Author: undefmidi
2018
Boku no Hero characters, original story, and everything belongs to Kohei Horikoshi, the author of said series. I only own the Plot.
If you like it, please share it!
Chapter 14 – Before Actions, There Are Words
"... Will she... notice me?"
Todoroki's mind repeatedly came back to that same thought. It had been infecting his mind since he talked to her for the first time. He'd occasionally catch his eyes wandering in her general direction. It was subtle and he didn't know why or when it started. All he took from it was that she had something that he wanted, even if subconsciously.
So he got out of his way to ask the person in question about all of it, but his body refused to listen as he got closer to her: with each closing step, his throat clobbered, his knees went weak, and sweat profusely tricked down from his forehead. It was suffocating.
Being near her was suffocating. She had a nectar-sweet venom, attracting him flawlessly to a trap — that was the only theory he could form, but it was too unrealistic. He shrugged that off.
However, as time quickly passed by, his curiosity accumulated. That led him to search whatever had been infiltrating in his mind. After a relatively short search, he found his objective, yet he couldn't really believe it; the information he found said otherwise.
Love...
That word's weight and practical meaning were strange and unknown to him: Endeavor wasn't a good example of a father, leaving Todoroki with not even crusts of love. His father felt nothing but anger when looking at Todoroki... Anger at All Might and his power.
Never once did the pro hero care about the boy, like a proper father should, or even looked at him for that matter! He was just another tool to surpass All Might, a thing.
Endeavor tried other times to create a perfect embodiment of his "ideal" of beating All Might, yet they all came incomplete, failed. After his wife gave birth to Todoroki, however, Endeavor spiraled even more into madness.
Finally, a successful product!
Product.
Shoto wasn't his son, he never was...
Yet, the so-called "Love" was the thing Todoroki felt towards someone he didn't even have proper contact with. 'Why is that?', he asked himself countless times, all reaching a dead-end of "I don't know's".
However, the answer came in without knocking on the door. One day, Todoroki remembered one simple encounter when he was small.
It was a hot day, years before U.A. The steamy air stung his face; he was honestly bothered by it. He hated hot things since the day he noticed what Endeavor was doing.
Strolling along the roads beside the beach, he kept mumbling silently about everything, from his family issues to himself as a person.
He honestly blamed, and with reason, his "father" for all of the things that his mother had suffered through. She was in a hospital because of her pent-up stress. She had used it on Todoroki... His left eye was proof of the damage caused by that man's ambition.
His mother was sold to a man she didn't know, she gave birth to children with that unknown man, and had to watch her children get neglected and beat by that same person. Who wouldn't end up exploding? She was a ticking time-bomb, waiting to be triggered. Todoroki happened to be there, at the wrong time, in the wrong place.
That tragedy wouldn't leave his mind, body, and soul no matter what he did. It was an endless, incurable curse. To the end of his days on Earth, he'd be reminded of the irreparable damage in his, and his family's, life. All he could do was to place all of those things on the back of his mind, to value present things in order to forget his grief.
With a heavy mind and slow steps, he admired the beach. The sun's warmth wasn't that bad, he thought — it was gentler and warmer than Endeavor's hands. They may be covered with flames, but no amount of heroism and fire can warm up the stone-cold heart of a person.
Why is this all happening?
Why is my mom crying at night?
Why is that man my father?
Why... am I here?
Plop.
A single tear slowly rolled down through his cheek, falling onto the cemented road in a silent 'plop'.
He subtly stopped walking and gazed at the floor. His body quivered on its base, though it was barely noticeable. Todoroki wasn't someone to express emotions well, so his body language wasn't as strong as other people's. His eyes were enveloped by his nose-sized hair, hiding away any contact with the outside world.
Todoroki was isolated. His heart incarcerated inside a jail of dark emotions, of sadness.
"It's cold..." He muttered through clenched teeth and trembling hands. The sun was ice, and the sunflowers blue, he thought. The sky was gray, yet dark in that cold hot day.
Silence reigned. There were no cars going around to buzz uncontrollably in his mind. It was just him and the empty void of sadness. An infinity of darkness surrounded him. There was no light at the end of the tunnel, only anguish.
"Um..."
Amidst darkness, a voice appeared. It sounded... different. The only times he remembered a voice like that, filled with concern, were the times his mother talked to him. It was just so long ago that he almost felt nostalgia. His mother was nowhere near him after the incident, so it was really hard to do anything about it.
"Erm..."
The voice shook him out of his daze. He finally looked up from his mourning and glanced at the person that talked to him.
It was a girl. Todoroki didn't have many interactions with them since his childhood was such a hell. Training morning, evening, and night; no time to rest.
She had raven-black hair and obsidian eyes. Her hair was tied up in a spiky ponytail, and she wore simple, stampless white clothing.
"..."
"Are you... ok?"
"...?"
Todoroki was baffled. Why would someone he didn't even know care about him? It was outlandish, weird, inconceivable. He couldn't really grasp its meaning. Is he being targeted by someone since he is Endeavor's son? He didn't know.
"It's because..."
Here it is. After hearing the girl, he'd have a better understanding of her reasoning. Whatever it was, he was curious. Of course, he'd help someone if they needed, but he wouldn't go out of his way in order to meddle with one's private problems.
"You're crying."
"!"
What...
Todoroki touched the hem of his eyes: they were dampened with tears. His face wasn't contorted and his expression unchanged. Yet, why did he cry? He always was someone to keep it to himself, to not involve anyone in his own problems. Yet, why did he cry? Why does she care? Why?
His mind couldn't stop thinking about the same, constant question:
"Why?"
"Hum?"
"Why do you... care?"
It was curt, rude, emotionless answer; yet it continued to linger on his mind. It was behind his every thought. He couldn't bear it. He had to take it off of him.
"Pity?"
Despite all that, she still had that worried face. It wouldn't stick off of her. Was she pitying him? Pity? Is that it? There was no other explanation for it. The only person that truly worried about him was his mother, and she wasn't even with him!
Todoroki didn't stick to consideration. He didn't know what that was. He was never taught that by his father, and the mother that actually would've taught him that was long-gone, in a place where the crazy would be.
"No... No no no!" She refused profusely. "Well, I know you don't know me, and I don't know you, but..." She recollected her thoughts. "Someone I didn't know as well told me that I should move forward, try to do something about... the situation I was in. Because of a silly advice, I was able to fix myself."
She sighed and gazed directly into his eyes.
"You may not listen to me, a stranger, but... You can always take a step forward, even if times are rough."
The smell of salt and water tickled his nostrils at that moment. For some reason, each word that she sputtered made the ice sun melt a tad more, and the sunflowers turn yellow at each sentence and period.
"I don't know if it's some sort of 'payment' for what he told me, or if it is simply my desire, but here I am, helping you, someone I don't even know!"
Todoroki gazed at her with tears rolling down his cheeks, falling on the sand below his feet.
A stranger... A complete stranger.
Yet, she stood there, looking directly into his eyes, not ignoring his feelings. It wasn't important the fact that he didn't know her. He appreciated it...
But there are things that cannot be changed only through words...
Who knew the same boy that influenced that raven-haired girl would influence him? Though, her words never left his mind. They had also helped him through times where he would rather not be alive, times when all he wanted to do was to leave his home... Just take another step forward.
"... What is your name?"
He craved an answer. He had to know who was the girl that wasted time to help him. It wasn't something he could shrug aside. He was curious, emotionless, not producing any kind of body language, but in his heterochromatic brown and blue eyes, a little glimmer of curiosity arose.
And without haste and suspense, she smiled.
"My name is... 'Raven'!"
Leave your comment/criticism on the comments/reviews! They are my fuel for writing!
Thanks for reading!
Hope you like it, and if you do, please share it!
That's it,
Undef's out,
Stay cold!