6 years ago
It was a sunny day at the estate. A boy with cerulean hair chases a girl with long seafoam colored hair that reflects the sunlight. The boy almost finds her hard to look at times. She simply could be too bright for him.
The laughter from both carries across the lawn to the woman who watches with a concerned eye from the window of the estate. The woman didn't like how the two played together. She didn't like how the boy was living in her house. She didn't like how villainous his quirk was. 'He will be gone soon' her husband tells her. She'll believe it when she sees it.
The boy feels a grin stretch over his face wider than he's ever felt. His chapped lips sting him but he ignores it. He wasn't going to let something like this bother him now. He does pause however as he quickly glances to his now gloveless hands.
'She wanted me to not wear the gloves. She thinks my hands are nice to look at.'
The boy feels his face heat up at the thought but quickly shakes his head as he sees the girl speed ahead of him. He knows she's fast, but he knows that he is faster. Pulling deep within himself he feels the slight spark of energy that he has become familiar with as the minor thrum of power pulses under his skin. With one kick he sails in front of the girl and slides to a stop by the tree they were racing towards.
The girl looks at him with wide eyes as he smiles cheekily at her.
"No fair Tenko! You promised you wouldn't use your boost this time!"
"I don't remember promising anything Mion." Tenko retorts while taking a seat under the tree.
"Hmpph." He can hear the girl pout as she slowly walks over and sits beside him under the tree.
The boy tries to ignore the fact that their shoulders are touching.
"How are you able to speed up like that, Tenko? That has like nothing to do with what your quirk is!"
Tenko shrugs since he is unable to answer the question himself, "You know that I don't know the answer to that! It's just like I can feel this energy inside me from time to time. If I find it and pull on it, it's like it spreads like a fire. After that it's like I feel like I can move faster than anything in the world!"
Mion smiles widely at him, "That's amazing Tenko!"
Tenko sighs, "But I also can't keep the energy up for very long or it starts to hurt, so it's really not that good anyway."
Mion notices his mood drop and looks over at him, "Don't worry about it Tenko! I'm sure it would help you become a hero! And then we can both be heroes together!"
Tenko can't help but smile at the response, "Okay Mion, that sounds like a good plan!"
The girl seems to look away from him for a second as if something was on her face but then slaps both hands on her cheeks and turns back to the boy.
"Why did you make your cheeks pink?" Tenko asks.
The girl giggles and then looks out across the lawn they are on, "I had a strange thought and needed to snap myself out of it."
Tenko narrows his eyes and is about to ask a follow up question but is then interrupted by the girl, "How does it feel to not wear the gloves?"
Tenko looks down to his hands and wiggles his fingers, "Nice", he says but then frowns, "But it's scary Mion, what if I fall or grab something?"
Mion places a hand on his shoulder, "Then I'll take the blame Tenko, you know my dad won't do anything if I tell him that I'm the one that wanted you to not wear them."
Tenko continues to look at his hands, "I just don't want to be any trouble for your family."
Mion grips Tenko's shoulder more firmly, "Stop thinking you're a bother Tenko. We all like having you here! You're part of the family!"
Tenko flinches at the word family and grips his hands together, "I don't think your parents like me very much. They look at me funny sometimes."
Mion sighs and takes her hand off the boys' shoulder, "Well I'll make sure they like you! You know how convincing I can be!"
Tenko chuckles at the girl. She could be convincing at times. Maybe it was a secondary quirk that she had.
He leans back against the tree and looks back to the house they lived in. He can see the mom watching from the window like a lifeguard bracing for the worst to happen. How did Mion ever think he would be a part of this family? He even overheard from time to time that his stay was 'temporary'. He wasn't sure what that meant exactly but knew that this life he lived would be over sooner rather than later. He shuddered thinking about the foster care system he knew he would be thrown back into.
Mion could sense the change in his mood and slowly reached up and patted him on the head. Tenko immediately snapped out of the thought and began to flail his arms up with a face the same color as a tomato.
"Oi w-w-what are you doing?!"
Mion giggles and takes her hand off his head, "You looked like you needed a pat! Was I wrong?"
Tenko pouts and looks away from the girl trying to hide his blushing face, "Whatever."
Mion continues to giggle at the boy and leans into his shoulder, "Hey I bet I could beat you to the rock wall!"
Tenko scoffs, "As if! You can never beat me in a race!"
Mion grins and gets in Tenko's face, "If you are so confident, how about you can't use your boost this time!"
Tenko feels the color drain from his face but tries to hide his sudden drop in confidence, "Ha! Pshh! I don't even need my boost to beat you anyways!"
Mion turns and laughs in his face, "We'll see about that!" and then without warning she took off for the far edge of the property where the rock wall was located.
"Hey!" Tenko barks as he quickly pulls himself up and chases after the girl. He realizes he probably won't be able to catch her this time. But that's alright, if that warm feeling he has in his chest can stay for a little bit longer. That feeling is all that matters to him.
~Revelations~
It's almost noon as the two continue to walk in the shaded forest on the edge of the property. Mion holds out both arms as she walks on top of the rock war while Tenko strolls on the ground to the left of her. The wall itself is about a meter thick so there is no real need to hold out her arms as if she needed help balancing but she would always say it was part of the show. Mion had mentioned once that she would want to join the circus as a trapeze artist if she didn't end up being a hero and asked if Tenko would like to join her at the circus. Tenko remembers shaking his head and saying, 'Grabbing things isn't really me specialty'. He remembers Mion laughing at that.
She had a wonderful laugh.
Tenko was snapped out of his reveries when the green haired girl suddenly asked, "Tenko have you ever thought about taking our family name?"
Tenko almost tripped over his feet at the question, "Huh? What do you mean?"
Mion kept looking ahead with her arms out to her side, "Well it's like you're just Tenko right now. Don't you want a family name?"
Tenko looked down at the ground, "You know I don't remember much about from before foster care but when I think about getting a new name, I get a sick feeling in my chest. I hate that feeling so I tend to just not think about things like family."
Tenko knew exactly what the feeling was. Guilt. But he couldn't remember why he felt guilty and whenever he tried to remember he would start shaking and feel like he had to vomit.
He wasn't sure what he had done to his family. But he knew it was bad.
His hands twitched in his pockets.
"Don't you want a family Tenko?"
Tenko looked up and made eye contact with her, "Are you asking to be in a family with me?"
Mion's eyes lit up and Tenko could practically see the blush rush up her face like a thermometer reacting to a hot temperature. It took him for a second to get why she was blushing.
"I-I didn't mean it like that! I know you wouldn't want to be in a family with me like that, dummy!" Tenko yelled while waving his hands in front of his face. When he didn't hear the immediate reply, he glanced up to see the girl looking down at the wall with her cheeks still sporting a pinkish coloring. He thought he made out her murmur, 'You're the dummy, dummy' but he decided it must have been a trick of the wind.
Tenko glanced up and saw that the wall was ending as they had circled back to the front of the estate. The Sonozaki family house was quite literally the definition of the house on the hill with the manor overlooking a wide field to the left and forest area to the right. Mion had mentioned to him before that sometimes she felt that she would go crazy since her parents would rarely let her leave the house as a child and home schooled her as well. They believed that she was a prime target for a group looking to kidnap a high value individual for ransom. After living in the house for roughly six months Tenko could see what those possible kidnappers were going for with taking the child.
The family was one of the wealthiest in Japan as the father, named Sonozaki Akiro, was the founder and President of SONOCO, which was a raw material distributor. The company seemed to be on the brink of collapse about two decades ago but partnered with the newly founded Detnerat and made a quick rise to power by selling the raw materials directly to the company. With Detnerat being one of the top lifestyle support sellers in Japan, SONOCO found the alliance to be all they could have hoped for and more.
There would be times even when Yotsubashi Rikiya would come over for meetings and even dinners. Nothing about the young man seemed inherently wrong but Tenko couldn't help but get the shivers every time they made eye contact. Mion had also voiced her concern over this man, but her parents would always shake their heads and promise that the CEO of Detnerat meant no harm and he just had a bit of a rough upbringing.
Additionally, Akiro had done business for the HPSC as well as some small-time medical research facility located on the island of Yakushima. The man would take trips to the island and the headquarters of the HPSC frequently and even mentioned that he would like to bring Tenko to the island at some point as a treat.
Tenko wasn't exactly sure why, but the thought of venturing to some jungle island that was practically out of some of the stories he read sounded appealing.
After about ten years of work with Detnerat, Sonoco was declared a staple of the Japanese economy and the manor that he was currently living in was built. The only way to the house was from the large cobble staircase that climbed the hill that the estate was perched on or taking the hidden back driveway, if you were approaching with a car. That staircase was now about 20 meters in front of them and is what cut off the rock wall from circling the entire property.
The silence between the two had been hanging over them for since the family comment was made and while it should have been more of an awkward feeling in the air, Tenko chose to feel safe and content instead.
Mion glanced at the boy and smiled to herself as he had taken his hands out of his pockets and held them up to feel the breeze that had picked up. She liked the look of his hands. She also liked the look on his face when he was happy.
In a sudden movement, Mion jumped off the wall and landed right to the side of Tenko who let out a small yelp. She giggled at the boy, then glanced back at the house and frowned as she made eye contact with her mother. The woman would watch her like a hawk and seemed to think that she would shatter into a million pieces at any given moment. She also knew that there were hidden cameras practically everywhere on the property that would pop out of the ground to see and listen in on whatever she was doing.
Mion hated that.
She was also aware of her parents' dislike of Tenko but worked hard to show the two that he really was not whatever they thought he was. That his quirk wasn't as evil as they thought it was. That they never got up to trouble when they were playing outside. After all, how could they become a family if Tenko would always be an outsider?
Mion was interrupted when she felt Tenko place the top side of his hand down on her head and proceeded to smirk at her face growing increasingly pink by the second.
"You looked like you were thinking too hard," he says cheekily and then removes the hand. She chooses to ignore the sharp feeling in her chest at the loss of contact.
"You're one to talk" she replies while gazing at the field that surrounded the bottom of the hill.
Tenko sighed and walked to the edge of the staircase. He looked out from the hill and couldn't tell if he felt more like a prince or a prisoner. He couldn't deny living here was infinitely better than a foster house and Mion was probably his best friend, but he just knew that this paradise wouldn't last. That he would wake up and-
Be back in the yard.
Surrounded by blood and dust.
Someone was screaming his name.
Tenko's eyes widened, and he had to bite down to stop the vomit from coming out of his mouth. His hands began to twitch rapidly as he struggled to breath. The world felt like it was closing in and crushing him like an anvil.
Three flashes and he had enough of his past. Enough of that moment. Enough of the guilt that he felt claw at him like some sort of shadow. Always there. Always whispering in his ear.
He heard Mion yell his name from behind when she noticed something wrong. He heard her begin to run over to him to check and see if he was okay. He could see the tiny hidden camera rise from the top step and he saw the lens looking at him. Watching him in this moment of weakness. Judging him. He hated those cameras.
Mion did not see the camera.
The moment seemed to slow down as Mion approached. Tenko still was struggling with opening his mouth to breath and tried to move further away from Mion as she closed in on him. He turned to see her eyes convey understanding and sadness as she knew what was happening.
And then he saw her eyes convey surprise.
They both watched as she tripped over the hidden camera and stumbled to the edge of the staircase, she spun like a top trying to face him while falling over the edge and extended her arm pleading to be grabbed. To be saved.
Without thinking Tenko reached out and locked hands with her as she hung over the edge.
For a second the world stood still as they locked eyes and tried to convey the deeper feelings they had for each other in a glance. Neither completely understood since they were too young for real romance but both knew that they cared deeply for one another. The warmth Tenko got from holding Mion's hand was indescribable. It felt soft and warm.
And then her hand felt dry.
Tenko's eyes widened in horror as he realized that all five fingers were touching Mion's hand. He could see the cracks beginning to form in her fingers and that a grey coloring had spread to the palm of the hand. He could see the recognition in her face as her mouth slightly opened. When he locked eyes with her again, he wasn't looking at an 11-year-old with seafoam hair and green eyes but a 9-year-old girl with brown hair and dark eyes.
He couldn't let that happen again.
Tenko let go.
Mion's eyes widened as she began to fall from the top step and Tenko watched as she bounced and rolled and finally ended with a sickening crack when her back hit the hard pavement from the bottom of the hill. Mion lies motionless with a pool of blood forming underneath her.
This time Tenko was finally able to utter, "Mion" as he stared blankly at the scene in front of him.
It took less than 30 seconds before one of the guards for the estate had tackled him and dragged him away from the shrieking mother.
'She was right about me after all', Tenko thought as he was carried to the garage and thrown into the back of a white van like a sack of flour. If he had been of sound mind at this point, Tenko probably would have been panicking. He probably would have been concerned for his life. But all he could think about was Mion and the look she gave when he let go. She looked sad.
'Did she not want me to let go?'
Tenko's thoughts were interrupted when the van had reached whatever the planned destination was, stopping abruptly, which sent him flying into the wall that divided the driver cabin from the back. The boy glanced back to the door of the van when it was flung open revealing the same bodyguard and an incensed Sonozaki Akiro. The bodyguard reached in and grabbed Tenko by the arm before yanking him out of the van and onto the pavement.
Tenko looked around to see that he was in a deserted alleyway in what he was guessing was Matsumoto, which was the closest city to the house. Tenko glanced up and felt large raindrops hit his face as dark clouds seemed to descend the city. The rain felt nice on his dry skin.
Mion had told him once that she liked the rain.
The boy looked up to the father who he saw holding a baseball bat in one hand as he raked his other hand through his now soaked hair. The moment they made eye contact the father looked away in disgust.
"I gave you everything in the world and this is how you repay me?" The bat swung down and clocked Tenko's right eye. He felt the skin split open on either side. Blood slowly dripped down his face.
"SHE WAS MY BABY GIRL! AND YOU USED THAT QUIRK ON HER! YOUR CURSED QUIRK!"
The bat swung down again, and this time hit his mouth.
The man was right after all. He used decay on Mion. His best friend. A small thought in his mind begged the father to swing the bat once at the back of his head and end it all. Then he could be with Hana and Mom again. Tenko hoped they didn't have quirks in the afterlife.
The bat came down again and hit Tenko's hand this time. He could feel bones split and he bit his tongue to hold back a scream. He looked up at the man with one good eye and tried to convey that he was sorry. That he would never have hurt Mion on purpose. That he was okay with any punishment the father felt like giving.
He saw the man's face twisted in anger as he held the bat over his head with both arms. Preparing the finishing blow. Tenko couldn't tell if it was the rain or tears on the man's face, but the streetlights above seemed to reflect on it in a way that seemed to amplify his emotions. Tenko could see the rage, sadness, fear, and even somehow guilt on Sonozaki Akiro's face. His arms began to wobble overhead as he suddenly dropped the bat and fell to his knees. The man began to sob loudly.
"Mion was perfect! She would have been perfect for the family! And you-" He stopped abruptly and sobbed loudly before mumbling, "I should have sent you to Yakushima sooner! Maybe this all could have been avoided then. First Shion and now Mion. History just keeps repeating itself, huh?" He glanced at Tenko almost expecting a response but was met with a shivering eleven-year-old covered in his own blood and the rain that was now thundering from above.
Tenko felt the world begin to shift as he fell to the side and landed on his shoulder. He squinted up to the man and found more agony than rage at this point. Akiro slowly pulled himself up with shaking shoulders and gestured to the boy as if he was trash on the side of the road while looking at the bodyguard.
"Deal with this." Was all Sonozaki Akiro said before slowly walking out the alley and into a black car that was now parked on the road. Both the boy and the bodyguard watched as the car sped away and then the older man slowly walked over and picked up the bat that had been lying on the ground. With two hands, the bald man brought the bat over his head and squared up so he would hit Tenko directly in the skull.
Tenko closed his eyes and awaited the inevitable killing blow. He was ready for it.
He hated his quirk.
He hated himself.
He hated this cruel world.
He waited for the final swing but the only sound he heard was the drop of the bat and the collapse of a body. Tenko struggled to open his eyes but was able to make out a man in a black suit strolling toward him with the bodyguard on the floor beside the man. Hecould see blood beginning to pool under the bodyguard and was able to figure out what had happened.
"No one came to save you, Shimura Tenko?"
The man knelt beside Tenko and reached out a hand. The only thing Tenko could make out before slipping into unconsciousness was the bright violet coloring of the man's left eye.
"I'll save you Tenko. And then you'll help me change the world."
Present Day – One Year after the Death of AFO and All Might
Tomura jolted up from his bed with hair sticking to his sweat covered face. He swallowed deep breaths and turned to see Kurogiri sitting in a chair beside the bed holding a glass of water. The cloud covered man offered the boy the glass who hesitantly took it before greedily drowning it one attempt. After finishing, he slowly swung his legs over the bed and looked at his caretaker.
"You looked like you were having a bad dream, Tomura."
Shigaraki pushed his cerulean hair out of his face and glared at the man, "No shit Giri. Why the hell didn't you wake me up like last time?"
"I thought it would be best for you to face it, Tomura. Remember what Sensei used to say about your past?"
Tomura gripped the bedding harder, "Yeah I remember. But forcing me to watch it happen again fucking sucks. Wake me up next time."
Kurogiri sighed, "I did try to shake you awake when you started calling her name."
"Hana?"
"No, Mion."
"Tch. Dump a bucket of water on me next time if I'm yelling names. Having to remember that face she made," Tomura pauses for a moment to check that his gloves are on, "I just really hate remembering that, Giri."
The caretaker nodded, "Understood Tomura. I shall fill a bucket at once and leave it nearby."
Tomura could sense the sarcasm dripping from the man's voice and hastily retorts, "Fuck you, cloud butler." He then slowly climbed out of his bed and ripped his sweat soaked shirt off and made his way to the bathroom.
"Shall I prepare breakfast, Tomura?"
Tomura paused for a moment at the doorway and looked back, "Just coffee, Kurogiri."
"Of course, Tomura."
~Revelations~
The hot water felt nice on Tomura's skin as he worked at scrubbing away the grime from his most recent nightmare. What used to be a nightly occurrence has seemingly been relegated to a monthly or bimonthly happening ever since he had reached sixteen. Five years was a long time and through being with Sensei and Kurogiri for all of it, Tomura found people that weren't scared of him and seemed to genuinely care for him.
He wasn't sure of what to make of Sensei, who he had met after he woke up in a warm bed following the incident with Akiro. At first, he thought he might have been dead, and this was what waited for him in the afterlife. That was quickly disproven when he saw Kurogiri for the first time and fell out of his bed with a yelp.
Sensei had described Kurogiri as a 'manufactured ally', which he figured at the time was a nice way of saying science experiment slave, but over time saw that Kurogiri had free will, but just chose to follow orders that he was given. Outside of Sensei, Kurogiri was also the smartest (person? cloud?) he knew and was thankful to the caretaker for homeschooling him after he moved in permanently.
It took him about a year to figure out why Sensei had saved him in the first place and how he knew who he was when he found him in the alley. The man had brought up the fact that he had a future seeing quirk and had seen Tenko in the alley and had seen what Tomura would become in the future. He remembered at the time, Tomura doubted that he would play a major role with the quirk he had and the things he had done in the past, but Sensei thought otherwise.
"I believe in you Tomura, so BELIEVE IN YOURSELF!"
Tomura gripped the handle in the shower as he recalled the memory. He closed his eyes and rested his head against the side wall trying to sort through his feelings for the man he called Sensei. Was it possible for one person to give you everything and nothing at the same time? To help and teach someone but never provide concrete reasons for why he would act in the way he did, talk in the way he did, do things in the way he did?
He would sometimes find the man having intense discussions with someone named Revy when no one else was around! When he asked Sensei about Revy, he remembered the man chuckling and saying it was part of his quirk. Tomura liked to think that Revy was some sort of imaginary friend.
Tomura let out a small sigh and chose to stop thinking too hard about his Sensei. He remembered what Kurogiri had told him once when he was still grieving over his death.
"The man can see things that you are unable to, Tomura. Trust him and the path that has been set forward."
Tch. Tomura heard a lot about this path. But hadn't seen any of it. How was he even supposed to know it even existed? That this wasn't some elaborate joke or experiment run by Sensei or someone else who liked pulling the strings in the shadows. Tomura didn't think he was a pawn.
But why did he sometimes feel like one?
Tomura scratched his skull in frustration before finally turning off the water and reaching for the towel that had been placed on the rack next to him. He quickly dried off and applied the moisturizer that Sensei had left for him before throwing on a loose black long-sleeved shirt and some sweatpants. While the cream hadn't eliminated his dry skin completely, Tomura still was astonished at the result it had for him over time.
It was nice to not feel constantly itchy everywhere.
The bar had the usual smell of disinfectant and stale air. The television was on above the shelving that held most of the alcohol and Tomura found a cup of coffee and the morning newspaper waiting for him in his regular seat. He took a long sip and made note that the temperature was practically perfect. He had to give credit when credit was due. Kurogiri knew how to make a mean cup of coffee.
"Are you alright with starting our lesson at ten today Tomura? That'll allow for more training in the afternoon."
Tomura grunted in an affirmative and looked down at the newspaper. Most of the headlines discussed recent news regarding the new prime minister but Tomura was drawn to one headline in particular.
HPSC ACADEMY SEES RECORD NUMBER OF HIGH SCHOOL APPLICANTS
"Tch. Why the hell are all these kids drawn to the HPSC Academy, Giri? Do they not see what the commission is doing with them?"
"The tuition cost for the school is dramatically lower than schools like UA and Shiketsu. It would make sense for a lower level income family to want to send their kids there if they want to be a hero."
"To become mooks for the commission? Shouldn't it be a red flag that there is no admission test for the school, and you could get in with just an application? It's obvious they're just skipping to the quirk section and making their decision entirely based on that."
Kurogiri considered the response, "I suppose you're right. If they just lead with the price of the school and the idea that anyone admitted in on the fast track to become a licensed hero since it is through the commission, they'll attract a lot of hopeful kids."
Tomura frowned and took another sip of his coffee, "It's raising the supply of heroes but not the demand. It'll lead to oversaturation unless the commission expects crime to jump dramatically in the next few years."
"Would it not be expected to go up since All Might is gone?"
Tomura scoffed, "All Might was overrated. The idiot never saw the repercussions of his actions and just focused on saving the one guy in front of him rather than the five that will suffer in the society that he helped create. And in terms of fear factor Endeavor is just as scary as him since he gives off the vibe that he will fucking burn you alive if you don't surrender to him."
Kurogiri picked up the cup of tea that he had next to him, "I see that you have been reading more of the journals that Sensei left for you."
"I suppose. I've been looking for clues and just found mad ramblings about All Might and some of the major flaws that plague the country now."
"Did you agree with what he had to say?"
Tomura took another sip of the coffee, "The general ideas make sense, but he talks about things I've never heard of. Like there are programs and initiatives that he mentions that are not public knowledge so I can't tell if it's real or just all in his head."
Tomura groaned and scratched his head in frustration before continuing, "He would do this when teaching me also, like give me a list of laws and have me try to tell which one were real and which were bullshit. The journals are like puzzles, and he expects me to eventually crack the meaning of what he is trying to say."
"Maybe you're overthinking things, Tomura."
Shigaraki drummed his fingers on the bar, "And what do you think is the point of the journals? What do you think he was trying to tell me though them?"
"That the world is inherently wrong. That the way that this country is run is inherently wrong. The way that the people are treated here is inherently wrong."
Tomura leaned back in his chair and gave a long stretch. His core was still sore from the training he had been doing with Giri. Who knew it would be so hard trying to catch a warp quirk user?
"You don't think I know that? This country fucking sucks. The people who can't see that are sheep or are part of the problem. But what good does that fact do to me right now? It's just me and you in this shitty bar, what are we going to do?"
Kurogiri nodded, "Be patient Tomura. If you continue with your training and your missions, you never know what opportunities might come up."
"Mission?!" Tomura snorted, "You mean those bullshit side quests that Giran sends me like some run of the mill adventure guild attendant? Everything I've done and everyone I've worked with screams amateur hour! I can feel the practically zero gain I get in my XP from doing those stupid jobs."
"Weren't you part of that raid on the Yaoyoruzo Corp factory? That couldn't have been that easy."
Tomura shrugged, "It seemed pretty easy to me. The team was bunch of fucking idiots, but they did what I told them which was nice compared to the job before that."
Tomura then grit his teeth recalling the prior job, "That dumbass Imasuji just wouldn't stop looking to fight everyone! Like I get that you're a literal muscle head but Jesus Christ he shouldn't have signed up for a fucking reconnaissance mission then!"
Kurogiri smirked at the frustrated sixteen-year-old that sat across from him. It clearly hadn't clicked with him that it was rather impressive to be leading operations at that age and Giran had told him that people had begun calling Tomura a prodigy in the underworld. The boy simply had a knack for success and getting jobs done with minimal fuss. Kurogiri supposed this made sense since AFO had personally tutored him in the field on a wide variety of missions before his passing.
The caretaker sighed thinking about the man and all that he had given him. All that he had shown him. Would his visions for the future come to fruition like he had predicted? Kurogiri thought about it often and the boy that sat across from him now, who was still going on about the muscle head idiot. Would this boy become who AFO thought he would become? Would this boy fulfill the almost otherworldly potential that AFO claimed he had? Kurogiri guesses that only time would tell, since if he remembered, they still had a couple of years before things really began to pick up. But even Kurogiri could see that the boy was certainly on the right track.
The right path.
"Have you found any potential allies yet from the missions?"
Tomura looked up from the article he was reading, "No. Most of the people that I've worked with can hardly read or write. Like what the hell am I supposed to do with that?"
Kurogiri sighed, "Lower income education just keeps falling off, doesn't it?"
The boy nodded, "I swear Kurogiri, it's like this country wants these people to become criminals. It gives them nothing and takes everything and expects them to just roll over and die? The people I work with might be idiots but they're not pathetic."
Kurogiri smiled as he looked at the boy he had been raising for the past couple of years, who proceeded to pick the newspaper back up and flip to a new page.
He's beginning to see the bigger picture now, isn't he?
Kurogiri's thoughts were interrupted by Tomura spitting out his coffee while looking wide eyed at one of the pages in the paper. He opened his mouth, but no sound seemed to come out and he simply dropped the paper back on the bar. Kurogiri quickly made his way to the boy to make sure he wasn't having another panic attack before looking at the article headline.
SHIMURA NANA WINS UNDER 15 HEROICS TOURNAMENT IN FUKUOKA
Kurogiri's eyes widened at the headline. A question then began to form in his head.
So, it is time for another player to enter the story, All for One?
Key Player Log
FLASHBACK
Shimura Tenko and Sonozaki Mion. Age: 11
PRESENT DAY
Shigaraki Tomura. Age: 16
Kurogiri. Age: Unknown
Author Notes
- One of the major changes I have from cannon is that Tomura was not saved by AfO after the tragedy with his family. He was instead placed in foster care by a stranger, since he was unable to remember his family name and bounced around families and houses before ending up with the Sonozaki's. I'll have more Tenko flashbacks from his time before AfO and Tomura flashbacks from his time with AfO in the future.
- The "boost" Tenko uses in the flashback will be touched upon more in the future.
- Sonozaki Mion is an OC for the story and is entirely based on the character of the same name from Higurashi. I just finished watching the show (it is insane lmao) and needed a character to fit this role in particular and chose her.
- Next up: More world building, character building and the introduction of a de-aged Shimura Nana!