In part 1 ( @nanawawa/the-nemuri-parents-part-1 ) I talked about the design aspects of Kiku's parents. In part 2, I want to focus more on the character lore.
( Quick heads up : This is gonna be one of the more wordy type of post)
This is Nemuri Seiko ( The mom ) and Nemuri Katsu ( The dad )
Kiku's parents and the founder and CEO of a famous clothing brand called 'SLEEP HEART'.
Yes....I did create a logo just for this imaginary clothing company for some rp group chat...shhhh
Sleep heart is a clothing company that specializes in cute and comfortable clothes. Their clothing brand pretty much revolves around their daughter Kiku. Right now their main clothing design is cute teen wear and pajamas.
Before the Kiku and the Brand was born, Kiku's parents lead a totally different life than now. Her parents were actually enemies that's fought on the opposite side. The mom, Seiko was a famous Pro hero while the father, Katsu was a villain.
Seiko was a well known and loved Hero. Her quirk was called Animate Kiss. She can give life to inanimate object like statues and control them by kissing the object. She worked in a hero firm along with her old hero partner. The two were the company's biggest assets. So when Seiko eventually came out that she was in love with the villain it was a huge company scandal.
Katsu on the other hand was from the bad part of the town. He grew up being surrounded by bad people and he became bad just by association. And also it doesn't help that he has a mutation type of quirk. He has a classic storybook villain look. He has horns, razor sharp teeth and claw like hands. His quirk is simply called Black smoke . To add to his already evil look, Katsu's whole body is covered in black smoke to the point you can't even see any details on his face. Only a black smokey silhouette. He can control the black smoke emitting from his body and he can even change the state of matter of the smoke (gas to solid).
I haven't written it in detail yet how exactly did they meet and at what point did they start to have feelings for each other.
Roughly speaking, the two of them are constantly in battle with each other and slowly they start to catch feelings. Seiko was a more carefree type of hero and I would say the one who started the whole flirting game. Katsu is a cinnamon roll trapped in a demon like outer shell. He was a villain by association. He just tagged along with what evil deeds. He was a redeemable villain. And Seiko saw that.
During one of their more intense fights, Katsu messed up and overused his quirk which left him vulnerable. Seiko decided to bring him home and nurse him back to health. Her hero partner strongly disagrees with her and told her to throw him in jail. Seiko didn't listen and long story short... Katsu is now a changed man and the two are now lovers.
This is when the drama happens.
As expected, other people did not take their relationship well. Seiko's hero partner still doesn't like Katsu very much but was more accepting due to their strong friendship. The media and the hero company she worked for wasn't so accepting. Keep in mind that heroes in this universe are treated like celebrities. And the hero Company Seiko worked for was more of a hero/entertainment agency.
Even with public backlash, Seiko refused to leave Katsu and the company still wanted Seiko as one of the top heroes in the company. So they decided to re-brand Katsu into a hero...that did not work well. This hero company specializes in branding good looking and charismatic heroes. Katsu was none of that.
But Katsu himself wanted an image change. He tried his hardest to do good deeds and undo all his wrong doings. But people couldn't look past his past villain history and he continued to receive backlash. It was so bad to the point that even Seiko's good image was affected. This fact affected Katsu the most and he was willing to sacrifice his own happiness if it mean Seiko would be happy.
So Seiko decided to quit being a hero.
She said farewell to the company and all her fans that has supported her, packed her bags and left the city with Katsu. And that was the last thing anybody heard of them. Nobody knows where they are now..well except for a few trusted people.
Both Seiko and Katsu moved to the country side where people have no idea of their past and identity. They got married and build a home together. Seiko gave up her hero career entirely and together they started a clothing business together. Seiko had a business mind and Katsu had the skills.
It was when Kiku was born and was used as model that their indie clothing brand blew up. People loved their clothing for being cute, comfortable and also mysterious. Nobody knows who the owner of this clothing brand. The only thing that they know is that Kiku, the face of the clothing brand was an online sensation.
Both Seiko and Katsu are now the proud owner of a multi million dollar worth Brand. The two are still living quietly in the country side while managing their business. Katsu is still very self conscious of his appearance hence to why he is now wearing a paper bag on his head with a smiley drawn on it. He is very keen in making sure that nobody can see what he actually looks like. Seiko is just vibing in life.
Both of them are very busy with managing the ever growing company but they both love their daughter Kiku a lot and supported her in her dreams in becoming a hero. Even though they did disapprove at first since the both of them had experience the uglier side of being a hero but in the end the both of them caved in and supported Kiku regardless.
And that's the current lore for Kiku's parents. I want to write more on the mom's hero partner and a bit on the hero agency next. The hero partner really plays significant role in Kiku's life.
