Chapter Summary: Izuku and Toshinori struggle with the weight of what being a student and a teacher really means.

As soon as training picked back up, Izuku was given little reprieve before diving right back into clearing out his section of the beach. All Might had also stayed true to his word in shifting his training plan and gave Izuku a copy of exercises and dietary restrictions for him to keep in practice while he was at home, which his mother was elated to receive when he returned home from his grueling training session. Izuku couldn't help but grin at how excited his mother was when he helped her in the kitchen to make the meals.

"We can be diet and exercise buddies!" his mother proclaimed. "I may not be trying to be the next Number One Hero, but I can still try to be the Number One Mom!"

"You already are," Izuku had told her, and then he laughed when she flushed.

Still, he couldn't quite push past the guilt in his gut anytime he was reminded that All Might wasn't privy to his mother's involvement. When All Might asked how his mother was so quick to jump on board with the diet plan, Izuku just muttered that she wanted to join him in dieting and exercising, which wasn't a lie , but it wasn't the whole truth, either. All Might's positive reaction only made his guilt burrow deeper into his chest and he wanted the world to swallow him whole so he wouldn't have to face it. He supposed it was what he deserved for keeping the full truth away from his mother about All Might's condition. That, and the fact that All Might was working him pretty hard during training proved to be enough karmic justice as it was.

"Nice job, sweetie!" his mother proclaimed as he tossed the tire onto the stack. She stood a few feet from him in a pink tracksuit and matching baseball, a clipboard in her hands. "You're doing wonderful!"

His mother did well to keep him on task, at least. She wasn't able to keep up with him at times, but that didn't deter her from supporting him the best she could. Whenever she wasn't doing exercises alongside him while they watched a program together, she would help him keep track of how many reps he had done when he lost count (which was often) and would time his runs around the block. Despite the ache in his lungs, getting to see his mother brighten up anytime he broke one of his records made it all absolutely worth it. While he somewhat hated that no one else could see the kind of progress he was making, having his mother there to cheer him on felt better than any crowd of people put together and he wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.

The only downside was that he was still in school, which Izuku honestly considered to be more egregious than any training that All Might could possibly put him through. Even without Kacchan there to rally people against him, his academic journey didn't exactly run smoothly with other classmates to occupy Kacchan's role as antagonizers, though Izuku certainly preferred their ribbing over anything Kacchan could potentially throw at him (literally). All Izuku could do was duck his head down and try to keep a low profile until the weekends and, eventually, the entrance exam.

'Just a couple more months,' Izuku told himself as he hauled another tire over his shoulder.

Then, just as he was getting ready to pick up a discarded microwave sitting atop a lopsided armchair, she caught him by the shoulder.

"Hold up there," his mother told him, her grip surprisingly firm enough to bring Izuku to a full stop, "it's break time. Time for you to eat."

Izuku blinked. "Already? It doesn't feel that late."

As if on cue, his stomach growled loudly for them both to hear. His mother chuckled and Izuku's ears grew hot. "Your stomach begs to differ. Come on, let's take a seat."

Izuku and his mother took their usual seat down at the bottom of the steps and pulled out their packed lunches to eat. They had identical meals, both of which were wrapped in All Might themed cloth, Izuku's being inspired by his costume from the Silver Age and hers being dotted with little stars and stripes. No time was wasted in unwrapping their bento boxes and Izuku dug right in, forgoing manners to fill his empty stomach.

"Slow down, Izuku!" his mother chided with a laugh. "You'll make yourself too sick to work!"

Izuku came to a still and sheepishly smiled. "Sorry…"

She reached over to ruffle his hair. "Oh, don't be like that! Just slow down and enjoy your meal! We still have the rest of the day to finish up."

Izuku tried his best to suppress a frown. While it was true that he had made an incredible amount of progress in clearing out the section of the beach All Might assigned for him to clean and was nearly done with a couple months to spare, it still bothered him to see the beach in such a state of disarray. He knew that All Might wouldn't want him to push himself, however, and that his mother would likely yell at him for putting his body under such strain when he was already training heavily.

"Do you think I'll finish in time for the exam?" Izuku asked her after taking another bite of his lunch.

His mother nodded. "Without a doubt! You've been making an incredible amount of progress!"

Izuku couldn't help but stare at the mountains of trash in front of them both. While he knew deep down that trying to clear the whole beach by himself would probably prove too much for his body, he would be lying if he said that he didn't sometimes sneak some stuff from outside his assigned section to the pile for transport.

'If only I had more time,' he thought, frowning a bit.

His mother's hand fell onto his shoulder, nearly making him jump out of his skin. "I know you want to do more, sweetie. But, now's not the time for you to be getting ahead of yourself. You gotta stay on track."

Izuku sighed. "Yeah, I know…"

"Oh, don't worry, Izuku," his mother assured him with a smile, "there will be plenty of opportunities for you to come back and finish the beach clean up down the line. You can't rush that sort of progress, especially by yourself." Then, she gasped and clapped her hands together excitedly. "Maybe we could organize a beach clean up crew and get other people involved!"

Izuku chuckled. "It would be nice to have an extra pair of hands with the other sections."

Still, Izuku couldn't quite erase the voice in the back of his mind that was telling him he wasn't doing enough. If he was really going to inherit a Quirk as powerful as All Might's, then shouldn't he be working himself a bit harder? He already knew that his body was going to struggle to handle the power when he got it, but surely there was something he could do to make sure it wasn't such a shock to the system. Even with All Might's adjusted diet and exercise plan, there wasn't a guarantee that he would be ready to inherit All Might's power when the time eventually came for it. What exactly was going to happen when he tried to use his Quirk for the first time? Would his limbs really shoot off his body or was that an exaggeration made by All Might? Just what exactly—

"Izuku, honey, you're mumbling," his mother cut in gently.

Izuku slapped his hand over his mouth, nearly dropping his chopsticks in the process. As a hot wave of embarrassment washed over his cheeks, his mother squeezed his shoulder with a giggle.

"Sweetie, I know you're worried," she told him, "but you're the one who told me to trust All Might with his training for you, remember? I suggest you do the same, too."

Izuku's hand fell from his face. "I know, but—"

"Izuku," his mother interjected, her voice firm, but not unkind, "you have to remember that this is all a part of the process . You're not going to get where you need to overnight." She turned towards the section that Izuku had been clearing out. "I mean, just look at what you've done here in just a few months. I can't imagine how bad it looked before."

"It was pretty bad," Izuku conceded. He shuddered a bit. "There was a fridge that was deadbolted shut by chains that All Might and I couldn't get open that we're pretty sure had something that used to be alive in there."

His mother's face scrunched up a bit, but she decided not to dwell on it. "The point I'm trying to make is that you're not going to reach the end goal right away. This is a marathon, not a sprint." She gave his shoulder another squeeze. "Just take it a little at a time. One foot after the other and you'll get there in due time."

"One foot after the other," Izuku repeated to himself. He closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. He knew that she was right; All Might hadn't made his hero debut until he had already graduated from U.A. and even then, he was still figuring some things out and had to build himself up from the ground up like any other hero. Meanwhile, Izuku hadn't even started his first year or even had One For All yet.

He still had a ways to go before he'd make it to his end goal.

"Just remember you're not doing this alone," his mother told him. She slid her arm around his shoulders in a hug. "I'll be right here to cheer you on when you're still figuring this stuff out!"

Izuku smiled. "Thanks, Mom. I'm really happy you're out here with me."

She released him. "Now, let's finish our lunch so you can start back up again! We gotta be ready for whatever All Might has planned for his lessons!"

Toshinori had no idea what he had planned for his lessons.

Trying to come up with a curriculum to teach at U.A. was much easier said than done, even with Nedzu's assistance on the matter. The two of them had put aside time on select afternoons to meet up and discuss potential plans for the upcoming semester, from grading scales to assignments that could potentially coincide with other projects going on in the students' other classes. Nedzu had a plethora of ideas to include, which was both a blessing and a curse, as it made it hard to choose which ones would make the cut for the final plan.

"Alright, so how do we feel about the Sports Festival evaluation project?" Nedzu asked him. He held up a makeshift rubric he made, his writing a pristine print. "The students could watch the Festival and write about which students they would choose for their own agency and why. It might also give students some feedback on what they might need to change or work on."

Toshinori arched a brow. "Hm, that's an interesting idea. Though, would students be alright with having to take notes for an assignment during a school event?"

Nedzu waved a hand. "Oh, I'm sure it'll be fine! Besides, it'll be a good way to make sure students pay mind to their classmates and what they're capable of. Being a Pro does involve working with others and seeing how you might fit together, after all."

"That's true," Toshinori replied. The corner of his lip quirked up a bit. "If young Midoriya gets in, he'd have a field day with that assignment."

"He would ," Nedzu agreed, chuckling a bit, "I imagine he'd have notes on every single one of his classmates."

Toshinori let out a small chuckle himself. "He's observant, that's for sure."

Nedzu smiled. "Speaking of, how is he faring under our new training program? Is he making great progress?"

Instantly, Toshinori felt his smile drop. While it was true that his successor had been doing an incredible job with his training and was well on his way to meeting the goals that Toshinori set out for him, the joy that Toshinori thought he would feel was instead occupied by dread.

"Is something the matter?" Nedzu asked, stirring him out of his thoughts. "Has young Midoriya been struggling?"

Toshinori let out a sigh. "No… Quite the opposite, actually."

Nedzu tilted his head curiously. "You seem worried. What's on your mind?"

"It's…" Toshinori began, trying to find the words to say, "it's complicated . Young Midoriya is getting closer and closer to finishing his section of the beach and he's been staying on top of his exercises, but…"

"You don't think he's ready yet?" Nedzu guessed.

Toshinori shook his head. "No. I don't think I'm ready yet."

Despite the swell of pride in his chest at the initiative his successor was showing, he faltered as he realized that would mean young Midoriya would receive his Quirk and they would begin training on One For All. He had his diet and exercise regimen for young Midoriya down to heart and he knew logistically speaking what the next steps were supposed to be when it came to training him, but that didn't mean that he was necessarily ready for when they got to those next steps or that he even had a clear vision in mind for how he would go about teaching his successor.

'It'll only be a matter of time before he's finished with his section of the beach,' Toshinori thought to himself. He was certain that if he had a full stomach, it would be churning at the very thought. He wanted to believe that Midoriya would be ready to begin training on his new Quirk, but Toshinori knew from experience that the months of training that went into training his body wouldn't necessarily factor into his first day with One For All. Setting a solid foundation didn't mean that young Midoriya would be able to stick the landing right off the bat.

"Ah, I see," Nedzu said finally, "you're worried that you won't be preparing him for how to use your Quirk properly, are you?"

Toshinori sighed. "I… I know he'll find his way. He's a tenacious young boy and he's already proven his merit, but…" He clasped his hands in front of him anxiously. "What if he hurts himself, Nedzu? What if I tell him to do the wrong thing and it ends up causing irreparable damage to him?"

"Your Quirk is very powerful," Nedzu affirmed, his brows furrowing, "and we still don't know just how strong it'll be once you finally pass it down to young Midoriya. Trial and error is to be expected, but it would be good to minimize the likelihood of such errors having a lasting negative impact." He reached for his teacup and gave it a stir. "Tell me, how did you fare when you received your Quirk?"

"Very well, actually," Toshinori answered, "I didn't really struggle with it at all. It came… pretty natural to me."

Toshinori had been lucky; after fumbling a bit, he took to One For All rather quickly. The Quirk felt like an extension of himself and his ability to manipulate it was intuitive, even at the beginning. His mentor had barely needed to give him instruction on how to use it before he got the hang of it and he only needed small adjustments for how he used it, which had been wonderful for him when he was a student. Now, decades later, he had nothing to fall back on to use for when he became a teacher himself, his own mentor's words giving him little to pass onto young Midoriya.

'I wish I could talk to her,' Toshinori mused, his frown deepening. Even when Gran Torino took over his training after he lost his mentor, everything that Toshinori learned with him always circled back to what he learned with his late mentor. Gran Torino's training was more focused on increasing strength and stamina so that he could effectively attack and defend against opponents while using One For All, his attack drills becoming pure muscle memory to Toshinori that he slipped into without thought. Still, he couldn't imagine doing the same process with young Midoriya, especially so early in his training when they weren't certain how his body could handle the Quirk.

"I see," Nedzu commented. He brought his cup to his lips and took a small sip. "So, you're worried that if Midoriya faces any complications you won't be prepared to handle them due to not having firsthand experience with it?"

"Yes," Toshinori replied, "I fear I won't be able to provide any meaningful feedback for him to incorporate into his training." He let out a sigh. "And I can't exactly ask my mentor for advice on the matter, either."

Nedzu tilted his head. "What about Gran Torino? Maybe he could give you some tips."

Instantly, Toshinori's entire body tensed up. "That… That might not be a good idea."

"Ah, scared he'll run your boy off?" Nedzu teased. He chuckled and set his cup down on the table. "Understandable. It might be a bit too soon to ask for his input when Midoriya has only just begun his journey."

"So what do I do, then?" Toshinori questioned. He brought a hand to his face with a ragged sigh. "I've only ever been the student , not the teacher, and that was decades ago. How am I supposed to teach him like my mentor did me?" His eyes fell down to the sheets of paper covered in curriculum plans and he grimaced. "How am I supposed to teach a whole class if I can't handle one student?"

Nedzu offered him a kind smile. "I know you don't like to worry, All Might. But, the fact that you're worried means that you care and that's invaluable to a teacher." He leaned forward and placed his chin on his interlocked paws. "And judging from how you speak of your mentor, it seems like she cared an awful lot, too, didn't she?"

Despite his anxiety, Toshinori smiled. "She did… She cared so much ." Then, his frown returned. "But she also seemed to know what she was doing more than I do now. When I was with her, everything just… it just made sense . Anytime I had a question, she seemed to know just what to say to get me to understand it."

"Did she always have it right off the bat?" Nedzu asked.

"Well…" Toshinori drawled. "No, but if I didn't get it, she'd say it in a way that made sense."

"So, she adjusted her way of teaching to suit you," Nedzu confirmed.

Toshinori arched his brow. "What's your point?"

Nedzu smiled knowingly. "The best teachers know when and how to adapt, All Might. Sticking to one method isn't always going to cut it and can sometimes slow progress. The reason why you were able to take to your mentor's training so quickly is because she was able to mold her teaching to you, not vice versa." That glint still shone in his eyes. "How do you think young Midoriya would like to learn from you?"

A snort escaped Toshinori. "He'd probably like to hear every single thing I could possibly tell him so he could write it all down."

"So why not tell him, then?" Nedzu replied.

Toshinori blinked. "What?"

"If he processes information better by writing it down, then let him," Nedzu told him, "he's a very smart boy, All Might. You'd be doing him a disservice not to let him use that to his fullest capability. As long as he isn't pettifogging, it'll be good to take the time to answer whatever questions he may have."

"Pettifogging?" Toshinori repeated.

"Focusing on petty details," Nedzu clarified, "but it's also important to remember that sometimes, the devil is in the details. He'll do much better with the full picture of what he's working with in mind." He perked up with a small gasp. "Oh, maybe you could let him do an in-depth profile on you and your Quirk! He'd love that."

"He would, wouldn't he?" Toshinori murmured, chuckling a bit.

Nedzu gave him a warm smile. "Just remember, All Might. I'm here to help you if you ever need it. Don't be afraid to come to me about any concerns you have with young Midoriya." He picked up his teacup and took another sip. "Now, how about we get back to getting a handle on your first semester's curriculum?"

As Nedzu began to rummage through the papers, Toshinori's mind kept replaying his advice. It sounded so simple when Nedzu said it and yet, Toshinori couldn't help but feel inadequate. He was the Number One Hero and Symbol of Peace, the eighth in line of holders to One For All, but despite all of that, he struggled to teach his own successor. The power of One For All was not something to be taken lightly and while the responsibility associated with it had lessened significantly in light of All For One's demise, that didn't make the task of teaching a successor any less daunting. He could only hope that young Midoriya wouldn't ever have to face a villain like the one who he and his predecessors had fought against for generations.

'There's still so much he doesn't know,' Toshinori thought. His hand came to his injured side and his fingers curled around the fabric of his shirt. 'But what good would telling him of All For One do?'

He didn't remember much from his fight with All For One. When he stepped up against the man who took his mentor and the predecessors before her from the world, he tried his best not to let emotions get the better of him. However, he underestimated the levels of low his opponent would stoop to in order to defeat him and before he knew it, he found himself in the fight of his life. Everything that came before fell completely dark in the wake of the devastating blow that left him on the brink of death, his only clear memory of the being the end. Despite how much Toshinori hated All For One for what he had done, he hated him the most for forcing him to commit such an act to end their fight.

"So, did you have any questions about the curriculum?" Nedzu questioned, startling Toshinori out of his thoughts. He peered at Toshinori with his head tilted curiously. "I feel like this is a solid start for your first semester here at U.A."

Trying his best to quiet the storm in his head, Toshinori put on a smile. "Sure. Would you like to look at the second semester?"

As the two of them continued to brainstorm and sort the curriculum out, Toshinori found himself circling back to his previous concerns. Would he really be able to adjust his teaching style to suit Midoriya and aid him in his journey to mastering One For All? Would he be able to navigate the potential errors that come with the young boy's trial run of the Quirk? And would he be able to handle the responsibility of teaching him while working at U.A.?

'There's a lot I have to tell him,' Toshinori thought, 'if only I knew where to begin.'

A/N: Next chapter is gonna be Izuku focused and I am *so hyped* to share it. We're gonna be getting into the meat of it, y'all.