Chapter Text
The high pitched noise of cicadas and crickets filled the air as a young girl snuck through her family’s garden in her pajamas. It was past her bed time, but young Susato wasn’t done playing yet. The Mikotoba family gardens were vast and full of imported flowers her mother loved caring for. Susato liked looking through the bushes for new bugs that also liked her mothers flowers.
As the young girl scoured bushes she noticed the tell tale sound of the bugs she was tracking faded leaving the night air still and silent. An odd smell filled the air, like when the family’s cook made dinner in front of them but something about it was wrong. With no bugs to catch, Susato made her way home. It was warm out, warmer than it usually was on summer nights. As she came from her mothers azaleas the source of heat and the bad smell was apparent.
Susato rubbed her eyes, her house glowing. It was so hot standing here. “Mama?” She called and stumbled closer. “Mama!?” The smoke interrupted her cry with a cough. Scared, she ran towards the house only to have the wind knocked out of her as she fell back. When she opened her eyes and looked up, tears blurring her vision, she saw a man towering over her. He knelt down as she backed away.
“Are you hurt?” He didn’t seem scary. He looked weird though. Tall and lanky… his proportions were wrong and something covered his face. Susato reached her hand out and before he took her hand a noise made him jerk his hand away. She couldn’t tell what he said but whatever the noise was made the man run. More voices appeared as Susato grew tired and fainted in her backyard.
Life isn’t fair. Susato learned that the hard way when she awoke in the hospital the next morning. The last surviving member of the Mikotoba family. For weeks she retold the same story to the brain doctor the hospital and police people sent her to. They told her the smoke from the house made her fall asleep and when she did she forgot details of what happened. The man who reached out to her was believed to be someone she dreamt up to cope with the stress. A kind stranger to comfort a scared child.
At five years old Susato didn’t want a new family, but being alone seemed a lot scarier. The man she met at the hospital was scruffy. He looked like the guys sleeping in alley ways, but the woman with him was nice and promised he was too. They already had a baby who they said would love a big sister. Their home was nice and their family seemed big like hers was. Lots of adults, it was nice to no longer be the only child. The big bearded man, Ms.Aizawa’s papa, said he built it for them to raise a family.
It was here Susato learned how to feel safe again. It was in these walls she grew close with her patch work family which grew every year. Within the first year she got to know this new family. Natsumei and Shota met in high school and they had her little brother Natsu when they graduated. They wanted more kids so they agreed to adopt as well as have their own.
Natsumei’s parents lived in the mountains, but they visited a lot. Her sister visited less and she remained mysterious for a long time. Shota’s family was over a lot the first few years. His mother and her siblings did a lot to make sure she was settled in. It was nice but frustrating. She didn’t want to be alone but it was like she didn’t have space. She met Mr.Aizawa’s friend who she grew to call her Uncle Zashi. His daughter was adopted recently as well.
It was nice to have someone who understood her situation. Kaede was really sweet, if quiet. She was almost as much, if not more, plant than human. The flowers in her hair looked like the ones in her mama’s garden. Even into adulthood Susato will never forget crying the first time she saw them. The two were hard to separate.
Susato’s family kept growing as she got older. Her uncle Zashi introduced her to his brother. He was working overseas for a few years. Susato and Kaede were getting used to their quirks together, and their parents made games for them to better their control. Four years in both families got new additions. Natsumei had another daughter, Hana, and Susato got to hold her when she was born.
Uncle Zashi brought home another daughter as well, but she was Kaede and Susato’s age. Akane didn’t take to her new home as well as Kaede and Susato had either. She was so mad to be so far from what she called her “real home”. Susato got in trouble a lot the following two years for being a very concerned accomplice to Akane’s run away attempts. Every time they were caught Akane’s tantrums would set her quirk off triggering minor eruptions. Mr.Aizawa had to help get her home.
Susato never forgot her biological family. She missed them greatly and the lesson she learned that night stuck with her. She doesn’t speak to her distant relatives as she finds them distasteful compared to the Aizawas, but she visits her family’s graves as often as she can with school and family obligations.
She grew very fond of the family who took her in. She admires her parents and their stories. Her mom retired from vigilante work to raise kids. Her father retired later on and took a job as a teacher to help with money as the family grew. Still, Eraser Head and Bullseye are her favorite heroes. Even if there’s no merch and hardly anyone knows their names.
Susato spends plenty of time training both with her parents and with her cousins. The three of them visited UA frequently since their dads worked there. They took any excuse to get a glimpse at the school and the future heroes training there. Luckily, Aizawa frequently forgot his lunch in his tired rush to work. They never answered his question of why it took three of them to bring his lunch or why they left school for this.
It was no secret Susato wanted to be a hero, and she had her heart set on UA. She did have an advantage. Her dad knew what the entrance exam required. He never told her directly but Susato begged him to train her in skills she’d need for it. He caved when she was twelve and their backyard turned into an impromptu training ground. Her dads a stoic man but she can tell how proud of her he is whenever she gets a technique down or beats a record.
Life isn’t fair, but you can make the best of it. You can go beyond. This is the story of the hero Mirror Maiden and her constant battle to make the best out of what life gives her. Plus Ultra!