When in doubt, if you ever want to force yourself to get into the mood for writing, then just blast Requiem of Silence on repeat for hours. Worked for me, at least.

Special thanks to Writermakeshift for beta-reading.


VII. My Reality

Subaru opened his eyes.

Taking a deep breath with his nose, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion when he realized that he was somewhere completely different than where he last remembered being. Sitting up, he was met with the sight of the familiar bedsheets, posters, a computer desk, confirming that this was his room. To his right, also noticed the sweeping motion of his electric fan, filling the room with its white noise.

...wasn't he just at the beach? What happened? He knew he passed out, but exactly how much time had passed since then?

He looked down at his right hand, repeatedly opening and closing them. While he knew that everything that happened had been some kind of lucid dream (according to Shimura Nana), that didn't change the fact that everything had felt so...so real. The manor, Shimura, the sensation of using One for All...he could vividly remember everything that happened, even having a breakdown, as much as he didn't want to admit it.

He closed his eyes for a moment and took a few deep breaths, recalling the absolute despair he felt in those moments.

As much as he tried to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders in Lugunica, powerless as he was, he couldn't deny that he had ended up developing issues from not being able to talk about Return by Death, or even being from another world. Even Echidna only really cared about what he could do with it, so for Shimura to completely hear him out and comfort him like his own mother(s) would...

He seriously owed All Might for this. Now that he had One for All, he felt his conviction of living up to the Symbol of Peace's example grow exponentially. He wouldn't waste this opportunity to become a better version of himself.

No pressure or anything, he sighed, before suppressing a cough because of how dry his throat was.

With that, Subaru threw back the covers, and stood up to stretch for a few moments, putting a hand to his side when he felt a mild soreness there. Walking up to the door and opening it, he was met with the smell of something good coming from the kitchen, and made his way there to see Inko cutting vegetables while something breaded was frying behind her.

"Izuku...?" she started, looking up from the moment he walked in. "Izuku!"

She rushed around the kitchen counter, wrapping her arms around him in a tight embrace, and Subaru couldn't help but smile at her display. "...hey, mom," he replied, giving her a hug of his own. "Sorry I worried you."

Eventually, his mother pulled away, and for a moment, seemed to hesitate on her next words. "Izuku..." she began. "Why didn't you tell me All Might was training you?"

...come again? Did he just hear what he thought he did?

But before he could actually get a chance to voice his thoughts, he was interrupted by the sound of loud knocking coming from the front door, and Inko moved to open it to reveal...

"Oh, you're just in time, Toshinori-san!"

"Well, thank you for having me, Inko-san."

...All Might as his skinny self, standing at the entrance and holding what looked to be an expensive bottle of wine.

Subaru couldn't do anything but just stare at their interaction, his mouth hanging open.


"So you told her."

Seated at the dinner table, All Might had the audacity to smile at him sheepishly. "Well, in my defense, Midoriya-shōnen, your mother threatened me with legal action if I—"

"Okay, but you still told her. Isn't no one supposed to know about—"

"Izuku," Inko interjected. "That's enough. And Toshinori-san is right—I did say I was going to sue him if he didn't tell me why you were unconscious in his arms."

Subaru forced down an exasperated sigh. Apparently, when he passed out after getting One for All, All Might had ended up bringing him back home, and when Inko wouldn't budge in his explanation (read: omitted truth) of training him with his 'Quirk', he finally caved and told her who exactly he was and just about everything they had been doing for the past seven months.

The Symbol of Peace, pillar of modern Japanese society for the past thirty-odd years...reduced to cowering and revealing one of the most important secrets in the world at the threats of a single mother. Right.

What the hell, old man?

"I...I don't even know what to say anymore," he admitted, pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration. "So exactly how many people know?"

"That's...a good question," All Might replied.

Subaru leaned in and looked incredulously at the guy who was supposed to be acting like his mentor because the words he just said were not what he wanted to hear. When someone asks how many people knew about the Quirk entire countries would be willing to go to war over, the answer was not supposed to be 'good question'.

"Wait, it's not as many as you think, Midoriya-shōnen," All Might said hastily, waving his hands in front of himself. "It's only less than five people—the, uh, the principal of U.A., one of the people who trained me to use One for All, my friend David Shield—"

Wait, that David Shield?

"—and All for—ah, wait, forget that last one."

"No, please," Inko interjected, giving him a smile that positively radiated hostility. "Finish the list of people that could potentially get my son into harm's way."

Subaru watched as All Might looked at her with a fearful expression (and did he just gulp?) on his face, before he relented with a sigh. "I guess it's safe to tell you since I'm the one who killed him, but you have to promise me that the information does not leave this room."

Must be a seriously bad guy, Subaru supposed, before he and Inko voiced their agreement, to which All Might told the truth of where One for All came from and the story of the man he only knew as All for One. If the name was anything to go off of, then it obviously meant some sort of opposite to One for All, but Subaru never imagined it was having the ability to steal Quirks for yourself or give them to anyone you wanted.

He wondered why he had never heard of the man before now, and why All Might hesitated to talk about him the whole time they knew each other.

"How do you know?" Subaru suddenly asked.

"I'm sorry?"

"How do you know All for One is actually dead? How exactly did you kill him?"

"I mean—" All Might made a punching motion in the air. "—I do vividly remember the feeling of his face caving in, not to mention there was that gas explosion he was caught in."

"I remember hearing about that on the news," Inko mentioned "So that was actually because you two were fighting there?"

"It was, yes." All Might replied with a nod, before looking back to Subaru. "I can assure you with one hundred percent certainty, Midoriya-shōnen, that All for One is well and truly dead. You have nothing to fear when it comes to him."

Subaru kept on staring at him intently for several more moments, before he nodded. "Fine. I'll believe you." He turned to Inko. "Mom? Are you okay with me being All Might's successor?"

"I—" she started, before stopping herself and putting her hand on top of his. "You know I've worried about you ever since I lost your father, so hearing the top hero say he wants you to follow in his footsteps...it'll make any mother worry. But you now have his power, right?"

Subaru nodded. "I do now, yeah."

Inko nodded. "Then you just have to promise me one thing—please be careful. I don't know what I'd do if I lost you, too."

Me too, Subaru thought, squeezing her hand and giving her a slight smile. Inko was the only parent he had in this life, and he could admit at this point that he would choose her over Kenichi and Naoko if he had to. Because Hisashi couldn't be there, she ended up having to be both his financial and emotional support, and Subaru wanted to repay everything she did for him by making enough money as a hero to where she would never have to work again.

"But I'd like to be there one of the times you two meet for training," Inko continued, turning her gaze back to All Might. "I want to see for myself what my son's getting himself into."


The Next Day...

"Midoriya-kun."

Subaru looked up from the English words he was studying to see Uraraka staring at him intently.

"...yeah?"

"You seem...different, kinda," she replied, pointing at him with her pencil.

Subaru raised an eyebrow at her statement. "...I do?"

"Yeah, I noticed, too," Katsuki interjected, not even looking up from his own work. "Something happen?"

Subaru hummed. "I guess you could say that."

"Don't tell me you finally caught feelings for Uraraka," Katsuki snorted.

The girl in question, however, decided to respond to the gibe by slapping him in the arm.

"Ow. The hell was that for?"

"What do you think it was for? " Uraraka hissed, before hitting him again.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry, jeez," Katsuki relented, rubbing his arm.

Subaru couldn't force down the smile that was growing on his face from their antics, to which he just shook his head with a low chuckle.

"...what?"

Subaru just shook his head. "Nothing, just—thanks a lot, you two. For being my friends."

Uraraka's annoyed expression softened from his words. "You're welcome," she said, softly smiling at him.

"I mean, we've known each since forever, right?" Katsuki pointed out. "That's what brothers are for."

Yeah. They were. Subaru grew up as an only child the first time around, so it was honestly nice to hear that coming from him. He also never thought that would get as close to Uraraka as he did, so it was honestly nice having a third genuine friend in his life. But then again, sharing a collective goal to get into the top hero school in the entire country would do that.

It certainly also helped that All Might (with the cover story of being his own secretary at Might Tower) helped the two of them out with improving their Quirks on days where Subaru genuinely needed the practice with Invisible Providence, and he'd have to be blind if he said he wasn't growing even closer with them. The three of them by this point were like a, uh...what was that American English word? Oh, right, a posse.

And while Uraraka even offered to let him start calling her by her first name Ochako, he admittedly still saw her as a girl (even if he was never going to think of her romantically), so he was still a bit uncomfortable with being on a first-name basis for her.

As it stood, she was well on the way to getting a really good score on the U.A. entrance exam, and from what he saw of her Quirk during their shared training, she also had a strong chance of getting into the hero course as a whole.

"Oh! By the way, Midoriya-kun—" Uraraka said, bringing Subaru out of his thoughts. "—could you help me out with this, real quick? I don't really get the concept here..."


"Okay, so while you've gotten a taste of what One for All can do," All Might began. "You never actually got a chance to use it in real life, so that's what we'll be doing today."

"Okay, sounds good," Subaru replied. While he was uncomfortable sharing the exact details on what exactly went on inside that...dream realm he found himself in, he did manage to share that he met Shimura and that she helped him use One for All for the first time. When he told him that, All Might had briefly gotten this wistful look on his face, and talked about his own experiences meeting the previous users.

"For now—" All Might continued, buffing up into his 'powered' state. "—I want you to come at me and tell me what you feel when you use OFA."

"Wait, so you want me to just hit you?" Subaru asked.

All Might shook his head. "No. I'm just going to be parrying you. While I had a good amount of control when I first used OFA, my shishō didn't. And given how it stockpiles power, there's no telling if you try to use it and, say, your arm explodes, or something like that."

Yeah, that makes sense, Subaru supposed, slightly grimacing at the grotesque thought. He didn't remember anything like that happening when he used One for All to break his way out of the dream realm, but for obvious reasons, the effects the Quirk would have on his body in real life should be different than whatever would happen in there.

So going by that logic...

Subaru walked up to All Might, stopping at just arm's reach of him. He closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath to mentally steel himself, before opening them and balling his right hand into a fist. With a nod, All Might raised his palms in front of Subaru in a defensive position.

As he tried to recall the feeling of using One for All, he felt it become filled with that familiar heat, except it was different—it felt...way more intense than he expected, as if the very blood in his arm was starting to reach the boiling point.

Gritting his teeth, he stepped forward with his left foot and pulled his arm back, before he sent it forward, aiming for All Might's midsection. As expected, his attack never reached its intended target, instead being redirected by All Might pushing it aside with his left hand. And while Subaru didn't expect for the ocean behind them to be blown away, he expected at least something to happen from using One for All, instead of it just fizzling out in his arm.

Wait, was that it?

"Well? How did it feel?" All Might asked, now back into his 'depowered' state.

Subaru kept silent as he repeatedly opened and closed his hand. That heat he felt must have been the energy of the power stockpile, but what exactly happened when his fist didn't connect? Did it disperse slowly through the air, or did it just go back to wherever One for All was being stored in his body?

"Yagi-sensei," he began, looking up at All Might. "Is it supposed to feel that intense?"

"Intense how?"

"Like my arm was three steps away from catching on fire," Subaru replied. It didn't feel nearly as intense when he used it when he was with Shimura—it was like comparing the smolders of a campfire to the sun. Sure, the first time had been in his head, but he didn't think the difference would be that drastic.

All Might hummed. "Why don't you try again?" he asked, going back into his defensive stance.

The next hour consisted of Subaru trying to attack All Might several more times, with the intense heat building up from each time he channeled One for All largely remaining unchanged. The two of them kept this impromptu routine of his punches and even kicks being constantly parried, with Subaru trying and failing to lower the power output by even the tiniest amount.

All Might raised his hand, prompting Subaru to stop. "I think I see the problem now."

"You do?" Subaru panted out, his hands on his knees.

All Might nodded. "You're probably focusing all the power into one spot." He deflated and gestured towards himself. "Watch how I do it." In an instant, his entire body was buffed back up. "You don't see just my limbs or my torso getting bigger, right? It's my entire body."

"...right..." Subaru said slowly, and put his fingers to his chin. "So if I focus on putting it everywhere, then..." Closing his hands into fists, he squatted down into the kiba-dachi stance, and closed his eyes. He took a deep breath and focused, instinctively gritting his teeth in anticipation of pain when he felt that intense heat throughout his entire torso. Then, when it wouldn't go any further, he forced it to keep moving, to spill into his arms and legs, all the way up to his fingertips and toes, and even further.

When the heat finally stopped at his head, Subaru started to relax. To his surprise, the heat he was feeling now felt like child's play compared to the almost-burning feeling when it was only contained in his arm, like he was lounging in an onsen instead of a scorching desert.

He opened his eyes, and was met with the sight of All Might sporting his ever-iconic grin at him, and he looked down to see his entire body being covered with green sparks of electricity moving about.

"You've figured it out, Midoriya-shōnen."

Subaru gave the man a grin of his own, and would have whooped for joy and used this moment to try to finally land a hit on All Might, but at the very moment he tried to move, the heat instantly left his body, and he simply collapsed onto the sand.

"I've got you." All Might caught Subaru by the shoulders and gently laid him on the ground, and Subaru chuckled when he realized that he could barely move.

"I didn't even have it for a minute," he said weakly.

"That's fine," All Might replied. "It's only the first day, after all. You still have two-and-a-half months to get good at this."

"...yeah..."

Not a bad (actual) first try, he supposed. Considering how he was gonna be here for a while before he was less fatigued enough to actually stand up, he might as well try to come up with a name for what he just did.

Should he call it One for All: Full Dispersion? Full Cloak? Full Cover?

...What about Full Cowl...?


Shishō (師匠) - master, teacher, mentor, etc.

Kiba-dachi (騎馬立ち) - the word for the horse stance common in Asian martial arts.

Onsen (温泉) - hot spring.

I mean, I could just use the English words for everything, but we're all weaboos here, aren't we?

I should be able to get the next chapter out before New Year's, hopefully. If not, then definitely by the 5th of January.

Have a good Christmas, everyone!