I was a little iffy with this chapter, but it is what it is. I just hope you guys enjoy it, and I'll be working on the next Runner Ups update in the meantime.

Great big thank yous to Daphne Ackerman and Zacatac for your reviews!

VII.

"Touya…" Enji clenched his hands into fists. It was the first time Yayoi recalled all of them, except for Touya of course, being at the dinner table and eating together. "Touya won't be coming home for a while."

Natsuo was the first to react. He was stunned, bursting out of his seat, and he shouted, "But why!? What happened!?"

"Touya has done some… bad things when Papa and I weren't looking," Rei tried.

"You're never looking, though!"

"This time was very, very bad, Natsuo," Rei went on. "If Yayoi hadn't started coming into her Quirk… Touya could have seriously hurt her."

Beside her, Shouto quietly marvelled about her getting her Quirk already. The conversation-turned-argument continued on around them nonetheless.

When the doctors listened to the maid's side of the story, asked if Touya had lashed out like this before, it came out that he tried to attack baby Shouto back when Yayoi was too small to even attempt to follow him. And when that came to light, how hellbent he was on getting Enji to train him again, he was deemed… Not quite stable enough to be around his siblings.

Yayoi felt bad. But the relief overshadowed the guilt. Touya had to leave the house somehow, and she supposed being hospitalized like Rei was supposed to two years down the line was better than dying brutally in his own Quirk's power. Enji loved Touya too much to do that to him, it was obvious—he clearly stopped Touya from using his Quirk and training to be a hero so he could stop from hurting himself, and Touya ignored him in the original timeline. The regret Enji had shown when signing over a consent form to admit Touya was quite the giveaway. She just hated that this was how she had to find out, learn that he cared about one of his kids somehow in the process of kicking him out of the home.

Shouto tugged her sleeve. Yayoi looked over at him from her dinner, quick to take his hand in her own. He had this worried look on his face, like he was concerned for Yayoi more than for Touya. Maybe Shouto had some kind of feeling that Touya was dangerous. He never did have any memories, good or bad, about his brother in the original sequence of events.

"Yaya," he mumbled, "are you okay?"

Yayoi did her best to give him a reassuring smile. She let go of his hand, began scooping soba from the plate onto his own, and said, "Yaya's fine. Here, Shouto can have some of my soba."

His eyes glistened in delight as he beamed at her. Even at a young age, Shouto really loved his soba.

She didn't notice until Enji cleared his throat that they were being watched like a hawk by the man. Yayoi shuddered, unsettled by how invested he was in them all of a sudden, and hurriedly resumed eating her own soba. It was weird. All it took was literally Touya trying to kill them twice outside of training, or at least hurt them, for Enji to realise his errors? He was the father of five children, how did he not notice sooner? The more she thought on it, the more she had to wonder what the lowest possible point for this family was. Was it before or after Touya's "death"? Was Rei actually unafraid of Enji when it came to the kids' safety before the events of losing a child? She was putting her foot down with Natsuo, even, and Fuyumi didn't dare speak out.

Yayoi glanced back at Enji. He was still watching her. She gave him a harsh glance before eating her soba even faster.

Okay. Okay. Okay. She could work with this. Her goal was still the same. Protect Shouto, take all his suffering in his place. Yayoi's Quirk emerged early, Touya got jealous of her for the attention she got, and even when she interacted with Shouto, it was Yayoi that Enji kept his eyes on. She paused in her gorging to do the mental gymnastics for the situation. Unlike the parents back in her old life, who gave up on hurting her as soon as she was old enough to punch back, at least the abuse from this parent would give her something in return: Experience and power to protect her little brother properly. The more control she had over her Quirk, the better.

But still. With a Quirk named "Thermodynamic" by the doctor they saw, it was obvious what her limitations were. And they were a bit greater than even Shouto's own frostbite. At least she'd been somewhat right about being a sink.

"Yayoi's Quirk has been registered."

She was lucky she paused her eating. She would've choked if Enji had said that while she had soba in her mouth, stunned and assuming he'd read her mind.

Fuyumi and Natsuo looked to her nervously. But it was Shouto who paused and grabbed his sister's sleeve again. He was in awe, so impressed that his sister got her Quirk and asking a million questions at once.

"As far as I'm concerned, it's a balance between my and Rei's Quirks. Yayoi can heat and cool things around her, with no averse affect to her own body. It's why she didn't get burned by Touya's flames, and why the cold doesn't bother her as much."

The table was silent. Enji seemed to hesitate with his words next, a careful glance at Rei being all he could muster before allowing everyone to return to their meals. Whatever he wanted to say, it died in his throat so long as Rei was there. What an ironic turn of events, Yayoi thought.

Dinner was finished soon after. Yayoi leaned close to Shouto as the maids collected the dishes to whisper to him, "Yaya will sneak in and sleep with Shouto tonight."

Shouto's beam was blinding. Only a week or so sleeping in separate rooms, and he was this elated to have her sneak in for one night.

Routine seemed to seep back into their lives shortly after Touya left the house. Enji still trained Yayoi, but he did so with Shouto present so he could prepare for his Quirk's arrival as well, and Rei still spent more time with the other two than with the twins.

But things were less… tense. When Shouto got too tired, or when Yayoi struggled to reign in her Quirk, Enji would call a halt to the training and order the children to continue their studies. It was less the Spartan regime in canon and more a casual, if educational affair—but it was still not what she wanted. Eventually when they got older, who was to say that Yayoi and Shouto wouldn't be put through harsher training? Enji was impatient by the time Shouto was five, and if they'd started at just three, it was entirely reasonable to assume three was when he wanted to start. It was when Quirks began manifesting, when motor control improved, when the most basic of forming began in children. No matter what, if Enji never trained them, they'd be as foreign to him as children raised in the wild were back in her old life.

That was the thing, though. If she tried to do that—tried to make Shouto a "feral child" in Enji's eyes—would it succeed? He'd grow up normally with the other two, have Rei supporting him while she was still stable, and his grievances with his Quirk and sense of identity would vanish from the timeline. Feral children were oblivious to the struggles of humanity by the time they were discovered—and maybe Shouto would be better off, being oblivious to the struggles of dealing with Enji.

When Shouto's Quirk finally manifested, the doctor gave it the on-the-nose name Yayoi hated reading in her old life. Straight to the point—one half of him was hot, one half of him was cold, half-cold half-hot. Apparently in English, Bakugou would call him "Icy Hot"; honestly, it worked much better as a Quirk name than a nickname. Such a missed opportunity.

Training didn't change, but Shouto did practice using his flames and ice individually with Enji whenever Yayoi rested. There wasn't much for Yayoi to actually do with her Quirk in some aspects, but she was sure she could find a way to keep Enji's attention with it. She could push things beyond their melting point, so maybe she could make magma? Maybe, and this was a big maybe, she could cool magma quick enough to produce obsidian? It'd be a one-time use sort of deal, but it would be handy nonetheless. Unlike Shouto, who couldn't create specific items with his ice or flames, Yayoi could make shields or armour or even supports.

Ah, but that was if she could control the magma itself as well.

Yayoi smothered her face in the towel she'd used to wipe off the sweat from earlier. She did her best not to groan too loud. So many things to keep track of, and that wasn't even counting the variables that came from things changing or her own physical state. She could easily predict how someone else's Quirk would progress—save, of course, for the enigmatic Touya—but her own Quirk wasn't shown with anyone else in the series. It really was a leap of faith just hoping she got the perks that could come with manipulating temperature.

Ugh. High school diploma and minor dabbling in physics got her nowhere with this. She should've attended a fantasy writing workshop or something and learned how to expand her imagination.

When she lowered the towel and let out a sigh, Yayoi was quick to startle when she noticed that Enji had been just standing in front of her. She wasn't sure for how long, hadn't heard him approach in the midst of her thinking, but he'd clearly been waiting a while if the licks of his flames were anything to go by. She quickly composed herself, putting up the cheerful mask of daddy's little girl, and beamed up at him.

Enji kept his expression neutral as he sat down beside her on the bench. In the rest of the training room, Shouto was nowhere to be found.

"You should go clean up," Enji said flatly. "You and Shouto are visiting Touya later."

Ah. If he weren't such a bastard, Yayoi would feel bad for him having to see his son in a mental ward. Alas, he had no remorse sending his wife to one thanks to the trauma he gave her in the original timeline, so pity was out the window.

So how did a child go about tricking a bastard into abandoning one of his prized Anti-All Might Spawn?

Yayoi wrung her hands together, unsure of what to say. She didn't exactly move yet to get ready, partially apprehensive about seeing Touya on top of everything else. Why would Enji even let her see him? Would Touya be sedated when they arrived? Was there going to be something, anything, to prevent another incident from happening? These things got violent pretty quickly if handled poorly, and the Todorokis' skeletons weren't exactly laid bare for everyone to see. Enji had to have buried why Touya was admitted, and make an excuse for his injury too.

She was startled again when he took in a breath. Enji almost hesitated, just like he had at the dinner table weeks ago, but with no one to stop him but an otherwise innocent three-year-old, he finally spoke his mind.

"Yayoi," he said, voice low enough to almost be a whisper. "When Touya attacked you—why did you ask if I came to finish what he started?"

Why did she… Yayoi furrowed her brows. Right, she'd said that in the heat of the moment. She'd been so sure that she was going to be punished or worse for what she did, that it was Enji's flames burning the room rather than her own Quirk. Yayoi hadn't really thought what that kind of statement would make anyone think. No child should know what it even meant, to begin with—

Oh. But some children were far more advanced than others. Yayoi may just have found her out, and she may also have given herself some wriggle room from the childishness.

She continued to wring her hands together as she muttered, "Yaya isn't stupid. Yaya knows Papa likes Nii-Nii more than her."

Enji snapped his head down in her direction, eyes wide and beard flaring. "What do you—"

"Yaya knows Nii-Nii tried to hurt Shouto too. And that Papa didn't do anything after. That's why Nii-Nii was able to hurt Yaya."

"Touya…" Enji sighed and looked away from her. "Touya adored you, when you were a baby. He was just—" Enji clenched his fists tightly in his lap. "He was afraid I'd focus on Shouto more than him."

Yayoi couldn't help it. She let out a soft, incredulous laugh; as soon as it slipped out, her hands flew up and clamped over her mouth to keep any other laughs from leaking out.

Enji sighed again. He leaned forward, elbows on his knees, and held his face in his hands.

"Nii-Nii hated Yaya instead," she muttered through her hands. Yayoi slowly lowered them and leaned back on the bench. She kicked her legs out and observed her socks with a nonchalant expression. How much maturity could she show, she wondered? Certainly not on the level of the other two, but maybe enough to come off as a pretentious kid from a sitcom. "Because Papa focused on Yaya more than him."

There was a pause, and then: "That's right."

"But Papa," Yayoi asked innocently. She looked up at him then, eyes wide and head tilted ever so slightly. Through the slits of his fingers, one of Enji's eyes landed on her. "Yaya only got attention because Yaya doesn't like All Might, right?"

Part of Yayoi was almost ready to high five herself and try look for a camera to capture the moment. Another part felt that nagging pity again, smothered only by the reminder that he did all of this to himself. He caused all of this pain and unrest among his wife and children. So when Enji lifted his head, arms falling limp to his sides, Yayoi got a full front row view to the slowly dawning horror on his face. Sweat even began to bead on his brow, jaw dropping just a fraction, and there it was. The realisation of everything he'd done and how much a child knew about it. How little of an excuse he had to his child, who already knew he held no affection for her, and how much of a corner he was backed into.

Raise a child under a strict regime, get a child who knows how to act like a professional.

Yayoi shrugged and went back to examining her socks. "Yaya isn't sad," she told him. "Because Yaya isn't stupid. Yaya knew Papa didn't like her for her. And Yaya knows Shouto isn't liked for Shouto. Papa just wants to be around Shouto for his Quirk."

"Yayoi—"

"But what is Papa gonna do when Shouto likes All Might? Is Papa gonna throw Shouto away too? Or will Papa hurt Shouto and make Yaya angry?"

Enji quickly stood up from his spot on the bench. Supplies like water bottles and towels landed on the floor with a weak thud. Significantly paler than before, Enji hands shook at his sides as he stared down at Yayoi—horror and fury clear as day on his face for all to see. She struck a nerve so easily. Acting mature had better get her what she wanted, or else things were going to get way more difficult in the future.

With a steeling breath, Enji pointed to the door and seethed, "Go to your room. Clean up. Now."

By the time she actually did all of those things, Enji and the others were long gone. Already off to visit Touya in the hospital and leaving Yayoi in Mariya's care like usual. Yayoi couldn't even be disappointed. If anything, this was a step forward in making sure Enji considered his actions now. She was, as far as she knew, the first child to call him out on his methods—and, with any luck, he wasn't so thick-headed that he didn't find it a tad concerning that it was a three-year-old telling him this. Like all great plans, patience was key.

She just had to hope he didn't push it under the rug and focus on Shouto more because of this.