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Distant voices kept pestering Izuku out of his deep slumber. Midoriya needed time to start regaining the memories that preceded him passing out in the first place; which led to him recovering at a faster pace to the sight of a massive fortress towering over him. Only the two English letters embellished on the front of said fortress clued Izuku in on where his classmates had brought him while he was unconscious.
Turns out that every major hero academy in the country had their defenses upgraded and operational in light of the rising crime all across the country. Those who were still out there fighting the good fight as heroes were already stretched thin enough as it already were.
Most of the work fell upon police along with ESD support to keep the peace all around the country. Other nations of the world were also seeing their umbers increase with events starting to cascade in waves all around the globe.
In response to this surge of criminal activity, the newest form of national security became a forerunner in establishing the peace in the form of the Emergency Security Department International. This new department of public protection sought to offer support to all other forms of law enforcement that needed their aid in whatever capacity needed to protect their citizens.
Their work was good, though only being established only a few months ago left them going through beaucracy in all shapes and sized to fully establish themselves while trying to keep villainy at bay.
More people wanted protection over any sort of idealism as time went along. Only due to the strict conduct these officers held themselves accountable to did heroes get the recognition they wanted them to have. Through only offering themselves as a defensive form of public protection, the ESD held themselves at arm's length from the public that desperately wanted something concrete to latch onto for hope.
All of this fell into the background for the already overworked Midoriya. Without thinking; he commented absentmindedly at the new face he saw in front of him.
"Wow, you're cute. You're man better appreciate something as precious as you."
Almost everybody around the bold Midoriya reeled back at his comment. Coming to his senses a little more, something about the person he looked at started to feel more and more Familiar the longer he stared at them. Gradually, Izuku finally recognized that the face he commented on had been sticking out of a suit very similar to a suit one of his teachers wore all the time. In fact, that teacher had been exactly the person he had commented on regarding how attractive they were.
Thirteen, the hero usually hidden inside of her quirk with her quirk creating shadows from the dark matter floating all around her, looked red as a cherry tomato at the comment she just received from her student. Shortly cropped hair did her petite face a good deal of justice as she did indeed look irresistibly charming for those few who were fortunate enough to see her actual face. Hearing her looks were attractive usually left the young woman flustered enough at it were. The husky voice and raggedly manly looks of Izuku filled the teacher with all sorts of deeply conflicting feelings regarding someone she should have seen as nothing but her student.
Even after realizing who it was did little to shake Izuku. His casual shrug and apology for being so forward left those feelings inside Thirteen thoroughly unresolved. If he had just simply acted flustered or shy after realizing his actions, she would have an easier time to see the teen as just a boy instead of a man who knew what they wanted.
While that mess was trying to sort itself out, Midoriya let his gaze fall upon the monolithic walls of UA Academy. One part of him wanted more than anything to retreat behind these barriers like nothing was wrong with the world. The other half knew perfectly well why that possibility fell out of his realm of possibilities. Through the tunnel that led into the school grounds themselves were another set of sliding gates that weren't meant to block out sound. Past these doors was a shitstorm awaiting the arrival on one Midoriya Izuku.
"Don't let that boy take one step into UA!"
Stood in front of the entrance were most, if not all, of the citizens who took shelter within the walls of the hero academy. Apparently the news regarding what happened with him and Shigaraki placed Izuku as a scapegoat for all their problems at large.
News of their interaction with one another couldn't be contained with all the witnesses who saw what had happened. Word got out in an uncontrollable capacity that now everyone wanted to kick Midoriya out of the school without due process. Nobody wanted to risk their own lives, nor those of their loved ones, for the sake of one boy who seemed to be at the epicenter of all their problems.
About to leave once more, two hands caught his arms before he could leave. Izuku saw both Ochaco and Mina gently smile at him and tell the young man that it was all going to be okay.
Deep within the crowd were people who were hurt to see so many people turn against Izuku so heartlessly. Inko had the upset Eri in her arms while Hawk stood next to the family he wanted to protect in this unstable crowd. Kouta and Ragdoll stood in the back, unable to do anything to assist the boy being verbally lynched by the mob.
A few heroes tried to take the burden off of the boy being chewed up by the crowd with little success. All they got for their efforts were insults while still pinning Izuku to the floor with their scathing remarks. Hearing such anger from the crowds about their anger left Izuku so hopeless that he fell to his knees. Endless complaints and anger kept weighing him down like lead as more people mercilessly added to his misery.
During the angry shouting and spite being thrown at the heroes, someone from the crowd started to walk forward unprompted. Their footsteps were calm with even strides being taken to approach the collapsed figure that had been Izuku. Nobody from the side that wanted to bring the boy back to UA moved as they realized who it was that had been approaching the exiled vigilante. White hair on their head and face immediately identified the person as the only one who would never hurt the young boy who wanted this suffering to end. It had only been when they spoke that Midoriya turned his head upwards to see who had separated themself from the crowd.
"it's okay, Izuku…"
Memories flooded Izuku of the times this person never left him to suffer alone. In the darkest moments of his childhood, he came to give them hope. When he made a mistake, they held him accountable until he finally learned to grow as a man in the face of his mistakes. Their promise to the young Midoriya never broke as this man now stood with the young hero in his time of need.
"I'm here for you."
Without another prompt from elsewhere, Haru turned to the crowd lambasting Izuku with their protest and started to walk.
Meanwhile, Izuku felt something very wrong with this scenario. He didn't know what Nakamura had planned to make this scenario better for the boy under his care, though Midoriya felt the gut feeling in his stomach twist like an ulcer before Haru reached into the back of his belt to pull something loose and aim it at the rainy sky.
BANG!
All went silent at the deafening sound of a gunshot going off. Everybody went dead silent as the crowd realized Nakamura now had a gun in his hand that he fired off into the sky.
"If anyone has anything to say to my son…"
Speaking as he brought his arm back down, the hammer was pulled back into firing position when it hung down in Haru's hand. His thumb rested back onto the revolver's handle. Such a weak looking little firearm that was the little six shooter that all police carried standard on their persons felt like a weapon of mass destruction in Nakamura's hand.
"Say it to me."
Here was the man who promised to be with a Izuku through thick and thin, now taking an impossible burden upon himself. Midoriya could only watch as Haru now had the attention of the mob while ESD officers were now pointing their high powered weaponry at the man with a revolver that was cocked and ready to shoot whoever wanted to take the man up on his challenge.
"Y-your kid's real f-"
One mob member wanting to test the waters tried to sling an insult at the man who left everyone involved with what was currently going on. He not only had been immediately identified by Haru; they actually pissed themselves as his eyes met theirs with the intentions of shooting them if they finished their insult. All that was left of them was their piss being washed away by the rain.
"... You fuck! Don't you give a shit about what happens to us?!"
"All of you don't add up to shit! Stupid fucks like you are better off as manure for all the good you do, you stupid little shits!"
Spewing insults back at the crowd shifted their vitriol at the man who now commanded the attention of the masses. His mastery of insulting others on such a personal level drew the anger of the crowd upon him and away from the previously overwhelmed Midoriyas.
Inko felt herself shocked that the man she loved not created the ideal storm that would now make the crowd focused on making him the thing it would tear apart with all its potential power.
She loved him even more for what she saw him do in reality for her son. It also wounded her painfully so see Haru stand by himself against the rage he incited from to crowd upon himself. None of these people mattered to him as much as Izuku did. Their rage may as well be nonexistent to a man so accustomed to conflict like Nakamura.
"Kill yourself, asshole!"
"You piece of shit!"
"Just die!"
In no time at all, everybody now pointed their rage at Haru instead of Izuku. He welcomed their spite while Izuku watched his father figure weather the storm meant for him.
Nobody cared about heroes anymore with the violent threat that was Nakamura Haru, armed with a loaded gun. They all stood behind the officers ready to gun him down in a split second while he kept antagonizing the crowd without remorse. What had been an exercise to put heroes against the pyre now became a public execution of one man who simply wanted to piss off every single person he could reach with his foul words.
Nobody who knew how caring this person could be wanted this to transpire. All the students of class 1-A felt their hearts tear themselves apart at the memories of this person who never did anything less than their best in taking care of all of them being abused by clueless people.
Someone who sacrificed so many hours in the day to simply make sure the kids under his care had their clean laundry to wear for whatever they wanted couldn't have deserved treatment so cruel. Countless amounts of hot meals all prepared day after day with such care put into each meal shouldn't put the person who labored like this at the receiving end of one sided wrath pouring out from ignorant people. Spending time to educate countless students seeking personalized assistance while succeeding to educate his pupils on the side; one who committed to such selfless acts surely didn't warrant any sort of mistreatment on this level. His investment to help those who asked for his help in any capacity left them all speechless as he continued to add to his burdens for the sake of those he wanted to protect. And yet…
"Fuck you!"
"Eat shit!"
"Kill yourself!"
Enough was enough. In a single moment of planned actions meant for Izuku; Ochaco took a megaphone planted on one of her fellow classmates before leaping up above the crowds now focused on Haru. Peering down at the ground revealed the countless individuals pointing their aggression at someone she cared deeply about.
Now wasn't the time to invite such ugly emotions. She needed to draw the crowd's attention and move their fears away from them.
"Midoriya Izuku possesses a unique power within himself!"
Having to pay attention to the girl yelling over the crowd with a megaphone felt more preferable to having to shout at an asshole pissing them off like nothing else. Everyone gave the young hero their attention as she spoke to the masses from above.
"He left to keep the danger that followed him from hurting everyone else! It's because of his power he felt it necessary to fight alone while we all just left him all alone!"
A lot of anger had been expended on Nakamura already. Their collectively less passionate mindset left a large amount of people ashamed about their actions prior to the intervention of the boy's father.
Ochaco had good parents and role models to shape her positive outlook on life; despite the hardships of her family's financial struggles. She knew the struggles that came with the pursuit of one's dreams. There were times she felt so overwhelmed to the point of giving up on everything. Only due to the support of those who loved her dearly did she know the better parts that life had to offer her.
Her requests for the crowd to simply observe the worn down Izuku were met with some mixed results. One especially passionate citizen noted the filth Ochaco pointed out on Izuku and said something that shifted the atmosphere of the entire space.
"So what?! You're saying we need to be covered in the same filth?!"
Metal hitting stone in a violent impact strong enough to embed the steel into the rock brought everyone's attention back to the man they all consentually hated at an earlier point in time. What had caused the sound was none other than Nakamura, throwing his gun into the hardened ground and burying his piece into the pavement.
"... Is getting dirty so horrible that you put the lives of children in front of your desire to remain clean?"
The person to speak up had been a young adult into his twenties. His response to the genuine wrath birthed out of his one complaint left the naive young man too flustered to find a coherent enough answer.
"You don't give a shit about anybody besides yourself, so shut the fuck up."
Like clockwork, the one who spoke out against Ochaco started to run away like a rodent discovered by anything larger than a cat.
"None of you are worth their sacrifice…"
Something started to shift in the atmosphere. Everyone's eyes were all back to watching the man who instigated a riot against themselves. His figure hunched over in an unstable anger that threatened to take him over.
"All you do is live in ignorance to their sacrifice. You don't give a shit about heroes or villains."
Looking at the man physically hunched over in the rain, nobody wanted to evoke the wrath of the growing miasma of unstable anger growing in front of them.
"The pain, the blood, the sweat, the suffering they go through for people like you…"
Looking at the entire crowd, something in the disturbed father's eyes left the entire crowd unable to even remain standing. Over half the crowd actually fell back onto their asses with the rage they were overwhelmed with by staring at this one man.
"I even put my own son through hell so that he can be a hero for people like you! Is this all you have to say?!"
Consuming the form of the angered form of Nakamura was his envoked wrath. Bent over in absolute agony was the man who wanted better for the one he saw as his own.
"You're nothing but a bunch of conceited little children! Willing to let a boy who only wants to protect you to suffer by himself!"
Watching on in fear, nobody wanted to talk back to the man now caught up in his own anger. Those who knew the man as their caretaker with nothing but the greatest patience for the people he looked after saw him transform into something absolutely alien to their expectations. This one person turned into a rabid beast that sent chills to the bottom of everyone's heart with his presence alone.
"Please! You must let him back into the school! He's done nothing but fight for all of you to the point where he won't even let himself rest! Let him come back to at least rest and recover from all he's put himself through!"
Ochaco watched the people fall into their fear at the sight of Haru becoming truly angered by what he saw. She captured the attention of the crowds once more to prevent her lifelong mentor from being the object of everybody's fear and hatred.
Years ago, Uraraka and her family were leaving Nakamura's food truck when a villain struck nearby. A short amount of time later, the arrest took place and the hero who apprehended the criminal looked to be worse for wear as he sported many visible injuries and was also nursing a bruised shoulder. Everybody else had been excitedly cheering on the hero leaving the scene with the young Ochaco staring at something much more personally interesting to her right.
All the people around her were so excited and happy to witness their favorite hero come out on top. Catching his attention, the crowd then raised both their arms in his signature pose, to which he happily reciprocated their passion with his own pose. That injury on his shoulder must have made this one pose feel like absolute agony. Yet, he still smiled without giving away any of his discomfort.
As exciting as this all seemed to be, someone else caught the child's eye after cheering for the hero leaving to get medical attention. Back at the van that she and her family ate at, Haru was looking at the hero with a strange look in his eyes that she had never seen from the white bearded man.
His smile felt strange and indecipherable in the way he looked at Eel Boy. She had never seen Nakamura look at someone with the odd sense of pride that could be seen that he held for the ambitious hero who saved the day. Even certain eager fools deserved to be praised for their actions once in a while.
Since then, Ochaco remembered the feeling of people being so happy with their favorite hero still being there to acknowledge them. Not a day went by that she couldn't perfectly recall those powerful emotions.
The feeling she had as even a man like Haru saw someone as the hero they were. One day, she wanted her lifelong mentor to look at her with that look of pride he had for that hero.
"That filth he's covered in! Only heroes who fight past their limits can become so dirty! So please, find in in your hearts to let him in so that he can wash it away!"
A moment of nausea caused the girl to stumble for a moment. Flying so many times while using her quirk on others so aggressively earlier left Ochaco worn down. Standing back up, her eyes focused in on the task at hand. Someone she loved needed her help now more than ever.
"I know you're scared! I'm scared as well! But we cannot abandon the one who has been fighting for all of us, despite his own fears as well! He needs our help! Now more than ever, he needs help from this place he's a student at! He need-"
Izuku could feel his heart begin to finall unrighteousness after so many painful weeks of fighting nonstop. Relief made him weak enough to finally drop the hardened facade he put up for others and himself. The reservoir finally cracked enough for the pent up emotions to finally push through and free all the withheld stress of fighting relentlessly in what he once thought to be his own fight.
"-his hero academia! Let him come back to where he belongs!"
After everything he did to hide his suffering, the tears finall broke out and poured freely down his face. This proved to the young Midoriya that he had never been alone from the very beginning. There were people who stood by him no matter what. As much as he fought for them, they too were willing to fight for him in equal measure. In the darkest of times, Izuku found his light to bring the young man home. Back to what mattered the most to him.
Two spectators in the crowd ran to assist Izuku in his time of need. Kouta along with the half rodent woman he saved some time ago from those men in the streets took the time to tell Izuku how he affected their lives for the better.
Kouta could finally see past his own pain and become better while moving forward in his life. The same red sneakers he bought out of his admiration of the young hero were worn at that very moment as he apologized to Izuku for not coming out to help him earlier. He told Midoriya that he was here for his role model in their time of need. Even the half human hybrid knelt down to thank Izuku for saving her from those men that night on the streets. Turns out that the ESD had to drive the woman to multiple other academy shelters before UA accepted her presence within their boundaries. People were too skittish to see a heteromorph within their midsts, it would seem.
Another face Midoriya could recall at the beginning of his last jr year in school spoke up to the boy's defense as well. Two fleshy star shaped protrusion with another star sticking out the top of the older man's bald head reminded Izuku who this portly gentleman was. He ran into this individual at the fight Mt. Laty debuted in as he had been trying to make his way to his first day in school.
Being the voice of reason seemed to be his forte as he rationalized with the people stood in the rain about their possible overreaction. Nobody could deny that their roles in this whole situation were those of spectators who had no need to take on the dangers the heroes and government combatted for their sakes.
"It ain't like the kid is gonna kick his legs up and call it quits. There's so much goin on out there that finding a place the ESD aren't patrolling regularity is almost impossible. If he needs a place to catch his breath, then this place is probably the one place he could do so!"
Wisdom becoming of a man his age helped to temper the crowd with reason and logic. Discussion of the current affairs of the world even opened up as All Might had been brought up regarding the era he represented when he was still an active hero.
To expect that the world would remain the same after he retired seemed too unreasonable by any stretch of the mind. Heroes once performed their duties as actors on the stage with all their good deeds while garnering the admiration of the public while doing so. With the world now lashing out with an increase of villainy, the fact that the Emergency Security Department were now starting to pick up the slack told enough for people to realize that things were now moving in a far different direction.
At the end of the day, bad things happened with no consideration to the people involved with such things. To expect that their perfect lives would remain unaffected seemed a bit unreasonable to expect in the long run.
They had a place to feel safer. Plenty of resources to make their lives more comfortable provided to them by those who asked for nothing in return. All of this should have helped keep the peace, yet the civilians proved them otherwise. Taking a few moments to think things through made everyone realize that they were perhaps a bit unreasonable in the way they acted earlier.
The one who had been put on the spot for his harsh judgment earlier asked Izuku the most important question on everyone's mind. It weighed heavily on everyone who had their lives uprooted by recent events.
"Will our lives go back to the way it was?"
"... Not likely. But whatever is ahead of us-"
Midoriya disclaimed something about his thoughts on the matter. Strangely enough, it made people feel better to hear something that felt more realistic to expect.
"-life will still be better for all of us. We will all fight for that future, so trust us to fight for you."
Only the sound of the rain could be heard as the people finally could see the hope they thought to be long lost resurface with Midoriya's words alone.
Throughout this whole affair, almost no one noticed someone had mysteriously dissapeared during the difficult exchange. Too many were just relieved that this finally could be put behind them. A white haired little girl asked where her father went as her green haired mother simply told the anxious child that she didn't know where he went. Only the uncertain promise he would come back when he was ready settled the excess sorrow for the child. She embraced her mother while the woman patted the child's back.
The eldest sibling saw the uncertainty in his father's lover's eyes regarding knowledge on the man's location. Not even Hawk knew where his dad went during what looked to be the worst moment of anger he ever saw his old man go through in recent memory.
Stood in front of the exit gate of the UA Academy entrance were Shoto and his father. They saw Nakamura walk past them to exit the school entirely after his little stunt with the gun and angry outburst directed at the crowd. Shoto found himself silent as Haru walked past him with a look on his face that had the boy struggling to find the right words to say to his troubled mentor.
Endeavor was in a com-lately different realm of thinking after what he saw Nakamura pull just now. Without considering the consequences that would affect him, this madman made himself the enemy of the general public to pull away the hatred that had been intended for Izuku.
To see someone not even hesitate to become such a despised individual for the sake of someone he saw as his own son…
It became clear as day why Haru had hated him for all these years. It was the duty of a parent to offer their help to their child unconditionally. Acting out of obligation wasn't the goal of the parent as the man demonstrated just now. No person would take on such a hopeless situation by themselves out of fear of being judged by others. Haru did what he did because he loved the boy as his own son. At that moment, Izuku needed his dad to come to his aid and help ease the burden of being in such a hopeless situation.
While Endeavor kept chasing public approval while torturing his family to do so, here was this person who was willing to throw everything they had away to protect their son in his time of need. He found his self hatred grow in light of the ignorance he had fooled himself with due to his aversion to accepting his own guilt.
More of the redemption he sought seemed all the more insurmountable in light of this new revelation.
"Shoto, do you hate me?"
This question felt like something that was an inevitability to hear from his father. Years of constantly questioning his family and whether or not his father even deserved to be forgiven would have had him answer in the most obvious manner.
Only due to the guidance of a man who wanted the boy to be without his anger for this exact moment kept Shoto level headed in responding to his dad.
"I don't hate you. Nor do I know if I can say I feel strongly about you either, dad. You did a lot of terrible things to me and the rest of the family…"
Maturity of someone far above his son's years felt both good and terrible all at once. Wisdom his son possessed was only possible from the abuse Shoto had to endure and grow from. Abuse he was personally responsible for.
"... But I had someone understand what it would mean for me to simply let myself be angry. To be bitter for my entire life."
Turning to his dad, Shoto looked Endeavor in the eyes as he told the nervous father his true feelings on the matter.
"At the end of the day, you're my dad. Nobody can take that from you, no matter what you or anybody else says. I'm your son and I'm choosing to give you another chance. Nobody else but I can make that decision. So know that you're not stuck, dad. I'll be here for you if you'll be there for me. Okay?"
Whoever this someone was, he felt a great debt of gratitude for guiding his son when he failed to do so. They silently agreed to the terms and felt something that once hung heavily over them become a fraction of it's previous weight. It hadn't dissapeared completely, but this was more than what either expected to achieve with one another after their sordid past.
Maybe things could work out for the better after all.
Kaminari's Ward Ground Zero Memorial
In the middle of the aftermath from the fight that took place earlier stood All Might. His eyes stared up at the vandalized statue of his former physical build that had its fist pointed up at the sky.
He saw what had transpired back at UA and felt himself in need of space from other people. The evidence of the public's disappointment in his absence presented itself to all that passed by the metal statue splattered in red paint with a wooden sign hanging from its neck with the message 'I am not here". An apt way of showing one's frustration, to say the least.
Still, watching all those people turn on Midoriya so quickly created self doubt deep within the former hero. This path that Izuku followed had been something given to the young teen by the great All Might. It burdened him to see a boy with nothing but the best of intentions be so openly torn apart by the same people he worked to save. None of this felt fair for him to just stand by and idly watch while being as powerless as he was.
"When you're done admiring the metalwork, come over here and join me for a drink."
Over his right shoulder had been none other than the man who almost caused a riot with him as the mob's target. Drinking from a can with two more large cases next to him was Nakamura, just casually leaning up against a melting ice block while being rained on. It would seem that the man wanted a bit of company with the unlabeled liquor battle dangling in his left hand.
Joining his fellow UA employee, they shared their misery in silence as All Might felt the pseudo liquor shared with him work it's magic already. The numbing effect did what it could to ease the turmoil these men were experiencing.
About twelve minutes passed before Toshinori turned his attention back to the notorious drinker to his right. Breaking the silence was just one question aimed at the man who still managed to surprise the retired hero at every turn.
"What possessed you to do something as insane as that?"
A few swigs were downed before Haru gave his side on the logic of what he did.
"It worked, didn't it"
"They could have shot you on the spot. You were so close to being taken into police custody. Why did you do that? You could have lost your freedom, possibly your life."
All Might turned his head to peer at the white haired man with a side glance. Silent contemplation crossed Nakamura's face as he went to go for a new beer. The old can was crushed into a ball and tossed into the box before a new can cracked open for Haru to enjoy.
"So what? Izuku had the scorn of hundreds of people all banded together to throw him out of their sanctuary. Only immediate reaction I've seen that was stronger than fear is hate. I just did what anybody would have done in that situation."
His line of logic had been nothing short of a roller coaster of insanity. Rational people don't immediately instigate public hatred with a gun to grab their attention. Even more shocking than that, there hadn't been any hesitation on Haru's part to do so. He calmly walked out there and became the punching bag for the entire crowd without a second thought when things were starting to get ugly. Some part of All Might felt himself want to understand something about the man due to one fact that filled the emancipated man with deep remorse.
He didn't step forward to help Midoriya in his time of need.
Years of being a hero made the current affair of the world difficult to grasp for the former symbol of peace. He felt as though that at least understanding why Nakamura did what he did would make everything else feel a bit less overwhelming. Something about his gray area philosophy felt integral to create a better sense of understanding he felt he lacked.
"You think of this world as a story, All Might. When something happens, you expect the narrative to act in a certain way. When things take a completely different direction, you linger on the details you've already read over to try and understand what had happened. Right now, you can't seem to make sense of things because nothing has been building up to the mess that the world has become. Problem is, other people think like you too. All you need to do is just look around you to see evidence of this."
The atmosphere of the city had been on the heavy side due to the rise of criminal activity. The arrests have been consistent, though people were still being caught in the crossfire wherever trouble occurred. It certainly didn't help that heroes were retiring by the boatloads before all of this craziness hit the fever pitch it did.
Did this world already inherently have this problem even before he retired? How could this much misery be possible within just a few months after his decades of service as the world's greatest hero?
Stewing on the squestion, Haru pulled the contemplating blonde man to the side to hide him from a new presence that approached the statue still covered in graffiti. Haru let the hero peek around the ice block he dragged the hero behind to watch the woman discreetly. Something about the woman felt extremely familiar to the former hero, though he had a hard time putting the face to an event that involved this person.
"You see her? She was the last person All Might had ever saved before he retired from his overworked post."
That little description clued the hero in enough to realize Nakamura did see the hero's life work as something that All Might sacrificed himself to keep himself working. The woman used her quirk to produce large bubbly structures she used as a stepping ladder to reach the statue with cleaning products from inside of her shoulder bag.
It dawned on All Might that this woman was cleaning the graffiti off the statue by herself.
Haru disclosed that whenever he drove past this area, he could see this woman come this area by herself every time the statue got dirty to clean off the vandalism. This area was still an active stomping ground, even with regular ESD patrols keeping the peace. She does this regularity while knowing of the risks that came with venturing out in these times of overzealous criminals looking to get a start in this unstable societal environment. She never failed her task in keeping the memorial of his heroism clean.
"As much as you think it's All Might who she does it for, I think something even more important is going through her head whenever she pushes herself to do the right thing."
Before he could further disclose his thoughts to the stunned All Might, Haru saw something of great concern approaching from the distance. It would seem that those who regularity vandalized the statue were now making their rounds right as the woman had been doing so as well.
"Hey! What the fuck are you doing, you bitch?!"
In a panic, All Might felt himself jump at the situation to offer his aid before a firm hand stopped the man from getting himself hurt. For the first time ever, the former hero would see Haru in action as he had no choice but to let the quirkless man come to the woman's aid.
Finding herself a little scared at finally being caught by the vandals that messed up the All Might statue on a regular basis, she centered herself while continuing to clean the last of the paint.
"I won't let All Might be left as everyone's punching bag. He's fought for and saved all of us too many times to be treated so poorly."
These young adults didn't vandalize the statue as a simple joke. They all deeply felt a strong resentment against the former hero and did this to illustrate to the rest of the world how hopeless things were because of his absence. All of them blamed the hero for ushering in all this chaos into society when he gave up on them.
"You have five seconds to get down from there; otherwise, we'll make you get down…"
Her lack of deviating on her current cleaning task told enough to the group of both men and women that this person was aware of the risk she was taking in undoing their work. The supposed leader of this crew just looked to another guy and pointed to the women stood up next to the statue. Producing a hardened ball of what looked to be brown stone in their palm, this individual kept producing a bowling bal sized projectile before winding up their arm to throw the levitating ball in their palm at the innocent woman still scrubbing away.
Something caught the arm before it could reach the halfway point of the swing. The large stone projectile pitifully flew in a small arc and cracked in half a signifigant distance short of it's intended target. Realization that someone stopped their attack hadn't even set in when they felt the worst pain in their entire lives to that point in time.
One solid impact into their crotch sent the man dressed in a hooded jacket and jeans to his knees. Neither knees touched the ground with the arm still being trapped in the grip of the one who planted their own knee into this poor sap's nutsack.
Nakamura almost made the man's family jewels permanently recede back into the slots his balls dropped from. It hurt badly enough for them that they vomited while trying to nurse their bruised genitals with their free hand. Tumbling to the ground in a blubbering mess, Haru rounded to the front of the group while taking off his jacket. Nobody even realized this guy was even nearby when they finally laid eyes upon both Haru and the guy he mentally broke with one strike to the undercarriage.
"Anybody else?"
All Might saw everything occur when it happened. The smooth movement Haru had with every step he took reminded the retired hero that this man had more than his fair share of scuffles as a quirkless person. Watching Nakamura take on an opponent without the prerequisite that he needed to be courteous for whoever he was sparring made his actions viscerally more brutal than any sort of street fight All Might had ever seen before.
The entire group fell for the man's taunt and attacked all at once. Their quirks were active with the hostile intent of really fucking up this white haired stranger beyond recognition.
Even as they charged all at once, this proved to be much to slow to catch Haru off guard. First person to step into his range had their head whip to the left with a left hook from Nakamura as he stood completely upright while doing so.
Creating that much power without moving from a standing position was unbelievably difficult, yet the man knocked out fell like a sack of bricks.
Coming up behind the first one were the rest of his crew. Four individuals with varying types of quirks were all closing in all at once when Haru vanished from sight. Nobody had the reaction time to realize Nakamura had simply crouched down low to counter the simultaneous charge made by his opponents. Both arms were out to his sides as he launched himself into the four of them while encircling his arms around them. Behind them were other attackers trying to help their other group members that felt something knock them back like a wrecking ball.
Haru caught the four trying to outnumber him in his arms while avoiding their attacks and charged with these individuals all caught off guard by the man's unconventional combat methods. These four were thrown head over heels and were all sent painfully tumbling onto the concrete like random rocks found by a child trying to test their pitching strength.
As these people were struggling to pick themselves off the ground, more from the group were starting to hesitate after so many people fell to this guy's speed and strength.
Slightly hunched over from throwing four people at once was Nakamura. His eyes looked back up to see who else wanted to test their meddle with the man out to knock their teeth out.
A brave soul decided that she was in enough of a blind spot behind the man to strike at him with her screech quirk. Nobody else stood directly in front of him, so she went for it. Winding up her lungs made her vulnerable to the underhanded tactics that Haru had prepared for a scenario like this. She suddenly started to choke on something that hit the back of her throat rather painfully. This strange phenomenon then was followed up with Haru Kicking the female in her abdomen hard enough to send her flying about a dozen meters back. At the same time she was kicked, a rock the size of a thumbnail flew out of her throat from the air kicked out of her lungs.
All Nakamura did was flick a tiny rock into the woman's throat to stun her long enough for him to just kick her once. Another one bit the dust with the others starting to doubt their chances at success with this guy.
Things only got worst for the group who were originally just vandals exercising their frustrations out on an inanimate object. Their poor decision making turned them into criminals liable for assault when another stranger gave these people a healthy dose of retribution for their naivety.
After about eleven minutes, Haru approached one of the crew members trying to scoot away on his uninsured arm as the others were all strewn apart from one another in the empty memorial grounds. Scared out of his mind, the young man failed to crawl away fast enough before he was hoisted up by his neck by the wrathful Nakamura. Peering into his darker irises sent a freezing chill down his spine as the anger dug into the deepest parts of their fear.
"Stop! Please!"
Stood behind Haru, the woman who could only stand by and watch the violence now confronted her savior with the excessive violence he was about to exact upon these beaten individuals.
"... Why should I? Weren't these people about to assault you for no good reason?"
All Might felt his heart weigh heavily at the sight before him. Nakamura clearly had some anger issues to push the fight this far past the end of it. He had no choice but to allow this violent individual carry out the protection of an innocent woman. He couldn't allow her to be hurt at the cost of his personal values.
"Please, not here. I am grateful for your help, but even I can't let you hurt people who can't fight back anymore. I'm begging you, please let them go…"
Only the soft putter patter of the rain could be heard for a few short moments before the young man dangling in Haru's grip had been released to then fall to the floor.
"Don't ever come back here again. You all lost your right to even think about this place."
These people needed to help one another to get away from the memorial site. They all certainly would think twice before they let their anger get the better of them next time.
Even the woman thanked the man before packing up her supplies before returning to the academy shelter she came from. Returning to All might, the man had only one question for Nakamura after all that had just happened.
"You listened to her?"
"Of course. I may be violent and angry, but I'm anything but unreasonable."
Silence once again settled in as All Might felt something he failed to understand just barely evade his understanding. What this was supposed to teach the conflicted man didn't quite register. Something that Haru said to the man helped to point him in the right direction.
"... Do you honestly think she does what she does just because she's a fan of All Might?"
Years of his work made All Might ignorant of the thing that made him the greatest hero in Nakamura's eyes. Haru felt it necessary to clear the air of any sort of miscommunication at this point in time.
"Heroes don't matter for shit to me, All Might. A hero is only a hero when they can teach others to be better without having to be remembered themselves."
Such a strange form of hero philosophy never crossed the mind of All Might. He listened to Haru as he shared his true feelings over All Might's work as a hero.
"You moved this world so much that nobody would dare forget your image. With that image comes the values you fought tooth and nail to uphold in the face of conflict. Values that others like that woman have taken as their own to bring some good into this world."
A hand pat the left shoulder of All Might as Haru looked into the other man's eyes to make sure what he said registered. Even the rain let up quite a bit to give these two their space.
"You may or may not be forgotten, but the values you have passed on for others to follow are still out there. People that you have reached are still fighting because of your influence; so don't resign yourself to being nothing. You were the greatest hero in the world because you changed people for the better. Not because you could fly or punch hard; but because you made the world want to change for the better with your decisions alone. Be proud, All Might. You deserve that much, at least."
These two finally shared a moment of commonality with one another. In their times of isolation, one has finally felt himself rise up and over his personal strife. Just because the world is in the trenches today, doesn't diminish the good that still is at work to this day that he brought forth as a hero. He can at least be proud of that.
While dwelling on the events that had just passed, All Might couldn't help but feel a strange sense of deja vu from hearing Nakamura's pep talk. He didn't know why, but he couldn't fight the nagging feeling that something like this has already happened before already.