"All For One is your brother...? What are you talking about?"
"It’s just bait to lure All For One out.
Do you know about All For One? That All For One is still alive."
All Might glared at me more sharply.
It was closer to denial than threat.
"...Impossible. All For One is dead."
Did he not know? Or was he pretending not to?
In the end, the only weakness I might get out of him was something like this.
"Was it really a coincidence that those rat swarms only targeted Hawks? You must be used to handling disasters from the shadows."
All Might seemed to feel a complicated mix of emotions. Veins rose on his forehead, and his body trembled before he forced it still.
I lowered my voice again. I didn’t know the truth, but his reaction was enough to infer it.
"You fought All For One and won, didn’t you? Then just fight him again and win again."
All For One was supposed to die by my hand, but I prodded him anyway in case I could use All Might.
For some reason, he clutched his side with a shaking hand.
His blue eyes, half-hidden in shadow, flashed as if trying to read my intent.
"You’re injured... from the battle with All For One before."
All Might lowered his head and stared at his own side. The usual hearty grin was nowhere to be seen.
"My respiratory organs were destroyed, and my stomach was removed. Right now, I can only maintain my Hero work for a few hours a day."
He was casually spilling a fatal secret to a stranger just because I had saved a few people.
"Are you losing?"
"...I’d like to say I’ll win, but I can’t promise that."
All Might grabbed my shoulder and tightened his grip.
"But I still don’t understand. How do you know that name, and why are you spreading rumors that you’re his 'brother'?"
"Your countless, overwhelming Quirks resemble All For One’s. Raven, just who are you? Are you truly blood-related to that devil?"
He was trying hard to sound imposing, but to me it only looked like desperation not to make me an enemy.
"Answer me. If you’re my enemy, then I must stake everything here and stop you. Which side are you on? Public Safety?"
I answered with unwavering consistency.
"All For One’s enemy."
"So you’re not... an ally of the Heroes."
I removed All Might’s hand.
"I am. If we share the same goal as the public enemy, then one thing is certain. All For One has grown stronger than he was when you and I remember him."
I continued as if persuading him.
"All For One would be better off dead, wouldn’t he? If you’re a Hero—or if I am—you should know that much, especially if you’re the number one Hero."
All Might put a little more distance between us than before.
"Are you asking for cooperation?"
I smiled with a hand over my mouth.
"It’s a little more complicated than that."
"First, I’ll send several 'spies' to All For One and have them gather information."
Several was more like several dozen, but still.
"And you’ll give me..."
"Just one strand of hair."
"That’s absurd!!!"
All Might shouted so loudly it nearly became a roar. My ears rang.
He lowered the hand clutching his side and bit his lip hard enough to draw blood.
"...You said hair?"
"You’ve crossed the line. Heroes are not tools for trade, and certainly not test subjects for someone’s ambitions."
He looked like he was hiding something.
As expected. He didn’t seem to know much about my Quirk, but this reaction was too extreme for simple caution.
There was only one Quirk that would make someone this wary of a single strand of hair.
"No need to use a Quirk at all, then."
"One For All."
"That’s your Quirk, isn’t it? The eighth user, if I’m right after Shimura Nana."
That explained both the wariness and the overwhelming physical ability perfectly.
Every step he took toward me cracked the concrete rooftop beneath him like a spiderweb.
"...Who the hell are you? How do you know not only [One For All], but even my master’s name?"
"Answer me!! How do you know facts even Public Safety doesn’t know!"
All Might’s muscles swelled further, as if he might throw a punch at any moment.
"Can you handle it?"
"...What?"
"I can hear you swallowing blood from here. Can you really handle me right now? Even if you subdue me, will your condition be fine for a rematch with All For One?"
Instead, I walked up to All Might and looked up at him without concern.
"You asked why I know [One For All]. If I said I’ve lived from the first user to now, would you believe me? I’ve been tangled up with the successors for so long it’s become a habit, whether I wanted it or not."
All Might’s massive fist stopped right beside my face.
The wind pressure alone made my hair whip around as if I’d been caught in a typhoon.
"You’ve lived from the first user to now...? What are you talking about..."
All Might staggered, blood spilling from his mouth.
"It’s true. And I borrowed the name of a dead man."
"The [Shigaraki Yoichi] I borrowed is All For One’s younger brother, his obsession, and the original user of [One For All]."
All Might, apparently hit hard by the mental shock, pulled away from me and sank to the ground. Even so, he looked ready to spring up at any moment.
Judging from that punch earlier, even someone like All Might couldn’t go all-out right now.
"You... no, what exactly did you come here for now? When All For One was turning the world into hell, when my master lost her life... where were you, and what were you doing!"
This time, I looked down at All Might.
"I fought for the successors, saved them, died for them, and regretted it. More than once."
My [Strong Wings] began to tremble. Hawks was flying toward us from afar.
"Enough talk. The Public Safety fly is coming."
"Looks like you don’t want to hand over your hair after all."
"Remember this. I have no interest in villainous rule or collapse, and I’m not interested in protecting Heroes either. As long as I get stronger, it doesn’t matter whether I pass All For One or not."
All Might didn’t try to stand. He just looked up at me.
"Then what exactly do you want?"
I answered with the same consistency as before.
"For All For One to die by 'our hands'."
Of course, 'our' didn’t mean me and other people. It meant countless versions of myself.
"All For One is still alive, so let’s not destroy each other, All Might. You know Hawks’ agency number, don’t you? We can exchange information from time to time for the public good."
While All Might remained silent, Hawks arrived.
"...Haha. The mood’s pretty intense. Was I a little too oblivious?
Raven. The situation’s been handled. I’ll cover for the part where our student friends showed off too. Let’s head out alrea—"
Bang!!
Just as Hawks tried to wrap things up, the rooftop door was shoved open with a rough gasp.
It was a boy with hair split red and white down the middle.
"Todoroki. Long time no see. So that was you, the ice Todoroki?"
Hawks greeted him first, but Todoroki’s reaction was cold. His eyes were fixed only on me.
"You... what do you have to do with Endeavor? I saw it clearly through that gap in the black stuff. Endeavor’s flames."
For some reason, his voice was sharp.
"Let’s go, Hawks."
I didn’t have time to deal with this. I needed to secure spies quickly.
Hawks seemed to catch on and started to fly.
"Huh? Oh, right. Then see you later, Todoroki."
He flew off without hesitation, but with the sound of ice freezing solid,
a wall of ice blocked my path.
When I turned around, Todoroki was stomping the ground and making more ice.
"...Answer me. I’m asking you."
He couldn’t even see All Might beside me. He’d completely lost it.
"Stop, Todoroki boy."
When All Might stepped in front of Todoroki, even Todoroki stopped without a word.
In the meantime, Hawks and I slipped away from there.
"Todoroki, you were cursing me with your eyes earlier, weren’t you?"
"Forget that. What happened to the corpse of the rat that was controlling the rats?"
Hawks twisted his mouth as if he never wanted to think about it again.
"Ugh... that monster rat? I sealed it up tight and stored it just in case. I’m sick of rats too now."
"Give it to me."
"What? Give what to you?"
"The rat."
That rat definitely had a Quirk. I could [Reconstruct] it too.
With several of those, I’d find All For One.
"If you don’t want to see something worse than a rat swarm, hand it over now."
I used [Decay] to turn part of the feathers on Hawks’ wing into dust.
"At least use words people can understand! I’m going to fall!"
*****
A few minutes later, behind the building, Hawks handed over the tightly sealed rat corpse.
"But what are you even going to do with that? The girl you brought already blew its head completely off. The people you bring around are all crazy..."
"Shut up. This is my first time handling an animal body, so don’t make it annoying."
I snatched the corpse container from Hawks’ hand and broke the seal.
"The head being gone isn’t a problem. You still don’t get it."
Hawks turned away with a cold sweat.
"Don’t tell me... you’re not planning to eat it, are you? Raw?"
"That wouldn’t be wrong."
I grabbed the headless rat by the tail.
"Ugh. You’ve got a strong stomach."
Ignoring Hawks’ nonsense, I placed [Overhaul]’s hand on the rat’s tiny body.
I had to focus harder than I ever had during reconstruction, and sweat even gathered in my palm.
Through reconstruction, I exchanged the rat’s lower body to rebuild its head. The rat’s fur grew back too.
I immediately plucked out a strand of fur and swallowed it.
The moment I did, a sky-blue status window appeared before me.
[Rat Swarm - Singularity]
Creates rats from a designated area or objects wrapped by itself and other rats. It can communicate with the rats it creates, and they will obey unconditionally. The rats’ intelligence increases, and the chance of them developing a Quirk rises.
"...This is better than expected."
At the same time as I held the tiny trash rat, it transformed into a black-furred rat with red eyes and horns.
Horns... so it already had a Quirk from the start. Very nice.
Hawks asked in shock.
"...That rat has a Quirk, doesn’t it? So animal Quirks are fine as long as you have the fur?"
"You can see for yourself."
Even as I spoke, I kept picking up trash and turning it into rats.
At my command, the rats moved quickly to make more rats, and the trash-filled street was soon packed with them.
Then the first rat I’d made climbed up my clothes.
"Squeak! (Dad? Master? Your Majesty? Prime Minister? What should I call you?)"
It was definitely a rat’s squeak, but I could understand it in my head.
Without answering, I used [Overhaul]’s hand to crush the rat’s single cry.
When I opened my hand, the rat had become more muscular and was tilting its head with its forepaws still over its eyes.
"Squeak? (I thought I was going to be purged the moment I was born...)"
"That doesn’t matter. I’ll strengthen a few of you."
There were ones better suited to espionage than the rats I had made.
Those who had lost their leader and fallen apart. The former underlings of All For One.
I gave the rats a low command.
"Track down the 'other rats' that can understand your language and interrogate them.
Bring me information on the man called All For One."
The rat in my hand nodded and landed like it was using a proper fall technique.
Squeak! (Understood!)
This was no longer espionage. This was an army capable of tactics.
Thank you, All For One. For strangling your own neck for me.
Just as I was satisfied, Hawks poured cold water over it.
"You’re not developing dementia, are you? Now you talk to animals too?"
I narrowed my eyes and threw the rat corpse container hard.
Hawks dodged it in disgust, and only after it hit the ground did he pinch it up with two fingers like he was picking up something filthy.
But...
"Hawks, what happened to the special admission exam?"
"Ah, that? It got postponed for a week. I asked the school, and apparently the 'special guest' wasn’t feeling great today either."
Good. Then there were no variables. All I had to do was wait.
*****
A week later, the rats reported that after paying a tremendous price, they had interrogated prisoners and extracted information.
Based on that, we searched All For One’s hideout, but All For One had already left. Since there might be more than one hideout, the search had to start over.
The result was a little disappointing, but with the knowledge that All For One was being hunted, I headed to the exam site with Midoriya in a good mood.
"Grr...! Trying to become a Hero without a Quirk is hotter than anyone else!!"
"You said you saw Raven in person, right? Can’t you tell me what kind of person he is? I’ll show you my 'body-separation' magic too."
"No, he’s not that amazing. And body separation is a little..."
In the exam waiting room, a loud, hot-blooded giant and a lizard-like girl crowded around Midoriya.
After the [rat incident], he had reduced his mistakes and increased his achievements, so Midoriya was getting the most attention among the recommended entrants.
Having [Raven] draw attention too was annoying, but
between Todoroki, who didn’t care about his surroundings, and the others, I was more interested in the Quirks I could secure under the pretext of competition or cooperation.
A girl with the air of a lady and a black ponytail rested her chin on her hand and asked in curiosity.
"Still... who exactly is this special guest? I heard this is supposed to be a race."
"Good question!!"
For some reason, a familiar voice I had heard not long ago rang out.
The door soon slammed open.
"The special guest is me!!!"
My pupils widened before I even realized it.
"...All Might?"
All Might didn’t recognize my changed appearance or voice at all.
"Haha! Were you that surprised? Nice to see you, boys and girls! Starting this year, U.A. has prepared a special exam instead of a race!"
"It’s called... the All Might Survival!!"
The murmuring that mixed tension and shock, and even the strange sound Midoriya made as if he might faint, didn’t register at all.
Instead, I smiled.
The goddess of luck was on my side.
Against a careless All Might...
My chance to eat [One For All] had finally arrived.
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