Fanfic / Yesterday Upon The Stair

From Left to right: Shimura Nana, Midoriya Izuku, and Rei. Drawn by Alzheimersparrotroute

"My friends are scarier than you."

— Midoriya Izuku

Midoriya Izuku has always been written off as weird. As if it's not bad enough to be the Quirkless weakling, he has to be the strange Quirkless weakling on top of it. But truthfully, the "weird" part is the only accurate part. He's determined not to be a weakling, and in spite of what it says on paper, he's not Quirkless. Even before meeting All-Might and taking on the power of One For All, Izuku isn't Quirkless.

... Not that anyone would believe it if he told them.

Yesterday Upon The Stair by PitViperOfDoom is a My Hero Academia Alternate Universe Fanfic with elements of The Sixth Sense.

Has a few companion works set in the same continuity and expanding on it. The Cupboard Underneath is a series of short stories set at various points in the timeline, while Death and the Maiden is an adaptation of My Hero Academia: Two Heroes which, among other changes, happens after the Kamino Ward arc and not before.

An Audio Adaptation of Yesterday Upon the Stair was completed by GeminiWishes in March of 2024. It can be found here on Archive of Our Own and here on YouTube.

For other examples of works by the same author, see Powdered Gold and Pottery, It's Over, Isn't It (it's only just begun), and Witness (Good Neighbors).

Complete as of October 11th, 2019, with 60 chapters and 424,000 words.

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This fanfic provides examples of:

Tropes A-H

• Adaptational Badass: Downplayed. While Izuku's Quirk isn't much use in a fight, living with ghosts his whole life and having opportunities to help people that nobody else can have helped put some extra steel in his spine even before Izuku inherits One For All. The difference is demonstrated by his handling of Shigaraki during the USJ arc; while canon Izuku was almost too petrified to even try to fight him, this version is able to keep his wits together enough to pull off a Scheherezade Gambit, keeping Shigaraki distracted until All Might shows up.
• Adaptation Expansion: Thanks in part to the fact that the author isn't constrained to the tight schedule and page allowance of a weekly manga, they do a lot to explore elements of the setting and characters the manga glossed over.
  • More time is spent discussing how toxic and abusive Bakugou's treatment of Izuku was.
  • The author puts a lot of detail into what it's like to be caught in one of Mr. Compress's attacks. This is especially key here since this version of Izuku is claustrophobic.
  • We see how Ragdoll's Quirk works from her perspective.
• Adaptational Heroism: Played With. All for One is still the shadow leader of the League and responsible for the same actions in Canon. Whereas in Canon Horikoshi implied he is responsible for turning Tsubasa into a Noumu, in this story, he expressly states he would not harm a child. Whether this is true or not is up to interpretation as Tsubasa is still made into the Noumu, so whether it's a lie or Tsubasa had an Origin Change is unknown. Revealed to be a lie in Chapter 39, when it's revealed he knew about Rei (who was 9) being in the Noumu project, and ordered her euthanized when the experiments rendered her brain dead.
• Adaptational Jerkass:
  • Zigzagged with Bakugou. His character hasn't changed drastically, but his overall destructive and abusive behavior towards Izuku is even worse than in canon, with Izuku having much more obvious symptoms of trauma from what Bakugou has done to him due to a particularly scarring incident when they were in second grade. The toxic nature of their relationship is so bad that during the Final Exams Arc, Aizawa and All Might's plan to make Izuku and Bakugou work together backfires horribly, resulting in the two teachers realizing that they not only misinterpreted abuse as mutual animosity but only made it worse. This does eventually lead to a far more thorough reconciliation attempt later on, and Aizawa and All Might do end up taking a far bigger role in keeping Bakugou's negative traits in check, as well as helping Izuku overcome the issues he had bottled up over the years.
  • Zigzagged with Endeavor. Endeavor in canon is not that different here, the key difference being how much focus is given to his negative traits by comparison. Canonical Endeavor's abusive traits were noted for the bulk of his appearances until the pro-hero arc, where a potential redemption arc began. While his negative traits were still brought up by his children, the arc took great pains to paint Endeavor as regretful of his actions, and as someone who acknowledges he may never manage to redeem himself. By contrast here, his negative traits are much more noticeable due to Todoroki serving as the Deuteragonist, and the effects on Todoroki are made more noticeable, making Endeavor's actions more serious here.
  • Subverted with Inasa. He seems to go out of his way to antagonize Todoroki, but he's actually been replaced by Toga.
• Adapted Out: Played with. While Mineta is with the class at the beginning, come the Training Camp arc, he is expelled for his latest perverted action, effectively writing him out of the story.
• Amplifier Artifact: One For All is the Quirk version of this, making Izuku's I See Dead People strong enough that it not only passively makes ghosts around him stronger, he can actively use it to empower ghosts and allow them to interact with much larger physical objects such as making Rei able to push a large chunk of concrete off its original trajectory so it didn't crush All Might. He's eventually able to use a technique similar to Full Cowl to make ghosts visible and tangible to the living for a short period of time. He's able to do this for the deceased Tensei so that he can have a heart-to-heart with Tenya, and to Nana Shimura, so that she can reunite with All Might. He weaponizes this against Chisaki by creating a veritable ghost army to take him down.
• All-Loving Hero: Averted. Izuku is a very compassionate and empathetic young man, but he is not above resentment and bitterness, though he is disgusted by those feelings.
• Anger Born of Worry: After their confrontation with Stain, Iida wonders if Izuku will ever forgive him for almost getting them killed. Todoroki points out that Izuku's angry because he was worried Iida could've been killed.
• Apathetic Teacher: Aizawa begins to avert this trope after the events of the Finals Exams arc, as he recognizes that he failed to realize exactly how toxic the relationship between Bakugo and Izuku is beforehand and makes a point to pay close attention to not just them, but also to the rest of 1-A. In addition, he made an apology to Izuku and stated that pairing the two was unprofessional on Aizawa’s part.
• Arbitrary Skepticism: Quirks have near unlimited ways of manifesting, allowing their users to do otherwise impossible things like fly, reverse death, alter reality, defy gravity, turn back time, and see the future, alongside other equally amazing feats. Some quirks even have sentience on their own. Yet nobody except Inko believed Izuku when he said he could see things others couldn't.
• Armor-Piercing Question:
  • During their match, Midoriya hits Todoroki with one in response to his rant about wanting to rise to the top without any help from his father's power:
    Midoriya: Without his power? You're kidding me, right? It's a little late to be saying that, don't you think?
    Todoroki: I will not—
    Midoriya: Oh, I'm sorry! Remind me — which one of us got in on whose recommendation again?
  • Midoriya gives one to Okumura while deconstructing his motives for hurting Todoroki.
    Midoriya: Then why are you trusting [Endeavor] to make you feel better?
  • Aizawa gives one to Bakugou after the events of the End of Term Exam Arc.
    Aizawa: Why not be a villain?
  • And, in chapter 40:
    Midoriya: Where's your doctor, All For One?
  • In Chapter 55, Midoriya gives quite the question to Sir Nighteye:
    Midoriya: No, I’ve spent my entire life talking to ghosts and you think I don’t care when people die — you think I don’t lose anything? You think people die and I’m just fine with it? What the hell do you think makes a ghost in the first place?
• Armor-Piercing Response:
  • In answer to Stain's claim that heroes should not act for their own benefit:
  Izuku: Why not? You do. Take now, for instance. You benefit from doing this because you get to pat yourself on the back without actually doing anything helpful.
  • Izuku gives one to Dabi in chapter 40.
  Dabi: Not so fast, Midoriya.
  Izuku: Go home to your mother, Todoroki-kun.
• Ascended Extra:
  • Nana and Tensei hold bigger roles narrative-wise thanks to Izuku's Quirk, acting as allies to him and guardians to All Might and Tenya.
  • The original holder of One For All serves as a major ally to Midoriya during the Kamino Ward arc.
  • Uraraka during the Kamino Ward arc. In canon, after the Heroes learn Yaoyorozu planted a tracker on a Noumu, the rescue party of Students consists of Kirishima, Iida, Yaoyorozu, Todoroki, and Midoriya, while Uraraka stays behind. As Midoriya was captured this time, Uraraka is the one who offers the idea of a Rescue Party, approaching Todoroki first and convincing him.
• Attack Its Weak Point: As befitting his mindset, Izuku takes full advantage of Todoroki's weaknesses and insecurities during their match. He hates it and explicitly compares himself to a bully. He does the same in his fight with Muscular, going for a Groin Attack and breaking both his cybernetic eye as well as gouging out his good eye since those places don't have muscle he can augment.
• Back from the Dead: Izuku, courtesy of Eri. But not before he delivers a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown to Overhaul, while a ghost.
• Batman Gambit: Izuku manages to pull one of these on All For One and the Villain Alliance during the kidnapping arc.
• Because You Were Nice to Me: Most of the ghosts Izuku meets do what they can to help him because of his attempts to help them. Several poltergeists stop Magne from "snitching on Deku" to Shiragaki because of his efforts.
• Berserk Button:
  • Threatening Izuku is one for Rei. Not that she can do much about it initially.
  • Like in canon, threatening the students of UA is a major one for All Might, especially Midoriya. Learning that the League of Villains successfully kidnapped both Bakugou and Midoriya is enough to make him want to go on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge.
• Best Served Cold: Ghosts of various villains' victims tend to hang around them waiting for them to die to exact their revenge.
• Big Sister Instinct: Rei considers Izuku to be her little brother and does her best to protect him. Being a ghost, her best isn't much yet, though One For All strengthening Midoriya's other Quirk is slowly allowing her to do more until she's actively able to protect Izuku from Bakugou, and later Chisaki.
• Bilingual Dialogue: Izuku sometimes slips into speaking sign language, often either due to stress or surreptitiously speaking to a ghost with the person he's "talking" to understanding and speaking Japanese back.
• Break Them by Talking: Midoriya was able to make Nighteye lose his cool and distract him using a "The Reason You Suck" Speech on his beliefs of who deserves to wield One-For-All, succeeding in his test. This is especially impressive considering Midoriya proclaimed himself to be a Manipulative Bastard to him beforehand.
• Breaking Speech: All for One is very fond of these. Midoriya takes advantage of this by tricking him into thinking it's working.
• Broken Masquerade: In chapter 38, the Midoriya household ghosts talk to Inko about him while Iida and Ochako are around, prompting them to start suspecting the truth about his Quirk.
• But for Me, It Was Tuesday: Midoriya basically says as much when calling out Bakugou for a particularly scarring incident that occurred in second grade that, as shown in Chapter 37, the latter can barely remember having caused:
  Izuku: "It was the worst day of my life. But it was just another Wednesday for you, wasn't it?"
• Cassandra Truth: What Izuku believes will happen if he tells anyone about his Quirk.
• Cats Are Magic: Mika can see ghosts, but according to Word of God, so can all cats. However, Mika is also one of the rare animals with a Quirk, in that she doesn't produce dander, which comes in handy for Fuzz Therapy with people who have allergies.
• Chekhov's Skill: Izuku's ability to speak sign language is initially just so he can silently communicate with ghosts. In chapter 40, it lets him alert All Might that he's a Fake Defector because All for One's infrared Quirk can't pick up on such small details and the man never learned sign language.
• Claustrophobia: Midoriya is very claustrophobic. It's debilitating and – in his mind – shameful. We later find out why he is claustrophobic: Bakugou shoved him into a closet when they were children, refusing to believe in Midoriya trying to tell him about the ghosts haunting it. This makes being hit by Mr. Compress's Quirk especially excruciating for him.
• Complete-the-Quote Title: 'Yesterday Upon The Stair, I saw a man who wasn't there, he wasn't there again today, oh how I wish he'd go away.'
• Conditioned to Accept Horror: Downplayed. Midoriya has become accustomed to ghosts' Jacob Marley Apparel, but it still upsets him to think of what happened to make them that way.
• Creepy Child: Everyone feels that there is something not quite right about Midoriya. He seems a little too knowing for a 15-year-old and a little too calm in the wrong situations. Like when he held a very casual conversation with Shigaraki, who was going to kill him and all his friends, to buy time for the heroes to arrive.
• Creepy Good: Midoriya is known for being more than a bit creepy, even to his friends, but he's a complete sweetheart.
• Creepy Shadowed Undereyes: Midoriya has these. It's hard to sleep properly when you see ghosts everywhere you go, many of them still wearing the wounds that killed them.
• Dead Guy Junior: In Chapter 60, Izuku encounters Rei's younger brother, who has named his daughter after her original name.
• Death Amnesia: Downplayed. Aizawa learns Midoriya can see ghosts when he's pseudo-ghost during the USJ arc, but he forgets once he recovers. Chapter 55 has Aizawa finally remember it.
• Death by Adaptation:
  • Izuku's father died when he was a baby. His mother's first clue as to the nature of his Quirk is when he mentions his father tucking him in when he was three.
  • Tensei Iida dies in his fight against Stain. Though thanks to Izuku's Quirk, this doesn't stop him from being an Ascended Extra.
  • All For One is rendered brain dead from his life support system malfunctioning due to One For All strengthening Midoriya's I See Dead People Quirk enough to allow the ghosts following him to damage it during his final battle against All Might.
• Deer in the Headlights: Midoriya tends to freeze up whenever Bakugou grabs him by the shoulder, primarily due to what Bakugou did to him that gave Midoriya his Claustrophobia.
• Defiant Captive: Midoriya manages to trick the League of Villains into believing that he was succumbing to All for One's manipulative words. Unfortunately, Bakugou believed this and was wary when Izuku was able to knock Toga unconscious.
• Defeat Means Friendship: Inverted. Midoriya eggs Todoroki on enough for him to use both his fire and ice, despite almost being able to defeat Todoroki
• Deliberate Injury Gambit: In order to trick All for One, Midoriya forces Bakugou to injure him in the left shoulder and lets him try to escape while he calls the Villains back to the hideout where he knows that the heroes are about to infiltrate.
• Didn't See That Coming: Because every ghost he's met has been at minimum opposed to and very often outright hostile towards their killer, Izuku doesn't consider that one of Overhaul's victims, a former subordinate, might remain loyal to him and feed Izuku false information.
• Did You Think I Can't Feel?: Or rather, "Did you think that because I can see dead people that I don't care that they died, or how they died in the first place?" Sir Nighteye learns the hard way that, yes, Izuku cares very, very much.
• Disappointed by the Motive: After having to deal with Sir Nighteye being frosty and condescending towards him throughout his internship, Midoriya finally learns that the main reason he's been such a prat is that he presumes that Ghost Sense has made him indifferent towards death. Suffice to say, he's far from impressed.
• Disappointed in You:
  • Midoriya weaponizes this during the End of Term Exam, banking on the fact that All Might would never expect him to do something that would risk letting down his idol.
  • When Sir Nighteye confesses how he treated Midoriya because of his Quirk, All Might is disappointed rather than angry, something Sir Nighteye finds to be worse.
• Distressed Dude: After the training camp both Bakugou and Izuku are kidnapped. As Izuku takes the lead on their following escape attempts, he usually gets the brunt of the punishment as well.
• Documentary of Lies: The various TV Shows with phony psychics (where the ghosts are either laughing at them or don't exist at all) are the reason Midoriya believes no one will take his Quirk seriously.
• Don't Make Me Destroy You: In Chapter 57, Izuku, cornered by Overhaul and Nemoto, is forced to admit how scared he is... of what’s going to happen to Overhaul and Nemoto if they don’t back off. And since he’s been hit with Nemoto’s Quirk, he’s 100% not exaggerating.
  Izuku: They tore [All for One] apart, you know. I’m going to watch them do the same to you.
• Dramatic Drop: In Chapter 55, Aizawa drops a glass when he starts to have a certain realisation about the events at the USJ.
• Eldritch Abomination: When Rei is particularly upset she tends to take on this type of form. It's enough that even Midoriya gets unnerved by it, and he is used to having her around.
• The Empath: Rei can feel people's emotions, even the ones they don't consciously acknowledge. Her brother has a similar quirk.
• Entertainingly Wrong: Since they don't know about One For All, Tenya, Ochako, and Tsuyu theorize that Izuku's Super-Strength comes from him drawing on the power of the dead nearby, which is why both Izuku and the ghosts have green lightning coming off them. In reality, Izuku is the one empowering the ghosts, not the other way around.
• Epiphany Therapy: Izuku explains that quirk counseling (if you could even call it that) was this for him. When his counselor asked him what exactly the ghosts he was seeing wanted out of him, this changed Izuku's perspective on everything, turning these horrifying apparitions that seem to follow him everywhere into people that only he could help.
• Everyone Has Standards: Hino may be a Jerkass who gives Endeavor grief For the Lulz, but he makes it a point not to do so while Endeavor is doing hero work, nor does he do anything to the man's kids. The latter makes sense, considering he's actually their maternal uncle.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: A large part of Midoriya's Batman Gambit involves using this knowledge against All For One.
• Evil Uncle: Inverted for Hino. He's Todoroki's maternal uncle and stuck around to protect his sister.
• Expy: Rei is explicitly based on Erma.
• Eye Scream:
  • During their match, Todoroki punches Midoriya with an ice-encrusted fist right in the eye, hard enough to draw blood.
  • Midoriya effectively wins his fight against Muscular by smashing his mechanical eye into his face and then gouging out his real one.
• Forced to Watch: In chapter 37, Shigaraki forces Midoriya to watch as All For One takes Ragdoll's Quirk away.
• Foreshadowing: In chapter 57, Aizawa asks if it's possible for ghosts to lie to Midoriya. Near the end of the chapter, Izuku learns one of them was indeed lying to him.
• Friendly Ghost: Most of the ghosts Midoriya meets are perfectly friendly, or at least non-hostile.
• Fusion Fic: Yesterday Upon the Stair is essentially My Hero Academia if Izuku Midoriya had Cole Sear's life as his backstory. The Sixth Sense is now a Quirk called "Psychopomp" (though Izuku is still considered Quirkless because few believe it's real), the bullying incident at the birthday party in the film is translocated to Izuku's elementary school (with Bakugou as the perpetrator), and Dr. Malcolm Crowe becomes the deceased Quirk counselor Karasu-sensei.
• Fuzz Therapy: Whenever Midoriya notices one of his friends is having a rough time, he'll drop his cat Mika on their lap for this purpose.
• Ghost Amnesia: Seems to be a feature with ghosts who are particularly distressed. Once Midoriya fixes whatever is upsetting them, the memories seem to return though.
• God Test: In Chapter 55, Izuku proves the nature of his Quirk to Aizawa by recounting details of the latter's hero work that only the latter or the ghosts-to-be in question would have known.
• Greek Chorus: The ghosts following Stain commentate on the battle.
• Groin Attack: As in canon, Kouta delivers one to Midoriya when he tries talking to him. Midoriya also performs one during his fight with Muscular, to the amusement of the ghosts following Muscular, which Midoriya tells Kouta he learned from him.
• Guile Hero: Due to having long since learned how to play on emotions when consoling ghosts, Midoriya is excellent at playing on people's emotions.
• Haunted House: Midoriya's house is haunted. This is most likely because he lives there, though.
• Heart Is an Awesome Power: It takes until after the fight with Stain for Midoriya to realize being able to see ghosts gives him access to a perfect network of informants and spies.
• He Is Not My Boyfriend: A portion of 1-A believes Midoriya and Todoroki are an item, due to their habit of sharing a bed after moving into the dorms. Both deny it as it's more of a developing queer-platonic relationship than a romantic one.
• Heroic BSoD:
  • Aizawa notes that Todoroki is very unresponsive and in shock after after Midoriya was taken in front of him. It takes Uraraka pleading to him to try to stop her to save Midoriya and eventually plans to go to Kamino Ward to snap him out of his funk.
  • Midoriya hits this after learning that Dr. Tsubasa has been conducting inhumane experiments with All for One and the guilt that he was the cause of his former doctor's death.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: In order to save Izuku, Mirio shoots Overhaul with his own Quirk-destroying bullets. The perfected ones.
• Hope Spot: Following the Training Camp arc, Bakugo and Midoriya manage to free themselves from the League of Villains and try to escape, only for Midoriya to get caught by Compress.
  • Another happens not long afterwards when Midoriya manages to get free, finds Ragdoll, and helps her... only for them to get caught together, with All For One forcing Midoriya to watch as he removes her Quirk.
• How Do I Shot Web?: According to Doctor Tsubasa, the random nature of Quirks means some people go their whole lives without ever discovering what theirs is because it's either too subtle or requires some specific circumstance to activate.
• Hypocrite: Midoriya briefly thinks this about himself when he berates Todoroki for not using his full Quirk, while secretly being guilty of the same thing. He realizes this after the battle with Stain and starts to find ways to incorporate his original Quirk into his tactics as well.

Tropes I-W

• I See Dead People: Midoriya's Quirk. Interestingly, he can also touch them when they normally can't touch the living.
• If You Ever Do Anything to Hurt Her...: A gender-twisted one, with Dabi/Touya in Chapter 60 threatening to boil the fluids in Midoriya's eyeballs if he hurts Shoto.
• Insult to Rocks: Bakugou accuses Mineta of "humping his way out of his problems like a shitty dog", causing Ashido to chide him for being so mean to dogs.
• "It" Is Dehumanizing: When Nana calls Sachi, the beach poltergeist, "it", Midoriya corrects her.
• It's All My Fault: Midoriya thinks this about Nighteye's death, because a ghost feeding him wrong information which he passes on to Mirio, and Aizawa taking a hit for him meant that neither of them could join the fight until the end. Shoto and Mirio try to reassure him that what he did was enough, and a bad outcome doesn't erase how hard he tried.
• Jacob Marley Apparel: Many ghosts, and all poltergeists, retain the wounds they died from and consequently are often bloody. This originally scared Midoriya before he adapted.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Hino the prankster ghost is rude and he himself notes he's mostly around to torment Endeavor, but it's Endeavor, and he himself stops his tomfoolery when it would actually stop his victim from saving people. He later turns out to have a good reason to hate Endeavor too, being his brother-in-law.
• Kirk Summation: When Hero Killer Stain starts talking about his mission to kill all the unworthy heroes. Midoriya's response? "Yeah, I don’t really care." He then lays out exactly how stupid and destructive Stain's philosophy is.
• Knight Templar Big Brother: Dabi/Touya tells Midoriya in Chapter 60 to pass along a warning to Endeavor about what he's going to do if the man hurts his family again, and damn the consequences.
• Locked Out of the Loop: Uraraka certainly feels this way, as she explains to Iida. She was baffled by Todoroki and Midoriya's closeness after the sports festival and was able to see something changed among the three of them after the incident with Stain. This and her guilt is what led them to visit Inko, where they were able to see her communicate with Rei.
• Magnetic Hero: Like in Canon, Midoriya easily makes friends and gains the respect of both his peers and heroes. It's taken up to eleven here though in that he gains the respect of several antagonistic ghosts, and even manages to make Shigaraki of all people like him! Best showcased when he first talks with Ragdoll. She's barely talked with him for five minutes before deciding:
  Ragdoll: Ragdoll likes this one.
• Major Injury Underreaction: Can't get much more major than being killed, looking down at your own body and going "...Oh. Okay. So that's a problem for later."
• Meaningful Echo:
  • When fighting Stain, Midoriya and Todoroki have an exchange that, nearly word-for-word, echoes what was said right before Todoroki defeated Midoriya in the tournament.
    Todoroki: You know you can't win.
    Midoriya: Probably not, but we can at least make it look cool, right?
  • Todoroki, while confronted by Endeavor concerning his insubordination against his father and failure to deal the final blow against the Hero Killer, unknowingly thinks a single phrase that Midoriya has thought multiple times before, when against people that would otherwise scare him.
    My friend is scarier than you.
• Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: Overhaul killed one of his loyal subordinates for a single mistake. Later, said subordinate's ghost tells Izuku everything she knows about Overhaul's operations as revenge. Subverted, as she was actually on Overhaul's side and was feeding Izuku false information out of a misplaced belief that she could make up for it. However, it is played straight for Overhaul's other victims.
• Mundane Solution: Inko can't see ghosts, but she knows they're there. How does she communicate with them? A mirror dusted with baby powder that they can draw on.
• Mundane Utility: Midoriya calls in Tensei's ghost to teach him how to fill in paperwork.
• My God, What Have I Done?:
  • After the practical exams, Toshinori and Aizawa realize they not only failed to recognize Bakugou and Midoriya's relationship as abusive but that they had dismissed concerned warnings from students who had realized. Further, as they were working under the assumption that Izuku's and Bakugou's relationship was a mutual animosity rather than the victim-bully dynamic it really was, Aizawa admits this means they paired up a bully with his victim solely for the sake of giving the bully a chance to grow, putting the onus on Izuku to endure until Bakugou possibly changed.
  • Sir Nighteye certainly appears to be feeling this at the end of chapter 55.
• Nice Guy: While he seems creepier, Midoriya is the same good-natured kid he always was, willing to do whatever he can to help both the living and the dead.
• Nerves of Steel: Deconstructed. Midoriya's determination not to emote and calmness born from dealing with nastier ghosts all his life come off as really creepy.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Murderers are often followed by the ghosts of their victims, who wish to exact vengeance once they pass on. There's little they can do until then as their ability to interact with the world of the living is very limited. It's less limited when Deku is around after gaining One for All. This provides Deku with an invaluable source of Intel when facing off with members of the League of Villains.
• Nightmare Sequence: Midoriya has awful nightmares combining his fears of his friends dying with the deaths of ghosts he's met.
• "Not So Different" Remark: In Chapter 55, after Izuku chews out Nighteye over the latter's faulty assumption that the former's Quirk means he doesn't care about death, he says that he sought internship with the latter out of the belief that both their Quirks let them know things that others wouldn't and that Nighteye would thus understand what he's going through.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: In Chapter 60, Izuku finds odd how serious Hino is being about Dabi/Touya not having created any ghosts and what he'll do if that changes.
• Odd Friendship: In-Universe; Uraraka finds Todoroki being friends with anyone odd considering his I'm Not Here to Make Friends line, but finds his friendship with Midoriya especially strange since it picked up almost immediately after their vicious Sports Festival match.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • Midoriya's reaction when Todoroki curbstomps Sero, since he's fighting him next.
  • Dr. Tsubasa's ghost after he sees all the very angry ghosts of the victims of the Noumu project behind him.
  • Nighteye's reaction to finding out Overhaul is confronting his interns.
  • Twice and Katsukame have this reaction when the former accidentally(?) duplicates Ryukyu rather than Katsukame.
• Only Mostly Dead: Aizawa during the Unforeseen Simulation Joint Arc. He's close enough to death to turn into a pseudo-ghost, but recovers.
• Papa Wolf: Both Aizawa and All Might have this toward the students of 1-A, Midoriya in particular to All Might. Learning that Midoriya was kidnapped by the League of Villains (who are led by All For One), All Might has to keep himself from hunting them down and making them regret they ever heard his students' names.
• Paranoia Gambit: Izuku stalls Shiragaki at the USJ by pointing out that while the villain knows he can kill All Might, he also "knew" All Might was going to be there and yet he isn't. Izuku prompts him to wonder what else he doesn't know.
• Phlebotinum Analogy: Nighteye sees the information-gathering benefits of Izuku's I See Dead People Quirk as being like an autopsy if the cadaver could consent.
• Point of Divergence: A lot of events in canon are altered due to either Izuku's Quirk or his different personality.
  • YUTS!Izuku fights a lot more pragmatically, so his fight with Todoroki during the Sports Festival goes a lot further and gets Izuku labelled a madman.
  • Tensei's Death by Adaptation only makes Tenya's hatred of Stain even larger, causing him to be even more unstable later on when confronting him.
  • In canon, Izuku and Bakugou ultimately had to pull an Enemy Mine to get past All Might during the Final Exams, which also slightly mended their relationship. The exact opposite happens here. Izuku's unwillingness to put up with Bakugou gets him a beating from Bakugou. Izuku drags himself to the exit while Bakugou preoccupies All Might, pissing off Bakugou further, and forcing All Might and Aizawa to realize just how messed up Izuku and Bakugou's relationship really is. It also forces Aizawa to start keeping a closer eye on Bakugou, outright telling him that such behavior will no longer be tolerated.
  • The above situation with Izuku and Bakugou causes Aizawa to start paying more attention to the class. As such, when Mineta attempts his antics with the girls in the Training Camp Arc and shows a complete lack of remorse over the repercussions of his actions (which includes nearly getting Kouta seriously injured while further distressing the girls), Aizawa believes that Mineta lacks the proper character or the desire to improve said character needed to be a hero and expels him.
  • Izuku's talk with Shigaraki greatly changes the events of the story compared to canon thanks to Izuku's much bolder personality. This time around, Shigaraki takes a liking to him, and decides to make Izuku the second target in the Camp Raid instead of Tokoyami. And they succeed.
  • At the training camp, Aoyama doesn't hide in the bushes; instead, he's told to take Jirou back. As a result, his Naval Laser isn't what breaks off Compress' mask. Instead, Rei has to leap in and try to free Bakugou and Izuku, but she and Todoroki ultimately fail.
  • The canon fight with Muscular causes Izuku to utterly wreck his body, pissing Recovery Girl off enough for her to refuse to heal him anymore. This time around, Izuku is aided by Rei, Tensei, the Water Horse Duo, and all the ghosts following Muscular in distracting him, while Izuku proceeds to break Muscular's false eye, gouge out his real one, and then lure him into Mustard's gas. In the end, he only gets a dislocated shoulder and a few crushed ribs for his troubles, and the shoulder is easily reset by Aizawa. And as he didn't wreck his body this time around, Recovery Girl will still be willing to heal him in the future.
  • The Villain Alliance's goals have shifted so that on top of going after Bakugou, they target Izuku instead of Tokoyami. And not only do they succeed in grabbing both boys, they snatch Izuku literally right in front of Todoroki.
  • Since Izuku was captured, this gives Uraraka enough motivation to join the rescue team that plans to go to save the two boys themselves. And because of her guilt of not being able to do anything, she and Iida visit Inko and learn from the ghosts that the place they were about to go to is a decoy and that they should go to Kamino Ward.
  • Thanks to his One for All amplifying his I See Dead People Quirk and having an early-warning system for danger, Izuku is able to successfully rescue Eri after she escapes from Overhaul by having Rei act as a decoy for him to follow. He even mentions how obvious his cover story was due to having met children that have died from similar circumstances, averting the "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot in canon.
    Mirio: He wouldn't kill her. He said it himself—if she's his daughter, then—
    Izuku: Of course she isn't his daughter! He's a villain. You think that's not what every kidnapper and trafficker says when they're walking off with someone else's kid? "Oh, don't worry, she's just my daughter or my niece or my cousin, I'm just babysitting for the day, don't mind her, she has such a wild imagination, doesn't she?" I mean come on, she doesn't even look like him!
    Nighteye: That's enough, Midoriya. Mirio, Bubble Girl should be arriving soon. Tell her to report to me when she arrives, then get started on your report.
    Izuku: I'm sorry, [b]ut it's true. I've met kids like that before, and it's always the same story. It's the easiest lie in the world, it always works, and for once, I'd rather not have to listen to another dead kid tell me where she's buried.
• Poltergeist: Particularly distraught ghosts are referred to as such, with good reason.
• Poor Communication Kills: Nighteye makes a number of unilateral assumptions about Izuku that create strain on their relationship because he initially doesn't bother trying to get clarification on them.
• The Problem with Fighting Death: Really nasty villains with large body counts tend to have the ghosts of their victims following them around. After all, they may not be able to do much while their killer is alive, but once they die, there's nothing to stop them from seeking their vengeance for their deaths... This is the fate of the doctor who aided All For One in the Nomu project, and what will happen to All For One when he fully dies if he doesn't go with his brother's spirit.
• Prophet Eyes: Normal ghosts always have these, though they can see fine. The ghosts of those turned into Noumu have inky black eyes though.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Midoriya gives a powerful one to Stain when he mentions his belief that heroes that aren't completely selfless are "false heroes".
• Refuge in Audacity: Midoriya may as well be an embodiment of this trope with the way he acts when he is angry with people alive or dead. Prominent when Midoriya deals with Shiragaki and Stain.
• Relationship Labeling Problems: Shouto and Izuku have a very close relationship, being affectionate with each other and sleeping together, but without any sexual intimacy. Their classmates think they're in a homosexual romantic relationship, but after a discussion, they don't think that fits either, and neither of them can figure out what to call their relationship other than "closer than friends". Eventually, with some outside help, Izuku figures out that it's a queerplatonic relationship.
• Retired Monster: After the League of Villains is functionally disbanded, Dabi retires from villainy to spend time with his mother.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: Mika, Midoriya's cat.
• Running Gag: Mika the magical therapy cat. Midoriya drops her in people's laps to invoke Fuzz Therapy whenever his friends are feeling upset, starting with Uraraka after her match with Bakugou and continuing from there. She also has a tendency to appear wherever she is needed, even if Izuku never intends to bring her along. Eventually gets turned on him by Iida with his new dog Bell.
• Scars Are Forever:
  • The scar above Midoriya's eyes, courtesy of Todoroki.
  • Himiko has a nasty scar on her face from Izuku biting her nose hard enough to break it.
• Scheherezade Gambit: This is how Midoriya handles Shiragaki during the USJ arc, by distracting him with conversation and flattery and eventually playing on his uncertainties until backup is able to arrive.
• Screw Destiny: Variant. Nighteye's Quirk is famous for creating a perfect, unchangeable vision of the future. When a vision does get changed (due to Eri's Quirk), Izuku theorizes that Nighteye is subconsciously selecting a possible future and making it happen. This is better in Izuku's mind because he has no idea where to even start fighting fate or destiny, but he can handle fighting one person's Quirk.
• Secret-Keeper: Inko, Ochako, Iida, Todoroki, All Might, and Nighteye know about Midoriya's I See Dead People Quirk. Bakugou finds out about Izuku having two Quirks later on after a heated confrontation. Aizawa becomes one as well after remembering how he almost died at USJ with Midoriya finally properly explaining what happened, and Tsuyu joins the ranks after seeing ghosts in the battle with Overhaul. Mirio becomes the last person to find out when Midoriya allows him to talk to Nighteye's ghost.
• Secret Message Wink: Midoriya does this a few times.
  • During the Quirk Apprehension Test he winks at Narita to convey that he can in fact see ghosts.
  • At the USJ, he winks at Aizawa in pseudo-ghost form to convey that he is talking to Shigaraki to stall for time so that the UA Faculty can arrive.
  • He gives one along with a message in sign language to All Might so that he knows that his apparent siding with All For One is a lie.
• Seen It All: Midoriya's seen so much Body Horror thanks to Jacob Marley Apparel that he's outright forgotten how to be bothered by it. This is actually played with in Chapter 55 - while Izuku is used to seeing ghosts in horrifying states, it does not make him any less sympathetic to their plights, something he vehemently points out to Sir Nighteye, who had been acting like a jerk towards him due to the belief that Izuku's Quirk made him indifferent to death.
• Sequel Hook:
  • Dabi's leaving villainy in the wake of the League of Villains' disbanding, his reclaiming his original identity of Touya Todoroki, and the implications for that family.
  • The League of Villains disbanding is itself a major shakeup for the world that begs for further exploration.
  • Midoriya telling Shigaraki that he'll either be reformed or captured for good.
• Shout-Out: Several, some of which affect the plot more than others.
  • At one point Deku mentions meeting a quirk counselor, "Karasu-sensei", who helped him see ghosts as people who need help instead of scary monsters. The twist is that this counselor was dead and didn't know it. Sound familiar?
• Sins of Our Fathers:
  • Stain specifically tries to kill Todoroki for his parentage, claiming his father's Jerkassery is In the Blood.
  • Okumura also torments Todoroki as well as Endeavor for the same reasons.
• Slasher Smile: According to Tsuyu, Midoriya smiles like he is "about to eat a baby" when he's really pissed off. Afterwards, he learns how to invoke the trope when he's giving a Death Glare.
• The Stations of the Canon: The fic takes great effort to abide by each canon arc but with its own twists on it thanks to alternate canon motivations.
  • Poor Tensei's Death by Adaptation naturally makes the situation even worse, with his grief-stricken brother being even more driven to go after Stain.
  • The Villain Alliance still decides to attack the training camp in hopes of capturing Bakugou. However, their goals shift from canon: rather than also targeting Tokoyami, they aim for Midoriya instead.
  • During the License Exam, Camie is eliminated during the first round, and Toga disguises herself as Inasa, harassing Shouto throughout the following test and stealing his blood.
  • Deku and Lemillion still met Eri on the streets shortly followed by Overhaul, but thanks to Midoriya spotting a ghost following Eri, they're able to get her away before Overhaul catches up while Rei distracts him.
  • Overhaul and the Eight Precepts still make a big push to try and recapture Eri, and Nighteye still gets fatally wounded in the process, but things work out differently enough that Mirio is late to the fight and doesn't lose his quirk and Deku doesn't get to use One for All Full Cowling 100% to win.
• Stealth Hi/Bye: In Chapter 59, Mirio goes to close a fridge door he'd forgotten about and is startled to see Deku immediately afterwards.
• Stepford Smiler: Midoriya smiles, even when he doesn't mean it.
• Stringy-Haired Ghost Girl: Rei, Midoriya's ghost friend/adopted sister. He even compares her to Sadako at one point.
• The Stoic: Midoriya, out of habit. That doesn't mean that he is any less emotional in reacting to his surroundings, and he still has moments of crying much like his canon counterpart.
• Television Portal: Like Sadako, Rei enjoys crawling through television screens. Unlike Sadako, there's no portal; she's just phasing through the screen.
• That Man Is Dead: After he retires from villainy, Dabi tells Izuku to call him by his birthname Touya.
• There Are No Therapists: Averted. Izuku is recommended to get therapy after Sir Nighteye's death. Eri also gets one, as well as a quirk counselor. Discussed earlier in chapter 55, though, where Nighteye exasperatedly wonders to himself why no one's gotten Izuku therapy for his claustrophobia, especially since it's a weakness where certain villains are concerned.
• Tongue Trauma: While fighting Stain, Midoriya grabs the man's tongue and punches his chin. Much to Midoriya's relief, Stain doesn't lose his tongue.
• Trauma Button: Compress becomes Izuku's after being tortured with the man's Quirk.
• Troll: Hino, a ghost whose sole purpose in death is to annoy Endeavor. He's quite honest about it, too.
• Troubled Child: Aizawa knew that Midoriya would be a problem child the moment they met, something that is only confirmed more and more as time goes on.
• Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: Midoriya has convinced at least one teacher that he has some secret Dark and Troubled Past to explain his semi-illegal skills and odd behavior. It's deconstructed though - he lies about his Quirk, can pull out Breaking Speeches at the drop of a hat, is a Stoic with Nerves of Steel, and has a rather... unique relationship with death. Seeing all of these traits before any of his more altruistic ones ends up convincing Nighteye that Midoriya is completely unfit to be a hero, much less the holder of One For All. Even after proving himself a hero, though, Nighteye still feels Midoriya's disposition makes it impossible for him to take up All Might's position as the Symbol of Peace. However, he finally changes his mind after the fight with Overhaul.
• Undying Loyalty: One of Overhaul's victims, Chuuza, lies to Izuku in an attempt to help Overhaul, wanting to make up for the failure that made him kill her.
• Unfinished Business: Many of the ghosts Midoriya talks to are still around for this reason. He likes to help them out whenever possible.
• Vengeful Ghost: Midoriya often sees the ghosts of those killed by villains following them around, waiting for them to die so they can get their revenge. All For One in particular had hundreds of such spirits following him around, waiting for their chance at him. One For All strengthening Midoriya's Quirk allows them to help Midoriya escape from All For One, as well as help All Might win their final clash and finally kill All For One. Overhaul is the same way, and Midoriya uses this not only to get information but also create himself a veritable ghost army in their fight.
• Villain Has a Point: As much as Midoriya doesn't want to admit it, All for One has a point in that All Might didn't see potential in him as a hero, but as another Vessel for One for All, albeit unintentionally. He originally turned Midoriya's dreams of being a hero down due to him being Quirkless, despite the fact Toshinori himself had been Quirkless before receiving One for All, only changing his tune when Midoriya threw himself into danger to save Bakugou. All for One is also correct in his guess that All Might did not immediately tell Midoriya of the longstanding battle with All for One, nor about the burden One for All had on its inheritors like Nana.
• Villain Respect:
  • Invoked with All for One, who outright admits he respects Midoriya and feels All Might is squandering his potential.
  • Spinner holds his canon respects for Midoriya, thanks to Stain.
• Villain Takes an Interest: While this was present in the original, it's even stronger with Tomura this time. All for One also takes an interest. Tomura decides that both Bakugou and Deku are to be captured, succeeds, and All for One takes the opportunity to try and convince Deku to become his second apprentice.
• Villains Never Lie: Deliberately Invoked by All For One, who claims that the underworld's dangers stem from it being an honest world, which doesn't hide its cruelty. They personally refuse to lie, promising that they're only ever going to be honest with Midoriya, both out of principle and respect. Midoriya doesn't buy it, though.
• Weirdness Magnet: Ghosts tend to flock to Midoriya once they notice he can see them, which has resulted in his home becoming a Haunted House.
• Wham Episode:
  • Chapter 38 has Iida and Uraraka both see Mrs. Midoriya converse with the ghosts, and Chapter 41 has Midoriya tell them right out that he can see ghosts.
  • Chapter 47 has Izuku use One For All to make Rei able to be seen and attack Bakugou, and Chapter 48 has Izuku use this ability to let Tenya talk to Tensei and All Might talk to Nana.
• Wham Line: Chapter 18:
  But he couldn't do nothing. He can't do nothing.
  Even if all he can do for now is hug his friend as tight as he can, as tears gather and ready themselves to fall, and stare over Iida's shoulder to meet Iida Tensei's blank white eyes.
  • Hit with a Truth Serum Quirk in Chapter 57, Midoriya’s response to a villain asking him if he's afraid is:
    ”Yes. I’m scared. I’m so, so scared of what I’m going to have to do to you.”
• What the Hell, Hero?:
  • Aizawa gives Bakugou an epic dressing down the day after the practical exams when Bakugou demands a retake since he didn't pass the way he wanted to.
  Aizawa: You’re strong, and you're talented, and you have a powerful Quirk. So tell me, Bakugou—when was the last time you used any of those gifts for someone else's benefit? When was the last time you helped someone in need? Fought for something that wasn't your own ego? When was the last time you risked an injury, for no other reason than to prevent someone else from doing the same? Does that matter to you, at all? Has it occurred to you even once that the most important aspect of being a hero is to protect those weaker than yourself?
  • In Chapter 55, Izuku lays into Nighteye for the latter's faulty assumption that Izuku's Quirk means he doesn't care about death and how that has informed their interactions.
• What You Are in the Dark: A particularly dark example in Chuuza, a late Yakuza who was one of Overhaul's victims, who gives Deku false information to make up for the failings that led to him killing her despite the fact that he will never know about what she did for him.
• Would Hurt a Child: All for One claims that this perception of him is inaccurate. Thanks to some old medical records, Deku finds out that All for One is lying.

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