Bullet | Suicidal Todoroki x Midoriya

8 | Purgatory

This story is not intended to promote or encourage actions/behaviors such as suicide, self-harm, abuse, violence, or substance abuse.

Rina Todoroki

Rina had drifted off while watching cartoons—one of her favorite activities—but as her consciousness latched onto her body, she realized that the world around her was swaying. She was no longer resting her head on a large, fluffy pillow from the couch, and instead, her head was being lifted up. Fluttering her azure eyes open, she glanced up to see her dad carrying her in his arms.

Before her dad could roll his gaze back down to her, Rina pressed her eyes closed again as she was transported to her room. After being laid in bed, Rina anticipated that her dad would promptly exit the room, but he lingered at her bedside. She could hear his breaths and sense his presence, but she could not fathom why Shoto had not yet left.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, and with that, the shuffle of his footsteps receded into a void of silence.

After a few moments had passed, Rina pushed herself out of bed and slowly nudged her door open. She glanced around into the vacant hallway that was illuminated dimly by the bluish wash of light pooling onto the walls and floors from the window. Then, as Rina clung to the wall, she could hear the back door sliding open. With piqued curiosity, she followed slowly to the back door, and sitting on the deck was her dad. The door was left open, so a chilling breeze swept into the house like a bird diving down.

Tiptoeing outside, Rina crept across the deck towards her dad, whose head was hanging low. Once she encroached on Shoto's propinquity enough to enter his personal space, a revelation shot through her head. Her eyes flung open, and her heart began to snap like an inferno of thunder. She couldn't believe what her own dad was doing.

Shoto was slitting his wrist.

"Dad?" she called out to her dad while stepping back; Shoto froze at the sound of her voice.

"Rina, it's late," Shoto huffed with a hastened lilt as he stuffed something into his pocket and rolled down his sleeve. "You should get back to bed. Don't worry about me."

I knew it, Rina thought to herself while sitting beside her dad. I think he's hiding a lot of self-loathing. Is that the word? I think so.

"I already saw..." she sighed while pointing to Shoto's wrist. "So, I'll worry about you. You're bleeding, Dad."

Shoto expelled a frigid sigh as he rolled his sleeve back up and pulled out his phone. "Rina, I never want you, your brothers, or Papa to do this. Never..." Utilizing the luminiferous screen of his phone, he revealed a plethora of recent and old scars from self-harm littering his wrist, but the salient detail on his arm was the crimson gash that he'd just sliced onto his wrist. "Let these scars be a lesson to you. Promise me, Rina, that you'll never do this to yourself. That you'll never become someone like me..."

Rina held out her pinky finger to her dad. "If you promise me you won't do this to yourself again," she replied.

I only hear about kids and teenagers cutting, Rina realized while awaiting a response from her dad. I forgot that adults can still feel like this. We're all still human... Dad can still feel pain. I don't like it when people say boys don't cry and can handle anything. I think that just puts pressure on them and makes them want to hide their feelings. Dad hides his all the time. But I really think he hates himself a lot. He's hurt himself so much...

Finally, Shoto released a sigh. "I can't promise that," he admitted. "But I can promise that I'll try not to." He held out his pinky finger to his daughter.