Unexpected Explanations

Sir Nighteye was never going to think that finding anything involving a quirkless child would be easy, ever again. He wasn't sure if it was because Izuku Midoriya was quirkless or if he was a child that was making things difficult but the combination was almost impossible, even for someone with his resources.

The first thing he encountered was rules.

Heroes worked with the Police all the time so they were aware of the law. What he hadn't appreciated was how different the law became when dealing with minors. Difficult was an understatement. Mirai of course understood that the protection of minors was of paramount importance, what he hadn't realised was how restrictive the rules were and how little information was available anyway.

He could understand restrictions on the general public finding this information, but he was a registered Hero. He was trying to find someone who truly deserved the title of Supervillain. And yet… He could barely access any records.

What he did manage to access, eventually, were the records of records. That was hardly useful but, with nothing else to go on and no other leads on All For One, Mirai had begun to go through the records.

The first thing he found was that entries to be made on to a student's permanent record required quite a bit of paperwork and that eighty percent of them were made on quirkless student records. Sir Nighteye knew that was a statistical anomaly but he didn't have time to pursue that. The next thing he found was that while a student's academic result was entered into a centralised system, there was no such system for comments. And if a Principal, or School wanted to enter into communication with the Education Department, then that was a nightmare of forms.

Which was why there were records of records! To ensure that the forms didn't go missing. Again, most of the records were about quirkless students, so the search term quirkless became useless. He had thought it might be more useful, but alas. It was a long shot that there was a record he could search about Izuku Midoriya. Mirai couldn't imagine All For One allowing his son to be censured. Sir Nighteye couldn't imagine All For One's son would be genuinely quirkless until he recalled that the man was first generation. Record keeping wasn't great back then but he knew that quirked parents then didn't always pass on their genes.

He had run a search for the name Izuku in the records, which had gotten him some hits but no information. All that meant was that there were complaints or permanent record notes on student's named Izuku. It was a slender thread of possibility, but it was a possibility. And if he could find Izuku Midoriya, there was a very good chance he could find All For One.

That made even a slender thread of possibility worth pursuing.

What he really needed was not some note on a permanent record, or academic results. He needed images, or an anomaly. Images he could search. Child images were protected so that was a bust but an anomaly was always a possibility.

Mirai looked at the records on his computer. Now what could be an anomaly he could search on? What did schools report to the Department apart from grades?

Maybe he needed more research.

-ted-

"I'm going to miss you Hitoshi," Izuku said softly.

The purple haired boy gave him a smirk.

"What?"

Hitoshi grinned. "You'll miss me for a bit," he said cryptically.

"What do you mean a bit?"

"I mean a bit." Hitoshi looked deliberately ingenious.

"Hitoshi!" Izuku growled.

It was the last day of school and the two of them were sitting out under the trees for lunch. Afternoon classes would mostly be about cleaning the classroom, rather than learning anything. And most of the kids were already in holiday mode.

"Your dad spoke to my parents," Hitoshi explained. "We're going to move too."

"What? Really?" Izuku practically squealed the questions.

"Yes," Hitoshi agreed, looking tired. "I think your dad made some pretty good arguments, and mum wanted a seachange anyway."

"So you are coming to Mie Prefecture?" Izuku's eyes were impossibly wide.

"I don't know that I'll be at the same Elementary but we are moving yes. Eventually."

"What do you mean, eventually?" Izuku asked more harshly than he intended. He'd already gone through this joke! It wasn't worth repeating.

Hitoshi looked down and ate a few more bites of his bento before he replied. "We aren't moving over Summer. Dad has to put in for a transfer. He'll get it," Hitoshi was quick to assure Izuku, "but it's going to take a while. So I'll probably be there in the winter."

"Oh," the green haired boy replied, subdued. "But you will be there, right?"

"Yep!" Hitoshi was cheerful with his reply.

Izuku had a sudden thought. When he went back to school in Mie Prefecture, he'd be saying that his quirk was Fire Breath. Hitoshi thought his quirk was Fire Proofing. "Meet me after school on the roof?" he said suddenly.

Hitoshi frowned, obviously wondering why.

"Secret," Izuku answered the question that wasn't asked.

"All right," Hitoshi agreed, a smile on his lips.

-ted-

Hitoshi looked around. Izuku was standing on the roof waiting for them. Since it was the last day of school, there was no one else around. Everyone was rushing through the gates.

"I'm here, Izuku. What did you want to see me about?" Hitoshi asked.

Izuku was standing near the fence, watching the other students leave. "Just wait a bit," he said. "I don't want anyone to see," he added.

"See what?" Hitoshi asked.

Izuku glanced at him and smiled. "You'll see."

Hitoshi moved to stand beside Izuku. "They're going quick," he observed.

"Last day," Izuku said.

"I know that," Hitoshi said.

They watched the rest of the students file out the gate. It was a noisy affair, and for the seventh years, it was a tearful affair. Some of them were going to the same Middle High Schools. Some weren't. The two of them watched as promises were made, tears were shed and people parted ways.

Even when the last student went through the gate and down the road, they stood there. Shinsou watched one of the teachers leave before he turned to Izuku. "Why did you want to meet up here?"

Izuku turned to him and then looked up at the sky. "Can you keep a secret, Hitoshi?"

"Of course I can." He replied.

"I mean, really keep a secret. Tell no one, ever," Izuku stressed.

From the follow up question, Shinsou knew that Izuku was serious. He took a deep breath. "I promise," he told his friend.

For a moment, Izuku examined him and then nodded, apparently satisfied by what he saw. "It's about my quirk."

Whatever Hitoshi had been expecting, that had not been it. Izuku's quirk was Fire Proofing. He'd never seen it working but that was what Izuku had insisted it was the entire year. Though now that his friend had said that, immediately his mind flashed to all the things Setsuna and others had said throughout the year. Mr Rikujo, their Physical Education Teacher had spent forever trying to find a new aspect of Izuku's quirk to explain how he kept beating Setsuna.

Hitoshi shivered. He wasn't sure what he should ask.

Izuku looked up at the sky. "Setsuna has been sort of correct this year. I do have a secondary part to my quirk."

"I knew it!" Hitoshi exclaimed. He hadn't really but the instant Izuku had said something about his quirk it was the logical conclusion.

"Setsuna was only right in insisting that I do have a secondary part. She's wrong on everything else. It doesn't do anything for my physical ability. That's all just training," Izuku explained.

Hitoshi took a deep breath as he thought. He couldn't say that Izuku had never lied to him, obviously but there was probably a good reason for this. "What does this second part of your quirk do?"

"This!" Izuku said and suddenly there was a burst of fire from his mouth.

Shinsou blinked. He watched the fire skip over the concrete tiles of the roof before dissipating when there was nothing to burn. "That's your Dad's quirk," he muttered.

"Yes, of course it is. I got it from him."

"Well, who else would you get it from?" Hitoshi laughed. Lots of their classmates had quirks that were copies of one of their parent's and people said all the time that they had their father's or mother's quirks. "But why didn't you just say your quirk was Fire Breathing?" Hitoshi asked.

At that, Izuku looked back to the concrete floor. "There are people after my Dad," he whispered. "If I have Fire Breath as my quirk, they might find him." Tears began to gather in Izuku's eyes and Hitoshi watched his friend wipe them away. "They found us once. It was-" he didn't finish the sentence.

Hitoshi didn't need him to finish. He'd seen enough movies to know what raids were like. The movies showed them as daring events, where Heroes were fighting against the most evil villains but he knew that the world wasn't always like that. For those being raided, it would be scary, especially if you are only eight.

"I won't tell anyone," Hitoshi promised again. "But why did you tell me?"

"Because, if I go back to my old school, they expect my quirk to be Fire Breath, so I'll be saying it is that."

"But-?" Hitoshi wasn't sure how to frame the question.

"We didn't know people were after my Dad then," Izuku answered.

"Oh." That made sense. Hitoshi thought if there was anything else he needed to know but he couldn't think of anything. He looked back to Izuku. "Come on," Shinsou encouraged. "Kurogiri said he'd have something special for the last day of school," he remembered.

Izuku's head jerked up. "He did!" He almost cheered the words. "Lets go!"

Hitoshi grinned and followed Izuku out the door.

It might be the last day of school but school was only a beginning.

-ted-

"Nasutto, add Izuku to your list," All For One instructed his information broker.

"Priority?" Nasutto didn't sound surprised but Hisashi knew if his broker was here, there would be some sign.

"I'll let you decide," Hisashi told him. "If there's something interesting, let me know," he added before hanging up and turning towards the Doctor.

Kyudai looked at him with a smile. "It's finally ready," he said, gesturing towards a tube.

All For One's sharp eyes looked at the creature inside.

"Physical enhancement via shock absorption. Enough mental facility to understand simple orders."

"Fight is not beyond it?"

Doctor Garaki chose to ignore the sarcasm in All For One's voice. The last prototype had been strong but far too stupid. "It has one advantage over the previous prototype. The subject's original quirk was bone manipulation, and it retains that enough so that even if a bone breaks, it can heal it quickly."

Hisashi nodded. "Wake it up," he instructed before calling for Gigantomachia.

"My Lord?"

"I want you to test this," All For One said, gesturing to the tube.

Kyudai felt his eyes widen. He hadn't expected this today but he couldn't say anything. "Give me a moment to prepare him," he said instead, shooing Johnny away.

Sensei had never said anything about him keeping the very first prototype but there was no need to take chances.

Gigantomachia smiled and moved into the testing area. He seemed content to wait as the liquid drained out of the tube. Garaki tapped several controls which pumped a series of drugs into the prototype, waking it up.

"Is that one still useful?" Hisashi asked.

"Johnny is still useful," Kyudai replied, once again gesturing for the smaller prototype to leave.

All For One's gaze was pointed. He had participated in testing Johnny and was the cause of most of the damage on him. The ancient man had actually cut the prototype in half, wanting to see what resistance it would have.

"I can control his quirk," Garaki explained as he continued working. He heard Hisashi sniff but the man left the issue with his explanation. A warp quirk, even one as discomforting as Johnny's was useful.

"Who will be stronger?" All For One asked, shifting topics.

"In terms of muscle strength, I believe they will be well matched," Kyudai answered. "Though because of the Shock Absorption, I believe the Prototype will be able to stand up to damage more robustly. I have the stats here," he added, offering Hisashi the datapad that had the results from the destruction testing of the previous prototype.

Sensei accepted it and flicked through the results before he nodded. The prototype's eyes opened and Sensei looked over at it. "Is it capable of facial recognition?" The creature was loyal to him but that wasn't facial recognition, that was built in to the very fibre that made it up.

Garaki recognised why he was asking. "Not sufficient for what you require," he replied. "Sensei, these are designed for strength, but not intelligence. I believe with the right base, enough intelligence can be retained for what you desire but that will take time."

"How much time?"

"Probably years," Kyudai admitted. He wasn't entirely sure. "Except in very rare cases, adding secondary quirks causes degradation. I've tested this on quirkless and quirked alike."

All For One waved his hand. He knew this. Garaki kept him appraised of his results, sometimes in far too much detail. He sighed. "Very well. After this I have a job for you Gigantomachia."

The large man grinned and nodded.

"Start planning an intelligent one. I want the theory laid out properly before creation begins," Hisashi continued, looking at Kyudai. The man had a habit of simply doing things to see what happened but in this case he needed a little bit more precision.

"And the subjects that will come in?" Doctor Garaki asked as the prototype moved in the tube. It was shaking to remove the liquid.

Hisashi frowned for a moment, thinking. "Work on awakening their quirks," he instructed. If he had a reliable way of awakening quirks then that would provide quite a few more opportunities.

Kyudai understood and he grinned.

This could be so much fun.