Darkness swirled like a whirlpool, drowning out each of Mirio's senses one by one.

The lost of touch fleeting and making everything numb, smell and taste slowly fading from the overwhelming stench and iron taste of blood, sound growing weaker until nothing was left, and his sight blurring before going completely dark.

Then, in a bright flash, it all came back.

"Gagh!" Mirio gasped, hands instinctively reaching for his neck as he swallowed mouthfuls of air.

For a few moments, he simply focused on his breathing and heartbeat, listening intently until the wave of euphoria died down and the spots in his vision cleared.

Mirio blinked in confusion, blue eyes scanning the alleyway and mind quickly noticing a few things that stuck out.

First, the walls that flanked him were fine, no rubble, sparking wires, spraying water faucets, fires, or shattered glass like he had seen for the last few weeks of the war were found.

Secondly, as Mirio pushed himself to a crouch, he noticed there were no distant screams, smoke, and no vibrations from the explosions caused by the three High End Nomus that should be rampaging right now.

It was all so... peaceful.

'Mirio, where are we?' A female voiced touched his ears, the familiar sound of Nana Shimura's voice calming Mirio's nerves.

'I don't know.' He answered in his head, taking another survey before standing to his full height. It was after taking a step he finally noticed he was butt naked, all of his good stuff dangling for all to see.

"Oops." Mirio chuckled, scratching his head in embarrassment before stalking over to a row of garbage cans lining the wall. 

For a minute or so he rummaged through them, producing a white shirt way to big with a blue stain that smelled like blueberry, and khaki shorts with all the pockets torn on the inside rendering them useless.

Now dressed, with his mind still jumbled, Mirio simply stood utterly confused as he watched the crowd of people walking to and forth on the sidewalk; smiles plastered almost on every face.

"What the hell is going on?" Mirio spoke softly to himself, hands clenched into fists as he saw a Mother and her daughter hold hands as they crossed the street.

'Mirio,' Nana started. 'This is Mustafu isn't it? Why are there people out when they should all be evacuated? The buildings... they aren't just rubble. Where are the fires, the Nomus, the few heroes still fighting? Where is he...where is All for One?"

'I don't know.' Mirio started. 'Either this is a mind Quirk or the afterlife Miss Shimura. But One for All is a direct counter to mind Quirks, and if this is the afterlife, well I don't see any pearly gates.'

Mirio could feel Nana smile through their mental connection, but the gesture was quickly replaced by a different question.

'What's next? This is bizarre Mirio. We should be dead. Why are we here?'

Mirio chewed the side of his cheek, 'We need to find Midoriya, he was leading the war as our operations specialist, perhaps someone pushed back All for One and repaired the damage. Maybe we have been out for a few months. Heck, maybe All for One didn't kill me for some reason?'

Nana sighed, 'Too many maybes, let's find a few heroes and rendezvous with Nezu and the Ninth.'

It was a plan, of sorts, but it was all they had.

So, with another glance around the area, Mirio fired up One for All, yellow bolts of lighting dancing across his skin before sinking back into his body to disappear. His muscles thrummed with familiar power, a feeling akin to adrenaline flooding every corner of his body and then breaking past those corners.

With a leap, Mirio was air borne, Float snapping on and reducing air resistance and keeping him afloat as he rocketed forwards.

However, a few seconds into the flight, Mirio stopped himself. He hovered above a park, not focusing on the stares he was getting in the slightest. No, he was much more focused on his hands which he brought up and opened to look at.

"I'm missing them, the one's All for One took." He tried to summon the black and blue tendrils of black whip, threw a few punches to start up Fa Jin, tried emitting purple smoke, and with a few mental images of using a dial; Gear Shift didn't appear.

Also, for some reason, all of Mirio's scars were gone. The same ones he had gotten a couple years ago from interning with Night Eye, and before he had gotten Permeation to become instinctive and no longer got constant injuries anymore.

'Focus Mirio.' Nana cut his onset panic short, and with a heavy exhale he was blasting off again toward the camp where all of the logistics and medical ward were set up.

A minute later, Mirio floated silently, eyes wide as he stared down at the impossibility before him.

UA, the best hero academy in Japan, was pristine as ever. Although, there were only two glass towers, the trees around the front weren't as big, certain pathways had yet to be made, students he did not recognize walked to and forth on the campus, and they wore uniforms that were not even the right color scheme.

Mirio's head spun at the sight, and thankfully he was rational enough to fly down and land on the roof of a nearby cafe, hands massaging his temples as his thoughts rolled around in uncertainty.

Not even ten minutes ago, he was fighting for his life, watching as each of his friends died at the hands of Shigaraki and All for One, unable to do anything to change their fates. The city he called home all his life crumbled around him, the school he loved was nothing but ash, and All for One was holding him by the neck ready to kill him.

He should be dead, it wasn't something to ponder over, Mirio Togata had to have died.

'I-' Nana sounded just as confused. 'I don't know either Mirio, maybe this is all an illusion, or maybe—just perhaps— this is a second chance, or-or...'

She went silent.

Mirio marinated in all the emotions bubbling in his throat, tears falling again as he stared out toward the beautiful city, the occasional hero leaping rooftop to rooftop, crouching on lampposts as they surveyed the streets, or even some patrolling in said streets; stopping frequently to take selfies or chat with the locals.

Everything felt so normal, and it was exactly why it made Mirio want to puke. He was no idiot, the clues he had picked up when he stepped out of the alley, flew to UA, saw certain heroes he idolized as a kid, and watched as the students walked about in different uniforms he knew to be the old ones.

'Are we in the past?' Nana asked almost breathlessly, she could see the thoughts Mirio allowed her too.

"I think so Miss Shimura, this, this is a lot to take in." Mirio quickly cleaned his face with his sleeve, unaware he know had blue frosty marks on his chin. "How did we end up here? Did All for One do it? Was it on purpose?"

He only spoke out loud to solidify everything was real, to hear his own voice and confirm he was still 'alive', since recent events were making it hard to come to terms with it completely.

'We can't just confirm the idea on a hunch, we need concrete evidence, don't forget Sir Night Eye's training.' Nana spoke softly.

Mirio's eyes widened, and a smile graced his face as he clasped a hand around his nose and laughed.

It had been so long ago when he needed to use the skills he had gained in his two years of UA, since the next year where he should have been a third year was dashed to fight a century old villain. Forensics and slow gathering of details didn't matter when All for One could level city blocks with a flick of his wrist.

Also, the name of the man who elevated him to even give Hawks a run for his money, even before he got One for All.

Sir Night Eye.

If Mirio was in the past—which was still insane to think about— his mentor should be alive. He should still be putting on that cynical narcissistic front to hide the softie he really was.

'Understood Miss Shimura.' Mirio jumped to his feet, lungs sucking in the clean air devoid of any    smoke and rot. 'We need to wait for night fall though.'

And so, they did, Mirio deciding to stay where he was out of convenience sake.

Although, he wouldn't deny it was to also watch UA, some part of him afraid the second he turned away he would look back to see it gone.

The other reason, was because he was tired, and if the plans in his head got traction he needed to minimize being seen on cameras or by anyone during the day time.

As a result, he sat cross legged on a big A/C unit atop the cafe he resided on, occasionally asking Nana questions.

'Wait, you mean Gran Torino was as tall as me?!'

Nana giggled in his head, 'Yeah, he aged liked spoiled milk, to see him like that was truly one of the greatest benefits of becoming a vestige'

Mirio chuckled, watching the sunset with squinted eyes, 'On another note, looks like my training was right. Illusion Quirks or Mind Quirks have almost an impossible time replicating things always in motion. In this case, time, the sunset happened when it was supposed to'

'So, we really are...' She almost didn't finish it. 'Alive.'

"Yep!" Mirio snapped his fingers, flexing his biceps after and grinning ear to ear. "Time for a little old espionage."

Phasing through the floor, and timing his decent perfectly, he now stood inside the vacant cafe, chairs on tables and all the lights out. Stalking forward, he simply phased through the glass doors, sauntering down the sidewalk with utter confidence until a stiff breeze blew past him.

"Oops." He looked down to see his family jewels and spear swinging in the wind.

He was used to wearing his costume to always be ready to fight when needed, it had been so long since he had worn civilian clothes.

With a tinge of red on his cheeks, he went back to get his clothes, doing his best to ignore Nana's quip about him being the funniest wielder of One for All.

Also, something mumbled about being the biggest she ever saw, whatever that meant.

Clothed, though still without underwear or shoes, Mirio took one last look at the setting sun, it's bright orange rays like hands that reached across the sky to desperately shield the world from the incoming darkness.

"Midoriya, Eri, Sir Night Eye, Aizawa-Sensei, All Might, Midnight, Miriko, Nejire, UA."

Mirio was no longer smiling.

"I will avenge you all, I will kill All for One, just as I promised."