Blossoms of the Dark

LXXXI Shouto: Treat

Two one-on-one training sessions happened today.

One with Endeavor.

The other at school.

One of them was uneventful.

I can't say the same about the other.

As I stand under the showerhead in the U.A. 's boys' locker room after dueling with Kaminari, I reminisce about the eventful training session from this morning.

_________________________________________________________

I did it.

I confronted Endeavor about Mom.

But as I expected, it did not end well. Deep down, I don't think I wanted it to.

Since Endeavor's return from work and the Sports Festival announcement, my morning training became more rigorous than before. And for a good reason, too. Both of us agreed that the Festival was not an opportunity that I should waste and that I should strive to rank first, although we had different motives for that.

This morning he wanted me to work on defense. "Shouto, while you have two immensely powerful quirks, don't underestimate your opponent's quirks. Remember that your opponent also vies for the same position," he said.

"I'm not a fool, as much as you think I am one," I commented bitterly.

His mouth thinned into a line as he launched a chain reaction of flames at me. First his signature Flashfire Fist - raise the temperature of the fire to maximum - and Hell's Curtain - throw both fists back while concentrating the fire to a single point and then emit a blanket of flames. I blocked both attacks with my Heaven-Piercing Ice Wall, but not without damage. The Wall melted upon impact. He took advantage of that to make his next move: Hellfire Storm - create a fire whirlwind that burns everything within its range. To counter that, I summoned a ring of ice around the whirlwind, tall enough to tower the whirlwind twofold. This defense was better than before: on the upside, not all the ice melted; on the downside, the ice that didn't melt came crashing down.

But I wasn't so lucky with Endeavor's last offense. He executed his Hell Minefield move. He smashed his fist into the ground, causing visible cracks to form, and sent a wave of fire in my direction. I summoned another Heaven-Piercing Ice Wall, forgetting the catch in this particular move: the second impact. Because the moment I finished building my defense, another wave passed through the cracks, generating a massive explosion on my side, from behind the Wall.

I was flung back from the sheer impact and landed not so gracefully on my bottom. Looking behind me at the rocks and trees just centimeters away from me, I was barely saved from a concussion.

Just as I got up, Endeavor stormed toward me. "Why did you block all my attacks with simply ice? What about fire? Why are you not using your left side?"

That ticked me off. "You know damn well why I'm not."

He huffed in frustration. "Again with this childish rebellion of yours. During the Sports Festival, do you intend on remaining this adamant? You will never win first place if you keep this up."

I responded likewise. "You call it childish, I call it maturity. I'll use my left side all I like during training, just for your unnecessary satisfaction and my need to retain skills. But when the time comes to battle, I won't. Mom's quirk got me into the U.A. Mom's quirk will get me first place. Not yours."

"Shouto, be sensible about this. You were born with two quirks, so use two quirks. This favoritism won't do you any good. It will-"

Seething, I cut him off. "Really? My favoritism won't benefit me, but keeping Mom locked away in some psychiatric ward will? It's been ten years since I've seen her, Endeavor. Ten years. I only have a picture of her so that I don't forget her face. You stole the happiness Mom deserved from her marriage to you, and then you stole your children's happiness that we deserved from both of you. In all honesty, I have every right to reject you and everything that defines you, including your quirk."