To Hold the Stars || BAKUGO KATSUKI

Prologue

Nomi Katsuragi knew her normal life was over by the time she was four years old.

Upon reflection, she was a curious and carefree child until then. Her time was usually spent outdoors exploring the woods behind her house and creating "potions" from various plants and insects that she would find. She remembered constantly being smeared with dirt and mud, with twigs in her hair, scraped knees, and wet socks from jumping into too many puddles. She also remembered the way her parents would laugh, affectionately referring to her as a beast before they cleaned her up and showered her with hugs and kisses.

If she had known then that she would never experience that kind of love again, she might have cherished it just a little more.

The day her Quirk manifested had begun an average one. A thunderstorm had kept her inside the house, leaving her to play with the blocks and dolls that were usually tidily put away in a toy chest. Her father had left for work that morning with a kiss on the cheek for both his wife and daughter, and her mother had gone about her daily household duties of laundry and cleaning. Nomi was left alone for most of the morning in the playroom, acting out her favorite game of "Heroes vs Villains" with her dolls.

Her designated "villain" doll was going on a rampage through the block "city," complete with sound effects as it demolished buildings, when her mother walked into the room, carrying Nomi's lunch in her hands.

"No-chan, I brought you your—" Her mother had abruptly stopped in her tracks when Nomi looked up.

Nomi smiled, getting up to accept the food before she froze when her mother started screaming. At the same time, an awful, searing pain shot through Nomi's right eye, and, frightened, she began screaming, too.

Only the shattering of the clay dishes on the floor snapped them out of it. Milk and noodles leeched across the wooden boards toward Nomi's feet as she stood, shaking, her hand clapped over the now-dull, fading pain in her right eye. Nomi's mother had gone sheet-white, and she sank to her knees, uncaring of the mess on the floor.

It wasn't until later that Nomi realized her Quirk—the superhuman ability most of her generation possessed—had ruined her happy life after that.

The night of her Quirk's manifestation, she had sat at the dining table, a cloth pressed over her right eye, listening to her parents argue in the next room.

"It's not natural!" her mother screeched. "She's a demon—she's been possessed! She's cursed, and we need to exorcise that evil spirit now before it's too late—"

"It's her Quirk!" her father had yelled back, exasperated. "We both have one, we knew her own would manifest around this time—"

"That Quirk is nothing like ours!" her mother wailed. "It's evil! It's monstrous! She—it—made me see things—"

Her father had marched back into the kitchen then. Her mother trailed him, irate and pale, as he sat down across from Nomi at the table.

"No-chan," he said gently, "let me see your eye, please."

Nomi had sniffled. "What's happening to me, Papa? Why is Mama upset?"

"It's just your Quirk, darling," he'd said. "Remember? We told you this would happen one day. It's nothing to be afraid of. Now, come on; let's see that other beautiful eye of yours."

Slowly, Nomi had lowered the cloth from her right eye. After keeping it in darkness for so long, the sudden light made her squint. There was no pain at that moment, but she thought her right eye was different from before; she could see more, see farther. The pores on her father's lined face became clearer, closer. The dust motes in the air swirled like snowflakes around her poor mother, sticking to the individual strands of her black hair.