After Izuku woke up, he jumped out of bed. He kept a sliver of hope that his mother did not really die, and everything that happened was all a dream. But when he went out and noticed the lack of food on the table, he knew that everything that happened was real.

He started tearing up but suppressed the tears before they fully came out. When he finished washing up and returning to his room, he noticed tear stains on his pillow and an envelope that slipped out of his pocket while he was sleeping.

Pocketing the envelope, he ran out of his home, briefly pausing in front of his mother's room but had a feeling that it was not the time to enter. Not like he wanted to enter in the first place.

He restarted his old training regiment, hoping to relieve some stress and take his mind off of everything.

Ever since he discovered he was quirkless, he started training his body and improving his knowledge. Even if he had no chance to be a hero, he still wanted to try his best, hence, he trained the only things he could.

This was not the only thing he could train. Seeing how hardworking her son was, his mother tried her best to find a way for him to improve his fighting ability. She had spent three days begging in front of all the schools teaching martial arts, hoping for them to impart any of their techniques.

Her efforts were rewarded as her effort had touched a master of a school. He gave her one of their school's most basic sword arts, which she took with gratitude.

When he received the manual for this technique, he personally went on a trip to thank the master who gave it to him. It was only there, where he learned what his mother had gone through to receive this manual.

Hearing how hard she worked for this, he treasured this manual dearly, practicing it every day. However, he was unable to get his hands on any weapons, as they were only reserved for those with a hero's license. He also did not want to get a practice weapon as he did not wish to place any more burden on their financial situation by replacing it when it broke. Hence, he spent many days adapting the technique to fit his arms.

Now, he could use his arm like a sword, giving his arms the ability to cut through wood like butter.

Although he did not understand how this was possible, in an era where many strange quirks existed, he found no need to understand it.

If the master who had given him this manual were to know about this, he would have desired to take him in as a personal disciple. This was because making adjustments to techniques was only possible to the grandmasters in China, the place where these techniques originated from.

However, now, he had one more thing he could train, his new quirk.

He still remembered the information of his quirk that appeared in his mind. He did not bother questioning how he got this information, as awakening this quirk was already a huge mystery in itself.

Even though he hated the memories that surfaced whenever he used his quirk, he still wanted to control and train it.

He worriedly thought, "What if I accidentally lose control of my quirk? Will others be affected? Will I have to relive those memories?"

Preparing to use his quirk, he anticipated the moment he lost control. Yet, he realised that he was perfectly capable of controlling his quirk. This was abnormal as even those who awakened their quirks needed at least a month to become familiar with it. Controlling it would be another story as that would require more than a year.

He tried to lower the effects of his quirk, and after a few hours, he managed to lower the output to 5% of its maximum. When he finished refining his control, he suddenly had a feeling that if he combined the technique he learned before and his quirk, an unexpected result would occur.

Unable to restrain his curiosity, he attempted to do so, when suddenly, his arms started being covered in blue fog. He slashed down, wondering what the effects were and was shocked when a light blue slash flew in the direction of where he swung. He could feel despair radiating off it, but it was not as intense as 100% of his despair, but was still higher than the original 5% used.

He felt excited at this discovery as the slash did not appear to trigger any of his memories. Now, he knew he could use that move as a way to protect himself, and, just maybe, to help others.
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This was what Izuku did in addition to removing the huge piles of rubbish on Takoba Municipal Beach Park to train himself. It also helped to make this place beautiful again, back to the time when no one polluted this place.

On his way home, he also managed to find an abandoned cat that was scavenging around for food. He pitied the cat and fed it every day. One day, the cat followed him home, displaying the trust the cat had for him. Unable to resist, he allowed the cat into his house, resulting in him getting a new pet.

When Izuku finally cleaned up the place, he wiped off his sweat and reached for a towel in his pocket. But, instead, he brushed against the envelope he received from Nezu.

He finally took out the envelope, after a week of ignoring it. With curiosity he decided to follow the address written on it. Upon arrival, he saw a dilapidated house. He did not expect that Nezu, a principal of such a renowned school, would send him to this place with nothing but old houses.

When the owner opened the door, he saw that the owner was a short, old man. The moment he asked Izuku a question, he knew that the old man was putting on an act. After all, he was an experienced actor himself.

All he did was pass the envelope to the person he presumed was Gran Torino. The moment he read the contents in the envelope, Gran Torino's expression became sharp, no longer like the ignorant person he portrayed himself just now, he sized up Izuku and said,

"Toshinori sent another candidate, eh? Why can't he just visit his mentor again? Such a coward..."

He did not finish his sentence when he attacked Izuku using his walking stick which he barely dodged. He could not help but think, 'for such an old man, how is he so fast?'

"Good reflexes! Look sharp! I'll be testing your body!"

Gran Torino forcefully dragged Izuku into his house, before starting a bombardment on Izuku by propelling himself off the walls. Even during battle, Izuku noticed the interior looked much better than the outside.

Over the years, Izuku had analysed many heroes and villains. Seeing how the old man using quirk, Izuku deduced who this hero was and his fighting style.

Using his knowledge of Gran Torino's quirk, Jet, Izuku managed to hold on for 10 minutes, until he was backed into a corner. In a last ditch effort to put some distance, he quickly used his new move, which he named the slash of despair, in an attempt to avoid a hit.

Grand Dorito was taken aback at Izuku's counterattack, only managing to dodge by a hair's length. Though he would not have been injured if took it head on, he instinctively felt that avoiding was the best option. Looking behind him, he saw that there was a centimetre deep line in his carpet.

He retreated and stopped attacking Izuku. In excitement, he started saying,

"Amazing!! Not only have you lasted so long against me, you even forced me back! Now I see why that coward sent you here!"

Gran Torino, like other heroes, greatly admired talent. He felt the urge to teach him but knew that with his age, his training would not be good enough. Instead, he thought of a more suitable arrangement.

"You have good potential, kid. If only you had more combat experience. I have an idea, go to the slums and find a building like this," Gran Torino handed Izuku a picture," then, go to the receptionist and tell them this code word." He whispered into Izuku's ear. Izuku wanted to ask why the code word was this, but he was pushed out with a box of frozen Taiyaki.

'Now, get out! You already damaged my carpet! Unless you want to pay for the damages, leave!"

Izuku just stood stunned at the old man's words and blankly stared at the door. That was when it opened again and out came Gran Torino with a smile on his face.

He had a request and said,

"Kid, while you are at it, help me ask the receptionist for some breadsticks from Zera. If you do it, I'll forget about you destroying my house."

With that, Gran Torino slammed the door once again, leaving a confused Izuku.
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Hello again! The author is here to tell you I love breadsticks!

Also, this is technically a new chapter. The author, me, was too lazy to fully write a chapter during 2019, which was why I split it into parts. Two years later, I finally stopped being lazy and posted full chapters instead :D. Hopefully, you enjoyed this as well.

If you spot any mistakes, feel free to point them out in the comments! Thanks in advance!