It didn't take too long to gather more people around them and create a new alliance group chat with everyone who had their memories. There were still no adults involved, though. Shoto had tried to talk with Endeavor about Touya, but he wasn't having it. Instead, he doubled down on his training, putting even more unreasonable pressure on his son. That was only one of the reasons they hadn't been able to catch Momo or Tenya yet, let alone Yuga.
RedRiot♥️: Denki and I are gonna try to ambush Tenya at his cram school again tmrw
RedRiot♥️: Anyone up for joining??
Uravity🙃: Sry I've promised to help my parents out tmrw
Chargebolt⚡️: Doubt Shoto is gonna be free
Chargebolt⚡️: What bout @Dynamight💥 and @Pinky💕?? Wanna make it a squad outing??
Pinky💕: Omg yesss count me in!!
Tentacole🐙: I'm gonna try to get Koda back sometime around this weekend in case anyone wants to team up
Froppy🐸: Where do you think he'll be @Tentacole🐙?
RedRiot♥️: @Dynamight💥 you in or out for tmrw??
Dynamight💥: Stop having multiple conversations at once it's confusing as fuck
Dynamight💥: Also did you idiots srsly forget bout tmrw?
Chargebolt⚡️: What bout tmrw?? Is something important happening or smthg??
Dynamight💥: Try life changing
Uravity🙃: OMG that's tomorrow?!?!?!
Uravity🙃: Good luck @Deku📗!! Don't break a leg lol
Tsukuyomi⚫️: So it's already that time
Tsukuyomi⚫️: I wish you both the best of luck
Chargebolt⚡️: Can SOMEBODY tell me what's going on??
Deku📗: I'm going to meet All Might tomorrow
Deku📗: Or yk he's gonna save me and I'm gonna ask him if I can be a hero
Dynamight💥: @Deku📗 is gonna bring his fucking memories back like last time
Dynamight💥: Then we finally have an in in the hero scene
Tailman🐒: You can't blame Shoto for not holding up his end of the deal tho
Tailman🐒: Also @Tentacole🐙 when and where?? I'm free this weekend
Izuku watched the messages come in as a part of their group made plans for the weekend. It had been a while since they started this whole operation, and they still hadn't gathered the whole squad yet, but they were getting there. Still, tomorrow was a big day. If Izuku managed to get All Might in on this, like he had last time, the ball would truly start rolling. That's what they were hoping for, at least. God, Izuku felt nervous! Why, though? He knew how this was going to go, knew what All Might was gonna say, knew what he was going to say- and still.
Still Izuku was a ball of nerves and stress and he couldn't help but be anxious. Like a kid that can't sleep the day before they leave for a trip. He wasn't even scared his mentor wouldn't give him One For All, no, his friends had made it very clear that if the pro hero somehow changed his mind, they'd kill him themselves. If he even changed his mind at all, because that probability was way below zero according to the previous and also future class A... As if Kacchan could sense him stressing out, Izuku received a private message from his boyfriend.
Kacchan💥: You good for tomorrow??
Deku🥦: Could ask you the same
Deku🥦: But yeah I think I'll be fine
Kacchan💥: Good
Kacchan💥: I'm not going to be attacked so don't worry about me
Deku🥦: You don't know that
Deku🥦: Something could go wrong
Deku🥦: What if All Might doesn't remember?
Kacchan💥: He remembered just fine last time
Deku🥦: But what if he doesn't??
Deku🥦: I don't even know what I said or what triggered him
Kacchan💥: Izuku breathe
Kacchan💥: It'll be fine I won't be attacked and All Might will remember
Kacchan💥: I believe in you <3
Izuku's face flushed, flipping his phone screen down as he buried his head in his pillow. Part of him still couldn't believe Kacchan was actually his boyfriend- Had been over the course of several timelines now. That's how devoted he was to him. Izuku wasn't sure whether he deserved that, whether he was good enough to receive Kacchan's everlasting undying love. He couldn't imagine his life without him by his side, though. If something were to happen, if they didn't work out in the end, after all of this was over... Izuku wouldn't know what to do with himself.
Deku🥦: Thank you Kacchan <3
Kacchan💥: Just saying the truth nerd
Kacchan💥: Now sleep it's late
Izuku smiled at his screen, putting his phone on his nightstand after sending a quick goodnight text and flipping off the light. Kacchan was right, he should try and get some sleep. Tomorrow was a big day, after all. He sighed, his fingers tracing the beads of his bracelet. It was supposed to be a friendship bracelet, but Kacchan had used it to 'confess' to him not long after Izuku returned his memories to him. Izuku barely took it off, fiddling with the beads whenever he felt nervous or anxious.
Kacchan really cared about him, didn't he..?
//\\
\\//
He was ready. As ready as he'll ever be, at least. The bridge was looming over him in the distance, but Izuku wasn't scared. He knew what would happen, knew it would be painful and uncomfortable and absolutely disgusting- But it's what had to happen. He'll endure it. And then All Might would save him, and Izuku would bring back his mentor's memories. It was a simple, straightforward plan. It was supposed to be. It should've been.
But Izuku wasn't alone when the sludge villain attacked. He should've been. There had been no one else around before. Yet this time someone else was there, someone with a quirk based on wind or air pressure if Izuku had to guess. Because this guy blew the sludge villain straight off him, reducing him to a pool of goop on the ground only a few seconds after he forced himself onto Izuku.
"Oh my- Are you okay? I didn't hurt you, did I?" he asked, quickly pulling Izuku away from the villain. He was a young man, Izuku noted. No real defining features. Plain, like himself. Yet there was something in his eyes, something in the way he handled Izuku... There was something off about this guy, but Izuku couldn't really put his finger on it.
"DON'T FEAR, FOR I AM HERE!"
Izuku's head whipped around in an instant, watching All Might make his entrance. Amazing, like always. He took care of the sludge villain in no time, preventing an escape before sealing him away in the plastic bottles he'd been carrying.
"Don't worry! This scoundrel won't escape!" All Might declared, patting one of the bottles. "Now, I should get-"
"Wait!" Izuku called out. "Can you- Can I- Will you please sign my notebook!"
Izuku quickly grabbed his book, bowing down before his idol, hoping the stranger would leave now that the villain had been dealt with. Asking for a signature was supposed to buy him some time, to make sure he was alone when he grabbed onto the number one hero. He had no idea how it would reflect on him if the media found out about that, after all. But the stranger didn't leave, quite the contrary actually, he only got closer.
"Thank you so much, All Might. You truly are the greatest!" the man smiled.
"It's my pleasure!" All Might told them. "Now, I should get this villain to the police station. Stay safe!"
Just as Izuku was about to latch onto him, the man pulled him back, a seemingly innocent smile on his face.
"Careful there, young man! Wouldn't want to get caught up in a jump like that."
Izuku frowned, glancing back to see All Might had already left his line of sight.
"...Yeah, thanks," Izuku muttered, quickly perking up. "I mean it! Who knows what that villain would've done to me if you weren't around-"
"It's no problem," he smiled, shrugging it off. "I used to want to be a hero so I trained my quirk up quite a bit. The whole legal paperwork put me in though."
He laughed a bit at that, and Izuku tried to remember whether he'd ever seen a newbie hero like him, or that maybe he switched courses when he was still in high school. Shouldn't surprise him that the legal precautions were what were holding him back since he used his quirk out in the open on another person without a license. Not that Izuku could reprimand him for that, not after he saved him from an awful situation.
"Well, I'll be on my way then," Izuku said, giving the man a polite bow. "Thank you, again."
After that he took off, taking out his phone when he was about a block further in order to call Kacchan and tell him he fucked up. That he hadn't been able to get a private conversation with All Might, that he hadn't been able to bring back his memories- That he'd missed his chance on getting his hands on One For All.
"Izuku, calm down," Kacchan told him. "Breathe. It's going to be okay."
"I missed my chance, Kacchan! I screwed up and now-" Izuku rambled.
"You're not breathing, idiot," Katsuki scolded. "You haven't screwed up everything yet. We can still find a way to contact All Might or maybe even UA and you will get that quirk, I promise."
"I just- I don't understand what that guy was doing there!" izuku continued. "I've always been alone, there wasn't supposed to be anyone else! And he had the perfect quirk, Kacchan! It's like he-"
"You think he's with Jikan?" Katsuki interrupted, making Izuku's mouth snap shut. That's what he was implying, wasn't he? That the person who saved him before All Might came was there to deliberately sabotage his meet-up. It would make sense if he was with Jikan. They wanted to keep All Might at the top, erasing any trace of a successor would be a good move to make. "You think he was there on purpose?"
"They must've figured out that moment is important somehow," Izuku said. "Maybe they've already tried to meddle before, but it didn't work? Or maybe they were interfering with the wrong moment? When we came clean about One For All in our original time, All Might told the media about the sludge villain incident-"
"But he didn't tell them shit about your rooftop conversation," Katsuki ended. "Fuck. You really think those bastards have figured that out?"
"Why else would that man be there? It's all too convenient," Izuku frowned. "It's possible that if the timeline gets rewinded again, they'll stop me again. We can't use that encounter as a given anymore."
"Ugh, this is so annoying," Katsuki groaned. "But fine, whatever, we'll deal with it. Where are you now?"
"Almost home."
"Good. I'm coming over," Katsuki huffed, hanging up the call. Izuku sighed, pocketing his phone again. Of course that guy was related to Jikan! How did he not see it before?! Did Izuku really have to say things out loud before he could string his thoughts together? Is that where his muttering habit came from? Must be, right? He tried not to think about it too much. Instead he wondered how the hell he was going to explain this to the rest of their squad. Luckily Kacchan seemed to have that part covered, organizing an online video call that evening to inform everyone of what happened and their Jikan member theory.
"Are you serious," Ochako groaned, letting her head fall into her hands. "At this rate we're never gonna get an adult involved!"
"Jikan is gonna be a pain in the ass from now on," Katsuki grunted from next to Izuku. "We don't know which other moments they plan on messing with so everyone needs to watch the fuck out and report any suspicious activity to Assembly, got it?"
There were murmurs of yeses and several people nodded along as Kacchan spoke.
"On a more positive note," Denki added. "We've managed to catch Tenya!"
"Really?" Izuku gasped. That was good news.
"Why didn't you tell me that sooner, dunce face! I could've added him to the meeting!" Katsuki hissed.
"Chill dude, you can still add him now," Eijirou said as Kacchan tapped away on his pc, already ahead of him.
"If Tenya remembers, maybe he can make Ingenium remember, too?" Tsuyu suggested. "He's a well respected pro hero, right? And a UA alumni if I'm not mistaken."
"He can get us into contact with UA!" Izuku exclaimed. "We can bring back all the teachers- I can ask All Might and- and-"
"And all this shit will be solved," Katsuki finished. "Good thinking, froggy."
"Wow, a Katsuki compliment," Ochako whistled jokingly. "Better treasure that one, Tsu."
"I'll frame it on my wall," she answered, going along with the bit.
"Damn girl, you're gonna make me jealous," Mina laughed.
"All you fucking extras shut up, I'm bringing in glasses now," Katsuki snapped, making the call go silent for a moment. That moment was over once Tenya's face appeared on screen and everyone went wild. It took a while to settle down, but once everyone was focussed again, they were quick to devise a new strategy. With Tenya's help, and by extension also Tensei's, they'd be able to get inside UA and get the staff on their side. Hopefully that would mean All Might was going to agree to giving Izuku One For All again, and maybe the teachers could talk some sense into Endeavor too while they're at it.