Chapter Text
The sun was bright.
It was the first thing Hana noticed as she came to, squeezing her eyes shut to try and block out some of the light. It was no use, though; it kept bleeding through her eyelids, forcing away what little bit of sleep clung to her mind. So she opened her eyes, only to instantly shut them when the light made her head ache. Slowly, ever so slowly, she opened one. The light still hurt, but after a while it wasn't too bad, so she opened the other one.
She was staring at the ceiling of her apartment, lying in bed with a cat on her chest. Instinctively, she knew that cat was Konpeito. She raised her hand up, looking at her carefully painted fingernails. She stretched her fingers, watching how her skin and muscles pulled with the movement, entranced with how she could see the light dance with dust in the air in the gaps. Her hand fell to her side with a loud ' thump! ', smacking into her mattress limply. Konpeito purred and cuddled further into her chest, squeezing himself into an even tighter cat-ball.
Once again, Hana closed her eyes, exhaling a sigh into the air. Surprisingly enough, she was taking this whole 'being dead' thing quite well, recalling her dream from the previous night (the end of her previous life) with ease. She had died trying to save some kid from being hit by a car. She hadn't thought about it; she had just done it.
She had died, but she hadn't even really felt it. She had felt the first brush of the car against her side, and then she had found herself sitting in an ornate throne in the void. She had been sat across from a woman (a god ) dressed in business attire, looking every bit as human as she did, save for the glowing yellow tattoos that wound themselves over the left side of her body like snakes.
She had introduced herself as Pyr, the god of wealth. She had regaled Hana as a hero trapped in a world that didn't deserve her, spoke about how she hadn't been wealthy in any aspect of her life. Which, to be fair, fucking stung. She knew she hadn't had it easy; she had grown up poor, hadn't received much attention or affection, and was just generally unlucky. But she hadn't let that define her! She had tried to be better, to be someone that would make others proud of her.
Pyr had made fun of her for trying to be good despite all the bad in her life. But it hadn't sounded mean spirited at all; it sounded like teasing, the kind that an older sibling would hold over their younger sibling's head. Despite everything - you know, the whole 'being dead' thing - Hana had felt comfortable, sitting across from the god in the darkness. Safe. Warm, even.
The god had discussed what she had been interested in. Asked her questions about her ideals to try and get a feel for what had shaped who she was. After a while, she had settled on her answer.
"You deserve a better life," Pyr had said, swirling the wine in her glass with a thoughtful look on her face. "I'm not one for this 'isekai' trend, but I think I know where you should go."
Hana had tilted her head at that, one of her brows quirked up. "'Isekai?'" she had repeated. "Am I… going to be reborn in another world?"
Pyr had shaken her head with a smug grin. "Not reborn , per say. Rather… taking your spot." She had then taken a sip from her glass to force a silence. "I suppose as an anime fan, you are familiar with the concept. You've heard of Konosuba , yes?"
"Yeah." Carefully, she had folded her hands in her lap, trying to hide how the sudden wave of excitement had hit her. Konosuba was one of her favorite anime. "So I'll be just… what, forced into a new world? I'll become a whole new person?"
The god had laughed, "No, no. As I said, I'm not fond of the isekai trend. Creating a whole new identity is annoying." Another sip of wine. Another Cheshire cat grin. "But you've done most of the work for me, with your character Hana Haki."
And she had sputtered, staring at Pyr with wide eyes. "You know Hana? "
"Of course I do. I'm a god." She had tucked some of her hair behind her ear as she took another sip. "You will become her and go there, to that anime world. What is it? Boku no… Pico Academia?"
"NO. You mean Boku no Hero Academia. Or, if you want its English name, My Hero Academia. "
Pyr had stared at her blankly before blinking twice and cupping her chin. "Why did I think it involved 'Pico' somehow?" Before she could try and explain that , the god had sighed and continued, "Regardless, you shall be going there. Unless you want your memories wiped and reincarnated in this world."
She had paused to consider. "Will I… still have my memories if I go there?"
"Mhm. I shall avoid taking them from you. A theme among these isekais seems to be keeping their memories, and I would hate to go against the grain. Besides, that's more work." Pyr had taken a sip from her wine glass before chucking it into the darkness once it was empty. "I'm the god of wealth, which extends to both charity and greed. I'm a big fan of the motto, 'work smarter, not harder.' I'm not going to do something when there's a much easier and, honestly, far more preferable way to handle things."
Hana had watched as the golden tattoos on the god's body started to glow, nearly blinding her in the darkness. A god of wealth with her hands in charity and greed - some pessimistic part of her mind had an issue with that. Was she the source of both saints and sinners? Whatever. Softly, she had asked, "And you're just doing this because I lived a shitty life? Out of the kindness of your heart?"
"Oh, please. 'Doing this out of the kindness of my heart?' How patronizing. I could end your existence now." Pyr had snapped, and a wine glass appeared in front of her, what looked to be rosé already poured in it. The god had snapped again, and a similar glass appeared in front of her. She had simply stared at it. "Take it. That was just a joke; I'm not going to end your existence."
So she had, lifting it up to tap it against the side of the god's glass. Then she had lifted it to her lips to sip the sweet wine from it.
"You know, somewhere, someone has already begun telling this story," Pyr had muttered off handedly, "but I think we can do much better. I am going to give you life once again, as the character Hana Haki. Or, would it be Haki Hana since you'll be in Japan? Whatever. Regardless, you will be living the life of something… someone you have created."
"You still haven't answered my question. Why are you doing this, Pyr?"
The characters and symbols of her tattoos suddenly flew off of her body, still glowing that bright gold. "Why am I doing this? Because your attitude doesn't match the shitty life you've lived. It tips the scales - the ratio of bad to good is completely off - and I can't have that. It puts me in debt to you." The gold light moved to surround her body. It was warm and soft. It was blinding. She had been able to hear Pyr, even above the buzzing of the light surrounding her. "I will put you in a world where you will be wealthy with love, adored by the characters that made you happy. The very world and characters that made you happy enough to tip my fucking scales. If you had just been miserable and bitter, this wouldn't have had to happen. But no , you had to be miserable and good ."
"I was good because they made me happy. But apparently this happiness caused some issues, huh? So you're doing this to pay off your debt, because there was too much bad in comparison to my good?" she had asked, knowing that this was almost assuredly the end. She'd either be really dead, or reincarnated. Or maybe she'd wake up from the coma she might've been in.
Pyr had snickered, "Hana. What part of being the god of wealth do you not understand? If there is a debt that needs to be repaid, I shall be there to make sure it happens."
And then, she woke up. In a body that wasn't hers, but still felt right to be in. In a bed that wasn't hers, but still managed to feel comfortable. In an apartment that wasn't hers, but still felt familiar to her. With a cat that wasn't hers, but still he managed to purr like this was his favorite spot in the world.
Lazily, she stroked the back of Konpeito's head and stared at the ceiling once again. "I should probably get up," she said, just to hear her voice. She realized two things right then: she was speaking Japanese and that voice wasn't what she was used to. It was higher than what her voice had been, inherently peppier . Happier? Something along those lines. She spoke again to test that both of those were true. "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog."
Sure enough, she was speaking fluent Japanese and had the voice she had imagined Hana to have. Which made sense, considering she had become Hana. But her brain was still in English? At the very least, her thoughts were in English. How the hell was this happening? Was it Pyr?
Konpeito chittered slightly as she sat up, hopping off of her chest and towards the floor. She smiled down at the cat, who moved to sit in the sunlight that fell through the window. Then, she looked for a phone. Or a clock. Something that could tell her the time, really.
It took a few moments, but eventually she did find her phone, tucked into her pillowcase (somehow). It was early in the morning, not even nine o'clock yet. There was something nagging in the back of her head, like she had forgotten something. But what? She had only existed for a few minutes. She couldn't have forgotten something in the span of a few minutes, could she?
Mmmm… no, I don't think you could've forgotten something that quick, Creator.
Oh, good. And now she was hearing voi--
Creator? I'm not a voice. I'm Haki Hana. Er, something akin to that.
She was going to ignore that. So instead, she stood up to go to the bathroom, collapsing onto the ground when she put weight onto her right leg. Yep, that would be the nerve damage. How had she forgotten about that? The Stain fight was important for Hana's character development…
If I may?
She doubted she had much of a choice to say 'you may not' to a voice in her head.
You would be correct, and once again I am not a voice. To oversimplify, I am Haki Hana. Or, at the very least, the culmination of her personality and her memories. It seems that god forgot to meld our consciousnesses together, so I need to begin the process of doing that.
"Nifty," she muttered, pressing a hand into her bed to help her stand up. At this point, after being literally isekai'd , a voice claiming to be the memories of her original character was the least of her worries. "Pyr did say she was a fan of 'working smarter, not harder.' I bet she knew you could do that so she chose not to…" Once her feet were firmly planted on the ground and she had gotten the pain shooting through her right leg under control, she did a quick look over her apartment to take inventory. She was looking for something in specific… "If you do that thing, the 'melding consciousnesses' thing, will I know where the leg brace is?"
Oh, I can tell you that! It's under the bed!
She frowned and dropped to her knees once again, setting her head against the ground and peering into the space between her bed and floor. Sure enough, a shining silver leg brace sat underneath. "...why?" she asked as she pulled it out. She went about strapping it on her leg and over her long pajama pants, finding the movements to be second nature. Open that strap, set her leg there, make sure the rotating parts were set in the appropriate spot, close the strap, do the second strap… It was muscle memory.
The brace was under the bed so you could easily get to it in the morning. You were the one who wrote that, Creator.
And now that she thought about it, the voice of Hana was correct. It had been kind of a throwaway line, the kind of thing you write when you needed to pad out a paragraph. Oh god. How many of those throwaway lines would affect the day to day locations of her things?
Several.
Joy.
With her leg brace on, Hana once again stood up. "I still feel like I'm forgetting something," she murmured as she walked to the bathroom, leaning against the wall for a bit of support. She flicked on the lights as she stepped in, reaching to balance herself against the counter. Even if she was able to put the leg brace on using muscle memory, her muscles certainly did not remember how fucking heavy it was. Damn.
As she regained her breath, she turned to look at her reflection. Sure enough, Hana's bright, lavender colored eyes stared back, partially blocked by lilac colored hair. As she pushed her bangs away from her face, flowers sprouted among the locks there, randomly taking root wherever they wanted. She moved that same hand to cup her cheek, watching in the mirror as the pale, porcelain skin moved and folded as she pinched herself.
If she had any doubts before, now she knew it was definitely not a dream.
Next, she twisted so she could see her back. She hiked her shirt up to see the long, thin scar that carved a path on her lower back, seeing where it sharply stopped mere millimeters away from her spine.
She recoiled at the sight, dropping her shirt and covering her mouth. Describing it in fiction had been so easy, but seeing it for herself? Knowing that it's on her body ? It was… It was so bad. It didn't hurt, like her leg did, but there was pain. Was this what they called phantom pain? And the voice in her head… She had done that to her. She had made her experience that.
If it helps, I don't hold you accountable for it? Trauma sometimes seems necessary for interesting fiction, and you didn't know that you and I would eventually be real . And besides, now you get to experience it. Not me, though. I don't have a physical body.
She got the feeling that the voice was smiling and shrugging, sounding as nonchalant as she did. Regardless, it did make her feel better. "Thank you," she said softly, "it does help." She wasn't looking at it, but she found her fingers tracing over the scar. It was straight across, a cut that had gone for the kill. Fuck, she really had made her go through some shit. Had Stain reached her spine, she would've…
Shaking her head, Hana pushed the thought from her mind. She was alive. She was alive in the sense that she wasn't dead. Twice! Most people would consider that an achievement. Instead, she turned back around to wash her face and brush her teeth, running a comb through her hair before braiding a chunk by the front of her face. It seemed like second nature to her, muscle memory once again kicking in. Even the weight of her brace on her leg didn't seem as much as she finished up.
I'm almost done with this conscious melding thing, so we'll be one and the same soon.
"You'll be gone?" Even if she had only had the voice for ten minutes, so far she was the only thing she knew. It was kind of like being left at a daycare while a parent went to work. She trusted the voice.
Kind of? Like, I won't be a voice in your head, I'll be your memories. I mean, if you want, I can stick around. But you'll already know everything… There'd be no point for two of us to exist here.
"...valid. Um…"
Are you going to be lonely without me?
"Yeah." The voice went silent. But it didn't feel like she was gone, so maybe she was just thinking? Hana hadn't figured out how this whole 'two consciousness' thing worked yet. She flicked the lights off to the bathroom before she moved to her dresser, taking a look at the sheer number of house plants, succulents, and cacti that covered the top. They all looked healthy, their shiny leaves catching the sunlight beautifully.
She supposed she shouldn't have been surprised by that, though. After all, she was Haki Hana, Hero name: Hanahaki. And her Quirk? Limitless Growth, the ability to grow plants on literally anything. Her having a green thumb was kind of implied.
I can stay until you get a friend, maybe. Possibly? If you want.
The voice sounded so unsure, it was kind of adorable. She found herself chuckling, "I do want, thank you." The voice's presence seemed to shift, although she couldn't tell if that was a good thing. She opened up her dresser, going through the drawers and pulling out some other clothes to wear. That nagging feeling was still in the back of her head, but if neither her or the voice knew what they might be forgetting, then she was going to use the day to explore the area around her apartment.
If she remembered correctly, Hana was supposed to live in a micro apartment complex in the heart of Musutafu, one short train ride away from U.A.. And, if she also remembered correctly, one Present Mic should live near her, too.
She liked him a lot. In the anime, he just radiated pure, dumbass, good vibe energy. And while she wasn't - er, while she hadn't caught up on the manga, what she had read of him matched. Although he wasn't, like, a total dumbass. He was smart. Just chaotic. A real dude to just vibe with.
Her phone started buzzing, an alarm blasting through the room. Hana jumped, accidentally throwing the t-shirt she had been holding at the source of the sound. She watched as it fluttered to the ground before giving a defeated sigh; in her old life, she wouldn't have jumped like that. That was Hana's instinct. So maybe this mind melding thing was working.
She wobbled over to where her phone laid on her bed, picking it up and going to turn it off. However, she stopped and read the text associated with the alarm. Absentmindedly, she noted that she could read kanji. Which was cool, considering she was now in Japan.
As she read over the text, she frowned and dug through her memories. It was kind of like going through a library, and she had no idea where to even begin. Instead of wasting time, she hesitantly asked, "Uh… have we had our interview with U.A. yet? To get hired on as the head of the science department?"
Oh, uh. No. No we have not.
"Oh. Shit." She turned her alarm off, walking back to her dresser. She started digging through her drawers, finding business-y attire and pulling it out. "Well that's today."
Oh.
"Yeah."
That's… not good. I forgot.
"You sure did."