Chapter 3: Elliana Shiro, Musutafu's Sweetheart & Sean Yamamoto, half-Irish hero
A/N: Bold = character speaking English
Italics = thoughts
The alarm trilled loudly, for the third time that morning. The figure inside the four poster bed groaned and stuck an arm out of the curtains, slapping the "snooze" button again. An array of messy pink hair gathered on the silk silver pillow, as deep breathing was heard throughout the bedroom again.
An aged yet graceful man in a snappy suit swiftly ascended up the stairs, shaking his head slightly when the trilling alarm was switched off yet again. "That girl," he muttered, his English accent distinguishable even with his voice low. He pushed the door open and entered the bedroom, the sunlight visible through the curtains.
Speaking of curtains, there was currently some hiding the older man's charge. He unceremoniously pulled them open, the light pouring in causing the young girl lying in bed to pull the sheets over her head with a tired groan. "Can you not, Giovanni?" the girl grumbled wearily, rolling over so she wasn't facing the man. "I'm exhausted after that concert."
Giovanni spared the girl no mercy, harshly tugging the bedsheets from her tired grasp. "Madam Elliana, you've turned off your alarm three times now. Does one not wish to attend the important event happening today and only today?" he asked while the girl, now known as Elliana, sat up and rubbed the sleep from her half-lidden golden eyes. She wore a white nightgown, patterned with different coloured flowers.
"And that would be?" Elliana sighed, brushing her long tangled hair away from her face with her hands. She hated being forcefully woken up. "You know I don't like it when you do riddles, Giovanni. Spit it out already!"
Giovanni huffed at her snippy tone: clearly his master's daughter wasn't in a good mood today. "The recommendation exam for U.A., madam?" he offered, raising an eyebrow at his charge.
Elliana's head snapped up at that, her eyes wide in horror. "WAIT, THAT'S TODAY?!" she yelped, jumping out of bed and dashing past her family's butler with dizzying speed, all previous fatigue completely forgotten. "WHY DIDN'T YOU WAKE ME EARLIER?!" she bellowed from her en suite bathroom as she closed the door and turned on the shower.
"I tried. But, you didn't listen," the butler replied simply, steadying the recording microphone Elliana had nearly sent flying in her haste to get ready. "Your breakfast awaits you madam, but I must warn you that the longer you take, the colder it gets."
After taking the quickest shower of her life and drying her waist-length hair, Elliana was downstairs greeting her parents, Kurt and Holly Shiro, also known as the Rescue Shiros. Kurt was an incredibly serious (though not as serious as Giovanni, Elliana doubted that anybody could be as serious as him) and tall man with short, light brown hair and golden eyes, which Elliana herself had inherited. He was drinking a mug of coffee when Elliana entered the kitchen.
Holly was a softer woman who was dwarfed by her husband. Although she had inherited Kurt's eyes, Elliana favoured Holly more in terms of looks, as they shared the long hot pink locks, fair complexion and large smile. Holly was also apparently very dedicated to her looks and never seemed to be without makeup, and Elliana couldn't remember the last time she had seen her mother's face all-natural. Holly was enjoying a slice of toast while she browsed the Hero Network on her phone, although she did look up and smile at her daughter as she bounced over.
"Morning Mama, morning Daddy," Elliana greeted her parents in their mother tongue while she took her plate of waffles, covered with her favourite maple syrup. Despite their surname being Shiro, Elliana and her family hailed from America, so their first language was naturally English. While she could speak perfect Japanese, having been mostly raised in Musutafu, Elliana considered English to be her first language and felt more comfortable speaking it.
"Ahh, there she is. Musutafu's Sweetheart, the three-encore idol, my beautiful heir!" Kurt cheered when he caught sight of his daughter. He pulled her into a one-armed hug when she sat down.
"They were such a great audience, Daddy. How could I not perform three encores?" Elliana said with a radiant smile, tucking into her waffles. Elliana was a teen idol, known throughout Japan as "Musutafu's Sweetheart." With her angelic voice and utter beauty, Elliana had captured the nation's heart after just one single at the age of twelve, and her success only continued to grow.
Elliana produced her own merchandise, as well as possessing an online presence in the forms of her YapTube channel where she made vlogs about her everyday life, her Squawker and her Instant-Gram accounts, which she used for her idol business. By popular demand, she had also recently acquired a Nik-Nak account where she posted short dancing videos, which she found to be quite entertaining.
"But that's not important right now," said her father, his tone becoming businesslike. He placed his mug down, turning to his daughter with an expression of complete severity. Holly also placed her phone down, turning to Elliana as well.
"The recommendation exam is today, Elliana," Kurt began, folding his arms. "You need to get it together if you're to get into U.A."
"Oh puh-lease, Dad," said Elliana around a mouthful of waffles. He raised an eyebrow, at which Elliana swallowed her food before continuing. "I'm recommended, that basically means I'm already in."
"It does not," Kurt replied, shaking his head, annoyed at Elliana's flippant attitude. "You've got to prove why you're worthy of being accepted. Talk can only get you so far, Elliana. You need to go in there and show them what you can do, understand?"
"Yes, I do," said Elliana absent-mindedly, swigging her glass of water. "You worry too much, Dad. I got this in the bag."
"You'd better," Kurt warned. "Don't forget that it's not just your future on the line here. Is it, Holly?"
"No it isn't, honey," Holly agreed, causing Elliana to turn to her mother. Unlike her husband, Holly's tone was significantly softer, smiling gently at her child. "Being our daughter, our natural heir, it's understandable that we'd want you to inherit the agency. But we won't give it to you for that reason alone. You need to earn it, cotton candy," she explained, tucking Elliana's hair behind her ear. "We're only doing this because we love you, Ellie."
"And I know you're capable of it," said Kurt. He leaned back in his seat, a smug smile on his face. "You're my heir, of course you can do it."
Elliana looked away somewhat awkwardly: her father had a slight habit of boasting about her, even when the situation didn't call for it. It could be a little embarrassing to say the least, she thought while she cleared her plate.
"Madam Elliana," Giovanni's refined English accent cut through the rising awkwardness in the kitchen. "Your rabbit has been fed, your bed has been made, and if you're finished eating, your bag is by the door. The young Master will be arriving soon."
"Okay Giovanni," said Elliana, grateful for the change in subject. She pushed away her empty plate and jumped up from her seat to give Kurt a quick kiss on the cheek, and envelope Holly in a hug.
"Good luck today, sweetheart," said Holly, kissing Elliana on the forehead as she pulled away.
"Don't disappoint me," Kurt added, raising his eyebrows and pointing a warning finger at Elliana.
"I won't," Elliana promised, waving at them both before going to grab her bag.
Elliana sat on the bottom step of the stairs to wait for her companion to arrive. She was feeling nervous now, her leg bouncing as she waited. Because she was the Rescue Shiros' only child, the inheritance of the agency fell squarely on her shoulders. It was a lot of pressure, pressure she wouldn't dare speak up about because she knew what she had to do.
It felt like forever, but finally the speaker by the door crackled to life, indicating that someone was by the gate. Hearing her childhood friend's low whispery voice calmed Elliana marginally, as she gathered her things and exited the mansion. Despite the sunlight being warm on her face, the wind was bitter and harsh, causing a shiver to go down her spine when she stepped outside.
"Hey," Elliana greeted her friend, who was standing outside the gate waiting for her. She opened the gate so she could properly greet him. "You ready?"
"Hey," he replied back, in the monotonous tone she'd come to expect from him. His heterochromic eyes narrowed as he spoke. "I'm ready to show that bastard what I can do with only my ice."
Elliana raised her eyebrows. "Really, Sho? It's not even nine AM," she sighed, hefting her bag onto her shoulder.
Shoto Todoroki shook his head, his bi-coloured hair swishing around his forehead while he did. "I'm going to show him, Ellie," he proclaimed.
"So you keep saying. Let's get in the car, it's nearly time." Elliana's heart began to thud in her chest as she spoke those words, a light sweat appearing on her forehead while she climbed into the back of the car.
While travelling to U.A., Elliana began to do the one thing she always did when she was nervous: ramble. "I mean, they'll be expecting more from us because we're recommended, so naturally the written exam is going to be harder and I have no doubt the practical is going to be INSANE, what do you think they'll have us do? I wonder if it'll be a fake villain attack, and we gotta save the fake civilians?"
"Ellie," Shoto started, but she didn't let up.
"Or have we gotta fight each other? Oh that'll be unfortunate if we do that one, cause we don't know anybody or their Quirks, so that'll really throw us for a loop if we do-"
"Ellie," Shoto repeated, slightly louder but to no avail.
"I just can't figure it out, and you know me, I hate not knowing, it's the worst when I'm awaiting reviews for my concerts-"
"Ellie!" Shoto raised his voice, finally catching the pink-haired girl's attention. "You're rambling."
"Oh, was I?" Elliana sweatdropped. "Sorry, I didn't realise. I'm just nervous, okay?"
"You needn't worry, ma'am," said Giovanni from the driver's seat. "I have full faith in you and Master Todoroki. I have no doubt that whatever it is you end up doing, you'll do perfectly fine."
"Thanks Giovanni," said Elliana gratefully. She leaned back in her seat, breathing deeply in through her nose and then out through her mouth. It was a relaxation tactic which she normally used before she went on stage. When she was certain she was calm enough, she pulled her phone out and logged into her Squawker account to kill time.
Upon arriving at U.A., the two friends were met with a tall and extremely loud boy, who bowed so low when he saw Elliana that he ended up hitting the top of his head off the ground, while booming excitedly that he was honoured to be in the presence of an esteemed idol such as herself. She thanked him for the compliment, feeling rather awkward as she did so because Shoto seemed to glare at him. But why, what did he do to him? She shrugged it off, it wouldn't do anything to dwell on it when she had more pressing matters at hand.
Elliana was correct: a written element was part of the exam. She breezed through it, chuckling internally while she wrote, because she could answer most of these questions by her first year of middle school. She assumed that being the daughter of the top rescue heroes would do that.
When it was time for the practical, Elliana and Shoto found that they were to be put into different groups. While Shoto didn't seem concerned, Elliana found this to be quite nerve-wracking because she was afraid of being mobbed by her fans: to counteract this, she sometimes wore wigs to go out in public, to hide her identity. That was one thing about being an idol that she didn't enjoy, but she knew it came with the territory. Her heart began to thud again as she waved goodbye to her friend, before going to find her own group.
Upon finding her assigned group, Elliana was surprised to see that nobody seemed to notice that there was an idol among them. She breathed a sigh of relief: everybody appeared to be more concerned about the impending practical exam. She shuffled through the small crowd of students, stopping only to smile at a girl with green hair and pointed teeth who grinned widely at her. She eventually sought refuge at the back of the group, near a boy with very long blond hair tied in a low ponytail, wearing a black t-shirt and sweatpants, who looked relatively harmless. He didn't look up at her as she approached and stood nearby.
"And here's me being worried I'd have to wear a wig," she muttered in English, sighing in relief a second time. She really had been worried over nothing!
"Why would you need to wear a wig?" Elliana nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard someone else speaking her own mother tongue. She looked around for the speaker, but couldn't see anyone paying her any attention: everyone else seemed to be anxiously chewing their nails, standing around or bouncing their legs in anticipation.
"Oi, I'm over here lass," she heard it again, although she couldn't place the accent. Her golden eyes eventually met hazel eyes, which belonged to the blond boy she had chosen to stand by.
"Wait, you . . . understood me?" Elliana asked in amazement. She had never met anyone her own age who could speak fluent English. She'd met a handful of people who could speak broken English, but not fluent. "Do you understand me now?"
"Aye," he nodded, his long ponytail bouncing while he did.
"Eye?" Elliana asked in confusion, pointing at her own eye. Was that what he meant? This wasn't making any sense to her.
"Oh no, "aye" is another way of saying "yes." I'm half-Irish," the boy supplied helpfully. She surmised the other half to be Japanese, which would explain his somewhat tanned skin and the shape of his eyes. "You're an American, I can hear it in your accent."
"I am," Elliana confirmed, nodding herself. "I've never met anyone my age who's fluent, you know. I always speak English at home, it's just what I feel comfortable doing."
"Oh I understand that completely," the boy replied, holding his hand out to shake. "Oh sheesh, where are my manners? I'm Sean. Sean Yamamoto. What's your name?"
"Elliana Shiro," she said, shaking his hand. She internally winced when she realised her mistake. Well done, doofus! No doubt that Sean would be amazed and dazzled that he was in the presence of Musutafu's Sweetheart and start asking for an autograph and doing other typical fanboy things. She really wasn't in the mood for that.
To her surprise, Sean just shrugged. "That's a nice name," he told her simply.
Elliana blinked. He wasn't making a big deal out of meeting her? This was certainly something new. "Do - do you not know who I am?" she asked, completely confused. She couldn't tell if he was being serious or not.
Sean shook his head at her question, a frown creasing his features. "Should I? Are you important around here or something?" he enquired, looking at her closely.
He has no idea who I am, Elliana realised in wonder and somewhat incredulously, had he been living under a rock for the past three years? Should I tell him? No, I like how he's been treating me. It's been nice not having someone drooling at my feet when I'm not wearing a wig. It's nice to be treated like I'm just a normal girl. "I'm the daughter of the Rescue Shiros," she opted for instead. A half-truth, because she was still famous for that.
"Who?" Sean's reply almost made her facepalm. She couldn't help her eyes widening in amazement at his response. "Apologies lass, I don't really know a lot of heroes. I know All Might obviously, and I think the fire hero's called Endeavour, but any other heroes are completely lost on me."
"Understandable, rank-wise Mom and Dad are pretty low. But their agency is the best for rescue work, you know natural disasters and things," Elliana explained. She noted that it felt very refreshing not to talk about her idol life for a change. "I'm inheriting the agency. So what about you? Why do you want to become a hero?"
"Truth be told, it wasn't exactly my choice," Sean admitted. Elliana blinked upon hearing that. That was a new one, normally the reasons for becoming a hero were because they wanted to help people or they were inspired by their favourite hero. "It was either here or military school. Here seemed like the better option, because I have a bit of a destructive Quirk so at least here it's put to good use helping people."
"Military school?" Elliana asked. That only seemed reserved for the worst kind of delinquents. Sean might have been blond, and she was well aware that in Japan blond hair was commonly associated with delinquents, but she got the feeling that his hair wasn't bleached.
"Long story," he said simply. "But I couldn't leave me mam. Wouldn't do that to her, even though the old hag can be fucking annoying at times."
Elliana's eyes widened upon hearing him swear. "Why are you swearing?" she asked. She only ever heard her Uncle Earl back in America swear when they had no more three-bean chilli.
"Oops, force of habit. Sorry," Sean apologised casually. Elliana could believe that was a habit, given how nonchalant he was about it.
Before she could say anything, their group was finally called in. They were each given a number to put on the front of their clothes: Elliana's was eighteen, while Sean's was thirty-three. Present Mic, a faculty member of U.A., explained that they would be participating in a three-mile race, but the track would also be an obstacle course where they'd be required to use their Quirks to get through, before undergoing an interview. Elliana had anticipated something like this in the practical, and thanked her past self for choosing a simple white t-shirt, sports bra, plain black leggings and black Converse that morning.
On the sound of the buzzer, Elliana was supposedly gone, a cloud of dust the only evidence she had ever been there. Upon seeing a stone pillar in front of her, Elliana threw out her hand and curled her fingers into claws: when she did so, the pillar crumbled to the ground. This was Elliana's Quirk: Telekinesis. She could manipulate objects or the environment around her, by either using her hands or her mind.
"Jesus, that's some Quirk!" she heard a familiar Irish accent yell from behind her. She guessed it was Sean, who she was surprised to have caught her up as she believed her gymnastic skills would have given her a clear speed advantage in this race. Even more surprising was that the others weren't too far behind him as well, which she saw when she quickly glanced back, letting her know that she couldn't underestimate ANY of them.
Elliana then noticed that there appeared to be some stone steps ahead of her. She grinned: this would be easy for her. She easily performed a back handspring to climb the steps and gracefully flipped forwards off the top, while others were forced to dodge and throw off their momentum.
Sean wasn't fazed, though. He dodged the steps, and appeared to speed up while he approached the tall wall, clearly intended to be climbed over. Elliana winced: she had a feeling that that was going to hurt him. But she also had to think of herself passing the exam, so she had no time to help him.
As though Sean had heard her thoughts, he glowed with an iridescent golden light and seemed to pick up even more speed, overtaking Elliana easily much to her shock. He reached the wall first in no time, but to her shock again he didn't stop for it. Instead, he opted to plough right through it, pieces of stone and debris flying through the air as he did so.
Once she had gotten over the wall, Elliana half-expected to find Sean face down on the floor, completely passed out or in a lot of pain. However she found neither of those things, instead finding him not only still on his feet and running, but utterly unscathed. She had a feeling that was his Quirk at work, and it had something to do with that light. She now understood why he claimed it was somewhat destructive, if those were the kind of results it yielded.
Elliana forced her head back in the game. She needed to concentrate, she needed to get into U.A. Marvelling at others' Quirks wouldn't help her do either of those things. She wanted to get into U.A., and Elliana knew that whatever she wanted, she got one way or another. This would be no exception, she decided as she shoved a boulder out of her way with her Quirk and barreled through.
After what felt like forever, Elliana finally arrived at the finish line. She wasn't the first to have done so, because two others were currently there panting heavily. Elliana herself was sweating, she could feel it rolling down her face as she screeched to a halt in front of Present Mic, who whooped happily that Number Eighteen had made it to the finish line two minutes faster than the average student.
Elliana moved away from the finish line and slumped onto her knees, panting to get her breath back. That had been an awful lot of work, and although she had been training for it, she still felt as though she had been wholly unprepared for it. She heard footsteps approaching as she got her breath back, and she looked up to meet the hazel eyes of Sean, who was also sweating heavily and panting like a dog on a hot day.
"Sup?" she wheezed, giving him a thumbs-up. He held up a finger, clearly not in any condition to talk while Present Mic congratulated him on being faster than the average student as well.
"By the way, that's some crazy Quirk you've got there," she complimented him when he had caught his breath. "I've seen plenty of heroes go through walls, and usually they come out the other side with a few scratches, but you were completely unscathed. How?"
"Ah, you're correct. That would be my Quirk," he confirmed, nodding. "It's called Invincibility. While I'm glowing like that, any and all pain and damage is completely nullified. In other words, I can't be harmed nor can I harm myself from overexerting!"
"That's crazy overpowered! You're basically unstoppable for as long as you want?!" Elliana exclaimed, unable to believe what she'd just heard. That was certainly something she'd never heard of before, and she knew an awful lot of heroes.
Sean chuckled and rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "Not exactly, lass. It only lasts for ten seconds in total," he explained. "I then have to wait at least a minute before I can use it again. Fucking pain in the shitter, especially when I'm in a pinch!"
"I . . . see," Elliana replied, not too sure what to think of him swearing so casually.
When everyone had reached the finish line, Present Mic announced that it was time for the interviews. Neither Sean nor Elliana were called first, which gave them more time to talk and get to know each other. Elliana discovered that Sean was from the rundown area of Musutafu, and he couldn't afford much. Sean in turn was pleasantly surprised to know that Elliana lived in a mansion, although he did admit to her that he guessed she was from a wealthy background because she'd previously mentioned her parents were heroes. Elliana had to bite her tongue to keep herself from revealing the fact that she was an idol as well, because she was enjoying Sean's company too much to ruin it now.
Elliana was called first for her interview. She had a good idea of what to expect, because her parents had been helping her practice for this. Despite her nerves, Elliana kept a cool head and answered as truthfully as she could, which she knew Present Mic and his companion Ectoplasm would appreciate. She walked out feeling rather confident, but still nervous as she would only know if she was in or not, when it came in the mail.
"I gotta go now, Sean," Elliana told him. "I promised I'd go home with my friend, he's with a different group right now."
"I understand. Oh, before you go, can I get your number please?" he asked, holding his hand out.
Elliana raised her eyebrows: was he hitting on her? She really hoped that wasn't the case, because he didn't seem like the type to do that and she was really enjoying being around him.
Sean seemed to pick up on her hesitation, and quickly clarified for her. "Not like that, it's rare to meet another English speaker and I thought the pair of us should hang out sometime."
"Oh," Elliana sighed in relief. "Thank God for that. No prob, here." She handed him her phone after she unlocked it so he could put his number into it. She was slightly surprised to see he had a flip phone, but given what he had told her about his living situation, it made sense.
"Thanks, Sean. It was nice meeting you," she said, holding her hand out for him to shake. He complied, shaking her hand politely. "I await your text."
"I won't keep you waiting too long, lass," he promised, as Present Mic called for him. He waved goodbye, while Elliana gathered her things and exited the building. She found Shoto by the school entrance, arms crossed while he was waiting for her.
"Hey," she greeted him with a smile. Her smile faltered when she saw the furious look on his face. "How was it?"
"Fine. Can we go now? I don't want to hang around here," he replied, a drop of venom in his voice as he spoke.
"Whoa, okay. Do I wanna know, or should I just sum it up with the phrase, "Daddy Issues?"" she asked, placing a hand on her hip. She knew very well that Shoto's relationship with his father, the Flame Hero: Endeavour, was strained at best, and downright unpleasant at worst. She had been the unfortunate witness of a few incidents while she was growing up, however her father had always insisted she stay out of it and not get involved.
"Not funny, Ellie. But yeah, a fan of the old man's. I wasn't interested in indulging him and his fantasies," Shoto fumed. He breathed deeply for a moment, appearing to calm himself down. "What about you?"
"I met another English speaker!" she exclaimed excitedly while they walked. "Oh, he's just the coolest! His name's Yamamoto, he's from the rougher part of Musutafu and. . ." She began to ramble about Sean and everything she'd discovered about him, until she was abruptly cut off.
"I don't need this guy's life story, Ellie," said Shoto harshly, wrinkling his nose in disgust. "He doesn't sound all that interesting, he sounds more like a delinquent if you ask me. I didn't think you associated with people like that," he added in a very judgemental tone.
"You know, you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, Sho," Elliana told him, a little upset at his unenthusiasm. This was a big thing for her, why couldn't he be happy for her? "That's a little close-minded, don't you think?"
"I don't care, your butler's here. Let's just go," he told her curtly, climbing into the car without looking at her.
Elliana didn't know exactly why, but his shortness with her was hurtful. He'd never been like this before, she thought to herself as she got into the car. So why was he acting like this now? She didn't know, but Giovanni's greeting distracted her from her thoughts and she was soon telling him everything that had happened during her exam.
A week later, on different sides of Musutafu, both Sean and Elliana received their acceptance letters. Sean couldn't believe it as he thought he'd completely messed up the interview, while Elliana began to bounce around the mansion in complete ecstasy. Little did the pair of them know, they would soon see a lot more of each other and many others they would never have expected to change their lives, for better . . . or worse.
