Izuku Midoriya and the Philosopher's Stone

CHAPTER FOUR

While other kids spent their summers vacationing, camping, swimming and enjoying themselves, I, Izuku Midoriya, used every minute I had and All Might had to train.

Training consisted of lifting, dragging and pulling heavy things, on top of LOTS of sit-ups, push-ups, lunges, chin-ups, and pretty much any exercise you can think of. It was like the Training Camp from Hell. Normally, I would have dropped dead from the exhaustion and lack of sleep within a week. But with the reward in mind and the encouragement from All Might himself, there was no way I was going to allow myself to give up.

I didn't see much of Katsuki the weeks following the incident. We lived just a few blocks away from one another, but we might as well have lived on different planets. I thought about him from time to time between my training sessions, wondering if he had healed up from that attack by the dark wizard. It had been all over the news. The Daily Prophet interviewed Katsuki, and in the moving picture of him, he is grimacing and practically burning with rage. I could just read the eyes of the moving-photograph Katsuki, and I decided it was probably best that I not see him for a while.

The local muggle newspapers only reported that a madman crashed through the streets with a van before jumping out and holding a schoolboy hostage. Some of the national news stations and newspapers even picked up the story, but none of them gave any mention to me or All Might. It was likely the work of the aurors.

I was just relieved that my mom heard nothing about it. She was horrified to hear what had happened to Katsuki. She even went over to visit him and his mom. She tried to force me to come along, but I told her I was meeting a friend to go jogging.

My mom was very supportive of my initiative to work out every day. At first. But after a few weeks of hardly being home and coming back completely worn out and starving, she started to be concerned for my well-being.

"Izuku," she said one evening during the last week of July. "You're wearing yourself out. You should get some rest."

"Don't worry, mom," I said, forcing myself to smile reassuringly. Even the muscles in my face were sore. "I have a good trainer, and I know what my limits are."

"Why do you have this sudden urge to buff yourself up?" she asked as she watched me shovel a heaping plate of food into my mouth. "This isn't because you weren't accepted at Hogwarts, is it?"

It was as if she didn't realize what she was saying until the words had left her mouth. She suddenly covered her mouth and looked at me as if she expected me to burst into tears. If only I could tell her everything...

"No, Mom." I said, giving her another reassuring smile. "You'll understand one day. Just believe me when I say I have never been better!"

My calm smile seemed to somewhat convince her. At least she didn't bring it up to me again for the rest of the summer.

As July turned into August and the heat became unbearable, I continuously had the question hanging over me: Will I inherit One For All in time to go to Hogwarts?

I fretted about it day and night. But I couldn't dare ask All Might about it for fear he would think I was getting impatient.

Then it was the week before school at Hogwarts would start. All Might and I were sitting alongside the railroad tracks we had been jogging beside. I was wiping sweat from my forehead and sipping water from my All Might water bottle when the words suddenly just escaped my mouth.

"Hogwarts students already have all their school things," I said casually.

All Might looked at me with surprise, coughing up blood. He was currently in his skinny, sickly body. Because he needed to save his power for when he was needed for service, he was typically in his weaker form during training. I had grown used to him, and even his frequently coughing up blood did not concern me so much anymore.