Izuku woke up to seven ghosts standing over his bed. He screamed. No one could have possibly blamed him for such a normal reaction. Except maybe any neighboring students who got an unexpected alarm in the middle of the night.
From the dorm room next to him, Aoyama shifted in his bed and moaned something like, "Please, not again. Le maître had such a strange reaction to hearing of the eldritch tentacles…" From there he started mumbling in indecipherable French.
Remembering the time he'd woken up Aoyama activating Black Whip, Izuku flushed. He turned his embarrassment into anger at the ghosts. "Please don't startle me like that. I have to share the dorms with the rest of my class. Several of them already think I might be crazy."
"Sorry, Ninth," Yoichi said. "It's currently midnight, which means Halloween just started." He pointed at the alarm clock with glowing red numerals and All Might hair tufts. "Every Halloween, for twenty-four hours, we ghosts are able to leave our holder's body and be seen by living humans."
Banjo added, "Don't ask us why, that's just the rules."
"Do you mean other people can see you right now?" Izuku turned so pale his freckles looked like measles. He ran to the door and locked it, then shoved a chair underneath. There were some things he didn't want to explain to Aizawa. He doubted anyone would believe his strength quirk suddenly took on a sentient aspect like Dark Shadow.
En said, "Naturally, we always take this opportunity to torment All for One for twenty-four straight hours. What better could we possibly do with our unlives?"
"Not like I have a family to visit," Nana muttered bitterly.
"He can't harm us," Hikage said with uncharacteristic good cheer. "Though he's been looking for a ghostbusting quirk for decades."
Banjo declared, "This year, I will finally make our nemesis scream in terror."
"It's an unofficial contest between us—who can make All for One scream first," En said.
For some reason, Second and Third were still facing the wall. Izuku didn't ask. He was too tired to care. "Did you come here for ideas and help?"
Yoichi said, "No, we came to tell you that All for One is your father."
Izuku's jaw worked open and shut like a fish.
"Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, nephew, and welcome to the worst family in the world. I would have told you sooner, but I couldn't get a clear enough connection in dreams." Yoichi shrugged. "Normally I would stay and help you process this realization, but tormenting my brother comes first. I know you hate him too, so you understand. Bye!"
All seven ghosts vanished. Izuku's anguished screams woke the entire dorm.
All for One cursed up a storm upon seeing the calendar. Halloween had crept up on him again. He canceled all his meetings, bunkered down in his home, and waited.
The ghosts were late. They usually jumped out at him at the very first chance, as if they'd been lurking around waiting. When the clock struck five minutes after midnight, All for One wondered if anticipation was their newest torment for him.
Banjo popped up right before the villain's nose, a ghostly figure covered in bloody bandages and waving his arms. "BOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
All for One felt a small surge of adrenaline from the jump scare, but he kept it off his face. Twisting his lips with scorn, he declared, "Is that supposed to frighten me? I killed you! Seeing you covered in blood fills me with pleasure."
"Aw." Banjo hung his head. "Sixth, your turn."
From behind, En whispered into the villain's ear, "You've been having trouble with your memories ever since All Might ripped off your face. You increasingly fear you might have taken brain damage. Your plans just don't seem as sharp as they used to, do they?"
All for One flinched. That one hit home. He tried to cover it up with a laugh. "Ramblings from a bunch of irrelevant dead people. I have trouble remembering you because you put up such a pitiful struggle before I killed you."
In his right ear, Hikage made a whirr like a wire snapping. All for One entered a PTSD flashback of all the times he'd chased that maniac Fourth around the forest and ran into his tripwire traps. With great effort, he clamped his lips shut and prevented a scream. His teeth grinded together.
"Nearly had him," Hikage muttered in disappointment.
Second and Third popped up, arm in arm. "We have this one in the bag," Third said cheerfully.
Smirking, Second said, "We're going to tell you all about our sex lives with your brother in explicit detail."
Third said, "We'll make you scream and ensure you'll never be able to eat again. Especially after you learn about food sex."
All for One went to his desk and put in earphones. He blasted the music at loudest volume. The idiots tried to use hand gestures, but he turned away. Then, just to prove the two pesky ghosts wrong, he headed downstairs to make himself a sandwich.
As All for One set foot on the stairway, a shadow darted out and tangled with his legs. The figure had no substance, but the movement distracted him enough to make him lose his balance. All for One tumbled down the stairs, landing on his butt at the bottom. His headphones fell off.
"Aw, I hoped you'd break your neck," Nana said, her body coalescing from the shadows.
"Murder, from a hero?" All for One grumbled. "You've fallen far, Nana Shimura."
"You're the one who fell down the stairs," she pointed out. Even All for One had to admit he'd walked right into that one.
When All for One saw his brother appear next to his boyfriends, he hastily put on his headphones again. The other two didn't have nearly as foul mouths as Yoichi. Forget the sandwich, he had a better idea. He headed even further down, straight to his bank vault.
There was only one ghost All for One looked forward to seeing every year. And he especially liked to see Yoichi standing in the bank vault, where he belonged. He drunk in the sight, fanaticizing his brother still lived and could be trapped within the steel walls. He knew being there made his little brother uncomfortable too, but Yoichi wanted to monologue more than he wanted to leave. It was a family trait.
Second and Third vanished. (Probably because Yoichi had ordered them too, and they were a pair of simps.) Yoichi pointed at the headphones. In other words, he'd gotten rid of his boy toys to call a temporary truce.
All for One took the headphones off, because he did so enjoy sparring verbally with his dear little brother. The first sign of sex talk, and the music would go back on.
Yoichi rubbed his hands together. "I have come up with the perfect plan to torment you. I spent years on this, crafting my weapon in the Void from memories and shadows. I wasn't satisfied with a vague outline. I had to make it look exactly like the original."
"I look forward to your next idiocy, my dear little brother," All for One said.
Triumphantly, Yoichi declared, "I will show you the ending to the Captain Hero comic!" He whipped out a ghostly comic book, turning the pages to the last chapter.
All for One said, "You realize that ever since All Might destroyed my eyes, I use a quirk to see." Then he turned the quirk off, plunging himself into darkness. He only regretted not being able to see the look on his brother's face.
"NOOOOOOOOOO!" Yoichi wailed. "Stop that! Cheater! Captain Hero beats the Demon King! You can't hide from the truth!"
"Yes, I can," All for One said smugly.
His phone dinged with a text. It might be important, since he'd canceled a lot of meetings at the last minute. He couldn't let his followers see him chased by ghosts, it would be undignified. But he could at least reply to the text. All for One turned his eyesight on again, carefully looking down and not at the comic book.
The text message showed a picture of All Might standing with his arm around Izuku. They both held up official paperwork. Izuku had written: Just got legally adopted by All Might.
All for One's anguished screams echoed throughout the vault.
Yoichi shouted, "Everyone, Ninth won this year! That's my nephew."
OMAKE TIME!
Second: Ninth, I'm sorry for Yoichi's insensitivity in revealing your parentage, then running off. You must be angry at him.
Izuku: No, I completely understand—tormenting Dad has to come first.
Yoichi: I knew you'd get it!
Izuku: Actually I'm angry because if you had to wake me up at midnight, you should have at least brought Misty Might.
Yoichi: Uh, All Might is alive, so his ghost doesn't manifest on Halloween.
Izuku: Aw, man, I have a vault prepared and everything.
Second: Yup, definitely All for One's son.
#
Nana: Tenko, I know you don't want to see me, but the contest to scare All for One ended early. I have no excuses left. Even Yoichi told me that I should come talk to you. And Yoichi thinks nothing is more important than annoying his brother. I don't know what to say to you, but…I'm here to listen if you want to talk.
Tomura: AHHHHHHHHH GHOST! Lisa has finally broken out of Silent Hills to take revenge on the executives who canceled her game! I'll abandon villainy and devote my life to helping you make your game into a reality.
Nana: …I don't know what I was expecting but not that.
#
All for One: My son can't get adopted because I'm still alive. (Yoichi, shut up for half a second.) I only left home to make money to support my family. And chase my childhood dream. Aren't childhood dreams sacred to the so-called good guys? (Second, don't you dare open your mouth, not in front of a child!) I've brought his birth certificate and—Daigoro Banjo, stop bleeding on my papers!
Izuku: Your Honor, as you can see, my father is mentally unfit for his job so All Might stepped up instead. Nezu helped by pointing us toward the right officials to bribe to get the adoption paperwork.
Judge Abe: I see no problem with this! Thanks for the new car.