- As the winter holidays get closer, the Japanese are used to...

The presenter paused: a technician wearing a headset with a microphone stepped into the camera's field of view. He handed her a piece of paper.

The presenter glanced quickly through the documents, then raised her sharp eyes to the camera: her face hardened, her gaze became sharper.

- We've just learned that a new Hero was found murdered in his Tokyo home last night

Ryota turned up the volume.

- Investigators immediately ruled out suicide, as the method of murder was similar to that of Heroes Yoneda Mitsuharu and Kikyo Kosami, from Maebashi and Saitama respectively.

Ryota leaned forward, his mouth half open, his leg twitching nervously from lack.

- An internal source has informed us that this is a gang dispute and that the aforementioned heroes are part of a drug importing network that was recently dismantled by agents of the Heroic Commission.

Ryota smiled.

Divert attention and seize the moment.

The Commission had just killed two birds with one stone, avoiding the social uproar that would have inevitably followed if it had become known that Tokyo's terrorist kingpin, All for One, was still alive and targeting Japanese Heroes from now on, while at the same time highlighting the Commission's excellent skills.

All for One may have been trying to destabilise the country, but it wasn't the first terrorist group Ryota had had to undermine.

It had taken nearly a decade to wipe out the Yakuza, but they'd done it: he refused to let his predecessor's clean sweep be ruined because some cockroach who refused to die wanted to kidnap a weird teenager.

Even if his Quirk was worrying, there was no need to panic : All for One wasn't the first, and certainly wouldn't be the last, to possess a power capable of threatening the integrity of a nation.

The proof : Shoto Todoroki.

Even if no one really understood what he was capable of, Ryota wasn't worried.

Hawks - not one to get ahead of himself - had repeatedly assured him in his weekly reports that he was developing a relationship of trust with the boy, and that if the need arose, he could easily convince him to join forces with them.

Yes, All for One wasn't exactly Ryota's main concern: the Peace Symbol duo wanted him dead just as much as he did, and they'd swoop in as soon as they heard he'd grazed Japanese soil.

On top of that, the Commission's agents had spent the last few weeks flushing out the All for One bases and destroying them one by one...

Perhaps he should thank Todoroki for that. Without his legendary violence, they wouldn't have been able to identify any of Nagano's attackers.

All they had to do now was wait for the day when All for One would come out of his hole.

If things got out of hand, Ryota would ask his superiors to call in the special forces. As long as Jin Woo was around...

All for One was not Ryota's top priority.

What preoccupied him at the moment was the rat.

- I'm not sure I understand what you're referring to, Nezu's smooth voice replied on the other end of the phone. Could you be more specific?

Ryota blinked.

He opened his desk drawer, rummaged around and pulled out an old caramel candy still in its wrapper.

He unwrapped it, smelled it, licked one of its sides and then, feeling no sourd taste, tossed it into his mouth and began to suck on it.

Leaning back in his chair, hands clasped over his stomach, Ryota stared at the ceiling, hoping to catch a glimpse of one of the dreamlike images that had populated his days for the past few years.

His leg twitched violently.

Ryota put his hands on it to immobilise it, his eyes still up.

- What is the one for all ?

Silence.

Of course.

- Are you referring to the conversation I had with Tomura Shigaraki?

Ryota snorted disdainfully.

A short pause for thought, then a question to divert the conversation.

The rat really thought he was a complete idiot.

- Have you ever mentioned the One for All in any other conversation ?, Ryota asked calmly.

- It was the first time I'd heard of it.

Fluid, imperturbable.

Lies flowed as easily as truth from his verminous mouth.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

- And yet you seemed to know everything about what Shigaraki was talking about, since you didn't see fit to question him.

- You yourself know that the lucidity of the prisoners of Tartarus is more than limited, countered Nezu. I decided to concentrate on what seemed to be the most important thing before I lost all his attention.

- So you preferred to waste your time discussing children's stories? (Ryota laughed dryly) And you're the one who's supposed to have the superior intellect !

A pause.

Ryota put his hand over his mouth to hide his smile, although Nezu couldn't see it.

- I decided, Nezu said, articulating every syllable correctly, That since we didn't have access to All for One's location, we'd better find out what his plans were.

Which was exactly what anyone else in his position would have done.

- And what plans, Ryota said, scorn oozing from his voice. All for One wants to turn a myth into reality

Another pause.

Nezu may have been the smartest thing in the world, but he was still an animal with more instinct than reason. And he had a monstrous ego to boot.

All you had to do was brush his fur in the wrong way long enough and he'd go off the rails.

After all, intelligence didn't equal wisdom.

- ...until proven otherwise, All for One isn't crazy. If he's interested in the Origin of Quirks, he must see a possibility in it...

Which - Ryota painfully admitted - he agreed with.

But once again, Nezu tried to distract him.

Even if Ryota was sure that All for One was really trying to recreate the Origin of Quirks, he wouldn't be able to predict his course of action until he had a global view of the situation - which included understanding point 2 of 3 of All for One's delirious project, i.e. understanding what the One for All was all about.

Worst of all, Ryota was sure that Nezu had this global view.

And if Nezu had it, then Ryota could only imagine the worst.

Because if the rat managed to get one over All for One and get his hands on the method for making synthetic Quirks...

- This One for All, you must have some idea what it is, right?

Short wait.

- In name, it seems to be a power opposite to that of All for One.

Ryota didn't answer.

He'd deduced as much: on the other hand, he'd expected Nezu to evade or even force his hand.

But perhaps Nezu had anticipated Ryota's predictions and cut him off to silence his suspicions.

- What kind of Quirk does that make you think of ?

Ryota was pushing his luck as much as he was testing Nezu.

- If we consider that the All for the One takes the Quirks, then I imagine that the One for All should be able to redistribute them. Hence the name, which would imply the idea of 'all powers for one' and 'one power for all'.

Ryota didn't answer, pondering.

- Well, that would only cover part of All for One's power, since we know he's able to take and give Quirks. I'm afraid the semantics don't shed much light on the matter.

Perhaps he was telling the truth.

Or maybe he was trying to fool him with false benevolence.

Ryota began to pick dead skin from his lower lip, his sharp gaze riveted on the phone.

He'd completely forgotten his craving.

- If you have nothing else to tell me, I'll leave you to it. I've got some worrying business to attend to.

- Nothing serious, I hope, Ryota replied in a tone that both he and Nezu knew was indifferent.

Ryota would have loved to have Nezu followed, but it was impossible : even if he wasn't the only one to distrust him as if he were the devil himself, Nezu was very powerful and had an excellent network of friends.

And this country was a democracy : dubious practices were good for dictatorships.

- Nothing serious compared to the matters that concern you, said Nezu. Have a nice day, Mr Nishimura. Don't worry, if I ever find out more about this famous One for All, I'll come to your office as soon as possible to tell you in person.

Bastar-

He hung up.

*

Author's note :

Is it merely a theory or the truth ?

Meh, who knows...

Tell me about your theories (or whatever else you want in the comments).

If you want to support the story/read ahead of schedule up to 27 chapters, then go check the story's P@treon, Nar_cisseENG

As always, see you in the next update everyone !