My Hero Automata

Chapter 47: I-Island (Expo Day 3)

Summary: How to jumpstart your elder hero with performance issues!

Chapter 47: I-Island (Expo Day 3)

Aside from the meeting with Star and Stripe, the first two days of the I-Expo had been mostly business. Given their own recognized expertise in Quirk Energy Theory, Izumi and Momo couldn't avoid giving a few lectures and attending some seminars and round tables on the topic. Likewise, there was some limited dealing for Aegis to be done. Truth be told, the Expo wasn't as heavily used for business dealing as one might think. Oh, It was primarily a place to brag, make the public aware of things exciting things that would be coming down the pipeline for them to buy into in the future, and awe said public with all the cool stuff. A few boring 'parties' would see serious business discussed, but they were more the sort of thing the Yaoyorozu Group handled, not the privately-held Aegis Inc. Despite that fact, there were always at least a handful of new deals to at least get the ball rolling on, typically related to whatever new reveals had been made. Izumi and Momo had gotten off lightly this time, since the most interesting new developments were firmly in Melissa's area, and they'd cheerfully thrown her under the bus as a 'learning experience.'

As a result of Melissa's unwilling sacrifice, aside from a need to attend the I-Island Gala that would finish off the Expo, Izumi, Momo and 2B were able to get free from their business obligations by day three. Which was good, as they were now attending a pre-planned meeting of another sort. David Shield was in attendance, despite this being an Aegis Inc lab facility, and All Might was looking extremely confused about why they'd all ganged up on him to collectively drag him into said lab. Momo, as both his direct successor and arguably the most charismatic of those present, was the one to get the ball rolling on an explanation for their mentor.

"So! We've invited you here today, All Might-sensei, to deal with the issue of your diminishing reserves of One for All."

Toshinori, in his regular form despite Momo calling him All Might, straightened in alarm as he looked at...David Shield. Momo and Izumi sighed, Izumi taking over to take the blame for this bit.

"Yes, we informed David about One for All. In truth, we'd assumed you'd already told him. He's literally the world's greatest expert on Quirck Energy Theory, with only 2B, myself, Momo, and his daughter being even in vague shouting distance. Given the nature of One for All, you not availing yourself of his expertise, particularly after your injury, wasn't something we'd even considered. We quickly realized our mistake, of course...but went ahead with our plan and told him anyway. Whatever your reasons for not doing so, we've worked with him before and felt able to trust him with the information. Our current assumption is that you may not have told him because of Melissa?"

All Might winced, sighed, and slumped.

"No. That was a contributing factor later on, after I started looking for a successor. But the original reason was much more pedestrian. My partnership with David happened while I was, effectively, in hiding from All for One. At that time, I had personally told no one. All those aware of One for All had been made so by my predecessor, not myself. Something that didn't change until after I returned to Japan and began my assault on All for One's operations. After that, David and I were rarely in the same place at the same time, and it's not information I've ever been willing to reveal any other way than in person. Especially not on I-island, with all its monitoring?"

David, who'd been looking a little tense at the start, had slowly relaxed as the explanation. He even nodded at the last bit, answering the implied question at the end.

"That sadly makes sense. Though you needn't worry about that monitoring here." His voice turned wry a moment later as he gestured at 2B. "For some reason, Aegis Inc has always been able to keep I-Island security out of its affairs."