Yoichi Shigaraki staggered down the darkened street, clutching his bleeding arm. The suburban houses blurred and doubled. He blinked back the spots behind his eyes. He'd been on the run from his obnoxiously persistent older brother for months. All for One had been hunting him so hard, he'd only been able to sleep a few hours at a time. His throbbing head and the cough building up in the back of his throat told him he couldn't keep that up for much longer.
Hopefully the explosion he'd narrowly escaped would throw his brother off his trail. His exhaustion had slowed his reflexes so badly, he'd nearly died.
He'd already passed on his metahuman ability. At this rate, he wouldn't be able to hold out much longer. He was heading towards a hard decision about how much he valued his life versus his freedom. If only he had another way to escape besides dying fighting.
Yoichi screeched to a halt next to a silver DeLorean car. This was no normal old-fashioned vehicle. It had a strange metal box strapped on top, a pipe and jets sticking out the back, glowing wires running along the frame, and a sign taped to the windshield reading "Free to Whoever Needs This."
"It looks like the time machine from Back to the Future," Yoichi muttered. Superhero movies had been his childhood favorite, but that film had been a close second. He and his brother had both loved the classic movie before...well, before his older brother had decided to become a melodramatic villain who wanted to take over the world despite not being able to fasten his tie properly and it all went downhill from there.
Since he could use a free car to get out of here as quickly as possible, he tried the handle. It opened without resistance.
The inside of the car confirmed that it had been created to imitate Back to the Future. The dashboard had a dial where he could enter what time he wanted to travel to. A fan's creation, obviously. It couldn't be real. Yet it amused Yoichi to fantasize about traveling somewhere his older brother couldn't find him. He turned the dial to a hundred years and kept twisting.
It came as a complete shock to him when he let go and the car shot forward in a shower of blue and red sparks. The air crackled and ripped, then both Yoichi and the car vanished.
An apple pie or a pumpkin pie? Yoichi stood before the grocery shelf, considering.
Arriving in the future with nothing except the clothes on his back and a long-expired credit card hadn't been easy. It had taken him months to find a job, get off the streets, and finally sign the lease for his new apartment. The pie would be a treat to celebrate his new home.
He owed a great deal to the charity All Might had established to help the quirkless. (Apparently that was what people like him were called now.) He'd long ago lost even the dying embers of One for All, so he'd qualified. All Might was a true hero, and Yoichi hoped to have a chance to meet him someday. He also wondered what had happened to that transferrable quirk of his. Perhaps someday he'd find the latest wielder, too.
Despite his difficulties, Yoichi had never once regretted his leap through time. No one had heard of All for One in the future, which meant he could finally stop looking over his shoulder. Besides, there were so many cool quirks these days. The point was moot: the DeLorean had vanished shortly after dropping him off, likely off to help more people.
He deserved two pies: one to celebrate no longer being homeless and one to celebrate escaping his crazy brother. Yoichi reached out with both hands.
"Will you stop standing there and hurry up—" the speaker abruptly cut off with an intake of breath.
Yoichi's hackles rose. He knew that voice. His older brother, Hisashi Shigaraki.
Very slightly, he turned his neck, taking care to hide his face behind his hair. The tiny peek was enough to reveal the tall man standing behind him had curly white hair, red eyes, and freckles. Most damning of all was the wide-eyed stare of grief and longing. Somehow, All for One must have obtained an immortality quirk. Yoichi despaired over the unfairness of the universe. Of all the grocery stores in the world, why had his big brother walked into this one?
