The End of Ordinary Everydays

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The Monomyth of Shounen Manga Protagonists

Criteria: Powerful Quirk. Unique Quirk. Popular Quirk. Hidden meaning in the name. Cheerful personality or Edgy personality. Backstory. Extraordinary Background. Not ugly. Within Sakatsuki Miyu's age bracket.

Below is the list of suspected protagonists, sorted from the most probable

1. Todoroki Shouto

Has dual quirk of ice and fire. Son of Endeavor. Has strained relationship with father. Has problem in family. His name has kanji for burning and freezing, but it's possible his father knew about his quirk in advance. Personality: edgy.

With complex backstory and a powerful quirk, he is worthy to be on the top of this list.

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4. Kaminari Denki

His name is a pun for thunder and electricity, while his quirk is electricity. Electric type quirk is popular choice. Personality: cheerful.

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6. Monoma Neito

He has a unique quirk that is a staple for a protagonist: Copy. His name is also a pun for mimicry. Personality: quite edgy.

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10. Yoarashi Inasa

Has quirk to manipulate wind, very popular. His personality is quite cheerful and like to make new friends. His name has a kanji for storm and wind.

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13. Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu

There's nothing special besides his name. His quirk is steel body. Personality: Cheerful, hot blooded.

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20. Tenya Iida

Younger brother of Ingenium. Has the same quirk, Engine. Personality: normal, a bit serious. Nothing standout except for the fact that he has famous big brother.

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37. Fumikage Tokoyami

His name matches with his quirk, and darkness is also a cool theme for protagonist.

Because he has unusual appearance, his rank dropped.

=break=

EMIYA#LEGACY

All Might POV

Life was fleeting, fragile like a water bubble.

He thought he knew that. How many people had he watched dying? How many friends had gone before him to the afterlife? People died sooner or later, that was a fact of life.

But he never thought it applied to him.

Yes, he knew it as truth, but the fact didn't really sink in. He thought that he would still be an active hero even twenty years from now.

The injury he received four years ago woke him up from that delusion.

Fighting against his nemesis, his mentor's killer, the supervillain All For One, letting emotion blinded him. As a result, his sworn enemy managed to dealt him mortal blow. At that time, he was undoubtedly close to dying. Only luck prevented him to join his mentor in the hereafter.

Currently, he could only do hero work for three hours per day. He vomited blood from time to time, and his chest hurt if he overworked himself. In this condition, it's not strange if he suddenly dropped dead, or killed by small-time villain.

All Might did not fear Death. It was the fear of not imparting his quirk to a worthy successor that kept him awake at night. His mentor and all of One For All progenitors would punish him in the afterlife if he died without a successor.

But finding a successor was hard. He had his secret identity to begin with, and his hero work. Also, he had to undergo medical treatment. He also had to do hero activities, and the subsequent paperwork. There's no opportunity to go out there and find someone.

Still, the clock was ticking. He didn't know how long he would last, or if his condition would worsen someday.

He needed to find someone soon. But could he just grab a random boy from the street?

When he was searching for successor and also a possibility to heal his body, he heard something.

Apparently, an acquaintance heard that his cousin's wife has a friend, and she has a brother who has an ex-classmate, and this person has a daughter who got involved in traffic accident. The little girl was paralyzed from neck to toe and all doctors gave up on her case.

In desperation, her father asked help from Sakatsuki Miyu, and she healed the little girl. Using artificial nerves transplanted into her spine, she could move her body again and walked normally.

'Why don't you try asking The Sakatsuki?' His acquaintance said.

To verify this information, he had observed the little girl herself, Chiba Yui, in one of rehabilitation session, discreetly entering the hospital in his skinny form. He saw her walking slowly assisted with handrail, with her face smiling.

It was confirmed that Sakatsuki Miyu owned a medical technology more advanced than anyone on earth, so it seemed. All Might considered asking Sakatsuki Miyu to heal his injury.

However, Chiba Mamoru ended up becoming her bodyguard to pay for his daughter's treatment. Just how much he must pay? There's no information other than the hyperbolic, 'colossal amount' in the gossip.

All Might could possibly pay her, he had quite an asset. But what if he didn't have enough cash on hand? He could sell his office tower, but that would send bad signal to the people.

As a symbol of hope, he could not tarnish his image. Becoming a bodyguard was out. Paying in installments? He might be able to do that.

If only he could give something other than cash as a payment though... something people couldn't know.

Suddenly he got an inspiration!

What if he offered her One For All?

That would solve two of his problems in one go!

He had trouble finding someone suitable to be his successor. Wasn't this a good opportunity?

Sakatsuki Miyu was quirkless. Obviously, she would be delighted to get a quirk. He knew, as a former quirkless himself, how the quirkless really wanted to get superpower. He recalled some obscure surveys that stated that 90% quirkless children wanted to have quirk.

And because of that, she might give him treatment for free. Maybe.

All Might thought again. It seemed too selfish for him if he gave away One For All just to get medical treatment. Were there any other good reasons to choose Sakatsuki Miyu?

There were. Sakatsuki Miyu's existence had caused the world to be more prosperous. It was imperative that she was safe. Sure, she had bodyguards, but that was not 100% safe.

Villains attacked her every other day. The news covered that every evening. It had become a routine news and people had become used to it.

True, she might not be able to do any hero activity, and she might be forced to keep her new quirk secret. It would be a huge shock if a formerly quirkless girl suddenly had power…. Or she could spin the story of how she hid her quirk, or the quirk suddenly manifested…

However, the most important thing was that it would keep her safe. And as long as she was safe, the world would benefit. She didn't need to do any hero work. She just needed to stay alive and cultivated One For All for several years, and then find a successor.

All Might then considered her personality. There was almost nothing known about her. The public only saw her in several occasions. She sometimes attended high society parties. She sometimes caught within the streaming video of her friend, Daidouji Tomoyo. And then several candid shots by her schoolmates or paparazzi. And then several public appearances in some tournaments.

All Might did more digging on the matter. He contacted many of his informants, trying to find something about the teen celebrity. He found out one thing from his friend in the police department, Tsukauchi.

"Well, there's a rumor that she might have been kidnapped when she was around 11." Tsukauchi said when they met in the cafe below Might Tower. (Of course, All Might was there in Toshinori Yagi identity). He took a book from his bag. "Because of this."

The title of the book was "Sakatsuki Miyu's Fantastical Questions and How not to Answer Them, sixth edition." Tsukauchi explained briefly about the background of the book, and then he read out loud several questions.

"A female child, 11 years old… is targeted by a group of villains. A female child, 11 years old, recently tried to kill you. A female child, 11 years old, lived alone for a while inside a scary forest, and you get information that an assassin will kill her….. what will you do?"

Toshinori felt that there was something wrong mixed in, but he thought that it's just his imagination. He said, "I see. Because the example in those questions are too specific, too real to be just an imaginary hypothetical scenario. It's as if she had experienced them herself."

"Exactly." Tsukauchi replied. "Some of my colleagues think that Sakatsuki Miyu was involved with a kidnapping when she was eleven, and the incident was not reported to the police. Maybe The Sakatsuki Family solved it by themselves and didn't want to make a fuss. And then, it's possible that Sakatsuki Miyu encountered a hero during this incident."

"A hero…" Toshinori muttered.

Tsukauchi then read several more questions, painting a picture about the heiress supposed savior. It sounded too exaggerated, about world-ending catastrophe and whatnot, but the personality of the hero was quite clear.

It actually fit nicely. The young girl might be captivated by the hero that she fell in love with him. Or she might admire the hero and sought similar qualities in her suitor. Based on the questions, one could deduct what kind of hero he was. A selfless one, brave and kind, and willing to sacrifice himself for others.

Hmm. Toshinori nodded while grinning. A fine hero. And if Sakatsuki Miyu idolized this hero, she would not go to the wrong path.

Yes! Toshinori decided. He would offer the chance to Sakatsuki Miyu to be his successor.

"Also, the latest gossip put this hero as stronger than you." Tsukauchi said.

What?

"Listen to this, this question is just several days old." Tsukauchi read from his smartphone. "'Behind you is the 11-year-old-girl, in front of you is brainwashed All Might in full power, rampaging madly.' Of course, the villain she met was not All Might, she might say that name just to give an approximation of his strength. If Sakatsuki Miyu's questions are based on real event, the villain she met was as strong as you, and this hero defeated him. Interesting, right?"

=break=

The Oldest Gamer

All Might POV

Few days after the meeting with Tsukauchi.

One of his sources managed to get him something very rare. A secretly taken video of Sakatsuki Miyu when she played a shogi match in amateur tournament.

The Sakatsuki Family forbade anyone to take photos or videos of Miyu during the tournament. Official photographers could only take few photos before the match and at the official reward ceremony. Recording a video was strictly prohibited, and the bodyguards harshly punished any offenders.

Still, some people managed to record videos without being caught. The videos were circulated secretly, fearing the retribution by The Sakatsuki if they got caught.

What's in the video that caused everyone to be nervous about it?

Toshinori played the video in his office computer.

The scene depicted two figures sitting face to face, a shogi board between them. On one side was an old woman wearing glasses and traditional kimono. And at another side was Sakatsuki Miyu, her pretty face easily recognizable, also wearing fancy looking kimono. Her hair was tied up with colorful ribbon.

Maybe it was still in preliminary rounds, as there were other table with similar matches around them. The spectators watched from respectful distance, not too close to disturb the players, but close enough to see the board. The video caught whispers between the spectators who commented about the game.

"Is this for real? That Sakatsuki is playing against Kawamoto Momo, you know? It's said that she is as strong as pro sixth dan!"

"They said that Amateur Queen Momo never apply to become professional player because of family circumstances, but she won against pro several times."

"But Queen Momo is losing, right? Tell me I am wrong in reading the board!"

"Look at their expression! Queen Momo seems in trouble, but that young girl seems bored. Is she saying that she is still holding back?"

"Did you see that? That move, incredible!"

"Is that even possible? I have never seen this kind of play before! Someone, write down the move and get a pro to look at it!"

Toshinori couldn't see the board, and he didn't understand shogi anyway, but he could understand from the shaky video that Sakatsuki Miyu had done something amazing.

And then, after staring at the board for quite a time, Kawamoto Momo bowed and admitted defeat. The spectators whispered again between themselves.

"Seriously? She really won against Momo-sama!"

"She just won chess tournament last month, right? Does she intend to win in shogi too?"

Suddenly Sakatsuki Miyu spoke, and her voice was clearly recorded in the video. Gesturing with her right hand rubbing the shogi board, she said, "Boooring. Is this the best you can do?"

Her voice was clear and beautiful, but the tone contained tons of arrogance.

"It seems useless to expect anyone to entertain me in this tournament, if one of the top players is only at this level. Why did I enter this tournament again? Can I quit?"

Someone hastily whispered something to Miyu, and then she said, "Oh yes, I aim for the prize money. Foolish act. They should just give it to me already."

More whispers to Miyu, and she said, "Hmmph. Fine. I will pass the time by seizing that prize."

And then Miyu stood up, and she stepped up on the chair. Standing on the chair overlooking the hall, she declared, "Fuhahahahahaha! Mongrels! I will permit you all to witness my gameplay! Consider yourself lucky to see it! I will do a game that will be talked about for eternity!"

The video cut off abruptly at that point. The last thing on the scene was several bodyguards trying to make Miyu get off from the chair.

It was a short video, and Toshinori could only see Miyu's attitude for several seconds.

When Toshinori looked it up, it seemed that Sakatsuki Miyu's games were still hotly discussed in the shogi player community. The same thing also happened for her Go matches. People called her a genius that rarely appeared. There were professional title holders and nine dan pro who said they wanted to play with her.

Toshinori pondered in his office chair. With personality like that, he could see why her bodyguards forbade anyone recording a video.

Overbearing. Arrogant. Proud.

However, despite the obvious negative traits of her personality, Toshinori couldn't help but fascinated by her. He repeated the video again and again, watching how the little girl magnanimously addressed the audience, as if a ruler proclaiming a policy to her subjects.

How peculiar. His instinct sensed something about the girl. He felt that behind that arrogance, she could be relied on.

He knew that it was not rational. It was as if the teenage girl was a legendary hero, and he the ordinary peasant who worshiped her. He felt that he could entrust her with any problem.

In fact, now he felt silly to consider bartering One for All with his medical treatment. Surely someone proud like her would be offended if he insinuated that she wanted a quirk?

But he still needed a successor. And she was such a good candidate, even if he couldn't explain why.

He decided that he would offer her One for All first. After that, the topic about his medical treatment could be discussed depending on the outcome. He contacted The Sakatsuki Family, and they arranged "a meeting" in U.A. Sports Festival.

=break=

Majutsushi no Hitorigoto

Illya POV

I stared at the big hulking man with hero costume in front of me without saying anything, too surprised to give any response.

The room was silent like that for a long time, a man maintaining a dramatic pose, and a little girl frozen stiff with astonishment.

It became awkward, so I recover from my surprise and tried to ask.

"Umm. Can you explain? What successor?"

If I remember correctly, All Might had that big tower, called Might Tower for his agency. But I couldn't inherit that. I was not a pro hero.

The other things I could succeed? His hero name? His hero costumes? His number one ranking? All of them couldn't be inherited by me, right?

Wait! If it's about the trademarked merchandise and the royalties…. I would really welcome that. His main income was from the selling of official All Might merchandise.

All Might looked around us, checking our privacy. This must be a big secret. He looked satisfied to see there's no one around us, not even invisible. The curtain was closed. My bodyguards had searched the room for bugs. The only thing recording was my glasses, connected to Miss Nagato.

What? Don't blame me, it's standard procedure when I was alone without bodyguards.

All Might didn't know about my glasses, so he began talking. In summary: All Might was originally quirkless, but he got his quirk from his teacher. The quirk was accumulation type, it stored power and cultivating it, and it was transferred from person to person. He was the eighth-generation holder, and by relying on it he became the number one hero.

Oooh. That's the truth about his mysterious quirk. Super-strength from stockpiling power.

But inheriting a quirk? It was thought to be impossible. I would believe it if you say inheriting Magic Crest.

"I believe you are worthy… of inheriting my power!" All Might said.

What? I was worthy? How the heck did he arrive at that conclusion?

I was a shy, sheltered, weak young heiress, I loath violence, and I didn't hurt anyone; at least, that's how the public saw me.

"Umm…" I said, staring straight at him. "Are you sure about that? I think you select the wrong person."

Hearing what I said, All Might just smirked and laugh. "Ha ha ha ha! Your acting is perfect, I would be fooled if I don't know better! You can drop the act now, Young Girl Sakatsuki! I already know about your unique personality!"

Whaaaaaat?

My ruthless, cold-blooded personality was leaked out? Or my spoiled rich kid persona who always demand more toys? I try to maintain poker face, but what came out was a stiff smile.

"I don't understand what you mean. I am just a weak little girl." I said with fake sincerity. Ï can't fight and I don't like violence. Surely someone else is more suitable?"

"Hoho." All Might kept smiling. "A little humility is also good, even if you don't mean it. I still say that you are a suitable vessel for my quirk."

Unbelievable, why couldn't he believe my acting?

And then, All Might took out his smartphone. He played a video and showed it to me. In the video was me, Sakatsuki Miyu, declaring something about shogi game.

"I refuse to believe someone with as much confidence as this wouldn't be able to be a hero!" All Might proudly said. "I don't know why you try to avoid responsibilities, or maybe you just don't want to break your image? You can be at ease, I already know your secrets! Ha Ha Ha!"

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! Hawawawa!

My stiff smile must have been transformed into dark grimace. One of the most embarrassing dark secret had been exposed to the number one hero! I wanted to crawl under my bed…..

Gilgamesh, the King of Heroes, was the humanity's oldest king recorded in history. In his legend, he created the humanity's oldest games, and there were prototypes of board games inside his treasury. As the summit of human intellect, he had the ability to master any board games that human invented.

I used that aspect of Gilgamesh to enter board game amateur tournaments and won the prize money. Installing the hero, I read the rule book and gameplay records of past matches. I played online to test my ability, and rapidly adapting Gilgamesh into the new board games. As expected, Gilgamesh won with ease. Taking care to alter my hair color with illusion magic and then entering amateur tournament, I defeated all my opponents It was tiring to install him for a long time, but doable, since there's no need to fight and use Noble Phantasm.

But there's one complication.

My personality was overwritten by Gilgamesh. I would do and say things like that oldest king, complete with his arrogance. At first, I didn't realize this and people around me thought it was just me acting out. But the more I installed him and the longer the duration of Install, the more his personality came out, and sometimes I lost my memory. When my private assistants showed me a video recording of me acting like Gilgamesh, only then I realized that I had a problem.

Each time I saw myself acting like the oldest bully, I felt really embarrassed.

We had prohibited video recording to minimize risk. Where did All Might get that video?

No, what I should think now was how to handle current situation.

Think. I couldn't tell the truth, that my personality was corrupted by an ancient spirit of arrogant king. That would be too unbelievable. And that was related to Install ability, something that must be kept secret at all cost.

Was there no other way than admitting that his guess was correct? But to admit that meant that I must pretend to be as arrogant as Gilgamesh?

No way.

Can't. Impossible. Denied.

Let's just be stubborn and deny everything!

Wait a minute.

It was very strange. It didn't make sense for All Might to give his quirk to an arrogant prick like Gilgamesh, or someone with that kind of personality.

Even more strange that he readily admit his biggest secret to me.

While I would think that the matter about my reincarnation, magecraft, and Servant Install couldn't be known, I have other secrets, and many of them were not exactly 'good'.

My heart was instantly chilled with suspicion. What did he mean when he said that he knew my secret? Which ones?

All Might was the best pro hero in this country, if not the world. He was well connected, and he also have various resources. I have no doubt that he had good information network, or he knew someone who had it.

Despite our effort in concealing my identity as The Alchemist, it still leaked out, and now the whole world knew my name. I should not be arrogant and thought that my secret projects would be kept secret forever. If someone could find out about it, All Might would be on top of that list.

'But what does he know?' I thought, shivering, thinking about Satellite Kiritsugu. 'Does he know about the superweapons? The research was outsourced to black support company, so it may leak and he may have found a trail.'

I regulated her breath, trying to maintain her calm. There must be a reason why All Might didn't outright expose me, or destroying my satellite. He wanted to negotiate? No, more likely, he didn't know the location of the superweapons.

But what about his story about needing a successor?

No, it was too absurd to be a lie. Most probably it was the truth. But that didn't mean All Might came to me without ulterior motive.

Inheriting his quirk meant that he would become my mentor. In that situation, he could monitor me more closely and gather more information. In other words, that matter about inheriting quirk was just an excuse!

It made sense then. When he said 'I want you', what All Might said actually was, 'I want to arrest you'.

I bet he would have more excuse if I reject his offer.

Let's test that.

"I don't understand what you are talking about." I said, keeping my face straight and eyes focused on All Might.

"Hmm? But I have this video here…." All Might still maintained his smile, but he was surprised by my denial.

"I don't understand what you are talking about." I repeated, still maintaining my perfect sitting posture.

"I have evidence that you have quite exuberant boisterous personality, with full confidence in herself." All Might said, his smile had faltered a little.

"I don't understand what you are talking about." I repeated again. My eyes narrowed in challenge.

There was a bit of silence before he spoke again. "I believe you can be a hero." All Might said.

This became annoying. Honestly, I didn't want to be a hero. Look, I was the type of person who declined the Class Representative position because 'it was a hassle' and 'I was too lazy to do it'. Responsibility? Altruism? I had none of that.

Even my companies and my works were intended to give me power, toys, money and protection. Making the world more prosperous was just a side bonus, for PR campaign. Besides, Pro Hero work hour was brutal. They must always be ready for emergency, and sometimes they worked late at night. Each time they did something, they must fill out the paperwork.

And don't say something when you don't really mean it. You were lying about becoming hero just to monitor me. Yeah, there's no way it was true. I didn't have strong physical body and I acted like a villain most of the time.

All Might couldn't have known about Install, so maybe he just tried to keep me off balance by embarrassing me with the video. It didn't work that long, so I hoped he change tactics soon.

"Why don't you stop with the pretense," I said, still staring straight to the face of Number One Hero, "And tell me what you really want. You don't actually want me to be your successor or whatever. You want something else."

Let's see if he had another excuse prepared. If not, well, I would reject him anyway. I didn't need that quirk, I didn't want to be a hero, and I didn't want to be monitored.

I hoped I maintain my poker face, because All Might seemed puzzled by my expression. Or maybe he knew I hid something, but he couldn't deduce anything. Whatever it was, he immediately smoothed his face and smiled again.

"You are a sharp little lady," All Might said. "Indeed, I have other purpose in meeting you."

And then he told a story about how he was injured around four years ago, when a supervillain dealt a fatal blow to his left stomach. The wound still persisted, and it limited his physical power, though he was vague about that.

"And I heard that you can treat incurable disease." All Might said.

My suspicion was slightly decreased. It was true that my reputation was spreading by word of mouth, so it was perfectly legitimate for him to seek me for medical help. Still, I needed to know more to decide whether I would help him or not. I am not a god, so there are things that I can't cure.

"Ah well..." All Might hesitantly explain his condition. "Part of my left lung is gone. And then the digestive organs…."

As I heard him, I was partly horrified and partly suspicious. Horrified, because I couldn't imagine a human being still functioning despite the loss of those organs. Suspicious, because…

"Why don't you just buy our artificial organ?" I asked. "We sell lungs and pancreas. We haven't figured out digestive organs yet, but I believe by buying them, it will vastly improve your…. Quality of life."

All Might frowned, his lips thinned, thinking about something. Finally he answered, "I will not know which size to buy."

"Pardon me?" I asked, not understanding.

All Might took a deep breath and spoke, "When I got injured, it ruined my body. My body become… emaciated. I am very thin, with no muscle at all. But if I use my quirk, I can stretch my body back to its prime. Like a balloon,… I suppose."

My jaw dropped.

"That's why..." he continued. "I will not know which size to buy, since I stretch my body all the time. Also, the artificial organ will not stretch, I think, based on the product description I read."

After giving a warning so I would not be surprised, he shrunk his body. The invincible All Might was now just a fleshy skeleton, with no muscle, and his clothes hang loosely around his thin frame.

I almost wanted to scream for backup and accuse him as impostor.

"Can I uhh, touch you?" I said. "It's to check,… , no, I mean to diagnose your current body condition."

He could make up all that stuff as a sob story. He agreed and extend his right hand, and I touched it, applying magecraft to examine his body.

It's true. His inside was a mess.

Still, it didn't assuage my suspicion. In fact, it actually made my suspicion came back with in full. I grimaced, and I hoped All Might interpreted it as a shock after learning his body condition.

I stepped back and withdrew my hand. If All Might was curious about my skill in diagnosing with just a touch, he didn't comment. I could just handwave it as esoteric medical skill or something.

"Well, it's true that our artificial organs are not made with quirk user in mind." I said, trying to stall for time while thinking about the situation. "They don't have quirk factor, so they are not immune to whatever quirk the recipient owns."

For example, if someone changed body size, the artificial organ would not change size. If someone charged electricity, or fire, or ice, through the body, the rest of the body would be fine, but the artificial organ would be damaged.

The quirk users who bought the artificial organs from Heaven's Cup company were warned about it. As for now, many people couldn't buy artificial organs because they had incompatible quirk. Especially mutant type quirk, because their bodies were very different from normal humans.

All Might wanted me to heal him. However, that in itself, was a trap.

I could heal him. In fact, in the whole world, quite possibly I was the only one who could. There were two methods I could use.

First method, I install Witch of Colchis, Medea, and use magic to heal him. Just with few words and a bunch of mana, I could make him as good as new.

Obviously, I would not do it. It would reveal too much of my secret. I would not advertise to the world that I could heal griveous wound with little effort. Instead, I made them pay for advanced medical treatment with artificial organs. And because All Might couldn't possibly know about this, this was not what he expected.

Second method, I cloned All Might cells, and develop new organs to replace what he lost, and transplanted them inside his body. There would be no rejection, and the organs would adapt to the body's quirk factor and also produced it naturally. The new organs should follow along nicely with the rest of the body, keeping up when it inflated or whatever.

So, what's the problem?

It was cloning.

Cloning, the taboo research.

It was illegal, and nobody did it. If you wanted to see the evidence, it was telling how All Might had no replacement organ. Because the only way to get them was to make them with cloning.

Also, people were nervous about cloning technology. Understandable, since the quirk was determined by DNA. Someone could create super army by cloning some of the strongest quirk users. In fact, illegal researchs were conducted all around the globe to create clones.

But my cloning technology was already perfect. And I already used it to create supercomputer from Nagato Yuki's braincells.

Was it a coincidence that All Might came to me asking for medical treatment, and the only method to heal him was an illegal technology, one that I conveniently had, and related to the satellite where I store my superweapons?

From outside, there were cheering sounds. Something exciting was happening in the arena, the third year of U.A Highschool giving their all in the competition. But I had no desire to spectate.

This VIP room now felt small. It felt suffocating, and also gloomy, what with the curtain closed.

No, it was not the room. It was the presence of the man before me.

Despite his skeleton-like appearance, he was still the number one hero. He had the raw power to demolish me, and his reputation enable him to condemn me. I felt trapped inside this room. Ever since I thought of a possibility that he was an enemy, for the first time in a while, I felt…. Afraid.

What should I do? Do I call for my bodyguards? Should I call backup? Maybe I should hypnotise him? No, maybe we were being watched. Should I escape? What Install is good? Chain of Heavens could immobilized him. No, Gae Bolg to the heart was more certain. But if I have to compete with raw strength, Berserker was a better choice. But what about his collaborator or superior or whoever behind him? What about my unfinished projects? What about my friends? My family? Should I leave everything I built behind and run?

"Miss Miyu? What's wrong? You have been silent for a while."

All Might's voice woke me up from the dark imaginations brewing in my head. I startled and replied, "Uhh… yeah..." I realized that I had been holding my breath. Darting my eyes left and right, I searched for an excuse. "I just… uh… thinking about… uhh, your body and how to fix it."

All Might, despite his unheroic appearance, smiled and said, "You don't need to be so worked up about it. All other doctors has given up on me. I'm sorry to place a terrible burden to one so young."

Honestly, just by that charming smile and sentence, I would be willing to heal him right here and right now, if only I didn't know about his ulterior motive. He was really good at acting. Maybe it was not entirely an act though. They said that the best lie had truth mixed in it.

It was possibly true that he needed a successor for his quirk. It was true that he needed a medical treatment. He would be above suspicion and then got close to me. He would be healed, and then he would expose my illegal activities. Just by possessing cloning technologies, I wondered how many laws I break?

"It's fine. Maybe…. I have something." I said to All Might, and tried to fake a smile. My previous panic attack seemed to be abating, and I hoped he really mistook it as a shock. It seemed to be working, because he didn't seem to be suspicious. "I need to diagnose you in detail. Can you meet me later, come to my private lab. Here, this is the location." I wrote down time and place on a piece of paper.

All Might received the paper and, seemingly moved to tears, held my hands and expressed his gratitude with long, elaborate sentences.

What could I say, he was really good at acting, and played his role perfectly.

Too bad for him, he didn't know that I knew.

=break=

I would rather betray men before they betray me

After that meeting, Illya returned to her VIP room.

The U.A. Highschool Sports Festival ended without any trouble, and after saying farewell to her followers, Illya entered her private car.

Safe inside the car, she activated her glasses. "Call Yuki."

"What do you require, Ojou-sama?" Yuki's voice heard.

"We made a mistake." Illya said. "We overlook any quirkless person. But with All Might inheritable quirk, a quirkless person can be a hero."

"Ojou-sama, I should remind you that the amount of quirkless person is too many. And we cannot use the criteria of matching name with quirk."

True, even if the population of quirkless person is smaller, they still numbered 20%. Without any frame of reference, searching for the quirkless protagonist who someday might inherit All Might's power was like finding a needle in the haystack.

"Well then, keep an eye of any incident that involve a quirkless person, particularly if they are young. Also, put surveillance on All Might." Illya said.

"Ojou-sama, our spy drones are unable to keep up with All Might speed. We can only monitor him using Kiritsugu when he is around Tokyo." Yuki said.

"That's fine, we can't always get everything. Also, find out about his thin body, there must be another persona he is using in that form." Illya said. "And put surveillance on that form too."

"Understood."

Illya bit her nail, trying to think about the countermeasure to All Might. Across him, the only other person inside passenger segment, Chiba, Mamoru, was fiddling with a tablet computer.

Without ending the call to Yuki, Illya asked, "Mr Chiba, what are you doing?"

"Oh? This?" Mamoru lifted his face from the tablet computer. "I filled in my routine pro hero report. Every pro hero must do this, or they will be tagged as inactive, and eventually their license revoked. Anyway, I filled in 'guarding civilians from villain attack'. It's actually true, and it happened everyday. And technically, I am the first pro hero responding to your distress signal and the first one on scene, so they can't say I am not doing anything!"

Illya lost interest in Mamoru and continued thinking about All Might. She needed to neutralize him somehow. Memory wipe? Geass contract? Assassination?

"Yuki, call Miss Ami and tell her to recall any Camelot Legion member in reserve." Illya said.

"Ojou-sama, most of them are currently in infiltration mission. Only six are not in active mission and can return immediately."

Illya scowled. Only six quirk users, out of fifty-something in the roster. Should she forcefully recall more and abort the infiltration? The members of Camelot Legion infiltrated hero schools around the world for the long term agenda, but everything would be for naught if All Might wrecked her life tomorrow.

But she invested so much into these missions….

"Can't be helped." Illya said. "Tell the bodyguards to standby then. I want 70% of them be ready and accompany me to Lab 13. Arrange the shift schedule."

Lab 13 was the newest, it had all the equipment, but nothing really valuable yet. I could afford to lose it, if things got bad.

"Understood. Ojou-sama, Miss Ami is asking for the reason. What should I tell her?"

Oh damn, Illya was going to bring along combat force enough to conquer a small city, of course her chief private assistant wanted to know the reason.

But should she tell her the real reason? That she suspected foul play by All Might? That she was preparing for the worst case scenario of killing the Symbol of Peace?

Miss Ami would certainly object. And Illya didn't really have any evidence for her suspicion. If she told her, the information would spread, and it would be a controversial matter.

Her subordinates could flee in fear, refusing to oppose All Might. Or worse, some would betray her, because it's All Might, and he was morally right and everything. Not that they could defect or directly harm her, but geass contract was not perfect, and they could do something annoying to hinder her actions.

Only Yuki was trustworthy. She appeared to have arrived at the same conclusion as Illya, and silently supported her. Or maybe her interests aligned with Illya, the supercomputer was in danger if All Might succeed.

"Tell her about All Might requesting medical treatment." Illya said. "While he is in treatment, there is a possibility that he became incapacitated, and it will be dangerous if villains attack him. We need to protect him."

"Understood, I will tell her that. Should I relay this information to the others too?"

"Yes" Illya answered.

With this, nobody would suspect anything until the last minute. Illya hoped that she could resolve this peacefully. And the definition of peaceful here was that All Might controlled with magical contract and spilling everything about the people behind him.

Killing him would be too messy, socially and politically, and also economically, as he was the reason why crime rate was low in this country. Illya needed to subdue him alive.

Yeah, let's name this Operation: King Kong

=chapterend=

AN

1. All Might here was feeling much self-pity because of his injuries, stressed out by paperwork, and willing to grasp at the chance of miraculous recovery, to the point of willing to pass on his quirk to a teenage girl. As seen in canon when he met Izuku, he can be a little pathetic sometimes.

2. All Might expects a confident, arrogant heiress, he employs something that would work with Gilgamesh. But he got a paranoid magus instead, and his approach make Illya suspicious.

3. Katsuki Bakugou doesn't make the list. He is considered unheroic.

4. I plan to write interludes next. About Supercomputer, Camelot Legion, and Reverse Moon early days. Do you agree, or you want to read more of the main plot?

5. I make a - pa. T re. on. page. Not hoping anything though, my writing lacks quality and update frequency. It's on my profile page.