Toshinori sighed as he peeled off his hero costume after another long day of patrolling.
Well, the patrol wasn't that much longer than his usual hours.
But he also hadn't had half a dozen people in his head adding their input on his actions and warn him off about doing something stupid.
Something that was... better than he thought it would be initially.
Yes, there was a few downsides to having seven people in his head, like worrying about them being unable to leave when he has to go to the bathroom or showering, but thankfully Youchi reassured him that they went to their spaces during such times and never see that.
A massive relief for him, he also found himself enjoying the others' commentary during his patrols.
Toshinori took out his phone and double checked the time, thankful that it wasn't as late as he thought it was and got dressed in his casual clothes.
"You know you could probably get some personally tailored clothes with that stretching material Yagi." En pointed out as Yagi looked himself over in the mirror.
Likely because most of his clothes hung off of him in loose or awkward manner, as one would expect since clothes that fit his muscle form wouldn't fit him now.
"I could, but the shaggy-like look helps disconnect me from the image of All Might most people have," Toshinori mused readjusting his tie, pausing once he was finished as he stared at himself in the mirror, feeling a wave of dysphoria as he stared back into his sunken eyes.
"It... also hides exactly how skeletal my form really is." Toshinori confessed, turning away from the mirror and grabbing his bag, putting it on and walking out of the door.
The feeling of ghostly arms wrapping around him and the soft whisper of "Toshi... "
Toshinori, if he had the time to, would have gone back to somewhere private to reassure her but he had somewhere very important to get to at a certain time.
Tsukauchi had finally caught a break in the murder case, which had turned serial and Toshinori promised to catch the man up with the last meeting they had about finding a successor over dinner.
And frankly, as nice as it was to have the past wielders with him now, he really would like to talk about this with someone else that was involved indirectly.
Tsukauchi was a calm man that has often allowed him to talk about his less stellar days on the job without judgement, and right now he could really use an ear to his problems... well one from someone less connected to this mess than the past wielders.
After he left his agency through the private entrance, he moved over to the car he rented for the day.
It wasn't a perfect fit as he still had to hunch in order to fit inside, but this type of car was more common, and he didn't want to stick out too much.
The drive to the station went over quietly, merely listening to the classical music section as it was En's turn to pick the radio station, and having to go down a detour since there was a fight that destroyed part of the usual road he took.
After getting settled in the car park Toshinori walked into the station, waving as he passed officers he was 'familiar' with as Yagi and not All Might, getting a few waves back in return, a couple of them snickering too.
"Yagi, good to see you, Tsukauchi should be waiting in his office." Tamakawa greeted, tired and his orange fur not as well kept as usual.
"Thank you, I'll make sure he gets home alright." Yagi promised nodding his head, it wasn't uncommon for him to take Tsukauchi home some days after a pretty rough couple of days.
However, it did come with the downside of everyone thinking that he was dating Tsukauchi, and that was why he was close to All Might, since his civilian I.D. was 'known' as the secretary of All Might.
Opening the office door Tsukauchi was pouring over some files still and glanced up, then snapped the file closed.
"Hey Yagi, time to go already?" Tsukauchi said.
"Okay, that's not suspicious at all." Banjo pointed out, and Toshinori was tempted to ask about the way that his friend reacted, but it also wasn't really his place to ask that.
"Yes, have you thought about what you'd like to get? There's not as many places open this time of day but I'm sure we could find whatever you want." Toshinori asked instead as Tsukauchi proceeded to gather up his own stuff.
"Honestly Yagi, after the last three days, I just want a half-decent burger and salty fries." Tsukauchi answered, looking rather tired as he walked out of the office with him.
"That bad? You know if you need any help, I would be happy to-" Toshinori tried to offer only for Tsukauchi to nearly jump out of his skin.
"No!" Tsukauchi interrupted and the two of them stood in the parking lot for a moment just staring at each other "I mean, no thank you Yagi, you don't need to bother yourself with this. The chief is already going to bring a few heroes in on this and you're busy with all of... this." Tsukauchi corrected himself.
"Oh, he is definitely hiding something now." Banjo said, crossing his arms.
"As much as I hate to agree with the Ukulele, he's right that your Copper there is hiding something from you." Hikage commented, sounding more concerned than Banjo.
Toshinori was also worried, but he'd respect his friend's unsaid request for him to stay out of this for now.
"Okay, how's your sister then? I believe you mentioned something about her last time we spoke about things other than business." Toshinori inquired, turning the conversation away from work.
Tsukauchi groaned slumping into the passenger side, then began telling him about the blind date his mother wanted to set their sister up with, despite her being in a relationship already.
"Wait she actually went on the date? Why?" Nana questioned and Yagi dutifully repeated the question for Tsukauchi as they finally made it back to his apartment.
Tsukauchi scoffed.
"You know how she is Yagi, she went on that date to prove a point to mom with malicious compliance. She told mom she would regret it if she went on the date, and then went to the date with Koichi cause the guy had to know they were a 'packaged' deal." Tsukauchi explained as he settled at Yagi's table.
"Koichi's that vigilante that used to dress like you right? Wonder what that guy thought when she brought the pro hero she was engaged to on their date?" Hikage pondered, tilting his head.
"Depends on the person, some people would actually be into that you know." En pointed out.
"And Yagi that isn't even the worse part about it, somehow the guy was down to be a trouple and they're going out next Saturday for their first date together. I do not need to know this much about my sister's love life." Tsukauchi grumbled into his hands.
"Six called it." Bruce chuckled, likely elbowing En too.
Toshinori sighed, Nana had already apologized for any out of nowhere comments, explaining that a lot of them had lost their brain to mouth filters after being unheard for so long in the Mindspace.
Toshinori shook his head, moving to the fridge to grab one of his meal shakes to sit down with Tsukauchi.
"But please, I don't want to just talk about my sister. Please tell me that things are going better on your end with finding a successor with the others?" Tsukauchi asked, making Toshinori's heart drop.
Toshinori rubbed the back of his neck as some nerves rose inside himself and felt Nana's hands on his shoulders, silently reminding him that he wasn't alone.
"Somewhat... the one's Torino-Sensei found apparently wouldn't work, but we do have a couple of choices." Toshinori informed him, then drank from his shake, enjoying the strawberry taste.
"Well, that was more than I thought we might find in a week, who are they?" Tsukauchi questioned popping a fry in his mouth.
"You might remember them from the sports festival, Hado Nejire and Amajiki Tamaki." Toshinori answered, watching as Tsukauchi's widened.
"You don't mean the two kids from the U.A's 2-A class, do you?" Tsukauchi asked, surprised that he'd actually consider two people that young.
"As Midoriya-Kun unfortunately warned us, the only people physically capable of handling One For All were those two students." Toshinori informed his friend somberly.
"That's, I'm sorry." Tsukauchi said, placing a hand on Toshinori's shoulder "I know you didn't want it to come to this." Tsukauchi told him, sympathizing with Toshinori.
"I don't think any of us wanted it to come to this Copper." Bruce said.
"Thank you, I and the other users appreciate your words." Toshinori replied placing his hand on Tsukauchi's.
Tsukauchi for his part, blinked "The other users?" Tsukauchi muttered.
"Remember that Copper here was busy with his murder shit." Second reminded him, and Toshinori mentally facepalmed.
"Ah, right. Like Midoriya-Kun expected I can make contact with the past wielders, and I've been speaking with them for days now." Toshinori explained pointing to his head.
"And they can hear and see the world through me, I can hear them speaking as well." Toshinori continued to tell him.
"You've seen Nana again?" Tsukauchi questioned, looking happy for him, his spirits lifted somewhat.
Toshinori's heart-warmed how that was Tsukauchi's first question and that he looked happy for him.
"He's a good friend to you Yagi." Youchi softly told him.
"He is, you should listen to him more. And tell him I said 'hi' Toshi, it's next to meet him proper." Nana said next, a slight chuckle in her voice.
"Indeed, it was... cathartic being able to reconnect with her. Nana says hello and is happy to finally 'meet you'." Toshinori answered, looking down and rubbing the bottle with a thumb, a fond smile on his face.
Tsukauchi chuckled a little himself "The pleasure's all mine, I think... " Tsukauchi replied, looking a touch uncertain towards the end.
"It is, they all are quite fond of you, well... most of them are, I'm not certain about second, he doesn't seem to like most people." Toshinori assured Tsukauchi to the best of his ability, rubbing his neck.
"I suppose I can settle for seven out of eight users." Tsukauchi mused, taking a bite of his nearly forgotten burger.
Toshinori allowed the conversation to fizzle out since Tsukauchi would need to finish his meal before it got too cold.
Though he did have a touch of envy since he couldn't enjoy eating as much without a stomach, what he wouldn't give for a burger or one of Tsukauchi's fries.
"Fuck those look good, you ain't the only one that misses those greasy messes Yagi." Hikage said "At least you're already half-way used to not eating real food before you end up joining us up here Yagi." Hikage mentioned.
Toshinori supposed that was, an upside? Maybe?
"Yagi, did you want to talk about anything else?" Tsukauchi asked "I doubt you bought me dinner and took me back to your place just to tell me about your new roommates." Tsukauchi guessed setting aside the wrappers.
Toshinori nodded, his eyes focusing down on his hands, and rubbing his thumb over his knuckles.
Feeling even more weary with each of the small white lines from healed scars, he counted on just one of his hands.
"Admittedly I... I feel conflicted about either of the two becoming the ninth." Toshinori confessed, letting his head hang from his shame.
"Conflicted about what Yagi?" Tsukauchi asked, looking concerned.
Toshinori folded his arms on the table and sighed, swallowing dryly.
"Both of these two have already started to make a name for themselves as heroes in their own right and no doubt their own personal problems to deal with, I... I don't want to add the burden of wielding One For All on top of that for them." Toshinori told him.
"Part of me wishes that I listened to all of you back then, that if I started searching for a successor back then that I might have found someone else other than them to entrust with One For All." Toshinori confessed, his head hanged.
"Toshi," Nana said gently rubbing his shoulders and was about to continue but Tsukauchi's real hand on his shoulder made him jump and turned to him wide eyed.
"Yagi, while I've always wanted you to take it easier, when you were ready to let go of your quirk was always your choice. No one else has any right to put a deadline on when you transfer your quirk, even the past wielders." Tsukauchi told him, in a gentle but firm way.
"I know I've told you I wanted you to find a successor ever since the fight with All For One, but you didn't need to transfer your quirk right away if you did find one, if you wanted to continue being the eighth for a few more years before handing it over then I would have supported you." Tsukauchi softly informed him.
"Tsukauchi," Toshinori muttered.
"And while I hoped you'd listen to me back then, I'm glad you didn't about finding a successor." Tsukauchi told him with a slightly sad smile.
"There were a lot of things that we didn't know about quirks back then, and if you rushed to do what we asked then we could have hurt someone badly with a bad quirk match up." Tsukauchi explained, his hand lowering from his shoulder.
"And if you did have someone waiting in the wings all these years then there would be a good chance that they'd not be able to take One For All for one reason or another." Tsukauchi pointed out.
Toshinori couldn't help tearing up slightly.
"He's right you know Yagi, when you pass us on is entirely your choice and we can't pressure you to give us to ninth." Youchi calmly agreed with Tsukauchi.
"I... thank you Tsukauchi, I really needed to hear that." Toshinori said in reply, his shoulders slumped.
Tsukauchi chuckled "I figured." he responded.
"Now, while not ideal, do you want to talk about the two possible successors you have?" Tsukauchi asked.
"Yes, I would actually, I'd like to know your opinions on them." Toshinori answered smiling, happy to get to talk about that with Tsukauchi.