Chapter Summary: The situation in the central plaza begins to escalate.

Tomura had to say, this wasn't a part of his agenda. He had come in with a very clear plan on how he wanted things to go and things were not going that way. So much preparation and planning went into making sure that they would be ready for All Might's arrival and when it turned out he wasn't even working at U.A. to begin with, Tomura would be the first to admit he didn't react well. Kurogiri scolded him for breaking a glass while he sulked at the bar upon returning to the hideout, his neck left stinging from his incessant scratching. His declaration of war towards U.A. had all been for nothing… That was, until his master gave him a flicker of hope.

"He was in the city," he told him, "he was seen handling incidents down in Musutafu when his agency is all the way in Minato, Tokyo." His master's chuckle crackled through the feed. "I'm sure if you make enough of a ruckus, he'll come down…"

So make a ruckus he did. Sadly, it seemed that everything seemed out to get him, since he had to deal with the unfortunate inclusion of Eraserhead. He wasn't even on the schedule they took from the school, so why was he there? Why did he have to come in and make everything so much harder? Why did he have to be so cool?

It was unfair. All of it was unfair.

Now, as he was getting ready to leave a parting gift for the supposed Symbol of Peace to find, whether it be in person or through word of mouth, the very same nobody who got everyone in a tizzy for nothing was standing against him. Tomura didn't see the hype, if he were honest. What kind of a fool could confuse the sack of bones before him for All Might? If Tomura didn't hate the man so much, he might argue it was disrespectful.

"What's the matter?" Tomura questioned as the man continued to stare him down. His eyes looked him over from the dirt on his leather shoes to his crumpled suit that hung from his thin frame. He must have encountered some trouble on the way to the plaza, Tomura concluded. "Not going to say anything? That's not very polite ."

"Neither is showing up uninvited ," came the man's quick reply. His fists were clenched at his side and his jaw was set, his piercing blue eyes locked onto Tomura's form. Was he planning on trying something? What was his Quirk? Tomura didn't know, he didn't get the chance to check anyone's files at U.A. That was a misstep he wouldn't admit to, though, not when in the face of the enemy. "You should never have come here."

Tomura chuckled. " Careful now… You're not in a position to be making any demands." His eyes trailed over to Eraserhead, who had fallen limp with exhaustion beneath the Nomu. "Wouldn't want anything bad to happen to your friend, now would we? Well… nothing else bad, anyway."

The man's hands shook at his sides and Tomura smiled behind his hand. That was the funny thing about heroes; they were always dead set on trying to save everyone for the sake of their own conscience. No reasonable person would willingly put another's life in danger, let alone someone who was in U.A. 's employment.

"It was Shigaraki, wasn't it?" the man said suddenly, causing Tomura's smile to drop with surprise. The tremor didn't leave the man's hands, but he still held his gaze as if they were on the same playing ground. Tomura found that interesting. "I thought I heard your companion call you that… Is that your name, young man?"

"Young man." That was… unbelievably formal. Tomura would dare to say it was too polite for the current situation. He found that interesting, too.

"And why do you care?" Tomura replied. "Were you hoping to exchange pleasantries?"

The man shook his head. "No. I was merely wondering… Since you're the one behind this, that means you probably know who I am. You were the one who let the press in as a distraction… Weren't you?"

Tomura briefly recalled seeing the man's face on the news before he turned it off in a rage. He didn't care to remember the man's name, considering he was a nobody.

"You were on the news," Tomura responded, "all that fuss over nothing… You can imagine why I find that frustrating." He tilted his head. "But I'm afraid I didn't catch your name… Not that it matters, especially once we're done here."

"Oh, that's a shame," the man said, and Tomura couldn't stop himself from blinking, "allow me to rectify that." It was a fascinating thing, watching someone so tall try to make themselves so small. "I'm Sensei Yagi. As I'm sure you know from the news, I'm a new faculty member here at U.A. I must say, this isn't how I was expecting my first week to go."

With all the work that Tomura and his companions had done to instill fear during their visit down at the U.S.J. building, Tomura had to admit, he was a bit struck by how calm the stranger before him was acting. It might have been impressive to him if not for the fact that he shouldn't be that composed to begin with. Even Eraserhead had been shaking and buckled when Nomu took care of him, but the man in front of him saw that and was still standing before him, not bowing down and pleading for mercy. It wasn't right. He didn't have the right to be so calm when he was faced with such danger.

"Life is full of surprises," Tomura drawled, raising one of his hands. He stared down at the dry skin that he would spend hours picking at and clenched his fist. "Not that it matters… Since you won't live to see anymore."

"Ah," the man said, and oh, the casualness to his tone made Tomura want to dig his nails into his palm, "so you still plan on killing us?"

Tomura growled. "Why? You don't think we will? You think you can stop us somehow?"

"Oh, no," the skeletal man replied, holding up his hands. His eyes trailed over to Eraserhead and he grimaced. "I have no doubt that you can… I just don't understand why you would want to do that."

"Shigaraki, why are you wasting your time–" Kurogiri tried to say,

"Of course you don't," Tomura shot back, ignoring his companion, "you can't possibly begin to understand. You're so disillusioned by the world of heroes that you can't see the dark shadows that they cast…" His eyes cut to the children who stood by, their costumes drenched from the water. "If I knock out a few lights, I'm sure it will dim the Symbol of Peace's spirit and wound his pride ."

He expected to be met with anger. He expected to be met with fear. He expected to even be met with violence. However, the skeleton of a man merely closed his eyes and inhaled sharply.

"So that's it, then," he uttered softly, startling Tomura, "you want to make a statement."

Then, when he opened his eyes, Tomura went very, very still. Something deeply primal in him recognized the emotion that stirred within the man's piercing blue eyes as something akin to anger, but he didn't think it was that simple. It was something far more potent, perhaps something as old as the joints on his hands that were knotted from age and use. Only a hero was capable of being audacious enough to meet danger with such emotion, but it was not with a bright smile or a fist raised to the sky for the public to eat up with adoration. The man before him had seen terrible things– he had to have to be this calm when facing off against Tomura.

"Well, then," the man continued, "I would say you accomplished just that… This was quite the feat."

…Oh? That wasn't what he was expecting to hear.

"You managed to break into here," the man went on, "not only that, but you collected so many people… That's not an easy task. Gangs of villains can be so volatile." His eyes scanned the area around them briefly. "And yet you gathered so many… and they were willing to carry out your orders with no issue. That takes a lot of trust… Most villains don't have that."

Despite the twinge of mistrust that itched at the back of his mind, Tomura found himself listening. It was true that gathering villains to work under him was an issue. The recruitment process was more focused on numbers than abilities, but getting everyone to listen and follow his lead was a hearty task. Even the mighty Yakuza had fallen from its once powerful status due to infighting and were toeing the line to extinction in modern society; Tomura didn't want the same for his own organization.

"I'd say you already wounded his pride just by doing that," the man told him. He sounded… sincere. It was spoken with a level of dreariness, one that Tomura didn't know because he didn't idolize All Might like the rest of the world. "He managed to get the crime rates down to six percent and yet, you were able to do this. You gathered people who are only out for themselves to work together to accomplish a task many would think foolish… Your mere mission and existence is sure to bother him."

Tomura's eyebrows raised up. 'What a curious thing you are, old man…'

"Shigaraki, we should–" Kurogiri started up.

"It was Yagi, wasn't it?" Tomura cut in. He straightened up his posture and ignored the way his spine creaked at the unusual position for him. "You sound so sure of yourself… Why is that?"

Yagi adjusted his footing. "Well… he's the Symbol of Peace. The whole reason he does what he does is to deter crime… But he's not even here. He's just so busy ." Tomura thought back to all the news reports of All Might's grand rescues and dashing heroics that happened during the morning alone. He really was so busy all the time, it was so irritating . "If he were to come in here and see what you did, only to find you were gone… Well, he would hate to see he wasn't fast enough."

Tomura almost arched his brow. "You say that like you know him… Are you just making this up?"

"No!" Yagi exclaimed. He seemed surprised at his own outburst and quickly withdrew his hands to his chest. "I… I say that because…"

"Because you what? " Tomura snapped. "Are you another fan of his? You think because you idolize him that you know him?"

The man looked back up at him. "I… I used to work for him… I worked at his agency as a secretary."

Tomura blinked. An employee of All Might's? That was… Well, it was certainly interesting , if he did say so himself.

"You could be lying," Kurogiri countered. His burning yellow eyes fell onto Tomura. "He could be lying , Shigaraki."

Tomura tilted his head. "You used to work for him, did you? Tell me… What was he like?"

Yagi exhaled a laugh through his nose. "Where do I begin? He would drink so much coffee in the morning, it was no wonder he was always so eccentric when he was out working. I don't know how he doesn't have a heart murmur– I don't drink coffee anymore because of it. Doctors say it's not good for me." His shoulders shook when he rubbed the back of his head with a chuckle. "And he's so bad with paperwork… I had quite a handful to deal with because of him."

It was so strange to hear someone talk about All Might so casually– Tomura knew logistically that All Might had peons under his command, but to hear from one straight from the source was like getting a peek behind the curtain. How much time had he spent with All Might? How much did he know?

"Interesting…" Tomura murmured. Then, a weak groan drew his attention back to Eraserhead and he frowned. "I bet if I killed one of his hero friends, he'd be very upset, too… Heroes are always so upset when they lose one of their own."

"Oh," Yagi uttered, far too softly for him to be terrified, "I… I don't know if that will work since…"

Tomura did raise a brow that time. "Since what? "

Yagi fiddled with his fingers. "They… don't get along. All Might and Eraserhead." He shrugged a bit awkwardly. "Mainstream heroes and underground heroes… They live in different worlds. I think he'd be more upset that Eraserhead did all the work before he could get here."

"Oh, really? " Tomura replied. He should have figured the Symbol of Peace would be petty about something like that– he was just so prideful . "Makes sense… He just doesn't know when to quit, does he?"

"I suppose so," Yagi said quietly. He continued to toy with his fingers– it was a nervous tic that Tomura knew well from when he was stressed. "So… I don't think that you'll be gaining anything by killing anyone… If you leave Eraserhead alive, he'll recover and people will talk about how brave he was for standing against all of you… All while everyone asks where All Might was."

Oh. That was a fun idea. But still… "And why shouldn't we just go ahead and do it?"

The old man clenched his fists. "Because if you do, then it'll be set in stone forever. You won't be able to take it back. It'll be a simple fact, just another statistic." He tilted his head. "But if you leave… You'll leave him wondering what you could have done. And when you think about all the way things could have gone wrong…" He lifted his eyes up to meet Tomura's. "Well, that can drive even the best of men to insanity."

Oh… Oh, that was diabolical . Tomura took everything back, he liked this guy. He was giving him so much to work with. It would be one thing to end All Might in a physical sense, but to end his sense of pride by showing what he could do and just getting away… That sounded downright devious .

"Shigaraki, why are we wasting our time with him?" Kurogiri growled, snapping him out of his thoughts. "We have to finish this."

"So leave then," Yagi suggested, and just like that, the tension returned to Tomura's shoulders. However, the man did not take on a defiance stance and merely held his gaze. "You've done so much already… You did something no one would ever dare to do and it worked … Well, I suppose, except for…"

Tomura's hand paused at his neck. "Except for what? Don't be shy now, we've already spent so much time getting to know each other."

Yagi's gaze flickered down briefly, his hands clasped together. "You want to kill All Might. You said as much when you came here… You came here despite knowing he wasn't at U.A. because you hoped he would come."

"Well, he didn't," Tomura snapped. Then, he thought back to what Kurogiri told him before and he scratched just a bit harder. "But I'll bet he's on his way now that one of your brats managed to sneak out to go get help."

"He might have gotten there by now," Kurogiri noted, causing Tomura's shoulders to raise higher with tension, "he had a speed Quirk."

Tomura growled. "Did he, now? How convenient for you to leave that out…"

"Or perhaps it was a mistake on your end," Yagi pointed out.

With a blink, Tomura reeled back on him. " What was that?"

"You didn't know he had a speed Quirk," Yagi clarified, adjusting his posture. He stood up a bit straighter and stopped fiddling with his hands. He wasn't nervous; he was completely calm, almost like he was right where he wanted to be. "Just like you didn't know anyone's Quirks except for Thirteen's, since she's a Pro. Just like you didn't know that Eraserhead would be here because of the security breach you caused." Tomura flinched at that. "Just like you didn't even know who I was before today."

"What's your point? " Tomura demanded. "So there were little hiccups– Are you saying that your heroes' plans always go off without a hitch?" He scoffed and scratched at his neck. "Besides… What do you matter? Are you saying that you're a threat? "

Then, to his utter surprise, the skeleton of a man smiled at him. It was not a brave smile or even a humorous one, it was… knowing. Like he was in on a secret that Tomura would never know.

"You didn't know who I was," the man repeated, far too calm for Tomura's liking, "and you didn't know what everyone's Quirks were…" Then, he spread his lips in a wide smile and Tomura saw blood in his mouth. "It seems that there's a lot you don't know, young man."

A growl rose out of Tomura's throat until it ripped out of him in a scream. "You don't know a goddamn thing –"

"Get away from him!" shouted an unknown voice.

"Young Midoriya, no– " Yagi tried to exclaim.

The old man's warning went unheeded. "Smash!"

Suddenly, Nomu took up residence at his side, its hulking form creating a shield around his form. The air blew around Tomura like a cyclone so viciously that it would have surely knocked him over were it not for his pet's loyalty. Glass shattered off in the distance and he thought he heard some of his followers scream in terror over the loud wind. Finally, it simmered down enough for him to straighten up. As he adjusted the hand on his face, he turned towards his attempted attacker and tilted his head curiously.

'It's one of the brats,' he realized, 'I completely forgot about them…' Tomura scratched at his neck. 'That was exactly what that bastard wanted… He played me. That's not fair .'

"You're pretty powerful," he said to the boy, who was frozen with fear in front of Nomu, "this 'smash' of yours… Sounds like you're a fan of All Might. " He ceased scratching and looked up to meet the gaze of the bag of bones who dared to defy him. Then, Tomura gave him a smile. "Doesn't matter… I'm done with you now."

"No!" Yagi screamed as he reached out towards the impotent boy.

Nomu grabbed the brat, eliciting an ungodly shriek that might have made Tomura smile were it not for the blow that hit him right in the gut shortly after. The air came billowing out of his lungs like a dragon breath and he gasped aloud while fire surged up his torso. His eyes searched wildly for the source of the hit, but the only person in his sights was the man, his hand still outstretched with meters still between them.

'Is that his Quirk?' Tomura thought. He let out a growl as he tried to catch his breath. 'How did he–'

His musings were robbed from him blind when another blow knocked the hand off his face and he let out an involuntary yelp. He went down with a choked gasp and fell to the ground, his face suddenly left bare as his hand fell from his face. With shaking hands and deep gulps of breath, Tomura scrambled to grab his hand before he found himself lifted off the ground.

"N-N–" he tried to say, his words failing him. Too late, he saw his companion in the middle of tossing away his new plaything and Tomura clawed at the air desperately. "Nom–"

Then, for the briefest of moments, Tomura was weightless. He was very quickly reacquainted with gravity, however, when he landed in the water. It took him precious moments to find out it was shallow and he quickly regained his footing, his eyes wide with terror as he broke through the surface of the water and pushed his way over to the edge. Through shaky breaths, he searched wildly for that messy head of blond hair, only to see he was gone from sight.

'Where is he?' he thought. 'Did he run off after making such a cheap move with his Quirk?'

Then, a loud BOOM! echoed throughout the U.S.J., accompanied by a dust cloud that took form within the center plaza. Tomura shielded his eyes from it and raked his nails down his neck. Had another one of the brats decided to make his life harder?

"Have no fear, students," growled out a low, but booming voice. Familiarity shot up Tomura's spine and he went still as the dust began to settle down, revealing the silhouette that haunted his dreams and drove his waking moments. Even if the man's voice hadn't registered as belonging to the focus of his ire, he would have recognized him by the long strands of hair that stood from his head like horns by a mile away.

'Speak of the devil…' Tomura mused. Somehow, despite everything, he managed to find a way to smile. 'And he shall appear.'

By simply straightening up his posture, the dust billowed away from All Might's form, revealing him completely. He stood before them in his costume, pristine and perfect as always, his arms occupied by the troublesome brat who Nomu tossed aside. But, Tomura realized quickly, he was not smiling.

"I am here," All Might snarled.

When All Might laid his sights onto him, Tomura's smile only grew. It looked like their little game was going to get a "Continue" after all.

For a very real moment there, Izuku legitimately thought that was going to be the end. All it took was one moment of pure, unrestrained anger to drive him to the point of acting and before he knew it, he found himself jumping into the fray. When he saw that villain's hand raised towards his mentor, he knew he couldn't stand by, he just couldn't . The full force of One For All exploded from his fist and, to his surprise, he hadn't broken his arm. That small victory wound up meaning absolutely nothing in the end, however, when the smoke cleared and he saw Nomu's blank stare gazing down upon him like a battle ax ready to fall forward. In one fluid movement, Izuku's arm was grabbed and twisted, promptly leaving him in excruciating pain as he was tossed aside like a used up chew toy. Despite the pain, he tried to brace himself for the inevitable impact…

But it never came.

Instead, he found himself pulled flush to a firm, muscular chest and he blinked up in surprise, only for his eyes to widen to the size of saucers. Looking down upon him was All Might– not as his teacher at U.A., but as the Symbol of Peace and Number One Hero. Tears threatened to blur his vision and he let out a weak, choked sob, relief and gratitude nearly leaving him helpless before he forced himself to forgo his pain and sit up.

"A-All Might…" he stammered out, his breaths shuddering. "Y-You're–"

Then, as he blinked back the tears, he went still. Gone was the picture perfect smile that graced the many posters that decorated Izuku's bedroom walls and in its place was a deep, unrestrained grimace. His bright, white teeth were bared like a predator in a face-off with its natural enemy and Izuku felt his relief shift into uneasiness.

"Y-You're not smiling," Izuku observed aloud. It felt so juvenile to say, but to him, it was akin to seeing a fireman without a uniform. All Might's smile was a permanent fixture of his person that everyone knew well– Izuku spent years practicing it in the mirror until he felt he got it right because he, like so many, adored it so much.

"I smile to trick the fear inside of me," his mentor had told him that fateful day on the roof, "it's just a brave face I put on when the pressure is high."

To Izuku, the pressure had never seemed higher , and yet, he wasn't smiling. Did that mean he wasn't trying to hide the fear? Or was he too focused to be afraid? Or perhaps…

"They hurt you," All Might growled angrily, his voice barely audible enough to be understood despite how close Izuku was to him. His eyes flickered down to Izuku's injured arm and his upper lip curled up in a snarl. "How bad is it?"

Before Izuku could try to reassure him, all it took was a small readjustment to make him bite back a cry. He peeked his eyes open through a wince to see his mentor's grimace only grow and watched as his angry eyes flicked upwards to meet Shigaraki's gaze from across the clearing. The villain was sopping wet– Izuku wasn't sure how that happened, he didn't see it– and his face was covered by one of his hands as he reached down for the ashen limb that had fallen from his face.

"After all this waiting…" Shigaraki drawled, chuckling a bit as he reattached the hand to his face. "the heroic piece of trash finally shows up–"

In a flash, Izuku was no longer within the villain's sights. All it took was a single blink and he found himself lumped beneath All Might's arm alongside Mineta and Tsuyu, who seemed just as surprised as he was. He gasped upon seeing Sensei Aizawa's messy mop of black hair hanging limply from All Might's other arm and bit his lip to keep from whimpering. Now that he was closer, he could see just how intense the damage to his arms were and he found himself looking away.

"I'm sorry, Aizawa," All Might murmured softly, the shift in tone so jarring in comparison to how angry he had been just seconds before, "I hope it's not too late…"

Then, with another blink, Izuku was standing on his feet. He wobbled for a second at the sudden shift before a hand on his good bicep righted him and forced him to stand upright. A wince crinkled his features briefly as All Might straightened his posture and gestured to them all without looking at them.

"Everybody, back to the entrance," All Might ordered, "and take Aizawa with you. He doesn't have much time."

Izuku heard a noise escape Shigaraki and turned to face him, only to go still. The villain's crimson eyes were burning with great emotion and his hand shook at his sides. Slowly, his fingers curled into the shape of claws and he growled.

"That liar ," he snarled, "he said you two hated each other."

The recollection of All Might's conversation with Shigaraki nearly made Izuku shudder. It had been absolutely terrifying to see his teacher face off against someone with such a destructive power while he was in such a weakened state and he was incredibly thankful that he was able to shift back into his heroic form. Still, that gratitude was quickly undercut by the heavy reminder of all the work All Might had done earlier that day alone, and while Izuku wasn't sure if he used up all his time, he knew that All Might had to be running low after everything he saw on the news.

"You all need to get out of here," All Might warned them, his voice low, "can you walk out of here alright and carry Aizawa?"

Tsuyu nodded. "Y-Yes…"

"But what about Sensei Yagi?" blurted out a high voice. Izuku blinked and looked left, then right to find the source, but was met with nothing. "Do you know where he is? He was here a second ago!"

Tsuyu's eyes widened. "Hagakure, is that you? "

"What?" barked out Shigaraki. He stared down the group of them and clenched his fists. "One of you is invisible? That's cheating! That's not fair! "

Izuku stared at Shigaraki's soaking form and he exhaled. 'So that was her… She's the one who threw him in the water.' He turned back to Nomu. 'I guess it didn't go for her since it was busy with me…'

"Yagi is alright," All Might assured Hagakure calmly. He regarded them from the corner of his eye and straightened up his posture. "I sent him to handle things elsewhere."

Tsuyu's brows furrowed. "But where did he–"

"There's no time for questions!" All Might proclaimed. He pointed to the exit. "You all need to get out of here! It's not safe here."

Mineta stared incredulously. "How did you even know to come here?"

"Iida," Izuku answered, recalling Kurogiri's statement from before. Despite how tense the situation was, he didn't want All Might's story to fall apart. "He went to get help. Someone must have called All Might and he beat them here."

All Might nodded. "I knew I couldn't wait, so I came here to get a handle on things. You've all been so brave while waiting for me… Now, get your teacher out of here. Time is running out."

Izuku's eyes trailed back over to Nomu and he felt his fear start to bubble up in his throat. "No, you can't ! I used One For–" He caught himself and amended his statement. "I-I smashed him and didn't break my arm this time, but it didn't do anything! He's too strong to–"

"Young man," All Might cut in. Then, he turned back to Izuku with a smile and it made his insides churn. That meant that he was afraid . "I got this!"

Unable to bring himself to argue, he slowly nodded. There wasn't much he could do to help– none of them could. They had gotten lucky when they fought those villains back at the shipwreck zone and he didn't even know what Hagakure and All Might had to do in order to escape where they were at. They were only able to escape now because All Might was the only one able to hold back the tide that was coming their way.

But how long would that hold?

It was hard, walking away from his mentor. He tried not to look back, because he didn't want to see what was coming, but when the first few blows came about, he couldn't stop himself. He listened to his classmates cheer for him while they carried Aizawa and he wished desperately that he could share their sentiments, but he couldn't bring himself to, not when he knew what he knew. He saw All Might's injury– he knew how bad it was and how he barely was able to crawl back from it over half a decade ago. He didn't know the evil that threatened to kill his mentor personally, but he knew enough to know that the force All Might was trying to hold back was not one he could hold forever. He was a powerful man, but when time ran out, he was just a man .

"Oh, God! " exclaimed Hagakure, breaking Izuku out of his thoughts. "Look!"

Then, when Izuku glanced back, he froze. As the dust cleared, he spotted All Might caught precariously over one of Kurogiri's portals, held firm by Nomu's monstrous hands. Even from where Izuku stood, he could see blood spread out from beneath its grip like a horrid rose blooming. Suddenly, the pain in his arm became a distant memory, his entire body left shuddering with a fear that ran so deep he felt like it would be the only thing he would ever feel again.

He didn't think– What was there to think about? It was All Might , and he needed help . The pain in his arm was a small price to pay as he ran back to his mentor at full speed and he knew that he was willing to break every bone in his body if it meant keeping his mentor safe. With grit teeth, he pulled his injured arm into his shirt as a makeshift sling to keep it out of the way while he ran, his heart pounding in his chest and his blood roaring in his ears. As his lungs began to burn, he had a flashback to the day he met All Might, when he found himself running into fire to pull Kacchan away from the same villain that threatened his own life.

'I couldn't do anything back then,' he thought as tears threatened to blur his vision, 'but I can do something about this now.'

Izuku knew what it felt like to be helpless; which is why he knew that he had to do everything he could to help All Might while he was in the same position.

Toshinori really had a way of cutting it close. Not just once, but multiple times, one right after the other so quickly that it nearly made his head spin. When he first saw Midoriya's tear-stained face come running back into danger with his injured arm tucked into his shirt, he knew that his protege wouldn't be able to stand up to the task by himself. Fear gripped his heart when a portal opened up before him and Toshinori was helpless to do anything but watch as the boy he came to know was subject to the same fate as him…

That was, until young Bakugou came into the fray.

Needless to say, the boy hadn't been too pleased to see Shigaraki and his associate again after he was sent to another part of the facility, and it seemed that Kirishima and Todoroki shared his sentiments when they jumped into action. As worried as he was for their safety and Bakugou's rising temper, Toshinori was nonetheless thankful for their interjection– not just for his sake, but for Midoriya's, as well. Still, him being free was only a flicker of hope in the darkness, and that became clear whenever Bakugou became their next target of the attack, prompting Toshinori to jump into action and take the blow in his stead.

In the end, the Nomu fell prey to Toshinori's fists. It took almost everything in Toshinori to make it happen, but he didn't care about himself, not when his students were still in danger. The only reason that the villains came that day was because of him and he wanted to make sure that they regretted that decision for the rest of their days, even if it meant destroying himself in the process. But in the face of the enemy, he stood tall and strong, the beacon of hope he spent years cultivating. For a brief moment, he thought that he might run out of time before the villains took their leave and he braced himself for the worst when Midoriya came to a desperate rescue until a gunshot alerted him to the arrival of his fellow Pros.

Toshinori allowed himself to finally shrink down as the chaos ensued– he couldn't hold it any longer if he wanted to. He let out a deep breath and with it, the tension in his chest began to lessen.

"Midoriya, hey!" exclaimed Kirishima.

Shakingly, Midoriya pushed himself up with his good arm– had he not broken it? He was two-for-two now, Toshinori realized. "Sorry, I… can't really get up that well."

"What?" Kirishima replied. "Are you alright?!"

Then, Toshinori's entire body went still. With the dust still billowing around them, he was still left covered, but he knew it wouldn't last forever. He had to do something, anything to keep the boy from coming closer. Right as Toshinori was in the midst of considering running away, however, a wall went up beside him.

"Hold up, children!" said a familiar, sing-song voice. "You should all hurry back to the entrance!"

Kirishima stopped in his tracks. "Oh, Principal Nedzu! Are you sure? Midoriya got pretty banged up."

Toshinori stood up straight as a board. 'Nedzu?'

"I'm quite sure, young man," Nedzu replied, his voice still kind, "besides, we have a handle on things here. You have nothing to worry about."

"For your safety, please stay back," added another voice. Toshinori turned to see Cementoss standing beside the wall with Nedzu perched on his shoulder, a briefcase hanging from his paws. "Leave the injured to us and meet back up with your class.

"Ah, I guess you're right," Kirishima replied, and Toshinori felt himself relax, "I guess we can let you guys and All Might take care of things here, huh? You took care of those villains like real Pros!"

A small chuckle from Nedzu was enough to cause tension to return to Toshinori's shoulders. "That's what we strive for. Now, run along! We've got this, young man."

"Yes, sir!" Kirishima responded. He heard rapidfire footsteps start to retreat. "It's cool, guys! Principal Nedzu told us to go to the entrance!"

Toshinori exhaled once the boy's voice faded from hearing range. "Thank goodness…"

"Now, now, you're not out of the woods yet ," Nedzu commented as he drew closer.

"You're telling me…" Toshinori replied, trying to hold back a cough. His eyes met with Cementoss' and he nodded. "Thank you… for covering for me. I appreciate it."

Cementoss tilted his head curiously. "It's not an issue. I'm actually quite the fan… Though I have to say, I wasn't expecting for us to meet like this." His gaze settled onto Midoriya. "Is it alright for the boy to see you like this?"

"It's quite alright indeed," Nedzu assured him, patting Cementoss on the shoulder, "young Midoriya can be trusted." He smiled. "Just as I know that you can be trusted."

Toshinori wilted just a bit. "I… I know how this looks, but–"

"You have nothing to worry about, sir," Cementoss told him, holding up a hand, "I already knew about your time limit… But I wasn't aware there was a transformation aspect to it. I understand that you don't want that to get out, so I'll be sure to keep quiet." He smiled at Toshinori knowingly. "It's not the only secret I've kept here at U.A."

Before Toshinori could ask what he meant by that, Nedzu chuckled again. "Bet you're glad you took my advice to wear a suit under your clothes, aren't you?"

"U-Um…" Midoriya said quietly. "Where, uh, are they, by the way? You might want to change back into them before someone sees you."

Toshinori's eyes widened. " Shit . I tossed them somewhere, but I don't know where–" He went still when a shock of pain went up his side. "Damn it…"

"Don't worry, I figured this might happen," Nedzu told him, causing Toshinori to turn to him. He smiled at him and held up his briefcase. "Once I heard there was an attack, I knew you'd try to step in and handle things, so I brought a change of clothes just to be safe." He cracked it open, confirming its contents. "Now, let's get you down to the infirmary– Recovery Girl should be here soon to take care of you both."

A frown settled on Toshinori's lips. "She's not going to be happy with me…"

Nedzu let out a bubbly laugh. "When is she ever? You keep her hands full, don't you?" He turned to Midoriya and his smile faded. "I see you got hurt again… Did you lose control?"

"N-No…" Midoriya told him. He looked down at his injured arm and grimaced. "My arm got broken by one of the villains…"

Toshinori's lips drew into a thin line. He wished that he had been able to prevent that– he should have been able to do more .

"Oh, dear ," Nedzu replied emphatically, "well, we'll just have to get you fixed up, then. I imagine once the adrenaline wears off, you're going to be feeling that."

Not caring to make the clothes look nice, Toshinori tugged them on quickly and covered up his suit. It had gotten torn pretty badly during the battle and he knew he was going to need a replacement for the future. Once he was dressed, he stood up with a groan.

"Easy," Cementoss chided lightly, "seriously, All Might… that could have been really bad for you."

Toshinori grimaced as he held his side. "I had to act recklessly or else things would have been bad for everyone… " He thought back to how he watched Nomu toss Midoriya aside like a ragdoll after he broke his arm and then to how Bakugou was nearly pummeled by the same creature. "They didn't hold back… They were willing to kill everyone here just to prove a point ."

When he saw what they did to his protege, he didn't think. What was there to think about? He was just thankful he managed to sneak off and change into his heroic form in time to prevent any further damage, even if it did shave off a good chunk of time. His eyes settled onto Midoriya's broken form and his eyes softened.

'I'm just glad that he's safe,' he thought. Then, his eyes went to the entrance, where a good chunk of his students were. 'I'm glad they all are.'

"Come now," Nedzu interjected gently, breaking him out of his thoughts, "let's get you out of here… the other teachers can handle things while we're gone."

Slowly, Toshinori nodded and allowed Nedzu to take the lead after he hopped off of Cementoss' shoulder. He scooped Midoriya up and carefully hauled him up to his feet, only pausing when the boy whimpered.

"Sorry," Cementoss apologized softly, "things are going to feel better in a little bit, alright?"

Midoriya nodded tiredly. "A-Alright…"

"Recovery Girl will fix you up," Toshinori told him as he joined them at their side. He offered him what he hoped to be a comforting smile. "You were very brave today… And you helped save me when it counted." Then, his smile weakened. "But please , don't you ever scare me like that again, alright?"

A breathy laugh escaped Midoriya and he closed his eyes. "I could say the same thing for you… You had me really scared when you talked to that guy…"

"Oh, you didn't have to worry about that," Toshinori reassured, "I knew I just needed to keep him busy… He may have a powerful Quirk, but I wouldn't say he's a mastermind by any means."

Ever since he and Hagakure's arrival to the scene, he could tell that Shigaraki was not as intimidating as he tried to make himself out to be. He practically threw a tantrum whenever his companion told him that a student got away and he knew that if he said the right things, he could get his attention. He was like a child– easily distracted and entertained by notions that fed into his ego. However, that didn't assuage the way that Toshinori's nerves were practically on fire, begging for him to do something as his associate laid prone on the ground, bleeding from horrendous injuries.

'I hope Aizawa is able to recover,' he thought as they made their way down to the infirmary, 'and Thirteen, as well… they both fought valiantly.'

"I hate to ask this," Cementoss cut in suddenly, causing Toshinori to look up, "but why exactly did you hide your identity?"

Toshinori frowned. "It was... meant to be a security measure. I figured if I was here as All Might, U.A. would fall under scrutiny, but…" He grimaced as he recalled the press' intrusion at the school, which felt so long ago after the day he had. "I suppose that wasn't enough ."

"Did the villains see you transform?" Nedzu questioned.

"No," Toshinori answered, "I managed to duck down in time to switch out while young Hagakure kept Shigaraki busy." He let out a long exhale. "She really gave me a scare when she did that. I thought she was still hiding before she came out of nowhere."

Nedzu chuckled. "Ah, that's the girl with the invisibility Quirk, is it? Good thing she was there to help you!"

Toshinori nodded. "It was…" Then, he stiffened up a bit as he recalled their conversation from earlier. "Ah, Principal, actually… About young Hagakure–"

" There you are!" exclaimed a familiar, grouchy voice. Toshinori found himself shrinking down as Recovery Girl's silhouette came into view and he sheepishly waved at her. "Oh, Yagi, you and that boy are going to be the death of me!"

"Stand down, Recovery Girl," Cementoss expressed as they drew closer. Midoriya ducked down behind him and Toshinori couldn't really blame him for it. "These two have had a hard day… Give them some time before you scold them."

Recovery Girl tutted. "Your arm… Did you lose control of your Quirk again?"

"One of the villains twisted and broke his arm," Toshinori told her, trying to ignore the way his insides twisted at the reminder, "I imagine that's going to be tricky to treat."

Almost instantly, the old woman's eyes softened. "I see… Well, come on in. No sense in waiting."

"Do you need us to stay?" Nedzu asked. He watched from the corner of his eye while Cementoss set Midoriya down under Recovery Girl's watchful gaze. "I can always check in with the others later."

Toshinori shook his head. "No… Go make sure everyone is alright. We can talk later."

Nedzu nodded. "I understand. Come along, Cementoss. The others are going to need us."

"Right, sir," Cementoss replied. Then, his eyes fell onto Toshinori, causing him to freeze. "And don't worry about me, All Might. I don't plan on telling anyone about what I saw today. I understand that you don't want that to get out."

The tension in Toshinori's shoulders lessened. "Thank you… I appreciate it." He found it in him to smile. "You're allowed to call me Yagi, though."

Cementoss blinked. "Oh. Are you sure? I-I wouldn't want to–"

"We're colleagues , Cementoss," Toshinori said gently, "you won't be disrespecting me by calling me my name. I promise."

His associate smiled back at him. "Thank you, sir. Try to heal up, alright?"

With the pain in his injured side still throbbing, Toshinori tried not to let his smile drop. "I'll do my best."

A/N: Whew. So we've neared the end of the USJ Arc. Now, I can imagine some of you are wondering: "Why did this play out similarly to canon?" While trying to reimagine this for the AU, I couldn't logistically figure out a way for Toshinori to fight Shigaraki without revealing himself in the process- and I *really* wanted to save that reveal for later. I have plans on how that's gonna go and hooo boy, it's a lot.

However, I will say that the response to the USJ will be a bit different than in canon. For example, individual students' reactions and Toshinori's included. This was a close call and he knows that he's not always going to be able to rely on his All Might for bad situations like these. So, he's going to take steps to try to make himself more "useful" in his small form. As for the students' reactions and their response... Well. Next chapter, you'll be getting a look at Izuku and Katsuki's thought process as they take in what just happened. It will definitely play a role in the future of this AU.

Until next time~