"I wish I'd never agreed to marry you!"
His wife's words should have stung him. But they didn't. Toji merely looked on as he observed Aoi storm out of the house, almost taking the door off its hinges as she slammed it with all her might. Tangling his fingers in his raven coloured hair, Toji's mind regurgitated his wife's words to the forefront of his mind over and over again after their latest argument. He had to be honest with himself: his second marriage was, at best, a complete and utter sham. After the death of his beloved, Toji pushed himself to remarry to provide his child with a mother figure and to ensure he'd have a caregiver for Megumi if the day ever came that wouldn't return home. That being said, he never set out to replace his love because doing so would be impossible. Toji knew he couldn't find it in what was left of his heart to love anyone else like he loved her and this was something Aoi was all too aware of. For Aoi, being married to Toji came with its own merits and so their union was conceived more out of convenience than love.
Right at that moment, Toji felt utterly powerless. The man pondered whether it would be best if he left the home for good. What use was it being in an environment where he was practically useless? Megumi would live in a stable environment and would hopefully grow to be a more competent, emotionally intact adult than Toji could ever aspire to be given his own childhood. And because Megumi was so young, if Toji left he highly doubted that his son would hold any space in his memories for him. 'What am I doing? I can't walk away like that, not from our blessing after everything...' Toji's inner consciousness blurted out, pulling the brakes on his self-loathing as an image of his dearly departed cradling a newborn Megumi flashed before his eyes. That's right. Toji had selected the name for their child, reflecting the euphoria in the moments he first held Megumi after he'd been born.
That being said, Toji had promised his beloved that he'd do right by their son and at this time, he truly questioned if his presence in Megumi's life was even beneficial for the boy. Not long after Megumi's birth, Toji's worst fear came to fruition when the love of his life succumbed to her illness. From there, he'd struggled to establish a proper bond with his child, admittedly holding some resentment for the boy early in his grief as the pressure of childbirth had ultimately resulted in his wife's demise. Toji even fell back into bad habits and behaviours, those which he'd managed to kick when he met her and his entire world evolved in the blink of an eye. Yet at the same time, he allocated a large portion of blame to himself. If only he'd recognised the signs of her decline sooner...Would that have spared her? The sorcerer killer was drawn away from the depth of thought by a tickling sensation rippling along his cheeks. Upon placing a hand to one of his cheeks Toji realised he was crying. Toji associated the act of crying with weakness, so quickly rubbed his eyes and squashed the memories of his one true love back into the recesses of his mind, playing ignorant to the dull ache in his chest.
The man needed an escape, a distraction, so he didn't have so much as a second to himself for his brain to wander back into vulnerable territory. 'Do it' a familiar voice taunted him, recycling the same old flashback of Toji winning big on a bet he'd placed on a boat race. The feeling of winning, of accomplishment and the satisfaction that came with predicting an outcome correctly was akin to a legal high for the man. It was just what he needed right now... All of a sudden, as if someone was listening in to Toji's thought process, the front door clicked open and the man overheard Tsumiki and Megumi returning home from a day of school. Not today. Toji shuffled to the hallway to greet the children, instantly identifying scuffs and scrapes dotted across Megumi's arms and legs.
"Welcome home...Another fight Megumi?" The boy stared down at his feet, opting to play with a loose thread that poked out at the bottom of his shirt than respond to his father's question.
"Yeah! I told him not to, but he wouldn't listen!" Tsumiki interjected, aiming a look of discontentment at her younger sibling with her arms crossed firmly.
"He had it coming. He wouldn't stop tripping Riko up in the hall" the child in question grumbled, finally peeling his eyes from the ground to gaze up at his father.
"Megumi you shouldn't fight! Violence isn't the answer!" Tsumiki exclaimed, dropping her backpack next to Megumi's.
"Megumi, if you find yourself needing to intervene in a fight, try to take both opponents out with a single hit. That way, you come off looking like you broke up the fight." Toji advised. The man's advice earning a nod of acknowledgement from his son, who seemingly absorbed the information provided for future reference, while garnering a huff of annoyance from his stepdaughter.
"Where's mom?" The girl inquired.
"She's out, so I'll be sorting dinner out for us tonight." The man replied, unamused by the face Megumi pulled upon hearing Toji would be cooking tonight.
"When will she come back?" Tsumiki pressed, her eyes large and swimming with worry.
"I'm not sure, while you wait you and Megumi can make a start on your homework." Toji shifted the topic of conversation, retreating to the kicthen whilst the children rummaged in their schoolbags for their homework assignments. However, when casting his eyes around the kitchen cupboards and surveying the contents of the refrigerator, Toji realised they hadn't much in to conjure up a decent meal. As Tsumiki and Megumi sat at the dining table and set to work, Toji fished out a takeaway menu and tossed it into the center of the table.
"We haven't gone grocery shopping yet so it'll have to be take out tonight" Toji mumbled to the pair, leaving them both to look over the menu whilst he flicked the switch on the kettle.
Toji was fairly sure take out food wasn't best for children in relation to their growth and development. But here he was, about to feed two children food with as much nutritional content as a rock. So how on earth was he any sort of authority to decide what was best for Megumi, aside from the fact that he was his father?