Chapter Text
Shouto watched the clock as his lesson passed by.
Aizawa-sensei was telling the class something to do with an upcoming training session but Shouto just couldn’t bring himself to listen to any of it.
Normally he’d write down upcoming training sessions or tests or whatever it was that they were going to do just to prepare in advance. That was just the way he’d learnt to do things growing up.
But, around this time of the year he could never focus properly, right now he was just staring at a blank notebook.
He felt sick to his stomach, he felt like he could just cry his eyes out at any given moment.
But he couldn’t, he couldn’t embarrass himself, he couldn’t bear to let his classmates and his teacher see him like that, and most of all, he couldn’t let his father find out or—-
Shouto shook his head, removing the thought out of his mind. Now was not the time to be thinking about that.
It was early January and they’d just come back a week ago from their break for winter. That wasn’t the bad part though.
January 17th was approaching.
The day that just so happened to be when his brother’s life was taken. The brother that Shouto and his siblings loved and looked up to so much.
Even now, the memory of what had happened flashes through his mind like it had just happened yesterday.
Everytime Shouto thought about it, a boiling rage would rise from within him.
(why…why, why—- WHY? why did Enji do it? he shouldn’t have do—)
“Todoroki.”
Aizawa-sensei’s voice snapped him out of his thoughts.
”Care to repeat what I had just explained to the whole class?” Eraserhead sounded just as exhausted as he always did, but this time he watched Shouto with a look of concern.
He didn’t bother to reply, Shouto just looked away from his teacher and stared back at the blank book and listened to the murmurs of his classmates who were all staring at him.
”Todoroki.” Aizawa said again, “I asked you a question”
Shouto looked back up. He averted his eyes from the older man, “I—I’m sorry…I wasn’t—-um… I wasn’t listening. I must’ve not got enough sleep last night. I’m sorry.”
Eraser looked at him for a long moment before sighing, “Alright kid, I’ll let you off just this once but if I catch you again, it’ll be detention. Am I clear?”
The dual-haired boy simply just nodded and this time tried to make an effort in listening.
”Alright, I’ll repeat this just one more time so make sure you all listen” He cast a look at Todoroki once more, “There will be a training session held with Class 1-B, you’ll be going against them in groups so we’re going to be focusing on teamwork next lesson which will be used to get to know your teammates quirks and abilities better and then the next lessons leading up to the day you will just be practising with your team. Any questions?”
Uraraka put her hand up first, “Will we be able to choose the teams that we’ll be working in?”
“Yes, you will be working in groups of 4. We have allowed you to choose because we find it important that you should be able to work easily with those closest to you. However, keep in mind that it is just as important to be able to work with other heroes aswell.”
Iida raised his hand next, “Sensei, what day will this be on? It would be nice to know how much time we have got to prepare!”
Aizawa nodded, “This will be held on January 17th, 12 days from now.”
Shouto’s eyes widened at that. He was planning on asking Eraser if he could take the day off, away from the dorms so he could go visit his brother’s grave along with his siblings. He’d already made plans with them the last time he was home!
Shouto internally frowned, he was gonna have to catch up on all of that and if his father found out he missed so much he would not be happy at all.
Endeavour would call him weak and insufficient and he would say that UA hadn’t been teaching him a single thing and then the next time that Shouto got a day off from school he would ‘train’ him so he could become stronger. Not that it was anything new to him.
(Endevaour sent a wall of flames at Shouto which the teen dodged easily.
He countered by sending shards of ice at his father to which the other just simply smashed through, “It’ll take more than that to beat me! And you know that by now so use your fire Shouto! You cannot surpass me, let alone All Might if you don’t!”
This time Enji didn’t stop, he kept sending kicks and punches with some being coated with fire and Shouto was getting tired of dodging. The teen still kept it up even though he was unable to defend with an attack of his own.
He was doing well…until Endeavour landed a kick on his left side, just missing his ribs.
He landed on his knees, rapidly panting trying to regain control of his breath but he didn’t have enough time before a fist made contact with his cheek and he fell onto his back.
Enji approached him until he was practically right on top of him.
That’s when the next hit came. “IS THIS-“ another hit, “ALL THAT-“ another hit, “UA-“ another hit, “TEACHES YOU?!” another hit, “ ITS PATHETIC!”
The brutal beating only became worse from there.
His ribs were attacked first. With every kick and punch, Shouto cried out from the pain. They grew harder and harder each time and tears had begun streaming down his cheeks.
”P-please…fa..ther… I’m g-g-gonna…” He didn’t get to finish his sentence before it came rushing from his throat and he vomited onto the dojo floor.
He coughed and coughed until he saw blood in the puddle of vomit.
“You disgusting excuse of a hero student!” If Shouto had thought that Enji wasn’t already fuming before, he was definitely angry now.
He grabbed Shouto’s collar and lifted him up until they were eye-to-eye. His vomit had already stained his shirt badly and he could smell the horrible scent even more.
He could feel Endeavours hot breath against his face but he couldn’t quite make out the man’s features anymore. His vision was all blurry and his head had started to spin.
”YOU’RE SUPPOSE TO BE MY MASTERPIECE AND LOOK AT YOU! ARE YOU TELLING ME THAT EVERYTHING I’VE TAUGHT YOU TO BE STRONG UP UNTIL THIS POINT WAS ALL FOR NOTHING?!”
His grip had moved to Shouto’s throat now and the boy could tell that it had been burnt by how hot the older man’s hand was.
”YOURE PATHETIC!” He screamed as he threw his son at the wall.
As Shouto’s head hit the floor, his vision had started to go black and he could no longer hear or see anything anymore. He could only feel the immense amount of pain that had been inflicted onto him by his own father.
Shouto thought that by now it would be easier, he thought that by now he would get used to these training sessions and how much pain he would feel after.
But it never did, each time he always felt worse than the last.
The final thing that he could make out before he fully blacked out was his father screaming at, presumably Fuyumi, to clean up the mess in the dojo.)
Todoroki sighed once again as he finished recalling the events of a few weeks ago.
He looked back up at the clock and saw that there was only 5 minutes left of class until it was finally time for lunch.
5 minutes still felt too long for Shouto so he turned his attention back to Aizawa-sensei.
”Hey, Todoroki!” Yaoyorozu whispered to him.
Shouto turned to her and gave her a questioning look.
”I was wondering if you wanted to be a team for when we go against 1-B! We worked really well together when we went against Aizawa-sensei!”
He thought about it for a second, he did remember when they worked together during that time when they went against the teachers and Yaoyorozu was really smart and easy to team up with. But then he remembered that he was gonna ask Aizawa-sensei if he could take the day off…
Maybe he could ask Fuyumi and Natsuo if they could go after all of his classes were over. They’d have enough time to go visit Touya-nii’s grave and then they’d also have plenty of time to visit their mother!
And all he had to do was ask for permission from Aizawa-sensei and Shouto was sure that the man would agree if he told him that his siblings were gonna pick him up!
Shouto let a small smile slip onto his face as he turned to Yaoyorozu and whispered back to her, “Sure I guess I’d like to do it…let’s talk more about it at lunch. And, I kinda wanted to ask Sensei something at the end of the lesson so…is it okay if you save a spot for me at the table?”
His classmate beamed at that and nodded saying that she’d wait for him.
Just as they finished exchanging words, it was finally the end of class.
”Remember that you’ll have practice tomorrow so be sure to decide your teams by then. If you have any questions come see me after everyone is gone. Other than that, you’re dismissed.”
Shouto watched as his classmates got up and rushed outside the door. He waited until there wasn’t anyone left and then he approached his teacher.
“Aizawa-sensei, I wanted to ask you something” He said as the teen made his way to the front of the classroom.
”Hm, what is it Todoroki?” Eraser asked looking up at his student.
”Well, on January 17th…I have a bit of…family business I need to attend and I was wondering if I could get permission to go out of the dorms to go meet up with my family”
Aizawa gave him another one of his looks, “Well, to be able to do that I’d need a parent or guardian or even an adult at most to confirm it with me. I can’t unless that happens.”
”Oh, would it be okay if one of my siblings came then? They’re both adults.” Shouto wasn’t surprised as his teachers eyes widened slightly. After all, practically nobody knew that Endeavour had any other children besides him as it wasn’t public information.
But Aizawa quickly regained his composure and nodded, “That’s fine. After school today give them a call and tell one of them to come here and we’ll sort something out.”
Shouto bowed before expressing his gratitude and turned around to get to the lunch hall.
”Todoroki, there’s one more thing I want to say.” The teen turned back to look at his teacher, “If there’s anything troubling you then don’t be afraid to ask. UA is a place where you should be able to talk about anything you need. I just wanted to make sure that you knew that.”
The boy nodded, “I already know, thank you Aizawa-sensei” He said again and this time he left the classroom.
From that interaction alone, Todoroki knew that his teacher could tell something was up, but he didn’t have any plans on telling anyone unless of course they found out themselves.
When Aizawa had said that, he felt a glimmer of hope within him…he doesn’t know why. Shouto had never felt a single spark of hope on getting him and his siblings out of that hellhole ever since his brother passed but talking to his teacher made him feel…safe in a way.
But Todoroki didn’t let that feeling get to him. His father was the Number 1 Hero now, there’s no way anybody would be able to take him down and accusing him of abusing his children was out of the question.
Shouto merely sighed and pushed the thought away instead focusing on where to find Yaoyorozu in the cafeteria.
“Todoroki! Over here!” He heard her voice call. Shouto saw her at the far end of the room and he nodded, walking towards the table she was at.
”I’m glad that you agreed!” Yaoyorozu exclaimed.
“Yeah, I was thinking about how much we worked together before, it’d be good to improve that teamwork” Shouto agreed, sitting down beside her.
The other nodded and began eating her food so he did the same too, “So, who else would you like to be on our team?” The girl asked.
Todoroki thought about it for a second, he thought about asking Midoriya who had probably already asked Uraraka but he didn’t feel like they would achieve a lot if they teamed up. He had nothing against the two, though.
Then he remembered the sports festival, during the Cavalry Battle. Todoroki’s team, which had consisted of Yaoyorozu, Kaminari, Iida, and himself, had won 1st place. If they all worked together a second time, then they could become an amazing team in the future.
”Yaoyorozu.” She turned her attention to Todoroki, “Do you remember our team in the cavalry battle during the sports festival? I was just thinking that maybe we could all work together again. We did win after all.”
His classmate smiled, “That’s a great idea! Let’s go ask them, better now than never!”
”Alright, let’s go to Kaminari first” Shouto agreed as he picked up his food and followed by Yaoyorozu, they made their way to Kaminari’s table where he was sitting with both Kirishima and Bakugo.
“Kaminari.” Shouto said gaining the boy’s attention.
“Todoroki, Yaoyorozu, what’re you guys doing here?” They yellow-haired boy asked confused.
”Yeah, what the hell are you doing here icy-hot.” Bakugo said with his usual voice of anger and annoyance.
“Kaminari, we wanted to ask you if you’d like to join our team for the training session. Me and Todoroki-san were thinking about when we teamed up during the Sports Festival along with Iida!” Yaoyorozu smiled, “We think that you would be a great help!”
Kaminari looked at them like he had just seen a ghost, like he couldn’t believe that they were asking him of all people.
He looked back at the 2 people he was sitting next to. Kirishima nodded at him with a grin and even Bakugo looked sort of pleased.
”Alright then, count me in!!”
”Great, we’ll talk more after school. We’re gonna go ask Iida now.” Todoroki said, nodding at Kaminari.
The two this time made their way to Iida’s table where he was sat with Midoriya and Uraraka.
Yaoyorozu and Shoto sat down with the trio and asked Iida the same thing to which the other said yes to without a moment’s hesitation saying that he agreed that they made a great team.
Everything was going good for Shouto, now all he had left to do for the time being was call his siblings.
——
Once school was over, 1-A headed over to their dorm like they usually did.
Shouto wanted to quickly head to his room so he could call Natsuo and Fuyumi and ask one of them to come in to get permission from Aizawa-sensei.
As he entered the dorms, he walked as quick as he could but tried to act normal so nobody would suspect he was going to do anything.
”Todoroki!” Iida called from behind him. Shouto turned around and saw that he was walking alongside Deku.
“Midoriya, Iida, do you need anything?”
“We were just about to head to the lounge so we could talk with everyone about the teams! Would you like to come?” The green-haired boy asked.
”Oh…I was just about to go to my room so I could make a phone call with someone. I’ll be down in about 10 minutes. Iida, would you mind telling Kaminari and Yaoyorozu that?”
”Of course! Take your time I’m sure that they won’t mind!” Iida said as him and Midoriya went towards where their other classmates were.
Sighing, Shouto once again headed towards his dorm, and when he got there he made sure to lock the door.
He sat on his bed and took his phone out of his pocket. He unlocked it and went onto the group chat with his siblings which was called ‘Endeavour Deserves Hell🔥❄️’. It was renamed by, unsurprisingly, Natsuo.
Shouto looked at the time and it was 6:12 so he knew that Fuyumi and Natsuo would’ve finished teaching and college by now.
He clicked the video call button and waited for someone to pick up. Fuyumi was the first to do that.
”Hey Sho!!!!! How’ve you been?”
Shouto smiled, a smile that he only ever showed to his siblings and mother, “Hello to you too Yumi. I’ve been good and school’s been alright, how’ve you been?”
“I’ve been doing amazing! My students are so fun to work with and living in my new flat has been nice…I’m glad I decided to move out…sorry I jus—-“
”Yumi, I’m happy that you’re happy so you don’t need to feel guilty about ‘leaving me’ I’m living in a dorm now and my classmates are really nice so it works out for both of us!”
His older sister looked like she was about to cry a whole river but instead she just smiled, “Thanks Sho”
Just then, Natsuo joined the call, breaking the peaceful moment between the other two, “What’s up Sho, Yumi! How’ve you guys been! I bet you missed me!”
Fuyumi chuckled, “We’ve been good Natsu”
”So Sho, not that we’re mad about it or anything I was bored anyways, but why did you call us?”
”Well, it’s about how we’re gonna meet up on the 17th…I—-well…on that day we have a training session with another class and I’ve already decided a team because I didn’t wanna…I didn’t wanna let them down so I agreed. The point is, is it okay if we go after school is over?”
This time, Natsuo started chuckling, “Of course it’s fine! I was actually gonna ask the same thing to be honest, I’ve got an exam the day after that so I wanted to use some time to study”
”Wow Natsu, you actually study! And Sho it’s fine don’t worry about it we’ll have plenty of time to go visidt and then visit mother!” Fuyumi told him with a bright smile on her face.
“Come on nee-san! I always study stop thinking that I don’t!!”
”Well last time I checked you didn’t do any sort of studying at all!”
Natsuo started grumbling something about how his sister was wrong but didn’t say anything else.
Shouto laughed at his siblings bickering, “Nastu, Yumi, one more thing. My Sensei said that an adult had to come and confirm something with him so could one of you guys come tomorrow??
Natsuo grinned, “Well, I’m coming over to Yumi’s tomorrow so we’ll both come! Right Yumi?”
“Mhm! We’ll get to meet your teacher too!”
Shouto felt happier than he could’ve ever been at that moment, “Thanks! I’m gonna get going then, I promised my classmates that I’d be down with everyone in 10 minutes and I’ll let my teacher know that you guys are coming tomorrow!”
“Alright, make sure you don’t cause any trouble Sho!” Fuyumi told him.
”Me and Yumi are gonna stay on the call because I’m really bored so join back if we’re still here by then!”
”I will! Bye Yumi, bye Natsu!”
Shouto got off the call and smiled to himself. He was glad that he still had his siblings to be able to talk to.
He put his phone back into his pocket and made his way downstairs so he could meet everyone in the lounge.
He opened the door and saw everyone sitting with their teams.
Kaminari saw him entering and waved him to come over, “Todoroki! You definitely took you time!”
”Sorry about that, I was talking with my—-I mean, I was talking to some people and it dragged on for quite a while.”
”Don’t worry about it Todoroki! Yaoyorozu assured him, “We have the rest of the evening to discuss strategy for training tomorrow! Come sit down with us!”
Todoroki did as she said and as he sat down, Aizawa came in.
”Aizawa-sensei?” Midoriya said, “Not to be rude or anything, but why are you here?”
Eraser sat down on a free seat, “I’m here to find out the teams that you’ve all chosen so I can write them down. I assume that you’ve all chosen by now?”
”Yes sensei, we have. In fact we’re all in those groups now discussing about our plans!” Iida said to him, “I also have a question, will we know who our opponents will be beforehand?”
”I’ll let you all know tomorrow who you’re fighting against. For now, you can all carry on doing whatever you doing. I’m just gonna be here for a couple of minutes writing down the teams.” Aizawa told them as he heard a chorus of ‘yes sensei’s’.
”Todoroki.” Shouto turned to look at his teacher again, “Did you figure anything out then?”
The dual-haired boy nodded, “I did, both of them said that they’ll come see you tomorrow after school since they’re free then.”
”Both of them?” Shouto nodded again and Aizawa sighed, “That’ll be fine”
Everybody else in the dorm had a confused look as to what they were talking about but Shouto just shook his head so that they got the hint that he wasn’t planning on telling anyone about it.
Todoroki turned to his group to start discussing and so did everyone else in the room. For a while it was peaceful, to say the least. He hadn’t ever had a full on conversation with people besides his siblings for so long even if it was just about training.
Eventually, 30 minutes passed by and everybody agreed that they’d prepared enough so they decide to take a break. They all dispersed into their friend groups
Shouto and Iida went over and sat with Midoriya and Uraraka although Shouto merely just stayed by their side and didn’t talk but the others didn’t mind because they knew he wasn’t a talkative person. He would answer any questions that he was asked here and there but overall he stayed quiet.
Then, he heard a buzz from his phone so he took it out to see who it was.
Endeavour Deserves Hell 🔥❄️
Natsu ❄️
have you finished talking to ur little hero friends Sho?
Yumi ❄️
nat he literally shares a dorm with them he’s not just gonna isolate himself from everyone
Natsu ❄️
sounds like something he would do tbh
Sho ❄️🔥
wow thanks for the compliment nat and for ur information im still in the same room as all of them
not talking to anyone tho
ru 2 still on call?
Yumi ❄️
yeh he won’t leave me alone
Natsu ❄️
stfu u agreed to stay on
Sho ❄️🔥
what if one of my classmates end up seeing the group name
Yumi ❄️ changed the group name to ‘Todo Siblings 🔥❄️’
Yumi ❄️
u can change it back after natsu don’t start having a tantrum
Natsu ❄️
I know I can im not gonna start having a tantrum for a dumb reason like that
Sho❄️🔥
why ru 2 talking over text if ur on call
Natsu ❄️
would u rather us talk to each other and u not knowing what we’re saying
Sho ❄️🔥
no?
Natsu ❄️
exactly
Yumi ❄️
leave him alone nastuo stop bullying ur own little brother
Natsu ❄️
it’s not like I killed him or sm
btw sho how’s that bruise on your side that the bastard gave you
Sho ❄️🔥
a lot better than before but it still hurts
its not a big deal tho
Yumi ❄️
don’t even think of saying that it is a big deal
he shouldn’t have done any of that to u
Sho ❄️🔥
he used to hurt u guys too
it’s not like im the only one
Natsu ❄️
that was before we moved out we don’t live there anymore
and you’ve always had it worse than us so if he ever does anymore of that bullshit to u come to one of us
Sho ❄️🔥
I will dw
Yumi ❄️
good
i swear to god one of these days I might kill him
Sho ❄️🔥
sounds like something natsu would say
whats with the change in attitude yumi
Natsu ❄️
sho’s right u know
yumi getting exposed
Yumi ❄️
be quiet nastu
im not getting exposed or whatever
Sho ❄️🔥
what time ru guys coming tmrw?
Yumi ❄️
natsu’s gonna get to mine at about 6:30ish so we’ll by there for 7:00
Sho ❄️🔥
that’s fine everyone will be awake at that time
one sec one of my classmates is tryna look at my phone
Shouto had made himself comfortable at the end of the sofa and had his knees up making sure that no one could see anything on his phone.
But Mina Ashido decided that trying to get a look at what he is doing was a good idea. Shouto turned his phone off and looked at her, “Do you need anything Ashido?”
She grinned, “Welllll, since you were just staring at your phone the whole time and you seemed to be happy which is unusual, I wanted to see what you were doing! And by the looks of it you’re texting somebody and I wanna know who it is!”
“Is it wrong to be happy while texting someone that you have a good relationship with?”
“Of course not! I was just curious that’s all.” She said trying to defend herself. “I know that your not a talkative guy hence why you’re just sitting besides Midoriya and the others like you usually do but today you’re just on your phone!”
“I see.”
”Soooooo, are you gonna tell me who it is you’re texting?”
“No”
Uraraka caught on to the conversation, “Todoroki is texting someone! I wanna know who it is!”
”I don’t understand why you guys are so adamant on finding out but I don’t plan on telling you no matter how much you ask unless you just so happen to find out.”
Iida and Midoriya were the next to catch on to the conversation and lucky for Shouto, Iida stepped in. “Ashido, Uraraka, as heroes in training we should learn to respect others wishes and in this case we should accept that Todoroki isn’t comfortable sharing that information!”
Ashido pouted, “Sorry Todoroki, but I’ll find out! Just you wait, Uraraka come with me we’ll figure something out!”
”Lets do it! You won’t be having secrets for long Todoroki” She said as she walked away with their pink-haired classmate suggesting some sort of plan.
Shouto just started at the duo, dumbfounded but just decided to ignore it. He looked over at Midoriya who had begun mumbling something about girls and himself messaging someone.
He just shook his head and went back to talking to Fuyumi and Natsuo.
Todo Siblings 🔥❄️
Sho ❄️🔥
These 2 girls want to find out who im texting idk why
i have to be on the look out now
Natsu ❄️
lol
i want them to find out and if they do record their reactions and send them
it’ll be so funny
they’re gonna be like ‘YOU HAVE SIBLINGS OMGGGGGGG’
Sho ❄️🔥
ur a bit unusual nat
Natsu ❄️
be quiet I’m perfectly normal
Yumi ❄️
ur not normal I agree with sho
its kinda dumb tbh they don’t even know that we exist
it’s his fault as always
Sho ❄️🔥
not much we can do about it unless u still wanna go and kill him
im glad u changed the group name or they’d be rlly concerned for us
Natsu ❄️
we should’ve kept the name like that they deserve to know how much of an abusive bastard he is
and that’s a good idea sis we should actually go and kill him
Yumi ❄️
no we’re not gonna go and get put in prison for murdering him
the only safe option would be to report him to the heroes
Sho ❄️🔥
not like they’d believe us if we went and started saying that the #1 hero is abusive
Natsu ❄️
it wouldn’t hurt to try
Yumi ❄️
they would probably think we’re crazy and then we’d just look like fools infront of everyone
unless of course we present them with evidence…
just saying
Sho ❄️🔥
this is getting a bit dark
yumi natsu stop trying to come up with ways to expose him
we can do that another time
Natsu ❄️
u got a point I guess
any updates on ur crazy class?
Sho ❄️🔥
well I can see them at the other side of the room with a bunch of other ppl in r class
they all wanna know that bad
they’ve tried looking a couple of times but failed
Yumi ❄️
if it keeps going like that they’ll never find out
Natsu ❄️
what losers
Sho ❄️🔥
it’s almost time for everyone to get to bed anyways
aizawa sensei said that everyone has to be in bed by 8:30 coz we’ve got training first thing tmrw
Natsu ❄️
lol imagine having to go to bed that early
couldn’t be me
Yumi ❄️
its 8:23 now so you only have a couple more mins
awh we won’t be able to talk much longer
Sho ❄️🔥
yumi we’ll see each other tmrw anyway and then on the 17th aswell
and then we have every other day to message each other
Natsu ❄️
yeh yumi sho’s right and plus you’ll still have me to talk to
Yumi ❄️
yeh ik
have a good nights sleep sho and don’t push yourself too hard
goodnight!!
nat says it too since he’s to lazy to type anymore
Sho ❄️🔥
thanks yumi and natsu
goodnight
Shouto smiled, a genuine one, knowing that he had caring siblings that looked out for him. They didn’t have the brightest past but the Todoroki siblings still had each other now even if one of the was missing.
And then he realised that he was still in the dorms and everybody was starting at him because he was smiling for once.
”Woah Todoroki! You should totally smile more!” Uraraka commented.
“Yeah! That was so manly!” Kirishima added.
”Tsk, of course you’re trying to take all the attention icy-hot!” Bakugo sneered out.
Todoroki’s face started to turn red out of embarrassment so he just got up and said, “It’s 8:25 now I’m going to bed.” Before running out of the lounge and into his room hearing the laughs of his classmates as he did so.
He made sure to lock his door and he got changed into his pajamas and got into his bed. He set his alarm for 6AM and closed his eyes.
His life was going smooth right now without Enji here to ruin it.
——
Todoroki got up along with all of his classmates to get changed into their training uniforms. It appeared that he had woken up on the wrong side of bed today because his side was aching and his head felt like it was about to explode.
Ever since he had gotten those injuries from his father, he had enough time to recover before school started up again.
It hadn’t bothered him much but today was the opposite. His head was spinning and his vision was fuzzy, not to mention the horrible pain that came from his stomach and his ribs too.
He could barely stand up straight and he couldn’t concentrate on anything either. But still, he kept his façade up, not wanting to draw any attention to him and let his classmates worry.
Shouto made a mental note to ask Natsuo to check it out once his siblings had arrived. He couldn’t risk going to Recovery Girl, that would lead to too many questions being asked.
He took deep breaths, in and out, as he walked alongside his classmates towards the changing rooms.
(“Breathe Sho, just breathe. In and out, control yourself.”
Shouto crouched down with his brother, tears streaming down his face because of an intense training session with his father.
”Touya-nii…I do—o—I don’t wanna do this anymore! Father is so mean and…and scary!” The 6-year-old cried out in between sobs.
Shouto looked into his older brother’s bright blue eyes, as the other boy formed a soft smile on his face, “I know Sho, I know. But I promise I’ll protect you until the day I die. All you need to do for me is keep breathing. I know that we live in an unfair world but… ”
Touya gathered Shouto into his arms and held him there.
”…Just keep breathing…”)
Shouto took one more deep breath, listening to the chatter of the boys around him. They got to the changing rooms and he went to the place were there weren’t as many people so he could hide himself from them.
He made sure to face all of his bruises away from anyone who was in his line of sight so they wouldn’t start jumping to conclusions.
He took his shirt off and looked at the ugly bruise that was still in the place where his father had kicked him. That wasn’t the only bruise of course, his whole torso and back were littered in bruises and burns.
Normally, he would be left with 3rd degree burns but this time he was…lucky…in a way. His head felt like it was about to combust so he quickly got dressed and headed out of the changing room before anyone could see what he was doing.
There were already a few people waiting, one of whom was Yaoyorozu so he made his way to where she was and sat down with her.
Shouto merely nodded and her and just stared at Aizawa-sensei hoping to not start a conversation with anyone until the rest of their team came.
“Todoroki…you seem a little unstable. Are you alright?” She asked looking at him with concern. Shouto looked into her eyes and she looked kind of like…Fuyumi.
(“Shouto, you seem a little worn out. Are you alright?” She asked, tilting her head and looking at him with a concerned expression.
He looked at her, and he could tell how much she was hurting inside.
”Don’t worry about it Fuyumi-nee. I’m perfectly fine” Shouto told her with a smile that would hopefully bring his sister some sort of ease.
But even she could tell that it was fake smile.)
”I’m alright thank you, but I appreciate your concern though.” Shouto told her.
Yaoyorozu nodded, “If you’re sure then, I’ll leave it be” She turned away from him and started talking to Jiro who had arrived in the field now too.
Shouto closed his eyes and tried to reduce the effects of the headache he had. First he had began thinking about Touya-nii and just a few seconds ago he had thought for a second that Yaoyorozu was Fuyumi-nii.
He had to get it together and focus on the task at hand. He didn’t know why he was feeling so off today but he had to get a grip on himself. Sooner or later someone was bound to notice something and it would be his fault if they did. He had to make sure nobody suspected anything until it was the end of the day and he could finally see his older siblings.
Iida was the next to come out. “Todoroki, Yaoyorozu! I look forward to working with you again!” He exclaimed, taking a seat by his team.
“As am I, Iida!” Yaoyorozu said, smiling at him.
Just then, the door to get out to the field was busted open and All Might came through, “I AM HERE!” He shouted as he went and stood by Aizawa-sensei”
”Could you just not break the door every time you come in” He heard his teacher muttering but All Might hadn’t seem to have heard it.
As all that ruckus was happening, Kaminari finally walked in, weirded out by whatever was going on, “What is up with that guy…sometimes I forget that he’s Japan’s Symbol of Peace…” He said taking a seat next to Shouto.
”Kaminari! We should not be saying that about a hero who is respected by all of Japan! Instead, you should think about what a privilege it is to be taught by the Number One Hero himself!” Iida barked out.
”Yeah, yeah, I get it but it doesn’t change the fact that he just came in by breaking the door. Like, what?!”
Shouto let out a little chuckle, forgetting about all the pain for a split second, “I get where your coming from Kaminari, it’s not everyday that you see a man as big as All Might do a grand entrance like that!”
”See! Even Todoroki gets it, some time you’ve got to face the tru—-“
”Silence!” Aizawa-sensei shouted out, everybody shut their mouths moments after, the tired hero just sighed and began talking, “As you all know, you’re here to train for the upcoming battle with 1-B. I’ll let you all know before the end of this lesson who you’re opponents will be. Todays lesson will be focused on getting to know your teammates’ quirks so you can use this to your advantage on the 17th. You will be fighting against another team.
All Might and myself are here to supervise and watch over you in case anything goes wrong. These battles should last no longer than 20-30 minutes at most. The sole purpose for these battles are to get used to each others quirks and fighting styles and to eventually be able to work together flawlessly. You are NOT to take this exercise as an excuse to battle your teammates only your opponents or you'll be expelled. Am I clear?”
“Yes, sensei”
”Good. Of course, since there’s an odd number of teams, myself and All Might will be choosing two pairs of teams at a time to go against each other while one team will sit out. You’ll only be going against two other teams so you won’t be able to face everyone here.” Aizawa sighed again, relieved to have finally almost finished explaining everything.
“Iida’s team is A,” He said as he began gesturing to All Might to bring something out, “Bakugo’s team is B, Midoriya’s is C, Jiro’s is D, and Ojiro’s is E. We’re going to begin by choosing which teams will be battling first. Before we do this, are there any questions that you’d like to be answered?”
Midoriya's raised his hand, “Sensei, are we just going to be testing our quirks out and just sparring in general between each other or is our aim to defeat one another in this exercise?”
“Your aim is to simply get every single member on the opposing team to either be immobilised or get them to withdraw. Similar to the Sports Festival expect that you won’t be causing too much injury or pushing your quirks to the absolute limit.” Aizawa concluded, “Anyone else?”
When no one replied, Aizawa turned and nodded at All Might who grabbed a box and came over to stand in front of them, “Alright everyone!!! It’s time to choose which teams will be playing against each other!!!”
All Might took 2 pieces of paper out of the box and showed them to the whole class, “The first pair of teams that’ll be battling are Teams E (Mineta, Koda, Ojiro, Sado) and C (Midoriya, Uraraka, Tokoyami, Aoyama). And the next pair is Teams A and B (Bakugo, Kirishima, Shoji, Sero). Team D will sit out for the time being and can watch a battle of their choice!!”
Todoroki internally grimaced, they were gonna be fighting Bakugo’s team first which was sure to tire him out. His fiery classmate was more than likely gonna put the maximum amount of power that they were allowed to use into this battle and Shouto wasn’t sure whether he’d be able to handle it this time around.
”Teams A and B, make your way to where Eraserhead is and on his command you’ll begin your match, E and C, same with you except that I’ll be supervising you guys! Team D, each of you can go to whatever battle you want to watch but be sure to stay close to me or Eraser. Now of you go!” All Might instructed as everybody shouted ‘yes sir’ and either followed him or made their way to where Aizawa-sensei was which was at the opposite side of the field.
Shouto walked alongside his team, making sure that any pain he was feeling wasn’t being shown. He would have to take a more strategical approach to this battle to make sure that he didn’t use too much of his quirk and injure himself further.
“Bakugo’s team is probably gonna want to take us head on so I think that the best course of action is to stay on the defensive for a while and observe their movements first before we go in with any spectacular moves. Just like how we discussed yesterday.” Iida said as the rest fi them listened to what he was saying and they all nodded.
Shouto silently thanked Iida even though the other boy wouldn’t understand why if he had expressed his gratitude out loud. Suddenly, Kirishima shouted something at them, “KAMI! We’re totally gonna beat you!”
Kaminari grinned, “In your dreams! We’re totally gonna win this thing!”
Unsurprisingly, Bakugo decided to speak up next, “You better not hold back like in the sports festival icy-hot!”
”I’ll try to satisfy your needs, Bakugo.” Shouto stated not giving any thought to his reply.
”What’s that suppose to mean?! HEY DON’T IGNORE ME!” Shouto ignored him. His headache had stared becoming worse and the last thing that he wanted to hear right now was Bakugo’s screaming. Unfortunately, the blonde decided to speak up again, “JUST YOU WAIT! ILL BEAT YOUR ASS AND PROVE THAT IM BETTER!”
Todoroki moved away from the screaming to the other side of their battle area with his team. The field was surrounded with a red line, indicating that they weren’t to step past them. He saw Team D (Jiro, Hagakure, Asui, Ashido) standing next to Aizawa-sensei cheering Yaoyorozu on.
"Are you ready guys?" Kaminari asked them with a grin on his face, "Cause I definitely am! We're gonna kick their asses!"
"I believe that we can do it as a team!" Iida agreed.
"Same here! We're gonna show everybody just how good of a team we can be outside the Sports Festival!" Yaoyorozu added.
"I agree also, I put my trust into you guys." Shouto said, quietly joining in on the liveliness of his team.
Aizawa-sensei’s death stare go them all to stop talking, "I shouldn't have to wait that long for you all to be quiet. It took you exactly 4.7 seconds to quieten down." Their teacher sighed, his usual tiredness evident in his eyes, "Remember what I said, if too much injury is cause then I'll have you all expelled. Now then, on my command you will all begin...go"
As soon as that singular word was uttered, Bakugo came running at Shouto, to which the dual-haired boy quickly evaded after he heard Iida's call of, "Remember, don't suddenly go attacking them, observe their movements for the time being!" Out of the corner of his eye, he saw each of his team members engaging with an opponent, that was good for the time being but eventually they would have to regroup if they were being backed into a corner.
Todoroki intentionally stayed within the view of his team while simultaneously avoiding every explosion that came his way, "How come you're not fighting back Icy-Hot?! Are you too scared?" Shouto ignored his classmates remarks and focused on the task at hand. He looked around him and noticed how they were all being drawn apart. This must've been part of their plan, to separate them all and then just simply defeat them from there.
He could tell that Yaoyorozu had realised as well because she was slowly inching towards him and she must've informed the others too because they looked as if they were coming together too. "OI HALF-N-HALF BASTARD!! The fact that you're avoiding me as best as you can and focusing on other things right now really pisses me off! Ignore those extras!”
Shouto froze.
Those words felt all to familiar.
(“Ignore them Shouto! They live in a different world to the one I’m training you for!” His father boomed as he grabbed his son’s arm and dragged him towards the dojo.
”But why Father?! I want to go and play with Touya-nii, Natsuo-nii, and Fuyumi-nee!” Shouto screamed out as he fought against his father’s grip.
”Nonsense! You don’t have time for that! Do you understand me?!” Shouto bit his lower lip to stop it from trembling and gave a shaky nod.
He looked back at his siblings and noticed that Fuyumi and Natsuo were watching him with looks of pity and concern and Touya…Touya wasn’t there anymore?
And that was before he heard the steps of someone approaching them, “Father! Let Shouto go, he only just turned 6 a few days ago!” His older brother said with a calm, but fierce tone to his voice.
Endeavour let go of the youngest’s arm and stood right in front of Touya but all the eldest brother did was stare up into his father’s eyes, “HE’S ALREADY 6! HE WOULD’VE BEEN STRONGER BY NOW IF YOU AND YOUR USELESS MOTHER DIDN’T KEEP INTERFERING!”
His other siblings were now up here with them, mimicking the same horror that Shouto had in his eyes.
”Father.” Touya said again,“Mother only just got put into the hospital a few weeks ago, and Shouto’s eye has only just recovered, at least let him rest for a while after everything that’s happened!”
“I KNOW WHAT I’M DOING! A FAILURE LIKE YOU DOESN’T NEED TO TELL ME!” Endeavour snapped, and then neither of the younger siblings expected what was going to happen next.
Their father raised his fist up and coated it with fire, as a menacing, cold smile formed on his face, “Now there’s an idea…maybe it’d be better if you were gone too…”
He landed a punch on Touya’s stomach which caused the boy to cough out blood and fall onto his back.
“TOUYA!” Shouto heard Natsuo scream but but none of them moved, they were frozen in their spots, their mouths were hanging open but not another word came out of them, their eyes were as wide as they could be and were stinging so bad but they still didn’t blink.
They just watched as their father continuously beat their older brother, so much that the man’s hands were covered in blood. They just watched as their eldest brother screamed out in pain, over and over and over and over and over.
”F-fa…th…er” Fuyumi began to say, trying to form words but still struggled, “Father, p-please…” When Endeavour didn’t stop, tears came gushing out of her eyes, “FATHER PLEASE! PLEASE STOP YOU’RE GONNA KILL HIM!” YOU’VE ALREADY KILLED HIM”
Their father (should they even call him that anymore?) finally lowered his fists and glared at his only daughter but didn’t say anything. He stood up and looked no further at the son he had just beaten up. He turned his back to the older 3 and looked at Shouto who was still in shock, “You’re lucky, no training for you today. But, by the time I come back you three better have this mess cleared up.”
They waited, and waited, and waited, until Endeavour’s footsteps could no longer be heard. Every step that they heard getting quieter, they watched as Touya’s breathing became less and less frequent.
Fuyumi ran to Touya first followed by Shouto and Natsuo, “Touya-nii…please don’t go…DONT GO! I don’t know what to do without you!” She cried out.
Touya’s eyes were still open and he was barely breathing, “Yu..mi…n..at…sh…o” The blue-eyed boy said just enough for them to hear.
“Touya-nii don’t try to talk! We’ll save you…a-and we’ll get h-he…help…” Natsuo said, but it sounded more like he was trying to convince himself.
The eldest smiled, it was small but a smile nonetheless, “i…lo—love…y…you…a-all.”
That was when they all broke.
”TOUYA-NII!” Shouto screamed at the top of his lungs.
Touya Todoroki passed away on January 17th, a single day before he turned 14.
That was the day that the whole Todoroki Family grew to despise Enji Todoroki.)
Shouto stood there, frozen, hands wrapping around himself as the memory of those horrifying screams replayed in his head again and again and again.
”Icy-Hot? Oi what’s wrong?!” A voice called out to him. It was obviously Bakugo’s but Shouto couldn’t bring himself to focus on it. He was aware of the sudden change in atmosphere as he felt everybody’s gaze on him. But he couldn’t bring himself to care.
All that he could think about was Touya-nii, Touya-nii, Touya-nii. He realised that he was on his knees breathing uncontrollably. He realised that Aizawa-sensei was instantly by his side, “Todoroki?! Are you with me?”
”Todoroki, what happened?! You were just fighting with Bakugo and suddenly you stopped and collapsed! Is everything okay?” Yaoyorozu asked with concern in her voice.
Everyone from his team, the opposing team, and the team that was spectating were all gathered around him, until Aizawa-sensei told them to give him some space so they all moved back but still kept their eyes on him.
”Todoroki, I need you to speak to me. What just happened there, was it something that Bakugo said?” Aizawa sat him down so he was in a comfortable position and then crouched besides him.
”S—Sensei…” He managed to choke out.
”Focus on breathing kid, in through your nose and out through your mouth, I’ve got you don’t worry about anything else right now.” Aizawa waited until Shouto’s breathing was fairly stable so that he could talk to him.
”Sensei…w-we didn’t know what to do! How were we suppose to know what to do?! We were just just kids!” Shouto cried in between sobs and coughs. Aizawa’s brows furrowed but he didn’t question it, he just let Todoroki keep talking, “Yumi was 13, Natsu was 9, and I was 6! What were we suppose to do except cry and watch?!”
Aizawa looked at the kid in utter shock.
He didn’t know what was going on in his student’s life, but he’d be damned if he didn’t find out.