Eleven Years Ago
It had rained earlier that day. The smell still hung in the air as the father and daughter slowly traversed the streets of Fukuoka. Her small hand clung tightly to his for guidance and stability. The sidewalk was crowded, shoppers weaving in and out of stores with a purpose that neither the father nor daughter could match.
They had no true motivations or goals, just to escape a house that seemed to be swallowing them up more by the day. Memories that masked the rooms like a fog made it almost impossible to breathe, laughter, and joy that once seemed to bounce off the wall were nowhere to be found.
It had been two years since the Shimura Disaster. The name left a bitter taste in both the father and daughters' mouth, but no one really knew what else to call it. A massacre? Family murder? There wasn't enough left of any of the family members to call it any of those. Nana hadn't seen any of the pictures or the state of the house but from the sounds that her father made when shown the photos, she guessed there wasn't much.
Limbs and blood strewn across a yard that looked like an earthquake had occurred.
Two years of drifting. Neither Shimura Yoshida nor Shimura Nana really choosing to move forward.
A man who had lost his older brother, the last member of his original Shimura family. A family that for all intents and purposes never really existed after Mai dropped them off at a two-story house three hours south of where they had previously lived. Shoulders shaking as she hugged both him and Kotaro tightly before letting go and turning away. She never looked back.
Yoshida was three at the time. Not really understanding what was going on but he could never mistake the look in Kotaro's eyes as the car carrying their mother slowly disappeared down the road.
Betrayal.
The boys had their lives shattered and Kotaro was the one that was forced to pick up the pieces. Looking after Yoshida while they learned to live with strangers who would act as their family. Act like their parents. But they weren't Mai. And he couldn't compare them to his father since the man had disappeared before he had turned two.
It was around nine months later when news of their mother's death reached them.
He remembers Kotaro gritting his teeth at the television while Yoshida couldn't stop the tears from streaking down his cheeks. How did this happen? Why did this happen?
"She left us, Yoshida. Stop crying over her. She made her choice."
"B-but *hic* b-but w-why? *hic* I-I j-just wanted to b-be with *hic* h-h-her."
After the death, Kotaro looked forward while Yoshida looked back. One boy with sickening anger that drove him and the other with a sickening sadness that held him back.
However, over time sadness can fade. Yoshida would meet a woman with white hair like the clouds and sharp amethyst eyes. A woman that he loved with all his soul. A woman that gave him his greatest accomplishment, his greatest love. His Nana.
His Nana, who looked just like Mai.
"You won't leave me again, right?"
The baby would look up to him with big curious eyes. It didn't understand.
The woman with white hair did understand though. She felt it in the house. She felt it in her bed, and she would feel it clinging to the back of her neck. Yoshida wouldn't let go of her. Driven by something that she didn't understand until it was too late. She would feel him watching her constantly, the man that she loved.
The man that drove her to insanity.
Oppressive weight dragged her down and she started to lose sleep. His eyes never left her. At first, it was sweet, loving and something that showed he cared.
But did he care about her? Or was there someone else that we were seeing entirely? A woman who had died over three decades ago. A woman with long black hair tied in a loose ponytail. A woman he just wanted to be with.
The woman with white hair knew that she would never be Shimura Mai.
So why did Yoshida look at her that way?
Over time she began to crack, and the women with white hair who had one the prettiest smiles slowly faded away.
Kotaro and his family were there for Yoshida and Nana when the woman in white was abruptly cut out of their lives. Nana was still two at the time, not understanding the change or why there was a sudden emptiness in her heart. An emptiness that was soon filled by two kids. one with brown eyes and one with red who would smile and drag her along on outdoor adventures. All their hands linked together as they giggled and skipped down the street.
Two years after the Shimura disasters and the emptiness in Nana's heart was more prominent than ever. Both father and daughter drifted aimlessly through months, neither fully accepting denying the events.
All they had left were each other.
The restaurants all brought tables onto the sidewalk, the two Shimura's gazed blankly at the scenes in front of them with glasses coming together and jolly cheers echoing around. Nana looked away from the scene and toward the rising building across the street, most with windows open to let the late morning air wander in. She saw a woman dancing in front of a mirror through one window and an older man playing the cello through another. Her gaze carried over to a third opening when she suddenly stopped in her tracks.
A baby boy, no more than a few months old, crawling across the windowsill. Grubby hands grabbing at the outer part of the ledge he pulled himself closer to the edge, curiously gazing down at the view below. Nana quickly looked back towards the crowds. No one noticed this child, there were no heroes in the area. Her hands began to twitch at her sides, her eyes frantically looking back to the boy who had his head hanging over the ledge now. The boy rocked back and forth, none the wiser to the situation he was in.
"Nana? Is there something wrong?"
She ignored her father's question as the boy rocked back and then forth again. The child did not understand the smell of rain that still hung in the air and the moisture that clung to the ledge that he couldn't wrap his hands around.
It happened so quickly.
One more rock and the boy pulled himself over the edge, his stomach teetering back and forth like a see-saw. But the curious boy kept pulling and found himself slowly falling over the edge, slipping away from the sill that his small hands clung to.
A cry from one of the tables alerted Nana that people had finally noticed, a shriek as the crowd turned to see the boy finally slip away from the ledge altogether.
And plummet towards the sidewalk.
Nana didn't think as she watched the boy fall.
She felt a slight energy hum under her skin, and she pulled it forward, the feeling of flight still very new to her.
And she moved.
Arms stretched wide she made eye contact with the boy who had a sudden understanding of how soon death was approaching him. But it never came.
Two arms wrapped themselves around the child and Nana quickly spun around so she would land on her back with the baby cradled in her arms. She could feel the back of her shirt and then skin tear as she landed hard on the pavement and let out a silent cry.
The street was dead silent for a moment. And then a crescendo of cheers rang out from the entire block. People take photos of the scenes of hugging a loved one close. The boy was safe.
Nana had saved him.
Her father was over in an instant, pulling both Nana and the child up and hugging them closely. His tears soaked her shirt, tears that he had been holding in for far too long now.
She shuddered and began to cry as well, large droplets darkening the shirt he was wearing. Both stayed in the tight embrace.
If only that embrace could have lasted forever.
"Excuse me?"
The two Shimura's were jolted and turned to see a man with a sniveling woman. Yoshida put together the scene quickly and slowly lifted the boy out of Nana's arms and gave him back to the woman who let out a sob and wrapped her arms around the child. Her child.
The man smiled at the woman and then turned back to Nana, "You looked so much like Sky High right then! Do you want to be a hero like her?"
Yoshida's eyes widened at the statement. Just like Sky High? Just like Mai?
"She's Sky High's granddaughter actually! And you want to be just like her, right Nana?"
Nana looked up at her father. A light being present that she had never seen before in his eyes.
She could feel that light fill the empty hole in her heart. Her mother, Hana, and Tenko might not be around anymore, but the cheering of the crowd, the smiles on their faces, the look on her father's face, it all came together. It all became clear to her.
"Yeah, I want to be just like Grandma!" She then closed her eyes and gave her widest smile, and she heard a shuddered breath from her father who wrapped his arms around her tightly.
"You'll be just like Mai, and I'll be right by your side Nana! We're in this together!"
The girl nodded into his shoulder. The sound of the crowd roared in her ears but for a faint moment, Nana heard her father's whisper. A whisper she wasn't meant to hear.
"You won't leave me again, right?"
Present Day
The curtains were closed, and the room was dark. The walls are lined with posters, heroes smiling down, and vivid landscapes shots taken by photographers that she knew be name. Shots of the Sahara Desert with a full moon shining down, a bustling Favela of South America with children wide smiles shining on their faces, the ranging plains of Wyoming with Buffalo roaming freely.
A large bureau sits on the wall opposite of the figure, cluttered with old notebooks and a busted pair of worn headphones. Smaller framed pictures sit to the back, a small girl with black hair being lifted by her father, two teenagers one with charcoal eyes, one forest green giving peace signs while giggling. A faded photo of two girls and a small boy, all with dark hair hugging each other in a backyard.
Opposite the bureau lay a queen-sized bed, just recently added after the figure now curled up had outgrown the mattress she had before. Covers lay haphazardly, some tangled on the floor beneath, others curled up around the figure. A worn-down laptop was the sole light in the room, a bright white background from one of the most popular hero blogs, 'Hero Daily', revealing the most recent article posted.
"The Curious School Life of Shimura Nana."
Nana blinked slowly at the page; arms still wrapped tightly around her scrunched legs. It was the fourth article posted about her over the past two weeks, all of them painting her in some sort of negative light. Somehow this article even had pictures captured of her at the school, sitting to the side alone during a gym class or walking home by herself with a group of girls giggling and pointing from the other side of the street.
When she had first seen the articles she scoffed, sure her life was different than most, but it was a choice she made to find what she was looking for. To be the person that she wanted to be, to follow the path of her grandmother. She was happy with what she had and where she was going.
But as the stories began to pile her up, her perspective began to change. Looking over everything again, what did she have? What exactly was she?
An isolated girl, desperate to be someone she wasn't. Could she ever be like Sky High? Mai was all anyone ever compared her to, but suddenly it all didn't make her feel the same way that it used to. Was her grandmother treated like this in school? Did her grandmother struggle to make friends, make connections in her life outside of heroics?
Nana clicked another tab, showcasing a clip from the latest Junior Heroics Circuit from a week ago. The article left a bitter taste in her mouth and an empty feeling in her chest.
"Circuit Final Raises More Questions About 'Wonder Girl' Shimura Nana"
One Week Ago
The boy was strong. Yoarashi Inasa laughs from above the whirlwind of air he's created, sending wave after wave at Nana, who feels like a kite stuck in a storm. It wasn't often that Nana fought against someone else that could stay off the ground for long periods of time. She was used to having the benefit of flight, diving down on those that she faced, most of the time leading to her own victory.
But fighting against Yoarashi was different. The air wasn't her home against him, she couldn't feel safe when she was off the ground. She struggled to maintain some sort of control as the air whipped through her, ears ringing with the pressure that he brought. She could barely make out the crowd, shrieking and hollering at her to make a move, fight back, and find a way to win.
Her abdominal muscles ached as she fought to stay up and pull forward. She could make out the wide grin of the boy in front of her, seemingly cheering her on, wanting her to make it up to him, wanting a true fight.
She grits her teeth again and kicks with her legs, surging forward with power that the boy had not seen coming, and drives her fist into his jaw, knocking him back and for a moment, silencing the air. But it all quickly turns around as he uses the momentum of falling backward to kick out with his right leg, catching her chin with his steel toe boot with a sharp crack. Nana blinked as she felt the air rushing past her again but this time it wasn't from the boy.
She was falling.
For someone with the power of flight, one would think that Nana would be used to the feeling by now. That after all her training, she would grow to recognize and maybe even fond of the feeling. But this was not the case.
Nana hated the feeling of falling.
The feeling that would well up in her chest reminded her too much of the emptiness that she had felt while at their old home. Hearing her father cry through the walls as she tried to pull her pillows tighter to herself, to find some sort of comfort. Some sort of warmth. But when she had this feeling, there was no warmth or comfort.
It was an ugly feeling that sucked the life from her. A feeling that would seep out of the hole she felt in her chest, the hole she had tried so desperately to fill. And even when she was able to fill it, the scarring always remained. Reminding her of what she had lost. And what she was still trying to find.
Her eyes snap back open and she finds herself hovering a few meters above the clay-covered flooring. She looks up to see Setsuna on the side, eyes widening at her in disbelief along with some of the other contestants.
She tastes blood in her mouth and finds it hard to breathe, but when she looks up to the boy still being carried by the wind above her, she can't help the anger that boils inside. The way he brought back those feelings she so desperately tried to keep out. Reminding her of the ragged scarring that would always remain on her heart.
With a guttural scream she pulled on the buzzing she felt in her limbs and rocketed toward the boy. Both arms extending, she caught the punch he quickly threw with her right hand and then drove her head into his, feeling the sickening crunch of his nose against her forehead. She blinked back the blood in her eyes, no longer able to tell if it was hers or his before swinging her legs over herself and grabbing the boy's disoriented face with her left hand.
Her world felt like it was buzzing. The humming from her own quirk, the roar of the crowd, the ragged breath of her opponent, and she channeled all of this into the legs that still hung above her head as if she was in a diving position and kicked down.
Her vision blurred as she saw the ground rapidly approaching but she made no such move to lift her hand that gripped the boy's face. The two teenagers plummeted to the floor and instead of wrapping her arms around the body next to her to protect it like in a past memory, she drove the boy's skull into the clay, a dull crack emanating from the stadium that had suddenly grown quiet.
Yoarashi lay as a crumpled mess, Nana not faring much better. By this point, she could no longer open her jaw and she struggles with the blood she feels pooling around her tongue. A wet cough comes from her throat as a whistle is blown and medics rush the stage. She feels the ground rush forward and she slumps on her back, another wet cough slipping from her lips.
She can tell that she is no longer falling.
So why does that emptiness remain?
Present Day
A still shot of Nana driving Yoarashi Inasa into the floor looks back at her. Her swollen face twisted into a snarl with blood smeared across her forehead and eyes. The unmistakable look of fear in the eyes of Yoarashi, who knew he was inches away from impact.
It was a damning picture.
Yoarashi had ended up being diagnosed with a fractured skull and broken nose. Nana had a broken jaw. Luckily, there had healing-based quirks on hand so neither were forced to evacuate to the hospital, Both were actually able to leave the event on their own two feet. Yoarashi even went as far as to bow to her, smacking his previously broken head against the ground in gratitude for the fight she had given him. He said he looked forward to the next battle. The look in his parents' eyes suggested they had no intention of ever allowing that to happen.
Nana didn't stare at the photo for long before scrolling down and skimming the rest of the article she had practically memorized at this point. Points concerning behavior and violent acts had been raised against her. A list of other injuries she had caused in the past tournaments from broken ribs to dislocated shoulders led to questions about her attitude surrounding heroics if she could really be one of the future top heroes.
There were many things that could be used to describe Nana in the photograph that had been taken. Heroic was not one of them.
Her eye twitched as she scrolled to the next section. A brief mention of an event occurring over fourteen years ago. An event that had no right of appearing in an article about her.
It should be noted that Shimura has been without a mother for well over a decade. Her mother, Shimura Ayana, passed away after suffering trauma-inducing injuries from a car accident.
Her mother wasn't a part of her life so why was that there? And why did it bother Nana so much in the first place? Why did it lead to that feeling in her chest rising again, a black hole filled with negative thoughts? She grits her teeth and closes the page, feeling the familiar sting of tears in her eyes. Her desktop image of Mai looked back at her; a wide grin plastered on her face as she struck a pose in the air. Mai was her hero. Mai was her idol. Mai who she wanted to be when she grew up.
But was that still possible? The face on her desktop was so different from the one that was shown in the article she had seen. There was no manic rage in the eyes of Shimura Mai, no twisted snarl.
Had Mai ever made a face like that?
Questions like these always lead to harder and more difficult questions. Ones that she didn't have answers to.
Had Mai lived a life like hers?
The more Nana thought, the tighter she gripped her legs to her chest. Her school life was filled with people with fake smiles and fake laughter. People would orbit around her like she was some sort of planet, always staying near but never coming too close. Always greeting her or congratulating her but never asking how her weekend was, how her family is, how she was actually feeling. The kind of people that would call her a friend if she was brought up in conversation but then would host parties which Nana would only find out about from stories told afterward. Why were the smiles in those stories more real than the ones she ever got? What was it that kept people away? Why wouldn't anyone want to be close to her?
Was she doing something on purpose to push others away? When Setsuna had finally calmed her down after Nana had called while bawling over the phone a few days ago, the teen mentioned that it might be her presence. The girl told Nana that people might have been intimidated by her, or even jealous, the girl with the power of flight, champion of her age circuit, and a name recognized by most hero followers of the country. Shimura Nana wasn't normal. The girl had always known that but seeing these pictures, these articles now made the point all too real in her mind. The fact that there was no one she had no one outside of Setsuna to ramble on about a certain class or gossip about boys they liked.
"Nana?"
The girl was shaken from her thoughts by the sight of her lanky father standing in the doorway. The man is wearing a dark button-down and gray slacks. Glasses with wide frames hang from his nose as he gazes down at her from across the room.
She's momentarily blinded when he flicks the lights on and takes wide steps to her bed.
"You haven't left your room all day, are you feeling alright?"
Nana loosened her arms from her scrunched legs, "I'm fine, just not feeling great is all."
Yoshida frowned, "What's the matter?"
"It's…" Nana paused for a moment and looked back to the laptop, "Blogs keep writing about me and each one just gets worse and worse. I know I should just ignore them but.."
'Shimura seems to lack any social life.'
'Shimura pictured alone after a class.'
'Shimura has no family other than her father, Yoshida.'
'The violent nature of Shimura leads to a question that we don't have answers to.'
'Can Shimura really live up to the expectations that have been placed on her?'
Nana takes a shaky breath, "It's j-just really h-hard, and I hate how it m-make me feel. I hate how…" her head falls into her hands, and she begins to sob silently.
A warm hand is placed on top of her own and she can feel her father sit down beside her. Even with all the growing, she's done she still feels so small against his frame.
"Hey," he says gently, "I'm not sure what's up with the media turning up the heat but it's obvious they don't know you! They don't know that you're one of the kindest and warmest people on earth."
Nana opens her mouth to respond but is interrupted by another whisper from Yoshida.
"You're so much like her."
Nana feels her eyes twitch at the statement and tries to answer but Yoshida continues to speak with one arm wrapped around her.
"You have to remember I'll always be by your side. The media and this world can throw things at you but if we're together? Nothing can stop us, Nana. You'll be just like her, and I'll be right there with you!"
Nana tries to squirm out of his grasp but finds his arm refusing to budge, "Just know I'll never leave you, Nana. I'll always be there for you." He then tucks his head in and gently kisses the top of her hair and she can hear the familiar whisper again in her ear.
"You won't leave me, right?"
And suddenly the arm is gone, and her father stands up. He smiles warmly down at her, "How about we get delivery tonight, huh? You can choose whatever you want Nana."
The teen nods shakily and wipes the remaining tears from her eyes.
"S-Sounds good, dad."
Yoshida reaches over and ruffles her hair lightly and then leaves the room.
Her hands shake by their sides. His words alone sound so kind and gentle but why did she feel even worse after hearing them? Her own father, the man that should know her best, the man that should care for her the most couldn't say what she wanted to hear. He couldn't say what she needed to hear. His words echo around in her skull, bouncing off one side to the other.
You're just like her, Nana.
You'll be just like her, and I'll be right there with you!
You won't leave me again, right?
Just who did Yoshida think he was talking to? Who did Yoshida see sitting on the bed, head in her hands with tears streaming down her face?
Was it Nana?
Or was it someone else?
Shimura takes a shaky breath and drops her head back into her hands. Everything had seemed so perfect for so long, she was making strides and becoming the person that she wanted to be.
Or was it the person that he wanted her to be?
Yoshida had never said one mean thing to her in his entire life. He would always spoil her with gifts and love, perhaps being even a bit overbearing at times when it came to raising her. If someone were to look up what a good father is supposed to look like it would be him. So why did everything confuse her so much? Why did his words now rub her the wrong way?
'Because he was never fathering you. He's never even seen you since that day, Nana.'
He saw someone instead that had so dramatically fractured his past, he could never look forward. Someone who had ripped the soul out of his very being. Yoshida had never been looking at her future. Ever since that day, the day the dream started, the day she saved that child, Yoshida had never been looking toward any future at all.
He had been trying to get back to the past.
A past with a certain dark-haired heroine flying over the city, saving civilians, and beating criminals all with a smile on her face. Mai was one of the greatest heroes Japan would ever see.
"She's Sky High's granddaughter actually! And you want to be just like her, right Nana?"
Had Yoshida put her down this path the entire time? Did he manufacture a world where she would be the next Shimura Mai with him being right by her side, never being left behind again? Was this for him to relive a past that was ripped away from him?
Or did he just want what was best for her? To give her a future to save those who needed to be saved like the boy that fell from the window that day?
Nana gripped her head as the lines began to blur. Who was this life for? Who was she supposed to be? Had she ever thought about what she wanted?
All the feelings and memories she had jammed into that hole in her heart, the one she was so desperate to keep filled, were beginning to leak out as she continued to have more and more doubts.
She fell back onto her back, taking long shaky breaths.
She knew she was lying on her bed.
So why did it still feel like she was falling?
~Revelations~
The soba sat on the table untouched. Shoto glances at it from time to time resisting the urge to grab the chopsticks that lay waiting by his side and finally dig in. Could cold soba get warmer over time like hot soba becoming cooler when left out?
He shivers at the thought.
Fuyumi sits across from him, nervously fiddling with her glasses while rambling about her day. Being an elementary school teacher assistant seems to have become spending days pulling apart kids who were trying to see who was stronger and whose quirk was better. She had come home one day with a bandage across her face after taking some ricochet from a boy with some sort of acidic quirk that he could spit at people. He was thankful there had been no scarring left from it.
He knew a thing or two about that at least.
Natsuo sat to Shoto's left, tapping his phone, texting the secret girlfriend that everyone had found out about by this point. The boy would glance up at Fuyumi occasionally, nodding along with the story as if he was listening to what she had to say. Shoto knew he wasn't.
"How was your day, Sho?"
Shoto blinks at the question and looks up to his sister and leans slightly over the table. He knows he's not the loudest, but the gesture somehow makes him feel slightly insulted.
Should I try yelling a response?
He opts not to. "It was fine."
Fuyumi attempts to prod, familiar with his bare bone responses by this point.
"You're almost done with your first year at Soumei High, how has it been compared to being homeschooled?"
"Better."
"Have any of your classes been hard?"
"Not really."
"Do you have a favorite teacher?"
"I don't hate any of them."
"Have you made any friends?"
Shoto shrugs, "I don't know."
Fuyumi's brow furrows, "How do you not know if you've made friends or not?"
"I've never had them before so I don't know what it would be like."
The room is silent after the comment. Even Natsuo puts his phone down and takes a long sigh before looking back at Fuyumi.
"Why should I be here if he can't even be bothered to show up?"
Fuyumi frowns, "You know how busy he is. He'll be home any minute now."
Shoto looks up from the Soba he was staring at, "He got caught up in a bank robbery."
Both Natsuo and Fuyumi stare at him like he has two heads. Did he say something wrong?
After a moment, Fuyumi's eyes widened, "He did?! How did I miss that?! Where did you even see that, Sho?"
"I got an alert saying he was seen in Yatomi, I think"
Natsuo looks over to him, bewilderment still in his eyes, "Since when did you register to get Endeavor alerts?! And why?!"
Shoto blinks. Why? Why had I done that? Why would I register for updates?
Fuyumi meanwhile frantically scrolls on her phone, looking for the same alert Shoto has seen earlier. Her thumb stops gliding across the screen and he can see her eyes moving side to side, reading up on what she had missed.
"Ah, found it!" She breathes a sigh of relief, "Seems like he stopped robbery with no casualties or injuries to civilians. I bet he'll be home soon then and thank goodness I made this spread! I bet he'll be hungry after the day that he's had!"
Natsuo looks up, "Day he's had?"
"Two robberies, a mugging, two fires, and a trigger incident."
Shoto looks up wondering who was able to recite his Father's day like that automatically. Both Natsuo and Fuyumi are staring at him again. Wait, was I the one to say that?
He can see something in Fuyumi's eye, an extra shine that he's pretty sure wasn't there before.
Natsuo stares at him again, some unrecognizable emotion on his face before he turns roughly to look at his phone again, "All his days are like that. He's going to get himself killed one day if he keeps trying to be like All Might."
Anger sparks in Fuyumi's face as she turns to face Natsuo, "Don't say things like that, Natsuo! Dad is doing his best to keep everyone safe, why can't you respect that?!"
Shoto can see Natsuo's eye twitch, "Because this isn't who he is Fuyumi! You remember from before, right? And we're just supposed to forget that? Forget the peoples he hurt because suddenly he thinks this self-sacrificial bullshit will make up for all that he's fucking done to us?! To Mom?! To Touya?! Give me a break!"
"So would you prefer for him to have remained as he was when we were kids to justify your emotions?! Can't you respect the fact that he's changed?! The past is the past Natsuo, why can't you just accept that?!"
Natsuo grits his teeth, "How come Mom is the one locked away and not him?! How come Touya is the one gone for good and not him?! What gives him the right to live this life, huh?!"
Fuyumi's hand came down hard on the table, "And what kind of life is this?! You watch the news and read the paper; everyone hates him, Natsuo! Everyone wishes he was gone so they could put the new HPSC hero as the number one! Dad fights and fights and fights and what the hell does he get in return?! More anger, more hatred, more people telling him he's not good enough! So, I'll ask again, what kind of life is that?!"
The room is silent. Shoto doesn't think he's ever heard Fuyumi yell before. The teen turns his head away from the two and embarrassingly lets out a 'eep' when he sees who is standing in the doorway for the room.
Shoto's eye flickers to the heavy bandage around the man's wrist and cuts around his left eye.
"Fuyumi."
His sister whips her head around to the speaker, multicolored strands of hair sticking to her slightly sweat-covered face from her argument with Natsuo, and lets out an identical 'eep'.
"F-Father! I'm sorry, I m-must not have heard you come in! We have dinner all set for you, or would you like a drink?! We have tea, coffee, sake, scotch-"
"Tea is fine." Endeavor surveys the room, eyes flickering to all three children before landing back on the table, "I need to wash up. Thank you for preparing the meal."
Shoto stares at him as he walks away, a slight limp in his right leg. A strange feeling in his chest at the sight makes him freeze up.
Fuyumi watches her father and then her eyes flicker back to Shoto. The boy's features are twisted as if he's deep in thought while continuing to stare at where the man just was.
She reaches across the table and gently places a hand on top of his, stirring him from his confusion.
"It's alright to care, Shoto. It's alright to be worried about him."
Care? Worried?
Is that what he was feeling? Is that what the twisting feeling he got in his gut was watching his father struggle up the stairs? Dark bags clinging under his eyes with no fire beard to speak of. The man looked worn out.
"He's going to get himself killed one day if he keeps trying to be like All Might."
But why should Shoto care? He hated his father, right? After everything that the man had done to him, why should he even give him the satisfaction of a concerned glance? It didn't matter if the man was different now, if he stopped forcibly training Shoto entirely, gave up on requiring him to be homeschooled.
The man that broke his mother and brother was still in there, right?
Was it alright to care? Was it alright to be worried for his father? His brother was right with the self-sacrificial streak the man had picked up since the Kaiju were first spotted. He was coming home with new bandages every night and then the man looked at them like they were nothing. No matter how banged up he would be, Endeavor would suit up the next day and continue to fight.
Was that what it meant to be a hero? Shoto might be willing to admit he cared about the hero, Endeavor, but could he ever be worried about the man, Todoroki Enji?
How could he begin to care about him, when he hasn't even seen her in over a decade? How was that fair? How was that right?
Shoto glanced up to his sister, deciding his next course of action. To find out what he truly cared about.
"Fuyumi."
She smiles softly at him, "What is it, Sho?"
Shoto takes a breath, "I want to visit Mom."
Key Players Log
Shimura Nana. 16
Shimura Yoshida. 47.
Todoroki Shoto. 16.
Todoroki Fuyumi. 20.
Todoroki Natsuo. 18.
Todoroki Enji. 42.
Chapter Notes:
- Deeper dive into Nana's path as the media attention is forcing her to ask tough questions. Her Dad is a pretty complicated guy so we'll have more on him in the future.
- Checking in with the Todoroki family with Shoto having a mini existential crisis about his feelings for his dad
- Thanks for reading and see you next time!