Toshinori sat on his bed, his hands clenched.
Squirming on the inside as he glanced back at his pillow his anxiety grew.
His meeting with Nezu had taken quite a few turns he hadn't thought would happen, mainly due to the young boy that was at the meeting.
Young Midoriya had certainly given him a lot to mull over as he ate his final meal of the day.
His quirk wasn't just one quirk, and he had only survived wielding it as long as he had because he… didn't have one before now.
And even more damningly he learned that young Tenko was still alive and in such a dangerous place but that wasn't even the worst thing he learned today.
Toshinori took a deep breath, and he glanced out the window.
Because for all these years, the odd dreams he always did his best to shrug off weren't as benign as he thought.
That thought made his throat dry.
How could it not when it meant that he had been completely ignoring his master, not haunted by her memory like he assumed he was before.
Something that opened up a whole can of worms in the form of questions.
Just how aware were the echoes of the past wielders? Could they see what was happening and going on around him? Could they still see the world through his eyes? Or what about seeing his other memories? Hear his thoughts?
He'd wanted to ask Young Midoriya these things but the boy had admitted he didn't know much about the dynamics of quirks like One For All, which Toshinori figured was fair enough.
He wasn't an expert in quirks and he clearly didn't understand the quirk he had and used daily for so many years now on even a basic level.
And now he was faced with a difficult task ahead of him, going to sleep.
Toshinori snorted at that thought, his gaze going up to the ceiling.
Most people would be excited to do that, but he now had a lot of doubts and new feelings about the things he had been doing ever since he was born.
Because this time when he went to sleep it would not be the dread he recently had come to known.
But anxiety as he was to be reunited with his master Nana, someone he'd missed quite so dearly over the years.
Though he was just as scared by the idea, would she be angry with him? Frankly, how could she not be cross with him?
He'd failed to keep her family safe after she passed, and when they did get attacked, he hadn't bothered to even make sure that they were dead and poor little Tenko was now in the hands of that horrid man.
Then there was his fight with said monster, the one that almost killed him and yet he couldn't even actually kill him, fulfilling his one duty as a wielder and naively let All For One work in the shadows once he faked his death.
And now that he did know there was nothing that he could do about it because he was so reckless that his body couldn't properly recover after the fight.
Leaving him the shambling pile of bones that would have to pass this duty on to some other poor soul that would be in worlds of pain and danger simply because of his own selfish desires and whims.
Young Midoriya's coldly furious eyes flashed through his mind as the boy's words repeated once again.
No matter how much that quirk was your blessing, it won't be mine.
You might have turned your back on who you were before you took Inheritance Yagi, but I've used it to help people.
It was a very sharp dig at him but one he supposed was well deserved.
Because young Midoriya was right in the end.
One For All truly was his greatest blessing, letting him pass as a regular human with his own quirk.
And he'd even gone out of his way to actively bury his connections to his past in just about every shape and form, with only Torino-Sensei being any the wiser before the boy called him out.
He'd donate money to the charities for the quirkless but that was hardly the support they needed, and he did remember those times back before he got One For All.
Of how he lived for those five years after he was kicked out of the orphanage, on his own and working whatever jobs he could get just to afford food and rent in his old apartment.
It was such an awful time for him and he hated thinking about how alone he was back then or how he even came to be in that situation in the first place.
How long had it been since he visited his mother's grave?
Not since Nana passed away, it was too dangerous before, but he really hadn't had any excuse after that.
He hadn't had many years with her but Toshinori remembered how hard she had to work just to keep a roof over his head and how kind she was to him despite everything going wrong for her.
It was why he attached himself to Nana, she reminded him so much of his mother before she had gotten so sick.
He should make some plans to visit her grave later, and maybe Nana's as well.
Toshinori sighed dragging one of his hands down his face as another wave of guilt nipped at him in addition to all of the guilt young Midoriya had placed upon him.
But as he forced himself to lay down on his bed he couldn't help being more consumed by his other fear.
Because as much as he feared her hatred of him, something that would truly break his heart, he feared the opposite even more.
If she didn't hate him then there could be only one of two reasons for that, either she didn't know what was happening in the world around him, in which case he'd have to be the one to explain everything to her and break her heart in person.
Or she wouldn't be Nana.
Young Midoriya had said echoes could be different things, and the likelihood of the echo actually being Nana and not just a vestige of her was far more likely than he truly wanted to admit to himself.
And the thought of a, phony, version of Nana sitting in his head made him feel rather uncomfortable, because that ghost would never truly be her and just another thing to taunt him for his failures.
Sleep, like on many a night before this, did not come to him willingly.
Fore after hours of his mind running itself into the ground over every possible scenario, his tired and aching body sunk it's claws into him and his eyes slid shut, not to open again for quite awhile.
Opening his eyes Toshinori tensed as he found himself sitting at the table of his old apartment once again.
He looked over to the door and waited.
There was a silence that had never came before, long and drawn out.
Nana had always begun dreams like this pleading with him to open the door, or if it was the other man than he'd wait a few seconds before he too began to call for him.
Was... was he mistaken?
A consideration that made his heart drop.
What if young Midoriya was right and he wasn't truly connected with One For All because he was quirkless and this dream was just some god forsaken nightmare he keep having until he took his last breath-
"Toshi."
Toshinori's head whipped up towards the door.
"Toshi please answer me." Nana pleaded.
And this time, with tears welling in his eyes he finally answered her.
"N-Nana." Toshinori's voice cracked, and perhaps it was just because of how emotional he was at the moment but damn it how was he supposed to really keep himself together in a time like this?
"Toshi!" Nana exclaimed and Toshinori knew even without seeing her that Nana had to be crying as she said it, her voice also being choked up from how happy she sounded.
"Nana... " Toshinori repeated dumbly unable to think of what to say next.
"Yes, Toshi it's me, I swear." Nana excitedly told him "I'm not a fake, it's the real me Toshi." she proclaimed.
"You-" Toshinori sputtered.
"We can see what you see since I passed you the quirk," Nana told him, her excitement dipping to a much more somber tone.
Toshinori clenched his hands and waited for the hate to surface.
"But please Toshi, I don't hate you, not for my mistake." Nana insisted and Toshinori shook his head.
It wasn't her fault that he was so blind and moronic to All For One's plans and schemes or didn't even give it enough thought to realize he was being played before it was literally forced into his face.
"Toshinori, I made you promise to leave Kotaro alone thinking it would keep him safe from that bastard and I was wrong." Nana said sternly before he heard her sharply inhale.
"He's dead because I foolishly thought I could protect him by cutting all ties between us, but I was wrong Toshi and he's dead." Nana yelled, the sound of her fists hitting the door but it not budging as she shouted the last word.
"And it all my fault." Nana managed to say between her sobs.
Toshinori's heart leapt to his throat and tears fell down his face "No it wasn't! You were just doing what you thought was best!" he tried to argue.
"No I didn't!" Nana screamed back with another bang on the door.
Forcing Toshinori flinch back, only able to stare wide eyed at the door.
"Sorahiko tried to reason with me and told me how stupid I was being by thinking I could just send my son away and think that bastard would really leave him alone! But I didn't listen and there was no one there to save Kotaro or his family because I was too damn stubborn to listen." Nana told him as she broke down on the other side of the door.
"Nana," Toshinori said as he got to his feet, wanting to rush to her side to comfort her.
"I messed up Toshinori, so please... please don't blame yourself for the mistake I made." Nana begged.
Toshinori's feet were moving before he even think and he was fast at work undoing the dozens of self-made locks he created to keep people out back when he was living here.
"Tosh-" Nana tried to speak but stopped as the door was opened.
Suddenly now that the door was open the world felt different, the wood of the door more solid and the chill of the metal locks on his skin where it wasn't before.
And standing right in front of him, was Nana.
She was younger then he remembered but it was absolutely Nana, clearly having been crying her eyes out but he'd never mistake her for anyone.
Nana's breath hitched, fear of him not actually being in front of her easily read on her face as they both stared at each other.
Then she wrapped her arms around him and he buried his face in her shoulder, the two of them collapsing against each other and ended up hugging each other on their knees.
Holding on and crying, both scared to let go in fear of the other disappearing.
Then, after what felt like an entirety later the tears calmed down though he wasn't quite ready to let go yet allowed Nana to put some space between them and both looked at each other once again.
Her eyes still red but she smiled at him all the same as she took his face in her hands.
"Toshinori, I'm late in saying this but I know Noel would be so proud of how far you've come, and what you've done." Nana told him.
Toshinori felt his breath being stolen from him, a new wave of tears falling from his eyes and he again hugged Nana.
It had been decades since he heard anyone talk about his mother, much less say her name.
And to have Nana say that she was proud of him?
Well, Toshinori would need a moment to collect himself.