Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

If there was one thing that All for One was certain of, it’s that time stopped for no one. It marched on without mercy, and within it’s rule all was equal. Some may consider this a good thing, find comfort in the thought that everything happened for a reason, following a greater purpose.

He shouldn’t be exempt from this. Shouldn’t be perpetually caught in the eye of the storm, and yet he was. The world ended, without a doubt by his own hand, and then it arose from the ashes to begin anew. Another day, another cycle, another passage in the history books. People can only move along with time, as they should.

So why couldn’t he?

All for One wearily looked at the ruins in the distance. Covered in plants and trees that were, once again, taller than the previous time he’d seen them, and lit up by the morning sun. His feet took him to a field of memorial stones, each covered in the names of heroes— of martyrs— and he stopped before the first. He brushed away the dust that dared to cover the name carved into stone.

Midoriya Izuku.

The martyr who sacrificed his future just to save him. The hero that had reached out to him, pulled him out of the abyss, when no other would. That golden glass heart earned Midoriya a special place in the history books, to be forgotten in a few hundred years. And just what did that noble sacrifice entail? Was it worth it at all? Or did he die with only regrets?

These questions continued to haunt All for One, without showing signs of ever being answered.

It’s unclear how long he’s been kneeling in front of that one memorial stone. The sun was searing into the top of his head when he heard irregular footsteps, accompanied by the sound something wooden hitting gravel, approach him.

“Are you visiting again?” An old voice asked him.

All for One looked at the new arrival from the corner of his eye. It was an elderly man, back bowed under the weight of his age, leaning on a walking stick. If the gentleman was at all bothered by the lack of response he’s given, then he didn’t show it. 

“It’s been a while since I’ve last seen you,” the old man laughed heartily, “I feel rather silly now, for always keeping my distance when I was younger. I suppose I’m too old now to be afraid.”

All for One silently raised back to his full height, keeping his eyes trained on the name of his savior.

The old man continued with mirth clear to hear, “had I known, I would have brought along something to drink.”

Perhaps All for One should appreciate the attempt at a conversation a bit more. It had been a long time since the last time he had spoken to someone, after all. He turned towards his company and asked, “do you remember what that building was?”

The elderly man looked back at him with surprise written clearly on his face, but it’s quickly replaced by something friendlier. “Of course, that’s UA, once a esteemed place where heroes were born.”

So it wasn’t forgotten yet. 

“It’s hard to believe it’s been eighty years since quirks disappeared,” the old man continues, “I was so young back then, barely a teen, I can hardly remember what happened. But UA is one place I’ll never forget.”

“I see.” All for One eyes the remaining pillars of glass and concrete. “You appear to be a kind person.”

“Hm?”

“Would you mind to pray for these fallen heroes in my stead?”

It wasn’t necessary to look at the other to know he was taken aback by the sudden request. “May I ask why?”

“I lost the right a long time ago.”

The elderly man thought about it for a moment, then he slowly said, “alright… if that will grant you peace, then I shall.”

It won’t, nothing but the unattainable can, yet he selfishly desired even the tiniest bit of relief. He can’t let go of the hope that even an accursed monster like him could do something right. Just this once.

With that thought, All for One turned his back to the grave that kept beckoning him, hopefully for the final time.

“Thank you.”

He didn’t linger long enough to hear the old man’s reply.

*

All for One had always been a wanderer. To remain idle for too long may as well be torture. Yet even travel had lost its marvel, and turned into a reminder of what was lost.

He’s too tired to keep moving. How could he, when he least of all deserved eternity? His weakness had destroyed everything, there was nothing left. Nothing can bring him even a sliver of forgiveness. Nothing that could give him a purpose. Nothing that can make things right.

His final journey had taken him to the place where everything ended, in the middle of ruins no one dared to touch. With a little imagination he could almost see his hero slumped against the rubble, his final words echoed in his ears.

‘I’m sorry… I never even tried, to understand why…’

Regret always comes too late.

All for One, or the husk without a name that curse left behind, dropped to his knees. If he were still human, tears would burn down his face, and sear regret into his skin. 

If only he had been stronger, if only he could reverse what he had done. If only his heart could stop beating and finally allow him to fade into the past. If only he could grand the people of the future that peace of mind.

If only… If only…

The air stagnated, as if the very world was holding her breath. The light of the sun turned distant.

“Fate has been cruel to you.” Said an all too familiar voice.

All for One hardly dared to move. This voice, it must be, “Yoichi?”

The moment he managed to raise his head, his face is cradled in two warm hands. “I’m sorry it had to be this way.”

It was him, it had to be. Yoichi looked the same as the last time he’d seen him, before he was killed by his own treacherous hands. Identical, except for one thing; the otherworldly red eyes staring back into his own. All for One couldn’t blink, couldn’t even look away.

“I understand you’d rather fade away,” Yoichi smiled tenderly, “but I can’t let you, there is still a purpose for you to fulfill.”

The hands, once gentle, turned cold, and energy broke free from beneath his skin, greater than he had ever felt before. As if awoken from a long slumber, one by one the quirks within him came to life, bringing along an unspeakable agony. Something was breaking and he couldn’t stop it. Yoichi faded from view as his vision faded to white.

All for One screamed, until everything finally disappeared into a blissful gentle darkness.

*

Gradually sounds began to filter in. Strange sounds he knew he must have heard before, but couldn’t remember where or when. The sound of dripping water; dissonant beeping in different tones; the constant hum of machinery. Yet none of them were nearly as disquieting as the strong antiseptic smell, failing miserably to hide the obvious decay of flesh. The smell of a morgue.

But All for One wasn’t dead. He confirmed as much by opening his eyes to a dimly lit ceiling. The pain he expected to feel upon regaining consciousness remained absent. A small mercy. 

Was it all just a dream? What happened? And more importantly, where was he?

A foreign sense of dread forced him to lurch up from the cold hard surface he had been laying on. A glance revealed a polished metal table, yet his head had been placed on a soft pillow. The combination was so contrary it left him reeling for a moment.

Fortunately it was easy enough to wrangle his emotions back into submission. Though he carefully avoided looking at the various obscure tools laid out on a table nearby. He didn’t want to think about their intended purpose. Once he confirmed his legs still worked, he headed for the first door he could find. 

It lead to a large open hallway, thankfully not a closet, sparsely decorated by machinery, and medical equipment used for distinctly non-medical purposes. Large glass tubes contained grotesque, somewhat human shaped creatures floating in some type of fluid. They too are vaguely familiar, and something within him is filled with rage at the sight of them.

All for One shook his head and kept walking.

One of the annexed rooms revealed the source of the rotting smell, he didn’t linger there for long either. The next few rooms weren’t any better off. One was completely destroyed, claw marks decorating the floor and walls, and another covered in foreign viscera he didn’t even want to know the origin of.

But the last was far more interesting. In complete contrast to everywhere else, this one had proper furniture in it; western if he remembered correctly. In the middle of the room, facing the door, was an expensive wooden desk covered in papers, and a running computer. All for One didn’t waste another moment to investigate.

The papers prove to be a dead end, covered as they were in unintelligible doctor’s handwriting. The computer however, had a file open on screen— the last line is interrupted mid-sentence, but what had already been written had his dread return tenfold.

It contained a long detailed description about research on creating the perfect weapon, named Nomu, made using his DNA as a base. Capable of holding multiple quirks, at the cost of their intelligence. They are called— in verbatim— incomplete and imperfect copies of All for One, leaving him with no room for doubt as to their true nature. The rest of the text blurred into obscurity, only one thought amids countless of questions remained prominent in his tired mind. He had to leave.

All for One froze when he heard the distinct sound of footsteps in the distance, heading in the direction of the room he had woken up in. If he didn’t do something about it, he’ll be discovered. A glance inward revealed that all of the quirks in his possession were still there, passively lingering beneath the surface. He could activate Conceal and sneak away, or perhaps he should Warp— but it’s not an option, he doesn’t know where he is, and he doesn’t know where to go, it’s too dangerous. Never mind that he couldn’t simply allow this place to be, not the research, nor the many desecrated corpses. No, there was really only one option left to take.

He placed his hand on the desk, and with less than a single thought it caught fire. The flames spread rapidly, and turn a stark blue when the temperature spiked. Alarms began to blare, accompanied by the sprinklers activating, but the fire continued undeterred. Within seconds the room was fully ablaze, and with a little guidance the hall and the connected rooms followed after. It will continue to burn until there’s nothing left of it’s target, the quirk Eternal Blaze will ensure it.

To All for One, the fire felt no more threatening than a warm embrace, and he’s confident that it, along with Conceal, will keep him securely out of sight. He ignored the sound of shattering glass and the shouts of terror as he made his escape. Though the chaos makes it difficult to find his way, he soon made it to the stairs granting him freedom.

The air had never tasted sweeter.

Only once he had ran far enough to be certain he wasn’t followed, did All for One allow himself to take in his surroundings. 

No matter where he looked, there were tall buildings reaching into the heavens, and countless of vehicles loudly passing him by. It’s chaotic in a way the world hadn’t been for a long time. There were people, numerous and lively, and most importantly, all in possession of quirks.

He braced himself, fully expecting to struggle for control, but his ability remains mercifully silent. No hunger, no rage, just passively waiting for command, completely devoid of the ego that had once haunted it. Without a doubt, the villain All for One was still dead.

He knew this, had known this ever since he was freed, but every confirmation— no matter how small— was something to treasure.

Yet, nothing explained why people had quirks again, or how he managed to find himself in a city, which hadn’t existed since the day he destroyed everything. There simply weren’t enough people left, those that survived that disaster had different priorities. So how could this be?

A pair of children ran past him, and All for One wearily watched them catch up to their loving mother. They looked so carefree, it’s enviable. He shook his head again and started walking along with the crowd. Nothing can be gained from loitering like a fool, he may as well see how far the city goes.

*

The city never ended. By now he had left the crowds behind and wandered into a much quieter neighborhood. Still, the abundance of paved roads and buildings persisted. Such as the bridge he’s currently on, it’s appearance was nostalgic, but it also looked brand new. A contrast to the more worn road that lead to it.
He must have spend a long time walking, the shadows casted by the railing are longer now.

All for One heaved a deep sigh, he’s not getting anywhere like this. He’s too tired to think clearly. He eyed the stone railing, and since it was the best option he had, he vaulted over it and sat down on the edge to watch the sun set.

Perhaps he should prioritize proper rest over further investigation, and find cover to sleep until morning. Or he should question one of the many people wandering around about his whereabouts, though the idea was much less appealing than the first. People always regarded him with fear, the old man at the memorial site had been a rare exception.

Or perhaps—

“Don’t do it! I’m sure there’s still many things worth living for!”

All for One looked behind him, and blinked bemusedly at the boy panicking from a few meters away. He knew this child, that wild green hair and those freckles below his eyes, but from where?

The boy was still rambling, barely pausing to take a breath. “Oh no— should I go find help? Should I call the police?” He glanced around wildly, “no wait I don’t have a phone oh no what do I do—?”

“Child.” The boy jumped and went silent. “I was merely watching the sun set.”

A moment of quiet passed, and while the boy was processing what he was just told, All for One took the opportunity to properly turn his way. He didn’t get off the railing just yet, no need to scare the child any more than he doubtlessly already had.

“That… That’s a relief.” The boy finally said, and then before All for One could reply, he gasped, “Oh no!” What is it now? “I promised mom not to talk to strangers, I’m so sorry sir!”

It’s a little late for that, wasn’t it?

Despite himself, All for One laughed. Oh this child, this reckless golden hearted child.

Slowly, to give the other every chance to escape, he moved over and knelt down before the boy, just out of arm’s reach. “In that case,” he paused to see whether the boy would run away, which the boy bravely— or foolishly— did not, “I am All for One, may I know your name, little hero?”

The boy flushed, and he fumbled with his hands as he answered, “I… I’m Midoriya Izuku.”

The world ground to a halt. Midoriya Izuku, the name of his savior, the martyr who sacrificed everything to save the world. Here he stood, looking a little embarrassed, like a perfectly normal child, no older than eight. And all the pieces came together. He was almost a hundred years in the past.

He must have been silent for too long, the boy— Izuku— was beginning to look concerned. All for One quickly gathered himself, and smiled. “It’s nice to meet you, Midoriya. My apologies, I had… mistaken you for someone else.”

Had lying always been this difficult?

Izuku smiled back and nodded lively. “That’s okay.”

Doubtful, but on closer inspection, Izuku himself looked everything but ‘okay’. His clothes were dirty and disheveled, his skin was covered in scratches and bruises, and his youthful eyes looked red and irritated, like he had been crying only moments ago. It painted a disquieting picture.

“What are you doing out here all by yourself?”

For a brief moment, All for One feared that he won’t get an answer. Izuku flinched, and began to shift from foot to foot, his apparent good mood gone. Yet he didn’t run away, nor did he cry, despite the tears filling his eyes.

“I’m lost…”

All for One slumped in relief, he had begun to fear something far worse.

“I was playing with my… friends, then I— then we got separated, and I wanted to go home, but…” Izuku fell silent.

“I see.” He got back up on his feet, and noted how Izuku barely reached up to his hips. “Do you remember which way you came from?”

“Huh?” Izuku stared up at him, uncomprehending. “I do… but why?”

“It’s as good of a place to start as any.”

“You’ll help me?”

“I can’t very well allow a young child like you to wander around all by himself.”

As soon as the words sank in, Izuku gave him a bright sunny smile. All for One can almost imagine him glow. Izuku scampered towards him with renewed energy. “Thank you!” The boy pointed to the left, “it’s this way!”

As it turned out, Izuku had a nearly boundless amount of energy and an equally unlimited amount of things to talk about. Not that All for One minded, it granted him the opportunity to learn a few things about the younger version of the future’s greatest hero. Such as; Izuku was currently only seven years old, was an enthusiastic fan of heroes— especially one named All Might— and had a surprisingly sharp mind; with a talent for analyzing things. 

Apparently Izuku had seen him on the edge of the bridge, and in his words he looked ‘really sad’, which caused the boy to assume the worst. Upon being questioned, Izuku didn’t elaborate on what the ‘unthinkable thing’ was that the boy thought he was about to commit.

Either way, Izuku truly loved to talk, and All for One didn’t mind to listen. However, just to be certain, he made sure to warn Izuku not to tell anyone about their encounter, just in case any of his former ‘colleagues’, or worse, heroes who knew too much, would give the boy trouble for it. Understandably his request was met with confusion, but in the end Izuku agreed without too much fuss. It was as endearing as it was concerning. Was this boy always that trusting of strangers?

Their chat soon began to taper off. The sun had set even further now, and All for One had the sinking suspicion that they’ve been walking in circles. Izuku had become quiet, and began to drag his feet. He looked decidedly upset that the third park they had come across was just as unfamiliar as the previous two were. It looked like there’s a limit to the boy’s energy after all. 

At this rate they were not going to make any progress. If he were just by himself, he would’ve taken up a higher vantage point to make better sense of his surroundings. All for One stopped, and Izuku bumped into his leg. The boy rubbed his eyes and wearily stared up at him as he knelt down. For the first time in his long life, his height was becoming rather inconvenient. 

“Would you mind if I carried you?”

Izuku once again didn’t question him and merely nodded. Is he already half asleep? This reckless child.

It’s surprisingly much of a struggle to figure out exactly how one was even supposed to carry a child. He floundered longer than he would have liked, but he figured it out soon enough. Feeling the warmth of another person had become distinctly foreign, yet it felt natural all the same. Perhaps it merely reminds him of all those times he carried Yoichi when they were children. 

He forced himself to focus again while he walked, until he encountered yet another small park. He nudged Izuku, who now resembled a blanked more than a person, awake and asked the usual, “do you recognize this place?”

Izuku yawned, and glanced around bewildered. Then upon seeing his surroundings, the boy is invigorated. “I’ve been here before!” All for One was about to ask if this meant he knew they are, but Izuku wilted before he can. “But I don’t really know where this is…”

How far did the little hero wander? All for One turned his eyes to the sky, in the future it had been covered to the brim in countless of stars, but now they had been dimmed by light pollution.

All for One blinked slowly. Perhaps there was merit to his earlier idea after all. “Would you be able to find your way from above?”

“Huh? You mean from the sky?” All for One nodded. Izuku looked thoughtful for a bit, “I think so… can you fly?”

“Naturally.” He adjusted his hold, and opted out of simply levitating and instead called upon a different quirk. Massive pitch black wings manifest from his back, their weight forcing him awake. Izuku gaped at them, with amazement clear to see on his young face. 

“Please close your eyes, and hold on tight.”

When Izuku did as instructed, All for One braced himself, and with a single leap he soared into the sky, making sure to adjust his speed for his young passenger. It wouldn’t do if he passed out from the change in air pressure. He stopped his ascend when he’s level with some of the taller buildings, granting them a clear view of the illuminated streets below.

“You can open your eyes now.” He said, and Izuku hesitantly did as asked.

The boy trembled like a leaf caught in a storm, his hands maintained a death grip, yet his eyes revealed no fear. On the contrary, they were wide with wonder.
All for One gave him a moment to take it all in, then he asked, “Can you see somewhere you are familiar with?”

Izuku jolted, and shook his head like a wet dog before looking around more attentively. Then he gasped, a small sound easily swallowed by the wind, and pointed towards a large building surrounded by a decently sized yard. “That’s my school!”

It was a sad looking building. But perhaps his standards have grown too high from all the fancy skyscrapers he had seen.

“Do you live nearby?” Izuku nodded enthusiastically, somehow managing not to headbutt him in the process. “Then please, lead the way.”

After struggling with the directions given by an excited, but also tired, seven year old, All for One gently landed on the sidewalk next to an apartment building; in a row of identical apartment buildings, only distinguished by a large number painted on each of them. Thankfully Izuku remembers that he lives in building numbered two, it would have been a terrible hassle otherwise. 

He knelt to place Izuku back on the ground, ready to catch the boy should he fall, but Izuku managed to keep standing on his small trembling legs.

“I shall wait here until you’re safely home,” All for One said to him, and just in case he added, “if you need anything, feel free to run back.”

Izuku looked distinctly disappointed, for reasons unknown, yet did his best to smile. There was an odd waver in his voice when he asked, “will I ever see you again?”

“Perhaps, if fate shall have it.”

This somehow managed to reassure him. Izuku grinned brightly, “then, until next time!” He scampered off, then halfway to the building he rushed back just to say, “thank you helping me!” and then merrily went back on his way.

All for One watched on bewildered, but he refused to let the boy out of his sight until he finally reaches home. When Izuku did, a frantic woman opens the door, phone in hand, and upon seeing Izuku she fell on her knees to fussed over him. Even from a distance he can imagine hearing them cry. The similarity was undeniable, she must be his mother.

The sight was a relief, at the very least the little hero had a loving mother to watch over him. He’s safe now.

As All for One walked away, he wondered if there truly was a purpose for him to serve here in the past, just as Yoichi had claimed. If so, his encounter with Izuku could possibly be the beginning of it.

With that thought he flew away, leaving not a single trace of his presence behind.

Chapter Text

All for One’s exhaustion had turned out to be worse than he expected. It took three nights, or perhaps more, to finally be able to think clearly again, and even then the remainder of it continued to weigh him down. Though perhaps taking shelter underneath whatever sturdy bridge he could find, keeping a few quirks passively activated to stay hidden from view all the while, wasn’t the the best way to rest. Those quirks still cost him energy, however little. Energy he direly needed to keep that calamity lurking beneath his skin under control.

It’s clear that he can’t afford to remain this way, wandering around as aimlessly as he had in that condemned future. With every passing night, the chance of being found increased. In this strange yet familiar age, filled to the brim with quirks, lowering his guard for even a second was not an option. Better plans needed to be made.

The seventh day, or the eighth, All for One spend on top of an especially tall skyscraper. There were hardly any life forms to be found, so an approaching presence will instantly alert him of a potential threat. This gave him more room to think.

First of all, his purpose in the past couldn’t be more abundantly clear, he intends to return the favor to the one who saved him, and what better was there, than to ensure that the boy will live a long and fulfilling live? It sounded simple enough, the few villains, or heroes for that matter, that he had seen so far weren’t even remotely a threat. Though something told him, and perhaps it was the memory of Izuku’s recklessly given trust, that this self imposed mission won’t be that easy.

At least he rested easy in the knowledge that Izuku will survive until at the very least his thirties, if his appearance the day he saved him, and consequently died, was anything to go by.

With that out of the way, All for One needed to find shelter, a place where he can properly rest. It wouldn’t do to become a threat himself, should he lose the ability to wrangle his quirk into submission due to exhaustion. This shelter had to be far away from the city— to minimize the chance of being found— but not too far away to become an inconvenience. 

To manage this, he required funds. While his memories may not be worth much, they at least made it clear how important money was. Which only made it a good thing that he had been Japan’s most feared super-villain for over a hundred years, surely he must have gathered a hefty amount over time.

And thus, with these plans in mind, All for One gathered every scrap of memory he can find to locate the nearest hideout that could be of use.

Stealing his own money turned out to be quite easy. One crafty embezzlement later, he’s a few hundred million yen richer. Who knew his time serving the yakuza could be so useful? He would have thanked his old boss, if he weren’t still relishing in the memory of his untimely demise.

All for One took to the skies, and from above he searched the edges of Musutafu for a suitable location, before expanding his field little by little. Until he came across a village on the mountains of Yamanashi.

The location on it’s own might have been ideal. The road leading there was more worn than it should be, but still decent enough. The village itself however, upon closer inspection had seen better days. Heavily damaged houses lined the barely paved roads, the windows were either broken or boarded up, and the doors were dented, like someone had opened them by force. A few buildings were in a better state, but they are obviously not lived in by regular villagers, if the distinctly menacing guards scattered around were an indicative.

All for One grimaced as he landed in the middle of a crossroad. A miasma of despair— and the unmistakable stench of drugs— polluted the air, worse than the more poverty-stricken parts of the city. 

An old lady, who had been stumbling by, nearly jumped out of her skin at the sight of him. He looked at her, ignoring the way she trembled from head to toe, and decided to gamble on the woman being a local.

He plastered on his best polite smile and asked, “pardon me ma’am, do you know what happened here?”

The old lady let out a shuddering breath. “So you aren’t one of those crooks, thank goodness.” Her sharp eyes looked at him for a moment, and then she looked around, “we shouldn’t talk here, young man, please follow me.”

‘Young man’? All for One shook his head, and did as asked. He’s lead to a house, only slightly less dilapidated than the surrounding ones, and followed her to a sparsely decorated dining area. It was notably devoid of windows and doors leading outside.

Once they were as comfortable as they could be, the old lady spoke again, “you shouldn’t be here, it’s too dangerous. Are you lost?”

“May I know who you are first?”

“I’m the one left in charge of Kamiki, Yamaoka Eru.” The old lady— or rather, miss Yamaoka— answered solemnly, without the usual courtesy one may have expected. Her answer also informed him of the name of the village, which he had never heard of before.

He made a polite bow, “my name is All for One, it is an honor to meet you.”

Much to her credit, there was no sign that miss Yamaoka was taken aback by the respect, except for the widening of her eyes, nor was there a sign of recognition at his name, which was all the more convenient.

“To answer your previous question, I was looking for a residence and came across this village.”

“Then you’d best move along.”

“And why would that be?”

Miss Yamaoka uttered a pained sound. “This village is overrun by those fiends, they turned it into a hub for their business, we’re held hostage by them, it has been this way for years.” She closed her eyes, trembling with fervor, “worse still, heroes won’t bother to save us, we’ve been condemned.”

“Condemned?”

“Most of us are quirkless,” she looked him straight in the eye, “we haven’t the means to fight back, and society sees to it that we aren’t worth saving.”

The flash of rage at her words took All for One off guard. It hard to tell which part angered him so, but it’s eerily reminiscent of what he faced in his youth. ‘Not worth saving’, whoever had the right to decide such a thing?

He took in a deep breath, willing himself to calm down before he scared off his only source of information. And that too, surprised him. In truth, this situation was more trouble than it’s worth. It would be in his best interest to take the advise he’s given to heart and look somewhere else. He’s not here to play hero.

Yet a greater part of him was reminded of a young boy, just as quirkless as the elderly lady in front of him, who could have been— or perhaps already was— in the exact same situation. To make matters even worse, was that miss Yamaoka was correct. Heroes rarely strayed far form cities, he noticed that much. The police was swamped with too many cases and buried under layers of bureaucracy, to the point were no one would bother looking for even more work. Especially not in a remote village such as Kamiki, where there’s neither fame nor recognition by the masses to be found.

All of this lead All for One to make a impulsive decision.

“In that case, I have a proposition to make.”

Miss Yamaoka looked stunned. “And that would be?”

“In exchange for chasing out the villains plaguing you, I would like a place to stay, with few questions asked.”

The rooms became so quiet, that he almost heard the old lady’s heartbeat.

“You… could you be a hero?”

The question was so contrary to reality, he may have considered it ironic, if it wasn’t for the earnest expression of the one who asked. All for One cracked a wry smile, “far from it.”

Miss Yamaoka was clearly more intelligent than her age would imply, and she nodded solemnly. “At this point it no longer matters, if you can free us, then we would be more than happy to accommodate you.”

“Then consider it done.”

As promised, in the middle of a sunny afternoon, All for One began his hunt.

The hubris of the villains, who had yet to face a single true challenge in what’s likely been their entire career, made it all too easy. Collecting them one by one was too troublesome however, so a more practical method was required.

Fortunately he remembered a passage from a book about insects he had once read; if you removed the queen, the rest will follow.

All for One calmly walked up to the most guarded and pristine building in the village. The guards immediately took notice, but despite the fact that he stood a head above the tallest among them, they showed not even a bit of caution. The looks he’s given reminded him of a different age, and his organs practically crimped together in disgust.

He smiled at them harmlessly, “pardon me, but would you be so kind to introduce me to your leader?”

As predicted, one of the guards, a burly one with a minor strength enhancing quirk, sauntered towards him. The leer on his face was now all the more apparent, as he looked him up and down. “Now what does a pretty face like you want the boss for, hm?”

“I’m here on important business, to impart a message, so to speak.”

A second guard, more cautious than the first, with a quirk that allowed her perfect night vision, approached. Her left hand remained hidden behind her back, “which is?”

The smile on All for One’s face didn’t budge. “You’re being a nuisance, therefore you shall be removed.”

Strength enhancer was instantly enraged, his arm lashed out to grab All for One by the neck, “huh?! Just who do you think you…?!” but it never reached it’s target.
He gripped his assailant’s wrist, mercilessly shattering all the bones in his reach and with a short pull, dislocated his arm. The burly guard howled in pain, and night-vision rushed in to help— drawing her gun and aiming it at his head, followed by the other’s present, but all their efforts proved similarly futile.

Within five minutes, all of his opponents were incapacitated. All for One glared at his fist attacker, who was clutching at his arm in agony, and cowering in fear.

“Now then, allow me to ask once again,” he walked over, ignoring the whimpering pleas for mercy, “would you be so kind,” and All for One grabbed him by the scruff of his coat, ensuring he has no other choice but to look him in the eye, “to introduce me to your leader?”

*

Following the kindly given instructions, All for One headed to the fancily decorated office where the ‘boss’ was supposed to be, defeating several more henchmen on the way. Those who lacked the will to fight, he allowed to escape. Their leader however, shall be granted no such mercy. He won’t allow such a thoroughly rotten fool to avoid penance.

The villain leader brazenly had thrown a few bodyguards his way, before he was slammed headfirst into the lacquered hardwood desk he had been sitting behind. Which left All for One with more villains than he had accounted for— being restrained; unconscious; or wishing they were either of the former— with no idea what to do with them. Unfortunately none of the memories he had of the past hundred years were of any help, they never involved leaving his opponents alive, and he had already resolved to do away with such needless bloodshed.

The boss groaned pitifully while All for One considered his next action. 

He may as well solve this problem in a more moral fashion, and deliver them on the doorstep of the Musutafu police department, like the upstanding citizen that he wasn’t. All for One had passed by the place while exploring the city, thus all he had to do is create a well aimed warp-gate and the job was done.

And to make his day even better, the struggle reached the ears of those still remaining in the village, and just as expected, with the leader felled, the henchmen scattered. The fight— if one could call it that— also served well as an decent outlet for his anger. How convenient.

All for One returned to the crossroad he first landed on in a much better mood. There he was met with the welcome sight of miss Yamaoka, accompanied by two others, who shared a slight resemblance with each other. A young man, and a girl barely out of her teens. The girl was incidentally the only one with a quirk; the ability to change the color of her hair.

“You’re back!” Miss Yamaoka exclaimed, full of elation, “and still in one piece too!”

This made him unnecessarily happy. He ignores it and nodded back, “naturally.”

The old lady took a few shaky steps forward, “is it over?”

“Those villains won’t be a nuisance any longer, just as promised.”

The young man placed a hand on the shoulder of miss Yamaoka, and sounded wary when he asked, “what did you do with them?”

All for One smiled casually, “I delivered them to the police.”

“You what?”

“Now Shojiro, let’s not bother the man more than we already have,” miss Yamaoka chided him, apparently remembering her end of the deal, “I apologize for my son, this is all so much to take in all of the sudden.”

“There is no need to apologize, I understand.” All for One glanced at the silent member of the party, who had yet to budge since he walked in, “and this is?”

“My granddaughter, Kyouko,” miss Yamaoka shook her head dismissively, “when they heard about our meeting, they insisted on accompanying me everywhere.”

“With the best of intentions, I am sure.”

“Indeed, but this old woman is quite capable of taking care of herself, they worry too much.”

Though she tried her best to sound aggrieved, there was no mistaking the pride in her voice. Shojiro missed it entirely however. The man pinched the bridge of his nose, took a deep breath and said, “what’s done is done, and I’d really rather not get in trouble with another villain.”

“A wise decision, however I am not here to menace you any further, I only seek a quiet place to rest.”

The granddaughter finally spoke up in a careful tone, “even if so, there’s not much left of this place, those villains left a mess behind.”

“The houses appear to be greatly damaged, indeed.”

Miss Yamaoka grumbled, “not only that, but they used whatever land they could to grow their product, it poisoned the earth, even the water supplies are polluted with it.”

“By product, you mean..?”

“Drugs.” the son answered dryly.

So he had guessed correctly, the smell was awfully hard to forget. It further explained why the villain group stayed away from the city. Perhaps their leader wasn’t such a fool after all, too bad for him that he gained the wrong enemy this time around.

Before he can reconsider getting any more involved than he already was, All for One said, “I believe I can help with that.”

“For free?” Shojiro asks.

“In exchange for a place to stay.”

“We would be more than happy with all the help we could get,” miss Yamaoka cut in, “but even if the buildings are repaired, what could be done about the pollution?”

All for One had no idea what had him act so impulsively, with so little to gain, but still. Repairing the damage was a simple matter for him, whether it would by monetary support, or the use of the countless of quirks in his possession. Even now, while he considered his options, the abilities rearranged themselves with little input on his end, eager to achieve the best results possible.

“Rather than explain, I believe it would be better if I demonstrated,” which would also spare him the ordeal of explaining his quirk to them, “therefore I would like you to take me to the most effected area.”

“Right now?” Kyouko asked, “aren’t you tired?”

After fighting off all those villains, was left unsaid.

“I can always rest later.”

This didn’t leave them with much room to argue further, and they lead him to a river not too far away. The smell became much worse on the way there, the source being the toppled barrels filled with waste of dubious origin. The lids were clearly not made to last, allowing the contents to flow into the water unobstructed. For anyone else, recovering this amount of damage would take decades. But to him this won’t be a problem, he had already envisioned the combination of quirks to suit his needs. And he began without another word to his audience.

First he extended his senses, to identify the substances that needed to be removed. Next, he used a fusion of telekinesis and water manipulation to isolate and extract them from the river, including the barrels for good measure. Finally, once the waste was tightly compressed within a sphere, he invoked Disintegration to destroy it. All that’s left behind were ashes as harmless as regular soil, that scattered into the wind.

With his mission accomplished, All for One turned back to the Yamaoka family, and gestured around, “would this be to your liking?”

They gaped back at him, utterly baffled.

Miss Yamaoka was the first to regain her bearings, “I don’t believe it… it’s a miracle.”

“It’s hardly a miracle,” All for One shook his head, “no matter. Now as for the rest of the reparations, I believe I can be of assistance for that as well.”

“I couldn’t possible ask for more—!”

“I insist,” he smiled, “I have taken a liking to this place, if you’re willing not to ask too many questions, then I shall provide you with whatever aid you need, be it monetary or otherwise.”

This earned him a long and considering look, while the father and daughter were mumbling something in the background about building a shrine. He wished he hadn’t overheard that.

The old lady finally nodded, “you give me no reason to refuse.”

“Then please, do not hold back on me.”

*

In the following days, they all kept busy with the recovery from years of terror. Shojiro handled most of the administrative work, while Kyouko kept herself busy with the phone, calling companies for repairs, and informing former inhabitants who fled on the new status quo. Under the leadership of miss Yamaoka, the remaining villagers contributed their own effort, and with each passing day Kamiki took another step closer to becoming a proper village once again.

As for All for One himself, miss Yamaoka assigned a house to him the moment the opportunity arose, all the while stubbornly avoiding any form of payment for it. In response, he covertly transfered funds to the other two Yamaoka every chance he gets. The mayor had given him the occasional odd side-eye however, so perhaps he hadn’t been as covert about it as he would have liked.

Without any furniture on his name, he slept on the floor, in the corner of the room, after every busy day, satisfied with the safety of four walls and a roof above his head. Yet without fail, he kept waking up covered by a soft woolen blanket. His mornings became warm for more reasons than one. Meanwhile he continued on with purifying the rest of the land and water, a process that ended up taking him little more than a week to complete— a feat thoroughly celebrated by the Yamaoka family and the rest of the village. It’s the only reason why he knew how much time had passed for a change.

All in all, though the damage was still clear to see, the people were filled with renewed hope, and somehow, All for One felt proud whenever he watched over them.

*

With progress going as smoothly as possible, he can safely say that now was as good of a time as ever to return to his primary purpose; to protect the younger Midoriya Izuku. It will likely remain uneventful for the next decade or so, considering the boy managed to survive beyond graduation in the future. But he hadn’t been able to shake the urge to see how he was doing, and seeing how his instincts had yet to fail him— except for that one time— he didn’t intend to dally around any longer.

Thus after leaving a brief note to explain his absence to whoever may care, and it’ll certainly be found, given how often people walked into the house he was staying in without him knowing, All for One left Kamiki in the early hours to fulfill his self imposed mission.

Instead of teleporting, All for One flied towards Musutafu with the intent to survey area on his way to Izuku. Halfway there it occurred to him that his current appearance lacked the subtlety he needed. For practical reasons All for One kept it simple, and assumed the form of his younger self, perhaps in his late teens, forgoing any further changes to his appearance. It’s been a hundred years after all, it’s unlikely there was anyone around that still remembers what he looked like back then. In fact— it’s half a miracle he did himself.

From there on, it was easy enough to find the building Izuku pointed out as his school and waited for the boy to arrive. All for One sighed, as he settled in the obscuring shade of a tree, the place looked even more depressing in daylight.

After a while, he began to hear the sound of chatter and laughter. Children began to walk in through the gates, some accompanied by parents and others in groups with their peers. All for One carefully scanned the crowd for the only individual he cared about.

And there, only when most had already walked in, did Izuku appear, quietly shuffling behind another scowling boy his age. Halfway towards the building, the other boy swiveled around and yelled at Izuku before storming inside.

‘Don’t you dare stay too close Deku’, is what he said.

Izuku took the brat’s words to heart, and waited until he’s out of view before trudging in after him, his eyes firmly planted on the ground all the while. All for One repressed the urge to leave his hiding place to comfort him.

Perhaps they had gotten into a fight, and Izuku was only upset because of it. Though it was unimaginable that a boy as friendly as the little hero could ever anger another so. No, surely Izuku must have many friends to look out for him, there’s no reason to get involved, it’s better to keep his distance.

As he told himself this, he remembered what Izuku had said when they first met, about the friends that left him behind while they were playing. Back then, he looked just as downtrodden as he did now. All for One’s unease only grew.

Chapter Text

Several weeks passed by.

All for One kept up his vigilance while Izuku went to school, unleashed his fury on whatever unlucky villain that strayed too close, delivered them to the police, and returned to Kamiki once he confirmed the boy was safely back home. During this time he hadn’t seen a genuine smile on Izuku’s face, not even once. Not while he played— or rather— was pushed around by his peers; not while he ran after the loud brat, who was called ‘Kacchan’ by Izuku, a nickname too cute for a brat with the personality of a firecracker; and most certainly not while he headed home at the end of the day.

Every time he saw Izuku being pushed around, he reminded himself not to get involved. ‘Keep your distance, only step in when there’s a real threat to Izuku’s life. You are not needed.’

With every repetition he became less and less convinced.

On a day just like any other, a ruckus caught his attention during recess. All for One can’t stop his curiosity, and left his usual perch in a lush tree to take a look.

His breath stilled in his lungs when he saw Izuku bravely defend a fallen classmate, standing between him and three others, including Firecracker. The child he’s defending didn’t look grateful in the slightest, instead he angrily mumbled something All for One didn’t bother to hear, and ran away the first chance he got. Izuku was left behind to take the beating in his stead.

At that moment, All for One’s resolve shattered. A loud part of him screamed to obliterate those brats in an instant, but he quelled the urge. Izuku would be traumatized, and that wouldn’t do. No, he will take a different approach.

After ensuring his presence was still thoroughly hidden, All for One created a powerful gale, blowing Firecracker and the other two brats a few meters away, whilst making sure that Izuku remained unaffected. Every time Firecracker dared to approach Izuku with a murderous expression ill befitting his age, All for One blew him back again. And again. Until by the fifth time he looked more roughed up than Izuku did, and his two cronies convinced him to flee. The snarl didn’t hide the satisfying amount of fear on the brat’s face while he ran.

He’s petty enough to manipulate the earth into tripping them every so often, relishing in the way they hilariously flopped onto their faces, until they reached a couple of adults watching the whole ordeal from a safe distance. The brats were fussed over, while Izuku remained ignored.

With a multitude of quirks keeping him invisible, All for One approached the little hero, who looked around bewildered, and he let a comforting breeze ruffle his hair. Izuku looked behind him, straight through All for One, and then the bell ringed, signifying the end of recess. He picked himself up with a wince, and stumbled back indoors after his peers.

All for One didn’t move. Instead he glared at the school building, wishing he could have helped more, and loathed his inability to do anything else.

*

A foreboding feeling crept up on him while he waited for the school day to end. Every passing second he tried to listen for anything that would justify going inside to… intervene? To save Izuku? From what, he didn’t know. But the undeniable feeling he should be worried persisted no matter what.

The noises characteristic of children made it impossible to make out anything worth listening to, and though quirks are activated every now and then, often accompanied by a telltale pang of anger, from what he’d learned about this school, it was nothing unusual.

So he stayed where he is, and if he hadn’t broken the habit in the tender loving care of the Yakuza, he would have been biting his fingers. Then, like a blessing, the bells finally rang. All for One waited impatiently for all the brats to pass by so he can confirm that Izuku was alright, and return to the usual schedule.

He waited, and waited, and glared at Firecracker when he passed by, cleaned up and covered in band-aids— the brat shuddered and walks a little faster— and waited some more. Just when he was about to lose his patience and look for him, Izuku finally walked out the damned building.

Or rather, he limped out, wincing with every step, gingerly clutching at his middle with one hand, and struggling to carry his large backpack with the other. Before All for One can talk himself out of it, he deactivated Conceal, along with half a dozen other quirks, and walked out of the shadows hiding him.

It took no time at all for Izuku to see him, and Izuku— he smiled, “you’re back!”

The little hero made a move, perhaps to bound over, but hissed and doubled over in pain. “Careful now,” All for One said while dropping to his knees in front of him, “you’re injured.”

Izuku, precious and reckless in equal measure, replied with, “I’m fine.”

Had he ever heard a more blatant lie? All for One held his tongue about it, and instead reached out for Izuku’s backpack, “allow me to carry that for you.”

In contradiction to his claim that he was alright, Izuku gratefully handed it over, and breathed a bit easier now that the weight had been lifted off his back. All for One guided him out of the gate, and in the direction of his house. The same route he had practically committed muscle memory.

“I must say, I’m surprised you recognized me.”

This earned him a strange look. “Oh, you’re shorter now.”

About thirty centimeters, All for One had checked, however, “you only just noticed?”

Izuku had the decency to look sheepish beneath his grimace, “I was just so happy to see you again.”

“You did find me rather quickly.”

“I never stopped looking for you.”

That explains why he kept searching around every day, after school and just before going up to his apartment. He thought the boy had lost something important, and even kept an eye out for the hypothetical object himself. The dedication to stay hidden felt a bit comical now, if not pointless.

“My apologies for making you wait, then.”

“That’s okay!”

Izuku’s cheer was contagious, All for One can’t help but smile back.

As they walked towards his home, Izuku’s breathing grew troubled, and his limp increasingly obvious. All for One decided to guide him into a park halfway towards Izuku’s home, and they headed to the first decently shaded bench he saw. There weren’t many people around, so he felt a bit more safe in what he’s about to do.

With the little hero seated as comfortably as he could be, next to his comically large backpack, All for One knelt in front of him to properly inspect his injuries. Izuku’s legs were bruised, and his knees were scraped, his hands weren’t all that much better off, he seemed to have sprained his right wrist, the same arm he used to brace against his middle, and his ribs were probably bruised. 

He also saw abrasions on Izuku’s forearms that looked suspiciously much burns— defensive injuries.

Firecracker has a quirk that allows him to create explosions using his sweat.

All for One resisted the urge to scowl. This wasn’t the time to get angry, lest he risked scaring Izuku. The boy had suffered enough for today, and for a whole lifetime if he had any say in it.

He headed to a nearby drinking-fountain, and soaked a handkerchief— pushed onto his person by a certain old lady— before walking back to a restless Izuku. The boy was shifting around, clearly not sure how to sit without hurting himself even further. It had All for One pick up the pace to clean up his open wounds as fast as he could with what little he had on hand.

“I have the ability to heal injuries,” All for One said, once he’s done cleaning the dirt off of Izuku’s hands and knees, “would you mind if I used it on you?”

Izuku’s eyes sparkled while he nodded, a bit too quickly if the ensuing wince was an indication.

“Please sit still for a moment.”

There were several means at his disposal to heal another person, but there was one method he was most confident in. He directs his attention inwards, and spliced a fragment off of Regeneration, not nearly enough to be potent, there was no need to regrow libs or organs after all, no need to pressure the child’s system with a quirk too powerful for it to handle, just enough to heal his scrapes and bruises, and ward of infection.

The result was a quirk that only worked on it’s host, All for One had to give it to Izuku until it had done it’s job. Fortunately Izuku was quirkless, which should make the process a lot easier.

So he allowed his skin to revert back to it’s original state, swallowing his unease at the sight of the armor-like pitch black skin, and he carefully took hold of Izuku’s left hand to pass on the quirk as gently as he possibly could. He kept an eye out for any sight of discomfort, but all Izuku does is watch intrigued as his skin knits back together, and his bruises faded away.

“Does it hurt?”

“Not at all!” Izuku giggled, “it tingles.”

Itching was a normal symptom of healing, experience had taught him that much, all was progressing as it should. The last of the injuries were gone in no time, and Izuku was free to move around without any more pain. All for One reclaimed the quirk, which returned back to it’s source without complaint, and squashed the relief he felt at disguising his skin back into something more human looking again. 

He let go of Izuku’s hand to sit next to him. “Do you feel better now?” Izuku nodded enthusiastically, back to the chipper self he hadn’t seen for days, “I’m glad.”

A companionable quiet fell between them. Izuku was practically vibrating with energy, glancing his way every so often, like he’s about to say something, but changed his mind every time.

After the third time of this happening, All for One decided to break the silence, “what happened?”

Izuku was a smart child, and knew exactly what he was asking about. But he didn’t answer, keeping his eyes firmly planted on his unblemished knees.

Though he regretted ruining the mood, this wasn’t something he’s going to let go. All for One changed tactics, “do they always treat you this way?”

This time, Izuku responded quietly, “yes.”

Miss Yamaoka’s words echo trough his head; ‘society sees to it that we aren’t worth saving’. All for One knew the answer, but he still had to ask. “Why?”

“Because…” Izuku hesitated, his tiny hands clutched at his uniform while he glanced at him through the corner of his eyes. A glance so fearful, that All for One redoubled his efforts to look as patient as possible, to hide the rage threatening to break free from beneath his skin. Izuku’s voice grew steadily more quiet while he said, “because I’m quirkless, that— it means I’m useless… a Deku…”

Deep breaths, All for One told himself, deep breaths. Do not paint the walls of that twice forsaken school with the blood of it’s teachers and students. Do not sink the whole building into the ground. Do not.

“Is that what they always tell you?”

Izuku’s lower lips wobbled, “they’re not wrong… everyone says so.”

All for One took another deep breath, and watched a bird triumphantly pull a worm out of the earth. There’s no point in telling a person that’s convinced they’re right that they were wrong.

“If you met another boy your age,” All for One turned to Izuku, who looked baffled at the sudden change in subject, “who just so happens to be quirkless as well, would you tell that boy that he is useless too?”

Immediately, without a bit of hesitation, Izuku puffed up with righteous anger, “of course not!”

“Why not?”

“Because, because that’s mean, it’s not true, I would never—!”

Izuku grew quiet, and All for One tilted his head, “because it’s a cruel thing to say, right?”

In any other situation, the expression on Izuku’s face would have been comical. The little hero stared at him with wide eyes, trying to find something to say, but coming up empty every time.

“Everyone has a purpose, something only they can do, and that purpose is not one you are born with, but one you must eventually find for yourself.” The words came naturally, even if they hardly felt like his own. “No one is ever useless, not as long as they are still alive.”

Isn’t that what you tried to teach me, Yoichi? Will your message reach this one in time, unlike me?

Izuku, who bled justice the way one breathed oxygen, began to cry. It was accompanied by a heavy wail that waited for years to finally break free, there was little All for One can do, but allow him to let go.

He used the sleeve of his dress-shirt to dab at the overflowing tears of the child. Whether it’s relief, or despair, he can’t tell, can’t understand what this child must be feeling. All for One had lost the ability to cry a long time ago. But in a way, it’s like Izuku was crying for those that have been wronged, just like him.

After a while, Izuku’s sobs devolve into sniffles, and he murmured something vaguely resembling an apology. All for One waved it off, not sure what the apology was even meant for.

The day must have been exceptionally difficult, and surely the boy was exhausted because of it. He heard that children only grew more emotional when they’re tired. It hadn’t been his intention to tire Izuku even more. Perhaps he should try to cheer him up, even if just a little, before he brought him home. 

“How about this,” All for One paused, to make sure he had Izuku’s attention, “as an apology for making you wait, you may ask me three questions, and I shall answer them to the best of my ability.”

Izuku brightened up almost immediately, eager at the prospect of learning something new, and he sniffled, though it’s offset by his enthusiastic grin, “really?”

“Really.”

With the confirmation out of the way, Izuku adopted a pensive look, and muttered a few things All for One wasn’t even going to bother trying to decipher. The little hero was truly an inquisitive one, he made the right decision. Though this small victory made feel oddly apprehensive.

“Why are you called All for One?”

Oh.

Out of all the questions he expected to hear first, this one was the least expected. He must have looked as bemused as he felt, because Izuku hurried to elaborate, “I mean it’s a strange name— not that it’s bad or weird I just—”

“It’s alright” All for One cut him off before he could begin to ramble again, “that was a perfectly sensible thing to ask.”

Izuku sighed in relief.

But how to explain? “I used to be a villain, All for One is an alias I used for a long time… so long in fact, I can hardly remember what my real name used to be.”

It’s a truth that hadn’t fully occurred to him before he said it out loud. He can’t remember the name gifted to him by Yoichi. Yet another thing stolen from him by All for One.

He shook off the thought, and focused back on Izuku. The boy was staring at him with wide eyes.

“You used to be a villain?”

That must have been shocking to hear, perhaps he had been too blunt, though he had no intention of lying, especially not to Izuku. All for One nodded, “that is correct, but I was saved by a brave hero, and I have no intention of going back to that life.”

Izuku gaped at him, possibly trying to choose between gushing at the hero he mentioned and being upset at the casual admission. “I don’t believe it,” Izuku whispered, and then continues on more loudly, “but you’re so nice! How could you be a villain?!”

“Not so loud, someone may hear.”

Izuku’s mouth snapped shut, and he muttered a quick “sorry”.

All for One wasn’t entirely sure how to feel about being met with such disbelief. He settled on calling it relief.

“So, you really don’t remember your own name?” Izuku asked after a while.

“It’s meaning had something to do with ‘a long time ago’, I believe, but other than that…”

“That’s awful!” Izuku patted his knee, in what’s probably a gesture of compassion, “I hope you remember one day.”

“Thank you.” All for One said, hoping it didn’t sound too much like a question. This exchange wasn’t going the way he expected at all. “You may ask two more questions, if you wish.”

Selfishly, he hoped he won’t be asked why he became a villain. It was a long story, and he had no intention of telling the boy all of it.
Izuku took his time to think again, and then finally asked, “what’s your quirk?”

All for One blinked, the answers left him before he can stop himself, “it’s called All for One, the ability to take, use and give abilities to others.” That is— the shortest version possible. 

“That’s amazing—!” Izuku paused, “wait, you’re named after your quirk?”

“The other way around, actually.”

Izuku looked confused, but accepted it without fuss. Instead, unlike any other person with common sense, Izuku proceeded to gush over how amazing the ability apparently was. The compliments, and suggestions, didn’t really register. The idea of ‘All for One’ and ‘good’ in one sentence was a concept too bizarre.

He cut in, once again, on a lengthy rant on how he could use it to disable the quirks of ‘bad guys’, to tell the boy in no uncertain terms, “All for One is by large the reason I became a villain long ago.” Izuku went silent. “My ability is dangerous, and not much is understood about the true nature of what you call quirks, let alone what happens when you are given one, or lose one.”

Perhaps he should have just allowed the little hero to continue daydreaming, he had wanted to cheer him up after all. He’s probably too young to understand. Sensing that the mood was about to go south again, he quickly asked, “Do you like quirks that much?”

Thankfully this did the trick. Izuku fidgeted some more with the hem of his uniform, and with a small smile he nodded, “I love them, it’s fun to figure out what they can do.”

All for One hummed.

“I— I even write a lot,” Izuku fished a worn notebook out of his schoolbag, “look!”

The boy wasn’t joking, ‘a lot’ may even be an understatement. His handwriting was messy, probably normal for a seven year old, but his observations were nuanced and well thought out. 

“This is very impressive.” Izuku preened at the compliment, which motivated him to continue, “I have many quirks in my possession,” another understatement, “you may ask me about them, if you wish to, as long as you don’t write about them, and keep the answers a secret.”

“Really, can I really?” All for One nods, and Izuku made a noise a hairbreadth away from a  squeal, “thank you! I’ll write about them in my head, and let no one know, promise!”

“That is all I could ask for.”

It had taken an bit of a detour, but he was managing to cheer the boy up at last.

“I still have one question left, right?”

“You do.”

Izuku stopped grinning at his notebook, though his smile remained, albeit more toned down. For a moment, All for One wondered if he shouldn’t have allowed their little game to continue. The moment didn’t last.

“Do you think…” Izuku kept his eyes firmly planted on the weathered, bright red cover of his notebook. His hands trembled while he clutched it. “Can we… be friends?”

It took a while for that to sink in. “Friends?”

In lieu of an answer, Izuku nodded, still refusing to look his way. Which was for the better, All for One had no idea what type of expression he had at that moment. He had been fully prepared to explain why giving him a quirk wasn’t a wise idea. But this? Not this.

Though it wasn’t entirely unexpected. Despite always being around other children, Izuku always seemed lonely. Perhaps he was merely clinging to the first person to show him the slightest bit of kindness, and this was just a passing fancy. But regardless of whether it was or wasn’t, Izuku deserved a better person to call a friend, preferably one that didn’t have the blood of heroes and innocents alike on their hands.

That’s what his common sense was telling him. His heart however, was an entirely different matter. “I would be honored to, for as long as you will have me.”

As soon said that, the little hero whips towards him, and the brightest smile yet bloomed on his face.

*

They continued to chat about everything and nothing until the sun began to set, and there was no room left to argue that Izuku needed to go home.
Unlike the past few weeks, All for One walked besides Izuku, carrying his bulky schoolbag for him while the boy hummed a cheery tune. It had been like this since the moment they became ‘friends’.

Within the quiet confines of his mind he still wondered whether revealing himself had been wise, and doubted whether he should have allowed the boy to consider him a friend even more so. 

Should he allow himself to consider him the same? Is this even how people are supposed to make friends? If only Yoichi were here, he’d have known the answer.

“Hey All for One?” Izuku spoke up, and All for One realized with a start that they had already arrived at their destination. “Today was fun, can we play again tomorrow?”

He crouched down to hand over Izuku’s backpack, and nodded. “If that is what you want.”

“Then,” Izuku adjusted the new weight on his back and shuffled his feet, “I’ll see you again?”

Before he could reconsider it, he reached out and ruffled the little hero’s hair. A fond gesture, one that felt nostalgic, except that he had never done it before. Not as far as he can remember.

“It’s a promise.”

The reassurance was enough for Izuku, and with a blinding grin, he scurried back home. All for One waited long enough to hear him cheerily call out, ‘I’m home’, before he turned around to leave.

Regardless of whether his actions were right or not, tomorrow will still come, and though he would have never admitted it out loud, All for One looked forward to it.

Chapter Text

All for One waited by the now all too familiar school gate, hidden from view and keeping his senses sharp, as always, though he had yet to find anything unusual. With little else to do, he reminisced about the past few weeks.

It had been roughly a day— or two— after they became friends, that he was met with Izuku’s despondent demeanor at the end of a difficult school day. After a bit of prodding, he found out that the boy hadn’t been able to find him, and immediately assumed that All for One made an empty promise. After that ordeal, he made it his mission to ensure it wouldn’t happen again.

It had taken a lot of trial and error, messing around with synthesizing quirks and avoiding cluster headaches all the while, but he found a way to exclude Izuku from the effect of Conceal, allowing the boy to see him even when it’s activated. The effect was temporary, and Izuku needs to be within his line of sight for it to work, but the not-at-all-subtle smile it earned him every day since, made the effort worth it.

Izuku named the quirk ‘Exclusion’, and it was a minor comfort to know that he wasn’t the only one who struggled with naming things.

The ring of the school-bell shook him back into awareness. Izuku walked out right in the middle of the rest of the students, rather than far behind them like a ghost, another change that occurred after they became friends. All for One didn’t waste a moment to activate ‘Exclusion’. 

Barely a second after he’s seen, Izuku brightened up and waved his right hand, kept close to his body so the action wouldn’t be noticed by the people around him, lest they repeat a prior headache inducing incident with a nosy teacher. All for One waved back, duly noting that the little hero hadn’t gained any new injuries since this morning. Today had been peaceful, perhaps.

They walk out of the gate side by side, staying silent until their surroundings were clear, and no one will hear Izuku talk to nothing. But the silence continued on, even when his senses confirmed there wasn’t a single soul within hearing range. He glanced down at the boy, who appeared to be unusually solemn. Normally he would have begun to ramble the first chance he got about whichever topic came to mind. The silence was starting to become concerning.

When it became clear that Izuku had nothing to say, All for One broke the increasingly tense silence himself, “have you thought about where we shall go today?”

Another thing that had become a common activity, was exploring all sorts of places across Musutafu. Adventures, Izuku always called them, and his joy at seeing something new was wonderfully contagious. 

Izuku had been cautious with his requests at first, but after being reminded that All for One could easily take him wherever he wished to go, and had no issues with indulging every whim, he became much less shy about his ideas. This made the lack of response all the more out of place.

“Izuku?”

The boy jolted, “yes?!”

All for One frowned, but before he could ask, Izuku hurriedly said, “I did think about it, but… I got into trouble, for not paying attention, and stuff, so…”

“It is important to pay attention in class.” Though he can’t imagine someone as well behaved as Izuku causing that much trouble, nor that being lectured was the only reason why he’s upset. “Did they bother you again?”

“No— not really, they’re just, being weird.”

Which most likely alluded to the rumor spreading through the school. The students, and a few teachers, had somehow come to believe that Izuku was ‘haunted by a vengeful ghost’. The whole idea was deeply hilarious, and it certainly made his day when he first heard about it. But knowing Izuku’s inclination for sympathy, the little hero would likely be upset by it, so he hadn’t made any mention of it to him yet.

On the positive side, ever since Firecracker got menaced by a murder of crows, the attacks on Izuku had all but stopped. There had been no need to heal any injuries ever since.

“All for One?”

He quickly smothers the smile threatening to appear, “pardon me, I was reminded of something,” Izuku frowned in suspicion, but thankfully didn’t ask, so he continued like he hadn’t noticed, “to reiterate my previous question, what happened?”

“In class?” All for One nodded, and Izuku pursed his lips before answering, “I… um, grammar is kinda hard, so I couldn’t answer a problem right away, and the teacher got mad.”

He hummed thoughtfully, “I see, what kind of grammar do you speak of?”

“Japanese, we read books, and stuff, and then answer questions about words and sentences.”

That sounded… difficult indeed. But he was proficient enough in Japanese, at least. “May I see it? Perhaps I could help.”

The suggestion cheered Izuku up more than he expected. The boy dug a worn book out of his bag, and handed it over, grinning in anticipation. The title read; ‘A Simple Retelling of Musutafu’s Founding’. 

Plainly put, it sounded terribly boring. Even he, at Izuku’s age, wouldn’t have been too interested. Probably. He flipped through the pages, and confirmed without an inkling of doubt that the content managed to be even dryer than the title would suggest.

Izuku looked at him in a way he can’t place, bouncing lightly on his heels. “You speak well, I’m sure you can help lots!”

“Did you mean I’m eloquent?” Izuku stared blankly at him, “it means well spoken.”

“Oh, yeah that.”

“In any case, I understand why you struggle,” All for One opened the book somewhere in the middle to glance over it’s contents with a bit more care, “while it’s simple, and doesn’t use any elaborate kanji without furigana, it lacks… points of interest.”

“That means?”

“It’s boring.” Clearly this wasn’t what Izuku had hoped, or wanted, to hear. All for One coughs lightly before the boy had the chance to complain. “By which I meant to say, practicing grammar would be easier if what you’re reading is interesting— after all, learning is easier when you’re having fun.”

Izuku nodded with half his body in his characteristic enthusiasm, “right!”

“So I propose we should visit a library, and find something better than,” he raised the book, “this.”

Fortunately, Izuku liked the idea, and he practically glowed with delight, “I know one nearby, let’s go there!”

“Then it’s settled.” Whether this was what ‘friends’ usually do, he had no idea. But Izuku cheered up, and that was enough for him.

*

They made up a game at the library; first they decided on a theme and then they picked an appropriate book for the other to read. Simple yet entertaining. Izuku admitted that he would have chosen heroes as his first theme, so he gave the initiative to All for One. An act of generosity that hadn’t been asked for.

After much consideration, his choice was mythology. They headed to the children’s section first, where All for One noticed the tale of Momotaro, a book he fondly remembered Yoichi reading to him when they were young. Though he didn’t understand most of it at that time.

In return, Izuku chose the Iliad, simply because the elaborate cover design caught his eye. The book was a bit more worn than the others around it, clearly held by many hands, which intrigued him more than the chipping gold embellishments ever could. He accepted the choice nonetheless.
Purely by accident, the theme ended up being heroes after all, even if indirectly.

They had gotten a few odd looks during their visit, but All for One paid them no mind. He had made the active decision to leave Conceal deactivated, to prevent anyone from being worried about a seven year old wandering through the library unsupervised. It was also easier on Izuku, being able to talk without to him concern. Izuku’s happiness made everything worth it.

Though in hindsight, he should have payed more attention to the ones watching.

*

The next morning, when All for One joined Izuku nearby his apartment, he immediately noticed the boy looked guilty about something. 

Izuku greeted him sullenly, a bare whisper compared to his usual ardor, dragging his feet, and keeping his eyes pointed to the pavement all the while. All for One somehow felt like he had done something wrong, though he can’t figure out what.

The uncomfortable silence continued until they’re almost halfway to Izuku’s school. The boy slowed down until he finally stopped walking, and he blurted out in a strained voice, “I’m really sorry!”

All for One was utterly dumbfounded. “Whatever for, are you in trouble?”

Izuku shook his head. He saw the boy’s shoulders tremble, and upon noticing the first few tears roll down his cheeks, All for One quickly knelt to find what was wrong. Izuku wasn’t injured as far as he can tell, but— 

“I told mom about you!” Izuku squeezed out before he can worry more. At least, that’s what he can make of it, the heaving sobs made it hard to discern. Izuku rambled on, “mom said some— some neighbors saw me at the library with a stranger, and, and asked if it was the reason I keep getting home so late— and don’t play with Kacchan anymore…”

The rest was impossible to understand, but All for One heard enough to understand what happened. The boy’s mother found out he hadn’t been following Firecracker’s clique around any longer, despite the fact that he continued coming home close to curfew. The sighting at the library must have been the final straw. When the mother asked about Izuku’s new ‘companion’, the boy had been unable to lie. 

All things considered, All for One was glad he had the foresight to assume a younger form, otherwise the situation could have been a lot more dire.

However, he wasn’t upset about this, not in the slightest. It was in fact quite the relief to hear. Izuku’s mother clearly cared enough about her son to pay attention to details, and ask questions wherever necessary. Still, Izuku may be in trouble, so he asked, “what happened after you told her?”

“Huh?” Izuku blinked blearily, stunned enough to stop crying, “you’re not angry?”
“Why would I be?”

“Because,” a sniffle, “I told mom about you,” another sniffle, “I promised not to…”

When did he…? Then it dawned on him; their first meeting, All for One made Izuku promise not to tell anyone about him, out of fear that his name would be recognized. ‘All for One’ was the only name Izuku knew him by, so naturally it must have been the name he mentioned to his mother.

An inexplicable fondness washed over him and he made sure to smile as reassuringly as he could, “it’s okay, I didn’t expect you to lie to your mother about it.” Not when the boy trusted her so much.

He handed Izuku a handkerchief, something he had taken to always having on hand. The little hero cleaned his face, blew his nose, and once he had calmed down, he muttered, “mom wants to meet you.”

“Is that so,” he let Izuku drop the handkerchief into a portal, to be washed later, “in that case, you may tell her that I can visit tomorrow, if she doesn’t mind.” 

It’s better not to drop in unannounced, and give her even more reason to panic.

Izuku looked much better now, and with clearer view of his face, All for One can tell that the boy likely hadn’t slept much last night. It’s a mystery to him why such a minor thing had upset the boy as much as it did. Like many things he had learned over the weeks, he placed it on the growing list of things he didn’t understand.

“Is it really alright?” Izuku asked meekly, in a tone that All for One found himself not liking in the slightest.

“Of course.”

The final affirmation, made leaving no room for doubt, was enough to settle the worst of Izuku’s concern. It was a great relief to see Izuku’s smile again, even if it were shaky. 

“I’ll tell mom.”

The urge to ruffle Izuku’s hair reared it’s head again, but this time he quashes it mercilessly. “Thank you. Now, let’s get you to school, before those teachers of yours gain even more excuses to hassle you.”

Time flew by, and Izuku went home right after school, though he insisted on taking detours every time the opportunity arose. All for One listened to Izuku telling him about his experience reading Momotaro, which was indeed easier than the school-issued ‘History for Children’— or something along those lines, he already forgot what it was about— and how it’s actually a modern retelling based on the old tale. His mother had told him that, apparently.

They reached Izuku’s apartment without incident, and he waited for the boy to leave his sight before returning to Kamiki, much earlier than usual this time. He should make use of this opportunity to begin reading the Iliad in earnest. Perhaps this time, it will actually start making sense.

*

All for One ended up spending the remainder of the previous day, that wasn’t spend on deciphering ancient Greek poetry, thinking of contingency plans should Izuku’s mother disagree with his presence. He had no intention of potentially becoming a wedge in the otherwise perfectly fine bond between mother and son. If he must return to guarding the little hero from a distance, then so be it. Though the idea felt disconcerting, for reasons still unknown.

After picking Izuku up, and marveling at the way his discomfort disappeared, All for One was told that the boy’s mother was fine with his visit. Thus once the unremarkable school day was over, he accompanied Izuku up the narrow stairway of the apartment building,  instead of parting ways. 

Izuku had grabbed his arm somewhere along the way, the grip wasn’t even remotely strong, but the boy’s knuckles grew white with the strain. Trying to figure out what Izuku was thinking was impossible, the blend of nerves and excitement obscured his senses. Children were always hard to read, he reminded himself, and urged the unbidden empathy quirk to go back to sleep.

Izuku stopped walking, casually reached out to open a door, and All for One quickly reminded him to ring the doorbell before he simply barged inside with him in tow. Izuku sheepishly did as asked, muttering an apology, and the doorbell rang with a cheery tune that somehow managed to settle nerves he didn’t know he had.

The door was answered by a woman similar to Izuku, who he recognized as the same person he had seen that fateful first day in the past. She greeted her son first, with warmth in every word and gesture, and then looked his way. Her eyes stuttered at his middle, before slowly trailing upwards until she finally met his own. Though he’s still in ‘disguise’, he’s still significantly taller than Izuku, the reaction was to be expected. 

He smiled politely— ignoring the way her eyes grew wide— and bowed down the waist, “my name is All for One,” he straightened up again, “I believe Izuku mentioned I would be visiting today.”

“I did!” Izuku piped up from between them, sounding a bit affronted, like he had been accused of something.

“You did,” Izuku’s mother assured him once she regained her bearings, “I’m Midoriya Inko, it’s… nice to meet you,” she gestured inside, “please, come in.”

He nodded. “Pardon me for intruding.”

It shouldn’t have come as a surprise, but the Midoriya’s apartment was modest and homely. There were many pictures on the walls, none showing any sign of a father, even though there were plenty of Izuku and his mother. Two well worn couches stood in the living room, along with a coffee-table and a television, the kitchen and dining table were on the opposite end of the room, and straight ahead was a hallway likely leading to the bath and bedrooms. It felt cramped, but in a comforting fashion.

All for One lingered between the living and dining area, without a single clue as to what was expected of him next.

“Would you like to stay for dinner?” Miss Midoriya asked, kindly, yet still somewhat tense.

“I do not wish to impose—”

“Stay, pretty please?” Izuku cut him off, “mom is a very good cook, I bet dinner will be great!”

He stared at the toothy smile on the little hero’s face, and Izuku boldly stared back, no longer cowed by All for One’s presence as most were, going as far as to lean forward in anticipation. With such a sound argument, there was hardly a reason to refuse.

“I may as well,” Izuku cheered before the words had properly left his mouth, “if it truly isn’t a bother, miss Midoriya?”

She looked surprised, taking a few moments longer than necessary to reply, “of course, I wouldn’t have offered if it was.”

Izuku glanced back and forth between them, like the cat who got the canary, or the little boy halfway through fulfilling an ulterior motive. Then he puffed up, and declared to All for One, “I wanna show you my notebooks! Be back soon!” And with that, he scurried off to the bedroom on the left, granting him a glimpse of a room decorated in primary colors, but mostly lot of yellow.

Miss Midoriya laughed into her hand, seemingly none the wiser, and headed to the kitchen. With nothing better to do, All for One followed her. She’s in the middle of grabbing a large frying pan when she noticed him. 

He decided to ask, “is there anything I can help with?”

“But you’re our guest,” she said, oddly flustered, “it wouldn’t be proper, you can wait in the living room for Izuku, I’m sure he’ll be back soon.”

Unlikely, the little hero left the door slightly open, clearly with the intention to eavesdrop. “I hope I’m not being rude, but I’d rather not be twiddling my thumbs until then.”

It was an odd relief to hear miss Midoriya’s startled laugh, “well, alright then,” she put oil and butter into the pan and hesitantly handed it over, “could you put this on the fire, and tell me when the butter has melted?”

All for One nodded and began his simple task. “I was also under the assumption you wanted to talk to me.”

Miss Midoriya stilled midway to grabbing a knife. Her hands trembled when she placed it onto a cutting board, and she slowly turned her head towards him. The previous warmth is replaced by something wary, or perhaps she merely stopped acting like a proper host. “Who are you really?”

He expected that question, it surprised him more that she hadn’t asked the moment Izuku left her sight. “I am All for One,” he began, watching miss Midoriya’s eyebrows furrow, “I used to be a villain, it was an alias I used at that time.”

She gasped, “what…?”

“Of course, I have no intention of returning to that life.”

“Then why continue using that name?”

Why indeed? “It’s all I have,” he paused for a moment, “I cannot properly remember what my name used to be, it’s been too long.”

Miss Midoriya stayed quiet, and perhaps to still her nerves, she picked up the knife and started to dice a carrot, and then the next. The butter slowly began to melt. 

“If you wanted to do harm, I’m sure you would have done it already.”

All for One froze, not sure what she was trying to say, and even less sure what to say himself. Looking at her expression didn’t reveal much, her brows were still furrowed and her lips were pressed thin. He pointedly refused to activate the empathy quirk making itself known once again. It would only serve to distract.

She looked back at him, and her posture eased into something less tense. She lowered the knife once again and motioned to him to trade places, like a show of trust he didn’t understand. Yet, he didn’t argue, and began to diligently cut the unions laid out in front of him.

“Izuku is usually a very quiet and cautious child, so much so that I worry.” Quiet? Cautious? If there were any two words in existence that he would never use to describe that boy, those would have been it. His disbelief must be clearly visible, because miss Midoriya smiled wryly and continued, “I never really had to tell him to stay away from strangers, he figured that out all on his own, he’s such a smart boy, and pretty good at judging character too, that’s why…”

By now there was little left for him to dice, but he refused to interrupt her.

“Before he was diagnosed as quirkless, he used to be such an bright eyed child, always running around with a smile, the house was filled with laughter,” she took a deep breath, “I thought that child was gone, that there was nothing I could do to bring him back.” All for One didn’t dare to breathe when she looked his way, tearful yet refusing to cry, “but you did, he’s smiling and laughing again, ever since he became friends with you.”

“Miss Midoriya…”

“That’s why I want to give you a chance, up to now you’ve made him happier than he’s ever been.” 

It would seem that the Midoriya have the tendency to catch him off guard. Something in his chest throbbed painfully while she speaks, but his hands remained steady, his composure unmoved. A fine orange powder joins the vegetables and meat in the frying pan, and a spicy smell begins to fill the air. Curry, his mind supplies. 

“What kind of parent does that make me, I wonder?”

There it was again, that stab of pain. The tremble in her voice sounded familiar, like he had heard it before. But it didn’t matter. By all means, he didn’t have to say anything, all that mattered is his purpose, the feelings of miss Midoriya should be of no concern to him. And yet, he felt compelled to speak.

“In all the time that I’ve known him, Izuku has never complained about you, it’s clear that he still loves you in the honest way only children can, that alone is reason enough to believe that you did something right.” From the corner of his eyes he saw her break down and begin to sob into her arm. “Perhaps I have no right to say this, but if you feel regret or concern, it proves that you care. I am certain that you are a wonderful parent, Midoriya Inko.”

After all, this person can still overcome her past mistakes. She hadn’t passed that point of no return yet, and hopefully she never will.

Later, when All for One finished tea to give miss Midoriya the chance to regain her composure, and the table was nearly set, Izuku finally emerges from his room, just in time for dinner. His eyes were suspiciously red, and there was a small stack of notebooks cradled in his arms, all of them equally worn.

“I found them!” Izuku said with a bright toothy grin.

Inko emerged from the kitchen balancing three plates, all neatly filled with half curry and half white rice. All for One quickly caught a plate before it could fall, to which she smiles and utters an apology. Then to Izuku she said, “you can show him later, but first we eat. Slowly.”

The boy nodded sheepishly at the last word, and scurried off to place his notebooks on the living room table.

“You know him all too well.”

Inko laughed, “well, after all this time, I sure hope so.”

Dinner was surprisingly lively. He had expected some tension, but mother and son chatted merrily about the past week. Neither show even the slightest sign of sorrow, despite how both of them must have seen the evidence on the other’s face. All for One wasn’t sure whether he felt admiration for their tenacity, or concern for the reason it existed.

He took a bite of his food, and the curry seared his throat the way Fire Breath tended to, but without the resistance to burns. Though there was no sign of Regeneration, so the sensation was surely just in his imagination. He took another bite, glancing Izuku’s way every so often.

The boy’s plate was already half empty, Izuku had gulped down his food like it’s the best thing he ever had. Still, it doesn’t take long for Izuku to notice he was being stared at. He swallowed another mouthful— without flinching— and asked, “so, what do you think?”

All for One smiled, “it’s wonderful, your mother is indeed a great cook.”

Izuku nods sagely. “She’s the best.”

“Boys…!” Inko blurted out, her face bright red, she recollected herself and took a calming gulp of tea, “you’re exaggerating.”

He looked back at his plate, past the appetizing colors, and wondered whether the vegetables were meant to be diced this finely, or whether eating it was meant to be this painful, but didn’t find the answer. He continued eating regardless.

After a moment of companionable silence, broken only by Izuku’s barely muffled snickers, the boy perked up and motioned towards All for One with his chopsticks. “Oh, hey— maybe mom can help with figuring out your name.”

The suggestion wasn’t entirely out of nowhere. Izuku mentioned once that miss Midoriya works as a nurse. She knew many names, and their meanings. He remembered keenly that the ill and the injured loved to talk about the most benign things just to distract themselves from reality. Yoichi used to be the same. Miss Midoriya too, must have heard many stories about whatever came to her patients minds.

Miss Midoriya looked at him oddly, he couldn’t quite place the expression on her face, but recognized it as the same from when she had first seen him. “Your name? I think you mentioned something about that…”

Izuku answered, “yeah, he’s been using his nickname for so long, he can’t remember his real name anymore, right?”

“That is correct.” There was no point in denying it, though he hadn’t spend any time whatsoever trying to remember it himself, too afraid he’d get lost in his memories without the will to find a way back out. “I do know that the kanji it was written in was simple,” Yoichi was barely in his teens when he named him after all, “and it’s meaning had something to do with ‘a long time ago’.”

The moment he finished his bare description, miss Midoriya nearly dropped the tea she’d been holding, and in perhaps the most anticlimactic moment in his entire life, she muttered, “like— Hisashi?”

The air was knocked out of his lungs with a strangled sound. Hisashi. A name he had heard countless of times as a child. His most treasured gift. Hearing it again felt like he never actually forgot; it’s comforting and familiar, and yet it left him feeling slightly numb.

“How did you know?”

Izuku’s shocked gasp flew over his head. His eyes remain squarely on miss Midoriya, who looked just as shocked as Izuku sounded. Both her hands flew up to cover her mouth, like she said something she shouldn’t have. 

With a tremor in her voice she said, “my husband, he had the same name— that’s, I— I recognized the meaning, it just fit.”

“Dad’s name is also Hisashi?” All for One heard Izuku ask, and miss Midoriya answered with something, but the revelation that he shared a name with the absent father was of no concern. Hisashi was a relatively common name, he would have inevitably encountered it one way or the other. But hearing it in this context, was something different.

“Hisashi…” All for One whispered the name under his breath, just to find out what it felt like, and all it did is confirm the obvious. It really was his name. But how had he ever forgotten? Can he really go back to using it after all this time? Did he want to risk tarnishing something better left untouched? Or risk being reminded of something he’d rather not think about? 

He’d really rather not. Yet, the name was far too precious and useful to ignore.

All for One finally looked up from his musings, only to startle at the two concerned faces looking his way. Unwilling to give them any more reason to worry, he said, “Continuing to call me All for One is public is far too risky,” he paused to gage their reaction, “perhaps it would be wise, to use the name Hisashi from now on, at least in the presence of others.”

After a moment, Izuku asked carefully, “are you really okay with that?”

It looked like the little hero was more observant than he had given him credit for. This only made him more glad that he decided to be honest with him from the start.

“Your safety is more important than my pointless doubts.” Seeing that Izuku wasn’t convinced, he added, “the more time we spend together, the higher the chance you might call out to me when someone else may overhear, I would have had to think of something anyhow, using my true name is for the better.”

Just who was he actually trying to convince with that argument?

He saw miss Midoriya nod from the corner of his eye, “it might be safer, even if you… retired, from being a villain, they may still be looking for you.”

“If you’re sure…”

“Very sure.” All for One answered, and to his surprise, it was completely honest.

“Then it’s good!” Izuku grinned, “nice to meet you, Hisashi!”

“Likewise, Izuku.”

Before he knew it, it had gone dark outside. Izuku made well on his promise, showing him every notebook he had, each filled to the brim with notes and scribbles about quirks and heroes, some more legible than others. The first was practically impossible to read, but he had nodded along regardless while Izuku regaled him about the contents.

Izuku had fallen asleep a few minutes ago, exhausted from all the excitement. Miss Midoriya joined them in the living room to cover the boy in a soft blanket. 

“I’ll wake him up when it’s time to go to bed.” She said to him with a soft smile.

All for One nodded, and quietly rose to his feet, unwilling to disturb the slumbering little hero. “I’d best make my leave then.”

Once he had put on his shoes he turned around, first to check on Izuku, who hadn’t budged, and then to look towards the boy’s mother, who lingered a meter or so away. He inclined his head respectfully, “thank you for your hospitality, miss Midoriya.”

She wrung her hands, and looked oddly flustered when he straightened up again, “it was nothing, really.”

People weren’t very used to formality in this age, it seemed. He accepted the dismissal for what it is, and left. Or he would have, if miss Midoriya hadn’t stopped him from closing the door. 

“Wait!” she startled at her own volume, and quickly checked whether Izuku had stirred, “I— feel free, to visit again whenever you’d like.” 

Was she truly inviting a former villain back into her house? 

As if she read his mind, she began to say in a rush, “It’s been a while since Izuku has had friends over and you were good company…” Only to look embarrassed and continue more slowly, “you aren’t a bad person, Izuku and I would like it if you visited again.”

“I’m glad,” he smiled, “as long as the both of you are willing to have me, I’d be happy to visit again.”

After bidding her a good night, he left the building on foot, the same way he came. He soundlessly repeated the name Hisashi over and over. A giddy warmth trapped in his chest, beneath many layers of caution, slowly breaking free.

He wouldn’t mind visiting again either.

Chapter Text

As the following days passed by, All for One remained vigilant for any sign that he wasn’t actually welcome whenever he visited Izuku and miss Midoriya, despite the reassurance that he most certainly was. The idea of inconveniencing the small household was still one that nearly made him ill to think about. For reasons he still isn’t all too sure about.

His concerns proved to be unwarranted however, and his weariness dwindled into nonexistence under their hospitality. In no time at all, the Midoriya apartment became more familiar than the house back in Kamiki. It was a feeling he found himself not minding in the slightest.

Soon enough, spring gave way to summer, and both the village and the city grew increasingly more lively, in every sense of the word. The change in season was impossible to miss.

Today was a day like the one that came before it. The weather was warm and sunny. The most hard-boiled villains had fled Musutafu and it’s surroundings, there had been no reason to fight in a while, so truly, by all means, all was well. Yet, Izuku’s peers were peskier than usual, especially Firecracker. Though it wasn’t anything a minor ‘intervention’ couldn’t solve. Izuku himself though, wasn’t at all bothered by those brats, staying as happy and bright as the cloudless sky.

All for One greeted Izuku by the school gate, in plain view this time, as per his agreement with Miss Midoriya— who claimed that remaining out of sight would only serve to make him more suspicious— and ignoring the stares of strangers all the while. There was no obvious malice or suspicion among them, except for Firecracker, who didn’t count.

He took the little hero’s schoolbag and they walked off in the direction the boy chose. Izuku hummed a cheery tune from besides him, with a skip in every other step he made. He was about to ask if something good had happened, when Izuku asked, “can we go home right away? I wanna show you something mom got me.”

“I see no reason why not.” All for One answered right away.

Izuku gave a short cheer, and then returned to his increasingly catchy song. All for One was certain, by the end of the day the song will still be echoing through his head. It’ll serve as a nice change of pace from the screeching sounds of summer at least. For now, he settled for enjoying the good mood, and Izuku’s recount of the latest hero fight on the news.

When they arrived at the Midoriya apartment, All for One barely got the chance to properly take of his shoes and greet miss Midoriya, before Izuku latched onto his lower arm and dragged him towards the boy’s room. Or at least, he tried to, but All for One noticed what Izuku was attempting and played along, walking slowly to prevent being the one who dragged the boy instead. It seemed the world enjoyed reminding him of how tiny this younger Izuku was.

All for One stumbled the moment he got his first good look at the little hero’s room. It was very yellow indeed, the yellow of All Might’s hair, who was found everywhere the eye could look. Posters decorated the walls, countless of figurines and other miscellaneous objects filled up the shelves, and even the bedsheets resembled the hero’s costume.

It wasn’t a secret that Izuku adored the current number one hero, but this was on another level.

Most importantly though, which hadn’t caught his attention whenever the hero appeared on the news, was that All Might’s face resembled the work of an apprentice sculptor, strained and blatantly fake, with prominent features casting deep shadows over his eyes, hiding them from view. If All for One hadn’t seen all the things he did, than it surely would have featured prominently in his nightmares. And this face was all over the room, staring at him from every direction.

“How do you sleep at night?”

“All Might watches over my dreams,” Izuku answered solemnly.

“He is watching all right.” From every corner and wall of the room, leaving no place to hide.

The little hero looked at him somewhat incredulously, but then shook his head and tugged at the arm still in his hold. Since it was nothing short of pathetic to be intimidated by a bunch of merchandise, when he had seen so much worse, All for One shook off his apprehension like an unwanted coat, and allowed himself to be dragged inside. Though his body continued to betray him by refusing to relax.

Izuku let go and scampered over to his desk, and All for One glanced uneasily at the nearest poster. ‘Was All Might’s personality half as deep as the shadows on his face?’ He wondered.

“Aha!” Izuku exclaimed triumphantly, successfully diverting his attention. The boy was holding another figurine of All Might— an action figure, a voice corrected in his mind— visibly newer than the other ones, and clearly of much greater quality. “Look! Mom got me this as an early birthday gift!”

All for One knelt to do as Izuku requested. The boy’s boundless enthusiasm rubbed off on him, though only a little. When Izuku unceremoniously handed the articulate piece of plastic over to him, he couldn’t help but hold it like it was the most precious thing in the world. Which to Izuku, at this moment, it may as well have been.

“That’s wonderful.” And just to humor the boy further, he turned the action figure around like he’s inspecting it, before handing it back to it’s rightful owner. Then the latter part of what the boy just said dawns on him, “an early birthday gift?”

“Yeah,” Izuku fiddled with the figure’s arm, “mom has to work on my birthday, and felt bad, so…”

She got him something extra special, and extra expensive. The thing must have cost more than half the room put together, at the very least. Miss Inko had probably saved up for it, and since nothing else in the house suggested a high income, it’s unlikely to be a mere consolation gift.

“That’s very kind of her.” He said gently.

Izuku cheered up again, and nodded. He then placed the figure back on his desk, with all the necessary reverence, and proceeded to point out a few other things in his room to tell him about. The boy’s enthusiasm entertained him enough to help distract from All Might’s void-like gaze boring into his back, though he never truly forgot about it.

Once the impromptu tour of Izuku’s room was done, miss Midoriya passed by to remind Izuku that he still had homework to complete. But not without reminding All for One he wasn’t allowed to help. Which was all the better, for he couldn’t even figure out what this ‘life study’ subject was even meant to be. At least the boy wouldn’t have to work on it for too long; according to miss Midoriya, grade-schoolers did not get a lot of homework yet. The fact that he didn’t know this also confused her, but All for One had no intention of clarifying anything, and the subject was dropped pretty quickly as a result.

His thoughts did not linger on that for long however. He was too preoccupied by the most recent new thing he just learned. Izuku’s birthday was coming soon, and a glance at the family calender revealed ‘soon’ to be two days away.

Birthdays, he knew what they were, in theory, but he hadn’t celebrated any of those since his early teens. At that time he didn’t know why everyone around him suddenly became so festive, joyfully showering Yoichi with extra attention and gifts. The fugitives they were traveling with would have given the clothes off their backs, and every scrap off their plates, if it meant that they could have the pretense of normality for even just a day. Every time, which had been only three times, his brother had shared some of the gifts, especially the edible ones, telling him happy birthday as well. That, even in hindsight, he still didn’t understand.

It’s a fond yet bittersweet memory, one that filled him with the desire to give Izuku something memorable himself. The first idea to come to mind was something All Might related, as the boy obviously loved the hero to death. But the idea of adding to that nightmare of a room didn’t sit well with him. Never mind how the choice was perhaps too obvious to be a surprise. No, he needed something more original.

At that moment a terribly familiar feeling made itself known, and with it came an entirely unbidden idea; give the boy a quirk. Izuku wanted to be a hero more than anything, and having an ability of his own would make it all so much easier. Would it not?

As soon as the thought emerged, he’s hit with a wave of nausea, like he had just consumed a piece of rotten meat. 

No, no he would never curse Izuku, like he had done to so many others. He won’t allow it. Not now. Not ever.

“Hisashi?” Someone said from nearby.

He startled. Miss Midoriya. Of course, she had taken to calling him by his real name much better than his alias. Hearing it again helped him focus. He lowered the hand he didn’t know he raised to cover his mouth, and did his best to smile. 

“My apologies, were you saying something?”

The troubled look on her face didn’t budge for another long moment, until it finally eased. Only then did he notice the piece of paper she was holding. Miss Midoriya smiled back at him, and hesitantly asked, “could you… watch Izuku for a bit? I need to get a few ingredients I forgot to buy.”

Another thing he noticed was the heavy set in her shoulders, and the shadows beneath her eyes. It created an almost sallow appearance. The type seen on people who carried too much responsibility on their shoulders, and were beginning to buckle beneath the weight. 

All for One spoke before he can think twice about it, “I could go in your stead, if you don’t mind?”

Miss Midoriya blinked owlishly. “That’s… are you sure? I don’t want to be a bother.”

Like mother, like son. The more time he spend around the two of them, the more he noticed their resemblances. His smile grew a bit more genuine. “Of course, I wouldn’t have offered otherwise.”

It’s only after he spoke, that he noticed his response was a nearly direct quote of what miss Midoriya had told him during his first visit. And from the looks of it, miss Midoriya noticed it too. She laughed, a sound as pleasing to hear as Izuku’s, and quickly headed to the kitchen to write something in the margins of her list. When she was done she handed it to him, still somewhat hesitantly, with a notable tremor in her hands.

“Here, I hope you can read it...”

All for One took the offered list, containing only two items; onions and panko, with notes in the margins indicating the amount needed. “Don’t worry, Miss Midoriya, you don’t have doctor’s handwriting.”

This got another laugh out of her. “Well, that’s a relief, thank you.”

He neatly folded the paper and placed it in his pocket for safekeeping. Just before leaving, without turning around, he quietly said one last thing, “please, make sure to get some rest, Izuku has been worried about you.”

It took a bit before she replied, with an odd waver in her voice that was definitely not laughter, “I will… Thank you.”

*

Halfway into the city, All for One stopped in his tracks, caught off guard by a terrible realization; he had no idea where the store is. Of course, he’s well aware there were several in Musutafu, he passed by a few along with Izuku during their many adventures, but he never paid them much mind. A habit he found himself regretting.

Everything is clearer in hindsight. Right.

He stepped out of the way before one of the many pedestrians walked into him. This one in particular was paying attention to nothing but his phone, like many others. A habit even Izuku exhibited from time to time, albeit with much bigger screen.

The pedestrians… now that could work. He scanned the crowd for someone remotely present and available. Most appeared busy, but on a bench nearby was a lady reading a newspaper. One of the headlines read; ‘A Sudden Drop in Criminality…’, the rest was obscured by her hand. It seemed important somehow, but he shrugged off the arising curiosity, as long as he could protect Izuku, the state of the country was none of his concern. He made his way over, dodging a few more people, and stopped a respectable meter away.

“Pardon me, Ma’am,” the lady startled, and her wide eyes— containing the ability to see through any kind of light— grew even wider when she looked his way, “would you mind telling me where the nearest supermarket is?”

The newspaper nearly fell from her hands while she gaped up at him, but she caught it just on time, “ah— um, it’s, I think it’s down the street, and to the left, it, uh— it’s hard to miss from there, I think.”

All for One bowed his head, and said, “thank you kindly.” Before he triumphantly went on his way.

His first teacher, mister Shimura, was right; being polite really did give you the best results. He should pass that wisdom on to Izuku as well, if it proved necessary at all.

The helpful lady was correct, the store is indeed hard to miss, with it’s colorful signs beaconing potential costumers. ‘Seven-eleven’, one of them said, whatever that meant. But it should suffice, the two ingredients on the list weren’t too unusual. If he found them quickly he could even take a minor detour on the way back, and search for that befuddling birthday present.

He had seen a stationary store on the way. Izuku liked to write, a lot, perhaps a nice mechanical pencil could prove suitable. Or a notebook? Or both?

Just as he was about to enter the ‘Seven-eleven’, with his thoughts still occupied by his ever growing and shrinking list of gifts, he was rudely interrupted by someone throwing his arm over his shoulders, and the difference in hight forced him to bend over slightly. Something round and metallic was pressed against his jugular, pointing upwards towards his head. 

A gun. Someone was holding a gun to his head.

“Don’t move! Or this guy gets it!” A male voice yelled just behind him, belonging to his assailant.

All for One heard two other voices call out from nearby, something along the lines of ‘good thinking’, but he couldn’t be bothered to listen, too busy keeping a myriad of quirks from decimating his assailant on the spot. Normally he would have taken these fools out in an instant, but there were too many witnesses to make a clean escape afterwards. No matter what action he took in self-defense, it would serve to make him stand out to the heroes. He had to stay calm.

Speaking of heroes; two arrived on the scene, hard to miss with their fancy costumes and dramatic behavior. There was a brief sense of hope that the situation would be dealt with, and he could go on his way, but it was swiftly dashed. One hero, with the ability to create blades of wind, stepped forward with the clear intention to attack. 

“I said don’t move! I’ll blow his head right off!” His captor yelled again, digging the gun into All for One’s jaw to emphasize the threat.

The hero stopped, and took a slow step back, going as far as to raise his hands in that universal sign of ‘I mean no harm’. Some more yelling he couldn’t be bothered with occurred, and in a few moments it dawned on him that they had reached an impasse. The heroes were unwilling to let the villains go, while also being unwilling to let the hostage get shot, and the villains were unwilling to surrender, but couldn’t actually escape.

One of the goons, probably a companion to his captor, with a minor mutation quirk that turned his hands into claws, started a fight with the hero and the situation dissolved into chaos. All for One considered taking his chance to simply disintegrate his captor, who had no means besides the gun to defend himself— his ability only changed the color of his skin to match the environment— and use the commotion to make a swift escape.

Was anyone even looking his way at the moment? He glanced around as much as he could without moving, and the answer was a resounding Yes. Several people were looking at him, including several in a police uniform. Even the hero with the wind-blade quirk threw a glance his way every chance he got.

There goes that plan. Yet, he didn’t prefer getting shot either, bullet wounds were just the worst, especially to the head. From this proximity and angle it would likely take him a month to fully recover, and with Izuku’s birthday just around the corner, he couldn’t afford the risk.

But at the same time, no one was doing anything useful. Thus, already bored with this nonsense, All for One asked his captor, “do you, by any chance, know a birthday present for a soon to be eight year old?”

His captor took exception to that and stabbed at him with the barrel of the gun. “Shaddap pretty boy!” he spitted out, and then grumbled, “can’t at least act scared, for fucks sake.”

Rude. Maybe he should just fight back after all. At the thought, an unnecessary strength enhancing quirk eagerly rose to the surface, and his hand flexed in anticipation. But he never got the chance to act.

“Have no fear!” A loud voice pierced through the cacophony, “for I am here!”

All for One had exactly half a second to brace himself before a gust of wind blasted his captor and him off their feet, and in the next half a muscular arm grabbed him by the middle and gently placed him down across the street and away from the fight. He caught a glimpse of bright colors before the hero flitted off again to engage the remaining villains. His captor was left knocked out on the ground a few meters away from him, until a few officers restrained and apprehended him.

Served the fool right.

What puzzled him however, was how his quirk went completely silent the moment the loud hero arrived, without a single echo of disappointment at missing out on being let loose. Only the quirk maintaining his disguise remained active, but in such a subtle way that it almost feels like it was trying to hide. He mentally nudged his quirk a few times, even tried to glance inward to see what happened, but before he can he’s interrupted by a few officers asking whether he was injured or not. One, wearing a different uniform, even offers a blanket, despite it being the middle of summer, which he politely refused.

“No thank you, I’m not cold.”

The oddly dressed officer frowned lightly, but quickly forced his expression back into something amiable. “Oh no sir, this isn’t for the cold— but I can see you’re fine.”

They asked a few more questions after that, which he answered with complete honesty— omitting the part that he was about the break the arms of his assailant— and he was left alone for the most part.

He didn’t get the chance to quietly depart from the scene either. He heard heavy footsteps approach him, and All for One turned around to see an extremely muscular man, a good head taller than him, wearing a skin tight suit decorated in bold red and blue, with a toothy smile and bright yellow hair fashioned in an odd manner. The quirk of this man was beaconing him like a lighthouse, so unnaturally bright that he had to fight the urge to squint. All for One shuddered. He knew this quirk, and the individual holding it.

“All Might?”

The hero froze mid-step. All for One belatedly noticed that the man’s eyes were much less obscured in real life, and were actually a bright blue. It was easy to see, for those very eyes had grown wide, staring at him with an indescribable emotion. But if he had to guess, it would be caution. For some reason it gave him a headache, but his quirk maintained it’s unnatural silence, doing nothing to soothe it.

His discomfort must have showed somehow, as the hero visibly calmed down, and took a few steps closer. “Are you alright?”

“I am fine,” All for One said, before he bowed down deeply, “thank you for saving me.”

Whatever caution remaining within All Might faded into confusion, and then eased into something much friendlier. The hero rubbed the back of his neck with an awkward chuckle. 

“That’s… a relief,” he said and paused for a moment, giving All for One another long look, “still, I’m sorry you had to wait for so long to get help, it had to have been terrifying, is there anything else I can do for you?”

All for One’s first reflex was to answer with ‘no thank you’, if not so he can just leave and escape that searching gaze, but the offer reminded him of something important.

“There is something,” All Might subtly tensed again, “I have a friend, who admires your work, his birthday is approaching soon,” All for One conjured a notebook out of a gate behind his back, and presented it to the befuddled hero opened midway, keeping the palms of his hands out of sight— just in case, “would you mind giving me your autograph?”

All Might took the offered object out of his hand, glancing between it and All for One a few times, before laughing energetically the way he has heard Izuku mimic from time to time. “No problem, I’d be glad to!”

They had to ask one of the officers nearby for a pen, but the hero worked quickly and efficiently. Despite having to work with a common ballpoint pen, the signature looked no worse for it, spanning across two pages and made in the effortless way that suggested a practiced hand. On the bottom of the page he had written in bold marks; Happy Birthday. All for One can’t help to be a bit charmed by it. 

He smiled to All Might, and inclined his head, “Thank you… you are truly as kind as they say.”

All Might looked like he wanted to say something to that, but an officer called out to him before he could, and All for One took that as his chance to finally leave. 

The moment he put some distance between himself and All Might, his quirk flared back to life, nearly knocking the breath out of him. It settled down just as quickly, but it left his heart pounding. He clutched at his chest for a moment, like it would make the feeling go away, and to his relief it passed after a few seconds. The urge to get away as soon as possible remained however, alongside a sharp headache. All for One ignored both with practiced efficiency.

So that was All Might, the hero Izuku admired so much. It was hardly a mystery why. Though he wondered what such a high ranking hero was doing in a place like Musutafu, where crime rates have never been lower. Surely his presence was more urgently required somewhere else. Was All Might looking for something perhaps? Or someone?

All for One took a deep breath, and shook his head to clear his mind. It was none of his concern. As long as the hero didn’t become a threat, he can do whatever he wanted. Preferably somewhere far away from him, at least until he can figure out what the problem with his quirk was. But for now, he had important ingredients to buy.

Little did he know, the store he should have gone to was one the opposite side of the street. A piece of knowledge that could have saved him a lot of trouble, had he known sooner.

*

Needless to say, when Izuku received his birthday gift he was ecstatic. The boy gushed over it with the extreme care reserved for something incredibly precious. Then he scared the lights out of him by proceeding to bawl, like someone just kicked a puppy right in front of his face.

“Don’t worry,” sniff, “these are tears of joy.” Izuku said, and All for One had no choice but to believe him.

Breaking his original plans of not giving him something All Might related turned out for the better, much to his relief. All for One considered it a job well done. It would certainly be an interesting story to tell, if Izuku ever deigned to ask where he got the autograph. He was already looking forward to it.

He didn’t seem to run out of wonderful things to look forward to, these days. It was a change of pace he could see himself getting used to.

Chapter Text

Nearly a month after Izuku’s eighth birthday, a vicious summer storm passed over Kamiki. It began somewhere in the afternoon, and had yet to abate ever since. With little else to do, All for One decided to sleep the rest of the day away. Watching lightning streak across the sky can only entertain for so long.

Storms had never bothered him, even during the times when he had been left to their mercy. So sleeping though them— no matter how loud they got— was a common occurrence, but waking up in the middle of the night during one most certainly wasn’t. He tried to go asleep, to shut out the sound of lightning crashing into the earth once again, but he utterly failed. The unease crawling beneath his skin refused to leave him be.

There is a presence nearby. Just outside the house.

He finally relented and got up from his safe corner in the room, stretching his not at all stiff limbs. ‘Might as well investigate,’ he thought as he soundlessly made his way towards the front door, where the meager presence was at it’s strongest. He didn’t bother to prepare in case of an ambush, yet his quirk, ever so helpfully, readied one anyway.

All for One slided the door open and looked down just beyond the threshold. His eyes adapted to the dark in an instant, allowing him to notice an animal huddled pitifully against the wall. It’s dirty fur thoroughly soaked, and it’s hazy eyes sluggishly looked back up at him, as if every movement was too much to bother with. The animal in question was without a doubt an old stray cat, he had seen enough of those to recognize one.

What was he supposed to do with this creature? Perhaps he should swiftly put it out of it’s misery, before it can slowly rot away in the merciless elements. In response to his thoughts, a quirk rose to the surface to be activated at a whim. ‘And yet…’

They stared at each other for a while, until a fierce flash of lightning crashing down somewhere nearby made the animal flinch.

‘There may still be some life left.’ All for One shook himself awake, and took a step back, while opening the door just a bit wider. The old cat needed time to recognize the invitation, but once it did, it slowly picked itself off of the ground onto it’s stiff shaky legs, and painstakingly dragged itself indoors. Only about a meter in, it collapsed onto the ground of the genkan.

“Just what am I getting myself into?” He whispered to himself before he gently closed the door, shielding them from the elements at last. After a furtive glance at his guest, still breathing, he headed back into the house to fetch a towel. One of dozen gifted to him by one of the villagers offended by his lack of personal belongings.

Hardly a minute later he returned, and the animal hadn’t budged. The way it lied on the floor looked distinctly uncomfortable. It reminded him of all the strays he had seen when he was young and unable to do a single thing. He had probably looked just as bad, hoping for a warm shelter to rest in, perhaps forever.

He knelt down, imploring his restless quirk to calm for the third time before he activated Telekinesis, slowly lifting to old cat off the ground and into a towel in his arms. Now that he’s holding it, he realized it’s trembling ever so slightly. Whether it’s fear or merely the change in temperature, he didn’t know.

He had planned to leave it on a soft cushion somewhere and return to his previous attempts at sleeping through the storm, but the idea didn’t sit well with him anymore. Another flash of lightning following by a roar of thunder, and another minute flinch from his temporary companion sealed the deal. The animal likely didn’t have long to live, he may as well ensure that it had a warm and safe place to die.

Though, against all common sense, he hoped it survived instead.

All for One frowned to himself. The strange uneasy feeling flared up again. He ignored it, while he made himself comfortable against the wall, on the floor just beyond the genkan, and laid the cat onto his lap. 

It took a while, but the trembling was slowly replaced by the occasional rumbling sound. ‘Is it snoring?’

What an easy going animal. It reminded him of his first meeting with the young version of Izuku, the boy had been just a fast to relax around him. Don’t they know how dangerous he was? He had expected a stray animal, of all beings, to show some weariness.

But perhaps it was simply too old to be afraid. He had heard of such a thing before somewhere.

Just as he closed his eyes to try and sleep himself, the cat tensed up again. It’s only then that he noticed how wary he was himself.

He languidly opened his eyes, and saw something straight out of a dream.

Yoichi, crouching right before him, reached out to the old cat. The animal gave no sign of noticing him and began to tremble again, burying it’s face into the towel. As if it sensed danger, but couldn’t tell where it was coming from.

“How has the past been treating you?” Yoichi asked, and as he did, he raised his head. Unlike the last time he had seen him, it was now staggeringly obvious something wasn’t right.

That empty smile, and those even emptier eyes. This wasn’t Yoichi.

“Who are you?” All for One glares, subconsciously holding a hand over his ignorant charge, “what are you?”

The impostor kept smiling, but those piercing eyes, white instead of red, narrowed slightly. “Everyone has a purpose as long as they are still alive,” it said in lieu of an answer, it’s cold smile turned into something that resembled a grin, “I’m glad you’ve finally made some friends.” 

Then it rose onto it’s feet, effortlessly in a way the real Yoichi never managed. That piercing gaze glanced, only once, between him and the cat with a strange emotion he couldn’t place, and then it stared directly into his eyes.

“You have to keep on living, no matter what.”

Without allowing All for One to say another word, it disappeared between one blink and the next. Along with it, the tension drained out of both himself and the old cat, leaving him strangely exhausted. He barely got the time to wonder whether the entire night was just a dream, before his eyes closed against his will and he drifted off to sleep.

*

Waking up the next morning felt like a surreal experience. The only sounds were the singing birds and the snoring coming from the old cat on his lap.

“It’s still alive…” Was All for One’s first thought, and while it brought him far more relief than it should have, it couldn’t hold a candle to the brief surge of dread at the second thing that came to mind.

It wasn’t a dream. Since the cat was decidedly real, just like the towel it was resting on, and the hallway they were sleeping in, the impostor posing as Yoichi had been real as well. Which in turn only convinced him that the person he had seen during his last moments in the future was the very same entity. 

To think he had fallen for its charade, had he truly been that far gone?

The old cat stirred, forcing All for One back into the present. Sunlight began to filter into the hallway, heralding the arrival of daytime.

Stressing over Yoichi’s impersonator won’t do him any good. Besides, he had the feeling that sooner than later, they would meet again. When that time came, he’ll get his answers, one way or another.

For now he got back onto his feet, the old cat held steady in his arms, and headed towards the bathroom. Since his guest was still alive, he may as well see what the damage was, and clean off the worst of the dirt to the best of his ability.

Once he had heard that cats did not like to be bathed, but obviously that person must have never seen this particular individual. The old cat— who was apparently female, and thus shall be called Old Lady from here on— nearly melted into the warm water, and once again began to snore while he washed the mud and dirt out of her fur coat.

As it turned out, Old Lady’s fur was not brown, but a light gray instead. Though the color remained dull compared to other cats he could recall.

When he was finally done, it became all the more clear just how thin Old Lady was, the wet fur clinging to her body did nothing to conceal the ribs protruding from her torso. Though he wasn’t an expert on what animals were supposed to look like, he’s still fairly certain that being able to count their bones was a bad sign.

Thus he made it his next task to grab some food and water, after making Old Lady comfortable in the main room. He placed her in the sun, for what living being doesn’t like basking in its warmth, and upon assuring her health, or whatever remained off it, he headed for the kitchen. Cats are predators, he remembered from a brief lesson about animals, so his food of choice was some cooked ham he had in stock.

It did so happen that he had made arrangement with miss Midoriya to let Izuku stay at his house for a week, while the mother took a well deserved break. And because of this, he found out that he was horrendously ill equipped to have guests at all, let alone one that stays over the night. The Yamaoka family, especially its oldest member, was more than willing to share recipes and taught him the basics of cooking. It’s a work a progress truly. But it did mean that his fridge was the most stocked it had been since the day he got it.

A bit of luck for the otherwise unfortunate Old Lady. Or so he thought, but the cat made no move towards the offered food and water, except for a single bleary glance. She looked contend enough just to sleep. He didn’t know why, but it was deeply disappointing.

This was what he got for expecting miracles.

All for One shook his head, and went on with his day, as if nothing were wrong. He had some final things left to prepare, and his guest may arrive at any moment.

*

He was checking on the room he choose for Izuku, when he sensed a familiar quirk approach the house. Attraction, this specific one he knew belonged to miss Midoriya. He’s out the room and into the hallway before he heard someone hesitantly knock on the door frame. Two presences, one giddy and the other nervous, waited on the other side.

All for One opened the door and greeted his guests, “good afternoon.”

“Hello!” Izuku greeted back with the usual cheery grin.

Miss Midoriya looked like she was about to greet him as well, but froze midway. She stared up at him with clear shock written all over her face. It proceeded to take him far to long to figure out why.

Izuku, the little hero, helpfully piped up with a casual remark, “oh, mom has never seen you this way before.”

An astute observation, truly. The fact had completely slipped his mind. This did nothing to alleviate the rising amount of confusion, miss Midoriya continued to glance back and forth between Izuku and himself in bewilderment.

“I had taken on a younger appearance to disguise myself, this is what I truly look like.” He somehow felt like he lied, but he ignored the feeling in favor of paying attention to his guests.

“It’s hard to explain, but I guess it worked, I hardly recognized you.” Miss Midoriya said carefully. Though the smile returned to her face, her words had an oddly sharp edge to them. She was probably upset they kept it from her, even if it hadn’t been on purpose at all.

He stays silent while Izuku sheepishly apologized to his mother for keeping another secret, until their attention returned to him. This was the part where he should invite them into his house, he thought. All for One stepped back and gestured inside, the way he had seen miss Yamaoka do whenever he visited. “Please, feel free to come in.”

“Thank you for having us.”

Though it may be his imagination, miss Midoriya had a oddly sympathetic look to her, like she’s aware he had no idea what he was supposed to be doing. Which was an improvement compared to anger, he supposed.

Izuku on the other hand, was comforting to watch in his childish ignorance, and he bounded past him, excited to have a new place to explore. The boy only barely remembered to remove his shoes before leaving the genkan. The two adults took it a bit slower.

“I do hope the road was safe on your way here.” All for One said to miss Midoriya while she exchanged her shoes for slippers. “There had been a rather vicious storm last night.”

“Ah yes, I only had to take a minor detour.”

“That’s a relief.”

It looked like the villagers didn’t wait to clean up the road. Or perhaps they had somehow been spared the worst of the damage. He’ll have to ask around later.
The moment they stepped into the main room, Izuku rushed towards them. “Hisashi! You never told me you have a cat!”

“I didn’t,” he glanced towards Old Lady, still slumbering peacefully in the sun, her now dry fur coat camouflaged the worst of her condition, “she is a stray, I found her last night.”

Miss Midoriya gasped, “the poor thing, she must have been caught up in the storm,” then she frowned, “but if she’s this comfortable around you, she must have had an owner before.”

“I wouldn’t know, though it had to have been a long time ago, if that is the case.”

Fortunately the implications flew over Izuku’s head. The boy looked thoughtful for a moment and then asked with a grin, “what’s her name?”

“Her name? I have no idea.”

For reasons unknown, Izuku looked dismayed. “You didn’t give her one?”

All for One shook his head. He hadn’t expected the old cat to survive long enough to have use for one, so he hadn’t bothered.

Izuku wasn’t satisfied. “What did you call her then, until now?”

“Old Lady.”

From beside him, miss Midoriya did her best not to laugh, but failed to stay quiet. Izuku lost the frown and joined her soon enough. 

“It… it does fit,” miss Midoriya said, her voice vibrant with amusement, lacking the tension it had since they arrived.

“Isn’t that kinda mean?” Izuku asked. The smile on his face told All for One he wasn’t truly upset about it.

He looked at Old Lady, who hadn’t show a sign of noticing there were two new people in the vicinity. “I doubt she cares.”

All for One didn’t have a problem with Izuku keeping Old Lady company while he spoke with miss Midoriya. He did remind Izuku to be careful, out of concern for both parties involved, but the boy acted like he stated the obvious, so he wasn’t too worried.

Miss Midoriya and himself took a seat at a low table within sight, but just out of hearing range should they talk quietly. Which was exactly what miss Midoriya was doing at the moment.

“I really can’t thank you enough.” She said, nursing a glass of iced water. “For looking after Izuku on such a short notice.”

By this she meant little over a week ago, which All for One considered to be plenty of time. He told her as much.

“That’s… a relief, thank you.”

From thereon she explained that she had only heard about the trip she was going on from her friend Mitsuki— the mother of Firecracker— a few days before she asked him for a favor. The aforementioned trip being to a hot spring village somewhere in Kyushu. Mitsuki had thought at first that miss Midoriya would decline, just as she always had, but asked anyhow out of consideration. It had taken her a few sleepless nights, but ultimately miss Midoriya decided to take the leap and asked him to look after Izuku, just to have a chance at some time off. All for One agreeing without hesitation had come as quite the shock.

He still didn’t know why it’s such a surprise that he’s willing to accommodate Izuku for a week. But he knew better than to ask, it wasn’t really that important. Though the curiosity continued to nag at him a bit.

Soon it was time for miss Midoriya to leave. Izuku appeared somewhat apprehensive to see her go, but a few reassuring words kept him from stressing too much. Probably special talent reserved for parents. Then after saying their goodbyes, they were left on their own.

It’s quiet for a moment, neither of them really knew what to do.

“Would you like some iced tea, Izuku?”

The boy beamed up at him, “yes!”

Despite having known her for less than an hour, Izuku had gotten attached to Old Lady. That much was obvious from the way he interacted with the cat, gentle but ever cheerful. Part of All for One wanted to warn the boy that the old cat may not survive for too long, but the other, much larger part, didn’t want to break his heart.

After a brief tour of the house, Izuku seemed reluctant to leave Old Lady’s side. They ended up on the floor, leaning their backs against the wall nearest to Old Lady, nursing an iced tea and a regular green tea respectively. The silence between them, broken only by the screeching cicadas, was comfortable, and alongside the warmth of a regular summer afternoon it threatened to lull All for One to sleep.

Until Izuku spoke up, “hey, can we give Old Lady a better name?”

Still far too comfortable, All for One asked, “why?”

It took Izuku a moment to answer. “Not having a name… is kinda sad.”

Hearing those words felt akin to being covered in snow. It stirred a memory from long ago, when he and Yoichi had only just ran away from the village they were born in. His dear brother had used the exact same explanation when he gave him the name Hisashi. Though he hadn’t understood it at the time, and Yoichi had to explain it again well over a year later.

He stared at Izuku, who began to fidget under his gaze. Seeing this, he willed himself to calm down. “You are right, it is.”

“Then…?”

“Do you have any ideas?”

Izuku opened his mouth, closed it and then opened it— only to fall short again. “Not a clue.”

The hopeful glance thrown his way implored him to come up with a suggestion. Though he was by all means fine with simply calling the cat Old Lady for however long the animal may survive, he also agreed with Izuku that it wasn’t a proper name, and names, however fleeting were important. 

Names also required proper thought. He looked at the cat, slumbering without a care in the world. Her dull gray fur had some white hairs peeking through, made all the more obvious by the light of the sun. It reminded him of yesterday’s storm clouds.

Storm clouds… “How about Arashi?”

Izuku thought it over for a bit. “It fits, you found her in a storm and stuff, but isn’t it a bit too…rough?”

He can see where Izuku was coming from, Old Lady is too peaceful to be named after a force of nature capable of felling trees. Perhaps they should choose a name relating to the word then. He tried to recall as many names as he could, but of most he didn’t even know the writing, nothing came to mind. Then he got an idea, and he got up from the floor, careful not to disturb his guests.

“Please wait here for a moment.” He remembered to say halfway across the room.

It took him too long to remember which of the many rooms in the house had been designated as the office, but soon he returned triumphantly with his price; a laptop. The nifty do-it-all had been given to him some time ago, and though he didn’t have much use for it, he knew just enough to understand how to use it. His benefactor, Kyouko, didn’t want him to remain, as she put it, technologically illiterate. It proved to be useful now.

Long live the Internet.

All for One returned to Izuku’s side and placed the laptop between them. “Why don’t we look one up?”

Fortunately, Izuku proved far more Internet savvy than he could ever be, and the boy looked up useful website in no time. They waded through dozens of names together, and the countless of different writings and meanings. The amount of nuance was dizzying. People took names very seriously. Of all the names suggested, several caught their interest, such as Ranko or Keiran. But according to Izuku, none of them felt right.

He pondered their conundrum, and then he saw a pattern. Names were often made out of pieces, put together to create a whole. It was worth a try, at least. He pointed out two different kanji, meaning distance and storm, and suggested, “how about Yu-ran?”

“Oh! It’s like the quiet after a storm,” Izuku grins, eyes alight with joy, “it’s perfect!”

He hadn’t known he could be happy about a name, yet his chest felt full and warm. “Then from now on, Old Lady shall be known as Yuran.”

Izuku nodded once, and gently patted Old— no, Yuran’s head, eliciting nothing more than a twitch and a small noise. “Good for you, Yuran.”

*

All for One decided on Gyoza for dinner, one of the few recipes he had leaned in the past week. Izuku in turn volunteered to cook the rice, he claimed to have experience with the appliance designated for the task. It was for the better truly, for he himself had no experience with the rice cooker whatsoever. Whenever the chance arose, he always took the path of convenience and defaulted to cooking his rice in a pot of water instead.

He kept a close eye on Izuku’s actions regardless, both for safety reasons and for the sake of future reference. Just in case.

After the Gyoza was steamed and put in the frying pan, all they had left to do was wait for it to finish. In the following lull, Izuku asked, “what about Yuran?”

All for One frowned slightly. What about Yuran indeed. The food he had given the old cat was left untouched, despite the fact that the animal had to be starving. She had drank some water at least, but it was a shallow comfort. 

“She doesn’t appear to be interested in eating.”

“Oh.” Izuku looked at his feet, giving All for One ample amount of time to regret his honesty, until the boy looked up with determination clearly read all over his face. “We should try again, maybe the food was just too hard to eat.”

“Too hard?”

Izuku nods. “It’s like this, there is this older lady who lives next door, and even though she has fake teeth she hates using them to eat, for some reason, so mom makes rice porridge for her sometimes, because it’s easier on the gums and stuff.”

That was… rather difficult to comprehend, but elderly people can be stubborn from time to time, or so he had gathered. It was like a matter of pride to them. Yet the heartwarming little story reminded him of a specific part from his cooking lessons, specifically a warning on what to avoid. But it gave him an idea.
He headed to the refrigerator, grabbed a bag of chicken, and presented his find to Izuku. “I could dice this into tiny pieces and…”

Izuku, the bright little hero, immediately caught onto what he was aiming at. “We make chicken porridge!”

“It’s certainly worth a try.”

As such, the remaining ten minutes were spend destroying a perfectly fine piece of chicken. The corners of his lips twitched up in an unbidden smile. Thank goodness that miss Yamaoka wasn’t there to see it, she would have had a fit.

Following Izuku’s suggestion, the decided to eat at the low table in the main room, and relocated Yuran to rest nearby. The ‘chicken porridge’ presented to her had been cooled down with the help of the quirk Blizzard, put on the lowest possible intensity, which likely did nothing for the quality, but did grant them the opportunity to eat at the same time.

According to Izuku, food tasted better when you eat it together. All for One had to admit the little hero was right. Whenever he ate alone, he never paid much attention to what it tasted like, being more concerned with staving off hunger than actually enjoying his food.

Halfway through their meal, Izuku let out a muted cheer. “Hisashi, Hisashi! Look, look!” He was excitedly pointing towards Yuran, leaving him no choice but to do as asked.

And a great surge of joy caught him off guard. Yuran, the old cat who he thought was merely waiting to die, was eating, one tiny bite at a time.

“I think she likes it.” Izuku whispered.

All for One took a deep breath, and nodded. The smile that crept onto his face felt foreign, but he didn’t to anything to stop it. “It’s a good thing then, that we made too much.”

“Hum, you can have more tomorrow, Yuran.”

Whether it was the food or the company that finally motivated the old cat to eat again, was unclear. But in this quiet moment, none of it mattered.

It was a good thing that Izuku insisted on not giving up.

Chapter Text

When All for One woke up, he felt groggy and warm. The faint sensation of fingers brushing through his hair was so comforting he almost fell back asleep, but the light of the morning sun spilling into the room didn’t allow him to.

“Don’t worry,” whispered a voice reminiscent of Yoichi, “I’ll always be by your side.”

He opened his eyes to a wooden ceiling. There were two presences nearby; Izuku, who had rolled towards him sometime during the night and was clutching All for One’s arm in his sleep, and Yuran; who had scrawled from her pile of pillows onto his chest. When he sighed, Yuran began to snore again. The hoarse rumbling sound helped him shake off the remainder of his sleep.

Taking so long to wake up felt odd, the thought of laying about longer than necessary had never crossed his mind before. He had such a wonderful dream too, though he couldn’t remember it any longer, he was certain that he had seen Yoichi.

It took him far too much effort to figure out why Izuku was sleeping next to him, instead of in the room he specifically prepared for him, until the previous evening came back to mind. Izuku had asked if they could all sleep in the main room alongside Yuran, and All for One had no reason to refuse. Such a simple thing, yet it brought Izuku great joy, to the point where it had taken him hours to finally fall asleep.

All for One contemplated lazing in the sun for a bit longer, but Izuku woke up, and plans changed to slowly levitating Yuran back to her own spot instead.

“Goo’ Mornin’…” Izuku mumbled while stretching his limbs, hitting All for One in the progress. After a while he asked, “what’s that sound?”

“Yuran is snoring.”

Izuku sat up, and blinked down at him, bewildered, and then looked at Yuran, now resting on her pile of pillows again, “Yuran is… snoring?”

He nodded, and to his astonishment Izuku laughed. “I don’t think she’s snoring,” Izuku said, and scrawled towards Yuran to scratch her behind the ears. The snoring grew louder. “She’s purring.”

“Purring?” All for One tried his hardest to figure out what the word meant, but he didn’t have a clue. “Do you know what this means?”

“You don’t know?” Izuku looked at him thoughtfully, “I think it means they’re happy.”

Yuran had been purring then, during that stormy night. The idea made him strangely happy himself.

“You know many things, don’t you, Izuku?”

“Do I? I thought everyone knew that.”

After breakfast, for which All for One made pancakes, he realized that he hadn’t shown Izuku around yet. The previous day had been occupied by looking after Yuran, as such the only places that Izuku knew besides the one they were currently in, was the kitchen and the bathroom.

When he mentioned this to Izuku, the little hero responded with his characteristic enthusiasm, saving All for One from feeling like he failed him.

The house granted to All for One was rather old fashioned, but despite this the amenities were up to date, making him believe the building had been lived in not too long before the village was taken over by villains. The house had only one floor, so despite it’s size, it was hard to get lost in. 

He kept the improvised tour straightforward, as most rooms simply weren’t worth mentioning. If their location didn’t give their function away, then the lack of furniture would surely betray the lack of use. They lingered on one of them longer than the rest, behind the only door that he kept locked.

“You shouldn’t go in here, Izuku.” All for One said, perhaps unnecessarily, he didn’t expect Izuku to snoop around behind his back. Izuku did look curious however, so he added, “it’s used as a storage, the villagers put their more precious belongings here for safekeeping, at least for the time being, and I have every intention to keep it undisturbed.”

Even he didn’t know exactly what was kept in that room, but he had seen fleeting glimpses of old looking furniture and jewelry. The only thing he knew the origin of, was a hardwood desk with a face-shaped dent on it.

Izuku grinned, “they sure trust you a lot then.”

“Perhaps.”

They moved along after that. The last room they walked towards was the room intended to function as All for One’s bedroom, right next to the one reserved for guests. But he usually slept in a corner of the main room, so it was mostly unused, aside for storing the few necessities that had all but been forced onto him. 
All except for the one thing he considered a ‘personal belonging’, which stood in the light of the room’s only window.

“Is that… a memorial?”

It looked like Izuku already found it. All for One walked over to it, and knelt before the simple construction. The memorial consisted of a handmade table slightly more ornate than usual and a slender green vase with four white flowers in it; daisies, this time.

“I’m surprised you recognized it.” Izuku stayed oddly silent. All for One looked at him, and frowned at the troubled expression on Izuku’s face. “Is there something wrong?”

The little hero startled, and briskly shook his head. “No—! No, it’s nothing.” Then, after fidgeting for a bit, he asked, “who… is it for?”

All for One’s chest felt tight, as if it were hard to breathe, but he ignored it, as he always did. “It’s for my brother.”

Though he always made sure to give an offering to his three teachers as well.

“Your brother?”

Izuku sounded even more upset now, which wasn’t what he had intended for this little tour in the slightest. Though he had no idea what to say to make him feel better, saying nothing seemed like an even more terrible idea.

“His name was Yoichi,” All for One began, and after ensuring he could keep a steady tone, he continued, “he had meant to world to me, this is the least I can do to honor him.”

“Oh… I’m sorry.”

“It’s alright, don’t worry about it.”

Once the words left his mouth, he realized it was the first time he told Izuku such a blatant lie. But the little hero, perhaps out of sympathy, didn’t mention it.

By the time they returned to the main room, and sat by the low table nearby Yuran, Izuku had mostly returned back to normal.

“But wow, it sure is nice and quiet around here.”

“It is now.”

Izuku stared at him in confusion, it joined the slowly increasing tension that had been present before. It was then, about a long minute later, that the comment caught up to All for One, and he stared back. The cicadas continued to screech in the background, almost mockingly.

“Was that, perhaps, a joke?”

“No I meant it really!” Izuku grew a bit sweaty, and he laughed uneasily, “I mean, compared to back home, it’s nice and quiet, no cars, no screaming— uh no, I mean, I guess there’s screaming, a lot, but not like, you know, back home, ahaha…ha.”

All for One didn’t know what to respond to.

Izuku took his silence as a cue to ask something else, “what do you mean it’s quiet ‘now’?”

Because the entire village was previously used as a drug factory for a villain organization— is what he didn’t say, instead he asked a question of his own, “do you have any ideas for what you want to do today?”

It earned All for One a narrow eyed stare, before Izuku sighed in surrender, and gave his question some thought. “I dunno, what kind of stuff can you do around here…?” It sounded like Izuku was thinking out loud, like he more often did, so All for One waited. After a while, the little hero wilted, “I really don’t know.”

“I see, I admit I haven’t given it much thought myself.”

“Me neither.” Izuku laid his head on the table. “I wonder what mom is doing right now.”

All for One wondered whether the reason for Izuku’s strange behavior was homesickness. He heard that some people, unused to traveling, could feel ill if they went far away from home. It was such a bizarre idea that he never ask how people coped.

Perhaps if they talked about miss Midoriya, they could bring ‘home’ a bit closer. “She might be at the onsen by now.”

Izuku hummed. “I hope she’s having fun.”

“I believe so, she did appear to have been looking forward to it.” This managed to cheer Izuku up a little, which gave All for One an idea. “How about we visit the hot springs as well?”

Izuku sat up and looked at him with wide eyes. “In Kyushu?!”

“In Kamiki.”

“Ooh, that makes sense. There are hot springs here?”

“On the other side of the village, yes. It has recently been renovated.”

Repaired may have been a better word, but Izuku didn’t need to know that.

“Yes! I wanna go!”

With that, he got a bit more time to regret spending all his time on cooking lessons.

*

All for One visited the hot springs before once, he had been all but dragged over by excited villagers back when the bathhouse was finished. He still vividly remembered how miss Yamaoka had marched into the house like she were on an important mission, and how she had refused to take no for an answer. For reasons unknown to him, they valued his opinion about all sorts of things.

And he liked the hot spring, not enough to make time for it, but enough to hope that Izuku would like it as well. It certainly turned into a source of pride for Kamiki’s residents, despite it’s location being somewhat out of the way, in the northernmost part of the village.

The bathhouse itself was modest, it lacked the hotel that would have made it an onsen, even though the traditional architecture, similar to the rest of the village, would have easily made it a desirable place to stay. The owners, a relatively small family by the name of Yumine, had decided early on that it wasn’t worth to bother with a hotel in a village that hadn’t seen likable visitors for years. It was a mentality that All for One couldn’t argue with.

Instead, the Yumine bathhouse became a place reserved for locals and visiting relatives. Visitors weren’t required to bring more than their own soap, and even that could be borrowed should they forget. Everything was provided for by the bathhouse itself, making it an easy place to visit on a whim.

It was an incredibly useful type of service. All for One wondered where they got the idea.

From the moment they arrived, Izuku kept himself busy by taking everything in, he barely noticed the employees while they were ushered in, though he did stay partly behind All for One’s legs while they were being helped. His behavior struck him as a bit odd, but he left it be. Izuku was probably just nervous about being in a new place.

It was customary for people to clean themselves before entering the hot spring. All for One had to hear an entire spiel about propriety during his first visit.

Although he mostly remembered the rule itself, and not whole reasoning behind it, he made sure to remind Izuku while they were putting away their clothes. Not that it was necessary, for Izuku already knew about the whole ritual and treated it like common sense.

Izuku was very worldly for someone his age.

That didn’t take away from Izuku’s nerves however, and unlike what he expected, Izuku hadn’t calmed down in the slightest. All for One didn’t understand where the nerves came from, but he still wanted to put him at ease somehow.

The only times he ever bathed with someone else, was in the river with Yoichi, and thus he offered the only thing he knew; “would you like me to wash your hair?”

Izuku gaped at him for a bit. “Okay,” he said, then he glanced at All for One’s hair and added determinedly, “but only if I can wash yours.”

“Consider it a deal.”

Izuku grinned, his nervousness made way for something giddy. Mission accomplished.

As promised, All for One went first, using a shampoo that claimed to be cherry blossom scented, but smelled far too sweet, to lather Izuku’s unruly dark green hair. The little hero practically melted beneath his hands. 

It was funny, Yoichi always did the same thing.

He paused when he reached the nape of Izuku’s neck, and for the first time he actually looked at his back and arms. There were no scars, nor bruises, except for a small one on his right elbow, the result of hitting it on the door frame. His spine hardly showed through the skin of his back, and neither did his ribs. Izuku was thin, but he wasn’t underweight. It was clear he had plenty to eat, as a child should.

Was this what children were supposed to look like?

He glanced at his own hands, large enough to grip the entirety of Izuku’s head, and more than strong enough to crush his skull. On those hands were nails that looked deceptively blunt, but which he knew from experience were sharp enough to tear through skin with ease.

It would be far too easy to do harm, especially to someone so defenseless. He hated it.

“Hisashi?” Izuku spoke quietly, “what’s wrong?”

All for One gasped, and his hands twitched. He briefly wondered whether Izuku was able to hear his racing heartbeat.

“It’s nothing,” he blurted out, before he gathered himself and said more carefully, “I’m sorry… I’ll rinse your hair now, please close your eyes.”

When it was time to switch places, All for One’s eyes were trained on his hands, which he kept on his knees, like they would betray him and move on their own. He had to bend over to allow Izuku to properly reach his hair, so it likely didn’t stand out. If Izuku noticed how tense he was, he didn’t comment on it.

He did comment on something else though, with notable astonishment, “it really is white.”

“Hm?”

“Your hair, it kinda glows in the dark too, did you know? It’s really cool.”

Just like that, his own fear was replaced with laughter. “Thank you, that’s kind of you to say.”

“It’s a fact.”

“Really?”

All for One dared a glance up, and saw Izuku grin.

“Really.”

It was a miracle really, that neither he nor Izuku ended up with soap in their eyes by the time they actually got into the hot spring.
Conversation was kept light while they allowed the warm water to wash all stress away. At some point Izuku commented on how muscular he was, out of nowhere, and in response All for One pointed out the few muscles he knew the name of. 

He had been taught that striking those the right way would render the limb useless, or cause horrible pain— or both. Though for the most part, the names were just trivia mentioned to pass time. He memorized them regardless.

When they got out, perhaps later than they should have, the oldest member of the Yumine family presented them a freshly baked batch of chocolate cookies, along with a ‘mandatory’ glass of milk, and the last remainder of fear was banished from his mind, to be replaced with new fond memories instead.

*

Though flying would have been much faster, Izuku wanted to look around more on the way back, so they ended up walking the remaining few hundred meters. It wasn’t an issue to All for One, but he made sure to keep an eye on Izuku, and ensure the boy wouldn’t get too tired. The summer sun can lower a person’s endurance, sometimes without them realizing it.

As it currently were, Izuku was taking in the many wildflowers and lush trees; some tall but most still young. Most of the flowers were sowed by the villagers in an effort to, in their words, ‘bring Kamiki back to life’. All for One never paid much attention to plants before, beyond whether they could be safely eaten or not, but he had grown to admire them lately.

Izuku didn’t have much to talk about for a change, though he notable paused whenever they passed by a house that hadn’t been taken down or repaired yet. The questions All for One fully expected never came, much to his relief. He didn’t know how to explain the dilapidated houses without scaring him.

The quiet got interrupted by a familiar person crossing their path. It took him a bit to recognize her, but it was Kyouko, leaving an abandoned house with a clipboard in hand. This time her hair was light blue, he noted with faint amusement.

When their eyes met, All for One bowed lightly to her, and Izuku quickly took a few steps back to stand behind him. He glanced at Izuku, who was clearly nervous again, but didn’t get the chance to ask what bothered him.

Kyouko was smiling while she approached them. She looked as friendly and non-threatening as always, though she had grown much more confident around him as time passed by. The stubborn, good-natured, Yamaoka in her became impossible to miss.

“Taking a walk, All for One?” Kyouko asked.

“We were on our way back from the bathhouse.”

Kyouko hummed, and looked at Izuku, who hid further behind his legs. Fortunately she didn’t take it as an insult. “So this is our young guest.”

All for One took this as his chance to properly introduce the little hero, “yes, this is Midoriya Izuku, he’ll be staying with me for the week while his mother is on vacation.”

When Izuku peeked out from behind him, Kyouko’s smile grew wider. “I know, he’s pretty famous around, the mysterious friend of All for One.”

“I am?” Izuku squeaked out, his face red and his eyes wide.

“Oh definitely, I was home when All for One asked grandma to teach him how to cook,” Kyouko laughed, “that was something, alright, I didn’t believe my ears. You should have seen the look on dad’s face when I told him, it’s a shame I didn’t take a picture.”

“Was it really that strange?”

“It was, it felt like your whole image changed,” before he got the chance to feel insulted by that, Kyouko hurriedly added, “in a good way of course, in a good way.”

During their little exchange Izuku emerged from behind his legs, and glanced curiously between them. Then he looked at him and asked, “do you know her?”

All for One made sure to smile reassuringly, “yes, she has helped me with many things these past few months.”

Kyouko gasped, “I forgot to introduce myself, didn’t I? I’m Yamaoka Kyouko, it’s nice to meet you.”

“Oh, ah— um, it— It’s nice to meet you too.”

“She is also the only person in this village, besides myself, who has a quirk.” All for One added offhandedly.

This of course, peaked Izuku’s curiosity. “Really? What is it?”

With a giggle, Kyouko got onto her knees, which put her slightly below Izuku’s eye-level, and took a strand of hair. Before their eyes it shifted from blue to pink. “I can change the color of my hair, but no more than three times a day.” Her smile turned slightly derisive, “it’s not very impressive, though…”

Izuku, the precious soul, didn’t seem to have heard the last part. His eyes sparkled with wonder, the same he showed whenever All for One used a quirk he hadn’t seen before. “Whoa, that’s so cool! Can you change it into any color? Can you use multiple colors at once? Do you think you could increase the amount of times you can use it if you tried? Oh! Is there a time limit? What’s your natural hair color?”

Some more excited mumbling followed afterwards, and it became hard to decipher what he was saying. 

All for One was used to this by now, so he turned to Kyouko instead. She looked predictably overwhelmed, and yet, even though she had covered her face with her hands, it failed to hide her joy. He could faintly hear her whisper, “that’s so cute.”

All for One’s smile became more genuine, and he felt warm in a way very different from the sun or the hot spring. He lightly pulled on Izuku’s hair to gain his attention, and said, “one question at a time, remember?”

“Wah?” it was only then that Izuku noticed the way Kyouko looked, “oh no, I’m so sorry!”

“It’s fine,” she said from behind her hands, which she then lowered to reveal her grin, and slightly red face, “I’m just happy you like it so much.”

Izuku proceeded to try and reassure her that, ‘no really, it’s amazing,’ which, in turn, Kyouko tried to both deflect and accept, simultaneously. All for One had learned by now that this was considered to be polite, but wasn’t it better to just accept a compliment and move on? 

It was yet another thing he didn’t understand.

Izuku got along with Kyouko after that. All for One had to guide them over to a more shaded area before either of them ended up sunburned. Their conversation gradually shifted to how Izuku’s stay had been so far, and naturally this meant that Yuran got mentioned. Upon hearing the description of the old cat, Kyouko looked surprised.

“I know about that one, we’ve seen her wandering around the village, but we never managed to catch her. I’m amazed she let you come near.”

“I wasn’t the one to approach her, Yuran was the one who came to me.”

“Well, that’s even more amazing.” Then Kyouko became pensive, “I wonder…”

When she didn’t continue, Izuku became impatient, “what is it?”

“Ah, no, it’s just,” Kyouko hesitated, and turned to All for One, “the owner of the house you’re staying in, he… passed away a few years ago. I wonder if little Yuran was his.”

“It’s entirely possible.”

“Even if not, I’m glad she’s safe now.”

Izuku nodded energetically, “yup, Hisashi and I will take good care of Yuran.”

Kyouko nodded back, before stilling with an expression that could only be described as utterly stupefied. Whatever it was that caused it, she spoke as if nothing happened. “Good to hear it. Though come to think of it, have you taken Yuran to the vet yet?”

“The… vet?”

“…Yes? The vet?” Kyouko shook her head, “actually, I’ll just take that as a no.”

“It’s like a doctor for animals,” Izuku helpfully piped up from besides him.

“I see.” He silently thanked Izuku once again for being so knowledgeable. “There hasn’t been the chance for that yet, I only met Yuran the day before yesterday, and even if I wished to, I don’t have the means to transport her anywhere.”

Not to mention that the thought of giving the cat medical care had been eclipsed by the conviction that she wouldn’t live long enough to benefit from it.

“That just won’t do, have you thought of asking mister Matsumori yet?”

He hadn’t— for multiple reasons— though if anyone asked, it simply hadn’t come to mind.

“Who’s Matsumori?”

Kyouko answered before All for One could, “he’s a woodworker, the best in the village.”

“Wow!”

The best, and the only, woodworker in the village, not counting his apprentice. But All for One wasn’t about to risk ruining Izuku’s good mood.

Kyouko added, “he also owns a van, and a dog, so if anyone can help you take little Yuran to the vet, it’s him.”

“Is he around?” All for One asked, hoping his apprehension didn’t show.

“Not at the moment, we’re busy with storm repairs, but I think he’ll be available by early next morning.” Kyouko then thought of something and smiled, “in fact, I think I can ask ahead for you, I’ll be passing by his place later.”

“That would be much appreciated, thank you.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Kyouko gave them a shallow bow, “I’ll be on my way then, there’s plenty of work left to do.” She then said to Izuku, “have lots of fun, and take care of each other, okay?”

Izuku grinned back at her, “okay!”

With that, Kyouko left and went further uphill, in the opposite direction they would be going.

“Do you think we’ll see miss Kyouko again?”

“Most likely, it’s a small village, but we can visit the Yamaoka family later, if you want to.”

Izuku liked the idea enough to return to his usual chatty self for the rest of the way. Their impromptu visit to the hot spring not only gave them plans for at least two days, but also gave him something new to worry about. No matter, he’ll just have to get himself together and do what’s best for both Izuku and Yuran.

*

The next morning, while Izuku was still asleep, Kyouko had briefly come by to tell him that Matsumori knew to expect them in the early afternoon.
As such, they left for the Matsumori household right after lunch. Fortunately it wasn’t far away, so All for One felt confident to carry Yuran in his arms on the way there.

Matsumori, and his large yellow dog named Taiyo, greeted them from in front of his house, where he seemed to be sorting through some scraps of wood. The elderly man’s smile rivaled the name of his dog in sunniness. “Afternoon! Little miss Kyouko told me you’d visit!”

Izuku jolted and, in a curious mirror of the previous day, partly hid behind All for One’s legs. To his credit, Matsumori quieted down a little while he approached them, “this must be Yuran then, what a lovely name, and what is yours young man?”

All for One kept a close eye on Izuku while he fidgeted under the attention. “I, um, I’m Midoriya Izuku, sir, it’s— it’s nice to meet you.”

“What a polite boy,” Matsumori laughed heartily, “my name is Matsumori Hayato, and it’s nice to meet you too.”

Despite being in his seventies, Matsumori still had plenty of energy and was highly perceptive. He was similar to miss Yamaoka in that way. It made him rather exhausting to interact with, and whenever All for One visited to help during the village’s repairs, Matsumori insisted he’d stay for tea and snacks. The friendliness made it difficult to refuse anything, and though he normally wouldn’t have, he got the feeling that he couldn’t hide a single thing from the elderly man. It was as disconcerting, as it were bizarrely comforting.

Izuku on the other hand, took to the exuberance like a fish to water, and similarly to their encounter with Kyouko, he soon became more comfortable around Matsumori as well.

All for One kept a polite distance while Izuku got introduced to Taiyo and was given a chance to pet the dog, who’s equally friendly as it’s caregiver, and knew well enough that he’d have to do the same if he wanted to be left alone any time soon. 

Once Taiyo was left in the care of the woodworker apprentice, they were led to a vehicle parked next to the workshop. He knew, from being told all about it, that the van was used to transport wood, furniture, and even supplies from the city. Kyouko was correct to say that if anyone could help them transport anything at all, it’s Matsumori.

They were also generously borrowed a cage— not made of wood to his surprise— but it was rather oversized for Yuran to stay in. It was also covered in blankets to make the journey as comfortable as possible for the old cat.

All for One dearly wished he could crawl in with her.

“Hisashi, are you okay?” Izuku asked from within the van.

Matsumori was already behind the steering wheel, and Yuran was safely secured to the seat besides him. Clearly he was meant to sit besides Izuku in the back, which suited him just fine.

“I’m alright.” The lie may have been more convincing if his hands would stop trembling. Just to make sure that Izuku wouldn’t ask further, and to prevent himself from running away, he got into his seat and closed the door. “Nothing’s wrong.”

Nothing could go wrong, Matsumori’s an experienced driver. They’ll be in the city and back before he even knew it.

“Make sure to get comfortable,” came Matsumori’s cheerful voice, “we’ll be driving for a while.”

All for One blanched.

“Got it!” Izuku called back, but not without giving All for One a strange look.

Truly, everything was going to be fine. He’ll get through this.

All for One ate his words. His pathetic attempts at keeping calm were useless while they were actually driving. 

He’d never been in a car before, not even during his time with the Yakuza, where nothing in the world could convince him to step into one of those loud, cramped, speedy contraptions that he frequently saw crumbled up against walls and trees with the occupants still inside. Their terrified expressions frozen in place until they either burned or rotted away, unable to escape their fate.

The mental imagery was made all the worse when their small, fast vehicle encountered many other similar, if not even smaller, fast vehicles. All for One immediately decided he hated every second of this.

To his dismay, all the other occupants, including Yuran, were perfectly fine with the situation. In fact, Izuku was happily chatting away with Matsumori about something All for One wasn’t listening to. Like everything was fine. And it was. And it took all of his self control not to jump out of the moving vehicle so he could fly over to their destination instead.

His quirk, which he expected to jump unto the opportunity to take advantage of his pathetic weakness, was instead calmly imploring him to sleep, and once that idea was rightfully ignored, it suggested activating Forcefield to assuage his concerns. Worst of all, it felt comforting while it did that, like a heavy blanket during winter. He despised that even more.

A small tug on his arm caught his attention. He looked away from the landscape rushing by, and saw Izuku’s concerned frown. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

‘Lying now would only make things worse,’ said the treacherous voice of his quirk, that sounded exactly like Yoichi, all the way to the gentle sympathetic tone, ‘he’s your friend, you can depend on him too.’

All for One ignored it, or he wanted to, but he had to admit that it was right. “I am… not used to traveling this way.”

“You’re scared!” Izuku somehow managed to read between the lines. “Why didn’t you say so sooner?!”

“Did we have any other choice?”

Izuku looked deeply unhappy with the answer. In fact he looked about ready to name a hundred alternatives to the current situation, but All for One really didn’t want to hear any of them.

It really shouldn’t be this bad at all. A simple car crash isn’t even remotely the biggest threat he’s ever faced. Why was he like this?

Before the tension could turn into something else, Matsumori chuckled and said, “Izuku told me about the last few days just now. Do you have plans for the rest of the week?”

All for One struggled with the sudden chance in subject, and clenched his hands until his bones creaked, just to stop himself from lashing out. “Only one.”

“Then you should take Izuku fishing.” They stopped before a traffic light, and Matsumori took it as an opportunity to look their way. “Feel free to borrow my fishing rod if you need.”

“Why?”

“A trip to the mountain isn’t complete without spending at least one night besides the water and beneath the stars.”

All for One couldn’t see the charm of such an activity, but Izuku looked excited. “Can we?” He turned towards him with wide sparkling eyes, the previous tension completely forgotten, “can we? It sounds great, I’ve never been camping before!”

For a moment, time stood still, a moment that lasted even though Matsumori started driving again. Camping, was that what sleeping beneath the stars was called? Was it really that much fun?

All for One wanted to know. “Alright, I don’t see why not.”

For the remainder of the way, Matsumori gave them suggestions on what else to do, and offered to help them gather supplies. His tone was open and friendly the entire time, and before All for One knew it, they arrived at the vet.

*

Apparently, Kyouko had also called ahead to make an appointment for Yuran. They only had to wait for a while before they were called in.

All for One took Yuran out of the cage, along with a blanket, and told Izuku, “wait here with Matsumori, we’ll be back soon.”

“But, aren’t you still…?” Izuku swallowed whatever it was he wanted to say, “I can look after Yuran too, you should rest here instead.”

Matsumori spoke up before All for One got the chance to, “now, now, Hisashi here is more than capable of looking after himself, why don’t you keep me some company young man? It’ll be an awfully long wait otherwise.”

Izuku looked torn for a bit, but conceded, “okay, but make sure to take it easy!”

“I will.”

Fortunately the vet waiting for him was a patient individual. She was a young lady, about Inko’s age, with a mutation quirk that gave her the likeness of a cat. She introduced herself as Yasuhara Kineko, and Yuran seemed to like her well enough, though the old cat still protested at being poked and prodded.

A few tests later, during which All for One had to convince himself to remain calm and stay out of the way, Yuran was returned to him, and Yasuhara looked at them with a mournful expression.

She told him exactly what he hadn’t wanted Izuku to hear. Yuran was estimated to be around eighteen years old, was severely underweight, had arthritis, and the beginning stages of liver failure. The exact diagnosis contained far more medical terms to translate, but All for One got the gist of it well enough; Yuran didn’t have much longer left to live.

“I have to be honest with you, sir, little Yuran is in a lot of pain, at this point… it might be better to let her go.”

All for One looked down at Yuran, who currently slept lightly on his lap, blissfully unaware of the world around her. He scratched behind her ear, and she began to make that comforting hoarse sound Izuku called purring.

It meant Yuran was happy.

Had it been a few days ago, he would have agreed with the sympathetic vet. He would have given up without argument. But Izuku, and Yuran, taught him something very important.

“Thank you for your honesty, but I have to refuse.” At that moment Yuran opened her bright yellow eyes, like she understood what he said. All for One smiled at her. “As long as she has the will to live, I wish to grant her every chance to live on until the very end.”

“She may never become a normal cat, are you aware of what this entails?”

“I am, and I do not mind, having her company is enough.”

He hadn’t expected such a miracle anyhow. But before he could argue his point further, Yasuhara stopped him. “You don’t have to prove anything to me, I just needed to be sure you knew what you were getting into.” Her happy expression confused him. Did he do something she approved off? “I am going to prescribe her some pain medication, and gather a proper dietary plan to minimize her symptoms. We can’t stop liver failure, but we might be able to slow it down.”

“Should I stop feeding her chicken porridge then?”

“Chicken porridge?” All for One nodded, and described the improvised dish he had prepared for Yuran the past few days. Contrary to his expectations, Yasuhara appeared enthusiastic about Izuku’s invention. “I would love to learn it, if you have the time!”

“That’s… fine by me. Though if you wouldn’t mind, in exchange, would you be willing to teach me about taking care for cats?” The vet stared blankly at him for a moment, to which he elaborated, “I have never taken care of one before, so I have no idea where to even start.”

“And you’re willing to take in a stray, one with special needs?”

‘Take in’ didn’t sound right to him. He may very well be the one trespassing in what used to be Yuran’s home instead. But he wasn’t oblivious enough to think Yasuhara would understand, so he keeps his answer to a simple nod.

It was the right thing to do, as Yasuhara nodded back at him with a determined look, and said, “please come with me.”

What came after was a flurry of empathetic people who fawned over Yuran, kept securely in his arms the entire time, and patiently instructed him about the things cats needed to live a happy life. Including the exact types of furniture they would benefit from, something he’ll have to ask Matsumori about later.

Naturally all of this was written down as well, but every single one of the additional instructions were appreciated, something he made sure to tell them.

All for One returned to the waiting room with Yuran in a generously gifted cat sized crate and a ‘cat owner starter kit’, courtesy of about half the veterinary staff. He kept quiet about the exact diagnosis Yuran had been given, but he did tell Izuku how old the Old Lady actually was, something the little hero had been wondering about for a while.

The truth would inevitably be exposed, but until then, Izuku should remain as ignorant as Yuran was, and spend however much time they have left together carefree. All for One would deal with all the consequences when the time came.

Everything would have been fine, if only there wasn’t the drive back to Kamiki to worry about. The thought alone caused the nausea that had finally faded away to return with vengeance. The next time he needed to travel somewhere, he would fly. No matter what.

Chapter Text

The day after that arduous visit to the city, All for One took Izuku to visit the Yamaoka family just as planned. 

Izuku got fawned over by the overjoyed miss Yamaoka, who claimed to have gained ‘another’ grandson— and All for One still couldn’t for the life of him figure out what happened to the first— and Kyouko, supposedly the only grandchild, was told about Yuran’s prognosis. Tears were shed, for two very different reasons.

Kyouko’s father, Shojiro, worked long hours in the city to earn the village some extra money, and as a result he wasn’t home when they visited. But according to miss Yamaoka he owned some camping equipment he wasn’t going to miss any time soon. Izuku was very excited about Matsumori’s suggestion to go camping, it seemed, for he talked about it to the Yamaoka’s for nearly half their visit.

Speaking of Matsumori, the old man was apparently very excited about it as well, to the point where he had taken a long detour walking Taiyo just to personally deliver a fishing rod, along with the necessary accessories and a snack. He had done that yesterday, even after being so busy for the entire day, giving All for One ample reason to believe that the old man had an equally inexhaustible amount of energy as Izuku did.

Thus on the fifth day of Izuku’s stay in Kamiki, in the early morning, All for One took him to the very first river he had purified a few months prior so they could sleep beneath the stars.

*

After the recent storm, All for One didn’t trust the stability of the canopy, and a light kick against one of the trees proved him right. So he found them a nice spot away from the tree line and some distance away from the river. Setting up camp wasn’t difficult, except for the tent brought along mostly for Izuku’s sake, but they managed that too after some trial and error. 

Using the fishing rod on the other hand proved to be a far greater challenge. He had never been confident around contraptions and machines, and fishing rods turned out to be another source of vexation. It didn’t help that he was very concerned with breaking it on accident, it was borrowed from mister Matsumori after all, and the rod looked well taken care off. Izuku had never used one before either, but he had seen plenty of them in movies, so he still knew more than he did.

It was thanks to Izuku’s worldliness that by the time the sun stood high in the sky they finally ‘casted’ a line into the water. Leaving them with nothing else to do, but wait.

It felt strange, staying so idle while hunting. He was more used to chasing and capturing his food with his own hands, instead of relying on tools to do the work for him. Seeing the shadows of fish pass by without acting made him increasingly restless.

“So…” Izuku began after some time had passed, “when is your birthday?”

All for One stopped glaring at the water. “Hm?”

“I mean, you know mine, obviously, but I don’t know yours.” Izuku frowned, as if something troubling occurred to him. “Actually I- I don’t really know anything about you at all.”

That was to be expected, All for One hadn’t spoken much about himself. Not on purpose, but rather because it never came up before, and because he never truly knew what to say. Just as he didn’t know what to say now.

The longer he stayed quiet, the more Izuku looked concerned, so All for One gave up on finding the right answer, and instead said, “I don’t know the exact date, but I do know it was somewhere in the middle of winter, as the weather was always cold whenever we celebrated.”

“Oh, okay,” Izuku looked a little downtrodden, “that kinda makes it hard to give something back to you.”

“There is no need for that.”

“But I really want to!”

All for One was about to reassure Izuku that he never actually celebrated his own birthday, before a strange sound stopped him, like something was straining.
Both their eyes widen at the same time, and they swivel towards the fishing rod All for One was holding onto. They were so distracted that they hadn’t noticed it began to move. The weight of something pulling on the line was bending it in a long curve.

“Quick! Pull it in!”

All for One did just that, but the fishing line didn’t agree with the movement and promptly snapped in half. A large shadow frantically disappeared back into the river, along with a glint of a silver hook.

“Well, there goes lunch…”

“At this rate it may as well end up being dinner.” All for One sighed through his nose and handed the fortunately undamaged fishing rod to Izuku, “please wait here for a moment, I’ll catch it myself.”

“You can do that?”

“I refuse to let even a single thing pollute the river after all the effort made to clean it.”

“Oh, um, good luck.”

He made sure to give Izuku a reassuring smile, before he walked into the river without even bothering to take off his shoes. This was way more in his element.
As he searched for his prey, ignoring the smaller fish brushing past him, something white gleaming off the surface caught his eye. It was his own reflection, and he had to admit, his hair really did appear to be glowing. He always hated how conspicuous it was, but Izuku called it ‘really cool’ so he supposed it wasn’t too bad.

And there, in the distance, he saw it; a glint of silver. While he carefully waded closer, the water reaching up to his ribs, he felt the ripples caused by the trashing animal. The remaining fishing line had caught onto a few rocks, effectively trapping the creature attached to it. He didn’t waste a single second, within a single swift movement All for One snatched it out of the water and killed it.

Somehow, the sight of the fish desperately fighting for its life made him a little sick. A feeling reminiscent of guilt. He had never sympathized with his food before, it was always just a simple matter of survival.

“What changed?” He whispered to himself with a frown.

By the time All for One returned to Izuku’s side, he had caught them three more fish and had instantly frozen his catch to keep it fresh until they were ready to eat. Catching and killing instantly didn’t cause any nausea, he noted distantly while Izuku showered him with praise over how ‘cool’ he had apparently looked.
Izuku thinks many things are ‘cool’, like All Might and unusually colored hair, examples he cannot find a connection between. One of these days he would have to ask him what ‘cool’ actually meant, for it seemed to have little to do with temperature.

Speaking of Izuku, the little hero didn’t like All for One doing all the work by himself, and went on an errand to collect some firewood nearby along with the strict warning not to lose sight of the river, no matter what. Izuku had taken the warning to heart and hardly even left his line of sight, much to his relief.

Some time later, which All for One used to store the fishing rod the exact same way it had been before it was used, Izuku returned beaming with pride and an armful of branches. Most of which weren’t ideal, as they were made of softwood or slightly damp, but there were enough suitable ones for them to manage.

He did make sure to instruct Izuku on what to look for, should he ever need it. His instructions were listened to with rapt attention. 

“For cooking, you should default to heavier hardwood, like those of cherry trees. For quick fires, lighter softwood such as pine works better. In fact, pinecones work exceptionally well, but you should be careful with those.”

‘Experience is the best teacher’, they say, but he’d rather spare Izuku the potential burn wounds from starting flash fires by accident.

Fortunately, starting a fire wasn’t something they had to worry about; one of his favorite quirks, Fire Breath, did the job just fine. It also gave Izuku something to talk about while they roasted their meal.

All for One took a bite out of a fish while it was searing hot to demonstrate another perk of Fire Breath. It didn’t actually taste any better than it would have had he waited for it to cool down, but it was still nice not having to wait at all. This heat resistance didn’t apply to spicy food however, much to his disappointment. That was still painful to eat, or on occasion even made it hard to breathe, and caused Regeneration to activate for no reason.

Once Izuku was done picking the quirk apart, he asked him a completely unrelated question that took him off guard, “how old are you? I mean, you can make yourself look younger than you really are, so I’m kinda curious.”

All for One considered giving a straight answer, but the trouble that could bring wasn’t worth it. “I am not entirely certain, but I think I’d have to be at least over a hundred years old.”

His answer wasn’t a lie, though it did feel like one. He was likely aged closer to double the amount, counting the future, but the exact number eluded him. Unlike most people he never bothered counting the years as they passed by.

Izuku gaped at him, and nearly dropped his food, before he wildly shook his head. “Over a hundred?!”

“…Yes?”

Did he give the wrong answer?

“Wow…” Izuku stared blankly into the distance for a moment, “are you immortal or something?” All for One didn’t comment on that. “But wait, if you’re over a hundred years old, then that means you were born in the Dawn of Quirks!”

“The… Dawn of Quirks?” It was the first time he heard of such a thing.

“Uh, yeah, that’s what the time quirks first emerged was called, starting with the Glowing Baby.”

Now that part, All for One knew about. It caused a massive upheaval and rage among the fugitives he stayed with. Yoichi had explained to him in words he could understand, that the glowing baby was an excuse for the important people to hide their crimes in, and pretend that they had never done anything wrong. 

Like they hadn’t been killing those with abilities like they were plague bearing rats for years. Like they hadn’t forced many to abandon their families and homes in fear for the safety of loved ones. Until heroes were made to clean up the mess they created.

He swallowed his anger at the memory.

Izuku, who hadn’t noticed the change in mood, asked entirely carefree, “hey, what was it like, you know, back then?”

All for One clenched his teeth to stop himself from saying something terrible, but the words that came out were still far colder than he would have liked, “it’s better if you didn’t know… if you did, you would never be able to look at the world the same way again.”

He didn’t know if it were what he said, or the way he said it, but Izuku grew very pale in a matter of seconds.

“I’m sorry,” All for One took a deep shuddering breath, “I don’t want to talk about it. If you really want to know, you’ll have to learn about it by yourself, and form your opinions on your own.”

“Was it… really that bad?”

All for One wordlessly shook his head, and began to cook the remainder of their food in the hopes that Izuku would forget about the subject and never mention it again.

The sun was beginning to set, painting the sky in vibrant hues of pink and red.

“Can I ask you another question?” Izuku asked while they washed their hands by the river, “it’s about something else, promise.”

All for One frowned at the water, and answered carefully, “I don’t mind you asking questions, Izuku,” in fact, now that he had calmed down, he felt foolish for getting upset about something so long ago, “what do you want to know?”

Izuku smiled, back to his usual self as if nothing had happened, “what’s your favorite food?”

“…”

“You know mine already— it’s katsudon— but I wanna know yours too!”

“Chocolate.”

“Huh?” Izuku stared at him, obviously caught off guard, but in a way far better than earlier. All for One patiently stared back. “Did you just say, chocolate?”

“Yes. Though I’d eat just about anything not poisonous.”

Getting poisoned wasn’t fun, it's the second life lesson he had ever learned and still remembered to this day. The first being that starvation was even less fun.

“You’re not a picky eater, huh.”

“I can survive without food and water for months, and should the need arise, I can sustain myself with only grass and tree-bark for a foreseeable amount of time.”

“That’s cool, but how do you know that?”

“I’m still alive right now.”

Granted, Immortality did revive him countless of times during his youth, so his memory on the matter may not be too reliable.

Either way, after that disaster, if the deeply concerned look he got was anything to go by, All for One figured that Izuku would be done with asking questions for the next century. Yet, it seemed that he underestimated the little hero.

“What’s your favorite color?”

“Green.”

Izuku heaved a deep sigh of relief.

The tent, which Izuku had been the most excited about, ended up functioning more or less as a piece of decoration. They slept by the dying campfire, back to back, beneath the stars. Or at least, Izuku did. All for One couldn’t help but keep a careful vigilance, an old instinct brought back to life by having company to protect.

By comparison, the next day spend by the river was uneventful. All for One caught some more fish and taught Izuku how to recognize the difference between hardwood and softwood. They explored the area as far as the eye could see, and a little bit beyond. And Izuku, claiming to return a favor, taught him about a few games you could play with a beach ball. The fact that they weren’t at the beach apparently didn’t matter.

On the way back up the mountain he had to admit that Matsumori was right, he could see the charm of ‘camping’ now. When he told Izuku as much, he was rewarded with a bright grin.

“We should do his again sometime!”

All for One readily agreed.

*

Time, as they say, flew by. Tomorrow afternoon miss Midoriya would return to take Izuku back home again, hopefully re-energized by her well deserved time off. The little hero had looked disappointed when All for One reminded him, something that still confused him several hours later.

Now they sat on the Engawa enjoying the last rays of the setting sun, and watched Yuran making a brave attempt at stalking a few birds. The pain medication had made her much livelier, and though she never succeeded in catching her prey, she never stopped trying either.

As for them, Izuku just finished recounting a grand tale about something called a ‘Sports Festival’, held by a heroics school named UA, and a peaceful quiet settled in its place, only interrupted by the merry chirping of birds and the occasional screech of a cicada.

Yet, All for One could tell Izuku was mulling over something. He kept wringing his hands and sneakily glancing his way, a kind of behavior that told him that the boy was thinking too much again.

Taking pity on him, All for One spoke up first, “though I cannot guarantee that I’ll be able to help, you are free to talk to me whenever something is bothering you.”
Izuku chuckled awkwardly and blushed, “so you noticed…”

All for One patiently waited for Izuku to speak his mind, which he eventually did, albeit with a reluctance he had never seen from him before.

“Do you… Do you think, that someone without a quirk… could be a hero?” Izuku kept his eyes trained on the ground, and completely missed the expression on All for One’s face, perhaps if he did, he would have stopped talking. “I know, I know I’ll never be able to do all those amazing things that real heroes do, that I’d only get in the way and be a bother, but I— I just…”

As Izuku spoke, All for One fought the urge to take the boy by the shoulders and tell him everything about the future, and the hero he had become. About the way he saved him, less out of duty, but rather out of a genuine kindness few dare to show so openly.

To him, Izuku was already the greatest hero the world would ever know.

But he cannot burden Izuku with that knowledge, and he cannot bear having to lay open all of his crimes so soon, and risk being hated all over again. So instead of answering directly, All for One asked him a question of his own, “what does it mean to be a hero?”

This got Izuku to look up at him again, and when All for One didn’t say anything else, he reluctantly answered, “to save everyone, with a smile… just like All Might…”

“Does that mean you have to defy reality or perform miracles to save lives? As far as I know, you don’t need superpowers to reach out to someone when they need it the most.”

Izuku’s chin wobbled, and his wide eyes were filled with unshed tears, yet he knew that the boy wasn’t upset. The expression he had was filled with hope. “So, you think… you really think, that someone like me could…?”

“I don’t doubt it for even a second.”

Whatever will Izuku had to hold back his tears crumbled away, and he cried, not loudly, but gently, in a way that screamed relief. All for One could only rub his back and wait quietly for him to calm down.

Once the tears slowed down to a rare sniffle, All for One said like it was a mere afterthought, “though you should at least be able to defend yourself.”

“I know…”

“I would like to help you with that,” All for One continued as if he hadn’t heard a thing, and smiled lightly, “if you are interested that is. I can try to teach you as much as I can and help you grow strong enough to fend for yourself.”

Izuku gaped at him, the only remaining traces of his tears were the redness around his eyes and the roughness of his voice while he whisper shouted, “are you kidding me?!”

All for One blinked.

“Of course I’m interested!” Izuku practically threw himself at him in joy, and buried his face into his shirt, forcing him to turn somewhat awkwardly to keep the boy from crashing into the wooden floor. “Thank you! Thank you!”

Glad to see he made the right choice, All for One patted him on the head with a honest smile. It was then that he remembered an important detail. “Though we will have to ask your mother for permission first.”

Of course, Izuku wasn’t deterred in the slightest, “right!”

Seeing that pure joy, and that glow of determination, All for One was startled to realize he wanted nothing more than to remain by Izuku’s side, to do more than just protect, and fight by his side instead. A feeling reminiscent of the time when Yoichi mentioned his desire of becoming a hero, much the same as Izuku did. Back then, his own desires had no value or importance. Survival was all that mattered.

Yet, for the first time in his life, All for One wanted to become a hero too.

*

“This is a dream”, he thought as he opened his eyes to an empty all encompassing void instead of a wooden ceiling.

The place he was in wasn’t dark however, not in the slightest. As far as the eye could see there were plants and trees, each emitting their own eerie glow. When he fearfully moved a hand in front of his face to test whether he could still move, even his own skin seemed to be glowing.

In the distance stood a dilapidated shrine, one he knew all too well. The very same as the one he spend most of his earliest memories seeking shelter in. That building, and this forest, was home. He knew where he was now, and within seconds after that realization, panic began to settle in.

This bizarre place was within his quirk, within ‘All for One’. The space that had served as his prison for over a hundred years while his quirk paraded his body around to enact its own evil desires.

This couldn’t be, he hadn’t been brought in here since that horrid monster born from his quirk finally died many years ago— in the future.

Did his fall through time bring it back to life? Had that monster ever truly been dead in the first place? Had it only been biding it’s time until now? What about Izuku, he had been sleeping next to him like he had all week, was he safe?

Just when terror was about to consume him, a flash of movement in the corner of his eye caught his attention. He swiveled around and was met… with Yoichi.

“I’ve been waiting to properly talk to you for so long.” Yoichi said. 

But it wasn’t his brother, it couldn’t be him. Yoichi’s eyes were a gentle green, not a terrifying empty white. The same he thought to have seen in a dream, except now he knew for certain it had been real.

“You can’t fool me so easily, All for One.” He sneered back, taking a few guarded steps away to put some distance between himself and the impostor. “You can drop the disguise now.”

“Disguise?” For a moment, ‘All for One’ looked taken aback, before the sliver of emotion was hidden behind a placid smile once again. “Ah, right— you have to forgive me, but this is the only appearance I can think of that you would be willing to talk to… without trying to tear my head off, that is.”

If that was meant to placate him, then it backfired. The glare on his face only grew all the more fierce. ‘All for One’ slowly took a step forward, forcing him to take another one back. His hands flexed with the urge to fight, to claw his way to freedom no matter what it may take, but no matter how much he loathed to admit it, ‘All for One’ wasn’t mistaken.

He could never bring himself to attack Yoichi, even if he knew it wasn’t truly him.

“It’s alright, there’s no need to be afraid, I don’t mean any harm.” To his surprise, ‘All for One’ proved its words by raising its hands in surrender and taking a few steps back. “I’m not the same as the All for One you once knew, that one is well and truly gone, crushed beneath the weight of its own ambition. I was born in the absence of that monster. A quirk like this will inevitably create an ego of it’s own, little can be done to prevent it.”

He didn’t lower his guard for a second. While ‘All for One’ continued its charade, he kept an eye out for any possible means of escape. “Don’t think such pretty words can deceive me. I won’t be trapped here while you rampage and destroy everything, never again.”

Though it was obvious that ‘All for One’ noticed his continuous attempts to escape, there was no anger nor any annoyance to be found. If anything, it appeared to be serene. 

“You’re right, that will never happen again, I won’t ever allow it.” It didn’t break eye contact even once while it spoke, and its smile had long since disappeared to make way for a light frown. There was a look on its face, carrying an emotion he couldn’t— or didn’t want— to understand. “I know you still consider yourself to be responsible for what happened all those years ago.”

“What are you trying to say then? That I’m innocent? Don’t make me laugh,” he clenched his fists and glared as viciously as he could manage in the hopes it would hide the anguish growing in his chest, “it was because of my weakness that you were born, because of how much of an ignorant fool I am, that Yoichi… that the people I loved were killed.”

“But you aren’t All for One,” this time, when it stepped closer he couldn’t move away, no matter how much he wanted to, “you are Hisashi, you are the twin brother of Yoichi, you are the friend of Izuku, you are the first and final victim that monster will ever claim.”

His eyes burned strangely, and it became increasingly hard to breathe. 

“How can you say such a thing…?”

“Because I know you.”

It was all too much, and though he should have been stronger that this, ‘All for One’s words were getting to him. His heart raced with reckless abandon, and a wild surge of strength allowed him to break free of whatever hold his quirk had on him, granting him the chance to run away.

Near the bottom of the mountain, were the trees thinned out into fields of grass and daisies, was something resembling a barrier. It stood between him and the void like expanse on the other side, only the vaguest outline of old buildings could be made out scattered here and there. The entirety of the space within All for One once looked just as dark and lifeless, but it changed the more quirks it contained, turning it into what some may consider a paradise.

But he can only ever see it as a prison.

He didn’t dare to approach the barrier, for fear of what it could do, so he sat some distance away from it, with his back to a massive sturdy tree. All he could do was hope that he’d wake up somehow, back in the safety of Kamiki.

Footsteps alerted him to unwanted company before its words could. “I’m sorry, I think I’ve said too much.”

He kept his eyes trained ahead, unwilling to acknowledge ‘All for One’ and give it even more power over the situation. Whatever that might be.

“… I’ve been thinking, perhaps I could help you train as well.”

But he was unable to ignore this. “You? Help me train?”

“Yes, I was inspired by your talk with the ninth.”

In this case, ‘the ninth’ probably referred to Izuku, though he couldn’t figure out why ‘All for One’ used such a strange name for the little hero. He looked at the quirk in suspicion, and all that he was met with was an open friendly demeanor.

When it became clear he wouldn’t respond, ‘All for One’ continued, “consider it this way; you want to be a hero, right?”

“Stay out of my head.”

“Then you can’t afford to keep acting like a loose cannon. You will have to learn how to control all of that raw power you have, and I can help with that, in fact, I think I’m the only one who can help you with that.”

“…What do you mean?”

‘All for One’ smiled, though it carried a tinge of something self-deprecating, contrary to what he said next. “Even though you have arguably the most powerful quirk the world will ever know, if you want to keep protecting the ninth, and fight by his side one day, you can’t afford to remain complacent. One day you will encounter a problem brute force cannot solve. I inherited my predecessor’s memories after all, so I would know.”

Despite the sound argument, he loathed the idea of agreeing, if not only because of all the risks it posed. Yet, this might be the only chance he’ll get any time soon. He offered to teach Izuku, but his finer control over most abilities, especially the more powerful combat focused ones, was sorely lacking. ‘All for One’ may very well be the only one he could depend on that could both teach him something useful and match him every step of the way.

“Fine. I agree.” He got to his feet but refused to look towards ‘All for One’. “Happy now?”

“Yes, very.”

“Then leave me alone.”

“Ah, right…” ‘All for One’ didn’t leave however, and walked into his line of sight to gesture towards the barrier. “If you want to leave, the easiest way would be to pass through here. This barrier leads to the outside, step through and you will wake up in the real world, without fail. I made very sure of that.”

Was this a trap? Another sly trick? If the barrier was a ruse, then passing through it would only imprison him again, allowing All for One free reign. Without One for All, Izuku wouldn’t stand a chance, he wouldn’t even be able to run away. No one in Kamiki had any means to defend themselves, they would be done for. That monster wouldn’t spare a single one of them, all just to drive him into despair.

Yet, no matter how hard he searched, he couldn’t find even the slightest bit of malice from All for One or the barrier. If he reached out he could freely manipulate any quirk of his choosing without issue. He had all the means to fight back.

He wasn’t a child any longer, nor was he as desperate or naive. Should the worse come to pass, he would be able to defeat ‘All for One’, without mercy. As Yoichi’s brother, and Izuku’s friend. That knowledge gave him the strength to pass by Yoichi’s impostor without sparing it another glance.

Hisashi stepped through the barrier, leaving All for One behind at last.

Chapter Text

On an everyday night, only a year after Hisashi took her in, Yuran stopped breathing.

Hisashi hadn’t known her for long, but Old Lady’s presence had become something taken for granted nonetheless. Whenever he slept, Yuran slept alongside him, and whenever he woke, she woke up as well. Until she didn’t.

The house felt unbearably cold that morning, and it took him far too long to process the reason why. The lack of another living being where there should have been one was… disturbing, for lack of better words.

He should have seen it coming, the old cat had been eating less and less as time passed, and the past few days she could barely even manage to move. Though Yuran kept trying, so Hisashi kept hoping for miracles, foolishly so.

When Hisashi stared at Yuran’s unmoving body, he didn’t cry. She looked so peaceful, she almost looked like she was sleeping. Wherever those who died went, he was certain Yuran was happier there, free from the body that had been failing her. Death was not a bad thing.

That afternoon, Hisashi incinerated the body and buried the ashes in Yuran’s favorite sunny spot in the garden. After that he informed Kyouko, just as he was told to do should Old Lady finally pass away, got surrounded by villagers who gave their condolences, and was given a young ginkgo tree to plant on Yuran’s grave.

Hisashi went on with his day. He consoled Izuku when the little hero cried over Yuran’s death, and avoided miss Midoriya’s heavy stare. He didn’t cry himself however, there’s no reason to. Because death was not a bad thing. Because Yuran was surely happier now.

Yet, as the days passed by, and those around him moved on with their lives, as people always do, Hisashi stood still every morning. He felt cold when he went to sleep, and cold when he woke up. 

In the fridge stood a helping of chicken porridge, which he fed to Matsumori’s dog, Taiyo. But the following day he made another portion without thinking about it, and he couldn’t bring himself to give it away.

This persisted for about a month, until Hisashi had enough and told miss Midoriya about it while Izuku was at school. She looked concerned, but not surprised.

“I think you might be lonely,” miss Midoriya said carefully, “I think you miss little Yuran more than you think.”

“But I am not alone.” How could he be lonely when he was surrounded by people day in day out? “And I have let Yuran go. There is nothing else I can do.”

Miss Midoriya stayed silent for a moment, clearly thinking about what to say next.

“Why… Why don’t you try to adopt another one?”

“Another one?”

“Another cat, the veterinary offered you the chance, right? Izuku told me about it. It might be a bit too soon, but…”

His first impulsive thought was that she worried about nothing, that he was just fine and only needed some more time to get rid of unnecessary habits. But that thought in and of itself left him with an unexplained stab of pain. Perhaps he should consider the advise he asked for a bit more carefully.

“Very well… I shall give it a try.”

She sighed in relief, and offered, “do you want me or Izuku to come with you?”

“I do not think that would be necessary.” Hisashi didn’t want to burden Izuku with something so minor. But he kept that notion to himself. “Thank you for offering.”

“Of course, you can go whenever you’re ready, make sure to take all the time you need.” She said with a sad smile.

Why was everyone so sad around him lately? Hisashi didn’t understand.

‘Whenever he was ready’ turned out to be that same weekend. 

Izuku went out with his mother to do something fun, and while Hisashi had been invited, he declined. He didn’t feel like joining them, and they didn’t need him to be there.

Since he had nothing better to do, other than the increasingly unattractive idea of sleeping the weekend away in a cold empty house, he went to the only veterinarian he knew. This one also had a shelter annexed to it, something that was common in current society, with animals often falling victim to villain attacks or quirk related incidents. He read that on a poster pleading for more awareness hanging by the front desk.

The person who the friendly receptionist had called out to help him was none other than Yasuhara, the same vet who treated Yuran last year. She, along with most of the staff, gave her condolences while he was led to the shelter.

“Yuran used to be very popular.” Hisashi said off handedly in the hopes to dispel the heavy weight of compassion he kept being showered with.

It worked, in a way, as Yasuhara gave him a somewhat incredulous look. One that disappeared behind a friendly professional smile right after. “Ah, yes, they all loved her.”

“… I am glad to hear that.” 

For it meant Yuran wouldn’t easily be forgotten, a fate far worse than death.

Once they arrived in the hall where the cats were kept, Yasuhara asked, “do you have any preferences in mind?”

Hisashi in matter of fact, most certainly didn’t. He hadn’t even considered his options or anything else beyond ‘going to the veterinarian’. Thinking quickly, he said the first thing that came to mind, “are there any that have a hard time getting adopted?”

“Quite a few actually!”

Hisashi nodded, and was led further in. He hadn’t expected it, but animal shelters were loud, very loud. Lining the walls were large cages containing cats of various ages, shapes and colors, all either begging for attention or simply voicing their dismay. There was even one who closely resembled Yuran, except younger and far healthier. But this wasn’t the one that caught his attention the most.

He stopped before a cage, and crouched down before it, looking into the wide eyes of the cat hiding in the darkest corner it could find.

“I know the amount of choice can be pretty overwhelming, but…” Yasuhara stopped talking when she realized that Hisashi had stopped following her. “Oh, did someone catch your eye? Let me see…” She walked back towards him, and took in a sharp breath when she saw what he was looking at.

Hisashi looked at the vet, who had gone silent, in curiosity.

“This one… Well, we named her Koko, and she most definitely struggles finding a good home.”

“Why?”

Yasuhara frowned sadly, “behavioral issues for the most part, but her age and appearance aren’t helping.”

The last reason was the most out of place to him. While the cat— Koko— had seen better days, as she was somewhat underweight, with her fur visibly thinner in a few places, her face looking especially rough, and lacked a tail, she wasn’t ugly by any means. The white fur colored with patches of black and orange was very charming.

“Is she that old?” Hisashi asked when he couldn’t figure out why appearance could be a problem.

“No, she’s about three years old, but most people want kittens, and not adult cats.”

Once again, he was attacked by that odd stab of pain, except that this one was accompanied by the burn of anger. He made sure to bury it at quickly as he could.

Yasuhara hadn’t noticed anything, and continued explaining, “but the biggest problem is definitely aggression, she’s barely willing to put up with anyone, even we can barely handle her. She just doesn’t like people at all… not that I can blame her.”

“Hm?”

“When Koko came in, she was in horrible shape, we learned that her previous owners wanted a ‘lucky cat’ and chopped off her tail. They noticed it didn’t work out the way they wanted it to, and abandoned her on the streets. A couple of patrolling heroes found her by a dumpster a few months ago.” Yasuhara had to take a deep breath before she continued. “She also misses a toe, on her left forepaw, and a piece of her left ear, she’s just covered in scars, but we think she got most of them in territorial struggles with other stray cats.”

“…She is a fighter.”

“Right. But I’m starting to fear the worst if—“

“Would you mind opening this cage?”

Yasuhara recoiled in shock, but Hisashi wasn’t going to budge and stared the vet back in the eye. He figured she would try to change his mind, but she didn’t, instead her own cat-like eyes sharpened with resolve.

“Alright, please try to help her.”

Hisashi nodded in agreement, despite not knowing where the request came from.

When Yasuhara opened the cage Koko yelled fiercely, baring her fangs and pinning back her ears. Yasuhara retreated quickly, but Hisashi didn’t. He slowly reached out a hand and waited patiently, unbothered by the tough act.

The yelling soon quieted down into grumbling, and then into silence. While her eyes were wide, and her posture remained cautious, she began to lean towards his hand. Koko walked strangely, with her belly dragging over the floor, back twitching the way deer did, ready to run in the blink of an eye.

Hisashi paid no mind to Yasuhara’s gasp when a small black nose nudged the very tip of his index finger, and retreated in a hurry, only to repeat the move seconds later. When Koko no longer fled every time, he lightly scratched at the cat’s forehead, the same way Yuran always liked.

What the vet couldn’t know, was that Hisashi created a thin barrier around the animal that dampened sound. Now that the chaos of the shelter no longer posed a threat, Koko calmed down and became friendlier. He knew all too well how terrifying loud noises and unknown places were, and in a way he could almost see himself in the fierce little stray.

Once he managed to carefully secure the still trembling Koko in his arms, and taking a moment to marvel in the warmth of her tiny body, Hisashi turned to Yasuhara, who, to his surprise, was crying. A lot of people around him have been crying lately.

He didn’t know what to say, so he simply spoke his mind. “Is Koko available for adoption?”

Yasuhara nodded wildly, and Hisashi didn’t like the way she looked at him like he just performed a miracle. “Of course, of course you can. Let me— I’ll go fetch the papers, please come with me to discuss what happens next.”

Just like that, Hisashi’s impromptu visit to the shelter resulted in a new companion.

A few days later, Hisashi got to take the little stray back to Kamiki. The vet insisted he should give Koko a new name, and after some deliberation he named her Madara. The name came from a character from a book miss Midoriya once lend to him, a character that— though far rounder— had a similar type of pattern and a round stubby tail. A bit of research revealed that Madara was written with the kanji for spot or speck, which made the name all the more fitting.

Some, namely miss Yamaoka, told him that Madara sounded too tough and masculine for such a ‘cute little kitty’, but Hisashi thought it was just fine. Madara was a fierce fighter after all.

It took a while, but Madara got used to her new residence. Once she no longer hid in corners and behind furniture, it became clear just how fierce she truly was.

Madara had plenty of energy to spare every day, she explored every room and often wandered around outside, though she never strayed too far from the house. She chased birds, and on occasion Taiyo, caught mice despite having plenty to eat, but kept her distance from villagers. Madara scratched furniture and walls, and kneaded Hisashi’s arms or legs whenever she got the chance. If she wanted something, she yelled for it.

Madara didn’t get along with Izuku right away. But the little brat troublemaker got endeared to Izuku’s kindness soon enough, and they became close friends. The rest of the villagers that frequented the house followed after.

To put it shortly, Yuran had been an Old Lady, but Madara proved herself to be a Little Brat. In every shape and form, Madara was different from Yuran. Yet, her company ensured the house wasn’t cold any longer.

On the evenings when Hisashi returned from visiting Izuku, Madara would lay against his side on the engawa. But her favorite place in the whole village, where she was found most often, was Yuran’s ginkgo tree.

One day Hisashi joined her there, and knelt before the tree for the first time since it was planted. The day Yuran died.

It was hard to breathe, and his eyes burned with unshed tears. 

Even All for One hadn’t bothered him for a long time, as if it knew something he didn’t. Everyone seemed to know something he didn’t, and Hisashi finally realized what that something was.

Death was not a bad thing, but it was sad. So very sad.

Hisashi rested his forehead on a thin branch, and for the rest of the day he hardly budged. Madara’s warmth broke whatever control he had over his emotions, gifting him the chance to grieve at last.

No matter what happened, time stopped for no one, even if they wanted it to.

Hisashi moved on eventually, like those around him had, and the memorial vase in his room gained another flower.

Life brought death, and death made way for life. That’s just how it was meant to be.

*

Izuku’s progress in learning martial arts went smoothly, after the little hero improved his stamina that was, which in itself had been a long journey. Miss Inko, whom had become something like a close friend to Hisashi, watched them from time to time, and Izuku was always happy to show off whatever new thing he could do.

Teaching Izuku, Hisashi learned, was actually a lot of fun.

All for One, who never stopped hiding behind Yoichi’s appearance, also made well on its promise. Though its idea of training included making Hisashi blow up entire boulders in many different ways without harming anything else, or in certain moments of insanity, he had to use lightning based quirks on pinecones without setting them on fire. Of course, training was stopped when it became even remotely dangerous. Whether it was for Hisashi’s sake, or for his immediate surroundings, it didn’t matter, caution was taken every step of the way.

As a result, training with All for One was far more taxing on the mind than it was on the body, earning Hisashi restless nights stewing in frustration whenever something didn’t go the way he wanted it to, until Madara got enough of his nonsense and nagged at him until he finally went to sleep.

But he made progress too, and while mastering a new skill or learning a new quirk combination was exceedingly rewarding in itself, Izuku showered him with praise whenever he demonstrated a new skill, which was perhaps even better. He could find himself getting addicted to the feeling. 

If only All for One could stop giving him those damn knowing stares, Hisashi wouldn’t have a single thing to complain about.

Hisashi practiced his new abilities by taking down villains that dared to ‘encroach upon his territory’, as Izuku once called it, and whenever All Might passed by the area— an oddly common occurrence— All for One would do the equivalent of disappearing into a hole. As a result, Hisashi and All for One remained completely undetected. Life was peaceful.

Until one day, the first week after summer vacation, in the year of Izuku’s twelfth birthday, the monotone of daily life was broken by, what Hisashi considered to be, an inevitable event.

Miss Inko was called to Aldera by a teacher reporting that a fight had broken out involving Izuku, and perhaps fearing the worst, she asked Hisashi to come with her. As moral support he figured, but also because she must have known that he would have accompanied her regardless of whether she asked or not.

Once there, in a dingy office small enough to make Hisashi grateful his younger appearance was of a more reasonable height, they were met with a curious scene.

Izuku sat in one corner of the room, completely alone. His uniform was slightly singed, and his expression couldn’t seem to decide between a rebellious scowl and a fountain of tears. Miss Inko spared not a single moment to rush over to him, but Hisashi spend another few seconds assessing the situation on the other side of the room.

Firecracker sat the the opposite corner, surrounded by fussing teachers and his thoroughly confused parents. The brat was clutching his right arm, which had been put in a sling, and glared viciously at the people surrounding him. And while that wasn’t anything new, the tears gathering in the corners of his irritated eyes definitely were.

Hisashi could already make a decent guess at what happened between the two, and the teacher that finally approached them only confirmed those suspicions.

The two boys had gotten into a fight, though the teacher neglected to mention who started it, and in this fight Izuku had apparently dislocated Firecrackers shoulder. The injury on its own revealed to Hisashi that it had been inflicted in self defense, as Izuku’s martial arts lessons hadn’t gotten much further than the likes of Judo and Aikido yet. 

And as for the reason why they fought, that too Hisashi knew was for a very simple reason. The same reason why Firecracker persisted showing nothing but animosity to someone so determined to be his friend; fear.

Firecrackers ego was as massive as it was fragile, and Izuku, who never gave up on his dreams no matter what and only grew stronger every day, was a threat. The only way Firecracker saw to solve this problem, was to lower his ‘rival’ down to a level he could easily overcome.

The constant insults thrown towards Izuku must have become too much to bear, and now that he had the means to defend himself, he finally retaliated against the people who always pushed him around.

Hisashi was proud. Miss Inko a bit less so, and Izuku just looked guilty for having harmed another person, even though it was entirely justified.

The Bakugo couple for their part still couldn’t believe what happened. They were somehow still under the illusion that Izuku and Firecracker were the same close friends they had been as toddlers.

Miss Inko however, wasn’t as ignorant. Not because Izuku ever let her know about the abuse he suffered at the hands of his peers, for he didn’t want to burden his mother, but because Hisashi had no such qualms and freely told her everything he knew.

Several attempts had been made to approach Aldera about the situation, but since they had no proof, nothing could be done. ‘Izuku was just too sensitive about his disability,’ the guidance counselor said, ‘if he wants to make it in life, he’ll have to develop thicker skin.’

It was nothing short of a miracle really, that Hisashi hadn’t unleashed Disintegration onto those fools on the spot.

But Izuku was known as a sensitive, meek child. Always polite to others, and endlessly forgiving to those who wronged him. The little hero wasn’t the type to turn violent for no reason, unlike Firecracker, which was enough for the parents to be suspicious about whether the story they were fed had truly happened.

Once they were all safely back home, and both boys were put in their rooms to cool off, Bakugo Mitsuki asked miss Inko what she knew, while her husband, Masaru, stayed home to keep watch. Hisashi was glad to hear that miss Inko didn’t hold back for a change, though he wasn’t in the room at the time as he remained by Izuku’s side.

It was safe to say that Firecracker’s mother was furious about the behavior of her prodigy son. Hisashi didn’t know what happened after Mitsuki left the apartment, and busy as he was with consoling both miss Inko and Izuku, he didn’t feel too motivated to find out. But he hoped that whatever consequences ensued would work out well, for Izuku’s sake.

Once the chaos had passed, and Izuku finished his off-the-record suspension from school, achieved with some ‘minor’ threats, Hisashi learned what the punishment had been for Firecracker.

The brat’s parents had put him into mandatory therapy, whatever that was, and made clear that, until he corrected his behavior, he wouldn’t go anywhere near any heroics schools, let alone UA. The last part especially must have been shocking enough to force compliance, as it wasn’t a secret that Firecracker dreamed of becoming the next number one hero.

As a result, the first time Izuku met his old childhood friend again, he was avoided and ignored, just as he was the next time, and the next.
Izuku was clearly upset about this, but ultimately left it be.

“Maybe it’s better this way,” he said one day, on the way back home, “we haven’t really been friends for years, now that I think about it, keeping our distance from each other is for the best, so it’s alright, I have to let go too.”

Izuku stopped walking, and looked up at the sky. “But I, I hope one day… we can be friends again.”

In the old future, when Hisashi had brought Izuku’s body to a place he could easily be found, and alerted the heroes to his location, the first person that had arrived on the scene was Bakugo Katsuki. He had become an accomplished hero at some point, who had carried himself with pride, even after losing his quirk alongside the rest of the word, until he found Izuku’s remains and broke down into inconsolable wails.

It had been obvious to Hisashi, that the two must have been close. At that time he found meager relief in having left his hero in the care of those who truly cared for him.

Hisashi recalled that scene over and over in his head, while Izuku accepted the loss of a friend.

“Perhaps one day, you may stand as equals again.”

Izuku smiled, wiped away his tears, and nodded. “I hope so too. But until then…”

Until then, life goes on.

Chapter Text

It was one of the last times Hisashi would walk Izuku home from Aldera. The little hero was going to move on to a different school soon. Despite that, Izuku clearly hadn’t had an easy day. He had been ranting about it for a while now.

“—And then the teacher just threw away the very important tests he was holding and said that our answer was obvious, since we were all going to aim for becoming heroes anyway!” Izuku threw up his hands in mirror of the teacher’s action. “That’s not even the worst if it, no, he just had to bring up that I’m quirkless and should probably try something else.”

“They never stopped with that, did they?”

“No, no they didn’t. It’s stupid, one of my classmates has long fingers as a quirk, long, fingers, how does that give him any kind of advantage?!”

The long fingers Izuku mentioned were flexible, sure, but also far too fragile to be very useful for heroics. Yet Hisashi could tell that mentioning it now would only draw even more ire.

“I am surprised Firecracker managed to keep quiet.”

“Oh no he wasn’t quiet, Katsuki loudly proclaimed for everyone to hear that he’ll become number one.”

In the cool shelter of a tunnel, Izuku heaved a deep sigh and leaned against Hisashi. “I’m glad that’s all he boasted about, really. He’s gotten far better after, you know, even though he still avoids me. Mom heard from aunt Mitsuki that he’ll be allowed to go to the entrance exam of UA.”

Hisashi gently nudged Izuku, earning him a tired smile. “That is a good thing, isn’t it?”

“It is, and I’m happy for him…”

There was an obvious ‘but’ lingering in the air that neither of them wanted to address, so Hisashi offered a different subject. “Are you still planning on joining UA yourself?”

Izuku hummed and walked a few steps ahead, before he turned around with a bright smile, “of course— !”

Right then Hisashi sensed something malevolent nearing them and pulled Izuku behind him. Only a second later that something burst out of a sewer grate, and another second was enough for Hisashi to identify it as a villain, with a quirk that turned the user’s body into liquid— or in this case, some type of sludge.

“Dammit, that persistent bastard, doesn’t he have anything better to do?!”

The villain, apparently male, turned towards them, and the teeth, floating freely were the head was supposed to be, grinned maniacally. The sludge quirk geared up for something. Hisashi activated Air Cannon.

“Ho? What’s this? A new…!”

A blast of air splattered the villain all over the walls, floor and ceiling.

“Izuku, are you alright?”

The little hero was gasping for breath, trying to regain his bearings. “’M fine! I’m okay, I, I think…”

Hisashi gently rubbed Izuku’s shoulders to help him calm down.

“What was that?!”

“A villain.”

“Yes! I know that!” Izuku raked a hand through his hair, and glanced at the sludge dripping off the ceiling. “What do we do now?”

“We should walk away calmly and pretend nothing happened.” Hisashi’s attempt at lighting the mood, sadly, wasn’t appreciated. “Or…” he continued to escape the deadpan stare he got for the effort, “we call the police to anonymously inform them of a villain attack, and then we leave like nothing happened.”

“I still don’t like it, but I guess there’s nothing else we can do.” Izuku fished his phone out of the bottomless pit of his backpack. “Let me look up the number real quick.”

“There is no need, I memorized it, could I borrow your phone? I do not have one.”

“Then why did you…?”

‘Hisashi!’ All for One called out, making him jump in fright, ‘leave Izuku and hide— right now!’

Before Hisashi could question anything, or process what he was asked to do, he activated Warp Gate and teleported on top of the tunnel, just in time for All for One’s presence to completely disappear. It’s the exact type of behavior the quirk showed whenever All Might drew near, and sure enough, not even a few seconds later, he heard Izuku shriek loudly along with an all too familiar voice calling out his signature “I AM HERE!”

“All Might?!”

Izuku sounded happy about it, at least.

It was impossible for Hisashi to see exactly what was going on, but even with the layers of stone and what else separating him from the number one hero, One for All was still impossible to miss. It was shocking that he hadn’t noticed it sooner.

“What was that?” Hisashi whispered harshly to All for One, “what is wrong with you?”

Predictably, he didn’t get an answer. All for One had hidden itself away so thoroughly he may as well be quirkless. Hisashi shook his head, heaved an exasperated sigh, and paid closer attention to the conversation below him.

“If you’re sure you’re okay, can you tell me what happened here?” All Might asked. Apparently he had asked about Izuku’s wellbeing earlier.

“I— I don’t know, I just got here, and the uh, the villain? Was already like this?” Izuku’s voice steadily rose in pitch as he lied through his teeth. Though it was blatantly obvious to anyone who knew him, Hisashi was glad he managed to lie at all, despite being face to face with his greatest idol.

Overcome with curiosity, Hisashi crept closer to the edge of the tunnel, only to jolt back when he saw All Might guide Izuku out into the open. The hero was currently out of uniform, but maintained his signature friendly smile, even though it looked strained.

“Is that so, well, there’s no need to fear, I’ll… collect the villain and you can safely return home to rest!” All Might gave Izuku a light pat on the shoulder and disappeared back into the tunnel to presumably do as he just said.

The moment the hero’s back was turned, Izuku looked around frantically until his eyes met Hisashi’s. He signaled to Izuku to stay quiet, and despite looking confused he complied. Though he never stopped glancing his way every so often.

Some time later, All Might appeared back into view, placing a large plastic bottle filled with sludge in his pocket. ‘So that’s what he meant with collect, how creative’. Hisashi thought to himself, and then he noticed a peculiar detail while the hero said his goodbyes and prepared to take off. “His pocket is coming loose…”

“Huh?!” Izuku did a double take, reached out to All Might, and grabbed onto the first thing he could reach, his belt. “No— wait!”

All Might didn’t notice Izuku on time and launched into the sky.

“Izuku!” Hisashi yanked on All for One, and for the first time since being reborn, the quirk resisted. “I do not know what your problem with All Might is, but I assure you, Izuku is far more important!”

All for One instantly relented, giving off a startled feeling, but Hisashi paid it no mind. He activated Dragon Wings and set off after Izuku, using Air Walk to bolster his speed. He caught up to All Might in no time.

Izuku desperately clung onto All Might’s leg, having lost his grip on his belt somewhere along the way. Hisashi saw the bottle containing the villain finally break free from its prison and drop to the ground. The two yelled something at each other, but the wind pressure made it impossible to decipher what. Then All Might changed course to land on the nearest roof in sight. 

To the hero’s credit, he made a smooth landing for someone without a flight related quirk. Not that it calmed Hisashi’s ire in the slightest.

All Might seemed uncharacteristically frazzled while he fussed over Izuku, who was— once again— catching his breath. Hisashi landed lightly about a meter away from them, causing All Might to jump back in… fright? The expression faded into confusion when he took in just who it was that appeared.

Hisashi however, didn’t relax. Instead he glared at both All Might and Izuku; the former tensed and the latter gulped audibly. ‘Good,’ Hisashi thought, ‘they should be apprehensive.’

“Do you have any idea how dangerous that was? You could have fallen down and died.”

The reminder made Izuku wince, and the boy looked down. “I’m sorry… I didn’t—”

“— I do not need to hear empty apologies right now,” Hisashi cut him off, and then turned to the still frozen hero, “and you, you are the number one hero, you ought to show more situational awareness.”

All Might blinked numbly, but instead of anything useful, the only word that came out of him was, “sorry?”

Hisashi pointed at the hero’s empty pocket, or the frayed mess that was left of it, “you lost a passenger.”

“Shit!” All Might jolted, glanced back and forth between Izuku and Hisashi, and the direction he just came from, and heaved a deep sigh. “Sorry, I’ll get you both down quickly and—”

“There is no need, just go.”

“Right, of course, be careful.”

With that, All Might jumped away again.

Hisashi used the following silence to recollect his bearings. Once a bit calmer, he turned to Izuku, who still looked thoroughly cowed. “Are you alright?” He asked, for what he hoped to be the last time today.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Izuku chuckled awkwardly, “never thought I’d hear All Might getting scolded like that.”

“He deserved it.” Hisashi offered Izuku a hand, which was gratefully accepted. “Yet, he seemed to be tired.”

Izuku hobbled on his trembling legs, and looked at Hisashi like he just claimed the sky was purple, “huh? You think so?”

“Perhaps it was only my imagination.”

It became clear after a while that Izuku wasn’t about to grow any steadier on his feet, so Hisashi turned around and gestured for Izuku to climb onto his back. Once the little hero was secure, he leaped off the building and descended to the streets below. Carrying Izuku on his back always felt comfortingly nostalgic.

*

The little hero had recovered pretty quickly once he was no longer trapped on a tall building, and was put back onto his own feet, to Hisashi’s quiet disappointment.

“Actually, now that I think about it, I think you were right.” Izuku said with a light frown. “All Might really did look tired, I hope everything’s okay.”

So he hadn’t imagined it then. Even if he rather would have. Once anger and fear fully faded out of his system, he felt a faint sense of dread thinking about what it was that had the hero run himself ragged. He felt like he wouldn’t like knowing the answer.

“There is nothing we can do about it, except trust the villain will be caught again.”

“…”

“You did everything you could, leave the rest to those who know what they are doing.”

And should the heroes fail to do even that, then Hisashi wouldn’t have any trouble finding the villain and delivering him to the police himself, mostly in one piece. Even now the sludge quirk grated on his senses from somewhere nearby, reeking of a selfish and cowardly nature.

“Even so,” Izuku began, sounding unconvinced, “I still wish there was more that I could have done.”

“One day you can, but that day is not today.”

Izuku chuckled mirthlessly.

“Hey, do you think we can keep all of this from mom?”

Hisashi raised an eyebrow, “do you think you’ll be able to lie?”

“I’m counting on you!”

“I won’t be able to lie to her either, and you know that.”

“Urk, mom is just too strong huh.”

“Indeed.”

Izuku was about to say something else, but was interrupted by a loud explosion from somewhere nearby. Even though Hisashi could sense many quirks activating and muddling together, a telling sign of danger, he knew well enough that Izuku wouldn’t be able to ignore whatever was happening. So when Izuku said, “let’s go”, he didn’t resist and followed close behind.

The closer Hisashi came to the scene, the clearer he could feel which quirks were being activated. The most obvious one being the source of all the noise; Bakugo Katsuki. The second most obvious was the sludge villain attempting to drown the poor brat. His frantic struggle made it impossibly for anyone to approach, and caused a great amount of damage to his surroundings.

For once though, Hisashi couldn’t blame Bakugo for causing so much chaos. Not with the sheer terror written all over the boy’s face. The sight made him nauseous.

Izuku saw who the victim was, and grew pale. “Katsuki!” His eyes darted around the scene, trying to make sense of what was happening. “Why, why isn’t anyone doing anything?!”

Truly, Hisashi wondered the same thing. One of the heroes present had a water based quirk, which would have been ideal to get the situation under control. Should Bakugo get soaked with water, he’ll be unable to properly use his quirk, since the explosions were created using his sweat.

The sludge villain may be a reason for concern, but Hisashi wasn’t worried about him. Water clearly didn’t make the villain any stronger, otherwise he wouldn’t be prancing around in the middle of the city on a warm sunny day. He could gather at a single glance that water would sooner be a weakness, as the sludge wouldn’t be able to integrate it properly, and even if it did, once the liquid body became too large, it would be unable to hold itself together.

He could also sense presence of One for All somewhere in the crowd, but it was wavering, emitting pure defeat and exhaustion, along with a biting surge of frustration.

Hisashi’s frown grew deeper, with All Might here he won’t be able to act without being noticed. He should guide Izuku away from the danger and reassess the situation from a greater distance. That was the plan, but he didn’t get the chance, he turned to Izuku just in time to see him run straight towards the sludge villain without hesitation.

For the second time that day Hisashi felt his heart skip a beat in fright. The world slowed around him as he watched Izuku throw his oversized bag at the villain, who flinched when it hit him straight in the eye, granting Izuku just enough time to grab his former tormentor and pull as hard as he could.

Upon being gifted the chance to breathe, Bakugo yelled at Izuku, “why are you here?!”

“Your eyes!” Izuku yelled back, just as out of breath, “you were pleading for help— I can’t just do nothing and look away!”

Sadly the effort wasn’t enough. The villain obviously wasn’t going to release his grip on his hostage. The villain reared back a limb in order to attack. Hisashi abandoned all misgivings and ran forward as well. He grabbed both Izuku and Bakugo by the arm, and in one firm pull he yanked them both free from the sludge’s hold.

At the same time Hisashi saw All Might appear from the corner of his eye, rear back his fist and call out, “DETROIT SMASH!”

Hisashi pushed the boys in hold onto the ground and, purely out of instinct, called forth Dragon Wings to shield them from the resulting blast of air. His heart pounded in his chest, so loudly that he thought even All Might would be able to hear it over the deafening cheering of the crowd.

For the second time that day, the sludge villain was blasted to pieces. Not even the piercing headache Hisashi suffered could stop the vicious sense of satisfaction at seeing justice served.

Hisashi was grateful to All for One. It had to foresight to prioritize Dragon Wings to protect Izuku— and the loud little brat being praised for his quirk— instead of a more practical quirk like Barrier. The former quirk had been seen by All Might earlier, and being seen using two wildly different quirks would have been too incriminating.

Though he would rather bite off his own tongue than thank the damn quirk for anything. He saved his words of gratitude for the medical officer that checked on him, even if it had been unnecessary.

Once he was finally allowed to leave, Hisashi went straight to the one person in the crowd he cared about, briskly waving off anyone who attempted to speak to him in the meantime. He got to Izuku’s side just in time to hear the last part of what the hero next to him, with a quirk that enhanced the strength of his arms, was saying.

“You can’t just risk your life like that, especially since you’re quirkless.”

“… I’m sorry, I just…”

Hisashi quenched the urge to tear off the hero’s arms, and approached as calmly as he could instead. 

“Izuku.”

The little hero perked up immediately, “Hisashi!”

He spared him a tight smile, before glowering at the hero, who had enough common sense to flinch. “I think you have said enough.” The foolish hero opened his mouth to say something, but Hisashi wouldn’t let him, “you should praise him instead, one quirkless boy was able to do something you heroes did not even dare to.”

Unwilling to hear any pathetic attempts at defending a shoddy performance, Hisashi gently took Izuku by the arm and guided him away. Neither of them said a word until their surroundings were quiet.

“I’m sorry,” Izuku said for the third time that day, breaking him out of his thoughts, “I worried you again.”

“Don’t apologize,” Hisashi ruffled Izuku’s hair, earning him a playful yelp, “I know you would do it again tomorrow if you had to.”

“…”

“I am glad you are alright.”

“Thanks.”

“That’s more like it.”

Izuku finally laughed, much to Hisashi’s relief. That didn’t stop him from commenting on one last thing though, “you should save your apologies for miss Inko.”
To his great amusement the little hero groaned, “I know, don’t remind me please, I’m begging you.”

This time, Hisashi sensed One for All’s rapid approach before All Might appeared from around the corner, so he managed to stop All for One’s attempt to teleport him to the other side of the city. After everything that happened, he wasn’t about to leave Izuku alone with anyone for no good reason.

“I am here!” All Might exclaimed, as always, “and just on time!”

In a curious echo of earlier that day, Izuku shrieked loudly, “All Might!”

“Thank goodness I managed to catch up to you, there is something I just have to talk to you about!”

Izuku wildly glanced between Hisashi and All Might, as if he weren’t sure who the hero was talking to, and after failing to find the answer, he awkwardly pointed towards himself, “what, me?”

“That’s right.”

All Might had been swamped by the media just moments ago, it was impressive he managed to escape so soon. The reason for all the effort must be important, but Hisashi wasn’t about to let him say whatever he wanted. He stepped forward and stood before Izuku, blocking him from All Might’s sight. Both of them stared at him with varying degrees of confusion.

“If you are here to admonish Izuku, then spare your breath, your colleagues have done enough of that already.”

Contrary to his expectations, All Might quickly raised his hands in surrender and said, “oh no, no no, that’s not why I’m here at all, I assure you. In fact, I wanted to thank him.”

Hisashi glanced at Izuku, who looked completely lost for words, and upon seeing the hero was being honest, he stepped aside again. “Thank him?”

“Yes, exactly!” All Might’s perpetual grin softened into something more genuine as he looked Izuku straight in the eye. “It was thanks to you, young man, that I found the strength to move again, you reminded me of what it truly means to be a hero.”

Now Hisashi also felt lost for words, so he silently watched the scene to unfold.

“I— I don’t understand… what, how?”

“My teacher once told me; a sign that someone is a true hero, is their ability to move to someone’s aid without thinking.”

“But, but I don’t have a quirk.”

All Might laughed, though it sounded less boisterous than usual. “So I’ve heard, but clearly you didn’t need one to do what had to be done.”

Izuku’s couldn’t hold back his tears, and Hisashi rubbed his back while the little hero sobbed into his elbow. “See, even All Might agrees.” Izuku nodded with a light sniffle, yet his joyous smile was impossible to miss.

Hisashi bowed lightly to All Might before he said, “thank you for telling him, sir, and I apologize for doubting your intentions.”

“There is no need for that, really.” All Might replied, albeit somewhat awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck. It’s a gesture Hisashi recognized from Izuku whenever he felt bashful about something. How odd.

“Actually,” All Might continued after a moment, “I feel a bit… uneasy, to ask this of such close friends, but would you mind if I talked to young Midoriya in private for a moment?”

It wasn’t a mystery what All Might wanted to talk about, but Hisashi still needed to confirm something. “If Izuku doesn’t mind.”

Both men turned to Izuku, who scrambled to respond, “yeah, I’ll be fine!”

“Very well, I shall wait for you around the block. Try not to take too long, your mother will worry.”

Hisashi knew well enough that Izuku had been offered One for All at some point in time, likely before entering UA. Even if All Might hadn’t given any obvious signs he wanted to retire, Hisashi was all too aware of the signs that years of heroics were beginning wear him down. ‘Prevention is the best medicine’, miss Inko once told him. It would be better to find a successor before he was forced to retire. At least, that’s what Hisashi believed.

He hoped sincerely that One for All wouldn’t force Izuku to fight him. If the quirk contained a type of will the way All for One did, chances were that it would find a way to communicate with Izuku and warn him about its enemy. There was no way for it to know that that very same enemy was already long dead, and there was no reason for it to believe anything Hisashi would say in his defense either.

Yet, Hisashi wasn’t going to interfere. No matter what happened, or how much All for One would beg him to hide, he was determined to stay by Izuku’s side until the very end. If One for All wanted him dead, so be it.

All he could do now, was wait and see.

*

Miss Inko was busy preparing a hearty meal to help Izuku recover from his stressful day. Apparently the whole event with the sludge villain had appeared on television, including Izuku rushing to Bakugo’s aid, All Might’s one-hit take-down, and Hisashi shielding both boys with Dragon Wings. He’s going to be stuck using only that quirk in public for a while. How troublesome.

As expected, miss Inko had been panicking when they entered the apartment, and it had taken a considerable amount of effort to calm both Midoriya down enough to allow anyone to properly speak. Explanations and reassurances were given, and many tears were shed, leaving Hisashi with the duty to hand out tissues.

After that, the both of them were ushered into the bathroom to freshen up, because they apparently smelled like sewage, and were ordered to get as much rest as possible until dinner was ready. This led Hisashi to where he currently was, seated next to Izuku, on the edge of the boy’s bed, trying not to look any of the many All Mights in the eye. He never managed being comfortable in Izuku’s room.

Izuku had changed into something more comfortable after a long shower, and was fiddling with the hem of his hoodie. The little hero had been lost in thought since his conversation alone with All Might. It must be weighing heavily on his mind.

Would he be accused of eavesdropping if he asked about One for All?

Before Hisashi could figure out the right words to say, Izuku spoke up, “do you… do you know about One for All?”

“Why would you ask that?”

“One for All, All for One… they kind of sound connected, so I figured, you know…”

Hisashi did know. All too well in fact. But it was a long story he didn’t want to tell at such a crucial point in time. So instead, he answered vaguely, “I’m familiar with it.”

“I knew it!” Izuku swiveled to Hisashi with a pleading expression. “Please! You gotta help me!”

That, he most certainly hadn’t seen coming. But he was used to such things happening by now, so he recovered quickly. “You should calm down first, and tell me what happened.”

Izuku spared no detail recounting All Might’s offer; to become the successor of One for All. He went as far as to guiltily mention the hero’s warning not to tell anyone. A warning that didn’t come as a surprise, considering that Hisashi, in a way, was the reason for it.

It confirmed his suspicion that All might had never stopped looking for All for One, and that certainly explained the hero’s tense behavior. Perhaps his quirk’s caution— bordering on pure terror— wasn’t entirely misplaced.

Once Izuku was done, he asked almost desperately, “what do I do? I can’t just accept, can I?”

Hisashi stared at the little hero utterly baffled, “why not?”

The offer to become All Might’s successor must be a dream come true for him, and yet he appeared to carry many doubts.

“Because— because I promised, to become the very first quirkless hero, I can’t just accept now…”

Why not? Echoed through Hisashi’s head. When did Izuku even make such a promise to begin with?

Izuku must have seen his confusion, for he explained with no small amount of confusion of his own, “that’s why you’ve trained me the past few years, right? So I could stand a chance, because you believed I could do it, right?”

“Of course.”

“Right, and because quirks are dangerous.”

That’s why you never gave me one, went unsaid.

“Certainly, but if there is one quirk you can trust, it’s One for All.”

“…Really?”

Hisashi nodded, “if you want to accept, then you should, it will make the journey ahead much easier.”

Izuku looked thoughtful, but thankfully much calmer. Still, some doubt remained, along with a tinge of something else. Something bitter. Hisashi put a hand on Izuku’s back, and said as earnestly as he could possibly manage, “it is your decision to make, and regardless of whether you accept the quirk or not, I know you will become a great hero.”

He felt the last bit of tension bleed out of Izuku’s body.

“Thank you, seriously, for everything,” Izuku was smiling again, and Hisashi was glad he managed to say the right thing, “I just… need to think about it a bit more.”

“Take your time, there is no need to rush.”

Izuku laughed, “All Might said the same thing.”

All Might was truly a good person. If only they weren’t enemies, perhaps they could have gotten along.

Chapter Text

As it turned out, All Might had messaged Izuku that he would remain in the area for at least the upcoming week. This gave Izuku a decent time frame to decide whether to become the next wielder of One for All or not. Though it ended up only taking a single night of barely sleeping to make one.

Hisashi knew this because he was convinced to spend the night in their apartment, and was woken up from his light nap on the couch before the sun had the chance to fully rise by Izuku leaving his room with phone in hand. The little hero headed straight towards him.

“I need your help.”

That sounded familiar. Though Hisashi wondered why this couldn’t have waited until a more humane hour. Not for his own sake, of course. Izuku clearly needed more sleep, and the heavy way he sat down next to him only cemented it further.

“Alright.”

“Thanks, so I texted All Might that I knew my answer and then he answered— not even ten minuted later— that we should meet and I just answered I didn’t know where so he suggested Takoba beach, you know, the one covered in trash, and that’s a good idea, no one goes there anymore, but I’m really— really nervous so I really hope you’re willing to come along with me, as moral support?”

Not a day passed that Hisashi wasn’t impressed by the amount Izuku could say within a single breath. It took a moment to parse through all he was just told, but he got the gist of it pretty well; Izuku knew what he wanted to do with All Might’s offer, they agreed to meet at an abandoned beach, and All Might had absolutely terrible sleeping habits. Good to know.

“When did you agree to meet?”

“In about an hour.”

The unpractical time wasn’t as much of an issue as it could have been. Due to the whole nonsense with the sludge villain, Izuku earned himself a few days off from school to recover. In addition, it also served to accommodate All Might’s busy schedule as an active hero.

“Very well, you should get ready then.” Hisashi looked pointedly at Izuku’s All Might themed pajamas, “or will you head out like this?”

Izuku blushed. “No, uh, I’ll be right back!”

Miss Inko had somehow slept through the noise of early morning activity, so Izuku left her a note to let her know that he was going to meet All Might, a detail he underlined in his enthusiasm, along with Hisashi and that they’ll be back soon, hopefully before lunch. Skipping breakfast wasn’t ideal for a growing teenager, but Hisashi knew well enough that now wasn’t the time to remind him of that. Even if he wanted to.

They arrived at the beach a tad early, since Hisashi had flown them there, which gave them the time to take in the view. When Izuku mentioned the beach was covered in trash, he wasn’t overstating it. The massive piles of rusted metal and dirty plastic made it hard to see even a bit of the horizon. Some of those piles shuddered precariously with every gust of wind. Not to forget that it smelled exactly like a dumpster, not bad enough to make Hisashi wrinkle his nose, but certainly bad enough to make Izuku wince once in a while.

Then, several minutes of aimless small talk later, Hisashi sensed the approach of One for All. Its presence felt like a warm blanket and a murderous migraine all at once. Something he may have to get used to.

All Might greeted them the same way he did yesterday, the early hour didn’t diminish his energetic attitude in the slightest, and they exchanged the usual standard pleasantries. When All Might glanced curiously, and suspiciously, his way, Hisashi answered the unspoken question with, “I am moral support, do not mind me.”

It was enough of an explanation as far as he was concerned.

A tense silence spread out between them afterwards, until All Might took it upon himself to say, “so, young Midoriya, you mentioned knowing what you wanted to do?”

Hisashi would have thought he was being purposefully vague, if it weren’t for the nervous tone he spoke in. It was amusing to see the number one hero of Japan anxiously shifting in place while Izuku collected his nerve to speak.

“Yes, I,” Izuku took a deep breath and bowed down at the waist, “I accept your offer!”

Both Izuku and All Might heaved a sigh of relief. Hisashi was glad he managed to keep from doing the same.

“I’m glad to hear it! I’ll need a few days to prepare a workout plan, but until then,” All Might gestured to the nightmare trash-heap before them, with a signature smile as bright as the rising sun, “you can start by cleaning this beach!”

Hisashi was begrudgingly impressed by the hero’s foresight— and optimism— to meet up at the same place where Izuku’s training would begin. Even if the idea of Izuku spending any amount of time surrounded by trash didn’t sit well with him.

What kind of workout plan took several days to complete anyway? Such a thing shouldn’t take more than a few hours at most. Just how much did All Might expect Izuku to do?

Hisashi shook off his concerns. Surely a hero as accomplished as All Might knew what he was doing. If nothing else, he should at least have plenty of experience with his own teachers to work with. 

All for One did the equivalent of a shudder, which Hisashi stubbornly ignored.

“The whole beach?!”

Izuku jumped when a pile of trash surrendered to gravity.

“Yes!” Hisashi frowned. All Might took a step back and hurriedly corrected himself, “at least as much as you feel confident you can handle.”

A nervous glance was send his way, and Hisashi felt compelled to nod in approval. It served to make both All Might and Izuku relax a little, strangely enough. Though he stopped them in their tracks when it became clear they wanted to begin right away. Izuku was still only a fourteen year old boy, he reminded them, one who needed to eat three meals a day and inform his mother of important life decisions. And also one who shouldn’t be handling rusted pieces of metal with his bare hands, especially when one reckless mistake could cost him a limb.

Never mind regeneration quirks, Hisashi simply didn't want Izuku to experience what regrowing limbs felt like.

They agreed to meet up at the beach again the next day, at a more reasonable hour. Hisashi hoped All Might would be able to tear himself away from his work long enough to do more than just show up.

*

Miss Inko didn’t object too strongly to Izuku starting hero training with All Might, though she did insist that Hisashi would keep a close eye on him as much as possible. She didn’t elaborate on the reason why, but Hisashi supposed it could be out of concern for her son’s safety. A high profile hero has many enemies after all.

He didn’t mind the extra responsibility, accompanying Izuku wherever he went had become like a habit by now.

When All Might, who had miraculously shown up on time, perhaps to prove his dedication, wanted to talk to Izuku, Hisashi moved a respectable distance away. Hopefully this would give them ample amount of opportunities to discuss One for All. He never moved too far away through, he kept Izuku and whatever precarious trash-heap he stood close to within sight.

One may call this paranoia, and an unfounded one since All Might didn’t stray far either, but Hisashi didn’t like taking risks when it came to Izuku’s safety. He watched Izuku carry a microwave over to the van All Might had arranged. It looked heavy.

Hisashi wanted to help, badly, but he knew it wouldn’t be appreciated. This was Izuku’s training, it’s only natural that it would be hard. Yet, doing nothing was terribly frustrating.

The sun moved far enough across the sky to cast a shadow over Hisashi’s current perch, on top of a fallen refrigerator. All Might approached him, cautiously, as he usually was whenever he spoke to him, carrying two brightly colored metal cans. One was offered to him.

“Do you want something to drink?”

So that’s what they were. He’d seen them before when Izuku bought something similar from those weird electronic shelves called ‘vending machines’. All Might must have gotten his from one too.

Hisashi took the offered can, colored white and green, “thank you.” Though he couldn’t remember how they were supposed to be opened.

As if he noticed his confusion, All Might slowly opened his own can while keeping his hands in sight. Hisashi copied him, and was elated when it worked on his first try. Somehow it looked like the hero was happy for him too.

“I don’t think I’ve introduced myself yet,” All Might held out his right hand, “my name is Yagi Toshinori, and you are…?”

Hisashi glanced at the offered hand, but didn’t move to accept it. “I am Hisashi, pleased to meet you.”

The hand hung in the air for a moment until All Might, or rather, mister Yagi gave up on it. “Likewise… erm, is it just Hisashi? Is it alright for me to call you that?”

“I am not certain what else you expect of me.”

“Never mind, it’s alright, it is nice to meet you too, Hisashi.” Mister Yagi cleared his throat, “if you don’t mind me asking, when did you first meet young Midoriya?”

Hisashi had to think about the answer, and took a sip from his drink to buy time. He was pleasantly surprised to be met with the taste of green tea. “We met about seven years ago, I think.”

Mister Yagi nodded, appearing to be deep in thought.

“Izuku always wanted to become a hero.” Hisashi said, regaining the attention of his company. “That is why I am grateful you are willing to help him towards that goal. It has been a while since I have seen him look as happy as he does now, I think the harassment from his peers was starting to bother him.”

“Harassment?!”

“He is quirkless after all, for most that is reason enough to hassle him.”

Mister Yagi went quiet for a while. “I hadn’t noticed… to think that sort of behavior is still so common…”

He didn’t need a mind reading quirk to figure out what the hero was thinking. “You cannot reasonably expect yourself to be everywhere at once, All Might. Even you cannot save those you know nothing about.”

Mister Yagi laughed, albeit nowhere near his usual bluster, and rubbed the back of his neck. “I know, I know, a few friends of mine keep telling me that all the time.”

“You should listen to them more often.”

“Maybe I should.” The hero sighed, and took a large gulp of his drink. Hisashi still didn’t know what the bright red can contained, the symbols printed on it were impossible for him to read. He didn’t get to ponder about it for long, because the hero continued, “I used to be considered quirkless too.”

Hisashi froze. Where did this sudden confession come from?

“My quirk came in very late, so I should have known better. But when I was younger, quirkless people weren’t all that rare yet.” Mister Yagi kept talking, seemingly ignorant of the astonishment on Hisashi’s face. “I have to admit, in another life I would have discouraged young Midoriya from becoming a hero. It’s a dangerous job even with a quirk— let alone without one, but I was inspired by his courage, he reminded me of what it truly means to be a hero.”

There was not a single sign of deceit to be found, he earnestly spoke from the bottom of his heart. Hisashi couldn’t help but listen to every word.

“Sir Nighteye might be cross with me for choosing a… protege so impulsively,” mister Yagi chuckled nervously, “I can’t help it though, it just feels right.”

Hisashi wasn’t certain what part to comment on. All Might shared Izuku’s tendency to say a lot all at once. A certain quirk currently doing the usual disappearing act was just the same. Instead of wasting time trying his hardest not to say something incriminating, Hisashi picked the fist thing to come to mind. “Sir Nighteye?”

“He’s my sidekick.”

“I see, so he is one of those people you consider a friend.”

“What makes you say that?”

“You would not have cared so much for his opinion otherwise.”

Their conversation got interrupted by Izuku jogging their way panting for breath. It looked like it was time to take a break. Hisashi wondered if there was another one of those vending machines nearby, he wouldn’t mind some chocolate along with his cold green tea.

A few days later the beach was short a couple of potential death traps. Hisashi disintegrated a few dangerous looking objects while no one was looking, unable to sit by and do nothing while Izuku was working so hard. He thought he did a good job being subtle about it, at least.

Mister Yagi joined them, while proudly carrying a folder of papers, a few hours after Izuku began disassembling another mountain of trash. “I see a lot of progress is being made, great work young Midoriya!”

Izuku wiped some sweat off his forehead with a bright grin, “thanks All Might!” Then when he glanced at Hisashi his grin became slightly mischievous, “I had some good help.”

“So you noticed,” Hisashi had enough social awareness to incline his head, “my apologies, I was unable to keep myself from acting.”

“No no, it’s fine,” Mister Yagi rushed to reassure him, “in fact, I must praise you for your compassion! Just try not to help too much.”

‘Such a kind person,’ he thought warily, ‘perhaps even too kind.’ “Understood.”

“I appreciate the help though, cleaning the whole beach by myself on top of everything would have been a bit much.”

Despite the increased workload, Izuku hadn’t let up on the exercise regiment Hisashi created for him. Though that was likely going to change once mister Yagi formally began training him.

Hisashi glanced at the folder mister Yagi was holding again, and failing to keep his curiosity at bay, he waited for the two to finish their small talk before asking, “what did you bring along?”

Mister Yagi laughed boisterously, “I’m glad you asked! This,” he displayed the contents of the folder, “is young Midoriya’s new exercise and dietary plan!”

All for One crawled out of its hole just to cringe violently. Hisashi, by proxy, grew anxious. What did his quirk know that he didn’t?

He watched Izuku eagerly accept the surprisingly thick plastic folder with reverence. There was not a single trace of hesitation to be seen on the little hero’s face. No doubt would he follow the plan to the letter. Unable to hold himself back any longer, Hisashi moved over to read the first page.

“…?!”

Hisashi grabbed the folder out of Izuku’s hands and quickly paged through the entire thing. Though he struggled with reading quickly, a glance at every page was enough to reveal a disturbing pattern. He closed the folder with a snap and before anyone got the chance to voice their dissent or confusion, he hit mister Yagi over the head with it.

“Are you trying to murder him? You do remember that Izuku is only fourteen, right?”

“Hisashi!” Izuku reached out to try and take back the folder, but thanks to the difference in height he easily kept it out of reach. The source of Hisashi’s grievance on the other hand was still recovering from shock.

“I am serious, Izuku. This plan is a veritable race against time, one may assume you are expected to save the world within the next year.” It wasn’t an exaggeration in the slightest. The regimen, if followed, would be an extremely strenuous ordeal, one that expected far too much from someone with a life still ahead of them.

“That’s— I’m sure All Might had something in mind,” Izuku gave his new ‘mentor’ a pleading look, “right?”

Mister Yagi didn’t answer for a while.

“I must admit something, this is the first time I ever attempted to teach someone.”

“Where did you get this from then?” Because it may be a mess, and expected miracles, it was also far too detailed to be written by someone with not a clue what he was doing.

“It was the plan I followed when I was younger— I made some adjustments, of course!”

Meaning that the plan, which was borderline torture, was in fact already made easier.

At that exact moment, the difference between Hisashi and Izuku had never been greater. The little hero had a sparkle in his eyes, one that proved a conviction that All Might could never do wrong, yet if Hisashi had a mirror within reach, he surely would have seen the light leave his own. He allowed Izuku to snatch the folder back, but he leveled both him and mister Yagi with a stern glare that promised no leeway.

“We are going to rewrite the plan to suit Izuku’s abilities.” Hisashi’s eyes narrowed even further at mister Yagi, who nodded meekly. “Right this instance.”

Thus Izuku was left to admire a piece of All Might’s history while Hisashi guided mister Yagi through every single step of creating a proper lesson plan. He didn’t comment on mister Yagi’s insistence to focus as much effort as possible on building more muscle mass. Nor did he comment on the the way All Might behaved like his worst enemy was breathing down his neck day in day out.

There was no point in asking questions if you already knew the answer, after all.

*

Hisashi made sure that Izuku’s focus laid solely on mister Yagi’s revised, far more forgiving, lesson plan, and that he won’t try to do more than he’s asked to. Being a workaholic appeared to be ingrained in a hero’s nature, making the risk of injury far too high for comfort, and Izuku was a very heroic individual. 

Mister Yagi had taken all the advice he was given to heart, and proved his dedication to teaching Izuku properly by stepping in whenever the little hero tried taking things too far. As a result, days passed by without incident.

This was enough for Hisashi to be comfortable with heading back to Kamiki for some training of his own. Watching Izuku working so hard on cleaning Takoba inspired him to put in more effort himself. If he wanted to be useful in the future, he will have to able to control his more destructive quirks without causing immense collateral damage.

Just as always, his only available training partner was All for One itself, made possible by the quirk manifesting itself using a cloning ability, among other things. Quirk focused combat training predictably proved to be far more difficult than anything he had ever tried before. Fighting someone with the appearance of Yoichi similarly proved to be a great challenge. But no matter how often he failed, or how frustrated he became, Hisashi kept trying. Just like Izuku no doubt was.

Seasons passed. Hisashi continued to accompany Izuku once a week while he jogged to the beach, and whenever they reached their destination he was amazed at the progress made. By the time winter was coming to an end, the Takoba Municipal Beach Park was freed from all its trash.

To celebrate the occasion, mister Yagi brought along a variety of snacks and drinks. None of drinks were in cans, despite their surprising quantity. Hisashi appreciated the gesture for what it was.

When it was mentioned that almost ten months had passed since Izuku’s training began, Hisashi hardly believed it. Ten months, over three hundred days. That was a lot of time, wasn’t it? Yet he barely noticed it passing by at all.

Hisashi idly listened to Izuku talking with mister Yagi, the hero he always admired. The two of them had become much more comfortable around each other while training. He caught Izuku’s eye, and excused himself to go for a walk along the water. It wasn’t a lie, he genuinely wanted to enjoy the fresh salty breeze, but more importantly, he wanted to give mister Yagi the chance to pass on One for All.

He gathered that the entrance exam of UA would take place on the twenty-sixth of February, and a glance at the family calender this morning had revealed that today was February the eighteenth. At this rate, Izuku may have to take the entrance exam quirkless, which was less than ideal. Spontaneously developing a quirk in the middle of a school filled with heroes would definitely gather too much attention. While Hisashi wasn’t certain how many people were aware of All for One, he knew for certain there were at least a few people aware of One for All. Surely mister Yagi must realize that too.

Then, just as he was about to entertain the idea of jumping into the ocean for fun, Hisashi felt a spike of energy nearby. One powerful enough to make his skin prickle with caution. One familiar enough to make his eyes burn.

‘One for All has successfully been passed on…,’ All for One muttered in the back of his head, it’s voice heavy with an emotion Hisashi didn’t understand. ‘…It’s earlier than last time…’

Perhaps he should appreciate the view for a little longer. Just a little longer. Surely Izuku would tell him how it went on the way home. He could wait.

His normally flighty quirk remained near the surface, unheeding of the close proximity to One for All, as if it were bracing itself for something. Hisashi didn’t like the change in the slightest.

*

The day of UA’s entrance exam arrived, and just as requested of him, Hisashi arrived at Izuku’s apartment just before the break of dawn. Miss Inko was also already awake, she had taken the day off to support her son, and she let him in without much ado.

Izuku was restlessly checking the contents of his oversized schoolbag. He barely noticed Hisashi approach, and nearly jumped out of his skin when he finally saw him. The shocked expression quickly morphed into an almost nostalgic pleading look.

“Hisashi!” and it wasn’t hard to guess what came next, “help me!”

“Do you want me to come with you to UA?”

“Yes, please, I’m begging you!”

“There is no need for that.” Of course, Izuku had gone straight back to re-reorganizing his bag while mumbling under his breath, so Hisashi was ignored.

Miss Inko’s soft laughter could be heard from the living room. “He’s been like this since three o’clock.” Though her tone was light, there was no denying the underlying concern. “I think the nerves are getting to him.”

“That cannot be helped, I suppose.”

Hisashi figured that the worst of the jitters would have passed by the time they arrived at UA. But he was sorely mistaken.

They had been forced to spit up for a while because Hisashi refused to take the train and Izuku refused to be carried. When they met up again at the next station Izuku all but stuck to Hisashi’s side like he would disappear if the distance between them grew more than a meter. Not that it would happen, All for One’s hadn’t pulled a disappearing act since Izuku inherited One for All.

Despite everything, Izuku hardly spoke a word, not even to himself. Though it was obvious that the little hero was thinking about a thousand things at once. His nervousness was beginning to grow contagious, and to make matters worse, they were far from alone. Countless of people were heading towards UA, and most of them weren’t exactly tranquil either. It left Hisashi feeling distinctly on edge.

Hisashi soon had enough of the tension.

“Izuku.”

“Yes?!”

“Calm down, you are thinking too much.”

“Ah, sorry.”

That wasn’t what he wanted either. “It’s alright, I am certain you have a lot on your mind.” It was then that a niggling concern of his own raised its head. “You do wish to take the entrance exam, right? If you would rather not then—”

“—No, I really want to go through with this! It’s a dream come true, I swear!” Izuku said frantically, and then lowered his head once more, “it's just, One for— I mean, my quirk still hasn’t awoken yet. You mentioned it was still dormant, but I can’t feel it at all… what if I fail? I don’t want to disappoint anyone.”

“You won’t, we are already proud of you; your mother, mister Yagi, and I.” Hisashi hesitantly reached out to place a hand on Izuku’s shoulder. “Even if you fail today, you can always try again next year, or the next.”

“You really think so?”

“I know it. Whatever happens today will not be the end, it will merely be the beginning. Just do your best and it will be enough.”

Izuku rubbed his eyes and nodded firmly. “I— yeah, I’ll do my best!”

They approached the massive gate bearing UA’s logo, and Hisashi felt the uncomfortable sensation of being watched from all sides. He wanted to shrug it off, as he normally did, but something told him to stay vigilant. Though he made certain to keep those concerns to himself. Izuku had enough on his mind.

“No more overthinking, just do what feels right,” Hisashi gave Izuku, what he hoped to be, an encouraging smile before lightly pushing him through the gate, “I will greet you here when you are done, I promise.”

“Thanks! I’ll make sure to tell you how it went, and—”

“Just go already.”

Izuku grinned and jogged towards the main entrance while snickering.

By now the little hero was calmer than he had been for the last week, and most of the roiling anxiety seemed to be replaced with pure determination. Even though his nerves were still obvious to see for Hisashi. He winced when he saw Izuku trip over his own feet, and made a move to catch him with Telekinesis before he could hit the ground face first. Except that it wasn’t necessary, a girl roughly Izuku’s age tapped him on the arm causing him the float above the ground.

The girl’s quirk had a somewhat floaty feeling to it, almost to the point of inducing vertigo. It seemed harmless however, so Hisashi didn’t bother figuring out exactly what it was.

Upon seeing who saved him, Izuku’s face grew bright red and his mannerism became much more awkward. The girl didn’t stay long however, Hisashi couldn’t hear what they were saying, but it seemed like she gave a few kind words of encouragement before hurrying away. Izuku slumped once left alone, before dejectedly resuming the way into the building along with the crowd.

“Ah, he’s at that age.” Hisashi mumbled to himself, unable to keep the amusement off his face. Inko told him about it; puberty. A memorable conversation, but at least he knew what to expect now. Izuku was growing up all too quickly.

While waiting until the end of the entrance exam, Hisashi decided to make use of the nice weather and find a park nearby. He was glad to have had the foresight to bring a book, it made it easier to blend in with the people around him. 

The little recommendation game at the Musutafu Central Library hadn’t ended yet, even if they stopped bothering with themes years ago. Last time, Izuku suggested a classic book by a famous writer titled; ‘I Am a Cat’, claiming that Hisashi would like its sharp sense of humor. Hisashi readily admitted that he was right, its titular main character felt quite relatable, and the book was quickly becoming his new favorite.

Despite being fluent in Japanese, Hisashi was still a slow reader. Some sentences or Kanji required a lot of effort to make sense of, and whenever he enjoyed what he read, he tended to read even more slowly just to savor the act of reading in itself. As a result he only read about twenty pages when something distracted him. A nagging feeling in the back of his head. A strange static in the air, accompanied with the smell of lightening storms.

An elderly lady passed by, leisurely walking her dog. A few city pigeons feasted on a piece of bread dropped on the street. A small bird casually landed on the bench next to him, hopping around while looking for insects to snack on.

There was no danger to be found. Yet, Hisashi couldn’t help but brace himself. Something was going to happen.

Knowing fully well that he wasn’t going to resume reading any time soon, Hisashi placed a bookmark between the pages and closed his book. He took a deep breath, and focused on the dusty city smell. Just when he was about to lean back, something exploded.

Not literally, there was no sound nor disturbance anywhere, but Hisashi felt it; a surge of energy so powerful he would have doubled over had it not been over in a second. Its presence lingered on the edge of his senses, bright as a lighthouse, impossible to ignore.

This presence was all too familiar. Sharp and biting, yet warm and comforting. Vengeful enemy and dear friend. One for All. Izuku.

Hisashi stood up, startling the local bird population into taking flight. But as soon as he was about to activate Dragon Wings and rush towards UA to find out what the danger was, One for All calmed down again, returning to a more dormant state.

‘It’s alright,’ All for One said to him, its tone sounding suspiciously remorseful, ‘the ninth activated One for All for the first time, but he is safe.’

“Do you really expect me to take your word for it?”

‘What other choice do you have?’

Hisashi didn’t deign to answer that.

*

Izuku was one of the last few people to leave UA, and Hisashi was wrought with bad memories upon seeing the defeated look on his face. The freshly awoken One for All burned his eyes, but Hisashi didn’t let it phase him. He was more concerned with how exhausted the little hero appeared to be. There was no illusion that the entrance exam would be easy, but he hadn’t expected Izuku to come out of it looking like he hadn’t slept for days.

“Do you want me to carry you back home?”

Izuku startled, and One for All made another flare of energy, as if it wanted to push Hisashi away. “Huh?! No, I’m fine, I can walk.”

Hisashi didn’t argue with him, and resisted the urge to reach out and try to comfort him. Even though One for All wasn’t capable of harming him, he preferred not to anger it any more than he already had.

“Alright, do not hesitate to let me know if you need anything.”

This earned him a weak smile.

As they walked in silence, Izuku acted like there was something he desperately wanted to say, but didn’t dare to. It only served to aggravate the nagging concern plaguing Hisashi. He always hated being ignorant.

Halfway to the train station, Hisashi gave up on waiting, and nudged Izuku into an alley where they could talk undisturbed. 

“You activated One for All during the exam.”

It wasn’t a question, and Izuku knew it. He answered anyway, “Yeah, I did. Were you able to sense it from so far away?”

Hisashi smiled wryly, “I would have sensed it from the other side of Japan.”

Izuku winced, and Hisashi’s eyes narrowed when he saw him rub his right arm. It was a subconscious gesture, one that belied injury. Yet no matter how hard he searched to find a sign of pain, he found none. Izuku continued to avoid looking him in the eye however, so he refused to relax.

“And you are alright?” Hisashi leaned forward, Izuku leaned away. “You did not get injured whatsoever?”

“I— uh…”

“Did you?”

“I may have… you know… shattered my arm and legs.” Izuku jolted when Hisashi froze, and scrambled to say, “it’s a funny story, really funny, so in the practical exam there were these robots we had to destroy for points and one of those robots was huge, really huge, and we weren’t supposed to fight it but there was this girl, who was so nice to me, and I couldn’t leave her alone—”

“Izuku.”

“—So I just had to safe her and when I jumped I broke my legs and when I punched I broke my arm but I’m fine now she saved me too when I couldn’t make a proper landing I mean, One for All just launched me into the sky what could I have done, but everything is… fine… now…?”

“…”

“Really, I mean it, UA has Recovery Girl, which is just too cool, seriously, she healed me with her with he quirk so I’m just fine! It left me a bit tired though.”

Hisashi had no idea who this ‘Recovery Girl’ was, but he surely would have felt grateful for her help, had he not been trapped between terror and rage.

How could this have happened? Izuku was supposed to be safe, One for All was supposed to be safe for him. Why did the quirk harm him this badly? Was it because of Izuku’s friendship with Hisashi?

But most importantly, “did All Might not teach you how to use One for All?” His voice showed not even a fraction of his emotions, Hisashi made very certain of that. But Izuku still cautiously backed away, with his shoulders nearly touching his ears.

“He did,” Izuku answered reluctantly, his expression vaguely reminded Hisashi of the time he caught Madara stealing a piece of tuna, “of course he did.”

Hisashi frowned, he didn’t believe that in the slightest. What served to make him even more suspicious, was One for All ceasing its attempts at ripping his head off in order to cringe back alongside its newest wielder. The quirk went as far as to disappear from the surface, and go into hiding. All for One wasn’t the only one with that habit, it seemed.

“Is that so? Would you mind telling me what All Might taught you then?”

“What? Ah well, that’s, you have to be more specific…”

“What did he teach you about activating One for All?”

“Er… clench your butt-cheeks and yell smash?”

“…”

“I mean, it worked, I managed to activate it?”

“That is an extremely optimistic way to say it.”

Izuku laughed uneasily. But Hisashi wasn’t laughing. His blood had all but frozen in his veins. He took a deep breath, steeled himself, and placed his hands firmly on Izuku’s shoulders. Nothing happened, just like One for All, All for One had retreated away from the surface, like to prevent provoking an attack.

“This cannot continue. I will teach you how to use your quirk safely.”

“You’ll teach me?!”

Hisashi hoped he wouldn’t regret this later. “Yes, I refuse to stand by and watch you injure yourself over and over.”

It would seem than the prospect of messing around with quirks, Izuku’s favorite past-time besides analyzing heroes, was enough to banish all tension. Something that Hisashi decided to be grateful for. It was all he could do to keep from finding All Might and viciously giving the fool a piece of his mind.

For the remainder of the day, they discussed their plans for the upcoming few weeks. In order to have enough privacy and space to practice, Hisashi decided it would be best if Izuku stayed at Kamiki for a while. It also helped that the villagers were already used to Hisashi training with All for One. Izuku was hardly going to cause more damage than Hisashi already had.

They would like have at least a few days worth of time before UA send out letters containing the results of the entrance exam, which Izuku seemed oddly apprehensive about, so there was still a chance to improve Izuku’s control over One for All enough to keep him from breaking any more bones before he enrolled. 

Until then, Hisashi wasn’t about to leave Izuku alone with Yagi again. Not until he knew for certain the little hero would be safe.

Hisashi never made the same mistake twice.

Chapter Text

Hisashi sat down next to miss Inko at the main room table and handed her a fresh cup of genmaicha. It was his favorite kind of tea and he hoped it helped to refresh her after the long drive to Kamiki along with Izuku. The little hero was currently unpacking his belongings in the guest room, and knowing him he was also preparing for his first day of ‘quirk training’, which left the two of them alone for a while.

Miss Inko politely accepted the tea of course, but her demeanor didn’t grow any less wary. They hadn’t exchanged a single word since she got here, beyond the usual pleasantries. Madara had managed to break the tension and get her to smile, but the cat had disappeared outside a while ago, presumable to enjoy the freedom reserved for cats with no responsibilities, and left Hisashi with a kind of atmosphere he didn’t know what to do with.

It had been like this since the day Izuku returned home after the UA entrance exam and told miss Inko about his newly manifested quirk. But the only description that left his mouth was the fact that it was ‘a kind of strength enhancing quirk, similar to All Might’s’. At that moment miss Inko had happily, and tearfully, congratulated Izuku on his new quirk, seemingly happy that her son will be able to pursue his dreams with more ease. A fool would believe that was all there was to it. 

But Hisashi wasn’t a fool. He was well aware of how it looked like to someone who didn’t know the whole story. It was likely that miss Inko suspected that he was the one who secretly gave Izuku a quirk. The suspicious stare he had been given for the remainder of that day left little room for doubt. Giving unsolicited excuses would only serve to make him look guilty however, and miss Inko had yet to mention anything, or speak much to him at all. They remained at a stalemate as a result.

It hadn’t been all bad however, Hisashi thought to himself while drinking his scalding hot tea. Ever since the day One for All first manifested, the quirk seemed to have become a tad more amicable to him. He couldn’t call it friendly by any means, but it wasn’t trying to tear out his eyes any longer, it was practically peaceful by comparison. Something that All for One was vocally overjoyed about, much to Hisashi’s consternation.

Hisashi looked up to see Izuku enter the room wearing light and comfortable clothing. He talked to miss Inko for a bit, then said his goodbyes, and Hisashi wordlessly followed him out. By the time they would return for dinner, she would likely be back in Musutafu, just as was agreed upon days prior. The fact that she still trusted Hisashi enough to look after Izuku was a great relief. He hadn’t lost that, at least.

They headed to an open field on the outskirts of the village. The same field that Hisashi had used for training alongside All for One, though it wasn’t any worse for wear. He always made it a point to repair any damage he created, both as extra practice and to ensure he wouldn’t inconvenience the local people any more that he likely already had. Despite the fact that he had warned miss Yamaoka about it beforehand, many of the quirks he used weren’t exactly subtle. It must have scared them more than once at least.

Hisashi guided Izuku to a grassy area somewhere near the middle of the field and gestured for him to take a seat.

“Before we begin, I would like to make something very clear.” Hisashi said as he lowered himself closer to Izuku’s eye level. “You are not All Might, you will never become All Might, and you should never try to be like All Might.”

Izuku obviously disagreed with the statement, but Hisashi was going to chance any misunderstandings and continued before he could talk, “I have no issue with the hero himself. Yes, truly. He is a very kind person and an exemplary hero.”

“Then why?”

‘Because he is a freak abomination of nature and a terrible standard for anyone to pursue’, was what Hisashi wanted to say. But that would likely not be well received.

“He is his own person. If you continue using One for All like it is an extension of All Might, it will do you more harm than good.” Hisashi pondered his next words for a moment, and then continued, “for example, if I gave the exact same quirk to two different people, it would manifest in two distinctly different ways. Even if One for All once belonged to All Might, it became yours, and yours alone the moment you inherited it.”

“I— I think I understand what your saying, but what am I supposed to do about it? I honestly don’t even know where to start.” Izuku clenched his fists and frowned. “I wasn’t even aware I still thought of One for All as All Might’s before now… How did you know that anyway?”

“I know you. Or rather, I know how much you admire All Might. It was not that hard to figure out what you were thinking.”

“Oh, right…” Izuku laughed awkwardly, his face turning bright red with embarrassment. While Hisashi would love to tease him a bit more about his fervent hero worshiping, he currently had something more important to do. He’ll just have to save it for later.

“As for your first question, I have a few methods that help with using quirks I am not too familiar with. We shall begin with one I believe will suit you well.” Hisashi smiled when Izuku leaned forward eagerly. Talking about quirks always was the little hero’s favorite pastime.

“Quirks, regardless of their nature, all have their own distinct presence. The very fist step is to identify that presence within you. Does that make sense?”

“Not really, I’ve never had a quirk before.” Izuku didn’t sound defeated or confused in the slightest, however. “But I’m more than ready to give it my all and try!”

“There is no need to try too hard, I am certain this will eventually come naturally to you.”

“Thanks for the confidence, I guess. How do I start identifying One for All?”

“Close your eyes and slow your breathing. Focus on yourself more than your surroundings. If I am correct, you should feel something you are not familiar with.”

And with how strong One for All had become, its presence should be hard to miss. Hisashi feared the ability to ‘feel’ quirks was exclusive to All for One, but the quirk had claimed it wasn’t. He had no other choice but to believe it.

Izuku did as instructed, and nothing happened. That was until Hisashi noticed the presence of One for All slowly growing stronger, like it were responding to something. Moments later Izuku’s eyes flew open.

“Whoa!”

“Did you find it?”

“I did! I can’t describe it though— warm but not really, like I’m surrounded by people but also completely alone… it’s so weird.” Izuku stared at his own hands like they he couldn’t believe they were his. “But, it’s also really amazing!”

“It truly is.” One for All was originally Yoichi’s quirk after all, and everything about Yoichi was amazing. “Now that you have identified One for All, you can begin to passively activate it.”

“Passively?”

Hisashi nodded. “You will not actually use it until you can manage this effortlessly. Or you risk breaking your bones again.”

Izuku gulped nervously, which showed Hisashi that he was at least taking his own safety seriously.

“You begin by searching for that presence you just felt, and once you have found it, you should maintain that connection and focus on the way it interacts with you body. One for All is now part of you in the same way your arms and legs are, you should be able to feel it the same way you would your limbs.”

“And if I manage this, I can start training with it?”

“No, not yet. I cannot guarantee I would go well, not in your current state.” Hisashi could sense One for All growing increasingly restless. Its presence was always far more nuanced and human than any other quirk he knew, except for the strange new version of All for One. 

“But I managed to activate One for All before without all of this.”

“And you shattered three limbs.”

Izuku winced.

“If you have a better understanding of your quirk, you will be able to use it more safely.”

“I just didn’t expect go this slowly,” Izuku said shakily, “it’s like the complete opposite as my training with All Might.” Hisashi resisted the urge to scowl at the mention of mister Yagi’s idea of teaching. “But then again, you always take things slowly, don’t you? One small step at a time.”

“It is safer.” How did the saying go again? A slow and steady pace wins the race? Hisashi hoped that his usual method would work for Izuku as well, even if he made Izuku take things far more slowly than he usually did himself.

“Right, okay, I trust you.” Izuku said with so much confidence, that it took him a little off guard. “Do I close my eyes again?”

“If it helps you focus, then yes.”

Izuku nodded solemnly and closed his eyes. His breathing grew deeper and Hisashi could see him begin to relax. In a fit of mischief, Hisashi couldn’t stop himself from saying, “do try not to fall asleep however.”

Izuku snorted and sputtered out, “you jerk,” while trying his hardest not to laugh.

Hisashi grinned back unapologetically. Though for the little hero to be affected by mere words so easily… perhaps that was another thing to work on.

*

Izuku repeated the same exercise for the next few days, until he could properly sense his quirk without effort. He even managed to call it to the surface on occasion, Hisashi was proud to see his progress, and also somewhat relieved. He had been worried that his usual methods wouldn’t work with One for All, but it seemed that All for One wasn’t lying when it claimed that every person with a quirk would be able to sense it within themselves if they ever bothered to try.

Now that Izuku was comfortable calling forth his quirk, Hisashi decided it was safe to increase the difficulty. This time when they headed to the training field, he didn’t make Izuku sit down, instead he motioned for them to keep some distance while still remaining within talking range. Perhaps sensing that they were about to do something new, Izuku’s face lit up in excitement.

“If you feel confident, then you can start properly activating One for All today.” Before Izuku could start cheering, Hisashi added, “however, you are not going to use it yet.”

“Why? I’m confident enough, right? How can I get the know One for All if I can’t use it?”

“You are thinking too far ahead. You cannot hope to keep yourself from harm if you cannot control the power of One for All.”

Izuku nodded somewhat begrudgingly. “Okay, fine, but I don’t get it, I should activate my quirk without using it? Isn’t that a bit… contrary?”

“Not at all, you have been doing that for the past few days. Except that this time, instead of merely feeling for your quirk you will actively call it to the surface, but only as little as possible.”

“That sounds easy enough,” Izuku narrowed his eyes, “almost too easy.”

“Then try and see.”

Izuku didn’t need any more motivation and did just that. Hisashi could sense him using the same technique he had been taught. The familiar presence of One for All grew steadily stronger, and stronger, and didn’t stop growing brighter. A light sheen of sweat formed on Izuku’s forehead, and his breathing grew labored.

Unwilling to wait for another disaster to happen, Hisashi clapped his hands. The sudden loud noise proved enough to break Izuku’s focus, forcing One for All to go dormant once again. He gave the little hero a moment to catch his breath before asking, “are you alright?”

“… I’m fine, I think. What was that?”

“That was what lack of control feels like.”

His tone wasn’t harsh in the slightest, but Izuku still winced like was painful to hear. “Okay, okay, you’ve proven your point, I have to pace myself, right?” He looked down and clenched his fists. “But I’ve been doing the same thing for almost a week— I just, I just feel like I’m going too slow. At this rate, how will I ever catch up to everyone else?”

Hisashi didn’t understand what the problem was. Was it his upcoming enrollment into UA? But UA was a school, a place where people went to learn. Wasn’t it the whole point that students weren’t masters of their craft yet? That’s why they’re students. Besides as far as he was concerned, Izuku’s progress hadn’t been too slow at all, if anything it had been nice and steady.

“I’m sure if you had One for All, you wouldn’t have been struggling this much…”

“I have been wielding quirks for over a hundred years. It is pointless to compare us.” Hisashi smiled. “You have been doing well. I am impressed at what you can do already.”

Unfortunately, Izuku didn’t look completely convinced. So he decided to try ‘throw him a bone’, as they say. “Your hard work will be rewarded. If you can manage to maintain a steady one percent, then you should in theory be able to achieve a hundred percent as well. The principle between the minimum and the maximum is almost the same.”

“Minimum and Maximum…” Izuku began to mumble under his breath, he spoke so quickly that it was impossible for Hisashi to understand. The he looked up, this time with a look of pure determination. “Alright! I just gotta keep trying!” Only for that determination to fade into amusement. “Though I gotta say, I don’t remember having heard you talk this much before.”

So he noticed. 

“Believe me, I am struggling.”

“Thanks for your hard work.”

“Are you ready to continue?”

Izuku gave a firm nod. “Let’s do this!”

The next stage proved to be far more challenging. One for All was a quirk that loved to show all of its power at once, sharing a type of reckless abandon with All Might. However, despite the struggle Izuku’s determination hadn’t wavered since the first time he voiced his doubts. Talking had given him some relief, it seemed. Hisashi was glad he managed to help.

It took a few more days of hard work for Izuku to keep his hold on One for All somewhat steady, and seeing it happen was a sight to behold. The little hero’s skin glowed with power, and his very presence had grown far stronger alongside One for All. His expression spoke of pure confidence, vaguely reminiscent of All Might. He looked every bit like a true hero. It scared him.

“How does it feel?” Hisashi asked, hoping that his weariness wasn’t noticeable.

“Like I could fight gods and win,” Izuku answered. He trembled under the strain of keeping control, and he was soon forced to deactivate his quirk again. “It’s awesome, and kinda weird.”

Hisashi’s unease only grew.

“Treasure that feeling, it will grant you strength when you need it the most. However,” he looked Izuku straight in the eye, his expression severe, “do not ever allow it to grow stronger than you, the power is not worth it. Nothing is.”

“…Hisashi?”

“Please, promise me.”

Hisashi hated how he made Izuku look afraid, but he had no other choice. He was mistaken, One for All was a quirk just like every other. Just like All for One. Quirks influenced people, changed people, they were dangerous. He had to make sure Izuku didn’t forget.

“Okay, I promise.” Izuku gave him a shaky smile and stepped forward to place a trembling hand on his arm. “Don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine.”

“You shattered three limbs during an entrance exam.”

“That was once!”

Hisashi narrowed his eyes.

“And it’s the last time too! No more broken bones for me!”

“I will hold you to that.”

Izuku hit him lightly. “Good. Because I’ll be just fine.”

It was on the way back to the house that Hisashi realized Izuku had managed to ease his fear and comfort him at the same time. He smiled to himself.

‘A little hero indeed.’

*

It was weekend again, and miss Inko came to visit, as was part of the agreement. To Hisashi’s shock, a whole week of training had passed without him knowing it. 

Unlike the previous time he had seen her, miss Inko was in a much better mood. She greeted both him and Izuku with a bright smile that spoke of excitement, and a letter bearing the familiar logo of UA in her hand. 

Izuku immediately recognized what it was. “No way! Is that what I think it is?!”

Miss Inko nodded enthusiastically, the same way he saw Izuku do from time to time. “Yes! It came in this morning!”

Several emotions pass of Izuku’s face in rapid succession; excitement, fear, doubt, nervousness, and even a tinge of nausea, until it went back to pure excitement.

Hisashi remembered a conversation they had late in the evening a few days back. Izuku had been unable to sleep, and confessed that he felt like he had failed the practical exam. ‘I didn’t even manage to destroy even a single robot…’ he said, like that was reason enough to fail a someone. There had to be more to the exam than just destroying things, just like there had to be more to heroics than pure strength. If UA’s standard was truly that low, Izuku was better off studying elsewhere.

“No way! No way!” Izuku shook so hard, his feet left the ground. “I don’t think I’m ready yet!”

“You could always open it later—”

“I don’t think I’ll survive that either!”

“Then you shall open it now. Miss Inko, do you care for some tea?”

Miss Inko, who wasn’t much better off than her son, jolted a bit before gratefully saying,  “ah yes, that would be nice. Come on Izuku, let’s not keep standing here.”

“Right…” Izuku answered, though his eyes never left the letter.

Hisashi placed down a tray with three cups of hojicha and a plate of rice crackers. As he sat down he gave Madara— who came to investigate what all the noise was about— a piece of dried meat, and then handed Izuku a butter knife to open the envelope with. The little hero accepted it with violently shaking hands, but Hisashi didn’t let go just yet.

“Should I open it for you?”

“No! I’ll do it! Just,” Izuku took a deep breath, “just give me a moment… I got this…”

‘It certainly doesn’t look that way’, Hisashi thought to himself but let the knife go regardless. He glanced beside Izuku, and miss Inko appeared to be just as nervous. Was he the odd one? Perhaps he should show some apprehension as well, purely for the sake of it. Though it hardly seemed like it would be even remotely useful.

Izuku eventually steeled himself enough to open the letter. But instead of a normal folded page, he took out a strange looking disk made of metal and plastic with a button on top. To his credit, Izuku was only baffled for a second before he placed the suspicious device on the table, nudged Madara away, and pressed the button. For a moment Hisashi feared it may explode, but a familiar looking floating image appeared instead.

“A hologram of All Might…” Izuku muttered under his breath while the ‘hologram’ was talking to someone out of view.

Hisashi gnawed on a cracker while All Might began his obviously well rehearsed speech. It began with the results of the written portion, and Izuku had done well enough to pass, which was only natural. But the following results of the practical exam were a different story. Izuku didn’t have enough ‘points’ collected by destroying targets, and that meant he failed. Hisashi’s cracker snapped in his grip.

All Might wasn’t finished however, after a pause he continued on to say that the exam had another hidden scoring system that students weren’t told about; rescue points. A girl was shown offering some of her own score to help Izuku pass, apparently this was the same girl Izuku mentioned he had shattered three limbs in order to save. Hisashi decided she was an alright person.

The girl’s generosity proved to be unnecessary however. Izuku had spend most of the exam helping others, accumulating in a hefty seventy-six rescue points, more than enough for Izuku to pass.

“Welcome to your hero academia, young Midoriya!” All Might ended with and the hologram disappeared. Hisashi wondered whether the suspense had truly been necessary.

The room had gone completely silent. Even Madara didn’t make a single sound, opting to stare at the humans in the room like something was about to explode. Hisashi could relate.

For a long time Izuku and miss Inko stared at each other in pure disbelief. Hisashi finished the last bit of his cracker, checked there were no crumbs on his hand, and patted Izuku on the head. “Congratulations.”

“I passed…?”

“I believe so.”

Tears welled up in Izuku’s eyes, turning into a slow trickle, and then into a fountain. Miss Inko followed right after, and rushed over to embrace her son. The two rambled incomprehensible things to each other, and Hisashi thought he heard, “I’m so glad!”, and, “I did it mom, I did it!” but he could just as well have been mistaken.

With all the tears shed, he wondered if he should grab them a glass of water alongside their tea, but he was swiftly trapped in a warm happy hug before he could.
Madara, perhaps sensing the future, scrambled away and disappeared up into Yuran’s ginkgo tree. The cat didn’t know what she was missing out on, truly. Hisashi may not have been as vocal or expressive about it, but his heart was bursting with joy.

Izuku was going to UA. Another step closer to his dreams. What was there not to be happy about?

The remainder of the day was spend celebrating. Hisashi had left at some point to give mother and son some time together, and encountered miss Yamaoka, who he proudly informed of the good news. As was normal in a tight knit village community, everyone soon knew about it and the small private celebration turned into a lively event.

Izuku got a phone call from mister Yagi later in the evening, who congratulated him on passing the exam and apologized for not being able to say it in person. It was obvious to Hisashi that the call alone was enough of a gift to Izuku, however, so he wasn’t certain why Izuku claimed the hero had sounded remorseful.

After all the liveliness and cheering, Hisashi could understand perfectly well why Izuku all but passed out the moment he lied down in bed, he was just as willing to do the same, despite not being even remotely tired. But miss Inko stopped him before he had the chance to ask if they could talk. She looked as serious as she did exhausted, so Hisashi didn’t try to convince her to leave it for tomorrow.

“I… I need to know, and I need you to be honest with me.” Miss Inko wrung her hands and trembled, but she also didn’t break eye contact for even a second. 

“Where did Izuku’s quirk come from?”

Hisashi was impressed she managed to withhold from accusing him of being the one who gave Izuku a quirk, without excluding that he didn’t. Words were truly a powerful thing.

But this put him in a bit of a conundrum. Izuku had promised mister Yagi to keep One for All a secret, a sensible decision on the hero’s part, if not ultimately pointless. It would only be right that he did the same.

Yet that reminded him of an important detail, it was Izuku who swore an oath of secrecy upon inheriting One for All, not Hisashi. And while he respected mister Yagi, and had become fond of the man behind the hero All Might, he respected miss Inko far more. It was this that made the decision on what to say pretty easy.

“All might gave it to him.” Hisashi’s answer may have been a bit too blunt, but despite looking shocked, miss Inko didn’t even try to refute him. It was enough of an incentive to continue, “his quirk is called One for All, it originally belonged to my brother Yoichi. Similarly to my All for One, Yoichi had the ability to pass on his quirk, and upon doing so, whoever inherited the quirk would also inherit the ability to pass it on… To put it shortly, One for All was passed on from person to person for about a hundred years until All Might gave it to Izuku.”

Miss Inko looked thoughtful for a moment. “There is more to that story, isn’t there?”

Hisashi pursed his lips and took a deep fortifying breath. “There is. So much so… that I do not know all of it myself.”

At this admission, miss Inko’s stern tone became more sympathetic. “You don’t remember much of it, do you? Of the time when you were still a villain.”

Hisashi remained silent, his mind worked overtime trying to figure out what to say, knowing fully well that not saying anything at all would be a bad idea as well. But no matter how hard he tried nothing came to mind, nothing seemed right. He didn’t know what to do.

Wasn’t that the problem? He barely knew anything. He didn’t know how many people had inherited One for All, he didn’t know what happened to them, what he— what All for One had done to them. Yet he knew just enough to guess what their fate could have been.

Hisashi glanced at miss Inko, who remained friendly, sympathetic, a great improvement to the suspicion that he had sensed the past few times he had seen her. 

One day everyone would figure out just how ugly a person he truly was, and reject him just like Yoichi had done. Until then Hisashi wanted to cherish the bonds he had made.

He was a greedy and selfish person, he didn’t want to be alone anymore.

“…I would rather not talk about it.”

As expected, miss Inko seemed disappointed at the admission, but only for a second. “Thank you.” She said to his great surprise. “For always being honest to me, I appreciate it.” After that she bid him a good night and left.

Hearing that should have made him happy, but all he felt was guilt. It was true that he hadn’t lied, not even once, and yet he couldn’t help but feel like he had. That feeling would  continue to haunt him for the rest of the night.

Chapter Text

By the time Izuku started his first day at UA, he was able to maintain a steady five percent of One for All for about half an hour. With enough effort he could even double the amount, but doing so would drastically increase the strain on his body, so it was agreed to leave that as a last resort. But as far as Hisashi was concerned, the fact that he managed to use One for All without injuring himself was already a great achievement.

He was proud to see how much Izuku had grown in such a short amount of time, and that pride only grew when he heard about the introduction day. The teaching methods at UA were much harsher than Hisashi imagined, the students were given no time to get comfortable with their new school before their abilities were put to the test along with a threat of expulsion should the results be found unsatisfactory.

Although according to Izuku, that sort of thing wasn’t exactly common, and the whole thing was more or less a ‘logical ruse’, whatever that meant. Nevertheless, Izuku managed to rank somewhere in the middle whilst barely being able to use his quirk. It took little imagination to wonder how he became the hero that had managed saved him in the old future.

The following week was much less eventful, the only high note being an impromptu practical lesson given by mister Yagi, whose teaching methods still left Hisashi floundering. It was some kind of battle simulation, where students were put in pairs of two and then had to face each other in some kind of convoluted hostage situation. The hostage being a bomb that the villains were meant to protect, for some reason.

Wouldn’t real villains have detonated the bomb if they knew heroes were near? Hisashi supposed it didn’t really matter either way.

Izuku had been paired with a girl he got along with, whose name Hisashi had already forgotten, and had to take down the villain pair, that coincidentally included Firecracker and another boy whose name he had also forgotten. How glorious it had been to hear that Izuku had managed to not only emerge victorious, but also managed to do so without any bones broken or shoulders dislocated. This meant that Hisashi could revel in the mental image of Firecracker kissing dust without any guilt whatsoever.

Though while listening to this detailed recount alongside miss Inko, Hisashi had the feeling that Izuku was holding back about something. He had even tried to distract Hisashi by mentioning how proud mister Yagi had been about his progress— as he should be— and how impressed he was upon hearing about Hisashi’s tutelage. It was a good attempt at diverting his attention by using flattery, and it may have worked on someone else, but Hisashi wasn’t so easily fooled. Yet, he had let it go. Who was he to interrogate Izuku about his time at UA? If he didn’t want to tell him, then he must have a reason for it, end of story.

That didn’t mean Hisashi wasn’t curious about it, and perhaps also a little concerned. Despite the way everything had changed, one thing did not; school continued to be a major blind spot. During Izuku’s time at Aldera, not knowing what he went through was mildly frustrating. But not knowing what was happening at UA made him far more anxious.

By all means, he should be safer now, surrounded by much kinder people and professional heroes, in a building equipped with some of the highest security in the country. And yet, the way Hisashi felt every time he watched Izuku pass through the unnecessarily large gate of UA, he may as well be watching the little hero walk straight into war. It simply made no sense at all.

Still, he wanted to give Izuku the chance to make more friends his own age, and he wasn’t about to jeopardize it with his presence. He’ll just have to push down that sense of foreboding and support Izuku as much as he could. What else can someone like him do?

*

It was pointless. No matter how many patrols Hisashi made through the entirety of Musutafu, no matter how many villains he scared half to death, and no matter how many nights he practiced an innumerable amount of quirks, the sense of dread haunting him continued to grow. He just couldn’t rest.

This couldn’t continue, Hisashi had to know what it was that he subconsciously knew was coming, and even more importantly, he had to sleep. With each passing day he risked losing control of All for One and going berserk. Even Madara had recently begun to regard him wearily. Avoiding rest was no longer an option.

Hisashi repeated that last thought in his head like a mantra while he laid down on his bed one late afternoon. He stubbornly closed his eyes and refused to open them unless he had finally slept. Fortunately this proved to be far easier than he thought. The world faded away in an instant.

Hisashi opened his eyes to glowing plants and a black void. It took him no time to realize he wasn’t dreaming, he was back within All for One again. 
This realization was nothing bizarre, after the first and most stressful time, it had become a somewhat common occurrence. Most of the time the sole occupant of this place left him be, and Hisashi was allowed to enjoy some peace and quiet. This time was different.

All for One approached him, still looking like an uncanny imitation of Yoichi, with a grim expression on its face. Unlike usually, where the quirk would not waste a single moment to talk his ears off, much like Izuku often would, it remained silent. Hisashi may not be able to read its thoughts the way the quirk was able to read his, but he could still tell that it was struggling to find the right thing to say. They were similar in that regard.

Hisashi wasn’t that much better off though, he also didn’t know what to say. While he had grown used to All for One’s new appearance and behavior, he wasn’t completely comfortable with it either. Not to mention that the pervading sense of dread he had felt for the past few days— or weeks— cruelly followed him into the one place he had hoped was safe.

Hisashi soon had enough of the tense silence. “What do you want?”

All for One sat down on the ground in front of him with a soft sigh. Even his posture was the same as Yoichi’s.

“Hisashi… I hate to tell you this, but you can’t keep running away from the past, no matter how much you try, it will find you eventually, and you won’t like it when it does.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“I think you know the answer to that already.”

“Cryptic are we.”

All for One laughed wryly. “I’m trying not to be.” And apparently that was all it had to say.

While he normally wouldn’t have minded it being more succinct, at this exact moment Hisashi couldn’t stand it. “Then let me guess, you found some type of clairvoyance quirk and decided to mess around with it.”

“Clairvoyance? No, I don’t need that sort of thing, and neither do you. This is hardly the first time we’ve experienced everything.”

Ire began to rise up in his chest. “You have, not me. I hardly saw a single thing of the world while I was trapped within this damn quirk.”

All for One jolted back and raised its hand in surrender. “I wasn’t trying to antagonize you, I swear!” Then it cleared its throat, an action usually reserved for people trying to recover some dignity after an awkward mistake. “What I was trying to say, is that you know what is about to come, because you have seen it before somewhere.”

At that moment, Hisashi remembered the day he had first awoken in the past. The lab, the cold metal table, the failed attempts at cloning All for One, the Nomu, and the fire he convinced himself had destroyed it all. A violent shudder wreaked through his body at the memory. He didn’t want to remember any of it.

“… Just tell me what you want me to do already.”

For an agonizing moment, All for One only stared at him. Those haunting white eyes were filled with a kind of compassion that should have been impossible. Hisashi couldn’t look away. It was a relief when it finally began to speak. A relief that was short lived.

“Tomorrow, the ninth will have a training assignment in a special facility, do not leave him alone.”

“Are you saying that I should follow Izuku into UA? Are you trying to get me on the record?” Hisashi scowled. “I can hide from people’s senses using Conceal, but that will not work on technology.”

“You have far more at your disposal than just Conceal.” The equivalent of about five billion quirks, was what All for One mercifully didn’t mention.

“I do not know how to use anything else.”

“True, but that’s what I’m for,” All for One smiled proudly, puffing up its chest, “you can leave that part to me!”

“Oh joy.”

*

A paw hit Hisashi in the face once, then twice, before he finally woke up and brushed the offender away. His assailant wasn’t deterred in the slightest, and dug her tiny pointy nails into his shirt.

“Madara… move it.” Madara meowed back without budging. The shrill sound served to wake him the rest of the way. “Alright, have it your way.”

Hisashi grabbed the little brat by the middle and sat up. A glance outside revealed it was early in the morning. Had he really slept through the night? But his conversation with All for One couldn’t have lasted that long.

The quirk in question chuckled, and it sounded clear enough to make him look around for the source. ‘It had taken me a while to reach you,” it said in that infuriatingly gentle tone, ‘and you managed to sleep for about seven hours after you left.’

“I was exhausted.” Hisashi mumbled under his breath.

Madara stared at him judgmentally. Like the cat wanted to tell him something. Hisashi stared back, until Madara began to struggle and he let her go. She trotted towards the kitchen and meowed shrilly. He followed after her.

“Are you hungry?” Hisashi asked, gaining another meow in response.

He prepared a snack for Madara, one that was greedily devoured the moment the plate touched the ground. “Do not eat too fast, you will choke again.” He was ignored of course.

Hisashi sighed, and looked at the large clock hanging on the kitchen wall. It was ten past six. There was still plenty of time left to prepare for the day ahead, and enough to consider what to do next.

Was he really going to infiltrate UA? His first instinct was to doubt everything All for One had told him, yet the past few years had shown him that the quirk had become far more trustworthy. And even more importantly, if he were to believe it, then Izuku was in danger, and that was worth every risk. But still, could All for One truly be trusted with something like this? What if it was plotting something behind his back? That surely seemed like something All for One would do.

Hisashi didn’t know what to believe.

‘I finished the quirk I mentioned, let’s just call it Stealth for now,’ All for One said all of the sudden, breaking his cycle of doubt, ‘using it alongside Radio Waves should be enough to hide you from UA security systems for a while.’

It looked like the decision was made then. Hisashi still frowned warily at its choice of words however. “A while?”

‘It’s unlikely that a void appearing in the security systems will escape the notice of all the heroes present for long. Though, I also think they’ll be… too busy dealing with other matters to catch you, as long as you stay out of the way.’

“Protecting Izuku is my priority, it should not be that difficult to remain unnoticed.”

‘… I do hope so.’

Hisashi scratched Madara behind the ear in apology, ignoring the judgmental stare he got in return, and quickly got ready to leave. He didn’t even eat or drink anything before heading out. He had to return to Izuku’s side as soon as possible. There was no more time to waste.

*

On the way to the Midoriya apartment, Hisashi practiced using Stealth as much as he could. Fortunately most of it was fairly intuitive and didn’t require a lot of effort. But he also learned that maintaining its activation while also using other quirks became increasingly difficult, and even became impossible when more powerful quirks were activated.

Should he be forced to engage an enemy then he would inevitably be forced to reveal himself. While it wasn’t ideal, he had no other choice but to move on. With this in mind, he forwent using Shapeshift to look younger whenever Stealth was active to spare as much energy as he could. Fighting became easier the closer he was to his true appearance anyhow.

Musutafu appeared to be the same as usual at first glance, but the unusual amount of villain activity didn’t escape his notice. A few villains were causing havoc, destroying buildings and streets, while most others were merely disrupting peace in the form of petty crime, such as theft. On any other day he would have send most of them packing, but today he focused on keeping Izuku safe.

Hisashi frowned when he sensed mister Yagi— or rather All Might— fighting a villain on the other side of the city, far away from UA. Despite the diminishing presence of One for All the hero was still impossible to miss.

Could the villains be trying to distract All Might from something? If so, then their ploy was obviously working. He wished that workaholic focused more on his new job, rather than walking straight into traps and meddling with the duties of local heroes.

He landed before the apartment building and made certain to get rid of any evidence of his unease before he went in, even going as far as to temporarily assume his younger disguise. He didn’t want Izuku to know something was wrong.

Despite how much he hated to admit it, All for One had said the truth. Something was going on today, and he didn’t like it at all.

At the massive gates of UA, which seemed to have been replaced recently, Izuku happily waved him goodbye before heading in with a spring in his step. He was none the wiser about everything, and apparently preoccupied by some kind of special class he had today. Just like All for One had said. Hisashi waved back, waited until he could no longer see Izuku, and calmly walked back the way he came.

Once he was a decent distance away from school grounds, he stepped into the first empty alleyway he could find and returned to his regular age before he activated Stealth along with Levitate. There was no point to bother with Dragon Wings now.

All for One warned him of the moment he neared the border of UA again, and with the quirk’s aid he activated Radio Waves. At his current speed, the lapse in the security cameras should last no longer than a second. He hoped it was brief enough to be overlooked.

Finding Izuku was the easiest part. The little hero was surrounded by people his age, standing before one person notably older. Hisashi figured this was his teacher, Eraser Head. The quirk of said teacher, which All for One called Erasure and had the ability to negate the quirks within his line of sight was troublesome. Since he didn’t know how it would affect him, Hisashi decided to stay out of his sight as much as possible.

The students were all wearing the same kind of strange clothes he often saw on heroes. Seeing them made Hisashi smile, even for just a moment. He could still remember how proud Izuku looked while telling him and miss Inko about it. Though there was still much room for improvement, Hisashi wished he could go down and tell the little hero how much he thought it suited him.

Hisashi refocused on the present when he saw the students and their teacher step into a bus and leave the area. He followed after them from far up in the sky, not daring to descent any further.

The bus soon stopped in front of a dome shaped building. Hisashi wondered what it was while watching the students enter through another unnecessarily large gate.

All for One answered the unspoken question, ‘it’s a training facility, named USJ. The name is an abbreviation of Unforeseen Simulation Joint, if I remember correctly. It’s meant to help students learn how to respond to all sorts of different disaster scenarios.’

“You know an awful lot.”

‘This isn’t the first time I’ve seen it, remember?’

Well that was deeply disconcerting.

Hisashi hovered above the dome and waited with bated breath. For a good while, nothing happened. Izuku, his classmates, and Eraser Head approached another person, who by the feel of their highly trained yet destructive quirk was likely also a hero. They stood still in a large group and barely did anything, which suggested they were listening to something. An introduction perhaps? It all seemed normal to him.

Still, something purely instinctual prevented Hisashi from letting his guard down. An instinct that quickly proved itself to be all too useful.

The situation within USJ changed in the blink of an eye, so quickly that Hisashi would have missed it if he hadn’t been paying attention. He froze when his senses were flooded by a wave of malevolence, dozens if not hundreds of different quirks, all villainous by nature, manifested out of thin air.

No, not thin air, a warp gate. But the quirk responsible felt wrong, very wrong. Its presence was suffocating, akin to several people being squished together into one, fused but still resisting each other, yet forced to coexist. The warp quirk wasn’t the only one, another villain felt similar, if not far worse. 

He felt sick.

‘Hisashi, hang in there, Izuku’s in danger.’

All for One didn’t need to remind him, but it, along with the feeling of One for All activating, helped to get him moving. He barely managed to cling onto Stealth while activating his own version of Warp Gate— less melancholy more free— and teleported into USJ. The first thing he was met with was pure chaos. Eraser Head was taking down countless of villains, one student with machine like legs was making his way to the gate, while the other students were caught in dark misty voids and got scattered across the different zones. Izuku was with two others, in an area with a sunken ship.

But Hisashi couldn’t go towards him, he was frozen in place. The source of one of the compounded quirks, a hulking human shaped creature, with scarred pitch black skin and an exposed brain, stood next to a mist-like figure and someone covered in disembodied hands.

“A Nomu…?” No, it couldn’t be, he destroyed them, he destroyed the lab that made them. It had all burned down. “Why…?”

Eraser Head managed to come close to the villain, but a single touch was enough to destroy the hero’s arm. The hero tried to retreat but was followed by the Nomu, and it quickly overwhelmed the teacher. His other arm was snapped in half, and his head was ruthlessly smashed into the ground. The person standing next to the mist-like figure was saying something, his voice grated on Hisashi’s ears, but he couldn’t understand a single thing he said.

That person was sickeningly familiar, its— his presence was filled with anger— hate— malice— loneliness— despair— hunger, it robbed him of his breath.

It felt like the old All for One.

The villain was looking his way.

Hisashi couldn’t move, he could only stare on in horror. That was until he felt the phantom sensation of arms embracing him, the pleasant warmth of the new All for One, the gently voice of Yoichi saying, ‘it’s okay’, and he was able to think again.

He frantically looked for Izuku, and saw him alongside the other two students he was with, sneaking towards Eraser Head. The disturbing villain, actually a young man, noticed them and slowly walked their way. He said something and raised his hand towards the frog like girl, contact was made, but nothing happened. The young man’s quirk, rot and decay, had disappeared.

“You’re pretty cool, Eraser Head,” the villain said upon stepping back, his mocking tone didn’t match his words in the slightest, “to protect your students in that state.”

Hisashi tore his eyes away from Izuku and looked towards Eraser head. The teacher was covered in blood and kept firmly in place by the Nomu. Despite his terrible injuries, Eraser Head maintained a steadfast glare towards the villain.

‘Erasure only works when its target is directly in sight,’ his All for One explained once again, its voice felt like a soothing balm, ‘if he blinks even once it will deactivate.’

“Nomu, eliminate him.”

Hisashi flinched when the Nomu obeyed. It grabbed Eraser Head by the hair and slammed him into the ground, again and again. Izuku wailed in despair.
Erasure deactivated, its presence waned. Eraser Head remained motionless.

“Now then, with that out of the way, I’ll make an example out of you three next.” The villain laughed maniacally, the sound dry and grating, “bet you wished All Might was now!”

The Nomu let go of Eraser Head and lumbered in the direction of the students. Izuku activated One for All, but Hisashi could tell its current power wouldn’t be nearly enough.

“Nomu! Crush them!”

Hisashi dropped Stealth, and the villain swiveled in his direction, but he paid him no mind. He landed between Izuku and the Nomu, and blocked the punishing blow. Thanks to Impact Recoil, the Nomu’s arm was thorn to shreds by the force of its own attack. Hisashi followed up with a quickly charged Dark Ball and slammed it into the Nomu’s gut, pushing it a good distance away. Then he switched to Air Cannon and aimed it towards the villain in charge, but he hesitated to fire.

For a brief moment, instead of a young man, he saw a boy with gray hair and wide red eyes looking at him with joy. Those same wide red eyes were staring back at him through the fingers of the disembodied hand covering his face.

Hisashi didn’t get the chance to use Air Cannon. The boy— no, the villain was whisked away by a shadowy portal, and he desperately reached out towards Hisashi before he fully disappeared.

He took that chance to turn towards Izuku, who was also staring at him with wide eyes, though his were mostly filled with relief.

“Izuku, I—”

The little hero’s face morphed into pure terror. “Watch out!”

The screeching mass of quirks belonging to the Nomu made him stagger when it flew towards him, but he still managed to redirect its attack in time. He jumped away and was relieved when the Nomu chased after him.

The Nomu’s arm had completely regenerated, which told Hisashi enough. If he wanted to take it out, he would have to do so in a single decisive blow.

It was hard to identify any one quirk within it, the screaming was far too distracting, but the Nomu were called imperfect clones of All for one, so if it had a quirk similar to his own Regeneration, then it must also share the same weakness. Hisashi knew exactly what place to strike to put it down for good.

‘Hisashi, more than ten heroes are approaching USJ, you have to hurry.’

“No need to tell me twice.”

He pushed the Nomu back again, further away from the students and their still unmoving teacher. He dodged everything thrown his way, and charged the energy he needed for his attack in the meantime. Then he saw the opening he was looking for, he deflected the Nomu’s punch and kicked it behind the knees. His leg ached with the force behind the hit, but it had been enough to make the Nomu stumble. He jumped onto its back and unleashed the energy he had stockpiled in the form of a highly condensed Dark Ball directly unto its exposed brain.

Hisashi landed a few meters away from where the Nomu had fallen, and readied another attack, but it wasn’t necessary. The Nomu wasn’t going to move ever again. Where he had once been plagued by the agonized screams of the quirks it carried was now peace and quiet at last. He let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding, and absentmindedly brushed away a bit of blood on his face while surveying the area.

The villain with the suffocating warp quirk and the too familiar young man were gone. The villains they had brought along for their attack had been abandoned. Most of them were either frozen in terror or had been taken down by the students who had managed to escape the areas they were warped to, so they weren’t a threat.

Hisashi turned in the direction of One for All. Izuku was on his knees next to his fallen teacher. He was about to make his way over to see if he could help when he was distracted by a loud sound.

The massive gate of USJ had been blasted open, and in that opening stood a group of heroes, the ones that All for One had warned him about earlier. In the center stood one figure much more imposing and intimidating than the rest. The hero’s blue eyes gleamed with fury.

It was All Might, and Hisashi could only hear him call out one thing.

“All for One!”

Chapter Text

Hisashi had never seen him this way before, the kind and compassionate mister Yagi was nowhere to be found, in his stead was someone so enraged he barely resembled a human being anymore.

All Might moved within the blink of an eye, the heroes behind him barely had the chance to react. Hisashi dodged a punch aimed at his face and jumped back to give himself the space to think, but All Might wouldn’t give him the chance. With attack after attack thrown his way, Hisashi had no choice but to keep dodging.

One hit got too close and narrowly missed the side of his head, the world grew dark for a second, until Regeneration healed the injury. The following hit he deflected purely out of instinct. To his horror All Might flew back and crashed into a boulder far away.

Hisashi took a step forward. “Mister Yagi…?”

‘You have to fight back,’ he heard All for One say, its voice sounded distant somehow, ‘there’s no other choice, he’s too angry to think.’

He saw All Might get back up again, and he felt the glare thrown his way more than he saw it. His heart raced in his chest, yet he was also relieved.

‘Hisashi listen to me!’ All for One and All Might seemed to have said something at the same time, but his quirk was somehow the only one he understood. ‘If you’re not going to fight, then you have to run!’

Hisashi knew well enough he should. One warp gate could take him all the way to Kamiki in an instant, it was not too late yet. He’d have to go into hiding, but…

All Might rushed at him, teeth bared into a snarl. Hisashi moved without much thought, and he pushed the hero away again, and again, and again. But All Might kept coming back. He refused to give up.

Hisashi didn’t want to give up either.

He blocked another attack, which was announced with a strange name.

If he ran away, his time with Izuku would be over. He wouldn’t be able to stay by his side any longer without putting him in danger.

He dodged another hit, and used Barrier to protect himself. It was shattered a second later.

Hisashi thought he would be ready to give everything up if it came down to it, and go back to watching over Izuku from a distance. His own dreams and desires weren’t important enough, they never were.

All for One pushed its way back into the forefront of his mind. ‘Hisashi, what are you doing?! You have to fight back!’

But he didn’t want to fight any longer.

Hisashi dodged another hit, but this time All Might wasn’t deterred, he twisted his upper body and lashed out with his other fist. The blow landed directly to the side of his head, and Hisashi crashed into the unforgiving earth below.

His arms trembled while he pushed himself up. There was a horrid loud noise in his ears. Someone was speaking, but he couldn’t understand a word. Everything blurred together, he couldn’t focus on anything, the nausea was overwhelming. He looked up, there was something red in the corner of his vision. Before him were bright colors, blue, yellow, white, and more red. The colors reached out to him.

A hand grabbed Hisashi by the neck and yanked him onto his feet. He grasped the arm holding him without thinking, and several quirks tried to activate, but he denied every one of them. There was frustration, grief, regret, and acceptance. A different quirk activated. He felt the skin on his head knit back together. It itched. The cold sweaty hand on his neck trembled. He couldn’t breathe.

“Why aren’t you fighting?”

Hisashi opened his eyes, he hadn’t noticed they were closed. All might was right in front of his face, he still looked angry, but there was also something else. Something sad. Or was it lost?

“Answer me!” All Might’s grip grew tighter and Hisashi tried to gasp. “Why aren’t you fighting back?! What are you planning?!”

Hisashi stopped his feeble struggle, it was pointless anyway. His hands now hung limply at his sides. Now that his vision had returned, he could see that All Might had his left fist raised, ready to strike. ‘I see, so he is going to kill me.’ He felt All for One struggle against his hold, almost screaming in anguish. But he still refused to fight. He used every bit of strength at his disposal to hold back.

“All for One,” All Might’s voice broke, “were you deceiving us?”

“…”

“Why aren’t you saying anything? Why aren’t you fighting back?”

Hisashi tried to take a breath, but failed. By some mercy the hand on his neck loosened. Though it was only a little, it was just enough to allow him to breathe.

“I… ne-ver… wan-ted… to…”

All Might flinched. His bright blue eyes grew wide. He seemed conflicted. His hand loosened even further. If Hisashi wanted to, he could break free with ease and retaliate. But with the state All for One was currently in, All Might would be dead.

The window of opportunity ended when All Might tightened his grip once more. Hisashi couldn’t stop himself from grunting in pain. All Might flinched again, but he raised his fist again regardless. There was steel in the hero’s eyes, the look of someone who was ready to do what had to be done.

Hisashi accepted his fate.

‘So this is how it ends…’

“No! Stop!” Izuku screamed out on top of his lungs, it was enough to make both men jump. Hisashi watched with wide eyes as Izuku ran their way, stumbling every so often. His face was red and covered in tears. “Please stop!”

Once he was close enough, Izuku jumped to close the gap, aided by the power of One for All, and he desperately grabbed All Might’s arm. The arm that was holding Hisashi.

“Please don’t hurt him All Might! He wasn’t the one who attacked— he saved us!”

Hisashi fell back to the ground again. All Might had released him. He cradled his neck while coughing and gasping for breath. His head pounded fiercely, and the ringing in his ears returned with a vengeance. Still, Izuku and One for All’s presence nearby felt like a soothing balm to his wounds, Hisashi relaxed a little despite everything. Regeneration worked overtime to heal his injuries now that he had loosened his hold on All for One.

All Might seemed to have said something, Hisashi hadn’t heard what. Izuku said something back, sobbing all the while. Even though he was utterly exhausted, and his mind began to grow increasingly hazy, he tried his hardest to focus on the two before him.

“— don’t know what he did, I don’t know why you hate him so much, but I know what kind of person he is, he’s my closest friend! So please, don’t fight! I’m begging you!”

“Young Midoriya…” All Might sounded like he was in great pain, Hisashi wondered if he was injured somewhere.

When he tried to look at Izuku, to see if he was alright, his wavering sight accidentally landed on the the group of people far behind him instead. They were huddled together, hovering over someone laying on the ground. The one that simply felt loud was calling out to this person, and purely out of curiosity, Hisashi stretched his senses to figure out why.

The person, who on closer inspection appeared to be male, even though he mostly resembled a black blur, had a quirk, one that felt like a void, one that seemed to be fading. Hisashi knew that feeling.

“He is dying.”

"What…? Aizawa?!” Oh, that was All Might, when did he get here?

The next thing he heard was someone running away, followed by the sound of someone else falling on their knees right next to him. Two small trembling hands gently grabbed his arm, drawing his attention. It was Izuku, he was crying, it looked like he had been doing that for a while already. Was he hurt? Did something happen? Hisashi wanted to ask, but Izuku spoke up before he could.

“Hisashi, I’m sorry, I’m sorry to ask you this now, but please,” Izuku took a deep shuddering breath, “please save him.”

Save who? Izuku? But he was right next to him, already safe. He had a few scratches and bruises but nothing too serious. His strange looking clothes were soaked though, Izuku should change before he caught a cold.

“Hisashi! Please…”

He blinked, and shook his head. Bad idea, it hurt. But the pain helped him focus. ‘Save him’, Izuku asked, ‘him’ was probably the dying person nearby.

“Okay.” 

Hisashi stumbled to his feet, and Izuku scrambled to support him. They slowly made their way to the group of people. Two students, a frog-like girl and a boy with sticky hair, and two adults, the loud one he noticed earlier and a woman who made his nose itch, heroes most likely, stood over the person wearing black. ‘That’s Eraser Head’, All for One patiently reminded him. All Might stood nearby, speaking to another group of adults, most likely also heroes, alongside a few more teenagers. 

He focused on what Izuku asked him to do.

Eraser Head was missing an arm, but the worst damage by far was to the head, it was incidentally also where most of the blood was coming from. The arm had been bound with a tourniquet, and the loud hero was holding a thoroughly soaked cloth against the side of Eraser Head’s face. None of it worked though, the hero’s life was still rapidly slipping away.

When Hisashi and Izuku tried to approach him, All Might stopped them. He didn’t understand where the alarm on the hero’s face came from, nor the anger.

“Don’t you dare come any closer.”

Izuku stepped in front of him. “Please All Might, Hisashi can save him, he has a healing quirk!”

That he had indeed. But it wouldn’t be able to save Eraser Head’s life. Hisashi simply wasn’t skilled enough at using it. Something far more drastic needed to be done. He let go of Izuku’s shoulder, stumbled past All Might, and sunk down to his knees next to the injured hero’s head.

“All for One,” Hisashi mumbled under his breath, too quietly for anyone else to hear, and to his relief the quirk perked up without any distress. “I need your help.”

‘You don’t even need to ask, I’m always ready to.’

Hisashi kept his breathing steady, to stave off nausea and keep his focus on the task before him. Izuku had asked him to save this hero, so he will. 

He watched apathetically as the skin on his hand reverted to pitch black, and then placed it on the least damaged part of Eraser Head’s face. When he activated All for One to take Erasure, he did it as gently as he could, even if the hero was too weak to put up a struggle, he didn’t want to risk anything. Light danced across their skin in vibrant colors of red and yellow. The quirk transferred over without protest, as if it knew he wanted to help.

He made sure to keep Erasure isolated from the rest of his quirks, to keep it from getting altered, or worse, consumed by accident.

Next, he took the fragment of Regeneration that All for One had prepared specifically for this task and gave it to Eraser Head. He didn’t let go however, though it was only a small piece, it was still far too potent. If he didn't shoulder most of the burden and substitute the hero’s life force with his own, it would still end up being fatal.

Hisashi guided the quirk to where it was needed the most as carefully as he possible could with All for One’s support. Skin fizzled and bones snapped back into place. He could feel the skin beneath his hand grow warm, so he adjusted the intensity of Regeneration accordingly until it cooled back down. 

There was some commotion nearby, but he had to ignore it.

Eraser Head jolted, and coughed wetly before he took a large ragged breath, and then another, and another. His heartbeat began to strengthen and stabilize. Once there was nothing left he could heal, Hisashi took back the fragment of Regeneration. The world went dark for a bit, forcing him to blink rapidly and fight to stay awake. He still wasn’t done yet.

There was exited chattering around him. Hisashi looked up to see that Eraser Head had sat up with the help of his friends, and though he was covered in blood, there was hardly a trace of injury to be found. Eraser Head looked dazed however, staring blankly at the limb that had been missing moments ago.

A pair of shivering arms embraced Hisashi, it was Izuku. He was saying thank you, over and over. Hisashi wanted to hug him back, but he was too tired to move. He felt like he was forgetting something again.

‘You still have to return Eraser Head’s quirk, please stay awake a bit longer.’ All for One kindly said to him. ‘Don’t worry, I’ll support you.’

Oh, right, he should do that.

“Eraser Head.” The group of people turned to him, but Hisashi didn’t bother deciphering whatever it was they were saying in favor of holding out a hand to the hero. “Your quirk.”

Eraser Head, with little hesitation, took hold of his hand. Hisashi wasted not another second to let go of Erasure and allow it to return to its original owner.

Upon having fulfilled his duty, Hisashi finally succumbed to exhaustion. The last thing he heard was Izuku calling out his name in alarm. He never felt himself hit the ground.

*

When Hisashi woke up he fully expected to be imprisoned in the deepest darkest cell Japan had to its disposal. Instead he was wholly unrestrained, on a soft yet firm bed and covered with a thin blanket. He could even feel a sigh of wind every once in a while. The only uncomfortable thing about the situation were the bandages wound tightly around his head.

A good look at his surroundings confirmed that he was in some kind of infirmary. There were large windows to his right, with their curtains drawn, and the walls had a soft bluish green color, the same commonly found in hospitals. He found Izuku to his left, hunched over in a plastic chair. He appeared to be sleeping.

So he wasn’t in a prison cell, nice.

‘You were asleep for about a day, but all of your injuries have healed.’ All for One told him softly, even though Hisashi was the only one capable of hearing it. ‘How do you feel?’

“Tired.” More emotionally, rather than physically.

‘That’s to be expected, after everything that happened yesterday.’

Hisashi was relieved to hear the quirk in a decently good mood. Though hearing the gentle tone of his brother’s voice used by All for One still grated his nerves a little.

The door slid open. “Oh, you’re awake.”

Hisashi pushed himself up onto his elbows to look at his new company. It was a small elderly woman, leaning on a cane shaped like a syringe. She was dressed in a white doctor’s coat, but the rest of her strange mostly pink clothing told Hisashi she was likely a hero. Her quirk had a very comforting feel to it. Something related to healing perhaps?

But more importantly, she had to be at least eighty years old. Do heroes ever get to retire?

The old lady tapped her cane on the ground, “you were thinking something rude just now, weren’t you?”

“No, not at all.”

She hummed and walked over to his bed side, once she stood next to Izuku, she lightly tapped him on the leg. Izuku jolted and sputtered like he just got doused in iced water.

“Oh! You’re awake!” Izuku parroted the old lady, though he sounded much more enthusiastic about it. There was a huge grin on his otherwise tired face, further proving to Hisashi that wherever they were, it was safe.

“Yes, I am awake, it is good to see you are alright.”

“I should be the one saying that. How’s your head?”

“Fine.”

“Nonsense.” The old lady interjected. “You were suffering from a terrible concussion just yesterday. Speaking of which, please make some room Midoriya, I need to examine him.”

Izuku scrambled out of the way with a meek apology.

The old lady, apparently also an actual doctor, one never knew with hero uniforms, began several tests. Some were meant to test his vision, others to test his reflexes, which Hisashi barely managed to withstand without accidentally harming the poor old lady. She even undid the bandages, much to his relief, and felt around his head. After all of this it was clear she found nothing wrong.

“My word, you weren’t exaggerating. Some lingering exhaustion aside your injuries have completely healed, my quirk wasn’t needed at all.”

“Really? That’s great!” Izuku said with a cheer. Hisashi wasn’t sure why he sounded surprised.

“Do people often lie to you about being alright?”

The old lady shook her tiredly, “dear, you have no idea.”

Being a doctor for heroes must be tough.

“Oh, pardon me, I don’t think I’ve introduced myself yet.” The old lady smiled tenderly at him, in a way that reminded Hisashi of a softer version of miss Yamaoka. 

“I’m Recovery Girl, UA’s one and only healer.”

She’s the hero who helped Izuku at the entrance exam! This must mean he was currently in UA’s infirmary.

Hisashi bowed down as well as he could while still sitting in bed, “my name is Hisashi, it is an honor to meet you.”

Miss Recovery Girl laughed merrily, “polite are we, that’s nice to see this day and age.”

“It was quite common when I was younger.”

“Is that so? You must be older than you look.”

Hisashi tilted his head in confusion. Surely Izuku must have been just as polite? He glanced at the little hero, and was even more confused by the sheepish look he saw. Did he miss something?

“Either way, you should take it easy, just in case.” Miss Recovery Girl hopped off the chair she had been standing on and walked back to the door. “I’ll let Nedzu know you’re awake and leave you two alone for a while. Please don’t try to leave until someone comes to get you.”

“Understood.”

Miss Recovery Girl gave one last friendly smile and left.

Hisashi turned to Izuku, who sat down on the edge of the bed. “What happened while I was asleep?”

“A lot.” Izuku rubbed his eyes with a sigh, and began to recount the previous day.

Apparently most of his classmates had managed to find their way out of the disaster simulation zones they were teleported to and suffered relatively minor injuries. Which was a good thing, but also very suspicious. The villains who attacked weren’t even remotely competent, to be beaten by a couple of students when they should have had an overwhelming advantage. This alone was enough for Hisashi to suspect that the attack on USJ was planned to fail, but since he had no real evidence, he kept that thought to himself.

Izuku’s teacher, Eraser Head, was left with a concussion and some minor brain damage, a long shot from the fatal injuries he had initially suffered. He was expected to make a full recovery in a few weeks, thanks to Hisashi’s ‘miracle’. Hearing that word again brought Hisashi no small amount of exasperation. What he had done wasn’t that special at all. It was just the work of a quirk. Why couldn’t people understand that? Unaware of his feelings, Izuku continued on.

Despite his actions saving the life of one of their colleges, there were some teachers that wanted Hisashi to be restrained and incarcerated for the time being, no doubt thanks to All Might’s reaction upon seeing him. Not to forget that he had managed to avoid UA’s extensive security system and conveniently appeared right in the middle of a large scale villain attack. He couldn’t blame them for being cautious.

Other teachers, mostly those who were close to Eraser Head, had argued that he should be allowed to speak for himself first. Which was a much greater surprise to Hisashi. Izuku had apparently also spoken up in his defense. To the point of refusing to leave his side until he woke up.

“Believe it or not, but All Might agreed with me and said your injuries should be treated first before they decide on anything else,” Izuku said and then added proudly, “I think I managed to convince him you’re innocent! It took me a lot of arguing though.”

Hisashi doubted that somehow.

“I am sorry for causing you so much trouble.”

“Don’t be! If it weren’t for you,” Izuku shuddered, “I honestly don’t want to imagine it, but I think a lot of us would have been dead. We didn’t stand a chance against those villains.”

“… I see.” Hisashi didn’t want to imagine that either.

It was all too ominous. The familiar young man who felt like the old All for One, the mist-like villain with the unnatural quirk, and the Nomu that shouldn’t have existed. He didn’t get the sense that any of them were really the ones in charge, the young man’s personality wasn’t consistent enough for that, and the other two held no real sign of free will. That meant the person behind the attack was still out there. What else could they be plotting? What else would the future bring? There was simply too much to think about.

Above all, Hisashi couldn’t help but wonder if everything was his own fault. If only he hadn’t been such a coward, then none of this would have happened. Even after all these years, he was still a thoroughly rotten and selfish person. Perhaps he hadn’t changed as much as he thought after all.

Izuku started talking about his new classmates and teachers after a while. From the sound of it they were lively bunch with rather eccentric personalities, but Hisashi was only half listening to it, his mind couldn’t stop wandering.

About halfway through their mostly one-sided conversation Hisashi had enough of his own loafing around and got up from bed. Izuku started fretting about it, reminding him of ‘doctor’s orders’, but he waved off his concerns. Not fighting was the equivalent of resting to him after all. He wasn’t breaking any rules.

Soon a knock sounded on the door, and they both looked up to see Eraser Head enter the room. Though he wondered what he was doing here, Hisashi was impressed to see him look so well rested, and he wasn’t the only one.

“Mister Aizawa, you look… well?” For some reason, Izuku seemed to sound a bit apprehensive.

Eraser Head blinked slowly. Like he had heard that same line too many times already. “I feel well too, thanks. That sort of thing happens once in a while.”

Izuku’s apprehension only grew. Was this a bad thing? How strange.

“I take it that this means your injuries have healed?” Hisashi asked.

“Ah right. I only have a minor headache, nothing a painkiller can’t fix, but I still have some recovering left to do.” Eraser Head then took another good look at Hisashi, and rubbed his neck, “You’re the one who healed me right?” Hisashi nodded, unsure where this was going, “I can’t say I remember most of what happened, but… thanks, for saving my students too.”

“It was nothing.”

Hisashi got deeply incredulous looks from both sides.

Eraser Head cleared his throat. “Anyway, both you and Midoriya are expected in the principals office. If you’re well enough to walk, then come with me.”
That explained it, Eraser Head was meant to function as an escort. ‘I suppose that is only fair.’ Hisashi thought to himself. ‘I only have myself to blame for this.’ He could only hope that Izuku wouldn’t get into any trouble for defending him.

Chapter Text

It was quiet in the hallways of UA. Izuku had mentioned earlier that the school was closed for the time being due to the incident at USJ. They didn’t have much to talk about either, so all that was heard was the sound of their own footsteps.

Beside him, Izuku looked jittery, like he expected a monster to jump out of ever door they passed, and the little hero stayed closed enough that his shoulder occasionally grazed his left arm. Hisashi nudged him with his elbow, to remind him he wasn’t alone. Izuku nudged him back with quiet laughter. 

Their escort, Eraser Head, glanced back every so often, seemingly deep in thought about something. Had the hero been told about All for One? Though it was unlikely he would allow his student to walk by his side if he knew, nor was it likely he would have spoken to him so easily. But why would his identity be kept a secret? Although, despite the way the quirk had coveted attention, All for One wasn’t well known among heroes in general. It seemed a bit contradictory to him.

While he was lost in thought they entered a different looking hallway. There were a few teachers lingering around, either busy talking on the phone or carrying stacks of papers. Judging by the worktables and meeting rooms left open, this must be the staff area. Izuku glanced around curiously, he appeared to have never been here before either.

Further in, Hisashi recognized the man with the loud quirk and the bizarrely dressed woman as the two people that had been closest to Eraser Head when he healed him. They both gave him a friendly wave, which he returned somewhat hesitantly, and a… thumbs up? Were they encouraging him? For what?

Hisashi shook his head. There was no point thinking about that now.

“We’re here.” Eraser Head said as he stood before a door labeled ‘Principal …’s Office’. Hisashi struggled to figure out what the two kanji in the middle were meant to say. One could mean ‘root’ or ‘foundation’, the other was a complete mystery, but he could guess it read the name Nedzu.

Eraser Head knocked on the door, and a high pitched voice called out, “come in!” It sounded friendly, but not to the point he’d be willing to let his guard down. He could hear Izuku swallow nervously.

They were let in by Eraser Head, who then leaned against the wall besides the door with his arms crossed, feigning relaxation. He was most likely meant to keep an eye on them, his quirk was certainly ideal for the task, and he wasn’t the only one to stand guard. Mister Yagi stood behind a small white animal wearing a suit. His posture was tense and he had a unusual frown on his face, which eased a bit upon seeing Izuku.

Hisashi didn’t allow himself to focus on the hero for too long. The unknown white animal was clearly the most important figure in the room. It wasn’t human, the lack of legible body language gave it away, and it carried the unmistakable presence of an intelligence based quirk. Hisashi was instantly glad he remained cautious. Whoever or whatever this was, it shouldn’t be underestimated.

He wasn’t the only one assessing the other, the source of his wariness did the same to him. The calculating look in those beady black eyes gave it away, and it was just about the only thing they did. The feeling of being stared through was vaguely reminiscent of Matsumori, or even his old teacher mister Shimura, though this time it felt far more intense.

Then the tension was broken by the jovial high-pitched voice coming from the mystery animal, “I am Nedzu! I could be a mouse, a dog, or a bear, but most importanlyyy,” it, or rather he, paused for no good reason, “I’m the principal of UA!”

It was the same friendly voice he heard earlier. Not a trace of malice to be found. Had he imagined the danger just now?

Hisashi mentally shook himself and bowed, “my name is Hisashi, it is an honor to meet you, principal Nedzu.”

When he looked up again, he saw a delighted look on principal Nedzu’s face. “My, Recovery Girl was right, you really are a polite one.”

Instead of being interrogated on the spot, he was met with amiable small-talk. Though he was still wary, he wasn’t about to squander good fortune. “It is apparently rare these days.”

“Indeed.” The principal laughed in a tone sharper than before. “Many would not be able to look past my appearance.”

“I have seen worse.”

“I’m sure you have. Now please, there’s no need to stand around there like that, take a seat. You too young Midoriya.”

Izuku had frozen in fear, which just won’t do. Similar to what he had done on the way here, he nudged the little hero with the back of his hand to gain his attention.

Once Izuku looked his way, he dared a small smile. ‘It’s alright,’ he wanted to say, ‘I’ll keep you safe’. Izuku seemed to understand, as he relaxed a little and returned a shaky smile.

Time to face the music, as they say.

It was difficult to ignore the eyes boring into them from all sides. Hisashi felt like one mistake could cost him everything.
Principal Nedzu gestured to a pot on the right. “Care for some tea?”

Izuku shook his head, too nervous to speak or accept, but Hisashi had no such issues. “If you would be so kind.”

Nedzu bared his sharp teeth in the facsimile of a smile and pressed down on something. Hisashi flinched when a robotic arm emerged from the desk, took the teapot and poured a dark liquid into two teacups without spilling a drop. When its job was done the arm disappeared back to wherever it came from, and the seemingly wooden surface was left with no evidence of an opening of any kind. 

He waited another few seconds for anything else to jump out before he hesitantly picked up the cup of tea. The herbal citrus-like smell was unfamiliar, and when he took a sip he was surprised by a rich flavor.

“It’s called Earl Gray,” principal Nedzu explained without prompting, “it might be considered generic by most, but I personally enjoy it quite a bit.”

“It tastes good.”

“Glad to hear it! Now then,” the principal’s demeanor shifted into something more severe, “let’s cut to the chase, shall we.”

Izuku took in a sharp breath, and Hisashi could practically hear the boy’s heart racing. Though he wished to reassure him again, he kept his eyes firmly pointed forward. Now was not the time to show weakness.

“The HPSC,” Hisashi must have looked confused, because Nedzu paused and then explained, “that is, the Hero Public Safety Commission, the important people in charge of all things heroics, would like to see you imprisoned in Tartarus for life.”

Tar-ta-rus? What was that?

Izuku knew, for he jumped up in outrage, allowing Hisashi to see only just enough to recognize the rebellious frown on his face. “No! That’s—!”

This couldn’t continue, if the little hero said more he might end up in trouble. “Izuku.” 

“But…”

“Allow principal Nedzu to speak.”

The principal appeared to be a bit remorseful, but it was hard to tell. “I have no other choice but to be blunt, they still see you as the villain All for One. To them you are a threat to Japan, no, to the whole world, and they would rather see you eliminated by whatever means necessary, sooner than later. And they weren’t amused by young Midoriya’s attempts at defending you either.”

“…”

Izuku fell back into his chair, and mister Yagi finally moved over to place a comforting hand on the little hero’s shoulder. Unfortunately it didn’t work at all. Izuku bend over with his face hidden behind his hands and continued to tremble.

Hisashi saw it happen from the corner of his vision, but he kept his expression carefully blank. He wished he could fight back or run away, but there was really only one thing he could do. “I will accept whatever punishment you deem fit without struggle,” he placed his hands, palms down, on his lap and bowed his head, baring the back of his neck, “in exchange, I beg you to spare Izuku.”

“Hisashi…” His heart broke to hear the anguish in Izuku’s voice, but he couldn’t afford to budge. He had to protect him, no matter what.

“Any punishment at all?”

“Anything.”

For a long time, the office remained silent, as if its occupants barely even dared to breathe. Hisashi kept his head down, both as a sign of surrender, and because he couldn’t bear to see the expression on Izuku’s face.

“That isn’t necessary.” Hisashi looked up with wide eyes. Principal Nedzu’s posture had grown relaxed once again, and his smile, if one could call it that, carried genuine warmth. He seemed to have reached a conclusion of some kind. “I’m also one of the people that had spoken up on your behalf.”

“I do not understand…”

“I witnessed your actions at USJ. General appearance and quirk aside, you don’t match what we know about All for One. In the past seven years you haven’t been involved with villainy, and apparently spend the time with young Midoriya instead, someone with aspirations towards heroism, which you actively encouraged all the while. Not to mention that you risked everything to save the lives of three students and one pro-hero, while neglecting to attempt gaining any personal benefit.”

“…”

“I still had a few doubts, you are known for your intellect after all, but your behavior just now put them at ease, and I assure you, not even the greatest of actors can fool me!”

“Are you certain?”

“Very.”

Sure enough, everything about principal Nedzu screamed pure confidence. Hisashi still couldn’t believe it, however. He, of all people, was being given benefit of the doubt? There had to be a mistake. “You know I am All for One.”

“I’m well aware, yes.”

“You know about everything I have done.”

“I don’t know everything, but I know enough.”

“And you still…?”

“Oh no, this isn’t even the start.”

Despite there being little reason for it, he was filled with apprehension. It started to become increasingly difficult to stay calm. Yet, he had faced far more terrifying situations. This was nothing.

“What else is there?”

Principal Nedzu clapped his hands, or rather his paws, and laughed mirthfully. “I would like to offer you a job!”

He only barely managed to maintain his composure. None of this made any sense anymore.

Mister Yagi evidently agreed. “Nedzu you can’t possibly—”

“But I can, and I am.”

Hisashi leaned back in his chair. “…But why?”

“It’s unlikely that USJ will be the only encounter my students will have with high-profile villains, the underground’s movements, or even the lack thereof, don’t bode well for the future, so I had already been considering my options to ensure their safety. All the teachers here have their own career as heroes to see to as well, they can’t always be there for them, but someone like you can.”

“You want me to protect them?”

“You catch on quickly!”

Hisashi glanced to the left, and Izuku looked back at him with a wavering smile, his once despairing eyes have regained a glimmer of hope. He wanted to believe this was real, but, “why offer me?”

It was usually an ill omen if something sounded too good to be true.

“It’s quite simple really, someone as powerful as you would easily be able to keep my students safe and you’ve already shown your willingness to do what it takes,” Hisashi didn’t miss the purpose of the sudden flattery, though it wasn’t going to work, “of course, there’s benefit for you too. If you do a good job, you can continue to protect young Midoriya, while keeping at least some of your freedom, and the Hero Commission would certainly be reassured enough to know I’m keeping you under control to stay off your back.”

Reassured enough to keep from sending him to this Tar-ta-rus? Hisashi sincerely doubted it. He also couldn’t ignore how easily his desire to protect Izuku was being used against him. This was the reason why observant types scared him. The whole idea of working for someone like Nedzu was disturbing.

Still, what other choice did he have? His main purpose in the past was to protect Izuku, and this job aligned perfectly with it. Watching over a bunch of other wannabe heroes in the meantime hardly seemed like a sacrifice at all. And his implied lack of freedom? He never cared about that, not as long as he could fulfill his purpose.

“If you wish to think about it, I wouldn’t mind giving you some more time.”

“There is no need,” Hisashi looked principal Nedzu straight in the eye in one last attempt to understand his ulterior motives, and even though he failed, it didn’t faze him any longer. He already made up his mind. “I accept your offer.”

Izuku nearly jumped up from his seat again, this time with a happy cheer, shaking mister Yagi from his stupor, though he seemed to fall back into another one right after. The little hero shook Hisashi by the forearm with a huge grin, unable to contain his joy. He smiled back at him, it was a relief to see him so cheerful again.

As for principal Nedzu, “good to hear it! You’re the type to take initiative I see. In that case, I will need to make a few arrangements first, so I can’t have you leave UA and roam about just yet, but I expect that to change in a few days.”

Izuku would have fallen over in shock, had he no been sitting down. “That soon?!”

“I’m also the type to take initiative.” Principal Nedzu laughed in a vaguely malicious way. “Anyway, until then you’ll be given a room to stay in here at UA, hopefully you’ll take this chance to fully recover. We can discuss your version of yesterday’s events tomorrow. As for you, young Midoriya, you should return home, your mother must be very worried about you by now.”

Hisashi saw Izuku hesitate, so he raised a hand to gain his attention and said, “There is no need to worry about me, I will be fine on my own.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.” He looked at mister Yagi, who was obviously thorn about something. “However, I believe it would be best if mister Ya— if All Might escorted you back home.” So they could talk about the tension between them, but he knew better than to mention that right now. “Izuku had also been targeted by the villains after all, and I am not allowed to leave.”

Both Izuku and mister Yagi continued to hesitate, until the former relented first. “Okay, if you say so.”

The latter followed after. “If that’s alright with you, principal Nedzu?”

“Absolutely! I think it’s a great idea.” The glint in the principal’s eyes told Hisashi that his secret plan had been found out.

‘I really should not make an enemy out of this person,’ Hisashi thought to himself. All for One seemed to laugh at him for some reason.

Izuku left the office along with mister Yagi, though not without looking back a few times first. Despite his scheming, Hisashi would rather have protected him on the way home himself. While sneaking away would be laughably easy, he knew well enough not to push his luck. He’ll have to put his faith in the hands of Japan’s number one hero, and hope mister Yagi will keep it together long enough to ensure Izuku’s safety.

Before Eraser Head could escort Hisashi out as well, principal Nedzu asked one last thing, “so, who are you really?”

“I am not certain what you mean, I already introduced myself, did I not?” Was there a hidden meaning he was missing?

“Indeed…” Principal Nedzu muttered something that sounded suspiciously like, ‘isn’t that interesting’. “Have a nice day then, I do hope you’ll enjoy your stay, regardless of the circumstances.”

Hisashi bowed his head. “Thank you for your generosity.”

*

It was a short walk from the principal’s office to the room Hisashi was assigned, and as they arrived his opinion of UA’s generosity only grew. While the room itself was nothing impressive, it was still clean and had a window, so it didn’t feel too cramped.

Eraser Head wished him well, in his own way, and was about to leave when he was stopped by the approach of two heroes. Hisashi recognized them as the same ones that had encouraged him earlier.

“HEY! Glad we made it in time!” The loud hero exclaimed. He seemed like a very jubilant person.

“So, how did it go?” Asked the heroine. Her quirk still gave him the vaguest urge to sneeze, but she also seemed friendly enough. “They weren’t too harsh were they? If so, don’t worry, I can comfort you.”

Eraser Head pinched the bridge of his nose, and sighed like their very presence exhausted him, before turned to Hisashi with a deadpan stare. “These two troublesome people are Present Mic and Midnight, they also teach here.”

“Come on! Shota, is that how you introduce your old friends?”

“Cold and pragmatic as always, but I like that about you.”

Eraser Head was unimpressed, but Hisashi wanted to keep an open mind. The two teachers had yet to actually bother him after all. “My name is Hisashi, it is nice to meet you.”

The ‘troublesome duo’ turned towards each other, and nodded secretively. Midnight was the first to speak, “while it’s really darling to hear someone so polite, don’t worry about that too much around here, okay? And my name is Kayama Nemuri. Normally I would tell you to keep things professional, but I’ll make an exception just, for you!”

“Thank you for your consideration.”

Kayama faltered with a dumbfounded look on her face. Eraser Head mumbled under his breath with a tired sigh, “it flew over his head…”

He wondered what that meant, but he was quickly distracted by Present Mic, who thrust out his right hand with a toothy grin. “The name’s Yamada Hizashi! Our names sound similar but make no mistake, it’s Hi-za-shi, got it?”

Hisashi wished to ignore the hand hovering between them, but being seen as rude would be deeply detrimental, so he shook it hoping his apprehension wouldn’t show. “… got… it.”

The lack of enthusiasm didn’t faze Yamada in the slightest. “Oh right, mister dark a’ brooding over there is Aizawa Shota, bet ya he didn’t even introduce himself hmmm?”

“I’m sure he would have learned it sooner than later anyway.”

“How cold.”

Kayama coughed lightly. “Anyway, we still want to know what happened.”

“I was offered a job.” Hisashi gave a simple summary of the meeting. If these two worked at UA, then there was no reason not to tell them. “They were kind enough to give me a room to stay in until I can leave.”

“Ye call this a room?” Yamada threw his head back with a cry. “NO! That’s just too tragic, I could cry!”

Hisashi saw nothing wrong with it.

To make matters worse, Kayama also looked at his temporary residence, equally dismayed. “Isn’t it completely empty?”

Eraser Head, or perhaps he should be called Aizawa, had apparently not seen where he brought Hisashi, because he also frowned when he glanced into the room. “I hadn’t noticed.”

“Seriously?”

The three heroes continued to argue among themselves about it, until Hisashi had enough of being excluded. “It is alright, I do not mind.”

“You sure? There’s nothing in there, y’ know, not even a place to sleep.”

“I can sleep on the floor just fine.”

That had been the wrong thing to say. Both Yamada and Kayama clung to each other as they gasped loudly in dismay, like they heard something atrocious.

Aizawa turned to him. The vaguest concern could be read in his frown. “Do you do that often?”

“Not anymore.” Hisashi shook his head. “But it really does not bother me.”

The room he was given might be barren and small, but it was safe and clean shelter nonetheless. Both in his youth and in the old future he could have only dreamed of being given this much.

“No, no no no! This won’t do at all y’ hear!” Yamada took a large step forward and pointed up at Hisashi’s face. “Wait here, we’ll get you some basic stuff!” He then ran off without waiting for a response.

Kayama ran after him. “Hey now, wait for me!”

“And there they go,” Aizawa said tiredly, “I hope they aren’t bothering you.”

“They have the right intentions.” Hisashi paused. Wasn’t Aizawa still suffering from a concussion? “Feel free to get some rest, I do not mind waiting by myself.”

“Afraid I can’t, I’ve got my orders.”

“I see.”

That confirmed it, Aizawa acted as a monitor. Despite the way Nedzu had sounded earlier, Hisashi wasn’t trusted at all. His stay in UA likely acted as a probationary time of sorts, so they could learn more about the kind of person he truly was. He was right to be careful after all.

Some time later, Kayama and Yamada returned with their arms full of items. The former held a bottle of water and a few snacks, while the latter carried a rolled up futon and some clothing. Though it was obvious at first glance that both the futon and the clothes were too small, a common occurrence considering his troublesome height.

Yamada noticed as well. The hero made another sound of dismay and turned around on his heel to supposedly find something else. But Hisashi stopped him. “There is no need.”

“Look, it’s one thing to sleep on the floor in a closet, but— y’ know what, no way, you’re not going to wear something this small are ya?!” To prove his point, Yamada dropped everything else and held up a shirt. It was far too small indeed.

He pondered how to best word his intentions, but perhaps a demonstration would work better. He activated Shapeshift and turned into the younger appearance he always used while visiting Izuku. It was conveniently about thirty centimeters shorter. 

The third growth spurt he went through in his late teens had been an ordeal to say the least.

While he had no need for a change of clothes— he was proud of his ability to create them using quirks— the futon was a greatly appreciated luxury. But he didn’t want to look ungrateful, so he intended to accept both.

Hisashi smiled triumphantly. “As I said, there is no need, it should be fine now.”

The three heroes gaped at him, two more obvious than the third. Aizawa cleared his throat. “That solves the problem, I suppose. Is there anything else you need?”

Hisashi thought about it for a moment. Originally his answer was no, he had already been given more than enough, but Aizawa wouldn’t have offered if he couldn’t afford to. He might as well take advantage. “Something to read, perhaps?”

“Any preferences?”

“…” that was a tough question Hisashi didn’t know the answer to. “Anything is fine.”

“Got it, I’ll ask Nedzu.”

So he’s going to delegate the task to someone else. Hisashi resisted the urge to laugh. Pragmatic indeed. “Thank you.”

“No problem.” Aizawa frowned at his two astonished friends, who had quietly placed down the supplies while they were talking. “We’ll leave you alone for now—” Yamada opened his mouth to argue, but Aizawa continued talking undeterred, “— in a few hours someone will come to take you to the cafeteria for something to eat, until then, you can go to the teacher’s hall if you need anything, but don’t go anywhere else on your own.”

The last part seemed superfluous at this point, Hisashi thought, but he didn’t mention it. “Understood.”

Aizawa nodded once and then proceeded to drag his complaining colleagues away. They were a funny group of friends, yet they were also very kind. Seeing them again wouldn’t be so bad at all.

*

Once all of the supplies were stashed in a corner, Hisashi subtly checked every centimeter of the room for surveillance equipment. While he found nothing, he couldn’t convince himself there wasn’t any. The memory of the robot arm emerging out of what had looked like a perfectly normal wooden desk was still fresh in his mind.

To think machinery could be hidden so well…

At that moment, All for One made itself known for the third time that day. ‘No need to worry, you’re not being watched.’

“How do you know?”

‘Call it an educated guess. Instilling you with the idea you might still be watched is enough to keep you subdued… at least, that’s what I believe Nedzu might be thinking.’ The quirk paused a bit, and then continued almost sardonically, ‘besides, this is a closet, what point is there for such advanced surveillance in a place like this?’

Was he truly the only one who didn’t mind this room?

‘Yes.’

“I was not asking you.”

It annoyed him, but All for One had a good point. So safe in the knowledge that there was no one around to judge him for lowering his guard, he leaned heavily against the wall opposite to the door, slid down to the floor, grabbed the pillow that came with the futon, pressed it firmly against his face and promptly screamed into it as loudly as he dared. Everything he had been shoving down during that meeting rushed out all at once.

There was no way this was really happening! He was in UA, the top hero school in Japan, if not the world. The same school Izuku went to. The same prestigious school offered him a job to protect its students. Him. Hisashi. All for One, worst villain in the world, a murderer, a monster. Why him?! Was this a dream? Was he still unconscious? This just couldn’t be real.

“This isn’t a dream.” All for One answered. Except, it didn’t sound like it came from the depths of his minds like it usually did. It sounded like it came from right in front of him.

Hisashi reluctantly looked up, and there it was, Yoichi’s impostor, crouching before him. “What are you doing?!” Hisashi hissed at it with a glare, but All for One obviously wasn’t impressed.

“I’m keeping you company, you look like you need it.”

“As if. What if someone sees you?”

All for One chuckled. “They won’t. This form is a type of illusion, only you can see it.”

Hisashi’s scowl turned into an unbidden pout. In an act of rebellion he threw the pillow he was suffocating himself with at the quirk. It passed right through. All for One’s smile grew wider, gaining a tinge of satisfaction.

“See, it’s like I said, this form is made using an illusory type quirk, it’s not physically here.”

Made using a quirk huh? Hisashi smiled back. Despite having an ego of its own, All for One was still his quirk, which meant only one thing.

The smug smile on the quirk’s face faltered when its body became solid, before Hisashi used a Telekinesis quirk to slam the pillow he had thrown into to back of its head.

All for One rubbed the back of its head and mumbled, “petty…”, which Hisashi ignored in favor of rolling out the futon. He flopped down onto it and stubbornly faced the wall. It was so comfortable he found himself relaxing little by little.

When his irritation faded away, Hisashi remembered something important. Something he hadn’t had the chance to say yet.

“Thank you.”

“Huh?” All for One shuffled closer, and hovered over him. “I don’t think I heard that right.”

The fact that he could hear it move meant that the quirk maintained its physical form. Which defeated the point of their little argument just a moment ago. Hisashi chose not to mention it. He’d rather focus on what he actually wanted to say.

“I said thank you.”

“So I really did hear that!” A cold hand was placed on his forehead and brushed away his hair. “Are you okay? Do you feel sick?”

Hisashi slapped the hand away. “Shut up.”

All for One laughed, just the way Yoichi always did. “Sorry, I just couldn’t help myself. But all jokes aside, what are you thanking me for?”

“USJ.” The abbreviation alone brought back the feeling of horror and nausea. Hisashi squeezed his eyes shut to stay calm. “You saved me, and helped me save someone else, even though I kept pushing you away.”

It was quiet for a moment. To his great surprise, the presence of his quirk felt more like safety rather than a threat. It was wonderfully, and awfully, nostalgic.

“There’s no need to thank me for anything, I promised to always stay by your side, didn’t I?”

Hisashi couldn’t remember hearing a promise like that.

“That doesn’t surprise me, it was a long time ago.” All for One said in response to his thoughts. It didn’t annoy him as it much as it usually did. “And I can’t blame you for acting the way you did, I wasn’t being reasonable either, you did the right thing.” A hand began to gently card through his hair. “Even if I don’t like the way you did it… Your life is also worth protecting, Hisashi.”

There was nothing for him to say in response to that, but that was alright. It wasn’t necessary. 

Drowsiness began to overtake him. If he tried hard enough, he could imagine that the one watching over him was the real Yoichi. That he had somehow traveled even further back in time, and was once again surrounded by the people he loved. It was safe. It was home.

Hisashi smiled as he slowly drifted to sleep.

Chapter Text

The next day, Hisashi was called into principal Nedzu’s office again. This time the meeting was held between the two of them, no guards and no potential collateral damage. He couldn’t say this was any more comfortable though, the security cameras, which he could no longer unsee, continued to burn into his back.

“I would like to apologize for your first day here,” principal Nedzu said as soon as Hisashi sat down, “we had send you to a storage room by mistake. There had been plenty of vocal complaints about it.”

At first glance, it really did look like a genuine mistake, one commonly made during hectic times. This morning he had been led into a brighter and larger space containing some simple furnishing. An unused meeting room, or so he was told. However, it was obvious that he had been taken to the ‘storage room’ on purpose, likely to try and trigger a response. He wondered if principal Nedzu had learned what he wanted to know.

“It is alright, I did not mind it, truly.”

“So I’ve heard.” Principal Nedzu chuckled. “That was part of the complaint.”

Hisashi could guess the ones complaining the most were Yamada and Kayama, they had been quite upset yesterday. No matter how hard he tried, he still couldn’t understand where the sympathy came from. According to All For One, it was because his standards were too low. An assessment he didn’t agree with. Besides, why would they even care about something so insignificant? He was a total stranger, his life shouldn’t matter to them.

This wasn’t something he wanted to talk about however. He hesitated to reject small talk, it could be seen as rude after all, but he really wanted to get this meeting over with already. “You wished to speak with me about USJ, sir?”

“Ah, so you remember, that makes things easier.” Thankfully, principal Nedzu went along with it without a pause. “I’m sure you know that your sudden appearance looks very suspicious, but I assure you that we are willing to listen to your side of the story with an open mind.”

“Thank you, but,” Hisashi slowly shook his head, “there is not much for me to tell you, I am afraid.”

“That’s alright, every single bit helps!” Principal Nedzu responded chipper. Then he presented a strange black box made of plastic, a type Hisashi had seen somewhere before, and pushed a button on the side. A green light blinked on. “Now, I must inform you that while this isn’t part of a formal investigation, I would like to record our conversation for the sake of future reference. Do I have your consent for this?”

So it was a recording device. The yakuza liked using those too. It made little difference to him, though. “I do not mind.” 

“Wonderful. To begin with the most pressing question; how did you know about the attack on USJ?”

It was a good thing that Hisashi had already decided that it wasn’t an option to lie his way out of risky questions. Doing so to someone with an intelligence quirk, before a recording device nonetheless, was doomed to fail. Besides, the best kind of lie was the truth, or so he had been taught.

“I merely had a bad feeling.”

If principal Nedzu had eyebrows, he probably would have raised them. “A bad feeling you say?”

“Yes. While Izuku was walking to school, I noticed an unusual amount of villain activity in Musutafu. It looked like a distraction to me, so I decided to watch over him more closely, just in case.”

“I see. And you wouldn’t have made an appearance if nothing had happened?”

“I would have gladly left Izuku to his studies.”

“You certainly care a lot about young Midoriya.”

“He is a treasured friend.” Principal Nedzu must have figured out that much already by now. So it felt like a safe thing to say.

“That’s reassuring to hear. Moving on, are you familiar with the two villains in charge of the attack, Kurogiri and Shigaraki Tomura?”

Hisashi frowned. While the name Kurogiri was pretty descriptive, and spoke for itself, Tomura wasn’t a name he was familiar with, though hearing it made All For One stir restlessly beneath his skin. ‘Shigaraki’ on the other hand…

“I know nothing of Kurogiri, but I am familiar with the name Shigaraki.”

“Only the name?”

“I do not know anyone named Tomura.”

“And what do you know about Shigaraki?”

“It was the name given to me by the yakuza leader, Higanbana.” Hisashi fought the urge to grimace. Saying that name left a disgusting taste in his mouth.

“Higanbana…” Hearing someone else say it was just as nauseating. Principal Nedzu was too busy thinking to notice the look on his face however. “I believe I have read about that name before… was he in charge of the ‘World’s End Garden’ about a hundred years ago?”

Hisashi pursed his lips. To think that that bastard Higanbana made it into history when so many good people were lost to it. The world truly wasn’t a fair place.

“Yes, he was their one, and only, leader.”

Principal Nedzu hummed thoughtfully. “Higanbana was well known for his unorthodox and brutal ways, and for his even more brutal demise in the end. The records don’t call it karma, but it’s a close thing.”

If there was one thing to thank the old All for One for, it’s that one act of vengeance Hisashi hadn’t been strong enough to commit himself. Too bad it hadn’t stopped its rampage with that.

He took a deep breath, in through the nose, out through the mouth, knowing fully well he was expected to elaborate. “Higanbana had the habit of naming the pawns he gained the most interest in… to rob them of their old identity and to further stake his claim. All the names he chose had something to do with plants. The last kanji in Shigaraki means ‘tree’. With that, I also became part of his garden.”

Principal Nedzu didn’t respond right away, his ears drooped a little and the smile that had been ever present since the meeting began disappeared. “How many years did you spend with the yakuza?”

The question had nothing to do with USJ, but he still felt compelled to answer. “I do not know, but it might have been about five years, I think. I was in my mid-teens when I got… recruited, and an adult by the time I…” Hisashi trailed off.

“Five years… that’s a long time for someone so young.”

There was little to say in response to that.

“I can tell this is a difficult subject for you, so let’s return to USJ.” Principal Nedzu’s voice retained a subtle undertone of compassion, one that remained even while he asked his next question. “What do you know about the Nomu Shigaraki Tomura had brought along to the attack?”

Though he should have seen it coming, Hisashi didn’t know how to answer. And the longer he took, the more concern bled into the principal’s face. A tactic to make him lower his guard perhaps? It seemed to genuine however, and it made him wonder how he looked to warrant such an expression.

“The Nomu are,” Hisashi stopped, took another slow breath and then began anew, “all I know of them, is that they are failed attempts at cloning All For One.”

Principal Nedzu’s eyes grew wide, and the hair on his neck bristled, much the way Madara’s did when she was startled. “They? Can I assume you mean to say there are more  Nomu out there?”

“Yes. I believed I had destroyed them all, but I was clearly mistaken.”

“And you claim that they are meant to be clones of All For One, that is to say, your quirk?”

“…From what little I had gotten the chance to learn, yes.”

“And why do you not know more than that?”

Beneath the surface of that question, it was easy to read what principal Nedzu truly meant.  Hisashi’s heart pounded in his chest, but his expression didn’t change.
“I cannot remember much of the past.” Once again, this was the truth. “The moment I found out about the Nomu, I tried to destroy the research behind their creation and escape as soon as possible. It was… naive of me to believe I succeeded.”

“So these clones were made without your consent or knowledge?”

“Yes.”

“And you do not know their creator?”

“If I did, I would have informed you already.”

“I see. That explains why the students that witnessed your fight against the Nomu thought you looked distressed. I imagine you would have rather never seen them again.” Principal Nedzu hummed, and tapped his claws on the desk. Hisashi couldn’t help but glance between the source of the noise and the face of his interrogator. “Then employing you was the right idea after all.”

“Pardon?”

“The Nomu are made using All For One, your quirk, as source material, so to speak. It’s only natural to assume that if the creator is still out there, they would want this source material back.” The principal smiled, his beady eyes crinkled to further mimic a more human expression. “While I said that I wished for you to protect my students, this also goes the other way around; as long as you work for UA, we will be able to protect you in return.”

‘Your life is also worth protecting, Hisashi.’ All For One had said, but he didn’t understand why. Nothing good ever came from people trying to keep him safe. It was pointless, he couldn’t even stay dead whenever he died.

“I do not need to need to be protected.”

“That might also be true.” Principal Nedzu laughed, though it sounded strained. “I would like to conclude my interview here, unless you have anything else to add?”

Did this mean he believed his answer? If so, then he’s best count his blessings and end it here. “No, that is all.”

“Very well. Thank you for your cooperation.” The principal pushed the button on the recording device, and the green light blinked off. 

“It was nothing.” Hisashi bowed his head and hastily made to stand up and make an escape, but principal Nedzu raised a hand— or paw?— to stop him.

“Actually, there was one last thing I wanted to ask, if that’s alright with you.”

Did he have the option to say no and leave? Probably not. “Go ahead.”

“I couldn’t help but notice the way you speak is rather odd. Do you struggle with Japanese?”

Of all things he could be asked about, this wasn’t so bad. Hisashi allowed himself to relax a little. “My apologies, I hope it is not a nuisance.”

“Not at all, you’re easy to understand. I was merely curious if there was a reason for it.”

The reason, huh? That story went far back. “I was only taught how to speak as a teenager. Some habits are difficult to get rid of.”

“Are you more proficient in another language?”

“No, I only know Japanese.”

The frown returned to principal Nedzu’s face, this time more obvious than before, along with a note of sadness and understanding. “What about education?”

Hisashi looked away. This conversation quickly became far more uncomfortable than he expected. He wished the sympathy emanating from the otherwise difficult to read principal could turn into something easier to understand.

“I never went to school. All else they taught me was reading, writing, and basic math, I learned everything else by myself.”

“Hrm, well, I can’t allow that to continue.” Principal Nedzu sounded like he was speaking to himself, almost. “How about I offer you some proper education while you work here?”

Hisashi swiveled back with wide eyes. “Really? You would be willing to do that?”

“Of course! As a principal and teacher I simply cannot ignore this. It’s a matter of pride, you see.”

This was an opportunity he never even dared to dream about. Could he become just as worldly as Izuku was, or as Yoichi so long ago? There were so many things he wanted to learn, but never got the chance to. What did he do to deserve this kindness?

“Before I can do anything though, I will need to gain insight on your current academic level, so I propose to schedule a comprehensive test while you’re staying here.”

Hisashi snapped out of his daydreaming. “Would that not delay existing arrangements even further?” As much as he wanted to learn, he also wanted to get out of UA and breathe in fresh air.

“I don’t think that’ll be a problem. I already did my part of the process, what happens next is currently in the hands of the HPSC.” Principal Nedzu leaned forward and folded his paws on the desk, his voice gained a distinct tinge of something promising violence. “Which can take a while, knowing them. It seems I overestimated their capabilities once again, my apologies for that.”

There was no love lost between principal Nedzu and the HPSC, it seemed. Hisashi wondered what kind of people they were to warrant such malice from a person that had, so far, been nothing but kind and generous to him.

“That is alright.”

“Thank you for understanding.” The thinly veiled anger was nowhere to be seen once again. “I’ll schedule in those test and— oh, that’s right! Before I forget, I must also mention that I would like to do a proper assessment of your abilities, with and without your quirk. Knowing what you can do will help immensely in the future.”

“I see no problem with that.”

“Alright, I’ll get to work then!”

With that, principal Nedzu wished him a nice day and finally allowed him to leave. It looked like they both had a busy week ahead of them.

*

A few days later, Hisashi was given a large stack of tests by Aizawa, who told him to fill in as many questions as he could and to leave open the ones he couldn’t. There was no time limit, and he quickly found out why. 

Japanese was easy enough at first, but as soon he was met with a wall of unidentifiable kanji and ‘basic reading comprehension’, he was forced to leave many questions unanswered. 

Other subjects were no better.

Mathematics was fine until strange symbols, that certainly couldn’t have anything to do with numbers, came along. 

Biology he thought he knew well enough, being taught a thing or two about identifying weaknesses— but the function of the digestive track? Who needed to know that? 

History was all about events he barely, if ever, heard of before. He couldn’t get beyond one page. Physics and sciences he knew even less about. 

Geology never got far beyond naming places. He knew about Japan— China on the left and America on the right past the massive body of water— Shion taught him. There was also Europe, smaller than he remembered, and Africa, and Australia, and there was a second America somewhere, and, a lot of water? Where did the water go? How were mountains formed? He had not a clue.

Art was nice to look at, but what was color theory? What did they mean with perspective? What were these symbols on the page titled ‘English’? What was ‘English’ even?

Save to say, his pride was thoroughly shredded by the time he finished, far sooner than he probably should have. He apologized to Aizawa as he handed in his small stack of answers.

The results came back the very next day, and Hisashi wasn’t allowed to see them. “They’re not important, don’t worry about it.” Principal Nedzu claimed, likely to spare his feelings. Not that it worked.

UA didn’t have the lesson material Hisashi needed yet, so principal Nedzu was going to ask local schools if they could share theirs. Though the principal was nothing but friendly as he informed him of this, Hisashi hadn’t been able to look him in the eye the entire time. 

His lack of education had never bothered him before, but ever since he became aware of the gap between what he should know and what he didn’t, he felt a distinct amount of discomfort. Like he’d rather disappear beneath the earth until there was no one alive left that knew about his ignorance. He didn’t know what to call this feeling, but he hated it.

Hisashi’s lessons would begin around the same time as his job, mostly for practicality’s sake. Which would be no sooner than next week, according to an increasingly exasperated principal Nedzu.

The reminder of time passing by did nothing to help the pervading sense of restlessness. He was used to going wherever he liked whenever he wanted to, to feel the moisture of clouds, hear the rustle of leaves, and walk through grass and dirt. The walls began to feel like they were slowly closing in. Hisashi thought he could handle being confined again, but he was sorely mistaken.

So when Aizawa came by again, as he frequently did, and told him he was expected outside, Hisashi responded with far more enthusiasm than necessary. Aizawa was forced to use his strange scarf to stop him from running off without even hearing where he needed to go. He had accidentally dragged the poor teacher a few meters through the hall before he realized what he was doing, and stopped in his tracks.

“You okay?” Aizawa asked, even though Hisashi should have been the one asking that. He was too busy reigning in the energy trying to jumps off his skin to bother with guilt, however. So he nodded without a word and followed the teacher out of the building.

The reason why he was expected outside was the physical assessment he was told about, and the location was a large open field a minor distance away from the school building. The field was covered in a thin layer of sand, much to his silent disappointment. He missed being surrounded by greenery.

Aizawa trudged onto the field after him, breathing heavily. Perhaps he hadn’t fully recovered from his injuries yet, Hisashi vowed to properly apologize later.

Mister Yagi and principal Nedzu, who was perched on the hero’s right shoulder, were already present. If Izuku were here, they would have the whole assemble back together again. Mister Yagi wore a garish yellow suit that seemed one size too small, the fabric hung on for dear life with every movement. He had his arms crossed and his face was set in a stern frown, while retaining his signature smile. Hisashi would have considered it intimidating— if it weren’t for all that yellow.

“You got here way sooner than I expected.” Principal Nedzu greeted them cheerfully, in direct contrast with the hero carrying him.

There it was again, that uncomfortable feeling he didn’t know the word for. Hisashi couldn’t meet anyone’s eye as he replied, “I had nothing better to do.”

“Is that so?” The laughter in principal Nedzu’s voice did absolutely nothing to make him feel better, but it did serve as good motivation to maintain a calm facade, at the very least.

When Hisashi managed to look up again, he saw Aizawa take a thin flat object from mister Yagi. Now that he was looking, he also noticed a basket of strange looking balls at their feet, among other odd looking things. Were they for the test?

Aizawa noticed the curious look on his face and helpfully explained, “we decided that the same methods we use for our first year students will also suffice to test your capabilities without quirks. Those are tools to make that easier.”

“I see.” But if it was usually meant for first year students, then that meant… “Did Izuku also take these tests?”

“Correct!” Principal Nedzu said before anyone else could. “It’s similar to what regular schools use for physical education, in fact.”

Mister Yagi nodded along, a bit of confusion eased his expression into something more natural. It quickly got replaced by pride, however. “Young Midoriya managed to rank sixteenth, while barely using his quirk no less!”

‘No thanks to you’, Hisashi thought.

Principal Nedzu clapped once to regain his attention. “In your case though, we’ll have to assess things a bit differently. You’ve already given us an idea of what you can do back at USJ.”

Right, the Nomu. From what he had overheard in the teacher’s hall, the creature had been specifically engineered to defeat All Might, and he killed it with ease. Hisashi winced as All For One stirred restlessly beneath his skin. What a way to make a first impression.

“So we while the quirkless half remains the same, the other half will take place in a different location.” Principal Nedzu turned to Aizawa, “I’ll leave the rest of this test to you, Eraser Head.” He then tapped mister Yagi on the face and gestured to the hero to give them more space, an instruction that was reluctantly complied to.

In the meantime, Aizawa handed him one of the strange looking balls, which on closer inspection was made of a metallic material and was quite a bit heavier than it looked. “I usually save the long throw for last, but since it’s simple, I thought it would be better to start with this. Have you ever done something like this before?” Hisashi shook his head. “You’re expected to throw this as far as possible, without any quirks.”

“No quirks, understood.” Did they expect him to forget such a simple thing so quickly? Although he refused to deactivate Shapeshift, he didn’t want anyone to see his real appearance, and it wasn’t going to influence his abilities all that much anyway. “Is it truly safe to throw as hard as I can?”

“Safe as can be, there’s no one out here except for us.”

That’s all Hisashi needed to hear. He got in position, reared his arm back, took aim, and threw the ball as hard as he could. The power behind it kicked up a gust of wind and the ball disappeared into the horizon within the blink of an eye. A loud bang could be heard somewhere in the distance.

The blank and exhausted stare Hisashi got from Aizawa, while the teacher brushed off all the sand he was covered in, made him believe he had overdone it.

“Should I retrieve that?”

“No, leave it.”

“Right.”

“You didn’t use a quirk for that?”

“No, I was told not to.” Multiple times, in fact. 

Aizawa sighed and tapped away at the flat device he was holding. “Okay, that was test number one, on to the next.”

The deadpan tone almost made Hisashi cringe. He couldn’t help it though, he really hadn’t activated any quirks just now. It seemed the mutation of All For One changed more than he thought. It was a good thing he had been careful with his strength up until now.

Hisashi was handed another device and was told it was meant to test his grip. Aizawa then joined principal Nedzu and mister Yagi at a safer distance. He muttered an apology under his breath while he crushed the machine.

The three overseeing heroes had grown quite frazzled by the time Hisashi finished his last task, a ten meter sprint. Maybe it would have been better if he ignored instructions and held back after all, though it was too late for regrets now.

“And you swear you didn’t use any quirks just now?” Mister Yagi asked for the umpteenth time. The other two had stepped away to discuss something, leaving them alone for the first time in a long while.

“None.” The hero took a step back when Hisashi glared at him. “You saw Aizawa use Erasure a few times, did you not? Or were you not paying any attention at all?”

It had been nothing short of good fortune that he hadn’t been reverted back to his true form then and there. Instead when All For One was targeted by Erasure, it only negated the base part of the quirk; the ability to take and give quirks, and the ability to synthesize new ones. Everything else remained unaffected.

All For One’s chatty ego had also become blissfully silent, in every sense of the word, which lead him to believe it too was blocked by Erasure. The quirk refused to confirm it, but Hisashi wasn’t so easily misled. He’ll remember this the next time it decided to nag at him for something as inconsequential as maintaining a daily routine.

Either way, Mister Yagi, and everyone else for that matter, were unaware of this, and Hisashi would gladly keep it that way. The hero was forced to admit defeat.
Still, it was amazing much he could do without the help of a quirk. Though he had expected all the exercise to do something about his restlessness, this unfortunately wasn’t the case. It had only gotten worse. His hands twitched with the urge to do something— anything at all.

Hisashi was pulled back into reality by the return of Aizawa, who was principal Nedzu’s vehicle this time. “Are you alright to move on to the next phase?” the principal asked.

“I am fine.” He lied.

“Good.” Principal Nedzu seemed calm enough, but his smile had a distinct sharp edge to it. “I’m personally in charge of your next test, so if you’ll come along please, it’s time to change location!”

Hisashi nodded, hoping his apprehension didn’t show.

*

The place he was directed to resembled a city, albeit a barren one. Strange looking machines were scattered around here and there, without a sign of movement within them, but other than that, he was completely alone. He couldn’t sense any quirks nearby either, the closest ones belonging to the trio overseeing his test suspiciously far away.

“Hisashi, can you hear me?”

The sound of Principal Nedzu’s voice out of nowhere made him jump in surprise. He looked for the source as he answered, “yes?”

“Your next task is to destroy all of your targets as quickly as possible. There are no limits to how you should do this, beyond the most reasonable ones of course. Good luck!”

"Good… luck?” Hisashi felt lost. “Wait, what targets?”

No answer. A beep echoed through the empty city.

‘Watch out!’ All For One called out, and Hisashi jumped away just in time to avoid an explosion. He hadn’t sensed the activation of a quirk, so it had to have been caused by a weapon of some kind. Had principal Nedzu hired someone quirkless just for the sake of this test?

A volley of bullets were shot at his chest, this time from the other direction. As he looking towards the source he saw, not a person wielding a gun, but a machine of some kind. A moving machine, with six glowing red dots for eyes. He activated a barrier to block even more attacks, and quickly realized that standing around wasn’t going to do him any good. He had to get away.

But no matter how far into the city he ran, he continued being attacked. From the left, then above, then below, then left, then right. There was no apparent reason or pattern behind it.

The decision to use machines made sense, Hisashi thought with a scowl, mister Yagi must have told his colleagues about his ability to steal quirks. The best counter strategy would naturally be to use something he can’t steal; machines. They had always been a massive blind spot, something principal Nedzu must have noticed when he was startled by one during their first meeting.

This situation was the result of his carelessness. He had grown too confident, too comfortable with the assumption that nothing could sneak up on him. 

Hisashi deflected a few more bullets and jumped onto the roof of a tall building. No more of that. He never made the same mistake twice. If this was a weakness, then he’ll just have to overcome it. Besides, the racing of his heart, the energy rushing through his veins, the fire licking at his lungs— this wasn’t fear. No. Hisashi was trilled.

A wild grin crept onto his face. The task was to destroy as many targets in as little time as possible. Machines weren’t alive, he could go all out. At last. It was time to show them exactly what he could do.

Now that he had a goal to work towards, his mind shifted from frantic thoughts, to calm efficiency. Machines were never silent, the sound of metal part grinding together would always give them away. He sharpened his hearing, and once he found his nearest target, he shot off into the sky. All For One matched his new enthusiasm every step of the way, and gleefully helped to prepare his first attack.

Blizzard was used to freeze the moisture in the air in the shape of icicles, and once cold enough they shattered into hundreds of sharp-pointed spears. On their own they were too fragile to function as proper weapons, so to remedy this, each and every one of them were coated with a thin Barrier. He countered the sheer cold caused by Blizzard by keeping Fire Breath active. His movement wasn’t impeded at all.

Hisashi hovered his first targets. Whether they were humans or machines, the parts in charge of movement were always a weak spot. He aimed the icicle spears at their joints with the use of Telekinesis, and fired his first counter attack. It worked like a charm, as soon as they were unable to move, he pierced the rest of their bodies until the red lights disappeared. In took a few seconds for over thirty machines to be destroyed.

The quirks within All For One sung in joy at his victory, and Hisashi couldn’t help but laugh along. This was what freedom felt like! With a grand leap into the sky aided by Air Walk, he chased his next targets, determined to practice his new trick.

Hisashi became more efficient with every target he destroyed, and soon it took only three icicle spears at most to destroy one. His progress was smooth, but it still felt too slow.

The machines changed tactics. Instead of attacking from a distance, they began to close in on him. Even though the icicle spears were effective, aiming took time, which he now no longer had. Hisashi’s mood soared at the new challenge, he also changed tactics. He blasted the bulkier types away with Air Cannon, and sliced the more agile ones apart with Wind Blade. By now he had lost all count of how many he had destroyed.

It didn’t matter. He had to destroy them all anyway.

Just as he was considering his next move, while unleashing Dark Ball on a particularly pesky opponent, All For One whispered a suggestion to him. This was a test to see what he could do with quirks, wasn’t it? In that case, he should show off a little— in fact, he was expected to do so.

There was something they had practiced before, in theory, within the sanctuary of the space within All For One, but had never actually used before. They never had the chance to. But now, they had the perfect opportunity.

Hisashi manifested Dragon Wings to protect himself, and leaped into the air. To prevent further distractions, all quirks except for those strictly necessary were deactivated. All For One targeted all the machines they could locate, and dragged them all together with one mighty pull. A magnetism quirk kept them from escaping, turning them into a squirming pile of scraping metal and frantic beeping. This would last long though, especially not in this magnitude. But it didn’t need to.

Hisashi formed a massive barrier around them, fashioned in the shape of a dome. He left a small opening, through which he left the barrier’s circumference. With their preparations done, Hisashi gathered a massive amount of energy, and All For One condensed it into a sphere small enough to fit in the palm of their hand. This was the result of countless of energy based quirks used in perfect harmony. It shone brilliantly, causing the air around them to tremble under the strain. Hisashi felt none of it, he gazed into their creation, mesmerized by the colors swirling within, and then, with a satisfied smile, he gently released it into the dome.

The only method of escape was sealed off, along with the fate of everything caught within range. All it took, was a simple word. 

“Detonate.”

The fake city exploded in a blinding white light. Because of the barrier, the violent energy had nowhere to go, and faded away into nothing. All that was left behind was a smoldering crater at least a hundred meters wide. Hisashi floated down, and landed softly on the edge.

It worked, it actually worked! They laughed, and laughed, until they felt out of breath. Yet, they didn’t feel tired at all. They can still fight. They can do anything!

But there was no one left.

Hisashi looked at the destruction he caused. The wild grin on his face faltered, and faded away. Euphoria turned into bewilderment.

“… What was that?”

All For One sheepishly rose to the surface again, from which it had hastily retreated moments ago. ‘Sorry, I was unable to restrain us. It looks like not using any quirks for so long has consequences.’

That was a severe understatement.

‘Come to think of it, this might also be the source of that restless feeling you were having lately.’

And here he thought he developed claustrophobia.

‘I wouldn’t exclude that, if I were you.’

“Shut up.”

All For One snickered hoarsely.

Hisashi was about to ask for a better explanation, when a familiar beep echoed through the area once again, instantly putting him on high alert.

“There’s no need for that, the test is over.” Principal Nedzu’s voice sounded distant, and held a notable tremble to it. “Your performance was… very enlightening. Please return to the city entrance, so we can discuss everything.”

And that was all the principal had to say, apparently. He could already tell the next meeting was going to be troublesome, to say the least. Hisashi took another remorseful glance at the crater he just created.

“I overdid it again.”

Chapter Text

“I have some good news for you!” Principal Nedzu said with great enthusiasm, belying the stressed tension Hisashi had yet to see him without. “The HPSC has finally given me a definitive answer.”

Hisashi eyed him cautiously. It was unusual for them to get to the point so quickly during one of their many meetings. This was not what he expected two days after blowing up a fake city.

It should be mentioned there had been no real repercussions for him, except for a tense comment along the lines of; UA had been planning to include a ‘meteor impact simulation zone’ in its curriculum anyhow, so it didn’t matter. During that awful conversation Hisashi wondered, and not for the first time, if he had a quirk that allowed him to sink through the floor and disappear. So in his humble opinion, it only made sense he was unable to relax.

“No really, I mean it, it’s good news. They agreed to your employment here at UA, given their blessings so to speak. There are a few stipulations however. Breaking even a single one will land you straight in Tartarus. The most important one you need to know about is this.” Principal Nedzu produced a thin rectangular object from somewhere and nudged it in his direction.

Hisashi picked it up. “A phone?”

“Yes, a model often carried by pro-heroes, so it can handle quite the beating, as proven by our very own resident top hero, All Might.” The principal laughed in a somewhat villainous way. “It’s equipped with a special type of GPS, which is a type of tracker. You are expected to carry that with you at all times. You are also not allowed to turn it off, but I believe that goes without saying. Make sure to charge it once a day and report any issues immediately, understood?”

That was easy, Hisashi had no idea how to even ‘turn it off’ in the first place. “Understood.”

“Good. I took the liberty to put a few numbers in there, including my own, along with a few teachers’. Any other contacts can be added at your own discretion, feel free to treat it like it belongs to you!”

Though if his location was tracked by this phone, Hisashi could only assume that everything else he did with it was also being watched. Which wasn’t a problem at all, he wasn’t dumb enough to use it for anything illicit. Not that he was planning anything of the sort in the first place. 

The HPSC wasted their time keeping surveillance on someone like him through such a modern piece of technology. And judging by the mirth plain to see on the principal’s face— Hisashi had gotten better at reading him— it was safe to say that he was perfectly aware of the fact as well.

Hisashi stared at it’s black screen and wondered if he should ask for Izuku’s number, now that he could. He had seen him occasionally use a similarly shaped phone to call miss Inko, it was only logical he had a ‘number’ as well. Though, now that Hisashi allowed himself to think about it, he hadn’t heard from Izuku since the day after USJ.

Did mister Yagi tell him about the villain he once was? Did Izuku despise him now? Hisashi couldn’t blame him if he did.

The phone creaked a little in his grip, and he immediately did his best to relax. All For One whispered pointless reassurances in the back of his head, which he pointedly ignored.

“Are you quite alright?”

Instead of answering principal Nedzu, he asked, “what about the other stipulations you mentioned?”

The principal went along with it seamlessly. “Oh they are common sense, truly. No murder, no villainous activities, etcetera. Most of them were meant for me, so there’s no need for you to bother with them.”

“For you?”

“Yes, for me. They had the strangest ideas truly, something about conspiracies to overthrow the government— a few of them even accused me of brainwashing you somehow. Hilarious, right?”

It sounded more bizarre than hilarious, but Hisashi held his tongue about it.

“Like I said, nothing to worry about.” Principal Nedzu cleared his throat and continued, “you’re free to go home after I taught you the basic functions of that phone and gave you the necessary accessories. But first, do you have any questions?”

There were many actually, too many to count, to the point they drowned out the mention of his impending freedom. And one in particular had been stewing in his mind for a while now. “What is this, Tar-ta-rus, exactly?”

The principal froze, disbelief plain to see on his face for only a second before it was replaced with comprehension. Then, with a notable amount of mischief, he offered, “why not make a guess? Go on, no need to hesitate.”

Easy for him to say. What was he even supposed to guess? All he knew was that it was likely some kind of prison, but that didn’t feel like the right answer.

Hisashi wasn’t completely helpless though. There was a method he was taught for comprehending words he didn’t know yet, so he bravely tried to remember anything that sounded similar.

“A type of spider?”

“That’s a tarantula, try again.”

“A marine animal?”

“No, that would be a walrus, one more time.”

“A… foreign dish?”

“Tartare? No, that’s French steak, also, that’s your third strike, you’re out!”

Out? He’s out? Out of what? Out of answers? Certainly.

“The name originated from the underworld in Greek mythology, a place were the wicked were condemned to, if that makes any sense to you.” Principal Nedzu folded his paws on his desk, and began to speak more solemnly. “It was chosen for a good reason. Tartarus is a prison, as I’m sure you’ve guessed. It has the highest security in the world, and is reserved for the very worst of the worst. Those send there never see the light of day again.”

Hisashi wondered how long his sanity, frail as it apparently was, would last in a place like that. He shuddered, and quickly decided that it was a question he’d rather never learn the answer to.

“Make sure you never end up there. For everyone’s good.”

*

Stepping foot outside of UA’s gates was the most joyous feeling. It really had been far too long since he had last tasted freedom. Now it felt like he could throw off the weights of responsibility, even for just a while, and go wherever he wanted.

Hisashi’s steady pace became a light jog, then a full run, after which he spread out Dragon Wings and leaped into the sky. The wind, though it had gotten warmer, felt pleasantly cool against his skin. Even the weather, sunny with nary a cloud in the sky, was a blessing. There were few things in life greater than this.

The weight of the phone, carried in a case strapped to his belt, was easy enough to forget about while the joy of freedom lasted. But soon reality began to creep in.

Every move he made was being watched and analyzed. What did this mean for people he saw often? Would they be considered suspicious too?

Nearing the border of Shizuoka, Hisashi began to slow down, yet his mind was racing ever faster. The people of Kamiki had only just regained their peace after being tormented by villains for so long, they deserved to be left alone. Perhaps it would be better if he considered other options first. It was entirely possible they didn’t want someone like him around, taking up their valuable time and space.

Should he return at all?

Hisashi wanted to. He missed Kamiki, he missed Madara’s trouble making, he missed Matsumori’s overwhelming friendliness, and he missed the stubborn meddling of the Yamaoka family. He wanted to visit the hot springs with Izuku, and drink tea with miss Inko, and sleep all afternoon beneath the trees, and listen to the screeching of cicadas next summer. He wanted many things.

Would it be alright to be so selfish?

‘I think you should ask those people first, before you start making assumptions.’ All For One answered. ‘It’s not selfish to want the company of those you care about, it’s only normal.’

“Why should I believe you? For all I know, you only tell me the things I want to hear.”

‘Since when have I coddled you like that?’

That… was a good point. So far the advise given by All For One had only worked out in his favor. Whether he wanted it to or not. Though it’s upsetting that a quirk knew how to navigate life better than he did, this wasn’t the moment to worry about pride.

“Fine,” Hisashi bit out, “I will return one last time.”

Despite saying this, several contingency plans went through his head, just in case he were chased away. He knew better than to get his hopes up after all. Such a thing could only lead to disappointment.

A sense of grief accompanied All For One while it retreated from the surface. Hisashi paid it little mind as he slowly made his way to Yamanashi. He survived on the streets just fine before this. No matter what happened, he would manage.

*

It was late in the evening by the time Hisashi landed nearby the house he had been staying in. The comforting smell of the mountains chased away weeks worth of tension. Hisashi stood still, just to breathe and enjoy the quiet a little longer. Until it was interrupted by the sound of meowing in the distance, rapidly coming closer.

“Madara?” Hisashi knelt down just in time to catch the cat in his arms. She yelled into his ear and dug her sharp claws into his skin. Unbothered by the barely noticeable pain, he gently patted Madara on the back of the neck until she calmed down and began to purr. “You have lost weight.” Not enough to be a concern, but still…

He heard someone run his way, and looked up to see Kyouko stumble to a halt to catch her breath. Her hair was purple this time. The concern on her face faded away the moment she saw him. “You’re back! Thank goodness.”

Had she been worried about him? But why?

“Where have you been?”

Unable to figure out what to say, Hisashi settled with, “that is a long story.”

Kyouko hesitated for a bit, until she looked him in the eye with an expression befitting a Yamaoka and said, “you should go inside and get some rest then, I’ll tell everyone you’re back.” She then briskly walked in the direction of her home, leaving no room for argument.

Madara continued to purr into his ear while he tried to collect his thoughts. People, once again, weren’t making any sense lately. He sighed. “Might as well do as I am told.”

Before he arrived in Kamiki, Hisashi had planned to spend the night sleeping beneath Yuran’s ginkgo tree, and quietly leave the village for good next sunrise. But he hadn’t expected to be seen so quickly. Now that they knew he was here, there was no doubt that people will be knocking on his door within the next hour, so he headed towards the kitchen to prepare instead.

After all the times he had received guests, catering to them became somewhat second nature. He practically moved on muscle memory while preparing tea. As he opened the tin with tea leaves, he thought about the food to prepare for Madara, who had made herself comfortable on his shoulder. But the bowl he normally used was already filled and placed on it’s usual spot. Though for some reason Madara showed no interest in it.

Hisashi shook off his concern— Yuran had showed similar behavior before she died— and focused on collecting everything he needed. Upon opening the cabinet containing tableware, he stopped in his tracks.

Everything was just as clean as he had left it, despite his two week absence. It was like he’d never left.

Now, he wasn’t nearly dense enough not to have noticed how the villagers let themselves in for housekeeping and gardening. But he always thought they did it out of a sense of duty, or perhaps even fear. The latter reason seemed especially likely, he had made quite the scene while chasing off the villains that harassed them. They knew exactly what he was.

But if that was the case, wouldn’t they be celebrating his ‘disappearance’? Why continue those chores if the reason for them wasn’t around any longer? Madara too had been looked after during his absence, just as was agreed upon. The cat may have lost some weight, but she was otherwise just as healthy as he had left her.

Could it be…?

‘Isn’t it about time you stopped lying to yourself?’ All For One asked softly.

Hisashi glared at the tea cup in his hand, and wordlessly continued preparing for his guests.

A knock sounded on the front door, followed by Kyouko calling out, “Hisashi! We’re coming in!”

Then came the sound of panting and energetic pattering of claws hitting the wooden floor, rushing towards him. Hisashi braced himself before got jumped by an overeager Taiyo, much to Madara’s verbal dismay. Taiyo may have become an old dog, with the beginnings of gray hairs scattered throughout her shiny golden fur, but that hadn’t tempered her energy in the slightest. She was like her owner in that aspect.

When Madara jumped off his shoulder to hiss at the gleeful ‘intruder’, Hisashi took this as his chance to politely greet his guests, “good evening, it has been a while—?” He trailed off upon seeing Matsumori. The elderly woodworker leaned heavily on a crutch as he hobbled in, with Kyouko to his left and Miss Yamaoka to his right. “What happened?”

Miss Yamaoka answered before Matsumori got the chance to speak, “this fool tripped over his own doorway while carrying a plank.”

“My, it was just a little accident,” Matsumori laughed like nothing happened, “I injured my hip, but no need to worry, nothing’s broken.”

Kyouko shook her head. “Nothing is broken, you say. That hip is fractured you know, you should be resting.”

“And miss a nice cup of tea, not a chance.”

“To think they call me stubborn.” Miss Yamaoka grumbled beneath her breath.

Their banter would have been a comforting bit of familiarity, if Hisashi hadn’t felt so guilty. He quickly guided the elderly man to a chair by the dining table he never used, and busied himself with serving his guests. “I am sorry…”

“Whatever for?” Matsumori’s tone remained light, even though he winced as he sat down. “Did you forget the tea?”

“I could have helped you, had I been here when it happened.”

The thing was, while he could give almost anyone a specially made fragment of Regeneration to heal any injury, it was impossible for him to do that for injuries more than two or three days old, depending on the severity. He lacked the necessary knowledge and experience. The body considered older injuries to be ‘healed’ already, which left Hisashi powerless. Chances were he would only make it worse.

“Accidents happen, it’s not your fault.”

“… Will you be alright?”

“Of course! I might be getting older, but I’m not that fragile yet, they said I’ll be better in no time!”

Kyouko, who had sat down next to her grandmother on the other side of the table, frowned at the jovial old man. “Only if you take it easy, remember?”

“Well, I’m not repairing that bookcase right now, am I?” Matsumori laughed at the pout that Kyouko tried, and failed, to hide.

Still unsure about what he should do next, Hisashi lingered next to the table with the teapot clutched in his hands. That was until miss Yamaoka gestured for him to sit down with a smile. The same smile she always gave him. “Don’t worry about him too much, I have known him long enough to know he’ll be fine. Besides, we’re not here to argue with a foolish old man. How have you been Hisashi?”

Hearing his name jolted him into moving again, and he poured them a cup of tea before he sat down at the end of the table between miss Yamaoka and Matsumori. As soon as he did, Madara stopped bullying Taiyo in favor of jumping onto his lap. Her carefree target laid down by her owners feet.

“I am fine.”

“Is that so?”

Unlike her grandmother, Kyouko apparently had no interest in small talk. Her expression was pinched with concern. “We heard about what happened at UA on the news, on the day you disappeared. Is everything alright?”

“Izuku is okay, he is recovering at home right now.”

Despite his alleged enthusiasm earlier, Matsumori had yet to touch his cup of tea. Instead the elderly man asked warmly, “how about you?”

“I already said I am fine.” As soon as the words left his mouth, Hisashi regretted them. He hadn’t meant to sound so short with them. Perhaps it would have been better if he had stayed away.

“So you have, my mistake.” Matsumori maintained a light tone, seemingly unaware of Hisashi’s doubts. “In that case, may I ask where you’ve been? We were quite worried about you.”

Kyouko leaned forward. “That’s right! Madara has been looking all over for you, she barely even took the time to eat.”

The aforementioned cat was purring while she kneaded the skin on his lap. Purring meant they were happy. And the bits of food he offered her, cooked chicken, had been happily eaten without complaint. Hisashi scratched her behind the ear absentmindedly. “She searched for me?”

“Madara wasn’t the only one.” Miss Yamaoka said. “Now, are you going to answer or not? Kyouko mentioned it was a long story…” The way she trailed off clearly demanded an answer.

What happened to ‘few questioned asked’? Although he supposed it no longer mattered.

“… I was at UA.” And so, under their increasingly incredulous gazes, he gave them a short recount of the past two weeks. Then he took the phone out of its case and placed in on the table for them to see. “There are a few stipulations I must follow, however. I am only allowed to roam freely as long as I carry this with me wherever I go. It keeps track of my location… the Hero Public Safety Commission knows exactly where I am right now.”

Contrary to his expectations, none of the people around the table seemed particularly upset about the revelation.

Kyouko took a closer look at the phone with wide eyes. “Whoa, this model sure is impressive, it had to have been expensive.”

“Is it now?” Intrigued by this, Matsumori gingerly took a closer look, while miss Yamaoka pretended to be uninterested by sipping her tea. Hisashi still saw her look at it, however.

“Oh yes, it’s top of the line.”

Miss Yamaoka sniffed derisively. “It only figures those rich snobs would flaunt their wealth wherever they go.”

Were they truly discussing the phone at a time like this? Did they not understand what he just told them?

“You…” Hisashi shook his head. “Are you not upset?”

“Bah, the only thing to be upset about is their ridiculous paranoia.”

“I used to be a villain.”

“Exactly! Used to be. You saved those students, and this leash,” she gestured to the phone, “is the thanks you get.”

Hisashi refused to simply ignore the bigger picture, so despite his best interest he pressed further, “they may suspect you, and the people of Kamiki, as well, they may send someone here to investigate. Would it not be better if I left?”

“Nonsense. If they want to waste their time, then let them.” The old lady smirked— actually smirked— and continued with her long-familiar stubborn streak shining through, “but if they think they can just walk all over us, they’ve got another thing coming.”

Hisashi hardly believed his ears. Did she have any idea what she was saying? All this time he had imposed his presence on them. Had accepted their generosity in the hopes it would ease their fear. And they had to have been afraid, what else could they be with someone like him among their midst?

But this belief he had ingrained into his mind for so long was shattered to pieces. Hisashi could only stare dumbfounded while miss Yamaoka, always stubborn and dignified in equal measure, joked about defending her village with a cast-iron cooking pan. Their energetic chatting was not tempered by anything whatsoever. Not Kyouko’s exasperated, “You’d kill them grandma,” nor Matsumori’s “spare the utensils, I have a few old tools to get rid of!” They freely laughed amongst each other.

“… I do not understand,” Hisashi accidentally said out loud, putting a stop to their lighthearted bickering, “would you not rather see me leave?”

Matsumori stared right through him, but his expression was no less kind. “Why would you say that?”

The answer, though clear in his mind, was difficult to put into words. “I… am a threat. Kamiki finally found peace, and by being here, I threaten it.” Hisashi looked down, unable to look anyone in the eye. He had destroyed so many things throughout his life, he didn’t want to harm these people too. 

“Have I not imposed on your generosity long enough?”

As he spoke, the room became quiet. Even Madara and Taiyo had gone silent. Hisashi saw an old weathered hand enter his field of vision. Despite its age, it didn’t tremble, Matsumori’s hands were always remarkably steady. The old man tapped the table twice, and pointed upwards as if to say, ‘look up’. Hisashi reluctantly did as asked.

What he saw was a smile, one that had hardly budged the entire time, on a wrinkled face, accompanied by something very sad.

“Hisashi, you are free to consider Kamiki home too.”

“… What? What are you…?”

“That’s right!” Miss Yamaoka cut in, with a crack in her voice, “if anything you should ‘impose’ more often, you never ask for anything, it keeps an old lady up at night.”

Kyouko leaned forward, and the movement effectively drew his eyes. She also held a brittle smile. “Having you around is always reassuring. Like nothing bad could happen, because I know you’ll be there for us.”

“See, there’s nothing to worry about, we’re happy to have you.”

“Ah…” Words got stuck in his throat, and his eyes burned for reasons unknown. But this feeling wasn’t sorrow, nor was it joy. It seemed to fall somewhere in between, yet another emotion he didn’t know the word for.

Objects or places carried little value, both those things were always far too fleeting. But the people he cared about stuck around in his heart, even long after they had left. Those bonds never disappeared.

Hisashi hated being alone. So if it really was alright, then he wanted to cherish these people too. Just like Izuku and miss Inko. Just like he had cherished Yoichi, and Shimura Tadashi, along with the fugitives and the few people he came to care about among the yakuza, Hinageshi and Shion. The number kept growing bigger, and his world grew bigger along with it.

There was a warmth in his chest Hisashi wished would stay forever. No amount of words could possible convey what he felt. But he still wanted to try. “Thank you. Truly… thank you…”

Maybe, just maybe, it was alright to wish for just a little more.

Chapter Text

Early in the morning, when sunlight began to peek above the horizon, Hisashi stood before a large door within UA. Next to it was a plate that read; one… something. He couldn’t read the triangular shaped symbol next to the number. Although according to the instructions he was given by a helpful early riser, this must be the same classroom Izuku studied in.

Hisashi had received a message on his ‘leash’ yesterday afternoon, informing him about what UA expected of him on the following day. This included a time table, of course, and not quite knowing what was considered polite, he arrived quite a bit earlier than the mentioned seven in the morning.

Since he now had extra time, he decided he may as well have a look around before he headed towards the principal’s office for further instructions. Which was how he found himself in this spot, staring intently at the door before him.

The classroom behind it was empty. No one would notice if he looked around a little. It was fine as long as he didn’t touch anything. Right?

…

“Why are all these doors so huge anyway?”

‘It could be an accommodation for those with Gigantification quirks,’ All For One casually answered, ‘speaking of giants…’

“What is it?”

“Ah, it’s nothing important, I just remembered something.’ Hisashi was about to press for more when the damn quirk perked up and gave him the equivalent of a nudge. ‘Is that Izuku I sense coming?”

All For One was right, the unmistakable presence of One For All was coming his way, one far more intense than mister Yagi’s. But why was Izuku here so early? Did principal Nedzu wish to see him too?

Regardless of the reason, Izuku was currently still far enough for Hisashi to make a clean escape. They didn’t have to meet alone just yet. Last thing he wanted was to scare the little hero. It was better if he was given a bit more space.

But Hisashi’s treacherous legs refused to budge.

Truth was, he wanted to see Izuku again. If not only to ensure he was alright. He hadn’t heard a single mention of him for two weeks. Had Izuku slept well during that time? Or did he suffer from nightmares? Was he still eating alright? Was he still healthy? How was he dealing with everything?

Hisashi would soon get the answer, he heard Izuku’s mumbling before he even entered the hallway. As soon as their eyes met, they both froze.

“You’re here already?” Izuku blurted out. “No, I mean, you’re early, and I, uh, hadn’t expected to see you already… um…”

“It is alright, I understand.”

You did not wish to see me.

Hisashi turned around to leave, but before he could take even a single step, Izuku called out, “wait! Can we talk?”

Izuku chose a remote corner, somewhere past the cafeteria. According to him this place was usually empty, even during the most busy days. The reason why he knew about places like this, despite having made new friends, wasn’t a mystery. Old habits died hard, after all.

Hisashi watched Izuku shift from foot to foot, and waited for him to speak first.

“It’s, um, it’s been a while.”

Interesting choice of words.

“I thought it would be better to give you some space.” I thought you would rather never see me again, he had intended to say. But how could he burden Izuku with such a thing?

“Thanks, for being so considerate,” despite Izuku’s words being light, the frown on his face was everything but. He appeared to be mulling over something. “Do you know then, about what All Might told me?”

“… I can make a decent guess.”

“It was about All For One, the villain I mean.”

Hisashi couldn’t stop himself from wincing, and this involuntary reaction only made the frown on Izuku’s face grow deeper.

“Do you know who All Might’s teacher was?”

Even though he didn’t understand where the change in subject came from, Hisashi answered honestly, “I do not know.”

“What about the seventh wielder of One For All?”

“I do not know,” Hisashi shook his head, “The only ones I know about are you, mister Yagi, and Yoichi.”

Something in Izuku’s expression shifted. “I knew it! You don’t remember!”

“…”

“What happened before you stopped being a villain?”

“…”

“You once mentioned you were saved by a hero, but who was this hero? What were you saved from? Now that I think about it, you couldn’t even remember your own name. Just what happened to you? How did someone like you, become someone like All For One?”

The desire to answer honestly and the desire to safeguard his past warred against each other. Anything Hisashi wished to say froze midway his throat and made it harder to breathe.

It wasn’t that he didn’t remember anything. Most memories of both the past and the future one hundred years were still there. All of the unforgivable things he had done, all of the precious, irreplaceable people he had failed, all of it was still there. The solitude he suffered must have been his punishment.

The only reason people could stand to be around him was, surely, thanks to their ignorance. If they knew about the blood on his hands, they would hate him too.
Yet, Hisashi was too greedy to reject them, so he clung onto their generosity.

“I’m sorry.” Izuku said, and Hisashi was startled to see him so close. “I didn’t mean to overwhelm you. Are you alright?” At this moment, Izuku’s special brand of compassion burned more than any wound ever could. “I just… I need to know.”

It was blatantly clear he couldn’t avoid talking about the past forever. One way or another, Izuku would find the truth. The little hero was too smart, too inquisitive, not to.

“Can you give me some more time?”

“Huh?”

“I will tell you everything, eventually, but not now…” He desperately needed to collect his thoughts first.

Izuku remained quiet for a moment, and then, though it was still fragile, he finally smiled again. “Okay. I understand, I can wait until you’re ready.” Words could not describe the amount of relief Hisashi felt, but Izuku wasn’t done speaking yet. “But, I hope you know… you’re my closest friend, what All Might told me doesn’t change that.”

First the two Yamaoka and Matsumori, and now Izuku too. What had he done to deserve their kindness?

But more importantly, “What about mister Yagi?” Whatever it was that All For One had done to him, it was obvious that the hero despised him. What did he think about his protege spending time with his nemesis? Could Izuku get into trouble for it?

“Ah… well, I’ve no idea, we haven’t spoken much after— you know.”

“Why?”

Izuku laughed awkwardly and his eyes trailed away. “After All Might told me about All For One, I told him about Hisashi.”

“…Why?”

“I— I had to figure something out and, look, it was confusing, there’s just no way you and that villain are the same person. No matter how I look at it, you’re too nice to be like All For One.”

Unable to stop himself, Hisashi huffed out a laugh. “You said something similar seven years ago.”

“Really?”

“At that time, I wasn’t certain whether to take it as a compliment.”

“Of course it is.”

“I know that now, and I am grateful, but,” Hisashi paused, “please, do not allow me to drive a wedge between you and mister Yagi, alright?” He couldn’t bear the thought of destroying the bond they should have had, if it weren’t for him.

“You’re not! I think we both just needed some time to get everything straight.”

“Like we did the past two weeks?”

“Exactly! Actually no, I meant—”

Whatever Izuku was about to say was cut off by a cheerful jingle. Hisashi looked around for the source, until he remembered the phone stored securely on his belt. It must be the reminder Kyouko had installed for him yesterday. A glance at the screen revealed it was almost seven o’clock.

“I need to go.”

“Oh, that’s right, is this your first day on the job?”

“Yes.”

Izuku grinned. “I forgot to congratulate you.”

“As far as I am concerned, it is not too late for that yet.”

In a near perfect imitation of miss Yamaoka’s voice, Izuku answered, “such cheek!”

For now, while they walked side by side, they could pretend nothing had changed, and laughed freely.

*

The classroom Hisashi had lingered before earlier was indeed 1-A, that much was clear while he stood before the same oversized door again. Except this time, he would have to face a crowd of students instead of an empty room.

“I shouldn’t have hesitated so much.” 

As if his quiet lamenting had been heard, the door slid open to reveal Aizawa’s exhausted face. And looking back, Izuku’s reaction upon seeing his teacher two weeks ago made a lot more sense. The contrast between that first impression and the person before him now was staggering.

“You can come in.” Was all Aizawa said, before he promptly headed back to the large desk facing the students.

Hisashi nodded wordlessly, not that anyone saw it, and stepped over the threshold with trepidation. It wasn’t entirely clear to him what he should do, except to stand besides Aizawa and wait for further instructions. By doing so, his eyes were inevitably drawn towards the eighteen students before him. 

Just as Izuku had told him, class 1-A was full of eccentric people. One student had the head of a bird, another had pink skin, and others looked relatively normal at first glance. A boy in the front had a funny expression, although it became less funny when he paled like he just witnessed a most brutal death. 

Hisashi wondered why All For One winced just now, but he didn’t bother to ask.

There was also Firecracker, an individual hard to miss, glaring at him with the usual amount of animosity, which barely hid a distinct amount of shock. Hisashi refused to read minds, but he could guess he was thinking something along the lines of; ‘what are YOU doing here?!’, though likely with more expletives. It was honestly surprising the brat managed to stay quiet.

The students were gawking at him quite openly too, during the few seconds that had just passed. It was somewhat uncomfortable, so it was fortunate that the moment Aizawa began to speak, all attention was instantly drawn towards him.

“This is Hisashi, from today on principal Nedzu assigned him to protect the students of UA, and he will spend most of his time with this class.” Several students made a move to ask questions, but a flare of Erasure ensured they remained quiet. “Save your questions for later.” Aizawa then turned to Hisashi, his face neutral once again, and handed over a folder. “This contains their names and general information, I expect you to look through it during homeroom. In the meantime, you may sit in the back and observe class.”

“Understood.” Hisashi accepted the folder and headed to his designated spot. A few students were quite vocal about the apparently lackluster introduction, but he couldn’t care less about their opinion.

He paused while passing by Izuku, just long enough to hear him stage whisper “you got this,” with an encouraging smile and a thumbs up. Hisashi made sure to smile back, hoping it conveyed even a sliver of his gratitude, before he went along his way.

By the time he properly sat down on the chair placed before a cabinet, Aizawa had silenced his students and began his lecture. Being pragmatic was an admirable trait, though he had to wonder whether this amount of it was necessary. Class 1-A was filled with innocent teenagers, not army soldiers. Wasn’t it alright for them to act out once in a while?

Hisashi shook his head, and glanced at the folder in his hands. The instruction was to read the contents, but he didn’t want subject himself to the task just yet. To buy some time, and satiate his curiosity, he looked back at the students.

On occasion a few, usually the same ones, would try to turn around and catch a glimpse of him, only to be reprimanded by their swift eyed teacher. It was only fortunate he didn’t need to see their faces to learn more about them. Every single student had a quirk after all, each as bright and lively as the next.

Except for two of them.

First was the boy he took note of earlier. Now that he took a closer look, it was obvious his quirk, energy based, centered in his abdomen, didn’t fit right. Like the quirk and its host were incompatible, though the dissonance wasn’t too severe. Perhaps he had originally been born quirkless, sparing him from the worst of the backlash. 

The boy had calmed down by the time Aizawa finished his succinct introduction too. If anything had been wrong, the teacher would have noticed it, no doubt. Since there wasn’t any immediate danger, there was no need to act just yet.

The second exception was a more concerning matter, however. It was another boy he had glanced over earlier, with the strangest coloration split evenly in the middle, one half pairing red hair with a blue eye, and the other half pairing white with gray. This appearance reflected his quirk, no doubt, being a balance of ice and fire. 

Hisashi had seen a terrible scar on the red side, a burn wound that hadn’t been treated properly. But more concerning than that, beside the dark and brooding disposition ill befitting a boy his age, was the nature of his quirk.

It felt villainous. Drowning in putrid anger and hatred, the type one usually saw in the underground. If it went on like this, the consequences could be severe. But there was little he could do about it, he simply didn’t know enough.

Besides, was it truly his place to meddle with anyone’s personal lives? He should remember his place. He wasn’t a hero.

With a quiet sigh, Hisashi finally opened the folder in his hands. Time to stop procrastinating. He braced himself to decipher the kanji in the students’ names, except, there was no need to. Thanks to rows of furigana, neatly written in pencil above every single name, reading them was a breeze.

There was a note on the bottom of the page, written in hiragana; ‘make sure to memorize them all, if you have any questions, do not waste time and ask.’ Signed Aizawa.

It was an act so profoundly kind, Hisashi was left stunned. It must have been a lot of work, and that for someone he barely knew. Heroes were a different breed.
He’ll have to make sure to thank him properly once class was over.

*

The first few days working at UA proceeded quietly.

Due to ‘unforeseen circumstances’, the study materials Hisashi had been promised were delayed. So there was very little to do, except for patrolling school grounds, and watching students get put through the wringer. The latter was only made interesting by the many, ultimately pointless, socializing attempts made by curious hero hopefuls. But the former almost felt like a waste of time.

UA’s security was nothing short of impressive, Hisashi had to admit after witnessing it from within. It was extremely difficult to intrude unnoticed. And even if they could, invading a school filled to the brim with new and old talents alike was a fool’s gambit.

Still, ever since he became aware of his own shortcomings, he maintained a certain level of vigilance, regardless of the circumstances. This included the time he spend observing class 1-A’s lessons.

Hisashi finished patrol early once again, and with nothing else to do, he lounged in the back of the classroom, a spot he had claimed as his own for lack of alternatives.

The students were just as rowdy as usual whenever there weren’t any teachers around to admonish them. They had figured out by now that Hisashi never stopped them, and that certainly made them more entertaining to watch.

Izuku was chatting with a few of those loud students nearby; two girls named Ashido and Jiro, and a boy named Kaminari. They weren’t his usual company, like Iida or Uraraka, both of them were otherwise engaged in something Hisashi didn’t care about.

Hisashi’s eyes had fallen shut a while ago, and the surrounding liveliness lulled him into a state of security. But he still remained somewhat aware of his surroundings, and overheard bits and pieces of Izuku’s conversation. The mention of his name made him pay closer attention.

“— while Hisashi’s sleeping?” Kaminari spoke in a playful tone, and despite the volume, Hisashi had missed the first bit.

Izuku shushed him, and then said gravely, “no don’t, he’s a light sleeper, who knows what will happen?”

“Come on, how bad can it be?” Ashido asked.

“Bad. Very bad.”

“If Midoriya says so, maybe we should believe him.” Jiro stepped up in Izuku’s defense, how nice of her. “Besides, pranks are way too childish. How old are you, five?”

Kaminari’s complains about the accusation only stirred even more teasing from his classmates. Though Hisashi understood none of it. Sleep was tightening its grip, and he felt little motivation to fight it off. It was just too comfortable.

…

Bits and pieces of dialogue filtered in.

“— our next class—?”

“— forgot— any homework?”

“— don’t think so.”

“I think it was— with All Might.”

“— what we’re going to do—.”

That was right, this class was held by mister Yagi. Interesting. He wondered what it would be like. All his mind came up with were increasingly dramatic hostage situations. Which, though entertaining, weren’t very realistic. Or so he hoped, at least.

Next thing he heard was Iida loudly ordering the students to take their seats. The chattering quieted down, and the peace effectively dragged him into even deeper sleep.

Until many things happened at once, resulting in a stunned class of students, a wide open door, and a shattered window. Hisashi lowered his outstretched hand, and while his racing heart calmed down, he frantically tried to remember what just happened.

First there was the waning presence of mister Yagi’s One For All, which sped towards the classroom, then the door slammed open, and the hero burst in with his usual boisterous catchphrase, “I AM HE—!!!”, which had been tragically cut short. By a scream.

Now he remembered. He had mistaken mister Yagi’s rapid approach for an attack, and instinctively threw him out the window with a powerful telekinesis quirk.

‘Why didn’t you stop me?!’ He hissed at his apologetic quirk within the safety of his mind.

‘I would have, but I wasn’t paying attention either, sorry about that.’

Hisashi briskly walked towards the hole where the window was meant to be, only barely managing not to scowl, and shooed the students that had approached it away. “Izuku, could you please call for principal Nedzu, and tell him to come here as soon as possible?”

Despite being busy processing what just happened, Izuku nodded bravely and rushed off without a word. As for his part, Hisashi jumped down and saw mister Yagi back on his feet, much to his relief. The hero had nary a scratch, and clearly felt well enough to glower at him while he approached.

‘It might be a good idea to start groveling now.’ Hisashi thought as he prepared his first apology, which would soon be followed by many more.

“This is only your third day on the job,” principal Nedzu said, upon being finished giving Hisashi a thorough talking to, though any real effect it may have had was overpowered by the laughter in his voice. He had been near hysterical when he first saw him. “I suppose a few incidents are inevitable while you’re getting used to everything.”

“I am very sorry for all the trouble.” Hisashi repeated for the umpteenth time.

“I’m well aware, but no need to worry, no one got injured, so you’re not in any trouble,” The principal cackled, “yet.”

Hisashi slumped down and barely withheld a wince. “… Thank you.”

“Try not to fall asleep on the job from now on.”

“Yes, sir.”

“On a more positive note, you probably won’t have any reason to fall asleep around here anyhow, not for a good amount of time at least.”

He perked up, “does that mean…?”

“Indeed! We finally received your study materials this morning!” Principal Nedzu proudly gestured to a small stack of books on the corner of his desk. “I just about finished your new schedule, so you’re free to start whenever you wish.”

Hisashi reached out to them, an honest smile warming his face, before he remembered his manners and stopped midway. “May I?”

“Go ahead, they’re all yours!”

Since he had permission, there was no reason to hesitate any longer. Hisashi took the topmost book with utmost care and gentle paged through its contents, the paper was glossy and the ink still smelled a little. Within were plenty of exercises meant to improve grammar and reading comprehension. The language was so simple, furigana wasn’t necessary, and colorful images accompanied the text, making it even easier to understand. Even he could read everything without any effort, the experience was so novel, it made him giddy with joy. 

“Although I recommend you start no sooner than tomorrow,” Principal Nedzu began, forcing Hisashi to tear his eyes away from his precious textbook, “there are still a few things I would like you to take care of first.”

The principal jumped off his tall chair and headed towards the door. “Please come with me, and bring those books while you’re at it.”

Hisashi didn’t need to be told twice, he gingerly took his brand new study materials— real proper honest to goodness study materials!— and joined principal Nedzu in no more than two steps.

As he stood next to, or rather, towered over the principal, it struck him just how small he was for the first time. Without giving it much thought, Hisashi knelt down and offered his free hand. “Should I carry you?” 

It was only after he asked this that it occurred to him his offer might be considered rude.

He would have apologized yet again if the principal hadn’t beaten him to it by answering, “why yes, that would be very helpful,” then climbed up his arm and onto his shoulder, “thank you.”

Come to think of it, most of the times Hisashi had seen principal Nedzu outside of his office, he had been carried in some fashion by a faculty member. Perhaps this was merely one of the ways he adapted to being so small. If that were the case, Hisashi could only sigh in relief. He’s had enough admonishment for today.

It was only a short distance towards the teacher’s lounge, but Hisashi still made sure to keep his steps as steady as he possibly could. A habit born from all the times he carried Izuku, after the boy fell asleep after a long day adventuring outdoors. Or perhaps he had learned this even sooner, after all the times he carried Yoichi back when they were children. Not that it mattered either way.

Principal Nedzu signaled for him to stop before a plain empty desk, and cheerfully hopped onto it. “Thank you for the lift, it may have been the smoothest I’ve ever had!”

Hisashi had a hard time believing that, but he nodded regardless. “It was not a problem.”

“First things first, this desk will function as your workplace from now on, you may do with it as you wish, as long as it doesn’t bother the other faculty members working here.”

“Of course, I understand.” Hisashi marveled at his, now much more interesting, empty desk, and gingerly placed his brand new textbooks on it. His desk, his textbooks, back in Kamiki there was his house containing his furniture and his possessions. He owned things now. How novel. How “scary…”

“What was that?”

Hisashi jumped, “nothing.”

Principal Nedzu hummed and stared at him a moment longer, then he continued on like nothing had happened. “Next I need to inform you of another stipulation from the Commission, they expect you to appear in my office to report your activities every other week.”

“Did you know of this for long?” If that were the case, is was rather odd for it to be mentioned now. Besides, he assumed they already knew about most the things he did, considering the tracker in his belt.

The ever present smile on the principal’s face gained a slightly manic edge. “No. I only heard about it yesterday.”

“I… see…” Hisashi fought the urge to take a step back, and hurriedly returned to the original subject. “What kind of activities should I report?”

“Whatever is worth mentioning really. Think of it as a mere formality. If there’s nothing to discuss, we’ll just have to spend the allocated amount of time with a nice warm drink.” Principal Nedzu laughed merrily, drawing a weary glance from the faculty members also present.

“Right.”

“The last thing I want to tell you, and don’t worry, I’ll leave you be after this, is that you’ll need to think about what kind of costume will suit you best for when you’re on the job.”

“Is that truly necessary? I can fight in these clothes perfectly fine.”

“I believe you, but it’s very necessary. Our records, lacking as they may be, show you wore similar clothing during your time as a villain.” In an act of compassion, principal Nedzu paused to give Hisashi the chance to school his face into something neutral. “And I think you’ll consider attire more suitable for combat quite useful.”

As far as clothes went, Hisashi never bothered with more than absolutely necessary, be it to keep warm or to cover the amount of skin other people expected him to. The clothing he currently wore were less a preference and more a convenience, since they were easy to create using quirks.

“I cannot imagine mere clothing can make that much of a difference.”

“You might be surprised then. I’ve already gone ahead and made an appointment at the support department for tomorrow, after school hours. Feel free to bring young Midoriya along if it helps!” Without waiting for a response, principal Nedzu hopped off the desk and trotted away. “You’re dismissed, have a nice day!”

In other words, he had no choice in the matter. Hisashi casted a mournful look at his new workplace and textbooks, before he returned to watching over class 1-A. They should have moved to a different classroom by now. Hopefully mister Yagi will be able to refrain from tearing his head off the moment he walks in.

*

Entirely according to principal Nedzu’s latest scheme, Izuku was ecstatic when he heard about Hisashi’s appointment for a new— apparently mandatory— hero costume. It left him with no other choice but to submit and play along, lest he risk upsetting the little hero fanatic.

Thus once class was over and Izuku parted ways with his friends, they headed to a building on school grounds Hisashi’s hadn’t seen before. A type of ignorance he already began miss dearly. 

A large metal door with a sign on the top right corner which, according to Izuku, read ‘Development Studio’, was the only barrier between them and the cacophony on the other side. All put together, it seemed a bit shady. Hisashi winced when he heard something crash down.

Was it too late to turn around yet?

Izuku knocked without a care, unintentionally sealing his fate, and called out, “um, sorry! But we have an appointment! Can someone help us?” 

After a moment the door opened, not with a creak or anything equally ominous, but quietly and smoothly. Hisashi had braced himself for something more… explosive, though he certainly wasn’t disappointed by the lack of it.

The hero who greeted them, with a quirk that turned his fingers into steel, was shirtless and wore a large devise on his head, resembling something used for digging. Despite being forced to yell just to be heard over all the noise, his voice was still welcoming. “Ah, right, I heard about you two, come in!”

‘You two’, huh? How curious.

As soon as they were ushered in, the noise quieted down and they were accosted by a dirt covered girl roughly Izuku’s age. Her piercing yellow eyes— a quirk that gave perfect telescopic vision— glanced over a stunned Izuku, before they gleefully landed on Hisashi. The way she examined him was awfully suspicious.

The hero took a step forward in a fruitless attempt to block the girl, “Hatsume—”

“You’re the guy teach told me about, here to get a heroics costume, right?” The girl, apparently named Hatsume, bypassed her teacher to circle around Hisashi like a predator. “Right?! Then you’ll need equipment too!”

“I am not here for—”

“Then look no further! In fact, you look strong, tell me about your quirk, abilities everything! I’ll create the best baby you’ve ever seen!”

… Baby?

Hisashi slowly turned to stare at the teacher, who went from exasperated to frantic in an instant. “It’s not what you think! Hatsume calls her inventions babies, but they’re just support equipment, I swear!” The hero shrunk back with a whine, “please don’t look at me like that…”

“I see.” If this was a common joke, then Izuku was at least no wiser to it than he was. A minor comfort. “Hatsume, was it?”

She gave a mock salute, “at your service!”

“Thank you for the offer, but I have no need for equipment.”

“At this time you mean?”

“No, that is not—”

“That’s fine, I can wait for a little, but remember, when—” 

“If.”

“WHEN you need anything, anything at all, I, Hatsume Mei, will be ready to serve! Anytime! Anywhere!” With that Hatsume turned on her heel and marched back to her work station, but not before she called one last thing over her shoulder, “pleasure doing business with you!”

For all it was worth, Hisashi felt begrudgingly impressed. “Is she always like this?”

“Just about so.” Not even Aizawa came close to the sheer exhaustion poured into that single short answer. He almost pitied him. Almost, was the key word.

He leaned towards Izuku as the still unnamed hero dejectedly guided them further in, “Hatsume is clearly a shrewd business women, you’d best brace yourself.”

“She was barely interested in me though.”

“For now.”

Izuku blanched. “Right… for now…”

Hisashi chuckled the entire time they dutifully followed their host.

The hero stopped before another room, further away from all the noise, and turned to them a bit sheepishly, “I think I forgot to introduce myself.”

Hisashi mercilessly cut Izuku off before he could say anything reassuring, “You did.”

“My mistake.” The hero recovered quickly, as if he was used to the retort. “I’m Maijima Higari, also known as Power Loader, I’m in charge of the development studio. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Likewise. My name is Hisashi, I recently became a guard for the students of UA.”

Izuku also introduced himself, “I’m Midoriya Izuku from class 1-A,” though he appeared to be somewhat starry eyed, “it’s an honor to meet you sir!”

In turn Maijima became flustered, clearly not used to being met with such admiration. It was nothing extraordinary though, Izuku was like this with every hero he met.

“Anyway,” Maijima cleared his throat, “if you’re here for a costume, then I recommend one of my third year students, Touei Ibuki. He has a talent for knowing just what people need, and has successfully designed a number of costumes for other students.”

Despite the less than stellar first impression, Hisashi could appreciate how proud Maijima sounded while he spoke about his student. Perhaps he had been a bit too harsh so far.

Soon they were approached, calmly this time, by a young adult with a mostly plain appearance. He carried one of those ‘tablets’, along with something resembling a plastic pencil. His quirk was also simple; enhancing his memory and not doing much else.

The student introduced himself as Touei, and his face lit up the moment he saw Hisashi. “Is this who I’m working with, Power Loader?”

“That’s right, this is Hisashi, the one from the file you were given yesterday.”

So he was right when he assumed he had no choice. His fate had been sealed from the start.

While the others, Izuku included, chatted among themselves, Hisashi considered escaping once again. Not that he would be given the chance. Faster than he would have liked, he was ushered along by the third year, who was asking a hundred questions, and Izuku was cheerfully waving him goodbye. The little traitor stayed behind to talk some more with Power Loader, leaving Hisashi to suffer on his own.

It looked like there was nothing else to it, but to endure whatever came his way next.

*

By some miracle, Hisashi didn’t stumble while he walked out of UA’s grander than necessary gates alongside Izuku. What he had just gone through, he hoped, desperately, to never experience again. Getting his fingers chopped off by the yakuza may be more preferable than that.

The little hero was in a far merrier mood, at the very least. There was a happy skip in his step while he recounted the conversation he had with Power Loader. The hero’s quirk, Iron Claws, was a more generic type, but was nevertheless made use of effectively. How nice.

Halfway towards the train station, Izuku stopped in his tracks, took a long examining look at Hisashi, and carefully asked, “so, how did it go?”

Instead of answering directly, Hisashi adopted a far away look and said, “back when we were children, Yoichi loved reading a certain comic book about a hero.”

“Huh?

“In one volume there was a quote I still remember; ‘heroes defend, while villains violate’.” Hisashi wearily turned towards Izuku. “If that is the case, then surely, the support department must be a den of villains.”

At that moment, all Izuku could do was laugh, haltingly and awkwardly. Because with an answer like that, what else could a little hero be expected to do.