Mayou Sōmu

* Civilian Clothes
* Hero Costume

### Alias

The Apparition Heroine "Illusionist" (幻影ヒロイン「イリュージョニスト」, *Gen'ei Hiroin "Iryūjonisuto"*)

## Status

### Family

Mayou Yutaka (Father)
Mayou Ayano (Mother)
Mayou Tamiko (Older sister)

## Portrayal

### English Voice

Brina Palencia

**Soumu Mayou** (迷う想夢, *Mayou Sōmu*), also known by her hero name **Illusionist** (イリュージョニスト, *Iryūjonisuto*), is a Pro Hero and a teacher at Yūei.

## Appearance

Sōmu is a mature-looking woman with a well-developed body. Her hair is completely black except for a white strip in her bangs. Her hair is long, and her bangs always cover most of the right side of her face, where there is a scar on her cheek. Her eyes are an eerie red color, and her skin is borderline sickly pale. She is said to have a beautiful face, but she is also said to look evil.

When wearing civilian clothes, she often wears dress and skirts. When working at the school, she always dresses professionally. She always wears heels, no matter what her outfit is. This is because of her insecurity about her height.

Her hero costume consists of a short black bodysuit that is open on her sides. Down the middle, there are white laces. Over the bodysuit, she has a sleeveless red top that splits at her sternum and ends in a short cape-like feature. She also has a cropped black jacket that exposes her chest. She wears a brown belt with pouches around her waist. She has black over-the-knee boots with a white sliver at the top.

## Personality

Sōmu is a sarcastic and gruff person. She would never give a serious comment where a sarcastic one would work. Sometimes, people are unable to tell if she's serious or not because of this. She tends to act cold towards people, but it doesn't mean that she hates people. She just gets irritated easily. She is incredibly intelligent and quick-witted, and she is confident in her abilities.

She is a stubborn women, refusing to change her mind on anything. She is prone to lying and keeping secrets, which only reinforces the belief that she is "evil." She is reserved, preferring to be alone most of the time. She even prefers to work alone when fighting, even though her quirk works well with others. She knows when to accept help, even if she doesn't do it often. She has been shown to be calm in battle, never panicking and always thinking her moves through.

Despite her cruel nature, she is a caring person deep down. She takes her job as a teacher very seriously, and she does the best she can to guide her students. She is protective of her students and fellow heroes, always jumping to their aid when she knows they're in trouble.

## History

Sōmu was born into a three person family, her parents and her older sister, Tamiko. Her parents were both high-caliber villains who were wanted for injuring and killing heroes among other crimes. They hated heroes, saying they were just on a power trip. They tried to get Tamiko and Sōmu to join in the villainous activities. Tamiko ran away, and she tried to take Sōmu with her, but their parents hid the younger girl and said that they had killed her. Heartbroken, Tamiko ran far away. Meanwhile, their parents forced Sōmu to participate in their crimes. She tried to resist as much as she could. When Sōmu was 14, she found out where Tamiko was. She secretly sent her a letter, telling her to come get her. Tamiko and Sōmu formulated a plan to get her out. While Soumu was out with their parents in the night performing some crime, Tamiko quickly swept Sōmu away. They were chased by their parents, but they narrowly escaped.

After that point, Sōmu lived with Tamiko. Sōmu said she wanted to become a hero in order to spite their parents. Tamiko wanted to enroll Sōmu at Yūei, so they went there to negotiate with the faculty. They said that if they let Sōmu attend the school, they would tell them where two wanted villains were and how to catch them. Without giving away their lineage, they told them of their parents whereabouts, and Sōmu was allowed to attend Yūei. Their father was caught and put in prison, but their mother escaped.

After graduating, Sōmu became a hero like she wanted to. After a few years of hero-ing, she applied to become a teacher at Yūei. To this day, only the faculty at the school know about her lineage.

## Quirk and Abilities

**Mirage** (蜃気楼, *Shinkirō*): Her quirk allows her to convey illusions to anyone she chooses. Depending on the strength of the illusion, different senses can be stimulated by the illusion. If she has a really strong illusion, she can stimulate all the senses and make it seem like reality. If she wanted to, she could kill someone with an illusion by convincing the person's brain to copy what happens to the victim in the illusion. The downside to her quirk is that she has to really concentrate when using her quirk, and it is limited to her imagination. If she uses it too much, she gets a bad migraine.

**Alteration of her image**: She can alter the way she is seen by others, acting as an effective disguise.

**Creation of decoys**: She can create decoys of herself and others, though they are only images. They can't fight or do damage, and they vanish upon contact.

**Close combat**: She is an expert in hand-to-hand combat, which she uses in unison with her quirk (since her quirk isn't really for combat). She can use almost anything as a weapon.

Sōmu's stats, according to the Official Character Book

## Equipment

**Hero Costume**: Her costume is designed to allow her maximum mobility when she fights.

* **Belt with pouches**: The pouches hold anything from weapons to bandages.
* **Clarity boots**: Her boots press a pressure point under her knee that strengthens the mind and body.

## Trivia

* Her favorite food is fugu (pufferfish).
* Her given name, Sōmu (想夢) comes from taking the kanji from the word "idea" (想 *sō*) and the second kanji from the word "illusion" (迷夢 *meimu*). Her surname features the first kanji from the word "illusion."
* She is distressed the fact that a lot of her students are taller than her.
* She often teaches about strategic fighting.
* Her style of fighting is much like street fighting due to her upbringing and having to fend for herself on the streets.

## Quotes

* *"You can't trust everyone, Hikari. Sometimes the people that you think you trust the most... aren't who you think they are."* (to Tsubuki Hikari)
* *"Fighting isn't just about punching and kicking. You have to have some sort of plan. Fighting is much easier when you have the strategic advantage over your opponent."* (to her students)
* *"I became a hero to spite someone and to get revenge on them. There is no other reason."*