"You really waited till I turned five to get my quirk tested again?" Itsuki said with a bored expression as he put on his hoodie.
His father chuckled, "Hey, it's better to do two in one and see what your sister gets as well, like hitting to birds with one stone," he replied.
His sister had recently turned four, coincidentally, Itsuki had turned five just a couple of days before that. His parents had decided it was better to wait until his sister turned four so they could do it all in one trip.
"You know about the waiting time if you don't book a reservation, right?" his father chuckled.
Itsuki sighed, "Yeah, a pretty long queue. Let's get moving — mom and Amane are waiting for us," he said.
They walked to the car and his father got into the driver's seat while Itsuki sat behind him. His mother would normally sit beside his father, but because of his sister Amane, she was in the backseat being watched and cuddled by her instead.
"To keep a woman waiting, it's usually the other way around," his mother huffed, adjusting Amane's collar
"Yeah yeah, you took a vwery l-long time!" his sister screeched.
'Gosh I hate this bootlicker, kids are the worst.'
"It took a while for me to find my shoe. I'll do my best next time, mom," Itsuki replied.
"I was just teasing you guys, take your time — I don't mind," his mother said.
"Y-yeah, we were just joking!!" his sister repeated.
"Is everyone ready? Seatbelts?" his father asked.
"My seatbelt is on!" Amane said.
"Alright, let's go!" his father said.
✦ ✦ ✦
His sister looked like a carbon copy of his mother, they had the same wings, two of them, the same blonde hair and the same face. His mother constantly joked about her being a mini version of herself, or 'Mommy Jr.' in her words. Her quirk was obviously the wings, but unlike her mother she could actually fly, which made her a bit of a bother as she would constantly flutter around the house and get into places she had no business being in.
Itsuki's wings were similar but different at the same time. He could fly too, but ultimately the main function of his wings was to act as substitute organs, they were there so he could see and hear —since he had been born both blind and deaf—
"Are you excited, Amane? They're going to tell you all about your quirk and you can even choose a name for it!" his mother squealed.
"And I bet it's going to be super awesome!!" Amane replied.
His father watched them with amusement before turning to face his son, "What about you? Excited? Maybe we can finally figure out what that wheel on your head does."
"Yeah, I'm interested too," Itsuki said.
As they arrived at the hospital, they were called in after about five minutes and finally got their turn.
"Tenrin Amane and Tenrin Itsuki!" a doctor called out, poking his head through the door.
He had black hair and brown eyes, was of average height, and had a small mustache sitting neatly on his face. A white lab coat hung over his frame, a smile on his face and a tablet in his right hand.
As Amane and Itsuki entered with their family, a flicker of recognition crossed the doctor's face the moment he saw those four wings on Itsuki's back.
"Oh, it's you," he said with a grin. "Even after five years I probably couldn't forget — the whole hospital was talking about it, haha."
"Oh, you worked there too?" Itsuki asked.
"Yes, the entire hospital was in a frenzy. While it's rare for a baby to talk at all, picking up Japanese through minimal interactions in under an hour was, well, that was basically unheard of."
"Well, you already know about his four wings then, right?" his father cut in. "So we can get straight to the main matter, a quirk name, a little examination on this little demon," he said, ruffling Amane's hair as she huffed at him.
"Don't call her that, she's an angel!" his mother scolded.
The doctor watched their interaction with quiet amusement.
'More like a demon in angel clothing,' Itsuki thought.
"Ahh, well, yes, it would help, but I'd still like to run a few tests. I promise it'll be quick. I'm afraid I lost the data on him," the doctor said, scratching his head.
His father deadpanned. "T-that's… that's fine."
"For the tests, I'd like the parents and the little 'angel' over there to wait in that room," he said, gesturing toward a side room. "While I examine young Tenrin-san here."
His father looked at him questioningly.
"I'm not going to do anything to your child — it's simply so there are no distractions. More convenient for everyone," the doctor explained.
'You couldn't even if you wanted to,' Itsuki thought dryly.
"No no, don't mind us, let's go," his dad said, gesturing his mother and Amane toward the waiting room.
"Alright, Itsuki, this way," the doctor said, leading him in the opposite direction. The room they entered was filled wall to wall with medical and technological equipment.
"Sit right here on the bed for me. I'm going to scan your pinky toe — one joint or two — and while the physical aspects like your wings are visible, I'll still need to log the data properly, okay?"
"Yeah, that's fine," Itsuki replied, settling onto the bed. The doctor placed a small device around his pinky toe, it clamped down lightly to keep it in place, uncomfortable but not painful, then crossed over to his laptop to enter the results. As expected: one joint, not two.
"Right, thank you. With mutation-type quirks the results tend to vary in ways doctors don't particularly enjoy, so the pinky toe method is usually the safe bet," the doctor muttered in a mildly monotone voice. "Haha."
"I see. I'd imagine it's mostly used for emitter-types since they're the most common, but does it still work for transformation quirks?" Itsuki asked.
The doctor paused.
"Well, transformation-types are biologically the same as emitters when they aren't transformed, since the power is temporary, the method should still hold. But in their transformed state it would vary depending on what form they take," he explained.
"So in their untransformed state it doesn't read as quirkless?"
"Precisely. The one-joint result is simply to confirm the presence of a quirk, think about it, emitters don't have to constantly use their quirk either… wait." The doctor looked up. "Are you actually five years old?"
'I've heard that one a lot.'
"Well, that's beside the point, we're getting sidetracked. Let's take a look at those wings," the doctor said, visibly brightening.
"??"
"I mean, let's scan them. Any prior information you'd like me to know before we start?" he clarified.
Itsuki scratched his head. "It's a bit complicated, so…"
The doctor produced a pen from seemingly nowhere, tablet at the ready.
"Would it be alright if I took some notes?" he asked.
"Yeah, go ahead," Itsuki nodded.
"Start from the simple stuff and work your way up, makes it easier for me to figure out the right tests." He chuckled lightly. "And I'd like to know whether my theory from back then was anywhere close to correct," he added, more to himself than anyone.
"Well, the most basic thing about my wings is that I can control them. I can make them smaller, for example," — the four wings on his back visibly shrunk — "or bigger," — they expanded again. "But the most unique thing is that I can detach them entirely, and they grow back on their own."
The doctor's eyes lit up and his pen moved faster. "Can you control the speed they grow back at?"
"Nah, they just grow."
"Does it hurt?"
"It's like pulling out a hair," Itsuki answered, reaching behind his back and pulling a wing clean off. He set it down on the table beside him.
The doctor scrambled around to watch it grow back in real time. "Fascinating, is there more?"
"Yeah, and this is where it gets more complicated. The second ability — after controlling them — is a sort of sixth sense."
"I knew it," the doctor said, looking extremely pleased with himself. There really was no better feeling than a five-year-old hypothesis paying off.
"In case it wasn't obvious, I'm genuinely blind. Nothing comes through my eyes, and I'm completely deaf as well. No hearing at all."
"Then how are you hearing me right now? Through your wings?"
"Sort of. The best way I can explain it, my wings can replicate the function of sensory cells. For sight, they've developed photoreceptors similar to the cone and rod cells in a normal eye, which lets them detect light wavelengths and process color and shape. For hearing, the feathers pick up sound vibrations and the nerves carry that information to my brain the same way an auditory nerve would. It's less that I 'feel' what's around me and more that my wings have become functioning sensory organs, just not the usual ones."
"Interesting, so your wings have essentially grown their own sensory receptor systems, replicating the biological function of eyes and ears through a different structure entirely," the doctor said, scribbling rapidly. "The neural density we recorded at birth would make that plausible, the wiring was always there, it just needed time to develop a purpose. Remarkable, really. Self-optimizing quirks are extraordinarily rare."
"I don't understand anything you just said, but yeah."
"Haha! and can you produce more than four wings?"
"No."
"Can each wing replicate more than one organ's function?"
"It kind of works like, each wing can take on one function at a time. I don't really need to understand the science behind it, I just think I want to see, or I want to hear, and it works."
'I got him on a leash. The real reason my wings regenerate is the reverse cursed technique, I busted my ass learning that. But the wing manipulation itself is genuine, the organ replication works better with cursed energy running through it, making it actually effective. Without that, it'd be pretty useless on its own.'
"That's a lot to take in," the doctor said, finally setting his pen down. "Theoretically, you could grow a second heart in those wings."
"Yeah…" Itsuki replied. "I could…. I think."
"Now let's get some tests done, now that I know what your quirk is," the doctor said.
'It'd be interesting if the wheel showed up during these tests of his,' Itsuki mused.
"I only have two things planned. I'm not really supposed to do this, but I think it helps."
'Yeah, I'm pretty sure these appointments are just for identifying quirks that haven't shown up yet, or giving them a name.'
"Mmm, okay and what would that be?"
"Just testing your accuracy with sight and hearing. Wouldn't want you walking around in glasses and hearing aids you don't need!" the doctor said cheerfully.
Itsuki looked at him with the specific type of dry expression that said: 'The joke didn't land.'
The doctor ignored his lack of enthusiasm and settled him against a wall fitted with six color panels.
"I have this stick," he produced a pointer seemingly from nowhere, "and when I point to a color, tell me whether it seems light or dark and what color it is."
He brought the stick toward the first panel.
"Light red."
The doctor said nothing, his face giving nothing away, and pointed to another.
"A sort of dark blue."
'My parents had already run these tests with me at home. It really helped me fine-tune it.'
The process repeated four more times before the doctor finally spoke.
"All correct, although the dark blue one is arguable," he laughed. "I'll do one more. I do have special charts for tests like these, but since you're blind we'll just check for general clarity."
He pointed his stick toward a picture on the wall.
"What animal is this?"
"A dog."
"What letter is this?"
"N."
"And this?"
"I."
He moved the stick to another.
"G."
The process continued three more times before he stopped.
"Alright, your sight is passable. I'm not an ophthalmologist, so I won't push it further than that."
"And the last test is for hearing. I don't have the proper equipment on hand right now, and I won't be checking for wax buildup or anything like thatl, I'm just going to say a few phrases that get progressively quieter, and I want you to repeat them back to me," he said.
"Hello, I'm a doctor," he said, loud and clear.
"Hello, I'm a doctor," Itsuki repeated.
"My favourite food is ramen," he said, a little calmer.
"My favourite food is ramen."
"I like to watch movies," he muttered.
"I like to watch movies."
"I hate apples," he said, barely above a whisper.
"I hate apples."
"You're all good, Itsuki!" the doctor said, straightening up. "I can't say your hearing is perfect — that'd need a specialist — but it's more than functional. I'm just making sure you're not missing anything obvious."
"Yeah, no worries. It's pretty straightforward."
"And now for the best part," he said, rolling back into his computer chair with slightly more enthusiasm than necessary. "Naming this quirk."
'Angel Wings was the obvious choice but that's boring. It had to be something with weight to it. Something that, when someone heard it for the first time, made them think: that's a strong name. A name that carried some kind of authority to it — the kind that suited a quirk that wasn't just wings, but something closer to a completely different class of ability altogether. Something ancient. Something that already had a reputation before he even opened his mouth.'
"Seraph Wings."
***
Hey guys, if you are reading up to here please give it a review or comment. I like seeing stuff like that.
Sorry for the info dump.
Also what is the word count goal to enter the rankings?