AN: Hey all, it's me again!

This is a little idea I've had floating around for a loooong while. I'm glad I finally got it out! (Jeebus it's long.)

Jirou had a habit of using her quirk in class.

Some of of the stuff she heard was funny, like that one guy in Class B calling Bakugou a war criminal. Other parts were boring, like regular the regular gossip floating around the gen-ed department. And then there were things she wished she could unhear (let's just say she'd be avoiding the 3rd year bathrooms from now on whenever she could help it).

She wasn't supposed to eavesdrop, obviously; but the normal classes they had in the morning were just so boring. Listening to whatever else was going on everywhere in the school besides in Class A was her own personal way of slacking off. It didn't help that it was infinitely more interesting than the English she was supposed to be learning right now. Shouji sat in front of her and he was huge, so it's not like the teacher (Present Mic, in this case) would notice anyway.

But lately, certain phrases caught her attention in particular.

"You need to rest."

"You shouldn't push yourself so much."

"The time you can use quirk is only shortening."

"It's going to kill you if you keep this up."

She'd been catching snippets of conversations from the nurse's office, the principal's office, and the break room more than the other areas these last few weeks. All Might would talk with Recovery Girl. The principal would talk with All Might. Other teachers would talk about All Might (occasionally; gossip and small talk were the most common.) She didn't know the whole story, but it sounded like something was wrong with All Might. Really wrong. Like he had some kind of disease or injury that dealt some serious damage that he was keeping from pretty much everyone who wasn't already in the know.

It was weird how literally no one outside U.A. knew about this. All Might was the 'Symbol of Peace', the most popular hero. She put a little too much effort into investigating All Might's situation in newspapers and the net, even though it would be something that would all over the front pages and message boards; But there wasn't anything. She even glanced at one of those trashy tabloids Kaminari occasionally mentioned: There was always an article or two on All Might (for obvious reasons), but even they were only about things like potential romantic relationships and gay aliens. No disease. No injury. No mention of him getting weaker at all.

But how the heck had he managed to keep it a secret for so long? It was obvious why he would want to; but as mentioned before, he was the most popular hero. Everyone's eyes were always on him. There were reporters wherever he went. And yet no one had no one had noticed anything was different about him. Yeah, no one was actively looking for problems with him; and even Jirou herself hadn't noticed anything until she'd actually started paying attention; and even then it was subtle, but-

A light tap of Morse code broke her train of thought.

Yo Jirou. What'cha thinkin' 'bout?

Great. Thanks Kaminari.

She and Kaminari had worked out a system after what had happened at USJ: Kaminari would out tap out a message lightly enough that only she could hear it, and she'd direct small puffs of sound at him in reply. 'Like a miniaturized concentrated version of ventriloquism' was how she'd described it the first time she explained it to him, even if it wasn't the most apt description.

It would really help if he'd quit it with the slang and shortenings, though; but nooooo, he had to be Mr. 'I tap it out how I think it because I'm a stubborn asshole and I gotta use all those apostrophes because god-knows-why.' But at least she could parse it. And it could work as an extra layer of security if they ever needed it.

It helped that they sat right next to one another: They could easily contact one another without making any weird and suspicious maneuvers (including looking anywhere besides the chalkboard or their notebooks – the latter for both being significantly more emptier than they should be), or having to worry about someone else listening in or hearing it (and they realized early on that even Present Mic didn't notice with his sound-based quirk, so they knew they were pretty safe from anyone else catching on). It'd be a lot trickier if they were on opposite sides of the classroom. Hopefully there would never be a reason that they would have to rearrange the seating order. She liked how things were right now.

To clarify: The two of them weren't 'thick as thieves' or anything like that – it's just that they both had a tendency to slack off and got along reasonably well-enough to help each other do just that. And by sheer coincidence, they both knew Morse: Jirou learned it from her parents – they worked a lot with telegraphs and radios. Kaminari just read a book on in one day and remembered it. Lucky bastard.

But she did appreciate it. People who could still use it nowadays were few and far in-between – even fewer if you narrowed it down to people her own age. And you never know when having a near-secret way of communicating with someone could come in handy. Knock on wood.

Moving on: She wasn't sure why he was talking to her; but if she had to venture a guess, it was probably just that she had a bad case of "resting bitch face" going on and he wanted to know what she heard this time. It was pretty much confirmed with what he tapped out next.

Snooping around U.A. During class again? Oo, naughty.

"Shut up. You're just as bored as I am." And he was all too eager to bug her for gossip if it looked like she had any.

Kaminari shrugged. He couldn't argue with that.

So what's up?

" I think All Might-sensei's sick." Jirou made a point to sound completely casual as if it wasn't important at all, but Kaminari turned his head to look at her, and his lazy gaze became a lot more focused as she spoke. He perked up – not in shocked or serious way; just with an aura of cautiously-concerned curiosity.

...With what?

"Not sure"

So is it bad? You've had your resting bitch face going on for awhile now.

"Well he's still teaching. And they're not talking about retirement. But it sounds really serious."

So should we, like, get him a card or something?

Jirou glared at him.

"Don't tell anyone else, okay? It sounds like it's supposed to be kept a secret."

Kaminari gave her a grin and a covert thumbs up.

That's really weird, but all right. You got it!

Well... that was easy. She had fully expected him to start a mini quarrel right then and there, where they would both have to use everything they had to look like they were still paying attention to the teacher and not having a heated argument. At least she didn't have to expend that extra energy. But just to be sure...

"I mean it."

He nodded and looked back at the chalkboard, and so was the end of their conversation.

Sure enough, she came in the next day and the whole class was talking about it.

"Oh, there you are, Jirou!" Sero was the first to notice her. "Over here!" He waved at her to come sit in the semi-quasi-circle of chairs the most talkative of the class theorists (that had gotten to class before her, at least) had formed. A few of them were genuinely worried, but mostly everyone was just trying to figure out what was wrong. It wasn't every day you'd hear about something like All Might being really sick of all people.

She quickly shot a glare at the culprit, who returned the look with a sheepish smile and a shrug that she didn't even need the corresponding Morse code to know said 'Sorry dude, it just slipped out.' Man, for a guy who could read all sorts of smart mumbo jumbo and get it, he could sure be an idiot.

"Jirou-kun, you were the one to hear about All Might-sensei's illness, correct?" Iida was the first one to start asking questions. "Could you please tell us what the problem is?"

"Yeah," Satou added in. "What's up?"

Jirou sighed. She could try and worm her way out of this, but it was like 10 vs. 1 and Kaminari probably relayed everything she told him with added embellishment. It wasn't practical to waste everyone's time when they were just gonna keep bugging her about it anyway. Especially when there was only so much time left until Aizawa-sensei would come in to teach homeroom. After that, there wouldn't be enough to safely get in any real depth until lunch.

"Alright, here's what I know."

The interested leaned in a bit too close for comfort as she continued. "All Might-sensei's health hasn't been too good lately, and it's starting to affect his strength."

There were a few small, scattered gasps from her more excitable classmates. A small twinge of anxiety caused most of their heart rates to increase, though by only a few bpm. The only exception was Midoriya, who sounded like he was having a full-on adrenaline rush. Well, he was a huge fanboy. At least he wasn't having a panic attack.

Kirishima nodded. "Yeah," He leaned a little. "That hands guy back at USJ said something like that. How he was 'supposed to have gotten weaker.'"

"Yeah. And even All Might-sensei said it took way more hits to beat that Noumu than it would've in his prime," Asui added.

"Are we sure he's not just getting old?" Aoyama had a point (blunt as it was), but for all that Jirou had heard, it couldn't just just be that. How old even was All Might, anyway?

Mineta interjected. "The teachers wouldn't be talking if it was just that, would they?" Teachers? Jirou hadn't mentioned anything like that to Kaminari; he probably just assumed that they were who she heard it from and told everyone as such. Or he knew the trouble it would cause if everyone knew that she could hear everything that was happening on campus if she really wanted to.

Whichever it was, Jirou continued without correcting him. "He's been going to the nurse's office a lot too."

"So he's sick? What kind of disease would last long enough for the Villain Alliance to use it as intel?" Ojiro scratched his chin, probably trying to think a sickness that could do that, but still function as well as he did. Jirou wondered the same thing at first too, honestly.

"Not sure, but it sounds serious." Well... she did have somewhat of an idea. All Might had an old wound on his torso. And he had been getting steadily weaker over the course of the school year. But she didn't know if that was the root cause (or if it was the only one, for that matter), so she couldn't make a final verdict. That meant she wasn't lying unless one counts when it's by omission, right?

There were a few murmurs here and there. Asui deflated with a sad ribbit. Aoyama mumbled to himself as if he was acting like knew as much as Jirou did. Bakugou grumbled to no one in particular that it's a waste of time to worry about things like this. Mineta fretted about the possibility of it being a contagious disease. Midoriya gave a small sigh of relief of all things. Everyone was reacting in their own way, but it was clear that they all cared to some extent.

"It's nothing that they're going to make him retire for, though," Jirou tacked that on to make the others feel better. She should've told everyone to keep it on the down low after that. Just to be safe.

But Hagakure spoke up. And everyone else shut up. She had an idea.

"We should do something for him!"

A few of the others perked up. Jirou mentally facepalmed.

"I agree." Iida concurred. "As his students, we should show him support as he recovers."

Midoriya piped up right after her.

"Um... Well... It's a secret, right...? Shouldn't we leave it be until he tells us himself?" Well that was the last person Jirou expected that kind of argument out of (though she appreciated it). While he didn't exactly shout it from the rooftops or let it dominate every conversation he had, it was obvious to anyone with half a brain that he was All Might's number one fanboy in the whole school. If anyone was going to suggest something like this, shouldn't it have been him? Though come to think of it he'd been acting weird this entire conversation (compared to everyone else, at least).

Kirishima was the next one to talk.

"Nah, man! He'll love it."

"So what should we do? Get him a card?" Uraraka had the same idea as Kaminari did.

"We should throw a get-well-soon party!" Hagakure flailed her arms excitedly.

"It's not like he's going to the hospital or anything," Asui pointed out.

"Yeah," Sero nodded. "That seems a little overkill."

"C'mooon. Don't be a party pooper!" Ashido whined. "It'll be fun!"

And so, everyone who was invested in it squabbled amongst themselves about what to do until Aizawa-sensei showed up to start homeroom.

But for all their discussion and talk of doing something big and flashy, they just went with Uraraka (and Kaminari)'s idea of getting All Might a card and made sure everyone signed it. The plan was to give it to him on Friday after their last class with him. Jirou still didn't think this was a good idea, but she kept her mouth shut and went along with it. She could tell no one would listen at this point, anyway.

They were out on the training grounds after the end of their afternoon training. School was almost over for the day. All Might was just about done evaluating everyone's performances. The afternoon breeze was chilly. Everyone was antsy and twiddling their thumbs, but for a different reason than he was probably thinking. All their eyes were unconsciously fixed on a certain invisible girl.

This was Hagakure's idea, so she was the one designated to give the card to All Might. Said card was in her hands behind her. Yaoyorozu had made a small pouch to carry it in. Jirou carried it under her clothes through the afternoon – everyone agreed that she was the best choice for keeping it undamaged while still being concealed (an envelope wasn't enough to protect it from most of the quirks in class, and most of the people who could carry it safely didn't have costumes that could hide it inconspicuously). She handed it off to Hagakure right after training ended. It wasn't hard when everyone was bunched up in a group.

Hagakure took a step forward right before they were about to be dismissed.

"Sensei! Sensei!" She called over to All Might, and brought the card out from behind her back. Her voice didn't reflect her heartbeat. It sounded way too cheery.

"Yes, Hagakure, my girl?" All Might was none the wiser.

"We got this for you!" She walked up to him and held out the card in front of her.

"Well, then I can't possibly say no!" All Might matched her enthusiasm gingerly took the envelope, opened it with care, and began reading. Jirou braced herself for impact.

"It says..."

The whole class burst out in harmony.

"Get well soon, All Might-sensei!"

That surprised him. The smile never left his face, but for a split second, he directed an almost puzzled look at Midoriya. And contrary to either expression, his heart sounded like it was about to burst out his chest. A few beads of sweat rolled down his neck.

Shit. This WAS a bad idea.

But All Might didn't lose his composure.

"Thank you everyone!" In fact, he heartbeat calmed down just as fast as it had jumped. He beamed. "I'm happy to know that you all wish me well!"

He closed the card and slid it back in the envelope. His hands moved to his hips.

"But while I amgrateful for your well-wishes, I do wonder how you all managed to learn that." All Might's voice stayed steady, but everyone else started looking at each other as if unsure what to do. His phrasing made it sound like someone was going to get in trouble. A few of them nervously shuffled their feet in the dirt. One by one, everyone's glances moved away from All Might and stopped on Jirou herself.

But rather than waste everyone's time waiting for someone else to speak, she stepped forward and did it herself.

"They heard it from me, sir." She'd be lying if she said she wasn't anxious, but drawing this out would only make it worse. "I overheard some teachers talking about it." It wasn't a lie if she was telling them half the truth, even if they heard it from Kaminari in the first place. All Might was a teacher. Recovery Girl was a nurse, but she could teach them a few things easy. "They said it was really serious."

Kaminari stepped forward too and stood proud, pointing a thumb to his chest and completely ignoring the mood. "And I got everyone together to do something." Jirou couldn't tell if he was covering for her or just bragging, but she appreciated the attention being taken off her regardless.

"No you didn't! It was Hagakure's idea!" Sero interjected.

"Yeah, Kaminari!" Ashido was the next one to pipe in. "Give credit where it's due!"

A few more of them jumped into the squabble. Their voices weren't raised, but they were they were starting to take sides. Jirou stayed out of it – she was happy to stay on the sidelines here. Changing the subject meant that All Might might be too distracted to ask just who she heard it from.

"Now now, everyone. Let's not fight."

Everyone shut up the second All Might began talking again. "What's important is that you all worked together and reached this goal you set for yourselves."

He continued, smile still plastered to his face. "But while I have been feeling a tad under the weather, it's nothing that'll prevent me from continuing to teach you all." Everyone would've probably sighed with relief had Jirou not told them that before. "There's no need to worry yourselves."

"Oh- look at the time!" He looked at his watch and began to head back over to the nearest school doors. "I have to get going now. See you all tomorrow!"

And with that, class was over for the day. Some of her classmates continued to chatter amongst themselves. Some went back to the classroom, being on cleaning duty. The atmosphere was one of begrudging acceptance: Most everyone wanted to know more, but they knew they weren't going to get any more out of All Might than they already had. It wasn't hard to see how disappointed they were.

But at least it ended well.

She tracked All Might exclusively the next day. All the other noises littering the school could wait. Kaminari wasn't too happy about that (though all she told him was that she wasn't going to trawl for gossip like usual). He guessed she was going to look more into All Might's sickness. She told him he could deal with not hearing about whatever rumors were going around for one day. He just pouted at that, but at least he was quiet. At least that way Jirou could scout in peace.

It wasn't hard to tell when All Might entered the building. Even when he walked at a normal speed, his steps fell heavy with an odd spring. He went to the restroom. She didn't track him in there – nothing she needed nor wanted to hear. Instead, she focused on the floor right outside the men's room for when he came back out.

What was weird wasn't that he came out in record time, but how his gait had changed. It was much slower and slightly off kilter. The spring was completely gone – he just dragged his feet instead. The only reason Jirou didn't immediately dismiss it as being someone else who just walked out was a strong gut feeling. She quickly checked the sounds in the bathroom (as much as she REALLY didn't want to): The only noise was that from the plumbing. There was no one else in there.

It was hard to imagine All Might ever having that kind of gait. He always came off as being the type of person with more energy than he knew what to do with. But as he walked down the hall, he sounded completely exhausted, even though it was early in the morning. It was a wonder he didn't collapse at some point on his way to the break room.

The day started. All Might didn't teach normal subjects like the rest of the teachers – he only taught the afternoon hero course, so it made sense that he stayed there typing away at his computer. Gait and voice aside, everything seemed totally normal. He wasn't his total boisterous self, but Jirou wouldn't expect even him to be spry 24/7. He saw the other teachers every day and wasn't teaching or saving them; it made sense that he'd calm down when not teaching or saving anyone.

By the time it was halfway through the last period before lunch, she was ready to just call it quits. Listening to computer typing and boring mid-morning conversations weren't a very good use of her abilities. She was about ready to just take a nap. Even the stuff the teacher was putting on the chalkboard was more interesting that this.

But then he got up and went to the nurse's office.

It sounded like a regular check up at first. Weight and height, blood pressure, a shot of... something? They didn't really say anything beyond Recovery Girl asking a few questions about his habits and All Might responding. They did this pretty often (from what Jirou had heard). But the mood changed right after Recovery Girl finished inputting the data into the computer (at least, that's what Jirou thought she was doing). She rolled her chair back a little and her tone went from professional and friendly to grave.

"You'll be lucky if you make it to the boy's graduation day at this rate." She probably meant Midoriya. His name sometimes came up in these conversations, though it was usually about how he was managing his quirk. It was surprising he was still willing to use it despite it wrecking his body multiple times.

All Might sighed, like he'd heard this many times before. "I'll manage."

"I'm not exaggerating. You know your condition is deteriorating. It would go slower if you'd stop using your quirk so much." It was unnerving how nonchalantly Recovery Girl was talking about it. She was implying that All Might, the Symbol of Peace, was dying. It was almost like it was some kind of inappropriate inside joke Jirou wasn't in on, which she might have assumed had the tone of the conversation not been so dire.

"And you know why I can't do that." The edge on that sentence was enough to make Jirou want to flinch. All Might was the last person she wanted to hear that tone come from.

"You save others on your morning commute like most people get coffee. The city is highly-populated. There are other heroes are out on patrol. You can leave some of these cases to them."

"I do it when I'm the first one on the scene. I can't leave someone in trouble just because another hero might show up."

"And I respect that; but it doesn't change the fact that it's taking a toll on your body."

"..."

"The boy is going to be your successor, but it's going to be some time before he gets to that point. It can't be helped that you get weaker as he gets stronger, but your quirk isn't the only thing keeping you alive. You need to take better care of your body." Wait- WHAT? Successor?!

For a split second, Jirou's face contorted in confusion. It took everything she had not to stare back at Midoriya.

All Might responded. "I'm sticking to the diet you have me on, taking all my pills, and I'm getting more than enough sleep. What else should I do?"

Jirou's brief expression didn't get past Kaminari. He was tapping out morse code while All Might was talking. She didn't pay any attention to it. She told him to shut up as soon as All Might finished that last sentence. Kaminari just rolled his eyes in return.

Recovery Girl stated the obvious. "Stop overexerting yourself, for starters."

All Might groaned. Jirou was ready to do the same thing, though for an entirely different reason.

Recovery Girl continued.

"Even the kids can see something's wrong now."

"I still find it hard to believe, myself." All Might rapped his fingers against the side of his chair. Jirou didn't appreciate it.

"Little scamps, those students of yours. You'd think they'd have their hands full with school and training, among other things."

"What worries me is how young Jirou learned about it."

"...Kyouka Jirou?"

"That's the one. I believe she said she overheard some of our colleagues talking about it, though I don't know who."

"..."

"Why do you ask?"

"...It doesn't surprise me that a girl with a sound quirk would be able to overhear the private talks of other people."

"..."

"..."

They went silent. And Jirou was pretty sure she knew why.

Her concentration broke in a moment of panic. She didn't try and regain it.

She was an idiot. She was too careless. Now her teacher knew what she'd been doing. She didn't want to think of what was going to happen because of it. It wouldn't do any good. She tried to push the thoughts out by completely focusing on the blackboard.

She didn't do any more scouting for the rest of the day.

A few days later, it was as if the class had never given All Might the card in the first place. Everyone was back to to their usual conversations. No one was worried. No one bothered Jirou with anymore questions. She didn't ask any of her own. Everything was back to normal.

Jirou herself had gone back to scouting random areas of the school, avoiding the gradually-lessening feeling of impending doom gnawing at her. The nurse's office was strangely quiet ever since she heard that last conversation between All Might and Recovery Girl. Same with the principal's office and the break room. She briefly considered asking one of the teachers about it, but quickly struck that idea down. She hadn't been reprimanded yet. She'd best not push her luck. She knew too much as it was.

Kaminari (the only exception to the no-questions statement) asked her a few times if she'd heard 'anything else'. She knew he meant All Might's sickness (it wasn't hard to figure out); but she played dumb. She fed him gossip about the gen-ed Class 1-C instead. He always got a kick about whatever petty drama was going on, even if it wasn't what he wanted.

The clock struck twelve. It was lunchtime. Jirou was just about ready to head the cafeteria to get some food. She didn't bother making her lunch seeing as how the cafeteria food was so much better.

And then All Might burst through the classroom door.

He was holding a bento box wrapped in a cute little red bandanna. The contrast between it and it's owner got a laugh out of her. She'd seen it a few other times, but it never got old. He looked as jolly as ever. She vaguely wondered if he was here to see Midoriya again. He was the only one All Might ever dragged away for lunch – what with being his successor and all.

Well whatever, she had her own and she had to go to the cafeteria to get it. She put away her notebook and got out of her chair.

And then All Might made a beeline for her.

"Jirou, my girl! Let's have lunch together!"

Everyone stopped talking. She unconsciously shrank back.

Oh.

Great.

She'd been dreading it, but here he was. There was nothing she could do about it now.

She and Kaminari exchanged a quick glance. It seemed they were both thinking the same thing. Everyone that hadn't left already was staring at them. The classroom was dead silent. A pencil rolled off a desk and fell to the floor. The sound echoed through the room. The irony wasn't lost on her.

"Um... sure..."

"All right. Come along, then!" She followed All Might out the door. She could still feel the stares on her back as she left the room, but conversations started up again after she was out in the hall. Everything would be back to normal in a minute tops.

But what she couldn't help but notice was a whisper that came from Midoriya. A small whisper that only he should have been able to hear, but stood out to her among the ambient noise.

"Her too...?"

She sat on a small couch in the principal's office, opposite All Might, who sat on the other. The bento he gave her sat untouched on the coffee table in between them. She wasn't eating. She wasn't hungry.

The principal wasn't inside with them. All Might probably asked if he could have the room during the lunch hour. The sounds of the clock, the nearby AC vents, and her and All Might's heartbeat were the only sounds that clearly came to her before All Might himself spoke.

"Well, Jirou my girl, I'm sure you're wondering why I called you here today."

She was pretty sure she knew.

"It's about you're sickness, right?"

"Er- Well, I wasn't expecting you to guess that right off the bat, but yes." Sure he wasn't. But he continued anyway before she could say anything.

"Now, I'm not angry or anywhere close to it. But I must ask: What exactly did you hear?"

"What you and Recovery Girl have been talking about."

He flinched, but his smile didn't drop. She wasn't there when he arrived at USJ; but with how Kirishima described it, she'd have a lot more to worry about if it ever did.

"My earphone jacks," she twirled a lobe around her finger, "are able to pick up on sounds from pretty much anywhere on campus. I heard you and Recovery Girl talking about you getting weaker;

that you can only use your quirk for a certain amount of time, and that it's only getting shorter; that you need to rest more, something about an injury..." No pauses, no stuttering, but as she listed them, she could hear her teacher's heart begin to beat faster. She had to assure him before he got the wrong idea about what everyone else knew.

"I didn't tell anyone else about that stuff, though. Just that I overheard that you were sick."

All Might's heroic, steadfast demeanor broke for a split second to let out a sigh of relief.

"And I'm sure you're wondering why you can't get any sound from certain sections of the building, correct?" He was right, but he didn't give her a chance to confirm it before continuing. Or to let her point out how awkwardly he changed the subject. "While it's obviously against school policy to eavesdrop like that, you did expose a hole in our security. And for that, I thank you."

"Um... Your welcome?" Jirou was taken slightly aback at that. Gratitude was the last thing she expected.

"But as your teacher, I'm going to ask you not to snoop around the school anymore. We've temporarily soundproofed some areas for now while we decide on what to do about it, but we're leaving the rest of the school as-is so as not to disturb the students." So they did know was her quirk even without her explanation from before.

"Alright. I won't do it anymore..." She did feel remorse for it, and she meant it. But she couldn't help but feel a little nagging at the back of her head saying she wasn't going to last too long on that word. But she'd have to cross that bridge when she got there.

"Very good." All Might was satisfied with the answer regardless.

There was nothing else she could think of that All Might would have to lecture her on outside of class, and he didn't seem to have anything else to say as well; so she decided to ask him something that had been nagging at her for awhile now.

"Sensei, if I can ask-"

"Yes?"

"What about Midoriya?"

He blinked.

"...Pardon?"

She paused for a moment to build a little extra resolve. She knew she shouldn't ask right after he just told her not to snoop around anymore, but she wouldn't have another chance after this. Even if All Might shut her down, she'd have it out of her system. She wouldn't be left with it nagging at her.

"Going back to before: His name came up a lot during those conversations – like how he needs to learn to control his quirk better. And you looked at him when we gave you the card." Something kept her from spitting out the successor part. It seemed like something even the other teachers didn't know: Whenever they talked about him with All Might, it was like they only thought of him as a teacher's pet – like they didn't know that Recover Girl and All Might were talking about more than just health-related stuff.

She continued. "And on top of that, you talk with him a lot."

It wasn't exactly a well-kept secret that Midoriya met with All Might more than everyone else in Class A combined. But while it was pretty much never talked about anymore, the general consensus among the others was that since All Might and Midoriya pretty much had the same quirk, they were having separate tutoring sessions to help him control it. It didn't take a genius to realize he needed it (what, with the broken bones and all). There had been some talk of asking Midoriya himself, but no one wanted to be the one to put him in that position without at least having some evidence that there was something else going on. Jirou herself might have guessed they were father and son before the recent revelation if there weren't for the fact that a) there was absolutely no family resemblance between them, and b) not a single person had mentioned that, even behind closed doors (not even All Might himself).

"I'm just wondering since there's a lot of stuff I haven't heard. I can't focus everywhere on campus at once, after all. And we're in the same class, so..." She folded arms as she trailed off. She was telling the truth. She didn't exclusively focus on All Might when she was scoping around the school, so there had to be a lot of information she was missing – even given what she learned before. There wasn't anyone she could safely ask about this kind of stuff. And it wasn't like she could keep audio-stalking him even if she wanted to.

"It's quite alright." All Might seemed to be really relieved at the way she said it too.

"...Really?"

"Of course! I understand well how it feels to worry about your peers. It's no trouble at all!"

"So... what's he coming here for?"

"I'm merely giving young Midoriya some extra tutoring, nothing more." He flashed his smile a little too shiny. "You've seen his quirk – he's had a little trouble getting the hang of it. Having one that's similar, I've been giving him guidance to help him control that power." Occam's razor made Jirou want to believe that. Especially since, as mentioned before, that was exactly what Class A as a whole was guessing.

But... he was lying. The slight change in heart rate, the ever so slight hitch in his voice – it would be easy for most people to miss is with the sheer amount of charisma he gave off. He'd given the most obvious answer – one that anyone who hadn't heard as much as she did would accept. But she knew better. She heard his conversation with Recovery Girl. She knew what Midoriya was to him. It put a certain knot in her stomach to have one of the biggest boy scouts in the superhero world so easily lie to her face like that.

But she didn't press it.

She didn't an audio analysis to know that All Might wasn't going to tell her anything else even if she did.

She glanced at the clock. Five minutes until lunch was over. She never did bother to eat, but she wasn't hungry. She was going to feel it later, but it wasn't enough to make her force it down.

"Sensei, it's almost time to get back to class, so..." She got up off the couch and lightly stretched. She should be able to get back in time easy. She just didn't want to be the last one back this time. Plus she needed to make sure that she hadn't left anything-

"One last thing, Jirou."

All Might locked eyes with her and continued.

"I assume you know why you can't tell anyone." The tone of his voice didn't match up with his smile. Its sternness was laced with a certain twinge of dread that one would never expect to hear out of the 'Symbol of Peace'. It was... unnerving, to say the least.

"The villain alliance, right?" She wasn't sure what All Might wanted her to say, but it seemed like the most obvious answer. "If they find out about it, we'll get another USJ incident."

"That it is. As far as anyone else knows, I'm merely past my prime."

She waited a few moments for him to continue, but he didn't say anything else. It was jarring enough for him to sound this solemn in a situation where no one was in any danger, but even more so that he didn't end it with a quip or any kind of lighthearted note despite that smile never leaving his face.

"Well um... See you in class..." She opened the door and quickly left of the room before he could say anything else. A heavy atmosphere she didn't even realize was pressing down on her until then suddenly lifted. A flood of ambient noise hit her like a wave, sending a chill up her spine. She took a deep breath. It was strange how rattled she was considering it was 'only' a meeting with a teacher.

But as she walked down the hall, there was one more question that something at the back of her mind nagged her to ask. One more question that she couldn't bring herself to ask. One that she didn't ask so she could pretend she didn't already know the answer:

"Are you really dying?"

She got a few questions after that about what the heck she got called in for (and if it was for anything besides telling them something was wrong with All Might; that was a given), but she brushed them off with a laugh and told everyone she just got chewed out (well, as much as All Might would ever chew someone out, anyway). Teachers don't exactly like kids around school knowing things they shouldn't, regardless of what that school is.

The school day continued as normal. She was dead tired (and hungry) by halfway through the afternoon. It really hit her reflexes, and she got scolded accordingly during the exercise evaluations. She just wanted to go home at that point. Why was it that whenever she didn't want to do something, the clock moved that much slower?

People were getting on her nerves too. Kaminari in particular prodded her through the whole afternoon about what happened at lunch (well, when there was time for him to, at least). She told him she couldn't snoop anymore, and that she wouldn't be giving him anymore gossip. He pointed out that it's not like anyone would know. She pointed out in turn that if she (or anyone else) said something else she shouldn't know about, she'd probably get more than just a slap on the wrist that time. He tried to get her to tell him what All Might talked with her about beyond what she told everyone else. She said no and ignored anything he tried to say on the matter until they finally got out for the day.

And now she was walking home with him.

They didn't live anywhere near each other, but they always went to the same train station before going their separate ways. Having someone to talk to on the way made the trek a lot less boring, so they pretty much an unspoken agreement to leave school together. It helped that they both had an interest in music, and different tastes to keep their talks from getting stale. Also that they knew they could rag on each other's said tastes without taking it personally.

But the first few minutes were quiet this time. Jirou didn't feel like starting a conversation. Kaminari kept looking at her as if he was trying to figure something out. She wasn't sure why. It wasn't like he could read her mind; and in her fatigue-induced haze, she didn't care enough to point that out. And the amount of small, frustrated sighs he was letting loose (doing them quietly wasn't going to stop her from being able to hear them, genius) said he wasn't getting anywhere by analysis.

"So. Jirou." Welp, there it was. Guess he finally got tired of just staring.

"Yeah?"

"I'm gonna take a wild guess here," he stretched his arms a little before folding them, "and say that you didn't give us the whole story before."

"About what?" There was an obvious answer to that, but she hoped he'd take the hint and not say it.

"You know what." Guess that was too much to ask for.

She groaned. Yeah. Right. All Might's sickness or whatever. Why now.

"Not now, man..."

"Come on. I know everyone else in class is cool with that explanation you gave us, but I know you better than that." Yeah, for all of what, not even a school year? Way to read the mood, jackass.

"I wasn't lying when I said he wasn't gonna stop teaching. He's fine; he's just sick. He said so himself. It was stupid of me to think that it could effect him that badly."

"So you were lying before when you said you said you didn't know what it was?"

"No! I said that because- God, Kaminari. Just let it go!" She was slightly taken aback by how sharp her own tone was, but she didn't stop. She wanted to end talk of this particular topic as soon as she could. She didn't want to have to keep lying about what she knew."Why are you so obsessed with this?! Literally no one else is!"

"Because it doesn't add up!" Kaminari raised his voice in turn. "Remember what Kirishima said? Even villains know something's wrong! And you know as well as I do that it's not just his age – you wouldn't have brought it up in the first place if it was. Not to mention he called you out during lunch. Midoriya is literally the only other person he's done that for."

Some people were staring. He caught his volume and lowered it before rambling on."Is it an injury? But he's still able to move like normal."

"Kaminari-"

"And if it was some kind of chronic illness, he's be going to hospitals a lot more and be on the news somewhere."

"Seriously-"

"Is it something up with his quirk? But quirks don't get weaker with age-"

"You're the only one thinking this hard about-"

"And he's still able to punch things into oblivion. And obviously that power can't just up and be stolen, so..."

Hold up.

A stolen power.

That would mean it would have to be transferred.

A transferred power.

All Might was getting weaker.

The time All Might was able to use his power was getting shorter.

Midoriya had the same quirk as him.

Midoriya was getting stronger.

They were meeting a lot.

They were meeting because Midoriya had trouble controlling his quirk.

Bakugou knew Midoriya since they were kids.

But Bakugou said Midoriya didn't have a quirk in the first place.

And Midoriya was the second-most common topic to come up after All Might's health when the latter was talking to Recovery Girl.

And that was because he was All Might's successor.

...

...

Shit.

She stopped in her tracks. A pit fell in her stomach. The thought hit her like a freight train.

Bakugou, 'Midoriya's childhood friend', had been calling him quirkless from the get-go. Obviously everyone called bullshit seeing as how how Midoriya had been getting harped on from day one about how how he needed to learn to control his quirk better – he got the injuries and had the scars to prove it. But he had to have gotten it before the entrance exams; otherwise he wouldn't have gotten into U.A. at all.

But people with quirks had them since they were kids. They got them by the time they were 5 years old at latest. That was more than enough time to get adjusted to it. But Midoriya barely knew how to use it in the first place when the school year started. He was breaking bones left and right and Recovery Girl chewed him out for it over and over. He should've been used to the recoil by now, but he wasn't. It would be like Jirou getting motion sickness from her sound reverberations – it wouldn't make sense since she'd grown up with her quirk and had long gotten used to it.

Kaminari stopped rattling off possible explanations – which had been filtered out with the rest of the ambient noise, and turned to her, having apparently realized she wasn't walking anymore. There was a look of concern written on his face.

"Huh? Why'd you stop?" His voice had an edge somewhere between concern and annoyance. She didn't say anything in turn. In fact, she barely registered it.

So... Midoriya had gotten his quirk recently. And he got it from All Might. And All Might was weakening in the process. The transfer wasn't instantaneous, but one that was slowly leeched from one person to another. It took more effort to defeat villains for All Might, and Midoriya had already caught up to the rest of Class A when it came to skill. How the hell had it not hit her before?! Well, there was the fact that quirks weren't something that could be given away, but... well... what other explanation was there for it?

Quirks could be anything (their generation as a whole was proof of that). So, pushing aside common sense for a moment, shouldn't a quirk that can transfer to others be possible too? There was that kid in Class B, Monoma, with the copy quirk, but that was the closest thing to it she'd seen to it. But All Might just had a generic strength quirk, right? And that aside, wasn't he born with it?

It's not like it was ever outright stated, but that's what anyone would say if asked. Thinking back, there never was any official confirmation on what All Might's quirk really was – she'd seen the interviews: he'd always come up with a witty response whenever he was asked about it. Everyone just assumed it was just super strength and a buttload of gumption. But it was really super strength that could be passed onto another user? How would he know it could be passed on? Did he get it from someone else too? But if that was the case, shouldn't someone else have noticed a quirk being passed from mentor to student over multiple generations?

"No seriously, why'd you stop?"

But the reason it never occurred to anyone else to think that was because it was never an option in the first place. Quirks couldn't be transferred. It wasn't something that was taught in school; it was common knowledge! Otherwise there would be villains running amok with like 12 stolen quirks and heroes would have to do something similar or have like ten times the casualties. It would be chaos.

So putting it together: All Might has a strength quirk that was passed to him (who he got it from was beyond her), which he then bestowed on Midoriya, who never had a quirk before then. Because the quirk was getting transferred, All Might was getting weaker, and Midoriya stronger. To the point that there was talk of the former dying. And in spite of that, he was helping Midoriya learn how to use as if it were the most natural thing in the world. While dying all-the-while.

This... This wasn't right. This was crazy. This was some conspiracy theory-level bullshit. This was something some weirdo in a tinfoil hat would shout at a camera and post on YouTube and only get like 20 views because no one in their right mind would ever believe it in the first place because people aren't that stupid.

"Um... Earth to Jirou?"

But the more she thought about it, the more things started to make sense given the information she had. The more those things lined up with that explanation. Putting it in context explained a lot of things she was confuse about that year. But there was one thing she still couldn't answer:

Why?

All Might was the Symbol of Peace. He still saved people on a regular basis even as a teacher. There's no reason someone like that would effectively commit suicide by giving his power to a new kid for no reason if they were perfectly healthy to begin with. So there had to be something else killing him. But that thing couldn't be a sickness or anything that would require tons of expensive equipment to work on – someone would've noticed him in the hospital if he was there for an extended period of time. The tidbits of conversations about an old injury of his floated through her mind. Could that be it? Somehow he managed to function as if nothing was wrong, but it was slowly killing him. The worst-case scenario was that his quirk was the only thing still keeping him alive, despite what Recovery Girl said before.

So going from there, it would make sense that he'd want to give away his power if it could live on in someone else after he died. That same power could be used to save even more people. And giving it to someone else would mean that they'd need to be trained to use that power. They'd have to be his replacement when he finally died. They'd have to be groomed to be the new symbol of peace.

And Midoriya was the one who filled that roll.

That was it, wasn't it.

All Might was going to die and Midoriya- no, Deku was going to take his place.

And Midoriya was perfectly happy with that arrangement. He got nervous and emotional easily, but Jirou never sensed anything that would be described as despairing over the inevitability that his idol was going to die because of him. He was going through high school, making friends and training and having the time of his life just like the rest of them. She knew his heartbeat. It wasn't that of someone with a happy facade desperately trying to hide something huge that he knew full well would hurt everyone else. Nor that of begrudging acceptance. Nor that of heavy inner conflict. He was alright with this.

"...You okay?"

...Or was he?

Midoriya was someone who cared about others to the point self destruction.

He was kind of person who would be constantly looking for some way to save everyone, no matter how slim the odds.

He was the kind of person willing to break every bone in his body if it meant he could save someone.

Jirou never really had a one-on-one conversation with the guy, but even she could tell that if the class had a goodie-two-shoes ranking, the only person that could possibly beat him out on it was Iida.

The entire school year was proof of that.

It was probably the reason All Might chose him to take on his quirk in the first place. She vaguely wondered what series of events would lead into a random kid getting a power from one of the world's greatest superheroes.

But why would All Might choose someone that practically worshiped him to knowingly be reason he was going to die? Wouldn't that hurt him even more?

...

Midoriya didn't know, did he.

All Might chose Midoriya to be his successor without telling him what was going to happen.

All Might was going to die once Midoriya became strong enough.

Midoriya was going to be left with all his responsibilities once that happened.

And there wasn't anything anyone could do about it.

...

Her head hurt.

"What's wrong?" Putting a hand on her shoulder, Kaminari finally snapped her out of her thoughts.

"What?" She really didn't appreciate it.

"You're looking really scary, dude. You alright?"

She blinked, then sighed. Taking out her frustrations on Kaminari might feel good for all of a few seconds, but it wouldn't solve anything. He was an idiot, but he didn't deserve to be yelled at over her internal conjecture he didn't even know about.

"I'm fine. Just... leave it for now." She massaged the space between her brows.

Kaminari finally took the hint.

They went back to walking. The wind rustled some nearby papers. A train rolled past a few blocks away. Kaminari idly chattered about some popular new hero idol group that debuted a few weeks ago. Jirou nodded occasionally, but was wasn't really paying attention. Her mind was on something else entirely.

All Might was dying, and only she and a few other people knew.

She doubted even Midoriya knew.

She couldn't tell Kaminari.

She couldn't tell her other classmates.

She couldn't tell her family.

She couldn't tell a teacher.

She couldn't tell anyone.

...She wasn't sure they would believe her even if she did.

Should she try talking to All Might or Recovery Girl to see if she could get the full story?

Would they even tell her anything if she did?

She wanted to believe she was just overthinking things. There was a lot of information she was missing. It could all just be a big misunderstanding on her part. She could just be an idiot teenager trying to see things that weren't there in order to make her life seem less boring. She hoped she was wrong.

But a sinking feeling in her gut told her she wasn't.

Between keeping it a secret and telling someone, neither option would be without consequences. Telling someone would let them prepare for that inevitability, but if word got out to the villains, U.A. and who knows how many other places would be wiped off the face of the map before anything could be done about it. Not telling anyone (especially Midoriya) would make it hurt that much worse.

Logically, not saying anything would make the most sense. But... sitting out and just letting this happen to the guy who repeatedly put his neck on the line for everyone else didn't sit well with her. He had everyone else's back. She should have his. He was her classmate. She should be there for him.

But were there any other options?

What could she do?

What should she do?

A/N: SHE KNOOOOOOOOOOOWS.

Really though, we know Jirou can hear things through walls (like during the team battle training). What's stopping her from having heard about One for All that way?

And Jirou and Kaminari knowing morse is just a little headcanon of mine, if you couldn't tell. Also that they're buddies who hang out outside school and walk home together (among other things).