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Sometimes, you wake up and know that the day is going to be a lot. You have a feeling, an instinct, that something is going to happen, or you have plans, or the world was on a precipice when you went to sleep, and has tipped over during the night.
Sometimes, you have no idea. The morning feels like any other day, unremarkable and lacking in world-altering events, and things take you by surprise.
And sometimes, you wake with a feeling, something you can’t pin down, just a pricking on the back of your neck and a tension with no obvious source, that follows you through the day. Sometimes it ends up being nothing, and sometimes it’s proven. Actually, thinking about it now, that’s probably just Anxiety.
Yagi Toshinori was familiar with all of these feelings, and so when he woke up the day of a regular doctor’s appointment feeling like he was on the cusp of a worldview and life-altering event, he was on his guard, though it would turn out he would be nowhere near on guard enough.
—
Yagi Toshinori had just come out of one of his regular rounds of scans, and he wasn’t feeling at his best.
He was tired, and sore, and the chronic pain he felt, not only where his injury compromised and marred his stomach, but through his whole body, right down to his bones, was starting to wear on him, and while his actual health had been steadily improving, he hadn’t slept very well the night before, kept up by frequent coughing fits and cramping muscles. As a result, young Midoriya had offered to accompany him, and after lots of denying and insisting and relenting, his protege had joined him, waiting patiently in the waiting room with some maths homework while Toshinori was being poked and prodded by Recovery Girl and some of her most trusted medical colleagues.
He had to admit, having Midoriya greet him happily as he excited the depths of the hospital did make him feel a little better.
They set out, back towards UA, taking their time and enjoying being off school grounds without being in full hero or media mode, talking about anything that came to mind, and despite the generally pleasant day and very good company, Toshinori still didn’t feel at his best, and mostly just wanted to take a nap to try and catch up with some of his missed sleep, and the niggling anxiety he had been feeling all day, which he had hoped would abate after his appointments, was making him twitchier that he thought was really warranted.
Just as they were rounding the corner to the bus stop near Musutafu General, there was a crash, and then a moment of quiet, and then the screaming began.
That was definitely not good.
Both Yagi and Midoriya tensed, Midoriya dropping into a ready stance and Yagi instinctually trying to do the same, reaching for One For All, only remembering he couldn’t anymore when his brief transformation into All Might gave him a violent coughing fit, curling in on himself and covering his mouth as he hacked up his lungs, momentarily distracting Midoriya from where his gaze was focused on the source of the noise and making him glance at Yagi in concern and pat him firmly on the back.
As he was catching his breath, a group of people wearing very stereotypical ski masks and black gloves careened around the corner, screaming and yelling, driving a flatbed truck at high speed down the busy street, nearly hitting other cars and pedestrians before crashing into the front of a bank.
Immediately, it was chaos.
People were running away from the scene, towards it, aimlessly. They were screaming, panicking, scared; especially near the front of the bank building, where debris and people were scattered and the truck was now smoking as the villains inside rushed the bank.
Yagi hated how familiar it was.
The helplessness though, that was still new.
Midoriya hesitated only a moment before rushing into action, taking only a moment to quickly shout to Yagi over the mounting sounds of chaos.
“You need to get away. It’s not safe here!”
And with that, he was gone, only the lingering green sparks of one for all where his protégé once stood.
Yagi didn’t hesitate either, and ran as quickly as he could to where he could see a woman lying shocked and breathing heavily on the ground next to the destroyed building front.
As he helped her get her breathing under control so he could guide her away from what he was realising was a structurally compromised building, he heard shouting, able to make out Midoriya’s voice attempting to convince the villains to end things peacefully.
Given the fact that the shouting soon turned to crashes and yells, Yagi could guess how that had gone.
There was a sudden bang nearby and a section of rubble next to him was blown outwards and a villain flew through it, thudding to the ground and rolling before coming to a stop, groaning in pain.
Yagi brought his arm up to shield his eyes, and caught a glimpse of Midoriya as he turned back into the bank.
He looked at the hole in the wall. He looked at the villain still groaning on the ground. He looked back into the bank, at the civilians still inside and then steeled himself.
He should probably clear the area.
Oh, and he should also call the police. That would be helpful.
As he began shouting and gesturing to the people inside, using his status as the retired No.1 hero to gain their attention and guide them to relative safety, he got out his phone and made a call, talking between shouts to civilians and keeping out of the way of the still ongoing and surprising even fight, eventually managing to clear the area.
He directed people to carry those who were injured, no longer able to do so himself, and tried to make sure people would actually stay away once they had left.
As he ushered the last of the civilians out, he paused to double check he hadn’t missed anyone, momentarily distracted by the still ongoing fight and one of the villains scrambling out of another hole in the wall as the building creaked ominously, dust falling at every impact.
That was a mistake.
He missed one of the other villains sneaking up on him, missed the chunk of concrete being lifted to hit him over the head, missed as Midoriya spotted this and bounced off the walls to get to him.
He didn’t miss Midoriya’s familiar grunt of concealed pain, or the snap of breaking bones.
He was frozen, could only stare at the pained expression on his protege’s face, only unfrozen when Midoriya spoke.
“Save yourself, I’ll hold them back.”
He was trying to sound confident, but Yagi could tell he was beginning to tire, that he was struggling, and he saw small trails of blood streaking through the dust caked with sweat onto his face. Underneath it, he was still just a kid. Underneath, he was still scared.
Yagi turned and dashed out of the building, catching a glimpse of another villain gripping Midoriya’s arm and squeezing, and as he emerged into the bright light of the outside world, where police had now sectioned off the area, he heard the sharp cry and soft whimper as Midoriya’s broken arm was yanked and the boy thrown into the air once again.
Yagi winced in sympathy and worry, but kept moving, waving off a medic who approached with an emergency blanket, but relenting to the quick medical once over.
He would only be in the way if he stayed, after all.
As he stood just behind the police barricade, he watched, straining to listen and make sure Midoriya was okay, that he would make it out without too much further injury as he felt his world tilt on his axis.
Now he was the one who needed saving, and his successor was the one doing it.
He could only hope he would end up better than Yagi had.