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This is not what was supposed to happen.
Shouta's quip about Dabi being Endeavor's illegitimate child was meant to get Todoroki to calm down and realize just how ridiculous he was being with his theories. It accomplished the exact opposite.
Rather than the kid chilling out, he'd taken the comment as encouragement in his theorizing. He's coming up with new ones on a daily basis now, sending them out to his classmates as soon as he solidifies them (Shouta imagines there must be a group chat, and Christ is he glad he doesn't have to see the shit that goes down in there). Sometimes they're more ridiculous theories that get dropped or disproven within a day or two, not that this ever discourages the kid in the slightest. He always has a new one to fill the void. Regardless, Todoroki theorizing is one thing. It's another thing that he's chosen to include Shouta in the process of coming up with his theories.
So not only had the barb about Dabi solidified in the kid's mind that he should keep up with the theories, it made him see his teacher as a sort of kindred spirit in the matter.
This strange new bond is why Shouta finds himself spending his lunch break in the staff room, not sleeping but instead reading through a folder filled with all the information Todoroki has gathered this week to support his conspiracy theories. According to a very jealous Ashido, Todoroki only distributes these folders to a trusted few (Midoriya (obviously), Yaoyorozu, Iida, Uraraka, Tokoyami, and now him too).
He's just gotten to the latest update in Todoroki's 'is Dabi my brother?' investigation. This one consists of screenshots of texts between Todoroki, his father, his sister, and his brother. The ones with his siblings seem to be in a group chat, and Shouta's repeatedly reading over one message to try and figure out who the hell the kid is talking about in the tiny, parenthetical that reads '(besides Touya)'. From the wording it seems like he might be referring to another of his siblings, but Shouta can't recall there being a fourth Todoroki child.
He sighs loudly and sets the folder down, electing to move onto the next theory so that he can attempt to stay up to date on the madness.
"Is something bothering you?" All Might asks, and shit, Shouta hadn't even noticed him enter the room.
"It's nothing," he replies, holding up the folder briefly to show it. "Just Todoroki's new batch of insanity."
Hizashi and Nemuri had done nothing but coo at him obnoxiously when they first found him reading one of the reports, harping on him for being soft on his class.
With Hizashi involved it took no time at all for word to spread about Shouta's new pastime, so much that it's become a running joke amongst the staff at Yuuei. Even Nezu is in on it at this point.
"If his theories are that much of a task for you to keep up with, then I'm sure you could get him to stop– at least during class. All of your students respect you very much, Aizawa," All Might says, taking a seat at his desk though he swivels it to face the couch Shouta is camped out on.
Shouta sighs again. "I couldn't do that."
"I'm sure he'd listen if you asked–"
"No, not that," Shouta corrects quickly. "I know he'd stop if I told him to but..."
"But..?" All Might prompts, something akin to a smile beginning to form on his face.
Fuck it, fine. He might as well just confirm what everyone already knows: he's going soft.
"But this makes him happy. You saw how he was at the beginning of the year. He was cold and distant and he hardly said a single word to anyone. I doubt Endeavor ever encouraged him to do anything frivolous that he enjoyed, or even listened to him talk about anything at all– you've know how he is. If talking about his theories is what balances Todoroki enough to help improve his attitude and his performance, then I'm going to listen to him."
All Might's definitely smiling now, but Shouta just ignores that in favor of looking back down at the folder.
"I see," he says, and ugh, the smile is audible. "In that case, any interesting new theories ?"
"Nezu is a lab technician who was bitten by a radioactive mouse he was experimenting on and mutated into his current state because of the bite, and he still thinks you're Midoriya's father."
This time it's All Might's turn to sigh.
"Todoroki," Shouta greets as his student comes to stand at his desk while the rest of the class files out of the room, happy to be done for the day.
"Sensei," comes the response. "Did you get a chance to read over what I gave you?"
"I did," Shouta confirms. "The one about Nezu is interesting, but it's wrong. He's the mouse that was being experimented on. The experimentation granted him his quirk."
Todoroki pulls out his notebook and flips to a page with a photo of Nezu paperclipped to it.
"So you're saying that government experimentation was able to bestow a quirk upon something that was formerly quirkless?" Todoroki asks, not looking up from whatever it is he's furiously jotting down.
"I suppose that is what that means. What are you writing about?"
Todoroki finishes up the writing and closes the notebook. "I'll let you know next week, Sensei. Once I've had time to research it more– I don't want to waste your time with theories I haven't properly looked into."
"You aren't wasting my time with these," Shouta says a little too quickly. "They're interesting."
Todoroki looks slightly skeptical of the praise, or maybe of an adult showing interest in his hobbies. Either way it's sad that this is the kid's reaction. "I see. Are there any questions you have about what I gave you this week?" He looks slightly hopeful as he says this.
He's going to ask the kid a question about his theories. No way is he letting him down now. Surely he has at least one question. Oh, right– "I saw you mentioned someone named 'Touya' in messages to your siblings. Who is that?"
"Oh," Todoroki says, seeming a bit caught off guard. "Touya was my oldest brother."
Shouta has a sinking feeling in his chest as he asks, "Was?"
Todoroki nods. "He died when I was very young. There was an accident with his quirk– it was like Endeavor's, but–" Todoroki stops and his eyes go wide.
For a moment Shouta's worried he triggered some unpleasant memories of his student's brother dying, but it quickly becomes apparent that this isn't the case when Todoroki whips the notebook back open and starts writing again. That's... Odd.
"What were you saying, Todoroki?" he prompts gently, trying to get a read on what's going on with his student.
"Touya had a fire quirk like my father, but his body wasn't able to handle the flames. He burned to death."
Shouta is rightly horrified, and he's sure at least a little of that must be showing on his face. But Todoroki looks... Excited.
"I'm sorry, Sensei," he apologizes, shoving the notebook back into his bag. "I have to go–"
"Todoroki, wait–" Shouta says, and his student stops only a few steps from the door, looking back at him.
"Yes, Sensei?"
"If you need to talk to someone about your brother, or about anything, you know I'm here, right?"
Todoroki examines him for just a moment, an unreadable look on his face. "Yes, thank you Sensei."
And with that Todoroki leaves the room.
To say Shouta is concerned about Todoroki is an understatement. The kid's brother was burned to death by his own quirk . Oh God, is that why Todoroki was so adamant about not using his fire? Has he been worried about burning to death this whole time while Shouta has been pressuring him to use it? Yes, Todoroki does need to use both of his quirks, but if trauma is the reason for him being hesitant to use one of them then he should be getting counseling not scoldings.
He sends out a slightly panicky (for him) memo to the other first year teachers simply saying that if Todoroki isn't using his fire then they are not to force the issue and should just tell the kid to see him after class.
He gets a few concerned responses to that one, but he only elaborates to Thirteen since they're good with things like this.
He's done it. Aizawa Shouta has broken Todoroki Shouto.
Over the course of the next week, it becomes obvious that Todoroki has retreated back into the shell he inhabited at the beginning of the year. He doesn't talk to the other students, giving only one word Midoriya and Yaoyorozu while the rest of the class gets brushed off.
The only thing that's different is that he's almost constantly writing in his damn conspiracy notebook.
Shouta knows it's the conspiracy notebook because it has an array of colored tabs sticking out from between the pages and a bowed out cover from where it has to accommodate the various pictures, newspaper clippings, and printed out articles that have been jammed in between the pages.
Despite this, however, Todoroki hasn't shared a single theory with him this week. Not a ridiculous one. Not a small one. Not a government wide one. Not an update on a previous one. Nothing.
So what is he writing?
Everyone knows there's something up with Todoroki. Some of the more observant students have even noticed that their teacher is worried about it, prompting them to worry and therefore their friends worry until the entirety of class 1-A is a huge ball of nerves waiting to see what's going to happen with Todoroki.
By the time Friday rolls around, Shouta can hardly teach his class. Everyone is throwing glances at Todoroki every few seconds and he's been muttering in a way that would put Midoriya to shame all day. Shouta even catches him texting in class . He doesn't call the kid out on it though– Todoroki needs to talk to someone, and Shouta hopes that's what he's doing on the phone.
He dismisses class at the same time as always, but he tells Todoroki to stay behind. The rest of the class looks relieved by this decision and filter out of the room quickly.
“You wanted to talk to me Sensei?” Todoroki asks as he stands in front of Shouta's desk calmly.
“Yes, I did. I wanted to ask you how you're doing.”
“I'm doing alright, Sensei.”
Shouta narrows his eyes slightly at that. “You've been acting strangely this week. I'm concerned. Are you sure you're alright?”
“Yes, Sensei.”
“Because you've been acting off ever since we spoke last week. It's okay if you're having a difficult time because you've been processing what happened to your brother,” he tries, because he's not just going to listen to this kid say everything is fine and dandy when it's clearly not.
Todoroki’s mask finally cracks, and his face shows some sort of emotion, not that Shouta could say what emotion.
“I suppose that it is because I've been thinking about… About Touya,” Todoroki says quietly.
God, this poor kid.
“If you need to talk about it–”
“I know you're here for me, Sensei,” Todoroki says with the faintest indication of what might be a smile.
“Not just me. All of your teachers are here for you, and if you'd prefer it, there's a counselor you can speak with.”
“That's very kind of you, Sensei. And I'm grateful, but I think I need a little bit longer before I'm ready to talk about it,” Todoroki replies politely.
“Of course. Take as long as you need. Here–” Shouta tears the edge off of a piece of paper and carefully writes his phone number on it before handing it over. “If you're ready to talk and I'm not immediately available, call me and I'll make myself available.”
Todoroki takes the paper and looks down at it for a moment before folding it neatly and putting it in his pocket.
“Thank you, Aizawa-sensei.”
“Of course, Todoroki. All of us care about you.”
Todoroki is acting slightly better the next week. He's still somewhat reserved, but he seems to be speaking to his friends again. On Monday this includes Midoriya and Yaoyorozu. On Tuesday Jirou has been roped in, not surprising considering how close she and Yaoyorozu are. The surprising part comes Wednesday when Hagakure is added to the mix.
Shouta supposes it's not entirely unbelievable. She's a good student, very friendly and outgoing. He hadn't ever noticed her and Todoroki hanging out before, but it is possible he just hadn't noticed the girl as a member of that group. As hard as he tries to notice her, the nature of her quirk makes it difficult at times. Especially when she's surrounded by others wearing the same uniform and standing in a tight cluster.
Todoroki still doesn't have any new conspiracies for him that week, but he seems to be doing much better, and when Shouta asks him to stay and talk for a moment at the end of class on Friday, without any prompting Todoroki says he thinks he'll be ready to talk about what's been bothering him soon.
It takes a bit longer, but a little over a week later on Saturday, Shouta receives a simple text message from an unsaved number that says, “I think I'm ready to to talk about it.”
A further bit of back and forth messaging, and Shouta promises he'll be in the 1-A common room at seven o'clock.
When Shouta shows up at 6:55 PM, he's surprised to find the common area almost entirely full. In fact, he sees every single one of his students aside from Mineta gathered together on the couches by the TV.
They look up when he comes in, and some of the students seem surprised while Todoroki just smiles at him.
“Thank you for coming, Sensei,” he says.
“I promised I would,” Shouta answers, looking at the other students.
They're somewhat gathered into two groups like usual; Midoriya's crowd and Bakugo’s crowd with Kirashima playing the role of the bridge between them.
“You can take a seat by Midoriya if you'd like, Sensei,” Todoroki says, and Shouta's eyes widen microscopically.
So Todoroki does intend to speak to everyone there. That's a bit surprising, considering how private his student typically is. Maybe he feels like he owes an explanation to the rest of them about why he's been acting strangely, or maybe he's just made more friends than Shouta originally thought.
He takes the seat next to Midoriya, glancing at the child to try and gage if he knows what's happening.
“Sensei,” Midoriya greets.
“Problem Child,” Shouta returns.
The other students snort at that, but Midoriya smiles, so Shouta's sure that he understands it's being used as a term of endearment.
“What the fuck’s taking so long, Icy-hot?!” pipes up Bakugo's abrasive voice a moment later. “You're the one who called us all down here– the hell are we waiting for? I'm sure Aizawa-sensei has more important shit to do than sit here.”
“ Hey ,” Shouta snaps, narrowing his eyes at Bakugo. “Watch what you say. Todoroki asked us all here because he has something important that he'd like to speak to us about. I'm the only one of us here who's a pro-hero and I have nothing that's more important than being here for Todoroki and listening to what he has to say. You should consider what you're going to say before you speak. If he trusts us enough to tell us something, then we will respect that and listen to him.”
The whole class seems surprised by that, and that's on him for letting Bakugo's disrespect go free so often. Shockingly, Bakugo himself seems to have actually listened and while he's obviously bristly now, he mumbles, “Whatever. Take your time Icy-hot.”
“Thank you Sensei,” Todoroki says calmly before walking to stand in front of the TV.
The rest of the class falls silent, and all eyes are on Todoroki as he looks at the floor uncomfortably and fidgets with the remote in his hand, thumb running over the edge of it in repetitive motions that Shouta recognizes as self-soothing behavior immediately.
“I know that I'm closer with some of you than I am with others,” Todoroki starts quietly, looking out over the nineteen faces in front of him. “But I still feel like this is something all of you deserve to know, seeing as it has affected all of us.”
Wow. The only explanation Shouta can come up with is that the kid's going to tell everything. Not just that his brother passed away, but that because of it he's afraid of his own quirk. That's something that would be difficult for almost anyone to announce.
“My oldest brother, Touya Todoroki,” he says, voice finally sounding solid, “is the villain Dabi.”
Shouta's train of thought screeches to a halt.
What. The. Fuck.
The entire class is staring at Todoroki in disbelief aside from Midoriya, Yaoyorozu, Jirou, and Hagakure.
Before anyone can say anything though, Todoroki has pointed the remote at the TV and turned it on. Another click and the lights turn off (Shouta turns just in time to see Hagakure flip the switch) before a video begins to play.
It opens on a shot of Todoroki in front of a tan wall at a ¾ angle like an actual documentary what the hell.
“I am Todoroki Shouto, son of Todoroki Enji, better known as the number one hero Endeavor,” on-screen Todoroki says. “And I'm going to prove that Dabi of the League of Villains’ true identity is Todoroki Touya– my eldest, and presumed dead, brother.
“In order for this to make any sense at all, you’ll have to understand the structure of my family, and even if you’re a fan of heroes it’s unlikely that you know. Most people who are fans of Endeavor know of his existence and my existence. People who are obsessive fans of heroes,” a few eyes around the room look to Midoriya, “know of my father, myself, my mother, and two of my siblings. But even then that isn’t the entire story.”
The scene cuts away to what looks like an old family photo, and Todoroki’s voice can still be heard.
“The woman standing on the left side of the photograph is my mother, Todoroki Rei. Beside her is Todoroki Fuyumi, my only sister. To Fuyumi’s right is Todoroki Natsuo, my brother. Beside him is Todoroki Touya, my oldest brother. And I’m between him and my father, Todoroki Enji. In order of birth from youngest to oldest, it goes me, Natsuo, Fuyumi, and finally Touya. With the members of my family sorted out, let’s talk about quirks.”
The screen cuts back to Todoroki, this time standing on one of the training fields on Yuuei grounds.
“Most of you have seen the Yuuei Sports Festival and know my quirk. With my right side I can produce ice.” Todoroki holds one hand up towards the camera, producing a few shards of ice in his palm. “And with my left side I can produce fire.” The left hand comes up, and Todoroki holds a small flame in his palm before putting his hands back down.
“It’s obvious the fire comes from my father, Endeavor, and those of you with average or above deductive skills will have rightly determined the ice comes from my mother, Todoroki Rei. She has a very powerful ice quirk, the perfect opposite to my father’s fire.
“I got both quirks; perfectly split. Natsuo inherited neither of our parents' quirks; he has none at all. Fuyumi inherited our mother’s ice, and Touya our father’s fire. Sadly, this is about as much knowledge as I have about my oldest brother as he died when I was six years old. He was sixteen when my father told us all that he’d died in a horrible accident; burned to death by his own quirk.”
There’s a bit of hushed whispering as many of the students in the room cast sad looks at Todoroki who has been staring at the screen silently the entire time. Midoriya looks past Shouta to his other side to see Todoroki. Yaoyorozu has Todoroki’s left hand gripped between both of her own, and she’s staring at the screen as well.
“I gathered the rest of the information about Touya from documents I found at my family home, and interviews conducted with people who knew him well before his accident. The first person I spoke to about Touya was my sister.”
The video cuts to a similar ¾ view shot of Todoroki Fuyumi, her name announced in the bottom left corner of the screen, and Shouta recognizes the traditional features of the home around her as the Todoroki residence.
“As the second oldest, I was around Touya more than Natsuo or Shouto were,” she begins softly. “He was a wonderful older brother, and he cared about all of us deeply, especially our mother and Shouto.”
She pauses for a moment, adjusting her hands in her lap before she continues speaking. “But I still wasn’t able to spend very much time with him. Touya had a very powerful quirk, more powerful than our father’s, and because of this our father thought he would make a wonderful successor. From a very young age he decided to train Touya for this, but we all learned very quickly that Touya’s quirk wasn’t perfect.”
Another short moment of silence as Todoroki Fuyumi looks to whoever’s behind the camera briefly.
“I remember sitting in the garden with my mother one day when I was young and hearing Touya scream from the training room with my father. My mother went to go help and left me in the garden, but later that night Touya told me what happened.
“He had a bandage around his left wrist, and he told me that his own fire had started to burn through his skin. He took the bandage off and showed me the burn, and I remember thinking it wasn’t a burn at first. It looked like a bruise, but eventually I realized this was because I was seeing the charred deeper layers of his skin through the intact surface. His quirk burned him from the inside out.”
The shot of Todoroki Fuyumi closes out only to be replaced by a similar shot of a young man, this time in front of a different background, with white hair and the label “Todoroki Natsuo: brother” in the lower left corner.
“Touya loved us,” Todoroki Natsuo says straight off. “And we all loved him. He was a wonderful brother, I miss him every single day, and I place all blame for what happened to him on Endeavor.” His eyes go from smiling to harsh at this, and his gaze feels like it must be boring holes through the camera.
“Why do you say that?” comes a voice from behind the camera, a voice Shouta instantly recognizes as Jirou’s.
“Endeavor was obsessed with destroying All Might, and eventually when he realized he couldn’t do it, he’d have to make someone who could. Hence the Todoroki family. Endeavor thought Touya could be the one to beat All Might-- after all, his quirk was literally just our father’s but stronger. He trained Touya for hours every day, starting from the time he was four years old . The day Touya’s quirk emerged he started training; that’s what he told me when I was eight. He said I was lucky for not having a quirk, because it meant that father left me alone.
“I remember Touya had scars. You can’t see them in any of our family photos, because Endeavor always had him wear long sleeves for the camera. But he had scars up and down both of his arms, from his quirk. It was powerful but it burned him, and that made him imperfect. So when Shouto’s perfect quirk emerged, Touya was downgraded from successor to punching bag.”
“ Natsu ,” an off-camera voice warns.
Todoroki Natsuo looks at the source of the voice before continuing. “And Shouto was the one who got trained after that. Our mother managed to get Endeavor to hold off on Shouto until he was five by playing punching bag herself.”
“ Natsuo ,” comes Todoroki’s harsh voice from somewhere behind the camera. “ Don’t .”
Todoroki Natsuo takes a deep breath and looks back at the camera, speaking again in a perfect deadpan. “For legal reasons, please disregard any use of the phrase ‘punching bag’ being used in reference to a person. Anyway, our mother was always protective of all of us, but she was removed from the picture when I was nine. Shouto was six, Fuyumi was thirteen, and Touya was sixteen. Three months after she was hospitalized for reasons I won’t disclose,” a pointed look aimed behind the camera, “Touya’s quirk burned him to death. At least, that’s what Endeavor told us. I never believed it.”
“Did you think your brother was still alive,” Jirou asks from out of frame.
“Hell no,” Todoroki Natsuo scoffs. “I thought ****** finally killed him.” A small note appears at the bottom on the screen; it appears to be some kind of legal disclaimer from what Shouta can read of it. “I’m just saying,” Natsuo continues. “None of us were allowed to see Touya before he was cremated. And by that point we all knew what hellflame burns looked like.”
The word is bleeped out, but everyone in the room knows exactly what Todoroki Natsuo just said. The discomfort around them is palpable.
The shot switches back to Todoroki, this time sitting in a dorm room plastered wall to wall with All Might memorabilia and Midoriya at his side.
“After speaking to my siblings,” on-screen Todoroki says, as if his brother hadn’t just dropped one of the biggest bombshells imaginable in the hero world, “there’s one thing in particular that stood out to me: the way Fuyumi and Natsuo described Touya’s burns.
“To explore this aspect more, I decided to bring in a friend of mine, Midoriya Izuku, who has studied the quirks of his friends and pro heroes since he was a very young child. Before we discuss my family, please tell us a bit about yourself, Midoriya.”
Midoriya smiles at the camera. “Well, like Todoroki-kun said, I’ve been studying quirks for a long time. I’m a student at Yuuei, so it isn’t like I have a degree or anything, but I do have all of these--” Midoriya leans offscreen for a moment before returning with a huge stack of notebooks. “These are my hero analysis notebooks, and I’ve been keeping them since I learned how to write. I’m not an expert, but it’s a hobby I’ve had for a long time, and it’s something multiple pro-heroes, including All Might, have commended me for.”
“Thank you, Midoriya,” Todoroki says. “Now do you have any theories for how my brother’s quirk relates to his burns?”
“I do, actually,” Midoriya says. “To start with, let’s take a look at your family as a whole.”
The family photo from earlier flashes back on screen for a second.
“I mean, just looking at all of you, it’s pretty obvious that your mom’s genetics are dominant. None of you look like your father. Out of all of you Touya bears the strongest resemblance to him since both he and Endeavor have red hair and blue eyes. It makes sense that he’d look most similar to Endeavor considering his quirk is most similar to his as well, but the fact remains that your mother probably has more dominant genetics.
“So while Touya may have gotten your father’s quirk, it is very likely that, physically, he took after your mother; meaning his body was suited to an ice type quirk. With a fire quirk more powerful than Endeavor’s and a body meant for ice, that sort of burn that Todoroki Fuyumi was describing makes sense. While his skin probably was able to handle the heat due to the nature of his quirk, deeper down where he was more genetically similar to your mother he could have burned. His quirk would’ve been able to cook him from the inside out before eventually burning the surface layers of the skin as well,” Midoriya finishes, looking from the camera back over to Todoroki.
“Thank you, Midoriya,” Todoroki says. “That was a wonderful analysis of Touya’s quirk; do you have any analysis of Dabi’s?”
“Um, I do actually,” Midoriya replies a bit sheepishly. “And well, the first notes I ever wrote about him are right here.” He sifts through the stack of notebooks to pull one out and flip it open.
The shot changes to a still image, a scan of the page of the notebook Midoriya is reading from, Shouta assumes.
“Dabi,” Midoriya’s voice recites, “Villain. Affiliations: The League of Villains. Quirk: fire-type quirk (possibly what the name Dabi is referencing???)unofficial name: cremation, stronger than Endeavor’s hellflame (Dabi always produces blue flames, while Endeavor can only produce blue-hot flames in small increments), but body apparently unfit for it, see extensive burn scars, favors left side in combat.”
“That’s already similar to your analysis of Touya’s quirk,” Todoroki says as the screen changes back to the two of them. “And you wrote that before you knew Touya existed.”
“That’s right,” Midoriya says.
“So, their quirks are already similar, but then there’s the similar appearance. Both of them are tall, thin, have a similar hair texture, and Touya also had burns all along his arms from his quirk. Much like the scars that Dabi has.”
“That’s right, having them along his arms could be because of his quirk; he uses his arms to produce the flames just like you do. But that wouldn’t explain the scars on his face,” Midoriya says, and even Shouta can sense the mumbling is about to begin.
“If you look at Dabi,” interrupts Yaoyorozu’s voice on screen, causing both boys to look behind the camera, “he seems to embrace his scars.”
“What do you mean by that?” Todoroki asks, moving to the side and gesturing for Yaoyorozu to come sit beside him, which she does.
“Well,” she says softly, “he decorates them. When I first saw him, I thought the silver around the scars were surgical staples holding the skin together, but after looking more closely, they seem to be ring-shaped piercings. He also has three piercings on the right side of his nose, so it does seem like he views piercings as an accessory. Besides, he also has those rings on his ears which aren’t holding any scarred skin to any normal skin, which likely means that the rings are somewhat decorative.”
Midoriya looks to be considering this for a moment. “So while the burns on his arms might just be from using his quirk, you’re suggesting that the facial burns were self inflicted.”
Yaoyorozu nods slightly.
“Well, I can’t say I’m unfamiliar with the concept of facial scarring to reduce similarity in appearance to Endeavor,” Todoroki chimes in, and the Midoriya on screen turns almost violently fast to gape at his friend.
“Mine isn’t self inflicted though,” Todoroki tacks on, but that just leaves Shouta wondering who the hell maimed a kid for looking like Endeavor. “But with the… animosity between Touya and my father as Natsuo described, it wouldn’t surprise me if Touya went to extreme lengths to make himself look less like Endeavor, especially since he was close with our mother.”
Yaoyorozu and Midoriya on screen both look slightly uncomfortable because of this comment. They look uncomfortable in person too, and oddly enough, so does Bakugo.
The screen changes again, this time to Todoroki sitting beside Hagakure.
“This is my classmate Hagakure Tooru,” Todoroki introduces, and from the movement of her sleeve, it becomes apparent that Hagakure is waving at the camera.
“Hello!” she says.
“Hagakure is a friend of mine as well as a wonderful artist who specializes in hyper realistic portraiture,” Todoroki explains, and a few images flash on screen of beautiful portraits with all number of elements woven into them.
“Aw, Todoroki-kun, you’re too sweet,” she says cheerfully.
Todoroki gives her a small smile before looking back to the camera. “About a week and a half ago, I commissioned Hagakure for two portraits. One of my brother Touya at age sixteen, and one of the villain Dabi.”
“Yeah,” Hagakure chimes in. “It was a bit of a weird request, but he asked for the right half of his brother’s face, and the left half of Dabi’s face, but he paid my commission fees and asked nicely, so of course I did it!”
“Would you like to show the pieces?”
“Sure thing!” Hagakure lifts up two pieces of paper to the camera, and the image on screen switches to scanned versions of the portraits.
Rather than having the faces divided in half straight down the center, it’s done at a diagonal that adds a bit of visual intrigue. The reference images are shown in the area around the portrait, and shit, even Shouta has to admit that he’s close to being convinced at this point.
This time Todoroki appears back on screen alone. “Now comes the more ideological aspect of this theory,” he announces.
“Dabi was first seen to have an involvement with the League of Villains only after the League claimed that they agreed with Hero Killer Stain’s ideology: that the world needs to be cleansed of fake heroes. To many this may just seem to correspond to the timing of the League’s overall growth, but as a member of the Todoroki family it means something different to me.
“I originally didn’t want to include this because I didn’t want my father to get his lawyers to take this video down for slander, hence prior legal disclaimers, and I’ll leave those in there as proof that it took me time to consider what exactly I wanted to do regarding the situation. But in order to have the last point make sense, I have to risk slander.”
Todoroki, both on screen and beside Shouta, takes a deep breath.
“Endeavor, Todoroki Enji, my father-- is not a hero,” Todoroki says calmly, his eyes staring through the camera and into the audience’s soul. “He’s a monster. He beat and burned my mother to the point that she was so traumatized she attempted to burn away my resemblance to my father when I was six.” He gestures to the burn covering his blue eye. “He institutionalized her after that. He’s trained me since the age of five, and while I do acknowledge that I have his training to thank for my current abilities, he also used it as an excuse to abuse me. He’s beaten me and burned me pointlessly, or as I’m sure he’d say, to improve my pain tolerance. I have no doubts he did the same to Touya when he trained him. If there ever was a fake hero, it was Endeavor, and I believe this desire to reveal my father for the fake he is could be a huge motivator for Dabi. Consider the fight they had recently. Dabi had to retreat when other heroes arrived, but what did he leave my father with?”
Todoroki on screen points to his left eye. “A huge scar over his left eye. Rather fitting, since the catalyst for Touya and Endeavor’s final fight was my mother’s hospitalization.
“Similar to Natsu, I’d always assumed my father killed Touya. That was just something we thought to be a fact at home, even if we never spoke of it. The sky is blue, mother is gone, and father killed Touya. But now I have to wonder if Touya didn’t fake his own death and run away. It would’ve been a smart move considering things between him and father were bad enough that we all believed father murdered him.”
Todoroki clears his throat and looks away from the camera for a moment before looking back. “So I want to end this with a few words, directed to those directly involved.
“Touya, Dabi, whatever you go by: mother has a shrine for you set up in her hospital room. You should let her know you aren’t dead. A phone call would suffice; I imagine it would be hard for one of the most wanted villains in Japan to visit someone in a hospital.
“And Endeavor, I used to keep quiet because I was scared that you’d kill me like you killed Touya if I spoke up, but it turns out I don’t need to worry about that. I don’t care that you’ve started acting more human since becoming the number one hero. Nothing can erase the burn scars you put on every member of your family. Try and get this video taken down for slander. I may not have evidence of what you’ve done, but if I do, is that something you really want to risk being shown in a courtroom?”
“Lastly, I’d like to thank Pro-Hero Eraserhead for suggesting the idea that Dabi and Endeavor may be related. And for supporting me despite everything.”
The video ends, and Todoroki must press another button on the remote, as the video minimizes and it becomes clear that they’ve just been watching it on Youtube.
Everyone in the room is silent, either staring at the screen or Todoroki. Kirishima, Asui, and Ashido all look close to tears as they stare at their classmate while the rest of the kids just look horrified by the information.
Shouta is horrified in his own right, but he’s not letting it show on his face; he can’t. He’s known Endeavor for years; sure he’s never liked him, always finding him too brash, too hasty, too destructive, too violent. But he hadn’t expected this of him. He’d known the man when he’d been beating his wife and children, and he hadn’t suspected anything.
“Todoroki,” Shouta says, forcing his voice into an even cadence and pushing aside his crushing disappointment in himself. “I’m a mandated reporter, so I’m going to have to escalate this to the police.”
Todoroki blinks wide, mismatched eyes at him, and a small smile actually makes its way onto his face.
“Thank you, Sensei.”