Disclaimer: I do not own Fate/Stay Night or My Hero Academia

...

All Might watched on as Shirou gave out his final orders for the day, instructing the students to use what they have in their upcoming internships. Toshinori Yagi had made an effort to come to as many of these training sessions as he could over the past fortnight after having been unable to attend Shirou's demonstration.

He truly wished that other arrangements hadn't prevented him from showing up to witness Shirou's performance in front of the other professional heroes. What his peers had told him afterwards had been unbelievable and had made him wish that he had cancelled his prior plans. Alas he had had to deal with second hand information from predominantly Present Mic (who had more than likely overexaggerated everything) and Nezu (who likely had overanalyzed everything). Since then, he had made an effort to make as many of these after class sessions as he could in order to witness any of these feats for himself.

Sadly, it seemed as if Shirou had only ever intended on sharing the details of his powers with the members of the faculty, not once using anything that he was seemingly capable of in front of the other students. Likewise, he himself had been asked not to speak openly about what Shirou was capable of under orders from Nezu and unfortunately All Might knew why. If they simply went out of their way and announced to the world that there was a power outside of quirks that was untracked and unregistered with who knows how many people were capable of it, it could lead to panic.

So for now, it was held secret amongst the faculty. Toshinori felt that Nezu had another reason for this in being that there still was the possibility of a mole within the school. If the information leaked to the public, while it would be temporarily chaotic it would also show that the person leaking intel was a member of staff. It was a terrible thought to have but one they had to consider.

All Might's attention was drawn back to the children in front of him as Shirou dismissed them for the evening, sending the students on their way. For some reason he wouldn't feel surprised if he discovered that Shirou had assigned them homework to do during their internship. From what he had witnessed, while he was strict in his lessons he was never overly cruel, pushing them slowly past their limits but never sending them over the edge. In the short time he had been with them he had already acknowledged their strengths and weaknesses and consequently knew which boundaries required a gentle push in the right direction in order to better them as a whole.

"I must say, excellent work as always," proclaimed All Might as some students exited the gymnasium, their limbs sore from the day's activities.

"They are the ones who will defend this country who civilians will depend on one day, any mistake that they make then is a mistake that I made now," said Shirou, looking towards the top hero in the country.

"Everyone makes mistakes, even I have made errors in the past," stated the professional hero, making a clear internal note of Shirou's word choice regarding who the next batch of heroes were.

Shirou's eyes darted across the room quickly, taking note that a handful of students had yet to leave, watching All Might speak to him. He wasn't quite sure what they were waiting for but considering how things usually went, they wouldn't have to wait long. "In this position however, mistakes result in casualties."

"Those are only in extreme circumstances, I assure you..."

"Please," scoffed Shirou, cutting All Might off, something which caused the students still watching to take an involuntary gasp. "There's a reason the obituary page in the paper is never less than a double spread and as a general hint, it isn't old age. You may do everything you can in your power but people still die."

For the smallest of moments the ever present smile on Toshinori's face faltered ever so slightly. "You are far too young to worry about such matters," he said trying to steer the conversation away.

Easily catching on to what All Might was trying to do, Shirou ran his fingers through his hair before proposing a hypothetical question. "Tell me then, one man is keeping ten people hostage and nothing short of death will prevent him from releasing an attack that will kill them instantly. Would you be willing to kill one criminal in order to save ten innocent lives?"

All Might's eyes sharpened the tiniest of margins as he glared at Shirou. It was times like these that he had to recall that Shirou was indeed far different than any other student who had entered the hero course of this academy. His life before coming into the school was nearly a complete blank slate, something which might have been done with either his or his friend's powers.

The way Shirou acted, how he behaved on a day to day basis, was of someone who didn't simply know what he did through an internet search. He knew what he knew because at some point in his young life it had become essential to learn such life lessons. Or, and this was a terrifying thought, he had learnt such lessons through the heat of the moment.

"Did you save them?" asked All Might, silently hoping that he was misreading this in its entirety.

"Yes," declared Shirou resolutely as he started to walk casually towards the exit, straight past All Might whose hand had clenched into a fist.

"So you killed then," stated All Might, his head lowered to the floor.

"No," said Shirou, his back still to the top hero who looked over his shoulder at the boy slowly walking away. "I saved all of them, villain and all."

Toshinori released a breath that he hadn't even realised he had been holding, gratitude washing over him that Shirou had not sullied his hands with the lifeblood of another human being.

"At least the first time."

The door closed behind Shirou mere moments after his final statement had been made, causing the students who had remained behind to whisper nervously amongst themselves. All Might watched as young Midoriya made a beeline for the door, chasing after Shirou but he himself remained rooted to the spot.

While he may not have openly admitted it, Shirou had effectively stated that he had killed another person before. The more disturbing part was that he seemed so unfazed by the entire incident. All Might could merely hope that this was due to the reason as to why he had found it necessary to take a life. Had Shirou suppressed the guilt inside of him out of the belief that he had done the right thing?

Shaking his head, All Might knew better than to speculate about such matters. The fact that Shirou seemed to be opening up to him was a good sign, even if what he was opening up wasn't necessarily a good topic. A topic which now left him in an awkward predicament. A single glance over at the other members of Class 1-A showed that some had their phones in their hand and were possibly ready to spread such information out to their friend, most likely out of safety precautions. Now he needed to play damage control and do his best to convince teenagers that not spreading gossip was a necessity in this situation.

...

"Hold up," shouted Midoriya as he closed the gap between himself and Shirou, the other boy slowing down at the sound of his voice. The green haired hero in training was glad as Shirou halted and turned to face him, gifting him a small smile.

"What's up Midoriya?" he asked politely.

"How do you do it?" asked Midoriya.

"It?" repeated Shirou, unsure of where Midoriya was going with his question.

"How are you able to stand up to All Might like that?" clarified Midoriya, his body tensing as he mentally prepared for the answer given to him.

Shirou meanwhile observed the small change in Midoriya's stance. He was more than aware that Midoriya was, for the lack of a better term, a fanboy. His knowledge on the prowess and history regarding a number of the school's heroes was astonishing and it showed that he had spent years doting and admiring professional heroes. Shirou figured that his off handed comments before could have been seen as a spark of something in Midoriya's mindscape, that perhaps those that he worshipped weren't as untouchable as they appeared.

"Walk with me," said Shirou, turning around and resuming his journey back to his homestead, Midoriya swiftly joining him by his side. "Tell me, throughout the entirety of Japan, are there areas where no heroes work." Midoriya raised a thumb to his chin butr before he could put a great deal of thought into it, Shirou cut him off. "Before you overstress yourself, I'll let you know that there are areas where heroes don't patrol the streets. Whether the population is simply too small, or there isn't enough of a financial gain to be made working out in remote areas, I don't particularly know nor do I care. Fact of the matter is, there are parts of Japan where heroes don't exist."

Taking a quick glance over at Midoriya, Shirou could see that the boy was soaking up his words like a sponge. Likely he wasn't taking everything he said as if it were gospel but the fact that he was paying attention was a great starting point. "You can picture it can't you, trying to set up a hero agency in some far off corner of the country where the only potential crime would be a speeding ticket or perhaps a pickpocket, something which the police are more than capable of taking care of. Why would a hero set up his place of work somewhere where there isn't much work?"

"You grew up in such a place didn't you," stated Midoriya, reading between the lines. "A place with no heroes."

Shirou didn't particularly want to explain that the heroes that had existed in that world were from a separate plane of existence so he simply continued on. "When I was young there was a fire, a fire which devastated my home killing at least five hundred people. According to the person who found me, I was the only person to survive the inferno."

Midoriya's pace had slowed dramatically, the hero in training likely trying to get his head around the facts that Shirou was telling him. "I was five years old, unable to truly comprehend the desolation around me. My only instinct was to live, find some way to escape. I'd look to my left and find corpses so charred they were barely able to be recognized as humans. To my right I would find strewn limbs that had escaped being buried beneath rubble, which meant the rest of the person was. I was terrified but I kept walking, step by step with intense heat biting at my flesh and smoke choking at my lungs. Eventually, I no longer had any strength left to save myself, and I accepted my death."

"You accepted your death," said Midoriya slowly, the whole idea hard to grasp. Shirou didn't blame him, it was a tough train of thought to get one's head around. Again, he could have added how the fire had started in the first place but that wasn't something he needed to get in to.

"No hero saved me that night, I was rescued by the person who would become my adoptive father. From the wreckage, I was the only person that he could find who hadn't perished in the blaze," said Shirou, his eyes softening ever so slightly. Rubbing at the back of his head, Shirou opted to diverge from this path of thought before he said something that gave away the fact that he was far older than what he looked like.

Thankfully, Midoriya had him covered. "I'm so sorry," he said, bowing apologetically. "I had no idea that..."

"There's a reason why I don't talk about my past all that much," said Shirou. "It made me who I am today, just like how your past has made you into the hero in training standing right here, right now."

Lifting his head, Midoriya was able to see that Shirou was giving him a heartfelt smile, letting the boy know that Shirou meant every word that he said. That also continued on to the next lot of phrasing that Shirou made.

"Now, we need to talk about your technique."

"My technique?" repeated Midoriya.

"Yes, you're trying to emulate a style that is outside of your body structure," explained Shirou. "Taking away the self destructive strength of your power, your technique, whilst improving, is not too dissimilar from what you'd find in a bar brawl. Your ability to improvise on the spot is much higher than some of your peers but unleashing something that you have little to no experience with could end up putting yourself out of commission before your opponent."

Midoriya simply stood there, absorbing what Shirou was saying as he continued on his speech, pointing out flaws in how Midoriya entered each and every combat situation. Needless to say, there was a lot to be said.

...

Chizome Akaguro snarled at the customer in front of him, complaining about how the last batch of produce that she had purchased from the store had been foul by the time she had served it to her guests the following day. Pinching at the bridge of his nose, Akaguro couldn't help but be reminded of how much he hated the life that he was now living. Not by choice of course, the runes engraved onto his very body prevented him from returning to his prior residence where he could continue his work, ridding the world of fake heroes and changing society for the better.

So many better ways he could be spending his time other than being the errand boy for the witch who held him at her mercy.

The only grateful thing about being the slave for that wench was that he was effectively her guinea pig. Many would see that as a detriment and call him crazy for thinking otherwise. The boons from her experiments however were already starting to show. He felt lighter, could see further and more clearly, could carry far greater loads than what his body should be able and move faster than ever before.

As far as he could tell, all of these adjustments to his body had been made for the sole purpose of serving her as her bodyguard. He also knew however that if this was the case, then she expected to be targeted at some point by somebody incredibly powerful. When the time came for him to test out his newly acquired abilities, the world would know that Stain was merely taking a break from bettering the world. The purge was still ongoing after all.

...

Iida stood proudly at the place where he would be interning, his hero costume on and on full display in front of the people who worked at the facility. While it may have been unnecessary for him to be dressed as such in these opening moments, he had wanted to make a stellar impression with those whom he would call comrades for the time being.

"Hey kid, I know you haven't been formally greeted or anything but as you can see it's a bit chaotic," said one of the sidekicks, taking a moment to speak to Iida. The chaos he spoke of was evident as everyone scrambled about in order to make the place of business as clean and tidy as possible.

"I understand, I imagine it was a difficult time recently," said Iida.

"I think you of all people should know what we were going through," said the man sheepishly before offering Iida a handshake, lifting his arm up from where it had dangled near his knee. "Name's Ryudin or as I'm known about the office, Stretch."

"Tenya Iida," he said in return as he shook the offered limb. "This may be bold of me to assume, but I hazard to think that Stretch isn't the name you are known by when you are recognized by the populace as the hero you are."

"Yeah, Extendoarms is what I go by when doing hero work," said Ryudin as he rubbed at the back of his head. "That's out there though, in here I try not to take things so seriously."

Before Iida could respond, a new voice spoke forth, silencing everybody else in the room and making them freeze in place. "Ladies and gentlemen," they shouted, their voice carrying to every corner of the room. "It is my honour and privilege, to announce the arrival of our boss, freshly returned with a clean bill of health and ready to return to duty once more, Ingenium!"

The applause was deafening as the door to the room opened up to reveal Iida's older brother, ready and willing to return to active duty. "Alright guys," he said raising his hands up to try and quiet the commotion, to little success. "Thank you, thank you, I've missed you all as well. While there will be time to catch up on what I've missed out on, this is still a working agency and I need to be brought up to speed with what has happened in my absence."

Tenya could only watch with awe as his brother returned to the role he had been away from for so long. The hospital had prevented him from leaving their facility for far longer than necessary and when Iida had raised the idea that he would intern under his older brother, a deadline had been made. The hospital still were unable to explain why the professional hero had recovered the way that he had and after having effectively run out of tests to take, permitted him to return to his home and family.

Now though, now was the time to show the world that Ingenium was as fit as ever. Patrolling the streets with his brother by his side sounded like the perfect way to announce his return to the public.

Ingenium was back.

...

Hope you enjoyed.