I already mentioned a few times, that fitting to the manga format of the original, I would like to broadly structure this story into Arcs. As some of you may have already noticed, the most recent chapter introduced a bit of a new concflict... Or, more exactly, it REINTRODUCED an old conflict. If you haven't realized it now, I used Best Jeanist's disappearance to get the League of Villains back into the plot. So far they've been very quiet in the background, and we're still not ready for a final confrontation betweeen Endeavor and Dabi - not for a long time - but it was about time, to give an update on what they are currently doing. So with this chapter we're about to enter a new arc.
I will probably rename this arc once it is over - but for now let's just call the fourth arc in this story: The Hunt for the Traitor (to give you a little teaser what one of the main issues this arc will be).
So this is the fourth arc after:
1. Natsuo's Kidnapping
2. Endeavor's Recovery (or as I tend to call it "Isolation")
3. The Most Hated Man of Japan
4. The Hunt for the Traitor
As I said, this is just a working title, I will rename it later on, but that would be too spoilery for now. Just to give you a short overview over what to expect in the future. I intend to finish this story within 6 arcs. I assume that this fourth Arc will be the longest of all, just based on all the stuff I need to do in this arc.
As it happens everytime I start a new arc, expect some "setting the pieces" and "finding the tone for the Arc" in the next few chapters - as it already started to happen in the most recent chapter last week.
In the meantime, I'd like to know which part of the story you liked best so far, so I can somewhat gather what you do like, and what maybe doesn't work as well.
Joining the Game
As soon as he got home, he started making plans. Best Jeanist got involved with the League. Endeavor didn't know how he did it but he had no doubt that it was in fact the League they were dealing with.
The very thought was exciting. The League had remained mostly calm after their fake kidnapping of Natsuo… another fake kidnapping. This one was different though. Things were happening, pieces were moving, and he realized he hadn't even been invited to play yet. Well, he wouldn't wait for this invitation. He had to step up! Not just as the number one hero, but even more so as a father of one of the villains working for the league.
He hardly slept, as he started making plans. And then he invited all the heroes of Japan to a meeting to thoroughly plan their combined efforts to take down the League. After all, he might want to play this game, but he did not have to play alone. If his battle with the Noumu in Fukuoka had proven something, it was that he did not need to fight alone.
Japan had hundreds of heroes, sidekicks and interns. Never mind that he could not pull all heroes from their duties at the same time, leaving the cities undefended. And where would he even put all of them?
Thankfully, he had a few capable people working at his Agency; some of which solely focused on coordinating team-ups with external heroes. Granted, only two people so far worked in that area, as Endeavor had so far prided himself on having a fairly self-sufficient Agency not needing much help from others. After the Kamino Ward incident, he had upgraded the department from one to two employees. They were too few to stem a task as big as the one he gave them, but he ordered enough of his employees from other sections to help. And they were capable as all his employees. Soon they found the solution.
For Monday the next week, he would invite one hero from every major agency and at least one hero from every prefecture to his agency. They would be tasked to not just inform their sidekicks, but also the smaller hero agencies within their areas. He would open a secure channel solely dedicated to handling any questions that would arise later on. They would keep the meeting time secret from anybody who would not be invited, in hopes this would prevent villains from finding out about it and using the absence of the heroes. Still, even if word got out, because he'd only call in a few heroes from every prefecture, it was unlikely to leave a bad dent in the area's defense. On top of that, he would leave the heroes he invited the freedom to choose somebody to represent them during the meeting, if they felt they couldn't leave their area.
He spent most of Friday coming up with a handpicked list of whom to invite. After patrol, he was tired, and his body was still aching from a fight against somebody whose partner had made it a habit to throw cars at him at the most opportune moments – civilians still inside. He had finally managed to apprehend both, without so much as a single casualty, but his chest and arms were still bruised from that one time when he had to use his own body to cushion the fall of a Mercedes Benz with a family of four inside, the driver flooring the accelerator in unadulterated panic. Still, after that patrol, he sat back in his office to give feedback on the list of names his employees had come up with.
It had gotten late and dark outside, and he had almost forgotten that now Fuyumi's party would take place in her new apartment. He had the address in his phone. He could go… but he felt almost thankful that he had a good excuse not to. Work was important. It was the most important now.
He stopped clicking through that list. He was just thinking about whether to invite Hawks and Mirko from Kyushu, taking two of the strongest heroes away from their duties, when the thought of Fuyumi's birthday made him stop.
His work was more important? Hm? Hadn't that always been his problem?
His head sank into his hands. Gods, he suddenly felt very tired. He had wanted to see Fuyumi yesterday, instead he had to work… couldn't make it and left the present to some girl he didn't know. He didn't even know if she really did as he had asked and gave Fuyumi the present. Would it even make a difference?
Damn, he hadn't even called! What father didn't call their daughter at her own birthday, even if for whatever reason he couldn't manage to visit? He rubbed his temples, where a headache was already blooming.
Was it too late now?
He pulled out his phone, switched it on, stared at the screen for a while, almost disappointed. Then he laughed silently about his own pathetic stupidity. What? Had he hoped she'd call after receiving his present? Or maybe to remind him that he had once again forgotten the birthday of one of his children. He hadn't forgotten of course, but how would she know, if he didn't say anything?
Silently he pulled up her number, stared at it for longer than necessary, waited… He let it ring twice, before his eyes slipped to the clock in the corner of his desktop. It was already long past midnight, past 3 am. She's either still partying with her friends and Shoto and Natsuo, who he was sure would both be there, or she was already in bed and asleep. He'd just wake her up.
He was an idiot! And obviously unable to act like a normal person! Who called somebody at three in the morning even if it was on Saturday morning and the other person didn't have to work that day?
He was about to end the call, cursing himself for not having thought about Fuyumi all day. Work had just been too important again. He took the phone from his ear, when he heard a noise through the speakers.
"Yeah?" Fuyumi sounded tired, sleepy. He must have really woken her up. In fact, she sounded so tired, that she didn't even bother with being angry at him. "What's up?" she asked blearily, "Are you the one… the one who forgot their jacket here?" She asked, yawning mid-sentence. "Just come by tomorrow, it's still here, but the party is over." Was she so tired she hadn't even bothered to look who had called and just assumed it was one of her party guests? It seemed like it.
Endeavor didn't respond, he just listened for a moment. He hadn't heard her speak in a way that wasn't angry and raging for weeks, and he found he quite enjoyed this, even if it only now happened because she wasn't aware who he was.
"Eh? Is somebody even there?" she asked after a momentary pause. "Is this some sort of joke? Wait…" From the sound of her voice she took her phone away from her face for a second, then he heard an exasperated sigh. "Dad." She must have finally looked on the screen who was calling her. "I thought you were somebody else." To his surprise, she still didn't sound mad, just a bit annoyed, tired, and irritated that he had woken her up. "I'm really tired, what do you want?"
Too tired for her grudge, hm? For a second, he considered only calling her in the early morning hours from now on. He could almost pretend they were on speaking terms that way. Of course, that would have been the coward's way.
"I just wanted to say happy birthday," he finally spoke, and he quickly added, "I know I'm over a day late but…" work came up, he had been about to say, but instead his voice drifted into nothing. "I didn't make it, obviously." He ended his sentence after a pause, that was so long it made him cringe internally.
"Obviously," she repeated. Despite the attitude – parroting his last words, she still sounded mostly annoyed and not quite angry, yet.
"Yeah, I wanted to visit yesterday," he felt the sudden urge to defend himself. "but you moved and didn't tell me." If there was an accusation in his voice, he pretended it was just by accident. She heard it anyway. He could hear her breath in heavily.
"Yes, I moved…," the way her voice drifted off at the end, she felt at least a little bad for it. "There was never really an opportunity to tell," she finally said.
"You could have just written a message." Enji rejected her argument. His voice was biting.
"Sorry, but there's really other stuff on my mind, at the moment," she bit back. His words pushed her to the defensive. That wasn't his plan. "You know, you lying to Mom, the journalists at my school, and…"
"Journalists?" he hissed angrily. When had they returned? After his press-conference, they had all but disappeared. After the fire two days ago, they had appeared again, but it had not been to the extent that it would hinder his work. He was sure, right now, there were a handful of journalists and paparazzi waiting just outside his house and keeping an eye on his agency, but it was nothing he couldn't handle. He had naively assumed, if they left him mostly in peace, they would do the same for his children.
"What, did you think your little stunt would last for longer? You, asking them not to bother us… Yeah, seems like they took it as you trying to keep us away from the press." He cursed silently, but she didn't seem to hear it over her own voice. "Anyway, don't worry, nothing happened, I can handle myself." She sounded aggressive now. Not angry, but defiant, as if she was challenging him to argue against it.
He wouldn't.
"I know you can," he conceded. "I just didn't know that they… Anyway, this wasn't why I called. I just wanted to wish you…"
"Yeah, I know, you already did. I'm very tired. Is that all?"
"Did you get my present?" he asked before she could end the call.
"Huh?" she seemed surprised at the question. "I didn't actually…" she seemed to rummage around a little, "open all of them, yet." She sounded embarrassed.
"Your friend was supposed to give it to you for me," he explained, "your former housemate."
"Tomoko?" she asked, half-distracted.
He didn't answer because he realized he hadn't asked for her name. He felt like an idiot all over again.
"It's wrapped in blue paper," he said instead of answering.
"Hm, I don't…," she muttered a little. "Can't we do this tomorrow?"
Enji hesitated. Tomorrow when she wasn't so tired, he had no doubt that they would go right back to throwing insults at each other. But he couldn't tell her of that fear. It was pathetic. Never mind that it might remind her of all the reasons she had to hate him. At the moment he was just enjoying being able to talk to her, even if she was more than just a little annoyed at him and so tired she might not even remember the details of the conversation the next day. "Hm," he muttered undecidedly, "I guess."
"Great, then-," she stopped suddenly. "I think I found it."
Enji immediately perked up. He could hear paper tear on her side of the line. She muttered a little. He could hear her yawn once again.
Then suddenly she quieted.
And remained quiet.
Enji waited, holding his breath for the reaction he hoped or the reaction he feared, or any sort of reaction really. But Fuyumi had gone completely quiet. He wished he was there to see her face and gauge her thoughts. Maybe if he could see her, he could guess what she was thinking and would know if asking what she thought would make her laugh or explode in rage.
"So, what do you think?" he finally dared to ask. She remained quiet for a little longer. "I thought you might like it. You forgot it when you moved out, and I know you always…" He scratched his head, embarrassed. "You always spoke of that vacation. Going back there and stuff… And I wasn't there, so it's not like I have any fond memories of that time, anyway, so I thought you should have it." It wasn't true, of course. Sure, he hadn't been on that vacation, he didn't think fondly back to it the way Fuyumi did. But it was the one picture in the house where his family was happiest. If he looked at it, he could almost pretend…
Of course, it also seemed like a lie. Part of him hated that picture, couldn't even look at it. He knew, whenever a stranger saw it, they'd think he must have taken the picture, as he was the one missing from it. It was a logical conclusion, that it was him standing there with a camera and having his entire family smiling up at him. A logical conclusion, but a lie if he left anybody in that false belief.
And he knew he would not have that strength to set things right and explain.
There were never many visitors in the house; not since Fuyumi had moved out. So, why would it even matter? Nobody would see that picture and believe that lie anymore. Yet, whenever he looked at that picture still, he felt horrible. As if he feared he might start believing it himself.
"I think you left it behind, because it wasn't strictly yours, but…" he stopped as he realized he was rambling. He bit his tongue so hard it hurt a little, let him momentarily forget about the aching pain still lingering in his muscles.
"Yes," she finally said in a hushed tone, "thank you." Finally, he took a deep breath. "I like it."
"I'm glad," he whispered, not trusting his voice beyond that.
"But I'm really tired," she added, after a while.
"I know," he admitted. "I can hear you yawn. I'm sorry for waking you up."
"Hmm," she grumbled tiredly. "Good night, Dad."
"Good night, Fuyumi."
He spent the rest of the morning in his office completing the list of heroes to invite to his meeting. It was important to get this done tonight, so they could quickly invite everybody. Even if he was the number one hero, with his current reputation and surely many heroes disliking him as much as the public did, he wouldn't put it past his fellow heroes to use the short notice as an excuse not to come.
I felt like the last few chapters had a lot of Fuyumi in it, without actually having any Fuyumi in it... Which is really weird now that I think about it, but I guess I just want to show, how important Fuyumi is to Enji, even if she isn't around. Like, I never make it a secret, that to me, Natsuo is really the most exciting to write of the Todoroki children. He's just so interesting and whenever I write one of those rare scenes with Enji and him interacting it's really some of what I consider my best chapters. However, I really think of all his children and also including his wife, Fuyumi is the single most vitally important character in "saving Enji's soul" so to speak. Which sadly, is also the reason I can't have her in the story and forgiving Endeavor yet.
Also... I finally went and changed the Tags of this story, switching Dabi out and Natsuo in... On FFN I can only tag four characters, so that was a difficult choice... but I feel it's much more accurate to put Natsuo in, instead of Dabi.
