My Hero: Duality

Backstory

     A beautiful baby girl was born to a family in the Shizuoka prefecture of Japan. The parents of the child, Anzong and Moriko Suzuki, were overjoyed to have a girl for their firstborn, and raised her well, giving her all the kindness and love a child could need. They named her "Shinko" and lived for four long years as a loving, happy family.

       Young Shinko Suzuki first showed signs of a quirk at age four, as most children with quirks do. On a trip to a zoo with her mother, she pointed at a gray wolf standing nearby in its enclosure and, giggling, let out a wolf-like howl as her body morphed into that of a young wolf-pup.

           Her mother picked her up and held her as she repeated this with other animals they had seen, crying tears of joy at the realization that her beloved daughter would grow to be a force to be reckoned with... but the celebration was short-lived, as when they returned home, Anzong was already home from work.

          In a panic, he told his wife to take the child and hide in the darkest closet of their home. He gave a rushed explanation as to why, shooing his family farther inside as he spoke: he had been contacted by a small group of villains around two years ago, requesting his presence and assistance. When he refused, choosing instead to help Moriko raise their daughter, they became angry and started looking for him; now they had found his house and family.

          Moriko took their daughter to a bedroom closet and hid while a ruckus ensued in the kitchen. Her husband's pleading for his life could be heard from the living room, and Moriko set her daughter down, warning her to stay put, before exiting the closet to come to his aid.

          Shinko, four years old and frightened, followed her mother into the living room, where they both bore witness to the loving father's final breath at the hands of a villain covered in blades. The child felt a pain in her chest so powerful that she fainted as he lost his life.

          The child awakened one full day later and found herself in a hospital bed with her injured mother. Moriko spent her time comforting the confused and distraught child. Another day later, Shinko began hearing a strange voice in her mind. This voice was not her own, and it asked odd questions, seemingly speaking to no one in particular.

         "Where am I?" The voice would ask, "Am... Am I alive? Who are you?" Shinko, confused and too tired to respond, simply ignored the voice. A week after the first question, Moriko Suzuki passed away with Shinko in her arms. The doctors believed the cause of death was internal bleeding.

          Shinko had not mentioned the voice to anyone, but did begin to respond to it after her mother died. Two weeks after Moriko's death, the voice decided on the name "Ayuna Akane," and said that she (Ayuna) had been floating in a dark void for what felt like eternity. She hadn't been able to say what came before that, but seemed pleased to have met Shinko.

          On the eve of Shinko's sixth birthday, alone in her room at a home for orphaned children, Shinko suddenly felt an excruciating pain all throughout her body. An unwilling transformation occurred, and she felt her consciousness rescind into her body as Ayuna's took its place as the one controlling their body. Ayuna moved to the mirror in the room and looked upon herself; Shinko's light brown hair had been replaced with locks of platinum-blonde, and Ayuna's pale freckled skin stretched across their body -- Hence the burning pain.

          Ayuna could indeed control their form, but the transformation only lasted until the next morning, when the pain returned, and their control swapped once again.

        Over the years, Shinko kept Ayuna a secret from her caretakers as she returned each night, and took notes on the time of night that Ayuna would be forced into control. The exact time varied, but after watching the sunset night after night, Shinko discovered that Ayuna would gain control at the exact moment that the last ray of sunlight disappeared beyond the horizon. Shinko, herself, would always regain control at the moment the sun was fully out from behind the horizon; the position of the moon was irrelevant.

          Shinko and Ayuna never really understood why they came to be together, but their personalities were vastly different: Shinko has always been a bit shy but quite friendly, and dreamed of going to UA High so that no family would have to go through what hers had. She wanted to become a Pro Hero and help people who couldn't help themselves...

         Ayuna Akane searches the night for her purpose -- her reason to have come to Shinko in the first place. She feels she has one; she simply hasn't found it yet.

         ...Around age 10, Ayuna discovered her own quirk; she could teleport to any location she had already been in by using up blood from her body as a power source. If she went too far a distance, she would become anemic, and Shinko had to get herself to a hospital for blood transfusions on several occasions.

         An argument began around age 13, and Ayuna agreed to not teleport using her own blood anymore. To Shinko's surprise, however, Ayuna took a kitchen knife and stabbed one of Shinko's classmates in his sleep, then teleported home using the blood she was covered in.

            Ayuna had always had darker, more violent thoughts, but had never acted on them until now. She did not become anemic, as her own blood hadn't been used, and began making modifications to a basic dagger so that it could store blood from those it pierced for future use.

              Because Shinko was ashamed and horrified at Ayuna's actions, she told no one, and Ayuna continued her nightly attacks. At age 14, after being homeless and on the run for a year, Shinko signed up for UA high and tore into Ayuna, telling her that she (Shinko) would go to the police and turn herself in for Ayuna's crimes if she harmed anyone at the school.

           Ayuna was disgusted and angry, and heavily protested Shinko's decision to start her hero training, but was unable to convince her to revoke her application.

            Shinko passed the exams with flying colors, expertly dodging the "simulation villain" robots and helping those who were unable to fight or escape. She was accepted into UA, but now she needed to find some way to keep Ayuna under control...

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

           Shinko was incredibly anxious on the first day of school; because of Ayuna's presence, because of the new classmates, and because of the especially intimidating homeroom teacher, Shota Aizawa. This wasn't helped by the fact that she was nearly 20 minutes late, because Ayuna had been up all night and Shinko had attempted to catch up on sleep.

         Upon entering the classroom, Shinko was immediately overwhelmed by the powerful quirks of her classmates. Her eyes stopped upon a blonde boy with his feet on the desk before him. The boy was arguing with another boy, throwing insults and raising his voice. Shinko was immediately intimidated, but Ayuna had a different reaction: "He seems like my type."

          Shinko had to spend the first few months of classes learning not to speak to Ayuna out loud, and Ayuna had to spend the first month of nights learning more about the blonde boy with the fiery attitude. Over that month, Ayuna decided that she wanted him for herself, to be her boyfriend. Of course, that would be a difficult task; Shinko still hadn't mentioned Ayuna to anyone, in exchange for Ayuna controlling her violent urges at night. Thus, she wasn't mentioned on Shinko's UA application, and could get Shinko expelled and arrested if she showed herself.

        While Ayuna put effort into learning all that she could about the blonde, Shinko had noticed a boy with golden hair with a black lightning bolt pattern flirting with various girls in class to no avail. She assumed he was lonely, and approached him, asking to be friends. They got along well, enjoying similar video games and comedy shows... But Shinko's not ready for a date just yet – Perhaps something will happen in time?