Shoto's Investigation

It had been two days since Todoroki and Estelle went to Endeavours hero agency. The time spent was valuable since Todoroki had already improved his fireside a lot to where he felt a little more comfortable. Estelle had made some additions of her own. She had managed to increase the temperature of her fire and create whips that she could control from her hands.

The two students had begun to feel more comfortable with each other as they worked together. Todoroki had attempted to use some of that time to get to know the lone girl by asking questions. He once read online that asking a person questions was a sure way of obtaining friends, so he had put that advice to good use.

For example:

"What do you like to eat?"

"Pizza."

"I like Soba, especially when it's cold. What's your favourite colour?"

"Lavender."

"I like white. It reminds me of my mom. Where is your favourite place to go?"

"The woods."

"Why? I like restaurants that sell Soba."

And on it continued, Estelle decided to humour her classmate since he mainly asked surface-level questions. She did appreciate his effort and willingness to answer his own questions - since she had never asked. Estelle had figured he had given up when the training room turned quiet. She wasn't complaining, but it left a bit of awkwardness in the air. Shaking off the feeling, Estelle turned her thoughts back to her fire aspect.

Todoroki had run out of questions to ask, and he was stumped. The gym had gotten quiet as the two classmates trained. Todoroki watched Estelle when she used her abilities as he found it fascinating to see her powers. She moved majestically with her flames. He envied her confidence with her fire. He couldn't blame her, though.

She made fire look beautiful.

He wasn't used to that. To him, fire was destructive. Fire was evil. Fire was his father. Estelle was the total opposite of his father. He really wanted to hate her when he realised that she could use it as his old man did, but he couldn't. His father embraced the fire, allowed it to control him in all its volatility and unpredictability. Estelle seemed to control the fire, tame it and bend it to her will.

She looked alluring, with orange and red lighting up her features.

He was staring. He needed to look away.

Todoroki paced in his room before leaving and knocking on Estelle's door. He shuffled on his two feet apprehensively whilst he anticipated for Estelle to answer. Once she finally did, he asked her to accompany him for a meal. It was quiet for a moment, causing Todoroki to berate himself about inviting her internally. His shoulders eased when she accepted, and he waited for her to appear at the reception.

Once she arrived, the two strolled in peace towards a known soba place. Todoroki was the one to spring up with the idea with intense eagerness. That was when Estelle realised the boy really did love his Soba. She shook her head with a smirk, agreed to his option and followed him as they made their way down the streets.

Estelle was not surprised when he spoke up once more; she was fully aware of his attempts to get to know her.

"So, you know what it was like for me growing up. I think it would be fair for you to even the playing field."

Estelle smirked and scoffed. "You say that like I pried. You willingly offered that information up to me."

"What? Should I have charged you twenty yen to tell you?" Todoroki responded with a lost look.

Estelle snorted back in answer, chuckling slightly at his naive words, "No! I'm just saying that you sound like you're entitled to know."

"Oh. My apologies; I just wanted to understand you better."

"I got that from your interrogations lately. You really are a curious cracker, aren't you?"

"Curious cracker? Do I crack things open?"

Estelle laughed in surprise whilst the two-toned boy stared at her in confusion. His face morphed into a small smile as he watched her joyful expression. Though he had no idea what made her laugh, he liked her smile. It was a nice change, even if her deadpan came back a few seconds later.

The two teens reached the soba place in decent time and sat down at their table. Todoroki demanded Estelle to try the Soba. She didn't have the heart to disagree.

The conversation started back up once the waiter left with two exact orders. Todoroki was swift to bring the previous topic back up.

"You don't have to tell me anything you're not comfortable with. You can tell me anything you're fine with giving."

Estelle sat back in thought since she wasn't sure what she would be okay with sharing. Deciding that a harmless topic wouldn't hurt, Estelle nodded back at Todoroki, and he sat up with interest.

"Well, I had a really close friend called Emilia. She was the complete opposite of me, always cheerful and kept me on my toes. Further into our friendship, she decided she wanted to learn how to use a bow and arrow. A few weeks later, I bought it for her as a gift, and I couldn't help but agree to teach her. At some point, she woke me up. She was delighted that she hit a bullseye and brought me outdoors to show me her improvement. I stood to the far right of the target pinned to a tree so I could watch.

The brat aimed her weapon at the target and tried to shoot. She nocked the arrow as usual and pulled the bowstring. But coincidentally - before she fired, she lost concentration with a squirrel crawling up the tree and accidentally shot the bolt right at me."

"You're kidding."

"Nope, the arrow went right into my shoulder. I was not amused. Emelia went into full panic mode, and I tried to soothe her. The poor girl was crying and snotting everywhere; it wasn't a pretty sight. When I failed to stop her tears, I pulled out the arrow and told her, "That shot was so bad, it made me quiver" Estelle chuckled.

"You told me that story...Just to tell me a pun?"

"Yep."

"Impressive."

"Emelia wouldn't pick up her bow for weeks after that. It wasn't until I said, "You can't let it nock you down." That she picked it up again. After laughing till she cried, of course," Estelle continued.

"Ah, another pun."

"I have humour."

"Hmm. You should show it more often."

"Eh, it doesn't suit me."

"Don't nock it until you've tried it."

"Hmpt."

"What?! I think I did well."

"Stop staring at me, Todoroki."

"I just want to see your reaction to the soba."

"Fine..."

"How is it?!"

"This is...Really tasty."

"Good. It was a crime that you've never had Soba before."

"Hey!"

"We can be soba buddies."

"I wouldn't go that far, Todoroki."

"We'll see."

Estelle and Todoroki walked back to the hero agency with content stomachs. Todoroki had exhausted the time digging for as much information that Estelle would give him. He found that Estelle would ignore more profound questions in favour of answering simpler and less informative queries. It wasn't until Todoroki asked, "You said Emelia was one of your closest friends? What happened?" That Estelle halted, and the conversation turned quiet.

To backtrack, Todoroki stuttered his way through an offer to disregard the question he had just asked. Estelle shook her head and waved her hand dismissively before answering to his surprise.

"She passed on, moved onto the next life", Estelle responded bluntly.

"Oh. I'm sorry. That must have been hard."

"It was, but it was her time. We both knew it was coming."

"So, she was ill?" Todoroki prodded.

"Something like that, yeah."

"Well, she sounds like a great person. Really, from what you've told me - she kept your days bright."

Estelle gave a soft smile as she gazed ahead, clearly lost in the memories of their time together and muttered a swift "Yeah, she did."

Todoroki watched her with a soft gaze. The moon reflected off her skin, giving her an ethereal glow; her dark brown eyes contrasted it dramatically, the pools of chocolate drew him further into her beauty. Todoroki was bewitched at that moment.

'God, she's beautiful.'

His heart saddened when her smile vanished and dropped back into a hollow emotion. It was always like a shutter after she showed a glimpse of her true self. He held a little satisfaction and joy at the fact that this was the most any of their classmates had seen of Estelle's authentic self. He could only hope that she would open up more with time.

'Who are you, Estelle?'

Estelle sat with a cup of tea while she watched the number two hero take a seat at his desk. She was well aware of his agenda and was prepared to slap the nincompoop back to reality.

"Why won't you agree to marry Shoto?" Endeavour challenged candidly.

Estelle sighed, placing her cup on the table slowly. She inclined back on her chair with her arms folded.

"Because I can't give you what you're looking for. Plus, even if I could, I still wouldn't."

"Explain."

"It's unlikely I would be able to bear a child, never mind one that holds my quirk. The chances are slim to none. Even if I could give you what you wanted, I would never agree with your idea of creating a perfect specimen. You haven't woken up from your delusions. This desire you have doesn't exist. Your goals are unreachable, and when they are so far removed, you'll never be satisfied with what you have."

Estelle rose up from her seat as Endeavour speechlessly watched.

"You should fix things while you still have the chance. You have a broken family that you tore apart for your own selfish gain. How do you feel knowing that you - the number two hero is hated by those close to you?"

"Shut up!" Endeavour growled back, slamming his fist onto the table. The two glowered at each other in silence before Estelle spoke up once again.

"Why would I? Is it because I'm telling you the truth? You may save lives for those within the city, but how can you even call yourself a hero when you've ruined your family's lives?"

"Shut your mouth!" He roared, standing up from his desk to tower over the disrespectful student. Estelle was not phased, continuing to scowl at him as she dug the metaphorical knife deeper.

"With all due respect, you can't call yourself a hero. It's a shame that a school kid needs to tell you this because clearly nobody else can, but you need to fix up before it's too late."

"Marry Shoto, and I won't inform UA about the fact you hold no records. You may not even be Japanese. I'm sure they will be very interested."

Estelle lamented sadly; he was clearly desperate if he was willing to turn to blackmail, but Estelle was stubborn. Even if he told the school, it wouldn't change anything. It would certainly bring up more questions, but Estelle has managed fine so far playing dodgeball.

"I'm disheartened that you haven't listened to a word I've said. You can tell the school if you wish. The answer stays the same. I'm sure UA would love to hear about the fact you went looking through a child's records without any legal need. Have a good day."

Estelle walked out of Endeavour's massive doors to exit the hallway.

'He really reminds me of him. That bastard. He really doesn't know he's delusional,' Estelle thought to herself. Her eyebrows rose up in wonder when she found Todoroki leaning against the wall with his head facing the ground.

Before Estelle could say a word, Todoroki stepped in.

"My old man is one stubborn bastard, isn't he?"

"Heh, yeah. Nothing I can't handle, though."

"Hmm, I can see that. I'm sorry."

"Don't be, I chose to come here. Plus, it's about time someone told Endeavour the truth. He acts like he has never been told no in his life."

"I doubt he has", Todoroki muttered back; his shoulders slumped, showing he was upset by the conversation he just heard. Estelle closed her eyes in exasperation; she knew she wouldn't be able to leave him looking like that. He was the very definition of a kicked puppy right now.

"Tch, typical. Anyway, want to grab some soba? It's on me."

Todoroki perked up in interest. He nodded brightly and followed the stern girl out of the hallway.

'God, he really is like a puppy.'