Birth of Allure
In the living room of a rather large house, a ten-year-old Ryuko Tatsuma looked curiously at her younger sister, a two-year-old Aryuru Tatsuma. She was an enigma, for the lack of better word. At one moment, she had seen her looking at her math book as if she was trying to understand the content and may actually succeeding. At another moment, she happily watched her favorite TV show just like any other toddlers of the same age.
She wondered if it has something to do with her quirk. While it typically manifested at the age of four, there were cases of it manifesting earlier. Heck, the baby that was recorded as the first person with quirk was well, a baby, when it manifested.
Ryuko was curious about Aryuru's quirk. She wondered if it was some kind of intelligence-enhancing quirk. She knew that it wasn't her sister's white hair, red eyes, and purplish skin. After all, Ryuko herself has white hair and skin, not unlike an albino and that was not her quirk. It was her ability to transform into a dragon. Oriental dragon, to be exact.
Remembering her quirk, she started to, once again, wonder whether her sister's quirk would be like her, mother, and father; an ability to change into another creature. That would be awesome, she thought. The entire family having a theme for their quirk.
Ryuko stood up from the sofa and went towards the bookcase. She searched for the book that she was looking for by looking at the title. When she found it, the little albino took it and immediately went back to the sofa. She opened the book in her hands, which was about mythological creatures.
As Ryuko tried to guess what kind of creature her sister could transform into based on the clues, said sister was looking at her big sister momentarily before returning to her drawing book. She then stopped drawing as a headache suddenly came to her. Aryuru massaged her head a little before continuing her drawing.
"Are you OK, Aryu?" She looked at the asker, who was Ryuko, looking at her worriedly.
"Mmm." She answered simply as she nodded her head.
Something that she never told her sister or anyone in her family was how often she had this headache. Those headaches were often followed by strange visions, like her taking a test meant for a college student, calling a stranger "dad," celebrating the birthday of someone that she called "her best friend," and many more.
She didn't understand why she has these strange visions. The youngest Tatsuma also had no intention of involving her parents and sister. This was her own problem and she would solve it on her own. There was no need to involve other people.
Little did she knew that that was not how a toddler would think.
Inside the living room, a fifteen-year-old Ryuko was currently reading a letter that she had been waiting for weeks. She spelled every word in the letter, not wanting to miss even a word in fear of misunderstanding the content.
After she was done with the letter, silence fell on the room. Ryuko slowly put it down as her hands tremble. Not just her hands, actually; her entire body was also trembling.
She slowly turned around, a woman with light blue hair and slightly tanned skin looked at her with both of her hands on her mouth. Both of them suddenly screamed in excitement before hugging each other.
"I did it! I did it, Mom!" Ryuko exclaimed with her mouth creating the widest smile possible.
"That's my girl!" The woman, the mother of Ryuko, Mamei Tatsuma, said with the same excitement. "I know you could do it!"
"Huaah…did I miss something?"
Both women looked at the one who asked the question. It was none other than a seven-year-old Aryuru, who was currently rubbing her right eye. She had recently awoken from her sleep, indicated by her sleepy eyes and the baggy purple pajama that she wore.
"Oh, sweety. It's your sister! She's accepted!" Mamei told her youngest daughter.
Likely due to only waking up very recently, Aryuru seemed to have a problem processing what she had just heard. She tilted her head and if this was a cartoon, there would be sounds of gears trying to work as hard as they can. The mother merely laughed a little as she directed her daughter to the bathroom.
"Why don't you wash your face first? Mommy is going to make breakfast while you do."
The little girl merely nodded her head, still sleepy. As Ryuko watched both of them walked away from the living room, she picked up the letter and reread it, wanting to make sure that she wasn't hallucinating about being accepted.
As their mother prepared breakfast, both Ryuko and Aryuru were sitting at the dining table. The former was looking at the papers where she drew her ideas for her hero costume while the latter was trimming her nails with a nail file. Nails that at the moment were much longer than normal.
It was part of her quirk; Aryuru was able to extend her nails and turned them into short claws. It was not unlike her father, who was capable of doing the same. This made the family wondered if the youngest Tatsuma had a similar quirk as the father.
Speaking about her, Aryuru no longer felt the headache that plagued her for more or less five years. At least, not as often. There were times when it did feel like a headache but for most of the time, she simply has her mind in the cloud, for the lack of better word.
She had a theory on why she had those visions. It sounded quite outlandish, to be honest. At the same time, it was thanks to those visions that she even could think about such a theory. It was only possible because, according to the visions, Aryuru had once read stories about characters that have a similar experience as her. It was impossible because, in the vision, she read that while having the body of a teenager.
It was quite frustrating. It didn't help that something made her thought that asking her family about her problem was a bad idea. It was ridiculous; her family was the best that she could ever wish for. Yet for some reason, she always opted to hide it from them.
"Hey, Aryu, you're alright?" Said girl diverted her attention to Ryuko. "You seem to have something in your mind."
"Oh, it's nothing, Sis." She immediately replied as she tried to find an excuse. "I am just wondering on what my quirk exactly is. I think my claws are merely a part of it, like your teeth."
"Ah, I see." The older sister touched her teeth. "Yeah, I think I get what you mean. Just be patient, OK?"
Aryuru gave her a smile and nodded her head. Any conversation was cut short when Mamei returned with breakfast.
If there was one thing that made Ryuko, now also known as "Dragon Hero Ryukyu," was the improvement of the condition of her family, especially economically. While both of her parents had a well-paying job, her income as a hero was more guaranteed. This also meant that they could now focus on creating their retirement fund.
A week ago, she had received news from her agency that the selling of her first action figure was a success. They sold as well as selling hot cocoa in the middle of freezing people. To celebrate it, the Tatsumas decided to have a vacation at a beach in Okinawa.
Currently sitting under an umbrella, Ryuko lowered her sunglasses to have a better view of her mother, who happily swam around. Her mother was always excited every time she found herself deep in the water, especially since she could only use her quirk effectively in a place like that.
Just like her, Mamei could change into another creature as her quirk. The creature that she changed into was a mermaid. It changed her legs into a fin and gave her an ability to breathe underwater, just like the mermaids from the tales. Unlike the mermaids from the tales though, she had no urge to bring sailors to their doom.
The Dragon Hero put her sunglasses back to their place before glancing towards the ice cream stand. There were long queues of customers, three of them in fact. Among them, she could spot a black and white striped man. That man was her father, Byakko Tatsuma. His name was the same as the Japanese name for the White Tiger, one of the Four Symbols of the Chinese constellations. Tiger was also happened to be the type of creature that his father changed into.
All in all, that was the theme of the family; being able to change into a mythical creature. Well, there might be an exception because…
"Ryu-neechan, you don't swim?" Speak of the devil…
"Maybe later, when it's cloudier," Ryuko replied as she looked at her sister.
Compared to her green one-piece swimsuit, Mamei's special mermaid swimsuit, and Byakko's swim trunk and Hawaiian shirt, Aryuru wore a black and purple string bikini. Combined with her body, which was voluptuous for someone of her age, the youngest Tatsuma became the attention of the people around her, especially from those of opposite sex.
Ryuko was not the type of envy the body of others, especially her sister. While it was very likely that Aryuru would beat her in term of physical attractiveness when she becomes a full grown-up, that was not what caused her to be bothered. But rather…
She glanced at the three boys behind her who were clearly ogling her sister. The Dragon Hero sent a death glare towards them while also showing her sharp teeth. The boys, getting the message, immediately ran to the other direction.
"Is there something wrong, Sis?"
Ryuko turned her head to face her sister who was confused by her latest action.
"Don't worry Aryu, it's nothing." She replied while waving her hand. "Why don't you join Mom? I am sure she would be happy if you do that."
"That sounds great." Aryuru ran towards Mamei before saying, "Don't forget to join us, OK?"
"I will. Just go ahead and have fun."
Once she joined their mother, Ryuko let out a sigh as she looked around. Just as expected, Aryuru was the target of attention of the people around her. She took off her sunglasses and started to watch the people around her sister, intending to catch any potential lecher.
As she watched the sunset with a bottle of grape soda in her hand, Aryuru was also thinking about her condition. After years of having those strange visions, she finally managed to figure out the reason for her to have them. It was related to the topic that was a central tenet of religions like Buddhism and Hinduism.
To put it simply, she believed that she has been reincarnated into this world after her death. It was like in those isekai or SI stories that she read once in a while. Especially since she had some knowledge about the world where she got reborn. Well, somewhat.
It was a world where heroes are basically police officers in spandex. There were schools where people could learn to become a hero. Superpowers, called quirk by the locals, were pretty common. As common as someone having hair. There was this…person of interest. His name is Izuku something. Or was it Deku?
Well, she was never a dedicated fan. Sure, she liked the story but she had a tendency to not remember the details except the ones that she considered hard to forget. After all, why bother remembering when you could simply look it up on the Internet?
Yeah, she could see the irony. To be fair, however, it wasn't like she could expect reincarnation to be true. She was never really that interested in the afterlife.
"Whoa there! Is that a girl or an angel that I see?"
Ho boy…
Aryuru let out a sigh as she watched three boys approaching her. From their looks, the oldest one was only a year older than her or two. She had to admit that they were not too bad in terms of appearances. There were hints of muscle there and there, indicating that they frequently took an exercise.
She was not in the mood to be wooed by the opposite sex though. It was done to you a lot of times can have that effect. She lost count on twentieth or something.
In any case, she needed to deal with these boys.
As the wind blew through her, Ryuko held her jacket so that it wouldn't fly away and to prevent heat from escaping her body. She really should have taken a bath and change her clothes first but considering Aryuru was still out there along with some other people, she decided to only do so after she returned.
"I told you guys I am not interested."
"Come on, now. No need to be so cold now, would you?"
"Yeah, don't worry. All of us will have a good experience, we're sure of it."
Ryuko could feel her veins popping. There was only one voice of a female and it was without doubt Aryuru. It seemed that her suspicion was correct; some bastards decided to approach her sister. She better got there fast before things went out of control.
"For the last time, no means no!"
"No need to be such a bitch, you know?"
"Yeah. If you want, it will be a simple dinner in a simple café only. It's popular and it will be a shame to miss the food."
"Oh, that's it!"
Upon hearing the boys screaming, Ryuko immediately hit the gas and ran as fast as she could. She could hear the sound of fire, water, and wind joining the voices of people shouting at each other. When she arrived, she could see Aryuru and the boys having a stand out with each other.
"OK, knock it off, will you?" She shouted as she kept moving towards them. "Remember, quirk usage in public is forbidden!"
The boys made a lot of noises in protest but a glare from her was all it took for them to drop it and went to their way. Ryuko let out a sigh before setting her eyes on her sister.
"Thanks for that, Sis," Aryuru said as she retracted her claws. "Not sure I can hold back against that annoyance."
"You know, maybe next time you could…" The hero's words soon died in her mouth when she had a proper look at the youngest Tatsuma.
"Um, something wrong, Ryu-neechan?" She asked as she tilted her head.
"Nothing. Just…you might want to touch your back."
Confused, Aryuru touched her back with her right hand. Or at least tried as her hand was touching something else instead. She grabbed and tried to pull it, only to found out that whatever it was, it was connected to her back. After a little bit tug-of-war, Aryuru finally let go of it and instead made it appeared in front of her instead.
It was a wing. Upon realizing that, she immediately realized that there was another one on the left part of her back. As the pair of wings were positioned in front of her, she took a closer look at them. The wings were like the wings of a bat, having leather rather than feathers. She played with them a little and when she flapped them, Aryuru found out that she could at least hover above the ground though she immediately stopped before she found out whether flying was possible. Most likely possible.
"Well, I guess we will finally find out what exactly your quirk is," Ryuko stated as she grinned.
After returning from Okinawa, Mamei brought her daughters to an old acquittance of her and her husband, who unfortunately couldn't come due to the work-related problem. They were currently sitting in a guest room of a traditional Japanese home. Sitting in front of the Tatsumas, on the other side of the table, was the owner of the house and the acquittance, Matsuda Shinwa.
"So, Shinwa, can you deduce my daughter's quirk now?" Mamei asked.
"Hmm… I think I have an idea. But first…" The man put the book in his hands down first before continuing. "You said that she has a pair of bat-like wings."
"Yup. See them with my own eyes." Ryuko said, emphasizing on the "p."
"Hmm… Yes, yes. Now, just to confirm it." Shinwa turned his attention or Aryuru. "Have you ever heard how the people of the opposite sex talked about you?"
"Huh? Well, yeah. There's that one time I heard some of the boys in my school make a comment about me during a festival." The girl answered, confused by the question.
"What kind of comment?"
"They talked about how unfortunate it was that I am not part of the entertainer since I am basically, and I quote, 'sex on legs.'"
"They what?!" Ryuko immediately stood up, furious by what she had just heard. "What did they call my sister?!"
"Whoa, jeez. Calm your tits, Sis." Aryuru stated as she made a distance between herself and her sister.
"Calm down?! Did you even realize what kind of words they used on you?"
"Alright, you two, calm down," Mamei said sternly. "Now!"
Ryuko grumbled for a while before sitting back on the tatami, followed by Aryuru who returned to her original position.
"Alright. I guess there's enough clue on what your quirk is." The man said as he picked up his book and flipped through the pages. "It's succubus."
Silence fell on the family as Shinwa kept looking for something in his book. Aryuru merely raised an eyebrow upon hearing that. It made kind of sense when one considered what she did in her previous life. In order to paid for the tuition and other bills in general, the not-really-Tatsuma-at-that-time became an "escort" for people of the higher echelon of society.
She wondered if it was some kind of karma.
"Succubus?" Ryuko said after several minutes of silence.
"Yes, succubus. You know, a sex demon. A female demon who is well-known for seducing men in their dream and…"
"I-I know what a succubus is." She didn't want to hear that uncomfortable information, thank you very much. "But are your sure Aryu is a succubus?"
"Well, there are many pieces of evidence. She has claws and bat-like wings, which is how succubus is portrayed in the media. There's the comment on how the opposite sex considered her hot. Then there's how you told me on how many times your sister got wooed." Shinwa explained it in details. "It also fits your family theme; white tiger, mermaid, dragon, and now succubus."
"Well…" Mamei tried to say something in the middle of the awkwardness. "…I guess that's something."
"So, being a succubus, what kind of power should I expect?" Aryuru asked, not exactly well-versed about the sex demon except some tiny bits from the pop culture.
"Not sure how much of a succubus you are but maybe you should try to seduce a boy or two at your school and see how good you are." The man suggested bluntly.
"Oy, don't plan any weird idea in my sister's mind!" Ryuko exclaimed, especially since her sister seemed to be considering the idea.
"Speaking of which, remember when you said you want to be a hero like your sister during your 11th birthday party?" Shinwa didn't seem to hear to at least care about what the Dragon Hero said. "You should look at Midnight for inspiration. She's basically the face of the more adult-themed heroes."
Ryuko dropped her head on the table as she grumbled. She looked at Aryuru's face, who seemed to be really considering it.
"You're not serious, like?" She asked, hoping to prevent the worst.
"Well, I still want to be a hero." The younger sister at least seemed to be sympathetic to the older sister's plight. "It's better to face the inevitable sooner."
Ryuko let out a sigh as she put her hand on her face. She looked at her mother, who simply looked sheepishly, and then at Shinwa, who was still looking at his book.
"Gods help us." She stated in a voice filled with sorrow and dread.
And the introduction chapter is done.
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