Burnt to Ashes - Kenichi Todoroki

You May Have Won the Battle

Kenichi's POV:

I thought I was going to die.

I hate him. I hate him, I hate him, I HATE him, I HATE HIM.

That's all I could think of when I let the volcano loose.

But when I stood up, after many, many moments, I didn't feel lightheaded. I didn't feel as horrible as I did the first time. I felt... relieved. Like all of the pent up hatred I had towards that... monster ...got out. All out on him.

I turned around to look at him, and he was trapped under molten rock. He was nearly face down, but his head was turned just enough to look at me.

His eyes were full of tears, quite possibly because of the burning ashes around him, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was for other reasons.

The molten lava cracked above him, until it started crumbling, and Shinju's ashened body was being held up by his shadow hands. He clearly had more than one broken bone, and he was bleeding. He glared at me, but didn't attack.

He was... surrendering.

He curled his hands into a fist, in a stance like he might've just ran if he could. Maybe he would anyway.

And he did. In one swift motion, he turned around and leaped up into the air with his shadow hands, turning back once to glare at me again. Then, he disappeared.

I fell to my knees, and just sat in silence for a long time. There was nothing that I could do to bring back what we had, but seeing him again was miserable. It was like he didn't even care that I was out of his life, in fact, he looked much better than he did when I was in it.

I finally got the energy to stand up and look around. The war had turned Toronto into an absolute barren wasteland. Aside from the damages Shinju and I created, there was nothing left. I walked along the sidewalk, listening and watching for any signs of danger, which I assume there would be lots of, especially if they found me. But I heard nothing. I saw nothing.

Ten minutes passed. Then twenty. Then thirty. I wandered the streets of what used to be my hometown, now in shambles, but then I came across it.

You could see very faintly Blue Jays Way, the street where my mother died. It was the only street I had seen so far that wasn't as destroyed as it could've been.

But what could this all mean?

I assumed it'd be another Shirokage trap. I turned into an alleyway instead of crossing it.

I thought about turning myself in, to let this shitshow take me down. But if I died, who'd kill all the criminals? If I died, who would step up and take the risk?

Nobody. Because humans are cowards.

Thank god that I'm not.

The hourglass of my classmate's lives were ticking, and I couldn't turn myself in. I would have no choice but to let them die with me. But if I didn't turn myself in, and instead went to find them and save them, I wouldn't live. Maybe nobody would. I had to kill the guy on top. Shinju's father.

Not his actual birth father, but the Shirokages. Not many people know his name, however; the three birth brothers were usually at the top, the ones doing all the work. But Shinju let his name slip, and it's been on my mind forever.

Sotsui. Sotsui Shirokage.

A brother from the original red family, his name in Japanese literally translates to "intent to murder" in English. Not only that, but while doing research, he challenged his father to take over the red family and lost. As the youngest brother, he was banished. The green and yellow family were well off, but he wasn't, and completely unsupported by the other families, even if he was able to kidnap the most kids out of anyone.