from his face. With the automaticity that comes from well-practiced motions, he rapidly packed the nebulizer away..
He checked his phone for messages as he shuffled into the kitchen and pulled out an All Might mug. He measured out his tea and started the electric teapot. While that heated up, he walked to the sink and filled a large glass with water before grabbing his pill organizer and opening the one labelled "Monday-A.M." Popping it open, he dumped seven pills and supplements of varying sizes and colors into his hand. Tossing them into his mouth, he chased them with a long drink of water. Then he absently checked the weather forecast on his phone.
Another dry day, but with the chance of rain this evening. Well, that explained why his back hurt.
Sighing, he grabbed an extra inhaler along with a bottle of pain medication and the Monday-P.M. organizer, and threw them into the briefcase he had resting on the small kitchen table behind him.
Rubbing his free hand across his face, he muttered, "When did I get so old?" as he padded off to the bathroom to finish making himself presentable.
An hour and a half later, Toshinori stood awkwardly in front of the "UA Barrier," flashing the temporary identification card that Principal Nezu had sent him at the card reader and allowing the scanner to match his face to the card before he attempted to enter.
As soon as the authorization was complete, and he stepped into the campus, he began to feel a tickle in his lungs and began fumbling with the pass and briefcase in his hands as he struggled to grab at his handkerchief before he coughed. Did it really need to be 0% humidity today? he thought in frustration..
After carefully cleaning up and replacing the handkerchief, he began walking again, self-consciously readjusting his red tie for the third time that morning. Maybe he shouldn't have chosen such a bright color. He knew that classes were still in session, and with as many people as would be here in a couple hours—staff and students alike—he had hoped to lie low, blend in, and observe. His emaciated form already made blending in difficult enough, as did the oversized suit he had to wear in the event that he needed to transform during some unexpected emergency. So he'd hoped that the boring dark grey of his suit itself would counterbalance some of that. But was the tie too flashy?
Get it together, Toshinori. No one is going to care about your tie—or you for that matter. Everyone ignores you at work. It will be no different here.
Still, he found himself fidgeting with the tie again as he stood awkwardly at a crosswalk on the huge school grounds. "Meet in the faculty staff room in Building 6A," Nezu had said. Where the hell was that? Other than his brief meeting with the principal a month ago, he hadn't visited this campus in over thirty years. Why hadn't Nezu given him some directions?
Well, why didn't you ask for any? he chided himself. He looked both ways. Other than the main central complex, all of the other buildings looked essentially the same. He didn't see any numbers on them. Probably was going to have to get right up to each one before he could identify anything.
"Shit…" he cursed under his breath. As if he weren't already nervous enough… now he was going to be late.
"Hey, sir!" a cheerful voice suddenly piped up directly behind him.
Toshi nearly jumped out of his skin at the voice coming abruptly out of nowhere. He'd have sworn he'd been alone a second ago. At his sudden gasp, he began coughing and sputtering blood, the dry air and sudden motion tearing at his fragile lungs.
"Whoa, sir! I'm sorry for startling you!" the friendly voice boomed, and a firm hand rested on Toshi's shoulder as he fumbled to yank the handkerchief back out of his pocket and quickly brought it up to his mouth to hide what blood he could. His eyes watering, he managed a quick nod and a thumbs up to show his helper that he was fine.
The hand didn't release its stabilizing grip until Toshi's hacking had stopped and his breath came more evenly. He wiped his mouth clean surreptitiously, and turned to see a tall boy, maybe sixteen or seventeen years old, in a UA uniform smiling at him. "I'm fine, young man," Toshinori managed hoarsely. "Thank you for the support."
The boy just shrugged and grinned. "No big deal, sir. I shouldn't have just come up on you like that. Especially this early. Sorry about that."
Toshi brushed off the apology with a faint smile of his own. "No harm done, young man." His brows furrowed in sudden puzzlement. "But isn't it a bit early for students to be on campus?"
The blond boy laughed. "Usually, yeah. I had an English lab to make up with Yamada-sensei. I was just leaving when I saw you and—" Suddenly the boy broke off and facepalmed. "Oh, right! Sorry again! I guess I'm just spacey this early in the morning. With all of the coughing and the chatting, I completely forgot why I came over to you in the first place. Here!" He held out Toshinori's UA pass. "You dropped this when you came in, er—" He quickly glanced at the name on the pass. "Yagi-san."
Toshi ran his hand through his nest of blond hair and reached for the pass, properly storing it in his briefcase this time. "Thank you…" He trailed off.
"Mirio. Togata Mirio, at your service." The boy bowed respectfully. "I'm a second year in the hero program here."
Toshi smiled at him. "Well, thank you, young Togata. I'd have been lost without that pass." He glanced around again. "I still am a bit lost anyway." A thought occurred to him, and he turned back to the blue-eyed boy. "You don't happen to know where Building 6A is, do you?"
"Sure do!" Mirio crowed. "Let me show you!" After a quick glance to be sure that the older man was following, he began marching purposefully off down the sidewalk.
Toshinori chuckled and followed, shaking his head at the boy's exuberance, grateful for this fortuitous meeting.
Togata Mirio, huh? Something tugged at the back of his mind.
Why did that name sound so familiar?
Author's Note: I hope you enjoyed the chapter. I'll try to get the next one out as soon as possible. Thanks for reading! If you feel so motivated, please review!
Also, I wanted to give a great big thank you to sueb262 and lolo popki for their beta work! You guys are the best. Thanks!
Sincerely,
Sirius
