Chapter Text
A week after Hatsume gave him his new costume, Izuku is finally allowed a taste of real hero work. He’s gotten a few of his quirks under control in the meantime, able to fly around with Soar about as well as he could with Float, and has gotten good at manipulating objects with Hydra thanks to more lessons with Tokoyami. Springlike Limbs, along with the super strength Tenko’s body was gifted with are both under acceptable levels of control, no longer permanently at risk of crushing whatever he touches or ripping doors off their hinges.
He hasn’t bothered with Shining Skin yet, as, although a decent quirk in its own right, is not very helpful to the rescue efforts. Action Replay is still near impossible for him to grasp, Pain Attunement has been misbehaving recently, though, he has thankfully started to get his Singularity growthboosting under some semblance of control.
And as for Decay…
Izuku takes a deep breath, crouching down in front of his class and carefully laying a single finger on the ground, allowing a ripple of antibodies to pour forth, directing them to climb up the massive pile of rubble left in the wake of Kacchan’s battle with All for One. He watches as cracks spread all throughout the structure, the entire thing buckling as he places a second finger on the ground, amping up Decay’s power and crumbling the whole building into a pile of dust.
As soon as it’s over, Izuku wrenches his hand away from the ground, clenching and unclenching his fist in an unsuccessful attempt to get his hand to stop shaking.
He can feel himself start to spiral for a moment before two hands land on his shoulders, pulling him from his own head with a jolt.
“Hey,” Kacchan says to him, his voice low. “You did good, got that, Deku? You just saved us like an hour and a half of clean up. You’re not him. You didn’t hurt anyone.”
Izuku takes a deep breath in as his best friend steps away from him. “Thanks, Kacchan. It’s just…”
“I know. Don’t let it get to you,” he warns.
As Kacchan blasts away, Izuku soars upwards, leaping onto the roof of the building they’re using as a temporary base to overlook the ruins of Mustuafu, looking down on the massive gouges in the terrain from the war that was fought there.
He wishes Shoto was here, but apparently visitation opened up at the hospital, so he got an exemption from Aizawa-sensei for the afternoon to go visit his family. I wonder if he counts Dabi among that number.
Izuku sighs powerfully to himself, trying to ignore the clawing weariness in his bones. Decay is still barely under control, and public pressure is only getting worse, both on him and on the school at large. As his friends, his teachers, and his mom have assured him, there’s no chance that the people calling for his summary execution will ever get what they want, but when uncountable voices are calling for your death every day, it grates on you.
Japan as a whole is still in absolute chaos, with more and more PLF remnants making themselves known each day, trying to avenge their former leader, and even with the massive amount of heroes in the country thanks to the aid granted to them from heroes all around the world, it still feels like they’re barely getting by.
What’s worse, one member of the League is completely unaccounted for, Toga Himiko. She dropped off the map after the Battle of Gunga Villa, and didn’t resurface for any of the events Nezu thought she might, such as Ochako’s speech, his first public appearance, or even Hawk’s address to the country as the new Hero Public Safety Commissioner.
It’s clearly distressing Ochako, what with how dodgy and stressed she’s been these last few weeks since the war. Izuku wishes he could do something, but with nothing to go off of and her possessing a nearly untraceable quirk, their only option is to wait for her to make a move and slip up.
It’s infuriating.
A voice from behind him draws Izuku from his thoughts. “Midoriya? Are you feeling alright?”
“–Do what we’ve had to do–”
Izuku turns around, finding Yaoyorozu staring at him with clear concern. “No, not really.”
“Are you hurt?” she asks, sounding slightly alarmed. “In pain? Have you been sleeping okay?” Sleeping well? When I’m like this?
He shakes his head. “I can’t feel pain anymore, remember? I’ve just been so sluggish. My quirks… none of them are working properly. I feel sick, but Pain Attunement isn’t telling me what’s wrong. It’s like my body’s permanently in low battery mode. It’s not just bad sleep though, I know that much.”
His body has been screaming at him for days in a row that he’s sleep deprived, but he’d rather face the trouble of working with almost no energy than face the nightmares that appear when he closes his eyes.
All of a sudden, Yaoyorozu’s eyes widen. “Wait, Midoriya, your body occasionally hurts itself with Decay, yes?”
Izuku’s body immediately goes ramrod straight, no longer swaying like a tree in the wind. “How do you know that?” he hisses.
“Kyoka told me,” she explains, and dammit, Izuku really should have seen that coming. Of course Jiro overheard him. “You said this started a few days ago, yes? Have you been feeling especially cold since then? Not feeling like eating, maybe? Has your body’s growth been slowing down?”
“I–yes. How the hell do you know?” he replies.
Yaoyorozu is already digging through the fridge they set up as she responds, “Because I’ve gone through starvation too, you fool!”
Izuku strides forward, leaning towards her as he shouts, “I’m starving!?”
It’s just his luck that as soon as he says that, Ochako rounds the corner. “You’re what!? Yaomomo, what the hell is going on?”
She spares Ochako a glance, replying, “Izuku must have decayed his stomach a few days ago and hasn’t gotten proper nutrition since then!”
Ochako whirls around on him, shrieking, “You can do that to yourself!?”
Izuku sputters, scratching at his neck. “Obviously not intentionally! It’s just something this body does sometimes!”
“Here,” Yaoyorozu says, sounding much more calm than either of them as she hands him a meal, which Izuku devours now that he realizes how hungry he is. “Eat this, and drink plenty of water.”
Izuku nods, taking a large gulp of water and continues to eat.
Ochako and Yaoyorozu keep him company the entire time he eats, and, despite his protests, promise to tell Aizawa about this after he’s eaten to make him go back and rest.
“I’ll be fine,” Izuku groans. “It’s just hunger. I fought through worse as a vigilante.”
Ochako sighs, biting at her finger, a weird habit that Izuku has noticed she’s picked up. “And that’s exactly why Yaomomo is telling Aizawa-sensei.”
He shoots her a pleading look. “I still have to be a hero, Ochako. How am I supposed to do that if I’m stuck in a damn hub area?”
“Izuku, you could stop trying to be a hero right now and you’d still be a greater hero than everyone in the school combined,” she says to him sincerely, the praise catching him so off guard he almost misses the slight feeling of wrongness that comes from that sentence.
He’s not given any more time to think about it, though, as Aizawa steps into the room. “Problem child.”
“H-hi Aizawa-sensei,” Izuku greets hesitantly.
He sighs. “Campus.”
“I would like to say–”
“CAMPUS!”
“OKAY FINE!”
Half an hour later, he’s back at UA, taking a walk through one of the parks when All Might approaches him.
“Young man, I've noticed that you’ve been…” his mentor trails off, as if unsure how to phrase it.
Izuku finishes his thought for him. “More irritable? Angry? Looking like I want to dust
something?”
“Well, I wouldn't say it in such a blunt or unkind way, but yes. Is he…?”
Izuku sighs heavily, feeling a tear already well in his eyes. “Nope,” he says, voice broken. “Tenko’s gone. I failed completely.”
“Young Midoriya, you did not fail by any-”
Izuku shouts, “But I did, All Might! I couldn’t save Tenko, I lost One for All, dammit, I even lost myself, sensei!”
The symbol of peace sits there, stunned for a moment before pulling Izuku into a hug. “My boy. I am so, so sorry I did not notice how heavily this all was weighing on you.”
Izuku squirms in his mentor’s grasp, careful of his hands despite the gloves covering them. “All Might-”
“Young Midoriya, you did not ‘lose’ One for All, you used it. The quirk itself was only ever meant to defeat All for One, nothing more, and it’s exactly that which you’ve done,” All Might explains, releasing Izuku from the hug. “And though I cannot imagine the pain that losing one’s own body could bring, I think there’s more to it than that, young man.”
“I- yeah. Yeah, it’s more than just losing my body, sensei,” he says.
“Come, my boy. Take a seat, and talk to me about it, if you’re feeling comfortable enough to do so,” He invites, patting the bench next to him, on which Izuku hesitantly takes a seat, wringing his hands together as he does. “If you’re not, then I am here! With a shoulder to cry on!”
Izuku barks out a laugh. “That was so cheesy, All Might.”
“But it got a laugh out of you,” the former number one hero counters.
“Heh, thanks, All Might,” he rasps, wiping away his tears. Izuku supposes that he’s going to have to confront this at some point, it might as well be with the one man who knows about the vestiges almost as well as he does. one of two, but the second will never be able to speak again. “It’s ‘cause of Tenko’s last words to me, sensei. What he did for me.”
A crooked grin.
“Then show me how it’s done, Deku.”
CRUNCH
Izuku shudders at the memory of All for One snapping his jaws around Tenko. “He wanted me to be a hero in his place. Sacrificed everything for me, his vestige, his quirk, even his own body. He bound his own vestige to All for One, and placed it into my body, and left my vestige in his body, binding me to the most powerful quirk in it; Decay.”
“So Young Tenko is well and truly gone, then,” his mentor says grimly. “And you are the vestige of the ninth holder of One for All, Midoriya Izuku, implanted into the body of his greatest foe.”
Izuku’s throat tightens as he nods, finally acknowledging the reality of his situation in its entirety. “...Yeah. In a very real way, Midoriya Izuku died that day. I’m just a confused mess of quirkless kid’s vestige with all bugs patched with bits and pieces of a supervillain.”
All Might nods grimly, hesitantly moving his hand from the joystick for his wheelchair to ruffle Izuku’s hair.
He sighs, meeting Izuku’s eyes. “I can only imagine how maddening that must feel, my boy.”
“Worse and better than you think, sensei,” Izuku says with a joyless grin. “I am Midoriya Izuku in every way that matters; I have his personality, his memories, his fears, his loves, I am everything that he is. But, in other ways, I’m also Shimura Tenko. I have his body, his quirks, his mannerisms, and some of the patterns of his speech.”
“I don’t know how real I am, All Might, and it’s only been getting worse since I was first placed in this body,” Izuku admits, staring down at a hand that can, at any point, kill everyone and destroy everything in a wide radius around him in the blink of an eye.
Fearfully, he whispers, “What do I do?”
Wheeling himself in front of him, All Might takes Izuku’s hands in his own, staring him down and refusing to let them go. “My boy, I can’t answer that for you. I don’t think anyone can.”
But he doesn’t stop there. All Might continues, “You are who you want to be. Answer this for me, young man; when you grow up, what do you want to be?”
“The greatest hero,” he answers without hesitation, surprising even himself. “I want to make it all worth it. All the pain, the death, the sacrifice, I want it to mean something. I want this to be a gentler world, where your birth doesn’t determine your destiny.”
All Might continues to look him in the eye, asking Izuku, “Why do you want this?”
Izuku answers, “Because I know what it’s like for the world to scorn you, what it’s like to be little more than a tool to facilitate the success of another, and I never want anyone else to suffer as I have ever again.”
His mentor nods. “Last question, young man. Who wants this?”
Izuku puzzles for a moment. “I do? I mean, you’re asking me what I want.”
All Might smiles softly. “Exactly. You want this, young man. Not anyone else.”
It takes Izuku a second for his brain to catch up. “Hah. You’re right, thanks sensei. I, Midoriya Izuku, want to be a hero.”
Even if it sounds unbelievable right now. He can’t stop, no matter what.
All Might laughs joyously, ruffling his hair again. “Of course you do! The Midoriya Izuku I know wants to be a hero more than anything, with or without a quirk.”
Finally, he understands, “And I’m him.”
“You are,” he assures him. “Now, young man, I think I’ve held you here long enough. You, enjoy the rest of your day at the dorms. I will work on getting us cleared for a visit to Dagobah beach.”
Izuku stands up, bowing deeply to his mentor. “Thank you, All Might.”
As he wanders away, his phone buzzes with a text from Shoto.
[Todoroki Shoto] <( I’m back. Come to my room. )
He squints at his screen, trying to parse if his friend is upset from the text. After staring at the text for ten seconds, he remembers that Shoto always texts like a robot regardless of mood, and takes to the skies with Soar, responding to him with a quick,
[Midoriya Izuku] <( I’ll be right over. )
He lands on the balcony outside of Todoroki’s room, knocking on the glass door to alert him to his presence.
Izuku steps into his friend’s room, finding him lying on his bed, facing the ceiling. “You texted for me to come over, Shoto?”
He gets up, glancing at Izuku with heterochromatic eyes. “Oh. Yeah, I did. You’re not the only one, I invited the whole group over.”
Izuku remembers that Shoto went to see his brother in the hospital today. Guess it didn’t go too well.
Tsu is the next to arrive, walking up to him and asking, “Are you alright after…”
“Yeah. Yeah I’ll be fine, I promise,” he answers, looking at his friend with eyes he hopes convey how little he wants to talk about the events of today. Thankfully Tsu just nods, settling next to him as Shoto sips a glass of water.
Tenya and Ochako make their way in as a unit, quietly conversing as they settle down onto the floor, waiting for Todoroki to say his piece.
After the last of their friends file in, Shoto states, “The meeting with Dabi went terribly.”
Even after guessing that he would say something to that effect, Izuku still flinches.
Ochako clasps her hands over her mouth. “Oh no! What happened?”
“I learned what he was willing to do in order to get at our father,” he says grimly, fists clenched. “I already knew he was willing to kill innocents, or even members of our family just to hurt our father. Turns out even his ‘friends,’ if that’s what you wanted to call them, aren’t off the table either.”
Izuku asks, “You mean the League?”
“Yeah,” Shoto answers, voice hollow. “After what happened to you, Izuku, it got me thinking about what the other side was willing to sacrifice to succeed. For Dabi, the answer to that was everything.”
Tsu’s face goes from composed to horrified with realization. “You mean he was lucid when he was about to blow? But what about–”
Shoto crushes an ice crystal in his hand, probably not even realizing he generated it. “Toga didn’t matter to him, I guess. None of them did, not beyond being tools to hurt Endeavor with.”
Izuku braces for a burst of fury at hearing that, but no feeling rises in him. He just… feels hollow, hearing that. Confused and jumbled memories of Tenko’s time with the League, with Dabi, flash across his vision, and the pit in him deepens.
Izuku rasps, “He just… didn’t care?”
Staring down at his left hand, Shoto replies, “He made no effort to hide his disregard around me.”
“That would have killed me,” Ochako whispers, chewing on her finger hard enough to draw blood. Izuku sends a Hydra to nudge her hand, in awe of how much easier controlling Hydra is.
Finally looking up, Shoto stares Izuku down. “He didn’t ask about Shigaraki. Or any member of the League, actually. I couldn’t tell him anything even if he did because of the media blackout, but…”
Tenya pats him on the shoulder. “It’s hard, coming to terms with the monster he’s become, right?”
Shoto nods shakily. “I don’t know what to think about him anymore. Is it wrong, not to feel anything about him? I don’t even remember Touya, not like Natsuo and Fuyumi do. I imagined what he’d be like for years, filling in the gaps from the few stories about him I was told, and now that I know him, I don’t want anything to do with him.”
He looks down at the patterning in the bedsheet, an ice crystal dropping from one eye and a droplet of boiling water falling from the other. “Am I broken?”
“I think we all are, kero,” Tsu says, climbing into bed next to him and holding his right hand. “But we can heal together.”
“You’re not wrong,” Izuku states. “About not feeling anything about him, I mean. He hurt everyone close to you, over and over. He killed innocent people. He’s tried to kill you three times at this point. He was ready to betray his comrades at the drop of a hat. That’s reason enough to despise him, but from what it sounds like, you don’t even hold a grudge.”
Shoto pauses, glancing up at him. “...I don’t. I think he’s unforgivable for how many people he’s hurt. I think he needed to be stopped, but I don’t hate him.”
His lips stretch into a grin. “See? You’re a better person than you think you are, Shoto.”
The boy in question cracks a small smile. “Thanks, Izuku. And, all of you for that matter.”
“Any time, Shoto,” he says with a smile.
“Indeed,” Tenya enthuses, chopping his hand up and down. “We are all here for you!”
“That’s what friends do for each other, kero,” Tsu expresses, Ochako nodding along with her.
Shoto takes a deep breath, a genuine smile on his face. “Thank you all. I think I’ll be okay now.”
Izuku leaves Shoto’s room with a similar grin, spending his afternoon in his room before Kacchan bothers him for dinner, lecturing Izuku about ‘not being a stupid nerd who starves himself to death’ and how ‘being my rival requires you to be at the top of your game or the victory doesn’t count.’
After dinner, he’s relaxing in his room, indulging himself with mindless video games to distract himself from his own roiling feelings, playing through Elden Ring for what feels like the twentieth time, despite having never played it before a few days ago.
It’s a unique feeling, being skilled beyond any reasonable measure in something you’ve never even attempted, but the strange mixing between Tenko and his vestiges has given him this feeling on many occasions, mainly in regards to video games.
Just the other day, an old instinct of Tenko’s led to him trying to install League of Legends, but as soon as he mentioned it, Kaminari threatened to fry his computer if he didn’t immediately uninstall it. He thought Kaminari was joking, initially, at least until Tokoyami, Dark Shadow, Sero, Ashido and Kacchan of all people all reaffirmed the threat of PC destruction.
In retrospect, Izuku wonders how many times he uninstalled and reinstalled League if the memories of doing so ingrained themselves into Izuku’s head during the transfer of bodies.
His phone buzzing pulls him from his thoughts.
[Uraraka Ochako] <( Hey Deku, I know you’re not feeling great, but I could really use your help with something. )
Izuku hums in confusion, texting back promptly. To tell the truth, he’s not sure he’s in any state to help much of anyone or ever will be again but Ochako is his friend, and he’ll do whatever she needs to help her.
[Midoriya Izuku] <( What do you need? )
[Uraraka Ochako] <( It’s about Himiko. )
[Uraraka Ochako] <( I got through to her, Deku, I really did, but it’s not enough. )
[Uraraka Ochako] <( Even after all the press conferences and speeches, the public wants her in prison or worse. )
[Uraraka Ochako] <( I can’t do that to her, not after learning what I know about her. )
[Uraraka Ochako] <( I’m scared and worried about what might happen, so I’m coming to you. )
Izuku sucks in a breath, bringing a gloved hand up to his neck before thinking better of it and lowering it back to his phone. He can read between the lines well enough. Ochako is emotionally compromised and probably did something extremely rash in an attempt to save a villain she fought against with all her might.
In any other situation, he’d laugh at just how similar they are, but there’s nothing funny about their present predicament.
[Midoriya Izuku] <( What do you want me to do? )
[Midoriya Izuku] <( Please don’t ask me to betray UA, Ochako. )
[Midoriya Izuku] <( Heroics as an occupation is riding on my back, I have to be flawless. I can try to support you but I’m limited right now, and I probably will be for the next while. )
Or for the next ever. It’s hard believing things will ever get better after he failed Tenko in the most spectacular way imaginable. The least he can do is make sure that his best friend doesn’t fail like he did.
[Uraraka Ochako] <( No! No! Nothing like that. I would NEVER ask that of you, Deku, not when you’ve fought so hard to save us all. )
[Uraraka Ochako] <( Can you just watch the video I’m going to send you, Deku? I’m so stressed right now and I have no idea what to do. I hate to be putting this on you but I don’t know if I can go to anyone else for help. )
[Uraraka Ochako] <( UravitySuitBetaFootage(2).mp4 )
[Midoriya Izuku] <( Ochako, it’s okay. I can’t promise to have all the answers for you, or even any answers at all, but I’ll do my best, alright? )
[Uraraka Ochako] <( I know you will, Deku. You always do. )
Izuku smiles at that. Ochako always seems to know how to cheer him up, it’s only right he tries to help her in return. Maybe watching this will take his mind away from the burning anger building in his gut.
He taps on the play button, and is instantly taken into a POV shot of Ochako in the skies above the ruins of the Gunga Villa, with one of the ropes in her wristguards having latched onto Toga Himiko.
“I know it hasn’t been that long since summer, but I’ve had a change of heart,” Ochako admits, her tether keeping ahold of one of Toga’s arms.
“Just shut up,” the villain hisses, trying to twist free. “I thought I already told you it’s too late for that!”
“You were crying back there,” she shouts, guessing that, “You’re sad you can’t totally become Twice, right? You can’t do everything that he could, because you can’t use the quirks of those you duplicate.”
“Shut up,” Toga murmurs, a wave of doubles clipping Ochako’s side, but not doing any meaningful damage.
“It’s because you’ve got too much bloodlust,” she yells, leveraging the rope connecting them to whip herself out of the way of another wave of duplicates. “You’re not working with pure love!”
Himiko screams. “I SAID IT’S TOO LATE!”
Clones of her friends launch themselves at her, their eyes narrowed and hateful, but she pushes through all of them, enduring the blows they hit her with with grace as she orients herself in the sky with her boosters.
As the girl struggles against the tether tying them together, she rants about how, “Society rejected me! This whole world left me behind! It never cared about me, no one does! You all just need to go die in a ditch.”
Ochako's voice is filled with determination as she declares, “Not me, Himiko! I won’t leave you behind, and I’m not giving up on you!”
Toga growls, “There’s nothing here to save, Uraraka!”
“You don’t believe that and neither do I,” Ochako hisses, clenching her hand tightly around the rope, pulling herself out of the way of a stab aimed towards her abdomen. “If there wasn’t anything to save in there, you would have proved it by killing me fifteen minutes ago when I first reached you here in the sky, Himiko!”
The villain bellows, “STOP IT,” kicking her in the chest and very obviously breaking a rib or two by the pained shout that comes from Ochako’s mouth. “This is war, dammit! Stop acting like I’m some princess in need of saving! I don’t need your pity!”
“It’s not pity, Himi-” Ochako’s face twists from a desperate grimace to an outright snarl. “Oh, damn it all, get over here!” She shouts, tugging on her tether to bring the girl closer and grabbing at her wrists, managing to land a palm on her. In a ripple of pink, Zero Gravity activates and spreads across the mountain of duplicates.
Angrily (or perhaps impatiently), Ochako twists the knife out of the girl’s hand and catches it, slashing at her own lips and making them bleed before pulling Toga into a heated kiss.
The villain looks completely stunned, but her eyes roll back as she leans into Ochako’s mouth as they float gently, high above the ground, thousands upon thousands of clones floating alongside them.
When they pull away, Ochako gasps for air, before confessing, “I’m in love with you, and I’m tired of denying it,” she pants out, wiping her lips of the excess blood and offering her hand to Toga, allowing her to lick the fluid from her wrist while she talks. “I’m tired of the world calling it forbidden, and most of all, I’m tired of this stupid fucking war!”
Ochako laments, “I just want to be with you, Himiko. I want to see that beautiful smile again! Back on that day when the world got turned upside down, what I said to you made you look so upset!”
Toga seems to come to her senses for a moment, protesting that, “You’re just saying that. You… you just want to trick me into letting my guard down!”
“I’m not,” Ochako assures, pocketing the other girl’s knife before tearing the sleeve of her costume, exposing the skin underneath. “I promise you, Himiko, I’ve been in love with you since Jaku. I just… couldn’t say it until now for some reason.”
The villain's face is a mask of shock as she stares down at Ochako’s wrist. “You… you’re serious.”
She nods, wiping a tear away from Toga’s eye. “Deadly. I love you, Himiko. I want to understand you, to love you as much as you love blood.”
Ochako coughs, clutching at her injured chest as they float, doubles dissipating into the air. “Oh. Looks like Twice’s blood ran out, huh?”
Toga looks around in a panic as the duplicates dissolve, a new wave of tears pouring from her eyes as she sobs about how ‘he’s gone.’
Gently, Ochako runs her hand across Toga’s back to comfort her. “I… can’t pretend to understand what he meant to you, Himiko.”
She hesitates for a moment as they continue to slowly fall to the earth, before gently pushing Toga’s head away from where she buried it in her shoulder, meeting her golden eyes.
Steeling herself, Ochako whispers, “I don’t know how much it would help, Himiko, but… if you want more blood, I’m right here.”
Wiping her eyes, the transforming villain asks, “You would do that for me?”
She laughs airily. “All that you want, for the rest of our lives,” she promises as Toga attaches herself to Ochako’s arm, drinking deeply of her blood, Dabi’s supernova glowing ominously in the background.
Another giggle falls from Ochako’s mouth as she watches Toga drink. “You really are cute, Himiko.”
Toga gasps, pulling herself off of Ochako. “Really?”
“Yeah,” Ochako affirms, sounding dizzy. “The cutest girl in the whole world.”
The video starts to loop for a few seconds as Izuku sits in shock, slowly moving to pause the playback. He never knew the depths of Ochako’s feelings for Toga, not until today. Even though they had talked about her together, several times in fact, but he never could have known just how much she cares for her.
And then, Izuku freezes completely, as ten separate realizations occur to him all at once.
He marches out of his dorm room, shooting a quick text to Ochako that he’ll be right over and to not move from her current position, taking the steps two at a time as he enters into the common room, walking up to ‘Ochako’ and bumps against her. In an instant, Decay springs to life and instantly rots through ‘Ochako’s’ phone. He ignores the crawling feeling he gets using Decay for such a purpose.
Izuku yelps with feigned surprise, scratching at his neck to disguise his anger as shock. “Oh my god, I’m so sorry!”
The imposter looks equal parts uncomfortable and shocked. “Oh, it’s okay Deku! It was pretty busted up from the war anyway,” she says with an uncomfortable giggle.
He breathes a false sigh of relief, telling, not asking, ‘Ochako’ to, “Come with me to Troy, then,” making direct eye contact with Kacchan as he speaks, hopefully communicating all he needs to know in just one look. “We have the backup phones there, remember? I can even fly you there, I’m getting the hang of Soar already.”
He leads ‘Ochako’ outside, whispering to her that, “I’m not going to hurt you,” as he wraps a Hydra around her with a mental request to the quirk, shooting off towards Troy with an application of Soar.
The imposter is scarily silent as he pushes his propulsion quirk further, picking up speed as he rockets across the sky with ‘Ochako’ in tow.
He makes a mental note to thank Hatsume for the goggles later as he lands right in front of Troy, on the cliffside where he and the real Ochako had their conversation before the war.
“Drop your disguise, Toga,” Izuku demands, flexing the invisible muscles on his left shoulder and the side of his neck, feeling fingers crawl down his arm and press to the floor, the Hydra that was just holding the disguised villain billowing ominously behind him. “And come on out, Ochako.”
His friend shuffles awkwardly out from the doors of the Troy bunker as Toga’s disguise bubbles off of her, leaving her with her hair down in an ill-fitting UA uniform.
“Hey, Deku,” Ochako greets awkwardly.
Izuku sighs powerfully, scratching at his neck with his right arm to calm himself down and keep Decay under control. “If I were literally anyone else, I’d demand to know what the hell you were thinking, inviting the rogue into UA like that. Lucky for you, I’m the one person who’s done multiple things more reckless, illegal and idiotic than what you just pulled, so I’m willing to help.”
Ochako winces, but Toga ignores his rant entirely, saying, “Wow, you even talk like he did. But… you’re not him, are you?”
Izuku shakes his head. “It’s only me in here. I’m afraid your party leader is dead and gone, Toga.”
The villain looks unphased, but some ingrained instinct deep inside him tells Izuku that Toga is very upset. “I… didn’t think he was still alive. I mean, I’ve been watching you for a week, Izuku, and you’re close to what he used to be, but I can tell it’s you in there.”
Izuku just… stands there for a moment, remembering Tenko’s last words to him. “Then show me how it’s done, Deku.”
I hope this is close to what you wanted, Tenko, he wishes as the three of them sit in silence. It’s comforting, knowing that even Tenko’s old friends believe that he is Midoriya Izuku.
Ochako stutters out, “I– listen, Deku, I’m really sorry about this–”
“Save it,” he spits. “Oh god, I’m so sorry Ochako, I don’t know where that came from,” he’slyinghe’slyinghe’slying “I’m just so stressed. I want to help. I have to help. But just… before I do, answer me this: what is Toga to you?”
Ochako freezes for a moment before whispering, just loud enough for both of them to hear, “She’s everything.”
Toga’s eyes well up with tears. “Ochako…”
“I love her so much, Deku,” she sobs, wrapping her arms around Toga and burying her face in her girlfriend’s shoulder. “I want to see her happy and adored! She doesn’t deserve the hand that society dealt her.”
“No one does,” He readily agrees with his classmate, arms crossed. “Hero society is a hell designed to chop up the young and disadvantaged and turn them into profit. It’s a shame the old HPSC board died before they could be brought to justice.” or before I could feel their dust fall between my fingers.
Quenching his anger with a sigh, Izuku asks the two girls, “What do you two need?”
They look surprised for a moment, chorusing, “Just like that?”
Izuku cracks a crooked grin, absorbing the growth of fingers back into his shoulder. “Just like that. It wouldn’t be the first crime I've committed for a friend and comrade.” Based on his track record, it won’t be the last one either. “I won’t betray UA, or heroism, but… you’re a part of UA, Ochako, and being a hero means helping those in danger, no matter who they are.”
Toga giggles, wiping a tear from her eye. “What is it with people committing crimes for me lately? First it was Dabi, then Ochako, and now you, Izuku?”
Starting to break down further, Toga sobs. “Though, I guess Dabi burning my old house down meant nothing in the end, huh?”
Izuku winces, scratching at his neck. “For whatever it’s worth, I think he did care about you and Tenko. Just… not more than he cared about seeing his family go up in flames. Nothing mattered more to him than hurting Endeavor.”
Toga sighs. “Maybe. But it’s not like any of us will ever get the chance to ask him, right?”
Izuku shakes his head. “Probably not. I can’t imagine he’ll last long, with his body in the condition it’s in.”
In the distance, there’s a resounding BOOM and a deluge of rainbow-colored sparkles pouring from the direction of UA, landing on the roof of Troy. “So this is what you called me out here for, Deku,” his rival grouses in his full hero costume. “Shoulda known the damn shapeshifter would have stuck around.”
“There he is. Hey, Kacchan,” he greets, watching his rival jump down to the protrusion overlooking the city that he and the two girls are already standing on. “Did you tell anyone else where you were going?”
“All Might. I’d rather fight Shigaraki again than lie to him,” Kacchan says without a lick of sarcasm in his voice. “Right, Stabby, listen up. I don’t fucking trust you. I’m sure Deku’s got a great reason as to why he doesn’t currently have you handcuffed, and I’m sure Uraraka had a good reason to save you.”
He stomps over to Toga, holding a palm out in front of him and unfolding the Strafe Panzer from its place on his back. “Which is why I’m not currently beating your ass. Understand that this can change very quickly if you betray any one of us, especially them.”
Izuku sighs, facepalming, “Kacchan–”
Toga lets out an unhinged giggle, shushing Izuku before teasing the living explosive about how, “It’s nice how much you care about your friends, Blasty.”
Electing to ignore her, Kacchan turns back to Izuku. “Alright, that’s out of the way now. Do you actually have a plan to help these two, or did you save first and think after like usual?”
Izuku sputters, to which Kacchan just huffs. “Of course, stupidly heroic Deku didn’t think before leaping into action to help someone. Shoulda seen that one coming. Alright, listen up Stabby, congrats on getting into the most prestigious hero school on the planet, and welcome to class A.”
Toga looks poleaxed. Izuku and Ochako are staring at Kacchan like he’s grown a second head. Kacchan himself’s face is perfectly flat. “A hero, Stabby. I’m saying that you can be a hero.”
Izuku’s eyes widen, his two other Hydras peeking out of his back as if they’re as confused as he is as to what his friend is saying. “Wait, Kacchan, what do you mean?”
“UA has a villain rehabilitation program,” he replies succinctly, arms crossed. “Easiest way to clear her name.”
Ochako seems to have recovered, asking if, “Is Himiko even eligible?”
Kacchan brings up a hand, counting off on his fingers, “Under eighteen, heroic sponsor, and a good reason to stick with the program.”
“A hero?” Toga spits. “Why the hell would I ever be a hero?”
“You hurt and killed a lot of people, Stabby, did you forget that? Or did all the villany dent your skull?” Kacchan points out, completely deadpan. “You’ve got a lot to make up for, and by some miracle, you managed to attract the right attention from the exact group of people you need to in order to earn a second chance.”
He sighs, adjusting his grenade bracers. “Also, you don’t have another option but to be a hero, not unless prison sounds fun to you. Most villain rehab applicants, once they’ve gone through the program, they can do whatever with their lives. You don’t have that option, the public won’t abide by it.”
“I… didn’t realize you knew so much about UA’s special programs, Kacchan,” Izuku murmurs, genuinely shocked. Why would he have looked this up? Oh my god, was he looking into the vigilante program for me, once I went off the rails?
Toga stands there for a moment, gobsmacked, before breaking out into a smile. “I guess I really am lucky, huh?”
“Impossibly so, Stabby. Your potential rehabilitation fits right into the narrative being constructed around the war,” he affirms. “If things played out even a little differently on that battlefield, we’d be having a very different conversation with one another, probably with you either stuck in a hospital bed or behind bars.”
Ochako steps forward, looking angry. “Bakugo, what the hell?”
“No, Ochako, he's right about this, and it’s something Toga deserves to know,” Izuku says, scratching at his neck. It doesn’t make him feel any better. “The reason why this is even going to be allowed is because a villain rehabilitation like this is going to look really good in the public eye, after a while.”
He takes a deep breath, closing his eyes for a moment to center himself. “Tenko succeeded at one of the things he set out to do; tear down the rotten foundation of hero society. Right now, things are extremely unstable. There are a lot of things in question, including what makes someone a hero in the first place.”
“If you become a hero, Toga, you’ll be able to be forgiven for your crimes, and act as an inspiration to so many,” Izuku stares the hopefully former villain down with greater intensity. She has to understand what is at stake. “But… you have to be aware of what awaits you if you fail. What could await far too many girls like you.”
Toga swallows, clenching her fists. “I don’t really get a choice in the matter, do I?”
Ochako sighs, taking the other girl’s hands in her own. “If you want to see me again, if you want to be free, if you want to live and love as you please… I’m sorry Himiko, this really is the only way.”
“I hate this…” she growls, tears building in her eyes. Izuku can tell that she’s not a flight risk, but she’s clearly stressed.
“If it’s any consolation, I don’t like it much either,” Izuku says, scratching at his neck. “But you… you can change the world, even more than you already have.”
Wiping her tears roughly, she decides, “I’ll do it. Someone has to make sure this is a world Tomura would want to wake up in one day.”