To LoamyCoffee, it's really easy to think the worst of people in MHA, given what we saw of the Japanese public education system in the earliest episodes. I mean, seriously, everyone in that class thought they'd be able to become Professional Heroes, but there were a lot of "Junk Quirks" thrown in the mix; like [Paperclip Head] and [Face Balloon] to name two off the top of my head.
And while in FanFic it's easier to conflagrate this sort of thing, Horikoshi did imply a lot of societal rot in the world of My Hero Academia. The issue is, he might've been pressured to speed things along, hence why there's a lot of untapped potential. Of course, sub-par endings never stopped people from writing their own Fanons before; and really, why anyone thinks to criticize people for changing up the Canon in a site for Fan Fiction, is still beyond me.
As for the Religious side of things, I can easily see The Vatican instigating mass purges; as far as Villain Organizations go, they still have the highest kill count. I also imagine that the Pope's "stance" on Quirks only changed from "spawn of Satan" to "gift from God" once the Quirk Saturation Threshold among the denomination exceeded the 50% mark.
As for Kenji wanting the future to be better, it's more for his own convenience than any genuine sense of altruism. Any altruism he does have is very personally motivated. Same as Izuku's, though he's too blinded by childish fantasies to realize as such.
To For'Sleep 3rd, I think the reason they're so-obsessed with recapturing the Villains… Probably because no-one had the guts to kill anyone in that society. I mean, they had All for One dead to rights in the Canon, but because All Might himself made the conscious choice not to kill him, everyone followed his lead. And I think we all know how-badly that fucking backfired. I'm excited to write out how the war goes here and in Vigorous Vitality with with All for One (the supervillain) being conclusively deceased.
As for Izuku… Kenji might not care "enough" to stop him from burning himself out, just so he can make All Might stew on that fact. Because remember, the hell he went through, is a product of the world ALL MIGHT made, and that lingering grudge is always going to be there; same as the lingering grudge that Metahumans carried with them from the time they were in the minority, hence why the Quirkless are discriminated against.
Or at least that's my headcanon as for the "why" of it.
To Sultan Asil Arslan-Hiatus, the "Vestiges" jumped ship to Izuku once All Might passed down his Quirk, so that paranoia is "all All Might".
And considering Christians have been going on killing sprees for thousands of years before Quirks, why would that ever change when you have people who can look like the literal Devil?
To Lucas Oliveira (Guest), they're probably taking a wait-and-see approach with Kenji because, they know he's motivated by self-interest, and they also know if they act carelessly, he's going to go on a Quirk-stealing spree.
Also, as a little bonus, [New Order] won't work on Kenji because "Kenji Sato" isn't a name that'll "work on him", just like how the difference between "Tomura Shigaraki" & "All for One" was so blurry.
In terms of Movie Villains, the issue with Kenji is that BECAUSE he has [All for One] , and he's so high-profile, any Villain with a lick of common sense will be keeping track of his whereabouts 24/7/365. The moment there's even a hint from Info Brokers that he's on the hunt, every Villain nearby is going to find a hole. It's like with All Might, but on the opposite end of the spectrum.
To Austin (Guest), IRL, we clung to Bruce Lee and Hollywood tried making Bruce Lee Clones after his death, so they'd definitely cling to the idea of "All Might" in MHA.
As for Sir Nighteye, I certainly have something in mind for him~
To RedDemonEye, I always enjoy touching the hearts of my readers.
To (Guest), it isn't that Nighteye's prediction was invalidated. It's just that, since Kenji is an "Isekai Protagonist", they always have a knack for turning fate on its ear. And his "prediction" was only that All Might would die horribly to "some Villain"; it was never specified who.
To Lucius Walker, always love to hear when people Binge Read my work~
To RedHood001, my "secret sauce" is roleplaying as the characters I'm writing for so I write how they say what they say, not just the "what".
*SIAFO,SW?*
With the Provisional License Exam only a few days away, Momo and Fumikage of Class 1-A, as well as Itsuka, Ibara, Pony, and Setsuna of Class 1-B had decided to accept Kenji's offer for "Auxiliary Quirks"; at least as long as their bodies could handle the strain. By some odd miracle, they all came to the same conclusion; that if they didn't come to a decision soon, not only would they not have the time to get even the barest grasp on these new meta-abilities before the big day, but that they'd also trap themselves in a loop of endless procrastinating. Add on the fact that All Might, the "Symbol of Peace", was well and truly gone as a deterrent against villainy, with the smoking crater that had once been Kamino Ward still fresh on their minds...
As such, the two first-year Hero classes found themselves in the spectator stands of Recovery Girl's operating theater, Momo flanked by Kenji and Chiyo, with Shota in the wings in case anyone's new Quirks went wild in their new bodies.
"This doesn't feel very scientific…" Momo said as she lay on an operating table, squinting against the overhead lights.
"Well excuse me if this practice doesn't come standard," Kenji Sato said as he leaned down to loom over her, his visage momentarily blotting out the artificial lighting as a set of leather straps held his hands to her cheeks, his thumbs resting on her forehead.
Momo, close to a "baseline human" as someone with a Quirk could get and with the most brainpower, had agreed to go first, a number of electrodes stuck to her head and body to monitor every vital process as the Quirk transference commenced. Any slight dip in her brainwaves and Recovery Girl would pull the plug, Kenji taking back the Quirk he was going to give and render the contract void.
Then again, it was a self-contradictory paradox because, if she were a vegetable, how could she earn wages for him to get his "5% monthly" off-of?
Of course, the reason Recovery Girl deemed the procedure safe-enough to try at all was because, as long as his hands were in contact with her head, he would be taking on a part of the "burden" until he separated fully. Like two computers in a network accepting the same burden.
"The equipment is ready. You may begin when ready," Recovery Girl hummed from her bank of monitors.
"Alright, Momo. This is your last chance to back out."
Momo in response created a red mouthguard with her Quirk before slapping it into her mouth.
"I'm ret'y!" the ojou-sama-type answered.
"Alright. Starting… now…"
To everyone else, it looked like Kenji was staring intently at Momo as she clenched her teeth. To him however, it was like the surrounding world had darkened, while a deep crimson energy in thin streams flowed down his arms and into her body, wrapping around her and leaving… something behind, before those crimson tethers broke off at the tips and retreated into his body.
"Recovery Girl?" Kenji blinked.
"There was a slight spike a moment ago, but she seems to be doing alright," the Youthful Heroine hummed.
"Well, I don't have a Quirk that'd let me grow extra arms, and I don't want Midnight to see me using leather straps on a highschooler, so if you wouldn't mind-"
"Hold on a sec, her vitals haven't returned to baseline levels yet," Recovery Girl hummed with a raised finger. After several long seconds of data monitoring, she then asked- "Momo, how do you feel?"
*Spit* "It was fascinating. Mind-blowing. And I'm also a bit thirsty."
"And just like that, the magic is gone," the old woman deadpanned. "Kenji, has she reached her limit?"
"I mean… It doesn't feel like I've surpassed her body's limit, but I would definitely advise against trying for a third Quirk unless she wants something really weak and kinda useless. Not unless you're into massive amounts of surgical modification."
"N-No thank you!" Momo squeaked.
"That makes me curious. What sensation did you experience on your own end?" Tokoyami inquired.
"It felt like I was adding water and a flower to a vase… Or something," Kenji hummed. "It was definitely like I was emptying a part of myself into a container-"
"Don't let Midnight hear you talk like that," Recovery Girl huffed.
"Oh, you know what I mean," Kenji huffed. "Now, seriously, can someone get this leather off? Just because I can probably bite through it doesn't mean I should. This all looks really bad out of context."
*SIAFO,SW?*
While Recovery Girl poured over the data, Kenji and Momo had a one-on-one off to the side.
"So…" Momo hummed as she opened and closed her fists. "How exactly do I use this Quirk? [Parallel Processing] , I mean?"
"It's a little fuzzy now that I don't have the Quirk anymore, but you know that feeling you have when you're multi-tasking? It's something like that, but with a 'shortcut', and also lots better," Kenji hummed as he scratched at his hair.
Momo, for her part, sat primly and properly in her seat, scrunching her brows in concentration and closing her eyes. After several long moments she opened them back up, blinking a couple times before turning to the side and seeing-
"UWAH!"
*Thump!*
"Momo, are you alright?!" Itsuka cried as she vaulted the rail and ran up to her.
"M-M…! M-M-M-M-M…!" she goggled pointing to the empty seat as she stared at an exact duplicate of herself, sitting next to the space she'd occupied and looking at her quizzically.
"Calm yourself, kiddo. It's just a little visual hallucination," Kenji hummed. "That would be your 'Parallel Mind', your co-pilot, if you will," the man said as he squinted his eye at the area Momo was staring wide-eyed at. "Right now you aren't trying to do an additional task, so it's probably just sitting there in an inactive state, but I'm sure if you try to do two things at once with your [Creation] Quirk…"
Momo, strangely anxious to try out her auxiliary Quirk, and maybe just a tad heady from her "procedure", held up both hands and set off her original Quirk. While she herself mentally recited the structure, material, and manufacture of a common smoke grenade, her phantom sibling in turn recited the structure, material, and manufacture of a flash-bang. A pair of matryoshka dolls rising out of her palms, cute little things that looked like her in-costume, a moment later the top halves popped off, revealing a now-live pair of grenades, each of a different make.
" . . . OH FUCK!" Kenji cried as he plucked the grenades from her hands and threw himself on top of them outside of the room, twin bangs followed by a flash of light going off and causing his body to bounce. "Owwwwww…!" he groaned as tongues of smoke crept around the edge of his hoodie.
"O-Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry! What was I even thinking?!" she gasped in shock before staring down at the empty matryoshka halves in each palm.
"That's it, outside, missy!" Recovery Girl chastised. "We'll sort out your punishment later."
Momo could only blush embarrassingly at what she'd done, bowing deeply before walking out of the room, modestly ashamed.
*SIAFO,SW?*
Once Momo's test results had been properly archived in triplicate and a battery of portable electrodes hooked up to her body, the second procedure of the day began, much like the first.
Itsuka, closer to a "baseline human" than any of the other girls from her class in attendance, volunteered next. Recovery Girl was especially interested in this because while Momo had received a secondary Emitter-Type Quirk, in Itsuka's case, it was an Emitter-Type mixed in with a Transformation-Type. The results in of themselves promised to be very interesting, and also indicative of how-dangerous the Noumu could be purely by the fact that different types of meta-abilities could be mixed together in ways that normal Quirk Marriages would not permit.
Having a child inherit two Emitter-Types or two Transformation-Types as intended was already difficult in of itself, given you had to wait 4 to 5 years for your results, but "mixing and matching" was magnitudes more-difficult still. Strangely enough, however, it was frighteningly easy to mix the features of two Mutant-Type Quirks together, though that had been discovered purely on accident through the observation of Heteromorphic couples uninvolved with the practice; back when Quirk Marriages were still mainstream, everyone aspired for the idea of the "idealized hero", not a "mutant abomination". There were many attempts to more-intensively study this phenomena, but lobbying from special interest groups largely stonewalled these efforts; something Nezu himself speculated was the work of All for One, attempting to "monopolize" information on Quirks for himself so it couldn't be used against him.
Not all that different from many conspiracy theories, actually, which had only exploded into popularity one people found out All for One was real and not just an urban myth.
Anywho, Itsuka's vitals similarly spiked to Momo's, though the deviations were "within acceptable ranges", and the worst she felt was a slight tingling from her fingertips. The red-head almost set off her new [Finger Gun] Quirk right then and there, but she knew better after the withering look Momo got. If anything, Recovery Girl decided to christen the phenomena "Quirk Euphoria" after the near-single-minded desire for someone receiving a new Quirk to test it out. Children who were naturally born with theirs didn't have a name for this sensation; it was just "kids will be kids". But for an adolescent to cast most of their restraint aside was something unseen before.
Except for All for One himself who, if he had recorded the results of his findings, had kept them secret quite desperately. As far as Kenji could sift out of the "brain soup" in All for One's head, the man had a "mad scientist nutball-type" in his employ, but other than the stereotypical descriptors of the glasses, labcoat, and "a degree in mad science", no other useful intel was forthcoming.
Recovery Girl, having prepped multiple sets of portable electrodes ahead of time with the help of the Support Department, fitted Itsuka with one, gave her and Momo a survey with some follow-up Questions, and then sent her off to the waiting room which still slightly stunk of smoke bomb fumes.
Setsuna Tokage was closer to "baseline human" than Ibara Shiozaki, with Pony Tsunotori and Fumikage Tokoyami further from that imaginary baseline still, so the [Lizard Tail Splitter] girl agreed to go next.
"So, have you decided what you wanted between [Bombify] or [Slingshot] ?" Kenji asked holding up the contract, the clause relating to the Quirk itself still left blank.
" . . . It's like you said before; I can get similar results to [Slingshot] out of my own training, but being able to make my body parts up and explode isn't something I can get out of training, no matter how hard I try…" Setsuna returned after a moment. "And maybe it's just the way my mind adapted once my Quirk came in, but I don't get… worried about missing body parts the same way anyone else would."
"Well, not many others can re-grow or re-attach the pieces they lose," Recovery Girl hummed. "The mind is truly an amazing thing, is it not?"
"I wouldn't know. It's nothing but foggy brain soup up in here," Kenji hummed as Setsuna filled in the last spot of paperwork before his hands were bound to her head in leathers. "And remember, no matter how much 'euphoria' you might feel-"
"I know, I know… Save it for the firing line," the greenette hummed as she made herself comfortable.
*AHA*
"Shiozaki, have you come to a decision?"
" . . . That Quirk you used on Tetsutetsu, [Gift] … What was the story behind it?"
"What makes you think there's 'a story' behind it?"
"You might be many things, Mr. Sato, but are certainly no liar."
"Maybe not, but I've got a great poker face," the white-haired man shrugged. " . . . For the record, I don't have any memory-altering Quirks in stock, so once you hear this, you can't un-hear it. Not unless you can find someone else who won't just turn you into a vegetable."
"Mayhaps, but I must still be willing to confront the ugliness and unfairness in this world," Ibara said determinedly. "That's why I have to know. I must know! Why do you think that story would hurt me so that you would taunt me with it?"
" . . . Back when All for One traveled the world in pursuit of interesting Quirks, back when they were far more rare and he couldn't level a city block by himself, there was a priest in Europe whose touch could allegedly heal the sick," Kenji began. "By day, he would offer blessings to his parishioners, seen as a holy man, some even seeing him as the next coming of Christ. By night, however, his true colors were revealed; he offered his services to the highest bidder for exorbitant sums, which he would then go on to spend on every vice imaginable behind closed doors. Booze, women, material gains, all things that man desires. The cassock he wore was just a front, for he wasn't a true Christian at all; just a con man who happened to be born with an amazing meta-ability and a charming face that people would trust. As a matter of fact, he was rather antisemitic, and had been slowly building a power base with the intent on starting up the Third Reich. Or Fourth. Whatever. Point is…"
Of course, the look on Ibara's face alone said she was plenty horrified as-is.
" . . . That's why [Gift] isn't up for sale. Some part of his spirit is still attached to his Quirk, I would think, and while that fake priest was a selfish person of the highest degree, he ultimately did care for other people; at least as long as they were Aryans. That's why All for One couldn't use [Gift] . Because the only person he loved was himself. Even the love he had for his brother was ultimately a selfish whim."
"All for One… had a sibling…?" the greenette goggled, Recovery Girl sputtering her tea off to the side while Izuku became laser-focused.
"Maybe once upon a time. He's long dead now," Kenji waved off, still a little horrified of how-far down the rabbit hole things went.
Just not enough to "be the hero". That whole thing with All for One and [One for All] had "Chosen One nonsense" written all over it, and that the guy spent more than a decade grooming a relationship with Tenko's father so he could pull a bait-and-switch with the kid's Quirk factor…
Not like it'd make a difference if he told anyone. And what sort of evidence did he even have? Foggy memories lost in the bottom of a bowl of brain soup? There was being an unreliable witness, and then there was being a second-hand unreliable witness.
Kenji was sure All Might would figure it out eventually. Or maybe he wouldn't, and Kenji would get to write a best-selling tell-all novel. Assuming there was anyone left in the country to buy tell-all novels, at least.
" . . . And what was the story behind [Wicker Man] ?"
"Hm? Oh, no 'story' there," Kenji replied with a dismissive hand-wave. "The previous user was 'just a guy'. He was Christian, but was more-focused on being a morally good person than exercising the grudges of the papacy."
"Do you have to keep framing it like that?" Ibara pouted.
"Only as long as it keeps being true. Which reminds me, I've made a small addendum to the paperwork," Kenji said holding up a fresher sheet of paper, with the label [Wicker Man] actually in type instead of fill-in-the-blank. "Basically, if you participate in any religious crusades, both [Wicker Man] and [Vine] will be forfeit."
"URK!"
"What're you getting so upset about? As long as you don't hate-crime anyone in the name of the papacy, this extra clause is basically just a moot point," Kenji said as he waggled the paper about. "Soooo… Do we have an agreement?"
" . . . With this power, will I be able to save more people?"
"Power isn't what saves people. People save people. Even those with all the power in the world can forsake people. I mean, just look at me?" Kenji offered with a taunting smile. "All Might never saved me, he and everyone else forsook me. So the question you need to ask yourself is, 'Will I save someone even if my faith decries it?'"
"I-I would save anyone regardless of their faith!" Ibara cried with a knuckle white grip.
"Until your faith tells you otherwise~"
" . . . If I ever stray from the path of a Hero, you can have the [Wicker Man] and my [Vine]s both," she said snatching the paper from his hands and signing it. "For if I were to ever forsake someone at the words of a mortal man, even a man of the cloth, the Lord would never forgive me that trespass."
" . . . Excelleeeent~" Kenji grinned drumming his fingertips together like a wicked old man. "Though, to be fair, it's not like you could stop me anyway."
"I'm truly beginning to understand why people used someone like All for One as a Boogeyman..."
*SIAFO,SW?*
Even though the previous four procedures had all gone off without a hitch… kinda… Pony and Fumikage were both still worried about what could happen to them. As such, they decided who would not go next with the method as old as time.
Rock, Paper, Scissors.
"Rock!"
"Scissors!"
"Paper!" [Dark Shadow] called out after Fumikage lost out to Pony.
"Hey! That's no fair!" Pony cried in English.
"I'll allow it on grounds of being really fucking clever," Kenji chuckled. "Oh, but don't worry about a thing, Pony. [Calcium] is a relatively minor Quirk by itself, so I highly doubt you'll exceed your 'limit'."
"Hmmmmm… I'll get you next time!" Pony pouted cutely at Fumikage before she laid herself out on the table, Kenji having to adjust himself around her horns which protruded out above the bench. "So I basically just drink milk and… that's it?"
"The original owner, a Vigilante by the name of 'Bone Daddy'-"
Several poorly-concealed snorts and chuckles erupted from the peanut gallery.
"-played it up like he had an unbreakable skeleton, but really, his body just metabolized and retained calcium with far greater efficiency than your baseline human," Kenji explained as Recovery Girl strapped his hands into position around Pony's head. "Not that a stronger skeleton in of itself isn't useful. You should see an all-around boost in your endurance, and it'll take a bigger hit to break your bones, both internal and external."
"Hm. Okay," she said making herself comfortable on the table. "Hit me up, Quirk Daddy!"
"Please don't say that out loud ever again…" Kenji deadpanned in the face of her thumbs-up.
*SIAFO,SW?*
"Well that was anticlimactic," [Dark Shadow] hummed once Fumikage's procedure had been completed.
"What do you want from me? Some grandiose chuunibyou speech about 'may the burden of power be upon you'?"
Fumikage blushed under his feathers, but would carry as such to his grave.
"You ever read battle shounen?"
"A little," the Mutant teen answered.
"When using [Midnight Sun] , basically think along those lines. Like maybe call out Emperor Shadow on account of you and [Dark Shadow] both being crow-like in appearance."
"Why? Is that a reference, of some sort?"
"Not as old as Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, but powerful-enough as one."
"Hm. Very well. I'll take that under advisement," the crow-headed teen hummed as he rose from his seat, allowing Recovery Girl to fit him with electrodes.
Or rather, she tried to, but his feathers made it a little difficult, and he was unwilling to let himself get "plucked".
*SIAFO,SW?*
With Recovery Girl presiding over those in 1-A and 1-B that'd gotten Auxiliary Quirks in a new training field, with Eraserhead in attendance because of the sheer irregularity of their ongoing training, Nezu and Kenji watched on from a picnic table set up by some of the school's robots, enjoying some refreshments under the summer sun,
"Mr. Sato, do you know you're under surveillance?" Nezu inquired over scones.
"No, I didn't. Let me put that under a memo titled 'Shit I already know'."
"I don't mean by the government. I mean on the darkweb," Nezu amended, chuckling lightly at what he assumed was another of Kenji's super-retro references. That or a reference 'from another world'~ "You have the body of a man that can steal Quirks, and you yourself can steal bodies. Every info broker in the country is basically raking in the cash keeping everyone on the wrong side of the tracks in-the-know about where you are."
"Huh. So, is the money any good?"
"I would assume so. Though at the moment, no-one's fool enough to try and put eyes inside my school. Especially since I can see their findings as well," Nezu hummed as he sipped at his tea, turning his attention back to those who were experimenting with foreign Quirks like it were their first time using them.
Which technically speaking, it was. The phenomena was actually quite similar to Damon Hall Syndrome, only now, no-one would buy that excuse because everyone knew where Kenji Sato was. It wouldn't take long to put two and two together, doubly-so because the Provisional License Exam was basically a huge showing ground for the next up-and-coming Heroes, second only to the Yuuei Sports Festival and its contemporaries in other countries. Everyone had already seen most of 1-A and 1-B's Quirks during the Sports Festival, so there was no way they'd be able to pass it off as a natural progression of their meta-abilities once people started rubbing more than two braincells together.
If anything, with such complimentary meta-abilities at Fumikage, Momo, Itsuka, Ibara, Pony, and Setsuna's disposal, they definitely wouldn't be relegated to Sidekick status for very long.
"Emperor Shadow!"
"Justice Flash!"
"Burning Bush!"
"Boom Goes the Dynamite!"
"It's funny how-quickly real life and comic books began to blur," Kenji hummed as he watched some of his 'clients' scream out attack names. "Then again, when real life basically devolves into 'Cops & Robbers' and everyone's up their own ass about it…"
"So, how bad do you think the blowback from this will be?" Nezu inquired.
"I'm rich, eccentric, and have a really strong Quirk. I can basically do whatever I want," Kenji dismissed with a flippant hand wave.
"Frightening how-true that actually is in our political climate," Eraserhead said as he grabbed a cup of water before applying some eyedrops. "Well, you might not be a centuries-old supervillain, but you definitely know how to pick complimentary Quirks."
"It's not that hard. Everyone else is just really stupid. Too much make-believe-with-pay, if you ask me."
"You know there's going to be hell to pay for this," he idly gestured toward the mix-and-matched Quirks.
In one part of the field, [Dark Shadow] had reared back with a ball of "anti-light" in his yawning beak, growing larger yet strangely, Fumikage wasn't losing control. Itsuka for her part was launching a sustained barrage of energy blasts out of her fingers like a battle shounen, her stance adjusting and reducing how much the recoil pushed her back. Ibara had woven a barrier of flaming vines around herself, and was sweating like a priest in a courtroom; that or a hooker in church. Setsuna, now with a pair of safety glasses and a face shield, was repeatedly blowing up her fingertips with [Bombify] , Quirk Reinforcement allowing the missing digits to regrow faster as she shed off the ruined flesh and bone.
"There's hell to pay every time I eat lunch in the school cafeteria. What's your point?"
" . . . Well, you aren't wrong, I guess," the Erasure Hero admitted as he rubbed at his face.
*Bluuuuugh*
"Excuse me for a second. Pony! Pony, are you alright?" Kenji asked as he ran over to the foreign exchange student, Recovery Girl following behind.
"I feel sick…" the American groaned as she held her stomach, feeling too ill to bother with Japanese.
"Yeah, no shit you feel sick! How much milk have you been drinking?" Kenji said wiping the sick off her face with a napkin, eyeing the litany of discarded milk bottles scattered around her. "What'd you do, raid every vending machine on campus?"
"I'm just… *urp* training my Quirk…"
"Pony, your Quirk only works on the calcium you take in. It doesn't magically digest dairy products if that's how you're getting your fix," Kenji said as he brushed her hair out of her face. "Let's lay you down in the shade somewhere. After that, I'm sure Recovery Girl can recommend a good calcium pill wholesaler."
"He really is good with kids, isn't he~?" Pixie-Bob sighed wistfully off to the side.
"Well, at least he isn't completely amoral," Nezu hummed as the body-jumper carried the transfer student over to a tree, Momo making a sleeping mat out of one thigh and a memory foam pillow out of the other. "What about you? Happy not to be single anymore?"
"I mean, I'm not not happy to be off the market~" the pretty blond admitted as she rubbed at her hair. "Although, I'd be lying if I said I weren't worried about the fallout once people start seeing us together-together."
"Ah, yes. Human societal pressures to conformity. Like institutionalized racism," Nezu hummed with a malefic glint in his eye. "Glad I don't have to worry about anything like that."
"Don't you ever get lonely?" Ryuko asked, realizing that even though she'd had zero luck at dating for the longest time, at least she'd had choices. Hanging around Principal Nezu like this had her realizing, it was definitely worse for others. As far as anyone knew, he was the only sentient mammal of his kind.
"The future Heroes I help groom are my children," Nezu hummed. "Not to mention, any humans that would want to date me, aren't the sort I'd want to date in turn."
"Right…" Pixie-Bob nodded awkwardly. "Still, if Kenji can endure a lifetime of getting shat on for something so minor as being 'Quirkless', I guess I can endure a little heckling on my end. I mean, why should I care if a bunch of randos I'll never see again are salty I'm dating a guy with a bit of emotional baggage?"
"That's a good attitude to have. You might just be the only thing stopping him from going to full-on villainy if someone on our side screws him over."
"Wow. No pressure," Ryuko deadpanned. "So… How are things with the League of Villains?"
"After losing All for One, they've gone to ground," Nezu hummed. "They probably won't start mobilizing again until they realize Kenji's making his own super-powered army. Even if their only allegiance is fiscally-based," he began. "As soon as they realize Kenji is making moves, they'll have to start on their own end, or he'll just continue to pull ahead of them."
"Makes sense," she nodded. "Soooooo… Crime rates have gone up another percent."
"It was inevitable," Nezu shrugged. "Without All Might to scare the villains with force of arms, that fragile 'peace' has begun to unravel like an old shirt. And since Kenji has no interest in helping us out of this hole we've dug for ourselves because we were too busy shitting on him and all the other human dignity violations…"
"I mean… I guess I can't really blame him," she sighed as she collapsed into Kenji's seat. "I was never a bitch or anything to Quirkless people, but I was definitely warier of Mutants, and, come to think of it, why didn't All Might ever say anything about that?" she blinked as soon as it dawned on her. "Every media appearance he ever did, he was very non-specific…"
"Just another of the many hypocrisies Kenji Sato is damning us for," Nezu sighed. "And all the while, he's laughing his way to the bank."
"Well, I mean, de-powering Villains can only be a good thing, right?" Ryuko offered.
"Human rights activists with not enough to do and too much time on their hands would argue very differently," Nezu countered.
"Well, I mean, at least those guys did something to deserve it," Ryuko said in turn. "Tomoko never did anything wrong, but All for One took her Quirk anyway."
"Hm, yes, and look where that landed him~" Nezu smiled around his teacup, letting out a mad cackle that unsettled the Wild Wild Pussycat.
*SIAFO,SW?*
Elsewhere, Class 1-A was training with the other Wild Wild Pussycats while 1-B was with Cementoss and Ectoplasm. Those who hadn't gotten "Auxiliary Quirks" were either still in the process of brainstorming ideas or were refining the ideas they already had.
One such example was Uraraka, who was trying to extend the amount of time she could use [Zero Gravity] on herself before she got sick. At the same time, she was testing out an upgrade to her Hero Costume's built-in Support Items; a biometric scanner that would cause the built-in clamps around her wrists and neck to increase or decrease the pressure on her pressure points in response to her nausea.
It was so weird, not having Momo or Fumikage around, doubly-so because whenever they took a break from training they could see their peers all using extra Quirks in the next training field over. But there was the evidence for all to see, the vast majority of them screaming new attack names at the tops of their lungs.
Not that it was all too different from what was happening around her, to be honest, though this was only in the cases of those who had decided on a new Ultimate Move and were in the process of refining them to something usable in the upcoming exams.
Right as Pixie-Bob came back to restock their supply of Earth Beasts, so too did Mr. Sato come by, the two arm in arm and causing Mina to unironically squeal like a schoolgirl.
To the brunette's confusion , Kenji waved her over in front of pretty much everyone. And while she knew he wasn't "harmless", given he'd technically "defeated" an SS-Rank Villain who put All Might on the back foot and turned several city blocks into a smoking hole in the ground, there wasn't any sort of malice coming off of him, and he had been helping 1-B with their training, so maybe he was doing the same for her?
"Uraraka, can I bend your ear for a minute?"
"Hm? Oh, sure," she replied, taking a seat on a nearby rock bench and choosing to ignore the pig's eye that Pixie-Bob was shooting at her. "So, what did you want to talk about?"
"Something I want to ask you, something I'd like to hear for myself instead of relying solely on what All for One the Gossip Whore knew-"
"Wait! All for One was into gossip? For real!?" Mina squealed excitedly before Tiger chastised her and urged her back to training.
" . . . Perhaps I should start over," Kenji sighed, Ochako realizing that the man in front of her may've had the face of a really scary villain who'd made All Might into a skeleton, but that he was still an ordinary-ish guy; on account of all the baggage. "Why do you want to become a Hero?"
"Well… I mean… What does-did," she amended, "All for One know?"
And boy was that weird for her to consider; that the Boogeyman of their society was a "gossip whore" as Kenji so frankly put it.
"That you were in for it for the money. But you don't seem anything like all the slimeballs from middle school who said the exact same thing without an ounce of shame," Kenji answered. "So I guess I want to know what makes you different."
"Oh, well…" Ochako hummed as she took off her helmet and began to muss with her hair, Pixie-Bob tearing at a handkerchief with her teeth for some reason. "My family owns a construction company, but we haven't been doing very well the last few years, so we're kind of flat broke… That's why I want to sign on at a good Agency, make good money, and give my parents a better life!"
Now, Uraraka had told more people than just Tenya and Izuku as such in the past. Just-recently she'd told the girls of 1-B during their class' "sleepover" at the Pussycat's mountainside inn. What she hadn't expected, from Kenji Sato of all people, was to start bawling his eyes out.
And it wasn't "pretty crying" like in the movies or anime. It was ugly crying with a capital-U, his face scrunched up and his nose dribbling with snot as tears poured down his face.
"That's… *SNIFF!* That's so beautifuuuuuuul…!" the grown man sobbed, wiping tears and snot into the sleeves of his All Might hoodie; something that made the man himself off to the side wince at the sight of.
Ryuko was on them in seconds, handing him a handkerchief from a pocket before sitting at his side and rubbing soothing circles onto his back.
After about a minute of this, Kenji was able to comport himself, scrubbing at his hoodie sleeves with some kind of Emitter Quirk that made a lather that smelled like laundry detergent spill out of his rubbed palms.
"Heh, sorry about that. Didn't think I had those kinds of tears anymore," he chuckled as he dabbed at his eyes. "All things considered, yours is probably the most-wholesome reason for becoming a Hero out of your class, so you should take pride in that."
"W-W-W-Wholesome?!" Ochako blushed. "But I told you flat out I'm in it for the money!"
"Yes, but that money is going to pay back the unconditional love your parents gave you your entire life. That's the most-altruistic reason I know of out of you first-years."
"B-But Deku-"
"True altruism is just a myth," he cut in with a serious tone, his words and expression causing everyone's actions to slow, even the Pussycats. "Tell me, what is a hero?"
"A-A Hero is someone who saves people-"
"That answer is so insultingly wrong I have half a mind to smack you for it," Kenji said with a straight face, causing everyone around him to go slack-jawed. "Why does a hero save people? Is it fate? Some pre-written, free will denying bullshit about duty and obligation? No, a hero is the epiphany of a hypocrite. Heroes don't go saving people because they have to. They do it because they want to."
"B-B-But that's just because they're selfless-"
"Nope," Kenji cut in, his word like the crack of a whip across a man's face. "In a funny twist of irony, the very concept of selflessness is, in of itself, rooted in selfish desire. Gratification, satisfaction, desire over logic. Heroes save people because it feels good to know they're the reason someone else is happier, or better off. Heroes help people because they know they will be admired for it, because the people will sing their praises into history books. Wanting to be a hero 'who saves a million people' is the same thing as wishing tragedy upon a million people, just so you can be the one to save them. Every time a hero wants something 'exciting' to happen, is the same as saying they don't enjoy the peace, they want a catastrophe to happen so they can be the ones so upend it. That they don't mind putting themselves, their own satisfaction and the pursuit of their own self-aggrandizement, before the wellbeing of others."
It went without saying that his words were utterly mind-boggling, anathema to all they had been groomed to know, yet at the same time, no-one could draw up the words to refute him was how deep their shock lay.
"To be a 'hero' is to live life to its most extreme. To be so free that you can make unilateral decisions for others when they're unwilling to make moves for themselves. A hero is a conqueror of hearts and minds without the sensitivity to know where to draw the line. Take All Might for example," he said waggling a flippant figure at the gaunt shadow of a man, whose former heroic visage had even now begun to erode from the minds and memories of his own students, instead replaced by this stark reality of a man made shadow of his former, almost god-like self. "He unilaterally decided one day that people needed a symbol, and there's nothing wrong with that, but the issue is, he never drew that line in the sand. He imposed his will on others, inspired generations of slackers and dullards, racists and hypocrites, and now you're in a hole so-deep it'll take a civil war to muster the will to climb out of it, because there's no way someone like Endeavor can hold up this society that All Might shed sweat, blood, tears, a lung, and two functioning stomachs for. No offense."
Todoroki had no words for that, no-one did, but then again it might've been the fact that All Might allegedly shed two "functioning stomachs" over it and they were all trying to chew on that little tidbit.
" . . . Oh shit, did I go off on a tangent again?" Kenji blushed after a moment as though he hadn't realized just how much shame he'd been throwing around. "Look, point is, you aren't into this whole Pro Hero gig for the glory, or because you want to flex your Quirk, or shout 'I'm better than you' from the rooftops like a complete jackass."
And he very poignantly glanced at Bakugou when he said that, the empathetically-stunted teen grinding his teeth furiously together at the implication.
Kenji then went on to say- "Your reason for becoming a Hero is the most un-selfish I and All for One both have ever heard, so I want to offer you a freebie."
"A… freebie…?" Ochako blinked slowly before her eyes widened. "Wait, you don't mean…!" she gasped as her eyes darted to the other clearing before going back to him, finding his extended thumb pressed to her forehead making her go cross-eyed.
"Hm, yes, seems you've got enough bandwidth left for [Sea Legs] ," Kenji nodded aloud. "No monthly fee, no contract, all I ask is that you continue to love your parents like the darling little angel you are."
" . . . I want one," Ryuko said staring very intently at Ochako, causing everyone to spit-take.
"We can start later," Kenji replied before turning back to the brunette before saying- "So what do you say?"
"Um… Can I at least ask what [Sea Legs] does?" the brunette asked, still in the process of, well, processing.
"It stops you from feeling nausea due to gradual or sudden shifts in equilibrium."
"Wait, All for One gets seasick?" Ochako and Ryuko both asked.
"I don't think so? If anything, he probably plucked that Quirk to deal with any nausea or vertigo-related backlash from the numerous Quirks he'd already been hoarding."
" . . . I might not agree with everything you said. Maybe not now, maybe not ever…" Ochako began as she carefully wrung her hands together, "but it's obvious you've been chewing on these thoughts for a very long time," she said looking up to meet his eyes, "so I'm not gonna dismiss it out of hand just because it's a little unflattering…" she said interlacing her fingers and gripping her hands, pinkies extended outward. "If it'll help me give my parents a better life," she said as something strong and fiery burned in her eyes, "then I'll admit to being just a little bit more selfish."
" . . . SO CUUUUTE!" Ryuko suddenly cried as she embraced Ochako and drew her into her bosom with a squawk before turning to Kenji with a completely straight face and saying- "We're adopting her."
"Ryuko, no, she's already taken."
"Joint custody then?"
"Ryuko, I'm sure any child of ours won't take shit from anyone, so we don't have to adopt."
"You'd… really settle down and have kitties with me?" she asked softly, Mina squealing quietly off to the side, seemingly recovered from Kenji's tirade.
"I'm a little concerned you called them 'kitties', but I can wave that off as one of your quirks," Kenji offered sincerely.
" . . . TO THE BEDROOM!" she shouted dramatically as she pointed into the distance while propping up one leg.
"Ryuko, no, it isn't time to clock out yet"
"But we are gonna do it, right?"
"You're being awfully cavalier about airing your sex life to a bunch of minors."
"A bunch of minors who can use the school's WiFi to look up internet porn. What's your point?"
"Well, as long as no-one does any ego searches, they should be able to hold onto their sanity…" Kenji said as he pressed his palms to the girl's cheeks and his thumbs to her forehead. "Oh my, your cheeks are really squishably soft."
"See! I told you!" Mina cried out.
"Muuuu! I wannna try too!" Ryuko pouted.
"I feel like we've lost all control of the situation…" Cementoss hummed to the side. " . . . All Might?"
" . . . "
"Oh dear."
*SIAFO,SW?*
"Kenji, a word?" Cementoss asked while Ochako was stress testing her new baselines, Mina holding the end of a rope tied around the girl's waist.
"Yeah, sure thing."
"Outside…?"
"Should we just skip to the part where you try to throw your weight around and I make you shit your pants?"
"I'm not trying to antagonize you, I just want to know… Do you really think that little of us?"
"Yes."
"Um, okay, wow. Not even a moment's hesitation?"
"I've been chewing on my thoughts for a very long time~" Kenji grinned. "When you have no friends and a dead-end job, it isn't hard to be alone with your thoughts."
"You really are a sadist, aren't you?"
"I prefer to think I'm an asshole to whoever rightly deserves it," Kenji nodded.
"I guess I should just be glad you didn't throw in with the Villains."
"Eh, day's still young."
"I can't tell by your face if you're lying or not, and that frightens me."
"Hey, when you're in the middle of enemy territory, you have to be very good at hiding what you're really thinking from your 'betters'," he sneered.
"It's sobering how you considered everyday people to be your 'enemies'."
"And you never did?" Kenji asked quirking a brow.
"No…" Cementoss replied, only to trail off. "Okay yes, sometimes, but I grew past it."
"Well, you had the benefit of a powerful Quirk, soooo."
"I mean, you aren't wrong about that point," the Heteromorph admitted as he crossed his blocky arms. " . . . Do you really think we're looking at a civil war?"
"I mean, eventually. All for One didn't exactly have a timetable planned down to the exact minute if that's what you're wondering," Kenji shrugged. "All for One was Chapped Lip Man's 'sensei', the one who saved him when everyone else forsook him like I was."
That little tidbit made Cementoss, and All Might who was listening in, wince.
"But now that he's gone-gone, Chappy's either gonna go to ground, muster his forces for a few years and completely overwhelm you right as you think you're in the clear, or he'll make a huge crazy move that pays off big, and completely overwhelm you before the year is out."
"So we're looking at a civil war eventually…"
"I mean, this is the kinda world someone'd get Isekai'd to. It was only a matter of time before one person gathered all the whipping boys together under a single banner to kick in the teeth of their bullies," Kenji shrugged.
*AN*
Whoof, didn't plan for his talk with Ochako to go on for quite as long as it did, but it always did bug me in the back of my lizard brain how Mirio/Lemillion's wish to save "a million people" is diametrically the same as wishing for a million people to be "imperiled" so he himself can be the one to save them.
Hawks on the other hand wants the exact opposite; for the Heroes to have so much free time they don't know what to do with it.
Now, maybe I'm taking what Mirio said too literally, but the over/under of taking his words "literally enough" are still 50/50, so take what I/Kenji said as you will.
Anywho, tell me what you think of the kiddos in 1-A and 1-B unironically screaming out attack names, and I'll see you all next time~