Time: 2 months after the transfer (2 months remaining until the U.A. exam)
POV: Toshinori Yagi (All Might)
Being the Symbol of Peace is a lonely job.
It means standing at the top of a mountain, holding up the sky so no one else has to fear it falling. You have no partners, only admirers. You have no family, only people you protect.
Or so I thought.
"Yagi-san! Watch your head!"
I ducked instinctively just as a military boot whizzed millimeters past my blond bangs.
Toga Himiko landed on the picnic table in the municipal park, laughing like a hyena, while young Bakugou flew past her, propelled by controlled explosions.
"Get back here, you damn parasite!" roared young Bakugou. "That was my isotonic drink!"
"It's mine now! Leader tax!" she squealed, leaping into a tree with gravity-defying agility.
I sighed, sitting on the bench and pulling out my handkerchief to wipe a speck of blood (mine) from the corner of my mouth.
I had been "training" young Midoriya for eight weeks.
Or, to be more precise, I had spent two months attending young Bakugou's masterclass on "How to turn three dysfunctional teenagers into a military unit."
I looked toward the shoreline.
There was my successor.
Young Midoriya was in a horse stance, eyes closed. His skin flashed intermittently with red lines that appeared and disappeared like veins of lava.
He wasn't trying to break anything. He was trying to exist without breaking.
"Energy mesh... 8%... constant flow..." he muttered, with that terrifying intensity he inherited from his hero obsession.
I smiled.
I never imagined retirement would look like this: surrounded by shouting, explosions, and the smell of ozone and teenage sweat.
And, honestly... I had never felt so alive.
Month 1: The Blood Sommelier
Training isn't just physical. Bakugou made that clear to me in the second week.
We were in the Bakugou garage, which they had converted into a high-tech gym that would put some professional agencies to shame.
"Hey, Skeleton," Bakugou called out to me. He still didn't use my name, and strangely, I was starting to like it. "Stop looking at Deku like he's made of porcelain and help me with logistics."
He tossed me a cardboard box.
"What is this?"
"Supplies. Toga needs fuel. If she's going to keep up with us when Deku activates One For All, she needs to be doped up to her eyebrows."
I watched the scene with a mix of fascination and horror.
Young Toga was sitting on a weight bench, swinging her legs. Bakugou pulled several flexible plastic pouches from a cooler, looking like fruit puree or energy drink pouches for kids, but filled with a dark crimson liquid.
"Weekly ration," Bakugou said, tossing her one. "They're labeled. Don't drink them all at once or you'll get tachycardia."
Toga caught the pouch in mid-air, eyes shining.
"Ooooh! New packaging!" She read the label with a theatrical voice. "'NITRO-B+. PROPERTY OF KATSUKI. DO NOT SHAKE'... How thoughtful you are, Katsuki-kun!"
She uncapped the pouch and drank directly from the spout, closing her eyes like an expert wine taster.
"Mmm..." she clicked her tongue. "Spicy. Tastes like gunpowder, excessive ego, and... jalapeño peppers?"
"I had curry for dinner yesterday, shut up and drink," Bakugou grunted, reviewing some blueprints at his desk.
"And this one?" Toga grabbed another pouch, marked with green tape. "'DEKU O-NEGATIVE / IRON SUPPLEMENT'."
Midoriya, who was doing one-armed pushups in the corner, lifted his head, blushing slightly.
"Kacchan insisted we calculate your necessary caloric intake for the exam. So... well, I donated a little."
Toga opened Midoriya's pouch and took a long sip.
Suddenly, her eyes flew wide open. She shivered, and her blond hair stood on end slightly, as if she had touched a live wire.
"Woah!" she exclaimed, looking at the pouch with reverence. "It bubbles on the tongue!"
"Bubbles?" I asked, approaching with scientific curiosity.
"It tastes like... static electricity," Toga described, licking her lips. "And broccoli. But mostly electricity. It's like licking a 9-volt battery."
"It's One For All," Bakugou said without looking up. "His blood is charged with accumulated energy, even at rest. Hey, vampire, listen closely: if you transform into Deku using that blood, you'll probably feel the recoil of the power. Don't try to use a Smash or you'll blow your arm off. Use it only for mobility or camouflage."
"Understood, boss!" Toga hugged the pouches to her chest. "You guys are my favorite juice dispensers!"
"Please don't call us that outside this garage..." Midoriya pleaded, hiding his face in the mat.
I stood there, observing them.
In any other context, this would be macabre. A potential villain drinking students' blood. But here... here it was simply lunch time. Bakugou had taken something dark and systematized it, made it normal and safe.
He had taken care of her.
Month 1 (End): Body Engineers
By the end of the first month, I realized my biggest failure as a teacher: I taught from instinct, Bakugou taught from mechanics.
We were back at the beach.
"Again!" Bakugou shouted.
Midoriya was trying to jump from one rock to another using Full Cowl.
"Y-yes!"
Green lightning coursed through his body. He jumped.
But he applied too much force in his right ankle and too little in his left. He shot off in a spiral, spinning uncontrollably, and landed face-first in the sand.
"Ouch!"
I moved to run and help him, but Bakugou stopped me with an arm.
"Leave him. He has to understand the ratio."
Bakugou walked over to Midoriya, who was spitting out sand.
"Do you know why you failed?"
"Because I didn't clench my butt cheeks?" Midoriya asked, glancing at me sideways with a shy smile.
"Shut up, nerd," Bakugou gave him a soft knock on the head. "You failed because you activated 8% in your calves but only 2% in your abdominal core. Your lower body was faster than your upper body and you lost the axis."
Bakugou crouched down and poked Midoriya's abs.
"One For All isn't an engine you put in your legs. It's hydraulic fluid. You have to pressurize the center (the abdomen) before moving the limbs. If the center is loose, the energy disperses and you turn into a spinning rag."
"Pressurize the center..." Midoriya nodded, eyes shining with analytical understanding. "Like a soda bottle before shaking it!"
"Exactly. Now, try again. Keep 5% constant throughout the body, and spike to 8% in the legs only for the millisecond of impact."
Midoriya tried it.
He took a deep breath. Tensed his abdomen. Green lightning.
He jumped.
This time, he didn't spin. He shot out like a cannonball, crossed the ten-meter gap, and landed on the other rock. He wobbled a bit, but stayed standing.
"I did it!" he shouted, raising his arms.
"Dirty landing!" Bakugou criticized, though I saw a small smile on his face. "But better!"
I was amazed.
I had told him "feel it." Bakugou told him "pressurize the center."
I had given him the power, but Bakugou was giving him the instruction manual.
Month 2 (Mid): Healing Bonds
The training was brutal, but the breaks were where I really saw the magic.
One Tuesday afternoon, after an exhausting session, I took them for burgers.
I was in my skeletal form, eating a small salad, while they devoured mountains of fast food.
"So..." I said, wiping my mouth. "We've passed the adaptation phase. How do you feel?"
"I feel strong," Bakugou said, biting into a double burger with jalapeños. "But Deku is still slow on directional changes."
"I'm working on it, Kacchan," Midoriya laughed. He had two burgers on his tray. One For All burned calories like an industrial furnace. "But at least I don't break my fingers when I write anymore."
"And I passed math," Toga said with her mouth full of fries. "Izuku taught me to count using liters of imaginary blood. He's the best teacher."
I noticed how Toga leaned a little closer to Midoriya upon hearing the praise, and how Bakugou passed his pickles to Toga without asking.
"Kids..." I began, feeling the need to say something solemn. "I want you to know that... seeing you like this... gives me hope. For years, I thought the successor had to be someone solitary. Someone like me."
I looked at my skeletal hand.
"But seeing you... a team. Taking care of each other, sharing the burden... makes me realize that perhaps my way wasn't the only way. Perhaps it was the wrong way."
Silence fell over the table.
Midoriya put down his burger.
"It wasn't the wrong way, All Might," he said firmly. "It was the necessary way for that time. You built peace with your own hands."
"But now it's our turn to maintain it," Bakugou interrupted. He looked me in the eye, with that adult seriousness that sometimes threw me off. "And we're not going to make the mistake of carrying the world alone."
I felt my eyes sting. Damn it, I was becoming a sentimental old man.
Month 2 (End): Phase 1 Exam
On the last day of the second month, Bakugou organized a mock battle to close this stage.
"Two against one," he announced on the beach. "Deku and Toga against me. I want to see if you can touch me."
I sat on the seawall to referee.
The sun was setting, bathing the junk-filled beach in liquid gold.
"BEGIN!"
Bakugou didn't wait. He took off with his explosions, flying low and fast.
"Stun Grenade!"
A flash of light blinded the area.
But Midoriya didn't need to see.
"Toga, right! Ground level!"
"Got it!"
Toga slid across the sand like a snake, dodging the initial explosion. Bakugou spun in the air to dodge her, but that was what Midoriya expected.
"One For All: Full Cowl - 8%!"
Green lightning illuminated the twilight.
Midoriya jumped, using a pile of scrap metal as a springboard, and appeared behind Bakugou.
"Got you, Kacchan!"
Midoriya threw a roundhouse kick.
Bakugou reacted with inhuman reflexes. He used a massive explosion with his left hand to brake his inertia and block the kick.
BOOM!
Both were thrown backward.
Bakugou landed on his feet. Midoriya on all fours.
"Not bad, nerd!" Bakugou shouted. "But you forgot the vampire!"
"Eh?"
Suddenly, Bakugou felt something on his back.
Toga was there, having moved in the chaos of the explosion. She held a rubber knife to Bakugou's neck.
"Dead," she whispered.
Bakugou let out a wild laugh.
"Hahaha! Damn it! You used Deku as bait!"
"It was Izu-kun's idea," Toga said. "He knew you would focus on his new power."
I stood up from the wall and applauded slowly.
They have evolved. In just two months, young Midoriya uses 8% as a tactical tool, not a suicidal cannon. Young Bakugou has learned to trust the challenge. And young Toga has found her place as the lethal shadow of the team.
I walked down to the sand.
"Enough," I said, smiling. "Phase 1 is complete. You have the foundation."
The three of them looked at me, dirty, sweaty, and tired, but with vibrant energy.
"Phase 1?" Midoriya asked, wiping off sweat. "What's next, All Might?"
I looked at the calendar on my phone.
There were exactly two months left until the U.A. entrance exam.
Two months to polish the diamond.
"Next is the real challenge," I said, and my smile widened. "You have learned not to break. Now... you have to learn to really fight. Get ready, Delta Squad. Phase 2 begins tomorrow."