#of course the real fun is in Deku convincing Mr. C to spill

[codenamesazanka]

AU in which Deku gets to interrogate Mr. Compress about Shigaraki

.•.

Izuku blanched. "What?"

"I said, those hands he wears all over…" Sako spoke with the exaggerated tone of an adult talking to a slow child. "…belong to his family. Told us that himself."

"Serial killer trophies?" Tsukauchi muttered, jotting into his notebook.

Sako paused, before shifting his gaze - turned icy cold - to the detective. "If you think a four-year-old is capable of that, Detective."

"Four..." Izuku choked on the word. "You mean… He got his quirk… and then…?"

In his mind, the images shot themselves at Izuku: the Decay at Jaku, spreading relentlessly... Shigaraki from the mall, four fingers wrapped around his neck, the fifth threatening to land... the child Izuku saw, crying from a broken heart... Smiling wide, as if to say there's no one he can't save...

"He was never saved..." Izuku whispered. "There was an accident, and he was never saved... Why wasn't he saved? Why did no one know, this whole time? How..."

.•.

and bam. That's pretty much half the flashback Deku sees in Chapters 417 & 418. And essentially half the save Deku does (*Figuring out why Shigaraki can't let go of his sad and lonely past*, then going to hold Tenko's hand). Now he doesn't need to launch OFA into Shigaraki to break open his psyche. Now Deku can just talk to Shigaraki and tell him he's there to hold his hand and give him peace in... Chapter 379? End the fight early.

Sadly there'd be no cool punching, but Shigaraki lives. Well, I guess Shigaraki might still stay the League's leader, so the cool punching still has to happen. And then Shigaraki lives. maybe.