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Yuki Todoroki sat on the living room couch, strumming her guitar as she sang softly to herself. She loved music, loved the feeling it gave her when she sang, loved the way it made her forget about everything else for a little while. She heard footsteps and looked up to see her older brother Shoto walking towards her. He sat down next to her and watched as she played.
"Sounds good," he said, giving her an attempted smile, Yuki rolled her eyes, "You're just saying that." Shoto shook his head, "I am saying it, but it's true." They sat in silence for a few minutes, until Yuki finally spoke up. "Do you think Dad hates me?" Shoto's eyes widened in surprise. "What? No, of course not."
Yuki shrugged. "He's always so cold to me. And he never talks about me like he does with you." Shoto sighed. "Endeavour is not the easiest person to read. But I don't think he hates you, Yuki. He's just... different with you." Yuki scowled. "Different how? He barely even looks at me." She hissed through her teeth, Shoto hesitated for a moment before speaking, "I think... he's disappointed that you don't have a quirk and that...you remind him too much of Mom."
Yuki's scowl deepened. "Oh great. So it's my fault that I was born quirkless?" "No, Yuki, that's not what I meant-" But before Shoto could finish, the ground shook violently, and Yuki stood up quickly but quickly lost her balance grabbing onto her brother and trying to steady herself as the ground shook, "An earthquake?!" Yuki yelled in fear, and Shoto held onto her tightly as the ceiling beams started to crack above them and debris fell, Shoto pulled her close and shielded her with his body as the house collapsed around them.
Shoto felt Yuki wrenched from his arms but was unable to see with the dust clouding his vision, as he hit the ground unsteadily, "NII-SAN!" Yuki screamed, and Shoto tried to look up but a random piece of debris hit his head making his face slam against the floor, his nose crunching on the wood, he slapped his hand against the ground producing a beam of ice to support the remainder of the ceiling as the world started to settle once more.
As the dust settled, Shoto looked up his eyes bleary as he tried to focus and his nose gushing blood onto the floor as he wiped his face and sat up, shaking a little. He looked around trying to find his baby sister and saw a small figure laying on the ground red hair splayed around her like a halo as she held hands over her head trying to protect herself. His heart beat hard in his chest, "YUKI?!" He screamed, rushing over and she looked up, her forehead covered in blood, and dust coating her face, "Shoto?" She asked.
"Yuki! Thank god your okay, I got you." Shoto said, quickly grabbing her under her armpits to help her up but she squealed out in pain and hit him making him drop her back down to the floor, he finally was able to see what caused her so much pain, a wooden beam that once supported the ceiling of the house was crushing her leg. "Hang on, Yuki, I'll go get help-" "No!" Yuki shouted, gripping his pant leg tightly. "Don't leave me here alone!"
Shoto looked at her, his eyes filled with worry. "I won't leave you, Yuki. I promise." He sat down next to her and brought her into his arms the best he could holding her tightly. His mother always said it was his job as an older brother to protect her, and he would do just that.
They sat in silence, waiting for someone to find them. Yuki's pain was excruciating, but she didn't want to think about it. Shoto could feel the house creaking, especially the part where his ice pillar had been holding up the ceiling he breathed out a small breath of ice too afraid to use his flames in such an enclosed and wooden place.
"How much longer do you think it will take?" Yuki asked, breaking the silence Shoto looked down and sighed, "Soon I hope." Silence permeated the air once more, but this time Shoto spoke up, "So...That song you were singing...before the earthquake. Did you make it?" He asked and Yuki paused before giving a shy nod, "Yeah...it was stupid."
"No, it was really good actually." Shoto said, and Yuki giggled, "You said that before...You're just saying that because you're my brother." Shoto shook his head, "No. There's a girl in my class, Jirou. I think you two, would be great friends. She plays the guitar, just like you. Her family is in the music industry I think. You should come over, and meet her one day." Yuki nodded, smiling a little, "I'd love that...Do you think...her family can help me become a singer? Professionally, I mean?"
"Maybe." Shoto shrugged, he wasn't entirely sure. "Is that what you wanna do?" He had never talked to her much about her dreams, or what she wanted to do with her life. "Maybe? I mean...I don't really want to be a hero, and I really like music. I think being a singer would be nice..." Yuki responded slowly, carefully picking her words.
Shoto nodded, "I think you'd be great then..." His eyes widened for a second and he quickly reached for his back pocket, but sighed coming up short, "I think I left my phone in the kitchen..." He said and Yuki chuckled, "You waiting for someone?" Yuki joked, but Shoto didn't respond, and Yuki quickly realized she'd hit the nail on the head, "Wait really? Who's the lucky girl?" She teased, but Shoto didn't respond and she paused.
"So it's a lucky guy?" She realized, and Shoto sighed, "Please don't tell Dad..." Yuki laughed, "Why would I?" Shoto looked down at her appreciatively, "No questions?" "Do you want me to ask some?" Yuki retorted, and Shoto huffed, "Who is he?"
"There's…someone, but I'm not sure if..." "If they're gay." "Yes..." "Who are they?" Shoto paused once more, deciding his words carefully, "Remember, a couple of months back when I brought two friends from school for dinner?" Yuki nodded, "It's the…green one. Midoriya." "Oh..." Shoto looked down at her confused, "Oh?" Yuki swallowed deeply, for a second, "It's stupid..." "What's stupid?" "I had a crush on that boy...the blonde one. Bakugou?" Shoto was surprised, she'd never even mentioned it. "Really?" "He was cute...and...he treated me exactly like everyone else...even though I'm...different." Shoto knew she meant 'quirkless'.
"Oh," Shoto said softly, in the same manner, Yuki had moments before. Silence filled the air once more for the next couple of minutes, before Yuki spoke again, "Do you remember Touya-Nii?" Yuki asked and Shoto paused before responding, "Not much...Endeavour didn't let me...socialize with all of you that much." Yuki nodded, "I remember him...a little." Shoto waited for her to continue, "I remember...following him around a lot. I'd grab onto his leg, and he'd waddle me around while I hugged like a koala." Yuki giggled, "And when he got tired, he'd pick me up and put me on his back and I'd ride him like a horse." Shoto nodded intently, happy to get a small gleam into what his little sister could remember of their late eldest brother.
Silence filled the air once more, for what felt like at least thirty minutes before Yuki spoke again, "Nii-San..." Shoto looked at Yuki, whose head was laid in his lap her arms wrapped around him, "Yes?" He asked, "I miss Touya-Nii," she whispered, tears falling down her face. "If I die... do you think I'll see him again?" Shoto held her tighter, tears forming in the corners of his eyes as he started to cry, "I don't know, Yuki. But I promise you, I won't let anything happen to you, ever."
"I'm tired..." Yuki said softly, Shoto's eyes widened as he frantically shook his head, "Hey, hey! Don't say that! Come on, stay awake. Dad will come to save us soon, he won't leave us." Shoto rarely called Endeavour dad, but at this moment he felt like he had to. He couldn't tell how injured Yuki was, or if the shock was wearing off and making her tired, but he wouldn't let her fall asleep during this.
"Do you remember the lullaby mom would sing to us when we were little?" He asked frantically as Yuki gave a weak nod, "Come on, sing with me." Shoto tried to recall the song as he started singing, " This work is hard and lonely, and I am growing tired~ "
" Outside the snow is falling, and the baby cries... " Yuki continued as they began to sing in unison, " How can I be happy, even when o-Bon is here? I have no silk or satin, I have no shoes to wear, Hush, little baby, sleep now, let me dry your tears may you slee- " The hole they were in shook suddenly, as dust rained from the ceiling, and Shoto quickly wrapped his arms around Yuki covering her body with his own, "SHOTOOO, YUKIII!" The loud baritone voice of their father screamed from nearby as the debris was lifted up, and Shoto raised his head watching as the heroes quickly removed the debris from around them.
"I found them, Endeavour!" Death Arms yelled out throwing the debris to the side as the heroes started working faster to remove the debris fully revealing the siblings to the blazing sun above them, Endeavour wasted no time sliding down the rubble skidding to the ground and quickly scrambling over to his two youngest children.
"Are you two alright?!" He asked panicked, grabbing Shoto's bloodied face and looking him over, before his attention turned to Yuki he quickly noticed the beam on her leg and his eye widened as he grabbed her hand to check her pulse, "Yuki are you alright?" Yuki squinted at him, "Do I look alright?" She sassed though half-heartedly, "Death Arms, get down here!" Endeavour hollered up as Death Arms slid down the debris and walked over, quickly looking over the situation, he pressed his hand to his ear to call in, "We've got the siblings, both injured. The girl has her leg caught by a beam, prepare helicopter evac to the nearest hospital."
Endeavour grabbed Shoto's arm trying to pull him away, "No! I'm not going to leave her!" He yelled shocking his father as he yanked his arm away, and sat back down next to Yuki, Endeavour stared for a moment before taking a breath, "Fine." He watched with bated breath as Death Arms grabbed the beam, "As soon as I lift this up, you need to grab her and pull out, alright?" He said giving instructions to Shoto who nodded, "Three, Two, One, go, go!" He lifted the beam up with ease as Shoto quickly scrambled to pull Yuki out, pulling her into his arms in a bridal carry Death Arms dropped the beam to the ground, dust flying out from the drop, "Alright let's move, go!" He yelled, and Endeavour went to grab Yuki from Shoto but he refused to let go of his little sister, Endeavour huffed and lifted Shoto up into a bridal carry himself to carry both of his children out at once as he used his quirk to blast himself back up to the surface.
The helicopter sounded above them as it landed in what was formerly the well-kept zen garden on the property, Shoto looked around in astonishment at the rubble that was once their home for his entire life, some buildings still stood though somewhat unsteadily, like the modern additions Endeavour had installed like the training room, or the extra bedrooms, but most of the house has been reduced to almost nothing but slivers of wood and shredded tatami. "Yuki, look." He looked down at his baby sister in his arms, but his eyes widened at her closed eyes and limp weight he looked down at her leg seeing the bone poking out and blood dripping, "Dad!" He screamed as Endeavour nodded having realized Yuki had passed out almost the second the beam had been lifted off of her. He rushed his children to the helicopter and quickly put them inside, hovering as the doctors attended to them quickly.
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Tragedy strikes during the earthquake for no.1 hero's family
Report by Inukami, Hachiko
The old Japanese home that had been in the family for generations had survived many earthquakes before even the 2011 magnitude 9.1 earthquake but for an unknown reason, the 4.0 earthquake that struck the Shizuoka prefecture yesterday caused nearly the whole two-story traditional Japanese house to fold like a house of cards.
This home is not just any house, but the home of No.1 Endeavour, known in public as Todoroki, Enji. Out of the house at the time, Endeavour had no idea this earthquake would affect his home so severely, his lawyer gave us his opinion on the matter apparently stating, “I had no idea this could happen to our home. I have lived in this home my entire life, as did my parents, and their parents before them. This house had survived earthquakes, Tsunamis, and even nearly being burnt down by our quirks. We are investigating every possibility on why this could have happened.” Endeavour has since refused in-person interviews.
His home was not the only thing damaged in the earthquake, Endeavour's two youngest children who will not be named due to their age were inside the home when it collapsed, his second youngest a sixteen-year-old UA student Boy A, and his youngest daughter, fourteen-year-old Girl A. They were trapped under the rubble of the house for nearly four hours as heroes and firefighters worked tirelessly to remove the debris.
Pro-hero Death Arms has agreed to an interview on the harrowing discovery of the children, “We were working for hours to dig them out, we didn’t know where exactly in the house they were at first so we started with the bedrooms first. I pulled beams up with my bare hands finding crushed stuffed animals from the girl’s room, I hoped and prayed we’d find them alive.”
“Suddenly, I heard this singing coming from under the rubble near where the living room once was. I rushed over and heard them singing this old lullaby, I started removing the rubble and Endeavour noticed and screamed out for them. I’d never seen him act like this before, he’s usually so stoic and angry but he looked like he was about to cry when I saw him on the scene, he refused to leave so we let him help.”
“I was the first one to see them, I’d seen his son before at the sports festival, he was competing. He looked strong, stoic like his old man. But when I pulled up that debris hanging over them all I saw was a scared kid. He was cradling his little sister in his arms, her leg was crushed by one of the beams and he had used his ice quirk to hold up the remainder of the ceiling from crushing them further. His face was covered in blood, dirt and dust, and she was in a similar condition.”
“Endeavour nearly shoved me to the ground rushing to his kids, he slid right down and immediately started checking them over. I came down too, and when Endeavour tried to remove his son from the scene, he refused to leave his little sister. I remember thinking, ‘That’s a good kid, a real hero.’.”
“The beam had broken her leg, and I knew we’d need a helicopter so I called one in, and luckily it came almost instantly. The second I removed the beam it was like she knew she was safe and she just passed out. The father picked them both out and carried them to the Helicopter himself.”
Boy A suffered a mild concussion and a broken nose, while Girl A also suffered a concussion as well as a compound fracture in her leg. Their eldest sister, Todoroki, Fuyumi a school teacher who was at work at the time of the earthquake has been a liaison for the family during this time stating, “We thank you all for the gifts and well wishes during this hard time. If you can please send any money to an earthquake relief charity rather than our family personally.”
We at Yomiuri Shimbun wish the Todoroki family well wishes and get wells in this hard time.
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Yuki sipped on a juice box as she read the newspaper, her leg in a cast resting on a pillow at the end of her hospital bed as Shoto sat next to her reading it. She set it down and chuckled, “Yumi did a good job, don’t you think?” Shoto nodded, “She always does.” He responded.
Yuki had to stay in the hospital due to possible infection from her open compound fracture and was living it up in a private suite with a lovely bed, free reign of the remote control and hundreds of flowers, gift cards and well wishes she had received. “Knock, knock! Siblings, incoming!” The door opened as Natsuo stepped in opening his arms excitedly as he carried a large stuffed bear with a ‘get well’ card in its arms, he set it down on the window next to Yuki and leaned over to give her a kiss on the head which she quickly wiped off, “Natsu-Nii, you’re so slobbery!” She whined as Fuyumi giggled trailing behind her little brother. “For the record, I told him you didn’t need another stuffed bear.” “You always need a stuffed bear to get better!” Natsuo objected.
“Mom wanted to say she loves you and she can’t wait to see you when you get all healed up,” Fuyumi mentioned and Yuki smiled, she hadn’t seen her mother at all since she was admitted to the hospital. She was always afraid her mother would freak out at the sight of her. But since the earthquake, Yuki had desperately wanted to see her mother again.
“Also we’ve been able to recover some stuff from the house.” Natsuo said, reaching into his large letterman bag and pulling out a brand new picture frame, “The old frame got cracked, but the picture survived.” He set the picture down, it was an old school photo of Touya back when his hair was white, wearing a gakuran and glaring into the camera. Yuki’s eyes softened at the picture, it was so weird having your older sibling die because now you’re older than they ever will be.
“Sadly your guitar didn’t survive the house falling on it.” Natsuo continued, “So…” Fuyumi smiled as she brought her arms out from behind her revealing the brand new electric guitar, painted red with white flames decorating it. Yuki’s eyes widened as she reached out her hands and grasped the guitar staring at it for a moment before looking up and her eyes started watering, “Oh no, is something wrong with it? The store said this was perfec-” Fuyumi’s worrying was cut short by Yuki letting out a choked noise, “N-No it’s…it’s perfect. I love it so much.” Fuyumi smiled leaning over her little brother to wrap her baby sister in a big hug squeezing her tightly, “Ow, ow.” Yuki whimpered and Fuyumi let go, “Oops, sorry!”
Yuki giggled and handed Natsuo the guitar to set it to the side, she sighed happily, smiling at her older siblings. Another knock at the door broke the silence, and the door opened quickly after revealing a nurse carrying a new card, and a small bouquet of Autumn Bellflowers, “We’ve got another for you, Todoroki-San.” She said cheerily, as she set down the Autumn Bellflower in a nice vase of water.
“Aww, these are mom’s favourite.” Fuyumi pointed out excitedly, carefully arranging the flowers in the vase as the nurse handed Yuki the card and quickly left, “Wonder who these are from.” Fuyumi wondered. Yuki opened up the card reading it carefully, her brow furrowed.
“What’s wrong?” Natsuo asked leaning over, but Yuki slammed the card shut. “Nothing, just more well wishes.” She pushed the card to the side, ignoring what it had said.
I have not contacted you in years, and I doubt you remember me. You were so very young when we last spoke in person. But I hope these quotes which I read to you as a child from my favourite book spark a memory in you. I miss you, and I promise will meet again once more.
I suddenly left my home, and bending my steps towards the near Alpine valleys, sought in the magnificence, the eternity of such scenes, to forget myself and my ephemeral, because human, sorrows. Like the archangel who aspired to omnipotence, I am chained in an eternal hell. The nearer I approached to your habitation, the more deeply did I feel the spirit of revenge enkindled in my heart.
Beware; for I am fearless, and therefore powerful.
- T
May we meet again