A Song to Come Home to

Chapter Thirty-Five

I think, maybe, we had a chance to be a normal and typical family that knew only love and nurture. Of course, that chance was years and years ago. I do have vague memories of us being happy but that is something of the past. Unfortunately, after everything that has happened since then, there is no chance to fix everything.

As long as I could remember, I would constantly pray that there could be an off chance miracle that things could go back to what I desperately missed. A chance of normalcy. Because of this, I turned my back to everything that had happened. I don't like to admit it but I lived by the motto of 'ignorance is bliss'. I know that by doing that, I'm not any better than my father because I could've spoken out but I didn't. That's something that I find myself thinking about a lot. I should've been a better daughter and sister, I should've stood up for what I knew what was right. Perhaps then, that would have saved a lot of heartbreak.

It took me twenty-three years to realize this because I was so deluded with my fantasies of having a real family. However, I now see the truth and fully understand that things in my family will never be normal in this life. What I also realized is you can be a family without being related by blood.

Over the five months after the arrest of Enji and the downfall of the Hero Public Safety Commission, I finally found my own family who love me and accept me for who I am. My goal in writing this book was to let anyone who reads this, know that there is hope out there. Life does get better. No matter how dark it may be, no matter how much you feel like you want to give up- there is always hope and those who want to help you. For so long, I thought that I was completely alone and isolated in the world when I wasn't. You're not alone either, there's always someone who loves and accepts you. It doesn't have to be anyone related by blood because friends can become a chosen family.
-Closing note of 'Ice in Fire: An Autobiography' by Todoroki Fuyumi.

It had been a rough five months since the final video was released to the public. The change that Touya had prayed for since he was a young boy had finally happened, though it certainly didn't happen overnight, through the short span of five months there's been such a massive change.

Investigations had opened against the Hero Public Safety Commission and through that, a lot of hidden skeletons in their closets have been finally revealed. Many of them have been involved in buying children from families to train to be super soldiers. Unfortunately, many of those children have disappeared. Keigo mentioned that many of the children had died because of the trials but stayed quiet about the specifics of the training he was forced to endure.

Of course, no one would even dream about asking for more clarification from the sole survivor of the commission's cruel and hidden agenda. It was also revealed that the members had been paying to keep everyone quiet about their corruption and those who refused to be silent were threatened with force and sometimes, more intense measurements were taken to ensure silence. What was even more horrifying was that many of the inmates at Tartarus and other high level security prisons had actually been falsely accused of their crimes. It was something that filled many people with dread, knowing how many innocent souls are locked away and how many might've unjustly lost their lives behind bars.

As soon as the investigation was opened against the entire commission, the CEO had disappeared from Japan. A manhunt had been born and the people of Japan demanded for her to pay for the crimes she had approved of. During all of this, the Prime Minister had started to push to make Japan a police state in a desperate attempt to bring control over everyone.

Many heroes had quit their jobs after they were told to start arresting and attacking innocent protestors. Rather, they started to tell the public of their own experiences of working under the commission. They had banded together and donated to the protesters who had gotten arrested during their strikes. With Miruko and Burnin' leading, the heroes who had left the commission joined with the peaceful protests to protect the civilians against the police and their once fellow colleagues. By the droves, vigilantes had come out from the shadows and joined forces with Miruko and Burnin'.