Ask anyone from any of the four corners of the world to name the single most influential hero, and you would almost certainly get the same answer each time: All Might. It didn't matter that he was a Japanese hero who mainly worked in Japan; his name was known all around the globe.
All Might is everywhere in the US, almost as much as in Japan. The time spent in the USA and his obvious American aesthetic were the main factors that made him so popular with the American public. All Might merchandise, painted in the colours of the American flag, fills the shelves of department stores. Dads surprise their kids by dressing up as him on Halloween. Schools describe Japan to children as the country All Might lives in. Kids play heroes and villains and argue who gets to be All Might. All that to say, if you were someone trying to avoid the ever-smiling face of the world's symbol of peace, the USA was probably one of the worst places you could choose to live, second to Japan of course, where you might even run into him.
But why would anyone want to avoid his image? He is the Symbol of Peace, the undefeated hero who always saves the day with a smile, and everyone in their right mind absolutely loves him.
It was a warm day. The bright sun was out and shining on an enclosed elementary school playground. Sat on a bench next to the colourfully painted walls was a young, dark-haired girl. She had just eaten her lunch alone and now sat cross-legged, her bento box sat in between her legs. She had only been attending the school for a few days but had already learned she should eat alone. The last time she had eaten around the other kids, they had laughed at her food, hurling words that though she wasn't sure exactly what they meant, she was sure they were insulting.
She missed her friend. Being alone sucked.
The girl focused on breathing, she had been doing it quite often as of late, focusing on her lungs filling with air and emptying out. It was distracting. If she filled her head with in and out she could almost drown out the shouting sounds from the back of her head that made her feel heavy and made her eyes wet.
"Catsomi," her head snapped up, eyes opened wide as she took in the image of two boys standing in front of her. The one to her left, a blonde boy with curly hair called her name out a little nervously, he held his hands together in front of him as he spoke, "Do you wanna play with us?"
Her mouth opened slightly as she processed the words the boy had said to her. The girl's head went blank for what to say. Even if she knew what to say, she wasn't even sure if the words would come out right.
"You dummy" the dark-haired boy next to him pushed him, laughing, "It's Katsumi! Ka-tsu-mi! I know because it's a Japanese name." He smirked haughtily at him the blonde boy frowned.
"Oh sorry Katsoomi," he apologised, turning back to her, his face dusted pink, "but do you want to play heroes with us?"
Katsumi pursed her lips, her mind repeating his words. She was pretty sure she understood him, he was asking her to play heroes. She didn't really want to, she hadn't felt like playing in a long while.
Take a moment to think, she paused, trying to translate the words to politely decline into their language.
"It's okay! The teacher said you can't speak English well, but you don't need to speak to play." The nervous boy smiled and looked over at his friend, "Besides, you can speak some Japanese can't you?"
"Hai!" The other boy grinned proudly, placing his hands on his hips, "My parents are Japanese! Watashi no haha to chichi wa nihonjin desu!"
Katsumi's eyes lit up, jumping off the bench, her mind splitting from the dark sticky feelings at the back of her head.
"Anata wa nihongo o hanasu koto ga dekimasu," she sighed, a little smile forming on her lips as the heavy weight that had been crushing her chest lifted. For a moment at least.
"Watashi wa totemo shiawasedesu!" She grinned.
The blonde boy looked at her, mouth slightly agape as if he had never heard another language before.
"Uhhh," the other boy stared at her, for a long moment. Finally, he laughed awkwardly, "Hai!" he grinned, "Let's play now!"
The boys began to hurry over to the play area, well, the dark-haired boy marched over as the blonde tripped after him. They headed towards the swings and climbing frames covered with children. Katsumi followed behind, holding her bento close to her chest.
"Okay," the dark-haired boy stopped, spinning around to face the two trailing kids once they had gotten to the sand-covered area. "I'm going to be All Might! Watashi wa All Mighto!" He grinned, looking over to Katsumi, making sure she heard his Japanese. She just frowned. She didn't understand most of the English words he said, but even without his translation, she could understand who she was talking about without the translation.
"You can be the villains I beat up!" He declared, pointing at the two smaller kids.
"But… you're always All Might. Can't I be him today?" Playing with the bottom of his shirt the other boy avoided the boy's gaze. Katsumi glanced at him.
"No! You can't," the dark-haired boy huffed, glaring at the kid, "I'm All Might! I told you already- he's my Dad so I get to play him."
Katsumi froze. 'Dad' she knew that word.
"But you're not blonde…" the smaller boy protested.
"I told you I'm his kid but you can't tell anyone or villains will come capture me and he'll have to come save me!"
She understood those words.
Katsumi just stared at him, blue eyes ghostly wide, "Nan da to?"
The boy frowned. "Stop speaking Japanese!" His face grew red as he crossed his arms. "You speak weird."
The other boy shook his head, "You don't actually know Japanese do you?' He said accusingly.
The boy's face went an even deeper red, "Nuh-uh! I know Japanese! I speak it when I visit my dad!"
His friend rolled his eyes at that, "Sure, your dad… All Might…"
"All Might is my Dad!" He protested, brows furrowing together as he gritted his teeth.
"Liar."
"What did you say?" The angry boy turned to the little girl. Her bright blue eyes glared back up at him, little fists clenched together. "Now you can speak American?"
"All Mighto…" she struggled, her voice rife with frustration, "sa… nota yo-"
"Haha! You're so bad at speaking!"
Her blood boiled. Her toes curled inside her little red shoes, her shoulders trembled, and the muscles in her legs clenched as she stared intensely at the boy. His face twisted into an ugly snarl as he laughed at her. She could almost snap her bento box into with how tightly she was hugging it.
"You sound like an idiot," he chided, "ya know?"
Each foreign word felt like a slap, and the urge to lash out surged through her, barely kept in check by the trembling restraint she clung to. His words muffled away she continued staring at him, her vision going blurry as hot tears began to grow, stinging her eyes with their salt.
She couldn't stop it, she could stop the tightening, twisting, tensing fury that was building inside her stomach as an angry typhoon. It grew huge, washing away her thoughts and replacing them with pure hot anger. It took control of her body, and her bento box fell to the floor.
She flung herself forward, yelling words she couldn't hear over the sound of her own brain as she pushed him to the ground. The boy cried out as he thudded down to the hard-packed sand, feeling the weight of the girl onto him as she beat at his chest shouting insults. He cried out angrily, trying to push her away. His cries were heard by everyone but the wailing girl who punched and slammed his body, every once of strength and knotted, flattened hurt firing out of her tiny frame as she beat him down.
"Stupid girl!" he howled, as teachers ran over shouting, "Get off me!"
"Liar! Liar!"
"Oh for god sake Katsumi, what have you done?"
Katsumi had been sitting sniffling in the principal's office for a long while now. Her hands hurt still, though the red cuts and sores on her knuckles had disappeared quickly. However, her eyes remained red and sore from the angry tears that had only finally ceased after a good hour in the office. It had taken another twenty minutes or so for the door to swing open and for the sound of clicking heels to approach the principal's desk. As it did, the young girl's sniffling finally stopped as her whole body stiffened.
Across from her, the principal sat calmly at her desk, her gaze steady, while a young classroom teacher shifted uneasily in her seat nearby.
"I-" Katsumi mumbled, her voice breaking as she tried to speak a language she just didn't know yet. "I-" her words trailed off under the sharp glare of the woman beside her. It lasted only a second, but it was enough to make Katsumi stare back down at her hands.
"Miss Endo," the principal said, her smile taut and formal, barely reaching her eyes. "Thank you for coming."
"What did she do?" the woman snapped, shifting her focus from her almost trembling daughter to the young teacher standing by.
"During lunch, she screamed at another student and hit him, in fact, she pushed him to the ground and was punching him, she even hit his face," the teacher responded. Though Katsumi didn't understand the words that shot from her mouth, she knew she was in trouble. The tall woman took in a sharp breath.
Katsumi sat up quickly, her voice rising defensively as she sensed her mother's frustration. "Buta-"
"You're almost ten years old, Katsumi," her mother hissed as she snapped her head to her, "Why can't you learn to behave?"
"He lied," Katsumi gave up on the words that didn't sit well on her tongue. Her eyes were wide with frustration. "We were talking about our families, and he said his dad was All Might! Mummy, that can't be true!" Her eyes seemed as if she was almost pleading, unsure if it was even the truth, searching her mother's expression for reassurance.
Her mother's posture stiffened, and the teacher let out an exasperated sigh. The principal leaned forward, resting her hands on the desk. "Could we please use English while in school?"
"S-Sori," Katsumi mumbled, shrinking in her chair.
"Katsumi claims the other student was lying," her mother replied.
"Yes, yes, he was," the teacher said dismissively, "We've had a lot of problems with that child lying, but that's hardly an excuse."
"I understand that moving to a new country where you don't fully grasp the language is challenging," the principal interrupted, her tone softer now, "and Katsumi is clearly struggling with her emotions. However, her reaction was far too extreme-"
"Let's go, Katsumi." Her mother's voice was cold, already turning away.
"Miss Endo-" The principal's eyes widened as the woman roughly took her daughter's hand.
"I'll handle it," she said curtly. "It won't happen again."
"We still need you to talk to the boy's parents and we really must recommend that Katsumi sees a therapist or-"
"I'll parent my daughter as I see fit," Miss Endo snapped, her icy gaze flicking to the teacher. "Maybe you should teach your students not to lie."
With a tight grip on Katsumi's wrist, her mother dragged the girl out of the school and into the harsh glare of the Californian sun. Her eyes were blurry with the threat of a fresh wave of tears flowing back down her face. The brightness stung Katsumi's eyes as they made their way to the car and she had to squeeze them shut, wiping the spilt tears away. Her mother yanked open the passenger door without a word, and Katsumi climbed in, her hands trembling as she fumbled to put on the seatbelt as quickly as she could.
Inside the car, her mother sat still, hands clenched on the steering wheel, staring blankly ahead. The silence hung heavy between them.
"Katsumi," her mother finally said, her voice cold and distant. "Forget about it. You have no father."
Katsumi's heart raced as tears welled up in her eyes. "Yes, I do! I do, I do!" she cried, her voice breaking. "I want to see him!" Any restraint she had due to her being forced to speak English was gone now she could speak Japanese with her mother
Her mother's grip tightened on the wheel, knuckles white. "Isn't seeing him on the damn television enough for you, you brat?" she screamed, slamming her hand against the dashboard. Katsumi flinched back into her seat. Still, she didn't turn to look at her daughter. "I have important meetings, Katsumi! If this ever happens again I swear to god I am not picking you up! You can stay in the school till the police drive you to jail for all I care!"
Katsumi choked on her sobs, trembling as she stared up at her mother, pleading for some sign of warmth. But there was none.
"You listen to me, Katsumi," her mother said, her voice sharp yet cracked as she glared down at her. "I'm giving you a good life here. You can do whatever you want- any club, any activity, any toy or game, I'll give it to you. But you have to forget about that man."
The little girl shook, nodding ever so slightly.
Her mother exhaled heavily, rubbing her temples in an attempt to soothe an unseen pain. "The sooner you forget, the sooner those nightmares will stop. And then you won't need those pills anymore."
Katsumi swallowed hard, her voice barely a whisper. "But that's not why…" she swallowed, "Okay, Mummy."
"Well done," her mother muttered, finally strapping herself in and turning on the engine. "And from now on, we'll speak in English. Your pronunciation is terrible."
"In Engirisu," Katsumi mumbled, her voice small and broken.
Her mother shook her head, eyes fixed on the road ahead.
This story takes place at a slower pace than the source material, focusing on the relationships between characters and exploring more of their day-to-day lives than manga/anime. I feel like MHA missed a lot of opportunities for more school-focused moments, which is why I plan to have a good chunk of it in this.
I follow the manga dialogue as it's the most convenient to look at while writing. I started this randomly and was a bit out of practice with writing but the writing improves with each chapter (I'd hope anyway).
The actual story this fanfic follows is darker than canon as it follows my OC, though there is little canon divergence other than the addition of Katsumi (All Might's daughter) and her plot line. I will put a TW before any chapters with particularly bad content. There are plenty of fluff and happy moments as well.
The main idea this is based on is 'What if All Might had a daughter and what would that mean for her?' not much of an original idea but I haven't read any stories with similar concepts so I can't say if this is an original direction to take it. The main love interest is Midoriya, though it's not the focus.
Anyways, enjoy the story! Watch out for updates every Thursday evening BST.