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Unlike her brother, Ichika never agrees to a playdate at the Bakugou residence.
She feels too sick to play, she tells Inko in the soft lulls that befall the Midoriya household whenever Izuku is pre-occupied watching All-Might. Her stomach feels funny, and her throat feels dry, and please kaa-san, I just don't feel well-
Midoriya Inko is more than accustomed to thinly-veiled excuses in her lifetime.
She's heard too many from her parents growing up, too many from her husband, too. So when the oldest of her twins, eyes set and unyielding in a way that is her own, tells her that she can't go to the Bakugo's because she's feeling under the weather even though she looks perfectly fine - well, of course Inko knows what's going on.
It doesn't mean she'll deny her daughter from staying home, though.
Ichika's obvious dislike for Mitsuki's boy is just another thing that differentiates her from her brother. And in some ways, the young mother can't help but be glad that her daughter seems to already be so strong-willed with her resolve.
When she thinks of her daughter's steele-like eyes and firm beliefs, compares it with her son's hopeful smile and bleeding heart- Inko remembers the way the difference in the twins' X-rays was revealed and finds herself rueful that it wasn't Ichika who was double-jointed instead.
Maybe that makes her an awful mother, wishing one child was Quirkless rather than the other, but Midoriya Inko is nothing if not a realist. In the same way she let Hisashi work overseas in order to provide for their family, even when parting with him broke her heart, Inko knows Ichika would've handled being Quirkless better.
There's just something about her daughter, Inko thinks.
Even for a world inhabited by super-powered individuals, sometimes the young mother wonders if it's some kind of old magic at play when it comes to her eldest child. Wonders on days when Ichika's eyes seem a little too morose for someone her age, a little too knowing, if a bodysnatcher had taken her baby girl in the middle of the night without her realizing.
The next time Mizuki comes with Katsuki to pick up Izuku, Inko watches her twins farewell one another (with Izuku, predictably, sniffling into his sister's neck) and can't help but forget every little concern she has as Ichika molds herself around her brother. Gathering him into her arms before pressing a kiss into unruly hair that matches her own.
Though Inko wonders a lot of things when it comes to her daughter, there is one thing she is absolutely certain of: For all her differing beliefs and character traits, there is no one Midoriya Ichiko loves more than her brother. It's the one facet of truth that soothes all Inko's motherly worries, makes her smile softly as Ichika pats her brother's back once more before stepping back towards her side.
.
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Sometimes she laments the absurdity of it all, of how in a world where almost anything is possible, it is her mere existence that should not be.
With evolved DNA allowing the majority of the human population supernatural abilities, Ichika often wonders how society would fare if they learned the truth about her identity. If they found out that she recalls a previous life, remembers the way she used to play the piano (she'd been a virtuoso; a prodigy), and the way her car collided with another- she knows they will revel in the revelation. The idea of reincarnation is not uncommon in Japanese culture, after all, so to have evidence that it exists will certainly reform Shinto and Buddhist beliefs alike.
Of course, if people found out the world they lived in was a fictitious piece of work in her previous life, Ichika was sure reality would fold in on itself. Certainly, knowing that the world she now lives in is the same world she once read about on vividly drawn paper becomes too much for even her to grasp - so she resolves to focus on what she does know in this new life of hers.
Her name is Ichika. She's the oldest child of Midoriya Inko and Midoriya Hisashi; twin to none other than the main character himself, Midoriya Izuku. And she should not be here.
It's quite a conundrum really, with her existence going against all that is meant to be. But when her brother looks at her so brightly, shoulders relaxing as he folds himself into her side whenever their classmates remind him of his Quirk status; well, how can Ichika possibly feel out of place when Izuku treats her like that? Like...like she belongs.
"Hey Icchan," her brother says one day, voice soft and uncharacteristically quiet as Ichika glances at him. "Do you think I can still be a Hero?"
It's only been a month since their visit to Doctor Tsubasa, a week since Ichika finally manifested her Quirk in the middle of the night. She had been having a bath when a moth (it seemed, even in this new life she could not rid herself of her dislike for the insect, damned bug) flew into the bathroom, startling her to the point she accidentally released a burst of flames as she swatted her hand.
Her Quirk, which was now registered as Pyrokinesis, was the culmination of her parents' Quirks fusing together. A lethal mutation of her father's fire-breath and mother's mild telekinesis all in one.
Ichika didn't think her Quirk was that impressive really, considering elemental Quirks were quite common. But by the time word had reached the twins' school the morning after, the manifestation of her Quirk was all anyone seemed to be talking about. Right alongside the fact that there was decidedly a new contender for who had the most powerful Quirk in their class, a debate Bakugou had loudly scoffed at.
Even with your shitty Quirk you're still months behind me, the blonde had scowled, palms crackling as he stormed past the twins during recess. Not like your brother is any better, stupid Deku!
(Deku. Deku. Deku. Deku. DEKU.)
That same day, Ichika had been sent home for instigating her very first fight. Something her mother had fretted would get her suspended, or worst, expelled. Fortunately, since it was Ichika's first time doing anything remotely bad; all she had to do was stay inside for recess the next day and offer Bakugou (whose bruised eye looked even pinker than the day before) an apology.
Her teachers were under the impression that she had acted due to Bakugou's comparison of their Quirks (after all, didn't everything revolve around Quirks?) when in reality, it was her brother's monicker that had set her off.
Deku; etymology meaning useless, worthless.
Ichika knew from her past life that her brother had been given the name by Bakugou when they were kids. Knew the name would be given new meaning over time. But hearing her brother be christened with the name right in front of her, christened as if he was some kind of thing, some kind of worthless nobody (because the meaning of the name hadn't been changed yet, damn it!) - well, Ichika wasn't going to have it.
And judging by the way no one utters the name Deku since, both on and off the playground, it seems Bakugou knows that, too. Her brother, on the other hand, appears to be the only one not to have gotten the memo. Ichika knows this because, despite his light tone, she can feel the heavyweight of his words; can practically hear what goes unsaid.
Do you think I can still be a Hero...even without a Quirk...even if I'm a Deku?
What a silly silly question.
"Of course Izukkun," She tells her twin strongly, eyes firm and absolute as her hand moves to grab his.
Even if there is only the two of them in their living room, with their mother baking muffins in the kitchen; the oldest of the Midoriya twins pictures all the people her brother will meet in time filling the empty spaces of the room, pictures all the people he'll one day save, and finds herself speaking for them all as she turns to him, mouth splitting into a rare grin as she says:
"You're going to be the best Hero the world will ever see."
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First time doing an SI story; let me know what you think so far!