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Toya is a terrible person.
‘“Can we train today again?!”
“I’m sorry, Toya, I can’t. I… I need to help Rei with your little sister.” Toya emotionally deflates like a sad balloon. “You know, being a hero isn’t just fighting villains. Most of it is helping civilians in what ways you can,” Toya looks up to see the small smirk on his father’s face. “Why don’t you go help your mother around the house with the chores today? I’m sure she’ll appreciate it.”
Toya nods vigorously, struggling to get traction on the hardwood floors as he runs to his mother’s room as his father just chuckles heartily.’
…
‘“Dad! Look!” Toya exclaims, as the bright white flames turn blue and begin swirling around him. He twists his upper body as hard and as quickly as possible, and they follow the motion violently. The roar of the flames is deafening and Toya’s skin begins to turn red from the heat.
He looks up, and sees the absolute pride on his father’s face, the light reflecting in his eyes in the darkness cast by the flames.
“Well done, my boy!” His chuckle is hearty as he lifts his son up, ruffling his air. Toya grins, giggling to himself, and in that moment, he can’t care about the wrought dryness of his skin or the agony of touch against his burns.
The only thing he feels in that moment is… Love.’
…
‘“Can we train today?”
“I’m sorry, not today. Natsuo is being extra… Fussy, this weekend. Maybe next time”
…
“Not this weekend. There’s a raid that we’ve been preparing for months.”
“No. Crime’s spiked so much this month I have to work around the clock until we get it under control.”
Toya burns himself harder and harder each time, and every time he sees either one of his siblings, or his father on TV, there’s a small bubble of resentment that Toya tries to shove away, but it sticks to his skin like oil.’
At least he’s self-aware.
Dad takes them all to the hospital that day. It’s a strange occurrence, for one, because he rarely ever calls off work.
“I’m so excited!” Fuyumi bounces, her bright blue eyes alight behind her spectacles. Natsuo groans.
“Ugh, it’s just another girl, gross,” He drawls. Both Fuyumi and Toya glare at him, but for different reasons.
“Can you two shut up?” He growls. A single blue flame licks up a stray lock of hair and sparks into smoke. Natsuo just sweat drops, looking away as Fuyumi nods swiftly, obviously scared of him. Toya just scoffs, ignoring the glare from his father in the rearview mirror. “Why isn’t the chauffeur taking us?”
“This is a special occasion. I thought It would be… more appropriate, for me to do it myself,” His father answers honestly. Toya just taps his feet in anticipation as Natsuo looks up out the sunroof, bored out of his mind. Fuyumi looks out the window curiously at the world as they blow by on the expressway.
Eventually, after his dad almost crashes twice (He really didn’t drive often, did he-?), they pull into the multi-level parking garage. Toya gets out and stands up straight, leveling a stare with his father to match his posture. Toya is still far too lanky and skinny to match his father.
‘Yet,’ Toya thinks to himself. Fuyumi gets out of the car properly without fuss as Natsuo practically crawls out and stretches.
Toya mulls over earlier that morning as they walk inside the entrance to the skyway to the main hospital. The baby- Shoko, had already been born, and dad had been there, he just came to pick up the other three.
The group of four remain relatively calm as a nurse leads them down a hallway, and they finally reach mom’s room.
“Please try to be quiet,” The nurse asks politely, before silently opening the door. The curtains on the other side of the room are pulled all the way to the side, revealing the snow covered city of Musutafu in the background.
Mom’s sitting on the bed, surrounded by pillows and blankets, exhausted from the bag’s under her eyes, but the most grateful looking smile Toya’s ever seen. Her silver eyes are leaking tears as she looks up at dad. In her arms is a small bundle, and-
Toya freezes as soon as he sees it’s- her, hair.
Fuyumi gasps and runs over, leaning over heavily to look at the infant with wonder in her eyes as Natsuo sprints over with her. Toya slows to a crawl as his dad stands back. His pupils dart back and forth between mom and dad.
The baby’s hair is fine, other than the two-toned nature of it. It’s white on the right side, and red on the left, split perfectly down the middle.
Mom and dad’s hair, combined fully. Not like Fuyumi with her red streak highlights.
Mom and dad’s quirks, presumably, perfectly combined.
The very thing that Toya failed to achieve.
The only thing that could have earned his father’s approval and respect.
Toya’s burned himself so many times, showed them to his father, bared them for the world see, broken a rib before, fractured his arms and legs several times on purpose, only-
Only to have this… This… Shoko, to steal it away from him.
Toya glides over silently and slowly as he feels every sense of heat and fire die inside of his chest. His dad must’ve sense this as he puts a firm yet gentle hand on his shoulder to keep him steady.
Shoko opens her eyes, and, again, they’re perfectly split. Her right eye is silver like mom, and her left turquoise like dad. She blinks up at him curiously, still sucking on her pacifier. Shoko reaches out to him.
He doesn’t know what compelled him, but Toya reaches a hand up slowly, and all of Shoko’s ten little fingers wrap around his index finger with ease. Fuyumi coos as Rei softly gasps. Natsuo has the gall to look jealous as Toya’s pupils shake, his mouth growing twisted in horror.
He steps away as Fuyumi and Natsuo crowd around mom again, they’re chatter and laughter drowned out by the ringing in Toya’s ears. He looks up at dad, his pupils shrunken to dots.
Dad has the audacity to look regretful.
–
Quirk therapy isn’t for another week, but that doesn’t stop Toya from training himself.
Of course, the one time he hurts himself too badly to continue is the one day dad has off.
“Come on! Hero’s fight through injuries all the time! I’m not gonna let this keep me down-!”
“Toya!” his father interrupts, and he flinches- hard. His right arm stings in its sling, but Toya still meets his dad’s intense stare with equal intensity searching them for an answer. After what seemed like a minute of no breathing, his dad eventually breathes out, and runs a hand through his hair. “...I’ve failed you,”
Toya’s eyes fly open, darting around as he steps back.
“What?! No! You haven’t, I-”
“I’ve driven you to hurt yourself like this…” His dad bites his lower lip, and the only thing Toya sees is the same regret he saw in his eyes the day Shoko was born. The fire in Toya’s chest swells with pain. If his dad can sense this, too, he chooses to do nothing about it.
“You lit this fire underneath me!” Toya shouts, flames trailing off his fingers as he steps forward, resolve burning in his chest. “Of course I would push myself to prove I’m worthy of your love You never pay attention to me otherwise!”
Toya screaming is the first time he’s seen genuine horror in his father’s eyes before he passes out, all the oxygen in his lungs burned up from his Quirk activating.
–
Toya blinks wearily awake. There’s something stuck in his throat. He coughs to try and clear his throat, only for a sharp pain to go throughout his entire airway. His hand shoots up to grasp around his throat, before moving to his mouth, and finds a respirator around his jaw.
“He’s awake!”
Toya’s hand is gently moved out of the way before he can react. There’s blurry figures in white around him as he confusedly looks up, his head pounding.
“We’re gonna pulley he tube out. It’s gonna be uncomfortable, but it’s gonna be quick, okay?” The lead doctor- An older male with round spectacles, asks. Toya just nods weakly. “Okay, one, two-”
Uncomfortable was an understatement.
Toya stifles a scream as the breathing tube is pulled from his throat, scratching it even rawer than it was. The first breath of fresh air on his own is agony and bliss in one as he starts choking. A nurse quickly wipes the spittle around his mouth as Toya heaves and the assistant keep bustling around him.
“You gave us quite the scare there, young man!” The doctor chides gently, no venom in his voice. Toya just huffs, still collecting his breath and focusing on the agony that is simply breathing.
He swallows thickly, full of blood and bile, and grimaces heavily. The door clicks open, and Toya can recognize his father’s footsteps the moment he steps in. He looks over and sees his father’s face.
There’s worry clearly written across it. It doesn’t look good on him. At all. Awkwardness boils in Toya’s chest.
“Hey, old man…” Toya drawls, coughing heavily and trying to smile. The skin on his face pulls too much for it to be normal. His father swallows, shallowly returning the smile quickly before it falls.
It falls silent as the doctors work on wrapping new bandages around Toya. It hurts and burns worse than normal. His father just watches on silently, his normally vibrant turquoise eyes dull under the fluorescent lights. Eventually, they finish on Toya, and they begin leaving as the doctor has a word with his father.
“The button on the wall is for emergencies if he suffers cardiac arrest or seizure. He can’t speak or move much right now. I’ll be back in a few hours to discuss what to do moving forward,” The doctor tells his father.
“Thank you, sir,” His father replies curtly. Both he and the doctor nod, and the doctor steps out of the room. His father sighs, and sits back down in the chair, hands on his knees. He’s in a bright blue collared shirt and dress pants- Clearly not having enough time to properly dress.
It’s silent for the longest time.
“...I’m not sure where to begin…” his father says quietly. It’s not a calm before the storm rage, or disappointment- It’s genuine loss. Toya blinks.
“What do we do now?” Toya asks eventually.
“They want an emergency Quirk therapy session. They’ve never seen anything like what happened with you before,” Enji replies. Toya blinks again.
“Well, surely they-”
“Toya, your lungs collapsed.” His father raises his voice, and stops Toya dead in his tracks. His eyes widen as he takes in the information. “You screamed, and then you just-... Dropped…” That tone sends shivers up Toya’s spine. He swallows uncomfortably.
“Could’ve been worse,” Toya muses, pressing his lips together. “Could’ve exploded,” Enji just gives a humorless huff as he runs his fingers through his hair. It becomes silent again after a while, the tension still thick.
“They want to start the blood drawing in a couple of hours,” He sighs tiredly, rubbing his eyes. ‘Has he really not slept?’ “...The worst part is I could’ve prevented this…”
“...Huh?”
“When I was about a year older than you, I got into a fight with my old man, and ended up burning myself so bad I stopped breathing. I scorched my lungs so bad they had to go in with a medical vaccuum to clean the blood out every few hours. They told me I was lucky to be alive, and even luckier to ever walk again… Well…” Enji gestures to himself. “Still here,”
“And you became a Pro Hero after all of that?”
“My old man had died in an accident before I was able to graduate, so I didn’t have a chance to ever burn my lungs that bad ever again.” Enji huffs. Toya just blinks, grimacing. ‘I do have it really lucky, don’t I?’
“How… How bad was it with me?”
“Thankfully, yours was quick, but the temperature of your flames meant it didn’t need to take long for it to happen. They got you on the ventilator quickly and discussed methods with me to prevent this from happening again. Quirk training, specialized physical therapy, therapy in general-”
“Therapy?” Toya asks, bewildered.
“Lot of Pro Heroes go through it from the public eye,” Enji replies. The seriousness in his tone makes Toya shiver before he bites his lip and nods.
“...Make sense for someone like me…” Toya muses weakly.
“You’re just like me when I was younger, just… your Quirk is so much stronger there’s a good chance it’ll kill you, and it’ll be nobody’s fault but mine,” Enji rubs his eyes tiredly again, exhaling. “I… I should’ve thought all of this through more…”
“...You’re doing your best-”
“It’s never enough. You and me are the exact same and we’d both rather die by our pride than admit we need help-”
“That’s not true-!”
“Maybe not for you,” Enji breathes out. “You got your mother’s body constitution as well as her compassion and empathy, and you got my Quirk and inherent volatility.”
“...Is there nothing positive about you that makes you a Hero?” Toya asks quietly, looking to face his father. He looks a lot older now than he did before. Enji looks him in the eye before his gaze falls to the floor.
“...I thought if I piled as much good as possible on my actions I could cancel out all the bad I inherited from both sides of my family,” Enji replies, his tone flat. “Both my parents weren’t awful but they weren’t perfect humans. Tried to make my life as good as possible, but they couldn’t remove the anger and violence that they had both inherited.”
“...I carry that… Don’t I?”
“All too much.”
Toya swallows and looks away back up at the ceiling. It’s dead silent for what feels like forever, with only the electrical humming of the generators above them keeping the lights on.
“...Both you and me aren’t good at talking things out, that’s something else you got from me,” Enji says after a while, keeping the bitterness at bay as much as he internally can. “When we get back, I’ll start training you more with your Quirk, less something like… Like this ever happen again.”
“...Understood…”
–
Toya is able to limp himself down the hall to the room where they do blood tests. They had a bunch of machines there, some of them with M on the side to designate that they were for Meta Abilities-
‘It’s so goddamn confusing,’ Toya thinks to himself. ‘Quirk sounds dumb, and Meta is just… I dunno, one day I’ll get it-’ Toya flinches as the needle is stuck in his arm and blood starts to be drawn.
Toya grimaces, nearly snarling at the tube stuck in his vein before he starts surveying the room around him. Dad was told to go get some rest now that Toya was assuredly okay, he obliged- begrudgingly, but Toya didn’t mind. ‘ He needs to be well rested in case of a villain attack, after all-!’
Toya’s eyes snap over to an old man sitting across the room, an IV in his arm still drawing blood. He almost looks like a mannequin with the way he was sitting there. His head tilts to the side as the nurse, a younger woman with curly blonde hair walks over.
“Something wrong?” She asks, worried. Toya gestures subtly to the old man in the corner who looks like he isn’t breathing.
“Is he okay?” Toya asks genuinely, heart starting to race. This… This didn’t feel right.
“Oh, him,” The nurse says fondly. “He’s a long time ward here… He’s… He’s a veteran of the Jeddah Crisis way back when.” Is all the explanation she gave. Toya blinks, before his eyes start to scour around, mind trying to recollect.
There’s been a lot of Quirk-Related crises around the world, several in the past decade since he was born. Maybe it’s just something that he hasn’t learned yet? Suddenly, that distant look in his eyes makes a lot of sense.
‘“Are you okay?” Toya toddles up to his father. His pregnant mother is nowhere to be seen, and Fuyumi has fallen asleep quite a while ago. His father doesn’t react, he just keeps staring out of the window.
It’s silent for a while before he looks down at Toya. The normal vibrance of his turquoise eyes, just like Toya, is completely gone.
“Hey, kiddo…” He breathes out tiredly, bringing Toya up on his knee. Toya stares at him worriedly.
“Are you okay?” He asks again. Had dad not heard him the first time? His father just shakes his head tiredly, rubbing his eyes. The normal warmth from him is completely gone.
“Just… A long, long day at work, that’s all… I’ll be better in the morning…” He replies flatly as he bounces Toya on his knee. Toya just stares at him worriedly still, but nods and stares out the window with him.
Dad and mom sleep in separate rooms that night.
Mom looks really sad, but doesn’t say anything to him.
Mom cooks dad breakfast in the morning, and his dad looks almost back to his regular self- Like a giant, grumpy teddy bear, but Toya still has that lingering feeling he isn’t old enough to understand yet.’
Toya’s heart runs cold as he is old enough now to understand.
That… That darker side to professional heroism, where you simply weren’t fast or strong enough to save someone. Enji has to live with that, and by extension, the rest of his family.
Toya doesn’t like being so in touch with that side of life, but it makes him realize how important each of his steps is because he’s afforded those opportunities.
Eventually, the nurse pulls the IV gently from the interior of his elbow, and Toya rubs the tourniquet applied to it.
“I gotta go talk to your father real quick,” The nurse breathes out as she brings a food cart around. “You’ll still feel light headed, so eat and drink as much as you need before standing up.
“Thank you,” Toya nods. The nurse smiles in return before stepping out of the room. Toya looks over at the old man again, and then at the cart. He breathes in, grimacing.
‘“You know, being a hero isn’t just fighting villains. Most of it is helping civilians in what ways you can,”’
The old man looks up at him with dead eyes as Toya extends the cookie and juicebox.
“You looked lonely…” Toya says awkwardly, looking away. “I can bring the cart over, if you want…”
It’s silent for what feels like forever.
Toya feels like he’s making a grave mistake, before the old man shakily receives the cookie and juicebox.
“Thank you,” He expresses gently, like he hasn’t used his voice in years. Toya smiles sadly, saying nothing before returning to his seat just as the nurse walks back in.
“You’re clear!” She says. Toya smiles at her as he stands back up shakily. The nurse helps him steady himself before he looks back over at the old man. His cold grey eyes are watching him, but the small hint of a smile is on his lips.
Toya returns it before stepping out.
–
“Alright,” His father begins, setting the water bottle down. Toya and him had started stretching and weights before anything related to Quirks. “So… One of the most helpful things at this age is simply just temperance. We’ve discussed this before, but it’s important to refresh It’s keeping your Quirk on but at the lowest setting or percentage mark. If that doesn’t work, then think of it like a balancing act on a beam of keeping your Quirk stably on.”
Toya nods as he wipes his forehead, muscles burning. His father raises his palm, and a flame sparks to life, gently dancing around.
“It’s easy for me since I’ve been doing it for so long. We’ve done this before, so I want to see your progress,” He crosses his arms and gestures for Toya to try. Toya nods, and raises his arm, before closing his eyes. He grimaces as he tries to make his head completely silent.
‘Imagining it as a setting doesn’t usually work. Percentage marks and the balance thing usually work better, so…’
Toya feels his arm wreathed in heat.
‘Too high,’
It goes away completely.
‘Dammit,’
“I get it’s a lot harder considering you run significantly hotter,” Enji tells Toya. Toya frowns as he considers everything.
“Do you think working on physical balance will translate into Quirk control?” Toya asks. His father’s eyes light up as he smiles.
“Exactly!” He exclaims. “It tends to, in most cases! Considering how volatile your Quirk, there’s a good chance it will. We never got to work on it beforehand, but there’s no time like the present. There’s a gym not too far from here with a dedicated open acrobatics gym, so we can get a trainer to help with that,”
Toya nods as he shuts his Quirk off, slightly disappointed.
–
Toya’s fallen twice now.
He’s plainly embarrassed as he walks back to the physical trainer, limping.
“You’re putting in the work kid,” He pats him on the back. Toya flinches as he hits one of the burns that’s yet to heal. “Sorry,” He squeaks. Toya looks up at him, grimacing. Apparently he was one of the Olympic trainers that his father specifically requested to help.
“There’s a couple of exercises we still need to go over, but for now, it’s just about putting in the hours-”
*thump*
Toya blocks out the rest of what the trainer was saying as he looks across at the other beam and sees a short girl with rabbit ears and dark skin with her arms outstretched. She doesn’t look much older than him, but is year’s above his level judging by the blur he’s seen parallel to him for hours.
The small crowd around her applaud, before she looks over her shoulder and winks at him, smirking. Toya snarls.
“Can I get back on that beam,”
“Wha-”
“That little shit thinks she can mock me,” Toya growls. The girl looks one last time and flashes a shit-eating grin, knowing she got under his skin.
“Well… More physical practice will certainly be beneficial in the long run, just… Don’t hurt yourself,” He grimaces.
“I won’t,” Toya promises as he sets the towel and water bottle down, facing the beam one more time. He thinks of how elegant Fuyumi is on the ice whenever she skates, and snarls even more.
‘I got this,’
Toya did, in fact, not have it.
–
“Oh, what happened?”
Toya flinches as he spins around, and sees the girl from before faking a concerned look, bunny ears straight up. Toya’s eye twitches, but decides to humor her in the rare chance she is being genuine.
“I fell and ate shit,” He grumbles, sipping his water.
“Shame,” She tuts, shaking her head tapping her foot with her hands on her hip. “Here I thought I found someone worthy to take me on! Maybe one day…” She looks away sadly.
“Fuck off,” Toya snaps under his breath, eyes narrowed as the water in the bottle begins to boil. The girl walks away before she flashes another smirk at him before she disappears behind the double doors.
Toya was about to explode before his father walks in.
“You okay?” he perches an eyebrow. Toya just looks away.
“Yeah,”
“Wounded pride?”
Toya just sighs heavily.
“Know how you feel,” His father chuckles, patting his shoulder before guiding him out of the gym.
–
The giant bruise is still on his face by the end of the month. At least it isn’t alone with several other cuts and marks caused by him failing.
People look at him with concern and horror in public. The vast majority are too terrified of him to approach.
‘Should probably stop scowling so much,’ Toya glowers to himself.
Before he knows it, he’s facing down the beam, again.
“It’s a month’s progress, today!” The trainer tells him. “You’ve gotten close, but you haven’t completed A level difficulty yet, but you’re advancing very well! Let’s see what you got!” Toya looks way back at the beam.
‘Down and back,’ Toya thinks to himself. ‘No one’s watching- No one gives a shit. Haven’t seen that rabbit fucker since-’
Toya shakes his head, pausing before he hears the click of the timer.
He immediately jumps into a series of tumbling passes. Toya’s core screams out in pain as he halts him at the very end, but he grimaces before straightening himself and staring back down, his vision narrowed.
Every flip and roll is agony on his body, but Toya grounds himself as he realizes it’s over quicker than he thought.
“Let’s go!” His trainer cheers, helping him. Toya breathes out, eyes closed as he doubles over before he becomes aware of other people cheering as well. He looks up, blinking to find a good portion of the gym- A very large gym, now that Toya realizes it fully.
His face flushes red, but scowls as he looks away. His core is still weeping, but Toya is too proud of himself to care.
‘I gotta try it when I get home,’ Toya thinks to himself. ‘Maybe it won’t work, but… Something’s gotta change. I gotta keep trying-’
“Not so bad for a newbie!”
Toya’s head snaps over to the voice, before he grimaces and realizes it’s the rabbit girl from before. His trainer just chuckles as he crosses his arms.
“Thank you,” He tells his trainer. He looks surprised, but leads him back to his father.
Toya doesn’t look over his shoulder once.
–
“Alright,” His father breathes out. “Are you ready?” Toya nods, before closing his eyes. It’s gotten a lot easier to close out the world around him.
‘That balance beam…’ Toya remembers. It was pretty easy standing on it. He could walk the distance and back with no problem.
There’s humming under his skin.
Toya blinks his eyes open and looks to see his skin completely normal. He touches it to the window and it condensates almost immediately. He feels hot, but not uncomfortably so.
He looks up at his father, whose eyes are filled with so much pride it looks like he might burst.
“That’s my boy!” He hugs Toya tightly, and Toya grins, giggling to himself as he keeps his Quirk activated.
–
It was definitely weird having a Quirk that wrought so much pain and destruction be controlled so easily. It was like walking a lion around with a leash.
Shoko takes far more of a liking to him.
“Get off, you-!” Toya grimaces as he tries to remove the koala that is Shoko. Shoko pouts and snuggles his arm tighter. Fuyumi just giggles as Toya snarls, but doesn’t attempt to remove Shoko any more.
“God-!” Natsuo chokes on hot air as he walks into the living room, his face scrunching.
“Natsuo!” His mother reprimands from the living room as she folds clothes. Natsuo just grimaces as he looks up at his older brother.
“You’re like a walking heatstroke!” Natsuo frowns. Toya just looks down at his youngest brother condescendingly.
“That’s a fancy word,” He drawls. “Where’d you learn that? Idiot school?”
“Why, you-!”
“Boys!” Rei walks in, exhaling. “Why can’t you just behave?” She asks tiredly.
“Sorry/Sorry,” They both say in unison. Their mother just presses her lips together before she looks at her youngest daughter clinging to Toya.
“You want to watch cartoons with mommy?” She smiles. Shoko just glares, pouting up at her mother. Her mother just frowns as Toya stares at her blankly.
“I appreciate the effort,” He says. Rei just chuckles before walking back to the living room.
–
It was rare all four of them were able to be taken out together by mom, even when dad was at work being Endeavor.
All of them had gotten A’s on their report cards, Fuyumi being elected as her years’ representative, and Shoko having a reading level several years above her age, so mom decided to take them to Toys-R-Us.
Toya grumbled all the time, something about being too old to be here, while glaring at the ground like it had offended him. Natsuo was incredibly fixated on all the new video games they had out in the electronic section. Fuyumi had taken up walking around with mom and Shoko.
They came to a model building section with a bunch of displays lined up in the center. The moment they entered, Shoko’s eyes lit up like a Christmas tree.
Fuyumi carried the sets Shoko had bought as she bounced along, a rare expression of emotion from her.
“Do you not want something?” Her mother asked Toya. He scoffs and looks away, before snatching two squishmallows from between the strings of their cage. Her mother looks surprised, but just suppresses a smile and says nothing.
Toya looks at Natsuo like he might murder him if he says anything.
Then they get to the car, as Fuyumi helps Shoko buckle up, both of them are hit by the squishmallows. Fuyumi looks up, surprised, to see Toya looking away.
“Happy early Christmas, you dorks,” He drawls. Fuyumi just blinks.
“But it’s July-”
“Do I look like I give a damn-” Toya hisses as his mother smacks his arm lightly. Fuyumi just looks at the squishmallow- a kitten with an adorable face, and at Shoko’s which is a different color.
Fuyumi puts it by her pillow and it never leaves that spot.
–
–
‘FUKUOKA INCIDENT: Number 2 Hero Endeavor’s Condition Unclear’
‘150 Injured After Major Hero-Villain Battle Leads to Industrial Estate Explosion’
‘Memorial Set Up Outside of Hospital Where Endeavor Has been Airlifted to After Fukuoka Explosion.’
The lights of the TV reflect off of Toya’s eyes. They twitch, his hand shaking before he storms away, leaving his distraught mother alone as she watches the news carry on and on.
The house feels more akin to a maze more than anything. The pain and fear wells in Toya’s chest, but the only thing he lets show on his face is his anger. There’s pain in his knees, and Toya buckles to a stop, both hands against the wall as he shakes, and is forced to listen to his mother’s sobs and the TV playing in the background.
‘“Was this the villain that finally proved too strong for Endeavor-?!”’
‘Why-?!’
‘“All Might was reported to have carried Endeavor to the MedEvac after falling unresponsive-”’
‘WHY?!’
‘“Not more is known about Endeavor or All Might’s condition, but it is assumed to be incredibly severe-!”’
‘STOP!’
Toya chokes on air as a searing pain shoots up his arms. He looks and sees the dangerous blue of the flames drifting off of his limbs. His tears sizzle and evaporate before he runs a hand through his hair, pulling hard to see if it would cancel out the rage and fear he felt inside.
He stands up fully, biting the inside of his lip to keep himself from screaming.
“...Toya?”
Toya startles, flinching violently as he whips around to level a murderous glare at an equally startled Fuyumi. The dim light of the fire highlights Toya’s silhouette, nothing but the piercing white of his eyes visible as dots amidst the black of his form in the shadows.
“What?” He growls. Fuyumi looks increasingly scared, like she might pee herself- ‘Go figure-’
“I-I-I t-thought dad t-told y-you n-not to g-go to-”
“Well, he’s not fucking here, he's in hospital busy fucking passing away,” Toya barks back, jerking forward as the flames swell in his stomach. Fuyumi steps back sharply. “He wants to preach about me dnot being able to handle it only to run out there and nearly fucking die! AND FOR WHAT?!”
The flames scorch the wall above Fuyumi as she stares up at Toya with genuine horror as he inches closer. She’s shaking like a leaf as frost begins crawling up the wall behind her, only to melt from the giant hole in the wall behind her.
“Get the HELL away from me!” Fuyumi struggles for traction, a sob escaping her lips as she sprints away from Toya, flames trailing off of his arms as he remains hunched over. He watches her disappear into the darkness of the rest of the house, and there’s a pang of genuine hurt and guilt in his chest that starts welling up again.
Toya struggles to put his own flames out. At first, he tries putting them out on his pants, but they start searing his skin the longer they burn. He briefly panics, and they flare before finally going out.
He’s left breathing heavily as he looks at the involuntary burns tracking up and down his arms. Toya breathes out and pulls at his hair, gritting his teeth, but not crying.
The sliding door slams open as he stumbles outside. His feet are immediately freezing as the snow melts into water. Toya grits his teeth and marches on, the snow up to his knees. The fire and rage swelling in his chest is far too dangerous. The last thing he wants to do is burn anything of dad’s.
The trek up to Sekoto Peak is shorter than normal. The fire becomes more and more uncontrollable as Toya pants, eyes wild and his movements uncontrollable. The moment he sees the rocky outcropping, and the elevation of the hill becomes level with his eyes. Toya staggers to a halt.
Blue fire sweeps over everything. Several dead trees collapse almost immediately as the creaking and groaning of the other’s are the only thing audible over the roar of the fire. Toya screams as he slams the ground.
The fire trailing from his body is the only sort of reprieve he feels from the emotions burning inside of him.
‘“You’re just like your father!” His mother laughs, ruffling his hair.’
Toya looks at the puddle of water he’s hunched over, and sees the same turquoise eyes staring back at him.
‘It’s a Scandinavian war veteran who fought in a conflict decades ago. Heroes.Net was having him on as a (Apparently reluctant) guest. Toya forgets his name, or what conflict it was, or what he did.
“-I’ve never bought into the whole Pro Hero thing,” There’s gasps around the studio as the old man remains unfazed. “These people go gallivanting off to save complete strangers before their own families!”’
Toya blinks up at the TV. he looks over at his mother, and she’s biting her lip, quivering before going back to folding the clothes on the couch. Fuyumi is in her high-chair burbling over her breakfast, and Natsuo is asleep in his crib.
Toya just shakes his head. He doesn’t understand. He’ll just ask dad.
He doesn’t have the chance to.
Mom and dad get into a screaming match that ends with dad staying at a hotel nearby and mother going to sleep crying.’
Toya blinks, eye’s going wide as realization washes over. The outcry from the people in the memory fades into the smoke building up as Toya’s lips part, his hair beginning to singe as well.
It’s awful how a random, no-name man from some distant memory in his own head is able to make Toya realize what he’s been missing this entire time.
‘Dad… Dad never really cared about me… About us… Ever, really?’ Toya hiccups as his flames’ intensity wavers between going cold and burning him into nothing. He shakes as he grimaces, swallowing.
Toya sits on the floor as his breathing quickens, becoming shallower and shallower.
‘No! No no no no no-!’ He feels like an ungrateful child in his own head when he’s only grasping for answers and hope. ‘He has to! Dad wouldn’t train me otherwise! He-... He has to-!’
Toya chokes as smoke pours out of his mouth. He pants, scrambling to try and breathe properly. No scream comes out as there is no oxygen in his airways. Toya grabs his throat as the skin burns and his flames refuse to go away.
His skin burns into ashes as he struggles to stand upright. Toya falls to his knees as he clenches his jaw, eyelids forced shut as the pain becomes unbearable. The trees begin burning, too, into a giant blue and white sea of fire against the night sky.
“TOYA!”
The last thing Toya sees is his mother rushing in, ice following her every footsteps to stay off of the burning ground before he falls under.
–
Fuyumi hears sirens outside of the door. She bolts upright and runs out as paramedics run in. Her heart runs cold as she comes closer. The gentle blue glow from the mountains outside and the wailing of their mother is the only thing she’s able to hear.
Tears prick at her eyes as she hears a helicopter overhead, and a red dust is dumped over the fire, but does little to stop its intensity.
Natsuo falls out of bed upstairs, and Shoko is screaming and crying, but Fuyumis frozen as she watches the fire outside the window.
‘...What have you done…???’ Fuyumi whispers to herself.
She jolts sideways as the paramedics come rushing back in, mom frantically trying to keep up. There’s a hysterical look in her eyes as she holds onto Toya on the stretcher, who’s barely even recognizable. Another paramedic carries a cooler behind her.
“PLEASE! PLEASE DON'T LET HIM DIE!!!" Rei all but screeches, shaking as she runs with the stretcher through the house. There's a horrible cacophony of noise of people shouting, the stretcher rolling on the hardwood floors, and the sound of sirens, all over the horrible, deep roar of the wildfire not too far away behind them. The bright blue and white light dances across all of their figures as Fuyumi can only stand there and blink at the blood and soot being tracked all over the floor.
Fuyumi shakes her head before she runs back towards Shoko’s room. She runs in to find Shoko curled up in a ball with her hands over her ears, grimacing.
“Shh! It’s okay!” Fuyumi tries to comfort, and reaches out to her. Shoko scrambles away, eyes alight with fear. Fuyumi retracts her arm as her lips part. Frost begins forming under her steps, but she swallows. “Sorry,” She breathes out. “Everything’s okay, it’s gonna stop in a bit,”
Shoko just whimpers as she huddles in a ball, clutching her kitten squishmallow shakily.
‘No,’ Fuyumi reprimands herself. ‘I have to be strong. For her,’ Fuyumi swallows before she shakes her head. Her eyes drift past the window, blue light flooding in through the cracks in the blinds. ‘Do we have to evacuate?’
“Fuyumi!” She startles out of her thoughts at the scream. Fuyumi sprints out, and sees several firefighters in the house. Her mother sprints over to her and hugs her, before pulling away and holding her with a manic look written across her face. “G-Go get Shoko! We’re staying s-somewhere else for tonight!”
Fuyumi looks in her mother in the eyes, and immediately nods. She runs back as Rei goes upstairs to Natsuo’s room. Fuyumi knocks on the door gently before coming in.
“Don’t panic,” She calms. “We’re going somewhere else right now. We have to leave,” Shoko whimpers, holding her squishmallow tighter. “We can bring your plush, your blanket, pillow, books, anything, but we have to leave!” There’s a desperation in her voice as she realizes the light is brighter outside than it was before.
Shoko nods very quickly and stumbles forward. Fuyumi grabs everything she said she would and runs after her. Natsuo is very alert as he stumbles into the kitchen in his shorts and tank top.
“What happened?!” Natsuo asks. Rei just shakes as she leads all of them outside. A small team of paramedics receive them, checking them over for injury or smoke inhalation. As Fuyumi sits on the bumper step of the ambulance, it’s only then does Fuyumi realize how bright the blue glow is from where Sekoto Peak used to be.
She pauses as her mother buckles Shoko in quickly, talking to the driver as she looks at the wildfire behind them. It hurts so much to look at, but Fuyumi can’t look away. She can feel the what on her face from here, and watches as the trees- Old giants that have stood there before her grandparents- fall over as they burn away to ash.
A giant figure rises from the light slowly, the heat mirage obscuring finer details of its silhouette, the light behind it shrouding it in pure black. It's impossible to tell if it's standing still or not, but Fuyumi can only sit there and watch it. Her chest freezes over suddenly as her heart starts hammering inside of her chest uncontrollably as she watches the figure. The light dances between the dead trees like playful specters, the trees falling one by one with horrible groans over the roar of the fire.
“Who the Hell is that?” One of the paramedics asks. The leader of the squad looks back at the figure, who has yet to move from their spot all the way up on the mountainside. They are all but a dot from here, but Fuyumi's tunnel vision can make out every single little edge of their silhouette as the ringing in her ears becomes unbearable. The squad leader says something she can't pick up into her radio, and just like that, a giant rush of flames and a falling tree as tall as a building comes crashing down in front of them.
“Fuyumi! Let’s go!” Fuyumi is startled back to her senses by her mother, before jumping in the chauffeur car alongside Shoko, with Natsuo on the other side. Rei says something to the driver, who nods, and very quickly drives off. Several police cars, two in front and two in back, follow with their lights and sirens off, leading and trailing them along the winding mountain road down to the city.
The driver is very, very stressed, but presses on, nonetheless. The trees outside are bare, thin, and barely visible outside of the headlights. In any other time of the year, it would’ve been beautiful- Blooming trees, lush forest, autumn walks- But in the night of winter, it was beyond terrifying.
Rei is very quietly talking with someone on the phone, trying to keep her composure, but failing to as several whimpers escape. Between that and the cries of Shoko next to her, Fuyumi struggles to keep herself together. Natsuo is still staring out the window at the blackness, trying to distract himself.
That blue glow seems to follow them everywhere no matter what. Only when they get to the city, does it finally fade away fully. It’s only then does Rei whimper, a hand flying over her mouth. Natsuo looks out the window at all the people lined up in the street to see what the commotion was about, and pointing to the blue fire up on the mountain.
They eventually get to a large studio apartment building somewhere downtown. Rei thanks the driver graciously before stepping out. She gets to the door, and converses at the door with a man. They both exchange a nod before she opens the side door. Natsuo gets out quickly as Rei undoes Shoko’s restraints in her car seat.
Fuyumi carefully opens her side and steps out, staring back at the fire on the mountainside, thousands of feet above them now. She sweat drops before getting Shoko’s stuff out of the trunk ‘I don’t remember ever putting it in-?’ Rei exchanges a few words with the driver, and leads her eldest daughter and youngest son inside the building. The entire place is relatively nice, and Fuyumi let’s her eyes wander as they get to the elevator.
“We’re staying here for a night,” Rei breaks the silence quickly. Fuyumi looks up at her. Her bottom lip is quivering, but she’s steadfast as she holds a gently crying Shoko. “When you wake up, one of my friend’s will be here to watch over you for a couple of hours,”
“Where… Where are you going…???” Natsuo asks hesitantly, the panic building in his eyes. Rei closes her eyes, steeling herself before opening them again, fighting back tears.
“I-I… I’m going with Toya to the hospital,” Rei replies solemnly. Natsuo’s eyes widen.
“What happened?!” His breathing is short and rapid now. Rei’s hands shake as she stares off into nothing.
“H-He… He burned himself very badly…” Rei says quietly. Natsuo’s eyes search her, but even he finds it’s not appropriate to keep asking.
The elevator gets to the highest floor eventually. Rei leads them out quickly and down the hall to a room. She opens the door with her phone and steps inside. Natsuo marvels at how spacious this apartment is. There’s several floors, with a spiral staircase leading to the bedrooms. Fuyumi just blinks.
‘Toya… Toya would’ve liked this place-’
“The fire escape is outside that nearest window. There’s a button on either side of the apartment that calls emergency services if anything happens. Please…” Rei whimpers, covering her mouth again. She takes Shoko upstairs into one of the rooms. It’s only then does Fuyumi realize there’s small frost patches left by her steps. Tears start pricking at Fuyumi’s eyes. Rei emerges a little while later, descending the staircase shakily.
She embraces both of her children tighter than they’ve ever felt. Rei shakes as she silently holds them for a few seconds.
“Please stay safe…” She pleads, before going to the door.
“Bye!” Natsuo reaches out worriedly. Rei waves to him shakily before the door closes quietly and locks behind her. Natsuo looks over to Fuyumi, at a loss for words. It’s silent between them for the longest time.
“...You can have the room upstairs with Shoko, I… I can sleep down here…” She says tiredly, looking at the floor. Natsuo’s eyes widen.
“What-?! No! Fuyumi, you can have the upstairs room, I can sleep down here! It’s fine! I’ll-... I’ll make you btoh breakfast int he morning!” He offers, before scratching the back of his head. “Or, at least… Try to…”
Fuyumi looks up at him sadly before she snorts wetly.
“Alright,” She concedes quietly, dragging Shoko’s things behind her. “Thank you… Goodnight… I love you…” She stares at Natsuo halfway up the staircase, her eyes reflecting int he city light from outside. Natsuo just blinks.
“Uhh…” He mutters quietly, looking away before looking back up. “L’ You too!” He tries smiling. Fuyumi has a wobbly smile come onto her face as she ascends the staircase gracefully.
Fuyumi locks the door to her room and sits on her bed, staring out of the window at all the colors and lights and people still out at this hour in the night for the longest time. Eventually, her eyes drift down to the squishmallow on her pillow.
It takes a while, but eventually, Fuyumi swallows and lays down on her bed, holding the squishmallow close to her chest. She breathes out heavily, bottom lip quivering as she holds back tears and keeps her eyes perpetually outside at the world still turning around her.
It’s the only reason she’s able to sleep that night.
–
Small light rays dance across Fuyumi’s vision as she wearily blinks awake. Every part of her body was stiff and aching in pain like the rusty hinges of a steam locomotive that hasn’t moved in ages.
Fuyumi sits up against the window, shatterproof and bullet resistant. A thin layer of snow coats the street and nearby building, some extending up past the field of view of the window. Fuyumi swallows before she slowly turns her head back towards the mountains.
They were a lot more distant than Fuyumi thought they would be, even though they were in the city. A dense fog had formed that made the mountains almost invisible, but the giant, billowing clouds of black smoke pouring up into the air slowly like poison in water makes Fuyumi’s hand shake.
‘They’re still putting the fire out?’ She thinks to herself. Her mouth is far too dry to talk to herself, but an ever present fear she can’t quite make out is lingering over her that makes her as silent as a mouse.
The sound of soft footsteps somewhere in the safehouse apartment alerts Fuyumi’s hearing over the piercing ringing in her ears. The sound of Shoko whimpering before crying out quickly follows, and Fuyumi frowns, a sudden wave of stress and guilt washing over her that made her bones feel heavier than ever and her eyes to start burning.
She looks down at the rest of the room around her. Her skin burns as she attempts to take in everything. It was bare, with modern urban design in mind, with a telephone on the nightstand next to her, and two lamps on either side of the bed. Fuyumi swallows thickly as Shoko’s wailing persists. She hears Natsuo clamber up the steps to her little sister’s room next to her.
It’s only then Fuyumi realizes she is still holding the squishmallow.
Fuyumi stares down at the squishmallow Toya had gotten her, and the only thing she feels is sorrow.