CHAPTER 30: CHOICES
Todoroki sat in the back of the limousine quietly. Next to him sat Midoriya who was trying to preoccupy himself by looking out the window at the people and buildings they passed. Such an awkward situation they found themselves in. Which is not what one of them intended.
"Still not very talkative are you?" Midoriya finally broke the silence.
"Is that a bad thing?" Todoroki asked as he side eyed him.
"Not at all." Midoriya smiled pleasantly. "It means you're more a person of action rather than words. I like that."
"You know you didn't have to give me a ride." Shoto pointed out.
"Yeah, but where I'm going happens to be close by to the hospital your mom is staying at." Izuku explained. "How are things by the way? With your family that is?" He was given only silence instead of an answer. "I understand if you don't want to talk about it."
"No it's alright to be curious." The dual quirk wielder took a breath before continuing. "After I was legally emancipated from my father's custody, Natsuo moved out. My sister Fuyumi is the only one who stayed behind and she won't leave no matter what we tell her."
"After all this time she's still trying to hold together a family that's long since shattered." Izuku truly thought it sad and tragic. He honestly applauded Fuyumi for her efforts, but there are some things that just couldn't be repaired. "I don't know what to tell you. I've never really had a father in my life, my mother took care of me so I'm not the best person to go to for family advice."
"What happened to your father?" Now it was Shoto's turn to be curious.
"I don't really remember much of him. He had to work overseas and left when I was about five years old." There was something odd about the rushed and apathetic way he spoke. Todoroki decided to leave it alone though. Like Izuku said it wasn't his place to pry, but talking about it did help. "I believe this is your stop." The limousine came to a halt at the main entrance to the hospital. There one of Titans opened the door for Shoto. The boy eyed the machine that was part of the team that patrolled around the facility. One of the benefits to being part of Izuku Midoriya's Knights of Balance was a troop of Titan robots to protect each of their families and loved ones. "Call when you're ready to leave." Was all Izuku said as the door was closed behind Todoroki. Shoto silently waved at the vehicle and went inside the hospital to see his mother. After checking in at the front desk he went up the elevator to her room. He slowly knocked on the door and took a step in to see his mother's smiling face. "Hi…mom." She returned his greeting as she sat by the window in a chair.
"Hello Shoto, its been awhile." She commented on the boy's absence. Rei understood completely though. With all the training and school it was probably hard to find time.
"I'm sorry." Shoto apologized regretfully as he moved closer. He let her gently pull him into a hug. It was awkward the first time it happened when he visited, but he was slowly getting used to this and returned the embrace.
"It's alright, you have a lot going on." This was his first day off in a while. "So how have you been? Last time you said something about making an important decision." Shoto decided to tell her everything. He told her how he dropped out of U.A, joined up with Midoriya, his reason for joining him and the Hero Regulation Department. Shoto also told her about his other former classmates who joined him. She was surprised to hear some of things he said, but she'd seen the news and knew who Midoriya was already and what he'd done. She didn't exactly approve, but if Shoto trusted him then it was alright.
"Mom…I need to know…do you think I made the right choice?" The dual quirk user wanted to know and who better to tell him than his own mother.
"Do you think you made the right choice?" Rei asked him the same question.
"Yes." Shoto replied without hesitation.
"Then there you go." She smiled at him. "You chose to join Midoriya because you believe in his cause."
"Your right. I want to serve as an example of what a hero should be." The boy explained again. "There are more heroes out there like Endeavor. I want to help Midoriya change things for the better so people like him will no longer exist." His expression turned angry at the thought of that man.
"Shoto. You shouldn't hate your father." Rei looked sad as she said.
"After everything he did to you, to us, and to Touya. You still don't hate him." Shoto couldn't believe what he heard from.
"I don't hate your father I pity him." She had long since gotten over her fear and rage towards that man after a few years of therapy. "Because of who he is and what he's done he'll never know love, or friendship or human kindness and I honestly feel sorry for him." Rei sighed. "And now he's lost his quirk, his hero career and his reputation, all the things that mattered most to him. In way he's paid for what he owed."
"I still won't forgive him." Shoto declared.
"That's fine as long as you move on with your life and don't let the past ruin your future." Rei smiled again at her youngest child.
"When did you become so wise?" He wondered.
"When I became a mom." She answered playfully. Rei decided to change the subject by asking him more about Midoriya and the organization her son was now a part of. Shoto mentioned something about one of the members of the group. He couldn't say much as it was classified, but her son let slip a certain detail about the man's quirk. It caused a memory to pop up in the woman's mind of happier times.
'Mom look! If I make my flame supper hot it turns blue', a red headed eleven year old boy beamed up at her as he held a small blue wisp of a flame in his hand.
She shook the memory away as to avoid where that trail of memories would lead. Best not to have a breakdown in front of Shoto. Rei didn't want her son to ever have to see her like that again.
MEANWHILE-CHILD HEALTH AND CARE CENTER
"Here, why don't you pass these out to everyone?" Dr. Higurashi handed Bakugou a crate of colored pencils for today's art activity. The boy quietly grumbled, but tried to keep a calm façade as he handed out packs of pencils to each of the kids. The group of quirkless children shyly accepted the drawing utensils from the intimidating blonde teenager.
After he was finished Bakugou quickly made his way back to the front of the art room to stand next to the doctor. He'd been coming three days out of the week here for three weeks now. Not much had really changed Aizawa had noted. Katsuki assisted the good doctor, but still remained standoffish towards the kids. The homeroom teacher had hoped that helping quirkless children would give the boy some perspective on the suffering and hardships of others and maybe even humble him a bit. That didn't look like it was happening anytime soon though. If Katsuki Bakugou didn't start making improvements to his personality and behavior then Aizawa and Nezu would have to resort to drastic measures.
"Could you keep an eye on them for a few minutes?" Dr. Higurashi asked the blonde boy who looked like he would rather not. "Thanks." She stepped out of the room to have a chat with Aizawa behind the one way mirror.
"Still keeping them at arm's length is he?" Shouta looked at her apologetically. In his mind he was just as much to blame for the boy's behavior as everyone who originally shaped him into what he was today.
"The kids are still intimidated by him." She sighed sadly. "His perpetual scowl certainly isn't helping things either." One of the health center workers came into the observation room and whispered something in the doctor's ear. "Excuse me I need to step out for moment"
'That's odd.' Aizawa watched her rush out, but thought nothing more of it as he continued to carefully observe Bakugou.
THE LOBBY
"It's always a pleasure when you visit." Higurashi greeted the guest that walked into the front entrance.
"Please the pleasure is all mine." Izuku Midoriya walked up to the doctor. "People like you who treat people like me with basic human decency are a rarity and deserve my infinite respect"
"Shall we convene in my office?" She gestured for him to follow.
"After you." Izuku followed after her ignoring the stares from the employees and medical workers. He had visited the health center several times before, but they still weren't used to seeing such a powerful and influential individual walk into the facility.
"So how are things going with all the extra funding you're getting?" The gauntlet wielder asked when they arrived in her office.
"With all the money you donated we were able to take in more quirkless children, safely removing them from that vile foster care system that treated them like garbage." The doctor explained.
"Have any heroes showed up to donate their time?" Izuku had publicly submitted that heroes should be helping out society in small ways instead of only fighting crime. He disliked heroes who only cared about improving their rank by showing up to save the day when villains appeared or when a disaster occurred and then left when the job was done or worse stuck around to pose and gloat for the press. Some of the more genuine pros had decided to be honest and asked the Hero Regulation Department what they should do. Midoriya told them about this child care center that took in quirkless children as a test to see what they would do with the information.
"I have list of the ones that have." Dr. Higurashi handed him a clipboard containing a list of professional heroes that visited the facility and donated their time to improving these kid's lives.
"Hmmm…Not as many as I'd hoped." Izuku remarked as he read the list. "Best Jeanist has been here?" He was surprised to see a top ranking hero on the list.
"Oh yes he's been coming here for quite some time actually. Before your department was formed." She explained. "Best Jeanist has been visiting while he recovers from a severe injury he got during the Kamino incident. He's usually here on arts and crafts days and teaches the kids things like how to macramé"
"What a good man." Izuku applauded the hero for his kindness. He was true hero, even when the odds were against him he still tried to stop All for One. Yet the media cared more about Allmight's victory over the villain than anything else.
"Also there's been another development here that you need to know about." The woman chewed on her lip nervously.
"And what's that?"
BACK IN THE ART ROOM
Bakugou quietly paced the room keeping a safe distance away from the kids. Personally he didn't have anything against them as it was Deku he hated and not quirkless people in general. His counseling sessions got him to admit that much at least. The reason he was avoiding too much contact with these less fortunate children was mainly that he didn't trust himself around them. What if he accidentally set off his quirk and hurt or frightened them? Or worse. What if his stupid big mouth said something terrible?
'Where was that attitude years ago?' That voice in his head that sounded like Deku asked.
As he looked around the room he watched the kids as they silently drew pictures with crayons and colored pencils. One of them in particular called his attention. A small blonde child drawing a crude image of a messy green haired character dressed in gray with a yellow arm. It was obvious who the kid was drawing, but Bakugou asked anyway.
"Who is that?" The boy looked up from his paper.
"The doctor said we should draw our heroes. I drew Izuku Midoriya." The child smiled while Katsuki paled.
"He's your hero?" The older boy swallowed nervously.
"Yeah. He's quirkless like us, but he didn't let that beat him." The child spoke with excitement. "He even fought Allmight to a standstill"
"But he's a villain." Bakugou said while clenching his fists, trying not to lose his temper.
"He's not a villain!" The blonde boy exclaimed adamantly. "He's proving quirkless people like us aren't so useless." Bakugou wanted to yell. He wanted to argue against the child's claim and say that Midoriya was a despicable bastard that deserved to rot in prison for what he's done. Unfortunately he couldn't. Aizawa made it very clear that one slip up and his time at U.A's hero course would be over. Sadly Katsuki could do nothing but stew in his anger.
"Your attention everyone!" Doctor Higurashi joyfully exclaimed as she walked back into the room. "Your favorite visitor has arrived." The children's mood turned bright and cheerful as the door opened revealing Izuku Midoriya.
"Hello!" He waved, completely ignoring a stunned and frozen Bakugou. The kids got up from their seats and rushed over to him. They all began talking animatedly with excitement, a huge change from their normal somber mood. Izuku smiled seeing the quirkless children again. He couldn't visit them as much as he would like to, but he always enjoyed bringing a bit of happiness to their worlds. After all it wasn't that long ago that he was in their shoes.
"What's the meaning of this?!" Aizawa barged into the room. He had been watching through the mirror and panicked when he saw who appeared. Thinking the worst he rushed inside ready to defend his blonde student and the children.
"It's fine Aizawa." Dr. Higurashi placed a hand on his shoulder. "Director Midoriya comes by every now and then to visit the children." She answered trying to calm him. "He's one of our financial supporters."
"Why didn't you inform me of this?" Erasure head glared at her while his capture weapon stopped moving around him.
"I didn't think it was important." She said honestly. Thinking about it rationally Aizawa realized that he couldn't fault her for that. She didn't know that Izuku Midoriya and Katsuki Bakugou had a very unpleasant history with each other.
Bakugou was watching Deku interact with the kids as if it was perfectly natural. Now it all made sense why these quirkless children looked up to someone like him. The blonde began to slowly back away, sweat creeping down the back of his neck. Izuku finally turned his gaze to his former bully, emerald eyes piercing straight through him like angry spears. This was just like his recent nightmares, except it was happening in real life.
In Katsuki's mind he was seeing every terrible thing he ever said and done to Izuku. Everything was reflected in those darkened eyes of his that promised infinite pain and misery. Izuku broke eye contact and turned back to the kids, switching back to his cheerful self in an instant. Bakugou couldn't take it and ran out of the room without a word. Aizawa bit back a curse and went after him. Izuku smirked lightly as he watched them leave.
Katsuki stormed into one of the restrooms in the care center, going right to the sink. Splashing some water in his face he took several deep breaths. Forcing himself to calm down the explosive blonde looked into the mirror. 'Just relax, this means nothing.' His thoughts stopped racing. 'So what if Deku is here.' Bakugou tried his best to remember the exercises that Hound Dog taught him for situations like this. 'I'm not afraid of him. I'm not afraid. I'm not afraid. I'm not!' Once he was ready he went to the door to go back out there, but paused when he heard two familiar voices in the hall just outside the restroom.
"So this is what that rodent you call a principal cooked up?" Izuku said mockingly. "Let me guess, this is supposed to teach him humility and respect for others who were not born as fortunate as him. Is that right?"
"What business is it of yours how we teach our students?" Aizawa fired back.
"Come now you can't honestly believe that this will change who he is." The gauntlet user gave a questioning glance to the U.A teacher. "This is obviously just a bunch of nonsense so you can keep Bakugou for his power. If you had any sense you would have expelled him by now."
"I know you think that we only care about students based off their quirks and mastery of them, but that's a false accusation." Erasure Head glared at him, completely ditching his normally tired demeanor. He couldn't afford to drop his guard around this boy for even an instant.
"Nezu said that too." Izuku chuckled at the hypocrisy. "You gave a quirk assessment test on the first day of classes where you threatened to expel the student with the least potential. You were just looking at their quirks weren't you?" The teen accused. He got this info from Ochako's very own mouth.
"That was a rouse to get them to try their best." Aizawa argued back.
"Oh please." Izuku scoffed. "You expelled an entire class once because their quirks weren't good enough to be heroes. Don't deny it."
"Quirks have nothing to do with it." the teacher still tried to deny Midoriya's beliefs in how the system was ran. Just because other hero schools only cared about quirks didn't mean U.A was the same.
"Yet here you are doing everything you can to give Katsuki Bakugou a second chance when you and I both know he doesn't deserve it." Izuku smirked back at him. "If he didn't have such a powerful quirk and a talent for using it you would have dropped him without hesitation, just like you discarded Uraraka."
"What about you? Are you saying you weren't interested in Todoroki, Uraraka and Iida for their quirks?" Aizawa questioned him.
"I chose them because they like me wanted to see a change in our hero society." Izuku frowned before listing off his reasons. "Todoroki was subjected to an abusive father who got away with it simply because he was the country's number two hero. Uraraka was kicked out of your school for simply trying to do the right thing and help a friend. Iida's brother was forgotten and tossed aside like garbage by the government that runs the hero system." He walked down the hall getting closer to the underground hero. "And Allmight the man who you all look up to as the symbol of peace would see a return to that world and undo all the hard work I've done to create a better society"
'So Allmight's still a threat to him. Even with his power diminishing.' That's what Shota Aizawa was able to get from what was just said. "You may think you have everything figured out, but you don't." Izuku just chuckled in response. If only Aizawa knew what he had planned.
"Well it was nice seeing you here, but as you know I'm a busy person." He smiled and waved. "Best of luck with Bakugou, not like it will do any good though." Midoriya said that last part under his breath as he walked away. Once he was passed the corner and out of sight the tension in Aizawa's shoulders finally released. Letting out a sigh of relief he turned to face the door of the restroom.
"You can come out now he's gone." The door opened and out stepped Katsuki with a poor attempt to keep his gruff façade, but the eraser hero could tell that he was scared. "I think we're done for today. I'll go tell the doctor that we'll be leaving a little early." He didn't make a comment about how Bakugou nearly had a panic attack in the bathroom. The boy would have to open about his fears and insecurities and come to them when he was ready.
"Oh and one more thing." They both froze when Midoriya reappeared from around the corner. "If he hurts those kids physically, mentally or emotionally, I will rip his quirk out of him without hesitation regardless of what the law says I can and cannot do." Izuku threatened while glaring hatefully at his former school bully. He then disappeared once again.
'Dammit'. Aizawa mentally cursed as he watched Midoriya strike fear into Bakugou again. He could try to justify his actions all he wanted but Erasure Head could tell that he was enjoying what he was doing. Just like any villain if they were given all the power they could ever want.
LATER-ISLAND H.Q
"You're certainly in a better mood." Shoto remarked as he watched his leader stroll down the corridor.
"I'm happy, well happy for you actually." Izuku lead him through the base to the testing room. Ochako was done practicing her wings for the day and now it was Todoroki's turn. "Mei finished upgrading the prototype I gave her to work with for your new support gear."
"You should really let that girl sleep." The half and half boy commented.
"As a matter of fact she's under my strict orders to sleep at least eight hours every knight and required to take regular meal breaks." Izuku laughed. "I can tell you how many times I've had to send the robots into her lab to drag her to bed or to lunch. She just doesn't like to stop working." As they entered the testing room Todoroki noticed the two long metallic rectangular cases in the center.
"I take it this is the support gear you promised me weeks ago." He stated as he approached the cases.
"Actually this has been an idea that's been floating around in my head ever since I saw your performance during the sports festival." Izuku gestured for him to open the containers. Shoto leaned over, unlocked the latches and flipped the first case open. Sitting there encased in a mold of protective foam was a long metal claymore sword. This weapon looked more modernized with circuit board-like patters and what seemed like small vents along the blade and a light blue tint covering the metal. There was also a silver symbol of a snow flake embedded in the handle. He opened the other case and there was an identical sword but this one had the symbol of a flame embedded in its handle and its metal was tinted red.
"Two swords?" Shoto asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Yup!" Izuku was excited. "Go ahead pick one up and channel your quirk through it." Todoroki looked skeptical at first but did as he was told. With his right hand he picked up the blue sword and channeled the ice part of his quirk into the handles. The claymore activated instantly, emitting a light blue glow as an icy mist began covering the blade emanating from the vents.
"Elemental blades." The green haired teen said proudly. "One of my finest technological works. Though I originally wanted to make it one single sword for you to channel both sides of your, but the constant change in extreme temperatures caused the device to rapidly deteriorate, the science just isn't there yet."
"Said the guy with an all-powerful gauntlet." Shoto muttered quietly to himself.
"These swords will grant even more strength behind your quirk while increasing your range as well. They'll also help regulate your body temp to limit the negative effects of your quirk" Seeing the confusion on his face he told him to swing the weapon while using his quirk. The youngest Todoroki attempted just that. Lifting the surprisingly light sword he swung it in a horizontal arc towards the wall. In nearly an instant an arc of ice blasted out of the blade colliding with wall and freezing it over in the same path as his swing. His heterochromatic eyes widened in shock at what he did so effortlessly with his quirk and this device combined. "See?"
"Amazing." Shoto complimented as he looked at the sword. "I see why the media calls you a technological genius."
"The funny thing is that I'm not really inventing anything new. This stuff has always been around I just put the pieces together and took it all to a new level." Using technology to enhance quirks wasn't a new discovery, but people and governments were always too afraid to take it to too far. They just didn't want the technology to fall into the hands of villains which it almost always did anyway.
"So the red one must be for my fire." The dual quirk user realized.
"Yes, but I would hold off on swinging that one around until you have better control over that side of your quirk." Izuku warned him.
"There's just one problem." Shoto turned around to face his leader. "I don't know how to use a sword, let alone wield two at once."
"That's where he comes in." The green haired teen pointed his thumb towards the door where Stain entered just as he said that looking as menacing as ever. "Stain here is going to give you a crash course on blade wielding. After that you'll have to practice on your own time as I'll be sending him on a secret mission soon."
"I still don't understand what you see in this kid." Stain sneered as he walked over to him. "How do you know he won't turn into a little Endeavor Junior on us?"
"Because unlike his father he can see what's wrong and improve upon himself, mentally and physically." Izuku explained with a glare that told him to 'Please get along with Todoroki.'
"I don't want to work with this psychopath." Shoto said honestly to the hero killer's face.
"And I don't want to work Himiko Toga, but she does get good results so I put up with her." Izuku turned his gaze to the boy. "Shoto. During missions and assignments you're going to be the leader. When we eventually recruit more potential heroes you'll probably have to work with people you don't like, so you should probably start getting used to it."
"Wait! You want me to be the leader?" Shoto was stunned at what Izuku just revealed. He always thought the gauntlet user was always going to be in charge.
"I can't be there every step of the way. I'm not a hero." Izuku shrugged. "So someone else will have to take charge as the mighty blade of the Knights of Balance. I think that someone should be you."
"I'm not sure if-" Izuku raised hand to cut him off.
"Its fine you don't have to give me an answer right now." Izuku started walking his way out of the testing room to leave Shoto and Stain to their work. "After all…" He paused and turned around to look at him to say one last thing before he left. "It's your choice."
I don't know about you guys, but Sunday doesn't end for me until Monday's sun peaks over the horizon. So technically I did finish this one on time according to my watch and philosophy (This a terrible philosophy to live by actually and I don't recommend it to anyone)
There's a few pieces here from that chapter I scrapped. I just recycled and reworked them a bit. There were some things I liked that I just couldn't throw out.
Swords! F yeah swords! Dual swords! I'm still a Bleach fan. I've long since moved on to other series but I still have fond memories of Bleach. Before anybody starts, Shoto's not going to go cutting people up. The swords are just enhancers for his quirk and appearance wise meant for some intimidation. I thought to myself if metallic wings are the coolest thing I can think of to give to Ochako. What would make Todoroki look bad ass?
A little teaser for the future. I really shouldn't reveal this, but I want to tell you, so here it is. TODOROKI VS BAKUGOU REMATCH! Yeah that's happening! Eventually!
Thanks for reading.