Chapter 88 - 12-13

Chapter 12: Fear the Reaper

Bakugo was sure that he would die a slow, horrible death from boredom long before Deku's mom could kill him and make it look like an accident.

No, not Deku. He's Izuku. He earned that. Deku died when he developed a quirk and trained himself into the ground to become even stronger than himself. He watched the interview that the ner- Izuku did the day prior, and he vaguely alluded to the fact that he trained as hard as he could even before developing his quirk. It meant that even when they were still in school together, De- Izuku was working his ass off to get stronger, just like he was.

That begged the question, though: did Izuku become as powerful as he was in part because Aunty Inko was training him? The woman was terrifying when she wanted to be, and if she really was a retired pro, it would make sense if she was a ridiculous taskmaster during training. He was kind of curious about what she looked like in action.

Thinking about that, or literally anything at all, was better than succumbing to the boredom of sitting in a small, almost empty room during heroics classes as part of his punishment. Because he was barred from participating, he was relegated to a forced study hall with one of the civilian teaching assistants where he'd just get his homework done in silence. It was closer to detention than anything else, which he became familiar enough with after transferring schools years prior.

"Attention, students and staff of UA: due to unforeseen circumstances, classes will conclude early once again, and everyone is dismissed. To all of our UA family, please keep abreast of any and all email updates, and have a safe journey home."

The announcement from the principal drew the confusion of both Bakugo and the TA assigned to watch him. Bakugo shot the man a questioning look, and the man simply shrugged and motioned for him to leave. Bakugo packed his things into his bag and left the room, falling into the sea of equally confused students that were making their way to the exits. After shooting a short text to his mother that he'd be home early, he left the school grounds and set off towards the train station.

The train ride and following walk back to his house was quiet enough for Bakugo to retreat into his mind once again. His thoughts centered around De- Izuku and his strength, as well as the mountain of information he was given the day prior. His entire worldview had been all but flipped onto its head in the space of a single day, and there was apparently a pro whose devotion to being the best warped him enough to abuse the family he created solely to be the best in his stead. The thought alone just about made his skin crawl, but the possibility that he was headed down a similarly warped path in his own devotion made him physically shudder.

Conversely, surpassing All Might and proving to have no equal was his entire motivation for being the best. If he had to completely rethink his desire to be the best, where would he even begin? He knew how he *didn't* want to become the best, but knowing what path to not go down wasn't the same as knowing what the right path was. Was there even a right path? Was it one of those questions where there were no right answers, but there were certainly wrong ones?

So caught up in his thoughts, he ignored the people crowding around a screen broadcasting a news report of the developing situation at the USJ.

When he made it home, he shouted a quick "I'm home!" to his mother, and he received an equally loud "Welcome back, brat!" in return. He would ordinarily head right up to his room, but he stood ahead of the front door for a moment before heading to where he heard his mother's voice from the living room.

"Hey, hag?" Bakugo addressed with far less bite than normal, something his mother immediately noticed.

"What is it, ya' little shit?" she responded in kind, no antagonism in her tone to speak of.

"How come you never told me that Aunty Inko was a pro?" he questioned.

She frowned before a tired sigh escaped her. "It wasn't my story to tell. She has a difficult relationship with heroics."

"Do you know what happened to make her lose faith in heroics?"

"Yes, and if she didn't tell you, I won't either. Like I said, it's not my story to tell, and I'm surprised she told you even as much as she did."

At the surprise in his eyes, she narrowed her gaze at him. "Yeah, she told me about the conversation you two had. Like I said last night, I thought you had gotten over your obsession with proving your dominance over Izuku. I'm glad she chose to talk to you and give you a chance to get your goddamn shit together rather than throw you to the wolves for trying to hurt her son."

"If anyone's the wolf, it's her," he muttered.

"Damn right," his mother chuckled. "She's always been like that. Super protective of everything she cares about, and that includes you." Her face became serious once more, and her eyes were pleading. "Don't screw this up, Katsuki. Please."

Bakugo was taken aback by the near-desperation in her tone, and it brought his thoughts to another important detail. "Do you think that I'll become like that guy that… abused your other friend if I keep trying to be the best?"

His mother's eyes went wide at the question, and she didn't immediately respond, so he continued. "I don't know what she wants me to do, if she wants me to give up being the best entirely or if she wants me to find another way than chasing after All Might."

His red eyes became hard. "Like hell I'm giving up on being the fucking best," he snarled out, and then his expression fell just as quickly. "But, All Might is the standard for greatness. If that's unattainable, what the hell am I even chasing? And if chasing that standard turns me into…"

His mother's own red eyes softened as he trailed off. "I don't think Inko wants or expects you to give up being the best. No one worth listening to does," she assured him. "Your problem wasn't and still isn't that you want to be the best, your problem was that you already thought you were, and you didn't know how to handle it when someone knocked you off your throne."

She placed a tender hand on his shoulder and looked him in the eye with a loving smile. "I know you can be the best goddamn hero Japan has ever seen, we just don't want you to lose yourself along the way and become someone you're not, whether that be a monster that abuses his family or a homicidal puppet for the HPSC."

"A what?" Bakugo questioned, completely flummoxed at that last example.

Mitsuki immediately winced when she realized what she said. "Shit, I probably shouldn't have said that. Again, it isn't my story to tell."

Bakugo narrowed his eyes at his mother. He'd leave it alone for now, but they would revisit that conversation in the future. Mitsuki, meanwhile, tried to hastily change the subject by seeing what was on TV. While flipping through channels, she landed on a news report that had UA in the headline.

"-situation is still developing, but as of now, no students have been fatally injured in the attack."

"What the fuck?" both mother and son remarked simultaneously.

Izuku was becoming a little fed up with waking up to the sight of a white ceiling and the smell of disinfectant. Whatever he did to end up in a hospital bed again better have been worth it, as he was certain that he wasn't going to avoid another thwack from Recovery Girl's cane.

Then, the memories of the day started to come back to him in waves; the attack on the USJ, escaping the shipwreck with Mineta and Tsu, fighting Shigaraki and the Nomu, getting beaten bloody by the Nomu, destroying his arm in an attempt to subdue the Nomu and using the rest of his energy to heal Tsu in lieu of himself…

Oh, right. There was one final thing that happened before he lost consciousness. He didn't want to think about it. He really didn't. He knew that he couldn't avoid it forever, but he would for damn sure try.

The light sounds of shuffling beside him brought his attention to his bedside to see his mother waking up in her chair. When the two pairs of green eyes met, one lit up in a powerful mixture of relief and worry, while the other was more than happy to provide succor.

"Izuku, I'm so glad you're okay!" Inko expressed while gingerly wrapping him in a hug to avoid hurting his heavily bandaged right arm any further.

"What happened after I went out? Is everyone else okay?" he asked in concern, to which his mother smiled at him.

"Mostly, yes. All Might and I arrived shortly after you lost consciousness from what I was told. The villains were dealt with, but the ringleader and his warper managed to escape."

"What about Mr. Aizawa? And Thirteen?" he pressed.

"They weren't in great shape, and they'll be in the hospital for a bit alongside you, but they'll both likely make full recoveries," she assured. "None of your classmates were seriously hurt either, in part because of you. I got the story from the students who were watching the scene unfold from the entrance as well as the two who were with you."

She gave him the warmest tearful smile she could muster while softly running her hand through his curly hair, and he instinctively leaned into her touch. "I cannot express in words just how proud of you I am. You shouldn't have had to have been in that situation, but you handled it expertly, and you even chose to heal a comrade before yourself. You're already a fantastic hero, son."

Izuku wanted to believe that. He wanted so desperately to latch onto that glowing praise and let it warm him as long as he could, just like when he was 5 and was initially misdiagnosed. However, also just as when he was 5, something was preventing him.

"Izuku," his mother began, her face now draped with sadness and concern. "Do you want to talk about what happened?"

His throat went bone dry. She knew; of course, she knew. No one would keep that a secret, and no one should expect anyone to. He was not a hero. He was a murderer.

"Izuku," she said a touch more firmly, yanking him out of his spiral. "It wasn't your fault."

Izuku held himself together as best as he could, but he could no longer meet her eyes.

"It wasn't your fault. Sometimes, things just happen, especially when your life and the lives of others are on the line. It doesn't make you any less of a hero, and it doesn't make you a murderer, either."

Izuku was starting to shake. He still would not meet his mother's gaze. Inko drew him into a soft, loving hug, and she started rubbing his scalp again.

"You did what had to be done, sweetie. He was going to kill you and then use your body to kill your classmates. You saved yourself, your classmates, and countless other future lives. You're a true hero, Izuku."

And the dam broke. Izuku burst into tears and latched onto his mother as tightly as he could with his injuries, and he bawled into her shoulder. There they sat for the next few minutes as Izuku poured out all of his distress through his tears and his mother gently comforted him all the while.

"I… I didn't mean to…" Izuku choked out after his sobbing died down.

"I know you didn't," she assured in a whisper. "And no one ever enjoys it, especially when it's the only option."

A silence fell between them, and Izuku's tears mostly dried up, but he didn't leave his mother's arms.

"Does it ever get easier?" he softly asked.

"No," she answered. "The moment it does, it's time to step away."

Izuku didn't know how to respond to that. He had an inkling that she was speaking from personal experience, but he didn't want to explore that thought at that moment for both of their sakes. He elected to remain in her embrace and enjoy the comfortable silence.

That silence was interrupted by a knock at the door. Inko broke the embrace to open it, and All Might in civilian clothes stepped inside with Nezu on his shoulder.

"I AM HERE!" he bellowed. "To check up on my student!"

"Izuku, I'm glad to see that you're well!" Nezu chirped with a grin.

"I'm doing better, I suppose," he hesitantly responded.

Nezu solemnly nodded. "I'll be setting you up with regular sessions with Hound Dog. Myself and any other staff are always available as well if you ever need anything."

At the teen's nod of acceptance, he continued with a smile. "I must commend you on your valiant efforts in keeping your classmates safe from harm. While I was not there to witness it personally, testimony from both your classmates and your teacher have made it clear that you take after your mother more than you know."

"That is correct, Young Midoriya," All Might spoke in a tone which indicated that he clearly lacked an inside voice. "You've already proven to have such a strong heroic spirit at such a young age. I have no doubt that you'll be a stellar hero!"

All Might patted Izuku on the shoulder as he was finishing, and time seemed to freeze for Izuku upon contact. Within an instant, Izuku was inundated with flashes of shadowy figures , around 7 in total. They were surrounded by blue flames and staring directly at him, but they weren't the only ones; he could feel a dark, overwhelming presence looming over him like the feeling of death itself.

To the others in the room, all they saw was Izuku freezing upon contact with All Might and blue flames erupt from the boy's hair before blood began trickling from his nose, and he collapsed onto his bed.

"Izuku!" Inko shouted in alarm, and the other two immediately surrounded the boy in a panic to figure out what happened. "Damn it, Yagi, what the fuck did you do?!"

All Might deflated and hacked up a bit of blood. "I didn't do anything, I swear! Not intentionally! I don't know what's going on!"

"His heart rate has remained steady, and his vitals aren't fluctuating," Nezu commented upon checking the heart monitor, and then he turned his beady gaze onto the boy's hair. "Could this be another activation of his quirk?"

"I don't know," Inko worriedly lamented, "and I don't like it."

Izuku stood in a pitch black void surrounded by blue fire. Looking over himself, he found he was blanketed in the sapphire flames as well. Looking around, he spotted a collection of shadowy figures, likely the ones he had seen in those strange visions. He slowly made his way toward them, but as he did, that overwhelming presence of death grew stronger with every step. Pushing onward, he eventually got close enough to see a peculiar sight.

The shadowy figures were much less shadowy, and he could make out that most of them were wearing hero costumes. A woman with black hair up in a pony tail was being restrained by a shorter man with a high collar that covered the lower half of his face and a larger, bald man. Near them, a man with white hair observed the scene with mirth clearly written all over his scarred face, while three other figures observed him curiously.

"Did Eighth pass One For All to this boy?" one of the men who had his hair in a spiky ponytail asked.

"No," a man with white hair and green eyes answered. "This isn't the usual void where vestiges reside. This is somewhere completely different, and I'm certain it relates to his quirk."

Meanwhile, the woman had nearly broken free of her captivity and had a ravenous look in her eyes that slightly disturbed Izuku.

"Nana, please calm down," the shorter man helping restrain the woman urged.

"How can you tell me to calm down?! My grandson is right in front of me, I will hug him!" the woman bit back.

Wait, what? Grandson?

"Um, what's going on? Where am I?" Izuku hesitantly queried.

"We were hoping you could shed some light on that for us," the scarred man replied. "We're just as unfamiliar with this space as you seem to be."

"I can answer your questions," came a deathly smooth, androgynous voice reverberating through the void. The oppressive feeling washed over Izuku and the vestiges, and Izuku could barely turn his head to see a massive cat towering over them. The cat was garbed in elegant, white robes and was wearing red prayer beads around its neck. The eerie cheshire grin it sported was made even more frightening by the massive tanto wrapped in one of its two flowing tails. It stared down at them like they were little more than prey, vindictive mirth shining in its slitted eyes of different colors (the left eye being green and the right eye being yellow).

"Wha- what are you?" the bald man fearfully spoke through the aura of death.

"Guess," was its playful reply, its grin only widening to display even more sharp, ferocious teeth.

The group was silent for a moment, and then the white-haired man without a scar seemed to brighten in realization before he spoke.

"Shinigami?" he posed.

"One of them, but correct nonetheless, Yoichi," the newly identified Shinigami answered, maintaining its threatening smile all the while.

"How do you know his name?" one of the others questioned.

"Isn't it obvious?" the Shinigami nearly cackled. "I preside over this realm, and it's my job to be familiar with all of the souls that have crossed over. Well," the massive cat's gaze flickered to Izuku and became even more predatory, "with the exception of you. You're not dead… yet."

"Then… why am I here?" the teen asked with such fear that it nearly broke Nana's heart.

"You, my dear boy, have the privilege of being linked to me through your quirk. You're not the first, and you may not be the last, but it doesn't happen often. Be proud," the Shinigami answered.

'So that's what these blue flames are,' he thought to himself.

"You're very correct," the Shinigami spoke up.

"You can hear my thoughts?" he asked in a bit of alarm.

"I can do so much more than that," the Shinigami purred, "but it's not about what I can do; it's about what you can do now that you have me."

Izuku did not at all like the idea of being tied to a literal death god as part of his quirk, but he couldn't do anything about it. "What can I do?"

"With these blue flames you wield, I can grant you a sort of conditional necromancy," it answered.

That got the attention of everyone in the void.

"Conditional?" Izuku carefully probed.

"Nothing comes without a cost," the Shinigami responded with an even sharper grin if that were even possible.

Izuku gulped. "So, theoretically, I could bring someone back from the dead, but it would be a life for a life?"

At this, the Shinigami finally dropped its grin and appeared to pout. "Only if you reach too far. Unfortunately, reclaiming a life that was lost within minutes won't put you out of your misery. With that said, it will take you out of commission for anywhere from a few hours to a few days, and any situation you find yourself in where a life was snuffed out prematurely is probably dangerous enough to where reviving that person would result in your death anyway, so it doesn't really matter to me. Your soul will find its way to me regardless."

The cheshire grin returned with newfound danger. "And if you try to breathe new life into any of these souls, we'll be seeing each other again very soon."

That was quite a bit to take in for both Izuku and the vestiges. Now that the initial fear of the Shinigami had somewhat faded, his mind was clear enough to assess the situation a bit more. He had unlocked a new facet of his quirk, one that gave him a connection with a death god and allowed him to revive the dead with a cost. If he were going off his and his mother's theory about his quirk, it meant that somewhere down the line, one of his ancestors had a necromancy quirk of some kind. He would wonder where the hell that even fit in, but it truly did not matter at that point.

"What else can I do with the blue fire, if anything else at all? And what should I call you? Do you have a proper name? Are you always going to be around in my head?" Izuku asked in rapid succession, overcoming his fear for a brief moment.

The Shinigami was genuinely amused at the boy's sudden bout of courage to express his curiosity. "You may call me Matatabi, and no, I will not be in your head all of the time. As much as I would love to torture you to insanity, I have responsibilities to tend to. This will likely be the only conversation we ever have, provided you don't find yourself at death's door. As for what else you can do," Matatabi's grin grew even darker, "where's the fun in telling you all of that now? Allowing you to figure it out on your own increases the likelihood that you screw up and kill yourself."

Izuku wasn't really sure what he was expecting at that point.

"If that will be all, then I shall take my leave," Matatabi declared. "You're free to leave this realm at your leisure."

"WAIT!" shouted Nana before she broke away from her restraints and made a frantic break for Izuku, ignoring the shouts from the group behind her.

Izuku, surprisingly to even himself, did not put up his guard when the woman darted toward him. Something about her intrigued him. Even from afar, she had a similarly calming aura about her to his own mother. He didn't have much time to ponder it even further before he was practically tackled by the woman, and he realized that she was crying.

"I can't believe it," she choked out through sobs. "You're real, you're here, I can touch you!"

Izuku tentatively returned the embrace, and it felt as though a switch had flipped because he immediately tightened the hold and rubbed her back while she cried into his shoulder.

"I wish I could apologize to Kotaro and Inko," she started back up through her tears. "I wish I could have been there to see them grow, to see you grow. It was just too dangerous for them."

She fixed him with a kind, tearful smile. "I see Inko grew up just fine if you're any indication. How is Kotaro?"

"I… didn't know I had an uncle," Izuku hesitantly responded. He really didn't want to upset the grandmother he was meeting for the first time, but he also wouldn't lie to her.

She was downcast at the response, but she nodded in understanding. She looked around to find that Matatabi and the other vestiges had left, and the two were alone amongst the flames. "I can only see through Toshi's eyes; I can't speak to him or influence him at all, so please tell Toshi and Inko that I'm so sorry and that I'm so proud of both of them, just like I'm so proud of you, Izuku. I wish we could talk for longer, but everyone is really worried for you in the living world."

She hugged him one final time and ruffled his hair with a sad smile. "Be the best damn hero you can be, and don't ever stop smiling. If you really want to be a hero for the forgotten, then a smile is the very least you can offer them when trying to help."

And with that, she stood up and backed away from him, fading from the void. Izuku was left alone to take in the encounter amongst the inexplicable chill of the blue fire engulfing and surrounding him. After a deep breath, he closed his eyes and felt the abyss engulf him.

"Yagi, I swear to every god imaginable, if my son doesn't wake up, I will beat you to death with your own kneecaps," Inko practically snarled.

Toshinori had long since taken to cowering behind Nezu to escape the wrath of the boy's mother. Luckily, none of the doctors and nurses that entered to room to monitor the situation had seen him deflate, so his secret was still safe, but it was still too early to say the same for himself as they waited outside of the hospital room for any updates whatsoever. When the door finally opened, the three snapped to attention.

"He's awake," came the reassuring voice of the nurse. Inko felt the weight of a planet lift from her shoulders, and she melted into her chair.

"What happened to him?" she asked the nurse.

"We believe that it was an involuntary quirk awakening, and he confirmed as much. While not particularly common, it isn't unheard of for quirks to evolve and strengthen during or after intensely stressful situations. We want to keep him under observation for a little while longer, but he's relatively fine," the nurse answered.

"Thank goodness. Can we see him?" Inko asked.

The nurse nodded and allowed the three to enter. Izuku was sitting up in his bed and staring down at his hands. He turned his attention to the new arrivals, and he spared the skinny form of Toshinori a curious glance.

"Mr. Yagi?" he questioned. "What are you doing here? And where's All Might?"

Toshinori panicked, forgetting that he came in as All Might and that he had already met the boy in his deflated form. Inko, thoroughly exhausted with the man, offered him respite from the predicament.

"He's All Might's secretary," she tiredly began. "All Might couldn't stick around, so Yagi here decided to stay and keep an eye on you in his stead."

Izuku blankly examined the skinny man (who would swear to everyone who asked him later on that he did not fidget under the teen's piercing gaze), and he turned an equally blank eye back to his mother, who quirked an eyebrow at him in return. He turned his gaze back to Toshinori, and a small, white flame ignited in his hair. Toshinori was startled, but a wave of Nezu's paw kept him from moving.

Izuku stared at Toshinori for 10 uninterrupted seconds, then he finally faced his mother again with a furrowed, disbelieving brow. "Really?"

"What?" she asked, curious as to how he already figured it out.

He didn't give her a reply, only facing Toshinori again with an unimpressed stare. The white flame in his hair extinguished, and he raised his left hand. He activated his quirk, and his hand became coated with the familiar spatter of colored fire. After a good bit of concentration, he successfully managed to bring forth the sapphire flame he had become acquainted with. The eyes of the other occupants went wide as he pushed his hand in the direction of Toshinori. After a few seconds, he felt a light tug on his quirk, and he could vaguely see a faint hand reaching out to him and lightly caress the palm of his hand with its fingers. His suspicions confirmed, he cut off his quirk.

"Secretary, right," Izuku said dryly. "That's your story and you're sticking to it, so that's the story I'll give anyone who asks."

The cackle that Nezu unleashed sent shivers down the spines of Aizawa and Thirteen in their respective hospital rooms.

After dodging the inevitable spray of blood that the tall blonde hacked up, Izuku attempted to ease the man's worries. "Don't worry, I won't ask, and it isn't my secret to tell."

The relief that bloomed on the man's face was short-lived. "However, does it have anything to do with why the ghost of my grandmother is living inside of you?"

Toshinori did not have any blood left to hack.

"So, let me make sure I have everything straight," Inko began with a tiredness that not even Aizawa would envy. "You unlocked a new facet of your quirk when All Might patted you on the shoulder."

Izuku nodded.

"In doing so, you were transported to a void wherein you met 7 dead heroes that inhabit All Might's quirk."

Izuku nodded.

"Alongside them, you were face to face with the Shinigami itself, and it revealed that this new facet of your quirk links you directly to it, and you are granted conditional necromancy when you use these new, blue flames. Misusing this necromancy can kill you."

Izuku nodded.

"The Shinigami is a nekomata."

Izuku nodded.

"My birth mother is one of the 7 heroes inhabiting All Might's quirk."

Izuku nodded.

Inko sank into her chair with a heavy sigh, and she massaged her forehead. "What did you two talk about?"

"Not much, in all honesty," Izuku lamented. "She was just really happy to see me. She also wanted you to know that she's sorry, and she's incredibly proud of you."

Izuku turned away in time to miss the singular tear break through despite Inko's best efforts, and he faced Toshinori. "She's proud of you as well.

He did catch the tear escape Toshinori's eye that time. He turned to Nezu, who remained quiet as he still had difficulty parsing the eccentricities of human emotions at times. Toshinori soon excused himself, offering a quick ruffle of Izuku's hair before he left. Inko and Nezu followed shortly thereafter, the latter returning to UA to assist with the investigation and to look over the school's entire security system, while the former offered a final hug to her son before muttering something about needing a lot of alcohol.

Izuku, now left with only his thoughts, decided to hasten his recovery by applying his pink fire to his arm and ribs since he finally had the stamina to do so. Meanwhile, his thoughts traveled back to the last thing his grandmother had said to him before they departed the void:

"Be the best damn hero you can be, and don't ever stop smiling. If you really want to be a hero for the forgotten, then a smile is the very least you can offer them when trying to help."

Izuku pondered this statement for a long while, long after even his injuries were mostly taken care of. He found that the burns where he remembered the small patches of black flame to be were substantially harder to heal than the rest, but he put it out of his mind for the moment.

'Maybe if someone saved the Sludge Villain, it wouldn't have had to end like that…'

He could feel his mind inching towards a treacherous rabbit hole by broaching that idea, so he shook the thought away.

'Or maybe someone did try, and it just never took.'

That line of thinking, he found, wasn't any more comforting than the previous one. It was just exchanging one doomer mindset for another. He didn't know the Sludge Villain's story; he couldn't make a determination for sure about whether or not anyone had ever really tried to help him or if he was just beyond saving entirely. Maybe the truth was somewhere in the middle? Shades of grey, and all that?

'Guess that just means I'll have to work that much harder to help ensure that no one ever becomes too far gone.'

Tomura Shigaraki was not having a good day. His failed attack on the USJ left him in a broken heap, one that would take him a good while to recover from. If being put on mandatory bed rest because of a cheap, self-insert NPC wasn't bad enough, his Sensei specifically called for Kurogiri to bring him to his Sensei's own medical chamber for recuperation. Ordinarily, he'd be over the moon, but he just knew that Sensei was going to spend that time detailing everywhere he went wrong and why they failed so miserably at killing All Might.

He loved Sensei, but the man was a petty, condescending asshole at the best of times. He spoke to him in a tone that would sound caring and patient to most who gave a cursory listen, and it did just that to Tomura for years. However, ever so often, Kurogiri would glitch, and it was as if another, more playful personality would force its way to the surface. Those instances were usually rather brief, but Kurogiri would indulge in dry sarcasm or jokingly talk down to him in a way that would leave for plausible deniability.

It wasn't until Tomura became used to those infrequent slips that he started to notice similar speaking patterns from Sensei, only the twinge of joviality he'd get from Kurogiri wasn't there. It just felt… manipulative.

But that wasn't possible, right? Sensei always had his best interests in mind and wouldn't just manipulate him for his own ends. He was there for Tomura when no one else was. He was there to help Tomura destroy everything he hated. He was there to help Tomura destroy everything that had wronged him in this wretched world.

So, why did it feel so fabricated sometimes?

Whatever, it was pointless to think about it right then, anyway. He was stuck in a hospital bed beside Sensei's chair as the man was scouring through any available records on Player 2 and his lineage.

"So, Izuku Midoriya, hm? Lone son of Hisashi Midoriya, deceased, and-"

The heavily scarred man paused mid-sentence in surprise. He looked over the records a few more times, and then he perused even further when he found a particularly interesting thread.

"So that's where you've been all these years, little Inko," the man said with a dark chuckle. "If what Tomura told me about his quirk is true, I wonder if your son is the Ninth…"

"Sensei, how do you read without any eyes?"

A long, pregnant silence settled amongst the two. The large man did not answer right away, and Tomura couldn't figure out if he was merely considering the question or if he was upset at him in any way. The lack of a proper face made reading said face practically impossible when he wasn't smiling or frowning.

"Not well."

Chapter 13: Let the Games Begin!

Class had been cancelled for a few days after the USJ attack. Izuku was surprised to find that his phone had blown up with notifications while he was in the hospital; he expected texts from Ochako and Yui, but the rest of his class had apparently gotten a hold of his phone number from either Ochako or Iida (or both), and they bombarded his phone with well wishes and questions about his well-being.

The outpour of concern and support he received from his classmates was enough to warm his heart, but the lengthy text he received from Tsu thanking him for everything he did to heal and protect her and Mineta just about made him cry. He even got a text from Tokage (presumably thanks to getting his phone number from Yui) checking up on him after 1-B heard about the attack. He'd really have to do something nice for all of them.

A few days later, against his mother's wishes for him to take another day to himself after the Sludge Villain's failed attack, he returned to school alongside everyone else. He was one of the first people in class in an effort to get out in front of the inevitable swarm of attention he was expecting to receive. He was right, as Toru beamed at the sight of him, and even Aoyama expressed his happiness to have a "brethren of the sparkle" back in good health.

The most odd reaction, however, was from Bakugo. The two teens' eyes met when he arrived, and the usually bombastic blonde became rather pensive. He ultimately decided to hold onto whatever was on his mind, though, and he sat down in his seat in front of Izuku without a word. Izuku would have thought a little more about it, but a similar thing happened with Todoroki shortly afterward. The only difference was that the teen's varied eyes narrowed at him, but much of the animosity that had been there previously was gone. He'd take that as a victory if not for the reminder that the boy's two-toned eyes gave him of Matatabi's own heterochromia.

Eventually, amidst the chatter of the news covering them regarding the USJ, their homeroom teacher arrived wrapped head to toe in bandages, much to the shock of the class. The fact that he was even there and walking to boot was a miracle given the condition the Nomu had left him in.

"My well-being is irrelevant," he grumbled under the bandages. "What's more important is that your fight isn't over yet. The UA Sports Festival is set to start soon."

That elicited the collective excitement and concern of the class. Izuku, while he understood why the Sports Festival needed to happen given the international importance of the event, was dubious about the prospect of hosting it so soon after a villain attack on students. Luckily, Jiro voiced those concerns that he and many others in the room shared.

"Apparently, the administration thinks that this is a good way to show that the threat has been handled and our school is safer than ever, plus they're beefing up security compared to past years," Aizawa responded to their concerns. "This event is a huge opportunity for all students at UA. It's not something that can be cancelled because of a few villains."

Izuku was still a bit skeptical, so he resolved to see Principal Nezu during lunch to express his thoughts. After Aizawa finished his speech and classes proceeded as normal, the excitement for the festival was noticeably bubbling amongst the students. When the bell for lunch rang, that excitement only became more apparent. Izuku gathered his things to head to the principal's office, but he stopped to intercept a hand sneaking up on him, and he offered a smile to the expected culprit.

"Izuku, Iida, let's do our bests at the Sports Festival!" Ochako said with an intensity that he had never seen from her. No one else in the room thought she was capable of that kind of intensity, either, and the reactions to her declarations ranged from hesitant approval to outright concern.

Izuku, on the other hand, fully supported her fervor and opted to join her.

"Hell yeah, let's do our bests!" he shouted in agreement and pumped his own fist into the air.

She spun to face him and shot him a challenging smile, and they pumped their fists again in unison.

"We're gonna fucking crush it!" the two emphatically declared, much to the growing discomfort of the rest of the class.

Once they left the classroom, the three friends engaged in light conversation until Izuku went to split off from them to head to Nezu, but he remembered something.

"Oh, before I forget, I got you guys something," Izuku spoke up before reaching into his bag. The two looked at him curiously as he pulled out two bentos.

"I wanted to thank the both of you for being the first real friends I've ever had," Izuku began. "I don't really talk about my past much, but you both know about the situation with my old district."

When they nodded, he continued. "I'm not really great at the whole 'being social' thing, and most of my time at UA has been me winging it and hoping for the best, but I really appreciate having the both of you around, especially after what happened at the USJ. I figured I should do something nice in return."

With that, he bashfully handed them the bentos, one with a pink bow on it for Ochako and one with a dark blue bow for Iida. They wordlessly and gratefully accepted them, Iida launching into a heartfelt speech about friendship and being there for those you care about while Ochako silently opened the bento to see what was inside. Her eyes widened when she saw that it was full of mochi.

She stared down at the bento of some of the best looking mochi she had ever laid eyes on, and she completely tuned out everything around her, including Izuku sheepishly trying to deflect the praise Iida was giving him.

'He did this for me? Just for being his friend?'

She looked back at him, and her eyes zeroed in on his right arm. She remembered the absolutely abysmal state it was in at the USJ and what he went through to keep himself and the others alive.

'He went through all of that, and he still felt like he needed to repay us…'

Her expression hardened. 'Someone as kind as him doesn't need to put himself through all of that. He'd run himself ragged if it meant protecting people. I need to get stronger if I want to properly protect myself. We all do, and maybe we could protect him, too.'

Ochako closed the bento and stepped toward Izuku, drawing the attention of himself and Iida. She, with a face set into righteous determination, hugged Izuku as tightly as she could without dropping the bento.

"We're gonna fucking crush the Sports Festival," she resolutely declared a final time before she quickly scampered away to avoid anyone seeing her newly burning cheeks.

Izuku had absolutely no idea how to react to the impromptu hug, so he stood in place even after Ochako released the hug and left. He turned a confused eye to Iida only to see him dutifully following after Ochako and yelling for her to not run in the halls. He blinked and turned around to head to the principal's office, deciding to think about it later.

When he arrived, he stood in front of the door without knocking and waited. 10 seconds passed without the door opening, and Izuku grew annoyed. After a few more seconds of nothing happening, he sighed and went to knock. Before he could touch the door, it swung open, and Nezu stood before him with a smile.

"Ah, young Izuku, I'm glad you've come for a visit," the chimera innocently chirped.

"I know you knew that I was coming and that I was at the door," he stated with a hint of frustration, entirely unconvinced by the principal's innocent act. "Why didn't you open it?"

"You didn't knock. How was I to know that you wanted to come in?"

An aggravated sigh and a maniacal laugh escaped the teen and animal, respectively, and Izuku entered the room and sat down in front of Nezu's desk.

"I have an idea as to what this may be about, but please share with me your concerns," Nezu instructed with a sip of his tea.

"Is it wise to have the Sports Festival as planned given everything that's happened?" Izuku went straight to the point.

"As I suspected," Nezu nodded, "your concerns are well-founded. Ordinarily, I would agree that it is a dangerous prospect, indeed, but the Sports Festival isn't an ordinary event. It is the most highly televised and anticipated event of the year, and it provides our young heroes in training the exposure and opportunity to present themselves to both the public and pro heroes for their future careers. Canceling it would cause a public relations storm that would be akin to a victory for the villains who attacked the USJ."

Izuku expected that answer, as it was along the lines of the explanation Aizawa had given them earlier that morning. Still, he furrowed his brow. "That's the official and likely business-oriented reason. What is your actual reason for moving forward with it?"

Nezu's smile returned with a glimpse of his sharp teeth. "I certainly made the right decision all those years ago." He reached into his desk and pulled out a picture. "Do you remember this woman?"

Izuku looked down at the photo on the desk, and he nodded in recognition. He wouldn't be able to forget pale blue skin and lilac hair anytime soon.

"I suppose you've proven yourself capable enough to be let in on what's currently transpiring," Nezu spoke up at his affirmation. "This woman is Chitose Kizuki, Executive Director of Shoowaysha Publishing. We strongly suspect her, and Shoowaysha by extension, to have strong ties to the Meta Liberation Army."

Izuku's eyes widened. "She's the one that interviewed me…"

"Indeed," Nezu confirmed, "and she's also the one who green-lit the slew of hit pieces directed at UA that you've no doubt encountered. She has been on my radar for some time, but only recently has she made any particularly bold moves."

"…Like showing up in person right on the campus that she's trying to smear," Izuku connected the dots. "You believe that the MLA is subtly fighting back against you for your takedowns of their districts?"

Nezu nodded, and Izuku continued. "Do you think that they'd use me as a means of discrediting UA?"

"It's not outside of the realm of possibility," Nezu mused. "They may use you and smear your name as a means of discrediting UA, but that isn't what worries me. What worries me is the possibility that now that you, specifically, are in their crosshairs as well, they would use you to smear not just UA, but the public's faith in heroics at large. Shoowaysha is a large publication with considerable reach and influence, and it is precisely why I did everything in my power to keep what happened to the Sludge Villain at the USJ under wraps."

Izuku flinched at the mention of that little detail. Nezu sighed, and he put his cup down on the desk. "It's very unfortunate that it happened for both the sake of your mental health and your potential career. Villain deaths do happen out in the field, and, under normal circumstances, no one would begrudge you for what happened."

Nezu made sure that Izuku was making eye contact with him before he continued. "However, given your declaration to be a beacon for those lost within the cracks of society, a villain death so early in your career will torpedo that notion before you can make any substantial progress with it. Had Shoowaysha caught wind of it, I have no doubt that they would jump on the opportunity to slander your name and create even more disillusionment among the fringes of society to draw people to their cause, as well as chipping away at the faith the general public has in hero institutions if someone with as noble of intentions as yourself was forced to take a life not a week into your very first year."

"That's… goddamn it…" Izuku cursed.

Nezu nodded in agreement. "That is the reason the Sports Festival must continue as planned. You will have an opportunity to ingratiate yourself into the hearts and minds of both the general public and those on the fringes of society that are potentially teetering on the edge of villainy. You must get out in front of any potential smear campaigns that Shoowaysha may undertake against you in the future by building a rapport with the public now. Give them a reason to like you and to want you to succeed, and don't give the MLA any means or opportunity to discredit you."

"So… wow…" Izuku stammered at the information. Nezu patiently waited for him to get his thoughts together, and he was thankful for that. "You want me to win the festival and become a media darling?"

"Not necessarily," Nezu answered, picking up his cup of tea once more to take another sip. "You don't need to win the whole thing, as much as I'm certain that you will, and you certainly don't need to become a media darling since you've already made it publicly clear that you do not seek to replace All Might. Just be sure to not let them turn you into Endeavor. Think of this as your debut. Make the most of it."

Izuku's eyes widened even further as understanding sank in, and he determinedly nodded. "Got it."

"Excellent," Nezu nodded with a feral smile.

The end of the school day provided a rather peculiar situation for Class 1-A. They attempted to leave the room, but they found themselves blocked by a mass of students from the other classes. A few in 1-A nervously looked at the group of interlopers, Izuku looked on in curiosity, Bakugo stared in dismissive annoyance, and Todoroki remained as impassive as ever.

"Um, why the heck are you all here?" Ochako finally questioned.

"Do you students have some kind of business with our class?" Iida sternly asked.

"Why are you blocking the doorway?" Mineta spoke up in near hysterics. "I won't let you hold us hostage!"

"They're scouting the competition, idiots," Bakugo calmly answered as he strolled toward the doorway. "You all survived a villain attack, and they want to see the class that did with their own eyes."

He stopped in front of the doorway and took in the sight, shooting everyone a cold glare. "At least you all now know what a future pro looks like, now move it, ex-"

He stopped himself before he could utter the word, and his face twisted into a frown instead.

"So, this is Class 1-A, huh?" came a lazy drawl from within the mob. "I heard you guys were impressive, but you just sound like an ass. Is everyone in the hero course delusional, or just you?"

Mineta, Ochako, and Iida were continually mortified at the situation that Bakugo got them into by being rude and dismissive toward them, but Izuku only continued observing as a tall boy with a messy head of purple hair and eyes to match nonchalantly pushed his way to the front of the crowd to face them directly.

"How sad to come here and find a bunch of egomaniacs," he cynically lamented. "I wanted to be in the hero course, but like many others here, I was forced to choose a different track. Such is life."

Shinso ran his gaze over the rest of the class. "I didn't cut it the first time around, but I have another chance. If any of us in General Studies, Business, or even Support do well enough in the Sports Festival, our teachers can decide to transfer us into the hero course, and they'll have to transfer some of you all out to make room. Maybe some of my peers are here to scout out the competition, but I'm here to tell you directly that if you don't bring your very best, I'll steal your spot right from under you. Consider this a declaration of war."

His purple eyes finally landed on Izuku, and his gaze narrowed. "Oh, I recognize you. You're the special kid who wants to be a 'savior for the downtrodden' even though you hit the genetic lottery and left them behind, anyway. You're not even a pro yet, and you're already spouting empty platitudes."

Some turned to face Izuku in a mixture of concern and curiosity at how he'd respond, while others looked on in indignation.

"Hey, don't talk to our class rep like that!" Mineta shouted in Izuku's defense. "He's already more of a hero than you could ever hope to-"

He was cut off by Izuku placing a hand on his shoulder, and he looked up to see Izuku staring blankly at the purple-haired boy. He, Ochako, and Iida all wanted to speak on his behalf, but a certain gleam in his eyes that betrayed the blankness of his face compelled them to take a step back and let him handle it. Izuku slowly meandered toward the door through the tense silence that fell amongst everyone in both the room and the hallway. Bakugo turned his head back to look at Izuku, and even he opted to step aside once he saw something familiar in Izuku's gaze.

That did not escape the notice of anyone in 1-A. Many clamped their mouths shut and kept an eye on their friend and classmate, and Todoroki was now paying attention to the scene. All the while, Izuku had not yet uttered a single word, offering only a blank, assessing gaze to the taller teen that got under his skin.

"What, nothing to say? Am I not far enough in the cracks to be worth your esteemed breath?" he tried to prod the green head.

Izuku still did not respond, and his emerald eyes only continued roving over the boy like he was up for dissection in a biology class. Izuku only removed his eyes from him to observe an even taller boy with silver hair prepare to shout something, but a detached hand grabbed onto his head, and his gaze flickered to the form of Tokage quickly shaking her head at the taller boy to keep him from getting involved. When he brought his eyes back to the purple pair in front of him, he observed a concoction of frustration and festering resentment.

The purple boy was going to speak again, likely to spit out another scathing remark, but he was interrupted by Izuku poking his abdomen. It took him so off guard that he did nothing to stop the boy from pushing his finger into different places on his abdomen and then grabbing and feeling up his arm. His wits returned to him, and he snatched his arm away.

"The hell are you doing?" he spat.

"You made a declaration of war," Izuku began while cupping his chin as if assessing him even further, "but from what I can tell, I'm not confident that you could back it up."

That really irked the purple boy, and the slight chorus of "Ooo's" from the gathering of students wasn't helping.

"I mean, your arms have no definition to speak of, and you're a little pudgy in the midsection," he continued, ignoring the growing snickers from his classmates and looks of disbelief and amusement from the interlopers. "You kind of got this skinny-fat thing going on that your height probably draws attention away from, but height only matters in a fight when the combatants are on equal footing, and I don't think you're physically on equal footing with anyone in either heroics class."

He took a look around the increasingly red teen in front of him to gaze at the other, wide-eyed students surrounding them. "Frankly, I really doubt that you're on equal footing with many in General Studies, Business, or Support."

That did it, and many of the students in attendance could no longer contain their laughter. 1-A transitioned from silently cheering on their class rep to actively cheering him on, and he even spied the toothy, approving grin of Tokage amongst the crowd.

Iida, however, was beginning to have flashbacks to their unfortunate interaction at the entrance exam, and he did not envy the purple teen's position whatsoever.

Izuku, still maintaining his blank countenance, refocused his gaze on the practically snarling boy in front of him. "I really don't recommend looking past your compatriots and challenging anyone in heroics directly. Not only are you punching way above your weight class, you're also prematurely discounting the efforts of those in your class who have probably worked even harder than you. That's the fastest path to failure and being swiftly overtaken.

"I'm not saying that you shouldn't shoot for the stars. You should always want better for yourself and strive to get there. The problem here is that you're declaring yourself to be among the stars when you've never taken the time to build the spaceship to get yourself there. Build that spaceship first, then meet me on the moon, alright?"

Whatever indignation the tall boy with silver hair was feeling at 1-A's perceived arrogance was gone, and he had joined the rest of the mob in trying to decipher if Izuku was attempting to motivate the other boy or if he was just being exceptionally petty in his response to the boy's earlier digs at him. Either way, the green-haired boy wasn't wrong, and he had succeeded in energizing many in the crowd by acknowledging their hard work and indirectly motivating them to show it off at the Sports Festival.

"Now, if you'll excuse us," Izuku continued, "there's a Sports Festival in two weeks that we all need to work our asses to the bone for. Bring your best, because we're all going to be bringing ours."

With that, Izuku pushed past the seething teen and through the miasma of determination and excitement, high-fiving a familiar floating hand on his way out of the crowd. The rest of 1-A and the crowd at large was pumped and ready to give it their all.

Shinso, meanwhile, was apoplectic at being verbally eviscerated so succinctly. It stung that everyone watched it happen and even laughed at him as it progressed, but it stung even more that Izuku wasn't exactly wrong in his assessment. It just fueled his anger and resolve even further to shut the green-haired piece of shit up for good. Like the rest of the group, he was really looking forward to the Sports Festival.

Unlike the rest of the group, however, he did not notice that Izuku never once mentioned anything about quirks in his assessment.

Inko had been finishing up dinner while Izuku was in his room when she heard a knock at the door. Assuring Izuku that she'd get it and lowering the heat on the stove, she made her way to the front door before looking through the peephole, and who she saw surprised her. She opened the door to see a nervous Ochako lightly clutching her left arm and struggling to meet her gaze.

"Ochako, it's lovely to see you," she said with a welcoming smile. "Izuku didn't tell me you were coming, but I think I made enough to make you a plate."

"Oh, no, I'm not here for dinner," she spastically corrected with a wave of her arms. "Um, I came to ask you something."

"Oh? What is it?" she inquired while motioning the girl inside and to the living room.

"Well…" she lowly began, trying to gather up the courage. Izuku poked his head into the living room to see what was happening, and he was surprised to see Ochako with his mother. Ochako saw him, and their eyes met. It made her think back to the bento of mochi, and she instantly found the resolve she needed.

"I want you to train me, Mrs. Midoriya."

Izuku's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates, and he promptly disappeared in a yellow flash back to his room. Inko was too surprised by her declaration to chuckle at her son's antics, and a large smile washed over her face.

"I was waiting for you to ask," she admitted. "I've wanted to since I brought it up after the entrance exam. Izuku is an excellent fighter, but he can afford to be more explosive and bombastic with his offense given his quirk. You and I, however, could do quite a lot together."

"You really think so?" she asked with both hope and disbelief in her tone.

"Absolutely," she answered with the same smile.

Ochako beamed at that, and the determination she had been feeling all day surged through her once more. "Then please train me as hard as you trained Izuku for the Sports Festival!"

"Do you want to be able to walk by the time the Sports Festival arrives?" she asked the girl after a pause.

Just as quickly, that determination vanished and wariness overcame her. "Uh… preferably?"

Inko hummed in consideration. "We'll pace ourselves and see where we end up by then."

"Um, right," Ochako hesitantly nodded. "Thank you so much, Mrs. Midoriya!"

"I told you that you can just call me Inko," she assured. "I'm not even married anymore."

"Can I call you Sensei?" Ochako compromised.

"That works for me," she acquiesced. "Are you sure you don't want to stay for dinner?"

"I'd love to, but I'm sure," she politely declined. "My parents are actually coming in to visit tonight, and I'm going out to eat with them."

"Oh, that's lovely! I hope you have a great time," Inko responded, and then her smile became predatory and her eyes shadowed. "We'll start your training tomorrow after classes end for the day. Don't worry about finding me, I'll find you."

On that note, Ochako hastily made her way out of the apartment and away from the sense of danger she was getting from Inko. On her way down the hall, she passed by a short, old man with scruffy, grey hair and a cane heading in the direction of the apartment. She then felt her phone vibrate, and she saw that it was a text from Izuku.

"Let me know when you need healing."

"Don't you mean 'if'?"

"No."

Ochako was truly wondering if she had made a mistake.

Meanwhile, Inko was chuckling at her new student's hasty exit. She was going to have a blast with the challenge of turning her into a world-beater. She was on the way to the kitchen to set the table and make their plates when there was another knock at the door. Curious, she returned to see if Ochako had forgotten something, but she didn't see the girl in the peephole. Instead, it was an older man.

"Hello, can I help you?" she asked the man after opening the door.

The man's eyes widened for an instant before he schooled his features. "Are you Inko Midoriya?"

"Yes, may I ask who you are?" she carefully probed.

"My name is Sorahiko Torino," the man gruffly stated. "I was a friend of your mother."

Inko stared at him with utmost seriousness, and he returned her gaze in kind.

"Akatani or Shimura?" she finally asked.

"Shimura," he answered simply.

She nodded and stepped aside to allow him into the apartment.

She led him to the living room before she went to the kitchen and turned off the stove entirely, putting a lid on every pot to keep the food warm before returning to the living room.

"So, you knew my mother," Inko stated as she sat down in a chair while Torino found himself on the couch.

"Yes, I did," he answered with a bit of sorrow. "She was one of my closest friends. Probably my best friend, honestly."

She took that in and remained quiet for a few moments. "Did you know about us? Kotaro and I?"

"Yes," he answered with a sigh and a downcast expression. "She had to give you two up after your father died. Things were becoming much too dangerous for her and you both, and she didn't want anything to happen to either of you."

"I figured as much," she answered with a sigh of her own, and, at Torino's quizzical expression, she continued. "Yagi told us about everything. I know that my mother was the previous wielder of the quirk before him, so whatever or whoever put him in the state he is now was likely the one who killed her."

Torino was not expecting that. Toshinori had only told him that he found Nana's daughter; he hadn't been under the impression that the oaf told her the whole story as well.

"Why did he tell you all of that, if I may ask?" Torino questioned. He didn't want to offend Inko, and if anyone had the right to know what happened to Nana, it was her, but the information was privileged for a reason.

"That would be due to my son," she answered with a fond smile. "The son who thinks he's being sneaky in his efforts to eavesdrop on the conversation."

A frantic shuffle from the hallway resulted in a thud and a hushed "shit" before he sheepishly entered the living room. Torino turned an amused eye to him and looked him over. Recognition then flashed in his aged eyes, and he assessed the boy even more carefully.

"So, you're the kid who wants to help those that slip through the cracks, huh?" Torino questioned.

"You saw that, too?" Izuku bashfully asked.

"You'd be hard-pressed to find someone who hasn't by now, especially after the USJ attack. I wouldn't be surprised if people are pushing it just to jump on you at the first scent of blood," he mused.

"Well, you're not totally wrong, there," Izuku lamented with a sigh. "I'm surprised to see Gran Torino of all people in my house."

It was Torino's turn to be surprised. "I'm surprised you even know about an old fart like me."

"I did a bit of research after I learned about my grandma," he explained. "It started with trying to figure out what happened to my uncle, and then I just fell down the rabbit hole and discovered that you two were in quite a few photos together. I figured you were pretty close with her."

Torino's expression fell at the mention of Nana's son, and both mother and child noticed.

"I haven't seen my brother since we were separated in foster care," Inko revealed. "The families that adopted us didn't want a duo, and the orphanage didn't really care about keeping us together, so they split us up. I was only 4, and by the time I was even able to really think about what happened, I was afraid of what I might have found if I went looking. To this day, I don't know what happened to him."

Torino sighed. "I tried to keep an eye on the both of you in the aftermath, but the family that adopted you skipped town right afterward, and I never knew their names. Kotaro was easier to find since he kept his surname, probably because he was a little older than you were. About 15 years ago, he and his family were killed in their home. It was probably quirk-related, since they were all reduced to dust. He had a wife and two kids, but no one survived."

'They were reduced to dust?' Izuku pondered.

Inko remained quiet for a few minutes. No one said anything, and Izuku only disregarded his own thoughts for the moment to approach his mom and rub her back. She wasn't crying, but he could clearly see from the strangled distress on her face that it was really affecting her. She gave him a warm smile in gratitude for his support, and she quietly assured him that she was okay.

"You look just like her, you know," Torino spoke up again. "You both do."

He took a few moments to focus on Izuku. "Did Toshinori pass the quirk on to you?"

"Oh, no, not at all," he quickly denied.

"Not for lack of trying," Inko muttered.

"My quirk is really complicated," Izuku continued, missing his mother's comment while Torino hadn't, "and another aspect of it awakened while I was in the hospital. Apparently, I can talk to ghosts now, among other things, and I was able to briefly meet and speak with Grandma Nana through All Might's quirk as a medium."

For the third time that evening, Torino was surprised again. That was quite a nugget of information to have. "Your quirk allows you to speak to the dead?"

"Eh, kind of," he sheepishly replied. "Like I said, it's a really complicated quirk that's multifaceted and pretty contradictory at times." His face lit up when something crossed his mind. "Oh, actually, when I was doing research, I looked into your quirk and fighting style."

Izuku paused, and a wave of embarrassment washed over him. "…I may have started studying it a bit to apply some of the principles to one of the facets of my quirk."

Now, the little zygote had Torino's attention. Not only had he known who he was, but he was actively studying him to improve his own combat prowess. He'd be impressed if he wasn't already biased towards him for being Nana's grandson.

"Wanna show me?" Torino asked with a challenging smirk.

Before Izuku could quite literally leap at the offer, Inko shut that thought down. "Absolutely not. I will not have you two bouncing off the walls of this household."

She then developed a smirk of her own. "That said, you're more than welcome to drop by UA after classes are over tomorrow if you're able. Izuku needs a decent sparring partner to prepare for the Sports Festival coming up."

"I'll be there," Torino chuckled.

Sitting in his home with a cup of instant ramen, a chill traveled up Toshinori's spine. He would usually attribute a chill to either Torino or Verdant, but the chill was much worse than usual. That meant that either All For One had returned, or Verdant and Torino would be in the same building as him at the same time.

He truly did not know which one he preferred.

Izuku practically floated in excitement, and he had to be careful to not activate his quirk and go up in a crimson blaze. The two adults laughed at his excitement, and all three were glad that the atmosphere had been sufficiently lightened.

"Torino, would you like to stay for dinner? I'm certain I've made enough for three," Inko offered.

"Sure, I can stick around for a bite," he assented. "I'll be able to get a better grip of this little whippersnapper before tomorrow."

Izuku was definitely looking forward to sparring with him.

Izuku should not have been looking forward to sparring with him.

It was so reminiscent of his days training with his mom that he was having trouble accepting the fact that he wasn't trapped in a time loop. Or, perhaps that was just a concussion. He couldn't really be sure.

"Eh, I may have gone a little overboard with that last hit," Torino commented while rubbing the back of his head with his comically bulbous gloves.

"You think?" Izuku dryly retorted while still on the ground.

"I gotta admit, though, your mom definitely taught you well. You dodge like your life is on the line every single time, zygote."

"Because that's never really been inaccurate."

"What other things come with your quirk?"

Izuku sat up and rested a hand doused in pink flame on his head. "Well, there's this."

Torino was surprised yet again. 'This kid…'

"My quirk has the base form where it's just kaleidoscopic fire that does regular fire stuff, and then it separates into its individual colors, each one providing a different, specific benefit. The pink, as you can see, allows me to heal myself or others at the cost of my stamina."

"And the yellow you were fighting with enhanced your speed," Torino mused.

"Yeah, but only in a straight line and in short bursts thus far," Izuku confirmed.

"I can see that, your movements were often too predictable when you only used the yellow," Torino chided. "What else can you do?"

"Well, green improves my strength, white improves my cognitive ability, red allows me to locally superheat things, orange makes shields, but I'm not that great at summoning them; blue gives me necromancy, and I don't really know what black does, but I try to avoid it."

"How good are you at using two colors at once?" Torino asked, and Izuku only twisted his hand in a "so-so" motion. "Activate the yellow, and then activate the green on your arms and try to maintain them as long as you can without hurting yourself."

Izuku hopped to his feet and did so, letting the bright, yellow flames overtake him before he pushed the emerald to the surface and coated his arms with them. A few wisps of green appeared in specks around his body to spread the strain and prevent it from purely being on his arms.

"Good," Torino nodded. "Now, try to keep up this time."

Izuku internally heaved a heavy sigh, and he wondered how his classmates were doing with their training.

Ochako fell to the ground in a boneless, exhausted heap. She now completely understood why Izuku was the way he was. Inko-sensei was a taskmaster among taskmasters. The first thing they did when they entered the training grounds was something called "dodge training," which consisted of Inko-sensei pelting her with small, rubber balls with accuracy akin to Snipe's. If that weren't bad enough, she'd use her quirk to yoink the balls back to her hand, and Ochako would have to dodge those, too.

The dodge training continued in the form of spars in which Ochako would have to keep from being hit for 3 straight minutes. She hadn't made it past 14 seconds; Inko-sensei was ridiculously fast, and she hit hard, so contorting her body through the pain to dodge even more strikes was a task in and of itself.

Then there were the instances in which the roles were reversed, and she had 3 minutes to land a single hit or negate her gravity. Inko-sensei would stay on the defensive and wouldn't strike back, but she would knock her hands and wrists away at any given opportunity. Ochako hadn't landed a single clean hit even once.

She refused to give up, though. She would take the torture and see it all the way through. She would get stronger. She would become a great hero and support her struggling family financially. She would become strong enough to protect herself and others so that Izuku didn't always have to. She would become great enough to stand alongside him as an equal.

She dragged herself back to her feet, dusted the dirt off of her arms and tank top, and shot a look of pure grit to her sensei while reentering a fighting stance. "I'm not done, yet. Let's do it again."

Inko smirked and nodded in approval before entering a defensive stance. "Let's."

"Everyone, get your game faces on! We're entering the arena!" Iida shouted to his classmates in the 1-A waiting room. They all had spent the last two weeks training themselves to the bone like Izuku not-so-subtly suggested in his talk with the tired kid from General Studies. They prepared not only their quirks, but their own bodies, as well. They did not want to be picked apart because they were lacking physically and relied too heavily on their quirks.

Conversely, they also didn't want to be one-trick ponies with their quirks, either. Many of them searched for new applications for their quirks, some even asking Izuku for help branching out since branching out seemed to be part of his shtick, and he was happy to help. The result of one such incident involving confectionary sugar, double-sided tape, a floor covered in sticky balls, and two angry bears was Izuku receiving a week's ban from Ground Beta while it was being repaired and the fake city's power grid was being fixed.

"Midoriya," Todoroki called while approaching the sitting teen.

Izuku looked up at the approaching boy with a bit of caution. They hadn't ever spoken much to each other, and Izuku figured that Todoroki just didn't like him a great deal. He motioned for the slightly taller boy to speak while many of the others turned their attention to the interaction.

"From an objective standpoint, I think it's fairly clear that we're the strongest in the class," he bluntly stated. That drew a few different reactions from the room, Bakugo in particular narrowing his eyes.

"I suppose," Izuku shrugged. "Where's this going?"

"Our first and only bout was interrupted, so there was never a real winner crowned. I can't say for certain who was stronger between us back then, but what is certain is that I will beat you here and now," the boy declared with a nonchalant confidence.

"Man, what's with all these declarations of war lately?" Kaminari joked.

"Yeah, what's the big deal?" Kirishima asked Todoroki. "Why are you picking a fight all of a sudden, and right before we get started?"

"We're not here to be each other's friends," he coldly responded while shrugging Kirishima away. "Don't forget that this isn't a team effort."

"Todoroki," Izuku called before the boy could walk away, and Todoroki stopped, but he did not turn around. "Like I told the other guy, you're making a mistake by looking past everyone else in your bid for the top. It's the easiest way to be left in the dust."

Todoroki finally turned to face him, and Izuku continued. "Everyone else in 1-A has worked their asses off for this, and they're all gunning for the top, too. Not only that, but 1-B is also gunning for the top, and all of the other classes will be fighting tooth and nail just to prove that they belong."

He fixed him with an intense stare. "You're good; really good. In fact, you're one of the people I'm looking forward to taking on the most."

Todoroki was temporarily taken aback by the admission, but he schooled his features before it became apparent, and Izuku continued again. "Make no mistake, though, you're not the only good one here. If you want to beat me, fine, but you'll have to make it to me first, and that's not going to be as easy as you think. A proper rematch between us isn't anywhere close to being set in stone because any single one of us can be knocked off by any other one of us if we rest on our laurels for even a single moment."

"Seriously, why the hell does he ask why we voted for him?" Mina whispered to Tsu, who merely shrugged.

"So, sure, bring it," Izuku continued with a challenging smirk. "But know that I don't plan on losing to anyone today."

"Let me hear you scream as our students make their way to the big stage! This first group aren't strangers to the spotlight, dazzling adoring fans and villains alike, give it up for Hero Class 1-A!"

The cheers and adulation that 1-A received were almost overwhelming for them, Izuku included. However, he kept replaying Nezu's words in his mind to keep himself focused.

'This is my debut, and no MLA is going to stop that.'

"They haven't been getting nearly as much screen time, but rest assured that they are not to be underestimated! Give a warm welcome to Class 1-B!"

The cheers were not as loud as they were for 1-A, but the hero students still received their share of praise nonetheless. Izuku looked to the arriving class, and he shot Yui and Tokage a thumbs up when he found them. All he received from both girls in return was the gesture of them making horns on their heads with their index fingers. He wasn't sure what that meant, but he rolled with it anyway.

"Next up, General Studies classes C, D, and E! Support Classes F, G, and H! And Business classes I, J, and K!"

"I get the feeling that we're only here to make the hero kids look good," a general studies student muttered to another.

"Speak for yourself, I'm gonna win this whole damn thing!" the other general studies student responded with a confident fist to his other palm.

"…Well, I admire your enthusiasm, I guess," the first one replied.

Meanwhile, Shinso was stewing in his rancor. He didn't like having to lay eyes on those arrogant shitheads in the hero course that all had flashy quirks perfectly suited for heroics, but it got even worse when his eyes landed on Midoriya leading the pack.

'That sanctimonious prick wants to be a hero for the downtrodden? Don't make me fucking laugh.'

It was probably an irrational level of spite, but Shinso just could not help it. Seeing the kid made his blood boil. He had spent his life up until UA at schools where anyone and everyone would always subtly imply that his quirk was villainous or that he would use it villainously. Granted, his quirk had some pretty useful applications, so he didn't get it nearly as badly as some others did, but he was never encouraged to seek better for himself or to try for the path of heroics. It was always, "Cool quirk, bro; don't use it on me, though," as if that was the goddamn expectation.

Meanwhile, the green-haired fuckhead claimed to have been quirkless at an indoctrination zone and then miraculously developed a ridiculously powerful quirk that he used to leapfrog to the top of the UA entrance exam with only a few years of use? If that wasn't an indictment of UA favoring flashy quirks for their heroics classes, he didn't know what was. And all that talk about working hard for years to get to where he is when he only won the genetic lottery? If Shinso decided not to give him the benefit of the doubt, then the whole thing just sounded like bullshit, especially once he said he wanted to be a hero for the downtrodden. It was the kind of disingenuous drivel that Shinso was so tired of and actively wanted to help wipe out when he became a hero, because he would become a hero. The two weeks he spent living in the weight room at UA out of spite was proof of that. He would become a hero.

So caught up in his internal ranting was he that he didn't notice that the center of his thoughts was standing at a podium, nor did he notice the fact that his classmates had backed a great deal away from him when he became progressively redder and started literally steaming.

Meanwhile, Izuku had been chosen to give the student pledge, much to his surprise, as he scored the highest on the entrance exam. He made his way to the podium and took a long look at the sold out stadium of onlookers focused entirely on him. He took another look down at his classmate and competition; many were looking to him with respect, others were looking on in admiration, some were looking at him with disdain, but most just appeared impassive.

'Think of this as your debut. Make the most of it.'

Izuku grabbed the mic and stared directly into the crowd.

"No one told me I had to make a speech."

The resulting silence and the incredulous looks on the faces of both the audience and the other participants at his dry delivery was almost enough to make him laugh, but he held it together despite feeling in his bones that Grandma Nana was laughing her ass off within All Might's quirk. The tension sufficiently broken, it was time to make his mark.

"A few weeks ago, Class 1-A was attacked by villains during a rescue training op. Thankfully, we all made it out with our lives, but we were lucky to do so. It was a wake up call, not just for us, but for everyone standing here today. Just because we made it to UA didn't mean that our jobs were finished. We still had to get stronger, we had to get smarter, and we had to become complete heroes. Today is just the first step towards that goal.

"Today, Class 1-A will show that should any villains want to run it back with us, we'll be ready, and we'll be waiting. Class 1-B will show that they are just as if not even more dangerous than we are, and they won't lay down for any villain attacks either. The General Studies, Support, and Business classes will show the world that just because they're not in heroics doesn't make them any less capable; underestimate them at your own risk, and that goes doubly so for those crazy bastards that make our gear in the first place."

Within the crowd of students, a short girl with pink dreadlocks and goggles smiled viciously, and several of her classmates gave her a very wide berth.

"We're the First Years of UA, and every generation is said to surpass the previous one. So, get a good look at the future, and survive if we let you."

The crowd erupted into a thunderous roar, and many of the other participants gave him a round of applause with dual shouts of "SO MANLY!" sprinkled into the group. In the luxury boxes where pro heroes that weren't on security detail were watching, Inko smirked in approval. She'd have to steal that last line.

"Without further ado, it's time for us to get started with the first fateful game of the festival!" Midnight announced to the raucous arena. A large screen behind her began cycling through a lengthy selection of events until it landed on something.

"The first event is an obstacle course!" she excitedly announced. "All 11 classes will participate in this treacherous contest. The track is 4km around the outside of the stadium. So long as you don't leave the track, you may do whatever your heart desires!"

The competitors collected at the entrance to the track, which was a narrow hallway that led outside of the stadium, and it became even narrower as it went deeper. The students prepared themselves for action, and Izuku readied himself to move at a moment's notice. The countdown steadily reached toward 0, and everyone readied themselves for the fight of their lives.

"BEGIN!"