NOVEL NEXT Sibling Reunion
“Aww, what’s wrong Izumi? Didn’t expect to see me again?” The person wearing my brother’s face chuckles, smiling that same smile he always had. But, it’s wrong. Everything about them is wrong.
“I can’t say I blame you. After all, what was it you and Bakugou told me?” He taps his chin with a knife as they think, and my eyes widen before hardening. Their eyes light up and they spin the knife between their fingers. “Oh, that’s right!”
They snarl at me as the knife points in my direction, and as they continue to talk I feel my rage grow. “The two of you told me to ‘take a swan dive off the roof and hope for a quirk in my next life’. Funny how things turned out, isn’t it?”
I slowly climb to my feet, my hair hanging in front of my face, as they laugh. The same laugh I remember from when we were little. When things were good between us. But it’s not his! He’s never laughed like that! Never mocked someone like that! And whoever this is, they fucked up the one thing he’s basically incapable of stopping.
“Who the fuck are you, and why the hell are you wearing my brother’s face?”
“Huh?” They blink at me before pouting. “Ah, come on Izumi. Do you really not recognize me? Did you really hate me so much that you completely erased my face from your memo- gahk”
I cut them off with a clenched hand, my quirk grabbing their throat as I stare at them between the gaps in my hair with fury blazing in my eyes. “I already know you aren’t Izuku. He’s never called Bakugou by anything other than Kachan. I won’t repeat myself again. So you better answer me this time. Who. The. Fuck. Are. YOU!?”
They try to say something, and seeing Izuku’s face twisted in pain, pain that I’m causing, once again, breaks me from my rage and I let go of my hold. They rub their throat while glaring at me and click their tongue. “Tsk. I see that you’re the same old bully as always. Resorting to violence at the slightest ‘provocation’. Just because you are incapable of change doesn’t mean I am!”
I flinch at his accusation but steel my nerves. It’s not him. He’s not the real Izuku.
…But he might know what happened to his body.
“I’m not playing whatever sick game it is you have going on here. And you still haven’t told me why you look like Izuku!”
They scowl. “I already told you that I am Izuku Yagi. How else would I know what you and Bakugou said to me after you threw me out the window!”
“If you were really him, you’d know that it was Bakugou who told him that! I cut things off with him right after! He went too far!” I shoot back, venting the words that I’ve always wanted to say. Even if this is a fake.
“I never wanted to hurt him! It’s why I always made sure to slip medicine into his backpack! Why I bound his injuries when he was too weak to do it himself! On our birthdays, I always put a slice of cake outside his door alongside a present! I didn’t want to hurt him! I just didn’t want him to lose his life trying to fight a villain!”
I’m crying now, tears flowing in a stream down my cheeks. “I’ve been living with the guilt of what I did to him every day since he died! The regret is overwhelming! There’s not a moment that passes that I don’t want to strangle the absolute dumbass I was when I decided to follow Bakugou’s lead back when we were kids! I should have fucking stopped him! Not helped him!”
A take a step forward, and they take a step back. “I don’t want forgiveness! I don’t deserve it! I want things to have been different! I want to have chosen to support him instead of tearing him down! I want him to be alive! I want him to be happy! I want him back!”
I fall to my knees as I sob into my hands. “Izuku… I’m so sorry… I should have- should have been there for you. I should have…have…”
“You should have been a sister.” His cold voice washes over me and I look up. He’s standing above me. Glaring down at me. The knife is raised. I can’t see anything else. Nothing else matters. “You should have been a sister. But you can’t change the past. Only accept it when the consequences of your actions come back to you.” He hesitates for a moment before slightly shaking his head. “Goodbye, Izumi.”
The knife falls as if in slow motion. I can stop it. It would be so easy. Just a quick flash of my quirk and he wouldn’t even be able to move. I already know that I’m not suicidal. If I was, I would have let myself drop. But this? It’s not suicide. It’s my brother punishing me for what I did to him.
This is what I needed.
I hear Aizawa-sensei shouting, but it’s a distant thing. Unimportant. I close my eyes as a sense of relief fills me. I feel lighter. Like the guilt is gone now. And the voice? It’s quiet now.
And I’ll never have to hear it again.
But the release I’m expecting doesn’t come. Instead, an odd buzzing makes its way to my ear just before I hear a heavy thud. My eyes shoot open, taking in the scene before me.
The person who looks like my brother is on the ground, shaking. Their knife lies next to them, discarded. And standing above them is a person wearing a tattered black jacket, their hood pulled down. I stare at them blankly as they remove their mask with the hand not holding a taser. I look back down at the convulsing fake. I look back up. I blink. They chuckle and scratch their cheek with one finger.
“Heh. Um, yeah. A lot of stuff has happened. But I’ll explain later. For now, it looks like Eraserhead needs help.” Izuku says as he turns to the fight between Aizawa-sensei and the bird. Mechanically, I follow his gaze and see the bird holding my teacher against the ground, one arm clenched in its fist.
Izuku starts moving immediately, not waiting a moment for me as he rushes to help. “Come on Izumi! If you really want to be a hero, you need to help those in need!” I see him with a determined look on his face, one that I’ve never seen on anyone else. Something that no one else would be able to copy. His look of wanting to help, even if he knows he won’t be able to change anything. The look of somebody who embodies everything the word ‘hero’ stands for.
He’s my brother. And he’s alive.
And he’s rushing against something that just took out a pro hero!
I scramble to my feet in desperation as I launch myself after him, surprised at how far ahead he already is. He’s gotten faster. But that just means he’s going to be in danger sooner. I can’t lose him! Not again! Not when I just found him!
But I can’t stop him. Not this time.
I finally have a chance.
I can be his sister. I can support him.
And that’s what I do. As he gets close to the bird, I focus my quirk on its joints to restrict its movement, watching as it tilts its head at the green energy that's appeared across its body. It’s enough of a distraction for him to get close, enough to stop it from hurting him. He reaches out a hand towards its head. I feel my hold starting to crack. I watch as his fingers close around a metal rod sticking out of its exposed brain. He pulls.
The rod comes out with a sickening squelch, the beast letting out a mournful howl that echoes across the building, causing all of us in the plaza to cover our ears, before it collapses backwards and falls silent.
I stare in shock, unable to believe that he managed to take out such a monster on his own. With only his first move. I was wrong. I was horribly wrong. He can be a hero. He can be the best hero! He will be a hero!
“Cheater! Stupid NPC glitch! You’re a part of our party! Where do you get off helping the other side in our raid!?” The hand villain throws a fit, gesturing wildly in his rage.
But Izuku ignores them, crouching down to check on my teacher. I approach while keeping one eye on the few villains getting back to their feet. Once I’m standing by my brother’s side, I raise my hand and clench my hand into a fist, mimicking a small explosion with my quirk. I make it clear to them that if they bother him, they’ll have to deal with me.
His silence seems to upset the villain, who starts ranting at him while the mist villain from earlier appears next to him. But I’m distracted from the two by loud noises coming from outside the plaza. A quick glance shows me that Bakugou is charging towards us from the storm zone, his face twisted in rage, making me scoff. He’s late. All that’s left are the injured and the leaders. But my eyes widen as I see him not going for the two villains still standing, but for-
“Izuku!”I shout, pulling him towards me, avoiding the explosion Bakugou tries to hit him with. I put him behind me, ignoring the way he twitches as I glare at Bakugou “What the fuck do you think you’re doing!?”
He growls as he scowls at me, miniature explosions popping in his hands.. “I’m fucking up the villains! The hell do you think you’re doing protecting one!?”
My hands twitch, holding back the urge to throw him far, far away. I know that he’d be able to get back all too soon. “Did you go blind!? Can’t you see its Izuku!? In what world is he a villain!?”
“The one where he showed up with a group of fucking villains! That quirkless Deku is dead! Whoever that is, it’s not Deku!”
I clench my fist, ignoring my own doubt. If he’s been alive all this time, why didn’t he tell anyone? Or at least Shoko? “He is! And he isn’t with the villains! He just saved Aizawa! Why would he do that if he’s on their side!”
He glances next to him at our teacher, who’s struggling to his feet. He gives Izuku a wary look, but not an aggressive one. “There’s more going on than any of us realize. But we can deal with figuring out the truth,” he turns to the two villains who haven’t moved, “after we deal with them.”
Bakugou has a dissatisfied look on his face but begrudgingly turns to the actual threats. I breathe a sigh of relief, glancing back at Izuku, who’s blinking in confusion. I give him a shaky smile. “We’ll figure things out. I… It’s good to see you again.”
“Um, yeah.” He takes a stance, raising a blade between him and the villains. “Seems like a lot has happened.”
While we’ve been talking the hand villain has been scratching at his neck. “We took you in. We gave you training. We made you strong. And you take the first opportunity you can to betray us?” They growl. “It’s a good thing I listened when Midosagi said not to trust you. Kurogiri. Nomu. Nomu. Kill him.”
I’m confused for a moment, wondering who Nomu and Kurogiri are. But the mist villain makes a motion and I suddenly feel a burst of air. I turn, and what I see will haunt me for the rest of my life.
