Drowning. (Shoto Todoroki x OC)

Coming Up for Air

Mr. Tanaka made a face at Mizuko's speech. Moya told him that Mizuko would breakdown the moment she would be called up to the stand and have to face him. She was always weak growing up so where the hell was she getting this confidence from? Moya shifted in his seat then as he glared at his own daughter who was finally standing up for herself.

The trial was now about villain father v hero daughter.

"Well Ms. Hikari, again your name legally is Hikari, please explain how an innocent quirkless man could cause harm you? You have a quirk. He doesn't." Tanaka kept calling her Hikari to get a rise out of her.

Todoroki was uneasy about this. This man was making her air her dark past in front of this packed courtroom. He was going to make her tell the whole court about her past, including the rest of her classmates and his father. Endeavor saw how Shoto was looking and glanced down at him confused. His son was usually always calm and collected.

Mizuko took a breathe in. She knew Tanaka's plan was for her to relive those memories in front of everyone so she would breakdown and back off. No, she couldn't do that. She had to be strong in front of everyone. She had to be strong for Aizawa and herself.

"When you're a child, all you want is your parent's love and approval. I trained hard in order to maybe hear that they were proud of me. But it was never enough. I remember when I was 8 years old and just got my quirk, my father punished me for not doing well enough. He punished me by slapping me across the face, saying I would never be the hero Oboro would be, and made me train until I was so dehydrated that I needed to go to the hospital for IV fluids. I was 8 years old. Does that answer your question? If that was my life at 8, imagine the eggshells I walked on the rest of my life?" Mizuko snapped back at her parents' defense lawyer.

Todoroki and the everyone else shuttered hearing that. Todoroki knew that her father abused her but she never disclosed the details just like he only gave her an overview of what his "trainings" were like with Endeavor. He was conflicted as he knew he couldn't leave his seat and comfort her right now but he wanted to break the rules so badly.

Endeavor saw everyone's reaction to her memory and remembered training his own children, Shoto and Toya. He grew uneasy seeing the similarities especially since Moya is now on trial. Did he have something in common with this villain? But that was all in the past, right? Endeavor shook his head trying to stop thinking about comparing himself to Moya. He then gave sympathetic eyes to his former intern. She was a pain in the ass to him but she hid her pain and trauma well. Endeavor realized that's why she is as strong as she is now.

Bakugo, Midoriya, Kirishima, and Iida looked distraught. They never knew their classmate carried that trauma. Iida realized her father must have been the one pushing her in academics and that's why she was number two in class and he was number three. He would admit he was jealous but felt bad admitting it now since she probably had severe consequences for her grades while he did not. He also had a family that loved him and encouraged him, something Mizuko easily would've traded her ranking for. Kirishima's heart sank hearing his friend. He was glad he became that shy girl's first friend in class as she needed it.

Bakugo felt angry, very angry that as he remembered their time together being kidnapped. That damn idiot offered to sacrifice herself for him back then. She was always kind to other and always putting everyone else above herself when she was the one that needed the most love and attention. Midoriya was holding back tears as he couldn't imagine the pain Shirakumo was hiding behind all her smiles in class.

Hawks had to stifle any reaction. In his head, he kept playing back his own training memories. He felt sick knowing she had a similar upbringing under her own father.