72 Chapter 72: Mini Confrontation

"Who are you?!"

'Tch...he managed to react before I even thought of doing anything to him'

"...I just wanted to talk..." Himura dusted the dirt off his shirt before replying.

"Do I know you? What do you want from me?"

The people surrounding them have already emptied out an area when Izuku backflipped the red haired man.

"What is going on?"

"Isn't that the UA champion?"

"Come on, I'm a fan of yours that just wants to have a little chat. Why do you need to backflip me like this?" The

"Why is he just backflipping random people?"

"Did he just backflip his own fan?"

"How ruthless..."

[A/N: Don't judge, the way I perceive MHA world is that that believe what they see very easily. Like how they got influence by Stain's ideology very easily, how discrimination passed down from generation to generation without anybody interfering. People are quick to believe as long as some sort of 'reason' is given, like how 'drinking blood' = 'villain', 'darkness-related quirks' = 'villain', and 'healing' = 'hero' and stuff. See?]

Hearing that people were starting to have bad impression on him, he acted as if he wasn't affected by the crowd's murmur and said,"Do you need to grip my neck tightly when asking for a conversation?"

"What?"

"Is it an attempt to strangle?"

Strangely enough, no one bothered to find a hero to help clear the situation, choosing to stay around and see what would happen instead.

Shido had already appeared within Izuku's shadow a few seconds after he had backflipped the man, and chose to stay in the shadows to see what would happen.

"Hey, I just wanted to talk, but since you chose the hard way, then so it shall be." The man snarled in displeasure before the air around him started emitting some sort of....black smoke?

"Hey! Run!" Izuku wasted no time in shouting at the bystanders, who were just standing nearby, dazed at what just happened.

"Since no one would notice me because of that damn failure, I would make my own scene first then."

Flames just appeared in the area surrounding him, and heat could be felt from a metre away from the living fire-man.

"Hey, hey, hey....what is going on here..."

"Tell me, Midoriya. You have experienced how my failure of a senpai have acted. Do you think it's wrong?" While he said this, he touched a leaf nearby, combusting the entire plant within seconds before spreading towards the other plants.

"Huh? Senpai? Who are you talking about?" Izuku didn't move since he was not moving as well. He couldn't put out the flame since his quirk was meant for direct combat, but he could at least stall time for the bystanders to run.

At this time, his area had already become empty of people.

"You know, the one with the hand on his face and mentally unstable guy? That's the failure, along with Stain who got himself captured."

"Shigaraki!"

"Stop calling him that!" Himura snapped,"He isn't worthy of that name!"

"T-Tomura then." Seeing the red haired man nod and did not start burning anything else, Izuku sighed with relief before continuing,"What he did was obviously wrong. Invading UA territory and starting a killing spree, it's obviously a crime."

"I see....you see, both of us have 'worked together' before, my attack on Hosu was overshadowed by him killing a few pathetic heroes. No one's noticing me...why? He kills a few hero here and there while spreading his dream and whatnot, but I do too. The attacks using the nomu which I created. I created!! So why? What makes us so different? Both of us kills, yet he gets all the attention. Why does no one notice me?!"

As he talked, he walked around the place, burning everything down.

'Where are the heroes at?!' Izuku thought to himself internally, but he thought how to reply to his question as well.

"No reply?" The man started walking closer towards Izuku until they are at an arm's length. Suddenly, Izuku felt that he couldn't breathe. He opened his mouth in an attempt to take in all the oxygen he could take in, but nothing filled his lungs apart from nitrogen and carbon dioxide.

"Cough...cough..." Izuku fell to the floor, choking.

"Then d-"

"Now, I can't let you kill my dear student. And before you try that pathetic thing on me, let me tell you this, it doesn't work on me. I have a thin layer of barrier that separates these two space."

"What?!"

"Yep, now die!"

But before he could pull the trigger, a black smoke suddenly enveloped the man and disappeared into thin air, leaving behind nothing but the burning environment.

"Alright Yoshinon, our plan worked. Now let's put out the fire in case Eri complains again..."

"Henpecked husband..." Yoshinon muttered as he opened his mouth and spit out a huge wave of water towards the fire, extinguishing all the fire.

"Shut up."

"Itsuka-sensei?" Izuku whispered hoarsely. It seemed that he haven't yet recovered fully from the lack of oxygen and too much carbon dioxide in his bloodstream.

"Relax, it's going to be okay now. You did well in not rushing towards him." Shido had to praise this guy for not recklessly dashing in.

'At least he knows his limits and recognise danger.'

"Urgh....but I'm still so weak. If I was All Might, I w-"

"Don't say things like 'if i was All Might' because you're not, and will never be. What have you learnt from Gran Torino during your internship. I'm sure he had guided you towards a path that you desire. Have you forgotten what path you have chosen to walk on?"

Izuku thought back to when he was with Gran Torino and lowered his head,"I see...I can see the path already, but I'm still holding myself back because of my love for All Might."

"Deku! I saw the fire and...and...and...Itsuka-sensei?"

"Afternoon. And call me Shido when we're outside. Well, my work here is done. Both of you can enjoy your little date after this." Shido said with a teasing smile before entering into his shadows, leaving both of them in a blushing mess.

*****************

The shopping mall was temporarily shut down. In the end, the heroes arrived late (as usual) and missed the villain.

Later that day, Izuku was taken to the hospital in case of any lasting effects due to the lack of oxygen and too much carbon dioxide in his bloodstream. Only after ensuring that he was going to be fine, he was then taken to the police station where they interview him.

Because of the attack on UA and the incident in Hosu, the polices' response to the league of villains was to establish a special task force working out of a provisional headquarters. Detective Tsukauchi was part of that task force, and he was the one who interviewed Izuku.

It was only until night that he was finally released.

"Midoriya, kid! Tsukauchi!"

"Oh, perfect timing." Tsukauchi looked up and saw All Might.

"All Might! Why're you..." Izuku was surprised to see him here in person but didn't mind it.

"He wanted to see you in person." Tsukauchi explained as he stood in front of the police station.

All Might went forward and patted Izuku on his head,"Thank goodness you're safe. So sorry I wasn't there to save you..."

"No...Shido, I mean, Itsuka-sensei was there in time to save me. I was lucky that he was there at that time coincidently with Eri for shopping, otherwise I would have...died." Izuku looked down in shame while All Might remained quiet.

He didn't know how to comfort someone who was so close to death and could only pray that his successor didn't have a huge trauma because of this incident.

"All Might." Izuku looked up and looked at him in the eyes,"Was there a time you really couldn't save someone...?"

All Might's entire body seem to have deflated at that question and after some pause, he replied in a disheartened tone while looking down,"Sure. Plenty of times. Right now, somewhere out in the world...someone could be hurting or dying. It sucks, but I'm only human. I can't save people who are out of my reach..."

His face then turned into a sad smile as he looked up to the bright, cloudless night sky,"That's why I stand tall and smile. I'm the symbol of justice. The citizens...heroes...villains...I need to light the way for all of them."

Seeing the sad atmosphere, Tsukauchi placed his hands on his waist and changed the topic,"Well, it's getting late. Here's your ride."

From the police station, a round woman appeared.

"Mom!"

"Izuku...enough, already. Your old mom's heart can't take it..."

Rushing towards his mother to support her, he quickly said,"I'm sorry. But everything's fine. I'm not hurt or anything, so don't cry. The heroes and the police've been keeping a close watch over me, especially Itsuka-sensei."

While the mother and son duo were conversing, Tsukauchi instructed a police officer who looked like a cat to arrange to send the duo off.

Seeing that the two of them started leaving, Tsukauchi said seriously,"The encounter this time seemed coincidental. But there's a decent chance that he and other students will be targetted from now on. Of course, the police will be on high alert, but the school will also have to be vigilant. The stronger the light, the darker the shadows."

Looking at All Might seriously, he continued,"Even when you're away from UA, always keep one eye on the kids.:

"So that is why I would like permission to place surveillance on the students." A slightly childish voice suddenly came out from the shadow.

All Might was about to turn into his buff form when the figure revealed himself, showing a twelve year old boy with light indigo hair.

"Shido...please don't scare us. Our old hearts can't take it..." All Might smiled wryly and said.

"Oops...sorry about that." Shido apologised a little before turning back to the detective,"So? Do I have the permission?"

Tsukauchi looked at him and thought for a while before speaking,"It depends on what sort of 'surveillance' you're talking about and to what extend the surveillance is going to be."

Shido immediately smiled and replied,"You don't have to worry about that. It only activates when they are in the presence of danger to protect them. Of course, their private lives will be completely...well, private. They will have their absolute freedom. So?"

"Hmm...that sounds like a plausible and safe approach, but I will have to check with the principal and the student's parents. Not everyone would appreciate that after all."

"Sure..." Shido agreed before looking at All Might's slightly saddened expression,"Don't worry, you'll catch All for One this time for sure."

The duo noticed how Shido used 'you'll' rather than 'we'll', but they didn't point it out. They knew that Shido only did his hero job for fun, so the fact that he played an active part in saving the students was good enough for them.

Furthermore, All Might felt that it was his responsibility to chase down All for One. It was his destiny and his fate as the successor of One for All.

"Don't shoulder all the burden by yourself. No heroes work solo anyway, and that includes you as well." Shido could guess what All Might was thinking and patted his shoulders, or at least he tried to since he was not tall enough to do so.

*****************

"So...given what happened...we're on the lookout for these villains. And we've had to cancel our usual accommodations at the last minute. We won't reveal our actual destination until the day we depart."

During homeroom the next school day, Shota announced as he tore the paper containing the previous location of their accommodations.

The class complained a little at first, but ultimately decided that as long as the training camp wasn't cancelled, they would make do with it.

From their entrance exam, their battle classes with All Might, the USJ incident, UA Sports Festival, internships to their final exams.

Just like that...the curtain closed on class 1-A's action-packed semester.

And so, a new chapter opens...

*****************

A/N: And as promised, the one word hint for the next world is...'Empire'. Do note that I won't say anything else though. Whatever you inferred would all just be your inference. It might or might not be true.

If you're looking forward to I-Island arc, please don't. I didn't write that down since I never watched the anime. I only roughly know what happens, but I don't think it was enough to write some quality chapters.

If you want to support me or/and want 14+ chapters in advance, link:

https://www.patréon.com/spirits_everywhere