I… am purple.

It very strange. Sleep person, peachy color, wake up purple.

And tall…

Very tall.

Not sure why. People so small now. Not sure why in lab. Sleep in tube, liquid breathe. Hard to think. Slow, short thoughts. Weird. Try to look around, but doctor-bald-glasses-big mustache catches me. Tells me to return.

I do.

Even stranger.

Stare at little doctor-bald, but he mutters. Sleep many days after. Wake up less clear, more… dreamy. Still, purple. Very strange. Not good. Maybe sleep more? Better thoughts?

.

.

.

Much sleep, still purple.

There are more purple. I find three. Beaks. See brains. Why beak? No feathers. Brain strange. Brain should not be out. Need hair, brown hair.

Doctor-bald mutters.

Speaks weird.

Sleep many days, wake and know speak.

Speech?

Speak speech spoke?

Thoughts hard.

No more wander. Stay in tube, many bubbles. In. Out. Many odd things. Purple bird-people. Little mud people. Man no eyes, big smile. Maybe hurt? Maybe… something? Lost. Thinking hard.

Doctor-bald says I stupid.

Rude.

Try and fix me. Thinks bad parts, no fix.

I parts?

Strange place. Strange people. Doctor-bald say I baby. I not baby, but Doctor-bald speak I do. Not like. Need home. Want old home.

.

.

.

Maybe I dead?

Call me Nomu. Know word. Should not. Picture, book, big eyes—funny story? Strange. Purple skin strange. Doctor strange. Mutter words, quirks, heroes, villains. Very serious. Make purple skin shiver.

Remember picture-book-story.

Boy weak, get strong. Save world.

Remember Nomu .

Purple, check. Beak, check. Quirk? Quirk magic? Much magic. Mud-thing eat people. Disappear. Return in mud. Very strange.

Brain slow .

Brain needs hair . Too slow. Hard think. Bad open brain.

Sleep soon.

.

.

.

Doctor-bald bad. No-Eye-Man very bad.

Boy-many-hands come.

Know.

Know. Know.

I know.

Stare, watch, follow . Boy-many-hands—I know .

Bad. Hurt.

Need away. No way. Need plan.

.

.

.

Doctor Tsubasa sighs as his most… active Nomu follows Shigaraki around the base. He's not really sure where he went wrong with this one. They'd used similar parts as they had with all the others. The woman they'd used for a base had been interesting in only that she was entirely unremarkable. And yet…

The lumbering purple creature slinks through the halls like a massive toddler, peaking around corners and hiding behind objects far too small for its large size.

Why ?

He'd done everything right!

He'd fused the bones, melded the flesh, pumped the poor creature with enough hypertonic solution that it should have been perfect! He sighs wearily, wishing once again his patron wasn't so curious. He'd love nothing more than to split the thing back apart, figure out what made it tick—what made it go wrong—but three surgeries later, and it almost seemed to get stupider.

"Perhaps it's the quirk," All for One says, standing patiently at his side and observing the nonsense on his own despite his lack of eyes. "A language quirk plus an unidentified one on top of the strength, shock absorption, and regeneration? You didn't add any child parts?"

"No, sir."

"Fascinating."

Doctor Tsubasa sighs.

That was not the word he would use for it.