Chapter Text
Toshinori Yagi was staring at the piece of wood with lead inside and a blank notebook open laying in front of him.
It was given to him by Tsukauchi Naomasa as a way for him to stop worrying so much about certain aspects in his so chaotic life. His words were more along the lines of ‘write anything you think important and that wish for others to read because you are unable to say the out loud’.
A journal, in less words, basically.
He stared at the pencil as if it held all the answers to the cosmos. It’s shiny black lead staring back at him mockingly, daring him to pick it up and write at least his name.
Perhaps he ought to pay a visit to a psychologist (or psychiatrist) if he was having staring contests with an inanimate object, and felt that said object was laughing at him. It was a feeling that was becoming way too frequent for his liking. Funny, what stress can do to your mind.
Then again… even if the lead—graphite, a part of his brain supplied—had conscience, it would be one of the few things in this world that would mirror the human nature very easily. Why? Well, if he were to take that pencil and compare it to its more colorful siblings, one would see why it’s often overlooked by something more vibrant, despite being primarily made out of a rather interesting element. People like him, like his successor, they might as well be considered as lead, since all in all it’s pretty useless… right?
But isn’t that just the most precious thought ever? Graphite is made out of carbon, and people often forget just how useful carbon is; it is a nonmetal, some would argue, they don’t really do much. Well, another would counter, so is oxygen and we need it to breathe. [1]
What people most certainly forget is just how versatile the sixth element in the periodic table is. Have you ever stopped to think how many different things can come out if? Just carbon alone? Probably not. Many would only think of the most common uses such as coal, diamond… and just stop there, not thinking about how they came to be exactly; it’s not like they care anyways.[2]
If one were to think about it, then One for All is like carbon, and its user the allotropes.
So, thinking logically, then Toshinori Yagi was more likely graphite. He used to be diamond though, but not any longer.
All Might no longer exists, but Toshinori Yagi still remains, surviving as best as he can, to teach the younger generations about how to be a hero. There are days he wishes he could have had more time to avoid the fallout that happened after passing One for All, but unfortunately, the process that had already started could not be stopped.
But All Might had stopped being a diamond a long time ago.
By the time he got offered the position at Yuuei, he had already started his decay process.
All Might had been slowly dying, clinging to an image long past, helplessly hoping for his strength to not desert him in a dire moment. Ever since he had received the injury that charred his hero career, though, he had had a feeling such desire was futile.
Looking into it now, he might have started as, probably, the worst mentor ever. Letting the current holder of his power to collapse more than once due to his carelessness and lack of oversight, perhaps thinking Midoriya Izuku would find the answers to questions that were never asked, nor thought of to begin with. He got better, though. He is better now; he knows his students need all his support… and isn’t that just rich, he has a class full of children who still look up to him, no matter his current fragile state. All Might is All Might, they said.
He has stopped being a hero to be a mentor.
A mentor is supposed to guide, right? How? Is the question he asked himself several times during restless nights when his tormentors would resurface in his mind and sleep was something that escaped him. How can I be of help to them? He would ask whenever one of them would fail a practical exercise to build up teamwork… and even more the following days after each of their encounters with the villains. His successor had probably broken all of his bones twice or thrice by now—and some of them even more times; young Todoroki had more problems and issues than all of the students at Yuuei combined; he did not even know where to begin with Bakugou Katsuki.
So, how? How is a teacher, a mentor, supposed to help those that need it the most?
And so, in one of the many nights Morpheus seemed to hate him, he realized that perhaps he could start simple. Writing his thoughts seemed a little bit laughable, so he did the next best thing he could think of. He—finally—grabbed the pencil, and spent the night writing what each and all of his students excelled at. For Tokoyami he wrote about his strategic mind and what he could do if he wished to strengthen that particular skill of his that so rarely sees the light, for Kirishima his friendliness and camaraderie and to continue being true to his own self, for Mineta his intelligence (otherwise, how would you explain being 9th in the class?) and that perhaps he ought to focus in the actual class rather than his, uh, classmates. One by one, he suddenly had pages and pages for his students, little advices here and there about how to improve certain things, or how to nourish some others, and some compliments about what he had seen them do. [3]
He left Midoriya Izuku for last.
He knew his mind often ran in a very peculiar way. The way his egg-microwave analogy seemed to stick was a testament to that (Gran Torino still looked baffled every time he remembered such incident.) So he knew that perhaps he could start with another analogy to make his student understand certain aspects of his quirk better and faster.
Of course, he claimed no expertise in the topic, just what he knew from mouth of others that were more well versed in such matters.
He might not know about all the people that came before him; but he knew plenty enough.
So, despite his sickly state he considered himself to be like graphite. Out of all the possible things carbon can be, graphite just happens to be the most stable one. It has countless of uses, and it’s highly valuable in most markets; however, the one that is valuable the most it’s probably the one that’s glaringly obvious. A Pencil. As a word whose root means almost literally to write/draw, so Toshinori helps forming the heroes and heroines of the future, depicting to them the values that are necessary to be a proper hero or heroine.
He might have saved a lot of people during his golden years, but he has never felt more useful than now, teaching all this kids what he knows. He has never felt more gratification than when Uraraka Ochako informed him rather excitedly how using her power for extended periods of time was starting to affect her less and less; how Aoyama Yuuga had improved his laser, and his stomach was starting to agree more with him when he used it too much; when Ashido Mina was smiling for days when her accuracy was definitely improving (she has claimed that her next step is to see just how corrosive she can get her acid to be. Toshinori dreads of the day she gets it, somehow, to melt even steel.)
Slowly, one by one have started finding their place in the world. Yes, they are young. Yes, they are technically children. And yes, they—the teachers—are highly aware they might develop some sort of PTSD very early[4]. But this is the path they have chosen, and this is the path they refuse to be taken out of.[5]
Toshinori couldn’t be prouder of his students.
However, and while he should not be playing favorites, he cannot deny the liking he has taken towards his successor. Midoriya Izuku. A boy born with nothing and whose dreams had been crushed since his very early years has come to stand in a place where many would have had collapsed eons ago. A boy with a stubborn streak a mile wide, heart of gold, and a will of steel. Midoriya Izuku is not, and will never be diamond, though. Not if he can help it.
Toshinori Yagi is like graphite. Because while it used to be something great, he no longer can continue doing his hero work, but he can still teach the heroes of tomorrow. He can still pass on his knowledge in hopes they can do a better job that he ever did. Because just like graphite Toshinori Yagi is, finally, stable enough to overcome his grief and start walking forward down a path he probably never saw coming. Because just like graphite, he still has a lot to give, despite his weakened body and deteriorating health. Because just like the graphite one can find in a pencil so one can draw, write or just do absentminded doodles, he too can teach others to be better heroes, but even so better individuals.
He left Midoriya Izuku for last. He did not write paragraphs and paragraphs about him and his virtues. He just wrote about him being graphite and why Izuku might be another carbon allotrope.
Carbon has always had the ability to be many things and we can clearly see this on everyday life even though most of it often goes overlooked. I could have been considered as a diamond during my golden days, but despite what jewelry shops tell you, diamonds are not eternal nor indestructible, as neither was I.
As Toshinori Yagi, I am no longer diamond but graphite.
[1] Of course, don’t take this issue to the actual chemists, they would probably strap said people down on a chair and refuse to make them leave until they are deadly sure such heretic thoughts would never cross their minds.
[2] Some would think or say carbon is actually important because it’s petroleum’s progenitor, and that is so wrong in some many levels that an expert in the topic would probably come out of nowhere and smack you silly for even thinking about it. Because petroleum is made out of hydrocarbons, not just carbon.
[3] He felt like his successor whenever he went on one of his manic analytic mumbling (only, you know, less intense.)
[4] They are pretty sure some about half of class 1A actually has a form of PTSD.
[5] One just have to take a brief look at Bakugou Katsuki, and how very boldly declared to the League of Villains they could go and fuck themselves because he was never joining them. If the, arguably, less well behaved student of his class was like this, then the rest must be arguably worse when it comes to sticking to their chosen path. The Villains had learned their mistake once when it came to this, taking a student from Yuuei for their nefarious purposes would only lead to mass destruction and chaos… and not the one they liked.