Chapter Text
Chapter 2: And so, It Begins.
Yura woke up early, around 6 am as usual. Although the home they lived in was old and rather traditional, it sparked new life as the family of three has moved in only recently. Yura’s father left this home for her, only passing a month prior. Mrs. Masaki, Yura’s mother has been living in a elderly facility since, too heartbroken to keep up the old house now that it was just her left in this world. So Yura came home to claim the home and brought her two children who grew up in the states to this brand-new world with old world ties to it. It’s not like they were going to be unprepared, Yura had prepared them their whole life for returning one day. They knew the language and knew what to expect, but knowing something and living it is so different.
Still, as the mom moved along the house, preparing breakfast with fresh groceries bought only a few days prior, she still couldn’t help but cook an American breakfast instead of something traditional.
Yura had her icy silver hair tied up in a loose bun over her head, her violet eyes focused intently on the sizzling eggs before her. She had a fit figure, more on the slender side thanks to her years of skating but as age caught up to her, and stress of being a single mother has set in, she has light lines forming around her smile and stress wrinkles starting to show whenever she furrows her brow. But being 44 and raising two kids on your own can do that to you over time. One silent blessing that Yura has is that her hair thanks to already being silvery, is that she never has to know whenever a glossy strand has indeed changed to a white gray, as the color is so similar already. Once the table was set with their American breakfast, Yura moved to her room. Changing out of her robe and pajamas she quickly changed into a simple outfit and redone her hair up into the messy bun it was. Along the way she passed by the rooms of her two most treasured joys of her life. Twin she was blessed with, identical twins. Kaori was her girl and Kaoru was her boy, knocking on both their doors in quick succession she yelled “Breakfast is ready, come down now.”
As the middle-aged mother came downstairs again, she could hear the stirring of her children. So, used to getting up early in the morning thanks to their training. Both of her children took after their father in looks, beautiful dark brown hair and green eyes, her former husband was a quirkless man but he was a beautiful and powerful ice skater. Yura fell for him soon after leaving to the states. Meeting him only months after.
Never did she think that she would be without him, raising their children on her own.
“I’m going out later, I have a meeting with the school that accepted both of you, I just need to finalize some documents and you’ll both be able to attend your last year there.” Stated Yura, as she watched her kids trudge down the stairs, eager for breakfast but still trying to rid the sleep from their eyes.
“I have you both going through the general course here at this school, it’s the same one I went to growing up. It’ll open many doors for you both if you want to continue your athletic careers.” Reminded the mother, as she scooped up her own share of breakfast.
Both of her children were too busy distributing the food to their own plates, hungry they were as they were both already for knowledge and training. Yura couldn’t help but gaze upon them in pride after, watching both her kids scarf down her cooking. It was difficult to have to be both parents in their lives, the loving mom and the harsh coach. To be honest as the next few weeks will be complicated for them already, due to starting a new school and having to make new friends, she thought of lightening their load of training, thinking a bit of break would be good for both of them as they come to settle down in a new home in a old country.
“So, when do we have to go to this school?” asked Kaoru lazily, a bit of food on his cheek as he continued to take bite after bite. He was the older one, only by a few minutes but he never let his sister forget whenever they had got into their squabbles. With dark brown hair and the piercing green eyes of their father, he was growing to be quite the handsome man, same as his sister as she too was blossoming into a beautiful young woman. Yura’s heart couldn’t help but swell at times looking at her own children, mostly out of pride for her own brood but also slight heartache as she so easily gets reminded of their father. He was a gifted skater; they shared the same rink and occasionally would see each other during practices. It wasn’t till many months later did he finally work up the courage to ask her out. As old memories sparked across Yura’s mind, as fast as they came, the faster they left as she was interrupted from her thoughts. Kaori breaking her out of her trance, repeating the same question as her brother.
“Next week, I already discussed with the principal about it, they’re expecting you both.” Replied back Yura, as she scooped another egg onto her plate.
With a quizzical look on her face while listening to her mother, kaori cocked her head, wondering why this school of all places.
‘Can’t believe mom is letting us go to this school, I thought she despises heroes. Why send us here? Just because she went here before?’ As twins do, Kaori threw a little glance at kaoru, hoping he’d be on the same page but instead he was lazily sipping his drink. Their own little twin bond clearly not working so early in the morning.
As Yura finished her breakfast, she bid her children a good morning and packed her purse with what she needed to get to this house running back into tip top shape. Admittedly she felt a little nostalgic, turning the corners of the home and seeing old memories of her own childhood slip back into her mind.
One memory struck her though once she spotted a certain spot in her front yard. There stood a stone bench, sitting underneath one of the beautiful Sakura trees that surrounded her home. She Remembered sitting out there many days during her youth, often puzzled by life’s confusing mysteries for her, she would spend plenty of time sitting on that bench, pondering the best decisions for herself and her future life as an adult. The last time she recalled sitting there brought hard memories for her. As a young girl, graduating high school and already coming to terms with moving out of the country, she recalled an old friend walking her home one day. It wasn’t till she noticed he had something on his mind did she invite him to sit on the stone bench with her…
Before too many memories came floating back into her mind, Yura shook her head. Wanting to push away what happened on that bench, she remained content with just memorizing part of the story and not the ending.
Enji’s POV (the night before):
Shortly after his walk, Enji returned home. He had the usual uneventful family dinner, his daughter tried hard to get Shoto and Natsuo to talk about their own lives, but both brothers remained quiet. Content on eating their share of food and leaving afterward, Fuyumi was the one who spoke the most, happily talking about her class of students and what they were doing that week. As Enji sat at the head of the table, he respectfully let Fuyumi go on about her class and what they were doing, only asking occasional questions to let her keep going on. Occasionally looking at his sons he felt a bit pathetic, neither of them wanted to really share, let alone with him being in the room. But as Enji took a sip of his tea he accepted what he did that drove his sons away. There was no going back, he couldn’t go back in time and change the actions he did. He could only move forward and hope that they will understand one day and work to develop a better relationship. But a long process like that takes time, so Enji sat quiet passively letting his daughter talk and hoping that she’d rein in her brothers to join in on the conversation too.
His mind during the blank periods in their dinner couldn’t help but drift back to what he saw earlier, the girl from his high school days now older herself with two kids of her own. He knew what that they did of course, Enji has spent many a hour looking up videos of her kids doing their own ice skating competitions, at first only to hopefully see glimpses of their mother but soon it changed, soon he became interested in the kids too. He learned during interviews that they were both quirkless, and because of that they worked doubly hard to follow in the steps of their parents on the ice, determined to show that just because they were quirkless did not mean that they were not just as talented, professional sports was different, some categories like ice skating remained the same, not allowing changes or advantages due to quirks.
And so, the Nakamura family reigned supreme in the states, characterized by the fact that it was siblings working together as pairs, they received a lot of controversy, as the professional ice-skating world was only used to pairs being different people and that sexual chemistry was the only way to win the competitions, in the judges’ eyes of course. Enji did enough reading to know that in the world of athletic competition, it has remained the same as it was before quirks. Sure, there were separate categories that would allow the use of quirks, but when it came to Olympic level of competition and national, only those who had talent would be sufficient enough to be a representative, not a flashy quirk.
That is where the world of heroes and athletes remained separate, one was traditional and old fashioned, where the other was a new and highly wanted resource for today’s modern world. Nowadays heroes are treated the same as celebrities and with the countries’ ranking system, they have grown to be more of a representative of countries than politicians or athletes. Although it was always Enji’s dream of being japan’s number 1 hero and beating out his former classmate, he couldn’t help but see the injustices of seeing friendly athletic competition meant to strengthen the ties of countries together being sidelined in exchange for countries now trying to produce their own contender of number 1 hero, constantly in a state of trying to one up each other.
“Dad, DAD! Are you listening?” questioned Fuyumi, as she refilled his cup of tea.
“Shoto said that his class will be planning a Christmas party, isn’t that wonderful?” exclaimed Fuyumi as she set the tea pot down and clapped her hands together in joy. Enji grunted in response, before clearing his throat.
“Wonderful indeed, What do you need to provide? We can accommodate it, I’m sure.” Stated Enji, his voice attempting to be supportive but falling flat of course.
“Just a budget for some decorations, I’m sure. Miss Yaoyorozu is handling most of it this year. I was just asked to help.” Mumbled Shoto quietly, not initially wanting this to be a topic of discussion but Fuyumi found interest in it.
“It’s more for the other classes at U.A. The hero course gets so much attention already, it’s more of our way of giving back to the school. For those in the support and general classes.” He finished quietly.
Enji nodded, listening intently. He wanted to be a good support for his kids, especially now that he had hurt them with the most recent news that their mother and him decided to divorce. He was not the best father growing up. He knew that, but now that there was no way of their mother coming home then did, he realize that the bridge to having a decent relationship with his children was growing farther and farther apart. Rei was understanding and patient, but it truly did catch him off guard when she finally took the initiative to invite Enji to her hospital room. It was the first time they have spoken directly in years. She as poised and proper as she was brought up to be she sat him down in the chair in her room as she sat on the bed. At first when Enji was walking those final steps to Rei’s familiar room, he had hoped that this meant that she was ready to come home. That they could start over somehow and he could repent for the terrible things he has done to their family in the name of ambition and obsession.
But instead, he left suddenly tired and weighed down by a great weight, she wanted to finally divorce him. Granted, he should have seen it coming. Heck all of hero society thought Rei had either perished or was just incredibly private anyway as no one really knew her true whereabouts. He made sure of that.
The rest of dinner went on quietly, Natsuo left early as usual and Shoto left after helping his sister with the dishes. Enji had stayed and sat quietly at the table, sipping on his last cup of tea.
The news of the divorce when he told his three children finally did not go well. In a way, it did but not in the way he wanted. All three children sat quiet, each thinking their own thoughts and how to best process the information. It was not a surprise to them, as they remembered their childhoods and how their parents were when together. Shoto was the quietest of them though, out of the corner of his eye Enji Swore that he saw one of his hands almost reach up to his face, before putting it back down again. A pang of guilt did hit him for a second, knowing that if it were not for him then Rei would not be where she was at and would not have hurt their youngest as she did. After all, it was the side that reminded her of him that set her off.
Breaking out of his thoughts, Enji finished his tea and with a quiet thank you he placed a hand on Fuyumi’s shoulder before turning away down the hall, making his way towards his bedroom.
Times like this, Enji felt heavy. So very heavy with the memories of the past. Call it his mid life crisis if you like, but with a man that has burdens as heavy as his, retiring to bed early was a small blessing. Especially when the last thoughts that run through his head as he laid down was thoughts, a fictional tale of what may have been had he only learned the lessons he knew now way back then. How things in his life would have went differently if he had only fought hard enough back then. Yes, the last images in the old hero’s mind was the beginning of a dream, a dream that had violet eyes like the aurora borealis and the grace of a dancer sliding along the ice.