Enji: you're the young man that's
dating my youngest? I would've thought
she had more taste in young men
Bakugou: with all due respect,
I'm your daughter's daddy now
Tomomi: KATSUKI-CHAN NO-
This may or may not happen in the
future chapters.
Also I'm gonna run by the preliminary
round pretty quickly but her fight with
Monoma will be fairly long. This chapter
will be heavily focused on the conflict
in the Todoroki family and Tomomi
allowing herself to be vunerable in front
of someone for the first time.
Also what if Rei sung "All is Found"
to Tomomi as a lullaby? that would be
so cute!
( If you don't know what I'm talking about,
its a song from Frozen 2, song is up above )
don't forget to comment and vote!!
The preliminary rounds went by pretty easily. Tomomi didn't really watch the matches but she knew who would advance and who were disqualified. She wasn't really paying attention until her match with Monoma was up next.
In the fairly empty hall way, Tomomi walked towards the entrance of the arena when she suddenly came across a face she dreaded seeing. She saw her own father coming one way while she went the opposite. But because he always had to run his mouth, she paused, waiting for him to speak.
"What?" she said mildly bored already.
"Nothing." Enji said, "I just wanted to bid you good luck on your match."
"Good luck? How long did you come up with that?" Tomomi replied, raising both of her eyebrows. She knew her father wasn't capable of being kind. She even doubted that he had a heart.
As much as her sudden attitude caught him off guard slightly, Enji chuckled a little. Tomomi looked like both Rei and his deceased son Touya's face. Of course, Touya also looked a lot like Rei, also. But Tomomi reminded him of Rei and Touya so much, it secretly haunted him. Which was why he was harsher to her than he was to Shoto.
"Don't be a disappointment again, Tomomi." He said bluntly. "Why can't you be more like Shoto? He has shown me why he is the better twin throughout this entire Festival and yet, you can't even uphold the Todoroki name."
Tomomi's fist tightened as she began feeling hot fury through her cold veins. She was used to his belittling so it shouldn't hurt her but for some reason, it stabbed her in her heart now. She had always been blamed for everything he claimed she lacked between the two of them. Though Shoto was facing the same abuse, she had it worse than him. In the end, it damaged her more than she realized.
"A disappointing daughter for a disappointment of a father." Tomomi said venomously, catching him off guard. "You fail at being a father and you failed Touya-"
"You will not speak that name around me!" Enji demanded, glaring at her.
"Why?! Because you can't accept the fact that he left because of you?!"
"Touya is dead!" He cut her off, his eyes growing redder with anger. "And you will end up like him if you ever think to speak to me like that or even disappoint me again!"
Tomomi felt something in her shatter when he said that. Her eyes widened as she looked at him like he had just broke her heart severely. Which he did in that moment. That moment on, she knew whatever hope she had to maybe fix their relationship was now gone. She had completely started resenting him.
Without another word, Enji stormed passed her, not paying any attention to the tears that silently fell down her face.
Unbeknownst to the both of them, there were two people that heard the entire exchange. One being Shoto, who was listening from one end of the hall. He was on his way to the back room after his match when he heard the two talk. Touya was mentioned and he decided to listen in. Only for him to get pissed off when their own father promised to make Tomomi see the same fate as his deceased brother if she disappointed him again. Essentially meaning he will kill her.
His hands gripped his arms tighter as he could practically feel the tears he knew his sister was letting fall from her eyes. Enji treated Shoto harsh but Tomomi was always treated harsher. Especially since she was the only one in the family that didn't believe Touya was dead.
Shoto stormed away, hating his father more than he has ever did.
The second person who heard the conversation was Aizawa, who was on the other side of the hall way. He had always felt iffy about Enji for as long as he could remember. But he had no idea the relationship between his child and him was this bad. In fact, he had no idea it was bad, at all. Given the fact that they never talk about their family.
But be that as it may, it hurt like hell to hear him say such a thing to his daughter. Aizawa watched as Tomomi sped walked past him with her head down and tears falling.
He will never know what it's like to have kids. But even a guy like him knows that no father should ever treat their child like that.
Enji might be a good hero but he was a terrible person and an even more terrible father.
"Mommy, will I ever be a good hero?" Little Tomomi asked just before Rei placed her in bed. Young Fuyumi climbed into bed with her as Rei sat at the side of the bed, tucking the girls in bed.
Though the two girls had their own rooms, they often slept together in Fuyumi's room. Because Tomomi used to sneak into her room to sleep with her, no one cared anymore. So Rei would sometimes carry her into bed in Fuyumi's room.
Fuyumi never minded. She wanted to spend as much time with her sister as she possibly can before their father alienated them again.
Rei sighed, pursing her lips. Tomomi's self esteem was damaged by her husband. The daily belittling and hard treatment hurt her to the core. In her own father's eyes, Tomomi will never be good enough. She was seen as a unwelcomed surprise when Rei gave birth to the twins. But Rei saw Tomomi as her little blessing, her little miracle.
All of her children were her miracles. Her reason to live on.
"You will be a great hero, Tomomi." Rei said gently, moving a strand of her red streak from her face. Her hair was already hip length. Too long for a girl her age to manage but Enji refused to let anyone cut it.
"You can be anything you want." She continued. "No matter what your father as told you. That goes for you too, Fuyumi."
"Thank you mommy, but I don't wanna be a hero." Fuyumi mumbled, pulling Tomomi close to her. Tomomi cuddled closer to her. "All heroes turn out to be mean and bullies. I don't want to be that."
"Now, not all of them are like that." Rei countered, caressing her hair a little. "In fact, we don't know for sure. But I can assure you that many heroes are kind and never mean."
Fuyumi and Tomomi looked at her with curiosity as Rei continued on to her point. "The point is, girls, a hero isn't someone who saves the most people or who has the most fans. A hero is someone who is brave when others can't be. A hero is someone who could lead those who are looking for a leader. A hero is being someone's hope when all hope is gone. She is both graceful and fierce. Strong and soft. She keeps her head held high no matter what.
"A hero doesn't always wear a cape or any fancy costume. A hero is anyone you see as a hero. Even you two are heroes."
Rei poked both girl's noses, making them laugh a little. She smiled at her girls, loving their smiles so much. She wishes moments like this would last forever.
"How about I sing you my favorite lullaby? My mother used to sing it to me." Rei said. Fuyumi and Tomomi nodded, getting more comfortable in bed.
Rei smiled gently before she began singing, holding out her hand. She made little snowflakes float around her hand, her other hand waving softly above, shaping the tiny crystals into a ballerina.
The girls watched in awe as the glowing blue ballerina made of tiny crystals and snowflakes twirled and danced as their mother sung.
'Where the north wind meets the sea
there's a river full of memory
Sleep, my darling, safe and sound
For in this river, all is found.'
Rei turned the ballerina into a shape of two little girls playing and dancing.
'In her waters, deep and true
Lies the answer and a path for you
Dive down deep into her sound
But not too far or you'll be drowned.
Yes, she will sing to those who'll hear
And in her song, all magic flows
But can you brave what you most fear?
Can you face what the river knows?'
Fuyumi and Tomomi gasped softly as the crystals turned into a shape of a mother with all of her kids, hugging and laughing. Rei kept singing as she looked at their awe struck faces.
'Where the north wind meets the sea
There's a mother full of memory
Come, my darling, homeward bound
When all is lost, then all is found....'
Rei let the snowflakes rain delicately over them as the sisters fell asleep by the time she was done with her lullaby. She kissed both of their foreheads gently, pulling the blanket over their bodies more.
"Good night, my little princesses." She whispered before she quietly stood up and left the room, letting them sleep peacefully.
"LADIES AND GENTLEMAN, WE ARE AT THE LAST ROUND OF THE PRELIMINARIES!
ON THE RIGHT CORNER, WE HAVE CLASS B'S VERY OWN GENTLEMAN, NEITO MONOMA!
ON THE LEFT CORNER, WE HAVE THE ICE EMPRESS, HERSELF, TOMOMI TODOROKI!"
Tomomi stood across from Monoma as he smirked at her. She was angry. Angry at him for what he said about her and angry at her father. She took a deep breath as the fight started. All she could think of was winning. Not for anyone else but herself.
"And we meet again, Miss Todoroki." Monoma spoke, crossing his arms. "You know, you seem too pretty to lose. Why don't you do us both a favor and forfeit now? What do you say, pretty girl?"
Not letting his words piss her off anymore, Tomomi responded with much ice in her voice, "Tough talk for someone who's a copycat."
"Doesn't this seem a little unfair?" Denki asked from the audience. The entirety of Class A watched closely as the battle just begun. Shoto and Bakugou both stared at her intently. "I mean, all he has to do is touch her once and the fight would be equal."
"That is if he could get his hands on her." Kirishima pointed out. "And I don't know if Avalanche will let that happen."
Tomomi looked up at her father, glaring at his stupid face. She was going to show him that she didn't need him to be strong. She made it this far without his help.
Tomomi suddenly stuck out her hand, making a thin icicle suddenly form in her hand. An action that confused both Monoma and everyone watching.
With the icicle, she started twisting her hair several times, forming a low bun behind her head. She stuck the same icicle in the bun, keeping it in place.
After that, she walked right up to Monoma, grabbing his hand and making him grab her other wrist. Which gave him her quirk for the time being. Another action in which shocked him and everyone else.
"What is she doing?" Hawks asked, slightly shocked by her just letting him copy her powers. "She has this fight in the bag and now she's allowing him to copy her powers?"
"There's a reason she's doing this, for sure." Rock Lock spoke up, looking at her curiously. "From what I've been watching, she's as smart as they say. She must have a plan."
"Did she really just let him copy her?!" Momo exclaimed, looking at her as if she grew three heads.
"What is she doing?! Why would she even do a stupid move like that?!" Sero followed along.
"You don't know Tomomi like I do." Shoto said, gaining everyone's attention. "Tomomi is a lot smarter than she seems. You've all only seen one layer of her intelligence. If she's allowing him to do this, she has a plan."
You better hope you're right, Bakugou thought as he looked back at the two. He had no doubt in his mind that Tomomi could win this but he has seen first hand at what Monoma could do. After he copied his quirk during the cavalry games, Monoma wasn't no slouch.
"You wanna fight? let's fight then" She said, standing back.
Monoma took a breath as he felt her quirk in his body. An icy breath escaped from his lips before he smirked at her. "You just made a huge mistake, Miss Todoroki. A very huge mistake."
"You've already made one huge mistake." Tomomi shot back. "You made me angry. Now, are you really all talk or are you as tough as you think you are? Because from what I see, you're insecure and jealous, which makes you very inferior and weak."
Monoma glared at her as he suddenly attacked her by shooting icicles at her. She quickly dodged them by flipping in the air and shooting them back at him, to which he quickly formed an ice shield.
"AND THE FIGHT STARTS! IMPRESSIVE MOVEMENT FROM BOTH SIDES AS THE CROWD WATCHES IN AWE."
"You think you're so much better than the rest of us, huh?!" Monoma yelled, forming a huge ice rock and hurdling it at her. "Well, News flash, you and your class of idiots are no better than the rest of us."
Tomomi quickly made the rock break into little pieces, which left her open for Monoma to kick her in the stomach really hard. She flew back a little but stopped herself from falling out of bounds by creating a wall of ice.
Holding her slightly sore stomach, she leaned on the ice wall and grinned at him. "You and your class are mistaken....The weakest ones are usually the loudest in the room and you've been pretty loud lately."
She was making him mad on purpose. Her brother seemed to be the only one who saw that. She really did have a plan. Shoto expected nothing less from her as he began smirking.
Falling into her trap, Monoma glared at her as he ran towards her with his fist covered in ice. But just before he could punch her, Tomomi made the entire arena get covered in a strong blizzard, blinding him completely.
"WOOOW! MISS TOMOMI TODOROKI SEEMS TO HAVE SHROUDED THE ENTIRE BATTLE FIELD IN A BLIZZARD! WE CAN'T SEE THE TWO COMBATANTS AT ALL!"
"Woah!" Miruko gasped, her eyes widened as she felt even more impressed by this girl. "She really caused an entire snow storm in the arena!"
"What an impressive way to utilize her quirk." Midnight complimented, also in awe. "This girl is full of surprises. She's proven to be a multi-dimensional fighter."
In the middle of the blizzard, Monoma tried to see through the rapidly moving snow. She had completely disappeared in the snow.
"Where the hell is she?" Monoma mumbled in annoyance. "Why don't you come out and lose with dignity? Or is your ego too big to allow that?"
"Why don't you lose with what's left of your dignity?" He suddenly heard her voice right behind him. Just as he turned around to attack, she punched him in a total of 5 times and then kicked him super hard in the chest, making him fly right out of bounds and into the wall. His body fell limp into the crate she created.
She had won the match as the blizzard had already disappeared.
"TOMOMI TODOROKI WINS THE MATCH! DISPLAYING SUCH TECHNIQUE AND EXCELLENT BATTLE STRATEGY SKILLS, TOMOMI ASSURED HER VICTORY WITH SUCH REGALNESS AND GRACE!! WHAT A WIN FOR CLASS A!"
The crowd cheered loudly. But she paid no mind to it as she walked over to the weak blonde boy, who was still in the crate and on the verge of passing out. She stood right in front of him with a neutral expression.
"I hope this is will teach you about having humility." She said gently. "You are a formidable fighter, but you can't continue to belittle and bully others because you feel inferior. You have to be good enough in your eyes....I hope someday we can reconcile. Get well soon."
She bowed respectfully before walking away.
Shoto kept his promise. He would be watching and smiling as he watched the egotistical student get placed on a gurney.
"Woah! She beat him just like that!" Mina cheered.
"It would appears that Shoto is right." Iida said, pushing up his glasses. "Miss Tomomi is a lot smarter than she leads on."
"You're saying she planned to get him that angry?" Denki asked.
"One thing I learned about Frost Bite is that anything she does has a purpose." Bakugou said, gaining their attention. The entire class looked on as he spoke. "She learns by reading peoples reactions, their words and how they react to certain things. She knew by poking at his ego, he wouldn't have stood a chance because he let his emotions get the better of him."
"He was going to lose anyways," Tokoyami added, "Whether it was his ego or his soreness to losing that caused him to lose, Tomomi knew how to play with him. That's both expert manipulation and excellent planning."
"So, in short, Tomo-chan played Monoma?"Denki asked, laughing. "Nice!"
Monoma was falling in and out of consious as the med bots carried him to the back to get checked out. He heard what Tomomi had said to him and he couldn't help but replay what she said to him over and over again.
She....she is so cold, stern, so manipulative and......A GODDESS He thought as a a small and lazy lovestruck smile slowly grazed his lips.
Call him crazy but he fell in love with Tomomi in that moment. Something about how fast she could quickly rebuttal his insults with a more hurtful insult and how she was so strong and yet cold to him but so classy and graceful made him want her.
He knew those Class A idiots were too dumb for her and he vowed to try and sway her away from them. He had to have Tomomi Todoroki and he didn't care who he had to go through to get her. Neito Monoma was used to getting what he wanted. And he always got what he wanted.
Tomomi walked out of the arena and into the hallway leading to the back rooms with her hair still in the makeshift low bun. Strands of her hair framed her face due to the fast movements. She started dusting her uniform off when she noticed someone standing in the hallway.
She looked up to he her father there. Still very much furious with him, she decided to ignore him and walk past him but he stopped her. "You surprised me out there." He said, making her pause.
"And here I thought you were going to disappoint me yet again....congratulations."
Tomomi had a dark look in her eyes yet she made no attempt to look at him. But she wasn't going to let him have his way.
"I fought pretty good for a dead child, huh?" She replied, making Enji feel shock shooting through his body. "As far as I'm concerned, I'm dead to you.....let's keep it that way, yeah?"
Before Enji could say anything, she walked away from him. Not sparing him any more attention.
The second round was going to start after another round of mini games and Tomomi decided to get some fresh air. She would be fighting Ibara Shiozaki next. The same girl that said her eyes were pretty before running away.
Standing out side, Tomomi finally let her emotions out by allowing the tears to fall and soft sobs escape her lips. She felt so much hurt. She was hurt that her own father would threaten to kill her, that he saw her as a disappointment when all she did was try her best, she was hurt that Touya was gone and her family was broken. All of the emotions she held in escaped.
For a while, she walked around like she was made of ice. Emotionless and cold. Because that was what she had to be for her father to even acknowledge her as something. But in reality, she was nothing in his eyes. And as much as she hated her father, there was something in her that wanted to have his love. There was something in her that had hope that her family could be a family. But it broke her heart knowing that it will never happen.
And she hated it.
"Hey, Tomomi." A voice interrupted her crying.
She looked through her tearful eyes and saw Aizawa standing right next to her idly. His presence caught her off guard.
"Mr. Aizawa, I-" She started to speak but was cut off when he pulled her into an unexpected hug.
He circled his arms around her shoulders silently as he hugged her gently. As confused as she was, Tomomi accepted the hug completely.
"I can tell you're not okay and it's okay not to be okay all the time, Tomomi." He said in his usually blunt tone but he had sincerity hidden in his voice. "I'm proud of you...You doing great, Tomomi
Tomomi said nothing as she hugged his torso, allowing herself to start crying again. "No one's ever told me that before..." She sobbed out, sniffling and wiping her tears away.
"I know, kid." Aizawa said softly, allowing her to cry in his jacket. She was truly a damaged kid and she really believed that she wasn't good enough for anything she has achieved.
If he had to be the one to help her see her worth then so be it.
Not even gonna lie, I kind of cried
while writing this chapter.
Why? I don't know, I'm naturally
emotional.
Now, I did say this will bring out
a lot of familial drama and this is
just the first part of it.
Tomomi is a complex but flawed
character. She has drawbacks and
she has great qualities.
I want to showcase that through this
book because I don't want her to seem
"perfect" because she's not. She is dealing
with the trauma of losing a sibling she was really
close to, the trauma of an abusive and
broken household and self esteem issues.
And you all get to see how she deals with
it.
don't worry, light hearted content
will be coming soon and I do plan on
her coming clean about the abuse
to both Aizawa and Bakugou just not now.
Don't forget to comment and vote!