I always had a great memory.

In fact, that was an understatement. For practically my whole life, I had the ability to remember miniscule details that others would overlook.  It made studying easy, so getting good grades was a breeze for me. Weather this attribute was a part of my quirk or something I was just naturally gifted with, I still wasn't sure. but I could tell you my mind was one of the reasons I was able to get into the prestigious U.A. High, a hero school that only accepted students with the most potential.

Despite the perks, however, this memory of mine was a bittersweet attribute.

I remember my first memory very vividly. It was of three-year-old me holding my chubby hands out to my father, who, in his nicest suit and business tie, waved me goodbye as my mother held me. Through the windows of my mind I can still see the messy tears dripping down my face and the light from the morning daylight washing in from behind my father's figure.

At the time this memory took place, my father was leaving for a very important business trip. One that required him to travel overseas, which was why he left for a few weeks. Despite how much his three-year-old daughter wanted him to stay...

Emotions when you're a child are weird. You don't have the ability to understand them and you can't control them well. This was, of course, true for me as well. This was the first time my father had been away for so long, and I spent the next few weeks anxiously waiting for him to come back.

But the day finally came.

It was a dark Thursday night when the door to our small suburban home clicked open. Little me, who was refusing to eat the broccoli on my plate, immediately turned my attention away from my mom trying to chide me into it, and rushed to the door with a smile on my face, hoping to find my father ready to embrace me in his arms. But when the door opened fully, the man that I was met with wasn't familiar at all.

The man that looked just like my father stumbled inside, barely able to stand straight. His face was bright red and his dark hair fell messily over his face. The hazel eyes that matched mine had a weird look in them that scared little me. He was laughing between hiccups as he practically fell onto the counter, his elbow propped up to support him.

I didn't move. He looked like my father, but at the same time he was acting like an entirely different person who just happened to look exactly like him.

My mother was quicker to react than I was. She hurriedly leaped up from her seat and scooped me up in her arms, not giving me any room to ask what was happening. Even through an aging memory, I can still feel her dismay as if it were my own. She gave my father an anxious look as she carried me to my room despite my protests and locked my door. I remember banging on the hard oak wood, wanting to know what was going on, and still wanting to see my dad despite the confusion.

It wasn't until I was older that I finally figured out what happened that night. Apparently my father had been given a portion of the money his company was spending on a new project. But the night he got it, he spent it all on beer, marijuana, and other drugs for him and his coworkers and friends.

It made sense, considering he was fired shortly after. And the three of us were forced to move to a small, shabby apartment at the edge of town due to unpaid expenses.

Once we moved there, I was still too young to properly express my dislike for the new life I had been forced into. But it was pretty evident, since I would often throw tantrums because of little things, and would cry more than my parents were sure was normal for a child of my age.

And who could really blame me? I was forced to move away from the home I grew up in, and to a neighborhood where street fights and thefts I could often hear happening from our apartment occurred on a dangerously regular basis.

The condition of our new home wasn't the best, either. The place was infested with cockroaches and other insects, but the Landlord either didn't care enough or couldn't afford to get them exterminated. And the furniture was old and would give off odd odors that I would go out of my way to avoid. To make matters worse, the walls and floors were very thin. So, unlike in our old home, I could hear every one of my parents fights. I even remember several instances where one of my parents would punch a hole through the wall during one of their arguments.

It was usually my father. With his quirk, it was easy for him to do that.

His quirk was a simple strength enhancing quirk that allowed him to convert his strength into one part of his body, making it up to 3x as strong as it originally was. It sounded cool, but it had its major disadvantages. When he converted his strength into his arm for example, he had to sacrifice some strength from another part of his body, making that part less strong than it originally was. It pretty much gives him an advantage in exchange for a weak spot.

My dad had actually at one point in his life dreamed of becoming a pro wrestler with his quirk. It was definitely made for that kind of thing. I had seen pictures of him on highschool in his wrestling uniform, or with his team. He looked so happy in them.

However, he quit wrestling after several months of fighting with his father about it. His dad thought that he would never be able to make it as a pro wrestler because of that weak spot.

My dad fought with his dad on that for years. But it was only when my dad was accepted into a state championship competition, and was beaten pretty badly during his first match, that he admitted his dad was right and gave up on his dream.

It was still hard for me to believe he gave up on it just like that. But that was what happened.

My mom's quirk wasn't nearly as destructive. It was an emitter type quirk that allowed the user to alter slivers of memory. Whether it be hers or someone else's. If it was someone else, all she had to do was eye contact with them.

It was a good quirk. But she didn't use it often. In fact, the only time I ever remember her using it was when we went to my aunt's wedding, and she used it on my aunt to make her husband think she had already given him a present, when in reality, she didn't have one

Now, you may be thinking, Miu, aren't you afraid she used it on you at all? And the answer to that is, no, I'm not.

You see, her quirk has three main drawbacks. The first was that she could only alter small pieces of a person's memory at a time. The second was that the memory spontaneously came back to them years later. Even if it was a very very small memory, it would still come back, like, a decade later for no apparent reason. But I suppose that doesn't count as much of a drawback most of the time since the person probably wouldn't even remember the situation by that time.

But the third drawback was that the person would always have a small headache whenever she used it on them. She usually kept this part of her quirk a secret from people, so only her family knew about it. But it was how I knew she had never used it on me. I had never headaches at this point in my life, and whenever I did now, my mom was never in the room with me, she couldn't have used her quirk.

I had inherited neither of these quirks. Mine was something completely different. It was called 'Eagle', which gave me the attributes of an eagle.

Since this quirk was a mutant type, I was born with it, so my parents were very confused when I was born with feathery eagle wings sprouting from my back.

But it was the quirk that I had.

_________ ׂׂૢ་༘࿐

There were a few highlights to living in that apartment. Like the man who owned a taco stand a few blocks away from us who would see my skinny figure and ragged clothes, and would give me a free taco from time to time. Or the nice woman in the apartment above us who would let me stay with her occasionally when my parents fought. She played piano, and gave me lessons if I asked politely.

But the biggest plus side was daycare.

My parents apparently didn't find preschool too important as they didn't enroll me in it, so while other kids were doing normal kid things at school, I did normal kid things at home.

One of my parents was always home with me to make sure I didn't get into any trouble. This was possible since my dad worked morning shifts at a fast food place while my mom worked evening shifts as a cashier. So they usually didn't have work at the same time.

This worked for a while, until someone at my mom's job quit and she had to work the morning shift on weekends. And since my dad still had work, there was no one who could watch over me.

So, every Saturday and Sunday one of my parents would take me to a daycare on the other side of town.

When we went there for the first time, I had no idea what was going on. And being in a new place was a little intimidating.

As if to show this, I clung to the fabric of my mom's pants and buried my face in it.

My mom stroked the fluffy hair that adorned the top of my head and spoke softly to me.

"Come on, Miu, don't be like that. You'll have a great time! You might even make a couple friends."

I met the gentleness of her blue eyes as she looked down at me with a small smile.

This was why I loved going out with my mom. She was always so kind. She never yelled at me or dad or threw stuff at us when she was stressed like she often did when no one else was around. She never looked at me like I was a chore she had to get done. She looked at me like I was her daughter.

But even back then I think I knew why she only gave me those loving looks when we were out in public. It was to put on an appearance for other people. My mom had always been big on that.

My dad less so, but at least he would never yell at me when we were out, like he did so often at home. He just gave me looks I knew would mean if I continued whatever I was doing, I would pay for it when we got home.

But despite this, my dad never hit me. And he would lecture my mom whenever she did. But that didn't make his lectures or fights with mom any less scary.

"But…" I began, tightening my grip on her pants.

"You'll be okay. I'll come back to get you in a few hours. In the meantime, go make some friends!" She touched her finger to my nose, and I giggled.

My fear dissipated a little bit as we got closer to the entrance of the daycare. Once my mom pushed it open, my sensitive ears were filled with the noise of kids laughing.

The daycare was a pretty big space. There was a table with toys in one corner, a shelf with books in another, a chair near the window where an adult was reading as kids listened intently to the story they were being told, and even a big pile of stuffed animals in the corner. Everywhere I looked, there were bright colors and new faces.

One of which was a man who looked around my mom's age with black hair and thin glasses that reflected the bright sun as it casted it's brilliant rays over us outside.

His gait was slow and deliberate, but he had a welcoming smile on his face when he greeted us.

"Hello there! You must be Ayaka Takami. And I presume this is your daughter?"

The man bent at the waist to give me a small wave, but I just sank deeper into my mother's shadow.

"Yes. This is my daughter, Miu." My mother pulled on my arm with a bit too much force, forcing me to come out of hiding. I looked up at the man and played with my hands. Three-year old me wasn't exactly a social kid. Well, not that I can say much even now…

The man bent down to my level, offering his hand for me to shake. His eyes had a kind gleam to them, and not the fake kind my mother always had. "Nice to meet you, Miu," he told me. "I'm the owner of this daycare. I'm afraid my name may be too complicated to pronounce, so you can just call me Wo. I'm sure we'll get along just fine."

I gave him a small smile, before hesitantly shaking his hand.

"Now, tell me Miu, just so I can get to know you a bit, what do you like to do?"

I twitched my wings slightly, something I often did when I was nervous. When I finally spoke, the words came out in a whisper. "I...I like to draw… and color…and read... and I like heroes…"

The last part had just come out of the back of my mind since I could think of  anything else to say. Wo just nodded.

"Is that so? Well Miu, I think I can think of some kids you'll fit in well with!"

I let out a small peep. I didn't want to talk to other kids. It was too scary. I took a step toward my mother again, but when I looked up at her, I saw a hint of a glare unveiling itself in her gaze. And even though it was only for a split second, it was enough for me to take Wo's hand without any protests.

Wo didn't seem to notice. "Ha ha! Excited are we? Well let me introduce you to them." As my mother left the daycare, Wo led me over to a corner of the room that had a rocking chair near the wall. Lined up against the wall was a shelf with lots of books on it, nearly all of them picture books. And sitting in the center of the area on a colorful blue and red carpet were three kids my age staring attentively at a book that one of them was holding in her lap. They were all pointing at pictures and giggling.

The girl in the center who was holding the book caught my attention first. She had long, curly black hair that she kept in a high ponytail. Her skin was dark like chocolate with some white patches covering her face, arms and legs. Her big brown eyes shined with curiosity, and the chip in her tooth was very noticeable as she smiled hugely at whatever she was looking at. But none of those characteristics was why she caught my attention.

It was because of the small giraffe ears and ossicones that stuck out from her thick bed of hair. This girl had an animal quirk like me!

The boy to the girl's right had messy light blue hair and matching eyes. His skin was very pale and his arms and legs were thin; his knees wobbly.

The kid on the far left side was the only one not smiling. They were smaller than the other two, and their eyes seemed distant. Their attention was only half on the book as the other half was focused on lightly stroking the white and brown ferret that sat calmly in their lap.

"Guys." Wo said, making the three kids look up. "I'd like to introduce you to Miu. Today's her first day here, so she's not used to everything going on. Could you guys show her around? Make her feel welcome for me? She has a lot of the same interests as you guys, so I think you would enjoy playing with her."

I gave a shy wave, only to instantly regret it and slap my hand back down to my side.

For a moment, just a small moment, the kids looked at me blankly. And in that moment I immediately regretted letting Wo introduce me to anyone. I should have known they wouldn't like me. But that only lasted for a second as the girl's face brightened and she set her book down, coming up to greet me.

"Hi Miu! I'm Miyaka. But you can just call me Miya! I love your wings, they're so pretty!"

I blinked, not knowing how to take the compliment. Despite the surprise of hearing that, though, it gave me a warm feeling inside. I had never thought of my quirk as something special. These wings were just like another set of limbs were just like another set of limbs to me. The only difference between them and my arms and legs were that they got feathers all over the place, much to my parents' displessure. So hearing someone say they thought my quirk was cool, something worth gawking over the way Miya was, felt good.

"Um... T-thanks..."

The other two followed in Miya's lead and came over to me as well. The blue haired boy seemed ready to introduce himself already, but Miya beat him to it.

"And theeeessse are my friends, Koyama and Shion." She gestured dramatically to each of them. Koyama gave me a small smile while Shion caught me staring at their ferret.

"I'm sorry," they apologized, revealing their nasally and quiet voice. "This is Daisy." They gestured to the ferret they held in their arms. "I would let you pet her but my parents say you can't, since she's a service animal."

Service animal?

"What does that mean?" I asked, just noticed the red harness binding the animal with Shion's wrist.

"It means that Daisy helps me whenever I have panic attacks, or with sensory overload. She also helps me focus." They said 'sensory overload' slowly, one syllable at a time.

"Do you want to read with us?" Miya interrupted. "We're reading about heroes!" The way her ears twitched slightly and the tail I now realized she had shot up in excitement at even the very mention of heroes made me smile. But I was also confused.

Heroes? Was that why they were smiling so much?

I looked over at the book that was now in Koyama's hand. He handed it to me, and as I held the big picture book, I admired the colorful cover of a variety of people in dazzling outfits. They all wore bright auras and even brighter smiles.

The center of the cover said in big, italicized words, 'What Are Heroes?'

I opened the book, and, as I've mentioned before, my parents never bothered to enroll me in preschool, so I had no clue how to read. So the pictures were the best reference I had when it came to what the book was talking about.

The first page showed a picture of a very big, muscular man dressed in a red, white, and blue suit. He was smiling in the viewer's direction and had his arms up to show off his muscles. Golden rays were cast around him in a glorifying display. But the thing I liked most about him was his smile. It gave a sense of security and comfort. Like I could put my life in the hands of this man and despite everything I could rest assured that I would be okay.

"Oh!" Miyako piped up, looking over my shoulder. "Are you reading about All Might!? Isn't he just the greatest?"

I met Miya's excited gaze before looking back down at the cluster of letters I didn't understand. There weren't many of them since it was a children's book but it was still enough to intimidate me.

"I-I actually can't… read…" I looked away as I said it, getting quieter by the end.

"Huh? What was that?" Miya leaned in to hear me better.

"She says she doesn't know how to read." Koyama confirmed for her. He didn't waste any time as he took the book from me and sat back down on the carpet.

"Come on. I'll read it to you."

"Um… o-okay."

_________ ׂׂૢ་༘࿐

Wo~san went to help some other kids, leaving the four of us to gawk over the book and heroes in general. Koyama read the text to me while Miya and Shion pointed out certain things and gave their opinions on certain heroes. [Well, mostly Miya did. Shion was content with just watching, which I could respect.]

To be honest, I didn't know most of the heroes in the book. I mean, how could I? I rarely got out of the house and it's not like my parents would just give a three-year-old a phone to look this stuff up at their leisure.

I knew that heroes were a thing, though. I'd heard people talking about them on occasion, and once in a while a hero even came when someone was stealing something or starting a fight in town. They stopped the scary noises, so I appreciated them in the way you would appreciate a police officer.

I knew there were certain pros that people admired, since, one of the few times I actually went out, I saw an entire section of a store that was dedicated to All Might merch.

But I didn't know that heroes were so interesting. They had such interesting quirks and had entire businesses dedicated to hero work. There was even an entire ranking system of heroes that people checked their phones constantly to see if it updated.

But there was one hero who particularly caught my interest.

"The #3 Hero, Hawks, the man who does things a little too fast," Koyama read. "He defeats bad guys with nothing but his wings, speed, and wits."

I marveled at the picture of the man in the picture. His hero costume was a simple black and yellow skin tight shirt with a beige coat draped around it. His yellow visors caught the sunlight in the picture, as did his utility belt. He also had earmuffs, baggy pants, and boots. But, in Miu's opinion, all of that was outshined by the huge, beautiful red wings that almost cloaked the hero as he flew upward, smiling at the camera that had taken the picture.

I marveled at the quirk that seemed so much like mine. Miya voiced my thoughts, crawling over next to me from her place beside Shion.

"I KNEW those wings if yours looked familiar! It's because they reminded me of Hawk's!" She reached to graze my small, white feathers, and I recoiled from her touch instinctively.

Miya looked a little disappointed, but brought her hand back to her side. "Oh… sorry. I should have asked if I could touch them."

"T-that's okay." I replied, avoiding her big brown eyes as they looked at me apologetically. Feeling a little awkward, I decided to change the subject.

"But… do you think that my wings will be like that someday?" I gestured to the picture. Miya gave me her gap-toothed smile.

"Of course they will! Your quirk is really cool, Miu. I'm sure your wings will be just like his when you get older. Maybe even better!" She threw her arms up in excitement, as if to emphasize her point.

I smiled and blushed slightly in embarrassment.

"I hope so! He seems like a really cool hero-"

"He is! Did you know that he-Wait… seems like? WAIT, you've NEVER heard of Hawks?" Her jaw dropped in disbelief, and I hesitantly answered her. "No…?"

"WHAT, HOW?" Some of the kids looked over at Miya's loud voice, and Wo put his finger to his lips after catching her eye. She shook it off.

"Hold on a second." Miya ran over to Wo and asked him something I couldn't hear. They talked for a while, Wo seeming confused by what she was asking.

"Oh no…" Shion commented. "she's probably going to show you the video…"

Video?

After a couple minutes, Miya came back, Wo's phone in hand. She sat back next to me, searching for something on the phone.

"Give me a sec. I'll show you who Hawk's is."

I looked over at Koyama and Shion, both of which gave me a 'just with her' look.

Miya got the video up, and pressed play.

In the video, something big seemed to be happening. Police sirens and the sound of a helicopter filled my ears, the bright lights of the helicopters illuminating the tall glass building reaching up into the night sky. The camera zoomed in, revealing two figures at the top of the building. One a man in mostly black with a notorious look in his eye who was holding a knife to a woman's throat. The woman, whose mouth and wrists were covered in duck tape, looked completely terrified.

"Sir." An officer's voice from a megaphone echoed. "Unhand the woman or we will be forced to-"

I looked away, the situation in the video scaring me.

"Stop it Miya. You're scaring her." Koyama scolded reasonably.

"Shhh. The best part is almost here." Miya gestured to the video and I forced myself to look back at it.

The man yelled something. I couldn't hear exactly what it was since they were so high up, but I could infer he wanted his demands to be attended to or else he wouldn't let her go.

"Sir. This is your last warning. If you don't unhand her, we will have no choice but to shoot." Now it was obvious that this was a bluff. They wouldn't risk hitting the woman, but at the time I thought they actually would, and I got scared.

The officer with the megaphone started counting down.

"3...2...1…"

Once he got down to one, the man released his grip on the woman, sending her plummeting down to the ground. I gasped at the same time as people from the crowd surrounding the building did. They screamed, yelling 'save her,' but I distinctly heard one person yell, 'look, there's Hawks!'

And sure enough, a red and yellow blur swept the air, saving the woman from her inevitable doom in one fell swoop.

The crowd's gasps and cries of dismay transformed into cheers as the camera zoomed in on the pro hero, who was flapping his wings midair while holding the woman in his arms bridal style.

He looks just like he did in the picture.

As soon as he made sure she was okay, something I didn't expect happened The feathers on his wings came off. Retracted from his body. And, as if on command, hurdled toward the man. The man panicked, but the feathers pinned him to the roof he stood on.

It all happened so fast, I couldn't even wrap my head around it until the winged hero was already on his way back to the streets below.

Once he was there, he set the woman down safely. As he did, people and cameras swarmed both him and the woman. Family and friends in tears, beyond glad that their daughter was unscathed, paramedics making their way through the crowd to check for injuries, news reporters and camera men ready to film the next big story, and just civilians who wanted to see Hawks up close.

Now that he was on the ground, the video was able to get close to his face, revealing features I couldn't notice from the distance before. But he seemed surprisingly calm, just smiling and putting his open palms up in the air when what was presumably the woman's mother wrapped her arms around him in thanks.

"Wow…" I breathed.

"I know, right!?" Miya suddenly said, making me realize I had forgotten she was there.

"There are tons of cool videos like that about him, but if you want to know specific details… I could tell you.”

My eyes sparkled, making me sit up, forget my earlier shyness, and look her in the eye.

"Yes please!”

_________ ׂׂૢ་༘࿐

Word count: 5,339

Hi everyone, hope you enjoyed the first chapter of Justice's Emblem!!

Chapters won't usually be this long, but I want to get Miu's backstory out of the way before I move on to anything else, since the rest of the book won't make much sense without it. (I also couldn't find a good place to end the chapter 😅)

On another note,  a lot of the writers on Wattpad that I'm a fan of end their story chapters with questions relating to the chapter in some way. I think is a neat way to connect with readers, so I considered doing this for my own story.

But because I don't want to outright steal people's ideas, I decided to go with a different approach. After every chapter, I will give a fun fact relating to the chapter. Wheather it be about the bnha universe, some real life fact relating to the chapter, or about my ocs.

You can reply with your own fun fact if you would like! (Or head cannons about my characters or the bnha characters) I would love to see what random information my readers know lol.

And I realize I might sound like a smartass when I'm giving these, but I assure you, I'm going to be copying off my friend, Google's, homework a lot. 😉

That being said, the fun fact for this chapter is:

Miu is a fan of people with animal quirks like her. The first time she ever saw someone else with an animal quirk was the first time her mom took her to the grocery store, where she spotted a certain white mouse in a tuxedo buying cheese...

Anyway, have a great day/night.