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Watashi Ichika — Mommy, Professor of Pre-Qurik Media, PhD
Ichika brings her six-year-old daughter from the hospital and feels like she wants to throw up for a variety of different reasons. Her husband and youngest son were both late bloomers in regard to their quirk. When Kiyomi’s sixth birthday came and went without a hint of power, she made an appointment with a quirk specialist and took her daughter to get looked over.
Seeing as her husband and eldest both have sleep related quirks, it could get dangerous if there was some sort of activation for her daughter. Better to do so in the hospital setting, right?
Except…it was none of those things.
“Quirkless,” the doctor diagnosed her daughter, like she had some sort of disease. “It happens more with pregnancies over forty.”
He gave Ichika a stern look, like this was her fault for giving birth to her little girl. Next to her, Kiyomi sat, long black hair falling into her face as she absorbed the news. Her little girl was always so quiet, so serious.
There’s a stigma around Quirkless people. Ichika’s seen the statistics, heard people from the sociology department discuss it. But now this directly impacts all of their lives. And she’s…heartbroken. Not because she loves Kiyomi any less for it! She loves her daughter with everything in her, like she loves her sons. But the world is so, so cruel.
And she doesn’t want her youngest to be another statistic. The churn in her gut and bile at the back of her throat speak to her fears of that happening. Kiyomi deserves better than being hated for her mere existence. Quirks don’t make the worth of a person. Maybe they can—
“Mommy?” Kiyomi asks quietly. Ichika startles from where she’s washing dishes, needing the repetitive task to ground her racing thoughts. She takes a couple seconds to compose herself before turning around.
“Yes, darling?” she asks, crouching down in front of her daughter. “What’s wrong?”
Kiyomi bites her lip, holding her All Might plushie close to her chest. She’s clung to it since the stand at Kamino. Her dark eyes peer through her curtain of long black hair.
“Can I be a hero? Even if I don’t have a quirk?”
Her fascination with pro-heroes, all things considered, is relatively recent. All Might’s final stand at Kamino captured her attention in a way that the episodes of Steven Universe or 1990s Sailor Moon did. (Did Ichika teach her daughter the wonders of pre-quirk media? Perhaps. Perhaps. Kenji finds it far too amusing.) Every child has the dream to become a pro hero one day when their quirk comes in.
Ichika takes a moment to answer the question. There are no quirkless pro heroes out there. Not that she knows off the top of her head. If Kiyomi does this, then she will be blazing a trail and people are cruel. And do hero schools even accept quirkless applicants? But then Ichika thinks of the stories she studies of Batman and Nightwing and Oracle and Falcon and Black Widow and…
Even before quirks existed, people wanted to be heroes. They were heroes. And they told stories about them as well. Quirks aren’t everything. Not to Ichika or to her husband or to her sons. They are to the world, but their family tries to teach empathy and kindness and creativity and wit and loyalty and love.
“It’s going to be hard, darling,” she says, brushing Kiyomi’s hair from her eyes. “People are mean about things they don’t understand. And they won’t understand you for not having a quirk even though it’s stupid and mean. That’s just how people are sometimes: stupid and mean. In turn, you need to fierce and kind and brave. You need to be like a willow tree, bending but not breaking.”
She takes a shaky breath.
“But your Mommy and Daddy and brothers are going to be right there cheering you. And if you want to show them that you don’t need a silly thing like a quirk to be hero, then I believe you can make it happen, okay? We’ll make sure that you can make it happen, Kiyomi. You are my daughter, my little surprise delight. And the world won’t know what it hit when you start to save it.”
Kiyomi’s lip wobbles at that and tears come. She throws herself into her mother’s arms, All Might abandoned for the hug. Ichika kisses her hair and holds her close.
Her daughter is quirkless, but Ichika’s going to let her know that means she’s limitless.
Uraraka Ochako — The Galactic Hero: Uravity
“The thing is,” Ochako tells Watashi shortly after meeting her, “those three will always mean well, but they won’t always get it.”
By “those three”, she means Deku, Todoroki, and Shinsou and whatever brewing romantic disaster clusterbomb is going on there. While Shinsou is currently in deep cover somewhere up North, she includes him in this discussion in spirit. For someone with such an Aizawa-like affect, he’s such a dumbass. Though, she wouldn’t be surprised if Aizawa was also a bit of a gremlin himself. She’s seen those pink sweatpants, Ochako has suspicions about her former teacher.
“I’m not sure I get it either,” Watashi eventually says cautiously. Like she thinks Ochako will snap at her or something for not understanding what she means. It simultaneously breaks her heart and fills her with fury as she’s painfully reminded of how Deku was in those early days she knew him.
“That’s fine!” she reassures with a smile. “I didn’t get it at first either. But, bless those boys, they won’t entirely get it either.”
The girl tilts her head to the side, “Is this about the sexism issue in the heroics industry?”
Ah, so she did get it.
“Yes! Basically, you’re going to hear a lot of bullshit from a lot of people who would think that you’ll need to be sexy before a hero,” she says thinking of those like Uwabami. “And you’re going to deal with a lot of people saying that your costume isn’t appealing enough or you need to keep a mind on your good side while saving people. And it’s frustrating.”
Ochako thinks of her slightly too tight costume and those heels. She was fif-fucking-teen. Now that she’s a little older, it really makes her mad that people thought it was okay to put her in that.
“And you’ll need to stand firm and wade through a lot more bullshit than the boys. If it gets too much, then just know you can reach out to me. Because those boys mean well but they won’t get it. The hard stuff that comes with being a woman in this industry, not like another woman can. Those of us right now are trying to make it easier, but it’s something ingrained and hard to cut out right away.”
“Well that’s why you guys are heroes, right?” Watashi eventually says. “That’s why I want to be a hero. To make the world full of a little less bullshit for the people that come after.”
Ochako’s heart swells with affection for the girl and ruffles her hair, “You are so right, Watashi-chan!”
“Ki,” the girl says. “If we’re going to fight patriarchal bullshit together, then you can call me Ki.”
“Ki-chan,” she chirps happily. “Do you want to learn how to take someone out with a knife?”
“I know a little bit from my volunteer work,” Ki eventually says (and Ochako is definitely going to prod into that later). “But I’d love to learn from you too.”
That’s how Deku finds them: Ochako watching as Ki attacks a training dummy with a knife with a bright Uravity patented smile on her face.
Yaoyorozu Momo — The Everything Hero: Creati
Momo will be the first to admit that she has a complicated relationship with her body. It’s been that way since she was thirteen, shot up five inches, and attracted the sort of attention from men that made her want to take a hot shower. It’s something she struggles with from time to time now. But she has Kyouka, her friends, her family, and her therapist, so, she feels, it all balances out.
Basically, Momo knows how it is to be uncomfortable in your skin. She intimately knows the feeling of being stared at it. Before she was able to revamp her costume in her second year, it was something that she just dealt with.
“Scars?” she asks Midoriya, who somehow learned of the plans to give Ki a little makeover for All Might’s birthday party.
“On her legs,” he says quietly. It’s the sort of tranquil sort of anger that Midoriya rarely shows. Momo’s thankful for it. She’s finds it infinitely more terrifying than when he, to quote Kyouka, goes “absolutely fucking feral Jesus goddamn Christ”.
“How are the legal proceedings going?” she asks instead. He smiles a little half smile that is all Nedzu. Not for the first time, Momo was glad that the Principal picked Midoriya to be his personal student in their third year. She has a feeling those lessons were quite terrifying.
“Nedzu and I feel like the schools’ should be closed within the month. Teachers will permanently lose their licenses. Ki’s main bullies will be blacklisted from every hero school in the country and without serious therapy and community service won’t be able to go the apprenticeship route. And the Watashi family is going to get a substantial settlement,” he says, flopping back. “It’s going to go in a trust for Ki for when she’s older. Right now, it’s just therapy and getting her ready for UA.”
“You’re good at this,” she says. “Maybe if this whole Number One hero thing doesn’t work out, then you can become the next Aizawa.”
“Aizawa-sensei has the correct idea carrying around a sleeping bag like that,” Midoriya says with a more genuine smile. It has Momo smiling back.
A couple weeks later, she descends onto the Watashi household with Aoyama, Kaminari, and Mina on the morning of Yagi’s birthday party. Ki stares at them in bafflement while her father, a handsome man with silver hair and laugh lines around his eyes, films it on his phone. Her mother merely offers them all some breakfast.
“Oh we’re going to have a big lunch later at the party, madame,” Aoyama says with a flourish and sparkling grin. “We are here to make sure that the mademoiselle is the height of le perfectionnement!”
“I mean,” Kaminari cuts in as he unabashedly looks at Ki’s baby pictures on the wall, phone out to send the images in the group chat. “I could eat.”
“You’re not getting any food if you take a photo of baby me,” the teenager snaps at the pro hero.
“Yes,” Ki’s father says with a grin. “The better material is in the photo albums.”
Momo decides to lead Ki out of the room as Mina asks about the albums. The teenager’s cheeks are pink, embarrassed but willing to show it. And isn’t that a relief? She remembers that first introduction to her, how Ki stuck so close to Midoriya: eyes wide and blank, body tense and wary.
“So…a makeover?” Ki asks.
“More like making sure you’ll make good fashion choices,” Momo says brightly. “At least for events such as these. Midoriya is a good person and we all love him. But, well…”
“I’ve seen his closet you don’t have to say more,” the girl pauses, shifting awkwardly, tracing something on her thigh as they walk to her room.
“Now, personally, you seem more like a suit girl to me,” she continues on, not wanting to bring up what Midoriya told her. “Kyouka is the same as well. Since it’s hot we had to go with a nice linen that Aoyama had, very breathable.”
She sees it, the moment that Ki relaxes a bit more, where the smile becomes more genuine. Ki’s hand falls away from her thigh and the tracing stops. Momo’s heart goes out to the girl. She’s only twenty-two and is only just starting to feel comfortable in her skin. But, she promises, she’ll help the girls who need that sort of comfort in their lives as well, starting with Ki.
“That sounds nice, Yaoyorozu-san. Thank you.”
“Please,” Momo says brightly. “Call me Yaomomo! Now let’s get you into these suits and see which one that you like best.”
Hagakure Toru — The Stealth Hero: Invisible Girl
Toru loves when Class A can get together. Sure, the group chat is fun and all, but she prefers the moments where they can forget about being pro-heroes and just be twenty-somethings ready to take on the world together! Mashirao fidgets with his yukata and Toru stills his hands.
“You look really cute!” she assures, enjoying the blush on her boyfriend’s face. It’s rare when an underground hero can enjoy the night off together. “Now c’mon! I want to win a plushie.”
She threads their fingers together, waving about when she and Mina catch a glimpse of each other. Everyone isn’t out tonight. Tsu is off on a sea-based opt at the request of Selkie, Aoyama was in France for his liaison job with Satou tagging along because of the “lure of French pastries”, and Tokoyami and Shouji were taking the night to have belated celebration for their anniversary.
Still most of the class is together for the festival, which will be fun! Toru has been looking forward to it for weeks as she hugs her friends and exclaims over their kimonos and yukatas. Near Mido, Toru realizes, is Ki, who sticks close to him in a pretty dark blue kimono decorated with white flowers and moons.
“Ki-chan!” she exclaims happily. “You look so cute!”
The girl turns bright red, hands fluttering like she wants to ruffle her pixie cut before remembering the delicate looking hair clip in it.
“Um it was my mom’s when she was my age,” the girl says, turning a brighter red. “It was really sudden so we didn’t have time to go out and get me a new one.”
“That’s so sweet that your mom had one for you though!”
The girl blushes a brighter red, “Thank you, Hagakure-san.”
Toru’s really good at reading people. Maybe it’s because people have a difficult time reading her? Invisibility does not give much in the way of facial expressions, you know? But she can tell Ki is starting to get embarrassed so she backs off. Mido catches her eye and winks, so it’s not like it was a bad interaction.
And there’s so much to do at the festival! Toru feels almost like a little kid again as she wanders through with her friends. Bakugou is trying to win at one of those rigged ring toss games and failing hilariously with Kaminari, Sero, and Ochako filming it on their phones while egging him on.
Mashirao is off with Iida, Todoroki, and Kouji to get enough food for a bunch of pro-heroes and future hero-in-training. Needless to say, some vendor is going to make bank tonight. Toru is heading over to Mina, Yaomomo, Kyouka, Mido, Kirishima, and Shinsou, who are all talking about where the best place to watch the fireworks display is when she sees it.
Plushies are something that Toru will probably never not grow out of. Even after her roughest days in high school and as a pro, she still loves coming home and hugging one until the world feels a little bit better. This one? A purple bunny that’s easily the size of a small toddler and made of soft plush fuzz that is very high quality for a festival prize and Toru has to have it.
Of course, unfortunately, she’s also terrible at shooting games. She shifts a bit, deciding if she wants to waste the yen. But the bunny is also really, really, really cute.
That’s when she sees Ki step up.
“I’d like to play, please,” she tells the vendor, sliding a few coins toward him. She picks up the gun and looks at Toru before winking.
Ki dominates, winning the giant plush bunny. She stumbles with it and holds it out to Toru.
“Did you get it for me?”
“Well,” Ki’s voice comes out muffled from behind it. “You looked like you really wanted it, Hagakure-san. And Aoki-nii showed me how to win against those rigged games when I was like four.”
Toru has a startingly moment of feeling seen. She has to work at it, usually. With expansive gestures and a loud voice and bright clothing, but at times…well…
“That’s so sweet, Ki-chan,” she says, swallowing her tears. “Thank you!”
She hugs the bunny and Ki’s smile is shy but bright.
The next week, Toru starts giving her stealth lessons much to Mido’s exasperation and Shinsou and Todoroki’s undying amusement.
Ashido Mina — The Ridley Hero: Alien Queen
“You want me to teach you some breakdancing moves?!” Mina squeals one afternoon when Ki is with Midori visiting their agency. The Musketeer Agency and the Four Guys, A Girl, And A Hero Agency are doing a joint investigation. Katsuki needed to see Midori ASAFPSD or “as soon as fucking possible, shitty Deku”.
Which means that while the two are discussing the case behind closed doors, Mina gets to spend time with Class A’s adorable pseudo adopted baby hero!
“I mean,” Ki says fiddling with the Deku keychain on her messenger bag in the uniform for the super-rich private junior high school that Iida went to. “If that’s alright. I was a gymnast and a dancer, which we’re incorporating into my fighting style, but I was thinking some breakdancing moves would be good as well. Unexpected.”
“Totally!” Mina agrees eagerly. “Bad guys never expect the worm!”
“Did you do the worm to capture a villain?”
“Was it my most shining moment? Probably not. But it baffled him enough for Denki to knock him out. So, it all worked out in the end I feel.”
Ki huffs, but there’s a grin playing on her mouth.
“If you can’t blind them with brilliance, then baffle them with bullshit?”
“See! You get it,” Mina says, hugging her. Ki takes it with good humor. “But I’ll teach you some awesome break-dancing moves and you can through those into your style.”
“Just like that?” she whispers, something vulnerable in her eyes. It makes Mina’s heart break for her and for Midori. Midori’s quirk was super late in coming, he told them all in their second year, and so they thought he was quirkless. And people weren’t nice about it. That’s horrible because Midori is one of the nicest guys that Mina knows.
(And wasn’t it a kick in the gut to learn that Katsuki was his bully, too? But therapy and self-reflection and all of them in his life seems to have helped. Sometimes, good people are shitty kids, but they need a chance to grow from it. And Mina’s glad that he did so.
But it still breaks her heart as well.)
Still Ki is actually quirkless. She won’t have a miracle quirk emerging at the most opportune instant like Midori. And people were cruel to her and it makes Mina so mad because why do people have to hate others over such arbitrary things like a quirk, you know? No one’s worth should be defined by that.
But that’s why they’re heroes, right? To make the world be a little kinder.
“Sometimes,” Mina says instead leaning in. “Sometimes, the world is just that nice, Ki-chan. And if it isn’t, then it’s our job as heroes to make it that nice. It’s our job to say that something’s not fair and make ourselves be heard and make the change.”
Ki goes still under Mina’s arm before burrowing closer into her side.
“You’re really nice, Ashido-san.”
Mina glows. Heroism, to her, really comes in the hero moments, making someone feel better about themselves.
“You’re pretty great too!”
Melissa Shield — Heroics Support, I-Island
“I’m so happy that you were able to come and visit, Deku!” Melissa cries, throwing her arms around her friend. “And congratulations on your relationship. Uncle Might mentioned it in his last call.”
Midoriya blushes, face red enough that he looks like a strawberry under all that wild green hair. How cute! In the background, Melissa sees the two-toned hair of Todoroki, who she vaguely remembers from the incident years ago. Next to him must be the other boyfriend with the really interesting brainwashing quirk. Melissa loves a good vocal based quirk and has a lot of questions about his support equipment.
“It’s great to see you, Melissa,” Deku says once he stops blushing. “You look really well. How’s your Dad?”
“Better with the mandatory vacations and regular therapy,” she says simply. “He and Uncle Might’s relationship is improving as well.”
She still wishes her father hasn’t pulled such a stunt. But no one wanted to lose a mind like David Shield’s to prison, so things were handled. Her dad went to therapy and did a lot of community service. He made a lot of amends as well. He’s happier, she thinks, less stressed.
“I can’t wait to meet them! Well re-meet. I don’t suppose Todoroki remembers me?”
She really only kept in touch with Midoriya after the incident because he was so nice and offered an ear. He also shared how late his quirk came in. I-Island only really cares about your smarts over your quirk status. They have a higher than average quirkless population in comparison to the rest of the world, but still she’s painfully aware of how lucky she is. And it was nice having another friend near her age who got it.
“He does, but if he pretends not to don’t take offense,” he says. “He’s a giant troll. Both him and Hitoshi are.”
“And yet you’re dating them.”
“Terrible taste in men, clearly,” he fondly states, looking over at them for a moment. “But there’s someone I really want you to meet, too! I think you’re really going to like her. And I was hoping maybe we could talk support equipment?”
“Sure!”
He waves over a third person, a leanly muscled girl around fourteen or fifteen with a short pixie cut. She’s in jeans and a t-shirt with big stompy boots on her feet.
“This is my protégé, Kiyomi Watashi. Ki-chan, this is my friend Melissa Shield! Ki’s going to be the first quirkless pro hero, Melissa.”
Melissa’s head snaps to the girl at that, who meets her gaze head on. There was something challenging in the set of her shoulders and her jaw. A quirkless pro hero?
Someone like her?
“Melissa is quirkless as well, Ki-chan.”
And the gaze suddenly turns assessing at that, but there’s also something aching. Japan has a lower than average quirkless population rate in comparison to the rest of the world, Melissa remembers. She wonders if Watashi has ever met another quirkless person before face to face.
“I hope we can become good friends, Watashi,” she greets with a smile. “And I would love to design some support equipment for you.”
“I-I’d really like that, Shield-san,” the girl says, a determination in her gaze. Melissa smiles wider because this is a kid who is like her and she’s going to be a hero.
And, wow, she didn’t know how much she needed that until it was right in front of her.
Asui Tsuyu — Rainy Season Hero: Froppy
“Come on, kero,” Tsu calls to Ki, who carefully picks her way through the little wade pools of Dagobah Beach.
Izu-chan did a really great job clearing it all those years ago. It makes Tsu happy as someone who throws her name behind ocean conservation and clean water efforts to see that others have made sure to keep it clean.
“Tsu-san?” Ki eventually says as she finally catches up. Her bare feet makes indents in the wet sand, pants rolled up enough to show the beginning of the Litchenberg figure on one leg and a palm shaped burn on the other. “Why are we here?”
“So you can relax, kero,” she replies in her usual blunt manner. Tenya calls it refreshing because he always knows where he stands with her. Ochako says is what attracted her to Tsu to the first place, along with how cute she was.
“I…what?”
“You’re stressed about the recommendation exam,” Tsu states simply. “Izu-chan is worried about you overworking yourself, but he doesn’t have really room to criticize that in others, kero. So we’re going to sit her and listen to the waves and just…be for a while. Enjoy the day.”
Ki bites her lip before joining Tsu on the rock, looking out at the ocean. They sit in silence for a long while. She’s good at this as well, according to her boyfriend
and girlfriend. She doesn’t need to fill the air with talking, instead just letting a moment breath and allow a person to gather their thoughts.
“I know I can take the normal exam if I fail,” Ki says quietly. She watches the waves roll peacefully in the distance, the light sparkles off of it, making it shine like gems. “But it would be…really something, you know? If a quirkless kid is a recommendation student. And I just…I guess I just think about all those moments, you know? All those moments that I’m going to not only stand up for myself, but like…a fifth of the world.”
“That’s a heavy burden to carry.”
“Maybe my hero name should be Atlas. He was a Titan in Greek mythology who kept the sky on his shoulders.”
That certainly sounds fitting for how Izu-chan could be sometimes. Luckily, he has the rest of them to keep him in check.
“You shouldn’t have to carry these things alone, kero,” Tsu responds after another moment between them. “It does a person no good in doing so. Perhaps, that’s why a Symbol of Peace was not truly viable in the long term. Yes, you’ll be looked at more. And if you screw up then people who are hateful and ignorant will say ‘that’s why a quirkless person can’t do it’, kero. And that’s cruel and unfair of them. But you aren’t alone in this either, kero.”
She turns to look Ki in the eyes, “You have us as well and people who will support you. And you will have the people that you will inspire. And who will inspire you as well. But, in order to be a hero, you have to know when to share the burden as well, kero. So that way you don’t crush yourself under its weight.”
This was a lesson that Tsu did not have to experience for herself. No, this was something she learned in watching others. She learned it in All Might and in Izu-chan and in Tenya after Tensei was injured. She learned it when her little sister tried to hide the bullying she experienced, not wanting to upset her family so soon after Tsu went to live in the dorms. She learned it in watching Aizawa and in Endeavor’s downfall.
Ki swallows thickly and admits, “I’m really scared I’m going to screw up so bad that you guys don’t want me anymore.”
“That,” Tsu says, feeling as certain as the tide,” is never going to happen, kero.”
She hears Ki hiccup at that. Unlike Izu-chan, she cries quietly, burying her face in her hand and taking sharp, gulping breaths. But it’s a good step forward in Tsu’s opinion. So she gives the girl her privacy, turning to face the ocean, but she puts her hand on her back.
A reminder that no one has to carry their burdens alone.
Aizawa Eri — Second Year UA Heroics Student, The Blessed Hero: Fountain
“You really didn’t have to do that,” she tells her kouhai exasperatedly. Distantly, Eri wonders if Mirio ever felt this way with Deku back when they were students here. It’s definitely a possibility, but he would have also possibly egged the situation on as well.
Eri is the senpai now though. She’s a proper senpai to Ki now that they both go to UA. The other girl sits in Recovery Girl’s office with her head tilted back and bloodied handkerchief against her nose.
“It was a lucky shot,” she says, voice sounding stuffed due to everything. “And she had no right to say that to you either.”
Eri took Ki off campus since her boyfriend, Izumi, was visiting his aunts and uncle for the day. It was fun as well! But when they were going to get crepes, they ran into one of Eri’s old bullies, still bitter over being blacklisted from UA by her father.
“I heard,” said Miwa in that nasal voice that reminds Eri of nails on a chalkboard. “That you used that freaky quirk of yours to rewind someone out of existence! And that’s why you’re with that weird hobo guy because no one else wanted you.”
Eri froze, feeling that worn familiar feeling of guilt over her father’s death and her mother’s abandonment. She breathed in and out, doing the exercises that her therapist had long since worked out with her.
“Wooooooow,” Ki drawled out next to her. “Jealous bitch is not a good look on you, you Barbie left too long in the microwave looking ass.”
“Excuse me?!”
“You’re excused.”
It devolved from there.
“I’m honestly more pissed about the fact that she landed a hit on me,” Ki says.
“I can fight my own battles,” she replies tiredly as she gives Ki new tissues and hopes Recovery Girl comes soon. Apparently, there was a tennis match that got a bit out of hand and she’s sorting that out. While Eri helps her as part of her hero training, she’s still uncomfortable using her quirk without supervision. She’s been getting better about it, but Miwa’s comment has left her confidence on shaky ground.
Ki cracks on eye open.
“I know, senpai. You’re one of the strongest people I know.”
And it’s just stated as simple fact. The sky is blue. The grass is green. Eri is one of the strongest people Ki knows.
“Then why?”
“Just because you’re strong…well even a strong person needs someone to get between them and a bully and tell them to fuck off.”
“You called her a melted Barbie, Ki. And oh gosh what else did you say?”
“That 2004 called and Regina George’s mom wants her style back. I think that’s when she popped me.”
Eri laughs at that.
“Thank you.”
“Anytime, senpai.”
Hatsume Mei — CEO and Head of Research & Development of Hatsume Inc
“An Erasure weapon?” Mei squeals when Ten Million’s Kid brings her the idea to upgrade her primary support item. “Why didn’t I think of that?!”
“Because you have so many brilliant ideas flowing through your head that if you could probably take over the government and become the shadow prime minister?” the kid replies, holding out a coffee. She changed her hair since Mei last saw her in person. There’s a shaved design in the pattern.
“Ten Million Junior,” Mei says with a grin. “You say the sweetest things to a woman.”
“Thanks?” Ten Million Junior replies looking over at Ten Million, whose watching the scene with a deeply amused expression on his face.
“Can I be an ambassador for your shadow government, Hatsume?” he only asks.
“You’ll probably be a great puppet prime minister.”
“That sounds less headache inducing then being Number One hero sometimes. Definitely will be keeping that in mind.”
Ten Million Junior sighs, “So you think you can do it?”
“I’ll have to take some readings from Eraserzawa to see if it can be replicated. And a time limit?”
“Meaning that we’ll probably have to buy him enough cat café gift cards to keep him occupied for a year,” mutters Ten Million under his breath.
“Preferably a minute,” Ten Million Junior says as if she didn’t even hear him. “I want to disrupt their connection to their quirk and use an element of surprise to just, you know, fucking wreck them with your and Melissa-san’s brilliant babies.”
Melissa is a fun collaborator. Mei will definitely be giving her a call for this project.
“It’s a challenge!” she declares with a grin as she raises her wrench to the sky. “I’ll do it!”
Jirou Kyouka — The Hearing Hero: Earphone Jack
“I can’t believe that I was able to get Akiyama to come on my podcast before you,” Kyouka bemoans. “Why did you forsake me so?”
“You’re a lot more dramatic than Kaminari ever gives you credit for, Kyouka,” Ki says from where she sits in front of her microphone. They’re also ready to start recording the episode, but right now she’s focused on getting her guest relax and comfortable.
It’s an important thing to do when interviewing someone. Whether it be a victim or a guest, this was something that Kyouka learned during her very informative time interning with Present Mic. It definitely was a thing that helped shaped her in becoming the hero and entertainer she is today.
And she knows Ki’s nervous in that very Ki-like way of hers. Though she’s powering through it admirably, which will be great for when she gets more media training. Akiyama, who she’s definitely going to have to fight her old mentor for or set up a timeshare custody arrangement like awkward divorced parents, was an ideal guest: charming, well-informed, passionate, relaxed.
“Well don’t go telling him,” she says with a grin. “We’ve been friends for nearly a decade and messing with him never gets old.”
“Did you just admit he was your friend?”
Kyouka points one of her jacks at her, “Shut.”
Ki giggles sitting back. She’s wearing black lipstick on and flannel shirt a couple sizes too big. She’s fiddling with her phone to get it on Do Not Disturb mode before they start recording, but it buzzes in her hand.
“That from your boyfriend?” she sing-songs. Her new relationship has been the source of much teasing within the group chat.
“Let’s not fail the Bechdel test,” Ki flushes at that, but she doesn’t deny it. “And maybe he’s just wishing me good luck.”
Damn, that shit is adorable. Kyouka, however, has some cred to hold onto.
“Well kiss kiss your darling farewell for the next hour or so,” she says, simply looking at her nails. Ugh, her polish is already chipping. Momo just painted them for her yesterday. “So long as he doesn’t break your fucking heart. But I did the grunge-punk-baby goth vibe you have going.”
“Must we define our style?” Ki replies lazily as she leans back. “Can’t we just rise above it and wear whatever we want?”
“Oh! Remember that! That you should be your opening line.”
“I’d rather not appeal to the Neo Hipsters.”
“I think all the ultraretro musicals you sing on the internet killed your cred there.”
“Praise be to your girlfriend then. Actual living goddess amongst us that she is. How did you land her again?”
Kyouka snorts at that.
“Deal with the Devil, duh.”
And then she turns on the recording equipment at her producer’s single, catching Ki in mid-cackle.
Kayama Nemuri — The R-Rated Hero: Midnight, UA Modern Hero Art History Teacher
“Do we really have to do this?” Watashi asks as she follows Nemuri into a private conference room. Her face is bright red. “I don’t think I’ve pissed off Aizawa this badly.”
“He just wants to make sure you’re being responsible,” she replies as the girl takes a seat. “I know you’re asexual, but UA doesn’t have their sex ed class until your final term of first year.”
“Is it because Aizawa needs time to mentally, physically, and spiritually prepare himself for it?”
“He denies being a dramatic gay,” she confides to her student. “But it’s all a logical ruse.”
That summons a slightly less embarrassed smile from her student.
“I’m not really interested, Kayama-sensei, in sex. I don’t…I think the term is sex indifferent? It just…doesn’t interest me. At all. The most we’re doing is a closed mouth kiss and that’s more for emotional intimacy rather than anything physical. Besides, my mother went to grad and post doc work while there was a Free Love revival movement going on again in the States. And she gave me a very thorough talk when I was thirteen with my Dad.”
Kudos to the Watashis, Nemuri thinks. Many of her students’ parents would rather pretend that their kids aren’t interested in such things.
“And you’ve both talked about it?”
“I mean yes. We’ve both been pretty up front about our limits and stuff. Communication is key in a healthy relationship, right?”
“Yes!” Nemuri says happily. “Very mature of you and your boyfriend, Watashi! Sexual and romantic relationships thrive on free and open communication even when it’s scary and hard. So long as you both just remain open with each other, then things should be fine. And if you feel pressured, then you knee him in the groin.”
“Sabotage is trans,” she replies bluntly.
“A crotch shot is a crotch shot. It’ll still hurt. Make sure he understands no means no and not to pressure you into anything you’re not ready with. And if you and your partner later on do decide to add sex to your relationship because people on the spectrum of asexuality do engage in such activities with their partners, be sure to use protection and get tested. If you need someone to help, then be sure to come to me. I won’t ask questions.”
Nemuri would rather her students be safe over everything else. She’s had plenty of students come to her over the years for a variety of things and always made sure to keep their confidences.
Ki’s face is still pink, but she nods.
“I’ll do that, Midnight-sensei. Thank you.”
And really? That’s all Nemuri wants to hear.
Midoriya Inko —Mother, Volunteer
Midoriya Inko has a few regrets over the course of her life. Many of them, sadly, revolve around her only son. She wishes she was more supportive of Izuku’s dreams of becoming a hero when he was younger. She wishes she made him show her his injuries. She wishes she didn’t let the teachers walk over her when she tried to fight against him. There’s a lot of regrets. Sometimes, Inko plays them in her head when she can’t sleep.
Not that Izuku even blames her! Sometimes, she wishes he would a little bit. But her therapist says that’s her projecting her own guilt and shame onto her child. She’s better now, she thinks. Or, at least, she tries to be better. Izuku, her baby, is the Number One hero and the Symbol of Hope. And the world looks to him for strength in their darkest moments.
So does she.
Still, even knowing the truth about his quirk, Inko wonders from time to time what would have happened if she told Izuku a different answer after that doctor’s appointment so long ago. Would he have blossomed more? Fought more? Become a quirkless hero with her support? It’s a lot of unanswered questions for her.
“I think you were trying to protect him, Granny,” Ki says quietly during one visit. Izuku is out, picking up ingredients for her katsudon. She’s so tall now and happier than when Inko first met her son’s protégé. Izuku, she knows, is uninterested in parenthood, not in a bad way. But Inko thinks her grandchildren are going to be heroic hopefuls that her son picks up along his career.
She finds that she doesn’t mind much, no matter how much she teases him otherwise for it.
“There’s a thing as too much protection. I wasn’t strong enough.”
“Hey,” the girl says, sharpness in her voice like a knife through the air. “You’re the strongest Granny Inko. No matter how worried or scared or anxious you were. No matter how much you wanted to lock him away from heroics. You didn’t. It’s brave to support someone you love even when you’re so terrified you feel like you’re going to drown with it.”
Inko tears up and sniffles. Ki flushes, “Oh don’t cry, Granny. I apologize I didn’t mean to get sharp with you.”
“You think I’m brave?”
The girl blinks at her with large dark eyes.
“Granny Inko, Number One told me that before All Might, you were his first hero. How can you not?”
Inko finds she doesn’t really have a response for that. Instead, she just hugs Ki, who hugs her back.
That night, her regrets don’t plague her dreams and she sleeps well instead.