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"I'm not proud of what I saw, but I'm not mad at you, baby," Katsuō comforted, brushing her fingers through Korei's damp hair. After All Might and Aizawa left, Shinsou encouraged his girlfriend to get a bath and get her mind off of things...so she did. However, she felt the need to talk to Katsuō right after her shower. "It's okay, sweetheart. I know stuff like that happens sometimes. I'm so sorry that I called you such nasty names, okay? I don't see you as either of those, alright dear?"
Korei sniffled, wiping her tears away rather aggressively. She felt so small and...sad. Katsuō was the best mother figure in her life, and Korei didn't ever want to ruin that. "Y-you promise?"
"I promise, babes," Katsuō whispered, pulling her in for a much-needed hug. The green-haired girl grasped onto her so tightly, burying her face into her chest for comfort. "I love you, Korei. You'll always be like a daughter to me. Just...a daughter-in-law because otherwise, it'd be weird."
"I just feel so bad, Katsuō-san. I-i don't want you to think I'm like that o-or that I'm only wi-with Hitoshi for that," Korei rambled on, pulling away slowly. Katsuō nodded along, going back to brushing her fingers through her hair. "I'm so sorry that I disrespected you in yo-your own home."
"D'oh, it's okay, baby. You're fine," Katsuō waved off, pulling her hand away from Korei's hair as she stood up and went looking through her bedside drawer. "I wanna show you something, sweetheart. See, I raise Hitoshi the way that my parents raised me...minus a whole lotta abuse. I only do this because I'm scared that one day...I'll lose my baby boy." Korei listened intently, watching as Katsuō brought a shoebox over to her. There was a sad smile on the older woman's face and it made Korei's heart ache. "I believe in God and I raised Hito to believe in him too, but I also believe he's merciful. Sometimes I just get so caught up in the religion that I turn into my own mother. Calling a little girl a slut...an-and a whore," she scoffed at herself, tearing up as she realized how ridiculous she was. "I was fifteen when I met Kei, Hitoshi's dad. He was a serious trouble maker and I followed every single rule...until I met him," she blushed, opening up the box and taking out a stack of pictures held together by a rubber band. Katsuō tugged the band off and shuffled through the pictures until she found the one she wanted to show her son's girlfriend. Korei took the old photo, eyebrows raised in shock as she realized just how much Shinsou looked like his dad. The only differences were the short bleached hair, tattoos, and all of the piercings. "Hito looks almost exactly like him, doesn't he?"
"Yeah," Korei nodded, her gaze flickering up from the picture and towards Katsuō.
"He's so much like him that it hurts me sometimes to look at him. Not because I'm mad at him or anything, but because I know Kei would be so proud of him," Katsuō sighed softly before smiling at Korei. "He would have absolutely adored you, as well. I swear, if he had met you, you wouldn't be able to leave the family." The two chuckled together but Katsuō's was more nostalgic. It was like she was remembering things that never happened. "But, yeah...I met Kei when I was fifteen. He was covered head to toe in tattoos already, labeled a delinquent boy by everyone in the school, and his quirk didn't make people like him anymore, either. He could make people think whatever he wanted and it really seemed like there wasn't a drawback to it. He used it a lot to get out of classwork and stuff...but, he always tried really hard with his homework. I just...remember him slaving over it every night when we were together. He'd spend hours and hours on it, asking me for help and taking notes on everything. If only he'd have paid attention that well in class, you know?"
