I planned to post this chapter well before TodoMomo week started, and I may have made it but it got wayyy closer than I thought. Whoops!
Sorry for the delay and enjoy!
"Todoroki-san? There's a letter for you." The nurse calls out to Rei.
"Thank you very much, dear." Rei says as she takes the envelope and rips open the seal with her fingernail. There is one piece of paper inside, trifolded. She flattens the creases and begins to read.
Mom,
I'm not exactly sure what to write here, so I'll just summarize what happened after our last visit.
A little bit about the regular classes:
Aizawa sensei explained a little bit about work-studies, which he defined as a more immersive version of internships. Only students with provisional licenses can do it.
The three top third-year students were introduced by Aizawa-sensei during class time to give a more in-depth explanation of how the work studies differ from the internships. The senpai were all rather odd, especially one of them that asked about the origins of my scar… Fortunately, she wasn't that interested in the answer and moved on before I could come up with an excuse.
Regardless, the number one student, Togata-senpai, offered the entire class an opportunity to challenge him as a demonstration. Aizawa-sensei said he was the closest to becoming the top hero and I could see why. I wasn't sure what to expect at first, but he easily incapacitated half the class within five minutes of the battle starting. I didn't participate since I didn't feel I deserved it without getting my license, but even if I was there I wouldn't have been able to change anything.
Togata-senpai could permeate through objects and even people. Powerful quirks are useless against someone that can literally not be hit. Midoriya even correctly predicted where he was going to attack next and countered him while he could still be touched, but senpai is experienced against tactics like that and had a countermeasure ready.
The most impressive thing about Togata-senpai is that he said his quirk was unusable for combat until he started his work study. With the experience, he made the power his own and is now a powerhouse and someone I will definitely keep an eye on in the future. It's a little vexing that I can't experience it myself at the same time as the others in my class, but I have only myself to blame for that.
With that in mind, I kept the same determination heading into the remedial classes.
Remedial courses:
Bakugou and I walked there together. I'm not quite sure what's on his mind, as he was concerned with minor things such as who should walk in front (he insisted that it be him). Aizawa-sensei seems like he will be chaperoning us there every week as a precaution.
I thought there might have been a slight chance that I could visit you after getting used to it for a couple weeks, but the class is much more physically demanding than I thought so I doubt I'll be able to come before the full three-months are over. I would have to balance seeing you, keeping my grades up, and passing the remedial course requirements every week. Sorry, I'm not capable enough to do all of that. Even Bakugou with his limitless energy has been moving quite sluggishly. I think the only one in the class that can do all of those things is Yaoyorozu with her time-management skills and ability to juggle multiple tasks at once.
I'm not the only one struggling with time and energy; Midoriya has been struggling with his work study (he's mentioned he's been having trouble concentrating in class). Aizawa-sensei even pulled him out of the drowning hazard field in Thirteen-sensei's class and told Midoriya he'll have to quit his work study if this keeps up. I'm not sure how to help him but I'll do what I can as we seem to be having similar problems.
That's all I have to report for now.
Shouto
Rei goes through a variety of different emotions reading her son's writing. She becomes slightly anxious when hearing that one of the senpai was bold enough to ask him about the origins of his scar, flattered that Shouto even thought about coming to visit her in the middle of this busy time, chuckles when she reads over how Shouto managed to praise Momo in this letter too, and laughs when he calls this letter his report. She reaches into her drawer to pull out the letter she had planned to send.
She begins making some small adjustments to her letter, thinking at the time she was writing that she would be the one that sends it first.
Take out this word here, maybe move this sentence to the next paragraph. Oh, I should replace this word for a more accurate one…
Her edits only lead to more edits and before she knew it a good portion of the day had passed by the end of her writing. She gave up on the first piece of paper after seeing all the scribbles from the corrections, so she used that as a template for a new letter. Rei becomes satisfied with the new letter and sends it out.
Dear Shouto,
Your senpai certainly sounds impressive. One day, you'll also be at their level. I'm proud of you for not being inpatient; slow and steady wins the race.
Balancing a job as demanding as a hero along with school is no easy task. I saw that firsthand with some of my relatives and with your Father. It becomes even harder for those that have families waiting for them. Consider this a sample of challenges to come. I know how hard you've worked and how much you wish to be the top hero, so your mother knows you'll be able to handle this.
Remember that Momo also offered you help if you needed to.
Don't worry about seeing me soon, I can wait for as long as you need.
Love,
Mom
Exactly one week later, a new letter arrives from Shouto.
Mom,
Midoriya, Asui, Uraraka, and Kirishima all got involved in a big, important mission while on their work study. I probably shouldn't share the details in writing, but just a little bit should be okay. It had to do with the raid against the crime syndicate that led to the death of All Might-sensei's former sidekick, Sir. Before you ask, they're all fine as of now as well as Aizawa-sensei, who also participated. Midoriya and Kirishima sustained some serious injuries but have recovered. The 'Big Three' senpai also joined in the mission but I haven't heard about Togata-senpai's condition. I'm sure he's fine though given how strong he is.
Because Aizawa-sensei has to deal with some of the aftermath, he'll be somewhere else while Bakugou and I go to our remedial classes. Last week we had All Might-sensei and Present Mic-sensei accompanying us. I thought it might become an issue because… Father had free time and, for some reason, decided to use it to observe my training. Father and All Might had a good chance of meeting with each other at the venue and, as you know, their non-public meetings always have high tensions.
Yoarashi also introduced us to one of his classmates for this week's training. Her name is Utsushimi Camie, one year our senior. She seems nice, she complimented my appearance and offered me her phone number on first look, so I saved it to my contacts-
..
Rei pauses here and blinks. She shouldn't be surprised that her handsome son is quite popular. Up until this point, the only potential girl that he's shown significant interest towards is certainly Momo.
Though she won't interfere with her son's choices in women… she wonders if he understands the implications of this Utsushimi Camie's actions. Looking back at their previous conversations, the answer to that question is clear: definitely not. Rei sighs and continues reading where she left off.
Utsushimi qualified for the second round of the test, but she lost her memories a few days before the test and was being investigated. At least, that's the public explanation that's being given for her delayed participation. I don't want to put the real reason in writing in case someone intercepts this. I can tell you if you want the next time we meet in-person.
..
In that regard, she's a little luckier than Shishikura, also from their school, who failed in the first round. He was only given permission to observe. According to Kaminari and Kirishima, he easily could have passed the first round if he didn't wait around and go out of his way to target Bakugou. Another person to keep an eye on in the future.
Yoarashi tried to get closer to me by asking what's my favorite food. He seems to be a nice guy in spite of our rough first impressions. He wants us to be best friends, but that unfortunately seems like a reach… our tastes might be incompatible. I told him I liked cold soba and he liked hot udon.
Speaking of incompatibility, Father… yelled out my name and drew everyone's attention shortly before the class began. He was sitting next to All Might and looked like he mouthed something to him at times. I was worried that Father would instigate an argument, as he usually does.
The four of us: myself, Bakugou, Yoarashi, and Utsushimi were given a special assignment of winning the hearts and minds of elementary students.
They proved to be an unruly bunch and we ended up having to battle against them.
..
Again, Rei pauses. 'How did it end up this way against children from elementary school?' She shakes her head and continues on.
..
If we went with Bakugou's initial suggestion of "beating some sense into them," it likely wouldn't have worked at all. Plus, even he admitted that it wouldn't be effective to beat them up after calming down. We went with a variation where we let them use their strongest attacks as an outlet. We then combined any of their applicable quirks with ours to create an ice sculpture that also functions as a slide.
Their teacher explained that quirks can have a great effect on development, so her role was to provide emotional support. However, that's not always enough. This group of children had closed their hearts off, so it was up to us to get them to open up again. I think we succeeded. Everyone, from me to my teammates to the students and even the teachers, all had fun..
The children's satisfaction from the fun they had let them follow our orders more easily.
One of the first kids that attacked us walked up to me while cleaning up and said that his quirk can eat up the ice and make them disappear. He seemed enthusiastic when I said his quirk would shine in disaster rescues.
One of the little girls that had a clear disdain for Utsushimi from first sight also went up to her afterwards to apologize and ask if they could talk again later. Utsushimi said that they are more than welcome once they get phones. The little girl and her group asked the same of me as well and I repeated Utsushimi's answer, though I'm not sure why they wanted to talk with me when I didn't interact with them much.
Father was waiting for me after class. He was standing near All Might, so the conversation seemed surprisingly peaceful.
He wanted to put his hand on my head like you, but he's not you so I smacked it away. Instead of getting mad like he usually does, he said he's hoping to be a hero that I can be proud of. As my father and the #1 hero, he wants to deserve it. He seemed to be sincere for once, so I told him to do whatever he wanted.
Shouto
Rei picks up her pre-written letter, a blank paper, and a pen yet again. This time, she won't even pretend that her first letter is acceptable to send out and replicates her process from her previous letter.
Dear Shouto,
I'm glad to hear that all of your friends are all right after that dangerous mission. I hope the same is true for your senpai, too.
It's a shame what happened to All Might's sidekick. Please send him my regards. I've met him several times and he's always been very kind to me.
As for this Utsushimi-san… tell me if she ever asks or does anything out of the ordinary. While I'm sure this isn't the case with her, there've been increasing reports everywhere about people being taken advantage of. This is probably just a mother being overprotective, but I can't help but worry about my innocent son.
It's nice that you're getting along with this Yoarashi-san. Just know that even people that never see eye-to-eye can become friendly rivals that push each other to be better. On occasion, they can even become friends when given time to know one another. Perhaps your father is also learning that right now. He's someone that we know has chased All Might's back this entire time and yet is still looking to him for advice (I struggle to think of another reason your father wishes to talk with him at this time).
I do wish I could have seen your sculpture. It sounds beautiful.
I know that you are aiming to be the number one hero, and there will be many thorns along that path. Your experience with those little children is something that you can always draw back on when things inevitably get hard. Every time you struggle, you also pave the way for a better future.
I'm glad that you all had fun and experienced education as well as teamwork. And that you are giving your father a chance.
Love,
Mom
I was initially planning on ending this chapter with Shouto's return, but ended up breaking it up since I didn't remember the timeline properly in my head (and especially since this chapter would've looked way too long to me lol). It might end up being three chapters until Shouto and Rei meet again, so as of now 6 chapters left after this~