Being in the army for more than 7 years of your life, you had gotten pretty used to getting up early.
Unfortunately, in your new life as a three year old, there was only so much you could do. Especially since no one else got up at 5 in here, you would usually have an hour or two to yourself.
At times like this, you would finally find the time to read all the advanced books that you wouldn't be able to in front of the others. You usually opted to reading because you didn't want to even think of all the memories of war that plagued your head everytime you sat idle.
But even before you joined the army, you were still quite fond of reading. At a time in which war plagued the world, you could only ever read snippets of book, torn pages and imagine what it would be like to read an actual, full book. But after joining the army, you didn't have the time to read any of the books in the library.
Now that you had this opportunity, you didn't want to let it go to waste.
On another day when you were reading in the garden, you were swinging your legs while lying on your stomach. Flipping through the pages everytime you were done with the previous one was etched into your muscle memory. And as you skimmed past the book, you felt a presence walking past you.
You looked over your shoulder to see your eldest brother, Touya looking like he was ready to go somewhere. It wasn't the first time you had seen him leave, it was a common occurrence.
He never really saw you, maybe because you sat close to the bushes and never said a word. But he always left to train his quirk before Endeavor got up, in hopes that if he improved enough, his father would finally look at him again.
How pitiful...
You layed there on your stomach, while watching him wear his shoes, "I'm getting better... I'm getting better, I'll show dad... I'll make him proud..." He kept muttering to himself like a maniac and you couldn't help the words that left your mouth.
"That's stupid."
His eyes widened in fear. Did he get caught already?! Looking around to find the source, he found no one, "I-Is someone there? What did you say?"
"I said that's stupid. The fact that you're destroying yourself for a man who doesn't care." He finally snapped his eyes in your direction. An audible gasp escaped his lips, "You... can talk?" He almost seemed like he was fixed in a trance.
"I-I have to tell mom... or Fuyumi, and Natsuo... that you can talk..." So he's more invested in the fact that you're talking than what you said? Seems appropriate, you would be too if a kid who never talked started talking one day.
"Does that matter?" You questioned, eyes half-lidded in boredom as he snapped his neck in your direction, "Of course it is!! You-You..."
"I just called you stupid. You're not gonna say anything about that?"
"Huh? Well...." He really didn't know what to say. On one hand, he was shocked over you speaking, but on the other, now that he realised what you had said, he was rather offended.
"Why are you... calling me stupid?"
"Because you're working so hard for someone who doesn't care." Touya's eyes widened, a fire filled with anger dancing in his hands subconsciously.
"What? How-How can you say that?! That's just... That's just because Dad's blinded by your stupid twin brother!! You don't know anything! You're just a kid!"
"Mhm, I am. And you're stupid." His face was starting to turn red just from sheer anger, the fire in his hand growing in magnitude.
"I'm not! I'm gonna get Dad to look at me, no matter what!! He'll be proud to have me as his son!" Shooting him an incredulous look, you tried to get the fact through his thick skull that his father will never care.
"You're trying to impress a man who's a loser himself? At this point, you might as well impress the homeless man who lives across the street."
"Don't call him a loser! He's the number 2 hero in the whole of Japan!!"
"Yeah, he's number two... And he's been trying to become number one for over 15 years, how lame is that? If I were a loser like him, I'd be too ashamed to have so much pride, let alone go ahead and try to make my kids become something I never could.... God, he's embarrassing."
"You don't know anything! You think you're so smart just cause you've read a book?!" He stomped over and you turned to look at him fully, "All I'm saying is: Don't work so hard for a loser like him. He's just jealous of your quirk being stronger than his, so don't try to prove yourself to him."
You knew that wasn't the case. Enji had told Touya to stop because his quirk was literally hurting him. But still... that doesn't change that Enji was the reason for all this madness. Besides, you needed Touya to realise that Enji was in the wrong so he would stop trying to impress that psychotic bastard.
Even if it means twisting Enji's reasons.
You genuinely hoped that this plan of yours would work. Over the course of the days, you had been planning on how to get your brother to stop with his self-destructive habits. And for now, you figured the first way would be to give him a harsh slap back to reality, and make him realise that someone as insecure as Endeavor has no right to deem someone as useful or useless.
He literally threw you away as useless, despite you being much stronger than him in your previous life. As much as you are humble with your strength, his mocking words made you feel so petty that you wanted to beat the shit out of him and prove him wrong.
But you kept that part to yourself and focused on Touya, who was looking at you in conflict, "That's not... true... Shoto... He only ever looks at Shoto..."
Your heart really does ache for these kids.
"W-Whatever... You don't know anything, you're a girl." Wow, sexist much? You really don't want to hold it against a kid.
"I'm leaving now. And don't you dare tell anyone that I'm training!! Or-Or... I'll burn all your books!!" You could feel your eyes twitch in annoyance. This brat....
Finally letting out a sigh, you peered over your forgotten book. You just hope that this plan of yours will actually work. It would kill you if a child as young as Touya got hurt because of the actions of the bastard of a hero, Endeavor.
In midst of your internal monologue, you failed to notice Rei slowly inching towards you, "[Name]?" Her voice was soft, and calm. A stark contrast to Touya, who was yelling at you a while ago.
You peered up through your lashes to look at her and she gave you a small smile as she crouched down at your level, "What are you doing so early in the morning?" She didn't expect a reply, and you didn't give one either, making her heave small sigh as she looked ahead at what you were doing
"You're reading a book? Oh, wow! Would you look at that, you're reading such an advanced book at the age of three? You're a genius, sweetie!" Noticing her efforts to communicate with you, you gave her a small, weak smile. That made her own smile grow in magnitude, feeling accomplished that she made you smile.
As a mother, she was guilty that despite you being Shoto's twin, she didn't know that much about you. She was forced to give all her attention and care to Shoto and while she didn't mind caring for her own son, she did feel the guilt that seeped within her when she realised how much you were neglected.
The only time she was ever able to interact with you was when Shoto called for her while playing with you, since you and Shoto were like two peas in a pod. The latter was attached to your hip and he was always following you around.
She just regretted not ever spending time with you or raising you. So for the past couple of days, she had been keeping an eye on you. And she had noticed that you would always get up at 5 in the morning and go immediately to the large bookshelf they had. Enji wasn't much of a reader so he never felt the need for a personal library, but he did have a collection of them in the large bookshelf.
So you always picked one before scurrying off to the garden to read. She would always leave you to your own devices, allowing you some privacy but today she felt like she had heard your voice, so she had to go check.
"Who taught you how to read?" She attempted to converse and you pointed at yourself, making her eyes widen in pride, "Oh, my! You taught yourself? I never thought we'd have such a genius in the house!" She placed a hand on your head to ruffle your hair but you immediately flinched.
It wasn't on her, really. You were just a very touch-starved person, both in your previous life and in your current one. So even the slightest bit of affection always caught you off guard.
It seemed like Rei had noticed your flinch too and if it was even possible, her gaze got even more miserable. But she somehow managed to force herself to smile again, "A-Anyways... Are you hungry? Do you want me to make you something nice to snack on?"
You shook your head and focused your attention back to the book. You never had a mother before, at least not one you could remember. So interacting with Rei, who was obviously trying to be a better mother to you was honestly quite nerve-racking.
Seeing your refusal, she grew even more disheartened. She didn't even know you well enough to start a conversation! What if she started talking about heroes and you admitted that you liked flowers? Or the vice-versa?
This was too depressing for her.
As one last resort, she decided to speak with a small smile, "Oh, okay... Can I-Can I sit here with you then? Let's read it together!" Your turned around to see her looking at you with eyes full of hope.
Seeing the desperation in her eyes made you feel somewhat guilty, so you nodded and scooted over to give her some space. She sat down with her legs tucked under her, and she began to peek at the book.
"Do you want me to read it for you? Even though it's not really a story or anything..." She muttered the last sentence to herself while keeping her eyes fixated on you, in order to gauge your reactions.
You pondered over it a bit and realised that you probably weren't even focusing on this that much after your mind was constantly drifting towards what Touya had said, so it's not like you would have any problem. So you nodded and she (very excitedly) pulled you into her lap, fixing her way of sitting to adjust you before pulling the book back in your lap.
"Alright! Let's read about pre-quirk history and the Great Quirk War! Did you know that your namesake is the soldier who ended the war?" She placed a soft kiss on top of the crown of your head as she said all that, making you stiffen up upon the act of affection.
Still, you somehow managed to nod and she giggled to herself, "When I was young, I wanted to be just like her... So strong and powerful, that even big, scary villains would cower against me... What about you, [Name]? Do you want to be like her?"
You knew her question was just harmless but you couldn't help but ponder over it. Did you want a repeat of what kind of horrors you went through? Hell no.
And so, despite it being a better idea to have nodded, you shook your head in no, making the woman surprised, "Hmm, why not?"
You just shook your head, glad that you were diagnosed with selective mutism so you could get away with not wanting to answer her question. Ultimately, she decided to drop the question and focus on reading about the rest of the Great Quirk War.
You noticed how she skipped over things like death and weapons, instead she just read about the military, their positions and the warfare.
"[Name]." You tilted your head without look at Rei, to let her know that you were listening as she continued, "You know... I may not spend a lot of time with you, and I'm sorry... I'm really, really sorry for that... But I do love you. I love you just as much as I love Shoto, and the rest of your siblings. You kids mean the world to me." She pressed another kiss on the crown of your head, and only when you felt something wet on your scalp, did you realise that she was crying.
Rei was crying...
Comfort was never your forte. You only had comforted your brother when he was a child, because after joining the army, you began to see him less and less, so you never knew if he ever needed any comforting as a 14-year old.
"Is' fine..." You muttered, mostly to yourself but somehow, your mother managed to catch it, "Did you just... speak?"
You were immediately pulled into a tight hug, the book long forgotten. Now, you aren't the most comfortable with such tight hugs, they remind you too much of death closing in on you.
But at that moment when Rei pulled you in, your nose was wafted with her scent.
A scent that was a little too familiar for you.
"Mama!! Mama, look! Papa made me a dolly! What should I name her?"
You don't remember the name or the face of the woman who smiled at you in your flashback. All you can remember... is this scent. The same scent wafting in your nose right now as it was back in your memories.
Perhaps, it was a scent common throughout mothers.
A scent filled with comfort and love.
"I don't need you to cry... just need your love, mama..." You subconsciously muttered as you inhaled more of the painfully nostalgic scent. You heard Rei gasp as she heard you talking but she never pulled you away.
You're glad for that.
Rei may not be your actual mother... but she was just like her...
And that was enough for you.
That was all you've ever wanted.
Tears began to pool in your eyes, and you're sure some of them must have been soaked by Rei's shirt. She must have noticed it too, but didn't say anything. All she did was keep kissing your head and whispering apologies to you.
You wanted to tell her, so badly.
You wanted to tell her she had no need to apologise. In fact, you should have been thanking her. She allowed you to remember the only thing you could recall about your mother.
You should thank her.
But you knew you couldn't, so you just kept quiet and kept your arms around her tight.
Hoping the strength of your tiny arms would give away your gratitude for her.