Suicidal Todoroki x Midoriya | What it Means to Love

30 | Disappearance of Endeavor

Izuku Midoriya

It's a pity that we couldn't have recorded Kirishima's inspirational speech. Even if he were to replicate it, the initial, unparalleled impact would be lost to time. Although to many his words would hold little to no significance, in my eyes they were uplifting and empowering; I would've loved to have had access to them whenever I began to tear up.

To hear something is one thing, but to remember it is another.

"I wanna be just like you guys," Kirishima continues, pointing to a small scar above his right eye. "I hated my quirk when I was younger. Back then, my hair wasn't red—it's actually naturally black. I could never move in time. I always got so scared, and my body would just freeze up. But I'm through with that! I'm way manlier than the person I was before!"

If only I could tell you...that I was born quirkless, Kirishima-kun. "Y-Yeah!" Keep going. Keep going! "And I-I'll work hard to be a hero that others can look up to and smile at—like All Might." That's how you break your limits and grow.

Springing up from the floor, Kaminari leaps onto Kirishima's back. "Kiri, you were supposed to wake me up!" Kaminari exclaims, oblivious to the conversation Kirishima and I were previously engaged in. "Mi-idori-iya, we've been waiting for you to wake up." He smiles from ear to ear while straddling Kirishima like he's a crimson stallion.

"You ain't gonna back down on drawing out the full potential of your quirk, right, Kami?"

"No way!" Kaminari buries his head into Kirishima's hair—which isn't crazily spiked up—and plants a kiss on his forehead. "I've been thinking about trying some sharpshooting. Then I get some range on my quirk without burning myself out."

Grinning widely, Kirishima readjusts Kaminari on his back, popping both of their shoulders up in the process. "And I'll be indestructible! Just you wait, Midoriya. We'll make it to your guys' league before ya know it!"

In two weeks time, both Todoroki and Kacchan awakened from their timeless slumbers—Iida opened his eyes the night I woke up. Kacchan awoke within the first week but was forcefully instructed to recover in rehabilitation at the hospital for another few weeks. Todoroki nearly made a complete recovery, but he was confirmed to be primarily blind in his right eye; I was thanking All Might for at least fifteen minutes that Todoroki never entered a coma.

After three weeks since the Stain incident, and a week after the awakening of Todoroki, I'm visiting Todoroki at his house. When I surreptitiously slide inside his house, my eyes drift immediately to Todoroki and Fuyumi. The two siblings are sitting on the couch together, speaking in baritone whispers.

I stand awkwardly in the doorway and silently close the door behind me. Crap, I d-don't want to e-eavesdrop, b-but...

"I've not," Todoroki sighs. "Is he of more importance to you than Mom?" His words burn frigidly, sputtering like sprinklers spewing vitriol.

Fuyumi shakes her head. "No, I-I hate what he's done. I can't forgive someone like that so easily, but he's still our dad, and there's nothing we can do to change that. Our very blood is proof of that. A part of me wants to believe that he has his own reasons...but none of what he did to you is fair in any way, shape, or form. Still, I'm not saying he's more important than Mom. I'm not saying I don't care about him, either." Her shoulder-length hair bobs in a brief, rising wave before dipping down like the ebbing ocean waves.

He rests his hand on her shoulder, his cadaverous fingers deftly massaging wrinkles into her white shirt. It honestly baffles me how he can be simultaneously intimidating and cold, yet also so benevolent. "Ah. Have you heard about Touya?" His nonchalant, yet equally despondent lilt makes it seem as if he would never deign to express feigned emotive gestures or indicators through his voice.