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His mom was working late tonight, so Izuku knew she wouldn’t be there to greet him after school.

“I’m home!”

Even though he was expecting it, his heart still sank a little when there was no response.

Cut him some slack, okay?! Izuku didn’t have a lot of friends. Actually, Izuku didn’t have any friends, besides his mom. Call him a mama’s boy, but his after-school chats with his mom were the highlight of his day.

He would listen to her gossip about work and she would ask him about the day’s top hero news, which he could always go on about for hours. He knew she was indulging him, that she just let him talk because it made him happy. But it was his mom, he was allowed, right? Plus, she seemed so genuine when she said that she was interested in anything he got excited about. How could he not believe her?

Izuku sighed fondly as he made his tea. He really was lucky to have a mom like her, and he knew it. He never took it for granted, even if that did make him a hopeless little mama’s boy who got sad when he had to wait until dinner to tell her about his day.

But it had been such a good day! He bounced on the balls of his feet as he carried his cup to the table, miraculously, without spilling a drop.

It had been nearly ten months since he’d started training with All Might—just Yagi Toshinori, as far as his mom knew—and Izuku was finally strong enough. He had dragged the last piece of trash off the beach this morning, and couldn’t wait to tell his mom all about it, even though he’d already sent her photos of the smooth, clean sand, and one selfie of him and Yagi flashing their brightest grins.

Yagi—and he really was starting to become Yagi, in Izuku’s mind, not just when he talked to his mom—had been so proud of Izuku that he’d puffed up into his All Might form and ran a lap around the beach with Izuku on his shoulders like a (very muscular) little kid. He’d even ruffled Izuku’s hair. Izuku couldn’t remember his dad ever carrying him, or ruffling his hair, or anything.

And then All Might had given Izuku his quirk.

He’d been looking at his hands all day at school, just like he was looking at them now wrapped around his tea cup. Kacchan had remarked that he looked especially useless when he gaped like that, then slapped the back of Izuku’s head so hard he poked himself in the eye. Izuku didn’t even mind.

He wasn’t useless anymore. He had a quirk.

He had All Might’s quirk.

He didn’t know how to activate it, or what it would do when he did, or what it would feel like. But somewhere under Izuku’s skin there was power.

Izuku finished his tea and poured himself another cup. He grabbed some cookies too, for good measure.

Yagi didn’t think it was a good idea to tell his mom about the quirk yet, but Izuku didn’t know how he’d be able to keep it from her. It was already excruciating to lie about Yagi’s identity. She thought his sudden determination to make it to UA was the result of a chance encounter with Yagi Toshinori, retired personal trainer. He hadn’t even told her he’d been attacked by the sludge villain, because how could he explain that without explaining that he’d met All Might? So Izuku just…hadn’t told her.

He hated lying to his mom. If they had nothing else, she liked to say, the Midoriyas had their integrity.

…But now, he had a quirk! Maybe he couldn’t tell his mom how he got it, not right away, but he could finally tell her something.

Yagi had come up with a clever explanation: (1) Izuku had noticed a “strange feeling” as he’d built up muscle over the past ten months, and then (2) today, when he was celebrating, Yagi had seen “something” that made him think Izuku might have a latent quirk. They’d test it out at the beach tomorrow—it was Saturday, so they had the whole day to train!—and report back to his mom that, (3) holy moly, he did have a quirk after all! (4) Yagi would “consult” with a “quirk specialist” friend of his who would confirm that it was possible for a quirk to stay dormant until the person’s body was strong enough to wield it.

Izuku saw a lot of places for improvement in Yagi’s story, but he didn’t say anything, just took notes as Yagi dictated, dutifully marking down his air quotes and emphases. He reviewed the notes again while he drank his third cup of tea.

It was a good enough story for the quirk registry, or the school, but it wouldn’t work on Izuku’s mom. Yagi had said that Izuku would know someday when the time was right and he could tell his mom then, if he still wanted to. He’d said it in a way that made it sound like this might happen when Izuku was much older, or maybe never at all, but Izuku chose to interpret his words literally. Izuku knew the time was right now.

Maybe it was dishonest of him, but so was lying to his mom. Either way, Izuku was planning on testing the waters with his mom tonight when she got home from work, maybe telling her part of the story, or maybe giving in and confessing everything. She’d probably be upset, but when it was all on the table, she’d have to be happy for him, right?

Izuku was nervous. Maybe he shouldn’t have had that third cup of tea. Or, actually, maybe he should have had a fourth cup—no, bad idea.

Taking notes and making lists always calmed Izuku down, so he channeled his nervous energy into a list of talking points, arguments and counter-arguments, and possible ways he could gauge her reaction before actually confessing that actually Yagi was All Might, his quirk was transferrable, Izuku had it now, and he had no idea what it would do to him, but he was definitely going to be a hero.

He deliberately did not think about what he was going to tell Yagi, when he was done talking to his mom. Actually, his mom would probably demand to talk to Yagi right away—oh, maybe this was a bad idea after all!

He scribbled out his list. He would just start a new one—maybe, “How to tell Mom I got a quirk without mentioning Yagi”?

Izuku wrote and scrapped at least ten pages of work before he was startled into awareness by the sound of his stomach growling. He was suddenly very aware of the silence in the apartment, and the dark—it wasn’t good for his eyes to strain them like that, his mom always said. When had the sun gone down?

He closed his notebook and stood up, bones cracking. Mom was supposed to pick up takeout on her way home, as a treat, so at least he wasn’t behind on dinner prep. But shouldn’t she be home by now?

“Mom?”

Izuku’s heart sank a little when there was no response. He checked his phone—it was after 7, his mom should have been home a half an hour ago. But there were no texts, no missed calls.

Well, she probably got held up at the takeout place, or caught in traffic. He could live with his hunger for a little while longer. His mom would be home any minute, and they could celebrate, and by the time they were done eating, he would know exactly how to tell her about the whole “I have a quirk” thing so that no one got upset and no one got in trouble.

Izuku yawned and stretched as he made his way to the living room—it had been a good day, but a long one. He considered turning on Hero Network News, but that would inevitably lead to more note taking, and his hand was starting to cramp. He put on some old cartoons instead. Their old couch was a bit threadbare, but Izuku knew exactly how to contort himself to avoid the lumpiest parts and still get a great view of the TV. He’d been doing it so long that it was easy for him to drift off like this, with his neck curved over the armrest and one leg slung up on top of the back cushions.

He was startled out of his doze by the sound of cartoon explosions. He turned the volume down and checked his phone again—almost 7:30. He worried his bottom lip between his teeth—a nervous habit he shared with his mom.

He opened and closed his messaging app a few times, but figured it wouldn’t hurt to check in—maybe she’d lost track of time the way he had, and didn’t realize how late it was.

Me: [photo attachment]
Me: [photo attachment]

Mama❣️: It’s so beautiful! Was that the last of it?
Mama❣️: I can’t wait to go relax on the beach! Would Yagi like a picnic, do you think?

Me: [photo attachment]

Mama❣️: Oh, you boys look so happy! I’m so proud of you, Zuzu.

Mama❣️: I’m off to work, but have a good day at school! Remember, I’m staying late tonight to cover for one of the temps. Don’t worry about dinner! I’ll pick something up on my way home, a special treat for my special hero!
Mama❣️:🤔 I think HNN did a feature on how all the mightiest 💪 heroes eat katsudon 🍲 on special occasions. But you’re the expert 🤓, so just let me know if strong 🏋️, mighty 💪heroes’ tastes have changed and they want something besides katsudon 🍲. They get to choose, because it’s their special day! 🥳
Mama❣️: Okay, I’ll stop. I love you, Izuku! You’ve worked so, so hard for this, and no matter what comes next, you’ll always be your mama’s hero. Xoxo 💗
Mama❣️: Ok, I’m actually stopping now. 💚 💚 💚

Me: Home soon?

Me: No worries if you got caught up. I’ve been taking notes for so long i didnt even notice how late it was. these fins are barkin, lol 🦭 just lmk!

The space in front of the couch was just big enough for Izuku to run through some mobility exercises, although it wouldn’t be for long, if he kept growing. He kept his phone open in front of him so he wouldn’t miss his mom’s response.

He gave in and called her at 7:40. Maybe she was busy with some last minute crisis at work, and hadn’t seen his messages. Totally possible, nothing to worry about.

When her phone went straight to voicemail, he got worried. His hand started to shake, just a little.

Since it was just the two of them against the world, as his mom always said, they had to look out for each other. They always had their locations shared with each other, in case of emergencies.

Oh god, was this an emergency?

Not yet, Izuku told himself. Mom’s late and you had too much tea. It was a Big Day. He knew he had a tendency to catastrophize when things didn’t go as planned. There was probably a perfectly reasonable explanation for this. There was nothing wrong with checking…

There! His mom’s phone was at her office. Maybe she left it behind on accident. Or—last pinged at 3:12 pm—yeah, it must have died, and she couldn’t charge it for some reason. Or it died and she lost it, so she couldn’t just call it to find it.

Izuku called it again, just in case.

“Hello, you’ve reached Midoriya Inko! I’m sorry I couldn’t take your call, but please leave your name and number, and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can. Thank you very much!”

Izuku listened to the whole greeting and hung up just before the beep. Before he could second guess himself, he tapped on his second most recent contact and put the phone to his ear. Immediately he heard a click, and his mentor’s voice mumbling in the background.

“Yagi! I’m sorry for calling out of the blue, it’s just, mom didn’t come home, and her phone is off, and it hasn’t pinged since like 3:00, and I didn’t know what to do, so I—”

Beeeeeeeep.

Izuku’s breaths were coming more quickly, now, and he couldn’t seem to slow them down.

Yagi’s voicemail greeting was atrocious, and malicious, and deceptive, and actually Izuku was pretty sure illegal, and could probably be used against him in a court of law because Izuku had talked to his voicemail box like it was a person, but Yagi hadn’t answered either—

Oh. Oh, shit.

Yagi hadn’t answered either.

Izuku fumbled for the TV remote with one hand and brought up his custom-built All Might news aggregator on his phone with the other. He succeeded with his phone first, and didn’t like what he saw. All Might had fought three mid-ranked villains in and around Musutafu today, and from skimming the article previews, it seemed like they were separate fights. He must have hit his time limit, maybe even gone past it, considering the time he wasted goofing around with Izuku on the beach this morning.

So maybe Yagi was exhausted, or hiding from the press. But that didn’t get Izuku any closer to reaching his mom, who still wasn’t home and who still hadn’t replied to Izuku’s calls or messages.

Izuku had his mom’s work number saved in his phone, but he was only supposed to use it in case of real emergencies. Did this count as a real emergency? He wasn’t hurt, he was old enough to look after himself…but he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong. If his mom’s phone had died earlier this afternoon, why hadn’t she called him from the office, or borrowed a coworker’s phone, or something, and why wasn’t she home yet?

He tapped the saved number, tried to take deep breaths, and hoped he wouldn’t have to talk to a receptionist while he was this worked up.

The phone rang, and rang, and rang, and rang, and rang. No voicemail. No options menu. That wasn’t normal for an ad agency, right? Even after hours, they’d have some kind of recording.

Izuku had a terrible feeling in the pit of his stomach. He pulled up a local Musutafu news site this time, and it was the first result.

44 dead, 18 missing in downtown building collapse

It was also the second, third, and fourth result.

All Might v. Seismic death toll reaches 28, expected to climb

OPINION: Who Is Safer When All Might Is Here?: What went wrong today, and why it could happen again.

Early report: Significant casualties in today’s third major villain attack

Izuku nearly dropped his phone. The articles went on, but he stopped scrolling.

No, no, no…

He didn’t want to click, but what else could he do? He tapped a random headline.

2 hours ago (Musutafu) —Casualties in the downtown Musutafu building collapse earlier this afternoon have reached 28 dead and 6 injured, although those numbers are expected to rise as first responders make their way through the rubble. At least 19 individuals are unaccounted for.

The collapse occurred at approximately 3:44 p.m. in the aftermath of a battle between hero All Might (HBCJP #1) and the previously unknown and as-yet unranked villain many are now calling “Seismic,” due to the apparent nature of his quirk. Although the building fell after All Might left the scene, early reports suggest that the most severe damage was inflicted before the hero’s arrival. Local officials have said the city plans to launch a full investigation into the cause of the collapse.

The building, a commercial structure located at 3-chome 14-2, housed 6 corporate suites, although it is currently unknown how many suites were in use at the time of the collapse. Publicly available records list SitsuMark, the Rand-Datsu Agency, and Obana Ai, Esq. among current leaseholders.

(Click for up-to-date lists of survivors, deceased, and missing.)

Currently, the fatalities resulting from the building collapse are the only fatalities associated with the All Might v. Seismic battle, although we have received reports of bystanders hit by debris during the fight. Experts say that this will likely be the most fatal villain attack in Musutafu’s recent history, although we’ll have to wait for the final tally to come in to be sure. “The real challenger would be the Orca-Diomed tsunami six years ago,” says support analyst Takami K., “but then you get into nitpicking about what qualifies as a villain attack.”

(Click for more about Gang Orca (HBCJP #10) v. Shining Diomed (HPSC C-Class).)

Although no one has criticized All Might for his actions during this afternoon’s battle, All Might’s third villain encounter of the day, some are asking questions about his silence and inaction in the aftermath.

“When All Might showed up, it was incredible. I felt like I was finally actually safe,” says Ikezawa Sana, a bystander who was on the sidelines of the battle. “But then he was gone as soon as the cuffs were on, and the building came down. I kept waiting for him to come back. How many people are still in there, waiting for him to get them out?” [Correction: An earlier version of this article erroneously reported that Ms. Ikesawa was in the building at the time of collapse.]

“This is an unspeakable tragedy,” one first responder told us as he stopped to breathe and grab a bottle of water. “That’s not just 18, 19, 20 lives lost, that’s exponentially more ruined because a loved one was taken too soon. I keep thinking, how many families could I save if I was just a little faster, a little stronger? It feels like we’re all alone out there.” [Note: At the time this quote was recorded, the speaker’s figures were accurate to the best of our knowledge. We have chosen to include his statement uncorrected.]

All Might has not been seen in public since leaving the scene, and Mighty Agency has yet to respond to our request for comment.

 

Follow us on Twitter for up-to-the-minute news on this and other developing stories.

More reading:

• OPINION: Who Is Safer When All Might Is Here?: What went wrong today, and why it could happen again.
• All Might rescues woman, child in hero’s second villain takedown of the morning
• Five Years Later: The hidden price of survival

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• Man pulled from collapsed building: “Thank you, please, but you have to go back…”
• CIVILIANS STEP UP: Collapse survivors describe savior—heroic civilian or retired pro?: “We were all frozen, but he just ran in off the street…”
• RAW FOOTAGE [CW]: Live coverage of Musutafu collapse and clean-up [CONTENT WARNING]

Izuku’s lungs iced over as soon as he saw “Rand-Datsu Agency,” but he kept reading, not really processing the words. His thumb hovered over the link: Click for up-to-date lists of survivors, deceased, and missing.

Survivors, deceased, and missing.

His mom was probably on one of those lists. If she was okay, she would have called him by now. Izuku’s mom would have torn up the earth to let him know she was safe. Someone would have contacted him…right?

Deceased, and missing.

The article said the rescue was ongoing, right? So maybe she was trapped. Or maybe she’d gone out for lunch, and left her phone, and been caught up in a separate incident, so she didn’t have a way to contact Izuku, but she was totally fine.

Izuku’s stomach growled.

He clicked the link.

It had been updated since that article was posted. Izuku’s vision swam and he started to hyperventilate.

Musutafu Municipal Police Department
MUSUTAFU BUILDING COLLAPSE: Individuals recovered, missing, and unidentified.

If you are trying to locate an individual who you believe may have been a victim in the Musutafu Building Collapse, and you do NOT see their name anywhere on this page, please use the contact form at the bottom of the page.

Please be advised that this page is intended for sole purpose of helping individuals and families as they try to locate their loved ones in the aftermath of an ONGOING tragedy. This page has no legal significance, is NOT intended as an official document, and may be taken down at any time. Media inquiries should be directed to [email protected].

Recovered (Living) – 12
  Click to expand
Recovered (Deceased) – 57
  Click to expand
Unaccounted For (Missing) – 14
  Click to expand
Unidentified – 3
  Click to expand

He scrolled halfway through the section titled “Recovered (Living)” before he remembered the Find In Page option existed. Izuku’s hands were shaking so violently he struggled to open his browser’s menu—he really needed to eat something—mom was bringing dinner—no—but he managed it, and typed his mama’s name into the search bar.

Midoriya Inko.

One match.

No. No, no…

But there she was, under Recovered (Deceased), in plain text. Anticlimactic.

Izuku held his breath and waited for his heart to stop, but it persisted—cruelly. He waited to cry, but the tears wouldn’t come. He waited for something to happen, for the door to open, for his mom to walk in with rustling takeout bags and a loud, “I’m home!” Maybe if he kept waiting, someone would tell him it was a mistake.

Maybe if he kept waiting, he’d eventually figure out how he was supposed to react.

He refreshed the page.

Midoriya Inko didn’t budge from her spot under Recovered (Deceased) the first, second, or third times he refreshed. He did see the number of Missings go down, and one of the Unidentifieds must have been Identified.

Sure enough, there he was, only a few lines below Midoriya Inko.

Yagi Toshinori.

Recovered (Deceased).

Izuku locked his phone and set it down in front of him. He’d rather turn it off entirely, but he couldn’t shake the hope that someone might call—his mom might call. He closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the couch. He focused on slowing down his breaths. Slow, slower, sloooooow…..

Maybe when he opened his eyes, he would be able to understand what had just happened.

…Actually, according to that article, his world hadn’t just ended—it had ended at approximately 3:44 p.m. At 3:44 p.m., Izuku had been drinking tea.

What was his mother doing at 3:44 p.m.? What was she thinking about?

What had Yagi been thinking, rushing into a collapsing building without the use of his quirk?

Izuku looked at his hands and imagined them big, like Yagi’s hands. Strong, like All Might’s.

…Did anyone know? Was Izuku really the only one who know that All Might was dead?

All Might was dead.

His mom was dead.

He was alone.

He had a quirk.

Izuku closed his eyes and waited.