GENESIS

Being born in the Watanabe tribe, Junko believed that to be a woman was to be cursed. Ever since she was a child, she often thought about the disparity with which God regarded men and women. It did not make sense to her. Why would God, who loved balance, create imbalance? Why would God, the Merciful, allow such cruelty and injustice to rampage across the lands?

Junko did not know the answers to these questions, and she knew she would not find them anywhere in the wooden walls of the Watanabe tribal homes. But not knowing the answers to these doubts did not mean they would go away. They persisted, slowly and gradually pushing her to question the very fundamentals of her clan's religion-- threatening to tip the boat over and change the world as she knew it.

As a result of being raised in such a toxic, cult-like religion, Junko would eventually grow to be repulsed by concepts of 'purity' and the like. She despised the veils she was forced into, she despised the walls she was kept in, she despised the long robes and the chains and the restrictions around her very being. This hatred of all things that were "pure" soon extended to people.
She found herself increasingly irritated at people who were too kind, too nice, too gentle... because in her mind, from her experiences, the people who put up acts of innocence and those who pretended to be pure were in fact the most vile. Instead, she began gravitating towards people who were diabolical, because she believed they were the only ones brave enough and unrestrained enough to be honest about their selves.

Of course, in her rage and anguish, Junko's hatred extended to heroes. But there were two other reasons for this. Often times as a child, Junko would imagine a hero bursting through the walls of her room, sunlight shining behind them, and they would extend a hand and pull her up and away. She imagined this hero wiping her tears away and carrying her off into the sky, and eventually adopting her (children's daydreams...sigh). She imagined that heroes- the society- would butt their nose into the Watanabe clan's business- as they did with every business- but ...as it turned out...society would always turn away from problems like these. Problems like her.
(The other reason will be revealed later on as you read this !)

Junko hated living with her tribe, of course, but there was no possible way out. So for a very long time, Junko did not even think of leaving her clan, but she did not learn to enjoy or get used to her dehumanization either.

Her years in the tribal homes would have been even worse if it had not been for Nanashi, an older woman who lived in the "forbidden" part of the homes. Nanashi ( meaning "Nobody", was not her actual name, but Junko never found it what it was) was ill-treated by the clansmen and women, for reasons Junko did not understand as a child. Nana (as Junko would come to call her) never spoke unless spoken to, and if anyone did speak to her it would be short and rude. She never laughed, she never showed any sort of emotion or reaction to ridicule and insult.

Initially, Junko was terrified of her because her older cousin had convinced her that Nanashi was a witch. As she grew older, however, Junko felt more compassion for Nanashi than contempt, but she still kept her distance from her out of fear of her clansmen. But the child would later have an accidental encounter with Nanashi, which would lead to an unwavering friendship and bond between woman and girl.
Junko would come to find that Nanashi was very much like her, and she thought the same things she did! This was the first person who thought Junko's crazy ideas seemed sane, and that was enough to make Junko feel...normal...

A friendship blossomed between them, both of them finding comfort in the other's presence. Nanashi found solace in Junko's intellect and her innocence, and the girl found a mother's warmth and a teacher's wisdom in Nanashi.

Since they had grown very close, they often talked about things they could not utter around the other clanspeople, for if they did they would surely be punished. A topic Junko hesitantly brought up was...how sad she was living there. When she saw that unlike her mother, Nana's face hadn't contorted with anger or shock, she kept going, and confessed her sinful desires. Her sinful desires of wanting to wear pretty dresses, to feel the wind in her hair, to run by the beach, to have many friends and experience the kind of life she saw the people in the TV experience.
They discussed this topic often, each time adding another clever spin or coming up with new ideas of their ideal life.
It was a cold winter morning, before the break of dawn when they were having one such discussion again, but Nana was uncharacteristically silent. Before Junko could ask, Nana was speaking. She told Junko a story of a girl- one just like her, wide-eyed and full of life- who was born into a clan- one just like theirs, hardened hearts and devoid of reason. This girl...with her incessantly thinking mind...she sprouted wings. With her new tools, she imagined she could escape the clan, and she climbed their house and off--!!! Away she flew! The clanspeople yelled at her to come back and ran after her but she did not listen to them....she flew all the way up in the sky, and into the horizons.
It was a good story, but it did not end there, unfortunately. Nanashi went on to complete it, adding that the girl's freedom would soon come to a shocking end. Somebody she thought she could trust betrayed her, and tossed her back from where she came. And that was the end. Nanashi did not tell Junko right away what happened to the girl, or who that person who betrayed her was.

But eventually she did, when Junko would not cease asking her who the traitor was and what happened to the girl.

"Junko....I am that girl. "

And Junko's world spun. It made sense now....all of it, it all made sense. The way they treated Nanashi, the names they called her...

"But who was the traitor?" Junko had asked, eyes wide with fear.

And she would have never guessed the answer.....
A pro hero. A pro hero had thrown her back into the tribal homes....not bothering to stop and think that returning her there was a bigger crime than letting her run free. After that story, Junko developed a strong dislike for heroes, and this would only grow with time.

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The seeds of rebellion that Junko had planted within herself were watered by Nanashi, and unbeknownst to both of them, Junko too was beginning to sprout wings.

This realization would come with a trio of girls. Junko encountered them the first time when she was watering the plants behind the gates of the tribal homes and the girls were passing by, on their way to school. The girls were curious as to why Junko was also not going to school, and this chance encounter would lead to a friendship which would be both liberating and crucial in Junko's growth.
Junko would, every morning during sunrise, wait for the girls to pass by. And each day, they would pause and spend at least 10 minutes talking to her (an action which would make them late to school everyday but they still did not abandon Junko.)

When Junko was 16, her life changed abruptly and drastically.
She woke up that morning with an eerie feeling in her stomach, so she tried to get to Nanashi as soon as possible but the women around her kept giving one or the other task, essentially holding her back from visiting Nanashi. When Junko managed to finish everything and hurry over to the isolated little room where Nanashi lived and stumbled in.....

Upon Nanashi's corpse !

Panicked, Junko checked for a pulse and tried to resuscitate her-- to no avail. Junko could not even register what was in front of her. She sank to the floor, unable to breathe, unable to move...fear was devouring her.....

That was when she noticed Nanashi's hand. A finger had been erected, as if she was pointing somewhere. Junko followed the finger and found a letter inside her old, wooden cabinet. She ripped it open.

The letter was written by Nanashi, and seemed to be written in a hurry.
In the letter, Nanashi warned her that her clanspeople were planning on marrying her off to a 40 year old friend of her father's, a man Junko had the displeasure of already knowing since he had been after her since she was fourteen.

The next part of the letter would shock Junko to the core....and give her a hint to what had occurred in the isolated chamber of Nanashi.
Apparently, she had broken her silence for the first time in thirty years! Nanashi had "disobeyed" the rules of the tribe, which were that a disgraced woman shall never make her existence known by speaking out of turn. She had argued ferociously, with a rage that had been dormant for too long....
Junko's eyes teared up as she read the last paragraph of the letter....

It encouraged her to do something Nanashi had never had the courage or sense of self to do again. To escape. And to keep escaping, for however long as she could.
She urged her to not mourn her death, and to live freely, to love who she wanted and do what she wanted....
Her final wish was that Junko did not make a scene about her death, so that her clanspeople would not not find out that she had been in Nana's chamber at all. It was a difficult wish to respect, but alas, Junko found it hard to disobey. She had to bury the knowledge in her heart and....go on acting as if she knew nothing.

That night, she saw some of her clansmen go to Nanashi's chambers with shovels.
She cried all night.

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The next morning, the schoolgirls came across Junko, who looked ghostly with her swollen eyes and empty expression. Junko briefly told them what was about to happen, and the girls quickly decided they would break her out that very night. And they did, they helped her climb the gates and in the dead of a cold winter night, the four of them slipped away quickly, hearts thudding madly with every step on the cobblestone.

AFTERMATH

The three friends of hers- Yuki, Kana and Amane- lived without any authority figures, since two were orphans and one was a runaway, just like Junko. Only this one, Amane, had come from beyond the sea, and her real name was something she did not use anymore.

For the six months that followed, Junko would experience a type of life she had never tasted before. Although she had broken free from the shackles of her tribe's religion, she still lived in fear whenever she went out, even when she was at home. She knew they were looking for her. She knew they were angry.

To stay out of their sight, Junko did not wear the heavy veils and recognizable dressing of the Watanabe women, but she was not yet comfortable in anything else. A lifetime in robes and whatnot, she preferred long skirts and modest dresses, despite desiring to wear other, more showy clothes.

Although defeated and scarred after Nanashi's untimely and unjust demise, the hunger for revenge burned within her. She wanted the Watanabe clan to pay. She wanted everyone to pay. Junko would have gotten lost in her rage, her pain and grief if it had not been for her three friends; Yuki, Kana and Amane.

They were three suns, shining their radiant light onto the dark, murky forest that was her heart.
They were helping her heal, and simultaneously helping her to try and awaken her quirk so she could exact some sort of revenge. They knew the police and the heroes would not care for outcasts like them, so they planned on taking matters into their own hands whilst giving Junko a life she would cherish and love.

This life of hers, however, would soon come to a tumultuous end. About six months later, Junko's clansmen manage to discover where she was living. That night, while the girls were preparing for bed, the Watanabe clansmen broke into the apartment. The girls were yelling to try and get attention and fighting off the intruders, the girls with their quirks and Junko with any item she could find.

Nobody heard them. Or maybe someone did, but nobody came. They were easily overpowered due to their little numbers compared to the 10 or 12 intruders, and in her final moments Amane, who had a teleportation quirk, used her power to teleport Junko away.

When Junko fell into the silent, sleepy street, the words " No! Don't do it! " were still on her lips, hanging from them awkwardly because the recipient of her sentence was not there....
In a street she didn't recognize, panicked and disoriented, Junko tried her best to find her way back to the apartment. Dawn was breaking when she came finally found it, but the street was riddled with her clansmen and she could not go closer, much to her frustration.

She had to run away, once again. Leaving people she loved dearly behind...in the hands of her clan. Again.
She hoped to find a pro-hero, suddenly appreciating their extreme "goodness", knowing they wouldn't turn her down. (She could not turn to the police since running away was a crime and she would be returned to the Watanabe clan. Nobody would care for or believe her. It had happened to the runaways of the clan before.)

Junko ran into a pro-hero, not someone too prominent, but she had heard of his name before. She approached him, ready to discard her hatred---- but she was surprised to find him approaching her with intent ! Had he recognized the look of anguish on her features? Junko almost broke into a smile, but as he got closer she noticed the hero did not look too pleased.

"You're coming with me, runaway."

He had said.
With contempt.
Almost as if he was annoyed that he had to do such a stupid, minor job for a stupid girl from a stupid clan.

And then she realized there were more of them, and they were all...helping her clansmen?

Junko ran.
Everything blurred, but her desire to live, and to live free, burned brightly, somehow making her escape the many pro-heroes that were looking for her.

She did not stop running until the sun had gone down and the streets had morphed into neighborhoods she did not recognize. And when she did stop, eventually, out of breath and looking wild...
Her mind was empty. She became so dangerously numb, unable to register yet another loss, a betrayal so bitter....

Days passed, she dragged on aimlessly in the low, crime-riddled streets. She knew what had happened to her friends, and she could not stop thinking about how she had failed them....unjustly dragging them into a war that wasn't theirs. Each passing moment, Junko was slipping into a darkness that was overwhelming, endless.

The only time she came out of her haze was when a man tried to steal the necklace around her neck. It wasn't even real gold, the fool, but it was something the girls had gifted to her...and thus it was far more valuable than gold to Junko.

The anger and sorrow she had been bottling up had been uncorked, and she unleashed herself on the man, managing to hurt him even without her quirk.

As it would turn out, unfortunately, the man she had just assaulted was the son of a prominent gangster in that area, the Ryujin Cartel, and she was taken by the gangsters to Ryujin himself to answer for her "crime".

Ryujin and his son, Homura, were not on good terms, Junko could tell that much by the way Homura's father talked to him. He first ridiculed Homura for letting a "girl, a street rat, at that!" best him, and then went on a long tirade about how he regretted having such an incompetent clown for a son.

Next, was Junko's turn. Ryujin seemed almost...satisfied with the fact that she had taught his son a lesson...perhaps that is why he gave her two options to pay for her insolence.
She could either pay with her life, or work for him. Junko chose the latter.

Since she had no quirk, she was taught basic combat and how to fire a gun. Soon after that, she was exposed to the LoV (saw them on the news), and it spiked her interest. Their ideals and power attracted her, and so she set out to find the Cremation villain, Dabi-- who, she had heard-- was on the lookout for some recruits.

To give herself a rebirth, Junko dyed her hair a bright red.....the color she wished to rain upon the world.

( Made with Carrd )