Toshinori let out a sigh. Ever since Sasaki saw his future and his refusal to retire, their relationship was purely professional between heroes, but that was it. At times Sasaki will call to check up on him and ask him of his remaining time and he'd further stress about the future he saw. It ended in shouting matches of their differing ideals.
The last call was about a month ago when he told Sasaki of his successor and the man was not pleased at all, questioning why he wouldn't take an inheritor that was already a hero student, it wouldn't even have to be from U.A. He accused All Might of personal bias of both starting as quirkless and that wasn't enough even after continued explanation of the Sludge Villain Incident.
He was still convinced that there was someone better, but when asked if he had someone in mind, Sasaki went silent.
Naturally, Toshinori was surprised that he'd be calling so soon again as they typically talked twice a year at most since his injury. It's likely that he needed something in the capacity of All Might but he was out of time. Hopefully that won't spur him on into another tirade about him retiring before it's too late.
Picking up the call, "Sasaki. What's going on?" He knew that something must've happened for him to call so soon after the last one.
"You may not know, considering you were working for hours, but something big--no something monumental has happened." Sasaki almost sounded...excited?
Sasaki kept up with his professional outings as he loved to constantly hammer in that he was pushing the edge of his limit time and time again, but this time he didn't even mention it. Something big definitely happened.
"What?" He replied simply as his hero work and training his successor didn't give him a chance to check the news, but from the seer's tone, it was definitely positive.
"A new company appeared out of nowhere, and while I and everyone that I know are skeptical, has reached an unprecedented leap of technological advancement. The company, Singularity Games, created a virtual reality device that fully simulates a life-like virtual world, using your actual body to play rather than the traditional controllers and keyboards that we know.' He grew more and more excited, unlike the Sasaki he knew.
"That sounds great, Sasaki, but what does that have to do with me?" While that sounds incredible and an incredible feat that he's sure his friend David would gush and talk his ear off about, he wasn't a gamer. He didn't have the time to entertain such hobbies especially after taking a successor.
"It has everything to do with you! The company claims that it can increase the power of your real body! It can even repair and mend old wounds! Do you understand what this means?!" Sasaki grew more perfervid as he spoke.
Toshinori froze. 'I could be healed?' His thoughts raced a mile a minute as the implications hit him.
"Are you sure?" He didn't want to get his hopes up and Sasaki did say people were skeptical. His time could lengthen and even re-enter his prime strength, while age would be a problem, it would only be a small factor. The thoughts of abandoning his successor never entered his mind. One For All still needed its legacy to continue protecting the world.
This would give him far more time to cultivate his successor into the future Symbol of Peace. It would be a far more peaceful transition than he'd originally expected given his limited state of being All Might.
"It's currently unconfirmed as you'd have to grow stronger in the game to see real life results, but the lie would quickly unravel if no one got stronger, so it'd be nonsensical to tell an easily provable falsehood." Sasaki did take this into consideration before calling, but it would be more likely to be true, especially since he couldn't dig up any information on the company at all.
As if they didn't want to be bothered or hounded over why they could create such a thing. Could it be insidious? Sure, but there was hope where previously there was none. Sasaki didn't believe in All Might's successor, so he'd placed his faith into the man himself to heal with the technology.
"The tech sounds promising, but I don't have the time to play." Toshinori was moved but ultimately it didn't sound possible.
"You only have your form for three hours. How do you not have time?' Sasaki immediately retorted, remaining stubborn.
"It's not just that and you know it. I'm completely exhausted after my time is up. How would I have the energy to get stronger in a virtual world? I also have a successor to train." Toshinori wasn't wrong here. He was completely gassed after his time limit was spent. It also doesn't help that he must develop his student as well, but that's not something he would ever regret.
"Then reduce your time spent being a hero! The world isn't going to end if you're not out there for three hours!" Sasaki was getting heated. "I won't argue about your choice of a successor this time, but you could put that on hold until you heal and he can go to a regular high school until he becomes an adult to join a Hero College."
Naturally, there are other ways to become a hero such as colleges that offer hero courses, but they are far less popular considering the most growth comes from your early to mid teenage years. Sure, your brain plasticity is most prevalent much earlier but no one would ever teach a child that young to risk their lives and a smaller and weaker body is a natural disadvantage.
"Absolutely not, Sasaki! I will not put my needs above my successor! You should know me better than that!" Toshinori was appalled at his suggestion. He then started coughing violently as he covered his mouth and blood was revealed.
Sasaki was eerily silent for a while knowing what the older man was going through.
"LOOK AT YOURSELF, TOSHINORI! YOU CAN'T KEEP THIS UP FOR MUCH LONGER! THIS IS YOUR CHANCE TO IMPROVE YOUR HEALTH AND STRENGTH! EVEN REGAINING YOUR PEAK STRENGTH AND BEYOND THAT ISN'T OUT OF THE QUESTION! OVER AN UNPROVEN CHILD AND THE INABILITY OF SCALING BACK!" This has now become a shouting match as Toshinori feared but he was far too angry over his remarks about his chosen successor.
"HE HAS THE HEART OF A TRUE HERO. YOU CAN NOT AND WILL NOT TAKE THAT FROM HIM! THE WORLD STILL NEEDS ME TO BE THE PILLAR THAT STANDS UNWAVERING IN THE FACE OF CHAOS AND DISORDER! THE ANSWER IS NO!" Toshinori violently coughed and spit blood as he was completely agitated. He moved over to his kitchen to grab a few napkins to clean up the mess. He was entirely ready to hang up.
"Then I wish to meet him, to see why you would disregard your own ability to recover." Sasaki states after a bit of a pause. Toshinori clearly met the boy not too long ago and didn't understand why he couldn't just at least put it off until his health was better.
This surprised Toshinori since Sasaki never expressed an interest to meet him until now, only distaining his choice due to perceived personal bias.
"Why? So you can tear him down and try to prove you're right and give up on him?" He naturally didn't want to subject his successor to such torment and disapproval, especially since his journey has just started and he's working to the bone to improve his body.
"As you've said, you should know me better than that. I just want to see why you're so adamant in your choice even to the point of personal disregard." Sasaki explained calmly as the shouting match seemed to be over.
Toshinori felt a little bad after his insinuation, but he had been overwhelmingly frustrated at Sasaki's words.
"Alright, how should we set this up?" Even though their relationship is strained, he trusted his former sidekick's ability to plan.
"Perhaps dinner with your successor and his mother, Midoriya Inko, would be appropriate." Sasaki suggested.
"You know about her?" Toshinori was surprised. He had talks with his successor to get to know him better and he lived with his mother in an apartment in Musutafu. How could he know?
"I ran a full background check when you told me your successor's name." Sasaki answered without shame.
"..." Toshinori was speechless but he should've known Nighteye would be thorough, especially since he didn't approve his choice. "I'm...not even going to get into that, but I'll have to ask him when he'd be available and his address."
"..." Now it was Sasaki's turn to be stunned speechless. You're planning on giving him an incredible destruction and powerful quirk with an almost 200-year legacy and you don't even know where he lives? His trust in Toshinori's choice was plummeting further. "I already have it through the background check."
"I still have to ask since I don't want him to believe I'm tracking him." He naturally didn't want to come off that way. "I'll introduce myself as his trainer."
Sasaki was confused at this, "Why? His mother would already know about One For All which would be a bigger secret than your time limit."
"Ah...about that...Midoriya and I agreed that it would be best to keep it from her." Toshinori looked a bit sheepish.
"..." His expectations are now in the abyss. "And how exactly were you going to explain him suddenly manifesting a quirk at 14? One that is completely unrelated to either of his parents?"
"...Late-bloomer?" Toshinori tried to reason but was unsuccessful even questioning himself.
"..." Forget the abyss, it's now in the ninth-circle of hell. The latest a child has ever awakened a quirk was 8! It was also a super amplified version of both parents' quirks. Who would believe that, especially his own mother?! "You have to tell his mother since you're deadset on this no matter what I say. She's his biggest support system and surely she'd notice something's off. The fact that you haven't introduced yourself from the start is insane."
"What about the danger of letting her know? She would now be a part of a much darker world." Toshinori's own traumatic experience with his master reinforced his decision to keep her in the dark.
"All For One is dead, Toshinori. Once you've decided on taking Midoriya as your successor she was already part of it. Letting her remain ignorant will only cause strain and misunderstandings." Sasaki explained that while he may not like his choice, he was willing to give him a chance. A tiny infinitismally small one.
Toshinori realized he was right and his own fears got in the way of a possibility that wouldn't even happen.
"You're right. I'll set up a time. Good hearing from you, Sasaki."
"You as well, Toshinori-san. I only worry.
A relationship once shattered showed signs of healing.
No matter how small, the cracks are reforming.
=+[MHAGD]+=
As Megumi switched from the stream to surfing the web, he found a curious article that confirmed the timeline he was working with. It was published a day ago.
[BREAKING NEWS! 2-B's TOGATA MIRIO WARDROBE MALFUNCTION DURING THE SPORTS FESTIVAL! IS HIS QUIRK VIABLE? OR A LOST CAUSE?]
One of the future Big Three's, Mirio Togata, had his image plastered on the media, that was thankfully heavily blurred otherwise a lawsuit would be assured, showing his clothes falling off during the Sports Festival.
Confirming that he was quite close to the timeline, a little less than a year out as Japanese school systems typically start in April, so Deku should've already met and is currently cleaning the beach with All Might, considering that by the time Midoriya is enrolled at U.A, Mirio is a 3-B student.
Shigaraki wasn't enough of an accurate tell since he looked rather young and he could be off by a few years, but this confirms it. He knew from getting his from earlier that it was May 7th, 2,174 and that quirks first appeared in the year of 2014. This was hilarious as the first chapter of MHA came out in 2014. Rather fitting.
As he was about to look through more items in the Gaming Store for fun and future planning, there was a knock at his door.
=+[MHAGD]+=
I'm currently working on my dialogue and keeping characters believable to their canon counterparts, so let me know how I did with the Nighteye and All Might situation.
Regarding the timeline, I came to this conclusion based off a reddit post from ChronoKeep that was quite enlightening. Very detailed and backed by evidence.
Hope you enjoyed!