A/N: … Yeah. You read the title right.

(***)

Izuku hadn't expected to sleep normally since that night, coming home. Ever since the USJ and the beating he had taken at the hands of Doctor Garaki's Nomu, he had been more prepared for All For One to become more active and throw new surprises at him. And unlocking a brand new Quirk from within the genetic labyrinth of All For One had not taken long, as Izuku attempted to test his new Muscle Augmentation Quirk at home and something else… twinged within him.

There had been a tearing sound as fabric lost a losing fight, and a sudden weight gnawing at his shoulder. All of which hinted at the obvious sight in front of Izuku, his right arm suddenly sprouting hefty metallic growths which jutted out like hellish blades. Izuku had nearly fainted because of the size of it all, feeling like somebody had suddenly stitched All Might's arm onto him at the shoulder, and it had taken a supreme amount of willpower to not panic and try to figure out how to make the metal disappear. Izuku really wouldn't have been able to sleep if those were permanent… at least he could be proud in the fact that he'd figured it out himself. That he hadn't needed the advice of the passenger inside his head.

Still, that side of All For One couldn't be avoided. Even if Izuku had ignored the voice, he knew that there was still a chance with this new development that they would be reunited. Lo and behold, his sleep was interrupted by the faint sound of rolling waves and distant seabirds; of course the beach would have those. Blinking, warm sand beneath his back and the smell of the sea on his nostrils, Izuku awoke with a groan and sat up. "... There was no way I'd avoid coming back here, was there?"

"Astute as always, my young apprentice." From a deck chair a little distance away, the vestige of Shigaraki raised a glass to Izuku as a greeting. Izuku still found it deeply disturbing that the vestige seemed to prefer his ridiculous costume to the suit Izuku had first seen him in; Japan's greatest villain was far too comfortable in a Hawaiian shirt and shorts. "Unexpected developments, today. A surprise, to be sure, but a welcome one."

Izuku reached a hand down to push himself up to stand, dusting the sand off his back as he did. The vestigial plain felt too real, and the surrealness of coming onto a beach like this every time unnerved him. He would need to work out if he could change this, in time. "What… what even was that Quirk?"

"That, my boy, is a delightful and nasty Quirk known as Rivet." Shigaraki took a sip of the drink, and put it down on the armrest to the chair as he stood up. "It is as simple as it is ugly to look at. Allowing the user to sprout metal growths out of their own arms… I thought it was so much more than it was when I took it."

"How…" Izuku felt guilty the second he asked, because he knew that Shigaraki would have ripped the Quirk from the blood of another, perhaps even from their cold and dead hands. But his own desire to learn had jumped in before the awful truth. "What did you see in it?"

"Its user was a brute. An enforcer for a rival group of villains, one whose name I can't even remember. Such was their inadequacy…" Shigaraki briefly clenched one hand into a fist for a second, as if emphasising his point. "I thought he was uninspired in how he used it. If he could generate metal from within his own arms, then I reasoned that could be applied. Perhaps to create some form of home-made armour, or perhaps to manifest a blade from one's hands. It had potential… or so I thought. Maybe I'd read too many of those comics?"

"If you couldn't work out how to do that…" Izuku paused. "The growths won't change form?"

"Precisely. All that's left are those unsightly lumps. Useful when combined with other Quirks, I must say… adds a certain kick to any punches you throw. But not what it could have been, I'm afraid."

Izuku shook his head. "I… I don't know how I'm meant to explain that to anyone, if I ever activate that in class. Or in front of a Hero."

"None of that would be a problem if you simply told the truth about All For One." Shigaraki downed the remainder of his drink and threw the glass away, the cup vanishing in a mote of light. "It's a Quirk that commands respect. And you act so ashamed of it. You'll only cause yourself trouble in the long run."

"You gave me a Quirk which allows me to take Quirks from others." Izuku glared at him. They'd been over this before. "I don't want to command respect, or make people afraid of me. I want to save them."

"That's in your nature, yes. Just as taking is within All For One's nature." Shigaraki spread his arms wide, and grinned. "Embrace what you really are, Izuku."

"What I am? I'm a boy who wants to be a Hero-"

"And I gave you the keys to be able to do that on a scale unknown to any Hero in history. Really, your potential is unbound." Shigaraki began tapping his foot, for some reason. "So, with all that said and done, what I believe you were trying to say… is thank you."

"Thank you?" Izuku was incredulous.

"You're welcome!"

"What? No, why would I…" Izuku trailed off, and to his absolute confusion he began to realise something truly strange. Shigaraki was tapping his foot… but something else was there. In the background, among the sounds of the waves hitting the shore, so faint it could almost be missed… a drumbeat. Something matching the tapping of the vestige's foot. "... What is this?"

"Personal indulgence."

"What?"

"I see what's happening here…" To Izuku's horror, the vestige… had started singing.

"You think you shouldn't take a Quirk, that's strange.

Have you seen the world out there? It's deplorable!

I'm afraid, Izuku, that you need to change."

"I-"

"Open your mind to the beach,

Yes it's really me, it's Shiggy, the vestige,

You saw me die and you never thought,

You'd become one with the Demon Lord!"

There was a loud blast of brass from somewhere. Izuku didn't know where. He didn't even want to ask.

"So what can I say except, you're welcome!

For the wonderful All For One,

No it's okay, okay, you're welcome!

Cause I'm awake, and now begins the fun!""

Izuku's mouth hung open, unable to find the words, as Shigaraki spun around the back of his deck chair. It was enough to make him want to curl into a ball.

"Hey,

What helped you and gave you a Quirk

When Bakugo and friends fought you,

What a jerk!

When the Yakuza came,

What helped you steal from them that day?

It's All For One again!

Oh, also you stole from a guy

You're welcome,

And now you can freeze with your eyes.

Also your mother was sweet,

You're welcome,

Her Quirk is yours, and that's a treat!"

Shigaraki had started dancing. The greatest villain in the history of Japan, the man who had killed All Might and doomed society in their absence… was shuffling along the beach, doing the most embarrassing dad dancing Izuku had ever seen. Even his own dad had never been this bad.

"So what can I say except, you're welcome!

For your Hero dream that prevailed,

There's no need to say, okay, you're welcome,

I wouldn't want my successor to fail,

You're welcome!

You're welcome!"

Izuku wasn't prepared for the hand that reached out and grabbed him, pulling him close to the villain. "Wha-"

Shigaraki grinned at him, eyes full of glee. "Well, come to think of it…"

Izuku was slammed down into the deck chair, and Shigaraki bounced away without a care in the world, his rhythm completely uninterrupted. "Boy, honestly, I could continue on,

So much injustice, not using this Quirk is wrong,

The Doctor had a point,

All For One's legacy shouldn't just be destroyed.

I killed All Might, and he took my life,

Now my successor won't stand up and do what's right,

What's the lesson? What is the takeaway?

Just grow a spine before Shiggy goes insane!"

Shigaraki's dancing became more frenetic, his gestures more pronounced, his feet tapping even more wildly than they had been at the start.

"All the Quirks you could possibly use

There's no battle out there you could lose

Look what you have, you'd save everyone out there,

Kinetic Booster times four is unfair, fair, fair, HEY!"

Shigaraki pivoted and seemed to sway off towards where the waves met the sand, but his singing was louder than anything else in the vestige world. "Well anyway, let me say, you're welcome!

And well done, I thought you would cry.

Hey it's okay, it's okay, you're welcome!

I give it two years and your body's mine.

Don't be afraid to say you're welcome,

This Quirk can be useful, you see,

You're Quirkless without me and you're welcome,

Together we can make some history!"

The loud brass behind Izuku reached a crescendo, at the same time as Shigaraki's singing. "You're welcome! You're welcome!"

With one final little move, Shigaraki spun back, hands outstretched for his big finale. "And thank you!"

Izuku, pale as a ghost, took one look at the expectant look on the man's face… and faded from existence, departing the vestige world before him.

"Oh, come on!" Shigaraki stared at the empty deck chair, where his host and successor had been rooted to the spot. "Everyone's a critic, these days. Can't an old villain have a little fun?"

He turned, staring at the rolling sea within the spirit world. "Honestly, does he not realise how long I've been trapped in here? I've had to watch him grow up and embarrass himself… the least he could do is be polite. Even if he's too awkward to join in."

The vestige shook his head, sighing. "Hmmm… maybe it was the song. He still sees me as a villain, after all… perhaps he doesn't think that sort of behaviour is fitting for a man like me. Even if he wants a positive role model… he doesn't expect it from me."

A drink manifested itself, popping into existence for him to clasp in mid-air, and Shigaraki slid into the spectral deck chair again. "My, Izuku… you have given me food for thought."

(***)

The next night, Izuku had almost been dreading drifting off to sleep. The one comfort he had taken from all of it was that Rivet hadn't misbehaved at all the following day. He had activated it once, deliberately, and been pleased at his ability to turn it on and off without any additional consequences. That… was fine. Everything else had just been weird.

Izuku had finally bit the bullet and surrendered to the arms of Morpheus, and when there had been noises again, he hadn't been surprised. Resigned, yes, but not surprised. But this time was different, and weirdly so. After his last trip to the vestige world… he had expected the sound of the ocean, and the breeze on his face. Not whatever this was.

The world had completely changed. Gone were the ivory sands, and the beautiful depths stretching out to the horizon. Instead, his surroundings were unbearably dark. Izuku was reminded of the first questions he asked to Shigaraki, when the spirit world was a void, only this time the fog was different, green smoke that seemed to billow and writhe as if it was alive. And from the ground, towering as high as the eye could see, sheer stone towers that felt like prison walls…

Shigaraki could reshape the void on a whim, if Izuku remembered correctly. So he called out, hoping that the vestige wasn't too far away. "This is about yesterday, isn't it? You… why else would you change the world like this?"

There was silence, just for a second, before Shigaraki's voice seemed to echo around the cavern inside Izuku's mind. "Don't you like it?"

"N-Not one bit." Izuku shouldn't have been intimidated. It was inside his head, after all. But it didn't change how it looked. "You've… you've made your point, okay? Just change back, please-"

"Oh, Izuku." There was a loud slamming sound, and behind Izuku a stone slab the height of the others crashed down behind him. As if shutting off his escape. "I don't think I have."

"N-No!" Izuku tried to shut his eyes and will himself out of whatever was about to happen, but a gust of wind knocked him off balance and broke his train of thought. Even as that happened and he sprawled on the floor, the music started, ghoulish and deep humming as the ghost of Shigaraki bubbled up from a pool of shadow to his full height in front of Izuku. He was in the suit again, the one he'd worn on Incident Zero… the villain he had once been. And the sight of that weighed so heavy on Izuku's chest on the ground that he couldn't even get up. "W-What is this?"

"Pay attention." To Izuku's horror, the singing began again, so much more cruel than it had been before. "I know that your Hero ambition,

Is as wet as the blood of All Might,

So smart as you are, show some vision!" The man loomed in Izuku's face all of a sudden, causing him to leap out of his skin. "All For One's a matter of pride…

It's clear from your frightened expression,

My presence sends you round the bend,

But we're talking spiritual possession,

And I'll haunt you right up to the end!"

The ghoul stepped back from him, but the terrifying aura wafting off of the vestige kept Izuku glued to one spot. "So prepare for the quirk of a lifetime,

Be prepared for the demon lord's views,

For All For One's era

Is tiptoeing nearer-"

As Shigaraki danced, actually danced, up close to him, Izuku called out. "And where does peace feature?"

The Cheshire Cat smile in response made Izuku realise he'd actually just played along, and Shigaraki didn't miss a beat. "Just listen to teacher!

I know it sounds sordid

But you'll be rewarded

If this wonderful Quirk you do use,

Stand for justice, and make them all scared

Be prepared!"

"N-Nope!" Izuku finally gasped for air, feeling the aura crushing his chest relinquish its hold as Shigaraki spread his arms triumphantly wide at the end of the line. "Th-this… this needs to stop! I'm not doing this!"

"What? But I haven't even made it to the second…" As Izuku's form became transparent and faded into oblivion, disappearing from the spirit realm, Shigaraki held his arms aloft for just a second before dropping them. "Verse."

There was a crumbling sound, as the gigantic stone columns around him felt, and a hiss as the gas dissipated. Shigaraki cursed under his breath, kicking a lump of stone away and wishing the boy had unlocked Pain Reduction as a result. "What now? I told him myself that I am the Demon Lord… he should see me that way. I made a choice fitting of my status, and he still runs? I thought I was supposed to be the cruel one."

The rumbling continued as light dawned, the white sands returning under his feet, but Shigaraki paid them no heed. "Maybe that's it, really. He resents All For One… because of me. He still ties its existence into my own, and no matter what he preaches to his precious little friends about how it's their actions which define their futures… he can't get past All For One being the mark of a villain. Rather than the Hero he wants to be…"

Shigaraki snapped his fingers, scaring a spiritual seagull which had just that second shimmied into existence. "Carrot and stick. I've been giving him too much stick…" He frowned, staring off into the middle distance. "And not in the way that sounded. I can feel my words being twisted even from within this Quirk."

The old faithful deck chair emerged, Shigaraki throwing himself into it with an air of relief. "Of course… how didn't I see it before? Rather than taunt my successor… I should be selling him all the best bits!"

(***)

Izuku was starting to question his sanity on the third night. It was almost a foregone conclusion that he would be returned to the darkness of All For One once again, after the last two nights of torture, but this felt different again. The empty black of the void remained, as it had from their first meeting before the beach manifested, but there were no stone towers this time, no smog. And no asphyxiating feeling of dread, either… strange. "Why… again?"

Izuku closed his eyes, trying to force himself to leave, but the strangest noise was a complete distraction. In the darkness, there was a rustle of cloth, and then suddenly a chink… like fine china. "Wait… what?"

"Consider this…" There was a faint clink of glass as Shigaraki spoke. "An attempt to do things the right way."

"... Oh no."

"And now…" A match flared, the only light in the darkness, and the shadows it threw showed Izuku some strange things. "It is with greatest pride and deepest pleasure that I welcome you tonight, Izuku."

"W-Welcome?" Izuku blinked, not expecting that line from the ghost of all things. "But wait. This is my Quirk too… I've been here before."

"Not like you have tonight." Suddenly, one match turned into twenty small flames which rose, flickering and glorious, from the wicks of candles. Izuku found himself standing at the head of a table, heavily laden to the point of creaking with food unlike anything he'd ever seen. There were bowls and bowls of katsudon, yes, but there were large joints of meat so fine they deserved to be painted, rolling waves of vegetables so juicy and plump, huge dishes of exotic things that looked European… and at his side, suddenly, Shigaraki. Wearing… an apron around his waist. Like a waiter. "Please, Izuku. Allow me to remedy where we've been getting off on the wrong foot."

"I'm…" Izuku found himself guided into a chair which had glided up behind him, as Shigaraki patted him on the back before moving away. "... I'm so lost."

"For too long, I've been focusing on the wrong thing with you. You're absolutely right. Your dream is to be a Hero, after all." The vestige seemed to be slightly distant and mournful as he said that, so the clap of his hands was completely at odds with that. The table creaked again, as a multitude of dark and mysterious wine bottles clinked into existence, filling the few gaps in the spread. "Fine vintages, I tell you. So much for you to try."

"I'm fifteen… I d-don't drink."

"Such a mother's boy." Shigaraki grabbed a bottle, staring fondly at the liquid within. "All of this is symbolic, you see? All the many ways I could help you. Everything that I had… that is now yours. Don't you want to learn?"

"I…" Izuku frowned. "I guess-"

"Good!" Shigaraki turned with a flourish, placing the bottle down in front of Izuku. "So please… get comfortable in your chair. As All For One proudly presents…"

"... Oh, please, no-"

"Your dinner." Shigaraki couldn't have looked more feral as he grinned, uplifting orchestral music coming from god-knew-where. "Be… my…. guest, be my guest,

Put these new Quirks to the test,

Just keep learning at that school, cheri,

And I'll provide the rest."

"C-Come on!" Izuku found himself wedged into the table by the chair as the food began to float in front of him, so much distraction preventing him from focusing enough to disappear. "No!"

"Quirk du jour,

Infrared,

Why, it's such a shame I'm dead!

While Warping's not delicious,

Want to learn? Just ask the vestige!"

"Ah!"

Shigaraki was undeterred. "In the palms of your hands,

You could save all of Japan,

With the Quirks I gave you, soon you'll be the best!

Go on, unfold your menu,

Take a glance and then you'll

Be my guest

Oui, my guest

Be my guest!"

Izuku resorted to tipping his head back and yelling, even as the vestige got louder and the music from the shadows increased its volume as well. The madness wasn't ending. He had a second verse… but Izuku would do his best not to hear it.

(***)

"Yo, Zuzu. Earth to Zuzu. You still with us, buddy?"

Izuku felt dead on his feet as he turned to his heckler, all leery grin and no remorse for mocking him. The day Setsuna Tokage felt shame would be a strange day, indeed. "... Y-Yeah, I-"

"You sure? That was a big old pole you were about to walk into." Setsuna nudged him out of the way as they walked through the Wookiees mall together, knocking her hand against the offending column as if to prove a point. "Sleep badly?"

Hungover after a long meal and lots of wine. Isn't that right... mon cheri?

Izuku resisted the urge to growl out loud at his passenger, instead settling for a grimace in the direction of his cousin. "... Something like that."

"Probably Tenko up all night shouting at strangers on the internet that does that." Himiko was at least sympathetic enough to not bully him, instead diverting Setsuna onto her favourite pastime; teasing Tenko Shimura. "You should let him sleep, Ten."

"I don't shout at strangers." Tenko shot her a look. "And no, I don't message them either-"

"Good, I'm glad you cut that shit out. Imagine getting banned from being a Pro Hero because someone found you telling a guy to walk into traffic for throwing a boss match." Setsuna smirked. "... Again."

"Hey, I'm not that toxic!" Tenko tutted, as his girlfriend cackled in the background. "Honestly, you'll give me a bad name."

"Like you wouldn't deserve it." Setsuna stepped back, pulling Izuku and Himiko with her to look at Tenko slouching off towards the escalators to head down. "Doesn't it fill you with such confidence? That's the face of the guy who wants to become a Hero? Saving people?"

Tenko turned around to flip her two middle fingers, as he kept walking backwards. "Yeah, imagine what'll happen when you lose out in the Hero rankings to me. The shame."

"Uh… Tenko?" Izuku had paused, feeling his jaw begin to drop. "Wait, a-are you-"

"He… he is." Himiko had frozen, blinking as if she couldn't believe what she was seeing. "That's not-"

"Don't tell me you can't see it, Izuku?" Tenko was lost in getting one back at Setsuna, grinning. "She's gonna be beneath me, getting the lesser level payouts. Won't even be able to pay to win-"

"No, seriously, Ten…" Even Setsuna had trailed off now, staring with her eyes wide. "What… how is that possible?"

No… surely not?

Tenko blinked once, blinked twice. The first time they had been out since the USJ, and Izuku's best friend had been a little shaken by the whole thing, but… Izuku had thought that the weird things were only happening to him. And then he saw Tenko Shimura keep walking backwards on the same level, as the escalators fell away beneath him and people gasped as the boy hung in mid-air like it was nobody's business. For all they knew it was his Quirk…

But Izuku knew differently. "What… is that? That's… another Quirk?"

Oh… no.

Izuku felt the two phantom hands on his back, Shigaraki's presence making itself known, before suddenly becoming lighter. 'You see this too?'

What's…. Shigaraki had drawn that out, and Izuku had a bad feeling about that. This? What's this?

This came out of nowhere-

'Seriously?' Izuku hissed in the back of his head, not looking away from a confused Tenko for a moment. 'Now of all times? I-It's not the time for a song!'

Shigaraki clearly disagreed. "What's this?

Your best friend's in the air

What's this?

I can't believe my eyes,

I must be dreaming,

Surely not, this isn't fair,

What's this?"

'What's what?' Izuku was getting angrier, now. At a time like this he wanted answers, not… this. 'This Quirk?' What-'

"What's this? What's this?

There's something very wrong,

What's this?

I thought that Quirk was gone.

What's this?"

Izuku felt a bubbling energy inside him, so many complicated emotions, as the pressure began to rise. "The streets are lined with

Eight well-broken bodies,

Was my handiwork that shoddy,

Have I possibly gone dotty?

What is this?

What's this?"

There was a strange feeling, something like a gust of wind blowing up from underneath Izuku, and suddenly the voice got louder. "I know that was Shimura's Quirk,

Before she turned up dead.

And now I see it in him, yes,

It passed on in the end."

Louder still. "There's something more about him,

Yoichi's Quirk is alive,

And in Tenko I see the truth,

That's One For All inside…"

Izuku's eyes followed Tenko's, and Himiko's, and Setsuna's. Up, above his head, where the voice had got louder than it had ever been in his own head. To the glimmering, misty outline that had formed, details coalescing and becoming visible for all to see…

Shigaraki, pausing for breath at the end of the line, looked down at the foggy tether that seemed to anchor him by the legs to Izuku, and then down at each of Izuku's friends, before finally staring down into Izuku's green eyes. "... Oh. I suppose you haven't unlocked Hallucination yet, have you…?"

"... No." Izuku shut his eyes, feeling the stares his way burn through him. "No, I have not."

"... Ah." Shigaraki looked down and if there was one small mercy, at least he wasn't in the Hawaiian shirt. It would have made an impossible task even harder to explain. "Well… there is an explanation for this-"

He lives in you.

Izuku paused, stiffening, eyes shooting wide. Did he imagine that? No…

"Wait…" Setsuna seemed to be struggling for words, staring up at the vestige. "You're… All For One. The villain. The dead guy… but that wasn't you."

He lives, I see.

"No, that was…" Himiko blinked twice, turning. "Over there."

He's watching over…

The spectre above Izuku seemed to hesitate, just briefly. "... No?"

… But so are we!

There was a burst of white light above Tenko, so blinding that Izuku thought that his own Freezeframe Quirk had gone off like a bomb. And then suddenly, in the air behind Tenko, a rhythmic chanting surrounding them all…

The ghost of a young man, skinny as Tenko and with white hair hanging over his eyes, pointed at Shigaraki. Izuku almost didn't see the man behind him, scarred face and combat jacket and spiky hair, because the first ghost drew his attention for how much like Shigaraki he looked. "We see you, brother-"

The singing continued on, two more ghosts appearing. One man with a dark ponytail and bandana, another with two cracks running down his face from his left eye to his chin. "We see the truth!"

Two more appeared on Tenko's man, a bald and muscular man with a heavy-set jaw and a dark-haired man whose high collar hid his mouth. The sixth ghost looked resentful of the singing, as if he wanted to be anywhere else but there in the moment; by complete contrast, the fifth looked like he was having a whale of a time, shooting Tenko a ghostly smirk. "We're all survivors…"

Then finally, the two last ghosts blew Izuku's mind. One woman, a pillar of muscle and fierce black hair, emerged to place both hands on Tenko's shoulders, and from the way Tenko's eyes went wide, there was a story there. But that was nothing compared to the final phantom, the Hero Izuku had idolised until his death, joining in with the woman in singing the final line…"... He lives in you."

"No way…" Izuku breathed out, completely captivated by his hero.

"Well, well… it seems I was mistaken." Shigaraki sounded so weird, barely-disguised shock in his voice. "You cheated, after all."
"You're a bold one to talk, All For One." The vestige of the Symbol of Peace hadn't lost his grin, even on the side of the mortal world. "We both made sure our legacies were safe."

"Legacies?" Himiko blinked, twice. "... Wait, why am I even asking this? These Quirks are alive?! Are we not gonna-"

"So many force ghosts…" Tenko uttered, barely loud enough for Izuku to hear above the hubbub below. "Nana…"

So that was who the woman was. Nana Shimura, his grandmother… a ghost, hanging above Tenko. Izuku barely managed to not gasp, as one hand of hers caressed her long-lost grandchild's cheek. "Tenko…"

"Yoichi…" Izuku was surprised to hear the same complicated depth of emotion in Shigaraki's voice, addressing the first ghost to appear.

"Brother…" There was no affection in the eyes of the first ghost to appear, and Izuku was stunned. This was… Shigaraki had a brother?

"All Might…"

Izuku's idol stiffened at the way he was addressed. "All For One."

"Shinomori…"

"Shigaraki…" The man with the scar over his eye barely flinched.

"Banjo…"

"Setsuna…" Several heads, both real and spiritual, turned to glare at the bald man and Izuku's cousin. Both had seemed to have unabashed grins on their faces, their eyes meeting as Setsuna laughed with no shame at all despite the tension in the air. "Heh, come on. All of you were doing it!"

"I like this one!" The one named Banjo smirked wickedly. "I can see why he chose to date her!"

"This is…" Izuku's head whipped to the woman, hugging against Tenko's back as if her unlife depended on it. Looking for all the world like she wished her touch was real. "Th-that's Nana Shimura! Your grandmother! The Hero-"

"The seventh." Shigaraki glared at her over Izuku's head. "The one who trained All Might-"

"The one who he killed." Tenko's voice was so hollow, even as his grandmother's ghost flinched. "Then came for all of us-"

"And I would have gotten away with it too, if it wasn't for that pesky All Might!" Shigaraki's attention swivelled. "All that training with Shimura, and for what? You died, and didn't even finish me off!"

"Only I left a piece of myself with the boy. To save at least one Shimura from you!"

"And now look! My chosen heir, side-by-side with yours after all these years-"

"It's a small world after all-"

"..."

Several heads turned to Setsuna, who had begun singing in the middle of the argument. "It's a small world after all…" She trailed off, aware that a number of people were glaring at her. "Hey, come on, it's not like the moment could be any more ruined by another musical number! And why do these guys get a song but I don't? I'm in way more of the story than they are!"

"This is…" Izuku was struggling for words, staring up at the numerous vestiges. "How-"
"So let me get this straight." As Himiko spoke, he wheeled to her, hoping that she would be the voice of sanity. "That's… this one called Shigaraki is All For One. His spirit… is living inside you."

"Y-Yeah."

"His brother, Yoichi…" Himiko turned, puzzled. "Had a similar Quirk to him."

The look on Yoichi's spectral face looked like he was about to argue with that for a split second. "... More or less."

"So that gets passed to other people, who… join the Quirk as spirits?" Himiko bit the inside of her cheek, staring at him. "Do you have more, Izuku?"

"Not anymore."

Izuku shivered ominously at the reply from Shigaraki, but Himiko ploughed on. "And those spirits include… Nana."

Nana Shimura nodded. "They do."

"Who gave her Quirk to All Might."

"Who gave this Quirk…" All Might reached out a beefy hand to poke one finger into Tenko's arm. "To young Shimura."

"Before killing…" Himiko waved her arms vaguely at Shigaraki. "All For One. Who… fought all the others, I guess, the way he recognised them? And then… he died, and gave his Quirk to you…"

"Who found Tenko…" Izuku trailed off, and swallowed, briefly glimpsing over to Tenko and seeing that his best friend was as stunned as he was. "... Yeah, I-I guess that's… the explanation."

"Huh. Thought so." Himiko was silent for a second. "Hey, Izuku? Tenko?"

"Y-Yeah?"

"... What the fu-"

(***)

A/N: … Happy April Fools 2022, y'all.

Beach episodes? They're the queen of fanservice tropes. But musical episodes? They're the king. There were more than enough jokes about AFO and Izuku's meeting back in Chapter 44 being "the beach episode"... that when the Incident Zero channel on Discord started going wild with suggestions for a musical episode, I knew I had to do something.

Shout-outs go to Maxemilien (who originated the Be Prepared parody) and Ernand (who originated the Be Our Guest parody). Both I tweaked for the release, but they deserve at least some blame for this mad banquet of darkness. Come join the Discord server with the code DEj8c96v and laugh at them too, if you like.

Hope you enjoyed. New chapter of Incident Zero coming soon, but if you liked this please favourite and follow. And enjoy your day.