He opened his eyes slowly and heavily, rubbed his face with one hand. Enji Todoroki looked around and for a moment was struck by the surprise of not recognizing his own room. He sat down on the edge of the bed and a throbbing headache began to set in as he remembered everything that had happened the day before. Now he was sure it was not a dream, or so he believed. He glanced at the clock next to his on the nightstand, it read 8 in the morning. Rei was no longer in bed so Enji dressed to go to the office and try to pretend he didn't feel like a stranger to his own life.
In the kitchen she found three little ones that he hadn't looked at in a long time. He stood frozen for a moment, just looking at them. Enji wanted to run to hug them and ask for forgiveness, but didn't want to cause panic so early in the morning. The children had breakfast sitting around a small breakfast table. Ready in their school uniforms, Fuyumi and Touya would go to primary school and their younger brother to kindergarten. Enji walked past him and stroked Natsuo's hair who quickly turned to look at his father who was not very affectionate with him normally and then continued eating.
"Good morning Enji" Rei Todoroki greeted her husband as she gave him a cup of coffee.
"Good morning," replied her husband, accepting the cup.
Normally he had some people at home working for him and his family, a gardener, a cook, a housekeeper, and a chauffeur, among others who were not regulars. But he remembered that Rei always liked to cook for her children, especially in the morning when they had to be sent to school. They were small moments that she liked to treasure and that he never stopped to appreciated. He even remembered how Rei often maded him breakfast and he just had coffee and was arguing that he should arrive early.
He picked up the newspaper that was on the kitchen counter and sat nearby while drinking his cup of coffee, he looked his childrens sideways. The children chatted with their mother about what they would do that day. She was smiling from time to time and Enji was strangely delighted. The children were about to finish breakfast and their mother began to remove the dishes. Enji stood up and went to take some things that were left on the table, his children looked at him confused, and whispered between small laughs that Enji decided to ignore. He met his wife in the dishwasher. He put a hand on her waist and noticed how she gave a little start of surprise and looked at him with her gray eyes.
"Enji, it wasn't necessary ...
"It doesn't matter," he said, and leaned against the dishwasher with his arms crossed.
Rei smiled.
"Well hurry up kids and go for your backpacks, the driver must already be waiting outside."
The mother kissed her children's faces and hugged them goodbye that morning.
"Yes mom," Fuyumi said followed by her brothers.
"Help your little brother please."
"Sure," Touya replied, raising his hand.
"See you later, Mommy," Natsuo said quickly as he hugged Rei, and started running to catch up with his brothers.
"I want to see Uyata's new game today," Touya told her sister as they left the kitchen.
Rei watched her children go, and she turned her attention to her husband and asked:
"Won't you go to the office today?"
He took a few steps towards her and brought her a chair for her to sit on. She thanked him gently, as she ran her hand softly over his swollen belly.
"Yes, I'm leaving now."
Enji walked at her side, and she watched him go like he did every day. However, he returned this time and leaned down to kiss her quickly on the lips. She was surprised, these kinds of gestures were atypical for her husband. They looked at each other for a second and the woman noticed something in his eyes, which he had never seen before, it was a mixture of pain and regret that made her hold him by the tie to not let him go.
"Enji, is everything alright?" she asked in a concerned tone.
The burning hero looked at her in silence for what seemed like an eternity, he wanted to tell her everything that he had caused, all the pain that would cause them and that this was not himself, the man who would harm her so much. But he kept those demons to himself.
"Nothing happens, I just didn't sleep well," he lied as he removed Rei's hand from his tie.
"Don't worry, bye."
As he was leaving the house he looked at the children who were about to get into the car that would take them to their classes. The driver, a young man with brown hair, was standing at the side of the car with the door open. He had already forgotten about this driver, he worked only a few months in the Todoroki house then he resigned to try to be a hero. Although his telekinesis quirk weren't very strong.
"Good morning, sir," said the driver politely.
"Good morning," he replied calmly.
Fuyumi and Touya were already upstairs, Enji reached out to pick up his youngest son and help him settle into his seat. His other two children were watching him intently, his father never helped them get into the car or said goodbye to them in the morning.
"Fasten your seat belts," he said, and the children rushed to do so, while he did the same with Natsuo's.
"Have a good day..."
The children nodded almost in sync and their father closed the car door.
"Be careful."
"Of course Mr."
He looked at the car leaving the Todoroki property and stood there thinking what he would do that day. He knew he was still hero # 2, at that point in his life. He knew that during that time he went out of his way to overcome All Might and above all he spent relegating his family to one last place of his priorities.
Sitting in his office, he spent more than an hour thinking about how he could have gotten there. He considered the possibility of being dead or in a coma, but even that didn't seem enough to him. He thought then that it could be the fault of someone's quirk, perhaps someone who had been at the time he fought with that nomu. But could it be possible? The headache reappeared and he leaned back in his executive chair. It didn't seem like he was going to find an answer anytime soon. It would have to continue as if nothing happened. At least it gave him a chance to patch some things up.
Determined to pretend nothing happened, he set out to begin his normal patrol round. So he put on his hero outfit and left. As he walked through the city the headache continued and started to bother him. The streets were full of people who came and went something common on a Friday. It was a normal day, he thought, as he watched some boys cross an avenue. Suddenly the roar of what seemed like an explosion and the shout of some passers-by made him turn quickly. An office building was collapsing. And a cloud of dust and debris fell fast. People ran in terror to protect themselves. Endeavor rushed among the people who wanted to get away, while looking around in search of what had caused the explosion. Apparently it hadn't been the wrongdoing of a villain. So he set out to get people out of the risk zone. He used his strength to move rubble and open a clean path for passersby. The sirens of the emergency services were heard approaching and he heard the voice of other heroes who came to support. The cry of someone asking for help caught his attention, it came from the sidewalk of the building where the explosion had occurred. There was a boy with one leg stuck under a huge concrete beam, wearing a school uniform and the head of a brown cat.
"Calm, I'll get you out of here," he said, removing the huge pieces of concrete.
"I'm scared, I want to go home," the boy replied, crying.
Endeavor removed the debris that was getting in the way of the concrete beam and began to lift it, taking care not to hurt the frightened student. A second explosion shook the building and caused the ground to move. The boy screamed in fright and Endeavor tossed the beam aside and jumped with him in his arms. A piece of concrete fell off the building and Endeavor could not just throw away the scared and badly hurt boy so he decided to cover him with his body, his right arm cracked as he was hit by the heavy concrete.
"You're good?", asked a broken and shrill voice, the blue eyes that looked at him intently were gathered in tears.
"Sure", He got up, dropping all the rubble and kept walking.
A rain of dust covered everything behind them. As they moved away from the affected area. Some heroes with a water caprice helped put out the fire caused by the explosion.
"Endeavour, a gas leak caused the explosion."
The High Rock rescue hero rushed to help with the cat-faced boy. Paramedics ran after him to help him.
"You need medical attention."
"Thank you, thank you very much," said the boy before the paramedics took him away, and the burning hero smiled.
"Endeavour, you're bleeding," said the rescue hero with concern.
"I think my arm fractured," he replied, holding onto his aching arm.
"And you say it very calmly!" he replied, exalted, "they will also attend you"
In other circumstances he would surely have acted differently. It would have been faster, he wouldn't have talked to the boy, he wouldn't have let another hero see him in a weak state. But that no longer matters to him.
I return home with an arm in a cast and wearing a sling. Rei was alarmed to see him and Enji explained what had happened to reassure her. Now he would have a few days to rest at home, then he would return to the agency but he would only do administrative work. He trusted his colleagues fully and knew that he could leave them to work alone for some time.
"Do you want to eat something?", asked his wife with a smile.
"No…" He paused a little, "well maybe yes..."
Rei smiled at him and started walking towards the kitchen. Enji calmly followed her. He remembered many other times when she had asked him that same question, and he also recalled with sorrow his negative answers. She always wanted a happy, normal marriage, a home with happy children, and he denied it to her. This time he wanted to change all that.
