“Dad! We gotta go! We’ll be late for class!” Akane yells up the stairs.
“Hai, Hai! I’m just done!” I yell back.
“You guys better not skimp on the breakfast!” I hear Keigo’s voice as he scolds the twins.
“Yeah Mom!” Miyuki affirms.
As I slip on the top of my hero suit, Kaito pops his head through the door of the master bedroom.
Mom’s pissed. No one is touching the breakfast he made. You better get the twins to eat something before you leave. He signs at me.
I look at my now twenty-five year old son in exasperation. It’s Akane and Miyuki’s first day at U.A and we are already running late. Keigo is rushing around the kitchen right now preparing their bentos; with last night’s mission, both Keigo and I reached home at four am in the morning. Keigo has to rush back again; Miran scheduled him for a report in an hour. I swear ever since the man has become President of the new Hero Commission, he’s been persistent in getting results. We can’t complain though, he’s been the best the Hero Commission's had. Under his jurisdiction, illegal hero training has been stopped and the school Keigo and Kaito were in, was abolished. There was better handling in hero recruitments and many invalid and unjust laws that had been created for heroes had been successfully repealed.
As I rush into the kitchen, Keigo looks at me. He’s emotional, I can see; he has to miss the twins’ first day. Akane and Miyuki are waiting for me impatiently.
“You guys know the rules.” I point out. “Breakfast first. We can fly to U.A if we have to. Chop! Chop!”
Akane grumbles under their breath and Miyuki just looks back at me unbothered, already reaching for his mom’s pancakes, drenching them in syrup.
“Akane! You better finish what is in front of you!” Keigo almost chops onto their head and Miyuki snickers at his twin’s whine.
Akane is wearing the feminine top of the uniform and the boy’s pants, whereas Miyuki has the entire boy’s uniform on today, with his binder underneath. As they finish breakfast, I grab my phone as I make them stand with Keigo, who first looks at me confused.
“Come on, we need a first day picture.” I instruct them and Keigo’s face lights up as I click a couple of pictures of the three. Kaito sits in his seat and snickers as he just watches his siblings get smushed into a hug by Keigo. He’s in his hero suit as well, Miran set him up for a mission later today as well.
You two are gonna rock it. He signs at the twins. Don’t blow up anything though. He continues to tease, the particular poke referring to Akane’s previous mishap during training yesterday.
Akane sticks their tongue out at their brother, who holds up a peace sign. Miyuki just wants to get to school on time and he chides me, “Come on dad, you were the one who told us we had to get there early because Uncle Jin would be waiting for us.”
“Hai, Hai.” I say again grabbing the bentos from Keigo, who gives me a kiss. “Let’s go.”
“Have a great day guys!” Keigo calls out behind us from the front door as we launch ourselves up into the sky. I wish he were coming off to drop the twins with me as we did with Kaito, but duty calls.
The world has changed quite a bit, maybe a lot, since the war with AFO fifteen and a half years ago ended. The new Hero Commision had been founded and a new law was formed. These days, civilians using quirks out in public were not only encouraged in the presence of a hero, but the new norm. The twins and I fly through the sky, them with their wings and I with bursting my flames in the right way; we make our way to U.A.High skipping all the traffic. As we fly over an alleyway, we see a civilian help out a younger pro hero we know to capture a robber who had been trying to use the alleyway as a escape route. Surely, that woman was gonna get some recognition in the news later in the day.
Kaito became a hero, and like his Uncle, Mom and I, is in the top ten heroes list of Japan currently. He’s had some great years at U.A himself, and to the twins, has been the best big brother there ever can be. Akane and Miyuki were only ten when they came out to us as Non-binary and Gender-fluid respectively. I still remember Kaito’s expression that night as they revealed their gender identities to us.
Wait, so I’m the only straight one in this family? He signed, stumped. The twins, Keigo and I had burst out laughing at how incredulous his expression was. The twins still love to tease him about the one crush he had since his U.A days and he would in turn tease them back with some of the embarrassing moments they had with their quirks.
As for Keigo and I. We are living the peaceful married life, with our three children in our four bedroom villa and are one of the famous and trending pro hero couples in Japan. Now what else could we ask for?
The twins and I land right outside the gates of U.A.High. Standing right by the watchpost near the gate is Bubaigawara Jin and he waves at us, as the twins and I walk into the campus.
“Hey, Double Trouble.” I greet him. “How’s the hero-trainer life?”
“Absolutely great.” He says, a wide and excited grin gracing his face.
Jin or the Multiplying hero: Double Trouble, as he’s now known, too has changed. After rehab and therapy with Hound Dog, he was able to get a handle on his split personalties. Gone are the days when he contradicted himself as he spoke; the man who stands in front of me is someone who was able to overturn his life for the good. Nowadays, he is one of the trainers assigned with Ectoplasm to Gym Gamma, where most of the youngling heroes are made to train.
“Hey, Uncle Jin.” Akane raises their fist and Jin bumps it with his own.
“Hey there, Fiery kiddo.” He says and proceeds to smile at Miyuki who smiles back at him.
“I see you’re a boy today?” Jin asks him and Miyuki nods shyly back.
“Okay guys.” I pat each of my kids’ heads, giving them their bentos that Keigo made. “Have a great day. Don’t trouble Chargebolt and Phantom Thief too much and make friends. Enjoy, okay?”
My twins nod and then give me a hug each, which I return back with the same amount of elation I receive them with.
“They are under my care now, Touya.” Jin assures me. “Come on you guys! We gotta get you kids to Orientation.”
As the twins walk away from me, following Jin into the campus, my heart starts to swell in pride. My children were all intent on taking the noblest path on becoming heroes and today Akane and Miyuki start their hero journeys. The fact that all my children are independent and have found themselves by knowing who their Mom and I are first and figuring out what and who they want to be; always makes my heart swell threefold with pride. I love my family so much.
To be honest? Life is all good now and I am happy. Finally.
I'm crying. This is the final part. All that's left is the Q&A which I'm posting in a few hours. I'm gonna give people time to ask any final questions on all three copies of the story while I sleep, and I'll finish posting after I get up. I hope you all enjoyed this story as much as we enjoyed writing it.