Enjoy this little ficlet inspired by a SFW prompt I posted in my Zenichi Discord.
Prompt:
Zen has proclaimed his new dream to Yoichi. But…he needs a better outfit.
How did Zen discover suits?
——
“Uh, where are we, brother?” Yoichi asked as his large twin brought them to the ground after a quick flight through the city.
It had been a while since Yoichi had joined his brother on one of his escapades; normally left in the bookstore to read while his brother went out. However, the last time his brother had left was to kill and steal the meta power of the Glowing Child. The announcement was still sour on his tongue and he wasn’t sure the taste would ever subside. It was flavored by disgust and fear, something Yoichi was starting to feel simmering in his gut. His twin had been on autopilot for much of their lives—survival being paramount even to his dangerous desire for more meta powers.
Yoichi hated it.
“Ah, why to shop for some new clothes of course!” Zen said as he twirled around before pointing towards a dilapidated building in front of them. ‘Suji’s Clothing for Men’ was still readable from the broken signage and Yoichi cocked his head to the side.
“Clothes?”
“Yes, little brother! No one is going to take me seriously wearing this!” He motioned to their matching outfits. “I’ve been trying to figure out what will work best and I thought you’d like to join me!”
Yoichi scoffed which earned him an irritated raised brow from his brother.
“Is there a problem, little brother?”
“I don’t see why you need me with you. You don’t care about any of my opinions…usually,” Yoichi answered as he looked behind him, an old habit from before the bookstore. He turned back only to yelp at his brother leering over him. Damn, he could be quiet when he wanted to be.
“Well, I need you to tell me how I look! That’s how I’ll decide!” Zen grabbed his twin by the wrist and immediately started walking towards the caved-in entrance. Yoichi almost lost his footing due to Zen’s haste, his brother’s long legs were often hard to keep up with.
Yoichi knew better than to gripe about it too much: if Zen had him by the wrist then he was supposed to obediently follow. It had saved him more than once(and possibly at the very beginning) and made him feel safe…even now. It was traitorous; his brother was going down a dark path he wasn’t sure he could steer him from.
Zen released him before he could ruminate further.
His brother looked around at the different sections separated by rooms connected by the hall they now stood in. Anyone else would have just seen a disinterested child, merely looking around aimlessly, but Yoichi could read Zen like a book: he was unsure. Not something his twin was used to anymore, or at least, not something he was willing to show. Confusion. Ignorance. Insecure.
Yoichi’s too-big heart got the better of him.
“Um, I could look over there.” Yoichi pointed to a room then back towards Zen, his finger in the direction of the room just behind his brother. “And you can check there?”
Zen tilted his head and stared down at him. A thousand thoughts were fluttering behind those matte eyes, Yoichi knew, and the twitching of his hand indicated he desperately wanted to grab Yoichi’s wrist again.
“It’ll go faster…” Yoichi added.
Zen regarded him for what felt like ages, but then finally relented…in his own way.
“I think you should check there and I’ll go over here,” he said as if he had come up with it. Yoichi rolled his eyes and turned to walk a few yards, but was stopped by his brother’s hand on his shoulder.
“Make sure I can still see you.”
That was a command. Yoichi sighed and nodded.
He slowly walked away and his ears caught the reluctant steps of his brother moving in the opposite direction. Luckily, well for them anyway, the ceiling above the hall had caved in and the waning light of the evening illuminated the majority of the interior, the rays reaching just barely into the rooms they had decided to conquer. Without a light power, they’d have issues seeing any—oh. The Glowing Child. Yoichi realized he didn’t want to be caught in the dark not because of the creeping night, but because he really didn’t want to see his twin use that power again. It was too fresh.
Too raw. Too life-changing.
Yoichi tried to distract himself by actually completing the task at hand: finding an outfit. Whatever that was supposed to mean. He’s always had clothes to wear even before his brother finally threw aside his makeshift cloak. Zen was adept at scavenging and had finally found a store meant for children before their home in the bookstore. He found an outfit then found a smaller one for Yoichi that matched. But Zen has outgrown the clothes in the children’s store, even the outfit he wears now hardly fits him.
The minuscule light kissed something on the wall, the glint catching Yoichi’s eye. He walked up to it: a poster. Or something like it. It was large and behind a cracked glass case, depicting some kind of meeting with multiple people. All of them looked towards one man in front of a presentation. Or something. He was dressed in a strange-looking shirt, almost like a tight coat, with matching colored pants. A white shirt was under it and something else—red—was tied around his neck?
Huh…
“Power…powerful,” Yoichi attempted to read the old characters in bold. “Men Wear Powerful Suits?” He tilted his head. A suit? Is that what it was called? He looked at the racks around him, many having fallen years ago, but some still stood with a surprising amount of minimal debris. Just some dust. Yoichi padded over to one and touched a hanging suit. The fabric felt special and there were all sorts of different colors and even designs! How interesting…
“What’s this?”
Yoichi jumped and twirled around to find his brother had snuck up on him—again.
“Oh! Well, I found these!” He rustled one of them. “They look really nice, like important stuff! And look at that!” Yoichi should have contained himself, but his excitement at finding something new got the better of him and he pointed towards the poster. The realization hit him hard. ‘Powerful’.
Oh, crap.
Zen stood just under the poster contemplating it. He mouthed the words as he read them then went back and said that first word to himself again—powerful. He turned his head to Yoichi and pointed at himself, eyes wide.
“I’m powerful.”
Yoichi nodded meekly.
“Oh, my dear little brother! I think you found something! Something good!” Zen outstretched his hands towards the poster, a terrible smile devouring his face. “Of course! No one is going to take me seriously in some get-up from a comic book!” He grabbed Yoichi by the shoulders and looked deep into his eyes, the younger twin feeling that gaze brush against his fearful soul.
“You found it for me! Just like the comics! Oh…” Zen began to pet through Yoichi’s longer locks. “My precious little brother. Always finding stuff for me…living just for me.” He placed his forehead against Yoichi’s. “Mine.”
Yoichi didn’t know what to say or do, so he just kept looking into Zen’s eyes knowing that the act was typically enough to satisfy his greedy brother. This wasn’t the first time big brother had talked about him in this manner—it was actually pretty frequent—and Yoichi still didn’t know how to feel about it.
Zen believed that everyone should be like Yoichi. Everyone. As terrifying as it is…it made sense. Because the brothers had only ever had each other. Zen simply didn’t know any different.
He’ll just keep telling himself that. Yoichi clasped his hands together.
It’s all his fault.
Zen suddenly clapped, breaking Yoichi’s spiraling thoughts, and exclaimed, “Time to try them on!”
“Wha?”
His brother grabbed him by the wrist—again—and quickly located a raised platform encircled by cracked mirrors. He grabbed one of the few chairs that appeared still usable and planted it a couple of feet from the pedestal. Zen practically threw Yoichi into it then scurried back to the rack of suits.
Yoichi turned to watch as his larger twin grabbed a few suits from the rack then peered back up at the poster before rushing to another display and grabbing what appeared to be pants. An energy enveloped the clothes and floated them over to Yoichi. They were dumped onto his lap.
“Big brother, this is a lot,” Yoichi whined, but Zen ignored him.
Dress shirts. Nice shoes. Ties.
Zen was finally satisfied then in front of Yoichi in a flash. He grabbed some items and bounced to the platform, undressing quickly before slowly putting on what would end up being a classy ensemble.
He turned around towards Yoichi with arms outstretched.
“So?”
Yoichi gave him an unimpressed look. His brother has no sense of style: a peach undershirt, blue suit, brown shoes, gold tie—it just wouldn’t do. Zen frowned, but turned curious as Yoichi pushed the pile off of himself then kneeled down to pick through the various items.
“That looks ridiculous! Nothing is matching, but I think this’ll work better.”He stood back up and walked slowly to Zen then offered him the items.
His brother looked between Yoichi and the clothes, but soon snatched them and re-dressed.
A black suit, white dress shirt, perfectly matched shoes, and a red tie. Oh, the tie, though…it didn’t look the same as the poster. “The tie?” He pointed out.
Zen attempted to wrap it in a few different ways, head moving between the poster and his efforts, but ultimately he threw it aside when it wouldn’t do as he wished.
“There we go,” Yoichi said. Zen smiled.
“I like this! But…” His brother tugged the sleeves and pulled the slacks up as they inched downward. “It doesn’t fit…”
“I’m sure you’ll grow into it. There should be different sizes, though.”
Zen blinked, but then gave Yoichi a toothy grin.
“Of course! My darling brother…I love this wonderful gift you’ve given to me!”
Yoichi sighed, but obediently nodded.
They spent a ridiculous amount of time going through more sets of clothes—different color combos, fabrics, shoes—and Yoichi realized as the night approached that…
When my head isn’t filled with “keephishandkeephishandkeephishand” on a loop, I actually think about more stuff from 407.
Someone on X pointed this out, but how wittle baby boy Yoichi is shown here…
Makes it seem like the people that AFO just killed had maybe beat him up. Of course, AFO is taking their metapowers away too, but it’s an interesting catch. And, yes, Yoichi is wearing fitted clothes while AFO walks around with something just wrapped around him.
You know how Yoichi still believed there was good in his brother because of the kindness of his “hand”?
Well, in case you missed it…
They were born apart with their hands already reaching out to each other. They are on their backs right now, so those are the same hands that are holding/being held.
This means…
AFO grabbed Yoichi and dragged him with him. What you’re seeing in that top panel is the water starting to overflow the river and rush past. AFO pulled Yoichi out of the water and on to their mother. He is also using the spike quirk for teeth and on his hand to grab onto their mother and pull them up. The bottom left panel is him biting into her dress as he pulls them out of the danger of the water. Yes, AFO saved Yoichi when they were fucking newborns. THIS is what Yoichi has a faint memory of. That was the kindness.
I know some people have been wondering if they’re fraternal or identical. This seems to suggest that they are in fact sharing the same umbilical cord. It’s rare for fraternal twins to have this. It’s crazy to think that Yoichi may have looked just like AFO if he had the same amount of nutrients. But I digress…
A very notable thing about AFO’s eyes: they are huge and creepy in feral/survivor mode. We’ve seen his eyes get like this as AFOTomura and when he goes into rage mode against All Might and now Bakugo.
Here, he is quite literally just walking down the street past the anti-meta people and presumably just heard them talk about killing metas. Once they take notice of him, he turns his head towards them and his eyes are huge like a startled animal.
He then proceeds to kill them and still has that feral look.
But now let me get to something pretty important…
We don’t see AFO actually smile until this panel
Once he has a dream of everyone living for his sake, like Yoichi, he is finally smiling. And continues to do so after this point.
Something really bothering me is that they must have named themselves including their surname. Shigaraki means “death tree” which fits in nicely as they were born “from death”. However, where did Yoichi get his name? AFO must have named him and Yoichi can mean “first gift”. So he named him that because Yoichi was QUITE LITERALLY the first thing AFO ever had. As for AFO…I don’t know if he would take the time to name himself. Yoichi only calls him big brother so he may have told Yoichi to just keep calling him that then decided to name himself after the Quirk he also named himself: All for One. Dude is really committed to the bit.
There’s one more thing I haven’t seen anyone touch on yet…
The hatred.
As you probably recall, Hawks has a talk with Best Jeanist over AFO’s lack of emotions and lack of hate. Why he has to use Tomura to get OFA.
406 explained why that is perfectly.
When he feels hatred, he is forced to remember WHEN HE WAS TOLD HE KILLED HIS BROTHER HOLY SHIT. It would also be possibly the first and only time he ever cried. Felt real grief. So, he never “feels” REAL hatred because that would mean having to confront this memory.
Do you guys think that his mothers past contributed to AFO's fear of not being remembered? because if you think about it his mom lived a life were everyone either ignored or abused her, and when she died I doubt anyone noticed. And the only person who's left to remember her story is the son that she didn't even know existed until she died.
And the worst part is that her story dies with AFO, as he was the only person who could tell it. Like that had to have effected him even a little, it certainly would make sense if it contributed to his goal to be the greatest villain in history. To make sure that his story would be remembered in the way he wanted it to be.
It also makes me curious did AFO ever tell Yoichi about their mother? like dose Yoichi know that their mothers vestige resides in AFO or did he just not bother to tell him, idk man it makes you think.
What if Zen(AFO) was able to convince Yoichi to “walk this path with me; come with me; stand by my side”?
(Just my random thoughts on my day off I posted on Discord.)
I don’t think Yoichi would be super happy about it. Rather, just accepting it in defeat. However…
I think he’d either be forced to sit in a throne next to Zen or just behind him.
I feel Yoichi would be more capable of reading people “like a book”. Even catching things Zen didn’t realize simply by how someone talks, the words they use, any little crumb of knowledge he’s picked up that he’s able to piece together into a person’s entire personality. Maybe it was perfected through his years having books as his only other company besides Zen, but I think Yoichi would somehow be more dangerous than Zen in that regard. He doesn’t even realize it, though. How dangerous it makes him simply because he can share the knowledge with Zen.
(I’ve thought about this for a small fic before…)
Yoichi seated just behind and perpendicular to Zen. Normally engrossed in a book; a meaningful imaginative escape to drown out the dirty deeds of his brother. Until something perks his ears. Maybe someone speaking to Zen to exchange favors, but there’s something about the person’s voice. Their little mannerisms, how they annunciate, or their little almost imperceptible pauses. It reminds him of a character from a novel or some other comic. Or perhaps he recalls reading or hearing discussions concerning the person or their interests.
All it takes is the turn of his head and Zen notices. Yoichi’s eyes, barely visible behind his bangs, squint, studying the person’s movements, their stance, their eyes. Zen leans over, so his ear is level with Yoichi’s mouth. Despite himself, Yoichi whispers his observations and conclusions to Zen then turns back to what he was doing.
Zen skewers the individual with no other preamble.
He turns enough so he can pat Yoichi’s head and says, “That’s a good, Yoichi.” His brother only answers with a hum.
Maybe it's just my speculation, but it seems to me that AFO has a soft spot for a certain type of person.
That moment when Mineta talks AFO out of stealing Tokoyami's quirk always struck me as very strange. AFO really had no reason to pass up the opportunity to steal a powerful quirk, but he looked into Mineta's tear-stained eyes, while also remembering Jirou's tear-stained face, and suddenly changed his mind. We don't know what AFO was thinking at that moment. All we see is a meaningful "…", after which he leaves, because "every precious second counts now".
Although, to be honest, it seems to me that this whole situation looked like he was looking for an excuse for himself not to steal Tokoyami's quirk. He pretended that he just didn't have time to get a quirk, but I think that's bullshit. AFO is definitely fast enough to steal multiple people's Quirks in a matter of seconds. He had already done something similar when Eri's quirk first started affecting him.
He definitely could have taken Tokoyami's quirk, but he decided not to.
I suspect that the students reminded him of Yoichi when he was still a child: a weakling with tear-stained eyes. The reminder of his brother made him feel uncomfortable, so he hurried away.
Maybe this weakness for people who remind him of Yoichi will play a role in the near future. After all, Izuku has a lot in common with Yoichi: Izuku is small and weak/worthless (according to AFO), but more importantly, Izuku is very stubborn and he is hopelessly kind, just like Yoichi. Izuku, like Yoichi, is a gentle person, but he has strong moral principles that he will stand up for if he has to. They have similar personalities, and I think Izuku is really very similar to little Yoichi.
I don't expect AFO to get redemption or anything like that. Unlike Tomura, who was manipulated from his birth, AFO committed evil knowingly and deliberately. AFO is the real villain and after everything he's done, he doesn't deserve to be forgiven. However, I believe that until AFO accepts his brother's death and admits that he regrets the way he treated him, he will not leave Japan alone. Even now that AFO has accepted that Yoichi's death has left a hole in his soul, he still views his brother's death as a tool for achieving power. "It is tragedy that makes people stronger" is what he said.
But at the same time, AFO spent nearly a century trying to bring back his dead brother, only to lose him again, this time perhaps for good. Regardless of what AFO says, this is indeed a major blow to him. And as long as this wound bleeds, he will be a threat to heroic society. Someone needs to help him heal this wound so he can leave.
I'm guessing that Yoichi might return at some point to talk to his brother one last time, but I'm not sure how that could happen considering Eri's quirk failed to return OFA to Izuku.
Even if Yoichi doesn't end up coming back, I think Izuku will still make an attempt to talk to AFO to help him. Whether this attempt will be successful or not.
