"That's a good name you've chosen, kid," the doctor said, typing away before pressing enter with one final enthusiastic click. He turned around in his chair. "You're all good. Your family are waiting for you!"
Itsuki walked out of the room and found his family already mid-conversation about something.
"But dad, it has to be something cool," Amane moaned.
"I think flight is a pretty good name," his father said in a mocking tone, clearly enjoying himself.
"But it's so lame! Why not something like Angel Feathers!" Amane said.
'Hm. Not a bad name actually,' Itsuki thought, tilting his head slightly.
"Angel Feathers, that's a wonderful name!!!" her mother squealed. "You always pick the best ones, unlike your boring, grumpy daddy!!"
"Hey, what are you guys talking about? Amane's quirk name?" Itsuki asked, feigning ignorance as he made his presence known. It didn't take a genius to figure out what was going on.
His father looked up at him, adjusting his glasses. "Yeah, and Amane picked a good name. Admittedly better than my suggestion of flight."
"Angel Feathers is kind of cool, but it doesn't really have anything to do with flying. It would suggest the feathers themselves are the power, not the ability to fly," Itsuki analysed. "But I wouldn't call it a bad name."
"Oh c'mon, Angel 2.0, don't be like that," his mother said.
"My name is Itsuki, mom."
"Angel 2.0."
"Well, that's beside the point," his father cut in. "Let's get Amane's quirk registered and examined, and then we can get the brief overview of whatever the doctor recorded that might be useful to us."
✦ ✦ ✦
As they waited, his mother and father drifted into more adult conversation, the kind that involved taxes and government policy and other things that made children go to sleep.
They knew Itsuki was smart, not a super genius by any means, just someone who seemed considerably older than he looked. His father kept giving him occasional side glances, which made Itsuki quietly wonder whether the man already suspected something.
'Not that I'd ever tell anyone I'm reincarnated. Save me the trouble. Though honestly, it feels less like I'm a past life wearing a new body and more like I'm just a new person who happens to remember everything. It's kind of weird.'
Amane burst into the room before he could think on it further, a wide smile plastered across her face, candy in hand.
"The doctor gave me a candy and said my quirk was super cool!" she announced.
The doctor followed behind her at a nonchalantly, Itsuki couldn't really get a read on his face, he just looked normal.
His mother's face did a complete 180, she was no longer a normal adult but more of an adult facade. It was a little unsettling how quickly parents or in particular mothers could do that.
"That's our little angel!"
"I'll give you both a brief overview," the doctor said, producing his tablet from his coat pocket. He gestured for everyone to sit, settling into a chair across from them. "To put it simply, your children have some amazing quirks. Especially your son which by no means is better than your daughter, just one that has caught my interest."
"Yeah I'm super cool!" his sister beamed.
His father had a proud face on his look and his mother was still fussing over Amane.
"Were you able to figure out what the wheel does?" his father asked, leaning forward with barely concealed excitement.
"The wheel? No, frankly I have no idea what you're referring to."
His father turned and fixed Itsuki with a look. The kind that said: we are going to have a long, serious conversation about this when we get home.
Itsuki just sighed in response.
"Well, to put it simply," the doctor continued, "the boy has a genuinely impressive ability. Through his wings he can replicate the function of his own body's organs to a remarkable degree, essentially creating secondary versions of them within the wings themselves. If he wanted to become a hero, there'd be no question about whether he was capable," the doctor smiled.
"And your daughter is wonderful as well. Her flight ability has a lot of room to grow, and since her wings are clearly still developing she has plenty of time to discover just how far it goes."
His mother and father watched on with proud expressions.
"Thank you so much, Doctor ▂▂▃▃▄▄▅▅," his father said.
"Yeah, no problem."
***Timeskip***
"Hey, anything you want to tell me, kid," his father said. He crossed his arms and initiated eye contact.
"Uhhh, nah. Nothing. And if you're asking about the wheel, I genuinely don't know what it is myself," Itsuki said.
A lie, he had to lie for now, it was too early to reveal anything about Mahoraga, if he could avoid it he would.
For a CIA operative, spreading misinformation came as naturally as breathing. But what separated a good lie from a bad one was something he specialised in.
'The most important thing about lying is that you never lie completely. You use what's called a truth sandwich real facts layered with lies, so that even if someone picks it apart, most of what they find checks out. On top of that, you stay calm and controlled. You don't speed up, you don't slow down, you don't shift your weight or break eye contact at the wrong moment.You have to think two steps ahead or else you'll be stuck if the person questions your response.'
"Are you sure?"
"Pretty sure," Itsuki replied calmly, making sure his heartbeat and voice level was perfect.
'His enhanced senses don't make this any easier. I've got to make those years of training worth something.'
"Think about it from where I'm standing, Itsuki," his father said. "Your wings let you replicate your own body's functions. And separately, you have a wheel that appears above your head and seems to help you when you struggle. Those two things are so different from each other that they don't belong in the same sentence, let alone in the same person. At least someone with a half-cold half-hot quirk has the common thread of temperature. Yours don't share anything, so I'll ask again, is there something you're not telling me?"
"I was born this way," Itsuki said, shrugging. "You know that better than anyone. It's not like I woke up one day and decided it would be cool to have a wheel. It just shows up sometimes. I don't summon it."
"Then why didn't you mention it to the doctor? Let him take a look at it?"
'Here comes the hard part.'
"Because the wing examination already took up most of the appointment, and the wheel only shows up once in a while, usually when I'm under pressure or when I'm having a hard time, It's not like I could just make it appear on command in that room. What was I supposed to say? Hey doctor, sometimes a glowing halo pops up above my head, but I can't show you right now, so just trust me? Not only would it have made no sense, it would have just complicated things for no reason."
'And I'm unsure if it would pop up as a quirk since it's a part of my cursed technique.'
His father looked at him for a long moment.
"I'm onto you," he said quietly, and walked off into the lounge.
Itsuki watched him go.
'He's good.'
****
Sorry for the short chapter, I'm burned out. Tomorrow's chapter will be 3k words dattebayo. Kind of boring, and there have been no fights.
Big Raga the Opp Stoppa next chapter.
I also cut down on the em-dashes, and realized it looked kind of like A.I. Which I kind of hate cuz A.I done took away such an amazing writing tool, like imagine.
"The pineapple—which was incredibly cheap—tasted amazing."
Vs
The pineapple, which was incredibly cheap, tasted amazing.
You can clearly see which one is better.
Add this to your library
Alright, I'm out.