CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE
Rio stood against the doorframe, arms crossed as he watched with barely concealed amusement as his older brother flailed dramatically in the mirror, shoulders hunched as he pulled at his collar, twisting left and right to inspect himself from every angle. Takeru stood in the middle of his room, striking pose after pose like a model auditioning for a toothpaste commercial.
"Having fun?" Rio commented with a smirk. "So this is what future heroes look like before a battle, huh?"
Takeru was startled like a cat gripped roughly by the back of its neck, nearly jumping out of his skin. "Don't sneak up on people like that damn it. Also how did you get into my room?" Takeru said in anger and then confusion.
Rio broke into laughter, unable to resist. "You left the door open. And you've been staring at that mirror for like thirty minutes already. If you stare any longer you're gonna fall in love with yourself.
Takeru huffed, grumbling he picked up a shirt from the bed and tossed it at his brother. "At least I can reach the top shelf." Takeru said with an evil smirk his tone condescending.
"You know if you keep up with the height jokes I'll start to think you're compensating for something." Rio fired back not one to be outdone.
" Pleaseee, I'm packing and well at least I'm not short." Takeru fired back knowing that calling me short was one of the few things that got on my nerves.
The two went back and forth for a few more jabs until the rising tension cracked into laughter. The laughter grew as they found themselves laughing so loudly tears started spilling from their eyes.
"Why are we laughing again." Rio asked as he tried to catch his breath.
"I don't even know anymore man."
Rio wiped a tear from the corner of his eye "So? You ready?"
Takeru's grin dropped slightly, replaced by a sharp look of focus. He nodded. "I've never been more ready for anything in my life."
Rio blinked. "Even more than that one time you took your mock exams with the flu?"
"That was just to prove a point," Takeru replied, turning back to the mirror with a more composed posture.
Shiketsu High School's entrance exams were around the corner. This was the yearly test conducted by the school that filtered out the truly exceptional from the rest of the hopefuls. Takeru's grades alone had earned him an invitation—his academic scores were just that good.
The whole family congratulated him when he received the invite. Rio hadn't said anything then but he wondered if Shiketsu didn't care that Takeru was quirkless. After all he did co-find a successful tech company.
Also he mused that the school was likely unaware if the candidates had quirks or not. It was much rarer to see a person without a quirk these days. Rio hoped that wasn't the case. He didn't want his brother to be heart broken.
He didn't dwell on it.
"You know," Rio started with a smirk, "I'll laugh if you underperform after all this flexing."
"Out." Takeru grabbed a pillow and lobbed it at him with expert precision.
Rio ducked, laughing all the way into the hallway.
A few minutes later, Takeru stepped out of his room dressed in a simple black track suit. Rio blinked at him like he'd been personally betrayed. "You spent all that time trying on clothes just to wear that?"
"It's for optimal performance." Takeru shrugged as he continued. "There's a physical test coming up after the written exams, I'd rather wear this now than struggle to find somewhere else to change." Takeru pointed out as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
They made their way to the car waiting outside. Takeru adjusted his sleeves as they walked, practically buzzing with energy.
Then he noticed something. "Wait, why are you following me? Are you planning to sneak in and cheer me on?"
Rio scoffed "Please I have better things to do. Outsiders aren't even allowed inside anyways."
Takeru rubbed the back of his neck, mildly stung. "Right… I forgot." If that made him uncomfortable he did well to hide it from Rio.
Rio didn't notice the flicker of discomfort on his brother's face—or maybe he did and didn't care to address it. "I'm heading to Momo's place."
Takeru paused mid-step, then turned to him with the most obnoxious smirk Rio had ever seen. "Oooh… Rio's already got a girlfriend. I'm jealous."
Before he could finish that smug thought, Rio raised a hand to swat him. But Takeru ducked under it, laughing—until Rio stepped forward faster and tapped his shoulder hard enough to make him stumble.
"We're just friends. 'Friends' it's purely academic."
"Right. Academic. You don't need to explain yourself lil bro I understand." Takeru's grin didn't fade for a second. "Still you could have taken another car, all the other cars in Grandma's garage are just gathering dust." Takeru noted as he stepped into the car.
"If you keep talking I just might take you up on your offer."
Rio climbed into the car and muttered his destination to the driver, leaning back into the seat. His gaze flicked to his brother, who was still radiating excitement and making conversation with the driver—insisting on a fist bump before they left.
He watched quietly. They used to be more alike once, but these days… things had shifted. Ever since the company took off, Takeru had grown more outgoing, more confident. Not the reserved older brother Rio had grown up with.
The car pulled up to the gates of the Yaoyoruzu estate. Rio stepped out, taking a deep breath of the morning air.
"Good luck," Rio said simply as the door shut behind him.
Then the driver took him away he still had quite a journey ahead of him. After all Shiketsu was located in Kyoto he would have to use the bullet train to get there if he wanted to be at the venue on time.
"6-0, 6-0, 6-0. It's official, Momo—you suck at tennis," Rio laughed aloud at the score displayed on the screen.
The two had decided to play VR tennis. Needless to say, Rio crushed Momo in the match. He effortlessly dominated the whole game, her skill being no match for a speedster's natural reflexes.
"Perhaps I wouldn't have lost if you stopped cheating all the time!" Momo exclaimed as she took off her headgear in annoyance.
"Now that's just being a sore loser, Momo-chan," Rio said while laughing. "Git gud, scrub."
"That's unfair," Momo said, pouting. "Your Quirk allows you to do so much. Just the other day, you drew a painting in five seconds. Mine is just a glorified 3D printer," she added, her tone growing downcast.
He raised an eyebrow, stepping closer. Gently, he brushed aside her bangs and placed a hand on her forehead, feigning concern. "Feeling okay? That doesn't sound like the confident Momo I know."
Momo's cheeks warmed at the unexpected contact, her heart skipping a beat. She quickly stepped back, trying to mask her flustered state.
Oblivious to her reaction, Rio nodded, satisfied. "No fever. Good."
He flopped onto the air mattress, stretching out. "Seriously, Momo, you shouldn't underestimate yourself. Your Quirk is incredible—one of the most versatile I've seen, even among pro heroes."
"If I didn't have my Quirk, I'd choose yours. It's just that strong," Rio said affirmatively, staring straight into her eyes.
She sighed, settling beside him. "But I don't know how to use it effectively. I feel like I'll always be in the background. I can only offer support. My Quirk doesn't allow me to be effective on the front lines."
Rio sat up, turning to face her. He placed his hands on her shoulders, his gaze earnest. "Look at me. You're intelligent, brave, come from a prestigious family, and, let's be honest, you're very cute. That's basically the protagonist of a Mary Sue novel template."
Her face quickly turned red, a blush coating her cheeks. "W-what are you saying? I'm sorry, but I don't think of you in that way!" Momo spouted out, flailing her arms in protest.
Rio just raised a brow at that declaration. "Whatever floats your boat, I guess? Weirdo." He saw her as a little sister at best—he had no romantic feelings toward her, his mind on swaying purple hair.
Momo just blinked in bafflement while Rio burst into laughter at her confused face.
She eyed him for a moment and asked, "But I still don't see what you see in my Quirk. I still think it's not as amazing as you make it out to be."
Rio took her hands and turned her until she was facing him directly. "If you still can't believe in yourself…" He tried to inject as much sincerity as he could into this sentence. "Then believe in the me that believes in Momo Yaoyorozu."
Momo stared at him, her lips trembling and her body shaking slightly, overcome with emotion.
"Thank you. I didn't know it, but I think I needed to hear that," Momo said with a smile of relief as she dragged him in for a hug.
Rio simply smiled as he patted her on the back. She always doubted herself. For someone so well-off, she was battling a serious case of low self-esteem. He knew that if she put her mind to it, she could change the world.
"So… tell me, genius. Who do you see when you look at me?" Momo asked seriously.
Rio thought quietly. He had always been in awe of her Quirk. If she leveraged all the resources she had, then by the time she graduated high school, she could have the power to stand before even the likes of All Might.
"Momo is…" Did he really want to tell her? The person he envisioned she could become had the power to take on the entire world.
He looked at her petite figure, large eyes staring unblinkingly at him. Who would believe that such a little girl held this much potential?
The question was: did he want to empower someone who may not always stick by his side?
No. It would be a tragedy if such potential was wasted.
"Apart from me… the strongest."
With a little more certainty in his tone: "Future Momo is the strongest."
"Then teach me. Show me how to become the person you see," Momo said with conviction, her hands clenched tightly by her sides.
Rio cocked a brow at that. "Are you sure? It's more training than a child like you should have to sign up for. Your life from now on will basically revolve around training and memorization. Are you up for the task?"
"I'm not sure I can. But… if it's you, Rio, I think I can do it."
"Very well then… we'll begin with a practical demonstration."
Rio would teach her everything he knew and speculated.
He would do his best to guide her in an ideal direction. If she could pull off what he believed she could, then just maybe he too would be able to replicate it. After all, their Quirks had similar requirements.
"Y' ever heard of an atomic assembler?"
Author's note: It was fairly obvious but I'll explain why I believe Shiketsu is in Kyoto. So it was a split between Osaka, Kyoto and Hiroshima. Rumi (Mirko) went to the hero school in Hiroshima as well as Fatgum. The hero uniform is different. A lot of shit happened in Osaka I don't think the villains would be making so much noise close to a major hero school. Also the main reason though is that I've been reading too many JJK fics, having the two prestigious hero schools being in Tokyo and Kyoto was too good to pass up.