Daichi Todoroki: Origin

Chepter 3: Todoroki

Mr. Aizawa is talking about some new quirk training we will be doing in our PE classes next week to compensate for our work studies, but today I just can't focus.
I keep thinking about the flashback I had yesterday. It was so random. Usually I'll be doing something or I'll hear something that reminds me of a specific moment and then I'd have a flashback about it. And most of them have been about the times we encountered the League of Villains... or my brothers. But this was different. Why would hearing Midoriya and Iida talk about the League of Villains cause me to have a flashback about Daichi?
Aizawa says something and leaves. The bell rings. I move to put my notebook away and suddenly my vision goes black. My first thought is that the power went out. Wait, what if there are villains? But then I hear a voice.
"Well isn't that a tragedy." It's my older brother, Daichi. No, it's not. The villain with the patchwork face from the training camp attack appears. It's the end of the battle, when they kidnapped Bakugo.
He stands in the portal created by the warp villain, with a little blue marble clutched between his fingers. I'm sailing through the air, my hand outstretched towards it, but I can't get there in time.
"Poor little Shoto Todoroki." He says as I fly past him. And then he disappears.
I jump up from my seat. This time I'm terrified. I break out in a cold sweat, and my heart pounds in my chest.
"Todoroki?" Deku says. He looks startled. The others are staring at me too. They all wear looks of concern.
My breathing is heavy and rapid. "I'm.. fine. Sorry." I say in between breaths.
"Are you sure? What happened, man?" Kirishima asks.
"I'm okay. I just.. realized something. That's all." They don't look convinced. Kirishima starts to walk over but I grab my notebook and bag and walk out of the room, not wanting to stay here any longer with them staring at me like that.
The whole time at lunch everyone kept looking at me, and when I would look back at them, they looked away. I contemplated going to sit by myself, but that would have implied that I wasn't ok, and it would've just made them more concerned.

Most of my classmates are glad to go home on the weekends, but I dread it.
By the time I get to my house, my head is swimming. What did that mean? How come I didn't notice that before when the villain actually said that to me? Maybe I was just so focused on getting Bakugo back that I didn't have time to think about it. I remember thinking he sounded like my brother, but he looked so different. His hair wasn't the same, he was taller than my brother had been, but it's been years since I last saw him. And his face, all the stitches and cloth, it made me want to vomit. Had he done that to himself? But that voice, It sounded so much like him.
My legs start to shake and I lean against the table in my kitchen to steady myself. This theory is insane. I hope I'm wrong. God I hope I'm wrong.
I hear heavy footsteps. I swallow, shake my head, and stand up. My father rounds the corner and approaches me.
"You look well." He says, staring me down. I don't respond, just walk over to the cabinet to get a glass of water. I fill it up with tap water from the sink.
"How was school?" He asks. I down the glass of water in three huge gulps, wipe my mouth and set it on the marble counter. "Since when do you care?" I ask.
He pretends not to hear "Shoto, I have made a new training regimen that will require you to work even harder than before. You can't just stay caught up with your classmates, you need to pull ahead. I'm still disappointed that you failed your licensing exam. It's unbelievable. You're stronger than that."
I'm really not in the mood for this right now, but I have to comply. The last time I stood up to my father, it did not go well. I really don't want to train any harder, I'm exhausted, but I need it. "Okay fine. When do we start?"
He smiles, happy that I'm agreeing. "Tomorrow. Now go get some sleep, you'll need it."
I go to my room, not because he told me to, but because I want to. I sit on my bed, resting my elbows on my knees. My room is big, but empty. The only furniture I have is my bed, a dresser, and a desk. There's a plain rug on my dark wooden floor. My father makes a lot of money, being the number two hero and all, so we can afford a fancy house, but I prefer simpler things.
I peer out the window next to my bed, and see my sister practicing karate. I watch boards break in half and fly across the yard as she slams her palm into one after another.
When my father found out he was going to have a daughter, he was furious. After he decided Daichi wasn't powerful enough he wanted to have another child. That was my sister, Fuyumi. He didn't think a girl could ever be strong enough to become a great hero, so he had another child, Eiji. He started training him. Eiji became pretty good at combat and using his quirk. My father had hope for him.
Then I was born. When my quirk manifested, my father set out to make me his masterpiece. Of course, he kept training Eiji. Though one day, he ran away when I was only five years old.
I remember the day when the police came to our house and told us they had found Eiji. They said he had joined an organized crime group of villains called the Shie Hassakai, and that they had arrested him, but he had escaped the next day. My father was furious.
And then when Daichi ran away, he went into a spitting rage. He threw things at walls, and almost set the house on fire. My sister and I were terrified. We hid in our rooms and didn't come out. Eventually, he questioned us, asked us if we knew Daichi wanted to leave. He hurt us, and I couldn't stop him. I was only eight years old.
I knew, Fuyumi didn't, but I knew that if I told my father that I saw him leave, it would be worse. He still doesn't know to this day.
I walk outside onto the porch and lean against the big cherry blossom tree. I watch my sister practice kicks, and special moves with her arms. She repeats them over and over again. I've tried to protect her from my father so many times, and I still do. Luckily he doesn't pay much attention to her, since she doesn't have a very powerful quirk, but now that it's just me and her, he can pay more attention to her.
When she's done practicing, she walks up to me slowly, and sits down in a chair next to me. We don't speak for a few minutes while I let her catch her breath. Eventually I say, "You're getting better."
"I don't know. There's not much else for me to do. I go to school, I do homework, I practice karate. It's a way for me to calm my nerves. And a way for me to avoid.. you know." She says.
Fuyumi has always been really good at karate, or anything she sets her mind to. We both have our one focus. Mine is hero work, and hers is karate. But we also both have one fear.
"You need to be careful." She says, now serious. "After failing your exam, he's been angrier, I can tell. I don't know how much longer it will be before it happens again. Before he becomes the way he was after Daichi left." She explains. We never talk about him or Eiji, especially in front of my father. So her sudden mention of him puts a sense of seriousness in the air.
"You need to catch up to your classmates." She finishes.
I'm tired of people always telling me I need to catch up. Mr. Aizawa, my father, my classmates, now my sister too. Haven't I done enough already? I'm at the top of my class. It will never be enough, at least not for my father. I wait for her to go on. When she doesn't, I speak. "I know."
As if she's reading my thoughts she says, "I know you're tired of it. You don't deserve this, you're already good enough. I'm not saying that you need to be better because I believe it. I'm saying it to protect you." As she looks up, I see that her eyebrows are scrunched in concern, and she looks nervous, but she's always been good at hiding it.
Of course she's doing this to protect me. Being the oldest now, she probably feels the burden of making sure I'm safe from him. But really, I'm the one protecting her.