Yoichi Shigaraki staggered down the darkened street, clutching his bleeding arm. The suburban houses blurred and doubled. He blinked back the spots behind his eyes. He'd been on the run from his obnoxiously persistent older brother for months. All for One had been hunting him so hard, he'd only been able to sleep a few hours at a time. His throbbing head and the cough building up in the back of his throat told him he couldn't keep that up for much longer.
Hopefully the explosion he'd narrowly escaped would throw his brother off his trail. His exhaustion had slowed his reflexes so badly, he'd nearly died.
He'd already passed on his metahuman ability. At this rate, he wouldn't be able to hold out much longer. He was heading towards a hard decision about how much he valued his life versus his freedom. If only he had another way to escape besides dying fighting.
Yoichi screeched to a halt next to a silver DeLorean car. This was no normal old-fashioned vehicle. It had a strange metal box strapped on top, a pipe and jets sticking out the back, glowing wires running along the frame, and a sign taped to the windshield reading "Free to Whoever Needs This."
"It looks like the time machine from Back to the Future," Yoichi muttered. Superhero movies had been his childhood favorite, but that film had been a close second. He and his brother had both loved the classic movie before…well, before his older brother had decided to become a melodramatic villain who wanted to take over the world despite not being able to fasten his tie properly and it all went downhill from there.
Since he could use a free car to get out of here as quickly as possible, he tried the handle. It opened without resistance.
The inside of the car confirmed that it had been created to imitate Back to the Future. The dashboard had a dial where he could enter what time he wanted to travel to. A fan's creation, obviously. It couldn't be real. Yet it amused Yoichi to fantasize about traveling somewhere his older brother couldn't find him. He turned the dial to a hundred years and kept twisting.
It came as a complete shock to him when he let go and the car shot forward in a shower of blue and red sparks. The air crackled and ripped, then both Yoichi and the car vanished.
An apple pie or a pumpkin pie? Yoichi stood before the grocery shelf, considering.
Arriving in the future with nothing except the clothes on his back and a long-expired credit card hadn't been easy. It had taken him months to find a job, get off the streets, and finally sign the lease for his new apartment. The pie would be a treat to celebrate his new home.
He owed a great deal to the charity All Might had established to help the quirkless. (Apparently that was what people like him were called now.) He'd long ago lost even the dying embers of One for All, so he'd qualified. All Might was a true hero, and Yoichi hoped to have a chance to meet him someday. He also wondered what had happened to that transferrable quirk of his. Perhaps someday he'd find the latest wielder, too.
Despite his difficulties, Yoichi had never once regretted his leap through time. No one had heard of All for One in the future, which meant he could finally stop looking over his shoulder. Besides, there were so many cool quirks these days. The point was moot: the DeLorean had vanished shortly after dropping him off, likely off to help more people.
He deserved two pies: one to celebrate no longer being homeless and one to celebrate escaping his crazy brother. Yoichi reached out with both hands.
"Will you stop standing there and hurry up—" the speaker abruptly cut off with an intake of breath.
Yoichi's hackles rose. He knew that voice. His older brother, Hisashi Shigaraki.
Very slightly, he turned his neck, taking care to hide his face behind his hair. The tiny peek was enough to reveal the tall man standing behind him had curly white hair, red eyes, and freckles. Most damning of all was the wide-eyed stare of grief and longing. Somehow, All for One must have obtained an immortality quirk. Yoichi despaired over the unfairness of the universe. Of all the grocery stores in the world, why had his big brother walked into this one?
But if Hisashi hadn't grabbed him yet, then he hadn't recognized him. Yoichi knew his brother's lack of respect for personal space and bodily autonomy very well. Most likely, Hisashi believed he'd died in that explosion since he'd vanished shortly afterward. This situation might still be salvageable.
"Sorry," Yoichi mumbled in a deliberately raspy voice. Holding his pies, he edged sideways, keeping his face turned away.
A hand shot out to grab him and spin him around. His hair slipped back, revealing his green eyes.
Hisashi's mouth opened in a slight oh. He looked like a man stumbling through the desert who'd laid eyes on an oasis and didn't know if it was real or a mirage.
Act natural. What would an ordinary person say? Yoichi glared. "Excuse me, do I know you? Why did you grab me?" He summoned both his acting ability and his battle nerves to sound confused and mildly indignant.
Hisashi shook his head as if shaking off a curse. His grip fell away. "I thought you were someone else. You look just like him." His voice wavered.
"Apology accepted." Yoichi turned away. He forced himself to walk slowly. One step…two steps…
Hisashi grabbed his shoulder again. It took all of Yoichi's willpower not to throw off the touch.
"What do you want?" Yoichi suppressed a cough, knowing it could give him away. He also shifted his shopping basket behind his back to hide the shampoo, conditioner, hair spray, tonic, clips, a kit of combs, and a blow dryer. His brother used to constantly complain about how much he spent on haircare products. It would be mortifying to get caught for such a stupid reason.
"What's your name? What part of Japan did your family come from?" The command in Hisashi's tone matched his harsh, demanding gaze.
So Hisashi thought he might be a descendant of their family? It was better than the truth, but Yoichi couldn't afford to let his brother take even the mildest of interest in him. If he didn't put an immediate end to this, he'd eventually be unmasked.
He had an inspiration. Though the very notion nauseated him, that was how he knew it would work.
Pushing back his hair, Yoichi winked flirtatiously. "Are you hitting on me?" He giggled. "For a handsome man like you, I'd be happy to give you my phone number." He reached out to almost-but-not-quite touch the other's chest.
Hisashi leapt backward. Horror covered his features. He gagged as if he might vomit.
The feeling was mutual, of course, but Yoichi had been desperate. Please let the trauma of having his dead brother's doppelgänger try to seduce him make him go away. This had better be worth the permanent scar to my psyche.
"That wasn't what I meant in the slightest. I'm a married man." Hisashi held up his hand, flashing a golden ring.
His older brother had gotten married? What poor lost soul had he tricked into unholy matrimony? Yoichi's face twisted in revulsion. Hopefully it would be mistaken for embarrassment at being rejected. "I'm so sorry. I won't trouble you any further." He walked away rapidly.
This time, no grasping hands came after him. Although it had cost him his dignity, he'd thoroughly removed any trace of his brother's suspicions. He was going straight home, packing his bags, and leaving town. He might even flee Japan if he could obtain a fake passport.
Behind him, he heard a woman say, "Hisashi, did you find the pie yet?"
Like Orpheus who'd almost escaped the Underworld, Yoichi looked over his shoulder.
A green haired woman with a kind smile approached, holding a baby on her hip. The adorable little boy had her hair color and his brother's curls and freckles.
"YOU REPRODUCED?" Yoichi shrieked.
Hisashi whirled around. "I KNEW IT WAS YOU, YOU LYING LITTLE DESTROYER OF MY LAST NERVE!"
"Hey, cool, I'm an uncle." A bubble of happiness formed under Yoichi's chest. Then reality set in upon the sight of Hisashi's blazing eyes and the red dots forming on his palms.
There was only one thing to do. Yoichi threw both pies at his brother's face. Then he ran.
OMAKE TIME!
Omake: Younger Siblings Can't Stop Stealing Older Ones' Stuff
Hisashi: (Wiping pie off his face.) You're dead, foolish little brother.
Yoichi: (Turns around and runs back.)
Hisashi: Uh. What are you doing back here so soon?
Yoichi: I forgot something. (Picks up Inko and Izuku, then runs off.)
Hisashi: YOU'RE DEAD, FOOLISH LITTLE BROTHER!
#
Omake: Let's Give the Entire Shigaraki Family a Turn to Time-Travel
Author: Yoichi, I'm sorry I made fun of your name so much. I've looked up some of the alternative interpretations, and it's not so bad. To apologize, I got you a present.
Yoichi: A time machine? You're never this generous. What's the catch?
Author: Absolutely nothing.
Yoichi: I'm going to use this to travel into the future where my brother can't find me.
Author: Heh.
Yoichi: Why did you make that sound?
Author: It's your imagination.
#
Omake: A Hundred Years Ago
Hisashi: Little brother, now that my business is taking off, we can afford all the haircare products you desire.
Yoichi: I'm not going to ignore you killing people in exchange for a cheap bribe.
Hisashi: You mean an expensive bribe. I got you L'Oréal, because you're worth it.
#
Omake: Yoichi Will Never, Ever Live It Down
Yoichi: You're the worst brother ever. You stuck me inside a bank vault.
Hisashi: You flirted with me in a creepily incestuous way.
Yoichi: T-that was just a ruse! It almost worked, too!
Hisashi: We're even now.
Yoichi: We most certainly are not even!
Hisashi: You're right. It traumatized me so much, I think you owe me another few years in the vault.
#
Omake: Another Old Movie—Adventures in Babysitting
Hisashi: Inko, darling, good news! We can still go out to see that play tonight. I found a backup babysitter. (He holds up Yoichi, who's been bound head to toe in chains.)
Yoichi: (Unable to speak through his gag.) Mmph! Mmph!
Inko: Um. I appreciate you trying so hard to keep our date night, but…uh…I don't think this is a good idea. He doesn't look…reliable.
Hisashi: Nonsense. I might have to chain him to the radiator to keep him from running off, but I'm confident he'll take good care of Izuku.
Inko: That sounds like a fire hazard. I'm afraid I must overrule you.
Hisashi: Come on, you'll let Kurogiri and Gigantomachia babysit, but you won't let my own brother?
Inko: Both your creepy shadow corpse friend and your giant natural disaster friend were very nice and polite, so I made an exception. But you can't kidnap strangers off the street to babysit our son…wait. Did you say he's your brother?
Yoichi: Mmph! Mmph!
Hisashi: He said he's very pleased to meet you.
#Actually, Yoichi said "Someone call All Might" #But he is pleased to meet his sister-in-law
Author's Note: This story introduces Yoichi, my newest version of the First. He's a bit more mischievous, sarcastic, and he works harder to keep his hair looking nice unlike some Firsts who were naturally blessed. And he has a lower tolerance level for his brother's crap—Yuuto would have felt guilty about letting his older brother think he was dead, but Yoichi had no such compunctions. Of course, we all know how well that worked out for Yuuto in chapter ten of A Life Not Lived. On the other hand, Yuuto got to live and just look how Yoichi ended up in canon. I'll keep using all my Firsts in the future, so please look forward to it.
I've come around to the name Yoichi a bit more after learning it can also mean First Gift as well as First Son. Here's a bonus omake:
Omake: How Yoichi Got His Name
The Shigaraki mother: Would you like to name your new baby brother?
Hisashi: Whoa, he's adorable. This is the first worthwhile thing you've ever given me, you useless cow. I'm naming him "First Gift." He belongs to me now. Your input in his upbringing will not be necessary, go away.
The Shigaraki mother: You're going to have to put him down at some point.
Hisashi: Did you not hear me? Shoo.
This oneshot brings us full circle from One Hundred Year Valentine since in the former, Inko and baby Izuku travel back in time to meet the First, but here he travels forward in time to meet them.
Even if Yoichi had successfully tricked his brother into thinking he was someone else, it wouldn't have lasted. Hisashi would have gone home, tossed and turned at night unable to let it go, and eventually decided to investigate that doppelgänger at the grocery store. Once he discovered Yoichi had vanished off the grid after their meeting, it would have reignited his suspicions and he would have started the chase. But at least Yoichi would have gotten a head start.
In the actual story ending, Yoichi will have to disappear even faster, so it will likely look suspicious to the police. What if All Might's charity alerts him whenever any of the quirkless they're helping go missing? What if All Might does pro bono work tracking down the quirkless who so often get kidnapped by human traffickers, and he takes on Yoichi's case? Who will find Yoichi first, his successor or his older brother?