Izuku cleaned up the papers on his desk, the files of the U.A. students were already neat, but it gave him something to busy his hands with just a little longer.
He didn't think the second meeting would go too much worse compared to the first but that did not mean he was eager for it either.
He'd done his best to try and find someone he would feel better about passing Inheritance onto.
But even with the resources of the Vespas and Юрий-сан Izuku hadn't been able to find someone that fit the bill better than the students they currently had.
Izuku had found people that would supposedly have the right mental attitude but couldn't be considered beyond that because their quirks were incompatible with taking on a second quirk was such a high mental strain, much less the full hoard of Inheritance.
And they'd also found a few people that might in theory handle Inheritance physically but were too young or had already been in All For One's radar, like the other two-toes.
Naturally Izuku couldn't comb through the files of every person in Japan in a week, even with the Vespas and his doubles helping him look through the files.
But if things continued on like this...
Izuku shook his head, putting the files away and grabbing his bag, taking a fortifying breath before walking towards Nezu's office.
There would be no reason to stall.
The halls were empty now that most of the students had gone home, and the few that were left were at one of the training grounds.
So, he had no stops on his way to Nezu's office.
Even with his stalling Izuku found he was the first to arrive, Izuku blinked looking around with a raised brow, why wasn't Haruki-San there already.
Nezu greeted with a chirp, motioning him to come over to his desk.
"Ah, Izuku, come in, Haruki-San will join us in a few minutes. She's running the final tests and the new alarm system we had set up." Nezu informed him, looking up from his laptop.
"Oh, how's it going? Did you and Maijima-San work out the bug that caused the doors to close automatically?" Izuku asked coming around to see the screen for himself, well after he locked the room down for Nezu and him to speak freely.
Nezu chirped again, his tail wagging.
"That's good, have the rest of the tests been going well?" Izuku inquired, the screen only showed the USJ's system at the moment, so he didn't know about the other areas were doing.
Nezu chuffed, tapping a few buttons and the screen changed to show the list of security systems, both installed and waiting for installment.
Izuku's eyes went wide "That's way more done than I thought we'd get done by now, I hope you're paying Maijima-San the difference." Izuku commented.
Nezu huffed, his tail bopping Izuku's nose and Izuku chuckled.
"I know, I know. The board wouldn't approve... but that won't stop you from paying him through his company as a third-person contractor." Izuku said and Nezu puffed up with his pride.
Izuku stroked Nezu's head, his friend churning and tail wagging a touch faster.
Unfortunately, Nezu wasn't easily distracted and gently pushed Izuku's hand away, chirping to voice his concern, making Izuku groan.
"It looks like Haruki-San will most likely be right, we might be forced to consider our students as the only viable successors for Inheritance." Izuku told Nezu crossing his arms, not bothering to hide how dejected and frustrated he was over the idea.
Nezu's ears lowered and his tail sagged, Nezu placed a paw on Izuku's arm and chuffed sadly.
"I know you were hoping I could find someone too, but even with the Vespas helping there's only so much we can do. We're looking for unicorns after all." Izuku muttered, scratching behind Nezu's ears to thank him for his sympathetic ear.
"We should unlock the room, the others will be here soon." Izuku brought up, Nezu huffed his tail flicking out, but he didn't stop Izuku from unlocking the room.
Izuku then got to work making himself a cup of tea, some of the good stuff that would actually calm his nerves with the decent amount of caffeine in it.
And like he thought Nezu spoke up the minute he sat down with a fresh cup in hand "Torino-San, Yagi-San, please come on in." Nezu cheerfully exclaimed.
The two men entered a moment later, Torino-San glanced over the room nodding his head when he spotted Izuku sitting on the couch.
"Kid." Torino greeted.
Izuku narrowed his eyes, while Torino was being respectful in his own personal standards Izuku knew better than to let others get away with things like that.
"Midoriya is fine Torino-San." Izuku told the man, and he was sure the retired hero got his meaning, then he turned to Yagi.
"Yagi, we didn't exchange numbers, so we haven't been able to contact each other directly," Izuku mentioned "I do hope you've been able to follow up on what we discussed last we met." Izuku commented, hoping the man would be smart enough to catch his drift.
And for the first minute he was disappointed with how confused Yagi looked, Izuku's words going over his head, but then Yagi's sunken eyes went wide as he finally clued in.
"Ah, yes, yes. We've- I've been working on that." Yagi answered, a touch awkward as tried to cover his slip of the tongue.
Torino-San shook his head and turned to Nezu "When are the others getting here Nezu?" Torino questioned.
Nezu 'smiled' clapping his paws "Haruki-San will be here in a matter of minutes, as for Shuzenji-San, she'll be here any second. Sir Nighteye will also arrive around the same time as Haruki-San. Tsukauchi-San had to attend to a murder case and won't be able to join us unfortunately" Nezu explained to them.
Yagi shrinking somewhat after hearing the last part.
"Would either of you like something to drink? Midoriya-San has made some tea if you'd like something a bit stronger Yagi-San." Nezu offered, gesturing to the kettle.
Torino raised an eye "A bit early to start drinking." Torino pointed out, the 'for someone your age' being unsaid but heard clearly and Izuku couldn't help snorting.
"Nezu's talking about the caffeine Torino-San, quirkless people have a higher tolerance level for caffeine and the tea I'm drinking would have enough to be compared to a low-grade energy drink for the quirked." Izuku corrected, not bothering to comment about the fact he could legally down a bottle of vodka if he wanted to.
"Oh, um, I'm not supposed to have caffeine with the medications I'm on." Yagi answered waving his hands lightly.
"Ah, I understand. Mom wouldn't let me have any of my personal teas when I was recovering myself a few years ago." Izuku replied taking a sip from his cup.
"Recovering?" Yagi repeated and Izuku nodded.
"I was suffering from a TBI when I was twelve, I also had a few other injuries, but my mom didn't want me stressing my brain because of that specifically." Izuku answered with a shrug, sighing in his head when Yagi face twisted with concern.
"I'm fine now, made a full recovery years ago, with a storm warning system in my bones to boot." Izuku told him, rolling his eyes before reaching into his bag and pulling out his rabbit chew.
The look on the others' faces was certainly worth it.
Nezu perked up again "Shuzenji-San, Haruki-San come in, Sir what a pleasant surprise! You've come earlier than I thought." Nezu commented.
Izuku raised a brow, but the three did walk in together, Haruki-San settling beside him and Shuzenji-San on her other side, Sir glanced at the empty space beside Yagi.
The intent to sit there clear on his face but with the wince and uncomfortable shifting from Yagi forced the man to purse his lips and settle for the spare arm chair that usually wasn't there.
Izuku frowned, at the interaction, his eyes glancing back to Nezu, quietly asking if he saw that, Nezu flicked his right ear confirming he did.
"Now that we're all here, allow me to make this a private conversation." Nezu told the room before going to lock the room down again.
Once safe Izuku turned his gaze to Yagi.
"I'm guessing you were able to make contact with the past wielders Yagi-San?" Izuku inquired now that it was safe.
Yagi nodded, a small smile on his face tinted with sadness.
"Yes, I've been speaking with all seven of them for the last week- Ah hold on a moment," Yagi explained only to pause suddenly like he was interrupted, then nodded to himself "Apologizes, I can hear them while awake the last couple of days." Yagi said rubbing the side of his neck.
Izuku nodded, Kurogiri had told him that Shirakumo was also aware and able to communicate with him at all times.
"I understand, are they able to see and hear us through you Yagi-San?" Izuku questioned.
"Indeed, they have been able to watch through me since I was given One For All." Yagi answered.
"Excellent, would they be willing to list their quirks for me? And their names if they can remember them, both of those things will be very helpful in finding a successor." Izuku requested.
"Ah, we did discuss this, and Torino-Sensei I have done some digging into this." Yagi told him, a touch happier as he pulled some papers out of the briefcase he brought with him.
Izuku blinked a touch surprised, and he wasn't the only one judging from the looks on Shuzenji-San and Sir, so this must have been one of the past wielders idea.
He accepted the papers, combing through the names on the list, he'd have the Vespas look into this as well, the government had been pretty strict over blood and genealogy testing after the dawn of quirks and would have records for him to look over.
The names of each of the quirks popping out to him and being cataloged along with the users' preferred names.
Gearshift, Fa Jin, Danger Sense, Black Whip, Smokescreen, and Float.
He'd need a few moments to absorb all of the quirks potential but from the basics he read over in the short descriptions between the eight quirks he knew of there were at least four energy-based quirks.
Maybe five depending on the way Smokescreen worked and two mental quirks, with three of the quirks able to stockpile.
He needed more information though, how did the side-effects work exactly and there were only a few people he'd be able to get answers from.
"Yagi have you been able to use any of these quirks?" Izuku asked looking back up.
Yagi nodded, his body very carefully floating up an inch or two from the couch before sitting down again.
"Nana has allowed me access to her quirk and has been teaching me a little of how to use Float, the others have decided against allowing me their quirks though as they'd attract too much attention or are too dangerous for my current state of health to use." Yagi explained to him, a smile upon his face.
"They can prevent you from using their quirks?" Haruki-San questioned, something Shirakumo wasn't able to do Izuku noted from his talks with Kurogiri.
"Yes, that was why I didn't have any accidents before now." Yagi confirmed waving a hand.
"Hm, I suppose that would make sense, mental force is very important when it comes to mental quirks." Izuku commented rubbing his chin.
That was a snag, but Izuku understood, he'd like to be able to see the results on a living person, but he'd have to settle for past accounts.
"Okay, then can I ask the past users a few questions I have about their quirks Yagi-San? I need a bit more clarity on certain things." Izuku inquired.
Yagi was quiet a moment, likely hearing the past wielders answers "You may ask your questions and I shall relay their answers." Yagi informed him.
"Thank you, Yagi-San, I'll be sure to say who I want the answer from," Izuku said setting the papers down.
"I'll start with Gearshift. Second, can you tell me what the side-effects of using your quirk was like before and after you got Inheritance?" Izuku inquired.
"How that would be helpful to finding a successor?" Sir questioned and Izuku looked back to the man with a raised brow.
"Because knowing the specific effect a quirk has from overuse is key to finding how a quirk really works beyond the surface level, and from that I can derive the needs we'll need to address for the next user's health." Izuku answered calmly, choosing not to let the man think he was getting under his skin.
Yagi was quiet for a moment, listening to the second wielder for the answer.
"Second said that he usually felt lethargic after using his quirk for too long, his body might lock up sometimes when he used it on himself. After gaining One For All though his quirk became harder to use, and for the later generations they could move themselves so fast they couldn't get enough oxygen and almost crash if they weren't very careful how much they used it." Yagi carefully answered.
Izuku hummed.
"Second, you were around during the Dawning, correct? Did you notice if you and the third, Bruce, were able to stay up for longer periods compared to the others in your group? Did you need less rest to recharge?" Izuku asked.
He got another look from Sir, but the man didn't open his mouth this time.
"Indeed, they didn't need as much sleep and stayed up for days at a time." Yagi replied looking a bit lost for these questions.
"Okay, I think it's safe to say that Gearshift was an energy based quirk like Black whip then." Izuku commented.
Yagi winced "Young-" he began to say.
"Dr. Midoriya." Izuku corrected sternly, uncaring of Sir's glare at him.
"Dr. Midoriya, a few of them would like you to explain what you mean by Gearshift being like Black whip." Yagi informed him.
"Right, of course," Izuku said, Nezu would probably be the only one informed enough about quirk science to understand the connections.
"Quirks rarely break the rules of the universe, bend them well past 360 sometimes but not break them, Gearshift isn't one of those rare quirks especially since it was an Old-World quirk like Inheritance, Fa Jin and the strength enhancer quirk." Izuku stated.
"So, when you used Gearshift to make things faster you were doing it within the rules of acceleration, and from what you told me Gearshift likely did so by putting more energy into a moving object, like pressing down on a gas pedal in a car." Izuku explained miming the action with his hand.
"Naturally, that energy has to come from somewhere, in Second's case, he had a 'pool' of stamina to draw energy from like most energy quirked people. However, when you took Inheritance that pool of energy changed because of the strength enhancer it brought with it." Izuku further elaborated, Yagi following along nodding his head.
"People often only see the physical part of strength quirks, like muscle growth, but they also come with an easier time building up their stamina, so when Second got the Strength enhancer his energy pool which had remained fixed with limited growth suddenly got the ability to expand dramatically." Izuku said holding his hand up and then pulled them far away from each other.
"Hence why it was harder to control after he got One For All from the first." Haruki-San said for Izuku catching on.
"And even worse after being given to the third because of his energy building quirk." Torino-San added and Izuku nodded.
"Correct, Fa Jin builds up a different form of energy, but it can still be used and drawn upon by the other energy-based quirks. Studies into energy-based quirks show that nearly all quirked people aside from a select few build and 'store' the built up energy the same way inside the body regardless of how it's generated." Izuku explained.
"If you need an example, think of the energy like electricity powering a house. It doesn't matter if it's made by a solar panel array, a bike generator or from a power plant, the power is made differently but the house it goes to doesn't care and can use any of them since it's electricity either way." Izuku elaborated further.
"Midoriya-San is right, I've helped in some of those studies before." Shuzenji-San confirmed.
"What does that mean for finding a successor then?" Torino-San asked, a touch fed up with the quirk science stuff.
"Well with a majority of the quirk hoard in Inheritance being energy-based we'd be better off finding someone else with an energy quirk." Izuku responded, his shoulders slumped, and he sighed.
*And, I think I know the perfect person to take it... * Izuku thought morosely, the papers in his bag weighing more like lead with this thought.
Izuku really hoped someone had found someone else.
Out takes with the past users Yagi
Bruce the 3rd, slumps in his throne with bottle in hand: Okay, everyone ready for Junior's bulls*t?
2nd and Hikage raises there bottles instead of answering
En the 6th: Youchi's son isn't that bad
Youchi sighs, not bothering to fight and Nana pats his shoulder
Izuku offers them tea.
Nana: Awe, look how nice he's being offering us tea
Youchi perks up: Hey that looks like ZHO tea, that's my favorite!
En the 6th hums: So Junior takes after you in more than you're looks?
Youchi looks at En betrayed.
Izuku suddenly mentions Gear shift is like Black whip
2rd jumps to his feet pissed: The f*k did your kid just say Youchi!?
Banjo the 5th and equally pissed: My quirk is nothing like that villain's!
Hikage the 4th stands between the two: Hey you two stop fighting and we'll get Yagi to ask for us!
Youchi already lost to a quirk spiral and muttering about Gear Shift and Black whip.
En the 6th slaps a hand on Youchi's mouth: Your son's about to explain it, do you want to hear about energy quirks?
Youchi nods and eagerly turns back to the screen before he realizes what En said and turns red: En!
En the 6th grins innocently back at him
Nana pats him don't he shoulder: don't worry Youchi, you can't be a worse parent than I was
Youchi: I haven't even met him because I've been dead longer than his grandparents have been alive
Bruce the 3rd: That's better than most of us can say about our parents brat!
Nana: Yeah see! You can't abandon someone you've never met.
Youchi buries his face in his hands.
Poor Yagi trying to listen to the meeting in the real world *sweat drops*