II
Spoiler warning!
Stop reading if you don't want any potential CANON plot point(s) ruined.
Let me say that there was way more material than I expected for My Hero Academia. At first I think I found one unpublished connection, now I think I have at least two or three more, and they're big ones. I'll be writing my story based on the assumption that I'm right. I have watched all of the episodes from the show and read all of the manga chapters for the main series, but then I discovered the Vigilante series. I'm making a valiant attempt to get most, if not all, of my facts correct, ages aligned, and stories meshed as neatly as possible. To any die-hard followers, they may note that I removed Fuyumi's tag and replaced it with some guy called Chizome. Superfans, you know that means… Not this chapter, but he will make a debut in a very large way.
The trio went from the park to a small fast food joint, as chosen by Toya. Shoto marveled at the burger and stared in awe at the ice cream machine. To the boy, everything was an adventure. Teiko watched them carefully as they took her around the quiet city. Through the teenager she learned the local hang out spots and all the best restaurants. Even though it was Shoto's first outing, he was quick to pick up on the locations of toy stores and movie theaters. "Ohh! Look at that one!" He declared with interest. Teiko followed his eyes and saw an adult book store flashing on the other side of the street. "Maybe in a few years," she chuckled. Shoto began to question why he'd have to wait, but Toya offered a suitable distraction.
"Fuyumi and Natsuo will be home soon. Don't you want to be there to greet them?"
"Oh yeah! Let's go!" Even with bags of toys weighed down on his arms, Shoto shot home with the speed of a startled rabbit. The adult and teen swiftly walked after him. The former with groceries on her arms and the latter with a new comic book in hand. Thus far, Toya couldn't find a reason not to like his aunt. She let them do what they wanted, as if she trusted they'd make good decisions on their own.
"Hang on, Shoto," she said firmly. Toya tensed. Was she finally going to snap?
Teiko lifted her hand. Shoto winced and Toya leaned forward. Teiko gently set her palm on the lad's shoulder. "Look both ways before crossing," she instructed. "If you don't, a car might hit you." In that moment, Toya was convinced that Shoto was safe with their newest guardian and fully intended on returning to school the following day.
The trio finished their walk without any problems. "Fuyumi! Natsuo! Welcome home!" Shoto called as he rounded the corner. They managed to arrive just as the white-haired siblings were about to open the door.
Fuyumi spun around, a look of surprise on her face. "Hey, Shoto!" She seemed to wrestle with joy at her littlest brother's excitement and concern that he was out of the house. "Aunt Teiko, did you ask Dad if—"
Teiko lifted her hand to stop the girl. "The answer to that will always be no. I'm not going to try to get little brother's permission for anything."
Natsuo grinned as only a nine year old could. "Badass!" He grinned.
"New rule. Whoever cusses most in the day has to clean the dishes." Teiko declared.
"Or else what?" Toya asked, his voice dark with a challenge.
Teiko paused. "I don't know. I'll put them on your bed or something." The answer was so nonviolent that none of the kids were sure whether or not she was being serious.
"I can do the dishes," Fuyumi declared.
"Nope, you've got to cuss to get to do them," Toya said with the shadow of a grin on his face.
"Ass!" Shoto squeaked. Suddenly, cleaning sounded like fun. They all turned to look at their youngest sibling. Though Fuyumi was mortified, his brothers' and aunt's smirks encouraged him. As one, the family laughed. It was the first true moment of joy they'd had in a very long time. They all filed into their home and went about their individual activities. Shoto watched cartoons, Toya took a shower, Fuyumi and Natsuo did their homework, and Teiko made dinner.
At five o'clock, they sat down together for dinner. Tonight's meal consisted of teriyaki salmon, steamed rice, broccoli, carrots, and mushroom udon. They sat obediently and waited until it was 5:01. "He's late," Teiko declared and lifted her chopsticks. "Time to eat." There was no point waiting for a pro hero. They could get kidnapped, hospitalized, or die on any given day.
Fuyumi turned to Toya. "Why didn't you go to school today?"
"My grandma died," he responded at once. He grinned at Teiko, he smirked into her bite of rice.
"What? How come I didn't know," Natsuo asked.
"Grandma didn't die," Fuyumi said sharply. She didn't buy the excuse.
Teiko decided to interject. "Grandma did too die. It was twenty one years ago, but she's still as dead as ever. Toya just wanted to make sure I knew where everything was so Shoto and I wouldn't get lost."
That reason seemed to hold up with Fuyumi, but only barely. "Do you think you have your bearings, Aunt Teiko?"
"I think Shoto and I have a good enough foundation to figure everything else out. What do you think, Sensei Toya?"
"Yeah, you pass."
Shoto grinned and looked between the conversation's participants. He was as giddy as can be. For the first time, he was allowed not only to sit at a table with everyone, but talk and interact with them. His feet wiggled excitedly and he bounced in his seat. "Can we hear some of those stories?" He nearly pleaded.
"Sure," Teiko said. She set down her chopsticks and began her tale easily enough. "Just the one, tonight. If I run out of material, you guys might stop coming to dinner." She began. "Once upon a time two young adults, your grandparents, entered into matrimony. Together, they had two little gingers. Their first child, a daughter, was everything they wanted. Right off the bat, they had perfection." She puffed up her chest and smiled. The kids laughed through their food. "They knew that their genetics were supreme. Here was their perfect little girl for proof. Five years later they had a son. He and the daughter looked like twins. The parents knew their son would be just like the daughter." She paused and sipped her soup for dramatic effect. All of them watched her intently. Even Shoto sat still.
"I developed two quirks at an extraordinarily young age. By the time I was ten, I had above average control of them both. Your father's one quirk, which he likes to call hellfire, didn't manifest until he was five. It only came out when our father was beating him for having a 'no good, quirkless waste of space' as a child." Her audience was perfectly silent.
"….so…your dad beat my dad?" Shoto asked, as simply as someone so young can.
"My mom and my dad beat me and your dad. I got frustrated and I'd beat your dad, too. Until he attended UA, he didn't have anyone to beat back."
Fuyumi, at least, was sympathetic. "That must have been hard."
Teiko turned to regard her niece. "On the contrary, it was incredibly easy. We operated like a pack of wild dogs. Whoever was the strongest got the best things. What was hard was adjusting to life outside our hell hole. My first day of school, I broke a girl's nose for trying to cut in line. Apparently all she wanted to do was stand with a boy she liked. The hard part wasn't smashing her face, but thinking of how to apologize later. I had a few slip ups where I wanted to get physical with people, but one of the upperclassmen took it upon themselves to be my conscience. It's only because of her hard work with me that I was able to break my bad habits."
Natsuo spoke next. "So you're here to teach Dad how to use his words?" His tone implied instant defeat. She'd have better luck catching smoke.
"Not just his words, but also his actions. I'm going to warn you guys, he'll hate it. The first month is going to be the hardest. He'll fight me at every possible opportunity, but know that he won't win against me. I'll make sure never to leave any," she looked at Fuyumi, who seemed to think herself immune to her father's rage, "of you alone with him. If he's home, I'm home." The children had most of the food eaten. Sparse amounts of rice and fish littered their bowls and plates. "Alright, dish buddies," she pointed to Natsuo and Shoto. "Let's get going."
While they worked, Shoto told Natsuo all about the cartoons he'd seen. Natsuo made a few suggestions for other programs the lad might like the following day. Shoto nodded seriously, as if he wanted to commit all of them to memory. "Aunt Teiko, do you really have two quirks?" The littlest boy asked.
"Sure do, Shoto." She could feel Fuyumi and Toya listening from the next room.
"What are they?" He encouraged.
"You'll find out one of these days. I promise to do it over dinner, so everyone can hear together." She expected him to be sad or mope. As she glanced sideways at her littlest nephew, all she saw was a look of delighted determination.