Chapter Text
“As I’m sure you all know, All Might wasn’t present during the Jeju Raid. As he is a professor at UA, there’s bound to be curiosity.” Aizawa tapped a few buttons on his phone, causing the holo-screen to display a muted vision of the news. “Rather than repeating myself, how about we save all questions until after his press conference?”
He said nothing else, simply stepping aside and unmuting the broadcast.
The scene was set on the front of All Might’s illustrious golden Agency entrance. A podium was hooked up with microphones, but All Might himself was absent. It seemed like they were waiting for a dramatic exit from the Agency building.
Meanwhile, Izuku deftly turned his head to glance at Shoto out of the corner of his vision. He was staring straight ahead, that same look of death in his eyes. But he looked so calm and orderly otherwise that Izuku almost doubted his instincts.
And in the brief moment that Izuku was turned away, the room gasped as All Might made his appearance.
“Is that really him?”
“No way right?”
The man approaching the podium was what many would describe as “wasting away.” But it was undeniable that it was All Might. There was just something about that hair, that face, just the way he carried himself.
“Forgive me for making you wait… but I am here.”
The suppressed groans told Izuku that it really was All Might. Only he could open with such a line.
The reporters, all of which were certified bloodhounds when it came to harassing people for answers, were silent. Not even they could gather the courage to be the first to speak up. So, All Might cleared his throat and spoke into the microphone.
“Good morning, people of Japan. My name is Toshinori Yagi, but you know me as All Might.”
Izuku immediately made note of that name in his Documentarian Skill. Despite his overwhelming popularity and universal acclaim, All Might managed to keep his real name a secret, until now.
“A few days ago, the Jeju Raid occurred, and it went terribly wrong.” His long blonde hair was tousled by the wind as clicks could be heard, capturing the first sight of the “true” All Might. “A common question was, ‘Where is All Might?’ I believe that question now has a visual answer.” He lifted his business suit, revealing the left side of his abdomen, where a horrific scar lay, purple and bruised, as if there was still internal bleeding.
“While I am still capable of wielding some Awakened Power, I am nowhere near the same man I used to be. Which is why I sent Mirio Togata in my place, as I believed he was a promising Hero.” He let his shirt fall. “It is with a heavy heart that I say this. All Might is no more.”
That line alone was enough to send the crowds of reporters into a frenzy, their frozen vocal cords coming to life. Whether it was because the sentence had such a finality to it, or because they simply recovered from the sight of a skeletal All Might, no one knew.
“Why didn’t you tell us before Jeju?!”
“What is your opinion on Mirio Togata’s disappearance?! Do you think he was involved with Endeavor’s plans?!”
“Are you going to accept Thomas Andre’s title as the ‘World’s Strongest’ now?!”
“Do you have any connection to the Shadow Monarchs?!”
“Did you know about Takashi’s actions or Endeavor’s schemes?!”
The questions flew out at such a pace that only an Awakened Human could’ve kept up with them.
All Might held up his hands to quell the slight panic that had ensued.
“I did not believe my presence at Jeju was necessary to begin with. Even if I had been in my prime, I never could’ve imagined Jeju giving that group of elite Heroes such trouble. I wish it had been within my power to be there. I did not intend to deceive the people, I merely believed my retirement could be announced after the Raid was successful.” He looked solemnly into the distance, as if seeing the faces of those who had fallen. “In regards to Mirio Togata, I hold the same opinion as The Reaper, Sung Jin-Woo, who felt an alien Mana take over Mirio before he vanished. Mirio was removed from the battle via forces that were beyond his control. He would not have so readily abandoned such an important fight. Of his innocence I am certain. He, nor I, had any connection to Endeavor or Takashi. The same can be said of the Shadow Monarchs. Their appearance was pure luck. If I knew their real identities I wouldn’t waste any time thanking them in person for their services.”
He took a breath, giving a brief lapse for the reporters to jump back in once more.
“What will you do now?!”
“Do you plan to apologize to the families of the fallen Heroes for your absence?!”
“Many believe you are responsible for the Raid going awry, what say you?!”
Izuku felt his heart twisting itself in agony over the pained look on All Might’s face. The questions simply weren’t fair to him.
“I have already made arrangements to take care of the affected families for life. As for my future. In the absence of President Mera at the Hero Safety Commission, I have been asked to take up the position to keep Japan’s Heroics running smoothly and safely.” That answer was followed up by even more fervent questioning, but by then Aizawa muted the news once more.
“Let that be today’s lesson… Avoid the press at all costs.” Aizawa’s brow was scrunched up in frustration. The class got the sense that he didn’t particularly enjoy All Might’s charm, but it was clear that he could sympathize with the man. “Any questions?”
Uraraka raised her hand. “Did the rest of UA’s staff know about All Might’s condition?”
“Some of us knew that he was injured, very few of us knew how bad it was. The details of how he got wounded are sketchy, but healing magic doesn’t work on it.”
“Is he still gonna teach us?” A girl with pink skin, Mina Ashido, blurted out.
Aizawa graciously ignored the lack of a raised hand for once. “He has less Hero work and more bureaucratic work now that he’s taking a Safety Commission job, so his presence on campus will likely be no different. If anything he’ll be here more often.”
“Should we be worried?” Ibara asked, pressing her fingers lightly against the cross hanging around her neck. “About Japan as a whole, I mean.”
No one needed to ask what she meant. With so many S-Ranks dead, and All Might retired, it wasn’t looking good for the stability of the country.
Aizawa sighed. “I’m not sure. We’re definitely gonna have to spread our Heroes a lot thinner, which will mean riskier Raids, which will mean more deaths, and so on. Hopefully the Shadow Monarchs contact someone in the Hero Safety Commission and work with them to help lighten the load.”
Izuku had to scowl at that. Not because he detested helping out, it was because he realized how insignificant of a symbol he and Momo were compared to someone like All Might. Sure they were national heroes, but they hadn’t provided the all-encompassing sense of safety that All Might bred.
“Regardless of their actions, it is imperative that the next generation is trained and ready.” Aizawa’s face became serious. “No more E-Ranks. Your class will really be put to the test in an A-Rank Dungeon.”
For a class that had A and S-Ranks, it wasn’t that crazy of a leap, but it was still a leap. It looked like UA and the world as a whole really wanted to push their students to contribute to the current power vacuum.
However, much to Izuku’s surprise, everyone looked determined to step up. Not even Kaminari appeared hesitant after hearing that. All Might’s retirement had a much wider reach than even he would have expected.
Of course, at the end of the day, if anything went wrong, Izuku and Momo were there and they were essentially National-Ranks, so a simple A-Rank wouldn’t be a problem.
“The reason we’re upping the difficulty is multifaceted. Not only is the world expecting well trained Heroes ASAP, and not only does your class have the necessary fighters for an A-Rank, but you also have a new classmate.”
That immediately piqued everyone’s interest.
“Who could it be?”
“You make it sound like they’d be famous.”
“Why now?”
“Are they in on recommendation?”
“I wonder what rank they are…”
Izuku squinted his eyes, using his Sense Stat to reach out around him to find the Mana Source of the new student. “No… it can’t be…” He whispered to himself.
“As you all know, during the Jeju Raid, there were 3 supposed Villains assisting in the rescue and recovery of the Heroes. These three were capable of human speech and seemed friendly. So when the Shadow Empress requested Admiral Mori of the Japanese Navy to put in a word to a Hero school, UA readily accepted.”
“No…” Izuku repeated in disbelief, glancing over at Momo who was smiling with giddy excitement.
“Class 1-A, meet Esil Tenebrix.”
The elf-like girl who walked through the door was clothed in the standard UA uniform, white shirt, gray jacket, blue tie, and a short forest-green skirt. There were also two slits on the shirt and jacket to allow her pure-white wings to reach through. And beneath her skirt, there was a long snaking tail made of the same material as her wings, which Izuku hadn’t noticed the last time he’d seen her.
With her dark hair and perfect skin, she could be mistaken for a caucasian foreigner if you ignored the tail, the wings, and the slightly pointed ears. Oh, and the fact that her eyes were glowing with unearthly energy.
“Hmm… okay maybe she doesn’t pass that well.” Izuku thought to himself.
He was much less astonished than the rest of the class. He had his own questions, but he’d already interacted with her and knew more about Villains than the rest of his class.
“A Villain?!”
“No way…”
“So she did get in on recommendation.”
“Hey she’s kinda cute though!” Kaminari pointed out.
“Don’t be a perv!” Jiro hissed at him.
“Oh so complimenting a woman is being a perv now, huh?”
“Quiet!” Aizawa yelled, his voice carrying on the waves of Mana in the room, making it sound amplified and echo-y. Apparently he had reached the limit of his patience. That, or it was particularly Kaminari and Jiro’s jesting that had bugged him.
“Esil is what she calls a Chaos Inhabitant, not a Villain.” Aizawa gestured for the girl to take a seat. “And as you all know, UA has a standing policy against discrimination. She’s now a fellow student. UA sees her as a valuable student to take on and teach, as she represents the first true peaceful encounter between humans and Vi- Chaos Inhabitants.” Aizawa nearly broke his own rule within the same few sentences, catching himself just in time. “She’s serving as an ambassador essentially, so please try to show her the potential of humanity… rather than our less desirable behavior.” He specifically glanced towards Bakugo.
The blonde glared back and asked, “So you expect us to put on a front? She’s not gonna learn shit that way.”
“My Liege, I detect hostility from that smelly blonde child. May I kill him?”
“Calm down Beru, it’s just Bakugo, that’s how he is.”
Bakugo… unfortunately, had a good point. Humanity was not sunshine and rainbows, and part of human life was taking the good and leaving the bad. And as anyone in the class could attest to, it was likely the same way with Chaos Inhabitants.
“I’m just telling you to mind yourself,” Aizawa spat. Then, after taking a break to regain a bit of his patience, he continued. “The news will break soon. We managed to sneak her in here, but it won’t take long for word to spread. So, remember the lesson from All Might’s press conference. Avoid the press at all costs. Their speciality is the ability to guide a conversation in whatever direction they want, for whatever purpose or bias they may have, good or bad. So it’s best to not engage with them at all.” Aizawa punctuated that bit with a glare at Kaminari and Mina, who both looked happy with the mention of being put on TV.
Then, as if nothing of importance happened, Aizawa switched back into teacher mode. “As you know, in addition to your physical training and testing, you have an exam next Monday. On top of that, it would be good to start thinking about the topic of your final thesis.”
“Uhhh… what?” Mina muttered just loud enough to the person next to her for Aizawa to hear. But he was too tired to be mad that she had forgotten so he just sighed.
“Throughout your study here at UA, you should see an interest crystallize. Some students study battle formations, leadership, Raid composition. Others study Magic applications, or Agency management. In order to graduate, you’ll need to present a research paper culminating from several years of study. By your second year here, you should have already chosen a topic to study in more depth.”
Izuku and Momo had actually given quite a lot of thought to this already. Both of them wanted to study magical applications, but Momo wanted to focus on the medical side of Magic and Izuku wanted to study deeper into Dark Magic and Souls. They both had a leg up on the class because they already had connections with the Tenebris and Lux who could help with such topics. Hell, Momo was already working through the problems of the Eternal Slumber, a breakthrough that would catapult her into fame on its own.
Bakugo didn’t seem concerned, nor did Iida or Yui, and Shoto was still staring off into space, but the rest of the class was starting to get a little nervous, especially Mina and Kaminari. The mere idea of a paper sent them scrambling. Even if they had a few more years before worrying about it. And the exam on monday certainly didn’t help their fears.
Now, with Esil joining the class, there were an even 18 students in 1-A, listed as such:
- Izuku Midoriya
- Momo Yaoyorozu
- Setsuna Tokage
- Yui Kodai
- Tenya Iida
- Katsuki Bakugo
- Shoto Todoroki
- Kyouka Jiro
- Mina Ashido
- Denki Kaminari
- Fumikage Tokoyami
- Togaru Kamakiri
- Ochako Uraraka
- Ibara Shiozaki
- Esil Tenebrix
- Ejiro Kirishima
- Toru Hagakure
- Yuga Aoyama
Izuku was still sad that Tetsutetsu and Kendo weren’t in 1-A with them, but he still got to see them during lunch every now and again. Speaking of which, the bell for it had just rung.
“When you come back from lunch, be ready to go over your homework for Agency regulations,” Aizawa said, curling up into a sleeping bag and taking the moment to nap.
Setsuna and Yui were the first to approach Esil and ask her to lunch with them to talk. Bakugo pulled out his packed lunch and just ate right then and there, trying to ignore Kirishima and Kaminari, who were both trying to make friends with the angry blonde. Shoto left for the roof, where he normally ate lunch, with Iida following after him in concern.
Izuku and Momo followed after Yui and Setsuna. With Izuku asking Momo as they caught up, “When did you have the time to arrange this?”
“Well, whilst I was in the Lux labs, Esil approached me and asked about the ‘human realm.’ She said she wanted to learn more, so when I brought up school, she was really interested. So, through the Shadow Organization, I got in contact with Admiral Mori. Between him and the rest of the Shadow Organization, minus Takashi, it was easy to get Esil in.”
“Wow… I didn’t realize she was so curious about humans.”
“Well, to be fair you haven’t spent as much time with her.”
Izuku nodded. “That’s true.”
Catching up with the girls they walked through the halls, drawing plenty of stares, all directed at Esil. Some were fearful, some were curious, some were ambivalent, but most were just unsure what to think. To them, this was a Villain .
Thankfully, no one stopped to say anything about it. Izuku could tell that they wanted to, but no one was confident enough to approach them, even after they got their food from the cafeteria and sat down at their usual table in the dining hall. So for now, it was just the five of them.
“This smells… good…” Esil’s face was right up in the steam of her Udon. “You really just… eat it?”
Yui tilted her head. “What else would you do with it?”
“Well, in my home realm, there’s no such thing as farms or animals, so we just subsist on Mana and Magic.”
Izuku practically recoiled. “You’ve… never eaten anything?”
“Not really no.”
“Well then what are you waiting for, girl!” Setsuna shouted, suddenly extremely invested in a “foreigner” tasting her homeland’s cuisine.
Surprisingly, Esil had no difficulty using the chopsticks to grab a small bite of the Udon noodles, sticking them in her mouth and biting down… on the chopsticks as well.
“Uhh… you’re not supposed to eat those.”
“Hmm?” But Esil barely heard Izuku, as she was in pure bliss. Even with the taste of the chopsticks mixed in, the Udon was unlike anything she’d ever had. It was an entirely new sensation after all.
After getting her another pair of chopsticks and explaining to her that they were just the utensils, not part of the meal, she greedily slurped down the Udon as quickly as possible, with Momo even getting up to buy her a second meal, this one being Onigiri. And as anyone could attest to, Asian Rice was on a different level. It was the perfect blend of soft, moist, and flavor, without being soggy.
“So,” Izuku leaned forwards on his elbows, lowering his voice to make sure no one heard, “Momo said-”
Esil held up a finger, concentrating for just a moment before gesturing for him to continue.
“What was that?” Izuku asked, feeling the Mana in the air.
“A sound-proof barrier. Awakened humans have very good hearing,” Esil said, diving back into her meal.
Izuku was extremely grateful that Japan wasn’t like America, where they had to install magic suppressors in every hallway in every school in the country. It was expensive and inconvenient, but without them, America would have even more dead students than they already did.
“Thanks,” Izuku quickly said before going back to his mainline of questioning. “So Momo said you were just interested in humanity? Why not stay with your parents in the Tenebris and Lux Dungeon?”
Setsuna and Yui weren’t exactly caught up with the whole Dungeon experience, but they’d have to wait just a bit.
Esil’s eyes grew serious and her maniac movements, to swallow as much food as possible, slowed down. “After what happened with Ava, or rather Deep Blue, and after seeing how much suffering the Chaos Inhabitants on Jeju Island caused, I decided that this could not continue. I had to engage myself in the human realm and become an ambassador of sorts. So that both species can come to a better understanding of each other. So that we all have to suffer less.”
“Well you’ve landed yourself a pretty sweet deal!” Setsuna exclaimed. “The human realm has a lot to offer in terms of enjoyment. That food is just the beginning.”
A bit of the sparkle and enthusiasm returned to Esil’s eyes as she heard that.
For the next hour or so, the group caught up on all that had happened since they’d last been together, all the while ignoring the stares from their fellow students.
“So are you guys still gonna keep a secret identity?” Setsuna asked. “I mean, by now, you’re not only National-Rank, but the people who were after you no longer are.”
Izuku nodded. “We’re more than powerful enough to not worry about keeping ourselves and our family safe, but really, we’d rather not have the attention,” He said, speaking for both of them. “I’d like to not have to deal with all those reporters or people.” Seeing All Might’s press conference had basically solidified their decision to remain anonymous. “Besides, it’s kinda fun having a secret identity!”
There was another reason that Izuku kept secret. All Might hadn’t revealed his true name for well over a decade. It was that sort of nobility and modestness that inspired Izuku. Maybe keeping his own identity secret just to be like All Might made it less noble, but he still wanted to follow his Hero’s example.
“All Might… It’s strange to think about him retiring all of the sudden.” With the man becoming the new President for the Hero Safety Commission, Izuku would no doubt have to reach out to him as the Shadow Monarch to offer his help. “Hmm, I guess that brings up the question of if I should hide my identity from him.”
“Oh!” Izuku suddenly exclaimed, thinking of something else entirely. A project that he had thought of in response to Endeavor’s Agency essentially hiding a Gate that one time. He explained it to Momo, who smiled in response.
“I already had Loren start on something like that,” She said, more than a few steps ahead of her boyfriend.
“You guys sound busy,” Yui remarked, standing as the bell for the end of lunch rang.
“Heh…” Izuku laughed nervously. “We also have a new house to move into… We really should’ve planned this stuff out more.”
“Well, we do have an army to move furniture with,” Momo responded jokingly as the group made their way back to the thralls of education.
*******
Off the coast of California, there was an island named Santa Catalina. It only had about 4,000 people living on it, with most of the island uninhabited. It made it difficult for Heroes and locals to take care of Gates, but they managed to avoid anything like Jeju because they had one of America’s Top Ten on the island. Granted he was just a C-Rank, but he knew what he was doing and the low population resulted in relatively weak Gates.
However, in the past month, a host of mysterious disappearances had befallen the island. It was originally believed to be a Gate Break, but when high-power scanners were brought in to test the island, no abnormal Mana was detected. So they chalked up the disappearances to a human crime.
The police and Heroes were on high alert, but nothing turned up and people were still going missing.
With Catalina being such a small and economically insignificant island, the government wasn’t willing to support it very much. So unless they figured out the cause, the island would have to be deserted in order to keep people safe. But the island was all some people knew, it was their life, their culture. It couldn’t just be abandoned.
So the C-Rank sent requests out to basically every country he could in an attempt to get help. The first place to respond was Japan. Their Hero school did need some hands-on experience with search and rescue, so if they were fine with it, they’d send some of their students.
The C-Rank, knowing that UA was filled with A and S-Ranks, accepted readily. He wasn’t sure if they would be able to figure it out, but more manpower was always a good thing.
Of course, while he was arranging this, he had no idea that another strange occurrence was happening on his island.
On the other end of Catalina, a Gate opened. Made of strange metal, interlocking to form a structure, like a Stargate, the portal was like nothing humanity had ever seen.
Stepping through it was a humanoid shape made of a similar metal.
“What mess do I need to clean up now…” The figure asked, scoffing at the ridiculousness of the situation.
The figure waved its arm, detaching several triangle-shaped pieces of metal from its body. The triangles began to unfold like origami, expanding to a mass that shouldn’t have been possible.
When they were done transforming, the clearing was filled with metal Direwolves, a strange bird, and dozens of other creatures. “Go forth my Synthetics. Find the anomaly.”