Izuku walked into the tunnel leading from the field inside the stadium to the halls within. He had won both of the events of the Sports Festival so far, but he had come to a problem that he couldn't fix on his own. During the second event, the Cavalry Battle, Izuku had seen a vision of All for One, the fated enemy of One for All, and then had been drawn into the vestige realm to witness the beginnings of a battle between the past wielders of One for All and All for One. He hadn't seen much other than that, but Izuku hadn't been able to use One for All since, likely because of what had happened in the vestige realm. He was on his way to talk to All Might about it, and he walked into the interior halls in a hurry.
He walked around a corner and crashed into All Might in his true form, sending them both to the ground. Izuku was about to get up and apologize before he recognized the skinny form of his mentor. Instead, Izuku simply got up and offered his hand to All Might, apologizing as he helped his predecessor up off the ground.
"Young Midoriya! I was just coming to find you," All Might said.
"I was just coming to find you," Izuku said, chuckling at the coincidence.
"About what happened during the Cavalry Battle?" All Might asked.
"Yeah. You heard it too, right?" Izuku asked.
"Heard what?" All Might asked.
"All for One," Izuku said.
"You … saw him? I was talking about the dark lightning," All Might corrected.
"Yeah, that too. I think we should talk in private," Izuku said, feeling his knees weaken slightly, nearly falling because of it.
All Might caught Izuku by the arm, and he let himself hunch over, not having the power to stand. He felt like he was going to pass out at any second, and let himself be propped up on All Might's thin but powerful body.
"Young Midoriya! Are you alright? What's happening?" All Might asked, frantically looking over Izuku for wounds.
"I'm fine. I think this has to do with what happened in the Cavalry Battle. I'll explain when I can sit down," Izuku said, trying to walk on his jelly legs.
"Alright," All Might said.
All Might supported Izuku as they began walking toward Recovery Girl's office. Izuku wasn't sure where they were going, as he was getting a bit fuzzy in the head, but he was just going where All Might guided him; he trusted All Might enough to know that he wouldn't take him anywhere he didn't want to be.
Todoroki stood behind the corner that Izuku had walked behind, silently listening. He had been hoping to talk to Izuku, explain to him the importance of him using his fire in the Cavalry Battle, but it looked like he wasn't going to get to tell Izuku why it was so important to beat him. He narrowed his eyes at something the two had talked about, though, having an inkling of something important.
"All for One …" Todoroki wondered aloud.
In Recovery Girl's office, Izuku laid himself down on a bed and sighed, finally able to relax now that he wasn't standing. He melted into the bed, really feeling like a nap right about now. He had to stay awake, though; he had to explain to All Might what had happened.
"So, tell me what happened. Spare no detail," All Might said.
"Well, I was going forward with Operation: Floaty Boat when it happened," Izuku started, getting a chuckle from All Might at the name of his plan. "Then, when I had gotten up to the highest I thought I should probably go, I felt this … presence in my mind. It was like when the vestiges would talk to me, but it was also different," Izuku said.
"Alright. What was different?" All Might asked, already knowing the answer from Izuku's questions earlier.
"This presence was evil, and I could feel it calling to me. I looked over to where you were sitting, and I saw All for One standing right behind you. I thought it was a hallucination or something, maybe a result of going so high so quickly, but I could've sworn it was real. He talked to me," Izuku said, remembering the monster's grating voice.
"He talked?" All Might asked, almost jumping out of his chair.
"Yeah. He said … that I'm next," Izuku recalled.
All Might paled. He leaned back in his seat and kept whispering something. When Izuku listened closer, it was a series of 'no's and 'holy shit's. Izuku clearly knew how big a threat All for One is, and he was terrifying in person, but Izuku hadn't considered until now that All Might had personal stakes in this. Izuku did too, but they were kind of removed until now. All Might had faced this evil before, and it had ruined him.
"All Might?" Izuku called.
"'You're next' is what he said to me … right after he killed Nana Shimura," All Might said, gripping his old wound like it had reopened.
"No way. Does that mean … he's gonna come after me with the same intensity as he did with you?" Izuku asked.
"Likely. I no longer hold One for All, which means that he'll target you now, knowing that you wield the power he longs for," All Might explained.
"Why does he want OFA so badly? I'm sure that he could steal every other Quirk in Japan," Izuku asked.
"It's simple human nature. He wants what he can't have. He can't take One for All, because it can only be given willingly by the user. He tries to force those who hold it into giving it to him, but if they resist, he kills them. They've always managed to pass it on before this battle, but I hadn't. That's what was so climactic about our battle. There was a chance that One for All could've ended there," All Might said.
"Oh," Izuku sighed.
"Continue," All Might said.
"Next, he kind of … dragged me into the vestige world. He told me that I was the 'nexus point' of Quirks within One for All, and that he'd kill me for his little brother's powers," Izuku explained, shuddering at the threat of a painful death.
"Just as we thought," All Might groaned.
"Then, the vestiges showed up. All of them, even the ones that had been kinda misty and not completely present before. You were even there, though you were still kinda … half there and half not. I don't know," Izuku said.
"Hmm," All Might hummed, promising himself to look into it later.
"They confronted All for One, calling him … Rei Shigaraki," Izuku said.
The air in the room was tense. Those three had learned the true name of All for One. All Might was definitely going to look up Rei Shigaraki after his talk with Izuku. All Might wondered if Tomura Shigaraki was his biological descendant, or if he had simply adopted the name. He went with the latter, since he doubted that the monster that was All for One would ever lower himself as to procreate. He doubted he could after the beatdown six years ago.
"All for One started doing this … thing. He was spreading something around the vestige realm. His essence, maybe, since the vestiges shielded me from it, spreading theirs right back. I think they're still … fighting inside One for All, and that's why I'm weak. One for All doesn't have enough energy to fight All for One, so they're taking some of mine," Izuku finished.
"That's a reasonable guess. I hate to say that I really don't know much about how this new, awakened version of One for All works. You're now the authority on this, Young Midoriya, because I've never experienced anything like anything you're going through," All Might said.
"Yeah. I gathered that a long time ago," Izuku said, the slightest bit of disappointment in his voice.
"Young Midoriya, you have to understand that it isn't my fault. This is uncharted territory for everyone involved," All Might said, panicked,
"Oh, I know. I just … wish I had someone with experience training a large group of Quirks together with brutal efficiency," Izuku said, knowing who he was talking about.
"You don't mean …" All Might trailed off.
"I want to tell Aizawa about One for All," Izuku said.
"You have to know that's against our rules. The more people know about One for All, the more you'll be in danger," All Might argued.
"I know it's against your rules," Izuku muttered, not looking at All Might.
"Excuse me?" All Might asked.
Izuku couldn't believe he was doing this. He was going against All Might. This was new for him, and probably even newer to All Might. He had been the Symbol of Peace for thirty years, so Izuku understood that he might've been used to things going his way. Izuku was also used to things not going his way, and he was getting kind of sick of it.
"I said, I know that it's against your rules," Izuku spoke up, now looking right at All Might.
"What does that mean?" All Might asked.
"It means that I want to make the decision for once. Everything you've told me about keeping One for All a secret up until now has been in the interest of the greater good. That's good, that's nice, but if it hinders my development, then it can't be in the interest of the greater good! It's actively holding me back from reaching my full potential, which is in the interest of the greater good!" Izuku said.
"I think you need to calm down," All Might said, a serious expression on his face.
"No. I've been too lenient with you," Izuku said, which sounded ridiculous to even him.
"Lenient? With me? You're tired, Young Midoriya. Get some rest," All Might said, beginning to stand up.
"I'm perfectly lucid, All Might. I think that, because of my admiration for you, I've been viewing you through rose tinted glasses. I think I need to take them off. I'm telling Aizawa, and you can't stop me. I need to be trained by someone who understands my powers, and I'm not getting that from you. This isn't anything against you, I'm simply doing what needs to be done in order to become the Symbol of Hope that you talked about," Izuku said, feeling stronger.
All Might's eyes narrowed at the mention of the Symbol. He had hoped Izuku could announce himself at this Festival as the future Symbol of Hope, but it didn't look like that was going to be happening. All Might stood, not meeting his successor's eyes. He knew that Izuku was waiting on a response, but he simply took a deep breath and left.
Izuku watched All Might leave, obviously heartbroken. He hadn't meant to hurt his feelings, but he kind of needed to, to get it through to All Might that he needed external help, and that he wasn't meeting expectations. It was harsh, Izuku knew it, but he was willing to get a little harsh to get what he needed. He looked over to Recovery Girl, who was silently doing paperwork. He almost forgot she was in there with them, as one of the few people at UA that knew about One for All.
"I did the right thing, right?" Izuku asked.
"Yes, though you could've let him down a little gentler," Recovery Girl said, not looking up from her paperwork.
"I thought so. Oh, crap! I didn't tell him about OFA going dormant!" Izuku hissed.
"Dormant?" Recovery Girl asked, turning around to face Izuku.
"Yeah. I think that One for All is taking so much of its energy trying to combat All for One that I can't use any of my Quirks," Izuku revealed.
"Oh, dear. I guess that meant that you can't compete in the Festival anymore," Recovery Girl said.
"Yeah, I was worried about that. I'd be taken down by anyone with a Quirk, even with my training," Izuku said, chuckling pathetically.
"I don't think that's true. You could beat a fair portion of those competitors. I'm talking about the more high-level enemies, like the Todoroki child, or Bakugo," Recovery Girl said, shaking her head at the shows of power Todoroki and Bakugo had performed so far.
"Yeah. I'm barely competing with my Quirks. I've noticed something recently, and I think it's an important facet to One for All," Izuku said.
"What's that?" Recovery Girl asked.
"All of my Quirks so far are utility powers. The only real combat power I have is One for All's basic Super Strength. By all means, these Quirks aren't special, only being powerful when used in conjunction with One for All. The people who wielded this power weren't 'the chosen few', they were just … people nearby who happened to be suitable vessels. Only All Might was chosen for his innate heroism, and then … me after him. In terms of the chain of inheritance of One for All, I'm the ninth, but in terms of the chain of inheritance of Symbolism, I'm the second. That means I have to make it count, so I'll fight in the final event of the Festival. I know I'll probably lose, but I have to try. That's what a Symbol of Hope would do," Izuku said, thinking things out as he was speaking.
Recovery Girl let Izuku go, knowing that she couldn't stop him even if he was effectively Quirkless.
Izuku made his way down to the cafeteria, wanting to get some lunch before he fought in the final event. He walked through the halls, noticing for the first time how truly massive the stadium UA built just for an event that was held annually was. It was bigger than UA's main building, and that was used by over a thousand people every day. He supposed it all came down to funding. The Sports Festival was far more popular than even the Olympic Games these days, so Izuku thought it was understandable that UA would get more funding for it.
"Midoriya!" Iida cheered from the table he was sitting at with some of Class-1A, namely Shinso, Tsu and an extra guest in the form of Hatsume.
"Hey," Izuku waved.
"Where have you been? You look dead," Shinso asked.
"I just took a little nap in the infirmary. For your information, Shinso, I feel dead as well," Izuku replied, putting on the snarkiest voice he could for Shinso. He had discovered the boy loved conversations made of pure sarcasm, where both people knew it was sarcastic, but nobody knew where the sarcasm ended and where the sincerity began. It got him to laugh the hardest he had seen anybody laugh.
"You did look quite tired after the Cavalry Battle. Are you feeling alright now?" Tsu asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I was hoping to get some lunch, but it looks like I missed my window. That line is insanely long," Izuku said, sitting down in the empty space next to Hatsume, who was tinkering with what looked like another net-gun.
"So, how does it feel to be number one?" Hatsume asked.
"It feels weird. I'm not used to winning, I guess," Izuku laughed.
"Why's that? I'm sure that with your Quirk people would be almost subservient to you. The ability to fly, shoot out grapples and superhuman strength? That's a pretty diverse Quirk right there," Hatsume said absently.
"Uh, well, I actually didn't always have my Quirk," Izuku said, getting everyone at the table to look at him.
"What do you mean?" Iida asked.
"I'm …" Izuku debated talking about One for All, but decided that, even though they were great friends and extraordinary Heroes in training, they weren't the right people to know. " … what they call a 'late bloomer'. My Quirk didn't manifest when I was four, hidden away so that I didn't explode my arm off trying to use my powers," Izuku said.
"Explode? Why?" Hatsume asked, suddenly very interested.
"You haven't seen the kind of power he's capable of. It shreds any part of him he uses it with. If a four year old did that, they'd die," Shinso explained, now understanding.
"Yeah. That's my story. The Quirkless kid that became a Hero," Izuku chuckled to himself.
"Sounds like something out of a manga or something," Shinso said, getting a laugh from everyone at the table.
"How do you all feel about going up against each other in the final event?" Tsu asked.
Izuku remembered that Tsu had held onto one headband, hers, for the entire Cavalry Battle. That meant that she hadn't earned enough points to keep going in the Festival. He was tempted to give some kind of condolence, but thought that that might be more like rubbing salt into the wound for Tsu, who prided herself on her blunt truthfulness.
"I feel pretty confident in saying that I'm gonna lose my first match," Shinso said, picking at his food.
"Why is that?" Iida asked.
"Well, look at how many people from our class make up the final sixteen. All of them know how my Quirk works. I'm screwed," Shinso complained.
"Why don't you just insult their friends? Get them to talk to you that way," Hastume suggested, not looking up from her invention.
"Huh. Yeah," Shinso said, a small smirk spreading across his face.
"While I do think that you should do whatever you can to get them to respond to you, I don't think you should get too personal with the insults. Take Bakugo for example. He's had some issues with being called a Villain because of his past attitude, and I exploited that in the battle trials in our first Foundational Heroics class. That, though, cost Ochako a month of her life. Don't overdo it," Izuku warned.
"You would say that, Shigaraki Smasher," Shinso shot back.
"That's unfair," Izuku grumbled.
"Is it wrong, though?" Shinso chuckled.
"It is kind of ironic that you're telling Shinso to not overdo things when you've broken your arm and both your legs since starting school, and we're only about a month into our first semester," Tsu said.
"Why does this feel like an intervention?" Izuku asked, smiling wide.
"Uh, hello Mr. Midoriya, we're here to talk to you about your addiction to breaking your goddam bones," Shinso said, deepening his voice to sound like some kind of official.
The table erupted into laughter at that, even Hatsume, who had looked up from her net-gun for the first time in the conversation. Tsu smiled, which Izuku was glad to see, as he now knew that she could. He'd make an effort to make it happen more often, now. The laughter stopped when a shadow came over Izuku, and he looked back to see Todoroki standing behind him, glaring at him intensely.
"Midoriya. Do you have a moment to talk?" Todoroki asked.
"Uh, sure. I'll be back in a second," Izuku said, waving goodbye to his friends.
"In the Cavalry Battle, you got me to use my fire," Todoroki asked.
Todoroki had walked away with a word, and Izuku had followed. They had walked through multiple hallways, and Izuku was pretty sure that they had turned so many times that they had been going in circles around the same four corners. They had come to a stop at the lip of a tunnel leading to outside the stadium.
"I noticed. It's about time you got serious," Izuku said.
"I am serious. You made me break my oath. That's a feat in and of itself, but so far, you've won at every chance. I trust that you know my father, Endeavour, has been second place to All Might for most of his career," Todoroki said.
"Yeah. He soared up the charts when he was younger, but he stalled soon after, never getting to be the top ranked Hero because of All Might," Izuku said.
"I'm the son of Endeavour. You're All Might's protege in some way. That meant that if I beat you, I'd show my father that I can do what he couldn't. I could surpass him, all without using his cursed power," Todoroki said.
"Cursed power?" Izuku asked.
"Tell me, Midoriya. Have you heard of Quirk Marriages?" Todoroki asked back.
"N-No," Izuku answered, nervous of the meaning.
"They were popular among older generations of Quirk users. They involved breeding with certain people to produce the most powerful Quirked children possible. My parents were one of these marriages, my father paying my mother's family for possession of her. His reasoning was that if he could make a Quirk that had his fire power, combined with my mother's potential for ice powers, that would counteract the negative effects of both Quirks, heatstroke and frostbite respectively," Todoroki explained.
"Okay. Where are you going with this?" Izuku said, not liking that he knew the answer, but was too afraid to say it.
"My father commenced his plan with Toya, the first. Once his Quirk manifested, and it wasn't to his liking, he moved on. My sister, Fuyumi. Once she was confirmed as a disappointment in his eyes, he moved onto Natsuo. He was a failure as well. Then, he got to me. Apparently, I was perfect," Todoroki said, scowling.
Izuku now understood the true meaning of his split hair and eyes. The right produced cold, so his hair was white and his eye was grey, presumably all traits he inherited from his mother. The left produced flames, with the hair colored red and the eye being blue on that side, traits derived from his father. That explained everything but one thing; his scar.
Todoroki had a large burn scar on the left side of his face, which Izuku had guessed came from a training accident. After all, as Todoroki had just told him, he wasn't immune to the effects of his fire, just resistant. That meant that he could still be burnt, but maybe only by pushing himself to his limits. He didn't pry, but was still curious.
"So … you're the perfect Hero? Why are you telling me all this?" Izuku asked.
"Because, there's more to it than that. My father started my training immediately, putting me through the kind of stuff you'd expect third year students at UA to go through when I was only five years old. My mother tried to stop it, but he put her in her place soon enough," Todoroki continued.
"He … hurt her?" Izuku asked, feeling a sick feeling rising in his core.
"Yes. Because of it, she stopped trying to help me after a while. She left me to bear the pain alone. The training increased in difficulty. I was getting overworked. One day, I went to her, trying to get some help because I had scraped my elbow during training and my father was ignoring it, telling me to 'get back up', and that it was 'only a scratch'. That's how I got this," Todoroki explained, ending with showing Izuku a large patch of scar tissue beginning at his elbow and extending down his forearm.
"What happened next?" Izuku asked.
"My mother spotted me, and called my left side unsightly, describing it as looking just like him. That was before she poured scalding water on my face. That's how I got this scar. That's the day I made an oath to myself, to never use his cursed power, and become a Hero using only my mother's Quirk," Todoroki concluded, putting a hand over his burn scar.
"I made you break that oath. That's why you're so worked up?" Izuku asked.
"Yes. I don't know what it is about you, Midoriya, but you have a way of getting people to act differently than they normally would. That's annoying," Todoroki said.
"That's called 'inspiration'. All the best Heroes can do it," Izuku said, seeing Todoroki's face change from annoyance to surprise.
"Look, Todoroki. I'm not gonna say that I know what it feels like. I don't. I do know what it feels like to want to prove yourself, though. I'm trying to do it, too. Watch out, Todoroki. I'm coming for you," Izuku said.
Todoroki's eyes narrowed, but he walked away. Izuku let himself relax, having kept his posture straight from nerves the whole time. He watched Todoroki leave, noting that his hands were shaking. He considered reaching out to him to help, but let him go. They were enemies now, and he needed to think like it. The time for help wasn't today. Today was the time to fight.