BNHA: Undying

I lean against the wall and cross my arms over my chest as I glare at my sister, a frown on my face. To her credit, she looks about as happy as I am about whatever she has to talk about, staring at the floor and shuffling her feet while her fingers play nervously with each other. She shoots small, furtive glances up at me only to just as quickly look back down. This continues on for several minutes, during which I shoot a glare at our eavesdroppers. 

Ashido flinches, as do Yaoyorozu and Kaminari. The three retreat, presumably out of hearing range but I can't be certain of that. Izumi shoots another glance at me before looking back down again, and I catch sight of a pink hand shooting back around the corner of the hallway and grabbing something solid in the air before it vanishes back out of sight. Hagakure must have been there, then.

Finally, Izumi takes a deep breath and looks up at me, throat bobbing as she swallows nervously. "H-H-how have you been?"

Small talk… She's trying to build up to whatever she actually wants to talk to me about. I suppose I can play her little game for a bit. I reply in a carefully blank tone, keeping a tight rein on my emotions. For now. "Better. It turns out that having a home filled with love and support does wonders for someone's well-being."

She flinches hard at that, looking down while her hand twitches towards her skirt before she takes a deep breath and clenches it into a fist. "I'm sorry…" Her voice is no more than a whisper but I'm close enough that I can still hear it.

I don't even bother to respond, the apology meaningless without any true honesty backing it up. Even then, what would I do with it? A genuine apology won't erase the years of abuse. It won't fix my admittedly abysmal mental state. It won't give me back all the time that we were supposed to spend as a family. Nor will it erase the suffocating fear and worry that were my constant companions growing up.

It won't erase the scars.

After a few minutes of silence she seems to realize that I won't be responding. She swallows as she tries to look directly at me again, but her eyes are darting all over the place. "So, uh, you're… happy? With the League of Villains?"

… Is she seriously going to keep trying to maintain her pathetic attempts at small talk? Of trying to 'catch up' with what's been going on in my life?

Honestly, I thought she would have tried to figure out what went down at the USJ by now. What with the whole dying in front of her after my doppelganger guilt tripped her. Did she just write it off as a trick? As neither of them being me?

Whatever. It's not like it really matters anyways. As long as she's suffering I'm not really going to complain. And if the way she's acting is any indication, she's definitely suffering. So I decide to answer with complete, one hundred percent honesty.

"I am more happy with the LoV than I have ever been in my entire life. I have real friends who care about me. A family who doesn't neglect or belittle me whenever we're in the same vicinity. A loving girlfriend that I know will always be there for me, just like I will for her. A place where quirks aren't what decide a person's-"

"Hold the fuck up." She holds her hand up and cuts me off, for the first time not looking nervous or unsure of herself. Instead she looks like she has no idea what's going on. "Repeat what you just said."

"Huh?" Her surprise is enough for me to be surprised, wondering which part of what I said caught her attention. "You mean the LoV not caring about quirks?"

"Before that."

"The League of Villains calling ourselves LoV?"

"After."

"How we're basically a family?"

That point makes her wince but she pushes past it. "No!"

Not that either? What could she- Wait… "You mean me having a girlfriend?" I ask flatly.

She stares at me for a moment with wide eyes. "YOU HAVE A GIRLFRIEND!?!?!?!?!?"

…

This bitch…

"Why is that the most surprising thing about what I just said!?" I throw my hands up in disbelief while I glare at her. I mean, seriously? That's what she seems to have a problem with!?

Seeming to realize how she sounds she rapidly waves her hands in front of herself. "No, no! Not like that! It's just that you've always been denser than a brick! I always thought it would take years for you to ever realize that a girl has feelings for you!"

"I would say that's incredibly rude, but she did have to tell me that we've been dating for me to realize that…" I trail off with a pout, huffing out an irritated breath.

"Sounds right," Izumi nods to herself before she gets wide-eyed again, her nervous swallow making its return. "Todoroki can never learn of this…"

I tilt my head as I raise an eyebrow, looking at her quizzically. "Why not?"

`~`

Midnight turns around to question the student sitting in detention with her after a lengthy lecture on why freezing a classmate in a block of ice before they start trouble is a big no-no without permission, only to freeze herself when an overwhelming wave of murderous intent washes over her. She instinctively lets off with her quirk as she turns to face the threat, only to take a step back when she sees Todoroki with empty eyes and a small smile on her lips.

"I don't know why, but I suddenly feel like there's a threat I need to eliminate."

Like you're one to talk!

Luckily for Midnight, her gas does its job and knocks out the half-hot half-cold girl before anything dangerous can happen. The R18 hero wipes the beads of sweat off her forehead with her arm before pausing and replaying the last few seconds over in her mind. Her brows furrow.

"Did I just see a pair of shrine maidens behind her?"

`~`

"It's just better for everyone that way."

I hum skeptically, but it's not like I really feel the need to go around announcing to the whole school that I have a girlfriend. Well, not unless Mineta is still a creepy little grapist after the internships. In that case it will tie in nicely with what I plan to do~.

It's then that I realize that, in my offense that she didn't think I could get a girlfriend, Izumi and I have been interacting differently. Not with the strained air we were before, but like… Siblings.

I don't know how to feel about that.

"Why did you want to talk to me, Yagi?" I force my voice back into the same cold detachment that it had when she first brought me out here. I pointedly don't react in any way when she pulls back, seeming to have realized the same thing I did. She takes a deep breath as she closes her eyes, taking several deep, slow breaths before they open again. They're filled with resolve as she meets my own.

"I need to tell you… about Dad's quirk."

I raise an eyebrow. Well. That's certainly interesting. "What about it?" He's never once announced what his quirk is. It's even more of a secret than his injury and skeleton form. Well, his injury at least. His skeleton form is common knowledge at this point. Even on the HPSC hero and quirk registries, they only record his quirk as being confidential.

Though I suppose it shouldn't be a surprise that he told Izumi. The favored child. I wonder if he told Inko as well?

"It's called One For All, and he wasn't born with it." I stiffen at that, my mind stuttering only to grind to a complete halt when she continues. "It was given to him."

"...What?" My voice is blank. She swallows.

"He was born quirkless… and he has a quirk that he can choose to pass on to someone. Anyone. Regardless of who it is."

"...Why are you telling me this?" I need time to process this. And sure, maybe she has more world-shattering things to tell me, but it's better to get them all out of the way right now instead of later. This way I can process everything at once instead of acting on whatever emotion overpowers me at this hypothetical future point.

"He offered it to me."

Because of course he would. Why give the quirkless son what he needs to be accepted in the world when you can give it to the normal child. And with that name… All For One has some explaining to do…

"So you have two quirks now." Funny. I thought she had convinced herself that she feels guilty about what she did. I should have known better. Gloating about-

"No, I refused it." Again, my thoughts grind to a halt. I can do nothing but stare at her. She… didn't take it? Why?

"Why?" The question slips past my lips, barely even more than a whisper. I just… I don't know how to react to this.

She looks back at the ground, her nerves failing her. She hides her face behind her hair as she explains.

"It made me sick… That power, he should have given it to you. He should have told us, all of us. So, so much could have changed if we had just known…"

Tears begin to dot the ground between her feet. "I let Bakugou convince me that you needed a quirk. I looked at Mom and Dad's actions and thought that they were just doing the same… I… I…"

Her shoulders shake as she starts to sob. "I didn't deserve power when all I did was hurt you with it… I didn't deserve to take what should have been yours… I didn't deserve…" She trails off, not finishing the sentence out loud. Her hands bunch up her skirt as she tries to force out more, but it seems her body doesn't want to listen to her. I know how that feels.

I wish I knew how to feel right now.

I stare at her for a few more minutes as she falls to her knees as her sobs overtake her, not moving a muscle even when her arms come up to wrap around herself. It's only when the bell rings announcing the end of lunch that I move from my position against the wall. I step past her, forcefully shoving my hands in my pockets. I stop a few feet away and take a deep breath as I look up at the ceiling. Letting it out slowly, I speak, not turning back.

"Tell me, Izumi. When did you first think that I was still alive?"

Her sobs continue for a moment before she manages to choke them off. "At… at the USJ. When you…" She doesn't finish the sentence, but we both know what she's referring to.

I hum consideringly. "That's rather curious." I resume walking, heading towards the sounds of other students on their way to class.

"Because, you see… Inko has known since the day I left."

I turn the corner without waiting for a response, letting a new problem occupy all the space in my mind. I can think about… whatever that was… later. For now…

If Toshinori was born officially quirkless and the strength quirk was given to him… Then what kind of power does he actually have?