Burnt to Ashes - Kenichi Todoroki

Akihito's Origin

"We don't have enough money for you to keep buying all those fucking drugs!" My mom yelled. "Spend one more dime and I'm kicking your ass out!"

My dad narrowed his eyes. "I don't care what you want me to fucking stop, I'll take all the fucking drugs I want and if you stop me then I'll kill you."

"This is why I want a divorce, you never listen to yourself! You don't care about your family or your family's needs!" My mom snapped back. "Get out, now."

"I'm keeping that damn kid. Akihito!" My dad called, making me hide behind the door of the other room I was in.

"Shut the fuck up and leave!" My mom snapped again. "He's definitely not going with you, the judge will decide that well! Fucking addict!"

I knew my parents were struggling a lot financially; even at eleven I was able to understand that. But what I didn't understand was their constant arguments. Dad said that drugs were good for you, but my mom begged to differ. Who was right if they both were adults?

They had my younger sister a few years ago, and I remember being so excited. But they had to put her up for adoption and I was devastated. It made me wonder what else could go wrong.

Well when my dad left that night, things did go wrong, worse than expected.

"Akihito, I'm getting a divorce with your father." My mother said, kneeling over. "It's not you, it's just that in order for your health and safety, you have to stay with me for a while and your dad and I weren't meant to be."

I could feel tears welling up in my eyes, but I directed my attention to the wall. I didn't want my parents to leave each other.

And so it all began.

One year passed and I finally got to see my dad again. Apparently he got a new job as a detective; he had to hide his addictions in the process. And after solving several big cases in such a short time, his name was widely known. My mom on the other hand was doing great in the field of quirk sciences, learning about the positive and negative effects of certain quirks are, and more...

But between all their work and them having to be able to support themselves on their own, as well as me, they had no time to pay attention to me. And even if they did, they didn't feel like it.

I was a straight A student; always was and still am. In several gifted programs and other activities that would win me respect from teachers and others around me.

Safe to say that I was extremely intelligent.

But whenever I brung up an achievement I had made or anything of the sort, they always said 'that's great, Akihito', and moved on.

That was what made me furious.

"Hey, is that the gifted kid Akihito?" One kid whispered.

"Yeah, he's really smart. I wonder where he learned all that stuff." One whispered back.

Whenever I would get out of school, I thought about those comments. I would stand, waiting for my bus that always somehow arrived late, and reflected. Looking at the faces of the kids who actually had loving parents to pick them up. The excitement on their parent's faces when their kid would tell them something new they did or discovered.

It didn't make me sick, or jealous... it made me feel lonely. It gave me thoughts like, 'do my parents just hate me?', or, 'am I not doing enough for them?'.

But that wasn't the case at all; frankly, they didn't care about me.

"I promise I'll become a hero and father figure to all kids that are like me." I whispered to myself as I boarded my bus.

So at the ripe age of eleven, that's when I knew I wanted to become a hero.