Time is strange when you live underground.
Not the literal underground, though that happened too. But the kind where walls go up around your name, your purpose, your truths. It goes fast. Especially when you're building something that was never supposed to exist.
Izuku and Shinso have started to figure it out.
Not the big picture. Not yet. But the pieces. The way I let them into strategy meetings. The way I ask them questions I already know the answers to. They are learning what it means to carry weight, not just wear it.
They don't say anything outright. But they're starting to feel it.
A shift.
And maybe that's why I feel it too.
Something telling me I need to prepare them.
Just in case I can't come back.
Izuku has been helping La Brava with recruitment. Somehow, despite his nervous smiles and quiet voice, Twice and Magne have agreed to more conversations. That's not small. That's something most people fail at before they try.
Meanwhile, Mrs. Midoriya has started visiting almost every day.
At first, she walked in stiff, eyes wide, voice too polite. I could see the question in her mouth every time she looked at the suits, the tattoos, the spellwork on the walls.
Are they Yakuza?
No, ma'am. We just dress better and get more done.
It took time, but she softened. She watched us feed the neighborhood, walk children home, mend walls after storms. One morning she came in with a tray of onigiri and asked if we needed help sorting supply crates. Now she is talking about moving in.
Today, the entire Coil is gathered in the living room.
The big one with the long couches, the polished floor, and the windows Rin insists we clean every week. Everyone is here. Eri is curled beside Izuku, her unicorn necklace catching the light. Gentle stands near the fireplace, Manami beside him. Danjuro has his legs crossed neatly, not touching the floor. Shinso leans against the pillar near the door, watching everything.
I stand in front of them all.
I take a breath.
"I know I've been… secretive," I begin. "Even though I said we were a family."
The room shifts. No one speaks, but I feel it. The stillness. The wait.
"You are family," I say. "Every one of you. That's never been a lie."
I let that sit. Then continue.
"I'm going to tell you something. It might be hard to believe. Try to keep an open mind."
Izuku tilts his head. Toga raises a brow.
"I am not from this universe."
The silence breaks in a ripple of sound.
Izuku gasps and starts muttering under his breath, full spiral mode. "Another dimension, another system, wait but if he crossed the veil of—"
Shinso interrupts him. "How can you prove that?"
His tone is flat, but not mocking. It's the right question.
I point at him. "That is why I'm grooming you to be second in command."
His eyes widen. Not dramatically. But enough to make the corner of Rin's mouth twitch.
Then I shift.
My form grows older, sharper. My voice deepens. Then I twist into Cage, then Slip, then KD, then Shadow, each one moving like themselves, each one holding for a breath.
Gasps echo across the room.
I return to myself. Quietly.
Then draw my wand and transfigure a nearby chair into a small white pony.
Eri squeals. "He has socks!"
"Yes," I say, "he does."
She claps as the pony trots once in a circle, then fades back into furniture.
"There's something else."
I glance at the four standing figures beside me.
"These are my clones. Not just teammates. Not just gifted. They are me. Fragments with purpose. Personas I don't always show."
The four shimmer. Faces become mine.
Rin's eyes narrow. Toga lets out a low whistle.
The room stares.
The clones nod once, like men bowing at their own funeral, then vanish in a pulse of light.
"They're not gone," I say. "I can summon them whenever needed."
"I come from a world without Quirks. We have magic. I was a Wizard there. Still am."
Rin speaks next. "Why now?"
"Because tomorrow marks one year since I arrived. When I came here, I was given a choice. Kill All Might or kill his enemy."
Izuku chokes. Actually chokes.
I pat his back, gently. "Breathe."
His eyes widen. "Y–you were asked to kill All Might?"
"I didn't," I say. "Because I won't kill a true hero for nothing. I chose All For One. I chose the right target. And I'm ready."
That silences the room.
Even Toga, who had been spinning a pen between her fingers, goes still.
Rin steps forward slightly, arms crossed. "All For One. That name sounds like a myth."
"It's not," I say. "He's real. The original villain. The one behind so much of what's wrong with this world. Wars, disappearances, black market Quirk engineering, villain networks in every prefecture, all of it, he has touched."
Shinso narrows his eyes. "I thought he died."
"He didn't," I say. "He just got quieter. Hid deeper. Let others take the blame."
Gentle speaks next. "What does he want?"
"Power. Control. To turn this society into something that bends only to him. He raised Shigaraki like a weapon. He created people like Garaki to run experiments. Every child that's vanished from under hero noses… he benefits."
I let the words sink in.
"I've spent this year preparing to erase him completely."
Izuku's jaw tightens. "You said you were ready. You mean now. Like… now now?"
I nod. "Tonight."
Tanaka crosses his arms and lets out a low breath. "Good. Someone should have done it years ago."
"Exactly," I say. "And no hero ever could. But we're not heroes."
Toga grins. "We're better."
I don't correct her.
"They say once the mission is done, I might vanish again. Without warning. Without a chance to say goodbye. So I'm saying this now."
I turn slowly, meeting each face.
"Izuku. You're the next leader of the Eighth Coil if I disappear."
His mouth opens.
Then closes.
"You've earned it. Shinso will be your second. You'll balance each other."
Shinso's eyes flicker once. But he nods.
"Tanaka. Rin. Danjuro. Manami. Hibiko. And Eri. I'm proud of you. You're my family. This year with all of you has meant everything."
I bow my head.
The silence breathes.
Then Tanaka walks forward, claps a hand on my shoulder.
"I got you, Boss," he says. "If anything happens, I'll protect Izu-boss with my life."
I grin.
Rin nods. So do the others. Even Shinso gives a small shrug that somehow carries more weight than a speech.
Eri gets up. Walks across the floor.
She throws her arms around my leg.
"You're not going to leave, right?"
I lift her carefully and whisper near her ear.
"I'll try my best to stay. But if I can't, you have so many people who love you. And I'll always come back if I can."
Her eyes shine. But she doesn't cry.
She just nods and hugs me tighter.
I close my eyes.
Whatever happens next — they are ready.
And maybe, just maybe, so am I.
<><><><><><><>
We are all standing in the garden. It is my last night here. I could have stayed longer. I had so many plans. But honestly? I miss my mother and brother. I want to see them again.
I use a spell I haven't used in a whole year. Too bad Pop Step didn't want to involve herself with us.
Sonorus Harmonia. Illusona Aria.
My coat is gone. Shirt sleeves rolled. The microphone shimmers faintly with enchantment.
The room is full. Every seat taken. Izuku sits near the front, next to Eri, whose small hands clutch a unicorn plush. La Brava has her camera ready. Gentle nods once, arms folded. Even Shinso leans forward slightly, waiting. Watching.
Then the first note hits.
I close my eyes and sing.
[Unravel- TK (Tokyo Ghoul)]
"Oh, won't you tell me
Won't you tell me
This thing I've come to be?..."
Slip steps through the corridor of a black site lab. There is no warning. No threats given. The first guard sees nothing but his own blood hitting the wall.
A silenced takedown. Bone meets stone.
"The monster that you see
Is it a part of me?
I'm breaking down and shaking 'round in
This world so helplessly
But you just laugh and grin
Completely blind within"
Shadow slips through the ceiling above Kyudai Garaki's bunker. The old man is hunched over files. Test samples. He turns. There is only silence before the shadow swallows him whole.
No scream escapes.
"There's no point now, broken anyway
I try to stop my breath
Even knowing the truth won't unravel
Me until my death"
Cage drops in next. His body morphs mid-air. Elongated limbs and shifting skin. He snaps three rifles in one sweep. Plastic meets pressure. A soldier chokes on smoke as Cage smiles and slams him through reinforced glass.
KD burns through a blast door, blue fire wrapping his limbs like a god made of wrath. He does not run. He walks. Every man that stands in front of him does not stand long.
"So breakable, unbreakable
I'm shaking but unshakable
The real you I've found at last"
The real me has already passed judgment.
I breathe into the next verse, voice soft but resonant. A shimmer of music illusion magic swirls behind me. Lights respond like memories.
In the crowd, Eri stares wide-eyed. Not afraid. Mesmerized.
"I'm standing alone in this world that keeps on changing
But hiding away, my true self is fading!
I hope you give up
There's nothing left to see
No, don't look at me
I'm standing in this world that someone imagined
I never want to hurt you, so until the end
I'm begging you, please, just to remember me
As clear as I used to be"
Tomura Shigaraki steps into the west hall of the underground vault. He senses something. Then everything explodes.
Bait lunges from the side, mochi wrapping around Shigaraki's arms. He flicks a finger to decay it.
He fails.
The spell infused into the mochi holds. Modified. Void-linked.
Shadow appears behind him and cuts.
No death yet.
Only silence.
"The loneliness that wraps around keeps deepening until I drown
Fond memories we used to share pierce me 'til I no longer care
I cannot run, I cannot hide, I cannot think, I cannot find
I cannot move, I cannot leave you!
Unravelling the world!"
All For One walks the corridor of his fallback chamber. A clone steps into the light ahead. Then another. Then ten.
His smirk falters.
Another, the Inkveil, lands behind him with a whisper of displaced air.
I feel the connection snap into place from the stage. I do not need to see it to know.
The blade goes through AFO's side. Not enough to kill. Just enough to weaken.
He tries to activate his many quirks, but Merlin's powers disable all of them.
KD descends next, fire spiraling around him in an upward cyclone. His Rasensurge hums once. Then detonates.
AFO falls to one knee. That is all the opening needed.
The void opens.
Mochi. Flame. Steel. Shadow. Sound. And a silent spell that erases his ability to speak of me ever again.
No need to drag it out.
A god dies not with thunder, but with calm.
[Instrumental Interlude]
The garden sings around me. Eri smiles wide. Izuku leans forward without realizing it. Even Toga watches, this time without a grin.
"A change so illogical
It shouldn't have been possible
But as our lives are intertwined
The two of us are left behind
So breakable, unbreakable
I'm shaking but unshakable
The real you will not corrupt me!"
Garaki's body crumples under a spell laced with a decade of spite. He will not rise again. Not in this world. Not in the next.
Shigaraki tries to scream. But the void fills his lungs. His decay turns inward.
Cage wraps around his face and breaks what is left of the monster inside.
Only blood hits the floor.
"I'm standing alone in this world that keeps on changing
But hiding away, my true self is fading!
I hope you give up
There's nothing left to see
No, don't look at me"
I raise my voice. Not to shout. To carry.
In that moment, the illusion behind me shifts. A stage of stars. A soft memory of Hogwarts. My brother's smile. My mother's tea set.
And behind it all…my people.
"I'm trapped within this world that someone planned out for us
Before our fate and future starts crumbling back to dust
I'm begging you, please, just to remember me
As clear as I used to be"
One by one, the clones return. Not through smoke or sound. Just steps into the garden. Calm. Clean.
Not a scratch among them.
Not because the enemy didn't fight.
But because we had prepared for this.
"Don't forget me, don't forget me
Don't forget me, don't forget me
Shocked by how I was changed, I remain paralyzed
Until I have the chance to find my own paradise
I'm begging you, please, just to remember me"
Izuku's gaze locks on mine. There's fear in it.
But also something more.
Pride.
"Oh, won't you please tell
Won't you tell me
The monster that you see
Is it a part of me?"
The final note echoes like wind down an empty hall.
I let the microphone drop.
No applause.
Just stillness.
Because they understand.
I nod once. Eri claps first. Gentle bows. Shinso just lowers his head.
And I look at them all.
Not as their leader.
But as someone who gave everything for them to stand taller.
Tomorrow I will leave. Or disappear. Or die. I don't know which.
But tonight, I am still here. Whole.
And remembered.