! CHAPTER 430 SPOILERS!
Look, I completely understand WHY Boku no Hero Academia ended the way it did. I completely understand from a narrative standpoint of a quirkless and '"useless" boy becoming the greatest hero by giving up his gift. I actually LIKE the ending in some regards, like Ochako's regret and Midoriya becoming a teacher. Reading the poem that Horikoshi-sensei based Midoriya Izuku off of, it really makes sense why a story would end like that. And at the end of the day, Horikoshi-sensei wanted to write a story that he could enjoy, and we as fans have no right to complain about a narratively fulfilling ending.
That being said, I think it will be really cool if Izuku got to keep OFA.
Like I get it, I completely understand why OFA and AFO had to be destroyed at the same time. One cannot exist without the other. I completely understand why this ending had to be Like That. Could some narrative choices been executed better? Yeah, probably, but Horikoshi-sensei only had 5 chapters to do a full epilogue because his editors put pressure on him to make the ending short and match the anniversary of the release date 10 years prior. Some stuff could have been written better, but he didn't have the flexibility or time to do so. Plus, people don't like to read stories after they've been "finished." If something had a long drawn out ending describing the politics of BNHA after the fact, the readership would go down.
So I'm doing that for him. And I'm also giving Izuku his quirk back (sans ghosts) because I think it'll be the best path forward for Izuku.
And I'm giving Izuku and Kacchan a date eventually, because they really deserve it.
"I guess I thought we'd be competing and I'll be on your heels… for the rest of our lives."
"Hey, stop that, Kacchan! This isn't like you! Seriously, it's fine-"
"Raise your head, young man. Izuku is fully capable of chasing your heels for the known future. Until he truly passes on One for All, it will always be in his heart."
"All Might.." Izuku whispered. Kacchan stilled.
"The vestiges spoke to me very briefly before they passed. One for All is an ember now," All Might raised his head from his pillow. "But even sparks can become a blaze under the right conditions."
"So," For the first time since Izuku woke up in the hospital, tears welled up behind his eyes. "So, the source isn't gone? It's still there?"
"I doubt One for All can truly leave any user. I don't think the vestiges will be coming back, though. But I can still use just the bare minimum of One for All even now, even after I transferred it to you and you gave it to Tenko. I think," All Might smiled, a bright looking thing with wrinkles around the corners of his mouth. "That if you train just as hard as you have before, you should be able to blow those embers into a bonfire once more."
"All MIght-!" Izuku choked out. Then the dam that was holding his tears back broke, and his nose was dripping, and his chest was tightening up, and his heart monitor was spiking higher-
"Breathe, Izuku!" Kacchan hesitated, regarding Izuku's wrapped up arms and legs, but then settled on grasping his shoulder with his left hand.
"I'm- hic - I'm fine-! I just-"
"You have to get stronger now! Because there is no way I'm not going to stand at the top without you by my side! You asshole!" Kacchan sniffed. All Might and Izuku were polite enough to not mention Kacchan wiping away his tears with the back of his hand. "You really scared me. I thought for a moment that I wouldn't be able to catch up to you anymore."
"Touche, Kacchan! Your heart had exploded right there on the battlefield! And then you blew up a 200 year old supervillain! I'm never gonna forgive you for scaring me like that. Also, what are you even doing here? You should be lying down at least!"
"Young Bakugou, I really do think you should at least-"
"Don't tell me what to do!" Kacchan yelled, before yanking the IV pole from the hallway and dragging it into the room, before seating himself in one of the hospital chairs.
"Katsuki! No, you're going back to your room. I'm happy that you're up and about, but you seriously need to let All Might and Izuku rest." Mitsuki grabbed her son by the elbow and started to pull him away.
"Ah, Bakugou-san! Please, one more moment with your son in here! I have something important to tell both of these boys." All Might held up a heavily bandaged hand.
"All Might-san, I am sure that whatever you wish to tell my son can wait until he is-"
"MOM!"
"BRAT, YOU ALMOST DIED!"
"You two, quiet down. We're in a hospital."
"AND THIS BRAT DOESN'T EVEN APPRECIATE IT! THE DOCTORS ALREADY DID ALL THEIR HARD WORK, AND HE SHOULDN'T LET THAT HARD WORK GO TO WASTE BY HAVING ANOTHER HEART ATTACK!"
"MOM! OH MY GOD FINE I'M GOING!"
"Young Bakugou!" All Might didn't yell, but somehow his voice was a lot louder than Mitsuki and Katsuki's arguing.
"The two of you have grown so strong since I met you both! Young Midoriya, when I saw you diving into the fray against the villain that had kidnapped young Bakugou, you were already a hero as far as I was concerned. But now, with the way you want to encourage the world to get back up on its feet? You're going to be a great hero to them all."
"And you, young Bakugou. You made darn sure I'd still be around to see these things. To my pair of my great heroes, I thank you."
"Can I have your autograph?" Kacchan blurted out. He patted around his hospital gown, before frantically looking at Mitsuki. She pulled the battered holographic All Might card out of her pocket. It was damaged and well loved, the corners rubbed off and bent at different angles and had a speck of dried blood on it.
It was the most beautiful thing Izuku had ever seen, because he had a near exact well-loved copy in his wallet. The tears he had tried to suppress came back.
"Of course, young Bakugou."
"I, uh," Was Kacchan nervous? "I never really got around to asking you for one. And I know it's silly, but I really regretted not asking sooner. Sorry."
"You have nothing to apologize for. I have signed several of young Midoriya's things over the past few years. I'll be willing to sign many more for my great heroes." All Might pulled a sharpie from seemingly nowhere and tactfully ignored the waterfall of tears flowing from Izuku and Kacchan hiding his face behind his arm.
"How did you get your body strong enough to handle One for All in the first place?"
It was the afternoon break of their first day back at UA after the war, still covered in bandages and bruises. Izuku was still in minor shock from the chaos of the graduation ceremony and Uraruka's strange comment on the way out.
Izuku wanted to take a nap after the events of the school day. He hadn't been in school for a whole six months and the added stress of staying in one place all day really tired him out. It was better than sleeping in the back of All Might's car or spotting little catnaps here and there in abandoned buildings, but Izuku honestly missed his days of not staying in one place.
"Huh?"
"Like, your regime. Your exercise regime. How did All Might get you from being a skinny 12 year old to a pretty buff looking guy in under two years?"
"Oh!" Izuku perked up. "You know that beach that used to be covered in trash from illegal dumping before they refined the recycling laws but it never got cleaned up? I cleaned it!"
"... That's it?"
"Well on top of doing strength conditioning. I think I was doing 100 pushups a day at one point. Running and cardio also. But it was really cleaning up that beach that gave me the most training, because I had to use different muscle groups in different ways. Also figuring out which piles of trash were safe to move and which weren't helped me a lot in urban rescue training later on."
"No, seriously, that's it? You didn't have to eat a ton of protein supplements? Or, I don't know, steroids?"
"Where would I even get steroids? And no, All Might said that most protein supplements are basically trash and meat and balanced meals are the best way to get nutrients anyway."
"I don't know, after Golden Week that one year everyone in our middle school thought you were doing steroids." Kacchan shrugged.
"What!" Izuku totally did not let out a high pitched squeak.
"I mean, obviously you weren't since you weren't on any sports teams! But people thought it was a possibility, I guess?"
"Kacchan, how many of our old classmates think I am doing performance enhancing drugs?"
"I don't know! It was just a rumor that was being spread around! I think they obviously don't think that anymore!"
"Oh my god. This is the worst day of my life." Izuku buried his face in his hands.
"Shaddup!"