All Might and Izuku walked down the streets towards the central station. The hero had asked Izuku to refer to him as 'Ogawa' and the latter complied. All Might took his phone out and dialed someone up as they stopped by a crossing.

"Tsukauchi-kun, hello"

....

"Sorry for disturbing you but I've got a situation"

....

"Yes. I'll be there in a few minutes"

....

"Alright. Thank you, old friend"

All Might smiled and turned to Izuku, gesturing for him to continue walking, "We might want to hurry up. Tsukauchi-kun says that the office is presently empty as units have been dispatched for a villain attack"

"Al-Alright All- um, Ogawa-san" Izuku replied and All Might laughed.

A few minutes later, they reached a rather old-looking office and All Might greeted the security guard.

"Ah, Ogawa-san! What brings you here today?" The guard asked, having known Ogawa to be Tsukauchi's friend, "and who's the kid?"

All Might grinned, "This is my nephew. He got involved in a villain attack a while ago"

"Oh my, is he alright?"

"He is. We were heading home but I thought I'd introduce him to Tsukauchi-kun"

The guard smiled, "I'm kidding, the boss already informed me that you'll be visiting. Please head inside"

Izuku bowed in gratitude and followed All Might into the office and through the halls till they reached a room with the detective's name written on the plaque in bold letters.

"Ah! Ogawa-kun! Come on in" the detective greeted with a smile and then glanced at Izuku. "Hello there. I'm detective Tsukauchi Naomasa. Nice to meet you"

"Mi-Midoriya Izuku" the teen introduced himself, "Nice to meet you too"

They took their seats and Tsukauchi called someone on the intercom, asking them to not disturb him till further notice. He turned to All Might, the relaxed atmosphere dissipating into thin air as he put on his professional mask.

"Who's the kid?"

"A-About that"

Izuku gulped. Why was All Might so nervous? Was the detective harsh?

Tsukauchi sighed, "I have a good idea of what happened but I need to hear it from you, Ogawa-kun"

All Might scratched his cheek nervously, "The kid maaaaaay have seen my true form."

"You're clearly in your true form." the detective stated in monotone. "What do you have to say for yourself?"

All Might chuckled nervously and searched for the right words, only for Izuku to beat him to it. "I-It was my fault!"

The teen squeaked when Tsukauchi pinned him with a hard glare. Noticing the genuine discomfort and regret in the former's eyes, Tsukauchi sighed and schooled his features to look less menacing. "Kid, explain."

Izuku nodded, albeit terrified, "Well, I- I kinda got involved in an ac-accident with a villain and All M-Might saved me. I just wanted t-to ask him s-something and I... k-kinda latched onto him...?"

All Might sighed and placed his hand on Izuku's shoulder, making him flinch slightly. "Whatever happened was an accident, Tsukauchi-kun... Perhaps a bit of my fault as well, since I clearly stayed despite having the choice of just escaping."

Tsukauchi frowned and leaned back into his chair, "You do realize that this could be a huge problem for all three of us, right?"

Izuku's eyes widened with fear while All Might shrugged, "Not as long as it's not reported."

The detective rubbed his face with his palms and then rested them on the table, "You're asking me to take a huge risk. I was specifically appointed as your personal detective for many reasons...one of them being to report any and everything about troubles with your identity. This right here," he glanced at Izuku, "is a huge threat. And you want me to keep it under the wraps?"

All Might nodded, "Yes. I know you dislike the commission as much as I do, and that you do not appreciate being bound by them-"

"There's a civilian here!" Tsukauchi slammed his palms on the table, "control your damn mouth, Yagi!"

"I- you just revealed my name!"

"Holy sh- I'm losing composure because of you!"

"Sh-should I s-step outside?"

"NO!" Both the elders yelled, causing Izuku to flinch violently.

Groaning, Tsukauchi slapped his own forehead and gulped down an entire glass of water before sighing. "Look, Midoriya-kun, was it?"

"Y-Yes"

"I'll have to interrogate you. Trust me, kid, if I suspect your intentions, you'd better be prepared"

Izuku gulped and shivered slightly. All Might, having noticed the discomfort radiating from the terrified kid, scooted closer to place his arm on Izuku's shoulder, more comfortably this time.

"Don't use your commanding voice here, Tsukauchi. Midoriya shounen has already been through a lot today."

Tsukauchi narrowed his eyes at the hero, in a successful attempt at conveying, 'We'll talk about that later.'

"So, Midoriya." The detective started, setting up what looked like a recorder. "I'll be asking you a couple of questions and you'll have to answer me with the truth and truth only."

"O-Ok"

Attaching a small wired clip to his pinky, the other end of which was connected to the recorder, Tsukauchi pressed the record button. "Friday, 20th xxx, 20xx. This is detective Tsukauchi Naomasa interrogating civilian Midoriya in the presence of Pro-Hero All Might. All Might, please confirm."

"This is All Might, Hero License No. xxxxxx. I hereby swear to be a fair witness to this interrogation of Midoriya Izuku by detective Tsukauchi Naomasa."

"Thank you, All Might. Now, Midoriya-kun, please state your name, age, where you live and the reason you are here."

"A-ah.. I'm M-Midoriya Izuku. I'm 14 and I'm f-from Shiz-Shizuka P-Prefecture. I'm being in-interrogated because I s-saw All Might's true f-f-form."

All Might felt sorry for putting the kid through this. He seemed to be a good kid and perhaps this interrogation was hurting his conscience, making it seem like he had done something wrong or villain-like when in reality it was just a precautionary measure.

The interrogation lasted two more minutes and Izuku answered everything truthfully. Tsukauchi was satisfied with the answers and sighed in relief at the end. Poor Izuku could not contain his nausea from all the pressure and ended up puking.

"I am sorry, kid. I hope you can understand that it was necessary." Tsukauchi apologized and handed a lemon candy to Izuku.

Izuku accepted it with a small smile, "It's okay.. I can understand. E-especially because th-this is a secret that's n-not known and b-because it's a threat to A-All Might-"

Tsukauchi chuckled at Izuku's flushed face. "I'm glad. Well then, All Might-" he turned his gaze towards the hero, "-why don't you see this kid home and then we can talk."

Nodding, All Might stood up and thanked the detective as did Izuku. The latter insisted that he could go home by himself but All Might denied, stating that he wanted to take a stroll anyway. On the way back, Izuku felt incredibly awkward with his idol walking right beside him. This is definitely not how he had imagined their meeting would go- well, certainly not this long.

"Um... All Might." Izuku called, rubbing his arm. "I didn't tell you this before and maybe this is the last time we will meet so.... You-You're my No.1 hero a-and my idol. I have a-always looked up to you a-and I wanna b-be a hero like you!"

All Might stared at the teen with a subtle smile. It made him chuckle how Izuku closed his eyes when he exclaimed the last part and was now peeping through one eye.

"Thank you, Midoriya-shounen. I'm happy that I'm able to set a path but I wonder..." he started walking and gazed longingly at the evening sky. "Have I really been able to influence aspiring heroes towards the true path of heroism?"

It was certainly something he was supposed to muse to himself, given how he felt like he accomplished not much due to the meddlesome and political Hero Commission hindering young heroes' spirit and corrupting them. He only realized that he had said that out loud when Izuku started rambling about how good of a hero he was and how he is the 'One True Hero'.

"Midoriya-shounen... Why do you want to be a hero?"

"I..." Izuku fiddled with the straps of his backpack, "I want to save people..."

"Is that all?" All Might sounded slightly disappointed but that flew over Izuku's head. Saving people- anyone could do that with power without caring for the peripheral requirements to earn hefty sums.

Izuku turned his gaze towards the river and spoke as he walked. "Not save people in the moment of danger alone. I want to help people feel safe enough to live freely, to make friends, to have a bright future. I want to save people from themselves and from the unseen villains that leech of the negativity in people's hearts. I want.... I want to make the world a better place."

All Might was at a loss for words. The only expression he could make was a teary smile but Izuku was too busy fumbling with his fingers to notice the shimmer in his eyes.

"I see... That is admirable."

The rest of the walk was comfortably silent and soon enough, they reached Izuku's home. Izuku offered some tea which the hero refused politely, reminding Izuku that he had to meet up with Tsukauchi.

"Shounen, you asked me if you can be a hero without a quirk." All Might spoke after a pause and Izuku froze, ready to accept the same words as everyone else. "It's tough but not impossible."

Izuku's eyes watered and he had no idea how long he took to process that. With tears streaming down his face in silence, Izuku looked up at his idol who was smiling warmly at him.

"Then I shall work harder- harder than anyone!" Was all he could declare, his voice slightly muffled with tears.

All Might grinned and turned around to leave. "Always have back-up plans and trust the process, shounen. Maybe build some physical strength while you do so."

Izuku stared at All Might's receding figure and breathed in confidently. "T-Thank you! I will do my best!"

It took more than a couple of hours for Izuku to coax his mother into believing that he was fine and uninjured, an hour more to open up to her and an entire day to stop her from barging into the Bakugo's household to slam Katsuki's face into the floor.

"Do you want me to pull you out of that school, Izuku?" Inko asked, laying the breakfast on the table.

Izuku poured juice into their glasses and smiled. "Finals are just around the corner. I can get through this."

Inko nodded, though disappointed. "Did you turn in your application form, sweetie?"

"Oh yes, mom. I couldn't do that yesterday so I submitted it this morning."

Izuku wondered if this is the point from where he had to make back-up plans. Surely UA would not be unfair to him... right?

With a sigh, he decided to do some thorough research about UA and the different options of entry. It took him several hours to convince himself that blindly trusting UA with his future wasn't the best thing to do.

Days passed and Izuku managed to juggle time to prepare for his finals, the UA Hero Course Entrance exam as well as coming up with back-up options in case UA failed his faith in them. He picked up physical training to build strength. The drive to become a hero made him build strength a while ago but the constant bullying took a toll on him, causing him to abandon it. Izuku was starting to appreciate himself, albeit slowly, with the constant support of his mother.

One day as he scrolled through miscellaneous sources for information, he came across a blog with less than a few hundred views, the title of which read "THE HERO COMMISSION- THE VILLAIN PUPPETING HEROES."

It was a rather cryptic piece of information spanning a few paragraphs. Similar blogs were posted by the person on various dates much apart from each other. Though the information seemed more like an imperfectly framed rumor, something about it drew him to the article. He saved the link and tried to read something else to wave off the unsettling feeling that took over him. After a while, he gave in to curiosity and started reading the rest of the blogs under the pen name Qwil.

The pieces of information somehow lead to Izuku diving deeper into the history of the Commission. Needless to say, he wasn't happy with whatever he learnt. That helped him in forming the back-up options.

Izuku was glad he had options to resort to when the situation demanded. He was glad that All Might had reminded him to have such options.

He received an email one afternoon from the UA exam support.

(A/N: Wow... a year after the last update... I finally found time to breathe so here's an update. The chat will start in the next chapter, probably. Thank you to all those who waited patiently for this update)