UA's Immortal Teacher

Part 37

Endeavor dropped down into his office chair, sitting down for perhaps the first time that day. Ever since he had become the new #1 hero, he had been working almost twice as much, barely stopping to eat or sleep. The flames that were his signature part of his hero costume flickered out as he sighed, a deep exhale that rattled deep in his chest.

Until now, he had usually come home for dinner with the few family members that still ate with him, but now he didn't even have time to complete the drive back to his house, let alone stop for anything once he was there. He had only seen Shoto, Natsuo, and Fuyumi once since the fateful fight between All For One and All Might.

And he kept having to ask himself if he was really happy with his new spot as the number 1 hero. Ever since that night, he had gotten everything he ever thought he wanted, but it felt empty somehow. He had finally surpassed All Might, but it wasn't because he had become better or done more, but because All Might had grown weaker. Even as he grew weaker, he still kept his spot at the top of the hero rankings. And that stung. It stung that even as All Might decreased in strength, he was still better than Endeavor had ever been.

So, no. He wasn't happy. He was angry. And he didn't even know what he was angry at. Was it All Might, for being better than him the entire time? Or was it All For One, for robbing him of the pleasure of beating All Might?

Or was it himself, for being so incompetent that he couldn't even manage to beat someone who didn't have a stomach? How could he accept the position knowing that he would never measure up to All Might? He felt like a failure.

Because how could he look his children in the eyes, knowing everything he had put them through, when he hadn't managed to finish his goals? He had always told them that they were the ones that were going to have to surpass his rival, that they had a responsibility to finish what he started. And then Touya had...

"Endeavor, sir," his head shot up to see one of his sidekicks standing just inside the door hesitantly, like he wasn't sure if he was supposed to interrupt or not. "The last batch of paperwork from yesterday was completed. All we need is your signature."

Endeavor groaned lightly, rubbing a hand roughly over his face. He waved his hand forward, and the other man dropped a small stack of faded white papers onto his desk. The worst part of being a hero has to be the paperwork. There would be no way to get all of this done if I didn't have a whole squad of interns dedicated to it.

He dutifully signed the paperwork, making sure to cross all the t's and dot all of the i's. Every single incident report for the past day was in there, and he realized he could barely remember some of them. He had been so caught up in his inner crisis with the new #1 hero position that he had been acting on auto-pilot all day, taking out lower-level villains with little to no fuss.

Foolish, Endeavor thought, how can you claim to be the best hero if you can't even pay attention to your surroundings while on patrol? While All Might and Izuku-sensei were battling him, all you did was stand back and take care of the Nomu like the rest of them.

Logically, he knew that fighting against All For One wouldn't have been a good idea since he could steal his quirk, but he couldn't help but feel resentful. Izuku-sensei had been able to stay, and when he asked why All For One hadn't taken his quirk like he did Ragdoll's, he had immediately changed the subject. It wasn't even a subtle subject change. He literally went, 'So... uh, do you like soccer?' Then he winced and pretended to fall asleep.

Then the nurses had gotten panicked and thought there were adverse reactions to his injuries, and Endeavor had never gotten his question answered. He is really bad at lying for someone who has so many secrets...