"Nezu," All Might greeted as he closed the office door behind him. With the latch clicking shut, he released his muscular form. Each step toward his usual chair in front of Nezu's desk saw his frame shrink further, until the tight fabric of his hero suit sagged like an oversized All Might-themed onesie.
"Yagi!" Nezu smiled warmly, his hand already moving to a control panel on the far side of the desk. The glass walls overlooking UA's campus darkened, obscuring the office from prying eyes below.
Though it was the weekend and no students and minimal staff were on campus, minimizing risk was second nature to Nezu. The chance of a construction worker getting lost and wandering to the main campus from the in construction Grounds Beta, Gamma, or Omega was slim but not zero.
"What's on your mind?" Nezu asked, rolling his chair to his computer. He began typing lazily, his small hands dancing over the keys, though his gaze occasionally flicked to All Might.
All Might eased into the chair across from him, exhaling. "Something's been bothering me. Not exactly negative—just… not sure how to feel about it."
The typing paused as Nezu looked up. "I take it this continues our conversation about Endeavor?"
All Might nodded.
Nezu resumed typing. "Go on."
"At first, I struggled to believe another quirk could rival my own," All Might began, leaning forward. "Then I met Stars and Stripes. It made sense—statistically, someone out there would be born with a quirk like that. But then came Young Todoroki. Another quirk of that caliber, right in my backyard."
"And now Inasa Yoarashi," Nezu interjected, swiveling his chair to face him.
All Might's expression tightened. "Exactly. When it was just One for All and… his quirk, things felt simpler. I didn't worry about villains of his caliber appearing out of nowhere."
"What about Destro?" Nezu asked.
"Destro… makes sense," All Might admitted, his voice thoughtful. "Like Stars and Stripes, it felt reasonable for someone like him to exist. But the gap between Destro and her was five decades. The gap between her, Todoroki, and Yaorashi? Barely one."
"You're concerned powerful quirks are appearing more frequently."
All Might nodded again. "And I can't explain it."
"Fortunately, I can," Nezu said with a sly grin. "But first, let me address a misunderstanding. Neither One for All nor… his quirk were the first true outliers in terms of power."
All Might frowned. "There were earlier quirks?"
"Not quite. I'd argue Destro was the first."
"But he appeared three decades after that man," All Might countered.
"True. But that man's quirk wasn't inherently strong," Nezu explained. "It was his intelligence, ruthlessness, and yes—luck—that made it powerful. It wasn't nature; it was nurture. The same applies to One for All."
All Might leaned back, digesting the thought. "Where are you going with this?"
Nezu continued. "Quirks are growing stronger. Not all quirks, mind you—the weakest quirks of each generation are comparable. But the strongest? They might not be getting significantly stronger, but they're becoming far more common."
"Is this the Quirk Singularity theory?" All Might asked, raising a brow. "It sounds similar."
"Ah, Quirk Singularity," Nezu said, chuckling. "A fascinating but flawed hypothesis. I could give you an explanation on everything it gets wrong, but if you wanted to talk in depth about quirk theory, you wouldn't be talking to me, you'd be talking to David Shield. No—what I'm describing is the Quirk Progression/Distribution theory.
"Think about it: even within your career, the hero billboards have shifted. Compare the top 100 from when you started to now. The number of heroes under thirty has skyrocketed. Each generation brings a larger number of quirks with great potential."
All Might's jaw tightened. "So Todoroki and Yaorashi aren't anomalies—they're the new normal."
"Not necessarily." Nezu said. "They're still exceptional, but they're going to have a handful of allies standing shoulder to shoulder with them in the future."
"Where as I stood alone."
"Where as you stood alone, yes." Nezu nodded.
All Might thought on that for a moment, it did to some degree calm his concerns. The idea of that man or at least villains like him becoming more common, he was worried that it would be too much for Izuku to handle when All Might had barely handled his own challenges.
Knowing that his successor wouldn't be alone, only reinforced his faith that the next generation is in good hands.
Still, a part of him wondered, if that man had managed to attain such power over a long period of time. If a similar quirk were to appear, how long would it take for them to catch up, or even surpass him. The idea sent shivers down All Might's spine.
"Oh, and All Might, I had a question for you." Nezu said, turning the computer monitor towards the number one. "I wasn't aware you had an interview with Shoowaysha Publishing. Quite the interesting choice."
The Lurkers' Agency was a deceptive location. It looked closer to a historically accurate reconstruction of an old Japanese castle, complete with the surrounding lush gardens, than it did a hero agency.
Edgeshot, the head of the agency, was one of many Japanese heroes that branded themselves with the iconography of the Samurai era. An era that was lost to modern Japan, which in turn was an era lost to the age of quirks. This obsession with the past was for many just aesthetics, for others it was a serious attempt to hold on to traditions to preserve a dying culture. Heroes like Yoroi Musha fell into the latter category, and while Edgeshot was extremely committed to historical accuracy with his branding, he did fall into the former category.
Thus underneath the roof and behind the walls of the detailed craftsmanship of the vast spanning Japanese castle, one found that interior was a mix of sterile office interior, a playboys rich mansion and a massive training dojo.
Said dojo was dug further into the ground, so that the dojo could take up the space of a small stadium without rising too high above the tree line of the gardens around the agency, and to allow heroes with body altering quirks to train without worry for limitations of space.
One such hero, was Mt. Lady, who was currently testing a theory that she could develop the ability to shrink down from her giant form towards a particular part of her body. If it could work, she might be able to increase her mobility, say for instance, she wants to get to the top of a building, she could grow giant, put her hand on top of it, and shrink towards her hand. Scaling the building safely without damaging it.
"Grow!" The instructor yelled and Mt. Lady grew. Unfortunately, despite the added height of the dojo, she couldn't safely reach her full height within the building, and had to settle at 20 meters.
"Left Foot!" She focused intently on said foot, imagining the functioning of her quirk like she had learnt to control the size she would reach, this time imagining her self shinking so that she would be standing where her giant foot left foot was now.
She began shrinking.
She could immediately tell it wasn't working, and stretched her arms out, shaking her hands in frustration as she continued to shrink.
"Aggh!" She groaned in frustration, upon shrinking down completely.
"Again." The instructor said, and Mt. Lady gave him a side eye, while also choosing to ignore him.
"Kamuiiiii, this is so difficult, let's take a-" She paused mid sentence, shoked by his form.
While she was training her quirk for more mobility, he had been training it for more raw power. In this case, he was attempting to weave an arm close to the size hers would be if she as at full size.
He seemed to be struggling with actually controlling said arm once he had formed it, not that she could tell why, it looked perfectly functional from her perspective. She wanted to ask him to join her on a break. However, upon noticing his focused grimace, she felt a bit guilty she was quitting so early while he kept training so hard.
Instead, she turned back to the instructor, who had already began standing up to leave. All the instructors in the building understood trying to get her to train when she'd had enough was a lost cause.
"Wait." She said, growing to the maximum height the building would allow her. "We can keep going."
The instructor tried to hide his koi smile as his eyes flickered between her and Kamui, but upon a short glare from Mt. Lady he quickly schooled his expression with a nod.
"Righ-"
"YU TAKEYAMA!"
"Eek!" Mt Lady squeaked in panic, suddenly shrinking away from the floor, towards her head.
She blinked, and found herself falling to the ground, from 20 meters in the air.
She knew if she fell at this height she had a risk of serious injury if she landed wrong.
This could be avoided by growing herself, but it would greatly increase the damage caused to the ground below.
She was probably already in trouble for that, so not a good idea.
She was running out of time to decide what to do.
Thankfully, before she hit the floor, a massive wooden hand came out of nowhere and slid beneath her, breaking her fall.
Silence hung in the air, until Mt. Lady peered out from Kamui Woods' enlarged palm.
"You did it!" she exclaimed, beaming as she waved at Kamui.
Kamui, however, was too busy staring at his oversized limb, his expression a mix of awe and exhaustion to acknowledge what she said.
"YOUNG LADY GET DOWN HERE THIS INSTANT!" A shiver went down Mt. Lady's spine as she recalled she was in trouble and who she was in trouble with.
Mr. Nazuka, the Lurkers' Agency's chief financial officer, was a stout and short man with an equally short temper. If not for his undersized hands and vibrant orange skin, he'd look the perfect picture of an intimidating businessman. Regardless, due to his position, he and Mt. Lady were unfortunately very familiar with each other, and had a relationship akin to a frustrated parent and a particularly unruly child.
Jumping down from Kamui Wood's hand, she landed just in front of the man as he came barreling towards her.
"HOW MANY TIMES MUST I TELL YOU TO NOT DAMAGE PUBLIC INFRASTRUCTURE!" He yelled, and she resisted the urge to roll her eyes. This was perhaps the hundredth time they were doing this song and dance. "I saw that young lady." Apparently she hadn't resisted it as well as she thought.
"Every month," he continued, throwing his arms in the air. "Every single month, I have to set aside half—HALF—of the damages budget for you alone! And every time, it's a miracle if you don't blow past that halfway through the first week!"
At this, Kamui Woods cleared his throat, drawing their attention. Despite the awkwardness of one oversized wooden hand lying limp on the floor, he managed to sound calm and collected.
"Mr. Nazuka, I believe there's a misunderstanding here," he said. "Mt. Lady has been steadily improving. This month, in particular, she's damaged far fewer buildings than any month prior."
Nazuka turned to him, his tone softening dramatically. "Kamui, I appreciate that. Truly. Your influence in helping Mt. Lady avoid property damage has been invaluable. And it is true that she's damaged less buildings than usual." Then, with a sharp pivot back to Mt. Lady, his voice rose again.
"BUT HOW DO YOU MANAGE TO DAMAGE FIVE PROTECTED PRE-QUIRK BUILDINGS IN A SINGLE WEEK?"
Mt. Lady winced, even Kamui and the instructor—who had been quietly inching away—flinched at the accusation.
Most pre-quirk buildings were considered wasted space: old, run-down apartment complexes, or defunct government offices. However, some were deemed culturally or historically significant and designated as protected landmarks. This preservation effort, while noble, had long been criticized as outdated. Yet, the laws enacted to protect these structures had been in place for so long that overturning them lacked momentum.
The real issue lay in the steep penalties for damaging these buildings. Unlike ordinary structures, which could be swiftly rebuilt using quirks and advanced tools, protected pre-quirk buildings had to be repaired using traditional methods. Specialized crews, forbidden from using quirks or modern equipment, painstakingly restored these structures with outdated tools.
This process wasn't just slow—it was exorbitantly expensive. Light damage to a single protected building often cost as much as rebuilding a dozen contemporary ones. To make matters worse, fines were added for "cultural corrosion," a legal classification acknowledging the loss of history as an additional infraction.
"What am I supposed to do? Memorize which buildings are protected?"
"YES!" Mr. Nazuka bellowed, his face reddening. "Exactly that! Or, at the very least, use your eyes. Most protected buildings stick out like a sore thumb—they're the only ones that look like they belong in a history museum!"
Mt. Lady just blinked at him, her blank expression making it abundantly clear she had no intention of putting in that level of effort.
Mr. Nazuka groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Thank goodness the two of you are getting popular. Soon, you'll be able to afford moving out, and I won't have to deal with your nonsense anymore."
"Popular? What are you talking about?" Kamui Woods asked, his brow furrowing. Mt. Lady mirrored his confusion.
Mr. Nazuka raised an eyebrow. "You mean you don't know? When's the last time either of you checked the news—or even looked at your phones?"
"This morning, before breakfast," Kamui replied.
Mt. Lady shrugged and began walking toward the bench by the training mat where she'd left her phone. "We've had them on silent all day to focus on training."
Ding.
"Oh, I missed a call," she said, picking up her phone.
Ding.
"...Actually, it looks like I've missed quite a few."
Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding.
The steady chorus of notifications quickly spiraled into a cacophony.
"What on earth—"
Ding Ding Ding Ding Ding Ding Ding Ding—
"WHAT IS GOING ON?!" she yelled, her voice barely audible over the unrelenting chime of alerts.
Mt. Lady and Kamui Woods-The "Essence of Heroics" according to All Might. Heralds of the new generation?
So proclaimed the bold headline on the cover of the latest Hero Gossip Magazine, published by Shoowaysha.
The two heroes, whose names now adorned the magazine cover, were huddled over a copy, their noses nearly pressed against the glossy pages. Wide-eyed, they devoured the glowing praise lavished upon them—praise coming from the very publication infamous for tearing heroes down. Scattered throughout the article were direct quotes from an interview with All Might himself, supporting the claims made by the magazine.
Every few moments, one of their phones buzzed, breaking their concentration. Neither dared answer, letting the calls go to voicemail. Almost immediately, the same number would try the other phone, only to meet the same fate.
This relentless cycle continued, over and over.
Eventually, they set the magazine aside on the table next to their vibrating phones and slumped back in their chairs, staring blankly at the ceiling as they tried to process what had just happened.
"We're famous," Mt. Lady said at last, her voice oddly subdued.
"We are," Kamui Woods replied, his tone equally flat.
"All Might knows about us."
"He does."
"The whole world probably knows our names by now."
"Indeed."
"I don't know how to feel about this."
"I concur."
Just then, the doors to the agency lunchroom—commandeered for this emergency meeting—squeaked open. Soft, near-silent footsteps approached.
"Suffering from success?" Edgeshot quipped, pulling out a chair to sit at the head of the table.
Kamui Woods immediately shot to his feet, bowing slightly out of respect. In contrast, Mt. Lady stayed slouched, her gaze fixed on the ceiling, responding only with a groan..
Edgeshot didn't seem to mind either response, in fact he chuckled internally at how different the dynamic duo was.
"Need some advice?" he asked, glancing between them.
"That would be greatly appreciated." Kamui Woods' response was measured.
"Uh-huh." Mt. Lady's reply was far less enthusiastic.
Edgeshot leaned back slightly. "Let's start with how you're feeling."
"Overwhelmed." Kamui Woods admitted.
"Rushed." Mt. Lady sighed.
Edgeshot nodded knowingly. "Feeling overwhelmed is perfectly normal. You've jumped from being promising up-and-comers to the names on everyone's lips. Even I didn't experience that kind of sudden spotlight. But, Mt. Lady—rushed?"
Mt. Lady hesitated, then let out a frustrated sigh. "I thought we'd have a year to settle in, find our footing, you know? Get a good pace going before we started making waves. Now, it feels like we're being pushed to make all these big decisions right now."
Edgeshot tilted his head slightly, studying them both. "And you're worried you'll make the wrong choice?"
Both nodded, Kamui more subtly than Mt. Lady.
"Well, let me make one thing clear: no matter what opportunities come knocking, you're still welcome here until the year I promised you is up. I don't care what Nazuka thinks—I'm the boss here." His voice carried a rare firmness that left no room for doubt.
A smile spread across Mt. Lady's face, her shoulders relaxing. "Thanks."
"But how do we know which offers are in our best interest?" Kamui Woods asked, leaning forward slightly.
Edgeshot's gaze softened. "You don't. Not completely. Businessmen are hard to read, even for someone like me. But a good rule of thumb? Stick with those who noticed you before the fame. It's usually a sign they saw something genuine in you—not just the spotlight."
As he spoke, a soft light blinked on the watch-like device strapped to his wrist. Edgeshot glanced at it and pushed himself back from the table. "Looks like someone's put in a request for me. We'll talk more later."
He stood, already heading for the door. Just before leaving, he paused and turned back. "For now, trust yourselves. I wouldn't have taken you under my wing if I didn't believe you could make the right choices."
Kamui Woods straightened, and Mt. Lady gave a small, genuine smile as the doors closed behind him.
Barely a few moments passed before one of their phones rang again. Only this time, Mt. Lady picked it up, surprised to see that she recognized the name.
Remembering Edgeshot's advice, she opened the call, much to Kamui Woods alarm. Although he calmed when she put the call on speaker.
"Hello, this is Rikiya Yotsubashi calling, on behalf of myself and all of Detnerat, I wanted to congratulate you on your recenct skyrocket to fame. And if you're willing, I'd love the opportunity to revive our previous discussion about a potential collaboration."