The heavy metal door swung open within the empty void, revealing a room that Midoriya would never have guessed existed from the other side of it. Inside, a group of eight chairs was arrayed around an ethereal campfire; Yoichi snapped his fingers and the chairs rearranged themselves as a ninth was added. "Have a seat, Izuku," the white-haired man said. "We have much we need to talk about."
The teenager nodded, an expression of awe on his face. As he went to sit down, however, Midoriya felt like he was being watched; a feeling that quickly became one of imminent danger. Next thing he knew, his grandmother had grabbed the back of his collar and pulled him out of his chair; a moment later, the chair was smashed to pieces by the fist of a blond-haired man wearing a combat jacket and a black bandana, his hair tied up in a ponytail.
"What are you doing, Third?!" Yoichi shouted, holding one arm out protectively in front of his nephew.
"I knew you were naive about the newer wielders, Yoichi, but this is ridiculous. You're allowing All For One's hand-picked heir to become the Ninth?" the now-identified Third Holder said, straightening back up. "You've let sentimentality cloud your judgment too much. He lied to Eighth too!"
A clicking noise alerted Midoriya to another threat, the teenager barely dodging a projectile launched by another blond-haired man with a scar on his face and gauntlets on his arms. The greenette quickly decided that this man bore far too much of a resemblance to Bakugo for his liking. "Second, don't-!" Yoichi began, before a tendril of dark energy wrapped around the man's gauntlet and directed it upwards.
"Woah, woah, woah, what's all the fuss about?" asked a bald man in a leather jacket as he stepped out of the void's shadows, the energy tendrils extending from his left hand. "Don't tell me you two are already picking on Ninth?"
"He's a threat to society-!" Second began, only to get backhanded with a vengeance by Nana.
"Do not speak of either of my grandsons in that manner just because of who raised them, Second!" the irate woman spoke. "Izuku and Tenko could have been raised by the devil himself, but they're still my family!"
"Are you implying they weren't?" Fifth chuckled, before a withering glare from Nana shut him down. "Sorry, ma'am."
"Oh dear, drama this early?" a short man wearing a high-collared jacket asked as he emerged from the gloom and sat down on a chair with the number "6" emblazoned at the top. He was followed by a white-haired man with two unique scars on the left side of his face, who sat down on the chair marked with a "4".
"We're just trying to keep Yoichi from making a terrible mistake, En" Third growled.
"Maybe you should let him explain himself first, instead of punching first and asking questions later? Just a thought" the Fourth Holder said.
"Are you insane, Shinomori?!" Second retorted.
Yoichi snapped his fingers for attention. "I think that's enough out of both of you" he said, gesturing towards the mist opposite from the door, which cleared slightly to reveal a large brick wall. "Second, Third, you can both go stand against the wall until you've changed your minds and are willing to hear my nephew out."
The two men grumbled but both turned and began to walk towards the aforementioned wall. "You're making a terrible mistake" Third said as he walked away. "That kid is going to turn out just like his father, mark my words."
Yoichi sighed and snapped his fingers again, the chair marked with a "9" repairing itself. "I'm sorry you had to deal with them already, Izuku. They've got even stronger views on my brother than the rest of us do" he said. "Have a seat; we still have a lot to talk about."
"It's alright" the teenager responded, sitting down in the seat. "I'd be pretty mad too if the son of my murderer waltzed into my mausoleum."
The bald man laughed. "He's got a sense of humor, First! I already like him." Holding one fist out for a fistbump, the man smiled. "Daigoro Banjo, Fifth Holder and formerly the Pro Hero Lariat, at your service!"
As Midoriya hesitantly bumped the man's fist, the white-haired man in the chair across from Daigoro coughed lightly. "If we're doing introductions, I'll go next. Hikage Shinomori, Fourth Holder and once upon a time the vigilante Vagabond" he said, smiling softly and nodding.
"En Oyashiro, Sixth Holder and the Pro Hero Plume" the high-collared man said.
"Nana Shimura, Seventh Holder and formerly the Pro Hero Titania" his grandmother said. "I'm glad to see that my family still exists, even after I made the mistake of letting them go…but I'm disappointed in you for lying to Toshinori." The greenette looked away sheepishly at the last part.
"Yoichi Shigaraki, your uncle and the progenitor of One For All" Yoichi said. "But you already knew that."
A golden light blazed into existence in the chair next to Yoichi, slowly transforming into a spectral figure that Midoriya knew all too well. "All Might?"
"He's still not all here yet, and won't be until he dies, but yes, even Toshinori Yagi is represented here" Yoichi said. "We'll hold off on introducing Second and Third until they cool their heads enough to be reasonable, so instead let's talk about your goals and why you want to be a hero."
And so Midoriya spilled everything to the previous users of One For All. The teenager expressed his dislike of how commercialized modern heroics was, how stagnant and complacent the general populace had become, and how heroics had evolved into a bastardized form of public entertainment instead of a matter of public safety. He expressed his disgust with how unfalteringly corrupt the Heroic Public Safety Commission was, and how bizarrely restrictive Quirk use laws were. How so many heroes seemed to be in it for the money and recognition now, instead of being truly altruistic and community-minded like All Might and so few others these days were.
Then he moved on to the villains. He talked about how stability in the Japanese underworld had broken down after his father's retirement, leaving a power vacuum that caused crime to skyrocket nationwide as various groups fought it out. How monsters like Overhaul could walk the streets with impunity because there was no higher authority in the underbelly of society to keep people like him in check. And of course, how many people had become villains simply because they slipped through the cracks of society - people like Himiko or Tenko, for instance.
At the end of his lecture, the teenager collapsed back into his chair, winded from having spoken at such length about his goals and his gripes with the state of modern society. His predecessors blinked owlishly at him a few times, still taking in his words. After a few long moments of silence, Hikage began to clap.
"I'm impressed, Ninth," the man said. "You're committed enough to societal reform and saving people that get overlooked these days that you're willing to become a boogeyman like your father and be the symbol that fights that boogeyman. Not many are devoted enough to play both sides like that."
"You're pretty funky, kid!" Daigoro added, clapping and laughing jovially. At Midoriya's quizzical look, the bald man clarified. "It's a compliment, Ninth."
"You already saved my other grandson, Izuku," Nana said, a soft smile on her face. "I look forward to seeing just how many more people you'll end up saving."
En chose not to say anything, simply nodding in approval and applauding. Yoichi grinned. "I guess it's settled then. We have a 5-2 vote of confidence in Izuku Midoriya's status as the Ninth Holder of One For All."
"T-Thank you for your trust; I won't let you down!" Midoriya responded, standing up and bowing.
"On to another matter. The stockpile has hit critical mass and One For All has achieved Singularity" Yoichi said, and the void instantly fell silent.
"Then…is it time?" Daigoro ventured.
Yoichi nodded. "With One For All's awakening, the six Quirks stockpiled therein will be available with the blessing of each Vestige here. I imagine the synergistic effect it will have with Izuku's form of All For One will be quite fascinating."
"O-Other Quirks?!" Midoriya wondered aloud. "Wait, I'll inherit your Quirks?!"
"Bingo!" Yoichi said, making a "finger guns" gesture at his nephew. "With their agreement and acceptance of you as Ninth Holder, you'll get access to these four's Quirks." The white-haired man gestured around at the other Vestiges seated around the spectral campfire.
"Blackwhip." Daigoro gave a thumbs-up.
"Danger Sense." Hikage smiled softly.
"Smokescreen." En nodded slightly.
"And Float." Nana clasped her hands together, a comforting slime on her face.
"And eventually we'll get those two grumpypants back there to come around, and then you'll have access to their Quirks too." Second and Third continued to lean against the wall, giving no indication they'd even heard Yoichi.
"Wait a minute," Midoriya said, standing up and looking around the vault. "If All For One and One For All are two Quirks that both contain other Quirks…can I trade those Quirks between them?"
A look of surprise crossed the faces of each of the previous Vestiges. "Try it out then," Yoichi said, walking over to his nephew and placing one hand on his shoulder. "I want to see if you can pull this off."
Midoriya nodded and closed his eyes, concentrating on his own Quirk and trying to imagine a similar room to this one, connecting One For All to All For One. As the previous wielders watched in shock, with even Second and Third turning to stare, a simple wooden door popped out of the ground and grafted itself to the wall, bits of brick dust raining down from it.
"And now, let's see if I can call someone else here!" Midoriya thought, concentrating again. A few moments later, the doorknob turned and the door opened, a bright light shining through and illuminating the dark void. A tall, strongly-built man with blond hair and a mustache stepped through, blinking in surprise.
"Fascinating…a new world for me to explore?" the man wondered aloud in English, before noticing his present company. "Excuse me? Can anyone tell me what year it is and where I am? I need to know if it's leg day yet."
"The year is 2145 and you're inside a Quirk. Can I ask you what your name is?" Midoriya said.
"Good heavens, is this the work of a Meta Ability?" the man asked. "Oh, but where are my manners? My name is Theodore Marshall Hemingway, explorer extraordinaire! I seem to last recall being on a hiking trip in Hokkaido shortly after the Japanese Civil War ended in 2052."
"Today we call Meta Abilities 'Quirks', and you're currently inside mine," Midoriya said. "My name is Izuku Midoriya; can I ask you what your ability is?"
"Why certainly, young man!" the explorer said. "It helps me put on muscle when I work out, and I call it…Great Gains!" As if to emphasize his point, the man struck a pose, his muscles bulging against his jacket's sleeves.
"Interesting-!" Midoriya began, before he suddenly lifted off the ground and flew back towards the door. "I must be waking up in the real world now. I'll be back soon!"
Sitting up with a start, the greenette teenager sneezed and looked around the medical room he was in. "Is this UA?" he wondered aloud.
"Oh good, the smelling salts were enough to wake you," an elderly voice said from his bedside. Looking over, Midoriya recognized the short old woman putting a cork back in a small brown bottle.
"You're the Youthful Heroine, Recovery Girl!" he said excitedly, pulling out a notebook and pencil. "You've got one of the most powerful healing Quirks on record and are instrumental to UA's success; can I have your autograph?"
The old woman sighed. "Kids these days, always so focused on these things," she chuckled. "I was worried when Toshinori brought you in, but your arm was in decent enough condition for being a first-time user of One For All. A sprained wrist, two pulled muscles, and a fractured tibia aren't too bad relative to what you could have suffered."
"I see," Midoriya said, pondering his options. "Where is Yagi-sensei, anyway?"
Recovery Girl finished signing his notebook and handed it back to him. "He's up in Nezu's office, waiting for you. The principal wants to speak with you; he finds you interesting." For some reason, this made Midoriya break out in a cold sweat.
A few minutes later, the greenette brought his hand up to knock on the door to Nezu's office, only for the structure to swing inwards. Midoriya sighed and looked at the creature sitting behind the large Italian maplewood desk. "Cameras?"
Nezu chuckled. "Of course! I do allow myself some bad habits just to see how you humans react" the creature said. "But enough about that. What am I? A dog, a rat, or a bear?"
Midoriya shook his head. "None of the above. Looking at your physiology and the color pattern of your fur, you appear to be a stoat - more specifically an Eastern Siberian stoat permanently in winter coloration, probably from Kamchatka or Hokkaido" the teenager said, a cheeky grin slowly crossing his face. "But more to the point, you're the principal."
Nezu went deathly quiet for a moment, then began to chuckle. It started as a small giggle, then became full-blown laughter, and finally a high animalistic tittering. Yagi, who was sitting on a couch off to one side, began to look around nervously. Finally, the principal stopped and grinned at Midoriya. "You're the first to have figured it out!" he laughed, turning to All Might. "Yagi, your apprentice and I are going to get along very well!"
"What have I unleashed upon this poor, unsuspecting world?" the Symbol of Peace wondered. "That's…good? I guess?" he said.
"So tell me, Midoriya, how do you feel after gaining One For All?" the principal asked, sipping his tea.
"Different," Midoriya replied, looking at his hands and flexing his fingers momentarily. "Whenever I call it up, I feel like there's a storm inside me that I'm barely containing, giving me the strength and energy to do things beyond the impossible."
"Yagi was telling me that you injured yourself earlier, something that hasn't happened to previous users," Nezu said. "Do you think there's a way to address this?"
"I think I'm simply not physically capable of handling 100% yet and won't be able to until I finish puberty," Midoriya said, pulling out one of his notebooks and jotting information about himself in it. "Given how powerful the stockpile is, it makes far more sense for me to wrap my entire body in a low power shroud of One For All for most things and to only use high-percentage moves as finishers or last resort attacks."
Nezu peered down at Midoriya's notes, a curious expression on his face. "May I see your notes, Midoriya? Your analysis skills seem to be outstanding for their age."
The greenette handed the stoat his notebook and watched the mammal's eyes slowly widen as he read across the entries, his mental Quirk enabling him to read the entries much faster than most could. "This is…oh my goodness, incredible!" Nezu said. "You have an incredible natural talent and I do hope that you'll continue to nurture it at UA High if you choose to continue your career here."
"I would be honored," Midoriya said, rising to his feet and allowing a thin blanket of One For All - at most a casual 2-3% - wrap around his body. His eyes and hair glowed slightly as a hint of electricity danced through the air. "Yes, this will work. I'll call it…Full Cowling."
All Might watched in awe. "I really found an incredible kid, didn't I, Nana?" he thought to himself. "Conversing with Nezu as a near-equal, figuring out how to safely use One For All within less than a day…he's going to do great things, I can tell."
Rising to his feet, the Symbol of Peace addressed his protege. "Young Midoriya, now that your arm is healed, I really should return you to your home," he said. "We'll continue your training in three days at a local gym that I recently finished refurbishing, but until then, take the rest of this week off." Buffing up into his muscle form, Yagi flashed a smile. "You've earned this!"
"I'm home!" the green-haired teenager shouted, kicking off his shoes and stepping through the front door. Their house was oddly quiet; the only noise being some indistinct talking on the television.
"Welcome back, Izuku-niichan!" Eri said, running out from around a corner and tackling him in a hug. Izuku smiled and hugged his sister back.
"Thank you, Eri-chan," he said, straightening up. "Where's Mom and Dad?"
"Mama is in the living room watching TV, and Papa is on the TV!" Eri responded, turning and walking towards the living room. Midoriya followed, wondering what his sister meant by "Papa is on the TV".
"Welcome home, Izuku," his mother said, standing up from the couch to hug him. "I'm just checking the news and your father…well, you should see for yourself." Izuku sat down and finally had a chance to check the news reports on the TV…only for his eyes to bulge in shock.
A cheery jingle sounded through the air as a graphic flashed across the screen. "Election Night Update!" The graphic flashed away to reveal a man with one large horn and an unassuming dark haired woman. "Welcome back to JNN's triennial House of Councilors election coverage. I'm Daikaku Miyagi," the man said.
"And I'm Hitomi Hinamori. JNN has verified with local and prefectural election officials and can now make a solid projection about tonight's results. We are now projecting that, in what was an upset until just a few weeks ago, the newly formed party called "A Future Outright" has won 47 seats in the House of Councilors, boosting it to become the second-largest behind the ruling Constitutional Liberal Party. Businessman and AFO Party leader Hisashi Akatani has announced the formation of a minority coalition opposing the Constitutional Liberal, Hearts and Minds, and Nippon Restoration parties' majority coalition."
The screen changed to a picture of Hisashi standing atop a campaign bus, wearing his usual outfit aside from a pair of reading glasses and a black clip-on necktie. "Tonight, my fellow Japanese, we celebrate our successes!" he shouted, to cheers from the crowd below. "Our work is hardly done, as we continue to advocate for heroics reform, careful economic deregulation and clean energy!"
Looking to one side, the former Demon Lord continued his speech. "Alongside the other minority parties, we have formed a narrow opposition coalition and now have to select a Vice-President for the House of Councilors" he said. "With that in mind, I would like you all to welcome your new Councilor Vice-President - Shizuoka Prefecture's own Tomura Shigaraki!"
Midoriya watched the TV in stunned surprise, his adoptive brother walking onto the stage to give a speech and taking his new role as one of the most powerful elected leaders in Japan in stride. As Tenko droned on about something involving reform and unity, the green-haired teen turned and realized that a sheepish-looking Himiko was seated on the nearby rocking chair. She gave him a wave and a nervous chuckle.
"...Surprise?"
Author's notes:
I know I released Chapter 9 only a few days ago, but as Himiko said…surprise? To sum things up for this celebratory Halloween update…
- Midoriya got to talk to his predecessors and established a link between his original Quirk and OFA, meaning he'll be able to trade Quirks between them to satiate AFO's "Quirk Hunger" while also interacting with vestiges outside of those in OFA.
- Second and Third do not approve of Hisashi's son being the Ninth Holder, but they'll warm up…eventually…maybe.
- Nezu is impressed by Yagi's choice in successor, which bodes poorly for the government and other villains across Japan.
- And now you know why "Politician Midoriya Hisashi" and "Politician Shigaraki Tomura" were in the tags on AO3. The fact that I'm publishing this right before midterm elections here in the US feels incredibly ironic.
- Fun fact: the last part required a half-hour long dive into Japanese politics and their electoral structure. I was originally gonna have Tenko be appointed Minister of Defense, but that required him to be a member of the House of Representatives, and since they're elected every four years as opposed to the House of Councilors' three and I have a politics plotline planned for just past when the Summer Camp Arc took place in canon, I had to change it.
- We're just going to assume electoral reforms were passed that allowed an 18-year old to run for the House of Councilors, since in IRL Japan you have to be 30.
- The chapter title is indeed a reference to the fantastic work "Conversations With a Cryptid" by AMournfulHowlInTheNight. Go check it out!
The entrance exam will be in the next chapter, followed by the first day at UA and then the Battle Trial, so look forward to it. As ever, follow/favorite/bookmark/leave kudos/tell a friend!
~DVD181
Next update: November 6th