4

Inko did not waste any time withdrawing Izuku from his school come Monday morning. The principal put on a convincing act by wishing her son and herself well for the future, but she could see in his eyes that he was ecstatic to be rid of the "quirkless" boy. Apparently, Izuku's teacher did not inform his boss of the news after witnessing Izuku's healing act, or he hadn't had the opportunity to inform him yet. It didn't really matter to Inko; the school would burn and that teacher would feel her wrath all the same.

She did use that meeting as an opportunity to scope out anything incriminating in the principal's office, though. It was a little more spartan then her son had described, which was likely a result of her presence. The replica of Destro's mask was still present in a display case, though, so either he was too proud to hide that, or he was confident that a worrywart housewife wouldn't recognize it or pay it much attention. She'd have to make sure she got a picture of his face when everything came crashing down on him.

No one fucked with her son.

Speaking of, she still needed to call Mitsuki about what happened between their respective sons. She didn't know if Katsuki had mentioned anything about it to her, but she hadn't called or texted her about it at all, so Inko figured that Katsuki's pride was a little wounded. She didn't want to hold anything against her best friend's son; well, one of her best friends' sons, but that bastard Endeavor refused to let her help-

She killed that train of thought and took a deep breath. Exhaling, she promised herself that she wouldn't think about that right then. The Katsuki matter was more crucial, especially if he's being exposed to MLA indoctrination.

Finding her friend at the top of her contacts, she called her up.

"Hey, Inky, what's up? Ya don't usually call during business hours. Must be important."

"Hi, Mitsuki; did Katsuki tell you about what happened?"

There was a pause on the line, and Inko could tell that Mitsuki was hesitant to respond.

"Katsuki's been… quiet these last few days. He's been more irritable than normal, too, and he spent all of his time in his room and wouldn't come out, not even to eat. I don't know what happened on Friday. He wouldn't tell me."

"I think I know what's causing that. He and Izuku got into a bit of a scuffle, and Izuku manifested his quirk. A powerful one, too."

"Wait, that's it? The little shit isn't top dog anymore, and he's nursing his pride? HA! Serves him right. Hope this humbles him a little."

Inko sighed into the phone. "Yeah, but I wish that were the end of it."

"Did something happen to Little Izu?"

Inko's voice became as hard as steel. "No. The school, though, is a different story."

There was another silence on the line. "You're bringing out the hero voice. This must be serious."

"Izuku told me that Katsuki tried to viciously assault him in an alleyway after detention." After hearing Mitsuki gasp, she quickly continued. "He thinks that one of the teachers specifically influenced Katsuki to do it, and I have reason to believe him."

"Oh my god, Inko, I'm so sorry! I had no idea that it was this bad."

Inko filed that strange comment away for later. "It's fine, Mitsuki. I mean, it isn't, and I wish it hadn't happened, but I don't blame Katsuki, at least not entirely. It's the main reason I'm calling, actually. The school district is poisoned."

"What do you mean?"

"It's a rather long story, but let's just say that a collection of old school quirk supremacists are trying to amass a considerable following in the country, and they've got hands in a bunch of places, school districts included, to start converting impressionable people. Our school district is one of them."

"Holy shit… do I even want to know how you got that information? Oh shit, is Verdant coming out of retirement?"

"Mitsuki…"

"I know, I know, I'm sorry, but this sounds like really serious business. If there was ever a time for the Silent, Green Assassin to return-"

"Do not ever call me that, again."

"Still a sore subject, gotcha. I'm sorry."

Inko sighed once more. "No, it's fine. You're not even wrong, I just haven't accepted it, yet. Regardless, we're getting offtrack."

"Right. Should I move Katsuki to a new district?"

"That would be best for now. We still need to figure out just how far this influence has spread, though. I doubt this district is the only one in the city in need of a purge, so keep an eye out for anything fishy, and I'll keep an ear to the ground for any further developments."

"I'll follow your lead, Pro." Inko's long-suffering sigh only vindicated Mitsuki's smirk. "I'll just tell him the principal's a pedo if he asks questions. What are you planning to do for Izuku?"

"Can't say. Better that I don't say, actually. Hero business, and all that."

"So you ARE getting back into the game, huh?"

"Reluctantly, and only in an educator's capacity, but yes." At Mitsuki's inquisitive hum, she explained, "I was offered a job by the principal of UA. Given current events and potential future events, it was better that I took it."

"Ominous statements aside, I'm happy for you, Inko." She hesitated. "I'm sure she would be, too."

"She's not dead, Mitsuki."

"I know, but I also know that you're not going to tell her any of this."

"Are you?"

"Only if ya want me to. I see her every month, ya know." There was another pause. "She misses you, and I know you miss her too. You should go see her."

A much longer silence fell over them.

"I'll consider it."

"That's all I ask."

"If HE shows up, I'll disintegrate him like I did to Hisashi."

"YOU DID WHAT?!"

Realizing what she had revealed, Inko facepalmed. "Right, you probably wouldn't have heard. Funny story, actually…"

Learning under Nezu was nothing short of exciting for Izuku. Not only was he being taught directly by an active pro hero, but, for what felt like the first time, he had seemingly met a true intellectual superior. He supposed he was smart (frighteningly so for his age if his mother was to be believed), and he would even agree that his unnatural intelligence heavily contributed to his ostracism in school because "quirkless kids aren't supposed to be that smart," but Nezu was on a completely different level.

The first thing they did when Izuku arrived at UA was play a game of chess at Nezu's insistence. The chimera had seen his analytical skills at work, but he wanted to see if the boy had any knack for strategy and if he could plan on the fly if necessary. Izuku had never played before, but Nezu assured him that he would learn as he went.

And he did. He didn't win, of course; they played six games and Nezu handily defeated him each time, but each game was progressively more challenging for the super genius animal. He would even admit to second-guessing a move on one or two occasions.

Nezu very much enjoyed picking Izuku's brain afterward, giving him hypothetical scenarios and mock investigations to work through. He also formulated a plan for continuing the informatics training that the boy's mother started him on and potentially getting him some practical experience in the field. Creating a general middle school curriculum for him to complete was child's play, and he'd be sure to have Izuku complete it way ahead of schedule just for the official documentation.

One thing that stood out to Izuku, however, was Nezu's insistence on him wearing quirk-suppressant cuffs during every session. Nezu had a theory that he wanted to test out, and the best way to do that was to gauge Izuku's unassisted IQ. What they found was that Izuku, even without the white flames, was still mentally exceptional; he was not as capable as he would be otherwise, but he was still well ahead of his peers.

It gave credence to Nezu's theory that Izuku's quirk was an emitter with qualities of a mutation, which fascinated the chimera. It potentially meant that at least a few aspects (if not each aspect) of his quirk came with a distinct mutation to handle to handle the upper limits more easily. It made Izuku a natural quirk Frankenstein of sorts. He made a decision during one such session to outline the possibilities.

"Izuku, tell me each aspect of your quirk that you currently know of," Nezu instructed.

"Oh, alright. Do you want a full breakdown or just what I suspect the individual flames can do?" Izuku asked.

"Just the flames. I have a theory I want to test."

"Well, the base form of the quirk seems to be the conglomerate of all the flames. I registered it as 'Kaleidoscopic Fire" for simplicity's sake. They're colorful and hotter than average, and they burn rainbows into concrete when I'm projecting hard enough. My mom told me to keep it at that and to not go into detail about each aspect on the record."

"A wise decision. Continue."

"Well, so far, I know of red, yellow, white, pink, and green flames. The red flames have thus far been triggered by happiness or excitement when my quirk is active. It acts as a sort of supercharged version of the base form; they're significantly hotter than any other flame I've tried out so far. I have a natural resistance to fire, and even I can really feel the heat when the red flames are at full blast, and my mom has to stand at least ten feet away from me when we're training the upper limits of it. I've burned many outfits to ashes in the process."

"Interesting," Nezu spoke before taking a sip of tea from a cup he certainly did not have a second ago. "Please, continue."

Getting over his confusion at the phantom cup, Izuku moved forward with his explanation. "The white, yellow, and green flames, I've surmised, can be classified in the same group. The white flames enhance my brain power, the yellow flames enhance my speed in short bursts, and the green flames give me a pretty remarkable boost in strength. The downsides are that overusing them give me a migraine, strain my heart, and tear up my muscles, respectively. They all function like supercharged adrenaline."

"Fascinating. And the pink?"

"I can heal injuries at the cost of my stamina. I've only had one opportunity to try it out on someone else, and it was just mending a few broken fingers, but I didn't notice any scarring or anything to suggest advanced healing. In fact, his fingers sort of straightened themselves back to their prior state as if the damage was being reversed rather than healed. It's sort of like the inverse of Recovery Girl's quirk, I guess."

Nezu considered that point for a moment. "Do you believe it to be within your capabilities to rebuild organs?"

"Currently? No. It was a delayed reaction, but even healing those fingers took a lot out of me later on. Tending to the pain that the three other flames cause me takes more stamina than I'd like to admit, as well. I'd probably drain myself of everything I have and drop dead before I make any significant progress in an operation like that, at least right now."

Nezu nodded and hummed in thought. "I believe your quirk comes with a set of mutations that allow you to handle the strain of the individual flames better than most would. Pushing your limits and strengthening your endurance for each flame would be the most effective way to reduce the strain it causes you. I'll be sure to inform your mother about it so she can incorporate it into your training."

Izuku maintained a calm façade on the outside, but he was internally sweating bullets. If Nezu was able to see through the mask, he didn't mention it.

"On a similar note, I'll set up some time for you to shadow Recovery Girl during the day so that you get some practice with the healing aspect of your fire. There are not nearly enough field medics in heroics today."

"Is that because healing quirks are rare, or is it that those with healing quirks usually just end up going into medicine rather than heroics?" Izuku asked.

"A little of both. Recovery Girl is an anomaly amongst anomalies," Nezu chirped with a smile, and then his eyes flickered to a screen at the edge of his desk. "Ah, he's right on time."

Before Izuku could ask what the principal meant, there was a knock at the door. One enthusiastic "Come in!" from the chimera later, and the door opened to reveal a scraggly man with long black hair, a solid black outfit, and a long, white scarf. The man's eyes found Izuku immediately, and they narrowed in confusion.

"Aizawa, I'm glad you could make it," Nezu said with his trademark unsettling smile.

"You were expecting me?" Aizawa queried, and then he immediately deflated. "Of course, you were. Why am I even asking?"

"It's good to ask logical questions, Aizawa."

"There are never any logical answers when you're involved," Aizawa huffed before pointing to Izuku. "Who's the kid?"

"He's my newest student, Izuku Midoriya."

Aizawa narrowed his eyes even further at Izuku, seemingly trying to dissect him for everything he was worth. Izuku tried not to squirm under his gaze. He really did.

"He seems a little young to be a student here," Aizawa blandly pointed out.

"That's because he isn't yet. He still has a few more years until he can apply and become my official protégé," Nezu answered. "I doubt that's why you came here, however."

Sparring a final glance at Izuku as if he were trying to remember a vaguely familiar face, Aizawa turned back to his boss. "You hired a new teacher halfway through the year. I just wanted to figure out why. I haven't met them yet, before you ask."

Nezu took a sip of tea from a cup that Aizawa swore he did not have just a second prior. "Things are happening out in our small world, and it's important to prepare for potential worst case scenarios."

"Cryptic, and doesn't tell me anything," Aizawa grunted.

"Does the name 'Verdant' mean anything to you?" Nezu posed.

The sudden widening of Aizawa's eyes told Nezu and Izuku that it did. Now, Izuku was interested. His mom told him that she wasn't particularly popular publicly, but she was known well enough in the underground. Izuku didn't really recognize the man in front of him, but he knew that pro heroes taught at UA, so he assumed that he was an underground hero as well. Maybe they worked together in the past?

"She's part of why I even got into underground heroics. She dropped off the face of the planet a little over a decade ago, and a lot of people assume that she's dead. Why?"

'Ah, inspiration. It's cool that she inspired people as an underground pro. I wonder if she had merch…'

"I assure you that she's very much alive. Izuku can attest to that."

Aizawa's stare bored into Izuku even harder than before. Try as he might, the boy fidgeted under the intense gaze until he was saved by said gaze flickering to Nezu in suspicion. That reprieve was short-lived, however, as the man's eyes returned to him and planted him in his seat. Recognition soon blossomed within Aizawa, and he faced Nezu with more emotion in than the man thought possible.

"You've gotta be shitting me."

Over the following years, Izuku's training had ramped up considerably on several fronts. He had long since completed middle school with Nezu and focused primarily on improving his strategy and tactical acumen as well as his analytical prowess. When they weren't discussing potential wartime scenarios, Nezu was even getting Izuku's opinions on how to improve UA's security to avoid potential villain attacks or infiltration. Over time, Nezu found that he was running out of things to teach the hero-hopeful, and that made him positively ecstatic.

The feeling was not shared amongst the UA faculty whom all lamented in despair at the prospect of having two Nezus when Izuku officially started attending the school.

Power Loader in particular wanted to be as far away from Izuku as possible. The boy wasn't a support technician by any means, but when that cursed white fire made an appearance whenever he was in or near the Development Studio for whatever reason, the schematics for support items he'd whip up made the man both salivate and shudder in fear. Anyone who could conceptualize a pair of nail clippers that somehow managed to violate the Geneva Conventions didn't need to be anywhere near a support lab.

His experiences with the other faculty were varied; Aizawa (he still hadn't figured out which pro hero the man was) maintained a healthy distance from him out of respect (and fear) of his mother, but he was largely cordial otherwise. Present Mic, after hearing his best friend recount the story of Verdant ending a hostage situation by taking the villain's gun with her quirk and literally shooting him in the foot with it, decided to exercise the same amount of caution, but he still offered Izuku a bright and overly loud greeting when they saw each other.

Midnight, however, had taken to him the fastest, positioning herself as the cool aunt when she saw his analysis of her and her quirk when they first met. Izuku's idea of using her quirk to create somnambulist smoke bombs solidified his place as her favorite unofficial student.

Physical training had intensified the most. When he started to get older and began approaching the age in which he'd attempt the entrance exam, his mother decided that it was time to take the kid gloves off. Izuku didn't believe her at first because he never once got the impression that she was ever going easy on him. She quickly dispelled that notion in their next spar.

And the next one.

And the one after that.

And every spar after that.

That led Izuku, now 14 years old, to his current predicament:

"You're gonna have to be a lot faster than that if you hope to land a hit!"

Izuku huffed in frustration at his mother's taunt. They'd been at it for 15 minutes, and he had yet to land a single hit on her. They had been training in Ground Beta on a Saturday to ensure they had the place to themselves, and Izuku was tasked with landing 5 hits on Inko. Ordinarily, this wouldn't be such an arduous task. Over the years, Izuku had begun to catch up with his mother in height and strength, so with a simple application of yellow flames to even the playing field in speed, he could keep pace with her in a traditional spar.

This was not a traditional spar.

Izuku was instructed to only attack from a distance by using his kaleidoscopic fire in projectile form. He was allowed to stream it, launch fireballs, create colorful explosions, etc. He could use any techniques or applications of his flames at his disposal so long as he landed five hits. It was the reverse of the dodge training that still haunted Izuku's nightmares 9 years later.

The problem was that his mother was not holding back anymore. She didn't attack, sure, but she had decades of training and real world experience on him, and she was using every bit of it to remain just out of Izuku's reach every time. He'd launch a fireball at her and she'd dodge it with minimal effort. He'd immerse both hands in fire and unleash a barrage of fireballs in a single area to pepper her with burns, and she'd narrowly escape being tagged by the slimmest of margins by employing some, frankly, bullshit feats of athleticism and flexibility.

He'd engulf each arm in a brilliant blaze and launch twin waves of mosaic inferno that converge to create a violently colorful sea of fire for no other reason that to remove any places that she could escape to; in response, she'd kick through a car window and use the newly unlocked car door as cover from the inferno before ultimately escaping through the other side of the car and up the fire escape of a building, all without so much as a burn on her.

It was truly maddening for the teen.

"Think, Izuku! You're not using your head in fights anymore!" she shouted at him from atop a building overlooking the colorful sea of fire.

Her comments were also not helping matters at all. Izuku had no idea how to even approach a problem like that. He couldn't touch her if she only focused on evasion. His flames just weren't fast enough, apparently, and she can weasel her way out of just about any trap he tried to rope her into. What the hell do you do when you can't get so much as a glancing blow on your opponent?

"You certainly don't stand around and mutter while your opponent sneaks up behind you."

Izuku jumped out of his skin when he heard her voice next to his ear, unconsciously turning a bright crimson and nearly igniting the red flames in all directions. He got a hold of himself before he could actually do any damage, and he was stuck as a panting mess with his hands on his knees.

"Let's break here," Inko said softly. "You did really well."

Izuku looked up at her, his face practically dripping with incredulity. "I didn't land a single hit on you."

"You weren't supposed to." At his puzzled expression, she explained, "This exercise was meant to both humble you and gauge your current maximum. You're good; really good for someone your age, certainly, and the fact that I had to try as hard as I did only proved that. With that said, being around pros all the time that compliment your abilities and progress might have inflated your ego a little bit. What happened today was to remind you that there's a massive gulf between where you are currently and anyone with a decent amount of actual experience."

Izuku took the explanation with a constipated expression. He knew that, logically, she was right, and it was a bitter pill to swallow. She had been keeping away from every single one of his attacks and making it look easy; had she ever actually decided to attack, he wouldn't have stood a chance. That fact really ate at him.

On the other hand, he was specifically limited in what he could do by the rules of the exercise, but he supposed that she limited herself as well by never going on the offensive. As a pure test of his ability to hit a constantly moving target, it was a fair one… right? Had he been able to move in and attack from close range, he would have scored a hit and done much better, right?

Right?

He was pulled out of his spiral by a hand on his shoulder and his mother's concerned expression.

"Are you okay?" she asked with a hint of worry in her voice.

Izuku took a few seconds to gather his thoughts. He nodded, and his face became resolute with determination. "Yeah, I'm good. I just need to get better. I need to get stronger. I need to improve."

'I need to prove that training me wasn't a waste of your time.'

Unaware of his errant thought, Inko gave him a warm smile. "And you will. I truly believe that."

A few days had passed since the "reality check" training session, and Inko had been away in Mie to investigate a lead on a trigger operation for Nezu. Having the house to himself and given the day off by Nezu, Izuku found himself alone with only his thoughts. The training session and following discussion kept replaying in his mind, and each time, the conclusion left an even more bitter taste in his mouth.

"Almost a decade of training, and I'm still nothing in comparison to her… to any pro," he lamented while sitting on the edge of his bed.

Clenching his fists, he could feel the heat within him pulse in response to his emotions. It wasn't anything he was unfamiliar with since his quirk had periodically hummed and fluctuated with his mood in the past; however, something else was there. It was only for a moment, but Izuku felt a brief spark of… darkness? He struggled to find any other words to describe the sensation, but he felt a twinge of black within the spark. It was gone as soon as it appeared, and it did not feel particularly inviting to him, which made him wary.

With a huff, he decided to go for a jog through the neighborhood to clear his mind of any self-doubt and quirk-related nonsense. Not having any particular destination in mind, he set off into the cool, spring morning. He ended up slowing down near Dagobah Beach, and on a whim, he changed direction and entered the unofficial dumping grounds.

Meandering through the piles of trash for a few minutes, he took in the sorry state of the polluted beach. He then exited the garbage fortress and returned to the roadside, getting an overview of the place. Anyone wanting a nice view of the ocean would be sorely disappointed.

"Someone really needs to come clean this place," he muttered to no one.

"They really do," spoke a voice next to him.

It took everything Izuku had to not jump out of his skin. He turned his head and fixed the new arrival with a pointed glare.

"Either my situational awareness has really become piss poor, or you have experience sneaking up on young teenagers," Izuku said with a little more bite than was probably necessary.

The man proceeded to hack a concerning amount of blood at Izuku's statement.

"Oh my god, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to startle you so badly that I'd harm you! Are you okay?! Here, let me help!" Izuku frantically sputtered out while trying to apply a hand bathed in pink fire to the man's chest. The man tried to assure Izuku that he was fine, sparing curious glances at the strange fire in the boy's hand.

Izuku was finally able to get a good look at the guy that snuck up on him. He was a tall, rail-thin man with blond hair and sunken blue eyes. He had a handkerchief in hand with older bloodstains on it, so Izuku assumed that he had some sort of condition and was used to the occurrence.

"What's a youngster like you doing out here on this beach?" the man asked him.

"I was out for a jog to clear my head, and I just kinda ended up here, I guess," Izuku answered.

"Trouble at home?"

"No; well, not entirely."

"Would you like to talk about it? That usually helps."

"It's nothing major, really. I've just been training for a while, and I don't know if I'm living up to expectations."

The blonde man nodded and motioned for him to sit on a nearby bench.

"What are you training for, if I may?" the man asked as the two sat down.

A faint smile made its way to Izuku's face. "To be a hero. I've wanted to be one for as long as I could form complete sentences."

The man hummed approvingly, his blond hair billowing in his face with the breeze. "Why do you want to be a hero, young man?"

Izuku opened his mouth to answer, but he paused, and he remained silent for a few moments to really think about the question. His first instinct was to say that he wanted to be "the best damn hero to come out of Musutafu" like he declared when he was 5, but why?

"When I was really young, I idolized All Might." He did not notice the slight twitch from the older man at the mention of All Might. "Hell, I still kinda do. He's so ridiculously powerful and heroic, and I wanted to be just like him. I wanted to be a hero and save people with a blinding smile just like he does. Then, I was diagnosed as quirkless."

The man's eyes slightly widened and he raised an eyebrow. "And you're still training to be a hero?"

"Well, that's the thing; I was either misdiagnosed, or I was just a late bloomer," Izuku answered with a chuckle. "Either way, I have a quirk now, but even back when I thought I didn't, my mother was willing to train me to become a hero without one. She wanted to help me follow my dream, quirk status be damned."

"She sounds like a great mother."

"Well, I don't really have any other mothers to compare her to, so I'll have to agree for now," Izuku joked.

The man chuckled, and his eyes became somewhat vacant while he looked over Izuku, as if he was seeing someone else. Shaking it off, he allowed the boy to continue.

"I trained with her for years in everything she thought I'd need to know to become a competent hero without any inherent advantages. I learned how to defend myself, evade danger, investigate, and how to defuse situations, all without the use of a quirk. And then my quirk came in, and everything changed, I guess? I could no longer become the best quirkless hero ever, so I had to pivot to just being the best hero ever. But… why?

"I still want to save people with a smile and instill a sense of hope with my presence like All Might, but isn't that something every hero should aspire to do?" He paused. "I guess I really want to be a pillar for those at the bottom of society, like the quirkless and the mistreated, but can I really live up to a goal like that when I don't even know if I can live up to my own mom's legacy?"

'Legacy? His mom must be a retired pro, then. I wonder if I've heard of her,' the man mused to himself.

Izuku sighed. "What am I even training for, you know? Sometimes I feel like I'm making no tangible progress, while the end goal still feels as nebulous as ever. I don't want the effort my mom put into me to go to waste, and I want to feel like I'm doing all of this for… something, you know?"

"I do," the man softly replied. "I'm certain that your mother would be proud of you regardless of what kind of hero you become."

"Yeah," Izuku conceded with a chuckle, "she would. She always would. I just don't often feel like I deserve it these last few years." He stood up from the bench and started to stretch his back and shoulders. "Well, I have 10 months until the UA entrance exam. I guess I have until then to figure it out."

"You will," the man assured him with a smile. "I'm sure of it. You already have the makings of an excellent hero if you're asking these questions now rather than later on."

Izuku, for some reason he couldn't at all identify, momentarily felt weightless at the praise. It was strange, but he paid it no further mind. "Thank you, um…"

"You can call me Yagi."

"Okay, thank you Mr. Yagi. My name's Izuku Midioriya. Keep an eye out for that name in the future."

Feeling reinvigorated, Izuku waved a small goodbye and continued his jog back in the direction of his home. Yagi watched him leave with a small, fond smile.

"That boy reminds me so much of Sensei. I wonder if he's the one..."

Internally, Yagi could feel One For All seemingly hum in agreement.

...And longing?