Art || Todomomo

Chapter 23

The room went silent.

"P-please c-continue." Momo stuttered.

Kazuma looked to Sora, then Momo and lastly, his gaze landed on Shouto.

"Ume taught you, you know that right?"

Shouto nodded.

"She really loved kids." Kazuma smiled wistfully, "She talked a lot about Sora, Momo and you as well, but she was equally worried. You were very quiet, it always seemed like you had something on your mind, you were quite mature for your age but when you suddenly asked her questions out of the blue, she was very happy to answer, she loved it when kids were curious."

Shouto didn't know how to respond to any of this, he just listened, that was all he could do.

" 'Curiosity fuels the imagination more than you think Kazuma.' She used to always say that." Kazuma chuckled, "Anyways, one night I got a call from her, her voice was frantic, she said that your mother poured boiling water on your face and then your father had beaten your mother and was yelling at you. 'He's abusing them Kazuma, he's abusing them!' She was crying and I tried to console her, I told her to call the police but she knew your father was a powerful man and that he could get away with it but then suddenly she remembered that there was a big party that day. 'They'll believe me and I have proof' She said and I tried to stop her from going, I told her she was being reckless, but if she's set her mind to something, it is next to impossible to change it, I agreed reluctantly and I still regret sending her because that was the last time I heard her voice." Kazuma was quiet.

Sora put his hand on his father's shoulder, consoling him as much as he could.

"After her funeral, I was holed up in my room for about a week until finally I pulled myself together and worked hard on developing the cafe. Almost two months later, I received an anonymous letter, 'Endeavor sent Shigaraki, Shigaraki sent Dabi.'" Kazuma looked at Shouto, who stayed still, his eyes slowly pooling with anger.

"That bastard." Shouto harshly whispered.

"Yes, I figured that Endeavor meant your father because well, that's the name of his company, I didn't know who Dabi was but I knew Shigaraki. Shigaraki liked Ume, a lot. He asked her out but she rejected as politely as she could and he was just really sour about it. I didn't think he'd actually have a role in this but what I do know is that himself, Enji Todoroki and this Dabi person is the one responsible for Ume's death." Kazuma looked down, his eyes tired.

"Dabi is Touya, he's my older brother." Shouto was ashamed, he didn't know what to do.

"Wait, wait, wait." Sora interjected, "You're saying that when Enji saw mom leave, she knew that she would report to someone, so he assigned this Shigaraki person to kill or stop her, and this dude sent Touya to do it and once he had poisoned mom, he put the blame on Momo." He stopped, "It's crazy how all these chain of events are linked, dad why didn't you tell me any of this, please don't tell me it's because you didn't want to already burden me with more stuff."

"That's actually the answer." Kazuma softly smiled.
"Dad, I could have done something, anything." Sora sounded almost hurt.
"Nothing could have been done back then but after you informed me on what happened to Momo last week, there's still hope that all of this can be fixed." Kazuma looked to Momo, who hadn't said a word throughout the entire conversation.

She looked at all of them, "This is a lot for us to digest but I believe with this information we can get a lead on what to do." She smiled, her smile not quite reaching her eyes, "Thank you Uncle Kazuma and Sora, I'll come here again when I can and inform you if anything were to happen but right now, I need some air." She bowed and left the room.

Shouto stood up and bid the two goodbye, before going after Momo.

"She looks a lot like mom, doesn't she?"

"She does, she really does resemble Ume, in more ways than one."

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The two sat on the park bench in silence.

Shouto finally took the initiative, "I can't believe that old man had a part in this." He hissed.

Momo just nodded, her gaze elsewhere.

"Before I went to UA, he told me that he wanted to change, I didn't believe it but maybe, I don't know." He sighed, "And then I got to know about this, what else has he done? How many more people has he hurt?" Shouto groaned in frustration.

Momo reached out to Shouto's hand and almost immediately he held it, like he was desperate for her comfort. She gently rubbed her thumb on his palm, "Everything will work out." Her voice was soft and quiet.

"I'm sorry, my brother ruined everything for you and my father was responsible for Miss Ume's death and it's almost like, like, I'm going to ruin-" Momo stopped him halfway.

"No matter what they did, it wasn't you, you are not them. Don't feel responsible for their actions. You've helped me a lot Shouto, more than you know." She looked at him with so much of admiration and care that Shouto simply didn't know how to respond.

He loved how she called his name, he loved her voice, he loved talking to her, he loved her big onyx eyes and her feathery sable hair, he loved it when she smiled and when she got excited, he loved going out with her and spending time with her, he loved it when their fingers brushed or when she held his hand or when she hugged him, he loved every single thing about her, he loved every single moment he spent with her.

He wanted to give her all the love he had to offer because he cherished her, with all his heart.

But could he?

"Momo, I-" He quietly began,

"Shouto, so much is happening and it's happening so fast and it's like I'm failing to keep up and my head is in a mess and I'll sort it out but right now, I'm just tired and I want to relax so can you stay here with me, for some time." She pleaded.

"Sure." He smiled.

Now's not the right time.

He held her hand a bit tighter and turned to face her. His heterochromatic eyes gazing deep into her charcoal ones.

He bought his other hand to her jaw, stroking it lovingly.

Beautiful.

And then he gently kissed her forehead and pulled her in for a hug.

"I'm not going anywhere." He mumbled into her hair.

"Your hands are warm." She mumbled.

"And I'm guessing your cheeks are warm." Shouto chuckled.

They pulled away, just a little, their hands still intertwined.

I love you.

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I'm sorry if the previous few chapters didn't have enough todomomo but well the plot had to progress  so here's some todomomo fluff to satisfy all of our hearts.
Anyways hope you enjoyed the chapter and if you did, please give it a vote ❤️.
Sorry for the typos and please feel free to leave constructive criticism.
K, byeeeeee.