Chapter 31: Prison Visit

The walls of the prison facility were bare of anything when Fuyumi first walked in. Nothing but pale walls with large tiles lining the floor and simple light fixtures above that washed the yellowing paint job in bright white.

The light felt shouldering as she walked underneath them, ignoring the buzzing of a few flies hovering above the light.

"What kind of things do you have here?" Fuyumi asked, looking around at the simple yet kind of creepy hallways. Maybe it was because she was a school teacher, but a hallway this boring was throwing her off.

"We have a library for some casual reading along with a schooling program to help some inmates do some general education associates degree," one of the guards answered. Then he awkwardly laughed, "All of the books are paperbacks though since someone beat another inmate with a hardcover of the Iliad."

Fuyumi's eyebrows rose up in surprise. "That's pre-quirk era, correct?"

"Yes," the other guard added. "A lot of pre-hiring era books find their way here since no one really reads them anymore."

Fuyumi was aware of that fact. A lot of books you could find only date back 200 to 300 years in the past. Anything older than that can only be found in big libraries in old forgotten sections. She doesn't know why. Some of the books she found were really intriguing stories.

The nicer guard smiled, "We have a few good programs here to help some of the inmates. Like some of them do arts and crafts to send back to their families."

"Arts and crafts? Does... does my father participate in any of these programs?"

"I think he does?" The guard paused before looking at the more stern-looking one. "Doesn't he?"

The serious guard took a moment to answer, "I have only seen him in arts and crafts as well as the therapy program. Although I'm not sure how often he is part of them."

"Therapy, huh?" Fuyumi bit down on her lip. "What kind of crafts does the prison have?"

"Just simple ones. They mostly like to make little bracelets and jewelry for their family back home," the guard crossed his arms behind his back. "If they have no one to send it to, the prison donates them to some charities in the city. I forgot which ones."

Before Fuyumi could ask anything more, the serious one interrupted them. "We're here. Wait inside here, we'll make sure the inmate is escorted here in a short period. From there, you will have one hour to talk."

Fuyumi nodded, walking into the basic visiting room. When she walked in, it felt like a guidance counselor office back at the school she worked at. The room was small with a simple window with bars on the outside that provided natural daylight into the room. The light bounced off the glossiness of the table where four chairs were set up.

Fuyumi swallowed, looking to the door nervously before sitting down in one of the chairs. She looked down at the chair closest to the wall and slowly pushed it in further under the table.

It took several minutes before the door opened again with her father being escorted by two guards. Fuyumi tried to hide her surprise at the look of her father.

Not surpassingly, it seemed like her father kept in shape in prison except for his torso area which has considerably grown a little softer. His face was unshaven yet his hair was much like his old hairstyle if not a little flatter.

And the shocked expression on his face was something that she doesn't remember seeing. His father stepped forward, stumbling into one of the chairs across from her. He stared at her before saying, "Fuyumi?"

Fuyumi heard the door close. She glanced to see the two guards standing outside the door through the little window. She sighed, "Hello, father."

The look on her father's face didn't change. It wavered slightly on the edges of his lips for a brief moment. "I didn't think anyone would come."

"Well, I'm here for now."

"Why did you come?" Her father asked.

She sighed. "I need to talk with you about something."

Fuyumi slammed her phone down onto the table, sliding the screen to him so he could read the headline. She watched his eyebrows furrow down at the words. "Do you know anything about this?"

Her father was silent as his eyes trailed over the words, his lips moving like he was silently saying every word without any sound. He replied. "The Hero Commission say that they need my help. They say once the threat is gone then I would no longer be needed and I would come back here."

"Did you agree?" Fuyumi tilted her head. "Because the amount of articles I have been trying to avoid are just doubling in amount."

Her father looked over to the side. "...I said that I would think about it when they first came."

"You didn't immediately agree... I thought you would be jumping at the chance to try and take All Might's spotlight."

Her father shuddered, "I know what will be waiting for me as soon as I walk through the doors of this place. Nedzu is more sadistic than you think he might be."

"Do you want to know what I think of this?"

He shrugged without even looking at her directly, "I feel like you are going to tell me anyway, Fuyumi,"

"I think the fact you are entertaining the idea is bullshit because of the fact you will ruin our life yet again." She could remember her mother's crying face. "Sure. Endeavor was a good hero. He wasn't good with socializing with any fans he had, but he got the job done quickly. Yet Todoroki Enji wasn't a hero to his family or a father."

"You know," Fuyumi shook her head as the older memories resurfaced in the face of her father's defeated face. "I remember when you were actually a father. When mom wasn't afraid of you. When Touya actually wanted to spend time with you."

The past where she was only a small girl while her older brother was dancing around her laughing father. Back then, her brother wasn't afraid to playfully punch their dad's arm since it only resulted in a tickle attack. Something innocent.

"I didn't think of you training Touya to be such a big deal since you seemed so worried about his body not matching with the intensity of his quirk. I thought you were helping and that he was getting better. And I think it started that way. That's what I honestly think from what I remember. Touya would get burns, but you would actually help him by bandaging them."

She remembers how often she would see those used bandages crumpled up beneath the toilet paper rolls and used floss in the bathroom trash can.

"But it started to change when Natsuo was born. You started to change for the worse," Fuyumi continued as her memories started to flood in. The look on her father's face grew more jaded as he was left behind by the growing crowd of All Might supporters. The father she knew was slowly becoming more distant. "Suddenly, mom started acting more hesitant towards you and Touya wanted to train by himself without you. But you kept trying to do something, to push something to happen. I started to help our mother more with any chores she would do around the house to calm her down because she just looked... scared."

"Then I heard you arguing with mom during the night and Touya during the mornings. I started to hide away Natsuo each time you came home. I noticed Touya going out of his way to push himself more when you weren't home to help and he just got hurt worse as you started to ignore him... then Shoto was born."

Touya tried to attack him out of jealousy as soon as he saw his pouty little baby face. It resulted in the worst screaming match she had ever witnessed.

"When Shoto was born, you changed for the worse... And Touya did too." Fuyumi swallowed as she remembered just how distant her older brother had become during that time. "Do you know how many times I had to stop him from running himself into the ground because he was miserable that you didn't pay him any attention? He started to act out because he wanted your eyes on him. The only time it worked was when he tried to hurt Shoto out of jealousy. I remember that day since I was protecting Natsuo from hearing Touya shout when you dragged him outside."

"And no matter how hard I hoped and prayed that you would go back to how you were. You never did... And I knew there was no longer a piece of the father that I grew up with anymore as soon as Shoto got his quirk." Fuyumi sighed, her eyes starting to water up when she thought back to the first time Shoto ever came into her room with tears eyes. "You started to train him more than you did with Touya. Obsessing over this title that All Might has."

"Mom was breaking down. Natsuo became quiet. Touya was in a bad mood most of the day. And I had to be the one who took care of it all!" Fuyumi shouted at her silent father. "I had to be a parent at 11! Do you understand that, dad? You forced me into the role of a parent to my own mother and siblings all because of you and your actions."

Fuyumi paused to breathe, wiping away any tears that had escaped down her face. She saw him hesitate with his fingers twitching. She looked down at the table between them "All I wanted was for us to be a happy family again. But we only got that after the trial when the rest of us were free from you."

"The real reason why Touya became a hero was to be everything you weren't. And he is doing a damn good job at it," Fuyumi smiled tightly. "And Shoto is becoming a hero that I know is going to do great things—WITHOUT YOU!"

She collapsed back into her seat, leaning against the back of her chair. She sighed heavily. "If you agree to this, all of us will be affected by your actions just like before. And I am not selfish when I say that. Shoto had a panic attack when the headlines first appeared, Natsuo was ready to come down on her and end it himself, and Touya admitted to asking Hero Killer about making you his next target. And we have all been trying to keep this news away from mom." Fuyumi looked straight into the blue eyes that matched her oldest and youngest brother's gaze. "In short, I want you to stay away from them. If I have to stop you, I will. And I won't let any early memories stop me from taking you down permanently."

"I... understand." Her father answered. She had just started to calm down her breaths when he spoke again.

"That's why I turned them down when they came back here again."

"What?" Fuyumi asked, her eyebrows raising in surprise.

"This jail has a counseling program. It was mandatory for me to come in each week," her father replied.

Fuyumi felt like she had gotten hit over the head and ended up in an alternate universe. "And you actually went?"

He raised his cuffed hands, "I didn't really have a choice. But they did help me narrow down some things about myself."

"I know that it is too late for apologies. But I will say that if I could turn back time, I wouldn't repeat my past actions. I can only grow from them," he answered. "And I won't jeopardize my progress by accepting whatever deal the Commission throws at me."

She stared at her father for several minutes. Or what felt like minutes since the silence dragged on for so long. So long she didn't notice the guard opening the door to give her a warning about her time.

"Your visiting time is up. Please wrap up your conversation."

She apologized for the loss of her track of time when her father slowly straightened up in his chair. "Are you... going to visit again?"

Fuyumi's mouth twisted with hesitancy. If he turned them down, then she would have no reason to keep visiting him. Then she looked at the weakened version of her father, unshaven and nothing like the monster she had seen before in the past. Has he really changed?

She narrowed her eyes as she thought over her decision. Then, she said, "Maybe. Only because I need more answers from you."

"Then I'll be here," Her father replied. She nodded to him and walked to the door where the guard was waiting for her. And as the door closed, she could hear her father's voice softly calling out to her, "Be safe."