Chapter 7: An Idols Image

'So that really happened, huh?'

Suijin looked around his room, which was painted with an orange hue due to the setting sun. His brain had been fried over the last few days, thus sleep was what his body desired, yet his mind couldn't stop racing.

'Hero, Me? I saved a kid. Shoji's now my rival.'

All the thoughts from the past few days that he repressed with sheer will were breaking through due to Shoji's words. Not only was a bottle ache occurring, but the constant noise didn't hel-

'Wait where's the noise? The laughter of a few drunk adults could be heard just a few minutes ago.' Getting up and bringing his aching body down the stairs, Suijin looked at the desolate house.

The place was cleaned up, beer bottles thrown away were laying in the trash, and the shoes that crowded the front door weren't to be seen. In his search for answers, he found a note that was laid on the kitchen table reading:

'Suijin, we're going out to celebrate your Quirk Awakening. Since the bar that we were going to doesn't allow minors, there's $20 under this note. Buy yourself something and we'll be home at some point .' -Love Mom and Your Grumpy Dad.

'That explains it.' Suijin grabbed the twenty and pocketed it rather than spend it.

He took some over-the-counter pain relievers and sat on the couch.

'I'm lucky I can't taste anything I eat, I've heard that these don't taste the best.'

"And next up, after we finish the interview of All Might that was taken 3 years ago, we'll get into how crime in Japan has gone down to a mere 6% since his introduction into herohood." 

PZT

"I wonder who makes up the majority of the victims of that 6%."

Sitting up while leaning over on the couch, Suijin pressed a hand to his "head" and held it there for a while.

'Guess this medicine is affecting my emotions a bit.'

"It's contradictory; like everyone else, I admire All Might to the death. He's cut down on crime in Japan by a major amount, villains run from the mere mention of his name, and he's the reason that other countries are hesitant when trying to do anything that would negatively affect Japan. He's a great guy. "

Sigh

"But in the end, even though all of this is happening, even with all of this greatness, why is it that people like me and Shoji need to suffer? Discrimination, abandonment, suicide, defecting into the lives of criminals; why is it that the majority of the people who fall into these categories are held by those who look like us."

Suijin looked towards the door.

"Can you tell me?" His eyes looked slightly hollow, maybe tired, or confused, a mixture of the three could be seen if one stared directly at them.

"Young Shimizu, I myself can't answer that question."

With a big pazass, a big burly figure walked into the house. The common chiseled features that anyone could point out, along with that strong jawline, his pronounced cheekbones, and bushy eyebrows. The unmistakable short blond hair swept backward, resembling bunny ears.

"W-what, a-all might?"

.

.

When Suijin looked at the door, he wasn't aware of All Might's presence.

He wasn't paying attention to the big shadow that shone from the slight gap at the bottom of the door, nor did he see the two flaps of hair that stuck outside the window above the door.

No, none of that was perceived by him.

Suijin merely chose to do that and look in that direction because he had read somewhere that doing dramatic actions makes you look cool, and Suijin had a habit of talking to himself when he was alone.

With that being said, the redness that crept up onto him could be from either his squeaky voice signaling he was not out of puberty, the fact that he stuttered when saying All Might's name, or actual surprise and embarrassment for All Might hearing him.

All Might bent his head and then quickly stepped in and shut the door behind him.

Because of the nature of quirks in this world, ceilings have been raised to the point where it's commonplace for people to be able to host those of 9 ft (274 cm) inside their house quite easily even in humble abodes.

After the door shut, screaming and the quaking of the house could be heard. Suijin wore a hardened expression as he prepared for another villain outbreak, but the barely coherent sounds that came after got rid of such thoughts.

"QUICK, ALL MIGHT'S THAT WAY."

"I LOVE YOU ALL MIGHT."

"ALL MIGHT I MIGHT BE A MALE BUT LET ME HAVE YOUR BABY'S."

"KYAHHHH."

Such voices were going through the neighborhood as people ran past his house, no doubt looking for the culprit in front of him. After the voices disappeared to the point that they were negligible, All Might spoke up.

"I happened to see your heroic actions the other day, and so I came here to congratulate you on your bravery."

Suijin didn't hear the boisterous voice he thought he would, and if this was anyone else, he would assume that the person he was listening to was nervous, afraid, maybe even shy.

'Suijin, what are you thinking? This is All Might, the guy who would rush into a building to save kids regardless of injury. He's fought so many people, how could he be shy about talking to me?'

And so the notion was discarded, as to whether he was right.

'Kids these days. He's just staring at me in the eye. Is he judging me right now?' Sweat was dripping down All Might's head. Of course, nobody but those close to him would notice and be able to find the reason.

For some reason, everyone he talked to misinterpreted his actions, so even if Shimizu did notice, he would probably think he was hot in his house.

'If Nighteye were here, I wouldn't hear the end of it. He's always going on about how my image is important and how a hero must have charisma, and whatnot.'

"How'd you find this house?"

It was only natural that the ever-skeptical Suijin would be cautious about this guy calling himself All Might. Although Suijin believed that he was the real deal, he really wanted to know if there was some secret website or place that had people's addresses.

The mindset of helping Shoji as his advisor in the future was still in his head, hence he wanted to know if there was something he could access to find out people's information.

"I just happened to know the way, Shimizu!"

All Might was, of course, lying.

Suijin's father, Enkai Shimizu, happened to be drinking buddies with All Might's friend in the police, Tsukauchi Naomasa.

All Might had asked Naomasa whether he could find someone with a spray bottle head. Before he finished, Naomasa started asking questions.

"Was that yellow liquid that you saw?"

"What was his height? Stature?'"

After he finished answering his questions, All Might asked,

"Can you find him?"

After confirming his suspicions, Naomasa said, "Find him? I know the guy. Although I shouldn't be giving out people's addresses, especially heroes', since that's technically breaking quite a few laws…" All Might tensed.

Although he could probably find him himself, it would take way longer than asking Naomasa would, not to mention that he didn't want to owe people favors, though Naomasa owed more favors to All Might than the other way around.

'He shouldn't even owe me anything.'

All Might felt burdened by Naomasa's troublesome personality and was thinking of his alternative ways to get the boys address when suddenly...

Poof

All Might… or rather Toshinori Yagi, who was in his one-bedroom apartment, had transformed out of his big form and into his skeletal-like one.

Due to the change in body structure, his voice would too, and so he would normally be panicking if someone normal was on a call with him since they might be able to tell a difference, and Naomasa did.

"Ah, it's gotten shorter over the past few years."

Yagi, with his weak voice, tried to speak,

Cough

Cough

Wiping the blood off his arm, he spoke, "It's nothing. I found a successor a few days ago. This boy reminded me of myself when I was young, weak yet aspiring to be a hero, filled with determination and courage, and willing to throw themselves into danger to save someone."

Toshinori recalled his younger days his image overlapping with the boy who he recalled ran away from the scene before All Might showed up.

"The reason I want to find this boy is because my successor reminded me that there are those who, even while weak, will struggle and will still try to become stronger. And that, rather than like everyone else, shun them and crush their dreams, I should encourage them to reach heights beyond myself."

"A successor All Might? This is troublesome, not to mention this boy…Hmm." Hearing the not-so-satisfactory response Toshinori internally sighed.

Although he wanted to use that story to push Naomasa into giving him the location, the contents he spoke weren't false. He really had found a successor and when he remembered how that boy was treated yesterday in the crowd and his actions afterwards, he regretted it.

He saw what was happening, yet he merely thought, 'This is for the best, that boy will be out of harm's way without risk of hurting himself.'

Toshinori wanted to redeem himself and meet the other of the two people who impressed him yesterday. However, Naomasa was a very troublesome person.

He's very strict with the protocol and is reluctant to ever call All Might for an issue. Although that in itself is an issue, whenever he did call him, he said that he now owed Toshinori a favor, making Toshinori feel burdened.

"Ah well, if it's you, I know you won't give it to anyone else. And I can get rid of one of my favors this way. Ah yes, let me meet your successor one day. I'd like to see the person who received One For All."

The reason that All Might wasn't worried was because his friend naturally knew his greatest secret.