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The sport's festival. The most important event in UA for the first class students (but not only!). The words themselves cause such stress onto a student that they often refer to it as 'that event'. It's necessary because it allows the pro-heroes to scout out students with interesting or similar quirks, which will allow the students to intern at their agency. To outshine all sorts of unique quirks with a basic one, it's the hardest task possible. When going up against strong quirks, whether you win or lose—it all depends on your skills. Even the person with the strongest quirk could lose to the person with a basic one, it all depends on how you use it, whether you wield it like a bullet or a gun.
It all comes down to skill and intelligence.
Touya's not at all concerned.
"Yeah, yeah, I get it mom." Touya murmurs, already bored by all the warnings uttered by his beloved mom.
"Please, be careful," Rei continues on, the anxiety in her voice almost making Touya nervous himself. "You aren't allowed to use your support gear. I tried, we tried, but it just didn't go through.."
Touya rolls his eyes, pacing back and forth inside the locker room. "It doesn't matter. I'll win with or without those stupid things."
Those little stupid things kept him from fully burning his skin off. Coming from a rich family did have its quirks. Upon hearing about Touya's condition, Enji took it into his own hands to make sure that whatever happens—Touya could still shine at least once as a hero. Touya's determination and potential was one of a kind—such unique that Enji couldn't waste it. That's why Touya's right here, in the U.A. gym uniform, not stressing at all about the sports festival.
Touya's blue eyes stop at the table. The shiny collectable card of Endeavor sat there, further throwing any anxiety out of his mind. His dad is going to be there, admiring him and his quirk from afar.. everyone is going to watch him.
It's such a simple thing, but a tiny smile tugs on the corners of Touya's lips.
"I'm glad..." Touya utters out, in a rather uncharacteristic quiet voice for him. "You're all going to be there.."
Rei's quiet laughter resonates from the phone. Touya has all sorts of videos taken secretly of Rei's smiles and laughter. He shares them with Enji. "Of course. We're all going to be here for you."
'And if anything happens..' Rei would've liked to add. 'I'll be there for you.'
"You'd always be there," Touya says, there must be no universe where they wouldn't be there for him, supporting him. Touya refuses to believe it. "I'll beat everyone, mom, and I'll make dad very proud."
"He's already so, so proud of you..." Rei breathes out, on the edge of tears from hearing her little boy so determined to win first place—just to be recognized by Enji. "And I'm too.."
"He'll be more proud after this!" Touya grins, stopping in one place and rising his head up high. "Just watch me, mom."
"You don't need to win.."
"I want to! And I will."
A moment of silence breathes into the phone, and Touya's breath locks in his throat. He wonders, is the harshness in his voice created from the need to seem useful, amazing like his father wanted him to be? Never has determination to catch up to Shouto's level left him. He worked day and night, training the only thing on his mind—to get stronger and stronger. All of that just to finally see his dad loudly express his pride in him.
"Touya!" Fuyumi's voice chirping like a cheery bird from the phone snaps Touya out, his blue eyes staring into the lockers in front of him. "I wish you the best of luck! But don't go over your limits, please."
Touya rolls his eyes, Fuyumi's almost identical to mom. "I'll beat everyone up. It'll be easy."
"Touya.." Surprisingly, Fuyumi's warning voice is much scarier than mom's. The only clear difference is that Fuyumi's not afraid to stand up to Touya. "If you burn yourself to a crisp, dad will get angry."
"Dad. Right." Touya sighs, his eyes narrowing. From all of the boys in his class, it's easy to say he's the most handsome one. Aside from hero work, modeling would be a great idea as well. "I won't burn myself to a crisp yet 'cause I gotta teach Shouto the basics of football."
"Everything is more important than a simple victory," Fuyumi says, from her voice it's obvious tha her face adorns a smile, possibly the most relieved one yet. "Even if you get to top 5 or 10, I'm sure you'll get a lot of internship deals."
"You know damn right I'm interning at dad's agency."
"A boy's ego at that age is lethal," Fuyumi states, laughing soon after. That's what mom usually said. A spiraling feeling in Touya's gut almost makes him nauseous, if he could look at Fuyumi's or Rei's calm face—any worry of losing would die out easily. "You just want the number 1 place for popularity or to prove yourself. You know, your life doesn't revolve around dad.."
"I want to talk to Natsuo, not some brat." Touya complains, shaking his head at Fuyumi's muffled laughter. "A girl like you won't understand me."
"Natsuo probably won't either."
She's right. Natsuo's not the biggest fan of dad, despite Enji doing everything to ease the pain he caused. It's good that Enji saw his nasty behavior before anything horrible could happen. That doesn't mean his actions are erased, however. Natsuo is the kind of person to hold a grudge to his grave, and Touya admires that.
Fuyumi hands Natsuo the phone next.
"Shouto's sitting near the TV and he literally can't wait until the battles start." Natsuo comments, the background noise of some ads running on TV quietly got through the phone. "Uhm. I know I'm not good with hero stuff and fighting.. but I'm sure you'll win! And if not, at least put up a good fight for us."
"Shouto..?" Touya murmurs, placing the phone on his shoulder and pressing his ear against it. He stares at his hands, the nasty burns on his arms always get attention everytime he goes out with his arms uncovered. In his eyes, he's weak—but in Shouto's eyes, that's the proof of a true hero. "He's that excited..?"
"Yeah, wish you'd be able to see it." Natsuo laughs, whispering something to presumably Shouto. "Shouto's wishing you the best."
"No! I said I know he will win!" The tiny voice booms from the background, and the horrible quality makes it even funnier.
Touya smiles, laughing so much that he puts a hand over his stomach. In the quiet locker room, his laughter echoes from the walls. He folds over, closing his eyes before wiping away the tiny tears of joy. Ah, looking back.. it's funny, it's funny that he used to see Shouto as a threat rather than his little brother. But.. right now, he's more than glad he's here, devoid of any hatred towards Shouto anymore. That tiny kid could never pose as All Might or him, Touya couldn't imagine Shouto as a teen or even an adult! His little brother would always be little in his eyes.
The sports festival started soon after. In the middle of the loud crowd, shouting praises left and right everytime a student managed to shine with their quirk or intelligence—there stood the menacing figure, tall and intimidating as tower, louder than an elephant—Enji Todoroki. His sharp blue eyes carefully surveyed the opponents his son was going up against. Despite his attempt at noticing their strong sides—the way Touya destroyed every obstacle in his way, glowing more than anyone with his experience. The intense training began to pay off and Enji himself watched with both awe and joy.
Touya Todoroki, even if he doesn't surpass All Might, he's already surpassed each and all expectations Enji had.
When it finally hit the time for actual one-on-one battles, Enji stiffens at the possibility of Touya reaching his limits and still going beyond. He's there, however, and should anything happen—Enji's ready to step into the raging flames just for Touya.
First match. Touya sets off on a strong start, his blue flames far hotter than the regular red. So much that it's painful to even get close, much less touch it. The first opponent surrenders after nearly getting their arm burnt off.
Enji shakes his head at Touya's harshness.
Second match. Touya carefully wages his options against someone with a water quirk (turning the moisture around them into water). But with a grin, he deduces that if he were to cause a rather big fire—most of the water would evaporate. Fighting the quirk user with his hand constantly on fire—it actually didn't take much long to get them out of bounds. Focused on the fire and defending themselves, the student didn't notice when their foot crossed the line.
Step one to shine with a basic quirk is to show off your other traits that enhance your quirk; intelligence, strength, dexterity..
And that's exactly what Touya's doing.
Enji slowly nods, following each of Touya's movements. He comes to a realization that most, if not all, are rather inspired by.. him. It's no surprise, Touya inspired by his dad. But in a way, it fills Enji with such a warmth..
Third match, and then, the last match.
Touya gets to the finals, and he faces off against another strong opponent. Minutes after minutes, the battlefield could not rest, not with the nearly constant fire and the other's quirk. Touya's sweats, and he huffs and pants, but despite the exhaustion, he continues and continues. The new burns on his arms sting, the old ones getting bigger than before. Tears prick at the corners of Touya's eyes.
But, in the next moment, all the pain is rewarded as he defeats his opponent.
Back at home, Shouto's sitting too closely to the TV. He shouts, laughing joyfully as he witnesses Touya's victory on TV. He's begged dad to go along, but since Shouto's too little, he had to stay back home. To make Shouto feel better, Natsuo and Fuyumi stayed too, watching their older brother on the screen, surviving through pain just to win each match.
"Mama.." Shouto looks at Rei, his cheeks hurting from his grin. "I want to be like him!"
Fuyumi and mom laugh. Fuyumi tilts her head to the side. "Like Touya? What about All Might?"
Shouto doesn't even consider. He replies without thinking. "Touya! Touya's my hero."
After the sport's festival has come to an end for the participants, Touya cooled off in the locker room. His burns now covered with bandages after being treated, thanks to Recovey Girl. Touya wipes the sweat off his forehead, leaning against the locker as he recounts his obvious mistakes. They glare at him. If he avoided being so clumsy, he would've won with less injuries. Touya takes a shaky breath in and out, recalling the words his mom always said.
No one's perfect, and that includes him and dad.
The door opens gently, creaking slowly as a massive figure enters. Enji stares down at Touya, and Touya can't tell whether he's judging him or going to praise him. Touya stands up right, looking up at him (and sort of feeling jealous as he's still rather short.. he's supposed to be tall like dad!).
What happens next shocks Touya more than a million volts would.
"You've exceeded my expectations." Enji admits. Those words are like cotton candy for Touya's soul, the sweetness and the rarity blends together, and Touya's lip trembles.
This is real, this isn't a dream.
Touya pinches himself, hissing lightly as he accidentally touches his burn. "Thanks.. I could've done better.."
Enji nods. "Maybe. But you already did so much despite your body not being able to handle your quirk."
Touya bursts out in ugly tears, but those are not tears of sadness or bitterness like they used to be—instead, they're full of joy. He's gotten everything he's wanted—train to be a hero, win the sport's festival, and be seen by dad. What else could Touya want? Touya sniffles, and Enji stiffly stands, unsure of what to do. Neither of them are good in these awkward situations. Once, Touya purposefully made clumsy figures of animals with his fire for Fuyumi. This time, Enji pats Touya's head, Touya's white hair springing in every direction. It's a simple action reminding him of mom, and the tears soon stop, replaced by a tiny, sly smile.
When Touya leaves the building, he gets stopped by cameras and interviewers. His pride gets the full of him and he endulges himself in one interview.
"Was it hard? With your quirk, it surely wasn't that easy!" The newsreporter asks, pushing a microphone towards him.
"Not when I knew I had to make sure my little siblings are happy."
"What do you have to say to people like you?"
"Like me? No one's that awesome." Touya grins, the sun shines on his pale skin. He spends more time training than anything. But he's made plans, he ought to teach Shouto how to play football. "Maybe Shouto. Natsuo's got a long way to get to my league. But for Shouto, all I gotta say is; you've got an awesome older brother."
With that, Touya heads home.
The first to greet him is mom.
"You were amazing, sweetie." Rei kisses Touya on his forehead, the height difference is no longer that harsh. "You won first place, we're more than proud of you."
Touya hugs Rei back, his eyes lowering as his arms wrap around her rather fragile form. "I'll only accept it when I win 1st place 2 more times."
"You should've been more careful!" Fuyumi adds from the kitchen. Judging from the delicious scent, she's cooking something. She adds more quietly. "Shouto almost cried."
Next was Natsuo.
"Well, I'm sure you've heard lots of praise now," Natsuo says, a smile tugs on the corners of his lips. Looking so similar to Enji started to hurt less and less each time Enji recognized Touya. "But don't forget about me when you've got people wanting to be your friends."
"Forget about my younger brother?" Touya laughs, finding the idea the most absurd of all. "It would be easier to lift the Titanic."
Natsuo stands there, stiff like dad, unsure of how to express his love for Touya. Touya's the best older brother and Natsuo would gladly argue with someone for years if they disagreed. "Hey. Maybe teach me a bit of your tricks one day.."
That little excuse to hang out more didn't go unseen by Touya. "Sure. Just don't piss your pants."
"Pfft! We'll see if it'll be me or Fuyumi."
Touya sighs, watching Natsuo retreat to the kitchen. He's not the best help, but he does everything in his power to help out at home. He's a rather good cleaner. Though, Natsuo's also smart as hell. Touya sees much more than just potential in Natsuo.
The silence shatters as Shouto jumps on him, laughing joyfully. So much that it feels as if the world gained much vibrant colours. The past thoughts of hurting Shouto disgusted Touya heavily. How could someone think like that about their little brother? Sure, Touya's not a pacifist, he does fight with his siblings a lot—but to seriously hurt them?
Not anymore.
Not when dad finally saw him.
"Touya! Touya!" Shouto shouts, tugging onto Touya's pants as he jumps up and down, catching all of Touya's attention. "You won! You won! I knew it!"
Shouto's yelling fulfilled Touya much more than dad's words could ever.