Yagi Toshinori's morning began with a cough. Not the light, discreet kind, but one that rattled his chest and brought flecks of red to his hand. He stared at them for a moment before wiping them away on a handkerchief. "Not today," he muttered, forcing himself upright.
The sun streamed through the curtains of his modest apartment, painting the room in warm hues that felt mocking rather than comforting. He knew the day ahead would be grueling— physically and emotionally.
"The students rely on me." He grabbed his phone and checked the schedule again: a standard visit to UA, a check-in with Nezu, and a stop at the USJ to oversee Class 1-A's field exercise. His smile faltered as he caught sight of his gaunt reflection in the bathroom mirror.
After quickly dressing in his oversized suit, he made a simple breakfast, a small portion of porridge, half a cup of yogurt, and water, so as to not upset his stomach, or lack thereof. As he sipped his drink, his thoughts wandered to the young heroes he was tasked with guiding today. Midoriya came to mind first, his successor's brilliance shining through. He reflected on young Bakugo, who seemed to have exceptional talent and a chip on his shoulder. He considered young Shinsou, who seemed to want nothing more than to be a hero, even if only because of spite.
He clenched his fist, summoning a fleeting burst of strength. "Even if I can't be at my best, I'll be there for them."
After tidying up his modest apartment and slipping on his signature yellow suit jacket, Toshinori stepped outside, pulling the door shut behind him. The brisk morning air stung slightly, but it invigorated him just enough to push through his phantom pains. He adjusted his tie and began his commute to UA, blending into the early city bustle.
The streets were alive with movement—commuters hurrying to work, shopkeepers opening their stores, and the occasional hero walking their patrols. Toshinori reflected on his fonder days, where he had enough time to run his own patrol all over Japan. He would jump from prefecture to prefecture, a team of people just telling him where he was needed, and he would arrive at any situation he was required.
His thoughts were abruptly interrupted by a distant BOOM, followed by the telltale sounds of screaming. His head snapped toward the source—a column of black smoke curling into the morning sky from a block away. Without hesitation, he ducked into an alley.
In a puff of smoke, his emaciated frame transformed, swelling into the mighty form of All Might. "This is no time to dawdle!" he declared, and he rushed towards the screams of terror.
Arriving at the scene, he found a small-time villain wielding a large, unwieldy flamethrower-like contraption, scorching the pavement and sending civilians fleeing. The villain cackled wildly, reveling in the panic, but their laughter was short-lived.
"Fear not, citizens!" All Might boomed as he landed with a ground-shaking impact. "For I am here!"
The flamethrower wielding villain veritably shit himself, never expecting All Might to pop out of the blue. He started panicking and screaming, and in his deluded state he started running away as fast as he could, burning everything in his path. All Might cut him off, appearing in front of him as if he'd teleported. He reach out his massive hand a flicked the tip of the flamethrower, bending it nearly one hundred-eighty degrees.
"Boo"
The villain crumpled to the ground, apparently scared to the point of passing out.
As the onlookers cheered, All Might offered a wide smile, proud that although he wasn't in his heyday, he could still take a villain down without harming anyone. He nodded to a pair of arriving police officers, leaving the scene in their capable hands before slipping into another alley to revert to his true form.
Leaning heavily against the wall, Toshinori wiped the sweat from his brow, his breathing shallow. "I've… still… got it." Toshinori said, blatantly ignoring the burning in his side from his missing lung.
As he was stepping out of the alley, he heard another explosion in the distance, the opposite way of U.A.
"Well, another little detour can't hurt." He said, delusionally.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"And you're one hundred percent sure he'll be there." Kai asked, repeating the question to Nezu for the fourth time as they made the trip to meet Class 1A in the parking lot.
"I assure you, Mr. Sugimoto. Unless All Might has made a series of incredibly stupid decisions, he will be at the USJ on time." Nezu said, sitting on Kai's shoulders. "Why are you so concerned? Is there something I should be made aware of? Also, take the next left."
"I don't know sir. I just get the feeling everything is going to go to shit today. I can't explain it. It's one of those days when you wake up and just know everything is going to go wrong. Does that make sense?"
Nezu's small, beady eyes gleamed with curiosity as he tilted his head, ears twitching slightly. "Ah, the proverbial sixth sense. Fascinating, though hardly scientific." He gestured for Kai to continue walking as they approached the parking lot. "While your concern is noted, I assure you, contingency plans are in place. Besides," Nezu added with a mischievous grin, "if something does go awry, don't you think six different heroes can handle it?"
Kai went over the list of heroes in his head. 'We have ectoplasm to clear the mooks, Snipe to hold down Shigaraki, Eraserhead to neutralize Kurogiri, and even if All Might doesn't come Nomu will be preoccupied with protecting Shigaraki from Snipe's potshots. And, barring all of that, we even have Thirteen defending the students and Nezu for backup. We're going to be fine. Or, at least, I'm going to be.'
'Party in the USJ'
You didn't have to get involved in the USJ situation, but you decided to anyways. Good for you. Hell, you even got yourself some backup.
Secure assistance for the USJ Situation (3/3)
Guarantee your own survival (1/1)
Prepare emergency Empowered Fruits (3/3)
Rewards for completion- Devil Fruit Spin, Full Heal Voucher, Inventory Upgrade.
"Mr. Sugimoto."
'I know for a fact that I will survive until the end of today. That brings a load off of my shoulders. I even have a heal voucher in case I get hurt. Not to mention these.'
Stalwart Shield Enhanced Fruit
HP Recovery Fruit
Get Me OUTTA HERE Fruit
Kai looked at the three empowered fruits he'd made, confident that at least one of them would get him out alive. "It's a shame about the cooldowns", he thought. "I could just eat all three and guarantee but I have to choose.'
"Kai."
'But I know which one I'm using. The first two are fine, but the first one is to defend others and the second is in case I'm already hurt. I'm definitely popping the third one. Why wouldn't I? It's the best escape tool- "
Suddenly he felt something hit him in the head.
"Huh? What's going on?" Kai asked, rubbing the crown of his skull.
"You spaced out." Nezu said. "I've been trying to reach you for roughly three minutes and decided you needed a factory reset. Now can you please open the door? We're almost to the parking lot."
"Oops. My bad. Thanks for telling me." As Kai said this, he opened the doors out into the parking lot and saw class 1-A clustered around a school bus, Eraserhead, Snipe and Ectoplasm watching from the side. Kai and Nezu went over to the teacher trio.
"Alright class! Everyone is to get into two separate lines so we can load the bus smoothly and without commotion!" Iida shouted.
Kaminari countered. "Dude! You aren't even the Class Rep, Midoriya is!"
Iida sputtered. "B-But it is a hero's duty to be organized! We simply cannot act in a matter unbefitting of U.A.! "
Kai raised an eyebrow at the commotion and looked over at the U.A. principal and teachers, who were all trying not to laugh, sans Eraserhead, who just seemed exhausted.
"It's every day of every class with him. He's always like this. Just shouting and correcting and all of that. That's not to say I have a problem with him, he's a damn good kid and has a bright heart, but I can't connect him to Tensei at all. I mean, his older brother would break rules for fun when we were learning here."
Nezu cackled. "Oh trust me, I know. I was your homeroom teacher, remember? I helped Tensei plan some of his pranks and kept him out of trouble."
Eraserhead deadpanned. "Why? Just… Why? Which ones?"
Nezu grinned maniacally. "Did you think he sourced Quirk Suppressant Cuffs by himself? How did you think he got access to 'Smoke Underground Coffee?'.
Eraserhead reeled back like he'd been punched. "THAT WAS YOU? YOU WERE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE MARATHON INCIDENT? YOU WERE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE AVOCADO INCIDENT???
The entirety of Class 1A was now staring at the clump of teachers plus Kai, wondering what could make their hellish teacher react like that.
The students stood frozen, eyes wide as they tried to process what they had just overheard. The sudden mention of the "Avocado Incident" and the "Marathon Incident" hung in the air like a thick fog, and they all glanced between Eraserhead and Nezu with equal parts confusion and curiosity.
Iida, still standing stiffly at the front of the bus line, furrowed his brow. "Wait, sir, what—what exactly happened during these incidents?" His voice was almost a nervous squeak as he turned to Nezu, eager to understand.
Nezu, who looked like a particularly mischievous cat, leaned back with his trademark grin, enjoying every second of the attention. "Oh, the Marathon Incident? A bit of a miscalculation during our annual sports festival. Tensei thought it would be funny to switch out the water stations with various spicy concoctions. To this day, we still don't know how he managed to get those peppers. The entire class was... well, let's say, 'enthusiastically' running toward the finish line."
The students stared in stunned silence, while Eraserhead just rubbed his temples, clearly mortified. "You people are the reason my hair went gray."
But Nezu wasn't finished. "And the Advocado Incident? It's one of my personal favorites! Tensei somehow managed to sneak a whole shipment of avocado-themed merchandise into the lunch hall and then tricked everyone into eating avocado smoothies that were actually filled with... well, let's say, a very potent blend of exotic spices. The chaos that ensued was legendary. Of course, I had to help keep the school board from discovering the real culprit."
A collective gasp went through Class 1-A as they processed the mental image. "Wait... avocado smoothies?" Kaminari asked, his voice filled with disbelief. "That's just... evil."
"It was a work of genius," Nezu said with a twinkle in his eye. "And no one ever suspected me. I was, as always, the puppet master behind the scenes."
Meanwhile, Eraserhead, now visibly shaking his head, let out an exhausted sigh. "I should've known. Always the little tricks, always the pranks... And you helped them?"
"Well, most of them were admittedly Tensei's ideas. The reenactment, the gun show, the Romeo and Juliet flash mob, all Tensei. The absolute peak though, or I guess for your class it was the low point, was when Tensei and Oboro worked together. They came up with what will forever be known as the cucumber incident."
Eraserhead flared his quirk. "No. No. We do NOT discuss that incident. They had to have a hazmat team come in!"
Nezu just cackled.
The students of Class 1-A exchanged confused glances, with more than a few eyebrows raised.
"Hazmat team?" Kaminari blurted out, his curiosity piqued.
"I'll never understand why you all find this so funny," Eraserhead muttered, rubbing his temples. "That's enough. No more. We are not talking about the cucumber incident."
Nezu, unable to contain himself, grinned wider. "Oh, but the stories…"
Eraserhead shot him a glare that could cut through steel. "Not a single word."
Kai, watching the exchange with mild interest, caught the tension in the air. "Guess it's a touchy subject," he said dryly.
"Shut up. On the bus, everyone. All of you. Even you two." He said, pointing at Snipe and Ectoplasm.
"Sir." Yaoyorozu spoke up. "Why are these four joining us today? You said we would only have All Might and Thirteen present."
Snipe answered. "Well, pardner, we's fixin' to do some quirk trainin' with the yungin, an' we reckon we'd be right grateful for them surroundings y'all headed to, so we're hitchin' up and comin' along fer the ride."
Yaoyorozu just nodded, not understanding a word.
"Alright now, quit lollygaggin', grab your gear, an' git on the bus—time's a-tickin'!"
With that the Texan climbed onto the bus, leaving all the people standing there not understanding a single word.
Except for Kai, a former American. "Well, shoot, ya heard 'im! Grab yer stuff an' let's mosey on outta here!"