Framed

Verdict

Toshinori felt no regret as he stared at the clump of green hair clenched tight in between his fingers. He seethed with anger and his teeth ground against each other as he sat in his room, elbows digging into his skinny thighs. He doubted he'd ever felt this angry before, besides at the USJ or every time he even thought about All For One. In fact, right now he was probably even angrier than he had been. His lips were pulled into a snarl, he couldn't keep smiling. Not when the boy he had taught to do the same was currently in prison for manslaughter.

He swung the door open to Naomasa's office a couple of hours after placing the green strands of DNA of to the side for safekeeping. Normally Toshinori would have felt a little off about that. About keeping literal strands of hair from a living person that he conversed with on a daily basis. Still, it was for the best. He quickly stuffed the hair into a small plastic baggie and he zipped it up from the top of the plastic material.

Taking a seat in a small brown cushioned chair on the other side of Naomasa, he stared at him past the mounds of paperwork stacked on top of his smooth and long metal table. Naomasa looked up and dropped the blue ballpoint pen onto the table with a heavy sigh. He took off the reading glasses from behind his ears, folded the ends inward to rest behind the two transparent prescription lenses, and meticulously placed them onto the table beside the mounds of documents stashed on top of his desk. Naomasa listened to Toshinori rant offering small comments of encouragement, critique, and understanding.

He plopped onto his bed afterward, letting it cave in underneath his weight. Venting to Tsukauchi ultimately made him feel a little better. It made him feel less betrayed by his previous successor. But now that his head was a little clearer he realized the grave mistake that he had so foolishly made...
He grunted somewhat quietly in frustration and dragged his hands over his face, stretching out the skin.

One For All. The power that had to be decidedly given. It couldn't have been taken away by force like the name All For One suggested. Toshinori felt like an idiot for forgetting. He had not actually taken away One For All from him, he couldn't. Midoriya had to decide himself to pass on the power to someone else. Toshinori doubted he would want to willingly give away power. No one would. Once you get a feeling you simply can't get enough. And that goes for anybody, Midoriya was no different.

He desperately hoped that Izuku—No. He didn't even know if he could call him that. Nor did he even know if that was even his name to begin with. He honestly didn't even know what was real and what wasn't anymore—would forget that fact. That he would think that he no longer had possession of the quirk that he had impulsively given to him.

The only thing he truly regretted was letting the boy into his life. Maybe if he hadn't given him the quirk that faithful day in that alleyway. But now that he has, all that has come of it is destruction. Everything had been a deep and cruel lie from the beginning. Their relationships. The loving smiles and looks of admiration that he gave everybody, including strangers he had never met before in his life. He should have known. Everything was too pure to be true. How he seemingly never lied, how everyone had been drawn to him one way or another. How even Todoroki, the stone-cold, emotionless son of the previous number two hero, had been warmed so ferociously by the facade of purity. It disgusted Toshinori to most of his ability. He would never have suspected he would be disgusted by his own successor. The boy he thought would have become the best hero in the history of heroes.

He had let himself be drawn in by the act too and it made him. He despised it to the best of his abilities. He had made so many mistakes and it led to something he could never have expected.

He only fell back into his anger of hours ago, fingernails pinching his own skin where fresh cuts had just started to heal. He slammed his hand on the bedside table, the lamp rattling and the lightbulb flickering slightly.