II.

This house was too big. Too spacious. It would be too easy for an infant to get hurt here.

"Yayoi, open wide."

She obeyed without hesitation. As horrible as the baby food tasted, it was better for her to eat it and get it over with. Rei spooned the paste into her mouth, and she pretended to savour it before swallowing.

"Good girl, Yayoi! Look, Shouto, nee-chan likes it."

The small, pudgy boy in the high chair next to her held out his hands and cried out. From day one he wouldn't stray away from her, always panicked whenever they were apart. Sometimes she would push him away, suffocated by him; sometimes her heart would ache, wondering if her brother had passed with her and was desperately trying to tell her he was here. That she wasn't alone.

Things had been… difficult to adjust to. To accept, she supposed. She had died—that much was a given, and she could accept that. Being reborn with her memories intact, now that was a tough pill to swallow. She was pretty sure most babies didn't experience this. The most difficult of all, though, was just where she'd ended up. Who she'd ended up being. The sick twist in fate that matched her fiery death to a man whose ability may as well have belonged to an edgy villain in a fantasy novel.

My Hero fucking Academia. As Rei turned back to Yayoi and fed her some more, she felt her stomach flip for the umpteenth time since she'd heard her full name. Of all the franchises, of all the families, to be given the isekai treatment with, it just had to be arguably the most dysfunctional one out there. It just had to be the one with the biggest rat bastard for a father.

A lot of what Rei did now that the twins were home made a lot of sense. Yayoi couldn't blame her, not with who she'd been sold to by her own family. Whenever one of the infants began to progress with their age, learn something new, Rei would omit the detail from her husband. Whenever they risked being seen by the man trying to crawl or trying to talk, Rei would hover like a helicopter parent and act like they were being clumsy or fussy.

Anything to delay the inevitable, Yayoi thought.

Yayoi had to accept quickly that she would never know what happened to her brother. She would never know if he survived, if the bitch that killed her got what she deserved. Yayoi would never know if she died in vain or if authorities made it in time. She would only know that she died hunched over her brother, burned to death like she'd been sentenced to an archaic execution.

"Careful, Shouto," Rei cooed at the infant. Yayoi looked over at the other high chair, at the red and white hair bobbing about on top of it. This poor kid—this baby—had no idea what hell he was about to be put through. He was oblivious, like Yayoi was supposed to be, but that wouldn't last long. By age five he was expected to train, which meant before even that he was expected to mature as fast as possible.

And eventually…

Yayoi looked back at Rei just as she called out to the infant. Yayoi opened her mouth without being told, and Rei hesitated before feeding her some more. "That's it, eat up."

No matter what Rei or his siblings would did, Shouto wasn't going to escape the abuse he grew up with in the series. Not until it all came to a head and a plain boy had to scream at him on national television to kickstart the recovery process. Yayoi did the math in her head as she swallowed the food; if Shouto was expected to train around age five, and he wasn't much older when Rei burned him… A whole decade of torment and baggage awaited him.

Yayoi looked at Shouto again. He wasn't quite at the point where he could smile now, but it still made her heart feel a little lighter whenever he tried. And he was trying! He really wanted his mama to know he loved being fed, especially by her! And he loved it because apparently Yayoi loved it!

A hiccup bubbled to the surface. She couldn't stop it, couldn't hide it. Rei hurriedly turned her attention back to Yayoi, almost spilling the baby food as she did.

"Oh, Yayoi," she cooed.

There really wasn't much that Rei could do to calm her, not with the emotions swirling and the resignation starting to set in. She was useless now, what the hell could she do for this brother that she hadn't already tried for her last? Yayoi and her brother had grown up in similar states, had even moved out when Yayoi was in middle school for his safety. She'd been his legal guardian! She was young, but she was willing to be his mother where their own failed!

And instead she was the one who failed. She failed, and now her punishment was to watch this child grow up the same way, with even less resources to protect him with. Even his one sanctuary from Todoroki Enji would hurt him, and the mental scars would never truly fade away.

Rei lifted her from the high chair and tried to soothe her. She bounced Yayoi up and down, tried to burp her, but there was no way her crying would stop now that it started. Ever since she'd come home with the twins, Rei always commented on how calm Yayoi was—Rei never knew just how long Yayoi was waiting for the other emotional shoe to drop. To be fair, Yayoi hadn't thought it would take this long; she was breaching four months now, close to when she was expected to start standing on her own, and only now was she flushing the grief from her system.

Rei moved her closer to Shouto, desperately trying to placate the infant now. "Yayoi, look! Shouto's here!"

At the sound of his name, almost knowing what to do when his mother mentioned him, those pudgy little hands of his reached out in search of Yayoi's. The sight reduced her to mere hiccups, pausing her cries to figure out what he was doing; but when those tiny fingers found her frilly little dress and tugged, her heart leapt into her throat.

"Yah!" he called. "Yah! Yah!"

Rei smoothed back Yayoi's hair, relief clearing away her stress. "That's right, Shouto. Yah-yoi. Say 'Yah-yoi'."

Shouto tugged harder, and Rei lowered Yayoi until he could finally find one of her hands. "Yah!" he called again.

The laughter from her mother, the attempt at glee from her brother—she'd never noticed such small joys before. Yayoi hiccuped again, but her tears had come to a full halt. Here she was, bawling her eyes out, while the two people who would suffer most in this house were comforting her. Protecting her from herself.

Yayoi reached back for Shouto. As soon as it was apparent that her brother was the key to calming her, Rei unbuckled Shouto and carried both twins as carefully as possible. No matter how much they were shifted around, Yayoi could feel herself becoming overwhelmed once more by Shouto's determination to keep hold of her.

They were laid down in their cot together. The moment he was free to do so, Shouto pulled Yayoi close and made sure to hug her with all his strength. Yayoi clung to him like her life depended on it. It really didn't take him long to fall asleep, and once Yayoi pretended to as well Rei left them for their nap with an almost relieved sigh.

In their room, vaguely illuminated by the sunlight pooling through the curtains, Yayoi stared at the peaceful face of Shouto. She could remember a time where she watched over her own brother, felt a sense of peace whenever he managed to sleep. He'd barely been thirteen the last time she saw him—Yayoi never got to see him graduate, to help him with exams for his high school of choice. She examined Shouto's face, the hand still clinging to her own. She sucked in a deep breath and let it out in a slow sigh.

From what she knew about this series, at least she would be given that much with Shouto. At least she would be able to see him go to high school—to UA, no less—and maybe even grow up. She just wasn't keen on being a bystander to all the abuse that awaited him.

Awaited them.

Yayoi shuddered. Right, she was a Todoroki now too. Enji expected brilliance from his children, and those who were less than were deemed failure. Toya, Fuyumi, Natsuo… She couldn't even remember how old they'd be by the time these two had been born. Natsuo was barely in college, much like she had been, at the time he'd been introduced proper. He had to have barely gotten his Quirk by now, right? Shouto had never been allowed near him even when he was a baby.

They were essentially on borrowed time, she realised. At most, four years until those gears started turning—that was when most children got their Quirks. And after that, maybe a year before all attempts at trust would be shattered for Shouto. Yayoi would know things got better, but Shouto wouldn't.

She was the only one who knew how anything could possibly play out from here.

She swallowed thickly. This was… heavy stuff, if she was honest. It felt like a moral dilemma she'd have to study for some kind of bogus test—like, "You know the future and how it will play out, do you change anything to avert a tragedy and risk creating a bigger one in its place?" Or something like that. She never was big on time travel theory, not even as a kid engrossed in shounen manga in her free time, but even she knew enough to be wary of this knowledge. The butterfly effect was a dangerous, chaotic thing to behold at times. A force of nature in its own right.

Yayoi could do something. She did something for her brother at every possible moment, and that was when she never knew what the outcome would be. She never knew if they'd survive a month on their own, but it was still a month of respite he'd welcomed with all his heart. Being reborn wasn't necessarily a terrible time all the time, too—it was a booming genre by the time she'd died, and even she had wanted to get in on the light novels based around the idea! But actually having the knowledge of what she wanted to avoid… It was too daunting. It felt too good to be true, like it was some kind of monkey's paw of a scenario.

There had to be a catch to messing around with the canon too much. That catch would definitely come into effect as soon as she stopped following whatever script was laid out for her, being the sister of a major character and quasi-antagonist's child.

More than that, what could she even do? She was a child, she had no power, she had no respect. With her luck, she'd be a "failure" like the rest of the Todoroki children.

Shouto clutched her hand tighter in his sleep. Yayoi focused on him once more, on the innocence all over his face and the sheer smallness of his form. She couldn't just let him suffer. But what could she do? She didn't even know what her Quirk would be, and more than anything she didn't know if Enji would approve of it. There was the possibility that twins shared Quirks—was that confirmed in canon? She couldn't recall.

Yayoi gave his hand a reassuring squeeze. Shouto babbled softly in his sleep, pleased that he wasn't alone.

Yayoi did have one thing on her side: Knowledge. She knew the vague timeline of this childhood, the goals Enji has for a successor. Toya had been considered with his Quirk being as powerful as Enji's—the only thing stopping him was Rei's weak constitution that he inherited. If Yayoi could be stronger than Toya by the time her Quirk appeared, maybe…

But even then, she could do something in the interim. Her knowledge of this world's history was poor, but she had college-level knowledge of everything else. She was certain she could get the hang of walking and talking faster than Shouto, at the very least. If she presented herself as a prodigy, an early bloomer, maybe…

Enji already had high hopes for her, believing her to be a fighter and the child he waited for to surpass All Might. If she approached Enji, begged for his training and idolised him, maybe...

Maybe Yayoi could turn the abuse towards her instead of Shouto.

Maybe that was how she could change things. She'd already outlined what the catch would be with this method—her own suffering—so what more was there to lose? The option was right there with a neat little bow tied on top, and all she had to do was unwrap it.

Yayoi closed her eyes and let out a long breath. Even if it hurt Rei, scared her, Yayoi was going to make Enji think she was his prodigy.

She started crawling early. It was more sliding along the ground than anything, but it was enough to warrant panic from Rei while Enji was in his training room. Natsuo didn't have his Quirk yet, and while Enji predicted him to become a failure he still insisted on training him. Despite how much Rei begged her to sit still, to stay with Shouto and just play with their toys, Yayoi took every opportunity to sneak away she could.

Yayoi's goal was to fasttrack her development, but it didn't quite work out the way she intended. She snuck away from Rei, for sure, and she was well on her way down the halls of this part of the estate. She had hoped one of the staff would see her, would report her progress to Enji. She'd hoped to just wait patiently for the results. Nothing ever happened overnight, especially not when she'd only just resolved to put herself in the spotlight. Some of the staff pitied Rei, after all; it had to take a while for the news to reach her tyrant of a husband.

That was the plan, at least.

Rei was calling for her now, panicked and raising her voice through the estate. And as Rei called for her, the man of the hour's attention was on her. No sooner had Yayoi crossed the threshold into another room, a door further down the hall slid open and Enji's booming voice demanded to know what was happening. He had to have seen her tiny legs wiggle into the room—how else would he have known she was in there?

The fire of his beard illuminated the room as he followed her inside. Yayoi crawled along, pretending as though she was unaware of her shadow, but deep in her chest her heart was hammering away. She couldn't count the beats, couldn't tell if it was too fast or if it was her nerves. The man just loomed over her, moved a step forward for every foot she traversed. He never even spoke a word.

The silence was killing her.

As soon as Yayoi was at the centre of the room, she halted entirely. Despite the plan she'd had in mind, she actually felt fear now. No one was ever that quiet unless they were mad. Enji wasn't known for his tranquil fury, but there was always room for the possibility. Yayoi's breaths became shallow, and she did her best to keep the sounds to a minimum as she rocked back and landed on her rear. She had to turn around and acknowledge him. She had to see if he was mad, if she was in danger. A baby's body was too fragile to survive his method of punishment…

She feigned surprise as she looked over her shoulder at him. Before she could so much as get a good look at his face, her infant body fell backwards and left her lying on the floor, gaze glued to the ceiling. Yayoi held her breath, tried to find Enji's form again. But he was moving now, closing the distance between them with a few short steps.

Rei's cries sounded so distant.

Large hands grabbed her, picked her up and set her upright. Yayoi swallowed thickly as Enji brought her level to his face, and for a fraction of a second she saw her short second life flash before her eyes.

Enji was grinning. A wild grin swallowed by the flames around his face, his eyes alight with a fire she knew he didn't have control over. He was appraising her again, weighing her in his grip. Before Yayoi could figure out if it was joy or something more sinister on his face, he cradled her in his arms and strode out of the room.

Rei was just stumbling out into the hall with Shouto in her arms, crying loudly enough for the both of them, when Enji shut the door behind them. Her eyes flitted from Enji to Yayoi, and Yayoi could see the fear slowly rising in her expression.

"How old are the twins, Rei?" Enji demanded. Rei tensed up.

"Nearly… Nearly three months…"

Enji's grin grew wider. "When did the others start crawling?"

She could see Rei's grip on Shouto turn defensive. "Toya… was four months. Fuyumi… three months. Natsuo was three as well."

Yayoi squirmed in his grip. This had to be enough to get Enji's attention, right? She was crawling before the others, so his neanderthal reasoning should've told him she was better than the others. If he'd found out this early, then surely his attention would be on her sooner!

Enji approached his wife. Without much more than a simple, "Keep an eye on her," he handed Yayoi over and returned to his previous activities. Despite how quickly he'd given her back, the trembling in Rei's arms was more than enough to confirm her hopes.

She had his interest. Now she had to keep it.

Next update will be on December 10th! And thank you to everyone who followed and favourited the fic! :D