….
The final exams had concluded with a statistical miracle.
For the first ti in U.A. history, a first-year class had achieved a perfect 100% pass rate, shattering every historical benchmark and leaving the faculty in a state of stunned.
The students were exhausted, and especially Class 1-A was utterly spent.
In a move that defied everything they knew about him, Dabi hadn't just granted them three days off from training; on top of it, he added on an extra day of absolute rest.
The students had their deep, mounting concerns about why this literal demon was suddenly showing such uncharacteristic kindness, but they were simply too exhausted to voice their suspicions.
Also, pointing it out might remind him of who he was, and right now, survival ant silence.
With the training fields empty, the U.A. campus halls got uncharacteristically quiet as students recovered; so slept for fourteen hours straight in their respective hos, few soaked in the baths, nursing bruises and pulled muscles.
….
For Dabi, things had also settled into a rhythm he was still getting used to.
Two kids in the family now: Eri and Toga.
The apartnt had aggressively transitioned from a bare-bones bachelor pad with a frequent-flyer girlfriend to a loud, crowded ecosystem that scread, sohow we are raising children and absolutely nobody planned this.
It was chaos, thoroughly exhausting and also surprisingly good.
But right now, the kids weren't with them.
Dabi and Rumi were on an actual date, alone.
"It really had been a while."
Rumi said, stretching luxuriously as they walked through the quieter shopping district; she was in civilian clothes, rare for her, though her rabbit ears were impossible to hide.
Dabi replied, but his hand found hers anyway. "We've got ourselves a full day. So let's make the most of it."
Rumi leaning into his side. "They are with–"
She paused, her ears twitching as she realized a gap in the logistics. "Actually, where did you say you dropped them off?"
"With Rei." Dabi said vaguely.
"Your Mom?"
"Mm."
Rumi stopped dead in her tracks, pulling him to a halt. "That's... wow, also really sweet of you Dabi. I know she has been doing so much better lately. Eri especially loves visiting her, right?"
She paused, considering. "...still, it would have been more safe if I was with her."
Rumi still hadn't fully recovered from the last villain attack – at least not ntally.
"Stain's there on guard duty." Dabi stated flatly. "If anyone tries anything, he will butcher them before they touch the door."
She shook her head, exasperated. "By Stain, you an the red scarf dude from your so-called reformation squad. You put him on babysitting duty?"
"He is surprisingly disciplined with kids. Don't swear around them." Dabi defended, a faint smirk playing on his lips. "Besides, Eri thinks his lack of a nose is funny."
"Her standard for trusting people is completely broken. Ours too, clearly." Rumi muttered, staring at him for a long, stunned mont before she completely lost it.
Her laughter echoed down the quiet street, bright and unburdened.
She grinned up at him, bouncing slightly on her toes to plant a quick, fierce kiss on his jaw. "Now co on. You promised that new teppanyaki place, and I am holding you to every single calorie."
….
Of course, the Hero Public Safety Commission hadn't handed Himiko Toga over out of the goodness of their bureaucratic hearts.
Especially with the recent actions of Dabi (Toya Todoroki); who now practically turned into an unguided missile, exceptionally lethal, and politically toxic to the top-ranked hero's reputation.
By forcing Dabi to sign as her legal guardian, any cri Toga committed would imdiately be legally designated as Dabi's failure. It gave the HPSC total leverage to revoke Dabi's current freedom, clear out his apartnt, and put him back in a cage without public backlash.
Also the number of weaknesses Dabi has, the number of leverages they can have on him, when push cos to shove.
….
anwhile, at the psychiatric facility, a very different scene was unfolding.
Rei Todoroki sat in her comfortable room.
However, the atmosphere within the room is completely contrary to months ago; with plants and natural light, and two small visitors who had beco increasingly regular fixtures in her recovery.
Eri sat cross-legged on the floor, arranging flowers she asked her father to buy in a vase. Beside her, Himiko Toga watched with a quiet, cat-like fascination, her posture still carrying the slight stiffness of soone entirely unaccustod to this strange new dynamic.
….
Rei still wasn't entirely sure how she had arrived at this point in her life.
One day, months ago, this small silver-haired girl had visited her during visiting hours.
The child had stopped, looked at Rei with impossibly large, luminous red eyes, and said with absolute, unblinking gravity:
"Hello, beautiful lady!"
Rei had blinked. "I am... I am sorry?"
But what could she have said to counter that?
This tiny, ethereal child had looked at her with an effortless, unconditional acceptance, speaking with an earnest politeness that treated Rei's existence not as a tragedy to be pitied, but as a comfort.
The visits had continued.
Sotis once a week, once every two weeks or more and less frequently; dependent on the shadowy figures who escorted the child.
Eri would bring colorful crayon drawings, unique pebbles she had found on her walks, or just sit and chatter about small things; the shape of the clouds, the taste of apples, or stories about the strict, "Papa Dabi" who was teaching her how to read.
And just recently, Rei wasn't sure exactly when or why, Eri had suddenly stopped calling her 'beautiful lady'.
Instead, she had started saying. "Grandma."
The first ti the word left the child's mouth, Rei was taken aback. "I am... Eri, you're..."
"Grandma!" Eri had repeated, smiling like this was obvious.
That night, Rei had cried; they were happy tears, confused tears, overwheld tears brought the mories of the past.
She couldn't help but think, 'If her eldest were alive, he would have had a child Eri age.'
However, she allowed that thought to sit any longer.
She understood, she can't be longing for what had already happened, and needed to be present for her children that are present now.
Anyway, she wasn't entirely sure if Eri truly understood the genetic weight of that word, or if Fuyumi asked her before a visit, or if the child had simply decided on her own that Rei belonged to her now.
The child's past was unclear.
Rei never asked for explanations; she knew nothing of the child's past, but she could recognize the faint, unmistakable shadow of trauma in the way Eri initially flinched at loud noises
But today was the first ti Eri had brought soone else.
"Grandma, this is Toga!" Eri had announced with imnse, chest-puffing pride the mont the door swung open. "She is my little sister now!"
Himiko Toga had hidden partially behind Eri, burying her face into the shoulder of Eri's small denim jacket.
Her ssy blonde buns were slightly askew, and her slitted golden eyes darted around the room; she was clearly less comfortable than Eri, and entirely unsure of this situation.
Rei hadn't moved too quickly. Years of navigating her own fragile psyche had taught her the value of stillness. She simply leaned forward, offering a soft, welcoming smile that reached her tired eyes.
"Hello." Rei said softly, letting her voice ground the room. "It is very nice to et you, Toga-chan. There is plenty of tea, if you would like so."
From behind the silver hair, the blonde girl shifted, her throat bobbing as she offered a barely audible whisper.
"...Hi."
"She is shy sotis." Eri explained seriously. "But she is really nice! And we do sister things together now!"
"Sister things?"
"Like sharing snacks, playing gas, and protecting each other!" Eri said it with the absolute certainty of soone explaining the most important rules of the universe.
She spoke with such casual, heavy seriousness, as if protecting each other was the most natural, mandatory part of sisterhood.
Rei's heart had clenched at that.
These children, talking about protection like it was sothing they had to learn the hard way.
Given what Rei understood about both girls' histories, it undoubtedly was.
….
Now, an hour into the visit, both girls had relaxed considerably.
Toga was still quieter than Eri, watching everything with careful attention, but she had slowly begun to join the conversation, even letting out a few small, genuine smiles.
She sat close to Eri, as if staying tethered to her sister made this unfamiliar, peaceful world a little safer.
Rei was pouring tea when Eri suddenly sat up straight, eyes wide with realization.
"Grandma! Listen, listen!" Eri's voice carried that particular excitent of a child who'd just figured sothing out. "I found out sothing amazing about my na!"
"Oh?" Rei set down the teapot, giving Eri her full, undivided attention. "What is it, dear?"
Eri stood up, practically vibrating with pride.
Beside her, Toga looked curious and encouraging, clearly supportive of whatever her sister was about to drop.
"Your na is Rei, right?" Eri said very seriously.
"Yes, that's right."
"That's three letters… R, E, I!" Eri counted on her tiny fingers, making sure to get it right. "One, two, three!"
"Yes..." Rei smiled, nodding along.
"And my na is Eri!" Eri's smile was absolutely blinding. "That's also three letters! And they're the sa ones! E, R, I! Just... um... mixed up in a different order!"
She spread her arms wide, as if presenting the most profound discovery in human history.
"Isn't that super amazing?!"
The pure, unfiltered joy radiating from the child was magnetic. Her eyes shone wide and bright, filled with an absolute, desperate delight in this simple, accidental connection.
Rei had never once noticed it, nor had she ever thought to look for patterns in their nas. But now, hearing it from Eri herself, and speaking with such happiness?
In the background, Togo was doing her own calculations, counting on her fingers, moving her lips silently.
Then her eyes went wide too.
"It's true!" Toga leaped up right alongside Eri, a massive, unburdened grin breaking across her face. "That's so cool, Eri-chan! You're matching!"
"Right?!" Eri bead.
Both girls were bouncing on their heels now, holding hands and celebrating the alphabetical revelation.
And Rei felt her heart lt completely.
"You are such a smart girl, Eri." Rei said softly, and her voice wavered just slightly. "Both of you are incredibly clever."
She wanted to ask.
Every ti Eri visited, the questions burned in her throat.
Who are these children's parents? Why does this little girl co here to talk to soone like ? Are they friends of her children?
The last relation is sothing clearly more accurate from her perspective, as her youngest brought 'Oats' that were given by Eri in the past.
But just like every visit before, she let the questions dissolve.
Maybe she was afraid of the answers, afraid that this fragile happiness would shatter if examined too closely. Or maybe she simply wanted to enjoy these monts without burdening them with difficult truths.
So instead, she smiled at both girls and asked. "Would you like to help arrange the rest of the flowers? The nurse brought in so beautiful lilies this morning."
"YES!" Both girls shouted in unison.
….
Beyond the window, Stain sat on a bench with his arms crossed, ostensibly on guard duty.
In reality, he was listening to the sounds of children laughing inside, and sothing in his chest that he had thought had died years ago stirred faintly.
His hand rested on the blade at his side, not out of threat, but out of promise.
Until he is alive, nobody would harm any of it.
Not the little ones inside, not the fiercely stubborn students the boss was breaking and rebuilding at U.A., and certainly not this fractured, fragile family that was trying to stitch itself back together.
Stain's ideology of purging 'heroes' who abandoned their duty was sothing that could never go away.
But protecting people trying to beco Heroes? Protecting a family trying to heal?
That was a creed worth breathing for.
.
….
[To be continued…]
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Thank you so much!
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