Viridian: The Green Guide

Chapter 38: Symphony

All for One was a simple man. He considered himself something of an expert on the subject of human nature, since an intimate knowledge of humanity and its weaknesses had served him well when building his current empire and, despite the rumors and legends surrounding his name, he was still human. As such, he was still susceptible to the same whims that plagued lesser beings, such as boredom, which was what had led to his current frustration.

He took great satisfaction in creating plans and executing them to perfection. In his opinion, a well constructed plan was like a well conducted symphony: all the instruments played their parts with few, if any, mistakes and followed the lead not only of the visible conductor, but of the invisible composer who sat silently as the orchestra mindlessly followed the directions he had given them so that every note was in its proper place at the proper time, just as the composer had envisioned.

It was perfection.

Many younger people didn't understand the complexities of symphonies. They lacked the wisdom and maturity that came with age and quickly grew bored and annoyed, then complained about the length of the production as if there was no reason why they should give their valuable attention to anything for longer than a few seconds. They didn't understand that they couldn't possibly comprehend what true boredom was until they had lived over a lifetime.

He may have started with grand ideals all those centuries ago, but the truth was that half the reason he did the things he did at this point was because of that boredom. After a while, things like books and movies started to blend together as the same tropes were watered down and repeated so many times that they had become almost completely unpalatable, so All for One had been left with no choice but to compose his own entertainment with the world as his orchestra.

A perfect symphony took time, which All for One had in over-abundance. The composer had to find just the right instruments and manipulate each musician in just the right way to create a peice that would be entertaining enough to satisfy him, which meant that much of the fun of the composition was playing the long game to create it. The time invested in the plan made it so much more satisfying when the unwitting and unwilling participants carried it out to perfection. It was enough to give him chills.

Which was what made it so annoying when people got in the way of his plans. Yes, he could easily recover from the loss of the doctor's latest experiment, but it still irked him. According to his composition, Hamasaki's part in the symphony was to cause chaos on his test run so All for One and the doctor could see the results of their experiment. He fulfilled that part of his purpose well, but All for One had hoped to recover their experiment before the police could so that it would be a marvelous surprise when he gifted Tomura with the perfect army of super soldiers.

Meddling heroes and vigilantes, however, had been...inconvenient. They were like audience members who, instead of sitting quietly as the composer intended, had taken it upon themselves to start playing kazoos in the middle of the third movement. It took what was supposed to be a flawless symphony and gave the entire experience a flavor that was just slightly off. It was grating.

All for One was nothing, however, if not resilient. As annoying as Hamasaki's capture was, it was nowhere near enough to ruin his symphony. He'd have to keep an eye on those troublesome individuals who had led to this mistake, just in case they started playing their kazoos again, but there was no need to crush them just yet. They were inconsequential in the long view of his perfect symphony.

He smiled as he thought of one of the players he had in reserve, waiting patiently under the doctor's careful care. He had never intended to keep young Shirakumo. Cloud was not a particularly powerful quirk or one that All for One had any use for. The original plan had been to capture the UA student with the erasure quirk or, failing that, chalk the whole attack up to a failure and try again later.

But then that student had soundly defeated the villain he'd intended to be unbeatable and All for one had known that the hero Eraserhead was going to be a major player in the future of heroism. It also didn't hurt that his other friend, now known as Present Mic had shown incredible promise when it came to publicity. It reminded All for One of himself and All Might: one working hard in the dark while the other showboated for the public.

Or maybe the dynamic between Eraserhead and Present Mic reminded him of himself and his brother, the original One for All. In that situation, the positions were reversed and All for One was the one that had been in the public eye while his brother had chosen to stay behind the scenes to fight him, sadly limited by his own shyness. Perhaps if he and his brother had been on the same side, they could have enjoyed the same dynamic that Eraserhead and Present Mic enjoyed today. They could have been allies instead of enemies and ruled the world with one controlling the shadows and the other controlling the light, like he'd always wanted.

But there was no point in wishing for a ship that had long since sailed. His brother had continuously betrayed him, even after All for One had gifted him with a quirk, and despite his best efforts, they had ended up as enemies. It was fine, he'd mourned the loss, but the scar was still there, angry, red, and uglier than the ones he'd received from All Might.

So, of course, when he saw the similarities in those two future heroes, he'd known he had to have a little fun with them. It was a simple pleasure, but when he was creating one of his symphonies, All for one took great delight in choosing just the right players with just the right identities to make an impact. Even if those identities never quite came to light, he could enjoy the delicious irony behind the scenes, so instead of leaving young Shirakumo to die under the rubble, he had warped him to the doctor and used the bribed paramedics that he'd intended to use for Eraserhead to have him declared dead on the scene.

The boy had been quite a bit worse for wear when he'd arrived. He'd had two badly broken legs, crushed ribs, and a punctured lung that had already begun filling with blood. Still, even with all his injuries, even if he'd been left under that rubble for the duration of the fight, he undoubtedly would have survived and might even have had a quicker recovery with the use of Recovery Girl's quirk. He would have made a wonderful hero if All for One hadn't stolen him away.

It was enough to make him smile.

The boy's recovery had, of course, been difficult and was made more so by the boy himself constantly fighting him and trying to escape until All for One had finally grown tired of it and taken his memories. It would have made his betrayal much sweeter if he still remembered his old friends, but forgetting them completely would still be effective and after his memories were gone, he became much more docile. He had still seemed to understand that something was off, but he had stopped trying to escape.

It was just a shame that All for One hadn't had access to a powerful healing quirk at the time. The doctor had done his best, of course, but his speciality was in changing people's bodies, not in putting them back to how they were supposed to be. The main problem was his ribs. They had been crushed almost into powder by the rubble so without a healing quirk, even when they'd healed completely, they were still too fragile for Shirakumo to fight the way he used to, which was why All for One wanted to give him multiple quirks.

The other quirks could make him stronger and faster, so that he didn't have to worry about getting hit, and All for One could call the broker to have him fitted with some kind of body armor, just in case. But he still needed to be able to think, which was still an elusive result. All for One wanted it to have an impact when Eraserhead and Present Mic realized that their old friend had become a puppet in his hands, so he wasn't willing to waste Shirakumo on experiments that were just as likely to fail.

But, the doctor was making progress, at least, so it shouldn't be too much longer until the newest player in his symphony was ready to take the stage.

End of Book One

* * Please be aware that you have now read the equivelent of a full-length novel.* *