Chapter Text
Kotaro Shimura was dead.
Had been dead for quite some time, and Toshinori hadn't known. The man who had once been a little brother to him, along with Kotaro's children (Nana's grandchildren) had all been murdered; The police reports painted a grizzly picture of the bodies almost looking like they had gone through a wood chipper. An unsolved villain attack, the police had concluded.
All Might hadn't been there.
Tsukauchi was kinder than Toshinori deserved as he went over the case with him, telling him that likely no one suffered-- killed instantly by what was likely some sort of cleaving or dismantling quirk, oh god-- but it did little to ease the horror that settled where his stomach had once been.
(This, the slaughter of the Shimura family, had happened when he had still been alive. Back when All Might still had a stomach, was without excuses)
It explained why Little Shimura had a social worker, at least.
The police reports didn't mention any survivors, and there was no record of anyone by the name of Izuku Shimura in the foster system, quirk registry, or the police database. After surviving a villain attack like that, the child had likely been put into a witness protection of sort. Which made sense, All for One hadn't found Little Shimura for a reason.
Unfortunately, the layers of protection that had kept the boy out of reach from the world's greatest villain were now keeping him properly hidden away from The Symbol of Peace. Even days later, days searching later, there was no sign of Little Shimura; Days later, Toshinori truly began to fear that he had let his only chance to reconnect with Little Shimura slip through his fingers when he handed back that phone.
When All Might ran out of time and Toshinori had no choice but to watch the boy fly away.
After another long day of finding nothing, Toshinori got in his truck and started to drive home, exhausted. Exhausted, but still hopeful-- maybe foolishly so, but hopeful nonetheless.
There was one clue he held onto, resolutely: Izuku Shimura wanted to be a hero. And everyone hero-hopeful on Japan had eyes on one school in particular.
Maybe it was time to finally use his influence as All Might to his advantage and call in a favor from an old friend.
Training to be a hero with a quirk like Izuku's was hard; with so many laws around public quirk use, he was entirely limited to the confines of whatever home he currently lived in. It didn't help that, if anyone were to find out what his quirk actually was, his very life could be in danger.
Though for the most part, quirk training was out of the question, hand-to-hand combat on the other hand? Completely doable. The local bullies at Aldera Middle school of course were always ready and more than happy to help Izuku out.
If 'help him out' meant 'Izuku got in the way of them shaking down a younger kid for lunch money', that is.
All Might would be teaching at UA, come the next school year.
It was a big commitment, Toshinori knew, but if his gamble paid off then it would be worth it. Really, he couldn't think of many things that wouldn't be worth seeing Little Shimura's smile again.
(In being able to apologize for not protecting him)
With access to the applicant files, it would just be a waiting game until Izuku Shimura's was sent in, likely under an alias the police gave him when he was put in the system. It was no matter, as Toshinori would recognize his face anywhere, being so much like Nana's.
All he could do now was wait.
Izuku should have realized something was up, when he first came home that night.
His current foster parents, a couple named the Hayashi's, were quieter than usual. Barely glancing at him at dinner, barely said a word before he and the other children went to bed.
Really, Izuku shouldn't have been shocked to find Ms Midoriya outside their door the next morning. Her black car not far behind.
Inko Midoriya was a nice woman. Izuku knew he was lucky to have someone like her as his social worker, someone who cared, but still he hated seeing her. Hate this. Hated what he knew almost always happened when she came by.
"Pack my things right?" He asked, before his foster mom and Ms Midoriya could even exchange pleasantries, though she nodded all the same. Biting his lip, Izuku turned around and quickly made his way to his room.
What had it been this time? Had she found out about the villain in the tunnel, about All Might knowing? Or, had it been his application to UA and Shiketsu that had done it?
Ignoring the other kids, Izuku went back to his room and grabbed his bags out from under his bed. Hopefully it was the former, he didn't want to argue with her about this again. Didn't want Ms Midoriya to actually find a way to prevent him from going. Izuku wasn't sure he could bear it.
They got in Ms Midoriya's car, and after a few moments of silence, she sighed.
"A relative reached out."
Izuku's head snapped to her, though Midoriya's eyes were firmly on the road, an emotion he could decipher on her face.
"His name is Toshinori Yagi, he's a well off single older man with no other children. They told me he's your uncle."
"But-- How is that possible?"
No one knew who he really was except her.
"I don't know, but CPS are thrilled to potentially reunite you with your family. They seem pretty sure that Mr Yagi is who he says he is."
No one knows, except one other person.
"I don't think I have to tell you that you need to be careful." Her hands tightened on the stirring wheel, her eyes tearing up. "If anything seems off, you call me, understand?"
"Yes, ma'am." Izuku felt dizzy, looking away. "Do you know anything else about him? What-- what does he do for a living?"
She hesitated, biting her lip. "You won't take this seriously if you know."
Ms Midoriya must have seen the look Izuku threw her, since she sighed.
"He works as a secretary at Might Tower." Was what she said.
Was all she needed to say, really. Ms Midoriya said more, of course, about how the man had a place in Musufatsu so Izuku wasn't going to be forced to move to Tokyo or anything-- but that was all sort of second-class information wasn't it?
All Might was the one behind this, someway somehow. Which meant All Might knew who his grandmother had been.
Izuku leaned back in his seat, trying to hide his smirk. Even if this Toshinori Yagi wasn't really his family, he might just be the key to Izuku learning more about them.