Chapter 104

Nezu smiled as All Might and Endeavor entered his makeshift office.

The first hero returned the smile, while the second looked warily at the medical diplomas on the wall and the family photos that did not include Nezu.

- I needed to relocate my office and Dr. Garaki kindly lent me his," Nezu piped happily.

The two men sat across from him in plastic chairs, so massive that their bodies seemed to overflow from it.

Their thighs were the size of children's and even their arms were impressively broad.

Nezu's eyes narrowed for a second, and he savored the stroke of genius of the journalist who had been in Tokyo on the night of the "Darkest Night" and had captured their two silhouettes posing on the horizon, the ugly gigantic vilain, no bigger than a pea, running away from them to the mountains..

The photo went viral around the world in just a few hours and, more importantly, inspired the entire country.

- I'm glad you could come.

Once again, that polite smile from All Might and that sideways glance from Endeavor.

Yes, the two men really were a great duo, with the jovial All Might, who could be trusted under any circumstances, and the taciturn Endeavor, who would stop at nothing to fulfill his heroic duties.

Their alliance was a pleasant surprise for the public and a qualitative PR coup on Nezu's part.

Heroes hadn't been sold as a team for years, but it seemed that All Might and Endeavor, Endeavor and All Might, were a duo that the public was very fond of.

- Let's get down to business, Endeavor said. We have a very busy day ahead of us.

A meeting with the minister, an appearance in Tokyo's rebuilding districts, a visit to a hospital where wounded 'full of gratitude' to the two heroes stayed.

Endeavor had always been a man who preferred to get right to the point, and Nezu appreciated that straightforwardness.

Nevertheless, he appreciated even more his use of "we".

- First of all, I'd like to congratulate you. Public opinion was equally divided, and we could have faced a wave of protests across the country, but that's not the case.

Cancel culture was a formidable weapon, but it was limited to mere social power.

You could be hated, but there was nothing to stop you going about your life in peace, because there was no law preventing public enemies from going to work or buying their sandwiches at the bakery.

- Your series of public interventions had the desired effect and more. A true stroke of genius.

All Might smiled sincerely, but Endeavor was still watching him out of the corner of his eye, understanding exactly what he was getting at.

It had been Nezu's idea to capitalize on their duo's freshness and initiate this series of public appearances.

If the rat was complimenting anyone, it was himself.

- Thanks to you, we were able to keep the Training Camp Incident under wraps, or at least cover it up enough for the public to ignore it and focus on you.

All Might lost his smile.

- No one knows about...?

- No one.

It was fortunate that the whole fiasco had happened on the same night, as Nezu was able to quickly cover up the training camp affair and focus all the media attention on Tokyo and 'The Two Symbols', as they liked to call them.

The 1-A students, still too shocked, too naive, too fragile, hadn't thought for a second to question Yuei's public narrative that there had been injured but no dead.

Which was indeed true.

Kaminari had died in the hospital, not on Yuei's private property.

And there had been a few injuries, but they were all minor, nothing to write home about.

- The contracts that had been signed at the beginning of the year for the integration of the students into Yuei had clauses that formally forbade their parents to reveal anything that Yuei would not abide by.

That, and other tiny, tiny clauses that promised them a life of debt and misery if they ever revealed the content of even one line of the contract to anyone.

It was a bit suspicious, but who could doubt Yuei, the school that forged heroes, the one that built the greatest?

A lawyer would have seen the problem at first glance, but the contracts of those teenagers whose parents could afford to pay for the services of a lawyer were modified to avoid suspicion.

This meant that only Bakugo, Yaoyorozu, and Todoroki were potentially capable of uncovering the fraud.

But while the former hadn't woken up from his artificial coma, the second was far too traumatized to think of foiling Nezu's machinations.

As for the latter, he was smart enough to know that the 'official' version was far more in favorable to him than the 'truth'.

After all, Nezu's carefully falsified reality was the only thing that kept Shoto Todoroki's murders from coming to light.

It was also the reason why he'd managed to get Endeavor involved in this series of public appearances and the possible creation of this new Heroic duo.

- But we've got two problems on our hands.

Nezu raised his paw and showed two claws, the first of which he lowered.

- First, the Heroic Commission is on our backs.

All Might looked at Endeavor as he straightened up, the plastic of his chair squeaking, suddenly very interested.

- They want explanations and answers about Shoto, his Quirk, Quirks or whatever, and why we've chosen to keep this information from them.

- I refuse to answer, Endeavor growled, openly hostile.

Nezu nodded appeasingly.

- I expected this, and that's exactly what I told them. But we all know how... persistent the Commission can be.

Rumors circulated about the government organization in charge of domestic protection.

A series of suspicious events always occurred when the Commission was involved.

Nezu vividly remembered a case from a decade ago in which All Might had played an important role.

Number 1 had saved the life of a blonde-haired, blue-eyed boy twice in the same week, and his photo with him had inflamed public opinion, who claimed that the two were related without any tangible evidence.

The Commission had looked into the case, as had Nezu. Attention dried up, and when everyone had forgotten about him, the boy disappeared.

And this was without even considering the Commission's strange relationship with Endeavor's son, may he rest in peace, who died shortly thereafter.

- Please inform Shoto and stay close to him.

Endeavor exhaled loudly, then sank back into his seat, his arms crossed over his chest.

- Secundo, All for One

This time, it was All Might who leaned forward, even though the two Heroes' attention was riveted on Nezu.

Lips pressed together, All Might asked:

- Have you found him?

- We found Gigantomachia's body.

A fly swirled in the air.

- We found him in Hokkaida, on the coast of the Sea of Japan, lying on the sand. We think he was planning to cross the sea to China or Russia.

All Might wiped his sweaty palms on his pants.

- And All for One? Is he...?

- We haven't found his body.

All Might silently scanned Nezu, then nodded three times in a row, straightened up, looked out of the window, clasped his knees in his hands, and took a deep breath.

- Alright. (Inhale) Alright.

- The analysis of Gigantomachia's intestines still hasn't determined whether he devoured All for One or not," Nezu nuanced. Don't lose hope, Yagi

The blonde nodded slowly, but he knew that these were empty words.

His sworn enemy, Nana's murderer, had eluded him. Once again.

And here he was, strutting his stuff on TV as his strength gradually left him.

- I'd like to talk to you about Sho-

- We have to find me a successor

Nezu looked at him, surprised, before his eyes landed firmly on Endeavor.

- Maybe we can talk about it later-

- He knows. No need to take him out.

Well, not exactly.

Aside from the silent confession All Might had made to him the night they'd almost - the word was like acid in his throat - ended it with All for One, the two Heroes hadn't mentioned All Might, his power, or his weakening again.

But All Might knew that Endeavor was an intelligent man and would agree with him, or at least avoid contradicting him openly in front of Nezu.

Besides, Endeavor was the man without whom he might have died trying to stop All for One and Gigantomachia.

All Might would have died without being able to pass on the One for All, and the mere prospect of failing so miserably after all his predecessors had sacrificed themselves to stop the villain might have killed him more surely than any blow from All for One.

All Might felt indebted to him, and he also felt that if their little pretense of a duo was to continue, it might be a good idea to establish a relationship of trust between them.

- Hmm. Right, then. Good. Very good.

Nezu smoothed his whiskers, pulled them so hard that you'd think he wanted to pull them off, and smoothed them again.

- We must find me a successor, All Might repeated. And soon. The One for All is slowly leaving me, I can feel it.

Endeavor, silent, didn't even react even though his brain was racing.

- You're losing your grip on it, Nezu worried.

- It's slipping through my fingers, a little more with each passing second. I should only have a few months left, at best.

Nezu sank back into his chair, his dark eyes shining.

- We can't let you leave the Heroic stage so abruptly. We'd have to prepare the ground, the audience, train your successor in a very short time... It's all very difficult, All Might. I can't fix the whole thing by snapping my fingers.

- I'm announcing my retirement tonight, on the 8 o'clock news.

Endeavor's eyes widened, but he said nothing.

All Might and Nezu glared at each other, and Endeavor felt he was intruding on a personal discussion.

- You can't do that.

- I can and I will

Nezu rubbed his temples as All Might continued:

- I wanted to leave five years ago, remember? But you stopped me, told me to find a good and loyal successor. You promised you'd help me, but nothing happened, nothing at all, and the One for All just keeps fading inside me since then.

What All Might didn't say was that he woke up last night with a lump in his stomach when he felt the One for All completely disappear from his system for a brief moment.

The flame was flickering, and soon there would be no smoke left.

The loss of his legacy - what he had dedicated his entire life to - terrified him.

Nezu fidgeted with his paws, digging his claws into the armrests of his chair, and silently studied All Might for a few seconds.

- I suppose Endeavor has something to do with your plan, if I'm not mistaken? That's why you brought him along.

Endeavor looked at All Might, who was still watching Nezu.

He was witnessing a real battle between the most powerful man and the most intelligent creature in the world.

As to who would win through power or knowledge...

- I want to use this idea, these 'two symbols', to begin my retreat. Endeavor is powerful enough for the public to consider him my equal. Between us, we could easily slow down crime until my successor is ready. Then I'll announce my retirement publicly, but by then everyone should be in safe hands.

Nezu, paws together, decided not to respond to All Might's subtle threat: do as he wishes and give himself a few months' respite, or go against his wishes and risk a social earthquake on top of the chaos caused by his sudden departure.

For his part, All Might mentally apologized to Endeavor for dragging him into the whole debacle against his will.

But the fact that the hero didn't protest made him feel better.

- Good, good. And I suppose you have an idea who your next successor might be, don't you?

All Might inhaled sharply.