Villains had always seemed like such an easy issue to take care of for the longest. They were common, but so were heroes. Japan used to have a generally easy time taking care of these villains, especially since they had dealt with the most powerful quirk user back when quirks had first begun to surface into the world.
The first quirk, the first big super villain. Japan must know how to keep control of these issues, right? The present condition of the once beautiful country told a very different story. No matter how many heroes had flourished in the country and quickly risen in power, just about none of them were ready to deal with the massive issues, especially the ones that built up in the dark over time.
And that was exactly what happened.
All For One had continued to defy all quirk theories in the many years he had existed, especially as people preached that the longer quirks existed, the more out of control they would become. Of course, it could still be true, but when the first generation already started with a far too powerful power, it was difficult for the quirks of the present to compete.
And compete they tried. With that try came quick failure to hero society as a whole, and the rise of the world of villains. Now they controlled the streets, and left civilians and many heroes cowering.
It had been three and a half years since All For One had taken control of Japan. Heroes were just barely keeping him and all the other villains in the country, but that they could do. While their country was quickly collapsing, they did their best to make sure it didn't spread to others.
Though it probably helped that what All For One wanted was still in Japan, and was the biggest threat to his plans.
Izuku Midoriya still held onto One For All tightly, and it was like a brightly lit torch in the darkness to the rest of Japan who were rooting for things to return to normal soon enough. Of course, it was a lot of pressure for someone who was just barely in his twenties, but he had been slowly preparing for this kind of pressure ever since All Might had told him about the quirk when he was fourteen, and then the dangers of it when he was told the history of the power.
All For One's need for that power had led to so much destruction, but nobody wanted to see what would happen if he got a hold of it. So the hero society held out.
However, the villains weren't even their biggest issue. The main issue was actually all of the Nomus that were released not long after All For One and the League of Villains realized that despite not being surrounded by people all the time, Izuku still wasn't easy to catch. If anything, it made it more difficult.
Every year, All For One's doctor released worse Nomus, stuffed with more powerful quirks, and all with different purposes. The initial Nomus that were introduced to the world in Class 1-A's first year now seemed so easy, weak, even. So the heroes fought harder and trained to prepare for worse. That was how the ones who still survived stay surviving.
Civilians weren't even willing to step out of the safe spaces built for them anymore, however. Because no matter how many Nomus were taken down, there still seemed to be a never ending amount patrolling every street. To see a street lacking one pacing up and down, surveying the area, had become a rare occurrence. There were still areas that people could hide themselves in, but civilians wouldn't be the ones fitting themselves into those areas.
The few heroes left in Japan actually ended up taking advantage of the little hidden spaces in buildings that they had realized nearby Nomus couldn't reach. Not all of them would return to the bases set up by the Hero Commission, usually because there was still something in the area that needed to be done, but not until they had rested up for a minute.
Izuku took advantage of those areas more than most. He usually avoided going to the bases, especially the largest one, where most heroes, and the remaining members of the Commission took up residence. There were many floors of that base set up for civilians, but two of them were set for business matters and housing for the people desperately working to save Japan.
Izuku had a room there… but he usually went there at most once a week. That was only because his remaining friends had pleaded with him to return every once in a while for a shower at least, and to pack himself up enough food for a couple meals a day until he came back to restock. Though, he was always quick to be in and out, hardly talking to anyone other than the security.
He wasn't quite ready to sit down and talk to anyone yet, unless it was another meeting about their next plan.
So there were the few words exchanged with the security, and then he was in, and then out.
Some noses would still turn up whenever he ran by though… he heavily suspected his own hero costume.
Yeah… that had to be it. When was the last time he washed it?
Probably when he ran away last.
It was as he was about to creep out of his hiding place in the mostly destroyed building, other than a few rooms, that he felt a soft buzzing in his pocket. Knowing there was a Nomu and villain down the street, he was quick to shut the door as quietly as possible before pulling out his phone and answering the call.
"Hello," he whispered into the phone, keeping close to the nearest window so he could keep an eye out.
"Deku," the president of the Hero Commission started. "We need you to come to the base for a while. There's something we need to talk about."
Izuku almost sighed, but instead just settled with glaring at his phone for a moment before turning to look outside again.
"I have something I'm doing," he replied, his eyes following where the Nomu and villain walked.
Since the villain didn't seem to care about the Nomu's presence, it was safe to assume that they were working closely with the League, and gifted an older Nomu so they would present more of a threat. Of course, with how much lower of a level the Nomu was compared to the High Ends, the Nomu wouldn't be protecting the villain from much other than civilians and a hero who had by some chance never encountered one before.
But the villain at least seemed confident with the creature that followed them.
Creature.
That was all the Nomus were seen as these days. It was determined that they had already lost all of their humanity, whether they had speech or not. So every single Nomu was to be killed. After all, everything they did was under the command of someone else, and usually by All For One.
Villains were usually turned in alive, however, and locked up in the prisons built under the bases.
"Is it a villain or Nomu situation," the president asked, her voice clearly filled with exhaustion. Izuku could already imagine her pinching the bridge of her nose.
"Both," he replied.
"Well you know what to do. Just bring the villain in on your way over here." And with that, she hangs up.
So Izuku finally gets to get up, slipping his phone back into his bright yellow bag, and then making sure everything was secure before he swung it onto his back. Only once that was on did he sneak out of the building, and quickly charge up One For All as he leapt at the Nomu first. He hardly gave the Nomu any time to process what was going on before he pushed its head back far enough to snap its neck.
The fight with the Nomu was over quickly, and the villain was only then turning to attack as the creature hit the ground. But Izuku was still quicker, reaching and successfully knocking out his opponent before they could even finish charging up their quirk.
Izuku scooped up the villain, tossing them onto his shoulder before activating Float and One For All, using that to get him high into the air before using Black Whip to tug him in the direction he needed to go.
As the base came closer into view, the more Izuku just wanted to turn around. He was tired of being sent on personal missions by the president, feeling more like a pawn to her than anything. He already was busy with his own personal mission and keeping himself alive while it felt like half of the villains and all Nomus were after him.
And whoever he was close to.
But that depended on how badly Izuku had agitated All For One. Or how badly those close to him pissed off the villain mastermind, or presented a heavy threat. But either way, those he was close to died.
The commission at least tried to keep the last of his friends in the base as much as possible, much to their own protest. They wanted to protect Japan just as much as Izuku, but with the commission relying so much on him, they did a lot to make sure he would at least work with them and do the missions he was assigned.
There wasn't much of a system anymore, but for the most part, anyone who wasn't a villain still accepted the commission as still in charge. Though, that trust they had placed in the commission would sometimes waver when villains would scream about the injustices they were dealt.
However, the knowledge of who kept them safe, and who was killing off their loved ones, ultimately overcame any idea of leaving the safe spaces built up for them as quickly as possible.
Once Izuku reached the main base, he lowered himself to the ground, making sure to continue to keep a good hold on the villain. It would have been nice to just fly over the walls, but there was an invisible barrier put up in every base, so people always ahead to go through security to get in.
Having expected Izuku to be there, security was quick to arrive at the entrance, Naomasa close behind them. It was standard procedure for him to be there whenever anyone was coming in. For those leaving, it was just a matter of anyone leaving to sign a form, making sure their name was on it so they could be questioned properly.
The exhausted detective held a coffee mug in one hand, taking a sip right before he stood next to two of the security guards.
"Are you a villain in disguise," Naomasa asks tiredly, clearly tired of repeating the same question anytime a hero or commissioner were to come in.
"No," Izuku replied, also tired of these questions. This was just one reason of many to limit the amount of visits he paid.
"Are you the real Izuku Midoriya?"
"Yyyep."
And with a villain in tow, sadly, neither of them could leave off on just the two questions.
"Are you currently holding a villain?"
"Mhm."
"Are they currently of any danger to the base's safety?"
"Not as far as I know."
"Please hand them over, and they'll be properly detained." And finally, the questioning was over. Izuku handed the still unconscious villain over to security, who quickly placed cuffs on the villain, and then hauled them off. Naomasa, on the other hand, followed Izuku into the main entrance, where they both started making their way up the steps to where the commission's floor lay.
"Are you sure you don't have the time for a shower," Naomasa asked with a chuckle. If it wasn't for all of the hair in Izuku's face, Naomasa would have seen the small glare the hero shot in the detective's direction. But Naomasa did feel the playful elbow to the side. "Should I take that as a no?"
"For someone tired of questioning people, you sure do ask a lot," Izuku jokingly mentioned.
"Hey, what can I say? I'm a little too used to only asking questions." There was a brief period of silence before the detective spoke up again, saying "But seriously, do you have the time for a shower?"
"Not as far as I know. She seemed to want me here kinda quickly… but she'll probably send me right to my room after. It was about time I came back," Izuku replied, staring at his dirty shoes as they finally reached the right floor.
"Mm, how long has it been since you came back? Two weeks?"
"Almost."
Two weeks ago, the nine surviving members of Class 1-A dropped to eight. Izuku had been doing well only seeing the aftermath of the incident where the bodies of the people he knew lay, but there was a body he had always hoped he'd never see: Katsuki Bakugo.
Izuku always thought Katsuki would go out in some big glory if he were by some chance to die. Not to something like a Nomu.
The worst thing was that Izuku didn't know what kind of Nomu it was. But the sight of Katsuki's body absolutely destroyed, with blood covering so much of the street, Izuku couldn't help but run again. Izuku had only seen the aftermath, where heroes were already picking up the body to drive it back to the base, to keep everyone informed of which hero had died recently, and give them as proper of a service as they could. Not a single person could get a hold of Izuku for two days. Not a single call would go through as Izuku sat on a dirty floor in an abandoned building, crying his eyes out for hours.
How he lived for two days without moving other than the heaving breaths while tears rolled down his face and onto the floor, he wouldn't know. But he downed multiple bottles of water the day he returned, the first few basically forced in his hands when they saw how much color had drained from face, and how sick he looked from the lack of food and water.
He still had some food in his bag over those two days, but not even being able to move a hand to wipe the tears off of his face.
The tear stains were bad for a while, and he didn't help his case while he violently scrubbed at his face in the couple hours he stayed at the base.
So… that was the last time he showered.
"Well you're already past the time you agreed to come back and take care of yourself, so make sure to do that as soon as possible. And please stay for more than a couple hours. I think your costume is ninety percent filth at this point," Naomasa requested.
"I'll think about it," Izuku replied, grinning as they split off to walk in opposite directions down the hallway.
As he neared the entrance to the commission president's office, he quickly pulled his hair up to make the president happy, knowing how she was always picky when she couldn't see his eyes when she tried to talk to him. She was just always one of those people who would rather look them in the eyes while she talks.
Izuku really just wished she didn't want him to stare at her the whole time they talked… but at least she didn't get upset whenever he quickly started looking around the room while they talked.
With the severe lack of care he had been giving himself the past few years, his hair had grown all the way down to his shoulders, and his bangs definitely didn't take a war as a time to stop growing either. He managed to keep those at his nose at least, after trying to take care of them every once in a while whenever he returned for a shower, but giving up these last few months on them.
The bangs at least kept attention away from the heavy eye bags under his eyes all the time. His friends did keep saying that they were beginning to look bad enough to rival Hitoshi and Shota though…
Wrapping the hair tie around his hair one more time, he finally let his hands fall to his sides for just a moment, watching as he got closer to the door he needed to go into. A few strands of his hair fell out of the ponytail, especially his bangs. They didn't cover his eyes though, so it wasn't an issue.
Besides, he felt a little silly with all of his hair pulled up anyway. Especially after having his hair framing his face for so long, no matter the length.
Izuku felt like he had hardly knocked at all before he heard the president saying "Come in." Walking into the room, he watched as she gestured to the chair in front of her and her desk, and made his way over to that chair, taking a seat.
She didn't say anything immediately, just resting her chin on the back of her hand, which still hovered in the air after her sign for Izuku to sit down.
"So?" Izuku genuinely didn't want to be here long, so he was hoping she would say something soon.
"We have a plan… a risky one with a lot of unknowns, but there's a plan," she begins to say.
"Should there be other people here to know this plan, or am I the last person to know," Izuku questions.
"Well you're the only hero we're sending on this mission. This mission… starts tomorrow. So I'm going to request you don't leave the building after this." Another pause.
"What's the mission," Izuku asks, looking at the woman with uncertainty. She seemed unsure of this plan herself, stressing herself even more over it. She takes her head off of her hand just to flip her hand around and massage her temples.
After a moment, and with a long sigh, she says "The board and I have decided to send you back in time tomorrow."
Izuku himself freezes before he just looks at her with more confusion, asking "Wait wait, isn't that illegal?"
There was a small nod before she said "Yes, it typically is. But we're in a time where laws hardly feel applicable. We've always done our best to follow any stated rule, but this is a time of emergency. And as the current leader of not only heroes, but basically this nation while our government has fallen, I have the authority to grant the permission needed. Besides, it was an agreement by all of the board.
"You'll be sent back, but I can't have you throwing your identity around. That's too dangerous of a thing to mess with when it comes to the unknown, so you need to be in disguise the entire time. You'll come up with a fake identity, and I'll give you a list of people to inform. If the list permits more people to know about this, then we'll need to trust them, unless there's something you know that they don't, and they need to be stopped in this decision."
"But… why send me?" Izuku was trying to keep up, but he was still trying to wrap his head around the fact that he was going to go back in time in an attempt to fix their world.
"I figured that would be obvious: With you being the only remaining One For All holder, you're the best chance anyone has at defeating All For One. Even if we were to send someone back as a messenger, they still wouldn't be able to gather enough power to defeat him. We learned nearly five years ago that even when weakened, All For One is far too difficult to beat without One For All in the fight, and at full power.
"If we keep up with everything we're currently doing, it won't be long before All For One has sunk Japan into the ocean, and then he uses all the quirks he's collected to get out and take over some other place."
"Well, I guess that makes sense. But just how far am I being sent? Someone could definitely get All Might at his prime, and help him find All For One, right?" In the short span of time that he waited for a response, Izuku was already preparing to feel stupid with her answer.
"The quirk can only send people back a maximum of six years. Which, if I'm remembering correctly, this is perfect timing. You'll be there in enough time to decide what to do about your past self truly being introduced to the world of heroics," she replies, grinning to herself about her perfect the timing seemed to her.
"My last year of middle school…"
"Yes. All For One will hopefully be in that warehouse already, and you can hopefully easily track him down and end things. Your past self will still be existing there as a separate person, which is why it's so important you find yourself a new identity before you talk to anyone outside of the list I'll provide you later today."
"I see…" Izuku goes into a train of thought while he processes everything he was told, leaning further into the chair while he crossed his arms, and lifted one arm to pinch at his bottom lip between his thumb and index finger. All For One wasn't his only problem even going six years back. Tomura and Kurogiri would still exist, and they were a priority to take down as well… but "Why send me tomorrow?"
"Deku…"
"Yeah?"
"You stink. Not only did you not listen yesterday when I called you to come back to shower, for the fourth day in a row, but I think you ran out of your little food supple yesterday, and haven't eaten since what I would assume to be lunch yesterday."
"Wait how would you-"
"Go shower and eat."
"Okay okay," Izuku quickly said before tossing his hands up in surrender, and then starting to make his way out of the office.
"Oh, and, Deku," she started, Izuku coming to a quick halt right in front of the door, hand hovering above the knob. "Make sure to tell your friends goodbye. We'll have a message sent to your mother since she's halfway across the country. I know you keep trying to avoid them so that if there's ever to be an incident where… they also die, you won't feel too bad… but this may very well be the last time you talk to them. That you talk to them with all the memories you all have now. Spend this last night with them."
Izuku may have often felt like some kind of pawn in multiple people's games, but the president trying to grow as a person to accommodate for all of the people suffering around her, finally trying to change the history of crueler leadership, had made her requests much easier to listen to.
"Sure," he replied before finally walking out of the office and towards the room he had to himself.
A lot of people were in rooms together, but Izuku's was one of the few left for just himself, giving him all the privacy he wanted to get out of the building as quickly as he wanted, continuing to make sure hardly any people knew he was there.
But with today being his last day here for a while, he was definitely putting a visit with his friends on the list of things to do today.
Making his way to his room, he was quick to get the shower started before rushing over to the wardrobe to pick a change of clothes. It felt weird after not grabbing any for so long, but he eventually settled on a t-shirt and sweatpants, carrying the clothes with him to the bathroom.
Once he got his hero costume off, he tossed it into a corner in the main part of his room and then shut the bathroom door, finally hopping into the somewhat warm shower. Hot water wasn't exactly some many got access to in the building, especially with how many people were in this building alone.
He almost forgot to take his hair down, but was quick to toss the hair tie at the counter before his hair got too wet.
As he tried to completely clean himself off, the water and soap on some of his new wounds made him hiss in pain for a moment, but it's not like he hadn't dealt with worse before. The scars all over him, including the recent, deep scar that went from his jaw to just beneath his cheek. He'd managed to avoid getting too many bad scars ever since his first year in UA, getting the occasional small one in a fight where he underestimated his opponent.
Plenty of his scars were self-inflicted, however. Never intentional, but these most recent scrapes that he was trying to clean were from not paying enough attention when navigating a newly destroyed area and finding the new hiding spots available in the rubble.
What didn't help his case was that his gear kept breaking over the years, and his mouthguard breaking beyond wear was definitely the reason for the scar on his face. He had gotten too used to not needing to put too much protection into the lower half of his face, and hardly needed to think to protect it until he got cut.
It was a little difficult for him to wash his hair with how long it had been since he ran a brush through it. Pulling it up for meetings and his weekly showers had managed to keep it from matting, but that didn't make the current knots feel any better.
So once he deemed he was clean enough, he spent a long while on the bathroom floor trying to care for his hair. He winced whenever the brush got caught in a knot, but after a while, he finally deemed his hair finished. His curls finally looked as they did when he used to consistently take care of them, and his skin finally wasn't coated with dirt and sweat.
He didn't realize at first just how much worse going about another week without a shower would be… but he's clean now!
Only once he was dressed in the more comfortable clothes did he take a quick peek into the mirror to make sure he really did look okay. He still looked pretty tired, but who wouldn't be?
Making his way into the main area of his room, he went to pick up his uniform, only to quickly drop it down in disgust. He always had kept his showers very quick and knew he didn't clean himself as well as he probably should have, but he didn't think he would stink that much. Why did they even let him in the building?
He turned towards the wardrobe again, pulling out a pair of slippers that sat on the floor. They were definitely a better option than his filthy red shoes, which were looking worse and worse every year. At least he knew they were pretty good shoes, considering how they were still wearable.
But they would not be accompanying him to visit his friends.
As he swung the door open, Izuku was greeted by the hero commissioner standing there, her fist raised to knock on the door, but paused midair. In her other hand, she held a letter, presumably the one he would be giving to whoever she was going to eventually tell him to hand it to.
"Ah, I see you've finally gotten yourself cleaned off. Anyway, I came to drop off the letter. We'll further discuss everything tomorrow before you're sent off, but I figured I might as well already give it to you. I would suggest getting an outfit set out, and leaving the letter there so you don't forget anything," the president suggested, taking a quick peek around his room before scrunching her nose up at what he would assume was his costume. "Anyway, I won't hold you up for long."
As soon as the letter was in his hand, she turned and walked back to her office. Izuku turned back into his room, keeping the letter in hand while he pulled out some extra clothes. He folded them up, and left them on his desk, resting the letter on top.
Finally, he made his way out of his room, and down the hallways. It had been about a year since he last paid a visit to his friends, and he hardly remembered where they were all grouped together at. He remembered the floor, but he was completely relying on the metal plates next to each door to tell him where they were at.
It was once the space between every door looked longer that he knew he was getting close, because despite not having many materials to work with, and heavily relying on Cementoss, they at least would make sure their rooms would suit the amount of people living in them. The bigger rooms were typically for families, but in the end, after all of the events they went through, Izuku's class was like one big family. So it made sense to put them all in that room.
Finally, about halfway down the hall, he found the nameplate with all of his friends' names on them. He hesitated for a moment, nervous to talk to them again, but finally decided to knock. All of the noise inside the room came to a quick stop before Izuku heard someone walking up to the door, cracking it open just long enough to process who was there before swinging it open.
"Deku! Hey, it's been so long," Hanta Sero happily greeted from the doorway, quickly grabbing hold of Izuku's arm, dragging him into the living room. "Guys, look who finally showed up!"
Izuku could hear some of the excitement from his friends, especially Ochako, who literally jumped off of her seat on the couch before running over and pulling him into a hug.
"Heyy, look at how much your hair has grown," she exclaimed, already messing with his hair. "You have to let me try to style it before you go anywhere."
"Yeah, last time we saw it, it was at your chin, wasn't it," Kyoka asked from her spot on the couch.
"I do believe it was, yes," Tenya replied for Izuku, before walking over himself and seemingly looking over the condition of his friend before saying "Have you been taking care of yourself lately? We occasionally hear that you were in the building on the days you do come, but we haven't heard anything in a while."
"Er, yeah? I showered today, but I haven't grabbed a meal yet… but I'm clean," Izuku replied, putting a lot of emphasis on actually being clean. "I made sure to take care of that before I came down here."
Izuku started looking away from Tenya out of embarrassment, trying to ignore the judgmental blue eyes, a lecture obviously just about to come.
"So what I'm hearing is that we need to make you some food," Shoto asked, finally standing up himself. Eijirou reached towards the coffee table, grabbing the remote and turning off the tv, stretching before leaping off the couch.
Eijirou being here was a surprise at first after the discoveries that were made in the first few months of the Nomus' release into the world, but Izuku was much happier his friend was here. Having admitted to something a few years ago, all of Class 1-A was worried about what would happen to their friend, but in the end, he wouldn't be leaving any of their sides.
"Well it's about time we worked on dinner anyway," Tsuyu commented.
"Ohh, then maybe one of us could cook while we try to catch up with Deku," Ochako exclaimed. "And I can mess with your hair while we waaaait."
She seemed… very excited about the idea of trying to style his hair.
"Oh, good. You'll finally have someone else to torment with ninety different hairstyles," Kyoka said with a grin, pulling a small braid in her own hair loose.
Being holed up in this building for quite a while had probably given them a lot of time to do nothing, and a few of them were definitely restless. Ochako among them, so it definitely made sense that she would be around everyone and trying to do tiny things to waste her time and keep close to friends.
"Hey, my bun looked really fancy yesterday," Hanta laughed, already reaching to pull his hair up and pull his own shoulder length hair into a bun. "It looked like I was getting ready for some fancy event or something."
But before everyone was occupied with their own thing, Izuku was tasked with being the one to tell them himself that he was leaving.
"Oh, um… before you guys are busy, I have something I need to say." The way Izuku fidgeted with his fingers, tugging on one individual one after the next, it probably made it look like what he was going to say was much worse than it was, but he didn't exactly think of that while trying to figure out how to say it may be his last time seeing them for a long while.
Ochako was the first to notice it, shouting "Wait wait wait, you're not going on some really dangerous mission, are you!? Are you!? Because I swear, if you've been keeping us holed up here just for you to go on some suicide mission and die!"
"No no no! I swear that's not it! At least… I sure hope not," Izuku stammered out, waving his hands right next to his head.
"Then… what's going on," Shoto asked.
"Well… I'm going to be sent back in time tomorrow, and I don't exactly know when or if I'm going to be back. So I was asked to at least come and let you guys know about it. The president thinks this may be the only way to try and fix things," he replied, returning to looking at the ground.
"Oh. Man, I was hoping you were just here to say 'hi' to us," Eijirou muttered, scratching the back of his head as he looked back towards the blank tv.
"You are still planning on at least staying for dinner, right," Tsuyu asked. She looked concerned, and looked like she was about to plead for him to stay for dinner if he said anything other than "yes."
"Mhm. I can stay for a while, but I've eventually got to finish getting everything together for tomorrow," he replied, giving his friends a soft smile. If there was anyone who could get him to smile again after how badly the past few years had gone, it would be them. All of the tiny things he did and was familiar with could easily make him feel a little happier, and he would miss them more than anything. He had done so much to try and keep them safe, even at the expense of that happiness… but these moments were nice.
Once it was settled that Kyoka and Tenya would be working on dinner, everyone ended up settling between the kitchen and living room, getting busy with whatever it was they were going to do, exchanging conversations while they waited for dinner to be done.
It was after a while that Eijirou went back to their conversation from earlier, saying "Dude, they must be desperate by now if they're going to time travel… and they're only sending you?"
Izuku winced for a moment before he answered as Ochako pulled at some of his hair to pull it into the style she was making an attempt at, saying "Yeah, just me. It'd be suspicious of multiple people who looked the same as people from the past showed up at the same time, so this is the safest option we've got. They'd think of time travel way too quickly, and any cover we may have would be broken. The League may go into a different hiding spot the moment it became news, and then any hope of me stopping this before it starts would be over…
"And besides, I can easily disguise myself with another quirk since I won't be manifesting any other quirks for a while. By the time I would, I'm hoping I'll at least have stopped the League by then."
"So you're still planning on letting your past self get One For All," Shoto asks.
"Well this is overall the safest option for everyone. All Might is going to want to hand One For All down to someone, and just about all of his options have quirks, including Mirio, who was the main person he was considering for a while. And if I don't want anyone to die quickly, then it's for the best that I keep my past self inheriting it."
"Right, there aren't too many options for quirkless people looking to be a hero nearby," Kyoka says with a sigh, tapping the spoon she was stirring the food with onto the side of the pot. "Just be careful that you don't get caught if that's the order you've been given."
"I promise to be careful," Izuku laughed.
"Oh, and maybe you can help your past self, too." Ochako exclaimed as she finished with one of the braids in Izuku's hair. "If you can find some way to safely do that, you can make sure there won't be any fun broken bone injuries looking awfully similar to those scars you already have!"
"But being so close to his past self? Isn't that a little too risky, Uraraka," Tenya questioned from the kitchen.
"Not if I come up with a good enough disguise and alibi," Izuku replied, the gears already turning in his brain as he tried to put his plan together.
"Just be safe," Tsuyu added. "Dinner smells close to done though…"
"And that it is," Tenya called into the living room, walking out with his hand chopping the air, a habit he never got rid of. Everyone was quick to get up, happily grabbing their plates of food and returning to the living room, where conversation continued, and finally down to different topics.
They would talk about their neighbors down the hallway, the occasional missions they would be sent on, the crazy rules of the building that they just couldn't seem to agree with, and even the recent chaos that they and the current residents of the base had caused. It felt great to talk to them like this again, even if it was the last time. But Izuku cherished it, and kept the half ponytail he ended up being left with as he finally left later in the night. One final, big hug was exchanged between everyone before they waved goodbye, closing the door behind Izuku as he walked down the hall, never turning to face the other way until the door was fully shut.
It was once he got to his room that he rushed over to his desk, and quickly unsealed the envelope as quickly as he could. He scanned over every word that was written, deciding what all he felt could be kept with the small plan he had already worked up, and what he would need to forge out of the paper. It was, in the end, decided that the only thing he needed to exclude from the paper was any mention of One For All. Just that Izuku was a hero well relied on in their present time, and was the ultimate choice of someone they could risk sending back.
So, pulling out a sheet of paper, he began to forge the letter into what he wanted it to be, his handwriting matching the hero commissioner's perfectly after a few tries. It was only once he was done that he carefully folded the paper once more, and closed the envelope back up to the best of his abilities, using some of the crafts at his desk to make it look like it had never been opened.
No rank was necessary to mention in the letter because, in all honesty, Izuku didn't even know where he would rank on the hero charts. Japan hadn't bothered with them the past few years due to the rapid deaths and the lack of time to do anything like that. So just mentioning his contribution was all he felt necessary, and that he was amongst the closest to getting close to beating All For One, alongside All Might.
Once he knew he was done, he slipped the old letter into one of the extra pairs of pants' pockets, knowing that that was a space that wouldn't be checked for a long while. And if it ever was, it would hopefully already be destroyed beyond recognition in the wash or something.
As he was finally getting himself ready for bed, he realized that his hero costume was no longer in the corner of the room, probably taken to be cleaned… or burned.
Almost as soon as he lay down for bed, he fell asleep, but still woke up early, before anyone came to get him. The nightmares often had him up early, but that just ended up giving him more time to prepare today. He just dressed in a button down shirt and black pants, and then Gran Torino's scarf as well. It was one of the few parts of his costume that he was given back, though it still definitely didn't look the best.
His shoes were also returned, and looked to be in a slightly better condition. But ultimately, he decided that those would be a dead giveaway, and chose another pair of shoes. There was a slight difference in them than the shoes his friends would wear due to his extra pinkie toe joint, but people would have to look closely if they wanted to catch anything like that.
He was neatening up the half ponytail that Ochako had given him when he heard a knock at the door. As he swung the door open, he saw Naomasa standing there, who said "Are you ready to go yet, kid?"
"Oh, yeah," Izuku replied as he reached to grab his bright yellow bag. He would need to get rid of it soon, but hopefully not before he went there… he had a few things he didn't exactly want to hold in his hands and risk dropping. Izuku didn't pack much, but it was still much preferred to be in the bag.
"The letter too?"
"Already in my bag."
"Then let's get going."
The two of them walked outside, where a car was waiting for them. Izuku and Naomasa hopped into the car, and not too much later, a girl with bright pink hair slid in as well. This must be the girl who was going to send him back in time.
The car they were in was heavily reinforced, so they weren't at too much risk for wherever they were going. Which begged the question "So, where are we going?"
"The old commission base," Naomasa replied.
"My quirk drops you off wherever you were in the present time, so if we want to get you to the people you're allowed to tell about the situation quickly, this is our best option," the time travel girl adds.
"But not the safest," the driver mutters as he eyes the road all around, probably nervously looking around for Nomu and villains.
"And who all am I allowed to discuss this with," Izuku asks.
"You'll personally be telling the commission president of the past yourself, and in that letter you were given, she'll be determining the rest," Naomasa answered.
Ah, right, that was something that was mentioned in the letter.
Once they reached the old commission building, there were a couple original Nomu that Izuku was quick to take down before anyone else could get out of the vehicle. He continued to walk ahead, however, to guarantee everyone's safety. As soon as they reached what was presumably the hero commissioner's office, the girl gently pressed one of her hands on Izuku's shoulders before she said "Good luck. Please, keep everyone safe there for us."
And then everything went white for a minute, the smell of smoke and death disappearing as he finally got to inhale cleaner, death-free air. It was so much more… refreshing. And welcoming.
Once his vision cleared up, he saw the hero commissioner sitting there, face full of shock as she held her cup of tea close to her lips, never reaching them as she sat there frozen.
Izuku, knowing that the silence needed to be broken sooner than later, gave her a small wave as he said "Well, um, hello."
The tea cup quickly fell victim to gravity as it slipped from her grasp, crashing onto the ground.