"Touya…"
Fuyumi's voice snapped him out of his thoughts. He opened his eyes and raised his face a little to look at his sister who was under the doorframe of his room. He had a few days learning to play the guitar with a teacher who came every day in the afternoon to work with him. Then, like now he would go to his room and rest before doing his homework. This particular day he got lost in his thoughts, they were different days for Touya and he was adjusting well. He no longer felt anxious and afraid. The nightmares had not returned, he had no stress and he was happy.
"What's wrong Fuyumi?", he asked, sitting up in bed.
"Dad is waiting for you in the training room", she said in a low voice as she nervously rubbed her left arm.
"Training?", The boy repeated as if he hadn't heard. His heart began to beat anxiously and he felt the skin on his back rise. "But… But he said…" He didn't finish the sentence, he couldn't.
His sister kept looking at the ground as if she was sorry for the situation, it was not her fault, he thought Touya. It was his fault for trusting himself and believing that their father really wanted the best for him.
Touya got up slowly from the bed and nodded head down. His sister smiled weakly and turned to go back down the hall. The boy changed his clothes and put on the light training clothes that he had not worn in a long time. He felt scared. His eyes were starting to fill with tears. He didn't want to train, he was terrified of catching himself on fire again.
The walk from his room to the training room was like going to the electric chair. Touya felt trapped in a dead end. In his head the images of his body burning from him, the smell of his burning flesh and the overwhelming sound of skin grating in the fire made him feel nauseous and terrified. Upon arrival he pushed the sliding door aside with trembling hands. He poked his face out cautiously, his father was nowhere to be found. He thought then that maybe something had happened that needed his presence. His shoulders relaxed, he hoped he didn't have to train.
"Touya", His father's thick voice behind him almost made him jump with fright. "Are you okay?" His father asked calmly as he arched an eyebrow.
The boy nodded quickly as he nervously squeezed the fabric of his white T-shirt. He looked at his father who was carrying that black box that he brought from work long ago.
"Why?", He said almost in a whisper looking at the ground.
Enji understood his eldest son's reaction. He surely was feeling betrayed. He calmly approached and placed his heavy hand on the white-haired head of his son. He gently patted him a few times. His son raised his face in confusion and his blue eyes met the Pro Hero's. There was doubtless fear and surprise in them.
"Sit down, son", he told him as a slight smile spread across his face.
Touya sat cross-legged on the floor of the training room. His father sat across from him also with crossed legs and a straight back. Touya watched him cross his arms against his chest and close his eyes as if thinking what he would say. That situation like many others that had been going through those days seemed curious to the boy.
Enji tapped his forehead with his index finger, then pulled the black box up to place it between his son and himself.
"I told you this was a gift for you, do you remember?", He asked bringing the box closer to his son.
"Yes, I do", Touya replied, passing a hand over the rigid material box.
"It's about time you opened it."
Touya looked at him doubtfully, but in the end he did. He put his fingers on the latches on the box and pulled them off with a metallic click. When he lifted the top completely, his blue eyes went to the two bars of tempered glass that were inside. His lower lip twitched, and his eyebrows shot up in surprise. Something that did not go unnoticed by his father that he thought he surely looked the same when he opened the box in front of his friend Sato.
"What kind of gift is this?", He asked taking one of the bars in his hands.
"They are for you to better control your quirk"
Touya's face darkened.
"I knew that sooner or later you would make me go back to training", he said in an annoyed and hurt tone of voice.
"It is not about…"
"You didn't care at all!", Touya interrupted, standing up abruptly. "I don't want to train!"
His father stood up. Touya's hands clenched into fists at his sides. He looked at his father with anger and his left fist went to hit the abdomen of his father who did not even move. He gave no sign.
"I ... I don't want ... to die ...", The boy said with a broken voice and emotions overflowing his small body.
Enji's hands encircled the fragile body of his son who first tried to pull away from him, but then clung to his shirt tightly as he cried, letting out everything he had kept for so long. Enji picked up Touya in his arms, and held his son against his chest as if he were a baby again.
"Everything is fine Touya", He patted his son's back gently.
He waited patiently until the boy stopped crying. His crying breaths returned to normal and Touya rubbed his face with his hands. He looked at his father who was smiling like he never seen him before. Enji put him down on the ground and squatted in front of him.
"It's okay to cry, Touya", The boy's eyes didn't leave his father's. "And you won't die son, I promise you. I won't let that happen, it's a promise"
The sincere voice with which his father spoke to him, the kind face of him that he remembered little and his actions made the boy believe that everything was true.
"So why do you want me here now?"
"The doctor said you should exercise, remember?", Touya averted his eyes a bit as if remembering and then nodded. "The doctor said you could improve your mastery of quirk, if that happens you shouldn't be afraid of catching fire again"
"Really?", He asked, looking at the box on the floor. " But, what if...?"
"We won't do anything difficult and I will also be here with you. Do you want to try?", He stretched out his hand towards his son offering it, Touya doubted a moment, but in the end he took his father's hand that closed over his, which was small. "Very good Touya"
Enji thought the first step had been taken. Now other difficult steps would come but he was sure they would go well. They just had to be careful and not over demand Touya.
The afternoon of training had been different for the boy who felt calm for the first time in that room. His father and he spent the afternoon together. They stretched together, Touya had fun jumping rope and laughing counted to 500 on his father's back as he did push-ups. He did not remember feeling so good in the company of his father during training, this time it had been fun and time passed quickly. His exercise session was light and his father instead struggled as always. He, well, he had spent a good time without exercising because of his broken arm. Enji decided to take this session to get closer to his son and make sure he felt safe and confident in his company. He wanted to rejoin those ties with his eldest son. It was one of his goals to keep Touya's smile.
The boy looked at his father lying on the floor breathing hard. His chest went up and down. He was sweaty and his hair was sticking to his face.
"Are you tired?", He asked, squatting next to him with his hands on his knees.
Enji opened his eyes and the smile of his son next to him filled him with happiness. He didn't remember that he would give him one like that before. He could hardly remember Touya in his afterlife. There were the photos, but it wasn't just about the image, he couldn't remember that Touya's smile. His gaze warm and childlike from him. But now they were in front of him and something in his chest made him feel melancholy. In one swift movement he took his son's arm and pulled it. He lifted it over him, remembering his son's favorite game when he was still a diaper boy.
"Fly Touya!", Enji said with an open smile that he didn't even recognize in him.
His son spread his arms out to his sides. His laughter filled the entire room as his father began to move him from side to side while Enji was still against the floor of the training room. Touya could remember those days when he forced his father to pick him up like this and he pretended to fly.
"I can fly, I can fly!"
Rei was worried about Touya and Enji. She had spent the afternoon with Natsuo and Fuyumi in the living room. But her mind was on her eldest son. Impatient that they didn't come out, she went to see what happened. The more she walked down the hall to the training room the more easily she could hear her son's voice. The beautiful, melodious, contagious laugh of her baby. She looked out carefully and the scene that appeared before her filled her heart with love. She felt tears streaming down her face. Rei pushed the door away from her a little more causing a noise that made Enji and Touya direct their gazes towards her.
Natsuo and Fuyumi appeared running after her attracted by the sound of their older brother's laughter. They entered the room and fell on top of their father to receive attention as well. Rei entered the room calmly still even with the emotion that scene of father and son provoked in her.
"Daddy I want to fly too", Natsuo asked as his older brother sat on the floor with a flushed face. His sister sat next to him.
"Rei, are you okay?", Enji asked looking at his wife, and with his youngest son sitting on his chest.
"I'm fine honey, don't worry", she said with a smile as she looked at her husband lying on his back on the ground.
Natsuo began to jump on his father's chest demanding attention. Enji smirked and lifted him over him like a slight rag doll. The younger Todoroki's face lit up with joy and he screamed with excitement as his father moved him from side to side.
"Faster", Natsuo yelled. His father stood up and the boy's eyes widened as the height multiplied.
Fuyumi watched them from the floor where she was sitting with Touya. But her eyes were delighted with that familiar moment. Enji put Natsuo on the ground and the boy ran into his mother's arms, staggering but laughing. The redhead reached out to his daughter who looked at him in surprise. She took his hand and he lifted her up as well. Enji gently threw her daughter and caught her lovingly. The girl laughed as she went up and down. With the hair going from one side to the other. Now she understood what those high ceilings were for, they were so that the children could play with their father, the girl thought.
After a while playing with his children, the training room was left alone. He had never bothered to spend time like this with his children before. That seemed wonderful to him. He was sure that his children would no longer have the life that he drew for they before. He knew that Touya would live, that Fuyumi would not feel alone, that Natsuo would not have a grudge, that Rei's smile would remain and that Shouto would have a happy, complete and loving family.
The following days he continued exercising with Touya. Natsuo and Fuyumi had also joined the sessions. It was a familiar moment now. They liked being with his father and spend time with him.
The three children looked at their father, they was sitting on the floor with curiosity. His father had said that Touya was improving his physical condition and that he could use those strange bars that Enji kept in a dark box.
"Listen Touya. This is designed especially for you", Touya's eyes looked carefully at his father. "You will use them to improve your dominance in your quirk"
"How are they used?", He asked, standing up.
"You just have to let your flames come out in them, like this, watch…", He took a few steps back away from his children. "You must take it easy", Enji's hands clenched the bars with strength. And his embracing fire began to spread through the entire body of the glass bars.
The eyes of the three children were alight with interest. Touya thought that was cool. He maybe he could be a hero, but he would be one if he wanted him. He approached his father with one hand extended. Enji's flames slowly died out and then he gave his son the bars.
"Do it calmly"
Touya's face had a few beads of sweat dripping down his side. His hands clenched the bars and his heart pounding in his chest. With a mixture of fear and emotion flooding him he looked at his father. The strong blue flames of fire began to hang over the glass bars for a moment and he was scared to see his own quirk in action. He took some excited jumps. Brandishing the bars wrapped in blue fire.
"I did it! I did it dad!, I'm not burning, I'm fine!"
"That's amazing," Natsuo yelled with his fists in the air.
"Well done brother!", Fuyumi congratulated pulling her little brother away from Touya's fire.
"You are amazing son", he said almost without thinking.
The three children looked at their father and then began to laugh.