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[To The Internships]
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…
As All Might stood there, admiring his new state with a dazed look, Taka heaved a sigh of relief.
'So it worked,' He thought as he gazed at the newly healed hero, before shaking his head and rolling his eyes. 'Of course it did—it drained me completely. It had to work.'
He had expected it to cost a lot—just not this much.
Truth be told, the energy conversion for healing compared to destructive output was horrendous. A hundred thousand aura had barely been enough to rebuild a stomach and repair a respiratory system—whereas shooting a laser that, per his calculations, could level several buildings in a row would cost the same amount. The disparity was crazy.
It also scaled wildly depending on factors like size, complexity, and age of the injury. Midoriya's broken finger on the day of the Quirk assessment test had cost him only a few hundred aura at most.
Yet All Might's injuries had gone through the roof.
But hey, at least it had worked.
'Also, good thing I only tried this after the festival, otherwise I'd have run out of energy midway,' He thought, snorting.
The 50k he had before all of it began? It would have been gone before he could have even begun the actual healing process.
And what would happen if he left a treatment like that half-finished?
He preferred not to find out any time soon.
But what's done is done.
'It's time to focus on what lays ahead.' Taka thought, focusing on All Might's figure, and then, on what it meant for the future.
He'd done this somewhat on a whim, so he hadn't thought through the consequences. Even if it was a pretty significant move—for canon, and for his carefully maintained secrets.
Though, on the other hand, One For All was already passed to Midoriya. Even with All Might healed, the Quirk would run its course sooner or later.
He doubted his healing had done anything to reverse that.
But at least the hero would be retiring more dignifiedly, now that he looked like an actual human being. And maybe he'd be better equipped to deal with All For One in their eventual fight after the summer camp.
—If canon continued as it should.
Who knew? Maybe his interference had already pushed things too far off course for that fight to play out the same way, or at all.
'What am I saying? Of course the canon is already derailed like crazy—Stain is behind bars without the chance to rally villains with his speech, Chisaki is without a Quirk and probably losing his mind over it, not to mention what beating the Nomu instead of All Might doing it might have changed.' Taka thought, mentally slapping his forehead. 'The path of the canon is in shambles. It's only going to go haywire from here.'
If the future bore any resemblance at all to canon from this point forward, he'd be shocked.
Except for school matters—those would probably stay roughly the same for a while. Final exams. The summer camp.
Sighing, his eyes fell back on All Might, who was now testing his movements, as if hunting for even the faintest trace of the pain he'd lived with every single day.
The excitement was hard to hide from his face.
Seeing him like that, Taka smiled too.
'Well, at least there's a new fallback if something goes wrong. Even if One For All will fade eventually, the limits his injuries imposed on how much he could use it should be gone now.'
His gaze shifted to Nezu, who had been patiently watching All Might examine himself in silence.
Picking up on the look, the rat seemed to understand what it meant, and turned back to All Might with his usual smile.
"How do you feel, All Might?"
The hero finally snapped out of his daze, looking between Nezu and Taka with a wide smile.
"I feel amazing, Principal. No discomfort of any sort… it's truly as if my body has been rebuilt to perfection!"
Then he focused on Taka specifically.
"Thank you, young man. Truly. I had already lost hope—but to think a day like this would come… I can only express my deepest gratitudes."
Taka gave a nod, though his actual question still hadn't been answered.
So he was straightforward about it this time, without using Nezu as a middleman.
"Your full power—can you use it?"
"…" All Might's eyes widened for an instant. Then he glanced at Nezu, who gave him a small nod of approval.
Sighing, he fell quiet, eyes dropping from Nezu to his own body, hands opening and closing as if gauging what was actually there.
"No." He answered plainly.
Taka's brow furrowed. Had the Quirk depleted too far, even with peak condition restored?
All Might's next words settled it.
"You've brought me back to a healthy state, but the power I used to access required my body to be in absolutely peak condition."
He flexed an arm. It was solid now that he was no longer a skeleton of a man, but Taka understood what he meant—the frame in front of him was nowhere near the mountain of muscle from All Might's golden age.
Right now, he looked like a teenager who'd maintained decent physical condition over the years and aged naturally—not the All Might who had trained to the absolute bone for decades and built himself into the superhuman he had been.
In other words: injured All Might had become healthy All Might, not peak All Might. Whatever that meant for the semantics of his Quirk.
"However, I can feel that the strength I'm able to tap into has grown tremendously, even if not what it once was at its peak." All Might smiled. "And now I feel as though I can hold the muscular form for several hours without issue."
Taka tilted his head. "Wait—I thought you couldn't hold that form because of your injuries. How is time still a factor even now that you're healed?"
All Might looked briefly caught off guard by how knowledgeable he looked about the problem.
He had expected the kid to be a bit more lost.
…Just how much had Nezu told him? Hopefully not too much about One For All.
Although—even if he had, at this point, Taka had become someone he owed a great deal to.
Maybe it'd be fine to do so personally one day.
When? He didn't know.
Regardless of his uncertainty, he answered. "Before, using the form worsened my condition directly. Now it's simply exhaustion—that muscular form is me flexing, after all. Imagine holding a full-body flex for hours, it's very tiring. Although, from now on I'll just need a brief rest to go back into it, unlike before, when my limited hours cost me the rest of the day."
Taka nodded, expression neutral.
"Basically—All Might will need to rebuild his musculature before that form stops being time-limited." Nezu stepped in, filling the gap. "The muscular form reflects what he looked like before the injuries gradually stripped away most of his muscle mass. For now, flexing makes him appear the same, but there's considerably less behind it than there used to be."
Taka nodded again.
'So in the end, even 100k aura was able to bring back peak All Might.' He sighed inwardly, disappointed that despite the expenditure in aura he still had failed to bring back the full Symbol of Peace .
Still, it was a stronger All Might than before. And that was all that mattered at this point.
'At least now I know a few more things about how my healing works.' Taka thought, letting out a satisfied huff, before slowly getting to his feet.
Once standing, he went to the nearby desk and picked up his things, before giving Nezu, Recovery Girl, and All Might a curt nod.
"Then, if everything's good here—I'm heading out. I have an appointment with my little sister to teach her guitar that's coming up soon, and if I don't move now I'll be late." He declared, already making his way to the door. "And I'm not an unpunctual guy."
With that, he gave the teachers one more nod of farewell, before closing the door behind him and leaving the room for good, his steps across the hallway echoing through the door.
The three teachers stared in silence as the furthering steps slowly became lower and lower, until they eventually ceased all together. Their faces utterly baffled, yet amused.
Leaving that quickly, that unbothered, and with such a priority in mind—as if he hadn't just healed the number one hero in Japan and effectively pulled him back from what had seemed like an irreversible decline.
All Might ended up letting out a short huff of laughter at the teenager's attitude.
"He's a peculiar boy."
"That he is," Nezu agreed. "And he grows more peculiar with each passing day. I'm excited to see what else he'll show us."
All Might nodded—before turning at Nezu with a wry look. "By the way, Principal…"
"Hmm?"
"The concert at the festival—you knew about it beforehand, didn't you? That's why you told me not to interfere."
"Me? What a crazy thing to suggest."
Nezu laughed, patting the man's back with an amused look.
"Now, nevermind the small details—let's have a proper talk. I'm sure you have plenty of questions."
"Can't say I don't."
All Might smiled slightly, casting one last glance back at the closed door, recalling Taka's figure leaving like nothing, even though he had been revealed as the most wanted vigilante in recent days.
Yet—
'I suppose that's fine.'
Criminal or not, he couldn't bring himself to hold anything against the teenager. The good he'd done so far was real, and even if the means had been illegal, Nezu was quietly steering him toward the right path.
There wasn't anything he could add to that.
Having settled whatever misgivings he might have had, he looked back at himself—his now-healed body, a stark contrast to the half-dead figure he'd grown used to seeing in the mirror.
'I wonder how young Midoriya will react.'
...
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| Several days later, at the subway station… |
...
"Alright, does everyone have their luggage and costumes?" Aizawa asked, scanning the crowd of students assembled in front of him.
""Yessir!""
Some responded properly, others simply held up their bags to make the point. Some with considerably more enthusiasm than others.
Aizawa ignored the inconsistency and gave a nod once he'd confirmed everyone had what they needed.
"Good. Remember—no wearing them in public. And mind your conduct at your internships. It won't be school. It'll be a professional environment, and you'll need to behave accordingly."
After that, he checked his phone, glanced at the time, and nodded.
"It's time. If that's understood—off you go. Good luck."
""Yessir!""
And with that, he left them to it.
From there, each student headed for their own train, since everyone had chosen different agencies. Some departed right away. Others had to wait, and filled the time with idle chatter.
Taka had settled into one of the empty seats nearby, his group drifting in around him.
"So—remind me again, which agency did everyone go with?" Sero asked, bag resting on his knees, grinning.
"Didn't we go over this on Friday?" Kirishima gave him a confused look.
"Yeah, but people change their minds. Who knows?"
"Well, I'm still going with Fourth Kind. He was the manliest choice on my list—pretty much a no brainer." Kirishima said, pumping a fist.
"Just because of that?" Sero stared at him.
"Leave him alone—that's his thing, so it makes sense for him." Kaminari laughed.
"What about you, Kaminari? You were still going back and forth by Friday."
The blonde froze for a split second, then a sly smile appeared.
"As a matter of fact—it turns out there's this heroine who uses electricity as well, a total babe. Hero AA is her name. She actually sent me an offer. Can you believe it?"
He pulled out his phone and showed everyone the hero's official page.
But the reaction he got was not the one he'd been hoping for.
"Dude. She looks like she could be your mom."
"Yeah—she's even blonde with a lightning bolt in her hair. You sure you didn't just get scouted by a distant relative?"
Kaminari's expression dropped.
"Huh?" He looked at the phone again. "Wait—for real?"
"If I were you, I'd check if there's any family resemblance."
Kaminari nodded slowly, staring at the screen like having a quiet existential crisis.
While that unfolded, the rest moved on.
"How about you, Jiro?" Sero turned to her.
She couldn't quite hide her smile, scratching her cheek. "Cangunnon from the Buster Union actually sent me an offer. When I asked the teachers about it, turns out Present Mic-sensei interned under them too—makes sense, since both our Quirks are sound-based."
"For real?! That's one of the hardest-hitting hero teams out there!" Kaminari leaned in, eyes wide.
"That's just what ranking high at the festival gets you, I guess." Sero sighed in a mildly tragic way. "My offers were nothing that wild by comparison. I ended up going with Arthropodman—his fighting style is a bit similar to mine, so hopefully that was the right call."
"Who's that?" Kirishima tilted his head.
"… You don't even know him." Sero muttered, deflating.
Ignoring his sulking, everyone turned to the last person in the group.
"And you, Takahashi? That many offers didn't paralyze you or anything?" Kaminari asked, with just a hint of bitterness.
Taka lifted his head from where he'd been dozing with his chin lowered. "Nighteye." He said, not sounding particularly sold on his own choice. "Seemed the most interesting, I guess."
That was the entirety of his reasoning.
The four could only stare at him.
Not that they could blame him—with that many offers, having deep reasons for any one pick probably became impossible after a while. Still, they couldn't help feeling a little jealous of just how freely he'd been able to choose on a whim.
"Nighteye, huh? That blonde third-year interned under him, didn't he?" Jiro commented, the meeting from the cafeteria surfacing in her memory.
"Yeah." Taka answered, sighing faintly at the mental image of spending a week around Togata's relentless good cheer.
He was not looking forward to it. The guy didn't look like the quiet type, which is what he'd prefer.
Contrastingly, Nighteye's stern look seemed much more pleasing.
"By the way—where is that third-year girl interning? Not under Nighteye as well, is she?" Jiro asked, frowning slightly.
"I think she's going to Ryukyu." Taka answered.
"Hm, is that so?" Jiro hummed, sounding satisfied with that answer for reasons Taka didn't particularly want to examine, so he let it go and went back to resting.
"Talking about Ryukyu—" Kaminari leaned in, lowering his voice slightly. "Has anyone noticed Midoriya keeps looking this way?"
"What does that have to do with Ryukyu?" Sero looked at him strangely.
"No idea. I just couldn't think of how to bring it up naturally. But it's starting to bother me."
The four of them glanced over.
Midoriya was looking in their direction.
—Or rather, since he didn't seem to notice all four of them looking back—
"He's looking at Takahashi." Jiro noted.
Taka opened his eyes and glanced lazily toward the greenhead.
Only then did Midoriya look away in a hurry.
"Look—he even tried not to get caught."
"What did you do to him, Takahashi?" Sero asked, laughing wryly, clearly picturing Taka having bullied the already nervous Midoriya into a paranoid state.
Taka shrugged.
"No idea. But he's usually like that around everyone, isn't he?"
"True, true." Kaminari nodded with deep agreement.
"Maybe he's just jealous of Taka's offers?" Kirishima offered, though he didn't look very sure about it.
"Like all of us."
Everyone scoffed—then immediately glanced at Taka with a pettiness they didn't bother hiding.
While they sulked over their own comment, Taka's gaze remained on the now-nervous Midoriya, who could clearly feel the attention.
'I'm guessing All Might, much like his pupil, is terrible at keeping secrets—not that I asked him to, but I thought he'd be sensible enough not to bring it up unprompted... Apparently, I was wrong.' He sighed inwardly.
Well. As long as Midoriya didn't start sharing things he shouldn't with the rest of the class, he didn't mind too much.
If Midoriya said too much—then he could just send the greenhead flying from a school window all the way to the USJ with one well-aimed punt.
"...!"
At that moment, Midoriya felt a chill crawl down his spine.
While Taka had such thoughts, barely keeping up with whatever chatter the group made in the background as the minutes passed, slowly more and more trains passed by.
More minutes later, most students gradually began boarding their trains, the group present at the station slowly thinning.
At some point, only a few remained, one of them Takahashi, who was still in his chair, calmly resting from a night of very responsible activities.
Since he had solved most of his issues, he had let himself indulge a bit in his old hobbies, like playing.
Turns out, he might have went at it a bit too hard, and ended up still awake by 3 AM.
Thus, he now was paying the price, feeling a bit under the weather.
Luckily, True Breathing was helping him feel a bit better. Though he wouldn't mind sleeping for a few hours right here and now.
"Your train still hasn't come, Takahashi?"
Just then, Jiro—who'd just returned from buying juice at a nearby machine—blinked to find him still sitting there, completely unbothered.
"Nope." He said, the p popping.
She scratched the side of her head. "That's strange—I'm pretty sure the train to the city Nighteye's agency is at should have come and gone by now."
"Must be your imagination."
"Hmm." She hummed, unconvinced, then sat back down and let it go.
A brief silence settled between them. Not awkward—the topics had simply run out after the long wait, and both were more or less in quiet mode until they could leave.
Until Jiro suddenly perked up, glancing at Taka from the corner of her eye with a small smile starting on her face.
"… So, Takahashi—you play music?"
Taka's head came up, looking at her with a baffled expression. "Where did that come from?"
"Nothing, nothing… you just seem like the type."
"…" Taka's mouth twitched.
She was making her suspicions pretty clear.
He turned it over for a few seconds.
But to his own mild surprise, he found he wasn't quite as determined to deflect as he usually was.
Maybe having All Might find out had made him slightly less guarded about it.
That, or the lack of sleep was making him more susceptible to her puppy eyes.
Taka shook his head. He'd have to play the long game a little while longer still, so no revelations to her for the time being.
Still…
He glanced at Jiro, who flinched faintly under the direct attention.
Then he opened his mouth.
"I guess… you could say I know a little."
Her eyebrows shot up and a proper smile appeared. "Oh, is that so? A little, huh? What do you usually play?"
Taka winced.
Give someone a hand and they'll take an arm.
He turned his face away, not bothering with more than he'd already given.
"Whatever sounds good."
"What does that even mean?" Jiro asked, her expression going flat all of a sudden.
Right on cue, a train began pulling in, and Jiro checked her phone.
"Well, that's mine. Lucky you—you're getting off scot-free this time."
"From what?" Taka asked, face calm but eyes clearly baiting her.
Her smile went tight, annoyance creeping in at the edges.
The train doors opened and Jiro got to her feet, picking up her things.
As she stepped toward the platform, she threw one last look back at him.
"See you in a week, Takahashi. Try not to cause too much trouble."
Taka let out a short laugh, smiled faintly, and waved her off without a word.
Jiro boarded, and the train pulled away. Taka looked it go, heaving a soft sigh.
Minutes later, it wasn't only Jiro who left. Whoever else had been waiting filed out too.
Leaving only one behind at the station.
"Took them a while." Taka muttered, standing up and brushing off his pants.
And instead of heading for a platform, he walked out of the station. Eventually reaching the street, and then an alleyway.
Standing in the quiet and the shadow of it, he pulled out his phone.
"They're not expecting me for another forty minutes." He muttered, shouldering his bag as he began to float.
He pocketed the phone. His figure blurred—then vanished, reappearing high in the sky a moment later, barely visible from below.
At that height, he raised a hand to shade his eyes from the sun, and fixed on the general direction of his new destination.
Done, he smiled, aura flaring around him.
"No reason to waste all that time sitting around. They're getting an early visitor."
And without further delay—
—BOOOM!—
He shot forward.
New destination: Nighteye's agency.
...
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-To Be Continued...-
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(A/N: I got ill. Nothin serious, I'm just feeling more sensitive, and got a bit of a headache. Yet that's enough to leave me in bed groaning like I'm agonizing.
Gonna have to go drink some medicinal tea if I want to recover—even if it means I'll have to stand up.)