Lemillion (the Boy Damned by Fate)
"Carnivore, carnivore; won't you come digest me? Take away everything I am, bring it to an end. Carnivore, carnivore; could you come and change me? Take away everything I am - everything I am…"
('Carnivore' by 'STARSET')
Four years later, Mirio was in his shared apartment with Tamaki and his life… was good.
He had made it to the number one Hero spot, working often with Hawks. Endeavor's fall from grace after the battle at Jaku City had been complete and unrecoverable. The elder Hero had no hope of getting back as high as he was with how poor his approval rating had become. Hawks made it through only by the grace of his photogenic appearance and outwardly bubbly personality.
Mirio had learned better, though, in his time as the new Symbol of Peace. There was a well of darkness behind Hawks' eyes that Mirio wondered about. He was not afraid in any way that Hawks was villainous; Hawks was a great Hero and a man deeply committed to the good of everyone. No, what Mirio wondered sometimes was: who had made Hawks into Hawks and did they understand what they'd done?
He wondered if they knew the true nature of the bird of prey.
But today, Mirio didn't have to be Lemillion, the number one Hero, and worry about Hawks. He and Tamaki were watching a movie together and Tamaki had his feet on Mirio's lap. Mirio was absentmindedly massaging Tamaki's toes because, the day before, Tamaki had to chase a dangerous villain through a warehouse. Poor Tamaki really needed better boots but he wasn't sure who would best accomplish that.
Maybe Mirio would give that new company, Shield Industries, a call. He had heard nice things about their work from his fellow UA graduates.
"Hey, Mirio, do you wanna go see a movie at the theater next time?" Tamaki said quietly, during a lull in the movie they were watching. Mirio turned his gaze towards Tamaki and nodded, smiling at the thought.
Tamaki was more comfortable these days with people and crowds. He probably would never be an extrovert by any means but he also didn't feel the need to hide in a corner anymore and for that, Mirio was grateful and proud. Tamaki had even gone to therapy on his own initiative and he said it was beneficial to his anxiety.
Mirio wondered sometimes if he should go to therapy, too. But he wasn't sure how to convey the idea that he saw ghosts; ghosts who still cried tears for daughters and grandsons lost even to this day. That those ghosts would never be at peace, for despite their infinite power, they were still trapped in hell.
Frankly, Mirio would be surprised if any therapist didn't just laugh him out of their office.
But, all things considered, Mirio's life was good. He sometimes thought about the people who had lost things so that his life could be good. He thought about the way that their society was… sick and sad, like a parody of justice instead of the real thing. But things had been changing recently and Mirio wondered about that.
He wondered about the power of All for One, Izumi Midoriya, and how she… didn't actually want to be queen. Certainly, she had obtained great power in their superhuman society and she had reshaped it in her preferred image. But her preferred image, to Mirio's confusion and curiosity, was one of kindness or, at least, one of empathy.
One where purse snatchers wouldn't have to go to jail because they couldn't afford to live anymore.
Mirio and Tamaki shifted so that they could snuggle on the couch and munch on popcorn as they watched their movie. But Mirio's mind still wandered as he wondered: what did it actually mean to be a Hero? And… could he still call himself a Hero if he had less positive impact on the world than the Symbol of Terror?
He didn't know the answer and he didn't know if he was underestimating himself and what he had done to save so many people as the Symbol of Hope.
It was an early June day that Mirio found himself walking on the sidewalk towards Sir Nighteye's agency.
Wearing his Hero costume, he was quite recognizable as Lemillion, the number one Hero and Symbol of Hope. People smiled and waved to him and the streets were quiet and peaceful. Everything felt so calm, almost unnaturally so, and Mirio almost wondered about it. He wondered if it was calm because things were good… or if it was calm because something bad was about to happen.
Then again, Mirio considered as he stopped briefly to give his autograph to a group of young boys, perhaps he was just paranoid. The past four years had been quiet, after the upheaval surrounding the new All for One's rise to power. Mirio knew that there was a dark underside to that: that All for One had effectively won and her power and reach was now almost too vast to challenge.
But, he decided as he continued down the street, it wasn't all bad. Things were better now because of the influence of All for One. There was an incongruity to that. The original All for One had been a monster through-and-through, and Mirio shuddered at the memory of watching All Might defeat All for One at Kamino Ward.
The new All for One, by contrast, was… different. She was still harsh to those who opposed her and willing to destroy those who stood in her way but few dared to stand in her way anymore. Mirio had seen the crime scene photos, back in the day, of Muscular's corpse, flayed alive. He figured nobody was stupid enough to stand in All for One's way anymore and, in a sense, he didn't blame them.
But Mirio was the Ninth Bearer of One for All, the Symbol of Hope; he was Lemillion, the man who would save one million people, and it was his duty - his destiny - to stand against All for One. Even if doing so made him feel weird and sad, deep in his gut, and the idea of who she was, versus who she should have been, sometimes placed a depression so heavy over him that he couldn't sleep at night.
Mirio knew, intellectually, that those feelings weren't truly - or at least, entirely - his own. But that didn't make them any less real.
Mirio walked into Sir Nighteye's agency and saw that things were busier than normal. The elder Hero and former sidekick to All Might had more sidekicks and pro Hero partners these days, including Centipeder and Bubble Girl, as well as Lemillion himself. Mirio waved at the receptionist as he walked towards the stairs and she waved back with a smile.
Things were calm today. Mirio wondered how long that would remain the case.
"That is the conclusion of the briefing," Sir Nighteye said.
The conference room - filled with pro Heroes - began to file out. Mirio pinched the bridge of his nose, his visor temporarily removed, and sighed. This was… not going to be good. It was not going to be good at all.
They couldn't get Endeavor for this mission. They couldn't get Hawks, either. Both were working on a case against the NAMM Corporation, so they were on the other side of the country for that task. They were six months deep in that corruption case and they had no desire to drop everything to go on a potential wild goose chase.
The briefing had too many 'maybe's and 'possibly's in it for Mirio's liking. Their intel was shaky, derived from scouting quirks and informants that couldn't even be sure if they had the right date and time for All for One's potential attack. On top of that, most of the Heroes they would be bringing along were relatively green, like Mirio was.
The Top Ten in general - the elder Heroes who had been in the game for a long time - had been thinned out by retirements or deaths following Jaku City and those who remained were unwilling to try their hand at challenging All for One again. Mirio might've called them cowards if he weren't secretly a little bit afraid, too.
But he had been a pro Hero for four years now, which was not that long but wasn't nothing, either. Besides, unlike most of his peers that were on the mission - people like Frostfire and Ground Zero, young people with powerful combat quirks and experience against All for One even - Mirio had something major going for him. Something he cherished and something he loved like family, even if he wished she could one day be made whole.
Mirio had Nana Shimura and, as the Ninth Bearer of One for All, he believed that would be sufficient.
The last of the Heroes filed out and Ground Zero and Frostfire led up the rear. They stopped to look at Mirio, perturbed. It was hard to tell with them, since both of them liked to hide their true feelings behind very particular personas they kept up. Frostfire, as far as Mirio could tell, was actually pretty nice, even if they didn't see each other often. Ground Zero, on the other hand, basically hated everyone.
He had history with All for One, though; personal history, no less. Mirio heard the audio when All for One broadcast to Japan what Ground Zero had done to her when they were little. His Hero career never really took off the way it would've otherwise because of it; in many ways, the public blamed him for All for One's rise and television hosts never missed the opportunity to snidely rub it in.
Mirio didn't really think that was fair: what Ground Zero had done was terrible but All for One was her own person and if the blame for how she ended up laid at anyone's feet, it was at the original All for One's feet.
Never mind that Mirio had seen the memories of what should have been. The memories of how Katsuki Bakugou and Izumi Midoriya should have had the chance to reconcile, that Katsuki should have apologized and they should have healed. Maybe they would never have been the same - Katsuki was crueler to Izumi than his counterparts in infinity had been otherwise - but they could have been better.
A chance to make things right, as Izumi said, snatched away by the man who would have been king.
"Oi! What're you staring at?" Ground Zero asked gruffly as he hesitated at the doorway. Mirio shook his head, mostly in confusion, then gave a slightly forced smile.
"Sorry, nothing. Just thinking about the briefing! See you later, Ground Zero!" Mirio said, giving a little wave. Ground Zero scoffed and left and Mirio sighed once the door shut behind the explosive Hero.
Sure, the public didn't like him because they blamed him for All for One. But… he was also just kind of a prick.
What if there was something off with the world, Mirio?
Nana offered her usual line but her voice was faint and sad. A half-hearted effort, so Mirio frowned in sadness for her. It hurt her so much to see Ground Zero this way and it hurt her orders of magnitude more to see Izumi Midoriya as All for One. Her second child - her second chance - snatched away by All for One, just as her grandson was.
It hurt Mirio in his soul, for the Seventh Bearer of One for All to feel that way. The feeling was his own, he knew, as he walked around the conference table to speak to Sir Nighteye.
"Hey, Sir! Good briefing! I have a good feeling about this mission," Mirio lied with a smile. He was used to smiling and stuffing down his own doubts; he had to so that he could be a Symbol of Hope for those who couldn't hope to fight for themselves.
"You shouldn't," Sir Nighteye said as he fiddled with some of his equipment. Mirio stopped and crossed his arms, raising an eyebrow as he waited for an explanation. "This mission… will not go well."
"That's weird," Mirio said, being entirely sincere. "You don't usually look ahead on mission outcomes."
Sir Nighteye stuck a piece of equipment in his plastic storage bin, then straightened from his hunched over posture. Then he turned and looked at Mirio with his eyes shadowed by his glasses, his mouth stretched into a thin line. Sir Nighteye did not look pleased and Mirio rarely saw him look like that otherwise. The last time he had, it was when they found out what Overhaul had been doing to Eri, and how Mirio had failed at first to take her away from the Yakuza boss.
"I… owe you an apology, Mirio," Sir Nighteye said quietly, and Mirio furrowed his eyebrows. "I looked into your future, years ago, without your permission."
Mirio huffed some air from his mouth and chuckled.
"I don't mind that, Sir-"
"Listen," Sir Nighteye said. He raised his right hand to stop Mirio. "The further into your future I look, the less clear the imagery is. But I will tell you this and I want you to understand I don't want to discuss this." Mirio nodded, knowing well how Sir Nighteye felt about using his powers on fellow pro Heroes. "I saw that when you confronted All for One in combat for the first time… you lose. I didn't see how or the lead-up to it. But I saw that you lose."
Sir Nighteye sighed heavily and Mirio realized he had tears running past his glasses.
"I want to ask you, out of selfishness, not to go on this mission. But it is your choice alone, even if… I already know what choice you'll make."
"You always said we can't fight fate, right, Sir?" Mirio said, his tone even. He didn't feel panic, anger, or denial. He just felt… peace. Like this was what was meant to be. "So, I'll go fulfill my fate as the Ninth Bearer. I'll go be a Hero."
Mirio smiled and Sir Nighteye didn't immediately react.
She is the girl without a fate… and you are the boy damned by fate.
"Who knows? Maybe I'll be the first one to prove ya wrong!" Mirio added, ignoring the input of One for All, the First Bearer. Sir Nighteye didn't immediately reply, so Mirio nodded - mostly to himself - and turned to leave. He was at the door when Sir Nighteye spoke again.
"Mirio?" Mirio stopped at the door and turned again. "Be careful. Even if… it doesn't matter. Be careful."
Mirio smiled again and waved, then held his thumb up. He left Sir Nighteye's office that day having made peace with what was to come - whatever was to come - and that his place in the world led to this moment. He left knowing that he may be heading into his end and, while he would take steps to get his affairs in order… He would still go.
He would still go because that was what a Hero would do.
The last thing he remembers before the dream is being stabbed and searing, sharp pain in his chest.
Now, here in the dream of One for All, Mirio feels no pain. They stand in a sea of stars, infinite and without form, yet still Mirio stands. And in front of him, her cape billowing in space itself, is Nana Shimura.
Her power is awe-inspiring as she prepares to defend Mirio from All for One. But intuitively, he realizes that he is also Nana now. There is the him that stands with the vestiges in Nana and the him that watches from the sidelines. They are nine voices in the dark and there is no distinction between their souls here in the dream.
All for One hasn't made it in yet but Nana speaks briefly while she has the chance.
"Have you ever wondered what true infinity looks like, little Mirio?"
She addresses him once more as 'little Mirio,' the pet name she used for him before he turned twenty. Now, however, it's like he's a little kid again, even though he is a grown man in a Hero costume. Gone is Mirio Togata, the Symbol of Hope, the Ninth Bearer of One for All. He feels instead like he is six again, about to ask his mother if he can be a Hero with a weak quirk. But now, it is not his mother, beautiful as she does the dishes and assures him that she will be there for him no matter what he does. Now he has Nana Shimura, the guardian angel who stands out of time.
"Her will is overwhelming," Nana says sadly, looking away from Mirio and into the distant night, "but her intent is not focused. I will…"
Nana pauses as All for One appears in the dream of One for All, looking briefly stunned. At that moment, Mirio feels true infinity, as Nana's power flares like a supernova. There is no light, only a breathtaking, devastating wave of fury, and sorrow, and sadness, and hope.
Nana Shimura may not be god but, if there is a god, she must feel like this.
"I will… ask her to reconsider," Nana says solemnly.
Above All for One hovers a vestige, a black thing made of horror and terror. It is All for One, the original, but now a black crow, terrifying and dripping malice like dark ink, crimson lightning crackling over its form. Mirio wonders if Izumi Midoriya can see the shadow that clings to her. He wonders if she knows about the monster that lurks at the edges of her nightmares and how it threatens to consume her if she makes even one misstep.
He wonders if she knows how strong her will must be to keep that monster at bay.
He wonders if she knows about true infinity yet because, if not, Nana is about to show her.
And if she refuses? Mirio asks Nana, his voice small and distant in his mind.
"Then we shall die and so shall she. Because I will destroy her."
Mirio watches in horror and shock as All for One is abruptly surrounded by pure light. But it is not pure light, it is… It is memories and they are his memories, crashing through the dream space. The dream provides that memories are a weapon as Mirio watches his own life story pass Izumi Midoriya in the dream, assailing her with the knowledge - the terror - of true infinity.
It is his life story but also every Mirio's life story all at once. Everything that could have been and should have been and wasn't, in a non-linear, non-sequential, simultaneous fashion. Izumi learns the truth, Mirio observes: the truth about herself, the truth about One for All, and the truth about Nana Shimura.
She learns everything.
Mirio is sure a lesser person would have died. He is sure that hewould have died.
But Izumi is not a lesser person. Izumi is not weak. Izumi is not useless. Izumi is not worthless. Izumi is not Deku. Izumi Midoriya is true infinity and, in the face of all of Nana's power - power overwhelming, the power of god - Mirio can feel it.
Izumi chooses love.
Abruptly, the dream is purified. Izumi's intent to kill and to take like her father is purified and Mirio recognizes the truth: Izumi was always meant to be a Hero and so, Mirio begins to cry. Above Izumi, the vestige of All for One shatters like glass; it is replaced by a white dove and the dove flies away into the infinite night, before glinting as a new star is born in One for All.
Nana walks over to Izumi and places her hand on Izumi's shoulder.
"I'm sorry I couldn't get to you, little Izumi. But I want you to know that you are important. I needed you… and I miss you."
Izumi looks like she cannot breathe. She raises her right hand to her neck as if she is choking. But she is smiling, then she is crying, tears of joy and sorrow together, just as Mirio is also crying. He wants to call out to her, to tell her how much she should have meant to him and how sorry he is. But he has no voice, no words, no ability to speak, so Nana speaks for him.
"You can change the world, little Izumi. You can still be a Hero, in your own way. I believe in you."
They are not the words Miro would have chosen but they are his intent. They are his will. For a metaphysical instant, Nana flickers; then she is Mirio. But then she is Nana again and Izumi doesn't notice with how overwhelmed she is.
Mirio wonders if Izumi will remember. If she will be able to process the sheer gravity of what she has borne witness to in this dream. In front of his eyes, she wakes up - and winks out of existence in the dream.
Nana turns to look at Mirio, her expression solemn. Then, abruptly, she is not standing there anymore. She is directly in front of Mirio and he is kneeling - collapsed on the 'floor' of infinity - and she collapses to her knees, too. She begins to cry and sob, to scream and pound her fist into the stars as she curses All for One's name.
She curses his name and begs to see little Tenko again, just one last time. And she knows that she can't and, as Mirio holds her while she cries, he realizes:
This is what it's like to watch an angel fall.
Mirio wakes up five days later and cries for hours in reality, too.
It wasn't until two months later that Mirio saw Izumi again.
He didn't look very hard. He had been damned by fate but Izumi Midoriya was kind enough to grant him a second chance. A second chance to see Tamaki again, a second chance to see his parents again, and a second chance to be the Symbol of Hope. Mirio grabbed onto that chance and held it for dear life, deciding that every single second he spent breathing after that moment was a blessing.
He proposed to Tamaki; Tamaki said yes. He saw his parents and spent time with them, alone and with Tamaki, and they were overjoyed at their engagement. They spent time planning weddings and thinking about guest lists and, during every moment of it, Tamaki and Mirio held hands.
Mirio told Tamaki everything, from the beginning. They cried and cried together and Mirio felt peace. He felt such peace in finally being able to tell someone the truth and it was almost overwhelming. Soon after, he also told Sir Nighteye and Toshinori together and they were appropriately horrified. The truth was almost too much for them to bear but, in a way, they were relieved as well.
Toshinori was relieved that Izumi Midoriya, All for One, would not be as cruel as her father. And Sir Nighteye was relieved to know that at least one person out there really could fight fate… even if she was All for One.
There were other things. A news helicopter had caught the very tail-end of Izumi's battle with the pro Heroes. It caught, on live television, Mirio laying on the ground in a pool of his own blood, unconscious. He was out for days and the response from the media and the public was explosive and immediate. There were interviews, television segments, and articles about 'are we really safe if even the Symbol of Hope cannot defeat All for One?'
But Mirio just smiled and shrugged off the questions the best he could. Only he knew the truth: that in a way… he sort of had defeated All for One, even if no one would ever believe him if he explained it to them. How could they understand when they didn't have all the puzzle pieces at hand?
Now, however, on patrol, Mirio walked on the sidewalk near a beach. He wasn't sure what had drawn him there - was it Nana, or One for All, or maybe just a feeling? - but he was drawn to it either way. It was beautiful and pristine, with pretty white sand and clear blue water gently splashing at the shore. The day was serene and bright, and the strangest part was:
This was all off, too.
Dagobah Municipal Park Beach was supposed to be a dump. Mirio had learned, however, that it was mysteriously cleaned up a few weeks previously. Nobody knew who did it or why; one day, it was a dump, then, overnight, it was cleaned spotless. Now, as Mirio walked down the steps towards the gazebo, he saw a pair of people sitting on a bench at the end and he figured he knew who did it.
He had seen the memories of how this place was meant to be important, too. He smiled at the thought that maybe, just maybe, Izumi remembered it at all in the end. Maybe it was a dream for her and not a nightmare like it had been for him.
She was important. I needed her… and you needed her, too.
Mirio sighed as he walked down the path towards the gazebo. He saw, as he got closer, that there were two heads of hair poking over the back of the bench. One was familiar - green, curly, slightly disastrous, and partially hidden by a sunhat - while the other… less so. Mirio squinted as he got close and pulled his visor up for good measure, then he saw they were brunette with a bob cut…
Wait.
"Uravity?" Mirio called as he reached the bench, and both ladies turned to him in unison.
"Oh fuck," Uraraka said, and she shrank a bit. Izumi, on the other hand, just raised her left hand and gave a little wave.
"Hi, Lemillion! Welcome to my beach!"
Mirio chuckled as Uraraka looked like she was about to throw up.
"This is so fucking bad…" Uraraka muttered, and she half-fell over into a lean on Izumi's right shoulder and tried in vain to hide her red face. Izumi just smiled and used her left hand to gently pet Uraraka's head.
Uraraka wore a black one-piece swimsuit, with a white cover tied around her waist and some pink sandals. Izumi, on the other hand, wore a green bikini with a black cover laid out under her on the bench and red sandals. Izumi was covered in scars - Mirio frowned at the sight - but she looked good and part of him wondered how long it took her to be comfortable enough to wear a swimsuit like that, in public no less.
"I take it you two did not expect anyone who would recognize you to come out this way, huh?" Mirio asked in a teasing tone. Uraraka groaned and tried to hide her face even further in Izumi's shoulder.
"Ochako, it's fine. I promise. If he said anything, I would just beat him up again," Izumi said, her tone perfectly conversational. "He already lost once; he knows better, doesn't he?"
She looked back at Mirio and tilted her head in a mocking way, fluttering her lashes for good measure. Mirio just rolled his eyes and looked out to the sea.
"I won't say anything. But you should be more careful. If I were Endeavor or Ground Zero, Uraraka here would be pretty screwed," Mirio said flatly. Uraraka covered her face with her hand.
"Don't remind me… I just wanted one nice day out and of course the Symbol of Hope finds us."
"He cheated," Izumi said simply. "It's no fair when he has a guardian angel to guide him to me, is it?"
Mirio didn't answer right away, letting his hands hang loosely at his sides. He had so many things he wanted to ask, wanted to say, wanted to do. He wanted… to make it up to Izumi, somehow. He hadn't even hurt her - not really, anyway. Sure, he tried to fight her but that wasn't personal and she knew it. It was the roles they were cast into - her as the archvillain, him as the Hero - and not them as people.
Other people hurt Izumi… but even still, Mirio wanted to make it up to her. He wanted to make things right. And he knew… that it wasn't his place to do that.
"So I take it you remembered, huh?" Mirio asked quietly, keeping his question vague. Izumi just rolled her eyes and looked out to the sea.
"I cleaned the beach," she said, not interested in answering his question. Mirio scowled but Izumi continued, "I used Overhaul to do it. Nice touch, I think."
For a moment, Mirio was actually blown away.
"You used Overhaul to clean a beach?" Mirio asked, utterly incredulous. Izumi just laughed and the sound was bright and kind.
"This beach is important to me," she said simply. "Or, at least… It should have been. Seems like a shame to just let it rot, I think." She turned back to Mirio, amusement glinting in her eyes. "Besides, it's a better use of it than anything he ever did with it."
Mirio snorted; he couldn't argue with that one.
For a while, they didn't say anything. Mirio wasn't sure what Uraraka knew or even… Why she was there? Judging by how red she was and how Izumi had her right hand on Uraraka's left thigh, he inferred that the two were now intimate or romantic partners.
He remembered that Uraraka had run into Izumi several times at UA and Toshinori had mentioned something, too. He had said that Uraraka was important-
They were important. They needed each other.
"So it's like that," Mirio whispered, and Izumi sighed.
"She knows," Izumi said flatly, and that roused Uraraka from her embarrassment. She straightened her posture and turned to look at Mirio properly, nodding firmly. "I told her… everything, when we… got together."
"It's pretty crazy," Uraraka added, and Mirio nodded in agreement.
"Well… Then all I have left to say is that… I'm sorry, Izumi. I'm sorry for everything."
Izumi looked back to the ocean, a wistful, faraway expression on her face. Mirio wondered what she was thinking. How did the mind of someone who existed outside of fate work, now that she knew that she existed outside of fate? How did the mind of someone so talented, so damaged, and so amazing work, now that she had infinity at her fingertips like wildfire?
Mirio wished they could have been friends. He wished that things could have been different.
"You didn't do anything wrong," Izumi whispered, her tone serious and sincere. "But… I forgive you, all the same."
Mirio was surprised. Izumi spoke without looking at him and Uraraka also turned to look at the ocean. Mirio took a step forward and looked as well. It was about mid-afternoon now and the sun was high. But there in the shade, it felt like they were in an oasis, shielded from the heat.
He wondered if the pair of women before him were happy. He saw the way that Uraraka rested her left hand gently over Izumi's right, on top of Uraraka's thigh, and squeezed gently. Both of them smiled and, for a moment, he wondered if they even remembered he was there.
They didn't need him, he realized; not anymore. But… Izumi had needed Nana, even if she hadn't realized it until she met Nana. And Mirio knew that Nana needed Izumi, too, even if now they could never be together. He felt Nana's guilt and sorrow stab at his soul but he also felt her overjoyed happiness that Izumi and Uraraka had found each other in the end; that they found happiness and that they found home.
The conflicting emotions were almost overwhelming and nauseating, yet Mirio also found solace in them. He found a solace in the pride that Nana felt and that he felt, too, even if at the same time they felt fear and sorrow together. It was sad and frustrating, yet beautiful, that even without Nana Shimura, Mirio, or One for All itself… Izumi Midoriya found something worthwhile in her life, something to be better for.
These two young women found each other without Nana's help; Izumi saved herself, mostly without her guardian angel. So now, Mirio decided, they were home. He walked away and left them in peace.
He knew that whatever might happen, Izumi would choose love.
Closing notes: So this is the end of 'I Am a Heart on Fire (and All the World's a Fuse).'
I invite feedback on this story, especially if any of the formatting broke; some of it didn't transfer nicely from AO3, unfortunately.
I'm fairly proud of it, though. This story is especially fascinating in light of chapter 304/305, both in terms of what I got right and what I got wrong. This series disregards the One for All reveal in 304 but the thematic stuff is interesting especially in light of some of the fandom insisting that 'Mirio would have been a better Ninth Bearer and main character.'
Thank you for reading.