The Hero & The Demon

Chapter Eight

When Naomasa Tsukauchi awoke that morning, he found his guest was absent.

Guest was probably the wrong word for Kage Sekai, he thought, but he wasn't sure what else there was. The boy had been staying with him for roughly ten months now, and he was no closer to finding out about his family or what happened to him. Information on him was, by some unknowable force, highly censored and redacted. He wasn't able to find much by searching for his name, even when he gave up on digital searches and began trying to seek out printed documents.

Kage, for his part, didn't seem particularly bothered by the lack of news. He seemed comfortable to live in Tsukauchi's apartment, attend school and train in the gym, all with no apparent concern about his family. Perhaps understandable, given that he had no memory of them, but Tsukauchi found it odd that Kage never seemed to ask about them or express any signs of worry.

In fact, he seemed more worried by the possibility of information being found. Tsukauchi noticed he tensed up around the subject of the investigation. His current theory was that Kage might have run away from home and wound up the victim of some greater scheme in the process, and some subconscious part of him was worried about whether or not the perpetrator would find his family if he returned.

It wasn't a perfect theory, but the whole case was a headache and a half. He was working on exceedingly limited information. Nothing he could do was making the pieces fit together any closer.

Speaking of pieces fitting together, Tsukauchi was noticing something else unusual as he woke up. Whilst Kage was not in his room as usual, the kitchen was clearly in use.

"Alright, I think I got this…" Tsukauchi overheard from behind the kitchen door. He hesitated, then knocked a few times to make his presence known. He heard Kage's voice make several surprised noises that stopped just short of being words, and the hasty scrambling of pans and dishes.

"H-hold on a sec!" Kage called out. Tsukauchi passed through the door and found Kage attempting to make breakfast. His face was panicked, and also obviously quite tired. He had clearly been at this for some time. There was an odd smell that it took Tsukauchi a moment to identify, but he quickly parsed that Kage had made a few failed attempts. Based on the egg smell, it seemed he was going for omelettes.

Tsukauchi had made those on their first morning together. He wasn't especially good at them, either.

Kage appeared to be using his Quirk to try to balance handling multiple things at once – one of his normal hands was on a frying pan, whilst an otherworldly arm of black energy adjusted the stove. A third arm was holding up Kage's phone, which seemed to be using an old web browser to look at cooking instructions, which Kage seemed to watch with one eye. His eyes had gone black, but there were few black veins across his body that were visible.

Tsukauchi sighed.

"Do you need help with that?"

"What? Nah, I-I got it." Kage stumbled over his words as his hold on the frying pan shifted and he almost spilled some of its content. Tsukauchi walked over and, with some reluctance, Kage eventually handed the frying pan over to him. Tsukauchi took over.

"Not bad." He said. "What made you decide to start cooking all of a sudden? I would've thought you'd have other things on your mind today." Today was the day of the UA entrance exams, the thing Kage had been preparing for over the past ten months. He had made great strides in figuring out his powers, and his academic knowledge was certainly nothing to sneeze at. He wasn't an exceptional genius of a student, but for someone with less than a year's worth of memory, he picked things up extremely well. He was easily on par with his other classmates, and was near the top in terms of test results.

"Well, I couldn't sleep." Kage said, though the bags under his eyes had already explained that much to Tsukauchi. "So, I figured I'd try doing something nice for you. You know, a thank you for helping me get this far. For taking me in and all that." Kage looked at the ground, seemingly embarrassed by his words. Tsukauchi's eyes widened for a moment. He gave a gentle smile.

"You didn't have to do that." Kage frowned at his words.

"You didn't have to take me in either." He crossed his arms. "You didn't have to enrol me in school or set me up with an awesome gym membership where I got to train against an actual pro hero, or do any of the things you do for me. So, I think that warrants thanks, da-" He stopped himself. Tsukauchi realised what word he wanted to say, but he didn't say anything. He wasn't sure he was comfortable with it given the active search for Kage's real family, but at the same time, he didn't want to come down too hard on a child in need of that kind of connection.

He was also reluctant to admit that some part of him found it endearing.

"D-dammit." Kage finished. Tsukauchi sighed as he continued finishing off the breakfast omelette. Despite Kage's haphazard methods, it was actually turning out quite well. He didn't have to do much to finish it off.

"Watch your language, young man." Tsukauchi said, his tone half-joking. Kage snorted out a laugh and seemed to relax. Tsukauchi briefly looked over to the cupboards, which Kage took as invitation to begin setting out dishes. He moved with swiftness and precision that wouldn't have been out of place in a battle, which was as impressive as it was mildly concerning. More so than just wanting to offer a nice gesture of thanks, it was also clear that Kage was stressed. Far more than he was prepared to admit, it seemed.

As the breakfast was set out, Kage seemed to struggle with sitting down and being still. His foot seemed to be involuntarily tapping against the floor as he ate. Tsukauchi hesitated before trying any of his omelette.

"You'll be fine for the exam, you know." Kage flinched as Tsukauchi spoke. Clearly, he was hoping this point would somehow go unaddressed despite it being the elephant in the room. He squirmed in his seat.

"I hope so." He said quietly. "It's mostly the written part I'm worried about. I've been doing good in training, so I should be fine for the practical test, but I'm not sure if I'll hold up as a student." Tsukauchi hummed. Given Kage had only the one year compared to everyone else, his worries were certainly reasonable. Though that wasn't what stood out to him.

"How do you know there will be a practical test?" Kage paused mid-omelette bite. He blinked, then coughed as he seemed to almost forget to swallow properly. After clearing his throat, he spoke up.

"I'm well-read." He shrugged. Tsukauchi narrowed his eyes. Kage threw his hands up defensively. "I'm serious this time! I looked up stuff online. There's a bunch of people who've taken the test and share stuff on forums. From what I can gather, it seems there's a written section and a practical section. The latter involves fighting robots, I think. They said 'faux-villains', so it could be actors or something." Kage stroked his chin thoughtfully. Tsukauchi felt this made sense, but something about Kage's body language was unusual. It seemed just a little too purposeful.

He knew more than he was letting on.

This was hardly the first time Kage had seemed more aware than he should, but it also wasn't the first time that Tsukauchi thought it could almost be written off as him being paranoid. The explanation for his knowledge was a reasonable one, it was just the way he said it. The last line about actors sounded off, as though he had thrown that in to avoid suspicion.

He shook his head. He could interrogate that thought later. Perhaps he could add it to his notes on Kage's case and see if there was anything worth analysing about his UA awareness, or his apparent want to hide it. But it was hardly relevant right at that moment.

Kage needed support first, investigation second.

"Well, Aldera's raised no complaints about your test scores." Tsukauchi reminded him. "If you can handle everything they could throw at you, that means you can probably handle how UA operates. You've certainly got the background academic knowledge, and you've been studying well. Right?"

"Better than usual." Kage shrugged, then, after a moment's pause, his eyes widened. "Wait, usual? Did I used to study? Or, I guess not study? Huh. Maybe I used to be lazy." Tsukauchi nodded, mentally adding that to his notes. Remembering a feeling was less useful than names or places, but anything that could be used to better identify him would be useful.

"Well then, I'm glad you've grown out of that habit." He joked, and Kage snorted out a laugh. Tsukauchi smiled. The tension in Kage seemed to be leaving by the moment. He wasn't tapping his leg against the floor anxiously anymore.

"Yeah, who knew it only took some amnesia to get rid of my character flaws." He tapped his knuckles against his head and grinned. "Maybe if I hit my head really hard, I'll become an even better genius."

"Don't."

"Don't become a genius?" Kage held his hand to his chest in mock offense. "Why, sir, I thought you wanted me to succeed! How treacherous of you." He leaned back as though imitating fainting. Tsukauchi rolled his eyes.

"I know, I'm the worst." He said sarcastically. Kage relaxed and went back to his omelette.

"Eh, could be worse." He held his hand out and shook it a little. He shoved some more bits of omelette into his mouth, seeming to speed up now that he was almost done. "At least you're a good cook!" He grinned through a mouthful. Tsukauchi found himself smiling back, despite the impoliteness of the gesture.

"Well, I had a little help." He pointed at Kage with his fork. "A pretty good assistant. I'm told he's a genius." Kage narrowed his eyes.

"I dunno, I feel like he still needs work." Kage replied with a shrug. Tsukauchi leaned back and sighed in satisfaction in his chair. That was certainly a nice breakfast.

"I reckon he'll surprise you." Tsukauchi played along with this little bit they were doing. He stood up and retrieved his work coat. "Tell you what, you'll see when he gets his exam results. Those will prove I'm right, and that he's brilliant." Any joking reply Kage might have had seemed to die in his throat. His eyes brightened and he looked at Tsukauchi with an awed smile.

"You…you really think so?" He asked, his voice quiet and hesitant. Tsukauchi maintained a gentle smile as he gathered his things, finishing by retrieving a hat – a fedora he'd had for years now that went well with his coat. He put it on and met Kage's gaze.

"Trust me, I'm a detective." He said warmly. "I'm good at reading people." He considered saying more, but an alarm beeped on his watch. If he didn't leave soon, he'd risk being late for work. Kage would have to leave soon himself, anyway. It was still reasonably early, so he still had some time before he would have to get to UA, but Kage had mentioned before that he had a friend or two who were also shooting for the hero school, so he figured he would want to meet up with them. Either that or he'd want to make room for some last-minute preparations. His Quirk would likely be fine on his own, but some kind of support gear or even just some immediate burn medication would be good to look into.

"Not that you'll need it," Tsukauchi said as he opened the door. "But good luck."

"Listen well, young Midoriya." All-Might plucked a strand of hair from his head and held it out for the boy. These were words he needed to hear, certainly ones he deserved to hear after all his efforts. Finishing cleaning the sections of the beach he had asked for would have been enough on its own, but Midoriya had truly gone above and beyond. The whole place was spotless, save for the one pile Izuku had gathered up. All-Might would ensure it was properly disposed of later, but for now, his successor needed this.

"There's a massive difference between being born with talent and working to attain strength through great effort." He explained. Midoriya had seemed reluctant, but he needed to know that all of this was deserved. It was not luck or fate that had decreed this destiny would fall upon him. No, he had earned every bit of this. "Make no mistake, this is your efforts being rewarded! You have earned this fair and square." Midoriya clenched his fists and met All-Might's gaze with a determined expression. Tears were still brimming in his eyes, but that did nothing to diminish the resolve in his eyes.

"Now, eat this!" All-Might thrust the hair out. Midoriya's expression degraded into pure confusion, and the dramatic aura that had inhabited the beach seemed to flee immediately.

"Huh?" Midoriya managed to slip out. Before All-Might could answer the obvious questions written on his head, a sound from behind cut him off.

"Hey, Izuku!" It was a little bit far, but Kage Sekai was calling out to his friend. Whilst All-Might's smile stayed up, internally he panicked. If Kage were to see this, he would find out about One For All! Or at the very least, come to some truly strange conclusions about Midoriya and his relationship. There would be no easy way out of questions either way.

"Hurry!" All-Might practically pressed the hair into Midoriya's face. "You need to intake some of my DNA to get my Quirk, and we don't have time for second guessing!" Midoriya gulped, almost seeming ready to protest, but he glanced over to see Kage approaching and decided no further objection was needed.

He took the hair and shoved it into his mouth. The resulting faces he made were quite unpleasant. All-Might didn't know how his hair tasted, but he had to assume the answer was deeply gross. Kage reached the two mere moments after Midoriya had successfully managed to swallow the hair down. His exhaustion from last-minute training would hopefully mask the clear disgust.

Kage himself also seemed exhausted, stopping in front of them and keeling over. His legs were wobbling and his breath came out in long pants.

"S-Sorry." Kage forced out. "I didn't know…if I'd see you before the exam…" He explained briefly. Midoriya nodded whilst Kage took a moment to catch his breath. He steadied himself, then noticed All-Might standing there for the first time and nearly collapsed back onto the sand. His eyes were wide and he slowly shifted his gaze over to Midoriya.

"Izuku, am I going crazy or is that All-Might?" He whispered. Midoriya frantically between Kage and All-Might, hoping that an explanation might materialise in the space between them so he wouldn't have to come up with one himself. He made several 'Um!' and 'You see' sounds that started like the beginning of sentences, but didn't go further.

All-Might cleared his throat. Not to worry, he could manage this.

"Young Kage, I'm told you're familiar with Toshinori Yagi? That man happens to be my assistant!" Kage made an 'Ohhh' sound of realisation as things clicked into place for him. Kage was many things, but gullible was prominent among them in All-Might's experience. Perhaps trusting would be a more generous word for it, but he was very willing to take anything he or Midoriya said on faith, regardless of how awkward or strangely delivered the cover-up was.

"Right, so he put in a good word and you're here to wish Izuku luck on the exam!" Kage said. Midoriya frantically nodded, eager to accept any explanation so long as he didn't have to be the one to come up with it. Kage turned towards Midoriya. "That's awesome, dude! With All-Might rooting for us, we've totally got this."

"Y-yeah. Yeah!" Izuku hesitated, then pumped himself up and grinned. "We've got this!" Kage grinned back and thrust his arm into the air cheerfully.

"Damn right we do!" Kage cheered. "So, based on the massive pile of trash on an otherwise spotless beach, guessing your Quirk is ready?" Midoriya hesitated. His face scrunched up for a moment, as though he was recalling the taste of the hair.

"I think so." He said half-heartedly. He put a hand over his stomach and looked down. Kage raised an eyebrow, but it seemed more an expression of concern than curiosity. He put a hand on Midoriya's shoulder.

"Look, it's gonna work when you get there. I promise." He said with an encouraging confidence. All-Might was almost convinced Kage wasn't simply speaking reassuringly, but that he knew something. But he brushed the thought aside. If he knew about One For All, he surely wouldn't have been as surprised as he was by All-Might's presence. "There's not a doubt in my mind that you'll pass with flying colours."

"That's easy for you to say." Midoriya replied. Kage frowned.

"Dude, I have only been in school for less than a year. I am screwed." He said so matter-of-factly that All-Might felt bad for the kid. Tsukauchi had said he was doing well, but this was a very understandable anxiety. All-Might himself hadn't had the best education at his home when he made his debut in UA, so he could sympathise.

"B-but your Quirk-"

"Has a habit of just doing whatever it wants?" Kage interrupted Midoriya's words. "Your power might have been offline for a while, but it's gonna be way more reliable than me just hoping for the best. I'm not saying I'm not gonna try! It's just that luck plays a bigger factor for me than it does you." Midoriya looked down, not totally convinced.

"Both of you should put more stock in your efforts!" All-Might said to them both, drawing their attention. He took a standard heroic sort of pose, with his hands on his waist and his arms pointed out at either side. "A true hero knows better than to believe in such superstitions as luck. When lives are on the line, the only thing a hero can depend on is the strength of their hearts. And you two boys are quite strong indeed!" Midoriya began to tear up from All-Might's words of reassurance, and even Kage looked to have been moved.

"Well, if you say so." He said nonchalantly, though All-Might could tell his words had struck a chord. For one so mysterious, Kage was simultaneously pretty easy to read. He seemed to wear his heart on his sleeve, even if he kept the things in his head more hidden. "We won't let you down, sir!" He gave an exaggerated salute that made All-Might laugh.

"Right!" Izuku agreed. "Your faith in us – in me – won't be misplaced. I promise!" All-Might could see the glow of determination in Midoriya's eyes, and found himself believing him even more than he would any prediction given by his former sidekick.

He had picked a good one. Of that, he was certain.

"Oh, crap!" Midoriya suddenly stood straight and looked around. "I-I have to go and eat breakfast, take a shower, I-I need to get ready." He gave Kage an apologetic look, but the boy didn't seem offended or even surprised in the slightest.

"No worries, I gotta get moving anyway. Just wanted to wish you luck!" He said before looking up at All-Might and scratching the back of his head. "But it kinda looks like you had that covered. Still! I wanted you to know that, unlike certain other classmates of ours, I've got your back and I'm rooting for you."

"Thanks, Kage." Midoriya said. "I-I'm rooting for you, too! It'd be nice to be classmates again in UA." His words were quiet. Even after the two boys had been friends for months, Midoriya still didn't seem totally used to having support from people his own age. His confidence had certainly grown, but it was still a work in progress.

"Hell yeah, buddy!" Kage held a fist out and, after a moment of surprise, Midoriya bumped his own against it. Kage grinned widely. "Oh, one last thing – careful with your Quirk. Like I said before, using it after a long time of inactivity might be tricky."

"He has a point, you know." All-Might agreed. "Summoning forth your power might be a challenge. As you seek to use it, clench your muscles and yell from the depths of your heart." All-Might turned to face the water and reeled his arm back.

"SMASH!" He yelled, thrusting his arm out. It was extremely lucky that there were no boats anywhere nearby, for All-Might's punch caused a massive shift in the immediate ocean around them. The sea parted and the winds spun and thrashed around the beach, causing Midoriya and Kage to have to put up their arms and shield their faces. The power was overwhelming.

He hoped Midoriya would recognise that and adjust his expectations accordingly, but he wasn't sure. All-Might had never been receptive to holding back either.

"Understood, All-Might." Midoriya said, awe still swimming through his voice. All-Might wasn't totally sure if he understood completely, but between him and Kage, he was fairly sure the point of being careful with One For All was driven home for now. He would help Midoriya further once he saw how well the boy managed from here.

Midoriya gathered his things and quickly began jogging off back to his home. Kage watched him leave, a smile never leaving his face.

"He's so got this." Kage said, seemingly just to himself. All-Might nodded in agreement. Midoriya might struggle, but he would be there to support him. He had the spirit, and that was the most important part. UA could help with all the rest, but if one lacked a hero's heart, they wouldn't go far.

"You should probably get going yourself, young Kage!" All-Might said. Kage replied by pulling out his phone, an old spare that Tsukauchi had kept for a few years in case of emergencies that he had given over, and flipping it open.

"You're probably right. It wouldn't do to be late. Aizawa would be so disappointed." All-Might raised an eyebrow. Kage did some stretches beside him.

"I'm surprised you remember him" All-Might said, his voice a little quieter than usual. Kage stopped what he was doing and titled his head up at All-Might. All-Might had no idea what was so confusing about the idea of him simply knowing the name Aizawa, but it seemed to be a surprise to Kage. Even more so than him being present on the beach – there, Kage had seemed almost exaggerated. Here, his shock was genuine.

"Yeah, he was the first hero I ever met." Kage explained slowly. "Of course I'd remember that. But, why would you know about it? Tsukauchi doesn't tell anyone about cases unless they're directly relevant, and even then, he's pretty tight-lipped. Why would you know about my encounter with Aizawa?" Kage had placed a hand on his chin thoughtfully. He didn't seem to be inviting an answer from All-Might, but rather was trying to analyse the situation himself.

"It can't be related to Izuku, I only met him afterwards. So, whatever it is, it's to do with me…" He thought aloud. After a moment, he snapped his fingers. "It's my powers! That has to be it. They do a lot of things, so you must think they're related to-" Kage stopped himself abruptly, much to All-Might's concealed chagrin. He was almost about to say something that could have been hugely important!

"Related to something big…" Kage said hesitantly. Glancing up at All-Might. He was gauging his reaction. Kage was hiding something, and his words made All-Might fairly sure he knew what it was about. A part of him wanted to pick the boy up and demand answers, but he knew that would have been unhelpful. If he was wrong, or if Kage knew less than he seemed to, he would learn nothing. If Kage was a victim rather than an agent, he could end up putting the boy in more danger.

But something became clear from this interaction. Something All-Might didn't want to consider, something he sincerely hoped he was just being paranoid about.

All For One had been active.

A chill ran up his spine. He had to be simply paranoid, reading too much into small things. But then again, how many individuals did he know who could provide a person with multiple powers like what Kage had? It would explain how the boy seemed to know more than he should have, even if he did try to hide it.

But there were other possibilities he had to consider. He couldn't afford to jump to conclusions, not on matters as sensitive as this. If All For One was a naturally occurring Quirk, was it not possible that powers that seemed to be more than one ability could occur naturally in a similar fashion? Kage's powers were more varied than most Quirks he had seen, but they all shared a consistent, unifying aesthetic. Was that a result of careful experimentation or just genetics causing things to line up?

What about Kage's strange knowledge? Tsukauchi had told him about the boy's meeting with Aizawa, here he had identified his colleague and the detective on his own and simply said he was 'well-read', a now recurring phrase from Kage. Could he have been given intel from All For One, or was this a coincidence? Kage's apparent amnesia and lack of records made it difficult to tell if there was some more benign explanation, one they were unaware of. And if it was indeed All For One, that suggested he had ways of gathering intelligence on heroes and the police. A deeply disturbing prospect.

In one unfinished sentence, Kage had thrown All-Might's whole head into disarray. If he was some kind of secret supervillain agent, he was disturbingly good at it.

"I-I should go." Kage stuttered. All-Might forced himself to relax, realising the tension in his expression and muscles must have made the boy frightened. Kage stepped back. "See you around, mister All-Might, sir. I-I mean, I guess. I'm not sure if we'll ever meet again, there's no way I would be able to tell since I have no idea where you'll be next and all…" Kage laughed nervously. All-Might briefly worried if his nervousness here was something to be suspicious of, but he brushed that thought aside.

"Investigate later", he told himself. "I can't go around frightening others just because of my worries. I'm the symbol of peace!"

"Of course! Good luck on your exam, Kage!" All-Might shot him a thumbs up. Kage seemed to flinch for a moment, as though he expected it to be a punch. "I'm sure things will turn out All Might!" He joked. Kage paused for a moment, tilted his head, and then started laughing. It wasn't a brilliant joke by any means, but All-Might liked it for its simplicity.

Dumb wordplay was surprisingly reassuring, in his experience.

"Thanks." Kage said. He began walking off, but paused for just one more moment, turning his head back. "And All-Might? Look out for Izuku, okay? He really looks up to you and…and I worry about him sometimes." All-Might was briefly surprised by Kage's soft tone, but he understood. There were few things more heroic than concern for one's friends.

"You have my word." All-Might said. "I'll make sure he's alright." Kage nodded back and walked off, pleased by the answer.

Standing alone on the beach, All-Might now had nothing more to do than ponder the many questions on his mind-

"HOLY CRAP, IS THAT ALL-MIGHT?!"

"IT IS! LET'S GO GET AN AUTOGRAPH!"

"ALL-MIGHT! SIGN MY FACE!"

He let out a booming laugh. It seemed he would always have something to keep him occupied.

Izuku Midoriya stared in awe at the UA entrance gates. These were gates that many of the nation's greatest heroes had gone through to start their journeys. The school was iconic for its ability to turn almost any student into an incredible hero. The current top ten was filled with more UA alumni than any other hero academy. The greatest of the greats – All-Might, Endeavor, Best Jeanist and so many more – they all started here.

To simply be in the same space as where those great heroes once stood was inspiring. Izuku was in the same space as so many of his idols, armed with powers granted to him by All-Might. Well, in theory. Despite consuming the hair, he didn't feel all that different from before. He had no time to practice or get a hold on the power he had earned, and even with all his training, he couldn't help his nerves.

"Out of my way, Deku!" A familiar and aggressive voice made Izuku flinch, and he spun on his feet to see Kacchan. Before he could say anything, however, another familiar voice made itself known from just a step behind.

"Walk around, Bakugou." Kage Sekai said, crossing his arms as Kacchan looked over his shoulder and glared. Kage's expression was mildly bothered but largely nonchalant. In other words, the exact kind of reaction that would make Kacchan lose his mind. He was fine with people afraid of him, loved people in awe of him, but people unfazed by him were his worst enemies.

"The hell did you say to me?" Kacchan turned. Izuku winced. These two had been tense with one another for a long time, but their desire to get into UA kept them from going up against one another too much. Izuku hoped they wouldn't lose their cool at the last moment.

"You heard me." Kage said, either missing Kacchan's tone or not caring for it. "You're not a king or anything, it's no one's job to roll out the red carpet for your grand entrance. You could at least say please like a normal person." Izuku could hear the grinding of Kacchan's teeth.

"I-it's fine, really!" Izuku rushed over and stepped between the two, holding his hands between them. Kage frowned but made no move to protest. Kacchan looked about ready to combust, but he was looking like that already, so Izuku hoped this didn't make a difference. "Kacchan, good luck on the test. Let's do our best!" Izuku said. A nervous laugh slipped its way out of his throat, and he hoped for the love of All-Might that Kacchan didn't think he was laughing at him. Eventually, Kacchan just spun on his feet and stalked off.

"Whatever." Izuku heard him say as he left. He let out a sigh of relief and turned to Kage, frowning. Kage looked surprised.

"What?" Izuku just sighed again.

"I just wish you wouldn't antagonise him." He said. "Kacchan's really not that bad." Kage's only response was to slowly raise an eyebrow, which admittedly was enough to make Izuku hesitate.

"Okay, he is kind of a jerk."

"Understatement, but continue." Kage said. Izuku frowned.

"But he's still going to be a great hero." Izuku explained. "Besides, if there's a chance of us being classmates, shouldn't we try to get along?"

"I'm not saying Bakugou isn't impressive," Kage relented with a reluctant sigh. "In his own way. He's good at a lot of things, but being a halfway decent person isn't one of 'em. I'll be nicer to him once he starts doing the same to literally anyone else. Like I said, he could've just said please!" Izuku had to concede there. He still liked Kacchan – or, some part of him at least still wanted to – but it was hard to argue that his behaviour wasn't abysmal.

Izuku supposed he could sort of understand how Kacchan was the way he was, and he could still admire his other qualities in spite of his faults. But Kage, someone with none of the same history he and Kacchan had shared for better and worse, would stop at finding him infuriating. Without having seen who Kacchan had once been, it was harder to look past who he was now.

Then again, maybe Izuku was just making excuses. If Kacchan were a stranger, would he really have the same opinion of him? Was the fact that they used to be friends clouding his judgement, or refining it in letting him see more of the whole picture?

Kage offered him a very different perspective on being someone's friend than Kacchan ever did. But his friendship with Kacchan when they were young, that was still real. It still meant a lot to him, whether it should have or not.

Izuku shook his head and turned around. Now was no time to be dwelling on the past. It wasn't like he could magically change anyone's mind. Kacchan would still be a jerk, Kage still wouldn't like him, and Izuku would still be struggling to make sense of these two ideas of friendship in his head. This exam wouldn't change that.

What it would change was the rest of his destiny. His path to being a hero.

He placed one foot in front of the other-

And missed the ground, causing him to fall face first towards the floor. He hoped this wasn't an omen of things to come.

"Izuku!" Kage called out, but he stopped at that. Izuku wasn't sure why he wasn't doing anything, but then it occurred to him that he didn't seem to be falling like he was supposed to. He was, in fact, hovering slightly over the ground! He flailed his legs around in front of him in a panic before a new person spoke up.

"Sorry!" A cheerful girl smiled up at Izuku and proceeded to take his backpack in her hands and use it to lower him to the ground. She then clapped her hands together and suddenly Izuku felt firmly on the ground once more. "I know I should've asked before using your Quirk, but it's bad luck to trip and fall!"

She was pretty. Izuku was fairly sure he should have had more thoughts than that, but his brain seemed unable to supply anything else for what felt like hours, but what was probably a second or two at most.

"Ah-thanks!" He forced out. His words came out squeaky and awkward, but he knew he had to say something.

"Of course!" She replied, seemingly experiencing none of his nervousness. "Are you okay? I guess it's only natural to be nervous. This sure is a lot, huh?" She asked. Izuku forced his brain to start moving. It felt more difficult than lifting any large piece of metal he had moved on the beach. Pushing a truck that All-Might was sitting on was easier.

"Mhm." Words were failing him, but an affirmative sound was easy enough! That was like a conversation, right? He was doing okay at this. Better than he expected, at least. Ten months ago, the very idea of talking to a girl would have seemed inconceivable to him. Now, having interacted with more people and possessing the power of All-Might, it only felt highly improbable.

Progress!

"Well, good luck to both of us!" She waved and skipped away to the entrance. Izuku nodded in acknowledgement. Words were still failing his brain, which was particularly frustrating when the person he was speaking to seemed not only nice and pleasant, but also very confident. Despite saying things were a lot to deal with, she seemed not unlike All-Might in her ability to keep up a smile regardless.

Izuku wasn't sure he could manage even that yet.

"Nice." Kage patted Izuku on the shoulder, snapping him out of his thoughts. "We're not even inside and already, you're making friends! You've got this in the bag, Izuku." Izuku fidgeted with the straps of his bag, a nervous smile appearing on his face.

He supposed he did just have a conversation with a girl. A cute girl who wished him luck, even! That had to be a good sign. He forced himself to look confident. His smile was still unsteady, but that was alright by him. All-Might may have made keeping up a smile look easy, but he knew that looking easy and something being easy were far from the same thing.

He looked at Kage. He had expected his friend to be smiling as well, given his laid-back tone, but his face seemed to settle into a determined frown. His eyes reflected out a clear uncertainty.

They were both nervous. They both didn't know if they were ready for this.

They would both go forward anyway.

"Ready?" Izuku asked Kage, holding out a fist. Kage looked surprised, then grinned back and bumped it.

"I'm ready. Let's do this."

AN: Greetings! Glad to get this one out, it's taken us a while to get there and it might be a while yet before we really get into UA, but we're finally on manga chapter two! Man, pacing out a fanfic is so different from a manga or anime, it seems. Still, I hope it's working for y'all!

By the way, did you know FF dot net is bad at telling me when I have new reviews? I'm so sorry I missed some! I'll respond to anyone I can, but I also got a couple of guest reviews I want to briefly respond to now.

First, from someone calling themselves "Kaguya's feet" – "Another 'good' person? Meh." I'm not sure what this person expected, given that this is a story all about heroes. Maybe the demon part of the title was misleading? There may be some moral quandaries in the future, but our protagonist is always going to try to be a decent person. Sorry if that disappoints you!

The next comes from someone who was simply listed as Guest, whose review was slightly longer but made the point that it might be a good idea to use more OCs, as they claimed it 'stretched incredulity' to have almost everyone present be a canon character. I can understand this criticism, and rest assured there will be OCs in this story beyond just Kage as things progress! But I'll also say that this story is largely about this OC protagonist interacting with the canon and its cast, so they're still going to take the most precedent. I plan on using OCs where I think they might add to the story, but I don't want this story to be reliant on them. There have been a few thrown in here so far, and more will come in time, but we're keeping things mostly focused on the canon cast for the moment. I hope that doesn't turn you off too much! Thanks for writing in, and I hope you're still enjoying the story.