My Hero Academia: Overcoming Fear

Todoroki

Hikari

I found myself standing in a hallway facing Todoroki. We were leaning against opposites sides of the hall. 

He stared at me silently. I didn't say anything either, I just stared back at him. My crutches were leaning against the wall a few feet away from me. 

Finally I couldn't take the silence anymore. "You brought us here," I said. 

He stared at me for another moment, then he said, "I wanted to talk about the attack at the U.S.J."

"What about it?"

"That villain said he knew someone named Amaya Kagami."

I looked away from him. Of course he was curious. That's probably why he didn't say much after the attack. 

He continued. "And the way you reacted after... it was like you knew that person."

I sighed and looked back at him. "So you want to know that badly?"

He frowned. "Know what?"

"Do you know who my father is?" I asked, already knowing what his answer would be.

"No, you never mentioned it."

I shifted my position against the wall. "He's the hero Whiteout. Second only to All Might, equal to Endeavor. My father and him have much in common. They're very good friends, in fact."

He looked surprised. 

"Have you ever heard of Quirk Marriages?"

He nodded. 

I looked down. "On my father's third year at U.A, he met this girl who had an amazing, powerful quirk. By then, he was very popular and had multiple people viewing him to be his side-kick. The girl knew him, and was drawn to his quirk.

"A couple years later the two were married. They never loved each other, only each other's quirk. Then, one day, they had a little baby girl. They named her Hikari Kazenikura. The woman Whiteout married was..."

I stopped. I had never told anyone this before. It had been a secret between my family for as long as I could remember. But I trusted Todoroki. 

"Her name was Amaya Kagami," I whispered, looking back up at him. 

He stared at me. "That was your mother," he said quietly. "That the villain knew."

I clenched my fists. "My parents didn't love each other. My mother would often sneak out and be gone for days at a time. I remember when I was little, my mother came home one day, and my father asked where she had been. She-she told him that she wanted a divorce, and that all this time, she had been doing supervillain work behind his back."

He didn't say anything. 

"That's why I don't use my Shield quirk," I said softly. "I'm afraid. I'm afraid that if I use it, I'll turn into my mother, and become a villain. After my mother told him that, my father got mad. He grabbed her arm and... she was gone. Ashes. You want to know how many times I've used my mother's quirk after that?"

He shrugged. He looked a little uncomfortable. 

I held up two fingers. "In the years after my mother died, I've only used her quirk twice. Twice. And both times were to save someone's life."

I exhaled. "I'm sorry, was that too much?"

He shook his head. "Actually, I get it."

I frowned. "Huh?"

He shoved his hands in his pockets and looked down. "My father is Endeavor."

I stared at him. "I never knew," I said.