Chapter Text
Mari Kantoku was just spending her day like she usually did after school. She was laying in the hammock in their backyard relaxing before she had to go work on her homework and like usual was falling asleep when she was interrupted by some yelling from the alley behind their yard.
“DEKU! I didn’t need help, especially from you! I won't let a useless little rodent look down on me! Stay the fuck out of my way!”
Well I am awake now she thought before she decided to use her quirk to see who had decided to ruin her nap. Technopathy lets her control almost any electronics which includes the security cameras that their family had installed. She was able to link with the camera that overlooked the alley and see two teenagers probably her age in a uniform from a local high school. The one who seemed to be the one yelling was a blonde guy who turned and started stomping away towards the main street leaving the green headed kid with his head hung low. He turned back down the alley and started walking but only got a couple steps when someone I was not expecting came flying into the alley from out of nowhere. All Might of all people showed up in front of the kid.
“All Might!?! What are you doing here? Where is the press that were with you?”
“Giving them the slip is easy for All Might and I needed to find you.” All Might said before erupting in a cloud of steam. “I came here to thank you and correct myself.”
As the cloud dispersed Mari was able to see what All Might truly looked like. She was shocked seeing how someone who looked and sounded like All Might now looked like a zombie. Even more so she was confused why the kid left in the alley didn’t seem surprised by the change.
“If I hadn’t seen you being what should’ve been I might not have reacted in time. I saw a kid who had just had his dream crushed by his hero run in to be a hero. I would have been no better than the other heroes and been a hypocrite. I was reminded of what it means to be a hero.”
The green haired kid didn’t even look up but said. “It was my fault in the first place. If I hadn't grabbed your leg, the villain wouldn’t have escaped and Kacchan wouldn’t have been caught up in that.”
All Might sighed, “I can’t disagree. There is some blame on the escape placed onto you but I am the symbol of peace and number one hero. I should have noticed that he was gone before I left the roof and you are just a high school student. And if we look at the second encounter it was also you that made me move. Some of the top heroes have a story of when they were children where their bodies moved before they could think and they saved someone. That is what you did just now so I need to correct myself. Young man, you can be a hero.”
The kid broke down in tears and dropped to his knees hearing this. Mari had felt like she was hearing something very personal but wasn’t sure of the context. Not only was she uncertain about this man being All Might but she was also confused about the fact this kid helped him. She was only more confused when he continued talking.
“I believe you are worthy of inheriting my power.”
That single line caused both Mari and Izuku to freeze out of confusion. Izuku just looked up to his hero, uncertain of what he meant.
“This reaction is expected. I am guessing you are thinking it is impossible but let me explain. The public doesn't know my quirk. I make jokes around it anytime I am asked about it and so people just assume it is a super strength quirk of some kind. They think All Might, The Symbol of Peace, is a natural born hero but that couldn't be further from the truth. My power has been around since the Dawn of Quirks and has been passed down from one hero to another, gaining power each time until I met my master many years ago and she chose me to inherit this power. I was just like you, someone who ran into a situation that I shouldn’t have to save someone. She saw in me the same thing I see in you. She gave me this same explanation of the quirk. One-for-All. I have been searching for a successor and I believe you are worthy. I want you to take up this power and be the hero I know you can be. What do you say?”
Izuku continued staring at All Might, not sure what to say. He had wanted this for so long but he had never heard of anything like it. It was a true mystery what All Might’s quirk was but to think it could be passed on to others. He was shocked and had a million questions but he had one thing to say first. “Yes. I accept.”
Mari was shocked to say the least. She wasn't a huge hero nerd so she didn’t know All Might’s quirk but that wasn’t surprising. Her first thought was this was all fake but even if they didn’t look like All Might right now, they did when they first showed up and they sounded like him. If this was all true then she had for sure spied on some sort of state secret again. She knew she should just forget about all of this but she also was kinda worried about the kid. She knew that there had been some missing persons recently and she didn’t know if this was the craziest way to get someone to sneak away from family and kidnap them quietly. She also wanted to be a hero and she couldn’t ignore this possibility so even if she would get in trouble she did what she did best, spying.
All Might and Izuku exchanged contact info and she was able to link with his phone like she was able to with the security camera and she would be able to see what was done on the phone. She knew it was a huge invasion of privacy but she also was thinking this might be someone getting conned into something so she would just try to look into what they were talking about and nothing else. She didn’t exactly want to know what a teenage boy was looking up on his phone.
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Well she was regretting her choices because she was watching their messages and they were agreeing to meet up on their own two days later. Other than the fact it was concerning, it was at 6 AM. Mari liked to sleep in on her weekends but not this weekend. They were meeting at 6 which meant she had to get up at 5 AM to make sure she would actually be there on time. Well at least she tried to be on time.
She was late but thankfully they were still on the beach. Well it was called a beach but looked more like a trash heap on the coast. She was also less concerned about this not being All Might because he was again looking like All Might. He was sitting on top of a fridge that Izuku was pulling. She wanted to trust that this was all good partially so she could just go home and back to bed but she wanted to get a little more confirmation so she tried to sneak closer to them. It seemed like she wasn’t noticed but that also backfired. All Might was talking to Izuku and emphasized his point by crushing the fridge he was sitting on. Mari might have gotten away with spying but the power of crushing a fridge like only All Might could cause more trash to shift and pipe fell off the pile she was hiding behind.
All Might and Izuku froze when they heard someone shout in pain. All Might naturally ran to see if there was someone in pain and was confused when he turned the corner. He turned to Izuku who was following after him and asked “Umm, you didn’t invite her did you?”
Izuku was confused by the question and then turned the corner himself and he was equally confused. There was a girl with dark skin, long purple hair tied into a ponytail. She was wearing leggings and a leather jacket over her pale blue tanktop. She also had a baseball cap sitting next to her while she was rubbing her head. “Umm no I didn’t tell anyone. Are you ok?”
“Yeah I’m good, just bumped my head.” Mari said reflexively before realizing that she was discovered and she slowly looked up to see both All Might and Izuku looking at her with confusion and concern. She also noticed the blush on Izuku’s face but that wasn’t important right now.
“Well since you are ok could we ask why you are here this early in the morning?” All Might asked her, already suspicious of her.
Mari didn’t have a good answer. She wasn’t exactly planning on confronting them and she was a terrible liar. She was so bad she replied “Would you believe I was just taking a walk?”
All Might wasn’t sure who she was or what she was here for but he was certain that was a lie, He didn’t need Tsukauchi to know that. “No, I don’t think we would. What are you doing here?”
Mari knew there was no way out of this without revealing her spying so she realized if she didn’t want to get in trouble for essentially vigilanteism she would need to appeal to his sense of heroism. “Well to be honest I was spying on you both. I saw you meet in the alley behind my house and saw you shrink down and then offer him your quirk and since I wasn’t sure if you were actually All Might I decided to follow when you both would meet again and make sure you weren’t a shapeshifter trying to kidnap him.” She said without a single breath until the end.
All Might was shocked to say the least. He had hidden his condition for six years and in less than a week two high schoolers had found out. He also was concerned that she had spied on them and didn’t know how. “When you said you’ve spied on us, how did you do so?”
Mari felt like this was an interrogation. She also knew she should have expected this if she was found out. “So I was in my backyard when I heard the blonde kid yelling and used my quirk to look at the alley through the security camera overlooking the alley. After that guy left I saw you, All Might, run in and deflate. I was so shocked I just kept listening and watching. I wasn’t sure I could believe you were All Might but Midoriya seemed to just accept it as fact. I also knew there had been a few missing people recently and didn’t know if this was a weird kidnapping thing. I also knew that if it was true, I didn’t want to reveal anything I had heard to anyone else so I figured the best option was to link with Midoriya’s phone when he pulled it out and read the chat with you to see when you were meeting so I could confirm it. I was kinda hoping to stay hidden and if this was true then I would pretend I didn’t hear anything but that didn’t work.”
All Might took a second to think. He knew that she just admitted to vigilantism but he also appreciated that she only did that so that his secret wouldn’t be revealed if true. While All Might thought about what to do, Izuku responded “I guess that makes sense. I mean I even called you an imposter when I first saw you shrink down and I saw you jump through the air and land on a roof when I grabbed your leg.”
All Might looked at his trainee and realized he was right. Not only did this girl have concern about possible crimes but understood operational security to not reveal anything to police until she could confirm his intentions. “Well I guess you are right Young Midoriya. I can’t say I am happy that you broke laws to do so but I also appreciate you keeping what you knew a secret. I guess this also isn’t necessary.” He said before releasing his buffed up form.
“So how much did you hear?” All Might asked.
“Well kinda everything I think. Like I said I saw you run into the alley and heard everything you told Midoriya and spied on the chat so I knew you would be here this morning. I still don’t understand everything I heard like why you are so small or why you were correcting yourself about him being a hero but everything said in the alley I heard.” Mari said.
Izuku had mostly been listening. He was not used to cute girls being nice to him and even if she didn’t know him she did go out her way to make sure he was safe. It was honestly the opposite of what most people did so it was nice. “Wait, you said you looked at our messages. You said it had something to do with your quirk so what is it?” He asked her.
Mari was a little surprised it was Midoriya asking since this still felt like an interrogation by All Might even if he was deflated. “Well I guess since I know who you both are now I should introduce myself. My name is Mari Kantoku, I go to Kikyo Private Academy and my quirk is Techopathy. I can control a lot of tech in different ways, linking to security cameras so I can see what they are aimed at, connecting to computers or phones to see what they are looking at even if I can’t see the screen, or I can link with something and if I focus can stay connected for multiple days like I did to your phone. I can also do this.”
Suddenly from Izuku’s pocket his phone went off. “A MESSAGE IS HERE.” Izuku pulled out his phone and the message was just “hi” but it was sent from a contact he was almost certain wasn’t there before. She had not only sent him a message but added herself as a contact.
Izuku was surprised but had a million questions. “Wait, If I respond, does that message go to your brain directly? Or is this just a burner contact? Were you able to send a message since you were connected with my phone or was it just you having copied my contact and sent it via your phone? Would you still be able to link if it was powered off or even if the battery was removed?”
“Oh umm well I could open apps or something on the phone when linked but I just sent that from my phone. I am basically always connected to it since I have it on me. I can’t connect unless it is powered and it needs to be the phone itself. If there is a bulky case on the phone I can’t unless I can see the actual phone.” She said thinking it was best to be honest in this situation.
Izuku was surprised, not only did someone answer all of his questions about their quirk but they also didn’t seem creeped out. This was surprising but there was something else he realized. He had a girl’s contact in his phone.
All Might while was interested in the girl’s quirk, he thought that Izuku’s reaction was more interesting. He didn’t put too much thought into Izuku’s situation other than the work needed to prepare his body for One-for-All but he saw the boy’s reaction to her. He was blushing like crazy and after she said the phone contact was hers, he was staring at his phone screen in shock. He thought back to Izuku’s reactions to what he had told him a few days ago. He had not only been so concerned about wanting to be a hero he risked flying through the air to ask All Might if he could be a hero with a weak quirk, but he broke down crying when told he could. There was also the yelling Mari had mentioned happened before he showed up in the alley. Could Izuku be a victim of bullying?
“Young Kantoku, I realize that technically what you did was vigilantism but that just tells me that you have heroic instincts. Were you wanting to be a hero when you graduate?” All Might asked.
“I mean yeah I do. I know that my quirk isn’t the best in a combat situation but I could do rescue or investigation really well. I also was thinking I could use support gear to offset my issue with actually fighting villains. I hope to go to UA, but I know how hard that is so I will apply to a few other places too.” She replied a little confused about the question.
“Hmm, well if you could give us a moment I need to speak with Young Midoriya. We will be right back.” All Might said before leading Izuku a little bit away.
“Young Midoriya, I explained that I am training your body to be able to handle One-for-All but I realized something. Your need to ask me if you can be a hero and how much you reacted when I told you that you could is possibly concerning. I do not wish to pry if you don’t want to talk but is everything ok? I know growing up quirkless was hard when I was young but it has been a while and I don’t know if it is any easier now.”
“What? I mean I am not quirkless. I have a useless quirk but honestly it might be worse this way. I am able to form an empathic bond with people but it doesn’t last long and I can’t seem to control it at all. I want to brush it all off but I wouldn’t say everything is ok. Home is not perfect but it isn’t bad. My parents divorced when I was young and I never really got to know my dad but I don’t miss what I never had. He helps cover expenses but my mom is the one who handles that. School is not great. I am not the only one but I would say I am at the bottom of the totem pole. Is this going to change anything? I didn’t realize you thought I was quirkless.” Izuku said, being honest with his situation for once.
All Might was confused but this is close to what he thought. “Well first off this changes nothing. You are my successor. That will not change. I must have misheard you about your quirk but I will be honest. When you asked me I had been focused on my injury and was just thinking about you fighting the man who caused it and probably would have answered the same. I am somewhat concerned about the school situation but I don’t want to do anything drastic so I will follow up with some people about options before anything happens. The other reason I had us step away from Young Kantoku is to do with this. I think that from how it sounds you don’t have many friends and I think that something that can help push you is a training partner. I can’t be here everyday and I think it would help ease my mind if you had someone here in case something happened. What would you think of me offering to have Young Kantoku train alongside you? We would expand the area to be cleaned and they would also be able to spar with you when we get closer so you aren’t just going into the exam with muscles but you will know how to fight.”
Izuku took a moment to think about the idea All Might had. If I have her here I might be more nervous since she is cute but there is also what Midnight said in the interview the other night how because she is provocative villains will sometimes freeze even for a second for her to take them down but the opposite could happen if a villain was using their appeal to distract the hero and cause more people to be in danger so maybe training with her would help me not react as much. I can’t think of a reason to say no otherwise but still there will be times when it will just be me and her here at a beach alone.
“Well we will also need to work on the muttering, Young Midoriya. You don’t want to give away your thoughts to the villains. What you said isn’t wrong and something I considered. I think it would help but I will let you choose. We also would need to ask her if she would be interested in working here.” All Might said, cutting off the thoughts of Izuku.
Izuku was embarrassed that he had said all of that in front of All Might but he was right. He couldn’t think of a reason not to. “Yeah we should ask her.”
All Might and Izuku finally walked back towards Mari who was nervously standing around waiting on them. “So Young Kantoku, we talked and have an offer for you. We were talking and we believe that something I had considered but decided against was a training partner. I decided against it because I don’t know any other prospective hero students that knew my secret and I could trust. You kept my secret when you were even sure I was All Might so I believe we can trust you. You said you wanted to go to UA so why not train alongside Young Midoriya. I can work on a plan for you as well. I won’t need to build your body to handle One-for-All but I can make a plan that would help get you ready for the exam.”
Out of anything they could have been talking about, Mari was not expecting to be offered the chance to train under the number one hero. She came to this beach today somewhat expecting this all to be a lie and her needing to call the cops but here she was getting offered training. “Yes please. I don’t think I deserve to be offered this but anyone would be crazy to say no to training from the Symbol of Peace. How should I explain this to my parents? Can’t really tell them that I am off getting trained by All Might.”
All Might and Izuku both kinda froze at the question. They had been so focused on getting to training that they didn’t even consider telling Izuku’s mom. Or at least All Might didn’t consider it. Izuku thought about it but figured that All Might wanted this a secret so he didn’t tell her anything.
Mari wasn’t sure why they seemed confused. “You did explain this to his family right? Like he didn’t just leave the house at like 5 in the morning and run off to a beach without letting them know? Was that the plan for the next year?”
All Might looked at Izuku and asked him “Umm well I didn’t think about it. I was too focused on finally finding a successor and getting a plan ready. What did you tell your mother?”
“I didn’t say anything because I figured this was supposed to be a secret. Like I can’t exactly tell her that I am getting trained by All Might. Right?”
Mari was the one to respond first. “You shouldn’t leave her out of the loop on this. I don’t know what your quirk is Midoriya but what happens when we get into UA and your mom is watching the sports festival and you start throwing punches like All Might? She is going to have questions and it would probably be better to tell her now.”
All Might realized that Mari was right. She would see the change from a simple mental quirk to a power boost. There would be no way to explain it to anyone who knew Izuku before he got the quirk. Even if they told his mother, there would be other students who had known him before. They needed a cover story and that is even more reason to talk to Nezu about this. All Might isn’t dumb but he also isn’t anywhere near as smart as High Specs.
“Well Young Kantoku has a point. This will be an issue down the line with not just your mother but anyone else who knew you before getting One-for-All. I think we can wrap up here today so we can figure out a plan. Let’s head out.” All Might said before walking up the steps to his truck.
Mari and Izuku looked after him confused as to who he meant should go with him. They got their answer when he got to the driver door and yelled out. “Come on you two. We have places to be. Jump in.”
Mari and Izuku looked at each other confused again but then ran to the truck not wanting to make All Might wait. Mari went to sit behind All Might, leaving the front seat for Izuku since he was the successor. Izuku on the other hand went to the passenger side and got in the back seat to allow Mari to sit in the front. All Might barely held back a laugh at the face they made when they realized they both sat in the back seat. “Well let’s get going” All Might said, leaving them both in the back sitting next to each other.