After All Might delivered the final blast, the police officers moved in with practiced hands, gathering the scattered villain gelatinous pieces into black trash plastic bags.
To Midoriya, the sight felt strangely distant, as if he were watching a scene unfold behind thick glass.
Adam was rushed to the nearest hospital, still unconscious.
All Might, pressed by his strict time limit, slipped away before the inevitable flood of journalists could arrive.
Midoriya and Bakugo finished their official reports, then parted ways with the officers.
The sun sank toward the horizon, its last rays stretching long across the city, the gold softening into amber.
Midoriya began his walk home, his steps slow and uneven, his head hanging low. The lingering adrenaline had drained from his limbs, leaving a subtle, exhausting tremble. His palms felt clammy in the cooling evening air.
He tried to breathe, but each inhale brushed against the tight, painful knot lodged under his ribs.
Today had been too much.
He'd almost died. He'd been saved by the hero he admired most. He'd discovered that hero's devastating secret. And worst of all, that same hero had spoken the words that had crushed every last shard of the future he'd desperately clung to since childhood:
You can't be a hero without a quirk.
As he walked, the pavement seemed to stretch longer than usual, like a thin ribbon pulling him farther and farther from the person he wished he could be. Each step felt like closing a chapter he wasn't ready to end.
Maybe… maybe it's time to stop pretending, he thought, his chest tightening. Time to accept that ordinary is all I can ever be.
And yet, in the middle of that profound ache, there was something strangely light. A small, flickering warmth: he had done something heroic today. It wasn't much. He hadn't fought. He hadn't saved anyone. He had only run forward like a terrified fool and been scolded by heroes and cops alike… but it had been the closest he had ever felt to the dream he loved.
That small spark was the only gentle thing he carried from the entire day.
He let out a tired sigh. It drifted upward, lost in the golden haze of the evening.
"DEKU!"
The familiar voice cracked through his melancholy like an explosion.
Midoriya stopped and spun around.
Bakugo was approaching fast, breath harsh, steps heavy. His expression was a volatile mix of frustration and something he clearly refused to name. His shoulders shook slightly, either from the sprint or from the sheer pressure of everything he wouldn't admit.
"K-Kacchan…?"
Bakugo didn't acknowledge the fear or the question in Midoriya's voice. He squared his jaw, forcing his expression back into the sharp, bristling mask he'd worn for years.
"I never asked you for help!" he snapped. "You didn't save me! Got it, Deku? I was fine by myself!"
His glare landed on Midoriya with all the familiar heat, but Midoriya felt the tremor behind it. For the first time, Kacchan's resentment wasn't aimed downward. It felt… horizontal. A clash between equals, at least in the charged heat of that single moment.
Bakugo's fists trembled at his sides. He wasn't only angry at Midoriya. He was furious at himself.
He couldn't accept being saved, especially by the quirkless boy he had always claimed was beneath him. He refused to accept the sharp humiliation curling in his gut. He refused to think about how weak he'd felt in those moments when his struggle and efforts were meaningless in the face of that villain.
And more than anything, he refused to acknowledge the truth clawing at him: If he had been quirkless… he doubted he would have run forward like Midoriya did.
So he hid it all behind the only armor he trusted.
"I didn't need your help! Or that extra's help either!" Bakugo barked, venom coating the last word. "Don't start thinking you can look down on me!"
He leaned forward, voice low and fierce. "Just watch, nerd. I'm the one who'll become the number one hero."
He turned away before anything truly real could slip through the cracks, but even from behind, Midoriya saw the tension in his shoulders, anger mixed with something much more fragile, something like desperate self-assurance.
Midoriya watched him disappear down the street, confusion tugging at his expression. Kacchan's tone was harsh, but there had been something else underneath. Something like… recognition. As if, for the first time, Bakugo had looked at him not as a nobody, but as a rival he absolutely refused to lose to.
Midoriya let out a small, helpless sigh.
"Kacchan… thinking too much again," he murmured. "How can a quirkless nobody compete with him?"
"I did nothing. I only ran forward, that's all. It was all thanks to that black-haired boy who appeared out of nowhere and used his powerful quirk to defeat the villain. If he hadn't jumped in front of me, there was a high chance I would have died from that villain's attack. I hope he will be fine."
sigh "I'm envious of his quirk… it looks cool… powerful."
"What is that dark thing? Does it shatter anything it coats? It didn't do any visible damage to that sludge villain because of the special nature of his liquid body, but if it were used on other people, it would be deadly! It seems he needs to physically touch his target for it to function, that's a powerful quirk. It can be used for rescue, or incapacitating villains… but it seems its effects don't last long. The villain managed to gather his body back after a while. If it weren't for All Might, that boy would have been possessed. Fortunately, All Might appeared. That Detroit Smash was so powerful… this is my first time seeing it directly, the previous time when i almost got killed by the villain doesn't count because i was dizzy, I'm so lucky! With one punch he made it rain! As expected of All Might, even though he is injured and past his limits, he still saved people with a smile! Ah… I should apologize for causing trouble. If I hadn't held on to his leg, nothing would have happened. Maybe I should send an apology message on his official website."
Without knowing when, Midoriya had fully entered his rambling analysis mode. His quirk-analyzing instincts kicked in, and his mouth became like a gatling gun, firing analysis after analysis as his brain poured out ideas nonstop.
"I AM HERE!"
Suddenly, a powerful gust of wind stirred in front of Midoriya, snapping him out of his inner monologue. A muscular blond figure dashed out of the left intersection road while shouting his iconic line.
"A-ALL MIGHT! Why are you here? I thought you left because you reached the time limit!" Midoriya jumped in surprise. He even started doubting whether he had awakened a quirk that allowed him to summon All Might just by thinking about him.
"Ha ha ha ha ha… Don't worry, shonen! I'm fine! Why? BECAUSE I'M ALL MIG—pouhhh!"
A spray of blood burst from All Might's mouth. The familiar steam rose around him, melting away his heroic, larger form until only the thin, skeletal figure remained.
"Ahhh—!" Midoriya's shoulders jumped. Even after seeing it earlier, the sudden transformation shocked him every time.
"Cough… cough… ahem…"
All Might wiped the blood away. He stood in front of Midoriya in his skeleton-like form, but his aura didn't diminish in the slightest; in fact, it seemed sharper and more focused than usual.
He looked at him seriously and said, "Shonen… I come with thanks, a correction, and a suggestion."
"Huh?" Midoriya gripped the belt of his backpack, looking at All Might in confusion.
All Might's voice softened as he started explaining what he meant: "If you hadn't been there… if you hadn't told me about your life… I would have turned into a mere guy in a bodysuit who was all talk. So… thank you."
Midoriya's throat tightened: "That can't be… it was my fault in the first place. I got in the way of your work, and I said all those impertinent things even though I'm quirkless…"
Midoriya shook his head, unable to accept this thanks because of the consuming guilt.
All Might cut him off with a small, definitive shake of his head.
"That's right. It was because none other than the timid, quirkless you was at the scene that I was able to act!"
Midoriya's eyes widened, green irises catching the last of the sunlight like glass.
All Might continued, his voice steady with conviction.
"Top heroes have stories about themselves from their school days. Most of them have one thing in common, just like what you did back then for the blond boy, their bodies moved before they had a chance to think! That was true for you too, wasn't it?"
Midoriya's green eyes started glittering, then misted over.
His idol, the number one hero, recognized his feat and even said he was like the top heroes in their youth.
Without realizing it, tears began to gush from his eyes. His body trembled, he crouched down, trying to hold back the sobs, but the warmth of All Might's words, the words he had longed to hear even from his mom, the words representing his dream and aspiration that had been denied by everyone around him, now came from the one he respected most.
The memory of his mother's words, "I'm sorry, Izuku… I'm sorry, I'm sorry," resounded in his mind.
The faint, fragile memory echoed inside him, raw and painfully real.
His fingers pressed to his chest as though something beneath his ribs was finally cracking open.
All Might looked at the shaking, tearful boy. He understood that his words meant everything to this young man. He said what he felt he must say, No! He should Say and correct his previous statement.
"You can become a hero!"
Midoriya couldn't control himself anymore. He dropped to the ground, crying out all the negative emotions pressed in his chest, the self-doubt, the discrimination he had suffered, and the dreams he felt slipping farther away each day.
Sobs tore from his lips.
sniffle… hic… snuffle… echoing in the quiet street.
His chest shook violently, hands clutching at his heart as though trying to hold the fragile thing in place. The warmth of All Might's words wrapped around him, melting the cold ice of self-doubt that had frozen him for so long.
He cried until he felt the burden lifted.
All Might silently stood, letting the boy untangle the knot in his heart.
With a messy, tearful, snotty face, Midoriya looked up at the man he admired, a powerful thought forming in his mind.
The ultimate compliment, the thing he had longed to hear most, was now being offered by the man he admired most.
'Could anything be more shocking than this?'
All Might raised his hands, then brought them down with a decisive motion, saying something that made Midoriya's mind screech to a halt:
"You are worthy to inherit my power!"
For a heartbeat, the world turned silent.
"…Huh?" Midoriya squeaked, tilted his head, his face a mask of utter blankness. His tear-streaked cheeks were frozen in disbelief.
All Might took two steps forward, closing the distance to the dumbfounded boy. He lifted his hand dramatically, then dropped it to point at Midoriya. "Listen, young man," he repeated, his voice booming with forced enthusiasm. "You need to decide whether or not you will accept my power!" He said it so loudly and excitedly that he immediately sputtered a mouthful of blood, which he swiftly wiped away with the back of his hand.
"W-WHAT ARE YOU SAYING, ALL MIGHT?!" Izuku yelped.
Midoriya had literally understood the words, but the meaning was impossible. It was a solid, unchangeable fact in this world that Quirks were something people were born with, something inherited, genetic like hair color etc...
All Might instantly realized the young boy's confusion, seeing the panic behind his emerald eyes. He leaned in, his tone dropping to a serious, confidential murmur.
"Most people think I have 'Superhuman Strength,' or some kind of 'Muscle Boost' Quirk, and I constantly dodge the question during interviews with a funny joke." He puffed his hollow chest out for a moment, then winced visibly as his ribs protested the strain. "Because the Symbol of Peace, All Might, had to be a natural-born hero, a singular force of nature."
He paused, letting the silence settle like ash. Midoriya's eyes were glued to the skeletal hero, every nerve ending screaming.
"But young man, I'll tell you the truth…" All Might's voice deepened, taking on a gravitas Midoriya had never heard before. "My Quirk was passed on to me like a sacred torch."
All Might opened his arms wide, looking toward the sky at a forty-five-degree angle, and declared something that made Izuku's jaw dropped. Far behind a wall, hidden in shadow, another jaw dropped too.
"It was passed on to you?" Midoriya and Hawks repeated the sentence in staggered, absolute shock.
'What the hell is going on today?'
Hawks inwardly groaned, pressing his back harder against the cold brick, feathers trembling in disbelief.
'I came for one simple conversation. ONE. Instead I walk into a myth being real?!'
Hawks had been secretly trailing All Might, hoping to find a moment to discuss the intelligence he had accidentally gathered, specifically, the possibility of All For One's return under the guise of the League of Villains. He'd intended to wait until the green-haired kid left. When he heard All Might recognizing the boy's bravery, Hawks had scoffed inwardly. Telling a Quirkless kid he could be a hero was recklessly pushing him toward disaster. But now, hearing All Might's latest bombshell, he realized All Might wasn't reckless, he was insane.
'A power that can be passed on, and All Might wants to pass it to this kid? This is something straight out of a comic book!'