The months following Aki's quirk awakening had been tense. Enji had shown minimal interest in water manipulation, it wasn't the perfect combination he'd been breeding for. Aki had been sent to standard quirk counseling sessions like any other child and his quirk registered, while Shoto's brutal training continued to escalate.
Rei had grown thinner, more fragile. The circles under her eyes had deepened to bruises.
And Touya... Touya had grown more secretive.
…
Sekoto Peak, a mountainous region close to the city. It is an area covered with trees, vegetation, and streams.
Touya trained there without anyone knowing.
Under the black sky, the thirteen-year-old was alone, flames engulfing his entire body, blue flames now, hotter than anything Enji could produce.
Excitement overrode caution.
Touya decided he wanted to show his father the result himself. The next day, he approached him directly and invited him to Sekoto Peak.
Enji's expression hardened immediately. Sekoto Peak was the place where he used to train his fire quirk in his younger years.
He stepped forward without a word and pulled up Touya's shirt, inspecting him with sharp, practiced eyes. Touya's skin was bright red, blistering, and charring.
Enji let the fabric drop as he forcefully placed both hands on the boy's shoulders.
"TOUYA!" Enji's roar shattered the air.
"I TOLD YOU TO STOP THIS! YOU'RE DESTROYING YOURSELF!"
"I CAN DO IT!" Touya screamed back, his voice raw. "I CAN BECOME NUMBER ONE! I'M STRONG ENOUGH! MY FLAMES ARE HOTTER THAN YOURS NOW!"
"YOUR BODY CAN'T HANDLE IT! YOU HAVE YOUR MOTHER'S CONSTITUTION—"
"THEN WHY DID YOU TELL ME I COULD BE A HERO?!" Touya's voice cracked. "WHY DID YOU MAKE ME BELIEVE—"
Enji grabbed him by the shoulders. "I was wrong. Do you understand? You can't—"
"YOU REPLACED ME!" Touya shoved him away with surprising strength. "First with Shoto, and you didn't even try to hide it! Everything I am, everything I've worked for, it means nothing because he was born with the so called perfect combination!"
"This conversation is over. You will stop training. That's an order."
Enji turned and stormed away, leaving Touya trembling with rage and despair in the clearing.
…
Enji's fury had grown. All his plans, all his careful breeding, and Touya still wouldn't let go. Still wouldn't accept his place.
He found Rei in Shoto's room. The five-year-old was curled against his mother's side, and she was gently running her fingers through the white half of his hair, humming softly. For a moment, they looked peaceful.
Shoto's training session had been particularly brutal that day. Bruises mottled his small arms, and there was a burn on his shoulder that Rei had been treating.
"You," Enji's voice was cold as he entered. "You were supposed to stop Touya from training."
Rei looked up, her grey eyes tired. "Enji, I've tried. He won't listen—"
"YOU HAVEN'T TRIED HARD ENOUGH!" Enji's flames flared. "I gave you ONE job while I handle Shoto's training, and you've FAILED! He's out there burning himself alive, and WHERE ARE YOU? Coddling this one!"
"He's five years old and exhausted—"
"HE'S THE FUTURE NUMBER ONE HERO! HE DOESN'T GET TO BE CODDLED!"
"He's a CHILD!" Rei stood, placing herself between Enji and Shoto. "They're all children, Enji! Touya, Shoto, all of them! This has to stop—"
The slap echoed through the room like a gunshot.
Rei's head snapped to the side, her white hair falling across her face. She stumbled, catching herself on the bed frame.
For a moment, there was absolute silence.
Then Shoto started crying.
"MOMMY!" The five-year-old launched himself at Enji, his small fists pounding against his father's legs. "DON'T HURT MOMMY! STOP! STOP IT!" Tears streamed down his face as he hit his father over and over, his strikes barely registering. "LEAVE HER ALONE!"
Frost spread from Shoto's right side, small flames flickering on his left, his quirk activating instinctively in his distress.
"YOU JUST HAD ONE JOB—" Enji continued yelling at Rei as he ignored Shoto's punches.
"YOU'RE MEAN! YOU'RE A MEAN DADDY!" Shoto sobbed, still hitting him. "STOP HURTING MOMMY. STOP IT. STOP IT, STOP IT—"
Their voices escalated, overlapping, filling the room with noise and rage and fear.
Not far away, Fuyumi and Natsuo had heard everything. They'd pressed themselves against a bookshelf, hands over their ears, trying to block out the sounds of their family tearing itself apart.
Fuyumi was crying silently as she hugged Natsuo with one arm. Natsuo's whole body was shaking.
Neither of them noticed Aki walking down the hall toward the chaos.
Aki appeared in the doorway of Shoto's room, his red hair slightly messy from his nap. His grey eyes took in the scene with strange detachment: his father yelling at their mother, his mother looking dazed, Shoto crying and screaming while pummling Enji, everyone yelling over each other.
"Mama," Aki said, his voice quiet.
No one heard him.
"MAMA!" He raised his voice.
Still nothing. The shouting continued. Shoto was wailing now, and Enji's roar overshadowed his voice.
Aki's expression shifted. The usual cheerful energy drained away, replaced by something cold. His grey eyes became flat, emotionless.
"I want to go to the park," he said to no one in particular.
The yelling continued.
Something inside Aki's chest went very quiet and very still. Yesterday, Mama had promised. She'd said tomorrow, which was today, they would go to the park. Just the two of them. She'd promised.
But here she was, dealing with Touya's drama again. And Shoto's training. And everyone's stupid fighting.
He didn't care about Touya. He didn't care about their stupid arguments. He wanted to go to the park.
That's what Mama promised.
Aki raised his hands.
He could feel it, the water in everything. In the air. In the plants outside. And inside…
Inside people.
He'd never tried this before. Never thought about it. But now, with that cold clarity, it seemed so obvious.
His fingers twitched.
In an instant, every person in the room froze mid-motion.
Enji's furious face, Shoto's mouth was open mid-sob, tears frozen on his cheeks.
Fuyumi and Natsuo suddenly went rigid, their hands falling from their ears, their bodies locked in place.
Complete. Absolute. Silence.
The only sound was Aki's small footsteps as he walked into the room.
"I said," his voice was soft, childish, but utterly devoid of warmth, "I want to go to the park."