Chapter 17 Why am I on Fire? by Yojimbra

Mirai: I want to talk.

I glanced at my phone and sighed. Ever since Mirai had wiggled his way into our little circle, he had been ever so slightly very passive aggressive with me. It was like everything I did set him off in some strange way, and honestly I think I understood why. I stood in defiance of his quirk. Every single action I took was different from the action that Endeavour would have taken, and with the rigid structure of his quirk, and his own perception of it, I could see why he'd be frustrated at my very existence.

What I was changing, the countless numbers of butterflies that I had unleashed upon the world, was something that kept me up at night. The future I had been familiar with, the future that was canon and had Izuku as its protagonist was quickly becoming unrecognizable. There was no Shigaraki to worry about, even Re-Destro was… well, Rikiya was someone that I could ask if he wanted to go to the movies and he would buy a theater to have a private showing.

I can say that because he did.

So long as his campaign went well and he was able to fight for what he thought was best then I didn't have much doubt that he would remain my friend for a long time.

The League of Villains didn't have its leader, and the Meta Liberation Army wouldn't even be formed. Sure, those two organizations might spring up in some shape or form, but without those two at their respective heads, they might not gain anywhere near as much traction. So what else was there? Random Villains?

I blinked as I made my way towards the park that Mirai had marked on the map.

Oh.

Right.

Eri. She wasn't born for years. Even a minor change now to give her a better life could make her not even be born. Still, Chisaki was in many ways more dangerous than either Shigaraki or Re-Destro. Largely because the dude was already in the criminal world having grown up in a Yakuza family. Maybe we could talk to the boss? Did he even have a name? He seemed reasonable at least.

Hopefully he didn't end up stumbling onto my doorstep like Rikiya did.

That'd just be too convenient.

I glanced around the park and found that the spot where Mirai had wanted to meet was near a playground filled with children. I glanced over them, wondering if I'd end up knowing any of them. Such a weird concept, looking at kids and trying to pick out which one of them was going to be a pro hero, or what they might look like as an adult. Kids had huge heads, and it threw shit off all the time.

A couple of kids spotted me, and a few jumped and pointed, alerting the others. A kid with dirty blonde hair and sharp eyes came running up to me.

"Are you really Endeavour?"

Nope. I'm Enjimbra!

"Sure am." I kneeled down to get down to the kid's level; well, almost. He was a shorty. "And who are you?"

The kids' faces lit up with pure delight. "I'm Keigo! I saw you on T.V! And you saved my momma! I think you're better than All Might!" He pulled on his mostly white shirt and tugged on it. "Can I have your autograph?"

Carrying around an autograph pen was not something I'd ever thought I'd have to do. But here I was, taking out a black pen and signing some kids' T-shirts. I have my awkward signature that seemed to change every time I signed anything, the only thing that remained the same was the smiling flame I put at the end.

"There you go! Maybe one day you'll return the favor when you're a strong hero too."

"Awesome!" Keigo looked at his shirt and shouted. "Mom! Look! Endeavour signed my shirt!"

The red haired woman that was his mother made my mouth fall open. In part because she was a natural beauty—my long standing weakness for red hair did not help me—but also because of what the woman had on her back. A pair of beautiful crimson wings that made her look like a fallen angel. Though, despite all that she looked tired, really tired, the kind of tired that comes from being overworked and oversingle. Part of me wished that I could help them, but I couldn't help everyone. But more importantly.

Holy shit I just signed Hawks' T-shirt.

What the fuck?

Stupid coincidences.

"Once again you act without thinking." I nearly jumped out of my skin when I heard Mirai's dour voice come from behind me. He was in his hero costume, which for him was a suit, which really just made the fact that the guy was tall as all hell ever so slightly creepy. Dude looked like the slenderman version of an anime protagonist. "And now you're thinking weird things again aren't you?"

"Uhh," I droned a bit and blinked. "What?"

Mirai gave a haughty huff and gestured towards Keigo and his mother. The happy Keigo was being scolded by his mother, it was the kind of scene that didn't sit well with me. But, I couldn't do anything about it, even as I watched her drag him out of the park.

"Maybe I shouldn't have signed his shirt." I scratched the back of my head and sighed. It was amazing what set off someone that was stressed out of their mind. Hopefully things would work out for the best.

"Well," I turned towards Mirai and flapped my arms. "I'm here, what did you want to talk about? In public."

"Nothing sensitive I assure you." Mirai adjusted his glasses like he had just done a pro gamer move and pointed down a path. "I merely wanted to talk about you."

"About me?" I asked, walking side by side with him as we headed towards the interior of the park. We passed through some torii gates and towards a small bridge that went over a stream. "Am I being graded or something?"

"Not at all." Mirai let out a long sigh that was followed by an even longer silence. We passed by a larger river, and then down a dirt path, towards a small shrine hidden in the middle of the park. Then at long last, Mirai spoke, staring at the statue of some god I knew nothing about., I couldn't even tell if it was Shinto or Buddhist. "I want to know how you can change the future so easily."

"Ah," I frowned, crossing my arms and shifting my feet. "My trick is that I have no idea what I'm doing."

"You said that in the future I saw too." Mirai pushed his glasses up, still not looking at me. "Honestly it's comforting that sometimes my quirk is accurate when regarding you. But, there's so much that you've changed. There has to be more than just an accident."

I signed and squatted down to look at the shire, there was no smiling fat man, so I guess this wasn't Buddhist? "Even if I wanted to, I couldn't make the future the same as what it was in canon."

"Canon?"

"Err, just the term I use to describe the future I know of."

Mirai made a light confirmation noise that was the human equivalent of a windows update sound.

I continued. "There's just so many actions that would have to be taken at exactly the right time, in exactly the right way, that would lead towards more people making specific choices that I didn't even try. From the very first day I woke up here I had effectively given up on the future I knew and instead worked towards making one that was better. I'd like to think we've succeeded a little bit, but I have like two decades before I can actually compare."

Mirai remained silent still, clearly content on me doing all the talking.

"At this point I should have had my third child." I glanced up towards him and smiled. "A boy with white hair, named Natsuo. One that would grow up to hate his own father and attend college with no dreams of becoming a hero, and that loved his older sister and mother very much."

I stood and wrung my hands, allowing my thumbs to pop as I embraced the cool breeze that flew through the park. "No such boy exists. Even if I were to go to Rei now, and force another child on her, that boy still wouldn't exist. I would have a third child, yes, but, the odds of another Natsuo coming out are beyond minute. I could end up with twins, or a daughter, or a girl version of Touya, or he could end up with some completely different quirk."

"So, in short, the future to you isn't set in stone."

I glanced up towards the top of the shrine and tilted my head. There was a yin and yang there. What was that for again? "Honestly, that might be a big part of it. Your conviction that the future can't be changed, that your quirk is absolute, could be a big part of why you can't change what you see."

"I don't!" Mirai shouted, finally looking towards me. He was angry. "There are so many times where I want to try and avoid the futures, to change them the slightest amount. I try and I try, I try everyday to prove my quirk wrong, to expand it so that I can do more than say what the future is. I want to change the future too."

"So do." I shrugged, trying not to fan the flames of his anger.

"How?" His fist was shaking. "How do you make it sound so easy?"

"I said it before didn't I? Keeping the future the same is much harder than trying to change it." I resisted the urge to scratch the back of my head and let out a long sigh; man I did that way too much when I didn't know what to say. "But, if you want my real advice, or rather a criticism of how you do things, it's that you go against their characters."

Mirai continued to stare at me, unflinching, just a cold desolate stare like I had struck some kind of a nerve. "Their character?"

"Yeah," I waved my hand dismissively. "I mean, when it comes to All Might, what's something that he's always going to do?"

"Save people." Mirai didn't even hesitate.

"Exactly. If there's a choice to stand aside and a choice to act, All Might is going to act. So if you see a vision that All Might is going to die saving people, how are you going to stop that from happening?"

"I…" Mirai let out a shiver at the thought. "I'd beg him not to."

"So you'd go against his character. Look, maybe it's just the writer in me that's talking, but characters are king. When it comes down to it, trying to tell All Might not to save people is the exact opposite of what you should do. So, when you want to make a change, when you want to save someone from their own death, don't try to change the person, change the situation."

I scratched the back of my head and gave a long sigh. "Did that help any?"

Mirai's intense glare lessened a bit and he pushed up his glasses, still looking as tall and as proud as ever. "I.. I have no idea."

Welcome to the club.

"Well, was that everything? Even if it was kind of lame."

"For the most part, yes. Thank you for coming. You've actually given me a lot to think about." Mirai let his hand drop and stared up at the sky.

Well this was awkward. Mirai had the aura about him of someone that took everything too seriously, even if he did stress out about making people laugh despite having humor drier than a sponge in the desert. "Hey, can you do me a favor?"

He looked at me, and nodded.

I held out my hand to him. "Use your quirk on me, I uhh, I just want to know if I ever change."

"Change?" he asked, eyes locked onto my hand like it was mildly offensive.

"Yeah, as in do I ever stop being me and start being who I was before." This shit was confusing.

"I see." He took my hand and made eye contact. There was no fancy effect like in the anime, he simply stared at me, his eyes glazing over, then after a moment he smiled. "Rest assured, you will remain you."

Thank fuck.

"Well, thanks Mirai, and if you ever need to talk, just let me know. I'm still not super good at this whole being social thing—" Despite having to basically do it for over a year now. "—but I'm here."

"Understood. And Enji, good luck."

"With what?"

"Life."

Coming from someone that had literally just saw parts of my future, that was ominous as fuck.

Well, at least I can reassure Rei that I wouldn't ever become Endeavour again.

Maybe it was time to look into that ring.