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It was instinct to shrink in on herself whenever Enji was in the immediate vicinity. Even though it’d been years since he’d bothered to spare her anything more than a second of interest, Nokoribi couldn’t bear the slightest chance of drawing his eye. She moved out of the family home as soon as she was able, no matter how much Fuyumi-nee begged her to stay. As if she could dwell in that house when it was full to the brim with so many dark memories.
Muffled sounds spilling from the family dojo, Enji’s deep voice shouting abuse disguised as encouragement. Tou-nii’s cries, her own screams, Shoucchan’s sobs, Kaasan’s desperate pleas… the heartrending wails that filled the halls when Kaasan found out what’d become of Touya after his fateful trip to Sekoto peak.
The house was flooded with traumatic memories, Nokori could barely stomach a visit for a so-called family dinner once every other month without getting lost in them. She didn’t know how Yumi could stand it. Could stand him when she knew what he’d done.
The frostbite scars and blisters crisscrossing her skin, hidden day in and out by long sleeves and pants even in blistering summer heat and humidity, wrought from a fruitless attempt to make a number one hero out of a little girl born with a body ill-suited for her powerful quirk.
Another Touya.
How sickeningly ironic it was, to be born with a body made for the fire that ultimately consumed her older brother, but instead manifesting the ice that would’ve saved him. Even now she wondered how fate could’ve been so cruel. Perhaps they were simply suffering at the hands of whatever karmic justice had been meted out towards Enji for trying to play God.
So Nokoribi left the family home, changed her surname, and faded away, so much like the embers she was named for. Besides, the only Todoroki child the media was concerned with was the youngest.
Shoucchan…
How much it hurt to watch Enji take her sweet baby brother and mold him into a total stranger, quiet and stoic, mature beyond his years. To think at one point, she’d been somewhat resentful of the sudden change, going from masterpiece 2.0 to just another fuckup. Discarded and forgotten the moment Shou’s quirk manifested, a perfect blend of fire and ice through and through. Once she got older, matured more, she just felt guilty and sick. To be the apple of Enji’s eye was to suffer endlessly in the name of a one-sided uphill battle that was never yours to begin with.
“I’m sorry, Yumi-nee, but I can’t make it this time.”
“Ribi-chan, you said that the last time. I haven’t seen you in months, please…”
“I really can’t. I’m sorry.”