The Successor Ch. 69 (My Hero Academia) (Patreon)

A/N: In which Izuku feels like he enters the Twilight Zone.

-x-X-x-

“Wonderful!”

Wait, what? Izuku can’t help but be a little taken aback when Endeavor’s smile actually grows instead of vanishing. Of course, if Izuku is taken aback, then Shouko is outright flabbergasted.

“E-Excuse me?!”

The Number Two Pro Hero isn’t quite managing a shining grin as big as All Might’s at the moment, but it’s definitely way more toothy then it needs to be as he reaches out and puts a hand on his daughter’s shoulder. Then, he nods to Izuku approvingly.

“It is good to see you following in my footsteps, Shouko. One day you will surpass me, but that is no reason not to also look towards the future as well. Indeed, the journey to the top for our family need not end with you… not when you could potentially birth an even greater hero from the loins of this young man.”

Oh wow. Endeavor had gone there. Gross. And also… really fucked up. Izuku knew what sort of man the Number Two Pro Hero was. He knew that Endeavor had been way too hard on all of his children, not just Shouko. And he knew the man had all but driven his wife insane. Now here Endeavor was, being the proud parent for once in his life… but obviously it was too little, too late for that.

Shouko, finally understanding things properly, hits her father’s hand off of her shoulder. For a moment she shakes in a combination of disgust and revulsion. Then, she snarls in anger, her hands curled into fists at her side.

“I will never have a child with anyone. I’ll get sterilized before I continue your sick traditions!”

Endeavor’s smile finally vanishes, his brow furrowing as the Pro Hero begins to shake his head.

“Daughter, you-!”

But Shouko whips around on her heel and races away, fleeing the confrontation as fast as she possibly can. Leaving Izuku standing there with Endeavor, the father of the young woman that he’d painted white with his cum earlier that day. For a long moment, the Pro Hero looks after Shouko’s fleeing form. Then, he turns to Izuku and the atmosphere changes for lack of a better word.

“Izuku Midoriya.”

Stiffening a little bit, Izuku’s eyes narrow. For a second, he wonders if the man just did all of that to drive Shouko as far away from him as possible. What if it was all a ruse designed to make his daughter run for the hills? It would certainly make sense, given Shouko’s propensity for doing anything and everything that her father DIDN’T want her to do, and refusing to do the things he DID want her to do.

“Endeavor.”

Izuku gets ready for the other shoe to drop. Now that Shouko was gone, Endeavor could go mask off and tell Izuku to stay away from his daughter with no one being any the wiser. He could threaten him even. Izuku isn’t scared, of course. No matter how strong Endeavor is all it takes is one touch to take his Quirk from him.

Still, what’s he going to do if Endeavor does tell him to stay away from Shouko? How is he supposed to-

The man suddenly places a hand on his shoulder, looking surprisingly solemn.

“I was not the best husband to my wife. Nor the best father to my children. Despite what people might believe, I am not wholly ignorant to my own flaws. As a failure of a man, allow me to give you some advice… do not lose sight of what is important. Treat my daughter well, please.”

Seriously? Even now, even solemn and intense, Endeavor was still on this?! He claimed to not be ignorant of his own flaws, but…

“You realize you probably drove her away from me with your support, right?”

Far from being surprised by this, Endeavor just snorts and shakes his head.

“The heart wants what the heart wants, Midoriya. Notice she merely said she would never bear a child… not that she would forego sex and practice celibacy. Shouko has been isolated much of her life, both because of my actions and because of her own strength. Now that she’s at UA though… she has finally met her match in you. My endorsement will not drive her away as completely as you think. No, women are stranger than that. I should know, really.”

This was all too much. What was with this change in Endeavor’s personality? Was he an imposter? Had he been possessed or something? Something of Izuku’s complete bafflement must have leaked through his usual poker face, because the Number Two Pro Hero suddenly chuckles as he steps back.

“Ah, you don’t know yet. I’m aware All Might is your mentor… I assumed he would have mentioned it to you. In two weeks, once the hubbub surrounding the Sports Festival has died down… I’ll be announced as the new Number One Pro Hero at the same time that All Might will be retiring.”

Wait, what?! No, All Might hadn’t mentioned this… even if it should have been exceedingly obvious that this was coming. And it was obvious, but Endeavor was the last man Izuku expected to be hearing about it from. As well, he was the last man Izuku expected to be receiving such a pitying gaze from.

“I… haven’t seen or spoken to All Might directly, but it was revealed to me that he was stepping down because of an old injury. An injury he’s been living with all this time and continuing to fight with even though it no doubt ate up his life span much faster.”

Endeavor looks to the side, contemplative. Izuku is shocked to see the man seemingly capable of introspection.

“I am not being given the position of Number One because I defeated my rival, but in spite of never defeating my rival. I suppose that gave me a lot to think about. I’m not Number One yet, but I’ve had to wrestle with the reality all the same these last few days. And in the end, I’ve realized… I was a fool chasing a childish dream at the expense of everyone else.”

Ridiculous… truly ridiculous. And yet, Izuku doesn’t sense a single ounce of deceit in Endeavor. Nor are any of his Extrasensory Quirks detecting an imposter or possession. This is the real deal. This is Endeavor after he’s found out that he’s achieving his greatest dream but not in the way he’d wanted.

Looking back to Izuku, Endeavor gives him one last nod.

“You and Shouko might wind up vying for the position, just like All Might and I did all these years. Or rather, I vied for it while All Might simply inhabited it, naturally better than me that he was. I just… I just hope my daughter doesn’t lose sight of what really matters, like I did.”

And then, just like that, Endeavor turns and walks away, leaving Izuku alone in the corridor, mouth agape.

What the fuck just happened?!

-x-X-x-

Izuku wished he could say he paid attention to the Tournament’s next couple of rounds. He definitely should have, seeing as all of the fights involved people he actively cared about. Funnily enough, the organizers pushed for the Men vs. Women rhetoric to continue… and to the surprise of likely many, every woman aside from Shouko won their Quarter-Final Match.

This meant that the Semi-Finals wound up being Izuku versus Itsuka and Momo versus Katsumi. Even then, Izuku is still reeling from the conversation with Endeavor. He wins against Itsuka rather handily, though he’s sure she still gives it her all. But she’s definitely blushing after he defeats her, driving her to her knees with overwhelming strength and forcing her submission by forfeit rather than ring out.

He’d feel a little bad about that, but she can tell that losing to him in that way turned her on, so he figures it’s probably okay. He’ll fuck her again soon enough, after all. Momo will probably make sure of it.

Speaking of Momo… she loses. Izuku feels a little bit bad about it, because she clearly gives it her all. She’s fought her heart out this entire competition and showed not just versatility and ingenious use of her Quirk, but also a physical strength and speed that has surprised many of her opponents and the crowds themselves.

But Katsumi seems driven in a way that surprises Izuku. And she’s always been a fighter, training to use her Quirk in combat from a very early age… mostly on him, as it so happened. It’s not fair to say that Momo doesn’t stand a chance, because she DOES put up a good fight, but in the end, Katsumi Bakugou comes out on top and Izuku finds himself facing her in the Finals.

Unfortunate, really. Not because he wanted to necessarily fight Momo or anything like that, but because his whole deal with Katsumi is invalid now. The plan was for Katsumi and Shouko to have a chance to face one another before this point, to fight it out and see who would come out on top. But… that hadn’t happened. At least, it hadn’t happened in the way Izuku had been envisioning.

In the first event, Shouko had beaten Katsumi. That was mostly because of Izuku’s last bit of sabotage, where he’d blown Katsumi back through the Minefield before taking First Place. She’d still managed Third even with his actions, but she hadn’t been able to overtake Shouko again with such a setback.

On the other hand, thanks to Izuku maintaining his headband in the second event, Katsumi had beaten Shouko. Team Katsumi had wound up in second place with the second largest amount of points, while Team Shouko had wound up in third place, barely beating out Team Shinso.

This final tournament would have been the perfect tiebreaker, but it just hadn’t happened. Shouko and Katsumi had wound up in opposite brackets and Izuku had beaten Shouko before Katsumi could get the opportunity to settle a score that the other woman didn’t even know existed. Technically, one could argue that Katsumi had ‘won’ just by outlasting Shouko and making it to the finals… but they all knew the only reason that was the case was because she hadn’t had to go up against Izuku as early as Shouko did.

All of this is to say, it’s not very surprising to Izuku when Katsumi approaches him during the break between rounds, finding him for a private talk before their final match can commence.

“M-Midoriya…”

Looking at the spiky-haired blonde, Izuku tilts his head to the side and smirks slightly.

“Katsumi. What is it?”

Trembling under his gaze even now, Katsumi bites her lower lip for a moment before squirming.

“Does it count?”

He knows exactly what she’s talking about, of course. He’s just been contemplating it, after all. Raising an eyebrow, Izuku just shrugs.

“Should it count?”

Katsumi scowls a little bit, her hands clenching into fists at her sides… and then unclenching a moment later. Curious.

“I just thought… maybe… I didn’t get a chance to face Shouko. But I beat everyone else, didn’t I? I even beat your girlfriend. I defeated Yaoyorozu so…”

She trails off, as though she doesn’t quite know how to argue her case. Izuku peers at her now, curious.

“So… what? What exactly do you want from me, Katsumi? You’ve already avoided the punishment if that was your concern. I’m not going to breed you silly, knock you up, and force you to drop out of UA, I promise.”

Katsumi’s red face goes even redder at that, her mouth opening and then closing as she thinks better of whatever she was going to say. Funny that… a Katsumi Bakugou who knew better than to run her mouth forever and ever. And all Izuku had to do to get there was plow her slutty mother silly right in front of her.

“I-I want the one-on-one training you p-promised.”

Izuku pauses, his brow furrowing.

“Seriously?”

Katsumi doesn’t back down though. She just clenches her jaw and nods. Peering at her, Izuku tries to figure out her ulterior motive. There’s the obvious one of course… she wants to get fucked again, masochist that she is. But at the same time…

“You realize every time we wind up alone together, I just end up sexually humiliating you, right? Is that really what you want, Katsumi?”

Scowling a little bit, Katsumi averts her gaze, likely to try and mask the lie that comes out of her mouth.

“N-No.”

She sounds so unconvincing it’s not even funny… alright, it’s a little funny. But Izuku isn’t laughing, even as she finds her determination again a moment later.

“I want… I want to get stronger. I want to be as strong as you. I want you to actually train me.”

And then she does something really wild and almost certainly inadvisable.

“L-Let’s make a new deal!”

Izuku raises an eyebrow at that, while Katsumi finally looks him in the eye, her own gaze blazing.

“We’ll fight… and I know I’ll lose again. But I’ll give it my all! I’ll fight you with everything I have. At the end… at the end, you decide whether I deserve that one-on-one training… or to be knocked up and forced to dropout to raise your child. Whichever decision you make, I’ll abide by.”

That was… stupid. Really stupid. She was essentially giving herself no way out. At least in their original deal, Izuku had offered Katsumi a path to salvation. All she’d had to do was beat Shouko in the Sports Festival. Now though, she was putting it all on him. He would get to decide if she was ‘good enough’ in this upcoming fight. He would get to decide her future, purely on his own whim.

Obviously, Katsumi wasn’t an idiot. She knew what she was offering and she just didn’t care because deep down, she wouldn’t truly mind either path, would she? Tch, fucking defeat fetishists and their kinks.

At the same time, if Izuku agreed… he wasn’t even sure what he would pick to be honest. He knew she’d put up a decent fight, he didn’t need to actually see their battle to know how it would play out. But at the same time, would he knock her up at the end of it, or say she’d earned the training?

… Man, when did Katsumi go from being his childhood bully to being… this? Probably around the time that Izuku plowed her mother silly in front of her, if he really thinks about it. Of course, there was also the fact that Katsumi was only his childhood bully because Izuku let her be, because it helped him and his father’s plans.

Letting out a sigh, Izuku makes his decision and opens his mouth to tell Katsumi what they’re going to do next.