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“Hey Teacher! Come meet my new friend!”
Nana dropped her bag as All For One tilted his head and chillingly smiled. He lifted one finger to his mouth in a ‘shush’ motion. His other hand was on the top of the bench behind Toshinori. He could kill Toshinori at any given second. This entire park, no, entire city was in danger.
Children screamed and laughed from the playground behind her. A young couple walked on the sidewalk with ice cream cones. An old woman was enjoying feeding the ducks. Teenagers were being awkward with each other and snack vendors were shouting about. The peace around them was in danger. Her peace, her Toshinori, was in danger.
Nana dropped her bag as her heart sank and One For All lingered just under her skin. It could feel her panic. It knew All For One was here and that its future holder was in danger. It knew how important Toshinori was to her. The hair on the back of her neck stood on end. She hoped this was not the end for Toshinori Yagi, the sweetest boy with the biggest dreams ahead of him.
“Teacher, what’s wrong?” Toshinori asked obliviously. All For One was holding back a snicker, she could see it. “Is something the matter?”
Nana shook herself out of her freezing fear. She laughed and put her hands up, palms out as if she was acting embarrassed. All For One nodded ever so slightly at her surrender of the situation.
“Ah, no! I was just lost in thought. For some reason you startled me. Sorry about that.” She falsely admitted with jittering nerves. She carefully bent over to pick her purse up. She had no way out of this, not while Toshinori was here. Not while All For One was sitting on a park bench in the most populated city in Japan.
Toshinori snorted at her response and started swinging his feet under the bench. That boy could never stay still. He was brave enough to run into a fight quirkless to save someone, maybe he will be brave enough to run away from All For One.
Who was she kidding, Toshinori would stay, however fruitless. He would tell her that even if he could help in the slightest, he would. That’s the world he wanted to bring about and it all started with them.
Nana carefully approached, trying to remain calm as possible. Toshinori could not know of her fear. He had no idea he was sharing a seat with the devil himself. Nana did as she always does and put on her brightest smile.
“And who might this be?” Nana barely gritted out of her teeth. She could tell all too well that her enemy was getting a kick out of this.
As Toshinori turned to introduce him, she watched all of the malice bleed out of his expression into that of a normal person. The most terrifying thing about All For One at the end of the day was that he was undeniably human. He could be anywhere and no one would know. To Toshinori, he was just a normal man he happened to befriend at the park. Only Toshinori could try and make friends with the worst of the worst.
“This is Shigaraki-san! Shigaraki-san, this is my teacher, Nana Shimura!”
“Well,” All For One drawled out, “Mrs.Shimura, it’s a pleasure to meet you. Your student is quite bright.” And I will extinguish him.
“Yes, he is.” She said with stone in her voice. “But I’m afraid he’s like that all on his own. He’ll be a star one day.” He will have One For All one day, not you.
“Awe,” Toshinori gushed, face flushing and his hands going to the back of his neck. Toshinori was oblivious to the situation.
It wasn’t anyone’s fault but her’s. She hadn’t exactly told him about All For One yet. He wasn’t ready to learn of that kind of devastation. She’d planned on telling him before he accepted One For All. That conversation may have to come sooner than she would like.
“I’m sure he will be. He’s got some interesting ideas. It would be a joy to watch them play out,” All For One said airly, a sharp smirk in his tone. I can’t wait to play with him.
“Really!?” Toshinori shouted, looking at the man with stars in his eyes. Nana’s stomach rolled at the sight. “I was sure you thought I was just some silly kid! I mean, I’m…” Toshinori dropped off and he blushed a bit, “I don’t have a power like everyone else.”
All For One laughed. Nana struggled to stay standing. Oh god, he was going to murder her boy. He was going to play with her heart strings, he was going to play with Toshinori. It wasn’t a fair game; Toshinori wasn’t even a player. ‘Was anyone?’ her quirk whispers, ‘Aren’t we all just pawns to him?’
“Here is something very important, little Yagi.” All For One said, leaning towards Toshinori. Nana’s heart rate spiked. She was ready to jump in front of Toshinori at any second. “You can have the most powerful quirk in the world and it wouldn’t mean a thing if you didn’t use it right.” You don’t use One For All well, Shimura. You’re a disgrace to it. “Real power is from the user. A sharp mind makes a sharp sword.”
“Wooooooow,” Toshinori awed at him.
All For One almost sounded wise there. Sometimes she forgot he was over a hundred years old. He’d been on this planet far longer than either of them. He’d seen a lot more than either of them.
“I’m going to be the best hero ever!” Toshinori announced with a wide smile. He bowed as deep as he could while sitting on the bench. “Thank you for the advice, Shigaraki-san.”
Nana felt the temperature from the sunny day drop to zero as she saw a hand squeeze Toshinori’s shoulder. His eyes became clouded and they fluttered shut. He fell into the side of her worst enemy, a hand keeping him hostage. She prayed as hard as she could that he was only asleep and not dead like her husband or her master before her. She could only lose so much.
“He’s a good candidate.” He said with almost what Nana would calm contentment. “Now quirkless,” All For One tsked, “I wasn’t expecting that. You don’t see too many of those these days, especially not his age.” He was petting Tohsinori’s hair with his other hand while he monologued. It drove her mad.
“I wonder how you found him? Another sap story from a pathetic family? I doubt he was as privileged as you or the pitiful man before you. He is just so incredibly- how would one say,” He put his finger on his chin to mimic thinking, “- pure. Naivety for someone in his position is astounding. It makes me wonder if you’ve told him yet.”
Nana stayed silent. She swallowed down her embarrassment. It was all the confirmation he needed. All For One became gleeful and leaned forward a tad, resting his hand on top of Toshinori’s head.
“Oh, so you haven’t! That is just sweet. You claim such heroic and high morality yet lie and trap a child in a centuries long rightful reclaiment of a gift that has cost thousands of lives. Do you think he could stand up to the torture I put your dear master through? Could he really take it?”
Nana blocked out the flashbacks of the most horrific scene she’d ever witnessed. Her master’s death was the most grotesque murder to ever happen in human history. She closed her eyes tight, took a deep breath, and opened them back to the monster who committed the crime.
“In honesty, as I try not to lie, I don’t plan on torturing him.” He claimed. Nana didn’t believe a word of it. “Not yet, anyways. He does not have what I am looking for yet. Nor has he had the chance to hand it over, as I’ve given all of you. Maybe he’ll be the one. We will just have to wait and see, won't we?” He asked, cheshire grin on his face.
“Or,” He paused, petting Toshinori’s hair, “I always have the option to take him with me. I could put him to much better use.”
Nana jolted forward but stopped herself. She could not afford a fight. There were too many people around her. Toshinori was in danger as was everyone else here. She had to gain control of her emotions. She couldn’t risk thousands of lives for one, no matter how much it made her heart hurt.
All For One sighed and, far more gentle than she thought he could ever be, laid Toshinori down on the bench. He stood to his towering full height and his shadow cast Nana in darkness. His smile never left his face as he approached her and put a hand on her shoulder.
Cold sweat poured down her neck. Every ounce of her survival instinct was telling her to get the hell out of there. He squeezed her shoulder and she swore she could feel One For All jump and hiss back at him.
“Goodbye, Shimura. I suggest you get him home. He won’t be awake for a while more.” He offered, stepping past her. The unsaid you’re lucky he isn’t dead, Shimura stayed unsaid.
Nana swallowed and listened intently to his footsteps behind her. She waited for as long as she could hear them. She looked over her shoulder just in time to see a swirling mass of black and red open and take him somewhere. She hoped it was the depths of hell.
She ran to Toshinori, sliding to her knees. She let tears of stress and worry fall as she took his pulse. His little heart was still beating, thank god. He took shallow breaths. She calmed her staggered breathing as she watched him sleep. She must look awful to anyone else. A crying woman with a passed-out child on a bench.
One For All flared up under her skin as if it too wanted to make sure he was alive. She let the faint humming calm her down. Her hands shook as she pulled her phone out of her bag. She quickly found Sorahiko’s number and pressed call.
“Shimura, what do you-”
“Something happened, Sorahiko,” She said with a raspy voice. Her eyes never left Toshinori’s tiny frame. “I need you here. We're at the park.”
“I’m on my way,” He gruffly said and hung up the phone.
Nana sniffed and let it fall from her hand. It fell to the grass with a muted thump.
All For One was going to kill her boy one day.
She shuttered with an awful thought,
I hope you’re brave enough to kill him first, Toshinori.