The Successor Ch. 75 (My Hero Academia) (Patreon)

A/N: Funeral Time. Make sure to check out the post going up immediately after this one to have a say in the future of this story.

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The funeral for Yagi Toshinori, aka All Might, is as small and quiet of an affair as Izuku was anticipating. Honestly, he almost feels like he doesn’t even belong here. He’s certainly the youngest person in attendance, with everyone else ranging from young adult to old as dirt in comparison.

The news of All Might’s death had yet to be released. Instead, his ‘retirement’ had been announced as planned two weeks after the Sports Festival, to pretty much no one’s surprise but everyone’s dismay.

It couldn’t be helped. He’d been showing up less and less anyways in his heroic persona, and everyone likely had their suspicions to why that was. His inner circle might have kept the bloodhounds at bay wherever possible, but that didn’t mean that people hadn’t come up with their own rumors.

With that, Endeavor’s ascension to Number One Pro Hero had occurred without incident as well, though Nana had told Izuku that the man was not aware All Might was gone completely. Obviously, the new Number One Pro Hero wasn’t here today either. No, this was far too private of an affair for that.

Funnily enough, Izuku knew everyone in attendance. Not because All Might introduced them to him, because most of them he hadn’t… but rather, because Izuku had done his research and he’d done it well. With his father’s help, Izuku had spent literal years studying his target, sifting through Yagi’s life, putting together dossier after dossier and profile after profile of both the man and his closest allies.

He knew everyone whose lives All Might had even slightly touched upon. He knew them all like the back of his hand, absorbing information about them and their connections to the Symbol of Peace like a sponge. Anything and everything that might help Izuku properly subvert All Might and ultimately trick him into willingly handing over his Quirk to his protégé… and his greatest enemy’s son.

There was Nana Shimura, of course. All Might’s mentor. Izuku probably knew her the best out of everyone here, given their very close relationship. Still, before she’d been his confidant and lover, Nana Shimura had been All Might’s mentor and the seventh user of One for All.

After her was Nezu, the non-human Principal of UA. The relationship between the inhuman Principal and Yagi was more professional than personal… but at the same time, had also been personal enough for Nezu to know All Might’s great secret, the truth about his ailing health.

Before Yagi had found out that Izuku was in fact All for One’s son and had been ‘forced’ to kill his own father, All Might was actually set to become a teacher at UA. He had been intending to work hand in hand with Nezu to not only continue training Izuku as his successor, but also the next generation of heroes that Izuku would be coming up with.

Following Nezu is another ‘representative’ of UA in the form of Chiyo Shuzenji… though most know the short old woman by her hero name Recovery Girl. Recovery Girl and All Might had a long history together as well, mostly on account of her being his primary physician after the grievous injury he suffered in his final battle against Izuku’s father.

Recovery Girl’s Quirk, ‘Heal’, was incredibly powerful and All for One had confided in Izuku that he’d considered stealing it many a time before ultimately deciding not to specifically because they needed the old woman to continue tending to All Might in order to keep him alive long enough for him to willingly transfer his Quirk to Izuku.

Truth be told, Izuku had thought about waiting until she was on her death bed before approaching her and simply requesting her Quirk so it could continue to do good even after her death. But for all the grief shown on her aged face today, she still stood rather strong and Izuku could tell that she had some years left in her even now.

After Recovery Girl comes Sorahiko Torino, aka Gran Torino. A retired Pro Hero, formerly a teacher at UA High School, and one of All Might’s mentors alongside Nana Shimura. Heh, apparently his training methods were so harsh and unyielding that they’d left an indelible mark on even All Might’s psyche. The few times that Izuku had complained during his ten months of ‘training’ at All Might’s hands (always a calculated move to make himself seem more genuine of course) the Symbol of Peace had just shaken his head and shuddered with a haunted look in his eye while telling Izuku he was getting off ease.

That, apparently, was because of Gran Torino, though regardless of the retired Pro Hero’s methods, he was nevertheless a man who had cared deeply for Yagi. Even Gran Torino’s front-facing personality, that ‘dumb act’ of his, had apparently inspired the personality Yagi showed the world as All Might. Of course, today Torino was showing nothing but solemn grief, his hands clasping the top of his walking stick.

Next to Gran Torino, on the opposite side of the age spectrum, is Mirai Sasaki, aka Sir Nighteye. All Might’s former sidekick. But that was doing a true disservice to their relationship, as Izuku well knew. Sir Nighteye was often said to be the brains behind the operation so to speak, but even that didn’t tell the full story.

Rather, Nighteye had an interesting Quirk called Foresight that allowed him to see another person’s future. It required touch so Izuku wasn’t worried about being uncovered or anything like that, but he could still acknowledge that Nighteye’s power had likely been of great assistance to All Might over the years… at least back when they were still talking.

Ultimately, the two men had had a falling out after Yagi’s injury, and when Yagi hadn’t listened to Mirai’s impassioned pleas to find a successor and retire sooner rather than later, it had led to their parting of ways. Izuku had to admit, when he’d uncovered that juicy bit of gossip during his extended ‘research’ (aka stalking and spying) he’d been surprised and relieved. If All Might HAD listened to Nighteye, then his and his father’s plan would never have worked.

After Nighteye is an interesting individual, one that has a far more recent connection to All Might. Well, five years wasn’t exactly recent, but it was still more recent than almost anyone in this room save for Izuku himself.

Naomasa Tsukauchi had been working with All Might for quite some time now, and Yagi himself had named him the ‘best cop there is’. The two were quite close both professionally and personally, with a strong friendship but also the sort of relationship where Naomasa had handed All Might information on certain matters that were technically confidential police business without a second thought.

Izuku had thoughts about whether that relationship, at least the professional side of things, might be transferred over from Yagi to him now that the former was gone, but he didn’t think that Yagi’s funeral was the best place to figure that out. And truth be told, he had his own sources, inherited from his father, to give him the information he might need. There was no reason to strongarm a good detective like Naomasa into working with him if he didn’t have to.

And then there was the attendee from All Might’s time in America. David Shield was a world-renowned scientist who created Support Items for Pro Heroes from the artificial moving island known as I-Island. Along with over ten thousand other scientists, David conducted research into Quirks. Someday, Izuku hoped to visit I-Island himself… it sounded like paradise to be honest.

But before that, David Shield was Yagi Toshinori’s partner and closest friend while in America after All Might saved him from a building fire when they were both much younger. David was the one who designed his earliest costumes all the way up to his final costume in recent times.

He, even more than Naomasa, was someone that Izuku had to admit, he was considering trying to build a rapport with, even if it required him using their shared connection to All Might to do it. It was just too bad David’s daughter, Melissa Shield, wasn’t here for Izuku to chat up seeing as the young support engineer was closer to his age. But at the same time, Izuku understood why. Melissa hadn’t even been aware of Yagi’s injury like her father was, and she definitely wouldn’t have been informed of his death yet.

All in all, it really is a very small affair, Yagi’s funeral. His closest allies and friends, the people who ‘knew’ about his injury and that his struggles with it had escalated to the point of impossibility in the past several months.

It wouldn’t have felt right for anyone else to attend if Izuku was being honest… hell, it barely felt right for him to attend. But then, none of them knew why that would be. In their eyes, Izuku Midoriya was All Might’s protégé, his mentee. He was both the last young man that All Might had taken under his wing, as well as the person that All Might had entrusted his secret transferable Quirk to.

As far as they were all concerned, Izuku Midoriya was Yagi Toshinori’s successor. What they didn’t and could not be allowed to understand was that he was even more his father’s. At the end of the day, for all that Izuku had learned a lot from All Might and their time together, he’d ultimately been using the Symbol of Peace for his own ends. He’d learned a lot more from his father and gained a lot more as well.

Every Quirk his father had ever claimed, including One for All itself, now resided within Izuku. All of his father’s power, all of Yagi’s power… combined in one vessel, him. And truth be told, comparing the two… it wasn’t even close. All for One beat out One for All by a country mile in terms of sheer versatility, not that Izuku was complaining about having either.

Still, his entire relationship with Yagi Toshinori was built on a series of lies. That was why ultimately, he hadn’t been able to bring himself to speak at this funeral. He was sat upfront with Nana in the small, unassuming chapel, but he’d already told her and those involved that he wouldn’t be saying anything. That he didn’t have anything to say, really.

Was that a bad idea? Perhaps. It might make certain attendees a little suspicious of him, in fact. All Might’s successor, not even speaking at his funeral? What was that about? He knew it wasn’t the most intelligent move. He knew it wasn’t the most political move either. If he truly wanted to manipulate the people in this room to view him favorably, he definitely should have played it all up some more.

… But he wasn’t, because at the end of the day, Izuku had decided Yagi deserved some level of honesty in death if not in life. He wouldn’t speak at Yagi’s funeral because he didn’t deserve to, plain and simple. Because ultimately, while he fully intended to use his power to make the world a better place in the long run, he’d still lied, stolen, and killed to get where he was today and he knew if Yagi had known half of Izuku’s true nature, he wouldn’t have been able to abide by it.

And so, out of respect for the Symbol of Peace, Izuku would stay quiet. Even if it ultimately cost him in the short or long term.

Almost everyone else speaks, of course. They all have different stories of both Yagi and All Might to tell. Interesting little tidbits. Some of it Izuku already knows, stalker that he was. Some of it is more personal details that even he hadn’t uncovered. None of it is necessarily actionable intelligence, but it does fill in the last remaining holes in his view of Yagi as a person.

There are tears. There are smiles. There’s laughter in some instances and sobbing in others. Nana, when she’s done, comes back and leans on Izuku’s shoulder. He puts an arm around her, quietly comforting her as she grieves, as she’s been doing ever since Yagi’s death.

Yagi Toshinori touched a lot of lives in his time as All Might, but none more so than the people in this room, Izuku found himself thinking. And as the last of them are done speaking and the funeral service comes to a close, Izuku finds himself uncertain of whether to leave or not. There seem to be hushed conversations between the other attendees, whether they’re sharing more personal anecdotes or what. Meanwhile, Nana remains pressed into his side, seeking comfort in his presence.

Before he can make a decision, one of the others approaches him and Nana.