The Past Never Dies
At the door of the Jiro family home, Kyoka Jiro and her wife Momo stood at the door, while their adopted daughter Yumi waited with Kyoka's parents. The two women, now teachers at U.A. High School, wore skirt suits with matching neckties; Kyoka wore a pink suit, while Momo wore a navy blue one.
"Thank you for your help babysitting, Mother, Father," Kyoka said.
"So polite, Kyoka," Kyoka's father Kyotoku said. "Setting a good example for Yumi, are you?"
Kyoka winced at the teasing but refused to dignify it with a response. He was right, but that didn't mean she had to give him the satisfaction of hearing her admit it."
"I know she is, dear," Kyoka's mother Mika said, "and I'm glad for that. So please don't make fun of her."
"All right, all right," Kyotoku said.
Kyoka then turned to Yumi.
"We have to go now, Yumi," Kyoka said. "Momo-san and I have to attend our students' opening ceremony. Be sure to behave yourself while we're gone, okay?"
Yumi nodded. She was a rising third-year in middle school, and for her, class didn't start until the next day.
"Yes, Mother," Yumi said. "I'll see you again later."
Yumi's two mothers waved goodbye to her, then got into the car to drive to U.A. High School, leaving Yumi alone with her new grandparents. Yumi had met Kyoka's parents a few times, but this was the first time she had come over to their house.
"Wow, our little girl's really prim and proper," Kyotoku said. "She answers to 'Mother' now."
"Are you sure that wasn't her wife's idea, dear?" Mika said.
"I don't think so, Grandmother," Yumi said. "Of my two mothers, Kyoka-san... I mean, Kyoka-kaa-sama is the strict one."
It had been a little more than two years since Kyoka and Momo had saved Yumi after she was orphaned in a villain attack, and only a few months since they had officially adopted her. She was still getting used to calling them "Mother," as well as to using the "-kaa-sama" suffix when specifying which one she was talking about.
"Oh, really?" Kyotoku said. "When Kyoka was a child, she was very different from the way she is now."
Kyotoku glanced at his wife, and she nodded, and got out the old photo album.
"Music is a bit of a Jiro family tradition," Kyotoku said, flipping through the book and showing old photos of him and his wife performing, "and Kyoka was no exception."
As Kyotoku showed Yumi a photo of a teenage Kyoka wearing a punk outfit, Yumi gasped.
"No way..." Yumi said. "This is... Mother?"
"Absolutely," Mika said. "It's kind of surprising seeing her dressed like this, isn't it?"
"It is," Yumi said. "She wears a suit and tie to work, and dresses nicely around the house; I've never seen her wear denim or any shirt without buttons. When Momo-kaa-sama started teaching at U.A., she decided her hero outfit wasn't appropriate for classroom instruction, so she wore a suit instead, and Kyoka-kaa-sama followed her example."
Yumi had been more than a little shocked by how much skin Momo's costume showed. Even after hearing the explanation of how Momo created non-organic items with her body's lipids, she still wondered if it was partially made revealing as fanservice for the men watching her, a move inspired by Momo's late teacher Midnight.
"Ah, so it was Momo-san's idea," Mika said. "Still, Kyoka probably wouldn't have gone along with it when she was younger."
Kyotoku nodded, then turned to Yumi.
"Back when Kyoka was your age, she was blunt, brutally honest and passionate about music," Kyotoku said, "even if she kept the latter secret from her friends. It was a bit of a surprise when she sat us down at the table one evening while she was in middle school and announced her intention to become a hero instead of a musician."
"We naturally accepted her decision," Mika said, "because to us, music and hero work are both ways to reach out and save people."
"You could think of it that way," Yumi said.
While Yumi was as much of a fan of music as Kyoka and the rest of the Jiro family, she also realized that if Kyoka had chosen to focus on music rather than heroism, Yumi might not be here today.
"And you know what was really surprising?" Kyotoku said. "Kyoka was more worried about what we'd think about her becoming a hero than she was about coming out of the closet in her second year of high school."
"I'm not so sure about that," Yumi said. "Minami-san, one of my friends from school, got into an argument with her parents about wanting to be a hero, but they already know she's a lesbian and are fine with it."
Mika nodded. Kyotoku had some stern words with Kyoka's homeroom teacher about how Kyoka had ended up in the hospital after a villain attack on the supposedly secure training camp, but he'd already been willing to support Kyoka's decision to return to U.A. After the public's faith in heroes had been shaken, fewer parents were willing to allow their children to pursue heroism, let alone in the face of such danger, and Minami's family was no exception.
"Think of it this way, dear," Mika said. "Kyoka realized she could trust us not to judge her for her lifestyle choices, which was why she more readily confided in us the second time she had something important to share with us."
"Right," Kyotoku said.
"There's a lesson in this, Yumi," Mika said. "My daughter and her wife consider you as much their child as if one of them had given birth to you, so I hope you can trust them as much as Kyoka does us."
"I will, Grandmother," Yumi said.
The elder Jiro couple nodded approvingly. Kyotoku then flipped the page to Kyoka performing in the concert and showed her the pictures.
"Anyway," Kyotoku said, "Kyoka didn't lose her passion for music after U.A.; she instead decided to focus on hero work. She did an amazing job of putting on a concert in her first year at U.A."
"Obviously, she wasn't alone," Mika said, "but she played the biggest role in teaching her classmates how to play the instruments and organizing the show. "As a teacher, she provides lessons to students preparing the festival."
If U.A. had club activities or electives, Kyoka would have been a perfect choice for a music teacher or an advisor for a band or other music club. Unfortunately, hero course students were too busy with their studies to have the time for anything that did not advance their hero careers, so neither possibility was open to Kyoka as long as she was teaching would-be heroes. Kyoka took it in stride, though, and was simply grateful to have an opportunity to share what she knew about music with others.
"Yes, she's a good teacher," Yumi said. "She told me if I were to go to U.A., she wouldn't treat me any differently than any of her other students. I'd be 'Jiro-san' to her, and I'd have to call her 'Jiro-sensei.'"
"Oh?" Kyotoku said. "And how does that make you feel?"
"I have mixed feelings," Yumi said. "I'm used to people calling me 'Jiro-san' by now, but it would be strange if my own mother- the one whose name I took did that with me. Other than that, I could follow her orders without any problems."
"Good to hear," Mika said. "Your parents clearly raised you well."
Mika turned the page and saw she was getting to near the end of Kyoka's first year at U.A.
"We don't just have photos of Kyoka's more laid-back or punk rocker side," Mika said, "but there are also photos of her as a student and a young hero."
Mika continued to flip through the album, stopping to point out various photos. There were a few class photos of Kyoka in there, whether in her uniform or her costume. Kyoka had photos taken at her various work studies, from Death Arms near the end of her first term to Gang Orca in the third term. Before long, there were photos of Kyoka with Momo, often when they were on dates together. Eventually, the Jiros got to the end of the album.
"And this is Kyoka's graduation," Mika said, "followed by her and Momo-san joining the same hero agency. That's around when you were born, isn't it?"
"It is," Yumi said. "Both the world and Kyoka-kaa-sama were really different back then."
Mika and Kyotoku nodded somberly. Every generation had to face different challenges than their ancestors had, with life getting harder in some ways and easier in others as the years passed. They never foresaw the events that had rocked their daughter and daughter-in-law's world, so they could only imagine how their ancestors had dealt with the initial rise of Quirks.
"But while I know why the world changed," Yumi said, "I don't know why Kyoka-kaa-sama did. Do you?"
"We do, Kyotoku said, "but, uh..."
Kyotoku glanced at his wife, who shook her head.
"I think you'll have to ask her," Mika said, "because I think we've embarrassed your mother enough for one day. Someday, Kyoka and Momo-san will do the same for you."
"All right," Yumi said. "I'll have a talk with my mothers at some point."
"In all seriousness, though," Mika said, "I'm proud of what my daughter and daughter-in-law accomplished as heroes. It's a shame that they had to give it up, but they're still doing respectable work even now."
Yumi smiled.
"I think so, too," Yumi said. "I'd like to see more family photos."
Kyotoku and Mika showed their granddaughter the rest of the family photo album, providing commentary as they went, but shied away from the subject of her mothers' career change. While Yumi had many unanswered questions about the subject, it would be best for her to ask her parents for those answers.
Eventually, Kyoka and Momo came to pick Yumi up and drive her home. When asked how Yumi enjoyed her day with her grandparents, Yumi politely said she had a good time, saving her questions or later.
At the apartment, Yumi sat down at the living room table with Kyoka and Momo and got straight to the point.
"I have a question, Kyoka-kaa-sama," Kyoka said. "Is it true you were a punk rocker back when you were young?"
Kyoka turned beet red. Ordinarily, she prided herself on being emotionally restrained, as she'd been determined to never lose her composure around her daughter. Despite this, being confronted with her past so suddenly and so bluntly caught her off guard.
"D-Did my parents tell you today?" Kyoka said.
"They did," Yumi said, "and they showed me some old photos of you from your time at U.A."
"In other words, only part of the story," Kyoka said. "It's not as though they were around all the time, especially not when I was trying to hide my hobby from my classmates."
For security reasons and due to a lack of patience with "helicopter parents," U.A. tended to discourage parents from accessing campus except for public events like the sports festival, the culture festival and graduation, so Kyoka had seen relatively little of her parents while at U.A., even before the school required students to move into dorms. However, Kyoka had sent home pictures of herself, thereby documenting her youth, providing her parents documentation of her time at school, which they then shared with her daughter.
"Perhaps not, Kyoka-san," Momo said, "but I believe you owe Yumi an honest answer now that she's learned this much."
Kyoka sighed, defeated, realizing it would be more embarrassing to try to deny what Yumi already knew to be true than it was to come clean about her past.
"Mother and Father are right about me," Kyoka said. "Back around the time I started high school, I was really interested in music, dressed more casually and was kind of rude, to be honest. I wasn't exactly the type for mincing words or using honorifics."
To Yumi's knowledge, she was the only person Kyoka did not use honorifics on, but only by virtue of being her child. In fact, Kyoka had called her "Yumi-chan" prior to taking her in and called her "Yumi" for the first time after Yumi agreed to be adopted.
"I think of your younger self as outspoken," Momo said, "and I appreciated how you came up with my nickname, Yaomomo."
"That's true," Kyoka said, "but I hope you're not too broken up about my not using it anymore, Momo-san."
"Not at all," Momo said, "since I'm not a Yaoyorozu anymore. Besides, I thought it was rather sweet when you started using '-san' on my name."
Kyoka blushed slightly and said, "Thanks." For the ultra-polite Yaoyorozu, calling her girlfriend by her first name, albeit with the '-san' honorific, was a gesture of intimacy that Kyoka appreciated, while for the brusque Kyoka, calling her girlfriend with the '-san' honorific, albeit with her first name, was a gesture of politeness that touched Momo.
"But enough about me," Kyoka said. "Shall I tell our daughter about you?"
"No need, Kyoka-san," Momo said. "I'll do it myself."
Momo cleared her throat, at which point her daughter and wife gave her their undivided attention.
"Back when I started at U.A., I was the quintessential girl born with a silver spoon in her mouth," Momo said. "I had excelled at my private all-girls middle school, and sought to be a hero, so my father called in a favor with one of his hero acquaintances, who recommended me to U.A. That was insufficient to get into U.A. on its own, but I passed the test, and proceeded to place first on Aizawa-sensei's Quirk test."
"You're as humble as ever," Kyoka said sarcastically.
"My apologies, but I'm still getting to the point," Momo said. "For all my talent in academics and using my Quirk, there were significant gaps in my knowledge, from how my less affluent classmates lived their lives to how I can defeat an opponent who uses pure brute force and will not allow me a moment to think. Looking back on those days inspires embarrassment as often as nostalgia."
"You're not alone there," Kyoka said. "Most of us have at least one regret from our youth, even if they're not the same as your regrets."
"Indeed," Kyoka said, "but being surrounded by people very different from myself, people I would likely not have met had I advanced to the high school level or associated college of my escalator school, was an educational experience. Meeting all those people helped me learn to enjoy the simple things in life, from home-cooked meals that you make yourself instead of having chefs prepare them to dresses and suits that look nice despite not having a recognizable brand name."
"You taught me a lot, too," Kyoka said. "I learned that it can be fun to dress up a little from time to time, as well as to practice good manners on others. Father sometimes makes fun of me for doing so, but I know Mother appreciates it."
"I know she does," Momo said, "since that made it easier for her to accept me as part of the Jiro family."
Yumi nodded, grateful for how all the Jiros had quickly come to see her as one of them.
"Anyway," Yumi said, "your first year of school was eventful, wasn't it?"
"That's quite the understatement," Kyoka said. "There were repeated villain attacks on students, the epic battle between All For One and All Might that led to the latter's retirement, and a massive war between heroes and villains. Things calmed down slightly not long after our second year began in earnest, but by then, so much had changed and would never be the same again."
Yumi had mainly heard about the event in her history classes. While it was relatively new and people were still trying to make sense of it, it was considered to be as much of a turning point in the hero society as the arrival of the first costumed vigilantes was.
"After graduating, we became pro heroes," Kyoka said, "even though the world had changed so much in our first year at U.A. There was greater need for heroes, but also less support, so heroes worked longer hours for less money, and had to endure the stigma that was now attached to the profession after many public failures by once-respected heroes. But we all persisted, since we believed that helping people was most important."
"I'm glad you felt that way," Yumi said, "but why'd you stop?"
"To put it simply, because of you," Kyoka said, "although you weren't the only reason. At the time we saved you, we were at the peak of our popularity, and were gradually finding that we didn't have much of a life outside of hero work. Heroism was always a demanding profession, and it only got more so after everything that happened in our first year."
"There are some people who can continue with heroism into middle or even old age," Momo said. "For example, Midoriya-san and Ura...I mean Ochaco-san are still Japan's highest-ranked heroes, but they've given up parenthood, their social life and even most of their time together. Their dedication is admirable and they make an amazing team, but their marriage only works because they're willing to make the sacrifices."
"Are you saying you weren't?" Yumi said.
Momo and Kyoka shook their heads.
"That's not it,' Kyoka said. "We knew we couldn't walk away from our job of protecting others, especially not after the villain attack that orphaned you. But then, we learned that you didn't have any relatives to look after you and wondered... is it possible that there are other ways we can use our skills as pro heroes to help people?"
To Kyoka, everything she did- as a musician, as a hero, as a teacher and as a mother- was about helping others, and the only question was what kind of help she gave and how she gave it.
"Ah, yes, I remember," Yumi said. "The two of you were the only ones who showed up to visit me more than once, apart from the people whose job it was to look after me."
"We didn't decide overnight," Momo said, "but after a while, we realized that no one else would take you in, which was when we seriously discussed the possibility of adopting you."
"Around the time of the incident in which we saved you, there were a few openings for teachers at U.A.," Kyoka said, "so Momo-san and I applied for those jobs. We got them, and then officially retired from heroism. After that, we visited you regularly and eventually adopted you."
"That's right," Yumi said. "If you hadn't been there for me, I'd probably still be at that facility."
Unsurprisingly, Yumi had little desire to talk about losing her parents or the months she spent in an orphanage.
"No matter how painful one's past is, or how much one regrets certain actions, they're still a part of you," Kyoka said, "so while I don't act much like my younger self, I refuse to act as though it isn't a part of me. I pass my knowledge and experience as a hero on to my students, and even teach students how to play instruments for the culture festival."
"Grandmother and Grandfather said something similar," Yumi said. "They also told me they were proud of you."
Kyoka smiled.
"I know," Kyoka said. "I might have chosen a different path in life than the one they expected, but they still approve of the life I've led. That's why I'm looking forward to what you make of yourself in the future."
"I won't let you down, Mother," Yumi said with a smile.
Several years later, Yumi became a police officer alongside her old classmate Minami. Minami's parents eventually compromised and decided to allow her to pursue a career in law enforcement, which was just as well, since Yumi's Quirk was practically useless for hero work.
After completing a raid against a drug syndicate and arresting everyone involved, Yumi placed a call to her mothers to let them know she would be home soon. While she was glad that she could finish up work on time, she was dreading the prospect of introducing her girlfriend to her adoptive parents.
"My mothers are waiting at home for us," Yumi said, "so they'll be expecting to see us at the agreed-upon time. Now the hard part begins."
"It'll be OK, Yumi-san," Minami said. "Your mothers seem to like me, and since they're lesbians themselves, they won't have any problem with us going out... at least not on the basis of us being the same gender."
"That's not it," Yumi said. "I can tell that Kyoka-kaa-sama has been waiting almost a decade to get some payback for her parents bringing up how she was like when she was young. They did it for Momo-kaa-sama when she came over to meet her girlfriend's parents, and then they did it for me."
"I'm sure that nothing they show me will be that bad," Minami said. "After all, I've known you for about as long as they have."
"My mothers received personal effects from Mom and Dad's old house around the time they adopted me," Yumi said, "among them, baby photos. They've seen a lot that you haven't."
"Oh," Minami said. "You've got a point."
Minami knew that Yumi was very particular about looking nice for photographs. On her desk, there was her most recent family photo- Yumi in her police uniform and her mothers in suits- as well as one of Yumi and Minami in uniform. This wasn't to say that she didn't dress more casually from time to time, nor that she'd never been captured on camera that way, but that wasn't the way she wanted to prevent herself to her colleagues and other strangers.
"But even so," Minami said, "the thing about family- whether blood or adoptive- is that they know about the things that embarrass you and love you despite- if not because of- them. Your adoptive parents once said that their only regret in adopting you was missing out on the first decade or so of your life, and I feel the same way."
"If you put it that way, Minami-san, I guess I can live with it," Yumi said. "Of course, I assume you're all right with your parents doing the same with you."
"Absolutely," Minami said. "In fact, I'm looking forward to it."
"Then it's settled," Yumi said. "Shall we get going?"
"Yes, let's," Minami said.
As much as Yumi dreaded the prospect of her girlfriend hearing all sorts of embarrassing stories about her, she was grateful that she still had her adoptive parents, despite losing her biological parents. She didn't have much time to spend with her parents, so she vowed to cherish every moment, just as she even cherished the more embarrassing memories.
Author's Notes
Thank you for reading this fic.
This looks at a possible future for Kyoka, in which, after getting together with Momo, she has to explain how she was in the past to her adopted daughter.
I chose to pair Kyoka with Momo, since not only do I like the pairing, but Momo is also the most different from Kyoka, and the most likely to result in her mellowing out from her blunt and sarcastic younger self, among other things.
It's hard to tell how tolerant fictional societies are of same-sex couples, but I decided to have the MHA universe, which takes place in the distant future, legalize same-sex marriage at some point.
Speaking of future predictions, this includes some of my predictions about how being a hero might change after the Paranormal Liberation War. I suspect that society may ultimately rethink how they perceive heroes, and that heroism may become a more demanding and less rewarding profession that attracts fewer people in search of fame and fortune, but those who are willing to put in the time and effort to serve others. Of course, not all heroes can do that forever, which is part of the reason behind Kyoka and Momo's career change.
