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Nana is too old for this.
She’s 70 (but, if you ask her, she doesn’t look like it) when Toshinori, her protégée, her son, barges into the run-down apartment she shares with Sorahiko, bearing a bright smile unlike his usual ones, and tells her he’s found a successor. She knows how hard it’s been for him—she isn’t sure if his inability to find a successor before came from his reluctance to start letting go of his duties as a Symbol of Peace, or if he was just scared of somehow choosing wrong. Or a combination of both.
Regardless, she smiles and asks Toshinori about them.
“He reminds me of myself,” Toshinori says. And, oh, Nana should have known how much trouble that would bring from the very start.
He tells her of how he had saved the boy’s life earlier that day, of how the boy had accidentally hitched a ride on his pant leg (she laughs a full minute before scolding Toshinori for being careless) and had subsequently asked him if being a hero without a quirk was possible.
Toshinori had told him no.
And, well, Nana can’t say she would have acted differently—she knows firsthand the dangers of being a pro hero and what comes with it. The loss, the pain, the threats always looming on the horizon.
(It had been that danger that had made her give up her family, after all. She tries not to dwell too much on that decision anymore. She’s getting old, and regretting past decisions now isn’t going to do her any good.)
But then he tells her the tale of how that same quirkless boy had been braver than any of the pro heroes on the scene. Of how, by rushing in to save a friend, he had inspired Toshinori to go beyond his limit.
“I don’t think it was really a choice,” says her protégée. “At that moment, I knew it couldn’t be anyone else.”
“Then I already know you chose right,” she responds. “That’s exactly what I felt when I picked you.”
Over the next few months, Toshinori focuses on training his new little protégée. Nana had seen pictures and, being honest, the kid looked like a twig. He needed that training, otherwise One For All would probably kill him. Nana mostly lets Toshi do his thing—the training he’s set up for the kid, although harsh, is necessary. If the kid wants to attend UA, he’ll have to endure it. And she quite likes the message behind it. A first heroic task may just be what the kid needs, if she’s learnt anything from what Toshinori has been telling him.
He almost sounds like a proud dad.
“Would this make the kid our grandson?” Nana says, one night she's having dinner with Sorahiko.
“Hell no,” he replies. “Next thing I know Toshinori is going to drop the kid on our lap. I ain’t babysitting a snotty kid.”
“Whatever you say, Grandpa Torino.”
Her friend deadpans. “Nana, don’t.”
She snorts.
A few days later, Toshinori calls her half-panicking.
“Young Midoriya overexerted himself and passed out,” he says. “He’s really determined, Nana. I adjusted his training plan to be even tighter.”
She hears a tint of pride in his voice, hidden under the worry. She smiles. It reminds her of Toshi himself, all those years ago, training harder than she ever thought could be possible. She already likes this kid.
So she says, “I want to meet him.”
Nana goes with Toshinori to Dagobah Beach, cane in hand. It’s been getting harder to walk, all with her age and the injuries sustained in her last fight with All For One. She still remembers the frustration of having to retire, of not being able to fight anymore, but she especially remembers the pain of having to see Toshinori go through the same thing.
She’s glad the Ninth doesn’t have to carry that burden.
It’s clear Izuku Midoriya isn’t expecting her, because his face immediately shows confusion upon seeing her, which morphs into something else. Nana would almost say it looks like admiration.
“Young Midoriya! This is—”
“ Ohmigosh you’re Nana Shimura, Soar, the ever-smiling hero! You taught All Might, and...” He then launches into a ramble about her biggest accomplishments and battles, not even allowing Toshinori to finish talking. He talks at such speed that she only catches about half of what he says.
This surprises her—not many know Nana’s hero name, least of all her actual name, and that she had been the one to teach their current Symbol of Peace. She prefers it that way. Too much media attention just meant more danger, and she isn’t in a state in which she could defend herself from any big villains looking to hurt All Might’s beloved ones. It’s then when how deep Izuku Midoriya’s fanboy tendencies go starts sinking in.
And maybe, just maybe, she feels a bit of appreciation at the kid bothering to remember some of her biggest battles.
Midoriya rummages through his backpack and takes out a battered notebook. “Please give me your autograph, Miss Soar!” he says, bowing down.
She laughs and indulges him. “Just call me Nana. You’re good enough to be picked by Toshinori, so you’re already good in my books.” Also, he’s like a little overexcited puppy. Nana almost wants to adopt him, but Toshinori would probably have something to say about that.
Midoriya looks at her with big eyes and a light blush dusting his cheeks. “Alright, Miss Nana!”
Seriously, if Toshinori doesn’t hurry up and adopt him, she’ll snatch him up herself.
Nana oversees his training for the day. Toshinori is by no means a great teacher, but he’s new at it, so she’s sure he’ll learn. Still, he had not been kidding about the kid’s determination. He stops at nothing, no matter how hard it is for him to drag or lift it, even when his face is red with exhaustion. At one point, Nana even has to remind him to catch his breath.
She leaves the beach that day certain that One For All will be in good hands.
Except Midoriya breaks three limbs the first time he uses it. Sure, she’d had had a bit of trouble herself at first, but she had never destroyed her own limbs. She had felt uneasy when Toshinori had called her to tell her he was going to give him One For All on the morning of the exam—not enough time to adapt, she had thought. But she would have never predicted something like this.
Of course, as regrettable as breaking three limbs can be, she still thinks Midoriya is a good candidate. He just needs some time to adapt to his new power. He’ll have plenty of that at UA, surrounded by hero teachers to help him out.
A series of unfortunate events happen afterwards. First, the USJ gets attacked, resulting in two pro heroes being deeply injured and Toshinori’s time limit getting cut down again. Midoriya is still breaking his limbs. Then, during the School Festival, which she attends in person, the kid keeps breaking them, to a worrying point this time. And, fuck, what are the UA teachers and Toshinori even doing?
Still, she congratulates the kid on making it to the top 8.
“You did good, kid,” she says. “Don’t worry about not being on the podium. You’re years behind your classmates when it comes to your quirk, top 8 is more than impressive enough. You’ll catch up soon.”
“Thanks, Miss Nana!” he says, and he gives a bright smile that reminds her of her own. She wonders if he shares her way of thinking, or if he feels disappointed with himself. Considering how similar to Toshinori he’s turning out to be, it’s probably the latter.
She has a conversation with Toshinori afterwards. “Sorahiko and I are taking the kid for the internship,” she says, voice firm. She hasn’t discussed it with her friend, but there’s no way she’s just going to let Midoriya keep breaking himself like that. She’ll just have to take the matter into her own hands.
Toshinori starts sweating, probably remembering his own time training with Sorahiko, but doesn’t oppose the idea.
When she gets home, Sorahiko has his phone in hand. “I’m calling Toshinori. We gotta do something about that kid before he actually loses a limb,” he says.
It makes her smile. “Way ahead of you.”
Sorahiko terrifies the kid because of course, he would. Midoriya looks confused at first, but it takes one clash with Gran Torino’s unmatched speed to realize exactly why Toshinori is so scared of his old master.
“Don’t go so hard on him, Sorahiko,” she tells him. After all, the kid has more than enough time to get used to One For All. Her old friend rolls his eyes. “You okay, Midoriya?”
The kid smiles at her and nods. She wishes she could take actual part in the training, but as she is right now she’d just be a hindrance in any kind of physical training. So, instead, she gives the kid some pointers while they take a break.
She’s still surprised when it takes him less than five minutes to figure out the trick to One For All, though.
“You’ll be a master at this in no time,” Nana says, as she gives him a thumbs up.
Nana stays home while Torino takes Midoriya out to get some field practice, so she decides to call Toshinori to tell him about his protégée’s progress.
“He’s quick to catch onto things. Really smart,” she tells him.
“I know,” Toshi replies, and the pride she hears in his voice as he says this fills Nana’s heart with warmth.
It’s a few hours later that Nana gets confirmation of what she already suspected: Izuku Midoriya has the exact same tendencies to get into trouble as Toshinori. How he managed to find the Hero Killer, she almost doesn’t want to know.
(Which is a lie, because she absolutely gets the story out of him later. She’s impressed and proud, so she hugs the kid. He gets red to the tip of his ears but hugs her back
She had been joking when she had told Sorahiko, but she’s honestly starting to feel like a grandma.)
Everything is alright again, at least for a while. Both Toshinori and Midoriya are too busy preparing for the final exams to get in trouble, which gives Nana peace of mind. The kid passes, of course, and Nana makes sure to scold Toshinori for going too hard on him (and isn’t surprised to hear Chiyo did the same thing).
Then Midoriya’s trouble magnet does it again, and she shouldn't even be surprised considering it runs in the family. On a trip to the mall with his friends, he ends up confronting none other than Shigaraki Tomura.
“Can’t you go out of your house without getting into trouble?” Nana asks him one day she’s staying over for lunch. Midoriya smiles sheepishly and apologizes. “Are you alright, at least?”
The kid is, definitely, not alright, but he tries to act like he is. Nana thought he had already started shaking off that habit of pretending like everything is alright when it isn’t, a habit that annoyingly reminds her of Toshinori.
Later, she gets the kid alone, Sorahiko and Toshinori too busy bickering in a different room. “It’s okay to not be okay,” she says. “Even Toshinori needs help, sometimes.”
The kid breaks down after that. She already knew how much he could cry, but it never stops surprising her. She does her best to calm him down. If she could still fight, she’d hunt down Shigaraki Tomura herself and teach him a lesson.
She doesn’t agree with the Training Camp going forward. After the USJ, after Stain, and especially after the mall incident, she thinks it’s rather irresponsible of UA to go forward with something this risky. Alas, it’s not her place to say so, so she can only wish Midoriya luck on his trip.
Everything goes wrong, of course.
Nana thought teaching Midoriya basic control of One For All would be enough to keep him from injuring himself too much. That was, obviously, not the case, she thinks as she sees him on the hospital bed, both arms completely covered in bandages. Inko Midoriya is in the room, sobbing her eyes out much as her son does.
She introduces herself as one of Izuku’s mentors in his internship. “I’m sorry,” she apologizes. “I thought after he learned control this wouldn’t happen again. But now I see that what he needs is to learn his life isn’t expendable.”
After saying that last sentence, she regrets it immediately. It’s definitely not what a mother worried for her son needs to hear. But she’s surprised when Mrs Midoriya, instead of reprimanding her, thanks her for worrying about her son and invites her over for dinner one day.
Even when Izuku wakes up, Nana can’t stop feeling like something is going to happen. Bakugo Katsuki, the kidnapped student, still hasn’t been retrieved, and she can’t help but feel like something big is going to come out of that.
She just didn’t expect All For One.
She feels powerless as she sees her protégée fight him on TV, wishing she could be there to help him and Sorahiko. Wishing that she was still strong enough. Instead, she cheers for All Might, for their Symbol of Peace. She smiles as he stands victoriously, All For One finally defeated for good, and as she thinks of what this means for Midoriya. Because, with All For One gone, he won’t have to carry the same responsibility that she, All Might, and all the other One For all users had carried.
“There’s something I have to tell you,” says Toshinori, when Nana finally manages to get in contact with someone who gives her a pass to visit him in the hospital.
However, she doesn’t care. She hugs her student, her son, and congratulates him on a job well done. They have a lot to talk about —All For One, Midoriya, where he’s going to go from this—, but right now, she just wants him to take a break for once.