Isn't life bullshit, no matter how hard or how carefully she tried she always ended up here, in someone's arms on the verge of tears. All Might had saved her from that slime's suffocating prison. She was desperately gasping for air that would not enter her lungs, held tight by the number one hero. All Might was trying to comfort the girl he thought was having a panic attack because of her shallow rapid breathing, but that was all for not as she lost consciousness shortly after him reaching the girl.
(…)
Shoko's eyes fluttered open and she found an unfamiliar white ceiling, she felt horrible. Examining her surroundings led her to believe that she was in a hospital with the instruments at her bedside and the oxygen mask on her face. Turning her head to the right she saw a sleeping woman in some pajamas in a chair that she instantly recognized. 'Mom?' Was her first thought as she looked at the woman's face. Having not seen her in five years she had to make absolutely certain that this person in front of her was indeed her mother, confirming it at a glance as Shoko's hand was firmly in the woman's grip. She felt something on her face while moving to get a better look at the woman, and it made perfect sense why she was in the same room as her mother. She took hold of the oxygen mask helping her breathe feeling it up. 'Of course, I failed again.' Tears threatened to fall. Though she wanted to do just that, cry, she sucked it up and took stock of the situation.
Shoko had to be in the hospital, and by the looks of it the same one that her mother was sent to judging by her state of dress. That meant her life was in serious danger if the assisted breathing was anything to go by. It was probably for the best that she did not move unnecessarily because she did not know what the damage was, she had an inkling but she couldn't be sure. Looking over her surroundings she looked over to a bunch of flowers and cards all placed decoratively and neatly in a corner of the room. Moments went by and her sister entered the room shortly after she had woken up and sat up on the bed in front of their sleeping mother. "Sho..." Fuyumi nearly dropped the tray of food in her hands as her eyes filled with tears at her little sister finally awakening after three very long weeks of waiting.
Not realizing that Shoko had her hand in her mother's, Fuyumi rounded the bed putting the tray on the nightstand next to the bed before tackling her in an embrace. The two sisters crushed on the bed with Shoko's hand being ripped away from her mother causing the oldest of the three ladies to awaken at the suddenness of the action. Shoko comforted her sister, petting her head as Fuyumi balled into her shoulder, clearly uncomfortable with the situation. "What's going on Fuyumi, is everything alright?" A mature voice startled the two as the groggy-sounding woman addressed them. Rei Todoroki's vision blurred as she was suddenly assaulted by the vision of her two daughters embracing on top of the bed to only realize that her youngest was now awake. "Sho-chan?" Was all that she could manage looking at her moving around, the first words she had spoken to her in five years.
"Yes... Mom." The form address was foreign to her as she did not know how she would speak to Rei in any capacity.
Rei however had her eyes start to water, her pre-existing thoughts on why her youngest had not once visited her, the fear that truth of why she hurt her daughter had somehow reached the girl and said girl hated her now was pushed to the side, all of it. Shoko's face reflected the same truth, the same sadness, and guilt that she saw in the mirror every day since they had last seen each other. At that, the dame broke. Not wasting a single moment she joined her daughters.
(...)
A week passed and Shoko was getting a little claustrophobic and stir-crazy at the sameness of her new routine in the hospital. Even after waking up Shoko had trouble breathing and the tests afterward were, to say the least, taxing. They had narrowed the cause of her coma to exhaustion, the overuse of her Quirk Supernovae to be exacted since she had never used her Quirk to those extremes before. Her fight with the slime villain if you can call it that had her use her flame in the final moments at a heat and level that was beyond her. She had learned that her Quirk had an interesting requirement to be used at its full potential, that it required fuel that her body couldn't provide in large amounts, and which was around her at all times but not in the villain's body. So using her Quirk to free herself came with a double edge sword, a power and weakness that was not clearly understood, but that was not in the forefront of her mind. What was however was the visit from the number one hero she was expecting after her check-up, and now that she had recovered to the point of receiving visitors with the best foot forward.
She was almost giddy at the thought of meeting her hero but was at a point skeptical at the prospect thinking of her relationship with her parents, especially the number two Endeavor, the fact remained that her father was one of her heroes at one point had disappointed her and flew well below her expectations. She tempered her excitement as the doctor finished up. "You are doing good Shoko, but since your vitals are not stable we are going to have to monitor your situation for a little while longer."
"That's fine, it's best to be safe than sorry." She lied, but it was the best thing to say. Fighting it might add to the length of her stay here or worse.
The woman smiled and finished up, writing in the file she was carrying. "I know it can get pretty boring around here in your case at least. I heard you have special visitors waiting so that's fun." The doctor giggled at the teen's eyes lighting up before being in awe of the number two's daughter fangirling at the number one's appearance.
"He's here already?… wait, you said visitors, as in more than one?"
Her doctor raised an eyebrow before answering. "I don't know the full story but the kid with All Might said that you had saved him and his friend from that villain, and something about not being able to help. But in all honesty, he seemed jumpy, so be careful around him."
"Alright..." The young girl responded. She thought back to that day and honestly, her memory from then was fuzzy at best, remembering a mop of green hair and a light bulb went off in her head. 'So he knew All Might, huh? So that's why he was ready to jump in like that.' A small smile crept on her face but she did not comment any further.
After the doctor was done she had to wait several painful minutes as her anticipation was at its highest, and she could not help but fidget on the hospital bed. She would play with her Quirk when she was stressed but she was advised against Supernovae's use to be safe, so she didn't. After what felt like an eternity she heard a knock coming from the door. 'Finally.' She thought as she answered. "Come in."
The first to enter the room was All Might flanked by a familiar mop of green. Her face lit up at the sight of the both of them, especially at the nervous wreck that was her one-time partner in the rescue of his friend currently choking out a bouquet. As soon as All Might was clear of the doorway he launched full into his number one hero persona. "Hello, young lady. It is I All Might her to visit you." He spoke with his bright white teeth on full display, which was met with giggling from the girl. "And this is young Izuku Midoriya, and if you don't remember him he is one of the boys you had helped that day." All might continued.
"It is a pleasure to meet you both..." Shoko paused. "Officially that is." She finished.
Izuku followed closely behind All Might as the man moved to the chair sitting adjacent to her bed with him awkwardly standing next to the hero. As if noticing that he had forgotten something or it being clued in by the number one Izuku quickly offered the girl the flowers in his hand, appearing a bit shaken. "Thank you, Midoriya. That is really nice of you." The girl accepted the flowers. All the while Izuku seemed to calm down a bit, nodding at her thanks before taking his spot next to All Might. She looked down at the flowers and they were a combination of red, white, and violet chrysanthemums, the meaning of which she had no clue of at the moment but will tease the boy to no end later on.
All Might cleared his throat, getting the pair's attention. "I would be remiss to tell you that this visit is not just out of courtesy, but one that has come out of a proposition for the both of you." Shoko found All Might's sudden seriousness jarring but after looking at Izuku avoiding her gaze and looking at his feet in sudden interest made her believe that there was something she was missing out on that the number one intended to clue her in on. "Young man you might want to sit down for this, there are questions that you haven't asked that are important to understanding the situation that one of you will find yourself in."
Shoko had a sickening feeling entering the pit of her stomach, this confirmed it. She looked at Izuku who was currently emulating a kicked puppy and frowned. From what she gathered the boy looked to have his day ruined by that statement, and she was unaware why. Deciding it was best she waved Izuku over patting on her temporary bed beside her she beckoned the boy to her side in a gesture that would offer comfort to the both of them. "You can sit here If you want, it would probably be easier to listen to All Might."
That was more for her good than the boy's, but she was relieved all the same when he agreed, uttering the first words he had since entering the room. "T-t-tank you." It came out a mess but Shoko took it all in stride.
Once Izuku was situated was when the pro started talking. "As young Midoriya already knows, I have the regret to say that there was an injury that I suffered not too long ago." Shoko was shocked to find that her favorite hero's body had deflated into some skeletal man with the same hair and tired sunk in eyes. Lifting his shirt he heard a gasp from Shoko as her eye examined the crater left where a good portion of his stomach used to be. "The media was misinformed and the injury I suffered was worse than they were told, after a few surgeries I quickly found out that my time as a hero was limited." He spoke, extending a hand towards the pair. "That's why I came here to Musutafu, I came here to find my successor." The palm began to glow a multicolor Hue.
"Wait." Shoko tried to wrap her mind around all of this, looking over at a serious face on Izuku, getting the impression that he had already known about all of this. "A successor?"
All Might closed his fist lowering to his side looking at the both of them with a sad smile. "That's right… I had not expected to find two of the next generation that are worthy of the legacy of One For All this soon… And with you both showing interest in U.A. There is no time like the present. As your future teacher, I'm proud to have either of you as my successor and inheritor of my Quirk, One For All."
Shoko's mind was ablaze with a lot of information to process. What is happening right now? She asked eyeing Izuku who was currently staring a hole into his lap clutching his pants in near tears. If this was any other situation she would not be giving a single thought in saying yes to All Might and inheriting his Quirk for her reasons, but seeing how down in the dumps Izuku was about all of this she made up her mind, the acknowledgment as possible number one of her generation was enough for her. "I'll pass."
"Excuse me…"
Shoko looked at Izuku beside who was in disbelief. "I will pass, in a lot of ways I can not take you up on your offer." She turned to look at All Might, thinking how crazy it is that there were transferable Quirks out there in the world. "Even if I did want to, so much of my own Quirk I still don't know yet so I want to concentrate on that in the time I had before going to U.A." She smiled, turning her head towards Izuku. "You should take him up on it, Midoriya, every advantage you have before entering U.A. is worth the challenge." Shoko spoke deducing that inheriting the Quirk was more important to him than it is to her. Izuku nodded and gave All Might his approval.
"With that all said and done do you have any questions for me?" The Skeletal All Might asked, a question he instantly regretted as his teen charges entered into a barrage of questions. Within half an hour All Might would explain the origins of One For All as he knew it, the previous user and her relationship to him, the villain that gave him the hole in his torso, and his many exploits over the years. Shoko herself was more interested in the going on of his career and Izuku was pretty much on the technical side of his Quirk. Although he was taken aback by the intense interrogation he soon got into it himself laughing and reverting to his muscular form. "Well if you look at the time, young Midoriya and I should be on our way." He said as All Might looked out the window at a sky bathed in orange as a sign of it being early evening. "You have an early morning young Midoriya, we need to make up for lost time with your training if you are going to make the entrance exams in nine months."
Izuku's face turned from excitement to shock as he had not thought about the exams at all after everything that had happened. "Oh, yeah, sorry about that." Izuku replied, thinking back to that day three weeks ago. To the imposition of both Shoko's and All Might's time, he had wasted what little time he had on this enlightening venture, not that he will ever tell his fellow inheritor elect that he had said no to the pro first electing her in his place, though that is a story for another time. He turned to Shoko now having become comfortable with her presence as both teens had moments ago been fanboying and fangirling at the stories and experiences of their shared idol. "I'm sorry if we took up your time." Getting off the bed he bowed to her. "Thanks to you, I can seriously go after my dream… Thank you very much, Todoroki-san." He raised his head to be met with a look of confusion from the recipient of his gratitude.
"What do you mean by that?" She asked her face morphing to that of concern.
Running his earlier statement through his mind a figurative lightbulb appeared on top of his head, standing up straight and pointing to himself shortly after he chuckled nervously. "I am Quirkless, so now that I am getting one I can be a hero too..." He paused, blushing. "Like All Might and..." He stopped mid-sentence looking at Shoko longingly.
That statement made it all click for Shoko, he was Quirkless, and she had just unknowingly almost crushed his dream even if he was willing to part with it, it did not make a difference. She had praised him for being something that he had personally given up on. In a move that mystified the other teen she bowed to him in return.
Izuku was at a loss. 'What was happening right now?' He questioned internally, his eyes searching All Might for answers that were beyond him. Izuku watched the girl raise her head.
"Thank you." Her near-silent words left her lips. A smile crossed her face but both gentlemen did not notice it with the wet streaks that decorated her cheeks.
"Are you okay?"
"Is everything alright?"
Shoko nodded, giving them a sweet smile. "I'm fine." She spoke wiping at her eyes, but the liquid continued to fall. It got worse when from out of nowhere All Might took her in an embrace and she clung to him desperately.