29

Chapter 29: Sorahiko, Nana, ToshinoriNotes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Eri stopped her hands from moving, letting go of the yellow crayon as the coloring book slid down. She shook, interrupting the careful movement up and down her hair. 

"You won't be here anymore?" Eri asked out of reflex as soon as she heard Izuku's words, turning towards him. Now her hands were starting to shake, and the words poured out of her. "Did I do something wrong? Are you angry? Did I-" 

"No no no! Of course not!" Izuku kneeled before her, put down the hairbrush immediately and gently took her hands in his own. "I could never be angry at you, Eri. And I'd never leave you." 

She felt her eyes starting to blur as she blinked, moving forward to cling onto him. 

"W-Why?" 

Why did he have to leave, she wanted to ask, but the complexity of the phrase escaped her in the moment. But Izuku seemed to know what she meant. He always did. 

"Because there are many people out there that need saving. Just as you did, Eri," he whispered, hugging back, comforting her. "I want to help, because that's what's right to do." 

Eri hummed, understanding a bit more. Izuku liked to help people. It made sense, he had even helped someone like her. He murmured more words of explanation like how he would always come back to her, but he didn't need to. 

She liked Izuku. Izuku came to see her every day, but he never hurt her like those that came to see her before. Izuku brought her good things to eat, and everything he made was de- del- very good. Izuku showed her many things, reading every book she pointed to and showing her pictures. He was teaching her how to draw and color like he did. Izuku took care of her. Izuku kept her safe. 

"I don't want you to leave," she spoke, her voice a bit muffled by keeping her face on his chest. 

What was that word Aunt Nem read her the other day? Was she... throwing a... tantrum? 

"It's only for a little while, Eri," he spoke with that big smile of his. She had tried to copy it in the mirror, but she wasn't even close. "I'll only be away for a week. You know how much that is, right?" 

She nodded, sniffing, but proudly raising seven fingers. "Y-Yes. Seven days." 

Nezu was teaching her numbers. He said she was good. She could already count to a hundred, and she only made three mistakes last time! 

"Good," Izuku smiled more as he brushed her hair. "I'll come back soon, and then I can spend a whole day with you. We can go meet some of the others, maybe eat with them? Would you like that?" 

She would like that. She didn't remember too many names, because there were a lot of Izuku's friends there, but she remembered how happy they looked. Happy to be with her, maybe. And she had a... horn baddy? Horn buddy? Horn something with Mina. She seemed very nice. 

"Y-Yes," she nodded, a bit more eager, locking eyes with him to be sure of his words. "As soon as you come back, ok?" 

"Yes," the boy chuckled, releasing her from the hug as she did. "Now, let's get some breakfast. I made you an apple pie." 

Her eyes widened in glee before she jumped up, grabbing onto his arm to have him rest her on his shoulders. She liked to see the world from above his fluffy green hair.

"Um, All Might?" 

The boy turned towards him, some confusion apparent on his face as he interrupted their ongoing conversation about his class's training progresses. 

Toshinori decided to let him be less formal first. "Young Midoriya, I've told you that you can call me Yagi when I'm in this form," he said with a calm smile. 

It wasn't like it would have been easy to drive around without getting too much attention in his muscly form, or with one of his more costly and bigger vehicles. No, his current leaner body was perfectly unassuming for someone driving a car you could see anywhere. 

"R-Right," the boy nodded, "sorry. Uh, Yagi, I wanted to ask... We're not going to your Agency, are we?" 

He raised an eyebrow. Had he ruined the surprise? 

"Ah, and what makes you think that?" 

Midoriya rubbed the back of his neck. 

"Um, we just turned right, and Tokyo was the other way..." 

He hadn't taken that into account when he had thought of surprising him. The kid kept being pretty intuitive! 

"Ah! You're right, we're not going there after all!" Toshinori laughed a bit, stopping just before he could start to cough blood. "I thought it would have gathered a lot on unwanted attention, definitely more than I could handle with my tight timeframe. And I didn't want you to be thrown to the media sharks even more than you already have," the man explained his reasoning. He had received a dozen messages from his secretaries about the unending wall of snoopers waiting before Might Tower to get a glimpse of him and his newest (and only) intern. Young Midoriya didn't have to be subjected to that so soon. 

"I see..." the boy muttered, the tone of dejection in his voice not lost on Toshinori. 

- Ah, the diehard fan in him must be crying. Not on my watch! - 

"Do not worry, Young Midoriya," he tried to show a reassuring smirk, which was hard when he had to keep both eyes on the road. "I assure you, you will have all the time in the world to visit Might Tower at your leisure in the future. I can't leave my successor start emptyhanded, can I?" 

After a second of staring (he must have been taking in the sudden news), the boy beamed, thanking him repeatedly by bowing his head repeatedly despite the limited space. 

"It's the least I could do," he chuckled as Midoriya stopped his antics. 

"I still want to thank you properly," the boy warmly replied. "But now I'm curious. Where are we going then?" 

"Ahah, of course you would be. I'm taking you to see an old friend of mine. He was my homeroom teacher back when I went to U.A. myself," he tried (and hopefully managed) to keep his reflex to tremble in check. "He's an old Hero who's been retired for a while, but he contacted me after the Sports Festival. You see, he also knows about One For All." 

"Oooh, someone else you trusted! I'm honored, he must have been an amazing Hero." The fanboy in Midoriya showed himself again as his eyes sparkled. 

"He sure was... He's good, if a tad scary at times. Brutally honest, but he knows how to make someone work hard. But I'm sure you- we'll manage," he swallowed. 

"I can't wait," Midoriya appeared excited nonetheless, "there isn't much to find about you before your days in the US, so just getting a glimpse into that it's more than any fan could ask for." 

Toshinori nodded. Nezu and the HPSC had purposedly hidden most, if not all, of his past, both to hide his Quirk and his harshest times before he became a full-fledged symbol. Putting on that mantle had meant a life married to Lady Justice, and not a lot of people he could truly call friends. But even if he could, he wouldn't change what he had done, nor regret it. 

He just needed to be sure that his young successor could do things differently, at his own leisure. 

"So, what's his name?" Young Midoriya asked, surely trying to fill the holes in his knowledge. 

Yagi turned the wheel, taking the exit. They were only a few minutes from their destination now... only so much time to steel himself before meeting the old man. Had it really been six years since their last meeting? 

"Gran Torino."

Whatever Sorahiko had been expecting from Toshinori's successor, this wasn't it. 

Not to say that the boy wasn't good. Quite the contrary. 

He was very capable for someone his age, and if the tournament he'd seen him win hadn't been enough to confirm that, then the sparring and all the little tricks he'd just subjected him to had cemented the fact. 

He'd been perceptive enough to notice his fake-blood trick right off the bat, which had instead caused Toshi to sputter. 

He had taken a moment to answer his "Who are you?" question, but he'd confidently responded with his name and his Hero Alias. Neither was less important to the boy, which was good. It meant he wouldn't end up like him or his moron student. 

He had reacted in time to his first surprise attack, dodging before Sorahiko's foot could hit the back of his head, rolling away and fighting back without the need to be told to start. 

He seemed proud, but not full of himself. Nice, but not overly worried. Thoughtful, but not lost in his mind. Focused, but not isolated. 

He wasn't letting himself be shackled by everything All Might was, he wasn't trying to be the spitting image of the Number 1. His weirdly functional mixed fighting style was clearly more complex than All Might's boxing-like approach, and it had clearly been tailor-made by the kid himself by stealing moves from a variety of sources. 

He'd been kept on his toes during their sparring, but he had been way closer to catching him than the old man would have thought possible. In certain moments, if Sorahiko hadn't sped up, he would have managed the feat. 

The kid was good. Almost too good. 

Something in the boy ticked him wrong. Torino felt like he was missing something, but he just couldn't get what it was. He felt it in his old bones. 

"Go get us something to eat, Toshinori," he grumbled, as the hours had been flying and they were getting the last drops of daylight. 

The lanky blonde sighed. "Alright, I'll see you two in a bit. Don't go too hard on him while I'm not here, okay?" 

"As if I'd stop just for you oaf," he snorted, shaking his head. "Come on, I'm starving!" 

"I'm going, I'm going," the man chuckled, stepping out in a hurry with a quick goodbye to his student. 

Now alone in the building, Sorahiko waited a couple of seconds for Toshinori to step away, then turned towards the kid. Midoriya was facing the other way, seemingly trying some respiratory exercises, for some reason. Maybe he needed to spike himself up? 

"Come on, you neophyte," Torino barked, playing the slave-driver role all too well. "We're good for at least another spar before dinner! Get your legs going!" 

The kid passed his hands over his face, clearing his throat and breathing out deeply before talking. 

"Phew, I thought Toshi was never gonna leave." 

- Toshi? The kid seemed barely comfortable with calling the oaf Yagi, let alone use a nickname. - 

When Midoriya turned, he gave off somewhat of a different impression. His back was straighter, he was keeping his hands on his hips, and his smile felt... different. 

"You've grown old, Sora. I'm surprised you haven't gone fully senile yet." The boy's voice was the same, but the tone wasn't his. 

The old Hero frowned. - What the hell, no one's called me Sora since- - 

Something clicked. His mouth was moving before he could stop it. 

"Nana?" he uttered. The name he hadn't spoken for too long still felt heavy on his tongue and chest. 

Midoriya kept his smile as he nodded. "At least in spirit." 

Many men with as many regrets as Gran Torino had would have fallen to their knees at that. How does one deal with the sudden appearance of your old best friend, who's been dead for decades, talking through the body of her successor's successor? 

But Sorahiko wasn't an inexperienced twerp. He was battle ready in a fraction of a second, his every instinct ready to face whatever surprise could be hidden behind such a trap. The veteran of a thousand battles hadn't lived this long by underestimating and discarding dangers in front of him. 

"Proof," he spoke through his teeth. "Something only she would know." 

The boy nodded again, this time a little more seriously. "I hid Kotaro in a foster family after Nobuo was killed. Neither of us could know where he ended up, for his safety." 

"Toshinori also knows that," he deadpanned. He doubted the man would have spoken of it, not without asking or for a very good reason, but the possibility was there. 

"Right... Ah." The kid looked thoughtful for a moment before snapping his fingers. "Only the two of us knew that you pitched in for the wedding. We would have never been able to make it otherwise." The look in his eyes was that of someone extremely thankful, almost on the verge of tears. "You gave up that car you wanted too..." 

Sorahiko didn't need to hear anything else. They'd kept his economic help a secret from her husband, who might have refused it out of pride, attributing it to a bonus she'd receiver for a big catch. He'd given her a lot from his own savings, forgetting about a deal for an amazing Ford Torino Cobra in mint condition. His best friend's happiness was more important than some car. 

Letting go of his anger and concerns, Sorahiko stepped closer. He was old now, and he had never been one for hugs, so he gently placed his hand on the kid's. He had to know what was happening before he made any more decisions. 

"I get it, it's you, Nana," he sighed, having to say it to accept it himself. Playing the gruff elder with no room for nonsense was hard enough while he had a lump in his throat. "Now, do you want to tell me what's going on, Air-Head?" 

Midoriya's face filled with shock for a moment before turning into a smirk. "Yeah, Jet-Head. There's a lot to catch you up on."

"I'm too old for this shit." Torino grunted, massaging his forehead with his fingers. 

"Nana agrees," Izuku chuckled. "But trust me, you've taken it well. You're always in my top three of people that can just listen to this stuff and not scream immediately." 

"Oh, I want to scream alright," the elder responded, tapping his cane to the ground, "but how can I do that when the oaf is sleeping downstairs?" 

"Sorry," he said, without too much conviction. "It's for his own good." 

Gran Torino could be trusted with knowing of his problem, but All Might could not. 

Izuku trusted Toshinori with all of his heart. He thought of him as the father figure he had never had. But he also knew that he would be reckless if the enemy was All For One, to his own detriment. 

Toshi wasn't an idiot and, given the information, he would easily gather how he knew enough about the Boogeyman to pinpoint exactly where he could be. At best, lying wouldn't work, and usually it would just end up making things worse. If it came to that, Izuku would have to reveal everything, hoping he could talk the man out of it. 

Could his words alone stop All Might from going towards his early demise? Yes. 

Yagi could be convinced not to go, perhaps with Nezu's help, and a better plan could be hatched. But nothing had ever seemed to stop the Root of All Evil truly and definitely, no matter how many times he'd planned and tried. 

Too many had fallen in those attempts, as the bastard didn't have any reason to hold back. Those lives were worth saving, and if the price was keeping a secret from Toshinori, so be it. 

The only way to catch All For One and move forward, without hundreds or thousands of dead, was for the man to let himself be captured. Something that would only happen for Shigaraki's "sake."

Izuku despised the man beyond belief.

At least Izuku knew that Gran Torino would be on his side. The Hero understood all too well what the price of facing dangers unprepared was, and he would never willingly pay it again. He would take the secret to his grave if necessary, and do everything in his power to help what remained of Nana's legacy. 

Izuku had found a great ally in Sorahiko, someone else who cared and whom he could trust implicitly. The old man, despite his bitterness and bad manners, was one of those he was proud to call family. Though the old coot had never let himself be called "Grandpa Torino," for some reason. 

Torino huffed. "I get it, I've taught that hot-headed boy everything he knows. He might have gotten some of my stubbornness too." 

"It's your greatest trait," Izuku joked, knowing full well that their hard-headedness was something the three had in common. 

"Damn, and here I was, thinking that he was the greatest pain in the ass I had ever had to face," Torino shot back, making them both chuckle. 

A few second passed in silence, the man finishing his digestion of the discussion.

"Nana's still there with you?" 

"Always," her voice whispered, both soothing and sad. 

"Always," he answered, grateful. "They don't remember either, but they're always with me." 

Torino let out a hoarse hum. "Good." 

The old man got up, stepping away towards the door. Before he could leave, Izuku spoke. 

"She doesn't blame you for anything, you know?" he said, as gently as he could. 

Torino stopped, staying immobile for a couple of seconds. "I do." Nobody could say if he meant that he knew, or that he blamed himself. 

"You've done all that you could, and more," he added, shifting his tone just a little. "You've been a great Hero, Sora." 

The man let out a shaky breath, his back getting slightly less hunched for a moment. 

"Get some sleep, zygote. We got a long day ahead of you tomorrow." He closed the door behind himself, his expression unreadable. 

As Izuku laid on his mattress, the Seventh's voice whispered into his ear. 

"Thank you, Sprout."  

- He's my family too, Nana, - he thought, taking in the quiet sobbing. - Thank you for being here. - 

That night, after being lulled to sleep, he managed to have a rest without dreams.

Toshinori had kept himself in check during the first day, letting his student get acclimatized to Gran Torino's style and getting the two to be more comfortable around each other before moving on to hard-to-stomach talks. 

The boy and the elder seemed to have bonded over their sparring and quipping, and Midoriya could now interact with him without most of his nervous stuttering. Gran's methods were scarily effective. 

Steeling himself to get the courage to start the conversation, he cleared his throat. 

"So, Young Midoriya," Toshinori spoke through bites and sips of his ramen bowl, "I think it's time we talked about the powers you've been developing lately..." 

"Ah, yes!" the greenette immediately shot up, his eyes as big as saucers. "I wanted to ask you, but it never seemed like a good time, and I've been getting the hang of them somewhat, but I thought that we could understand them better together, or maybe that you knew-" 

Gran hit the back of the boy's head with his cane. "Breathe, zygote." 

"Easy there," he raised a hand, too late to stop the rambling, chuckling at his successor's usual surplus of excitement. "It's alright, I never said anything about it because I wanted Gran to be present too." 

Izuku turned towards the grunting old man. "Uh, why is that?" 

"We both believe that you might have awakened a part of the power of the previous users," Yagi said, seeing the boy's eyes grow wider. 

"Wha- I-" the greenette, turned to look down, thoughtful. "Previous users?" 

Yagi nodded, starting to tell the tale of two brothers as it had been handed down to him by Nana. Young Midoriya listened intently, only letting out a mumbled commented when he finished. 

"So I was right... One For All wasn't yours at first, it was passed down... eight times?" 

"Told you he would get that easily," the old man huffed, slurping his portion. 

"Ah! I should have figured," he shook his head, pleased. "I've chosen a smart successor." 

"Can't say the same about Nana," Torino chuckled, making him huff. 

Izuku looked curious. "Nana? Was she you teacher?" 

"Indeed!" Toshinori nodded. "One of the best Heroes this nation has ever seen, Seventh Wonder!" 

"She sounds great," the boy smiled. 

"She truly was." He looked up, reveling in the memories. "She knew that a Hero should always smile, to save the people's lives and their hearts." 

"She was my partner for a long time," Torino interjected, his eyes closed. "We went to U.A. together, a lifetime ago. I saw her learning how to use One For All firsthand, so afterwards I was the only candidate fit to teach this moron how to do the same." 

Toshinori sighed, the veil of sadness surpassing the terrible memories of his own training. 

"I'm sorry for your loss," Midoriya bowed his head gently, his tone a clear indicator of sincerity, then turned towards Gran. "If she was your partner... she could fly, couldn't she?" 

- I shouldn't even be surprised by now, - Toshinori thought with pride. 

Torino nodded. "[Float] was her Quirk. As a kid she could barely levitate, but with that extra oomph you've got she could soar like a plane," the old man reminisced with a smile. 

"But that's not something you can do, right?" Izuku turned towards him as he replied. 

"Yes, that wasn't the case for me." Toshinori locked eyes with him, his green orbs focused beyond belief. "To tell you the truth, I was also a natural born Quirkless, Young Midoriya." 

The kid's mouth hung open. "I never knew." 

"You didn't ask," Yagi let out a breath, bowing lightly, "but I want to once again tell you that I'm sorry for what I said back when we first met. It was terribly hypocritical of me." 

Izuku quickly waved his hands in denial. "T-There's no need to, Yagi! Please!" 

"What's right is right, kid," Gran Torino huffed, shooting him a look both scolding and understanding. "At least the blockhead knows to repair his own mistakes." 

"I sure hope so." 

Gran's word shut the kid up, making Midoriya sit back and keep listening. 

"You see, after you've told me how you dreamed of eight figures looking at you after the U.S.J., I've been thinking a lot about One For All." 

The description, confirmed as truth by Tsukauchi, had been hauntingly foreign, but not something he'd attributed to tiredness or Quirk overuse. [One For All] wasn't like any other Quirk. 

"I've never experienced anything similar, and I never had any Quirk whose potency I could increase, so I always attributed my limitations to my original Quirklessness. But now you've already used powers from two of the previous holders, so we're sure something must have changed." 

He took out a small folder, placing and opening it in front of his successor. 

"This is everything I could find on the previous users. It's not a lot, and there wasn't anything I could do about the Second and Third users, but-" 

"It will help a lot!" Midoriya rejoiced, his eyes gleaming at the prospect of some Quirk analysis. "You must have spent so much time looking for these! Thank you!" 

"It was nothing," Toshinori smiled. Whatever made his boy happy, made him happy too. 

"Enough with the fuss," Gran grunted, tapping on the table "Get to reading! We've got a lot to go through!" 

"S-Sure!" Izuku stuttered, picking up one of the papers and starting his voyage into the past. 

Seeing his student and his master discussing, he couldn't help but feel content... but the wound ached. 

Unseen, Toshinori's hands slid to his stale injury. The scar still sent shivers down his spine. It was debilitating, a death sentence slowly ticking. His embers would keep fading, and there was nothing he could do about it. Nothing but enduring. 

- I need to keep going. I can't let go now. - 

He would do whatever it took to keep him safe, to be a better teacher, to be there for him. If All For One was still out there, waiting for his chance to strike, he would never let him get his dirty hands on the boy, but he would protect him and keep living for him. 

Toshinori hadn't been that lucky with Nana, but he wouldn't leave Young Midoriya with a dead master. 

No matter how much the odds were stacked against him, he would be sure to tip the scales. 

Notes:

It's been a while since I had Eri appear, and I just had to rectify that.

And Sorahiko Torino is the fourth to be introduced to the mess that Izuku's life has become! I like the old man's vibes, and with Nana being already in the picture at this point of the story, it was a given. Now Izuku has someone to sigh along to "I'm too old for this shit"!

Also, Toshinori had a "slight" change of perspective. Most of his interactions with Izuku have happened "off-screen", but they were there. They'll come into focus when it's time for Yagi to face the truth.