My Anime Game Life! - My Hero's Rising

Chapter 16-4: Time to Finish It!

- Many Years Ago-Somewhere Else -

She walked beneath the cherry blossoms, her hand in her mother's own, her eyes shining with enjoyment and happiness as she strutted into a skip by her mother's side, who just chuckled at the sight.

"You really like these trees, don't you?" The woman asked, her young little child giving a nod.

"Mm! They're really pretty!" She said, looking at the trees. "So many trees have green leaves... but these ones have, umm..."

"Pink, dear. This colour is pink," answered the woman as she plucked a leaf from the ground, showing it to her daughter. "The colour represents a universal love of oneself and others, and sakura trees represent the fragility and beauty of life."

"Umm... that means..?" She would admit, her mother was really good with her words. And she was still a kid.

"That means, Shirayuki," giggled the woman, somehow finding that name so suitable for her child. With her white and red hair like that, it just fits. "That life, even though short, is beautiful. And it teaches us to love it."

"Umm... oh! Okay, I get it!" She nodded. That was easy to understand! "Ooh, mama, let's go see another tree! That one has flowers!"

"Hmm? Oh, that one does," hummed the mother, taking her child's hand and walking towards it. The wind was a gentle breeze, and though the light shone not of pink, it reminded ever so much of the cherry blossoms.

...

It hadn't even been enough to say that she was terrified of her mother, heart clenching and dropping into her stomach when she heard her talking about her.

And not in a way that meant to say that it was nice. Not at all.

Because as she heard the frantic hushes, the worried tone that she had never heard from her mother in her entire life, and she knew that it was being directed at her, she knew then that there was something wrong there. That, despite how much she tried to make herself feel more calm, there was nothing to stop that.

And then she tripped.

The door slid wide open.

A sharp intake of breath came from her mother, whose head snapped towards the child, eyes racing with trepidation and hurried fear that felt too out of place for her.

Shirayuki stuttered.

"M-Mama..." She gulped, trying to sound calm. "H-Hi! I just... wanted to, uhh... show you something!"

"Y-You're lying..." Her tone suggested no such hints of a mother's warmth. The air was stale, cold, unlike the crisp air that they felt that one time, sakura trees being the only spectators to their little moment. "Y-You'd tell him... You'd tell that terrible man..."

Her hand grasped the kettle pot, and for a moment there, a thought struck her.

Things changed then.

----------

Present Time-U.A. High, Sports Festival Stadium

She hated her 'Quirk', hated that it had to come from him. And yet, try as she might, there was no denying it now.

It was hers.

How easily a boy who wasn't family, someone she hadn't known her entire life, had easily helped her past her demons and accept her power, when she had spent almost all her life not wielding the power, was just shocking.