Chapter Text
The rain has been falling for hours.
Unlike some lunatic that decide they love the earthy smell of rain that they even named it petrichor, Akira Yukimura hates the soil-y smell. She, however, despise the loud thunders that follows the most. Akira once had a noise cancelling headphones to wear whenever a thunderstorm was raging, but it broke due to her catfight with Kaito, her brother. Apparently, other than blocking the thunders, it also effectively block Kaito's annoying nagging.
Guess she should be careful with the guy's temper.
However, tonight, Akira felt more troubled, as the rain had not really affected her.
She sat in silence at her desk, one elbow resting against the polished wood while her chin balanced against her palm. Before her lay an envelope she had opened three separate times despite having memorized every word inside.
When she opened the letter, All Might had popped up to congratulate her on joining the hero course at U.A., the most prestigious hero course in Japan. The dream destination of countless aspiring heroes.
Akira's index finger thrummed on her cheek. This was supposed to be a happy moment. She was finally accepted to her dream school, thanks to her father’s recommendation as a pro hero. She can finally become a true hero and then get rich. She should feel elated because this was everything that she had wanted coming true.
However, Akira more felt like she was going to puke.
Akira’s fingers tapped idly against the desk. With every movement, faint strands of grey energy flickered around her hand before disappearing into the air. The energy flowed easily, responding to her thoughts more than her physical actions. It curled around her wrist like smoke before dissolving into glittering particles.
Akira personally thought the universe had an unfortunate sense of humor. Eleven years ago, her quirk had manifested. She was running from Kaito in the neighborhood playground, laughing as she play push her brother. However, a sudden burst of grey energy slam Kaito almost ten meters away. Kid Akira screamed in terror and cried as she chased after Kaito who was lying on the ground groaning. Her father then came running in concern, looking at his daughter in shock.
Pro hero Vector was not a crybaby but he had burst into tears after realizing his daughter finally summoned her quirk. His son was now sitting up groaning but looked at Akira in amazement.
“Wow, what quirk you got? Men repellant?” Akira who did not understand her already-in-middle-school brother’s humor, cried instead in his arms as she keeps apologizing. Their father ignored his witty comment as he crouched to hug them in the middle of the park.
They’re embarrassing Kaito, but he did not have the heart to let the hug go.
Something both males don’t understand was how Akira pass out after. They had assumed she was overwhelmed by her quirk, but when she woke up in the nearby clinic, her eyes were too heavy for a four year old.
After she woke up, the attending quirk physician explained in amazement on what she is capable of doing. Apparently, she inherited Kento Yukimura’s energy based quirk, but rather than manipulating vector forces, she was able to construct tangible forces from intangible energy. The doctor explained that they had not yet understand what kind of energy the girl is manipulating, but being able to wield raw energy power is amazing.
During the full explanation, Akira kept looking down at her hands. After the doctor left, Kento patted her head.
“Are you scared, Kira?” Her nickname brought some warmth to her inner turmoil. She silently nodded and threw him a small smile.
“Just a bit, dad.” The reassurance did nothing. But, he let it slide.
He shouldn’t have.
That day, Akira had regained her past life memory. Her amazing quirk was a copy-paste, a mocking dupe, of what she can do as Shion Kanzaki, a sorcerer. The only difference was now her “quirk” is praised upon, while her past “technique” was mocked and ridiculed.
The realization had shattered whatever childhood innocence she still possessed. The moment that she had been waiting for as a little girl excited about discovering her quirk had changed as she remembered blood. Blood dripping from her own fingertips as she desperately fought a battle she had known they couldn’t win as she felt her energy depleted.
The pain in Akira’s mind slipped away when the sound of her door opening woke her up from her memories.
Akira didn’t need to turn around to know who it was. Only one person in the house ignored basic concepts like permission.
“I still think Shiketsu is better. I bet dad agrees.”
“That’s just you being overly proud of your alumni, dumbass.”
“I think we reslly need to work on your manners, Kira.” Akira sticked her tongue mockingly at her brother. Kaito tried his best not to pinch her ears.
“Reading your replies to your haters, I don’t think you’re one to talk, bro-bro,” Akira chirped, barely finishing the sentence before Kaito lunged after her.
She burst into laughter, darting down the hallway with her older brother hot on her heels, his threats of “Get back here!” doing little to hide his embarrassment.
The teasing wasn’t unprovoked. Two nights earlier, Kaito had completely lost his patience after a stranger called him a fraud beneath one of his latest hero updates. What started as a single sarcastic reply had snowballed into a full-blown public spat, with thousands of users piling into the comment thread to watch the exchange unfold in real time. By morning, screenshots of the argument had spread across HeroNet, complete with memes, reaction edits, and headlines questioning why the usually composed rising pro hero had decided to wage war in his own comment section.
Akira spent the entire evening laughing at her older brother’s sour expression after he returned home from being thoroughly scolded by his agency. She thought the internet feud had been the funniest thing she’d seen all month.
Apparently, her father didn’t share her sense of humor.
The hero had immediately dragged his twenty-three-year-old son into the family’s training room, declaring that if Kaito had enough energy to argue with strangers online, he had enough energy to train for another two hours. Judging by the miserable look on Kaito’s face afterward, the punishment had been far more effective than any lecture.
If Akira was being honest, the whole ordeal had done wonders for her nerves while she waited for U.A.’s admission results.
The front door slid open, immediately welcomed by Kaito fuming yells and Akira’s squealing.
“You two are never going to stop, are you?” Kento sighed as he stepped inside, shaking a few raindrops from his umbrella before setting it by the entrance.
He was still dressed in his training gear, a dark towel draped around his shoulders and silver-streaked hair damp from the rain outside. Even after nearly three decades as a pro hero, he carried himself with the effortless composure of someone who was perpetually on duty.
His gaze swept over his children, lingering on Akira’s face for only a moment.
The tightness that had shadowed her expression all week was gone, replaced by the familiar mischievous grin she wore whenever she was tormenting Kaito.
His own expression softened.
“So?” he asked, setting his umbrella by the entrance. “What’s the verdict?”
If there was one thing Akira had always admired about Kento Yukimura, it was how effortlessly he understood his children. He rarely needed words to know when Kaito was frustrated or when Akira was hiding behind a smile. Years of raising them alone had taught him to read the smallest changes in their expressions.
Her mother had died giving birth to her.
Kento could have let grief consume him or, worse, allowed it to become resentment. Instead, he had poured every ounce of that loss into raising his children. He became both father and mother without ever making either of them feel like they were missing one. Even with a career that demanded he risk his life almost daily, he had never failed to come home whenever he could, to cook dinner, attend school events, scold them when necessary, and celebrate every milestone, no matter how small.
“Dad! Welcome home!” Akira beamed, immediately darting behind him. “Sorry about Kaito. He almost started World War Three with his haters again.”
“You ugly, disgusting liar!” Kaito barked, skidding to a halt the moment Kento turned to look at him. It wasn’t even an intimidating glare, just one raised eyebrow.
“…She started it,” Kaito muttered under his breath, all traces of his earlier confidence evaporating.
Akira snorted.
Before Kaito could protest any further, she proudly held up the cream-colored envelope.
“Sorry to disappoint you two, but I’m not joining Shiketsu.” A grin stretched across her face.
“I’ll be the first U.A. student in this family.”
Kaito scoffed.
“Oh?”
“And after I graduate,” she continued, pointing dramatically at him, “I’ll crush your rankings.”
A vein twitched at Kaito’s temple.
“You haven’t even attended orientation, prick.”
“I have my skills.”
“You have delusions.”
“I told you, I have talent.”
“You have a recommendation.”
She narrowed her eyes before sticking her tongue out.
“What a sore loser.”
Kaito clicked his tongue.
“You haven’t even started school,” he grumbled. “Cocky little brat.”
“Future Number One Hero, thank you very much.”
“Future detention record, more like.”
Their bickering echoed through the house, punctuated by Akira’s triumphant laughter and Kaito’s increasingly exasperated groans, while Kento simply watched the two of them with a tired smile that only a father could wear.
“…Are you two done?” Kento asked at last.
“No.”
“Also no.”
If there’s someone— or maybe two people, who can leave him speechless even with his title as a reputable pro hero, it’s his children. Villains, press conferences, hostage negotiations, those he could handle without breaking a sweat. But the two standing before him seemed to possess an uncanny talent for testing the limits of his patience.
“I raised a pair of headaches.”
“They’re hereditary,” Kaito replied instantly.
Akira nodded with exaggerated seriousness.
“Definitely inherited them from you, Dad.”
Kento decided to ignore the teasing as he walked past Kaito and stopped in front of Akira.
The smile lingering on his face softened into something gentler.
He rested a hand atop her silver hair, giving it a small, affectionate ruffle.
“Congratulations, Kira. You worked hard for this.”
Akira blinked, momentarily caught off guard.
“It wasn’t your recommendation that got you into U.A.,” Kento continued. “It simply gave you the opportunity to be evaluated. You were accepted because you proved you belonged there.”
Her grip tightened around the acceptance envelope.
“…Thanks, Dad.”
He smiled, pride evident in his eyes.
“I’ve watched you train since you were four years old. Every scraped knee, every failed technique, every late night you insisted on practicing one more time.” His hand lingered on her head. “You earned this.”
For a fleeting moment, Akira forgot about the anxiety that had weighed on her chest.
These words had been directed at her, spoken by her father. It was something that had been so foreign to her a lifetime ago. Back then, she had never known what it felt like to be praised by a parent, to have someone look at her with nothing but pride.
Akira held back her tears, blinking rapidly as she tried to compose herself.
“I’m proud of you too, Kira.”
Her brother’s voice broke through her thoughts.
The youngest daughter started bawling immediately. With a choked sob, Akira threw herself at the two men before her, pulling them into an awkward family hug.
Yes, in this lifetime, she was the pride and joy of her family. In this lifetime, she would become a hero they could continue to be proud of.
In this lifetime, she’ll never let anyone hurt the people she love, anymore.