To LoamyCoffee, at the very least, he'd have given [Body Change] a test run at least once before his parents told him to never use it again, because arguably, being a "Villain in the making" would be functionally worse than being Quirkless. Not by a lot, but enough to matter. Writing in All Might using that arrangement to eat real food again was also quite rewarding, though I think a part of that came from an idea I had where Genji from Overwatch story I never got around to got wired into a co-worker's sensory output so he'd be able to experience the "sensation" of eating a good bowl of ramen. But I digress.
And yeah, Momo as a "material maker" is actually quite similar to the time Kevin 11 from Ben 10: Alien Force was used for that same purpose by Vulkanus, and again when the threat of such was made by Inspector No. 13.
Writing in All Might being "salty" was also quite fun, because I imagine in this exacting circumstance, he'd be a bit bitter about his victory being "stolen" from him. Especially because seemingly, Kenji can use the Quirk "better" than All for One ever did. And the potential is what makes Kenji scarier.
The Omake in particular was quite fun to write, and not just because Midnight is pervy, but because everyone is a bit pervy. As for the Shimoneta reference, Sophia tried to instate the Peace Makers, but I imagine Midnight (and everyone else with more than two braincells to rub together) fought her tooth and nail to kill that bill. I can just really imagine them being Rival Heroes who professionally dislike one another. And not in the sense that they have a love/hate thing going where they bang behind closed doors, but a legitimate "enmity" toward one another because they can't co-exist in the same country.
If you've ever seen Shimoneta: A Boring World Where the Concept of Dirty Jokes Doesn't Exist, you'd know exactly why. Watch the Review by Anime America on YouTube, you won't regret it!
To For'Sleep 3rd, I honestly never thought of that angle, but I imagine they'd at-the-least be worried about Kenji backsliding into AFO's bad habits. Maybe Izuku even confronts him about it, but I imagine Kenji would say- "Power doesn't corrupt; it just allows people to be true to themselves." -and then he'd point at Bakugou because he's living proof that a strong Quirk can turn anyone into 9/10ths of a complete asshole.
As for travelling the world and giving Quirks to the Quirkless, he might've been "Quirkless" himself, but he doesn't have the bandwidth to care because they didn't even care about themselves. They let the fact that they weren't born with a meta-ability create their entire "identity" (like how Izuku never did any training despite wanting to be a Hero, something more labor-intensive than SWAT), and that's still millions of people if he were that-altruistic; which he's not. Though I do have something in that vein in mind.
The issue with Mineta isn't that he's just "a pervert", he's a PR Disaster waiting to happen, and a few authors are brave enough to actually confront that directly by having him expelled if not barred from Yuuei's Hero Course entirely. As for Mirio, its quite possible he became an Exhibitionist thanks to his "exposure" on national TV (similar to Himiko's own Quirk making her into a Yandere), though what I'm wondering is, why not just make some speedo shorts out of the same material as the rest of his costume so he doesn't flash small children and be registered as a national (or possibly global) sex offender?
To GrimmPandaMan, yes that was a namedrop from Shimoneta. The anime was very funny, though I haven't gotten my hands on the LNs. Like I said to LoamyCoffee, Sophia tried to do her thing in this version of MHA, but there was actual pushback from Midnight and other like-minded people. If there are people who want to use their Quirks freely but can't, there's no way they would accept having their every word and hand gesture (including by not limited to masturbation) policed by electronic tracking devices around their necks and wrists.
To Lucas Oliveira (Guest), Kenji won't turn himself into a "flesh blimp" like something out of Akira (like what AFO did against Bakugou), and while he will eventually have access to all the Quirks AFO has in that body (though there's the implication that AFO lost some of them when his brains got smeared all over the street like grape jelly), the key word is "eventually". AFO had roughly 200 years (eight "generations" in Hero terms isn't the same as for Civilians) to get as good with his countless Quirks as he did, but the issue I see is, in those "200 years", he likely accumulated so-many Quirks in his "backlog" of Quirks to familiarize himself with, that he simply forgot about many of them to an extent. It's why Kenji may attempt to "clean house" and hand out some of his Quirks as long as the recipients don't turn Braindead as a result of "exceeding Neural Load".
To For'Sleep 3rd, I think the only way Kenji could talk to the other Vestiges, is by proximity, and given he has his own place away from Alliance Heights, that might be a hard sell.
To SonicMax, while hair dye is one way to differentiate himself from All for One, that also seems like "a lot of work" and he'd probably just settle for letting everyone be mildly uncomfortable. You know, as payback for all the Quirkism.
*SIAFO,SW?*
"Airsoft! Wolfram! Kimimaro!" Kenji called out in the backyard behind his low-key mansion as he lashed out with the combat Quirks he was most-familiar with, firing a blast of super-compressed air at one concrete pillar, striking another with a powerful fist made of tungsten, and striking out at another with a wicked-looking bone like the helical tusk of a Narwal.
[Air Cannon], the Quirk that with countless "Multipliers" added on top of it had turned the heart of Kamino Ward into a vacant lot. That or given it a quadruple-bypass like Evil Ryu did to Sagat.
[Heavy Stone], the Transformation-type Quirk given to "The Ogre" by All for One, which when combined with his original [Dense Muscles] and own martial arts mastery allowed him to eat up punches from a full-powered All Might like nobody's business.
[Spearlike Bones], which felt like one of All for One's favorites, and reminded Kenji of that bone-shooting villain from Naruto, only with some Wolverine from X-Men thrown into the mix.
Now that he'd recovered the power of "Two Human Eyes", there wasn't really any excuse for him to not get to training, While he'd never go out and help people "for the sake of helping people", he would look out for his own self-interest; maybe pluck a Quirk or two from anyone that broke the law in front of him and made themselves "targets of opportunity". And in order to do that, he had to learn to make use of the abilities that All for One squandered, otherwise he would become the target of opportunity.
Because given the fact that All for One was pushing 200 years old thanks to countless Quirks piled on top of one another, it's entirely possible that the guy acquired so many Quirks for his backlog, that he simply forgot he had certain abilities in there, given the guy was basically a Hoarder to the Nth degree.
If that weren't the case, he'd have never lost to a meat-head like All Might whose only power was "hit it really, really hard".
Of course, it also helped that he no longer had to juggle a half-dozen Sensory Quirks just so he could avoid stubbing his toe or banging his shin on every piece of furniture.
Really freed up a ton of bandwidth.
"It's… um… It's a little frightening how good you're getting with those," Moko hummed from off to the side as she manned the water cooler.
Sure, All for One had a [Water Retention] Quirk and a [Filtration] Quirk in there somewhere that mitigated the need to rehydrate, but it was more of the mental need for Kenji to take a break every once in a while than the physical need.
"Any idiot can swing a hammer around and put holes in drywall. Putting in a nail to hang a picture off of… That requires effort," Kenji hummed as he retracted his [Spearlike Bones] to a more-manageable length, racking All for One's brain for any "auxiliary Quirks" he could stack on top of it for more stopping power.
The "Symbol of Fear's" memories were still a muddied blur to the former SE, a consequence of not having an "index" to compartmentalize everything off of, as well as the fact that for the last six years he didn't have any eyes due in part to having his brain smeared on the concrete like grape jelly, but there was gold in there; he just had to sift through a slimy riverbed of muck and garbage to get to the good stuff.
Which was why, even though he failed to dredge up memories of any Quirks that could make his [Spearlike Bones] rotate like a power drill, he was able to find something to pile onto his [Heavy Rock].
"[Heavy Rock]… plus [Scalemail]."
Cocking back his fist, his arm transformed into Tungsten like how that "palette-swapped" version of that red-headed kid from the Yuuei Sports Festival could turn into burnished Steel. Once that was done, Kenji then began to sprout a coating of sharp armored scales along the Tungsten-covered arm, much like the hide of a Pangolin. He had his [Numbing Agent] cranked up to about half-power, so when he felt his Tungsten-ized flesh "rupture" in a way that'd have probably dropped anyone else, he piled [Super Regeneration] beneath the previous Quirks to stitch himself back together and not make as much of a mess.
Right as he was about to throw that wicked-looking punch, a mini-epiphany suddenly went off in his head. Ancient memories of All for One's rising to the surface like air bubbles through silt, he then combined the Emitter-Type [Calcium] with the Mutant-Type [Dense Bones] inside of his body, before cranking up [Numbing Agent] to the max and internalizing his [Spearlike Bones] to make the bones in his limb helical in shape, reinforcing them within the tungsten and armor-coated limb even further to create a-
"BUNKER BUSTER!" he shouted as he absolutely pulverized another concrete pillar, Moko letting out a terrified squeal as she threw herself to the ground, even if none of the debris came anywhere close to hitting her.
"Yowza! Glad All Might didn't get hit with that!"
"Hm?" Kenji blinked as he turned around. "What're you guys doing here?"
"What, can't we check in on a good friend?" Pixie-Bob questioned as she and the rest of the Wild, Wild, Pussycats stepped around the corner, clad in casual clothes. "Also, holy shit! You're hot!"
"So I've been told…" Kenji hummed as he rubbed at his new face. It still felt weird to lather someone else's face with soap in the mornings, but he'd just have to get used to it since he couldn't very well go back to his old body; nor did he trust this body to anyone else. "Still, I feel like this is more than just a friendly visit."
"As a matter of fact, you're right!" Nezu chirped merrily as he poked his head out the collar of Tiger's cat-themed tank top. "Oh my, I might need to have Cementoss step in and help you stock up~" he hummed as he eyed the ruined concrete pillars scattered through the yard, and then the blood-spattered limb of amalgamized Quirks hanging from Kenji's right shoulder. "Then again, there might yet be another option to remedy your training needs."
" . . . Moko, please put on some tea and cookies," Kenji ordered as he de-activated the numerous Quirks he was using, dismissing his [Scalemail] followed by [Heavy Rock], then his [Calcium] and [Spearlike Bones] but keeping his [Dense Muscles] and [Dense Bones] active in the "Permanent" category of his hind-brain.
All for One had likely been in possession of countless Mutant-Type Quirks, some likely due to fascination, while in other cases if only to deprive them from others. But unlike those that were either born with the abilities or had them spontaneously manifest during puberty, the Quirk [All for One] allowed those Mutant-Type Quirks to be "toggled" on and off like "Equipment" in an RPG, more or less "converting" Mutant-Type Quirks into Transformation-Types minus the stamina cost of maintaining them.
How someone with an OP Quirk like this lost to a meat-head like All Might, Kenji would never fully understand, but he was sure that something in All for One's literal centuries of life could explain it.
Or at least he hoped, because otherwise All Might and All for One both would come out looking pretty damn stupid…
Which only further cemented his and Nezu's theory that the fixation of meta-abilities caused critical thinking skills to massively atrophy universally across human society.
*SIAFO,SW?*
"So, how are the relief efforts in Kamino Ward going?" Kenji asked politely as they all sat in the living room.
With the exception of Tiger (on a part of not being even the slightest amount homosexual), seeing the rest of the Wild, Wild Pussycats in person, and with actual working eyes instead of with a half-dozen Sensory Quirks, Kenji could admit to himself that the lot of them were quite lovely.
Of course, as life had repeatedly drilled into him, a lovely exterior often bellied a heart as black as pitch. Doubly-so when it came to Professional Heroes who in all likelihood wouldn't think his life as being worth the effort to save since Quirkless had become synonymous with "Worthless"…
"Well, anyone that can still be saved, has been saved…" Mandalay sighed as she nursed at her tea. "Now… it's just a matter of finding all the bodies."
'Right, because there's no way nobody died in all that,' Kenji mused, finding it a miracle that he'd even survived the initial blast; let alone been positioned close-enough to All for One that he'd been able to "draw aggro" and play the biggest Uno Reverso of all time.
Then again, seeing pictures of the state his own body had been found in once he had the power of [Two Human Eyes] again, he could've very easily been killed outright. And as much as he hated his life here, he never once thought about killing himself because there was no guarantee he'd Reincarnate a second time.
"We finally filled in the hole, and I got sooooo much overtime from that," Pixie-Bob sighed as she flopped back in her seat, the very image of a bone-tired OL after a week-long death march.
"Do they give you time-and-a-half-and-a-half over sixty?" Kenji inquired curiously.
"They do, and thank Kami for that," the blond said as she slumped in a very unladylike way. "We had to strip a mountain in the countryside for parts, and let me tell you, it was not glamorous."
"Hey, it could be worse. They could've filched you on your paid overtime," Kenji huffed. "Trust me, I would know."
At that black comment, the Pussycats grew reticent before Ragdoll stepped forward.
"Mr. Sato. Thank you, for giving me my Quirk back. I'll never be able to say enough times how-grateful I am to you," the greenette said before bowing deeply at the waist. "Thank you. Thank you… so much…!"
" . . . You're welcome," Kenji replied after a moment, the softening expression on the face of the SS-Rank Villain in their midst putting everyone around him at ease. "So!" he said clapping his hands. "Any reason why Nezu's here in tow?"
"Hm, yes, I suppose it's best if we get straight to the point," Nezu hummed from behind his own cup of tea. "Now that you have the power of 'Two Human Eyes' again, it's been decided that everything within our power should be done to help foster your growth as you become acclimated to the body of All for One and his Quick, [All for One]."
"Which once again only proves that people build too much of themselves around their meta-ability," Kenji cut in. "I'm sorry, that just really needed to be said; continue."
"To that end, the Wild, Wild Pussycats have been reassigned," Nezu continued without missing a beat. "On paper, it's to help the Hero Course students of Yuuei, given how they've been targeted by the League of Villains time and time again. Behind closed doors however…"
"They're here to help with the 'landscaping' as I train however-many Quirks All for One had swimming around in here," Kenji hummed.
"That's more or less correct," Mandalay nodded. "At first we were a bit skeptical about the commission, but seeing you at work… Even if you never become a frontline fighter, you'll still need to be able to defend yourself. Once people get over the fact that you 'beat All for One' and truly realize that you won't automatically be as overwhelmingly-powerful as he is, people will come for you."
"Right. The sort of abductions that first-world countries claim they 'don't advocate' anymore," Kenji nodded.
In the same way that the CIA was "prohibited from collecting information regarding 'U.S. Persons'" but secretly violated that rule all the time, and how the FBI used blackmail and coercion to always get what it wanted, and how governments disseminated addictive substances to the neighborhoods of minorities to weaken their influence in the corrosion of national identity, the world at large was filled with hypocrisy. Something that hadn't changed an iota since the first meta-abilities began to manifest. Kenji personally had it on good authority that world leaders weren't above abducting people with interesting Quirks for their own ends. If Endeavor could purchase a woman to use as a literal brood mare, there was no way that shady government organizations weren't also sticking their fingers in that particular pie.
As for why Kenji knew that little tidbit about the current No.1 Hero… As it turned out, All for One was a gossip whore; who knew?
Anyway, back to the story at hand.
Ahem.
Although… a part of that sentiment was also shaped by that episodes of Gate – Thus the JSDF Fought There! where the Americans, Russians, and Chinese tried to abscond with the envoys of the "Special Region" or whatever it had been called and the whole thing basically devolved into a PUBG free-for-all with a gothic Lolita in a kimono standing atop a pile of bodies.
"For the record, any spec-ops groups that may or may not wish to abscond with your personage, will still need to contend with the full might of Yuuei's perimeter defenses," Nezu spoke up.
"Unless they have a warper in their employ like Kurogiri," Kenji countered matter-of-factly. "Eighty percent of seven billion, is still more than five-and-a-half billion large. And I'm sure there's a Japanese official willing to accept a bribe, or who can be blackmailed-into, handing over tactically actionable intel for one such warper."
No-one really knew what to say to that, because he wasn't technically wrong…
"Well!" Kenji said as he once again clapped his hands before rising from his seat. "We might as well introduce you guys to the students again, put on a show. What do you say?" he offered. "I'm actually fairly confident in my ability to act as a tour guide, and I've been cooped up here all day."
"Well, as long as you're offering~" Pixie-Bob purred as she gave the man a once-over.
She'd never actually seen All for One in person until Kenji came in and moved the furniture around, so she didn't have quite the same hangups as Ragdoll or Tiger did; as such, she thought with his new face, that he actually looked quite distinctive. And even though that All Might hoodie he was wearing now was a little on the baggy side, she'd seen him in his tank top and shorts as he trained, so she knew for a fact that he had a fair amount of muscle on him. He wasn't ripped to the same extent as Tiger was, but he was still quite… *slurp* delicious~
" . . . Is she making a pass at me, or is she just horny like the other super pervert on staff?" Kenji asked after a moment of being eye-banged by a pretty blond.
"She's a little self-conscious about her love-life," Mandalay apologized.
"Wait… seriously?" Kenji blinked. "How is a hottie like her still single? Is everyone else as blind as All for One? Or am I just a complete asshole?"
"Do go on~" Pixie-Bob purred as she unashamedly sidled up to him. "No, but seriously, do go on~ Flattery will get you everywhere~"
Moko's fists clenched behind her back, but she held her tongue.
" . . . Given my experience with the opposite gender as a formerly Quirkless person, you'll understand if I'm a bit reluctant to accept these kinds of overtures, even from and especially-from someone as pretty as you," Kenji said after a moment, causing the blond to deflate a little. "But! If you wanna sit on the sofa and watch Netflix with me, maybe snuggle a little… I wouldn't be opposed to trying to date again… Best way to spite All for One is to treat this body like it is my own body, you know?"
"Maybe this is just the dry spell talking… but that sounds fantastic~" the pretty blond sighed happily.
"Um, should we leave the room?" Ragdoll asked awkwardly. "Because we can leave the room."
"Relax. I'll at the least take her out to dinner, first," Kenji stated. "Though admittedly, going out into town… might be a bit of a stretch…"
"Hey, I don't mind eating in~" Pixie-Bob grinned, actually quite happy she didn't get shot down. "Besides, at least that way, you and I can be pathetic losers together~" she said bumping his hip with her own.
"You have options. If anyone's a pathetic loser here, it's me-"
"That's not true!" Moko suddenly shouted, drawing everyone's eyes to her. "I… I just mean… Even if you had to hide what your Quirk was before-"
"Moko, literally no-one thought I was worth the air I breathed, let alone my own functioning organs," Kenji said curtly, causing an uncomfortable weight to settle on everyone's shoulders. "If that isn't the societal definition of a 'loser', I don't know what is."
"If people actually think that, then they aren't worth your time," Mandalay spoke up, causing Moko to wince painfully. "Maybe it's a bit hypocritical to say this now that you've got a really powerful Quirk, a big house, and lots of money… but I think that you should have the right to date whoever you want. You should've been able to date whoever you wanted before, in fact."
"It wasn't a matter of me not wanting to date. It's that no-one wanted to date me," Kenji answered. "Besides, I'd have rather been alone back then, then pretend to have some minor Quirk and someone dates me because of that. A relationship built on a lie is like a castle built on sand."
"And what about now?" Pixie-Bob asked worriedly, realizing whatever issues on the dating scene that she had, Kenji Sato had it infinitely worse.
" . . . This is my body now, I might as well treat it as such. Anyone else would just abuse it," Kenji said rubbing at his hair.
Not that the HPSC didn't attempt to buy All for One's body off of him. Because they most definitely did.
"Besides, why should I worry about making other people I'm never even going to learn the names of uncomfortable? I never wanted to be a hermit, that's just the hand life dealt me."
"I'm guessing it'd have been worse to admit you had a body-swapping Quirk from the start?" Ragdoll hummed.
"Oh, big time," Kenji huffed. "You grow up with a 'villainous Quirk', you have people tell you every day that it's 'perfect for a villain', and eventually, you'll believe that they're all right. And besides, who'd want to date someone who can steal people's bodies? That's the sort of shit B-Grade horror movies get written about."
"I would," Pixie-Bob said with a serious expression, causing Kenji to blink at her. "I admit, I made that pass of you expecting to get shot down 'like always', but... to hear you're actually considering dating me, when we barely know one another… I want to give you your fair shake. I want to give you the fair shake no-one else gave you because of some petty bullshit like what Quirk you did or didn't have."
This statement only made Moko feel worse about herself.
"Well, that got heavy real fast," Tiger said in his usual gravelly tone.
"Yes… Yes it did…" Nezu admitted. "Anywho, how do you feel about roommates~?"
*SIAFO,SW?*
As it turned out, the Wild, Wild Pussycats' living arrangements were still nebulous until it had been definitively decided whether or not Kenji would accept their help in fostering all of the Quirks he now had at his disposal. For you see, it was entirely possible that All for One had been alive for so long, and been stealing Quirks for so long, he simply forgot about most of his repertoire after All Might smeared his brains all over the street like grape jelly, so the variable training grounds possible through Pixie-Bob's [Earthflow], let alone her "rock monsters" were simply too useful to ignore as a resource.
If Kenji agreed to the arrangement, they'd live closer to him so to be available at all hours; if he refused their assistance, they'd be put up closer to the Hero Course students at Alliance heights.
Of course, in order to create any measure of ambiguity on which it was, the Pussycats had been reassigned to Yuuei wholesale. Especially since, unfortunately, an ungrateful populous had boxed them together with Yuuei's "failure" in keeping their students safe. Ragdoll getting her stolen Quirk back had made for a good fluff piece, but that goodwill was swift to vanish once the reality of All Might's retirement fully set in.
Kenji himself was still a little iffy about having complete strangers living in his house (with the exception of his personal assistant who made herself as unobtrusive as possible), but if the Pussycats wanted some space of their own, he suggested that maybe Cementoss be commissioned to make a "guest cottage" for them on his pre-existing or expanded estate grounds, and that in the interim he'd put them up in the guest rooms like in college only everyone didn't hate his guts.
The issue was especially poignant because Kota Izumi, a prepubescent child joined at the Pussycats' hips, living in the house of a body-swapper on the edge of campus was not a good look for anyone.
So, after a little back-and-forth-ing and a few phone calls, temporary living arrangements in the Sato residence were hashed out while Cementoss nailed down a design for the Pussycats' guest accommodations. He'd definitely flexed his Quirk when making Alliance Heights, but the man was always happy to make something new instead of more cookie-cutter accommodations with prefab parts.
"Now that that's out of the way, how about you see to those students?" Nezu offered.
"Alright, Pussycats! Let's transform and roll out!" Pixie-Bob whooped as she grabbed her luggage and lunged for one of the guest rooms.
"Um, Mr. Sato…" Mandalay spoke up as the others walked past. "It probably goes without saying, but maybe don't bring up Ryuko's age."
"What does she have to be ashamed of? I'm the one in the body of a literally two-hundred-year-old supervillain."
" . . . Huh. When you put it that way…" the Pussycats' leader hummed.
*SIAFO,SW?*
After the Pussycats got everything squared away and changed into their Hero Costumes, the lot of them piled into a golf cart that was stylized after the "Allmobile" of all things. Apparently, All Might appreciated getting to taste and eat food with a working stomach again so much, he had it commissioned by the Support Course as a bit of a "get well" gift.
Tacky as all hell to be sure, but if it helped smooth things over with the student population…
"Um, is being a driver in her job description?" Ragdoll asked as Moko drove them into campus.
"Might as well make her do something to earn her paycheck now that I have the power of 'Two Human Eyes' again," Kenji hummed as he reclined in the back and threaded his fingers behind his head, Pixie-Bob leaning into his muscular frame as she enjoyed the wind in her hair.
Moko for her part grumbled mentally about lost opportunities.
"So, how's the new body treating you?" Ragdoll asked, a little more comfortable around Kenji now that he didn't look like a testicle with teeth.
"Much better after I got my hands on [Scar Removal]," Kenji answered. "Mr. Potato Head's body was beaten almost completely to hell and back, so I've been shaking most of the rust off, but it'll be a while yet before I'm comfortable leaving Yuuei grounds. I wouldn't put it past someone from Kamino Ward to try and whack me despite the fact it was the other guy."
"Don't worry, Kenji! If anyone tries to mess with you, we'll claw their eyes out!" Pixie-Bob grinned as her cat-like mitts popped out wicked-looking claws.
"Huh, so this is what it feels like to actually have a Hero care about my wellbeing."
That particular black comment settling over their heads, the Pussycats felt that the drive couldn't end soon enough.
*SIAFO,SW?*
By the time the Pussycats arrived, the Class 1-A Hero Course students were already in the gymnasium training up their Super Moves for the upcoming Provisional License exam.
Kenji had seen most of their Quirks in action already on a re-watch of the Yuuei Sports Festival, since the whole thing reminded him of a wacky Japanese gameshow (read: gameshow), but seeing them in action first-hand waaaas WHY THE HELL DID THAT GRAPE MIDGET HAVE A STRING OF ANAL BEADS?!
"Kenji, is something wrong?" Tiger asked.
"I saw something I can't ever un-see…" Kenji muttered as he shook off the revulsion. 'Grape Midget over there is a PR nightmare just waiting to happen.'
Of course, the fact that All for One was such a gossip whore, also let Kenji in on the fact that Minoru Mineta was also an HR disaster just waiting to happen…
"Hm. Shino, Ryuko, Tomoko, Yawara, Kenji," Aizawa hummed taking notice of their presence. "I assume negotiations went well?"
"Yeppers! We're here to stay!" Pixie-Bob grinned excitedly.
"Just not entirely for the reason you think," Mandalay hummed a little more subdued.
"I don't care, so I won't ask," the Erasure Hero muttered with a dismissive wave of his hand.
"Mr. Sato, if any of the students' Quirks catch your attention, feel free to offer commentary," Nezu chirped aloud. "I'm sure an outsiders' point of view could be quite invaluable."
"Are you sure? I don't exactly have the qualifications to teach. Unless it's SE stuff, then I definitely have the qualifications, but for this...?"
"Next to me, you're probably the next-smartest mammal in this school~!" the principal chuckled lightheartedly.
"Not sure if that means the third-smartest mammal is really smart, or really dumb, but... if you insist," Kenji hummed as he drank everything in, a few of the students beginning to take notice of his presence, but trying to pretend they weren't unnerved by the fact that the body of the Villain that'd reduced All Might to a bag of bones on national TV was now living on campus.
And also in their midst.
Meandering through the concrete pillars and clones scattered about, Kenji's now-red eyes eventually locked onto a student that All for One had taken a vested interest in immediately preceding the Vanguard Action Squad's attack on the training camp.
Fumikage Tokoyami. Quirk: Dark Shadow; a sentient Emitter-Type that grew stronger in the dark, capable of swatting down a B-Rank Villain like a fly in the pitch black. And the kid wasn't even through his first year of high school yet.
For Kenji however, the whole thing felt like a Jojo's Bizarre Adventure reference. Guy was certainly chuuni enough if the… disturbingly intensive reconnaissance on All Might's students was anything to say about it.
"Tokoyami, right?"
"Yes, sir," the bird-headed teen nodded apprehensively, if only because he was standing in front of the body of the man that had indirectly (as far as he knew) ordered his capture.
"If it makes you feel any better, All for One only singled you out because he was legitimately afraid of how-powerful you could become in the future," Kenji offered, the crow-headed teen blinking his eyes.
"Ah, you don't say…" Fumikage hummed aloud, not sure if he should be genuinely flattered by that statement. "How much of his memories have you… actually retained?"
"Well, the most-recent ones were dredged up easiest, but the guy's got two-hundred years of brain soup to sift through, soooo…" Kenji shrugged. "Tell me, does [Dark Shadow] have actual sentience, or is it a split-personality kinda thing?"
"Hey, I'm as real as real gets!" Dark Shadow said coming up between the two.
"The ability to speak does not make you intelligent," Kenji hummed quoting Qui-Gon Jinn from The Phantom Menace. "Then again, most people are still pretty damn stupid, so I'll take your word for it."
"Hn. If that's all you needed to say, I have to get back to my training."
"How'd you like a little something extra to take into your License Exam?" Kenji offered, something in All Might's hackles rising as he turned away from the student he was helping.
"In what way?" Fumikage asked, somewhat intrigued by the guy whose soul could switch places with others'.
"As I'm sure you're aware, Mr. Potato Head was a massive hoarder. So much so that even with his two centuries of experience, there's no way he could get an adequate grip on them all," Kenji began, All Might trying to discretely up his clip. "Something I noticed after giving Tomoko her Quirk back was that doing so actually cleared up the 'fog' a little. Not by a lot, but I definitely noticed."
"So what is it you are offering me?" Fumikage asked, having already inferred what Kenji was referring to based on all the old wives' tales about the Boogeyman that would steal the Quirks of misbehaving children, and the whispers that weren't 'wives tales' about the criminal mastermind who could hand out Quirks to his most-loyal.
In response, Kenji raised a clenched fist before flicking his open palm upward, a dark ball of… "anti-light" the size of a grapefruit manifesting, the thing floating lazily like a balloon and bathing them in a cooling shade. Like a localized eclipse.
"Your Quirk is boosted by darkness," Kenji began, a sentiment proven correct when Dark Shadow grew in size, and visual ferocity. "If your body can actually handle the burden of another Quirk, how'd you like to cut a deal for [Black Sun]?"
"All Might, could I have a word?" Nezu asked from off to the side as he scurried up the man's back and steered him to the side with a tug on his wilted hair-horns.
"You want to turn me into some kind of Noumu?" Fumikage asked apprehensively, a few of the students around him taking notice.
"No, of course not. A mentally braindead teenager is pretty much useless to me," Kenji said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "I've been sifting through as much of All for One's memories as I can stomach, and something I learned about the things that attacked Hosu is that they're more like Dr. Frankenstein's monster, with a bit of the Naruhata 'Next-Level Villains' on the side; dead bodies surgically modified to handle the use, as well as the strain of holding, multiple Quirks."
" . . . You make it sound like people are meant to handle multiple Quirks."
"Freezerburn over there is pretty much low-key proof of this," Kenji said pointing over to Endeavor's latest spawn, who at the moment was in his own little world attempting to use both Ice and Fire simultaneously. "The big issue however, is 'Neural Load'. Like the amount of Memory a computer has before it crashes, there's a limit on how many 'instructions' a human brain can handle. Cram too many Quirks into a body and exceed its 'Neural Load', and you've got a braindead body that needs further modification just to function. Some people have the 'constitution' to handle multiple Quirks on sheer willpower alone, but like I said, I'm sifting through 'brain soup' at this point."
" . . . So you're saying I might be able to use both [Dark Shadow] and [Black Sun]," he hummed as a Super Move using both Quirks came to mind.
"I wouldn't be surprised if All for One singled you out because he could pair [Dark Shadow] up with [Black Sun]," Kenji nodded. "Of course, the over/under is pretty even he forgot about [Black Sun] ages ago and he just wanted [Dark Shadow] for the novelty..."
"That's... But that's so petty!"
"We're talking about a guy who got to have his way for two centuries. 'Petty' is the least egregious of his offenses," Kenji deadpanned.
*SIAFO,SW?*
"Nezu, what are you doing?! Can't you see what-"
"Oh, I'm perfectly aware of what Kenji is attempting to do," Nezu hummed. "I'm the one who helped draft the paperwork for if anyone caught his attention for any Quirks he might have in stock."
"But then why-"
"Kenji Sato isn't All for One. He doesn't even want to become the next All for One," Nezu chastised. "All he wants is to live the comfortable life that our superpower-obsessed society denied him his entire life, and the League of Villains is a near and present danger to that… er… ambition," the principal trailed off when he realized what Kenji wanted was basically to be a lazy person. "Point is, as long as the Quirks he's offering won't turn anyone braindead and Recovery Girl gives the green light-"
"Sure, that's how it starts, but how-long until-"
"You know, you're pretty narrow-minded for a guy that used to espouse such lofty ideals," Nezu cut in. "What, are you afraid that what Kenji's building will eclipse the work of 'the almighty'?"
"That isn't why I called myself that…"
"Debatable," Nezu shrugged. "Point is, though, Kenji won't actually shove his Quirks down anyone's throats like with him," he said in reference to the first [One for All] user, back before the Quirk actually was [One for All]. "Recovery Girl didn't even have to warn him how bad an idea that was. Kenji figured out all on his own that some measure of consent and medical screening is required. That and the other thing."
"What 'other thing'?"
*SIAFO,SW?*
Fumikage stared at the folded-up paper Kenji took out of his pocket, and though he wasn't as versed in "legal-ese" as a lawyer, even a high school student could sift through the direct, unambiguous phrasing of the Terms & Conditions laid out before him.
"So in exchange for [Black Sun], if my body can actually handle it without negative side-effects, you want… five percent of my taxable income," the crow-headed teen blinked.
"I'm not crafting a criminal cabal of followers like the other guy did, and even if I were altruistic-enough to hand out All for One's Quirks for free, which I'm not, so I won't," Kenji stated in no uncertain terms, "would you really trust something you got for free?"
"And this clause about retirement age?"
"Consider it an incentive to actually live to retirement age instead of doing something stupid that makes you wind up like that guy," Kenji said jabbing a finger at the emaciated form of All Might who, in all likelihood, was taking umbrage to one of 'his students' being offered a Quirk -the very action that gave All for One such loyal followers- if he and Nezu's back-and-forth was anything to go by.
" . . . Why me, though?"
"Because your Quirk is interesting, and I don't want to be a hoarder like Mr. Potato Head," Kenji answered as he used [Air Walk] to sit on an invisible bench. "Plus, I figure clearing out some of the clutter can only help me in the long run. Stop me from accidentally firing off a Quirk I don't want to use. Sure, the ability to stack Quirks on top of Quirks sounds great on paper, but if you've got so-many you don't even remember what you have in stock…"
" . . . I can't respond to this right away."
"Nor do I expect you to," Kenji said kicking up his feet and lacing his fingers behind his head, now looking like he were sitting on an invisible recliner. Completely ridiculous, but also quite enviable because he was no longer constrained by the limits of pre-existing seating. "Fact of the matter is, with as-obsessed as people are with 'power', I'm sure there are those out there that would consider this arrangement 'unnatural'. There might be people who hate you for it, even more than the 'have-nots' have towards the 'haves'."
" . . . "
"Like I said, it's your choice. If you actually want to go through with the procedure, talk to Recovery Girl. She's the one who'll do your final screening," he said getting to his feet and clapping non-existent dust from his pants.
*SIAFO,SW?*
Yuuei's Hero Course Class 1-A was positively brimming with potential Heroes, but Kenji's own interest in them was a bit more… "selective" than those who had run of the mill "power envy".
Which was why the next student he approached, lost in her own head as she tried to come up with what classified as a "Super Move" even though the whole of her Quirk in of itself was a Super Move, was Momo Yaoyorozu, Quirk: Creation.
He didn't want to interrupt her in the event she was close to having some kind of breakthrough, so Kenji settled himself in on his "invisible recliner", getting some more practice in with his [Air Walk] until the heiress of the Yaoyorozu meta-materials super-conglomerate finally took notice of his presence.
"Oh! Ah! Mr. Sato! Um…!" she said taking a step back from him. "Did you… Did you need something?"
Though he didn't have the same face as the man that'd made her imagine her own horrible death just by standing there, and even though All Might himself vouched for the former SE, a part of her hindbrain was still terrified by the man's presence. Even if the man on the inside was completely different in the most literal sense.
Or would it be metaphorical? Abstract…?
"If my presence offends you, that's perfectly normal, given the circumstances," Kenji said dismissively was he leaned against a nearby pillar. "And trust me, I know all about offending people just by existing," he said self-deprecatingly.
"No, I'm sorry, that wasn't fair of me in the slightest," Momo said as she took a shaky step forward. "Is there something you wanted to ask me?"
"How's your Super Move going?"
"Hmmmm… Not that great, I'm afraid," she hummed with a hand on her cheek. "I have something in mind, but my body just isn't ready yet."
"Hm. Well, would you like something to help with that?"
"Something like what?"
"Another Quirk to pair with your [Creation]," Kenji replied casually.
"Is, is that safe?" she asked, eyes wide as she was taken aback.
"Assuming neural load and intelligence are directly proportional, Recovery Girl seems to think so, though the actual transfer would have to be under her direct supervision."
"Well… What do you have in mind?"
She, like many others, had heard how Ragdoll had lost her Quirk to All for One, how she had been singled out because her Quirk [Search] was of such interest to the SS-Class Villain, and how the civilian who defeated All for One had gotten enough of a hang on [All for One] to give it back. So to hear the subject of receiving a Quirk being discussed so casually…
"Think of it like a 'parallel processor'. Something that would allow you to multitask in a way you couldn't before," Kenji answered. "For example, while you are traversing hazardous terrain or avoiding the attacks of a Villain in a way that requires all your attention, an 'independent consciousness' would be completely free to go through what I assume are a lot of really complicated steps in terms of using a Quirk like yours."
" . . . And why did you single me out?"
"Your Quirk has enormous potential, but you get too caught up in your own head and books. Or at least that's what I saw of you at the Sports Festival."
At the reminder, Momo wilted a little.
"Honestly, instead of a shield, you should've made a road flare to wave in Dark Shadow's face, put him on the back foot. That or throw tear gas at Tokoyami. Because never forget, what allowed humans to become the apex species on the planet despite being one of the weaker tiers, wasn't our claws or our fangs, but the minds that could create axes from sticks and stones, use fire to turn iron into blades and armor, to teach rocks how to think, and to put buildings in space. The power of 'stuff' can never be underestimated, and since there's stuff for 'everything', that means you can overcome 'anything'."
"Well, in my own defense, I wasn't entirely certain that a road flare would've bested Dark Shadow," Momo admitted aloud, while on the inside she was flogging herself for not realizing an offense with one and some road flares would've been better than trying to stand her ground against a physically superior opponent.
"Of course, that's the intellectual reason I singled you out," Kenji continued, causing Momo to blink at him. "The more sentimental reason… Your Quirk reminded me of an old anime I was really fond of at your age, and you looked pretty damn cool using it~" he said giving what he thought was a disarming smile.
"Oh? What was the anime about?" she inquired, the corners of her lips turning upward at the praise of a man who defeated an SS-Class Villain.
"About people who could understand the structure of matter, decompose, and then reconstruct it at will," he answered. "That is how your Quirk works, doesn't it?"
"That's right. My [Creation] allows me to reconstitute my lipidal reserves into different forms of matter, but I have to know the atomic structure and the shape I want it in."
"Well then, assuming you want a competitive edge, sign this and talk to Recovery Girl about it, make an appointment," he said handing her a folded-up piece of paper from his pocket before walking off. "Oh, and, can I be absolutely blunt about something?"
"Of course," Momo replied politely.
"I think your costume is way too sexualized. And also impractical," Kenji stated frankly, finding her neck-to-naval cleavage window a bit… much.
"Why? What is wrong with my costume?" Momo asked curiously as she looked down at it.
"Anything I have to say on the matter will just sound like prudish 'old man speak', so I'll just let one of your female friends try and explain," Kenji said as he walked off, excusing himself from the proceedings.
*SIAFO,SW?*
"Kenji, can I have a word?"
"Oh, sure thing, Toshinori."
"Outside," the emaciated man insisted with a jab of his thumb, the white-haired man shrugging his shoulders as he walked after the former No.1 Hero.
When the two of them were at the perimeter wall behind the gymnasium, Toshinori positively rounded on the living deterrent, something hard in his sunken eyes.
"What exactly do you think you're doing!?"
"Strengthening the war chest of the 'Hero Faction', what does it look like?"
"It looks like you're stretching out your tendrils where they don't belong."
"You mean like how you passed [One for All] down to some Quirkless boy who came to you fifty pounds soaking wet?" Kenji snarked, causing Toshinori to recoil in shock.
"What? H-How…?"
"You people seem to keep forgetting, but All for One's memories, they're still in his head," Kenji said tapping angrily at his temples. "Eventually, I'll know everything he knew, just without all the ego and the bias he built up from being king of the hill for so long. The routing numbers for his secret bank accounts, the locations of his lairs, the names of his collaborators. I don't know all that yet, and I'm sure by the time I do dredge anything useful up, someone from the 'Villain Faction' with more than two braincells will have already cleaned house and moved everything. And don't you dare try to tell me that passing on Quirks is 'unnatural', you bony-assed, fucking, hypocrite. What? Are you jealous I didn't come to you with a party favor first~?"
"That isn't why…!" Toshinori growled even as Kenji sneered at him.
"You know what, I don't have to take this. I'm going for a walk," Kenji said dismissively, purposefully using [Air Walk] to lift himself off the ground.
"Hold it!" Toshinori said grabbing at the man's wrist with deceptive strength.
"Hoh? You're approaching me?" Kenji asked with a feral grin that hadn't been there before as he looked over his shoulder. "Instead of running away, you're coming right to me?" he inquired further, a feeling of dread washing over Toshinori as the man snapped his free arm out several meters, the spring-like limb ended with a Tungsten-clad fist. "Oh ho! Then come as close as you like. Elephant Gun."
The tungsten-tipped limb snapping forward with an elastic rush, Toshinori's cheek was sliced open by the passing fist a mere moment before it punched a hole through the perimeter wall with a muffled *Boom!*
The limb retracting into Kenji's sleeve a moment later, the grip on his wrist went slack, Toshinori's legs going weak beneath him and dropping him against the wall.
"You know, a part of me always did hate you," Kenji snorted derisively as the former Symbol of Peace looked up impotently at the literal face of his nemesis. "All the influence in the world, and what'd you do with it? Meaningless platitudes that only let everyone climb further up their own ass. Never once did you challenge the idea that being powerless 'was a crime' in a world where 'power' and 'justice' had become synonymous. It was all the same corporate bullshit, cleverly designed to offend the least amount of people possible so the largest number-of would buy your shit. All for your so-called 'peace' that those of us at rock bottom would never get to enjoy."
" . . . "
"Pfeh. And you wonder why I don't have any altruism to spare," Kenji scoffed as he walked away, still using [Air Walk], leaving Toshinori leaning against a wall with a gaping hole in it.
"Honestly, I thought he was gonna hit you~"
"N-Nezu?!" Toshinori gawped as he scrambled to his feet and peered through the fist-sized hole, finding the principal's beady eyes looking back at him.
"Yes, I am Nezu," the principal chirped merrily. "Really, though, it's only a little frightening how good he's getting with All for One's Quirks. A shame he was born 'Quirkless'. He might've made for a great Hero~"
Toshinori stewed in the irony of that statement, realizing that Kenji's bitterness was at least partly his fault.
It killed him to admit it, even to himself, but he never did do or say anything to help the Quirkless people. He had just assumed that people would automatically be "good" to one another if he heralded an era of peace where Heroes wouldn't be needed; that the need to be kind to one another went without saying. But no, it was exactly as Kenji had said. Quirks meant "power", "power" meant "justice"; which meant not having that power, any power, was a "crime" in the eyes of the people. In all likelihood, a lingering grudge from when the shoe was on the other foot.
Sure, he'd passed his Quirk, [One for All], down to a Quirkless person as Nana had done with him, but all that knowledge did was give Kenji a valid reason to extend his feelers into the next generation of Heroes, make them indebted to him.
Maybe more in the fiscal sense than All for One had done, but it was undeniable that like All for One, Kenji would eventually come to amass a collection of followers spread into every facet of Hero society. And if the "Hero Faction" as Kenji called it were to ever betray him… All that'd do is put them back at square one with the Quirk [All for One], only this time in the hands of someone creative-enough to make maximum use of it. All for One thought so-little of the Quirks he took, but Kenji… Kenji would never forget the powers he had, and even if he could never master them all, he'd definitely make use of them.
Not to mention, as an "Isekai Protagonist", it was pretty much a given that even the most commonplace Quirks in his hands could be made into the world's strongest. And if he was ever let off the leash to go "hunting"...
"Toshinori. Toshinori. Toshinori!" the chimera called out. "You've been staring at me for twenty minutes. What, has your brush with death awakened you to something~? Because just for the record, I am not interested~"
*SIAFO,SW?*
While All Might was left a sputtering mess as he tried to tell Nezu that he was not sexually deviant, Kenji returned to the gymnasium to see Pixie-Bob and Cementoss comparing notes over the respective applications of their Quirks, Tiger was offering aid to those whose Quirks were more-physical in nature and straightforward, and Ragdoll was cheering on those that needed a pick-me-up while Mandalay… was nowhere to be seen.
Probably looking after her nephew, Kenji guessed.
"Hey! Mr. Sato!"
"Hoh? You're approaching me?" Kenji asked as the red-head with the rock-skin Quirk actually approached him.
"Hey man, I just wanted to say it was real manly how you stood up to All for One!"
"More like 'desperate', but I appreciate the praise," Kenji waved off. "If you're looking for party favors, Terms & Conditions are the same as with Tokoyami and Yaoyorozu. And only if I have something in stock that'd go well with your Quirk."
"Huh?" he blinked. "Oh, no man, it ain't about that. But listen, I saw the mushroom cloud from my dorm this morning, so I was wondering… You want a sparring partner?"
"What?" Aizawa blinked.
"I mean, I'm nowhere near as tough as All Might was when he fought, well, the other guy… but I'm proud of how hard I can get!"
"First off, phrasing," Kenji said as everyone gave the red-head looks. "Second, I'm sure if I put any of you kiddos in the hospital that Recovery Girl would use that cane of hers to give me a prostate exam."
" . . . So is that a 'yes' or a 'soft maybe'?"
"Elephant Rifle."
The tungsten-tipped [Springlike Limb] shooting off to the side with a number of "multipliers" and putting a drilling hit into one of the concrete pillars, Kenji retracted his limb into his sleeve before inquiring-
"Does that answer your question?"
"Not at all!"
" . . . You got dropped on your head as a child, didn't you?"
"Hey, I'll have you know I resemble that remark!"
"I rest my case."
*SIAFO,SW?*
"So… I heard you approached Tokoyami and Yaoyorozu."
"I did, but not in the way Midnight would," Kenji replied as Aizawa pulled him to the side.
"God, dammit, Nemuri…" the Erasure Hero groaned as he rubbed at his eyelids. "Look, do you really think giving… 'Auxiliary Quirks' to Hero students is a good idea?"
"Why not? I'm already giving Quirks to HPSC pencil pushers, and it isn't like the League doesn't have more meat puppets with multiple Quirks waiting in the wings," Kenji shrugged.
"Not what I meant…" he sighed. "Listen, I just think that a move like that would be very… controversial."
"Me being in someone else's body is already controversial," Kenji huffed back. "At least this way the controversy is about something that isn't complete bullshit."
"And Recovery Girl really agreed to this?" Aizawa asked, recalling how Tokoyami actually came to him for advice on whether or not to try and get the [Black Sun] Quirk transplanted into his body.
"Knowing how Quirks are transferred might give the Hero Faction an edge against the League of Villains' Noumu. Because make no mistake, you did not get all of them in Hosu and Kamino Ward. There are going to be more. Dozens, maybe even hundreds, and if our side doesn't have the 'stopping power' it needs to put those Frankenstein's monsters down…"
"Why not offer Quirks to Pro Heroes then?"
"Because most of them are probably nine-tenths of a complete asshole. Like Sparky Sparky Boom Boy over there."
"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU JUST CALL ME!?"
"Hm. I'm amazed he even has eardrums left. Anyway, back to what I was saying," Kenji said turning his attention back to Aizawa. "If I had a Quirk that let you stare at stuff for longer and I was willing to part with it, wouldn't it be 'a Hero's responsibility' to cut a deal so you could save as many people as possible?"
"Why, do you actually have something like that?"
He wasn't contemplating. He was asking for a friend. He swore.
"No idea. Like I said before, there's a ton of crap I gotta sift through. And the last six years were memories of a blind guy juggling a bunch of Sensory Quirks, so good luck getting anything useful out of that stretch of time," he chuckled. "Oh look, it's Sparky Sparky Boom Boy."
"DIE!" he roared as he suddenly blasted the man at point-blank range. "I DON'T KNOW HOW THE HELL YOU'RE HERE, BUT I'LL SEND YOU BACK TO TARTARUS WHERE YOU BELONG, YOU DAMNED BODY-SNATCHER!"
"Hoh? You're approaching me?" Kenji asked with a feral grin as he cast the ruined All Might hoodie aside. "Instead of running away, you're coming right to me?"
*Schwipschwipschwip!*
"Bakugou, enough," Aizawa growled as he opened a smoke-stained eye.
"No, no, by all means, let him vent," Kenji waved off. "After all, a 'Quirkless nobody' beating the Villain that even All Might couldn't… That's got to burn him up inside~"
"YOU SHUT YOUR DAMN MOUTH! I'LL KILL YOU!" Bakugou raged as he fought against Aizawa's bindings.
*Gong!*
*Thump*
"Um… I'm sorry!" Momo apologized, brandishing a small frying pan.
"Oh, bravo, Ms. Yaoyorozu! Bravo indeed!" Kenji applauded eagerly, Momo blushing a little. "Personally, I'd have found pepper spray way funnier, but the fact that you went with the K.I.S.S. method means I wasn't wrong with approaching you."
"K-I-S-S…?" the heiress blinked, spelling the acronym out and clearly struggling to put words to the letters.
"Keep it simple, stupid," Kenji clarified. "So, is he gonna actually get punished, or is it going to be like middle school all over again where he gets to do whatever he wants because he has a powerful Quirk and everyone bends over for 'such a promising future Hero'?" Kenji asked condescendingly as he nudged the insensate Bakugou with his foot.
"Only if you want to press charges," Aizawa said rubbing the grit from his eyes.
"Eh, I'll think about it," Kenji shrugged. "OH! WAIT! You could send him to mandatory anger management classes! With a muzzle and full-body restraints like at the end of the Sports Festival!" he suggested giddily.
"I fucking knew that was gonna come back to bite us in the ass," Aizawa sighed tiredly.
"That or I press charges," he said as his jovial expression died.
*SIAFO,SW?*
"Mr. Sato. You have a Quirk that can remove scar tissue, correct?"
"That's right. You asking for a friend?" Kenji asked once classes ended for the day and the exhausted students began to file out.
"No, I'm asking on my own behalf," Shoto Todoroki stated as he approached the man who gave off an entirely different feel from the entity whose presence made him imagine his own horrifying death.
"Let me guess; it's because of the scar your dickhead of a father gave you?"
"Oh, trust me, I wish it were that simple," the heterochromatic teen sighed. "It's… It's a long story."
"Kid, I'm on working retirement. I've got nothing but time."
And explain he did, proving that most of what that gossip whore All for One knew about Endeavor was pretty much on-the-mark.
There was also something vague in all of the silt about Endeavor's other kid, but it was too murky to make anything out, so he'd just sit on it.
Eh. Probably wasn't too important.
"So, like, is your father also a closet Nazi, or just nine-tenths of a complete asshole?"
"What do the French have to do with this?"
"German, and they were way big into human eugenics; try to keep up," Kenji groaned at the indictment of the Japanese education system.
That or the home tutor Endeavor hired for his kid was a complete shithead at his job.
Moving on.
"Todoroki, even if I got rid of the scars on the outside, would that do anything about the scars on the inside?" Kenji asked aloud once he finished fuming.
"I'm… I'm not sure," Endeavor's 'greatest creation' admitted to himself. "Honestly, it's more for my mother than for me. So she won't have to feel guilty anymore every time she looks me in the eye."
" . . . Okay, I'll treat your Zuko-face as a freebie because your life was wayyyy more fucked than mine was at that age; but only if you talk to your mother about it first. Because fifty-fifty odds is, getting that scar removed might actually make her feel worse than leaving it alone."
"Hm. I never thought about it that way."
"Trust me, learning how little people think is a growing trend..." Kenji hummed to himself as he rose from his seat.
*SIAFO,SW?*
"Who knew you were so good with kids," Pixie-Bob hummed as she took off her headgear, letting the wind through her hair. "That's kinda hot~"
"Ryuko, please…" Shino sighed taking off her own headgear.
"So is 5% of all earnings the going rate, orrrrr?"
"Wait, you mean you'll actually charge them for the Quirks you're giving out?" Tomoko blinked.
"Would you trust something you got for free?"
" . . . I mean I got mine back," she offered a second later.
"It was yours to begin with."
"Oh… Then, no."
"So why're you handing out Quirks to kids?" Ryuko asked.
"I'm not 'handing them out', I'm making them pay for them. Big difference," Kenji huffed. "Plus, they'll A) appreciate them more because they're paying a monthly fee for them, and B) it'll motivate them not to die on-the-job so they can stop paying up after officially retiring."
"You're… You're thinking pretty long-term, aren't you?" Shino hummed.
"This guy's been alive for two-hundred years, and I don't know how much more time he's got in him so… Best to play the odds," Kenji sighed as he rolled his neck.
*SIAFO,SW?*
Elsewhile, back at Alliance Heights, the students of Class 1-A were huddled around Tokoyami and Yaoyorozu, the both of them staring at the contracts Kenji had handed them earlier that day. A few of them had overheard what Kenji had discussed, but hearing it straight from the horses' mouths made the whole thing a lot more real.
"Well, Mr. Sato seems… nice," Kyoka hummed as she read over Momo's contract. Apart from all the legal-ese, it was exceedingly straightforward with fill-in-the-gaps for the name of the Quirk in question, the name of the intended recipient, the date, and the presiding doctor. Even the untrained eye could see that there weren't any exploitative loopholes; get a Quirk, pay a monthly fee, that was it.
"A little cynical, perhaps," Tokoyami hummed aloud as Dark Shadow made a show of reading the contract. "But which is truly better? To be born good, or surpass your evil intentions through sheer effort?"
"You thinking of taking him up on his offer, Yaomomo?" Mina asked. "Not that I'm saying you shouldn't, because it sounds like a win-win all around, but…"
"There would be some controversy, yes… Though as I've recently learned, Heroes are not exempt from such public scrutiny…" she said remembering the recording of Yuuei's 'apology press conference' as she and the rest of the 'Bakugou Rescue Squad' delved further and further into Kamino Ward's underbelly.
Or at least before All for One gave it a triple bypass operation…
"His theories regarding Neural Load on a body's ability to handle multiple Quirks are just one of many interpretations that scientists have been used to-"
"Still, I might be dirt poor and think every penny counts, but even I think 5% for another Quirk is a great deal," Ochako hummed as Izuku muttered up a storm, wearing a circular hole in the floor. "Why go so low? Why not an even ten percent?"
"Perhaps it's to draw people in?" Iida suggested. "If he gets twenty people on the hook this way, that's equivalent to the full 100 of a single person, and since he's the only one who can make use of this business model…"
"Think he has anything to stop me from going stupid?" Kaminari said aloud.
"You do realize those Quirks were probably all stolen, right?" Rikido huffed.
"Oh they were definitely all stolen," Kyoka was the first to admit. "But still, we can't do anything about the dead, and he did give up his own body to stop All for One."
"Does it really count as giving your life if you're still alive at the end?" Toru asked.
"He lost the body he was born with, and he has the stigma of living in the body of an SS-Class criminal for the rest of his days, or until he decides to jump ship again. I think he paid a price…" Iida said with crossed arms.
"Hey, what's a Hero without sacrifice?" Kirishima asked before looking around. "By the way, has anyone seen Bakugou?"
*SIAFO,SW?*
At the same time at the Rec Center where Hound Dog volunteered...
"Hi. I'm Tom."
"Hiiii Tom," the room's occupants chorused.
"And I have anger management problems."
"HRR! HRRRR! HRRRRGH!" Bakugou howled from his full-body restraints and muzzle, mounted on a dolly reserved for prisoner transfers.
"And this is Katsuki. He also has anger management issues," Hound Dog spoke up.
"Hiiii Katsuki," the room's occupants chorused, causing the fuming blond to fight against his restraints with renewed vigor.
"It was either this or a lawsuit, now calm down," the lifestyle guidance counselor chastised.
*AN*
Well, this had less of the Pussycats than I intended for, but I feel like it was a great way of bringing them into the story long-term.
Thoughts?