With one last smile and her eyes closed, Saki Yoshida died along with her unborn daughter.
"Mama!" A little girl's voice shouted out. "Mama! Mama!"
Saki opened her eyes in sudden bewilderment. "Huh?"
She looked down to see a younger version of herself with shoulder-length hair holding a cat in her hands.
'Is this my daughter?'
"What? Are you still sleeping? Are you okay? Does it hurt somewhere?" The little girl asked.
Saki thought about what her daughter asked and gave a closed eye smile. "Yes… Mama just remembered something that happened in the past."
"In the past?" The little girl asked.
"It was from before Hana-Chan was born." Saki explained as the girl now known as Hana sat next to her on the bench with her new feline companion. "Hu-m. Was it something fun?"
"…It was terrible. You see… mama hated herself then." Saki explained.
"Why? …What was it?" Hana asked as she kicked her feet back and forth.
"Maybe because mama still didn't know how to take care of herself. …I cried a lot." Saki said with a sad look in her eyes.
"Is that so… but now it's alright." Hana said as she sat on her knees to pat her mom on the head. "Mama doesn't need to cry anymore."
"You are right!" Saki said as she nuzzled her face against her daughter's face. "Because now I have you, Hana-chan. Because you were there for me… Mama could… make a fresh start in life."
There was a flash of white and looking around, Saki found herself in someone's house. She felt something around her eyes. She put her hands up to her face to see that she was wearing glasses. She looked down at her hands to see that they were pale as if she was back to her original skin color and that she was wearing her middle school uniform. She touched her hair to see that she had brown pigtails.
'Where.. where am I? Where is Hana?'
'Bye mama. See you soon.' Hana's voice said in her head.
'Wait. Don't go.' Saki said internally, wanting to reach her hands out to her daughter, wherever she was. She wanted to apologize for being so selfish. 'Please.'
In another flash of white, two people appeared. When they got closer to her, Saki saw that it was a man and a woman. They didn't look Japanese and were tall. The man had dark hair and wearing a dark suit with a red shirt under the coat while the woman was blonde, wearing a red dress with her hair in a bun and she had on glasses. Saki noticed that they looked younger than her former parents.
"Hello Saki." The woman said in perfect Japanese, her and the man bowing to the girl. "My name is Giselle Sinclair and this is my husband, Aleister Sinclair."
"Am I.." Saki asked out loud, with a hoarse voice that sounded like it had never been used.
"Dead?" Aleister asked in perfect Japanese, finishing the sentence for her.
Saki could only nod.
"Yes. Both you and your unborn child." Aleister said grimly.
Saki looked downcast. "What I saw.. was that really my daughter? The baby in my stomach was a girl?"
"Yes. You had a daughter. Just like in your vision, you were going to have your own baby girl." Giselle said sadly.
Saki choked on a sob. "I am such a horrible mother."
Giselle hugged the young girl. While she stood there and sobbed, Saki did not push the older and taller woman away. Even in this heaven-like place, Saki could feel the kind motherly aura coming from Giselle, an aura that she missed. "No, child. You are not a horrible mother. Even if you survived the drug overdose, your daughter would have died due to the internal bleeding from your former classmates' attack." The blonde explained while reassuring Saki.
"My former classmates?" Saki asked in confusion after calming down. Then she remembered what happened in high school before she became a prostitute for that bastard, Hayato.
"Yes. The two girls were the ones that you were hanging out with on the first day of high school, they were the ones that wrote all those nasty things on your desk while the boys with them…" Aleister trailed off as he and Giselle looked disgusted. "What a coincidence that your tormentors returned. Despicable human beings. They are the real rubbish of society. Beating on a defenseless mother to be."
"Everyone in her life was despicable." Giselle said.
"So where am I?" Saki asked.
"You are in the astral plane. It's what we time spirits call a second chance." Aleister explained.
"A second chance at what?"
The couple looked at Saki as if the answer should be obvious.
"A second chance at life." Saki realized.
"Yes and in this case, your second chance is isekai." Aleister snapped his fingers and Saki was sitting in a chair while he and Giselle were sitting on a couch with drinks in their hands. "Are you hungry or thirsty? We have everything on the menu for you except alcohol." Giselle offered.
"But I'm dead." Saki retorted.
Aleister scoffed bluntly. "So are we and we're still drinking whiskey on the rocks."
"Water please." Just like that, a glass of water appeared in Saki's hands. She drank from the glass, surprised that she could taste it. "You said my second chance is isekai. Does that mean you're going to send me into an unknown place?"
Giselle nodded. "That's right. Have you heard of My Hero Academia?"
Saki nodded. "It's the shonen manga/anime where people have superpowers. Are you sending me there? Is that possible?"
"Yes to both questions. How far is your knowledge on it?" Giselle asked.
"Up to the joint training arc and the second movie, ma'am. It was one of my favorite shows. I connected to the main character because he reminded me of myself in middle school."
Giselle nodded. "Izuku Midoriya. The boy is as broken as you. Ten years of being bullied. The aspect of even having someone be nice to him other than his mother or someone being his friend all this time is a pipe dream to him for the last decade along with being a hero."
"Plus he's apparently supposed to be as plain as you. Though I don't get what's so plain about him. Green hair is only possible with hair dye and nobody in the world has diamond patterned freckles." Aleister said.
Giselle rolled her eyes. "You are to be the light in his life like he is to be yours."
"You want me to just fall in love with him?" Saki asked bluntly, looking almost flustered. "He's cute and sweet but I don't want to force him to be with me just because you want us to be together."
The couple chuckled, admiring Saki's honesty. "If only it were that easy, Saki. Izuku hasn't had any positive interactions with a girl since the Entrance Exam and no, his mom doesn't count so we want to see how well you do with him." Aleister said.
"Anyways you're going to do it the normal way. Honestly I don't know the normal way because I haven't dated since I was twenty." Giselle said, looking embarrassed.
"It means she was straightforward and just blurted out 'I like you' to me in grad school." Aleister said.
"Darling!" Giselle exclaimed.
"Yes dear?" Aleister asked innocently.
"Saki didn't need to know that." Giselle grumbled.
"It worked, didn't it?" Aleister teased.
Giselle nodded with a pout, hiding her face in her hands. Aleister put his arm around her and kissed her on the forehead. He turned back to Saki. "So anything you need to know?"
Saki nodded. "So am I going to have a quirk or am I going to be quirkless like him? I don't mind either."
"Yes you're going to have a quirk. So you better not look down on anyone in your class." Aleister said. "We can't take it away like All For One so don't abuse your power."
"What's my quirk?" Saki asked.
"Quirk: Absorption. You have the ability to absorb any solid matter you touch such as stone, metal, wood etcetera etcetera and it will cover your entire body or just your arms. You can also shapeshift your arms when coated in said solid matter to form any tool or weapon. You're just as durable as the matter you touch and you get a physical attribute boost as an extra gift which you'll understand later when you go for your quirk test which is common for four year olds. When you are low on stamina, you will not be able to maintain your transformation."
"So my quirk is basically Kirishima and Tetsutetsu combined with weapon making?" Saki asked.
"That's one way to put it, yes." Giselle said. "So when you get into middle school, look into comic book characters such as Spider-man, Wolverine, Venom. They should help you with different tool and weapon creations." Saki nodded.
Aleister continued. "Now the ten month hell training. Two weeks into your third year of middle school, you will follow Izuku around 5 PM to Dagobah Beach where you will find him with All Might. You will reveal that you know about One For All and show them your vision with Hana-Chan and our meeting."
"Don't worry. We'll get rid of the parts where we talk about My Hero Academia, All For One and Ochako. Also the part where you talk about Eijiro and Tetsutetsu." Giselle said.
"Then from there, you're on your own with how the inheritors will respond. Sorry." Aleister said. "With your hell training when you join, you'll have more endurance and stamina to keep your transformation lasting longer and you'll be able to transfigure your legs into weapons or for mobility too. Impressive, isn't it?"
"It's an interesting quirk." Saki said.
"Once you get into UA, you will replace Minoru Mineta. Not like we have anything against Minoru, but we didn't know who else to replace you with." Aleister said. "We'll take that part out too."
"If you say so."
"Now your backstory. Your name is Saki Tomioka and you're from Chiba but you move to Shizuoka before you started middle school. Your pa, Ryuto Tomioka, is a martial arts instructor. Your mom, Haruko Tomioka, works as a support item developer with the costume design studio where Ochako and Katsuki's costumes will be made which is also where your hero costume will be made." Giselle explained.
Saki looked annoyed. "Why do I have to have that in common with Bakago?"
Aleister and Giselle put a hand to their mouths to muffle their laughter, but failed.
"She called him Bakago." Aleister said, bursting with laughter.
"I call him an angry Pomeranian but that's just as hilarious." Giselle said, holding her sides.
Once the couple got a hold of themselves. "Because their designer is the only one whose costumes have an interesting marking on it. Plus a bodysuit would look nice on you." Giselle explained making Saki look flustered.
"That's only if she wants a bodysuit," Aleister made a checklist appear. "Let's see. Reason for rebirth. Check. Quirk. Check. Backstory. Check. Last but not least, your permission." He turned to Saki. "So, Saki, do…"
Giselle covered her husband's mouth. "Wait Aleister! The timeline!"
"The timeline? Oh right." Aleister looked at Saki. "You cannot tell All Might or Izuku anything other that you know about One For All."
"What happens if I do?" Saki asked.
"Then it'll be like in this one universe, Izuku went back in time, revealed some events and it got heroes killed since they tried to change fate and it kind of changed the timeline from there. Understood?"
"Yes mom. I- I mean yes ma'am." Saki said, covering her mouth while looking shocked.
Aleister looked surprised while Giselle smiled. "I don't mind being called mom."
Saki smiled back, putting her hands down. "Thank you."
One more thing." Giselle looked at Saki. "If those two ask about us, tell them this."
Giselle then told her what she wants those two to know. Saki nodded.
"Once more from the top. Do you want to be reborn in the life of a shonen character in My Hero Academia, Saki?" Aleister asked.
"Yes." Saki said in confirmation, without hesitation.
Aleister raised his hand up, about to snap his fingers.
"Wait. Just one question…."
"Yes?" Aleister asked, putting his hand down.
"Why?"
"Why what?" Aleister asked.
"Why do this for me? Why give me this chance?"
"Why else?" Giselle asked softly.
Saki's look of confusion didn't help.
"Because, Saki…" Giselle started to say.
"...you deserved better." The couple said in unison.
With a snap of Aleister's fingers and a flash of white light, the life of Saki Tomioka began.