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In his tenure as principal of U.A., Nezu was frequently asked what he might be. Usually these questions were paired with curious stares. The foolish sometimes even tried to pet him. In the face of many rude and intrusive inquiries, he would always grit his teeth and say with fake smile, “Who knows? I could be a mouse, or a bear, or a dog. But more importantly, I’m the principal!”
Only Nezu knew that he’d once been a human boy.
Nezu had been born with curly white hair and heterochromia. His right eye was red and his left green. He had not been a mutant of any of the aforementioned animals. In fact, he’d been quirkless.
His father had loved that his son was quirkless, just like his uncle. Not that Nezu knew much about his uncle. He’d seen some pictures around his father’s study of a white-haired man with green eyes uncannily like his left one. But his father rarely talked about his brother, saying the subject was too painful. Nezu didn’t even know his uncle’s name. Nor did he know his mother’s name either, never having even seen a picture of her. Dad said he’d been born from a surrogate mother in exchange for money. (Dad tended to be blunt.)
Nezu grew up an isolated Japanese village where the average age was over sixty-five. He’d been the only student in his one-room school. His house was even more isolated from the village, located deep in the forest. There Nezu lived with his father and their pet cat.
The cat’s name was Yoichi. He was a beautiful Oriental shorthair with white fur and green eyes with white pupils. Perhaps Dad had picked him for those eyes. For some reason, Yoichi didn’t like Dad very much. Often Yoichi would bite and scratch whenever Dad tried to pet him. Dad didn’t seem to care because he had the ability to harden his skin and heal quickly from injuries. These battles would always end with Yoichi on Dad’s lap, being petted and brushed against his will. Dad would wear an expression of contentment and Yoichi would moan as if being doused in cold water.
However, around Nezu, Yoichi was nothing except sweet and loving. Nezu was often left home alone when his father would go to work. Despite Nezu being a toddler, his father didn’t arrange a babysitter even when gone overnight, and Nezu didn’t know enough to call this abnormal. He did feel lonely, though. The village had no other children to play with. On those days, Yoichi would leap on the bed and sleep together with Nezu. Yoichi was an exceptionally smart cat, who would drag over Nezu’s stuffed bear whenever he felt sad and nudge him at the kitchen when he was late to eat dinner. Sometimes Nezu would swear Yoichi understood what he said. His teacher told him that was silly, though.
Once Yoichi stopped eating for a couple days, so Dad put Yoichi in a separate room and wouldn’t let Nezu see him. Five-year-old Nezu cried piteously, missing his only friend, until Dad let Yoichi out. After that, Yoichi never stopped eating again.
The Shigaraki family house had incredible security because Yoichi was a little escape artist. A state-of-the-art forcefield covered the entire house. The doors and windows were kept locked with biometric scanners and motion detectors. Yoichi wore a collar that tracked his location.
When Nezu turned eight, his dad deemed him old enough to leave on a week-long business trip. During that time, Yoichi launched a campaign to be let outside. The cat would follow Nezu around begging and staring at him with piteous eyes whenever he left for school. Yoichi kept scratching at his collar until he drew blood. Finally, Nezu took pity. He removed the collar and let Yoichi out of the door, assuming the forcefield would stop him from getting too far.
But somehow Yoichi crept past the forcefield. Dad was furious. It turned out Dad had implanted a second tracker chip under Yoichi’s skin. As soon as the alarm showed Yoichi had left the house grounds, Dad returned at once. Yoichi got dragged back into the house, yowling, in a cat carrier.
Dad was so angry, he grounded Nezu with no internet or TV for a month. Also, Dad made Nezu read the statistics on the lifespans of housecats versus feral strays. Then Dad took Nezu to listen to a story from a local family who’d once had a pet cat eaten by coyotes. Dad explained that Yoichi was a dumb animal who didn’t know what was best for him. Yoichi wanted out of the house, but the poor housecat would die in the forest. After that, Nezu never let Yoichi out again, no matter how Yoichi mewled and pleaded.
Yet the older Nezu grew, the more he came to understand Yoichi’s desire for escape. He’d already explored every inch of their tiny town with exactly one general store. All the residents were very kind to him and treated him like an extra grandson, but he longed to meet kids his own age. School was not advanced enough for him. When he asked his teacher a question, she often didn’t know the answer.
Nezu’s teacher said that he was a genius, already working on college-age math problems despite being in middle school. She’d apologized in a formal way for not being able to keep up with him, then suggested he might want to attend a special high school in a large city. She’d given him brochures for a gifted program in Musutafu, the closest city.
Nezu knew his father would never agree. Dad often talked about the need to keep his son away from the corrupt influences of hero society and strictly regulated his internet use. Nezu wasn’t even allowed to take a day trip to the city, much less go to boarding school. But Nezu wanted it so badly, he decided he would take the online entrance exam first, then convince his father after he passed. He asked his teacher to use her address for his application.
A few months later, Nezu’s teacher gave him a letter saying he’d been accepted into the Musutafu Gifted Program. They hugged. Then Nezu ran home to tell his father. He’d prepared a speech explaining why he wanted to enroll in boarding school. He even hoped Yoichi might be allowed to go with him, though he’d fight that battle after winning the first one.
Nezu bounced on the balls of his feet waiting as his father read the letter. Sighing, Dad set it on the coffee table. “Oh, my dear little boy. I knew you’d try to leave me someday, but not so soon.”
Nezu frowned. “I’m not going to abandon you, Dad. I just want to get a good education. I’ll visit you every holiday. I know you make enough money to buy a house in the city, if you want to live closer to me.” Nezu was prepared to compromise on the boarding school. Even though secretly he wished for space.
Dad shook his head. “It’s not about the money. As soon as you get exposed to Hero Society, they’ll turn you against me. It’s already happening. Just like with Yoichi. The good little boy I raised would never have kept his school application a secret from me.” His voice rose to a howl.
“I’m sorry.” Nezu swallowed. “Dad? You’re scaring me.” There was a strange look in his father’s eyes. Nezu did not think he’d imagined the flash of red.
“Fortunately, I already know how this story ends, and I’m already prepared. Society won’t let me own a human, but I can keep you at home as my cute little pet forever.” Dad reached out and grabbed Nezu’s forehead.
Nezu screamed in pain as the transformation took effect, his bones rearranging and fur popping out from under his skin.
“There, there,” Dad crooned. He easily held his son in the air as his little legs dangled and kicked. “It will be over soon. The quirk will turn you into the form best suited to your soul. I wonder what you will be? A little mouse, a bear, or a dog? Or perhaps a cat like your uncle?”
Yoichi shot through the doorway in a flash, biting Dad’s arm. Dad screamed and dropped Nezu.
His limbs strange and tangled, Nezu ran for the door. He had no thoughts in his head except to run.
Dad followed, but Yoichi leapt on Dad’s face and clawed at his eyes. The little cat seemed determined not to let go even if he died, digging his claws in and holding on despite being struck with blows and red lightning.
Because of Yoichi, Nezu made it out the front door. He’d long ago cracked the code to the forcefield, though he’d never told his father. Nezu’s teacher was waiting outside. She later told him she’d had a strange intuition something might go wrong with his father, who’d always given her the creeps. Her husband was a doctor who removed the tracker from Nezu’s wrist. Together, they hid Nezu in their basement. The trick only worked because Dad was quite convinced the old teacher was senile and did not question her closely. The couple smuggled Nezu into the city and helped him obtain new identification as a quirked animal. As long as Nezu pretended he’d been born an animal, no one questioned his lack of a birth certificate.
The people at the quirk registry office had no idea what animal Nezu might be. Neither did Nezu. He believed that his strange transformation was because the quirk had been interrupted before completion. At least Nezu had retained the ability to speak and walk on two legs. The transformation hadn’t progressed that far. Nezu passed himself off as having an intelligence quirk. He did not dare tell the truth because he knew his father was extremely wealthy and powerful. He’d overhead his father on phone calls with politicians before. A few things people had let slip around him implied nearly everyone in his hometown owed his dad favors. The police would not be able to help him. In the short run, he needed to rely on secrecy.
Using all his cleverness and ruthlessness, Nezu rose to the top of Hero Society. As he became more well known, he faced several kidnapping attempts, but he fended them off. Once he had heroes under his employ, he sent them to his hometown, but by then the house in the forest and the man with a cat were long gone. His investigations gradually uncovered the story of All for One, a villain from the dawn of the age of quirks with the ability to give and take powers. This explained why his father had multiple abilities.
Slowly and carefully, Nezu gathered the forces to defeat All for One. No matter how long it took, Nezu was determined to find his uncle and rescue him.
OMAKE TIME!
Omake: The Cat Owns You, Angst Version
All for One: I heard it wasn’t socially acceptable to own humans so I decided to solve this problem by turning my brother into a cat.
Yoichi: What is wrong with you?
All for One: Given that you’re spouting fur, the better question is what is wrong with you, little brother. P.S. It’s a cat transformation.
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Omake: Rigged Tests
All for One: Son, I’m turning you into an animal for the crimes of applying for boarding school, giving me flashbacks to Yoichi’s rebellious teenage years as you hit your teens and resemble him more, developing needs I can’t as easily fulfil, maturing enough to realize your childhood is strange, and growing too large to keep in my lap.
Nezu: I couldn’t help most of those!
All for One: You might have stayed smaller if you drank less milk.
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Omake: The All for Ones Club
All for One: I turned my brother into a cat, all of you should try it. He’s adorable now.
The Cat Owns You All for One: Oh, you poor fool. I went through the same thing. You’ve grabbed a sickly white cat off the street.
All for One: Uh, no? The cat is Yoichi. I get to treat him like a pet, it’s hilarious and fun.
The Cat Owns You All for One: Your denial is tragic.
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Omake: Can’t Resist a Joke on All for One’s New Canon Backstory
All for One: I was alone since I was a baby, so I see nothing wrong with my son fending for himself.
Nezu: You’re a terrible dad.
All for One: Just for that, I will transform you into an animal that suits your spirit—AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! A rat! I’m terrified of rats!
Nezu: Huh, he’s passed out on the floor. That worked out oddly well. Come on, Uncle Yoichi, time to escape.