Chapitre 25: Final exams
After a training session one day, All Might called for a private meeting to discuss One for All. So once their lesson had finished, and the number one hero and Izuku had gone their separate ways to change clothes, he thought of possible conversations which could have been awaiting him once he arrived at the staffroom.
He knew it would be nothing relating to his ghoul quirk, so what had All Might been meaning to tell him, or even possibly hiding from him, which related to One for all...
Midoriya made his way to the office, waving Uraraka and Todoroki off as they watched him with confusion as he quickly explained where he was headed before speeding off; off-handedly listening to lidas reprimands for running in the corridor.
Soon enough he stood nervously outside the staffroom door, anxiously knocking before walking in. Yagi was sitting on the low seated sofa opposite a small seat in his weakened form, as he looked up from where his hands were clasped to greet his student.
"Ahh, Young-Midoriya. Good to see you've arrived." The number one hero asked kindly, his somewhat famous smile worryingly missing from his expression, "Why don't you come and take a seat." Gesturing towards the person standing in front of him.
Midoriya did so quickly, not making too much fuss with his bag as he dropped it onto the floor beside him.
"So umm, All Might..? What was it that you wanted to see me about?" Izuku began curiously, taking note of the bleak expression on the hero's face.
Yagi lowered his head slightly, taking a deep breath before sighing, before looking back up with a serious expression towards his successor,
"Midoriya, I've decided its time I came clear to you, explain somethings I kept secret about One for All
Izuku sat slightly taken aback with surprise as the hero confirmed his earlier worries, staying silent to give his mentor the time and space he needed to fully explain the seemingly dreary truth.
"Midoriya, have you ever wondered where the power behind One for all came from..?" The hero asked after some time, making Midoriya almost jump at the sudden question, breaking the silence which had laid between them.
"W-well I did wonder, to begin with when you first told me about it. Something so powerful must have had one hell of a backstory. I just always assumed you didn't know the truth yourself..?"
Izuku watched his mentor's face, carefully reading his expression, as he carefully asked "That isn't right though, is it..?"
Yagi shook his head as he began to explain, " Firstly there is something I must explain. One for All has a sibling quirk known as All for one. The holder of All for one was born with a powerful quirk, it gave him the ability to steal other people's quirks and give them away as he pleased. He became very influential during the dawn of quirks and gained a massive following from quirked and non-quirked people alike... Unfortunately, he grew an obsession with collecting quirks, something his younger brother was very against..."
Izuku listened closely as his mentor continued speaking.
"All for One's younger sibling, who was thought to be quirkless and a very weak and sickly man, had a strong sense of justice. During All for One's rise in fame, the power slowly began to get to his head.
He wanted his brother to be able to process the same and feel the greatness in having a quirk, and forced a stockpiling quirk upon him with his power."
All Might paused for a moment to gather his thoughts.
"How it turned out his brother did have a quirk, a quirk which allowed him to transfer his quirk to other people. With that power was merged with the stockpiling quirk that All for one had bestowed upon him, One for All was born..!"
Izuku sat back in shock and awe as Yagi gestured widely to emphasize his point, before settling down again into his seat, "Midoriya, Do you remember that villain I told you about who gave me my scar..?"
Izuku quickly nodded in response," Yea, I do..." he paused, slowly coming to the realization All Might had hoped he would, "Wait don't tell me...
Yagi began to nod grimly, "It was All for one, someone born almost two hundred years ago."
Izuku felt his eyes widen in shock, to live till two hundred years old...
"Midoriya there is something I have to make very clear with you before I carry on," All Might began,
"When I fought this man five years ago, I thought I had finally managed to kill him, that One for All had finally been strong enough to defeat him, I would never have given you this power if I had known he was still alive...
Izuku froze at that, "W-what do you mean still alive, I thought you had killed him..."
Yagi shook his head again, "I thought I had to. He may have taken my stomach but I gave him a damn good thrashing..." The number one hero began, thinking back to the blooded missing face he had last seen his arch enemy with, "We had never found his body, in the end. That slippery bastard must have escaped...
Yagi sighed deeply, Izuku almost beginning to see the years of weight building up upon the hero weighing him down.
"The reason I brought you here today is that I have reason to suspect All for One is behind the Nomu used during the USJ and Hosu Attack; the true leader Mastermind behind the league of Villains, using Shigaraki as a front to hide his own identity..."
As soon as the words all finally linked together, the trickle of fear which had slowly been forming in Izuku froze him solid.
'All for One, the true leader of the League of Villains.'
'Someone who could steal, give and collect quirks.
'The same group of villains who had been watching him for his ghoul quirk.'
'Observing it from afar...
'Was All for One after his ghoul quirk all along?
Wanting to harvest and collect it for himself..?'
'Was HE the reason he had been cursed with this power over the last year, a power he cursed and despised with all his might? A power that made him hate himself and his actions more than anything in the world.'
'He knew the reason he had been given the ghoul quirk was for experimentation..
'Was it his fault..!?'
Izuku didn't realize he was slowly beginning to shake, his breathing becoming more rapid by the second as his body slowly began going into shock.
His paralyzed state became very apparent to All Might as Izuku had sat frozen, pale face, and lost in his own despair and inner hatred.
"-doriya..?"
Izuku could barely hear him...
"Young Midoriya..?"
His mentors' voice slowly leaked through the mental barriers his mind had been quickly placing up, horrified and terrified at the implications of what he had just realized.
"Young Midoriya.? Are you alright.? Are you ok?" All Might be called out to him again, pulling him free of his quickly forming disassociation and rapidly increasing breaths. Midoriya sat motionlessly as he quickly gathered himself, before slowly noticing All Might had moved from his seat on the sofa towards him to see if he was alright.
"Midoriya..
"-i'm fine.." Izuku managed to quickly splutter out, trying hard not to fumble over his own words as he tried to take another deep breath before ultimately failing.
The number one Hero sat and comforted him with his arm, as he slowly calmed his breathing back down to a workable pace.
All Might sighed with dismay before sitting back up on the sofa.
"I'm sorry for pushing that all onto you at one time, I should have realized it would have been a lot to handle, I apologize." All Might said solemnly, bowing his head slightly towards his student.
Izuku shook off the hero's apology, "-it's fine...
Really.." he started, quickly getting his heart rate down; calming himself before speaking up again,
"All Might, I-if All for one c-can take quirks, why hasn't he taken One for All in the p-past.?"
It was a question he had suddenly realized he needed an answer to...
All Might watched him worriedly, still unsure of the boys' mental state before replying,"..One for All can only be given to other people through the own willpower of its holder... It doesn't matter if anyone gets ahold of your DNA, no one will be abld to take it. Only you have the power to pass it on."
Izuku almost felt a wave of relief blow over him, but the small weight lifted made no dent in what Izuku was feeling.
If what All Might had said about One for All merging with other quirks in the past, and his own experience with his Ghoul quirk, this would mean that All for one wouldn't be able to get his hands on the ghoul quirk in the way he Izuku thought he might have been intending too.
If All for One really was the leader of the League of Villains, however, he would have to be much more careful with how he interacted with them in the future; but this brought another question to his head, one he could never ask All Might...
Why had All for One chosen him to have the ghoul quirk in the first place..?
A few days later, Aizawa sense announced the final exam they would all have to pass if they wanted to have any chance of going to the summer camp the school had planned.
"The rest of the staff and I won't be telling any of you where we'll be going until we arrive for your own safety. Not even your parents will be informed of the exact location, you can tell them when you return home. This is so we won't have to risk the location being leaked, so you won't have to worry about the camp being attacked by villains.
That made Izuku feel a little bit better, knowing that Hagakure wouldn't be able to inform the villains of the location until they go there. He would just have to keep a closer eye on her during their training camp and not let her out of his sight or hearing range.
The physical exam took place over the many different training grounds, both Midoriya and Bakugou being teamed up against All Might of all people; much to Uraraka and Todorokis' worry.
Izuku was feeling the heightened levels of anxiety circling around his body as the time neared his exam. Aizawa had told them that all of the teachers had been placed under quirk limiters to give them all a chance against their opponent; not that would help very much while he was facing off against All Might with Bakugou of all people.
Izuku just promised himself that if the exam was too much for his control over One for All to handle without breaking his bones and he couldn't escape, he would admit defeat; no good would come out of using up healing energy when he wasn't due to meet Hide again for a couple more days.
In all honesty, Midoriya was more worried about fighting with Bakugo than anything else. The pair still hadn't talked almost at all since their interaction before he had been forced to carry the burden of a quirk he held. Sometimes he wondered why Bakugou stopped talking to him after Akuma died; was it guilt, shame, or just that Bakugou couldn't care enough to give him the time of day anymore and had resorted to ignoring his existence.
Izuku knew he would probably never find out the truth.
In the end, a little while after he had almost gotten his spine crushed by All Might, Izuku managed to drag Bakugou out of the exam grounds; giving the pair of them the opportunity to pass before they collapsed onto the floor from exhaustion.
All though being dragged across the finish line by someone he despised did nothing good for Bakugou's ego or anger levels.
"Ol! SHITTY DEKU! Get Your Hands Off Me BEFORE I BLOW YOU TO HELL!" the blond yelled angrily towards Midoriya as he ripped himself away from his classmate, exhaustion slowly starting to set in from their exam. A loud explosion set off around the same arm that Midoriya was using to drag Bakygou out of the arena.
Midoriya flinched back at the sudden sharp pain, always forgetting that explosions and fire still did damage to him before it rapidly healed over;
retracting his hand away as his classmate wearily got up off the dirt ground with a wobble. If he wasn't lying flat on the floor, with exhaustion slowly creeping upon him, in front of his seemingly murderous classmate Izuku may have found it sadly amusing.
He, someone who murdered people to survive and had seen horrors most of his classmates couldn't even dream of, was still scared of the bully who had harassed him almost his entire life. Terrified, even though Midoriya knew deep down he could take Bakugou down in one flared swoop.
Guess it was true what they said, childhood trauma has a lasting effect..!
Izuku only just managed to roll out of the way in time, as Bakugou let off another blast in his direction; unfortunately, that seemed like the wrong thing to do as smoke and heat slowly radiated from his bullies' hands as a furious look on Bakugou's face rapidly grew stronger.
"What The HELL Deku!" Bakugou yelled furiously, panting slightly from exhaustion, as he stumbled back slowly onto his feet; his arms surely burning at the rate of explosions he had created during the exam and now, "I Didn't Need Your Help! Do You Think I'm Not Good Enough Or Something.!"
Izuku flinched harshly again at the sudden aggression towards him, pushing himself up, fighting against the pain in his back, as he tried back away from the rather weak and strained explosions which kept coming towards him.
"Ahh..! Kacchan..! I Just Wanted Us to pass! There was no way we could have won-"
Another explosion blasted off in front of him as Izuku felt a heavy thump hit against his face, head-turning to the side from the force of the punch.
"Don't You Dare Underestimate me, If I Had The Chance, I could have easily taken him down..!"
Izuku gasped slightly in pain, flinching away, as his eyes widened with fear at his old friends' words.
"What..? Kacchan, I've Never looked down on you.!
You've always been so much cool-"
Bakugou didn't give him a chance to talk as he knocked him back down, flat onto the floor, scowling harshly at him, knocking the air out from the green-haired boys' lungs in the process.
His voice lowered angrily, deeper than the rest of their conversation, as he retorted," Don't Give Me That Bull Shit. I thought after your girlfriend died that you had given up on your stupid dream!? But you just don't know when to quit it!"
This time, Izuku couldn't bring himself to speak at the mention of her, frozen in time as he couldn't stop himself from thinking back to all events that had occurred because of her ghoul quirk, because someone had chosen him for their bastard experiments.
He felt his face wrinkle up with disgust, Akuma had been psychotic; driven mad by her quirk. Izuku was nothing like her, no matter what she or the league of villains wanted, he would never allow himself to become so deranged.
Kaneki was proof that, with the right aid, ghouls could live normal lives too.
Normal was the only thing Midoriya had ever wanted.
He narrowed his eyes with contempt, "Don't mention her again... I don't want to ever think of her ever again."
His spiteful words caught Bakugou off guard, eye-widening with surprise at the sudden aggression Midoirya was displaying before narrowing his eyes again. It looked as if Bakugou was about to retort when All Might appeared and pulled the pair of them apart, quickly breaking the fight between them; leaving the pair glaring angrily and suspiciously at each other.
Neither of them could continue in front of the number one hero.
As their class finished up and went back to their class for their results, Izuku could help feel disgusted and angry; having to be reminded once again of the terrors he had faced. It seemed as if Uraraka and Todoroki had noticed the anger which he held down tightly under his skin, neither of them pressuring him to explain himself.
He felt Bakugou's glare plastered to the back of his head for the rest of the day.
Aizawa had announced to the class that everyone would be going to the summer camp whether they had passed or not and soon after he let them leave for home.
It wasn't until he was halfway home, walking beside both Uraraka and Todoroki in an empty street, that Bakugou decided it was time to corner him once more.
"Oi Deku! What the Hell Was That? Saying you don't want to be reminded of Sabishi, hah?!"
Both Todorki and Uraraka had looked between each other, Izuku having neglected to tell either of them the name of the girl who had cursed him.
Izuku still felt the anger simmering under his skin, as he retorted, "It's none of your business, Kacchan.."
Bakugou furrowed his brow, his usual anger dampened as he finally got serious, "What the hell happened to you, and don't you dare lie." He began, pointing his hand towards him, "After she died you finally seemed as if you had given up. You stopped acknowledging anyone around you and then somehowturned up at UA with a quirk after being quirkless your entire life! Something more happened than just her death for you to speak about her like that."
Sometimes Midoriya forgot how clever Bakugou could be when he wanted to be, some part of him actually felt bad, guilty even, for not telling the only person who knew him better than anyone other than mother, his two closest friends, and possibly All Might; even though he knew deep down, exposing the truth of what had happened that day would not do anyone any good.
But that didn't give him a right to demand answers.
Izuku began to clench his jaw with annoyance,
"You've got no reason to tell you why I dislike her, Kacchan, you know what happened from the police-"
Bakugou scoffed, "Don't give me that bullshit. Why would you hate someone for being killed in a building explosion?" he paused, as his eyes shifted over to his two friends who stood only a few feet behind Midoriya, outwardly not phased at what would usually be considered an outlandish conversation.
"Your stupid friends don't even seem phased, did you tell them about how you used to be a quirkless Deku..?"
zuku missed the way Ochakos eyes narrowed at the foul use of the nickname she had taught him to somewhat like.
Bakugou looked up directly into his eyes as he spoke his next words loud, seriously,
"I always thought there was something off about you after that, the lack of those stupid notebooks and your annoying muttering. Something happened and I want to know the truth."
Izuku gulped, his anxiety creeping up on him, almost laughing out of nervousness while his previous anger swirled violently just below his surface; the audacity he thought he had!
Bakugou actually cared about what had happened!? Or was this for his own self-indulgence?
Why the hell did he think he had a right to know everything that had happened that night..!
"Why should I tell you what really happened.?"
Midoriya didn't know where this was going, the words just slowly leaking from his mouth, tears of pure hatred leaking out of his now widened eyes.
Bakugou growled with annoyance, "You don't get to say something like what you did after our exam and expect me to not want answers, Deku..!"
Midoriya almost laughed at his audacity, quickly becoming rather distressed as his breath slowly picked up in speed, the whole situation quickly growing slightly insane; Bakugou knew nothing about him, they hadn't been friends in over a decade, what right did he think he had to demand answers like that.
"You really want to know the truth, hu..?" His voice managed to wobble out, not bothering to wipe away the streams of tears which were growing down his cheeks.
Bakugou only growled out angrily, starting to become pissed off as the conversation dragged on, "Yes you idiot, I just said that! What part of that can't you seem to understand!"
Angry tears of anguish building up in his eyes slowly starting to drop out as his eyes widened almost freakishly, not truly knowing what he was doing as his next words poured out of his mouth unfiltered.
"….. You truly want to know! Hu!? I was bleeding to deathbefore the explosion had even happened!
From the blood loss, she caused..!"
Midoriya missed the way both Urarakas and Todorokis' eyes widened with concern and fear as he told his only classmate who seemed to have always despised him. Terrified for him, as he revealed some of his darkest secrets aloud, making no efforts to restrain himself or think about the consequences of his actions.
"I nearly died because of her..! She tried to kill me!.. She ripp-"
It was at this point that Uraraka had rushed forward and slapped her palm over his mouth, careful of her quirk, as she stopped her friend from revealing everything he had worked so hard to conceal for so long; Todoroki not far behind her.
Bakugo just stood in silence, alone with his thoughts as eyes widened slightly in shock at the manic behaviour he had displayed, considerably disturbed by his old friends' unanticipated words.
Not once throughout the times he tormented, harassed, and bullied him, had he never once seen such pure unadulterated hatred painted on Midoriya.
To claim that thegirl Bakugou had seen him spend so much time and joy with, over that single short month, would ever try to kill him.
So What the hell did Deku mean that Akuma had tried to kill him..!
From what he had heard, the pair of them had even been on a stupid date on the night of the explosion.
Midoriya had been hurt by that exploding building, along with Akuma who had unfortunately died from her injuries. That's what had been the official statement of the attack, that's what had been in the news...
It had left him with nothing more than questions...
Did he mean that she had led him to the explosion, knowing it was going to happen or something!? How the hell could she have caused so much blood loss even before the initial explosion.? Why would she have done that to him in the first place, everyone had known how inseparable they had been.!?
There were things still missing, facts Bakugou knew he was still missing..
Now he wasn't sure he really wanted to know them...
After both Ochako and Shouto had grabbed hold of Izuku and began pulling him away, leaving Bakugou behind to his thoughts, the pair quickly walked him back to his house; thankfully their
Classmate hadn't tried to follow them.
He had been breathing erratically, panting and crying as his panic had quickly overwhelmed him.
It wasn't until Izuku had calmed down, halfway to his house, that he finally managed to speak to his silently comforting friends.
"…..I'm sorry, I-"
Uraraka quickly turned her head around to face him, letting go of the comforting hand she had held onto him with, before opting to pull him quickly into a deep warm hug, "No, it's fine. We're both just concerned about you..."
Todoroki was quick to nod with agreement; releasing his hand which had been comforting Midoriya's shoulder, so Uraraka hugged Izuku closer, as he spoke, "You need to be more careful about what you say, Midoriya. You could have accidentally revealed your secret, please be more careful...
Izuku could only nod guiltily, burrowing his head into Uraraka as tears pooled in his eyes as the stress-induced high slowly wore him out, "…..I'm sorry, I guess l've never been very good at keeping secrets from him..."
Not long after, both Uraraka and Todoroki had waved him off, Midoriya walked the rest of the way hore alone to his thoughts.
Both of them had offered to stay with him if he wanted, but Midoriya just could stand the thought of them seeing his shame-filled body much longer.
As his friends had disappeared down the end of the road, he couldn't help but shake himself, wrapping his arms loosely around his torso in shame and guilt.
What the hell possessed him to say those things out loud and so carelessly to Bakugou, of all people. Now all he could feel was fear and mortification, what the hell did Bakugou think of him now; now he had almost spilled his guts and secrets to him.
Weak? Worthless?
A liar..?
The shocking realization overcame him as he realized he had willingly told Bakugou that he had almost been murdered that night... That she was the one who had tried to kill him.
What would Bakugou do with that information, he knew Bakugou knew what he had told the police originally, everyone had known; the explosion had been reported on the tv. By now Bakugou had probably realized that he had lied to the police aboyt that night - and that thought terrified him.
He could only hope that his luck would extend itself far enough to cover his bareback once more...
Once he had arrived at this empty home, he didn't spend long before he took himself to bed; hiding under the sheets as he tried to cry his problems away into a dreamless sleep.
It was a while after he had curled up in his bed, pillow now wet with tears from the nightmares which had haunted him throughout his slumber, that he received a message from his class group chat.
[Class 1-A]
Mina [21:48] - Hey, guys! I was thinking before the summer camp we should go to the Mall to get supplies! I've already spoken to the squad and Bakugous already said he isn't going so I was wondering if any of you would want to come!
He stared at the message for a moment impassively, his tears now running dry as he reread over the message dozens of times; trying to get his brain to register the words written before him.
At that moment he couldn't feel the energy to get out of bed and go to the Mall, but tomorrow was his next meet-up with Kaneki, and Hide and tell them about the summer camp he wouldn't be able to visit them during.
Uraraka would surely drag him along after his visit was up
At least going to the mall without Bakugou, that didn't sound like a half-bad idea...
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone