The next morning, the world was in chaos.
We picked our way through the evacuating crowds, not speaking, too busy trying to process things. I was glad Yaoyorozu let me be; I'm not sure I could've responded much then. The city was a mess, broken buildings like a bomb had gone off where All Might and the villain called All for one had fought.
News stations everywhere were buzzing with information, discussions, blame getting slung, praises being sung, doomsday prophecies, talk of being saved from the villains; talk about the escaped villains, talk about All Might's real form.
As I thought back on that strange skeleton form, I felt I had to say something.
"How did he have two forms?" I asked aloud, not entirely sure I'd phrased the question right. Yaoyorozu seemed to follow me fine; she simply said, "Perhaps it's a part of his quirk. Projecting an image of a strong man's body."
I nodded, vaguely; that made some degree of sense, though it didn't really seem like a logical extension of his powers.
My phone buzzed again; I answered Iida's "Where are you two now?" with "Still near the explosion sight. Evacuation's going slow."
It was, indeed. It took us hours to get moving, like sitting in traffic. But we finally did meet up with the others, and took Bakugou to the police station. Everyone was very morose and serious, and didn't seem to feel like talking much. It was a little awkward, in fact; as if we'd all spent the night burying a dead body and had sworn each other to secrecy.
Bakugou left with the police, though, and the remaining five of us headed to the train station, quiet, thoughtful, and unhappy.
Kirishima tried to make conversation here and there, to break the silence, but nobody felt much like answering. I kept thinking about All Might; about his fight, and what had happened, and what would happen.
At the train station, we parted ways. Iida, shaking nervously, said, "Well…"
Kirishima waved goodbye. "Thanks for everything!"
Yaoyorozu, her arms folded and a look of scolding disapproval on her face, said, "The three of you go straight home, right?" to me, Kirishima, and Midoriya. That was a little embarrassing.
Midoriya smiled and said "Thanks, you guys," in answer to Kirishima.
"See you guys back at school," I finished awkwardly.
We'll never tell anyone. Not if we can help it.
I got back home, after nearly two days being away. Sis and the old man and our servants had texted and called me about a million times, and I'd ignored it all because the situation had been too dire. Not that I felt bad about making the old man worry, but sis was another story…
I checked the news again.
"All Might's true form. NO longer able to fight after a startling revelation."
So it's true. He really did finish then. And left it all to us.
I opened the front door myself and saw Sis standing there. She must've seen me walking up, because she wasn't surprised, more relieved.
"You didn't return any of my messages after you went off to the hospital," she reprimanded me as I took off my shoes. "I was getting worried! Welcome back. Man, some crazy stuff's been going on, huh, Shoto?"
I bowed my head a little. "Sorry, sis."
From somewhere in the house, I heard something smash.
Sis pointed down the hallway. "He got back just a little bit ago. He's been like that, ever since."
I headed down the hallway. If All Might really can no longer stand up, then the position of number one finally goes to…
The training hall room door…
"Get up. If you get hurt that easily, you can forget about beating All Might, or even a small time villain…"
The place where I had suffered so many times as a kid. It was now in shambles - burn marks on the walls, exercise equipment still on fire, as the old man panted violently and furiously in the middle of the room.
"I don't accept it!" he hissed. "Not like this. I can't accept it! There's no way I'll accept it. I absolutely cannot accept it!"
I turned way. I wasn't in the mood to put up with this crap.
The next few days, the inside of our house was tense as hell. The old man stomped around in a constant bad mood, ready to yell at anything or anyone and constantly muttering shit under his breath. Fuyumi danced around both of us trying to keep the tension from burning the place down either literally or metaphorically. I mostly just kept out of his way.
Out of everyone's way, actually. i just flat out didn't feel like talking. My mind was somewhere else. I was thinking about All Might.
When I was a kid, Mom would watch clips of him with me. She'd pat my head and hug me and tell me "That's what it means to be a great hero, you know. That's the kind of stuff you're going to do one day." We didn't tell the old man about that, because if he knew Mom had said that - Anyway, it was one of the only happy memories I had as a kid, watching him.
All Might was more than just a famous pro hero, though. He was the symbol of peace, his presence alone had been a deterrent to crime. He was someone who brought reassurance and kept the public as a whole smiling and able to go on with their lives. To people beyond me, even, he was important.
And now he was gone, forever.
The news wasn't ambiguous on that point. He'd given a press conference and explained that his body had taken too much damage to allow another fight. It really was true. And now that he was gone, the news was getting more and more disturbing. Every day another scare, another freak out from the public.
I remembered that the villains' leader - Tomura Shigaraki - had stated when we met him at the USJ that it was his intention to kill All Might. It seemed that in a way he'd succeeded; it had al ways been his intention to destroy the symbol of peace. And we'd failed, it seemed, to stop him this time.
We needn't have run, after the others got Bakugou…I could have done something. Helped take that villain out…
No, Yaoyorozu would have stopped me. And in any case, it didn't do any good to dwell on the past, which it was completely useless to change now.
And I didn't want to think about the future either, because that was undeniably starting to look pretty damn grim. Without All Might, villain activity would skyrocket. No way my old man in the default #1 position would be anything like the deterrent for crime All Might had been. Nobody would be reassured seeing him at #1.
I didn't want to admit it to myself, but I almost felt sorry for him. I've always hated his guts, and we've never interacted like a father and son would. It's always been purely functional, really. He's practically a stranger to me. That part of me that feels bad for him is the part of me that would feel bad about people piling on an unpleasant celebrity.
Yeah, people are. With All Might out of the picture and my father suddenly the #1, people are pretty quick to tell every horrible opinion they've ever had about him. Not that anyone knows our family story - or ever will. They don't know what he's done, but the comparisons with All Might are inevitable, and nobody looks good standing next to a god.
I thought this kinda stuff while talking walks around our property, getting on trains just to get out of the house, locked up in my room trying to distract myself with anything. I hadn't heard much from my classmates, just a terse answer to a text I'd sent Bakugou asking him if he'd made it home safely. 'Yeah.' I'd never texted him much before, so it surprised me that he'd actually replied, and hadn't cussed me out.
Right. He was kidnapped. That must have been traumatic…
My classmates all seemed to be in a nervous mood. Nobody had any idea what to make of what had just happened, or where we were going, or what would come next.
Then we got the letter in the mail.
We have a servant who gets our mail. It's something Iv'e always kind of accepted, though I know from what my classmates say that that's weird to them. He gets our mail, same time e very day, during breakfast.
We were sitting, the three of us. Natsuo's away at college and never visits us anyway, though he drops in on mom sometimes, so it's just me, the old man and Fuyumi. Fuyumi takes care of the cooking. Usually, thankfully, the old man is out the door before I am and back after I have done, but there's no getting away from each other on vacation.
The mail came in and the servant took it to Fuyumi. She handles that, and most things really. Don't know how she does it, taking care of us and teaching school all day. But she does.
Anyway, she gasped and we both looked up.
"There's a letter from UA, Shoto!" she cried, ripping it open. "Official seal and all."
I tried not to show that I was nervous. What would UA be writing me about? Did they find out I broke the rules to save Bakugou? Are they going to expel me?
Sis read aloud, "Official notice of the implementation of the all dormitory system!"
"What?" snapped the old man.
"It looks like UA is moving their students into dormitories to be close to the school. Starting next week. They're -they're gonna come talk to us about it. It requires parental permission - "
"That's enough," snapped the old man again. I turned to glare at him.
"What are you talking about?"
"You're not going," he said simply.
"Huh?" said Fuyumi. "But dad - "
"I won't allow it," he said simply, turning away, standing up as if to say 'That's final.'
I felt my heart beginning to beat like nuts. Getting away from here? Living with my classmates, no longer having to face the old man every damn day? No way in hell I'm gonna pass this up. You can't stop me, you bastard. IF UA wants me I'll go.
"Dad," said Fuyumi. "We should talk about this."
"There's nothing to-"
"Ther'es plenty to discuss," I interrupted him.
"You're not going," he said again, and this time left the room before I could reply.
All Might and Aizawl-Sensei were due in the afternoon to talk to us. I was dreading seeing All Might having to deal with my old man. It was going to be hard enough to deal with him, but with All Might around the meeting was going to be like handling high explosive.
We sat in the living room in silence for thirty minutes before the door opened. To my relief, it was just Mr. Aizawa.
"Oh!" gasped Fuyumi as he sat down opposite us.
"Hello, sensei," I said quietly, bowing.
"Your letter indicated All Might was coming as well. Is he late?" snapped my old man again. I glowered at him. Aizawa sensei said,
"We decided to divide and conquer. He's visiting Midoriya's right now."
Midoriya's? Maybe if it was someone else it would just seem like a coincidence, but if it's Midoriya, that means he's probably got something to say to him he couldn't say in front of Mr. Aizawa…
My old man interrupted my train of thought.
"I have decided already. I am not allowing Shoto to move in to UA."
Mr. Aizawa kept his expression smooth. Under control. But I could tell that that actually hurt him to hear. I glowered over at the old man.
"Any good reason for that?"
Mr. Aizawa actually tilted his head. I bet he wasn't expecting me to snap back at the old man.
"It's my decision, as your father."
"It's my future. I have a say."
"Shoto…Dad…" said Fuyumi. I hated to hurt her, but I had to say something.
"Shoto," said Mr. Aizawa, addressing me by my first name, for the first time. Or rather, perhaps, my hero name. "There's no need for that."
I looked over at him and took a breath in. Right. Mr. Aizawa. Always logical.
He turned to my old man. "Mr. Todoroki…Endeavor, sir. You're perfectly within your rights to have doubts about the current state of things at UA high."
That's not why he's doing this, though.
"I am," said the old man. "And I am not going to allow Shoto to live there full-time."
"That's your right, of course, as his father," said Mr. Aizawa, still keeping calm. "We know at UA that things cannot continue as they have been. Recent events have revealed that we need to make changes. The status quo cannot continue." He then made a small bow. "The old world is gone, and the new one has begun. One where people are looking to you as a leader. And until UA is able to be a place you feel you can trust with your son, we know it will never be accepted by the general public."
I got the feeling the old man hadn't thought of that. Mr. Aizawa went on, "Young Shoto has already proven himself an outstanding student, and it would be my privilege to continue teaching him to become the best hero he can possibly become. The recent incidents have unfortunately thrown him into the ring, fighting villains professionally, at least three times, far earlier then would normally be the case for a student, and he has risen to the challenge wonderfully."
The old man started when he said three. I don't think he - or I - had realized that Mr. Aizawa knew all about Hosu City. But of course he did, I thought to myself. He's known…and he gave us permission to fight, anyway…
"What, exactly, would be the terms of Shoto's continuing at UA?" the old man finally asked, grudgingly as hell.
Mr. Aizawa tried not to smile a little. "He would live in our on-campus dormitories, which will be stocked with everything the students could need. Pro hero escorts will accompany him for outside visits and school activities, as well as internships if we allow them, once he's granted his provisional license. All necessary precautions will be taken to ensure nothing like these recent incidents will ever occur again."
The old man took a slow, deep breath, like he was thinking. I hated seeing Mr. Aizawa begging him - begging my damned old man for permission to keep on teaching me. But there wasn't much I could do about it for now. Finally, he opened up his eyes again.
"Very well. I will allow it."
