….
Gran Torino scratched the back of his head. "Just take a look at him, will you?"
And that's what Chiyo did: checked his vitals and examined the scars to the full nakedness, with focus.
However, her expression grew grimmer with each passing minute. In the meantime, Gran Torino made tea, which neither of them drank.
Finally she straightened up, pulling off her gloves with sharp snaps.
"Well?" Gran Torino asked.
"The boy is stable for now. Most of the burns are at least two years old, and whoever 'repaired' him didn't use skin grafts… they used a synthetic, scorched mesh that barely holds his muscle to the bone. It was a rush job, Sorahiko. They didn't care about his pain, his future appearance. Nothing more than his pulse."
She paused, adjusting her glasses.
"But the real horror is internal. This child seemed to possess a fire-type quirk of terrifying magnitude, yet he seemed to have a frigid constitution. His collapse wasn't just exhaustion; it was a total systemic shutdown. His nervous system is a frayed wire, and his skin is literally cooked from the inside out."
Her expression darkened.
"But why would he do that? Also how could he have even done that? The nerve degeneration alone should have killed him months ago. He has survived this long on pure adrenaline and a sheer, agonizing will to live. But the damage to his lungs and regenerative tissue is absolute."
"What kind of rubbish are you talking about? Can't you say it in a way normal people understand?"
She sighed, removing her glasses briefly as if steadying herself.
"I suspect he has blood cancer, multiple organ failure resulting in his body shutting down."
"Just tell me." he pressed. "How long does he have?"
Chiyo was silent for a moment. When she spoke again, the sharpness was gone from her voice.
"A month. Perhaps few, if he remains completely at rest." She folded her hands in her lap. "I cannot heal him, Sorahiko. My Quirk draws on the patient's own stamina to accelerate recovery. This boy…" She glanced toward him. "He has nothing left to sustain it. If I tried to use my power now, it would likely stop his heart."
Gran Torino looked at the boy on his couch. He looked somewhere sixteen and seventeen, sleeping as if he had all the time in the world.
"Don't tell him." he said quietly.
Chiyo sighed, a soft, defeated sound. "Very well. I will return in two days to monitor him. But be realistic, Sorahiko….
"That boy needs proper end-of-life care, and your house is not equipped to–"
"Next time, Chiyo." He cut her off, his eyes never leaving Toya.
She looked ready to argue, then simply nodded. "Fine. Ensure he sips water the moment he wakes. And for heaven's sake, call me if he so much as coughs. His lungs are as brittle as glass."
….
A full day passed.
Toya didn't wake.
Or at least, that's what anyone would have assumed.
In reality, Toya had come back to himself hours earlier - eyes half-lidded, breath shallow, body still.
Play dead, his instinct whispered.
It worked.
…well, right up until Gran Torino's patience was lost, and kicked the futon under the pretending kid.
Toya hit the floor with a startled grunt.
"Ouch—!
"What the hell was that for?!" He snapped, coughing. "Can't you be a little gentle with a patient?"
"You were awake."
"Was not."
Gran Torino looked down at him flatly. "Sleeping people don't tense their heartbeat when someone walks by."
…Yeah. That will do it.
That was how he got caught. "Fine, okay. You got me."
After that, Toya didn't bother trying anything clever.
Especially fake memory loss stunts. He knew better than to insult this man's intelligence.
….
Toya pulled himself into the chair with visible effort, and up close in broad daylight the bruns on him looked even worse.
His bright blue-green eyes were dull, like someone had turned down the brightness.
"My name is Toya Todoroki." he started.
Gran Torino went very still.
"Yeah, that Todoroki. Endeavor's oldest son. The one who died three years ago." His voice was matter-of-fact, like he was reciting someone else's story. "Except I didn't die. Obviously."
Moving on, he told his story, while hiding a few parts.
He shared his father's training, the pressure and his body rejecting his own quirk. The obsession with proving himself and finally - Sekoto Peak incident, the fire and the moment everything went wrong.
"Then I woke up yesterday in some facility. Apparently, they were the ones who patched me back… they also offered to help and train me, something like using me too."
"These people who found you. Who were they?"
"I have no idea. I never got their names. Just a creepy guy on a screen talking about revenge and taking down Heroes." Toya shrugged. "I set some fires with my quirk and ran."
"And then?"
Everything he said up to this point was true, and the part he decided to lie was what came after.
"Went home." the words came out flat. "…and it seemed my family had already moved on. But that old man… is still obsessed with my little brother, trying to make his perfect Hero. Like I never existed. So…
"I left."
That's the real Toya's story from the plot - which seemed perfect to use and also settled naturally in his mouth.
After that, he concluded by saying who he wandered on the streets until he found this place.
"These people at the facility." Until now, Gran Torino who listened without interrupting asked a single question–
"What did they look like? What exactly did they say?"
"Don't know. Don't care." Toya's expression didn't change.
Obviously he knew much more than that, and the name 'All For One' stayed locked behind his teeth.
However, he wasn't supposed to know it. And mentioning it would raise questions he couldn't answer.
….
Another day passed.
Gran Torino made some calls, pulling some favors.
He and another Hero checked out the location Toya had described.
Indeed, it was an abandoned medical facility. It was completely empty, not even medical waste left behind.
Whoever they were, they had covered their tracks.
When he got back, Toya was sitting up in bed, looking out the window.
"Find anything?" the kid asked.
"Nothing. The place was cleaned out."
Toya nodded like he had expected that.
They had fled.
That wasn't his problem anymore.
Gran Torino jumped onto a chair. "I need to ask you something."
"Shoot."
"Do you want to go back to your family?"
Toya stayed silent, only to mutter–
"Toya Todaroki is… dead…"
Was he? Even he wondered.
The truth was, he didn't know.
He wasn't the real Toya, but the memories of the body he is in control of now are surely within him. However, even after that, he wasn't obsessed with revenge-
…that part was clear.
On the outside Toya's expression didn't change but something in his posture went rigid.
Such… words? Gran Torino mistakenly took that for the answer it was.
He shook his head.
Can't blame the kid, really. He nodded wordlessly.
Endeavor had always been a stubborn bastard but this was beyond anything Gran Torino had seen. To be so focused on making the perfect Hero that you didn't notice your own son dying for your approval.
He thought about what Chiyo had said.
A month… Perhaps a couple of it...
This kid had survived three years in a coma and clawed his way back to life just to find out he had no time left.
Gran Torino felt something hot behind his eyes but he blinked it away.
He questioned whether or not he should tell the kid the truth… Only decided not to.
He just couldn't, so he stood up to leave, then paused at the door.
"One more thing. How did you know I like taiyaki? And why did you knock on my door specifically?"
Toya turned to look at him, acting confused. "Huh? You like taiyaki too?"
"Answer the question."
"I did answer. And who said I only knocked on your door?" Toya settled back against the pillows.
He tried his best to pull off the most helpless kid face.
"Pretty sure I passed like... eleven houses before yours, maybe twelve. Actually probably fifteen."
The words came out smooth as silk.
Complete bullshit.
Still hearing him, Gran Torino felt something crack in his chest. He turned away quickly, closing the door behind him.
In the hallway he stood there for a moment, rubbing his eyes with the heel of his palm.
Fifteen houses. The kid couldn't even keep his numbers straight in his own lie.
Inside the room, Toya listened to the footsteps fade away. And once he was sure that Gran Torino was gone, he let out a breath.
Now he could focus on the important thing. The blue window floating in front of him.
=========
[SYSTEM INITIALIZED]
[Welcome!]
=========
Surprise!
He had a system now, because apparently his life wasn't complicated enough already.
….
Outside, Gran Torino had his phone to his ear again.
"Chiyo. What are the results?"
Chiyo hesitated. "As I suspected…. The kid is suffering from the last stage of blood cancer.
["The burns aren't even the primary threat anymore for the kid's life. His blood work came back... it's catastrophic.
["Because his body has been in a constant state of 'repairing' extreme thermal cellular damage for years, his bone marrow has malfunctioned. It's developed into an aggressive, scorched-cell leukemia. You can see it in the bruising under his translucent skin.
["His blood can't even carry oxygen properly anymore."]
Her voice was firm but not unkind. ["His organs are in a state of cascading failure. Not my Quirk or any proven medical treatment can cure this….
["He is essentially a walking reactor with a cracked core. I am truly sorry."]
"You are telling me he has a tumor on top of his damaged body? And we just have to let him die?"
She paused. ["Sorahiko, stop blaming yourself for everything that is out of your control. You didn't cause this…]
["Not now, nor what happened in the past. You are giving that child more than he would have had otherwise…."]
Gran Torino couldn't respond, reminiscing about the failed promises he had made to his friend.
["I will be there tomorrow afternoon to monitor the internal hemorrhaging. Get some rest, Sorahiko. You aren't getting any younger, either."]
"Yeah, yeah. I know."
He hung up and stared at nothing.
"Dammit." Gran Torino muttered to the empty hallway.
….
.
[To be continued…]
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[Author: Mass Releasing the first 7 chapters!!]