Toshinori had noticed his successor becoming oddly distant. It had been happening since he had received One for All but All Might just chalked that up to pure determination of getting into schedule of attending a heroic school with a new quirk. 

But now that UA had implemented the new dorm system, his successor was always on campus but seeming as if he was flailing. Like a child learning how to swim for the first time. 

Yet avoiding the swim instructor. 

It was odd, and the weirdest part was that Midoriya seemed as if he was unintentionally doing it. Like his mind was increasingly far away. 

And it wasn't as if he was becoming less proactive in his attempts at becoming a hero…No, All Might quite frequently saw the kid training vigorously in the class and out. 

So he knew Young Midoriya was still quite interested in becoming a full fledged hero. But something about the way the teen held himself was different--the way he looked over his shoulder. 

Toshinori knew his first run-in with the teen had been damaging. Of course he knew that– 

"No, you can't be a hero without a quirk–" Toshinori nearly flinched at his own words in the memory. Looking back, he knew he was projecting his desire to become a quirkless hero and his failures at that goal onto Midoriya. 

And he had since apologized profusely to the teen, knowing he was in the complete and utter wrong. Not to mention he had been trying to make up for the words, knowing a simple apology wouldn't be good enough to heal the pain he inflicted verbally. 

Gosh, he felt so guilty. 

And Midoriya was so forgiving, making the whole situation hurt worse. 

Midoriya had brushed off the apology and continued on his way. 

But as he had retreated, All Might saw that the damage had already been done and the teen had already internalized it. 

Sometimes the number one hero wondered whether he should have given the quirk to someone else and trained Midoriya to be a quirkless hero from the get-go. That way the teen would understand that Toshinori wasn't just sticking around the kid to watch the quirk make the successor great. 

He groaned, feeling a headache start up in his temples as his thoughts and regrets whirled around. Nevertheless he watched the students leave class and make their way out of the building slowly. 

He was hoping to catch the teens as they left but decided at the last minute to stay back and not engage in conversation quite yet. His gut was telling him that something was off…

So he watched as Kaminari and Mina rushed off to the dorms first, followed by a slower Jiro, Sero and Tokoyami. The next group was just casually walking and talking. 

And in the middle, closer to the back was Midoriya, walking solitary within the class groups. He had his face scrunched up in a pensive way, hand up with his fingers tugging on his hair ever so slightly. And, from Toshinori's vantage point, he could see Midoriya mumbling something. 

Though he couldn't make out any words, he noticed how the form of Izuku looked different. But he couldn't figure out what had changed. The hair and face were the same, along with the uniform. So what was striking him as odd? 

Suddenly, as if through an out of body experience, Toshinori felt as if he was seeing a stranger and not his successor.