Chapter Text
“There are stories about every hero. How they became great. Most have one thing in common: Their bodies moved before they had a chance to think, almost on their own.”
Izuku couldn’t help it. The girl that saved him from falling earlier was in the path of that huge robot. There was someone in danger. Someone who needed to be saved.
It was instinct. One moment he felt paralyzed, frozen from seeing something that big. The next he was weightless. He felt a power like he never did before coursing through him.
He didn’t look down.
The robot was moving his hand to swat Izuku away like one would do to a fly, and he did notice he was losing momentum, so thinking quickly, he brushed past the robot’s fingers and jumped up from his arm towards its head, the feeling of weightlessness slowly fading in the back of his consciousness.
He didn’t notice. He only tightened his hand into a fist, clenched his teeth and looked at the robot.
He felt it coursing through him, through his arm.
“...Smash!”
He hit the robot. A direct hit. The metal bent, the behemoth fell on its back.
This… this is the same as the time I tried to save Kacchan. But this is different… this time…
“One Minute Left!” Present Mic’s voice boomed.
And Izuku started to fall. Quickly. He was no longer weightless.
Ok, I jumped using One For All, so I can use it to get down too, just like All Might. Landing should be a piece of cake, right?
He looked backwards.
His hand was flopping in the wind like a piece of cloth.
And he didn’t know how to land.
“You may have molded your body into a proper vessel, but you did it in a hurry, so be cautious. The physical backlash of One for All can be intense.” He heard All Might’s warning in his head.
You warned me! I should’ve listened! I can barely contain this borrowed power, even after ten months of training!
And this is just a hair of his quirk, I got way ahead of myself attacking that giant villain! I’m acting like a pro when I don’t even have enough skill to be a sidekick!
No, this isn’t over! There’s got to be something I can do!
And then he remembered the feeling he felt when he jumped. Weightlessness. Maybe it was what All Might was feeling all the time with how fast he could move.
He tried to feel it again. He couldn’t touch the ground with his legs like he did before, but he would have to do it before he ended up flattened.
He closed his eyes.
Work, work, work, Work!
The air stopped brushing over his face.
He hesitantly opened his eyes and saw that he was floating in the air, around five stories above the ground. Looking around him, he saw that he was completely weightless in the air. Down below him, floating on a piece of one of the shattered robots, was the girl. She looked at him with a surprised look that was almost as surprised as his own one.
Slowly, carefully, he started thinking about getting down. And he slowly descended to the ground until he touched it.
The girl looked between him and her own hands. “Oh… you’re…” She then touched the five fingers from her left hand to the five on her right. “Release…”
The robot part she was laying on fell to the floor as she started puking a rainbow.
I’m alive… Did she save me? She can make things float, but… I think I made myself weightless?
Izuku looked at her again. Is she alright? She was stuck in that rubble… At least she doesn’t look injured… That’s a relief.
He looked around. And now I have to get at least one point before-
“Time’s up!” Present Mic announced, ending the test.
No…
“Very nice, good work all around! You’re all heroes in my eyes, every one of you.” he heard a high-pitched voice say. An old lady passed through the crowd and rewarded one of the examinees with some gummies.
“That mademoiselle is the heart of U.A,” he heard another voice say.
Stopping in front of him, she said: “Oh my goodness. You were really hurt.” and then she extended her mouth to kiss his broken arm.
Izuku felt his injury fade away as his hand turned right back to how it was before he smashed the huge robot.
There was some chatter in the crowd about who she was, but Izuku only looked at his hand again.
“All right, you’ll be fine now. Is anyone else injured?”
Home was silent. He didn’t try to use One for All since the exam, he thought that the power was too destructive to try without All Might’s instructions.
Even a week later, he knew he passed the written part of the exam. Barely. But it wouldn’t matter. He got a zero in the practical part.
Even worse, he wasn’t able to contact All Might at all ever since he took the exam.
He felt so bad about the exam. He failed to live up to the potential All Might saw in him when he gave him his quirk.
And then his mother barged into the room, holding a letter sealed with the red U.A seal.
He was sitting in his room, looking at the unopened letter, dreading the contents.
With a burst of courage, he tore the envelope open, and a small disk fell from it.
Almost immediately, light came out of the disk.
“Ha ha! I am here! As a projection!” All Might said in the recording.
“A-All Might?! But… This is from… U.A, isn’t it?”
“I know it’s been a while, but with great power comes a great amount of paperwork!” All Might cleared his throat. “My apologies, young man. The truth is, I didn’t come to this city just to fight villains. You are looking at the newest U.A faculty member!”
Izuku was shocked. All Might? Working at U.A?
All Might started having a discussion with a hand that got into the surface of the projection.
“Right. So, moving on!” All Might said, looking back at him.
“Even though you passed the written test, you got zero points on the practical exam, which means you didn’t pass…”
Of course… I knew that already. It’s… all I could think about… I’m a failure…
“Fortunately, there were other factors. But before we get to that, there’s another surprise here, look, a shortcut for your viewing pleasure!” All Might said, pointing a remote to a screen inside the recording.
The view changed to a classroom. The girl with the gravity quirk walked in and addressed someone who was out of the camera’s view.
“It’s… that girl.” Izuku blurted his thought out.
“She showed up after the exam to talk about you, young man!” All Might said, leaving Izuku even more confused. “What did she have to say? You’ll have to stay tuned to find out!”
The view changed again. She was now speaking with Present Mic.
“You know the boy with the really messy hair and all the freckles? It’s… hard to describe his face. Kind of plane-looking? Doesn’t really stand out or anything…”
She… She means me…
“I’ve been wondering… is it possible to give him some of the points I earned in the exam? I heard him say something about wanting to get just one point, and… it seems crazy! How could someone who took down that huge villain all by himself not have any points in the end?”
His mind immediately fleshed to Kacchan. “You could never hang out with the best of the best!”
“He would’ve had a better score if he hadn’t stopped to help me!”
He remembered what Death Arms told him after he ran at the goop villain that took Kacchan. “There was absolutely no reason for you to put yourself in danger like that!”
“He saved me. I have to make it up to him!” Izuku was shocked. “Please Sir! Can’t you just give him some of my points?”
He stood and took a step back.
“You have a quirk now,” The screen flashed back to All Might. “But it was your actions that inspire others. And that’s why I am here! You see, the practical exam was not graded on combat alone!”
“Thanks for showing up to ask like that, but there’s no reason to give him your points.” Present Mic said, the video feed switching again to the girl’s conversation. “The kid’s scored well on his own.”
“How could a hero course reject someone who was committed to save someone no matter the consequences to himself? After all, that’s what makes a hero.” All Might said. “That’s what this place is all about. Training those who will risk their lives for the greater good. So we have Rescue Points! A panel of judges watches and they are giving points for heroic acts beyond just fighting villains. Izuku Midoriya, Sixty rescue points!”
Izuku couldn’t say a word.
“And Ochaco Uraraca, with Fourty-Five rescue points!”
Izuku was shocked. He started mumbling.
“You both passed the exam,” All Might confirmed.
“Welcome, Izuku Midoriya, to your hero academia!”
The day after the enrolment letter came, All Might contacted Izuku, and Izuku rushed to meet him on the beach where he trained.
He was waiting there on the beach, in his small form.
Out of breath, Izuku finally arrived. “Hi All Might!”
All Might, surprised, blurted out some blood. “Chill out, kid!”
After telling some bystanders who wanted to meet All Might that it was just a mistake, he and All Might breathed a sigh of relief.
“Congrats on getting in.” All Might finally said, holding his hand up for a high-five.
“I-I couldn’t have done it without your help,” was all Izuku could reply.
“And just to let you know, I didn’t tell anyone at U.A that I’ve been training you. I wasn’t one of the judges and I didn’t pull any strings for you. You earned that spot all on your own.”
“Th-thank for telling me, I’m glad to hear that.” he said, lowering his head to show respect. “And I was surprised that you were actually a teacher at U.A this year. I was wondering why you were in this city suddenly, since your agency is in Minato, Tokyo, and everyone knows-”
“Stop that.” All Might cut him off.
“O-oh.” He said.
“The school didn’t want me to tell anyone about the job before making an official announcement. It seems like it was good timing: An easy way to find someone new to inherit One for All.”
Izuku remembered his meeting with All Might. He did say something like that. He was originally going to give it to one of the students at U.A… Someone strong, who already had a quirk…
“Your power completely wrecked my arm, and all I did was throw one punch. I… I barely managed to control it when I stayed in the air after I defeated the robot… And I didn’t even know you could do that.”
“You’ll learn to manage your power with time, but… when you stayed in the air… you did that? I thought it was the girl that could make things float.”
“I…” Izuku said. “I guess that may be the case, but… when I jumped to attack the robot I felt like I was weightless, and when I was about to crush I tried to be weightless again and it just worked… that isn’t how you jump so high?”
“No, I…” All Might said. “And…” He continued a moment later. “Were your legs hurt after that?”
“N-no, just my arm.” Izuku answered.
“That’s… weird. You said that you made yourself weightless… Can… Do you think you can try it again?” All Might asked. “Just the weightless part. Not punching anything.”
Izuku wasn’t sure, but… “I’ll try.” He nodded.
He closed his eyes, feeling inside for the feeling of weightlessness he felt during the exam. He searched and searched and-
He opened his eyes and he was floating.
“I… I did it! I…” He said, but then he looked at All Might. He was pale, the palest Izuku has ever seen him, even in his diminished form.
“This…” He said to himself. “How exactly…”
“A-All Might?” Izuku asked. He still kept himself in the air for a moment before falling slowly to the sand. “What’s going on?”
“Shimura…” All Might said. “But how are you able to use it?”
Shimura? I felt like I’ve heard that name before… Think, Izuku…
“Who’s Shimura?” Izuku asked. Maybe All Might could tell me?
Saying the name aloud actually made Izuku remember where he heard it before.
“I… She was a hero once, but you probably never heard of her.” All Might replied.
“Really? Shimura is actually my mother’s maiden name…” Deku said. “But it’s probably-” he stopped once he saw All Might’s eyes, wide open.
“A-All Might…”
“Young Midoriya… Your mother’s name was Shimura? A-are you sure?”
“Y-yes,” Izuku said. “That’s what I heard her saying the last time we talked about that subject.”
“And your grandparents? What about them?”
“My mother is an orphan. Her parents died when she was young, and she never talked about them…” Izuku answered.
“And her quirk? What can she do?” he asked, almost frantically.
“Float and move small objects…”
Is there something about my mom? He said Shimura was a hero, but…
“Float…” All Might said. “You told me you never showed any signs of having a quirk before…”
All Might took a deep breath.
“Young Midoriya. I think I can explain what happened, but it’s the first time I’ve ever seen something like this, so I am not really sure if what I am about to say is accurate.”
Izuku focused. He didn’t want to miss a word.
“As I told you, I wasn’t born with my power. Just like you, I inherited One for All from my master… a hero called Nana Shimura.”
Shimura was All Might’s master?!
“Her quirk was called Float, and it is similar to the ability that you just used. I know that One for All can be transferred from person to person, but I have never heard about an additional quirk being inherited alongside it… and I myself didn’t get Float, even if I inherited One of All from my master directly.”
So… I have another quirk aside from One for All? I…
“I will need to check that, but… I think Nana Shimura may be your grandmother. Your mother’s quirk is similar enough, and the timing fits, with her not knowing her parents… That is the only reason I can think about in regards to how you can use that quirk… Maybe it is because you didn’t have a quirk to begin with, but… It seems like you can now use my master’s ability alongside One for All’s power.”
Maybe… maybe Float was the quirk I was supposed to have and didn’t awaken in time? Or…
“I…” It’s not just One for All… I have the abilities of All Might’s master… my grandmother? It’s… too much to take in…
“I understand. I will do my best with it.”
“Right now, you can use One for All either at a hundred percent or zero, but one day, you will learn to control it, to adjust how much power you are using to what your body can handle. But Float seems to be a different story. To me, it seems you can use it without hurting yourself.”
“So… I can use Float, but I still need to train and gain more control to use One for All properly…” Deku mumbled.
“Exactly.” All Might replied, growing into his larger form. “And in time, you will have that sort of control over your power.”
“Hey, it really is All Might!” the people from earlier said.
They ended up running away.
“Eh? Toshinori? It’s been a while since I heard from you. What’s the occasion?”
“Gran Torino… It’s about master Shimura.”
“...”
“I’m listening.”
“Did master Shimura have any children?”
“...She did. Why?”
He didn’t sound all that excited to talk about the topic.
“Was one of them called Inko Shimura?”
“...”
“Yes. Why?”
“I chose my successor. He was a quirkless boy like I was, but when I passed it to him… he was able to use Float alongside it. He never showed any signs of a quirk before I passed it on. When I asked about his mother, I heard that her maiden name was Inko Shimura.”
“...”
The silence was deafening, and it stretched for a while before Gran Torino said something.
“And do you think she could be the same Inko Shimura?”
“When I asked him, he said his mother was an orphan, and that her quirk was floating and controlling small objects.”
“That’s… Inko was younger than Nana’s other son… I never heard about a user who was able to use the abilities of someone who came before them, but if you really happened to pick Shimura’s grandson as your successor…”
Both sides were silent.
“I’ll research things on my end. What was the boy’s name?”
“Midoriya. Izuku Midoriya.”
“Got that. Keep the boy safe, Toshinori.”
“I will.”
The call ended.