Case file #14: Todoroki Shouto

"Dear Diary, my Pokémon knowledge has betrayed me. I have been lied to my entire life. Grass-type is super effective against Ice-type."


"What do you think about a bracelet that also acts as a GPS, Izuku?"

"I think you should keep that away from me, Mom."

Izuku replied to Inko's suggestion as he put a slice of apple into his mouth. Inko only hummed at the rejection as she continued to cut a few more slices.

"Then you better do something about that 'Trouble Magnet' thing you have going on." Inko put a slice of apple into her mouth. "Just you wait until Ibara-chan hears about this."

"I don't have to wait for anything if no one tells her." Izuku stuck out his tongue. "I mean, legally, we aren't allowed to say anything after that whole 'gag' order."

"Better innocent victim than punished hero sometimes." Inko shrugged. "I'm just pissed that it's Endeavor who is getting the credit! Like damn, what about Gran Torino who actually arrived on time and knocked out the Hero Killer?!"

"I don't think Torino-san would like the attention seeing how he's somewhat retired." Izuku pointed out. "Speaking of, how's the case with Rei-san?"

"It's... going." Inko sighed. "Intentionally or not, Rei was the one who... injured Shouto-kun. Our only option here is for her to get her out the proper way. Which means a very intensive psych evaluation, a place of residence and someone who deems fit to look over her for a while after she gets out."

"Don't we need family's approval, too? Like, Endeavor's approval."

"That's easy. I won't bore you with the details." Inko waved Izuku's concern off. "I'm more worried about the toll the whole process would take on Rei."

As they were talking, Inko's phone rang. She took a quick look at it, sighed and stood up.

"I need to take this call." Inko walked towards the door. "Be back in a sec, sweetie."

"You grounded me." Izuku complained.

"Exactly."

Izuku once again stuck out his tongue at his mother who giggled before she closed the door. Flopping himself onto the bed, Izuku checked his phone and found messages from his friends. All of them shared the same concern as they heard of his involvement in Stain's case.

As Izuku read through and replied to the messages, he heard knocks on his door.

"Come in!" Izuku called out loudly.

The door slid open, revealing a dual-colored hair teen with a cold expression walked in.

"Todoroki-san!" Izuku's eyes widened. "What a surprise. I wasn't expecting you."

"Iida is talking to his family." Shouto replied blankly. "I did not want to intrude on him. I also owe you a thank you for assisting me in taking down Stain."

"I should be the one who thanked you." Izuku smiled as he gestured Shouto to sit down on the chair by his bed. "Things would have turned bad hadn't you arrived."

Shouto only replied with a nod. The two sat in silence, both not knowing what to say to the other. After a moment of awkward silence, Izuku finally broke it.

"Todoroki-san, is it okay if I ask about your Quirk?"

Shouto nodded.

"It's Half-Cold-Half-Hot, right?" Izuku smiled. "Can you control the temperature, density of your ice?"

"I can control how fragile the ice is, the force, the amount and how big the area it effects."

"That's so cool!" Izuku nodded his head. "But if I remember correctly, half of you was covered in ice if you overused it correct?"

Izuku then looked straight into Shouto's heterochromia eyes and with his soft tone and sincerity, Izuku asked.

"Why don't you use your fire?"


"Detective Midoriya."

Inko turned towards the voice that called out to her. A woman in white hair elegantly walked towards her direction with a kind smile on her face that contrast to her sharp eyes.

"Rei-chan." Inko smiled. "What brings you out of the castle?"

"I heard about what happened with Midoriya-kun so I wanted to check up on him." Rei explained. "He also said that I should exercise more often, so."

"Ah, I'm going back to his room now." Inko pointed towards the direction of Izuku's room and took the spot by Rei's side.

"Busy day at work?" Rei asked.

"Just updating some information for the Hero's agencies." Inko sighed. "The Hosu Attack left a lot of things to clean up after. Not counting the cult of followers who heard Stain's word on that viral clip."

"The speech he made after he rescued Midoriya-kun from that thing, correct?" Rei wondered as she recalled the footage of Stain saving Izuku from a Nomu with wings. "The one about true hero and what not."

"The reason it got viral was because of the amount of people who agrees with it." Inko commented. "The Commission put a lot of pressure on the Police Department to take it down. Permanently."

"How's it going, then?"

"Honestly, best we could do is slow down the pace of it being spread." Inko admitted. "Thankfully, the HPSC has no control over how the police work, so I can just direct them to our voicemail. I do hope you've been having a better day than mine?"

"Fuyumi told me Shouto was mostly unharmed aside from a few scratches he received." Rei nodded. "I wanted to go and talk to him, but..."

"Hey, hey, it's okay, honey." Inko gently patted Rei's back as the woman wore a crestfallen expression. "Just take it easy, alright? I'm sure it's hard for both of you to ta-"

Izuku's voice came from the hospital room's door. "Why don't you use your fire?"

The adult froze up.


"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

The four students blinked at the sight of Chiyo, who wore a deadpanned expression that turned more and more tired as the seconds dragged on. The eerie silence went on for another 5 minutes before Chiyo finally let out the most tiring sigh Izuku ever heard from her.

"Just for the sake of my curiosity, what are you guys doing here at this hour?"

"... After hours club activity?" Izuku offered.

"At midnight? Uh huh, uh huh." Chiyo hummed. "And is that a pentacle drawn on my office's floor?"

"I'll clean it up when we're finished." Izuku shrugged.

"Finished doing what, exactly?"

"We are attempting to summon a demonic being that shall serve as a way for us to covertly communicate with one another, be it directly or indirectly." Reiko explained.

"The dark stars align, converging at the center, creating a round table for the dark knights that serves it..." Fumikage whispered mysteriously.

"What a mad banquet of darkness, this evening turned out to be." Shihai grinned.

Chiyo looked through the three other students before looking back at her assistant, silently begging for a proper explanation.

"Yanagi-san found a forum with a ritual on how to communicate telepathically." Izuku explained. "She said it is for Emily to communicate more easily with us."

"My inner sibling wishes to converse more freely with my classmates and your assistant, Recovery Girl." Reiko added in. "She is under the impression that her thoughts are not well transferred over by me."

Chiyo nodded and looked back over at Izuku. "Shouldn't you ask your girlfriend from the Support Department about that first before starting a cult meeting in my office?"

"His what?!" Reiko shot up from her seating position, as did Fumikage, who did it in a quieter matter but no less shocked. As that happened, Shihai was silently brainstorming possible pranks he could pull on the Support Course.

"I did text Hatsume-san about that." Izuku replied, not noticing three heads snapping at his answer. "She said she's currently focusing on another project so that would take quite a while. We're not dating, by the way. I'm sure she has better options than a sleepless nurse."

"Try dense, but that girl isn't any wiser, anyway." Chiyo shrugged before she grinned at the other three. "Door's wide open for you kids, it seems."

As Shihai and Fumikage were busy hiding in the darkest corner of the room at that comment, Reiko was very not subtly breath out a sigh of relief. The ashen-haired girl turned towards Izuku and with her indifferent expression, announced.

"It appears Fate agrees with us and so does your mentor, my beloved. Would you now agree to take our hands in marriage?"

"As in walk you down the aisle when you get married? Gladly!" Izuku showed a beaming smile. "Though I really think your father should do it. This is the fifth time you've asked me."

Reiko nodded before turning towards Chiyo while pointing at Izuku.

"You are certain this is incurable?"

"If it is, I would have done it long ago." Chiyo sighed.


Even with Shouto glaring at him with utmost fury, Izuku's smile did not drop slightly.

"Your fire is a natural solution to your ice and that goes in the opposite way as well. The drawback your right side has can be easily fixed with your fi-"

"I know what I am capable of." Shouto hissed, cutting Izuku off. "It's none of your business!"

"Of course. It's your Quirk." Izuku continued. "But clearly, by using only your right side, you are operating at half of your power. That affects your performance and proves to be dangerous for yourself, is it not?"

"I don't care." Shouto's glare hardened. "I will become a Hero using only my mother's ice. Not his fire."

"Whose Ice and Fire?"

"... What?" Caught off guard, Shouto blinked.

"What are your parents' Quirks, Todoroki-san?"

"... Frost and Hellflame."

"And what is your Quirk?"

"Half-Cold-Half-Hot..."

"That means the fire and ice that come out of you are yours, then!"

"You don't understand." Shouto's glare hardened once again. "My father-"

"And exactly how many people you are going to put in danger because you are half-assing out there, Todoroki-san?" This time, Izuku matched his own glare with Shouto. "You expect to go out there and fight with half of what you have because of your father? Is that why you want to be a Hero? Out of spite?

Before Shouto could find an answer to that question, the door to Izuku's room was pushed open. The teenagers turned and found Rei standing at the door. Despite tears rolling down her eyes, Rei did not show any other expression other than attentiveness. Her serious eyes were locked with Shouto's shock.

"I'll drop this right now if you say so, but I'm willing to bet that's not who you are." Izuku turned back and continued to push on. "So, I'm going to ask again: Why do you want to be a Hero?"

"Because-" Shouto mumbled, not looking away from his mother. "Because I-"


"Rough day?" Rei asked, poking Shouto who laid his face on the dining table.

"Work-study? More like child labor. Not even the fun ones. Just dangerous and tiring." Shouto groaned.

"What type of child labors do you categorize at 'fun'?" Fuyumi sweat dropped as she set the table.

"Why did you even pick him for your work-study?" Natsuo asked incredulously. "You of all people should know how that man is!"

"I've ignored half of myself for a long time, Natsuo." Shouto looked up. "I'm just doing all I can to catch up."

"Enji's work attitude is admirable." Rei nodded as she pat Shouto's head. "Despite his dog-shit personality and obsession, that is."

"Language, mom!" Fuyumi begged, much to Rei's amusement.

"How about a lighter topic, then?" Natsuo grinned. "How's that crush on that Midoriya kid going?"

Contrary to Natsuo's expectation, Shouto once again slammed his face onto the table as Rei giggled even louder.

"That bad, huh?" Natsuo chuckled as he drank the water.

"He couldn't even form a proper sentence when Izuku cupped his cheeks to check for injuries!" Fuyumi smugly grinned as she recalled the memory from their last interaction.

"That's rich, coming from you." Natsuo gave his sister a side eye. "Didn't you almost faint when the kid put his forehead on yours?"

Immediately after the sass, Natsuo jumped out of his chair and ran with Fuyumi hot in pursuit with a fork. Rei only shouted, 'Be careful!' before she returned to stroking Shouto's head. They stayed in the comfortable silence for a few minutes before Shouto turned towards her.

"Mom, do you still remember what I said? That day in the hospital?"

Rei nodded with a soft smile in response.

"Am I still doing it right?" Shouto asked with worry. "Are you... happy now?"


"We are sooo getting chased out of here."

Inko sighed as she covered her ears from the loud fire alarm's noise. Izuku only giggled as he sat by his mother outside of the room.

"Quirk accident, Mom." Izuku grinned. "You taught me to use that excuse."

"I'm regretting it now." Inko groaned. "I'm the one who has to write this report later!"

Inko peeked into the room to Rei and Shouto crying as they hugged each other. With a smile, she gently closed the door.

"You did good, honey." Inko pinched Izuku's cheek. "I'm proud of you."

"Proud enough for you to forgive me for this?"

"Oh, hell no." Inko grinned. "No Katsudon this weekend. Doctor's advice."

Izuku's facial expression turned into one of despair while Inko laughed out loud.


"I've got you, Natsuo and Fuyumi right here with me." Rei hugged Shouto. "I'm not just happy. I'm full."

Shouto hugged her back. A rare smile appeared on his face.


A/N: Baldur's Gate 3 has been killing my productivity. I see dice in my sleep. I can see conversation's options when I talk to people. I'm too far gone. I have no idea when I am going to write the next one.