33

Chapter 33: Ultimate Shenanigans

Izuku opened his eyes to find himself treading through a sea of blue flames sprawling through the dark expanse that was the void. Curious as to why he was back there, he meandered through the sapphire blaze, the chilly flames kissing his skin as he trudged through to find the death god. It did not take very long for the entity in question to appear before him, their two tails lazily swaying behind them as they laid down, bathed in the fiery, blue abyss.

"I wasn't expecting to be brought back here so soon after our last meeting," Izuku remarked.

"I sensed that you had concerns about your situation regarding the soul fragments inhabiting your vessel," Matatabi responded as the vestiges of quirks All For One stole appeared around them.

"Fair enough," Izuku nodded, no longer questioning how the death god could hear his thoughts even when he wasn't aware he was having them. "I want to return these quirks to their rightful owners like I did with Ragdoll. How can I go about doing that?"

"You may do so in the same manner that you returned Shiretoko's soul fragment to her," Matatabi answered matter-of-factly. "Bathe them in my fire, and the soul will reconnect on its own volition."

"Right, I figured as much, but how will I be able to find them to do that?"

"You already have the solution to that; you just do not yet realize it."

Izuku's brow furrowed at that. "I'm not following you."

A sly grin took shape on the face of the cat deity. "You have unintentionally brandished that aspect of our connection in the past when you used a small portion of it for intimidation purposes."

Izuku mulled that over for a few seconds before it finally dawned on him. "Wait, so when I channel your flames and my eyes take on the appearance of yours while the feeling of death permeates all around, I'm unlocking another aspect of that part of the quirk?"

"Precisely. You just have to focus the power a bit more directly, and you will achieve what you desire."

"That… wow," Izuku remarked in stupefaction. "I didn't know your abilities were so varied, at least in regard to me."

"My powers are not narrow by any means; you just do not know how to properly wield them without killing yourself."

"…Fair, I suppose," Izuku conceded with a huff. "Is this still part of you throwing me a bone for All For One's soul and all the quirks he stole? You helping me out on your own volition makes me wildly uncomfortable because I have no idea what you'll eventually ask for in return."

"That is exactly why I do it," Matatabi answered with their signature cheshire grin. "Just as well, of all the humans I have had a connection with in one fashion or another, you have been the most interesting to observe. You brought me a runaway and a false prophet in no time at all. Killing you now would be such a waste. I want to witness exactly what you become when allowed to reach your full potential."

Izuku was floored. That was legitimately high praise coming from the mouth of a literal deity.

"Then, once I have had my fun and have grown bored of you, I will kill you," the Shinigami finished with its malicious grin.

And there it was. Izuku shouldn't have been surprised.

"Indeed, you should not have been," Matatabi agreed.

"Anyway," Izuku muttered, rubbing one of his temples before looking around at the vestiges surrounding them, "if I channel the blue flames through my senses again, I should be able to pinpoint exactly who these quirks belong to and where they are, right?"

"More or less," the massive cat god replied. "You may not get an exact identity of the person, as you are not me, but you will be able to feel their location."

"Awesome," Izuku nodded. "Is that all you needed of me?"

Matatabi simply nodded and did not say anything more. The two stared at each other for another lengthy, awkward moment of silence until Izuku realized that Matatabi was letting the silence drag again for their own amusement, and he quickly exited the realm.

Snapping out of his sleep mere moments before the blaring of his alarm clock began, Izuku shut it off with a violet tendril and stretched. He gazed down at the violet flame still protruding from his index finger, and he got an idea.

"Might as well give it a go to see what happens," Izuku muttered, and blue flames replaced the violet, quickly engulfing him. Focusing as hard as he could, Izuku corralled the soul fragments within his quirk and extended the Shinigami's senses as far as he could push them. He had no idea what the upper limit was, so he just kept spreading his reach.

Unexpectedly, something bit, and Izuku's newly yellow and green cat eyes snapped open. He felt something from within the distance tugging at one of the fragments like a fish biting down on a lure. He didn't want to extend that analogy any further by attempting to reel them in, as he had no idea what sort of horrific fate that could potentially spell for the person. Thinking back to how interacting with Ragdoll's soul felt, he'd rather not violently rip someone's soul out of them if he could help it.

He killed the flames, reverting his eyes to their usual human variety, and a deep sigh escaped him. While he was attempting to extend the reach of the Shinigami as far as he could, UA was a massive campus, and he was certain that he hadn't moved past the bounds of the school. The magnitude of what he had just felt was quickly dawning on him.

"There's a quirkless student at UA…" Izuku muttered. "And All For One nabbed their quirk from them, likely when they were really young."

Fuck, man.

At the same time that Izuku was entering the realm of the Shinigami, Melissa found herself standing in a void of her own. Well, standing may not have been the correct word, as she didn't have any feet. In fact, most of her body was engulfed in black fog, and only the top half of her head was visible. She wanted to write this off as a very peculiar dream, but she didn't really feel like she was dreaming. Even without a corporeal form, the sensations she was feeling were much too real to merely be her imagination at work.

Frantically darting her eyes around, she saw that the rest of the void she was floating in was just as dark and just as foggy, save for one particular area just ahead. Squinting, she could just barely make out several bright flames (at least she thought they were flames) of all colors in the distance. Her curiosity got the better of her, so she instinctively started floating towards where the activity seemed to be. If she was going to get any answers about where she was or what was even happening, this was the best place to start.

As she approached, she began to make out several voices firing off at each other. The heated nature of the speech told her that she wasn't stumbling into a friendly dispute.

"Bestowing this power to a weak, untrained, and emotional child? This is ludicrous!" Melissa heard a man heatedly spit.

"She's no more emotional than anyone would be in her situation!" Melissa then heard a woman fire back. "She lost her father for fuck's sake!"

"He's not dead, he's just an idiot!" the first voice replied, and Melissa wasn't sure how much she liked this one. "We've all watched this girl grow through the eyes of Eighth. She's a scientist, not a combatant! She can't even properly wield the power within One For All without mangling herself!"

"Then we'll train her, damnit!" the woman remained firm. "None of us were ready for the power of One For All when we first received it, but we all worked ourselves ragged until we were. We can do the same for Ninth!"

Putting together what the argument was about wasn't a difficult task. Melissa was glad that at least one of the previous holders of One For All was staunchly in her corner.

"You don't get it," he growled. "We all had a reason to get stronger. We didn't have a choice. But All For One is dead now. Passing on this much power to someone who can't even manage 1% of it is the height of irresponsibility, and you're only defending this ridiculous move because it was your dumbass successor that did it!"

"Watch your fucking tone, Scarface," she replied dangerously.

"What did I do?" another man spoke up now, drawing Melissa's attention to another glowing figure. She was close enough now to make sense of the humanoid flames that weren't really flames at all. The two arguing parties were a man with spiky, salmon hair and a large scar running diagonally across the bridge of his nose, and a muscular woman with black hair whose face looked incredibly familiar to her.

"Not you, Scarface!" she yelled at the owner of the third voice before turning back to the man she was originally glaring daggers at. "I'm talking to this tomato-headed dipshit."

"Sheesh, Nana's on a roll again," another voice spoke up, this one coming from a tall, bald man with goggles on his forehead who was standing beside a much shorter man with a high collar. "How did you manage to deal with that before you croaked?"

"Keep quiet and keep out of the way," he sighed before looking to Melissa, catching her off guard. "This happens every so often. You just have to let them get it out of their system before we resume civil discussion. Would you like some tea?"

Melissa only offered the man a blank stare in response, and the man grew a bit anxious. "You know, because you don't have a mouth, so it would be impossible to drink any tea…"

The silence dragged on as the argument continued in the background, and the man eventually sighed in defeat. "No one ever laughs at my jokes."

"Being funny is a prerequisite for that, En," the taller man chuckled. "Somehow, Nana honed her comedic chops in spite of you."

Melissa was officially at a loss for words irrespective of the fact that she had no mouth. This was at least an explanation for the chaotic energy she perpetually felt coursing through her veins.

"Guys," the tired voice of a thin man with white hair echoed through the void, "she's here."

The arguing ceased, and the two vestiges' attention snapped towards the cloud of black fog that was Melissa. Almost immediately afterward, the scarred man that was arguing before and another man with a high ponytail turned and walked towards the back wall where they would remain for the duration of the meeting. Meanwhile, 5 pairs of eyes were locked onto her, and her incorporeal form started to sweat.

The woman, sensing the tension, decided to smash it by walking back to an area where 7 ornate chairs stood alongside a small folding chair holding a bright, golden flame in the shape of a man that strongly resembled Uncle Might. Hoisting the golden man up to his feet, she grabbed the folding chair and returned to where the other vestiges surrounded Melissa. Offering her a warm, genuine smile all the while, she placed the folding chair onto the ground with the seat facing away from Melissa, and she sat down with her arms folded and resting on the headrest.

"So, you got a quirk."

Going through his morning routine in the new environment was an adjustment for Izuku. In fact, it was an adjustment for everyone. It was strange to be literally living with their classmates, but after a very brief phase of awkwardness, 1-A fell into comfortable camaraderie as if they had all grown up together. Bonding through trauma will often do that.

Heights Alliance was only a 5-minute walk to UA's main building, which was where Izuku, Shoto, Ochako, Tsu, and Iida found themselves as they strolled to class. The group was indulging in casual conversation primarily centered around their excitement for the new trimester after they completed the last of their summer training. Shoto, however, was silent- more silent than usual, that is. He'd cast tentative glances in Izuku's direction every 10 seconds or so, seeming as if he wanted to say something. He'd particularly focus on Ochako's beaming smile at Izuku wearing the scarf she got for him despite the sweltering heat. Shoto could empathize with that, also being fireproof.

Izuku, meanwhile, had noticed his friend's odd behavior, but he let it go on for a few minutes to allow him to work up the courage himself to ask whatever was on his mind. When it became clear that it was not going to happen if he didn't intervene, he decided to spare his friend the difficulty.

"You alright, Shoto?" Izuku asked him.

Shoto's eyes minutely widened at being made, but that surprise quickly faded when he considered who he was talking to.

"Midoriya, may I ask you something?"

Shoto cast a glance toward the other three teens that were curiously observing them before facing Izuku again. "Privately?"

Ochako took the hint and yanked Iida and Tsu by the arm. "Come on, guys, I don't want to be late for our second first day of training!"

"Uraraka, I applaud the desire for punctuality, but please, be careful!" Iida shouted as she sprinted towards the building with the other two literally in tow.

After letting out a soft snort, Izuku turned back to his friend. "So, what's up?"

Shoto hesitated for a moment before finding his resolve. "Do you ever feel strange around Uraraka?"

That was not even in the ballpark of things Izuku was expecting his friend to ask him. For another solid 10 seconds, Izuku could only offer Shoto a blank, mute stare in response. Then, his brain finally regained function. "Um, what?"

"Have you ever felt a strange combination of warmth, a boost of energy, and the inclination to be around her when she's in your presence?" Shoto expanded.

When even more silence was all he received in return, Shoto placed his right hand on his chin in thought. "Am I misinterpreting the nature of your relationship with her?"

"Possibly," Izuku noncommittally answered. "What brought this on?"

Shoto took a minute to properly make sense of and gather his thoughts so that he could articulate the unfamiliar emotions. "Lately, I've been experiencing that sensation. With everything going on at home, I had initially thought that it was just an easy escape that I could get lost in, but I'm starting to realize that it's a little deeper than that. I felt it budding even before we left for training camp, but I've never experienced or really even seen anything resembling what I feel. I'm not very good with emotional intelligence like you are, so I figured I'd come to you about it."

Izuku nodded, taking in everything he said despite how cryptic he was being, intentionally or not. "I don't know how the hell I got that designation, but thanks. Is this about Yaoyorozu?"

"…Yes."

Izuku hummed while he figured out how to go about this discussion, and he snapped his fingers when he settled on something. "How does she make you feel? I mean in terms that you could possibly relate to, like in comparison to family or soba."

It was a shallow thread to pull, but knowing Shoto's home situation growing up, soba was probably the only constant in his life that didn't leave a scar of some kind.

"…She makes me feel like when Fuyumi used to comfort me after a particularly hard day of training with my dad," Shoto lowly responded. "She'd ice my burns and make me soba while assuring me that everything was going to be okay, despite how much I didn't believe it after mom went to the hospital."

"You feel safe and secure around her," Izuku mused, helping Shoto make sense of his thoughts.

Shoto nodded. "She says the same. Her mom is a perfectionist, and she was really hard on her about living up to the potential that she saw for her rather than what Yaoyorozu actually desired."

Shoto lowered his head a bit as a small smile found purchase on his face. "We're really similar in that way."

"You sound really fond of her," Izuku commented with a smile.

Shoto nodded, and then he took a moment to determine exactly how he wanted to phrase his next question. "Where exactly do I go from here? As I said before, I'm really ignorant to matters regarding intrapersonal skills. I'm not even sure if I'm emotionally developed enough to pursue anything like this to begin with."

That was certainly a great point, one that Izuku likely wasn't qualified to properly weigh in on.

"I can't really make that judgement call," Izuku began. "With that said, if you're certain about how you feel about her and she presumably feels similarly, I see no reason to not explore the idea, even if only cautiously at first."

"Cautiously?" Shoto asked.

"Taking it slow, I suppose," Izuku clarified. "This whole friendship thing is rather new to you, right?"

Upon receiving a nod from Shoto, he continued. "Right, and infatuation is horribly complex in its own right. Best not to overcomplicate things for now."

In his peripheral vision, he spotted Jiro trying to appear inconspicuous a little ways away from them. She was out of Shoto's line of sight, so he hadn't noticed, but Izuku knew that she was listening. That gave him an idea.

"Just keep doing what you've been doing and let things bloom as they may," Izuku advised with a smile. "I have a sneaking suspicion that Yaoyorozu is going through something very similar right now."

He could just barely notice Jiro nod in confirmation, and he fought off the satisfied smirk that threatened to develop. "I'm pretty out of my element on that front, so that's about the best advice I can give."

"Thank you, nonetheless," Shoto sighed in relief. "Have you ever felt anything of this sort?"

Izuku was silent for a long moment, and Shoto felt his curiosity crescendo.

"I could answer that question," Izuku carefully began, "but I know about the betting pool going around for who I'll end up with by graduation."

Shoto furrowed his brow. "Betting pool?"

"Another time, we'll be late if we mosey any longer," Izuku insisted and ushered his friend along towards their homeroom.

Meanwhile, Jiro pulled out her phone and frantically alerted the group chat of her discovery.

"HE KNOWS"

"I believe I mentioned this already, but your ultimate goal this summer is to obtain provisional hero licenses," Aizawa lectured his class. "A hero license of any kind means that you're officially responsible for human lives. The exam to receive one isn't a cakewalk, either; only 50% of applicants actually pass the exam, and that's on a good day. Do not take this lightly."

When he was certain that they had internalized the gravity of it all, he signaled for the other teachers standing outside of the classroom to enter. In walked Midnight, Cementoss, and Ectoplasm, and Aizawa continued. "In order to prepare you all, we'll be concentrating on something new: your ultimate moves."

One brief explanation of ultimate moves by the assembled pros later, 1-A suited up in their costumes and gathered in Gym Gamma. Once Cementoss crafted a massive, quarry-like terrain and Ectoplasm formed 18 clones to assist everyone individually, the class split up and got to work. Izuku was left standing by a concrete pillar with a clone of his teacher by his side in preparation to begin developing his ultimate move.

There was one tiny problem, though: he had absolutely no idea where to start.

"You seem troubled," Ectoplasm noted, taking stock of the teen's blank gaze as he watched the others in action.

"I don't really know where to begin," Izuku admitted. "My quirk is so multifaceted. I have so many options to choose from that I'm not even sure what to focus on."

Ectoplasm hummed in consideration. "That is a conundrum. To my understanding, your quirk allows you enhanced strength, speed, and cognition, as well as superheating, creating barriers, and forming offensive tendrils. Is that the short of it?"

"I'm pretty much an everyman," Izuku confirmed with a nod.

"Is there any particular aspect of your power that is more potent than the rest?" Ectoplasm asked.

Izuku was about to answer, but the words died on his tongue, and he fell into deep thought. "Well, there was one new development, actually. My quirk kind of evolved at training camp, as these new vents on my arm are proof of. I can access a higher level of power that would have completely torn me apart before, but I think I'll be able to manage it now, at least incrementally."

"Show me."

Izuku nodded, and he took a deep breath. Igniting in a fiery mosaic, Izuku felt the familiar sensation of his Kaleidoscopic Fire glide over him. This was the easy part. Now, for the taxing part…

Izuku focused, reaching inward and snatching each flame into a tight grasp before bringing everything forth in a bombastic display. The wild, intense flames of 2nd Gear blasted off of him like a towering inferno, and Ectoplasm had to take a step back from the power he felt radiating from the teen. Even a few of his classmates had to pause their training and take a gander at their class rep, and they were met with a myriad of bright, vibrant colors blooming from his form. The visual was complimented by the iridescent scarf that, true to its design, shimmered in a variety of colors alongside the flames and billowed behind him from the power of his quirk like a magnificent cape. It was a fantastically brilliant display that pretty much embodied his entire ethos as a hero.

"HEY!" Aizawa barked, snapping everyone's attention away from Izuku. "The hell are you all standing around for? Get back to work!"

As the class dutifully (and hurriedly) returned to their ultimate move creations, Bakugo's eyes remained fixed on Izuku. They scanned over the fiery rainbow that was his classmate; the powerless weakling he used to stand head and shoulders above when they were children.

Izuku had long since surpassed him and left him in the dust.

He didn't know how to feel about that.

"This is quite impressive," Ectoplasm marveled. "What can you do in this state?"

"Everything," was all Izuku said in response.

Suddenly, the doors burst open, and a loud, boisterous laugh filled the large gym. Aizawa groaned while Midnight and Cementoss chuckled at Aizawa's aggravation.

"I AM HERE!" All Might announced to the surprised class. This was the first anyone had seen of him since announcing his retirement, and he still looked no worse for wear than he did before Kamino.

"To assist your training!" All Might finished with a grin.

"All Might…" Izuku muttered with an unnervingly blank expression, at least in Ectoplasm's opinion.

"Young Midoriya, you look fantastic!" All Might complimented as he made his way over to the ignited teen.

"ALL MIGHT!" Izuku shouted, and true to Ectoplasm's suspicions, the snarl facing the former No. 1 hero was vicious.

"Erm, Young Midoriya?" All Might unsteadily inquired as he took a hesitant step back. The look in the boy's eyes was much too reminiscent of his master's look when he was "being a little shit," as she often phrased it. He was not sure what the boy would be upset at him for-

Oh.

Oh dear.

"I KNOW WHAT YOU DID!" Izuku bellowed, the flames of his quirk blasting overhead with even more vigor.

"Now, now, Young Midoriya, let's talk about this," All Might shakily attempted to calm the boy, but he knew it was much too late, so he did what any of the most powerful beings on the planet would do when faced with a teenaged nuke ready to blow on them in particular.

He ran.

"GET YOUR ASS OVER HERE!" Izuku was damn near feral now, launching himself at the fleeing pro hero and engaging in a supersonic chase around the gym.

The two super-powered beings among super-powered beings were blurs to literally everyone in the gym with them, the only indicators of their locations at any given point being the periodic crash and colorful trail of fire left by their class rep. To the students (from what they could even make out, anyway), it appeared as though Izuku was keeping pace with All Might while smashing through dozens of unoccupied pillars like tissue. To the teachers, the scene was a touch more concerning, as All Might's panicked yelps sounded too genuine to be him just hamming it up for some kind of training exercise.

"…Should we put a stop to this?" Midnight questioned after a particular loud bang resulted in an even brighter burst of flames.

Aizawa snorted. "Are you kidding? Not a chance."

"But he might actually want to seriously hurt All Might," Cementoss added with a tinge of worry.

"I'll allow it," Aizawa maintained.

In the air with the two monstrosities in question, All Might was questioning all of his life decisions that inevitably led him to this point. He was certain that if he still had One For All in its entirety within him, his master would be proudly cheering her grandson on in his attempts to catch and disembowel him.

He'd also be lying if he said that he wasn't having the most fun he had had in years. The teen's pursuit was legitimately making him sweat, something only All For One and a few others that were aligned with him had ever really been able to accomplish when All Might was seriously trying. However, here he was using well over half of his power and fending off lightning-fast strikes from purple whips while airborne, only for those strikes to have been a diversion to allow the raging bull to create an orange platform and use it as a launchpad to propel himself at All Might even faster.

It was the steely determination to catch and tear him limb from limb in Young Midoriya's eyes that compelled All Might to create actual distance between them. Landing on the nearest pillar, All Might jumped straight up and towards the ceiling, watching the teen spear through the space he had just inhabited milliseconds prior and impacting the ground into a tight roll back to his feet. They locked eyes for a brief moment in which All Might thought he was finally safe to take a breather and re-examine the situation.

Izuku did not agree with this assessment, however. The intense flames of 2nd Gear rocketed to an intensity that nearly blew anyone that hadn't quickly made themselves scarce off of their feet, and jets of fire blasted from the vents in his arms, tearing through the sleeves of his costume that hadn't yet been modified for them, lifting him off the ground, and rocketing him towards a flabbergasted All Might. The man was so unprepared for Izuku to literally fly up to his perceived safe zone that he didn't even mount a defense to the fiery uppercut that slammed into his chin. The punch blasted him through the ceiling and out of the building, creating an All Might-sized hole in the roof of Gym Gamma.

19 jaws were resting on the ground as they all stared at the hole. It would have been 20, but Ectoplasm's jaw wasn't detachable. Aizawa, on the other hand, was sporting a wicked grin and a gaze brimming with approval.

"Looks like he's got an ultimate move down," Aizawa commented.

As the seconds drew on, several noticed that Izuku was not in the room with them, which could only mean that he had followed All Might on his ascent. That would be confirmed a few seconds later when a rainbow comet crashed through the roof and slammed into the concrete, creating another hole in the ceiling in the process. When the dust settled, Izuku was crouching on top of All Might, his right hand pressing down on the man's cheek and his left hand clutching the hero's meaty wrist in an iron grip.

If the room could somehow be even more incredulous than they were previously, this sight tipped them over the edge.

"Are you satisfied now, Young Midoriya?" All Might grunted from his position embedded within the concrete.

"Yes," Izuku said with a content nod, and he released the man from his grasp.

"Splendid!" All Might's usual boisterous tone returned as he kipped up from the crater and dusted himself off like nothing happened. "We'll talk later."

Izuku nodded and returned to his original place beside the Ectoplasm clone he had initially been working with. All Might, on the other hand, laughed and leaped out of the gym through one of the holes in the ceiling since the impromptu chase ate through a decent chunk of his time, and he didn't yet want to reveal himself to the public.

"…Did Midoriya just render us all irrelevant again?" Kaminari broke the silence.

"When did we get it back?" Tokoyami questioned in response.

Rumi Usagiyama was many things: an adrenaline junkie, a battle junkie, and an undercover fan of cheesy romantic comedies that no one but Ryukyu was aware of (and it would stay that way if she valued her kneecaps). One thing she was not, however, was a bureaucrat, nor was she supportive or even somewhat sympathetic to bureaucracy, particularly the ever so shady bureaucracy that oversaw the Japanese heroics industry. So, she was less than ecstatic to find a summons directly from the HPSC in her mailbox that requested (read: ordered) her to appear in person at their headquarters in Tokyo.

She was even less jazzed to be sitting in a cold meeting room at a table with Madame President of the Hero Public Safety Commission herself. She didn't know what she could possibly be needed in person for that couldn't be articulated in a letter, phone call, email, or even one of the many fucking messengers the Commission loved to send for intimidation purposes; not that she'd ever be intimidated by some kumquat in a suit.

This woman, though, unnerved the shit out of Rumi. She always had. It was likely part of the job, but she had such a frosty, disquieting aura about her that helped her pin you down and flay your defenses with but a gaze until you felt totally exposed and at her mercy. Many suspected that it was possibly her quirk, but no one really knew what the woman's quirk even was. No one really wanted to find out, either.

"I'm surprised you showed up, Ms. Usagiyama," Madame President began after a sufficiently tense few minutes of silence.

"Not like I had a choice in the matter," Rumi sardonically remarked.

"You're learning," she replied with a satisfied nod, facing the Rabbit Hero's developing glare with the same cool facade she always wore. "I have a job for you."

"I'm not Hawks," Rumi spat, momentarily losing her cool at the audacity of this bitch. "You sign my paychecks after I do the heavy lifting on my own volition, and that's it. I'm not your patsy, nor your hired gun. I don't do anything for you or anyone. I'm my own woman."

"Mm, I suppose that's true," Madame President sighed, her eyes closing and her hands coming together in a steeple. "You are your own woman. A confident, powerful, headstrong woman doing the best for herself."

The pause that followed clued Rumi in that she was not going to like what was to come, but she had no idea what direction the conversation would go at this juncture. Madame President was the worst kind of enigma, and the woman knew it very well. Her cold, almost bored gaze rested dispassionately on Rumi, practically discarding her as nothing more than a disposable cog in the greater machine.

"How many years sober has it been, now?" She finally spoke up, staring the wide-eyed rabbit-woman right in the eye. "Five? Six?"

"You fucking bitch-"

"Did I strike a nerve?"

"Don't you ever fucking bring that up," Rumi growled, struggling mightily to remain in her seat at the table.

"But it is a part of your story, no?" Madame President countered. "As is the expulsion from a prestigious hero school on your record for participating in illegal, underground fights."

Rumi forced herself to take a deep breath. They were alone in the room. No one would be able to reach them in time to stop her from flipping the table and popping the woman's head like a grape. They both knew that, but they both also knew that Rumi almost certainly wouldn't survive the immediate aftermath (if she even survived the attempt at all, as Madame President's quirk was still very much a mystery). She needed to calm down.

"Why am I here?" Rumi finally asked through gritted teeth.

"You will be administering part of the upcoming provisional license exam alongside Gang Orca," Madame President answered succinctly.

"And why would I bother mixing it up with a bunch of brats?" Rumi asked, then her red eyes narrowed. "What's your actual game?"

"You're smarter than you present yourself to be," the older woman noted, and Rumi forced herself to ignore that. "Izuku Midoriya will almost certainly be taking part, and I have no doubt that he'll make it past the first hurdle to the second half of the exam."

Rumi did her level best to keep her face as neutral as possible upon hearing the boy's name come out of the woman's mouth. It was like a hex, and the mere fact that the little shit she had grown a little fond of was in the Commission's sights at all worried her to no end. Of course, displaying that would hand the Commission leverage on a silver platter, and there was no way that was ever going to happen.

"Why is he important?" Rumi asked, innocuously probing for more information.

"No reason in particular," Madame President dismissed, but Rumi didn't believe that for a second. "I just want you and Gang Orca to put the applicants through the ringer. Don't hold back."

"…You want me to go all out against a bunch of hero hopefuls?"

"I want you to separate those who are ready from those who are not."

"This seems excessive."

"Maybe so," Madame President hummed, momentarily removing her gaze from Rumi and bringing it up to the ceiling in consideration. "However, Japan has lost its top 2 heroes within the span of a week. The two strongest pillars of functional society were gone in an instant, one of them leaving in shame."

Her steely gaze returned to the Rabbit Hero. "We do not have time for those who are not cut out for this line of work. Japan requires the best of the best to maintain order at the present moment, and that should be reflected in the up-and-coming generation of heroes."

"And if I refuse?" Rumi challenged.

"I don't recall suggesting that you had a choice in the matter," she calmly answered.

Rumi scoffed and reached into her pocket, pulled out her hero license, and slammed it on the table. "You're only my boss so long as I have this. Who's to say I don't walk out of this building without it and choose not to play your game entirely?"

Madame President's gaze did not waver for a moment, but Rumi was not deterred. "What are you gonna do? You gonna expose my old nose candy habit? My troubled past? You gonna run a smear campaign against me like you would've done for Endeavor had he not beaten you to the punch?"

Madame President did not immediately respond, instead closing her eyes as a lengthy exhale escaped her nostrils. When she reopened her eyes, she returned her cold, impassive stare to Rumi. "I'm sorry you feel that way, Ms. Usagiyama. It would be a tragedy for Japan to lose such a fantastic hero, but if this is truly what you desire, then I can't stand in your way. Just be careful out there. It's a dangerous world for mutants, especially for those without a license that would allow them to legally defend themselves. The murder rates for those with mutation quirks are quite alarming, and most of those tend to go unsolved."

Rumi was frozen in her seat. Madame President wasn't even trying to be subtle with that threat, but what really unnerved her was the utterly unbothered manner she said it. A callous death threat dripping in quirkism spoken so casually… it was right up the Commission's alley.

In any event, the message was conveyed loud and clear: if Rumi walked out of this room right now, she wouldn't last a week before she was either killed or imprisoned for unlicensed quirk use. She would be silenced regardless, and Midoriya would still be a target for the Commission. There was absolutely no fucking way she would allow that.

"Fine," Rumi spat through gritted teeth, snatching her license off of the table and shoving it back into her pocket. "I'll play ball."

"Excellent," Madame President nodded. "That's all. You're dismissed."

Rumi stood up from the table and briskly made her way to the door. However, she stopped when she heard the other woman call out again.

"One more thing, Mirko," Madame President uttered her codename for the first time that entire meeting. "You were correct earlier when you said that you weren't Hawks. Hawks is irreplaceable. Remember that."

Rumi could not get out of that fucking building fast enough.

Izuku, flanked by Iida and Ochako, neared the Development Studio after their rather eventful training session. Izuku's costume hadn't been updated to account for his new physical characteristics, and he knew exactly the person to call upon to fix that. As Ochako was excitedly chatting up Iida about the progress she was making, Izuku's arms lit up with green fire upon reaching the door of the Development Studio, knowing exactly what was sure to come. Just as he predicted, an explosion blew the heavy, metal door from its hinges, only to be snatched out of the air by Izuku's right arm as he caught a pink-haired missile with his left.

"Sup," Izuku greeted the ambitious inventor as she shook the stars out of her eyes and looked up to see who caught her.

"Oh, Muscles!" she preened. "You're alive!"

"Um, yeah," Izuku chuckled. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"You never know, the villains could have switched you with a clone to throw the heroes off their trail," Mei hypothesized before carefully studying Izuku. "You're not a clone, right?"

"…I don't think so?" Izuku responded, but he wasn't quite sure of himself. If he actually was a clone meant to believe that he was the real deal, then he wouldn't really know the difference, so he couldn't possibly answer that question with 100% certainty…

In the apartment several cities over that had been dubbed the "Lair of Anti-Villains" by Spinner, Twice sneezed while Tomura was outlining the details of their first official mark as a rebranded organization: the Creature Rejection Clan.

"Best not to think about it too hard," Izuku settled on.

Mei nodded, and then her voice became hushed. "You'll never believe what that bonehead, All Might, did!"

"Trust me, I'm well aware," Izuku sighed, then he gave Mei a curious look. "How did you find out?"

"From the horse's mouth," Mei answered, and she gestured over to a bandaged Melissa hard at work on a red gauntlet.

"Melissa!" Ochako called out in surprise and joy to see her friend from I-Island.

Melissa was jolted out of the zone she was in and frantically looked around. When her eyes settled on the new arrivals, she relaxed, and she beamed. "Hi, everyone."

"What are you doing all the way in Japan?" Ochako asked as the trio entered the lab.

Melissa's smile fell, and Ochako immediately understood. "You don't have to answer! I'm sorry for asking."

"No, it's fine," Melissa assured her with a weak smile. "I transferred to UA."

Izuku was already aware of this as Melissa had already told him when she visited him in the hospital, but this was news to Ochako and Iida.

"You'll be attending UA in the Support Department, I presume?" Iida asked her.

"Eh, sort of?" Melissa sheepishly replied. "I'm a dual-course student."

"Oh, are you doing Support and Business?" Ochako wondered. She knew Melissa was loaded, or her father was, at least, so perhaps she was trying to ensure she kept that wealth.

"Erm, no," Melissa sighed. "Support and Heroics."

The two teens were struck silent at that. They were taken completely off guard by the admission, but their thoughts went in vastly different directions. On the one hand, Ochako was eyeing the gauntlet on the table and wondered if Melissa was going to go the armored hero route that used a bunch of powerful support tech, like Air Jet. That would be pretty fuckin' rad.

Iida, on the other hand…

"Forgive me, but I thought you were quirkless," Iida carefully phrased, earning a side-eyed glance from Ochako and a chuckle from Melissa.

Iida was trepidatious about the idea of a quirkless person becoming a pro hero. Thinking back to what someone as capable and as his brother experienced at the hands of Stain and what someone as absurdly powerful as Midoriya went through with the League of Villains, it just felt like much too dangerous of a prospect to endeavor in. Hell, he wouldn't even advise people with powerful quirks to jump into heroics willy nilly. Anyone's life can end very abruptly.

"Yeah, I thought so, too," Melissa muttered before her index finger emitted a dull, red glow, and she pressed a deep indentation into the heavy duty steel worktable, shocking Ochako and Iida.

"You're a late-bloomer, like Midoriya," Iida noted with awe. "I suppose it makes sense that exceptionally powerful or unstable quirks would take a much longer time to manifest than what's typical."

"…Yeah, let's go with that," Melissa agreed.

Unbeknownst to her, Izuku was having similar thoughts about his own late-bloomer status.

"Where's Power Loader?" Izuku asked, moving the subject away from Melissa's new quirk status, and she sent him a thankful look.

"Oh, he's sleeping the alcohol off," Mei answered without a second thought.

The three 1-A students were struck silent. No one could have possibly expected that response.

"…What?" Ochako finally squeaked.

It was Melissa that answered this time. "His exact words were, 'A Hatsume-Midoriya duo is bad enough, but I cannot handle three support gremlins at once.' I don't really blame him, in all honesty."

"Fair," Izuku nodded, as well. "I'm still banned from being in here unsupervised after the nail clippers fiasco."

"Nail clippers?" both Ochako and Melissa asked in confusion.

"Long story," Izuku waved it away, and just then, there was groaning accompanying by shuffling from a desk in the back corner of the lab.

"Ugh, my head," Power Loader muttered as he blearily took in the scene. When his eyes landed on Izuku smiling pleasantly at him with Mei grinning manically to his side, he paled. "Goddamnit…"

"Power Loader, I've come to bargain!" Izuku happily declared and made his way towards the frightened teacher.

"You keep that evil away from me!" the man rebuked, retreating even further behind his desk.

"I just need an update to the sleeves of my costume," Izuku insisted. "I had a bit of a quirk evolution, so I'll need shorter gauntlets and vented sleeves."

"…That's it?" Power Loader tentatively questioned.

"Mhm," Izuku confirmed, meanwhile Ochako was covering her mouth and struggling to keep in her giggle fit at the interaction.

"That is doable," Power Loader acquiesced. "I'll even allow Hatsume and Shield to put some eyes on it for a few other perspectives, provided you three don't go overboard and commit anymore war crimes."

"…Deal," Izuku assented after a moment of thought.

'Anymore?' Iida thought in shock.

Izuku turned to Melissa and shot her a grin as white flames bloomed in his hair. "So, how much of your tech were you able to smuggle off of I-Island?"

Melissa smirked in return. "Enough to get me a life sentence if I'm ever extradited. Luckily, they don't know that any of these babies exist because I worked on them in secret in lieu of sleep. They'll never know what they're missing."

"Bitchin'. Let's get to work."

Chikuchi Togeike sighed as she placed the last box down in her room. Running a hand through her dark brown hair and across the length of her short ponytail, she sat on the barren bed and stared at the equally barren wall, save for a few of her plants lining the top of her dresser that she hadn't yet moved to the window. This was her life for the foreseeable future, and she wasn't sure if she should have been disappointed or thankful.

She was at least happy to be away from home. Thinking about home was such a mood-killer that she endeavored to do so as little as possible during her stay on UA's campus. She was finally away from the cold indifference that she felt from her parents for the better part of the last decade or so, and she could spend even more time with her friends. That was always a blessing.

Friends. Her friends were wonderful. Not everyone in her class was particularly receptive to her at the start, and she couldn't say she was terribly surprised. None of them were outright dickheads to her barring a few, but she did feel the pitying glances she'd receive and hated the awkward half-stepping people did when talking about things regarding quirks around her.

It wasn't anything she hadn't experienced for most of her life, but it was still annoying as all hell. Luckily, she had people who were not only tolerant, but treated her like any other person without having their arm twisted. She felt her phone vibrating in her pocket, and upon retrieving her phone, she saw that she received a text from one of them in their group chat: Hitoshi Shinso.

PurpleInsomniac: PlantMom you finished moving in yet?

PlantMom: Yeah. Just finished.

PurpleInsomniac: Why did you sleep here last night when you weren't even finished moving?

PlantMom: Didn't really want to be at home. I doubt my parents would've kept their desire to finally be rid of me to themselves. Didn't want to deal with all of that.

PurpleInsomniac: Understandable

She sighed again and put her phone down. At first, Shinso was kind of an asshole, but he was an asshole to everyone, so she didn't take it personally. She was a bit put off by his insecurity about his quirk, though, but she had dealt with similar (albeit very different) things said to her and about her growing up. It was the insistence that super powerful quirks were overrated and only got people perks they never actually earned that irritated her, though. He wasn't entirely wrong, but at least he had a quirk to speak of.

No, she shouldn't think like that. She shouldn't minimize anyone's struggle. His experience was equally valid; it was simply different from her own. Her phone vibrated again, and she saw that it was a message to the group chat from her other friend, Tsutsutaka Agoyamato.

Crimson_Chin: PlantMom we'll throw you a "finally away from home" party

PurpleInsomniac: Crimson_Chin you could plan every detail of the party yourself, and you'd still be late for spending too much time on your shitty pompadour

Crimson_Chin: Don't hate me because I'm beautiful. Maybe if you did something about that yee-yee ass haircut, you wouldn't be so maidenless

Togeike couldn't fight the snorts that escaped her, and those snorts quickly became chuckles which eventually snowballed into audible laughter. She really adored her friends.

Not for the first time that day, Toshinori was nervous. Coincidentally, the very same person that made him nervous that morning was the one doing so again at that moment. The skinny blonde awkwardly fiddled with his hands in his spot on the couch in one of the teachers' lounges with Izuku sitting on the couch across from him. The stern-faced teen had not said anything yet, leaving Toshinori to squirm in the impending conversation. After another minute of this eternal, torturous silence, Toshinori opted to take the reins of the interaction.

"So…"

"You passed on the quirk," Izuku interrupted, his stern visage remaining stock-still.

Toshinori sighed and nodded. "I did."

"Why?"

"I didn't have a choice."

Izuku's gaze hardened ever so slightly. "You most certainly did; I mean, isn't that one of the core principles of One For All?"

"Yes," Toshinori conceded with another sigh. "There's more to this than just that, Young Midoriya. I passed on One For All to her in the event that All For One survived the battle and I did not."

Izuku's eyes narrowed, and his gaze pierced through the former No. 1 hero. "And she would have just been forced to pick up the slack after that, huh?"

"I didn't have any other options, Young Midoriya," Toshinori rebutted, conviction lining his tone. "You were kidnapped and in that man's clutches. I couldn't be certain if he hadn't already stolen your quirk… or if you were even alive at all."

Toshinori momentarily paused, and the following silence allowed Izuku to let his reasoning marinate.

Then, Toshinori made direct eye contact with Izuku for his next words. "There needed to be someone else around to protect the peace and take him down for good in the event that neither you nor I could do it."

Any preprepared response or train of thought Izuku might have had was completely derailed upon hearing that declaration. He ran the statement back through his mind several times, going over every word, every syllable, and even every letter. There were only so many ways his statement could have been interpreted, and all of them insisted that All Might believed that Izuku Midoriya could take down All For One (likely after years of growing and training, but still).

"You…" Izuku struggled to find any words. "You thought I could do it?"

Toshinori nodded with a smile, then he ran a hand through his mess of blonde hair. "In a perfect world, I would have never had to pass on One For All. You would be powerful enough to spearhead and lead a new generation of pillars to hold up society, and the tumultuous legacy of One For All could finally rest for good. Even if you didn't want to become the new Symbol of Peace, everything would be okay because there didn't need to be another Symbol of Peace. They'd have you and everyone else you have and will build up around you. Society would be in safe, capable hands."

Well, that completely spelled out All Might's true thoughts about him. He had such faith in him that he truly was content with not having a successor for his storied quirk, simply letting Izuku take the reins of protecting society with his own power.

Alas, there was the obvious snag in that plan. "And then I was kidnapped…"

Toshinori grimly nodded. "Yes, and I unfortunately couldn't take any chances."

"Well, fuck," Izuku said the only thing that came to mind in that moment, garnering a snort from the older man.

"The silver lining in all of this is that All For One is gone for good," Toshinori remarked with a satisfied smile, but when he saw the consternation growing in Izuku's expression, his smile dropped. "He's gone, right?"

"I'm not so certain about that," Izuku muttered.

"Explain," Toshinori said, his tone deadly serious.

"The death god inhabiting my quirk told me that All For One's soul was fragmented when it was finally consumed, and the quirk he had with him when he died wasn't the original; it was just a copy." Izuku explained, and both of their expressions grew progressively darker as he spoke. "In other words, a piece of his soul is still somewhere out there, likely in the form of his original quirk that may or may not be inhabiting someone else already."

"So, that means…"

"That there's already someone running around with the original version of All For One, or another vessel is being prepped for the vestige of All For One to take over."

Toshinori felt the remains of One For All course through him, slowly bulking him up in his loose, black suit until All Might stood imposingly before Izuku. "Then Melissa needs to be prepared for when the day comes that he finally returns."

"Absolutely not, All Might."

Blood sprayed from the blonde's mouth, and All Might vanished in a poof, leaving a confused and incredulous Toshinori in his place. "Excuse me?"

Izuku's stone cold gaze pinned Toshinori to the couch, and he couldn't help but feel that Izuku had picked up way too much from his mother.

"You are not forcing this responsibility onto Melissa," Izuku declared, and his narrowed, emerald glare dared the man to say anything about it. "That girl has more than enough to deal with already, and a generations-long prophecy of battling the ultimate evil does not need to be added to her plate."

Toshinori would not back down, though. "I explained everything about my quirk and its history to Melissa before I asked if she would accept it. She knew about everything going into it, even the possibility that she'd have to defeat All For One if I died in Kamino. I didn't pressure her to take any of it on."

Izuku also refused to back down. "You propositioned your quirkless niece into accepting a power far beyond anyone's wildest imaginations with the known possibility that you wouldn't make it out alive regardless of her answer! That's inherently fucking pressuring her, All Might!"

Toshinori couldn't respond to that. The boy wasn't wrong, not by a long shot. However, Toshinori made his decision based on the information that was available and the options presented at that time. It was simply making the best of a bad situation.

"You're right," Toshinori sighed. "But, as I said before, I had absolutely no other options."

Izuku sighed this time. "Yeah, I suppose you didn't."

The two sat in silence with the ideological impasse they had come to. Truthfully speaking, Izuku didn't blame the man at all. He did what was best for the future of Japan given the circumstances, and while Izuku wasn't particularly happy that it had to come to this point after the discussion they had on the plane, it was Izuku that was kidnapped and knocked down the dominoes that led them to their current situation in the first place. That would certainly be another fun thing to think about every night.

Suddenly, the door to the room opened, and in stepped the subject of their discussion in the flesh. Melissa pensively surveyed the room, unsure as to what she wanted to say now that she was in the room.

"How much did you hear?" Toshinori asked, suspecting that Melissa was pressed up against the door and eavesdropping.

"Everything," she admitted, and she turned her focus to Izuku. "I appreciate your concern, Izuku, truly. I'm really glad that you care about me enough to be worried on my behalf."

She sighed, and resolve bled into her tone. "Still, it was my decision to accept the power knowing what was potentially to come, and I stand by it. If All For One ever returns, I want to be ready for him. I'm going to be ready for him."

Izuku could not argue with the resolve in both her tone and her expression, not that he particularly wanted to. What was done was done, and the only thing to do now was to move forward and prepare as best as they could.

"You two probably have stuff you need to discuss, so I'll be off," Izuku said, bidding the both of them a quick goodbye and leaving the room to them.

"There was actually something I needed to talk to you about," Melissa began, taking Izuku's vacated spot on the opposite couch. "It happened this morning."

"What is it?" Toshinori inquired, having an idea as to what it could have possibly been.

"I met the vestiges."

Yo. I'm back. There's been a lot of traffic for this fic recently, and I haven't figured out why, but I hope you're all enjoying the ride thus far.

I planned for another scene after Izuku and All Might's conversation (I say "another" but it technically would've been 4) that would've expanded on the introduction of Togeike, but the chapter was long enough as it was, so you'll get the scene(s) and more Togeike lore in the next chapter. Probably would flow better that way, anyhow.