Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was a small villain gang, but they were rather deadly for a pesky bunch. While their Quirks aren’t anything special, mostly mutation and transformation Quirks, they were rather flashy and intimidating, making it easier for them to catch unsuspecting victims off guard and rob them in the dead of the night. They carry their own firearms, too, so suffice to say, they were definitely dangerous.

Yet they were just recently sent on an ambulance, a majority of them covered in either charred marks or forming bruises. The alarming parts weren’t the broken bones, but the evidence of frostbite on the skin of some of them. Even the uninjured ones seem to be either in a state of shock or hysterics.

And according to their accounts before they were sent away, the culprits are a bunch of middle school kids. 

Said kids were scattered around the precinct, mostly waiting for the verdict to be finally let home.

Not that they were a patient lot, Tsukauchi’s pretty sure that the only reason that the three particularly problematic ones haven’t tried violently resisting is because the spiky-haired one had plead with them not to.

The kid named Gokudera Hayato was the type of kid that even well-adjusted adults would avoid on the street. However, it only took a few words from Todoroki Tsurugi (This is gonna be a mess later.) for him to become utterly submissive. He’s calmer now, if only now more calculative, his red eyes piercing everyone in the room, despite the scowl marring his face along with his black hair.

He probably did the most damage to those villains, although he maintained that he did it without using a Quirk.

The male half of a pair of twins with light brown hair styled rather oddly and dark brown eyes was a way different league of disturbing. He claims his name to be Rokudo Mukuro even though it’s a different surname from his supposed twin. He seemed like a typical troublemaker going through the smug and high-and-mighty phase where they have delusions of grandeur. Tsukauchi thought he wouldn’t be talked out of his plans to go through the exit anyway, but was calmed down by his twin Dokuro Chrome.

He and his twin did not admit to anything, but a quick check of what their Quirks were registered as (Okay, there’s “Illusion,” but what the hell is “Six Paths of Reincarnation?”) promptly gave them some idea on who might have sent those men to be seemingly mentally scarred.

Oguro Kyo, though, was a whole other demon altogether. Tsukauchi saw that it took Todoroki Tsurugi and Izumi Takashi more than a whole lot of what they did with Gokudera Hayato in order to get Oguro Kyo to calm down and stay. He promptly gave a rather formal report to the police officers and refused to repeat it, and after being convinced to wait for his legal guardian to fetch him first, is now sulking in a very isolated corner of the precinct.

He reported to have arrived late in the scene, and when the police arrived there, he stated to have “taken care of disciplining the mischief-makers,” claiming to have already “bitten them to death.” If he hadn’t done the second-most damage, or have fought at all, or at least openly admitted to it, he might’ve been let go without having to contact his guardian. 

“I was so SCARED! I didn’t even do anything! But they just started heckling me, and they wanted to take ALL of my allowance. I’ve been saving those up for a new video game!”

Tsukauchi heard a black-haired boy with some yellow streaks whine to his left as he gives his account.

Kaminari Ushio seemed like the most harmless out of the group, but then, he also seems like the direct cause of the whole fight anyway. 

To Tsukauchi’s right is a healthy-looking and tall tanned dark-haired boy sheepishly laughing when he was informed that they have to take his blood-soaked metal bat for evidence.

“Well, my friend was in trouble, and I did what I had to do. If only I had kendo practice instead of baseball in my schedule today…but I guess the bat still worked out well, right?” he cheerfully says as he hands it over. 

“Thats right, they were extremely bothering our friend, so we had to do something extreme! Even I boxed TO THE EXTREME to help!” Recovery Girl’s grandson (Ah, definitely a big mess later.) Shuuzenji Ryota backed him up despite being tables away giving his own account to a different officer. 

“Che, what the fuck were we supposed to do? Leave the stupid cow to get robbed naked in the streets? I fucking wish,” Gokudera Hayato followed with his two cents as he rudely propped his feet onto his assigned officer’s table.

“…They were troubling Ushio-san, so I thought…” Dokuro Chrome mumbled demurely while nodding in agreement with her friends. What’s a timid girl like her doing hanging out with these kind of guys?

“An act of loyalty to our classmate and friend. Could you blame us, chief?” Rokudo Mukuro smirked.

Meanwhile, Tsukauchi decided to focus on the account he’s supposed to extract from his own assigned kid: Todoroki Tsurugi. Endeavor’s youngest son.

His fluffy hair has the tips of its spikes to be white, gradually morphing from white to pinkish to a red as it reaches the bottom, fully red hair surrounding his face. His grayish-blue eyes averted their gaze when Tsukauchi looked at him, before returning to staring back into his eyes. Pressing his lips together, he then bowed while still sitting.

“I’m so sorry for the trouble!” he exclaimed.

Tsukauchi could tell it’s a genuine apology. 

At the corner of his eyes, he spies Oguro Kyo fiddling with handcuffs and why does he have that—

Tsukauchi sighs.

They were definitely defending themselves out of necessity, so whether they used their Quirks or not doesn’t matter and they’re therefore excused. Even then, it’s their first offense, so the worst punishment they could get is a slap on the wrist, especially considering none of them are even in high school. 

Surprisingly, it was Oguro Kyo’s guardian, apparently his paternal uncle, that made their first appearance. A large muscular man with a scarred face, he might seem intimidating if it weren’t for the amicable disposition the man displays, highly contrasting with his nephew’s pale appearance but presumably vicious personality. 

“Kyo! How has it been?”

Kyo passes by him, quickly walking towards the exit. 

“Thanks for putting up with him, officers!” he waved with a grin. 

Although, it was the twins who were first to separate from the circle of friends once they got the okay, Rokudo Mukuro taking the lead as he seems to usually do. 

“Well, we’ll be taking our leave then—“

 “No, you’re not, you’re—“

“Emancipated minors? Why yes we are!” And with that, they were gone.

Gokudera Hayato, despite being one of the more impatient ones, stayed put for now.

And then Mandalay of the Wild Wild Pussycats arrived, worried and fussing over Izumi Takashi and oh great, another kid related to a hero. 

“Takashi! What happened?”

“Haha, just had a bit of a scuffle. Nothing to worry about, Auntie.” 

They seemed almost normal civilians, but Tsukauchi knew she was still a respectable hero, and he also saw the way Takashi smiled as if everything’s normal as he hands over a bloody bat.

Shuuzenji Ryota’s parents came next to pick him up, both of them rather disappointed and mentioning without fail that Recovery Girl herself will be as well, and Ryota’s extremely loud “NOOOOOOO!” resounded throughout the precinct. 

Tsukauchi saw the kid get gloomy for the first time since he met him.

Kaminari Ushio’s reunion with his family was just as comical.

“USHIO?!” his mother gasped as she arrived at the police station.

It’s interesting to witness the kid’s expression to morph from confusion, to realization, then panic, and finally betrayal. The latter appeared when his eyes landed on a yellow-haired boy with black streaks hiding behind their mother.

“Wha— You told Mom?!” he seemed to be just as aghast as his mother. 

“What were you expecting?” his brother replied, half-playful and half-panicked.

“Maybe not rat me out, traitor!”

“I don’t negotiate with villains!” 

Suffice to say, Mrs. Kaminari easily handled her two sons by grabbing them by their ears all throughout on their way back home.

After that, it was just Todoroki Tsurugi and Gokudera Hayato.

To Tsukauchi’s immense relief, the person to pick up Tsurugi from the police station is his older sister.

“Tsu-kun! What happened?” she arrived in panic.

“It’s—! Well, it was an accident, really! But—!” Tsurugi tries to calm her down.

“Are you hurt anywhere?” Todoroki Fuyumi asks protectively. 

“Um, no.”

“Oh thank god…”

The older sister hugs her younger brother tightly.

“I’m sorry, nee-san.”

Tsukauchi notices the two of them having a whispered conversation in their hug, and tries not to eavesdrop.

“Father’s gonna— W-We’ll have to talk about this at home.”

 “Nee-san…”

“Come on, Tsu-kun. Say goodbye to your friends. And um, thank you and I’m sorry!”

And all that was left is Gokudera Hayato, who after a brief conversation with the older Todoroki, returned from being rather polite and cheerful to his usual scowl and glare. 

He waited for a few minutes before standing up himself towards the exit.

“Hey!” Tsukauchi heard Sansa call out. “A minor like you should have a legal guardian before you leave the station.”

“Shut up, I’m my own fucking person,” he grumbled. “So I’m my own legal guardian, got it?!”

It took Tsukauchi a while to figure it out.

“Emancipated minor?” he guessed.

“Fuck off.” 

Tsukauchi will take that as a bingo then.

So that’s that.

Damn, and here I thought the world couldn’t get any crazier.

He sat down back to his desk, leaning tiredly into his chair.

Kids are so crazy nowadays. Facing a group of B-rank villains and come out unscratched? They’re not even in UA!

Chapter Text

Camie doesn’t really mind family reunions all that much. At least, not as much as her parents would when they’re forced to attend one with their wife or husband’s family. Sometimes she would hear her mother pray for a peaceful gathering  with no arguments, or watch her father endlessly whine about his in-laws then stay silent and blend in once they reached their destination. We ain’t there for drama, they’d say.

But Camie? She lives for the family drama. Otherwise it’d be just a boring not-at-all fun adults’ party. Watching her relatives throw some shade or outright spill the tea keeps things at least a bit more entertaining, in her opinion.

Oh, and the kids. The kids are great.

Her little cousins are a cute bunch, running around the house despite several warnings not to, their hands clutching hers as they show her random stuff they find interesting. There’s all the endless questions, too. But Camie’s favorite part is when they play games together.

I mean, who doesn’t want to stay a kid forever, amirite?

Always so carefree, active, and more importantly super cute. Camie has seen her little cousins get what they want with a little pout or teary eyes. It’s an art form that a child could learn to master, a useful strategy that can be effectively used against the adults.

As she sits on a couch in the living room, she watches over her little cousins compete in this multiplayer game app in a tablet while lying on their stomachs against the floors. They’re ignoring her now, content to just be in their own little world.

Camie has just realized last year that she’s been the designated babysitter in family reunions, which she didn’t really mind all that much, especially when she remembers a time when she was one of the youngest children in these family reunions.

Damn, I must’ve been so cute and precious when I was their age.

Unlike then, however, there wasn’t even at least one out of the teenagers that didn’t mind taking care of hyperactive children, and so Camie didn’t remember having a cool big sister or brother to look up to.

What she does remember, is playing with a girl and boy around her age.

The three of them were definitely the babies of the Utsushimi family at that time.

Pretty and bubbly Camie. Cute and shy Nao. Clever and talented Gen.

Camie’s eyes were torn away from her concentrating cousins in the present to a picture frame hanging on a wall in the living room showing the whole family at the time when Camie was a cute little six-year old in the past.

She was one of the three smallest figures in the picture, and with her are a pair of twins with identical hair and eye color.

She remembers meeting them for the first time when she was six and they were four. Quiet Nao would hide behind a blank Gen. Cool kid Gen who had already unlocked his Quirk, evident by the mutation on his left eye, the unnatural-looking red pupil contrasting with the rather plain shades of brown in his features. Nao and Gen who ignored her when she asked if they want to be friends. Nao and Gen who were probably shy from the start, but later played with her when she just kept following them around.

Camie remembers being introduced to them.

“Camie! This is Nao-chan and Gen-kun. They’re your age, and Gen-kun has an ‘Illusion’ Quirk, which is just like your ‘Glamour’ Quirk!”

But Camie also remembers Gen-kun telling her a secret.

“The real name of my…Quirk ‘Illusion’ doesn’t live up to my true abilities.’ It’s more than that. It’s…the Six Paths of Reincarnation!”

She remembers being so impressed by that as a child.  Now Camie just can’t get over how cute that was. So much imagination. Gen-kun used a lot of big words for a kid, too, now that she thought about it.

But then there’s also sweet and quiet Nao, who always followed Gen, as if just being with him protected her.

Camie remembers Nao always playing the victim or civilian or hostage the same way Gen always chooses to play the villain or criminal or a really bad hero whenever they play Heroes vs Villains. Camie thought she played a good hero herself.

She told Gen once that he’d be a great villain. He just laughs his super weird laugh at that.

He was a weird kid.

But then things got weirder.

Camie remembers seeing them for the second and last time, when she was seven and they were five. Just like that, it’s as if Nao-chan changed. She was still quiet and shy, but she started to go out of her way to play as the hero or even the villain besides being the civilian when they play together. She stopped hiding behind Gen, and instead walked beside him as an equal. She can finally join Camie and Gen in having fun with their Quirks, as the late bloomer finally had her similar Illusion Quirk with her twin brother. And all it took was a careless accident that ended with her losing her left eye.

“What are you wearing?”

“Eh?”

“That one on your eye.”

“Oh, it’s an eyepatch. It covers my eye.”

“Oh. Why?”

Nao-chan blinked but didn’t give an answer. Gen-kun did.

“She lost her eye, so now she only has an eyepatch.”

For some reason that made a lot of sense to little Camie, who responded in typical manner.

“Great! So you two match now!”

“Kufufufufu…

“Camie-san…”

“Ooh, you two can be a villain duo! You can be…The Odd Eyed Twins!”

“Kufufufufufufu…fufufu…kuhahaha!“

An older cousin of theirs who was lounging nearby whipped his head towards Gen with a slightly disturbed look in his face.

“What the hell, kid, what’s with that freaky laugh?!”

Gen only smirked at him, laughing spitefully, before promptly ignoring his existence, walking off. Nao-chan grabbed Camie’s hand as she followed Gen-kun.

“Creepy twins…” Camie had heard him mutter.

Yeah well, Camie thinks they’re hilarious.

The three of them spent the rest of their time using their Quirks to pull pranks on their older cousins.

Camie remembers hugging the both of them when the twins’ father told them it was time to go home.

“I’ll miss you.”

Nao had hugged her so gently, yet it was the firmest hug she had ever given to Camie.

“We’ll miss you, too,” she whispered.

Gen easily pried himself away from her and promptly walked off, but not before stopping and looking back at his shoulder with an amused smile directed at Camie.

“We shall then see if distance truly does make the heart grow fonder, little one.”

Again, he’s so weird. Camie’s, like, two years older than him.

But that was that. Little Camie had hugged the both of them again, and they waved their goodbyes, Camie looking forward to seeing them again the next year.

Slowly, Camie stood up from the sofa and walked nearer towards the photo frame on the wall, as if in a trance. She carefully steps over her younger cousins on the floor, none of them breaking their concentration on the super serious game they’re playing on Camie’s tablet.

She pulls out her phone out of her pocket and focuses the camera on the photo. Zooming in to the three little light brown-haired kids standing together, Camie took the picture.

Staring at the picture, Camie remembers a time after that where she and her parents didn’t attend any family reunions for a few years, and in those first few years, Camie had been hoping to see Nao-chan and Gen-kun again. But slowly through five years, Camie’s mind drifts away from those childhood memories.

Camie had forgotten all about Nao and Gen.

But now she remembers.

“Hey Mom, besides the question of how can Dad’s family have, like, super strong genes, do you know what happened to Nao-chan and Gen-kun?” Camie had asked the next day in their home.

Mom looked up from her computer distractedly.

“What now, dear?”

In response, Camie showed her the picture of the three of them. “Nao-chan and Gen-kun,” she repeated. “They’re, like, my second cousins, right? Or third? I dunno. Haven’t seen them in, like, what, ten years? What happened?”

Camie’s mother had an innocently blank look on her face at first, before her eyes widened once she realizes what her daughter is asking, and she pales.

“Oh honey,” she whimpered, her eyes full of pity directed at Camie.

Camie cluelessly blinked. “What? Did they go abroad before we returned to attending family reunions?”

Mom purses her lips together and her eyes were unfocused, as if in deep thought. However, she only shook her head.

“I think asking your father about them would be better.”

“Oh come on!” Camie whined. “That is such a cop-out!”

“Camie, I—why now?”

“I don’t know, but it seems like a good idea, you know? I don’t have any cousins my age for some reason. We should catch up.”

“Oh Camie,” Mom sighed, and then there was a pause. Camie would’ve jumped on the opportunity to fill the silence with more pushing, but Mom finally said something. “They’re gone.”

“Huh?” the daughter dumbly asks.

“They’re gone, honey. It’s been ten years, and your father and I thought you weren’t ready since you were so young. All of you were so young.”

“What?”

Camie could only look down in a surprise. Gone? For ten years? That long?

She feels the pinpricks of tears pooling in her eyes, but no matter how much she squeezed her eyes shut, they wouldn’t come out. The loss of her long-forgotten playmates definitely affected her, but not as much as to actually cry. Why? Has she been that detached to those memories? Camie didn’t enjoy feeling sad, but she wished for more of a reaction from herself. Instead, for some reason she only felt melancholy, small rugs of regret, and weirdly enough, fear.

She stayed silent after that. It was after dinner, when Mom was washing the dishes, Camie was lounging on the couch on her phone, and Dad was working on something in his laptop on the dining table did Camie popped the question of what specifically happened to the twins.

It took awhile for Camie to extract the story from her father due to the obvious discomfort the topic brings him, but she got the full story anyway.

“Their father, Genji, was my cousin. And he was an utter mess of a man,” was what Dad had started off with. “He wasn’t terrible as a person, but as a parent? He shouldn’t have been left with two babies after his wife died and he fell into depression.

“He couldn’t even take care of himself, and it was painful to watch him drown himself in alcohol in every single family reunion. He gets blackout drunk every time and lashes out to everybody. God knows how he managed to get his shit together to raise those twins. That’s probably why nobody has tried to get them removed from his custody. Nao and Gen didn’t seem to be in any danger. Genji cared for them at least. Enough for everybody to trust him with his kids.

“But then the accident with the girl happened. Do you remember—?”

Camie nodded. “Yeah, Nao-chan had an eyepatch that one time.”

“Well, that’s Genji’s fault. She was four and he probably had empty bottles around the house. Kid probably tripped on them and landed on something sharp. It’s a miracle how the child survived.

“It’s pretty clear to everyone at that point of what’s neglect, so the family tried to get them out of his house. We wanted to make it as peaceful as possible, so that Genji could find help and the kids would be in safe hands.

“But he refused. He said he needed them. We thought the accident gave him a rough wake-up call, so we gave him another chance.

“Then a year later, the bastard suddenly ran his car off a cliff and into the sea.”

Dad’s face darkened, and looked at Camie grimly. She never saw him this serious before.

“His kids were in the car with him apparently.”

Camie gulped and said nothing. Dad only continue on.

“They found Genji’s body inside the car.”

Camie bowed her head, and wondered if it’s too late to mourn a family member she barely remembered. This wasn’t the kind of family drama she wants to ask some popcorn for.

“They never found the kids’ bodies.”

Camie’s head snapped up in attention.

“What?” she gasped. “You mean…they could still be alive?”

Her father shook his head sorrowfully. “Camie, it’s been ten years. They might’ve gotten out of the car, but they were five and we don’t think they knew how to swim.”

“But how would you know?”

“Camie. Their bodies weren’t found. Dead or alive, there was none. We didn’t find them anywhere. It was hard for everyone in the Utsushimi family.”

Maybe it’s time to shut her mouth and be a supportive daughter instead. So she nodded and went over to give her dad a hug, and he hugged back easily. A little while after, Mom joined in on the hug.

“That’s why there were no family reunions after I was seven,” Camie had muttered, and Dad nodded.

Later that night, Camie found herself in a mood she never thought was possible. She didn’t feel at all fine at just texting her friends on the phone or watching funny videos. She just laid on her bed, and thought of Nao-chan and Gen-kun.

She didn’t like this feeling. She needed to vent. I should text my friends about this, she thought resolutely. Thinking all night about dead second cousins isn’t probably healthy anyway.

But she couldn’t help but wonder about Nao and Gen.

If…if they’re not dead, then…where are they?

Somewhere, a short fifteen-year old girl with an odd spiky ponytailed hairstyle and a black eyepatch with a chrome skull walked along the empty road, her lone dark brown eye surveying her surroundings before landing on a tall boy with an identical hairstyle as her. He was standing on the edge of the cliff, looking down at the jagged rocks at the bottom as well the strong waves slapping against the hard surface. 

Both of their hairs were of light brown color, and both of their right eyes were of a darker shade. While the girl’s left eye is covered with the eyepatch, the boy’s left eye is instead fine overall, but just as odd with the unnaturally red pupil, almost demonic. If one were to look closely, a single horizontal stroke can be see inside the pupil, the Japanese character for ‘one.’

The girl approaches her male half, standing beside him serenely. She looked down as well, but just as quickly she looked up and found herself more comfortable with looking at the horizon, watching the moon reflect against the sea.

She patiently waited for the boy to tell her what’s on his mind, and her patience is quickly rewarded.

“He was quite a hopeless case, wasn’t he, Chrome?” the boy finally said with a detached smirk, his eyes finally looking up just a bit, fixed on a particular spot of the water, where a car starts to sink to the bottom.

“Yes,” Chrome nodded. “It was really sad.”

“I don’t feel even a single lick of disdain or at least malice towards him,” he snorted. “Just pity. That’s all.”

Chrome glanced at him. “Mukuro-sama…”

“He was a pathetic man through and through, and until the very end,” Mukuro stated with conviction, finally tearing his eyes off the wreckage happening and into the reflection of the moon on the water. “A man who spent his last moments like that…perhaps he’ll be a rock in his next cycle of rebirth. Or a plant.”

Taking a deep breath, Chrome said her own thoughts aloud as well. “I don’t remember.”

Glancing back at his female doppelgänger, Mukuro inquired, “What now, my dear?”

She shook his head sadly. “I don’t even remember his face.”

“There’s not much to remember. The Utsushimis all had a very distinctive resemblance. It’s quite easy for his face to blur along with the other forgettable faces in that family.”

“Do you remember them? Their names, at least?”

Mukuro hummed thoughtfully, before shrugging.

“All I remember is Utsushimi Genji, although I wouldn’t be unhappy to forget his name either.”

Chrome was silent for a moment, and found that, like Mukuro, she also doesn’t remember the names of their own family that left them with a depressed neglectful father, that they all left behind. The two of them had always planned to leave the moment they’ve remembered, but they didn’t expect their father in this life to speed up the process.

Her eyes went back to the car wreckage in the water, and she remembers Genji, their father, emotionlessly hit the pedal as his eyes focused on the nearing cliff in front of them. She remembers Mukuro-sama immediately materializing his trident to smash the windows, how the two of them had to squeeze out of the window underwater, how they had to swim upwards and not look below and see their sad drunk father remain in the driver’s seat, unrepentant and lifeless—

Mukuro almost did a double-take when he looked back at Chrome and instead saw five-year old Utsushimi Nao, drenched in her light blue dress and white medical eyepatch. He looked at himself and realized that he was also five-year old Utsushimi Gen, just as the same height as his twin sister in their younger years before puberty took effect, just as drenched as she is.

Two wet kids having just swam for their lives and survived the suicide attempt of their father.

Chrome took his hand, and Mukuro squeezed hers softly. It was all for her sake, but he didn’t mind.

There was a moment of silence, and gradually, their surroundings, their environment, and even themselves warped and twisted along reality until they all returned to their original states. Their illusion disappears, and instead of two drenched identical children standing on a steep cliff overlooking the sea in the dead of the night, there were instead two teenagers, a tall boy and a short girl wearing school uniforms, holding hands as they stand in the middle of their apartment as the window behind them shows that the sun is setting.

The illusionary world showing the past that they made finally withers away to their will, showing their present reality.

They were quiet for a while, until Mukuro’s laugh finally broke the melancholic  silence.

“Kufufu, I remember,” he chortled.

Chrome looked at him imploringly. “Remember what, Mukuro-sama?”

“A name of a family,” he replied, raising his other hand to tuck a hair behind her ear. “A child we barely saw, but the only child who ever saw us.”

Chrome’s eyes widened.

“Camie, if I remember,” Mukuro mused.

“That’s right, Camie-san, I remember…”

“An amusing child, she was,” he amended.

“She would be on a grade way above us at this point,” Chrome corrected him.

Mukuro let out a noncommittal shrug.

“I…remember her wanting to be a hero…”

“And I remember her saying I’d be a good villain,” Mukuro laughed. “And she was right.”

From six other past lives to Rokudo Mukuro to Utsushimi Gen and back to Rokudo Mukuro. 

From Nagi to Dokuro Chrome to Utsushimi Nao and back to Dokuro Chrome. 

Mists do tend to be shifty.

Chapter Text

At thirteen, Izumi Takashi had pulled his devastated three-year old brother and almost forcefully made him turn around to face him, away from the corpses of their parents on the hospital beds. He hugged him tightly as he shifted his hand to press little Kota's head onto him to make sure he prevented his head from turning back, the toddler's tears staining the teenager's school shirt. Sosaki Shino saw the sight and all but threw herself to them.

It was at that moment that Shino realized that she's no longer just Auntie Mandalay, that she's officially the only remaining adult in her nephews' lives, and she'll be damned if she lets her own job as a hero get in the way of taking care of them, the same way her sister and brother-in-law had tragically left this world. There's a reason why there were only a certain number of pro-heroes that decided to start a family, and if nothing else, that choice is one that should be taken into consideration for a very long time. So those heroes who didn't come down from a line of pro-heroes themselves but started a family anyway despite the dangers of their job? That means they must've really wanted a family. A spouse and children to call their own.

Just like her sister and her husband, and look where it left their sons.

But Shino, Mandalay, is a hero just like Water Hose were, and she understands.

Risking their life to save people. That was their job. And this was a tragedy. Shino knew that. She understood that.

She only hopes Takashi and Kota will as well.

At fourteen, Takashi was living on his own to continue attending his old school in Musutafu while Kota stayed with Mandalay and the Wild, Wild Pussycats in their mountain. She made weekly to monthly visits to check in and regularly sent cash. It worried her at first, but after a while, it was pretty obvious that Izumi Takashi can take care of himself surprisingly well. He knew how to cook, had a responsible diet (must be because he's an athlete himself) and overall a good kid. Not to mention, Takashi at least promised to stay in the mountain during his summer break, even helping out whenever with whatever he can. Her fellow Wild, Wild Pussycats were fast to like the cheerful teenager, quite unlike what would be considered as a work-in-progress with Kota, who remained surly and only got worse after their parents' death.

Of course, they all understood that things might be harder for the toddler, and for Shino, well...sometimes she wonders if Takashi tried to hide how hard it also is for him through his happiness. Hiding those dark emotions behind such a bright smile.

Nonetheless, Kota didn't like that about Takashi.

The brothers' relationship definitely soured, most probably due to their different coping mechanisms that were night and day. There was also the fact that Kota took Takashi staying in Musutafu as him leaving the child behind, just like their parents did. Typical Takashi denied this and tried his best to talk to Kota, but the toddler only told him to leave him alone.

"Typical Kota," Takashi had laughed when he left Kota's new room, where Shino was patiently waiting for him to come out. It was the day before he left, and while Shino saw an easygoing boy who had a God-given gift of remarkable patience, she saw the misery and hurt behind those crinkling eyes or beneath that perfect smile.

"I'll still see you in summer!" Takashi had reassured him through the door, but only received a muffled scream of "I SAID JUST LEAVE!"

Something between a laugh and a sigh escaped his lips, allowing Shino a small glimpse of some rain before Takashi returned to full sunshine once he paid attention to his Aunt Mandalay.

"Welp, that was that."

"Takashi, are you sure about this?" Shino had asked.

He only smiled and nodded, but there was no hesitation.

"I know things had happened so fast since..." Shino bit her lip. Their deaths were just as painful for her, but she pushed through, her hands finding the tall boy's elbows, gripping them gently. "...since the incident. But I want to remind you, I'm your guardian now. Your family. Along with Kota. And the others, too. We're here for you."

Takashi seemed taken aback by her declaration, and for a moment, Shino swore he mouthed "Family..." with such a wistful tone, but then he looked back at her with such a different but wholly genuine smile that it was her turn to be taken aback.

"Thanks, Auntie. That means a lot."

They hugged, and then he left the next day.

Summer came, and Takashi was back on Kota's room, and here was Shino as well, back on watching over and witnessing important moments between the two brothers.

Another one-sided fight, it seemed. But the ugly parts of Kota throwing a tantrum was done, while Takashi's happy aura simmered down, and Shino was sure she could still hear the gentle smile in his face as he spoke to a sniffling Kota.

"So...what made you think I wanted to be a hero?" Shino heard him ask as she leaned on the wall, the door to Kota's room open as well as their conversation for everyone to hear. But there was only Shino.

"I—UA's in Musutafu, right?" Kota mumbled angrily. "You wanted to go to that stupid hero school."

A chuckle. "Kota, I still have more than a year in middle school. I can't go to hero high school yet."

And then an accusation. "But you still want to be a hero, don't you?! Just like how Mom—and Dad did—they always said you—"

"Yeah, they always said that I'm gonna be a great hero. But do you remember what I always said?"

"I dunno. Something about baseball."

"That's right!" That familiar happy laugh, but then he was back to a serious voice so fast. "Kota, I want to go pro, but not to be a hero. I want to play baseball."

A long silence after that.

"What if you can't play baseball?"

"Whaaaaaaaat?"

"Tch, whatever—"

"Heh, don't start sulking again now," Takashi chuckled, then paused. "Please, Kota. Let me explain." Another long pause, and then he said, "If I can't play baseball, then maybe...I'll open a sushi restaurant!"

"A...sushi restaurant?"

"Sure! I know my way around some sushi."

"...What if that's not for you, too?"

"You're a negative little man, aren't you? I told you, you need to drink a lot of milk to grow up big and positive.”

Kota growled. Shino didn't hear it, but she's sure Takashi grinned.

"If not, then I guess I'll open a dojo. Be a kendo instructor. If I can't do that then, well..."

"What?"

"Well, maybe I'll be a teacher? I've always been bad at studying, though. Maybe a PE teacher? What do you think, Kota?"

Kota didn't answer. Takashi continued on. "Who knows what else I can be. But a hero? I'm not sure. What do you want it to be, little bro?"

There was another long pause until Kota spoke.

"Please," Kota snorted. "I doubt you could do or talk about anything besides baseball."

Shino's sure she heard the fourteen-year old boy giggle.

”You’ll probably die if you stop playing baseball anyway,” Kota grumbled, and then the giggling stopped.

Shino took a chance to sneak a peek at her nephews, and it was only a split second, but she saw the way Takashi smiled, one that she has never seen to be this much hollow, but there it was. Even when Takashi enveloped Kota into a hug, one that painfully reminded Shino of the first time she saw them after her sister and brother-in-law died, he still had that sad, bitter and hollow smile.

It’s like last year all over again…

“Funny kid,” Takashi hummed, casually wrapping his arms around Kota’s waist and unceremoniously dropping the both of them onto Kota’s bed.

”UGH, LET ME GO!”

…and Shino wants to throw herself to hug the both of them a second time.

At fifteen, Takashi had called her to go straight to the police station instead of the old Izumi house. Of course she freaked out, scared if her job as a hero finally caught up to make these poor boys suffer once again. But then a police officer was on the phone, and Mandalay has been informed that her nephew had done some damage to some people. And then she was confused and angry.

Takashi was a sweet kid. Energetic, yet also laidback, Shino might be biased, but she couldn’t ask for a better boy to take care of. Or trust to be a good citizen all alone.

So what exactly happened that would make a mostly well-adjusted fifteen-year old boy who was never maliciously violent to bash his baseball bat to someone’s head? Most especially, using his own Quirk against others?

A part of Shino might have panicked and thought that Takashi might have been acting like a delinquent without her supervision.

Oh my god oh my god ohmigod. I’ve failed as a guardian. I’ve fucked up real bad. I’ve turned my late hero sister’s son into a villain!

Shino dreaded entering the precinct and see her usually smiling nephew actually show a scowling expression. But she’s Mandalay of the Wild, Wild Pussycats, goddammit! She’s going to get the bottom of this!

“Takashi! What happened?”

“Haha, just had a bit of a scuffle. Nothing to worry about, Auntie.” 

He was still smiling. Huh.

”I would say it’s just as he said, but that wouldn’t be the whole truth,” was what the police officer said.

”Then what’s the whole truth?”

”A group of villains tried to rough up some kids, ma’am, and your ward happens to be one of them.”

”Oh.”

”Yes, well—“

”And where are these villains right now, officer?”

”Uh, no worries, Mandalay. They are all locked up. I should not encourage this behavior, but…it’s all thanks to your nephew and his friends.”

”Huh?”

”He and his friends took down those villains. They had to use their Quirks to defend themselves, we understand the circumstances. However…”

”Yes?”

”It’s just that…the damages…”

”How can you be so reckless!?” Mandalay demanded, pointing her chopsticks at her sheepish-faced nephew before picking up a sashimi to stuff her mouth with. “You do realize that you just fought a villain, right? You, a civilian, tried to fight a villain.”

”And everything turned out okay!” he protested

”No, it did not!” Shino slammed her chopsticks down. “I’ll get to the part about you deciding it was a good idea to fight instead of run, but what I’m more concerned about is how did you and your friends pull it off in the first place!”

Takashi blinked innocently before grinning proudly.

“I have strong friends.”

”I see that. That’s why those villains are gonna be in the hospital for awhile.”

“Oh yeah, that,” he innocently blinked before smiling. “Hayato and Kyo—they’ve really done it this time.”

Hayato and Kyo, huh?

Shino remembered a Gokudera Hayato that Takashi introduced as one of his best friends, along with shockingly Endeavor’s son, Todoroki Tsurugi. An obviously hot-tempered delinquent and a rather timid wallflower. They were a bit of an odd match with her bright-eyed nephew, but Shino had seen how close they were to Takashi when they and more of their friends visited the wake for Water Hose’s funeral.

The fact that Takashi’s two best friends go to some elite private school didn’t go unnoticed either. Shino also recalled meeting an energetic boy with a bandage on his nose, a kid with black curly hair and a quiet girl with an eyepatch, the three of them being the ones Takashi actually went to school with.

She didn’t remember meeting this Kyo, though.

”You know what I actually thought?” Shino sighed.

”What’s that?”

”That Gokudera-kun might be a bad influence.”

”What do you mean?” Takashi tilted his in curiosity.

”He’s…not a good student, is he?”

”But he’s pretty smart though?” he retorted lightly. “I always ask for his help with my studies.”

”Really?” Now that was a surprise.

”Yeah. But he can be rude to teachers,” he finally admitted.

Shino could tell as much.

Takashi then finally understood what his aunt was trying to say, his eyes widening in realization.

”Wait, did you think—?” He started shaking his head and waving his hand no, disbelievingly laughing all the while. “No, auntie! It’s not like that! I’ve been friends with Hayato for years, and he hasn’t forced me to do bad stuff with him. If anything, he’d rather get rid of me.”

”Right, right,” Shino nodded in relief.

”I mean, I’m the one who always tries to get him to stop smoking! Hey, does that mean I’m the good influence?”

”Wait, he smokes?”

”Yeah? We’ve been trying to get him to stop though. It’s not healthy at all!”

”Oh.” She finally smiled. “You’re a good kid, Takashi.”

”Aw, thanks!” he laughed.

”I was worried that I’ve been a bad parent,” she shared her thoughts with a dejected smile.

”What? No, you’re doing great,” he assured her, then added with a playful pout, “I’m not that easily influenced, you know!”

“You’re the best kid any kind of parent could ask for.” Shino then reached out to ruffle his hair.

Takashi let her, although to her surprise, he started acting a bit shy about it.

”Hey now, don’t get too cheesy!”

They lapsed into comfortable silence after that. They ate their delicious sushi indulgently, and Shino was left to her thoughts about the whole ordeal.

Takashi always smiled so brightly. Maybe he wasn’t all that bright in the head, but Shino knew he had his own brand of smarts and skills. He was athletic, what with his prodigious strength when it came to baseball. She was also aware that he knew his way around kendo as well, but she had never thought that he would ever use it on another person outside a match. And now, she had the evidence on her nephew’s combat strength. Not to mention, he had an interesting Quirk as well. Tranquil Rain, was what Takashi called it. It might not seem like much, with him being able to summon rain in a limited area, like the less controllable Water Manipulation his parents or even his little brother had, but Shino came to find out that it wasn’t the Rain part that was effective about his Quirk. It was the Tranquil part.

A Quirk that makes everything but himself to slow down.

That’d be a very useful Quirk for a hero.

It was these thoughts that pushed Shino to suddenly ask a question that was a sensitive matter to the Izumi brothers.

”Takashi…do you want to be a hero?”

Takashi stilled mid-chew.

”Wha…?” was his intelligent response.

”Do you want to be a hero?” Shino—no, Mandalay repeated.

Takashi swallowed his food before drinking a glass of water. He licked his lips as he carefully contemplated his answer.

”Heh, Kota’s gonna cry if he heard you right now,” he chuckled, almost uneasily, to Mandalay’s own discomfort.

”I’m curious,” she pressed on. “Do you?”

Takashi’s smile wasn’t so bright anymore. Now, it resembled a waning moon instead.

”Kota’s gonna cry if I did.”

Mandalay deflated. “Oh.”

Takashi sighed.

”It’s a no, Auntie,” he said truthfully. “I love baseball, it’s what I’ve always wanted to do. I don’t want to use my sword—my Quirk to…fight.”

”It’s not just about fighting, Takashi. I mean, I’m a rescue hero!”

”Yeah, you’re great! But…it’s not like I have to be a hero, right? Just because Mom and Dad were? Just because of my Quirk? Or my sword?”

“Well…” Shino can’t refute him.

”I just want to be the same baseball idiot that my friends, you and Kota know me as. That’s okay, right?”

”Of course, sweetheart.”

”I don’t need to be a hero,” Takashi finally said it. Mandalay thought she’d be aghast, but she had heard Kota’s more controversial thoughts and statements before. “But…”

”But…?” She perked up.

”I do want to be strong,” he smiled, and that smile seemed so old and wise that it felt out of place from a fifteen-year old boy’s face. “To fight for you guys. Strong enough to protect my family.”

”Okay,” Shino nodded. “I’m proud of you. Your parents will be proud of you.”

Takashi beamed.

”Besides, could you even imagine me being a government worker?”

”It’s not that impossible.”

”Nope,” he cackled. “Working for the government and the law—hahaha! Oh you have no idea…”

Still at fifteen, but a couple of months later, Takashi was lying on his bed as started chatting with his rather special friends on a certain group chat.

VONGOLA FAMIGLIA

left hand man lmao

@Boss Tsuna @Lambo-sama

yo tsuna lambo

my aunt just told me

that ua kids in the hero course will come visit us

in the wild wild pussycats mountain

Boss Tsuna changed his nickname to Tsuna

Tsuna

Really? That means youll get to meet my brother then

Lambo-sama

You haven’t met Denki-nii, have you

left hand man lmao

ive seen them

in the sports festival thing

on tv

now that was fun

tsunas big bro was strong

Lambo-sana

Nii looked stupid

Right Hand Man

For once, I agree. Your brother looked stupid.

Todoroki Shoto was impressive.

But not as much as Tsuna, of course.

Tsuna

Oh no please dont say that

Right Hand Man

Modest as always.

left hand man lmao

it was like

really epic

your bro vs the crazy kid

Tsuna

Lets just say that it was a very intense period for him that time

Lambo-sama

???

left hand man lol

wdym

Tsuna

Uh

Right Hand Man changed Lambo-San nickname to Idiot Cow

Right Hand Man changed left hand man lmao nickname to baseball idiot

Idiot Cow

So rude

Idiot Cow changed his nickname to The Great Lambo

Idiot Cow changed Right Hand Man nickname to Stupidera

baseball idiot

XD

i dont hate it

but

@Stupidera lets compromise

Stupidera

Are you trying to pick a fight already?

baseball idiot changed his nickname to baseball man lol

Stupidera

God, you’re an idiot.

Stupidera changed his nickname to Right Hand Man

Right Hand Man changed The Great Lambo nickname to Broccoli Monster

Broccoli Monster

Now that’s just boring

Makes me nostalgic, but still boring

Since when have you become this boring

Like, you always were

But THAT was boring

baseball man lol

aw just admit that you miss ipin

Tsuna

I mean i miss her too

E X T R E M E

WHATS GOING ON HERE

Right Hand Man

Boring?

Look who’s talking, you’ve been calling me Stupidera since you were an actual child.

Oh great, Lawn Head’s here.

Tsuna

Hello onii-san

baseball man lol

hiya ryohei

Right Hand Man changed E X T R E M E nickname to L A W N H E A D

L A W N H E A D

NOW THIS MAKES ME NOSTALGIC

L A W N H E A D changed Right Hand Man nickname to OCTOPUS HEAD

OCTOPUS HEAD

Fuck you @L A W N H E A D

L A W N H E A D

LMAO YOU STARTED IT

WAIT IS THIS WHATS GOING ON

ARE WE CHANGING EACH OTHERS NICKNAMES

Tsuna

Wait no

L A W N H E A D

EXTREME LETS DO THIS

Tsuna

Onii-san please dont

L A W N H E A D

WHAT WHY NOT

OCTOPUS HEAD

Because he fucking said so!

baseball man lol

aw fun is over

the hype is gone now

sorry

Broccoli Monster

And it’s starting to get annoying

L A W N H E A D

WHAT NO

LETS DO IT

WHO ELSE HASNT HAD THEIR NICKNAMES CHANGED

Tsuna

Uh

Onii-san

Dont do it please

OCTOPUS HEAD

Don’t fucking do it.

L A W N H E A D changed Hibari-san nickname to EXTREME BITER TO THE DEATH

L A W N H E A D changed RoKuDo nickname to PINEAPPLE EXTREME

L A W N H E A D changed DoKuRo nickname to PINEAPPLE EXTREME 2.0

OCTOPUS HEAD

You know what, yeah, do it.

Tsuna

Oh my god hayato

baseball man lol

LMAO

Broccoli Monster

asdfghjkl

This is hilarious

OCTOPUS HEAD

Obviously, these are so fucking stupid.

But good job, Lawn Head.

L A W N H E A D

LETS SHOW THE OTHERS

Broccoli Monster

Wait no

L A W N H E A D

@EXTREME BITER TO THE DEATH @PINEAPPLE EXTREME @PINEAPPLE EXTREME 2.0

baseball man lol

aw shit lmao

OCTOPUS HEAD

Oh fuck

EXTREME BITER TO THE DEATH changed his nickname to Disciplinary Committee Leader

Disciplinary Committee Leader

I will leave if you mention me again.

Change my nickname again and I will bite everyone of you to death.

L A W N H E A D

HI KYOYA

HEY KYOYA RESPOND

@Disciplinary Committee Leader

baseball man

aw man i didnt get to call him extreme biter to the death

Tsuna

Oh my god guys

STOP

Broccoli Monster

Seriously I’m out

It’s late

But before I go

Broccoli Monster changed his nickname to The Great Lambo

Brocolli Monster

I bid you adieu

Tsuna

Ah good night lambo

baseball man lol

have a good night

L A W N H E A D

OH WOW IT IS LATE

I HAVE TO GO NOW TOO

Tsuna

Good night to you too onii-san

baseball man lol

bye bye lol

OCTOPUS HEAD

You gonna change your nickname back before you go too?

L A W N H E A D

OH YEAH THANKS FOR REMINDING ME

OCTOPUS HEAD

Tch, I shouldn’t have.

L A W N H E A D changed his nickname to E X T R E M E

OCTOPUS HEAD

Hey change my name back too, asshole!

Tsuna

I think hes gone

PINEAPPLE EXTREME

what stupidity have you guys @ me for?

hold on…

…who changed my nickname to THAT?

sounds like someone who wanted a field trip to hell.

OCTOPUS HEAD

You can’t be this stupid @PINEAPPLE EXTREME

Take one long look at your @ and tell me you don’t know. @PINEAPPLE EXTREME

PINEAPPLE EXTREME

@L A W N H E A D

do not @ me nor chrome for stupid things like this, if you would.

OCTOPUS HEAD

Too late @PINEAPPLE EXTREME

He’s gone @PINEAPPLE EXTREME

PINEAPPLE EXTREME

don’t @ me

baseball man lol

hehe

hayatos enjoying this

Tsuna

Hayato

Please stop provoking mukuro

OCTOPUS HEAD

Fine. Let’s just stop this.

PINEAPPLE EXTREME

oh, we were just getting started.

PINEAPPLE EXTREME changed OCTOPUS HEAD nickname to Vongola Puppy

Vongola Puppy

What, you think that’s insulting?

Try harder.

PINEAPPLE EXTREME

oho?

Tsuna

GUYS ENOUGH

JUST CHANGE YOUR OWN NICKNAMES TO WHAT YOU WANT AND GO

PLEASE

baseball man lol

tsuna chill

Tsuna

NO

baseball man lol

aight fair enough

Vongola Puppy changed his nickname to Right Hand Man

PINEAPPLE EXTREME changed his nickname to Master Mukuro

PINEAPPLE EXTREME changed PINEAPPLE EXTREME 2.0 nickname to Cute Chrome

Master Mukuro

anyway i’m leaving

Cute Chrome

please wait mukuro-sama

Cute Chrome changed her nickname to Chrome Skull

Chrome Skull changed Master Mukuro nickname to Six Paths Death Corpse

Six Paths Death Corpse

absolutely marvelous, my dear

you have made me proud

Chrome Skull

thank you

Right Hand Man

Ugh, fucking goths.

Tsuna

Now that thats done im gonna sleep now too

Right Hand Man

Have a good night’s sleep, Tsuna!

Tsuna

You too hayato

And also stop changing my nickname to boss or tenth or anything like that

Right Hand Man

Understood.

Tsuna

Um good night

Good night to you too takeshi

baseball man lol

yep

good night you guys

ill see you guys tomorrow

and ill see some of your brothers

like

in a couple of weeks

Right Hand Man

Yeah, yeah, go to sleep.

Takeshi smiled to himself as he finally closed his phone, his eyes slowly closing as drowsiness started to creep over.

His parents, both then and now, were gone. His current guardian was away in the mountains. His little brother still often refused to talk to him.

Living in the old Izumi house can get a little lonely, but even if Izumi Takashi’s life wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows, then at least Yamamoto Takeshi still has his Family.

Chapter Text

“Dude!” A boy with yellow-orange hair exclaimed as he started pounding the door to the bathroom with his fist. “How long are you gonna take a shower!?”

From inside the bathroom, a voice that didn’t sound much younger drawled.

“Ugh, what a pain,” the voice sighed. “Until I am satisfied. I rush for no one.”

“Well I wait for no one!” Denki irritatedly snapped. “Hurry up!”

A dry chuckle escaped Ushio.

“Nii, don’t be a fool, I have the power here!”

Denki knew that it wasn’t like shouting at his younger brother to hurry up would actually grant Ushio a Speed Quirk, or you know,  make him actually hurry up, but that never stopped him from complaining about his brat of a brother.

“You’ll never get away from this, villain!”

“DENKI, USHIO!” Mom’s voice called out from the dining room. “YOUR BREAKFAST IS GETTING COLD!”

“OKAY MOM!” Denki and Ushio yelled back in unison before the older brother turned his attention back to the latter.

“You heard the woman of the house! Move it!”

“Yeah, yeah. Only because I don’t like cold breakfast.” Denki was sure Ushio was mumbling loud enough for him to hear on purpose. “And because Mom said so. And because I wanted to. Not because of you.”

“Brat!”

 Denki thought he got along well enough with Ushio. Sure, he was a brat, but for two brothers that only had a one-year age gap, there wasn’t much resentment or competition between them. Not to say that there were none of that. Bickering still happened, of course, but Denki can easily win any argument by simply being the oldest.

All in all, they’ve got a typically good relationship for brothers who were close in age.

Well, there was that weird period when Denki was ten and Ushio was nine and he was…a bit weird. He kinda stopped playing out with other kids their age, but he still played video games with Denki.

The weirdest thing was when Ushio tried making friends with the older kids instead.

But Denki brushed it off as a weird phase due to puberty. Ushio got over it the older they got anyway.

Every other morning, Denki would see two of Ushio’s friends pass by their house to walk together with his brother. Ushio always got to them first and the three of them would immediately leave for school, so Denki haven’t really had the chance to talk to or put much thought about them.

But for some reason, he managed to catch some parts of a conversation among them before they headed straight to their school.

“Ushio, good morning!” greeted a tall black-haired boy with a baseball bat slung on his back.

“EXTREME!” came the energetic shout of a white-haired teen. “Yosh, time for a morning jog.”

Compared to them, Ushio wasn’t much of a morning person.

“Nope, no, we’re just walking to school,” he refused with a shake of his head.

“Come on, it’s just a jog.”

Or a morning jog person. Or any kind of exercise, really.

“Yeah! It’s just one-hundred extreme laps around Musutafu! No biggie!” Guy who says “extreme” a lot then started enthusiastically punching the air. So this one’s a boxer?

And wait, a hundred laps?!

“‘No biggie!?’” Ushio sputtered incredulously. “How would I even do that?!”

“What, jogging? You just go boong boong, then shoosh shoosh, and then you go parapppapraparapa—“

“I am never walking to school with you two again, I swear.”

Goddamn, since when did his brother hang out with jocks?

Kinda weird jocks, too…

But hey, at least it was better than that time when Ushio was already charming older girls even when they were kids.

Still did.

Denki wasn’t jealous at all, nope.

Denki always passed by Ushio’s middle school on the way home ever since he started high school, so the two of them always ended up walking home together.

Today was no different, except usually Ushio would be waiting for him alone.

Denki saw him with a girl instead. And even from fifteen feet away, he could tell it was a cute girl.

Large eyes. A cute face. Light brown hair. Well, it kinda looks like a pineapple, but hey! It’s cute and quirky!

Denki started running towards them.

“Yo, Ushio!” he called out with a happy wave until he skidded to a stop in front of them.

“Oh, Nii. Hey the—“

“Who’s your friend?”

Now that Denki had a good look on her, he realized that the girl only had one eye, the other covered by an eyepatch with a skull design. Looking down at her modified school uniform…yep, lots of skull-themed accessories and bling.

So, the cute girl was either a chuunibyo or she was firmly sticking to an aesthetic. Or both.

That’s cool. I mean, I’ve met Tokoyami! And he’s pretty cool. So she’s cool!

Cute and quirky. Right!

“Huh? Oh. This is my classmate and friend, Dokuro Chrome.”

Chuunibyo’s starting to get real likely with that name, but Ushio didn’t look like he was kidding, or playing along with somebody with middle-school syndrome.

So…that’s her real name?

“…hello,” the cute girl in question politely bowed.

Her voice was soft.

So cute!

“Hey! I’m Kaminari Denki,” he introduced himself. The with a grin, “You look real edgy!”

Dokuro-chan only blinked up at him innocently in wonder. Denki wouldn’t forgive himself for letting go of such a cute and curious girl without taking a chance.

“Your style’s pretty awesome!” He sent her a thumbs-up. “I dig it.”

“Oh,” she mumbled. “Thank you.”

“So, how long have you been friends with my brother?”

“Um, we’ve been…friends…for a long time.”

“Reeaaally?” Denki raises an eyebrow before glancing at Ushio with a playful grin. “Have you been keeping her to yourself? I’m jealous.”

His brother wasn’t even flustered. Hmph.

“Denki-nii, don’t act so disgraceful,” he huffed.

Dokuro-chan then tilted her head, and Denki just couldn’t help himself as he looked at her.

“Ah, the dark yet shy type! This is great, look at you blush!”

“…? I have naturally rosy cheeks.”

“So cute!”

That was then Ushio had enough, grabbing his older brother by the collar and starting to try dragging him away.

“Come on, let’s just go home.”

Dokuro-chan seemed to be on the same page.

“Have a safe trip home, Ushio-san, Kaminari-san.”

But Kaminari Denki wasn’t leaving without a fight, OH NO!

“Oh? Dokuro-chan, you’re heading a different way?”

“…I’m waiting for my…brother…”

“Brother?”

“It’s about that crowd over there,” she pointed towards the entrance of their school, where Denki finally noticed something off.

“Crowd?” There was definitely a crowd, yes, blocking the whole entrance gate of the school, which should be inconvenient for some students who just wanted to go home, so maybe that’s why Chrome-chan was still waiting for her brother, but what exactly is happening there—wait— “What—HOLY FUCK—!”

Suddenly, a whole body almost slammed onto him if he hadn’t instinctively dodged out of the way. Denki saw that it was a boy who probably came from somewhere out of the present time, because the gakuran paired with pompadour hairstyle reminded him of some old-school gangster teen movie.

The boy’s unfortunate fate at least made some way through the crowd, letting Denki see what exactly had gotten so much attention and well, looking at the poor guy, outright violence.

In the middle of the crowd, separate and detached from everybody else at a careful distance were two boys. 

The first boy had black hair and steel eyes…and also steel…tonfas? He was wearing a gakuran jacket over his shoulders, although Denki could see that he was actually wearing the actual uniform of their school underneath. His whole old-school juvenile delinquent look told Denki of a gang leader, but the red official-looking armband and dangerous-looking tonfas told him that he was supposed to be an…enforcer of discipline? Which actually should be funny, now that he thought about it.

The second boy was someone even an idiot like Denki would recognize as Chome’s brother. Well, the light brown pineapple hair thing gave it away, and if it weren’t for that, he wouldn’t have made the easy connection. Now this guy definitely looked like a more modern juvenile delinquent. However, there was something a bit…odd about him. Must be the intimidating trident he had on his hand. How’d he get the trident? Is it a Quirk? That’s not—

And Denki finally realized what was happening when the two boys started going at each other with their odd weapons.

Oh shit, it’s a middle school gang fight.

Ushio was fast to react, immediately grabbing Denki’s arm and starting to drag him away with a very scared look on his face as he glanced back at the flurry of attacks happening inside his school.

“Come on, time to go,” he urged him.

“Uh, shouldn’t someone stop them?” Denki suggested uneasily. Sure, fights happen, but those kinds of things actually happen in his brother’s school? “A teacher?”

“If that’ll make you feel better, sure, let’s just go.”

Despite the minor fear and panic towards those two people that Denki could see Ushio was trying to hide, he still seemed almost exasperated of them.

Weird.

When Denki asked Ushio about them, he was back to his high-and-mighty bratty self. He let out a melodramatically long sigh, started criticizing his classmates “Kyo-san” and “Mukuro-san” as violent forces of nature and how they could never aspire to his elegant and charming level despite all that fighting ability.

The fact that he called them by their first name, indicating familiarity, did not go unnoticed by Denki. Call it a big brother instinct or whatever, but those guys were obvious bad news.

It was just weird to think that his skinny crybaby of a brother was friends with two weird jocks, a chuuni, and two violent gangsters.

In addition to that, there was also a pair of elite school schmucks he hangs out with.

He supposed he couldn’t judge, considering Denki himself was classmates with Kirishima, Tokoyami, Bakugo, and Iida, and he liked them well enough.

The fact that his brother’s school life might not be so different from his was just…weird to think about.

Ushio didn’t even want to be a hero.

“You little shit! Don’t waste my time!” Denki heard the loud angry voice before the stomping footsteps gradually got louder through his closed door, almost passing by his own room.

“H-Hey! Where are you going?!” he heard his younger brother shout back, almost panicked.

“If you’re not gonna take this seriously, then I’m going home!”

“It’s not my fault you’re not a good teacher!”

“The fuck you say? Wanna die, brat?!”

“I am no longer a brat, Hayato-san.”

“Then what’s with your stupid drawings on the margins!”

“Do not mind them! Focus on what you’re here for.”

“You ass—you don’t even have any answers in any of them!”

It was a rare occasion for Denki to see his own brother get treated by someone like the idiot he was, despite how much he tried to act that he wasn’t. It was a relief. It was also pretty hilarious, so he carefully moved towards the door and tried to listen in on the conversation, excited by the idea of his brother flailing like a moron.

“That’s why you’re here, no?”

“Bitch, you’re the one who begged me to help you.”

“Correction: I let you help me because you were so adamant to.”

“Of all the—“ Denki heard a smack loud and clear, and for a moment he considered stepping out of his room and stepping in to his brother’s business.

“Ow!”

“I’m leaving!”

“Wait, no! If you leave now, I’m gonna fail this class. And it’ll be all your fault!”

“How the hell would it be my fault?!”

“You made a commitment, Hayato-san. Don’t be a coward and take responsibility.”

Okay, no. Even Denki was feeling annoyed by Ushio on this “Hayato-san’s” behalf.

“I. Will. End. You.”

There was a thud, and then a light scraping sound as if someone was being dragged on the floor.

“Nooooo! Don’t gooooo!”

“Goddammit, let go!”

“Waaaaaaah,” Here comes the waterworks, Denki thought. Why he hasn’t outgrown that, I would never know. “I’m gonna tell on you to Tsuna if you leave!”

“You leave him out of your stupidity!” Hayato-san yelled. “I said let go!”

“If you leave and I fail, I shall never forgive you.”

“…fucking…stupid cow…homework…asked me to tutor…” the angry boy muttered darkly. “Where you goin!?”

Ushio must’ve stood up, because Denki heard rushing footsteps getting louder and actually getting nearer towards his room. He immediately jumped onto his bed and hastily put on his headphones, desperately playing the part of a clueless yet loving brother who did not enjoy seeing his brother make a fool out of himself.

“Nii!” Ushio bursted into his room.

“Heeeey, what, what do you need, you seemed to be having fun with your friend, whaaaat?” Denki grinned.

Ushio merely held his hand and looked at him solemnly. “Nii, lend me your strength.”

“Lolwut.”

His brother seemed annoyed that he didn’t immediately get what exactly he was trying to ask for, so he just suddenly threw his held hand away in disgust. Rude.

Instead, he crawled under their bed, looking for something. What it was, Denki wasn’t sure.

Up until Ushio fished out a taser that they used to play with the moment when they were kids and they realized how much they could mess around with their Quirks as long as they were inside their house.

Oh. He wanted me to—our Quirks—my Electricity—and then to his Electric Skin—oh. Wait.

His brother then tasered himself through his arm, dramatically arching his back as if it hurt him when both of them knew it should only feel like a tickle to him by the time he was eleven.

His friend, a bespectacled boy with slightly long black hair tied to a ponytail and wearing a private school uniform, seemed to have cooled down as he approached Denki’s room. “Okay, if you promise to stop messing around, then I’ll—oh, what the fuck?”

Ushio was slouching in a way he probably thought looked cool, looking at his friend with a solemn look as electricity freely and visibly flowed through his skin.

“Teach me or face my wrath.”

“You’re resorting to threatening now?” Hayato-san sneered. “You wanna die that badly, punk?”

“If you ask forgiveness, then I’ll let you tutor me for another subject as well.”

“Fucking shameless as always. Idiot.”

“Do not underestimate me!” Denki could feel the electricity just jumping out of Ushio’s skin and shit, his brother was being a reckless idiot in his own room.

“Uh, hey guys? You aren’t serious right? You guys can’t be that worked up over this that you’ll actually fight…” He looked over his brother. “Ushio, come on.”

“Electrico…”

“Hey, Ushio, stop!”

“Mini bombs.” Hayato-san suddenly threw a bunch of small sticks towards their direction. Bombs?!

“…Corna—GYAAAAAH!” At the mere sight of his friend actually planning to bomb him or something, Ushio immediately crumpled to a ball to dodge the small sticks that Denki just realized were the bombs.

Oookay, enough is enough. Not in my room.

“Holy shit, dude!” He came in between them, incredulously staring at this Hayato-san. “You can’t just light fireworks inside our house!”

“They’re not fireworks, they’re dynamite!” he argued.

“Still!”

“They’re mini bombs!” he fired back. “And they weren’t even lit!”

Denki glanced back and saw that he was right. Fine, okay then, he’ll give him that..

“Eh, I guess,” he shrugged, but not nonchalantly. “But why do you even have those?”

Denki didn’t really expect the boy that reminded him of Bakugo to answer, but he didn’t really had a chance to find if that held true as Ushio had already recovered, and somehow his annoying meter was really getting 5-Year Old Ushio Levels of Annoying. Which was, like, really bad. Denki had seen the home videos.

“Stupidera! I hate you!” he whined.

“Shut up!” “Stupidera” roared. “Do you want to pass this subject or not!?”

“Ugh…gotta…keep…calm…” 

This is freaky, it really was like when he was five.

“Ushio?” Denki called out.

“Hmph,” Aaaaaaand he’s back. “Stupidera. I can’t move my legs. Carry me.”

For a moment, Denki thought Stupidera Hayato-san was about to blow up again, but to his surprise, he only let out a pained sigh before he started darkly muttering again. He roughly grabbed Ushio by the lapels and started dragging him out of Denki’s room.

“Ugh, you fucking stupid cow…”

They left.

There was a beat of silence, before Denki stifled a laugh.

“Stupid cow…ahoushi…Aho ushi…Stupid ushi…Stupid Ushi…o…” he giggled. “That’s funny. Now if his last name really is Bakadera…”

Two hours after what Denki had hailed as One of those Incidents To Never Tell Mom, Ushio was back to his room, his annoyance level back to its usual Dumbass 15-Year Old Level.

“Hey, Nii.”

“What’s up?” Denki looked up from his phone as he lounged on his bed, his homework already forgotten by his desk as he decided to just give up for the night.

“You done with homework?”

“Yeah?”

“Hayato-san went home, but Tsurugi-san’s still here. We’re playing video games right now. Wanna join us?” his brother invited him with a smile.

“Hah?” Denki blinked. “There was another one in your room?”

“He was in the bathroom that time,” Ushio explained, rolling his eyes. “Anyway, do you wanna join or not?”

The older boy grinned. “Don’t mind if I do.”

A walk to Ushio’s room later, and Denki came face to face with a youthful boy which reminded him of Midoriya, except instead of being reminded of green weeds, Denki saw a strawberries ‘n’ cream flavored ice cream instead, what with the blend of white to pink to red that was his hair. Bluish-gray eyes shyly looked up to him.

Denki felt like he was missing something.

“Tsurugi-san, this is my brother,” Ushio introduced them. “Nii, Tsurugi-san.”

“G-Good evening, Kaminari-senpai,” Tsurugi-san meekly greeted him.

“What’s up?”

“T-Todoroki Tsurugi, nice to meet you!” he stuttered with a hasty bow and heh, he’s a cuter younger brother than AhoUshio.

Patting the boy’s shoulder, he made a beeline towards the television. “So, what are we playing?”

“Um, here’s the controller.”

Accepting the controller, Denki took one look at the game’s start menu flashed on the screen and he couldn’t help but grin wider in triumph.

“Ha! I always beat Ushio in these!” he boasted as he glanced at his younger brother’s comparatively nice and polite friend. “You any good?”

“I think I’m okay…”

As an effort to make the guy more comfortable, he patted him on the back. “Great, let’s crush Ushio then!”

“…heh, let’s do it!” Good, he finally got a smile from him!

“So lame,” AhoUshio sniffed, but grabbed a controller to sit with them anyway.

“We’ll see who’s lame when we beat you, brat! Todoroki, let’s team up against him!”

“R-Right!”

“No fair!”

Denki and Todoroki laughed at the sound of Ushio’s whine.

It took until he finally picked his character to play for the obvious to finally hit him.

“…wait a sec, Todoroki?”

“Todoroki, my man!” Denki happily exclaimed at the usually cold boy. “I didn’t know you had a cute little brother!

Todoroki Shouto blankly stared up at him with what Denki would assume was his version of a startled look, but at least he didn’t seem annoyed or anything. Of course, not like that wasn’t gonna be any worse than if he was ignored. Now that would probably hurt.

“…what?” was his intelligent response. Pffft…!

“…Right? Name’s Tsurugi.”

“You know Tsurugi?” Holy shit, he was actually still talking to him. Who would’a thunk?

“Uh, yeah? He’s friends with my brother, they’re the same age,” he informed him.

“…I see,” Todoroki finally looked away, seemingly thoughtful.

“Yep!” Denki chirped. “We played video games and all.”

“…So he likes video games…” he heard his heterochromatic classmate mutter to himself.

“Wait…You didn’t know?” Wow.

“I do now,” he answered, looking forward once again and barely acknowledging his presence.

“Ah, I’m guessing you two aren’t close?” Denki pressed on.

“…I’m glad he’s having fun,” he said in a dismissive tone, and Denki doubted he could get anything more out of him.

It was almost nice though.

But still, wow.

Well, at least maybe Ushio’s friends aren’t all too weird or bad…

After his round against the cute vine girl Shiozaki, he was sent to Recovery Girl for some embarrassingly minor injuries, but mostly it was for him to recover from his brain getting friend until he wasn’t a brain-damaged dummy anymore. He vaguely remembered Jirou laughing for some reason.

Either way, once he slowly but surely let his IQ rise back to its original place, he finally was able to place who exactly was that muscular white-haired boy with a band-aid on his nose hovering around Recovery Girl as she tended to other U.A. students.

“…so is it just me, or do you look familiar?” he finally asked.

The boy looked at him, puzzled. It took him a whole three seconds of staring at him intensely and with great effort before the boy’s face lit up in recognition.

“Oh!” He pointed at Denki with so much energy and passion for such a small action. “You’re Ushio’s brother! Kaminari Denki-senpai!”

“Uh, right!” Despite how tired he felt, the boy’s enthusiasm was actually pretty contagious. “And you’re—“ Denki hadn’t realize he didn’t know his name, my brain’s probably not all there yet, but the boy he remembered as “boxer who says extreme a lot” beat him to it.

“Shuuzenji Ryota, to the extreme!” he introduced himself fiercely, and Denki swore he saw fire in his eyes.

Damn, he’s intense.

“Cool! What are you doing here in UA?” he asked curiously.

“I’m here to help out my grandmother!”

“Your grandmother?” Denki blinked in question.

Shuuzenji grinned proudly as he answered. “I’m Recovery Girl’s extreme grandson!”

“No way!” He felt his eyes widen at the revelation.

“Yes way TO THE EXTREME!” Shuuzenji pumped his fists up in the air, as if he was declaring his identity to the whole world and not just to an average student halfway from idiocy.

“Damn,” Denki couldn’t help but smile. He actually seems pretty cool. “What a small world, huh?”

Shuuzenji smiled back. “Extremely, a small world it is.”

Man, Ushio’s friends are way too good for him.

Why does he get to not only be classmates, but also friends with a hero’s relative?

Ushio wasn’t even planning on a Hero Course.

Denki could only moan at the unfairness of life.

Funnily enough, he had a mostly fried brain again when he finally officially met Ushio’s weird jock friend number two.

“Huh?” Denki looked over the tall teen who just finished talking to Midoriya and Iida with a sheepish expression on his face. He approached him. “Wait, you…”

“Hm?” The boy seemed surprise, but it took him a whole lot quicker than Shuuzenji to recognize him. “Oh! Hey, Kaminari-senpai!”

He had a bright grin on his face, and Denki found himself easily grinning back.

“What’s up, dude? What are you doing here?”

“My family lives here,” he then pointed at the departing figure of the rude kid who just mercilessly dick-punched Midoriya. “There’s my little brother over there.” Then at Mandalay. “And there’s my aunt.”

“Oh.” Denki must’ve been recovering quickly enough, because at the very least he had the capacity to give the proper reaction. “Wait, that means…you’re related to Mandalay?!”

“You got it!” The tall tanned boy made double finger guns at him with a wink.

“Wow. Ushio’s friends really are too good for him,” was what he could only say, responding with a double thumbs-up, a lingering side effect of fried brain idiocy.

“Ahahaha, come on, badmouth him when he’s here!” he playfully shoved him.

“Don’t worry, it’ll be the first thing I’ll tell him when we see each other!”

“Pfffft, you’re funny!” They continued laughing, and Denki felt like he could probably get along really well with this friend of Ushio’s.

By the time the boy had made sushi as part of their dinner, Denki learned that his name was Izumi Takashi, he likes baseball and he was a bright ball of sunshine. He was also easily popular with the girls in both Class A and B, which was annoying, but Izumi was too likable for Denki to direct that annoyance at him. Mineta was sulking a lot, though. 

So, Ushio was a bratty crybaby with friends who were probably too weird or too dangerous or too good for him. For some reason, he’s just a very little bit more popular than Denki at school, and he might just be a little bit better at using his Quirk than Denki, even though he was also a coward and didn’t like to fight.

Ushio was a brat.

And not like Denki really cared, but somehow he still loved that stupid brother of his.

A boy with black hair streaked with two bright yellow lightnings on the side casually leaned against the door, his eyes lazily taking in the usually cluttered and disorganized room that was being torn down for moving. He stared at his struggling brother who was only older than him by one year, distantly amused as he watched him try to figure out how to fit his stupid action figures and posters in one bag and somehow make sure that nothing was going to be ruined. Despite of the mess that was his idiot big brother’s first year of superhero high school, how he could still act like himself was beyond Ushio.

Despite the USJ Incident, when Ushio and Tsurugi had total freak-outs on the whereabouts of their brothers. Despite the lack of breaks even after that villain attack, having to compete in a stupid sports festival and stupid internship program with said villains still on the loose for them. Despite the latest villain attack in which one of them got kidnapped and a lot injured and ended with the fall of All Might.

Well, it wasn’t like he was any different than when he was his brother’s age—when he was Lambo. A mafia assassin by the age of five, not like it made him any mature or effective at it. He spent most of his childhood trying to join his big brothers and sister in the frontlines despite his first instinct of always running away. He spent most of his teens popping back into his childhood so he can finally do that, with the same cowardice flowing through his veins. 

But I was happy not to be left behind.

He looked at his brother, his stupid Nii, who still had a genuinely stupid smile on his face just like how Lambo always had a genuinely stupid smile on his face despite the things he had to go through. 

Nii wasn’t even a mafia-grown brat.

He was a hero, and maybe that’s why.

We’re both idiots, I guess.

“…you’re pretty cool, Nii.”

Denki jumped in surprise at the sudden voice, comically narrowing his eyes at Ushio once he processed what just came out of his mouth. “Hey, where did that come from?”

Ushio merely harrumphed and stalked away, all high and mighty as usual. 

“Just accept the compliment. You won’t get one from me in a long while.”

“Heh, what’s with him, always acting cool and stuff?”

And yet, Denki couldn’t help but preen with a stupid smile on his face.

Lambo didn’t know why, but he had the same stupid smile, too.