A/N: hey everyone! hope y'all are doing good! i've been kinda meh lately, job searching is going badly lmaooo. laugh through the pain. anyways! this chapter is more of a transitional chapter, but hopefully i can get the next one out pretty quick. any feedback would be greatly appreciated! without any further distractions, i hope y'all enjoy!
The Todoroki household had a beautifully manicured lawn, the much-envied crown jewel of the neighborhood. It was truly a masterpiece of traditional Japanese landscaping, centered around the burbling koi pond dotted with lily pads. The fish inside had the coloring of calico cats, with long flowing fins and inquisitive whiskers. Many an hour had been spent watching their graceful dance. Whimsical red maple trees shaded the pond and occasionally dropped their leaves on the surface, much to the curiosity of the koi. A natural rock pathway edged the pond, each stone meticulously placed by hand, and lined with stone pagoda lanterns.
But Hinami's favorite was the towering cherry blossom tree in the backyard, which blessed their home with delicate flowers once a year in the spring. Years ago, when mother was still around, they'd sit on the house's wraparound porch and weave the flowers into Hinami's hair. The blooms were a soft blushing pink that Hinami envied, compared to her overly saturated bubblegum shade. What she remembers most is the sweet scent of sakura petals, accompanied by a loving touch.
Smack dab in the middle of the scenic courtyard laid Hinami. Covered in blood and grime, clothing ripped as if she'd gotten too friendly with a paper shredder and more emotionally wrecked than the first time she realized the koi didn't live forever. So… you know. A normal Saturday at the Todoroki residence. She hadn't moved except to lie down since her father dropped her off, though she didn't have much of a choice with her legs being shakier than a newborn giraffe.
Hinami breathed slowly, focusing on the cheerful splashing of the koi pond as she waited for her strength to return. The sunshine was nice and warm and she had her gym bag there to cushion her head. All in all, it was rather comfortable aside from the stinging in her knees and palms. She should probably try to get up and clean them soon. And after that, she needed to shower. Of course, there was also that history report she'd been avoiding in order to cram for the written entrance exam. And… Tatsumi. She promised to go have dinner with her and her mom after the exam. She was probably wondering where Hinami went. Yoshimura-san, too, had asked her to come for mochi and tea.
Her stomach clenched, prickling hot needles running up and down her spine. She swallowed thickly, which was difficult considering how dry her mouth was, and breathed harshly through the lump in her constricting chest. Nervously, her tongue swiped over her chapped, cracked lips. They tasted of iron. Her phone was in her gym bag, she should really check it. Maybe Fuyumi or Shoto were going to be home soon… Or maybe she'd see the angry texts from Tatsumi for blowing her off. Again.
She didn't check her phone.
Eventually she found the strength to roll onto her bloodied hands and knees, and from there she was able to pick herself up and painstakingly drag her weary body up the stairs to the wraparound porch. She took a moment to catch her breath while leaning heavily against the railing. Next, she kicked her nasty, matted fur-lined boots off. They'd probably have to be thrown away with how much blood was soaked inside them. Natsuo's gonna be pissed if he finds out, they weren't cheap. Though she had a vague feeling that he'd used one of father's credit cards to buy them in the first place.
Still using the railing for support, she dug through her gym bag until her fingers brushed against the fluffy keychain on her keys. Pushing off the railing, she crossed the small gap to the door and quickly unlocked it before slumping inside. Her bag dropped limply from her hands, thumping onto the entry way table as she reached a hand backwards to relock the door. Since she didn't bother to re-zip her gym bag earlier all she had to do was stick her hand inside and grab her metal water bottle. She only paused a moment to uncap the bottle and take several deep gulps of water, shivering as the cool liquid slid down her throat. The next obstacle in the way of her and her bed was the stairs.
Shamefully, she had to resort to crawling up them on her hands and knees, body cramping all over. At least no one was home to see.
Once she crested the stop of the stairs, she was able to pull herself back up to her feet. From there she stumbled into her bedroom and shucked her torn, bloodied clothing using her dresser for balance. Most of the damage was done to the yoga pants, though they were black they were still coated in blood and sported a rather large rip. That wasn't even getting started on her poor jacket. The sleeves were stained a dark, oxidized brown from where she'd wiped her bleeding nose on them. Nothing was worth salvaging. It all went straight into the trash, even if she did regret losing that jacket. She could get another one.
Now that she was down to her underwear, though… she could see the thick, ugly scar marking the outside of her thigh. It was a horrible shade of deep, bruise purple and big enough that she couldn't completely conceal it with one hand. A piece of it always showed, no matter how she oriented her hand. It had to be roughly seven or eight inches long. The scar was a little wider than her pinky at its widest point and when she ran a finger down her thigh, it was raised like a speed bump. One end tapered off into nothing, while the other side ended in a sharp hook, like a shepherd's crook.
Hinami couldn't help but to stare at the hideous thing. She wasn't new to having scars, and she expected to get many more if she was really going to be a hero. But this one was going to be hard to cover. It would most likely poke out of her school skirt, since it was slightly slanted with the hooked side pointing down. And she could kiss shorts goodbye when summer came back around. No more wearing pajama shorts around the house, either. No one wanted to see that, it was disgusting and pathetic. Just a badge to her weakness and recklessness. A visible and ugly reminder of her stupidity.
She shook her head forcefully, disrupting the swirling, chaotic thoughts. There was nothing she could do about it now. And besides…
It wasn't even half as bad as the scar on her side.
She couldn't bring herself to look at it or touch it, much less examine it the way she had the other one. It turned her stomach too much and made the awful thoughts come back ten times stronger. Obviously, UA had a miracle worker on hand because it was completely healed. Not even the doctors at father's agency had been able to fully heal it, though they helped immensely. Thankfully, none of her wounds hurt anymore either, she was just… so exhausted. Her body ached fiercely, muscles cramping with fatigue every time she moved them.
No time to dwell. She had to get into the shower before she could get into bed. She grabbed fresh pajamas and underwear out of her dresser before hobbling out of her room. No one was home, so she didn't mind wandering around in just her sports bra and panties. Armed with clean clothes and a fluffy towel from the linen closet, she stepped up to the control panel next to the bathroom. With a few clicks, she selected the bathtub's water temperature and set it to fill up in fifteen minutes. By the time she got out of the shower, it should be ready. Then she slid the heavily frosted glass door open and stepped into the shower room.
Yes, shower room. And yes, it was glorious. Everything was either dark stone or white marble, with the occasional green bamboo accent. The huge stone tub took up a good quarter of the room, deep enough that the water went to her knees when she stood in it and wide enough that she just barely could touch both sides at once when she was in the middle of it. It even had jets! Many a bubble bath has been held in its depths. Hands down her absolute favorite feature of the whole entire house. Though, the shower was a close second. The stall was huge and made of the same stone as the tub, with a long stone bench running the length of it and frosted glass doors. But if you wanted, you could leave the doors open since the entire room was made to get wet. Instead of a shower head, the water came straight from the ceiling, beating down like high pressured rain. To top it all off, there was a bamboo deer scare fountain in the corner of the room, which filled the room with a rhythmic splash and clack every ten seconds or so.
Heaven. Pure bliss.
Hinami hastily undressed, throwing her clean clothes and towel on the marble counter, before stepping into the shower stall. The water pipes whirred for a moment after she turned the knobs, and she waited expectantly. After a couple seconds warm water poured from the ceiling, and she sighed in appreciation, hair sticking to her cheeks and forehead as she tipped her head back to bask in it. She only allowed herself the comforting warmth for a couple minutes, turning the water down to a cooler temperature. The rest of her shower was quick and no-nonsense, and the first order of business was to cleanse the scrapes on her hands and knees, which stung like a bitch. Next, she washed and rinsed her hair, then massaged conditioner in and allowed it to soak while she scrubbed her body down with her loofah. All the blood, sweat, and grime went down the drain, washed away by her soothing pear and honeysuckle scented body wash.
Absolutely divine.
Near the end of her shower, she heard the tell-tale splash of the bath faucet turning on, water spilling into the stone tub. Nearly giddy with excitement, she quickly washed her face and rinsed the conditioner out. Once that was done, she turned the shower off and squeezed the excess water out of her hair. As she quickly padded over to the tub, shedding an insane amount of water on the black marble tiles, she snatched a jaw clip off the counter. The shower had done wonders to improve her mood, though her legs were still uncomfortably shaky. A hard enough sneeze could probably take her out of commission right now.
Shivering, she threw her leg over the side of the tub and dipped her toes in the toasty water. It was deliciously hot, steam wisping away from the gently swirling surface even in the warm, humid room. She nearly groaned in relief as she climbed in and lowered her body into the heated water, leaning against the slightly sloped back wall of the tub. Before she settled in completely, she gathered up her cold, damp hair and piled it on top of her head, clipping it in place with the jaw clip. Her head slowly drooped backwards, softly landing on the special waterproof bath pillow as boiling hot water continued to pour from the faucet at her feet.
What a horrible day.
Hinami leaned over the side of the bath, using her Quirk to flick a glob of water on the ground. Flattening the glob out into a little Roomba, she slid it over the ground and vacuumed up the wet footprints she left on her dash from the shower. Once she'd sucked up all the shower water, she fed the glob of water to the drain in the center of the room and let it go. The difference between water she created and water that was previously existing was important. She could only control water that she materialized, but if she absorbed pre-existing water into her Quirk water, she could control that as well, to an extent. But the ratio was important, too much non-Quirk water would make it difficult and unwieldy to manipulate.
Even using that tiny fraction of her Quirk made her temples ache after her hellacious day.
For the first time in a while, the heat of the bath wasn't enough to chase away the stress, not hot enough to burn the memories out of her, each one all too fresh and humiliating. Tatsumi wasn't going to be a hero with her. Hinami made an complete idiot of herself at the practical exam after she got too cocky. And… father let her know, once more, exactly how little he thought of her. As if he hadn't made it clear enough during their last argument.
An embarrassment, he'd said. Along with a threat to start training her again if she made it into UA.
Hinami's eyes slid open, sightlessly staring up at the wooden beam ceiling. On one hand, she would take any edge she could get over Shoto. Father's methods were questionable, but he got results. Shoto had refused to keep training with father about two years ago. After a three month long cold war that strained the entire household nearly to the point of breaking, father had given in. That meant the end of Hinami's training as well, even though she'd wanted to continue. And she was under no illusions as to why.
So what did it mean that father was considering restarting her training? Was he really worried about her embarrassing him at UA? Eye prickling with tears, she despondently sank lower in the bath, up to her nose in the steaming water, breath rippling the surface.
Shoto was the prize in father's eyes, and Hinami the consolation plaque. She was the backup plan, always on standby. She had a Quirk just powerful enough to be considered, but not enough to be showcased. If Shoto was the knife, Hinami was the whetstone. If he was the racing greyhound, she was the rabbit.
And what use was the rabbit when the dog refused to run? The whetstone without the knife?
"Excuse me, miss?"
Hinami pulled her eyes away from the onigiri selection, glancing around for whoever had spoken. Behind the counter was an older gentleman, who smiled sheepishly when he caught her eyes. Hinami blinked and looked around the empty convenience store, wondering why he'd called her. He had to be talking to her, right? She had stopped for a quick breakfast on her way to school, unsure of whether she wanted to go with the tried-and-true flavor of tuna mayo or if she wanted to go with the new and exotic black wagyu flavor. Deciding quickly, she snatched up a tuna mayo and a natto rice ball, making her way over to the counter.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bother you," he started, adjusting the spectacles on his nose, "but are you Endeavor's daughter by chance?"
Hinami's breath hitched in her throat, an uncomfortable tingle crawling up her spine. "How… do you know that?" she asked slowly, shifting her weight in case she needed to make a quick getaway. Or throw herself across the counter and claw his eyes out. He looked pretty frail, she could take him even without her Quirk.
"Oh…" he frowned at her reaction, "it's been all over the papers," he said, pointing to the rack of magazines next to the counter. "I didn't mean to pry."
Hinami's eyes followed his movement, a sick pit opening in her stomach as his words registered. Her eyes locked onto the tabloids, confirming her worst fear as she saw her face splashed across the front page. It was a close up from the day before yesterday, where father had carried her home after the exam. He was looking down at her, his eyebrows furrowed in consternation. It had to be the moment where she had just woken up in his arms. Her turquoise eyes were wide open and she had a baffled, uncomfortable smile on her lips. But… perhaps to an outside perspective it looked different, because the headlines read, 'SWEET FATHER AND DAUGHTER BONDING MOMENT CAUGHT! MORE INFO ON PAGE 37,' below that there was another, smaller, blurb that read, 'Dr. Inchiki reveals 7 ways to enhance your Quirk fast!'
Hinami yanked a magazine off the rack and slammed it on the counter, along with her two onigiri, before she stalked off to grab a canned iced coffee. This was not the way she wanted to start her day, not at all.
"Can I have your autograph, miss?" the clerk asked, obviously unable to read the damn room.
"I'm not a hero," she snapped, iced coffee clicking onto the counter with a tad too much force. "It's not worth anything."
"It will be one day," he said earnestly, kindly eyes staring out from under his spectacles. "You've got his temper and drive, I can tell," he chuckled. Wrong thing to say, bucko.
"I do not!" she snarled, teeth gnashing. The clerk was unfazed, placidly holding out a magazine. She sighed harshly before rustling through her satchel for a marker. "Don't tell anyone what my hero name is going to be," she demanded, taking the magazine and hastily, yet neatly, signing it. She'd put a lot of thought into her hero name and didn't want it to get leaked, but it was also a little arrogant of her to think anyone would be interested in leaking it in the first place. But then again… they had plastered photos of her all over the front page of the tabloids already, so maybe it was a reasonable worry.
He read the signature and smiled, eyes crinkling warmly at the corners, "That's a good hero name, strong and mysterious. I won't tell anyone," he said, bagging her items. "I'll keep an eye out for when you make your debut," he promised. She gave him a dirty look, shifting her weight from foot to foot as she reached into her bag for her wallet. The clerk was wrong, she was nothing like that bastard.
"No charge," he said, waving her away. "The autograph was more than enough."
Hinami paused, eying him suspiciously. He wasn't going to pull any funny business like claiming she'd stolen it once she left, was he? That would look great on her record, nothing like a petty theft charge to spice things up.
"You're a cautious one, aren't you?" he chuckled as he reached his hand into his pocket, making Hinami's hackles go up. But all he did was withdraw a bill from his wallet and slide it into the cash register.
"Thank you," she said curtly, taking the bag from him and dipping her head in a brief bow. Then she scurried away with her loot, refusing to look back.
She spent the rest of her walk to school fretting over the article and what it said as she munched on her rice ball, washing it down with iced coffee. Why'd it have to be the front page? Didn't they have anything better to gossip about? It did explain some of the weird looks she'd been getting on the street though. Pink hair wasn't too weird, it was getting more common every generation. But combined with her turquoise eyes… it made her highly recognizable. Those damn eyes, she hated them so much. None of her other siblings had them except… well, Touya used to have them. Natsuo and Fuyumi both had grey eyes like mother. Shoto only had one turquoise eye with his other being grey, though no one stood out in a crowd quite as well as he did. Damn peppermint head.
Unable to resist anymore, she ripped the magazine open and flipped to page 37, where another picture of her and her father were taking up most of the page. He's still carrying her, but he's just barely stepping out of UA's entrance gates, the towering glass buildings easily visible in the background. This time she's asleep, her cheek resting against his chest with a serene smile on her face, waterfall of pink hair flowing over one of his arms and her gym bag hanging off the other. Father, for his part, looked… almost content. Or, at the very least, less pissed off than usual. The crease between his eyes was missing, and his flaming facial hair was subdued. Her throat tightened at the unexpectedly nice picture, wishing they'd used this one on the front page instead. Had he ever looked at her like that while she was awake?
A rare moment was captured Saturday evening as the elusive and taciturn Todoroki Enji-san carried his teenage daughter home after she completed the infamous UA hero course exam! We can't get enough of that tender look on this single dad's face as the youngest Todoroki slumbers in his arms! Endeavor shows an unexpectedly soft side with his daughter's yellow gym bag on his arm! Young Todoroki, who is yet unnamed, is rumored to have been minorly injured during the exam, though UA cannot be reached for a comment at this time. Is this the beginning of a clumsy new hero trying to fill her father's shoes? One thing's for sure, we'll be following her journey closely!
Hinami scoffed and shoved the magazine in her school satchel. What a load of bullshit. How dare they call her clumsy! And using words like 'tender' and 'soft' in the same sentence as her father was just laughable. They had no idea what they were talking about, and it showed. But… not everyone reading would know that. The publishers could say whatever the hell they wanted and Hinami had no way to set the record straight. It made her sick, thinking about how many people were reading the magazine and thinking about how 'tender' and 'soft' her father was, how 'sweet' his relationship with her was. He was a 'single father' because he was a piece of shit. Mom didn't want to be locked up in the mental health ward.
They'd never know that moments after the picture was taken, he told her he shouldn't have even bothered picking her up. That he dropped her and called her an embarrassment. They'd never know about the explosive argument they had a week ago. They'd never know what he did to her mother, what he drove her to do to her son. They'd never know about the scars he put on her and Shoto, emotional and physical. Or a million other moments where he made her feel like shit, or even lower than shit.
It just wasn't fair. They shouldn't be able to exploit a picture of her to paint him as a good guy, instead of the raging dickhole he was. It felt… icky.
School gates loomed in the distance and the sick, antsy feeling she'd been holding back all morning flooded back with a vengeance. She'd purposefully left the house late today and stopped at a convenience store just to make sure she ran as late as possible to school. And now she was out of things to stall with. Her heart pounded and her hands shook (caffeine or nerves? The world may never know), legs reluctantly bringing her closer and closer to the gates.
Time to face the music.
As soon as Hinami stepped through the gates, she spotted Tatsumi leaning against a column next to the entrance. Since she had cut it so close with making it to school on time, there was no one else in the entry way, meaning that Tatsumi spotted her immediately. Her snakes were agitated, heads lifted and swiveling, tongues tasting the air, as her amber eyes alighted on Hinami.
For once, Tatsumi's face gave nothing away, blank as a marble statue. The sick feeling in Hinami's stomach intensified and she wondered if this was finally the end. Tatsumi was a saint for putting up with her bullshit for so long, and it was only a matter of time. She couldn't blame Tatsumi for being angry.
Hinami stopped in front of her friend and fiddled with the crinkly plastic bag hanging on her wrist, thoughts racing as she tried to come up with the right words to say. All the apologies she formulated in her head just sounded hollow and insincere. How many plans had Hinami stood her up for now? What could she even say at this point?
Tatsumi didn't say anything either. Instead, she lunged forward with her arms open. Hinami's entire body flinched, adrenaline spiking as she threw her hands up. But Tatsumi only wrapped her arms around Hinami's neck, pulling her into a tight hug. Hinami's hands dropped limply by her sides, eyes sliding closed as the same curious hognose, as always, tried to lick her eyeball. And then she leaned into the hug, arms hesitantly coming up to pat her friend uncertainly on the back, cool scales sliding over her cheeks and exploring her mane of hair.
Hinami's heart slowly and cautiously unclenched, relief flooding through her as she took a moment to just enjoy the hug. It wasn't often that she let herself indulge in the simple pleasure of being held. But she had an image to maintain, so she tapped Tatsumi on the back, twice, in surrender.
Tatsumi pulled away slowly, candied orange eyes suspiciously shiny. 'I saw the magazine,' was the only thing she signed, a gorgeous green feathered viper coming up to catch the tear that fell from her eyes with its nose.
That made sense, of course she had seen. Hinami nodded slowly, hands coming up to sign… before she shrugged and dropped them. It wasn't okay. And she didn't have the energy to lie. Instead, she pulled out the plastic wrapped natto onigiri, holding it out with a small, chagrined smile.
It wasn't much, but… maybe it was something.
Tatsumi gave a watery smile and took the offering, her eyes still shining wetly. 'He's a bastard,' she signed, blinking quickly to keep the tears at bay. 'I'm sorry that happened.'
Hinami's eyes dropped to her shoes, which were her normal school loafers since she'd finally given up on trying to clean her bloody boots and trashed them. 'He seriously is,' she agreed, biting her lip to keep it from trembling. If the floodgates opened this early in the day, she'd be done for. No. She had to keep the tears under wraps, or they'd pour out until she was empty.
Hinami's school day went relatively smooth after that, though there was a stir about her magazine debut. Thankfully, the fact that she was Endeavor's daughter was already old news and the craze was more about her being on the front page of the gossip magazines. Even more thankfully, she had a carefully cultivated reputation of being confrontational and aggressive, so only a select handful of students were brave enough to approach her about it. They were sent packing easily enough; she didn't even have to threaten to boil anyone this time. (It was an empty threat, she couldn't boil her water on command yet. But they didn't know that.) Maybe old dogs do learn.
'The exam was awful,' Hinami signed before unwrapping her bento box and breaking open her wooden chopsticks. Fuyumi had packed tonkatsu and fried rice today, one of her favorites. That girl seriously spoiled Hinami. 'I had the worst time ever! Everything was going great until I got sucked into my own fucking whirlpool after I almost ran over a moth kid!' she complained, pausing to take a big bite of her food so that she could finish chewing while she signed. Strictly speaking, it was bad manners to sign with her mouth full, but she'd gotten carried away with her story. 'Do you know how much that shit hurts?! It ripped my fucking leg open!'
Tatsumi jerked in surprise, accidentally dropping her bento onto her desk with a loud clatter. Not that she noticed. 'How the hell did you do that?!' she asked angrily, eyes wide. 'Are you okay now?! And what do you mean a moth kid?!'
Hinami waved her concern away, picking up another piece of tonkatsu with her chopsticks and shoving it in her mouth. 'Yeah, I'm fine,' she shrugged, 'UA's gotta have a badass healer Quirk on staff, it was just a scar when I woke up,' she explained, covertly glancing around before rolling down the hem of the tights she was wearing under her school skirt. The nasty, twisted purple scar came into view, branding Hinami's otherwise unmarred thigh.
Tatsumi winced, looking a bit green around the gills as she pushed her bento to the side, 'And… you did that to yourself?' she asked skeptically.
Hinami shrugged again, 'I dunno, I fell into the whirlpool and a piece of debris got me. That moth kid was in the street I was trying to go down, and when I stopped it caused the junk I picked up in my wave to launch out and try to squish them. I had to make a whirlpool to stop it, and it sucked me in,' she signed, scoffing indignantly. It still pissed her off to think of how badly she'd lost control of her own damn Quirk. She went on to explain how Yamamai followed her the rest of the exam, accidentally paralyzed her, and then ended up saving her by getting Kirishima's attention and then distracting the Zero Pointer. Damn them, adorable little nuisance.
'Wait… forget the moth,' Tatsumi signed, mischievous smirk spreading across her lips, foreboding and ominous. 'You mean to tell me you got saved by a cute guy?'
'I didn't say he was cute!' Hinami defended with a stern flourish of her hands, cheeks warming. Poor Kirishima, he was just being nice and now he was stuck being associated with her. Would that embarrass him?
'Yeah, but your face just did,' Tatsumi grinned smugly. 'Details! Now!'
Hinami whined and buried her face in her hands. 'It's so embarrassing!' she eventually signed, grimacing as she remembered her sad display. 'I don't even want to talk about it, he probably thinks I'm a pathetic loser.'
'Girl,' Tatsumi exasperatedly signed, rolling her eyes, 'no, he does not. No one who has ever looked at you has thought that.'
'Tell that to my father,' she snapped back. And regretted it immediately. Her shoulders slumped dejectedly, stomach souring as she remembered that awful magazine she still had in her bag. How dare they portray him as a doting father? The injustice of it all stung anew, just as sharply as before. 'Never mind that,' she signed, trying to skip over it quickly, hoping to bring back the lightheartedness of the conversation. 'His name is K-I-R-I-S-H-I-M-A,' she fingerspelled it out slowly, hoping that Tatsumi would be satisfied with the information and drop it, 'and he has black hair and red eyes.'
Tatsumi, bless her, easily glossed over the dip in the conversation, though she smirked like a cat perched outside the canary's cage. Predatory and dangerous, a gleam in her eye that Hinami greatly mistrusted. 'That would make a good last name, don't you think?' she asked with an exaggerated wink. But it got the desired reaction from Hinami—a laugh. The first one she'd had in the last two days, it felt like. Tatsumi's face practically glowed with smugness, lips curling in satisfaction.
Hinami laughed again, shaking her head, 'You're the worst,' she signed playfully, though she much preferred Tatsumi's smiling face to the blank one this morning. Why had she been so worried? 'Enough about me, what happened in your exam?' Now, she had to move the topic off Kirishima before Tatsumi dug deep enough to find an actually juicy tidbit, like the fact that he carried her or that he used his jacket as a pillow for her.
Tatsumi's happy expression dropped, falling into a frown. 'It was horrible,' she animatedly complained, an irritated rustle moving through her snakes, 'I'm lucky I applied for the General Studies course too, I didn't get a single point!'
Hinami winced sympathetically, 'That's not… good,' she signed hesitantly, frantically racking her brain for something more supportive to say. She was such a shitty friend, that was all she had to say? Obviously it was Tatsumi's fault for having bad taste in friends.
'What was I supposed to do against robots?!' Tatsumi signed, pouting as she fiddled with her bento, 'Rip off a cobra and throw it?!' At the implied threat, one of her cobras perked up and hissed, mottled brown hood flaring as it puffed up like a pissed off peacock. Tatsumi rolled her eyes and playfully bopped it on the nose, to which it hissed indignantly and slithered deeper into the mass of snakes as if to hide from its host.
Hinami burst into laughter, keeling over and clutching her stomach as the vivid imagery of Tatsumi ripping her snakes off and beating the robots with them came to mind. 'Stop!' she signed, struggling to catch her breath through the giggles as Tatsumi beamed and mimed swinging a snake over her head like a lasso, shamelessly egging Hinami's laughing fit on. After the rough last couple days, the laughter was like hot chocolate for the soul, a warm hug in winter.
Lunch with Tatsumi buoyed her spirits enough that she no longer entertained the sneers and whispers. ("She thinks she's better than us just because she was on the front page. I could be on the front pages too if my dad was Endeavor." And the enthusiastic reply, "I know, right?! It's only because of him, doesn't she get that? She's nothing special.") Instead, she sauntered past the naysayers with a bounce in her step. It felt good. The exam results were out of her hands now—for better or for worse. There was no need to torture herself with worry until they came.
And as for the magazine, well… it would blow over eventually. Who even paid attention to those things anyway? The rumor mills would keep churning no matter what she did.
[2:08PM]
Natsuo: hey, u ok? i saw the magazines, what happened?
[2:13PM]
Hinami: Yeah, I'll be okay. Someone accidentally paralyzed me in the exam and he had to come get me, it was awful. Can I call you later Nat?
[2:17PM]
Natsuo: sure thing mimi
After a tense week-long wait, full of nervous pacing and obsessively checking the mail, it finally arrived. Hinami pulled a crisp white envelope out of the box, emblazoned with a gold UA symbol and a red wax seal. She gasped and scurried back inside the house, bolting up the stairs two at a time in her haste to get to her room. Sick with worry, she threw herself onto the maroon cushion in front of her knee-high desk and tore it open, like ripping off a band-aid. A small metal disk flew out of the shredded paper and she yelped as she caught it out of the air. Though she dropped it immediately as it buzzed in her hand like an angry bumblebee.
"Greetings, Todoroki Hinami!" a voice boomed so loudly that Hinami's ears started ringing, "I am here!" All Might shouted, appearing on the holographic image projected by the metal disk. His broad form was stuffed into a flashy yellow suit, posed in front of a glittery gameshow background.
"A-All Might?!" she squeaked, her chest squeezing painfully tight as her cheeks lit on fire. He said her name! He knew who she was! Her breathing picked up, blood rushing so loudly in her ears that she nearly didn't hear his next words.
"I am here!" he repeated, with a dramatic bow, his dinner plate sized hand chivalrously held to his chest, "To give you your exam results! This year I will be teaching at UA High School," he explained, trademark grin on his face, impossibly wide and dimpled and comforting. "I am honored to be given this chance to lead our youths! I can only hope to make a positive impact on our next generation of heroes!" Hinami grinned with him, heart in her throat as she waited for him to continue. He was really going to be there? At UA? The stakes were ever higher now, she'd never forgive herself if she missed a chance to be guided by him.
"This year we divided up the scores between the amount of robots you defeated and the number of times you helped out other students! These are called 'Villain Points' and 'Rescue Points!'" he continued, as though he didn't just crush Hinami's dreams. Not only had she been paralyzed and useless half of the test, but she wasn't able to help Yamamai, either. She blew all her energy on showing off and barely took out two dozen robots. Worthless. She had no right going to UA. She had no right to be in the presence of All Might. She should've known better, known that she didn't deserve it.
"You did very well, young Todoroki!" All Might praised, giving her a big thumbs up. Hinami's jaw dropped, blood draining out of her face. What…? "You managed to take down a huge number of villains, as well as gather more than a few rescue points! The judges and I were extremely impressed!"
Hinami blinked hard, brain damn near short circuited as tears sprang to her eyes faster than she could scrub them away. He really thought she did good? He was impressed? She swallowed past the lump in her throat, giving up on wiping the tears that poured freely. Instead she focused on blinking fast enough to keep her vision clear, like windshield wipers working overtime. She didn't want to miss this.
"Young Todoroki, we would be honored to accept you into UA's Hero Course!"
Hinami flopped backwards on the floor, trying to smother her sobs with her hands. She made it! She actually made it! Tears poured freely as she digested his words. All Might thought she did good. She was going to UA! She was going to be a hero!
But… that also meant father was going to start training her again. And she had to show him the acceptance letter. How was he going to react? Was he hoping that she failed, just so that he didn't have to bother with training her? Would he be even a little bit proud?
An embarrassment. He's worried she's going to embarrass him.
Overwhelmed and conflicted, the tears showed no sign of stopping. That's how Fuyumi found her a couple minutes later, curled up into a tiny ball on the ground and crying hysterically. The projection playing on repeat in the background, the indifferent soundtrack to her tears.
"Oh no, Nana," Fuyumi whispered, soft and sad as she rushed over to pull the crying teenager into her lap. "I'm so sorry."
"Yumi… I made it in!" Hinami sobbed through heaving, tearful gasps, immediately latching onto Fuyumi like a baby koala and pushing her wet face into Fuyumi's shoulder. She was still in her work clothes, silken blouse darkening as it absorbed the steaming tears. Fuyumi's trademark mint and vanilla scent wrapped around her, as comforting and cozy as a good book on a rainy day.
"But Nana… that's good, isn't it? I thought that's what you wanted," Fuyumi questioned with a wince, activating her Quirk and rubbing cold circles into Hinami's back to help ground the hysterical teenager. Fuyumi had inherited a slightly watered-down version of mother's Quirk, and it did wonders to help slow Hinami's racing thoughts.
All Might said he was impressed. Father said she was an embarrassment.
"I don't know," Hinami breathed into her sister's damp shoulder.
Fuyumi gently pulled out of the embrace, a reassuring smile on her face as she reached up and tucked Hinami's bangs behind her ear. "It's okay, you don't have to know right now. You have time to figure it out," Fuyumi soothed, fingers still combing through Hinami's mussed hair. "But I'm proud of you, no matter what. I know mom is too."
Hinami hiccupped and sagged back into Fuyumi's shoulder, ice cold hands rubbing her back. "You… really think so, Yumi?" Hinami whispered, scared if she spoke too loudly it would shatter the moment. Eyes sliding closed, it was all too easy to imagine it was her mother's embrace, her mother's voice whispering to her.
"Of course," Fuyumi said fiercely, not an ounce of hesitation. "She talks about you all the time."
"Next time you go…" Hinami sniffled, struggling to get the words out as if her mouth were full of wet concrete. Shame and fear mixed in her stomach, acidic and sharp. "Do you think… she wants to see me?"
"Yes, absolutely," Fuyumi agreed though her voice was rough. Her grip tightened on Hinami, crushing her harder to her chest. "She would love to see you, sweetheart." The tension drained out of Hinami's posture, the knot in her chest loosening as Fuyumi's words registered. The scent of mint and vanilla temporarily shielded her from the rest of the world. For the moment she was safe and whole.
"Do you want to come make dinner with me?" Fuyumi asked gently, petting the back of Hinami's head, smoothing down her mussed hair. "I was thinking about making Hayashi rice."
"Mhmm," Hinami hummed and nodded, slowly disentangling herself so she could rub her burning hot eyes. Fuyumi took that chance to peel her soaked blouse away from her chest, revealing a peek of heat-flushed skin at the junction of her shoulder and neck. She pressed an icy hand to the area with a wince.
"Sorry," Hinami murmured, fidgeting. Her phone buzzed against her thigh, and she reached a hand into her skirt pocket to retrieve it, smiling weakly as she read the text.
[6:41PM]
Tatsu Tots: Guess who has 2 thumbs, 53 snakes, and is going to UA?!
"Come on, let's go wash your face and get a drink of water," Fuyumi said, standing up and brushing her knees off before extending a hand to Hinami.
[6:41PM]
Tatsu Tots: That's right, this bitch.
Hinami smiled, that damn joke saying practically qualified for the senior discount. And she'd probably tell Tatsumi as much later, but for now… she didn't reply. Instead she allowed herself to be pulled to her feet and guided out of her room, obediently following Fuyumi's instructions. Though before she went downstairs, she retrieved the metal disk and acceptance letter from her room. Father's office was dark and cold, and she didn't dare even turn on a light, instead navigating by the soft glow of the hallway light.
She wasn't brave enough to give it to him in person. So she left it sitting front and center on his dark mahogany desk.