Chapter 91
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The Synonym
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[I AM—]
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...
All Might, now in his muscular form, walked through the school hallway with Recovery Girl alongside him, expression deep in thought as the two advanced in silence.
After dragging him out of the teachers' lounge, Recovery Girl had offered nothing further in the way of an explanation—saying it was better for him to see it himself rather than hear it hurriedly from her.
And so All Might had been forced to leave his rest and follow, knowing only that something had come up, but having no idea what.
Her tone, when she'd said as much, hadn't been one of worry but of sheer bafflement—which at least let him rule out the possibility that something had happened to one of his students.
And from the way she'd worded it, it seemed Taka actually had something in store for him. Something significant.
But what?
All Might had to sit with that question through the two minutes it took them to reach the infirmary.
Once they stepped inside, he was surprised to find it wasn't only Taka waiting there—sitting on a bed with a bored expression.
Nezu was there too, standing calmly beside him, watching both of them approach with a quiet, knowing smile.
Instantly, the weight of the situation scaled several levels. The principal's presence here wasn't something that happened over small matters.
After all, Nezu wasn't merely his current boss. He was one of the few people aware of what had transpired during his fight with that man, and everything that had followed. He was the one who had volunteered to help find a successor, and who was practically aware of all the behind-the-scenes details.
For him to be here, alongside Recovery Girl…
"…"
All Might looked at Taka with a puzzled face.
'Just what is going on with young Takahashi?'
"Sorry to interrupt your break, All Might." Nezu's voice pulled him out of his daze, nudging him to finally step inside rather than linger at the entrance.
Recovery Girl made her way to the chair beside her desk. All Might took a seat on the bed across from the principal and the student, looking between them with quiet seriousness.
"Recovery Girl said something important came up—something involving young Takahashi?"
"Precisely. To be honest, I'm quite surprised myself. The news came so suddenly we barely had time to process it."
"News?"
"Young Takahashi has awakened a new ability." Nezu said.
"Awakened?"
A deep frown settled across All Might's hollowed face for a moment.
He understood what awakening meant. It was the point at which a Quirk underwent a kind of evolution—gaining power or capabilities previously thought impossible given the Quirk's known nature. But for something like that to occur, it was said the person had to experience tremendous stress—the kind only reached when staring death in the face, and even then, it was just a slim possibility.
If young Takahashi had truly awakened—what could have possibly happe—?
"It seems I may have prompted unnecessary concern." Nezu interrupted his train of thought, gesturing calmly for him to settle down, then turning to Taka. "Let me first give you the context around Takahashi's Quirk, and how the two of us came to have an agreement… if he's alright with that, of course."
The teenager gave him a look, followed by a small huff and a silent nod.
Nezu turned back to All Might. "Splendid. Tell me—do you recall the incident involving that giant heteromorph near the lake, toward the end of last year?"
All Might cast his mind back, looking pensive.
After a moment, he nodded. "I remember it. The incident drew a lot of attention because of the villain's sheer power—it was talked about for weeks afterward, given how much destructive capability he demonstrated, and how he'd apparently been moving through the city completely undetected up until that point. If that man, Rockinesis, hadn't intervened when he did and kept him airborne long enough to reach the lake, it could have ended in a disaster."
"Precisely. That's also the day Takahashi and I first met. He came home beaten up from the fight, and I almost burst out laughing when his face contorted for a split second upon finding me sitting in his living room."
"My face did what?" Taka muttered, looking at him with a baffled expression.
"Hold on, principal." All Might raised a palm, looking confused. "What do you mean he came home beaten up from the fight?"
"Well, he tried to hide it—but by paying surgical attention to his behavior and body language, I noticed he'd come back with a broken arm. I didn't say anything at the time, but I did let out a small snicker once I finally left."
"You did…?" Taka muttered again, the flat look deepening.
All Might waved his hands in opposite directions. "No, no—I mean, what fight are you referring to?"
"With the villain, of course."
"The villain?" All Might struggled to reconcile what was being implied with what he couldn't quite believe. "Which villain?"
Nezu smiled innocently.
"The giant heteromorph."
"…" All Might went quiet, blinking, his mouth opening and closing as he tried to process whether he was understanding correctly before committing to a response.
Ultimately he found no other way to read the rat's words.
"Y-you're saying young Takahashi is…?"
Nezu's smile stretched with quiet satisfaction.
"The vigilante, Rockinesis. Yes."
"…!"
All Might's mouth fell open, and his head turned slowly—like a rusted hinge—toward Taka, who offered a faint smile as the attention landed on him.
"Don't arrest me, please."
"…!"
Everything resurfaced at once. No longer the actions of some distant, mysterious vigilante—but of a student of his. A teenager.
A kid the same age as his successor.
The dozens, if not hundreds of villains apprehended. The concert crashed and turned into one of the vigilante's song debuts. The heteromorph incident they'd just been discussing. The Yakuza raid. And most recently, the capture of the Hero Killer and the saving of Ingenium.
It all landed on him now as the acts of a student under his care. A mere teenager going to U.A.
The most wanted vigilante of recent years was one of his students?!
And it was Takahashi?!
A chain of detonations went off inside All Might's head.
His eyes darted between Nezu and Taka. "B-but—if that were true, his Quirk wouldn't be Telekinesis anymore!"
The original concept of Muscle to Mind—which supposedly granted Taka greater telekinetic output proportional to his physical strength—fell apart quickly once you stacked everything else on top. Abilities with no apparent connection to telekinesis whatsoever.
Clones, energy rays, flames, electricity, cutting force.
What Takahashi had shown until now was already strange enough—but now?
Now there was no way this was just Telekinesis!
And if the premise of strength feeding the telekinesis was a cover story, then Taka's superhuman physical abilities counted as yet another power with an unexplained origin.
Just what kind of Quirk could hold so many abilities? He had never heard of such a thing!
"That's precisely why I reached out to Takahashi months before the school year began." Nezu replied. "Through his actions as Rockinesis, he had demonstrated multiple abilities with no obvious connection to one another—all from a single Quirk that didn't quite match the description in the official documents. When I discovered it, I couldn't help but want to see that talent properly channeled. So I eventually roped him into our dear school."
All Might nodded. It made sense, and it was the right call—especially since he had seen the gap between Takahashi and every other student in his year.
Every student, actually.
That said, it didn't make the shock any easier to absorb.
Nezu walked up and patted him on the thigh, then drifted toward the window, watching the sun begin its descent, quietly marking the end of the school day.
"The truth is—according to Takahashi's own account, and my analysis—it appears his Quirk continues to evolve even now. Whether in raw output or entirely new capabilities." He said, still facing the glass.
All Might swallowed, taking in that information with difficulty.
A Quirk in constant growth. Unbelievable.
"And that brings us to the reason we called you here." Nezu's words drew him back. "… One of those new capabilities—one Takahashi reported today—is healing."
Taka extended a hand, green aura flames seeping from the palm as if in demonstration.
Seeing that, and piecing together why he'd been summoned, All Might turned to Nezu with a stunned look.
"You mean to say he can…?" He hesitated at the last word, out of habit around the secrecy of his condition.
But Nezu continued regardless.
"We tested the ability as thoroughly as we could. Given the extent of the damage in your case—and the track record of every doctor and hero with healing-adjacent Quirks who's examined you before—we were cautious about drawing conclusions. The results, however, were not what we expected."
Recovery Girl spoke up from her desk, setting a sheet of paper down.
"My Quirk works by accelerating the body's own natural healing, drawing on the patient's energy to fuel it. Which is also why it has limits—the body can only regenerate what it hasn't already given up on. Scar tissue is the body's way of declaring a wound closed. It doesn't reverse that decision on its own."
She folded her hands.
"What the kid's healing energy does is entirely different. Rather than working alongside the body's healing response, it overrides it. The energy appears to instruct cells directly—signaling damaged or scarred tissue to break down, while simultaneously prompting the surrounding healthy cells to multiply and rebuild what was lost. It doesn't accelerate healing so much as it reverses the injury… In a way, it's almost like a sentient healing—one that knows exactly what is damaged and how it should be restored, even when the body itself no longer does."
She handed him the sheet.
"The cost comes entirely from the kid, not the patient. And it scales depending on several factors—the age of the injury, the size of the affected area, and the structural complexity of what needs to rebuild. In your case, the first and last of those are the significant ones."
All Might nodded, frown deepening as he absorbed the data in the paper alongside his limited medical knowledge.
"Does this mean… he knows?" He asked, eyes lifting from the sheet and moving across the three faces in the room—settling on Taka's unsurprised expression in particular.
The two teachers nodded.
Taka didn't look surprised by the question.
"I see…"
At that, All Might let out a long breath—and his body deflated all at once, the steam leaving him in one long release.
When it cleared, he had become his gaunt self. Gone was the towering figure of the greatest hero and the ever-present smile—in their place, a thin man with hollow eyes and a quiet, heavy expression.
Seeing him finally lower his guard, Nezu smiled softly and continued.
"According to what we've understood so far, the way this healing works should be able to address the kind of damage your body sustained—Takahashi's healing energy will act as both a guide and energy source, directing your cells to revert the injury to its previous uninjured state, regardless of whether the body believes it's possible or knows how to do it on its own. The only concern is…"
"Whether I'll have enough energy." Taka finished. "Like Recovery Girl explained, the cost scales with several factors. For all I know, I might not be able to heal it fully—or I might not even break a sweat."
All Might nodded in silence, his expression not changing much despite the apparent good news.
That was because he hadn't let himself expect much the moment his injury came up.
Despite the hope the two teachers clearly carried, too many treatments had failed before—regardless of the expertise, the Quirk, or the approach. The best anyone had ever managed was preventing him from dying of it.
And however exceptional young Takahashi was—however far beyond any expectation he'd already proven himself—he couldn't quite bring himself to believe the kid would also be able to pull off a miracle like this.
Even as the two teachers walked him through the logic of why it should work, he had quietly resigned himself to the idea that it probably wouldn't.
But who was he to deny them the try?
Before that, though…
"You mentioned the energy comes directly from you, young Takahashi?"
Taka nodded.
All Might looked at him directly, serious. "What happens if you run out of energy and it isn't enough? No matter how much I'd like to be healed—I won't risk a student for it."
There was a brief pause before Taka let out a soft snort, mildly amused.
"It's not my direct life force or anything like that. Think of it more as a secondary energy that fuels all my other abilities. If I exhaust it, I go back to normal human capabilities until it recharges on its own."
All Might blinked in surprise, nodding slowly.
He hadn't expected to come away from this conversation with new details about the boy's actual Quirk.
But regardless—if healing him truly carried no grave risk to Takahashi… then perhaps it was worth a try after all.
His fist tightened.
"Then, young Takahashi—I'll be in your care." He said, his tone somewhere between resignation and faint hope.
Taka smiled—freely, confidently, in a way All Might wasn't used to seeing from the usually composed student.
"Don't worry. This will be easy peasy."
All Might noted that he even spoke differently in this moment. Less… dramatically, if he had to put it into words.
He really did seem like a normal teenager right now.
...
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| Minutes later… |
...
Soon after, the room was prepared as thoroughly as the circumstances allowed.
Which mostly meant giving All Might's bed more space, and connecting a few monitoring devices to track his condition once the healing started, so nothing would go unnoticed.
Once everything was in place and All Might's vitals along with many other details were under watch, Taka approached the bed.
"Uhm, young Takahashi—does this hurt?" All Might asked, glancing nervously at the approaching Taka, whose face was faintly illuminated by the green flames in his hand.
"For minor things like cuts or muscle pain, not really. But I honestly don't know about rebuilding a stomach and fixing a respiratory system from scratch."
"I see…"
"You can bite down on this leather belt, though."
"Why do you have that?!"
"I borrowed it from Recovery Girl's supply cabinet."
All Might gave Taka a baffled look.
Then, without a word, he put it between his teeth and bit down.
"Very well—let's begin, Takahashi." Nezu said, seeing that everything was ready.
Taka nodded silently, and the flames in his hand intensified in the same motion.
Then he placed his engulfed hand over All Might's scar.
From it, the flames spread and washed over All Might entirely.
"It doesn't burn?" The hero murmured through the belt, staring at the green fire now covering him.
Taka smiled wryly. "The energy itself is actually invisible. I'm only giving it a color for dramatic effect."
As he said that, the flames shifted to an orange-red—looking for all the world like actual fire.
Yet All Might felt not the slightest heat.
He gave Taka a baffled look.
'Dramatic effect, seriously?'
Taka shrugged.
Since he was already outed, he might as well be a little honest.
"Well—enough about me. Bite down hard."
"Ye—"
His agreement was cut off as a sudden rush of warmth flooded through him.
Like a heatstroke arriving all at once—instantly hot, then cold, leaving him drenched in sweat before he could process it.
It didn't hurt, but it was deeply uncomfortable.
And uncomfortable would have been perfectly fine, because what came next was far worse.
"Hngh!" A groan tore from him as heat began building in his innards. His lungs, his ribs, his muscles—all of it burning.
It was as if an inferno had ignited directly inside his chest.
Taka's brow furrowed at the sight of All Might's face contorting in pain.
But before he could even consider whether the healing was having adverse effects, Nezu's voice cut through.
"All Might's cells have gone into overdrive—thousands of new cells per second across the tissue"
"Don't worry kid. The pain he is feeling is all the heat of his own body repairing." Recovery Girl added, her eyes moving rapidly between All Might and the monitor, where cell division was happening at blinding speed. "Mitosis at that volume and speed releases an enormous amount of thermal energy. Your energy itself may be heatless—but the conversion into cellular activity is generating the heat from within. All Might's body can't thermoregulate fast enough to compensate. However, conversely, even though it's burning him, it's also healing him even faster."
They didn't even need the screen to verify it. The jagged purple scar stretching from All Might's left ribcage across his chest was visibly fading—and in its place, steam was rising from his skin in steady waves.
"You alright, All Might?" Nezu asked.
All Might gave a rapid nod.
He had endured considerably worse. This hurt, but it was bearable.
So instead of focusing on himself, his eyes drifted to Takahashi—standing beside him with eyes closed and hand still pressed over him, channeling the energy.
There was a frown on the kid's face.
And no wonder.
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
[STATUS PAGE]
▸ Strength: 183
▸ Defense: 366
▸ Aura Projection: 124,343 → 112,223
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Total Aura: 124,526 → 112,223 (90%)
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
Just a few seconds in, and he'd already burned through nearly 10% of his total aura.
He checked the monitor. Aside from some superficial damage having cleared up, the deeper injuries—the respiratory system, the missing stomach—remained untouched.
'H-how is it costing this much already?!' He questioned, outraged.
Fortunately, Recovery Girl's voice cut in before his panic could go anywhere, apparently having taken note of Taka's less than ideal expression.
"Is the energy flow too high, kid?" She said, watching the monitor closely. "Well, I suppose it's to be expected somewhat. All Might's body spent years compensating for the missing tissue—surrounding organs shifted, the musculature restructured, everything rearranged to accommodate the absence. Before it can accept a new stomach, the body first has to undo all of that—reverting itself to its original pre-injury configuration. That's essentially two healing processes for the price of one. So it ought to be pretty taxing."
'Of course.' Taka groaned internally, but held the output steady.
Before hosting a proper respiratory system and a stomach again, the body had to roll back everything it had quietly changed over the years to cope without them.
Muscles, tendons, bones, arteries—the whole internal architecture was being remodeled back to what it once was.
And with it, the aura kept draining.
By the one-minute mark, 70% remained.
"The body has finished reverting." Recovery Girl announced the moment it reached that number.
However, following that, the rate of drain suddenly accelerated enormously, making the two spectators, Nezu and Recovery Girl, stare harder at the screen.
60%
But in turn to the preoccupying boost in energy being spent, the tears and damage along the lungs and diaphragm began closing, rebuilding into perfectly functioning tissue.
50%
The cracks and missing sections of the ribcage grew back, filling in solid.
40%
The scar on the left side of his chest faded entirely.
30%
And then came the last part.
The void in his body—the space that had formed as everything rearranged itself around the absence—suddenly stopped being empty.
A small mass of living muscle appeared where there had been nothing.
It grew. It sent tendrils out into the surrounding tissue, finding its connections.
20%
Soon it had integrated. Then the overall shape continued expanding, growing into its proper size.
Until—
10%
At last—
5%
It was done.
A new stomach was born. One that was connected to All Might so seamlessly, it appeared to have always been there.
And with it—the healing process was over.
—Tsssssss…!—
The moment the treatment ended, All Might's body expelled vapor as if he were a machine venting steam—the heat radiating off him palpable from several steps away. The room had become a sauna.
Taka stepped back, pulling in a deep breath.
His eyes moved to his status screen, wincing at the sight.
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
[STATUS PAGE]
▸ Strength: 183
▸ Defense: 366
▸ Aura Projection: 124,343 → 5,380
─────────────
Total Aura: 124,526 → 5,380 (4%)
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
96% aura, used in just a matter of minutes.
He'd never burned through that much in such a short window. It left him dizzy.
Slowly, he pulled his gaze from the screen and looked at the room around him—thick with vapor, the far wall barely visible through it.
'Did it work?'
With what aura he had left, he opened the curtains, then the window, and siphoned the vapor outward in a steady stream.
Until, at last, the room cleared—now lit softly by the last of the setting sun.
-Screech-
As soon as sight was returned to everyone, the bed of the patient groaned as the figure lying in it began to move—slowly at first, then with increasing certainty.
-Tap-
The figure sat up. Then stood, his wet feet echoing in the silent room as the figure rose tall, letting the light fall over it.
There stood All Might.
Not in his muscular form. No.
But he wasn't a skeleton anymore.
It was a healthy-looking All Might, staring at his own open hands and stomach with wide, stunned eyes.
Then he looked up.
And the smile of the symbol of hope returned.
"I AM—Cured."
...
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-To Be Continued...-
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(A/N: Pretty epic, if I say so myself.)
[I AM—]
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...
All Might, now in his muscular form, walked through the school hallway with Recovery Girl alongside him, expression deep in thought as the two advanced in silence.
After dragging him out of the teachers' lounge, Recovery Girl had offered nothing further in the way of an explanation—saying it was better for him to see it himself rather than hear it hurriedly from her.
And so All Might had been forced to leave his rest and follow, knowing only that something had come up, but having no idea what.
Her tone, when she'd said as much, hadn't been one of worry but of sheer bafflement—which at least let him rule out the possibility that something had happened to one of his students.
And from the way she'd worded it, it seemed Taka actually had something in store for him. Something significant.
But what?
All Might had to sit with that question through the two minutes it took them to reach the infirmary.
Once they stepped inside, he was surprised to find it wasn't only Taka waiting there—sitting on a bed with a bored expression.
Nezu was there too, standing calmly beside him, watching both of them approach with a quiet, knowing smile.
Instantly, the weight of the situation scaled several levels. The principal's presence here wasn't something that happened over small matters.
After all, Nezu wasn't merely his current boss. He was one of the few people aware of what had transpired during his fight with that man, and everything that had followed. He was the one who had volunteered to help find a successor, and who was practically aware of all the behind-the-scenes details.
For him to be here, alongside Recovery Girl…
"…"
All Might looked at Taka with a puzzled face.
'Just what is going on with young Takahashi?'
"Sorry to interrupt your break, All Might." Nezu's voice pulled him out of his daze, nudging him to finally step inside rather than linger at the entrance.
Recovery Girl made her way to the chair beside her desk. All Might took a seat on the bed across from the principal and the student, looking between them with quiet seriousness.
"Recovery Girl said something important came up—something involving young Takahashi?"
"Precisely. To be honest, I'm quite surprised myself. The news came so suddenly we barely had time to process it."
"News?"
"Young Takahashi has awakened a new ability." Nezu said.
"Awakened?"
A deep frown settled across All Might's hollowed face for a moment.
He understood what awakening meant. It was the point at which a Quirk underwent a kind of evolution—gaining power or capabilities previously thought impossible given the Quirk's known nature. But for something like that to occur, it was said the person had to experience tremendous stress—the kind only reached when staring death in the face, and even then, it was just a slim possibility.
If young Takahashi had truly awakened—what could have possibly happe—?
"It seems I may have prompted unnecessary concern." Nezu interrupted his train of thought, gesturing calmly for him to settle down, then turning to Taka. "Let me first give you the context around Takahashi's Quirk, and how the two of us came to have an agreement… if he's alright with that, of course."
The teenager gave him a look, followed by a small huff and a silent nod.
Nezu turned back to All Might. "Splendid. Tell me—do you recall the incident involving that giant heteromorph near the lake, toward the end of last year?"
All Might cast his mind back, looking pensive.
After a moment, he nodded. "I remember it. The incident drew a lot of attention because of the villain's sheer power—it was talked about for weeks afterward, given how much destructive capability he demonstrated, and how he'd apparently been moving through the city completely undetected up until that point. If that man, Rockinesis, hadn't intervened when he did and kept him airborne long enough to reach the lake, it could have ended in a disaster."
"Precisely. That's also the day Takahashi and I first met. He came home beaten up from the fight, and I almost burst out laughing when his face contorted for a split second upon finding me sitting in his living room."
"My face did what?" Taka muttered, looking at him with a baffled expression.
"Hold on, principal." All Might raised a palm, looking confused. "What do you mean he came home beaten up from the fight?"
"Well, he tried to hide it—but by paying surgical attention to his behavior and body language, I noticed he'd come back with a broken arm. I didn't say anything at the time, but I did let out a small snicker once I finally left."
"You did…?" Taka muttered again, the flat look deepening.
All Might waved his hands in opposite directions. "No, no—I mean, what fight are you referring to?"
"With the villain, of course."
"The villain?" All Might struggled to reconcile what was being implied with what he couldn't quite believe. "Which villain?"
Nezu smiled innocently.
"The giant heteromorph."
"…" All Might went quiet, blinking, his mouth opening and closing as he tried to process whether he was understanding correctly before committing to a response.
Ultimately he found no other way to read the rat's words.
"Y-you're saying young Takahashi is…?"
Nezu's smile stretched with quiet satisfaction.
"The vigilante, Rockinesis. Yes."
"…!"
All Might's mouth fell open, and his head turned slowly—like a rusted hinge—toward Taka, who offered a faint smile as the attention landed on him.
"Don't arrest me, please."
"…!"
Everything resurfaced at once. No longer the actions of some distant, mysterious vigilante—but of a student of his. A teenager.
A kid the same age as his successor.
The dozens, if not hundreds of villains apprehended. The concert crashed and turned into one of the vigilante's song debuts. The heteromorph incident they'd just been discussing. The Yakuza raid. And most recently, the capture of the Hero Killer and the saving of Ingenium.
It all landed on him now as the acts of a student under his care. A mere teenager going to U.A.
The most wanted vigilante of recent years was one of his students?!
And it was Takahashi?!
A chain of detonations went off inside All Might's head.
His eyes darted between Nezu and Taka. "B-but—if that were true, his Quirk wouldn't be Telekinesis anymore!"
The original concept of Muscle to Mind—which supposedly granted Taka greater telekinetic output proportional to his physical strength—fell apart quickly once you stacked everything else on top. Abilities with no apparent connection to telekinesis whatsoever.
Clones, energy rays, flames, electricity, cutting force.
What Takahashi had shown until now was already strange enough—but now?
Now there was no way this was just Telekinesis!
And if the premise of strength feeding the telekinesis was a cover story, then Taka's superhuman physical abilities counted as yet another power with an unexplained origin.
Just what kind of Quirk could hold so many abilities? He had never heard of such a thing!
"That's precisely why I reached out to Takahashi months before the school year began." Nezu replied. "Through his actions as Rockinesis, he had demonstrated multiple abilities with no obvious connection to one another—all from a single Quirk that didn't quite match the description in the official documents. When I discovered it, I couldn't help but want to see that talent properly channeled. So I eventually roped him into our dear school."
All Might nodded. It made sense, and it was the right call—especially since he had seen the gap between Takahashi and every other student in his year.
Every student, actually.
That said, it didn't make the shock any easier to absorb.
Nezu walked up and patted him on the thigh, then drifted toward the window, watching the sun begin its descent, quietly marking the end of the school day.
"The truth is—according to Takahashi's own account, and my analysis—it appears his Quirk continues to evolve even now. Whether in raw output or entirely new capabilities." He said, still facing the glass.
All Might swallowed, taking in that information with difficulty.
A Quirk in constant growth. Unbelievable.
"And that brings us to the reason we called you here." Nezu's words drew him back. "… One of those new capabilities—one Takahashi reported today—is healing."
Taka extended a hand, green aura flames seeping from the palm as if in demonstration.
Seeing that, and piecing together why he'd been summoned, All Might turned to Nezu with a stunned look.
"You mean to say he can…?" He hesitated at the last word, out of habit around the secrecy of his condition.
But Nezu continued regardless.
"We tested the ability as thoroughly as we could. Given the extent of the damage in your case—and the track record of every doctor and hero with healing-adjacent Quirks who's examined you before—we were cautious about drawing conclusions. The results, however, were not what we expected."
Recovery Girl spoke up from her desk, setting a sheet of paper down.
"My Quirk works by accelerating the body's own natural healing, drawing on the patient's energy to fuel it. Which is also why it has limits—the body can only regenerate what it hasn't already given up on. Scar tissue is the body's way of declaring a wound closed. It doesn't reverse that decision on its own."
She folded her hands.
"What the kid's healing energy does is entirely different. Rather than working alongside the body's healing response, it overrides it. The energy appears to instruct cells directly—signaling damaged or scarred tissue to break down, while simultaneously prompting the surrounding healthy cells to multiply and rebuild what was lost. It doesn't accelerate healing so much as it reverses the injury… In a way, it's almost like a sentient healing—one that knows exactly what is damaged and how it should be restored, even when the body itself no longer does."
She handed him the sheet.
"The cost comes entirely from the kid, not the patient. And it scales depending on several factors—the age of the injury, the size of the affected area, and the structural complexity of what needs to rebuild. In your case, the first and last of those are the significant ones."
All Might nodded, frown deepening as he absorbed the data in the paper alongside his limited medical knowledge.
"Does this mean… he knows?" He asked, eyes lifting from the sheet and moving across the three faces in the room—settling on Taka's unsurprised expression in particular.
The two teachers nodded.
Taka didn't look surprised by the question.
"I see…"
At that, All Might let out a long breath—and his body deflated all at once, the steam leaving him in one long release.
When it cleared, he had become his gaunt self. Gone was the towering figure of the greatest hero and the ever-present smile—in their place, a thin man with hollow eyes and a quiet, heavy expression.
Seeing him finally lower his guard, Nezu smiled softly and continued.
"According to what we've understood so far, the way this healing works should be able to address the kind of damage your body sustained—Takahashi's healing energy will act as both a guide and energy source, directing your cells to revert the injury to its previous uninjured state, regardless of whether the body believes it's possible or knows how to do it on its own. The only concern is…"
"Whether I'll have enough energy." Taka finished. "Like Recovery Girl explained, the cost scales with several factors. For all I know, I might not be able to heal it fully—or I might not even break a sweat."
All Might nodded in silence, his expression not changing much despite the apparent good news.
That was because he hadn't let himself expect much the moment his injury came up.
Despite the hope the two teachers clearly carried, too many treatments had failed before—regardless of the expertise, the Quirk, or the approach. The best anyone had ever managed was preventing him from dying of it.
And however exceptional young Takahashi was—however far beyond any expectation he'd already proven himself—he couldn't quite bring himself to believe the kid would also be able to pull off a miracle like this.
Even as the two teachers walked him through the logic of why it should work, he had quietly resigned himself to the idea that it probably wouldn't.
But who was he to deny them the try?
Before that, though…
"You mentioned the energy comes directly from you, young Takahashi?"
Taka nodded.
All Might looked at him directly, serious. "What happens if you run out of energy and it isn't enough? No matter how much I'd like to be healed—I won't risk a student for it."
There was a brief pause before Taka let out a soft snort, mildly amused.
"It's not my direct life force or anything like that. Think of it more as a secondary energy that fuels all my other abilities. If I exhaust it, I go back to normal human capabilities until it recharges on its own."
All Might blinked in surprise, nodding slowly.
He hadn't expected to come away from this conversation with new details about the boy's actual Quirk.
But regardless—if healing him truly carried no grave risk to Takahashi… then perhaps it was worth a try after all.
His fist tightened.
"Then, young Takahashi—I'll be in your care." He said, his tone somewhere between resignation and faint hope.
Taka smiled—freely, confidently, in a way All Might wasn't used to seeing from the usually composed student.
"Don't worry. This will be easy peasy."
All Might noted that he even spoke differently in this moment. Less… dramatically, if he had to put it into words.
He really did seem like a normal teenager right now.
...
°
°
°
| Minutes later… |
...
Soon after, the room was prepared as thoroughly as the circumstances allowed.
Which mostly meant giving All Might's bed more space, and connecting a few monitoring devices to track his condition once the healing started, so nothing would go unnoticed.
Once everything was in place and All Might's vitals along with many other details were under watch, Taka approached the bed.
"Uhm, young Takahashi—does this hurt?" All Might asked, glancing nervously at the approaching Taka, whose face was faintly illuminated by the green flames in his hand.
"For minor things like cuts or muscle pain, not really. But I honestly don't know about rebuilding a stomach and fixing a respiratory system from scratch."
"I see…"
"You can bite down on this leather belt, though."
"Why do you have that?!"
"I borrowed it from Recovery Girl's supply cabinet."
All Might gave Taka a baffled look.
Then, without a word, he put it between his teeth and bit down.
"Very well—let's begin, Takahashi." Nezu said, seeing that everything was ready.
Taka nodded silently, and the flames in his hand intensified in the same motion.
Then he placed his engulfed hand over All Might's scar.
From it, the flames spread and washed over All Might entirely.
"It doesn't burn?" The hero murmured through the belt, staring at the green fire now covering him.
Taka smiled wryly. "The energy itself is actually invisible. I'm only giving it a color for dramatic effect."
As he said that, the flames shifted to an orange-red—looking for all the world like actual fire.
Yet All Might felt not the slightest heat.
He gave Taka a baffled look.
'Dramatic effect, seriously?'
Taka shrugged.
Since he was already outed, he might as well be a little honest.
"Well—enough about me. Bite down hard."
"Ye—"
His agreement was cut off as a sudden rush of warmth flooded through him.
Like a heatstroke arriving all at once—instantly hot, then cold, leaving him drenched in sweat before he could process it.
It didn't hurt, but it was deeply uncomfortable.
And uncomfortable would have been perfectly fine, because what came next was far worse.
"Hngh!" A groan tore from him as heat began building in his innards. His lungs, his ribs, his muscles—all of it burning.
It was as if an inferno had ignited directly inside his chest.
Taka's brow furrowed at the sight of All Might's face contorting in pain.
But before he could even consider whether the healing was having adverse effects, Nezu's voice cut through.
"All Might's cells have gone into overdrive—thousands of new cells per second across the tissue"
"Don't worry kid. The pain he is feeling is all the heat of his own body repairing." Recovery Girl added, her eyes moving rapidly between All Might and the monitor, where cell division was happening at blinding speed. "Mitosis at that volume and speed releases an enormous amount of thermal energy. Your energy itself may be heatless—but the conversion into cellular activity is generating the heat from within. All Might's body can't thermoregulate fast enough to compensate. However, conversely, even though it's burning him, it's also healing him even faster."
They didn't even need the screen to verify it. The jagged purple scar stretching from All Might's left ribcage across his chest was visibly fading—and in its place, steam was rising from his skin in steady waves.
"You alright, All Might?" Nezu asked.
All Might gave a rapid nod.
He had endured considerably worse. This hurt, but it was bearable.
So instead of focusing on himself, his eyes drifted to Takahashi—standing beside him with eyes closed and hand still pressed over him, channeling the energy.
There was a frown on the kid's face.
And no wonder.
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
[STATUS PAGE]
▸ Strength: 183
▸ Defense: 366
▸ Aura Projection: 124,343 → 112,223
─────────────
Total Aura: 124,526 → 112,223 (90%)
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
Just a few seconds in, and he'd already burned through nearly 10% of his total aura.
He checked the monitor. Aside from some superficial damage having cleared up, the deeper injuries—the respiratory system, the missing stomach—remained untouched.
'H-how is it costing this much already?!' He questioned, outraged.
Fortunately, Recovery Girl's voice cut in before his panic could go anywhere, apparently having taken note of Taka's less than ideal expression.
"Is the energy flow too high, kid?" She said, watching the monitor closely. "Well, I suppose it's to be expected somewhat. All Might's body spent years compensating for the missing tissue—surrounding organs shifted, the musculature restructured, everything rearranged to accommodate the absence. Before it can accept a new stomach, the body first has to undo all of that—reverting itself to its original pre-injury configuration. That's essentially two healing processes for the price of one. So it ought to be pretty taxing."
'Of course.' Taka groaned internally, but held the output steady.
Before hosting a proper respiratory system and a stomach again, the body had to roll back everything it had quietly changed over the years to cope without them.
Muscles, tendons, bones, arteries—the whole internal architecture was being remodeled back to what it once was.
And with it, the aura kept draining.
By the one-minute mark, 70% remained.
"The body has finished reverting." Recovery Girl announced the moment it reached that number.
However, following that, the rate of drain suddenly accelerated enormously, making the two spectators, Nezu and Recovery Girl, stare harder at the screen.
60%
But in turn to the preoccupying boost in energy being spent, the tears and damage along the lungs and diaphragm began closing, rebuilding into perfectly functioning tissue.
50%
The cracks and missing sections of the ribcage grew back, filling in solid.
40%
The scar on the left side of his chest faded entirely.
30%
And then came the last part.
The void in his body—the space that had formed as everything rearranged itself around the absence—suddenly stopped being empty.
A small mass of living muscle appeared where there had been nothing.
It grew. It sent tendrils out into the surrounding tissue, finding its connections.
20%
Soon it had integrated. Then the overall shape continued expanding, growing into its proper size.
Until—
10%
At last—
5%
It was done.
A new stomach was born. One that was connected to All Might so seamlessly, it appeared to have always been there.
And with it—the healing process was over.
—Tsssssss…!—
The moment the treatment ended, All Might's body expelled vapor as if he were a machine venting steam—the heat radiating off him palpable from several steps away. The room had become a sauna.
Taka stepped back, pulling in a deep breath.
His eyes moved to his status screen, wincing at the sight.
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
[STATUS PAGE]
▸ Strength: 183
▸ Defense: 366
▸ Aura Projection: 124,343 → 5,380
─────────────
Total Aura: 124,526 → 5,380 (4%)
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
96% aura, used in just a matter of minutes.
He'd never burned through that much in such a short window. It left him dizzy.
Slowly, he pulled his gaze from the screen and looked at the room around him—thick with vapor, the far wall barely visible through it.
'Did it work?'
With what aura he had left, he opened the curtains, then the window, and siphoned the vapor outward in a steady stream.
Until, at last, the room cleared—now lit softly by the last of the setting sun.
-Screech-
As soon as sight was returned to everyone, the bed of the patient groaned as the figure lying in it began to move—slowly at first, then with increasing certainty.
-Tap-
The figure sat up. Then stood, his wet feet echoing in the silent room as the figure rose tall, letting the light fall over it.
There stood All Might.
Not in his muscular form. No.
But he wasn't a skeleton anymore.
It was a healthy-looking All Might, staring at his own open hands and stomach with wide, stunned eyes.
Then he looked up.
And the smile of the symbol of hope returned.
"I AM—Cured."
...
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-To Be Continued...-
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(A/N: Pretty epic, if I say so myself.)