Months had passed since Shimo walked out of the Todoroki household. Now the family was down three members and only four members remaining. The silence in the home had become deafening since all his remaining children refused to speak to or acknowledge him. Natsuo openly hated him, and Fuyumi stopped talking to him. All of this coupled itself with Shoto rebelling against him, especially since Shimo was the only sibling he had ever gotten close to.
Matters grew worse when, he found himself unable to locate said daughter. Her records at U.A. had been purged. The rodent headmaster refused to tell him why or how, only having on of the faculty return her belongings to the household. That led him to believe she had been scouted, unfortunately The Commission refused to speak on the matter. His influence did nothing to sway them, only to terrify the male clerk on thee phone.
Endeavor sat in his office, pinching the bridge of his nose and groaning in frustration. He started to recall the day she disappeared. How angry he was when her boss called the home asking why she was late to her shift for her job he didn't know about. That anger had piled on to her last words to him when she walked out making him livid, waiting for when she returned home to give her some discipline.
He remembered that he grew angrier the longer he had to wait till it was late in the evening. When it had hit midnight, he had ceased being angry, he was more worried than anything else. Yes, he knew their relationship was worse than rocky, but she was still his daughter. It bothered him that his daughter was out there and she may have needed his help. Her couldn't deny the sharp pain in his chest at the thought of her losing her life like her brother had.
Now, months later, he stopped being angry at her, every word she threw at him had mostly been true. All he wanted now was the knowledge of knowing if she was all right. The odds of her coming home were null, he came to terms with that when her room's butsudan was empty and Toya's picture gone.
Pulling himself out of thoughts of his home life, he went back to distracting himself with his hero work.
———
Shimo looked over to Keigo, who had been sitting next to her on the couch in the shared lounge. His sharp eyes were closed and a few minutes ago he started snoring lightly. Today had been their shared rest day and neither of them had anything to do. Looking over him, much like she did when they first met, she thought about the last few months.
Like her father, the months for Shimo had been rough. They constantly drilled interpersonal skills into her and Keigo. Then after that the two were separated into separate lessons for what the commission wanted of them.
She had no idea what they wanted of Keigo, but for her they had her undergo extreme RTI training. This training would happen for days or weeks at a time. However, no matter ho much time had passed, her new friend would always be there waiting for her to return. He would welcome her back warmly, not caring if she had been tortured within an inch of her life or sanity. Once she had undergone the training for a month and received aa large hug when returning.
It was strange at first for her. When he first greeted her warmly and she asked why all the response she had been given was, "Who wouldn't want someone to welcome them home?" His answer made her pause, the only time she could ever recall someone doing something similar was her mother. Though, her mother was shaking like a leaf in front her ogre of a husband. His behaviour was the complete opposite of her mother, Keigo was warm like her brother.
She found herself letting him in bit by bit, the first person since Toya. There were times some of the things he had said had made her crack a smile sometimes. Other times she shocked him with a genuine compliment, and most recently he managed to get her to giggle.
She honestly enjoyed his company, something she could not say for anyone else. A content warmth would make its way to her chest the longer they spent time together.
The moment that feeling started when he had barged into her room in the early morning while she was praying at her butsudan. He immediately stopped and sat down, and prayed to her brother's spirit with her. Keigo had now made it a habit to pray with her in the morning, something no one else did. It was basically the only time he wasn't talking, otherwise he'd talk her ear off about anything that came to mind.
There were times he would ask her questions about her father and she would change the subject quickly. He could tell she was hiding something from him and she could tell. Normally, she wouldn't hesitate to speak of what her father did to her and her brothers, but with Keigo it was different. In the beginning she quickly realised how much of an Endeavor fan he was, how he idolised her father. He was practically doing all this training because of that man, she couldn't ruin his most important icon. Even if she hated his icon.
The teenager let out a deep sigh out her nose, looking over to her bandaged left arm. It was one of the few things her friend would never ask about. She went back and forth on the thought of showing it to him, and every time she tried to bring it up she backed out. It was a reminder of why she was doing this, for her and Toya both. Shimo looked back over at her sleeping friend, a small smile coming over he features as she watched him snooze.
Just a second ago he had been talking her ear off about different ways to make chicken. Her gazed moved over to the small kitchen they had to share, an idea coming to her. Slowly, she got up and gathered all the ingredients she needed. It was the only thing she knew how to make, except she had never made it with chicken, making this a challenge for her. While he slept, she managed to quietly make some dinner for the both of them.
Keigo woke to the delicious smell of chicken, but he couldn't make out the other flavours in the air with it. He sat up, blinking away the bleariness in his eyes. He turned around catching site of Shimo in the kitchen in a light blue apron. He froze in his tracks when he caught a glimpse of her expression.
Her eyes were slightly closed as she continued to prep the last of the food she needed, and a large smile adorning her face. He had never seen such a look on her ever, frankly he didn't really think she was capable of smiling so widely. His gaze fell down towards another feature of her he never thought he'd see, her bare left arm. She had taken off the bandage to cook, so it wouldn't be ruined by all the food prepping.
The burn on her arm was more than interesting to say the least. From her finger tips to half way up her upper arm was completely white before it faded into her natural lightly tan skin colour. A black spiralling burn made its way up her arm about two inches under where her skin faded. It looked like it was in a twisted state between frostbite and a fourth degree burn. Even though he was always curious about what she hid under the bandages, he certainly did not expect this.
He found himself behind her and gently grabbing her arm, startling her to drop the spatula she had been using. His words were quiet and gentle as he held her arm.
"Did he do this to you?" He honestly did not know how he'd react if she said yes. His eyes were locked onto her arm as she looked at him. It was so cold and frozen, almost like the limb itself was dead. Her eyes fell to her arm as well, her smile falling.
"Not personally no." A faraway looked filled her eyes as some memories filled her head.
Shi-Shi, get away from here, I can't control it! Go before I hurt you!
No Toya! I'm not leaving you, we'll control it together! Just take my hand!
BOOM
T-Toya? Toya say something! Where are you!?
A tear fell from her right eye as images and voices flashed across her mind. She quickly wiped the tear away, she had no time to cry. She looked back over to her friend, "There's a reason our instructors have a hard time keeping up with me. The minor perks of His spartan training."
"You hate him." It was a statement of fact, he said it without a question. She confirmed it with a nod. "Why didn't you say anything." Shimo gave him one of her rare smiles and a chuckle.
"Because two people can have a different opinion about someone and still be friends."
Her answer gave him a slight warm feeling, she cared about him enough that she didn't want to ruin his favourite hero. He gazed back over to what she was making, eyeing it hungrily and changed the subject. "Soo... You gonna share some of that chicken?" He received a deadpanned stare from Shimo.
A large grin lit his face as he continued, "You can't tease a guy with his favourite food, you know!"