This is a full Emi chapter (Yes, I love the Kamihara family), but if you want the next will be only for Shoto

[English isn't my first language, so please be kind]

[MHA belongs to Kōhei Horikoshi]


CHAPTER 2

Road to the capital

Emi P.O.V.

The days passed quickly and soon the time has come when we needed to leave for the Yagi residence, the house of clan number one, where the annual conference would be held.

We needed to leave at dawn, but my father couldn't depart without spending a few hours at one of the villages that was close to our home. Each clan protected a part of the territory of the Central Region, as the Kamihara clan was located and responsible of the borders we were the most isolated one, so maybe that's why we liked to come and visit the villages so much.

Even far away from the protection of clan number one the villages were considerably large and numerous, there were not so many people with skills at the borders, so almost everyone worked in the rice and vegetable fields. Furthermore, when we needed something, like sending letters to another location, we needed to go to one of the villages.

Tamaki and I went there at least twice a month so that he could buy seafood that came from the coast. As for me, I received Shoto's letters there every month. Now that I think about it I hadn't answered the last letter he had sent. I could use the stress of the conference as an excuse since it was so long that I didn't participate in these events, but I knew it wasn't true.

I was scared of what I was feeling with each letter, and at the same time very guilty. So I had to leave Toya's ring behind, the ring he made just for me.

- Where's Tamaki? - My father asked.

His skills were so good that I didn't hear him coming, as a martial arts expert should be. Since we had stopped at one of the villages so the troops who served him could say goodbye to their families I had been distracted by some stray cats that looked at the food stalls.

- Hidden in the carriage - I replied, while giving some gold coins to a lady who put milk and food for the stray cats - you know he doesn't like crowds.

Father helped me up, I didn't want to bother the cats while they were feeding and as the road to the conference was long and we would probably have to make another stop I decided to wear my usual training clothes but I had packed my best dresses just in case. As I hadn't been to the conference in years so I didn't know if the rules had changed and Tamaki also hadn't participated since he was transferred here.

His encounters with Mirio took place during his weeks off, but he didn't tell me anything about work or about the Yagi's. I was curious to see the leader of clan number one after so long, as in the villages the news arrived late.

- We are ready to go, master Kamihara - one of my father's subordinates approached to tell us. His name was Shinji and he had a skill just like my father, although he was so young he had already acquired a title from the people.

If Tamaki wasn't transferred to clan number one he could be like Shinji and stay with us, but I didn't want to force him into anything.

- Thank you Kamui, we are already going - my father tightened the belt around his waist, he wore his usual patrol clothes even though we are going to an event destined for the nobility. He turned to me and helped me to put my hair behind my ear.

- Stop smiling - I said because I knew what he was thinking.

My father shook his head, the smile was still evident on his face.

- You look like your mother when you go to events like this, so I smile.

- I'm not even wearing the dress yet and she didn't have many chances to go - I sighed - and when she went, it was against her will, just as I am going now.

He didn't answer me, but I knew he must be thinking about her, at least for a moment, and about how rude I was for saying that.

The problems of the past shouldn't be repeated, so I should behave better, even while feeling uncomfortable seeing and training with other people.

My father's hair color was gray, as well as his eyes, which I also shared. I had inherited my mother's black hair, but the tips always ended up gray no matter how much I cut them, as if it were a subtle way of remembering me who my father was.

Although I think I would rather have inherited more of his hair than of his skill.

I never said that to him, I don't think I needed it. Clan number five already suffered too much from the reputation of official assassins in the Central Region, even if all we did was protect the people, there was no need to express those concerns to my father.

- We received another message from the Yagi clan - he showed me a letter, already open, addressed to him - apparently he wants to discuss new policies for the region aimed at people with special skills.

- New changes? - I took the letter and started reading, but there was not much information in those words.

The world began to change a hundred years ago, but the change was so fast and violent that reigns fell in a few decades and even the empire in which we lived was changed. When clan number one took power, its leader was another, a woman, something unimaginable just a few years ago, but my father never got to know her.

When she died, the clan passed on to her husband, who was as strong as she was, but now that they had no official heir, there were rumors of what would happen if the leader suddenly died, and rumors were a problem for anyone at the top, because those below could use it to their advantage.

That was why my father was so concerned. It had been a few years since clan number one had visited the borders, and this led those who didn't join the Central Region to create expectations about its downfall.

I still remembered the last time I saw the leader Toshinori Yagi, he stayed at our house while supervising the surveillance points built by my father. He was always smiling, in addition to being very friendly, he seemed to shine and illuminate everyone around him, so no one had fear of his strong figure. I couldn't imagine the Central Region without him, it was the same thing as imagining the sky without the sun.

- If he decides to recruit more people with special skills outside the nobility with no restriction, people like Tamaki, I will be in favor - said my father, he took the letter back - but I think we should do more than that.

- How so?

-Unlike you and Shoto, Tamaki didn't have training as a kid, only when he was recruited by clan number three, but he had to learn everything from scratch when he came here.

I nodded. I understood what he meant.

- I need to talk to Toshinori Yagi as soon as we get to his residence.

I swallowed the questions I wanted to ask as my father patted my head. I think he guessed that I was about to question him if our situation was worse than I imagined.

- Don't worry, Emi - he said - just try to have a good time with Shoto, just like you had with Toya.

I knew he didn't like displays of affection in public, yet I hugged my dad and buried my head in his chest. I don't think that when he signed the marriage agreement with clan number two things were so bad, but now he seemed to want to get me out of here as soon as possible for my own safety.

I broke the hug and bow my head.

- I'll do my best at the conference - I said.

"I'll do my best, so I can come back quickly to help".

A woman a little older than me approached us with an inviting smile and offered some dorayaki to my father. Of course he couldn't resist. She wore a simple dress like most of the other girls in the village, but her hair was neatly combed and she seemed to have taken the courage to approach him.

When the woman walked away and my father looked at me again, I think I had a dry expression, so he stopped eating and put on his mask again to hide his flushed face.

- We'd better go now – He said.

- Right, be careful - I replied, since he was leading the entourage on his horse.

I took a deep breath as I went back to the carriage, I didn't want people to see my expression of frustration and fear of the future and started to blame myself for thinking too much on things that might not happen.

Try to have good moments with Shoto; that was what I should be focusing on since I wouldn't be of much help to anyone if I lost my emotional control now

Clan number two lived far from us, near the mountains, an almost perfect location between attack and defense in ancient times of war before the rising of people with skills. When Toya used to visit me he ended up staying a whole week so we could get to know each other better and sometimes I visited him when my father had duties closer to the capital, but I think we would rather spend our time at my house where we had more freedom.

At that time, Toya's mother had constant crises and her grandmother value for silence and calm at her residence so that she wouldn't be even more upset. But nothing was able to make her feel better. I don't think many people of the nobility knew the truth about the Shoto's scar.

Lately, when Toya died and the responsibility passed to Shoto he came to visit me only once, but our meeting was far from cheerful.

Endeavor was there, of course, which made Shoto nervous. Furthermore, he saw the altar that I had built for Toya, which made him even more embarrassed.

Even though we had known each other for so many years, there was a division within clan number two, everyone knew that, a division that made me have more contact with some than with others. Endeavor was the title that Enji Todoroki had received, and his firstborn, Toya, was the one who had the training to be his successor. Endeavor treated his children differently and Toya was his favorite, at least until he started to get sick.

After that Shoto took his place, at least that's what Toya told me in his last letter.

Shoto became the number one inside his clan, and then Toya died.

Perhaps, if he didn't write to me often, we wouldn't have even exchanged a word after five years of Toya's death.

Now that things seemed more real, I still don't know if I could get used to living with clan number two.

I opened the carriage door and Tamaki growl in alarm.

- It's me, Tamaki - I said - we are already going.

- Good - He took a deep breath, taking care that the hood didn't reveal his face completely.

Tamaki tried to look out the window, but some children decided to spy on us and he threw himself back onto the padded bench.

- It's okay - the scene was funny, so I smiled - they're just kids.

- Pretty scary kids.

One of the boys had dragon wings, but his face was round and fluffy. I waved to them one last time. My hand was already recovered from the wounds but my father forced me to keep it bandaged for a few more days.

- I don't like long trips – Tamaki said as entourage started to move - but at least in the capital I'll be able to eat more seafood.

He looked at his fingers that now couldn't manifest tentacles anymore. Tamaki had eaten all his stock of seafood in the last training sessions we had.

- I haven't seen the ocean for so long! - I smiled with such enthusiasm. The Yagi residence was close to the sea, I remember looking out the window and thinking that we were floating on the waves. - Does it still have the same color as the last time I saw it?

- The capital remains the same - Tamaki sighed - but full of people with skills now.

I kept looking at the children who had now given up running after the carriage. Half of them must have some kind of skill.

- People are saying that more and more children are being born with skills - I said - and most of them are not even the result of arranged marriages.

- The world is changing - Tamaki finally paid attention to the window, a butterfly had landed very close to us - soon everyone will have skills.

- And then the clans won't be that special anymore, people will be able to protect themselves alone, no one will claim nobility just because it's stronger

- Are you afraid this may happen? - Tamaki asked; He held out his finger and the butterfly landed on it, making him smile.

I shook my head. A world without clans and nobility, without arranged marriages, seemed very tempting and also more egalitarian, so those like Tamaki, coming from poor families, wouldn't need the approval of nobles to serve the people.

I think I could get used to a world like that.