29/06/2024
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The Emperor's Dragon
Dragon 32 - Good, But Not Noble
Nezu looked at the Number One Hero as he took a sip of tea. Toshinori Yagi was a human who interested him. In his life, Nezu had encountered humans who were genuinely evil and those who were genuinely good. Most were in between, though they tended to lean towards one or other end of the spectrum.
The Number One hero was genuinely good and that intrigued him. While Yagi had been the Number One Hero for decades, UA's Principal had met the Number One's from other countries. He'd met the ranked heroes of Japan and he knew how unusual Toshinori was. That isn't to say that the Heroes weren't good, it was just they were more… they tended more towards neutral. He hadn't met any evil heroes, just the heroes he'd met, had been coloured by the weight of reality.
All Might had experienced that reality. He had seen the worst of humanity and somehow he still held on to hope. It was one of the reasons All Might was, to Nezu's thought, something somewhat special.
Right now, Toshinori was sipping his tea but Nezu could see that he was nervous about something. Maybe more pensive.
"Something happened?" he enquired.
Yagi nodded but was still lost in thought but after another sip of tea, he looked over at Nezu. "How much do you know about my quirk?"
"Mostly what you've said about it," Nezu replied.
Toshinori nodded. The Number One Hero had told him quite a bit about One For All and the Principal knew why he was at UA.
"You've found someone?" Nezu prompted. It was the main reason All Might had agreed to teach at UA.
The Number One Hero was silent for a few moments before he blew out a breath and nodded.
The Principal immediately began running his mind through what Yagi would have seen and the first conclusion he came to was that it probably wasn't one of the UA students. The plan to bring the other students in was to deal with Izuku but Nezu knew doing that would require passing on of One For All. There was really only one student it could be.
"That Shiketsu student?" Nezu asked.
Yagi nodded. "I just…" He sighed again. "I need to be sure he's not just acting."
"Acting?" The Principal prompted.
The Number One Hero gave him a disbelieving look. "They all know they are being tested," he pointed out. "Well, the smart ones do."
"And you think he's figured it out?" Nezu asked but he already knew the answer. Shiketsu's teacher, Koi Sasume had figured out that something was going on from before she even arrived at UA but she lacked the background to figure out exactly what. Nezu was not surprised that their students knew something was going on.
"Not everything," Toshinori immediately told him. "But he knows he's being tested."
Nezu nodded. It would take someone far smarter than him to put things together from what the Shiketsu students knew. They simply didn't have the background information to even begin to draw the right conclusions. He hadn't had it until All Might had told him. "So why him?" Nezu asked. He sensed Yagi wanted to talk about this and knew that he couldn't talk to Sir Nighteye about it. The other hero had already selected who he believed should inherit One For All and was not open to further discussion, unless it was about how to give it to Mirio. All Might had been disappointed with his sidekick about that but Nezu hadn't worked out why.
"He's strong," Yagi began. "He had good quirk control and he's not afraid of doing what is right," the Number One Hero finished. "At least, I don't think he is," he added.
The Principal nodded. He'd seen the incident Toshinori had. "Is that enough?"
The Number One Hero didn't answer for a few moments and the Principal didn't prompt him. Handing on One For All was a big decision. With All For One's sons active, it might be the biggest decision of Toshinori's career, while at the same time being a decision the public would never really know about. "That's what I'm asking myself," All Might admitted.
Nezu looked at his computer and tapped a few keys, bringing up Shiketsu's results. Taiki and Aimi had done well, and so had Inasa. It just highlighted how much of a loss for UA Mr Yoarashi's decision not to enroll was. The teen had been interrupted during the physical tests but had completed them later and the results were as impressive as could be hoped for from a recommendation student. His written results were good too and…
"When I asked him why he'd defended Katsuki and Eijiro, he said it was because what they were doing wasn't right. I liked that answer," Toshinori admitted.
That made sense. It was the answer of a hero. But was it an answer given because Inasa knew he was being tested? Nezu didn't have to prompt for the Number One Hero to continue.
"I just wonder if I am seeing too much in it?"
"Possibly not," Nezu replied. "Inasa was a recommendation student."
"That just means a strong quirk," Yagi dismissed the statement.
"It means more than that," the Principal objected.
Toshinori looked over at him, doubt clearly visible in his expression.
Nezu sighed. "Recommendation students are not just recommended because they have a strong quirk," he explained. "Recommendation is an investment for the Hero. If they fail, it doesn't look good. If they have a bad reputation, then it does not reflect well on them."
"Surely everyone has forgotten who recommended them by the time they graduate?" Yagi asked.
"The public might have, the industry doesn't," Nezu replied. "But more than that, if the recommendation student isn't heroic in some way then-" he shook his head. "It is more than just a strong quirk," he repeated.
"All right."
"You want more?"
Yagi nodded.
Nezu brought up Inasa's recommendation file. He could remember all the information himself but he figured the Number One Hero would want to see it himself. "Inasa came to Shadowcrawler's attention when he stopped a purse snatcher. There was nothing in it for him. He didn't know Shadowcrawler was there but he did it because it was the right thing to do," Nezu told him.
Toshinori looked a little more convinced but not certain.
"Why don't we discuss the other candidates?" Nezu suggested.
"Not Mirio," Yagi said immediately. "He is a fine young man and he will be a great hero but-"
Nezu wasn't surprised to hear the sentiment, but he was surprised by the tiredness he could hear in All Might's voice. Apparently Sir Nighteye had discussed his choice with the Number One Hero again. The conversation would have gone about as well as the edge in All Might's voice suggested. While Nezu could understand Sir Nighteye's preference for Mirio, he also knew when an argument was lost. And Yagi was right about Mirio. He was a fine young man, and he would be a good hero, possibly even the Number One Hero but there was a spark, something indefinable that Mirio was missing. It didn't make him a bad hero, most heroes lacked that spark. In fact, from what Nezu had seen, that spark was very rare and those who possessed it tended to change the world. All Might had it, and Nezu suspected All For One had it.
And All Might was now searching for someone to take his quirk who also had it.
"One of the quirkless students?" Nezu prompted.
They were an obvious choice. Without a quirk, they could then focus on learning to use One For All to the best of their ability. And having had a quirk they would know what it took to learn to use one and what it felt like when they were pushing too hard.
All Might sighed heavily. "I have thought about them," he admitted but Nezu could already tell he'd found them all lacking somehow. The tone told him enough. "They would have the motivation to go after Izuku," he admitted, "and-" All Might shook his head.
"Iida is too impulsive," All Might said. "I'm sure he will settle but right now, he's far too rigid. He's maturing but-"
Nezu nodded. There was no need to say anything further. While Tenya meant well, it was far too easy to see alternatives for his life. If he'd been allowed his original choice for work experience then things might have been so different. "One of the others then?" Nezu prompted.
"Momo is too-" the Number One Hero shook his head. "She's not a leader. She's a lovely young lady but she's not a leader. She is not going to inspire others to follow her. She's not going to be able to bring her peers together to fight against him. And, my style of fighting is not suited to her."
Nezu refrained from pointing out that everyone had their own style and that Momo was still developing. He knew that leadership and management were different things but also knew that to successfully manage her family's companies, she was going to have to develop leadership skills. There was time. She was only sixteen but it appeared that All Might was looking for someone who was the complete package right now.
This was a time, Nezu felt when Yagi's desire to achieve a particular outcome was clouding his ability to see opportunities. Not that he thought Momo was the right choice but she might develop into it.
They all might.
Nezu's whiskered twitched at his double entendre.
"Shouto?" he murmured the name. The young Todoroki was currently having a hard time. While he'd always been a bit of a loner, many of the students were now treating him with open suspicion. Bakugou made no effort to hide the fact that he thought Shouto had sold them out, no matter what all the truth detectors told everyone. Kirishima would have remained Shouto's friend… acquaintance but his association with Bakugou limited their opportunities to interact.
Momo was still friends with him, but she was apparently the first person he'd told he had gotten his quirk back and Nezu wasn't sure if she was remaining friends because it might mean she could get her's back.
Shouto was finding out the difference between loner and alone and he wasn't really liking it. He hadn't said anything but Nezu was adept at reading body language.
All Might shook his head at the suggestion. "Young Shouto has been used as a pawn already. I don't want to continue that."
"One For All would enable him to become a player," Nezu pointed out. Todoroki's quirk would allow him to become a powerful hero as well but with One For All and both All Might and Endeavor's resources behind him, Shouto would be truly formidable.
If the choice was to be made purely on connections then Momo or Shouto would be the only two choices.
Toshinori shook his head again. "Shouto can-" he sighed. "Shouto is another fine, young man, but he will now always be slightly tainted by other people's actions."
"Taking down Izuku would remove that taint," Nezu observed.
"It would but, he just doesn't feel like the right choice."
That was something that Nezu didn't really understand. Gut instinct. He understood instinct. As a rat, dog, bear hyrbid of a type that he wasn't even sure about, he knew instinct. Animal's relied on their instincts all the time. They had to. Humans…. Nezu knew they had instincts. Despite the fact that most of them forgot they were animals, they did have instincts but the one they called gut instinct wasn't anything of the sort. It was, at best, intuition or an excuse to go with some emotional decision.
"Shouto doesn't feel settled on his path yet."
That was an interesting observation and as a reason, it was better than the previous one. "He will settle," Nezu said confidently. Shouto may have been pushed by his father to be a hero all his life but the young man had gone along with it, but the Principal could see that he just lacked a trigger now. Something would happen in the future and that would cement Shouto's path.
"Kaminari?" Nezu suggested, moving on. Many people thought the young man was stupid, and while the Principal could agree that Kaminari was not the most intelligent UA student, he was not dumb. One of the adjustments many alumni had said was the most difficult for them was adjusting to the world once they left UA. They forgot that all the students who made it to UA had passed their written entrance exam, which meant that they were some of the more intelligent students in the country. UA offered a rather rarified environment and adjusting to the more 'normal' often presented some interesting adjustments. Here, people saw what needed to be done and did it, there, people often had to be told either what was required or to do it.
Yagi gave him a smile. "Of all of them, I think he's the most well adjusted to the situation," he said, referring to the theft of their quirks.
"I don't think so," Nezu objected.
"Oh?"
This was simply a question of human nature. "Kaminari is currently viewing the loss of his quirk as just punishment for his actions," the Principal explained. The way the Number One Hero winced told him that the man understood but he continued anyway. "That will fade."
All Might sighed and raised one hand to rub at his face as he considered that future. At that point, when Kaminari truly realised his quirk was not going to come back and that Izuku would not give it back, he would lash out. Hopefully he'd lash out at those who deserved it but that was not always the case. "That's even worse," Toshinori said. "If he acts in anger, Izuku will-" he shuddered and didn't outline the scenario. He'd didn't have to. Nezu could well imagine what would happen then.
"That rules out Bakugou," he murmured.
Toshinori huffed. "For all his bluster, for all his anger, he does try to do what is heroic," he gave the assessment. "He just doesn't have that instinct to help," he added. "It's something he has to think about and somewhere along the line, his view of what it means to be a hero got twisted."
"Twisted?" Nezu prompted. He could see where the Number One Hero was going but was interested in his take on the situation.
Yagi nodded. "For him, being a hero means being the strongest. To him, being a hero means physically fighting a villain. He doesn't consider that fighting might not be required, that it may just reinforce the cycle. He looks at the work that Rescue Heroes do and doesn't think it is proper hero work. His view, is very much modeled on the media's view of a hero."
That was an interesting assessment and for a moment Nezu was sorry that Aizawa wasn't here to see it. The underground hero tended to think that all All Might knew was how to punch someone. It would be interesting for him to see the man giving this assessment of one of his students because Nezu knew that was similar to the conclusion Aizawa had come to about Katsuki himself.
There was a need for combat heroes, and Katsuki would… could have stepped into that position and done very well… maybe even become the number one hero but he would never really know what it took to be a true hero. And sooner or later he would have come up against someone who could fight back.
That particular obstacle had come sooner and was far harsher than anyone had thought it would be.
"I have no doubt that Katsuki could fight Izuku. He'd do it willingly but… His anger is clouding his judgment and while he has the most experience acting on and controlling his anger, and still makes good judgements under its influence, this is one case where a level head is better."
"And you really want them to have the instinct to help?" Nezu put in but he had heard Toshinori's unspoken objections. Bakugou was arrogant and was arrogant enough to believe that he was destined to be the Number One Hero. In the teen's defense was his youth and the fact that he hadn't rested on the laurels of his powerful quirk. He had trained his body and mind and had practiced with his quirk. He might have believed he was destined for greatness but he was also prepared to work at it. If he received One For All, then that would only reinforce his arrogance. The loss of his quirk would become a period of struggle that he was always going to overcome. He wouldn't learn from this situation. It was perhaps cruel to think that but it was not untrue.
All Might nodded. "The courage to help, to do what is right, even when the world is against you is a strength that not enough heroes have. I want them to say I was moving to help before I realised it," Toshinori told him.
Nezu nodded. He couldn't say he had that instinct but he was aware of many heroes that did.
"Kirishima then?" He offered the last name of those who had lost their quirks.
All Might was silent for a few moments. "If nothing had happened, I believe he was one of the most likely candidates," the Number One Hero admitted.
That was news to Nezu.
"With who else?" He asked.
"Asui also showed potential," Toshinori told him.
"No one else?"
"I hadn't looked properly at Vlad's class," Yagi didn't give an exact reply.
The plan had been for the Number One hero to split his time between heroic classes and while had had given 1B some lessons, the majority of his time had been taken up with 1A. To compensate, they had been making plans for All Might to spend more time with 1B to be fair to them and offer him the widest selection of students to choose from. That had been the plan but the emergence of All For One, Tomura Shigaraki and Izuku appeared to have changed that. There was no time to wait for the end of the year. They had to act now and that decision was weighing heavily on the Number One Hero.
"Was there anyone there?" Nezu asked.
"I'd like to think there could have been," he replied.
"So, Kirishima?"
"I thnk, if I had more time, then yes," Toshinori said with regret. "Many of them may develop into people I would be honoured to give One For All to but I do not have the time for them to develop.
Nezu looked at the hero sharply. That sounded somewhat morbid.
"I am well enough, I just don't believe there is time to combat Izuku," he explained. "So I need someone who is ready, and able to take on Izuku now," he added. "Kirishima, to his credit, is focused on helping his friend, and through that, helping himself. He will be a fine hero. Iida will simply be a place holder for the family, no matter that he might want to be more. Katsuki will be too angry, to truly be a hero but Kirishima… He will be a fine hero. A true hero but- not yet. He's not ready for it yet."
The Principal nodded. "So why not one of the older students?" he asked, referring to Yagi's desire to choose someone who was ready.
Toshinori shookhis head. "Ideally, I was going to pick someone and give them One For All, while they still had a few years of school. They could then say to the public through the Sports Festival and other opportunities that they were here. They couldn't say they were here to replace me but the public could see that there was a strong person, ready to take up the mantle and they would be reassured." He sighed. "Now there is no time and if I pick an older student, while there is nothing in the public consciousness against them, there is a public history that can be drawn upon, and will quickly be drawn upon once they show great power and that will be used to judge them. I think that will work against me."
But a younger student could build the narrative, Nezu filled in what All Might did not say. By itself, it wasn't a bad plan but Yagi had identified its weakness. It required time and their enemies weren't giving them time.
"Have you considered Tokoyami?" Nezu asked, remembering what Dark Shadow had said about Toshinori. "If Dark Shadow could interact with-" he paused, fishing for a diplomatic word, "-your passengers, then I imagine Tokoyami would be able to quickly master One For All."
The suggestion appeared to take All Might by surprise and Nezu watched his expression as he thought. The Principal could tell that the Number One Hero had relegated Tokoyami to… Not a bad thought but instead he had thought to wait until the teen was older to then explore what Dark Shadow knew. So Tokoyami had been put into a position where Yagi would talk to him later.
"Tokoyami is an interesting suggestion," Toshinori said slowly. "A very interesting suggestion," he repeated.
"But-?" Nezu prompted when the Hero did not continue.
"It does not feel right to choose him."
"Feel?" The Principal did not like relying on a human's so called gut instinct but he thought, in this case, All Might was going to do it. If he wasn't going for one of the logical suggestions, then he would go for the one he felt was right.
And they would all have to hope that it was the right choice.
"One For All would make him stronger, but it would also make Dark Shadow stronger and… Maybe he would be the best choice. As an underground hero he could hunt Izuku differently and I'm sure All For One trained his son to avoid my type of search."
That was more of an allowance than Nezu thought he'd get. "So think about it?" he pressed. "The decision does not have to be made today," he pointed out reasonably.
At that, Toshinori sighed. "But it will need to be soon."
The Principal quirked his head at the hero.
Yagi gave him a smile. "I can feel it," he said.
Nezu was told that his expression was hard to read. There was nothing open to interpretation with the look he gave All Might and the hero knew it. He chuckled, knowing exactly what Nezu was objecting to.
"Could you look into him?" All Might asked suddenly.
"Wouldn't you have more luck?" Nezu countered. People tended to go out of their way to help the Number One Hero.
Yagi gave him a look. "I'm not as sneaky as you," he replied.
"If he comes up clean?"
The Number One Hero sighed loudly. "Then it is time. I will announce my retirement to go with it."
"The HPSC won't be happy," Nezu felt obligated to point out.
Toshinori snorted. "The HPSC don't get a say in this," he responded.
Nezu nodded, and pushed away his now cold tea. Toshinori Yagi was the type of man who could look into the heart of darkness and see light but he knew how to play the game, and did play. The fact that he was still light…
That said more than anything else could about his heroism.
Nezu hoped, for all their sakes, that Inasa wasn't so… noble. Good yes, noble no. It was good to look for the best in people but many problems would be solved if sometimes, just sometimes, people looked the other way.
-ted-
All Might is actually doing his homework here, rather than just giving out OFA to the first person who does something he likes. And so don't expect OFA handed over for another few chapters. Homework must be done to ensure that the choice is right. With Izuku running around, and Tomura (they still don't know he's dead), All Might knows he's only going to get one shot at this, so he better make it count.
Discord is on this code: TcBnRN7aDn FFN will remove links but you should be able to figure that out. There's a heap of other authors there, so come along and chat to us all! Not just about MHA.
-ted-
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