I've been experimenting with capturing my gameplay footage for certain games I've been playing recently.
(I really got into Ace Combat 7 recently when I brought it on Steam, and I was thinking about doing a Let's Play on it.) Let me know if that would be something you'd like to see, and watch me be a jackass fighter ace in a summer B movie action game. XD
Real talk, that game is beautifully crafted.
My Hero Academia Untold: The Fafnir Knight (Remastered Edition)
Saga I: Dusk
Arc I: Origins
Chapter VI: Aftermath I
"Don't let others put thoughts into your mind that takes away from your self-confidence."
-Katori Hall
Inko Midoriya was exhausted.
She had just ended a long thirteen-hour shift at work and was ready to just get her things from the break room and head home to get dinner started. She hadn't changed much over the years, except for a few gray hairs here and there when she couldn't afford the budget to buy hair dye. Add a few minor stress wrinkles that lined up and down her face. Wrinkles she managed to hide with the tiniest applications of makeup she would allow herself to use.
While in the rather dull, tan-colored break room, she could hear the familiar catchy jingle of the commercial for a local clinic on TV, which reminded her of happier days. So she hummed the musical ditty that had proven to be meme-worthy shortly after it debuted a few years ago.
"We interrupt this broadcast for a breaking news report," The broadcast announced as the local news anchor appeared on the screen.
When the jingle was suddenly cut short by the local news, Inko stopped what she was doing. If a villain attack happened in the city, she might need to take a different route home. After a small bow toward the camera, the anchorman began speaking.
"Thank you, everyone, for tuning in. We have an update on the local robbery that happened earlier this afternoon. The unnamed villain was finally apprehended by All Might in an alley in Musutafu earlier today. The villain had taken a small boy hostage; however, he was rescued by another boy in his teens."
The picture flashed on the TV screen, causing Inko to gasp upon seeing Katsuki's face.
"While the boy's actions are brave, we must warn viewers that situations like this are best handled by professional heroes."
Inko reached for her phone, ready to call Mitsuki, her best friend and Katsuki's mother until she heard the rest of the news broadcast.
"Another child, which we assume is either a friend or classmate if his school uniform was any indication, was also on the scene of the attack. We do have local video footage taken from various witnesses from the crowd. Again, we must stress that no one should attempt, recreate, or re-enact the following actions, and leave the crime-fighting only to professional heroes."
Inko just knew in her heart exactly who the newscaster was talking about; her fears confirmed seeing the scared face of her son running into the fray.
"IZUKU!" She screamed, forgetting to call Mitsuki, and began her sprint back home.
It had been one hell of a day for Izuku Midoriya when he finally arrived home.
He first took a quick shower and slipped into a change of clothes to get rid of the smell from the sludge villain before starting on his daily chores. It had been a complete roundabout of emotions today, reaching its apex with All Might both times. Yet, the second time was his offer and revealing his greatest secret.
A quirk that can be passed down from one person to the next: One For All.
It was still tricky for Izuku to believe, given everything supposedly known about quirks. But in the end, Izuku took the chance. He accepted All Might's offer immediately. After a quick exchange of phone numbers, All Might gave Izuku two phone numbers. One is for general calls, and the second is for use only in emergencies where they would refer to themselves as 'Eight' and 'Nine,' respectively.
All Might informed him that he would contact him in a few days, and Izuku couldn't wait to see what All Might had in store for him. As Izuku finished his chores, the young man finally realized his hunger. Not surprising since Dragon Shift had always left him feeling drained when he was younger, and it had been years since he last used it. He sat on one of the couches in the living room to take a quick breather.
However, still surprised that his long-dormant power had returned, Izuku took a look at his right arm and focused. His arm began to glow as it shifted into its clawed form with light green scales running down it in a quick flash of light. Taking a good, long hard look at his shifted limb. Izuku began to move it to make sure it was real, moving each of his fingers as he flexed them before balling his clawed hand into a fist and then spreading it out.
All while pondering what finally made him regain his power after all this time.
'Just how did I finally break my mental block?'
Izuku didn't realize how focused he was as he didn't even hear the door unlock when his mother entered their home in a hurry.
"Izuku!"
Her loud cry made him jump off the couch with a shriek, the rest of his body lightly growing out with scales and spikes.
Inko stood there, halfway caught between trying to reach her son for a hug and trying to figure out what she saw at the moment. Izuku's quirk was active once again before her eyes, an image she hadn't seen in years. Inko approached her son and immediately broke out in tears as she, very carefully, hugged him.
Izuku managed to return his body to normal before returning her hug.
"I saw the news on the way here and saw what you did!" She cried, "reckless and idiotic!"
Izuku flinched with guilt. He hoped to have his mom relax after a long hard day at work. But now, just like with Yū, he had only wounded her up, making her even more stressed out due to his actions.
"I saw the video that was caught! You're just like your father. Oh, Izuku! I'm so proud of you! For saving that little boy with Katsuki!"
Her comment made Izuku freeze.
'What little boy?'
The only person he was aware of that was in trouble was Katsuki, though he made a mental note to look up the incident in more detail later. His mother continued speaking.
"And your quirk is back, after all, this time; how?!"
"I don't know, mom. But for the first time in ages...I feel better, almost lighter, you know?" Izuku really couldn't quite explain it. Hell, he was still trying to figure it out for himself, but he wasn't complaining. However, Izuku's stomach let out a loud and long growl, eagerly awaiting substance. The boy grinned sheepishly at the suddenness as he clutched his empty stomach. Inko couldn't help but laugh for a moment, remembering that Hisashi's stomach did the same thing after a long, hard day of work.
"I'll get dinner started, and thank you for helping with the rest of the housework, Izuku. Go and rest for a bit in your room, and I'll call you when I'm done!"
"Okay, mom," Izuku said in relief, walking back to his room.
When Katsuki returned home later that day, it was business as usual.
And since neither his parents nor Yū were back home yet, Katsuki quickly dropped off his school stuff in his room and took a shower, mostly to get rid of the smell from that damn slime villain. When he was done, he saw his father had arrived and had already started making dinner.
Upon seeing his son entering the kitchen to get a drink, his father said. "You okay there, Katsuki?"
"Yeah," he answered gruffly, opening the fridge.
"I saw the news. I know you're not one to get into real trouble but please, just be careful, alright?"
Katsuki couldn't help but let out a long sigh. He knew his father worried about him; this was just his way of expressing it. However, Katsuki knew it would be his mother that would berate the shit out of him when she got home. A fact that was proven correct roughly an hour later when they all sat down for dinner.
"YOU AIN'T A PRO YET, DAMN IT!"
"I HEARD YOU THE FIRST TIME, YA' OLD BAT!"
The four sat eating curry, or to be more accurate, Masaru and Yū were eating amid a squall of swears, sass, and backtalk that continued between mother and son. Of course, it was just another day in the house of Bakugou, but when the verbal duel came to a draw, the two finally began eating their meals before it got too cold. Masaru took the chance to try and fill the silence by asking Yū about her first day as a Pro-Hero.
However, the poor man didn't know he had just lit the fuse to spark another fight.
"It went pretty well; I caught a thief who could turn into a giant. And of course, there was the incident later in the day with Katsu here," she said before smirking in Katsuki's direction. "Good thing Izu was able to pull his ass out of the fire before All Might stepped in!"
Katsuki stopped eating and narrowed his eyes at his cousin. He didn't want to back down from the challenge thrown his way, so he fired back to return the favor.
"Why is this freeloader still living here again? Weren't you the one bragging about that nice flat you got near your office or some shit? Or did the landlord gain a brain and know better than renting out to your cheap ass?"
And with that, a new duel began.
"CHEAP ASS?! DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH IT COST TO SET UP MY AGENCY?!"
"I DON'T KNOW, BUT I DID SEE ALL THE NEW CLOTHES AND SHIT YOU GOT BEFORE YOUR 'BIG DEBUT!'"
"THOSE ARE FOR BUSINESS, KATSU!"
"SUREEEEE, BUSINESS! I DIDN'T KNOW A ¥ 22,000* HANDBAG WAS SO FUCKING VITAL FOR HERO WORK!"
"WHY YOU!"
The two cousins glared at each other, the tension between them promising that a harsh throwdown could occur at any second.
"Please stop fighting!" Masaru pleaded, trying to calm the two down. Meanwhile, Mitsuki sat back, chuckling and enjoying herself, finding the chaos almost relaxing. It was just another day in the Bakugou household, after all. Finally, Yū did end up backing down with a sigh. She would never openly admit it, but she had come to regret some of her expenses due to recent unforeseen circumstances.
"No, but really… I did have everything set up with the landlord and all. But that stupid law that passed recently caused an outrageous increase in insurance rates to cover any quirks that can cause heavy collateral damage. It pretty much tripled the rent I have to pay."
Yū referred to the recent law that the National Diet passed roughly two months ago. It was part of a rising political movement that started gaining traction around two years after the Draco Knight incident. The New Conventionalist movement, better known as the "Neocons" in public circles today, focuses on the increasing restrictions of quirk usage for the general public's wellbeing.
Their ideology was flexible enough for political parties on both sides of the political aisle to find common ground leading to a large majority within the lower house of the coalition. The new law ruled that those deemed to have "volatile" powers, which, in theory, could pose many public safety concerns. All quirk users were assigned a category and, depending on their assigned level, could impose restrictions on transportation, housing, schooling, and even job opportunities. However, there were rumors that more fundamentalist members had advocated that high category "volatile" quirk users should be forbidden from having children.
Thankfully, no laws passed have gone that far.
Yet.
"My quirk is now considered a Volatile Class Three, so while I can still rent downtown, it's going to be way more expensive than what I can afford right now."
"Yeah, yeah, sure," Katsuki dismissed with a wave of his hand.
"I wouldn't talk like that, Katsuki, not with that quirk of yours," Mitsuki said cautiously before taking another sip of her drink. "You could also end up on the volatile list, especially with your temper."
"They have already started psych evaluations for students entering the pro-hero courses throughout the country," Yū added in a slightly depressed tone while stirring curry around with her spoon.
"And on that note, your evaluation is due in five months if you want to attend UA," Masaru injected as he finished his plate. That last statement caused Katsuki to pause and collect his thoughts. Looking back on it, he had never done anything that bad per se. However, he might have already had a few blemishes on his record. Thanks to some assholes that decided to pick on Izuku, plus his exclamations of telling his opponents to die as he fucked them up did not help his case.
But in his defense, it wasn't like he actively bullied anyone or told someone to kill themselves. His actions were always in defense of his best friend...and the protection of others from Izuku. Just like he had always promised Hisashi.
"I'm not worried about bullshit like that." He said with an impatient click of his tongue, trying to shrug it off as he finished putting his utensils down. "Thanks for the grub; I'm heading back up."
And with that, Katsuki left the table and headed up the stairs to his bedroom. When he turned on his computer and saw that Izuku was online, he realized it was high time for them to catch up on whatever the fuck he saw happen earlier.
Izuku was stuffed; he wouldn't often eat that much in a single sitting.
However, the young man reasoned that his quirk was back if it was another sign. Then he wasn't going to complain about it. He was a little worried about much his mom had prepared, considering their budget. But his mother brushed it off, saying he needed the extra fuel for his quirk to work correctly.
Once he was finished with dinner, he entered his room and took a seat by his desk.
He took a brief moment to look around his room. It was pretty bare-bones, with most of his furniture being second-hand after the big move. There were only a few posters of All Might, and just one of his father's, decorating his walls. A few figurines of other pro-heroes lined his desk; this included one of his cousin, Ryūkyū, when she made it to the Top Ten Pro-Heroes list. The only other piece of merchandise was an empty All Might-themed bento box from several years ago.
Aside from it all, there wasn't much hero merchandise for one as big a hero fanboy as himself.
Izuku wished he could have had more pro-hero collectibles, but he knew that his family was still in massive debt. Hell, Izuku had even sold a few of his things throughout the years without complaint just to ensure they had enough money to make ends meet.
This, unfortunately, included his Grandmaster's cross in the first year after his father's passing. His mother could only find work doing odd jobs here and there that barely covered rent, so selling his things wasn't too much of a loss for him. After all, most of it was his father's merchandise which had increased in value to collectors after his death. Disgraced or not, everything had been all signed by Draco Knight himself.
Such is the legacy of a dead hero.
The good news is that with him no longer feeling doubtful about his future pro-hero career, he would be able to start helping his mom soon enough. And soon enough, maybe finally start adding to his collection again and buy back everything he sold, no matter what.
He owed it to himself and his mother.
Izuku got on his computer, one of the few items in his possession that were relatively new. It was a birthday gift from the Bakugou family last year. And with that, Izuku logged in and began to look into what his mother had said earlier.
"For saving that little boy with Katsuki!"
He could have sworn that it was only Katsuki that was in trouble.
Ping! – King Explosion Murder as logged in.
And speak of the devil.
'Well, who better to ask; than the man himself?'
Before Izuku could click the box to begin a text chat, Katsuki started a video chat.
King Explosion Murder is calling.
Izuku moved the mouse over to accept the call.
The video call opened up with, Katsuki sitting in a Gendo pose. A meme that has survived throughout the decades since the time before quirks. It came from a franchise that has lived through several remakes, spin-offs, and three attempted failed American movie productions. And one of the weirdest movies, Izuku had ever seen. It was a movie that made him question if the creators were on drugs when they made it.
"Mr. Midoriya. Still, in one piece, I see."
Izuku knew instantly what this meant.
'Oh, we're playing that game again, aren't we? Challenge accepted!'
"Mr. Bakugou."
Katsuki grinned as he heard Izuku's reply; the gauntlet had been thrown. The first one to make the other break loses.
"Still kicking, I see. But then again, I did save you, so I'm not surprised," Izuku said, sending the first jab aimed at his pride.
"Only 'cause All Might came through in the end," He quickly countered to reduce Izuku's importance.
"Only because you got caught," Izuku shot back, hoping to hit his ego.
"Only because I did something actually useful."
Okay. That one stung a bit.
"That's not what Yū said," said Izuku before realizing that he had left a big opening. He fucked up.
"Ah, speaking of which. I didn't interrupt you beating off to her, right?"
Izuku choked on his response as he turned beet red upon remembering Yū's costume and the notes he had written earlier that day. His body shifted lightly and instantly tore up parts of his plain white shirt. Both boys went quiet momentarily to process what had just happened; Izuku had just lost their little game.
Katsuki slowly began to laugh, followed by Izuku, who also started to laugh; the boys continued laughing until they were completely red in the face from the lack of air. Finally, Katsuki looked up with a rare warm smile on his face.
"So, your quirk really is back in full force, eh?" Katsuki remembered when the mental block had started; this was his way of confirming that Izuku's powers had indeed returned.
"That was a low blow, Kacchan!" Izuku said sheepishly, not bothering to change his shirt. He did make a mental note that he needed to get materials to sew it back together.
"Wait, were you really? That fucked up, man."
"No!"
Katsuki laughed out loud again.
"Hey now, I'm not the one with a thing for blondes."
Katsuki froze; his face started turning red as well; the remark had caught him completely off guard.
'I should have gone with that...next time!' Izuku thought to himself.
It had only been an educated guess, given that all of Katsuki's previous girlfriends and the massive crush Katsuki had on Ryūko since he was eight years old. Izuku had a few guesses on what Katsuki liked, and blonde hair was definitely on his radar.
"Anyways, Kacchan," Izuku continued, ensuring Katsuki would dwell on what he had said. "I heard from my mom that a little boy was at the scene?"
Katsuki was still recovering from Izuku's unexpected remark, but the question snapped him out.
"Oh, that..."
He looked away from the screen.
"Well?"
"It was nothing special that slime bastard was inside the damn soda bottle."
Izuku inwardly flinched with a bit of guilt.
"That kid picked it up by accident; next thing I know, that bastard started his attack. I just moved to get the kid out of the way by throwing him to Fingers. Played decoy while they got out."
He lied about that last part, but Izuku didn't need to know that. After all. He had knowingly thrown himself into the beast's jaws and had been caught with no chance to escape.
"Kacchan..."
"Look, it was nothing special, alright?"
"You saved a kid."
"Heroes do that shit every day. I'd rather beat a villain before anyone needs to be saved."
Well, that was Katsuki for you. Izuku knew that his best friend loved to boast about being strong and kicking ass. But when it came down to saving innocent lives? He would never brag about that. Had he managed to beat the Sludge monster by himself, he would be talking about it for days.
But saving a child? Never.
It wasn't anything special to him, as it was expected for a hero to do so. Something too important to take lightly, too important to even brag about, the thought alone caused Izuku to smile, seeing Katsuki's softer side. Yet, Izuku knew his continued teasing about the subject would only darken his best friend's mood. So, Izuku reached into his backpack to show him something that should perk him right back up.
"Oh hey, Kacchan! Look what I got!"
Katsuki looked back at the screen, expecting to see a new collectible or notes. Instead, he saw All Might's full-page autograph in Izuku's notebook on his screen. The blond could feel a wave of envy crashing into him.
"NO FUCKING WAY! When did you have the time to ask!?"
"I didn't! He signed it when I was out cold!"
Technically speaking, Izuku wasn't lying to Katsuki. But Izuku wasn't going to mention his first real encounter with All Might or the Sludge villain. As much as he wanted to tell him what happened today, it was better to play it off and keep that to himself.
Katsuki could tell something wasn't adding up to his story in his head. Izuku was supposed to go straight home after clean-up duty, which should have been done long before the villain caught him in the alleyway. Add this to the fact that Izuku's apartment was in the opposite direction, meaning something must have happened between that time for Izuku to change the route.
However, Katsuki could also see the physical change in Izuku's face. His eyes shined with hope again, and his smile was wide. If something did happen, and if it was a reason for Izuku to return to the person he used to be, he wasn't about to take this good thing for granted.
Whatever happened somehow helped Izuku return to his old self, and Katsuki accepted it without question.
"Izuku…" He began.
Izuku looked at his friend on the screen.
"I'm glad your quirk is back. Because now, I'll have you to keep pushing me forward."
"I think you got that wrong, Kacchan."
Katsuki smirked at the sight of Izuku's confidence returning already.
"You're already so far ahead of me. I can't keep pushing you forward when I still need to beat and surpass you," Izuku said with a confident smile.
Katsuki leaned back in his seat with his smirk, welcoming the challenge his friend was throwing his way.
"Okay, then. We've ten months until the exam. We'll see just how far you can come and get to my level at that time."
"Looking forward to it, Kacchan!"
With that, the two boys called it a night. Katsuki usually went to bed early, and Izuku felt like following suit, a rarity for the boy. But, after everything that happened today, some extra rest wouldn't hurt. So Izuku simply hopped into bed, wondering when All Might would contact him again.
It wasn't long before Izuku was deep asleep.
Thankfully, Izuku did not have to wait long. A few days later, All Might finally contacted him again, telling the boy to meet him at Dagobah Beach.
When Izuku arrived to see All Might, he immediately saw mounds upon mounds of trash piled high everywhere. With one look at the garbage, Izuku knew why he was there. His father had loved doing community service projects by following All Might's example. And according to All Might, it wouldn't take too long to get strong enough to accept One For All, thanks to Izuku's current level of physical fitness.
That alone was enough for Izuku to begin his training with the same gusto as his father once had.
However, it didn't change that it took seven gruesome months for Izuku to completely clean the beach. Painstakingly removing the whole seaside bay of all the illegally dumped trash. On top of the rigorous endurance and strength training, All Might assigned Izuku with his "All-American Dream Plan." But, Izuku was more than willing to do whatever it took to be a worthy vessel.
The boy went out every day to take out as much garbage and litter on the beach, hardly taking any days off from training until everything had been cleared. By the time Dagobah Beach was tidied up and cleaned, the two found three extra months to spare before the UA entrance exam. Three months to practice and train with the new power he was about to receive and to be able to work with it as his own. Little did he know just how important those three months would be for his development.
All Might said that with a straight face while handing Izuku one of his long hairs plucked from his head.
Izuku stared at the hair strand in his mentor's hand for a few moments.
"All Might...I'm a big fan and all, but…I'm not that insane. I mean, my dad was..."
"That's not!" All Might just coughed awkwardly. "Just – look…in order to get my power, you will need to process some of my DNA. That's how it works."
"Th-that is not what I was expecting!"
"JUST EAT THE DAMN THING!"
After downing three cans of juice from a nearby vending machine and a few bouts of gagging and retching, Izuku finally managed to gulp the hair down. The poor boy sat on the concrete step, pale-faced and clutching a half-empty juice can in hand. All Might knew it would be a while for the hair to process and digest, so he decided it was finally time to tell Izuku the truth. Not just about his father and the origins of One For All but also about the other foe he may one day face in the future. Still, the pro dreaded telling Izuku the truth about his father, knowing how hard the boy would likely take it.
But now that he was well on his way to being his successor, Izuku deserved to know everything.
"Young Midoriya."
Izuku looked up at All Might. When he saw that serious look in his eyes, he knew it had to be something important.
"Now that you've accepted my quirk, it's time I've told you everything. Including something I've wanted to tell you for years…ever since your father's wake."
It took a moment for Izuku to collect his thoughts as he looked to the floor to fully process them. Not long after meeting All Might and seeing his skinny form, Izuku had looked over some photos taken during the service. In one of the photos, he spotted the back of his familiar, weakened state of All Might.
"You really were there…weren't you?"
"I was."
"I thought I remembered seeing you, but you were in crutches..." As his voice trailed off, it finally dawned on him. In an instant, it clicked. Izuku realized that All Might's injuries happened around the same time as his father's death.
"All Might." The boy gulped nervously, "were you there?"
All Might could already hear Izuku's voice beginning to break and see the tears welling in his eyes.
"When it happened…?"
"Yes. I was there, but before I tell you what happened that night…."All Might took a seat next to Izuku, anticipating how much he'd have to tell Izuku. "We need a bit of context to understand why everything happened."
All Might took a deep sigh before telling a piece of history. It started with the tale of two brothers and the war they started, the bloodstained history of One For All and its creator, and its opposing force: All For One. He retold the line of successors who attempted and failed to defeat the villainous All For One, which painfully included Nana, his predecessor and master who passed the mantle of One For All.
"And so, nearly six years ago, a plan was devised to bring out All For One from hiding in the hopes of finally taking him down once and for all. The operation was so critical that an 'Order Zero' was issued."
Izuku gulped down the knot that formed in his throat, knowing full well what that term meant.
Order Zero: defeat the villain at all costs. Lethal force was permitted.
"Everything was going according to plan. We used another criminal – a crime boss from the underworld who wanted out of that life. Up until the whole building collapsed," All Might sighed with some frustration. "To this day, the investigation team isn't completely sure how it happened and who was responsible, or if All For One himself pulled out the rug from under us."
All Might grimaced at the memories.
"No matter what happened...it did, however, work in his favor as he used it to launch his counter-attack before we knew what had hit us," he continued. "Your father, and a few select numbers of pros and side-kicks alike, were brought in as reinforcements for both crowd and damage control."
Izuku remembered the last day he saw his father alive in a flash. The night he received that fateful call to the household in the middle of dinner. Hisashi said he had been called up for a routine joint operation. But clear as day, Izuku remembered seeing just how nervous his father looked, past his usual happy demeanor.
"In the end…I made a fatal mistake during the fight. And before I knew what had happened…your father took the hit that was meant for me."
Izuku couldn't even look up. He was visibly shaken and was almost unable to breathe.
"I managed to use that opening your father opened to counter-attack, landing a smash that finally brought All For One to his knees. I carried your father's body to our evac team, but…it was too late," the veteran slowly looked over to the boy. "I am truly sorry, young Midoriya."
It felt as if time stood still; every emotion he had felt for the last six years finally coursed through him and flooded his body. Izuku remembered how the media – no, nearly everyone he turned to – had relentlessly placed the blame on his father. All those years. Izuku repeatedly denied and refused those claims, burying them deep in his heart. Yet, he always had that one twinge of fear.
A fear that allowed the tiniest sliver of doubt to take root, one that always ate away at his soul.
'What if it had been his fault?'
'What if it wasn't a cover-up?'
'Could the same thing happen to me if I became a pro-hero?'
Suddenly all he felt was shame. Shame that he even had those doubts about his father in the first place, tiny as they were.
It really was all a lie; in the end, his father really was innocent.
The doubt and shame he held within himself were signs of the reason. He hadn't been able to bring forth his quirk until recently.
It was all rooted in fear, fear of his destructive power.
Izuku slowly realized that he must've subconsciously rationalized if it had been his father responsible for all the damage and civilian loss. Then he could do the same thing someday. It all made sense now…the Traumatic Quirk Block Izuku had placed on himself was all to protect others from him. To keep him from hurting those he cared about.
In an instant, the vice-like grip of shame was lit aflame; the rage he hid from the world exploded from his chest.
"Wh-why… why is he still getting blamed?!" Izuku didn't even realize he had snarled with a trembling voice and had risen to a shout, the bitter tears pouring down his face. He didn't intend to have his anger get the better of him, but at this point, he couldn't help it from happening. "HE DIDN'T DO ANYTHING WRONG!"
All Might wasn't surprised to see this; he had braced for his reaction and didn't blame the poor boy one bit. Nearly six years of lies and deception had ruined his life and wrecked the reputation of his family name. He calmly answered back.
"There was a special committee that formed, as it happens after every major operation regardless of the outcome," He calmly answered back. "At the time, I was still in surgery; and could do nothing when one man decided to pin the operation solely on your father."
A wave of shock washed over Izuku.
It had been one man who had singlehandedly crushed his father's legacy. One man is responsible for making his mother have to work so hard and so much to pay off the reparations. One single man who had destroyed any peace left in their lives.
"WHO IS HE?!" Izuku demanded as his fingers extended wide like claws.
"Kai Doumeki."
Instantly Izuku when silent as he blinked in confusion for a second, racking his brain at the familiar name.
"No…" He faced All Might in disbelief. "The Chief-Superintendent? That Kai Doumeki?"
"The very same," All Might answered. "Although, he was a Section Chief at the time. His promotion to Chief-Superintendent was thanks partly to the rising Neocon movement that gained power, using your father as an example."
Instantly that same fiery anger was all Izuku could feel at that very moment, surging through his veins and clenched fists. He remembered when the Neocons began to gain traction in the political world from the news. He already opposed many of their current policies, one of which allowed for legal quirk discrimination.
"The committee had already decided on the truth," All Might shook his head in disgust. "Regardless, once I recovered and was stable, I confronted Doumeki and other key committee members who had initiated the gag order to shield the truth from the public."
"Unfortunately, time was against me. As they had already been empowered by the new government establishment," He looked at the boy straight in the eyes. "One lesson you must learn, young Midoriya, is that as a Pro-Hero, you are considered a civil servant and caution must be taken concerning politicians."
Izuku was fully aware of this, as hard of a pill it was to swallow. He couldn't blame All Might for his lack of action if those responsible could ruin his father. Then they could destroy anyone, and All Might was far too important as the figurehead upholding the peace. He needed to keep society safe and swore to defeat anyone who would dare rise to the challenge to take that away.
Izuku couldn't even think of revenge as that would just play right into their hands. And with his father watching over him, he would be disappointed in Izuku for straying far from the ideals of a real hero.
No.
He would go to UA, and by his actions, he would rise to become a great hero like his father and All Might. Maybe on his own, Izuku won't be able to clear his name. But knowing that his father wasn't the cause of all the destruction solidified his aim to overcome the odds and become a pro-hero. One his father would be proud of.
"Young Midoriya. Please, forgiv –"
"No, All Might. You're not at fault," Izuku took a deep, shuddering breath as he wiped away his tears.
"We can't change the past, but...I can look towards a future. A future you helped give back to me, a future you entrusted me with," he held his head up when he looked back at All Might. "I won't throw that away. I don't...I don't think my father would want me to be so selfish."
All Might smiled. He had no doubts he had made the right choice.
Unknown to Izuku, the plans to help clear Hisashi's name had already been underway. Thanks to Sir Nighteye's election into office a year after the group was formed, they had already managed to gather some evidence. Slowly managed to begin piecing the mystery bit by bit. But for right now, he kept that to himself, as he only wanted Izuku to focus on being a Hero.
Since the veteran was already on borrowed time, he would use the remaining time he had left to ensure both the father would finally get justice. And so, the man's son could dispense justice in the future. With that, All Might stood alongside Izuku, proudly putting a hand on his shoulder.
"Alright then, young Midoriya. Let's get back to work and make that future a reality."
Author's Commentary
¥ 22,000* Approx. $200 US around the time of writing. One of my original fucks ups was that some people thought Neocon was short for "Neo-Conservative." Which was not my intention at all. This ideology is meant to bridge divides on both sides of the aisle.
As I mentioned, expect to see some fundamental changes to the story from here on in.
That's all for now, until next time.
With love,
ZX
