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Rumi Usagiyama was twelve years old the first time she crashed a fight club in Hiroshima.
The bouncer looked her over, taking in her pigtails, bunny ears, and school uniform. “Go home, kid.” His tone was indifferent but not unkind. “You don’t belong here.”
Rumi put her hands on her hips and stuck out her chin. “I need to get stronger.”
“Oh?” He raised an eyebrow. “Why’s that?”
“My little sister was born today. I need to protect her.”
The bouncer rolled his eyes. “Take a martial arts class. Your fancy school probably has a club.”
“I need to protect her from our mom and dad.”
His eyebrows raised. “Maybe you should call the cops.”
“I can’t. She’s a mafia princess and he’s Japan’s greatest villain.”
The bouncer snorted. Rumi could see the moment when he decided she must be an overimaginative little girl. “This place is for adults, not children. Go home.”
Rumi lunged for him and sank her teeth into his arm.
Rumi limped home battered and bruised. Not that she cared. She needed real fighting experience in order to get stronger. Even if she hadn’t made it into the club, at least she’d gotten a fight. She dragged her aching body through the window and into her bed. She’d forgotten to remove her shoes. She kicked them off, then pulled the covers over her head. Tomorrow, she’d need to wash the dirt out of them. Right now, she was too tired.
For a moment, she believed she’d gotten away with it. Then her father spoke. “You’re home late. What happened to your lovely face?”
With effort, Rumi suppressed her flinch. She growled, “None of your business.”
All for One stepped out of the shadows. The moonlight gleamed over his white curls and red eyes. He smiled indulgently. “How smart of you, to sneak out when I was busy with your little sister. You’ve learned to be devious as well as fierce. Just like your father.”
“Fuck you,” Rumi whispered hoarsely, knowing what was coming next. She lunged for the window.
All for One moved faster. His palms glowed as he grabbed her, and her entire body went limp. No matter how she struggled, she couldn’t twitch a muscle. The paralyzation felt bitterly familiar. He loved that quirk as much as she hated it. Normally, she would at least scream at him, but she didn’t want to wake up the baby.
Humming, All for One carried her into the bathroom. He sat her limp body on the toilet seat and took out a medical kit, using an antiseptic wipe and then an antibiotic cream on the cut on her cheek. He stripped off her school uniform clothing with clinical efficiency, tending to the other cuts and scrapes on her body. Then he brought out the silver tights.
Rumi hated the tights. They were made of a metallic material that prevented her legs from moving. Her father called them training to be a lady.
Next, he slipped a corset around her waist and fastened it just tightly enough to make it uncomfortable to breathe. He pulled a frilly white dress with a red bow over her head. Today must be Gothic Lolita style. Then he braided her hair. He finished the outfit with a small red hat adorned with a fake orchid. A pair of high white boots laced up over the stupid tights.
Then he picked her up and carried her downstairs. Her mouth could move, at least, so she got in one good bite on his shoulder. Though she drew blood, he didn’t even flinch. “Ouch,” he said reprovingly, bopping her lightly on the nose.
He set her down in a love seat next to the window, which he claimed had the best lighting in the house.
For a grown man, Rumi’s father liked to play with dolls. She’d always been his favorite toy for as long as she could remember. Supposedly, he only played this game whenever she got in trouble. But Rumi could never remember a time when she wasn’t constantly in trouble. She was always angry, and it overflowed regularly, even when she tried to keep it contained. She hated dresses that restricted her movement. She hated her father’s constant demands and controls. Someday, she was going to become a hero and drag him off to Tartarus.
“How long will it be this time?” she demanded, humiliated and bitter.
“Nuh-uh.” Her father wagged a finger. “You used a bad word. The punishment is no talking.”
Rumi’s lips twisted. “I’m not a baby—”
All for One pulled out a gag and slid it between her lips. “You’ll always be my baby,” he said cheerfully.
Rumi spent the whole night like that. She must have really annoyed her father this time, despite his cheerful façade. She’d tried to disable every last tracker on her clothing. Since he hadn’t shown up to stop her fun, it might actually have worked. Or Eri could have kept him distracted.
Baby Eri started crying at the crack of dawn, waking Rumi from her fitful doze. She heard All for One walk up the stairs. He returned carrying Eri against his shoulder. Through the open door leading to the kitchen, she watched him heat up a bottle of formula.
Rumi grunted into her gag. Her mouth hurt quite a bit. The paralyzation quirk had started to wear off, but the metal wrapped around her legs still prevented her from standing. After being stuck in one position all night, her body was a mess of pins and needles.
“Let me feed your sister first,” All for One said. Several minutes later, he returned with Eri strapped to his chest and a plate of scrambled eggs. He removed the gag from Rumi’s mouth and handed her a fork. She could move her arm just enough to bring it up to her face.
Rumi asked, “Where’s Mom?”
“She left. Not back to her family—she decided to leave the country.” All for One shrugged, a gesture indicating that he felt no loss.
Rumi exhaled, a deep sigh of relief. One danger gone, at least. Her mother had talked about wanting to leave for years. It had just been a matter of when she worked up the nerve. All for One had married a yakuza leader’s daughter as part of a political alliance. Rumi’s mother had been vocal about her dislike for the marriage and her longing to leave the underworld entirely. She’d been indifferent toward Rumi, allowing All for One to raise her completely to his own liking. When she’d gotten pregnant a second time, she’d been furious about it. She had said…things…that made Rumi fear for her new sibling’s safety after she was born. Rumi wasn’t surprised that a second child had tipped her over the edge to run away. “It’s about time she stopped talking about leaving and just left.”
“I had a neglectful mother, too,” All for One said. “It has nothing to do with you. She’s simply the type of person who abandons her family. You don’t need to feel bad. You don’t need to feel anything toward her at all.”
Rumi snorted. “I don’t care if that woman dies in a ditch.”
All for One smiled. “That could be arranged, if you’d like.”
Rumi frowned. “But what about your alliance with the yakuza?”
All for One shrugged. “They’re worth nothing compared to my daughters’ happiness.”
Rumi’s cheeks pinked. She hated moments like this, when she felt glad that All for One cared. She knew he was a bastard. But he was still the only person who loved her in the whole world. “You don’t need to. She’s not worth it.” Rumi snuck a glance at her baby sister. She wondered if someday Eri would love her, too. Then she’d have at least one person whose love didn’t come at the cost of her freedom.
All for One asked, “Do you love your mother, even a little?”
Rumi said, “No. I just don’t want anyone to die. She’s not even worth hating. I feel nothing for her.”
“That’s good. My little brother still cared about our mother after she hurt him. I could never understand why. Sometimes my mother hit me and my little brother—mostly him, he was weaker. She’d withhold food and water. That’s why I’ll never, ever punish my children no matter how they misbehave.”
“What do you call this?” Rumi demanded. Her hand throbbed. Her grip slipped, spilled eggs back onto her plate.
“I dressed you up in a nice dress that makes it a little harder for you to run around getting into trouble.”
“I’d rather you hit me,” Rumi grumbled.
All for One laughed. “No, you wouldn’t. You only say that because you don’t know the difference.”
But Rumi did. She’d been beaten at the fight club last night, and she’d found she preferred the straightforward bruises to her father’s twisted, smothering love.
Eri stirred and whimpered. All for One turned his attention to rocking and soothing her.
“Can I hold her?” Rumi asked.
“Of course. She’s your little sister, after all. You have to protect her no matter what.”
“I don’t need you to tell me that,” Rumi muttered. She doubted All for One would agree with her that the best way to protect Eri was to get her away from her father. Rumi was determined to get them both out, before Eri got old enough for their father to start treating her like a doll, too.
Holding out her arms, Rumi took Eri. She was clumsy at first, shifting around her grip. Eri cooed and grabbed a lock of Rumi’s hair.
“She likes me,” Rumi breathed, in awe.
“Yes, she does.” All for One patted her on the back.
Rumi’s mother came back for Eri’s fourth birthday party. All for One said she’d probably run out of money. He didn’t want to let her into the house, but Eri cried and begged. All for One was weak to his daughter’s tears and extremely indulgent on her birthday.
Rumi had a bad feeling. Everything had been relatively peaceful over the last four years. Without her mother around to be openly cruel, her father didn’t feel the need to be quite as smothering. Raising a baby had taken a great deal of All for One’s attention, allowing Rumi to sneak out to fight clubs more frequently. Every so often, Rumi let her father catch her so he’d focus his worst side on her instead of her little sister. A game of dolls always kept him busy enough to give Eri space. Like this, Rumi had largely been able to keep Eri from noticing anything was wrong with their family. Now her efforts had backfired on her. Eri didn’t understand why it wasn’t safe to be around their mom.
The birthday party went exactly as poorly as expected. Mom ignored Eri. Eri cried and ran up to her room. Dad threatened to cancel the check he’d written for their mother. She stormed off.
Rumi knocked on her sister’s door, but didn’t get a response. She opened the door. The children’s bedrooms didn’t have locks, which normally drove Rumi crazy, but at the moment she felt glad for it. Eri was gone.
A scream came from the guest bedroom. Rumi ran.
An empty, broken vase lay fallen on the floor. Eri lay next to it, sobbing and gasping for air. Mom’s hands were fastened around her throat.
Rumi had been training for this moment for years. She shot forward, kicking her mother in the stomach.
Mom grabbed her leg and threw her to the ground. As a former yakuza princess, she knew martial arts. Rumi rolled, a practiced landing, and kicked Mom’s stomach from the floor.
Her mother reeled backward. Still winded, Rumi crawled forward and dragged Eri behind her. The broken glass cut her knee.
Mom screamed, “She tried to kill me! She’s a monster.”
Ignoring these insane ramblings, Rumi staggered to her feet and raised her fists. Blood dripped down her leg.
Her mother lunged for her bag. There was probably a gun in there. Rumi ran forward and grabbed her arm. The gunshot went into the wall.
A shadow appeared in the doorway. Mom screamed and fell forward, a black tendril piercing her chest. All for One stood with his hands raised and his eyes blazing with fury.
Rumi collapsed to her knees. “Eri…” she whispered.
“She’s unconscious. A good thing she didn’t have to see.” All for One picked Eri up. “You did well. I’m proud of you.” It brought Rumi a shameful sort of pride. She’d always cared what he thought, even when she wished she didn’t. He ruined it by adding, “But you never should have been put in that position. I should have protected you.”
He picked Rumi up and slung her over his shoulder. Naturally, he had no problem carrying both girls. He’d always been strong. So much stronger than her.
All for One carefully bandaged Rumi’s knee, then tucked her into bed—not in her room, but in his own much larger bed in the master bedroom. Then he laid Eri down next to her, holding a cold pack to her throat.
Rumi crawled over and pulled her sister into her lap. “How is she?”
“I have a quirk that accelerates healing. She’ll be better within a few hours. Come here, and I’ll use it on you next.” All for One touched her knee. The pain faded.
“Are you going to take care of the body?” Rumi asked. “Eri can’t know. She’d blame herself.”
All for One nodded. “I called my people. They’ll be quick and quiet. How do you feel?”
Rumi shrugged. “I’m glad it’s over now.”
“You don’t sound surprised. I always thought that woman too much of a coward to be dangerous.”
“Yeah, but she had a temper. She called Eri a monster. She used to call me that, too.”
All for One’s eyebrows raised. “If you were scared of her, you should have said something to me.”
Before, Rumi had been unwilling to admit her mother had threatened her because she knew All for One would have killed the woman. Because of that, her little sister had been hurt. “You’re right, I should have. I thought it didn’t matter because she’d left.”
All for One stroked her hair. “It was my fault for letting her come back. I couldn’t say no to Eri.”
“Who could?” Rumi smiled down at the sleeping girl.
Eri yawned, and stirred. Looking up at her older sister’s face, she burst into tears. Through the hysterics, the story eventually came out: Eri had brought her mother a vase of flowers to cheer her up. Her quirk had activated for the first time, and she’d rewound the flowers into seeds. Her mother had panicked when the glow nearly struck her, then strangled her daughter.
Through her sobs, Eri said, “It’s all my fault. I scared her. I’m a monster.”
“You did nothing wrong.” All for One rocked her. “You have a lovely ability, very rare and strong. I couldn’t be more proud of you. We have to celebrate.”
All for One ordered a man with shadows for a face to bring a tray with three hot chocolates. He stayed with both girls all night, soothing Eri when she cried and telling funny stories until he finally made her smile.
Rumi felt herself relax. She liked her father when he was like this. If only he could always stay this way.
Several months later, All for One left to fight All Might and didn’t return home. The yakuza came to pick Rumi and Eri up. They said that All for One might be dead or in critical condition. Either way, Rumi saw her chance to escape.
The yakuza looked at Rumi and Eri with scornful eyes because of their father. They blamed him for Mom’s death, even though they had no proof. She heard them call Eri a monster in none-too-quiet whispers. Late at night, Overhaul dragged Eri off to a lab room. Rumi followed the sound of her little sister screaming. She struck Overhaul over the head from behind, catching him off-guard. Then she beat him until he was in a full body cast.
The other yakuza wanted to punish Rumi. Grandfather had stood up for her, but told her it was no longer safe for her to stay here. Rumi wrote him off as another adult she couldn’t trust, since he hadn’t thrown out Overhaul. At least Grandfather settled a stipend on the girls and gave them fake identities. Then he sent them to the countryside, where they would hopefully be out of reach of All for One’s minions and retaliation from Overhaul’s people.
The caretaker assigned to them vanished within the first week, taking half the money. Rumi never told her grandfather. She was fed-up with parents. She would raise her sister herself.
Rumi checked out books on parenting from the library. She didn’t bother to go to school—she was only interested in fighting, anyway. She learned how to braid Eri’s hair and cook her favorite meals. Sometimes, Rumi cried thinking about her father. She did not want to care about All for One. But unlike her mother, she did still love him. He was the only one she’d had for a long time.
When Eri turned five, Rumi swallowed her pride and asked her grandfather for money for the best elementary school in the region. Eri deserved the best. She was very smart, already reading books several grades above her level.
By that point, Rumi had already started working as a vigilante under the name “Miruko.”
On Eri’s sixth birthday, Rumi went to the nearest big city and brought a special strawberry cake. Before she could catch the train home, one of her grandfather’s men intercepted her. He told her that Eri had gone missing from school. The teacher said that she’d been picked up by her father.
Rumi knew that if she went home, she’d be walking into a trap, but she tried to go anyway. The yakuza knocked her unconscious and dragged her away from the train station.
At eighteen years old, Rumi was no longer a vigilante—or at least, not one with any interest in saving civilians. Her only goal was to attack any minion of All for One and beat them until someone gave her information about where to find her sister.
All for One was looking for her, as well. She moved constantly from hotel room to hotel room, staying just ahead of him.
Yet it was Eri who found her first.
At a warehouse, Rumi stood over the unconscious bodies of three thugs, clutching her bleeding arm. She’d gotten careless, letting one put a knife in her.
“Big sister!” A familiar voice cried. Eri ran out from behind a box.
Rumi’s head shot up. “Eri! How did you find me?”
Eri beamed. “I hid in a box, and they carried me out of Dad’s house.”
“You clever, clever girl.” Rumi picked Eri up and swung her around.
“You’re bleeding.” Eri’s eyes filled with tears.
“Just a scratch.” Rumi set her sister down, then bound up her arm. “Come with me, and we’ll go to one of grandpa’s underground hospitals.”
As Rumi carried Eri on her back down the street, she asked, “What was it like, living with Dad? Was he angry about us going missing? Did he…play dolls with you?”
“Dolls?” Eri frowned in confusion. “Dad doesn’t like kid’s games.”
Rumi breathed a sigh of relief. At least she hadn’t failed her sister yet. That was good. “Don’t worry about it.”
“He wasn’t angry, just very worried about you.” Eri’s arms tightened around her sister’s neck. “He said the yakuza used you to fight. He said you got hurt a lot and might even die.”
Rumi said, “No one forced me—I like fights. I had to find you. I don’t usually get hurt, I promise. I made a mistake tonight.”
Eri didn’t sound convinced. “You got hurt because you were looking for me?”
Rumi cursed inside her head. “No, that’s not what I meant. I, uh…those guys pissed me off. Totally unrelated to you, total coincidence.”
“Then mom’s family made you fight?” Eri’s voice filled with a note of rage at the mention of their mother.
“Um. I told you it wasn’t like that.” Rumi wished she was a better liar. “Those guys came to me looking for trouble. That’s all.”
Eri said, “Dad was very upset to hear that you dropped out of school to look after me. He had to look after his younger brother, and it took away his childhood. He said that meant he’d failed you as a parent. You lost your childhood looking after me.”
Rumi scowled. “He had no right to tell you that! Sure, he failed as a parent, but that’s not your fault.”
“I’m sorry,” Eri said. “I’m going to make this right. You protected me from Mom. You looked after me. It’s my turn to look after you.”
“You have nothing to be sorry for,” Rumi insisted. “You’re just a kid. It’s my job to look after you.”
“Because you’re older and I’m younger?”
“That’s right.” This was the only thing Rumi had ever agreed with her father on.
“Then what if I was older?” Eri’s hands glowed white.
The light consumed Rumi’s vision. “Eri, stop!” she cried, trying to pull her sister off her back.
But Eri held on tightly. With an innocent smile, Eri said, “I’ll give you back your childhood, big sister.”
Rumi’s vision went white.
All for One deactivated his stealth quirk, stepping out under the street lights. He caught Eri before she fell. With his other hand, he grabbed Rumi. She’d turned into a small baby with a patch of white hair and two adorable rabbit ears. Her overgrown clothes fell off around her. He used her shirt to wrap her up. She yawned and leaned against his shoulder.
Eri asked, “Did I save Rumi?”
“That’s right. You’re perfect.” All for One kissed the top of her head. “You’re going to be such a wonderful big sister.”
Eri beamed. “I’ll protect her from everything. We’re going to destroy the yakuza. Then they’ll never try to kill us again.”
“That’s right. First the yakuza, then the heroes. We’ll protect your sister together.” All for One felt fortunate to have a daughter with such a lovely quirk. She’d even healed his injuries. All Might, who had been maimed during their fight, would no longer be able to stand up against him. The path to conquer Japan stood open before him.
When Rumi had first been born, All for One had thought that she’d be his heir. But she reminded him more of his younger brother—with her rebelliousness and definitely her biting habit.
Eri had proven more malleable. Between her resentment of her mother and the yakuza and her guilt at watching her older sister come home injured from her vigilante work, Eri had been persuaded that it would be for Rumi’s own good to give her a second childhood. And if Rumi still proved stubborn the second time around, then All for One had taught Eri how to deal with rebellious younger siblings.
All for One would rule Japan with one daughter by his side and the other safely at home, and he couldn’t be happier.