I’ve been thinking about the red sneaker theory, and my brain went to “hey, guess who 1) has had an extended encounter with Shigaraki, long enough and at the right angle such that he would have plenty of time to notice his weirdass shoes and 2) grew up with someone who was quirkless (and is no longer quirkless), and who could reasonable know about the limited shoe options for quirkless people in highly athletic jobs (and that getting a quirk second hand does not change the pinky toe joint)”
That’s right! It’s Katsuki Bakugou!
Now I’ve got a scene stuck in my head of how this revelation would play out.
Shigaraki has Katsuki captured and is trying to convince him that AFO is really a savior, maybe even telling his own story to try to win over Katsuki. Not that he was buying any of this bullshit anyways, but something about Shigaraki’s story feels wrong to Katsuki, he glances down and whose eyes catch on Shigaraki’s bright red shoes. With black laces. And white bottoms. Katsuki’s brain suddenly puts everything together, because he knows what brand of shoe that is. He’s learned to associate it with instant annoyance, because there was only one person he knew that wore them. Since Izuku had defended his ugly shoe color by explaining it was his only option, Katsuki not only knows what brand it is, but he knows who they’re made for. There’s only one reason Shigaraki would be wearing those shoes.
After putting all this together in a moment of him being oddly quiet, Katsuki looks back up.
“Tell you what,” Katsuki starts, his tone setting Shigaraki on edge for reasons he doesn’t quite understand. “I’ll consider joining your shitty club, if you can explain something for me.”
Shigaraki is hesitant, but certainly doesn’t think he has anything to lose here, so he nods and Katsuki continues.
“Let’s make sure we’re on the same fucking page here first. So you, the grandkid of someone All for One wanted revenge on, just so happened to get an extremely rare mutation that gave you a very powerful and destructive quirk that’s incredibly difficult to control. You ran away, and just so happened to not run into any heroes, police, or anyone who in general gave a shit, until All for One was, I dunno, out on a fucking walk? Randomly noticed you, and despite him not giving a fuck about anything, he decided to take you in and make you his successor on a whim. No idea who you were, he just felt like it. I got all that?”
While upset by the obvious doubt in Katsuki’s voice, Shigaraki nods anyways. That’s all correct.
“Right. So that’s all the stuff both of us know. Let me add in a bit of extra fucking knowledge here, some shit I don’t think you know about. You know people born quirkless, right? Do you know how to tell if a kid is born quirkless?”
The seemingly random topic change was almost startling, but Shigaraki answers without thinking.
“An extra joint in the pinky toe.” He knows that much. It’s one of those facts you just sort of hold onto. But he can’t actually remember how many an ‘extra joint’ is. Maybe 4? It’s irrelevant.
“Yep. That’s not quite all of it though. See, as I’ve found out, anyone who gets a quirk from someone else doesn’t lose their toe joint, and anyone who loses their quirk won’t grow a new one. Makes it easy to tell who was born with their quirk and who wasn’t, assuming you can do a fucking xray of their foot.”
It makes sense, the toe joint was a chromosomal link, not cause and effect. So quirks being changed around later in life shouldn’t change that. Shigaraki still has no idea why Katsuki was bringing this up.
Katsuki ignores his confusion and keeps talking.
“Fun fact though, and by ‘fun’ I mean ‘shitty’, that extra toe joint means quirkless people need different shoes. At least if they’re gonna be using their feet a lot. Since they’re in the minority, there’s not a lot of shoe options out there. Even less for high activity stuff. I grew up with someone who was quirkless, and he was into athletic shit, so he only had one option for shoes. The brand is pretty unique, and fucking ugly. I’ve never seen anyone without that extra toe joint wearing the color scheme.”
Suddenly, Shigaraki doesn’t like where this is going. Not one bit. Katsuki once again pays him no mind, plowing ahead.
“Bright red shoe, black laces, white bottoms. Super fucking distinctive. Clash with fucking everything. They stand out like a sore thumb, and there’s no way anyone wears those because they like the way they look.”
Someone was breathing quickly, and Shigaraki realizes it might be him. Was Katsuki further away? Had he taken a step back without realizing it?
Shigaraki knows whose shoes Katsuki is talking about. He’s worn this exact style of shoe his entire life. All he knew about them was that they were the only sneakers that didn’t make his feet ache and groan. Sure, he’d tried other brands at various points in his life, but none of them had fit quite right. He never understood why. Never thought about it for very long, because it hadn’t been important. Or maybe because he hadn’t wanted to think about it. He still doesn’t want to think about it.
“So given all of that. Given that according to your story, you were born with a quirk. Given that every shitty outfit I’ve seen you in is just fucking black besides your footwear, which you’ve kept the same despite changing the rest of it several times. Given all that shit, we get the part I need you to explain for me.”
Katsuki’s eyes find Shigaraki’s, red meeting red and forcing Shigaraki to listen, even when all he wants to do is clamp his hands over his ears and drown out this blasphemy before that final question comes and makes it real.
“Why the fuck do you wear shoes made for quirkless people?”
Both of them know the answer. Shigaraki can’t bare to say it out loud. He can’t let his life fall apart like this, not over something that shouldn’t have mattered. Everything he thought he knew was crashing down around him.
Funny how many secrets could be unraveled by something as insignificant as a pair of red shoes.
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