I'm sorry.
Kindergarten wasn't as horrible once she befriended Izuku and Katsuki. From time to time she would read to the class, but she mainly spent her time with the boys. It may be talking, playing, or she teaching them new things, they have become inseparable. Bakugou can be a little bitchy sometimes, but she is always quick to remind him that he isn't the queen of the house—he would be mad an hour or two, and then come back, so all good—. Talking about the blonde boy, he already got—discovered? This quirk thing is weird—his kosei. He can make explosions with his hands, they couldn't talk much about it since Christmas vacations began, but it was pretty cool.
Still, although it has been fun, to have not only one friend but three that want to become heroes is an infinite source of stress. That fact is on the back of her mind each time she sees them, specially when they ramble on and on about quirks, hero names, favorite heroes, etc. Chieko is glad Izuku and Katsuki haven't met Mirio, they would just encourage each other.
Just imagine them together...
Yep. She doesn't want them anywhere near each other. Which won't be that difficult considering they have just started vacations and just like every year, Keita-oji took Mirio in a trip to Osaka. They invited her this time—years pasts she had been told she was too young—, but her father was going away in a 'business' trip—something about getting to know a famous psychologist and a 'valuable' learning experience, but she knows better, those eyes are the eyes of a fanboy. She thinks he would have left sooner if it wasn't for her birthday—, and she didn't want to leave her mother alone, so she stayed.
The uneasiness and fear of precious people going away made her really bitter until Izuku invited her to play at the park, so that's what she's going to do, it isn't very far, and she has not seen the boys since they went on vacation.
Chieko doesn't know the zone, and has never come to either of her friends' houses, but her mom has the address and is accompanying her, so they should find the park fairly quick—not that she couldn't do it alone, but even though she is already five years old, she is still a child, and an adult's presence when walking alone is a necessity—.
They arrive to the park and she doesn't like one bit what she sees.
Izuku is beaten up on the floor.
Who does she need to kill now?
She lets go of her mother hand and runs to Midoriya's side, Yua behind her.
"Izuku..." the 'are you alright?' question is a stupid one right now, and the 'who did this?' can wait until her friend is better, so she instead makes sure none of his injuries are bad, and with the help of her mother take him to his home.
Midoriya didn't want to tell anyone what happened. Of course, once the adults were gone, she forced him to confess—she may have made him cry a little—. The words fled his mouth with sobs and cries, and since she was never good at comforting people with words, she just hugged him until he stopped crying.
Chieko couldn't believe what Izuku told her. Right, at first she thought Katsuki and Izuku were too different to be friends, but then she thought...she thought wrong. And how did he got so quickly influenced by others opinions? What the fuck?! To bully Midoriya just because he doesn't has a quirk—she is a little ashamed to admit she was glad he wouldn't be able to become a hero—, that's insane. He was crying so much when he told her he would never be a hero...she wanted to tell him that he could be a hero, that even without a quirk, if he trained, he could do it, but she took her heart and crushed it. Those words would make him pursuit even more the hero path, so she just stood silent with him on his room until it was time to go.
She hasn't really paid attention to the problems around quirks. Besides the hero vs villain conflict that everyone knows about, she didn't have information, and information is a powerful weapon if you know how to use it, so she asked Yua.
80% of the population has a quirk, and the rest who doesn't are called quirkless, and unfortunately, they are sometimes treated unfairly or as if they were less. Yua didn't say anything to her questions, but Chieko knows her mother suspects all of this has to do with Izuku.
Now.
What to do?
She can't change the fact Izuku doesn't have a quirk, and she can't threaten each and every person who bothers her friend-by the way, she has a pending talk with Bakugou-...well, she could, but it's bound to be more problematic than helpful. The best she can do is teach him to defend himself...but that could encourage him to be a hero...
Agh.
Why does she need to deal with all of this?
Last year of Kindergarten started just hours ago. She hadn't seen Katsuki in a long two weeks, and she had decided she would confront him later, when nobody would interfere—no, she's not going to do anything to him, he's still her friend—, but the stupid blonde decided to ridicule Izuku in front of the class. She really didn't want to have this conversation here, but he doesn't let her any other option.
"Bakugou, what do you think you are doing?" her voice doesn't rise, and her tone stays monotonous, but all the children's laughs stop and everyone looks at her, forming a circle that encloses the trio of 'friends'.
"Eeh?! What I do has nothing to do with you!"
"I didn't ask you that" he doesn't respond, but his face turns dangerously red and he takes a step forward. "But anyway, that's not important. Why are you doing this to Izuku? You are friends"
"There's no way I'm friends with loser, quirkless, Deku" the nickname makes the green haired boy flinch, and her right hand twitches. She almost wants to fix him with punches, but friends don't hit friends-unless you are training-. Even she that only had two friends in her past life knows it.
He seems to have the idea of Izuku being less inched on his brain, so she changes strategy.
"Didn't you want to be a hero?"
"That has nothing...!"
"Oh, but it has everything to do with it. Heroes are not bullies Bakugou. Heroes don't harm people, much less their friends..." a push throws her to the ground and a shout similar to a growl sounds throughout the yard of the school.
"A hero is someone who defeats anyone! And you are not my friends! Go away!"
A nervous Izuku stands behind her, asking in a rushed voice if she's alright.
She's alright.
Bakugou will not be alright.
He did say they aren't friends, so no harm done, right?
No, she didn't use her training.
Yes, she beat up a child.
No, she didn't kill him.
Yes, he burned her a little, she may have lost a tooth, and her parents will lose it when they find out.
But damn it, it was worth it and satisfactory.
"Now, Katsuki-kun, Chieko-chan, what do we say when we fight?"
Watch your back.
No one says anything. The traitor scowls at her, and turns his head to the side. She gives him a dignified Uchiha glare that makes him go back a few steps.
"Chieko!" while her mother's voice sounds in warning, Bakugou's mother pushes her son with a little too much strenght. The woman is a copy of the traitor, but at least it seems she has morals.
"You two just need to apologize, and then we will all leave this on the past" the obnoxiously sweet voice of the teacher sounds again.
This woman doesn't really care about what happened, she just wants to go home.
Chieko buries her anger, and speaks.
"I'm sorry for hurting you, Bakugou. It won't happen again as long as you don't bully Izuku" her words leave the teacher's office silent and then chaos.
"Katsuki! What the hell did you do again?!"
"Chieko! You shouldn't hurt anyone in any circumstance...!"
Did no one explained to them why were they fighting? Kami. She's so done with this, she just wants to go home.
Things remained tense after that incident. Chieko made sure Izuku wasn't directly bullied during class, but there was little she could do about the glares and bullying outside class. The worst? The biggest problem wasn't what others did to Izuku but that the boy isn't capable to strike back. He is too kind, he only fights when there's another person in danger, and the bullies take advantage of that.
The obvious, easiest answer to everything is to teach Izuku how to defend himself—or at least teach him to receive punches—, but that's... She wants to do it, she really does, that would help him even after people stop bullying him, and she admits it, it would be awesome to teach another person how to fight—...even though in another childhood she hated it...—. She could teach Mirio too and then the most vulnerable precious people she has would be a little less fragile, but they are impressionable children and that could encourage them to become heroes...
"You are overthinking things again, sweety" Yua's voice takes her back to reality. Chieko puffs her cheeks stubbornly and continues organizing the dinning room. "Anything I can help you with?" Thats, that's actually a good idea.
"They are still bothering Izuku and I don't know how to help when I'm not with him"
"I thought that was taken care of...?"
"They only do it when there's no one looking and then they hide it saying they are playing. Izuku doesn't tell anyone, but I pay a lot of attention"
Her mother frowns and seems to think about Chieko's words while cooking dinner. It passes some time and Chieko is starting to think she will not receive an answer when the woman speaks again.
"If your friend doesn't do anything to protect himself, there is not much you can do..." she is about to protest, but her mother interrupts her with a raised eyebrow "You shouldn't try to do everything alone, talk with Inko, talk with your teachers, and then maybe try to make Midoriya-kun realize that what is happening is not something he should hide"
Chieko thinks about it and her mother may be...no, she is right, and it is so obvious that it makes her blush in shame. She is such an idiot sometimes. Yua laughs at her face at the same time her father enters the kitchen and greets each of them with a kiss.
Usually, Hiroyuki arrives before Yua and he is the one who cooks, but when it's the other way around it's not a problem for her mother to cook—although she will admit it, she prefers her father's food—. Dinner is the part of the day everyone is home in no hurry, and so in the Watanabe house is ritual for each person to talk about their respective days. Her mother talks about what she dreamed the night before, about the prisoners that showed good/bad behavior—of course, she doesn't say names—, about her friends/colleagues. Her father talks about what he ate throughout the day, he can't talk about his patients, but he comments about some of them getting better; he talks about his way home, the people he saw, the places they should go in their next vacation. Chieko talks about what she did with the nanny, about what she read and learned.
Those are random, unimportant themes, but it brings them closer to each other. Now, they do talk about serious stuff, but it normally doesn't involve her, so they don't include her on those conversations. Not until now.
"So..." Hiroyuki isn't the type of man who doesn't have the words to explain himself, he isn't the type to show his insecurity, and the sudden change in his personality puts her on edge "You are going to enter primary school soon, and well, they need to know, hmm, they need to know your..."
He sighs and his eyes dance around the room, searching for the words he wants to say, then he looks at her mother for help. "Darling, I don't think we should..." Their eyes connect and they seem to have a conversation at that moment, Yua looks at him disapprovingly and doesn't budge to whatever Hiroyuki is thinking. Still, puppy eyes are a powerful weapon and the blonde ends up finishing his phrase.
"They need to know what is your quirk and we wanted to know what are we going to do about that" Well, that wasn't so bad. Is her father worried that she may be quirkless? Chieko has thought about it, but she isn't sure what type of lie she should tell them. To pretend to be quirkless is easy and would hide everything; however, would that be a good long-term decision?
"Oh...well...is there some type of test or something? I think Izuku told me about..." the more she says, the more grim her parents' faces become, until there's a point where she stops talking altogether and only observes them.
Both of them look serious, of course, this is important, it's part of her future, but...
Oh...
Neither of them are smiling, nor do they look comfortable, like if it was a theme they wanted to avoid. Yua's face looks like stone, Hiroyuki's eyes don't have its constant mirth. Chieko's heart beats scared, and panic and guilt start to drown her, but nothing shows on her face. Her father looks worried, but doesn't make any movement to help. He knows she prefers to be comforted with actions, with hugs and smiles, but this time...this time he uses his words.
"Chieko..." it's only a name, a simple word said with the worry of a father, but it sounds so foreign, so far away...and she understands...she understands...
And the guilt chokes her,
because they know.
They know,
they know,
they know,
theyknowtheyknow,
Oh My God,
they know she's not their daughter.
"I'm sorry" she manages to speak in the middle of her panic, "I'm sorry". Simple whispers leave her lips, and that's the only thing she can do. She can't give them their daughter back, she can't—she can—make them forget what they know, she can't cry—her voice trembles and her eyes crystallize with tears that won't fall—.
She almost doesn't notice the hands on her shoulders, or the words spoken around her, but she does notice the anger.
"I told you! I told you we should wait until she was ready!"
Furious whispers that turn into muted hateful "Thief", "Impostor", "Murderer".
The only thing she can do is ask for forgiveness.